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Yes, Tabard storage is still in development
We've definitely touched on the subject of Tabards before. They're like the Tribbles of WoW, overcrowding our bags and multiplying with every expansion like there's no tomorrow. A massive Tabard collection is quite the feat, but let's face it, wouldn't you like to use the thirty-something bag spaces for other items? We see questions revolving around these little inventory invaders almost every day: Will Blizzard give us some way to store our Tabards? Well, Ghostcrawler has something to say about it: @kurodakari It's in the plan, just not something you'll see for 5.2. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) February 2, 2013 Let's be real, some kind of Tabard storage has been in the plan for a while now ... at least two years. Of course, there are a ton of potential solutions to this problem, and none of them should be a rush job -- a Tabard bag? An interface similar to the mount list? Most players would probably prefer a UI solution instead of yet another bag to manage, so let's cross our fingers. How do you think Blizzard should solve this?
Pandaria faction tabards don't grant reputation
Breaking from the pattern set by Wrath and followed up in Cataclysm, this latest beta patch confirms that tabards for factions based in Pandaria will not grant reputation for wearing them in dungeons. Instead, we'll be going back to the vanilla-style model where tabards are one of the rewards for hitting exalted level with a faction. I'm assuming that this is part of Blizzard's plan to make factions mean something instead of just feeling like an obligatory grind, as stated at the MoP press event in March. While I appreciated the convenience of the rep-granting tabards, I appreciated them because without them, getting rep for those factions was a bit of a nightmare. If the way the system works now lets me gain rep at a reasonable pace without these tabards, hey, I'm all for bragging rights tabards instead. The MoP factions that will be affected by this (read: all of them) are: The Klaxxi The August Celestials The Golden Lotus The Lorewalkers The Order of the Cloud Serpent The Shado-Pan The Tillers The Anglers The Brewmasters It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
7 wishes for guilds in Mists of Pandaria
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available now from No Starch Press. For officers, the improvements and new systems that Cataclysm brought to guilds were a game-changer in many ways. The sweeping changes to raiding that came with it brought on some difficult challenges. Fortunately, WoW does not stagnate. The Mists of Pandaria expansion gives Blizzard a chance to add new features, make important changes, and improve on what the developers gave us in Cataclysm. Here's my personal wish list: 1. Treat legendary items as guild rewards, not player rewards. As guilds in WoW have matured over the years, I've heard from officers less and less frequently about loot drama -- with one huge exception: legendaries. Every legendary in the history of WoW has caused problems for officers. For some, the legendary drama itself has become legendary. It's time to change both the reality and the perception of these powerful items.
Addon Spotlight: Never miss reputation with Auto Tabard
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week: Shackleford. It's Addon Spotlight time, ladies and gentlemen. As I sit here at death's door from the terrible PAX pox with which I have so unceremoniously been bestowed, I try to eek out words and phrases, maybe a quip or two, before death's cold embrace takes me. I feel as though my short time on this earth and in this existence was worth it, however, because I got to tell you about Auto Tabard.
The trouble with tabards
Blizzard has recently been on a commenting spree on the topic of tabards. For a while now, Blizzard has been thinking up ways to solve the tabard dilemma -- the game features tons of awesome tabards with really cool designs, some of which even have an on-use effect, but no way to economically store these items. Players are forced to clear out large swaths of inventory space in order to keep all of their tabards, and Blizzard has even introduced tabard vendors that sell earned tabards so these cool clothing items won't be lost forever by players. Hit the jump for the posts as well as my own little thoughts.
Cataclysm Daily Quests, Part 2: Deepholm and Therazane
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Welcome back to our Cataclysm Daily Quest Guide series! In Part 1: Daily basics and profession dailies, we went over the basics of daily quests and why to do them, and we reviewed the Stormwind and Orgrimmar profession dailies. This time, let's delve into the dailies targeted at high-level players, beginning in the very depths of the elemental plane of earth: Deepholm.
