Now that I'm in beta, I'm going to respec to a new leveling build. Since I've always used Affliction to level with, I'm going to continue that tradition by using a Haunt/Soul Link build, to see what happens. Hopefully others will be examining the demonology spec (which doesn't interest me in the slightest), to see what that does.
I'm going to be duoing with my wife's L70 hunter, so we should level a bit faster than pure soloing. I'll try to provide updates on how my toon is doing in this thread. (It's allowed, since Beta doesn't have an NDA).
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So unfair!!!!
Make sure to up some screenshots =D
Make sure to up some screenshots =D
Congrats Mike ,please keep us informed !
Scholar
40 posts
is the beta up yet or not, how do we know if we have been picked?
Hear, hear - screenshots!!!
please link the leveling build you are using?
I'm still in the installation ptocess. I'll be posting the build after I respec. Currently, I'm 43/0/18. I'm gonna go to 53/8/0 to begin with, and finalize at 53/18/0 when I hit 80. There will probably be a number of adjustments along the way that may change my plans, depending on how well the build works for leveling.
cassassin wrote:
is the beta up yet or not, how do we know if we have been picked?
Beta is up. You will know when you get the e-mail from Blizz. As far as I know, right now, only the Blizzcon and WWI participants have been sent the letters. For TBC, the initial group were participants of Blizzcon '05 and the entrants to the Beta contests. All non-preselected people got in only during the last month of Beta, but I have no idea whether Blizz will be using the same tactics this time.
Here's the build (so far).
Day 1 report:
My talent points were reset to zero. All my macros have been erased, and all my keyboard assignments have been done away with. Everything had to be reset. It's especially not fun running without necrosis, since I've taken the spells that are on the necrosis buttons and removed them from the action bar.
There are few (if any) addons that work with the beta. I expect that situation to get better rapidly.
So I ported to SW from Shatt, redid my talent points, relearned some spells that had gone away, re-wrote a few macros, and was finally able to start adventuring.
The first place I decided to explore is Stormwind Harbor, a new section of the city, with docks leading to Auberdeen and Vallerian Keep in the Borean Tundra. I never tried the boat to Aub, but I see that a a huge advancement. No more need to do an Algaz gauntlet run at low levels. This change makes it much easier for all Alliance races to get together an level by grouping.
The boat to the Borean Tundra is a big hassle. There is no boarding ramp, something I really hope will change before release. What you have to do to get on board the ship is a timed jump. If you hit the spacebar at the right time, you end up on the boat. If you don't, you end up in the water. I ended up in the water a lot before I got the hang of it. My wife joined up with me with her hunter at the docks. I ended up jumping her toon to the boat.
We arrived at our destination in good shape (except that the bug that releases a pet when you travel by ship has showed up). We got and completed several quests, mostly having to do with killing (or otherwise inconveniencing) undead minions of the Lich King.
Day 1 report:
My talent points were reset to zero. All my macros have been erased, and all my keyboard assignments have been done away with. Everything had to be reset. It's especially not fun running without necrosis, since I've taken the spells that are on the necrosis buttons and removed them from the action bar.
There are few (if any) addons that work with the beta. I expect that situation to get better rapidly.
So I ported to SW from Shatt, redid my talent points, relearned some spells that had gone away, re-wrote a few macros, and was finally able to start adventuring.
The first place I decided to explore is Stormwind Harbor, a new section of the city, with docks leading to Auberdeen and Vallerian Keep in the Borean Tundra. I never tried the boat to Aub, but I see that a a huge advancement. No more need to do an Algaz gauntlet run at low levels. This change makes it much easier for all Alliance races to get together an level by grouping.
The boat to the Borean Tundra is a big hassle. There is no boarding ramp, something I really hope will change before release. What you have to do to get on board the ship is a timed jump. If you hit the spacebar at the right time, you end up on the boat. If you don't, you end up in the water. I ended up in the water a lot before I got the hang of it. My wife joined up with me with her hunter at the docks. I ended up jumping her toon to the boat.
We arrived at our destination in good shape (except that the bug that releases a pet when you travel by ship has showed up). We got and completed several quests, mostly having to do with killing (or otherwise inconveniencing) undead minions of the Lich King.
