WoW

[Hsnopi]

Anyone playing it when it comes out? I was at a friends house tryign the stress test, seemed pretty good.

[Bokchoi]

I am playing in the stress test right now. I like playing the rogue (combo fighting system!) If my friends aren't playing EQ2 I'd play WoW for sure. I also like crafting in WoW as well. Leatherworking is great. Hey man, have you considered EQ2? As usual, you're always welcome to join us.

[RuperT]

I like it a lot. I'm also playing in the stress test, and played in the previous session also. I kinda like the seamless world (very little zone-loading), and the crafting seems a little more accessible (leatherworking IS great for the adventurer on the go).
I'm pretty sure I'm going to play WoW or EQ2, but I'm not sure which. As great as Blizzard's products are, they sure seem to attract the tards (but they won't ever have a monopoly).

[Hsnopi]

well i am playing WoW cause some of my Real World (TM) friends said i must do so or risk a flogging. One of them is going to play EQ2 though as well. so I might do that. if I do i will get in touch.

I am torn between a tauren druid or a fighter. the idea of wielding a tree is aewsome!

I love that there are TONS of quests.

[ignus]

i played during one weekend stress test, and i was a undead warlock. it was wicked fun, i went exploring rather than focusing on real missions and leveling up, so i got to see a very large portion of my area before getting shredded by some huge monsters ^^

[RuperT]

BTW, the Open Beta client is available on Fileplanet now. I don't think the Open Beta period has started yet, though.

[MadSci]

Is it similar to DAoC? If so, then i probably won't play it. I never really got into MMOs til CoH since it was so easy to play. But as result, making it so easy made it boring within 6 months. When my brother tried to get my to play DAoC, I just couldn't get into it. Everything from items weighing you down, to crafting to the slow as molasses leveling system. It just turned me off in every way. Maybe it's something I need to get accustomed too but I don't want to be playing for 4 hours and get 1 bulb! :p

I guess i'll have to wait for reviews from you guys and see how it goes.

[FinalDream]

My brother is into those types of games and had been dling the open beta client via blizzards downloader. It is basically bittorrent with no ability to set caps. It basically shut down the internet in our household (even browsing the web was painful), and of course he was dling at 40 kbps and uploading at 60 kbps which isn't pleasing to me because our isp doesn't like it when you upload massive amounts of data in a short period of time. Uploading 3 GB in one night is the kind of thing they call you about, anyway once fileplanet came back online I switched the dl to there. Apparently sometime last night fileplanet crashed due to overload I think, the previous 7 hour line was erased and I only had to wait 18 minites which turned out to be 2 hours.

The open beta registration also opened last night and caused blizzard to "have technical difficulties" which I think means crash under huge load. Anyway the signup came back last night so I would assume that it is available now. I didn't bother signing up for an account, I was halfway through when I desided that playing the game till Nov. 22nd and then losing all my stuff would suck.

[Hsnopi]

i got into the open beta. it is a little like daoc but has elements of others. i don;t think it will make you a fan of mmorpg's ir you arent; interested, but it is pretty nice and hase some great improvements for those interested.

[FinalDream]

I broke down and signed up last night, I have never played a mmorpg before but found WoW to be fun. One downside is that every race starts off in a different part of the continent so I was not able play with my friends. I don't know if it is true of other mmorpgs but there were so many different servers that most ppl I know playing are on an entirely different server. I think there are around 30 servers all spead out over the four time zones Pacific, Mountain, Cental, and Eastern. More populated time zones having a greater number of servers. I wonder what how this will change with the retail version, I think that Blizzard is a little streached running closed beta servers at the same time as open beta ones. Running stress tests and other operations like server matainence might alsl effect the gameplay of the open beta.

[MadSci]

Can anyone give me an update on the beta testing so far? I'm really considering buying the collector's edition when it comes out in 10 days but some informative feedback would be nice before doing so.

[Roc_ketboy]

Ok. Sat down and played it for 6 hrs straight for the 1st time last night.

First impressions...
-- Visual/Audio - Its very very pretty. Great graphics and sound/voices. Very much like WC3
-- Interface - they did a superb job with this one. Everything you need to see on the screen is there. No need to customize although I wish they have a chat filter..maybe i just havent seen that yet. The interface is very 'Diablo'ish'
-- Movement/Camera - was tricky to adjust from gaming Shadowbane for a year straight but didnt take me long to transition. Very intuitive and easy
-- Lag - none experienced. was seamlessly smooth moving from one zone to the next. none of that wait while loading nonesense.

I'll add my thought on the contents later once I get more knowledgeable with the classes and professions

[RuperT]

