Prepare to be whisked away to the bustling Pig and Whistle Inn where the pulse of Azeroth's latest unfolds! We're peeling back the layers of Cataclysm, sharing not just the crisp details of leveling's rapid fire progression from 80 to 83, but also the strategic nuance needed to conquer the latest Mythic affixes. Feel the intensity as we dissect the gravity-defying antics of the Gravity Lapse brawl and strategize how to navigate the PvP landscape's evolving challenges. With the War Within on the horizon and the Dragonflight pre-patch looming, insights from the frontline of Azeroth are yours for the taking.
Our analysis doesn't stop at surface skirmishes; we're diving deep into the essence of the Boomkin class, celebrating the rich tapestry of its abilities that keep us on our toes. As we anticipate the shift from the alpha to beta phase of the War Within, we enlist you, our fellow champions of Azeroth, to join forces in rooting out bugs for the smoothest launch Azeroth has ever seen. And with a spotlight on the solo shuffle PvP's matchmaking conundrums, our episode is a must-listen for veterans and newcomers alike as we navigate the ever-shifting tides of battle. Tune in for a journey filled with lore, strategy, and candid insights that only the Pig and Whistle Inn can provide.
Hope you all enjoy and hope you relate to any of these stories. And I will speak to you all in the next episode!
Prepare to be whisked away to the bustling Pig and Whistle Inn where the pulse of Azeroth's latest unfolds! We're peeling back the layers of Cataclysm, sharing not just the crisp details of leveling's rapid fire progression from 80 to 83, but also the strategic nuance needed to conquer the latest Mythic affixes. Feel the intensity as we dissect the gravity-defying antics of the Gravity Lapse brawl and strategize how to navigate the PvP landscape's evolving challenges. With the War Within on the horizon and the Dragonflight pre-patch looming, insights from the frontline of Azeroth are yours for the taking.
Our analysis doesn't stop at surface skirmishes; we're diving deep into the essence of the Boomkin class, celebrating the rich tapestry of its abilities that keep us on our toes. As we anticipate the shift from the alpha to beta phase of the War Within, we enlist you, our fellow champions of Azeroth, to join forces in rooting out bugs for the smoothest launch Azeroth has ever seen. And with a spotlight on the solo shuffle PvP's matchmaking conundrums, our episode is a must-listen for veterans and newcomers alike as we navigate the ever-shifting tides of battle. Tune in for a journey filled with lore, strategy, and candid insights that only the Pig and Whistle Inn can provide.
Hope you all enjoy and hope you relate to any of these stories. And I will speak to you all in the next episode!
Thank you, hello and welcome to the Pig and Whistle Tales from Azeroth. As always here at the Pig and Whistle Inn in Stormwind, I go for a variety of subjects with regards to World of Warcraft, so grab a bottle or a pint, sit back and enjoy this episode. We'll be going over Cataclysm mainly, and then we'll be talking about a few other bits and bobs that are happening within World of Warcraft. There's stuff to do with the Alpha and maybe some speculation. There's some story reveals for Alpha as well. I will obviously say when I'm going to go over that. Um, because that is very spoilery, spoilery. It has spoils in it. Um, and I will be finishing up with any forums depending on the time, but we will obviously start off with the weekly news, as always this can offer.
Speaker 1:
Zakali elders and aerostar are your weekly world bosses for the week. They are located in thaldrassus, uh zaralak caverns and emerald dream. You're empowered, is it empowered? Yeah, your empowered section of uh dragonflight this week is zikali elders and the zaralak caverns. So this means aborus, the uh second raid of the expansion is the empowered raid and it will drop items that are equivalent item level to this season's item level. So if you need anything from them raids or that particular area of the zones, then now is your time to do it. Arena skirmishes are your bonus event for the week. What you get with doing arena skirmishes is 50% more honor acquired by these skirmishes. So if you're looking to gear someone or just have some spare honor lying around, now is the time to do that with these skirmishes, and they are a good way for practicing classes that you don't have a lot of experience on. Well, that's my opinion anyway. Gravity lapse is your brawl for the week, and what this is is essentially either storm, and every 30 odd seconds you are sent flying up into the air and essentially you can crash land wherever you want, and this happens constantly throughout the battleground. It's really good at relocating. It makes everything a bit more fun and enjoyable and a bit more sort of chaotic.
