World of Warcraft - lol wow sux, *plays Rift*, lol back 2 wow

[Homercles82]

3mhvSXygHs4

Today is the last day of Cata for a while, I already have one 85 and 2 83's. Too frustrated with melee ineffectiveness to go on any longer, one of the bosses isn't even beatable with my paladin

Are you missing a lot? I had to reforge a lot of my gear to reach 8% hit. I got rid of a ton of mastery but that is the last stat I need to focus on.

[gbear]

I have to admit I laughed when I did that quest.

[Destino]

Today is the last day of Cata for a while, I already have one 85 and 2 83's. Too frustrated with melee ineffectiveness to go on any longer, one of the bosses isn't even beatable with my paladin

I had the opposite experience. My warlock is on the shelf in favor of an enhance shaman that is easily putting out 10k dps. The paladin I play with is doing more dps than I am and typically stays with me on interrupts.

[Capt. Kaos]

The first one's free...

haha! Don't I know it. It's been a few hours and it's like I never left, well except I have no idea what's going on, everything looks different, there are worgen and goblins running around, I spent most of the day underwater, and my purples are being replaced with greens.

Sometimes I wish for good ol' vanilla content.

[Homercles82]

I had the opposite experience. My warlock is on the shelf in favor of an enhance shaman that is easily putting out 10k dps. The paladin I play with is doing more dps than I am and typically stays with me on interrupts.

I cry everytime I look at a damage meter when I am doing heroics on my mage. That has always been a point of contention for me with the mage class. Mages have been called "glass cannons" by the Devs but that doesn't mean much when all the other classes are out cannoning my cannon. I still enjoy my mage but as for now, I am loving my goblin rogue, even though my name got reported.

I had to change his name from Takeadoodoo to Dwyzywyck.

[ixcuincle]

I usually play WoW for a month and then take about 4 months off until the next run. Sometimes I wish I could play more consistently like every month, but then I wouldn't be able to play my other games (WoW can be addictive :|)

Anyway I checked my character today and already the guild name has changed when I was away.

Here are my characters and you can check them out and suggest revisions for when I return in May.

Shadow / Holy Priest

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/drakthul/goldywn/simple

DPS Warrior

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/drakthul/shannity/

DPS Paladin

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/drakthul/joegibbs/

[Devastate]

I had the opposite experience. My warlock is on the shelf in favor of an enhance shaman that is easily putting out 10k dps. The paladin I play with is doing more dps than I am and typically stays with me on interrupts.

I had this problem so did a little research, changed over to Destro and modified my very outdated rotation. Now I get 10k DPS without even trying on my warlock. I'm usually around the 12-14 range with a item level of 350something. Since I've made the change, on Bosses I've never not been first in DPS, mages, hunters, rogues, shammies..

Last night did Grim Batol with the guild group was a enc sham, mage.. They didn't even sniff me.

[KDawg]

I was extremely tempted to buy this game today. Like I've said 100 times, I played EQ for 2-3 years when it first came out. Then I got a life and was unable to commit to it fully.

I miss the MMO atmosphere, but more specifically, I like building up characters. That's fun for me. But with my time crunch (I'm talking 5-6 hours a week at most, unless I somehow find more time) I can't justify the monthly charge. Argh.

[ixcuincle]

That's how most MMO games go nowadays, like it or not. The proper way to handle it is to do what I do and play for one month, then take a few months off.

The game has a well-earned rap of being addictive, but you can also manage your time and play casually.

Just go get it, its' the best MMO right now

[Homercles82]

I was extremely tempted to buy this game today. Like I've said 100 times, I played EQ for 2-3 years when it first came out. Then I got a life and was unable to commit to it fully.

I miss the MMO atmosphere, but more specifically, I like building up characters. That's fun for me. But with my time crunch (I'm talking 5-6 hours a week at most, unless I somehow find more time) I can't justify the monthly charge. Argh.

5-6 hours a week with the new XP changes you could level relatively quickly. Find a guild that is at least level 10, so you get the extra XP bonuses, either +5% or +10% and have at it. If you played 5 hours a week that would be around 20 hours a month and at $15 a month it's kind of a good bargain.

[Devastate]

I was extremely tempted to buy this game today. Like I've said 100 times, I played EQ for 2-3 years when it first came out. Then I got a life and was unable to commit to it fully.

I miss the MMO atmosphere, but more specifically, I like building up characters. That's fun for me. But with my time crunch (I'm talking 5-6 hours a week at most, unless I somehow find more time) I can't justify the monthly charge. Argh.

Wait for the Old Republic to come out.

[Homercles82]

I am reaching a point where I may take a long break. DPS queues are insanely high on my server group. 40 minutes during primetime on a Saturday night. It is typically 35 minutes. I had no problem with the wait times in WOTLK. Typically 16 to 19 minutes. Ever since they doubled up on server groups exactly what many said would happen, happened. So, now I wait in a 40 minute queue to get into a heroic that takes at least an hour. Hooray I guess?

