Okay nerds: who's getting Wrath of the Lich King at midnight?

[Chovexani]

I'm still debating whether I want to line up in the cold.

[MrCoffee]

1. I'd like some Lich King at midnight, please

Say it out loud, you'll get it.

[Chovexani]

6. Gimme Gimme Gimme

A Death Knight at midnight?

[KitchenWitch]

51. I was thinking the same thing!

:P

[rcrush]

2. uh oh

I have been WoW clean for 5 months now. But I'm afraid I'll fall off that wagon now that Lich King is out. WTF DO I DO!!!@!@1211111

[Chovexani]

4. Buuuuuuy it

You know you want to. Don't you want to see Dalaran? And ride around on a gnomish motorcycle? And see Arthas?

And replay the Culling of Stratholme mission from Warcraft 3 as a Caverns of Time instance? And PLAY A DEATH KNIGHT?!?!

:evilgrin:

[rcrush]

7. WoW has changed

I played for a year when it first came out then quit. Got it a few months after Burning Crusade played till 70 and found that raiding was something only super duper bad asses only do now. So I pvp'ed for like 90 hours to get PVP gear. Then I got bored and now I'm going to repeat the whole damn cycle over again!!!!!!!!!!!! I might level up a Death Knight but they better be WTFPWNBBQ AWESOME

[Chovexani]

12. No one needs welfare epics to raid

And if people tell you that, they're lying. For the vast majority of classes and specs, PVP gear is useful for maybe filling in some holes in your gear but it's hardly necessary or even desired. PVP gear has too much crap like resilience on it to be that useful for PVE. 9 times out of 10 heroics and badge gear are how you're going to want to gear up to begin your raiding career. I've never once done PVP because I can't stand it, and my mage had better stats when I started raiding than all the people carrying that same ugly PVP mage staff.

And raiding is hardly something only super duper bad asses do, anyway, regardless of what the e-peen strokers say. Granted you are not going to be seeing like, Sunwell Plateau as a casual, but even totally fun social guilds that don't care at all can run something like Karazhan. Especially now that it's nerf city. My guild only has a handful of dedicated raiders and the rest are lazy bastards that want to be carried through content, so we struggled to clear Kara. Since the patch hit, we've got it *and* ZA on farm and have Gruuls/Mags on farm with a sister guild. Shit, since the 3.0 patch nerfed everything to hell I've seen people bring down TK and SSC in pugs. Even with SWP, people are running successful pugs of the trash in there now.

Raiding is changing even more for Wrath. Every raid will be like Kara, where you can do it as either 10 or 25 man. The 25 man versions will have slightly harder bosses and better loot but that's about it. And Blizzard has stated that the philosophy going into it will be "bring the player, not the class". It's all about people's skill, and for most that can be developed. Unless you're terribad you'll be able to raid something like Naxx (which has been moved to Northrend and completely redone, it will be the new entry level raid like Kara is now).

There's been a LOT of really good changes for the better, now is a good time to pick the game up again.

[rcrush]

13. It wasnt because I was undergeared that I couldnt raid

Well partly. But my guild had went through like 9 different management changes since I left and shit didnt work the same anymore. If I wanted to raid this time around it became like applying for a damn job. I had to fill out apps do interviews and shit and basically was told that they didnt need anymore warlocks to raid right now. So I gave up.

[Chovexani]

20. I hate guilds like that

My whole thing is I'm hardcore but not--I want to see content, and when I show up on raid night I'm all business, but I don't feel the need to do it 24/7 so my guild can get a server first or something. It's a real shame your guild went south like that, cause there are some really fun raids in BC.

My advice is honestly come back for Wrath. The raids are not going to be as long, you can 10 man all of them which means even if you don't have a guild, chances are you'll at least get into some of them with pugs. And a LOT of new guilds have formed solely for Wrath progression. As OP as locks are now I doubt you'll have any trouble finding people to raid with. :)

[rcrush]

32. I'll probably give it a shot

I'll probably not buy it on the first day but wait a week. Leveling to 80 should be fun but I hope I get to do more. When I leveled to 70 and got all my welfare epics I pretty much just ran around running scholo and strath solo. Maybe I can do UBRS solo at 75.

[Evoman]

36. I find that I don't understand a single word of this post.

I'm the only gamer alive that hasn't played WOW I think. I understand certain words, but otherwise.....pugs? Trash? SWP? e-peen?

A whole gaming subculture has passed me by!

[Chovexani]

43. lol!