Speaker 1:
Volcanic, sanguine and tyrannical are your mythic affixes for the week. Volcanic simply dip out to the side and do not get hit by any of the volcanoes that are spawning underneath you. Sanguine when a mob dies, simply move it out of the sanguine pool. Don't stand in it. It will deal damage to you and your healer will get pissed off with you. And tyrannical the bosses have more health and damage and those minions that the boss is summoned have more health and damage as well. So bring a talent build that can accommodate for that.
Speaker 1:
So cataclysm it came out to just well several days ago as of this episode coming out. So what's happened in it? What's it doing right? What's it doing wrong? Are my first thoughts on it?
Speaker 1:
Cataclysm leveling the first few levels you go from level 80 to level 83. You are blitzing through these levels. In my opinion, this is because the XP needed to get to these levels is substantially lower than what it is needed for 83 to 84 and then 84 to 85 um. To put it into perspective, level 83 to 84 needs about 5 million xp. Level 84 to 85 needs 10 million. So you're doubling. But I think the levels before that are something around two mil marks. So you're constantly going up and up and it does take a bit of a time to level. I myself am pretty efficient at leveling and it took me about five hours. You know not five hours of hardcore leveling, you know really going for it, about five hours of you know dilly-dallying and you know chilling out, doing some very chilled leveling, that kind of deal. So it will take you a bit of time to get there.
Speaker 1:
When you are level 85, though, you can do some pve pvp, and the pve that is on offer at the moment is very much heroic dungeons. That's pretty much it at the moment, because raids release at next week. Um, what you can do is you can do your heroic dungeons and get some valor points. These valor points can then be exchanged to get pieces of gear, although you can only acquire 1600 valor points this week, and most of the better pieces of gear are 2200. So you're gonna have to wait till next week anyway to get like a lot of pieces of gear or the piece that you maybe want. Um, this is so that people aren't fully geared um going into the raids and just you know, absolutely steamrolling them, that kind of thing. So there is a little bit of element to that, and it is kind of like the weekly cap, kind of like conquest, that you have in retail now. So you do have that weekly cap and that will be increased next to reset for na and eu.
Speaker 1:
I would imagine the pvp scene for, uh, cataclysm is where everyone seems to think that it changed in world of warcraft. So you obviously have classic, where you don't have arenas. P PBC brings in arenas, wrath refines it a bit more. Cataclysm is deemed where you know it becomes a bit better in PvP. But the thing is not every class is good in PvP. Boomkin probably not great in PvP, in all honesty. It probably gets destroyed by you know just most things. I would imagine that's quite slippery but it's not up there and there's a lot that you can't do to get away from certain things. Now there's obviously going to be your s tier classes like mage, rogue, you know, priest, all of that stuff are always very good in arenas in some degree. But the pvp is a bit more refined. You have a bit more. You aren't going to get one shot by something, so you have a bit of counterplay to it. I think that's where it sort of changes for a lot of people, because you obviously have around about 100k health now in cataclysm and you do about 20 to 40k, super high end 40k and you know that's not going to one-shot you at all.
Speaker 1:
You need to do these sort of setups to kill something. You need your cc uh on point to kill something in an arena, whereas in wrath of the lich king it's very much. Oh okay, we just sort of. Eventually the healers will run out of mana or drinks and we'll just keep going. I mean, in Wrath of the Lich King there were games that lasted hours, like an arena that lasted hours. Yeah, no, thank you. That sounds very, very boring. But I don't know if Cataclysm brought in dampening. I'm pretty sure it didn't. I'm pretty sure dampening came in a in a lot later, like wall of the drain or maybe um.
Speaker 1:
But cataclysm is where people see the changes that are happening to the game. Um, in terms of, like, the arena game is actually going to be going on for longer and have more of an impact and a more, you know, steadiness. To them it's's not just oh, someone's dead cool within the first 10 seconds, it's very much okay. These guys are actually going to set up their go and try and kill this person. How are they going to react? Are they even going to run away? They're going to CC them while they're CC'd.
