by The Kizzy » Wed Nov 15, 2006 7:00 am
and from someone else, I think he is a rogue, but I am not sure
"Here's another update from the beta test, and today I'll focus on some of the new game mechanics that TBC will offer.
%#*&$ is up to level 66 (they jacked up the amount of experience required per level as they lifted the level cap from 67 to 70) and have explored the 2 new zones opened up -- Blade's Edge Mountains and Netherstorm. Netherstorm in particular is very cool and has the most alien feel of all the zones so far. It consists of 5-6 floating land masses in the Twisting Nether connected by a few bridges. Scattered around are massive Blood Elf mana pumping stations collecting raw mana from the barren, desert-like landscape. Then there are a couple of domed regions that are completey different with rivers and forest that are in stark contrast to the rest of the region. I'm not at a high enough level yet to actually pick up quests in this zone, but I can't wait.
As the game is evolving there have been a few elements added to the mix that are shaping up rather nicely in terms of the basic game mechanics:
-Druid flight form: Although I have not experienced this personally, the raising of the level cap has allowed druids to obtain flight form and it looks pretty cool. They can zip around to spots on the map much quicker and they have access to regions that were previously unreachable by land (like over mountains in Hellfire Peninsula and Blade's Edge and onto other landmasses in Netherstorm). I don't know if they can draw aggro off the ground, though -- I'll have to check it out.
-Bombing runs: Holy crap, these are fun. Some quests in Hellfire and the world PvP in Nagrand is based on hopping on an armored gryphon or windrider and dropping bombs on everything below you. In Nagrand it's really cool because you need to bomb the Halaari guards to kill them (and thus be able to control the PvP town) as well as the Horde trying to destroy the windrider roosts that you are using to take flight from. It's hectic and lots of fun.
-Herbalism: I'll make a post about professions later but I needed to mention a few changes to herbalism that I thought were really neat. First, there are certain mobs that herbalists can "skin" once dead and looted (obviously, the plant based ones like Ents and Bog Giants). About half the time you get crap, but the other half of the time you can get some rare herbs, Motes of Life (holy cow I have over a hundred of these things), or other common outland herbs like Felweed. Also, Dreaming Glory gives you a 15 min (?) buff and Netherbloom gives you a random 15 min buff/debuff everytime you pick them.
-Socketing: Well, anyone who has played Diablo 2 knows about socketing. I've found a few socketed item (mostly faction rewards) but have not really invested any time into them since the potential stats I could get on the pieces wouldn't make them better than my currently equipped gear. However, I can say that there appears to be many different kinds of gems of a given color (for example, I've personally seen at least 12 different gems that could fit into a red socket), making it posible to tailor armor and weapons to whatever you want them to be.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Same routine as before -- if anyone want's to know about anything specific, post a message and I'll try find the answer. In the next week or so I plan on doing more group work and PvP as I've just about exhausted all the soloable quests. I'll let you know how things go.
PS: For all you rogues out there I've checked out some of our new abilities.
I respecced for a week to a 41-pt. Subtlety build so I could try out Hemo for the first time and some of the higher level talents. The build works well, especially for burst damage since you can get 5 pts. off of a single Cheap Shot, not to mention the damage boost you get with Serrated Blades and Sinister Calling. It was hard for me to maintain energy during extented battles, but Preparation and a second Evasion usually got me through the worst of it. Shadowstep to me is a little weak and limited, since it can be foiled simply by a moving target. But overall a good build, and definitely viable for PvE as well as it's intended PvP.
41-pt. Combat is where I am now, and I love it, especially using a Nexus-Claw and a Void-Talon, both purchased off of a vendor in Netherstorm (which was kind of a nice to see because, in general, Rogue itemization outside of instances seems kind of weak to me). Aggression and Vitality all help in the buffing our Damage Soaking capabilities (good for PvE), Adrenaline Rush has always been spectacular, and now Combat Potency makes energy generation even better.
As far as abilities go, Envenom: bleh (you're better off with the DoT unless you time this right to strike as the poison fades); Deadly Throw: OK, but Crippling Poison was more reliable for me since you get the universal cooldown when switching to throwing daggers; and Cloak of Shadows: Yes Yes Yes! We finally have an answer to those damn casters dropping a cubic buttload of DoT's on us then kiting us to death. I've use it in PvP and it does its job well.
OK, really, that's it for now"
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Fucker never listens to me. That's it, I'm an atheist.