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The Daily Grind: What's the worst-designed MMO city?
One of my personal pet peeves in any roleplaying game is to have to navigate around an overly large city. I guess I'm just not a city guy at heart. But that annoyance is doubly so for any video game metropolis that suffers from poor design. I can name several examples, although today World of Warcraft's Undercity springs to mind. While delightfully atmospheric, it was nevertheless a pain in the tuckus to traverse. There were too many elevators, vertical space, and long, long runs around the outer circle, all of which kept me away if I could help it. What do you think is the worst-designed MMO city and why? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Warlords of Draenor: The Kor'kron are officially out
Denizens of the Undercity can breathe a sigh of relief in Warlords of Draenor, as abominations have once more taken their rightful place as guards of the Forsaken capital. Ever since the disastrous events of the Wrathgate and subsequent Battle for the Undercity in Wrath of the Lich King, the Undercity's halls have been dutifully patrolled by Kor'kron -- the elite personal bodyguards and fighting force of the Horde's Warchief. Yet although the Kor'kron were originally sent to simply keep an eye on the Forsaken -- particularly the Royal Apothecary Society -- as expansions went on, the guard became more and more hostile. This, of course, led up to the events in Mists of Pandaria, where the Kor'kron crossed the line from loyal bodyguards to full-out fanatics working almost as secret police for Garrosh Hellscream. Led by Malkorok, the Kor'kron's ranks expanded considerably when Garrosh granted the Blackrock Clan amnesty and welcomed them into his new vision of the Horde. In the Siege of Orgrimmar, the Kor'kron fought against both rebel forces led by Vol'jin, and the Alliance army -- and found themselves systematically dismantled from both sides.
My first week as Horde
I've been playing World of Warcraft for a very long time. Since it was closed beta, in fact. Back when the game was still brand new, I mean right when the servers first opened up, I played for team red. I was a Horde shaman, and proud to be so. My first shaman was not named Lodur, in fact it was what I thought at the time was the ever clever name of Rum. I played with one of my buddies who named his warrior Coke. We played with a bunch of coworkers and friends from college until partway through Classic WoW when they either got promoted at work, graduated or stopped playing. Some of our group though decided to move to another server and see how things were going on the Alliance side of things. Off to Zul'jin we went, and with moving servers and factions in a time before server transfers or faction swaps were around, came a new toon. Abigail, the night elf hunter was born. She's traveled servers, and been race changed multiple times since she was born. I finished Classic WoW on her raiding with friends all the way through the original Naxxramas. I still gave a lot of love to Rum though, and even found time to run him through Ahn'Qiraj 40. When Burning Crusade released, though, Rum fell to the wayside as Lodur was born over with my Alliance family. I hadn't returned to horde except for a brief tour with the Choose My Adventure here on the site, that was until this past week when I server and faction changed my long time hunter over to play Horde side again with friends.
Breakfast Topic: Do cities in Azeroth have nicknames?
Outside of Azeroth I found myself clinging to the armrests of my seat, not fearing death but the possibility that I might vomit in sight of the cute guy (with a nice beard) sitting next to me. I was flying into Chicago for a two hour layover, and the turbulence was notably awful. At one point I thought to myself, "Maybe this is why they call it the 'Windy City?'" Then because I'm a hopeless nerd, I immediately wondered, "Do Azerothian cities have nicknames like the 'Windy City' or the 'Big Apple?'" I had no idea myself, but I knew just the person to ask when I got home: Anne Stickney. "You know, I don't really think so in official lore anyway," she told me. "Although the Undercity could almost be considered that, because that's actually the capital city of Lordaeron." Just one nickname out of dozens of cities in Azeroth? Sounds to me like it's time for us to stage an intervention. What kinds of nicknames can you guys come up with for the major cities in World of Warcraft?
The OverAchiever: In which Alliance has it much worse than Horde
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we are grateful to play Horde. This past week, I was tabbed out of the game writing an OverAchiever on Bloody Rare as a follow-up to our guide on Northern Exposure when something interesting started happening in the background. In the sliver of laptop screen dedicated to WoW, the chat channels exploded with warnings that the Alliance was attacking Orgrimmar. Given that the Midsummer Fire Festival is still going on with lots of players busy stealing enemy fires, this isn't particularly unusual. I shrugged and went back to work. And yet, the warnings just kept coming. Curious, I tabbed back into the game to discover that a full 40-man Alliance raid was fighting its way to Garrosh Hellscream. Other players said that none of the other Horde leaders had been attacked, so I can only assume the raid was starting For the Alliance! with the toughest foe among them. Now, Garrosh is by no stretch of the imagination anywhere near as popular as Thrall was, but lots of Horde players are still willing to defend him from attack because, well, he's got his moments. Orgrimmar's central district quickly became a lagfest of epic proportions as dozens of players who'd been gossiping in trade or loitering around the Auction House rushed to defend Garrosh. The Alliance raid was ultimately defeated, but they rallied and tried again -- unsuccessfully -- an hour later. This was the first of three days that I saw the same Alliance raid desperately trying to kill Garrosh, and something started to niggle at me by day two. Namely, For the Alliance! and For the Horde! are among the very few achievements that are significantly tougher if you play one faction over the other.
New Hallow's End content for 2011
Hallow's End is nearly upon us, and this year looks like it's going to have a whole bunch of fun new things to keep us occupied, from new pets to new loot to new quests. To start with, the famous wickerman of Undercity will now have a Stormwind equivalent, maintained by the Gilneans. Alliance and Horde will have a chance to honor their own wickerman or douse the one that belongs to the opposing faction. In addition, you'll be able to go on a stink bomb run over Stormwind or Undercity, or clean up after the other sides' bombing. You can read up on all of these quests, which are dailies, in Allison's Hallow's End Achievement Guide. The Headless Horseman will once again lurk in the Scarlet Monastery graveyard, with his usual outlay of rings, his helm (perfect for transmogrification), and his sword, all of which will now be ilevel 365. His Reins will also be a possible reward from the first kill each day, of course. Again, you can find a complete list of his loot in our Hallow's End Achievement Guide. Tricky Treats, those annoying things that you couldn't destroy fast enough in years past, will now buy you stuff. Vendors this year will sell every single Halloween mask for two Tricky Treats each, and two different pets, the Feline Familiar and the Little Wickerman, for 150 Tricky Treats each. Tricky Treats will be awarded from various quests or Hands of Treats from trick-or-treat buckets in inns around the world. The holiday officially starts Oct. 18, so get ready! There's lots of new stuff to do this year, and not much time to do it in, especially if you're not about to tear yourself away from BlizzCon, even for a flying horse.
Bashiok comments on Fire Festival; new Hallow's End surprises
Blizzard has been getting hit with a few complaints since the Midsummer Fire Festival began -- that the holiday was just a stat-bump for the items and was relatively the same event as last year. Even the highlight item, the Frostscythe of Lord Ahune, was part of the controversy. Bashiok took to the forums to discuss the changes that had to happen for the Midsummer Fire Festival to even happen and gave players a clue to confirm the widely held belief that Hallow's End this year will play into the larger story between the Forsaken and the worgen. The Midsummer Fire Festival remained largely the same due to the amount of work that had to go into rearranging fire locations due to the cataclysm, changing around all of the decorations, and generally spending a lot of time switching over from the old world. Bashiok does cop to the fact that the event is more or less the same as last year's, but reminds us that the Midsummer Fire Festival has already had its major overhaul back a few years ago. The more interesting news, however, is that Bashiok says we've got some surprises coming our way with respect to Hallow's End, WoW's take on Halloween. We've been long speculating, based on data-mined items and story cues, that Hallow's End will deal with the continuing story of Sylvanas' march into the kingdom of Gilneas and the worgen's fight to take back their homeland. Plus, who doesn't love the classic Halloween monster movie tropes of zombies and werewolves? Bashiok confirmed that there are changes in store for Hallow's End. To what extent, we do not know. However, I will be looking forward to surprises because, really, I love surprises. I'm a giant sucker for surprises. Bring on the surprises!
PTR patch 4.1: New fishing dailies appearing in Undercity
Currently on the PTR, there is one new fishing daily for the Horde found in the Undercity. This new fishing quest requires the player to fish up a severed abomination head from Undercity. As of right now, it appears these quests are a work in progress, as only one quest is available, and the Alliance versions of these quests are not yet implemented. Blizzard has stated that Cataclysm is intended to keep both Orgrimmar and Stormwind as the central hubs for players to congregate in, with portals to Cataclysm zones and daily profession hubs. With new fishing dailies being added to other cities, players will be traveling to different cities just a boat or zeppelin ride away to make use of some of the underused assets in the game. If people have now noticed, the amount of content being added for patch 4.1 (and potentially, 4.2) constantly grows larger. Combined, these could be some of the more feature-rich patches in WoW's history. WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.
New Ironforge and Undercity mugs available from Taverncraft
Last month saw the release of some new designs from Taverncraft in the form of stoneware mugs, Stormwind for the Alliance and Orgrimmar for the Horde. It looks like these were just the beginning, as Taverncraft has just released two new city-based mugs. Both designs feature the artwork of James Zhang, known for his work with the WoW TCG game, and each mug is microwavable, dishwasher-safe and holds 18 ounces of liquid. While the Ironforge mug is available for immediate shipment, fans of Sylvanas will have to wait a little while; the Undercity mugs will be available for shipment in March. Here's hoping this is a sign we'll see all of the Horde and Alliance capitals featured throughout the year! You can order the mugs through Taverncraft's website for $19.99 each.
Is the Alliance aiming to retake lost lands in Cataclysm?
Derthelz on the official forums asked a good question -- why is the Alliance prepared to kill Arthas but not to try to retake their lost city of Lordaeron? After all, the upper half of the Eastern Kingdoms is almost completely lost to the Alliance, despite the area being the former home of some of Azeroth's most powerful nations. Why doesn't the Alliance try to take them back? Crygil says that, actually, they just might: "Who said that the Alliance wouldn't attempt to reclaim these lands? That is a very dangerous assumption to make, especially if you're of the forsaken persuasion. The Lich King is a threat to all the inhabitants of Azeroth and, as such, he needs to be put down before territorial disputes can be resolved. Leaving those claims for the future only makes sense; far easier to fight one war at a time. For now, it's better to focus on the task at hand."
The Queue: Literally
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. Michael Sacco will be your host today. Editor's Note: The above image has now been fixed to include its original participants. What a great week for dungeon running. Got my shaman his full tier 9 set, my rogue her 2-piece, and a myriad of other badges and loot for my other alts. Soon I'll start pawning off my alt's Emblems of Frost for Primordial Saronite and finance some epic flying. Plus I've gathered enough mats to get my rogue berserking on both of her weapons. Not bad, Patch 3.3. Not bad indeed. But wait! The Queue is about you. Let's get some you in here. Squirr3llywrath9 asked... What's the deal with the Scarlet Crusade? I thought they were against anything that is against the teachings of the Light, particularly the scourge. But in Dragonblight there are shadow priests and death knights in the various bases the crusade has in Northrend. Was wondering if I missed anything that explains their change in ideals.
The Queue: Naptime
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. I'm going to kick off today's edition of The Queue with a question for you, the reader. It's a gravely important question, so read carefully! What should I order from the local Chinese joint for dinner tonight? Should I go with my usual, shameful choice of orange chicken? Or should I go a spicier route and go for the Kung Pao? Heck, maybe I should bring a little variety to the table with a Pu Pu Platter? Help me, WoW.com! Sindrow asked... "Remember how faction switching caused all AT progress to be wiped? Is it safe to say that race change will not have similar effects, since everything is occurring within the same faction? Can you guys think of *any* negative result of a race change?"
What does Blizzard have planned for a Cataclysm in-game launch event?
So Cataclysm is coming and Kisirani is already working on an in-game launch event. It's gotta mean something right? Now don't get me wrong, even with my self-confessed zombiephobia, I loved last November's zombie invasion (though, at times, it got really frustrating). So now Kisirani is officially hard at work planning a new event to herald the beginning of an Azerothian cataclysm, I can't help but wonder what she has up her sleeves for us.Is anyone else excited? I certainly am and it gives us something to focus on during the inevitable wait. To be fair, at least Cataclysm's not scheduled for 2012! We don't have that long to wait, we could be rolling Worgen and Goblins in just under/over a year's time. That just about makes it bearable. But it also leaves us with time to think about what Blizzard will do to introduce players to this brave new world.Hit the jump to find out what we think could well happen prior to the launch of Cataclysm.
WoW Moviewatch: Lament of the Highborne fan video
The timing of Elizabeth's tip for Lament of the Highborne by katethegreat19 could not have been more fortuitous for me. For the first time, my fiancee and I have created and actually played Horde for more than a few levels. It was only yesterday that she encountered the in-game version of Sylvanas' song. While we've both certainly seen the videos before now, this is the first time we've seen it in game. And there's just something about having done the quest, and seeing the performance happen "live" in Undercity that's just a little special.That's why I was pretty happy to see this video in the tip line. The video is not earth shattering, and I'll admit I debated with myself whether or not I could actually put it on Moviewatch. However, the musical work katethegreat19 put into the video was so amazing to me that I felt it overcame the lackluster visual portion of the piece. She basically recreated all the singing and acoustic pieces herself.Don't get me wrong. The author found a lot of great art on Deviantart and pieced it together into an attractive montage which complemented her performance. It's just not a "movie" in the sense of what we usually feature here. Ultimately, I really liked kate's performance here, and will be downloading this to my iPod as soon as I figure out how. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
A world without Varimathras
It was probably the least exciting thing to go down during the Wrathgate questline (Wrynn FTW, no?), and I've only played Alliance during Wrath, so I haven't really realized it until now: Varimathras is no longer in the game. He was always my favorite faction leader (even though he wasn't actually the Undead faction leader, so to speak) -- I loved his "You think you can match the might of a dreadlord?" taunt, his story (he always hinted that the Forsaken, a threat within the ranks of the Horde, might have a threat within their own ranks), and his demonic look. And now, after the Battle for the Undercity, he's gone.Fortunately, this is World of Warcraft, and no one in Warcraft really ever stays completely dead -- just ask Kael'thas. But as a more pressing concern, players are currently wondering how they'll be able to do Varimathras' quests (for the Loremaster achievement) with him no longer hanging around the Undercity. New Blue poster Ancilorn says not to worry -- they'll come up with a way for those who can't see Varimathras to do the quests associated with him. Or, and probably more likely, they'll just take them out of the Loremaster requirements.But a moment of silence, please, for one of my favorite lore figures, Varimathras. He was always on the winning side. Except for, you know, that one time right at the end.
