Should you play a rogue in WoW?

If you're just getting started with World of Warcraft, don't worry: you're not too late to have plenty of fun. (In fact, we think this is a great time to be playing WoW.) But getting started can be a little tricky with all the choices you have to make. Which race you select is a primarily cosmetic choice, but the class you pick -- and whether it's a good fit for your preferred style of gaming -- is a choice that will make all the difference.

But we're here to help make that choice at least a little easier by talking you through WoW's classes, one at a time. And on the menu for today is the rogue. In World of Warcraft, rogues are lightly armored meleers who use stealth to get in close and then hit their target with precision strikes. The rogue is one of four classes in the game that focuses solely on DPS: their three talent specializations only changing their preferred way of dealing damage.

If getting up close to the bad guys and always being in the middle of combat sounds like your thing, a rogue may be the ideal class for you. Read on for more about what to expect.

Just what is a rogue?
Don't write rogues off as just another melee damage class, because rogue gameplay is definitely unique. Instead of focusing on heavy armor and heavier weapons, rogues are light on their feet with leather armor and tend to use smaller, one-handed weapons -- most commonly daggers. But lighter weaponry -- rogues can wield daggers, fist weapons, one-handed maces, one-handed swords, one-handed axes -- doesn't mean they aren't hard hitting. Rogues have lots of tricks up their sleeves, dual-wielding weapons coated with poison and striking from stealth for extra damage. Rogues have three talent trees, just like the other classes, but each one focuses on a slightly different way of dishing out damage: assassination focuses on poisons, combat focuses on general combat, and subtlety focuses on stealth abilities.

Rogues (and their melee brethren, feral druids and windwalker monks) use a fairly unique resource system called energy: unlike mana, you start at level 1 with 100 energy, and that's all you'll ever have. (Though you'll run into a few things in the game that can increase your energy pool slightly.) Energy regenerates pretty quickly, both in and out of combat, but with the fast pace of rogue combat, you'll still find yourself hitting the bottom of your energy pool as you play. Additionally, certain skills generate combo points and other skills will use them for more powerful strikes, somewhat like a monk's chi.

For racial options, rogues have plenty, with the choice of dwarf, human, worgen, gnome, night elf, goblin, troll, pandaren, blood elf, orc, and undead. The only races who can't be rogues are tauren and draenei (though we do still think tauren rogues would be pretty cool).

Gameplay built around stealth
Stealth is probably the most important part of rogue gameplay: a rogue in stealth sneaks around, unseen by monsters or other players, which allows the rogue to sneak up on targets and wait for the best time to strike. A rogue uses this advantage to hit their opponents hard -- often creeping up behind them for a high-damage Ambush or Backstab. Rogues are also able to coat their weapons in a variety of poisons that deal damage or cause other debuffs, like slowing movement speed or increasing spell damage taken.

But rogues can do a lot more than just dish out damage. They have a number of abilities to stun their targets and a rogue with good timing can keep their target stunned for some time by chaining one stun after another. They can also crowd control using Sap, which incapacitates a target for up to a minute -- which can be useful for groups and while soloing. And when they're in over their heads, rogues have some great panic skills, like Combat Readiness and Evasion to avoid damage and Vanish which gets them out of combat and into stealth. Combined, this gives rogues some good survivability.

And, while this doesn't do much for gameplay -- it certainly won't help you fight any better or gain experience any faster -- rogues can also pickpocket humanoids and pick the locks of doors and junkboxes. Pickpocketing nets you a few coins and the chance of a item or a locked junkbox, which may have other loot inside. While it won't net you big money, the little bit can add up as you go. Additionally, you may find people willing to pay you to open junkboxes... and who's going to say no to some extra coin?

Who should (and shouldn't) play a rogue?
We like playing rogues and think you might, too. Here's the type of player who's most likely to enjoy a rogue: If you like stealth gameplay, rogues are probably the class for you. Though druids can also stealth in cat form, stealth is core to how the rogue class works and plays into many of their abilities.If you want to be in the middle of combat, rogues are always there.But, we admit, the way of the rogue is not for everyone. These are signs you probably shouldn't play a rogue: If you want to do anything other than melee DPS, a rogue is not the class for it.Though rogues have good survivability and nice arsenal of panic buttons, you might find them a bit too squishy for your taste, in which case you might look at the plate-wearing death knight, paladin, or warrior for your class of choice.
Want to know more about rogues?
If you're interested in learning more about the rogue class, these are all good places to start:
If you've decided rogue isn't the class for you, don't fret: there are plenty of other options! Be sure to check out our guide to druids, hunters, monks, paladins, priests, and warlocks -- and look for more newbie class coverage coming soon! Just because you're a newbie doesn't mean you can't bring your A-game to World of Warcraft! Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from the seven things every newbie ought to know to how to get started as a healer or as a tank. Tags: featured, guide, how-to-play-wow, new-to-world-of-warcraft, noob-guide, rogue, rookie-guide, should-i-play-a-rogue, world-of-warcraft-guide, world-of-warcraft-help, world-of-warcraft-noobs, world-of-warcraft-rookies, wow-guide, wow-help, wow-noob-guide, wow-noobs, wow-rogue, wow-rogues, wow-to-play-world-of-warcraft

Filed under: Rogue, WoW Rookie

View the original article here

Should You BUY Gold?

