Alright, so we’ve had two expansions so far and we each expansion we’ve gotten a bigger and bigger gear reset. How many of you quit playing until the expansion after beating a few of the events? I know I’ve quit plenty of times thinking, “What the fuck is the point gearing up when my shit will be replaced within a few hours by a green quest item?”

Now the difference with me is that I was never a top end raider; I never had the time to commit to a raiding schedule. So I didn’t have Naxx gear the first time around to level with in Crusade, nor did I have Sunwell gear to carry me from 70 to 80. But in with each expansion the gear resets have been getting more and more severe. Top tier gear in 1.0 lasted until you raided in 2.0; and in 2.0 that gear last nearly into Naxx, but sometimes it was replaced fairly quick.

It’s going to be different with Cataclysm. The gear reset is going to be HARD. I mean hard like, “Why the fuck are you wielding Shadowmourne? Fucking noob.” If what I’ve seen and heard is accurate (4000 hps every time you ding, 400 dps 2H axes, etc.), we’re talking about top end gear being reset in the first twenty minutes. This is more severe than any time so far in the history of Warcraft because we’re talking about replacing hardmode epics here quickly. Another thing that’s different now is that everyone has decent gear now. With the advent of badges, everyone is decked out with decent item level shit. Warcraft is saturated with gear. There isn’t much of a gap these days in the haves and have-nots in terms of power compared to 4-5 years ago.

So why are you playing? If you’ve already killed Arthas, are you really interested in the dragon raid they’re putting up on the PTR? Is that really going to hold your attention?

On a side note, I wonder if purple will be the new blue and Warcraft will finally start doling out purples for quest rewards and then have raids start dumping legendaries all over the place and then introduce the red item, the artifact, for end tier bosses. That would be awesome.

MMO-Champion’s got a ton of screenshots up from the Friends and Family testing that started recently. There are some great shots and the additional textures bring the old world up to WOTLK standards.

Also through the link is some preliminary data-mining of some of the professions and stuff.

My Favorite is the redone Stormwind. No more visual tricks.

Greetings and good tidings.  Before we jump into the issue at hand let me introduce myself.  I am Raven, a 38 year old father, teacher, and gamer.  I have been involved in gaming since my first TRS-80 and Commodore Vic 20.  I will be covering issues for the casual gamer, the person who has about two hours a day to devote to our favorite pastime.  My observations will, for the most part, be opinion generated to spark discussion.  Like the onyx bird that Poe wrote about, let me fly right into our topic of the moment.  Holiday Events, time sink or valid adventuring tool?

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I got snowed in yesterday and because of snow I got lazy. That and digging out my car from about a foot of snow took up some time.

Anyway a few news bits to report. WOW’s next expansion, Cataclysm, looks like it will be launching sometime later this year. Probably around the time of their anniversary in November. How much more can WOW bring to the table? We’re working with 6-8 year old technology and I’ve been impressed with what Warcraft has brought to us on an old engine.

Stay tuned to Blizzard for more information, but I’ve heard rumblings that their new MMOG will be announced at this year’s Blizzcon. I can’t wait for that. It should be huge.

I liked it…

I hear all the time that World of Warcraft has no community outside the small group of people in your guild. That it’s full of mouth breathers and denizens of Barrens Chat that can’t function in normal society. I also hear that Warcraft is a game on rails where you can solo your way to the top and no one wants to do anything else.

Well fuck whoever says that because they’re wrong.

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