One Shots: There's no place like home
For some World of Warcraft players, the weekend is a great time to run up an alt, or just to pop back to the old world and work on your achivements. While we don't know what takes Khaldun from Maelstrom's Horde back to Undercity, he grabbed this nifty screenshot to show off this area near the auction houses. Perhaps he's out to get some PvP in on a lower-leveled alt? Or just grabbing something from the AH to send to another character. One Shots is in need of more screenshots, so if you've got some time while out adventuring, why not gather some up for us and send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com? Add your name, the game it's from - guild, server and description welcome too - and you're set!%Gallery-9798%
10 things I learned from a destitute alt on an RP realm
I have a few alts on an RP realm that I visit from time to time, and I remember thinking to myself at one point: "These characters are a bunch of deadbeats." I'd gotten too used to the alts on my main realm being a bunch of pampered brats, spoiled rotten by the presence of a hardworking main, so financial discipline had grown to be a thing of the past. Not so on another realm where you don't have a main, and I realized that unless I went back to a few monetary basics, my alts would wind up dancing naked on mailboxes in pursuit of gold. This is a fine tactic with a long and storied history, but when your most promising alt is a level 16 Undead Mage, you're up the proverbial creek. No one wants to see a rotting, naked corpse.So I started not being a deadbeat, and it was with surprise and delight that I logged on to find the little tyke sitting on a pretty respectable pile of gold by level 21 -- as in, he can afford to pay for his level 30 mount and training several times over, and still have enough left over to train himself all the way to 45 even if he doesn't make another penny.
Steamwheedle Cartel holding a "Black Market" crafting event
I love this idea a whole lot. A group of folks on Steamwheedle are holding an RP even (which they've done before), but it's a different kind of event than the usual party or dueling tournament. Instead, it's going to be completely peaceful -- they're having a Saturday morning crafting bazaar. Down in the empty vendor stalls of Undercity, they'll have crafters of all types and levels, some with their mats, some where you'll have to bring your own mats, making items aplenty for players. On January 24th, they're holding a "Black Market", where you'll be able to get almost anything crafted that you want (providing you've got the goods). They're also having a raffle, and they'll be serving food and drink as well. What a great idea.In fact, I'd love to see something like this come to the game at large -- maybe Blizzard could provide a bonus to crafting when it's done at a certain time in a certain place, like create a "crafter's market" weekly on Saturday mornings (scheduled just like the Sunday fishing tournament), where crafters can make sure to be in a certain area ready to craft for any players who might need it, and can get bonus items or currency or mats for their trouble.For such a social game, combat seems to always end up being the only way for players to connect regularly (not that there's anything wrong with that, but the only way to bond in game seems to be killing things). It would be nice to see more of this type of connection encouraged by Blizzard, with players using the skills they've earned to help each other and both sides getting a nice reward for it.
Breakfast Topic: What you call home
One of the more amusing things that polarizes WoW players is the various capital cities. Everyone has a favorite, very few people are ever neutral. Some of my friends like Ironforge for its simplicity, it's all laid out in a circle. Some like Stormwind for the truly city-like appearance. Some even like Darnassus because they have a thing for purple. Some of my friends wish we played Horde so we could have Orgrimmar, because I guess they need more spikes in their life or something. Me? I'm a Stormwind (and Silvermoon City) kind of guy, but Dalaran has stole my heart. Plenty of people hate Dalaran too, though.Everyone just wants different things out of their cities. I like cities with tons of flavor, with a very city feel. Stormwind feels like people really live there, despite how small it is. Dalaran most definitely feels like a city of mages, and there's a ton of flavor and neat stuff to look at there. The fact that every single person who gives you directions in Dalaran has a name is crazy neat. The little daily event at 9 PM where you get to help turn on the lights is amazingly cool for how simple it is.How about all of you, what's your favorite? What do you like about it, or dislike about the others? What would your ideal capital have, if you're not very fond of any of them?
The Queue: Trinkets, sigils and death by Orcs
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.It's Wednesday, which I've determined is the worst day of the week ever, so let's skip any delays today and jump right into the Q&A. If you disagree that Wednesday is the worst, you are wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. As wrong as you could possibly be. Just sayin'.Robsato asked... I recently got my warrior to level 71 and I really miss my riding crop especially since my main is a pally going at normal speed feels really slow. Is there a way to get my 10% speed increase back?
