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The Art of War(craft): Battleground Achievements part II
Last week we took a look at some of the Battlegrounds Achievements that can be unlocked in Wrath of the Lich King and examined how they could change the game for the better. Goal-oriented Battlegrounds PvP is certainly something to look forward to in this age of mindless fighting in the mid-field or roads. Having Achievements certainly make it prone to the glory hounds, but it also helps to keep everyone's eyes on the prize.Eye of the StormBecause it's a new Battleground not associated with any faction (which makes me feel like I'm not fighting for anything worthy), there's no reputation to be gained and no associated gear to be obtained. This means that there are virtually no retroactive Achievements for the Eye of the Storm. There is the basic Achievement of Eye of the Storm Victory, which all but the most hapless and luckless of combatants will get. There is the Eye of the Storm Veteran iteration, which requires 100 wins in the Battleground. Not quite as easy to get, but most of us will get there eventually.
TUAW Tip: a shortcut to the Character Palette
I'm not the world's most patriotic Englishman, and I'm also not keen on allowing icons to fill up my Mac's menu bar unless strictly necessary. That's why I don't let the Input Menu flag hog space up there; one of the first things I do on a fresh Mac system is remove it (by unchecking the "Show input menu in menu bar" box in the Input Menu tab of the International preferences pane). That said, there are occasions when I wish I had quick access to the Character Palette - which can normally only be reached via the Input Menu. Grrr. Which is why I dug around online to find a script that would call up the Character Palette for me, and saved it as an application, and Bob's your uncle. Now I can get to the Character Palette, via Spotlight, by typing "Command+Space CHAR return". Excellent. You can get the script from this page on Mac OS X Hints. Click the "Get this script" thingy and it will open in Script Editor. Click Compile, then Run, just to check it does what you want - then Save As... an app, or a script if you prefer.
Gamers on the Street: Who's winning AV and WSG now?
Gamers on the Street logs onto U.S. servers to get the word from the front on what's going on in and around the World of Warcraft.I'll admit it: I haven't hit the Sunwell yet. My new main is a fresh 70 ("virgin" might be an appropriate word to describe her, except that – well, I PvP), and my guildies and I are simply overwhelmed with the number of things on our to-do lists right now. None of us is much interested in braving the crowds to see the new content; we'll get there once the furor has died down. But 2.4 introduced more than just the Sunwell – we've got AV and WSG "fixes" in action! Did the fixes really fix these BGs? I have my own thoughts about AV (fine before, fine now; lots of imbalances still, but they don't prevent me from winning most instances when my team is with me), but I haven't had the time yet to get into WSG. Ever curious, I popped in on Wildhammer realm to chat with some of the folks gathered 'round the battlemasters and get their impressions.
What to do about perpetual losers?
Many Alliance players have this impression that the Horde is constantly united, more cooperative, and generally understands how to play better than the Alliance does. Whether this is true or not is not something I myself can speak for, though I have heard my Horde friends say they have just as many clueless PvP people as the Alliance does. So perhaps both factions can relate to Mendax's complaint that so many people seem to go into the battlegrounds with no idea how to win, and somehow fail to learn how, even in spite of playing a great deal and getting a lot of good gear. Their tendency is just to go in and lose over and over again, repeating the same old proven-to-fail methods for various reasons: possibly because they don't know anything better, possibly because they don't care anymore, and possibly because they've already identified themselves, their faction, or everyone else in their faction as born losers.In any case, Mendax thinks that Blizzard should make the battlegrounds themselves reward you for better play, so that the game mechanics themselves encourage you to play in such a way that you're more likely to actually win. First of all, they could provide more honor for kills near contested objectives (such as flags or towers), and secondly, they could deny all bonus honor if you lose. His first idea quite interesting -- I like the possibility that the reward system of the battlegrounds could somehow teach you to play better in itself, if that's really possible. However, while I can understand his reasoning in removing all bonus honor gain for losing teams, I think this would just make the "losers" stop queueing up altogether. We might be happy to get rid of whiners, complainers and all them, but in the end would the increase the waiting time in between battles be worth it? And in any case, would the "losers" really go away, or would they just look for ways to get around the system?
