official World of Warcraft

[firey]

Yea because a Mexican mum getting 25 years for starving her child is totally Warcraft related!

It is...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) ? A New Mexico woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the death of her young daughter, who withered away from malnutrition and dehydration while the mother spent hours chatting and playing World of Warcraft online.

[Shaun N.]

Oops should have read more into it - That woman clearly has issues, Can't fix stupid.

[the evn show]

I know you personally hated attuning. But there could be some form of attunement that is either attainable via 5man content or by doing raids. They could make dungeons/5man content a lot more tedious to go through, and raiding be the cleanest shot.

I quite liked the onyxia attunement apart from the "Where's Rexar" portion and "anybody have the UBRS key?" bits. I thought the Karazhan and Scholomance key quests were also pretty well done. I like the sort of attunement that you can do mostly solo and where group components aren't at odds with the goals of the other people you're doing things with.

The group components for horde onyxia were 3x3-man "kill some random world mobs" (annoying) and "clear UBRS twice" which are things you'd probably want to do before you started raiding anyway. Karazhan attunement was to clear a handful of normal mode dungeons, something you'd want to do while leveling up anyway.

The problems start to show when you require 55 minute Shattered Halls: something beyond the reach of people in my 25-man raid due to class imbalances and certainly not anything you'd want to pug. Killing raid bosses and obnoxious side quests (jailbreak for alliance onyxia) also don't work IMO.

They could make dungeons/5man content a lot more tedious to go through, and raiding be the cleanest shot.

Let's assume it takes 35 minutes for ZA or ZG: that's 4 hours to cap out your valor points at 980. Our alt run can clears tier 11 normal mode in 2.5 hours and earns full valor point cap (1250) plus gear that's half a tier higher than 5-man loot.

Assuming a flask or stack of fish costs 150g, a raid shouldn't cost more than 1000g a night (divided by 10 players) thanks to cauldrons and feasts. You make that much by killing 4 raid bosses from the cash drops alone. Not that you need consumables - they're an optional boost but certainly not required the way the were in 1.13 Naxx, 2.0 Gruul or 2.4 Sunwell.

To me it looks like your suggestions are already in the game.

I could be ina casual guild that does a couple hours a day, however there is little progression, and if there was a way I could feel like I progressed,

If you can forgive the small sample size, using my server as an example and counting only guilds with at least 1 heroic end boss down, the average raid schedule is 12 hours a week. The real average is 10 hours per week but one guild has a 20 hour schedule and that's inflating things.

The idea for heroics was nice having iLevel requirements, but you would still get people who just kept gear in their bags to trick the system, and really weren't ready at all.

The iLevel requirement isn't for the dungeon, any level 85 character can zone in. The iLevel requirement is only to use the RDF to queue up/pug others.

[firey]

I quite liked the onyxia attunement apart from the "Where's Rexar" portion and "anybody have the UBRS key?" bits. I thought the Karazhan and Scholomance key quests were also pretty well done. I like the sort of attunement that you can do mostly solo and where group components aren't at odds with the goals of the other people you're doing things with.

The group components for horde onyxia were 3x3-man "kill some random world mobs" (annoying) and "clear UBRS twice" which are things you'd probably want to do before you started raiding anyway. Karazhan attunement was to clear a handful of normal mode dungeons, something you'd want to do while leveling up anyway.

The problems start to show when you require 55 minute Shattered Halls: something beyond the reach of people in my 25-man raid due to class imbalances and certainly not anything you'd want to pug. Killing raid bosses and obnoxious side quests (jailbreak for alliance onyxia) also don't work IMO.

See, what I am talking about is less Solo and more group based. I guess what I am thinking is kinda like Guild Wars, where you have to move through X place to get to Y place. If they had something like that while staying with the whole you can do what you want when you want, essentially you would unlock the endgame content (If you chose to go that path).

Let's assume it takes 35 minutes for ZA or ZG: that's 4 hours to cap out your valor points at 980. Our alt run can clears tier 11 normal mode in 2.5 hours and earns full valor point cap (1250) plus gear that's half a tier higher than 5-man loot.

