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Barrens Chat: Unwanted
Now, I know last week I said in a comment that I am trying something entirely new this week. However, that plan sort of backfired when I found out my scanner is no longer in the realm of the living, and those Spirit Healers apparently don't speak binary.I've Wanted to put this comic up since I saw the movie. If you have not seen it, you might not get this unless you watched the movie previews, or have someone explain it. %Gallery-22361%
Barrens Chat: Beggers can't be choosers
First of all, a huge thank you to Mike Schramm last week for covering my rear with his hunter comic. And it wasn't so much "kindly accepted" as it was "oh thank goodness, I'm saved" for the record, Mike. Thank you Turpster, also!Now, back to business (or tomfoolery, I haven't decided which it actually is yet). This week brings us a comic that actually took place in the Barrens. Crossroads to be specific. So once again for those of you who complained commented that the comics should take place in the barrens, your wish has been granted. %Gallery-22361%
Breakfast Topic: Those little annoyances
So like Alex, I figure I probably have a few more alts than your average player. I have 3 level 70s, 3 more characters above level 60, and a few more at various levels of play. I even started a new shaman just this past week, just because I decided I had a really cool character concept for a female Orc shaman. Anyhow, I've been playing the shaman quite a bit, and I've actually not been twinking her at all, enjoying the challenge of starting a character from scratch and making sure I still have my mojo despite getting all fat and sassy from all that easy daily money from Sunwell Isle. WoW's done a pretty decent job of keeping the lower level game easy enough for characters, but there's a couple things I've noticed while playing that still feel like they need some work. If I could highlight one, it would be the complete lack of Shaman trainers in Lordaeron.
Barrens Chat: The shocking truth
Engineers frighten me. Mostly because I tend to be the guinea pig in anything and everything I find myself involved in, and because of the things they do when we're not looking. But also because I don't understand a single thing they're trying to tell me.I don't know about you guys, but anyone who thinks a good time involves playing with dangerous things with electrical charges, and trying to outrun explosive sheep is a little bit on the crazy side. %Gallery-22361% Every week, Barrens Chat drags its readers through the clutter-filled, cobweb infested mind of Megan Harris, and exposes the readers to her decaying sense of humor. So if you're interested in soft, fluffy delights, or are more into a quick and tasty snack you... wait. Why are all these comics focused on food so far? Maybe next week our starving artist will be a little more well fed and provide less food-for-though, and more funny.
Insider Trader: Fishing, the final stretch
Until very recently, with patches 2.3 and 2.4, fishing was a skill mainly taken up by those players aching to relax. Casual questers who couldn't play for hours and be all business, or raiders looking to escape the pressure, took to their favorite remote and beautiful areas with a rod, some music, and a <DND> tag. In my small and tight-knit guild, fishing often meant story time. While I was feeling Zen fishing from the Forgotten Coast, another guildmate was storming the shores along Stranglethorn Vale, and we would exchange anecdotes and gossip. We took pleasure in our secret source for cloth, leather, ore and greens, as well as fish for alchemy, and helped finance our level 40 mounts through fishing. Still, many players, if not most players, seemed to find fishing boring, slow and annoying. Fortunately, fishing has never been necessary for any character if it does not provide pleasure. Even cooks, who stood to benefit the most from fishing, could work around it, and push through any rough patches by buying small stashes of certain fish from other players. Of course, now that fishing is more lucrative, its secrets more widely known, more people have shown an interest. As cooking became more important, so did fishing, not because you couldn't maximize cooking without it, but because some of the best buff foods are made with fish. Those who need a constant supply can't rely on the auction house. Recently, Robin Torres wrote up some tips to leveling fishing at level 70, and this week, Insider Trader is taking an in-depth look at maximizing your fishing skill. For the inside scoop on reaching 375 as quickly as possible, or as profitably as possible, head on through the break.
What WoW should learn from certain quests in and around The Barrens
So I've been thinking a bit about questing lately as I traverse Outlands on my latest project, a level 61 Blood Elf Paladin, working on the Outlands quests. I think my favorite part of playing a lowbie hordeling is how many quests there are to "stumble upon" in the oft-maligned Barrens. Technically, they're all very basic "find and kill these dudes" quests, but the presentation is such that I always get a big rush from doing them. They really do make me feel like a mighty hunter.
Tips for leveling Fishing past 225 at level 70
So here I am at level 70, back in the land where your mom is that easy and Chuck Norris is that cool: The Barrens. I'm not here to save the Crossroads from ganking Allies and I'm not here to run noobs through Wailing Caverns (so stop asking). I'm here to fish. Fishing is the one secondary skill I didn't work on because, well, it's boring. But now that you can make tons of cash with the new Fishing Dailies, I'm leveling up fish-catching skills. The problem is that once you get to 225, and finish that annoying quest with Nat Pagle, fishing gets even more boring than it was before. No matter where you fish, each skillup is farther apart and you have to hang out in places that are far below your level if you don't want to miss a lot.The first thing I did was search WoW Insider, because that usually does the trick and I found a great guide to Fishing and Cooking, but the advice for leveling to 300 says "may god have mercy on your soul because Blizzard won't." Not a good sign. I also found a link to El's Extreme Anglin' which is a fantastic fishing site, but I couldn't find any advice for making the trip from 225 any less painful. So I asked The Spousal Unit who has won the Fishing Extravaganza more than once and after some experimentation on my own, I'm well on my way past 265 and making a lot of cash at the same time.My tips are after the jump.
Breakfast Topic: Where would you go if you were a tourist in Azeroth?
On April 1st, Gadling blogger Erik Mclaughlin took a little trip to a place we all know well: Azeroth! He describes a bit of a lowbie safari than spans from the the treetops of Darnassus, to a safari in the Barrens, to the Mage Quarter of Stormwind. It's a fun little read, and reminded me of a question posed by Temperius of Cenarion Circle a bit back on the official forums: Assuming you didn't have to worry about being attacked, at least not too much, Where would you go if you could be a tourist in the World of Warcraft? To be honest, I'd have a hard time deciding because there's very few places I wouldn't want to go. Some of the more demon infested places might end up being too ugly, but I have to say, I'd love to attend a banquet in Karazhan and take in an actual non-ghostly Opera or watching the patterns of the twisting nether from a high cliff in Netherstorm. I'd have to do some cliff diving from the Twin Colossals, and meditate by the moonwell outside Stormrage Barrow Den in Moonglade. And those would just be the beginning. How about fishing in Booty Bay, or joining the Shatterspear tribe for a bonfire dance party? What about joining Hemet on his almost certain-to-happen hunting trip up to the Grizzly Hills of Northrend? Assuming you could do it all in relative safety (Let's say you had a magic item that gave you exalted reputation with everything), how would you do the touristy thing in Azeroth? Where would you go? What would you do?
One Shots: A Barrens memorial
Today we'd like to share with you a memorial that not all that many new World of Warcraft players may have ever seen -- or if they've seen it, they may not know the story behind it. This One Shot comes from Litamay from the Lightbringer server, who popped by to see the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior, which features the only named resurrection angel in-game -- and one that is visible while your character is alive. She writes: [This is an image] of the shrine in the Barrens dedicated to the dev who passed away during development. We've often thought that this was a nice touch to memorialize Michel Koiter's contributions to WoW. We certainly thank him and the rest of the team for bringing such a great game to the rest of us. Do you know of an out-of-the-way place in your favorite game? Perhaps you just know of a great view? Whatever your reasons, grab some screenshots and send them to us here at oneshots@massively.com! Yours could be next!%Gallery-9798%
Officers' Quarters: Saving a PuG guild
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Anyone who has an unguilded bank alt can appreciate this scenario: You're in the auction house, minding your own business, when without any warning the whole auction interface goes away, only to be replaced by a guild charter that someone wants you to sign. It's pretty annoying and rude when people do that without asking first. If you're not in a guild, it can happen to you anywhere. Usually they don't want you to actually stick around once the guild is formed, but other people actually send guild invites this way. It's not as bad when it's a noncharter invite, since it doesn't close any of your windows. But it always mystified me that people would recruit like this. They don't know anything about you; you don't know anything about them. So it's not so much a guild as it is a long-term pick-up group. I suppose some of the members must know each other, but everyone else was just scooped up fresh from the Barrens. Do you ever wonder what might happen if you actually joined that guild and stuck with it? This week's e-mail comes from someone who did.Hi Scott --Thanks for the column. Believe it or not, even those of us who don't lead guilds tune in and get some good tips and advice from you. I'm an unashamed noob who suddenly has a guild issue. Here's how it breaks down . . . I got massively bored with my Night Elf Druid after getting him to Ashenvale, and nearly gave up on WoW. I'd only sunk three weeks into the game, and still had another week in the bank, so I rolled a new character. Right out of the gate, I decided to play a more social game: get into more pick-up groups, join a guild, and figure out what these "instance" thingies were all about. So when I was in the middle of a fight and a guild invite popped up onto my screen, I joined immediately.
