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The Queue: Vanessa VanCleef with the steel chair!
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Vanessa remains one of my favorite World of Warcraft bosses of all time. Rarely are bosses so tied to our personal game experience, and rarely do bosses have so much personality. To this day, I'm a little sad she's already gone. Ricky_Gabriel_Bird asked: Question: If Titans created machine to create the original versions of Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans etc, why did they create female versions? I presume the races were created as workers/builders for the Titans and if the machine creates them, then presumably they were not intended to reproduce. Tol'vir women don't seem to exist for example.
SMITE enlists Freya, Queen of the Valkyries
SMITE's mining the Nordic pantheon for its starting lineup these days, as Hi-Rez Studios has revealed the newest playable character: Freya, Queen of the Valkyries. No, kids, Freya's not just a lingerie brand; she's a kick-butt warrior with a very long sword. Hi-Rez released a five-minute video on this tattooed protagonist to get players up to speed. "Every rose bears thorns, but this one wields swords," the video narrator begins before launching into a rundown of the character. Freya is a melee magical fighter who can use her magical power to beef up her physical attacks. Freya boasts abilities such as Irradiate, Pulse, and Banish, although her Valkyrie's Discretion is perhaps the coolest. This ultimate ability allows her to fly above the battlefield and attack without fear of reprisal. Check out Freya's video after the jump!
The Perfect Ten: Worst expansion names of all time
When SOE announced that EverQuest's 19th expansion would be titled Rain of Fear, I instantly found myself tripping over the name. I shouldn't have -- it's a few simple words that are first round picks for spelling contests -- but it defied the traditional naming conventions for MMO expansions. Many people I talked to kept wanting to write "reign" instead because "rain" seemed like a deliberate misspelling by some intern in Smedley's empire. Homophones aside, Rain of Fear is hardly the worst expansion title I've ever seen. The industry has had its share of bad names, from the confusing to the downright unpronounceable. Sure, we get used to these titles, and perhaps it's nit-picky to lug them out at such a late point in many of their lifespans, but petty is my middle name. My first name is Tom. And these are 10 poorly named expansions. Deal with it.
Know Your Lore: Algalon the Observer
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. I have seen worlds bathed in the Makers' flames. Their denizens fading without so much as a whimper. Entire planetary systems born and razed in the time that it takes your mortal hearts to beat once. The Titans are creatures of myth and mystery to the mortals of Azeroth. While some Azerothians (most notably Brann Bronzebeard) seek to unravel their secrets, most remain blissfully unaware and uncaring of the origins of the world. But the mysteries Brann works so hard to uncover more often than not raise far more questions than they answer, and in some cases, create havoc that could reduce our world to ashes in the blink of an eye. In Ulduar, Brann sought to uncover the further secrets of the origin of the dwarves, something that the Explorer's League has been working on since the early days of WoW and the first player steps into the Titan stronghold of Uldaman. But what Brann uncovered was a massive facility that wasn't just for the storage of information from times long past. The facility of Ulduar and its corrupt Titans weren't anywhere near as much of a threat to the world as what came after Loken's defeat in the Halls of Lightning. For it was the moment of his defeat that the failsafe was tripped and the signal was sent. And it was Loken's death that heralded the arrival of Algalon the Observer and the end of the world.
Optional boss modes making a comeback in Mists of Pandaria?
Kaivax hit the forums to answer a player's question about Ulduar and talk about the fondness the dungeon has retained amongst the playerbase and where the optional boss modes have gone. Back during the first half of Wrath of the Lich King, "choose your own difficulty" encounters and in-fight hard mode triggers were staples of the encounters in Ulduar and the Obsidian Sanctum. When Trial of the Crusader launched, Blizzard implemented the UI-based difficulty toggle. Players have expressed desire to return to the old days, feeling that the toggle method is just too robotic when encounters could be designed around cool difficulty-swap mechanics. In his post, Kaivax hints that the design teams are thinking about bringing back these mechanics for some fights in the upcoming expansion, Mists of Pandaria. Rather than selecting a normal or hard mode toggle before pulling an encounter, Ulduar raid groups were tasked with completing different objectives during the encounter or defeating the boss mechanics in a different order to activate hard mode. Famously, players would press a large red button behind Mimiron labelled "DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON," activating the encounter and a rather angry Titanic watcher. Other fights during Wrath of the Lich King such as Freya and Sartharion featured a "choose your own difficulty" mechanic wherein the player's choices before the encounter increased or decreased the boss' overall difficulty. Harder combinations of abilities would yield more impressive items. Will Mists of Pandaria bring back our beloved "choose your difficulty" encounters and in-fight hard mode triggers? I know I'd like to get another Sartharion-style encounter, especially with mount rewards like the original provided. Read the full blue post behind the break below.
