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TurpsterVision : Warhammer proves you don't need a hoe to grow
I wont bore you all with words and phrases strung together to create some form of coherence, instead I will jump right back in! I am extremely proud to invite you once more to join in with the fun right here at Massively that is TurpsterVision!As you are undoubtedly aware, Warhammer Online hit the shelves last week; and with it brought a whole new level of awesome to the MMO playing field. Right here on the site we have spoken of the joys of Public Quests, Realm Vs. Realm and a whole host of other goodies.I have chosen to just focus on a couple of elements that caught my eye this week and I guess we'll have a more in-depth look at the game in the near future. But for now, grab your Spade or Garden Fork and join me in what could quite possibly be the most bloody battle yet...Cultivating!
Interesting items in the data files
I've been looking through the Wowhead latest additions page, and found some interesting-looking things. Caveat: some of these are probably datamined, we may never see them in game, etc. Still, it's fun to look at. Intravenous Healing Potion. This does the same thing as Mage-summoned Conjured Mana Strudel (except for the whole group), and shares a cooldown with food. Despite the name, I'd say this is not meant to be used in combat. And based on the medical-themed name, I'd say it's probably going to be created via First Aid. Wintergrasp Commendation. Apparently bought with marks from Wintergrasp; the interesting thing here, of course, is that these are bind to account (BtA), so you can effectively PvP on one character and send honor to another. Does this open the door for my much-coveted BtA badge-type tokens? I hope so. Ghostly Skull. This small pet is apparently sold in Dalaran for 40g, and it looks awesome, in my opinion (see screenshot above -- the skull is in the top-left corner). I will be getting one as soon as possible on my DK. Tacky? Maybe. But I don't care. I like that Blizzard is going in a lot of different directions in LK; this really seems like more innovation than it was from classic to BC, from items to class skills to world environment. I'm sure there's more cool stuff that I've overlooked. Have you come across anything interesting, either in the beta or on the various sites?
It's gettin' silly in the underbelly
Tipster Dinnerbone threw us a bone (sorry, couldn't resist) by sending us information on the starting-to-bustle Underbelly of Dalaran. Whereas old builds of the Wrath Beta saw very little in this part of the magical city, the latest build revealed little changes that indicate that the Underbelly could very well shape up to be the funner side of Dalaran.For one thing, the bottles that used to be scattered all over the place were once low-level potions but were now called Underbelly Elixirs. Drinking one -- and you really should be careful about drinking magical concoctions found discared in the sewers -- can create three known effects. One effect turns the imbiber into a wasp, which is pretty cool except that Dalaran itself is a no-fly zone and instantly zaps the user back into her original form. Using it in the Underbelly lets the player buzz around as a wasp for ten minutes, though.
Forum post of the day: Dueling debate
Like any other form of PvP, you either love dueling or you hate it. Dueling is a great way to learn how to maximize abilities and test combos and macros. There are very few established guidelines for how to appropriate ly duel. Borkovic of Caelestraz asked in the official forums if it is acceptable to heal in a duel. Fliara of Terenas stated that protocols vary depending on server and faction, and suggested that rules should be established beforehand. The first response, by Mlcho of Kirin Tor who takes an "all's fair in love and Warcraft" approach, was met with considerable agreement throughout the thread: Use everything in your power to produce a win. Who cares if you use a pot? Who cares if you bandage? If they whine, it's because they weren't prepared.
New bear animations for eating and fishing discovered
Everyone knows that bears are actually pretty good fishermen, but for some reason Ferals have to shift back out of form and use a pole like everyone else. That may be changing, however. Andrige, the same person who bought us the new data-mined Hairstyles, has discovered the animations showcased in the above video, which point to the possibility of more life injected into the old Druid Feral forms. One animation called EmoteEat shows the bear bracing a piece of food against the ground with his paw while tearing off a chunk with his teeth, while another is a fishing animation where the bear looks to be pawing at the water, waiting to slap out a fish. The other exciting thing in the video is the possibility of a closed mouth on my bear! Do you know how many flies he's caught with that constantly open mouth of his? I logged onto my Druid on the Beta servers to check on the status of the animations. While you can now eat, drink and use potions in Feral forms on Beta, there are still no animations associated with the act (You simply sit down while eating). In addition, you can't fish at all in Feral forms (Trying to cast my line put me back in Night Elf form). Unfortunately, the fact that these animations haven't been implemented yet does lead me to a bit of pessimistic thought: They simply be meant for bear mobs, and not for Feral bears at all. Blizzard's been adding a lot of cool little idle animations to mobs, such as mama beasts who flush out critters for their cubs to chase and eat, so this may simply be one more set. Still, since they exist, they could easily be added on to the Feral bear's animation list in a future patch even if they aren't originally meant for Ferals. Here's hoping we see them there!
