Test Server 21- Dwarf Warrior named “Yaqub” (not creative, but I wanted to get playing fast)…
I have to say, while it’s an absolutely useless skill, thunderclap certainly looks awesome. Damn the fact that this had to be released the day before an exam…
Anyone playing Alliance on Test 5 server? If so, look for Arlyra (me) and Aral (my husband) in the vicinity of Goldshire/Stormwind City tonight (and tomorrow night and the night after…)
Yep: I think this took me some 48 hours to download. You may want to poke around online, see if there’s anyone hosting the file on their own server where you can download it faster.
Daniel
Are you both able to play online at the same time? After I set up my DSL router, I’ve never been able to play Diablo online at the same time with my GF. (we both bought the game, so it’s not a CD key issue)
I’d really like to be able to do that with WoW during the Beta. If we enjoy it enough, we might pony up the cash for two accounts.
We haven’t had any problems playing either WoW or Saga of Ryzom at the same time.
It took 36 hours and a lot of smashing of things, but we’re in.
Test 25 is our Realm. I’m Hauklicht, Tauren Hunter.
I haven’t downloaded the latest patch yet. I’ve been in since the start of Alpha though. If you like this kind of game its one of the best I’ve ever seen. Great graphics and really interesting character classes, good trade skills. The only thing that might be a bit behind the curve right now (and its shipping this month btw) is the PvP aspects. Perhaps they will flesh them in after release.
My son had a thread about this game a few months ago in this forum I think. You should resurrect it if you are interested in thoughts on it.
-XT
Really? Interesting–I thought that PVP was supposed to be the area in which WoW excelled compared to other games, that it lagged behind in tradeskills and (depending on your taste) in graphics.
Right now, I’m finding my week-old character unplayable, due to the lag on the server. It’s all I can do to keep from dying as multiple monsters suddenly appear around me and make chewing noises while I’m desperately waiting for the screen to refresh. I’m really hoping that they’ll soon resolve the lag issues; they’ve apparently been a problem across multiple servers ever since the open beta began and they added hundreds of thousands of new players to the game.
Daniel
Definitely not. Where it really excells (IMO) is in the PvE stuff…quests are great and compelling to play, raids and instances are great, the trade skills are actually pretty fun instead of a grind. PvP just hasn’t been fleshed out completely yet (well, I’m not really sure…I haven’t patched the last two patches so I’m not sure whats going on atm)…i.e. there aren’t yet ‘rewards’ in place for DOING PvP, and I don’t think the system is yet balanced correctly.
BTW, has anyone else (in the alpha or beta that is) heard the rumor that they might let us keep our characters but take our stuff away (like they did a few patches ago when we were all naked)?
-XT
Just be glad you’re not European. 1500+ solid ping on 2b cable ADSL, and that’s on top of the current lag issues. And then after these 2 weeks we have to wait 2-3 months for the Euro release. I really thought we were done with this type of crap by now. Grr.
Well, I’ve been playing a lot after the damn download finally finished. I have a couple characters on Test 31: Gurak, male Tauren Shaman, and Cantha, female human Warrior. I’ve been working on Leatherworking skill and making a bunch of armor for people.
Hint: if you want to make googobs of money, take up mining and sell copper bars at the auction house. 1 stack of 20 bars can sell between 30 and 35 silver–excellent money for a low-level character.
(Auction houses are in Ironforge, for Alliance players, and Ogrimmar, for Horde players).
That’s my only game secret :).
Daniel
My ‘secret’ is to do only green level quests, and to move between the different lands. For instance, if you are playing an alliance character and start off as a Dwarf or Gnome, do the starter Dwarf area until level 5…and then go do the starter area’s for the Humans and the Elves (or at least the Humans if you don’t know how to get to the elves area). After completing that, come back to the Dwarves area and do the quests in the next zone…and then go back to the Human (and Elf) areas and do THEIR next area’s. Basically you will get all kinds of goodies and you will be doing easy quests and still getting lots of cash. I did this all the way to level 45 and soloed most of the quests (except some of the elite instances)…and moved up quite fast doing it.
For money, I suggest skinning. Basically you will have to kill a lot of animals in your travels. Most people just kill and move on. However, ever animal has a skin, and some of the later animals skins (and hides) are quite valuable…even if you only vendor sell them its worth it as the later skins can be sold for quite a bit. Better still is to auction them off in the auction houses.
Myself, I’m a tailor/skinner in the current game. Tailoring requires clothe (doh :)) which you get off killing humanoids (well, you get silk off spiders), but it also requires leather for some of the things, so they go well together. If you aren’t interested in money, Alchemy/Herbalism is a great combination (my rogue is this). Potions can make all the difference in the world. They can buff you, and in emergencies heal you as well. Engineering is really a niche skill because you have to have a certain engineering level to use some (most) of the really cool gadgets you can make. However, there are a few really expensive items they can make. I think weapons/armor crafting is a waste myself…I tried it with a paly in the alpha and it was a pain in the butt. Mining though is cool, but I still think skinning is better.
-XT
ok, so if I’m looking into re-entering MMORPGs, how does WOW compare to DAOC? I loved DAOC for the first six months I played it, although PvP (RvR in DAOC) lagged to all hell for the most part.
