So here's the most interesting part from this game: When I played Madame Lazul and I saw that epic in their hand, I knew I was in trouble. I had watched too many trolden/dane videos to know where the game was going, so I expected to say goodbye to my precious upgraded HP. On turn 8 the opponent played Siamat and forced me to answer it with Shadowreaper Anduin. The clock was ticking. On turn 10 The Amazing Reno came into play. "Oh - I said to myself - here it comes". But just when I said this, I topdecked Sir Finley Mrrgglton (from Archbishop Benedictus ofc) and decided to give them a taste of their own medicine. To my surprise the opponent drew the murloc too and they also changed my HP. So we were in this awkward situation:
Both players had changed their heroes, but instead of using upgraded HPs, they were stuck with the basic paladin (mine) and shaman (opponent) ones. A few turns later the opponent changed their profile picture yet again and turned into Frost Lich Jaina. I was in a rough situation, because my HP became completely unplayable. That was until I drew their Jaina on the following turn and the opponent conceded. So here's a recap:
Ah, man, I just finished a glorious game in ranked wild. I didn't take any screenshots (except at the end), but I wish I could have shown you more of it.
So I got matched against a Cubelock. Here are the most interesting turns:
- Turn 4 -> I coined out the weapon and it summoned the demon on the following turn. {The opponent was struggling with having a big hand and they were forced to play one of their cubes from hand}
- Turn 8 -> Chameleos in hand turned into Mal'Ganis and it got summoned from the skull. In the mean time the opponent had summoned a Voidlord from their skull. I stole it with Shadow Madness, attacked their face for 5 and killed the stolen demon with Forbidden Words.
Would also love to see another puzzle based adventure, a la the boomsday project. Really enjoyed that concept, and still feel it has loads of potential.
Oh, yes, I enjoyed playing that as well, as it was something new and fresh for hs. The problem, I think, with it was the lack of replayability - I mean, once you figured out (or copied) the solution for the puzzles, you didn't really come back and want to redo the encounters. You knew the answers already, so nothing could surprise or excite you anymore.That said, I would warmly welcome another puzzle based adventure too and admire the creativity of the devs.
I personally love the concept of a linear adventure and I think, that the Dungeon Run model got overused. I didn't purchase Galakrond's Awakening, because I wasn't active during the previous expansion. But from I heard, the adventure was underwhelming, because it was too easy. Pity, that that was the case. I honestly miss the hard encounters which required a specific deck build from their players and which didn't reward those, who got lucky enough to obtain OP rewards and steamroll through the bosses. It's fun at first, but it becomes extremely repetitive and unoriginal the more it gets used.
But this is just my opinion. I remember the time when we were still active in hpwn and how someone made a poll mentioning both types of aventures. In that poll, the majority preferred the dungeon run one. So I guess, I can't argue with statistics.
I like the card and the quest system but I have no idea about the main story so far. Probably it hasn't even begun yet. It's a little inconvenient that there seems to be no immediate indicator that tells me if a picked up piece of equipment is better than what I carry at the moment. That was a really useful feature in the witcher 3. Thanks again for helping me getting started!
Ahm, about the story - Theodrinus is absolutely right, that there is no single central storyline. In fact, there are so many different major and side characters influenting major and small events, that imho it's not really possible to mention them all in the game. And there's also an alternative universe :D.
In the next paragraphs I would like to share my experience doing the Loremaster achievement in Wotlk (i.e. completing almost all of the quests in Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend) and reading the quests I was doing. Imho the game doesn't inform the player that much about the lore. Most of the quests in the Classic regions tell you to kill this or that, to go somewhere and fetch something etc. Like, who cares if a farmer X has a beast/zombie/defias rogue problem in his back yard or if a random stranger wants you to bring some supplies in the nearest inn, because they are too tired or scared. Quests like these feel too generic and are in the game for the sake of you gaining experience to level up. The Classic quests give you a loose idea of what is happening in all corners of Azeroth, but if you want to learn more about the major characters, I'd suggest finding external sources - like reading the warcraft related books & comics or watching some videos on youtube:
Back in TBC people didn't understand why they had to fight their beloved characters from Warcraft 3 and to kill them - Illidan and Kael'thas. It was way later explained in a book, that after his defeat in Northrend Illidan wanted to prepare an army against the burning legion and strike them down in their main domain, Argus (which was the former home of the Eredar before they went into exile, becoming the Draenei, or followed Sargeras, becoming the Man'ari). So he trained the Demon Hunters (Illidari), but he did so in secret, which led to the alienation of Akama. He didn't get his beloved sacred temple back as he was promised, he didn't understand what Illidan's plans were, so he viewed him as the legion's puppet and decided to betray him. He met Maiev, they decided to work together, Illidan eventually learnt of his duplicity, he ripped a portion of his soul and with it he tricked the Warden into a trap. And that's pretty much where the players came in - they learnt how Illidan kept Maiev hostage and Akama's soul under his command, how he terrorised the civilians in Outland (he captured orcs and turned them into fel orcs with Magtheridon's blood thus binding them to his will; he instructed Lady Vashj to seize control of the water reserves and to limit its supply to other creatures) and how he was raising an army of elven demon hunters in his own image for unknown reasons. So in TBC we saw him as a tyrant, as the villian of the expansion and thus the next kill target w/o knowing his true intentions. He just took drastic measures to mobilze the beings in Outland and send them against burning legion, because as the saying goes "the end justifies the means".
