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So I know this is probably going to come off as a lame complaint, but I'm on the verge of quitting. Only problem is, I don't want to quit. I love the game. I just can't find my niche anymore. I'm so frustrated I can't even get myself to log in. Why? I have no idea what character I want to play as a main. I'm not a guy who likes alts (which is going to seem really funny in a minute) and I like to focus on my one character (achievements, hard modes, mounts/pets etc) but I can't seem to settle.

History: I played an Enhancement Shaman back in Vanilla (Horde). I played pretty hardcore. Raided everything in Vanilla. I even pvped to Warlord status. I have alot of love for the class, even if the devs and gameplay doesn't. In BC I decided to go Alliance with my brother, and since there was no Faction Changes back then, I rerolled Draenei Enhancement Shaman. Which I played through all of BC. I was just as hardcore as I was on my Horde character. Raided all the way to Sunwell, PVPed to Justicar.

I was pretty upset with the changes that took place at the start of Burning Crusade, but I stuck it out. Then I read about the changes in Wrath and I just couldn't stomach it anymore (Caster weapons were better? Are you kidding me?) so I began a path of many different classes, to try and find a niche that would better suit me. I leveled a Rogue (Impossible to find a raid spot), a Hunter (boring beyond belief), Warlock (was so overpowered I was put off) and finally Death Knight. Note: I got all these classes to 80 and raided with them for a good while each.

I avoided playing a Death Knight because it seemed to me like a Warlock in plate, and Warlocks already bored me with their easy mode. Not to mention everyone and their Uncle was playing one, and I HATE playing something that everyonelse is (against the grain, not part of the crowd, etc). None the less I gave in. This was around the time Ulduar was going to be coming out and Naxx/Maly/Sarth was on farm. I had been enjoying the class at the time (2h Frost was entertaining) but DW Frost was changing the class and I didn't feel like being a "rogue/enhancement shaman" again. Our guilds Ret Paladin quit and we were looking to replace him. I decided to offer the chance to level one and raid with it.

So then I played a Ret Paladin till the end of Trial of the Crusader. Anyone who plays one will know why I stopped. From that point on, I stopped hardcore raiding all togther. Problem was, getting into 10-25man raid pugs for casual raiding was near impossible as a DPS. So it was time to look into being a tank.

I leveled a Warrior (great tank, terrible solo class), went Prot on my Pally (was decent, better than Warrior anyway), went Blood on my Death Knight (better mechanics of both, still not liking how many people play a DK though) and currently have a level 75 Druid that I haven't really had a chance to tank with yet.

Since then I've been playing my original Enhancement Shaman (Moved him over to Alliance) and really have been enjoying it again. It's like putting on an old coat that you loved. It may not be a nice coat, it may not get you into the nice clubs, but damn does it feel good to wear. He's got the most achievements, the most progress of any character I have. So what's the problem? The same one I had as a DPS DK. I can't get into pugs. My GS is high, I know my class better than most people, I know fights and play like a hardcore, even if I don't have the time to raid with a guild.

So I have no idea what to do now with Cataclysm coming around the corner. Do I stick it out with my Sham, even though I may be left with nothing to do half the time (once I reach end game again). Do I go back and work on my Tanks, getting them caught up in achievements and gear? (NO idea which of them to play. DK turns me off because of how many people play them. Warrior can't go and do solo content, Paladin is just a wonky class all together, and Druid isn't even 80 to have an opinion on)

What would you do? (if you're even still reading this rant.)

Stick with what you like and try to find a guild that meets your needs. With 10s and 25s sharing a lock out, there's no reason that you can't raid 25s on your main, then find an alt you like and do 10 mans with that one as well. Bouncing around classes as your main is a really fast way to burn out. I have (way too many) 80s, but I make sure that I stick it out with the character I like the most, and only ever "main swapped" once, which was also a complete server swap and going from Alliance to Horde at the start of BC (lolbelfs). If you were main swapping due to a love of the class, great! but doing it to meet the needs of other people is a good way to end up frustrated like you are now.

(I have also raided end game since the start of the game as well, so I do have perspective. )

Can't raid with guilds as I can't keep a steady schedule. There would be no question that I'd play my Enhancement Shaman if that were the case. Hence why I'm leaning toward the tanks.

You'd be surprised the different flavors of guilds that are out there. You might even be able to make your own and just have a flexible 10 man schedule. And since you can extend raid lockouts, you can even set up raids that clear content slowly. Anything is better than picking a class just to get into (bad) pugs easier, unless that is what you really like doing. But, at the same time, if you are dead set on PuGing it, just make your own groups then you don't need to worry about not being taken.

I feel your pain, but the only different is that I love playing multiple characters rather then just one. Really I think the best thing you can do is take a break, relax a bit, and then come back sometime after the "rush" of Cataclysm has died down a bit. Choose whatever class feels "fun" to you, don't try to choose one just because you feel you need to do it to progress. You will find a place on your "fun" class once you get established.

This would go a long way to improving your playing health, because feeling frustrated while playing is not the way to go, you will just burn yourself off the game completely.

Problem is, I hate missing Feats. I have them spread over so many different characters, I don't want to continue that.

About the only thing it sounds like you have not done is PvP the arenas. You have to find the class you will enjoy most.

Enjoy the most: Enhancement Shaman, Mage, Rogue.

Have the most opportunity to not sit in the main city for days on end: Blood Death Knight, Bear Druid, Prot Paladin

Find a large casual raiding or leveling guild. (BLASPHEMY, I know.) It helps to have a lot of people to choose from to run randoms and 10 mans. Then if you don't have enough to help you do those things, you at least have people to chat with until the dungeon pops.

Jiarn said:

Problem is, I hate missing Feats. I have them spread over so many different characters, I don't want to continue that.

