wow insider | Kor'kron 501st

Blizzard Watch rises from WoW Insider’s ashes

Posted by Peter (Devee) on February 4, 2015

Posted in: Blog. Tagged: adam holisky, alex ziebart, anne stickney, blizzard watch, elizabeth harper, matthew rossi, patreon, the queue, wow insider. 1 Comment

WoW Insider might be finished, but not all of its staff members are. From its ashes, Blizzard Watch rises. As the name implies, it’ll cover all Blizzard titles, although it’ll focus primarily on World of Warcraft. It seems that Alex Ziebart, Editor-in-Chief of WoW Insider at the time of its closure, is in charge, but that wasn’t explicitly stated. Adam Holisky, Anne Stickney, Matthew Rossi, and Elizabeth Harper are joining him, and they hope to reach out to more people later.

Blizzard Watch is using Patreon to support the site. It’s a crowd-funding site that works a little differently than sites like Kickstarter. With Patreon, you pledge a certain amount per month. Their milestone goals were $8,000/month for full operations, $9,000/month for class columns, $10,000/month for expanded class columns, and $12,000/month for expanded coverage. They quickly reached their first goal and are currently, just a day after opening, hovering near $11,000/month. That’s pretty cool!

One of the first posts (if not the first) was one calling for Queue questions. No post could have made me happier. I love the Queue, and I’m very glad to learn that it’s going to continue to be part of my morning ritual.

Thank you, Blizzard Watch and team, for continuing your great reporting and writing!

/salute, WoW Insider

Posted by Peter (Devee) on February 3, 2015

Posted in: Blog, World of Warcraft. Tagged: warcrafit, world of warcraft, wow, wow insider. Leave a comment

Today’s the day WoW Insider ceases. I don’t have much to say that I didn’t already say on Friday, but I thought this warranted a second post. I’ll be watching the former staff members’ Twitter accounts to see what announcement is coming, because it sounds like they have something planned.

Farewell, WoW Insider

Posted by Peter (Devee) on January 30, 2015

Posted in: Blog, World of Warcraft, WoW Insider Breakfast Topic, WoW Insider Community Blog Topic. Tagged: alex ziebart, anne stickney, aol, breakfast topic, dawn moore, fox van allen, joystiq, know your lore, massively, olivia grace, the queue, warcraft, world of warcraft, wow, wow insider. 1 Comment

Alex Ziebart on WoW Insider confirmed today that WoW Insider will cease operations this Tuesday, February 3. This is definitely a sad day. This follows Alexander Sliwinski reporting on a rumor that Joystiq was shutting down on Joystiq itself three days ago. With them goes Massively as well.

WoW Insider was my favorite source of World of Warcraft news. There’s a void now, and I’m not sure how I’ll fill it. There are many other WoW blogs I follow but none like WoW Insider. I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any!

Many talented persons have written for the site, including some of my favorites like Dawn Moore, Anne Stickney, Fox Van Allen, and Olivia Grace (even if the last two weren’t writing for it recently). I wish I was better at using Twitter. I feel like things I might want to read get lost in the never-ending stream, but I’ll follow all the writers regardless.

I’ve written three pieces for WoW Insider too. In my Breakfast Topics, I posed the questions, how do you relationships in game affect relationships in real life, are you a closet reoleplayer, and has your perspective of Azeroth changed over time? I’ve also responded to Breakfast Topics here on Kor’kron 501st. In fact, you can tell how much influence WoW Insider has on me by checking the WoW Insider tag on my blog.

How will I know my lore without Know Your Lore articles? Most importantly, what about the Queue? The Queue is the daily column in which various WoW Insider writers answer questions from the community. It was by far my favorite column. Every morning I check for the Queue, and when it’s not yet posted, I keep checking until it is. It’ll be weird for it be gone.

Farewell, WoW Insider, and thanks for everything.

Happy 10th anniversary, World of Warcraft! Happy 20th anniversary Warcraft!

Today seems like a good day to reflect a little. That’s Petros in the screenshot, my Night Elf warrior of S A D on Uther. He was my very first character. You can see that the guild is pretty dead; that’s fine, because I don’t know who anyone is. I think I joined because my high level friend was in it. I started playing WoW as soon as it was released and made this character to play with my roommate at the time, Antonio. Everyone out leveled me very quickly because I took things slow. I always ended up switching characters quite a bit. Before hitting 20 or so I switched to a tauren hunter to try it. I ended up liking Horde more. I then switched to a PVP server and made an orc hunter. Along the way, there were a few mages and priests that never hit 10. Eventually I tried my original character again, getting him to 23, before switching to my current server, Kil’jaeden. I started with a tauren shaman who got to his 30s and then made my current priest. My plan was to heal with Mooglegem until she caught up to my level and then switch back to my shaman. That switch back never happened.

Warcraft itself always reminds me of my friend Lloyd from elementary school because we used to talk about it a lot. Honestly, I’m not sure I ever actually finished one of the games. I mostly screwed around in multiplayer, but I was terrible anyways. Regardless, I knew the general plot. I don’t think the first two are really playable anymore, but the third one holds up. I should go back and play it.

World of Warcraft gave me a lot of great memories. It seems like such a different game now – not just because of the mechanical changes but because of the mindset. Once you see the game through to max level, it changes your perspective.

I remember being so amazed at the size of the game. When I finally got my Night Elf all the way to Ironforge, I had a dilemma. Do I set my hearth there, giving up the quest lines I was doing, or do I hearth back home and give up the long trek to reach the city that was so full of people I had to use my roommate’s computer so I wouldn’t crash? I wrote an article for WoW Insider on this subject.

I ran dungeons with a group of friends I knew in real life. I remember Antonio yelling at me not to attack things that weren’t aggressive. I wanted their skin.

When one of my characters first reached the Barrens, one of the quests said something about the Horde soldiers needing me to help them. It felt so cool. “I’m one of them now!”

I finally hit the level cap for the first time in Wrath of the Lich King. I made sure to plan it so I could ding by turning in a quest to Thrall.

I joined a terrible guild to raid because they did a lot of old raids just for fun. They didn’t raid the current tier at all, but there was no stress of an application process. I got over that quickly.

Joining Carpe Flux Capacitor was a big deal. Who knew I was making such a great friends? I’ve met a pretty good chunk of the guild despite not living near most of them. It helps that I live in Irvine so some of them come to me for BlizzCon. It did feel a little odd at my guildmate’s wedding to say, “How do I know him? Oh, we play WoW together.”

Once there was a bug and the flag despawned completely from Warsong Gulch. I played in this one match, with breaks for dinner, for over eight hours.

Moogle made delicious cookies for everyone participating in our guild’s Secret Santa.

