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The fate of Season 1 gear in Season 4
A lot of people -- including John, who asked us about this by email -- are a little confused about what's happening to Arena Season 1 gear when Season 4 goes live on June 24th. Season 1 gear for honor is being replaced by Season 2 gear, but at the same time, Eyonix has posted to say that they don't have plans to switch around the PvE tokens for PvP gear system implemented with patch 2.4. So wait, is Season 1 gear available during Season 4 or not? The answer is yes, but only from Tier 4 PvE tokens. When season 3 went live, as you will remember, Season 1 gear went over to Honor, and bumped the old level 70 High Warlord and Grand Marshal gear completely off the vendors. You could not longer get it. Likewise, when Season 2 gear moves to honor, it will completely knock off the Season 1 gear from the honor vendors, and you will no longer be able to purchase it for honor. However, if you have Tier 4 tokens, you'll still be able to head to the Isle of Quel'danas and turn them in for Season 1 Gladiator gear. If you want Season 2 Gladiator gear from PvE, you'll still have to turn in Tier 5 tokens from Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep. This might be Blizzard's attempt to keep the balance, although it seems like anyone with the ability to go take down Magtheridon for a Chestguard of the Fallen Hero could get Season 2 much easier and faster by grinding honor. It seems in this case that the dev team either felt that it wasn't worth it to go in and switch up the gear vendors or wanted to keep the amount of balance and challenge they implemented for the PvE token to PvP gear conversion. So is Season 1 gear going away? In short, no. You'll not be able to buy it for honor anymore, but you will be able to buy it with Tier 4 tokens.
Arena Season 4 set to begin on June 24th
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/World_of_Warcraft_Arena_Season_4_set_to_go_live_on_June_24th'; We were expecting it to take just a little while longer, but it looks like Blizzard surprised us. That's right, Arena junkies rejoice, and get ready to make the final push for your titles: Season 4 is on its way! Eyonix has just given the promised 2 weeks notice on the new season, and announced that it is now scheduled to begin on June 24th, 2008. As usual, teams will be allowed to keep any accumulated points, but all team and personal ratings will reset to 1500, and all titles from Season 2 will be removed. Also, the top rated teams from Season 3 will receive their titles, and for the very top, Armored Netherdrakes. It is also worth noting that this season will herald new Arena ratings requirements on most Season 4 gear, including many of the new honor rewards. In addition, Season 3's shoulder and weapon Arena rating requirements will drop slightly, all season 3 gear will cost fewer arena points, and the Season 2 gear will be purchasable for Honor. Season 1 gear will be gone forever (unless you buy it with T4 tokens, thanks Thorn), so buy it now if you want it for looks. This is also very likely to be the last season before WotLK comes out. There is still no word on what will happen to the gear after that - whether it will be discarded completely for new level 80 gear, or left as an option for people who prefer to stay at level 70 or do not buy WotLK. We'll keep you updated if the start date of Season 4 changes, or if any other news comes up, so keep it tuned here into Season 4 and beyond.
X3F TV -- Points>Life: Six Golden Stars
Each week, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hording in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game.This week Points>Life has been carjacked by Grand Theft Auto IV and we bring you a tip that is both hilarious and informative. Utilizing the easter egg found at the heart of the city, we show you how to nab the achievement for a surviving a 6-Star Wanted level for 5 minutes. Check this one out![iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 directly.
PTR is closed
Hortus just posted that the PTR server for patch 2.4.2 has been taken down, and that the PTR phase for the patch has ended. This is a strong indicator that patch 2.4.2 is on its way soon, perhaps during some expected maintenance tomorrow.Take a look at the official and un-official notes for a comprehensive look at what will change. Nothing in the patch is game-breaking, in my opinion, but there are some nice changes. Some of the major highlights include: Changes to the way arena points are calculated. Void Shatter no longer has a cooldown, and other cooldowns have been reduced. If you are sheeped / polymorphed by a mob, you will no longer gain back health (ie: the mass sheep in Aran, which regens your health before he fire blasts the raid). Many main hand weapons are now one hand weapons. WoW Insider will carry the latest on the patch, including as soon as we know when it's set to go live. Stay tuned!Edit 3:24 p.m. EDT: It should be noted that the final version of the patch notes have not been released yet, however they are usually close to what the PTR patch notes are.
