The CFC World of Warcraft Discussion Thread

[Thrawn]

Eh, a few days isn't too fast. Getting to 85 on the first day is fast. I think the first 85 was done on the EU servers before it even went live in the US. There were a couple of people in my guild who didn't sleep and hit 85 the day after release. (Went live at 9pm my time.)

There's 4 guilds in the world who are already at 11/12 across the raids now too.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

I meant fast in the sense that the current xpack is designed to allow current players to reach the next lvl cap fast.

 

[Abaddon]

It should have been a lot harder.. I mean, where is the fun/progress for those on 85 to sit on for the months and months until another update?

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Raids, and arenas. Rated battlegrounds too, fr this xpack. I assume they'll continue to release new raids with each major patch like for Wrath...

Basically this xpack is more on revamping the old lvl 1-60 zones and the classes, than providing for the established players. Blizzard thinks long-term...

 

[Abaddon]

Total newb here.. explain raids.. is that akin to getting a group together and jumping into a dungeon crawl? Whats the point once you've maxed your stats?

 

[Thrawn]

Experiencing the content, upgrading your gear to make your character more powerful etc, and with the right group of people it can just generally be a good time. You could compare it to just hanging out with a group of friends who share your interests, except you're at home and talking to them via ventrilo or teamspeak or something.

Hitting max level in wow is basically where the game really starts for most people, which is why you see alot rush there asap.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Total newb here.. explain raids.. is that akin to getting a group together and jumping into a dungeon crawl? Whats the point once you've maxed your stats?

Yeah, at the level cap (lvl 85 for this xpack), the less-obvious grinding for gear begins. With each new raid and/or new arena season, better gear will be available and people at the lvl cap will work to get these...

Most players would do 5-man dungeon instances, normal and heroic. The more dedicated ones will try to join raids - 10-man or 25-man bigger raid instances. This is for PvE (player vs environment). Raids will, of course, drop better (PvE) gear/loot.

For PvP (player vs player), you'll have arena teams and rated battegrounds. This is where you go for PvP gear. Generally.

 

[MobBoss]

Total newb here.. explain raids.. is that akin to getting a group together and jumping into a dungeon crawl? Whats the point once you've maxed your stats?

Well, a raid is a couple of things. But at its base its a more difficult dungeon done with more people. As was mentioned, its done for improving gear (harder dungeon, better loot), personal (and now guild) achievements, and also for being able to experience content/storyline (a lot of which can be quite entertaining).

 

[SuperJay]

Yeah, raiding is basically a dungeon run with 10 - 25 people instead of just 5. You all run inside and take on really big bosses. And you do it so you can get epic purplez, which are the be-all, end-all for every WoW player. You are only as cool as your average item level or gearscore rating, after all.

So on Sunday I spent some real time in one of the new 80+ zones (Vash Jr.) for the first time since release. Turns out, it's pretty fun. I've heard a lot of ppl complain about the underwater zones but I liked it, kinda cool and different. (Smart move, giving us perma-breathing and a fast water mount. Otherwise, it would have sucked.)

Almost all my ICC raid gears are gone. GONE!! I shed a tear the first couple times, but eventually I just close my eyes, look away, and then vendor / delete 'em as they get replaced with green quest rewards. My stats are doing wild and crazy things as I replace more and more pieces (I feel like I'm OD'ing on Mastery rating here) but by and large the green Cata items are much better than my old ICC / frost-badge items, so there's no real point in doing an extensive comparison.

And I did get through 2 levels in one day, which was kind of surprising. Most all of it was rested, though, so maybe it'll slow down now. I might switch up to different characters just to prolong the ride a bit; I don't want to hit 85 within a week and then get bored too quickly.

 

[Abaddon]

"ICC raid gear"

"Green Cata items"

 

[SuperJay]

"ICC raid gear"

"Green Cata items"

Sorry: basic terminology time.

"ICC" = Icecrown Citadel. The 'highest level' raiding instance in the previous expansion (Wrath of the Lich King). When people say "ICC epics" they're generally referring to the best possible items (gear) you could get in the previous expansion.

"Greens" = relatively common items. Each grade of item is color-coded (I assume you know), indicated by the color of the item's name. Gray items are trash, white is common, green is uncommon, blue is rare, purple is epic, orange is unique.

Gray items are junk that is dropped from stuff you kill. White items are generally bought from vendors or gathered for use in crafting. Green items are usually quest rewards or drops from common enemies. Blue items are rewards for tougher quests, dropped in the world from rarer enemies (sometimes) or dropped by boss monsters in dungeons. Purple items - epics - are generally dropped by end-game raid bosses, or are purchased with certain currencies (used to be badges / emblems; now "Justice Points" for PVE gear, or "Honor Points" for PVP gear.) Epics are generally the highest quality items you'll have and are usually only available when your character is at the level cap. Orange "unique" items are extremely rare and most players will never own one.

Gold is "heirloom," a special type (also known as "BoAs," which means Bind on Account) that is purchased by a high-level character and gifted to your low-level characters; unlike most other items that are "soulbound" to a specific character, the heirloom items are bound to your account - meaning you can send them via in-game mail to any of your characters on a specific server, including Horde or Alliance.

