datamining
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Blizzard 'exploring' microtransactions in World of Warcraft
Microtransactions are nothing new for World of Warcraft, but the game has never had an actual in-game store. You've had pets and mounts that toe the line, but the line still existed. Then a bit of datamining turned up an experience boosting item that looked as if it might be tied to an in-game store. But datamining isn't the same as actual confirmation, and thus much nervous hand-wringing ensued... until community representative Zarhym confirmed that yep, this is a thing that is happening. Zarhym's posts specifically state that Blizzard is "exploring the possibility" rather than definitely adding a microtransaction store, but it seems the most likely outcome. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner rather than later. No word on what this means for the future of the game's business model or how much will change from the game's current system with an online storefront, but it's certainly surprising to see one of the last games without an in-game store taking steps toward adding one.
New Battle.net desktop client datamined
MMO-Champion have been very busy datamining, as is their way, and have happened upon some files that indicate that a new launcher may well be appearing before too long. What they have found indicates that there is a battle.net launcher coming that will shift away from separate game-by-game launchers, towards an integrated launcher for all Blizzard games. Looking at the background files which have been datamined, it looks like WoW, Diablo, and Starcraft will be included, but also the older Warcraft RTS games. Each major game group appears to have its own section, which itself includes breaking news, general information, and links to things like patch notes, guides, account management, help and support and more. There is also a news section which encompasses the news across all the games you have installed. It is important to note that this currently appears to be datamined information and should be treated appropriately. It is always best not to pass judgement on such things until an official position on the veracity of early reports is released. But, that being said, whatever this turns out to be looks great.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Additional Wrathion quest sound files
Spoiler Alert: Adriacraft has been back with more of their datamined audio files, and wow, these ones have some spoilers in them. If you don't want to have spoilers about Wrathion's questline, or anything else for that matter, definitely don't watch the video, or hit the break to read any more of this post. Final Warning: Spoilers after the break. Really big spoilers. Do not hit the link below if you don't want to know.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Warlock area datamined
Adriacraft have been at it again, datamining what is believed to be the containing zone for an element of the warlock-specific "green fire quest" area. On first look, the zone itself, though not the map, appears to bear a striking visual resemblance to the zone in which the Obsidian Sanctum raid takes place, but with additional items added. It seems from a brief glance at Wowhead's warlock-specific quests that the majority of the currently known quests refer, as expected, to the Black Temple, without mentioning another zone. Could this "island" be an instanced area accessed from within the Black Temple? It looks far too fiery for that to me at least, but with the little we know about the Council of the Black Harvest, also known as the Council of Six Daggers, and their ties to other, older zones, it could be that this is some area associated with that group. What do you think? I know I'm really pleased I leveled my warlock, these quests look really exciting, even with our very limited knowledge of how it will all unfurl. Do note, as ever, that this is datamined information, and place an according amount of weight upon it. Let's hope this leads to more class-specific quests in future! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Stackable stag coming in patch 5.1
One of the most unintentionally hilarious bugs to hit with patch 5.0.4 introduced the phenomenon of stag stacking. This bug allowed druids in travel form with the Glyph of the Stag to ... well, stack on top of each other. Towers of stags took Azeroth by storm, and a flurry of screenshots littered sites like Reddit until the bug was quite sadly hotfixed, and stags were left solo and inconsolable. Apparently Blizzard liked this bug, even if it wasn't really appropriate for player use. MMO-Champion datamined a new item called a Stackable Stag from the patch 5.1 PTR. Using the item will summon a stackable stag at a target location, and if there is another Stackable Stag present, it will stack on top of it. It's not quite as laughably horrifying as a giant stack of stags trundling through the streets of Orgrimmar, but I'll take it. At the moment, it's unclear where one will be able to obtain this item, but it should clear up by the time patch 5.1 is released. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Wolfram Alpha lets you stalk yourself on Facebook, reminds you how noisy you are
