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"Crash Bandicoot" creator comments on Cataclysm's problems and the evolution of WoW
I didn't see this until recently, but I'm really glad I did. Andy Gavin, the co-creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter, ran a series between the end of November and mid-January examining WoW, its four expansions, and how each of them succeeded or failed through both personal and professional eyes. His particular focus is the endgame in each and how it worked to attract and retain players -- or, in some cases, didn't. While there's certainly been no shortage of player commentary on how WoW's developed, Gavin's experience as a game developer who's not involved with Blizzard is a pretty unique perspective. I found his article on Cataclysm to be particularly adept at putting into words a lot of things I felt but had difficulty articulating. Most of the expansion's developmental time had to go into a revamped leveling process that few people saw unless they wanted to level a new alt. The content at 85 that greeted more casual players got bottlenecked in a series of difficult heroics that frustrated players dropped constantly. Personally, I still consider Cataclysm to have been a necessary expansion -- it did a lot of stuff that Blizzard had to do for the game even if it wasn't as eye-catching as what BC and Wrath did -- but I think Gavin's assessment is accurate and measured. (And many of Blizzard's own observations aren't all that different.) Funnily enough, with lots of people leveling new monks in Mists of Pandaria, more people might be seeing Cataclysm content now than they did during the expansion that was actually dedicated to it. I've linked Gavin's full series here. While it's long, it's an incredibly interesting and detailed read: WoW's endgame: Vanilla WoW's endgame: The Burning Crusade WoW's endgame: Wrath of the Lich King WoW's endgame: Cataclysm WoW at present: Mists of Pandaria
World of MapCraft: explore Azeroth using a Google Maps-style interface
World of MapCraft is an interactive map detailing all of the areas that make up World of Warcraft's Azeroth – think of it as Google Maps for World of Warcraft and its expansions thus far. It's all online right now, the work of Tiny Speck founder Cal Henderson, who extracted textures from the MMO's source files to piece together the interactive map you see above. You may recall Tiny Speck's own MMO, Glitch.Just don't click on the map above and expect to be able to zoom in on the Isle of Conquest. You have to click the source link below for that. And if you're looking for more background on World of MapCraft's creation, Henderson has a pretty thorough blog post explaining it all.
Achievement Unlocked: A look at the Guinness world records of online gaming
We're just over a month into the new year, and already we've got plenty to look forward to: The Secret World is expected to hit in April, TERA will follow shortly in May, and Guild Wars 2 will be out... sometime this year (we hope). But before we all start looking toward the future, let's take a moment to look back at some of the gaming achievements of the past. Thanks to the handy-dandy Guinness Book of World Records 2012: Gamer's Edition, we've got a quick compendium of MMO-related records from the past year and then some, so if you're at all interested in the shortest-lived MMO to date or the longest time anyone's spent playing MMOs from inside a crate, join us as we take a stroll down memory lane to take a look at some notably (in)famous MMO achievements.
WoW Patch 4.3 'Hour of Twilight' launches today
If you've built up a thick layer of hatred for Deathwing every time his grim visage appears on the login screen for World of Warcraft, your hour of retribution has come. Or rather, your "Hour of Twilight" has come -- that's the name of WoW Patch 4.3, which launches today. The update, and last major addition for WoW: Cataclysm, adds three new dungeons and a new raid to the title which see your hero traveling through time in an attempt to gather the tools required to take Deathwing down. There are also new, oft-requested features like Armor Transmogrification and Void Storage. Check out the trailer above for a taste of the action, and turn an eye towards WoW Insider for all the juicy patch notes therein.
Blizzard auctions off old server hardware for charity
You can't actually own a piece of Azeroth, because the virtual World of Warcraft doesn't exist -- sorry, ThrallFan6969, it's true. But this is probably your closest chance to the fake thing: Blizzard is auctioning off a group of hardware server blades that were used to run the popular MMO in the past, so for a price you can own the circuits and silicon that served up all of those boars, dwarves, and elves. All of the money raised in the auctions is going to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. All in all, about 2,000 server blades will be auctioned off, and you can even aim to buy one from a specific realm -- the hardware where your very own characters once resided! Each blade will be mounted in a windowed case adorned with the WoW logo, and the hardware displayed prominently. The auctions start on October 17 (just a few days before BlizzCon), with sales occurring in four different rounds. Good luck!
