The Lich King and his terrible, terrible Wrath

[SShack]

So, I'm assuming based on the other World of Warcraft threads we've got a few players here.

What do folks think of the expansion so far?

I'm really enjoying it, though I'd say my one criticism is that maybe it's too easy. I'm playing a demonology-spec warlock though so maybe my high survivability just makes it seem easier than past content.

I rushed through the Burning Crusade because I wanted to raid. I discovered that I hated raiding though, so now I'm taking my time and really trying to experience the content at a more relaxed pace. I systematically went through and did all the quests in Howling Fjord and am now in Dragonblight. I'm really liking the look of everything. It's all quite beautiful.

They smartly made each zone with several smaller quest hubs rather than one or two big ones to reduce the number of players trying to complete the same quests at the same time. I found this to be a nightmare for the first two levels in the Outland. I've had very few problems so far in Northland.

I made a death knight to experiment with and got to experience their new "phasing" technology in the game, which seems really promising, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with it. The dark knight starting area looks different and has different objects/enemies in it based on where you are in your development, and you can only see/interact with other death knights in the same stage, even though technically you're all in the same place. It's a brilliant innovation to deal with the complaint that players don't actually have an impact on an MMORPG world. Your death knight systematically goes through and destroys this area -- and it stays that way once you're done. I know there's a huge quest chain later in the game and a boss fight in Northrend that takes advantage of this new technology, but I won't spoil it.

Any other comments so far? Or are you too busy playing to talk about it?

[PHS Philip]

Maybe you guys'll convince me to resubscribe if it's good enough.

Uh oh...

[Americano]

I've been looking forward to this expansion since before BC came out. It's definitely delivered so far. I've only been playing Death Knights right now and have yet to step into Northrend, but I can't wait.

[HackerX]

Content wise, Northrend is awesome. I love the areas, I love the quests, and even the dungeons I've done so far seem great (the spider one (can't remember the name) is just so much fun).

First day was a measure of how the respawn timers need to be tweaked. There were lines waiting for mini bosses to respawn, while on normal mobs I'd spend my time just trying to keep with things respawning faster than I could kill them.

Apart from that, I'd say more, as soon as I'm able to get through this queue and actually play the game (GTFO my Khaz'goroth)

[SShack]

I probably won't stick with my Death Knight, except for fun. He's powerful, but I'm finding him awfully complicated to use. It's like a rogue almost, but with diseases instead of combo points. And undead minions. The relationship between his various diseases and attacks are very complicated to me. And the naming conventions don't help any. They've tried so hard to give all the skills such evil names that I can't tell the difference between them. I can't remember which is which. I think there was one talent that modified three different skills that all had "blood" or "bloody" in their name.

[Undead Bonzi]

I skimmed it when it came out to decide if I would go back to WoW as I did for the BC but it just seems more of the same to me. Granted that 'more of the same' is no doubt Blizzard in finest form but I'm just played out on WoW. No patch that they can do is ever going to bring in enough new variety/change to bring me back (I realized this after I took a look at WotLK).

[Henry]

Maybe you guys'll convince me to resubscribe if it's good enough.

Uh oh...

Huge hill to climb - probably 180 hours of pain followed by 70 hours of displeasure - to reach level cap - to get to the really "fun" content. May not be worth it.

Questing has been completely revamped and is just a lot more fun than it used to be. The storylines are better, the NPCs are more original, the quest actions are somewhat more diverse, Northrend is just amazing to look at, and the quests are just fun.

That said, I'm more than a little concerned about the fact that several guilds have cleared all the content so far in the game, both 10 and 25 man versioins. I wanted a much more accessible game than TBC, but I was hoping for something that would take a few months to blow through.

[Americano]

Huge hill to climb - probably 180 hours of pain followed by 70 hours of displeasure - to reach level cap - to get to the really "fun" content. May not be worth it.

Questing has been completely revamped and is just a lot more fun than it used to be. The storylines are better, the NPCs are more original, the quest actions are somewhat more diverse, Northrend is just amazing to look at, and the quests are just fun.

That said, I'm more than a little concerned about the fact that several guilds have cleared all the content so far in the game, both 10 and 25 man versioins. I wanted a much more accessible game than TBC, but I was hoping for something that would take a few months to blow through.

Yeah, coming back and leveling to catch up could be rough depending on where you left off. If you do come back I'd recommend making a death knight. You start at lv 55 and by 58 you have a full set of blues that could comfortably last you to 66-68. The class is very enjoyable and complex too, so leveling one shouldn't be as bad. Maybe get some alcohol to help get through those Outlands quests.