New details on the future of user content in PotBS emerge
Many people have wanted to get involved and enjoy Pirates of the Burning Sea's user-submitted content system, but as things currently work, the turnaround time between submitting a flag or sail design and actually being able to purchase it in game has left something to be desired. Thankfully, Flying Lab Software realized that this situation needs fixing, and have announced that User Content 2.0 is on the way.This re-haul of the user content submission process changes the way that player's designs are voted on and approved. Other players will be shown two different designs at a time, and will have to choose which one they think is better/more appropriate to the time. After a design receives a certain amount of winning votes, it goes off to be approved by FLS. To be able to submit more designs, players need to spend some time in the voting process, so there's incentive to do the sorting work. Some other changes to how you can show off your work in the forums are also detailed in the User Content 2.0 announcement.We haven't been told when exactly the new system will be in place, but for now the old process is still in use. Don't forget that if you're that little bit more adventurous, you can submit a 3D ship model as well, and if this intrigues you then check out the Shipwright Discussion forum -- you'll be in good company.
Around Azeroth: Bored in WSG
Playing defense in a battleground can be a dull task as battles are won and lost across the battleground, but only occasionally touch key defense points. And this screenshot? It's the calm before the storm. (Or, the dull, tedious waiting before the storm.) Clover from Barthilas, who sent us this shot, explained that he hoped we would like it -- or perhaps he was just bored guarding the flag.Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!
Apple flag for sale on eBay
After we posted that neon Apple sign a little while back, reader Franco thought we'd get a kick out of this Apple flag for sale on eBay, and he was right. The best news is that right now, it's sitting pretty at only $10 (reserve not yet met, though) flying upwards-- what are you TUAW readers, rich?-- so you could own a little piece of Apple history for cheap.As for dating it, the page says the 80s. No mention of Macintosh might put it before 1984, but that's just a guess-- Apple IIs were known as the first "personal computers" and those were made all the way up until the early 1990s. I really love those fonts, though, and of course the rainbow logo is a classic.
GalleryPlayer goes patriotic with free digital American Flag
GalleryPlayer is getting ready for the 4th of July and wants to give you a digital American Flag along other classic American icons. You remember GalleryPlayer right? They turn your HDTV into an art masterpiece through their PC based software. Normally each piece of digital art costs two dollars or around 20 bucks for the whole collection, but not for the American flag set. Oh goodness no. We are positive that they are giving this classic American icon away with no alternative motives - just pure American pride. So if displaying the American flag on one of you most prized possessions sounds like a great plan, this might just be for you. We can tell you that we will download and display it only if the anti-Broadcast Flag amendment won yesterday.[via LetsGoDigital]
NewsMac Pro 1.2.3 is awesome, NNW beware
As you might remember, NewsMac Pro 1.2 brought some nice enhancements when it landed last November. Even though this latest version is just a .0.3 update, I think this app is finally maturing into a serious reader, and I also hope the NetNewsWire people are paying attention to what Rory Prior is doing with this most excellent of newsreaders.This latest version brings typical things like bug fixes and new features to the table, but I think a couple of the most important new options are a new view (now a total of 4) for arranging your feeds and headlines, as well as more keyboard support for moving between groups, feeds and headlines. While using the keyboard isn't nearly as smooth as it is in NetNewsWire, NewsMac Pro is getting there, and I hope more users submit requests to move this feature up Rory's priority list. Most serious folks I know who use RSS apps barely touch their mouse while they're in the app, and I think it would serve NewsMac Pro well to gain this ability ASAP.A couple other big strengths NewsMac Pro has are flagging headlines with different colors based on user-defined keywords, as well as an iTunes-style built-in podcast player, so you can keep everything under one roof, if you so desire.With all this great stuff coming to life in NewsMac Pro, it certainly isn't still without its shortcomings. The demo casts off a time limit in return for allowing a user to add only 10 feeds. I cannot stress enough how bad of an idea this is, as I would imagine anyone looking at an RSS app like this is going to have far, far more than 10 feeds in their OPML (which reminds me: NewsMac Pro fortunately supports OPMLs with groups). The other clunky thing is the way feed and group updating is defined. You can specify different update intervals (30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) for each group of feeds, which is certainly nice for some uses, but I can't find a way to specify any kind of a default for the app as a whole.All things considered, I think NewsMac Pro is a great newsreader that includes some very appealing innovations in the world of RSS reading and organzing. If you're in the market for a great way to keep track of all your favorite sites and blogs, head over and pick up a demo. If it really floats yer boat, a full license costs a mere $24.95.
