Korodas

Rogues are a blast. First, you can pick your fights like Mk5 said; no need for me to die to the lvl 60 Shaman if I can avoid it! Second, the DPS on a rogue is insane; 'tis a lot of fun to tear through an enemy. Also, with like 4 dif. ways to stun, 5 dif. kinds of poisons, 2 Crowd Control skills, a few DOT's, Armor Debuff, and stealth/vanish; there are a lot of different strategic possibilities. It all adds up to a lot of variety in the ways you can kill and offers the opportunity to find a unique solution for almost every situation! -Kor

44 today, 45 tomorrow --Gnome Rogue -Kor

Ahh, heh. NP man. Can be a dangerous place for a lonely lvl 44 gnome--Deaths are to be expected, though not neccessarily appreciated. We'll be seein' ya! -Kor

Yep. That was me! You caught me as I was trying to heal up from a fight with some lvl 48 rogue that had tried to kill me. No big deal though, there were a ton of horde around atm and I half expected to die to some lvl ?? char while I was there, so it may as well have been you!! At least you said hello after you killed me. Do me a favor though and wave BEFORE you kill me next time! Happy PK'n and I'll see you in-game! -Kor

You can level up pretty easily without fighting Horde until about lvl 20. During that time, you will be in zones that Horde can't attack you unless you attack them first. From about lvl 20 on you would have to level in contested territory where anybody can attack anybody that is on the other faction. It can be difficult at times, but that extra element of challenge is what makes the game for me. Also, once you start to reach 60, it gives you something to do and helps keep the game interesting. Like Mk5 last night...killing my party in Stromgarde, lol. Lvl 59 rogue killing my lvl 39 rogue...what a punk. I was just trying to kill the TWO lvl 39's that were with him in a fair fight and then he popped up behind me. Lol, he crit me for more health than I even have with his eviscerate. He did raise quite a lot of havoc in Refuge Point afterwards though. He had everybody riled up . Ahh..excuse me for the tangent. Like I was saying, it is more of a challenge and it can be difficult. But it is a good time! : ) -Kor

I stuck with AK and the Illidan Server. Wish you guys would have stuck with Illidan; Haven't had a queue since week 1. One of these days I'll go level up my char. on your server just so I can do stuff occassionally with ya'll. Oh, and by the way, Ak is the friggin' man!! He helped me kill Thermaplugg in Gnomeregan when I was only lvl 28 the other day. ONE SHOT of his super nuke(not sure what spell it was) and he was doin' about 1000 damage! Oh to be a mage and lvl 44.... -Kor

Grats Brillow!! -Kor

I just got Vanish, so I am not too familiar with it yet, but sap is instant cast and can only be used when you are stealthed. It is the longest stun a rogue has which is between 25-45 seconds depending on rank. Rogues can also use Gouge, which is a 4 second stun that can be used anytime, and of course there is Kick, which interrupts spell casting and prevents the caster from casting a spell from the same school for 5 seconds. The recast timers on both Gouge and Kick are 10 seconds. Kidney shot is another stun move that rogues have--it is a finishing move and lasts from 1-6 seconds depending on the number of combo points. From my experience thus far, rogues are great against spell casters because they can pretty much chain the stuns and never allow them to cast a spell that isn't instant cast (if you can start in close anyway--which usually isn't a problem for a rogue). So far, I've just alternated between Kick and Gouge. The recast timers of both are around 5 seconds, which is close to how long the interruption lasts. Of course, after using the stun you can get behind and do some pretty good damage. I just barely got Vanish, so I haven't had time to use it yet--but I'm sure it will open up more possibilities to do huge damage. Would be nice to be able to pull an Ambush mid-battle. Vanish does allow you to instantly vanish during a battle, but has a 5 minute recast timer. Also, at my rank of stealth (Rank 2), I can move at 60% of normal speed. If I use sprint at the same time, I can move at 90% of normal speed while stealthed. At the highest rank (Rank 4) a rogue will move at 70% of normal speed and 105% of normal speed if using sprint at the same time. -Kor Edit: Almost forgot to mention the poisons. Mind-numbing poisons will increase cast time by 130%. Crippling poisons decrease movement speed by 50%. Deadly poisons are DoT's and Instant poisons just have a 20% chance of adding an additional 112-148 damage. I usually use Instant poison on main-hand weapon and, depending on who I am fighting, mind-numbing or crippling poison on the off hand.

