game-discussion
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Breakfast Topic: Are you participating in Winter Veil content?
I almost forgot about Winter Veil. There doesn't seem to be any kind of decorations or indication that the event is going on on Draenor -- unless Warspear has been decked out, but I haven't been out there in weeks. However, the event is in fact going on, and will continue until we're all opening those presents under the tree in Ironforge and Orgrimmar. Why Ironforge, and not Stormwind you might ask? Fun story -- back in vanilla, the only two cities with auction houses were Orgrimmar and Ironforge. I'm assuming that when they originally set up the event, it only made sense to place it in the city where players congregated the most -- and in the case of the Alliance, that was absolutely Ironforge. I haven't really been participating in the holiday daily to kill the Greench, but I will happily make a trip to both Orgrimmar and Ironforge on all my characters to pick up the holiday goodies. With a ton of new items, I'm kind of hoping I'll be able to collect all of the new stuff between all of my characters. Have you been participating in the holiday content? Are you still looking for that elusive Lump of Coal pet? Are you looking forward to nabbing your presents from under the tree? ...and isn't Greatfather Winter about the grumpiest looking orc you've ever seen?
Breakfast Topic: Have you replaced any buildings yet?
I have this love-hate relationship going on with my garrison. The whole follower mission thing is pretty fun as far as sending people off to go fetch things, but the buildings themselves are giving me a headache. Part of it is the fact that so few buildings in the Horde garrisons have important things to weather the cold, things like doors, or ceilings, or chairs to sit on. Part of it is the buildings themselves, which would be giving me pause regardless of Alliance or Horde. I ended up ripping down my storehouse a few weeks ago, partially because I realized getting a level 3 blueprint for the place was going to be nearly impossible (but has since been adjusted via hotfix, and I can now purchase the plans), and largely because I'm an engineer and I can pretty much summon a bank whenever I want to. The level 3 version of the building doesn't really do anything but give me a transmog vendor, and that wasn't worth my time, and it wasn't worth the space the building took. So I tore it down, and now I have a nice salvage yard. But I have a problem when I think about my larger buildings -- I have the barracks and a war mill, and I don't really want to get rid of either of them. One gives me followers, one gives me gear for my followers. I would, however, like to try out a set of stables at some point -- I just don't want to tear down one of my big buildings to do it. So now I feel kind of stuck. The storehouse was an easy decision -- it wasn't really doing anything I couldn't be doing myself. The big buildings, though, the buildings with things like walls and ceilings, those I'd really hate to tear down. Have you guys replaced any buildings? Are you happy with the idea of just swapping a building out when you want a better one? Are you attached to the layout you have, or are you content to switch things out at a moment's notice?
Breakfast Topic: My WoW eyepatch
That's my WoW eyepatch. I have two eyes. The problem is, for whatever reason, ever since I got a horrendously bad sinus infection (and I still have it, although not nearly as bad as it was) whenever I play WoW I get headaches, nausea, and really serious vertigo. I've found that I can cope with this by closing my right eye. (It doesn't work if I close my left eye.) But of course, it's not really very natural for me to keep my right eye closed for extended periods. I keep forgetting and opening it, and as soon as I do, it all starts up again. Hence the eyepatch. I'm hoping with it I can play for longer before the head pain and nausea starts up. (Chronic illness sucks, btw. I don't recommend it.) So I figured I'd take this opportunity and ask, what's the weirdest thing you've ever done to keep playing WoW?
Breakfast Topic: What would you bring back?
As expansions come and go, some features come into play, exist for a while and then are retired, or never actually make it live - reforging comes to mind as a big one, a feature that was of critical importance for two expansions before it was removed. While flight itself wasn't removed, it's of no utility in Draenor's 90 to 100 zones, and mechanics like hit and expertise, weapon skill, and others have been removed over time. Raiding has fundamentally changed repeatedly. Talent trees are almost unrecognizable from the old days. Several old dungeons and raids were removed or revamped, with their original versions gone from the game. So this morning I ask you this - if you had the power to bring back anything from any era of World of Warcraft or its beta periods, what would it be? Would it be Naxxramas 40 player? Reforging? Weapon Skill? Path of the Titans? Please share your vision.
Breakfast Topic: What do you love, what do you hate?
I'll go first. Nobody loves everything about the things they enjoy, and everyone has things they prefer - things they wish weren't there and things they wish there was more of to experience. So I'm curious what these things are for you. What do you love about Warlords, and what don't you love? What makes you outraged, or makes it worthwhile to keep logging in, keep your sub active? For me, I really hate Frostfire Ridge. I think this will be the expansion I finally stop saying I'm someone who plays both Horde and Alliance, because I cannot get through this zone. Seriously, I just can't. I like my tauren quite a bit, I really do, and I feel awful that there's no way in heck I'm going to get him to level 100 because I cannot stand this zone. Oh my word I hate it. Yes, the end cinematic is nice, but man, I just don't care otherwise. Can't get through it. As for what I love... well, it's kind of self evident. So I won't waste your time there. What about you?