To Buy or Not to Buy, that is the question.

Plenty of people do by gold, that’s why you see so many of the sellers in the chat. Someone is buying the stuff.

To make it short, there are a couple of big plusses to buying:

Most of the time you will get it in minutes, after you pay them.You can buy as much as your real cash flow will allow.You can get it when you need it. Have to buy a “whatever” right now? Buy the gold and turn around and buy the whatever.

The are a couple of minuses, too. One of them is pretty big.

First off, we’ll assume the seller is an honest dealer. I have no idea how many are or are not. I do know that some of them will hack accounts and use those accounts for gold farming. My son’s account was hacked that way. He did manage to get it back.Your friends will tease you if they find out. Calling it a waste of money, since gold is so easy to make. You’ll find it’s generally easier to keep your “mouth” shut if you buy. Those who aren’t your friends will be less complimentary.Gold sellers are looked on rather unfavorably by many in the WoW crowd, a lot of that rubs off onto gold buyers, too.One of the many ways the sellers make their gold is buy hacking accounts and then farming with that character, probably by setting it up as a bot. By buying gold people are, tacitly, approving of that. At least until it’s their account that gets hacked.Blizzard will ban you if they find out. Buying (and selling) gold is against their rules and if they find out it’ll be POOF! You’re Gone! Don’t think they’ll find out? Goodluck and it’s was nice knowing you.

So how can Bliz find out that you’ve bought the stuff? Off the top of my head…

Your character’s history. If you suddenly have an additional 30k gold and your history dhows that you didn’t sell off that Armor of Doom from the last raid for roughly that much then you might be at risk.

You tell everyone. That should be pretty obvious.

Someone that Bliz is tracking (and it might be you) pops up with a red flag.They look a bit further, see that you got gold from “one who will soon be banned” and then you are banned.

Does the seller offer a “you will not get banned” guarantee? Do you trust it? Do you care?

Now if you’re lazy and don’t care all that much…

Then go ahead and buy what you need and take your chances. As for me, I’d rather earn it. It’s not that hard, either. Pickone of the gathering professions, work it a bit, and you’ll have enough to get buy. Do something everyday for weeks and you’ll be just fine.

As for me …

As I said, I prefer to earn it. You can take the same money you spend on buying the gold, buy a guide instead, make a ton more gold, and never put your account in danger. Heck, you can even skip the guide and look at all the basic tips that are available. We even have a few “get the gold” tips here. You can do it with gathering, crafting, farming, playing the auction house, and a few other ways.

Should you buy gold?

I say “No!” Earn it instead. Besides, you’ll be able to start bragging to your friends, or give suggestions when they ask about gold and whether they should buy or not.

Stick with the “legal” ways and you’ll keep your cash and wind up with a lot more gold than otherwise, but it will take more than a few minutes of you time.

Your call.

View the original article here

Should you play a paladin in WoW?

If you're just getting started with World of Warcraft, the range of class options available to you can be a bit daunting. Which class is the best? Which class is the most fun? Which class will you enjoy? There's no answer that's right for everyone -- and you may wind up trying a few classes before you find the perfect fit. But where to begin? Today's class run-down will cover paladins, WoW's holy warriors.

As Blizzard puts it, paladins are called "to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world." But your paladin may have its own motivations -- indeed, within the game you're certain to meet paladins with motives less pure. In fact, one of the interesting things about the paladin class is how different various paladins are: while alliance paladins very much fall along Blizzard's class description, the blood elf paladins, who style themselves Blood Knights, haven't always been particularly good guys.

But enough of that: what you want to know is how paladins play, so read on for more.

Just what is a paladin?
Paladins are a hybrid class that can heal (holy specialization), tank (protection specialization), or do melee DPS (retribution specialization). They wear heavy plate armor and can equip shields, which makes them very durable -- even the healers, who can take more of a pounding than any other healing class. All specs of paladin use mana to power their abilities but some abilities require a secondary resource called holy power, which is like a monk's chi or a rogue's combo points. You generate holy power by using certain abilities and other abilities require holy power to use.

The class has a decent selection of weapons available to them and can wield one-handed axes, one-handed maces, one-handed swords, polearms, two-handed axes, two-handed maces, and two-handed swords. However, can doesn't necessarily mean should: if you mean to tank, you'll want a one-handed weapon and a shield; if you intend to DPS, you'll want a high-damage two-hander; and healers can go with whatever gear gives them the best stats, though they often go towards one-handers and shields. Paladins, which used to be an alliance-only class, has a very restrictive selection of races, only open to draenei, dwarves, humans, blood elves, and tauren.

