toc
Latest
Guildwatch: No tabard, no loot
Some stories of drama on the realms aren't directly guild-related, but they're just too good to pass up. The one above is just such a story -- one of our tipsters was just flying around Azeroth one day when a conversation in General caught his eye. One unlucky Time-Lost Proto-drake seeker ran into his very own Griftah, and ended up with 425 less gold and a very "unusual" toy item. That story and more in this week's Guildwatch, which starts right after the break. If you have downed, recruiting, or drama news for us, feel free to send a tip in to guildwatch@wow.com, and you might see it here in the future. Read on for more!
Guildwatch: More common than you think
We've seen quite a few guilds go back lately and take on Sarth 3D for the first time. Of course, it's got to be much easier now with Ulduar-level gear wandering around, and ToC giving out gear and tokens relatively easily. But especially if your guild has the time, why not go grab an "Of the Nightfall" title for everyone? That's what our friends in The Risen here did, and they look pretty snazzy. Lots more guild progress, as well as recruiting and drama, in this week's edition of Guildwatch, which starts right after the break. If you have a tip for us about your guild or one you've seen on the forums, please format it just like the news you see below and send it along to guildwatch@wow.com. Thanks! Enjoy!
The Queue: Image unrelated
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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Yep. The title says it all. If you hoped, even for a moment, that the image on today's edition of The Queue at all reflected the content within, you're in for disappointment. Also, therapy of some sort. Cronum asked..."I have the mobile authenticator on my iPhone, but I need to send it in for repairs. Can I buy the regular authenticator and use that while my phone is gone?"
Guildwatch: "My laywer is processing a subpoena"
Isn't weird how, though they always promise there's a lawsuit or a subpeona on the way, it never actually appears in the mail? I've made my share of people angry in game (though not on purpose, never on purpose), and it's amazing how many players have cousins who happen to be lawyers or attorneys, ready to sue for the smallest thing at a moment's notice. If you all ever do get sued for something you do in-game, be sure to let us know -- it'd be a pretty historic case.In the meantime, you can always let us know about any drama, downed, or recruiting news you see on the forums or ingame -- just drop us a note at guildwatch@wow.com. Hit the link below to read what we've got on offer this week.
The Queue: Grey guilds
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.I'm just going to let that video speak for itself today, and get started on the questions. @sammagher asked... "Why do grey items even exist, if only to be sold to vendors or occasionally used as RP gear?"
Guildwatch: Redemption
Many whelps! Handle it! Oh wait, you did. In the Wake on Zul'jin (as you can see in the video above) was just one of the many guilds to take down Onyxia since she returned to the game in a more powerful form, and while obviously there wasn't much new to this fight, most guilds give it a thumbs up: it was a little old-school raiding taste in a new-school difficulty level. Not that it's too hard (c'mon, it's Onyxia), but it's nice to see the fight pretty faithfully recreated. Makes you wish for more, doesn't it?Lots more raid downings, and of course the usual drama and recruitment notices in this week's Guildwatch. If you've got a tip for us about your guild or just one you saw on the forums, please send it along to guildwatch@wow.com, and please do your best to make it look like the ones below -- if you send us five pages on the entire history of your guild, it probably won't show up here. Read on for more.
Guildwatch: Have a nice day baddie
I live a good part of my life on the Internet -- I work on the Internet, and throughout the years, I've learned to play quite a bit on the Internet. So I realize that once I post something everyone can see, it's not necessarily mine any more -- once I share it with the public at large, I can't really lay much claim to it being mine and mine alone. That said, I understand Ravenmeow's problem above -- Deathlymorg of Endless Fury on Nagrand purportedly stole her tips off of her guild's website and reposted them (without credit, we assume) on his own. Sure, they were on the Internet, and nothing you really post on the Internet, especially in a forum, can ever be locked down again. But I see the complaint, especially when Deathlymorg isn't even the least bit grateful for the information, not to mention that he is pretty condescending to boot.That drama and much more in this week's Guildwatch (which you really shouldn't go reposting in full on your guild's forums, but hey, can I really stop you?), along with the usual downed and recruiting notices as well. To share something from your guild (or a bit of drama you've noticed elsewhere), send us an email at guildwatch@wow.com. Read on for more.
Phat Loot Phriday: Edge of Agony
I finally got my Green Proto-drake today, so I was tempted to do that, but instead today we'll go with the old PLP standby of big scary swords. Alliance, before you go running after this one, make sure to see the note below.Name: Edge of Agony (Wowhead, Thottbot, MMO Champion)Type: Epic Two-Hand SwordDamage/Speed: 651 - 977 / 3.50 (232.6 DPS)Attributes: +112 Agility, +92 Stamina Improves haste by 62, attack power by 183, and armor penetration by 86. Note that these are the stats for the 10-man normal item (Trial of the Crusader drops are pretty confusing actually). The 10-man Heroic version has a better version of this, but with the same name and graphic. %Gallery-33600%
Raid Rx: 14 patch 3.2 trinkets to check out
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI, macro, and addon related. It's been a while since I looked at trinkets. What options are there available since then? Yes, the linked article goes to the Priest column on trinkets. Not every healer's going to use them. But truth be told, there aren't that many new options for healers in the current game since Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader opened up. Let's look at everything available since Malygos. So what do we have to work with?
Encrypted Text: Rogue tips for raiding Trial of the Crusader, part 2
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss some of the tips and tricks to remember when raiding the third and fourth bosses in the Trial of the Crusader.Not even a full week had passed, and already not one, but two guilds were able to clear their way through the heroic version of Trial of the Grand Crusader. While it may have been due to soulstone exploits or spamming Holy Wrath, either way, one of the Lich King's most powerful warriors and oldest companions died to the might of the Horde (or maybe some Alliance cowards got lucky).I've had the luxury of fighting my way through and also defeating Anub'arak, though only on normal difficulty so far. This week, I'll cover some of the tips and tricks that I've picked up in my clearings of the Trial of the Crusader, with a focus on the next 2 encounters in the instance.
Guildwatch: It was my friend
Of course the issue is supposed to be fixed now, but after getting booted off their mains in Ulduar, Dark Haven on Baelgun had had enough, and made a dancing line of cows to display their displeasure. Pretty funny.Lots more guild shenigans in this week's Guildwatch as usual, including some drama (both good and bad), some downed news, and some recruiting posts. Tune in after the break below to see what's going on around the servers. And if you have a tip, from your guild or something you saw on the forums, send it along to us at guildwatch@wow.com. Thanks!
Breakfast topic: Has Trial of the Grand Crusader been a reasonable challenge?
My raiding guild suffered from the Anub'Arak soft reset issue where we were unable to reach the floor where the oversized bug was. We wanted to clear him out on normal mode before we switched over to the harder difficulty. But since the floor was intact, we couldn't! (Note: This has since been fixed). Because of this, we decided to toggle on Heroic mode for Trial of the Crusader on 25 just to get a feel for it. Some guilds believe that the Coliseum, even on heroic, is too easy. So I went in wondering what the fuss was all about. I wanted to know how easy the heroic setting would be. But that's when I faced the reality check. Remember, not everyone is in a top 100 guild. We burned through about 10 attempts that night just working on the first encounter alone. That experience helped to ground us and we realized what we needed to do to get through that mountain. In the end, we weren't able to even get past Gormok. We came to the conclusion that we were definitely going to need to coordinate healing and tanking cooldowns to break past the final minute of the first boss. Nonetheless, it was fairly humbling. We'll have to go in next time much more carefully and with a more detailed game plan in mind. It's been several days since Trial of the Grand Crusader has been accessible. Do you feel it has just the right amount of challenge for your raid group? Have you found it too easy or too difficult?
The Queue: Simple things
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Today is a day of, apparently, quick questions and quick answers. Most of the questions asked were fairly straightforward and not particularly involved. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is really up to you, but it is what it is: simple. I planned to embed a cartoon at the top of this video, but the aspect ratio made it gigantic if I used our standard width, so there's a link instead.whalt asked... "Any idea if prior season PvP weapons will ever be available from honor/arena points and not require an arena rating like the old Glad weapons were back in BC?"
How will they do the loot in Trial of the Crusader?
For my money, the most interesting things they're doing in patch 3.2 are the changes to the badge system and the reimagining of the 10- vs. 25-man raiding paradigm. The new raid, Trial of the Crusader, will be available on both normal and heroic difficulty mode for both 10- and 25-man groups (the heroic mode is called Trial of the Grand Crusader). In other words, there are a total of four versions of the raid: 10-normal, 10-heroic, 25-normal, and 25-heroic. They're all on separate lockouts Those of you who know certain past posts of mine could probably predict what my mind jumps to from that news: how will the loot be done? I see four three major possibilities. 10-normal and 25-normal drop the same gear, while 10-heroic and 25-heroic drop a tier above (10n = 25n < 10h = 25h). 10-normal drops one kind of gear, 10-heroic and 25-normal are equal to each other and better than that, and 25-heroic is best of all (10n < 10h = 25n < 25h). All four raids drop different levels of gear, 10n < 10h < 25n < 25h. If you've read my past stuff, you could correctly guess that #1 would be my favorite option. I don't really want to argue it here (or in the comments), because I've had that conversation more than I care to already.
Samsung rolls out 8 new HDTVs, new 40-inch LED backlit LCD
Samsung's Series 7 / 8 / 9 plasmas and LCDs have broken cover already in Europe or North America, including the slim PAVV Bordeaux 850 (pictured), but Asia gets first crack at the latest iteration of the company's local dimming LED backlighting tech trickling down into the 40-inch LCD size range. Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology, 1080p, 2,000,000:1 contrast ratios are a must, while also substituting direct YouTube access for the U.S. version's USA Today-powered InfoLink RSS service. No word on the prices the newly expanded Bordeaux line, but we're more interested in how soon the latest in backlighting technology is moving downmarket. Update: Not first, just new, although that shouldn't sate our appetite for a future LN40A950 one bit. [Thanks to all for pointing that out]
