World of Warcraft (1 Viewer)

[Wayne Bundrick]

CoH's instanced missions are great, nobody can disrupt your mission. I think WoW has some instanced quest caves but so far all of mine have been in the open. Killstealing isn't much of a problem, the first person to strike an opponent gets the loot, others can help but they get no XP or loot.

The WoW collectors edition gives you a choice of 3 pets: a baby panda, a mini Diablo, or a baby zergling. And you can get a pet with every character you make on any server, unlike EQ2 CE's baby dragon which you get with only one character on one server.

So far WoW seems to be fairly friendly to casual players. When you are logged out you accumulate "rest". When you resume play from a rested state, you get a XP bonus until you have expended all of your rest. If you log out at an inn or anywhere in a big city, you accumulate rest four times faster, so it's a good idea to log out there. This rest concept gives a little boost to casual players to help them keep up with players who play often.

You'll definitely want to be in a guild with members that use their professions to support each other and also share their loot with members who can make the best use of it. For example, Rogues and Hunters (until level 40) are limited to leather armor, so any good leather armor drops should go to them, and otherwise the leatherworkers should be making them some nice armor. There's plenty of generosity in my guild and I wouldn't have it any other way.

One innovation that I think is indispensible is item hyperlinks in your chat messages. Shift-clicking on an object while typing the chat message will insert the name of the item as a link in the message that others can click and see the description of the item. My guild chat has a lot of messages such as "Anybody need a [Gleaming Claymore of the Whale]?" followed by all the warriors and paladins saying "Me! Me!" It's also great in the trade chat channel. And linking the item can be quicker than typing its name too.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

Do we have a HTF server?

 

[Aaron Schmitt]

Jeff: I don't know about HTF servers, but I'm playing with some non-htf friends on Tichondrius (as an Orc Rogue) and SpineBreaker (as a Night Elf Warrior). Those are both PvP servers in the Pacific time zone. It seems that WoW doesn't mind you having multiple characters across multiple servers, so if an HTF server ever appears, I might be willing to join that also.

A

 

[Scott Bourden]

I picked up WoW Sunday night, and have managed to get to level 14 so far. Unfortunately, work, classes, and the girlfriend are sapping my precious Warcraft time. Oh, to be a deadbeat shut in, that is the life for me..... :frowning:

Playing on PvP Illyden server, Central. Our guild has about 45 members now, all from 2 forums we regular, so there is more accountability then if they were just random people picked up through the game. So far, guild has been running well, we split it into sections based on class and professions, last night for example, we took every bit of copper and silver ore we found, and sent it all to one blacksmith. He did a skill grind to the next level, and shortly sent out about 25 new mail's he learned to produce. Cost us a bit of cash, and about 2 hours of his smithing, but 1-2 more nights of it, and he'll be an elite blacksmith, and we can rush the next in line up. Working quite well.

 

[paul_v]

Everquest has had this feature for a few years =)

I am really considering buying WoW after the Holidays (I just don't have any time now) but I'm afraid I will get addicted and neglect my family. I may have to just resist the temptation and skip it =(

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I never played Everquest, sorry I thought it was a WoW innovation.

 

[Andrew Grall]

Ok... forgive my ignorance on this...

WOW is similar to Everquest in that you have to buy "time" to play online, right?

As intrigued as I am by both of these games, I am spoiled by Neverwinter Nights, which allows online play for free. I'm not sure I could bring myself to pay for the game and then pay more for online time.

How much does the online time cost?

 

[Joe Szott]

I found one of the last Collector's Edition in this area and snagged it last week. It is $80 and though that is a lot (and I usually ingore CEs), it is really worth it. First off, the game itself rocks hardcore. Best MMORPG I've played yet (out of EQ, AO, DAOC, others) by far. The extras in the CE are very nice, the art book alone is worth the extra $ if you like warcraft games. Plus the game comes on both DVD and CD discs, extra soundtrack CD, making of DVD, cloth map, and 10 day free pass for a friend is just gravy. And it all comes in a nice heavy box. If you see one and are on the fences, just buy it (it is worth it and you won't see one again.)

