on wotlk beta
First thought: this thing is fucking huge. Like 14 GB huge. Which maybe isn't that big for games nowadays. I really don't know.
After patching and downloading and installing and downloading and patching etc, I finally get the thing enabled and copy my prot paladin over.
There's no epic grand entrance to Northrend, you just hop on a zeppelin and arrive there. (Unless the server is laggy, then you hop on a zep, lag out, end up in the same place, then end up in a place of nothingness, until finally the zep completely disappears and you drop like 30 yards to some fall damage.) Not that it matters much, but there was something to be said for being an RPdork and /walking through the portal for the first time.
There's no lack of groups wanting to run instances, which is cool since that's pretty much all I can do. It takes a ridonkulous amount of XP to hit 71 (1.5 million, to be exact) but the quests cash in 15k-40k of XP a shot and rested mobs give you just under 2k.
The bug with no mana/energy regen happens when you first land at Northrend (I think only in Vengeance Landing actually) and if you relog it goes away, so I guess it isn't too bad.
CHANGES! My paladin lost 200 health (no biggie) from the talent changes. I also gained an instant Avenger's Shield (go go in-fight tank tool!), about 400 spell damage from talents, Hammer of Wrath now is instant and works under 35%, and Seal of Corruption is delicious on so many levels.
It's now possible to judge without losing a seal, and basically the rotation I've been using is shield toss, Consecrate, Hammer of the Righteous, judge wisdom, and cycle as necessary. Holy Shield's much lower cooldown is making me forget to keep it up at all times, but I have so many more buttons to press that it doesn't matter. It's really good to feel like you're always doing SOMETHING to keep threat rather than just cycling through the same shit. More buttons = more fun.
Oh yeah, the other really messed up part is, I actually had to change my gear because of the removal (or rather, restructuring) of anticipation. Instead of 20 defense skill, it's now 5% dodge. Being a dodge whore, I like the change, but I was then sitting on 488 defense. Ungood. A swap to my T5 shoulders fixed it and put me right at 490, but a warrior I was talking to couldn't break the magic number in T4/ZA/badge gear. This will probably be fixed before it goes live, as crittable tanks is a huge no no, but I even hear it's difficult to manage uncrittable at 80.
I'm really going to miss Salvation, though. =(
Uthgarde Keep and the Nexus instances are really fun, but ridiculously easy. There's not really much trick to them, and the bosses are more or less straightforward. One dude summons adds, the pair comes back to life after they die so kill them a little bit apart, one guy comes back to life after you kill him, and get the fuck out of his smash and dark smash attacks. That's the whole instance for you, guys. It's 30 minutes long, it's fun, but it's really easy.
So far so good, though. I haven't hit any glaring bugs besides the whole mana thing and lag thing, but those are easily dealt with.
Questions?
After patching and downloading and installing and downloading and patching etc, I finally get the thing enabled and copy my prot paladin over.
There's no epic grand entrance to Northrend, you just hop on a zeppelin and arrive there. (Unless the server is laggy, then you hop on a zep, lag out, end up in the same place, then end up in a place of nothingness, until finally the zep completely disappears and you drop like 30 yards to some fall damage.) Not that it matters much, but there was something to be said for being an RPdork and /walking through the portal for the first time.
There's no lack of groups wanting to run instances, which is cool since that's pretty much all I can do. It takes a ridonkulous amount of XP to hit 71 (1.5 million, to be exact) but the quests cash in 15k-40k of XP a shot and rested mobs give you just under 2k.
The bug with no mana/energy regen happens when you first land at Northrend (I think only in Vengeance Landing actually) and if you relog it goes away, so I guess it isn't too bad.
CHANGES! My paladin lost 200 health (no biggie) from the talent changes. I also gained an instant Avenger's Shield (go go in-fight tank tool!), about 400 spell damage from talents, Hammer of Wrath now is instant and works under 35%, and Seal of Corruption is delicious on so many levels.
It's now possible to judge without losing a seal, and basically the rotation I've been using is shield toss, Consecrate, Hammer of the Righteous, judge wisdom, and cycle as necessary. Holy Shield's much lower cooldown is making me forget to keep it up at all times, but I have so many more buttons to press that it doesn't matter. It's really good to feel like you're always doing SOMETHING to keep threat rather than just cycling through the same shit. More buttons = more fun.
Oh yeah, the other really messed up part is, I actually had to change my gear because of the removal (or rather, restructuring) of anticipation. Instead of 20 defense skill, it's now 5% dodge. Being a dodge whore, I like the change, but I was then sitting on 488 defense. Ungood. A swap to my T5 shoulders fixed it and put me right at 490, but a warrior I was talking to couldn't break the magic number in T4/ZA/badge gear. This will probably be fixed before it goes live, as crittable tanks is a huge no no, but I even hear it's difficult to manage uncrittable at 80.
I'm really going to miss Salvation, though. =(
Uthgarde Keep and the Nexus instances are really fun, but ridiculously easy. There's not really much trick to them, and the bosses are more or less straightforward. One dude summons adds, the pair comes back to life after they die so kill them a little bit apart, one guy comes back to life after you kill him, and get the fuck out of his smash and dark smash attacks. That's the whole instance for you, guys. It's 30 minutes long, it's fun, but it's really easy.
So far so good, though. I haven't hit any glaring bugs besides the whole mana thing and lag thing, but those are easily dealt with.
Questions?