WoW - Good for casual players?

[AhoyHoy]

Thanks for the replies all.

I've decided I'm going to start up on a PVP server as a Hunter and a Priest. This should fit me well since I like to PVP and PVE and I won't have to wait till BG's to get a good taste of the action.

If by "a good taste of the action" you mean getting chained into oblivion by bored level 60s in full epics waiting for their raids to form, then have fun with it. A PvE server is just so much better than a PvP server in every way that I cannot understand why anyone would roll on a PvP one, unless they enjoy pain. Levelling on a PvP server in the early days before the honour patch was fun indeed, but after that patch, it went to hell.

 

[crispy]

If you dont care about top level gear and that shitty pvp they got its a good game. Grinding with a friend can be pretty funny actually

 

[Jeremiah]

If by "a good taste of the action" you mean getting chained into oblivion by bored level 60s in full epics waiting for their raids to form, then have fun with it. A PvE server is just so much better than a PvP server in every way that I cannot understand why anyone would roll on a PvP one, unless they enjoy pain. Levelling on a PvP server in the early days before the honour patch was fun indeed, but after that patch, it went to hell.

I dont know why you would roll on a PvP server and expect not to be killed by those who are levels above you. After all, PvP servers are expected to be a little more difficult for that reason, and you shouldnt roll on it if you dont want to risk that. Yes, some people get fun out of killing those 20 levels below them, but thats not universal and theres loads of things you can do to help you quest safely in contested zones. A PvP server just adds a little more variety into the game, bringing a level of chance that you can't create in a PvE enviorment. I've found it fun so far

 

[Morchaoron]

mmorpgs that involve levelling usually cease to be good for 'casual' players at some point, since you are either 'done' (reached max level) and have to do the usually harder 'endgame' part, or levelling becomes so painful that its not for casuals anymore either (like official lineage 2)


but if you want a decent answer and not the useless fanboi/hater crap:

levelling in wow to max level is ok for casual players, its not really hard and you dont lose exp when you die, but 'ranked' pvp and endgame raid dungeons arent that good for casuals, so if you are a fan of levelling characthers and you like to play completely different classes, its a pretty good game for a casual then...

and to be more specific about the pvp for casuals: you can forget about the 'ranked' pvp where you have to get most 'points' each week in order to get access to good stuff, but you can still gain reputation (a numerical value which never goes down again, just like exp) in the pvp battleground which gives you access to pretty good stuff each reputation level...

 

[Afran]

and to be more specific about the pvp for casuals: you can forget about the 'ranked' pvp where you have to get most 'points' each week in order to get access to good stuff, but you can still gain reputation (a numerical value which never goes down again, just like exp) in the pvp battleground which gives you access to pretty good stuff each reputation level...

Depending on your server, a casual player can quite often easily obtain rank 8 to 10. Blizzard have said they're changing the honor system too, though probably a while off yet unfortunatley!

 

[Coldbeard]

Actually, after 4 years of DAOC and the very unbalanced and un-fun stress nightmare that RvR turned into - WoW is a very pleasant change. It's a lot better than I ever thought it would be; there are still some things I don't like - Gnomes, the low-res building textures - but overall it's a very fun and immersive game. Many of the quests are very well-written, there's little to no random mob-camp grinding because almost all of what you kill is determined by the overall quest structure and storylines.

Well, think I can recall you being a more PvE-oriented player anyways, so I reckon WoW is more appealing in that manner. As a PvP loving player I did not like WoW. Not to mention all the kiddoes in WoW, far worse than DAoC.

 

[Cylian]

what they did was increasing the amount of players that can have a certain rank, so it's overall easier to gain ranks if I understood it right.

 

[Fana]

what they did was increasing the amount of players that can have a certain rank, so it's overall easier to gain ranks if I understood it right.

Not only that, they are going to completely revamp the honor rank system in the Burning Crusade - honor gained will function as a currency that lets you buy rewards and will never decrease etc (unless you use it up ofc). This will allow casualls to amass honorpoints at their own pace and eventually be able to buy the pvp gear they want. The epic pvp gear will ofc be costly, but if you spend enough time (over a long irl time) you will eventually get it.

 

[Afran]

Not only that, they are going to completely revamp the honor rank system in the Burning Crusade - honor gained will function as a currency that lets you buy rewards and will never decrease etc (unless you use it up ofc). This will allow casualls to amass honorpoints at their own pace and eventually be able to buy the pvp gear they want. The epic pvp gear will ofc be costly, but if you spend enough time (over a long irl time) you will eventually get it.

Indeed, one of the best changes they'll ever make imo. Can't wait

 

[Svartmetall]

Well, think I can recall you being a more PvE-oriented player anyways, so I reckon WoW is more appealing in that manner.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm all for fun PvP - I've been world-ranked at Quake 3 - I just don't find latter-day DAOC RvR/PvP to be much fun. Repeated instadeath at the hands of casters = strong desire to do something more fun instead. RvR these days is for the hardcore gankers only, really.

