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Forum Post of the Day: Burning Crusade constructive criticism
With Burning Crusade winding down as we get closer to WoTLK, Scarpa of the Bleeding Hollow server had the bright idea of starting a thread to do a little bit of post-mortem on the Burning Crusade: Praise the stuff you liked, and offer constructive critcism on stuff you didn't like, in hopes that it can be improved in the expansion. There's a lot of good commentary in there on raids, arenas, badge gear, and other stuff. Some of my favorite criticism included Quaesitor's observation that a lot of reputation gear becomes automatically obsolete, because by the time you have the reputation (or the special tokens) to purchase it, you're too high level for it and probably have something better from a quest or dungeon anyway. I also tend to agree with many that they could tone down the trash a bit in raid dungeons. It's hard to clear the same trash over and over again every raid when you want to get to the generally much more interesting and lucrative boss fights. As far as likes, I like that the reputation PvP sets mean you can get a good hand up to start PvP, then gradually work your way up through Honor gear and into the Arena sets. I am also glad to see many in the thread were big fans of badge gear. I've always liked the concept, it makes for a good reason to run dungeons and means I always feel like I'm working toward something instead of waiting forever for one certain thing that won't drop. It's a great idea and a good positive thread that has even gotten some blue attention, so I'd say it's a perfect change for you to head in and deliver your own critiques and praises before BC is just a speed bump on the way to level 80.
The Digital Continuum: The Lich King made me do it
So I'll admit it. I've been pretty hard on World of Warcraft ever since The Burning Crusade launched. A large part of the reason I've been so down on the game is because a lot of Burning Crusade's end-game content came off as incredibly daunting to me. I never had any interest in most of the raids offered in the game simply because I didn't feel like going through all the hoops to access them. Sure there were the 5-mans, but most of the super-cool content was still locked away from me.Even with the original announcement of Wrath of the Lich King, I felt complete disinterest in the expansion as it seemed to be more of the same. More raids, more high quality content that was probably going to be locked away behind hoops, barrels and fire pit traps. Yet that all changed yesterday with the icy cool wake-up blast of new information that jolted my interest -- something I thought could never happen again with World of Warcraft.
Behind the scenes with the men who brought you Sunwell
The Blizzard team has learned a lot from their experience with The Burning Crusade, and in a recent interview posted on their official page, producer J. Allen Brack and art director Chris Robinson lay out exactly which of these lessons they're following through on for the new Sunwell Plateau instances and Wrath of the Lich King further down the road. They talk about how Sunwell is really the pinnacle of the Blood Elf design style and how players will see many design parallels with their starting zone.As for WotLK, one of the cooler design changes they mentioned is more closely integrating the main story-arc into the leveling experience. Brack mentions how with WotLK, Arthas will play a more visible role in the lives of players, even well before they ever reach the level 80 cap. Similarly, he also discusses how the element of snow in the expansion is being used as much as a story-telling device as an aesthetic one, trying to get players to feel the isolation and despair inherent in the Northrend zone. It's pretty fascinating, as both Brack and Robinson are more forthcoming than usual, perhaps because it's an in-house interview.
Gear transition between BC and WoTLK should be smoother, says Bornakk
We've known for a while that we've been getting a gear reset in WoTLK, and just this morning, we've discussed and speculated on how it will affect people as they transition into the 70-80 game, especially alt-o-holics. Here's some news that should strike a lot of people as good: Bornakk confirmed in a thread yesterday that we really won't be seeing quite as large a gear gap in the jump from Burning Crusade to Wrath of the Lich King as we did in the past: No more doubling of stamina values this time, guys. This should be good news for raiders who feel like their epics don't mean that much anymore (although to be honest, I was using a few of my BWL and AQ40 drops well into my late 60s, so I don't think the gear reset was that bad after all). If the gear jump isn't that bad, your shiny new epics should still work pretty well. Heck, same goes for badge runners. I've suspected for a while that the new Badge of Justice gear was meant to be a partial preliminary gear rest ahead of time, and I'd bet this more or less confirms it: If there's not going to be as much as a jump, these Tameless Breeches might last my druid longer than one might think. I think it's definitely a good middle road to take. We'll get a gear reset so alt-o-holics and casuals can jump right into the Howling Fjord, but the gap won't be quite as great, meaning that raiders and badge gear savers won't need to feel like they're watching months of work go down the drain when that first level 71 green drops.