Today's report:
I found that going to Quel'thalas for dailies doesn't make as much gold as before, but the quest now give between 9500 and 12500 XP and about 1/2 the gold that we made before. The reward gold makes this more money-making than the Northrend quests, while being only a bit lower in XP. It's not the huge difference we experienced in Outland vs Azeroth. It's the same for green drops. Greens are only a small amount better than Outland greens, and won't replace good blues and/or purples.
XP to get to 71 is ridiculous - maybe it's even gone into plaid. Well over a million XP is needed to get to L71.
Other than that, the servers are very flaky, some text strings need to be corrected, the servers ar flaky, there are a number of bugs that need the Orkin man, and did U mention that the servers are flaky?
edit:
I really like Haunt. My normal rotation includes it, and I can't drain back to full life before a L72 mob dies. I'm not quite sure how to tame down the dot rotation, but I'll find something that works.
Edited, Jul 25th 2008 6:14pm by ohmikeghod
I found that going to Quel'thalas for dailies doesn't make as much gold as before, but the quest now give between 9500 and 12500 XP and about 1/2 the gold that we made before. The reward gold makes this more money-making than the Northrend quests, while being only a bit lower in XP. It's not the huge difference we experienced in Outland vs Azeroth. It's the same for green drops. Greens are only a small amount better than Outland greens, and won't replace good blues and/or purples.
XP to get to 71 is ridiculous - maybe it's even gone into plaid. Well over a million XP is needed to get to L71.
Other than that, the servers are very flaky, some text strings need to be corrected, the servers ar flaky, there are a number of bugs that need the Orkin man, and did U mention that the servers are flaky?
edit:
I really like Haunt. My normal rotation includes it, and I can't drain back to full life before a L72 mob dies. I'm not quite sure how to tame down the dot rotation, but I'll find something that works.
Edited, Jul 25th 2008 6:14pm by ohmikeghod
<3 you mike. Really appreciate this thread.
Scholar
40 posts
Hows the new emphisis on spirit affecting your gameplay, i see that demonic embrace now increases your stam based on spirit. is that an inconvience?
cassassin wrote:
Hows the new emphasis on spirit affecting your game play, i see that demonic embrace now increases your stam based on spirit. is that an inconvenience?
Not especially. My current build doesn't have Demonic Embrace, so I never had the buff from it. As it is, I have more STA that I had before I chose the talent, so what's not to like?
I didn't do much with my 'lock yesterday, other than get a bit of training (Herbalism, Cooking, and FIrst Aid to Grand Master). The world server was extremely flaky and went down whenever I tried loggin my 'lock on.
I ended up leveling my Death Knight instead, and finally finished the DK starting quest (as a L57, I solo-killed a L59 elite). You end up as not working for the Lich King any more, and instead of being known as a death knight, you are now a "knight of the ebon blade" - an ex-death knight. I thought we'd have to go pick up flight paths again, but when I tried the flight master at Light Hope's, I knew every FP in the Eastern Kingdoms.
I ended up leveling my Death Knight instead, and finally finished the DK starting quest (as a L57, I solo-killed a L59 elite). You end up as not working for the Lich King any more, and instead of being known as a death knight, you are now a "knight of the ebon blade" - an ex-death knight. I thought we'd have to go pick up flight paths again, but when I tried the flight master at Light Hope's, I knew every FP in the Eastern Kingdoms.
Nothings been happening lately, because my toon is broken in beta. I can't see other players, NPCs, or mobs, and they can't see my toon, either. Until Blizz fixes my warlock, I'm outaluck.
I wanted to know more about Beta as a warlock too.
Blizz fixed my 'lock yesterday, and I spent a bit of time exploring the Borean Tundra (1600 XP for each new area discovered!), and not really doing many quests. I did discover a second flight path - at an airport. There seem to be three main questing hubs for Alliance: The town you land in, Kalkar (the Tuskar village), and the airport. What you fight in the Borean Tundra are mainly undead (zombies and crypt lords), Giants (vikings attacking the tuskar), and Magnataurs (north of the airport). I'll try to get a screenie of the map and put it up. Oh, yeah - this is a leveling thread... I'm still 70, and only 1/2 way to 71.
Edited, Aug 1st 2008 12:35pm by ohmikeghod
Edited, Aug 1st 2008 12:35pm by ohmikeghod
Great thread.
