shattrath
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Around Azeroth: The shadow of death
Ubarjabula, a Troll Shadow Priest on the Uther server took advantage of his Merciless Gladiator's Satin Hood, Shadowform's effects on a mount and the shaft of light courtesy of Shattrath's Naru. Together they make for quite a chilling effect. Death from above never looked so imminent.Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it 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! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime. Oh, and no more shots of Omen killed in Ogrimmar. It's cool, we get it. A lot of it.%Gallery-1816%
My log off spot
Many of us that have played the game every day over the years have developed some habits of sort. One of the habits that I've found myself doing night after night is logging off in the same spot. For me, this spot is at the staff vendor in the Aldor section of Shattrath. I find myself logging off here almost every night since I hearth back to Shat when I'm done raiding, and then go and repair immediately (less I get yelled at for not being fully repaired).I can imagine that there are some better spots than others to log off at. In particular the PvP servers I'm sure pose certain pragmatic limitations on where you can disembark from the game. In the PvE world, I could (if I wanted to) log off anywhere in the wild. Save for the wandering aggressive mob, I would be just fine. However, I don't think this would be too good in a PvP environment.
Shattered Sun Offensive phase 2: Sun's Reach Armory
The second phase of quest and NPC progression on the Isle of Quel'danas began a couple days ago on the US PvE PTR. Yesterday I covered the retaking of Sun's Reach Sanctum and the second phase is all about the building just across the road, the Sun's Reach Armory. The Armory is infested with demons, as you can see in the screenshot, and the new daily quests are all about driving them away.First of all, let me state that the daily quests from phase one were still available on the PTR even after the Sanctum was taken from the Wretched. The names and quest text are a little different to reflect the changed state of the Isle, but the quest objectives and rewards remain exactly the same. It should be safe to assume that this trend will continue throughout every stage of the Shattered Sun Offensive.
All fires are not the same
I've noticed lately while running around and doing my daily cooking quest that some flames are not the same as others. This seems rather silly to me. After all, a flame is a flame, right?For those of you that don't cook in WoW, I'll fill you in. You need to find a cooking fire every time you want to cook something. Everyone has the ability to make a simple fire, but this requires reagents, and is not something that people normally waste space on. So instead of making your own fire, you can find a premade fire, stove, kettle, etc... and cook your food there. These heat sources are spread out all over major cities and out in the wild.But, there are oddities. For example, take these two kettles - which are the exact same model.
Player levels nine characters to 70, all at the same time
Thargor has done something pretty crazy, and he's throwing a party to celebrate. But unlike a few other players who've thrown big parties for a ding, he's doing something a little bigger than that. Instead of celebrating just one ding, he's going to celebrate not three, not six, but dinging nine level 70s within a half hour.Wild. And they're all different classes, too, which means that since November of 2005, he's been simultaneously leveling all the classes at the same time (he added a Paladin when BC came out, and leveled only her for a bit to bring her up to speed. And now he's level 69 and a half across the board, and he's going to hold an event where he levels each of them to 70 at basically the same time by doing the Khadgar quest in Shattrath. No word yet on when it's going down, but Thargor, if you're reading, throw us a tip and we'll let everybody know about it.That's crazy. I have trouble repeating the same areas twice with two alts-- I usually have to level in different places as much as possible, just to keep it interesting. But to do the same quests nine different times all at the same time-- lunacy. But super impressive-- as someone else in the thread says, he's already seen 621 dings go by.
Around Azeroth: Shattrath in the sunlight
Reader Tracer of Earthen Ring (EU) sends along this perfectly ordinary, nothing to say shot of Shattrath City. So why bother posting it here? Well, instead of catching any of the typical Shattrath scenes, Tracer seems to catch the city at an angle and time of day that it simply sparkles in the sunlight.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world! %Gallery-1816%
PTR Notes: New reputation ammo
MMO Champion has reported that new "Specialty Ammunition Vendors" have been discovered on the PTR in patch 2.3. These vendors, Archer Delvinar and Marksman Bova, can be found in once empty structures in the Scryer and Aldor areas, respectively, in Shattrath City. Not only do they sell the best types of normal vendor ammunition outside of Halaa, but they also stock ammunition that has reputation requirements. Instead of running over to the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh every time you need to stock up on Warden's Arrows, you can now buy the same ammo in Shattrath. The same vendors also carry ammunition that is currently only available from vendors in Honor Hold/Thrallmar and the Caverns of Time. Currently the cost of all the ammunition sold by these vendors appears to be tied to Aldor/Scryer reputation level, but still requires the specified faction requirement to actually purchase and use.Of course, the best news is that these vendors also carry a new type of ammunition. The Mysterious Arrows and Mysterious Shells require revered reputation with the Violet Eye and provide 46.5 additional damage per second. A stack of 200 costs 1 gold without any price reductions from reputation. Clearly these new items are meant to fill the gap between Adamantite and Timeless ammunition and help hunters that are tackling Magtheridon, Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep increase their damage output. With the new Adamantite Stingers also being added 2.3, hunters will have more options than ever before when choosing a type of ammunition.
