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Join WoW Insider at Wowhead's annual BlizzCon party
Our good friends at Wowhead are taking the helm of this year's annual BlizzCon party at the Anabella Hotel, but WoW Insider will be in attendance as always! The party will take place the evening of November 6 at 7 p.m. at the aforementioned Anabella Hotel in Anaheim. It's sure to be an exciting year full of swag -- and this year, even more. Straight from Wowhead new features this year include: Substantially increased capacity, adding the Anabella Hotel interior to the usual patio and pool WoW Parody Artist Silver Letomi will provide entertainment alongside our usual hosts Cosplayers and the return of the photo booth for selfie-snapping opportunities (and non-selfie pictures if you are so inclined) If you're in Anaheim, you'd be crazy not to join us Thursday night. If you aren't in Anaheim, there will be a livestream of the event if you'd like to watch from home. And speaking of livestream, Wowhead is currently giving away four BlizzCon Virtual Tickets over on their site. Hop to it!
Robin Williams models possibly spotted in World of Warcraft files
Apparently Blizzard is making good on its word to include the late Robin Williams in an upcoming World of Warcraft build, as players have found a character named Robin <The Entertainer> tucked away in the game files. Datamining through Warlords of Draenor's files turned up three models for Robin, including a djinn (Disney's Aladdin), a human female with a man's voice (Mrs. Doubtfire), and a human male with suspenders (Mork). There are theories floating around that the djinn will morph into the other two characters while putting on a show for players, although we won't know for sure until the expansion releases this November. On the day following Robin William's death, fans petitioned the Blizzard to include a tribute to the comedian as he had been an avid WoW player through the years. Blizzard responded by saying that it was "working on it."
Warlords of Draenor: Transmoggable farm implements
Our friends over at Wowhead have uncovered a new feature in Warlords of Draenor that should make dedicated transmog enthusiasts very happy--transmoggable farm weapons. These include a Garden Hoe, Garden Shovel, Garden Pitchfork, Garden Scythe, and Garden Sickle. The Garden Hoe and Garden Sickle are classified as one-hand maces, all the rest are two-hand staves. They are vendor items sold by the NPCs around your Garrison's Herb Garden, and the cost is surprisingly steep--2,375 gold plus 500 Draenic Seeds for the one-handers, and 4,750 gold plus 1,000 Draenic Seeds for the two-handers. Draenic Seeds can be either grown in your Garrison's Herb Garden, or farmed out in the world by Herbalists. If you've ever dreamed of an amazing farmer transmog, these weapons are sure to complete the look along with the Red Lumberjack Shirt and the Blue Overalls--for clothies, at least. Who'd have thought that a warlock could look so convincingly nurturing?
Warlords of Draenor: Claws of Shirvallah cat form datamined
New female tauren aren't the only shiny new player character models this week -- our friends at Wowhead have datamined the new druid cat forms that will go along with the level 100 talent Claws of Shirvallah. The talent allows druids who take it to cast all non-damaging druid spells while in cat form, and the half-humanoid half-cat model is a visual indication of the talent's hybrid nature. The animations are fluid and certainly make the model look intimidating. The worgen snow leopard version is my favorite, however, I do wonder if the models will be available in all the same color variations of the normal cat form models, or if the colors displayed are the only ones. While I can appreciate the skill and care put into these new cat form models, I'm not entirely feeling it, at least not yet. I just can't imagine my druid looking like that! Fortunately, it doesn't seem as if the talent is really relevant to my personal playstyle -- Lunar Inspiration seems more my speed -- but I can see how it may be very important for PvP'ers in particular. What about you? Are you going to grab Claws of Shirvallah at level 100? Is the model part of the reason why or why not? Check out Wowhead for the full 3D models of all four forms in their modelviewer, as well as video of the new forms in action.
Warlords of Draenor: Garrison achievements
The latest Warlords of Draenor build, meticulously datamined as always by the fine folks at Wowhead, reveals a ton in the way of Garrison achievements. Seriously, there are oodles of points to be earned in and around your Garrison. You can get achievements for Garrison buildings, Garrison Followers, Garrison levels, Garrison missions, and Garrison invasions. The glut of ways to earn achievement points should have dedicated achievement hunters licking their chops in anticipation. The 700 skill point profession achievements are also listed with Garrison achievements, which doesn't come as much of a surprise. The majority of the achievements focus on Followers, missions, and invasions, but there are also plenty associated with constructing and upgrading the buildings themselves. The complete list of datamined Garrison achievements is after the break.
