fury-of-the-sunwell
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Totem Talk: 2008, a Shaman Odyssey
Right now, as I type this I'm imagining Conan O'Brien's old "In the Year 2000" bit, which they kept doing way past 2000. This really has nothing to do with the shaman class, except that it's funny to imagine an orc in Earthshatter holding a searing totem to his face and doing it. Hey, it's New Years, I was up late, you're going to have to accept that my already tenuous grip on reality is a trifle frayed today.2008 was an interesting year for shamans. When we covered 2007 for shamans, the general consensus for the class was that it needed some work. Now, a day into 2009, did it get the work it needed? Wrath of the Lich King has really only been out for over a month, but it (and the patch preceding it) more or less dominated the year for every class, shamans included. However, the year started off with another big content patch which more or less dominated everything up until the release of Wrath, namely Fury of the Sunwell. It's fair to say that most shamans didn't get to raid Sunwell (although they were in demand for Sunwell raiding guilds, which we'll discuss) but almost any shaman who was level 70 could do the various Sunwell dailies, get to exalted and pick up a nice necklace or three as well as various other pieces for your offsets.
Shifting Perspectives: The Druid of 2008
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, our author is completely spaced out on cold medication, and is somewhat concerned that her raid performance has improved under the circumstances.The time has come (the Allie said)To talk of many things.Of Roots and Bash and Travel Form,And Strength (which scales with Kings).Why Tauren cat form sucks so hard,And whether trees have wings!And, yes, before anyone asks, I'm tripping on too much cough syrup and ibuprofen after receiving a belated viral Christmas gift from a relative. So I'll just put this out there right now; this column's probably on the weird side. I took a long look at all three Druid specs over 2008 and saw a few sad things, a few happy things, a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants, and now I'm channeling the famous Mary Tyler Moore episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust," and that has to stop because I do not believe Mary Tyler Moore ever played a Druid.If you're completely uninterested in reading an account of any spec that's not your own -- although that would make me weep into my little cup of generic label cough syrup -- here's a set of quick links to each: Balance Feral Resto
Fury of the Sunwell trailer Lore analysis
So you've had time to traipse around Sunwell Isle, you've read the new lore (both the official stuff and Alex's Know Your Lore: The Sunwell), watched the trailer, and all that good stuff, but you're still a bit confused. What does it all mean? Let the lore geeks at WoW Insider help you out a bit. We've put together a scene by scene analysis of the lore behind the Fury of the Sunwell trailer, and we're presenting it to you here. Hopefully, it sheds some more light on this whole "Did Kael'thas go crazy or didn't he, and what is up with Kil'jaedan anyway?" thing.
Patch 2.4? WoW!
So here's the question: what's so good about Blizzard's World of Warcraft patch 2.4? What's changed? What's been improved, and what's been fixed? More importantly, have the patch changes given lapsed players a reason to come back, and non-players a reason to try the game? While I'd love to have one of our WoW specialists answering those questions for you, most of them have shut off their mobile phones and pagers, with mumbled threats involving spleens, sporks, and being tossed "hogtied, naked, and alone into Naxxramas" if I disturbed them while they were experiencing what the patch has to offer.
Where's the badge vendor, and other IoQD questions
It is now day two of patch 2.4, and the madness is still well underway. The Isle of Quel'Denas is swarming with aggressive players (most of them seem to be mages for some reason) racing each other to the Wretched and the Sentries, not to mention people desperately seeking tanks, healers, and CC for MrT runs. (Alright, not many people are calling it MrT yet, but we're trying to make it happen.) And the Shattered Sun Offensive is progressing; my server is now 59% of the way through phase one.What's all this about phases, you ask? Well, as people do the daily quests on IoQD, the Shattered Sun Offensive begins to retake the island building-by-building, in four phases. When that percentage progress (which you can see on your own server by talking to the NPCs who give the daily quests) goes up to 100%, we enter phase two, unlocking a trade supplies vendor and more quests. Repair vendors and the coveted badge vendors (and T4 -> PvP vendors) are not available until phase three, which Vaneras estimates should take a month or so to get to. This phase also brings ammo vendors, and still more quests.And phase four will supply the island with a proper inn, complete with mailbox, and reagent vendors, as well as even more quests. So: there is no repair, ammo, or reagent vendor, no badge vendor, no inn, and no mailbox -- yet. If you want to hasten their coming, bring in any level 70 characters you might have and do the daily quests that are currently available. Oh, and the portal for that one quest is at 48,44 or so. I have now dealt with 95% of the questions I see in IoQD General (ah, memories of Hellfire Peninsula in the first week of BC).
Breakfast Topic: First Things First
We know that patch 2.4 is on its way, sometime soon. The World of Warcraft page has been updated and the background downloader has appeared. Many of us are itching to experience the Fury of the Sunwell. Tomorrow was the second most frequently projected date in our "Guess the release day" contest. As always, Blizzard says it'll go live when it's ready, but tomorrow seems likely to me. The first thing I'm going to do when the patch goes live is check out the patch notes and see which changes were actually included, what's been rolled back, and what's been replaced. After that I'll be heading into Warsong Gulch to see if the developers have found a way to make the battleground experience a little better. I hope they did better than the promised debuff after five minutes of flag-carrying time. What's the first thing you're going to do once the patch drops?
WoW Moviewatch: The REAL Fury of the Sunwell Trailer
According to Ian Beckman, Blizzard has a trailer for the new 2.4 patch that they don't want you to see. In the Blizzard-issued version, Kael'thas believes that the Sunwell is the root of all evil and destroys it. When the destruction makes things worse, he turns to Illidan Stormrage for help.Ian's version, however, tells the story of monsters that overtake the "pool of awesome." Kael'thas has an identity crisis and it just gets really random from there. If you like all things fun and happy, then this is the Sunwell for you! I wonder why Blizzard would cover up something so cool?Previously on Moviewatch ...
New Fury of the Sunwell preview page at the main US site
2.4's not out today, but Blizzard threw a nice little consolation prize our way: A new Fury of the Sunwell preview page, complete with a trailer and a very spiffy looking wallpaper featuring Kil'jaedan rising out of the Sunwell while Kael'thas looks on, as well as an in-game cinematic trailer in which Kael'thas tells the story of the destruction of the Sunwell and speaks of his plans to reignite it and summon Kil'jaedan. if you're a bit unclear on the Sunwell Lore, this page explains it succinctly as well. There's also a list of some of the new features, such as all the new daily quests, accompanied by screenshots. In what might be considered a bit of tease for WotLK, the screenshot for the Arena Tournament features a Warrior wielding the fabled Ashbringer (the corrupted version, but still!). It's also worth noting that we can add another Kralnor cookie to the growing list of them, the screenshot also features everyone's favorite staff-using Warlock. Blizzard's done a great job with this page, although I have to wonder if this is a harbinger of more PTR time. It seems strange they'd only release such a well done preview page a few scant days before the patch goes live, but we shall see. It's fun to have some new eye candy to keep us occupied until the patch drops.
