So I was able to play around for about an hour on the PTR this afternoon. Unfortunately, character transfers are still closed (as the queue is about 6 days long now) so I started afresh!
I made it to an impressive level 7, and have a few initial thoughts:
Newbie Help
The new tutorial information is awesome. Lots of people in general were complaining about it, but if I were an absolutely, brand new player, I would find the arrows, big pictures, and more thorough information to be fantastic. And if you're not new and cranky.. you can just turn it off.
You Feel Like A Lock
Previously, levelling seemed completely homogenous up to a point. Mage, Priest, Lock, Druid. Guess what you're gonna do for 10 whole levels? Shoot a spell. Warlocks (and hunters) now get their pets right off the bat. My imp was right there with me at level 1. I felt like a Warlock! Levels 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 all provide new spells, and all of the Warlock spells really help to establish the experience you will have with that character all the way to max. You get Immolate and Corruption at 3 and 4. You learn the value of DoTs right there, 20 minutes after creation. You get the ability to vendor all water at level 5, when Lifetap becomes learnable. Lastly, Siphon Life is introduced at six. You are now a mean, survival machine. Many of these spells were previously available by level six, but they were included with some extraneous abilities as well. How many little baby locks really used Curse of Weakness? Trimming it down and spacing it out gives new Warlocks the essentials for their class and time to play with them without causing confusion.
But What About Shards?
Soul Shards are finally gone, and good riddance. The new system, which provides three in-combat shard uses, doesn't kick in until a level 10 spell is learned. I'll have more to say on that when I get there.
But Where is My Pet Bar?
I can't find it. Am I just blind? I wasn't able to move pet skills to my action bars, does this come in later? A few other people mentioned it in general, so if I'm just ignorant, at least I'm not alone.
Professions = Awesome
Granted, my entire experience with professions right now is First Aid and Cooking, but the new profession tab is great. All your spells in one place, all your skill levels are right there. It's really clean, I love it.
LEVEL 7
I've leveled more alts than I can count. And sometimes, I honestly don't even notice that I've leveled. The new interface has a gigantic, in your face message, not only telling you that you've dinged, but what spells are now available for training. The skill training message is also much appreciated because it means no more googling your spells to figure out if breaking your questing groove is worth it.
Other Interface Issues
I like that the map button has been moved up next to the zone name. I collect addons like a fiend and I run out of circle space constantly. The new character pane is nice, placing everything in one column rather that having to swap in and out what stats you want to see. (a minor inconvenience on my Paladin) I forgot that they had moved companion pets over to spells however, and it took me a moment to find the little penguin that Breanni now sends just about everyone's characters upon creation.
These are just my initial observations. I've only played on the Warlock so far, so I don't have much on any other class. I also haven't reached any talents or Soul Shard abilities, so I'll defiantly do a follow up when I reach that point.
In the mean time, play the PTR if you get a chance, it's a great little preshow to what is to come, AND you can help Blizz with bug reports, which is always fabulous.
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