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Ghostcrawler has made it known he wants to make Achievements and Feats to become ACCOUNT wide sometime down the line rather then character-based, but that just on a technical level (and general level, since they may not want level 1 Kingslayers) they can't right now. While you may hate having your Feats spread around on many characters, it may not even matter in a year.

Ghostcrawler: Oh totally. It really sucks to get like, a really hard achievement and then feel like you're supposed to go do it again on your alt or something. That's just terrible, so...we want achievements to eventually all be account-level—you get the achievement, and maybe it would say which character you got it on—

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Warlord.... on my other chars?

Yeah I'm not so sure that's going to go through.

Honestly though, if I could transplant my reps/achievements. My decision would be a little easier:

Blood Death Knight, Druid or Prot Paladin.

The achievements should be server-wide, and the titles should go to who earned it.

The hardest achievement I have is <Salty> I would like to not have to do that again on another toon. But I would not think it fair to have a new toon with the title. When you right click on some one and they only have 100 achievement points, you think that they are doing nothing other than randoms. While they may have a Kingslayer or the Insane on another spot on the account.

Jiarn said:

Warlord.... on my other chars? Yeah I'm not so sure that's going to go through.

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Why not? Like I said before, they may not make it so titles or rewards carry over to the character, but it would still display all the achievements you gathered on that account.

Even so, I don't see why they wouldn't allow us to gain rewards on alts, because frankly all the rewards themselves are COSMETIC anyways. Is seeing a level 1 human with Champion of the Naaru really going to piss people off that much? All it tells you is that the player got Champion of the Naaru at some point on another character. I think they should just go the whole nine yards and make it so getting an achievement on one characters ticks it off for all of them.

Either way, in the end Ghostcrawler is interested in doing it. Whether it happens or not we will have to see in the future.

But I would not think it fair to have a new toon with the title.

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I am actually curious why you have this opinion. I have seen people use it before but none have ever made a good reason why cosmetic achievements can't be given to alts.

It is echoing the earlier post about the Level 1 toon that walks around with the Kingslayer title. Yes, the main on the account did the deed, and the achievement points should be reflected to the alts. It is just the gut feeling that a toon that in no way can do the requirements for the title should get to wear it.

Or how rare the military ranks are, it is nice to be rare with <Knight> over my name. I just do not want to see thousand more toons with those titles that will dilute how special they are.

sixpackshaker said:

It is echoing the earlier post about the Level 1 toon that walks around with the Kingslayer title. Yes, the main on the account did the deed, and the achievement points should be reflected to the alts. It is just the gut feeling that a toon that in no way can do the requirements for the title should get to wear it.

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But if we are to equate "status" to a title, then why not allow the person who earned that status to show it off? Yes, the alt in no way was able to do the deed, but the PLAYER was. He did the deed and earned that, regardless of the character. I think my issue is that I never equated titles to anything other then fun little banners to show off the goals I have reached (Kingslayer), or to add flavor to a character (Crusader), and I don't think changing characters to another alt should mean all those accomplishments get no visable gain. We already get heirlooms, which are much more useful in the long run then titles or mounts, which are just cosmetic bonuses. To me, it's like asking all shirts, including ones a bit harder to find, should all be soulbound.

Or how rare the military ranks are, it is nice to be rare with <Knight> over my name. I just do not want to see thousand more toons with those titles that will dilute how special they are.

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This won't matter soon, since everyone will have those titles with the new Rated Battleground system bringing them all back. Actually, my system would allow people with the old Feat version to use the titles on alts at earlier levels, pointing them out as being special rather then another face in the crowd of newly christened High Warlords at 85.

You should consider turning it off for two months. I know you're really deep into it, and you probably can't imagine not playing it, but I suspect you're suffering from becoming too involved in it. Take a deep breath, go play some other games or participate in other activities, then in two months come back to it and see if it's really as problematic as you think it is now.

Alternately, go deeper and start multiboxing so you can get more out of each play session than you currently can.

But I think you're better off re-centering yourself outside WoW first, then coming back with a fresh take on it.

I used to be too involved, hence I stopped raiding and playing seriously.

I do get where you're coming from, but I'm already there. I'm simply weighing my options for Cata and would like to have ONE character to focus on from here on, so I can get the upcoming Feats. Even though the only one with any Feats to speak of is my Enh. Shaman....

-sigh-

I am an alt-a-holic my main is a pally, but sometimes I like to play other class just for fun. My personal rule is that, play what is fun for YOU. While your fun play, might not mix well with others (i.e. raid, or group activities) you can have alts to fill those roles, but play what is fun for you, not play for others (like being in a guild that requires you to play 3 raids per week or more) unless you find THAT fun (some do)

My fun contradicts itself.

I love my Enhancement Shaman, but I love to raid (when I can). Those two just don't go hand in hand unless I come back to WoW full time, and that's not going to happen.

The choice is looking like Death Knight I think....

I'm not sure why you can't raid as an Enhancement Shaman, unless the players you raid with are that ignorant to not understand the inherent value of the player over a perceived DPS increase, especially when Blizzard is particularly focused on keeping all DPS specs competitive across the board. Even the use of GS is a tool of the ignorant, and the pugs that use that as a limiting factor aren't the pugs that are going to be doing anything in Cataclysm, anyway.

The only raids I can make these days, are PUGs. I think that answers that question unfortunately.

I outdpsed everyone in every encounter with the exception of Festergut on my last pug ICC 10, yet I still don't get raid invites out of the blue. I have to pull them like teeth.

Jiarn said:

The only raids I can make these days, are PUGs. I think that answers that question unfortunately.

I outdpsed everyone in every encounter with the exception of Festergut on my last pug ICC 10, yet I still don't get raid invites out of the blue. I have to pull them like teeth.

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this is what I get from raids.

