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snowdenscold
04-21-2008, 08:01 PM
OK, I'll throw it out there. I won't be ashamed or embarassed.

Anyone else on here play WoW? Surely there has to be some other people, just based on statistics.

What servers do you play on? What 70 toons you got? Which are the best and why? Anyone raid much? What's your progression?

My main (and only 70) is a human paladin on Dalaran. My guild downed Vashj before 2.4, but haven't gotten to Kael yet. Still, we moved onto Hyjal and Black Temple where we've downed the first boss of each. So not the fastest guild in the world, but at least everyone's mature and respectful, but also fun to hang out with on vent.


Either you understood all that or got none of it - either way you probably think I'm a huge dork now and you're probably correct.

hc5duke
04-21-2008, 08:05 PM
nerd!

seriously, i don't play any mmorpg, which puts me in the minority at work. i don't understand how people have time for these games, i already don't have time to play all my Wii and PS2 games.

Clipsfan
04-21-2008, 08:08 PM
I checked it out a while back but haven't touched it in a long time. I played back when my 60 (also a pally) was the highest I could go. These days, I can barely remember what the gameplay was like but may need to delve into it more as I'm doing research on MMOGs at work. There are a few other ones coming out in the near future, including Warhammer, which I probably need to check out for work. I just don't have the time to mess around with them anymore, though.

Anyone who wants to recommend other MMOGs in general, please do so. I've probably heard of most of them but I'm always interested in more perspectives.

snowdenscold
04-21-2008, 08:08 PM
nerd!

seriously, i don't play any mmorpg, which puts me in the minority at work. i don't understand how people have time for these games, i already don't have time to play all my Wii and PS2 games.

I don't have any consoles to play on at the moment. Actually, the only two I've ever owned were NES and N64 - but I have no problem playing old games over and over and over again.

Clipsfan
04-21-2008, 08:10 PM
I don't have any consoles to play on at the moment. Actually, the only two I've ever owned were NES and N64 - but I have no problem playing old games over and over and over again.

So what will you do next week when all anyone is talking about is GTA4? The estimate is that it will sell $400MM worth of games in the first week.

hc5duke
04-21-2008, 08:15 PM
So what will you do next week when all anyone is talking about is GTA4? The estimate is that it will sell $400MM worth of games in the first week.

GTA4 + GT5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT5) = I'll be handling over a bucket full of cash to my Sony overlords :( Probably not immediately as I have other expenses this year (ahem pregnant wife), most likely when the real GT5 comes out sometime in 2009... or 2010

snowdenscold
04-21-2008, 08:19 PM
So what will you do next week when all anyone is talking about is GTA4? The estimate is that it will sell $400MM worth of games in the first week.

I have never been in a rush to buy the latest and greatest games and/or consoles. I'll happily play some more WoW and maybe an old 8 or 16 bit RPG on emulator while everyone is going crazy over GTA (I've never played any of them).

billybreen
04-21-2008, 08:32 PM
So what will you do next week when all anyone is talking about is GTA4? The estimate is that it will sell $400MM worth of games in the first week.

I've already put my $60 towards it. As I said a few weeks ago, I've never waited for any pop culture release with as much anticipation as GTAIV. Just over a week to go!

billybreen
04-21-2008, 08:33 PM
I have never been in a rush to buy the latest and greatest games and/or consoles. I'll happily play some more WoW and maybe an old 8 or 16 bit RPG on emulator while everyone is going crazy over GTA (I've never played any of them).

GTA has all the elements I loved in old school RPGs (such as my first love, the Ultima series). The wide open game world and non-linear play, in particular, are RPG hallmarks.

billybreen
04-21-2008, 08:34 PM
I got hugely addicted to WoW for a month in early 2006, and I was forced to go cold turkey. I've forced myself to avoid it ever since.

It was consuming.

hc5duke
04-21-2008, 08:37 PM
GTA has all the elements I loved in old school RPGs (such as my first love, the Ultima series). The wide open game world and non-linear play, in particular, are RPG hallmarks.

