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The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[WoW] 20th Anniversary update almost live.
Roe
Always to the EastRegistered User regular
Always to the EastRegistered User regular
The World Within is live.
Recently Season 1 has launched and Raiding and Delves are in full swing.
Recently Season 1 has launched and Raiding and Delves are in full swing.
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So yeah, that's the full schedule for the start of the expansion. Note that "Story Difficulty" is Story Mode so everybody, no matter what they do, will be able to see the end of the raid on Sept 17.
Myself, I have a week of vacation so I will be going all in on launch week, woo!
EDIT: Because there's a lot of commentary about it around, reminder that Mythic 0 dungeons are now in a daily lockout with the re-escaling of the dungeon rating system.
I’m super curious to see how the pre-launch release goes, that’s gonna be a tough weekend to not play for sure
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I made a bunch of characters to play specs I have not played or knew nothing about [a monk} in pandamonium So the talent reset is going to take a bunch of time to figure out with them. The campfire they are around is neat but how even alts I made on other realms and abandoned years ago are on the list is annoying
So I can transfer all the stuff to one character? or a bank or something?
You go into the currency tab on your character. When you mouse over a currency, it will tell you the percentage of that currency that will be spent to send an amount; so if you send a character 100 of a currency and it's taxed at 10%, they'll get 90. (If there is no fee it won't say 0%, it just won't say it has a transfer tax. This is admittedly a bit annoying, because without that note I haven't seen anything that lets one easily differentiate between currencies that can or can't be transferred between characters.)
When you click on a currency, some (but not all) will have a new button, transfer. From there you get a new little pop-up window with a drop-down menu, allowing you to pick which of your characters you want to move stuff around on, and then you just punch the amount you want to transfer.
You can't do this with gold, for some reason--even though if you click on your gold total in your backpack I think it opens up your currency tab.
As for things like crafting materials, your warband is supposed to have up to five bank tabs--think the crafting reagent tab--that you can put stuff into that everyone has automatic access to, but a. each tab costs a rapidly growing amount of gold (going from 1000 for your first to 2.5m for the fifth), and b. it's not working yet.
The term "account bound" no longer exists in the game; now an item that can be traded freely among all your characters but not given to other players is "warbound."
The several hours long delay for prepatch launch (now live) and all the current issues (Warband bank is now temporally disabled) all say as much.
Started with my monk, and the first thing I noticed is that her staff is showing up twice on my character model. One is slung over one shoulder, and is upside down, the other is slung over the other shoulder and is right side up. Looks like I am dual wielding staves, which I am not.
On a related note -- New WW monk feels soooooooo good. I'm probably not even running the most optimal build. I just threw something together. And I just jumped into a +2 to try it out, and it feels amazing. I think I might just stick with monk, and forego my aspirations of being a mage.
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/over-500-blizzard-entertainment-workers-form-wall-to-wall-union
That's pretty crazy, a team of this size and impact being fully unionized makes for an extremely powerful precedent in the gaming industry.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
My monk transmog the weapons into the bear gloves for silliness they showed up like ear warmers
I am just doing dungeons and such trying out and changing the ww spec as playing a monk finally in remix and relearning it is weird
Did anything cool happen? Will any of it matter for the new expansion?
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
As far as the story goes:
The dragonflights, learning that one of their most powerful enemies is free and is building a cult, go to the Dragon Isles, so called because they were their old haunt, back before the War of the Ancients and Neltharion's betrayal. The aspects--Alexstrasza, Ysera's daughter Merithra, Kalecgos, Nozdormu, and Wrathion--hope to find something that will restore the powers of being Aspects (i.e. the powers that made them demigods, not just powerful flying intelligent magic lizards), so they can fight the Incarnates, who have lost none of their power, if Raszageth is any measure.
Alexstrasza is concerned with ensuring that they recover every dragon egg they can and nurture them. She does this. She also takes for granted that the dragonkin who were left behind to maintain the Isles would just...do so without acknowledgement or anything else, because that was their place. She learns to value them. ...Alexstrasza does shockingly little for the character who is the centerpiece of all the major art advertising the game...though she does redeem a villain with the power of pussy friendship. And managed to avoid a truly awful daily quest being implemented into the live servers.
Wrathion intends to claim his father's power and redeem the black dragons--but his plans go awry...and he is rescued by Sabellian, who had gone to Draenor with Deathwing decades ago, but unlike his father, stayed there, along with several of their other kin. He recognized that being away from Azeroth weakened the influence of the Old Gods on their minds, allowing them to devise a method to purge the corruption. They also managed to find and cleanse a clutch of black dragon eggs on Outland. They are still much like the black dragons of old, but not insane, and Sabellian and Wrathion vie to become aspect...but then Ebyssian, who was there when Raszageth was awoken but then away until later in the expansion, shows up. He's content to remain an advisor, partly out of humility, and partly out of shame at what black dragons became and his inability to do anything about it, feeling unworthy of leadership. Sabellian and Wrathion soon realize that even if his disguise limited how much he knows about being a dragon, his age, wisdom, and desire to serve dragonkind rather than rule make him better-suited to watch over the black dragonflight than them. Humbled, Ebyssian insists that he will always need the advice of his general (Sabellian) and his diplomat (Wrathion).
