Archive for August, 2009
August 24th, 2009
Like lots of other players, I found myself running the regular version of Trial of the Champion endlessly in pursuit of trinket drops when patch 3.2 hit, and it wasn’t uncommon for groups to spend some time beforehand figuring out who was going to roll on what. With so many players now dual-specced into different roles and volunteering to come to 5-mans on an offspec just to get things moving, determining who had more priority on an item drop usable by multiple classes got a bit tetchy at times. I saw some ugly fights break out, and never more so than when a DPS player who respecced to heal for the sake of the group was told not to bid on the Abyssal Rune or Banner of Victory. Losing a roll on something you need to an off- or secondary-spec sucks, but being unable to roll on gear that benefits your main spec just because you respecced to get the group going is equally agonizing.
Continue reading Dual specs and loot priority
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Classes
Dual specs and loot priority originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 24th, 2009
Today’s Know Your Lore subject hasn’t yet been seen in World of Warcraft, but he’s the Big Bad in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, making his first appearance in the series since Warcraft II. An ancient and incredibly powerful being with a past swathed in betrayal and destruction, Deathwing is poised to bring about the second-largest cataclysm that Azeroth has ever seen.
Who: Neltharion the Earth-Warder, aka Deathwing the Destroyer.
What: Colossal, nearly-molten black dragon. Officially a Dragon Aspect, one of five sent to guard ancient Kalimdor by the Titans. He’s also the head of the Black Dragonflight.
Continue reading Know Your Lore: World of Warcraft Cataclysm Deathwing
Filed under: Features, Lore, Know your Lore, Cataclysm
Know Your Lore: World of Warcraft Cataclysm Deathwing originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 23rd, 2009
You’ve probably heard of Premonition, one of the big raiding guilds that everyone follows in “the raiding scene.” Among other things, Premonition is the group known for being the first guild in the U.S. to complete Alone in the Darkness. They were also special guest stars this year at BlizzCon 2009.
Similar to other WoW related panels, the stage hall in which Premonition performed was way too small for the sheer number of people who showed up. We stood shoulder to shoulder and necks to backs in order to fit.
Unlike other live raid displays, Premonition’s live raid performance was crafted specifically for this convention. Premonition fought a series of four boss teams, with each boss team having at least three members. Some of the bosses featured during the raid included the a team of dragons, Brutallus, Infernus, and other stars from Outland.
Premonition’s only real wipe happened when they faced down Thaddius, Anub’Rekhan, and Patchwerk. That three-boss team managed to get Premonition down on their first attempt. After only a bit of recovery, the star raiding guild picked themselves up and easily defeated the trio.
The final bout, however, was with a very special guest star from the old world past. Updated and beefed to represent his full power as a level 80 raid boss, this nightmare memory was met by the audience with howls of joy and nostalgia.
Hogger had appeared.
Despite their skill and coordination, Premonition stood no match against the Gnoll of Gnolls. While noone can dispute Premonition’s skill, there are just some basic truths to the world. Hogger is the king boss.
BlizzCon 2009 is here! WoW.com has continuing coverage, bringing you the latest in Cataclysm news, live blogs, galleries, and reports right from the convention floor. Check out WoW.com’s Guide to BlizzCon for the latest!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, BlizzCon
BlizzCon 2009: Premonition live raid originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 22nd, 2009
Continue reading BlizzCon 2009: The Future of Tanking
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Expansions, Death Knight, Cataclysm
BlizzCon 2009: The Future of Tanking originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 21st, 2009
We’re now live on the floor of BlizzCon! Hit the link below to read our updates — newest at the top of the page.
Continue reading BlizzCon 2009: Opening Ceremony Live Blog
Filed under: BlizzCon
BlizzCon 2009: Opening Ceremony Live Blog originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 21st, 2009
Ah, poor Veronica; so young, and yet so…correct. Well, let’s not dwell on that for too long, because we’ve got more heroics to steamroll in pursuit of a badass mount. If you’re just joining us or want a quick set of links, here’s what we’ve covered in our Glory of the Hero series so far:
- Part I: Ahn’kahet
- Part II: Azjol-Nerub and Culling of Stratholme
- Part III: Drak’Tharon Keep
- Part IV: Gun’drak
- Part V: Halls of Lightning
- Part VI: Halls of Stone
Let’s get cracking. Head west, young player!
Continue reading The OverAchiever: Voyage of the Glory of the Hero
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Instances, Features, Guides, Achievements, The Overachiever
The OverAchiever: Voyage of the Glory of the Hero originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 21st, 2009
Juniorkow asks:
I enjoy your blog and was wondering at level 70 could you provide a template to farm old instances ? I dont have wrath yet so just something to keep me busy.
I would suggest going Protection and using a build like this: 4/51/6.
I think that should give you a good build so you can AoE farm most older instances. Note that it isn’t a proper tank build as it is missing Spiritual Attunement (no other healer) and Guarded By The Light (you get Divine Plea at level 71).