Warlords of Draenor transmog preview on Wowhead
The folks at Wowhead have an extensive preview of weapon models, with multiple videos, showing off what they've datamined from Challenge Modes, Raids, and dungeons as well as PvP honor weapons. Some of the drops look like updated BC models, like this sword that has an unmistakably draenei feel to it, or this shield from challenge modes. It seems based on what's been mined so far that this time the weapons are the prestige draw from challenge modes instead of armor like in Pandaria. There's a lot to look at, so head over to the official preview on Wowhead and take a look.
Legendary quest boosts on the way?
Wowhead dug up some interesting new information this past week, largely in regards to the legendary quest chain offered by Wrathion. These changes are not for patch 6.0 -- they are for patch 5.4.8, which should be coming to the PTR soon. Two new spells of note have been added to the PTR -- one, called Gaze of the Black Prince, increases your reputation earned with the Black Prince by 100%, which might sound a little like the Grand Commendations for other Pandaria reputations that unlock bonus reputation for all characters on your account. But that doesn't seem to be the case with this particular spell. In fact, Gaze of the Black Prince also increases the chances of getting a Secrets of the Empire, Sigil of Power, Sigil of Wisdom, or Titan Runestone from enemies. How much of a chance isn't directly stated, but frankly, gathering the needed drops is far more time-consuming than simply earning the required reputation with Wrathion, so that's fantastic, right? Well ... there's more.
Wowhead interviews Lead Game Designer Ion Hazzikostas
Warlords of Draenor is bringing some big changes to the table -- and Wowhead recently interviewed Lead Game Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas about many of the changes we'll be seeing in regards to raiding, valor, and more. Item upgrades will be going away entirely, and with them, the valor point system seems to be attracting a shift in purpose, although that shift hasn't quite been decided just yet. However, the incentive mentioned during last year's BlizzCon that rewarded players with extra valor for grouping is undergoing a revamp, as valor currently isn't as useful as it has been in the past. Also interesting to note are the design changes for gear rewards. For the past several expansions, gear obtained from varying levels of difficulty in raids has always been the same model, simply different colors. In Warlords, this will be changed to be similar to what we saw in Burning Crusade -- PvP and PvE gear will share similar models, and the color shift will denote whether the armor was obtained in PvE, or PvP. Raid gear will go back to having different artwork, depending on the difficulty of the content completed -- so players that have defeated the most difficult content will have the snazzy gear to show for it. While Garrisons are going to be a huge piece of playable content, Hazzikostas pointed out that the feature is in no way mandatory -- the feature is not meant to feel like dailies in any way, and there won't be any sense of obligation to work on them on a daily basis. For those that have waded their way through the daily system introduced in Mists, that should be a relief to hear. Check out the full interview above for more from Hazzikostas -- and keep an eye on Wowhead for a full transcript of the interview soon.
Wowhead introduces modelviewer tutorial
The Wowhead modelviewer has long been a useful tool on the site -- players can look up virtually any item in the game, and with the push of a button, see a 3D rendering of the model either standalone, or on a class and race of their choice. Wowhead has recently begun processing mass amounts of information for Warlords of Draenor, and has introduced the new race models to the mix as they become available. Now players can not only look up what armor would look like on their current character, they can see what it will look like on a character using the models introduced with Warlords. If you've ever wondered exactly what the tool can do, Wowhead has put together a complete guide to using the modelviewer. The guide includes not only a brief overview of basics, but information on how to look up the new character models and animations, and how to view your character using the updated Warlords models. Obviously, at the moment only a few races are available to choose from -- but if you play one of the races that has already been featured, you can get an idea of what your character will look like when Warlords is released. Take a look at the full guide for details, and while you're there, be sure to check out Wowhead's video comparisons of new models vs. the current versions.
Wowhead interviews Warlords developers at PAX East
Our friends over at Wowhead are attending PAX East this weekend, and Perculia had a chance to sit down and interview Lead Class Designer Kris Zierhut and Game Designer Steve Burke about Warlords of Draenor. A variety of topics were discussed -- Garrisons were discussed in detail, as well as raid cooldowns, the strengths and weaknesses of the Timeless Isle, professions and the removal of damage bonuses, and much more. One of the more exciting discussions addressed the issue of storage space. Mentioned in the interview was the new toy box tab that will rid your bags of all the interesting gadgets and toys you find while questing. But that's not all -- most profession materials will stack to 100 in the new expansion, and gathered quest items from kill and carry quests will be tracked, but not actually take up space in your bags. And perhaps the most exciting news from the interview (for me, anyway) is that at long last, transmogrification fanatics will be getting a second tab of Void Storage in which to squirrel away their favorite fashions. You can listen to the full audio from the interview above -- it's well worth checking out.
