Yeah, Diablo is the game it brings to mind for me too. I think replay-wise players would be better served if they expanded on the Mythic+ system. Right now it's mostly just a race against the clock. There's buffs the mobs get that change week to week that affect the mechanics but never in a way that the goal isn't to just to blitz through the dungeon as fast as possible. Nothing wrong with it per-se, but it could be a lot more interesting if sometimes there were objectives besides just a time trial.
personally I thought the hit/expertise mechanic was simply badly handled, rather than having it the way they did, with 100% being a hard cap, they should have given the stats a secondary benefit that was worthwhile for having a little bit above the cap, like hit increasing crit or maybe even adding a small %chance of multishot above 100% or expertise increasing your dodge/block/parry or even just a straight bonus to damage for both. As it was, the way they generalized stats basically made it that you were straight getting punished for every point of hit/expertise above the cap.
If memory serves me, hit also slightly increased physical damage as well. The hit balancing was the reason you had to pick the correct gear out of each raid. Not just haphazardly roll on everything because a different class or spec may get more out of it.
I suppose there is that. Could be I just have whatever the opposite of rose-colored glasses would be about it, since iirc even Wrath was far enough back that it was one of the most accessible MMOs already, and all anyone had to do is take a few minutes to read a class guide and they'd learn how it works.
Most competent guilds guide new players with how the game mechanics work. This is where most players fail as they do not understand basic mechanics. Seen multiple times with a class or spec using gear that is not meant for them. Warrior using agi or int gear. Hunter running around in raid with int gear. Rogue using int dagger. Or having wrong enchants on a weapon. This was in LFG and later LFR. You could tell as well with them being in all epics they didn’t have a clue.
Yeah, I remember in particular a Druid who went from being a total lodestone to a decently good dd just by telling her about a couple basic mechanics the game didn't teach her. I feel a little bad for the people who can only do LFR since they could probably quite easily do the normal mode if the game taught itself just a little better.
The game used to teach you the basics from what I remember. This was before they streamlined how skill are learned and bought. Before it was go to a trainer and it told you about the skill or was in a list of skills you could purchase. Had to buy every upgrade at the trainer and it showed you all the changes that happened. Now it’s just buy skill and forget it exists or what it does and automatically upgrades as you level. Some skills you had to quest for that took ages or do dungeons for them as they are only learnable from a tome. I think some may have been world drops.
You actually don't even have to buy them now. You just get them automatically and it even forces them on your bar (until that's full and then I guess you just have to somehow know you have new spells?) Unless you're a hunter, of course. Then you have growl, from the get-go, auto-cast by default, and it's not on your bar, so you wipe the first group you're in, and everyone yells at you, for the thing you never knew even existed.
I think you'll find it's the same game you loved before. So far I've only got two guys so I'd be more than happy to roll a new one if you want somebody to level with.
Our numbers have increased to J.P, Lagcat, Alexia, and myself. Everyone is free to come and join in on the fun. Retail Classic WoW is looking to be atleast a year away, so there's lots of time to spend mucking around on the private server.
I think this evening I'll get a guild charter so we can keep track of people's alts easier. I'll be on either Xoldi or my Druid, Olsa.
I've been playing a few hours a week, mostly after our Wed/Thu Star Wars/Trek thing. I'll probably keep doing that unless there's a good time when we're all on.
Just a disclaimer on that. It's a playable DEMO, not Beta. There have been rumors floating that Blizzcon tickets come with a Beta invite. Those rumors are wrong, it's a Demo.
A full beta this early would be pretty surprising to me, especially considering BfA's only been out for a few weeks. A demo means they've got the backend issues they were worried about tackled though. That panel they're doing for it sounds interesting too.
Classic seems like one of those projects with a couple choke points that they have to worry about but the instant they figure it out they can leap ahead a large %
