WoW 5.0 - Mists of Pandaria

Man, I'm so tempted to come back once MoP drops...

AnimeJ wrote:

That actually doesn't arrive in 3 weeks; that particular Scenario, as I understand it, will run for the next 3 weeks prior to MOP's launch.

Nope, they announced that it will be available to level 85s for one week only; the week prior to the release. After that, it becomes a standard level 90 scenario I believe.

Enix wrote:

I hope to be able to group with you. Assuming the install ever gets finished.

I had my usual issue with downloading tools. Once I got that straightened out, I went straight into the Optimization Stuck at 0 Percent issue. Yippie.

I'm still holding out hope that I'll be up and running before Mists comes out. Got through optimization OK and was actually able to get the game running. Clicked through the EULAs, atched the trailer, saw the new character screens.

I still have 4+ gigs of patch stuff to DL and addons to test, so ... bah.

@ robkid: Only a few. Some nights on the early side it's just me and maybe one other. A few other folks are on later. Most of the usual raiding crew isn't on at all. But we usually have 5-6 on Saturday mornings, more than enough to roflstomp some of the old content (and to watch me die on the last two Naxx 10 bosses - comedy gold!)

If anyone wants a Scroll of Rez, please msg me. Blizzard is dangling yet another mount, and I'd love it for my collection.

I see that the pet battle stuff is in...halfway. Interesting seeing the different stats for the pets that I have.

Also I do not know what to make of the talent stuff yet.

JeffM wrote:

I see that the pet battle stuff is in...halfway. Interesting seeing the different stats for the pets that I have.

Also I do not know what to make of the talent stuff yet.

IMO, one of the neat things about the new talent system is that you can play with it endlessly. A rather common scenario is probably going to be most players carrying along lots of Dust/Tomes and possibly quickly switching out talents on the fly based on group comp or needs. I know in beta in a couple of dungeons we had someone see the comp and switch out a talent to get something that would be more useful for that particular run. I know one example was a Ret pally, though I don't recall what he changed. Another scenario I could see is a lock who normally prefers to play with Grimoire of Sacrifice (which is a pet-less approach) switching that talent out in order to bring a pet that brings a needed buff (imp, for example).

Pick whatever feels interesting, do whatever content you prefer to do, switch to something else. Just play around and have fun. Without it being a major pain to reset or having too many options, it's easier to experiment and play. I'm not sure how close they've come in reality, but Blizzard has spent a large part of the beta just trying to get the talents at any given tier balanced against each other so that nothing is "mandatory".

robkid wrote:
AnimeJ wrote:

That actually doesn't arrive in 3 weeks; that particular Scenario, as I understand it, will run for the next 3 weeks prior to MOP's launch.

Nope, they announced that it will be available to level 85s for one week only; the week prior to the release. After that, it becomes a standard level 90 scenario I believe.

Fair enough. All I'd really seen about it was a post on MMO Champ from a few days ago.

Take a nostalgic walk back to 2001....

Computer Gaming World's 10-Page Exclusive! on World of Warcraft when it back in alpha.

http://imgur.com/a/jj3m7

I made the mistake of looking in a WoW forum "post a picture of yourself" thread.

I'm old. They were all toddlers. They were, like, in diapers when that WoW article was written.

Pre-order is... pre-ordered....

And I received the 5.0 patch over the week. And now my video is rife with tearing and stutters, even at lowest settings... Ugh.. And i do so want to enjoy the new shiny. But it looks like I'll be doing some tuning first. /sadpandaren

Yes, Mists is hard on the ol' GPU. I'm running a 9800GT - serviceable, but definitely on the low end of the cards Blizzard's still supporting. The game defaulted all of my settings to fair. The game seems to run OK, but I haven't really tested it in either a BG or dungeon.

Which reminds me: Time to update my video card drivers!

Hey, I got a really elaborate phishing email this morning, well the 2nd part. The first one is an email saying that your battle.net account info was changed and then 9 days later (today) I got an email saying that my account was being sold on Ebay and the links that they wanted me to click on looked like the actual links. (I went onto the real battle.net site and found the things that they had links to and they looked almost exactly the same) The reason I know it is a phishing email is because I am able to log in and nothing was changed on any of my characters on Diablo III. (My WoW account is disabled) Also there was the fact that my account wasn't frozen and I was free to make/delete characters in Diablo. I just thought that I should pass this along, also going to post in the Diablo III thread.

I get all types of battlenet scam emails all the time, including ones for D3, which I don't own. My general rule of thumb is that if it's an unsolicited bliz e-mail, it's a scam. They rarely send me anything, and if they do it gets past the gmail spam filter, is probably in response to something I did on my account, or rarely bliz trying to tempt me back with some offer of free playtime ("prepare for pandaria").

Anyone got a scroll they could send my way?

I should. PM me your info and I'll send it along.

*dastardly double post*

PUG'd the Theramore scenario with a DK tank (those dudes are a-freakin'-mazing) and an arcane mage who didn't seem to do a lot of damage. We roflstomped it fairly quickly, even when we pulled two groups and the demo, which promptly crushed the mage.

The scenario isn't all that epic, but it's fun and I'm glad I did it. I'd do it again, especially if I get another 150 JPs for it.

Some tips:

* You don't need a tank or a healer, though it probably helps.
* Watch your health. Some of the mobs come with a pair of 85 elites, who do hurt.
* Self-heals FTW
* Watch for PATs. You don't have to kill everything but there are a lot of packs of mobs standing around looking for something to hurt.

