World of Warcraft, Woz it all about, Elfie? Options

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

I still think it's a serious issue that needs to be considered. Has anyone tried installing WoW from clean install since this new patch? That's roughly 1.2GB of patching to be done. And it's only going to get worse as time goes on. If they want people to keep paying 9 quid a month to play this game they should be doing everything they can to make things as easy as possible. If they want to release a shitload of content that's going to clog up everyone's bandwidth, they should offer free mail out CDs with the patch on to any subscriber who wants one. I know they don't do stuff this big very often, but if I'd known yesterday when I reactivated my account that I was going to be looking at a 700MB patch today, I wouldn't have bothered. What they need to do is separate code change patches from their game assets. They could have made the code changes mandatory, since they are needed with fundamental gameplay changes being made, but have most of the new content assets optional, or at least, let you continue playing with only a subset of them and stagger the download of the rest over a few months.

[Raven]

I suspect that the Burning Crusade expansion will have all of the 1.X patches supplied with it, but with over 7.5 million players world wide now*, distributing on-going game patches via disk would be hugely impractical.

If you want a game that isn't being continually updated, where you aren't being given exciting new content, I'd suggest you buy a copy of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion!

*4 million of which are Korean gold farmers.

[NiteFall]

Well, when bought WoW, I got a newer version than my brother, which came on 5 rather than 4 CDs and had all of the patches that had been released up to that point integrated into it. I suspect that this will be happening with the latest patch as well. Yes I know, you don't want to have to shell out for a new copy of the game, blah, blah, blah. Just saying.

[Raven]

I forgot to say, I left the patch downloading overnight - which it did - but when I checked my PC this morning it had failed to install (with a message saying that I may need to uninstall and re-install the whole program ).

I will try resetting my PC when I get home!

[NiteFall]

The worst I've heard is one of my guildies who somehow downloaded the 4.1 gig server patch rather than the 700 meg user patch. Needless to say, he was less than happy when we pointed out to him his idiocy.

[Raven]

The worst I've heard is one of my guildies who somehow downloaded the 4.1 gig server patch rather than the 700 meg user patch. Needless to say, he was less than happy when we pointed out to him his idiocy.

How did he manage that? I thought it was all automatic?

[NiteFall]

He wasn't downloading via the blizz updater, but from an ftp site. He clicked the wrong thing, went to work to leave it downloading...

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

I suspect that the Burning Crusade expansion will have all of the 1.X patches supplied with it, but with over 7.5 million players world wide now*, distributing on-going game patches via disk would be hugely impractical. 

If you want a game that isn't being continually updated, where you aren't being given exciting new content, I'd suggest you buy a copy of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion!

*4 million of which are Korean gold farmers.

I don't think it is. When I downloaded it yesterday, it said 1.12 - 2.0. That means you first have to get to 1.12 in the first place, which is about 450MB. Luckily I had the good sense to stick that patch on my pen drive from my work PC so I didn't have to install that as well.

I wasn't saying they had to distribute new CDs to everyone, just people who ask for them. It shouldn't matter how impractical it is, they're making an absolute killing on subscriptions, it's not unreasonable to expect them to give a little something back to keep you coming back and lining their pockets.

[Raven]

I don't think it is. When I downloaded it yesterday, it said 1.12 - 2.0. That means you first have to get to 1.12 in the first place, which is about 450MB. Luckily I had the good sense to stick that patch on my pen drive from my work PC so I didn't have to install that as well.

As NiteFall has already pointed out, later versions of the original release have five disks that include a number of the patches.

I don't have a problem with downloading regular updates, but then I've been playing since May 2005 and haven't had a break from my subscription during that time so it's not an issue for me.

The assumption on Blizzards part, and I believe it's a correct one, is that people who dip in and out should expect to have to put up with long downloads as it's not the way the game is intended to be played (from both a business and game PoV).

I wasn't saying they had to distribute new CDs to everyone, just people who ask for them. It shouldn't matter how impractical it is, they're making an absolute killing on subscriptions, it's not unreasonable to expect them to give a little something back to keep you coming back and lining their pockets.

