outlands
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Faience's adventures in Outland: Welcome to the Cenarion Refuge
I've come through the Dark Portal and fought my way past legions of demons and inward through Hellfire Peninsula... all to get tired of the crowds and almost immediately relocate to the next zone over. That zone, Zangarmarsh, is everything Hellfire Peninsula is not, starting with the color palette. Immediately upon entering the zone, I found myself in Cenarion Refuge, a neutral faction that, no, does not care about that Cenarion Circle reputation you spent so long trying to gain.Lucky for all of us, then, that reputation is more easily gained these days...
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Day 5 winner
We've got a winner for the day 5's four little words contest who's going to be taking home a 60-day game card! For the win, we have:"Choose: Laid or Raid" by DarrenAnd our runners-up include:"Rock, Paper, Scissors, Warlock" by Ravenite"Virtual Characters. Real People." by GG"Kill How Many Boars?" by Noctem"ITS NOT ROCKET SURGERY!" by Unkle"I can quit anytime" by qwertyAnd remember -- you still have until 2PM EST today to get in your entry for day 8's screenshot contest -- so if you haven't already, be sure to mail yours in!
Faience's adventures in Outland: Of quests and bombing runs...
I admit -- I've been playing this game long enough to be a little bored. And not just this-is-my-three-hundred-and-fifty-second-Ragnaros-kill kind of bored, but that the standard quest types have started to loose interest. So many of these quests read like mad libs: kill <number> of <monster type> because of <very convincing reason> and return to me with their <personal item of some sort> as proof of your heroic deed. You will receive <amount> of gold and your choice of <really nifty items>. It doesn't encourage me to do more than skim the quest text. (Though if you do this, you occasionally miss some downright hilarious comments in the quest text.) If you could picture my typical encounter with a quest giver, I think it would go something like this... Quest giver: The Naga have been...Me: You want me to kill Naga?Quest giver: Yes, they're...Me: How many?Quest giver: If you'd thin their numbers by 30, then...Me: Great! Where are they?Quest giver: Around Umbrafen Lake, to the south.Me: What'll you give me for it?Quest giver: Well, I suppose two gold coins and some experience points.Me: Sounds perfect! I'll be right back.Quest giver: Wait! Don't you want to know why?Me (riding away): I'm sure they're all bad. But really, those experience points are all I need to know about!So I must admit that I'm a bit excited to encounter a few new types of quests, which are, to me, at least, tremendous amounts of fun. Want to know what I'm talking about? Keep reading!
Breakfast Topic: What do you expect on the 16th?
Looking forward to release day? A quick poll of the forums suggests that you wouldn't be the only one -- with plenty of players making big plans for the 16th. We've got people taking vacation days and skipping classes, but I have to wonder whether all this is worth it. After all, with so many players new and old planning on hitting up the Outland come release day, how many of you expect the realms to be stable at all, much less playable? So that's today's question -- what do you expect to see on release day? Has Blizzard done enough to lead to a smooth roll-out or are you more pessimistic of playability on the 16th?
Faience's adventures in Outland: Through the Dark Portal
Ah, Faience. A pink-haired Gnome warlock, Faience was my very first level 60 character. (And in full Nemesis, even a pink-haired Gnome can look a little intimidating.) I raided with her through Ahn'Qiraj before deciding I was exhausted of the raiding grind and re-rolled a Horde priest on another realm with the intent of playing more casually. Of course, with all of the recent warlock changes, I've got to wonder what I was thinking... Fortunately, in the Burning Crusade beta, where soling matters more to me than group utility, I've been able to dust off Faience -- renamed, uncreatively, Faiences on the beta realm -- and travel through the Outland. And, if you read on, you get to come along for the ride!
Around Azeroth: The Blood Furnace
Reader Almus of Shadowsong sends in this image of the final boss in the Blood Furnace wing of the Hellfire Citadel, an early dungeon to be found in the Outlands. He claims the whole dungeon is full of amazing views like this -- and with eye candy like this, how can anyone be content waiting these last weeks to the expansion release.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.
Please bear with us...
There really is a story -- perhaps even a funny one, behind all of these awful puns. Occupants of the Hellfire Penninsula in the Outlands, the Fel Reaver is a terrifying sight -- level 70 elites that easily take down lone players in one or two hits. The ground shakes as it approaches and it makes a sound like a train -- but as of the last beta patch, their huge and ominous forms were replaced. With grizzly bear models. As you can imagine, much hilarity has ensued. In the form of countless "bear" related puns...[Thanks, Mordiceius]
Another hint at the Burning Crusade release date
Alert reader Elüna points out an interesting fact about the possible release date of the coming expansion -- the release date of the official Bradygames strategy guide. This isn't an avenue I'd thought to check before, but apparently the strategy guide is scheduled for a November 15th release. And while game release dates tend to be guessed at by retailers (hard to sell a pre-order without a release date!), I doubt that book release date information, from the official publisher, is done in quite the same fashion. So what do the rest of you think -- are we looking towards a mid-November expansion release? My magic 8-ball says "maybe!"
Official BC Druid talents announced!
Been waiting? Wait no longer -- the druid's talent preview is up and running on the European website! See new skills here and talent trees here. Interesting highlights include a flight form for flying transport around the Outlands, a new CC spell called Cyclone that has no limitations on enemy type or an indoor/outdoor restriction (but does require level 70), the ubiquitous pet-summon at 41-points balance, and increased HoT spell domination with new healing spell Lifebloom and the 41-point restoration ability Tree of Restoration -- which only allows a druid to cast HoTs.