Bulleto, Mooglegem’s tauren hunter, made me a mechanohog. I tried it and killed the both of us almost immediately.

I was so excited when we finally killed Arthas after weeks of failing.

The quest line to get Quel’delar was one of my absolute favorite memories. I did it with Mooglegem, and we had a blast. I can’t use swords, so I received the Hammer of Purified Flame. I still have it, and it’s a popular transmog choice.

I’ve had a ton of wonderful memories in World of Warcraft, and I’m sure there are many more to come.

WoW: Fiction Has a Horde Bias, Talarian, Gamer By Design, 11/18/13.

Talarian gives an interesting look at the favoritism in storytelling.

Wowhead adds zone music, character quest tracking, Adam Koebel, WoW Insider, 11/27/13.

Some pretty cool, new features were added to Wowhead!

Blizzard: Gearing in Warlords of Draenor, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 11/26/13.

Gearing will be a bit different in WoD, and this post explains the current mechanics.

Know Your Lore TFH: Sailing to Oshu’gun, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 11/20/13.

Rossi provides some very interesting speculation about the draenei and their dimension ship.

What’s going on with Karazhan?, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/22/13.

It looks like Karazhan is getting restored. What could it mean?

Ghostcrawler to leave Blizzard, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 11/27/13.

Bye, Ghostcrawler!

Conan plays WoW, talks to the devs at BlizzCon, Adam Koebel, WoW Insider, 11/21/13.

This is hysterical! You should definitely watch it.

Exclusive first look at Christie Golden’s new novel, War Crimes, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/18/13.

Christie Golden writes fantastic Warcraft novels. I can’t wait for this one.

Diablo III transmogrification coming to WoW, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/14/13.

Yes, please!

Doodlegnome answers all of your Warlords of Draenor questions, Scott Helfand, WoW Insider, 11/17/13.

Here’s everything you really need to know about WoD answered in cute doodle form.

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: Timelines, timeways, and Karazhan, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/17/13.

Another article on time travel. It basically explains, yet again, that Garrosh will be creating an alternate timeline that interacts with ours and not changing our past.

Flying Can Take A Hike, Rongar, BlizzPro, 11/14/13.

Rongar doesn’t mind waiting for flying.

Outlandish Memories, JD Kenada, Amateur Azerothian, 11/14/13.

JD Kenada looks back at the good and bad in Outland.

Warlords of Draenor: The Story So Far, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 11/10/13.

If you missed what the expansion is all about, this will tell you!

Warlords of Draenor Systems Panel: What We Learned, Booka, BlizzPro, 11/9/13.

Booka provides a quick overview of the features and changes coming in Warlords.

Warlords of Draenor Open Q&A: What We Learned, Booka, BlizzPro, 11/9/13.

More quick bulletpoints.

Know Your Lore, TFH: The Aspects of the Titans, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 11/6/13.

Rossi has some very interesting theories about the Titans and time. He speculates that they’re from the future, and that they want to preserve the “true” timeline to ensure their own creation.

Know Your Lore TFH: The Big Lie, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 11/13/13.

Just how do the timelines work, and what has Nozdormu been up to? Rossi speculates.

Know Your Lore: The warlords of Draenor, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/9/13.

Who are the Warlords of Draenor?

Know Your Lore: The History of Draenor, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/8/13.

A look at Draenor’s current history.

Bashiok on flying mount delay in World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 11/14/13.

No flying until 6.1? In my opinion, it’s a great idea.

The cosplay of BlizzCon2013, Elizabeth Harper, WoW Insider, 11/9/13.

There’s some very cool cosplay in the gallery!

How does a 25 player guild handle Mythic raiding?, Matticus, World of Matticus, 11/13/13.

The leader of a 25-player heroic guild talks about what’s going to happen come Warlords of Draenor.

BlizzCon 2013: Updates on the level 90-100 questing experience, Adam Koebel, WoW Insider, 11/9/13.

Take a look at what’s changing.

Know Your Lore, TFH Edition: What are the Old Gods?, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/3/13.

What if the Old Gods aren’t what we think?

What We’ll Miss About Mists… And What We Won’t, Booka, BlizzPro, 11/7/13.

The best and worst aspects of Mists of Pandaria.

Why Have Gear?, Balkoth, Balkoth’s Word, 10/18/13.

In this piece, Balkoth, one of my favorite WoW bloggers, discusses the importance of the role of gear in WoW. He also heavily quotes and responds to Rowan of I Have Touched the Sky. It’s a great read.

Potential new WoW feature caught on video, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 10/23/13.

Is this a bug, or is this the dungeon scaling technology?

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: Twists in time, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 10/20/13.

What’s up with time right now? err, back then? in the future?

The Daily Grind: Is crowd control in MMOs dead?, Brianna Royce, Massively, 10/18/13.

I hadn’t even realized it was so important before WoW.

A Counter-Intuitive Idea For Tanks in LFR, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 10/16/13.

Rohan notes that there’s room for bad healers or DPS in LFR but not tanks. He speculates that increasing the number of tanks (while keeping encounters tuned for two) would make tanking more forgiving and possibly yield more people queuing as tanks. It’s a great idea.

An Alternate Explanation for Gender Bias in Healing and Tanking, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 10/8/13.

Here’s another fantastic piece by Rohan. He provides an alternate explanation on gender bias in which he speculates that women prefer to stay at range while men prefer melee. It’s interesting.

Crowd Control & Diminishing Returns, Lore, World of Warcraft Forums, 10/11/13.

If you’ve wondered what CC shared diminishing returns, this great thread has you covered.

Know Your Lore: A brief summary of the Pandaria campaign, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 10/9/13.

This is a fantastic summary of what’s happened in Pandaria.

Reputation in review: Pandaria, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 10/14/13.

A consideration of the different reputation experiments in Mists of Pandaria.

Know Your Lore: The fate of Garrosh Hellscream, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 10/13/13.

Nothing new, but interesting look at why things happened the way they did.

Spec and Talent design likely to remain unchanged in 6.0, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 10/15/13.

If you read the article title, you don’t really need to read the article.

WoW Archivist: Spells we’ve lost, Scott Andrews, WoW Insider, 10/11/13.

An examination of spells that have been removed. I’m ready to lose more.

Behind the Blogging Scenes Interview: Rohan, Matticus, World of Matticus, 10/5/13.

Matticus interviewed Rohan, one of my favorite bloggers.

I Think I’m in Love With 5.4, Balkoth, Balkoth’s Word, 10/3/13.

Wondering what’s so special about 5.4? Balkoth can explain.

Inventory fixes being worked on, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 10/5/13.

Yes yes yes.

Warcraft as a whole: story balance between RTS and MMO, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 10/7/13.

A consideration of the different ways the MMO and RTS games have interacted with story.

WTB generic glyphs, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 10/9/13.

Some interesting ideas for generic glyphs.

The Mists of Pandaria that never was, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 10/4/13.

Things could have been a bit different.

New Refer-A-Friend system revealed, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 10/7/13.

The new system sounds good, but are there really people who are coming to play WoW for the first time still?

Breakfast Topic: Today, the Sky Golems invade Azeroth, Adam Koebel, WoW Insider, 10/9/13.

This is a pretty sweet mount.

The bag space problem, Adam Koebel, WoW Insider, 10/2/13.

An examination of the problem with bag space with possible solutions.

A lack of triumph, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 10/1/13.

The Siege of Orgrimmar lacks a triumphant feeling, and maybe that’s okay.

WoW’s Singing Sunflower sweetens the Lament of the Highborne, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 7/29/13.

Whoops, I missed this one. Laura Shigihara, the voice of the Singing Sunflower pet (and the song from Plants vs. Zombies), sings Lament of the Highborne.

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.

Community Blog Topic: Would you play on an expansion specific server?

Posted by Peter (Devee) on September 9, 2013

Posted in: Game Mechanics, World of Warcraft, WoW Insider Community Blog Topic. Tagged: community blog topic, expansion locked server, robin torres, wow insider. 1 Comment

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.

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!

Community Blog Topic: Which race would you like to become playable?

Posted by Peter (Devee) on September 2, 2013

Posted in: World of Warcraft, WoW Insider Community Blog Topic. Tagged: anglers wharf, april fools' day, community blog topic, ethereals, northrend, pandaria, robin torres, trawler yotimo, tuskarr, warcraft, wow, wow insider. 2 Comments

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.

Raid Lockouts and “Free Loot,” Balkoth, Balkoth’s Word, 8/25/13.

Balkoth discusses an idea he got from Theck at Flex Capacitor (who got it from someone named Thels). What if you got your shot at LFR loot (and/or Flex) when you downed a boss in normal or heroic if you hadn’t done that boss in LFR that week (or Flex)? Raiders would still be encouraged to step up in difficulty but no longer down. Great idea. I’m so mad at Blizzard for not doing something like this already.

Low level dungeon and raid scaling technology complete, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 8/28/13.

Tom Chilton revealed that Blizzard has finished the technology to up-scale dungeons and raids. They’ve yet to find a reward scheme that they liked for it.

World of Warcraft Trading Card Game closes its doors, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 8/26/13.

This makes me a sad ~~panda~~ troll.

Player sweeps all three Stranglethorn Fishing winning spots in one day, Lisa Poisso, WoW INsider, 8/28/13.

How could someone come in first, second, and third? Amazing.

Warcraft and its “Joker Problem,” Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 8/28/13.

We keep killing our good enemies.

The Queue: No Hearthstone Day, Michael Sacco, WoW Insider, 8/23/13.

The answer to the last question has information that’s good to keep in mind – the ilvls for Siege of Orgrimmar. Raid Finder: 528,. Flex: 540. Flex Hellscream Weapons: 548. Normal: 553. Normal Warforged / Ordos: 559. Normal Hellscream Weapons: 561. Heroic: 566. Heroic Warforged: 572. Heroic Hellscream Weapons: 574.

Know Your Lore: The life and legacy of Lei Shen, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 8/25/13.

Care to know more about the guy you just killed?

Item Squish extremely likely for WoW’s next expansion, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 8/24/13.

I think we all knew this was coming.

Suggested Reading: Of Dark Shaman and Flex Raids

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 27, 2013

Posted in: Suggested Reading, World of Warcraft. Tagged: anne stickney, dark shaman, flexible raid, know your lore, matthew rossi, warcraft, wow, wow insider. Leave a comment

Not much caught my eye this past week.

Know Your Lore: The rise of the Dark Shaman, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/23/13.

From where did the Dark Shaman originate?

Why Flex Raiding will change everything, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/21/13.

Rossi believes Flex Raids will replace 10-man and 25-man raiding in future expansions.

A Disconnect on F2P, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 6/17/13.

An observation on the disconnect between how players view revenue earnings in a F2P game and how the developer views revenue earnings.

Do I Really Need to Run 3 Raids a Week, Matticus, World of Matticus, 6/12/13.

How will Flex Raids change things?

Chicken Fried Ji-Kun, arvash, The Crimson Hammer, 6/20/13.

It’s always the last pull of the night.

Patch 5.4 PTR: How to get Golden Lotus reputation in 5.4, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/17/13.

Warning: Spoilers.

Lore Updates: Characters Page, Warcraft Timeline, Blizzard Entertainment, us.battle.net, 6/14/13 via Lore updates for the official World of Warcraft site, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/17/13.

The official site has been updating, including lore on the current and last patch. I love that they divide the story into chapters with short summaries, and it’s great to see Blizzard keeping it up to date.

Fearsome paladin collective crusades for the Light, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 6/13/13.

The Caelestis Templares is an RP guild of fanatical paladins, sort of like the Scarlet Crusade. It sounds like a fun idea.

Flex Raiding – Too Little Too Late?, wolfgangcat, WoW Misadventures, 6/7/13.

I agree with him! The gear is worse than normal, but you need to have at least 10 people. Why would I run it then?

On raid lockouts, flexible raiding, and choice, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/8/13.

I disagree with many of Mr. Rossi’s points. I really need to make a post just on flex raids.

FlexRaids in 5.4, and LFR is apparently killing wow?, TyphoonAndrew, TyphoonAndrew’s – Eye of the Storm, 6/7/13.

TyphoonAndrew loves the addition of flex raids but defends the importance of LFR.

Maybe NORMAL Raiding Should Die, Prinnie Powah, That Was an Accident!, 6/7/13.

Here’s an interesting idea. Prinnie Powah wonders if normal mode should be removed and replaced by flex raids.

Patch 5.4 PTR: Proving Grounds, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/12/13.

Finally! This sounds really exciting.

Patch 5.4 PTR: Challenge Mode titles for fastest clear times, Matt Low, WoW Insider, 6/12/13.

If you have the fastest clear time for a Challenge Mode, you’ll be given a title specific to that Challenge Mode. As soon as you lose the fastest time, you’ll lose the title.

Patch 5.4 PTR Patch notes, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/12/13.

Everything else about 5.4.

Know Your Lore: The legacy of the Mag’har, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/9/13.

The Red pox, the attack on Azeroth, Garrosh, and more.

Diablo 3’s new game directory outlines the future of the game, Auction House, Michael McWhertor, Polygon, 6/5/13.

Josh Mosqueira, the new game director of Diablo 3, wants items to feel meaningful and reduce “the impact of the Auction House.”

Alliance vs Horde Storyline Favoritism, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 6/3/13.

Is there favoritism in the story or is it a natural consequence of the story being told?

Class Distribution Data for Patch 5.3, Cynwise, Cynwise’s Warcraft Manual, 6/1/13.

No big change with priests. Who cares about other classes? Okay, lots of people.

Darkspear Rebellion, and making events more accessible, Jods, Jods’ Blog, 6/3/13.

Jod wants to make these types of events more accessible by scaling everyone’s level.

Rumour – Final stage Legendary, might not be a weapon…, TyphoonAndrew, TyphoonAndrew’s – Eye of the Storm, 6/5/13.

TyphoonAndrew gives some ideas for a final legendary that isn’t a weapon.

#228 A Change in the Warcraft’s Log-in Screen, Spencer Nozell, Be MOP, 6/3/13.

Spencer thinks that despite normally receiving one log-in screen per expansion, it’s time for a change.

Know Your Lore: The Alliance and Horde, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/2/13.

This is a nice consideration of the relationship between the Horde and the Alliance over their history.

Stormwind Keep valued at $10,293,472, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 6/5/13.

That’s pretty cheap actually.

Worlds Yet to Conquer: Ideas for new content in old places, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/3/13.

There are plenty of places to still explore.

Vanessa VanCleef should come back from the dead, Michael Gray, WoW Insider, 6/1/13.

No, Michael isn’t suggesting that she become Forsaken. But that’s not an interesting idea!

Diminishing returns on valor instead of a cap?, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 5/30/13.

Great idea.

What am I doing here?, Chris Anthony, Duct Tape and a Prayer, 5/29/13.

This post is more a “journal” type entry, but I found it very interesting to hear about the effect severe latency and bandwidth limitations has on playing MMOs.

What Have I Done, Prinnie Powah, That Was an Accident!, 5/23/13.

Here’s an amazing idea – a dinosaur-themed battleground set on the Isle of Giants. Yes, please!

Know Your Lore: The Alliance and the Darkspear Rebellion, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 5/26/13.

Why does the Alliance have less lore leading to the Darkspear Rebellion? Because they don’t need another reason to go after Garrosh Hellscream.

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The Durotarian Candidate, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 5/29/13.

What’s up with Rehgar Earthfury and Varian?

#226 First Impressions of the Barrens Battlefield, Spencer Nozell, Be MOP, 5/27/13.

Check out Spencer’s first look at the new 5.3 quests before reading mine (hopefully) on Friday.

Deepwind Gorge: Simple strategy guide, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 5/23/13.

Nice primer to the new battleground.

Injecting draenei culture into mainstream Azeroth, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 5/23/13.

Another interesting article about a race-themed RP guild.

WoW Moviewatch: Lore According to Ragnaros, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 5/7/13.

There are two sides to every story. This is Ragnaros’ side.

Know Your Lore: Karazhan and why we went there, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 5/8/13.

I didn’t know much about Karazhan, so this was fairly interesting to me. The comments are good too.

New York Times crossword references World of Warcraft, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 5/2/13.

“World of Warcraft event.” Four letter word. Ah, come on, it starts with ‘R’!

Inside the fabulous world of blood elf roleplaying, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 5/2/13.

Selama Ashalanore is an exciting blood elf roleplaying guilds. Themed RP guilds always sound so fun to me!

Know Your Lore: Anveena Teague and the Sunwell, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 5/5/13.

Who is the girl floating about the Sunwell?

The top 10 most beautiful spots in WoW, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 5/8/13.

This wouldn’t be identical to my list, but it still shows some nice locations.

Know Your Lore: The Lessons of the Lich King, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 4/30/13.

What did the Lich King teach us? What did he teach Garrosh?

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The curious neutrality of Anduin Wrynn, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 4/28/13.

Just why is Anduin so neutral? Could Onyxia have something to do with it?

Developer Q&A transcript, Alex Ziebart, WoW Insider, 4/25/13.

Lots of great answers here.

Editorial: Gear… GONE!, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 4/30/13.

Adam thinks gear should be removed. Most players would 100% reject this. I think it’s an interesting idea, but it wouldn’t fully work. While I don’t want to stress over pieces of gear (yet I do) and I just want to raid, obtaining gear feels satisfying.

Gearing & Guilds .. A New Alternative, Jods, Jods’ Blog, 1/5/13.

Some interesting ideas to gearing. That date seems wrong to me though!

Our favorite ways to die in World of Warcraft, Elizabeth Harper, WoW Insider, 4/30/13.

There are a lot of great ways to die in WoW.

Know Your Lore: Is Garrosh Hellscream corrupt?, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 4/21/13.

Is he corrupt? Is he evil? Is he trying his best? This is a great article examining Garrosh Hellsceam.

Encounter Design, Arioch, clearcasting, 4/18/13.

A great idea for the Garrosh encounter in which we free various faction leaders to help us.

The Ultimate Boss Strategy, TyphoonAndrew, TyphoonAndrew’s – Eye of the Storm, 4/25/13.

With this strategy, you’ll be sure to win any fight.

The Legion of Vengeance: Forsaken having the time of their unlives, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 4/17/13.

This Forsaken RP guild sounds pretty sweet.

Know Your Lore: Where is the rest of the Alliance?, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 4/24/13.

Rossi wonders where the Alliance factions leaders have been.

Around Azeroth: KISS of Pandaria, Elizabeth Wachowski, WoW Insider, 4/24/13.

Quasimojo of The Shinigami on Sargeras (US) sent in a pretty sweet screenshot.

Books you should read to better understand WoW, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 4/22/13.

I should read more of these.

Which battleground might get the axe?, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 4/22/13.

Underplayed battlegrounds might get removed. That seems so strange to me. If it does happen, I hope they use it as a chance to include more story.

I Have Discovered the Source of Forum Complaining in Mists!, Balkoth, Balkoth’s Word, 4/13/13.

This is an extremely fascinating article. The idea is that opinions on how much effort gear is worth varies drastically. Balkoth found that 32.7% of responders think you’d be crazy to kill 200 mogu for a BiS heroic ring. Next, 50% think you’d be crazy not to kill 500 mogu for the ring. At 1000, 41% think you’d be crazy not to go for the ring. Lastly, 13% think 5000+ mogu is reasonable. Blizzard can’t make everyone happy.

Mini Horridon, Arvash, The Crimson Hammer, 4/17/13.

I didn’t even realize Horridon dropped a mount. It’s so cute! I want one!

Savage trolls roleplay the revenge of the Zandalari, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 4/11/13.

Atal Zanza Aka on Argent Dawn (EU) is a roleplaying guild of trolls loyal to the Zandalari based in Zul’Gurub. Very cool.

Depths of Uldaman: Why we should go back, Matthew Rossi, 4/12/13.

What do we know about Uldaman, and why should we go back?

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: What was the purpose of Uldaman?, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 4/10/13.

Rossi guesses as to the purpose of Uldaman. I wonder if Blizzard actually thought that far ahead.

The eternal question of mounting versus running, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 4/15/13.

Jarre of Rank4HealingTouch provides some math to determine what’s faster – mounting or running.

Patch 5.3 PTR: Role Check in Battleground queues, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 4/15/13.

Here’s an interesting change. You’ll now have to pick your role when queuing for a battleground. From now on, the difference between the two teams’ number of healers can be no more than one. I wonder if I can just queue as DPS and then heal.

First Impressions: SWTOR’s Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Eliot Lefebvre, Massively, 4/15/13.

If you’re curious about what’s been happening in TOR, Lefebvre can bring you up to speed.

Patch 5.3 PTR: Valley of Spirits closed down by Garrosh’s goons, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 4/5/13.

I wrote about this previously. Too cool!

Massive cross-realm gathering successfully unites players from 11 realms, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 4/4/13.

This sounds really fun. I wish I could have been there. Player run events are very fascinating to me. I love that we have the ability to create our own stories in the game.

Patch 5.3: Transmog to be available from bank and void storage, Elizabeth Harper, WoW Insider, 4/8/13.

This is a welcome change.

BlizzCon tickets go on sale April 24 and 27, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 4/4/13.

Should I go this year? It’s pretty far. It’s about 20 minutes from home.

Why aren’t more healers queueing [sic] for the Raid Finder?, Allison Robert, WoW Insider, 4/3/13.

Allison wonders why healers aren’t queuing for raid finder. She thinks it might have to do with healing being harder in LFR than normal raids because people will assume the healers can compensate. This seems like a crazy idea. I can be half asleep spamming random button and still top the carts in LFR, and it’s not like I’m heroic raid geared or anything.

Patch 5.3: PTR patch notes and datamined changes, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 4/2/13.

Great information about 5.3!

Patch 5.3 PTR: The Kor’kron are taking over, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 3/28/13.

A look at how we’ll be fighting the Kor’kron.

Diablo III’s auction house ‘really hurt the game’, Elisabeth Cardy, Massively, 3/28/13.

The quote in the title comes from former D3 game director Jay Wilson.

Scarlet Blade Impressions, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 4/1/13.

If you care to know more about this sort-of-NSFW MMO, give this article a read.

Patch 5.3 PTR: Fiery new mounts, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 4/3/13.

Sweet new mounts datamined in the 5.3 files!

Know Your Lore: Titan facilities of Azeroth, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 4/3/13.

No amazing tidbits here, but it’s a nice recap of Titan facilities.

F2P and Crafting, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 3/21/13.

Rohan explains why crafting conflicts with monetization in F2P games.

Hearthstone Gameplay, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 3/24/13.

Another look at Hearthstone.

The beauty of classic WoW’s Molten Core, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 3/19/13.

If you joined late and have ever wondered what the big deal with Molten Core was, Sarah will tell you.

Oondasta in China is full of… tombstones, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 3/20/13.

This is my wallpaper at work now.

The quest of a lifetime, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 3/21/13.

A very cute marriage proposal.

Star Wars: The Old Republic’s first expansion is BioWare’s hope to win back lapsed players, Griffin McElroy, Polygon, 3/25/13.

I’d give it a look, but we have too much content in WoW now!

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: Azeroth, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 3/24/13.

What’s so special about Azeroth?

The OverAchiever: The game’s 13 vanished titles, Allison Robert, WoW Insider, 3/21/13.

Scarab Lord, Champiuon of the Naaru, Hand of A’dal, Argent Defender, Celestial Defender, Champion of Ulduar, Conqueror of Ulduar, Conqueror of Naxxramas, Death’s Demise, Grand Crusader, The Immortal, The Undying, The Magic Seeker, and Obsidian Slayer. And none of me.

Mantid Archaeology, Cymre, Bubbles of Mischief, 3/22/13.

Check out the sweet gun!

World of Warcraft Patch 5.3 PTR Patch Notes, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 3/22/13.

Heroic scenarios, loot specialization, bonus rolls with progressively better bonuses, removal of most resilience, gear scaling in PVP, and new BGs and scenarios.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft seems like it might be a cash grab at the casual market, but I’m optimistic that it’s going to be fun. I enjoy collectible card games, and I enjoy Warcraft, so what could go wrong? It seems a little odd to me that there will now be two Warcraft card games, but they seem pretty different.

Hearthstone makes me think of the card games inside the Final Fantasy series, Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII and Tetra Master from Final Fantasy IX. They weren’t required to completely their games’ story, they were very simple, and they were very fun. I keep thinking of them when I think of Hearthstone, although honestly, that’s probably not a very apt comparison. Triple Triad and Tetra Master existed within other games. Now if Blizzard put Hearthstone into World of Warcraft as an addon, that would be pretty amazing.

You can see some gameplay above courtesy of MMO-Champion. It appears to be similar to many other collectible card games such as Magic: The Gathering. The big differences I see are that there’s only one energy source, your total amount of energy increases automatically without the need for playing lands, and effects are resolved immediately. These seem like good changes to streamline playing. The energy system, I’d say, is better. Resolving effects immediately takes out some of the complexity and strategy that Magic: The Gathering has. This is probably good for Blizzard given that it’s a free-to-play game that’s going to be marketed to a wide variety of people. It’s probably not so good for gamers who appreciate a complex game, but I think the game still looks very enjoyable.

I’ll need to wait to try it to really form an opinion, but right now, I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a while since Blizzard has a created a relatively simple game. Their usual games are high quality (besides some problems with D3), so hopefully they keep it up with Hearthstone.

More information:

Hearthstone – WoW TCG Game Announced, Boubouille, MMO-Champion, 3/22/13
What we know so far about HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 3/22/13

How 5 minutes AFK cost one WoW player 476,000 gold, Elizabeth Harper, WoW Insider, 3/19/13

After leaving his computer for five minutes, a man returns to find that his son spent 476,000 gold on pets on the AH.

Dungeons versus Scenarios, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 3/17/13.

In this articles, Rohan compares dungeons and scenarios. He considers loot rewards and design time among other aspects. He makes some great commentary.

Dungeons versus Scenarios, Part II, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 3/18/13

The follow-up to his previous post.

Draztal ends the “WoW is too easy now” argument in a long and beautiful post, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 3/18/13.

Draztal basically explains that the game is completely different now. His post is worth reading. However, I do want to point out that Holisky repeatedly says the read the whole article even though it’s long. It’s not long, but this tells you something about our attention spans.

A guide to looting the Troves of the Thunder King, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 3/16/13.

If you’re struggling in the scenario, give this guide a read.

WoW Archivist: 11 moments from WoW’s history that should become scenarios, Scott Andrews, WoW Insider, 3/15/13.

Scott has some interesting ideas, but I can’t say I agree with all of them. I should write my own post on the subject.

Feathermoon Horde players organize massive cross-realm RP event, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 3/15/13.

This sounds like a really cool RP event. It’s happening today, so if you can make it, go check it out!

What if all raids were end game raids?, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 3/15/13.

Rossi considers what the game would be like if all raids were for the current max level. It’s an interesting idea, but I doubt it’ll happen.

War is All Hell: The use of moral ambiguity in Warcraft, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 3/14/13.

War is full of moral ambiguity. Do you allow many to die to save a larger number? WoW seems to lack this in its leaders.

Advanced Video Settings: From Grayscale WoW to Vulcan Blood, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 3/18/13.

If you’d like to play around with your graphics, this could be interesting information.

Why head to the Isle of Giants?, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 3/8/13.

This is a great overview of what’s offered on the Isle of Giants.

Blind player Ben Shaw on raiding and WoW for the sightless, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 3/7/13.

If you’ve wondered what Ben Shaw, blind raider, has been doing, read this! (And if you’ve never heard of him, you really need to read it.)

Reconciling PvP and PvE, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 3/11/13.

Rohan if it would have been possible to keep PVP and PVE on the same path, using the same gear. It’d be interesting!

Analysis of the Post-Hotfix 5.2 Battleground Scaling Changes, Cynwise, Cynwise’s Warcraft Manual, 3/13/13.

More information on the funky new battleground level scaling.

Ra’sha <Tender of Sacrifices>, Cymre, Bubbles of Mischief, 3/12/13.

Did you know you can obtain a dagger that allows you to kill yourself? It’s called Ra’sha’s Sacrificial Dagger, and Cymre can tell you more about it.

Oondasta, Cymre, Bubbles of Mischief, 3/11/13.

If you haven’t had the chance to fight Oondasta, reading about it might be good!

#194 First impressions of Stage One and Two of the Isle of Thunder, Spencer Nozell, Be MOP, 3/13/13.

Another look at the Isle of Thunder.

Know Your Lore: Vereesa Windrunner, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 3/13/13.

Why’s that Vereesa Windrunner girl so mad, anyways?

Track your Isle of Thunder to-do list with this handy addon, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 3/13/13.

I just installed this, so I can’t yet say how useful it is. Apparently it tracks weekly things on the Isle of Thunder per character so you can know on what to focus.

PvP in Patch 5.2: Gear changes, resilience changes, class changes, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 3/11/13.

Lots of PVP changes.

Around Azeroth: Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load, Elizabeth Wachowski, WoW Insider, 3/9/13.

I don’t usually share Around Azeroths, but this screenshot was pretty cool.

Spiritual Guidance: Priest gear in patch 5.2 and Throne of Thunder, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 3/7/13.

A list of all the gear you’ll be considering if you’re a priest.

Only one week left to get your Winter Squid, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 3/13/13.

If you need it, go get it.

The Queue: Hump day, Alex Ziebart, WoW Insider, 3/13/13.

@Dobablo asked, “If white smoke =pope and black smoke = no pope. Then green fire = what?” Ziebart answered, “Felpope.”

Five reasons patch 5.2 will pull you back into WoW, Elizabeth Harper, WoW Insider, 3/6/13.

Harper provides a nice summary of 5.2 content.

Patch 5.2 official patch notes, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 3/5/13.

If Harper’s article isn’t enough information for you, this might be for you.

On the Broken Battleground Scaling of 5.2, Cynwise, Cynwise’s Warcraft Manual, 3/7/13.

Cynwise looks at how battleground scaling has only made balance worse in the lower-level brackets.

Diablo 3, the Auction House, and Efficiency, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 3/2/13.

Rohan discusses the dangers of increasing efficiency too much. He also claims that there shouldn’t be shortcuts a game’s “central fun.” It’s a great idea. It also reminds me of some tweets I saw by Bennett (@bfod) who said “well, until they charged me money to skip over it, I wasn’t thinking of playing the game as being ‘grind’” and “since they’re charging money to skip it, I know it is grind. Even the developers think of it as grind. Playing it is a penalty.” He goes on to say “here’s how it works-if you pay to play more, you’re seeing play as being valuable. If you pay to play less, you’re thinking of it as a grind” (2/27/13).

Know Your Lore: Jaina Proudmoore and the Kirin Tor, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 3/3/13.

Wondering what’s up with Jaina lately? Then pay attention to the game you pay to play! Or read this.

Know Your Lore: Aethas Sunreaver and the founding of the Sunreaver Onslaught, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 3/6/13.

This guy got totally sweet this expansion. Yup.

The Decline of Rogues, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 3/3/13.

Rohan has some ideas on why rogues are on the decline.

Secret Areas of Warcraft: Where developers go to play, Sarah Pine, WoW Insider, 2/28/13.

Secrets always fascinate me.

What does legendary really mean?, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 2/28/13.

What legendary means has been changing.

Eberron and beyond: Seven years of Dungeon and Dragons Online, Justin Olivetti, Massively, 2/28/13.

Olivetti looks back at DDO.

Patch 5.2: The Thunder King official trailer, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 2/27/13.

Oh boy, I love patch trailers!

Patch 5.2 and beyond with Dave Kosak, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 2/27/13.

An excellent interview with Dave Kosak. We get to hear more about the 5.2 patch trailer’s poem and the development of the patch. It was also interesting to find out that we can do the 5.1 scenarios of the opposite faction (and that there’s a lore reason).

A farewell to yaks, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 2/25/13.

Did you know that Ruthers wasn’t tied to the GCD, so you could summon a ton of him? Unfortunately it’s been patched now. I love you, Ruthers.

Popcorn Anyone?, Cymre, Bubbles of Mischief, 2/26/13.

Popcorn and peanuts exist in Wow! I love peanuts! And exclamations!

Seeing Azeroth from a bird’s eye view, Elizabeth Harper, WoW Insider, 2/22/13.

Masserah has made awesome images of major WoW locations using high resolution screenshots and some nifty photo-editing. Check them out!

Is Sylvanas your love match?, Michelles, bravetank, 2/21/13.

She just wants to be loved.

#187 Best and Worst boss fights of 5.0, Spencer Nozell, Be MOP, 2/25/13.

Spencer is absolutely crazy. I mean, Spencer likes Yan-Zhu the Uncasked. I should talk about my favorites and least favorites too.

Know Your Lore: The lore so far — leading into patch 5.2, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 2/24/13.

If you need to catch up or just want a reminder, Anne has you covered.

Garalon is really hated

Posted by Peter (Devee) on February 26, 2013

Posted in: Carpe Flux Capacitor, Devee, Journal, Raiding. Tagged: boss, garalon, heart of fear, olivia grace, tier 14, warcraft, world of warcraft, wow, wow insider. 2 Comments

My guild, Carpe Flux Capacitor, has been stuck on Garalon for a couple weeks now. It seems very frustrating, but really we only downed the previous boss on the 12th. Regardless, I can tell people are getting frustrated.

Last week, I noticed a poll on WoW Insider called “Poll: The worst boss of tier 14” by Olivia Grace. As of writing this, Garalon is winning by a huge amount. Of the 16 bosses, you’d expect each boss to be hated by 6.25% if things were equal. Well, 28.6% of the votes were for Garalon.

The long story short is that we shouldn’t be too worried. Apparently everyone hates Garalon, not just us.

Frontiers and Force Projection, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 2/13/13.

Rohan gives a fantastic perspective on frontiers in MMOs in relation to travel time. It’s a great read!

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: Wrathion’s Gambit, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 2/17/13.

This seems particularly interesting to me. Could Wrathion be trying to rebuild the Black Dragonflight?

Burning Legion begins Russian invasion, Alex Ziebart, WoW Insider, 2/15/13.

Interesting, but the event itself was horrible of course.

Patch 5.2 mounts and where to get them, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 2/18/13.

I want that Direhorn!

New generation comes of age in record-holding long-time guild, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 2/12/13.

The Syndicate have been playing together for 18 years!

Know Your Lore: The strategy and tactics of Garrosh Hellscream, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 2/13/13.

The Horde war machine is led solely by Garrosh Hellscream. How good a military leader is he?

Know Your Lore: The divided Alliance command structure, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 2/20/13.

An examination of the Alliance’s military leaders.

Patch 5.2’s jewelcrafting changes and how to profit, Basil Berntsen, WoW Insider, 2/18/13.

Mooglegem, you better make us some gold!

Server outcast in South Korea rekindles WoW community, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 2/13/13.

A WoW community that’s nice to people? It can’t be.

A Gift of a Fish, Arioch, clearcasting, 2/6/13.

Arioch tries his hardest to give his mom a new pet.

Patch 5.2 Prep: Get ahead of the game, Kristin Marshall, WoW Insider, 1/28/13.

Ensure you’re ready for the patch!

How to get green fire for your Warlock in Patch 5.2, Megan O’Neill, WoW Insider, 2/7/13.

Spoilers abound, but Megan gives us a look at what warlocks will do to get their fel fire.

We don’t need daily quests anymore, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 1/25/13.

I’m all for unlockable content, but I’m not sure I like the daily system tied to reputation. Maybe I should post about this later…

Patch 5.2 honors El’s Anglin’, adds sea monster and new battle pets to fishing, Alex Ziebart, WoW Insider, 1/24/13.

It looks like a new NPC, El, joins the Anglers. Great!

Around Labor and Delivery: Pride and joy, Elizabeth Wachowski, WoW Insider, 1/31/13.

They named their kid Jaina. Seriously.

Around Azeroth: Sweet dreams?, Elizabeth Wachowski, WoW Insider, 1/24/13.

I wish I knew who lived there.

Know Your Lore: The evolution of Varian Wrynn, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 2/3/13.

If you’ve noticed that Varian has changed quite a bit and want to know more about why, give this a read.

Know Your Lore: The genesis of Garrosh Hellscream, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 1/27/13.

If you’re interested in the history of Varian, you’re probably interested in the history of Garrosh as well.

WoW Archivist: It’s a secret to everybody — the Linken quest line, Scott Andrews, WoW Insider, 2/1/13.

This was a fun quest line, and I enjoyed reading about it even though I completed it.

Roleplaying the mundane side of the Alliance, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 1/26/13.

Even if you don’t roleplay, Anne gives a nice summary of how the Alliance races are feeling.

Funcom wants to feature your music in The Secret World, MJ Guthrie, Massively, 1/29/13.

If only I had musical talent.

Will Patch 5.2 kill PvP twinking?, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 1/24/13.

I’m not sure how it would kill twinking, but I think scaling players levels to the highest level of their PvP bracket is pretty cool! (And scaling in PvP works well in TOR.)

Patch 5.2: Valor and Conquest Points will be reset, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 2/6/13.

Valor converts to Justice, and Conquest converts to Honor. That’s normal. What’s different is that current Valor gear will still cost Valor. Rewards from 5.0 factions will be at a 75% discount and rewards from 5.1 factions will be at a 50% discount. That’s great, but then why take all of our Valor away? I understand the predicament in wanting to ensure people don’t get ahead, but that sucks a little.

Direhorn mounts coming to patch 5.2 as reputation rewards, Elizabeth Harper, WoW Insider, 2/5/13.

Yes, yes, yes!

Thunderforged Items and Loot Incentives, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 1/23/13.

Will thunderforged items boost 25-man raiding? Rohan doesn’t think it’ll be enough.

On Why I’m Not Level 90, Cynwise, Cynwise’s Warcraft Manual, 1/22/13.

Cynwise has plenty to do in WoW despite not hitting 90.

The 300 Stat Food Question, Matticus, World of Matticus, 1/21/13.

How much can a GM expect from raid members?

The Metaphorical Tale of Two Cities, Spencer Nozell, Be MOP, 1/21/13.

Do the capitals of Orgrimmar and Stormwind and their changes reflect their respective factions?

Roleplaying the mundane side of the Horde, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 1/19/13.

Mundane? Not at all! Anne explores the political landscape of the Horde.

Mists of Pandaria is our Emerald Dream expansion, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 1/17/13.

Mists of Pandaria explores the same themes the Emerald Dream expansion would have, but the Emerald Dream expansion wouldn’t have worked.

Patch 5.2 PTR: Reputation gain changes, Matt Low, WoW Insider, 1/17/13.

In 5.2 we can champion a faction through the reputation interface and gain reputation with that faction from your first dungeon and scenario of the day! Woo!

WoW Archivist: Many memes, handle it, Scott Andrews, WoW Insider, 1/18/13.

Explanations of some of the many memes from WoW. Now where’s my moose?

Elder charms only apply to 5.0 raids in Patch 5.2, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 1/23/13.

New items, Mogu Charms of Fate, will take their role for the 5.2 raid.

Realization, Anna, Too Many Annas, 1/9/13.

I should have posted this last week. I’m in agreement with a lot of this. I don’t have time to do everything Blizzard wants me to do, and I miss the idea of finishing everything I needed to do for the week and just being done.

Know Your Lore: Hands drenched in blood, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 1/13/13.

A fantastic look at the lore behind the Blood elves and Lor’themar Theron. I’ve been really fascinated with the Blood elves recently, so I was very excited to see that Anne wrote this!

Stormwind and Orgrimmar get repaired, somewhat, on the patch 5.2 PTR, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 1/10/13

Title says it all. I’m excited about this!

Examining the tier 15 priest set bonuses, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 1/16/13.

Good to know for priests!

Patch 5.2 valor gear not tied to dailies, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 1/14/13.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Patch 5.2 PTR: New notes from Ghostcrawler on tier 15 bonuses, other balance concerns, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 1/15/13.

Might be good info. Then again, things might change.

Patch 5.2: No flying mounts in the new zone, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 1/16/13.

Flying does feel like skipping content, so I’m glad about this.

Direhorn hunter pet in patch 5.2 is the triceratops we’ve been wanting, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 1/16/13.

I need a hunter. Now.

Goodnight, Sweet Warrior, wolfgangcat, WoW Misadventures, 12/23/12.

A final farewell.

Guestpost by Garrosh Hellscrem for Furtive Father Winter, TyphoonAndrew’s – Eye of the Storm, 12/31/12.

A fantastic guest post by the writer of the Warchief’s Command Board.

Age Old Question: Farm or Progression, Matticus, World of Matticus, 1/8/13.

It’s a tough question, but at least they’re in a position to be facing it.

Know Your Lore: Missed opportunities of 2012 Part 1, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 1/9/13.

Deathwing, the Dragon Soul, Kul Tiras, and more.

The Pet Bank Thesis, JD Kenada, Amateur Azerothian, 12/27/12.

Can you make money by buying and selling pets across servers?

Patch 5.2 PTR: Transmogrification restrictions relaxed, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 1/3/13.

It looks like we’ll finally be able to transmogrify weapons into other weapon types.

Ghostcrawler tells 8 year old how to be a game designer, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 1/9/13.

This is a long one.

Loot is the carrot, not getting loot is the stick, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 12/21/12.

A discussion of the fact that we not getting loot drives us.

Around Azeroth: Won’t you guide my slaying tonight?, Elizabeth Wachowski, WoW Insider, 12/20/12.

Those are a lot of reindeer.

Bizmo’s Brawlpub & The Brawlers Guild, Pugnacious Priest, 12/17/12.

A fantastic account of what it’s like to be in the Brawlers Guild. A really good read!

Jin’ya & the Sha, Cymre, Bubbles of Mischief, 12/19/12.

I finally learned why my Mindbender looks like a little Sha! In case you don’t know, check out her post for more info and to check out her new loot.

Murdering animals for 5.1 reputation, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 12/19/12.

If you’re working on the new 5.1 factions, make sure you’re doing the optional quests!

Reputation in review: The Dominance Offensive, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 12/16/12.

Here’s a good review of the The Dominance Offensive.

Student artist’s Darkmoon carousel stuns Blizzard, earns internship, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 12/13/12.

Title says it all

Why the Burning Crusade didn’t suck, Alex Ziebart, WoW Insider, 12/14/12.

Last week we learned why BC sucked. Now we learn why it didn’t.

Rep Grinding with the Joneses, Bravetank, 11/20/12.

A fantastic parody of what it’s like to grind reputation.

Blizzard calls for Christmas craft, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 12/11/12.

Time to step it up, crafters.

Getting the Most Out of Disc and Spirit Shell, Derevka, Tales of a Priest, 11/28/12.

A disc priest that’s not using Spirit Shell is not a good disc priest.

Battle Pet Ability Guide, ReversionLFM, Looking For More, 12/5/12.

When ReversionLFM couldn’t find an easy to read ability guide for Pet Battles, he made one.

What raids will we see in patch 5.2?, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 12/12/12.

Zandalar Island? A mogu island? An underground mogu stronghold? Something else? Lots of speculation here.

Are rogues a dying class?, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 12/11/12.

Rogues in sharp decline? Locks being played more?

Challenge Modes could be coming to older dungeons, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 12/10/12.

I’d like to say this would be really cool, but I’ve yet to do a Challenge Mode.

Anduin Wrynn broke my heart, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 11/15/12.

After everything they’d been through, Anduin acts like he doesn’t even know Dawn Moore!

Grandpappy Frostheim on Why Burning Crusade Sucked, Brian Wood, WoW Insider, 12/13/12.

Keep your nostalgia in check.

Lon’li Guju, Reputation Grind, 11/21/12.

His look at the Lonely George tribute.

Boo-Boo Number Three, Cymre, Bubbles of Mischief, 11/23/12.

Cymre attempt to trick her friend with a port to Old Dalaran.

Know Your Lore: WoW for Dummies, Act I: Alliance, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/18/12.

Why does she have to call us dummies?!

Know Your Lore: WoW for Dummies, Act I: Horde, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/25/12.

How is this Act I still?

Know Your Lore TFH: The origins of the pandaren, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 11/21/12.

What’s the relation between pandaren of Pandaria, the pandaren of Northrend, and the furbolg?

Know Your Lore: The Yaungol, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 12/12/12.

A nice recap of their history.

Know Your Lore TFH: Something is wrong, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 12/5/12.

The timeline is wrong if the Horde-Alliance conflict released the Sha.

Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The seventh Sha, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 12/9/12.

Building on the “Something is wrong” KYL, Stickney speculates about the seventh Sha.

Around Azeroth: Cub scouts, Elizabeth Wachowski, WoW Insider, 12/5/12.

Let’s all be pandaren cubs!

WoW Archivist: How forum trolls broke a CM, Scott Andrews, WoW Insider, 11/16/12.

An amusing story.

Gok’lokk’s Shell brings beauty to Pandaria, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/20/12.

Now you can reenact the Birth of Venus!

Frolicking merrily with Martar the Not-So-Smart, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 11/23/12.

Because you’ve always wanted a gnoll sidekick.

Patch 5.1: Treant Form now combustible, Chase Hasbrouck, WoW Insider, 11/28/12.

Why would we want to set our trees on fire?

Death knight Mionee solos Madness of Deathwing, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 12/9/12.

I guess we all knew this was coming eventually.

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