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The Road to Mordor: Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch!
Major patch weeks are always a great deal of fun in Lord of the Rings Online as everyone digs into the new content, looks for hidden gems, and goes on grand new adventures. As much as I appreciate most everything in this week's Echoes of the Dead update, I have to say that, hands-down, the additional outfit slots made me the happiest. Yes, I'm weird, but I can't be the only one who had an inner squeal of joy when Turbine announced that it was going to expand (via the store) the number of outfit spots from two to five. I've always, always loved the outfit system in this game as a way to give my characters a unique and aesthetically pleasing look versus having to stare at the mismatched armor they seem to pick up along the way. In celebration of the additional outfit slots, I wanted to finally dig into the outfit system and look at the basics of Middle-earth fashion: where you get these pieces, how colors come into play, and where you might go for inspiration. So let's put on our finest frippery and strut the catwalk, ladies and gentlemen! (I promise, next week I'll be much more manly. Probably.)
The Light and How to Swing It: Prot and ret paladin addons
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Please send screenshots as well as any comments to my email at gregg@wow.com. In recent news, yet another Sanctuary talent bug has been hotfixed. I'm really starting to get annoyed at this wonderful talent that keeps us crit-immune. This time, the issue was that it would de-talent itself for players under level 30 when they logged off, zoned, changed continents, etc. This should now be fixed, for those of you who've been leveling new tauren paladins as protection. As far as the column this week goes, we're talking about addons. From holy power tracking to gear swapping to buff reminders (like the one shown above), there are a lot of things that can make our day-to-day dungeon running a lot easier. These aren't the only addons for each solution (and I hope our commenters will point out any good ones I missed), but they're a few of the more popular, and each has its own features and limitations.
Gear changers for dual spec
A few weeks ago, when it looked like Oufitter was dead and Blizzard's Equipment Manager was on the way, I did a rundown of some alternatives to Outfitter. Now patch 3.1 is here, dual spec is upon us, and the situation is reversed: Outfitter is still in action, and Equipment Manager is not (yet). As a gear switcher makes dual spec even easier, I thought it would be helpful to do a quick rundown of support for dual specs in the various gear switchers that are out there. Outfitter fully supports dual specs, letting you select gear sets to automatically swap into when you activate your primary or secondary talents (see screenshot). For ItemRack, you can set up a custom event to switch gear when you switch specs. ClosetGnome can do it with the SwapSpecs plugin. WardrobeAL doesn't seem to have particular support for dual spec. For users who don't already have a favorite gear switcher, I recommend Outfitter for dual-spec purposes; it's quite easy to use, and has dual-spec capabilities built in. Are there any other good options out there I'm missing?
Outfitter not discontinued after all
Once upon a time, Mundocani created Outfitter, and it was good, and lots of people used it, and there was general rejoicing. Then Blizzard released their new addon policy, prohibiting selling addons and asking for donations in-game, and many addon writers thought that was not so good. Mundocani pulled his addons from public distribution in protest, as did some other authors. This was sad, even if I did seize the moment to write about some other mods that did the job. Now it has been brought to my attention (thanks, nadewow) that Mundocani is both continuing development on Outfitter and returning it to public distribution (i.e. Curse and WoW Interface). His stated reasoning for this latest move is that "Blizzard isn't going to respond to the concerns raised by the community, which puts things at a stalemate," and he doesn't want to punish users for what he sees as Blizzard's mistakes. In short: Outfitter is coming back (this goes for GroupCalendar too, by the way). Yay! That news is especially welcome because we won't be seeing the Blizzard Equipment Manager in 3.1 as we had expected to. While we wait for them to be posted back to the addon sites, you can get a copy of either mod at the author's forums (registration required).
Equipment Manager will not be in 3.1
It looks like Noblegarden started a trend: the Equipment Manager, Blizzard's answer to Outfitter et al., is being delayed and will not be included as part of the upcoming patch 3.1. The cited reason is that "certain issues were encountered...that could not be resolved in time" to be included with the patch, and they would rather delay to "ensure that this feature meets our standard of quality." Does this mean the patch is coming pretty soon? One can only hope. This is especially disappointing with dual spec coming as a major feature in the patch, and with Outfitter's author pulling the mod from distribution; people will be needing ways to switch sets quickly more than ever. Fortunately, Addon Spotlight has you covered - come on over and read all about some alternatives to Outfitter. Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
Addon Spotlight: Alternatives to Outfitter
Every weekend (ish), Addon Spotlight takes a look at the little bits of Lua and XML that make our interfaces special. From bar mods to unit frames and beyond, if it goes in your Addons folder, we'll cover it here. The addon world is currently abuzz with reactions to Blizzard's new addon policy (briefly: you can't charge for addons or solicit donations for them in-game). I'm not going to go there in this column, since it's been pretty well covered around the blogosphere and in any case I don't want to ignite a flame war. However, I do want to talk about an issue related to the developments surrounding the new addon policy. The author of Outfitter (and GroupCalendar) has chosen to cease publishing those addons (in protest, asapparently). I rely on Outfitter on all of my characters, and I'll be sad to see it go. But if it isn't going to be updated any more, it's time to start looking for replacements.
Addon devs respond to Blizzard UI policy changes
Blizzard dropped a bombshell on the addon community last Friday with their new addon policies (among a few other clarifications, addon developers can no longer charge for their addons or even ask for donations in-game), and developers are reeling. Already, the creator of the popular QuestHelper has responded on his changelog, saying that the addon is "dead." He says that he has tried to get donations without having an ingame link, it doesn't work, and that without any money coming in, he doesn't see any reason to keep the addon in development. Likewise, the developer of Outfitter has pulled his addon from the usual outlets, saying that he "will no longer add value to the World of Warcraft" and that Blizzard is trying to "continue a system of treating addon developers as if their time and products are worthless."Blizzard may not be too worried about Outfitter -- they're planning to add an official Equipment Manager into the game soon (and Tobold makes a point that Blizzard may want addons to be worthless). As far as we've heard, there's no word from the folks behind Carbonite yet -- there's lots of speculation on their forum, but we've contacted them to try and get an official statement. They are the addon that's believed to have kicked this all off -- they were actually charging (and holding up full time jobs) for their addon, and word is going around that Blizzard released these new policies to put the kibosh on them.We'll have to wait and see on the long term policies of these changes -- a few developers have already called for a strike, though who knows how successful an idea like that would be. We'll definitely see a few devs hold back from working on their addons, but it's unlikely changes like these will shut down the community completely.
WoW Insider interviews Tom Chilton
A couple of days ago at the midnight release of Wrath of the Lich King in Anaheim, CA, our very own Dan O'Halloran had an opportunity speak with Tom Chilton (also known as Kalgan), Lead Game Designer of World of Warcraft. They spoke on a wide variety of topics, from raid philosophy to the growth of the game in North America and many things in between. Read on to see what Kalgan had to say!WoW Insider: What did Blizzard think was the most surprising class development of The Burning Crusade? Did you think Paladin tanks would be as popular as they were, did you anticipate the Druid supremacy in the arena?
Essential addons for Patch 3.0.2 [Updated x6]
Let's take a look at what addons are working for patch 3.0.2. First a simple rule taken from the UI forums post done by Kaydeethree: "Any 'Wrath beta' compatible mod will work in 3.0.2." With that said, there is a long and comprehensive listing of 3.0.2 compatible addons over on WoWWiki. But the fun doesn't end there. The next step is obtaining all those new addons. I've compiled a large set of the essential addons and linked to at least one direct download source after the break. Each download source is either trusted beyond doubt – or tested and confirmed to be virus free. Finally, you'll want to combine the addons into a nice looking UI. Check out our special edition of Reader UI of the Week for a look at five complete 3.0.2 compatible UIs. We're posting this list now, and will continue to update it throughout the day. Begin your addon downloads as quickly as possible to avoid hangups later in the day when download servers become overloaded.