WoW: The Burning Crusade wins MMO of the year from the AIAS
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has placed another feather in the positively avian cap of Blizzard's World of Warcraft. A final list of the nominees and winners from AIAS' 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards has been released, and of the five shortlisted games in the Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year category, it is the WoW expansion in particular, The Burning Crusade, that took the top honor (as Mike Schramm predicted when the nominations were first announced). Blizzard executives also gave speeches on the strategies behind their success -- unrelated to the award -- at the D.I.C.E. Summit, where the awards took place.There were four other MMOs that deserve a mention for being nominated, and these are a mix of new titles and expansions. In no particular order, they are: EVE Online: Trinity, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, and Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa. The Overall Game of the Year went to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and you can check out a discussion of this, and some of the other AIAS' gaming awards outside of the MMO focus, at Joystiq.
Blizz opens up brand new realm, more transfer opportunities
Blizzard has launched the first new realm since the release of The Burning Crusade. It's a PvE realm called Ghostlands, and it's part of the latest batch of free realm transfers. You ready for the list of available transfers? Okay, here we go!If you're from the PvE realms Aerie Peak, Aggramar, Alexstrasza, Alleria, Argent Dawn, Blackhand, Cenarius, Doomhammer, Hellscream, or Whisperwind, you can move to Ghostlands.The rest are PvP servers. Arthas, Burning Blade, Illidan, Skullcrusher, and Warsong residents may all move to Balnazzar. Folks from Mal'Ganis, Mug'thol, Sargeras, Tichondrius, and Twisting Nether may move to Onyxia. Finally, if you've been playing on Gorefiend, Kel'Thuzad, Mannoroth, Shattered Hand, or Smolderthorn, you can jump on over to Malorne.Phew. So there it is. Anyway, it's exciting that a new realm is opening up. The community's been twiddling its thumbs for a while now.
Forum Post of the Day: Upgrade online with caution
If you are among those who have not yet purchased the expansion, you might want to hold off from ordering it online. According to a recent forum post, some customers are having a bit of trouble when they attempt to buy The Burning Crusade through Blizzard's website: a bit of trouble in the wallet to be specific.It appears that the website is having issues completing orders, but is totally fine with charging for them, sometimes multiple times. The blues offer suggestions on how to deal with the issue, ranging from contacting your bank about the multiple charges to clearing your internet cache or even trying a different card. This still leaves those who previously encountered the Error 202 in the lurch, so-to-speak, without much in the way of assistance. Have any of you encountered this problem? It would seem to me to be a pretty big deal, getting charged like six times for a game that you don't even get to play. Do you have any suggestions for how to deal with this?[thanks Matt]
Liquidor's rep calculator works for US realms, too
Ask and you shall be given-- the other day we posted about Liquidor's rep calculator, and lamented that it was EU only, and now only a few days later, he's updated it to not only include US realms, but he's completely revamped the design.Sure enough, I punched in my character from the US realms, and I got the nice readout of where I'm at for all my reputations, and one click access to what exactly I need to do to move up a level (apparently I need to keep running Shadow Labs, grrr). Seems like it pulls everything directly from the Armory (where else would he get it from?), so all the info is as up to date as it is on Blizzard's official site.There's also a checkbox now for "TBC Reputation only" that when unclicked gives a warning that says "Soon!," so apparently Liquidor is working on including Old World Azeroth rep as well. Just like we said the other day, this is a terrific tool for working on those all important rep grinds. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm LFG Shadow Labs. Anyone? Please?
Why are people leaving WoW?
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Why_are_people_leaving_WOW'; When I read on Warcraftrealms that players have been steadily leaving WoW since the release of the expansion, I admit surprise. There is so much content in TBC I can't imagine anyone getting bored. I can already hear the heckling from the back of the room as I say this, but think: the top raiding guild just downed Illidan. Exactly how long will it be until an average raiding guild, let alone a casual one, will be able to accomplish the same feat? Love it or hate it, the expansion increased not only the lands we were able to visit, but the quest lines we could follow, the races we could play, the factions we could prove ourselves to. I am overwhelmed by the amount of things I have the opportunity to do in the game now, to the point where I have trouble picking most times and end up bouncing between doing my daily quests on my mage and leveling my Draenei priest. Why then are people leaving the game? Is it that they see it as something conquered once you reach 70? Is it that despite how much content Blizzard puts out it just never is enough? What do you think Blizzard can do to stem this downward spiral? [via Warcraftrealms]
BC's effect on the census
The Burning Crusade has been upon us for two months, and already, as I'm sure you've all observed, it has had a dramatic effect on the race/class balance of the game. First off, due to the massive influx of Blood Elves -- they are now the most popular Horde race! -- the Alliance:Horde ratio is more even than ever at 1.3:1 (though of course individual servers do vary substantially). Draenei have not been quite as winning as our love-to-hate-'em elfly friends, placing solidly in the middle of the pack for Alliance races (between Gnomes and Dwarves on the one side and Humans and Night Elves on the other).How about classes? Well, the stereotype is true: more Blood Elves are Paladins than are any other class (35%). This has made Paladins 6th most popular class for the Horde, which is kind of surprising for a class that just became available recently. Who thought so many Hordies had been secretly longing to bubble-hearth? This having been said, Draenei Shaman are even more popular, relatively speaking, than Blood Elf Paladins -- 49% of Draenei are Shaman. That's a lot of space totems. This also means Draenei represent almost half (48%) of all the Shaman in the game; 39% of Paladins are Blood Elves. Due to the relative unpopularity of Draenei, though, Shaman is still the least popular Alliance class, as it has been for the game's history (not entirely by choice for most of it, of course).All of this data is from the ever-lovely WarcraftRealms.com census data, and ignores characters below level ten. Head over there if you want more detailed stats of any kind. How is your realm doing?
