Laying Down the Law

My little necromancer, Misako, laying down the law

Since today is Tuesday and it was the weekly 8+ hour down time for WoW, I decided to play on Vanguard for a little bit (WoW has been attempting to do live patches, every second week or so it seems, which are very nice, when they take place at least. They’ve been having Tuesday patching for as long as I can remember now). Anyhow.

I decided to make a necromancer. According to the manual they sounded pretty fun. I like pet classes typically. So, Misako was created. Nothing’s changed in the character models, they’re still horribly ugly. Just. Yeah. It does grow on you after a while I admit, but it’s still just… ugh.

So I did the beginning quests again, the same ones I’d done on my blood mage — low and behold, there were updates, seems a patch took place.

The first thing I noticed, that I complained about yesterday, was the spells being cast. Yesterday as I played, I’d cast a spell, watch the cast timer go – it would land and then I’d see the graphic (albeit small) go off. So my character basically looked as though she was spending 90% of her time in combat just standing around. Today, that’s changed. The graphic for the spell goes off as you cast the spell and watch the casting bar do it’s thing. A huge upgrade for me, I like this much better, even if the spell graphics are simplistic. I don’t need big complicated lag-inducing spell graphics. I just wanted something going off as I cast it, rather then afterwards.

Played on balance with little issues at all. Doors still lag me horribly. Love the way I actually have to turn on my torch at night or else I can’t see more then a few paces in front of me. In Eq2 there are torches that give off light, but you never ever had to use them.

Ran around the Dallerjuba Village and completed various quests. I always take the time to read through them the first time, they were not too bad. They were your typical MMO type quests. Go investigate such and such a place, go slaughter such and such a beast, go find such and such a missing article. Along the way I got some small gear upgrades and coin, and the little necromancer hit level 5.

So the game is not utterly hopeless, I just wish it was a little more refined. I’m sure it will come in time, they do seem to be making progress.

I did notice that the man mounted on a dragon at the beginning of the game did not disappear from my screen like he did yesterday every time I approached him, however every time I walked up to a particular beast and ordered my pet to attack it, it slipped under the world from my view.

Speaking of which, pets are.. interesting. To say the least. I haven’t found a way to hotkey the pet attack key yet, I’m sure I can find a key binding for it though. I hate having to mouse click for my pet to attack. Your pet (necromancer pets at least) are also equipped with a skill called “sneer” which is basically their taunt, and you have to physically click it in order to set it off.

The pet comes with the same basic stances that every pet gets. Protect you, protect themselves, follow, stay, guard. Those sorts of things. I assumed they could be toggled some how, but hitting them didn’t change the graphics or what my pet did it seemed. I ordered it to protect me and instead he stood by staring while I got slaughtered. There’s also two slots for “grafting”. I assume this means I can graft other parts or something onto my pet.. some how. Nothing at all was explained to me about it, so I really don’t have even the faintest ideas of how this works. I figure I’ll work it out as I go.

All in all, the game has potential, like I already mentioned.