Another example, when the lore isn't mentioned in the game: In the Night Elf capital city Fandral Staghelm wants the players to bring him Morrowgrain for some goodies. It was revealed in a book, that he used that herb to keep Malfurion imprisoned in the Emerald Nightmare and planned to kill him later on.
As you can see, you shouldn't expect to learn everything important about the major characters by playing the MMO. You will only get a loose idea of what's happening in the WORLD of warcraft. But if you ignore the meaningless quests, you are going to explore a whole new world. You will see how people live there, what problems they have, what kind of creatures inhabit certain areas etc. You will be like the cameraman of a National Geographic documentaion film who only has a narrow understanding of what he's filming. Your narrator will be the quests you complete and those won't provide you with the full information of the things you encounter. If you want to get all of the references, you can watch lore-related videos or read the books and let your imagination flow.
That was my opinion based on the Classic quests, which were preserved in Wotlk. I must admit, that with the next two expansions the storytelling in the quests became better. In Outland and in Northrend I got to experience more lore-related missions than the typical "kill this, kill that" ones. Don't ask me how the storytelling evolved in the next expansions and how it is in current WoW. Theodrinus informed you about the world revamp. When Cata launched, most of the quests in the classic regions were changed (heck, how could they have stayed the same when the whole Azeroth got shattered by Deathwing's actions). And since I didn't play on retail, I don't have an opinion about this aspect. But I think that it improved - you'll get to experience some ingame events and cutscenes, which would make you feel more involved in the lore.
Good to hear that you're interested in WoW! It's a fantastic game.
The first thing you should do is to is to download the Starter Edition of WoW. It's completely free and you will be able to play to level 20 with a few minor restrictions. It is played on the current, "retail" version of the game. You should do this to experience the core gameplay loop of leveling, questing, and the game's atmosphere.
You've reached the level cap, you like the game, what should you do? After this, you have to purchase a monthly subscription. You have the option to buy it online for 15 €/$ a month or buy it from retailer stores for a bit extra and get a fancy box with it. Look for this. If this is your first time, I do not recommend for you to purchase more than one month or either of the latest two expansions, Battle for Azeroth or Shadowlands.
This subscription is valid for all versions of the game. You can either continue your level 20 character on the current version, create a new one, or play Classic. It is up to you which one you choose, but you should know all the options.
There are normal and roleplaying realms (servers). On the latter, players are expected to choose a name for their character fitting for the world. So no Taurens with cow puns. Also, you can see more roleplaying groups in the world. On retail only, which realm you play on doesn't really matter as you can group with other characters on any server. The only thing you should check out is player count, which is high, medium or low. You should go for medium or high. On retail, all non-instanced world PvP is opt-in with Warmode, which gives you some extra rewards and you are always grouped with opponents. In Classic, world PvP on normal servers is also with an opt-in choice, but it is very rare. On dedicated PvP servers however, the setting is always on. You should expect high-level players repeatedly killing you for their enjoyment, aka "griefing". Also, all of your characters on that server must be either Horde or Alliance, you cannot have characters on both sides. Some players enjoy PvP and are delighted with action happening at any time, but for a first-time player I do not recommend playing on a PvP Classic server.
In retail, the leveling experience is refined and allows for choice between zones. There is less downtime in traveling and you can get more varied quests, not limited to "go there, kill this, gather that". You always have abilities to press and larger survivability. With a subscription, you have 110 levels to go through.
In Classic, leveling is much grindier as the age of the game shows. Quests are very simple but also quite monotone. For much of the game, you will be traveling on foot. Many classes have downtime between abilities and pulling 3+ enemies means death. You only have 60 levels, but reaching it will take longer than 110 on retail. Itemization is sometimes weird and non-intuitive.