The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing up your Retadin for Karazhan part IV
Alright. Let's call a spade a spade. I nubbed last week's installment by putting down Agility as a stat. Agility is good -- still not a Retadin's primary strength (pun intended), but definitely part of the equation. An informative article can be found on WoWWiki comparing Strength to Agility and determining the point where investing points in Agility gives better DPS returns than investing in Strength. Unlike Rogues or Hunters, who will never reach a point where Strength gives better returns, there is a certain point for Paladins (or Shamans and Warriors, for that matter) where it becomes better to invest in Agility. It's quite a bit of math, but suffice it to say that the equilibrium point is pretty high and not achievable by a fresh 70 gearing up for Karazhan. I also dismissed Expertise (pfft, why make one mistake when you can make two!), a new stat introduced in Patch 2.3, which reduces the chance a mob will Dodge or Parry your attacks. If you can manage it, you should always attack from behind, negating Parry to begin with, but barring that, Expertise is a good stat to pursue after you're Hit capped. In fact, as some readers pointed out, the Shard of Contempt is the best melee DPS trinket in the game right now as it prevents even yellow, or special, attacks from being Dodged or Parried. With all the technical stuff out of the way, let's move on to the last part of this series, where we'll take a look at all the permanent enchants, gems, and even consumables that you'll need to do a good job in Karazhan.
Azeroth's new plague, Potion Sickness
Bad (good?) news for Alchemists and the people that love (hate?) them. The latest Beta build has introduced something called Potion Sickness. The tooltip reads as follows: "Unable to consume potions until you rest out of combat for a short duration."In other words, you can drink one potion per encounter. The debuff itself has absolutely no duration. It sticks on you until you drop combat. This is largely meaningless to the casual player, but what it will do to raiding will be rejoiced as well as reviled. Alchemists are going to take a huge hit to their income if this goes live. Yeah yeah, I know most Alchemists will say their profit is from Herbalism, but after seeing the insane prices on Haste Potions, Super Mana Potions and Flasks, I beg to differ.
What's brewing in Northrend
I love you, WotlkWiki, I really do. First you bring us specifics on Inscription, and now we get the effects of the new potions, elixirs, and flasks that your friendly neighborhood alchemist will be cooking up in the frosty north. We got all the names for these items a few days ago, along with details on the transmutations (I'll take any excuse to make a pretty diagram), but the effects of them had not yet come to light, until now. There's nothing stunning, I'm afraid; more like some nice upgrades to current favorites. But I certainly expect be popping flasks and pots in Naxx at least as much as I currently am in Zul'Aman. Anyway, let's see what we've got. I'll compare to the BC or old-world versions where appropriate.
All about alchemy in the beta
Seeing as how Alchemy is not yet officially implemented in the Wrath beta, we don't know all of what's in store for the masters of elixirs, flasks, potions, and transmutation. However, we can get some idea, given that the spells themselves seem to be in the game files, so we know the names of some alchemy spells and products, if not their actual effects (though some recipes are easy enough to guess). Flask of Endless Rage Flask of Pure Mojo Flask of Stoneblood Flask of the Frost Wyrm
Harry Potter paves the way for bartending on the Wii
Who would ever think of Hogwarts as a glorified bartending school? Well, Jason Cipriano from MTV Multiplayer, for one. After getting his hands on the Wii's upcoming Harry Potter title, he was impressed with the potion-mixing minigame portion of the demo. The game works as you might imagine; simply enough, you tilt the Wiimote downward as if you were pouring liquids. The key is in applying the right amount of force to the motion, otherwise your potion might explode (making the new Potions teacher, Horace Slughorn, none too happy). There are some other motion-controlled mixing actions you have to perform as well, to keep the minigame from feeling too basic.Harry Potter aside, though, Cipriano points out that this type of liquid mixing gameplay could work well in a title like Cooking Mama, where Mama kicks back with a few G & Ts, or perhaps even an original bartending title. Imagine a game like Order Up!, only instead of pleasing customers in a restaurant, you had to serve your patrons drinks. We think we could dig it, though we're not sure Nintendo would be so keen. Then again, we are seeing a Beer Pong game come to WiiWare sometime in the future, so you never know.