Not to mention all the kiddoes in WoW, far worse than DAoC.

Not really...been playing WoW a lot the last 5-6 weeks and not finding any more evidence of leet-kiddie-ism there than in DAOC, to be honest. And there's a fuck's sight more people will just randomly group with you to do quests and stuff in WoW than in DAOC these days.

Apart from the people who called their guild 'OMGLAZERGUNPEWPEWPEW', who need to be beaten to death with Kodo thighbones for doing so.

 

[Kaun_IA]

a game in which fights are decided mostly by who has the better items, not who plays better, can not be casual friendly.

but if you are looking for a casual mmo, i believe eve online might be good for you.

i vauch for EVE Online myself here allso

i have been playing it for a year now

u dont have lvls there, but u have skills... each skill has 5 lvls....and u train skills in real time.... that means u put a skill training and it trains, no matter if ur online or not

lets say a hardcore player starts at the same day as u.... whit 6 months hell be about as far as u are whit skills.... but money, well, he'll have more of it ofc... couse he plays more.... but if u know how... money can be made easy

PM me if u want eny info regarding EvE Online

 

[Elftor]

About wow pvp

I'd like to mention that their changing the WoW pvp system completely.
From what I've read you earn honor points like you do now, however you keep them and you can buy gear with those points. Instead of having ranks and having to keep pvping constantly to not lose rank.

WoW is however casual or hardcore as you like it to be.
It's easy to compete as a casual player at the current state of the game, it will be much easier once the new honor system is put in place however.

And while the gear you gain through raiding is "good" its by no means the end all be all gear. Alot of it is geared towards pve and not pvp..

 

[Bugz]

Watched a PVP video. Seems not bad PVP to be honest.

Glad to hear about that honor points change.

WoW has just been ordered. Lets hope Play.com delivers me it before the weekend.

Now to finish making up geography coursework

 

[Bahumat]

I heard the ppl who spend hours upon hours a day pve'ing get insane items, then they pvp and its kinda like a SI SC'd person versus a TOA SC'd person.

dont know how true this is though.

 

[AhoyHoy]

Watched a PVP video. Seems not bad PVP to be honest.

Glad to hear about that honor points change.

WoW has just been ordered. Lets hope Play.com delivers me it before the weekend.

Now to finish making up geography coursework

Of course a PvP video is going to make the PvP look good, its probably a fully epic-equipped character with clips amassed over a considerable time period. What you dont get to see in the videos is the often ridiculous amount of time you can spend waiting in the "queue" to get into a PvP battleground. I would suggest researching the servers before you choose one to play, either find one that is quite reasonably balanced faction-wise, or choose the underdog faction on an unbalanced server, thus cutting your queue-time to almost nothing.

 

[AhoyHoy]

I heard the ppl who spend hours upon hours a day pve'ing get insane items, then they pvp and its kinda like a SI SC'd person versus a TOA SC'd person.

dont know how true this is though.

Gear is a very important thing in WoW, as unlike DAoC, there are no stat caps, so your stats just keep getting higher and higher and get to a point where you might as well not be labelled as a lv60 anymore if compared to a level60 character in blue items. Some classes are more gear-dependant that others, for example if you were a casual, a warrior would be the worst class to pick, as without the top-end gear, they are basically a free kill. Casters are probably best for a casual player, a mage or shadowpriest in particular would do well, and has alot of PvP utility.

 

[Jeremiah]

Of course a PvP video is going to make the PvP look good, its probably a fully epic-equipped character with clips amassed over a considerable time period. What you dont get to see in the videos is the often ridiculous amount of time you can spend waiting in the "queue" to get into a PvP battleground. I would suggest researching the servers before you choose one to play, either find one that is quite reasonably balanced faction-wise, or choose the underdog faction on an unbalanced server, thus cutting your queue-time to almost nothing.

The last patch brought cross battlegrounds, where you play with players from a cluster of servers. Chopped the waiting times significantly for most servers, especially those who play the horde side.

A WoW PvP video is probably no different in terms of time spent getting the gear than the vast majority of DAOC PvP videos. A lot of WoW PvP videos are also from the outdoor PvP, no need for queues at all. There are even a few of some PvP in the opposite faction capital, showing that really you can find it where ever you want it.

The huge 40 man raids arent all that different from the ML from ToA either, except they arent neccisarily needed unless you want the best of the best. As far as I know, you can get some decent stuff from the normal 5-man raid instances, and just buy some epic stuff from the AH. It all depends on how casual you want to be. If you are casual, and you can accept that there are those who are more powerful than you just because they have spent more time in game than you, then its fine. A PvP death is just a 15-20second break in the action before you can come back. Group PvP makes you survive more hehe

 

[Svartmetall]

And there's no caster instadeath bullshit either, fights last much longer and are therefore more fun.

 

[andeh]

The huge 40 man raids arent all that different from the ML from ToA either, except they arent neccisarily needed unless you want the best of the best. As far as I know, you can get some decent stuff from the normal 5-man raid instances, and just buy some epic stuff from the AH.

