[WoW] 2.3 Levelling changes - some details released

[Plorkyeran]

Originally Posted by Samflam

No one asked why you weren't casting earth shield?
Anyways, personally I prefer getting into groups as the role I'm specced for (enhancement). That way the hunters/melee dps classes don't get pissy when their healer rolls on that +AP mail/high dps weapon... I'm not running five mans to get healing gear, I want actual upgrades to my enhancement set (I don't raid, so 5 mans/(soon to be) heroics will be my main source of gear).

You don't get Earth Shield until 50, which is fairly late in the leveling process. Also, a huge number of alliance have no idea what shaman do anyway other than that they have dps and healing specs.

[Hozz]

Originally Posted by Drave

Anything to improve transportation would fucking sweet. Seriously. That's probably the most annoying part of it all is slow-ass-running, even after getting a low-level alt bound at Shat. (Is it EQ taboo to say that druids need teleports?)

Yeah as someone with one main, used to epic flying and land mounts...playing an alt is just painful. I cant do it, the travel is too slow.

[Samflam]

Originally Posted by Plorkyeran

You don't get Earth Shield until 50, which is fairly late in the leveling process. Also, a huge number of alliance have no idea what shaman do anyway other than that they have dps and healing specs.

Ah, I thought we were talking about TBC 5 mans. Lower level dungeons, I agree; easy to heal no matter the spec.

[Zerai]

Originally Posted by Samflam

No one asked why you weren't casting earth shield?

If the average WoW player knew what another classes spell was called I'd be shocked. I usually play with 3 other people, so sadly we don't fill a group and usually need a pickup. Our requirements is merely that they don't fuck up the group. It's amazing how low your expectations can be when playing with pickups. I'm ecstatic when they attack the mob I tell them to attack, even when it's marked.

[DisgruntledOrangatang]

So do we have % values confirmed from test realm?

I heard 15% reduction for xp required to level, but we didn't get any value on quests either. Anyone can confirm both those values?

[lumberjack]

Originally Posted by dak

If every 5-man in WoW from level 20 to 70 was accessible at any level, scaled in difficulty according to players in the instance(like CoH), had a new loot table every 5 levels and could all be accessed from a central hub in every major city would WoW be a better game?

Or would having all content at once = less content in the end?

personally i don't see very many people doing that instance in the human city very much at max level.....

sorry it's been a few months since i've played WoW so my memory isn't that great

[Algol Devilstar]

Originally Posted by mek

Meh. This already exists in wow, holy/prot/resto specs are useless pre-70 (and at 70 in non-heroics) because they're not needed to adequately serve that function in a 5man group. There are no classes that rely on a group, and if you've specced pre-70 to rely on a group then you better have one, cause there's no reason to otherwise. So long as you lug around a spare set of gear for your alternate role, you can easily tank as a dps spec, or heal as a dps spec. When I was leveling a shadow priest (and when I was leveling a enhancement shaman) I just lied and said I was heal specced to get into groups, nobody ever noticed (since pugs are retarded).

The latest healing->dmg changes are more than we could have ever asked for, resto shamans, holy priests, and resto druids will be very, very happy. Holy pallies are still fucked though, enjoy your extra consecrate damage or something.

No one armory'd you? =P

[Algol Devilstar]

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

So do we have % values confirmed from test realm?

I heard 15% reduction for xp required to level, but we didn't get any value on quests either. Anyone can confirm both those values?

Curious if anyone knows this as well.

[mek]

Originally Posted by Zerai

If the average WoW player knew what another classes spell was called I'd be shocked.

Bingo. The average player doesn't give a fuck what anyone else is doing. Nobody ever pays any attention to the healer, until someone dies. THEN they get pissy. Healing as a spriest I happily dpsed whenever healing wasn't actively required and nobody ever complained.