I read in an article (linked from Digg, I dont remember where exactly) that while the map of GTA4 will be smaller than GTA:SA, it will have more content - there won't be empty desert like in SA, and by someone's estimate, it will take 30 minutes (I *think*) of game play to get from one end of the map to another in GTA4. Very excited, too bad I won't play it for a while :-p

billybreen
04-21-2008, 08:39 PM
I read in an article (linked from Digg, I dont remember where exactly) that while the map of GTA4 will be smaller than GTA:SA, it will have more content - there won't be empty desert like in SA, and by someone's estimate, it will take 30 minutes (I *think*) of game play to get from one end of the map to another in GTA4. Very excited, too bad I won't play it for a while :-p

I know! I have a beta release the day of the GTA release. So painful!

There are rumors that the DLC will add whole cities to the gameplay, not just new missions. If that's the case, we should get a year or more out of the GTA IV platform.

Clipsfan
04-21-2008, 09:25 PM
I know! I have a beta release the day of the GTA release. So painful!

There are rumors that the DLC will add whole cities to the gameplay, not just new missions. If that's the case, we should get a year or more out of the GTA IV platform.

Aack, if that's true I wonder which console is best to buy it on? I have the 360 and the PS3 and was planning on getting it for the 360, largely because my wife hates it when my video games make the Blu-ray player break.

billybreen
04-21-2008, 09:30 PM
Aack, if that's true I wonder which console is best to buy it on? I have the 360 and the PS3 and was planning on getting it for the 360, largely because my wife hates it when my video games make the Blu-ray player break.

360, as it has exclusive downloadable content coming at some point in the future.

BTW, apologies for hijacking the WoW thread. I'll create a GTAIV thread.

snowdenscold
04-21-2008, 10:42 PM
360, as it has exclusive downloadable content coming at some point in the future.

BTW, apologies for hijacking the WoW thread. I'll create a GTAIV thread.

Good, and get a mod to move all these worthless GTA posts over there too :D

STLDukeFan4
04-22-2008, 12:59 AM
I used to play religiously all the way until the expansion came out. I had to quit because it made my grades drop a ton. I had a 60 priest and 60 rogue when I was playing on Azgalor with the guild Infiniti. I raided with the priest, and raided like 4 nights a week...it was pretty intense, but we were a really good guild, and it was a lot of fun. If I had more time, I would definently get back into it, but I know that I would get out of control again if I picked it back up.

CameronBornAndBred
04-22-2008, 08:09 AM
I've lost my family to that game. My wife and stepkids are all addicted, their day revolves around it. I'm looking forward to the day their PC blows up.

MrBisonDevil
04-22-2008, 10:13 AM
I've been WoW'n since Nov 2004. I have 3 horde toons (#1 Pally 70, #2 Hunter 70 & #3 Druid 60) on the Draenor server. I've been playing with the same guildmates since early 2005 though I don't play nearly as much as I did in first 2 years.

snowdenscold
04-22-2008, 12:30 PM
I've been WoW'n since Nov 2004. I have 3 horde toons (#1 Pally 70, #2 Hunter 70 & #3 Druid 60) on the Draenor server. I've been playing with the same guildmates since early 2005 though I don't play nearly as much as I did in first 2 years.

You raid or pvp or just run around randomly with them? =)

Chard
04-22-2008, 02:38 PM
I've stayed away. I didn't like having to pay every month for a game that I had already paid for. Plus, I knew I'd get addicted. I love the Warcraft games. The Starcraft series gets updated in the next year or so with Starcraft II.

What would some of you more experienced WoW players suggest to someone who is considering it?

billybreen
04-22-2008, 02:41 PM
I've stayed away. I didn't like having to pay every month for a game that I had already paid for. Plus, I knew I'd get addicted. I love the Warcraft games. The Starcraft series gets updated in the next year or so with Starcraft II.

What would some of you more experienced WoW players suggest to someone who is considering it?

If you know you'll get addicted, stay stay stay away.

snowdenscold
04-22-2008, 02:53 PM
I've stayed away. I didn't like having to pay every month for a game that I had already paid for. Plus, I knew I'd get addicted. I love the Warcraft games. The Starcraft series gets updated in the next year or so with Starcraft II.

What would some of you more experienced WoW players suggest to someone who is considering it?


Well, so there are 70 levels - but getting to the top level is only the beginning (usually). It takes a fair bit of time just to reach the max level, so if you don't know anyone who currently plays who would want to help you - it could be somewhat lonely / boring. But not necessarily - I leveled all the way to 70 by myself (after the friend I started w/ bailed early on) and then switched servers to be with some real life friends.