World of Warcraft experiences a small drop in subscribers post-Cataclysm
Around the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Activision Blizzard repeatedly touted its 12 million subscribers. During yesterday's investor conference call, however, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime revealed that as of the end of March, the subscriber base had fallen from a stratospheric 12 million all the way to a humiliating 11.4 million, a decline of 5%. Morhaime explained the tiny mass exodus by saying that players were completing the new content in Cataclysm more quickly than previous expansions, and then leaving the game. However, Rift also launched in March, which may have lured away part of those 600,000 ex-WoWers. Still, if we're talking about part of 5% of your userbase maybe leaving for another game, things are still going well for you.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 25
A new round of hotfixes to patch 4.0.6 were just released over at the official WoW blog. The changes are primarily fixes or nerfs to the heroic Valiona and Theralion encounter in the Bastion of Twilight. A few of the nerfs appear to balance the fight for the heroic 10-man version, while others are all-around nerfs to the damage in the fight. Another change fixes the ressurrection of players in the Twin Peaks and Battle for Gilneas battlegrounds. Patch 4.0.6 Hotfixes - February 25 Dungeons & Raids Bastion of Twilight Blackout will no longer hit players sent down to the Twilight Zone by either Valiona or Theralion. Collapsing Twilight Portal should no longer close faster when a person uses it while on Heroic difficulty. It now has a set duration. Devouring flame maximum damage has been reduced. Theralion's damage should now be more consistent with Valiona's on 10-player Heroic difficulty. Twilight Blast damage has been reduced on 10-player Heroic difficulty. Twilight Protection now lasts 6 seconds, up from 3. Players should now always receive the Twilight Protection buff when entering the Twilight Realm. Twilight Sentries have slightly lower health on 10-player Heroic difficulty. Twilight Zone damage has been lowered slightly. Unstable Twilight's search effect has been lowered to a 1-yard radius, down from 2. PvP Players in Battle for Gilneas and Twin Peaks who are Neutral with the associated factions should no longer experience issues resurrecting at the appropriate graveyards. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 22
We've got a pretty short list of hotfixes for Patch 4.0.6 this morning, courtesy of Community Manager Zarhym. Included are the hunter changes that have been mentioned several times over -- and for the raiders out there, a small adjustment to Throne of the Four Winds: Zarhym Classes Hunters Aimed Shot damage has been decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage (at level 80+), down from 200%. Aspect of the Hawk now provides 2000 attack power at level 85. Dungeons & Raids Throne of the Four Winds The Catch Fall aura is now removed whenever a player leaves the dungeon. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 19
Since the release of Patch 4.0.6, we've had a pretty steady stream of hotfix announcements, each one providing fairly substantial lists of changes over the past several weeks. Today, we've got what is less of a hotfix and more of a little note, courtesy of Community Manager Zarhym: Zarhym Classes Hunters The changes to Aimed Shot and Aspect of the Hawk announced yesterday have not yet been applied to live realms and should not go into effect until after the holiday weekend. source The changes referred to are the two hunter hotfixes from yesterday's list. Aimed Shot damage for hunters will be decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage at level 80+, down from 200%, and Aspect of the Hawk will provide an additional 2,000 attack power for hunters at level 85. These changes will presumably go live after Tuesday's maintenance. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
The Queue: Ragequitter redux
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Yesterday I gave you some advice on how not to get a rematch in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Today, I say to you that I have found the method so effective, so potent, that some players opt to physically turn their system off or unplug their ethernet cable in order to avoid the shame of loss to a dog that barks ice cubes. Saekeion asked: Does the reputation discount with a faction also apply to when you sell items? Do you get more money if you have a higher reputation with that faction? If so, does Goblin's Best Deals Anywhere apply to the amount of money you get for selling an item? Good question, but no, sell prices for items aren't affected by any outside modifiers, including rep. They will always sell for the same amount.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 18
Blizzard's serving up some weekend hotfixes, included the promised dungeon finder changes from earlier this week. Community Manager Zarhym posted the updated list earlier, and along with the dungeon finder tweaks, we've also got a fairly good list of class changes. Keep in mind, while the dungeon finder changes have been implemented, they will take a realm restart in order to take effect. Some highlights: For hunters, Aspect of the Hawk now provides around an additional 2,000 attack power at level 85. For paladins, Light of Dawn no longer heals targets outside the paladin's party or raid. It correctly heals up to five targets in the paladin's raid. For warlocks, instant-cast Shadowbolts from Shadow Trance (both the talent and Glyph of Corruption versions) should no longer consume charges of Backdraft if both procs are available. Follow us after the break for the full list of hotfixes.
