World of Warcraft

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I've just started playing in the past few days. Level 9 human warrior called Sheepyshelly

I must say, murlocs are tough little buggers!

[ February 07, 2007, 13:14: Message edited by: Shell ]

 

Lv.32 now and have to say that the poor AI annoys me to no end. For one, you are always handicapped against them. They always know where you are, they always get where you are, and they never give up or flee (if you excuse that sorry attempt of "running away in fear"). They also become auto-magically resistant to your spells if there is even the slightest difference in level when you have to struggle to get some pansy 5% resistance to any element.

Second, über-level NPCs. Like said in Gamer's Manifesto, why the heck do they send some lv.1 suckers to do anything when they have a town full of lv.65 elite-guards? One of *them* could take a stroll to that infested mine and clear it up hands-behind-back, blind-folded, and stripped of equipment save for Pants of Ultimate Doom (requires lv.65, 100 str, 200 engineering, and mother's permission).

And, ridicilous enough when considering the story, I had a pretty friendly meeting with an undead player, when we both were clearing out some wyverns. So much for the "great war." Couldn't had stabbed him in the guts even if I had wanted. Come to think of it, you can't even stab those annoying NPCs that turn friendly right after trying to kill you.

Incidentally, cuss-words are censored too, so no saying baddy-bad words to them either. Even if they had half the brain to understand what "rip head off, dump on the remains" means.

 

Actually you can turn off the auto-censor in your interface options menu... if you play Battlegrounds you'll need to if you want to understand what your team is saying (read: yelling about) half the time.

Horde players can't understand what Alliance players are saying and the opposite. However they can understand the default emotes such as /yes /no /hello /laugh /pity etc.

As for your undead friend you're obviously on a PvE server (Normal Server) and not a PvP server. I play PvP servers and don't be surprised if an opposing faction player waits just till you've killed an NPC mob before jumping you. Actually according to the story the Horde and Alliace aren't exactly in a state of 'war', rather in border disputes and small skirmishes.

As for the level of the NPCs they're just there to impose anti-pvp balances. If they were lower level than the players who do the quests in the area (especially the starting quests) then higher level players from the opposing faction could kill all the quest givers in the town, preventing the lower level characters from doing anything. It's a sacrifice of realisim for fun, any Horde character who is questing in the barrens will understand that when they return to town and find that the last Alliance raid killed all the quest givers and merchants. Waiting for NPC respanws is nobody's idea of fun.

Finally, as for enemies resisting your spells, obviously you haven't played a physical class. The higher the level the enemy the higher their resistances are to you, as well as their defenses. A warrior for example will miss more, the enemy will parry/dodge/block more and when he does hit he will do less damage, in turn the enemy will do more damage to him. If the level difference is substansial enough then the warrior will only be able to deal 'glancing blows' (at least 50% damage reduction) against the mob an in turn the player will recieve 'crushing' (often double) damage from the enemy.

 

actually running away from mobs does make them return to thier spawn area, unless you damage them while running (read dots).

spider silk boots are still one of the greatest boots casters can get around lvl 24 (i think it is), at my server at least before TBC they went for 4g.

and as abomination points out, the auto-censor can be turned off.

 

Running away is not possible, since you usually die before you get even half-way anywhere and, in dungeons, the monsters never give up. They home in like flies to fresh carcass. Furthermore, they often score "dazing" hits that slow you down to a crawl.

And, of couse, why should you run from a pesky lv.1 murloc at all, who is so willing to jump to the sword only to respawn two minutes later? It's so unrewarding when everything you do is undone soon after.

Perhaps I should had taken one of those servers, especially since you then, at least, know that every horde player is an enemy. Today some Blood Elf somehow managed to attack me even though I had PvP disabled. What's up with that?

Exactly. Why should they get such bonuses out of nowhere when players basically have no means to gain similar benefits?

Yea, I can understand that, but I'm thinking along the lines of RTS/FPS hybrid here. If one of the factions manage to kill everyone in a town, then why that town isn't removed from the game then? Or change side? It would give a great incentive to have 40 vs. 40 player raids with even low-levelers being able to help out.

