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Upper Deck introduces Traitor cards for the WoW TCG
Those of you who are fanatics of the WoW TCG have probably heard of the new Servants of the Betrayer expansion already, but even if you have, it's worth checking out this new article on the official Upper Deck TCG site. It goes into greater length about the philosophy behind the new cards, and introduces the basic ideas, mechanics, and lore behind the new Traitor Heroes. While "Servants of the Betrayer" rightly assumes you'll be able to control Vashj and Kael, they decided that they did not want to make those two central to deck building, since they already plan to release a new Black Temple raid deck later on. Instead, they will be possible allies of a new series of "Traitor Heroes."
Why is Kael a bad guy?
Lore-wise, I can't say I understand the direction they've taken with a number of characters from classic Warcraft games in BC, but I suppose that's the reason that the term "lorelol" was coined in the first place. Mike Schramm's pointed out that the canon can probably take the abuse, but there's one character in particular whose upcoming story arc kind of appalls me.If you're trying to stay unspoiled for patch 2.4 -- why are you reading WoW Insider anyway? -- I'll slap the rest behind a cut.
Insert cute pet story here
About 3 months ago I got my first pet. His name is Max, and is a grey domestic short hair cat. He was a stray that was scratching at my apartment door on a very cold November evening. At the time it was decided that he was just going to stick around for the night, but he grew on us so quickly that we weren't able to let him go. He now is a happy member of my family, and just like the rest of them, he has to put up with me playing World of Warcraft.Except, it's not really "putting up with" WoW, it's more like "intensely interested in what's going on." Max will often times spend the whole four hours of the night's raid spread across the desk staring at my computer screen. He'll react to the sounds, the bright flashes of light, and occasionally even other in game cats. When someone says "lol" and their character laughs, he'll jump and stare down the speaker the laugh came from.
When your fearless leader hasn't played your class
Back when I first started tanking 5-mans, there was a particular hunter who pulled off me with irritating regularity. This was partly because the early Druid tanking set at 70 is itemized more for mitigation than threat generation, but partly because he was a young guy, he was good dps, and he knew it. MM-specced Hunters actually do have a lot of control over mobs that get pulled off the tank, and I suspect on some level he made a game out of seeing just how long he could lock something down while the exasperated tank turned her attention elsewhere, usually after bellowing at him in party chat to "DISENGAGE! FEIGN DEATH! DISENGAGE!"Not having played a Hunter at that point, I had a fuzzy notion that Disengage somehow reduced threat and was highly affronted at any hunter with aggro spikes who wasn't using Feign Death over and over again. After starting to level a hunter alt, it quickly became apparent that: a). Disengage was a melee-only skill that still had to "hit" the mob, and b). Feign Death wasn't exactly a spammable ability and could be resisted no matter what you did. I am by no means an expert hunter player, but I have at least learned to bellow, "FEIGN DEATH ON COOLDOWN!" if they're not trapping (and just minding my own business if they are).I am still occasionally reminded of my days as a backseat hunter, and never more so than while listening to my GM trying to figure out what's gone wrong in a raid.
Patch 2.4: Hyjal and Black Temple attunements removed
Blizzard announced the following important four lines in their 2.4 Patch Notes: Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter Hyjal. Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter the Black Temple. Players who have completed the attunement quests for Black Temple and Hyjal will be granted the title of "Hand of A'dal". You may now fight Prince Kael'thas and Lady Vashj without first killing all the other bosses in their respective dungeons. I have to say, despite the difficulty of Vashj and Kael'Thas, I am quite surprised to find that Blizzard has removed the attunement requirements from Patch 2.4. Naxx, Blackwing Lair, and even Molten Core still require people to become attuned. Now seemingly, two of the hardest and most revered raids do not. While the removal of the attunement is obviously a way to get more people to see their new raid zone, the Sunwell Plateau, all is not golden. Many, many, many raiding guilds and players who have already made the brutal trek through Vashj and Kael will be quite upset. On the other hand players who are not yet able to, but perhaps ready for, the first few bosses of MH and BT, will undoubtedly rejoice.What are your opinions of this change? How do you think it will affect the raiding landscape?
Guildwatch: Fish food
I don't know what Vashj did to you guys, but there must have been something, because she is getting dropped more and more often lately. Nobody likes the Naga, I guess. And Kael is pretty much shaking in his boots-- nearly every guild that has downed Vashj is throwing him angry looks for being next.This week's GW starts right after the jump-- click the link below to check the week's drama, downed and recruiting news, all tipped to us by you, dear readers. If you have news for Guildwatch (especially drama, because who doesn't like that?), send it along to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Enjoy!
Ready Check: Progression
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Kara or BT, everyone can get in on the action and down them some bosses. Sadly this week, Hong his stuck clearing trash in SSC. It's bad news when the little fishes come back, trust me. There are a number of things that drive people to raid. Character improvement is one aspect, but for most raiders that I've run across, it's all about seeing content. These are the explorer/achievers who see bosses not as just a challenge, but as a stepping stone to where even more reclusive mobs and areas exist. In the past, raids experienced pretty linear difficulty levels as they plowed through instances. You could skip ahead some if you stumbled across a particularly nasty boss (/wave C'thun), but you pretty much just worked down the list of baddies since each one got slightly harder. Even in Naxx where you had four different hallways of death to pick from, and the attunement wasn't dependent whatsoever on previous content you've completed, the progressive levels of boss difficulty kept you on the straight and narrow. You didn't have a chance killing the Instructor if you weren't skilled and geared well enough, no matter how much the Argent Dawn loved you.
Breakfast Topic: Lucky loot and other personal practices
In a world of dice rolls and random number generators, its not too strange to get a little superstitious. Like we've touched on before, every raid has their own dark rituals they perform before or during a raid, whether that be rolling dice to predict success or sacrificing their enhancement shaman to the loot gods. But what about the players?Personally, when my raid hits a roadblock against some boss, I equip my good luck charm. I've used it in all of our "big" firsts: Lady Vashj, Kael'thas, and Archimonde have all fallen to the might of the Shard of the Fallen Star. I'm sure my raidmates are tired of seeing that thing in the middle of an epic battle, but it works, so don't knock it! Besides, a giant meteor falling out of the sky and hitting Archimonde is totally awesome.I've seen mages equipping their fishing hats for specific bosses and warlocks summoning their favorite demon, no matter how useless it is, when they're in need of a little good luck. What about you guys? Do you do anything special to shed the bad mojo?
One Boss Leaves: Vashj vs. Huhuran wrap-up
Another week is upon us, which means another edition of Two Bosses Enter, our weekly deathmatch series, has come to a close. This week, Princess Huhuran overwhelmed Lady Vashj with 56% of the total vote. (Hmm... Vashj must have forgotten her nature resist set.) Though you might not think an oversized wasp could defeat a powerful Naga like Vashj, you've clearly never tangled with this particular insect: don't discount this bug's prowess (and nasty nature damage). Full details below: For more bosses fighting amongst themselves (hey, it's better than when they fight you, isn't it?), check back tonight for the next round of Two Bosses Enter, when Gruul will match up against C'Thun!
Getting your loot priorities straight
Every successful guild that I've ever seen has some sort of loot distribution system. Whether it's a major DKP system with a dozen small caveats, or a slow moving loot council, some way, some how, all guilds get the job done handing out every day loot in a fair manner. But there comes a time, a dark and evil time, a time when brothers and sisters fight against each other, cats and dogs live together, and all things foul spill forth from the bowels of the Earth. There comes a time when special loot priorities come into effect.Many, many guilds have broken up over this. I've nearly been in a few myself. Back in the days of pre-bc, the first major loot drama came in Molten Core over the Hunter's ability Tranquil Shot. While now a days there are not really any single items that makes people fight tooth and nail over, there are a few bosses that drop some important equipment that might only be killed a few times.
