Archive for May, 2010
May 27th, 2010
The latest Cataclysm screenshot from Blizzard is shown above, featuring a swank look at the Halls of Origination, one of Cataclysm‘s 5-man dungeons. The Halls of Origination will be found in Uldum, offering yet more insight into the titans and their impact on Azeroth.
If you’ve missed any of the previous Cataclysm screenshots of the day or you want to see a high-res version of today’s screenshot, check out the gallery below.
Gallery: Cataclysm Daily Screenshots
Filed under: Cataclysm
Cataclysm screenshot of the day originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 26 May 2010 21:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 26th, 2010
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on news from around the WoW community. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? Email TheClassifieds@wow.com.
Has the stacking buff in Icecrown Citadel done its job opening up end-game raiding to more players than ever? Signs point to yes. An analysis posted at LoreHound shows that the progressive ICC buff (Hellscream’s Warsong and Strength of Wrynn), which is currently pumping 20% more power into raiders’ total health, healing done, more power into raiders’ total health, healing done, damage absorption and damage dealt, is also puffing up the number of guilds chugging through what’s currently the toughest raid instance in the game.
The report is chock full of progression statistics, shining a light on content accessibility. Its conclusion: Raiding in Wrath, including features such as progressively stacking buffs and encounters with interchangeable difficulties, has ripened to a mature model that is friendly to both hardcore and casual raiders. Read the details at LoreHound (thanks for the tip, Rhabella!).
Let’s crack open The Classifieds …
Continue reading The Classifieds: More raiders than ever pushing through end-game content
Filed under: Guilds, The Classifieds
The Classifieds: More raiders than ever pushing through end-game content originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 26 May 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 26th, 2010
If you’ve been following World of Warcraft’s published subscriber numbers for a while now, you know that we haven’t seen a rise in WoW subscribers since late 2008. Blizzard’s been holding steady on a figure of 11.5 million subscribers. But, according to Frank Pearce, Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Product Development, that’s going to change.
When asked if by VG247′s Adam Hartley if he thought WoW‘s subscribers had permanently peaked, Pearce had this to say:
“I mean, you can look at that number and if you look at some of the details around it … In China, for example, we haven’t even launched Wrath of the Lich King yet, and that expansion is already 18-plus months old. They’re still playing The Burning Crusade there, because we’re waiting for approval for Wrath from the appropriate agencies. And once we get that approval and launch Wrath in China then I think we will see growth.”
Pearce also noted that “win-back” of subscribers who had left the game after previous expansions is particularly high for WoW, and that subscriber counts should grow when Cataclysm is released.
“Hopefully we will get some people back from Cataclysm as well. I don’t think 11.5 million is a peak, necessarily, but there are certain things that we need to do and need to do well in order to see it go further.”
Like refining the 1-60 game, an area many players have never gotten past, no doubt. You can read the full interview with Frank Pearce at VG247.
[via Massively]
Filed under: Blizzard
Blizzard’s Frank Pearce predicts renewed subscriber growth with Cataclysm, China originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 25 May 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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May 25th, 2010
The Icecrown Citadel raid buffs, Hellscream’s Warsong and Strength of Wrynn, just went from 15% to 20% with today’s maintenance. As always, this means a bunch of raid groups will be able to progress a lot farther in Icecrown Citadel, and we’re two thirds of the way to the final 30%. Assuming the schedule remains constant, the last Tuesday in June, the 29th, is when we can expect to see the next 5%.
Adam Holisky: I’m doing 10k single target dps right now on my huntard in ICC. today I’ll magically do 10.5k. that just doesn’t seem right.Basil Berntsen: It’s better than suddenly reducing the health of the bosses by 30% like they did in BC
While this might cheapen raiding rewards for many hard core players, I’ll take a slowly increasing, optional buff against a flat out 30% HP reduction any day. Also, I suspect we might see some new achievements or rewards for players choosing to not use the buff once it finishes hitting 30%.
Filed under: News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Icecrown Citadel raid buff to 20% originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 25 May 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 25th, 2010
Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler’s latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we’ll keep you informed.
In which all the blues are playing the alpha, except for Bornakk, who tells us when he’ll leave a group.
Table of Contents
Continue reading The Daily Blues
Filed under: The Daily Blues
The Daily Blues originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 25 May 2010 00:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 25th, 2010
John asks:
I’m running up my human female pally after being away from the game for about a year. I had played a warrior tank for a couple of years previous. Can you share some of your macro’s for tanking and retribution if you have any?
I don’t really use a lot of macros for Prot and Ret.
For Ret, If you have On-use trinkets, you could bind them to Avenging Wrath.
#showtooltip Avenging Wrath
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Avenging Wrath
The only other macro I use is a castsequence for Divine Storm and
Consecration, to save button space.
/castsequence reset =10 Divine Storm,Consecrate
However, you cannot use this macro if you have 2-pc T10 (Ret).
For Protection, I’m not sure. You could use 2 macros to make the
96969 rotation easy.
