Catalysm, The Future...

[Bananashroom]

omg its bored nanners casting wall of text again!

the future of world of warcraft is gonna be ugly. Lands will be destroyed, lives will be lose. one of our leaders will die while another will disappear. Welcome to world of warcraft, the game that we been playing for too long.

Firstly, this week being thanksgiving, im guessing a lot of people might not be around. for those who are into the Saving The Turkey campaign, we most probably gonna set up something to do and depending on how many we have. so do drop by and check up if you feel like doing something. heard of finishing up icc/uld achievements could be a possibility. if we dont have enough, there's a group of us thats been kicking ass/getting rape in bg daily. so you can l2pvp. This is in absence of the almighty Guild leader Frightening who will be back on the 30th nov(i think).

It should most likely be the shattering too. the day azeroth got pew pew by a dragon. Personally, i think im gonna level a druid at this time, since troll can be druid now and the questing will be somewhat a different experience.

There's word on the suramar forum of an epic battle going on in the southern barrens. a free for all horde vs alliance. not sure how confirm it is but it will be really cool to do it, heck we can even do it as a guild!

And there's those good old achievements. some might want to finish up whatever they can before more achievements added (lol to vel for not completing loremaster)

on this note, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in guild. May you be stuffed with turkey til you look like one.

[Bananashroom]

So 7th Dec is THE DAY! 3rd expansion, millions of changes and new stuff to explore!

So, whats you're leveling plan? im most likely gonna take off for 2 days to rush on leveling. i know i know some of you like to role play and enjoy the questing but but but, we are going into catalysm as the number 2 horde guild and joint 3rd(i think). we should be rushing to raid as fast as we can!

Being formed only in July. Our current progress is impressive. but catalysm is a fresh start. its time to show suramar what The Art of Ruin is about. This is to make a name for ourselves and walk around to shiny gears when people are still struggling trying to kill some bosses. we know we can be the best, and we know we want to.

i've been reading some random forums post. and i read about people asking for tips to get realm first lvl 85. as much as i want to, im being realistic and say that i cant do this lol. but what caught my attention is how much people actually prepare for the honour of being the first no life zombie player.

Here's a couple of tips i saw...
-Consumables. any leftover flask or food? use it for leveling! helps with be buff and may actually prevent that OMG WTF 1k HP LEFT!
-Knowledge is power. The beta players have a lot of videos/post about catalysm. yes they are spoilers in a way but some information could be useful. we're not paragon or ensidia. most of what we learn from dungeon/raids are from people from top guilds. they share this information to help other players. but just keep an open mind that strats are pretty open is most cases. it usually depends on your set up =p

To expand on the Knowledge is power part, here's what i have read about catalysm so far.

If i remember correctly, getting to lvl 83 will be quick. but the last 2 level will be the painful part. im not sure about the areas where leveling should be "easier" but i do remember that the lvl83 will be hard. so thats probably where we want to buddy up and do some group quest or something. Lots of the mobs hit hard too, so might want to have a slightly defensive spec or better if your class allows it, get a tank spec.

Thats all that i can think of at the moment, might update more if i get more info.

[Lydecker Lies]

Bananashroom wrote:

To expand on the Knowledge is power part, here's what i have read about catalysm so far..

Anyone wants to share their leveling plans? I still don't know what zone to head to, and I'm too lazy to look for names.

I think Hyjal is the first place to go? Meh.

[Savallia]

me n mast are willing and ready for the dungeon q's whenever :D

[Bananashroom]

did a little reading, beta testers mentioning about zone wise.

Most likely its gonna be Hyjal > Vashjir > Deepholm

someone suggest going Deepholm at lvl 82. the quest give a lot of xp but its a harder area to quest in at 82. so if you can self heal, you got an advantage for this.

to those with a gathering profession, i believe it gives xp. but dont go out of the way just to pluck them.

^ all this from mmo forum http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/787183-Realm-first-Level-85-tips-please/page3

Read if you feel like it. try it if you want to. all the best. oh dont forget we have a stash of gold if you get to lvl 85 first =p

oh and if you're gonna try for it, its said that it will take 24-30hrs to get to lvl 85 and 84-85 will take about 5hours and 80-82 is also 5hours =p

[-Bellasaer-]

For those of you who would rather not have their cataclysm experience somewhat spoiled, don't read this post.

