Intimidated to return?

[Shyrtandros]

So.. I have been gone from WoW now for probably 18 months give or take and recently due to boredom (of course) with the other games I had been playing I've had an interest in stopping back by the old neighborhoods and playing again... however I cannot bring myself to actually do it. Not because I don't WANT to play but because I almost get this feeling like I'll be climbing Mount Everest without any supplies.

I feel intimidated to come back and try to catch up with everyone else when it comes to gear, knowledge, etc..

What are your thoughts, feedback & personal experiences when you have left and returned to a game after such a long absence?

[Mannstein]

hey,
Welcome back m8... speaking from experience with close cooworkers...

Wow is like riding a bike, once you master it, you cannot unlearn it... well unless you take a nasty head injury or Lobotomy, in that case you should stick to bib and LFR.

You know all the things, just get an nice guy that can explain to you the very basic i.e. now abilities generate rage and you spend rage to reduce the damage intake... and you are set to go...
Getting into MoP without being aware of the maps, lore and just chilling can be quite entertainning...

cheers

[Arkesh]

Whilst not 18 months, I've just started playing again after an 8 month break. I didn't intend to return but a dream about pandas, an offer on MoP and boredom made me feel the desire to return. I decided that I would start over (almost) completely, I've transferred all my gold and heirlooms to the server I first played on and I've managed to catch up with a lot of the people I first started raiding with. That alone has given me the inspiration I need to carry on leveling my Panda Monk (currently at 62) hopefully right into the new content - leveling pre-80 is something I really despise.

As for game knowledge I'm still ignorant about a lot of the content at 90 but once I approach the level cap I should be a bit more familiar with it having done some normal dungeons and having had more time to ask questions. I'd definitely recommend trying to find some familiar faces and having them at the ready to answer all your questions.

I came back without any intention of raiding, but I'm definitely warming to the idea of 2 nights a week, I do miss the atmosphere of 10 man raids, the League of Legends community just isn't capable of filling that void. For the moment I'm just enjoying the fresh start and I plan to slow down a little bit and enjoy the new leveling content once I get to it, then the fun starts when it comes to gearing up.

[Shyrtandros]

What's the max character count per server now?

[Fetzie]

What's the max character count per server now?

Eleven

[Shyrtandros]

What's the max character count per server now?

Eleven

Sheesh.. I was hoping for at least 12. room for 1 monk.. minimalists.. lol

[Skye1013]

It was 10, then got up'd to 11, so there is room for one of each class. If that's not enough for you, try another server.

I'm not sure if they still have an account max of 50 though.

[Koatanga]

I wouldn't worry about being behind. I would worry more about the structure of the content. You aren't forced at gunpoint, but you are highly encouraged to do a metric crapton of dailies on a daily basis for minuscule amounts of reputation in order to grind the factions that allow you to spend your valor points.

Dungeons are good to get your blue gear and then you're done with them. The valor reward for running randoms is small and you will likely max valor if you keep up on your dailies and LFRs.

I find that dailies take so much time I have little time for alts, which saps a lot of the interest of the game away for me and I end up not even logging in at times. For various reasons I missed my raid days last week (wed/thurs), but I haven't logged in for the past 6 days now, and I don't feel any burning desire to do so until raid time tomorrow.

[masterpoobaa]

Yeah I think thats what killed WoW for me this expansion.
I raided heavily in BC and WolTK, took time off early-mid Cata, came back casually for late Cata and expected to Go raiding in Panda.
But the massive questing required to get to 90, and then the wall of Dailies after killed my enthusiasm dead.
Im a more of a dungeoneer personally. It would have been nice to get *something* for building rep for doing dungeons.
Not tabbards, but maybe some coin that drops off the last boss?

[Skye1013]

If I'm being honest, the only reason I'm still logging in is to raid, once a week. Given the right set of circumstances, I'd probably stop my sub.

But anywho, back to the original topic... I agree with Koatanga that so long as you don't mind doing dailies, getting back into things should be relatively easy.

[halabar]

The interesting thing is what would be the "catch up" path for someone, say, coming back in 5.2?

The new LFR loot system effectively serves as a gating function, slowing the gearing of alts, and the reps provide an additional cockblock. I'd love to see Blizz's numbers on the amount of time spent on "alts", I imagine it's slowing way down once people hit 90 and realize how much work it will be to get them geared.

[Worldie]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the rep requirement dropped from Valor gear with 5.2 and gear moved to Justice, eventually with new gear available... somehow.

[econ21]

I took a year out during the launch of wotlk, returning in the ICC period. It was quite daunting, being three tiers behind the curve in terms of gear but by that time, Blizzard had made catching up with gear quite user friendly (compared to the BC era) so it went smoothly.

I would not be deterred. The leveling experience is rather fun - probably better than any before. Getting geared for raiding is quick - as a tank, you get instant queues for heroics and a weekend binge should get you pretty much decked out in 463 gear which is enough to start with. There's not much new to learn about tanking - it sounds so different with active mitigation, haste being a great palatank stat etc. But it still feels very similar to what you are familiar with, only a bit more interesting. LFR is coming into its own now - you can see A LOT of raid content very easily. The real raids are very well done.

The controversial feature is the rep and VP grind. On balance, I like it - it means you have a lot to do if and when you are not raiding. Gearing up is also more incremental, rather than just praying for one tank drop, you have 458=>463=>476=>483=>489=>496=> heroic whatever and that's even before you add in the new feature of using points to upgrade your gear.

The downside is alts: they are hard to play with now; working on your main will take all your time. You can quite easily use them for their professions though, thanks to the new farming feature.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the rep requirement dropped from Valor gear with 5.2 and gear moved to Justice, eventually with new gear available... somehow.

What are these Justice Points you speak of? Seriously, wtb JPs. The only way I can see getting serious quantities of them is from pvp, converting from honour.

[Worldie]

Since I farm my VPs by dungeoning I'm usually drowing in JPs >_<

[Sagara]

Your best bet for JP is either heroics or scenarios, or yeah, honor conversion.

It does feel odd though, that JP is harder to get than Valor, especially when you're no longer in heroics.