I think I was predisposed to pick up that sort of jargon just because prior to getting into MMOs I'd played MUDs (their text-based spiritual ancestors) for years and years. Just for giggles, your English translation:

PUG = pickup group. In WoW, dungeons are called instances, and are special challenges that are designed to be taken on as a group. They're unique places in the world in that when you go inside one with a group, your party members are the only other players you interact with once inside. IOW, that dungeon is just for you and your group, so you don't have to worry about some other group running in and taking down the boss after you've cleared a path to it. Most often, if you're in a guild, you'll be running instances with your guildmates. For the guildless, or for purposes of party composition (you've got 3 other friends that want to do, say, Magisters' Terrace but you need a healer and none in your guild are logged on), you have to complete an instance with a pickup group, or PUG for short. You advertise on the general chat or Looking for Group channel that you're a DPS (damage per second, or class built to maximize damage output), a healer, whatever looking for x amount of people to run a particular instance. If you're lucky, you'll find the exact number of people you're looking for, they will all be smart and know how to play their class in a group right, and you'll walk in and score some nice loot. In theory, that is. In reality, pugs are often exercises in frustration and futility, where you get some idiot hunter who decides he's going to try to melee (note: hunters are designed to do ranged damage, it is their specialty), a priest who doesn't know how to heal, a paladin tank wearing his damage-dealing set of gear, etc. Sometimes pugs can go spectacularly well, but in my experience on WoW, those are in the distinct minority. I think it's because WoW is so easy to play solo that you're not really forced to group up too often, so a lot of people just don't know how to function in a group setting. On Final Fantasy XI, OTOH, a game that almost demands constant grouping from level 10 onwards, I've had nothing but great experiences grouping up with random people to kill things.

Instances on WoW are almost always 5-man runs. Raids, OTOH, are just really big instances--they're meant to be challenges for characters who've hit the maximum level. The bosses are harder in that they tend to have a metric fuckton of hitpoints, and nasty tricks up their sleeve that demand strategy and teamwork to beat. For the trouble, raids give better rewards in the way of epic equipment and badges to cash in for said equipment. "Trash" mobs (monsters) are the redshirts of the dungeon, the most frequent monsters you find therein, and are spread inbetween boss encounters. They tend to be higher level than regular monsters you'd face at your given level, are almost always elite (meaning they have beefed up stats and tend to have yucky special attacks), and are basically there to tax your party's resources. If your party has a hard time dealing with trash inside a dungeon, you probably have no business fighting the bosses in it, though there's exceptions to that rule.

SWP = Sunwell Plateau. It's a special 25-man raid that was added with patch 2.4, that until the new expansion hits is by far the hardest dungeon in the game. Most players will never even see the inside of it, because it demands a level of skill and gear that most simply don't have. Only the most elite of hardcore raiding guilds have completely beaten this place, and it's considered the holy grail of raiding on WoW. Even the trash in that place has left people in tears. Think of every ridiculously hard dungeon in a video game, multiply it by 50, and that's the horrific beauty of SWP. :) It's the sort of place where one person standing in the wrong spot for a split second during a fight can get all 25 people killed. Even Blizzard thinks it was ridiculously hard and has gone on record as stating future raids will not be that insane. Mostly because, at least prior to the recent 3.0.2 patch that cut all raid boss HP by 30%, the only way to really beat SWP was to use extremely cheesy tactics with prejudice.

Beat Sunwell Plateau, and you've earned the right to stroke your electronic penis (e-peen) for all the world to see, because you have achieved internet fame. A winner is you. :)

[Mutley]

46. Ahhhh, the old PvP vs PvE gear debate.

I started Kara with a full PvP set, and went round and round with our GM about this. I did just fine -- top 3 in damage consistently every raid with few mistakes. It's because I know how to play the game, and I did my homework. Skill trumps gear nearly every time.

When we stopped raiding we'd downed every boss except Illidan and all Sunwell bosses, and I still had a few PvP pieces (and they were season 2 at that :P ). I was still top 5 in damage with few mistakes.

[Mutley]

45. Raiding isn't so bad.

You have to find a good progression guild that isn't all elitest about their progression. Lots of them exist. :D

[DS1]

3. download the torrent now

pay for it later

[Chovexani]

5. I don't do private servers.

They're filled with even more inconsiderate assholes and troglodytic man children than the real servers.

[DS1]

8. Oh

I just meant get the software. I suppose there's a license key you'll need to get into legit servers. I don't play WoW, just hear about it a lot at work.

btw, the Lich King on the website looks a LOT like Sauron from the LotR movies

[Chovexani]

10. The way the authenticator works is pretty ingenius

There really is no way to play on an official server with a cracked copy of the game. People try and fail all the time, it's sort of comical. So there's this underground world of private servers that's like a funhouse mirror of the real game, some of them are nothing but PVP gankfests, others the amounts of gold and xp are ridiculously inflated so you're basically playing God mode 24/7...which makes no sense to me because it's not like the real game is hard.

