WoW, Casually: What 3.1 means for casual players
by Robin Torres 
Mar 9th 2009 at 6:00PM
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win.
As you are no doubt aware, content patch 3.1 is being tested on the PTR. There is the new dungeon of Ulduar, which really isn't going to affect most casual players for a while. And there is a long list of class changes that are ever evolving and that you can check our 3.1 Guide for the latest about your favorite class(es). Professions are getting some balancing, so keep an eye out for what's going on there as well. Players with limited playtime should also be aware of new features and functionality that will affect your daily play sessions, regardless of class or profession. Following is a list of what I think is most interesting for the casual player.
As you are no doubt aware, content patch 3.1 is being tested on the PTR. There is the new dungeon of Ulduar, which really isn't going to affect most casual players for a while. And there is a long list of class changes that are ever evolving and that you can check our 3.1 Guide for the latest about your favorite class(es). Professions are getting some balancing, so keep an eye out for what's going on there as well. Players with limited playtime should also be aware of new features and functionality that will affect your daily play sessions, regardless of class or profession. Following is a list of what I think is most interesting for the casual player.
Hearthstone cooldown halved: The cooldown on your hearthstone will be reduced from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. I think this is particularly convenient for short play sessions or times when you have to end your playsession abruptly due to real life interruptions. Just hearth to an inn and exit the game, guaranteeing rest and relative safety. But it's also good for questing around hubs for longer playsessions.
Ground mounts will be able to swim: No more being dismounted when you hit deep water -- your ground mount will be able to carry you to shore. This is a nice little convenience for questing and just travel in general. Be aware, however, that flying mounts will still dismount you if you try to swim.
You will be able to queue for Battlegrounds from anywhere: Rather than going to major cities to queue for BGs, you will be able to queue from anywhere in the world and when the BG ends, you will return to where you were. This is really great for those of us who PvP and have limited playtime. Now we can much more easily fit both questing and Battlegrounds into our playsessions.
Dual Specs: The most highly anticipated feature for Patch 3.1 is the ability to toggle between two talent specs on the fly. While this should make things easier for raiders, I think that many casual players will find this new functionality very convenient as well. If you are level 40 or over and have the spare cash (a one time fee of 1000 gold at this writing), you can pay a trainer to give you a Primary and Secondary talent setup to choose from. I think this will be very useful for players who PvP so that you can have a questing spec as well as a Battleground spec. If you are able to do 5 man instances, this will also allow you to have a solo spec and a group spec. This will also allow you to have a tried and true spec and an experimental spec so that you can try out different specs in your secondary setup, while still keeping your known-good spec. Dual Specs will allow a flexibility that I will definitely be making use of... once I save up the cash for my favorite characters.
Built-in Talent Calculator: This is functionality that I think should have been implemented at launch. In 3.1, you will choose your talents and then accept them, rather than spending your talent points as you go. I can't tell you how many times I've clicked incorrectly and literally had to pay for my mistakes. Now you can fine tune your talent choices in game before being stuck with them until you respec. I thank you, Blizzard, and my virtual pocketbook thanks you.
New Quest functions: Now you can right click directly onto the quests you are tracking to do some quest management as opposed to having to go into the Quest Log to do everything. It's a nice little feature that makes the in-game quest tracker more convenient but doesn't replace Questhelper or any other addon like it.
Gear Manager: Last time, I talked about addons for casual players and I recommended Outfitter. Outfitter is a gear management addon which allows you to setup different gear sets to be used in different situations. It has the added functionality of automatically changing to sets when certain conditions arise. For example, it will change to your riding set when you get on your mount. Or, for druids, it will change to the appropriate set when you change form. The new WoW Gear Manager does not do any automatic wardrobe changes. You save gear sets to buttons that can be hotkeyed. The other function missing from the in-game Gear Manager is extra storage for gear. When this feature was first discussed at BlizzCon 2007, the developers bragged that they would be able to incorporate more bag space for your gear into the functionality of an in-game gear manager. Unfortunately, this has yet to be implemented. Overall, I see no reason to stop using either Outfitter or Itemrack once Patch 3.1 is released.
There are a lot of small changes like confirmation boxes on purchases over 150 gold and I am sure the patch will continue to evolve while it is being tested. Features are, of course, subject to change without notice. But as things stand right now, it looks like WoW will get more convenient for those of us with limited playtime.
WoW, Casually is a column for those of us who are playtime-challenged. We had another good year last year and the new expansion has brought back a lot of players returning as casuals. If you have questions or tips about how to get the most out of your limited playtime, please send them to Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com for a possible future column.Filed under: WoW, Casually, Patches, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Ashvoyager Mar 9th 2009 6:05PM
Firstly I'm glad that Blizzard finally added these features into the game.
And secondly, I'm surprised that more people aren't ecstatic about this.
snowleopard233 Mar 9th 2009 6:11PM
Have you been to the general forums? People are flipping out about these changes and how much they'll cost.
Also, how I'm on the PTR right now. What menu do I go to access the battlegrounds?