I'm on Illidan, but dang--I need to get levelin'!!! Looks like fun. -Kor

Ah crap. Sorry Exile. I totally forgot!!! I just finished up with my homework, checked out the forums, and remembered what I was supposed to do! Looks like the servers are down right now though. My apologies. -Kor

I'll do it tonight. -Kor

Illidan has cleared up though. It's no longer a holiday weekend and a lot of people did change servers. I kind of expected some crowding problems in the first week anyway. Who could predict what demand was gonna be like and where people would decide to play? -Kor

I think Brillow is on to something--I don't think any of the Mountain servers have a high population, and because the servers are under such a light load, I've noticed the quality of play is a bit better and a bit less choppy at times. Might be something worth looking at. -Kor

When you get into the UT2k4 online-play menus, you just select the "Internet" tab and it will list a whole bunch of servers. You then double click on the server you want and you will be connected. It's that easy. Of course, you can also right-click to open a specific IP address or use the filter to find certain types of servers. Once you are on the server, you can go to the menu (Esc) and opt to add it to your favorites list. You can also do that from the main list of servers by right-clicking on the server and then selecting "Add to favorites." My first time through it, I found it to be user-friendly and relatively easy to figure out. You should have no problems. -Kor

Rogue, Central Server, PvP, Alliance or Horde. -Kor

Aye, teamspeak. -Kor

Well, like SS said, even on a PvP server you are protected in controlled territory. If you are alliance and you are in alliance territory, then enemies can't kill you unless you attack them first. If you are in contested territory, then anything is fair game and if you are in enemy territory, then nobody is fair game until they attack you. I still enjoy the questing and the storyline of the game, but fighting other players when I want to brings a new element of challenge and only adds to the overall game in my opinion. The added risk, and being able to overcome that risk, is an adrenaline rush at times. It's kind of fun when you get ambushed and you have to fight back and win. Not only that, but PvP raids do inspire a different level of teamwork that you won't necessarily see in even the most difficult quests. Against opponents that are experienced and prepared for combat, every member of a PvP group must fulfill their function to be successful. From what I've read, each class was designed to take advantage of other specific classes and their weaknesses. They were designed with PvP in mind (whether or not that rock-paper-scissors type balancing works out, only time will tell). That said, I have no idea what the end-game PvP will be like in WoW. It is VERY "carebearish" compared to what I am used to. No penalties for dying, no trophies for winning, and it is faction vs. faction rather than free-for-all. In a traditional PvP world, anybody can kill anybody else and while it sounds like it would be crazy, alliances end up forming and territories are claimed. People fight to defend land, allies, friends, dungeons, etc. The politics of a true PvP server become a large part of the gaming experience and last long after all of the quests have been done and you've reached that cap level. In WoW, I'm not sure it has the potential to reach/add that next dimension of a PvP MMORPG. As for now, it's a risk free environment 'til you hit 20. Even then, PvP only carries the penalty of death, which is the same risk you face just playing the game. Except, of course, that the monsters ALWAYS camp my friggin' corpse, and the Pk'ers don't. -Kor

Rogue baby! -Kor

Based on PvP, I'm def. goin' either gnome or troll rogue. After the poisons, the stealth strikes, and the dual-wielding you can do some serious damage fast!! I'll make sure I have a character on the same server with you guys whether you decide PvP or not. Should be a lot of fun! -Kor

I've heard that in Lineage 2 they didn't wipe--but I have only heard it. And some of the arguments for no wipe do make sense. Guess we'll just have to see! -Kor

Well, I really wanted to do a PvP server, so I ended up on Test 14 with some people from my old clan. The PvP is pretty fun--there are no penalties for fighting or dying and I have been able to level in peace when I want to. But fighting other people is fun and provides an interesting challenge without much penalty. Yesterday I PWNED a guy that was 4 lvls higher (21) and the same class (druid--I was night elf, he was tauren). However, when this game goes live on Nov. 23, and if there aren't a lot of you on a PvP server, I'll go ahead and join the same server. I think that keeping a Central server is a great idea. It is a good compromise for those living on the west coast and west coast--pings shouldn't be bad at all. I'm playing a druid now, and I will likely play a druid when I join up with you guys. It's certainly a class with a lot of potential! Later guys! -Kor

Yeah, the PvP system isn't nearly as hostile as UO or Asheron's Call. It's Alliance vs. Horde, so I haven't had to do any battling at all. Although, somehow a few alliance members made it into the undead warlock starting point today....was kind of cool. My local defense chat box lit up, and everybody started freaking out. Not sure how they got there, but once they started attacking, a bunch of low levels (we're talkin' lvls 1-6ish) and mainly the deathguard elites took 'em out pretty quick. From what I've read and seen so far, it seems that you are pretty well protected until you reach about lvl 20 or so and have to venture further away from your strongly controlled territories. Am having a blast so far! Have had no time at all for UT! -Kor

What about the PvP? Anybody joined up on a PvP server yet? I am currently a level 10 undead warlock on Test 12, but if somebody else is already on a PvP server, I'll join there. I'm one of the few in the Mountain Standard time zone, so I will add a character to a different server if I need to. -Kor

I noticed that they were different on Saturday. Nice job guys and thanks!!! How often will they be updated? Will the autoupdate be set up again? (They haven't been updated since Thursday) -Kor

Funny, Mobocracy II acted up at exactly the same time. Everyone on the server was experiencing heavy packet loss, but the pings were just fine. I thought it was just lag at first, but it was a little more severe than that. Perhaps XGaming was having some problems, eh? -Kor