Rakkael blew through three or four levels last weekend, and reached 62 before she ran out of rest. Once again, Orzu's advice about the hunter Survival spec, and using a bear, really helped. I'm following Jame's guides, but I'm two or three levels ahead by now, and the mobs die fast!
I also followed Orzu's advice and did a couple of dungeons, which got me through almost an entire level. Also took Alaurai (level 76 Alliance) into Orgrimmar to help some guild-mates do Ragefire Chasm.
Getting an Alliance toon through Ogrimmar was a real challenge. I made it about halfway from the west entrance to the Valley of Strength before a combination of guards and Horde players brought me down. Had to death run the rest of the way to the east end of Cleft of Shadows and RFC. When the guildies saw the trouble I was having getting through, they sent an 80. She beat me to the entrance of RFC, but only by seconds.
Doing this dungeon - which I've done before, but with a lower level Horde toon - was quite a revelation. The dungeon seemed a lot smaller this time! There were a couple of 80's in the group, and a couple in the 50's. The mobs died as soon as either of the 80's targeted them. It took what seemed like five minutes to get all the way through the entire dungeon!
Then we all went back to the entrance, and the 80's amused themselves by popping out through the portal and trying to get back in before the horde of Horde players lurking just outside could kill them. By the time we'd finished the run through the instance, about a dozen Horde had gathered outside the RFC gate, and as time went on - and the guildies kept taunting them - more and more of them kept arriving. My guildies had a blast! I wish I hadn't teleported out of the dungeon quite as soon; it would have been fun to join them.
This was my first experience of invading a city of the opposite faction. It never would have occurred to me to do it myself. But it was really fun, and made me feel much more a part of the guild. It also desensitized me to dying. Now making a death run to somewhere I want to be seems pretty routine.
This came in handy this week. My health took a turn for the worse, and after Monday I didn't feel up to doing any more dungeons. So I went exploring. I got my level 19 Alliance hunter to level 20, got her a tiger to ride, and went exploring.
The previous week I'd ridden my level 21 Horde hunter down through the Barrens and then northwest through Thousand Needles to Camp Mojache in Feralas - and I'd done so without dying once. Given that Thousand Needles and Feralas are much higher level zones than this toon, this was quite satisfying.
Getting to Mojache was also very useful because there are some recipes available from vendors there that sell for quite good gold on the auction house. Since this level 21 hunter is my highest level toon on that server, I figured it made sense to open up flight access to a location that would help me make some gold.
So this week I decided to run my level 20 Alliance hunter to the equivalent vendor in Feralas. However, this is much harder than getting a Horde to Camp Mojache, because to get an Alliance toon to Feathermoon Stronghold you have to run down from Astranaar in Ashenvale through Stonetalon and Desolace. These are much more brutal zones for a 20ish toon than the Barrens and Thousand Needles.
I made it through Stonetalon alive, but I got clobbered by a nasty beast on my way up to Nijel's Point in Desolace. Died a couple of times before I got away and up to safety. But I picked up some nice recipes there, as well as the flight point, and headed south.
Died one more time when I ran into a bunch of mobs just south of the kodo burial ground, but after that it was clear sailing all the way to Feathermoon, where I bought a bunch more recipes. Unfortunately, for some reason Ghost Dye doesn't seem to sell as well on Alliance AH's as it does on Horde, but it was still a fun and very fun and worthwhile trip.
After that I just went crazy, riding my young Alliance hunter everywhere in the world that seemed at all feasible. Got to Ratchet quite easily, which gave me access to Booty Bay and all its nice profitable recipes. Fell off the Great Lift (between the Barrens and Thousand Needles) and died trying to avoid getting killed by the guards. Got killed when I rode by two other guards hanging out at the bottom of the elevators to Freewind Post. But otherwise the trip to Tanaris was smooth sailing, and I picked up a bunch more nice recipes in Gadgetzan and Steamwheedle Port.
Roamed the Eastern Kingdoms, too, getting flight points in Menethil Harbor, Booty Bay, Arathi Highlands, and wherever else I could think of. Rode the ship from Menethil to Theramore for more recipes and the flight point.
Then I got really adventurous. I kept seeing people asking for mage portals to Dalaran in the trade chat. I was really tempted to ask for one myself. But is it really worth spending 20 gold to get a portal to a city which will become a ghost town - and useless as a portal hub - in just four weeks?
Nah. Shattrath City is almost as good as a portal hub as Dalaran - and I could get there for free.
Could I, though? I'd have to get through Deadwind Pass - piece of cake - and then Swamp of Sorrows and the Blasted Lands. How many times would I have to die to make it to the Dark Portal - and the flight point that would get me to Shattrath?