I have a Death Knight sitting there that I could tank with but I enjoy playing my mage more. I prefer caster classes.

The idea was to create a larger pool of tanks and healers but they also doubled the amount of DPS waiting to queue. I am not into raiding and dailies are boring to me. I am getting into archaeology, but I have 10,000 gold and nothing to spend it on. Why make more money? I guess I could be a miser or a loan shark. I may just go start running old raids by myself for achievements.

I am trying to wait for my friend to get back from Afghanistan but thats a month out. Maybe I can make it?

[Devastate]

To the above ^^ I have the same problem on my server (Draenor) 35-40 minute queues.. THat's why I joined a guild and made friends with the healers and tanks real quick. Even if we can't fill the group with guildies just having a tank or healer in the queue with me cuts that time in half. Most of the time I immediately get a group this way.

[Homercles82]

To the above ^^ I have the same problem on my server (Draenor) 35-40 minute queues.. THat's why I joined a guild and made friends with the healers and tanks real quick. Even if we can't fill the group with guildies just having a tank or healer in the queue with me cuts that time in half. Most of the time I immediately get a group this way.

We have tanks but you never see them on unless it is a raiding night. It is funny we have the largest Horde guild on the server, to my knowledge, but no one tanks.

[ixcuincle]

The DPS wait should be enough to have you switch or dualspec classes to tanks or healing.

Every time I am tempted to come back, I remember how long the wait is for instances. It wasn't even this long for Lich King.

Anyway the Vikings punter Chris Kluwe plays WoW , also said he likes playing football but doesn't like watching it (he wasn't really watching the NFC Championship game)

That guy rocks

[Homercles82]

The DPS wait should be enough to have you switch or dualspec classes to tanks or healing.

Every time I am tempted to come back, I remember how long the wait is for instances. It wasn't even this long for Lich King.

Anyway the Vikings punter Chris Kluwe plays WoW , also said he likes playing football but doesn't like watching it (he wasn't really watching the NFC Championship game)

That guy rocks

I can't tank or heal on my mage. Plus, it is my favotire class!

[KDawg]

With all the complaints, and the monthly fee, I may just try EQ2 Extended (free, although limited) and wait for Guild Wars Dos to come out.

[ixcuincle]

Don't be deterred by our complaints. The game isn't perfect, but there's no doubt it's the most popular and best MMO right now. It's insanely fun but you'll have to buy the full game, plus 3 expansions, if you're starting all the way from scratch.

[KDawg]

Don't be deterred by our complaints. The game isn't perfect, but there's no doubt it's the most popular and best MMO right now. It's insanely fun but you'll have to buy the full game, plus 3 expansions, if you're starting all the way from scratch.

Yeah. All that + monthly fee is really holding me at bay. Guild Wars seems more up my alley due to time/$ concerns. Although I'd like to play this more... The other concerns seem to make more sense in going with the lesser game with more flexibility in terms of time/$.

[Homercles82]

Yeah. All that + monthly fee is really holding me at bay. Guild Wars seems more up my alley due to time/$ concerns. Although I'd like to play this more... The other concerns seem to make more sense in going with the lesser game with more flexibility in terms of time/$.

You don't need to buy all 4 games at once. Buy World of Warcraft. You can play to level 60 in the new areas, just not as Goblins or Worgens. If you like it from there purchase the expansions as you go. They do put them on sale at various times.

You get 30 days of free play and you can always go the referral route. You get XP bonus and whoever referred you gets the bonus as well when you level together! I'd be more than happy to be your referral

If you want a referral, PM me your email address. When I get home tonight I will shoot you an invite. That gets you a 14 day trial, then if you sign up from there after purchasing World of Warcraft (not the expansions, just the original game) you get another 30 days of free playtime.

[Devastate]

Don't be deterred by our complaints. The game isn't perfect, but there's no doubt it's the most popular and best MMO right now. It's insanely fun but you'll have to buy the full game, plus 3 expansions, if you're starting all the way from scratch.

Most popular? by a mile... Most fun? we can debate that all day long..

Someone mentioned EQ2 Extended. Not sure what is excluded in the free version but I can tell you for me the full version of the game was so above and beyond what WOW is fun wise. EQ2 has just thought of things WOW hasn't. It's a blast to play, but friends all moved their toons to a PVP server, and PVP on eq2 just plain sucks..

Part of the downside of how big WOW is, is it stiffles other less known games that are just as good if not better, yet don't get the attention. Not saying WOW is bad, I play it because my friends play it.. If all my friends were to stop playing tomorrow, I'd be back on EQ2 in a heart beat.

[Homercles82]

I think there are 2 big things that make WoW hard to stomach right now.

