WoW

[Tanadil]

Hey Nox, what are some of the other specs you have on your computer? I dont know how well a 56k will be for ya....i think that should be ok. Its the other specs that would prolly melt your computer if not up to code.

For example (albeit bareable) one of our comps was running the game on 512 ram and it was too frustrating to keep it that way. 5 minutes to load into another zone was just to much to handle when trying to work on quests where you have to run cuourior runs. Alot of the quests are going back and forth to complete.

Our recomendation is 1gig ram min! to run smoothly and quickly. my 2cp's would love to have you play tho!!! we miss many of you who cannot join.
_________________
Tanadel Talonleaf - Great Grandchild of Tanadil Truecaller of EQ1---lvl 54 Ranja
Luthyien - lvl 23 cleric (wishes could be a Fury)
Anyone want a slice of /Pizza Click to enter and WIN!

[Gothra]

Sadly the game has not arrive in Hongkong yet. That is surprisingly slow considering Vampire and Halflife2 were available the same day here and in US.
Me and a real life friend of mine will probably be playing some bad bully minotaur or trolls (That's the Horde you mentioned I guess)
I have not done much research on the game so I dunno which class I will be atm, would keep you updated.

[Mikara]

I think the biggest difference between the two games since they are alot alike.... is the item gathering and xp in WOW

There are so many way to get items:
you can quest and usually choose your reward,
you can fish and come up with a chest full of loot or a rare pearl,
you can find these "mini dungeons" or caves to go kill many monsters in very few minutes
you can swim underwater or hunt around mobs and find treasure chests

AND

if you dont want to continually grind thru levels every day you can get good xp from quests and if you log out at the Inn, the longer you are away the more xp you get when you get back...so its an edge for those that can only play a few times a week we can finally keep up with the ones that pay 24-7.

[Buchalter]

If you read the WoW manual they admit that the "rested exp" that Mikara is talking about isn't meant to benefit people who play more than once or twice a week. Basically, when you are in a "rested state" you gain exp faster than when you are in a "normal state". The longer you stay logged out of the game the more rested your character becomes. The longer you are in the game, or the more MOBs you kill, the more "normal" you become. Every time you visit an Inn you become rested, but usually the minute you kill one MOB you are not rested any more. If you log out for an evening, and come back the next day to play, your rested state might last 3 or 4 kills - then you'll be normal again.

Blizzard meant for it to be a way for people to catch back up with friends if they have to leave the game for a week or more at a time. Being AFG for a week would build up a huge rested state which would allow you to kill MOBs for quite a while at double exp. But it's not like being in a normal state makes you gain any less exp - just that in a rested state you gain a little more.

I remember once hearing that they actually planned an exp "penalty" for people who were logged into the game for long periods of time (to discourage "power-gamers" who play 24/7)... but IMO that would be a HUGE mistake. I haven't seen anything to indicate that they implemented that.

[Gothra]

Some questions before I start the game...

I've got 3 friends who would start playing WoW as well.
Is it preferable that we are all the same league...ie. either the Horde or the Alliance together?
so we can communicate with each other?

Second...which class/race has that slight edge (of class imbalance) ? hehe
and any hints before I sculpt my char would be welcomed.

[Buchalter]

Well if you want to play with your friends you MUST all be the same side - Horde or Alliance. The two sides cannot even communicate with one another in the early stages of the game. It takes quite and effort to get to the neutral areas of the world, and even once you are there, you won't speak the same languages.

Horde charcaters cannot send tells or even do a /who for Alliance characters, and vice versa. For all intents and purposes, you're not even playing the game together... until you get into the same zone! Then it's usually a War! It a blast to be in one of the "fringe" zones when someone from the other side comes exploring in.

Now I don't know how much that changes at later stages in the game. I'm still not even level 20 yet. I've heard that later on there is a mingling of the two sides, but I've not seen it.

My recommendation is that if you all want to play together from the start - pick the same race. Lets say you choose Alliance, but one of you is a Human and the others are Elfs and one is a Dwarf. The journey from the Human area to the elf town is a long one and you run into some pretty tough stuff on the way. I wouldn't recommend the trip to anyone under level 10 - unless you're planning to spend quite a lot of time on it and are willing to die a lot.

So bottome line - to play with friends the easiest thing to do right way is to all be the same race. Later as you get the hang of the game you might be able to try different characters and run them together.

As for race/class balances... I haven't really played everything enough to try it out. Each race gets some special abilities which lend themselves to certain classes or tradeskill. For instance, Taurens get improved Herbalism, if they chose to go theat tradeskill path. (Herbalism is a gathersing skill that is used in conjunction with Alchemy) I think Dwarves get abonus to Mining (another gathering skill that is best suited for being used with Blacksmithing or Engineering) Gnomes get bonuses to Engineering... stuff like that.