Gear from 5 man instances is effectively 2(i think;o) years old, so naturally there is a world of difference between it and the gear from the more recent 40 man raid instances. The only worthwhile gear for the casual player is the superior quality pvp set imo.

The change to the honor system last patch only lessened the severity of the 'curve' beyond rank 10 or 11, thus will make little or no difference to the casual player since they will never get those ranks.

'Caster instadeath bullshit' does happen in wow , but since the players with the gear to do it will most likely be more pve orientated it happens seldom.

However its worth pointing out that most wow players will be in a similar position to yourself and thus have similar gear so the above points should not overly concern you.

 

[Darksword]

yes and no, i play as a casual player and im level 54, end game i plan on getting factions up to get some epics and then just pvp alot and try and get the pvp armor sets.

can be done but its hard. Its definatly geared to high end pve with pvp as a sideline imo, with like 5 high end instances which require raids and you gotta run the first instance loads to do the second one loads to do the 3rd etc.

Alot of people seem to only play for pve, doing a 2-3 pve raids a week and then just not playing the rest of the time. but i just wanna play for pvp so.

 

[Afran]

there are no stat caps

Wrong.

 

[Bugz]

Of course a PvP video is going to make the PvP look good, its probably a fully epic-equipped character with clips amassed over a considerable time period. What you dont get to see in the videos is the often ridiculous amount of time you can spend waiting in the "queue" to get into a PvP battleground. I would suggest researching the servers before you choose one to play, either find one that is quite reasonably balanced faction-wise, or choose the underdog faction on an unbalanced server, thus cutting your queue-time to almost nothing.

It was a non-epicd shaman killing epicd characters.

It was very well made and did show skill in kiting etc.

 

[AhoyHoy]

And there's no caster instadeath bullshit either, fights last much longer and are therefore more fun.

Fight an epic/legendary equipped warrior or an epiced out fire-mage and then say that theres no instadeath in the game.

 

[AhoyHoy]

Wrong.

Forgive me then, I never knew of any stat caps, and my warlock never reached any, and it had 7/8 Nemesis, Nef staff, cloak etc. They are at least alot harder to reach than those in DAoC.

 

[Jeremiah]

AFAIK, theres no hard stat caps, but soft caps where you get diminishing returns over a certain level. Nothing to worry about hitting really

 

[Morchaoron]

Wrong.

ive never heard or noticed anything of a cap on the 5 main attributes, i do know that with 300 resistance to something you will have max possible resistance vs players and with 315 the max vs the highest mobs (level 63 ones), i also know that at 460 defense or smt you wont get any crushing blows anymore..

I dont know about armor absorbtion, ive seen a screenshot once where a druid had 75.0% absorb, could be the max or just coinsidence that its such a number, never really looked it up tho i did hear something once (vaguely) about 87% absorb or smt...

+to hit is only useful up to 5% in pvp and 6% in pve vs the highest mobs (for non-dual wielders) since you then have 0% base miss chance...

maybe stuff like dodge or crit has a cap at some point, i dont know, but ive had 49% crit with my shaman so if theres a cap its probably impossible to reach with the current stuff/buffs ;p

but unlike daoc, you dont have to worry about reaching a cap anytime soon...

 

[Ryuno]

I remember reading a post somewhere on the wow forums, cant find it now, but it proved that diminishing returns did not exist for the main stats like agi etc. I think it was related to hunters and agility over +ws/crit gear.

 

[Fana]

And there's no caster instadeath bullshit either, fights last much longer and are therefore more fun.

This is wrong im afraid My Warrior with 5k hitpoints regularely get 1shotted (or as good as, one castabable dd hits for around 4k, then some insta spell for 1k etc) by casters with tier2+ gear. Some fights last a long time (melee vs melee tend to last for a bit, and any two healing classes fighting each other as well) some are over quickly (any fight with casters involved pretty much, either they die fast or you die fast).

 

[old.windforce]

i play WoW pretty casual

few things
- characters are well rounded and you don't need buffbots or whatever and most classes can solo very well
- in pvp teamplay > gear
- you can play WoW casual very well, in fact you get a bonus for playing casual.
- Some classes are very gear dependent. Good choices are hunter, rogue, warlock
- You can get decent gear from pvp, rank 10 gives a nice set for high level instances expect to burn a lot of time
- Quest are really well tought and best way to exp
- The travelling system sucks, cost way to much time to move between the zones
- There are players for every level. No empty zones
- A lot of retarded kids in WoW, more then in DAOC
- Solo exp is the fastest exp, that is kinda retarded since most people level to 60 solo mostly and then have to be able to work as a 40 man team in hard as hell instances
- major instances often have a week respawn timer
- Crafting system is SOOOO much better then DAOC, it is actually fun and usefull to craft

I like WoW, it is pretty relaxed to level

 

[Cylian]

take your time with leveling, exploring the dungeons with a group is more fun than the mindless grinding, and the exp isn't bad either.
WoW isn't DAoC, so there's fun to be had before the max level