About a week ago, Mooglegem earned her legendary cloak, Xing-Ho, Breath of Yu’lon! I was looking forward to seeing her increased DPS, but we called raids off this past week. Hopefully next time we raid she’ll get to put her new legendary cloak to good use!
We may be in debt, but the chips on our shoulders are chocolate, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 9/18/13.
When Greg Street and Brian Holinka traded tweets about exciting changes to PVP, Olivia Grace replied to them, saying that she’d bake them each 1,000,000 cookies if the changes were cross-realm arenas. Well, they’re in patch 5.4 now, and in the Alliance PVP room in the Valley of the Four Winds, there’s an IOU note for “1,000,000 Chocolate Chip Cookies” signed “- O.D.G.” She better get on that.
WoW Trivial Pursuit now available, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 9/25/13.
Sweet.
Know Your Lore: This Was All Necessary, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 9/25/13.
Pandaria grew stagnant under the Sha of Pride. Garrosh was right that “such power cannot be contained.”
Hearthstone account wipe is coming, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 9/26/13.
Good to know if you’re still playing Hearthstone. You’ll be reimbursed with gold for your purchases, and they don’t believe there will be any additional wipes.
Queue for all the LFRs at once in patch 5.4, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 9/24/13.
This is a welcome change.
WoW Archivist: A rolled-back history of realms, Scott Andrews, WoW Insider, 9/13/13.
I remember roll-backs. Dark days, they were.
Know Your Lore: The future of the Horde, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 9/15/13.
What will happen to the Horde after the Siege of Orgrimmar?
Know Your Lore: Delenda est Orgrimmar, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 9/18/13.
This is a satirical piece from the Alliance perspective on why Orgrimmar should be destroyed.
Escape from Orgrimmar, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 9/19/13.
And this is the follow-up Rossi wrote after realizing that people didn’t realize the first was satirical. It lists the reasons why Orgrimmar shouldn’t be destroyed.
When the big squish happens, you’ll still be able to kill the mobs, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 9/19/13.
Some clarification for people who are still confused.
A few weeks ago I became exalted with the Frenzyheart, my 45th exalted reputation. I would have posted about it at that time, but that wasn’t the end goal with the Frenzyheart. I wanted to become a Wolvar, and to do that, I needed to obtain Frenzyheart Brew.
Last week, I waited for my Disgusting Jar to ripen, opened by Ripe Disgusting Jar, and was rewarded with a Frenzyheart Brew, allowing me to transform into a Wolvar! I’m very excited, because the Wolvar are one of my favorite races in WoW. They’re so cute!
Now, sadly, I suppose it’s time to sever my ties with the Frenzyheart Tribe and begin to work for the Oracles. I’ll miss you, friends. (I’ll switch back later!)
Recently I’ve been finishing some reputation and profession grinds in Mists of Pandaria. You can see him chilling with Nat Pagle in his boat in my nice, new Nat’s Fishing Chair.
Of course, that’s because I’m best friends with him. No more fishing for his three rare fish every day.
Once I convinced Fish Fellreed to be best friends with me, I was best friends with all the inhabitants of Halfhill. Now that we’re best friends, I can say that I hate them all.
Speaking of Halfhill, I’ve mastered all of the Ways! I do still need to teach my own apprentice, but I’m putting that on hiatus. I’ve had enough with these grinds for now!
Either it was a slow week or I’ve been in an uninterested mood!
Should Ordos Be Available To Everybody?, Booka, BlizzPro, 9/13/13.
Personally, I think it’s fine to have restricted content. However, I think the general plot and assets should be available to everybody. That’s one reason that, while I don’t particularly enjoy running LFR regularly, I’m very thankful for it’s inclusion in the game.
Blizzard to shut down Diablo III auction house, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 9/17/13.
I didn’t enjoy the AH, and I’ve really enjoyed the PS3 version of Diablo III. I think this is a good move.
Last week, I earned my legendary cloak, Jina-Kang, Kindness of Chi-Ji. If you follow my blog and know that I play a discipline priest, you won’t be surprised that Jina-Kang is the healer legendary. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to earn this before my raid nights, but this week I should be set!