People like to raid regularly with the people they know and depends. Since you cannot raid on set schedule (no fault of yours) others don't wanna raid with you (again this is what I observe) I am a decent tank before the prot pally changes. I have decent gear and can do pretty well, but people don't invite me as often cause of my sporadic playing time

Yeah but on my server, every other raid is looking for a tank. 1 out of 30 are looking for dps.

Honestly my advice is: "Walk away"

Disable the account for a few months. get out, do other things.

Then come back to it for a month. See if you enjoy it after a break. If you still feel the same way...give the account away to a friend or someone else for plays. This is exactly what I did when I was in your shoes. I found my life much happier without it than with it.

WoW in the end is just a game, however you would be surprised once you walk away how much a -game- has dictated things in your life (like when you sleep, eat, socialize, etc.) Rule the game. Don't let it rule you.

I quit and loved it. But I was never that hardcore. I'd go along with raids and stuff, but mostly I liked to play casually with friends and role play. So it was easier for me.

Very good advice all around, I definitely understand the reasoning behind the taking a break, I should have mentioned the 4 months I wasn't playing though. It was how I decided to come back and not play hardcore anymore, so it did help in that sense.

There are other ways to have fun in WoW. Do you enjoy PvP? You can pretty much PvP based entirely on your schedule. Even if you do Arenas, you find an Arena team who has similar play times as you. Which is a lot easier than coordinating an entire raid team. Unless you are a diehard PvE nut, raiding isn't the end all be all of WoW. The story is nice to see progress but raids are just, so cookie cutter in my opinion its too simple to pre-plan new raids almost instantly thanks to the PTR, then its just a matter of a chess game of bringing the right combo of classes and strats. At least with PvP theres the random factor of human skill vs human skill. If PvP isn't your cup of tea, try something different. Start new professions you never tried before, if there are any. Go for rare mounts or rare titles. Try your hand at some hard achievements or feats of strength.

Aka, theres other stuff to do besides raiding.

If this got addressed before, apologies, I missed it.

Have you been raiding much since 4.0? I play a Frost DPS DK 90% of the time, and I never have much issue getting into PUG raids, and I'm even "undergeared" according to the GS-crutch-wearing "hardcore" crowd. I found that the new lockout system really helps being able to get in.

I found it also helps to make contacts with guilds who use PUGs to fill out their raids. If you get into a 25 or 10-man where 50%+ of the raid is one guild, you have a pretty decent chance of getting called back if you do well, especially if you send a thank-you note afterwards. Not only do they like to grab good people who raid with them, but the raid is usually a better experience, and with the new guild achievements, there's a much bigger incentive for guilds to run PUGs with a core group of guildies.

If I played a DPS, it would be with the Enh. Shaman. That's why it's hard to get the DPS spot. I would only play the DK if I was going with the tanking route.

I think at this point I'm just going to tough it out and stay Shaman. It's where the heart is, the raids will have to come when they come.

Jiarn said:

If I played a DPS, it would be with the Enh. Shaman. That's why it's hard to get the DPS spot. I would only play the DK if I was going with the tanking route.

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No, that's totally fine, but what do you mean by the bolded part? Melee DPS is melee DPS, as far as raids are concerned. The only reason why being an enh shammy would be a disadvantage would be if your server has a disproportionate number of enh shammies and raid leaders don't want to overload on a class for gear purposes.

I think at this point I'm just going to tough it out and stay Shaman.

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That is what I would recommend.

I was in a pretty cool, small raiding guild and stopped cold turkey back when the ICC buff was still at 15 or 20%. I don't miss it all that much...though commercials for cataclysm are testing my resolve.

Still meandering around WoW, mostly aimlessly. I've done everything there is to do in WoW strewn about my level 80s.

Right now though, I'm going through the old revamped zones, clearing them of quests to see the new storylines. That's kept me pretty busy.

If you're like me, and haven't played every class to 80, then now is the perfect time to make a new char. All of the old world is just so goddamn fun now. Guild chat has been nothing but people on new toons going "omg, did you do x yet? It was awesome!"

The mere fact that there is a quest named "AHHHHHHHHHHH!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" puts the updated content on a new level.

Personally I was blown away with the STV questline

My favorite thing so far has been doing the quests for Lt. Horatio Laine in Westfall. His one-liners are awesome.

I love the new content, having run both Kalimdor as a Troll Rogue and EK as an Undead Mage (up to level 58 each, I've seen Outlands and Northrend and don't need to repeat them again, as I already have 4 80s - yes I have no life, and also no job). But I was about ready to tear my hair out in EK.

Gared said:

Spoiler

Seriously... can I buy a zone where I don't have to look after/play with a buddy/pet? In Hillsbrad Foothills it was the questers that I gave quests to, in WPL it was the stupid Druid that the Cenarions wanted me to train, in EPL it was the pallies from the wagon, in Bad Lands it was the Bad Dogs mercs, in Searing Gorge it was Lump, and in Blasted Lands it was Eitrigg's son. Can I please just play my own character and rely on my own skills? This "theme" shit (group quests in TBC, vehicle quests in WotLK, pets in Cat) needs to die in a fire.

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You forgot escort quests in vanilla.

SpecialKO;456858][QUOTE=Gared said:

Spoiler

Seriously... can I buy a zone where I don't have to look after/play with a buddy/pet? In Hillsbrad Foothills it was the questers that I gave quests to, in WPL it was the stupid Druid that the Cenarions wanted me to train, in EPL it was the pallies from the wagon, in Bad Lands it was the Bad Dogs mercs, in Searing Gorge it was Lump, and in Blasted Lands it was Eitrigg's son. Can I please just play my own character and rely on my own skills? This "theme" shit (group quests in TBC, vehicle quests in WotLK, pets in Cat) needs to die in a fire.

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You forgot escort quests in vanilla. [/QUOTE]

That's because I started playing 3 weeks before Sunwell dropped during TBC, so I really didn't have to deal with too many of the escort quests, but yeah, you're right.