Not many, it turned out. In Swamp of Sorrows a bunch of Horde NPC's patrolling the road came after me, but using my hunter's tracking skills I managed to dodge and outrun them. But then I made a wrong turn just north of the portal and ran into a bunch of big nasty hogs and died two or three times getting out of there. That was my mistake; if I hadn't made the wrong turn they'd never have seen me.
Then when I rode through the little ravine leading to the portal two giant demons jumped me and killed me instantly. But I think that was the only death I couldn't have avoided.
Once I'd rezzed and rode on down to the portal, it was a piece of cake. Through the portal, take a hard left and jump off the platform, and go over to the flight master. This guy gives you access to Honor Hold and Shattrath as soon as you find him. Stopped by at the inn in Honor Hold and picked up some more profitable recipes, and then roamed the Lower City at Shattrath for a bunch more. And set my hearthstone at the Aldor inn, of course.
This exploration was so much fun - and so lucrative - that I decided to do the same thing with my 21 Horde hunter. Now she's got the flight points at Gadgetzan, Brackenwall Village, Ratchet, Stonard, Light's Hope Chapel, and the key one at Kargath in Badlands, which links the Horde flight points in the northern part of the continent with those in the south. And, of course, she picked up lots of inventory (for auctioning by my bank alt) along the way.
Getting to Shattrath was only a little more difficult for this (by now) level 22 Horde hunter than it was for the 21 Alliance, mainly because of having to get past the Alliance guards in and around Darkshire. She died a couple of times getting through there. Also made a wrong turn in Swamp of Sorrows and died a few times escaping the nasty wild cats north of Stonard. Probably could've gotten clean through the Swamp to Stonard without that wrong turn.
Only died once in Blasted Lands, when a couple of mobs knocked me off my mount. Seems to be a requirement that you die at least once when getting a low level toon through this zone.
Light's Hope Chapel was actually tougher, partly because I headed too far south when I got to the end of that ravine that runs east form the road toward the chapel. Ran into a bunch of slime, and died several times getting out of there. Also, a low level Horde toon has a hard time in Light's Hope itself, because there is a mob that hangs out close enough to the flight master that it aggros when you try to get a flight. And it comes and kills you no matter what you do.
But after the mob killed me the guards killed it, so after I rezzed I was able to take a flight out of there before he respawned. Only after, of course, putting a nice limited-supply recipe in the mail to my bank alt to ease the pain. LOL!
All in all this has been an exciting week of happily taking two characters in the low 20's to lots of places they shouldn't be, lighting up my map and grabbing flight points all over the world, and filling up their bank alts' inventories for weeks of profitable auctioning.
A side benefit was all the XP generated by the exploration; my Alliance hunter went from 2% to 68% of level 20 just on exploration XP alone.
I think perhaps all this traveling around is my way of saying goodbye to the classic Old World. With the retooling of the zones into different levels after the Cataclysm, and the destruction or ravaging of some of my favorite zones and towns (the Barrens, Thousand Needles, Ashenvale, Auberdine, Southshore, Menethil, etc.) so much of what I've learned about traveling, mining, and leveling in the Old World will become obsolete on December 7. I'm trying to make the most of these final days of Azeroth as we've known it.
Next on my agenda: battlegrounds. I met someone who told me that you get really good XP from battlegrounds, especially if you do them on their holiday weekend. I'm going to try to do a few this weekend and see how far I get.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Homing in on level 60 ... and riding the rocket!
I've been quiet lately, but making progress in WoW. Alaurai is 3/4 of the way through level 75. Last night she finished with Dragonblight and moved on to Grizzly Hills. Thank you to Sthenia for helping me complete three difficult group quests in Dragonblight last night!
Even more exciting is the fact that Rakkael is closing in on level 60 and being able to fly. Woohoo! She reached level 59 last night.
Actually Rakkael blew all the way through level 59 in one evening, thanks to Jame's guides and the WoW-Pro add-on - and to some excellent coaching by my friend Orzu. (That's the same evening in which Alaurai also did those three group quests with Sthenia. Such efficiency!)
In the past couple of weeks Orzu has been giving me a lot of terrific advice through the WoW chat. He recommended that I switch my hunters from Beast Mastery to Survival, and the other night he showed me his Survival talent build and let me copy it, and in the beta he showed me where to get a terrific dog.
Orzu has also coached me on what shots and spells to use, and in what order, and convinced me to replace my beautiful elegant cats with big, clumsy-looking, but very useful bears. Ferocity cats are fine against a single enemy, but Tenacity bears are much better tanks and can cope much more effectively with mobs of mobs.
The result of all this help is that Rakkael is easily hammering through the quests suggested by Jame's Horde leveling guide. Last night I soloed a couple of quests in Shadow Hold in Felwood that Jame recommended doing only if I was able to find a group. I just walked into the cave and started killing things. Went all the way to the very bottom of the cave and back again with no problem; never came close to getting killed.