Two Bosses Enter: Lady Vashj vs. Princess Huhuran
Two bosses may enter... but only one will get to leave in WoW Insider's fantasy deathmatch series. Every week we pit two of the World of Warcraft's raid bosses against one another in a battle that your votes get to decide. This week we have Lady Vashj from Serpentshrine Caverns in Outland matching up against Princess Huhuran from Ahn'Qiraj in old Azeroth. Though both of them are perfectly happy to wipe player raids, how would they fare against one another? Ultimately, that's for you to decide -- so read on!
One Boss Leaves: Geddon vs. Vashj wrap-up
For the past week's Two Bosses Enter matchup, Vashj has come out on top -- but by the extremely narrow margin of one vote. You read that correctly, because the opinion of a single reader means that Vashj will continue to our next round. For those of you who need to know all the details, here's the final results: Be sure to check back tonight for another matchup -- though we're getting closer to determining the boss of all bosses, we still have quite a way to go! For full details on our matchups, check our brackets.
Two Bosses Enter: Baron Geddon vs. Lady Vashj
Welcome to another edition of Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy boss deathmatches. Every week we pair up two new bosses from the World of Warcraft and pit them against one another in a fight to the death -- and eventually, one will walk away the ultimate winner. This week we're considering a fight between one of Ragnaros' many minions in the Molten Core -- Baron Geddon -- and Serpentshrine Cavern's own Lady Vashj. Though these bosses come from vastly different level instances, don't let that fool you -- we're here to talk theorycraft, and that means considering how these two bosses would realistically fare against one another and not just making a list of everyone's hit points and damage ranges. So are you curious about these two bosses -- or already have an opinion? Keep reading for more info and your chance to vote.
Guildwatch: The drama trifecta
I never, ever thought this would happen, but apparently people are actually trying to be the biggest Guildwatch drama story now. Someone emailed a tip in hoping that his drama would be highlighted here on the front page, and unfortunately, while his tip was good (a massive PvP battle after a forum flame war), it just didn't match up to this mega ninja/ gquit/ game quit from Barthilas. But better luck next week, drama queens!This week's GW starts right after you click the link below. And don't forget: the place to send all your info about drama, downings, or recruiting notices is wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Onward!
Guildwatch: A turn for the worse
I've seen some pretty harsh drama here on Guildwatch, but this week it seems like all the drama just got turned up to 11, and it's gone from being fun to just plain being lame. I don't want to ruin the fun (and hopefully next week we'll get some good old ninja looting news to laugh at), but it's just a game, folks. Hate to see people get hurt over any of this stuff.At any rate, you can find this week's guild drama, downed, and recruiting notices right after the jump. If you do have a good story to share, make sure to send it to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Click the link below to read on.
Attunement scrolls now granting free flasks
So first there were quests to get into Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep. Then Blizzard created "attunement scrolls," which dropped from the bosses of each and allowed guilds to attune other players or alts who'd missed out on the action so far. And then Blizz removed the attunements entirely. So what happened to the quests and the scrolls?All we know about the quests so far is that Blizzard has promised to add extra steps onto them to reward the people who actually did them (we don't know what the rewards will be quite yet). But Boubouille at MMO Champion has a good line on what's up with the scrolls-- they still drop, but now instead of granting attunements, they grant flasks, usable in all the higher level raid instances.The good news, as we heard at BlizzCon, is that Blizzard says they've learned their lesson from this fiasco, and attunements in upcoming patches and expansions will be a little less intensive (which is fine by me-- I'd rather difficulty keep people away from a dungeon rather than a super-long attunement questline). But if you've got any of these scrolls still around, feel free to use them for flasks. As a commenter says, it's a buy and use 25 flasks, get 5 free sale!