Started playing an Undead till Cata, and wow.... Garrosh is going to die a horrible death. Mark my words....

Jiarn said:

Started playing an Undead till Cata, and wow.... Garrosh is going to die a horrible death. Mark my words....

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What makes you think this? His appearance in Silverpine is probably one of his only redeeming points, other then killing a guy in Stonetalon. If anything I think his speech, the prominence of the Val'kyr, and the abduction of Koltra are going to lead to something very bad for Sylvanas.

See I'm thinking the opposite, I'm thinking Sylvannas isn't going to put up with that kind of treatment....

If you haven't done it yet, make a Forsaken *anything* and play through the Brill/Silverpine quests at least once, even if you don't like Horde.

I'm thinking, honestly, that if any Horde faction leaders are going to die, it will be Sylvanas. Though I already have a friend who has said he will quit if that happens.

Agreed, I've been blown away by the depth of character shown so far by the new Forsaken.

Currently leveling another warrior, will change it to a Death Knight at 55, just to see their storyline.

Jiarn said:

See I'm thinking the opposite, I'm thinking Sylvannas isn't going to put up with that kind of treatment....

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She kind of has to though, as she is already in the "doghouse" with the Horde after the Wrathgate, and the orcs basically own Undercity. While she can attempt to free herself of this, doing such would put her as enemy of the Horde, and due to the nature of the gameplay, the Forsaken will never leave the Horde. As such there are only two likely outcomes.

1) Sylvanas does attempt to kill Garrosh and break from the Horde, fails, is killed, and thus a new leader of the Forsaken put in her place.
2) Sylvanas learns from her experience, and in a later expansions fully repents for what she did, gaining much greater respect and equality among the Horde races.

Blizzard (more specifically Metzen) has already stated that Garrosh is "part of Thrall's ongoing story" and so he will not be killed by Vol'jin or Sylvanas.

Yeah, he'll be part of the story where he goes overboard, Sylvannas has him killed and Thrall thanks her for it.

FOR THE FORSAKEN!

I would also just like to add...

YES this horse IS made of stars.

ScytheRexx;457075][QUOTE=Jiarn said:

See I'm thinking the opposite, I'm thinking Sylvannas isn't going to put up with that kind of treatment....

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She kind of has to though, as she is already in the "doghouse" with the Horde after the Wrathgate, and the orcs basically own Undercity. While she can attempt to free herself of this, doing such would put her as enemy of the Horde, and due to the nature of the gameplay, the Forsaken will never leave the Horde. As such there are only two likely outcomes.

1) Sylvanas does attempt to kill Garrosh and break from the Horde, fails, is killed, and thus a new leader of the Forsaken put in her place.
2) Sylvanas learns from her experience, and in a later expansions fully repents for what she did, gaining much greater respect and equality among the Horde races.

Blizzard (more specifically Metzen) has already stated that Garrosh is "part of Thrall's ongoing story" and so he will not be killed by Vol'jin or Sylvanas.[/QUOTE]


Yeah I dont' see either of those outcomes happening. There is noonelse who could take over and control the Forsaken and then the Horde would be in worse shape with a full out assault on par with the Lich King's attack. Sylvanas isn't readying to repent. If you've followed the Forsaken storyline at all, she's on the verge of wiping out the entire planet, Horde included.

Jiarn said:

Yeah I dont' see either of those outcomes happening. There is noonelse who could take over and control the Forsaken and then the Horde would be in worse shape with a full out assault on par with the Lich King's attack. Sylvanas isn't readying to repent. If you've followed the Forsaken storyline at all, she's on the verge of wiping out the entire planet, Horde included.

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First, never think I have not followed any of the storyline, I have followed it more then you probably have, I just look deeper and from the point of view of both a story writer and gameplay developer. You are not looking at this from a game development side of the coin.

Second, anyone can take over for Sylvanas, because all it would take is Blizzard adding and building up a character to do it. How do you think Garrosh came into power? It was because Blizzard wanted it, and that was it. Thrall was much more popular then Sylvanas (winning the Horde leader poll by a landslide) and yet even he was replaced by someone, it would not be hard to do for someone like Sylvanas. Many even theorize that the introduction of Lilian Voss was a "seed" for her to take over in the future, as she shows power on-par, if not greater, then Sylvanas.

Third, the only way Sylvanas is going to survive is if she repents, because the one thing that will never happen in the lifetime of this game is a "factional breakup". This is the same reason she will never kill Garrosh, because the faction will never split for gameplay reasons. Sylvanas will either have to repent and join the Horde on a more loyal scale when new storylines develop, or she will die and be replaced by someone that is more loyal. That is just how it will work down the pipe due to the factional nature of this game.

The only third option would be a total driven adherence to the status quo, which means she will still never kill Garrosh nor expand her territory beyond the places she has now.

I could see the possibility of Sylvanas and the Forsaken breaking off from the Horde, but that would mean the undead player base would be absorbed into a new group under Horde control and a new city leader. Probably the least likely of the scenarios, though, especially if Sylvanas gets to keep Undercity.

ScytheRexx said:

First, never think I have not followed any of the storyline, I have followed it more then you probably have, I just look deeper and from the point of view of both a story writer and gameplay developer. You are not looking at this from a game development side of the coin.

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Never said I was. Never was my intention. Didn't bring into conversation. It was a side quote about the lore. "More than I probably have"? High on yourself much?

ScytheRexx said:

Second, anyone can take over for Sylvanas, because all it would take is Blizzard adding and building up a character to do it. How do you think Garrosh came into power? It was because Blizzard wanted it, and that was it. Thrall was much more popular then Sylvanas (winning the Horde leader poll by a landslide) and yet even he was replaced by someone, it would not be hard to do for someone like Sylvanas. Many even theorize that the introduction of Lilian Voss was a "seed" for her to take over in the future, as she shows power on-par, if not greater, then Sylvanas.