Around Azeroth: Have you noticed...?
Reader Ashendra of Glory of War on Lightning's Blade sends us this shot with the curious question: have you ever noticed that security is a bit minimal in the Aldor bank in Shattrath City? As a frequenter of the Scryer bank I have to say I'm much more confident in my banking choice after seeing this shot. (And to see what Ashendra has to say on the subject, click the image above for a higher resolution version -- in which you can read the quote.)Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world! %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: It gives you wings
What can I say? I happen to think those paladin wings (aka Avenging Wrath) are one of the coolest graphical effects in the game. And this shot, by reader Kevan shows off the Paladin's winged appearance to the great backdrop of Shattrath City.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world! %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: High perch
Reader Liskad of Perenolde sends us a shot of this perch high above Shattrath City. I must say, there's something about having a flying mount that drives people to explore all the high places in Outland, even if only to find the perfect place to stop and idle. Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world! %Gallery-1816%
Dalaran might be Alliance-only
Sorun is a rogue who loves his Horde-Alliance conflict. As he posted on the forums, he feels that every action and little quest in the World of Warcraft should reflect the reality of War that exists in that world, not the good old intra-faction get-together that Shattrath has turned out to be. If Dalaran is going to be a neutral city in Wrath of the Lich King, however, it could really mess up the lore and war-filled feeling of the game:Neutral Dalaran? How does that even make any sense when horde to this day have quests to go attack the ruins of dalaran and can and have been freely killing the wizzards [sic] all around that area. He's got a point there. What is Blizzard really going to do with Dalaran in the next expansion? Read on to see what Blizzard says about it.
Azeroth's bad guys aren't always that bad
Malygos is a new kind of antagonist for the Warcraft universe in that he's probably the enemy with the least actual evil we've seen so far, in sharp contrast to the Burning Legion, the Scourge, the Old Gods, and a host of others. As we've already noted, some players think he may actually be right: he wants to protect Azerothians from the magic they're dabbling in, for fear that they might end up bringing the Burning Legion back with it, except that he goes about "protecting" the people by waging war on them, which somehow eerily familiar.... Anyway, Malygos is just the latest example of an antagonist in WoW that we can almost sympathize with, a bad guy that isn't all that bad. Malygos' particular place at the other end of our attack buttons can be attributed mainly to his conflicting point of view rather than an evil and corrupted soul. His ultimate aim is still the greater good of all life -- he just believes (wrongfully, we hope) that he needs to destroy the minority of magic users in order to save the remaining majority of all other life on the world.
A'dal is prepared
Some of you longtime readers may remember a while back when we posted video of A'dal (the big floaty Naaru in Shattrath's center) getting the crap beat out of him. In fact, that was the post where I coined the Lord British Postulate, which stated that if anything existed as a live creature in an MMO, someone, somewhere would try to kill it. Why hasn't that caught on by now?But apparently A'dal is a pushover no more. When someone kited a Fel Reaver into Shattrath (that's the big tangle of lifeless metal in the upper left of the picture above), A'dal laid the smack down with a 114,952 hit. Naaru please! He ain't playin', son.A sharp increase in the strength of the Naaru, or just a sign that Blizzard really doesn't want anyone messing around with beings made of energy? You decide.
Around Azeroth: High above Shattrath
When everyone gets their first flying mount, I'm fairly sure that the first thing they do is hop over to Shattrath City to investigate the beam of light soaring above the city center. While I do not know if this was precisely the case with reader Numarza of Mannoroth who sent us this shot, so I'll simply conclude that this perspective gives us a fascincating overview of the city (and I wonder what parts of Azeroth would look like from such a bird's eye perspective!).Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Are Auction Houses coming to Shattrath?