You say you enjoyed WC and SC - but did you like playing the single player missions more, or did you do the player vs. player (PvP) online? Either way, you can do both in WoW. You can either join with other players fighting against progressively tougher bosses that require groups of 5, 10, or 25 players to team up to kill. Or you can do PvP and fight against other people in real life (in teams of 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 40).

The main difference is instead of having control over all your forces (which is good and bad - since although you know what you want them all to do in your head, it takes awhile to express that thru clicking and whatnot) you have only yourself. Of course, you can do a heck of a lot more things.

Plus there's 9 different types of classes you can be, and great variety within each one, so there's plenty of options for being able to do different things if you get tired of what you are.

DukeDude
04-22-2008, 03:30 PM
I like how the ad at the top of this thread is for a place selling in game gold. ($40 per 1000) The rampant cheating in MMOs is what soured me on the whole genre, although I have never tried WoW.

MrBisonDevil
04-22-2008, 03:52 PM
I was a hardcore raider through mid-late 2007. Our guild, Left Hand Black, has about 40 guildies (average age 25-35yo). I think I've probably played the past 2-yrs (continuously) with about 30% of guild. I probably would not play WoW if it wasn't for the continuity of my guildmates.

During the 2nd half of 2007, most of us "old heads" decided to take a 6-mo break from active raiding. During this time we leveled alts, pugged T4 gear instances for alt gear and picked up PvP honor. About 3-months ago, we decided to pick up raiding again. We are slowing working our way back to T5 and T6 gear. We tend to raid only 2x/wk, which is good for now.

Reisen
04-23-2008, 01:43 AM
Just got out of SSC a few minutes ago!

Lvl 70 Warlock on Cenarion Circle. I've been playing since early beta, and was in a hardcore raiding guild pre-BC. We were one of the first on our server to clear MC, then cleared BWL when it was a big deal to down Nef. I slowed down about the time AQ40 and Naxx were coming out.

I stopped playing for a bit, then picked it up again when BC came out. Now I'm in a casual guild with RL friends. We've been raiding for just a few weeks, and have already cleared Gruul's, all the TK bosses except Kael, and Lurker/Hydross in SSC. Had Leotheras down to 2% and managed to wipe... :-(

I limit myself to between 2 and 5 hours of total raid time per week. Used to be Kara, then ZA, now the 25 man content. The goal is to get to see BT and MH before the expansion comes out. I think that should be doable.

Oh, and I'm usually top 3 in dps on webstats. Put out 1150 dps the other day on Al'ar, which was nice.

This post is going to be like a foreign language to people that don't play.

DevilAlumna
04-23-2008, 02:49 AM
This post is going to be like a foreign language to people that don't play.

You can say that again.

<caveman language="spanish">
Uhh, ?que?
</caveman>

snowdenscold
04-23-2008, 02:57 AM
This post is going to be like a foreign language to people that don't play.


Don't worry man, I caught all of it. Well, sorta. I actually didn't begin playing till Oct. 06, so I didn't hit level 60 until the same week BC came out and thus never did any of the lvl 60 raid content (although I've gone back and done some of it with all-70 groups but that's not the same experience)

I was pretty much a complete noob for a long while, but have since redeemed myself. I'm somewhere in the top to middle of the healing charts (unbuffed +2000 heal, 28&#37; holy crit).

We downed the second boss of Hyjal last night but still haven't attempted Kael. And even though we've downed Vashj, we had some close, single-digit % wipes on her the other night.


Going back and doing Kara is fun now (although I'm at the point where even with the new 2.4 badge loot, I don't relaly need any) when you have a well-geared guild group. We only need to take 2 healers and thus have 7 dps from Curator and beyond. I wish our guild would stop doing Kara as the main unofficial raid and do more ZA, as there's actually useful loot for me in there (well mainly for tanking spec which I also have all epics in - prot pallies ftw - , but the gear and my skill level are no where near as good as my healing)

MrBisonDevil
04-23-2008, 09:55 AM
I've been real casual for the past 6-8 months but I'm going to start raiding 2x a week (Sat + Sun).

Additionally, playing WoW may help my corporate business career. :rolleyes: I just read a Harvard Business Review article, 'Leadership's Online Labs' in the May 08 issue, that talks about how WoW (and other MMORPGs) can serve as a great tool to hone leadership skills, tools and techniques. Maybe my VP will allow me to start playing at work as a way to hone my corporate leadership skills. ;)

snowdenscold
04-23-2008, 10:56 AM
I've been real casual for the past 6-8 months but I'm going to start raiding 2x a week (Sat + Sun).

