World of Warcraft

By Redestium
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Grand Master

Shadrack

Posted
Posted

I've had a chance now to play with my two level 70's. I haven't had a chance to play in a group yet. Probably try to get in a ZA or Kara run with my Holy Paladin tonight. So far my assessment on the patch is what other people said would happen, its like they turned WoW on "easy" mode. My impressions so far:

Holy Paladin:

They've basically lowered the playing field for all healers in the game when they changed bonus healing to just spell power. I went from having 2100+ bonus healing, to about 1050+ bonus healing. My healing spells do MORE healing because of the talent point changes. What this mean is a fresh level 70 healer can do about the same amount of healing as I can. At the moment I do not like this one bit, as it lowers the value of my items and therefore the invested time. Considering the patch is really for the expansion, where everything is going to be different anyway, no big deal. If this patch would have come out a year ago it would have made the entire end-game (from a healers perspective) trivial, if not a complete waist of time.

There is this emphases on judgements in the holy tree. This doesn't make sense to me currently, but I spec'd them thinking I'd try it out. Basically, I cast a judgement on a mob, and get a temporary increase to my spell haste. I don't like the fact that the resent Seal changes will mean that I have to cause damage to the mob in order to benefit from this affect. Healers don't need help pulling aggro. I will have to wait and see it in action.

Ultimately, it is hard to judge anything until i'm in a group casting heal spells. But the gear trivialization is apparent.

Affliction Warlock:

The new haunt ability is really cool. I do about twice as much DPS as I did pre-patch, and don't use near the amount of mana I use to. Again, the patch turned the game into easy mode. I like how the felhunter is now "the" affliction warlock's pet, as the abilities are consistent with Affliction and the new mana regen ability is a good compliment with dark pact. I've never used the felhunter in groups; always gone with the succubus or the imp depending on what the group needed. It would be nice if the felhunter turns out to have a lot more use in PvE now.

Anyway, with these changes and the nerf to gear I suspect that it will be trivial to get a competent group through Black Temple and even Sunwell. This will be nice to accomplish before the expansion for me. I still would like to down the hex lord and last boss in ZA.

Grand Master

Spyder Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
There is this emphases on judgements in the holy tree. This doesn't make sense to me currently, but I spec'd them thinking I'd try it out. Basically, I cast a judgement on a mob, and get a temporary increase to my spell haste. I don't like the fact that the resent Seal changes will mean that I have to cause damage to the mob in order to benefit from this affect. Healers don't need help pulling aggro. I will have to wait and see it in action.

Ultimately, it is hard to judge anything until i'm in a group casting heal spells. But the gear trivialization is apparent.

my thoughts on this is that blizzard is perhaps trying to encourage a holy paladin to use skills unique to their class. Personally didn't see Holy pallies judge too much prior to this when starting a fight. This also creates a synergy with Ret paladins who can refresh your judgments for you with Crusader Strike. Definitely more of a group/raid function it seems but a nice bonus nonetheless!

Grand Master

Shadrack

Posted
Posted
my thoughts on this is that blizzard is perhaps trying to encourage a holy paladin to use skills unique to their class. Personally didn't see Holy pallies judge too much prior to this when starting a fight. This also creates a synergy with Ret paladins who can refresh your judgments for you with Crusader Strike. Definitely more of a group/raid function it seems but a nice bonus nonetheless!

I would judge light in larger boss fights. It seems like the only useful seals for healing was Light and Wisdom, which are no longer useful (from a healers perspective) given the new Judgements. If Seal of Wisdom proc'd on healing spells, then it might be useful to have up. The increased distance talent point is definitly nice to see. I'm curious to what kind of DPS I can handle now given the changes. They definitly made Protection and Holy "grinding" a lot less painfully slow with this patch.

I also like the fact that I only have 2 blessings. You can have Might or you can have Wisdom. I didn't get Kings, although I regret it. I ventured into the retribution talent tree and ran out of points before I got kings.

I'll probably respec both my characters in about a week once everyone has posted their various opinions on all the talent changes. They should have given everyone a free respec after the initial :).

