Christian Gaming Podcast Show Notes
Welcome to Episode 18 of Christian Gaming Podcast!
This is our Wow classic round table!
Follow the show on Twitter: twitter.com/A_CGPodcast
You can follow me on twitter @RainnaPlays
Email the Show at AChristianGamingPodcast@gmail.com !
You can call the show at 269 248 1724
It is August 25, 2019!
I am your host Rainna SwiftSage
And joining me tonight is
Felloon!
Luminin!
SirJahzeal
Kennethan!
We can start the show by giving the listeners our Warcraft Background:
We will take turns answering these Questions
( Just put your name then jot down whatever you need to for each talking point so you have something to spark your memory for our discussion portion )
When did you start?
When did you stop,(if you did)?
Why are you going to give WOW Classic a try? If you're not, why aren't you?
Favorite memory of WOW
What are your plans getting started in Wow classic?
Any Wow Classic info you want to share.
Felloon
When did you start?
Started playing WoW when back when CCP decided to drop support for Linux for EVE Online. I was playing EVE with my sons, we used that game to hang out since we lived so far apart. Anyway, after I quit my sons decided they needed to find another game for me play with them and they suggested World of Warcraft, at the time I never heard of WoW, in fact I wasn't really even a gamer per se. I was just playing games to hang with my boys..
This happened somewhere near the end of The Burning Crusade. I didn't play long before I started seeing the Wrath of the Lich King advertisement in the client.
When did you stop,(if you did)?
I stopped during Mists of Pandaria, my mother had some health issues and I was helping my dad. I “came back” near the end of MoP and tried to do some questing etc but I think at that point I was basically leaving WoW. Ever since then I would come back for the new expansion, play the new class if there was one, run the dungeons until I made my way through at least heroic, then logout until the next expansion.
Why are you going to give WOW Classic a try? If you're not, why aren't you?
Yes I have been planning on playing Classic. I actively seeked out some guilds and also was recruited by one. Ultimately decided to go play with Solidarity. They really feel like a player driven group. Not a group that only cares about 1 or 2 people. We are all really excited and I’m sure it will be a good time. They had a guild meeting the other day on Discord to just kind of give an overall view of the plan, which is to have fun… but how the guild rules work etc etc. sounds very good.
Favorite memory of WOW
Before I really understood the game or its mechanics a friend of one of my sons would take us on dungeon runs. I couldn't believe how much fun dungeons where and how hard they were compared to the world. I literally fell in love with dungeons at that point.
What are your plans getting started in Wow classic?
Well first of all I will not be in any races… I’m basically going into Classic with the intent to raid I will be playing a Warrior Tank (Human). This is quite ironic because I have been telling everyone I know that I will NOT be playing an Alliance toon! For the Horde! What it boiled down to was which group sounded the most player friendly which happen to be Solidarity. I already had a main tank spot on a Horde raid team. I just needed to create my character and go. But I didn't really like the politics ALREADY.. So that's that..
Any Wow Classic info you want to share.
I haven't really done tons of research but rather very focused on Tanks, raid tanking and just a little bit on leveling. Rather than info maybe some advice: just play the class you are most comfortable with and enjoy. If you choose one based on someone else’s reasons you will probably never really enjoy your time in WoW.
WOW Tanking For Skarm Fell Mentioned
Luminin
When/how did you start? A buddy in HS was adamant that I give this WoW game a whirl… that was near the middle (I think) of WotLK
When did you stop,(if you did)? I stopped playing just after the release of...BFA (It IS BFA, right?)
Lamanin Search Results
Why are you going to give WOW Classic a try? If you're not, why aren't you? I’m not sure if I’m going to give it a chance, I’m frankly just burned out.
Favorite memory of WOW That’s a hard one, I’d have to go through my screenshots and find something lol
What are your plans getting started in Wow classic? Follow Felloon of course! He’s been prowling the field for months now!
SirJahzeal
When/how did you start? June 2004 during Beta. I was invited by a friend who had been working for Blizzard (that I had played EverQuest with since 1999). I had played Warcraft I-III previous to that (as well as the other Blizzard games).