WoW Moviewatch: Tempest Keep Exploration
After taking out Magtheridon, the guild Nihilum has been able to complete the attunement quest to access the Eye of Tempest Keep. And since they can get there and we can't, they've decided to share some video of the place with the rest of us, giving us a first look at the place. And if the video's not enough for you, there's also a preview of the instance with some pretty sweet screenshots.[Via World of Raids]
Confessions of an Outland clown, part 2
I'm still feeling awfully silly running around in my set of Outland greens and blues. And I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks my character's appearance has taken a turn for the worst since leveling past 60. Even Drysc has chimed in on the topic, telling us......leveling items are almost always go to look more or less "plain". We want the end-game items to really stand out, both in ability/power and the way they look. The items you had at 60 were the end-game items, they were the best of the best and their look really showed that visually just running around the city. As you're leveling again you may be finding better gear than what you had, but it's not the uber end-game gear, and so it sort of has a plain look to match.Of course, I don't think that my complaint is over the fact that the gear looks "plain" -- in fact, I think "plain" would be a major improvement over what I'm wearing now. And while all of us want the incredible end-game gear to look, well, incredible, that doesn't seem like a great reason to make the rest of the gear in the game look awful, or just as bad -- boring and recycled. With most of the sights in Outland making me want to gape in wonder, the fact that my character would look about the same (perhaps better -- I don't recall low level greens being this jarringly colored) if I went and geared myself with the best that Elwynn Forest had to offer is a little disappointing. How could the current system be improved? Read on for some thoughts.
Breakfast Topic: Outlands at 58?
Currently, the lowest level at which you can pass through the Dark Portal and go to Outlands is 58 (although it is possible to be summoned or portaled to Outlands at any level). However, is it better to go straight for the portal when you hit 58, or are the quests going to be too hard, and would it then behoove one to wait until 60? Personally, I'll be taking all my alts in when/if they get high enough, because the quest rewards are just overwhelmingly good. Aeus agrees with me: Outland would be your ticket there... did it with one of my alts; best thing I ever did.. On the other hand, some members of my guild (mostly Warriors) firmly maintain that Outlands is just too hard until 60. What do you think? Does it depend on class, and if so, which classes would you recommend leaving behind in Azeroth a little longer?
Ding! 70!
My warlock hit level 70 during one of the horrendous trash pulls in the Auchindoun's Shadow Labyrinth. It took about 2 weeks, a little over but for the first four days my server was unplayable. I have a few suggestions for those of you who are trying to get 70 in the minimum amount of time spent. First, get out of Hellfire Peninsula as quickly as possible. There are so many people in that zone that I spent way too much time waiting for spawns. Second, unless you are a mage getting powerleveled with the help of a entire guild, quests are the way to go, not grinding and not instances. Finally, my pattern was Hellfire Peninsula to Zangarmarsh to Nagrand to Terokkar Forest to Blade's Edge to Shadowmoon Valley. I did Nagrand first Terokkar Forest was very heavily in use, and I wanted to stay out of that mess. They're about the same level, so it works out. I haven't even been into the Netherstorm area. Why did I skip Netherstorm? I'm a warlock. Shadowmoon Valley is full of demons. I was completely playing to my strengths. I started The Burning Crusade with about 150 gold on my warlock. I ended with a tad over 1500, not counting green items (sold via my bank alt) but counting all consumables, repairs, flights, and other expenses. Whenever there were quest rewards with no usable options, I picked the 2 handed weapon or the plate armor, those items tended to sell better. Unless you blow all of your cash on tradeskills, you should have basic flying mount cash very quickly.I managed to find groups to finish nearly all of my group quests on an ad hoc basis. On a couple of quests I got help from in-guild. Now that I've finished leveling, my goals are to finish up all my keys, do some instances, and help the rest of the people in my guild level.
