World of Warcraft

[MalaCloudy Black]

So with day one of BlizzCon happening, we now have the Legion cinematic trailer.

 

Focuses a lot more on teamwork, fighting to survive etc - and man, seeing those two people work together was awesome. The last two people you'd ever expect to cooperate with either side, and here they are, being badasses together.

EDIT: Duuuuuuude! All zones in the Broken Isles area will scale based on level. There's no "go here at level 105, then here at level 107, then here at level 110". You can pick and choose where you want to quest, and the zone will scale according to your level - so, if you're level 101 and you want to quest with a level 105 friend, you don't have to worry about catching up to their level. You can quest in the same zone, and it'll scale to their level for them, and your level for you. Does that make sense?

[thatshortguy]

It's an amazing evolution of what City of Heroes did with their sidekick system and something I'd like to see them impliment for the entire game.

[Reddaye]

Blizzard knock it out of the park with another trailer.

Even after a disappointing WoD experience, I'll still pick Legion up and at least level to 110. Hopefully it'll hold my attention longer though. Seems solid thus far.

[Whisper]

Yeah, I just started playing again and couldn't help but get drawn into the Legion hype. I'm especially interested by dungeons being a genuine alternative to raiding.

 

[Whisper]

Damnit Blizzard. I was all set to go ahead and main my Mage in Legion, then you go and announce an awesome Paladin preview?

New 30 yard teleport for Ret + ashbringer + ability to play all 3 specs = goodbye Mage. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

Combat's gone in favor of "Outlaw", a spec that sounds kind of awesome. From the Legion class preview:
 

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Outlaw rogues are the unscrupulous scoundrels of Azeroth. Operating outside the law, they bend the rules and distort the truth to get what they need. While they share plenty in common with other rogues, these outlaws have little use for tact or discretion, happy to engage in a tavern brawl or spontaneous duel, rarely patient enough to wait in stealth for the opportune time to engage. To survive in such a world, outlaws must become master swordsmen in toe-to-toe combat—and they can’t shy away from fighting dirty. If blade fails to cut too deeply, the outlaw takes advantage of a concealed pistol, catching the enemy by surprise with a quick blast.

 

 

They also get the abilities Saber Slash (50 energy, 1 combo point, 35% it hits twice and if it does it makes the next Pistol Shot free) and Pistol Shot (40 energy, deals moderate physical damage, reduces enemy's movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds) as well as Quick Draw, a passive stating
 

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Free uses of Pistol Shot granted by Saber Slash now generate 1 additional combo point, and deal 50% increased damage.

[Reddaye]

Combat needed the change/removal IMO. I know they added some more abilities to the priority over the last few expansions, but it was always too centered around maintaining uptime on SnD, and spamming Sinister Strikers, with an Eviscerate thrown in for good measure. A few cooldowns and such, but the core of the rotation was so boring (to me), that something needed to be done. It was the "swashbuckling" spec, but without much of an actual feeling of being such.

Adding the pistol to the kit improves the fantasy, and hopefully adds enough to the priority list that it doesn't feel like Combat any more, and really stands out as it's own unique spec. 

Looking over the Hunter changes, and I like it so far. I enjoyed playing SV in Cata, but I think turning it into melee is a good concept. The part that makes me fearful is if it becomes the only viable spec for the class, and then I'm stuck being melee. Getting away from melee is the reason I eventually rolled a hunter. That said, MM looks far more enjoyable than it has been, and BM shows promise from what I've seen. 

It's gotten me interested enough in the class to make it my top priority in Legion. I ended up going Warrior for what little of WoD I played, since my guild needed a second tank. This time I'll be playing my hunter again. I missed it. Hopefully the changes play well, and are fun. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

It's funny you have that fear about Survival, because I'm like "Wow, now I may play a hunter past level 25 because there's a melee spec". I've always had a weird soft spot for melee specs - plate wearers, especially - because I like to get right up in my enemy's face, be it PVP or PVE, and start a-smashing.

Also, I just started playing again because I was gifted some game time. What servers are you guys on? I'm on Sargeras-US Alliance side, Stormreaver and Illidan-US for Horde.

[Reddaye]

14 hours ago, Cloudy said:

It's funny you have that fear about Survival, because I'm like "Wow, now I may play a hunter past level 25 because there's a melee spec". I've always had a weird soft spot for melee specs - plate wearers, especially - because I like to get right up in my enemy's face, be it PVP or PVE, and start a-smashing.

Also, I just started playing again because I was gifted some game time. What servers are you guys on? I'm on Sargeras-US Alliance side, Stormreaver and Illidan-US for Horde.

Haha, yeah, I'm the opposite when it comes to melee. I mained a rogue through all of TBC back when I used to put obscene hours into the game. By the time Cata was coming I was so sick and tired of playing melee that I went full ranged. The only exception has been in WoD when I switched over to warrior a few months in to do some tanking, which I also hated. 

Melee dps requires a lot more attention than I feel like giving anymore to be honest. As a hunter I may be asked to kite adds on bosses like Magmaw, but I'm fine with doing utility work. I just don't want to have my head shoved in a bosses' ass now that I've learned the fine art of standing back and pew pewing.  That said, I'll still try SV out when they switch it to melee. Maybe it'll be the thing that gets me back into enjoying melee again, but I'm pretty certain I'll be sticking to BM or MM if they're competitive. 