When did you stop,(if you did)? I took a six month break during Cataclysm and returned to play up until January 2019. I just was not enjoying Battle for Azeroth. Since then I have been playing Guild Wars 2 and The Elder Scrolls Online.
Why are you going to give WOW Classic a try? If you're not, why aren't you? I am going to be investing the majority of my free time to WoW: Classic. I miss the challenge to reward balance of the game during that era!
Favorite memory of WOW There are so many fantastic memories from the past 15 years within the World of Warcraft! My favorite memories revolve around the social events that we created within the game, as well as meeting up with guild mates at the annual BlizzCon events! And...the “Naked Gnome Run” events!
What are your plans getting started in Wow classic? Outside of the game - stock up on snacks and beverages! In the game - I was set on rolling a Troll Mage (main), however, if we are short on healers then I will go with Undead Priest. We are also going to be starting a guild, which I am looking forward to!
Any Wow Classic info you want to share. Modern, Retail World of Warcraft players are so focused on end-game content and getting to it as fast as possible. Classic is about the overall experience, the journey as a whole. Take your time, enjoy yourself and do not be in a rush. Do not worry about min/maxing, pick a faction/race/class that you enjoy playing over what is generally seen as popular or meta.
Rainna:
When/how did you start?
I started at the beginning of Wrath! I was immediately called a Wrath baby and I was way behind my Coworkers who had got me into the game. I remember them doing dailies and me being too tiny to join in at the time. I remember leveling up was such a celebration into the guild and the game back then and I really enjoyed that.
When did you stop,(if you did)?
I stopped playing in Warlords of Draenor. I got soured on the “having to complete the Draenor Pathfinder I also had just started playing Ark Survival Evolved so it made the transfer out of WOW that much easier. Wow can be very culty lol I have had friends that were friends of mine as long as I played wow. The minute I left , they stopped interacting with me entirely unless they are on a WOW hiatus then POOF there they are being sociable again lol It is so weird!
Explore all of Draenor's zones ( Draenor Explorer),Collect 100 Treasures ( Master Treasure Hunter),Complete all major story quests in Draenor: Loremaster of Draenor/ Loremaster of Draenor,Complete 12 specific Apexis Dailies: Securing Draenor/Securing Draenor,Hit Revered with the three new Tanaan Jungle factions ( Tanaan Diplomat/ Tanaan Diplomat): Order of the Awakened, The Saberstalkers, and Hand of the Prophet/Vol'jin's Headhunters
Why are you going to give WOW Classic a try? If you're not, why aren't you?
I am going to give it a try, but not on the day of release. As a mom of two small nuggets I don't game unless my family is sleeping.I avoid getting my hopes up for all of the ducks to be in a row the small window of time I have during the day, hoping to have enough time I have learned my lesson hopping into new games the first day. I get all excited and hit the queue wall then get frustrated and then walk away until it is backed. I also hate getting used to a server then have them shut that server down and moving to another one once the hype has worn off . I was going to wait, but now I am just trying to remember my log in lol
The Cheers Factor!
Favorite memory of WOW
The feeling of running forever and experiences the new experience in gaming for me known as an open world! I ran into this higher level zone and died and rezzed, ran back and died. I could make it to my body long enough to just rez before the mobs would realize I was there and BAM dead again. I felt like I would never get to play ever again. I was going to be stuck there. I did this like 5 or 6 times before I broke down and wrote in local asking for help. This tauren came over and said they would fend off the mobs so I could rez and run. I was so so thankful . They then told me I could have rezzed at the spirit chick and also taught me what a hearthstone was!
What are your plans getting started in Wow classic?
I want to join the GMA crew , the guild leader of the guild I was in on Borean tundra is going to give it a go and see how long the interest lasts. I have a group of old gaming friends who are playing WOW Classic until the game pantheon comes out. I feel like the majority of us are all starting WOW classic with the small print being “We don't know how long this guild will last” it may be a week or it may be a month.
Any Wow Classic info you want to share.