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Thrall hasn't been replaced, it's temporary until . Even then, I seriously doubt, without a major gut check, that Garrosh is going to remain leader.

ScytheRexx said:

Third, the only way Sylvanas is going to survive is if she repents, because the one thing that will never happen in the lifetime of this game is a "factional breakup". This is the same reason she will never kill Garrosh, because the faction will never split for gameplay reasons. Sylvanas will either have to repent and join the Horde on a more loyal scale when new storylines develop, or she will die and be replaced by someone that is more loyal. That is just how it will work down the pipe due to the factional nature of this game.

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Again, not talking about a game side perspective, sorry you misunderstood.

ScytheRexx said:

The only third option would be a total driven adherence to the status quo, which means she will still never kill Garrosh nor expand her territory beyond the places she has now.

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Yeah because world leaders can't die

Jiarn said:

Never said I was. Never was my intention. Didn't bring into conversation. It was a side quote about the lore. "More than I probably have"? High on yourself much?

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Not really high on myself, just speaking the truth. Few people in this game know as much about the lore or keep up on the day to day activities. I literally read quests on wowhead as a way to pass the time, and go to message boards where myself and others pick those quests apart to find information. It's just how we role.

ScytheRexx said:

Thrall hasn't been replaced, it's temporary until

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Well for one thing...


and two, if you read The Shattering...

Again, not talking about a game side perspective, sorry you misunderstood.

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The issue is you have to take in a game side perspective, otherwise you can't really speak about what will happen, because the game drives the story, not the other way around.

Yeah because world leaders can't die

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Ummm... I never said Garrosh wouldn't die, but his death will not be by the hands of Sylvanas. The reason the Cairne death made it was only because it was an honor duel, one the Tauren respect. Garrosh being assassinated by Sylvanas is another matter that could lead to open war, one which Sylvanas would lose due to the limitations of the Val'kyr being unable to resurrect non-humans.

In the end, based on what we see, Sylvanas is the one much more likely to die when it's all said and done, due to the nature of the game.

Just signed up again. I intend to play for about two months. Do you guys have any kind of leveling guild I could hang out in?

Also, what's the deal with flying mounts? I thought we were supposed to be able to use them in the mainland now.

Raemon777 said:

Just signed up again. I intend to play for about two months. Do you guys have any kind of leveling guild I could hang out in?

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Just come hang out on Ghostlands, we have the Caerbannog guild and many of us are leveling alts right now. Even so, leveling is extremely fast now due to the improved quest flow, you will rarely if ever find yourself wandering around aimlessly looking for the next questing zone.

Also, what's the deal with flying mounts? I thought we were supposed to be able to use them in the mainland now.

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They have said that is a "Cataclysm Perk" so the skill is not open to you unless you own Cataclysm. That means we all have to wait till the 7th till we can fly in the old world.

I assume you mean Horde side?

What really frustrates me is the lack of people I know on RP servers. I've been wanting to focus on an undead priest for a while, primarily for RPing purposes, but it's sort of silly doing it by yourself. I just created one on Ghostlands, though I may be better of focusing on a less, um, "character driven character" there.

The guild is Alliance side.

Really? Huh, thought I recalled a lot of Horde-talk here. Well I guess that helps solidify the decision to put the priest on an RP server.

You might be remembering Scythe's talk about his Horde-side characters on Tichondrius.

Alright, more random questions:

Whenever I log into my level 80 warrior, I stare at the new array of talents and feel paralyzed with fear of picking the wrong ones. Does dual-speccing exist now? (I haven't played in a while but I remember reading about it). The last time I was playing, I rarely did instances and wasn't that good at tanking when I did. I found that it was a lot easier to level in Arms than anything else. BUT I eventually found that even though it was slower, protection spec made the game more fun. It required a wider variety of abilities. It was also the only spec that let me take down Elites of equivalent level by myself.

How much of that is still relevant now? If I do prot-spec to make soloing more fun, but I'm not that good at tanking, does that screw me when I'm trying to get in a group? (Alternate question... do you think I'll have an overall easier time getting into groups/making-friends-for-later-grouping if I'm DPS, which is in higher supply/less demand but I'm better at, or tank-spec, which is in higher demand but I have a harder time doing so I may have a harder time getting invited back).

Not sure if I expect a good answer to any of that beyond "it's complicated" but any help would be appreciated. Basically, I'm a casual guy who would like to be able to run instances for the sake of getting through the story, with minimal repeating of instances over and over.

Raemon777 said:

Alright, more random questions:

Whenever I log into my level 80 warrior, I stare at the new array of talents and feel paralyzed with fear of picking the wrong ones. Does dual-speccing exist now? (I haven't played in a while but I remember reading about it). The last time I was playing, I rarely did instances and wasn't that good at tanking when I did. I found that it was a lot easier to level in Arms than anything else. BUT I eventually found that even though it was slower, protection spec made the game more fun. It required a wider variety of abilities. It was also the only spec that let me take down Elites of equivalent level by myself.

How much of that is still relevant now? If I do prot-spec to make soloing more fun, but I'm not that good at tanking, does that screw me when I'm trying to get in a group? (Alternate question... do you think I'll have an overall easier time getting into groups/making-friends-for-later-grouping if I'm DPS, which is in higher supply/less demand but I'm better at, or tank-spec, which is in higher demand but I have a harder time doing so I may have a harder time getting invited back).

Not sure if I expect a good answer to any of that beyond "it's complicated" but any help would be appreciated. Basically, I'm a casual guy who would like to be able to run instances for the sake of getting through the story, with minimal repeating of instances over and over.

Click to expand...

You get dual-talent specilization at level 30 (or 40, I don't remember which) for ten gold. So you should have no problem, then, having a protection spec for tanking and another for dps leveling on your own.