All my main characters are Horde side on Thrall-US. Some guild mates gave me $20 for gametime earlier in the year I haven't used yet. Saving it for Legion when they (probably) decide to come back and play again. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

So! I rolled a Worgen druid, because I'm one of those weird people who likes the whole leveling process. I've been playing as Restoration and it's mostly been going smoothly in dungeons, but I ran into my first shitty group (on this character, anyway) tonight. One of those "learn 2 heal, druid" groups where they're pulling a lot of unnecessary trash, the mage and hunter's pets keep aggroing enemies, etc.

So after I was asked "are you asleep, healer?" I replied "yep" and quit. Call it being butthurt or whatever, but I'm too old and don't have the patience to be browbeaten by a bunch of idiots. Every other group that I'd had tonight - barring a few hiccups that I openly admitted were my fault - went swimmingly, but this group was just a clown car and I wasn't going to go along for the ride.

Resto healing is pretty fun though.

[Whisper]

One of the perks of being a tank of healer. Get shit from a group, leave and enjoy your instant group. I do the same on my Priest.

Speaking of my Priest. Played it a bit to get used to the end game stuff again and I'm having a lot of fun. Mythic dungeons are a blast! I've pre-ordered Legion now too, so used my free boost on a Paladin. I just couldn't go through 60-90 again!

Gonna main spec Ret (Ashbringer hype!), but might actually try tanking for the first time ever.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Legion Alpha is live. Only the demon hunter starting experience is available to play.

And bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh bruh BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH

major story spoilers below y'all

Varian Wrynn is dead! Anduin is the new King of Stormwind! Vol'jin is MIA! Sylvanas is the acting Warchief!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Dark Lady, guide us!

[thatshortguy]

I cannot like that development enough.  I mean, I keep clicking 'Like', but it only does it once!

Yeah, 'lol, WoW plot' and all, but that makes me want to jump back in and stab everything.

[Reddaye]

I was just watching some of the Blizzcon Legion coverage for the Demon Hunter, and it looks super fun. I almost feel bad for rogues at this point. Why do they even exist? Why does Blizzard hate them so? 

DH looks super, super fun though. Extremely mobile, and ultra stylish. I'll certainly be trying one out, even if I don't spend a ton of time playing one. Kind of a shame that glaives look SOOOO huge on the back of Belfs...but I guess not every class can be a bad ass Orc. How unfortunate. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

Yo hey let's not diss blood elves. I'll bladestorm you and look good doing it!

[Reddaye]

You ARE damn sexy and stylish...I'll admit that. The glaives still look pretty huge though. 

In other news, playing Overwatch during the weekend got me hooked back into the Blizzard ecosystem. Considering resubbing to WoW for a bit to play with a friend who claims timewalking dungeons are the best thing since the bread slicer. 

[Whisper]

Whilst I am really enjoying my return to WoW, I can't say that Timewalking dungeons are much good to be honest. Healing 5 man content is probably my favourite thing in the game, but Timewalking dungeons are about as facerollably easy as heroics just now. Mythic dungeons are much more enjoyable, but they are only the WoD dungeons.

I really want to get into playing Ret over my Priest, but I suck at melee. I'm also wary that I will want a Demon Hunter alt in Legion and do I really want 2 melee classes?

I'm making this a way harder decision that it needs to be... I just forever end up going back to my Priest because I'm good at it and it's familiar  .

[Mick]

Anyone still active? I'm asking because I've returned after an expansion long hiatus (the last time I returned last month was October of 2014), and I'm looking to get things going again. Most of my old guild no longer plays (I think aside from myself there's one active player), and I'm looking to get a fresh guild going from the ground up for Legion. If any of you are interested, please let me know; I'd prefer a (US) PVE server, but I'm open to either faction, to be honest. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

Legion moves out of alpha and into beta, hopefully, this Thursday. They were going to start beta in November (last November?), but felt like it wasn't polished enough so it stayed alpha. 

Bunch of new stuff coming out of an interview with Ion Hazzikostas on the Warcraft Twitch channel. Some story stuff - Death Knights are trying to raise a new Four Horsemen to fight the Legion, apparently - but a lot of game dev chat. Dungeons can now have these things called Affix modifiers, where you get a keystone, your keystone levels up as you complete dungeons (I think, I don't really understand how this works, it was confusing), and the higher level your keystone, the more difficult the dungeon, the better loot you get. It's meant to be a way to keep people playing dungeons past the first month or two in a new expansion.

Other things: garrisons and missions were a misstep, you got money and rewards for just logging in, sending minions off on missions and logging out. Order Halls will still have missions, but they'll be few and far between and have a bigger impact. You'll get a reward at the end of the week in your Order Hall, and it'll have a keystone in it.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/5689-Legion-Developer-Update

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The game shouldn't feel like a chore, so the Emissary system lets you stack up three days of quests so that you don't fall behind if you miss a day.

Much welcome change from "shit, gotta login to do my dailies and get rep, ugh".

[Whisper]

Actually really looking forward to Legion. I don't normally play the beta, as I like to do everything for the first time when it's live, but I probably will this time if invited. I've exhausted WoD at this point (and I don't even play that much). Will be interested to see whether I'm maining Holy Priest or Ret Pally anyway.