Comments on: Welcome to Northrend

By: iearmand

iearmand — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:46:24 +0000

Well I have been trough the first Instance. Utgard Keep. I only did the last part (a heal jumped ship on another group) but I got a good sense of the place. Pretty straight forward no biggy.
I did it as a Resto Shammy which I have to say was good fun. I even tried to level with that spec and it was workable. So I think I might of spec elemental\resto to make it easier to get a group healers in demand and all that)…

Will need to go and get some proper elemental healing gear before Wolk comes out though…what I have is all Enchantment…

By: iearmand

iearmand — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:48:34 +0000

The beta seems to be laggy as hell so I aint had too much time in game to try out my few different specs (it is a beta so you cant complain). But I really wish they would just allow you to respect as often as you like. Forcing you to go to the trainers in the Azeroth is enough of an annoyance……

By: spakee

spakee — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:46:57 +0000

Yeah, unless they make the Barrens a level 75 zone or something, I can’t imagine anyone ever going there again. Surely there will be some form of level 55 kick off, or a huge change to the start game.

Also, I have to agree about Titan’s grip, if they also made respeccing just one copper I’d be doing it all the time too….

By: sharkwald

sharkwald — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:31:21 +0000

While there’ll almost certainly be a DK overload when Wrath launches (hell, I’ll be playing one, at least out of the starting area), I think it’ll balance out. The other classes are getting lots of new tricks and I’m more excited about Titans Grip than I am about levelling another toon through Outland.

I would suspect that level 55 kick offs for all toons is coming though.

By: iearmand

iearmand — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:36:43 +0000

Actually one of the best things about being in the Beta…is a respec only costs 1copper. It’s a game in itself….plus you feel free to spec are required for instances…that would really free up people to run instances all the time and balance everything out….

By: Spakee

Spakee — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:41:33 +0000

I think Blizz said DKs were a response to the tank shortage, so basically a DPSer with melee who can also tank, maybe more a druid than a warrior since there is less respeccing but if they make them TOO much fun, then they’ll have to nerf them in patch 3.2 or whatever the first post expansion patch will be.

Maybe the Beta is the best that a DK will be allowed to get then… almost wish I’d got a beta key now

By: iearmand

iearmand — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:02:18 +0000

Problem you are going to have is that I foresee too many people in the longer term playing DK’s because they are so much fun. We have already seen most of the level dungeons completed with 4 DK’s and a priest so I expect to see a shortage of healers in the near future.

If Blizzard don’t allow the same for lesser toons at some stage this really will become an issue sooner rather than later…

By: sharkwald

sharkwald — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:45:21 +0000

Neil: “they can pull any mob to them even annoying casters or ranged DPS (how will this go in PvP?!?!)”

Ranged classes are getting new abilities to instantly get to range again — Hunter’s Disengage skill now jumps them back 15 yards, elemental shammies are getting an AOE knockback, etc etc.

By: Spakee

Spakee — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:05:02 +0000

It all sounds pretty awesome, the DK sounds even more OP than I’d thought, and I was pretty sure it was going to be mad anyway. I have to agree, why would you level anything from scratch ever again, unless they make levelling from 1-55 a complete doddle?

If you already have a level 70 or 6, then you’ll want the new toys for sure, and the investment already made in those toons should mean that Northrend is at least partially full of non-DKs. Outland though will most likely be DK central for a long time…

I must try and get in and play something soon. I’m fairly missing it at the moment.

By: iearmand

iearmand — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:16:35 +0000

So I have not been playing a whole lot the last week or so. But last night I Iogged in for a few hours. In that time I managed to finish the starting DK area. All I can say is it rocks. I would seriously advise you to play and finish this part of the expansion before you go into Northrend. It simple sets the story up so well and has a brilliant ending piece.
As for the DK as a tank I really can’t say. I was playing my DK as Unholy spec simply because of all the toys you get. Exploding corpses, dive bombing Gargoyle, a constant pet, Bone Shields and weird ground effects. It simply the most fun I’ve had with any class and makes every other Class look dull. The DK has more versatility than any other class out there. Ok they can’t heal others but they can heal themselves, they can pull any mob to them even annoying casters or ranged DPS (how will this go in PvP?!?!), they have more get out of trouble skills then any other class, they can tank (how good I aint sure) and can DPS at an amazing rate.
And this is part of the trouble….why would anyone want to level “another” toon from 1-56 again? 2 nights of play and you end up level 57-58 with a ton of really nice blues with one of the most fun classes versus 2 months of play with any other standard toon still having to pay for your mount and probably in greens at level 59! After playing the DK I simple have no interest in levelling another toon when I can jump to level 55 with ease (having played passed this level 3 times already and have 5 or 6 toons past 30).

As for my Shammy I’ve taken a peak in to the starting zones and they are looking rather good. I have done a few quests just to get some WotLK Elemental\Resto gear. I have just been specing and respecting checking out different levelling and instances specs. I really like the look of the Resto spec since it’s quite different to a standard Priest or Druid healing spec since it relies on crits and healing multiple times. Elemental also looks like it could be fun and is possibly what I am gonna level as sicne the spell power changes means I could heal if required. Enhancement is still probably the best level spec but since I did that all the way to 70 I think I need a change…

Gonna run the first instance in WotLK, Utgard Keep as a healer when ever I get ca chance just so I can get a feel for it.