Kennethan
When/how did you start? I heard of WoW while playing DAOC. 2004 was my dark days and I left gaming. I bought vanilla but didn't really start playing until BC
When did you stop,(if you did)? December 2011: Plan was to move QIS guild to SWTOR but half didn’t go due to hardware and the other half gave up on SWTOR really fast.
Why are you going to give WOW Classic a try? If you're not, why aren't you? Notalgia, friends and family playing it and to actually play vanilla and do Molten Core
Favorite memory of WOW Downing the lich king after so many tries. One of the greatest moments in my gaming career and one that I remember so clearly as I thought we died yet again until someone told us this was part of the fight
What are your plans getting started in Wow classic? PAX West is August 30 to September 2 so there is some interference with my WoW time. Plan to play it almost exclusive and raid with the GMA guild. September 13 when Borderlands 3 comes out might interfere with my raid time.
Any Wow Classic info you want to share. I have not done much to prepare as I want it all to be brand new.
Then we can go over the Reddit AMA:
Because the heftiness and often repetitiveness of the AMA, I thought it would be easier for us to just pick out up to 5 of the Q/A topics (making sure not so swipe others that were chosen) . We will read them and then comment on them.
You can head here to copy and paste your selections:
Luminin I’m trying to stay away from most of the info, so I didn’t dig too deep into this, but at a random scroll (and panic when I found myself in the comments and then a frantic scroll back up) I found this totally non-spoiler...I almost hope, but kinda like it if they’d left it.
Q: What are some interesting hiccups or bugs you guys hit in redeveloping vanilla?
A: There was a bug when two priests mind control each other the mind control itself would cancel out but the camera would still switch to each other. The result is both priests would be stuck watching each other move around which hilarious and very confusing.
I’m just going to stop right there. Laugh, wonder what we’re all going to get ourselves into and shake my head. Most of us have heard the stories, hopefully we’ll have a few of our own this time around. Can you imagine. Boss: Hey, intern-who-I-don’t-know-what-your-name-is! I need you to recreate the original version of this (15 year old?) game. Fix all the old issues, leave the fun problems, make the millions of players in our community that are looking through nostalgia-lenses happy and uhh, get me a bubble tea, peach. KThanks.
Felloon
Q: Considering the nature of WoW classic and why people love it, would other tweaks to things that the vanilla community dislike be on the table? Examples: No LFG in Wrath, undoing some blatant, unneeded homogenization in patches, or possibly an ilvl squish in TBC and Wrath so that old content is not marginalized?
A: We’re looking into what would be required to support BC and WotLK should we decide to go that route. The guiding principle for WoW Classic was staying faithful to the original game.
It’s less clear what our direction should be with BC and WotLK. As you point out, it is likely that some features of these expansions will not be universally embraced by the Classic community. We’ll be following player progression and sentiment to help guide us in our next steps.
Q: Will servers be brought down at some point before release or will players be able to sit at character select waiting for “Enter World” to activate?
A: We are likely to perform some kind of realm restarts or maintenance between now and launch. However, in the minutes leading up to launch, our plan is that the realms will up and available and the Enter World button will instantly light up once we’re launched.
Rainna
Q: What is the stance on people trading gold from Classic realms for gold on BfA realms and vice versa? I hope this will not only be an unsupported trade, but actually against rules and a bannable offense. If people can trade gold between the two versions of the game, then they can still effectively buy gold by selling a WoW token on BfA servers and then trading the gold. 309
A: There is no direct means for characters in BfA to transfer gold to characters in WoW Classic. This would be highly disruptive for Classic as the economies of these two games are very different.
Gold exchange between players in WoW is subject to our terms of service. Purchase of gold from 3rd parties could lead to suspension or banning of accounts.
Q: What was the feeling in the office when the team suspected, then learned, that Wow Classic was an official project? I imagine some people groaned, others excited, or didn’t care. What was the general vibe? 97
A: The team was very, very excited. The biggest challenge we faced with this project was figuring out whether we could pull this off from a technical perspective. But once we proved that it was possible, and we stood up a reference client, there was no looking back.