For those of you who are interested in leveling as fast as possible, I can help you out a little bit.

I have had the beta since the first run of it went out (at the time I was playing on a computer that was below minimum specs, I assume that's why I got it). Basically, here's what happens.

Major cities are completely changed. There is a ton more stuff to find, blah blah. In the central area of each major city, a board is posted (I think its the call to arms board..or something like that). It tells you where you can go to quest. Sort of like WotLK (but moreso in cata), you aren't doomed to level in just one area. There are a ton of different routes you can take, so check the board.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, TRAIN AZEROTH FLYING ASAP AND GET OUT OF THE CITIES. I expect that they will crash at least once during the first few waves of players, maybe that's just cynicism, but I have a feeling. You can purchase this from the flight-master, I'm not entirely sure where he is in Org, but in stormwind he is right next to the old flight master, so I assume org will be the same (top level in the middle of the central area). This is where it gets a bit tricky.

You can take the portal to moonglade that is available in the cities once you complete the quest from the board(it takes you to the dude). Go to the Moonglade...eventually leading up to an event where you have an intro to Mount Hyjal while flying on a drake (you see some cool shit, btw). After that happens, quests galore open. Hyjal is pretty damn sweet, but I kind of expect it to be overrun with people. There are quests spread all around the zone, so don't restrict yourself to one area, especially if it is overrun.

Another option is to just go straight to Vashj'ir. There's a hell of a lot of stuff going on here...you could probably level all the way to 85 just in this area...it is split into multiple sub-zones. It is the underwater zone of the western coast of E. Kingdoms. There is also a portal that will take you there after completing the quest in the major city, with another lead-in event that's pretty alright.

There's also the option to go straight to Deepholme...which is 82-83. I don't really know if this is actually a good idea or not, but I can tell you that level 85 mobs tend to have around 70-110k health. They are killable, but it isn't very time efficient to do so at 80 (not like many people would try, but regardless). If quests are open to level 80s here at the outset of the expansion, it wouldn't be too difficult to do this zone, and you avoid a large chunk of the player base.

This is the important part. Dungeons are going to be critical, and getting them done quickly and often will be equally vital. IN ORDER TO DO THE DUNGEON, you must discover it first. Then you can queue for it like normal. This post from WoWwiki outlines where they can be found.

* Blackrock Caverns, level 80-81,
--located inside Blackrock Mountain near the entrance to Blackrock Spire, with agents of the Twilight's Hammer
* The Throne of the Tides, level 80-81, [71, 29]
--in the Abyssal Depths of Vashj'ir, located deep within the Abyssal Maw
* The Vortex Pinnacle, level 82-84, [77, 84]
-in the Skywall above the southern sea of Uldum, set on platforms in the sky
* The Stonecore, level 82-84, [47, 52]
in Deepholm above the Throne of Earth
* The Lost City of the Tol'vir, level 85, [61, 64]
in the center of Uldum, an outdoor dungeon
* The Halls of Origination, level 85, [72, 52]
-in the large eastern temple in Uldum, a new Titan-themed dungeon with Brann Bronzebeard
* Grim Batol, level 85, [19, 54]
on the hill overlooking the Wetlands in Twilight Highlands, an old Dwarven city utilized by Deathwing

--Also, expect to wipe in these dungeons. Yeah...I said that. Having guild groups for normals won't be much of an issue, we will outgear them for the first 2 levels or so. Heroics are difficult. Some of the encounters will challenge you. Getting into heroics right at 85 is probably not advised...the instance will simply outgear you. Being that we aren't shit at this game...I expect that guild groups won't have nearly the trouble that I have had in pugs. As evidence...in Heroic Stonecore (with a premade character of item level equivalent to what blizzard expects in heroics), it generally took about 5-6 trash wipes to get to the first boss.

This is a lot of text. My fault. I don't want to ruin any surprises about what happens (I didn't play very much of the beta for that reason...I kinda want to experience it for myself too), but at least from my perspective, this is the best expansion by a fair margin. The music is sick, all the redesigned zones are fuckin sweet, and the quests are actually fun. At least...I had fun doing the few that I did...heh.