(Orzu, I'm sorry I wasted your time helping me the other night in Shadow Hold! Now I know I could have easily soloed the quests you helped me with. But I still really enjoyed playing with you. Thanks!)
I'm planning to get Alaurai an exotic pet, again thanks to Orzu's advice, and also plan to get one for Rakkael (love those white Devilsaurs!) as soon as she reaches level 69. Orzu says that having an exotic pet makes Beast Mastery a much more effective specialization. But to keep things simple for now, I'll probably stick with Survival most of the time.
It seems like the more I learn about this game, the more there is to learn. Orzu's coaching has led me to look for web sites with info about how to play hunters more effectively. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface.
Oh yes! One last very cool item. The other night I was in Stormwind with Alaurai, getting ready to do that incredible final Dragonblight quest with the King of Stormwind. Someone asked in the trade chat for a mage portal to Dalaran. I offered to fly him to Dalaran on my rocket instead. Turned out he had a lady friend who wanted to go too, and I flew them both.
I'd been planning to offer to do this once I got the ability to fly in Northrend. I'd been thinking that some people might enjoy the trip, even though the flight would take a lot longer than a mage portal, and that I might collect some small tips now and then. But after Blizzard removed the Dalaran and Shattrath portals to major cities in the Cata beta, I'd more or less forgotten about my plan, because access to those cities by lower level toons will become much less worthwhile when Cata arrives.
But while flying these people I realized that, contrary to being a poor man's alternative to a mage portal, a flight on the rocket to Dalaran is actually far more desirable. This is because you gain XP for every area you discover as you ride over it on the rocket. Both of my passengers leveled from 28 to 29 just on the XP gain from the flight!
After I'd gotten them to Dalaran, they asked me if I would fly them around to get the Hallow's End Tricks and Treats achievements. I ended up rocketing both of them to the various inns around Outland - and they both gave me nice tips for this. (They also leveled to 31 on the Outland discovery XP!)
All in all, I made 120 gold for a couple hours' fun, and did the achievement myself at the same time. Also got XP for discovering some areas I hadn't flown over before.
I hope to do more of this kind of thing. I think even after Cata comes and the portals in Dalaran go away, there will still be a lot of opportunities to make gold by giving people rocket rides to various places all over the world, not only for achievements but for access to flight points and other useful locations. And when Rakkael hits 60, I'll be able to do it (in the Old World and Outland) for Horde characters as well.
I think the dawning realization of rocket ride potential as well as my growing understanding of hunter play are good examples of the kind of expansion of possibilities that have and are coming with Patch 4.0.1 and Cataclysm. Also, a lot of things which were small annoyances (such as, for hunters, having to buy ammo and drinks all the time, and not being able to switch pets in the field) are being ironed out, which is making the game overall more fun.
The game is really changing - and the more I learn about them, the more I feel that these changes are (for the most part) very good things.
Thanks again to Orzu and Sthenia for making my WoWing a lot more fun!
Alaurai
PS. Add-on happiness is back. All of my most crucial add-ons which were broken by Patch 4.0.1 are now fixed, including Bartender, TomTom, Auctioneer, and Altoholic. Gatherer and Addon Control Panel never stopped working. QuestHelper is gone, but the WoW-Pro add-on is working so much better for me that I do not miss QH at all.
The only other add-ons I used which are still broken are FlightMap and MapNotes, and, while I miss these, they aren't essential.
Even more exciting is the fact that Rakkael is closing in on level 60 and being able to fly. Woohoo! She reached level 59 last night.
Actually Rakkael blew all the way through level 59 in one evening, thanks to Jame's guides and the WoW-Pro add-on - and to some excellent coaching by my friend Orzu. (That's the same evening in which Alaurai also did those three group quests with Sthenia. Such efficiency!)
In the past couple of weeks Orzu has been giving me a lot of terrific advice through the WoW chat. He recommended that I switch my hunters from Beast Mastery to Survival, and the other night he showed me his Survival talent build and let me copy it, and in the beta he showed me where to get a terrific dog.
Orzu has also coached me on what shots and spells to use, and in what order, and convinced me to replace my beautiful elegant cats with big, clumsy-looking, but very useful bears. Ferocity cats are fine against a single enemy, but Tenacity bears are much better tanks and can cope much more effectively with mobs of mobs.
The result of all this help is that Rakkael is easily hammering through the quests suggested by Jame's Horde leveling guide. Last night I soloed a couple of quests in Shadow Hold in Felwood that Jame recommended doing only if I was able to find a group. I just walked into the cave and started killing things. Went all the way to the very bottom of the cave and back again with no problem; never came close to getting killed.
(Orzu, I'm sorry I wasted your time helping me the other night in Shadow Hold! Now I know I could have easily soloed the quests you helped me with. But I still really enjoyed playing with you. Thanks!)
