Archive for September, 2009
September 26th, 2009
I finally got my Green Proto-drake today, so I was tempted to do that, but instead today we’ll go with the old PLP standby of big scary swords. Alliance, before you go running after this one, make sure to see the note below.
Name: Edge of Agony (Wowhead, Thottbot, MMO Champion)
Type: Epic Two-Hand Sword
Damage/Speed: 651 – 977 / 3.50 (232.6 DPS)
Attributes:
- +112 Agility, +92 Stamina
- Improves haste by 62, attack power by 183, and armor penetration by 86. Note that these are the stats for the 10-man normal item (Trial of the Crusader drops are pretty confusing actually). The 10-man Heroic version has a better version of this, but with the same name and graphic.
Gallery: Phat Loot Phriday
Continue reading Phat Loot Phriday: Edge of Agony
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Instances, Humor, Phat Loot Phriday
Phat Loot Phriday: Edge of Agony originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 26th, 2009
It’s a little unfair to the developers, but the best reason to play WoW instead of other MMOs is that you don’t have to listen to people talking about WoW.
September 25th, 2009
The Twisted Nether folks have been a huge part of the WoW community for a while now — I finally got to meet both Fimlys and Nibuca in person at the last BlizzCon, and of course we’ve mentioned them and their work here on the site before. They’ve recently announced another big project, in coordination with Stompalina over at Rawrcast and our own Eddie “Brigwyn” Carrington, author of the Scattered Shots column and curator of The Hunting Lodge, and it sounds exciting. Azeroth United is an “Internet media community” centered around World of Warcraft, so it’ll be a hub for sharing news and support around not just bloggers, but all WoW-related fansites and online resources.
It sounds like their first project will be a large-scale charity drive, much like the Children’s Week auction that Brigwyn put together earlier this year. More news on that, we’re told, is coming soon, and we’ll keep our ears open to see what they’re up to. We’ve seen the power of the Warcraft community before, both in making a difference with donations and and uniting under a common flag, so a project like this is sure to be fun to watch. Stay tuned for more when we hear it.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Twisted Nether and friends unveil Azeroth United originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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September 24th, 2009
Some of you might have already gotten your Violet Proto-Drakes, a long, strange trip that spans one full year of playing World of Warcraft. Some persistent and conscientious players have already gotten their Brewmaster title along with the meta-Achievement, and I’m pretty sure it must feel pretty good. There’s no more pressure to do all the holiday achievements now, is there? It’s time to kick back and chillax.
For those of you who’ve completed the meta-Achievement, how do you feel? Does it feel good to ride around on that 310% mount? Are you among the first on your server to sport that dragonfruit-hued mount? What are you looking forward to in terms of World of Warcraft holidays now, considering you no longer have to chase after achievements? Are you excited for the new holidays and are you psyched to complete those Achievements, too, even though they’re not required for the Violet Proto-Drake? Share your thoughts this morning. As for those who haven’t gotten theirs, what else do you need to complete the meta?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast topics, Achievements
Breakfast Topic: Violet relief originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 23rd, 2009
Those awesome folks at SwagDog, who sponsor our Guild of the Month Contest, have released a new guild icon shirt design that is much simpler than their original one. Some folks like Alex really like it, and since the man has good taste, chances are you guys just might, too. That’s not the only good news, though. The deal is that those guys at SwagDog have given WoW.com readers a sweet 15% discount when ordering one of these babies (the shirt, guys, the shirt). All you have to do is use the promo coupon wowicon15 when you checkout.
The bad news is that that code is just good enough for today, the last day of SwagDog’s cool 48-hour WoW.com promo. These shirts are fully customizable, and even though they’re supposed to be guild icons, you can actually customize your own design using one of the game’s many fun icons. While skulls and crossbones or dragons and axes might be cool, you can just as easily use a crying bear for that kawaii factor. Or a beer mug. It’s Brewfest, after all. What’re you waiting for? You’ve only got a few hours left! Get hopping, people!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, WoW Insider Business, Odds and ends
Last day for WoW.com discount at SwagDog originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 23rd, 2009
Dateline: September 20, 2009 – 10:53 pm
The Red Devils finally managed to scrape together a raid group and down the last boss for their first full clear of the Colliseum! And let me tell you, it was brutal! We had to pug the last few spots to get started. Even then we didn’t enter the instance until 8:00 and our normal raid time is 7:00! As expected, the pugees didn’t stick around very long. Fortunately they did stay long enough for more Red Devils to log in and we were able to replace them with guildies when they began to mysteriously DC after wipes. That was when we started making some real progress. Bottom line – I’m glad we filled with pugs rather than call off the raid. It worked out this time!