 

Then it wasn't an enemy player but an NPC. Or prehaps you just attacked a 'guard' (an NPC with the Horde faction next to their portrait) that turned your PvP status on.

Because if you've ever attacked an enemy that's of lower level to you, you'll take them down in a matter of seconds.

Because this is an MMO RPG with many players doing many things. Certainly it doesn't have the 'reaslisim' of say Morrowind or Oblivion in that if you kill the town then the town is dead. To remove the town from the game would simply mean that once a faction has an advantage they can continue to use said advantage untill the opposing faction's cities are ALL wiped out. Then where's the incentive to play? Blizzard wouldn't make any money by having a game with an end, the idea of an MMORPG is that there is no end to the game. You just keep playing and interacting with other players.

As for running away from enemy mobs, it's possible, I do it often. Being a priest running away is often very easy, shield yourself, regen and just run. Sure they slow you down occasionally but you shouldn't put yourself in that situation in the first place. 'Pulling' is an artform where you convince an enemy to fight you in a location of your choosing rather than just running in like Leeroy Jenkins.

 

That had to be it then, since I killed this NPC fisherman for fun while the player was doing something else. Strange, though, that I got no notifications about the matter and I didn't even suspect that the player could attack me five minutes later.

That's not the problem. The problem is that there are "invisible" bonuses that come out of nowhere. E.g: the magic-resistance. There are clear, laid-out rules for that: you take equipment, equipment grants you resistance to a specific class of resistance (fire, shadow, etc), and that resistance helps you to shrug off harmful spells.

But if you got a few level difference, what is the point of that when you gain resistance anyway? And why should the enemy be able to resist your spells without paying a buck of it? And why should a lv.14 character be completely superior to lv.10 character even when their stats were 100% identical?

Yes, money. Better to have a stalemate than living, changing world shaped by the players. It's just a matter of how you do it and since Blizzard has been squeezing money out of WoW for years, you would think that they could cope with the new player-iniated changes. Winning all towns does not necessarily mean "the end" of the game any more than US occupying all the cities of Iraq.

Oh, that's easy when you want to *pull* enemies to you, but I'm speaking about "running away" as in "fleeing the scene tail between your legs." Which has been, like I was saying, made impossible due of monsters being natively faster, having immobilizing skills, their hits slowing you down, and running away risking aggroing more monsters.

It's counter-intuitive too, since even if you manage to escape from a lone monster in the generic world (where they don't chase you all the way to the exit of the instance), they instantly regenerate to full health. It's simply better to kill them all or die in attempt. Which would be okay if they didn't respawn like new a few minutes later.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you respawn a couple of minutes/seconds later in either case?

For all it's failings Wordplay I think you've bought an orange and after biting into it expect it to taste like an apple. You're playing an MMORPG, not an RPG.

If you're fighting more than one enemy at once you're missing the point. You're not supposed to take on more than one enemy your level (sometimes you can manage two or three depending on how good your gear is). If you're getting killed by more than one enemy then I dare say the fault isn't with the game, you're the one making the mistake of trying to fight more than one at a time.

 

I mean, me and Abom could probably take on 2 or 3 at a time. That's because I know what the gear is for the low levels and I know how to get it. I also know how to play each class to best effect after playing the game for months (I'm starting to get the itch again after a lengthy break away, I just don't have to necessary time to devote to it anymore). A new player full of greens should not be taking on more than one mob at a time.

 

You should Barmy, I'm playing alliance on Shattered Halls PvP and we are outnumbered 3-1 by the Horde, its a nightmare when trying to grind in contested areas. Luckily I met this lad who I've been playing with for a week or so, hes quite experienced so hes teaching me the ropes and weve ganked a mob of horde the same level as us more than once. I'm having alot of fun on this server so if you decide to join a new one we need every last man! One thing that is annoying is the amount of Blood Elfs playing on this server, I'm killing them on sight now as they make atleast 60% of Horde and easily outnumber alliance on their own. However alot of them seem to be new like me so although outnumbered 3-1 alliance players tend to be more experienced which makes for some really fun PvP raids. Currently level 33 so let me know if your interested in joining the fight.