Merithra both misses her mother and feels utterly inadequate to take over for her. However, it's important she steps up--the primalists are planning on assaulting the Emerald Dream, and that's where the seed for the new World-Tree will be going once it's ready to grow into a full tree, which will be soon. She discovers as well that the green dragons had a pact with a friendly society of centaur who live on the Dragon Isles to this day, and goes about renewing that pact.
Kalec muses that the blues are the least numerous and the least united of any flight, the few survivors having scattered across the world, but he begins to learn from the tuskarr living in the Dragon Isles that there's more to being a blue dragon than being a steward of arcane magic. When Raszageth comes, he, Khadgar, and the player character manage to hold off Raszageth's assault for a little while (and she got an indecisive win over Alexstrasza earlier in the expansion), but she's about to win--until a couple of dozen blue dragons arrive. They didn't arrive to be stewards of magic (Kalec was preventing Raszageth from accessing a locked tower that belonged to the blue dragons), they came to help out their family. That was what Kalec had been missing: they weren't just coworkers, they were kin. Senegos, the elderly blue dragon from Legion, was part of the rescue party, and soon after decides his time is at an end. He laughs off offers to try to extend his lifespan--he's already found plenty of artifacts and ancient spells and other methods to extend his life; how else did Kalec think Senegos lived so long? He told himself he was doing it until the flight could be restored--and now they are, so he wants to go on his own terms, quietly, at peace, and of natural causes perhaps the first blue dragon to have such a death in thousands of years.
As ever, Nozdormu is consumed with worry that he is doomed to become Murozond, the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight, the dragons who wish to reshape time willy-nilly to match their whims rather than carefully ensuring that one timeline is able to be maintained against all threats. The irrepressible Chromie decides she's going to prove to him that the future he sees as inevitable can be averted--succeeding in ways she almost certainly didn't expect. Specifically, she soon learns that the Infinites need not be hostile to the bronzes, once Nozdormu helps a member of the Infinites see why her personal pet project would just make the timeline worse, not just for everyone else but herself. She and this group of renegade Infinites tentatively begin to work with the bronze, though they are still a little more aggressive and inquisitive than the bronzes are comfortable with. They're the reason for Pandaria Remix, by the way--they just wanted to see what happened.
The aspects, and in particular Alexstrasza, believe that they may have a solution to regain their aspectral (as they start annoyingly calling them) powers. Tyr, the wisest and kindest of the Titan keepers, died long ago--but he was known to be so intelligent and farsighted he might have incorporated a contingency for it. Ultimately, they uncover plans for just that, and devise a way to forge a new body for him and incorporate a copy of Tyr's memories into the body. He's willing to help...but has also been dead for a dozen millennia and doesn't really have much to offer for the world as it is, and seems genuinely unsettled by how far the Titans' plans have gone astray (perhaps especially so in comparison to how his own plan to overcome death went off more or less without a hitch).
While the dracthyr have powers representing all five flights, they have the strongest connection to the black dragonflight, being a creation of Neltharion from before he became Deathwing. They were intended as soldiers, nothing more, learning nothing but battle their entire lives before being put to sleep and this recent awakening. They soon learn what their "father" became, and are shocked and appalled--not least that they were locked away in stasis because he considered them nothing more than failed experiments. Some of the dracthyr join the Alliance, some the Horde, but they think of themselves as dracthyr first, and for born soldiers seem utterly baffled by the idea of ever having to fight each other. Another group, however, seek to find meaning by reclaiming Neltharion's power for themselves, to prove they weren't failures at all. Their work reveals that Neltharion was going mad well before the other dragons thought, having given into the void all the way back in the War of Scales (some 3000 years before the War of the Ancients), as the conflict between the Aspects and the Incarnates was called, and performing horrible experiments in a secret underground laboratory. After confronting their creator's twisted legacy, the dracthyr decided to (if you'll forgive this expression) face what they can be, unburdened by what they have been.
Raszageth intends to break into the Vault of the Incarnates, where her fellows were imprisoned at the end of the War of Scales. She is slain--but not before freeing her fellows: Fyrakk, the dumb muscle of the group; Vyranoth, principled but cold; and Iridikron, utterly ruthless and utterly brilliant. Without Raszageth's strength and fervor, however, the group soon splinters. Vyranoth opposes the aspects for having, in the War of Scales, allowed the Titans' servants to change proto-drakes' eggs with the power of Order, something which Alexstrasza still feels guilt over. Fyrakk just wants to cause pain, get revenge, and become stronger, to the point where he imbues himself with shadowflame, becoming all but unstoppable and much more unstable. And Iridikron is playing some other, inscrutable, long-term game--making deals with beings who have nothing to do with the battle between the aspects and the incarnates and then peacing the fuck out of the fight entirely. After realizing how far gone her comrades in arms are, and reconnecting with Alexstrasza, Vyranoth defects, bringing a sizable portion of the primalists with her.
Fyrakk decides that the best vengeance he can get is to invade the Emerald Dream, a creation of the Titans, and destroy the new world tree, which has finally been made ready to grow into Azeroth but isn't quite mature enough yet to stand on its own. The aspects, all the allies they've made, the player characters, and nearly every extant important character still alive--and even one who isn't, Ysera--show up to fight side by side. Fyrakk and the remaining primalists are slain or captured--but Iridikron is still out there.
The defeat of Fyrakk, for no apparent reason, is the final catalyst to restore the aspects to being Aspects. Everyone's got glowing golden eyes again (including Vyranoth, who is adopted as the sixth aspect, the Aspect of Storms, and seems intent on making sure that the other aspects respect the freedom of all dragonkind) and is presumably much stronger than they were. They only get the power they seek after they no longer need it; I'm sure there's a metaphor in there somewhere.
The new world tree, Amirdrassil blooms into Azeroth, becoming a new home for the night elves--all the night elves who are left, including the Kaldorei Sylvanas raised during the Fourth War, who find they aren't quite as dead inside as they thought. There's a big feast where everyone gets to chill one last time before going home. I presume players creating new night elves will possibly be getting a new starting zone as an option, as Bel'ameth, the town being built there, already has a dock for ships that sail to Stormwind and Booty Bay.
Ysera returns to the Shadowlands, having come back only to help ensure the new world tree bloomed...and say a proper farewell to her daughter, which she never got to do. She goes back to Ardenweald, and Malfurion comes back to Azeroth. Oh, I didn't mention that part? That's because it was completely inconsequential, in terms of the story, aside from getting Malfurion out of the way so his "can keep an entire continental shelf from sliding into the sea" power can't be used to just solve the problem. As usual, with him. Anyway, back when Ysera came to Azeroth to help out about midway through the expansion, the Winter Queen decreed someone would have to stay in her place until she returned, so Malfurion did. The scene where Malfurion comes back and reunites with Tyrande was kinda sweet, though. Anyway, all's well that ends well.
Oh wait it didn't end well. The being that Iridikron made a deal with makes herself known--Xal'atath, the void consciousness who once inhabited the Shadow Priest artifact but was freed during the Fourth War as part of the Jailer's ridiculously circuitous plan. Alleria is noticing troubling signs, such as people hearing strange music and having visions of shimmering lights--which her mentor in the ways of the Void, Locus-Walker, says was the final warning before the Void Lords attacked the ethereals' homeworld and consumed it. And Xal'atath, also called the Harbinger, doesn't seem interested in just trolling and flirting with the shadow priest anymore...
And so here we are. I might have missed some details, but that's the bulk of it. So, like, relatively self-contained? But frankly after the neverending "you will see Sylvanas as a tragic fallen hero, dammit!" story, an expansion that's mostly just about itself but then sets up a couple plot threads at the end was a breath of fresh air.
- Max level.
- Complete the campaign.
- Explorer meta.
So, the things that you usually do on the first week or so. With prepatch everybody now has all Dragon Glyph powers from the start, so that's a lot less of an issue. Can also now Skyride with any mount, you swap between flying modes with a skill with 5 sec cast time.Damn, I missed a lot. Some of that I regret not experiencing now and some of it I don't really mesh with. I did pre order the basic edition of war within but I used the 70 boost on a high mountain tauren rogue I made cause I thought it would be funny instead of using it on my level 67 rogue that I've mained since vanilla WoW.
Thank you for the breakdown of what happened in the expansion, I really appreciate it!
Hmmm, I guess that isn't that bad but it still sucks I have to interact with the dragonflight flying mechanic. I just dislike it so much. It was a big part of what killed my enjoyment of dragonflight overall.
Thank you for the info!
Also, I thought there were 5 slots for this warband?
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Of course, there's still some, uh, issues being sorted out. Making the old dog learn new tricks is not easy.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
My paladin charger looks goofy doing a barrel roll.
There should be a "lightning surge" ability or something that you can swap that specific ability out for, I think?
It's pretty much an extremely similar speed boost, just without the barrel roll.
Yes on the mount tab if you click the icon for mount abilities there is a toggle on the left for allow a side kick y/n and which type of special you want barrel roll or lightning rider dash.
I did that, but switched back.
LIghtning surge is not a straight up replacement for Whirling because it does not activate simply by using up 3 vigor - you have to fly next to a wall for 10 seconds until you build up 10 stacks of static and only then you can fire the ability off. This is not described in any tooltips and I had to google it to find out because I could not figure out how the stacks worked.
It also locks you into a direction for the duration of the speed boost.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
you can just wait for a timewalking week and just queue for those. its only like 2-3 dungeons per level, especially if youre banking some rested xp.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat