[WoW] I Was a Teenage Alpha Tester

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Originally Posted by Gryphon09

But how does 1 wow gold compare to eq plat?

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Right now, the level cap is 30, so right now a gold is a pretty decent bit of cash. I think that they said that the conversion rate changes past gold -- it's 1000 gold for 1 platinum, I *think,* while it was 100 per 1 before for copper and silver and gold.

Even though they're only at about half the approximate levels, it's not unusual to see a good item going for several gold. I think the highest amount of gold to trade hands was 100 gold paid in the Horde push for a very rare sword. You're much more likely to see something very good selling right now for between 1 and 15 gold or so.

I can't really answer the other questions, but I will note that many tradeskilled items are great, whereas many dropped items are also great. I'm working my way up in Tailoring, and some of the cloth caster armor I make is better than what I was already earning in quests or drops in some slots, but sometimes it's also the other way around. Tradeskills aren't necessarily required for equipment, but they definitely make life easier. There are also some unique quests for people with certain tradeskills, and the like. ;)

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Originally Posted by Pedi Dustyboots

LOL, stfu.

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That's Pedi's absolute favorite acronym. "STFU!" :D

Also, now that I know it bugs ya, Pedi, to get bombed with tells as soon as you log in, I WILL MAKE SURE TO DO IT EVERY TIME! /jk! ;)

Hey everyone! I found this link in the bnet forums and have been reading it avidly for the past couple of days. Great stuff in here, really really great.

I've never played EQ in my life, and my only experience at an MMORPG was in a short-lived career as a fletcher in UO five years ago, that ended in tragedy when I was killed by a single crow.

Anyway, this community seems like a really great place, so I thought I'd register and say hi. :)

I really can't decide what I'd like to play when the game comes out. It all looks like fun! My traditional D&D character is a ranger, though, so I might try out a hunter of some description or maybe a druid.

And if I play a druid, I'm going to have a macro that shouts, "STRENGTH OF THE BEAR!!" when I change into a bear. Yeah!

Anyway, hi. :)

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Originally Posted by aerynelf

I've never played EQ in my life, and my only experience at an MMORPG was in a short-lived career as a fletcher in UO five years ago, that ended in tragedy when I was killed by a single crow.

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LOL I played UO for three years!
That's too funny about your short lived fletching! hahaha!
Ahhh the good old UO days. :cool:


Oh, and one more thing...
I just wouldn't feel right playing a Warlock on the Alliance!
I just am so interested in the Undead! Too bad everyone hates them! :(
I guess I'll have to succumb to the Dark Side!

=/

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Originally Posted by Xeldaris

Oh, and one more thing...
I just wouldn't feel right playing a Warlock on the Alliance!
I just am so interested in the Undead! Too bad everyone hates them! :(
I guess I'll have to succumb to the Dark Side!

=/

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The Undead sound like really great villains, actually, and it sounds like it would be fun to play one. I'm not normally one who goes in for villainy, either, but a well-motivated bad guy is one of the coolest things ever as characters go. :) And the Undead as a faction seem to meet the bill there.

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Originally Posted by aerynelf

The Undead sound like really great villains, actually, and it sounds like it would be fun to play one. I'm not normally one who goes in for villainy, either, but a well-motivated bad guy is one of the coolest things ever as characters go. :) And the Undead as a faction seem to meet the bill there.

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Aye, many of the Undead have a very evil, hateful, vengeful view of the world which has left them reviled and cursed, but some have a tragic, self-loathing quality instead. ;)

Does Wow allow players on different factions to communicate via tells if both players can speak the same language?

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Originally Posted by Vashanti

.....but some have a tragic, self-loathing quality instead. ;)

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I wonder, if the Undead ever find a Cure for their Curse, what race would they be? Lol Such a deep question!?

Anyways, thanks for the warm welcome, here!
I must take my leave for now!

I hope to maybe see you all in game! [Which will probably be when the game actually releases, since I missed the Beta. :( ]

I would like nothing more than to be in an awesome Guild with lots of pride! :D

Xel

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Originally Posted by Auca

Does Wow allow players on different factions to communicate via tells if both players can speak the same language?

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Yeah! How DOES the language actually work in WoW?
Have you guys been able to talk to other PC's of different races, during the different stages?