You know Facebook's got dirt on you, it's one of modern life's unavoidable trade offs. Now though, thanks to Wolfram Alpha, you can data-mine yourself -- something its creator has been doing for years -- and get a true sense of exactly what the social network knows about you. You'll first have to head over to the computational knowledge engine, then search "Facebook report." Follow the prompts to give the app permission etc, and you'll be rewarded with a detailed breakdown. The data shows information about your interactions, friends, most popular photos, most common demographics and more. For example, you might discover that you know someone in the Philippines, have a clutch of non-connected friends weirdly in the same location, or that you mom is your top post commenter. Though you probably knew that last part already. Paranoid or curious? Jump on the source link to get started.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Jaina Proudmoore gets model update
Wowhead News has datamined the latest beta patch and discovered an update to Jaina Proudmoore's look. Her hair has mostly turned white, presumably due to traumatic events and not to age. The hair matches what we've seen in previous art that accompanied the spoilerific Battle of Theramore voice clips. A closer view of her full body, which you can see using Wowhead's model viewer, shows that her robes are rather tattered as well. Jaina has changed her appearance before. Back in patch 3.3, she went from looking like a random human to getting her own model -- a much-needed change, but no in-game event was the basis for the update. In Mists of Pandaria, however, the events at Theramore seem to have put Jaina through enough to make her look rather battleworn. The Battle of Theramore isn't officially implemented on beta servers yet. Sapperwix says there will be no new content with today's beta build, only the temporary removal of the Jade Forest, so it will be some time before we see this new Jaina in action. What do you think of Jaina's new look? It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
The Dangers of Datamining: A cautionary tale of a not-so-evil Magister
Some time last month, I was chatting with a friend about various story bits in WoW when we wandered onto the subject of the blood elves and what they're up to in the story. I pointed out the short story In the Shadow of the Sun for more recent sin'dorei lore, adding that of course the story took place prior to Wrath in the time line, so it really wasn't the most up-to-date bit of lore, although it was a wonderful read. My friend asked if I thought we'd see anything with the blood elves in Mists, and I replied that I didn't think so, but then we didn't really know that much about storylines in Pandaria yet. "Well, yeah," they replied. "But what about Rommath? I mean, he's part of the Twilight Cult and all." I paused for a moment, confused, and then realized what they were referring to. "That was a set of datamined voice files that never made it to game," I clarified. "Well yeah, but he's evil," they insisted. "No, he's not -- as far as the game and the lore is concerned, that conversation never happened, and Rommath is still the same old Rommath. A little cranky and snooty, but definitely not evil. Until proven otherwise." They pondered this, and the conversation moved on from there. I've had this conversation again and again -- in game, on Twitter. And this, my friends, is just one example of the many dangers of datamining.
The Daily Grind: What half-developed content intrigues you the most?
A live MMO is like an old building, expanded and built upon time and again. And just like a large enough building, there are rooms that get built over and sealed off. Except they're not rooms, they're abandoned pieces of content and storylines and mechanics that never got expanded upon. Things like the Karazhan Crypt in World of Warcraft hint at elaborate pieces of content that never quite made it to release, with only the barest elements remaining in place for players to wonder about. Sometimes you don't get a full map, of course, just a few datamined points or a spell that looks like part of a larger series of spells that never came to pass. Whether or not you're happy with the game as a whole, the idea of these islands of abandoned content can be alluring, suggesting a pattern of development that almost went into production but not quite. So what's your favorite piece of content that clearly got dropped off partway through? Where do you find a hint of what might have been that ultimately didn't come to pass? 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!
Google helps scholars mine 1.7 million Victorian era book titles for clues to our historical attitudes
Whether we like, loathe, or never even considered the idea of it, quantitative literary analysis seems ready for its moment in the spotlight. Dan Cohen and Fred Gibbs, a pair of historians of science over at George Mason University, have been playing around with the titles of some nearly 1.7 million books -- accounting for all the known volumes published in Britain during the 19th century -- in a search for enlightenment about the Victorian era's cultural trends and developments. By looking at how often certain words appear in text titles over time, they can find corroboration or perhaps even refutation for the commonly held theories about that time -- although they themselves warn that correlation isn't always indicative of causation. Their research has been made possible by Google's Books venture, which is busily digitizing just about every instance of the written word ever, and the next stage will be to try and mine the actual texts themselves for further clues about what our older selves thought about the world. Any bets on when the word "fail" was first used as a noun?
The Mog Log: We all live in a community submarine
This week, like the week before, has seen an explosion of controversy about Final Fantasy XIV. I have not really taken part, as I have been far too busy playing Final Fantasy XIV to care one way or the other. But after a month of people's impressions, it seems like the perfect time to dive back into the meat of the community topics -- much like we did last month around the same time, as a matter of fact. Sadly, Final Fantasy XI has been fairly quiet, both due to the anger generation systems its successor features and due to a general sense of community burnout. After all, we're about two months away from another version update, and thus far we've heard nothing about what's due for December. Still, jump on past the cut for discussions about Final Fantasy XI as well as FFXIV, with the usual dosage of commentary to accompany each.
Final Fantasy XIV fansite mines out guildleves and hidden models
Final Fantasy XIV is a game that's provoked no shortage of strong opinions, ranging from adoration to venomous loathing. If you're knee-deep in playing it, however, you could certainly use a full rundown of the guildleves available in the game. FFXIVCore, which has been quite active over the course of the beta, has provided a full rundown of the leves in the game, sortable by various criteria and listing all relevant data about each given levequest. Should that not be quite enough to tickle your fancy, some astute glancing through the data files for the game has revealed the ship models and several other currently unused files within the game. Although the models are untextured, there are some that should provide no end of fan speculation, such as the model very clearly resembling the ubiquitous Ifrit. Final Fantasy XIV hopefuls whose expectations have sunk will probably not care, but current players should be happy for the new resource.
Armory Data Mining updated for patch 3.3.3
One of my favorite WoW information sites, Armory Data Mining and its related blog, has now been updated for patch 3.3.3. We've profiled the site here before, but if you're not familiar with it, it's run by a fellow named Zardoz who trawls the armory assembling statistics on race, class and spec popularity. He also gathers information on class battleground performance and professions. From what I've seen, there haven't been any giant changes between the patch 3.3 and patch 3.3.3 data (you can find the former at the profile link above). Paladins are still the most popular class, followed by death knights, druids, priests and warriors. It's well worth a look if you're interested in seeing what WoW's statistics look like right now.
Female worgen models and animations datamined
Posters on MMO-Champion's boards have gotten into the Cataclysm alpha and started datamining female worgen models and animations. While the models don't have textures yet (i.e. you're only going to see a bunch of black and not their faces or anything) and some of the animations are placeholders borrowed from existing models (mostly female draenei), this is the first look we're getting at one of Cataclysm's most hotly anticipated features. WARNING: This post is stuffed full of spoilers. It is a spoiled piece of concentrated awesome wrapped in spoiled paper boxed and shipped to Spoilertopia courtesy of Spoiler Express. Don't click below if you don't want anything to do with unofficial information.
More Cataclysm precursors found in Patch 3.3.3 PTR files
While we haven't heard much new Cataclysm news lately, the Patch 3.3.3 PTR files have provided some pretty tantalizing hints as to what may be to come, including some new models associated with the Twilight's Hammer cult. First off, we have a series of portals. These portals are topped by a crystal that looks very similar to the wind stones of Silithus, and in fact, each portal and crystal seems specifically marked to summon a specific element. There's also a bloodstained sacrificial altar and a couple of banners, all of these have a very specific dragon-like motif. The Twilight's Hammer has already been confirmed to be working with Deathwing in Cataclysm, and since they're an elemental doomsday cult dedicated to bringing about the return of the Old Gods, busting Deathwing out of prison is right up their alley. We should probably expect to see these models in game relatively soon, and probably as part of a plot by the Twilight's Hammer to summon Deathwing back into the world -- a plot which will, of course, eventually succeed. Stayed tuned for more coverage of Patch 3.3.3 and the Cataclysm opening event as it develops! %Gallery-86068%
Armory Data Mining updated for patch 3.3
I've pointed this out previously to people curious about WoW's in-game demographics, but Armory Data Mining is really a fantastic but underappreciated site. To be specific, there are actually two sites of interest here -- the actual Armory Data Mining and its related blog. Zardoz, the creator and maintainer of both, uses the former to collect and update statistics on class, race, and sex popularity in WoW (in addition to reports on class battleground performance and profession popularity), while the blog is often used to look at smaller issues or questions like the effort to distinguish between bear and cat specs through the Armory. Zardoz posted his newest collection of statistics this past Wednesday, all of them updated to reflect the patch 3.3 game world. Perhaps most interesting is that paladins have knocked death knights out of the #1 spot, with retribution being the most popular spec (and, as a druid player, I think I'm seeing a bit of decline in balance popularity here as well). If you're at all interested in in-game demographics as of patch 3.3, I highly recommend a trip over to both sites.