I’m sure you can find hundreds of videos showing the cutscene, but I recorded mine as well. It starts with some quest text and dialog before Wrathion sends me to the Seat of Knowledge above Mogu’shan Palace in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Around 2:00 into the video is when the good part starts. Do you remember how Lorewalker Cho has shown you scenes from stories? Now he, with Wrathion’s help, tells my story. This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in World of Warcraft. We’ve all done great things, and the cutscene that plays will show each player his legendary accomplishments. To someone who loves the lore and story as well as building a character, it was incredible.
After earning it, the player is displayed with his or her appropriate legendary proc outside the Seat of Knowledge. I’m sad that I didn’t wait for Mooglegem so we could be displayed together. Oh well. Now to complete this chapter of the legendary, I just need to stop Garrosh Hellscream!
The Fallen Protectors went down again! It took us seven attempts, which isn’t too bad at all. The fight itself wasn’t too interesting, but I definitely like the idea of fighting sha-corrupted, fallen heroes.
I’m sure you really wanted to see us do it, and now you can! We did some attempts on Norushen – 10 it looks like if each of these Fraps videos is a full attempt – but we weren’t able to finish it.
I also completed the first flex wing, Vale of Eternal Sorrows. It was interesting. Yes, it was easier than normal, but we still had to pay attention to mechanics. I think I liked the difficulty. What really sets it apart though is requiring it to be pre-formed. I bet people would do their jobs better in LFR if you had to form your own group as well! I was a little stressed out joining a PUG because you never know what you’ll get. I guess it was kind of silly. Regardless, it went well, and I particularly enjoyed seeing the Sha of Pride. That’s a really cool boss to include. Afterwards you get some dialog between Jaina Proudmoore and Lor’themar Theron that I enjoyed.
And So It Begins, Averry, The Warchief’s Command Board, 9/10/13.
Averry, the man behind Garrosh Hellscream at the Warchief’s Command Board, posts a little bit out of character. He brings up leading a raid of Warchief’s Command Board readers in Siege of Orgrimmar. Could be fun!
Timeless Isle Guide (WoW MoP 5.4), Damien, Icy Veins, 9/10/13.
This seems to be a great guide for the Timeless Isle.
Know Your Lore: The legacy you will leave behind, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 9/11/13.
An examination of the major players of Mists of Pandaria.
Know Your Lore, TFH Edition: The haunting refrain of the Mists of Pandaria, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 9/8/13.
This is a sad tale of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
World of Warcraft Trivial Pursuit coming soon, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 9/6/13.
There isn’t too much to say about this, but I’m excited.
I won’t cry for you, Garrosh Hellscream, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 9/5/13.
It’s time for the story to end.
Tuesday night, Carpe Flux Capacitor descended under the Vale and fought to cleanse the corrupt Immerseus. On the eleventh attempt, we succeeded! I’m very excited to be in the Siege of Orgrimmar. From what I know of it, it seems like a well made raid. I know many people dislike raids set in old environments; new is interesting, but old environments make it seem more real. I think Blizzard nailed a good mix with Siege of Orgrimmar, but I suppose I need to see a lot of more of it for myself to make that call.
We also moved on to the Fallen Protectors. We made some attempts but haven’t downed them yet. Maybe tonight!
Would you play on an expansion locked server? If so, which expansion would you pick? How would you answer the class and grouping questions above? What other logistical problems would you expect to have to be overcome?
via Community Blog Topic: Would you play on an expansion specific server?, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 9/8/13.
Nope! It sounds interesting, and I completely understand the fascination with the idea, but players idealize previous expansions.
How would expansion-locked servers work exactly? Would they really be exactly like they were during that expansion? Let’s not even get into specifics on exact tuning. I’ll assume experience curve, required level to use a mount, the lack of a LFR/LFD, and similar aspects of the game on a vanilla-locked server would be like they were during the end of vanilla. We’d have the old talent system – the really old one. Classes would play like they did in vanilla, and you couldn’t be Blood Elf, dranei, worgen, goblin, pandaren, death knight, or monk.