Blue Notes: BC launch vid, contest and move for Europe
A few small items of interest for you all today. First, a documentary video by Blizzard of the BC launch, in both California and Europe. Cop the vid here; it's fun to see the festivities leading up to the new sandbox we're all playing in.Second, it seems that WoW is turning two in Europe on February 11. There's a lore contest and a wallpaper contest; prizes include Alienware computers and Nvidia video cards. As usual for their European contests, many countries are ineligible, because of their laws as regards lotteries -- it's not that Blizz just hates several random countries in Western Europe, as many forum posters seem to think. Blizzard's got the full details on their page.
BC download now available for North America as well
Rejoice! Now we North American types can also upgrade and download the Burning Crusade! I was heading over to www.worldofwarcraft.com just now and was hit with the following message: You can now buy account upgrade keys and download the game client for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade directly through the account management section of www.worldofwarcraft.com. With this new direct online upgrade method, you don't even need to leave your desk if you decide to upgrade to The Burning Crusade and join more than two million players who are already adventuring beyond the Dark Portal. Pretty sweet, eh? Head over to the account management page to get your upgrade on.I was chatting with Elizabeth Harper about why they might choose to offer direct download now, and not at launch. Here's what I came up with: Offering direct download at launch might irritate retailers. Offering it now might get a few people to buy who weren't motivated enough to go out to the store. It probably costs them relatively little to do this. What do you guys think? Was it a sensible business move to wait until now for this? And how many of you are going to buy, now that you can do it without moving more than five or six muscles?[thanks also to Doug for tipping us off]
BC now available to download in Europe
Blizzard did say that they were looking into digital distribution, and now they've made good on that promise. You can now pay for and download the expansion in your bathrobe in the warm sanctuary of your own pad (because game stores have such a stringent dress code). From Crezax, who is indeed, as his signature claims, "so hot right now:" You can now buy and download The Burning Crusade online. No need to wait in line at your local store, just click (http://www.wow-europe.com/account/) to buy and download The Burning Crusade from the comfort of your own home! Whether you journey through the Dark Portal as a seasoned adventurer, or witness the wonders of Outland as one of the two new playable races- the blood elves and the draenei... Cut because we all know what the Burning Crusade has to offer, don't we?No word yet on when or if this is coming for North America, but if you're in Europe, you don't have the BC yet, and you want it but really hate going out, now's your chance!Edit: There is some strangeness going on. The forum thread I found this in no longer exists, and apparently the link Crezax gave does not have any way to buy BC online as promised. A premature announcement on Crezax's part, maybe? (Thanks, Pete, for writing in.)Edit 2: "It seems we encountered a small problem with that feature, so it is taken down for now." (Crezax)
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Burning Crusade winner
We'd like to thank everyone for helping us level up our contest skill with one final contest in our Countdown to Burning Crusade. We're happy to announce two lucky winners -- Baxmaniac is going to be the recipient of a copy of Burning Crusade for lucky comment number 260, and Kieron is going to receive a copy of Christie Golden's Rise of the Horde novel for lucky need roll number 119. Grats to Baxmaniac and Kieron, and thanks to everyone for taking part in the Countdown this month!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Just. One. More. Contest.
Now that the expansion is out we've been able to access the Master Contest Trainer, and in the interest of leveling up our contest skill beyond 300 we've got one final Burning Crusade giveaway for you. Plus, we had such a good time counting down to Burning Crusade that we're going through a bit of withdrawal. This contest is yet another very simple /Need roll affair, and we're going to pick one winner and one runner-up from the needy, undergeared commenters. The winner will receive a copy of Burning Crusade -- we realize many of you already pwn own the expansion, but for those who haven't or have been waiting, or who want to give the gift of WoW to a friend or S.O. (pushers!), this contest is for you. The runner-up will receive a copy of The Rise of the Horde novel by Christie Golden. You must leave your comment in this thread by 3pm EST tomorrow, Wednesday January 24 to be eligible to win one of the prizes. Good luck to everyone!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Machinima contest winner
We're happy to announce the winner of the Countdown to Burning Crusade grand prize machinima contest. The winner is going to be receiving a Logitech G15 keyboard and a JINX World of Warcraft hoodie for the first place entry. The prize goes to Nelson Abalos for his "Almost machinima" entry, bringing WoW into real life for the "Quest for Burning Crusade" -- the video is embedded below. We'd like to extend a big grats to Nelson for his work, grats to Myssiing our runner-up machinima contest winner, and a huge thanks to everyone who participated in our two weeks+ worth of contests here at WoW Insider during the Countdown to Burning Crusade. We hope you had as much fun as we did!