I'm planning to get Alaurai an exotic pet, again thanks to Orzu's advice, and also plan to get one for Rakkael (love those white Devilsaurs!) as soon as she reaches level 69. Orzu says that having an exotic pet makes Beast Mastery a much more effective specialization. But to keep things simple for now, I'll probably stick with Survival most of the time.
It seems like the more I learn about this game, the more there is to learn. Orzu's coaching has led me to look for web sites with info about how to play hunters more effectively. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface.
Oh yes! One last very cool item. The other night I was in Stormwind with Alaurai, getting ready to do that incredible final Dragonblight quest with the King of Stormwind. Someone asked in the trade chat for a mage portal to Dalaran. I offered to fly him to Dalaran on my rocket instead. Turned out he had a lady friend who wanted to go too, and I flew them both.
I'd been planning to offer to do this once I got the ability to fly in Northrend. I'd been thinking that some people might enjoy the trip, even though the flight would take a lot longer than a mage portal, and that I might collect some small tips now and then. But after Blizzard removed the Dalaran and Shattrath portals to major cities in the Cata beta, I'd more or less forgotten about my plan, because access to those cities by lower level toons will become much less worthwhile when Cata arrives.
But while flying these people I realized that, contrary to being a poor man's alternative to a mage portal, a flight on the rocket to Dalaran is actually far more desirable. This is because you gain XP for every area you discover as you ride over it on the rocket. Both of my passengers leveled from 28 to 29 just on the XP gain from the flight!
After I'd gotten them to Dalaran, they asked me if I would fly them around to get the Hallow's End Tricks and Treats achievements. I ended up rocketing both of them to the various inns around Outland - and they both gave me nice tips for this. (They also leveled to 31 on the Outland discovery XP!)
All in all, I made 120 gold for a couple hours' fun, and did the achievement myself at the same time. Also got XP for discovering some areas I hadn't flown over before.
I hope to do more of this kind of thing. I think even after Cata comes and the portals in Dalaran go away, there will still be a lot of opportunities to make gold by giving people rocket rides to various places all over the world, not only for achievements but for access to flight points and other useful locations. And when Rakkael hits 60, I'll be able to do it (in the Old World and Outland) for Horde characters as well.
I think the dawning realization of rocket ride potential as well as my growing understanding of hunter play are good examples of the kind of expansion of possibilities that have and are coming with Patch 4.0.1 and Cataclysm. Also, a lot of things which were small annoyances (such as, for hunters, having to buy ammo and drinks all the time, and not being able to switch pets in the field) are being ironed out, which is making the game overall more fun.
The game is really changing - and the more I learn about them, the more I feel that these changes are (for the most part) very good things.
Thanks again to Orzu and Sthenia for making my WoWing a lot more fun!
Alaurai
PS. Add-on happiness is back. All of my most crucial add-ons which were broken by Patch 4.0.1 are now fixed, including Bartender, TomTom, Auctioneer, and Altoholic. Gatherer and Addon Control Panel never stopped working. QuestHelper is gone, but the WoW-Pro add-on is working so much better for me that I do not miss QH at all.
The only other add-ons I used which are still broken are FlightMap and MapNotes, and, while I miss these, they aren't essential.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Jame's WoW-Pro Leveling Guides; those evil rogues
I came across an interview with Jame, who wrote the excellent guides that are incorporated into the WoW-Pro Add-On. It's a great interview, and Jame gives terrific insight into the process he uses to develop his guides. The interview is here:
http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/
Also, I've been assuming that we'd have to do without the guides for a while after Cataclysm hits. I mean, guides for several thousand new quests in just a few weeks? Impossible! But Jame has put together a team whose goal is to have complete guides ready by December 7. Here:
http://jamewowpro.blogspot.
http://www.wow-pro.com/
As to those treacherous rogues, I came across a couple of posts on the WoW forums in which a lot of people complain loudly that Subtlety rogues are now so overpowered (at least in PvP) that they can kill players many levels above them with one strike:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
I'm sure Blizzard will address this at some point, but for now you rogues could really have a lot of fun!
http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/
Also, I've been assuming that we'd have to do without the guides for a while after Cataclysm hits. I mean, guides for several thousand new quests in just a few weeks? Impossible! But Jame has put together a team whose goal is to have complete guides ready by December 7. Here:
http://jamewowpro.blogspot.
http://www.wow-pro.com/
As to those treacherous rogues, I came across a couple of posts on the WoW forums in which a lot of people complain loudly that Subtlety rogues are now so overpowered (at least in PvP) that they can kill players many levels above them with one strike:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.
I'm sure Blizzard will address this at some point, but for now you rogues could really have a lot of fun!
Monday, October 18, 2010
New Paladin and Hunter rotations
Over the weekend I played my highest level paladin, Lauralia, up from level 28 to 31. I know things change as you get to higher levels, but if my experience with different level hunters is mirrored in paladins at higher levels, the basic rotation shouldn't change as much in 4.0/Cata as you level up, compared to the pre-Cata mechanics.
Since the patch I've leveled a hunter from level 6 to 11 and played two other hunters at levels 54 and 73-74. All use the same basic rotation (starting at level 10 you've got all the core shots and spells) but the higher levels have more options, so the rotations - if you want them to - can be more complex. But even with Alaurai at level 74, I seem to be almost as effective sticking to the same four core shots as I am when I get fancy.
Lauri is a Retribution pally and I really enjoyed playing her before the patch. But the patch eliminated one of my main spells: Taunt, which I used to pull a specific mob to me. This was especially useful if there was a crowd of them and I didn't want to get swamped.
But in 4.0, Taunt is gone. Augh! How do I pull them now?
Took me a while to figure it out. At first I was using Judgement (there is only one Judgement spell now) and then hitting them with Crusader Strike when they got to me, and then laying on an Excorcism. Judgement's effective range seems to have gotten a lot greater than before, which is terrific, and it made this rotation feasible.
But then I noticed the handy tooltip for Excorcism, which pointed out that I should avoid using Exorcism in melee because it takes a long time to build up. Good point.
So... how about using Exorcism as my first hit? That way I don't have to stand around waiting for it to build while the mob is pummeling me. But what's it's pull range?
I was doing Battle of Hillsbrad (remember us doing those quests together, Trojanne? Rakkeal and Jacara, I think) and I started experimenting with this. Wow! Awesome pull range! I can pull them from halfway across the farmer's fields. Awesome!
I quickly settled on a new rotation: Exorcism to pull, Judgement while they are running at me, and Crusader Strike when they get to me. So I've gotten in two solid hits before they even reach me. If more than one come, I hit Consecration, which still seems to be pretty effective. (Divine Storm, OTOH, doesn't seem to do much.)
If my health gets low, I stun my target with Hammer of Justice and heal myself with Holy Light, just as I used to do. It was working; I was mowing through those farmers and peasants like a thresher through ripe corn.
Then I realized that something special was happening every once in a while. The Exorcism icon on my action bar would start to glow, and if I hit that button while it was glowing, there was no delay; Exorcism had become instant. And the mobs died when I did that.
I looked in my talent tree and found that Art of War, in the third tier, makes your autoattacks have a 20% chance to make your next Exorcism, free, instant, and cause 100% additional damage! Awesome! This talent is getting filled ASAP in any retripally I roll.
Another interesting thing is that the cooldowns of the various spells now differ more than they used to, with both paladin and hunter. I can no longer spam the same two or three spells in the same order like I used to. I have to watch the cooldowns and hit the one that cools down first at any given time. This is a little more challenging than before, but I find that I like it.
Some of the new and modified spells aren't as effective as I'd expect. The hunter's vaunted Kill Shot, for example, is practically worthless because the time between it becoming available (at 20% of the mob's health) and the mob dying is so short. If I've just fired Arcane shot, say, when the mob hits 20%, then by the time the Kill Shot's cooldown is up, the mob's already dead. Kill Command doesn't seem to do much of anything either, and I don't seem to have a good way to increase my pets' threat level when I need to.
For my level 31 pally, as I mentioned Divine Storm seems to have little effect, but maybe it will scale up at higher levels or with the appropriate talent selections.
Bottom line is that so far, I like the changes. Yes, I have to pay more attention to the cooldowns and my rotation varies more (the same is true of my hunters) but it's a little more fun and interesting as a result.
And it's very gratifying when I get the sequence right and the mobs die at my feet moments after we engage - or, in the case of my hunters, before they even get to me.
I'm still working on my hunter rotation. Concussive Shot and Steady Shot are both good candidates for the initial hit, Concussive because it stuns the target and slows their run toward me, and Steady because it has a windup like the pally's Exorcism.
I hope to get to experimenting with Warrior and Rogue rotations soon.
Since the patch I've leveled a hunter from level 6 to 11 and played two other hunters at levels 54 and 73-74. All use the same basic rotation (starting at level 10 you've got all the core shots and spells) but the higher levels have more options, so the rotations - if you want them to - can be more complex. But even with Alaurai at level 74, I seem to be almost as effective sticking to the same four core shots as I am when I get fancy.
Lauri is a Retribution pally and I really enjoyed playing her before the patch. But the patch eliminated one of my main spells: Taunt, which I used to pull a specific mob to me. This was especially useful if there was a crowd of them and I didn't want to get swamped.
But in 4.0, Taunt is gone. Augh! How do I pull them now?
