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The Shattering: A patch 4.0.3a roundup
The past 24 hours have been rather busy here at WoW Insider, what with the world being destroyed and all. If you still need to catch up on everything 4.0.3a, here's a rundown of what you may have missed: Anne Stickney clears up exactly what's in patch 4.0.3a, and perhaps more importantly, what's not. Check out the official patch notes for 4.0.3a, as posted here on WoW Insider by some spectacularly handsome writer. Want to remember Azeroth as it will never be again? Check out our pain-stakingly complete galleries of the old world. Adam Holisky took on the most frequently asked shattering-related questions in yesterday's The Queue. Jesse Cox created a great guided tour of the Cataclysmic changes wreaked by Deathwing. If you've yet to purchase vanilla World of Warcraft or any of the expansion packs, they're now available at drastically reduced prices in Blizzard's official store. If you need to buy some glyphs for the new alts you're planning to roll, Basil Berntsen has some bad news -- a change to a key inscription vendor means they're about to get a whole lot more expensive. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Blizzard prepares to destroy the world... of Warcraft
World of Warcraft's third major expansion, Cataclysm, is set to launch in just two weeks. Like previous expansions, Cataclysm will be adding a few extra levels to the cap and a series of pieces of new endgame dungeons and raids for players to explore. Unlike previous expansions, however, Cataclysm contains a revamp of the entire old game world. Blizzard's design standards have changed drastically since WoW was first launched back in 2004, and Cataclysm represents an opportunity to bring all the game's original content up to those new design standards. This monumental revamp of the low-level game experience is sure to bring many players back who have gotten bored of the early levels. In lore terms, the world is about to be rended apart by The Shattering, releasing the ancient and deadly Warcraft dragon Deathwing. Our friends over at World of Warcraft Insider have been looking forward to the shattering patch. With only two weeks to go until Cataclysm's launch, they suspect that the world will be forever changed during tomorrow's extended server downtime. Important changes that will be going live when the shattering occurs include a reduction in the experience requirements from level 71 to 80 and the removal of the entire Zul'Gurub zone. The anticipated new race and class combinations will also be going into effect, but players will have to wait for the official Cataclysm launch to try out the new Goblin and Worgen races. Skip over to WoW Insider for the full story and more Cataclysm launch coverage.
Patch 4.0.3a, The Shattering, likely hitting live servers tomorrow
With the announcement of extended downtime for tomorrow already out, the buzz has begun in earnest. We know that The Shattering, the patch that will change Azeroth forever, is coming either this week or the next, and an extended downtime would be the perfect time to patch it in. The Shattering patch will include all the old-world changes coming with Cataclysm, including changes to the Loremaster and Explorer achievements to match, the removal of Zul'Gurub, a reduction in the amount of experience required to level from 70 to 80, and the addition of all of the new race/class combinations. Worgen and goblins will still have to wait for Cataclysm itself, of course. If you don't plan to do any raiding or dailies in Northrend in the next couple weeks on any of your characters, you may also want to move your character to Stormwind or Orgrimmar before the servers go down, as rumor has it that the portals in Dalaran are going away with this patch. If all this change is getting you confused and dismayed, never fear! We here at WoW Insider will be with you every step of the way. Just stay with us for all the latest news and handy guides you need to survive in the brave new world of Cataclysm. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Patch 4.0.3a, The Shattering, is up on the PTR
Deathwing returns on the public test realm as patch 4.0.3a, "The Shattering" that will change Azeroth forever, is live on the PTR and labeled as "release." With great knowledge such as this comes great speculation -- when will The Shattering arrive? It is entirely possible that The Shattering could take place next Tuesday the 23rd, as Blizzard has said that the time between events and phases in the elemental invasion are progressing at a faster pace. Another option is that The Shattering will take place one week before Cataclysm's launch, on the 30th, giving players one full week to experience the new content, race/class combos, and new world. We can only wait and hope that this day comes sooner than later. My undead hunter and troll druid are itching to be made. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Elemental invasion phase 2 begins
Head over to Ironforge and Orgrimmar for a couple new quests, because phase 2 of the elemental invasion has begun! For the Alliance, Gavan Grayfeather has you subduing some agitated earth spirits after drinking some elemental sapta and finding out what happened to the courier bringing the tablets of earth from Ulduar, as per Magni's request. For the Horde, you'll be rounding up some agitated fire elementals after drinking some sapta and helping Earthmender Norsala get the tablets of fire after Durak Flamespeaker is ambushed by a Twilight Seeker. If all goes according to plan and each week we get the next phase of the invasion, we may see the next wave happening Monday, Nov. 15. City invasions, random dungeon bosses and more await us in the near future! We live in exciting times, ladies and gentlemen. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Manga Review: World of Warcraft: Shaman
I have to say I was a little leery, to say the very least, about picking up the latest in the Warcraft class manga series from TOKYOPOP, largely because their last offering was a pretty lackluster affair. However, I am really, really glad I picked this one up, because Warcraft: Shaman is an excellent piece of work. The book marks the return of artist Rocio Zucchi, whose artwork graced the Warcraft: Death Knight manga. Penning the story for this volume is Paul Benjamin, whose other works include the StarCraft: Frontline series as well as work on Marvel Adventures. So right away, we've got an artist whose work I like and an author who knows the ins and outs of writing comics. Good combination from the start! The story follows the shaman group the Earthen Ring as they try to come to terms with the elements' sudden refusal to cooperate and the appearance of a shaman thought lost to them over 250 years before who has some surprising things to say -- and new shamanistic techniques that border on heresy to the ages-old organization. Warcraft: Shaman covers what exactly it is to be a shaman, what it's like to work with the elements, and what happens when one is torn between the old ways and the new. Please note: This review may contain some small spoilers for The Shattering as well as the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you'd like to remain unspoiled, turn back now!
The Shattering hits The New York Times best-seller list
Blizzard has let us know that after only a short time available on bookshelves, The Shattering by Christie Golden has hit The New York Times best-seller list. This makes The Shattering Golden's and Blizzard's second NYT best-seller after Arthas: Rise of the Lich King. Congratulations to Christie and Blizzard, as the book is awesome and totally deserves the recognition that it is getting. The Shattering – New York Times Best Seller Despite having just been released earlier this week, The Shattering by Christie Golden has rocketed into the New York Times best seller list. This prelude to Cataclysm follows major faction characters as they adjust to life after the war with the Lich King, before being abruptly attacked by the land and elements themselves. What is leading to these devastating earthquakes and ship-sinking squalls? Magni believes he has found the secret through his brother's research, while Thrall believes an already shattered world holds the secrets. If you're looking forward to the Cataclysm expansion, this is a must-read to catch you up and prepare you for the epic story about to be unveiled. The book is available in the Blizzard Store (http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100001208) and all fine book retailers. source
Scarlet Blouse Gentleman receives NPC for fact checking efforts
Unless you've been living in a cave since BlizzCon 2010, it's highly likely you've heard of the unnamed gentleman in the scarlet blouse who managed to catch Alex Afrasiabi and Chris Metzen in an error during the Quests and Lore panel at the convention. The man and his question have since gone viral, the video of his question and the answer receiving over 2 million views on YouTube. He's since posted a video in response to the internet's reaction, and the original video even appeared on The Soup as the clip of the week. According to a post on Reddit, the popularity of his question and answer have not gone unnoticed by Blizzard staff, as Falstad has made his return to his rightful seat on the Council of Three Hammers, accompanied by ... a gentleman in a scarlet blouse. This NPC, named Wildhammer Fact Checker, is an obvious tribute to the man who was clever enough to catch the error and confront Blizzard on it. While the NPC does not appear to be on the beta servers as of yet, blue poster Valnoth confirmed the existence of the NPC on the official forums. Hopefully, Falstad's loyal Fact Checker will continue to keep the record straight as far as who should be where and who definitely isn't deceased, in the future. [Thanks to reader Otown for the tip!] BlizzCon 2010 is over! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. You'll find our liveblogs of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Know Your Lore: Cairne Bloodhoof
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. All hail the father of the tauren nation: Cairne of the Bloodhoof, who brought his people from The Barrens to Mulgore, whose alliance with the young orc shaman Thrall led his people into the Horde, wise guide and visionary who saw the way for his people to live free of constant war with the centaur. Powerful in war, wise in his restraint, at one with the spirits of the land and the ancestors of the shu'halo. Beloved chieftain. Today, one of your many sons and daughters salutes you. We have indeed spoken of you before. But it moots us to revisit you, brave and wizened as you are, for the future comes and those of us who have seen it already know what mourning is. Great have you been in war and in peace. Were it not for you, we would never have found our home in Thunder Bluff, would never have joined the Horde, would never have fought beside the mortal races against Archimonde and his defiling army of demons. When we were on the edge of destruction, and the centaurs hurled waves of bodies against us, you fought for us. Brave one, we will always remember you, first among us, best among us. Ish-ne-alo por-ah -- may the Earthmother smile upon you. Let us tell tales of the life of Cairne.
BlizzCon 2010: Day 2 round-up
Day 2 at BlizzCon 2010 saw the two most traditionally popular panels (the class Q&A and the general Q&A) go live, but there was plenty at the convention to keep you busy even if you were among the two or three people there not interested in developer panels. Liveblogs We liveblogged the World of Warcraft class Q&A and the World of Warcraft open Q&A panels and transcribed two previously unannounced DirecTV interviews with Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) and Tom Chilton. If you're looking for player complaints, developer snark or news on future game changes, you'll find 'em here. People, interviews and events Matticus caught up with Andy Salisbury for a preview the WoW magazine's third issue, and Anne Stickney interviewed both Richard Knaak and Christie Golden. Robin Torres put together a gallery of the items Blizzard auctioned off to benefit Child's Play, one of them a painting of characters in the upcoming DC Horde comic series. We also took lots of pictures of this year's art gallery. On a non-Blizzard note, someone took a nasty spill during Friday's dance contest. Friday recaps Lisa Poisso observed some happy realm meetups, we recapped an impressive costume contest, and Matticus wrote about the live raid and Paragon's ill-fated defense of Orgrimmar. Future content The Emerald Dream (or should we say Emerald Nightmare?) was confirmed as a future addition during the general Q&A. We don't know if it's going to be an expansion, a patch, a raid or something else, but developers promise that seeing it "is a matter of when, not if." New worgen cinematic The cinematic panel was a lovely peek at how the Blizzard team created the recently released Cataclysm cinematic, but it was also notable for the debut of long-missing cutscene that will power the Gilnean leveling experience forward. Revenge of the login dragon Angry about being voted out in favor of players' favorite candidate for warchief, Abesik Kampfire, the "login dragon" makes an ear-shattering return for the Cataclysm login screen. Closing ceremonies The Warcraft III and StarCraft II tournament winners were crowned (the WoW tournament was still in progress), and Paul Sams, Blizzard's chief operating officer, even started to talk a little about the company's new MMO ... or so we thought. %Gallery-105863% %Gallery-105843% %Gallery-105842% %Gallery-105858% BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2010: WoW Insider interviews author Christie Golden
Today, in between the panels and the announcements at BlizzCon 2010, we had the distinct pleasure of meeting Christie Golden, author of the latest World of Warcraft novel The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm. Christie was kind enough to give us a few minutes and talk about her writing, her latest work and some glimpses at the behind-the-scenes work of novel writing. WoW Insider: Christie, thank you so much for joining us. The WoW Insider readers are big fans of your books, especially The Shattering. Can you tell us a little bit about the challenges about writing within the Warcraft universe? Christie Golden: One of the biggest challenges is that it's constantly growing and changing; with every new patch there's something new that comes along -- it's almost a living entity. Books take about a year from start to finish, so we're a little bit more locked in to our schedules. So there's a lot of back and forth. Things will change sometimes from one draft to another, so there'll be something new -- it's like, "Oh by the way, this character blahblahblah, can you update." Unfortunately, a book can't be tinkered with right up to the release date like a game can. You can't hotfix a book, then? I'm sure a lot of authors would love that! That's probably the biggest challenge, though. But the creativity and the appreciation I get from working with Blizzard certainly makes up for the inconveniences. WARNING: This interview does contain some spoilers for The Shattering. Caution is advised!