1. Random Dungeon Finder, or LFD - it was a great idea to start with, but it is nearly impossible to find groups on your server now. Long gone are the days of "LF2M for Instance X, need healer and any DPS." If you post that now chances are you will get multiple people telling you to use the LFD tool. No one wants to foster the community it seems, unless you are in a raiding guild or PVP guild. Pre-LFD days you made groups with people on your server and you created bonds with other players. You knew who to avoid and you added people to your friends list who you could count on. 2 of my closest friends in game were people I found randomly while playing the game. We quested together, instanced together, PVP'ed and formed a moderately successful guild.

2. Ease of WOTLK heroics - "GO TANK GO" was the mantra in WOTLK heroics, and boy has that changed people's perception of the game. Herocis became laughably easy in WOTLK due to how easy the gear was to acquire to make you nearly invincible. Crowd control was all but gone as well. Blizzard recognized this mistake and tried to correct it in Cataclysm but people began to complain. In my opinion, the Cataclysm Heroics are about as hard as the non-heroic dungeons from Vanilla WoW. In the early days of WoW heroic dungeons didn't exits but when you entered an instance such as Scholomance or Upper Blackrock Spire, you could expect to spend at least an hour in there and wipes were common. If a warlock was present, a soulstone was mandatory for the healer, shamans had their ankhs and druids had their acorns for battle ressurections. The Burning Crusade took instances to a new level. Some packs of mobs in certain instances were downright brutal and required flawless execution of crowd control and spell interuptions to beat. Admittedtly, the pendulums swung far to the "hard" side in TBC, whereas in WOTLK it swung to the easier side of things.

I know gear made WOTLK heroics easy as pie, but even before people were geared out, I never had issues with them. The game felt like a run-and-gun first person shooter instead of something epic, or at least semi-epic.

This is how epic instances were when WoW first came out. I remember in March of 2005 at level 13 entering Ragefire Chasm instance in Orgrimmar for the first time. I was completely amazed at how awesome it was to be in there. Then when I started raiding after Molten Core came out, it was breathtaking.

The only thing to create that sense of amazement for me since then has been the first time I fought, and downed, the Lich King.

My two cents.

[KDawg]

You don't need to buy all 4 games at once. Buy World of Warcraft. You can play to level 60 in the new areas, just not as Goblins or Worgens. If you like it from there purchase the expansions as you go. They do put them on sale at various times.

You get 30 days of free play and you can always go the referral route. You get XP bonus and whoever referred you gets the bonus as well when you level together! I'd be more than happy to be your referral

If you want a referral, PM me your email address. When I get home tonight I will shoot you an invite. That gets you a 14 day trial, then if you sign up from there after purchasing World of Warcraft (not the expansions, just the original game) you get another 30 days of free playtime.

I'll have to think about it. I really don't have the time commitment for WoW. That's one of the main factors. Same for EQ2, or Rift, or any of these monthly games. Sure a trial would be good, but once that 44 days is up, I'm stuck paying for a game that I can't really play.

[ixcuincle]

I didn't want to post about it initially, but it seems after reading the above posts that those Cata dungeons are pretty crappy. Occasionally the WoW blog I read has a post complaining about Stonecore Heroic. I haven't had a chance to try the heroics yet, but many of the dungeons are mediocre, and Halls of Origination takes forever to finish. Another complaint that is likely going to be fixed (if it hasn't already) is how the Blackrock and the underwater dungeon aren't available at 85. I didn't bother visiting them at 80-82 and then when I need to visit them at 83 I can't because they aren't in the finder.

I miss the old Lich King dungeons (except for HoR, the notorious dungeon which once had a One hour and 20 minute wait, yes, I waited that long just to get in). Maybe it's just familiarity with those instances, during my last days of my last subscription I couldn't motivate myself to run any of the random dungeons even though I needed gear.

[Destino]

I didn't want to post about it initially, but it seems after reading the above posts that those Cata dungeons are pretty crappy. Occasionally the WoW blog I read has a post complaining about Stonecore Heroic. I haven't had a chance to try the heroics yet, but many of the dungeons are mediocre, and Halls of Origination takes forever to finish. Another complaint that is likely going to be fixed (if it hasn't already) is how the Blackrock and the underwater dungeon aren't available at 85. I didn't bother visiting them at 80-82 and then when I need to visit them at 83 I can't because they aren't in the finder.

I miss the old Lich King dungeons (except for HoR, the notorious dungeon which once had a One hour and 20 minute wait, yes, I waited that long just to get in). Maybe it's just familiarity with those instances, during my last days of my last subscription I couldn't motivate myself to run any of the random dungeons even though I needed gear.

Stonecore is easy as pie if you know what to do. Halls take long but has 7 bosses so your chance for gear is higher than others and rep rewards are much higher as well.

You just need a good tank (I know because I tank and dps, and when I tank all the instances are easy.)