When creating your first character, you should just go with whatever you like! The character's race is mainly for aesthetic and story reasons, the abilities don't really matter. If you want to play melee, you should play a Warrior, Paladin, Shaman, Rogue or Druid. In retail, classes have 3 specializations (except druids have 4 and demon hunters have 2), and they might have different roles like tanking or healing. But don't worry, every class can play DPS roles. Rogue, for example, has 3 different flavors of DPSing. Paladin, on the other hand, has only one, but the other specs make it able to heal or tank. Only one specialization can be active at a time but you can switch anytime. All specs are viable at every level in retail.
In classic, there are fewer races and classes. There are no specs, but 3 talent trees to gain abilities and bonuses from. You can mix and match however you like. You can make your Warrior more tankier by investing some points in the Protection tree, for example. However, rearranging your talents costs gold.
After you reach level 110 in retail, you must purchase the Battle for Azeroth expansion before continuing to level 120. However, the next one, Shadowlands is almost here. Purchasing both would be quite expensive. I recommend waiting until sometime in the summer when BfA will be automatically added to all accounts. This way, you will save 45 €/$. There is no extra purchase necessary for max level in Classic.
The max level endgame is different for both versions. In retail, you have daily and weekly tasks and never-ending world quests to receive better gear and cosmetic rewards. Instanced group content, raids and dungeons can be played with an automatic group finder.
In Classic, max level progression is not tied to real world time. But you also have to grind the same mobs/dungeons/raids for upgrades. For all content requiring groups, you must join or assemble it yourself.
In retail, the world and your gear gets prettier and prettier as you progress through past expansions. Graphics are great in current content.
In classic, the looks are quite dated, but at least it loads fast.
In retail, there are many activities outside normal combat and gearing. You can collect achievements, mounts, pets with which you can battle with Pokémon-style and appearances to play fantasy dress-up.
In classic, cosmetic rewards and collectables have a much, much smaller focus and you can't change the appearance of your gear.
Retail receives new content patches every 6 months or so and expansions every 2 years.
Classic's content is divided into phases. Currently, we're at Phase 4 of 6. There's no more content announced after that.
This is a lot of information, so take your time to think it through. But also know that there is no punishment for playing both. Try out all versions and see for yourself which one you enjoy more. After all, you should play games only for your fun!
Feel free to say any questions you may have, I'll gladly answer all of them!
Nice post, mate. You described the game very well to those, who have absolutely no knowledge of what to expect from it. But, let me say some things:
1) I don't know about current retail, but to my knowledge the race matters. Like, for example you would prefer a dwarf priest over a human or night elf (cuz of Fear Ward). Or humans for the melee roles thx to their Sword and Maces Specializations... and Diplomacy makes grinding rep easier.
2) Isn't TBC to be expected? There was a survey some time ago, which asked the players how they wanted to start in that expansion. It's not certain whether it will be implemented as quickly as your normal Classic phases, but it's going to happen. It's just not officially announced.
I have never played WoW in the official servers (only Wotlk in some pservers), but I have watched many WoW Classic videos on youtube and I've read reviews of the game, so I can confirm, that Classic is the better option than current retail. Though, like FrostyFeet said, it's kinda grindy - leveling is slow (unless you are a caster and you can AoE multiple mobs at the same time, especially in a dungeon group), you also need to farm gold for abilities, professions, riding skill and mounts (you will walk A LOT before you get your first mount; some quests force you to ping-pong between zones or even continents) and, if you manage to hit lvl 60 at some point, for consumables as well. Another flaw of the game is the class and itemization disbalance - while there are 9 classes with 3 different specialisations to choose from, only few of those specs are actually viable and you can't bring whatever spec you like in a raid.
If you jump blindly into the game, I think you will get a glimpse of that magical feeling Vanilla offered in the past, but be warned, that while the game tries to stay true to its roots, the gamers don't. Players play it differently - more optimally - but imho reliving that magical feeling would still be possible, as long as you find a guild or other people that specifically want to play the game as they used to back in 2004.
But, anyway, I agree with Crusader2010 - it's better to watch/read WoW reviews and get an idea of what the game is like. 3 weeks ago a user by name of Sykomyke made a WoW-related thread here:
and he and Flux started a very detailed discussion, so I would recommend you to check it out. They both talk about the positives and the cons of Classic and the later expansions. I can also link you some videos, which I watched recently:
Show Spoiler
I recommend checking WillE's and Hamsterwheel's channels, as they also did some amazing class reviews.
