Mists of Pandaria Beta

[Correction]

- What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been no longer rewards Master Riding.

Oh snap, gotta feel bad for those who only need Brewmaster for the meta.

[Plow]

I'll never do that achieve and I'll be the first to say... what? why the hell not? that's so much more work than making 5k gold lol

[shinoniken]

My guess is that they're doing it to avoid confusion and complaint about account wide achievements and whether or not the entire account should be given Master Riding. In other words, it's just another Blizz cop out.

[Meresgi]

Fuck that shit, just give my account full master riding lol. I can see the reason though since they need that gold sink in place at least to balance things a little...though the lack of daily quest cap makes that pretty useless imo.

I hear a lot of shit about resi in the beta right now, anyone been pvping and can tell it like it is? How does the base resi workout in terms of "lol burst u down so fast" gameplay we have right now in game? Can a rogue still kill you in a shadowdance?

[Clemz]

Been leveling a Mistweaver, since questing is hideously broken right now(gathering nodes simply don't exist for pandas, not sure if it's the same for other races, so zones dead end a few quests in) I've been trying to solo instances.

Started at 16, went to Deadmines. Only died twice on the way to Ripsnarl, once to the double Oaf Lackey pull before Helix Gearbreaker, and then again to the 4 Defias pull. Was level 18 by the time I got to Ripsnarl, couldn't kill him at that level, so reset the dungeon. Recleared the entire thing with 0 deaths, Got to Ripsnarl at like level 21 this time, was able to kill him at that level. Then went and did Wailing Caverns, which is only a level or two higher than Deadmines, so stomped through it with 0 deaths. Finished the dungeon at level 24.

I've got the int heirloom chest, shoulders, cloak, and trinkets, and the grand staff of jordan, so I'm substantially more powerful than an equal level character with no heirlooms obviously. With Serpent Stance providing Eminence my health remains above 90% pretty much constantly. On trash, I just Jab to 4 chi, then Black Out Kick twice, the healing from the Jabs and then Black Out Kicks are more than enough except on a handful of pulls. For bosses, it probably wasn't necessary but I kept up Tiger Palm for the 15% ignore armor, other than that still Jab for chi and Black Out Kick dump unless Tiger Palm needed refreshing.

I don't know how Brewmaster or Windwalker level, but I'm hitting like a truck at 25. Jabs hit for around 45 or so I believe, Tigerpalms hitting for low 100s and then Black Out Kick hits for around 250 or so. So 50% of all those in healing keeps your health up very well. Seems like Mistweaver is probably the best spec to level as, but again, haven't touched the other two, so not sure.

[Meresgi]

Damn that's pretty badass, still not sure how ill play monk. Ive heard Windwalkers are garbage in pvp from a few forums but have not tried that myself yet, most people say Mistweaver is the only pvp spec, but who knows till people get their hands dirty and experienced. I leveled 1 to 23 as windwalker without heirlooms on beta since I was using someone's account who didnt have heirlooms but it still went fast as hell.

I really need to remember to do the fishing tournament on a Saturday to get the ring at some point.

[Clemz]

At 34 I've now completed Stockades, started at 25, got to Hogger at 28, couldn't kill him, reset, recleared, killed him at 29. Recleared again to get to 31. Moved to Scarlet Halls, wasn't able to get past the part where you pick up a target and move through the guys shooting arrows at you. Went to Gnomeregan, cleared it once, finished at 32, cleared the trash out to the side entrance to get 33, reset and cleared again from there to finish at 34. Going to try Scarlet Halls again when I wake up.

Zen Sphere at 30 is pretty amazing, gives you a hot that's doing 90/tic and a dot on the nearest enemy for roughly the same. Recasting it makes it explode and it does like 300 aoe damage/healing. At 34 you get Enveloping Mists which is a ridiculous hot doing nearly 6k healing over 6 seconds at 34 for me, instant cast if you channel Soothing Mists. Also got Surging Mist which is just a standard heal, instant cast while channeling Soothing Mist again. Really enjoying Mistweaver at the moment.

[Hatedregret]

Sounds like dancer from FFXI.

[Meresgi]

So just read the newest post on MMO-Champ talking about the legendary gem quests from Wrathion. From the looks of it it seems like it's a legendary weapon quest for every class? If so that's a great, I would much rather have that system then the "oh class X gets it this expansion" way of doing it.

Hell I would be all for the legendaries not even having stats but just being awesome looking transmoggable shit.

[Correction]

Looks like everyone gets their own Shadowmourne questline where the first two stages are doable by anybody with money/time and the final two stages require significant progression through raid/heroic raid content to complete. I don't look forward to having to roll against my entire fucking raid for the drop items, so let's hope they drop for everyone on their particular stage of the questline.

[Aksannyi]

Oh snap, gotta feel bad for those who only need Brewmaster for the meta.

Blah, that's me, though I have master riding already on my main, I'm bummed that I'll have to spend the cash on it for my alts, I was actually holding out for that. I'm lazy as shit with my alts.

[Meresgi]

Looks like everyone gets their own Shadowmourne questline where the first two stages are doable by anybody with money/time and the final two stages require significant progression through raid/heroic raid content to complete. I don't look forward to having to roll against my entire fucking raid for the drop items, so let's hope they drop for everyone on their particular stage of the questline.