Gallywix: Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince live at Blizzard's community site
Trade Prince Gallywix represents the worst of the goblin race. Irrepressibly greedy and always scheming, the conniving racial leader of the Bilgewater Cartel is a sore spot for most goblins out there. This could have something to do with the bit where he tried to sell everyone into slavery when the island of Kezan was destroyed. But hey, when the opportunity arises to make a buck, Gallywix is there to take advantage of it. Live on Blizzard's community site, Gavin Jurgen's Gallywix: Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince is the story of just how Gallywix rose to power, containing a few tips to aspiring Trade Princes out there. Did we say a few? Yeah, right -- as if a Trade Prince is going to give away his secrets that easily. Gallywix is the third installment of the Leaders of the Horde and Alliance series. Unlike the prior two entries, Gallywix offers a more humorous look at what it takes to become a leader -- and a grim glimpse into the seedy underbelly of Kezan. From the slums to the heights of his own Pleasure Palace, Gallywix's rise to power is something that's often bickered about by those that play Horde who feel that Gallywix's time ought to be coming to an end. Judging from this story, that's only going to happen over Gallywix's dead body -- and the bodies of those he takes down with him. Check out the whole story on Blizzard's community site (and while you're there, you can take a peek at the other stories currently available). World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
The Queue: Sacco vs. Ragequitters 3
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. If anyone's wondering, I've developed a surefire way to make sure no one ever gives you a Marvel vs. Capcom 3 rematch online. Three easy steps: Select Amaterasu as a team member. Switch to your Rosary weapon (D, D, H). Spam Cold Star (QCF+L) forever. Concepts like "super jumping" or "calling an assist" or "advancing block" somehow become meaningless for the average opponent upon being machine-gunned by a dog for an entire match. They will know only rage. You will not get a second game. Anne asked: Maybe this has already been covered, but why does all the high-level blue crafted gear have PvP stats? It's an upgrade in every other way for my PvE self, but I really resent losing, say, haste to gain resilience that I will never use and can't reforge. I understand some with PvP stats. But, really...ALL of it??? Because while you can get PvE gear from quests, dungeons, factions, and crafting, you can only get PvP gear from PvPing. The crafted gear helps make sure that you're not stuck in a catch-22 situation where you need to PvP to get resilience gear but can't really PvP without resilience gear.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 16
Along with a list of hotfixes for the dungeon finder tool and vote kick system, Community Manager Zarhym released an update of hotfixes to other portions of the 4.0.6 patch. While some of these hotfixes go live the moment they're implemented, others will take a realm restart to go into effect. Today's list is just a small handful of class changes, plus one change to Blackwing Descent: Zarhym Classes Druid It is no longer possible for Skull Bash (Bear) to hit two targets at a time. A macro was previously circumventing the intended functionality of this ability. Shaman Purification (Restoration passive) now grants a 25% bonus to healing effects, up from 10%. More information can be found here. Priests In addition to its current effects, the Body and Soul talent now grants 12.5%/25% reduction to the base mana cost of Power Word: Shield. This is not reflected in the tooltip, but is reflected in the amount of mana used when Power Word: Shield is cast by Holy priests who have this talent. The tooltip update will require a client-side patch. Power Word: Shield now costs roughly 34% of base mana, up from 25%. This is not reflected in the tooltip, but is reflected in the amount of mana used when the spell is cast. The tooltip update will require a client-side patch. More information on these changes can be found here. Dungeons & Raids Blackwing Descent Maloriak will no longer cast Flash Freeze on anyone who is tanking Aberrations or anyone who has recently been hit by them. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 15
Another round of hotfixes has been announced this evening. Tonight brings us a few hotfixes to raid content, including every engineer's friend, the Cardboard Assassin. Sorry, my cardboard friend. Your days of tanking Cho'gall are over. Hotfixes for Feb. 15 General The amount of guild reputation and guild experience gained from killing a raid boss has been dramatically increased, as the previous rate felt too low compared to the difficulty of progressing through raid content. This change will require a realm restart to take effect, which will be next Tuesday's weekly scheduled maintenance at the latest. Shield of Velen guards in The Exodar are now consistent with other "royal" city guards in terms of health, level, and damage. Classes Mages Arcane Blast now costs 5% of base mana before stacking modifiers, down from 7%. Dungeons & Raids Baradin Hold Argaloth despawns and resets properly if the raid wipes during Fel Firestorm. Blackwing Descent While flying around the Vault of the Shadowflame, Nefarian no longer forces everyone to stand up if engaged. Throne of the Tides It should no longer be possible to summon a mount in certain areas of this dungeon. Items Shard of Woe (Heroic trinket) now reduces the base mana cost of spells by 205, with the exception of Holy and Nature spells -- the base mana cost of Holy and Nature spells remains reduced by 405 with this trinket. Professions Engineering Target Dummies are no longer able to taunt boss-level creatures. source