You might have mana problems. If you find you are, you might be better off with a Retribution build like: 2/5/54
You’ll have to be a bit more careful, but there won’t be any mana worries.
August 20th, 2009
In a rather surprising turn of events, Blizzard has announced that they’re teaming up with publishing group Future to print a quarterly magazine about, you guessed it, World of Warcraft.
For the yearly subscription price of $39.95 USD, readers will receive four issues of the ad-free WoW magazine, including concept art, hints and sneak peeks at upcoming content patches and expansions, interviews with developers, strategies for raid and dungeon encounters, and more “insider and player perspectives”. The issues are stated to be more than 140 pages long and glossy as heck.
It’s admittedly rather shocking that a magazine like this is getting published — not because of content or anything like that, but because print is considered a flagging medium. The formula for success here seems to be to offer a high-end product — Future says they consider it more of a “collectible coffee-table book” than a magazine — and sustain it on subscriptions alone, since it’ll be free of advertising. Hopefully legions of fans will subscribe and give the ‘zine its lifeblood, since it actually sounds pretty cool to me.
The first issue is scheduled to go to press at an as-yet-unknown date this fall, and is supposed to contain interviews with top guilds about Ulduar strategies, a retrospective on WoW for its fifth anniversary, and unnamed other content.
Those wishing to subscribe can visit the magazine’s official website on August 21st — that’s BlizzCon day one — and enter their info there, or visit the WoW Magazine booth at the ‘Con itself.
Filed under: Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items
World of Warcraft: The Magazine, coming soon originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 19th, 2009
BlizzCon is just a day away now! WoW.com staffers are gonna be haunting the grounds in full force and are likely to leave some ectoplasmic residue (read: drool) on a number of demo tables and panel floors, depending on what’s announced and shown at the event. And the announcements are, at least for most everyone but Blizzard, still a mystery. Popular opinion (and the ability to put two and two together) seems to indicate the unveiling of a new WoW expansion, but why stop there? After all, there are three other games that Blizzard is working on — or so they say — so it’s quite possible that we’ll see some big ol’ infodrops about those titles too.
Or maybe Blizzard will through us for a loop and treat us to two days of Premonition raids and panels about J. Allen Brack’s ponytail. It is a mystery!
So what are you holding out for? StarCraft II release date? Diablo 3 bombshell? Next-gen MMO reveal? Glossy eight-by-tens of Zarhym in shades and a leather jacket (so dreamy)?
BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We’ve got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there’s some great looking costumes.
Filed under: Breakfast topics, BlizzCon
Breakfast Topic: What BlizzCon announcement are you waiting for? originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
August 19th, 2009
In the comments to the previous post, Elladrion, makes an interesting point:
They have no depth, and no charisma to back up their lack of depth. Also, specifically from a horde perspective, I will never be able to get past the entire questline where hellscream is moping around being a little defeatist bitch becuase he’s not as great as his father and their people are doomed. You do an entire questline helping them out and at the end of it, he gets even more despondant and whiney becuase it was you that did all the work and not him and oh what a worthless creature he is. Then with no warning wrath comes out and he’s all gung-ho rip-roaring kill all alliance with no transition story in between. And Varian wrynn doesn’t even have that amount of story (in game) going for him, he just shows up out of nowhere trying to start fights.
It’s very true. Garrosh and Varian emerge in Wrath almost fully-formed. There is a questline with Garrosh in TBC, but he doesn’t play a major part, and Varian just shows up (and takes credit for Onyxia, to boot).
This is in stark contrast to one of the other major characters in Wrath: Tirion Fordring. Unlike Garrosh and Varian, Fordring is introduced in 1.0 in Eastern Plagueline. He has one of the best and most-loved questlines in the game. It’s also a very personal questline for the character, and shows the reasons he decides to reforge the Silver Hand. In a lot of ways, Wrath and the Argent Crusade are sequel to those quests.
I think those quests have a lot to do with how popular Tirion Fordring is. We got to see the character at the beginning of the story, to sympathize and empathize with him. By doing the quests, in a way we were responsible for the character, and the way events turned out. We are more invested in the Argent Crusade and Tirion’s storyline.
Tirion illustrates how important doing is to a video game. Garrosh and Varian illustrate how weak merely telling is. The strength of games is that we are not passive consumers, we have to do something to advance the story. That has the potential to make us more involved with the story, and make it more important.
In the abstract, I understand Garrosh’s and Varian’s story. But I am far more interested in Tirion’s story, and that is almost entirely due to the original questline in the Plaguelands.
Would Varian have been more successful if there had been a questline to restore him to the throne? I think so. Similarly, a questline showing Garrosh’s conversion to a more aggressive stance would have helped a lot.
There are two major lessons here. First, in an MMO, doing is always better than telling. Second, major storyline characters really benefit from being introduced early and fixing the player’s sympathy, before they actually undertake a major role.
There are a lot of other examples. For example, consider the player base’s attitude towards High Overlord Saurfang, Chromie, or Bolvar Fordragon vs that towards someone like Rhonin. Early exposure in a more trivial setting really benefits the character when it comes time for them to take the spotlight.