If you are interested in a melee class, to my knowledge only warriors and rogues are good. If you decide to go as a warrior, then prepare for a long and tedious ride, because that's the class with the longest downtime. But it's one of the most sought out in the end-game. One of the reasons why people prefer TBC/Wotlk over Classic is that they can play other specs in raids w/o being blamed for bringing a weak toon. Fortunatelly, we can expect to see those expansions in the near future.
I like the rewards more with this new ranked system. Even if you get less dust, getting expansion packs is a lot more valuable than the 500 dust I would be getting in the previous ranked system. The packs are also a lot more valuable since the duplicate protection, so maybe you are getting less dust, but you are getting more playable cards. Plus, for a F2P player those 5 packs are the equivalent of 5-7 days of playing. Which means the Legendary for our pity timer is a week closer.
One other thing, this is a lot more exciting than the last system was. Before, I was always excited to play at the start of a new month, but all I got was the same old 500 dust and another boring grind ahead of me. But packs are exciting. When opening packs, you might get a Legendary or extra Epics. And if you low roll and get 40 dust each pack, then you are now that much closer to a good pack.
In short, these rewards are more interesting and exciting. And they are much more useful if you don't have the entire expansion yet. And in my opinion, if you do own the entire expansion you shouldn't be that concerned about missing out on 100 dust.
I was going to respond to Xarkkal's comment, but your post describes my thoughts precisely. So, thanks.
I'm just going to say, that the new no-duplicate protection rule makes the epic we get from Diamond 5 quite valuable and almost on par with the golden one we used to get in the previous system. If someone gets a shitty or an already possessed epic (in case of a full collection), they will receive only 100 dust, but if it's an epic they were planning to craft anyway, it will have the same 400 dust value as the aforementioned golden epic.
So then "first time" rewards means first time getting that rank ever. I thought it meant the first time hitting that rank this month and that was why everybody went back to bronze 10 each month.
The the three horsemen of the apocalypse : Tempo Demon Hunter , Res Priest and Secret Galakrond Rogue . If they decided to just delete those 3 deck archetypes nobody except the spastics that play them would be sad. Can't say I feel sorry to hear that you got your ass ran over by Demon Hunter when the whole shtick of your deck is to be as cancerous as possible .
Meh, I just play it because I have fun pushing the button.
Man, I hate playing against Tempo DH. The class has so many BS minions and strong synergies, that I don't know where to begin with.
I play Quest Ress Priest and, yes, this is a slow deck, but whenever I try to play the most optimal way possible against DHs, I get fucked by either Kayn or Priestess of Fury, in some cases even by Altruis in combination with Skull of Gul'Dan. And at the end, I feel like my decisions don't really matter, because I always fall in the same checkmate position. Like, if the opponent has a wide board and I decide to play taunts, I risk getting killed by Kayn. And if I do decide to play around that and clear the board, the opponent can just play Priestess of Fury and push even more face damage, which would lead to the previous scenario. I swear, I have seen consistent decks before, but Tempo DH is on a whole new level.
Uhm, can we expect an update to the legendary crafting guide soon?
I'm a big fan of the DoD Priest thieving cards, but I'm not really sure whether crafting them would be worth it. I have seen people using Murozond the Infinite and Mindflayer Kaahrj in their standard Highlander/Galakrond decks, but those cards have a year long lifespan (at best) and who knows whether they will remain playable in the next expansions. Also, I'm not a big deckbuilder, but imho both of them are kinda weak in wild. I mean, the meta there is just too fast. I know some people use the 8/8 dragon in combination with Togwaggle, but I don't have the latter legendary and I'm not really interested in running that deck.
So I was playing my Quest Ress Priest in standard and I queued against a Reno mage. I started with my quest on turn 1 and passed. I think, that the opponent had a really bad opening hand, because they didn't play anything prior to turn 6, while I was just chilling.
When their turn 6 started, they cheese-d out a puzzle box with their 6 mana 4/4 and the spell gave them 2x Hand of Gul'dan, 1x Shiv and a Tracking, while they were initially sitting at 8 cards. Needless to say, the opponent conceded, but it was funny how I won that game by doing absolutely nothing.
The Beardo variant is indeed faster, the reason I switched to the Panda variant personally after months of playing the deck was that the Beardo version folds to Skulking Geist (Jade Druid is currently T1), gets halted by Loatheb and above all, it needs to have all its numerous pieces ready in hand for Thaurissan. Very, very often, at least one of the pieces gets stuck somewhere deep in the deck and then you have to draw it, set up with Thaurissan and then execute it. In the Panda version, if all you're missing is the Garrison Commander, you can execute the combo the instant you draw it and generally, the Panda variant can just play out its combo pieces as it goes along and spends less time treading water. I've found that having to hold the pieces for the Thaurissan tick often prevented me from actually drawing through my deck due to hand size issues.