MMOs: the finishing schools of the Internet
As much as Massively is about what's news and what's developing in the world of MMOs, one of the most curious things about the online world is how much people's interactions are similar in each game. "So what's to know about playing MMOs?" you might ask. "Where else can you go to learn that life has no consequences, just future runs at drops? To endure requests from people begging you to please do complicated quests for them so that they can have red dye on the armor they'll replace tomorrow? To listen to others proudly shout out their "deep understanding" of complex political, economic, or scientific concepts they doubtless gained from mining virtual iron ore for six hours a day? To spend peaceful weekday down time telling socially inept children– some of whom are in their 30s and 40s – to STFU?" Well, sure, there's that. And I've been playing online games since 1990, so I've seen all that aplenty. I'm what you'd call a Dungeon Curmudgeon –a guy who has been around long enough to have seen the ins and outs of many an MMO, been to the meet and greets, watched the n00bs come and go, and even remember when w00t wasn't a word. (And it still isn't as far as I am concerned -- l33tspeak is Pig Latin for the Internet -- except that the dictionary people haven't figured that out yet). Yet looking beyond the archetype of the teen-aged moustached, pizza-faced veneer of social ineptitude, something more complex and curious is happening. You see, I think MMOs are the finishing schools of the Internet.
Around Azeroth: Stalking the mighty Zhevra
The Tauren Druid stalks his prey in his natural habitat: the tall grassof the Barrens, into which he naturally blends. The Zhevra in the distance stands little chance against this predator, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Though this is an excellent stalking shot, it's apparently not a memorable one -- as reader Matt sent this one in with the note that he couldn't remember which character or realm this image might have come from.Do you collect screenshots of your character on the hunt? We want to hear your stories (and see them!) on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!%Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: Leisure time for NPCs
These Stormhide roam throughout the Southern Barrens aimlessly, like any other NPC -- in endless circles, simply waiting for players to come by and kill them. (For quests, XP, leather, fun... really, who needs a reason?) But reader Kurai has captured this shot of the Stormhide taking a leisurely drink. Hey, Stormhide! I'm pretty sure leisure activities are explicitly forbidden in your NPC contract!Do you have a screenshot that captures a interesting NPC moment? We'd like to see it on Around Azeroth! All you have to do is e-mail aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your screenshot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could find your pictures and story featured next!%Gallery-1816%
Cinemassively Interviews: Oxhorn on Hat vs. Barnaby
From the first time I saw Hat vs. Barnaby, I couldn't get Hat, the Singing Turtle, out of my head. I even went so far as to stalk Oxhorn in order to find out more about him! While I was disappointed to learn that Hat probably wouldn't marry a human, I did discover some important details of his life.Born in a little pond in the Barrens, Hat knew there was more to life than eating crickets. All he really wanted to do was sing, and he didn't let anyone discourage him! As for Barnaby, Associate Professor Evil found him trying to catch cheese in a river! Since that fateful day, he has lived a life of killing and critiquing.The ending of this World of Warcraft Machinima was a bit of a cliffhanger, so I had many questions regarding both Hat and Barnaby. How do they get along now? What are Hat's plans for the future? Read on after the jump to find out the answers to those questions and more ...