The game itself costs $15/mo with 1st free. Not cheap, but the game is so darn fun for MMORPG players that I consider this a bargain. Every class is fleshed out and fun to play, tradeskills work and make money, questing is diverse and rewarding, and you can customize your char to taste with the talent system.

I wish I was playing it right now, fantasticly fun game

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I could be wrong, but doesn't Neverwinter Nights operate in multiplayer mode by connecting to a server hosted by another player? If there is no central server hosted by BioWare or anything else that causes BioWare to incur expense by the fact that people are playing it, then it damn well better have no monthly fee to play.

For games that have central servers maintained by the company that makes the game, hey, somebody has to pay for the bandwidth, server maintenance, support, etc. Plus these games usually have ongoing development of new content and improvements.

There's a whole lot of entertainment coming from that $15. If I keep spending my evenings playing WoW and other MMO games, I may cancel my cable and DirecTV subscriptions because I haven't been watching much TV lately.

 

[paul_v]

My gosh...Blizzard sold 240,000 copies of World of Warcraft on its first day. That sets a new record for most successful PC video game launch. There were 200,000 accounts activated. No wonder they had server issues heh. They started with 40 servers but had to double that to keep up with demand. You can read the press release at http://www.blizzard.com/press/041201.shtml

With all the positive reviews I've been reading from the player base I am really tempted to buy this game =)

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Either somebody at Blizzard misread the tea leaves about the number of subscribers they would have based on participation in the open beta and preorders, or they couldn't make preparations to bring more servers online quickly enough for release date.

But for Thanksgiving I was thankful that they more or less solved the "loot lag" problem on Wednesday night, so I could play throughout the long holiday weekend (I must have logged more than 60 hours of play from Thursday through Sunday) and so the programmers might be able to enjoy theirs at home with their families. They still have some lag issues with mail and the auction house but you're much less likely to be killed while standing at the auctioneer or a mailbox than you are if you're stuck in the bent over position looting a dead monster.

 

[Tim Markley]

They're still having some lag issues but WoW is an awesome game and I'm enjoying it immensely! I even find crafting fun, which I've never enjoyed before. My Paladin is now at level 20 and I'm also an expert Blacksmith. If anyone's looking for a Pacific server, I'm on Lightbringer and the name's Vostof.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

240,000 games sold, thats impressive.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

i'm Jastrom: night elf druid on the Lightbringer server.

I spent over a year player Starwars galaxies and with much reluctance started playing WoW at behest of my SWG buddies and I must say I was F'n blown away by scenery and content. This game rocks. Just take a Griffin ride or a boat ride and you will see what I am talking about.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

After playing the game into the early 20s, I've reached the conclusion that the game becomes considerably less accessible to players who wish to solo. Grouping becomes a necessity, because the enemies are grouped too. The game is still casual-friendly, but to do the good quests, you'll need a group.

It helps a lot if you are grouped with someone who has done the quests before, either in beta or with another character, so they know where to go and what to do. Sometimes there are three or four quests in the same area and you can do them simultaneously, that's where it pays off to have someone who already knows about them.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

agreed. without vets from beta i would be clueless about some quests.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

I went to pick this game up from my local Wal-Mart and they of course were out. Im dying to play this game and im almost done with school so I can log my life away.

 

[Rob Silver]

Amazon had it for $47 last week. It's on 1-2 week back log now.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

Well that sucks.
The Wal-Mart I usaually go to here is in a small town so im surprised that it is sold out. They still have about 9 Halo2 SE in stock

 

[Jeff_Standley]

Yes! they had one in. I just went out and picked it up finally. Im installing it right now and hoepfully will join the few playing tonight.

Also, how many people do we have here in the HTF playing WOW? and are we going to start an HTF guild?