As big an unashamed pirate as I am, Blizzard is one of the few companies I don't mind forking cash over to. They tend to stay away from BS copy protection schemes and are one of the few gaming companies that actually gives a shit about their Linux and Mac userbase. I can dig that. :)

[Inchworm]

9. It's definatly tempting me

I miss new game hype. It's as fun to follow as some politics.

:D

[NewJeffCT]

11. Damn that World of Warcraft

stealing an idea I had for my D&D campaign down the road - now, if I run any sort of lich against them, I'll be accused of stealing my idea from WoW, even though I've never played the game.

[VenusRising]

14. Print this thread as proof of non-thievery.

:rofl:

How goes the awesome D&D campaign?

:hi:

[NewJeffCT]

16. It's over 1 year old now, and getting into the "meat" of the campaign

We normally play every other week, and they hit 9th level last time around. It's going pretty well and I'm getting a bit more confident as a GM as well.

Unfortunately, the guy playing the group sorcerer had to take a new job working nights and won't be able to game regularly - so, the group is now myself, plus 5 players, instead of 6.

[VenusRising]

17. Bummer about the sorcerer.

But it sounds like a fun time! I always like to read the threads about your campaign.

[NewJeffCT]

24. the last one got limited response, so I haven't posted one in a while

i've got a couple of twists coming up for them on Friday night as well... including meeting a renowned sage who really isn't a sage.

[VenusRising]

25. Like a D&D Wizard of Oz?

:bounce:

[NewJeffCT]

27. Not quite

The group had two options to get to where the sage is located (in a large human-only city renowned for its racist attitudes...) - one was to take a slow boat and get there in 2 weeks, or to take a fast boat and get there in 1 week.

They needed to get more information about an ancient prophecy from this sage, and hopefully learn how to stop the plans of the followers of the evil god of slavery & tyranny.

They took the slow boat, the sage has been kidnapped and replaced by something more sinister than your stereotypical sage (isn't every fantasy sage a bent and aged old man?)who will attempt to get more information from the players and what they know, before trying to kill them.

If they took the fast boat, they likely would have had to deal more directly with the racism in the city, but would have beaten the kidnapper to the sage. (They had no reason to rush, in game)

Unfortunately, the sage will reveal to them that they have several tasks to perform before the unholy child of the evil god's high priest is born (via a captive priestess of the God of Freedom he impregnated) - so, that extra week could have come in handy.

[VenusRising]

30. Cool!

I hope that your group appreciates the time and effort you put into your campaign. It's a lot of work!

:applause:

[NewJeffCT]

31. tell me about it

sorry to hijack this thread here...

but, I started off on this prophecy over a year ago, and had not looked much at it in over six months, then realized I had like two weeks to finish it up - and, it's been a bear to do since I started the whole damn thing making it rhyme and with each line containing 12 syllables, so I had to finish it up the same way, or else re-do it all. And, then I need to read it over and over to make sure each line doesn't sound too silly and/or like Yoda wrote it.

[Chovexani]

18. I don't think you have anything to worry about

Arthas is about as far from your traditional D&D lich as you can possibly get. For starters, in D&D terms he's an Anti-Paladin (in the Warcraft universe, they're Death Knights) and not a Mage, so he wears plate mail and uses a giant two-handed broadsword:



"The Lich King" is also technically two entities that merged into one--the aforementioned Arthas, fallen Prince of Lordaeron, and Ner'zhul, the original Lich King, who more resembled the D&D variety but even then only sketchily. In life, Ner'zhul was an orc shaman that was turned into a lich by the demon Kil'jaeden, one of the Big Bads of WC. KJ sent Ner'zhul to Azeroth to start the plague that would turn everyone undead, thus allowing the demons to take over the world unopposed. To make sure Ner'zhul couldn't try any funny business, he trapped him inside the Frozen Throne in the photo above. To make a long story short, Ner'zhul rebelled once he figured out that the more undead he made, the more powerful he got. Arthas, a young paladin who was heir to the biggest human kingdom, slowly turned batshit insane trying to save his people from the undead plague, with a little help from the Lich King. He became a Death Knight, and Ner'zhul's greatest champion. Stormbringer Frostmourne, the bad ass sword in that pic, finished the job once he got his crazy hands on it, and after some manuerving, Arthas freed Ner'zhul from his icy prison. Ner'zhul was still too weak to exist on his own though, so he merged with Arthas' soul.

That merged Ner'zhul spirit + Arthas soul in Arthas body sitting on the Throne is what the Lich King is, and whose Wrath we will all be afraid of until we start raidin' his doodz for epic lewtz. ;)

[NewJeffCT]

23. damn, that's even more like my story

One of the main allies of the lich king was supposed to be a very powerful undead fighter/death knight type.

And, don't go telling me that the WoW lich-king was/is opposed by an equally evil and powerful dragon

[Chovexani]

37. He's sort of got a pet undead frost wyrm

Does that count?

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

50. Then you're not going to like this: the Blue Dragonflight has started waging war up there, too.

They think that these mortals have used magic far too "willy-nilly" and have declared war on all mortal users of magic. (That means all mages and warlocks...and probably priests, too)
Malygos is the big honcho for the Blue Dragonflight, so technically, the Lich King is "opposed by an equally evil and powerful dragon".

[Tektonik]

15. Me, but I may have to pretend to not be my brother's brother

Hadrian and our other two roommates wanted to wait in line at 7, ugh, and play monopoly, cribbage, and other games of utter shit. I said I'd only partake if they started playing truly nerdy games like the pokémon card game, yu gi oh, or D & D :D.

I have the day off, so I may just go work out, then eat a huge meal, and pass out with the help of some advil pms. Then I can play until I have to go to work tomorrow.

[LynneSin]

19. Oh lordy, I haven't played WoW in ages since taking up Second Life

Perhaps it's time for an SL break.

[Chovexani]

21. I've tried SL and don't get the point of it

Maybe I just like killing things and getting loot too much. :)

Also, seeing how much people spend on SL scared the shit out of me when I worked for a credit card company. :scared:

[LynneSin]

22. it's fun. I use to do alot of SL but now I've cut back alot

And SL is free to play unless someone is racking up the lindens either shopping or buying sex (which is crazy since you can pretty much get it for free if you want to).

And btw they do have gaming SIMs on there with Vampires, Goth, Neko and a host of other critters battling out. Hell they even have it for Urban Street Warfare.

[montanto]

26. me. I wish I was done with it, but no.

And the server has been down for over 24 hours! Where is the WoW panic room???

[4_Legs_Good]

28. How far behind am I if I barely hit the level cap before quitting?

I had mediocre gear (at best) and powered through to the level cap. I don't even remember what the Alternative Advancement system is like in WoW. It's beena long time (seems like forever, but I guess it's only been about 1.2 years).

David

[Chovexani]

39. It really depends on your class.

Patch 3.0.2/3.0.3 already implemented most of the big class-related changes coming in Wrath, with the notable exception of Death Knights. The hunter pet system was completely overhauled for the better, several talent trees got major overhauls, too. If you were any kind of healing spec, your DPS has shot way up now thanks to stat streamlining; there's no longer separate +healing and +spell dam stats, they've been consolidated into a single "spellpower" stat. The same was done to +hit and +spell hit, as well as +crit and +spell crit. The practical result is that healing-spec'd hybrid classes like Holy Paladins are a lot more soloable, and viable in non-raiding situations. The only problem is since there is no effective difference in clothie gear anymore, you have situations where mages, priests, and warlocks are all rolling on the same gear. It's also made a lot of tailoring and enchanting recipes redundant.

[Mutley]

47. You might want to pug some heroics.

Since the nerf, they are easy as hell. Your biggest obstacle will be finding groups. But I'm sure there will be plenty of people in your situation, plus all the up and coming DKs.

[SurfingAtWork]

29. Not buying it at midnight

But am taking next week off to indulge in the game. I mean seriously, the first couple of days are going to be nothing but intermittent server restarts anyways... that drove me nuts when they released BC.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v4.1
==================



This week is our fourth quarter 2008 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!

[BarenakedLady]

34. The dude is

Which means I don't have to. :D

He's going with his best friend's wife.

[MsKandice01]

35. My husband is...

I'll be at home with the kid. Hopefully sleeping.

[DarkTirade]

38. Not I.

I'm a cheap bastard. :)

[Chovexani]

40. I'm counting on lazy people to fund my epic flyer

I fully plan on bulldozing my way to 74 and then gouging people for ports to Dalaran.

[DarkTirade]

41. Counting on lazy people in an MMO is pretty much a sure thing.

:P

[Tektonik]

42. That's why you need an army of lazy people

When I did the pre BC grind to High Warlord, I had some people "help" me very generously. I had about like 15 dif people help me. :D

[Tektonik]

44. I'm installing now and heading to Utgarde Keep

[Mutley]

48. Done. Installed and ready to go when I get home from work.

:D

[BarenakedLady]

49. I'm almost 71.

Dh went out at midnight, eventhough he was sick with a stomach bug. Not that's a nerd! My computer was all updated before I even woke up. :D