Patch 3.1 and beyond, a look at what's after Wrath
Looking for the latest patch 3.1 information? Check out WoW Insider's Guide to Patch 3.1!We've got the hot pre-Wrath patch 3.0.2 coming soon, with the much-anticipated Wrath of the Lich King storming along in mid-November. But the game doesn't stop there. Blizzard's already planning for the time after Arthas stomps his kicky, icy little boots into Northrend. The big-MVP-on-campus Schwick has already started building his "what we know" thread for 3.1 and beyond. I'll grant that what we know right now is a little slim, and doesn't include the myriad of buffs and nerfs we should expect after the expansion. Schwick -- and WoW Insider -- will keep you updated as more information becomes available. For now, after Wrath releases, we're already expecting: Icecrown Citadel -- A raid instance for groups to explore, this will be released after Wrath's initial live date. A built-in Outfitter -- The ability to organize your gear in convenient, logical, and easy-to-swap functionality. Now you're in tank gear, and then one second later, now you're in DPS gear! Guild Bank upgrades -- Better controls and organization for the often-ninja-plagued Guild banks. Personally customized tabards -- The ability to create your own, personal tabard. Of course, there's a lot of stuff on the "to-do" list that isn't necessarily going to be put in 3.1. Dance studios, cross-server chat functions, and account-based achievements, to name a few.
Shifting Perspectives: A Feral Druid's Advice on Karazhan Part 1
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them. This week John Patricelli, the Big Bear Butt Blogger, tries to roll a bunch of feral druid advice together to help new druids get up to speed in Karazhan. "Hi, I'm Windshadow, and I'm a Feral Druid." This is a statement of pride, not of shame. I am absolutely, now and forever, a feral Druid, unable to be restrained or 'tamed'... although I'm aware some folks suffer from a case of wishful thinking. In the past, I've released a bunch of articles about gearing up for Karazhan. Breaking them up by spec like I did, I'm afraid some folks might get the wrong idea about how we play our class. The assumption may be that only one of those sets is important to you... if you are a feral Druid, you only need a bear tanking set, for example. Even some of those that play Druids may start to think, we have only one fixed role in a run. That's not the impression I wanted to give.
How many outfits do you have?
Alex recently talked about the lack of bag space for the hybrid class. This is quite true for them, as they have a hard time with the near infinite amount of bag space that is demanded of them. However looking at the non-hybrid classes, in particular a warrior, it can be seen that they too have their own issue of sorts. For an end game tank, it becomes less of an issue of actual bag space, and more of an issue of the limitless combinations of gear. Most tanks swear by outfitter – a tool that allows you to quickly change around pre-saved outfits. For instance, say I'm going to be tanking the nature phase of Hydross. Before even setting foot in SSC, I would have spent an hour or so making sure I had all the necessary gear, stats, and configurations that Hydross requires. A good part of this time would be spent getting all those gearing changes into an easy to use outfitter profile – so I would just have to click one button to wear the gear.Of course, that's resistant gear and it's expected that there'll have to be a bunch of switching of it. However, the gear switching doesn't end there.
BigRedKitty: Patch 2.4 AddOns
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.The technology wonks in the BRK Copyright-Violation, Trademark-Theft, and Patent-Infringement Squad were let out of their cells and set loose upon several WoW addon developers' servers and code. The reports they've returned are staggering in number, detail, graphic violence, and lewdness. It would seem that, to be a WoW addon developer, one must have a brilliant mind, a single-mindedness of purpose, and a truly disturbing love of cheese and cheese-like products.We'd go into more detail, but this is a family web site. /shudder. But aside from the high-cholesterol levels in the blood tests our spies sent to us, we've also become privy to what those coders have been doing. Golly gee but they have been putting in some really long hours and have come up with some truly fabulous ideas! What great updates can we expect for our favorite addons for Patch 2.4? Holy cow, you're not going to believe it!
Breakfast Topic: Should vanity gear be implemented in the game?