EDIT:
Basically, my lament was this: the items ("ICC epics") that I earned by battling the toughest monsters in the game (at that time) with 9 or 24 of my stalwart compatriots, over and over and over again over many months are now null and void. They are being replaced by items ("Cata greens") that I'm earning by completing "fetch me 10 squirrel tails" quests in the new Cataclysm expansion, which take me all of 5 minutes to do by myself with zero effort. Make sense? Good.

 

[Abaddon]

That makes sense, but it must suck that your items no long imbue the bonus they once did.. are they essentially just ornaments now? Do you feel cheated?

 

[Thrawn]

I personally don't feel a reason to be cheated, I still have all the experiences I had with my guild, which too me, is far more important than a bunch of pixels.

 

[SuperJay]

That makes sense, but it must suck that your items no long imbue the bonus they once did.. are they essentially just ornaments now? Do you feel cheated?

Nah, this was all to be expected whenever an expansion comes out. They need to add incentives to the new content anyway, and most of us have had these items for months and are ready for a change. It's one reason I stopped raiding regularly or farming badges to buy new high-level gear a few months before the expansion, though. Plus, the new gear is just flat-out better, for the most part - so you're upgrading either way.

And really, no one seriously expected their raid-level gear from the previous expansion to carry them very far in the new level range (80-85) anyway. You just turn away, close your eyes, and then start vendoring / destroying your old epic items.

 

[MobBoss]

Had an odd error last night that I put in a trouble ticket in for and am awaiting the answer. Perhaps our local player base can help.

I had run my DK down to the Throne of the Tides entrance so I could open up a cataclysm dungeon and start doing the daily randoms again. Did it random for 2 days. Then yesterday, I log in, hit the random dungeon took and it tells me I dont meet the requirements for any dungeons I have selected.

Errr?

I made sure my dungeon setting was set to non-heroic 5 man and tried again. Same message. Thinking it may be a TotT thing, I made the trip to Black Mountain and found the entrace to the Caverns unlocking that dungeon as well.

Still the same message.

So, I have found the entrance to both the 80-83 level Cata dungeons, and have an item level of 267 (not quite high enough for the next dungeons, but very close).

Any advice? The fact that I did a couple of randoms and then this occurred is what is really flooring me.

Thanks.

 

[Rub'Rum]

I always found the gear system of WoW to be one of its weak points. I love loot, but looting and treasure becomes mundane the minute you know exactly what to do to obtain an item.

I don't like that I can plan to have a specific gear and grind a boss that is known to drop it once out of 3 or something like that. I don't like that there is basically no chance of finding anything epicly awesome just travelling the world. You just do PvP with specific gear in mind, or grind bosses with specific gear objectives.

So yeah, I enjoy more randomness and diversity, so that not everyone coming out of scarlet monastery has that one shield (well that was the case way back then anyway).

Apart from that, I don't have many complaints about WoW, apart from the usual MMORPGs qualms. But WoW is still probably the best MMORPG.

 

[SuperJay]

Any advice? The fact that I did a couple of randoms and then this occurred is what is really flooring me.

That does sound like some kind of bug with the Dungeon Finder, but I haven't heard about that in-game or anything. Your average item level doesn't (TMK) change based on your level or anything; and presumably you didn't downgrade any gear between running the randoms before and trying again this time. The only time I've seen that message is when I'm grouped with someone who doesn't have high enough gear to get into a specific dungeon (saw this most often when the ICC 5-mans were released).

So you're leaving "Random Cataclysm Dungeon" selected, and it's not letting you into any groups for any instances? Because if it's random, that shouldn't even come into play - it just wouldn't include you in queues for the dungeons that you don't qualify for.

Very odd... especially given that you were successfully running randoms prior to that point. Did you check the Blizzard forums? I imagine this has to be a known issue.

 

[Thrawn]

The Looking For Dungeon random bracket for Throne of the Tides and Blackrock Caverns has been changed from level 80-81 to 80-82, and the specific bracket has been changed from level 80-83 to 80-85.

Could be your problem? Source.

 

[MobBoss]

That does sound like some kind of bug with the Dungeon Finder, but I haven't heard about that in-game or anything. Your average item level doesn't (TMK) change based on your level or anything; and presumably you didn't downgrade any gear between running the randoms before and trying again this time. The only time I've seen that message is when I'm grouped with someone who doesn't have high enough gear to get into a specific dungeon (saw this most often when the ICC 5-mans were released).

So you're leaving "Random Cataclysm Dungeon" selected, and it's not letting you into any groups for any instances? Because if it's random, that shouldn't even come into play - it just wouldn't include you in queues for the dungeons that you don't qualify for.

Very odd... especially given that you were successfully running randoms prior to that point. Did you check the Blizzard forums? I imagine this has to be a known issue.

Could be your problem? Source.

I think Trawn hit it. When I logged in last night I was able to que up again. Go figure.

 

[Thrawn]

Who's Trawn?