Additionally, playing WoW may help my corporate business career. :rolleyes: I just read a Harvard Business Review article, 'Leadership's Online Labs' in the May 08 issue, that talks about how WoW (and other MMORPGs) can serve as a great tool to hone leadership skills, tools and techniques. Maybe my VP will allow me to start playing at work as a way to hone my corporate leadership skills. ;)

It actually is a fascinating academic study to observe different guilds, from the successful to the ones that fall apart and look at why. Guilds are like many other organizations in that they require rules, fairness, discipline, trust in others, and the willingness to treat the guild as something more than just a bunch of different people - otherwise you won't last very long. Furthermore, like a team of all-stars or virtuoso musicians - you can't just throw a lot of highly skilled individual players together and expect good results. Teamwork and trust plays a vital role as well.


I'm sure in the next decade more than one grad student will use MMORPG as subject matter (in fact, I'm sure it's being done already).t

Cavlaw
04-24-2008, 09:45 AM
Ive dabbled with most MMORPGs, starting with UO. A buddy of mine was a lead on EQ, so I tried that, too. Nothing lasted more than a couple of months for me; CoH and GW were among my favorites, and they only got about 3 months, respectively.

I thought I might get into WoW, and bought the 10-day trial disk about a year ago. I lost interest after about 15 minutes and 3 or 4 "kill X number of Ys to complete this quest".

I think the height of online roleplaying so far was the toolset for NWN. Usermade worlds and modules were just great. Unfortunately I tossed the disks at some point during the NWN2 cycle, but the NWN2 toolset is clunky and the online community never really developed. Here's hoping DA is released with a more navigable toolset.

I did think about PotBS, but it got panned in reviews. I'm now curious about Conan, but missed out on signup for the beta.

billybreen
04-24-2008, 10:18 AM
Ive dabbled with most MMORPGs, starting with UO.

Ahh, UO. I lost many hours to that during my time at Duke. I cut my teeth on the Ultima series as a kid, so UO made an easy transition to MMORPGS. But my compulsive behavior always forces me to quit them after a month or two. :)

Chard
04-24-2008, 03:56 PM
Thanks for the replies. I can see how some of the posts can come off as unintelligible jargon to the uninitiated. I actually followed most of it due to my experience of being a geek/Warcraft player.

I liked playing the campaigns of the WC/SC games but didn't really get into the online play very much. However, WoW is a bit different and more my speed.

I have other questions.

If I decide to pick WoW up would it be better to buy the original WoW or jump into BC?

Do you find the $15 a month worth it (or whatever the cost)? What if you only played on weekends for a few hours at a time?

Have cheaters ruined the game? I think just about every online game suffers from haxxors but some more than others. I imagine a huge community like WoW has quite a few.

I am a diehard HL2DM player. I loved the single player but the death match component is awesome! I even belong to a clan and play in CAL (http://www.caleague.com/). I just can't seem to put it down but I have been interested in WoW since the early trailers on the WCIII CD. I think I could manage the addiction since I do have a little one.

snowdenscold
04-24-2008, 04:50 PM
If I decide to pick WoW up would it be better to buy the original WoW or jump into BC?

Well, BC is really levels 61-70, whereas the original takes you through lvl 60. So, unless you want to play one of the two new races (there are 10 total now), you will be find only have the original until you hit lvl 60.

At that point, you'd really need to buy BC because a majority of the players online at any time are 70 and thus you'd be level capped at 60 w/ no one to do lvl 60 content with. Unless you just wanted to start another class and go back to 60 again...


Do you find the $15 a month worth it (or whatever the cost)? What if you only played on weekends for a few hours at a time?

Well - I definitely get my money's worth out of it! If you played a couple hours every weekend - maybe you'd be paying $1-$2 an hour. There are a lot worse habits.


Have cheaters ruined the game? I think just about every online game suffers from haxxors but some more than others. I imagine a huge community like WoW has quite a few.

Not really. Blizzard makes it pretty hard to cheat. I haven't noticed any problems here.[/QUOTE]

Clipsfan
04-24-2008, 06:10 PM
Blizzard makes it pretty hard to cheat. I haven't noticed any problems here.[/QUOTE]

The biggest cheating is related to purchasing characters/gold, as far as I know. Gold purchasing used to be rampant, and the ads are still out there so it may still be a problem.

