A New Beginning + Can My Computer Run This Game?

[Shakes]

Hi everyone,

I started playing wow a few months before the release of TBC, and quit shortly after the release of WotLK. The game really lost its charm for me. However, just the other day I read an article about a great vanilla server called Nostalrius, and I figured I ought to check it out.

My first concern is my computer. I haven't played a video game since I quit wow. At the time I had a high end gaming laptop. That is no longer the case. I'm currently using a relatively new 13" macbook pro retina. It has a 2.8 Ghz i5 and 8gb of DDR3 @ 1600Mhz. This is a significant upgrade from the pc I began playing wow on, however, that pc did have a dedicated graphics card. This laptop has an intel iris chip which I know nothing about, and is where I'm concerned I might have problems. Below is the info my computer gives me on the chipset. Will it run Vanilla wow?

Chipset Model: Intel Iris
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1536 MB

Another inquiry I had was regarding PVP vs PVE. In the past I primarily played on a PVE server, although I did level one character up to around 55 on a PVP server. How hard is it to level on nostalrius PVP? Is there a lot of corpse camping and high lvl ganking, or are people generally good about that sort of thing. How are areas like STV? Is there one faction that is worse than the other? I'm under the impression that there are a lot more people on the PVP servers. are there enough people to play on the PVE? Is it hard to pick up groups while leveling? Do PVP and PVE come together in BGs? If not are the PVE BGs active? BGs were one of my favourite aspects of the game.

Is lag better in PVE due to lower population, or is it about the same? In terms of PVE vs PVP are the factions fairly balanced? I read a couple of older threads indicating that horde was dominant on the PVP server and alliance on the PVE (in terms of population). Is that still accurate? Is it really a big issue in that depending on the faction you play you can't find groups, or is it more minor?

As I mentioned, BGs were one of my favourite aspects of the game. Can you be competitive/have fun in BGs at level 60 without raiding? As much as I'd love to experience some of the end game vanilla content that I missed, I'm not willing to put more important aspects of my life on hold to make raid times every week. Can you get moderate gear doing 5 man dungeons? Might it be possible to get T.05/T1 on a casual raiding basis? Can you still get the level 60 alterac valley gear? How does it compare/how impossible is it to attain the rank required to get the gear? Would it be easier to obtain the required rank playing on a PVE server?

Lastly, I know this has been beat to death, and I've read many threads about this subject, but what are peoples thoughts on the best class to for balancing PVE content and PVP content at 60. I'd like to go back and forth between PVP and PVE content without constantly respeccing. I'm open to the majority of classes. The two things I'm sure about are I don't want to play a hunter and I don't want to tank. I love warriors, but I played one to 80, did the tanking thing, and warriors seem like they may be heavily overpopulated on Nostalrius. As tempting as it is to roll an arms or fury warrior, it sounds like spots are limited in end game content for them. Tying into that question, what do people think would be the easiest class to get a spot in a raid with on a casual basis? I'm thinking a healing priest, but I'm unsure.

That was a load of question, thanks for looking.

Tristan

[Wrathran]

I see you are a person who like to think and analyze things to make an informed logical decision. I say, fak dat shieat, just download the game and jump in and nuke stuff and see what happens!

[Spoopy]

You may not find my reply all that helpful because to be honest, I didn't really read the entire thing. However, I will say you do seem to overthink things.

The laptop I play on is by no means a gaming laptop. In fact, I've seen my laptop struggle to run some of the simplest games. One of which was a pixelated game and was running at 9fps. However, my laptop can run the Nostalrius Client without issue. Unless there's a lag spike, generally I always run at 60fps. I do not have any special computer specs for games, I do not have a dedicated graphics card, I simply have a cheap Toshiba laptop and it's worked for me just fine. However, if there is lag it's generally due to online server population.

Secondly when it comes to PVP vs. PVE, it's a matter of preference really. I wouldn't say a toon on either server is easier to level then should you have leveled it on the other. Only real difference is obviously on the pvp server, you're going to be taken the the graveyard quite a few times.

When it comes to PVP, I find Horde seem to be more PVP heavy. They're just more hardcore and dedicated to the PVP aspect of the game verses Alliance. Not to say there are not dedicated Ally PVPers. I do however see a large majority of Horde helping each other out, where are there are a lot of alliance that will simply flee passed an alliance member who is being ganked by a group of horde instead of stepping in. Then they like to whine and complain in general chat about being ganked, even though they clearly joined a PVP server. Again, this is not everyone. Both factions are guilty of corpse camping and ganking at 60, it really just depends on who they are and what they feel like.

I myself am Alliance with 3 toon all having reached level 60; Mage, Priest and Warlock. They weren't a terrible trouble to level, however yes, some areas will be a pain in the ass to level in should you play on the PVP server. STV, Searing Gorge and Hillsbrad I would say are the worst.


So, if that doesn't sound like your thing, perhaps stick to the PVE Realm.

[MrCruz]

Hi everyone,

I started playing wow a few months before the release of TBC, and quit shortly after the release of WotLK. The game really lost its charm for me. However, just the other day I read an article about a great vanilla server called Nostalrius, and I figured I ought to check it out.

My first concern is my computer. I haven't played a video game since I quit wow. At the time I had a high end gaming laptop. That is no longer the case. I'm currently using a relatively new 13" macbook pro retina. It has a 2.8 Ghz i5 and 8gb of DDR3 @ 1600Mhz. This is a significant upgrade from the pc I began playing wow on, however, that pc did have a dedicated graphics card. This laptop has an intel iris chip which I know nothing about, and is where I'm concerned I might have problems. Below is the info my computer gives me on the chipset. Will it run Vanilla wow?

Chipset Model: Intel Iris
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1536 MB

Another inquiry I had was regarding PVP vs PVE. In the past I primarily played on a PVE server, although I did level one character up to around 55 on a PVP server. How hard is it to level on nostalrius PVP? Is there a lot of corpse camping and high lvl ganking, or are people generally good about that sort of thing. How are areas like STV? Is there one faction that is worse than the other? I'm under the impression that there are a lot more people on the PVP servers. are there enough people to play on the PVE? Is it hard to pick up groups while leveling? Do PVP and PVE come together in BGs? If not are the PVE BGs active? BGs were one of my favourite aspects of the game.

Is lag better in PVE due to lower population, or is it about the same? In terms of PVE vs PVP are the factions fairly balanced? I read a couple of older threads indicating that horde was dominant on the PVP server and alliance on the PVE (in terms of population). Is that still accurate? Is it really a big issue in that depending on the faction you play you can't find groups, or is it more minor?

As I mentioned, BGs were one of my favourite aspects of the game. Can you be competitive/have fun in BGs at level 60 without raiding? As much as I'd love to experience some of the end game vanilla content that I missed, I'm not willing to put more important aspects of my life on hold to make raid times every week. Can you get moderate gear doing 5 man dungeons? Might it be possible to get T.05/T1 on a casual raiding basis? Can you still get the level 60 alterac valley gear? How does it compare/how impossible is it to attain the rank required to get the gear? Would it be easier to obtain the required rank playing on a PVE server?

Lastly, I know this has been beat to death, and I've read many threads about this subject, but what are peoples thoughts on the best class to for balancing PVE content and PVP content at 60. I'd like to go back and forth between PVP and PVE content without constantly respeccing. I'm open to the majority of classes. The two things I'm sure about are I don't want to play a hunter and I don't want to tank. I love warriors, but I played one to 80, did the tanking thing, and warriors seem like they may be heavily overpopulated on Nostalrius. As tempting as it is to roll an arms or fury warrior, it sounds like spots are limited in end game content for them. Tying into that question, what do people think would be the easiest class to get a spot in a raid with on a casual basis? I'm thinking a healing priest, but I'm unsure.

That was a load of question, thanks for looking.

Tristan

Hello there.
About your laptop you should be able to play with no problem if im right but like they said just get the game and start nuking stuff ^^
There is no diffrence between lag in pve or pvp due to the population.
Im more pve player myself i have started on PVE and then switched to PVP server.There is more possibilitys later on.
About BGs i couldnt tell you that much since i havent got lv 60 yet.
About class well you can play paladin.You dont have to tank with it.There is alot of planadin but its up to you and your personal prefrences.

Have fun
MrCruz