But I loved hunting other players in the Realms (I was a thief-thingy, forgot what they called them).
Game trailer looks beautiful, if a tad “kid-ish”.
Well, I’ll tell you…I played DaoC for years (actually since the beta I) and to me there is simply no comparison. DaoC was SUCH a grind leveling your character…just so you could play with the big boyz in RvR. Certainly it helped (a little) when they created the battlezones…but only a little. The REAL game was getting your character up enough so you could start a whole new grind in RvR. Even THAT was no great shakes IMO, as it became who could zerg the best in whatever realm dominated the server you were on. They were constantly changing FUNDAMENTAL things about the character classes.
WoW is much more stable and much more fun to play right out of the gate. In the ALPHA it was a great game and its only gotten better. Leveling is actually pretty fun, as its all quest oriented…no more endlessly killing snakes or what have you at some camp until you level up. Its all goal oriented…i.e. kill 10 snakes then come back here and get a reward and do another quest. The raids are also a HELL of a lot more fun than the DaoC raids (if you ever did a Sidi raid for instance you will know what I’m saying here…or one of the dragon raids).
Now, on the PvP front its not quite up to DaoC standards…yet. Its still a lot of fun, but the reward system isn’t in place yet (afaik anyway) for DOING PvP (or I should say HvA I guess). Still, there is a LOT of back story that deals with HvA fighting and Blizzard is a wizard at doing this stuff so I expect a lot.
As to the graphics…well, thats something you would have to get used too. The controls are very similar to DaoC (or at least you can modify them to be like them…thats what I did), but the graphics are unique Blizzard stuff. Very detailed though (there are lots of screen shots on Blizzards WoW site…check out the dragon some time :)).
In short, at least to me, WoW is a LOT more fun to play than DaoC. There are tons of little things I’m not even getting into (like being able to ‘email’ items to other characters, or your mules, or the auction houses, etc)…but the main thing is its fun to play…which to me DaoC lacked mostly.
-XT
Al, the dreaded lagmonster=)
So many l33t d00dz are whinging baout it i have general chat turned off=\
The solution?
Summoning imps - stand in one place, cast, chat with friends the 5 minutes it takes to arrive. Every time you say in general chat LAAAAAAG god kills a kitten. STFU and wait for the database to catch up to you.
Looting - Stand in one place, when the cash and/or item pop into your inventory, you are good to go. Until that point, you are locked in the process of looting and the computer has no idea where you are. The more you click things, and try to move, the slower the handshaking with the database is going to happen. If you have a spell gem that has a slow refresh, or the hearthstone, if it isnt clocking down to usability, you are locked in the process of looting.
Trading, mailing, tradeskilling - see above, insert correct action.
Have patience, wait for the servers to synch processes with you, and if you are duoing or grouped, have only one person loot at a time, and the other/rest protect the one who is looting. If you are soloing, try to single pull to a safe area where you are reasonably sure that nothing is going to be spawning for at least 3 minutes…that being the average amount of lag from looting coins and 3 items.
Oh, and turn off general chat, zone defense and any other chats that will annoy you, listening to people whinge on about lag, or being reported to the GM s for bad language, or any other problem that cant be solved by you…
aruvqan, dwarf paladin, server 3 [ok, only 12, but on server 13 i have a 16 pally, an 8 warlock and an 8 hunter, guns are good]
Have I got a deal on copper armor for you…
So I took a deeper look, and it does seem interesting. Looks like it could be much more fun than the level grind that DAoC was, like you said. It does have its own form of “safe” PvP/RvR. Interesting classes/races. It looks beautiful, even if it is more “kid-ish”. So I’m 90% convinced, right?
Then I go read the forums for the game. And am instantly transported back to my days of DAoC and posting/reading at Camelot Vault all the time. All the bitching and moaning. Nothing’s perfect. Etc. Etc.
Now, this does not mean that I’d shy away from WoW per se. Just that it was a dose of reality for me about these games in general.
But still, great take on the two xtisme, thanks
Ya, I agree about all the bitching and moaning in both games. It seemed there was always a rant on the palo boards…and this game is similar. One difference I’ve notice though…Blizzard doesn’t seem as inclined to knee jerk and do whatever the loudest whinner says for them to do on the class de jour, totally throwing everything out of wack. Certainly they have listened well…but then they have gone ahead and done things their own way to their own plan (and yes…they actually seem to HAVE one, shocking as that is).
Anyway if you give it a try I think you’ll enjoy it at least as much as DaoC…personally I think you’ll enjoy it more.
No worries…my pleasure. 
-XT
Today I learned a pattern for making inventory bags! Whoohoo! If anyone wants one, look for Gurak and tell me you’re from here. I’ll charge you an arm, but you can keep your leg.
Created my character on the RP server last night. If you hate the dumbasses whinging about lag, I recommend you try the RP server. You’ll get people general-channeling things like “Our fair village need not worry about the hated boar threat ever again (Bartok wipes the blood off his hammer),” but that’s far preferable IMO to “OMG U BLIZZARD FAGS Y CANT U MAKE A GGAME WO LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGG! I HATE U!”
Daniel