WoW--What's all the hype about?

[mmu1]

I got WoW last Wednesday, and played the hell out of it over the long weekend.

I think it does certain things extremely well - it's very polished, many typical sources of frustration have been done away with or toned down, it's pretty generous with new abilities and items without making them worthless, the crafting system as such doesn't make you want to tear your hair out, etc.

On the other hand, I've hit 19th level as a Warrior, and I think I'm done with this game. I might try again with a different class, but haven't done it yet. As I get higher in level, like in any MMORPG, progress slows to a crawl, and frustrations (despite a good game design) start to mount.
I can't effectively solo, unless I want to skip quests and just grind away mindlessly. There are some Gray non-Elite quests I haven't been able to do without a group - never mind yellow or orange ones.
Mining and Blacksmithing - my trades of choice - have hit a brick wall. I can't find the higher-level resources I need to advance my abilities without going into areas I have no chance of surviving in, and the gear I can craft right now is generally worse than what I can get from quests or drops.

Yeah, it's more polished, but under all that it is exactly like every other MMORPG out there, despite all the hype - which makes me a little angry (at myself, and at the various reviewers and previewers) for getting sucked into one of these things again, when I should have known better...

 

[Ranger REG]

Well, a few of them are, apparantly. Just check out Guild Wars, if you want to try a MMORPG without any monthly fees. It's also kinda from Blizzard, since the programmers are the ones who left Blizzard, and they leave out no opportunity to tell about it... go figure, everyone needs some advertisement, I guess.

Kewl!

Just a coinky-dink, I am spoiled by Blizzard and their Diablo online games, that is, until they decided to charge playing fee for their Battle.net servers.

Gonna get me Guild Wars, if it's good.

 

[Thanee]

Just a coinky-dink, I am spoiled by Blizzard and their Diablo online games, that is, until they decided to charge playing fee for their Battle.net servers.

I don't know of any charges for the battle.net servers, really.

Gonna get me Guild Wars, if it's good.

It should be possible to get some trial version, they often do trial events over the weekends (first each month or something, don't quote me on that, tho) AFAIK (played on one myself to check out the game, it's definitely not bad, tho I like WoW much better).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Pielorinho]

On the other hand, I've hit 19th level as a Warrior, and I think I'm done with this game. I might try again with a different class, but haven't done it yet. As I get higher in level, like in any MMORPG, progress slows to a crawl, and frustrations (despite a good game design) start to mount.
I can't effectively solo, unless I want to skip quests and just grind away mindlessly. There are some Gray non-Elite quests I haven't been able to do without a group - never mind yellow or orange ones.

Really? That might explain why our guild has so few warriors in it, then. At level 26 as a druid I'm able to complete yellow quests regularly, and can solo the occasional orange quest (mostly when these quests are "kill this one unguarded creature"). It's pretty alarming if warriors are so weak in comparison.

Mining and Blacksmithing - my trades of choice - have hit a brick wall. I can't find the higher-level resources I need to advance my abilities without going into areas I have no chance of surviving in, and the gear I can craft right now is generally worse than what I can get from quests or drops.

Yeah, my experience is that mining is really good for making money (you can sell that copper at the auction house for googabs of money), but it seems that blacksmithing doesn't really do much good until higher levels. OTOH, I worked with a leatherworker recently to make some fantastic gloves: I'm an alchemist/herbalist, and I spent a long time tracking down the right herbs to make a high-level elixir that he used in making the gloves. He made a pair for each of us, and it was extremely satisfying to get them .

Yeah, it's more polished, but under all that it is exactly like every other MMORPG out there, despite all the hype - which makes me a little angry (at myself, and at the various reviewers and previewers) for getting sucked into one of these things again, when I should have known better...

Well, again, it may not be for everyone. Don't get mad at us reviewers that ARE enjoying it .

On the subject of Guild Wars: I played in their weekend trial period several weeks ago (over Hallowe'en, I think), and thought the game had quite a ways to go before it was done. My biggest problems with it were that quests took way too long (and once you started one, you couldn't drop it to pick it up later--if you logged off, you had to start all over), and the monsters all looked like Giger rejects, not an aesthetic I like in my fantasy games. So I'm a little leery of it. But I know that the designers used to work for Blizzard, and so I definitely hold out hope that they'll improve it to the point that it's a fantastic game.