I haven't been to Northrend yet but I've heard good things and if it's anything like the early death knight quests than it should be a good time.

I imagine Blizzard will make necessary adjustments for hardcore raiders. There are still other instances to be implemented beyond lv 80 Naxx. Arenas look like they will be much more challenging.

[SShack]

I didn't realize that they had shipped with only three raids, two of which have only one boss, and the third a revamp of a raid hard-core guilds had already done. I thought there was going to be around six or something.

Did a mission in Dragonblight last night where you get to fly around on a red dragon killing blue dragons. Lots of fun! And it's a daily quest. They've added lots of quests where you drive around on various things. And mate seals (to each other). And steal puppies.

[OneHertz]

Maybe you guys'll convince me to resubscribe if it's good enough.

Uh oh...

Resist the evil!

[PHS Philip]

Yeah, coming back and leveling to catch up could be rough depending on where you left off. If you do come back I'd recommend making a death knight. You start at lv 55 and by 58 you have a full set of blues that could comfortably last you to 66-68. The class is very enjoyable and complex too, so leveling one shouldn't be as bad. Maybe get some alcohol to help get through those Outlands quests.

I haven't been to Northrend yet but I've heard good things and if it's anything like the early death knight quests than it should be a good time.

I imagine Blizzard will make necessary adjustments for hardcore raiders. There are still other instances to be implemented beyond lv 80 Naxx. Arenas look like they will be much more challenging.

Leveling's not a problem. I quit with a decently geared 70, and the first/second time through a leveling area I usually enjoy the quests. Death knights do sound interesting though.

[Motor Jax]

my subscription just expired... after i get some cash, i'm running up to the store and getting WoTLK and a prepaid game card... that'll last me a couple of months...

the cable guy was just out here today to look at the connection, which i think is back up to speed now...

i can't wait to get back into it... :)

[Henry]

Leveling's not a problem. I quit with a decently geared 70, and the first/second time through a leveling area I usually enjoy the quests. Death knights do sound interesting though.

If you enjoyed TBC quests you'll love WoTLK quests, which are more varied, interesting, and generally have better story lines.

[SShack]

I just did the "wrathgate" quest line in Dragonblight last night and it was amazing. Do not miss out on this quest chain. I won't give anything away for it, but there's a cut scene involved.

You can solo it, but I believe you need to be at least level 73. If you're in the horde, the main orc at Angmar Fortress will start the chain.

[Americano]

Has anyone done Stratholme from the Caverns of Time? I've been looking forward to that instance so much.

[HackerX]

I just did the "wrathgate" quest line in Dragonblight last night and it was amazing. Do not miss out on this quest chain. I won't give anything away for it, but there's a cut scene involved.

You can solo it, but I believe you need to be at least level 73. If you're in the horde, the main orc at Angmar Fortress will start the chain.

I did it at 72 (including the "Battle").

And I agree, that's probably the best quest chain the game has had.

[Henry]

I just did the "wrathgate" quest line in Dragonblight last night and it was amazing. Do not miss out on this quest chain. I won't give anything away for it, but there's a cut scene involved.

You can solo it, but I believe you need to be at least level 73. If you're in the horde, the main orc at Angmar Fortress will start the chain.

I didn't realize this was so impressive. I had skipped in favor of heady to Grizzly Hills at 74. I'll have to head back and do it.

On another note, Azjol-Nerub is the best-designed instance in the game I've been in, Kara and Hyjal included.

Has anyone done Stratholme from the Caverns of Time? I've been looking forward to that instance so much.

Its 80 only, I've been grinding pretty hard and am only at 74. I guess if you don't have a job, or a family, or a social life, then 80 in under a week is feasible.

[Americano]

I believe the first 80 on my server happened late Friday night! I'm not sure what's more ridiculous; the fact that someone can level that fast or that someone has such an empty life that they can stay awake for 50+ hours to play a game.

[SShack]

There are folks in my guild who are 80 already. There are death knights who have hit 80 already despite just having been added to the game. I'm definitely taking my time this expansion though. After I gave up raiding in BC, I really had little to do other than grind enough gold to get the fast flier and work on maxing out cooking and fishing.

Hit 74 and went to Dalaran last night. The lag there was absolutely terrible, worse than Shattrath. Worse, it didn't clear up after I left the place. I had to log out and back in to smooth out the frame rate. I had set my hearthstone there but then decided to switch it back to Grizzly Hills.

The changes they've made to spirit (it now buffs spell damage -- which I didn't even realize until people were talking about it in guild chat) makes analyzing gear for a warlock a lot harder. I've tended to focus on getting +spell damage as a demonologist warlock, but now I have to try choose between intellect and spirit.

