MoltenCore
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World of prankcraft
My guild (the uberl33t Gothic Bunnies on Thunderhorn-H) has been really rolling through MC lately-- we've got everything but Rag on farm status (and we'll have him soon, don't worry). But since the zone is so easy for us now, we need to do something to keep each other interested, and tonight that something came in the form of pranks.One of our warlocks stepped away on /afk and put himself on /follow to another player... who then jumped in the lava, with the warlock following right behind him. We summoned the other player out, and left the lock to flounder in the flow. And while the summon out of the lava was going on, one of our mages put a portal to Orgrimmar right over the summon portal, and three of our guildies ended up in Orgrimmar before they realized they were clicking on the wrong thing. Two fights later, our MT dragged Garr's last minion away from us back towards the lava (we had all crowded around him before he exploded just to send us all flying), and instead sent a few guildies flying into the drink. Basically, there was shenanigans aplenty in Molten Core tonight.And this is definitely not the first time I've seen this kind of thing go down, either. Our mages love to give out level 1 conjured water, just to make us mana users angry. And way back when I was going through UBRS on my first time (on my gnome warrior), I got freaked out when Vael (who I later learned is a friendly NPC in UBRS) appeared and I was frantically told by my guildies to "tank the red dragon!" It took me a few seconds to figure out why my taunt button wasn't working.Are you the same way-- does your guild prank each other mercilessly, or are we all just crazy?
Around Azeroth: Ninja!
I can't turn down posting a good screenshot of a ninja -- though a pirate would obviously have been better... Reader Richard sent in this shot of a lone ninja braving the depths of Molten Core.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part
WoW Moviewatch: A song about Molten Core
I am obviously a sucker for a goofy World of Warcraft related song, or possibly just easily amused -- because this video had me laughing for the longest time. Though that could have, at least in part, been because I couldn't figure out what song they were parodying (despite the fact that it sounded awfully familiar) until the end....
Organizing raids with Raidar
Raidar is a neat little site that claims to let players plan and organize guild raids in WoW. It's pretty clear the site is new, so it's not completely done yet (not to mention that almost no guilds are in the system at all), but in my few minutes' experience signing in, creating a guild, and setting up a raid, it all worked pretty smoothly (and AJAX-y, if you're a web designer into terms like that-- the site works like it was built in Ruby on Rails).So what's still missing? The "planned features" page promises a top-to-bottom guild management system, incluing email raid notifications, character profiles, and even a "Looking for Guild" board. The one thing I missed in setting up a was the ability to set up numbers for class balance on a raid, but over on the site's message board, the creator says that wasn't a priority for him quite yet (seems to me like it would be a big one). But as I said, the site looks smooth-- if he keeps up with it and throws in all the features he promised, it could be the place for raid planners to set up on the Internet.And as far as I know, there is still a hole for one right now. One of my guilds simply uses our Guildportal message boards to set up and plan raids-- members sign up on the board, and our guild leader keeps track of who signs up and who we need. I know Guildportal has a system for it as well, but none of our members seem to have be interested in using it yet. The other guild I'm in, which is a little bigger, uses the Guild Event Manager addon to announce and plan raids ingame. I do like the way GEM works-- it's easy to use and set up, has that min/max feature that I want from Raidar, and keeps up a constant list of who's signed up for a raid in what class roles.But the only real problem with GEM is that, as far as I know, it's ingame only. There's no way for me to check when a raid is or sign up for one unless I'm in-game (not always an option, especially at work). If Raidar can fill out its features, and do the same thing that GEM does (but from anywhere), we might have a winner.
Around Azeroth: How not to use Divine Intervention
Are you familiar with the paladin's Divine Intervention ability? Well, if not, it's an ability that sacrifices the life of the paladin in order to put a protective shield around another player. It's a handy thing to cast on someone who can rez when you're sure a full-party (or raid) wipe is imminent. However, Suricate sends in this screenshot of a less traditional use of the skill -- to save the life of a rogue. (Hey, can't you guys vanish?!)Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.