Took me a while to figure it out. At first I was using Judgement (there is only one Judgement spell now) and then hitting them with Crusader Strike when they got to me, and then laying on an Excorcism. Judgement's effective range seems to have gotten a lot greater than before, which is terrific, and it made this rotation feasible.
But then I noticed the handy tooltip for Excorcism, which pointed out that I should avoid using Exorcism in melee because it takes a long time to build up. Good point.
So... how about using Exorcism as my first hit? That way I don't have to stand around waiting for it to build while the mob is pummeling me. But what's it's pull range?
I was doing Battle of Hillsbrad (remember us doing those quests together, Trojanne? Rakkeal and Jacara, I think) and I started experimenting with this. Wow! Awesome pull range! I can pull them from halfway across the farmer's fields. Awesome!
I quickly settled on a new rotation: Exorcism to pull, Judgement while they are running at me, and Crusader Strike when they get to me. So I've gotten in two solid hits before they even reach me. If more than one come, I hit Consecration, which still seems to be pretty effective. (Divine Storm, OTOH, doesn't seem to do much.)
If my health gets low, I stun my target with Hammer of Justice and heal myself with Holy Light, just as I used to do. It was working; I was mowing through those farmers and peasants like a thresher through ripe corn.
Then I realized that something special was happening every once in a while. The Exorcism icon on my action bar would start to glow, and if I hit that button while it was glowing, there was no delay; Exorcism had become instant. And the mobs died when I did that.
I looked in my talent tree and found that Art of War, in the third tier, makes your autoattacks have a 20% chance to make your next Exorcism, free, instant, and cause 100% additional damage! Awesome! This talent is getting filled ASAP in any retripally I roll.
Another interesting thing is that the cooldowns of the various spells now differ more than they used to, with both paladin and hunter. I can no longer spam the same two or three spells in the same order like I used to. I have to watch the cooldowns and hit the one that cools down first at any given time. This is a little more challenging than before, but I find that I like it.
Some of the new and modified spells aren't as effective as I'd expect. The hunter's vaunted Kill Shot, for example, is practically worthless because the time between it becoming available (at 20% of the mob's health) and the mob dying is so short. If I've just fired Arcane shot, say, when the mob hits 20%, then by the time the Kill Shot's cooldown is up, the mob's already dead. Kill Command doesn't seem to do much of anything either, and I don't seem to have a good way to increase my pets' threat level when I need to.
For my level 31 pally, as I mentioned Divine Storm seems to have little effect, but maybe it will scale up at higher levels or with the appropriate talent selections.
Bottom line is that so far, I like the changes. Yes, I have to pay more attention to the cooldowns and my rotation varies more (the same is true of my hunters) but it's a little more fun and interesting as a result.
And it's very gratifying when I get the sequence right and the mobs die at my feet moments after we engage - or, in the case of my hunters, before they even get to me.
I'm still working on my hunter rotation. Concussive Shot and Steady Shot are both good candidates for the initial hit, Concussive because it stuns the target and slows their run toward me, and Steady because it has a windup like the pally's Exorcism.
I hope to get to experimenting with Warrior and Rogue rotations soon.
The Impact of Cataclysm
Writing about the Patch 4.01 changes also made me think about the impact of the changes coming in Patch 4.0.3 and the Cataclysm expansion. While the current patch requires us to learn new shot/spell rotations and make some other adjustments, I think that the changes coming in the December patch and the Cataclysm expansion will actually have a greater impact on our game play.
Flying in the Old World, of course, will be awesome, and it will be fun to explore the new zones and try out the new races, or roll a toon in one of the new race/class combinations.
But the elimination of almost all existing quests (in the Old World, at least) in favor of new ones is a major change, and I am pretty sure it will take time for guides and databases to catch up. This is true of add-ons like Gatherer, QH2 and Carbonite, which depend on data collected from players over time, as well as leveling guides, which will have to be rewritten from scratch. Auction house scan data and knowledge we've collected over time will likely be impacted too.
We and our information resources will have to adapt to, among other things, the recalibration of most zone levels and thereby the level flows. Much of the reference material about quests, spells, abilities, geography, travel, vendors, items, gear - just about every aspect of the game - in sites like WoWHead, WoWWiki, and ThottBot will become obsolete, and it will take time to build up new and accurate information repositories. In the meantime we're going to be fumbling a bit.
We're going to have to learn our way around the world again. The loss of the capitol city portals in Dalaran and Shattrath is just the tip of the iceberg; so much of the land will be changing, zones reconfigured. What we know about sneaking a low-level Alliance toon past the Horde mobs at the Mor'Shan Rampart to get to Ratchet and thence Booty Bay, for example, or through Dustwallow to Theramore or Wetlands to Menethil to access these vital intercontinental harbors, or running a young Horde down from Arathi Highlands through Wetlands and Dun Morogh to Badlands or from Ghostlands to Light's Hope or past Darkshire to the Swamp of Sorrows for those key flight points - most or all of this knowledge may well become useless.