Cataclysm hotfixes for Feb. 14
Blizzard has released the newest hotfixes, already on servers now. Hope you all took advantage of Whiptail-a-palooza while you had the chance. Here are your hotfixes for Feb. 14, 2011: General Players who are exalted with 40 factions are again awarded The Exalted title. Note that the associated achievement does not state that this title will be awarded when it's earned. This will be corrected in a future patch. More information can be found here. Classes Druids Starfall will now hit any target in range which is in combat or not at full health (including the Exposed Head of Magmaw, which was causing issues with Starfall). Paladins The hotfix to Beacon of Light and Light of Dawn on February 11 did not produce the intended results and has been reverted. Light of Dawn should still trigger Beacon of Light. Dungeons & Raids Blackwing Descent The Atramedes achievement Silence is Golden was incorrectly failing when any raid member's sound bar went over 30%. The achievement now requires no one's sound bar to go over 50% as advertised. Professions Alchemy The Mysterious Potion was restoring the wrong amount of mana. It now restores 1 to 15,000 mana, instead of 1 to 30,000. Fishing The Bone and Jeweled Fishing Pole quest rewards are now item level 15, down from 200. Herbalism Whiptail was spawning too quickly in Uldum after patch 4.0.6. The spawn time has been reduced. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
The Queue: Even though I am better than you, I am not
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Video mildly NSFW. I learned something yesterday, and that's that the number of people who will jump to correct a "grammar mistake" is larger than the number of people who will recognize and enjoy a combination JFK reference/play on words. I thought we had moved beyond just using pictures of our pets for Queue intros! My heart is broken. Aarkan asked: Why does my worgen bear have leg spikes? Because the GWAR logo is trademarked.
The Queue: Voynich bin ein Berliner
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. The Voynich Manuscript is one of my favorite unsolved mysteries of the literary world: a manuscript no one can date in a language no one can decipher about no one knows what. It's a bunch of flowers and women showering. I think it's the equivalent of someone a thousand years from now digging up a D&D Monster Manual: "What does it mean?" If you want to check out the manuscript yourself, head to Yale's online library and type in "Voynich." It's the first result. Jyetie asked: My dad asked my why my character was purple and glowy the other day, so ... Is there any lore-icle reason for Shadowform for priests? Other than looking cool? All priests use aspects of the Forgotten Shadow, sort of the other side of the Light, in practice, but shadow priests are way into it. Priests who are completely at one with the Shadow can (some say) ascend to god-like status, achieving ultimate power and immortality. Shadowform is essentially your character's getting as close to ascension as he can. Commenter "Furry" puts it well: "It's a physical show of how your soul is going to a darker place."
"The Exalted" title requirement change reverted
Tensions on the forums have been pretty high since Blizzard made a change to the achievement that awarded players the title The Exalted without announcing it beforehand. Bashiok hit the forums tonight to address said drama, saying that while the community managers were disappointed that the saga resulted in so many forum code of conduct violations, they did have a long talk with the designers, who agreed to change the achievement back to its original form. In other words, if you qualified for The Exalted before 4.0.6 (40 exalted reputations), you'll soon be awarded your title again. Right now, the devs are unsure as to whether the change can be applied with a hotfix, but they're going to attempt one and see if it sticks. If a patch is necessary, they'll let us know. There's some additional interesting information in the blue post, including the technical reasons why Blizzard couldn't grandfather the title to those who achieved it prior to 4.0.6. Full text is after the cut.
New patch 4.0.6 hotfixes released
Yet another round of hotfixes for Patch 4.0.6 has been released, according to blue poster Zarhym. As with prior hotfixes, some may go live immediately, while others may require server restarts. Regardless, there are plenty of interesting fixes this time around, from class tweaks to adjustments to dungeons and raids. A few highlights: Haste is again properly increasing resource regeneration rates for applicable melee classes. However, this fix will require a realm restart to take effect. For priests, Inner Focus now appropriately increases the critical heal chance of Flash Heal, Binding Heal, Greater Heal, and Prayer of Healing. For those who are wondering where those bouquets of roses went, fear not -- Bouquet of Ebon Roses and Bouquet of Red Roses for the Love Is in the Air event now properly drop from Cataclysm dungeons. Read on for the full list of hotfixes.
