Archive for the ‘WoW.com’ Category
September 19th, 2010
The latest beta build introduced additional mounts and companion pets into the game. With a new patch pushed on to the beta servers, check out these videos of the guild faction mounts! The Alliance one above is called Reins of the Golden King (which is an awesome lion).
Interested in seeing what the Horde mount is? It is the Kron’Kar Annihilator (or a scorpion) and you can see a video of it after the jump!
Continue reading Cataclysm beta: Horde and Alliance guild mounts
Filed under: Cataclysm
Cataclysm beta: Horde and Alliance guild mounts originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 01:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 18th, 2010
Spoilers for Cataclysm in this post, me hearties.
One of the things I’ve noticed in my time back-and-forthing between Alliance and Horde toons is that each faction seems to have many, many vocal partisans who believe the opposite faction to be filled to the brim with churls, knaves and scalawags. Perhaps even hooligans and ne’er-do-wells. You see it all the time in general chat: “Those ally fellows are nothing but mountebanks!” Or perhaps: “Horde? Nothing but disreputable scoundrels, bounders and cads!”
What I find interesting is how much of this factional divide is created by the game itself … how much comes from quest lines and zone design and world events … and how much is purely based on the players. It’s true that over the past several expansions, we’ve seen a shift in the game itself from the days of the AQ gate event and the opening of the Dark Portal, when Horde and Alliance stood shoulder-to-shoulder against threats to Azeroth, to the present Wrath/Cataclysm direction when even Old Gods, Lich Kings and insane dragon aspects can’t get the Horde and Alliance to cooperate.
Still, until fairly recently, I’d never really felt much of the infamous Horde/Alliance hatred from the game itself. Even the Wrathgate /Battle for Undercity and the Broken Front quests didn’t come close to matching the intensity of a forum flame war or a really acrimonious Wintergrasp battle. Playing Horde back in the day, you couldn’t help but notice the perception of superiority Horde players (including myself, at the time) felt over Alliance. But the story didn’t really have much to do with it.
Continue reading Is faction antagonism story-driven or player-driven?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm
Is faction antagonism story-driven or player-driven? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 18th, 2010
So far, we have reputation rewards for Therazane the Stonemother in Deepholm, the Baradin Watchers and Hellscream’s Reach in Tol Barad, the Wildhammers and Dragonmaw Clan in the Twilight Highlands, and the Ramakhen faction of Tol’vir from Uldum. Right now, all rewards are itemized for Alliance in the case of the Hellscream’s Watch and Dragonmaw, but new models and names should come in a later build. While these are not necessarily the complete lists for each faction, you get an idea of what will be available.
Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: Reputation rewards revealed
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cataclysm
Cataclysm Beta: Reputation rewards revealed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 17th, 2010
Well, we know patch 4.0.1 will be upon us soon. When it comes, there will be that tendency to panic. It’s understandable, as this is a huge departure for every class. We warriors are as subject to change as anyone else. But my trademark cautious optimism tells me that it won’t be as bad as you might think. For starters, you’ll still be a warrior and thus, the best class ever conceived (which goes without saying, really; that’s why I typed it, so I didn’t have to say it). Some bullet points from my experience on the beta:
- Arms warriors will be unhappy to see Mortal Strike‘s debuff decrease, but the rotation remains interesting with just enough complexity to reward smart play. In general, it should be viable even for raiding (yes, I said “viable for raiding”).
- Fury warriors who like one-handed weapons will love Single-Minded Fury. I took it out for a long test run through Hyjal and Deepholm on my worgen last night, and it holds up. It might be slightly behind TG right now; I couldn’t get Skada to capture any data, but it didn’t feel like it was at all. If, like me, you love fist weapons, then it’s happydance time. In general, fury is inevitably going to see lower damage due to rage normalization and the changes to Heroic Strike/Cleave/Whirlwind, but Raging Blow does a lot to make up for those changes. Numbers aside, the new enrage mechanic is pretty interesting for fury.
- Assuming the current weird threat issues on the beta are solved by the time 4.0.1 is released (keep in mind that there hasn’t been a damage pass yet), then the biggest problem facing protection warriors will be that it’s a ridiculously solid tree filled with so many good talents that you might not even want to spend any elsewhere. Frankly, I’m thankful Safeguard is still bad. At least that’s two points I know I can spend somewhere else.
Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Patch 4.0.1 is a good thing
Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, (Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, Cataclysm
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Patch 4.0.1 is a good thing originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 17th, 2010
Change is lurking in beta clients, PTRs and background downloaders, hinting that all those big things we’ve been waiting for are just around the corner. Between the beta and the PTR, there is more than enough information about the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, but hey — the blogosphere’s got plenty to say about it all, too!
- Bible of Dreams wants to know if you’re checking out the Patch 4.0.1 PTR.
- Gray Matter talks about the Cataclysm beta — specifically, moonkin glyphs!
- In the ongoing struggle for Warchief supremacy, Oddcraft brings us a very special debate between Thrall, a Basic Campfire and … some other guy.