Has anyone tried Lord of the Rings Online? It's gotten fairly good reviews, but it doesn't have a large user base yet. Also, is anyone in the beta for Warhammer 40k?

snowdenscold
04-25-2008, 12:22 AM
The biggest cheating is related to purchasing characters/gold, as far as I know. Gold purchasing used to be rampant, and the ads are still out there so it may still be a problem.


It's so easy to make gold now (well, if you have a lvl 70 - or at least have a friend that plays and can lend you some) that purchasing gold should no longer ever be needed.

As far as purchasing characters - I don't really define that as "cheating". Sure, you may have to spend a lot more time leveling up, but you at least get to know your class a lot better than way. Plus if it's your first time playing you don't want to buy a pre-made 70 anyway. But you're not put at an unfair advantage when dealing with other players (other than perhaps you feel cheated out of your time)

Cell-R
04-25-2008, 08:11 PM
I got drawn into MMO's about 3 years ago.
Started with Battlefield 1942 (quite possibly the best FPS ever!) and progressed to MMORPG's.

SWG (Star Wars Galaxies) was the first one I played, and it was AMAZING. Pretty much like a dream come true :D

I had no idea how to play an online game like that, so for the first year I got almost nothing done.

I made a new character and actually started to get things done, and then the "Combat Upgrade" came, so I took a break from the game, everybody was really negative about this so called "Upgrade" so I guess I thought it was bad as well.

I finally started playing it again, and got fairly good at it during the CU. I was a bounty hunter/carbineer/combat medic combo, so I spent my days hunting down Jedi. I still wasn't a great MMORPG player at this point, so I was probably about 50/50 with my jedi hunting.:cool:

ANOTHER "Upgrade" happened (NGE - New Game Enhancements, I think) so I quit once again. This time my cousin convinced me to start WoW. It was awesome! I played it for about 4 months, got to level 50 (finally started actually doing stuff in the last month) and decided I had to stop. It was taking over my life. So I quit, but a couple months later I was drawn back into SWG. By this point, I was extremely rich with two level 90 characters in Galaxies, so I just ran around and played and got even richer. Finally, about a year and a half ago I decided I had to stop for good. I canceled my WoW and SWG accounts, and haven't played an MMORPG again...

Sometimes I really wish I did (especially when I have nothing to do), but I know it's better that I don't. :)

Cavlaw
05-09-2009, 09:09 PM
I finally caved and picked this up. I've played around with a few characters and am now trying to find a good server. Any suggestions?

snowdenscold
05-10-2009, 10:22 AM
I finally caved and picked this up. I've played around with a few characters and am now trying to find a good server. Any suggestions?

Try to get on a medium-high population server if you can. The downside of more people is that at the upper levels (and potentially while questing/leveling up) you may have more competition for limited resources.

However, there's at least much more activity going on, and a healthy economy at the Auction House. And it's easier to form groups if you want to run 5-man dungeons (the first one you can do is in the mid-teen levels).

BEWARE OF PVP SERVERS: If your goal is to just have fun running around and leveling up, you may find the PvP ones very frustrating since high lvl players will just kill you in one hit if they see you. They can be fun if you really enjoy fighting other people whenever you get the chance more than the computer, but it takes much longer to level up since you will die more (although thankfully they've added a ton of graveyards so running back to your corpse is pretty short now).



You're welcome to join the Dalaran server, and I'll send 20g your way as a starting gift, haha. PM me if you do and I'll send you my toon names. Though if you have any real life friends who play, try to join their server.

Oh, and don't let yourself get sucked in too much - I personally had a friend put on parental controls to avoid the temptation to play during work hours.

ForeverBlowingBubbles
05-10-2009, 11:19 AM
Anyone play Diablo which is made by Blizzard as well?


Diablo 3 (www.diablo3.com) should be coming out in a year or so, Diablo 2 owns about 6 months of my life.

RainingThrees
05-10-2009, 02:53 PM
STAY AWAY FROM THIS GAME!! It is more addicting than crack. The only way to stop playing is to run out of money.

bjornolf
05-10-2009, 07:13 PM
Anyone play Diablo which is made by Blizzard as well?


Diablo 3 (www.diablo3.com) should be coming out in a year or so, Diablo 2 owns about 6 months of my life.

I loved Diablo and Diablo II. They are so much fun, and you can play alone if you so desire (or don't have blazing internet).