Know Your Lore: Un'Goro and Sholazar, petri dishes of the Titans
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. There are two hidden bastions of life in its wildest, farthest variety on Azeroth. One lies far to the north on the continent known as Northrend. The other is far to the south amid the deserts of southern Kalimdor. Each lies surrounded by Titan complexes and the ruined remains of the same (Azjol-Nerub and Ulduar in Northrend, Ahn'Quiraj and Uldum in Kalimdor), and each is protected by powerful constructs keeping them inviolate. Indeed, only in these two places do the creations of the Titans freely act to preserve the equilibrium of the environment. In Un'Goro and Sholazar, life on Azeroth was developed. These were the experimental controls, the crucibles, the drawing boards, and the scrap heaps for all life. If the Emerald Dream serves as a kind of blueprint for the way Azeroth was intended to unfold without the interference of the Burning Legion or the Old Gods, then Un'Goro and Sholazar are the last places left where that blueprint is being followed. Linked not only by a common purpose but also by a massive Waygate, these regions have come under heavy attack from the servants of the Old Gods as well as the mindless hordes of the Scourge, testing their defense to the utmost.
Lineage II becomes one with the servers
We haven't heard a lot of news from Lineage II since their recent Freya expansion, but apparently the game has hit a rocky patch. Associate producer "Moxie" informed the players on Wednesday that the NA and EU servers would be merging to just one per region. This merge is being done "in order to promote a healthy and competitive environment, as well as to offer a better overall experience." Currently, Lineage II has five North American and three European servers, which will be boiled down to only two by the end of this month. The team is accepting nominations for the new server names until September 14th and will hold a vote thereafter to determine the winners. As merges always create an organizational headache, NCsoft is still figuring out the details of exactly how and when this will happen. However, Moxie said that the team will be deleting any character under level 20 that has not logged into the game in more than one year, and if a player has more than seven characters across all of the servers, he or she will only be allowed to keep the seven highest in terms of experience. [Thanks Riz!]
Lineage II's Freya expansion hits today
Fans of NCsoft's long-running Lineage II title are no doubt aware of the game's free (and extensive) expansions, and the latest, Freya, is coming to a server near you today. The titular Ice Queen is now handing out presents to players who visit her in towns, including vitality maintenance potions designed to give your character a temporary kick. Additionally, heart-warming gifts found while hunting may be presented to Freya in exchange for gift boxes bearing a number of scrolls, potions, and gemstones. These Freya Celebration Items will only last through September 7th, so don't delay. As for the expansion proper, it adds a number of features to Lineage II's expansive game world, including new weapons, armor, abilities, and several new adventure areas including overland zones and dungeons. Take a look at the update notes on the official site for more details.
Lineage II: Freya PTS open, launch date and patch notes released
The Lineage II Freya patch has been in the works for a while, and NCsoft let us know last week that it's nearing completion. The company promised more information soon, and it arrived today along with access to the Play Test Server. The official release date for the Freya patch was given today -- Freya will be available to everyone on August 24th. The full patch notes were released today as well, and if you want to read through them be prepared to spend some time. The list of bug fixes, new items, content additions, and so on is long enough to warrant 13 forum posts from the community manager. The notes may be long, but they're broken down into manageable sections this way, which helps quite a bit. Until the August 24th release date, feel free to download the Play Test Server to get a feel for the patch. For a bit more of a preview, follow along after the jump for a new video depicting some brand-new emotes.
