Warlords Beta starting up

[Benggal]

Just days after announcing the Warlords of Draenor alpha it seems they really WERE further along in the process of getting the expansion done because tons of information about the beta client is being datamined these past few days (including a launch screen actually stating "Beta (x64)".  mmo-champion.com has all of the data, as per usual, and I recommend everyone taking a look, specifically at all of the class changes. 

EVERYONE is pretty much going to have to relearn their class this next expansion since they're cutting out a lot of abilities (and, presumably, baking their benefits into passives or combining them with other abilities) to get rid of the "ability bloat".  They're also cutting out a lot of CC from everyone across the board, so I assume their dungeon designs will be adapted more to the past "AoE the hell out of everything" approach and not so much the "you CC X, I'll CC square, you CC triangle" strategies employed in some of the more nail-biting heroics.

I will admit I was pretty daunted by the sheer amount of things that were on the chopping block (which, for me, included several hunter abilities I've used daily since starting my hunter), but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and see how it plays before I pass judgement on it.  I see their reasoning for trimming some of the fat...I'm just not yet fully convinced all of it was fat.

[Ultimus]

I know when I heard the original announcement of "end of the year" for the expansion I was shocked.

I did realize it was a fluid date, more specifically meaning, BEFORE the end of the year... meaning sooner if possible.


I truly hope so, because WoW is withering on the vine....

[Benggal]

I still think the earliest would be September, but I think even when WoW loses a lot of subs between now and then there'll be enough stuff forthcoming to get people to re-up.  I'm really liking a lot of what I'm seeing from the Alpha.

I'll still be sticking with it.  Not that I ever see any of you guys anymore, but I still enjoy the game and I don't see that changing anytime soon.  I've tried just about every other MMO that's come out the past 8-10 years--Beta testing quite a slew of them--and I've never found one I liked more than WoW.

So...you're stuck with me.  I'll probably end up being the one turning out the lights when everyone else has left the party.

[Ultimus]

Yea. WoW is still my definite choice for an MMO.

The free ones just are missing soo much.

The paid for ones make you wonder why they aren't free.


I may take a brief break between now and Warlords, however.

[Benggal]

EVERYONE should take breaks.  It helps prevent burnout.

The past three months I've only logged on about two weeks' worth.  I wanted to play some of the backlog of games I've had on my Steam account for the past year.  Now I'm starting to get that WoW itch again so I'll probably be on more often soon leveling up one of my other characters. :)

[Dave]

And then there's Guild Wars II: yes, you have to buy the game, but there's no monthly fee, and you're NOT gimped for not subscribing. Subscriptions aren't even an option. You only get five character slots for free, but that's more than most non-altaholics will need (yes, I've purchased a couple extra character slots).

WoW's a lot of fun, and I miss it sometimes, but I don't miss the monthly fee. I'll probably jump on a lifetime sub if they ever offer it, but until then my sporadically-playing self is happy without the recurring charge.

You can group with friends on other servers for PvE and some PvP, but I'm on Devona's Rest if you want to get together on the World-vs-World battleground.

<edit>

Good news for craftaholics: crafting materials have their own slots in the "collections" part of the shared bank, you can deposit collection items (including crafting mats) from anywhere in the world, and crafting stations automatically use the materials from your collections. Finally got more than a stack of 250 copper ore, and the excess is taking up space in your pack? Have an alt smelt your ore into bars and re-deposit them into the "copper bar" slot of your collection. You can also access the auction house from anywhere, so you could just sell your excess (although you still need to go to town to pick up cash from sales or get an item you bought).

Also, everything about the game encourages you to help other people and adventure together. Crafting nodes are per-player, so it doesn't matter if someone harvests it while you're fighting off a mob that jumped you: it's still there for you. Worried about some pinhead killing the named mob that spawned for your quest (they call them events)? Not only do you get credit if he kills it, but he automatically gets the event (quest) when he gets near it, and you both get the reward.

