The Barrens has always had clustered quests, that you could do as you travelled around areas within the zone. The only difference, recently, is that you've had Blizzard's built-in quest helper with its little indicator zones to help you do them in the groups they were provided. That they've tweaked the drop rates and a few quests, a little bit, really doesn't change the zone, at all: it's still huge, dull and filled with idiots.
The "quest about the dead orc" (Mankrik's wife) is a lore quest and is an introduction to the dangers in the southern parts of The Barrens. Oh, and you can do that one while you're doing the various raptor quests, in the area (amongst others, like heading to Camp Taurajo), so it's not at all out of the way unless you're completely disorganised, clueless, not paying attention to your quest helper or a mixture of all the above.
And lastly, Stonetalon is a significantly worse area when it comes to quest-spread, Sun Rock Retreat aside, with quest-givers being thrown all the way from the Barrens' zone-line, to little pockets all over place, including in the goblin area with one little NPC hidden up in the south hills, for example, with no breadcrumb quest to tell you he's there. That you prefer it to The Barrens - and for the reasons given - I have to say that what little credibility you had left after the GearScore comment is now solidly non-existant.
Y'know... the entire article makes me wonder if you were, actually, quite serious about the pride in your GearScore; which would sum your score, the article and GearScore itself up quite nicely: they're all tripe.
I think he was just trying to show that he knows the game and has experience - rather than showing off or something.
Considering 5.7k GS is rather average at this point I would agree with you.
He was only trying to show that he has experience not trying to brag or anything, to those who say he lost credibilty, you are overly sensitive, please grow a thicker skin and don't over react to everything in life.
I like the way Gearscore works as it is an instant way to get a general sense of how far a player has progressed with their character. It isn't black and white though and isn't usually used that way by most people I know. But as a quick guide, it's great.
However, I wish Blizzard would break it so that the whines about it can end. I'm am far more tired of the whines than I am attached to the system.
I like the way Gearscore works as it is an instant way to get a general sense of how far a player has progressed with their character. It isn't black and white though and isn't usually used that way by most people I know. But as a quick guide, it's great.
However, I wish Blizzard would break it so that the whines about it can end. I'm am far more tired of the whines than I am attached to the system.
IF you have played WoW a decent amount of time you really DONT need GS to get a general sense of how far a player has progressed. GS was not needed pre-bc,during bc. I think the idea of the GS was cool ,but than the community took it to far. And honestly most people are not whining about the GS system as most reasons are RESonable,whining would instatute unresonable reasons they dont like the GS system..like I dont like the GS system cause I suck at math,as an example.
Barrens was my home stomping grounds when I first rolled a Druid during Vanilla.
I know the world needs new content, but I'm sorry to see it go.
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
I like the way Gearscore works as it is an instant way to get a general sense of how far a player has progressed with their character. It isn't black and white though and isn't usually used that way by most people I know. But as a quick guide, it's great.
However, I wish Blizzard would break it so that the whines about it can end. I'm am far more tired of the whines than I am attached to the system.
IF you have played WoW a decent amount of time you really DONT need GS to get a general sense of how far a player has progressed. GS was not needed pre-bc,during bc. I think the idea of the GS was cool ,but than the community took it to far. And honestly most people are not whining about the GS system as most reasons are RESonable,whining would instatute unresonable reasons they dont like the GS system..like I dont like the GS system cause I suck at math,as an example.
You do if he's not standing next to you.
And I never said you NEED it. I said I like it for a quick check.
And I AM insinuating that they are being unreasonable.
Why are you folks harping back and forth about the gear score? Seriously? It's just ironic to me that you are all jumping all over the author about that while completely overlooking the fact that the Shattering hasn't even happened yet and so what we have in the Barrens right now really can't be called the "new Barrens" at all.
I have a 6k GS and a kingslayer title. Does that mean I'm more qualified to do a writeup on the new barrens even though I havent even logged on in about 2 or 3 months?
Though I'm pretty sure you need a GS of over 9000 to justify talking about a lvl 10 to 20ish zone.
Why are you folks harping back and forth about the gear score? Seriously? It's just ironic to me that you are all jumping all over the author about that while completely overlooking the fact that the Shattering hasn't even happened yet and so what we have in the Barrens right now really can't be called the "new Barrens" at all.
I was going to post something negative about GS and how it changed the game into pure number crunching instead of style, knowledge, experience, or ability (I'm jaded... I once, and my toon was max level, got kicked out of an easy holiday boss group because my GS was too low... and the person who kicked me? Not even in high school yet... thats when I truly saw how far the game had fallen...)... but theres not much to say about it that hasn't already been said by posters above me. Well done, community. I'm not sure why they even attempt to put a storyline into WoW anymore... Why tell us about the new Barrens if its just a small stepping stone to more phat lootz? Does it make getting gear easier so that GS can be raised and raised and raised and.... pointless, mindless drivel...
GearScore was meant and existed way before the Badge farming and Random Dungeons Existed, It was a "ok" way to check your own status on how well you were doing in relation to raids.