Now, when you pick a talent specialization, you're locked into that talent tree until you put 31 points into it. The plus side to this is that they can give you more powerful abilities earlier. They're also designed with the intent that no spec is 'better' than another.

I personally really enjoy fury for leveling warriors, but there's no reason arms wouldn't work just as well. Protection, naturally, could also work, but would be a little slower, since you're sacrificing dps for unkillability.

Do you have to go somewhere to get Dual Spec or does it happen automatically?

Raemon777 said:

Do you have to go somewhere to get Dual Spec or does it happen automatically?

Click to expand...

Your class trainer gives you the option to buy it.

Raemon777 said:

Do you have to go somewhere to get Dual Spec or does it happen automatically?

Click to expand...

Go to any class trainer, they'll have an option for dual-specialization.

Found it (in retrospect was pretty straightforward, sorry).

Next random rechristened-newb question: my combat log and chat window are locked on top of each other and for the life of me I cannot find the setting to unlock them or move them to opposite sides of the screen. Help?

Jiarn: Rexx isn't being high on himself. He's telling the truth. He does know more about this stuff than you.

Don't believe me? Tell me: do you have any semblance of a life not involving Warcraft? If even one cell of your brain signifies a positive answer, then ScytheRexx knows more about it than you.

Raemon777 said:

Next random rechristened-newb question: my combat log and chat window are locked on top of each other and for the life of me I cannot find the setting to unlock them or move them to opposite sides of the screen. Help?

Click to expand...

Right click on the combat log tab and hit "Unlock Window". After that, you can drag it out of the main window and put it anywhere on the screen. At least, that's how it always used to be, I have not bothered to make many new windows out of the chat panel since the change to the new chat system.

Don't believe me? Tell me: do you have any semblance of a life not involving Warcraft? If even one cell of your brain signifies a positive answer, then ScytheRexx knows more about it than you.

Click to expand...

Hey! No fair. *strokes his developer signed WOTLK poster and pets his Wyvern plushie*

Wow, you defended him by insulting him?

I do believe I never claimed that he DIDN'T know more than me, I simply stated the way he put it was very "self-absorbed".

None the less, that topic was opened and shut, not sure what was the point of bringing it back up.

Jiarn said:

Wow, you defended him by insulting him?

I do believe I never claimed that he DIDN'T know more than me, I simply stated the way he put it was very "self-absorbed".

None the less, that topic was opened and shut, not sure what was the point of bringing it back up.

Click to expand...

So that you realized it wasn't self absorption. It was simply fact. I hear you've been doing some dating. While you were busy with that, Rexx was reading the history of the Swamps of Sorrow. Not because he hadn't read them before, but to fact check the WoW wiki and the developers' private notes which he accessed through secret contacts (note: he found seven typographical errors and eighteen lore errors). Have you seen the Ken Burns style documentaries detailing the significant events and backgrounds of every war crucial to the Warcraft lore, both on and off Azeroth? Because he's working on editing all eleven of them at one time.

Your level of dedication is paltry. Mine is stunted like a fetus drowning in its prostitute mother's latest alcohol binge. To question Rexx's knowledge is not to determine who is right and wrong over Warcraft lore--he already knows that.



SLURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP.

Yeah, you're completely out of the loop. You must have barely skimmed the posts.

Jiarn:

Yeah, more post skimmers. Fantastic.

Hell, even Scytherexx got it. We were on different pages.

He was talking gameplaywise, and I've already agreed that he's right on that front.

Woah. Brill's been workin' out!

Cataclysm is coming!!! (gonna be at midnight launch mainly our Gamestop usually give our freebies like time cards and such)

Raemon777 said:

Woah. Brill's been workin' out!

Click to expand...

Yeah, the Horde needed some major new building types, because the "old run-down Human buildings" look was really terrible.

The biggest question I have with the Forsaken starting area: What kind of sales pitch did they give those Solliden farmers to get them to actually try to cultivate pumpkins out there?

Piotyr;457662][QUOTE=Raemon777 said:

Woah. Brill's been workin' out!

Click to expand...

Yeah, the Horde needed some major new building types, because the "old run-down Human buildings" look was really terrible.

The biggest question I have with the Forsaken starting area: What kind of sales pitch did they give those Solliden farmers to get them to actually try to cultivate pumpkins out there?[/QUOTE]

"Work for us or we'll devour your souls?"

BTW, does anyone know if the "desert underneath Stormwind" glitch has been completely fixed by now? That was one of my favorite parts of the whole game, but I suspect they've fixed most of the entrances with the massive geometry revamp.

Ravenpoe said:

dual-talent specilization at level 30 (or 40, I don't remember which) for ten gold

Click to expand...

I think it's 100g unless i got ripped off. Or it got lowered again.

Disconnected said:

I think it's 100g unless i got ripped off. Or it got lowered again.

Click to expand...

It was lowered again in 4.0.3a, The Shattering patch. I learned this when I got duel-spec on my newly rolled mage and it only cost 10g.

On one hand, I'm very happy that the dual-spec cost got lowered. On the other, that's 3k g that I'm not getting back. >.<

Don't even want to think about how much someone like Rexx has spent.

ScytheRexx;457696][QUOTE=Disconnected said:

I think it's 100g unless i got ripped off. Or it got lowered again.

Click to expand...

It was lowered again in 4.0.3a, The Shattering patch. I learned this when I got duel-spec on my newly rolled mage and it only cost 10g.[/QUOTE]

SON OF A.

SpecialKO said:

Don't even want to think about how much someone like Rexx has spent.

Click to expand...

10k, almost 11k if I didn't hear the news about the lowered cost before I got the money on my Draenei.

Though, that is pretty much what I paid for Cold Weather Flying, then you have the 50k+ I paid for epic flying on all my well traveled characters. (I won't even get into the various costs I paid for other mounts over the years, does anyone remember when epic ground was nearly 1k?) That might nearly double if I want to get 310% on all of them (thankfully my horde paladin already had 310%).