Right, however you have to remember that a 2.5 hour clear with Alts took far far far longer when learning it with your mains. So that 4 hours to cap my points is far less than the far larger number of hours spent learning the raid.

Assuming a flask or stack of fish costs 150g, a raid shouldn't cost more than 1000g a night (divided by 10 players) thanks to cauldrons and feasts. You make that much by killing 4 raid bosses from the cash drops alone. Not that you need consumables - they're an optional boost but certainly not required the way the were in 1.13 Naxx, 2.0 Gruul or 2.4 Sunwell.

To me it looks like your suggestions are already in the game.

As I say I do have a lack of raid exp with Cata, only did TBC and Wrath raiding. So I can't comment on this, however I wasn't saying anything about flasks and such. I was just say that in previous expansions, I would spend quite a long time each day preparing for a raid.

If you can forgive the small sample size, using my server as an example and counting only guilds with at least 1 heroic end boss down, the average raid schedule is 12 hours a week. The real average is 10 hours per week but one guild has a 20 hour schedule and that's inflating things.

How many hours are spent learning and wiping and not getting anything? I know that's part of the game, and I actually enjoy that, however it is time consuming, and there a raids I have been in where the only cash gain is minimal and it's because of trash. Cost of repairs, flasks, etc to not down a boss can stack up.

The iLevel requirement isn't for the dungeon, any level 85 character can zone in. The iLevel requirement is only to use the RDF to queue up/pug others.

Right, understood. However, it would be nice to see an iLevel requirement for getting into endgame heroics overall.

[the evn show]

Right, however you have to remember that a 2.5 hour clear with Alts took far far far longer when learning it with your mains. So that 4 hours to cap my points is far less than the far larger number of hours spent learning the raid.

I looked up our old kills: 21 hours to go from first setting foot in a raid to killing our first end boss. Two hours of work to kill al'akir and then 7 hours to kill nefarian (we re-cleared 10/12 before those two). After you've learned an encounter it's pretty easy to repeat it because this tier stresses mechanics and situational awareness.

It seems unfair to say that the ~30 hours I spent learning normal mode raids counts against me but the time it takes someone to learn ZA/ZG to the point they can clear it in half an hour, and all of the 5-man content before it, doesn't factor in.

How many hours are spent learning and wiping and not getting anything? I know that's part of the game, and I actually enjoy that, however it is time consuming, and there a raids I have been in where the only cash gain is minimal and it's because of trash. Cost of repairs, flasks, etc to not down a boss can stack up.

There shouldn't be any. The expansion came out on a Tuesday, by Monday we'd leveled to 85 and killed 5 raid bosses. The next week we were earning more valor points (and gold/gear) per hour from raiding than is possible today with 5-man content.

Assume every 2 hours of raiding 'costs' a stack of feasts (450g) a cauldron (600g) and a full repair of blue gear (100g x 10 people). Total cost to learn normal mode raids for us would be 3000g per person. Selling one BOE epic would cover the whole guilds expenses for normal mode. Again you're counting raiding expenses as if it were impossible to use a flask in a 5-man dungeon (or mandatory to use them in raids) or like you don't take durability damage in a heroic dungeon.

Right, understood. However, it would be nice to see an iLevel requirement for getting into endgame heroics overall.

I don't understand what a mandatory gear grind does to make something more fun. If my friends and I can kill Sinestra (or any 5-man bosses) wearing our Tier 6 sets why shouldn't we be allowed to? IMO gear checks should be part of the encounter and we already have those in the form of hard/soft enrages and mechanics that require certain levels of health to survive.

I was just say that in previous expansions, I would spend quite a long time each day preparing for a raid.

I understand that you're not familiar with the current state of the raid game but I don't think it's reasonable to point to flaws from years ago to criticize today's reality.

[Minifig]

Man, I love the GMs in this game, I accidentally sold an item I didn't mean to, and wrote a GM ticket up..

Later today this arrived in my email: ..

Greetings Minifig,

Account Name: -XXXX-

Realm: Draka

Character Name: Minifig

Item(s) Restored: Tia's Grace

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate your feedback and apologize for being unable to address your issue while you were still online.

