World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

JM1 · 2010-10-12T10:09:22.000Z

Athryn:

It might be in this patch, I know that change is live in the beta, but I didn’t check the PTR.

PTR is 100g for dualspec.

Jag · 2010-10-12T10:15:52.000Z

Andrew:

Yes, as of a few days ago I’d downloaded everything, but there was an additional bit to download today. Now it is done with that and is doing the actual patching, which is taking quite a while.

Right which is nice to be able to do now while the servers are still down. I love that Logmein lets me work on my home PCs while at work!

Athryn · 2010-10-12T10:16:03.000Z

Andrew:

Yes, as of a few days ago I’d downloaded everything, but there was an additional bit to download today. Now it is done with that and is doing the actual patching, which is taking quite a while.

After that patching there is more downloading!

Nathan_Phoenix · 2010-10-12T10:24:39.000Z

just unpacking the patch took almost two hours on my laptop with a slower hard disk.

edit

okay, after the unpacking, now it downloaded a new launcher, that launchers shows 1.4 gb more to download. It shows, however, that 54 mb of that is ‘setup’, 481 mb as ‘available’, and 852 mb as ‘playable’. So presumably after downloading around 535 megs of that I’ll be able to play, if I understand it correctly.

edit mk2

Was actually able to hit play after the first 54 mb was complete, but servers are not up yet, and probably wont be for another hour and a half.

Syzygy · 2010-10-12T10:49:03.000Z

LesJarvis:

Phew, OK, good, you guys had me worried.

I’m feeling really down on this patch for a variety of reasons. It’s basically turning the existing game into a live beta for expansion mechanics, which really irks me.

Then you may get a laugh out of the fact that the launcher for retail now reads “Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test!”

Dreamshadow · 2010-10-12T10:58:10.000Z

But they did this at the 3.0 launch too, just before Lich King. The changes weren’t as severe at the time, but they used a month long window before LK to let people settle into what were major changes to the system.

Edit: And Athryn already said this…so… uh… squirrel!

Ranulf · 2010-10-12T11:43:03.000Z

JM:

You can’t get in there with the random tool with <4k GS, but 30k HP is another thing entirely. I, as a tank, had 28k HP when I did Heroic FOS/POS and they were easy. Sorry.

In fact the only hard bit was those packs before the tunnel gauntlet, and that was just because of the flame mages. Resistance auras helped there.

Yes, you can get in there sub 4k gearscore, I’ve seen it happen. And no I don’t buy that you did heroic version with 28k and it being easy if you all had under 5k gearscore. Its possible but requires high dps, CC, and a good healer with high mana/regen.

LesJarvis · 2010-10-12T11:47:18.000Z

No, it really doesn’t. Literally the only thing it requires is for people to not DPS during mirrored soul (and if their DPS is low they can knock themselves out), and for people to not stand in the mouth laser.

Ranulf · 2010-10-12T11:49:14.000Z

Syzygy:

Then you may get a laugh out of the fact that the launcher for retail now reads “Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test!”

Makes sense since this is a 2month beta test for everything that isn’t what they consider for sale content of Cata. Namely the insanely stupid raid lockout changes for ICC/RS. I have no real problem with the other changes (yet anyway) going in early but the raid lockout just grinds my gears. It doesn’t even affect me much but I also have little reason or interest in running ICC again.

Soapyfrog · 2010-10-12T11:53:55.000Z

I like the lockout changes… what’s wrong with them?

BDGE · 2010-10-12T12:11:55.000Z

So supposedly the upcoming 4.03 patch is the one with all the new world content? (Quests, etc…)

Actually come to think of it, what exactly does the retail box offer for paying customers…I mean if everyone gets the world reboot, quests, and roster-esque class and skill changes. Is it just the new starting zones, playable races, and raid dungeons that box buyers have access to?

Mike_Cathcart · 2010-10-12T12:18:18.000Z

And the new zones and the ability to level past 80.

Ranulf · 2010-10-12T12:21:06.000Z

Soapyfrog:

I like the lockout changes… what’s wrong with them?

They’re cutting out half the raid content (being able to do 10 and 25mans in ICC and RS) all to test their new Cataclysm “flexible” system. ICC gear is not designed for this and its a nightmare for many working on achievements and figuring out if someone is locked to an instance or can swap to 10 or 25. Mostly its a nerf on running dual heroic raids (10 and 25man).

Also, is it me or did they combine the launcher and the downloader? Thus, even after it was done patching and the “non critical” bits it had to download (that took about 10minutes) I was still uploading patch data on their P2P setup? How nice of them to make sure they’re using all my upload bandwidth.

RLMullen · 2010-10-12T12:33:30.000Z

Ranulf:

Also, is it me or did they combine the launcher and the downloader? Thus, even after it was done patching and the “non critical” bits it had to download (that took about 10minutes) I was still uploading patch data on their P2P setup? How nice of them to make sure they’re using all my upload bandwidth.

You are probably seeing the new streaming patcher. It basically lets you start playing before the patch is finished. If you play in the “unfinished” state the game will download missing bits as needed.

Jag · 2010-10-12T12:36:45.000Z

I didn’t realize that the ICC buff is gone now as well, not that I planned on ever going back there.

Dreamshadow · 2010-10-12T12:39:35.000Z

Jag:

I didn’t realize that the ICC buff is gone now as well, not that I planned on ever going back there.

I thought it was Chill of the Throne that was gone? I’m not seeing the patch notes for the removal of Strength of Wrynn / (horde equiv)

Athryn · 2010-10-12T12:47:39.000Z

It’s just chill of the throne that’s gone.

Ranulf · 2010-10-12T13:36:12.000Z

RLMullen:

You are probably seeing the new streaming patcher. It basically lets you start playing before the patch is finished. If you play in the “unfinished” state the game will download missing bits as needed.

No it was after the streaming bit had finished.

Jag · 2010-10-12T13:38:53.000Z

4pm PDT now.

Shimarenda · 2010-10-12T13:39:46.000Z

I like the new 10/25 lockout system, but introducing it before the expansion leaves a number of groups in the lurch. The 25-man raid I go with has several people who also run 10s on the same character, so we’re not sure how short we will be starting tonight.

As for addons, I had managed to scale back to just 2 addons: zHunter and Mountiful. I’ve been healing with the default UI and raid frames for quite a while now with no problems. zHunter just saved a lot of bar space, but it hasn’t been maintained in a couple of years. It will probably break. Mountiful I will probably just ditch. The current way Blizzard gives out mounts and pets pulled the rug out from under the alt I chose for to be my collector.