Tobold cancels his account (until next expansion)
Tobold, MMO blogger-at-large, has posted that he has cancelled his World of Warcraft account.Sign of the times or outraged for the wrong reason? That's for you to decide-- Tobold says his guild has moved on to Serpentshrine, and since he's not attuned yet, he probably never will be, which means there's no point to moving on. Apparently no one has told him about Vashj's attunement scrolls, which will let a guild that beats Vashj attune whoever they want to SSC. Of course, he'd have to wait until his guild actually beats Vashj, but hope is not lost yet.Then again, maybe Tobold's just going with the flow. If you ask me, leaving because your guild has moved on is a terrible reason to leave-- not only is there lots to do out there, either on your own or with the people in your guild who don't happen to be running SSC, but I do believe there is more than one guild in the game. Surely someone else would be willing to take Tobold to Karazhan, right?Either way, it's his choice. As he says, cancelling the account sends a clear message to Blizzard that he wants things to change. And if enough people send that message (for whatever reason), then you can't but agree that they will.
Guildwatch: Trouble at the top
Guild drama is always pretty bad, but almost nothing is worse then guild drama that hits right where it hurts: at the top. When your guildleader gets a little out of shape, takes an extended break, /gdisbands, or even flips factions on you, you know it's going to be rough going ahead for your fellow guildies.Lots of stuff like that today-- here's this week's Guildwatch, right after the jump. To get your guild here (or let us know about something going down on your server) drop us a line at wowguildwatch@gmail.com and hook us up with drama, downed, or recruiting news. Follow your favorite raidleader past the link below to check the column.
Method Man and Vashj
As a society we are not always interested in seconds. We prefer firsts, the first man to walk on the moon, the first man to swim the English Channel, heck even the first woman got plenty of notice in her day. And yes, Nihilum did managed to down Lady Vashj first, but I have been following the story of the second guild to kill the snake-headed wench, and I am happy to report their day has finally come. For those of you not obsessed with minutia the way I am, the guild Method from the Sylvanas (EU) realm killed Lady Vashj on May 5th. Something happened though that makes this kill more interesting than just any old world 2nd. The encounter bugged out and the guild, after all their hard work, lost the chance at looting the corpse. That's right folks, imagine watching Lady Vashj's corpse despawn in front of your very eyes. I know I would cry wet, salty tears. Naturally members of the guild contacted a GM, but to no avail. It was a whole day before the guild finally got resolution. They did get a mail message though that told them that their loot would indeed be delivered. World of Raids says Method received a Krakken-Heart Breastplate and Gauntlets of the Crestfall amongst other things. Congrats to them for getting their just rewards. If you're interested in learning more details about the fight, Method will be interviewed by WoW Radio on May 13th at 12:30 EST. I'm sure they'll have some fascinating insights. [via World of Raids]
Confessions of a casual gamer
I admit it, I am never going to raid Naxxramas. C'Thun? Broodlord? These are fights I doubt I will ever see. That's not to say that I don't play a lot, I do. I have 10 characters, ranging from 70 to 1, and I admit an addiction to character creation. But I am not a raider. My mage has average gear. When she stepped through the portal in January she had 4 pieces of Arcanist, all of which I have replaced with green or blue items. My entire goal with the expansion hasn't been to defeat Illidan, and I've had no burning desire to send Vashj back into that hole created by the destruction of the Well of Eternity. I just wanted to go to the Caverns of Time. It was a simple wish, but I somehow feel less of a gamer because I don't have the opportunity or the drive to push through to the raid content. I have the desire, I do, I just live in a small world, with a small guild of friends. I would love to experience all the game has to offer, that's why I've created as many characters as I have. If there were 20 character slots, I would still have them all filled. In addition to my desire, though, I also have a lot of unease. Am I too a gamer if I don't get the "uberest" of gear sets? Is it enough to play for the love of the game, or do I need to have 6 characters at 70 by the time the next expansion comes out? A lot of the content in the game requires 25-man or 40-man raids, and I don't know how likely it is I will be able to get into Kharazan, despite finishing the key. I am grateful for the 5-man content in Outland, but I wonder, is there room in Blizzard's heart for the casual gamer?