Daniel

 

[Kanegrundar]

On the other hand, I've hit 19th level as a Warrior, and I think I'm done with this game. I might try again with a different class, but haven't done it yet. As I get higher in level, like in any MMORPG, progress slows to a crawl, and frustrations (despite a good game design) start to mount.
I can't effectively solo, unless I want to skip quests and just grind away mindlessly. There are some Gray non-Elite quests I haven't been able to do without a group - never mind yellow or orange ones.
Mining and Blacksmithing - my trades of choice - have hit a brick wall. I can't find the higher-level resources I need to advance my abilities without going into areas I have no chance of surviving in, and the gear I can craft right now is generally worse than what I can get from quests or drops.

I'm having an entirely different experience. I just hit 20, and I have a lot of quests to do. I haven't had any trouble completing yellow quests (oranges are often a different story). The only time that I hit a grind, is when i fight weaker mobs to raise weapon skills. Maybe the problem isn't the game, but your gear and your approach? Take advantage of the Auction House to get better gear. There are all sorts of items for a lot cheaper than you can find from the merchants.

As for Blacksmithing and Mining...It can be pretty tough to find better materials, but they need to scale it so that the skills stay viable through level 60. As for the quality of items, there are several items that are really worth making and either selling to a merchant, selling in an auction, or even wearing yourself. It's not going to be easy to get skill points around level 18-20, but there are a lot of ways to make easy money off of green and grey items.

You have to take advantage of everything that the game has to offer. Make sure you're using you're talents properly to maximize your damage or defense potential, and hit the trainers often in the capitals. It really makes a difference.

I hope you find something you like to play out of WoW. It's a great game, but it won't be easy.

Kane

 

[Enforcer]

I did hit a bit of a problem with my Dwarf Paladin in between levels 18 and 19, in that I had very few Dwarf-related quests to complete (and my OCD demanded that the dwarves came first). Once I hit 20 though, a lot of people with grey !s opened up. Still can't complete my level 20 Paladin quest thanks to a known bug though...grr...

As for mining and blacksmithing, I've run into a bit of a wall with mining, but my blacksmithing is fine. With mining it only really improves by actual mining of tin and silver--smelting either won't raise my skill, only the real, from-the-ground mining will. My mining's at 111 (I think...). It'll be nice to get to 125 so I can mine and smelt iron.

As for blacksmithing...just keep creating yellow and orange items and your skill will improve. Mine's at 122 right now...just need some more bronze so I can get Expert rating at 125. Buy a recipe that requires the fewest resources, even if you won't use it for yourself. Then just bang out as many bracers or gloves or whatever that you can. Sell the products at the Auction House or even to a vendor and make some cash off of improving your smithing skills.

 

[Pielorinho]

Also, if you're making green items, that means they're magical and can be disenchanted by someone with the Enchanting skill for dusts that they use in their profession. Our guild has an enchanter and a tailor with an arrangement: the tailor regularly sends tons of low-level magic stuff to the enchanter, and the enchanter sends tons of found cloth and stuff to the tailor. It works out well.

Daniel

 

[driver8]

Well I broke down and got WoW. I blame you here at ENWOrld and your incessant peer pressure .

Actually I decided for the first time to wait and not jump at launch. So, if you run into a Tauren druid on Llane name Shawati feel free to say hi.

 

[Aristotle]

Felon, I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't been said already. You said your having some fun with it, so at least its not a total loss for you. Your just frustrated with the hype the game got?

I'd like to say that I don't think I'm wearing rose colored glasses. I've got previous MMO experience, and I've put several of them down now before my free trial as even over. I'm not prone to like a game just because its new or just because its popular. And I have to tell you that WoW (my very first Blizzard or Warcraft product) outpaces all of the games I've played before. I wish I could quantify or detail for you why that is, but I think a lot of it comes down to personal preferences. This game hits them all for me, and I have trouble finding any aspect of it that I don't like.

...but having those attacks actually stun the fleeing character is going out of their way to make there are lots of trips to the graveyard. We're not talking about a challenge, we're talking a tremendous source of frustration.

I've made more than my share of runs from the graveyard (can those thistle bears be packed into Darkshore any tighter?), and it can be frustrating... but the penalty (aside from the time it takes to get to your body) is slight, and once I started to develop some basic tactical sense with my character I found that I'm making the trip a good bit less.

Grinding? Yes, lots of grinding.

I suppose you could call the "go kill X number of Y's" quests grinding in disguise, but as I progress in level I'm finding those broken up enough (or coming with interesting enough storylines) that I don't mind them much. I never *grind* (kill things repeatedly just for the experience gain). Everything I kill is either a part of a quest or an obstacle to or from a quest location. I did farm some linen cloth once off some low level mobs. I didn't get any XP for it that I saw, and they were quick kills to get me the cloth I wanted.

