So Cata... thoughts?

Post by **Roman Totale** » December 11th, 2010, 15:13

I'm really torn as to whether to start playing this again.

On the one hand I'm sure there'll be many more hours of good fun; but on the other I don't know if I can be bothered relearning my main class, and I jut see hours of profession farming stretching ahead of me.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » December 11th, 2010, 15:34

I'm sort of tempted to get the expansion for my Christmas break. Do you get 30 days game time included? I could handle starting one of the new races and seeing the changes to the old world.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 11th, 2010, 15:38

No free time with an expansion.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » December 11th, 2010, 16:06

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:No free time with an expansion.

That's tight. I probably won't bother then.

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » December 17th, 2010, 19:09

You can get a 10 day demo for free I understand.

:D

Post by **Roman Totale** » December 17th, 2010, 19:12

I really cannot get back into this.

Might start a new character to see if it's easier to relearn from scratch, but it's rather frustrating that all my money and decent gear is on a character I probably won't use again.

Post by **Joose** » December 17th, 2010, 19:30

Roman Totale wrote:I really cannot get back into this.

Might start a new character to see if it's easier to relearn from scratch

It very much is. Thats one of the main reasons I have so many characters, I make a new one every time I restart in order to get back into the swing of things.

but it's rather frustrating that all my money and decent gear is on a character I probably won't use again.

You can always just mail yourself the money...

Post by **Roman Totale** » December 17th, 2010, 19:37

With the money thing, I meant that for ensuring a steady supply of gold it will mean grinding up another profession - and I really hate doing that.

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 17th, 2010, 19:58

You make money from your profession? I never did.

I know what you mean though. After not playing for a few months, item stats changing, and the whole talent system being shook up, I have very little idea how to play Soncho. My new Goblin Warrior, however, I'm picking up well as I go along with the benefit of experience I didn't have the first time round.

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » December 26th, 2010, 17:22

narf the game just throws gold at you, especially in instances etc. And with loads of peeps rolling goblins etc low level mats are going for loads as well - made a fortune selling off old enchanting stuff, lol!

:D

Post by **Roman Totale** » December 26th, 2010, 18:28

Well I've managed to pick most things up again now (expect for the Death Knight), but I still think overall there are severe limitations for anyone new enjoying the game.

Anything that relies on 3rd party add ons (the default Blizzard UI is bloody awful) and regular consultation of the wiki to work out what you're supposed to be doing is flawed on a basic level.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 26th, 2010, 18:38

What have you had problems with? aside from the awful UI, which is (IMO) fine for getting into the game, but once you have bad habits, shit.

I'm not sure I've had to consult external sites for any cata quests I've done (at this point, all of them) aside from a few broken ones.

The in game questhelper works pretty well, and makes life easy.

Post by **Roman Totale** » December 26th, 2010, 19:42

It's not quests I've had a problem with - it's finding places. Considering there's been a massive change to the game, there seems to be very little in the way of "oh by the way, that's not here any more, it's over there" e.g. I didn't realise the portals from Dalaran had disappeared. I don't even know where I'm supposed to send my level 80 character.

As for the UI, it's not even bad habits - the default one is just unworkable the further into the game you get. Just looking at my (customised) action bar now, I have 34 powers, not including hot buttons for potions, food, mounts etc etc. With the Blizzard UI you just end up with a screen full of buttons.

Post by **FatherJack** » December 26th, 2010, 20:22

Roman Totale wrote:It's not quests I've had a problem with - it's finding places. Considering there's been a massive change to the game, there seems to be very little in the way of "oh by the way, that's not here any more, it's over there" e.g. I didn't realise the portals from Dalaran had disappeared. I don't even know where I'm supposed to send my level 80 character.

As for the UI, it's not even bad habits - the default one is just unworkable the further into the game you get. Just looking at my (customised) action bar now, I have 34 powers, not including hot buttons for potions, food, mounts etc etc. With the Blizzard UI you just end up with a screen full of buttons.

I think I had a letter, plus signs in the major cities telling me I was wanted in Dogrimmer, though admittedly they did sound a little bit like the 'call to arms' arena messages I've always ignored. The portals disappearing did rather take me aback though - but that's also when I realised it's not about Northrend any more, that was so last expansion.

I use Bartender, but I don't think I have any extra buttons on top of what you can get with the default. My other plugins are just convenience things, I can live without them if needed.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 26th, 2010, 20:31

I honestly had no issues with that, I was parked up in org, saw a few quests, took them, followed the arcs all the way to 85.

and yeah, the standard UI is pretty shit, but if you really need that many buttons in your interface, you might do well to do some reading and work out a decent rotation/prio.

Right now, for DK tanking I have:

3 always in use buttons.
4 threat multiplier buttons.
7 Survival cooldowns

The rest of my lovely messy UI is filled with fluff, basically. very situational skills, profession stuff and mounts. I could get away with the blizzard UI by enabling a few of the default extra bars if I cut all the crap out.

Still, I like the blizzard UI as what it is - the thing you use for the first 30-40 levels of your first character, not overwhelming, gives you enough to get by and doesn't need a great deal of thought.

All I use is bartender for my bars, xperl for nicer target dobbers, and sexymap because i can hide the buttons around my minimap, I have little over what the blizzard UI offers, just a bit more customised and fettled for my brain.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 26th, 2010, 20:41

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:you might do well to do some reading and work out a decent rotation/prio.

Oh, and don't take that to mean you have to read crap to play well, take it to mean you've spent a while not playing, and everything has changed, spend a few levels playing around working out what works best, or 5 minutes reading to save effort.

Post by **Roman Totale** » December 26th, 2010, 20:41

Oh I have a rotation - about 2 or 3 for normal fights, and around 5 for bigger ones (on the Priest this is). Again though it just strikes me as flawed that you have all these powers/abilities yet best practise is to only use a few of them.

Also I suppose I picked the wrong time to get back into this with regards to new quests - jumping back to Dog and it was saturated with quests, most of which were Christmas related things.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 26th, 2010, 20:47

Roman Totale wrote:Oh I have a rotation - about 2 or 3 for normal fights, and around 5 for bigger ones (on the Priest this is). Again though it just strikes me as flawed that you have all these powers/abilities yet best practise is to only use a few of them.

I see what you mean, but it kinda makes sense to me, if you did want to use 10-15 powers in a fight, you'd need a retarded UI, and to avoid the only using a few of them issue, they'd all have to do effectively the same thing.

If not, you would just gravitate to the spells that do more damage for less mana.

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » December 27th, 2010, 1:06

Macros are the way forward! Does make it less interesting but sooo much easier!

:D

Post by **FatherJack** » December 27th, 2010, 22:53

Guybrush wrote:Macros are the way forward! Does make it less interesting but sooo much easier!

:D

I have always used them, but some seem to have stopped working now, not least because some of the spells have changed name.

Code: Select all

/castsequence reset=target/combat Corruption,Bane of Agony,Life Tap,Drain Life,Health Funnel,Shoot

seems to stop after Corruption now.