[Elvis]

Originally Posted by mek

Bingo. The average player doesn't give a fuck what anyone else is doing. Nobody ever pays any attention to the healer, until someone dies. THEN they get pissy. Healing as a spriest I happily dpsed whenever healing wasn't actively required and nobody ever complained.

priest is a bit different beast though in my opinion. its easier to heal shadowspecced than it is feral specced for example since the holy tree doesnt offer you much besides some increased healing, lower mana cost etc. all the new abilities you actually get totally suck ass compared to a druid. holy nova/inspiration/spirit of redemption vs swiftmend/natures swiftness/tree of life.

healing without Ns and swiftmend gets loads trickier. healing without holy nova and inspiration ? yeah.

[Pyros]

Originally Posted by Elvis

priest is a bit different beast though in my opinion. its easier to heal shadowspecced than it is feral specced for example since the holy tree doesnt offer you much besides some increased healing, lower mana cost etc. all the new abilities you actually get totally suck ass compared to a druid. holy nova/inspiration/spirit of redemption vs swiftmend/natures swiftness/tree of life.

healing without Ns and swiftmend gets loads trickier. healing without holy nova and inspiration ? yeah.

While true, most of the low level instances preBC don't even require that much healing anyway, unless other people are being straight up idiots(HI POM PYRO ON BOSS PULL). I agree druid is the worst when it comes to offspec healing tho, but healing as a ret paladin, shadow priest or enhance shaman isn't hard at all at these levels, if you know how to be conservative on mana when dpsing so you can slap a heal every now and then, it's good enough.

When I was lvling my shadowpriest for example, all I'd need to do was use renew on the tank, and dps out of shadowform(aggro issues with newbie tanks) with vampiric embrace. On the paladin, JoL on most mobs for the rogue healing, and a few flash of light for the tank, enough.

[Draegan]

I remember tanking and healing as a shaman in RFD/RFK back in the day as a Tauren.

[Quineloe]

Cleared strat on PTR today, loots there unchanged and still shit.

Blue loot in other instances is amazing though.

[LadyVex]

I'd really like to see low level idols/totems/librams. It's kinda bs that other classes can get stats in that slot; even if it's just a crappy str/sta idol for my newbie feral druid it would be great. IT'S AN EMPTY SLOT GIVE IT TO ME.

Also, when talking about dps specs versus healing specs, you gotta remember often times what you're getting. I leveled up a priest on a pvp server, and I was mostly shadow; I could heal just fine but silence/mindflay/decreased fear timer etc were all so much more insanely useful compared to what you got in holy. You didn't get any special abilities that weren't shit, and +heal was the only thing to look forward to.

Whereas as a druid who went feral, your prime bonuses are only in feral forms, so once you swap you're just a healer, *period*. You can still heal fine but doing so you might as well have absolutely no talents at whatever level you are. As an spriest you would still at the least have things like spirit tap, black out, and a snare and silence that made trains and shit less likely to happen.

And when I leveled my shaman on alliance side people kept asking me to tank. I had played horde, but even I had an understanding of the class specs, the types of armor etc that they had to know that shamans can't fucking tank. (Well at max level; leveling up I tanked alot of instances for lack of a tank or because he was a retard. :P)

As far as the +dmg on the sets goes, I'm undecided. It's free so hey, pretty sweet, but if it's intended use is to not require us to get an additional set of gear, it will fail. It WILL be nice if I have downtime or suddenly find myself needing to cast lightning bolts instead being able to do decent dmg, but other than that I am not insanely impressed with the change.

Someone mentioned leveling up holy for a new person; it really doesn't matter. You don't know shit starting out, it's going to be fun no matter what since you don't know what to expect, and increasing your leveling time by being a different spec is probably what you want to do as a newbie to see more of the game. Increasing quest exp and decreasing the time to level will be a great help to old timers more than new, personally. And since every old person will already know appropriate leveling specs, you're good to go.

I too, leveled up a priest as holy, on horde side. I always ran around with a specific group and figured it was the best way to do it. Then when I rolled my alliance priest and went shadow, I thanked the fucking gods the spec existed.

Anyways, idols/totems/librams ok? Thanks!