Take your guess when next expansion will be out.

[Deminion]

My guess is in late september/oktober due to a new pvp-season have just begun, and the average length of thoose have been stated to be around 25 weeks, and there still have been no word out on Beta.

[Ammon]

blergh, I hope it isn't THAT long, just yak!

[Shadowsong]

If I had to guess, I guess....around.......November or December.

Just a gut feeling.

[Switchback]

They can shorten the pvp season, but your right Demi
I recon end of nov beginning dec...
They have lost lots but they will know the expac will bring loads of people back... What better time than December... Xmas time... They will sell loads as presents and people generally have the time off to play


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk and technology

[Devlan]

Let's see, to keep people from a mass-exodus they'll need to bring about the Beta relatively soon. I'm guessing it'll be out somewhere around the time that Elder Scrolls Online is released. Then they can have 2 months of Beta for the hardcore crowd before they start beheading random Blizzard employees for having made another ICC mistake. After all, Patch 5.4 will be 6 months old this tuesday and I just don't see them being able to pull off more than 9 months of the same Raid.

So I'm guessing late May as the earliest, early July as the latest.

[Switchback]

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/

so you can pre-order now....

2 statements....

Fall 2014....so from September/October but will be guaranteed by 20/12 !!

So Sept - Dec then

[Switchback]

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/13184836/

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Warlords of Draenor launches worldwide this fall, and you can prepare for the coming invasion now by immediately* boosting a character to level 90 with your pre-purchase of the expansion digitally.

So we are looking at September onward for the release .... A looooong way off :doh:

[Deminion]

Right, Alpha-testing is going on atm.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Seen a bunch of new items added on mmo champ for the Halloween event .... I think its fair to say they are looking to be live before october

[Switchback]

Seen a bunch of new items added on mmo champ for the Halloween event .... I think its fair to say they are looking to be live before october

I have a pal who is lucky enough to win a beta key. Says its good yet easy....could you imagine a 10 lvl grind at pandaria's lvl when it first went live..

In regards to the Halloween event.... they always tie something up just to keep people hooked....troll incursion, reclaiming gnomehell...

I think they are gona have a "feat of strength" event again but still believe it will be Nov/dec

[Deminion]

How's it hanging? Anything going on in the dying months of pandaria? Feeling a strong urge to return, but would love if some raiding of any kind was going on:-)

[JonnyAppleSeed]

When we get a date for the expansion we will be looking to forming a raid team

[Ranualf]

I`m in the alpha

Testing is discovering new and fascinating bugs- like walking through a door, then falling through the floor of Auchindoon.. fun! There are some issues- like the insanly long spawn timers on key quest items/ mobs, but this will be addressed- we hope! The flight master mini maps have a major issues with their graphic overlay- basically you have to ride out of your garrisons to get to a lot of places- they know about this, and its on the list of top priorities

Dungeons + scaling
The lvl 100 instances DO require some CC, although not as heavy as BC was.
That said, if the tank pulls too many mobs (typical 4+) then you looking to either oom the healer, or kill the entire party.:ranting2:

I have done all the dungeons to date, with Auchindoon by far the hardest- the void walker fight is a lot of RNG with the shadow orbs of instant death, although we managed to figure out what to do after a few pulls- great fight, TON of movement required, making the fight longer (no more move + casting anymore), unless you are using instants.

Thoughts so far

It looks and plays Damn good
The scaling system seems to work well - imagine your a lvl 90 char, and enter a lvl 100 dungeon(its the test realms) you get boosted to lvl 100- stats, ap, sp, etc etc and get to use your lvl 100 talent- cool beans.

Game play dungeon difficulty wise- lvl 90-100 normals varies- with the slag pit being the easiest, then UBRS- but dont think your going to roll over it- it will require some smart play (cc + interrupt or die), but its common sense to any experienced WoW veteran.

The arrakota instance is a bit tough, it requires decent co-ordination for the party to kill some of the bosses, the flame bird is tough- the path up after it is a bit like the bridge in ToT, tough going but fun fights. Also there are some akward LOS issues with the pulls, be prepared to go flying (you have no wings)- and die.

Auchindoon, omg, this place is a nightmare, more so when your dressed in greens and blues, liberal use of CC required (although most dungeons req you to play smart), the boss fights are tough, damn tough some of them, but i suspect its a gear rating thing. That said, i do not think you can gain a great advantage until your into tier 16 items, and then you may be able to op the dungeon.

DPS
This is massively scaled down, most classes are typically doing 9-10k dps, i`m using my Ele shammy atm, and the new mastery proc is awesome, locks, mages and sprierst seem pretty stable too, and all competitive. Warriors and paladins are a bit unknown, as they are still trying to finalise their- balance, but they are still doing decent dps, and are not far behind caster at all. Although i would say that this expansion favours casters (again) simply due to the mechanics, and masses of AOE damage many of the fights have, this may be trimmed down, but at the moment, it "feels ok", although i do feel for the melee classes atm.

Healing

Well all the healers have had massive changes!
Healing is roughly back to the BC levels of play, requiring "some thought" as to what to heal with- fast mana burn, or slow mana regen spells.
ALL mana regen mechanics are GONE- no mana tide, innervate, prayer- so beware.
Basically a huge chunk of responsibility is on your tank, if they decide to run off into the wilderness, and gather several mobs- stand still and just wait a few seconds, they WILL die fast- more so with some of the mobs (Stonefist is insta kill for most classes!). Teach them the hard way- play smart or play dead, your choice.

We have experienced most healing classes, paladins, disc priest and shamans seem pretty solid, Rdruids are doing good, but holy priests seems to missing something, lots of complaining about it- we have not run with a Rmonk, so far.

Overall verdict

It looks to be a bloody great expansion!
The garrison system is fun (yes it really is) and is also a time sink (thus giving the game more life), and for the achievers- there are a LOT of followers to collect!
Dungeons fights seem pretty well balanced, although "some tuning" is required for Auchindoon- its either role over easy, or kick your ass hard- hmm. Still bloody good fun, and masses of AOE mechanics to deal with, also there are some zero threat mechanics to deal with... ... yea they are a pain!

Movement
Its move or prepare to die- as the healer WILL NOT be able to bring you back to full life quickly- we are talking 4+ spells for that, as the life pools are higher than the healing max, basically get used to running about in the fight at 50% life or less, and dont freak out because your not at 100% life. So be prepared to use bandages (yes i know!) and health potions!:blink:

We are waiting for the raid schedule to open up, and eagerly awaiting to run in to our deaths!

Thus far, i would rate it a very strong 9/10 - they have ticked a lot of boxes, and made things "like they used to be", as in you have to be able to play, rather than stand still and mash the keyboard- there is a hell of lot more moving to be done, some of the fights are a pain to deal with- more so as a healer, as players doing the wrong thing at the wrong time either kill themselves or burn your precious blue mana bar trying to keep them alive!:ranting2:

See you in Draenor

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Cool review Amber ... You have pepped up my interest on the healing side :norty: