sholazar-basin
Latest
BigRedKitty: Proto-Drake fever
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. We've never been this lucky, so of course we had to share it with you. Once you watch the movie and want to learn more about the mounts we discuss, click on through and we'll spill the beans.
The Queue: Proto-drakes, Brilliant Glass, and more
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Since you all need to sit through an extended maintenance today, we're going to have an extended version of The Queue! Well, a little. I guess about two more questions than usual. Or just one, really. Actually, I'm not sure it's extended at all. Maybe if you read through it twice? Yeah, let's do that. Just read it twice, that works.AbsalonPrieto asked...Do Death Knight enchants (rune enchant) stack with regular weapon enchants? If not what would be the best choice rune or regular enchant?
On the search for Heavy Frostweave Bandages
One of the weirdest changes in Northrend so far is the way First Aid training works, strangely enough. Used to be that once you hit a certain level, you could just go run to the trainer to train up the next wave of bandages (or you could buy a manual from a trainer somewhere), but not so in the expansion: to get Heavy Frostweave Bandages, you have to depend on what seems to be a world drop.The rules are still a little hazy, and the plans to get it seem to be somewhere between experiment and superstition: we know for sure that you need to have 390 First Aid already to get the book to drop (though you need 400 to actually use it), and we know that it can drop from almost anywhere in the world. But apparently there are a few places where it drops more often: in Zul'Drak, sometimes in Sholazar Basin, and sometimes in dungeons. Other than that, everything else is just rumors -- I haven't gotten the book yet, and I've been 400 since I had enough Frostweave to level up. I heard it was on the AH for around 20g, but of course that varies by realm, and when I checked today, it wasn't on the AH at all. And we've also heard that once you learn it, it won't drop for you again, so there may eventually be an AH market for these -- until all potential sellers actually learn the recipe, that is. And then there's this, which just makes my head spin. We may see another level of Frostweave bandages in a future patch.Very strange, and strange choice by Blizzard to do it this way in the first place. It also appears that a stack of Heavy Frostweave Bandages sells to vendors for only 5g, so the days of nabbing lower-than-3g stacks of cloth on the AH and selling them to vendors for a profit may be over. Which is fine, because your guild's tailor could probably use it anyway. But I am bummed I haven't see the manual drop yet -- the better my gear gets, the less the non-heavy bandages do for me.Update: Yes of course they can't be on the AH, because as you can see in the screenshot above, the manual is BoP. Never mind. Thanks, commenters.
BigRedKitty: Spirit Beast
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. There was the day we finally got Legacy. We jumped up and down, screaming in pleasure. There was the day we beat Lady Vashj for the first time, pre-nerf. In our jubilation, we totally high-fived a lamp to its destruction, and thus Mrs. BRK finally got rid of, "that hideous piece of junk".And now, both those days are eclipsed with our acquiring of a Spirit Beast pet. It's been almost twelve hours and we're still shaking. We haz Laser Kitteh! /flopfaint
Wrath 101: The Oracles and the Frenzyheart Tribe
Throughout the lifespan of Ask a Beta Tester (now The Queue), people have asked if there are any factions like the Aldor and Scryers. Are there two factions like that, you get to pick one or the other? The answer is yes, but they don't play as big of a role. They're less prime players of the expansion, and more lolcat comedy relief.I'm convinced that this situation in Sholazar Basin isn't to be determined by which faction you like more, but which faction you hate less. The two warring factions are The Oracles and the Frenzyheart Tribe. The Oracles are a group of fully sentient, 'intelligent' gorlocs (a step up in murloc evolution) that unknowingly worship the Titans. The Frenzyheart Tribe are a tribe of wolvar (little wolverine men) and they're fairly new to Sholazar Basin. They're huge jerks that do jerk things and steal gorloc land like jerks. The gorlocs do have big, annoyingly floppy tongues though, so I guess it's justified.
Ask A Beta Tester: AABT's greatest hits, part 2
On to part 2! This series of questions spans August and early September, and we'll keep moving forward this week.Hoops asked.... How much gold roughly would you get from questing 70-77 (until you unlock the flying mount)? I was wondering if it would it be worth farming money beforehand or would the money from questing be enough. Elizabeth answers: I'm not 77 yet, so I can't exactly address the question as asked, but I can tell you that I've made about 400g leveling from 70 to 72. That's just from questing, vendoring trash & unneeded greens -- and it includes some stupid deaths, plenty of repair bills(I blame Dalaran for many of them!), and training a couple of professions (35g to train a primary profession to the next skill level and 100g to train a secondary profession to the next skill level). Allie adds: I finally started keeping track of how I was doing gold-wise while leveling. On the beta I leveled a lot through instance runs because the demand for healers was so high; on the live realms I've leveled mostly through questing. Between 70 and 76 so far (remarkably fast for me but my guild starts raiding next week) I've made somewhere in the region of 2K gold after training, repairs, professions, etc., mostly through questing and keeping my bags as open as possible to sell vendor trash. As Elizabeth observes, that part's key; Northrend vendor trash and greens sell for a LOT.
WoW Insider presents Sholazar Basin and Zul'Drak
Building up to Wrath's release, we've been showing you previews of each of the world zones of Northrend. Sholazar Basin and Zul'Drak are two of the remaining zones you probably haven't yet seen, so if you're interested, links to the galleries are below.Sholazar Basin is Northrend's Un'goro Crater, and has a pleasing mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. A testing grounds of sorts for the Titans, you run into a lot of unusual lifeforms here like the Oracles, a race of intelligent murloc-esque creatures who are at war with the Frenzyheart Tribe of Wolvar. This is also the new hunting ground of Hemet Nesingwary, and trust me when I say his quests aren't nearly as awful this time around.Zul'Drak is the center of one of the last Troll Empires, home of the Drakkari Ice Trolls. Under heavy assault from the Scourge, the Drakkari Empire has pooled their resources and pulled back to their capital, using some rather desperate measures to ensure their survival. Your first major Argent Crusade quest hubs are in this zone, and our old friends of the Zandalar Tribe will be meeting up with us here as well.Edit: As always, if you're trying to avoid any and all spoilers, these galleries are not for you. There are no heavy plot spoilers contained within, but there are some light ones. If you don't like spoilers, don't look.%Gallery-36407%%Gallery-36409%
Ask a Lore Nerd: Alliance leaders and strange mythology
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition. We're all busy people, so let's jump right in here. Sorano asked...Has Gelbin Mekkatorque ever done something to contribute to the world around him? Poor little guy seems to do nothing nowadays. I'm sure as leader of the Gnomes, he could do a lot to help the people of Azeroth.He does things, but they're not portrayed in WoW very well. It's mostly things you will find in the RPG books. Mekkatorque helps design the various siege weaponry the Alliance uses (steam tanks, etc), and works heavily on figuring out ways to take back Gnomeregan from the ferocious level 30 elites and, more importantly, clean up the radiation.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Cenarius, C'Thun, and the Titans
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition. Last week on Ask a Lore Nerd, I answered a question about sports. In short, does Azeroth have sports? I, foolishly, looked at it in a pretty narrow way. I was thinking baseball, basketball, things like that. However, it was quickly pointed out that not all sports are things like those. That's very true! Azeroth definitely has things like hunting, racing, fishing and the arena circuit. There's also a reference to Battle Ball but who knows what that is. So there's that! And with that out of the way...XvampyrexrisingX asked...My friend and I have been arguing recently over the death of the demigod Cenarius. I was hoping for some clarification. I (a diehard Nelf) say that Cenarius was only protecting the forest the orcs were cutting, while she (a Nelf turned Hordie) says that Cenarius attacked the Orcs for no reason and their only choice was to kill him. Which one of us gets the bragging rights?
BigRedKitty: Gorilladin
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.So fighting level 62 fel orcs with a level 74 hunter doesn't impress you? OK, we can see that. A Gorilladin -- gorilla + paladin = Gorilladin! -- has to be able to tank stuff his own level, right? Right.We're going to "spoiler" you then, and show you a Gorilladin at work in Sholazar Basin. If you don't want to see any new content, do not watch the movie.But if you want to boggle at the best grinding and leveling hunter-pet you've ever seen, and want to know why we recommend every hunter of every spec grab a gorilla and level him to 70 as soon as the next big patch comes out, click the movie, foshizzle.Gorillas will change the way you play your hunter. We're not kidding.You are invited to download the YouTube version (30MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (177MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
WoW Moviewatch: Muffins WotLK Exploration Part 70-77
(Viewers be warned that this video contains spoilers for the Wrath of the Lich King beta.)Muffins did a great job with her most recent exploration video. If you're looking for another artistic take on the new locations available in WotLK, this is the movie for you. The areas that she visits include Howling Fjord, Borelean Tundra, The Nexus (Instance), Utgarde Keep (Instance), Crystalsong Forest, Dragonblight, Stone Halls (Instance), Drak'tharon Keep (Instance), Zul'Drak, Dalaran, Sholazar Basin, and Grizzly Hills.The other day, I mentioned that Razzik may have had his exploration video removed from Vimeo. While I have yet to confirm it with him, there is a comment on Muffins' WCM page saying that they removed hers. I'll be weighing in on this shortly with some additional news from other sites, as well as recommendations for where to keep your machinima safe.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Breakfast Topic: The zones of Northrend
I know. I'm not in Beta, and yet I'm as giddy as a greedy little boy who just got hold of a cookie jar with every bit of Wrath of the Lich King information. We've seen the breathtaking Howling Fjord, bits of the Borean Tundra, and even glimpses into the lush forests of Sholazar Basin. I don't think I could be excited enough for Lake Wintergrasp, even though there's just so little information about it. Elizabeth Harper, who's playing around in the Beta, has said that Dragonblight is her favorite zone.From what we've seen so far, it really looks like Wrath of the Lich King is going to be one hell of a game. Each of the zones -- as has been the trend throughout World of Warcraft -- has its own personality. Blizzard has said that it won't all be ice and snow, and the diversity that's been revealed up to this point seems to attest to that. What zone are you most excited to see and most eager to explore when you get to Northrend? %Poll-17619%
Scattered Shots: Beastmastery in Wrath of the Lich King
Scattered Shots is for Hunters. Your host this week will be Daniel Whitcomb, who will continue his foray into the wide world of Wrath of the Lich King talents. Beastmastery has pretty much dominated the world of Hunters in Burning Crusade, with Serpent's Swiftness alone nearly singlehandedly allowing for the most efficient damaging shot rotations possible -- With a little bit of wrangling between haste and ranged weapon speed, of course. While the changes to Auto Shot clipping in Wrath will likely make shot rotations as we know them a thing of the past, Beastmastery is still looking to be a very viable tree in Wrath of the Lich King, thanks to some clever synergies and some amazing pet buffs.
New WotLK videos via Gamespy
Gamespy has five new amazing videos everyone should check out. They include several sneak peaks of things we haven't seen before. They are the most detailed and rich in-game videos of WotLK to date. The videos cover the areas of Dragonblight, Zul'Drak, Sholazar Basin, Borean Tundra, and the Howling Fjord.There are several first looks at the new cities, zones, and architecture of Wrath of the Lich King that we haven't seen from Blizzcon. This also includes several mobs that have not been seen before. Zul'Drak is reminiscent of Zul'Gurub, and looks quite new and refreshing. Sholazar Basin is a cross between Stranglethorn Vale and Ungoro Crater, heavily influenced by Troll architecture.We are also presented with vehicle combat in the Sholazar Basin video. This is simply amazing. The video shows a gnome flying machine contraption shooting missiles at other flying mounts, and then a gnome ejecting and floating down to safety in a parachute. Grand Theft Azeroth.In the Borean Tundra video we see a beautiful look at the new cities for both Horde and Alliance players. There are also images of Dragon kind, similar to what players experience during the last leg of the Onyxia quest chain from pre-BC. Also included is a gnome city, much like Area-52.Check it out now, and watch for more detailed analysis of the video and all the other news as the day goes on.