So all in all...the 7th can't come soon enough.

[Lydecker Lies]

So, since you said dungeons are vital, should we go around exploring before commiting to leveling? Or that makes no sense at all?

This will be my first expansion, I'm a wotlk baby, and I'm really excited.

[GM Fright]

Hello. My name is Frightening, and I approve this message.

The faster you get to 85, the faster you'll be able to start getting gear, the better you'll perform in raids, the more likely you'll earn your raiding spot. Also, if you're not even 85 yet when we start raiding, that's not good for you either.

[Lydecker Lies]

WTB update on when we'll start raiding, so I can take my sweet time leveling since I'll be on summer vacation <3

[GM Fright]

We'll start raiding when we have enough people to 85 to form a raid. Hopefully the week after the expansion, so the 14th? Maybe? Can't say for sure, unfortunately, but that sounds like as good a goal as any.

[-Bellasaer-]

I guess I'll continue onward with this discussion, for those of you who are interested (basically those of you wanting to get into raiding as soon as possible), there are a few more critical points to make.

CHECK YOUR REP FACTION REWARDS...and plan accordingly. Elitist jerks tends to be on top of their game for this (link the the rogue forum - http://elitistjerks.com/f78/t109652-cataclysm_rep_pve_rewards_rogues/ ), so there is a starting reference for possibly a few other classes.

Different classes will obviously want to start different reputations at different times. That's on you if you want to optimize it appropriately. The next major point that cannot be stressed enough is to DO TOL BARAD. DO IT A LOT AND DO IT OFTEN. (That's what she said.) Tol Barad rep rewards are great....and there are a lot of them. Check it--

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/597-Hellscream-s-Reach-Cataclysm-Faction

Also just for the record, that drake is seriously cool shit. I want to get it and ride around on it before a lot of people have it...just to look awesome for a little while at least.

A final point I can make before I get bored (and this might be another important discussion in terms of raid-readiness), having "guild crafters" might not be a bad idea, especially if the goal is to get into raiding the week after the leveling blitz starts. I don't like the idea of "guild crafters" at all...(at all), but if we combine our efforts we can ensure that we have crafters with the ability to make everything we need. I have only looked at leatherworking patterns, but there are a lot of important things to get that will easily be BiS gear pre-raids. Here's a link (it's a bit shoddy, but it works) to a list of confirmed leatherworking patterns...you can find what you want on this list and plan accordingly to stock up the necessary mats, and ideally we will have someone ready and able to craft them. --

http://kaliope.crafterstome.com/2010/09/cataclysm-leatherworking-recipes-from.html

I know for me personally...I'm going to be working my ass off trying to get maxed enchanting ready to go as quickly as I can. No way in hell I am trying for the server first, but I intend on being in the top few percent, just so we'll be ready to go with that.

More information to come along later...I know these posts are long and probably boring as hell...but I think there is vital information that will get people thinking and preparing for the blitz.

[-Bellasaer-]

I just want to reiterate this thing because I think the name is funny as fuck.

http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/62465/stump-of-time/

[Sterne1140]

Eax, thanks for all the very good info. I have drilled into a few discussions about leveling and have come to the conclusion that running instances will be the best bet imo. I guess the xp/min gain can be slightly higher by running quests, but that assumes that there won't be 200 people in the same area killing the same thing that you are trying to kill.

Also, I plan on having a full 25 daily quests completed and ready to turn in on day one of the expansion. The reputation/xp gain from archeology will be substantial, so don't ignore that either.

I have briefly touched on guild bonuses, but still not sure of the exact benefits. Do we get added xp bonuses for meeting certain guild achievements? Do we get access to certain items that those in lesser guilds will not get? Please enlighten me.

[Sterne1140]

On another note, I really don't like rage grinding quests to level. I would much rather run 5 man instances till I puke. I like to take my time running quest lines and actually read the quests and get into the lore behind them. So, I will pretty much be living in instances until 85. At which point I will come out and start my quest lines and rep runs.

I am just getting all sorts of warm and fuzzy thinking about the expac. Fun times ahead!

[-Bellasaer-]

Krayak wrote:

I am just getting all sorts of warm and fuzzy thinking about the expac. Fun times ahead!

That.