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Halo 2: Anniversary 'Gungoose' is Mongoose with top gun
This past weekend at RTX 2014 in Austin, we learned that the "Gungoose," the Halo universe's Mongoose ATV with a big gun welded to the front, will make it into Halo 2: Anniversary. Halo 2: Anniversary, for its part, will come bundled in with Halo: The Master Chief Collection when it's released later this year. "One of the best things to do with the Gungeese is to play a new game variant for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It's Gungoose [Capture the Flag] and our favorite map to play it on is ... Coagulation," according to Halo Waypoint. The Master Chief Collection will be available November 11 for $60. Check out the Gungoose after the break.
Buy this real-life Halo Mongoose
Boy, we've seen a lot of real-life custom Halo vehicles lately. First there was a tiny, completely huggable Warthog, then a full-size Warthog and now we've got a working, custom Mongoose. The vehicle was spotted on Craigslist and, according to the seller, it was originally used as part of a Halo 3 launch event. A modified 2007 Kawasaki KFX 700 ATV, the seller claims it was won in a drawing, but now he has to sell it. If you could use a "mint condition" Mongoose -- and have $9000 laying around -- this baby can be all yours. Once you pick it up, all you'll need is a buddy and a (Nerf) rocket launcher and you've got instant good times. [Via HBO]
Halo RC vehicles aren't just for Avatars anymore
Why should your Avatar have all the fun with a Warthog prop? Available from NKOK, a RC controlled Warthog can be yours for a mere $25. So save that money you'd have spent on your Avatar and spend it on yourself. You're worth it! Later this month, NKOK will also release an RC Mongoose (that's the dune buggy-thing) and the Hornet (chopper-thing) for $25 and $35, respectively. Now, not to look a gift horse in the mouth but ... where's our RC Scarab? [Via 1Up]
The Queue: Hard mode is hard
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Good afternoon, ladies and gents! Before we get started today I just want to thank everyone for participating in my Hawaiian Pizza poll. It was a silly, spur of the moment sort of thing, and it really made my day to see it creep up to around 11,000 votes! Thank you all very much for humoring me.Again, there are a few Ulduar spoilers in this post, but only minor. Be warned. Also, vote Alex.Adrexani asked...This has always puzzled me, Arthas is a Death Knight, Death Knights are dead, yet no where in lore do I see that Arthas died, so did he die or is he still alive?
EDITED: Warlock makes Thunderfury
Reader Angie sent us a curious Armory profile of a Warlock who was able to obtain the classic legendary one-handed weapon Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker. Although no raiding guild in their right minds would've allowed such a travesty to happen no matter how much DKP the Warlock had back in the day, now in a time where Onyxia is visited every few days for some easy Gold, anything goes.This news comes on the heels of what is reputedly a world first Death Knight obtaining the legendary sword. Here's the kicker, though... the left and right Bindings of the Windseeker have class restrictions (revised to include Death Knights)... and Warlocks aren't among those eligible to start the quest chain. Mages and Warlocks are both casters who can equip swords, but this doesn't explain how the Warlock obtained the item. [EDIT: Whoops. Looks like I dropped the ball on this one. Daniel already wrote that even though the Bindings have class restrictions on the tooltip, they're actually usable by any class according to Blizzard.]The Warlock's guild seems to be a rather accomplished one (the 'lock has The Immortal title), so there's a good chance that getting the weapon was a guild effort. It's quite possible that the Dormant Wind Kissed Blade that drops off Thunderaan was assigned by Master Looter to the Warlock, who then started the quest.
The Queue: Can't get enough sockets
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Just a few questions today, because slow weekends are slow. Who wants to ask questions when you can be playing? Certainly not me. I will still answer questions, however. Let's jump right in with ender's question... What, in your own opinion, is the easiest faction to start to grind on for rep as a new level 80? I know there is the "championing" but with dailies etc, what seems to be the easiest?