It sounds fascinating to get to experience that game. The problem is, that’s a different game. Maybe it’d be easy for Blizzard. They must have backup copies of their old software, right? I don’t know, but let’s continue. What would it be like for a player? I’d find it incredibly frustrating. It’s not that I’m a worse player. It’s simply that vanilla was, honestly, worse in a lot of ways. We can argue lore, flavor, and raids, but mechanically it was a bit archaic. World of Warcraft was still one of the early MMOs even if it was definitely not the first. The genre has come a long way. Also, don’t forget how confusing it would be to play a game that looked the same but felt different. If you played the same class on both a vanilla-locked server and the current server, it would be pretty confusing.
What if Blizzard decided to use the current mechanics in every way but lock newer content and impose a level-cap. A vanilla-locked server in this case would have a level cap of 60. It would the dungeon finder, the current class mechanics, and the current talent system. The problem is that classes aren’t currently tuned to be balanced across the board at level 60. I don’t Blizzard worries too much about lower level balance. They’d have to continually balance everything for multiple endgames, and that just doesn’t seem realistic. I suppose I’d be a little more likely to check that out, but I could do the same by finding a guild that turns off XP at level 60. In addition, the backlash would be just as bad as not having expansion-locked servers. “This isn’t what it was like in vanilla at all! All these kids think they’re hardcore like we were, but they’re not!”
Blizzard would be in a lose-lose situation. Raid tiers are more like PVP seasons (or seasons in sports for that matter) than we think. Yes, you can go back and run an old raid, but it’s different. You can never truly go back. The majesty of an MMO is that the world, the game, the players change. Past expansions are in the past, and I want to move forward.
Edit: Here’s the results post on WoW Insider: Community Blog Topic Results: Expansion specific servers, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 9/13/13.
I recently decided to try some other characters. First, I wanted to see the Worgen starting zone. I created a Worgen hunter named Eadgar, and I thoroughly enjoyed his starting experience. I especially loved the building pictured above. After finishing the starting zone, I created a Forsaken warlock. He’s currently level 7 or so; the Forsaken starting experience is definitely not as cool as the Worgen’s!
My Death Knight was in the very low 70s, so I decided to try him again. I did a couple dungeons, and then decided to try my hand at tanking. I was extremely nervous, but it went well. I told the group I was new to tanking, and that I really only heal. They told me I was going a little slower than normal but that I was doing fine. Great!
I also wanted to check how I could mage, so I swapped characters and computers with Moogle for two boss fights in Throne of Thunder. Amazingly, it went really well. I’m confident I can DPS in a raid setting.
Following that, I decided to get a shadow spec for my priest. I created the spec and a set of offspec gear based on what I already had. Sadly, I went into LFR to test it and I was already in the top three or four on DPS. I would expect to be worse than that, but I forgot that you can never underestimate LFR.
Know Your Lore: Alea iacta est, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 9/4/13.
The war against Hellscream is coming. The die has been cast. This is a fantastic piece of the importance of this event. It could be a big turning point for the Alliance as well as the Horde.
Blizzard reveals Siege of Orgrimmar raid schedule, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 9/4/13.
Good information if you’re anxious to jump into Siege.
Know Your Lore: The mysterious disappearance of Varian Wrynn, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 9/1/13.
A look back at the lack of Varian in vanilla. I really wonder what stories were dropped by Blizzard.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls loot designed to make auction house a ‘last resort’, Mike Foster, Massively, 8/29/13.
Good news!
Over the weekend, I played local co-op Diablo III with my roommates on PS3, finishing the first act. I went into it expecting that it would be fun but inferior to the PC version. I was wrong. This is the better version.