Officers' Quarters: Chased out of guild chat
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. Barrens chat. Someday, if WoW becomes popular enough, that phrase could become immortalized in the English language as a synonym for childish, pointless, and offensive blather. Whether it's public offers to cyber or waxing poetic about Chuck Norris' roundhouse kick velocity, if you've ever leveled a Horde toon in the Barrens, you've heard it all. It's one thing to put up with such nonsense for 10 levels. It's quite another to endure it day after day from members of your own guild. What if your guild chat was little better than Barrens chat? Today's letter is from an officer facing this grim situation. Hi Scott, Thanks for all the great articles at WoW Insider. You do a fantastic job! I have a question for you that hopefully you have some insight on [. . .] I'm a member of a successful guild whose core members know each other in real life and have gamed as a group since before WoW. I've been with them since late 2004, and while we've had our ups and down as a guild, having a core like this has kept us alive through it all. I'm now an officer and a raid leader, so I have quite a bit of leverage in the guild. We have never had any written-down rules about how you should play your character or act while in guild. We stress the basics that any guild should abide by [. . .] We're on a pvp server, and many of the members come into the game to unwind from their daily stress. As such, guild chat can be extremely vulgar. There was one instance a long, long time ago where a black member of the guild gquit because of a few guys BS'ing on gchat and using the 'N' word. I think that day has been forgotten. Gchat has been rife with some pretty controversial word use lately, and I've just been approached by one or two concerned guildies.
Around Azeroth: Moon over Ratchet
Sure, it's old content, but reader Aaron sent in this shot of the moon peeking out over Ratchet from which I think is quite lovely. My only question is -- where'd the shot come from? Is there a flight path that comes in from the sea allowing one to catch the entire town at a glance? Or was the shot taken from a high perch on an incoming ship?Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world! %Gallery-1816%
New graveyards in 2.2.2
Hot on the heels of tomorrow's expected 2.2 release, Neth has posted the short-but-sweet 2.2.2 patch notes, which include Brewfest and Hallow's End, featuring lots of new seasonal rewards and quests. As we've said before, the fact that both of these holidays are coming up quick means we can't be more than one or two weeks away from this patch's release.And the other interesting feature of this patch is the addition of quite a few new graveyards all over Old Azeroth. Southern Barrens, Western Plaguelands, Alterac Mountains, Searing Gorge and the Badlands are all getting extra graveyards (there's no indication whether they're Horde or Alliance specific or otherwise), and Tanaris, Winterspring, Stonetalon and Un'Goro are all getting two.Wow. That should significantly speed things up in Un'Goro, Tanaris, and the Southern Barrens especially, since I have less-than-fond memories of super-long corpse runs there. Badlands, too, was pretty maddening, and while the long corpse run wasn't the only reason most players aren't big fans of Uldaman, it was definitely a reason for that. This is no doubt part of Blizzard's aim to speed up levels 1-60 for players. This alone, of course, doesn't exactly make me want to go back and run another alt through (only new content would do that), but at least when we do run another alt through, it'll be a little easier.
Around Azeroth: Christmas in July, take 2
Oh, sure. You may think that July's an unfavorable time of year for reindeer, but I argue that this screenshot proves otherwise. Unfortunately, these festive mounts can only be acquired once a year -- at December's Winter's Veil celebration. Says Spencer, who sent us this shot, "Who says we can't be festive all year round!"Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
WoW Moviewatch: The Adventures of Garthim and Tenaros
Every megalomaniacal Undead Warlock has to start their quest for world domination somewhere. Garthim starts his in the Barrens, collecting Zhevera hooves just like anyone who's ever played Horde-side did. So, today the Barrens, tomorrow the world! Previously on Moviewatch...
Why raid the Crossroads?
When I regularly played Alliance, I didn't bother. Raiding the Crossroads seemed like a waste of time when there were so many instances to run to get loot or battlegrounds to run to get honor (more honor than the occasional HK in the Barrens would give me, at any rate). Why run all the way out to the Crossroads to hassle the Horde and receive no loot and little or no honor? And now that I usually play Horde, I find it annoying when a group of level 70 Alliance come and spend an hour or more wiping out every NPC in the Crossroads. Hey, guys -- think you could leave the flightmaster alive for long enough to me to pick up the flight path? Please?My only thoughts on the matter are that city raids like the near-constant assaults on the Barrens are an amusing change of pace for bored high levels... and I admit, fighting off Alliance in the Barrens are an entertaining distraction. But, really -- don't Crossroads raids eventually get as boring as any other existing content in the game? So I ask you, dear readers, do you spend your time in-game battling for the Crossroads? And if so, why?