Please keep in mind that each account is permitted a limited number of instances in which the GM staff may assist with the recovery of items or characters that have been lost. Although we understand that the occasional mistake can be made, we encourage players to exercise caution and minimize such situations to avoid future need of restorations and GM assistance. Restoration of any kind is not guaranteed. While we will make every effort to verify and restore your loss, the decision to go forward with a restoration is entirely at Blizzard's discretion.

If you do accidentally sell an item, often you can get the item back without GM assistance. At the bottom right of every vendor window is a "Buyback slot". The last 12 items sold to a vendor will remain available for repurchase as long as the character does not leave the game or zone to a different area. If this happens the list of items will be cleared. If you have accidentally sold an item, always attempt to repurchase it immediately.

You will find the item(s) already in your character's inventory or in the mailbox as an attachment. If the item(s) was lost due to an accidental sale, the appropriate amount of money will be charged. If you do not pay the COD to retrieve the item from the mail, and the mail expires, unfortunately your restoration will be forfeit.

:happy:

[firey]

I looked up our old kills: 21 hours to go from first setting foot in a raid to killing our first end boss. Two hours of work to kill al'akir and then 7 hours to kill nefarian (we re-cleared 10/12 before those two). After you've learned an encounter it's pretty easy to repeat it because this tier stresses mechanics and situational awareness.

It seems unfair to say that the ~30 hours I spent learning normal mode raids counts against me but the time it takes someone to learn ZA/ZG to the point they can clear it in half an hour, and all of the 5-man content before it, doesn't factor in.

I am just saying, that I can spend ~2 hours to learn all the fights in ZA/ZG then the rest is just rinse and repeat. So 4 hours total (Giving an hour and a half per instance) is far less than even say 21. Now I am not saying Instancing is better than raids, nor am I knocking them. All I am saying is it would be nice to have some harder instances, or scaling instances to run along side raiding. (Unlocked?)

Assume every 2 hours of raiding 'costs' a stack of feasts (450g) a cauldron (600g) and a full repair of blue gear (100g x 10 people). Total cost to learn normal mode raids for us would be 3000g per person. Selling one BOE epic would cover the whole guilds expenses for normal mode. Again you're counting raiding expenses as if it were impossible to use a flask in a 5-man dungeon (or mandatory to use them in raids) or like you don't take durability damage in a heroic dungeon.

I wasn't complaining about costs, I was saying it CAN happen, granted it can happen in an instance too, but if you need to repair more than once there are issues.

I don't understand what a mandatory gear grind does to make something more fun. If my friends and I can kill Sinestra (or any 5-man bosses) wearing our Tier 6 sets why shouldn't we be allowed to? IMO gear checks should be part of the encounter and we already have those in the form of hard/soft enrages and mechanics that require certain levels of health to survive.

That is where it can become an issue, but it would be nice to not run with people in the wrong gear, or lower gear than they should. I don't know if it's because I am a healer or what, but when DPS is Low, or the tank's avoidance/damage loss isn't great (due to either gear or skill), it does annoy me. I have to work harder to make up for other peoples weakness. I know I picked a support position, and I know that's what I have to take. It would be nice though to be sure that the players I am running with know their classes, and have taken the time to actually attain the gear, and have been through the content a fair few times themselves.

I understand that you're not familiar with the current state of the raid game but I don't think it's reasonable to point to flaws from years ago to criticize today's reality.

I don't believe I was pointing out flaws. I was trying to say that I wish there was something between raiding and instances that is harder than an instance, however requires less prep time than a raid. And less time spent on the same boss (You state 7 hours was spent on a single boss). I know what you mean by a 10 main raid being in the middle, however to get to the 2-3 hours to clear (which is fine by me) you need to know the fights inside and out. It would be nice if there was say a 10 man that took 2 hours (4 at the longest) that had a difficulty between 10 man raids and instances, where less time was spent wiping/learning the fights, but still took time to go through.

[the evn show]

I am just saying, that I can spend ~2 hours to learn all the fights in ZA/ZG then the rest is just rinse and repeat. So 4 hours total (Giving an hour and a half per instance) is far less than even say 21.