Ugh, yeah, I don't even want to think about all the money I spent on mounts when regular ground was 100 and epic ground was 1000.

That's the way economics is period though. If you're willing to wait for shiny new things to go on sale you can save bajillions. You can buy a laptop today for $500 that was $3000 a few years ago. You can rest assured that anything you're currently wishing for in WoW is going to be like 5 gold someday, if you were just willing to wait another 2 years.

Yeah, it's been pretty brutal to think about. 3 Choppers, 8 level 80s all with Epic Flying + Northrend Flying, all dual specced at the original price. Ugh, not to mention the cost of all the respecs pre-dual spec.

Wal-Mart camping triumphs again:

Niiiice.

Got my collectors already opened and linked. Now just have to decided if I am crazy enough to stay up another hour or just go to sleep.

I'll see you there very, very soon. I even took the day off from work tomorrow...

Dave said:

I'll see you there very, very soon. I even took the day off from work tomorrow...

Click to expand...

I considered taking the day off, but I was worried it might get busy and no one covers my job (making it worst for me the next day). Told my boss earlier yesterday that I might take a half-day though since I have a lot of vacation time saved up. That way I can get in, get ahead with my work, then get out.

I will stay up for a little while more, then I'll do my morning reports through VPN. Once those are done the only thing I have to worry about happens about 10 am or so and then I'm off for the rest of the day.

Since I am basically opposed to going out at midnight, I got the digital version. OMG 8 minutes....

I took a break from raiding when my guild spent a few weeks working on LK and they down him the one night I miss a raid so that I could do something with the GF.

For Cat, I think I am going to stick to casual and running dungeons with friends. I say go with the class that you like the best and have fun with. I have a blast with my DK and will continue to DPS with him (though I do have a raid tank set and spec in case I want to use it). I also rolled a troll druid because, well, the COLORS!

I went Hardcore Casual about a year ago. I'll be honest, it was a beautiful change of pace and it really brought back a love of the game.

Spending weeks and hours a day, getting server firsts, while exciting, was way too draining and made the game a "second job". I quit a number of times due to frustration. After the switch to casual, I still raided, on my own time, still downed bosses and still got loot. No big difference.

I'm working today, but I'll be playing tonight. I considered waiting up until 2am server time, but was just too exhausted. Damn parenting!

my wife and I got our copy at midnight (just continuing our tradition) but with our schedule we won't be able to play until x-mas break (we got collector's edition x2)

Piotyr said:

I'm working today, but I'll be playing tonight. I considered waiting up until 2am server time, but was just too exhausted. Damn parenting!

Click to expand...

That's exactly what happened to me too. I bought my copy, came home, opened it up and inspected the contents. Installed the dvd and waited for everything to update. Debated calling in to work, but decided to call it a night and here I sit at work now.

Still had to be up early anyway to get them ready for school so it was a moot attempt to stay up anyway.

Looks like I will be playing sooner then I expected, though it won't be as fun as I would like. Came into work with one hell of a headache and it's been pounding me for the last two hours, going to hit the road home now to get some rest.

I was on last night until 4 am. About 2 am with nothing changed a message came across the server to log out & come back in and THEN Cata would be live! By 3:30 messages were coming across for server firsts like mining, skinning and herbing at 550.

Wow...

Dave said:

I was on last night until 4 am. About 2 am with nothing changed a message came across the server to log out & come back in and THEN Cata would be live! By 3:30 messages were coming across for server firsts like mining, skinning and herbing at 550.

Click to expand...

I imagine several players had routes planned out well in advance. Crafting professions have a bottleneck at level 84, so I don't expect them to get 550 skill immediately.

People are crazy, though.

Jiarn;457974][QUOTE=Piotyr said:

I'm working today, but I'll be playing tonight. I considered waiting up until 2am server time, but was just too exhausted. Damn parenting!

Click to expand...

That's exactly what happened to me too. I bought my copy, came home, opened it up and inspected the contents. Installed the dvd and waited for everything to update. Debated calling in to work, but decided to call it a night and here I sit at work now.

Still had to be up early anyway to get them ready for school so it was a moot attempt to stay up anyway.[/QUOTE]

I was originally going to wait a week, but I had a few minutes to kill in the morning and WoW-lust kicked in. I upgraded my account with the digital method and was able to login as a Goblin within minutes. I thought that there was going to be a download, but it ran some script when it first started up to unlock the content and then BAM! I was in.

Someone on Ghostlands just hit level 85.

12 hours.

Dave said:

Someone on Ghostlands just hit level 85.

12 hours.

Click to expand...

Hope they enjoyed themselves, because there goes 75% of the new game.

They do it every xpac. All they're going to do is either level another char or do misc stuff on their char.

Personally I'm going to level a Worgen, just to enjoy the 1-60 game fully.

Jiarn said:

They do it every xpac. All they're going to do is either level another char or do misc stuff on their char.

Personally I'm going to level a Worgen, just to enjoy the 1-60 game fully.

Click to expand...

Is there a Realm First achievement? I presume there is if there is a notification. Last night (at midnight launch) some people saying that Bliz wasn't going to do that. So I'm not sure.

For Worgen? I don't believe so. Perhaps Scytherexx can clear that up.

Jiarn said:

I don't believe so. Perhaps Scytherexx can clear that up.

Click to expand...

They removed Realm First! Race achievements, but still have Realm First! General, Class, and Professions. The person that just hit 85 got the Realm First! General Achievement (meaning the first character on the server to his 85) and the Realm First! Druid Achievement, since he was a druid class.

Really glad they got rid of those titles too.

Jiarn said:

Really glad they got rid of those titles too.

Click to expand...