There's been some talk as of late on the topic of having vanity gear in WoW, or gear that is just for looks and separate from the gear you wear for stats. It's even come up in our very own WoW Insider Show. The idea is that you have one set of gear that affects your character, and another set that is what people see. A couple other games are doing it, and mixed thoughts aside, there are rumblings of this feature possibly coming to Azeroth.My personal take is that it's a horrible idea. I think having epic gear look good and not so epic gear look not good is all part of the motivation for me to get epic gear. But instead of just being a nay sayer, I've thought up a simple solution.A lot of players are already carrying a separate set in their bags for vanity purposes. There are all kinds of great add-ons (like Outfitter) that allow you to swap all your clothes at the click of your mouse. I like this. I think this suits game play better from a role playing perspective. When you're out in the middle of Netherstorm, you're gonna wear the best gear you got to protect yourself, but when you arrive in Stormwind, you wouldn't trudge around in your armor. You'd get some stylin' city clothes on before you hit the pub.Blizzard had mentioned plans of bringing Outfitter functionality to the game as a standard feature way back at Blizzcon for raiding purposes. Wouldn't it be great if they integrated vanity features as well? They could give us options to automate gear swapping based on what zone we're in or what day of the week it is!So what do you think? Should vanity gear come to WoW or does it kill gear progression?
Official Vanguard site encourages fledgling crafters with tradeskill guide
A tradeskill guide has been posted to Vanguard's VGPlayers website, which explains for those who are just starting the game, or who never got around to crafting earlier, how to embark upon the road of their chosen profession. To get started started with crafting, you'll need to visit a starting city and talk to a Crafting Advisor. From there, you'll have a choice to make on which path you'll take (Artificer, Blacksmith, Outfitter), and this initial choice will affect your options later on when you advance to your final crafting class.The guide also gives a few suggestions of some mobs that can be killed for experience, and then harvested for crafting materials as well. It really is a guide intended for beginner's though, and probably the best part of it is the link to Vanguard Crafters. The forums at this site are home to many enthusiastic crafters and a ton of information is already posted. Before you even choose a crafting path, it's a good idea to do some research at these forums to see if it's the right choice for you.[Via MMORPGDot]
Are you an addon addict?
We've covered alt-aholics, recipe completists and non-combat pet collectors, but Phaelia of the Resto4Life Druid blog has a different kind of addiction: addons. Using WoWAce Updater she was forced to realize that excluding the ones that come with the game, she has a grand total of 115 addons installed. That's a lot of bells and whistles.She has taken it upon herself to cut down her addon list to what is really necessary. After all, load in and zoning times are important, too. After deleting some that were rendered obsolete by recent patches, some that weren't that great after all and some she couldn't remember what they even did, she got down to 79. Yikes.I recently got a new rig so I have very few addons going right now. But I do have to clean out my Interface folder on my old rig which I still play on. One addon for sure I couldn't live without though is Outfitter which automatically switch gear sets between Druid forms.Does your addon folder need spring cleaning? What addons can you simply not live without? Are you an addon addict or an addon newbie?
LotRO dev chat is silent on new info
Stratics hosted another developer chat, this time with the Lord of the Rings Online staffers. The topic was Book 12, but unfortunately not much was revealed that we didn't already learn in the LotRO German dev chat earlier this month. Without the class developer on hand, all Guardian and Burglar revamp questions were deflected. As were most other inquiries. It seems that the developers couldn't answer many questions at all. But here is the little that I was able to glean from them.Housing improvements in Book 12 include being able to use Bound items for decoration and house items will be able to be rotated on their hooks. There is also a "high likelihood" that alts will be able to use the recall to home feature of other characters on the same account.
WoW Digger now offers manual equipment upload
Early in the week, we profiled some new features at WoW Digger. The item database site is expanding into quest and faction tracking as well as equipment comparison and wishlists. Until now, getting your character set up on their site required installing their executable program. With all the keylogger activity of late, many interested players were wary of running any executable on their machine.WoW Digger has come through with a non-executable method of getting your character info into their system. When you create an account on the site, you can tell it to pull your profile off of the Armory instead. Then you can go crazy with the equipment comparison.This method, however, won't collect your current quest list or track your faction levels. And those two features are the two I enjoy the most. I personally feel this site is legitimate and will be using their executable to get the most out of it.
