Adam Koebel
Articles by Adam Koebel
Patch 6.0.3 hotfixes for November 18
Yes, more hotfixes. This round has numerous garrison and quest bug fixes. They've also opened up the second Apexis Crystal vendor, and reverted an earlier PvP hotfix that was originally implemented to tone down PvP damage at level 90. Here are some of the highlights. Apexis Traders Dawn-Seeker Krek (Alliance) and Dawn-Seeker Alkset (Horde) are now offering Exceptional gear (item level 645) for sale. Increased the spawn rates for creatures and NPCs in the Skettis Ruins area in Spires of Arak. Characters with Warlords PvP gear that had its secondary item level activated due to being in PvP combat temporarily disqualifies them from queuing for Dungeons and Raid Finder. Gnomes are now able to increase their reputation with Wrynn's Vanguard. Reverted a hotfix from October 15 that reduced all PvP damage by 25%. Miner's Coffee movement speed buff should now stack correctly with other movement speed buffs. Solium Band rings can now be equipped at level 98 (down from level 100). You can find the full list of hotfixes after the break.
Patch 6.0.3 hotfixes for November 17
The latest round of hotfixes is a big one, and as the realms recently underwent rolling restarts, everything in this list should now be applied. Here are some of the highlights. Resolved an issue where players could get stuck on a flight path while attempting to fly into their Garrisons. Increased the amount of experience awarded for completing a Draenor level-up dungeon (Bloodmaul Slag Mines, Iron Docs, Auchindoun, and Skyreach) to be more rewarding. Honor Quartermasters have been added to Ashran. Austin Feeney (Alliance) and Shadow Hunter Gar'ant (Horde) now sell Honor gear. An item now needs to be at least item level 560 or above before being eligible to be scaled up to 650 in level 100 Battlegrounds and Arenas. Profession work order items have been changed to green quality to reduce the amount of loot window popups when completing work orders. The full list of fixes is after the break.
Blizzard giving all subscribers 5 days of free game time
Executive Producer J. Allen Brack has posted a message on the official forums apologizing for the Warlords of Draenor launch issues. To compensate players, each player who had an active subscription as of November 14 is getting 5 days of game time added to their accounts. He also mentions that they are continuing to deploy the new instancing tech to all realms to help with queue times. The end result will be realms having approximately double the population capacity they did before launch. J. Allen Brack In recognition of the difficulties so many of you ran into when trying to play over the first few days, we're adding five days' worth of extra time to every subscription in the Americas, Oceania, and Europe that was active as of Friday, November 14. Things are already in a much better place than they were going into the weekend, so I hope you'll now be able to focus on having a ton of fun with this expansion. source You can read his full message on the official forums.
How to get Garrison Resources
Garrison Resources are something you may casually dismiss while leveling up. Quests are granting them left and right, you're not having any problems building your first building or two, and everything looks peachy. So you're thinking that you may as well start buying those Excess Potions of Accelerated Learning for 100 resources a pop, right? Wrong! Anyone who has spent hundreds of their precious resources on those potions could be in for a rude awakening once they hit level 100 and realize they need 2000 resources to upgrade their garrison. Don't let me stop you from buying the potions if you truly need to get to 100 a few hours earlier, but don't say I didn't warn you. Either way, you're going to run into a resource problem eventually. Garrison Resources are the main bottleneck for progressing every aspect of your garrison. Given enough time, you will eventually generate enough resources to do everything you want. But we're not all patient people, are we? Here's a few tips to get your hands on some resources as soon as possible.
Start the legendary quest at level 98, get an epic ring
The Warlords of Draenor legendary quest will culminate with a powerful ring instead of a cloak like in Mists of Pandaria. Similar to Wrathion's quest, you'll be given smaller rewards as you progress through Khadgar's quest that will ultimately lead up to the legendary version. However, instead of sockets or gems, you will be focusing on the ring from the start. You can actually get the first version of the ring (ilvl 640) before you even hit level 100 (though you do need to be 100 to equip it). Agility DPS: Solium Band of Dexterity Strength DPS: Solium Band of Might Caster DPS: Solium Band of Wisdom Healer: Solium Band of Mending Tank: Solium Band of Endurance The quest becomes available at level 98 and starts in your garrison. Continue after the break to learn how to get it.
Reminder: Log in to your alts after launch for rested XP
The prospect of having multiple garrisons has made me eager to level up alts earlier than I would have in previous expansions. That means I'll want my alts earning rested XP as soon as possible. Rested XP isn't something that happens automatically when Blizzard flips the Warlords of Draenor switch tonight. As with previous expansions, your characters will not start accruing rested XP until you log in with them post-launch. It can be an easy thing to forget when you're focused on getting your main to level 100, but it's definitely worth taking a moment to cycle through all of your alts. Just make sure they're parked in a city or inn. Don't go on vacation for a week and leave your character parked in the middle of Desolace like the author of this post.