Oh god, if they have to be rolled on amongst the entire raid that is going to suck ass. I doubt it though, because then you run into an issue where people will do 10mans due to less people rolling against them on the item or something. I honestly hope the legendaries have no stats like the challenge gear and are just for transmog (maybe they will lift the legendary transmog rule) instead of them having stats and then getting into the whole "well who gets the drops first/who is more important" drama fest that will evolve from that shit.

Blah, that's me, though I have master riding already on my main, I'm bummed that I'll have to spend the cash on it for my alts, I was actually holding out for that. I'm lazy as shit with my alts.

So the achievement just doesnt reward max flying or it doesnt transfer at all? Because it should still reward max flying, I mean shit why not? If you spend a full year doing all those fucking achievements you should get something more then just a palette swap.

[Boyiee]

Anyone testing warrior out at all at 90? Lot of hate and shit on forums and I have no idea why.

[Meresgi]

Hate for people playing it or hate for people facing it in pvp? I heard warriors were pretty beast in pvp right now at 90, kind of want to make a new warrior alt but going to wait till the talent patch hits for a change of pace.

I think a lot of the warrior community hates on the class because blizzard ends up fucking them over at the end of every expansion, but then again as a warrior you ass rape as the start of every expansion so I guess it's "balanced".

[Meresgi]

Update: It appears Accession (US-Stormreaver) was able to kill the Grand Empress Shek'zeer and confirm that a single Sigil of Wisdom dropped. The first person to loot the boss with the quest got it.

Well that's very disappointing honestly to hear, especially if they only drop in regular and heroic modes. I can see that being the case as they want to draw it out, so it would require 10kills per person on the boss. Maybe 2 drop in 25man? One can only hope.

[Correction]

If nothing else, they'll have to change 'The first person to loot the boss with the quest got it.'

Bullshit to slow down an entire raid to make sure the right person loots it first.

[Clemz]

Yeah I can't imagine they'll keep it to where the first person to loot it gets it, that would be pretty silly and cause all kinds of amazing problems. Interesting idea though, wonder if they're actually going the every class gets a legendary route this time.

I'm not ruling out the possiblity that I'm really bad at this, but man it feels like the new Scarlet Halls stuff is grossly overtuned for leveling groups. At the very least, it's a whole different level of difficulty compared to what they used to be, and basically any dungeon up until Cata really. It's pretty brutal. I was able to make it through the archer part of Halls, had to switch to Brewmaster to do it, without aoe the adds don't die quick enough and they stack a bleed on you with almost every attack, it was up to like 2500/tic at one point, even with Enveloping Mist it was impossible to keep myself up. Brewmaster(like all tanks) has some pretty awesome aoe though. The first real boss there, the Houndmaster punched my shit in pretty hard, he was hitting for like 1200 or so with some of his attacks, and he had a stacking bleed too.

First boss in Monastery, Thalnos is pretty rough too. Summons adds, no big deal there, does a spirit gate thing that damages you if you stand in it. Spawns a copy of a random person in the group that does some pretty nasty shadow damage. Starts with 500 every 3 seconds for 6 seconds before spawning two adds, which then do 100 damage to anyone in 6 yards. Summons an empowering spirit which travels to one of the dead zombie adds and turns them into a powerful zombie with like 50k health. Basically there's just a shit ton of damage going around constantly. At 36 right now, not sure I'll be able to do either of these for another handful of levels yet.

For Thalnos, it just turned out I was bad. Tried it again right after editing this and took him out.

[Boyiee]

Hate for people playing it or hate for people facing it in pvp? I heard warriors were pretty beast in pvp right now at 90, kind of want to make a new warrior alt but going to wait till the talent patch hits for a change of pace.

I think a lot of the warrior community hates on the class because blizzard ends up fucking them over at the end of every expansion, but then again as a warrior you ass rape as the start of every expansion so I guess it's "balanced".

Hate that they are so terrible at 90. There has been an ongoing warrior problems thread on main forums that is on its 4th or 5th installment, as well as a giant thread on mmo. Basically how far behind it is, how bad fury is, how its pretty much useless in pve for dps right now, etc.

[Meko]

Is it just me or are the graphics 'different' in the MoP areas and even for the pandas? They look...better? It could just be that I prefer the art style of the MoP areas but they feel more lush and they look sharper to me. Also, after having read Clemz talking about mistweaver, it makes me really want to try it out but I'm sure in a raid situation, it won't be as interesting as you'll be focusing more on doing a primary job ie tank, heal, dps but it still sounds pretty sweet.

[Clemz]

The graphics are definitely a step up from what they have been in previous expansions, pandas, and their architecture look amazing. It's very obvious when comparing pandas to the original races, then you have draenei/blood elves which look just a bit better, worgen/goblin look even better than those, but pandas are even above that. They're really, really ridiculously good looking.

I've also hit a wall in dungeons, things are starting to hit considerably harder, and my DPS hasn't really increased enough to make up for the damage. My actual physical healing is great, but my eminence healing is considerably under what I'd need to continue. I'm just not killing things fast enough anymore, and I'm really running into mana constraints at the moment too. I think Mana Tea could probably afford to be lowered a few levels, but I haven't done any group healing, so it may only be an issue when I'm actually meleeing. I may make one of the 85 templates and try it out in groups.