- Lastly and unrelated, The Pink Pigtail Inn has a fascinating post about the generation gap between WoW bloggers.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites. Filed under: The Daily Quest
The Daily Quest: Change is on the wind originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 16th, 2010
I think the biggest question on the mind of everyone is how badly patch 4.0.1 will affect healing and raiding at level 80. The last major transition period was the month leading up to Wrath of the Lich King. I remember players were panicking and worried. Why? Because they were unsure, and they didn’t know what was going to happen. As such, that’s going to be the way here again — although, to be fair, the entire healing model is changing to something that most of us may not be used to at all. I figure that healers who spent the early part of the game working with downranked spells might have a slight advantage over those who haven’t, but it’ll be easy to pick up. I remember using rank 3, rank 5 and rank 7 Greater Heal. Now multiply that by the different Flash Heals.
Trust me, it won’t get that hectic.
Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing at level 80 in 4.0.1
Raid Rx: Healing at level 80 in 4.0.1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 16th, 2010
Good news, everyone! If you open up your World of Warcraft launcher, you might notice a line at the bottom that says, “Data for the next patch is available.” Yes, it looks like patch 4.0.1 will be coming really soon.
It seems like we’re getting closer and closer to a release date. It looks like the first stage patch is about 1.58 GB. If you’re getting ready for bed, it might not be a bad idea to open the launcher, start the game and close it in order to trigger the background download.
Filed under: News items
Patch 4.0.1 now available on background downloader originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 15th, 2010
Blizzard has released the currency conversion rates for the upcoming Cataclysm changes. Remember that these conversions will take place when patch 4.0.1 is released. There will be a “soft cap” at the conversion, so all your work won’t just disappear, but there will eventually be a hard cap. Check out the original post for a detailed explanation.
The Cataclysm currency conversion rates in brief are:
To gold:
- Emblem of Heroism = 5.5 gold each
- Emblem of Valor = 5.5 gold each
- Emblem of Conquest = 5.5 gold each
- Badge of Justice = 1.833 gold each
To honor:
- Old Honor * 0.024
- Old Arena Points * 0.85
- Battleground Mark of Honor * 2.976
- Wintergrasp Mark of Honor * 19.08
- Stone Keeper Shard * 1.6
- Venture Coin * 3
- Spirit Shard * 1
To justice points:
- (Emblems of Triumph + Emblems of Frost ) * 2.75
The full Blizzard announcement after the break. Check out MMO-Champion for a quick and easy calculator.
Continue reading Cataclysm currency exchange rates
Filed under: Cataclysm
Cataclysm currency exchange rates originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 15th, 2010
With all of the leveling changes throughout Cataclysm, one that hasn’t received much press is the availability of cooking and fishing dailies in your capitals starting at level 10. However, these currently give no experience or money for turning them in. They appear to be there strictly to both help you level your profession as well as give you faction tokens for purchasing additional supplies for cooking or yet another bag of random stuff for fishing. Yes, I said these are there to help you level up, as each daily gives you one additional skill point toward the appropriate profession for doing the quest.
These quests are still pretty early in development, as the tokens that the cooking quest gives you currently can’t actually be spent on anything. This is either due to the vendor’s not being implemented or that Blizzard just hasn’t stocked that particular vendor with items yet. In either case, we’ll have to wait a build or two to see what happens.
If you’re looking to try out the cooking daily, then you can go see the quest-giver Marogg just outside the cooking trainer’s place on the Drag in Orgrimmar for the Horde, or Robby Flay, just outside of the Stockades in Stormwind, if you’re Alliance. For the fishing daily, you’ll want Catherine Leland on a dock in the canals of Stormwind between the Stockades and the trade district, for Alliance, or Razgar, sitting on the shoreline of the little pond in The Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar, for Horde.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In our Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW’s third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.Cataclysm Beta: Fishing and cooking dailies at level 10 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
September 14th, 2010
Blizzard just announced some quite major currency changes that will be happening with the release of Patch 4.0.1. The major points are as follows:
- Emblems of Triumph and Emblems of Frost become Justice Points.
- All other emblems and badges are converted into gold, including BC-level badges.
- All PvP currencies (current Honor Points, Arena Points, Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper’s Shards, etc.) will become the new Honor Points.
- While there is a cap on new currencies in Cataclysm, that cap is being ignored for the purpose of the initial conversion. You just won’t be able to earn anything beyond the cap if you’re over it initially. This will then change shortly before Cataclysm is released, cutting off all currencies to the hard cap, with excess points being converted to gold.
Remember that the new Cataclysm currencies are:
- Justice Points Low-tier, easy-to-get PvE points that will buy gear (like Emblems of Triumph are now)
- Valor Points High-tier, harder-to-get PvE points that will buy gear (like Emblems of Frost are now)
- Honor Points Low-tier, easy-to-get PvP points that will buy PvP gear (like normal Honor Points are now)
- Conquest Points High-tier, harder-to-get PvP points that will buy PvP gear (like Arena Points are now)
The exact math for the conversion rates will be posted tomorrow afternoon. We’ll let you know as soon as that information is available.
After the break, the full Blizzard statement on the upcoming Cataclysm currency changes.
Continue reading Major Cataclysm currency changes
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Major Cataclysm currency changes originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.