Age of Iron Trailer: Take your place on the front lines
"Are you so eager to meet death?" - Grom Hellscream In case you weren't excited enough for the imminent launch of Warlords, Blizzard just released this new Age of Iron trailer to whet your appetite even more. The trailer is composed of in-game cinematic footage, so if you're still trying to remain spoiler-free you may want to wait until the expansion launches to see it for yourself. Otherwise, get hyped!
Khadgar is ready to send you into Draenor, mount and collision restrictions
If you've stopped by the Dark Portal in the past several hours, you may have noticed some changes. Alliance and Horde forces have begun to push the Iron Horde back closer to the portal. Khadgar, along with Thrall and Maraad, have taken up station in front of the portal. When the clock strikes 12 a.m. PST (North America) or 12 a.m. CET (Europe), you'll be prompted to visit Khadgar in the Blasted Lands to start your journey into Draenor. In past expansions, the NPC which gave you the first quest tended to be a bottleneck of sorts. Usually it was because of some unsavory individuals who decided to sit on their oversized mammoth mounts right on top of said NPC. You'll be happy to know that Khadgar has collisions around him, meaning no one can sit directly on top of him. And best of all, mounting is disallowed in a 15 yard radius around Khadgar. Sorry to disappoint you, mammoth trolls.
World of Warcraft: Looking for Group premieres at BlizzCon
The World of Warcraft: Looking for Group documentary recently premiered at BlizzCon, and Blizzard has put it up on YouTube for all to enjoy. It runs for a full hour and gives a fascinating behind the scenes look at the 10-year history of WoW, along with stories from players about what the game means to them. Just stop reading this and watch it!
Method wins their second BlizzCon live raid
Congratulations to Method for winning their second BlizzCon live raid! This year, both Method and Midwinter raced in Highmaul (Heroic), one of the upcoming Warlords of Draenor raids. Unlike the Siege of Orgrimmar race from last year, this race was from start to finish -- including the trash, which proved to be one of the deciding factors for Method's victory. Midwinter started out strong by killing the first boss, Kargath, while Method still had about 20% to go. This advantage quickly shifted when Midwinter had some hiccups on the trash on the way to Twin Ogron (the 3 bosses in between are optional bosses, which they skipped for the purpose of the race). Method killed Twin Ogron with Midwinter still at 25%. Midwinter slowly caught up during Ko'ragh and ended up pulling the final boss, Imperator Mar'gok, only 10 seconds behind Method. The final fight was pretty exciting, with Method and Midwinter only about 5-10% apart on boss health throughout the whole fight. There were several close calls, but Method ended up pulling it off. If you have the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, I'd recommend checking out the VOD. Lead Designer Ion Hazzikostas gives some good background information on the fight mechanics and some of the lore behind the raid.
The heroes of Overwatch
Blizzard has unveiled the first 12 heroes of Overwatch, their newly announced 6v6 multiplayer shooter. Each hero fills one of the 4 roles -- Offense, Defense, Tank, and Support. The goal is to provide gameplay options for all types of players, not just those who enjoy the traditional twitch gameplay of shooters. It's also worth noting that with each life you are able to switch your hero. You are not locked in to one hero for the entirety of the match. Check out our gallery above, and a full list of the 12 heroes by role after the break.
Overwatch cinematic and gameplay trailers, sign up for beta
The official site for Blizzard's newly announced multiplayer team shooter, Overwatch, is now live. With it comes the cinematic and gameplay videos from BlizzCon. In addition, the site features detailed profiles of all the game's heroes, including lists of their abilities. There's also information on roles, gameplay modes, and more. You can also opt in to the beta, which is set to begin in 2015. Overwatch is playable on the floor at BlizzCon, which makes me hopeful that the beta will start sooner in 2015 rather than later. The cinematic announcement trailer is embedded above, and you'll find the gameplay trailer after the break. For more information on Overwatch, check out our liveblog of the Overwatch Unveiled panel.
Blizzard announces new charity pet for ebola relief efforts
Blizzard has announced the next Battle.net Shop pet: Argi. It will be available for purchase for $10 starting on December 3. For every Argi purchased between December 3 and December 31, 100% of the proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to support ebola relief efforts.
Watch the BlizzCon 2014 opening ceremony live
The BlizzCon 2014 festivities are kicking off today with the opening ceremony at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST). Everything will be streamed live on the official BlizzCon site. Just a reminder that even if you haven't purchased a Virtual Ticket, you'll still be able to watch the opening ceremony for free. E-sport events including the StarCraft II WCS Global Finals, World of Warcraft Arena World Championship, and the Hearthstone World Championship will also be free to stream all weekend. However, if you want to watch the developer panels, contests, closing ceremony, and the Metallica concert then you'll need the Virtual Ticket. If you're at work or otherwise unable to watch the live stream, we got you covered here at WoW Insider with live blogs of the opening ceremony and all the World of Warcraft panels.