As for the quest, I'd generally advise against it. Starting hand is important and Novice Engineer goes very nicely together with Crystology. I'd go so far as to disagree that Quest Mage draws through its deck faster. Between Crystology, Novice Engineer, Acolyte, Solemn Vigil, Thalnos and Flash of Light, I've frequently outdrawn Star Aligner Druids back in the day. As in, I was nearing fatigue by turn 9.
For illustration, here are the two Paladin lists I run:
If the quest version is bad, as you say, then that might be the case. I saw it on Roffle's channel and thought it was an improvement over the others, because you could get coins consistently and not risk losing your cheap spells (secrets) to Skulking Geist. But you play as a paladin, so you know better.
Anyway, I have to agree with you about the synergies between Novice Engineer and Crystology. That interaction is indeed very strong and more beneficial than the extra 1/2 stats on the engineers. But regarding the q mage's card cycling to an Exodia paladin - I dunno, man. I can honestly see how they freeze your acolytes and deny you from making trades, at least for a period of time (or you could use pyro). If they get Stargazer Luna and an apprentice, they can go off.
I'm not a paladin player, but I think that the meta is just too fast for a normal paladin control or even combo build. Quest mage cycles through its deck faster than you and you can't time the Time Out!s consistently enough. As a Quest Priest I manage to beat that deck with taunts, but if a paladin tries to make an N'zoth deck, it will get crushed by the value of other strong control(ish) decks like Cubelock, Jade Druid.
So the current environment is not optimal for a control build like IMarcusl said. Btw that user made a really good list, I must admit. I would like to add, that the new Uther OTK decklist runs A quest, just so you get coins from the 3/2s and a better body from the explorers in comparison to the Novice Engineers.
oh you mean Hooghout? (dw, he is basically a public figure at this point, no shaming here). That guy was great, I have never seen someone who manages to continuously write huge walls of text that all say basicaly the same thing...which was mostly nothing at all.
I just remember he once made a thread about how Temporus could possibly be used to counter Ice Block and then got extremely aggressive when pretty much everyone told him that the idea was completely ridiculous because giving Mage two free turns is basically suicide in 9/10 cases (which it is, obviously).
It got so bad that he basically discredited anyone who didn't agree with his very ill conceived points a troll...despite being pretty much objectively wrong.
Oh my.
After reading your post, I decided to search his thread history and find the one you were referring to. I browsed through the first five pages and stumbled upon another interesting thread about Southsea Captain and the things you said above checked out. :/
Now, I don't want to start a "name and shame" trend, because it's not the purpose of this thread (+ it's kinda against the rules), but I am just going to say, that I had met much, much worse trolls back in hpwn. Like I remember a dude, who wrote walls of scatty text and sometimes they even compared hs to political scenes or to a certain psychological behaviour. They went extremely off-topic.
Another crazy game:
Thief Raza Priest vs Reno Grizzled Wizard Mage
So here's the most interesting part from this game: When I played Madame Lazul and I saw that epic in their hand, I knew I was in trouble. I had watched too many trolden/dane videos to know where the game was going, so I expected to say goodbye to my precious upgraded HP. On turn 8 the opponent played Siamat and forced me to answer it with Shadowreaper Anduin. The clock was ticking. On turn 10 The Amazing Reno came into play. "Oh - I said to myself - here it comes". But just when I said this, I topdecked Sir Finley Mrrgglton (from Archbishop Benedictus ofc) and decided to give them a taste of their own medicine. To my surprise the opponent drew the murloc too and they also changed my HP. So we were in this awkward situation:
Both players had changed their heroes, but instead of using upgraded HPs, they were stuck with the basic paladin (mine) and shaman (opponent) ones. A few turns later the opponent changed their profile picture yet again and turned into Frost Lich Jaina. I was in a rough situation, because my HP became completely unplayable. That was until I drew their Jaina on the following turn and the opponent conceded. So here's a recap:
I (Normal Anduin) -> Shadowreaper Anduin + Voidform -> What Does This Do? -> Totemic Call -> Reinforce -> Frost Lich Jaina + Icy Touch
Opponent (Jaina) -> The Amazing Reno + What Does This Do? -> Voidform -> Reinforce -> Totemic Call -> Frost Lich Jaina + Icy Touch
I just love stupid games like this.