Forum Post of the Day: To each according to his need
It seems the vast majority of drama we've heard regarding guild banks comes from ninja schemes and disgruntled members. Vaela of Hyjal expressed her exasperation with guild banks in the Guild Relations forum. She feels that there is an imbalance between players who donate resources to the guild bank and those who make the most withdrawals. The original poster asked for suggestions on systems to fairly distribute guild bank resources. The responses focused on cooperation and reciprocity with the guild bank. The purpose of the guild bank is to fun the guild's activities and exchange objects of value. In the end, the system comes off as a communist type of public ownership arrangement, as opposed to the free trade system that rules the auction house. To quote Karl Marx, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need." Communism as we've known it has largely failed, most likely because people don't fully buy into the system.
The Darkmoon Faire is in town
It's June 9th, and it's the time of the month for the Darkmoon Faire set up camp again. This time, they're stationed in Elwynn Forest, just outside of Goldshire. If you're looking for stuff to do at the Faire, or have never figured out just what it's all about, you're in luck. You can check out WoW Insider for all you need to know about getting the most out of the Faire. Check our Darkmoon Faire card deck guide for information on all the powerful trinkets you can pick up, and to find out if one of them is right for you. Check out our Darkmoon Faire ticket system guide for information on how to turn that tradeskill junk cluttering up your bank into fabulous prizes. Check out Alex's Gallery of a day at the faire to see all the fun you can have just hanging out, from food and drink to fortune telling to Tonks. Also, be sure to check if Professor Paleo or Lhara over at the exotic goods booth have any of their more valuable items up for sale: they can have potions, herbs, and even rare gems in stock from time to time. The Faire will be here until June 15th, after which time it will disappear again until July 7th, when it will return to Mulgore. Be sure to head over to Goldshire before then, and we'll see you at the Faire! %Gallery-20398%
Scattered Shots: Got mana?
Scattered Shots is temporarily subtitled "Scattered Thoughts" this week, as David goes off on a speculative tangent. Perhaps all this expansion leakage is causing a leak in his brain too, but hey, a little bit of intellectual pondering never hurt anyone, right? This column is for hunters, by the way -- but, yeah... you knew that.After writing last week's article about hunter problems and predictions, I got to thinking about how hunters use mana, and reflecting on the question of whether hunters should be using mana or not. Hunters have many things in common with classes like rogues and warriors, such as doing physical damage, and yet they have much in common with mages and warlocks as well, such as being vulnerable to mana-draining abilities. This issue is vague enough that my observations here can only be considered personal opinions, and they won't be of interest if all you want from this column is a list of the greatest gear and talent builds. But for the speculative among us, there's lots to discuss here.
World of WarCrafts: Super potions
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.If you ever find yourself low on Health or out of Mana, or you're in need of an innovative gift idea for a hardcore WoW fan, then try your hand at crafting these nifty potions. Minimal alchemy skills required. One of these pots is guaranteed to add +10 geek appeal to any players WoWspace.Here is what you will need: Candle Gel Wax Candle Dye (Gel Safe) Glass Potion Bottle (any shape) Funnel Corks (unless your bottle comes with one) Extra Supplies: Ribbon (go for the gold) Scissors Super Glue Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-20145% DISCLAIMER: If you are under 18, please make sure that you are supervised by your parents or an adult. Do not attempt to consume.
Maximum stamina
If you want to live through any boss fight as a tank, the one thing that you need above all else is health. Stamina, which gives ten health for every one point of stamina, is by far the most important stat that a tank needs in order to do their job well. No matter if you have reached the armor and defense cap, or if you're producing more threat than your DPS can keep up with, you won't live for a lick if you don't have enough health.Defining minimum health is an important concept in end game raiding and groups. For most instances, a minimum of 10,000 to 11,000 unbuffed is needed. This will at least let you take a few blows from a boss before dying, hopefully enough blows that the healer will be able to get off a few heals on you. For more entry level raiding environments, it's necessary to have unbuffed health between 11,000 and 12,000. If you've got 11,500 hit points going into Kara, you'll probably be able to reach 13,000 health fully raid buffed. This will let you survive a good portion of Kara, which means you can get more gear, which begets more health in the long run.
Insider Trader: Alchemy, the final stretch
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products. While alchemy is certainly not the most flashy or popular profession out there, alchemists are an integral part of the game, and any guild worth its salt has at least one, preferably several, working to supply guildmates and fill the guild bank with stacks of consumables and transmuted items. This week's leveling guide will feature the usual cheapest route, and the most useful, to 375 for solos and casuals. For those of you who will be working for your guild (and hopefully are also being financed, or supported by herbalists), we'll show you how to reach 375 by making the most useful items. They might cost more, but your guild will be requiring them anyway, so you might as well get your skill points that way, rather than making stacks of items you won't be using.
