WoW--What's all the hype about?

[Pielorinho]

That is a shame. Like I said, I'm not seeing many warriors around, and this may be why.

In the original stress test I played a warrior up to 18, and had no problem with it; but I think they've changed the class since then.

Daniel

 

[Kanegrundar]

I'm playing a warrior right now. I've been in a couple groups, in which I get out damaged by a *combination* of pets and spells. I haven't seen that I'm getting outslcassed by merely the pets. However, I still think the warrior damage potential could be increased to bring them more in line with the other classes. I'm not pissed about it. I'm still able to get into groups and hold my own, it just takes a little more work out of me to hold aggro.

Kane

 

[WayneLigon]

Having possibly been spoiled by City of Heroes (the only MMORPG I've ever played, aside from a time in the first Asheron's Call beta) and Sims2, how is the character customization feature of the game? Are there a lot of choices in differentiating your avatar from everyone else? Hair/beard/stubble?

 

[Kanegrundar]

There are quite a few choices for distinguishing your avatar from everyone else. Not as many as City of Heroes (their system was simply amazing), but you really shouldn't run into anyone that looks exactly like you. I haven't notced any other balding, jawless undead running around!

Kane

 

[Pielorinho]

See, I've heard character customization be called one of the game's big weaknesses, and I'm inclined to agree: the differences in characters aren't very noticeable at all to me. There are only 16 basic models--male and female for each of 8 races. You can put different skins on top of these, but the different skins aren't so different that they're immediately obvious. I actually have trouble distinguishing trolls from night elves at even a moderate distance.

Blizzard has said that they did this in order to make equipment "fit" right without increasing polygon count, and I can see this. But I still wish there were more distinction between different characters in their appearance.

That said, WoW has equipment where CoH doesn't, and you can really distinguish your character through equipment. On the third hand, you can't dye equipment once you get it, so it's not unusual to be running around as Clashy McClashalot, with purple boots and green shirt and yellow gloves and brown shoulderpads etc.

Daniel

 

[Enforcer]

Having possibly been spoiled by City of Heroes (the only MMORPG I've ever played, aside from a time in the first Asheron's Call beta) and Sims2, how is the character customization feature of the game? Are there a lot of choices in differentiating your avatar from everyone else? Hair/beard/stubble?

For example, on a male dwarf you can select hair color, hair style, skin color, facial hair style, and face. I've run into another dwarf with the same settings, but our equipment was completely different, so it was fine. I played City of Heroes, which has millions of possibilities versus dozens, but in World of Warcraft your appearance changes regularly from equipment as opposed to only at certain levels/visiting the tailor.

I think WoW is more fun than CoH, though. Professions (mining, smithing, tailoring, etc.) are a rewarding gameplay experience that CoH simply doesn't have. Equiping your character is very rewarding as well--I just crafted a bronze greatsword for my Dwarf Paladin...and even though it wasn't much better than the bronze warhammer he was using before, it's still nice to know that your own work has paid off. And finding random magical equipment that's better than the stuff you're wearing is much more fun than finding enhancements.

Oh, and on the RP servers, people actually roleplay...and that's awesome!

 

[Ibram]

I've gotten a warrior to level 14, and though yellow quests are hard I've never found them to be impossible.

a bit o' tactical advice: get the gun skill for your character then buy a cheep gun. You can use it to lure 1-2 creatures from a mob. thats how I did the first two peoples millita quests in Westfall.

 

[Pielorinho]

Yes! I forgot to mention the gun idea: it's pretty vital to have a way to pull individual monsters without getting mobbed, warriors are spectacularly ill-equipped to do this unless they've got a ranged weapon. Great advice, Ibram!

Meanwhile, I've started a thread on the Warcraft forum about a philosophical take on the game:

Although I'm enjoying this game a great deal, I do wonder how many folks are appreciating the philosophical horror, the Kafkaesque Hell, that forms the game's central conceit.
Mankrik (http://www.thottbot.com/?q=212), an NPC in the Barrens, provides a good example.
This poor fellow's wife has died in battle, but he doesn't know that. Alone in a cruel world, he desperately asks you to find out, to attain closure for him.
And you do. You explore, and discover his wife's badly beaten body. And, sadly, you return to tell him, and he accepts the news with a heavy heart.
*And then promptly forgets*. And asks the next adventurer to find news of his wife's body.
He is doomed to eternal torment, because he can never know the answer to his question longer than it takes the next adventurer to come and talk with him. He is trapped in eternal uncertainty and anguish.
And why does he suffer? *For our amusement*.
That's the point to the game: to experience a Hell that only a German existentialist could imagine.

Daniel

 

[El Ravager]

Yes! I forgot to mention the gun idea: it's pretty vital to have a way to pull individual monsters without getting mobbed, warriors are spectacularly ill-equipped to do this unless they've got a ranged weapon. Great advice, Ibram!

Daniel

Any suggestions for pulling with a paladin? I play a paladin character and I've been having trouble with this. I have no way of pulling enemies. As far as I can tell, paladins are not able to train in any ranged weapons.

Any suggestions?

 

[Enforcer]

Any suggestions for pulling with a paladin? I play a paladin character and I've been having trouble with this. I have no way of pulling enemies. As far as I can tell, paladins are not able to train in any ranged weapons.

Any suggestions?

There's one talent in the Holy tree that's almost all the way down the line that gives you a ranged attack. Otherwise, no. (Well, Exorcism works on undead).