A class built around versatility
How a paladin plays is very dependent on your current specialization: Holy paladins will typically stay to the back, where they have a clear view of the action and can keep their targets healed. They can heal both single and multiple targets and they have the survivability to wade into the melee -- which they sometimes will, to generate more holy power or regenerate mana in combination with Seal of Insight.Protection paladins will be front and center, absorbing hits with their heavy armor and shield and using holy magic to reduce their damage taken and keep their target's attention.Retribution paladins will be in the center of the action, smashing their foes with heavy weapons and holy magic.
All paladins have access to a variety of buffs that they can use to aid their party. While you might consider this kind of thing the domain of healers, any savvy paladin can provide a lot of utility to their group -- or just themselves, if they're soloing. Blessings: You can only have one of these buffs per paladin -- so if you're in a group with two paladins, you can have both, but otherwise you have to pick. Your choices are Blessing of Kings, which is a good all-around buff, though druids, hunters, and monks have similar buffs that won't stack with your blessings; and Blessing of Might, though shamans and hunters have similar buffs that won't stack.Hands: Each of these spells provides great utility, though on a cooldown. Your options are: Hand of Freedom, Hand of Protection, Hand of Sacrifice, Hand of Salvation, and Hand of Purity (which is a talent).Healing: Though all specs have healing abilities, paladins who aren't specced holy probably aren't interested. But they'll still appreciate Lay on Hands, an instant-cast, zero-mana heal which heals any target for the amount of health you have. With a 10-minute cooldown, this spell is easily one of the best panic buttons in the game.Crowd control: If you want even more utility, paladins can pick up the talent Repentance, which CCs demons, dragonkin, giants, humanoids, and undead for 1 minute.And this is a long way from everything a paladin can do: whatever the spec, a paladin is versatile, with the ability to heal, protect others, take hits, and dish out damage. They're the multitool of WoW classes -- and we mean that in the best possible way.

Who should (and shouldn't) play a paladin?
We think you'll like paladins if: You're looking for a class with high survivability: you can't do much better than a paladin! However, hunters also get good marks here because of their pets.You want to be able to switch between different class roles easily (though keep in mind that druids can do this just as well).And you might not like the paladin if: You really want to play a race other than the scant five available to paladins. Blizzard has added new race options to the class since the game's release and they might add more in the future... but we don't recommend holding your breath.You're interested in doing ranged damage or you want to play a caster class. While paladins do wield holy magic, they aren't ranged casters like mages, warlocks, are druids -- attacking from a distance is not their speciality.You just want to hit things. Retribution paladins can do this, and well, but if you don't want to deal with all the other things paladins can do, you may be more interested in a pure DPS class.
Want to know more about paladins?
Here's where to get started: Hunter not for you? Then be sure to check out our guide to druids, hunters, monks, and warlocks -- and look for more newbie class coverage coming soon! Just because you're a newbie doesn't mean you can't bring your A-game to World of Warcraft! Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from the seven things every newbie ought to know to how to get started as a healer or as a tank. Tags: featured, guide, how-to-play-wow, new-to-world-of-warcraft, noob-guide, paladin, paladins, rookie-guide, should-i-play-a-paladin, world-of-warcraft-guide, world-of-warcraft-help, world-of-warcraft-noobs, world-of-warcraft-rookies, wow-guide, wow-help, wow-noob-guide, wow-noobs, wow-paladin, wow-paladins, wow-to-play-world-of-warcraft

Filed under: Paladin, WoW Rookie

View the original article here

Breakfast Topic: Should guild bonuses be a continuing effort?

Plugging into a level 25 guild after a period of solo leveling is like being loaded into a slingshot and catapulted into a candy shop of delight. More XP! More rep! More speed! More travel! Suddenly, basic game business turns EZ mode. Who wouldn't want that? Last year saw adjustments to guild leveling that made it easier to push a guild up to level 25. The changes helped boost many guilds up to the level cap, allowing their members to reap the benefits of guild membership.

The question is ... now what? Should there be something more to enjoying guild benefits once you've reached the top? Once members have helped the guild reach the level cap and pushed their individual guild reputation to exalted to earn the available rewards, is there enough incentive to keep contributing? Should there be additional benefits for consistently active players? What might those rewards look like? Tags: featured, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, guild-leveling, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

View the original article here

Community Blog Topic: Should servers be merged?

The last Community Blog Topic discussed what features we wish WoW had. Many people had wishes that would be solutions for the current low population server problem. Mine was to have one free character transfer per month. Others suggested that realms be merged and there was also much talk about making WoW one giant server.

