Ding, Dong
Heroic Spine and Madness down (for me) this week. The guild did it last week without me (/sniffle). I had been out of raiding for a couple weeks with just a rotten horrible virus or something and couldn’t stay awake. So now I am rocking my “Savior of Azeroth” title… fun stuff. Next week looks to be getting achievements done for drakes. So far the achievements have been pretty easy and straight forward, if that changes and I learn any tips or tricks I will be sure to let everyone know (and no, switching from a 25 man to a 10 man to get achieves is not a tip or trick and we won’t do that).
Kitty form in MoP looks to get a graphical update of armor (Horde, Alliance) most likely going to be tied to some achievement, or object, or glyph… who knows.
I have not been very active in the beta, honestly I am waiting for the level cap in the beta to be 90 and then I plan on getting my druid which I copied to max level to see how the questing flow is.
I am very excited about all the features and changes coming in the expansion. It look like account wide achievements is about a done deal and account wide mounts and pets a possibility. The new pet battle system looks like a fun thing, actually in game farmville… I dunno, probably not so much. Maybe Blizzard is trying to fin ways for couples to play together (But honey, while I am raiding you can be tending the farm and battling squirrels!)
I am very much looking forward to the 5 man competitive dungeons, achievements, and rewards. Having something like this to work on with others in the guild with a smaller player group and less time commitment could be really fun and create some niche players for sure.
I hope we don’t have too long to wait for the expansion but I am guessing Nov/Dec time frame?
MoP Beta, Where to start questing…
Once you get the Beta installed, if you are like me and want to dive right into questing you will first need to go to Pandaria. To do that you will need to find the Panda in your faction Capital City. The Panda should not be too tough to find in either city as he was placed in the most active area with a moonglow spotlight on him.
When asked, have him port you to Pandaria, there were a couple of different port options, but bottom line you need to end up in the Jade Forest and if you are horde make your way to the Northwestern top of the map, Alliance Southwest bottom of the map to find the starting quest areas. Horde is right above Hellscream’s Hope (Have the Panda port you there if it is an option still), Alliance is at the Wayward Landing (Also probably a port option).
I started out picking talents and a spec that sounded good for leveling. Talent choices really do have a feel for them based on play style so there really probably isn’t a better or worse option just one that fits how you like to level. If you like to grind on multiple mobs while questing you might pick different talents than if you prefer bypassing a lot of combat to get quests completed more quickly.
I knocked out a couple quests and even received my first reward, a two handed staff for either Boom or Kitty, neither of which was better than what I already had in inventory which is typical of every expansion since I raid… so nothing new on that front… except of course that the quest reward is custom so every class will get a useable item from that exact same quest without seeing like 8 possible rewards, just 2 based on which spec you want it for. A very welcome change and I am very happy Blizzard is finally looking at intelligent ways to reward loot.
I will post more after spending some time in the beta this weekend.
Beta Posts Incomming
So I am downloading the MoP Beta now. It’s Big…. and slow.
Once it’s finished and I can get into play I will start posting and covering feral details. With this Beta extending to so many users I am sure there will be a lot of good information out there but I will make sure to put in my 2 cents… as usual.
6 of 8 Heroic DS now, MoP talk…
So Requiem is 6/8 Heroic DS now and we are trucking along with a lot of new blood and sitting on a roster of about 31 players for our 25 man raid so we don’t ever really have a reason now to take a foot off the gas… which is good because now that MoP Beta is out we only have so much time to finish off current content on and finish up some achievements.
The main reason for my post is a look at the new glyphs. It looks like they are making a lot of the core talents we have had in the past and giving us the ability to keep them through glyphs. Personally I like as we will be able to change our play style much easier between encounters now. Let’s take a look…
- Glyph of Amberskin Protection – Reduces the chance you’ll be critically hit by 25% while Barkskin is active.
- Glyph of Cat Form – Increases healing done to you by 20% while in Cat Form.
- Glyph of Claw – Your Claw and Mangle (Cat) attacks reduce the movement speed of the target by 50% for 12 sec.
- Glyph of Fae Silence – Faerie Fire used in Bear Form also silences the target for 3 sec, but triggers a 15 sec cooldown.
- Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration – While Frenzied Regeneration is active healing effects on you are 40% more powerful, but causes your Frenzied Regeneration to cost 60 Rage initially and no longer convert rage into health.
- Glyph of Prowl – Reduces the movement penalty of Prowl by 100%.
- Glyph of Shred – While Berserk or Tiger’s Fury is active, Shred and Ravage have no positional requirement.
- Glyph of the Chameleon – Each time you shapeshift into Cat Form or Bear Form, your shapeshifted form will have a random hair color.
- Glyph of the Orca – Your Aquatic Form now appears as an Orca.
- Glyph of the Predator – Your Track Humanoids ability now also tracks beasts.
- Glyph of the Stag – Your Travel Form now appears as a Stag and can be used as a mount by party members.
So some pedestrian stuff replacing old talents, some fun stuff giving ferals a little something to play with how they look when shifted including a ridable form that will launch a 100 inappropriate jokes, the ability to track beast which I like, the awesome solo PvE stuff faster with not losing speed when stealthed, and a nonsense glyph which leads me to believe more bosses coming that I can’t shred… or lets hope it’s for PvP purposes.
As far as the next expac goes I am really liking everything Blizzard is bring to the table. Little pets battles, ranked 5 man dungeons with gear and mount rewards, more LFR goodness, a new race and class, lots of early raid content, and hopefully even account wide mounts, pets, and achievements which might have me playing my hunter more 
Star Wars MMO… Meh
So not only do I have trouble getting motivated to log into SWTOR but it has been difficult to get motivated to write about the experience.
When beta testing I really thought the game had promise, of course with getting to a max level of 24 during that time I just assumed the game would get more enjoyable the higher level I attained. Gear would look sweeter, the story would become more epic, the worlds and quests more interesting… now on line at level 47 the only notable thing I can think of is I am killing Wookies now. The game play is clunky, the world feels… digital, crafting is lame, and the whole experience just has not sucked me in.
The game really is a WOW clone, but an early one. The game is lacking all the nice stuff Blizzard has added over the years like LFG, Achievements, Dual Specs… and the list goes on. I don’t blame Bioware, it isn’t their fault the task to create as polished as a product that Blizzard has created with WoW is just insurmountable… Well, maybe it isn’t but you can’t do it when spending so much time and energy on voice acting… which gets old by the way, especially when you have to hear your character say the same packaged responses over and over.
Folks, no MMO is going to knock WoW off it’s perch. The investment in time and money just won’t happen, not to mention how difficult it is to get the community and addons up to speed. And think, Blizzard is working on Titan while WoW just keeps on trucking.
I have 25 days left to get to level 50. I do plan on getting my character there if I can sludge through these last 3 levels. After the 25 days left I am done with SWTOR. I just feel no motivation to even look at endgame raiding.
I am looking forward to Beta testing MoP and will definitely be writing what I can about it just as I did for Cata.