City tabards giving reputation in latest beta build
As of the recent beta build (13189) that went live earlier this evening, city tabards sold by racial factions (e.g., Thunder Bluff, Stormwind, Gnomeregan, Undercity) are now awarding reputation in dungeons. With the obvious exception of those offered by Gilneas and the Bilgewater Cartel, these tabards aren't technically new to the game -- you can get them at the Argent Tournament on the live servers right now if you want -- but the reputation gains are definitely a new perk. While you can still get the tabards from Argent Tournament vendors on the beta, each major city also has a faction quartermaster (usually close to the city's flight master and introduced in beta build 13066 in late September, I think) selling both the tabard and a set of level 40 cloaks. The tabards are available at friendly for 8 silver (even at the Tournament -- they no longer require Champion's Seals), but you can't get the cloaks without being exalted. Still, grinding reputation for one of your faction's races should be considerably easier in Cataclysm -- all you'll have to do is get to friendly, buy a tabard and run dungeons as you normally would. This is a great addition to the game. Not only will you have access to cool tabards even at a low level, but it should make getting other races' mounts and faction discounts much easier as well.
The Queue: Pop
Welcome back to The Queue, our daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Speaking of pop, Bejeweled 2 is free on PopCap.com today until 10 p.m. PST! Go get it! Liam asked: What is the difference between major and prime glyphs? I thought a tier of glyphs was supposed to be more fun and cosmetic now, but they seem the same to me, just changes to our spells. Prime glyphs are no-brainer DPS/effectiveness increases. Major glyphs offer new utility or changes in your rotation that are hard to "math out." Minor glyphs give fun or cosmetic changes.
World of WarCrafts: The infamous Three Dragon Azeroth shirt
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. Sample the whole spectrum on WoW.com's Arts and Crafts in WoW page. That's right, folks -- you could do better at BlizzCon 2010 than a Three Worgen Moon T-shirt. No, we're not going retro on you and suggesting you turn back to the original Three Wolf Moon tee. What you need is something more au courant, like the Three Dragon Azeroth from MagicalMelonBall at DeviantArt.com. Sadly, this cataclysmically excellent design isn't actually available for purchase on a T-shirt ... Still, we felt the design represents a worthy upgrade from its howlingly lunar predecessor. Ready for more fresh takes on art about Azeroth? Join us after the break for a buffet with a little something for every taste.
Possible changes to tabards, backpacks, and banks
In the recent Blizzard developer chat there were several questions pertaining to player storage. They spoke about the issue with storing tabards from all of your various factions, the default backpack falling behind other bags, and being able to access the bank slots of your alts without the need to use the mail. All three of these are long standing issues that have usually been avoided when direct questions came up, usually invoking the safe and often used "we'll see" remark. I would love to be able to replace my backpack with a Glacial Bag and gain six storage slots or clear out the bank space I'm using to store specialty tabards. Let's take a look at their responses after the break.
The OverAchiever: Twenty-five tabards
Twenty-Five Tabards is one of the cooler achievements to do -- not only does it reward a pretty neat-looking tabard in the end, but having the reputations necessary to pull it off (unless you're cheesing it with a lot of TCG tabards) is going to help you a lot while going for The Exalted. The first thing I'd like to point out is that you don't need to do what I did while getting pictures for this article and run around like a headless chicken collecting tabards from all corners of the world. The easiest way to re-collect any tabards you've previously owned is by visiting Elizabeth Ross in Dalaran or a tabard vendor in any major city. I do need to mention that they sell tabards for the currency each faction uses (e.g. you still have to pay 10 Glowcaps to purchase a Sporeggar tabard from them) so if you don't have the currency on you at the time, you'll still be making a field trip to collect it. For this guide I'm assuming that you do not necessarily have access to now-unobtainable tabards like Competitor's Tabard or Tabard of the Protector, so if you do have pieces like this sitting around your bank, you're just that much closer to the achievement. As mentioned previously, you can fudge Twenty-Five Tabards by getting TCG tabards like Tabard of Nature or Tabard of Frost, but I'm also assuming you don't have access to any of these. This achievement is very much doable with a little hard work and a pinch of luck, so let's get rolling.