So many dungeons, so little time
This thread in the raid and dungeons forum is not the first - nor will it be the last - to complain about the difficulty in scheduling an increasing number of raid dungeons. As raiding guilds seek to advance through higher level instances, some raids need to be cut out of the rotation - and for most guilds, Molten Core is getting left in the dust. Of course this means that players who are still missing the one piece of tier 2 that drops in Molten Core are now stuck without a way to acquire it, but it also has implications for unguilded players and up-and-coming guilds. When I joined my first raiding guild, I had part of my blue class set, as well as assorted blues and greens from Scholomance, Stratholme, Blackrock Spire, and Dire Maul. But for guild exclusively running Naxxramas, Ahn'Qiraj, and Blackwing Lair, that may not be sufficient gear to be able to contribute. As the leader of a small guild working towards gearing up for 20-player instances, I fear that this will intensify the problem smaller guilds have with players raiding for a while and jumping into guilds that have progressed further in end-game content. Though perhaps I am too pessimistic - will players soon simply be skipping over Molten Core to attempt Blackwing Lair in better gear coming from lower dungeons (dungeon 2 set, etc)? As the scourge invasion event completes on more servers we can begin to see what sort of fallout may come from this growing library of raid dungeons.
Molten Core Done Quick(er)
Ever been to Molten Core? Well, some people have been there few too many times - as you can tell by watching this speed-run through the core by Norwegian guild The Axemen (EU - Ravencrest). Time? 70 minutes (though the video is only 36 minutes long, speeding through non-boss pulls). My best times through MC have been closer to three hours, and were more commonly three and a half to four, with loot distribution and the occasional stupid wipe, so I must say I find 70 minutes exceedingly impressive. And if you've never been to Molten Core, but are curious as to what the place is like, this video should give you a good idea of what you'd see inside.
Raid Timers Still Broken?
Though all realms were restarted on the 31st in order to restore raid reset timers to their normal behavior, raids still aren't resetting on their ordinary schedule. Blizzard hasn't made any comment on the matter, so it's hard to say whether they're intending to change raid reset timers or whether the timers are still bugged. Nevertheless, my Blackwing Lair ID seems to be resetting mid-day Thursday instead of its scheduled Tuesday. Hopefully we'll get some clarification on what's going on soon, but until then be aware that raids aren't on their usual schedule.
Raid Reset Issues Continue
This morning's server restarts, which were intended to fix raid resets, apparently did not solve the problem. Community manager Eyonix tells us they have managed to identify the problem, however, and are working on implementing a fix that will not require additional playtime interruption. As much as I disliked the initial change that put all raids on a fixed calendar of resets, I've come to appreciate the predictability of such a system. Hopefully we'll see a fix soon!Update: All raid IDs on European realms were manually reset today in order to solve this issue. Ouch.
Raiders Rejoice!
It may be a small change, but an important one for many guilds raiding Molten Core. For those of you who don't know, to summon Majordomo, which allows you to summon Ragnaros, you must douse several runes throughout Molten Core using a special item - aqual quitessence - that is obtained from Duke Hydraxis far off the coast of Azshara. The item is single use, unique, and it's a long, long run to get to Hydraxis and back. So each raid you must ensure that several players have made the trek to Hydraxis to acquire a fresh batch of aqual quitessence - an organizational headache, I assure you. And let's not even get into the number of raids that have had to stop while several players hearthed and ran to Azshara, because everyone assumed someone else would bring aqual quitessence that run. However, today community manager Eyonix announced that there will be a multi-use version of the aqual quitessence that players will be able to acquire upon reaching revered with the Hydraxian Waterlords. Huzzah!
Exploit or Creative Use of Game Mechanics?
When new content is opened to a player-base 6 million strong, it's obvious that some will come up with interesting tactics that Blizzard never considered. However, whenever someone finds a new trick, debate rages as to whether it's an exploit or a legitimate tactic - a debate Blizzard rarely involves itself in. Usually, when players find an unintended loophole in an encounter, Blizzard will eventually patch it, but this may be weeks or months after the tactic was originally discovered. Currently a hot topic is the ability to use the paladin ability Divine Intervention (a 3-minute protective shield) on Blackwing Lair's first boss, Razorgore the Untamed. This tactic allows the raid to effectively skip the first phase of the fight - by most considered the only hard part. But, in the time Blackwing Lair has been available, Blizzard has neither commented on this nor implemented a patch to prevent this behavior, which, for many, is as good a stamp of acceptance as needed. Is this working as intended, and just allowing creative players easier access to loot? Or is it an exploit Blizzard simply hasn't taken the time to fix?
