WoW: Battle for Azeroth (8.3)

Shadout wrote:

Some kind of progression is really what I would need to stay interested long-term. After 1 year or so, add Burning Crusade, then Wotlk etc. Start new vanilla servers to replace them.

I haven't followed things closely but I believe that's the whole idea. They launch classic, then at some point the do the AQ event, then later burning crusade, etc.

It is not an idea they have confirmed at least. Afaik they only haven't flat out denied it could ever happen.

fenomas wrote:
Shadout wrote:

Some kind of progression is really what I would need to stay interested long-term. After 1 year or so, add Burning Crusade, then Wotlk etc. Start new vanilla servers to replace them.

I haven't followed things closely but I believe that's the whole idea. They launch classic, then at some point the do the AQ event, then later burning crusade, etc.

They do have a like 6-phase rollout plan for features. That way every raid from Onyxia and Molten Core through Naxxramus has a chance to be "current" content. They haven't announced any plans for anything past Naxx.

Naxx being original Naxx right? Not northrend NAxx?

I am pretty sure it will be classic 40m Naxx from what I can gather.

Attunements for raids will need to be done also.

40-person Naxx over the Plaguelands.

To be fair, VERY LITTLE changed between Vanilla and WotLK Naxx, outside of a few mechanical tweaks. Rather than using orbs to MC the minions for that one fight, you need Priests... the Four Horseman are a bit more complicated, but a lot of those bosses were pretty similar, just tuned differently.

Honestly, that's the thing I think is going to "kill" a lot of guilds, MC is dead easy minus like the DPS check that is Ragnaros's add phase. Dungeon bosses in Mythic+ have more mechanics than like the whole of MC. XD Like I'm excited to try it from a different perspective (going Horde tank rather than Alliance Healer), but I don't think people are going to realize how quickly some of this stuff is going to get steamrolled... and then how hard some of the walls to hit are going to be when it comes time to need specific pieces of gear (see tank reqs for 4Horsemen).

I'm kind of assuming all the early progression in classic will have no skill checks, but lots of commitment checks. I mean there will be hardcore raiding guilds who do all the, I don't even remember, dark iron dwarf stuff to get all the fire resist gear before MC, but presumably a lot of people wont, but will still want to try out raids since they know all the mechanics etc.

I think it's anyone's guess how it'll all turn out, whether the balance of players revels in the challenge or everyone bails almost immediately (but uses their renewed subscription to check in on the main game, which could of course be blizzard's plan).

Personally I have a feeling that I may wind up doing zero raids but lots of battlegrounds. My memories of classic BGs are very fond.

When did they add the level lock for people to abuse BGs?

fenomas wrote:

Personally I have a feeling that I may wind up doing zero raids but lots of battlegrounds. My memories of classic BGs are very fond.

This is where I'm at as well. Before the cross server stuff was introduced, my fondest memories of WoW pvp (and really pvp in any game) were from competing against specific alliance players/guilds all the time. Malygos was like 98%/2% alliance to horde so we were always the under dog, which added to the atmosphere.

But man...between the level grind and the "bugs" I don't think I have it in me to get to 60.

lunchbox12682 wrote:

When did they add the level lock for people to abuse BGs?

Late in vanilla I think. Definitely before BC, around the time of the update that finally made resto druids viable (I think swiftmend was added then?).

Because folks were talking about pet battles recently and because i just got to Naz a week or so ago and am knocking out pet battles there ... it looks like the two must-have pets are Unborn Val'kyr (wild in Northrend zones) and Ikky (quest reward from Warlords).

Those are two must-have pets anyway. Get 'em if you want to get seriously into pet battles.

Speaking of Naz, it's going fine - 4K/12K toward revered after two weeks of not-very-consistent play. It's taking longer than I hoped but I'm seeing progress. I'm pretty patient w WoW -- I'll get there when I get there.

The two things I weren't expecting were getting lost constantly (much like Argus in the last x-pac) and getting murdered pretty regularly. I'm rocking a ~405 ret paladin who's usually pretty durable but my aggro range seems to be a one-mile radius, and some of those mobs are lethal, even with a bodyguard. It's weird having to be careful again when I get destroy most things in the regular BfA zones in like three hits.

I'm going to hit revered in Naz and head over to Mech. I hear the grind is slower but I love mechanical stuff (Engineer For Life) so it's all good.

I think thisis the first time they have really spelled out that Classic might move unto the other expansions. Would be really nice. It still is a bit of a non-answer to say you will 'listen to your customers' of course.

Q: What are the plans after Phase 6? More content for classic or moving to TBC?
A: We’ve done most of the hard work by bringing back 1.12 so progressing to Burning Crusade would be a lot easier for us. Our plan is to identify everything we need to do should we ever decide to go this route. We want to be sensitive to the desires of our players. Some may want BC and some may not. We’ll be following the Classic community closely to help determine what our next steps should be.