Snyped and I were placed on orb duty, which meant we spent a lot of time targeting and dropping them to the floor to create frost patches for the raid. While we both recognized the importance of this task, it seemed a waste of our higher dps, especially since the raid was having problems getting Anub’arak down quickly enough (that pesky enrage timer). Targeting the damn things was a problem, even with a macro which frequently targeted one behind us. Click targeting was a bigger pain, since you often would target something else even when clicking directly on an orb. And forget tab targeting – way too many other mobs! We stuck it out and tried to find a balance between “enough” frost patches and dpsing the boss.
So, we’ve cleared the Colliseum and are now eligible to commence with heroic mode. Given our random difficulties with all these bosses, we might be better served to committing to a few more regular clears. I suspect we will dive right in, though. That’s just how we roll!
For me… it’s moot. Mrs. Seabrat and I are headed to the Florida Keys on Saturday for two weeks of fun and sun. I’ll post all the pics and info on my Team SeaBrat blog (http://seabrat.blogspot.com/) when we return. The latest patch (3.2.2) has presented me with difficulties logging in, which I know is probably due to one or more add-ons. That leaves me with only two potential raid nights before we leave for the Keys. I wish my guildies good luck in my absence and hope I have both a guild and a job when I return!
September 23rd, 2009
The Art of War(craft) takes you through the paces of the myriad faces of World of Warcraft PvP. Zach, who writes this column, is tragically unfunny and has asshat blood running through his Asian veins. If you’re looking for humor, head over to the musings of Christian or Allison. If you want some lore or news, Alex and Adam are your guys. If, however, you feel like bashing someone’s face in and dropping The Flag of Ownership on their corpse, you, my friend, have come to the right place.
Season 7 started a while back, and we’ve now got Colby on the team to pick up on the Arena scene with Blood Sport. He covers all the basics of the latest Arena season in his debut column, so head on over and read up on everything you need to know. That’s your primer. On today’s The Art of War(craft), I’m going to discuss other things not quite covered by the basics.
First of all, what does a new Arena season mean to the Battleground enthusiast? I mean, who gives a shmoo? Arenas shmarenas, right? Well… not exactly. The sad fact is that Arena players are going to be playing the Battlegrounds, anyway, since the non-set pieces are purchasable with Honor points. While these items also drop off Koralon, the Flame Watcher, the fastest, most efficient way to obtain non-set Relentless Gladiator pieces is through Honor farming in the Battlegrounds.
That means successful Arena play, or at least the most conscientious preparation, requires Battleground participation. The converse isn’t necessarily true. The gear disparity in the Battlegrounds is extreme, and it isn’t uncommon to find players fresh from hitting Level 80 hitting the maps to grind Honor for gear upgrades. Gear isn’t as critical, but it’s a definite advantage. My view on the matter is that Arenas are a necessary, but fun, evil.
Continue reading The Art of War(craft): Season 7 and the Battleground PvPer
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, (PvP) The Art of War(craft), Battlegrounds, Arena
The Art of War(craft): Season 7 and the Battleground PvPer originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 23rd, 2009
Now we come to the fun part of reviewing new games: ripping up all the bad parts. To be honest, the greatest part I dislike about Champions Online revolves around one issue: Gear.
Gear
In CO, there 9 gear slots:
- 1x Offensive Primary
- 1x Defensive Primary
- 1x Utility Primary
- 2x Offensive Secondary
- 2x Defensive Secondary
- 2x Utility Secondary
All of these slots are pretty much the same: a few stats with some defensives. Most gear has zero effect on how your character looks, and is basically a stat slot. There are a few items which modify how your weapons or powers look.
I find that having gear have an effect on how your character looks is important to me. I like getting a new helm, or a new chestplate or shield. I like that visual reinforcement. Getting a random stat stick with some arbitrary, meaningless name just doesn’t appeal to me.
As well, because there are so few slots, you upgrade them at a far faster rate. It’s not like getting a weapon in WoW and then getting some use out of it for a few levels while the other slots get upgraded. You barely use an item before it’s trashed.