Given that ZA and ZG are not any longer than any other 5-man dungeon, and using your 2 hour estimate to learn a dungeon your total learning time (including VC, SFK, HOO, LC, VP, SC, GB, BRC, and TT) is actually longer than my 21 hours to get to Cho'gall. Then you need to include the time you spent farming to hit ilevel 346 just to set foot in ZA/ZG.

You may try to argue that I had similar farming before I could raid but you'd be wrong. Check my achievements and you'll see I hadn't seen half of the heroics until after I'd made it to Cho'gall and that I didn't get the "get level 85 blues" achievement until then either. I couldn't actually RDF queue my way into heroics until after I'd cleared most of the normal mode raid content (and that was true for other members of my guild as well). We got in by running out to the instance and jumping through the portals.

[Slane]

So I logged on a few days ago, and was approched by a buddy about joining a guild and tanking 25's. Told him I'd give it a shot, so he shot me an invite. Tanked tonight for the first time since end of February, and while I completely sucked on the first few Nef pulls I still managed to do a near perfect kite on Nef's adds, which finally got me Defender of Shattered Worlds (last time I fought him was a 50k wipe). Moved on to BoT, where I did Heroic Halfus (lol).

By the time we got to twin dragons I felt comfortable in remembering all my keybinds and was enjoying it. Not quite 100% sure I want to do 25's as I prefer 10's, but I'm having fun and it's nice to slay some pixelated baddies.

[firey]

Given that ZA and ZG are not any longer than any other 5-man dungeon, and using your 2 hour estimate to learn a dungeon your total learning time (including VC, SFK, HOO, LC, VP, SC, GB, BRC, and TT) is actually longer than my 21 hours to get to Cho'gall. Then you need to include the time you spent farming to hit ilevel 346 just to set foot in ZA/ZG.

I was already high enough for ZA/ZG as soon as they were released, so I got there by running instances while I was bored. Keeping in mind, I also have archaeology at max, and an alt I decided to level. So I didn't sit there grinding instances. I also haven't done GB or BRC on heroic.

You may try to argue that I had similar farming before I could raid but you'd be wrong. Check my achievements and you'll see I hadn't seen half of the heroics until after I'd made it to Cho'gall and that I didn't get the "get level 85 blues" achievement until then either. I couldn't actually RDF queue my way into heroics until after I'd cleared most of the normal mode raid content (and that was true for other members of my guild as well). We got in by running out to the instance and jumping through the portals.

You seem to think that I am saying instances are the one and only way to go. That raids should be gone and not exist. If you read what I said, if there was a way in which Instances/Raids could be used to unlock new content.. Instances should be the more tedious of the two, the only difference being, I can do one in say 45 minutes and that's that. Do I like raiding? Yes, am I in a position gear wise to raid? Yes. Am I in a position based on real life and such? No.

What works for you doesn't work for everyone else. I would rather know I am fully geared enough for a raid, then run in and hope for the best. It's great you and your guild could run in and do the stuff, but that has nothing at all to do with what I am talking about, and things I personally would like to see.

[the evn show]

I was already high enough for ZA/ZG as soon as they were released, so I got there by running instances while I was bored.

You have this strange desire to hand wave away the fact that 5-man instance grinding isn't the quickest way to earn gear/currency/etc. You weren't high enough ilevel/experience to run ZA due to some magic reprieve: you worked at it for several days/weeks/months.

Instances should be the more tedious of the two, the only difference being, I can do one in say 45 minutes and that's that.

I'm saying that's already the case.

So I logged on a few days ago, and was approched by a buddy about joining a guild and tanking 25's. Told him I'd give it a shot, so he shot me an invite. Tanked tonight for the first time since end of February, and while I completely sucked on the first few Nef pulls I still managed to do a near perfect kite on Nef's adds, which finally got me Defender of Shattered Worlds (last time I fought him was a 50k wipe). Moved on to BoT, where I did Heroic Halfus (lol).

I tanked the instances on 25-man on saturday and really didn't have any fun with it. A fair chunk was the fact that my friends weren't there but I also just don't like the way encounters play out now. At least you made it back in time for firelands. Much easier to go into a new zone with people you already know that to try and make new friends while they're learning encounters.