Breakfast Topic: Your dream graphical update
We know that blood elves are being worked on and we'll see the soon(tm), so I started wondering - if there was no limit to the resources that could be applied, what would you want to see get a graphics update next? Old tier sets and gear from classic WoW? Redesigned dragons? Non-playable races like kobolds and gnolls? Old school mounts? Worgen females (I am never letting that go.) Personally I'd really like to see them redesign the original Dungeon Sets. I think Tier gear, even old stuff like Might and Wrath, look fine for modern transmog but old dungeon gear like Valor or Heroism could definitely use a sprucing up. But that's just me, though. What about you? What would you most like to see get the updated look?
Breakfast Topic: World firsts and you
With the world first race for Mythic Highmaul done with, it occurred to me that there was a time that I was on tenterhooks for this kind of news. Over the years I've gone from keeps careful track of every world first kill to is aware of it, but wasn't keeping score - I still know who wins, but I no longer watch the race. Some of my friends are still hugely into who will be world first, while others never cared at all. That got me wondering where you, the reader at home, falls on this spectrum. Do you watch the race and pay close attention, watch all the videos, marvel at the down to thew wire raiding? Or do you simply only care about a boss kill when you're there for it?
Breakfast Topic: Do you watch the cutscenes?
I finally got around to heading to the Highmaul LFR the other night. The fights were fun, if ridiculously easy, but more importantly there were cutscenes. I'm a sucker for cutscenes and cinematics. I love the ones that appeared in the leveling zones, and the ones in the dungeons are pretty cool too. I think they're a fun way to keep the story moving while you're in a dungeon, a useful tool for introducing a little lore. However, I've noticed that not everyone feels the same way -- some people have little to no patience in dungeons and raids, and just want to keep moving. This was actually a problem back when my guild was raiding in Cataclysm, particularly during the Spine of Deathwing encounter. My raid leader at the time didn't want anyone watching the cutscene, as brief as it was, because he wanted people on the dragon's back killing things the second they became killable. This meant that new recruits we brought in never really got to see those cutscenes, they were always told to press escape and skip them. If they didn't, then we had a problem. So I'm wondering, just out of idle curiosity, how many of you watch the cutscenes in a dungeon or a raid? Do you watch it once and then skip it from then on, or do you find yourself continually charmed by the idea of your group pulling off a really cool train heist in the middle of Gorgrond? Are you okay with other people in your group watching cutscenes, even if you skipped them yourself? Do you think the dungeon and raid cutscenes are too short, too long, or just right? Is there somewhere else you'd like to see them?
Breakfast Topic: What would you like to see in your garrison?
It's a really simple painting. It first popped up in Wrath of the Lich King, in various buildings scattered around Northrend, depicting a tuskarr after a wildly successful fishing expedition. What always amused me about the image was the whale, though -- it was simply sliced down the middle like some sort of grotesque birthday cake. I called it the whale meat picture because well ... really, that's the only way you can describe it, isn't it? I don't know why, but I've always loved this particular painting -- and I really, really wish I could have it in my garrison. WoW has all kinds of weird art like this, just the little random pieces hanging on the walls of various inns, shops and homes. Wouldn't it be kind of cool if we could collect that stuff and put it on display somewhere in our garrisons? Swap out existing art for pieces we like? It'd be a little taste of the user customization that is unfortunately lacking right now. Sure, we can choose what buildings to place in our garrison and where to put them, but there is absolutely no way to reflect any kind of personal style or choices. You see someone with a Barn, you know they have it because they're after Savage Blood -- it's there for a functional purpose, rather than personal aesthetic. Thing is, there are plenty of these types of items around Azeroth. It's not just the paintings, there are lamps, rugs, furniture pieces, accessories ... you know, random stuff. Warlords actually has a really good collection of random stuff going, particularly in the Alliance garrision. The inn has a host of little touches that indicate somebody was just there hanging out a few minutes ago. The only thing that's missing is that you can't place that stuff yourself. But I'm curious -- I'd really love to see the whale meat painting in my garrison. What, out of all of the random items and tidbits scattered around Azeroth and beyond, would you like to see in yours?