Many pointed out that my idea of free transfers would help people leave low pop realms, but everyone might move to the same popular realms that already have queues. Leaving it up to each individual player might be too haphazard a way to handle it. But there is a certain appeal to letting people chose where they want to move their characters. Perhaps the highest population servers would not be available for free transfers.

What about merging servers? One of the main problems is perception. If Blizzard decides to save low pop servers by merging them, they will be admitting two things: that Cross Realm Zones aren't working for what they're trying to do and that subscriptions are so low they have to adjust the realms accordingly. Merging servers would definitely hype up "the sky is falling" mentality.

What if Blizzard put us all together on one big server? This would be a major change, but wouldn't necessarily mean that WoW's decline is inevitable. It would mean a new direction for how they view massively multiplayer. Of course, we all couldn't be in the same zone at the same time, but games like City of Heroes and Star Wars: The Old Republic instanced zones just for that purpose.

The way it would work, if done the same way as those games, is that once too many people fill Orgrimmar-1, Orgrimmar-2 through whatever would be created. You could still talk to your friends in another instance, but you couldn't see them unless one of you requested to change instances from a simple drop-down menu option. It worked well for the populations on those game's servers, but World of Warcraft's millions might be too much for that to work. I really don't know. A problem with both merging servers and having just one enormous server would be names. We get very attached to our character names and would like to keep them even when moving. One way that this could be accomplished would be the addition of surnames. So my goblin mage could be Tizzi Sparklepants and therefore be able to keep her name even if there are many other Tizzis out there.

I like CRZ because I do feel like I'm in a multiplayer game when I'm having to fight for the same quest mobs while leveling instead of being all by my lonesome. But it doesn't solve poor local economies and it doesn't promote local communities. Merging servers, if done properly, would help both. But what about CRZ AHs and/or CRZ guilds. Perhaps that would solve low pop problems without having to lose server identity and still have room for returning subscribers.

Should Blizzard merge servers in order to get rid of empty servers? Or is there another solution? Would it be better to merge them all into one big server? How should that be handled? Or should servers just be left as they are and let CRZ work its magic -- if you can call it that?

Blog about your answer and post a link in the comments below. Or if you don't have a WoW-related blog, just leave a comment with your response. Tags: community-blog-topic, featured, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, realms, servers, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

View the original article here

Should you play a hunter in WoW?

If you're still not sure what WoW class you want to play, allow us to take this opportunity to introduce you to the noble hunter. Hunters are one of the most commonly recommended classes for new players to the game, and with good reason. Compared to other classes, many of which have the ability to fill multiple game roles, hunters have a single, straightforward function in any situation: to do damage with ranged weapons. And with the power of their pets to protect them, hunters have very high survivability when soloing, which secures their place the top of new player recommendation lists.

But don't start thinking that this means hunters are a simple class: while the basics are easy to pick up, there's a lot of depth to hunter gameplay (and a world of difference between playing with a good hunter and a not so good hunter). Hunters have a number of crowd control options and access to traps, both of which require strategic thinking to use well. And, further, while pets can make the life of a hunter much easier, controlling them can be a challenge that adds complexity to the game.

So while many people would tell you hunters are a great class for newbies because they're easy, we'll just say that they're a great class for newbies because they're easy to get started with. If we've piqued your interest, read on to see more about what the hunter has to offer in World of Warcraft -- and whether it may just be the perfect class for you.

Just what is a hunter?
Hunters do one thing and they do it very well: dish out huge quantities of ranged damage. Though hunters have three talent trees, just like any other class, each one focuses on doing DPS, though in slightly different ways: beast mastery improves a hunter's pet power, marksmanship focuses on ability with bows and guns, and survival hunters are more skilled with explosives, poisons, and traps.

Hunters have a wide selection of races -- any race save for gnome can select the class, meaning a potential hunter has the choice of dwarf, human, night elf, draenai, worgen, orc, tauren, troll, undead, blood elf, goblin, or pandaren. They wear leather armor to start, but can equip mail armor at level 40, which adds to their survivability. They can also wield a variety of weapons -- bows, crossbows, fist weapons, guns, one-handed axes, one-handed swords, polearms, staves, two-handed axes, and two-handed swords -- but most of their skills require you to use ranged weapons, so if you have dreams of melee combat, this is not the class for you.

Hunters have a unique resource system: instead of using mana, rage, or energy, their abilities require focus to use. It's similar to the energy resource that rogues, monks, and cat druids use, but it regenerates a bit differently. Hunters start with 100 focus and regain it over time or by using abilities.

What about pets?
Pets are a key aspect to the class. Hunters tame beasts throughout the land -- a hunter can tame 29 (37 for beast mastery hunters) different species of pet with their own special abilities and numerous unique looks. Just like your character, your pet has a talent specialization: each pet can be cunning (which focuses on utility and mobility, making for a good all-around spec), ferocity (which focuses on dealing damage), or tenacity (which focuses on defense). Any new pet you tame will have a default talent specialization based on its species, but you can swap it out if you'd rather have a different one.