It got popular, and Retards started using it as the inly Medium to invite others.
I rarely have that problem for the simple fact that i put SOME effort in finding a Guild to raid or do dungeons with. You guys cry of Pugs Kicking you.. Pugs fail more than less to begin with. Join a decent guild and have fun with the same people over and again.. Then GS wont matter there.
I didn't find the mention of the Authors gear score as insulting as many of the other posters did.. I do think it was a poor choice of words to try and qualify yourself as a knowledgeable when most people know that getting gear in Warcraft is not very hard by any means.
What made me quit taking the writer seriously was the three times in just the first few paragraphs he mentioned what a "grind" the barrens was and what a "grind" Warcraft was and then topped this with "this is Warcraft and this was at the height of grinding MMOs."
Excuse me.. hehe the height of grinding MMO's.. Whoa is that backwards.. Warcraft was the "Beginning".. of the non-grinding MMO's ..not the END. Ultima, Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, even Star Wars were grinds.. with hell levels and drop rates that were non existent... in EQ we had to kill literally hundreds of the same mobs to get a few drops of the quest item.
I think you may have meant that the Barrens were boring.. and that sometimes the quests were repetitive.. but that is not grinding.. grinding is having to kill the same camp of mobs over and over for days at a time just to get one single bar of exp.. not a level.. one bar. That is grinding.. anyone can hit the max in WOW with a couple weeks of regular play.. even the grind for gear is not really that.. they let you trade in tokens for the drop you want.. the only real gear grind that wow ever had was when they got nostalgic for the old EQ days and put in Molten Core..which all the whiners immediately made sure a zone like that would never happen again.
The rest of the article was nice.. sounded nostalgic..and well thought out.. just not the grinding or gear score stuff.
I'm just glad the place finally got a face-lift. Man I could never stand that area - and it had nothing to do with "barrens chat". I just hated the entire area period. Now hopefully they're giving Westfall a similar make-over?
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I am playing MMOs for 6+ years now, and I didn't even KNOW what a "GS" or "Gearscore" is.
The very IDEA is so convoluting and horrible, I can't eat as much as I'd want to puke over it. How people EVER devolved into actually making scores to compare their gear like this... terrible. It abhors me beyond anything I can say. (Which I think is something...)
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
When you're all done condemning GearScore as a Satanic abomination, and it's been shot, hanged, burned alive, and eviscerated to your satisfaction...
you can move on to attacking DPS.
Nah. We're talking about WoW here. It will respawn at a graveyard in 30 seconds or so (give or take the bugged GYs). Folks need to camp the crap out of it.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
When you're all done condemning GearScore as a Satanic abomination, and it's been shot, hanged, burned alive, and eviscerated to your satisfaction...
you can move on to attacking DPS.
Nah. We're talking about WoW here. It will respawn at a graveyard in 30 seconds or so (give or take the bugged GYs). Folks need to camp the crap out of it.
Haha, Amen to that!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
The Barrens has always had clustered quests, that you could do as you travelled around areas within the zone. The only difference, recently, is that you've had Blizzard's built-in quest helper with its little indicator zones to help you do them in the groups they were provided. That they've tweaked the drop rates and a few quests, a little bit, really doesn't change the zone, at all: it's still huge, dull and filled with idiots.
The "quest about the dead orc" (Mankrik's wife) is a lore quest and is an introduction to the dangers in the southern parts of The Barrens. Oh, and you can do that one while you're doing the various raptor quests, in the area (amongst others, like heading to Camp Taurajo), so it's not at all out of the way unless you're completely disorganised, clueless, not paying attention to your quest helper or a mixture of all the above.
And lastly, Stonetalon is a significantly worse area when it comes to quest-spread, Sun Rock Retreat aside, with quest-givers being thrown all the way from the Barrens' zone-line, to little pockets all over place, including in the goblin area with one little NPC hidden up in the south hills, for example, with no breadcrumb quest to tell you he's there. That you prefer it to The Barrens - and for the reasons given - I have to say that what little credibility you had left after the GearScore comment is now solidly non-existant.
Y'know... the entire article makes me wonder if you were, actually, quite serious about the pride in your GearScore; which would sum your score, the article and GearScore itself up quite nicely: they're all tripe.
Considering 5.7k GS is rather average at this point I would agree with you.
He was only trying to show that he has experience not trying to brag or anything, to those who say he lost credibilty, you are overly sensitive, please grow a thicker skin and don't over react to everything in life.
I like the way Gearscore works as it is an instant way to get a general sense of how far a player has progressed with their character. It isn't black and white though and isn't usually used that way by most people I know. But as a quick guide, it's great.
However, I wish Blizzard would break it so that the whines about it can end. I'm am far more tired of the whines than I am attached to the system.