And there will be so many new flight points! On the maps it looks like double or triple the number. Travel for low level toons will be more convenient, but also more confusing at first. While leveling, we're going to have to remember to look for flight masters everywhere we go.
I think it was wise of Blizzard to split the changes into two parts, so we have time to adjust to the character-related changes before we have to learn about all the world changes. Cataclysm is going to be almost a whole new game. Bigger, and - I hope - a lot better too.
Flying in the Old World, of course, will be awesome, and it will be fun to explore the new zones and try out the new races, or roll a toon in one of the new race/class combinations.
But the elimination of almost all existing quests (in the Old World, at least) in favor of new ones is a major change, and I am pretty sure it will take time for guides and databases to catch up. This is true of add-ons like Gatherer, QH2 and Carbonite, which depend on data collected from players over time, as well as leveling guides, which will have to be rewritten from scratch. Auction house scan data and knowledge we've collected over time will likely be impacted too.
We and our information resources will have to adapt to, among other things, the recalibration of most zone levels and thereby the level flows. Much of the reference material about quests, spells, abilities, geography, travel, vendors, items, gear - just about every aspect of the game - in sites like WoWHead, WoWWiki, and ThottBot will become obsolete, and it will take time to build up new and accurate information repositories. In the meantime we're going to be fumbling a bit.
We're going to have to learn our way around the world again. The loss of the capitol city portals in Dalaran and Shattrath is just the tip of the iceberg; so much of the land will be changing, zones reconfigured. What we know about sneaking a low-level Alliance toon past the Horde mobs at the Mor'Shan Rampart to get to Ratchet and thence Booty Bay, for example, or through Dustwallow to Theramore or Wetlands to Menethil to access these vital intercontinental harbors, or running a young Horde down from Arathi Highlands through Wetlands and Dun Morogh to Badlands or from Ghostlands to Light's Hope or past Darkshire to the Swamp of Sorrows for those key flight points - most or all of this knowledge may well become useless.
And there will be so many new flight points! On the maps it looks like double or triple the number. Travel for low level toons will be more convenient, but also more confusing at first. While leveling, we're going to have to remember to look for flight masters everywhere we go.
I think it was wise of Blizzard to split the changes into two parts, so we have time to adjust to the character-related changes before we have to learn about all the world changes. Cataclysm is going to be almost a whole new game. Bigger, and - I hope - a lot better too.
Thoughts on Patch 4.0.1
Now that I've been playing WoW with the patch for a few days, I have some thoughts on the changes. I know that some of us (me included) have been, ah, unsettled by the changes. With some miles under my paws now, I'm feeling a lot better about most of the changes.
Note that all of the add-ons that I consider essential are now working. Auctioneer is still on a "preview" release that must be manually installed; Bartender, Altoholic, Gatherer, and the WoW-Pro Addon all have official releases that can be installed through the Curse client. Without these, for me WoW was pretty much unplayable, but now all is well.
BTW, if anyone would rather not be on my impromptu little WoW mailing list, just let me know and I'll quit sending you my updates.
Wins:
Losses/annoyances:
Short term and minor issues:
There are other aspects of 4.0.1 that I don't have the knowledge or experience to comment on yet. Changes to the currencies, item stats, reforging, etc., as well as changes related to battlegrounds, arenas, and other PvP and endgame play are all beyond me right now.
All in all, so far I like what's happening in Patch 4.0. I hope you'll like them too.
Note that all of the add-ons that I consider essential are now working. Auctioneer is still on a "preview" release that must be manually installed; Bartender, Altoholic, Gatherer, and the WoW-Pro Addon all have official releases that can be installed through the Curse client. Without these, for me WoW was pretty much unplayable, but now all is well.
BTW, if anyone would rather not be on my impromptu little WoW mailing list, just let me know and I'll quit sending you my updates.
Wins:
- Flying in Northrend at level 68. Yay Yay Yay!
- New paladin spell rotation. I played my highest level paladin from level 28 up to 31 this weekend. Took me a little while to figure out the new rotation, but now I like it a lot. More in a separate email.
- New hunter shot/spell rotation. I'm getting used to it; it's very easy and powerful at low levels, more complex higher up, but the basics don't change.
- Five hunter pets onboard; 20 (free!) stable slots.
- Hunter use of Stance bar for Aspects. Neat; saves space, puts to use a bar that was formerly useless for hunters.
- Reduction of cost of Dual Spec and Cold Weather Flying. All of my toons will get the latter as soon as they hit level 68, and I plan to start experimenting with Dual Spec shortly.