Mother Shahraz is here? I wonder if we will see some naughty jokes from her.
Ah, man, I just finished a glorious game in ranked wild. I didn't take any screenshots (except at the end), but I wish I could have shown you more of it.
So I got matched against a Cubelock. Here are the most interesting turns:
- Turn 2 -> Thoughtsteal into Skull of the Man'ari + Mal'Ganis.
- Turn 4 -> I coined out the weapon and it summoned the demon on the following turn. {The opponent was struggling with having a big hand and they were forced to play one of their cubes from hand}
- Turn 7 -> I play Archbishop Benedictus for the memez.
- Turn 8 -> Chameleos in hand turned into Mal'Ganis and it got summoned from the skull. In the mean time the opponent had summoned a Voidlord from their skull. I stole it with Shadow Madness, attacked their face for 5 and killed the stolen demon with Forbidden Words.
- Opponent's turn 8 -> Enhanced Dreadlord from the skull + Faceless Manipulator on my Mal'Ganis. I pass.
- Opponent's turn 9 -> Mal'Ganis gets summoned from the skull. They play a Voidlord. I answer their board with Soul Mirror.
- Opponent's turn 10 -> they top-deck another Faceless Manipulator and use it on my Mal'Ganis. The skull summons them a dreadlord. For some reason they also Unstable Felbolt my Mal'Ganis. I top-deck a Faceless Manipulator, use it on their healthy Mal'Ganis and make some trades.
This is the screenshot before the turn I won (they didn't do anything after this):
And to think I had even more copying cards. >:)
I swear, these are the games I miss playing in wild. I don't get to experience them against Quest Mages.
Oh, yes, I enjoyed playing that as well, as it was something new and fresh for hs. The problem, I think, with it was the lack of replayability - I mean, once you figured out (or copied) the solution for the puzzles, you didn't really come back and want to redo the encounters. You knew the answers already, so nothing could surprise or excite you anymore.That said, I would warmly welcome another puzzle based adventure too and admire the creativity of the devs.
Just think of it as the ICC adventure. We will probably get a hero skin/card back at the end.
I personally love the concept of a linear adventure and I think, that the Dungeon Run model got overused. I didn't purchase Galakrond's Awakening, because I wasn't active during the previous expansion. But from I heard, the adventure was underwhelming, because it was too easy. Pity, that that was the case. I honestly miss the hard encounters which required a specific deck build from their players and which didn't reward those, who got lucky enough to obtain OP rewards and steamroll through the bosses. It's fun at first, but it becomes extremely repetitive and unoriginal the more it gets used.
But this is just my opinion. I remember the time when we were still active in hpwn and how someone made a poll mentioning both types of aventures. In that poll, the majority preferred the dungeon run one. So I guess, I can't argue with statistics.
Ahm, about the story - Theodrinus is absolutely right, that there is no single central storyline. In fact, there are so many different major and side characters influenting major and small events, that imho it's not really possible to mention them all in the game. And there's also an alternative universe :D.
In the next paragraphs I would like to share my experience doing the Loremaster achievement in Wotlk (i.e. completing almost all of the quests in Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend) and reading the quests I was doing. Imho the game doesn't inform the player that much about the lore. Most of the quests in the Classic regions tell you to kill this or that, to go somewhere and fetch something etc. Like, who cares if a farmer X has a beast/zombie/defias rogue problem in his back yard or if a random stranger wants you to bring some supplies in the nearest inn, because they are too tired or scared. Quests like these feel too generic and are in the game for the sake of you gaining experience to level up. The Classic quests give you a loose idea of what is happening in all corners of Azeroth, but if you want to learn more about the major characters, I'd suggest finding external sources - like reading the warcraft related books & comics or watching some videos on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Nobbel87/videos
Some examples of vague storytelling in quests:
Back in TBC people didn't understand why they had to fight their beloved characters from Warcraft 3 and to kill them - Illidan and Kael'thas. It was way later explained in a book, that after his defeat in Northrend Illidan wanted to prepare an army against the burning legion and strike them down in their main domain, Argus (which was the former home of the Eredar before they went into exile, becoming the Draenei, or followed Sargeras, becoming the Man'ari). So he trained the Demon Hunters (Illidari), but he did so in secret, which led to the alienation of Akama. He didn't get his beloved sacred temple back as he was promised, he didn't understand what Illidan's plans were, so he viewed him as the legion's puppet and decided to betray him. He met Maiev, they decided to work together, Illidan eventually learnt of his duplicity, he ripped a portion of his soul and with it he tricked the Warden into a trap. And that's pretty much where the players came in - they learnt how Illidan kept Maiev hostage and Akama's soul under his command, how he terrorised the civilians in Outland (he captured orcs and turned them into fel orcs with Magtheridon's blood thus binding them to his will; he instructed Lady Vashj to seize control of the water reserves and to limit its supply to other creatures) and how he was raising an army of elven demon hunters in his own image for unknown reasons. So in TBC we saw him as a tyrant, as the villian of the expansion and thus the next kill target w/o knowing his true intentions. He just took drastic measures to mobilze the beings in Outland and send them against burning legion, because as the saying goes "the end justifies the means".