I like it a lot. I'm kind of a noob to the whole MMO thing, and I have been digging in rather than checking out everything, so I don't really have any comparison data on the tip of my tongue. I also haven't gotten anybody leveled past probably 15, and mostly warriors. Do you have any specific questions? A couple things I like in particular (I may have brought these up before):
Not zone-based, you can run for miles without the click-to-load-zone type doors. SOME of the city-zones and such in EQ2 felt painfully small after WoW (I hadn't gotten around much in EQ2 before beta ended, either).
WoW quests are a little easier to manage (EQ2 does have a ZILLION of them, though). EQ2 would group quests by where the offerer was, so I constantly had to go through ALL my quests to see if any destinations were where I was at the time (although I generally load up with EVERY quest; I hit the quest limit in EQ2 a couple of times). Also, EQ2 quests were infuriating in that you would deliver something to somebody or whatever, and then you had to go back to the offerer to 'inform' them to get paid. Every damn time almost (I guess the extra leg makes a lot of money)! WoW quests seem to entail much less 'back-and-forth'. However, WoW aggravates me that it will not show me Completed quests, such that I can't tell my under-level pals where to go and what to do (or at least what I've done).
Crafting SEEMS more accessible in WoW (which I suppose could be a bad thing, too). I never did get into crafting in EQ2, but it seemed like most of it was done at some facility in a large town. In WoW, I generally take skinning and leathercrafting to beef up my armor, and nearly all of it can be done in the field (I may have to pick up Coarse Thread or some other material from a merchant, but they're at nearly every crossroads). Tailoring is the same (good for bags in WoW).

[RuperT]

I also need to figure out how to configure the chat so I don't have to hear every 'LAG!!!' and 'Where is teh Lootenent?'

[MadSci]

I'm a noob at MMOs as well, i've only played City of Heroes and that's it.

Let me see if I think think of some questions
1) Is crafting necessary and does it take absolutely forever to make something. For instance, oh, i need to make this part to make a weapon...okay, let's get all these parts and wait 2 hours to make that part.
2) Is leveling pretty easy? I've heard some MMOs have absolutely painful leveling systems where someone would play hours upon hours and get a total of 2-3 bubbles or whatever you call them.
3) How hard is it to get a group? I know it's beta but I also hear that getting groups in other MMOs (including CoH) take absolutely forever.
4) RuperT, did you go through mana like it was nothing and then have to rest up after every battle? A total annoyance if you ask me.
5) Do items you carry slow you down?

Just some of the things I can think of at this point. Thx.

[RuperT]

I'm a noob at MMOs as well, i've only played City of Heroes and that's it.

Let me see if I think think of some questions
1) Is crafting necessary and does it take absolutely forever to make something. For instance, oh, i need to make this part to make a weapon...okay, let's get all these parts and wait 2 hours to make that part.
No, it's not necessary, but it will help you out a little bit. For example, skinning and leathermaking skills will allow you to upgrade some of your armor somewhat, which helps in the early stages. Tailoring will allow you to craft bags pretty early (in the first stress test, I had all the bags I needed VERY quickly, they may have reduced the drop). People will always buy bags, too. Fishing and cooking will provide food, which allows you to heal faster (out of battle). Mining/blacksmithing/engineering I have no experience with. Some of the professions probably make you some cool cash; the ones I use mostly allow me to use all the crap that I loot off monsters (First Aid/ Tailoring for plentiful linen, and I can skin nearly any animal). Mostly it's for fun, I guess, or to help out your pals. Leathercrafting allows me to boost my armor slightly in the early game, but I don't think you make any real cool items any faster than you would be able to buy them anyway if you were killing and questing. Any of the crafting I've done has taken less than 5 seconds. Now, there can be a sequence; in other words I kill a beast, skin it (which provides Light Leather or scraps which create Light Leather), and then I can make different things with the Leather, based on recipes I've bought. Thread, dye, or other components can be found or bought from merchants. Also, AFAIK, skill failure never results in loss of components; you just try again. It's mostly for kicks, I think; I don't think a non-crafter would be missing out on gear or anything.
2) Is leveling pretty easy? I've heard some MMOs have absolutely painful leveling systems where someone would play hours upon hours and get a total of 2-3 bubbles or whatever you call them.
I created a new character last night to play with some buds; approx 5 hrs later I was level 9. It strikes me as fairly quick. Also, the death penalty is just that you have to run to your corpse from the nearest graveyard, which might be a good ways at higher levels. I'm not sure what happens if you don't try; item loss maybe?
3) How hard is it to get a group? I know it's beta but I also hear that getting groups in other MMOs (including CoH) take absolutely forever.
I'd say not too hard, but I usually have my pals. I can't recall if there's a 'Looking for Group' indicator like EQ2, but it does seem that they did a better job of 'grouping' quests; in other words, more of your quests will be in the same general area, so people will stick with you beyond whatever quest they were waiting to get some help with. Also, I think WoW soloes much better than EQ2.
4) RuperT, did you go through mana like it was nothing and then have to rest up after every battle? A total annoyance if you ask me.
I've heard mages complain about 'shooting their wad' early (such that they are not good for an extended battle) since some of the recent patches, but there are COPIOUS amounts of regeneration item drops (ie food for health, water for mana), which increase the rate at which you recover between battles. I believe it was a design goal that you would never be sitting for more than 30 seconds; I never have (I spent much more time sitting in EQ2, but I didn't group as much either). Warriors build up Rage as they fight, instead of losing mana, so they definitely want to keep rolling (and as an Undead warrior, I can cannabalize fallen humanoids for a little pick-me-up)
5) Do items you carry slow you down?
I'm not really sure about this one. When I started a new character, it sure felt like he was faster than my other one. But, I'm pretty sure I run as fast as my cloth wearing magic pals, even with full chain armor. Mounts are available at higher levels to speed travel (plus Griffin/Bat rides, which are teh kewlest).

Just some of the things I can think of at this point. Thx.

[Hsnopi]

currently they are dealing with server code which is lagging hard. ithink they may have jsut done an update as all the servers were reset. we shall see. if they fix the lag issue i will play.