Your hunter will start with a pet -- different depending on your race -- and any other pets you want you must find and tame. This can require a lot of tramping about the game world, especially if you're in search of pets with unique looks. These are the different pet species available to every hunter: basilisk, bat, bear, beetle, bird of prey, boar, carrion bird, cat, crab, crane, crocolisk, dire horn, dog, dragon hawk, fox, goat, gorilla, hyena, monkey, moth, nether ray, porcupine, raptor, ravager, scarped, serpent, spider, spore bat, tallstrider, turtle, warp stalker, wasp, wind serpent, and wolf. In addition, beast mastery hunters can tame special, "exotic" pets, which have extra abilities. These pets include: chimaera, core hound, devilsaur, quilen, rhino, shale spider, silithid, spirit beast, water strider, and worm. In short, many creatures you see in the game world can be tamed as a hunter pet.

If you can't settle on just one, that's fine, because you can tame many pets -- up to 50. However, you can only have one out at a time: any extra pets must be stabled while not with you (stable masters in towns will look after your pet for you while you're out adventuring). A certain number of pets can be stabled as "active" pets, which means you can call them and swap them for the pet you currently have no matter where in the game world you are. "Inactive" pets you'll have to visit a stable master to collect.

Who should (and shouldn't) play a hunter?
We think there are a lot of great reasons to play a hunter: The class is very easy for new players to pick up -- but there's also a lot of depth to the class if you want to really get into the game.Hunters have great survivability. Between mail armor, traps and tricks, and fiercely loyal pets, it's awfully hard to take a hunter down. This makes them a very good choice for players who are mostly interested in soloing.Though hunters aren't as flexible as a hybrid class, with pets that can do double-duty as a tank, they have more flexibility than other pure DPS classes.But a hunter might not be for you if: You really want to tank or heal. Sorry, hunters just aren't it.You're interested in a melee character or a caster: hunters still aren't it.You don't want to spend time hunting all over the game world to collect the perfect pet or the micromanagement of controlling a pet or collecting pets just doesn't interest you.

Want to learn more?
Check out these hunter resources: Hunter not for you? Then be sure to check out our guide to druids, monks, and warlocks -- and look for more newbie class coverage coming soon! Just because you're a newbie doesn't mean you can't bring your A-game to World of Warcraft! Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from the seven things every newbie ought to know to how to get started as a healer or as a tank. Tags: featured, guide, how-to-play-wow, hunter, hunter-class, new-to-world-of-warcraft, noob-guide, rookie-guide, world-of-warcraft-guide, world-of-warcraft-help, world-of-warcraft-noobs, world-of-warcraft-rookies, wow-guide, wow-help, wow-hunter-class, wow-noob-guide, wow-noobs, wow-to-play-world-of-warcraft

Filed under: Hunter, WoW Rookie

View the original article here

Breakfast Topic: Should Blizzard brake base XP while preserving boosts for experienced players?

We recently explored how you felt about alternate characters, whether you believe they should represent true alternatives to your first character or whether they should remain secondary to a more fully developed main. Either way, there's no stuffing rapid leveling back into the bag. WoW's current leveling design pushes players forward relentlessly, whether they're experienced gamers or not. The problem is that today's leveling pace already outstrips zone content, quest lines, gearing -- you name it. Should Blizzard apply the brakes to base XP while still permitting seasoned WoW players to choose to move more rapidly?

Consider this: What if the leveling experience weren't tuned to catapult players so quickly through and past leveling zones and dungeons? What if the pace were a little looser, giving new players more time to soak up the leveling game itself -– and then at the same time, the current XP boosts were spread across tools designed for experienced players who choose to hop, skip, and jump their way to 90?

The precedents are there -- just look at the heirloom armor system. Today, you can buy Grand Commendations to boost various reputations for your characters once you've played through them once. And remember when everyone was buying the Tome of Cold Weather Flight for their alts? The tools are already in place. From leveling XP to reputation gains to player convenience, the helping hand of a level-capped main character is key.

Do you think WoW's leveling experience should remain something to be played through quickly and efficiently, even for brand new players, or do you think there's merit to allowing that part of the game to move at a more deliberate pace? Would you support more mechanics that give experienced players a way to speed up leveling for their alts, preserving a slower pace for new players and players who enjoy slower leveling? If you like a strong emphasis on mechanics like heirlooms and commendations, should those tools be simple, affordable purchases for any level 90 player, or should they take some time, effort, or money to earn? Tags: alts, featured, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, leveling, main, main-character, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics, xp

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

View the original article here

Should you play a druid in WoW?

Just getting started in World of Warcraft and not sure what you want to do? Or maybe you've been playing for a while but aren't sure which class you like best. We're here to help by taking a look at what each class can do and leading you to the right one. Today, we're talking druids.

