BC thoughts and first impressions

[Quikslver]

Someone mentioned a yearly expansion... I hope that is a joke... I do not have the memory space for that much Warcraft! haha

[Arcdelad]

blizzard has stated in multiple IGN / Videogames.com interviews that their goal is one expansion a year....the next one is going to suppsoedly update the graphics system, so lower end comp users like myself should probabyl start thinking of a system upgrade...

[Genoism]

blizzard has stated in multiple IGN / Videogames.com interviews that their goal is one expansion a year....the next one is going to suppsoedly update the graphics system, so lower end comp users like myself should probabyl start thinking of a system upgrade...

ooo haven't heard of a gfx upgrade i hope thats true :p Im already running at full settings - bring it on!

[Gutboy]

(First post!)

I think when you're considering the impact of BC on gameplay you have to break it down.  The new races and starting areas are an expansion to the original game (and very nicely done!), but Outland is really a new game.  You get to bring your old character, but in short order you find that your fancy gear is no better than normal quest rewards in Outland.  I think Blizzard did this deliberately to equalize the player base for BC content.  Imagine if only those who had gotten T2 or T3 in the old game could take on HF Ramparts...

Soon enough there will again be stratification among L70s, just as there was with L60s, and you will again find that putting in the time will provide you with better stuff than the average player has.  And I'm sure Blizzard doesn't intend for people to be stuck at 70 for 1-2 years the way they were at 60.

Many things are just going to take a little while to develop: sanity in the AH, Outland characters spreading out to different zones, BE and Drae chars mixed in at all levels, L70 BGs, not to mention any additional content that gets patched in, the way Blizzard has done all along. (I do hope they come up with more content in the old world, such as dungeons in the new 10-20 areas, like Gnomer was...)

Speaking for myself (who soloed to 60 and was there for six months, but never raided), I have really enjoyed BC, despite dying way more than I was used to. My main is at 65 after two weeks of fairly heavy play and only 3 zones explored, I have alts in both new races, and netherwhelp pets for everybody! :-)  Combine that with the fact that I was smart enough to join a big helpful guild, and it's a win for me.

Thanks,

Gutboy

[Luise]

Grats on your first post Gutboy!

[Arcdelad]

i think you bring up some realy excellent points gut...there is a certain balancing out by wiping out your GM gear and T3 stuff with green quest rewards...the obvious downside to that is that you basically made someones many hours of effort worthless, since getting GM gear, gear from raids takes a long time...

im sure blizz will add instances and such - the original wow started with MC as the end all right? then they added, ZG, AQ, and NAXX, along with the subsequent tiered sets and raid gear...i dont think this is the last new content youll see before the next patch...

add that fact to the new expansions that are coming...blizz intends to pump out one expansion per year, and i have to beleive that each expansion will come with a level cap raise...i dont think blizz wants to be like EQ and do meaningless expansions every 3 months...

on a diff note...my three year old just told me  is a mean guy LOL

[Vengeance]

I agree with GB, just replacing all this gear you worked pretty hard for with greens...gotta suck. i have a friend taht refuses to do that (lol). He got the GM sword and a couple of the marshal-field marshal armor, and he cant get to replacing them seeing as how he pvped a ton for them all. Expansions arent supposed to be meaningless, but 1 every year?...

if it comes to that, im scared, in 3 years ill see 3 digits in the peoples lvl slot on their portrate...

[Muridin]

if it gets that bad, ill stop playing

stuff lvlin a toon from 1-100 ...... 1-60 was long enough, ,,,, 1-70 is that bit slightly bearable

[Gutboy]

A lot of people are using the word "meaningless" to describe the work they put in to get their gear in the original game, now that BC has come out.  I have to ask, just how "meaningful" was that work before BC?  You (and I mean anyone who spent lots of WoW time to get l33t gear) chose to put in that amount of time for that reward, and it either had or didn't have the effect you wanted on your game play. That would still be true today *if you stayed in the original game.*  Anyone who had MC on farm before, still does, with the same gear.  Meanwhile those of us who have migrated to BC are finding that our old stuff just isn't cutting it out here, so we have to go get better things.  Hard as it is to believe, you are not your gear (even if you're a warrior :-).

If you had fun raiding ZG before, and doing things with the new gear you got there, that was the "meaning" of what you did.  Now there's a new game in town, and soon enough I'm sure there will be something as challenging and time-consuming as ZG that will give you the same kind of results for your efforts.  I hope most everyone here will find it worthwhile.

GB

[Darkling]

The main thing that has irritated the hell out of me about BC is the nerfing of Thistletea and the rogue ZG trinket. Now that I'm 67, these two only restore 46 energy now, and that will drop even more as I get closer to 67 as it drops with experience points, not level. Pretty retarded. We work on energy, and for them to nerf that because of people whining that it makes fighting us in pvp unfair is just dumb. The zg trinket only restored 60 energy before BC. That is one BS if I am behind the target. Then I'm back at zero watching my energy ticker, which energy regen has been slowed down.