Tonight we're trailing a new DK applicant. I was generally positive about his application save for his stupid name "?n??fth?s?n?m?s" which he acknowledged when he applied and said he change. When he got to the server what do I see: same stupid name with all it's accented characters. Not cool. Taking him to twilight council tonight so if he's not raping the DPS meter tonight we'll be looking for another melee to replace in short order.

[Slane]

I tanked the instances on 25-man on saturday and really didn't have any fun with it. A fair chunk was the fact that my friends weren't there but I also just don't like the way encounters play out now. At least you made it back in time for firelands. Much easier to go into a new zone with people you already know that to try and make new friends while they're learning encounters.

The encounters I did last night I prefer on 10 over 25. I think I'd rather raid 10's than 25's, but at least on my server 10's are made up of people who just don't care about progression and all the progression oriented people do 25's. I so prefer the atmosphere 10's provide as to 25's, but what can I do. Not looking to shell out money to go to a new server knowing nobody with a 50/50 chance it'll work. Probably shouldn't have ever left. :p

[MikeFu84]

Hey Minifig! http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/06/13/blizzard-teams-up-with-mega-bloks-for-warcraft-and-starcraft-set/

[Minifig]

Hey Minifig! http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/06/13/blizzard-teams-up-with-mega-bloks-for-warcraft-and-starcraft-set/

WANT!

[Ionium]

Possible to have a horse mount under level 20? Travelling on foot sux.

[the evn show]

Possible to have a horse mount under level 20? Travelling on foot sux.

Kind of: Level 20 is the minimum level required to have a horse that moves faster than walking speed.

If you've got about $150 to blow on vanity items then you can buy a riding turtle card from ebay. The riding turtle doesn't move any quicker than walking on foot, but you can mount it at any level. It's looks neat but has has no other useful purpose.

Unrelated:

After weighing it all I think it's probably the hardest encounter of the expansion. IMO the 'hard part' of al'akir is harder than the 'hard part' of Council, but al'akir is a down hill ramp that gets easier as you go until the final free loot phase. Council starts off reasonably hard and ramps up the difficulty - there's no real 'free loot' phase and there are far more ways to kill yourself or everyone around you. Sinestra is "learn these mechanics and execute them properly". Al'akir / Sinestra felt like the bosses were testing you: "What if I try this, will they kill themselves?" Council feels more like he's trying to kill you, it's a controlled wipe kind of like phase 2 m'uru was.

Feels good to beat the expansion again, even if there's only a week or two left.

[Slane]

Is Deathbloww Adam10?

And grats on the kill. :)

[Ionium]

Bah I'm at level 17 I'll just level up a few more times then get a mage to teleport me back do danarassus so I can get a tiger to ride.

[Flam1ngFir3ball]

Can someone send me a scroll of resurrection please?

US Realm

Realm: Trollbane

Character: Avram

[CactuzJak]

Can someone send me a scroll of resurrection please?

US Realm

Realm: Trollbane

Character: Avram

An error has occurred.

Your friend has already used a Scroll of Resurrection in the past and thus is not eligible.

[dead.cell]

Can someone send me a scroll of resurrection please?

I'd wait until after 4.2 hits (expected June 28th). So little to do right now... :/

[Flam1ngFir3ball]

An error has occurred.

Your friend has already used a Scroll of Resurrection in the past and thus is not eligible.

That's odd, my account has been inactive since 1/12/11. Oh well, thanks for trying.

EDIT: I used a scroll 2 years ago, maybe you can only use one per lifetime..

[Ionium]

What's better to use for a hunter, two daggers that do 8.8 dmg per second or a staff that does 17 dmg per second but is slow to swing?

[Alladaskill17]

What's better to use for a hunter, two daggers that do 8.8 dmg per second or a staff that does 17 dmg per second but is slow to swing?

Well considering you're a hunter, and correct me if I am wrong - I quit at Wrath's end; it matters more about the stats of the weapons, since you're not melee'ing often anyways.

[Slane]

Well considering you're a hunter, and correct me if I am wrong - I quit at Wrath's end; it matters more about the stats of the weapons, since you're not melee'ing often anyways.

Correct. Melee weapons you want whatever gives you best the stats. At low levels. You want Stamina and Agility. In that order (for me at least). More stamina you have longer it takes you to die and agility helps ya kill ****.