#1: /castsequence Judgement of Light,Consecration,Holy Shield
#2: /castsequence Hammer of the Righteous,Shield of Righteousness
Then just alternate between the two buttons for easy-mode threat.
However, you have to be careful of fights where you can’t use AoE
threat willy-nilly. For example, Deathbringer Saurfang in ICC. There
it is a bad idea to use Consecration and Hammer of the Righteous when
the Blood Beasts are up.
Any other good Prot/Ret macros out there?
May 24th, 2010
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; email lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.
World of WarCrafts brings you arts and crafts around a theme this week: rock, paper and scissors. First up: “rock” — a ceramic wind rider cub from Lakira of US Area 52. “I made this statue in my HS ceramics art class as an extra project,” writes Lakira. “He’s made out of clay and painted with acrylics. I later added some brown felt fur for his little mane; I didn’t have any faux brown fur, but I think he looks better with the felt!”
“I toiled over a few weeks, working out his design and hoping he wouldn’t chip or break — or even worse, blow up in the kiln,” Lakira continues. “After he was finally fired, I had to finish painting him fast, in fear of someone stealing him. It’s happened before, blah! I’ve never done anything really on this scale before; I’ve made tiny fel hound figures, but that was about it.”
Our verdict: adorable! Follow us past the break for more rock, paper, scissors crafts.
Continue reading World of WarCrafts: Rock, paper, scissors
Filed under: World of WarCrafts, Arts and Crafts
World of WarCrafts: Rock, paper, scissors originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 24 May 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 24th, 2010
It was just another Sunday when Fox Van Allen woke to the mid morning sun on his face. He sat up groggily and looked around his quiet apartment. A moment passed before he realized something was wrong — it wasn’t here. “Not again …” he muttered, his brows pressed in frustration. It must have gone back to her again. “Dawn Moore …” he sneered while pulling himself out of bed. He didn’t know what it saw in her. “Priest healing … Bah! Who would want to do that?” Still, Fox sighed, his doubts gnawing at him. Why was Spiritual Guidance so fickle?
I love tanks. Likewise, there have been many tanks who have loved me.
There is nothing more beautiful than the love between a tank and a healer. It’s actually a little known fact that every great love song ever written was written about a tank and healer. Every little thing she does is magic? Totally sung by a tank. Don’t leave me this way: sung by a healer. Still don’t believe me? Check out Heroes by David Bowie; it was actually originally written as a tank x healer duet. Just look at the lyrics:
“And you, you can be mean,
And I, I’ll drink all the time.”
See? So, if you want to find your great tank love, if you want a tank that knows how and when to blow each and every one of his cooldowns to maximize every lasting second of your epic encounters together, then you are going to have to rise up and meet him. You need to be the healer his healer could heal like (if she stopped playing hybrid-spec player classes.) Luckily, you’re already a priest, the most alluring of healing classes, but don’t think that’s enough. You need to be more than just some healer who heals him — you need to understand him. That is today’s goal.
Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: A priest’s guide to tanks
Filed under: Priest, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance
Spiritual Guidance: A priest’s guide to tanks originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 23 May 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 23rd, 2010
This week, in addition to your regularly scheduled comic updates, I’ll be adding in links to the few comics that slipped through the cracks while I was in, and just returning from, WiFi hell (and the wonderful Kelly Aarons filled in).
This week’s list is pleasantly long, but I’m always looking to stretch it. Was something overlooked? Did a comic update late? Do you know of a comic that isn’t featured on this list, but is related to WoW? Leave a tip in the comment section!
Speaking of the comment section, this week’s discussion topic involves pointing out a few of your favorite panels of artwork from any of this week’s comics and saying a bit about why you love them. Don’t forget to mention your favorite one-liner, too!
Continue reading Sunday Morning Funnies: Where the engines are
Filed under: Humor, Comics, Sunday Morning Funnies
Sunday Morning Funnies: Where the engines are originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 23 May 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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May 23rd, 2010
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.
WARNING: The following post contains small spoilers for Wrath of the Lich King. Players who are still playing through the expansion and wish to avoid spoilers may want to avoid this post. In addition, theories behind the new Cataclysm race/class combinations will be discussed.
Last time on Alliance politics we looked at the night elves, who have had arguably the largest impact on Azeroth of any race currently living, and a lengthy history, as their current leader has been in power for approximately 10,000 years. The night elves have an extensive amount of history to back up their current political stance, but today we’re going to look at a race that doesn’t really have a lot of history to speak of (or at least they didn’t until the launch of Wrath of the Lich King): the gnomes.
The gnomish race has been relatively low profile in World of Warcraft and in the Alliance in general. Friendly to everyone, regardless of faction, the gnomes are quite happy to teach engineering to anyone who will listen. They generally avoid conflict where they can and honestly the main reason they joined the Alliance wasn’t due to their beliefs or any strong feelings, it was due to circumstances at the time. Let’s take a quick look at the background of the gnomes and how the events in Wrath could potentially affect future political entanglements.
Continue reading Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics — the gnomes
Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore
Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics — the gnomes originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 22 May 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.