Druids harness the powers of nature to help their friends or harm their foes. They wield can wield magic to harm like a mage or heal like a priest and can shapeshift into animal forms to dive into melee fighting. Like the monk and paladin, druids are a hybrid class that can fill any role in the game they wish: if you play a druid, you have the flexibility to do whatever you please. But are you up to the task of wielding the raw elemental power of nature? We'll take a look at just what druids can do and try to decide if it's the right class for you.

Just what is a druid?
Druids aren't the only class that can fill multiple game roles, but they are are perhaps the most hybrid of the hybrids. In fact, druids are so flexible that they have four talent specializations compared to the usual three: balance (magic ranged DPS), feral (melee DPS in cat form), guardian (tanking in bear form), and restoration (healer). So whatever you want to do in World of Warcraft, there's no question: a druid can do it. Or, at least, a druid can do it with the right talent specialization and gear.

Druids wear leather armor and can wield staves, one-handed maces, two-handed maces, daggers, fist weapons, and polearms -- but a druid's particular abilities lend towards attacking targets using spells or (shapeshifted) claws, so except for those low levels where you might hit things when you run out of mana, your weapon will probably stay holstered for most of your play time. For race choice, though, druids have the most restrictive options in the game: only night elves, worsen, tauren, and trolls can become druids. A druid's shapeshifting options
Shapeshifting is key to the druid class. In fact, no matter what race you choose, your druid will be spending most of their time shapeshifted into something else. Helpfully for druids who PvP, shapeshifting will clear movement impairments and shapeshift forms cannot be polymorphed. Here's what a druid can shift into: Cat Form: At level 6, a druid can turn into a cat, which increases their damage and movement speed. A cat druid is focused on melee DPS and cat abilities use energy -- like rogues and windwalker monks -- rather than mana. Cats also have the ability to stealth, letting them sneak around enemies and ambush them.Bear Form: At level 8, a druid can turn into a bear, which increases their armor, stamina, and threat generation. Bear is a tank form and a bear's abilities use rage like a warrior.Travel Form: At level 16, travel form lets druids move 40% faster than normal, making it a great way to get around. (At least outdoors, since it can't be used indoors.)Aquatic Form: At level 18, a druid gains aquatic form, which is useful for traveling through water. In this form, druids can breathe under water and swim faster. And, if you don't care for the form's seal-like looks, Glyph of the Orca turns your Aquatic Form into -- surprise! -- an Orca.Moonkin Form: Available to balance druids starting at level 29, Moonkin Form increases both arcane and nature damage done as well as reducing damage taken. And as a buff to other casters in your party or raid, moonkin druids increase the spell haste of party and raid members within 100 yards of your character.Flight Form: For those who long to fly, at level 58, this ability will allow you to instantly shift into flight form. The fact that this is instant cast when using an actual mount would have a cast time makes it the travel option of choice for all druids, as well as the envy of other classes. As a plus, you don't even have to train Expert Riding -- you get it as a bonus when you learn Flight Form.Tree of Life Form: Tree of Life isn't a traditional shapeshifting form because, unlike the rest, it is temporary, lasting only for 30 seconds on a 3 minute cooldown. Restoration druids who pick the Incarnation talent at level 60 gain access to this shapeshift, which increases boosts their healing abilities and armor.Swift Flight Form: At level 70, druids get swift flight form, which as you might expect, allows for faster flying. However, to gain access to this ability (which replaces Flight Form), you will have to train Artisan Riding, just like everyone else.Who should (and shouldn't) play a druid?
If, after reading this, you think druids sound pretty awesome, it's because we think they are. But is druid the perfect class for you? That's a different question. Here's why we think you'll enjoy playing a druid: Having a druid gives you options. If you want to tank right now, but want to heal or DPS in the future? You can do that, and do it well, without rolling a new character.Shapeshifting is just plain fun, and PvPers will definitely appreciate not being hindered by polymorphs or movement impairing effects.Druids are the only class other than rogue that can stealth. While there are some items that offer temporary invisibility, it's not quite the same as a rogue or druid sneaking around in stealth. So if stealth gameplay appeals to you but you're not interested in a rogue, druids are a solid option.You can look to druid icon Alamo for life advice. (Though whether you want to is another matter entirely.)And, on the flip side, here are some signs that maybe druid isn't the class for you: While a druid's flexibility can be great, it can also be a huge nuisance to collect the right gear and be familiar with all your abilities so you can play different class roles. If you're not interested in playing multiple roles, a class that focuses the one thing you want to do may suit you better.If you don't want to be one of the very few races that can be druids, well, you're out of luck.
Want to learn more?
Try these resources: And if you think druid isn't your cup of tea, check out our guides for monks and warlocks -- and keep your eyes open for more coming soon! Just because you're a newbie doesn't mean you can't bring your A-game to World of Warcraft! Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from the seven things every newbie ought to know to how to get started as a healer or as a tank. Tags: class, classes, druid, druids, featured, guide, how-to-play-wow, new-to-world-of-warcraft, noob-guide, rookie-guide, world-of-warcraft-guide, world-of-warcraft-help, world-of-warcraft-noobs, world-of-warcraft-rookies, wow-class, wow-classes, wow-druid, wow-druids, wow-getting-started, wow-guide, wow-help, wow-noob-guide, wow-noobs, wow-to-play-world-of-warcraft

Filed under: Druid, WoW Rookie

View the original article here

Should We Blame The EU For Lack Of Darkfall?