Forced grouping? Well, yes, if you wait long enough to do a quest you should eventually be high enough to fight off multiple mobs, when they're green or gray to you...

I've taken orange quests (although I died a few times) solo. I regularly solo yello quests. So far I've only found a few quests that were obviously too dificult for the level at which they were given out (The lock boxes guarded by the murlocs off the coast of Darkshore would be a biggie).

I'm playing a Hunter. And I regularly see walocks of a similar level soloing the same quests as me, so I know it can be done. I also see a lot of solo druids. Most of the other classes can solo, but aren't as good as those three. Priests and mages seem to have a rough time, and warriors are just underpowered (I hope they bring them up to speed instead of nerfing all of the other amazing classes down to their level).

You do need to group Elite quests and Instances. I personally love this. There is plenty of combat to solo through this game, but their is also content to bring people together and promote group play. You can play the game either way from what I've seen. I've found other players at almost every elite quest who were more than willing to group up with me and let me in on their action. We complete the quest, disband, and go about our business. I like that! I get a group for a specific encounter without having to follow them around all night or come off like a jerk when I say I have other things to do and I gotta go.

Forced hunting? Well, hunting for animal pieces has easily constituted the majority of my quests. I've been into one or two caves, and one fort.

I'd be interested to know what you would do differently? I mean, in the end, this is an MMO and killing people/creatures and taking their stuff is pretty much the standard. At later levels (late teens) I started to get other missions (escort this person from point A to point B and stuff like that) but it ultimately comes down to combat. I wouldn't mind seeing some 'brain teaser' type quests. It might be neat to have to solve a puzzle or something.

Instanced content? Haven't seen any.

I think this will be something you will have to group for, and it will almost definately be something you don't see until you're a tad higher in level.

Heck, even getting to a trainer in a major city is a 5 or 10 minute trek...one way.

Well, it is a big world. Sometimes you have to run. You'll get access to mounts later, ships and trains are free, and for a fee you can ride the skies.

Sadly, I am really no different from any other warlock of my level.

And you shouldn't be at that level. Class distinction builds gradually, and is admittedly subtle for the most part, but it is there and will increase as you take Talents. We won't even get into Heroic Classes, which sound sort of like prestige classes to me, which have been slated for an update in the near future.

Another issue not addressed is what happens when there's a lot of disparity between character levels? I'm already losing ground to my friends who play more than I do.

I regularly quest with people a few levels below or above me, and things work out fine. Casual players can take advantage of rested states which allow them to gain double XP from kills for up to 1.5 character levels (30 bubbles).

Folks will have a lot of fun with WoW for many months. Some folks will stay with it forever...

Not forever. But I didn't expect to like the game much at all. I was pleasantly surprised. It is far better (IMHO) than SWG, FFXI, or Matrix. It should do what I need it to do... give me something to keep me busy while I wait for D&D Online.

 

[mmu1]

Really? That might explain why our guild has so few warriors in it, then. At level 26 as a druid I'm able to complete yellow quests regularly, and can solo the occasional orange quest (mostly when these quests are "kill this one unguarded creature"). It's pretty alarming if warriors are so weak in comparison.

Well, I gave it a few more hours over the weekend.

I think I have pretty good gear (most my stuff is green, with a couple of whites (minor stuff like cloak and bracers) including items I made myself that are better than what I could buy at my level or get from quests, got about +15 total to both Str and Sta at 21st level, and a 12.4 DPS one-handed weapon).

However, I still generally do less damage (judging by who gets aggro) than the goddamn pets of hunters a level or two lower than me.

I am able to do some yellow quests solo, but the only orange ones I've ever been able to do are fetch quests involving no combat - but there are many, many quests I can't solo even when they're green. (not effectively, anyway - spending a couple of hours killing stragglers and running the moment two enemies attack me at the same time, sometimes dying in the process - is not my idea of viable)

My talent points are spent, my abilities are all up to date... This isn't the first time I've played a MMORPG, so I seriously doubt that I'm doing anything "wrong" - since this is, after all, being touted as the most accessible game of its kind, ever.

The Warrior boards on the official site are full of complaints over how pathetic the class is - obviously, you can never tell for sure, since players love to bitch, but right now, I'm inclined to agree with them, and rather pissed... I do NOT have the free time to waste building up another damn character.