Does it come out gabled or what? :confused:

I believe they've said that characters of opposite factions cannot group together or be guilded together, but we don't know yet whether they can communicate openly or whether they can trade goods, etc. We'll see. ;)

We can't stand enough to be called friends, and we definately disagree too much to form a single Guild.

Most of us play, or played Wizards in EQ. The rest of Graffe's forum members just admit that Wizards are clearly superior to all other classes.

We can't even stand each other enough to coexist in a serverwide channel, let alone have a guild.

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Originally Posted by Zrie of Quellious

Whizbang, any chance of you listing some hard skill tree info for paladins? Just so I can see what kind of skills they will be able to buy? I'm rather interested and it seems no beta tester have thought of doing that anywhere I've seen.

Cheers :)

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Well, you mean Talents, not Skills, but I'll do Skills first:

Paladins can spend Skill points on tradeskills like any other class (although mine wasn't able to buy Lockpicking -- oversight or intentional, I do not know), on 2 handed or 1 hand sword proficiency (2 skill points for each) and they can spend 1 skill point to learn how to ride the mount of another race. At this time, there's nothing else they can spend a skill point on, but I strongly suspect learning languages will use the same mechanism.

OK, Talent points for all classes can be spent to:

1) Raise stats
2) Raise defensive abilities
3) Raise magical abilities and/or resistance
4) Raise weapon specializations appropropriate to the class
5) Raise species-related slayer abilities

Lower level talents cost fewer talent points than higher level ones, and you gain more talent points as you level. This means that if you wanted to buy Heroic Strength 6, you might well be spending 35 or so points on it (that'd be about level 40, so I honestly don't know the exact amount yet). On the other hand, you could take those 35 points and buy two level 1 Talents and a Level 10 Talent (which cost 10 and 15 points, respectively).

While most people will want to concentrate on certain Talents, sometimes you want to go back and buy things like Perceptive (a defensive talent), which gives you a better chance of seeing through rogue stealth.

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Originally Posted by Whizbang Dustyboots

While most people will want to concentrate on certain Talents, sometimes you want to go back and buy things like Perceptive (a defensive talent), which gives you a better chance of seeing through rogue stealth.

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Can Talents, like Skills, be unlearned and the points spent on other Talents?

Also, if you unlearn a Skill, are all those points immediately available to pump another skill up to a similar level, or do you have to spend time building the new skill up?

I'm a little confused about spending level-related skill points on things and practicing to make the skills better.

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Originally Posted by Vashanti

Aye, many of the Undead have a very evil, hateful, vengeful view of the world which has left them reviled and cursed, but some have a tragic, self-loathing quality instead. ;)

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Also, the Undead are extremely sexy!

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Originally Posted by HappyBunny

1) How much incentive is there to group?

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If you want to accomplish the quests at a point when the XP and loot rewards are worth it for you, most of the time, grouping will be beneficial. Some quests, like elites, are so tough that it's hard to see EVER doing them solo.

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2) I'm a little confused about the dungeons. Is the entire dungeon instanced, or just part of it?

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Just parts of it. The percentage varies by dungeon, but it's usually pretty substantial.

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Also, you talk about taking hours or days to clear the dungeons. Does that mean the mobs inside the instance don't respawn?

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It depends on the dungeon. Some have a fast respawn, some respawn very slowly. Some may not even respawn at all.

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Can you re-do the dungeon after you beat it?

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You certainly can.

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3) I know this was discussed earlier in the thread, but I wasn't quite clear on the answer. What kind of dropped loot is there? Are there named mobs that spawn in a certain location and drop specific loots, like EQ?

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Nope. Nameds tend to be of a higher level and thus if they do drop loot, it tends to be better than the surrounding stuff drops. But in WoW, those nameds tend to be for quests, and it's when you turn in the body part, or whatever, for killing them that you get loot.

There are a FEW nameds in the Barrens that seem to always drop something, but even there, what they drop seems to be based off the zone's loot table, and doesn't work on a one to one basis.

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4) Has there been any indication of whether they intend to do some sort of global trade system? I for one don't really like the effect the bazaar (and easy travel) has had in EQ of killing local trade in specific areas. Player vendors are a definite Good Thing (tm) though, if they can be set up in more than just one spot

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We've been told they have Stuff planned. The current guess (and that's all it is) among the alpha community is a FF Online-style auction house (think a better Bazaar system) in each capital city, which would blend convenience with the regional focus of the game.