Know Your Lore: The Eternals part three -- the Titans
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. The Eternals of Azeroth are by and large fairly well known by the mortal races -- the Ancients of the night elves were a strong presence in the War of the Ancients, and the trolls worked intimately with their Loa gods. But there are still Eternals out there that are by and large unknown quantities in the universe -- vague historical records have been made, but the mortal races are mostly in the dark as to who these Eternals really are, and what their purpose is in the world. Of all of the Eternals, the ones that remain the biggest mystery are the Titans, specifically the Pantheon of titans that were responsible for Azeroth's creation as we know it today. While the dwarves have uncovered a lot of information recently, there are still large chunks of time seemingly out of order or unaccounted for. There are a few different timelines, and varying opinions on what exactly occurred in each timeline -- so writing about the Titans and the creation of the world is an exercise in careful speculation. Today we'll be looking at the Pantheon -- the titan high council -- who they were, what roles they played in Azeroth, and where they are today, as well as taking a look at the creation of Azeroth.
Lineage II readies Freya update
NCsoft's Aion and City of Heroes may get more press here in the States, but the workhorse of the Korean MMORPG maker's worldwide stable continues to be Lineage II. The long-running fantasy title is gearing up for yet another substantial update, with the much-anticipated Freya patch scheduled to hit the public test server on July 29th. Lineage II's updates have always been rather meaty (and free of charge, provided you have an active subscription) and Freya is no different. Included in the patch is everything from new weapons, armor, and abilities to entirely new overland and dungeon areas. Small touches aren't left out either, with new social emotes -- including partner dances -- scheduled for inclusion, as well as reduced teleportation fees and an increase in available quest journal space. The patch notes have yet to be released, but you can get a sneak peek at the projected additions on the Freya wiki page. Additionally, mark your calendar for the Freya reveal festivities and don't forget to read the official press release. Finally, check out some of the new armors after the cut. [Thanks Justin!]
Time Is Money: Frost Lotus prices and farming
Time Is Money, so I won't keep you long. Frost Lotus is a component of raiding flasks, and it is gathered as a very rare chance from regular herb nodes, as well as Frost Lotus nodes that appear in Wintergrasp and Freya's room in Ulduar. The price of Frost Lotus has skyrocketed since patch 3.3 on many servers. This is partly due to the large increase in demand for flasks that the new content brought us, but I believe partly because of a reduction in supply. The supply of Frost Lotus is and always has been low, however as I mentioned in my last column, there are ways to farm it. The most popular one was to get saved to an Ulduar raid ID where Freya's Elders (Brightleaf, Ironbranch, and Stonebark) have been killed, but Freya herself hasn't, allowing the herb nodes to respawn. Getting the nodes to respawn simply requires a "soft reset" of the instance, which means nobody zones in for 30 minutes.
Phat Loot Phriday: Petrified Ivy Sprig
Let's do a wand! A really, really hot wand, too -- best in slot for most casters in the game right now.Name: Petrified Ivy Sprig (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDB)Type: Epic WandDamage/Speed: 414-719 Nature / 1.80 (328.6 DPS)Attributes: +19 Intellect, +22 Spirit, +26 Stamina. Which is actually less than that other big endgame wand, but wait, there's more: %Gallery-33600%
Ready Check: Freya
Ready Check is a twice-a-week column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Today, we step back a little and look at endgame in the context of sports.Let's recap Ulduar so far, shall we?You've wrecked the Flame Leviathan. With a touch of kindness in your heart, you euthanized Razorscale. In a moment of vengeance, you laid some justice down on Ignis the Furnace Master. Guffawing in humor at his odd voice, you looted Deconstructor. Then it came time to "bridge your experience" by beating up Kologarn. The Assembly of Iron proved to be no difficulty for your incredible raiding prowess. Even Auriaya and her small legion of adds gave you little pause.Perhaps you've even stepped up to the man, the myth, the legend: Hodir. But now, Ulduar's got a life. You're facing down Freya.