Of course, the number one aspect is that it allows local co-op. It was a ton of fun to play with my roommates together like that. Each player gets a different colored circular indicator at the bottom of their hero so they can easily identify themselves. Sure, there were times at which I was looking at the wrong character, but it wasn’t a huge problem. If one player isn’t moving and the others run to the right, the one who wasn’t moving will run along with them. If that character gets trapped, it’ll teleport to the party. This is just fantastic. It was easy to eat and have a good time and not worry about stopping the group. If you’re actively in control of your character, it won’t happen. It works flawlessly.
There are a few other changes that I really liked. Not only did they remove the auction house, but they increased drops to compensate. It’s much better. I want to look for loot on the bodies of my enemies, not an auction house. The inventory system was also changed. Instead of having a grid and requiring inventory-Tetris, the inventory now has 60 slots, and each item takes one slot. You can carry much more, and you don’t have to worry about the size or shape. In addition, it shows if an item is an upgrade or downgrade in a few key stats when you select it. You’ll easily see whether or not the new weapon does more damage for example. Of course, you can view the full stats too and make your decision.
The only downside is that you now have to aim with a stick rather than target with a mouse. It’s not a deal breaker, but you do lose some accuracy. Blizzard did a surprisingly excellent job porting D3 to consoles. Console gamers are into a treat, and even if you have the PC version, if you like local co-op, you’ll love this.
Which race would you like to play in a future expansion? Would they be Alliance or Horde and why? What would be their racials? Do you have any ideas for their jokes and/or flirts? Blog about your answer and link to the post in the comments. Or if you don’t have a World of Warcraft related blog, leave your response in the comments below.
via Community Blog Topic: Which race would you like to become playable?, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 8/30/13.
Ever since the April Fools’ Day that Blizzard made everybody Tuskarr on the Armory, I’ve wanted playable Tuskarr. They’re so cute and cuddly! I love that they seem laid back and relaxed, yet at the same time probably have a lot of power in them. Mists of Pandaria introduced Trawler Yotimo in the Krasarang Wilds at Anglers Wharf. When you talk to him, he says the following:
Call me crazy, but I love this warm weather! I always felt like an outcast back in Borean but I think this new climate is going to work out great for me!
And then you ask him, “What are you doing so far from home?”
Well, times were getting tough up north. While the scourge problem has been dealt with, we are constantly on the move and looking for food. I decided it was time to head out and find some new fishing grounds!
After almost a month at sea, I ended up here. Good thing I packed a few crates of pickled herring for the trip!
If there are other Tuskarr who feel like outcasts, and times are tough for them too, might it be time for them to go adventuring?
I realize we haven’t seen the Tuskarr have any affinity for magic, but there’s no reason they couldn’t discover some. They’d need seven classes to put them on par with gnomes. I’d give them hunter, rogue, and warrior easily. I think I’d really love to see Tuskarr shaman, so let’s give them that too. Fishing pole totems, perhaps? If they’re adventuring, it’s very easily conceivable that they’d begin to study the arcane, so I’ll add mage. Having a connection with Pandaria already, they could also learn to be monks. They’re already in Northrend, but I don’t really want to give them Death Knights. Warlocks also seem like a jump if they’re just learning the arcane. I’d love to see Tuskarr paladins, but that seems like quite the jump as well. Priest is a possibility, but I think Tuskarr druids would be really cool too! As for faction, both the Alliance and Horde have both had contact with them, and the Tuskarr haven’t shown an affinity to one over the other so far. They could be given a choice just like the Pandaren.
I absolutely love the Tuskarr and would jump at the chance to play as one. However, I think it’s unlikely that they’d be added any time soon. Blizzard could always find a way to give a lore explanation, but it just doesn’t tie into the narration that we have currently (unless we’re given a curveball and are heading back to Northrend).
My second choice would be the Ethereals. If and when we go back to Outland, deal with the Burning Legion, or travel to any other planet, it would be a perfect time to make them playable. I’d also allow them to join either faction and would give them mages, warlocks, priests, rogues, warriors, hunters, and monks.
Edit: Here’s the follow-up piece on WoW Insider: Community Blog Topic Results: Which race would you like to become playable?, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 9/5/13.
Polygons & Pixels WebPageless
earthwormgem
Peter (Devee)
Kor'kron 501st 