 

running away is quite easy in the outside world, get a bit away from the spawning area and the monster will allways return there. you play a priest, use your shield spell and fear when running.
in dungeonms you cant run, so die and do a corpse-run to the instance portal or bring a shaman/warlock/paladin, whom all three have varius ways of cheating death, making recovery after a bad pull easy.

secondly wtf did you expect, that only you could solve the quests and then the world would be forever changed, so no other player could do it....welcome to mass MMO's. dont expect singleplayer stuff.

either that was an NPC or you somehow flagged yourself for pvp, considering how easy it is to see if you flag yourself i asume it was an npc.

Players gain the exact same benifits in pvp and to a lesser degree in pve. try fighting a low lvl spellcaster player or npc.

@Barmy I feel your pain, havent had timne to play WoW since i started on the university. went from regular raiding, to not having time to play in a couple of weeks, i kinda missed it, cause WoW is like a drug.

 

@ Duffin - Alliance? Pff, not on your nelly. I've been there done that, and Horde is just more fun . Trust me!

@ Equester - Yeah, it is a bit like a drug! Unfortunately, I usually work till around 5pm, and our lass would go spare if I just sat on the PC all night playing a game. Then my weekends are full of the girt and beer. I just don't have the time to play to justify the subscription!

 

@ Abomination

So it's my fault if I can't run away after two, high-level NPC guards suddenly pop out of nowhere and decide to trash me? (Which is the main-point here.)

Yes, players do respawn quite soon too. Dying is almost like taking a stroll in the graveyard, isn't it?

I didn't say that. Otherwise you are right.

 

Well, yes it is your fault. I mean, the guards were there first and you walked there. I can't see how it could possibly be anyone else's fault. Be aware of your surroundings.

 

Don't take it too literally. It could be anything else too, knowing how generously the devs have scattered all kinds of enemies across the maps.

For example: if you are risking some monsters that are slightly above your level (say: two levels above you) and accidentally pull two of them, getting away is very risky even if you leave right away.

Or, like happened to me a few days ago, if you stumble upon two gate-guards in Thousand Needles, where it is sometimes rather hard to see what is behind the corner. Popped in for a second, spotted two high-level guards, dead ten seconds later after a short chase, since the AI immediately rushes after you.

Cases like this just make running away seem pointless. And when we start talking about real players, it's not even worth mentioning. That was what I wanted to say.

 

Best way I can explain it is to live and learn. I suffered those same problems awhile back but now I only ever die when I know I'm taking a risk before I even make a move. I guess it's all about knowing what you can take on and what you can't.

Being aware of your surroundings is so important. Being prepared to run at a moment's notice when in unfamiliar territory is also something you need to know.

Perhaps you should invest into some eagle type gear (+ stamina, + intelligence) or whale gear (+ stamina, + spirit) since you seem to die way too easy in my opinion.

 

Really? I didn't know we were on the same server, same continent, much less than playing same time in same instance in the same guild.

No, I don't die often. Usually the only times I die come from respawns (a lá surrounded by 5 blood-thirsty monsters that literally came out of nowhere), while trekking through higher level area (where low-levelers act like magnets to the monsters), or my party making a bad pull (overwhelmed). I'm simply critisizing the AI and mechanics of the game, which could be a lot better.

 

played it for a while, gave up because it felt more like work than a game, my best char was a lvl 48 rogue on bladefist.

 

Regarding the discussion about how you can have no real impact on the game world, I seem to recall something.
Some time ago, some guys were developing some rpg (has been some time since I heard about this thing, can't remember what and when) that the players could really affect. They developed it for a long time, designing all kinds of stuff. And then, after the first days of beta testing, the project was cancelled. The reason? It all went apes**t, no more quests, players killing anyone they wanted etc. Even monsters were quickly on shortage.

I guess it's just a law of nature that you can't have something like that with so many players

 

actually thier are a couple of games out thier where you can impact the world, they are general based around city building mmo's. but even in the old ultima, the mother of MMO's, you could build houses etc and destroy them.

also the MMO age of conan, will according to the faq feature city/castel building, building of siege engines and so forth, so its really up to what you choose to focus on. WoW seems to focus on raiding and has put in some pvp to keep the none raiders paying.