Replica tabards and banners from Windlass Studios
Blizzard has announced that they've partnered with a company called Windlass Studios to release real-life versions of a couple popular in-game banners and tabards. $40 will get you a banner of the Alliance or Horde, while $80 will get you a real-life faction tabard to wear. Each of the pieces is apparently 100% cotton, and silkscreened with the familiar faction insignia. Very interesting -- we've seen some nice fanmade pieces before, but these are commercial releases bearing official logos. The company has also released a latex rubber version of Frostmourne -- it's not quite as nice as the Epic Weapons metal version, but then again, it's $149, and the metal version is over $400. I still wouldn't spend over $100 on a rubber sword, but hey, if that's your thing, there you go. And speaking of spending money on rubber costumes, the Blizzard store is also chock full of Halloween costumes this year, and there are a few other masks, including Illidan and a new Draenei mask, floating around the Internet for purchase as well.
The Queue: There's more than one way to skin a worgen
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.So my thought process Monday morning goes like this. Kubien asks a question about skining worgens. My cat is next to me vying for my attention, and after headbutting me for a few minutes decides to pounce on my arm. Luckily I'm a fatty so all is good and he just bounces off harmlessly to the floor, but it makes me think for a minute about punishing him. Then I remember the old saying, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."And from cat, to lolcat, to lolwowcats.I'm sorry Warcraft community, I really am. But what's done is done. Let's just move on and go have some tea and crumpets.Kubien asked..."While killing Worgen in Silverpine Forest the other day, it occurred to me I can skin them. When Alliance play Worgen, can I skin them? Please!"
BlizzCon 2009: Hands-on with Creative's World of Warcraft headset
When they stopped by the WoW.com meetup last Thursday before BlizzCon, Creative not only brought along a prototype of their upcoming World of Warcraft headset to show some readers in attendance, but they invited us by their booth at the show to hold it in our hands and see just what those lighted glyphs on the earcups were like. We happily obliged, and as a result, we're also happy to bring you the first look (along with some exclusive prototype photos) at what Creative's new headset will be.Keep in mind that they're still in the prototype stage right now: Creative's Ryan Schlieper told me that the way it works is that they make a mold and a prototype first (which is what we held -- not a fully working version, but a 1:1 model with the exact weight and size of the final version), and then make 1000 of those in a fully working version to test. If those 1000 work and are right, then they go on to production, and if not, then they go back to the mold and start over again. Schlieper says they're in the prototype stage right now, and once testing is done (including Blizzard's approval), then they'll roll out the final headsets. So how did this prototype look and feel? Hit the galleries below to see pictures both on the floor and of Creative's 3D designs, and check after the break for our very first impressions.%Gallery-70712%%Gallery-70866%
A real-life tabard for the Keepers of Stromgarde
This is very cool -- Jellis of Keepers of Stromgarde on the Venture Company server (the guild is an RP-PVP guild that has taken root in Stromgarde and claimed it as their own) put together this real-life version of their tabard, and it looks great. It's a little different from the "official" Stromgarde tabard, but I think this is probably the best they could do with the guild interface. She's even offered to make copies for everyone in the guild (we're told there's 75 members), which is pretty darn incredible. Plus, if you're willing to wear a tabard around in public, clearly you're dedicated to your guild.This reminded me of the Scarlet Crusade t-shirt we saw made a while back -- you can check that one out in the gallery below. I'll admit it: I'm jealous. Maybe my guild needs to recruit some crafty people so we can start getting some cool real-life stuff of our own, too.%Gallery-26473%
Tabard storage solution incoming
So Blizzard's slowly but surely been expanding our storage system via extra bank slots, a keychain, and most recently, a new UI for mounts and vanity pets. It's become a lot easier to be a collector because of this, but as I have pointed out before, one major space problem remains: Tabards. Between Burning Crusade tabards, Wrath Reputation tabards, holiday tabards, world event tabards, TCG tabards, and achievement tabards, there's not enough room, either in your inventory or in your bank. Sure, you can sell off the tabards and rebuy them later, but that's sort of a pain.Luckily, there's finally signs that Blizzard means to bring us relief. Eyonix mentioned this morning that they've begun to look at possible ways to relieve the tabard space conundrum. It looks like the concept is still in the early stages, and Eyonix specifically said they have no ETA, but it may be coming, which is good news enough. I'm still advocating for a simple drop-down menu of tabards similar to the title dropdown on the character screen, or maybe a way to select a faction from the reputation screen to be your tabard of choice. But however they do it, I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy flying various colors at various times for RP or fun reasons, so being able to switch swiftly should both make this easier and championing on the fly easier. Here's hoping we get an ETA soon, and that it's sooner rather than later.