Insider Trader: Faction recipes for enchanters
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Last week we took a look at some of the more popular and requested enchants and how to get them for yourself. I also promised that I'd continue the faction recipe series by taking a look at enchanting for this week. So far, I've talked about the following professions and which factions hold appropriate recipes: Designs for jewelcrafters part one, and part two. Plans for blacksmiths. Recipes for alchemists. Patterns for leatherworkers. Patterns for tailors. Here is a complete list of the factions to which any enchanter should "suck up" and how far you'll need to take it: Shattered Sun Offensive, honored. Consortium, revered. Cenarion Expedition, exalted. Thrallmar/Honor Hold, exalted. Keepers of Time, exalted. Lower City, exalted. Sha'tar, exalted. Violet Eye, exalted.
Insider Trader: Popular enchants and where to get them
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.If you've ever spent any time sitting in trade chat, you could probably make a list of some of the most popular enchants. Requested frequently, any enchanter possessing the the knowledge to imbue a weapon or piece of armor with the proper stats stands to make a fair amount of gold. For example, a healer seeking Major Healing, or a meleer seeking Mongoose, will know the materials, and gather them. Each time they replace their respective weapons, back into trade they will go to request the enchant. Today, Insider Trader presents a list of some of the most requested enchants with information about how to obtain them so that you can offer them to friends, guildmates, and your server. It is by no means a complete list, but it will get you off to a shining start and provide you with quite a to-do list. Check out the comments section for helpful details as well. Drop rate data was gathered from the Armory, and Blizzard uses ranges such as Very Low (1-2%). This is narrowed down with data from Wowhead where appropriate, but keep in mind that some bind on pick-up recipes can only be seen by enchanters, and Wowhead cannot filter out that data, making their estimate much lower than the actual drop rate. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be working on the faction recipes series, focusing on enchanting, so stay tuned.
Exploring Wrath as a Druid: A Feral Cat in Borean Tundra
I've been poking around Northrend the last few days with my Alliance druid and wanted to share some of my discoveries with other Druids wanting to know what to expect in Wrath. I started in on the quest lines in Borean Tundra, one of Wrath's two entry zones, so today's observations are centered on Cat Druid solo experiences. In the future I'll be soloing Howling Fjord in Balance spec and running instances in all four Druid specs, so I will save those observations until then.If you have specific questions about Druids in Wrath, leave a reply on this post and I'll see what I can do about answering them. Remember, I'm not level 80 and I won't be raiding in beta, so try to keep your questions to areas I can play in potentially. First impressions, after the jump!
Death Knight News: Rune swapping gone, Runeforging to be powerful
The introduction of runeforging to the Wrath Beta was a bit of surprise and slightly unexpected. Instead of rune swapping -- the idea of being able to change the nature and configuration of the runes on your runeblade -- Death Knights got a solid 2 Unholy, 2 Blood, and 2 Frost runes. Runeforging itself became a weapon enchantment system whereby Death Knights could enchant their weapon with various special procs and buffs for various situations. There has as of yet been no sign of an ability to swap runes, and Jayde, aka Jadefury, recently asked if there were still plans for one. The short answer, according to blue poster Ghostcrawler, is no. The long answer is perhaps a bit more complicated, and reinforces Blizzard's stated goals with the Death Knight class role and the new runeforging ability.