But the way the patches have come out make that un-workable.

For instance, there have been several updates that have been followed a week later by a minor updates or patches. Under those circumstances would you like to be requesting a CD from Blizzard every couple of weeks? And even if there were some CD subscription I would expect to have to pay a premium for it as it would be additional cost for Blizzard (even if you only take the disks and the postage alone).

Everyone needs internet access to play the game so it is by far the most logical route for issuing content updates - be they game content or bug fixes etc.

Going back to a point you made in one of your earlier post, with a number of the updates - such as the Scourge Invasion earlier this year - they are events that take across the entire world and at all levels.

If you made it optional for people to update you could get a situation where someone is standing outside Ironforge looking at a Scourge ship saying "look at that!" and someone who hasn't opted in saying "look at what?!"

The bottom line is that opting out just isn't workable - everyone needs to be kept on the same page for the game to work (at least as it stands right now . . .).

I'm honestly not trying to get at you but I feel you are missing a fundamental point about the game and how it is meant to be played.

If you aren't interested in a progressive game that gets regular content updates then why play an online game?

Why not just stick to more traditional games that you can play on your own PC?

[NiteFall]

On another note- How's everyone finding the reworked talent trees? I've respecced a 46 / 0 / 5 balance build for my Druid, only takling 5 points in resto so I can get imped MotW and I have to say it is a lot more durable and harder hitting than it used to be. Having chatted to a few people there are still some issues (particularly with mages, summoning water elementals and battlegrounds), but everyone seems pretty happy with the balance so far. Except for Hunters and warlocks, who are both in need of a serious nerfing.

[Raven]

I've got to go for a full re-install, I tried the patcha again last night and it failed to install.

Looks like a fun job for the weekend!

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

I'm honestly not trying to get at you but I feel you are missing a fundamental point about the game and how it is meant to be played. 

If you aren't interested in a progressive game that gets regular content updates then why play an online game?

Why not just stick to more traditional games that you can play on your own PC? 

It's not that I don't want new content, it's that I don't want to be obstructed from playing the game, because I don't want to get it right now. Right now I'm living at my parents house for a month, just over the christmas period. Their broadband download limit per month is either (I'm not entirely sure) 1GB or 2GB, since my mum's the only one who uses it usually, and only then does light browsing. I have had my account frozen for a while, so have been out of touch with what's been going on lately, and decided since I've got a month off work, it's a good time to get back into WoW. Only to find the day after I pay my 9 quid, they hit me with a 700 Meg patch. That is a massive chunk of our download limit for a month gone in one go. That gives me two choices, take the patch and have my parents probably receive a complaint from their ISP about huge downloads, or don't take the patch, and I've effectively chucked 9 quid down the toilet, because now I can't play the game.

My suggestion about requesting patch CDs for free would obviously not apply to the odd 20 meg patch here and there. It would only be necessary for when a large patch is released. I wouldn't have minded waiting for 2 or 3 days while blizzard sent me a CD with the new patch on it.

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

On another note- How's everyone finding the reworked talent trees? I've respecced a 46 / 0 / 5 balance build for my Druid, only takling 5 points in resto so I can get imped MotW and I have to say it is a lot more durable and harder hitting than it used to be. Having chatted to a few people there are still some issues (particularly with mages, summoning water elementals and battlegrounds), but everyone seems pretty happy with the balance so far. Except for Hunters and warlocks, who are both in need of a serious nerfing.

I can't remember exactly what the Warlock tree looked like before the patch, but when I went reassigning all my talent points the other day it barely looked any different. I think I just ended up assigning all the same talents as I had before (nearly all in affliction with a few in destruction).

[NiteFall]

Wow. A warlock that didn't go for a Felguard? Well done, you're in the minority, most went "Ooooooooh! Shiny new demon! Must have!"

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

Wow. A warlock that didn't go for a Felguard? Well done, you're in the minority, most went "Ooooooooh! Shiny new demon! Must have!"

I don't have enough points to get that far through the Demonology tree anyway. My warlock's only level 40. My Felhound does the trick for now.