Patch 6.0.3 hotfixes for November 3
You can stop pulling your hair out trying to complete the Brood of Alysrazor achievement for the Blazing Wings toy at the Darkmoon Faire. Up until these hotfixes, the fire rings were shared between players which made getting this achievement nearly impossible on a populated realm. All players should now have their own individual rings. I've personally had luck completing the achievement with this route. Here are some of the highlights from this round of hotfixes. Firebird's Challenge: Blazing Rings are no longer shared with other players. Moonfang should once again be tuned for level 90 players. Get Kraken!: Increased the health for North Sea Kraken by 1000%. Color blind shaders are back. New console command: /console colorblindsimulator [0-8]. Resolved a frame rate stuttering issue that was affecting some Mac OS clients. The full list of fixes is after the break.
20 easy toys to collect for your Toy Box
Collecting is one of my strongest motivations for playing WoW. Lately, I've been going pretty crazy with collecting toys. I thought I'd share some of the very easiest toys I've collected. You will be able to log in and get most of these toys right away, with a few possible exceptions such as the reputation toys. However, if you've been actively playing in Mists you should already meet these reputation requirements. The rest are easy drops, simple quests, or vendor purchases. Let's get started with the easiest of all, at a cost of a whopping 10 silver.
Warlords of Draenor beta ending on November 3
After 5 months of alpha and beta testing, the Warlords of Draenor beta realms are scheduled to be shut down permanently on Monday, November 3 at 4:00 p.m. PST. As per tradition, there will be an in-game event to say goodbye to the beta. This is scheduled to happen at 2:00 p.m. PST on the same day, though no specifics have been offered up yet. I have many fond memories of the Warlords beta, such as the hunter community effort to solve the Gara mystery and participating in "play with the blues" events just to name a couple. Beta was fun, but I'm ready to move forward. Let's bring on the real deal. You can find the full announcement from community manager Nethaera after the break.
Patch 6.0.3 hotfixes for October 28
The first round of hotfixes for patch 6.0.3 are in. The list of fixes is a bit shorter than what we've been used to over the past couple of weeks, with no class or stat squish fixes this time around. Quests Roll Club: Serpent's Spine should no longer cause players to float and allow them to complete the quest. Zarhym Altogether: Spirit Chests looted during the weekly quest no longer contains gold. World Environment World Defense chat channel should be joinable once again. Alliance characters taking a flight path to Shattered Beachhead should now arrive safely at their destination (rather than falling through the world). Battlegrounds and Arenas Bonus Honor for winning a Battleground is now only awarded when queuing for a Random Battleground (it was incorrectly awarding the bonus Honor for any Battleground win). Be sure to check out the patch 6.0.3 notes from yesterday if you missed them.
Use your toys more often with these Toy Box addons
I think the toy box feature is glorious. It's something I was pining for even before it was announced at BlizzCon 2013. Having access to toys at any time -- and especially on all my characters -- has been a lot of fun. As of today, I'm up to 90 toys with plenty more in the pipeline. I suppose the only thing I've struggled with is the tediousness of going into my toy box, searching for the item I want, then using it from there. Yes, I could throw some favorites on action bars but that would get cluttered fast. Pinning favorites helps, but with 90 toys you can imagine I have a lot of favorites. I did some digging and came up with 3 addons that make using your toys a whole lot easier. If you're a toy collector who wants an easier way to use your favorite toys, then keep reading. The first addon we're looking at isn't aimed specifically at the toy box, but the author has recently added support and it works like a charm.
Warlords of Draenor: LFR gear to have unique set bonuses
Traditional class tier sets will no longer be available in LFR difficulty in Warlords of Draenor. You'll need to run normal, heroic, or mythic to get your hands on tier 17 gear. That doesn't mean LFR-exclusive raiders will be entirely without set bonuses. In the latest beta build, Blizzard has added some new set bonuses which are exclusive to LFR gear. These bonuses are not class specific, but are instead armor class and role specific. For example, enhancement shamans and hunters share the same set bonuses. Like traditional armor sets, there are 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses. The 2-piece bonuses are all simple stat increases, but the 4-piece bonuses are a little more interesting. All of the LFR set items are item level 655, which is slightly higher than non-set LFR loot. These armor sets also have different artwork from the class tier sets. You can view the artwork by using Wowhead's model viewer at the below links: Cloth: Ebonflame Raiment Leather: Sootfur Garb Mail: Ashlink Armor Plate: Blacksteel Battleplate After the break we've also got the full list of set bonuses.