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5) This is a big one... You've now leveled 1-30 several times. What is the replayability like? Since you said that most of the time you are doing quests, does it get boring to do the same series of quests again on a different character?

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I certainly prefer to not do the same quests over and over again, although some are so kickass, they're the exceptions. But each race has so many (minus trolls and gnomes, whose quests are basically that of their parent races) that you can easily replay the game as another race, especially if you switch factions, since their quests won't be available to your original faction at all.

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What about when you hit the top end and run out of quests?

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We don't know what's planned, but it's worth noting that Blizzard folk have been all over the endgame in every MMORPG to date, and are aware of the pitfalls ahead. We'll see sometime during beta.

It's also worth noting that NPCs in WoW go up to level 99, so I wouldn't expect level 60 to be the player character level cap forever, even though that's what the game will launch with.

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We can't stand enough to be called friends, and we definately disagree too much to form a single Guild.

Most of us play, or played Wizards in EQ. The rest of Graffe's forum members just admit that Wizards are clearly superior to all other classes.

We can't even stand each other enough to coexist in a serverwide channel, let alone have a guild.

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Literally ROFLMAO thinking about a graffes guild, can you imagine the sheer amount of drama, however I feel it would be cool if there was a large graffe population on a single server. I think it would be really enjoyable to group with some graffe personalitys :) you would be sure not to get too bored experience grinding if you arguing over the finer points of debate or how taurens must be homosexual because both sexes look pretty masculine :)

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Originally Posted by Vashanti

some have a tragic, self-loathing quality instead. ;)

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Heh very My Life With Master.

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Originally Posted by aerynelf

Can Talents, like Skills, be unlearned and the points spent on other Talents?

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Nope. It's a subject of some debate. Talents are being tweaked, so that may be part of the new system. I honestly don't think they should be -- some folks have spent NO talent points, waiting to see the consensus on the "perfect" talent choices, and they do just fine. If you can succeed without any talents at all, I don't see how getting a refund would ever be necessary.

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Also, if you unlearn a Skill, are all those points immediately available to pump another skill up to a similar level, or do you have to spend time building the new skill up?

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You can buy them immediately, but when you buy a tradeskill, all you're doing is raising your cap. Spend the points to become an Apprentice Alchemist, and you have the ability to get to skill 75 in it, but you have a skill of 1 at that point, and need to start brewing up potions if you're ever going to get to the cap.

I was somewhat opposed to being able to cash in skill points, but this system cushions things against most of the abuses, at least.

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Originally Posted by Jather

My two main questions are, is Northrend in the game, and what about the Lich King?

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Northrend is not on the world map. Having said that, Undermine (the goblin island/city) is, and we can't get to that, nor to Kul Tiras.

But all three are talked about constantly. Whether this means there are secret ways to get there, or they'll be part of an expansion, I don't know.

I do intend to kick my big dwarven boots through doors in the Lich King's lair one day, I'll tell you that.

But honestly, an islands expansion disk seems logical and like a pretty good deal to me. (And while it's early to be talking of such things, remember that every Blizzard game since Warcraft II has gotten an expansion roughly one year after the initial release.)

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Originally Posted by Gryphon09

How does 1 gold in WoW compare to currency in EQ? Cause i see people posting about how you need 10 gold to do this and that.

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The game is set up to suck your cash out of your pocket every two levels, with spells and new abilities. Most players will be about level 20 before they make their first gold that they don't immediately spend on needed upgrades. I'd consider it about the same as 100 plat in EQ.

Also, until the level cap goes to 60 and we get a new server to play on, the economy is never going to be 100 percent accurate -- when you hit the level cap and are unable to get XP, your incentive to quest diminishes, and most people who don't roll up an alt just start farming stuff. With nothing to spend money on, they very quickly accumulate a sizeable bankroll and inflation quickly spirals out of control.

We had a wipe of non-equipped gear (including money) on our Alliance characters and lost any gear over level 29 (although equip level was usually lower) when this last push started, just to combat that very issue. (My paladin lost a kickass BP and a nice ring.)