Popular combos seem to be:

Hunters - Night Elf, Dwarf or Tauren
Shaman/Druid - Tauren or Night Elf (Night Elf is the only Alliance race that can be these)
Warriors - Human, Dwarven, Orc, Tauren
Wizards/Warlocks - Undead, Gnomes
Priests - Humans, Elfs, Undead

Like I said, I haven't played them all so I don't know. I played a Tauren Shaman a lot - I like the Taurens the most - but he's on another server so I kinda abandoned him. I remade a new Tauren that is still low level, but this one's a Druid. (WoW druids are not like EQ Druids - they are a little more melee oriented - think Diablo II Druids...) I also have a Human Pally that I like a lot. I started a Night Elf Hunter that isn't bad. And I made an Orc Warrior that I just haven't had time to mess with.

It's all spelled out pretty well in the manual that comes with the game. It's worth taking 10 mintues to read thru it quickly to get a good idea what you want to do with your character. Or I'm sure if you wannt get a feel for it before your game arrives you can probably read up on all the races, classes, and tradeskills on the WoW web site.

It also helps to do something useful to your character - it wouldn't pay to be a Blacksmith if you are a Druid since druids can't wear anything more than Leather armor until 40th level... You want a tradeskill that is usefull to you because you WILL be able to make very nice items right off the bat that are as good or better than stuff oyu will find while hunting. And the stuff off the merchants is so high priced you won't be able to afford that at first. So you'll probably end up making most of what you wear early on.

the only drawback I've found is that you can only have two tradeskills/gathering skills at one time. If you want to get a different skill you have to unlearn one of your old ones, and if you unlearn it your skill is erased - so you'd have to start all over at zero again if you took it back up. So most people take a gathering skill first to compliment the tradeskill they choose. Like Leatherworkers take the Skinning skill, Miners will either go Blacksmithing or Engineering, Herbalists go Alchemy or maybe Enchanting. There's nothing that says you can't be a Blacksmith and a Alchemist... you just wouldn't have any gathering abliltiy to get the raw materials for yourself - you'd have to buy them from other players.

That's the Long answer to your question! Can't wait to cya in game Goth! Remember - Central Time Zone - Alleria Server!

[Nynji]

Just a heads up, I may end up doing WoW too, only because I can run it on my computer at school, where as EQ2, I cannot. :P

~N

[Buchalter]

Hey Gothra, where are you man!?! Have you guys got your copies of the game yet? We have started collecting signatures for our guild... we need you guys to sign!

Blizzard did away with the dividing the servers up by Time Zone. So when you start your character all the servers will be lumped together. Just rememebr to look for ALLERIA on the the list. You'll need to make an Alliance Character (Human, Dwarf, Night Elf or Gnome) to hook up with us and sign the guild charter.

Hope to cya soon!

Remember...

ALLERIA Server... look for my main character, Rogar!

[Gothra]

Such a mayhem trying to buy the game...

A small quantity of the game had arrived in HK and been selling at HK$600...that is well around US$75.00, which is enough to buy the collector edition. Well I know about this after they have completely sold out.

The game store-keeper says the second shipment would arrive in Mid Dec (and no guarantee on that) and probably be chinese version, that would suck.
Now we begged a friend who would be coming back to HK from US in Dec to buy 5 packs of WoW for us. I luckily bought a collector's edition from Amazon when it was available (on the 9th Dec to be exact), then have it shipped to my US friend's address, then he re-mailed it to me. Chaotic huh?

We are still figuring out which server to join cause we have a West Coast friend playing the game as well, plus 4 of us who are in HK. When I get the hang of the game I would create an Alliance char on your server just to hang out with you and hopefully Nynji as well.

Cya in game. Most likely in mid-January
best regards,

Gothra

[Buchalter]

Well, I don't know if this will sway your decision any, Goth... but Nynji is officially on the Alleria server with us! Hooked up last night - just like old times!

We managed to kill a few nasty Ogres, but in true Ranger style we both overpulled and died at least once!

You have to come to Alleria, if for no other reason, just to see Nynji's pet crab, Sancho! He tanks like mad!

[Nynji]

Yea I have crabs =x

I think WoW wins in my book, its so much better, we should convert you all ~

~N

[Buchalter]

[Tanadil]

Poor Poor Bucharoo! even after all this time you died as a ranger you went back to the punishment.

Hey guys try to kill Buch as much as possible so he feels at home, altho from friends who play WoW Rangers are supposed to be a really great character class to play!!! GO RANGER POWA!!! Just seeing you around here Buch and nynji and Goth! TAKE IT EASY MAN!

Also.....I am not one to fight over which is a better game....I believe both are great games but i wont be changing....Wife likes EQ2 too much....gotta go where the wife wants....keeps em happy to stay playing IF you know what I mean? Have fun we miss you all as well!
_________________
Tanadel Talonleaf - Great Grandchild of Tanadil Truecaller of EQ1---lvl 54 Ranja
Luthyien - lvl 23 cleric (wishes could be a Fury)
Anyone want a slice of /Pizza Click to enter and WIN!

[Gothra]

The fog of war has been lifted...

/em starts unpacking the collector edition box.

regards,
Gothra (probably will be a priest type just to save some ranja butt)

P.S. Tana I totally understand what you mean...but then this 10-day guest pass in my hand would be wasted? /grin evilly

[Buchalter]

[Gothra]

[Buchalter]