IF you have played WoW a decent amount of time you really DONT need GS to get a general sense of how far a player has progressed. GS was not needed pre-bc,during bc. I think the idea of the GS was cool ,but than the community took it to far. And honestly most people are not whining about the GS system as most reasons are RESonable,whining would instatute unresonable reasons they dont like the GS system..like I dont like the GS system cause I suck at math,as an example.
Chuck Norris created teh new barrens
/thread
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall.
Barrens was my home stomping grounds when I first rolled a Druid during Vanilla.
I know the world needs new content, but I'm sorry to see it go.
You do if he's not standing next to you.
And I never said you NEED it. I said I like it for a quick check.
And I AM insinuating that they are being unreasonable.
Mentioning achievements, especially level and gear, usually kills the credibility of the article instead of sustaining it...
Why are you folks harping back and forth about the gear score? Seriously? It's just ironic to me that you are all jumping all over the author about that while completely overlooking the fact that the Shattering hasn't even happened yet and so what we have in the Barrens right now really can't be called the "new Barrens" at all.
Even a cursory examination of the most recent patch notes (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/patch4p01.html) show that 4.0.1 didn't do anything with the Barrens quests (or any other quests) while the Under Development page (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/) lists the still to come 4.0.3 as being the patch that will change everything.
Yes, Mr. Fuller has shown he really doesn't know what he's talking about at this point. But the gear score has nothing to do with that.
I have a 6k GS and a kingslayer title. Does that mean I'm more qualified to do a writeup on the new barrens even though I havent even logged on in about 2 or 3 months?
Though I'm pretty sure you need a GS of over 9000 to justify talking about a lvl 10 to 20ish zone.
But he has a 5700gs. That shows his credability. You linking facts but not stateing your GS means nothing.
What do you recommend he calls it? Barrens 1.5?
I was going to post something negative about GS and how it changed the game into pure number crunching instead of style, knowledge, experience, or ability (I'm jaded... I once, and my toon was max level, got kicked out of an easy holiday boss group because my GS was too low... and the person who kicked me? Not even in high school yet... thats when I truly saw how far the game had fallen...)... but theres not much to say about it that hasn't already been said by posters above me. Well done, community. I'm not sure why they even attempt to put a storyline into WoW anymore... Why tell us about the new Barrens if its just a small stepping stone to more phat lootz? Does it make getting gear easier so that GS can be raised and raised and raised and.... pointless, mindless drivel...
GearScore was meant and existed way before the Badge farming and Random Dungeons Existed, It was a "ok" way to check your own status on how well you were doing in relation to raids.
It got popular, and Retards started using it as the inly Medium to invite others.
I rarely have that problem for the simple fact that i put SOME effort in finding a Guild to raid or do dungeons with. You guys cry of Pugs Kicking you.. Pugs fail more than less to begin with. Join a decent guild and have fun with the same people over and again.. Then GS wont matter there.
I didn't find the mention of the Authors gear score as insulting as many of the other posters did.. I do think it was a poor choice of words to try and qualify yourself as a knowledgeable when most people know that getting gear in Warcraft is not very hard by any means.
What made me quit taking the writer seriously was the three times in just the first few paragraphs he mentioned what a "grind" the barrens was and what a "grind" Warcraft was and then topped this with "this is Warcraft and this was at the height of grinding MMOs."
Excuse me.. hehe the height of grinding MMO's.. Whoa is that backwards.. Warcraft was the "Beginning".. of the non-grinding MMO's ..not the END. Ultima, Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, even Star Wars were grinds.. with hell levels and drop rates that were non existent... in EQ we had to kill literally hundreds of the same mobs to get a few drops of the quest item.
I think you may have meant that the Barrens were boring.. and that sometimes the quests were repetitive.. but that is not grinding.. grinding is having to kill the same camp of mobs over and over for days at a time just to get one single bar of exp.. not a level.. one bar. That is grinding.. anyone can hit the max in WOW with a couple weeks of regular play.. even the grind for gear is not really that.. they let you trade in tokens for the drop you want.. the only real gear grind that wow ever had was when they got nostalgic for the old EQ days and put in Molten Core..which all the whiners immediately made sure a zone like that would never happen again.
The rest of the article was nice.. sounded nostalgic..and well thought out.. just not the grinding or gear score stuff.
I'm just glad the place finally got a face-lift. Man I could never stand that area - and it had nothing to do with "barrens chat". I just hated the entire area period. Now hopefully they're giving Westfall a similar make-over?
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I am playing MMOs for 6+ years now, and I didn't even KNOW what a "GS" or "Gearscore" is.
The very IDEA is so convoluting and horrible, I can't eat as much as I'd want to puke over it. How people EVER devolved into actually making scores to compare their gear like this... terrible. It abhors me beyond anything I can say. (Which I think is something...)
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
When you're all done condemning GearScore as a Satanic abomination, and it's been shot, hanged, burned alive, and eviscerated to your satisfaction...
you can move on to attacking DPS.
Nah. We're talking about WoW here. It will respawn at a graveyard in 30 seconds or so (give or take the bugged GYs). Folks need to camp the crap out of it.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Haha, Amen to that!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert