Character WipeFollow

Just wondering what others on Allakhazam feel on the position of the Character Wipe. Do you feel that if they dont wipe, will it create chaos on the PvP servers will all the lvl 1 guys getting killed by lvl 20+ guys who got a week or two head start?

Yea i know if they wipe, your still going to have people being lvl 15 in the 1st night if they play 24/7, but thats their choice. Some people feel special since their lvl 60 in 2 weeks, but do you really get to fully enjoy this game if you lvl and grind the whole time?

If they do wipe, ive heard all kinds of people saying they wont play since they invested so much time into their characters. My position on that, its BETA, and you guys have been playing it for FREE!!! Thats all im going to say on that. I would rather them wipe because it would get rid of some whiners and make the population better.

I know my karma is probably going to sink into the 2.00 or lower, but tired of reading the WoW General Forums with those opinions because most of those people on the forums never have a GOOD thing to say, all you hear is the negatives. Please dont post a 1 or 2 word answer with Wipe or Dont Wipe.

Sorry for being so long. Whats your opinions?

I want a character whipe, and fully expect Blizz will. Alot of the FFXI players complain that the game came out a year early in Japan, so a number of JP players had an unfair head start (blah blah blah..). I would hate to see the same type of complaints starting up in WoW, since so far I've found very little else to complain about.

I feel that a full character whipe is the only fair way to release the retail version. The beta players will already have a huge advantage (know where the quests are, how to complete them, how to craft, playing styles, ect), so it really won't take us beta players long to get our characters back up to "elite" status compared to those without any previous experience with the game, but asking to keep our existing characters seem like too much an advantage...

There are several reasons to wipe, "unfair advantage" being the most commonly talked about. The reason that I would like to see a wipe happen is because when you have beta characters, they accumulate items, skills and talents that may be removed or even made harder to get in the retail version. Some developer might decide to check out how a "+bazillion axe of ultimate destruction" does on a level one character, just to see if the graphics work well or the character shows it equipped correctly. In the retail game, that same weapon may only be available after completing a long quest that is level-limited or reputation-limited or even a raid.

Characters on a beta test should definitely be wiped.

I dunno why they held off so long, it was pretty obvious what they were planning...what's worse is they knew it for a long time. =\

All I am going to say, that when the game comes out... Welcome to newbie zone camp to heck and back. I can see it now, all these characters in the same zone trying to kill mobs for quest and xp and loot... welcome to my nightmare!! :P Doesn't really matter to me since the open beta account I was using was a friends since he couldn't get the game to run.

how am I being selfish? Its not like I get to kept playing his account when the game comes out. I paid for a retail copy of the game, I have to start a new like everyone else. I would just not rather see 20+ people running up to kill my mob.

Edited, Wed Nov 17 22:57:44 2004 by ueltschi

I was against the wipe but now that its inevitable I am rethinking that.

I rushed.

I won't do that next time. Next time I will do every quest, and I will explore every last place. I will kill that Quillboar, and his little piglets too.

I will seek out that evil warlock, and kick his butt. I will find that weird dead love lady person that never seems to spawn, and I will free her!

I will do it this time, or die many times trying... (oh the money sink ;.;)

I'm fine with the wipe. I wanted to get in and see the game, get a feel for it. I tried many different things and feel confident in picking one (or two) and taking the to "high level". My problem in FFXI was I couldn't stick to anything, mainly cause it got boring once it started being a levelgrind. First it was job grinding, then crafting, etc...

I will start out fresh well after the game hits the shelves (I cannot afford to buy 2 copies with an unemployed boyfriend and really don't wanna hit noob-zones in full-blown lag anyways). I'll likely make two guys, one for solo and one that I'll level with my boyfriend. That was another issue with FFXI I had, once our levels seperated a bit we stopped leveling together, I want to have fun with him in-game, not play the game off in our own little worlds.

I'm glad in a way that they're doing a wipe. Did bad choices with talents and rather than get the money to wipe them I'll just start over. I've only played in the ST and OB anyways, but in my time it's been fun.

And one thing to do in the starter areas to make it go faster, is to group. If people group on the "kill so many of these..." quests or even collection quest it will go that much faster. Rather than compete with everybody, everybody helps everybody out. If you want stay in the group or when you hit whatever lvl to leave just leave and explore the world on your own.

I don't know why people seem to think that since they beta tested a game the company owes something to them. The way I see it is they got to play the game early, for free, and had a key role in finding and helping to fix problems in the game for its gold release. If they want something for this, become a real (IE hired and paid) game tester. (ah the dream ... :( ) Not to sound awful or anything, but that's usually how it is. You beta test the game, all you get out of it is the satisfaction that you helped polish the finished product and a bit of free playtime, nothing more.

Every beta I've gone into I knew from the start that the characters that I built wouldn't stick around for release. This allowed me to try to snooker it up the best I could. If I was going to be playing the same character at release, why would I chance ******** it up? I think it allows a little more freedom in how I go about testing the game.

The beta testers aren't getting nothing out of this. Look at all the information we've gathered about quests, items, abilities, etc. We won't be going into release cold like the rest of the future newbies who didn't get a chance to play any form of the beta/stess test. We have the advantage already of knowing our way around, where the quests are, what to do for the quests, as well as how to finish them quickly and efficiently. Yes, we'll have to deal with the crowded lowbie zones, but so will the newbies. We still have the advantage of knowing what to do right off the bat.

Well, first of all, anyone who thought there would not be a wipe has not been part of a beta, nor do they understand the pupose of a beta...so maybe that is the first thing that should be mentioned.

We were testing the game for Blizzard (and let's face it, ultimately us...the better it is tested the better it will be when it goes live). We were not in it to get a head start on our characters. Oh, some may have thought that, but that is not the case at all and if you read the agreement of the beta that we all agreed to, it stated such.

Now, when I beta a game like this (I have done a few EQ expansions and a couple of other games) I kind of make it my own beta. First, will I want to purchase this. Great to get to demo the game in a live setting. Of course, you have to keep in mind that it is beta, and some glitches and gameplay clumsiness will be worked out before the release..often the release is very different from the beta experience...though I do not think so in this case...Blizzard did a great job making this game run smoothly, IMO.

Next I do my own 'beta' on class/race. So I play as many combos as I can to see which I like and which I will not like. I also do this to give Blizzard feedback on class and race balance...without question the most long-term issue they will deal with. The better balanced the classes are right up front, the less griping later by players who think this or that is unfair.

So when you play in a beta, you should be playing in a 'trial and error' mode...not a 'level and get' mode. Try different trade skills. Wipe talents and try different ones. Take chances here and there and see how far you can push your character. AND...if you do all of these things, you most likely will not have the strongest character you can build...I know that only one of my characters right now has been levelled and played in a manner that I would want to carry him to the retail releaase...and he is only level 10, so ho cares. I will start over. Why, because I tried one trade skill, then another. Kept changing my character. Dropped cool weapons to try other stuff. Played around with the different pieces of armor...rather than trying to get the best stats...after all, anyone who knows beta knows they were wiping the characers.

So...even if they did not wipe, I had planned all along to delete and start fresh. I do not want the wipe because I want it to make things fair...who cares. I do not play to compete, because even if they do wipe there will be some guy with no job and no life who can play 18 hours a day every day and will max their character out in a week. I welcome the wipe because we will all have characters that we build and develope to keep for the long haul. And anyone who thought that they were doing that in beta did not read the beta agreement nor do they know anything about the way companies do beta tests and what the purpose is.

And finally...everyone who competed in beta did get a head start. You will know exactly where to go and what to do. What quests to do in the newb zones...where the quest creatures are...where the trainers and tradeskill masters are...where to buy tradeskill items...etc. All of this will be a tremendous advantage that beta testers will have over non-beta players.

I’m happy about the wipe. It’s much better if we all get to start off on equal footing, even if we do end up doing it all at once. And yes, there had to be a wipe. If not there would be dwarven mages in retail. And there was no we I would stand for that, unless I could have one as well. *grins*

I’m just disappointed Blizzard also shut down the beta boards without giving us a chance to save some of the more useful posts. Oh well, that’s the way the batwing crunchy crumbles.

Actually, Blizzard shut down the forums because a hacker was messing with Tyren and Caydiem's posts.