Update: The two new rep grinds aren't terrible at all. After four days of pretty concentrated play, I hit honored in Mech. I figure if I can get 1K rep a day, that's 11 more days. Considering I get more rep than that per session (closer to 1.5K) and I don't play daily, that's about two more weeks in RL time till I can fly. Not bad!

The Waveblade Ankoan were a little trickier. That took about three weeks in RL time to get to revered, mostly because I was still kinda squishy (pro tip: Go get the punchcard in Mech unless you're raid-geared) and because I didn't realize that the quest alllllll the way on the eastern edge of Nazj was the one that activated the flight whistle.

I'm at 12K/21K toward exalted w the Waveblade. I figure exalted will be easy enough with emissary, the weekly lab quest and some dailies to collect more pearls.

I'm not sure about exalted with Mech, tho. I'm sure I'll grind it out eventually because there's a Bling 7K waiting for me at the end of it, and it's one more rep toward 100. Short term, tho, I think it's time to level another toon and try for some achieves.

Update: 1,500 a day seems to be a more reasonable estimate for daily Mechagon rep. The main quest is worth 850, and there are usually enough dailies and rares to get another ~700 or so.

I have to admit that energy cells are the weirdest resource ever. I was hoarding the few that I had. Don't want to blow 'em on something dumb, right? But when the energizer thing was up, I went from 10 to about 60 in a couple of minutes. Huh.

Just what the updated thread title says.

Not much of a patch. Some highlights:

* New bee mount (Alliance only; suck it Horde)

* Firelands Timewalking Raid

* 15th anniversary, w retro raids (min iLvl of 380) and retro AV BG

* Bunch of other stuff that's only mildly interesting

One big change if you're farming up gold to buy some of those high-dollar mounts: Once your Heart of Azeroth hits lvl 70, WQs that give AP will give you gold or war resource instead.

Gold, yay War resources, c'mon. I've got 20K worth on my main and I can't give it to my other toons fast enough. I wish I had that sort of problem with my RL bank account or my 401(k).

Got the lovely BLZBNTAGT00000BB8 (oops, something broke) error yesterday.

After every official and unofficial "fix" failed to solve the issue, I am reinstalling. Whee.

Earlier than expected, but also a bit lighter than expected

But, but, but...Worgen models!

thrawn82 wrote:

Earlier than expected, but also a bit lighter than expected

Yep on both counts. There seems to be a bunch of 8.2 stuff I haven't yet gotten around to.

I don't think we see an 8.3. Or, if we do, it will be Siege of Stormwind or Siege of Org as a finale to the war campaign.

I think the new model work looks great but there is nothing content wise and I find it pretty telling that they decided to skip the legacy armor for Worgen and Gobos.

I think Blizz is eager to put BfA behind them and just move on. The expansion has been poorly recieved and much like WoD, there is no benefit from an additional "Faralon" zone.

I would be shocked if there isn't an 8.3 already in the pipeline. The alternative is another year plus gap with no content until the next x-pac releases... and that would be really bad.

Looking through the patch notes, there's quite a bit here for a x.y.5 patch. The issue is most of the things are anniversary remixes of old content. That's where all the resources went. Unfortunately all the nostalgia thunder was stolen by WoW Classic so 8.2.5 seems particularly underwhelming.

It also seems really light on the balance updates. Maybe they aren't needed in the grand scheme of things, but it still feels like my Windwalker needs some sustained-DPS love.

thrawn82 wrote:

I would be shocked if there isn't an 8.3 already in the pipeline. ...

7.2.5 (because I looked it up) had the Tomb of Sargeras raid and the Chromie scenario -- relatively minor, but much more substantive than 8.2.5

7.3 was Argus. 8.3 will be ... ? No one seems to know. Even the speculation is all over the place.

But Blizzcon starts Nov. 1, and all will be revealed then.

Unless you're a sweaty HC raider, I guess we're in the usual mid-expansion lull. Time to level some alts, grind out some reps and knock out some of those old achievements you've always wanted to do.

Update: Here's a 7.2.5 stealth change I can get behind: You can use Galvanic Oscillators to make Chain Ignitercoils (and vice-versa).

Now if I can find a use for all the damned War Resources I've stockpiled ...

that rate seems weird. i have stacks on stacks of oscillators and almost no chain coils

Mine are pretty even. The weird thing is I have 100+ energy cells after having almost none for my first week in Mech.

It's the new War Resources!

Energy cels always came cheap for me, i wasn;t noticing the empty on4es drop, but every time the recharger was up i would get 20-30 charged

I'm beginning to think the Bee Mount is a giant trick being played on the Alliance.

Trying to find Thin Jelly out in the wild is super-grindy. The Netherwing grind -- remember trying to find those eggs? -- is probably the closest comparison.

And may god have mercy on the souls of those who start the bee event without a crowd around them. If the Alliance could perma-Alt-F4 folks for doing that, there would be a lot fewer retail accounts.

Oh so much angst and whinning about the beevent.

I did just get myself to revered and can say the task is MUCH less onerous with the bee goggles. they should really have been available at honored IMO