Enix wrote:

PUG'd the Theramore scenario with a DK tank (those dudes are a-freakin'-mazing) and an arcane mage who didn't seem to do a lot of damage. We roflstomped it fairly quickly, even when we pulled two groups and the demo, which promptly crushed the mage.

The scenario isn't all that epic, but it's fun and I'm glad I did it. I'd do it again, especially if I get another 150 JPs for it.

Some tips:

* You don't need a tank or a healer, though it probably helps.
* Watch your health. Some of the mobs come with a pair of 85 elites, who do hurt.
* Self-heals FTW
* Watch for PATs. You don't have to kill everything but there are a lot of packs of mobs standing around looking for something to hurt.

The scenario is repeatable. You'll get the bag and the JPs every time you do it - even multiple times a day - but you'll only get the mailed item once: the bomb for the Horde, and the Theramore banner for the Alliance.

P.S. If you PUG it, be prepared to wait. My group popped after about 30-35 minutes.

From what I read, the issue is high, not low, demand. There's apparently not enough room on the servers to accommodate everyone who wants to do it.

Michael Zenke wrote:

... audiovisual stuff ...

Yep, that looks like an expansion's worth of content. Shiny.

Enix wrote:

P.S. If you PUG it, be prepared to wait. My group popped after about 30-35 minutes.

I was in the queue for about 5 mins this morning before it popped. We rolled through nicely with a holy pal who went prot halfway through and a warlock who nuked the crap out of everything.

Got 160 JPs for about 15 mins work. Not bad at all.

Enix wrote:
Enix wrote:

P.S. If you PUG it, be prepared to wait. My group popped after about 30-35 minutes.

I was in the queue for about 5 mins this morning before it popped. We rolled through nicely with a holy pal who went prot halfway through and a warlock who nuked the crap out of everything.

Got 160 JPs for about 15 mins work. Not bad at all.

Carg, Blue and I steam rolled through it last night - if you can grab two other people in a group before queuing you don't have to wait at all.

I haven't played since the last expansion. Don't think I have a character past 40 and I tend to restart at each expansion. I'll probably pop for Mists because the idea of a Kung Fu Panda is kind of cool.

Been kind of thinking about getting back to WoW and seeing how it is before the expansion. Stopped after dabbling with the dungeons early in Cataclysm. Got a couple of my characters to 85. Never got back to leveling through the new content though. Wondering if it is worth it to dabble in this expansion or not.

If you've played before and you're not currently active, make sure you get someone to hook you up with a Scroll of Resurrection. You get a free Cataclysm upgrade and can boost one character to level 80 if you want to. Your account has to have been inactive since at least March 4, 2012.

I will happily send a Scroll of Resurrection to anyone, just PM me your email address (click BadKen over there on the left, scroll down to the bottom my profile, and click Write Private Message). I have an ulterior motive: I want the sexy mount the Scroll of Resurrection sender gets when the recipient pays for a month of WoW.

BadKen wrote:

Your account has to have been inactive since at least March 4, 2012.

This expansion I´ll be sure to quit early to be eligible for the next round of rescurrections. One month too late this time...
I´m pretty stoked to get back though. Too bad work is sucking up so much energy atm.

Le0hart85 wrote:

Been kind of thinking about getting back to WoW and seeing how it is before the expansion. Stopped after dabbling with the dungeons early in Cataclysm. Got a couple of my characters to 85. Never got back to leveling through the new content though. Wondering if it is worth it to dabble in this expansion or not.

Here's my take:

After a long layoff (say a year, other than burning one scroll of resurrection from BadKen), there's enough game updates, tweaks, and changes ahead of the expansion to make the game feel "all new".

The old grind is still there (hey, it's World of Warcraft, what do you expect?), but a lot of the fiddly bits have been streamlined.

Now, whether or not you should jump back in really depends on how much you loved Blizzard's content despite the grind, and how much a streamlined WoW appeals to you in light of that.

Me? I take a look at the Achievements and Dungeons teased in game, and I want to explore the Valley of the Four Winds. I also want to defeat the bosses on the Terrace of Eternal Summer. Taking my NE Warrior into Blizzard's Pandaren Asia sounds like a blast to me!

YMMV, of course.

mateo wrote:

Here's my take:

The old grind is still there (hey, it's World of Warcraft, what do you expect?), but a lot of the fiddly bits have been streamlined.

Now, whether or not you should jump back in really depends on how much you loved Blizzard's content despite the grind, and how much a streamlined WoW appeals to you in light of that.

Me? I take a look at the Achievements and Dungeons teased in game, and I want to explore the Valley of the Four Winds. I also want to defeat the bosses on the Terrace of Eternal Summer. Taking my NE Warrior into Blizzard's Pandaren Asia sounds like a blast to me!

YMMV, of course.

What Mateo said except for the part about a long layoff. I'm pretty addicted to WoWcrack and have signed up for Panderia. Or will, once I actually buy the x-pac.

The game is a lot more casual-friendly these days. You still have to put in the seat time if you want to keep up. But there's no real penalty for doing things at your own pace. This morning, for instance, I finally knocked off the Dragon Soul achievement thanks to the Looking for Raid tool. Sure, the Deathwing I killed was a lot weaker than the heroic version. But he's still stone-cold dead, and I got to see what all the fuss about. That's a win in my book.

Feel free to hit me up also if you want a Scroll of Rez - and just think, you'll be in good with the GM.

I still require dinner and a movie for anything else.

*ding*

my email wrote:

Your Amazon.com order of "World of Warcraft: Mists o..." has shipped!

Here it comes. Not long now.