Breakfast Topic: A Warcraft RPG
Honestly, leveling 90 to 100 in Warlords of Draenor was one of the best single player experiences I've had in recent memory. It was fun. There was a ton of story quests I was interested in, and zones like Talador, Spires of Arak and Nagrand really deliver in terms of setting and quest flow. Blizzard has an action RPG franchise in Diablo, but their recent reveal of Overwatch at this year's BlizzCon got me thinking about whether or not the Warcraft setting could ever get a more in-depth, lore-focused RPG treatment. One of the things Blizzard does extremely well is take a genre that others have do and come out with something amazing - I'd love to see what Blizzard could come up with if they finally tried to make a game more like Planescape, something with real role playing and lore focus. Maybe it would be better to not tie it to the Warcraft setting, but I'm enough of a fanboy to want to see what they could do with the franchise. But it's a breakfast topic, so we must needs turn the floor over to you. What do you think?
Breakfast Topic: I hate that follower
For me, it's Magister Serena. I don't know what the deal is - it's entirely possible I'm just terrible, but every time I sent Serena on a mission she'd fail. Every single time. I started slapping her on the tail end of group missions that had already hit the 100% success chance just because I was so sick of knowing that if she went on a mission, she'd fail it. I also kind of hate Mulverick but just because I have bad memories of Alterac Valley past. Seriously I hated this guy always dropping fire on me. Plus I hate Top Gun. Well, I like Goose. Everybody likes Goose. But otherwise I hate Mulverick. So who do you hate? Because don't front, we all know you hate some of them.
Breakfast Topic: How long?
Specifically, how long can you play WoW in a single sitting? I know people who can sit down and play for hours and hours, but for me, any longer than an hour and I need to get up and walk around or even log out and go do something else - I just don't have the ability to stay logged in for the marathon sessions that were the game when I first started playing it a decade ago. This is what led me to ask, actually - as I find myself incapable of playing the way I used to, I find myself wondering if other people are the same, or even reverse - at least one person I know plays more now than when they first started playing. There are a lot of reasons why this could be - in my case, there are other things I want to be doing, responsibilities I have to meet, and a generally aging body. All of these affect how much I can play compared to the old days. So how about you? Do you play less, break up play time with breaks, or are you more of a diehard than ever? How long can you play WoW at one sitting?
Breakfast Topic: Would you spend 100,000 gold on a chopper?
I will put it out there that I may not be the audience for this. But while I was willing to pay way, way more for the Grand Expedition Yak, I could justify that because it had a reforger at the time, which has since become the even more usefully awesome transmog feature and which sends me into fits of delight every time I mount it. But this is just a mount. You ride it. That's it. It's not even a dragon or a demon or a demon-dragon. Have we had one of those yet? If not we should. Anyway, for me, I think this is kind of wasted. I'm not likely to buy it. Honestly, if I could buy it as a Horde player just to confuse and irritate everyone, then I might think it was worth the 100,000 gold. But that's the great thing about the WoW community, we have widely disparate opinions. So how do you feel? Would you spend 100,000 gold on this? Or any mount? What would a mount have to offer to get you to cough up 100,000 cheddar?
Breakfast Topic: Have you looked for Draenor's treasures?
I have to admit that I spent a longer time leveling than usual in Warlords of Draenor. It wasn't that the content was particularly difficult, it was the treasures. Oh so many treasures to be found, all over the place. Treasures in every zone, tucked away here and there waiting to be discovered. Treasure hunting was one of those things I really loved about Mists of Pandaria, so I was really happy to see it make a return in Warlords on a slightly larger scale. Happy, and distracted from leveling by exploring and finding all those lovely hidden treasures. Of course I hit level 100 finally, and got to work doing what level 100 players are all up to. But the siren song of treasures that still had yet to be reached was stronger than my desire to go run a bunch of dungeons. A few days ago, my treasure-hunting madness got me the Grand Treasure Hunter achievement for my troubles -- 200 treasures found. There's still more of them out there. I think I'm going to have to find every single last one of them to be satisfied. What about you guys? Have you indulged in any treasure hunting? Do you keep an eye out while you're questing for unusual sparkling objects on the ground or in the trees? Do you go about your treasure hunting the old fashioned way, or do you use a mod that tells you where to find everything?
Breakfast Topic: What's the strangest thing you've seen in your garrison?
I'm finding myself spending a lot of time in my garrison at level 100 -- and the more I do, the more little things I notice. The garrisons are ridiculously detailed, with random items strewn around all the different shops and buildings you can create. When you add the Menagerie, suddenly your battle pets will be seen running here and there all over the place -- and it doesn't matter what kind of pet they are. Today, I saw an Alliance balloon slowly floating along inside my Horde garrison, despite the fact that I can't actually use that pet on Horde. Things get stranger, too. Perhaps the wildest thing I've heard of is the stables, which display a random selection of mounts that you've designated as favorites. Mounts that are housed in the stable will while away the hours milling around, walking in circles, eating straw ... you know, mount things. Except when that mount is an engineer's chopper, and it slowly wheels itself to the straw pile, well. Like I said, things get a little strange. I think some of the best stuff I've seen though has been the interactions between my various followers. For some reason Birchus and Blook have become best friends in my garrison, possibly because they're both larger than life and can't fit in the buildings. I caught the above screenshot the other day of Birchus grabbing Blook's arms in what looks like a desperate plea for Blook to get a grip and snap out of it. I have no idea what they're talking about, I just think their interactions are particularly funny. What about you guys? What's the strangest thing you've seen in your garrison?