The Shattering plot summary: Garrosh and Cairne
Christie Golden's The Shattering, followup to The New York Times-bestselling Arthas, is thankfully just as good, if not better, than its predecessor. We've given you a spoiler-free review, and now it's time to dive into the meat and potatoes, the spoilery goodness contained within the crunchy hardcover shell. We've covered Thrall's exploits in The Shattering; today's summary is for Garrosh Hellscream and Cairne Bloodhoof. Remember, this summary is full of spoilers, so don't read it if you don't want the book spoiled!
The Shattering plot summary: Thrall
Christie Golden's The Shattering, followup to The New York Times best-selling Arthas, is thankfully just as good (if not better) than its predecessor. We've given you a spoiler-free review, and now it's time to dive into the meat and potatoes, the spoilery goodness contained within the crunchy hardcover shell. The Shattering covers a lot of ground, but you should know ahead of time that the main players in this story are orcs, tauren, humans and dwarves. The other races are mentioned only in passing or have very minor roles, but that's OK. There's a lot here to love, and we finally have clarification on some rumors that we've heard second- and third-hand for a year now. Rather than going in full chronological order, I've instead divided the summary by character, so you can follow each of their particular storylines. Today's summary is for Thrall. Remember, this summary is full of spoilers, so don't read it if you don't want the book spoiled!
WoW Insider reviews The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm by Christie Golden
The Warcraft universe has incredibly rich lore supporting it, and it's natural that, like many IPs, it would expand outside of the game world. Warcraft novels have historically been hit or miss, largely due to the strengths and weaknesses of the various commissioned authors who write them. Some novels feature out-of-place characters invented by the author specifically for those particular stories; some struggle with the characterization of beloved characters. But there have been some bright spots: Rise of the Horde was a fantastic look into the birth of the Horde on Draenor, and Arthas: Rise of the Lich King provided insight into the man who would become the Lich King. These books have something in common besides their IP: Christie Golden wrote them. In Arthas, she gave Blizzard its first The New York Times-bestselling novel. Now, her latest offering is the Warcraft universe's newest novel, a tie-in to the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. We present to you our review of The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm.
The next EverQuest 2 expansion is ...
The moon was so clear. It was alive with energy flowing through every part of it. Then it was as if something in the center broke loose and leaped outward, like a bird of prey hatching from an egg. I couldn't turn away. It was so beautiful. -- excerpt from The Shattering.Cyanbane posted a cryptic note on EQ2-Daily.com this morning. "EverQuest 2 - The Shadow of Odyssey? Those f'ing Everlings..." He'd done it. His USPTO-fu was strong. SOE had trademarked the names of their next expansions for their EverQuest franchise. EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction for the older game now entering its tenth year; and EverQuest II: The Shadow of Odyssey for its sequel.So what is the Shadow of Odyssey? There are so many unexplored plot threads in the Norrath of EQ2, and the title is so vague, that it could be almost anything. Still, we have a few good ideas. If we had to put money on it, we'd bet that the shadow in question has something to do with the Void, and the mysterious Shadowmen. Or, Odyssey could refer to the long-lost homeland of the Erudites, the magic-weaving spellsmiths of yore. And then there's the possibility everyone's been mulling ... the one obvious if you look into Norrath's night sky. What if that shadow is the one cast by the shattered moon? What if Shadow of Odyssey will send us back to Luclin? Click on through for a discussion of what "The Shadow of Odyssey" might suggest about the next expansion.