As cool as the game is, though, I still don't get on much, and about none at all during the week. I'd be overjoyed to help out and show people around on a weekend, though. :D

[Benggal]

I bought and played GW2 ages ago.  Got bored very quickly with much of it and wasn't terribly impressed with the rest.  Gave it up completely after a month.  Sorry.

[Benggal]

It's starting today...and I'm in!  Of course this time around I suspect they're going to give it to just about everyone who's still a paying customer...

I'll be able to get a week in before I'm on vacation for a week, but I expect the beta will be going on all Summer long anyway.  I guess I'll finally get to see first hand just how all of that ability pruning has affected my class, since that's been my sole major worry thus far.  Hopefully most of the stuff I really liked has just been baked into other abilities instead of outright removed.  *sigh*

[Zanzier]

Just entered in on the Wowhead website.

2000 keys over the next six weeks.

[Benggal]

Good luck, though I have to say:  The later you get in, the better.

I started on day one and it is a bear just trying to do the simplest things.  Naturally this is what beta is all about, but this early on I'm lucky if I even stay connected longer than 10 minutes at a time.  This is just my personal experience from the introductory quest line and about 3/4 of the first zone in about a 48 hour period.  I fully expect everything to go through several revisions in the next couple of months, and I'm already looking forward to being able to complete the quest lines without bugs, disconnects, server lag, NYI content and such cropping up every 5 minutes.

The introductory quest line is neat, though it was very barebones and still needs to be fleshed out with voice acting, cinematics and, in some areas, textures.  Upon completion, we were all dumped back into Orgrimmar because the transition to the next zone wasn't complete yet.  That was rather funny.

We're directed to a mini-Dark portal in Org to continue the quest line for the time being, and that essentially leads up to you creating your first Garrison.  I'm still not entirely sure about everything concerning them because, naturally, a LOT of stuff is still NYI in the beta (lots of dead-end quest lines, PH loot/NPCs, etc.), but I think I like the direction that's going in.

As far as the "Savagery" of Draenor...I'm not feeling it much.  Granted this could be because I'm in ilvl 550+ gear and combat hasn't been tuned completely yet, but I don't feel as if my life is in danger much...yet.  This is still pretty much the opening zone.  Oh, speaking of combat, as a BM Hunter I don't feel that the ability prune has crippled me much.  I DO miss having Serpent Sting on my rotation (that goes to Survival Hunters only now, I think), and I have to make a tough choice now on one of my talents, but overall they did a nice job of turning abilities into passives or baking them into other abilities.  I don't feel like I'm needing to adapt too much yet.  I can't yet speak for other classes, though I haven't heard much whining in-game from others on that subject.

Not being able to fly for a while will, in my opinion, be a major pain in the ass.  I don't notice it so much while leveling (much like previous expansions), but I can already tell that relying on the existing flight points and shanks mare will be pretty galling.  HOPEFULLY they don't decide to keep flying out of the expansion altogether (they haven't definitively said one way or the other yet), but waiting until the first major patch after release is going to be a ball-ache, I think.  Again, this is all based on very early beta, so perhaps more FP's and other modes of transportation will be put in between now and release, but as I see it currently it's a bit frustrating.

The storyline quests thus far have been pretty decent, and if you're a fan of the Lore then you'll be treated, no doubt.  Again, it's all going to need a LOT of polish before it's ready for consumption, but I can see the shape of it under the rough exterior and it seems pretty fun.

[Zanzier]

I totally agree on the part of getting in later, rather than sooner, would be best.

Lord knows I learned my lesson the hard way with STO's release. I was so disgusted with the play, bugs, dead-ends, that I quit and never looked back.
If I had waited a few months, with all of their changes, I 'might' still be playing it.............but alas, it was not meant to be.
At least with beta, I don't spent a dime, and if it gets too horrible, I'll jut put it aside until the next patch, try it for a day, and go from there.