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BlizzCon 2010: Steelseries shows off Cataclysm MMO mouse, pro gamer products
Not only is BlizzCon a great place to get the latest news straight from Blizzard's mouth about Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, but all of the exhibitors and vendors are showing off their official merchandise and some of the new stuff coming out soon. Being the interface guy around here, the powers that be thought it would be nice if I checked out some of the vendors showcasing their interface products -- mice, keyboards and more. There is a lot of exciting stuff to show. On Day 1 of BlizzCon 2010, I got to run over to the Steelseries booth and meet with Philippe and Kim, both awesome designers who gave me the grand tour and showed off their products -- and, to my great interest, their design philosophies for their hardware.
BlizzCon 2010: Steelseries shows off Cataclysm MMO mouse, pro gamer products, Page 2
What is so great about mechanical keyboards, though, and why would I fall so head over heels in love with one? Kudos to Kim for punching the keyboard in front of me, ripping off keys that I wanted to see and showing me how awesome old concepts can be when updated with today's design and innovation.
BlizzCon 2010: Day 1 round-up
This is going to be a slightly quieter BlizzCon than last year, folks. There aren't any major announcements on the scene for World of Warcraft and we already know that Cataclysm is coming this December. Apart from that, the directives this year can be summarized as: Relax, have fun and try to find that bartender at the seafood place who makes the really strong drinks. WoW Insider reader meetup This year's bash drew record attendance (we may have gotten as many as 3,000 people over the course of the evening), drew guests from all over and featured some interesting shirts. We'll have more specific coverage on guests and events once our bloggers recover. The agony of the lines Well, it's a convention -- you're gonna be in line for a while. Fortunately, we found the first people in line, some things to keep life interesting and costumed fans and scenes from the crowd. Alex Ziebart flagged down one of his guildies emerging from registration to get pictures of the 2010 goody bag. Liveblogs We liveblogged the opening ceremonies for our sister site Joystiq, then trotted back to WoW Insider to liveblog the Dungeons and Raids and Quests and Lore panels. Digital downloads Turns out we'll be able to play Cataclysm even earlier than we thought; Blizzard's offering the expansion as a prepaid digital download, so players will be able to enjoy a shattered Azeroth the moment the game goes live. Cataclysm news and patch 4.1 There may not be any major announcements for the moment, but we did get a few tidbits on upcoming features. We got a peek at the Firelands raid and Abyssal Maw dungeon available in patch 4.1, changes being made to classic dungeons to (as Scott Mercer, lead encounter designer, referred to it) "cut out the suck," and upcoming enhanced dungeon maps. Outland and Northrend revamps being planned Chris Metzen and Alex Afrasiabi have confirmed that Blizzard's planning to update Outland and Northrend to keep them current with the Cataclysm storyline. Fun trivia Mike Morhaime shed some light on how many times our buddy Arthas has fallen to the might and magic of Azeroth's champions, and Blizzard's releasing another pet (the moonkin hatchling) during the holiday season to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. %Gallery-105820% %Gallery-105831% %Gallery-105834% BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2010: Patch 4.1.0 brings enhanced dungeon maps
Cory Stockton (World of Warcraft lead content designer) announced an unexpected feature that will be coming in patch 4.1.0. It has been revealed that Blizzard is adding maps for all dungeons from Burning Crusade all the way back to classic in order to match the features that the current Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm dungeons bring with them. The new information is that they're planning on taking those maps up a notch. Instead of just a stylized skull icon marking where the bosses are on the map, we'll be getting enhanced information about each boss encounter. This will include a 3D portrait of the boss, a brief bit of lore about why exactly you're fighting them and a list of what all loot drops. While all that is all well and good, this is not where the new features end. The interface will also give you a listing of what abilities each boss uses. That doesn't mean that you are given the strategy, but instead you'll be able to find out what things to look for during the encounter and react a little faster. You'll know if a debuff will be something that you must cleanse immediately or something that you'll be able to ignore for a moment while healing and then get to when you have a moment. These features will not only be for 5-man content, but will also be available in 10/25-man raids as well as heroic content. Their reasoning behind this is two-fold. First, a lot of players already tab out to check sites like Wowhead to find out loot and boss abilities. Secondly, when presented with a new dungeon a player doesn't have to have as many things explained by the dungeon guide. We'll see how this develops when 4.1.0 starts to get closer. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2010: Classic dungeon changes in patch 4.1
The liveblog of the Dungeons and Raids panel is still underway, but Cory Stockton (lead content designer) and Scott Mercer (lead encounter designer) mentioned a number of changes for classic world dungeons in Cataclysm's first big content patch, 4.1. So far, this is what we know: They're going to keep creating wings Utgarde Keep and Utgarde Pinnacle cited as an example of a successful split. They're similar dungeons thematically, but if players had to tackle them both together they'd be pretty arduous. Mr. Mercer had an amusing phrase for the whole venture: "I did a pass through all the older dungeons, and we're doing what I call Cutting Out The Suck." Graveyards are more convenient No more nightmare 10-minute runs back from a distant graveyard to the depths of a dungeon. They're expecting a lot of new players in Cataclysm and they don't want older dungeons to be a roadblock. "We don't want dungeons to be left behind in the redo, we want them to be up-to-par with everything else." Dungeon sections with pointless trash will be trimmed. They should be "Easier for players to understand (and) easier to navigate." Dungeons that are confirmed "fixes" so far Uldaman, Maraudon, Sunken Temple, Wailing Caverns and Blackrock Depths. Uldaman overhauls The dungeon is being split into two separate wings. Ironaya will be final boss of the first portion of Uldaman; they felt that the epic feel of assembling the staff and opening her room would be a good ending. The latter portion of Uldaman will be accessed through the existing back-door entrance. Maraudon overhauls Like Uldaman, it's being split into two: The "living" section and the elemental portion with the Princess. Sunken Temple overhauls One of the floors will be cut completely, although this is a change that will ship with Cataclysm rather than with patch 4.1 Wailing Caverns overhauls "Almost every boss has its own room now." Confusing portions have been cut. Blackrock Depths overhauls Teleporters added! BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2010: Patch 4.1 Firelands raid and Abyssal Maw dungeon
The Dungeons and Raids panel is now in Q&A mode, and Cory Stockton (lead content designer) gave us a lot of new information concerning what to expect when patch 4.1 goes live. I've assembled everything we know below: Firelands raid This is the elemental plane of fire and an outdoor raid located in Mount Hyjal. You'll be able to mount up and run around. The final boss will be Ragnaros, and you'll fight him in a building called Sulfuron Keep. Sulfuron Keep looks very similar to the building you'll see when you fly into Hyjal for the first time (and may in fact be the same one). The Firelands raid will provide more backstory and lore on Ragnaros' presence in Azeroth. I thought I heard that he won't be moved out of Molten Core (he'll be in both raids simultaneously) but I'm not 100 percent sure. Expect 7 bosses. The Abyssal Maw The elemental plane of water. A new 5-man in Vashj'ir thematically similar to the 5-mans shipping with Cataclysm. "Oh, and it's nothing Oculus." Players will be moving around a lot in the dungeon and they're doing their best to avoid the "Oculus effect" of quirky mechanics being unintentionally annoying. The entire dungeon will be underwater. They've overhauled underwater combat and you can fight normally if you're on the floor. Most of these mechanics are already in place in the beta Vashj'ir zone, so some players will already be familiar with it. They're planning on four or five bosses. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