Patch 3.3 PTR: New Tauren skins found
Handclaw of the Scrolls of Lore Forums has uncovered something very intriguing in the Patch 3.3 PTR data files: New Tauren skins. Specifically, it looks like tribal war paint covering the face, arms, and chest, taking the form of bleeding wings on the chest. There's red, white, and blue color versions for both males and females. There's quite a few Tauren fans on the WoW.com staff, and we've been having quite a few conversations about the new Tauren lore and their place in Cataclysm, so you can bet this new discovery has us all atwitter. What could it mean though? There's a few possibilities.
Mining the armory for Hunter pet statistics
With Hunter pet information recently added to the armory, Data Miner Zardoz has wasted no time getting his hands on the raw Hunter pet data and breaking it down. The data is only for level 80 Hunters, and only 10,000 of those at that, but it still gives a very interesting snapshot of what's going with the Hunter's best friends. It might not be too big a surprise that Cats are far and away the most popular pet at a count of around 9500, nearly doubling again the amount of Wolves, who come in just under 5000, which are in turn used in numbers over twice as much as the next popular choice, Gorillas, who are just above 2800 in number. Now mind you, this information does take into account pets that are in the stables as well, and there's certainly the possibility that a lot of them have just stayed in the stables for a long time.
Breakfast topic: When Blizzard listens
For years it has been a running joke that the level 11 elite Hogger should be a high level raid boss. Every server will have heard talk of a 40-man Hogger run or re-rolling a bunch of level 1's just to tackle this insurmountable foe. He is surely the scourge of Alliance toons everywhere simply because he is the first elite we encounter as we explore Elwynn. Well, it seems Blizzard have listened, Boubouille over at MMO Champion has been datamining the 3.2 patch files and has discovered tidbits about some of the bosses we'll be fighting. Indeed the most interesting part involves memories of past encounters -- including Hogger. Yes, you can also fight Algalon, Onyxia, Illidan and Edwin VanCleef but Hogger is the most important. What confuses me though is whose memories are you fighting? Those of your own past encounters or those of one of the Argent Crusade? If it's the former, what happens if you've not fought said boss? What if you're Horde? But I digress. While you can bet Hogger won't be a level 11 anymore, it's a shocking revelation. While we know Blizzard pays attention to what WoW players are saying, it's nice to be reminded of that. So I want to know your reactions? Is it a good thing for Blizzard to pander to player's whims? Do you think reminding players where they came from and their past triumphs is a good thing? Not so keen? Is it just an excuse to be lazy and rehash old content? Tell us, constant readers, and drop your thoughts in the box below.
Adventures in Beta: Holy whomping axe, Batman!
Oh, man, and you thought the Arcanite Reaper was classic. Jones, of the guild Paradox on Eredar, posted this image today, and the forums have been set alight with speculation on whether this is a real item or a clever fake. The full story is that someone called Ronnie claims to have datamined up Illidan's loot table. Now, datamining is bad and wrong, but that doesn't stop people from doing it and then posting the information for everyone to see (how do you think the Tier 5 graphics got out there?) Aside from the "Betrayer's Spaulders", the "Quel'Dorei Greatstaff of Destruction", the "Soulslayer" and Illidan's head, Ronnie's screenshots show a 156.2 DPS legendary axe called "Grom'ogh, Edge of Hellscream." This bad boy has 82 strength, 74 stamina, a 35 hit rating and an 80 crit rating. Not only that, but it also grants the wielder immunity to fear and has a chance on hit to increase attack power by 700 and make you immune to stun and movement impairing effects. Detractors say the item can't be real - it's too powerful, the immunity to fear is ridiculous, Illidan may not die at the end of the Black Temple, and how would Illidan get Grom's axe anyway? Other people note that the model of the axe is unique, it doesn't look photoshopped, and 156 DPS weapons are completely within the realm of possibility in the expansion. Is it real or is it fake? If it is real, who should use it and will the immunity to fear be game-breaking in PVP? If it's fake, what kind of legendary SHOULD Illidan drop?
