Gamers on the Street: The Beta beat

This week I headed off to Bleeding Hollow's Horde side to talk with players about the biggest story of the past week: the opening up of the opt-in for the Wrath of the Lich King beta. The server was really busy, and in fact, someone's been busy in Orgrimmar there -- there are quite a few bits of corpse graffiti around, with names like "Pvpfails" and "Blizzsucks."

But nevertheless, I did find two willing victims interviewees for the column this week. See what we talked about after the jump.

I first spoke with Saabkah, a level 70 Undead Warlock in the Car Ramrod guild.

WoW Insider: What have you been up to ingame lately?

Saabkah: I just got my 'lock to 70. I'm trying to gear him up for Karazhan and aiming to get some S3 gear on my Warrior.

What have you been doing to gear up for Karazhan?

Right now, just a lot of regular 70 instances. Been running Shadow Labs, Mechanar, Bot. I'm also working on getting my tailoring up to 375.

Sounds like a plan. How far are you in tailoring? How's that been going?

Really good, actually. I've been pretty lucky with pattern drops. I just got Spellstrike pants five minutes ago.

Grats! So have you opted in to the Wrath beta yet?

Yeah, I read about that on your site and got that done. I'm glad it's random -- gives everyone a chance.

So if you get picked, you're planning to play a lot? Some people say it's a waste of time.

Yeah. I wouldn't be able to resist! I'd be like a kid in a candy store. But I'm not getting my hopes up, especially in such a big pool of players.

Are you planning on a switch to Death Knight, or are you sticking with 'lock and Warrior first?

I figure everyone and their grandma is going to roll Death Knight, so I'll just chill with the guys I've got now. If anything, I want to roll a healer next, since I've already seen the tanking and DPS side of things.

Cool. Anything else you're looking forward to in the beta?

Nerf cyclone, LOL. Not much else off the top of my head.

What's your Warrior's spec? Are you interested in Titan's Grip?

I'm cookie cutter MS right now. I did go Fury for a while and it was fun. So I probably will have to try it. The big problem with Fury is PuGging -- people don't want you because you have no CC or threat reduction so it gets frustrating.

So you might be a good candidate for a reworking of the respec system, eh?

Oh yeah, can't wait for that.

Thanks much.

Thank you and keep up the good work!

Next up, we talked to Azrok, a level 70 Orc Shaman from Templar.

WoW Insider: So what have you been up to in game lately?

Farming gold. Content is pretty much useless at this point in time. The only thing that's going to retain value in a few months when the expansion is released is gold. Not to mention that PvP is a joke.

How have you been farming gold? Dailies?

More along the lines of taking advantage of people who PvP with jewelcrafting.

What kind of gems have you sold? What are prices like?

I just sell gems in general. Prices vary depending on the flux of the market. Sometimes I'm able to sell Living Ruby cut gems for 120g per and sometimes 85, all depends.

Cool. So why is PvP a joke?

It ruins the balance within the game. I've done the PvP grind. Unlike PvE where you have to maintain some level of intelligence when learning fights, PvP is just a grind. Which is clearly shown when people are able to AFK or bot their way to S2 armor. Without any effort involved.

So have you opted in to the Wrath beta yet?

Of course!

Are you planning to switch over and play that if you get chosen then?

I have a friend who works with Blizzard that has access to it already, so it's more of a formality. I can play if I'd like now, but I don't know if I want to put time and effort into something that will be reset when the expansion launches.

Yeah that's how a lot of people feel. But surely as a Shaman you want to see the changes.

I play a lot of characters. Five 70s overall, 3 others that are 60+. And the Paladin is well on its way.

Are you excited about any of the announced changes then?

Right now I'm not getting my hopes up about any of the upcoming changes as they are still in development stages. If you're familiar with the beta the first time around, lots of things were changed at release. So there's no point in getting excited about things at this point in time. Everything is subject to change in my mind.

Good point. That's perfect, thanks very much.

No problem!

If you'd like to get visited by Gamers on the Street, let us know in the comments below, and keep an eye out in your capital city for our intrepid interviewer sometime during Monday afternoons. Until next time!

Gamers on the Street goes out to talk to players live on the realms every Monday, finding out what's hot on players' minds. Is Wrath news from Paris hot on yours? Browse our Worldwide Invitational category, hot off the presses from WoW Insider's team in Paris.