Speaker 1:
You know many different ways to go about it, but essentially it's where people look to World of Warcraft as the turning point for pvp. In my opinion, I think it's still very much wrath with just more health. I think that you could look towards missa pandaria, where pvp really took a little bit of a turn, and I think that's where a lot of people will enjoy the pP side of things a lot more. I don't think you could, for Cataclysm, compare it to sort of retail yet or anything like that, and I know people want to, but I just don't think that Cataclysm PvP is going to be all that much. I think people really are blowing it out the water and, you know, going too crazy over it. I get that it was a very enjoyable pvp season and I myself will participate in it, but I don't think it's going to be as good as people remember. I think people just remember it as being, you know not as oh, I'm dead because I just got hit for all of my health in one starfire or one pyroblast or anything like that. So I think that's where people get a lot of their enjoyment, or you know thoughts from it, because it's a bit more of the longevity and you're turning it into an actual game mode that you can strategize with, rather than just yep, I've one shot, you cool. Game mode that you can strategize with, rather than just yep, I've one shot, you cool ggs. Go next. Yep, that kind of deal. Um, we'll wait and see.
Speaker 1:
With pvp, it all comes down to the gear and stuff. Um, I already know that they've nerfed the pvp gear because it was the best gear in the game item level wise, which I don't agree with. I think that you just should just allow the pvp gear to be in there, because it's not going to be good for the long. Let's face it, the gear that is pvp related is going to be outdated and awful for pveers within the week, like, like, literally as soon as that raid opens. It's going to be null and void and awful in comparison to the PvP gear. So why not just keep it at the same item level? It makes no sense.
Speaker 1:
As for classes now, I have only played Boomkin at the moment, but I am enjoying my class a lot more. I'm enjoying the fact that I don't just oh, I've got a proc now of an Eclipse all I do is spam. Wrath, kind of, is the same, but at the same time, my damage breakdown in Wrath of the Lich King was Wrath or Starfire, and the thing about that is it's boring, it's two buttons. I'm either pressing Wrath or Starfire, and the thing about that is it's boring, it's two buttons. I'm either pressing Wrath or Starfire, nothing else. Whereas if I look at my breakdown now, I see Star Surges in there, I see Star Falls, I see Starfire and Wrath still, but I also see Summer Fire, insect Swarm, I see Thorns, I see Mushrooms, wild Mushrooms. You know all of it is contributing and nothing is like the lead, like runner for my damage.
Speaker 1:
So I'm not just stuck pressing one ability, which I think is what cataclysm does very well, in my honest opinion. Um, it does make it into more of a. You have a rotation rather than just yep, spam frostbolt or spam starfire, spam pyroblast or fireball, you know that kind of deal. There is an actual rotation and a method to the madness and a method to your dps meter, um, all of a sudden, which a lot of people won't understand, um, so they'll need to get used to that, in my opinion, which will be quite fun to see. Overall, I think we are yet to see how good Cataclysm can be, but I think it will be very good for the healthiness of how long the expansion will be going on for, because they've already laid out the roadmap for it and it's not going to be up for long. It's going to be about a year it's up for. So this time next year we could honestly be in Mists of Pandaria, because I think before winter time they're essentially releasing the Rage of the Firelands, which is just one patch away from being complete, if I'm not mistaken, and they're thinking of doing that before wintertime. So I definitely think that this time next year we'll be in Mists of Pandaria and I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:
I'm all for these shorter bursts of expansions gone by, because it doesn't leave that sour taste in the mouth, unlike Wrath of the Lich King. I think Wrath of the Lich King is still one of the best expansions that has ever been released, just through content wise, and you know the raids itself. But what Classic did was sort of leave it too long. So Ulduar they had out for several months. I can understand Ulduar being out for a little bit longer, purely because Ulduar back in actual Wrath of the Lich King back in 2008, 2009, whenever it was wasn't released for that long before Trial of the Crusader. So Ulduar became outdated and null and void. So they wanted to give people a bit more of a shot and a look into Old War, as it is a very lucrative and cool instance in my opinion. I think it is a very good raid, but they left it a little bit too long.
Speaker 1:
And then don't get me started on Icecrown Citadel. For eight months we were raiding the same raid. Now, I love Icecrown Citadel. I think it's one of the best raids in the game. Lore wise, boss wise you know the way it feels, looks, all of that stuff but eight months for one raid, you would get crucified. If that was retail world of warcraft, you'd get absolutely slaughtered because people wouldn't stand for it now. But because it's classic, people are like oh okay, you know we can understand that, or to an extent, I think a lot of people were still pissed off about it. But you know, that's besides the point.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think Cataclysm will be very good. I think the Cataclysm leve be very good. I think the cataclysm leveling is very good. I think the classes are a bit more well-rounded and a bit more. You know I can do a few different things, but you can probably do it a lot better than me. Um kind of deal, as what I think it is anyway. So like pure damage. You're looking at warriors at the moment and melee purely on the basis of gear, whereas if you get into raids, I think casters are going to be skyrocketing, with more of the gear that comes out of the raids in comparison to melees, I should say. But who knows? I definitely think Keep an eye on it, because we won't be in Cataclysm for long. Think, keep an eye on it because we won't be in cataclysm for long.