Breakfast Topic: Gaining Reputation
No more collecting huge stacks of Unidentified Plant Parts or Arrakoa Feathers. No more running Hellfire Ramparts half a dozen times before starting in on quests. In Northrend, it seems like there's two basic ways to get reputation with a faction: Either you do quests, or you grab the proper tabard and run a level 80 dungeon. For the most part, I do like the latter option. It's nice not to feel like I have to jump through hoops to maximize my reputation gain. Still, being able to pre-gather stuff is sometimes pretty cool too, and part of me sort of wishes they had kept some of that in, maybe in that way I've talked about before where you can have around 12k max of your reputation be gathered items, but that they can be turned in at any point in the grind, if only to keep options open. How are you liking the new reputation system?
Ask a Beta Tester: Dalaran coins, environment effects, and AoE tanking
I ran into two common questions last night on the Dalaran coin post, so I thought I'd start off by answering those here. I apologize if we haven't yet gotten to everyone's questions; most of them, like Gurluas' question concerning The Missing Diplomat and the high elves in Northrend, we're just not 100% sure of the answer to yet, but I'll keep trying. Keyra asks...Just curious...the gold coins all have "Use: Throw this coin back into the Dalaran fountain", yet I've seen people commenting (as well as the author) that they'll carry the coin in their packs. What happens when/if you throw the coin back in?When you toss a gold coin back into the fountain, you gain the "Lucky" buff for 2 minutes, increasing your chance to fish up any and all coins from the fountain (rather than fishing hooks or goldfish). You don't have to toss them back in if you don't want to, in which case they'll just occupy a bag slot like anything else, or you can sell them to a vendor (not for much). But most people throw the coin/s back in because fishing the coin up is enough to give you the Achievement for getting it. Particular coins would be carried solely for personal or sentimental reasons, i.e. I can definitely appreciate the irony and RP value of grimly hunting Arthas down like a dog while carrying a symbol of Sylvanas' wasted hopes.Rexigar asks...Question though, do we have to keep the coins for the achievement or does it count when we throw it back in?It counts as of the moment you've fished it up. No matter what you do with it afterwards, the Achievement's yours. The same mechanic is true of everything else; once the game "knows" you've done something and an Achievement's gained, nothing can take it away.
Ask a Beta Tester: Mounts, threat meters, and tabards
We'll jump right into things in today's Ask a Beta Tester, because destiny waits for no man!andyjay220 asked...How have people liked the new threat meter? I have tried PTR but I don't really understand it as I am used to Omen. As far as I can tell the only information it gives you is "YOU NOW HAVE 100% AGGRO" which isn't very helpful. I want to see a meter showing how far away from pulling aggro I am so i can gauge my attacking accordingly. Any way someone could explain it to me?The threat meter's UI is pretty simplistic. It displays yellow when you're close to pulling aggro, and red when you've done it. It's accurate, but hard to gauge how close you really are. It shows the percentage in your tooltip... but that's a strange place for it. It won't replace things like Omen (when it's updated for 3.0.2) but its addition will allow Omen and similar mods to be much more accurate.Of course, for things like 5-man dungeons, you don't need to the nitty gritty numbers, really. There's very little reason to be at the max possible threat before pulling aggro, just take it a little easier. Raids, though? You'll want Omen.Read on for more answers to your questions!
Less QQ More Pew Pew holding Tabard contest
Didn't win the Tabard of Flame in our recent contest? Worry not, Less QQ More Pew Pew has another chance at a great tabard for you -- all you've got to do is answer a few questions about the blog over there, and submit them by tomorrow evening. And then, oh yeah, you need to be the first person to email in all the answers (not likely), or be one of two random people who sent the answers in. That last part is the hard one.Just to help you out, we'll answer the first question for you: "Khagan." Cheating? Maybe, but we really want you to have that tabard. Good luck to everyone who enters, always nice to see members of the community holding fun contests like this to hand out some special items to the public.[via Mania]