Is the political instability in Greece and the European Union the reason for Darkfall: Unholy Wars’ delay?

That’s the theory Tobold advanced a day or so ago – and whilst it might sound a bit crazy, there’s more to it than you’d think:

“Why this hypothesis? Because it very nicely explains the rather long periods of being vaporware that Darkfall has gone through, and is yet again in. To make money from subscribers, you need a game that runs. To make money from well-meaning bureaucrats, you only need a PROJECT of a game that might one day run. Not running the game is actually cheaper, and thus more profitable, than having all that cost for servers, bandwidth, and customer service.”

Read the rest of Tobold’s argument here

Tagged as: darkfall, greece

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: General MMO Interest

View the original article here

Should GW2 give in and introduce quests already?

Everything old is new again. Guild Wars 2, famous for its innovative “no quests” MMO gameplay, now has a growing demand from players for old-school, kill-ten-rats quests as part of its game world.

But why? Well, there are definitely problems with the way the game works already – but does that mean that quests are the solution? Jeromai of Why I Game really doesn’t think so – and he takes the “gief quests plox” argument apart in a fascinating post looking at the problems and solutions of GW2's current gameplay style:

“As for stories, well, even across the open world, some of the dynamic events may feel more generic than others – nameless bandits, centaurs, Inquest, Risen, whoever, just rushing to the slaughter.

But I remember Rhendak the Crazed pretty well, mostly because I keep joking he’d have to be crazy to sit all day underwater waiting for people to come by. I remember the ghosts in Barradin’s vault VERY well, because Ivor Trueshot kept pwning my lowbie and Horace still tears up my downleveled 80 and I recall them as people from Guild Wars 1. I even remember the Bane warband going on their regular ghost patrol, if only because they and my character share part of their surnames.

(I even remember that most useless group of almost-pacifist ogres that need their hand held with everything – even if I don’t remember their names.)

I think what we’d really like is to get to know some of the characters in the open world a little more. Learn their names. Hear their stories. Get involved in meaningful ways. Bring a little more personal story into the world story.”

Read the rest of the article here

Tagged as: quests

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: Guild Wars 2

View the original article here

Should Vendors Be More Choosy?

Take any random vendor in any modern MMO. Try to sell them weapons. Fine. Now try selling clothing. Fine. Boar’s teeth? Fine. Beef? Fine. Spider web? Sure, why not?

But should it really be that way? Isn’t there something to be said for making the virtual world feel a little more real?

The Ancient Gaming Noob is looking back into the history of the MMORPG with this great post, talking about an age where vendors would only buy a few, specific things, and asking if convenience is really better:

“And with all of that, you still ran the risk of selling something of value to other players… something you could sell or trade… to a vendor without knowing. As I mentioned above, you needed a scroll of identify to see what an item did. There were no stats on demand and equipment was not color coded by the now standard formula (gray, white, green, blue, purple) to indicate relative worth. Of course, once you sold the item to a vendor, it cost you a lot more to buy it back. It seemed that vendors were in the business of making money… or at least acting like they were there to make money as opposed to just being a place to dump your crap.”

Read the rest of the article here

Tagged as: shops, vendors

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: General MMO Interest

View the original article here

What you should plant on your Tiller's farm

This hit my inbox the other day:

What's the most profitable thing to plant in a farm? I'd assume in most cases people plant for their profession or whatever raw material sells for the most. I, however, am a chronic alt-oholic and have every profession maxed and available to me. I don't raid and can't stand dailies, so I only have patterns available that are vendor trained, bought with spirits of harmony, or learned off a cooldown. So what's the start and end of the equation?

-Matt

So what is the most profitable thing to plant on your farm? Matt assumes correctly that the majority of people simply plant what they can use to avoid having to buy off the Auction House. There is plenty of opportunity to improve this, though!

Generally, the least profitable thing to farm is vegetables. This is only true because everyone else already farms them, and they're all you can farm until you get farther into the Tillers reputation grind. The reputation seeds for leather, ore, cloth, or enchanting mats are generally lower yield than simply getting Harmonies and trading those for what you need, and that's generally less than you'd get by planting Enigma Seeds, selling everything you get, and using that gold to buy leather, ore, cloth, or enchanting mats. In short, the most profitable thing to plant is usually Songbell Seeds or Enigma Seeds.