Speaker 1:
I'm always a big fan of them doing all of the expansions as a classic version, because those who never got to experience it are allowed to via this method, which I think is should always be done. And there I there is some really good content that a lot of people have not experienced as current content and they should get to. Just because they played like didn't play World of Warcraft when it was current content and they played when Shadowlands came out, let's say, so to speak, they shouldn't be stopped from giving the old expansions a try, as they were like back when it was current content. I think it's the best thing they can do and, let's face it, money wise, it's probably a good idea as well, because people will still come back for missa pandaria and try it out, same with warlords of, even though it's got loads of like bad reputation, the content in it was amazing. That's the thing, um, and that's what a lot of people need to understand that content in there was quality. It was just the lack of it which kind of ruined the expansion as a whole, which is a bit shit. But let's move on. We will move on to alpha.
Speaker 1:
Now the alpha realm has been taken down, and it's not taken down fully. It has been simply taken down for maintenance. Now, what maintenance is this? No one knows. No one knows when the realm will be back up, but my prediction is that we will be seeing a beta when we next see it come back up. I think that we are getting very close to a beta stage of the War Within Now. I don't know when they'll do this, but I'm guessing next reset, they're getting ready for, servers-wise, to send out a lot of invites to those who have pre-purchased it with a certain pack or whatever it is. I think it's like the heroic pack where you can get a bit of game time, or like guaranteed beta access. You know that sort of stuff. They're getting ready for that. That's my opinion, and I think that the alpha will be back up, but nothing will have changed. I think they're just internally updating it so that, um, the servers are going to be able to handle the influx of players, uh, for a beta, unless it will be an open beta, essentially because of the amount of people that will probably be invited in um, which is really, really good.
Speaker 1:
We are on the cusp of being able to see, uh, the war within and give it a go and, you know, really test out everything and find whatever bugs there might be within the game. I think that the best thing that you can do is try and break the game, um, if you get the beta or the alpha, purely because that way they can fix it, like before the game actually launches. And bugs in any sort of game are really enjoyable. They just really are enjoyable. I mean, there's been loads of bugs in the game before, but, yeah, it's always good to find them in a testing phase rather than the actual game, because it will be really shit to get to a certain point within the questing and then suddenly a NPC bugs and you can't continue your quests, so you can't get to max level, or you know, you make it really tough to get to the next level. You know that kind of deal that's not what you want, it's what no one wants, and you know. Just have fun with it.
Speaker 1:
I think that the beta will be coming out this week. I'm going to say this week or not this week, but, you know, next week when the reset happens. So next Tuesday for NA or Wednesday for EU. That is when I think we're going to get a beta announcement and I think that, yeah, we're on the cusp of seeing or hearing a pre-patch announcement date for Dragonflight. That's where I think we're at with them taking the Alpha Realm down and, you know, doing maintenance on it. Yeah, I think we're pretty much there and going to get an announcement very soon for the pre-patch, which will be absolutely amazing and I can't wait to have fun with it. I think that's when we get all of our hero talents and stuff as well. Well, they'll be on the talent sheet, but we won't be able to do anything with them, because you need them 10 extra levels that you get in the new zones in order to put your 10 talent points into the hero talents. So it'll be a bit sad that we can't use them, but they will be there nonetheless, which is really, really good.
Speaker 1:
Now, uh, let's hop onto the forums. There's a couple things that I want to discuss, so this is, uh, one of them, new healer to solo shuffle. Normally I just dps in arenas but decided to try healer as I heal raid and mythic pluses and didn't feel like sitting in queue for 30 minutes. Um, first game stuck into 1800 mlm match. Mind you, I've never done arena or solo shuffle on this tune outside, messing around as bear. They wonder why healers queue in close to instant. They wonder why healers queue is close to instant because after two queues, both 1700 to 1800 mmr games, I don't want to heal it anymore. What happened to starting at zero mmr like really, why, why? Why send new healers into higher games? Spend your 90 percent of matches stuck in cc? Please fix this, okay. So this is where a lot of people have problems with solo shuffle. I I think that it's very bad as well.