Shifting Perspectives: An Ulduar class preview, part 4
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, another Ulduar boss dies to moonkin nukes, feral claws, and tree slaps.Chase Christian from Encrypted Text recently started a series of guides on doing Ulduar as a Rogue, and I must admit that the relative ease and simplicity of describing the role of a pure DPS while raiding is enough to make me sob quietly into a hanky. Meanwhile, I'm driving myself to the nuthouse trying to describe four entirely different roles for a single class. Pardon my saying so, but this column was the hell of a lot easier to write back when we sucked at everything that wasn't healing. Damn you, multi-spec viability! Damn you to HELL!Before we get started, I'm going to continue what I did with the last Ulduar preview column, link to general strategy guides, and assume you have a basic familiarity with the encounter before delving into more Druid-specific advice. Today we're going to confine ourselves to Freya, as it's one of the few Ulduar fights I have now seen outside of the PTR. With luck, my computer is going to cooperate for a full clear this week plus a few hard modes, so I will be revising (and, as necessary, expanding) our current Ulduar Druid guides to reflect changes that Blizzard has made to the fights and a few notes concerning hard mode issues. Any changes made will be noted in next week's column.
The Daily Quest: It's always sunny in Dalaran
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. European folks can win a trip to BlizzCon in Blizzard-EU's costume contest. OutDPS takes a look at the Freya encounter. While not strictly WoW related, many of you will like to know that D&D Online is going free to play. Lodur over at WoM looks and Friends and Raiders: Raider Accountability. Holyform writes the Complete Idiot's Guide to Discipline Priest Spells. Our friend Medros of All Things Azeroth has a new podcast out called Group Quest. Check it out! Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution tips and tricks in Ulduar
I know, it's another Retribution post, but since we got hit with the nerf bat again (ever so slightly) I decided to devote one last column to the spec before I rotate back to Protection. Besides, my past month or so has been spent raiding Ulduar as Retribution (with the first few forays as Holy) so I think that's what I'll talk about for now. Rather than talk about specific boss strategies, we'll talk about the little things we can do to perform at our best in Ulduar. Flame Leviathan First up is Flame Leviathan. Obviously, none of the usual strategies will apply here but one key point players should remember is that the vehicles scale with gear. This means having to prepare an outfit set optimized for the encounter. One thing to note about vehicle scaling is that it doesn't look at stats, just iLevel. Optimizing a gear set for this means putting the highest iLevel item you have in every slot. For "pure" classes, this is usually their normal set-up, but for Paladins who keep several sets of gear, an iLevel-optimized outfit can be composed of healing items, a few tank items, some DPS items, and even PvP gear. Players can use AddOns such as RatingBuster to determine an item's iLevel and outfit managers such as Outfitter or Blizzard's new in-game equipment manager to quickly swap gear.
Encrypted Text: Rogue tips for raiding Ulduar, part 2
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we continue our discussion of tips and tricks for Ulduar.Last week, we covered the first few tiers of Ulduar bosses, and what Rogues can do to maximize their performance on these fights. I was happy to see some great tips in the comments as well, such as using Cloak of Shadows when you are afflicted by XT-002's Light Bomb. If you have any advice to add to the conversation, please use the comments to give us your thoughts.This week, we'll be talking about the Keepers, the real meat and potatoes of Ulduar. These bosses drop our coveted Tier 8 (complete with its fantastic 4-piece bonus!) and other loot that you'll want to get your hands on. These fights are also more technically complex, and so you'll want to be prepared before attempting to down these bosses for the first time.
The Daily Quest: Of Titans and Moonkin
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Lorecrafted asks an important question: What came first, the Titans or the egg? Wait, I meant Old Gods. Titans or Old Gods. World of Matticus's Sydera takes a close look at healing through Freya in Ulduar. As always, a great resource for healers of all flavors. Sacred Duty is making the most out of Mining in Icecrown, and they're willing to show you how, too! The Druid Team goes where many have hoped someone would've gone before: Balance Druid spell rotations. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Go cheetah, get banana
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.The blogs are still aflame with Ulduar excitement, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. I'll be heading back in there myself tonight, and these guys probably will be, too! The Yogscast has released their latest video, a nearly flawless strategy for Freya, which you can watch above. This Yogscast is second only to their How To: M'uru. Spicytuna takes a look at Razorscale from a Frost Mage's point of view. Honor's Code knocked down Ignis and the Iron Council, now they're looking forward to what's next! Less QQ, More PewPew continues their Ulduar video series, this time with Kologarn. Startin' a Ruckus is trying out a brand new Holy build in Ulduar and has some thoughts on the matter. Fel Fire has cleared through Mimiron on Ulduar10, but Ulduar25 hasn't been quite as smooth. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