Wowhead launches Warlords of Draenor database
With the Warlords of Draenor alpha now underway, the datamining efforts are in full swing. Our friends over at Wowhead have compiled their information into a specific Warlords of Draenor database, ready to fulfill all your spoiler-iffic, data-licious desires. You can find tabs for spells, talents, glyphs, factions, zones, items, and even a few item sets, for the transmogrification-conscious. Some of the details, such as icons, are still missing, but this is only the first round of datamining, and only the alpha after all! The database will certainly be updated as needed and as more information becomes available. As if to further emphasize the ephemerality of some of this information, there are some entertaining little alpha tidbits in there--items such as the "Test Chest" (it rhymes!), "Chris' New CR Test Gloves," and the fantastic "Novel Mind-Blowing Chest Guard." For some unfathomable reason I have a sneaking suspicion that these aren't the items' final names. It's just a hunch, though!
Warlords of Draenor: Possible character undelete option?
We've all been there -- we needed another character slot. Or maybe we were just bored with the class. Deleting a character is one of those final decisions that occasionally leads to regret. While characters can sometimes be restored, it usually takes a ticket or a phone call to Blizzard to get the job done. Wowhead has been busy datamining the Alpha client, and discovered an interesting set of strings that suggest that particular service, much like the item restore service before it, may be put in player's hands come Warlords. The following strings were found: UNDELETE_TOOLTIP_DISABLED:: Restore Deleted Character is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later. UNDELETE_SERVICE_TOOLTIP:: Restore this character UNDELETE_FAILED_ERROR:: There was a problem restoring your deleted character. Please try again later. UNDELETE_TOOLTIP:: Restore Deleted Character UNDELETE_TOOLTIP_COOLDOWN:: You must wait before restoring another deleted character. From the looks of the strings, the service will work similarly to the item restoration service -- in other words, it will likely have a cooldown period to prevent abuse. Keep in mind however that this is datamined information, and is in no way official -- we may never actually see it implemented when the expansion goes live. But hey, for now I'm going to look forward to the possibility that the paladin I viciously decided to cut might just make another appearance on my character list, some day.
Wowhead introduces class guides
Wowhead has just launched a new feature for players new to the game, and players new to a different class as well -- class guides written for virtually every class and spec in the game. The guides act as a brief overview of what you'll need for the class you play, covering spells, talents, glyphs, enchanting, gemming, reforging, and even topics like tackling the Proving Grounds and Challenge Modes. Some guides also include basic DPS rotations for each spec as well. Written by familiar faces from around the WoW community, the guides themselves are fairly basic -- you won't see any number crunching or theorycrafting. Instead, they act as a quick reference for players wondering what they should be doing with the character they play. That said, it's a wealth of quick-reference information that I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep bookmarked. Check out the class guides for yourself over on Wowhead.
Wowhead Profiler tool updated with talents, glyphs
The Wowhead Profiler tool has now been updated to list talents and glyphs for characters, both in main and secondary specs. This is in addition to the massive amounts of information it already provides -- mount and pet tracking, transmog information, quest information and much more. I have to admit I hadn't given the Profiler much of a look until today, and I'm shocked at what I've found. Wowhead is known for its massive database of everything under the sun available to be found in World of Warcraft. Quests, achievements, items, NPCs, armor, pets, mounts, you name it -- if it exists in game, Wowhead has it listed. But the Profiler is a little different from Wowhead's usual style of database tracking. Players can look up their character, or other characters, and load them into the Profiler for an in-depth look at what that character has done, and what they've yet to accomplish. So how exactly is that useful? What makes the Profiler, in some cases, a better alternative than the armory?
Wowhead launches blue tweet tracker
Wowhead has launched a new tool allowing players to keep track of every tweet from key Blizzard accounts. The new tracker is highly customisable, allowing users to select whose tweets they see, and whose they don't. There's also a "significant tweets" option, which just shows tweets that have the most important information in them. There's Community Managers, Creative Developers, Developers and Designers, as well as Customer Support and official accounts. All the major accounts are there, and there's even the option to include @ tweets, so all the ones a given account sends to everyone. You can use the tool to read all the tweets from just one account, removing the need to click around to different accounts. And there's even a mouseover for every account, showing their Bio as a tooltip. If you would rather see the accounts on your own terms, and follow all the Blizzard Twitter accounts, you can check out WoW Insider's guide to Blizzard Twitter accounts.