Losses/annoyances:
- QuestHelper is dead. Big, big loss. But replacements are in the works, and in the meantime I am finding the WoW-Pro add-on- which incorporates Jame's legendary leveling guides - to be an excellent substitute. Potential replacements:
- QuestHelper 2, which is being written from scratch by the original author of QH, not the guy who just now abandoned it. The Tasks list on his site contains some interesting new functionality. QH2 will probably be in development for a while.
- Carbonite. A beta for 4.0.1 has already been released.
- Lightheaded plus TomTom also looks to be a useful combination if you prefer free-form questing, and it's available now.
- Several others are also being worked on. Two or three different people are trying to fix the original QuestHelper to work with 4.0.1. See the comments posted on the QH page on Curse.com for details.
- FlightMap. This is a bigger loss than I thought at first. It isn't a big deal for toons that have discovered all the flight points; all you lose is the flight timer. But for characters that are leveling, it's a real pain to have to keep looking on an external map for nearby flight points. I hope this gets fixed!
- Pet talents get wiped when you stable a pet. I mean, come on! This is ridiculous. (I'm sure every class will have their gripes. This is mine. So far.)
- MapNotes. No word yet on if/when a 4.0 version will be released. I rely on this heavily so I hope it's soon!
- While it's great to be able to fly in Northrend as soon as you get there, this also has a downside. You never learn a zone as well by flying over it as you do when riding through it. Most people probably won't care. But learning my way around the world is one of my favorite aspects of the game, and I'm trying to remember to check the map frequently to see where I am whenever I plop down somewhere while following the TomTom arrow to the WoW-Pro add-on's next questing point.
Short term and minor issues:
- The new talent trees. I think this will become a non-issue once the talent build geeks have published their builds for the rest of us to copy. I've already started to experiment with my pets' trees, and it's not bad.
- Glyphs. I think the glyph restructuring will also become a non-issue pretty quickly - and the fact that you can have many glyphs and switch them around without destroying them will create a new market for inscriptionists and also make things more interesting for everyone.
- FollowMe add-on. Haven't used this in months anyway.
- Enchantrix Barker is broken. I don't use this, so I don't care.
There are other aspects of 4.0.1 that I don't have the knowledge or experience to comment on yet. Changes to the currencies, item stats, reforging, etc., as well as changes related to battlegrounds, arenas, and other PvP and endgame play are all beyond me right now.
All in all, so far I like what's happening in Patch 4.0. I hope you'll like them too.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
It's rocket time in Northrend!!
I'm flying my rocket (thanks, Sthenia!) over Northrend at this very moment! On a live server (not beta)!
This has to be one of the least-discussed but - to me, anyway - most significant changes in Patch 4.0.1. You can now train for Cold Weather Flying, which allows you to fly in Northrend, at level 68 instead of 77 as before. Also, the price for this has been reduced from 1000 to 500 gold.
This change makes sense in a way, since when Cata hits Northrend will no longer be the endgame, but simply a collection of leveling zones as Outland has been since the release of the Lich King expansion.
I suppose for all you people with level 80's this news is just "Ho hum. We can already do that. Have been able to give our alts that ability at 68 for a long time."
But it's awesome for anyone who hasn't leveled up to 80 yet, because now you can fly anywhere you want in Northrend, and generally in a lot less time than on a taxi (the slang term for flight masters' flying beasts). Leveling in Northrend should go significantly faster now.
Now I have even more motivation to get Rakkael to level 60 and then through Outland to 68. Then she'll be able to give Horde players rides on her rocket (thanks, Dingbata!) too.
BTW, Alaurai's rocket now works in the Old World. I can ride it around a foot off the ground, and presumably give rides on it, but it won't fly until December 7.
Can't wait! Woohoo!
This has to be one of the least-discussed but - to me, anyway - most significant changes in Patch 4.0.1. You can now train for Cold Weather Flying, which allows you to fly in Northrend, at level 68 instead of 77 as before. Also, the price for this has been reduced from 1000 to 500 gold.
This change makes sense in a way, since when Cata hits Northrend will no longer be the endgame, but simply a collection of leveling zones as Outland has been since the release of the Lich King expansion.
I suppose for all you people with level 80's this news is just "Ho hum. We can already do that. Have been able to give our alts that ability at 68 for a long time."
But it's awesome for anyone who hasn't leveled up to 80 yet, because now you can fly anywhere you want in Northrend, and generally in a lot less time than on a taxi (the slang term for flight masters' flying beasts). Leveling in Northrend should go significantly faster now.
Now I have even more motivation to get Rakkael to level 60 and then through Outland to 68. Then she'll be able to give Horde players rides on her rocket (thanks, Dingbata!) too.
BTW, Alaurai's rocket now works in the Old World. I can ride it around a foot off the ground, and presumably give rides on it, but it won't fly until December 7.
Can't wait! Woohoo!
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