Another example, when the lore isn't mentioned in the game: In the Night Elf capital city Fandral Staghelm wants the players to bring him Morrowgrain for some goodies. It was revealed in a book, that he used that herb to keep Malfurion imprisoned in the Emerald Nightmare and planned to kill him later on.
As you can see, you shouldn't expect to learn everything important about the major characters by playing the MMO. You will only get a loose idea of what's happening in the WORLD of warcraft. But if you ignore the meaningless quests, you are going to explore a whole new world. You will see how people live there, what problems they have, what kind of creatures inhabit certain areas etc. You will be like the cameraman of a National Geographic documentaion film who only has a narrow understanding of what he's filming. Your narrator will be the quests you complete and those won't provide you with the full information of the things you encounter. If you want to get all of the references, you can watch lore-related videos or read the books and let your imagination flow.
That was my opinion based on the Classic quests, which were preserved in Wotlk. I must admit, that with the next two expansions the storytelling in the quests became better. In Outland and in Northrend I got to experience more lore-related missions than the typical "kill this, kill that" ones. Don't ask me how the storytelling evolved in the next expansions and how it is in current WoW. Theodrinus informed you about the world revamp. When Cata launched, most of the quests in the classic regions were changed (heck, how could they have stayed the same when the whole Azeroth got shattered by Deathwing's actions). And since I didn't play on retail, I don't have an opinion about this aspect. But I think that it improved - you'll get to experience some ingame events and cutscenes, which would make you feel more involved in the lore.
Nice post, mate. You described the game very well to those, who have absolutely no knowledge of what to expect from it. But, let me say some things:
1) I don't know about current retail, but to my knowledge the race matters. Like, for example you would prefer a dwarf priest over a human or night elf (cuz of Fear Ward). Or humans for the melee roles thx to their Sword and Maces Specializations... and Diplomacy makes grinding rep easier.
2) Isn't TBC to be expected? There was a survey some time ago, which asked the players how they wanted to start in that expansion. It's not certain whether it will be implemented as quickly as your normal Classic phases, but it's going to happen. It's just not officially announced.
I have never played WoW in the official servers (only Wotlk in some pservers), but I have watched many WoW Classic videos on youtube and I've read reviews of the game, so I can confirm, that Classic is the better option than current retail. Though, like FrostyFeet said, it's kinda grindy - leveling is slow (unless you are a caster and you can AoE multiple mobs at the same time, especially in a dungeon group), you also need to farm gold for abilities, professions, riding skill and mounts (you will walk A LOT before you get your first mount; some quests force you to ping-pong between zones or even continents) and, if you manage to hit lvl 60 at some point, for consumables as well. Another flaw of the game is the class and itemization disbalance - while there are 9 classes with 3 different specialisations to choose from, only few of those specs are actually viable and you can't bring whatever spec you like in a raid.
If you jump blindly into the game, I think you will get a glimpse of that magical feeling Vanilla offered in the past, but be warned, that while the game tries to stay true to its roots, the gamers don't. Players play it differently - more optimally - but imho reliving that magical feeling would still be possible, as long as you find a guild or other people that specifically want to play the game as they used to back in 2004.
But, anyway, I agree with Crusader2010 - it's better to watch/read WoW reviews and get an idea of what the game is like. 3 weeks ago a user by name of Sykomyke made a WoW-related thread here:
https://outof.cards/forums/off-topic/video-games/3739-wow-classic-is-you-is-or-is-you-aint-my-baby
and he and Flux started a very detailed discussion, so I would recommend you to check it out. They both talk about the positives and the cons of Classic and the later expansions. I can also link you some videos, which I watched recently:
I recommend checking WillE's and Hamsterwheel's channels, as they also did some amazing class reviews.
If you are interested in a melee class, to my knowledge only warriors and rogues are good. If you decide to go as a warrior, then prepare for a long and tedious ride, because that's the class with the longest downtime. But it's one of the most sought out in the end-game. One of the reasons why people prefer TBC/Wotlk over Classic is that they can play other specs in raids w/o being blamed for bringing a weak toon. Fortunatelly, we can expect to see those expansions in the near future.