They should bring the titles back as "has no life"

It's already in game, it's called "The Insane" to be nice about it.

There was an achievement in FFXI for fishing that pretty much said in not so many words "Go step outside every now and then".

Jiarn said:

It's already in game, it's called "The Insane" to be nice about it.

There was an achievement in FFXI for fishing that pretty much said in not so many words "Go step outside every now and then".

Click to expand...

The load screen for FFXIV keep telling you to go outside, don't neglect your family etc etc.

Jiarn said:

It's already in game, it's called "The Insane" to be nice about it.

There was an achievement in FFXI for fishing that pretty much said in not so many words "Go step outside every now and then".

Click to expand...

I swear on Grabthar's Hammer that if I ever level a warlock to 80 I will get him the Insane in the Membrane feat.

There are already guilds that have downed as many as 8 of the 12 raid bosses for Cataclysm already. I know they're trying to madly rush through normal mode in the first week, but it's a little crazy.

It's too bad the infinite cheese method to get to 85 quickly wasn't fixed by Blizzard until a day after release.

No different than Wrath to be honest. I remember Naxx being demolished within the first week of release.

These guilds have been testing these raids for weeks/months, they knew how to handle it, how to attack it, and how to defeat it already.

Jiarn said:

No different than Wrath to be honest. I remember Naxx being demolished within the first week of release.

Click to expand...

The issue is, you can't stop the "world first" crowd without highly overtuning the fights, at which point the 95% of players that don't care about rushing through the content are left out in the dirt. I know many people will be using the fact these guilds are downing raid bosses to complain the game is "too easy" but whatever, they are just full of hot air anyways.

At the same time, I doubt Paragon/Ensidia/vodka/Premonition just decided to call it a night without attempting the last 4 bosses (Ascendant Council, Cho'gall, Al'Akir, Nefarian), so it looks like those fights are tuned pretty difficult, even on normal (I doubt the guilds did much in the way of heroic farming prior to jumping into raids, and are banking on their knowledge of the tactics to cruise through the first raid tier). I expect after a couple days of heroic farming, they'll have the gear to clear those encounters, too, but at least they're not waltzing through all of it on day 1.

ScytheRexx;458848][QUOTE=Jiarn said:

No different than Wrath to be honest. I remember Naxx being demolished within the first week of release.

Click to expand...

The issue is, you can't stop the "world first" crowd without highly overtuning the fights, at which point the 95% of players that don't care about rushing through the content are left out in the dirt. I know many people will be using the fact these guilds are downing raid bosses to complain the game is "too easy" but whatever, they are just full of hot air anyways.[/QUOTE]

Yep. MMO champion's boards are already flooded with that.

It's cool and all, but what will be interesting is how long Heroic Modes last. I don't plan on raiding for a while anyways (at least until I find a guild that doesn't start raids at 10PM at night). I did the Stonecore yesterday for the first-ish time (I did a bit on it on Beta); it was fun and I am looking forward to running it on Heroic mode. The boss mechanics are heads and shoulders above Wrath IMO.

Piotyr said:

At the same time, I doubt Paragon/Ensidia/vodka/Premonition just decided to call it a night without attempting the last 4 bosses (Ascendant Council, Cho'gall, Al'Akir, Nefarian), so it looks like those fights are tuned pretty difficult, even on normal (I doubt the guilds did much in the way of heroic farming prior to jumping into raids, and are banking on their knowledge of the tactics to cruise through the first raid tier). I expect after a couple days of heroic farming, they'll have the gear to clear those encounters, too, but at least they're not waltzing through all of it on day 1.

Click to expand...

I am sure those people who raid together pretty much know each other and team work down to the single click. A small group coordination is possible with discipline and good communication, but I'm glad that some content "balks" them in 1st day. I'm sure these people will down the bosses sometimes within a month or less (cause that is what they do)

I am just going to enjoy the game and play. I hate to mad rush into things and get bored of it.

Jiarn;458853][QUOTE=ScytheRexx;458848][QUOTE=Jiarn said:

No different than Wrath to be honest. I remember Naxx being demolished within the first week of release.

Click to expand...

The issue is, you can't stop the "world first" crowd without highly overtuning the fights, at which point the 95% of players that don't care about rushing through the content are left out in the dirt. I know many people will be using the fact these guilds are downing raid bosses to complain the game is "too easy" but whatever, they are just full of hot air anyways.[/QUOTE]

Yep. MMO champion's boards are already flooded with that.[/QUOTE]

It's more than a bit silly when people talk about how Paragon has already killed everything in the game as an example of the game being too easy. They're Paragon; they're kind of insane that way, and they're in the top 1% of the top 1% of WoW raiding guilds.

So back to the original topic, I believe I'm going to be leveling a Worgen druid until I can afford to Race Change my level 80 druid to Worgen.

It's been a good class to me in the past, it gives me the opportunity to tank or dps depending on the situation and all the "fun" aspects of my other favorite classes are all rolled up.

I'm just going to say, I'm not very happy about the retcon about where Worgen originated from and the changes to the Scythe of Elune.

Quick question: I'm doing the 10 day trial, and playing a Worgen character. Spoilers ahead (sort of)

-

When exactly does Genn Greymane get infected? He seems totally human, then suddenly shows up when I'm talking to Crowley and says "hey, check it out, I'm a wolf too now!" Did he do that voluntarily after learning about the night elf cure? Or just get infected when I wasn't looking?

Also, is there any official statement regarding how Genn Greymane of all people from WarCraft 2, managed to get turned into a wolf? Did they deliberately choose Gilneas for the Wolf People because he had such an appropriate name? My sister was watching me play and said "Greymane? Seriously the guy's name just happens to be Greymane?" and I said "Well, actually, yeah. The character is 14+ years old" and she was like "oh. Huh."

Scythe can tell you more about the lore, but I agree the name is very Harry Potter-ish.