Breakfast Topic: Consumables: Buy, gather, or make?
As I was searching the AH yet again the other day, whining to myself about how high prices were getting on Elixirs of Major Agility, it occurred to me to wonder... If they're so high, why don't I just make them myself? Actually, before the Burning Crusade -- or more specifically, daily quests -- came along, I generally would, or rather, I'd buy the herbs and find a friend to do the combines. Others besides me took it one step further and started an alt character specifically to have someone to gather herbs and make potions for them. But even without herbalism, if you watched the AH and herb prices for a bit, you could buy herbs when they were a bit on the cheap side and get yourself a stockpile of cheap elixirs, potions, and flasks. Ever since daily quests, however, I've been a lot more lazy. I'll find myself at the Auction House less than an hour before raid time praying that someone has the potions I need for sale at a less than soul-gouging prices. I'll buy them at the soul-gouging prices anyway, of course, because I need them, and I have the extra money from dailies, but I wonder if I should go back to the old way of getting the herbs and stockpiling. It'd lead to fewer last minute buying sprees, at least. So how do you do your consumables? Do you do the last minute buying spree, do you watch for good deals, or do you just do the herbalism and/or alchemy yourself?
Paying your dues with guild taxes
Now that guild banks are incoming to the game, what's missing from our little virtual economy system? Taxes! That's what Noplat suggests, anyway-- he says that now that guilds have a place to store up their own central banks, the next step is to require payments from guild members for various guild running costs.I'm not quite sure I agree-- most guilds don't require anything like this. The biggest costs I can think of simply involve raiding repairs, and not only is not every member of every guild involved with raiding, but repair costs aren't that big a deal anyway, especially with daily quests throwing out money for just a few minutes' work. There may be costs coming in the game (guild housing would obviously require a lot of money, and we still haven't been told how siege weapons might work in guild battlegrounds-- will we have to buy those?), but at this point, we don't really need guild taxes or membership fees.The closest thing my guild ever did to a membership tax is that they ask everyone to pay a few g to any engineer that drops a repair bot during a raid (to cover those costs), but considering how the new instances are set up, I haven't seen a repair bot need to be dropped for a long time anyway. Does your guild need enough money to require membership fees or taxes? And if so, for what? Potions?
Raid consumables for Priests & Druids
Big Bear Butt Blogger recently put a call out to guilds to make a list of raid consumables by class. Foods, potions (both Guardian and Battle), Runes, Oils and Stones. He started it off by listing what he felt every feral druid should bring to a standard raid and what components are needed to make it all. Two Priest bloggers took him up on the challenge as well. The Egotistical Priest has written up a list of not only consumables every healer should bring to a raid, but also what permanent enchants every raiding healer should have. Priestly Endeavors also generated a healer consumable raid list, but also adds in a list for shadow priests raiding.Those were the only lists I could find. If you know of any other class-specific raid consumable lists floating out there on the Internet, list them below.
Insider Trader: Dope raid-doping (or, consumables for raiders)
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Now that the furor over patch 2.1 changes to elixirs has died down, most raiders have settled into a routine with their favorite fix of consumables. A few reluctant players are still debating whether pots, flasks and elixirs should be expected for raiding at all, but most have come to accept consumables as part of the raiding experience. Flasking up and "chugging" pots every two minutes is widely accepted as common practice when learning new encounters: healers chug mana pots, tanks chug for armor, DPS casters chug destruction pots, melees chug haste ... Once content is on farm status, most raiders ease off the throttle and drop pot-chugging and routine flasking.Raid consumables lists used to resemble literary epics. The sheer variety of possibilities and combinations was overwhelming. Players felt whiplashed by the increasing speed of the treadmill and accelerating investments of farming and gold, as growing awareness of these performance-enhancers drove expectations higher at all levels of raiding. Patch 2.1 changed all that, standardizing the types and timers for elixirs and limiting the number of performance-enhancers that could be used at any given time. This simplified the possibilities for frazzled raiders who were lugging bags stuffed with a virtual cornucopia of consumables.Still, for new raiders, figuring out what to bring and what to use can be a daunting task. A huge proportion of these boosters are player-made items from various professions. Insider Trader is here to help you comb through the possibilities, bringing you an outline of the basic principles of raiding consumables plus links to an exhaustive list of performance-boosters. Read on for the most dope performance-dopers for raiders.