I know this is a little off topic, but can you inform us on the DK runic system? Is it like a rogue's energy, a warrior's rage, or something completely different?
Rune System
In Short, you pick what kind of runes you want to get by what you put on your sword. The runes have a 10 second cool down, and all can be active at once waiting to be used (I believe without any enhancements the max is 6.)
Spells take the 'charge' out of the rune, requiring it a 10 second recharge, and adding to the "Runic Power" meter which affects the strength of certain spells, making certain combinations of spells more effective than others.
The playstyle of Blood and Unholy are similar to a Rogue in that many fights are fast, fast paced, and involve stringing combos for the best results - but are weak in the sense that once a good combo is burnt, a small waiting period is needed to regain the ability to do another combo.
In Short, you pick what kind of runes you want to get by what you put on your sword. The runes have a 10 second cool down, and all can be active at once waiting to be used (I believe without any enhancements the max is 6.)
Spells take the 'charge' out of the rune, requiring it a 10 second recharge, and adding to the "Runic Power" meter which affects the strength of certain spells, making certain combinations of spells more effective than others.
The playstyle of Blood and Unholy are similar to a Rogue in that many fights are fast, fast paced, and involve stringing combos for the best results - but are weak in the sense that once a good combo is burnt, a small waiting period is needed to regain the ability to do another combo.
I did a bit of exploring this morning, picking up the odd bits of XP from exploration. Here's what Borean Tundra looks like so far.
I'm very happy today, because Fubar works under the WotLK beta. I felt lost without it. Necrosis is broken, and I really need something that can provide me the extra small buttons I need - any ideas?
I'm very happy today, because Fubar works under the WotLK beta. I felt lost without it. Necrosis is broken, and I really need something that can provide me the extra small buttons I need - any ideas?
I duoed with my wife night before last, and got within a smidgin of level 71. This morning, there was a new patch, and you can imagine my chagrin when I logged on and found that most of the XP that I've gotten over the past week has gone away. At this time, I'm back to only 50% to L71 instead of 98% of the way. I got hit by some type of Time Warp - It might be as a result of devs fixing the following after it had been fixed by a GM, since that's about where I was at the time:
It's only a slight setback. The servers are still a bit flaky (OK, a lot flaky), but I really don't mind. It keeps the people who think that "beta" means "ready for prime time" away.
Quote:
Nothings been happening lately, because my toon is broken in beta. I can't see other players, NPCs, or mobs, and they can't see my toon, either. Until Blizz fixes my warlock, I'm outaluck.
It's only a slight setback. The servers are still a bit flaky (OK, a lot flaky), but I really don't mind. It keeps the people who think that "beta" means "ready for prime time" away.
Mike, when WotLK actually goes live, will you already be well ahead due to Beta testing? I would assume yes...and as such, I'm glad I'm not doing it. I'd hate to have to slog through content on a buggy server in Beta and then not get the chance to do it 'properly'.
Inoperante wrote:
Mike, when WotLK actually goes live, will you already be well ahead due to Beta testing? I would assume yes...and as such, I'm glad I'm not doing it. I'd hate to have to slog through content on a buggy server in Beta and then not get the chance to do it 'properly'.
Not really. The only "ahead" I'll be is knowing a bit about the contents of the new zones. You don't get to keep the character that went into beta, so I'll have to do all the Northrend quests all over again when TLK is released. This really means that I have to be diligent about helping Blizz resolve any bugs for when the game goes live.
Anyhow, this morning I decided to go exploring. I made a trek from The Borean Tundra to Howling Fjord overland. It wasn't very hard - the worst creature I encountered was only L73, so I picked up flight paths in DragonBlight, Grizzly Hills, and Howling Fjord. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up all of them and the ones in Grizzly Hills and Howling Fjord aren't connected to anything. I'm planning another exploration trip to find the missing flight paths.
One of the interesting things I found out in Grizzly Hills is that the Venture Company is back. They have a city there called Venture Bay. I haven't gone into it yet to see if it's a new neutral city or another adventuring area. I do know that the people who work for Venture Company are hostile, since I was killed by them when I approached a bunch of them in the hills. It's kinda fun having the sense of discovery again!
Edited, Aug 15th 2008 3:24pm by ohmikeghod
Sorry about being gone so long. My computer crashed and it took a long time to get it together again.
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