I was going to respond to Xarkkal's comment, but your post describes my thoughts precisely. So, thanks.
I'm just going to say, that the new no-duplicate protection rule makes the epic we get from Diamond 5 quite valuable and almost on par with the golden one we used to get in the previous system. If someone gets a shitty or an already possessed epic (in case of a full collection), they will receive only 100 dust, but if it's an epic they were planning to craft anyway, it will have the same 400 dust value as the aforementioned golden epic.
Don't we all? ;)
Meh, I just play it because I have fun pushing the button.
Man, I hate playing against Tempo DH. The class has so many BS minions and strong synergies, that I don't know where to begin with.
I play Quest Ress Priest and, yes, this is a slow deck, but whenever I try to play the most optimal way possible against DHs, I get fucked by either Kayn or Priestess of Fury, in some cases even by Altruis in combination with Skull of Gul'Dan. And at the end, I feel like my decisions don't really matter, because I always fall in the same checkmate position. Like, if the opponent has a wide board and I decide to play taunts, I risk getting killed by Kayn. And if I do decide to play around that and clear the board, the opponent can just play Priestess of Fury and push even more face damage, which would lead to the previous scenario. I swear, I have seen consistent decks before, but Tempo DH is on a whole new level.
Rant over.
Frosty answered your question, but here's a link to the official forums where the topic has been discussed:
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/hearthstone/t/faq-ranked-mode-overhaul-matchmaking/27937
Uhm, can we expect an update to the legendary crafting guide soon?
I'm a big fan of the DoD Priest thieving cards, but I'm not really sure whether crafting them would be worth it. I have seen people using Murozond the Infinite and Mindflayer Kaahrj in their standard Highlander/Galakrond decks, but those cards have a year long lifespan (at best) and who knows whether they will remain playable in the next expansions. Also, I'm not a big deckbuilder, but imho both of them are kinda weak in wild. I mean, the meta there is just too fast. I know some people use the 8/8 dragon in combination with Togwaggle, but I don't have the latter legendary and I'm not really interested in running that deck.
So I was playing my Quest Ress Priest in standard and I queued against a Reno mage. I started with my quest on turn 1 and passed. I think, that the opponent had a really bad opening hand, because they didn't play anything prior to turn 6, while I was just chilling.
When their turn 6 started, they cheese-d out a puzzle box with their 6 mana 4/4 and the spell gave them 2x Hand of Gul'dan, 1x Shiv and a Tracking, while they were initially sitting at 8 cards. Needless to say, the opponent conceded, but it was funny how I won that game by doing absolutely nothing.
If the quest version is bad, as you say, then that might be the case. I saw it on Roffle's channel and thought it was an improvement over the others, because you could get coins consistently and not risk losing your cheap spells (secrets) to Skulking Geist. But you play as a paladin, so you know better.
Anyway, I have to agree with you about the synergies between Novice Engineer and Crystology. That interaction is indeed very strong and more beneficial than the extra 1/2 stats on the engineers. But regarding the q mage's card cycling to an Exodia paladin - I dunno, man. I can honestly see how they freeze your acolytes and deny you from making trades, at least for a period of time (or you could use pyro). If they get Stargazer Luna and an apprentice, they can go off.
I'm not a paladin player, but I think that the meta is just too fast for a normal paladin control or even combo build. Quest mage cycles through its deck faster than you and you can't time the Time Out!s consistently enough. As a Quest Priest I manage to beat that deck with taunts, but if a paladin tries to make an N'zoth deck, it will get crushed by the value of other strong control(ish) decks like Cubelock, Jade Druid.
So the current environment is not optimal for a control build like IMarcusl said. Btw that user made a really good list, I must admit. I would like to add, that the new Uther OTK decklist runs A quest, just so you get coins from the 3/2s and a better body from the explorers in comparison to the Novice Engineers.
Yup, that's the one. :D
Oh my.
After reading your post, I decided to search his thread history and find the one you were referring to. I browsed through the first five pages and stumbled upon another interesting thread about Southsea Captain and the things you said above checked out. :/
Now, I don't want to start a "name and shame" trend, because it's not the purpose of this thread (+ it's kinda against the rules), but I am just going to say, that I had met much, much worse trolls back in hpwn. Like I remember a dude, who wrote walls of scatty text and sometimes they even compared hs to political scenes or to a certain psychological behaviour. They went extremely off-topic.