In a word, no. Blizzard blue Nethaera posted in response to the umpteenth request for an Auction House in Shattrath. At least this time we got an explanation behind the decision.Blizzard feels an AH in Shattrath will eliminate the only reason for players to interact with others in older cities. They reason players can use the Shatt portals to get to the AH in the older cities and then activate their hearthstone to get back to the Outlands.This plan also spreads out the population. Anyone remember when their was only one AH for each faction? Ironforge was known as Lagforge. Think what would happen to your framerate should they put an Auction House in the Outlands capital. Yeah, not pretty.Of course "not currently planned" doesn't mean "never." When the WotLK expansion launches and Dalaran becomes the player hub, they may reconsider. Until then, don't be getting friendly with any Innkeeper other than the ones in Shattrath, because your hearthstone setting isn't going to be changing for a long time. Unless you're a mage.
Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain performing now!
Drysc announced earlier today that starting at midnight server time, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain is performing at the new Darkmoon Faire location outside of Shattrath City. Don't be afraid if you've missed your server's performance time, because they will be performing at the top of every hour until BlizzCon is over.You don't need to be high level to attend if you can get a Warlock to summon you, but you do need The Burning Crusade.Happy BlizzCon Week everyone!Update: It seems that the concert has begun on some servers at 1am, instead of midnight and others not at all. The stage should be located at 36, 34 in Terrokar Forest, if you have a coordinate mod -- just outside of the southeast exit of the Lower City.Update2: Screenshot of the show after the jump. Rock on, L70ETC!
Around Azeroth: Dragon ride!
Lyrsuk of Lothar gives us a glance of the event you get to participate in if you ever reach exalted status with the Netherwing: a dragon ride! Sadly, this dragon makes the cool mount you're about to get look awfully puny... My question is what faction standing do we have to get before we can get the dragon in the screenshot as a permanent mount?Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: Death to the Aldor!
Reader Royal of Furious Napkins on Darrowmere was hanging around Shattrath city when he heard that someone was killing off the Aldor in their bank. Going to investigate, Royal found the scene pictured above. Apparently the killer was somewhat obsessive-compulsive...Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
We've become carebears in Shattrath
Arrianae has a great point over on the forums: since when did Outland take the war out of Warcraft? Remember all that blood spilled on the Crossroads? Remember the massacres that took place at Southshore, or the daily incursions at Orgrimmar and Stormwind. STV ganking is legendary, and BRD used to have skeletons all over it. So why is it that, in Shattrath, Horde and Alliance are suddenly buddy-buddy?The answer, says Nethaera, is that there are bigger foes to worry about in Outland, the Burning Legion definitely not the least of them. There is some good PvP to be found in Outland, although the Auchindouin nodes are usually just grabbed rather than conquered. But while Halaa in Nagrand is covered with the entrails of both sides, you still get the feeling that there, we're just fighting for a turn-in vendor. It's fun, but it doesn't have the epic, original Warcraft flavor that was so sweet in Azeroth.I think what players want is some good old Orcs and Humans combat. Before Burning Crusade, we were asking for more World PvP, and we definitely got it-- from HFP to Zangarmarsh to Auchindouin, there are tons of ways to fight the other faction, and tons of reasons to do it. But no amount of standing around in a PvP objective feels better than sticking pointy end of sword into enemy, and that kind of ruthless attack is what players miss.
Griftah being evicted from the Lower City
Anyone who has spent any time tradeskilling in Shattrath has probably run across the Troll merchant, Griftah. Since Burning Crusade came out, Griftah has called a spot near the mana loom in Lower City his home. He has hawked many fun and dubious items like [Soap on a Rope] and [Infallible Tikbalang Ward]. (I must say, my banking alt has been blessedly Tikbalang free!) Griftah loved to talk to anyone and everyone who came anywhere near him and suggest various of his charms that he thought you should purchase -- for a price. However, some people took Griftah seriously, and thought that the white items he was selling were indeed able to do special things like give you free Rezzes much like the old Darkmoon Faire Twisting Nether card would as opposed to reading the lines carefully. (like, how it would Resurrect you if you were already next to your corpse in ghost form.) This led to angry forum threads, and people who were screaming about being grifted by Griftah because, surprise -- the white items didn't actually do anything mystical...
