Archive for November, 2009
November 26th, 2009
Fortunately, while you wait, there’s lots of guilds looking for more and drama to read through as well. You can click the link below to read this week’s Guildwatch, and don’t forget to send us your tips: drama, downed or recruiting, we want to hear it all at guildwatch@wow.com. Enjoy!
Continue reading Guildwatch: Analyzing the situation
Filed under: Virtual selves, Guilds, Instances, Humor, Raiding, Guildwatch, Bosses
Guildwatch: Analyzing the situation originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
November 25th, 2009
We can confirm these emails are legitimate, the links and headers all point back to blizzard.com servers. And indeed a blue over in the Customer Service forums has more or less confirmed that it’s legit.
These kinds of promotions are not all that uncommon in the MMO world. Several companies that have MMOs of varying degrees of success have offered them in the past — they’re a nice way to get some old players back and make them feel like part of the community again.
We want to be sure we’re clear: it appears these emails are not going to all unsubscribed accounts. If you have an unsubscribed account, don’t count on getting one; right now it looks like it’s just random chance whether or not you’ll get some free game time.
Thanks to AishaLove for the help!
Filed under: Blizzard, News items
Free 7 days of game time for select unsubscribed players originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
November 25th, 2009
There are more server outages hitting this afternoon, unfortunately impacting the same realms that were down for around ten hours last night. The Seattle datacenter was hit with a nasty power outage yesterday, but we currently don’t know the reasons for the current downtime. There are no blue responses yet, but my gut says there’s some lingering damage that will need to be dealt with this afternoon.
Then again, we might be lucky and they’ll be back in ten minutes. Who knows with these things? Keep an eye on WoW.com and we’ll keep you posted should we hear anything. If you’re not sure if you’re part of one of these battlegroups, the full list is behind the cut.
Update #1: Blizzard is aware of the issue. Not much else at the moment.
Update #2: Looks like most servers are coming up. Our poor friends on Quel’Dorei are still down for the count.
Update #3: Maintenance on these realms not necessarily ‘done’ says Malkorix.
Update 11:57pm: Both battlegroups went down 12 minutes ago. More as we know it.
Update 12:18am: Blizzard says they are working on it and that any compensation will come after the problems have been resolved.
Continue reading More server outages for Whirlwind and Emberstorm [Updated]
Filed under: Realm News, Realm Status
More server outages for Whirlwind and Emberstorm [Updated] originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
November 24th, 2009
This is a movie that will bring screams of joy to many of you. Ian Beckman has released Azerothian Super Villains – Episode 7. Kael’thas continues to be the mainstay of the series, with his trademark voice and childish antics. Little shivers of glee still shoot up and down my spine at Beckman’s masterful portrayal of the Dark Belf Lord.
My favorite part of this episode is the Team Rocket parody. Something about Arthas leading his team in a cute little poem just feels right. While I’m not foolish enough to believe Blizzard would include such a thing in Icecrown Citadel, you better believe that poem’s going to be in my head every time I show down against him.
The story progresses fairly well, with the old gang reunited by the end. I don’t know. I love all of the characters, but Kael’thas steals the show to such an amazing degree that I sometimes feel like Illidan is hogging the Dark Belf Lord’s limelight. The final teaser does seem to promise more in the future for Kael’thas, so here’s hoping the next installment isn’t too far off.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch
WoW Moviewatch: Azerothian Super Villains – Episode 7 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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November 24th, 2009
In the meantime, enter to win some real life and in-game loot. Or log on to Zangarmarsh and join the WoW.com guild so you can party with us on Wednesday night.
If you are unsure what battlegroup you are in, please consult this listing.
Battlegroup listings are after the break.
Update 11:37pm: They have discovered the source of the battlegroup issues, but still no estimate for when they will be back up. We’re having an impromptu party on Zangarmarsh if you would like to join us.
Update 11:12pm: I was just able to login. No word yet on the down battlegroups.
Update 10:56pm: An official response: they are working on it.
Update 10:49pm: Many, including me, are having connection issues. There is a huge forum post on the issue, but no blue response yet.
Continue reading Battlegroup outages tonight [Updated]
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Battlegroup outages tonight [Updated] originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
November 23rd, 2009
In celebration of today ushering in five years of WoW, let’s take a step away from traditional Moviewatch material and look at some early alpha and beta footage from Stormwind and Ironforge.
The footage is quite astounding when you watch it. You’ll notice that there are entire sections of both cities which have changed dramatically, and indeed Ironforge itself was nearly entirely revamped to remove the “second level” from it. You can see remnants of the second level of Ironforge today in that there are some oddly placed balconies and doors — it all looks normal to us now, but when you watch the video you can see that it looks much more natural the way it was.
The “internet consensus” is that alpha Ironforge was changed because people were getting themselves lost all the time in it — something which isn’t very good for a starting city. However as far as I can tell that never came out of published comments from a WoW designer, so take it with a grain of salt.