Wowhead's talent calculator updated with new Warlords of Draenor talents
In the wake of Blizzard's press event, all sorts of news is burbling out, and among these bits of information are new level 100 talents for rogues, warlocks and warriors. Now Wowhead has updated their Warlords of Draenor talent calculator with these new talents. Some of these changes are pretty amusing. Rogues, for example, get a new talent at level 100 called Venom Zest, for instance. However, since the video in question didn't actually mouse over said talent, we don't actually know what it does. I like to think it makes venom a delightful accent to any meal. But that's unlikely if you've ever actually eaten with a rogue. Head on over to Wowhead and take a gander at all the new talents at their talent calculator for Warlords of Draenor. With Celestalon tweeting about an upcoming flood of new information, you should probably keep an eye on it.
Patch 5.4.7: Dread Hatchling now appearing in Pet Journal
The pet experts at Warcraft Pets have discovered that the Dread Hatchling, one of the rewards for the Digital Deluxe or Collector's Edition versions of Warlords of Draenor, is now visible in the Pet Journal for players. Although the pet is not obtainable at this time, you can view all attacks for the pet, which includes two interesting new abilities -- Shadow Talon and Anzu's Blessing. While we don't know exactly how the Dread Hatchling will hold up in Pet Battles just yet, I'm looking forward to adding the little guy to my rotation of pets. As with prior Collector's Edition pets, the Dread Hatchling is a rare, so he should be pretty devastating. Unfortunately, while you can easily view pets that you haven't collected in game, there's no way to check for mounts -- however, Wowhead is showing that the Reins of the Dread Raven have also been added to the game files with 5.4.7 as well. Obviously both pet and mount are not obtainable at the present time, but the fact that both were added in along with everything else in patch 5.4.7 suggests that perhaps pre-orders for Warlords are on the way soon.
New features added to Wowhead
The tireless folks over at Wowhead have announced additional features to their pages to keep hungry WoW information seekers satisfied. Not too long ago they updated their website with things like character quest tracking and a WoW sound database. Now, in an effort to make the site even more user-friendly Wowhead has updated their search tools to be even more customizable. New search options for gear include limiting the results to items appropriate for your character's level, desired item slot, class, and spec. The search improvements also include new filter options for consumables, glyphs, and professions, plus the option to list mount search results as a list or thumbnail gallery. They've also updated the way search results display, ensuring that results display in order of page hits and relevant Wowhead guides are highlighted as well. In addition, there is now an option to further filter the tabbed results of a given search. Lastly, and perhaps most excitingly, they've added subzone maps to their zone pages as well. As Perculia states, "Caves are really easy to get lost in." So they are, but maybe now they'll be a little less so, thanks to these new map options. In addition, there's also new information on fishing pools: where they spawn, and what you can get from them. You can check out the complete list of additions, and learn all the details on these new features, on Wowhead's announcement page.
Wowhead covers popular references in WoW
If you've ever wondered about some of the more unusually-named items in World of Warcraft, they might just be named after one of Blizzard's many employees -- or even after someone in the Warcraft community. Wowhead just released an incredibly comprehensive Blizzard and Community References in WoW guide that covers what is a far larger group of references than I'd originally thought. There are even some items on the list that I didn't even know existed, like Brazie's Black Book of Secrets, sold only to Alliance raiders in Icecrown Citadel for a heart-stopping 22,000 gold, and a reference to former Encounter Designer Alexander Brazie. It's interesting just how many of the items and NPCs we interact with on a daily basis are actually references to real-life people and events. While some are fairly obvious -- who doesn't know that Ghostcrawler the spirit beast is named after Greg Street -- others are far more obscure. I must have picked it up a thousand times, but I never realized that Robble's Wobbly Staff was actually named after someone out here in the real world. The post, covering only Blizzard employee and community member references, is part of an absorbing pop-culture item reference series. In addition to the Blizzard employee post, the other entries so far in the series include pop culture references in achievements, as well as references inspired by video games, movies and TV, and a lengthy but fascinating post detailing comics, books, music and poetry references. Be sure to check out the entire series, it's well worth the read -- and you may just discover that item you're wearing or that quest you just completed has far more meaning than you'd originally thought.
Wowhead catalogs pop culture in WoW
Ever wondered about all the references to pop culture that permeate the World of Warcraft universe? Well, you're in luck. Perculia from Wowhead is putting together a comprehensive guide to all things pop culture in WoW. And she's just getting started, this first instalment covers items that relate to general culture, food and drink, movies, television and other video games. And it's really interesting reading. I'm kind of terrible at pop culture, but even I've heard of P.E.T.A. What I didn't know was just how many in-game items reference the charity. G.E.H.T.A., for example, is a gun that reduces your attack power against beasts, found in the D.E.H.T.A.'s little P.I.T.A. achievement chain. It's accompanied by various other ethical items. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Perculia has a truly encyclopaedic knowledge of WoW items, and it's great to read as she delves into that expertise with guides like these! Read through it, I'll bet you learn something new.