I'll probably spend most of my time leveling alts until the expansion comes out. Maybe even take a break from WoW.

Grand Master

Slane

Posted
Posted

Took me 5 minutes to download the patch yesterday. Did ya'll let it download in the background for the past few weeks? I did, took like 5 minutes to install and all that jazz then I was up in my realm with no problem. Got 44/50 mounts and lost way to much gold buying them all. No biggie, my guild making a push for Illidian before WoTLK and with the HP nerf, it's most likely doable, but I don't reall have the drive to push for it. So I'll just be chilling and making some more gold for King.

Grand Master

Slane

Posted
Posted
check this link out

crazy WoW gamer

a gamer owns 36 accounts and play them AT THE SAME TIME!!!! now that IS addiction...

http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.ph...D=14611881ff862

And then the 50 guy: http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.ph...mp;threadID=498

Grand Master

Prosidius

Posted
Posted

I did my first SW raid today and killed Kalecgos. That mofo went down in like 2 min. I couldnt believe it. We(tanks) were also doing 2500-3000+ TPS on mobs, it was amazing.

The guild also killed the twins for the first time so there on mu'ru.

Grand Master

the evn show

Posted
Posted

Some friends in "lesser guilds" were talking about Sunwell today and how "it's not so bad, I don't see how it took you so long to clear."

These same people had never killed Kalecgos despite a few weeks of ~70% wipes (that is to say: about 1 rotation). Today they were staring at Felmyst (and I assume getting raped by encapsulate, nova, and breath: just like they get raped by doomfire and parasites).

Likewise, we usually spend 3 days a week in there. Today, after an hour and a half in Sunwell (fresh instance) one of our warlocks had a new helm. If you haven't had a chance to do the place: ask your raid leaders to take you through. The first two bosses are a joke, drop T6 tokens, and the 4 piece bonus is viable all the way through 25-man Naxx. Sunwell is more-or-less free loot for not-clueless players now.

Without any challenge what so ever I'm really not interested in raiding on live any more. If anybody on Beta needs a healer for Chamber of Aspects: send me a PM. My priest is about still in level 70 gear: 250 haste, ~1650 spellpower, 15% crit. I'd like to 'beat' wrath before it launches and I haven't had a chance to do that encounter yet.

Also, I've got a Hello Kitty Online beta invite today: anybody want to start an end-game guild there?

Grand Master

the evn show

Posted
Posted
Seriously, dude?

Yes. There's a lot to be said for ganking, tea-bagging, and camping when you know that on the other end is an 8 year old girl and she's crying. ;)

Seriously though: what else are you going to do in warcraft? There's no significant gold sink to worry about (the 1,000g for cold weather flying is earned through quests by the time you're 75), it only takes a couple hours to clear Sunwell so the raid-week is very short. Season 4 has ended and your points reset at 71 so even that's over unless you still feel like playing 10 games/week for gear that you'll replace in about 24 hours /played anyway. With balance pretty badly messed up I don't think PVP will be much fun until 80.

Not to mention I think a healthy dose of "Candy bakers aren't viable! Nerf Puppy Herders" and other such nonsense might be a fun way to pass the time. Sort of a parody of Warcraft.

Grand Master

Slane

Posted
Posted

Haven't got mine HKOb yet evn. When I do they, I'll join ya in creating an end-game guild.

And I really want to see more content, but it's so easy now, that it just takes the fun out of it. Did an SSC clear for ****s and giggles, ****-poor easy. BT Pug got up to RoS, one shots there, not sure if they got pass RoS though.

Grand Master

perochan

Posted
Posted
A ret pally and a fury tank were top damage done in a ZA run two nights ago next to a very good mage and warlock. I don't think thats right. :p We will see how things level out around 80.

im pally tank and im 2nd in dmg while running shattered hall :p

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it

      By Jaybonaut · Posted

      Nope. That lack of surround sound capability (analog) won't fly with me. Sure, I use headphones most of the time, but still.
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it

      By Steven P. · Posted

      Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
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