Breakfast Topic: A surprise endboss
Personally, I hope it's me. Please let it be me. I know I'd be surprised. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about yesterday's Reddit AMA with the WoW devs, where it was stated that the end boss of Warlords of Draenor will be a surprise. Since we've known the end boss for the last three expansions in a row (and one of the complaints about Mists of Pandaria was that knowing Garrosh was the end boss ruined the story arc for a lot of people) this is a bit of a departure. I know a lot of people (myself included) assumed it was going to be Grom, because they told us it was going to be Grom, so this is welcome news to my ears. But now it's time to speculate. Who will the Mystery Endboss be? Who will this surprise menace turn out to be? Arthas. It's going to be Arthas. It's going to be King Arthas Menethil leading an invading army from Alternate Azeroth. And the victory condition for the fight isn't killing him, it's holding his forces off long enough to escape via a portal to Argus. See? That's just my crazy speculation. What's yours?
Breakfast Topic: Race-inspired battle pets
We all know about Argi the Spacegoat (sing it to the tune of Frosty the Snowman) and her utter adorableness. But she (or he, could be a he, but the name Argi just makes me think girl goat for whatever reason) got me thinking -- what if every race in WoW got a similar racial pet? A tiny bovine for tauren and a worg pup for worgen, of course, but what about others? Would we want some kind of kitten for night elves? A green battleboar for orcs? An adorable little zombie bunny for forsaken? Come on, speculate. The sky is the limit. What battle pet would best sum up your favorite playable race in World of Warcraft?
Breakfast Topic: I kind of miss dragons
We haven't had an honest to Naaru dragon boss in a while. No, Galakras doesn't count. First off, it was a proto-drake, and secondly, we all know how dragon bosses work - they're huge, they have tails that do tail swipes, and they usually have several incredibly annoying gimmicks that require us to do something we find annoying. And yet, dragon bosses have been a huge part of WoW since the original Onyxia raid. And we haven't have one since Cataclysm. Of course, it makes sense that we haven't - Deathwing wasn't just a dragon, he was the dragon, really, and along with him came a host of twilight drakes and dragons and after a while, we got burned out on dragon aspects and wanted a break. Mists of Pandaria was our summer vacation, and it was necessary, but now we're in Warlords and the old school Warcraft feel is back. And nothing says old-school Warcraft like a few good dragons. I'd like it if it turned out that Draenor had its own dragons, not at all related to the Aspects and Azeroth at all - huge, scaly, fire breathing reptiles with their own special elan. After all, there's dragons on the Dark Portal. Let's get some dragons up in this.
Breakfast Topic: Highmaul opens
So today's the day - Highmaul opens, and with it, the start of raiding in Warlords of Draenor. I've personally been so sick I've barely even played the past week, so I'm woefully unprepared (some dude with a bandana tied over his eyes keeps telling me) but that's my own fault - well, my fault for having a fragile human body made of flesh. But what about y'all? Are you ready for Highmaul? Will you be diving back into raiding this week?
Breakfast Topic: Have you camped for Poundfist yet?
As a fan of large and obnoxious mounts, I simply couldn't say no to this guy. The Sunhide Gronnling drops off a rare mob called Poundfist in Gorgrond. This isn't your ordinary rare. This one actually lives up to its name. Poundfist has a 48-96 hour respawn timer, and on top of that this timer is reset back to zero whenever the server is reset (including maintenance). This kept Poundfist from spawning at all until the 10th day of Warlords of Draenor. All of the unscheduled maintenance and rolling restarts kept him from ever appearing. When he did start spawning about a week ago, people gathered by the hundreds at his spawn points. The one upside to Poundfist is that everyone who tags him will get the mount, regardless of group or faction. Unfortunately, he has 5 different spawn points. They are spread out enough that it's possible you'll miss him if he spawns at another one. He's only level 95 and his health doesn't scale up nearly enough to handle all of the people attacking him. On top of that, the phasing that was introduced to help server loads means that you could be in a different phase than the one he spawns in. Most frightening of all, these separate phases of Gorgond share the general chat channel. Getting this mount is half dedication and half luck.