Quests and enemies drop items of the same level as they are. A level 18 quest gives a reward that requires a level 18 or higher to use. Similarly, a level 18 mob only drops gear usable by level 18s or higher. This contributes to the high gear turnover. Additionally, it means that if you start punching above your weight, doing higher level quests, your inventory fills up with gear that you can’t use yet.
Finally, mobs don’t drop trash, they only drop items. The cumulative effect of this is that it feels like every few minutes you find a new sword that is slightly better or slightly worse than your current sword.
I just find the gear system very annoying and a big hassle. Unlike in WoW, where getting a new piece of gear is an actual reward and something to be anticipated.
Inventory
The inventory system is a pain as well. You can’t open all bags at the same time, and upgrading bags is a major hassle.
Crafting
Crafting is a waste of time in this game. It just doesn’t organically flow. You end up with bags full of ingredients, and can make nothing useful. I’ve pretty much ignored crafting after experimenting with the first couple of characters. The game is much more fun when you do that.
Other Issues
Outside of those three sub-systems–which really all have the basic gear design at the heart of the problem–there aren’t a lot of other problems with Champions.
Chat could be improved and made easier to use. The general performance of the game could be improved. I play with low-quality graphics to get a decent framerate. There are occasional graphics glitches, my weapons sometimes disappear in combat.
Sometimes there are issues figuring out when you can use an ability after another, often relating to ability animations. For example, I have an ability that allows me to leap backwards out of melee range, Breakaway Shot. I find this ability never seems to work the first time I press the button.
Conclusion
But on the whole, the Gear, Inventory, and Crafting systems are the only things I seriously dislike about Champions Online. The core character creation, powers, and basic gameplay are a lot of fun. Champions Online is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’ve gotten a bit tired of orcs-and-elves fantasy.
Two caveats: I haven’t really tried PvP or grouping, so I have no idea how the game works in those situations.
September 22nd, 2009
The mace is an iLevel 226 item and has a DPS output of 171.5 — making it on par with the very best 1H weapons out of 25-man Naxx. Full stats are in the picture above.
It looks like, well, a tankard. Just like the other glasses that are in the game. I don’t necessarily get why it’s “O’ Terror,” that would sound like it belongs more with the upcoming Hallow’s End than Brewfest, but that’s just me. Either way it’s quite a nice mace that’s going to make a lot of Enhancement Shamans happy.
It can also make your wallet a little fatter if you’re lucky enough to get it (it does have a low drop rate). They’re selling for between 4k to 5k gold. I would suspect that’ll decrease substantially in the next few days however. If you really want it and don’t want to spend that kind of gold, Brewfest is running for a while still — you’ll have until October 3rd to get your hands on one.
For more Brewfest information, check out our Guide to the 2009 Brewfest Achievements and the rest of the updated level 80 Direbrew loot.
Filed under: Shaman, Items, Events, News items
Brewfest 2009: New piece of Direbrew loot enabled originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 21st, 2009
It’s no secret that I have Horde and Alliance Warriors at 80. I took a long break from the Horde to raid aggressively on my Alliance Warrior as part of my endless waffling over Horde vs. Alliance. Lately, however, the rumors about Cataclysm and what’s going to happen to Horde leadership have, paradoxically perhaps, made me suit up again as the Tauren and play the Horde side again. (I’m weird that way.) One of the results of that is to remind me that there’s a big difference between a Ulduar/TotC 25 geared prot warrior and one barely in Naxx 10 gear.
I have been chain running TotC 5/Heroic as much as possible to try and catch up and frankly, wow, the difference in every aspect of play is astonishing. You forget just how much of a difference it all makes, until you suddenly find yourself effectively back in time on a character with the stats you used to have when things were hard. Going from a 35k health pool to a 27k one (up to 30 now, thanks to TotC) was a huge wake up call that made me adjust my pulling strategies, use of my cooldowns, and even how I go about generating threat. As all my stats improve I’m finding myself lowering my foot to the floorboard, so to speak, but in a way I think it’s a good thing to be reminded every now and again that you can’t just tell people starting out in blues and greens to do what you do in your full raid epics.
It’s an experience you can have in other ways, of course: taking your alt rogue to DPS a heroic and being shocked at how much lower his DPS is than your DK main, for instance. So I posit to you, gentle readers, how have you found yourself minding the gap?
Filed under: Rogue, Warrior, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast topics, Instances, Classes, Death Knight
Breakfast Topic: The gap originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.