Q: When creating classic, was there anything specific your team thought was going to be incredibly hard to accomplish that turned out be A LOT easier than expected? or vise versa. 90
A: One of the biggest benefits of having worked on World of Warcraft continuously since the beginning is that I have a strong grasp not only of how our game and server systems worked originally, but how they changed over time. So I can’t say there was anything “incredibly” hard. The process mainly involved a constant iteration comparing Classic to our 1.12 reference, and making fixes and adjustments when we found differences.
On a side note, I did find old bits of code that I wrote as a young engineer. I fought hard to resist the urge to clean and refactor it in places it was not technically needed (because at this point it’s been production hardened for 10+ years)
Q: One of my core memories from Classic was Halloween holiday event. I know it got introduced in 1.8 patch and its model was a bit different from current. Like for e.g. Trick or Treat was given by innkeeper with 1h CD. As this and other holiday events are quite soon from now (like 1-2 months), can we expect it being live with old functionalities? 120
A: Trick or Treat! Yes, because we’re based on patch 1.12’s data, holidays will play out as day did during that patch. So we look forward to spooky treats and happy haunts this October!
SirJahzeal
A: While we understand that this was a flavorful part of Original WoW and the earlier expansions, individual players leaving multiple player corpses and skeletons throughout the game world can lead to behavior such as spelling out advertisements, hate speech, and other negative messages. As such, this will not be a part of WoW Classic. Q: Unsure how this worked back in the day – you would only get locked to an Onyxia ID if you were inside the instance when she died. This meant 30 people could hearth out when she was at .5% HP and the loot would only have to be split between the remaining 10 people. This “trick” allowed you to clear Onyxia multiple times per reset. This was apparently possible back in the day, and will this “mechanic” be present in Classic? Will it be considered an exploit if it is?
A: This is not possible in Classic. All players who were in the instance when Onyxia is engaged will be locked.
Kennethan
Q: All of the queue questions
And the fun queues and full servers will create. :P Back when I started playing heavily in BC, I was on a server that had a huge queue so when Blizzard offered free transfer we jumped at it. On the new server we named our guild Queueless in Seattle.
Q: Layers
A: We’re absolutely committed to reaching one layer per realm by Phase 2. This is why we need to have upper bounds on the number of players connected to the realm at one time, and queue players past that point. That, of course, is why we’re willing to open new servers if necessary, and we’ve even started doing that in response to the incredibly positive reception we’ve had during the name reservation period!
To me, sounds like Blizzard has taken into consideration the numbers that will influence server nees and layering
A: “Success” for us is that players enjoy the game! We hope that those who played back in the day are overcome with nostalgia, great memories, and reconnect with old friends. We hope that new players get to experience this iconic time in MMO history and experience the world with new friends.
Isn’t this the whole point? :) the questioner might have been thinking of something else like numbers or profit or being able to keep a classic server and create a progression server to BC and WotLK
A: We have VASTLY improved telemetry and error reporting tools now than we had in 2006. As someone who has fielded 3am calls, I consider this a HUGE perk! An engineering only perk is we use modern compilers and debuggers which is a huge boost to productivity, scalability, security and robustness. On the client front, our engine is much more efficient at rendering images and more stable and free of crashes in general.
While making my charcters last night i can see the graphics are not the current models, it is great to hear the WoW devs made point of improving the game itself even if it behind the scenes with the modern compilers and debuggers.
RAINNA
Content release plan Info
Layering in Classic WoW
posted 2019/05/14 at 12:46 PM by Anshlun
Name Reservations
📷
God Mode Activated Contact Info
God Mode Activated Discord discord.gg/65UFPxH
God Mode Activated Website www.Godmodeactivated.com
God Mode Activated Twitter https://twitter.com/GMAMinistries
KENETHANS TWITCH and Twitter
SIRJAHZEALS TWITCH AND TWITTER
Solidarity Guild That Felloon has joined for WOW Classic
Felloon on Twitter: Felloon@FelloonGamer https://twitter.com/FelloonGamer