Thursday, December 10, 2009

3.3 Gets A Two Thumbs From Fear...

I wanted to touch briefly on the latest WoW patch, the final in the Wrath Of The Lich King expansion. Not forgetting the entire day it took to get the thing working. I would bitch, but I had a date. So, I missed some of the fun stuff.

Although I have not, and probably will not, for some time be able to see the encounter with the Lich King himself, there were some other changes that I am completely tickled about.

The Dungeon Finder was a stroke of pure genius! I mean, they have sold this PvPer on dungeon diving... The system allows you to put yourself in a que similar to the battleground que and then, when it is time, you will be taken to the dungeon you were looking for or they also have a random dungeon feature. Once the dungeon is complete, you are returned to where you were in game previously. When you use the random feature, there is a reward for your character upon leaving. Level 80's get badges, but the lower levels get armor and maybe weapons of superior quality that your character can actually use! Not dumb crap that you have to sell for vendor trash.

You may remember I spoke before about dynamic rewards, and apparently someone at Blizzard also had a similar idea. I can see many other ways they can apply this going forward, and it was a great step in the right direction. You are no longer limited to getting into dungeon groups on your own server. From what I have read it is connected to the same group as your battlegroup. I hope they expand those groups down the road, because the more the better as far as I am concerned.

I would like them to be able to something similar with auction houses, and man, if you could do it with group quests, then the game will stay much more interesting to a much larger group of people for a lot longer. It is such a pain to go into looking for group and wait for people on your own server to decide thats what they want to do, but now, it is too easy and everyone that I have asked about it in my guild and in all of my groups have just said they love this system to death. Way to go guys, this dungeon finder was a great addition.

I leveled my mage from 34 to 36 in three dungeon runs. That in its self to me is a huge plus. It will inspire people to not only build that alt, but that alt will always be geared and always be happy.

The new map is another feature I really enjoy. Sorry to Quest Helper, but they have what I need built right in the user interface. The new map shows you where your quest is and then switches to show you where to return the quest once you have completed it. The only thing they don't have that I really like about Quest Helper is the flight path times. I like to know how much time I have to sit and wait while the damn bird flies me where I am going. If you have like 5 minutes, you can go make a sandwich or whatever. The new map can be maximized if you don't want to see the quests, or it can now be minimized if you want to see the map while you travel. Another great addition by the Blizzard team.

Okay, one thing about doing the Random Quests. Don't jump into a que and then accept when you are in combat. I did this and the only downside is that when I came back, umm, those guys were still there waiting. It was an interesting first run, because they chose my Ret Pally as a healer. I didn't even know that was possible, but we made it through. I almost lost one a few times, because I don't know what the hell I am doing, but it was interesting to be a healer for once instead of a solo entity.

The next time I went out, the group wiped except for the tank and myself on the last boss. It's kind of shameful, but I forgot to heal myself, and then I did die, but the tank finished off the boss and I got my blue treat. I was still happy.

My mage went in a few times and in one group, the tank wouldn't keep aggro or help the healer when he was under attack. So, I ended up getting killed by taking on the aggro to save the healer. I mean, I still got the shiny, so I wasn't that mad, but it is the risk you take going PUG...

I am sure I will find something to bitch about soon, but my last two days have been great. If you cancelled your WoW account, I think you would be wise to turn it back on just to see this. Everyone is getting ready to battle the LK, and as soon as I find a way, I am gonna be right there with em...

Laters...

1 comment:

martha said...
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