Arashikou Mar 9th 2009 6:37PM
The battleground queues are a new tab on the PvP window.
dcisko Mar 9th 2009 6:10PM
I think the biggest news for casual players is what isn't in 3.1: more Emblem of Heroism gear. Instead we're getting Emblems of Conquest dropping in heroic Ulduar, with associated high-level gear.
Unlike BC, there won't be much point to running heroic 5-man instances after raiders move on, and even casuals will get everything they want before too long. I'm worried about what this means for the 5-man game.
bundee Mar 9th 2009 6:51PM
They didn't add new Badge of Justice gear every patch. In fact, if I recall correctly, there were only 2 instances when Badge of Justice gear was patched in: when it was first introduced, and when Sunwell/MgT/Shattered Sun came out.
Chill out. There's more to come, I'm sure.
yellow Mar 9th 2009 6:53PM
I also worry about the future of the 5 man. Leading a small guild of friends we just cant get Naxx going with 7.
In BC we ran heroics to get badge loot and got through all of Kara and 4 bosses into ZA. No chance to do that this time.
Raiders whined about us getting BT/Hyjal loot without putting in the time. Believe me, 300+ badges? We put in the time.
Codexx Mar 9th 2009 7:09PM
You're getting the wrong impression. It's a GOOD THING that there is no new gear to be bought with old badges. It's not making old content obsolete, it's making new content much more current, and more of a progression.
In BC, how often did you run heroics? On alts for some gear, and on your Mains for those last 10 badges to buy that new badge gear. It's not like you were running them for anything other than badges, running heroics got really old, really fast. Alts will still run them, and some mains will still be able to use them, at least until they run out of things to buy. It still would take hundreds of badges, and thus hundreds of runs, to achieve all that.
At least with this system, there's incentive for your guild to go forward. I know in BC my guild would rather farm Kara and Heroics for badges than to wipe trying to learn new content like ZA. BC was a time for Hardcore Guilds to be at endgame, and Casual guilds to be stuck in early instances. I certainly hope there's never another situation like that.
In the end, the situation is improving. And even if Heroics became obsolete, what would you care? Nothing is being lost, you can only gain from this change.
kuri Mar 10th 2009 1:21AM
@Codexx
Ah, but it's not really "progression" in the sense of skill progression.
It's necessitated movement from 5-mans to 10-mans, and 10-mans to 25-mans. If they released newer, harder 5-mans and slapped on Valor badges I would consider that progression. What we have now is just forcing people to raid until Heroism badge vendors carry lvl213+ gear.
caronome Mar 10th 2009 2:47PM
My opinion is 3.1 will be hard on casuals but especially casual guilds. Progression requires people who want to progress but don't want to progress enough to join a guild that is doing Ulduar; the middle will shrink. If the more casual make it to Ulduar, they will encounter mechanics that are designed, whether intentional or not, to make it tougher on casuals. Vehicles - never a good idea - and lots of movement are more difficult for people who can't devote the time to repeatedly do the mechanics.
/sigh
Percy Mar 9th 2009 6:16PM
Did the writer forget about the Argent Dawn Tournament? Or is that not actually coming in 3.1? Just on the 3.1 PTR or something?
That thing is a pretty big deal for casuals.
Robin Torres Mar 9th 2009 6:58PM
The Argent Tournament is on the PTR, but it is unclear to me as to how much of it will be implemented and casual friendly for 3.1.
The Claw Mar 9th 2009 11:06PM
The Argent Tournament provides another route for casual players to obtain ilvl 200 epics (same level as what you get from heroic 5-mans and crafting).
Ivo Mar 10th 2009 3:34AM
I thought duel spec was only buyable @ lvl 80 ?
Balius Mar 10th 2009 6:09AM
People whined, they changed it to level 40 on the PTRs.
Personally, I think dual specs make a lot of sense while leveling. There's a CHANCE at running an instance fairly if people can spec tank or heal at the drop of a hat without giving up the high-dps leveling spec they want to breeze through levels.
Ashvoyager Mar 9th 2009 6:38PM
Many people are very paranoid about the first post epidemic. Soon they will construct elaborate codes in attempt to decipher the word "first" in every post.
Groth Mar 9th 2009 6:39PM
Interesting choice of picture- how many casual players do you know with a hog?
Robin Torres Mar 9th 2009 6:49PM
That's a picture of my raider husband. He's the one who downloaded the latest PTR build. :)
Chewy&Go Mar 9th 2009 6:51PM
"Be aware, however, that flying mounts will still dismount you if you try to swim."
since when? O_o
Eli Mar 9th 2009 9:46PM
Since always. Right now if you're flying then dive straight into water you won't dismount, but if you're walking on land then try to walk into water you'll dismount. same goes for land mounts.
3.1 comes along, nothing changes for flyers. land mounts just look super badass now. even if it has no functionality for anyone with an epic flyer =P
Deepfriedegg Mar 14th 2009 4:41PM
Ground mounts with no functionality for epic flyers? Ever mounted any flyer in Old World? In Dalaran? Wintergrasp?