Mongoose Studio's RGBy3.0 gets all chameleon on us
It's not like mood lights haven't been used in unorthodox manners before, but Mongoose Studio's RGBy3.0 puts a twist on the traditional color changing device by enabling it to take the hue of whatever it sits atop. Apparently, the portable creation rocks color sensors that interpret the shade beneath, and subsequently, the LEDs within change to mimic it. As of now, it looks as if the device is still in prototype stage, but rather than just crossing your fingers hoping that it goes commercial, why not check out a video of it in action after the jump?[Via Technabob]
Phat Loot Phriday: The Bladefist
This stunning fist (geeky pun intended, of course) is wielded by the Warchief at the top of Hellfire Citadel. And you've got to fell him (after fighting through his clan) to get it.Name: The BladefistType: Epic Main Hand FistDamage/Speed: 152-283 / 2.60 (83.7 DPS)Abilities: Chance on Hit: Increases your haste rating by 180 for 10 seconds. At level 70, that means an increase in speed of ~17% when it procs, which according to reports, is fairly often. (Procs per minute involves a lot of math, and regular readers will know I'm terrible at getting math right, but from what I understand, this thing hits at 3 PPM, halfway between Crusader (1), and Lifestealing (6). So pretty often, but not every time.) Also, I'm told the Mongoose enchant can stack with this ability, which means if you've got both going, it's a lot of slashy slashy and stabby stabby (technical terms). Unfortunately, this baby is Unique (not to mention Main Hand), so no, you can't dual wield them like Kargath does. How to Get It: To answer that, we have to go back a little bit in Warcraft Lore. Kargath Bladefist wasn't always warchief of the Shattered Hand clan, and he wasn't always known as the Bladefist. When he reached the level of grunt, the dude cut off his own hand, and replaced it with this weapon. And anyone badass enough to do that should definitely be Warchief, so he rose through the ranks and took over Shattered Halls. There's more to it than that (maybe we'll see a KYL someday on him), but that's what this weapon is all about.And you know taking it away from him is not going to be an easy task. You've got to storm into Shattered Halls (which means you've got to get the key, which is a nice quest chain in itself), and you've got to do it on Heroic mode. Make your way through the Gauntlet, past the stupid Ogre (I'm just kidding, he's awesome), and all those damn assassins (they are not), and then topple the Warchief himself. Pull this bad boy from his wrist (it drops at around 5%), and it's yours. Impressive, no?Getting Rid of It: I don't know why I ever decided to include this section. Why would you want to get rid of any of this phat loot? A vendor will give you 10g 46s 29c for it, and it will disenchant into a Void Crystal.
More item tweaking going down on the PTRs
If you thought the item stats tweaking was over, think again. When players were amazed that the new Tankatronic Goggles saw a nice buff (that could actually compete with Tier 6), Kalgan showed up with a firebomb: the current build on the PTRs only has about a third of the item changes coming down. He says "nearly every level 70 epic item in the game is in the process of being updated."Curse has a few of the changes already-- blacksmithing weapons and armor have been boosted, arena weapons saw a buff, and (most exciting for me, since I'm not a blacksmith or a good PvPer), the Badge of Justice stuff has been improved a bit. So expect a lot of changes (for the better, so far) whenever the patch does come out. In fact, with all these buffs, I'm wondering if something is going to give. Hopefully, the devs decided to buff the high end stuff, rather than nerf the more obscure items.Oh, and the look of the Mongoose enchant has changed yet again. I'm glad that whoever's job it is to design that enchant is really taking the time to make sure it's exactly right.
2.1 PTR changes to PvP gems, Mongoose
Curse has the news that the 2.1 PTR has been updated, and the biggest change is that Spellfire and Frozen Shadoweave cloth armor has been tweaked a bit. Basically, they've nerfed the spell damage, but they gave a nice buff to the stats on each piece (you can see a piece of each above, and MMO-Champion has deets on all the changes). Doesn't seen like too bad a nerf to me, but I don't play a mage that can actually make this stuff-- if you're unhappy, feel free to register your rage in the comments below.PvP epic gems have had their honor costs reduced, so if you're saving up points for an Inscribed Ornate Topaz, you'll be happy to hear that it now only costs 10k honor points (and the disappointment of only one of your children when you're too busy PvPing to go play catch with them in this Spring weather).And finally, the Mongoose enchant (which adds a chance-on-hit agility and attack speed buff) has had its look changed. Video of the new, really strange, spiky look after the jump. The old one was apparently too glowsticky. RAVE ON!Update: Apparently word from Eyonix on the forums is that the changes will be reverted before 2.1 goes live (thanks, Greg!)
Bungie profiles Halo 3's Mongoose ATV
Bungie has drawn up a geeked-out dossier of Halo's M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle, commonly referred to as the "Mongoose." Included in the report are various battle strategies, which suggest the Mongoose will play a key role in taking control of certain maps' neutral points as players use the lightweight vehicles to race to strategically placed turrets and sniper positions. The M274 will also be an important asset in Capture the Flag multiplayer matches. Anyone eager for a test drive during the upcoming Halo 3 beta?