I know other classes have been nerfed as well. Hunters most recently. Only a couple of things on a hunter may have actually been overpowered concerning pvp, but blizz went overboard on them on this last patch. And patches prior to that. Warlocks got nerfed. Understandable there. To be able to just fear, dot and walk away is not really fair in anything. Soon as shadow post my pvp vid you will see what I mean by that at the end of the vid. Funny now, but when it happened, I wanted warlocks to be eliminated from the game.

I believe I said it already about game content. They added a lot of stuff but nothing really meshes together. It felt rushed and still feels that way. And the new BG, dumb. I would rather lose in wsg or ab than to technically lose both in just one round of Eye of the Storm BG. Creating a hybrid BG was pure laziness as far as ideas go. The arena is a good idea as it tests the skills of players. It's not about getting raped in a bg. Too bad they said 'well, let's make this a lvl 70 only and allow everyone else to just practice now and then.' So, personally, I'm doing bg's here and there to start building up the honor needed for some of the gladiator gear, that way, I will only need the marks and already have the honor points.

The only gear I regret working on was tier .5. Waste of money and time. Fortunately I realized that before TBC. Everything else I had, I worked hard to get, and I'm not upset at all with blizz about having greens replace my purples and blues. I just loathe blizz for nerfing classes every chance they get (Druids, you are next to get nerfed, I'm sure. I have 6500hp approx. and some lvl 65 druid hit me in WSG and half my health was gone instantly. Hello?)

think this will be my last post on this topic.

[Arcdelad]

lol...I think druids are going to get nerfed too, but im quietyly hoping not

lets see...they just added a crapload of armor to us in bear form, they gave us sunder, our attack power just keeps getting larger and larger, with our talent points just keep multiplying the damage over and over again, and they just gave us a weapon factor whereis we used to only use our weapons for the base stats and it didnt matter how proficient we were...

and somehow myself as a feral druid cast heals with 50% less more mana needed....

[Lynette]

I've been holding off on posting on this topic until I got a little deeper into the expansion.  Here are my initial impressions:

The Good:

• The game has captured me once again, in a manner similar to when I first started playing WoW
• The gear upgrades came fast and furious, which were obviously meant to level out the playing field for all returning players (such as myself).  However, they are starting to level out a little bit, as I am no longer replacing an item every few hours.
• There seems to be some good content in the expansion, although I must admit to not really knowing what lies ahead.
• You won't have to PvP to obtain really nice gear.  For those of us who prefer to only play PvE, this is a good thing.
• Performance - I can't believe how little lag I have experienced.

The Bad:

• Although not necessarily a knock on Blizzard, the guild (most likely all guilds) feels a little disjointed, as most everyone is soloing or playing in small groups right now.  I hope this changes in the near future.
• Levelling is going waaaay too fast.  Without grinding and just questing in appropriate areas, I am past the halfway mark to lvl 70 in 2 weeks.  That is entirely too fast for me, as I was hoping that the xp to level would be 2x or 3x what it actually is.
• Faction coming entirely too easy as well.  I am already closing in on Revered in certain Outland clans, just by doing the non-repeatable quests and a few instances.

The Ugly:

• With few exceptions, the people playing act like jerks who only think of themselves and that all mobs are meant for them.  All the kill stealing has me really irked.
• General chat is littered with immature and crude players.  I usually turn it off now.

Remains to be seen:

• Raiding - since there are no 10-man instances in BC (bad idea), it will be awhile before we see what raiding will be like in BC, since it doesn't open up until we have 25 lvl 70s.
• Caverns Of Time - I have been eagerly waiting to see this area.  Now that I am 66, I plan to check it out soon.
• The economy - with the influx of gold to the game, I'm curious to see what effects it will have on the AH and the many gold farmers who bother us with their advertisements to buy gold from them (WHY anyone would even consider this is beyond me...but that it another topic).

Overall, I am pleased.  The game is polished and I frequently find myself drawn into it.  It helps being part of a mature guild and having help when you need it.  Also, I have seen some very selfless acts from guildies, offering to help when others request it and many, many offers of free gear to guildies.

I totally understand the negativity surrounding the gear upgrades for those of you who spent countless hours grinding for it last year.  It does give me pause to consider doing any real grinding for gear in this expansion, knowing that next year's expansion will most likely out date anything I can earn in BC.

[Vengeance]

For me, TBC is joy, pure joy
i now have my epic mount in just a few days(540g), my stormsaber (90g) and i also paid back to the people i owed money too (ty again! [70g]) and i started it all almost completly broke (23g exactly...lol) and now, i have a blue to sell along with some other mats (pst me in game if you want some, hehe). Not only the gold thats flowing in, ill soon be enjoying a flight form, and at the moment, doing crazy DPS in cat form, and even able to tank in bear form (!!)
oh sure, ill get to 70 soon (not too soon...), and be the same as i was at 60 (now what?), but that will be cured once i find out more about places to go and a few instances. Im happy with the rep gains, i got some awesome gear at 63 already, on socketed with 3 gems, and another almost as good as a GM 1H healing mace.
And so, I cant complain about anything, escpecially cause im a druid