Songbell Seeds

Songbell Seeds provide you with Motes of Harmony, which provide Spirits of Harmony. If you have a profession that requires these to make items valuable to other players or allows you to use them to skip daily cooldowns, then you can figure out exactly how much one of them is worth and do the math.

On my blacksmith, I can craft blue 463 weapons that require Harmonies, and some of these weapons sell for a fair bit of gold. Blacksmiths can also use Harmonies to craft epic 496 gear if they buy the somewhat expensive patterns off the AH (or get them in a raid or the Black Market Auction House). All these epic recipes take Blood Spirits, which are still somewhat rare and expensive, but much more attainable now that many realms have guilds with normal mode raids on farm. Item level 496 gear is still good enough that people will want it in patch 5.2. That said, this epic gear sells fairly slowly, so your major Harmony-soak is going to be weapons and maybe the 476 epic armor. These recipes are gated behind being honored with The Klaxxi, but if you hit 90 in that zone like most people do, you're likely to have enough reputation to get them without doing dailies. If you didn't get to them before hitting 90, just go and do all their non-blue quests and you'll be rewarded with enough reputation for the recipes.

On a tailor, you can turn Harmonies into Imperial Silk which are the base ingredient for your gear enhancements and epic gloves and chest pieces, as well as the best bag in the game. The Golden Lotus is unfortunately the reputation you need for Tailoring recipes, and you won't have any lead on them by leveling. That said, it's only a few days of dailies to get honored, and that's when you'll learn all the 476 BoE crafted gear and your Spellthreads. If you keep going and get August Celestials rep up to exalted, then you'll be able to make that bag.

edit: If items made from Imperial Silk are not profitable on your realm, then you're better off farming Enigma Seeds, because the only thing Tailors can do with Harmonies is make more Imperial Silk.

As a leatherworker, you can make blue 450 cloaks which will generally sell quite well. Once you get Golden Lotus honored, you can make the 476 epic armor, and you can make the 496 epic armor any time you're willing to invest in a pattern.

An engineer can make a bunch of items with Harmonies, none of which require rep grinding. Mist-Piercing Goggles are in constant demand by new gatherers, the new weapon scope will be purchased every time a hunter gets a weapon upgrade, this gun is generally the first thing these hunters want to buy when they hit 90, and there are a pair of mounts that will sell so rarely that they basically won't count.

Scribes can use Harmonies to make a blue 424 caster offhand and blue 424 staves for casters and agility users. These blues are usable by non-scribes, and the offhands can be upgraded to 476 healing and dps epics which are also usable by non-scribes. The staves can be upgraded by a scribe, but the upgrade is not something you can sell. If you have no other use for your Harmonies, you can make more Darkmoon Cards with 10 of them.

edit: I took out the part about the weekly quest -- I can't see it on my scribe because he's not max level, but I'm being told that it never made it to live.

Jewelcrafters can craft pets, but mostly skip the daily cooldown on research. Alchemists can only use it to skip the daily cooldown on (and reduce the materials of) making a Living Steel.

As you can see, the daily 1.6 Spirits of Harmony you can farm can end up being wildly different profit for you, depending on which professions you have. If you can't use Harmonies profitably, the other option is to use them to buy things from your Spirit of Harmony vendor. Golden Lotus used to be the obvious best deal here, however in patch 5.1, the number of Lotus you get for a Harmony was reduced to 2 from 3. If you're trying to get Lotus, you're better off planting Enigma Seeds, however the Lotus has gone way down in price lately.

Enigma Seeds

If you can't make a Spirit of Harmony into something more valuable than the average of a stack of herbs on your realm, then consider Enigma Seeds. These will turn into a stack of a random herb, or a Golden Lotus. Average out the value of a stack of herbs (add up the price for Fool's Cap, Green Tea Leaf, Silkweed, Rain Poppy, and Snow Lily, then divide by 6), and then assuming you're getting one Lotus about every 8 Seeds, divide the price of a Lotus by 8. If those two numbers together are higher than what you can make with a mote of Harmony, then Enigma Seeds are the way to go.

My farmer is a blacksmith, so I still come ahead making Harmonies. They're worth a lot less now than they were last patch, but so are the Golden Lotus and herbs I'm giving up by not farming Enigma Seeds. I check frequently, though.

Maximize your profits with advice from Gold Capped. Want to know the very best ways to earn 10,000 gold? Top gold making strategies for auctioneers? How about how to reach 1 million gold -- or how one player got there and then gave it all away? Fox and Basil are taking your questions at fox@wowinsider.com and basil@wowinsider.com. Tags: ah, auction-house, enigma-seeds, farming, gold, gold-making, halfhill, songbell-seeds, spirit-of-harmony, tillers, tillers-farm

Filed under: Economy, Gold Capped, Mists of Pandaria

View the original article here