[Americano]

I used to play a demonology/destruction warlock and I always made stamina my priority. A high hp pool not only makes you tough as nails in PvP but also serves as back up mana due to life tap and the demonic embrace talent multiplies your stamina's value. Your health and mana now also scale for your pet so the more stamina you have, the more your pet has, which increases the effect of soul link and demonic knowledge for more spell damage. Over all more stamina just makes you live longer and gives you more killing power.

[SShack]

Yes, I'm very, very familiar with the demonology tree and wasn't looking for advice. There's really no need to pay attention to stamina because it's on pretty much every piece of armor anyway, with a few exceptions. In fact I did a lot of playing around with it during BC and discovered the payoff for stamina in regards to increasing spell damage is pretty small with the talents after you did all the math, and if you have a choice between more spell damage and stamina, you should probably pick spell damage unless you're having survivability problems. Too much stamina in exchange for spell damage actually became a problem when I was raiding. I'd be the last person alive on boss wipes, because I really needed more damage to burn the boss down, not more survivability.

Unbuffed, I have 11k hit points right now. I have no problems wading into enemies like I'm a tank at the moment, even in instances, if metamorphosis is available. I don't PVP, so I didn't care about that element.

[Americano]

Yes, I'm very, very familiar with the demonology tree and wasn't looking for advice.

Sorry. I mean to explain why I prefer more stamina. Everyone has their own play style of course.

There's really no need to pay attention to stamina because it's on pretty much every piece of armor anyway, with a few exceptions.

Yeah, especially on the high end sets. That's what's great about them; they also have plenty of spell power and crit. I still prefer to enchant all out stamina and mostly with gems too unless there are nice bonuses.

Too much stamina in exchange for spell damage actually became a problem when I was raiding. I'd be the last person alive on boss wipes, because I really needed more damage to burn the boss down, not more survivability.

I don't PVP, so I didn't care about that element.

Yeah...I mostly PvP, and usually world PvP at that. I've only raided casual 5 mans. For me, in a lot of boss fights, it wasn't a question of me outliving the rest of the group. When the tank wipes, you all wipe. Rather, it seemed that other casters would have to drink up and such more frequently than I did. I could cast more shadowbolts for a longer period of time with my high hp and fel armor/void sac regen with a life tap here and there. My dps was more consistent too. Other casters with high spell damage had bigger crits that would pull aggro more often than mine.

I suppose things are different in hardcore 25-man raids where the tank and everyone knows what they're doing.

[SShack]

Yeah...I mostly PvP, and usually world PvP at that. I've only raided casual 5 mans. For me, in a lot of boss fights, it wasn't a question of me outliving the rest of the group. When the tank wipes, you all wipe. Rather, it seemed that other casters would have to drink up and such more frequently than I did. I could cast more shadowbolts for a longer period of time with my high hp and fel armor/void sac regen with a life tap here and there. My dps was more consistent too. Other casters with high spell damage had bigger crits that would pull aggro more often than mine.

Heh, actually I've found the survivability to be a boon in five-mans. My first time in the Hellfire Ramparts instance when BC was new, I ended up tanking the final boss for about the final 10 seconds, enough to kill him, because the tank died right at the end (it was a funny example of the huge stamina shift in BC, too, because this tank was a hardcore raider and had Thunderfury, that legendary weapon). Metamorphosis has been a bit of a lifesaver with adds in boss fights and unexpected events (I ended up using it a lot in the Nexus). Another demonology warlock and I made up the main DPS of a five-man of Utgarde Keep and tore through it without using any crowd control. It's a balancing act for stamina vs. damage, trying to maximize one without suffering the loss of the other.

[SShack]

I'm up to level 76 (one more level and I can fly again). I'm finding the itemization a bit ... strange. They're removing all the +spell hit bonuses and replacing them with haste, which I really don't need as a warlock. As a result, my spells are missing more frequently. I'm guessing this is their way of making things more difficult. The instance quest rewards aren't always decent upgrades either. The shoulders I got from completing Violet Hold were about the same as shoulder armor I got from an elite quest in Zul'drak that I managed to solo. I ended up keeping the armor I got from Zul'drak because it had more stamina.

There are some really, really neat quest chain concepts in Zul'drak that are a bit problematic due to some design flaws — very different from the typical fetch quests. However, they really didn't think about the consequence of 15 to 25 players trying to do some of these quests all at the same time. You know which one I'm talking about if you've done it.

If you can swing it, try to do the quests that send you into Drak Keep in Grizzly Hills before going to Zul'drak. There's a very neat tie between the keep and a quest chain there.