X3F TV -- Points>Life: Perfecting Polarity
Each week, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hording in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game.This week marks our first venture into the XBLA points business with a tip that covers the recently released Ikaruga. Well, maybe tip is the wrong word. This week we're showing you the pattern to memorize that will help you get an A grade on the first level of the shoot-em-up.This one isn't easy to get, but watch the tutorial and you should be chaining enemies in no time.Music: "Mercy" by OURS[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 directly.
X3F TV -- Points>Life: You So Flippin' Crazy
Each week, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hoarding in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game. We heard the requests and have delivered! This week we bring you a tip for the Xbox 360 exclusive sand-box adventure, Crackdown. In Episode 3 of Points>Life we bring you tips on obtaining the Flippin' Crazy achievement in the best-selling action title. By driving your vehicle off a high rise tower you can grab an easy 30GP and if you're lucky you may be able to obtain a bonus achievement along the way! Music: "Chain Reaction" by 31Knots [iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes. [Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon). [RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [MP4] Download the MP4 directly.
Phat Loot Phriday: Vengeful Gladiator's Touch of Defeat
We haven't done a lot of PvP gear here (any, I think) on Phat Loot, but I figured this phat wand might be a good place to start.Name: Vengeful Gladiator's Touch of Defeat (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWWiki)Type: Epic WandDamage/Speed: 252-468 Fire / 1.90 (189.5 DPS)Abilities: +18 Stamina, +14 Intellect Improves your resilience rating by 14, which is standard for PvP arena gear -- anything to counteract those big crits. Increases damage and healing by magical spells and effects by up to 18. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but for a wand, it's pretty good. The big difference between this and the other PvP season 3 wand, the Piercing Touch, is that this one doesn't have spell penetration on it. The tradeoff is the Intellect, and a few damage points, so it's up to you. Higher end players might go for the penetration (that's the only way you can get past resistances), while a player who is in the Arenas only in between raids might grab this one. It's up to you. How to Get It: Like we've said, you need to play Arena PvP to grab this one. It's available from the Arena vendors for 1000 points, which doesn't require too long to get, as long as you're a good and steady player. Holding onto a 1500 rating in a 5v5 team will get you a little over 300 points a week, which means it'll take 3-4 weeks to gain this many points (and of course you've got to play 10 games a week and make sure you're playing a good percentage of the team's total battles).But there's another catch -- season 3 added personal and team requirements to purchase the weapons. So to actually buy this, not only do you need the points, but you need to have a personal and team rating of 1850 to buy it. You don't need to keep up that rating to keep the weapon, you just need that score when you buy it. Wrong. No rating needed for the wand. Never mind.Which gets us back to the reason why we stay away from PvP gear here on Phat Loot: no matter how much you covet this, if you're not a good player, it's not yours. In the future Arena seasons, we can expect this loot to come back down: next season it'll be cheaper, and the season after that it might even be available for BG honor and tokens. But right now, it's be good or go home for this high-end Arena gear.Getting Rid of It: Vendors won't buy it, and like most PvP gear, it doesn't disenchant. But you worked hard for that rating -- while you could destroy it if you happen to find a better wand in Northrend, you might as well keep it as a trophy of your winnings.
MS explains why you can't use exact change on XBL
We're going to be honest with you: We hate MS points. It's not because they're inconvenient, if anything, they're too convenient, and far too easy to spend. Whenever we get a mittful of them it's like when we go to another country where the money looks so dissimilar to our own that we just pretend all the bills are gift certificates. If we were paid in MS points, we would be broke in a week.One of the other (perhaps more concrete) issues that some users have is being forced to buy more points than they need, something that so annoyed 1UP's Patrick Klepek that he went out and found out why: "The reason why we do that, the core reason, is around credit card transaction fees," said Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg. "If we do this in bulk, we don't have to burden the consumer with the transaction fees, or ourselves or publishers."...OK, you win this round, Greenberg. Now, explain why points aren't worth a penny a piece, and we'll treat you to a (child's size) ice cream in a flavor of your choice.
