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Warlords of Draenor: Official Draenor dungeon previews
If you've been wondering about the various new dungeons we'll be seeing in Warlords of Draenor, prepare to have your questions clarified. Earlier this week, Blizzard posted an official preview of all the dungeons introduced in the next expansion, including the revamp of Upper Blackrock Spire. The previews do a great job of giving an idea of what we'll be seeing in the dungeon without actually giving away any potential storyline spoilers -- just a brief overview of why the dungeons are there. There isn't even a boss list that tells you who you'll be seeing, which is nice for those wanting a little information without giving everything away. More importantly, each dungeon includes a short piece of commentary by one of the many artists and designers involved in bringing it to life. Each bit of commentary goes over one particular feature or design element of the dungeon and how it was brought to life. We don't usually see the behind-the-scenes for the dungeons we run, and it's cool to see some of the crew involved in dungeon design being given the opportunity to talk about their work. And even if you've already been playing through the dungeons in the beta, there's still information here that you can't get just from running it in game.
How to go from solo WoW to group WoW
It's finally time: you've been leveling on your own but now you've been lured into your first dungeon by a quest or the promise of gear. But running dungeons with a group of four other players is a lot different from soloing -- different enough to seem like a whole new game. When you enter a dungeon, you need to work as part of a team, and take careful consideration of the rest of your group before you make any moves. It's a very different mindset than what you're accustomed to as a solo player. Even if you feel like you know your stuff in World of Warcraft, the switch from soloing to grouping can be bumpy -- so how do you make the transition without looking like a newbie? Fortunately, we've been around the block a time or two and have some advice to help you get started, no newbie moments required.
World of Warcraft comes to Skyrim with Scholomance dungeon
I have to confess: Scholomance and its spiritual successor Karazhan are still my favorite dungeons in the game. I must just have a thing about creepy castles full of necromancers, undead, and ghosts. Which would also explain why I like Bethesda's Skyrim so much, because everywhere you turn there are necromancers and their undead servants, just waiting for you to put them out of their lifeless misery. So I can't even begin to explain how pleased I am to see that an intrepid modder has created a version of Scholomance within the world of Skyrim using the Skyrim Creation Kit. Mod-maker AquariusLAD says he tried to stay as close to the original as possible, and, judging by these screenshots, it really looks like he's succeeded. To enjoy Skyrim's version Scholomance, you need to be playing on the PC (sorry, console gamers!), where you download the mod file, unzip it, and drop it in the /data/ folder in your Skyrim directory. Once it's installed, you should find the entrance to Scholomance just inside the Markarth Emporium.
The most wicked creatures in WoW
Warcraft is a game that seems fairly straightforward in faction division. Alliance is good; Horde is bad. But once you delve into it, that straightforwardness becomes muddled and marred. The Alliance may seem like good guys, but they have their bad moments, and the Horde may seem evil, but even they've got their shining examples of goodness buried within. And when you examine the story and lore closely, you begin to realize that there is no black-and-white division between good and evil; all characters are loosely scattered and somewhere in shades of gray. Sure, you can argue that the orcs are evil -- and they absolutely were, back in the day. But when you start looking at the justifications for the orcs' actions, that label of pure evil comes into question. As for the Alliance, you can argue that the human race is a bastion of goodness and light -- but then you look at things like the Scarlet Crusade, at Benedictus' betrayal, and you begin to wonder whether the human race is inherently good or just as scattered as the rest of the world. ... Unless, of course, you look at the one place where evil characters always hang out: instances.
Does a video game have to force us to make good choices?
Take a moment and picture this: There's a politician out there, a pretty sleazy politician, who is basically in a position of power to use that power to do whatever suits him or her best -- no regard for anyone that voted him into office, no real sense of caring for those he is supposedly serving. One day, someone comes up to that politician and says, "Hey man, I'll give you $3 million if you start taking an interest in your constituents and doing what is best for them, OK?" The politician agrees, takes the money, and promptly starts doing the right thing. Is that politician in the wrong? Or is that politician simply learning that if he behaves badly, he'll get a bribe to start behaving correctly? What's to stop him from behaving badly again, if he thinks he's going to get another $3 million out of the deal? More importantly, if all the other politicians out there see this guy get a bribe to behave like a decent politician and all of those politicians decide to start behaving badly in an effort to get that bribe for themselves, are they in the wrong?
BlizzCon 2010: Patch 4.1 Firelands raid and Abyssal Maw dungeon
The Dungeons and Raids panel is now in Q&A mode, and Cory Stockton (lead content designer) gave us a lot of new information concerning what to expect when patch 4.1 goes live. I've assembled everything we know below: Firelands raid This is the elemental plane of fire and an outdoor raid located in Mount Hyjal. You'll be able to mount up and run around. The final boss will be Ragnaros, and you'll fight him in a building called Sulfuron Keep. Sulfuron Keep looks very similar to the building you'll see when you fly into Hyjal for the first time (and may in fact be the same one). The Firelands raid will provide more backstory and lore on Ragnaros' presence in Azeroth. I thought I heard that he won't be moved out of Molten Core (he'll be in both raids simultaneously) but I'm not 100 percent sure. Expect 7 bosses. The Abyssal Maw The elemental plane of water. A new 5-man in Vashj'ir thematically similar to the 5-mans shipping with Cataclysm. "Oh, and it's nothing Oculus." Players will be moving around a lot in the dungeon and they're doing their best to avoid the "Oculus effect" of quirky mechanics being unintentionally annoying. The entire dungeon will be underwater. They've overhauled underwater combat and you can fight normally if you're on the floor. Most of these mechanics are already in place in the beta Vashj'ir zone, so some players will already be familiar with it. They're planning on four or five bosses. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Map of Utgarde Keep, and what we know about it
Well this is exciting. MMO Champion points us to WoW Wiki, where some enterprising person has assembled a map of Utgarde Keep, the first instance in Wrath of the Lich King. The map is apparently based on one published in Games for Windows, but as it appears on WoW Wiki, it's a little empty. Let's see if we can't clear some things up-- I've added letters to the map above, and below, I've described what is probably there, based on my own impressions and what we've heard elsewhere.A. This is the main entrance, and as I said before, it consists of Vrykul metalworkers and forgemasters. The big firey graphic is the Forge, which has three "walls" that only open up after the mobs are defeated there. After you clear all three walls, you head around to the left, and find...B. Dragonhandlers and "Trained Proto-drakes," which appeared to be Blue Dragons. Draw your own conclusions there. This area is a stable type of place, which explains the stalls.
Utgarde Keep video
Blizzard strictly forbade any video or pictures of live gameplay during BlizzCon, so for fear of not being able to cover the whole thing for you guys, I stayed away from breaking that rule. But apparently Gameriot was not so rule-abiding, and they grabbed some shaky footage of the first dungeon we'll see in Northrend, Utgarde Keep.They played the same parts I did on my walkthrough, including the gigantic furnace walls, new Vrykul race, a few "proto-drakes," and the first boss, the Warlock who summons some big Vrykul skellys throughout the fight. There's not a lot new to hear about if you've been reading everything so far, but if you weren't able to make it to BlizzCon, it'll be your first chance to see everything from Northrend's first 5man on video.[ via Curse ]