And yes, before some you inevitably ask, Patches of Yesteryear will be returning this week — although we’ll only be running it once every other week due to time constraints.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Filed under: WoW Moviewatch
WoW Moviewatch: Stormwind and Ironforge Alpha originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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November 23rd, 2009
Every week (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW.
Once in a while, I’ll get a question in the mail from a reader that goes something like this:
Dear Matt,There’s a priest who has recently joined our guild. I’m not sure if he’s doing the right things. His HPS doesn’t seem to be where our other healers are at. His overhealing seems to be a little bit high. I’m not sure if I’m reading it right and I was hoping you could tell me how you evaluate the priests (or healers) that are in your guild. Am I supposed to be using numbers as a solid way to see how good they are?
Sincerely,
Dazed from healing
In this week’s Spiritual Guidance, I’ll walk you through how I evaluate priests who join my guild. I’ll go over the best times to get impressions, what I look for specifically, and how I deliver the necessary feedback. We’ll go all the way from application through to raid insertion.
Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: How to critique a priest without making them cry
Filed under: Priest, Analysis / Opinion, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance
Spiritual Guidance: How to critique a priest without making them cry originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
November 22nd, 2009
We’ve been seeing this GDKP thing sneak up on the forums and elsewhere a lot lately, and while Scott has mentioned it (in a somewhat disparaging way, in fact), we haven’t really taken a good look at it yet. So let’s do so. GDKP stands for Gold DKP, which is kind of a mishmash of acronyms. DKP, or Dragon Kill Points, are a very popular way of determining loot division in a raid — the concept dates back to earlier MMOs, and involves players earning points per boss kill that they can then spend on gear. We’ve talked about other DKP systems before. But rather than awarding loot based on arbitrary points, Gold DKP, as you may have guessed, instead gives loot to the player willing to pay the most gold… to the other players in the raid.
The way it works is this: You go into an instance, say Naxx, and everyone knows ahead of time that it is a “GDKP run,” or a “gold run,” or a “cash run.” You down the first boss, and Webbed Death drops. The master looter then takes bids of gold on the item (this can be done via public chat or via an addon), and whoever bids the most gold gets the item. The person who wins then pays that amount of gold (some raids have minimum bids of, say, 100g) to “the pot,” and the raid moves on. Another boss drops, another item drops — usually all items, including recipes and mats, are auctioned off — and another high bid goes into “the pot.” Then, at the end of the raid, the pot is evenly split among all members. Everybody who joined in on the raid gets an even share of the bidded gold, including people who got no items, or the Mr. Moneybags who won them all.
Continue reading The sudden popularity of GDKP
Filed under: How-tos, Fan stuff, Guilds, News items, Economy, Instances, Raiding
The sudden popularity of GDKP originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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November 22nd, 2009
It’s time once again for Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that would like to thank its readers profusely for the deluge of screenshots it received last week. Arcane Brilliance sent out the call, and you guys responded in droves. There were so many, in fact, that it was an impossible task to select just one for the column. Arcane Brilliance finally went with this one, apparently of an undead pimp of some type, simply because it made Arcane Brilliance chuckle. Also, the column this week is about leveling through Outland, and this is a pretty good representation of how your mage will look throughout that leg of the journey: like the mutant love-child of the entire cast of Saved by the Bell.
Seriously… you guys are awesome. Sooooooo many good pictures to use. I may have to start writing like 12 of these a week, just to have an excuse to use all of them. Thanks again, and keep them coming. Even if I don’t get to use them, I just enjoy browsing through them. So many mages, so little time.
Last week, our mage leveling guide hit level 58 and fled vanilla WoW for the alien landscapes of Outland. This week, we’ll tackle the 10 levels your mage will be spending there, amongst the hellboars, sporebats, and ravagers.
Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Mage leveling guide, 59-68
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Quests, Expansions, Features, The Burning Crusade, Leveling, Guides, Classes, Talents, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance
Arcane Brilliance: Mage leveling guide, 59-68 originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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November 21st, 2009
Our podcast (which, if you haven’t heard, is award-nominated now — please give us your vote every day until the end of November) returns to the series of tubes this afternoon on Ustream, and the great Michael “Belfaire” Sacco is coming along with it. Turpster, Sacco and I will chat about night elf mohawks, and what’s up with the patch 3.3 PTR (including how to get the gear and some axe that people might like) and the next expansion. And as usual we’ll chat live with the chat channel, answer your emails, and just generally have a good time talking about the World of Warcraft.
The show kicks off at 3:30pm Eastern/ 8:30pm GMT on our Ustream page, or we’ve also embedded a feed in the second half of this post, so you can just go there. If you’re planning to be out and about, you can also listen to the show on your iPhone or iPod touch (assuming you’ve got the Internet connection required to do so). And of course even if you can’t make it to the live recording, we’ll have the show on the feed next Monday as we usually do — you’ll miss the aftershow, but such, as they say, is life. Hopefully we’ll see you today.
Continue reading WoW Insider Show live this afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern
Filed under: Podcasting, WoW Insider Business, Virtual selves, WoW Insider Show
WoW Insider Show live this afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.