How to calculate Arena Ratings and Points
If you've been playing arena PvP every week and wondering just how your rating translates into points, wonder no more. Our friend Boubouille has created a nifty and easy little Arena Rating calculator-- just punch in your ratings (or your points, if you want to know what rating you'll need to get a certain number of points, and hit calculate and you're set.The mathematical relationship is a little complicated (hence the reason for the calculator), but the rules of earning Arena Points aren't real hard to figure out-- every week, you earn points according to the highest team rating you've got. And a higher rating on 5v5 is worth more than 2v2, because 5v5 teams are harder to both fight and keep up with. This leads to a little bit of system gaming (and a lot of team jumping), but so far Blizzard has been fine with all of that-- they want 5v5 to become the most rewarding type of arena match, and they're willing to accept that you can often earn more playing 5v5 than 2v2, even if you lose.Unfortunately, the actual Arena Rating system is a little more complicated-- it's based off of a chess rating system called ELO (named after the guy who made it, Arpad Elo), and the rating of your opponent actually determines how your rating changes as you play. Unfortunately, with no way to tell who your opponent is before you play a match, it's extremely hard to figure out your rating depending on how many matches you play (players are generally saying that the fewer matches you play, the better, as the higher your rating gets, the more difficult opponents you face). But of course the best way to come out with both a great rating and lots of points is to, y'know, actually be good.
Win free MS points from TheMan661
TheMan661, otherwise known as simply Frank, is offering up 1600 Microsoft Points to a lucky commenter with his Show Me The Money Points Contest. All you have to do is post a comment with either email address in the appropriate (mandatory) field, or if you'd rather have him message you over Xbox Live, your gamertag as well. So, what are you waiting for? Go comment now! While you're there, check out his Xcast, it's worth a listen.
Coke runs out of DS, Wii rewards in four days
Coke drinkers love them some Nintendo, it seems. The newest phase of the My Coke Rewards customer loyalty program, which began on April 16, was sold out of all available Nintendo merchandise by April 20, according to the deal-watchers on slickdeals.net.Yes, that means that at least a few people managed to redeem the 3250 reward points needed for a Nintendo DS and the 6250 points for a Wii in less than four days. For those keeping score at home, that translates to 1084 bottles of Coke for the DS or 2084 bottles for the Wii. In four days. Are these people buying drinks for Army battalions or something?Slower drinkers needn't worry, though -- the DS and Wii reappeared on the rewards site yesterday afternoon, meaning that more people can pursue obesity and tooth decay as they pursue their Nintendo system of choice. God bless America.
Guitar Hero II song packs now Live, pricey
Good news: Just a week after the release of Guitar Hero II on the 360, a handful of songs from the original Guitar Hero have now become available as DLC on Xbox Live. Crappy news: You can pick up one of the three-song packs for the low, low price of ... $6.25! Hold on, we just choked on our picks.In exchange for 500 points you can get one of the following three clusters, for just over $2 per song: Pack 1: "Bark at the Moon," "Hey You," "Ace of Spades" Pack 2: "Killer Queen," "Take it Off," "Frankenstein" Pack 3: "Higher Ground," "Infected," "Stellar" Is that a fair price for songs that were released in 2005 and have already been played by a hojillion PS2 Guitar Hero fans? Or is that just the highest possible dollar figure that could be charged without causing people to involuntarily throw up on themselves? By this standard, the 48 songs of GH (selling for $40 new on PS2) would cost you just under $100 on Live. We'd make a joke that this a great way to repay people for selling them broken guitars, but we already know that it's Microsoft's hand on the insanity-dispensing Live pricing gun.
Losing 5v5 matches gives more arena points than winning 2v2
How much time have you all spent in the arenas so far? I've played a few skirmishes, but most of my time lately has been spent making my way up to 70. A friend and I had planned to roll a 2v2 arena team, but now I'm not so sure: the latest math done by players says that if you lose a 5v5 match, you actually earn more arena points than if you win a 2v2 match.Paladinsucks has the tip on this one: they link to this forum post by Darkhorse on Mannoroth that lays out the problem pretty well. Basically (and regular readers will know how bad I am at math), Blizzard has put a reduction to 60% on arena points earned from a 2v2 rating. The reason is because consider that it takes more skill to beat a 5man group than a 2man group. Here's the numbers crunch-- I'll be staying away from those, except to say that winning 10 arena games in 2v2 nets you only 335 arena points, while losing 10 5v5 games will still grant you 377 arena points. If gaining points is your goal, you're way better off messing around in 5v5 rather than clawing your way to the top through 2v2.Now, not everyone is after points necessarily-- Blizzard obviously wants the 2v2 people to do it for the glory, not the points. And Drysc does point out that these numbers are only after one week of winning or losing-- if you continue to win in 2v2, you'll get lots more points than losing in any bracket, while if you continue to lose in 5v5, your points will start to drop pretty precipitously. As for solutions, the current setup is "working as intended," but lots of players are asking for the points reduction on the 2v2 and 3v3 matches to be weakened-- 2v2 shouldn't be worth as much as 5v5, but it shouldn't be worth nothing. Whether or not Blizzard will go for that remains to be seen. Looks like I better find three more people and make a 5v5 team.