Speaker 1:
In my opinion, newer players or people who have never played pvp on that certain character or on like anything. Essentially, if they haven't played within the last couple seasons of pvp, they should be knocked down to the average pvp rating. Now what that average rating should be is around 1500, in my opinion. That's where you should start if you have not done any pvp or on that character for a couple seasons and it can check if you have and go off of that mmr. So what I mean by this is you have a druid from last season who's a gladiator, yeah, um, and he's put into a game because last season he was glad. It makes sense, doesn't it? You would put someone in that rating if that person hadn't done any pvp, or since shadlands.
Speaker 1:
Let's say they should be put into a 1500 lobby and if they are still at the same rating or still just as good as they were back in shadlands when they were glad or whatever, then you should be doing a lot better in them lobbies. You should 6-0 that lobby. Essentially, if it's a 1500 lobby, then the algorithm or the MMR or whatever it is behind the whole you know shebang should be able to say OK, we can see that you still got it. We'll bump you up a little bit just to see where you are. You know, get you into it again, because it is rough going into an 1800 lobby. It's. It's not an easy lobby, but it is kind of an easy lobby is the best way to say it. It's very much medium, whereas you should be starting on the lower part, depending on you know, if you haven't pvp'd in a while for the past few seasons or whatever. You know that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:
Now, healing wise, yes, you are going to get stuck in cc a lot. It's very much what ccs you trinket, what ccs you can avoid with. I don't know if you're a priest using shadow word, death or fade or spirit of redemption. You know many different ways to avoid cc. But, uh, even just through positioning you can avoid cc. But essentially, yeah, it's not great that you're being put at 1800.
Speaker 1:
I think that you should definitely be put at 1500, for sure. If you are someone who is returning to pvp and hasn't, uh, done any for a few seasons now, or if you just straight up haven't done it like in the past at all, this is where you should be put 1500. You shouldn't be put anything above that. But if you are looking to get into pvp, please just try and punch through that initial sort of I don't even know how to pronounce like put that initial shit show is the best way to put it. Because if you're new to PvP and you jump into Solo Shuffle, you are not going to have a good time Straight up the first couple games. You are not going to have a good time until it balances you. Now this is the same for most games.
Speaker 1:
If you look at Overwatch as an example, if you are to go into competitive, it will put you into a gold slash platinum lobby. Yeah, this is what it always did. Now, if you're worse than that, you will obviously drop down to gold, and then gold slash silver and then silver, and then bronze slash silver. You'd silver and then bronze slash silver. You'd be going down constantly. If you're better, it would slowly boost you up. So plat slash diamond, diamond slash masters, you get the gist.
Speaker 1:
Now they do need that initial bit of calibrating for your MMR and your ranking, because it doesn't know you. The game doesn't know you and you can't give it a CV and your ranking because it doesn't know you. The game doesn't know you and you can't give it a CV and be like yep, I'm a multi-BlizzCon champion or something. It doesn't know you like that unless you obviously have played that character before in PvP but you probably haven't if you've never done PvP before and Solar Sh shuffle is very daunting.
Speaker 1:
You just have to get over that initial hump and that's the tough bit for a lot of people in pvp, because you've got people who are toxic. Cry about it. Cry ben about anything, complain. You know you've got all of that stuff. That's in every single game. But but, and then on top of that, you've got to learn what everyone's spells do, how they interact with each other, what to avoid, what to trinket, what to you know, use a big cooldown on all of that different things. And it's very, very daunting for the newer player to get into PvP, but you really just have to stick with it. It's so tough to do, but that's all the advice I can give.
Speaker 1:
If you are certainly healing um solo shuffle, I implore you not to take it too seriously. That's how I try and go about my light healing shuffles. I really try and do it just very not unseriously, but I take it very easy when I do my healer shuffles and I feel very relaxed and I actually end up enjoying my healing like games. I think I enjoy them a lot more than my dps, to be honest, and I love playing my boomkin. That's the thing. So yeah, I don't know. You've really just got to get through that initial grind and in order to enjoy your solo shuffles as a healer, in my opinion. But that is where I will end it for this episode. Thank you all very much for listening. As always, do check out all of the social media stuff. Uh, constant stuff is happening down below, but thank you all very much once again and go aval a friend, goodbye all, thank you.