Stars, points and conversions
So, you folks over across the Atlantic pond, you have a bit of a step up on us statesiders. You know, except for those exorbitant prices. Anyway, when you purchase wonderful Nintendo products, you may redeem your purchases for "star points", which can then be used to obtain various wallpapers and doodads.Recently, Nintendo revealed that these star points would be redeemable for Virtual Console points, but the conversation rate was not yet specified. However, German mag N-Gamer has apparently uncovered the secret, and come up with a less than satisfying rate: 4 to 1. Since DS games are occasionally offered for around 4500 star points (DS games are typically around 45 Euros), that means approximately 100 star points per Euro. This amount of star points, under a 4:1 rate, would purchase 1125 VC points. If you simply used 45 Euros to purchase VC points directly, however, you could get over four thousand.Yeah, it sucks, but at least it's an option if you've got nothing else to grab. Be sure to grab it soon, too: Nintendo Europe has recently stated that star points have an expiration date of twelve months.
Wii Points cards are a no-go for Latin America
The good news: Wii channels will be available in Spanish. The better news? The only way to purchase Wii Points in Latin America will be via the Wii Shopping Channel -- they will not be available in stores. However, according to Melissa Wright, Nintendo's Manager of Sales and Marketing for Latin America, the reason for this decision is to keep consumers from paying higher prices. And despite the difference between console prices in the US and in Mexico, costs for points and Virtual Console games will be the same in both regions. [Via Go Nintendo]
Get MS Points for cheap at Buy.com
Grab 3200 Microsoft Points from Buy.com for only $31.53 (regularly $40) after using the Google Checkout option.It comes out to .98¢ cents a point, which is cheaper than MS's 1.25¢/pt. And every penny counts when you're paying for Lumines (again).[Thanks Fargo]
The interactive Wii cost calculator [update 2]
Let's face it: the true "price" of the Wii is nowhere close to two hundred and fifty dollars. It varies wildly from person to person, dependent on launch titles, extra controllers, and virtual console points. That's why some clever folks at N-sider.com have put together a lovely calculator for you, to determine how much you'll be spending come November. It gives accurate descriptions of all confirmed launch titles, and takes into account just about everything you could possibly desire ... except, unfortunately, an SD card. Still, with the limited number of Virtual Console titles at launch, the chances that you'll be needing a additional storage immediately are pretty slim. Check below for the entire Wii Fanboy staff's expected costs!Jason Wishnov - $476.94Extra controller w/nunchuk, classic controllerZelda: Twilight Princess, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz2000 Virtual Console pointsDavid Hinkle - $667.70Extra controller w/nunchukElebits, Excite Truck, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Red Steel, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Trauma Center: Second Opinion2000 Virtual Console pointsAlisha Karabinus - $635.90Extra controller w/nunchuk, classic controllerExcite Truck, Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Zelda: Twilight Princess2000 Virtual Console pointsNikki Inderlied - $558.99Extra controller w/nunchuk, classic controllerZelda: Twilight Princess, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbids500 Virtual Console pointsWhat are you guys spending? Let us know![Update 1: Added in Alisha's projected costs.][Update 2: Added in Nikki's projected costs.]
Finding achievement difficulty ratings now effortless
Wondering which achievements are easier than a drunk prom date and, conversely, which ones will drive you to the bottle? Achieve360points.com has added an achievement difficulty rating to every title in their sizeable database. Games are rated from "effortless" to "near impossible," with three thumb-busters, Bejeweled 2, Ridge Racer 6, and Smash TV, garnering the latter controller-crushing status. Editor Kerry is looking for feedback, so if you breezed through RR6 like it was nothing head over and say your piece. While you're at it, you can explain to the rest of us why the hell you were playing Ridge Racer to begin with.
And the Xbox Live grand total is...
We've said it before and we'll say it again: Xbox Live has come a long way since the launch of the 360. Content was few and far between back then. But now, with downloads in the millions, it's evident that gamers are hard pressed not to find something worth downloading or buying on the network.For an interesting perspective on how much content floods Xbox Live now, just take a look at the total cost it would run you to purchase it all! With some of the stuff duplicated the actual total is a bit lower, but even so, $957.38 is still pretty hefty. That's 76,590 points for everyone else.
