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Wowhead introduces new sound database
Wowhead, in a continuing quest to make every last bit of World of Warcraft data available for consumption, has just added a new function to its ever-increasing list of databases -- a sound database. You may remember Wowhead's sound player addition from last month, which added the capability to listen to zone music and boss emotes on various pages of the database. The new sound database builds upon that, adding on to the existing sound library by including NPC gossip and spell abilities for both players and bosses. While the sounds have been added to a new tab on existing database entries, they have also been given a searchable database all their own. In addition to this, Wowhead has put together a playlist feature that works in conjunction with the sound database. Users can now add their favorite tracks to a customized playlist that can be listened to on a new playlist page. If you decide you don't like a track, a quick click will remove it. To celebrate the implementation of the new feature, Wowhead is also giving away 15 Moonkin Hatchling pets. While the feature is here for good, the contest only runs until 3pm EST Monday, December 23 -- you can get those entries in, as well as learn more about this cool new feature, on Wowhead's official announcement page.
New collection tracking feature on Wowhead
Our friends at Wowhead hav just announced the launch of a new site feature that should make many players very happy indeed: a collection tracker! You can now use Wowhead to track your characters' possession of pets, mounts, titles, achievements, and recipes. The new feature was green lit thanks to the popularity of their recently-implemented quest-tracking feature, which has been a big hit. The new collection tracking feature includes options to exclude items that fall into certain categories -- the example used by Wowhead is that of pets only available from WoW's Collector's Editions. In this way you can hide any items you may not be interested in pursuing, either by blanking out entire categories of items (i.e. exclude anything Horde-exclusive), or you can manually select individual items to exclude as well. Hop on over to Wowhead's announcement page to check it out!
Wowhead adds zone music, character quest tracking
Wowhead has rolled out some pretty exciting site features today. First up is their new music and sound player which allows you to play sound files from the game such as boss emotes, or listen to zone music as shown in the screenshot above. By visiting a zone's page, for example Storm Peaks, you can browse through all of the various music that plays in that zone. Aspiring Loremasters take note! Also added is the ability to see what quests your character has completed anywhere in the game. You first need to use the Wowhead profiler to import your character, and then you will be able to view any quest on the site and see if that character has completed it or not. If you pull up a list of the quests in a single zone you will be able to see, at a glance, what you're missing. You can even track multiple characters at the same time. Head on over to Wowhead to see the full rundown of the new features.
New charity Battle Pet coming to the Pet Store soon
A new Battle Pet is headed to the Blizzard Pet Store soon. The Alterac Brew Pup, pictured above, seems to be slated for release in the not-too-distant future. According to a page found by the fine folks over at Wowhead, the Brew Pup, like other Battle Pets in the past, will have a percentage of the proceeds from its sales donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The page also mentions that the cost of the Battle Pet will be $10 -- which is the standard rate for pets on the store. Although the purchase page was briefly visible in the Blizzard Store -- long enough for Wowhead to nab a screenshot, it has since been removed. This could be for any number of reasons: they may have simply jumped the gun on making the page available, might have just been testing the layout, or may have some changes to make to the listing page. Regardless, we now know where that perfectly adorable new Battle Pet will be found -- and now it's just a matter of patiently waiting until it's released. For more information on the Battle Pet and its abilities, check out Wowhead's Battle Pet database.
WoW Insider/Wowhead party snapshots
Last night, WoW Insider and Wowhead hosted their annual party at the Annabella Hotel. The party was from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. PST, but the line began before 5. It was at capacity very quickly, leaving many people standing in line to get in. Gamebreaker.tv broadcast the event, conducting interviews and otherwise putting on a good show. At the same time, many people were lined up at the Anaheim Convention Center to pick up their BlizzCon badges. There were quite a few tweets from attendees complaining about how long the line was, but at least the weather was good and there were things to look at. Photos of the event and the BlizzCon badge line are in the slideshows below.
Breakfast Topic: Do you contribute to your favorite WoW database site?
You know that site you use every day to learn about quests and where things drop? All of that data -- who drops what, the percentages, the map locations -- comes from players who take the time to collect it and contribute. The more people who contribute, the more accurate the data. These lightweight addons collect the pertinent information in the background and upload when you exit the game. The Wowhead Client will let you collect data for Wowhead and upload it at your convenience The WoWDB Profiler addon works in conjunction with the Curse Client to contribute to WoWDB %Poll-84874%
Reminder: Siege of Orgrimmar wing The Underhold open for Flex Raiding
In case you're doing a decent amount of Flex Raiding (I have been, in addition to normal) then good news - this week, the Underhold, the third wing of the Siege of Orgrimmar, is now available via flex. Our friends at Wowhead have this roundup of the available loot options from new bosses Malkorok, Spoils of Pandaria and Thok the Bloodthirsty for you to look over and plan where to best use your Warforged Seals. My luck on weapon drops has been abysmal this tier, so I'm even considering that Britomart's Jagged Pike despite all that haste and mastery. So far I've really liked Flex - it's completely replaced LFR for me, and I admit it speaks to that place inside me which used to run ICC 10 every week to gear up for ICC 25. Perhaps that's wrong of me to have that inner voice, but I do, and so I'm happy with Flex. How about yourselves? Done with it, tired of waiting for new wings, or really loving it so far?
Wowhead updates 5.4 Battle Pet guide
Wowhead has put together a massive guide for Battle Pet enthusiasts that may be wondering what's going on with the Celestial Tournament on the Timeless Isle. This giant guide to the Celestial Tournament includes information not only on the Tournament itself, but also on all of the other assorted new pets that can be found wandering the Timeless Isle. In addition, the guide goes over all possible team matchups you may see while battling your way through the Celestial Tournament. And if that isn't enough, Wowhead's battle pet team calculator was just updated to include the Celestial Tournament teams. Keep in mind that once you enter the Celestial Tournament, you can neither heal your pets nor leave the Tournament without resetting your progress. The tournament is two stages -- the first stage will pit you against three pet tamers with legendary pets, and the second stage will pit you against four legendary elite Battle Pets. In other words, it's a tough challenge to face unprepared. But if you're coveting those adorable mini-Celestial pets, you'll have to beat the tournament to get them. Check out Wowhead's guide for full details -- and for more information on all things pet-related, don't forget to check out WarcraftPets as well.
Patch 5.4 PTR: Datamined files point to possible Winter Veil revamp
Wowhead has found some new items over on the patch 5.4 PTR. The latest round of datamining has dug up several items with a Greatfather tag -- Greatfather's Box of Greatness, Greatfather's Path of Cenarius, Greatfather's Satchel, and a new mount, Greatfather's Riding Turtle. Keep in mind that all datamined material is, of course, simply files that may or may not actually make it into the live iteration of the game. But the only Greatfather we know of at the moment is a jolly guy who hands out gifts once a year during the Feast of Winter Veil. Winter Veil received a revamp in 2011 when the Abominable Greench was changed to a world boss of sorts that required multiple players to kill, and several quests were added and changed. But the essential part of Winter Veil has always been the presents under the tree, and each Winter Veil has always introduced a new item and a new achievement to go along with it. However, the addition of satchels and boxes, as well as a mount, sounds much more like the other traditional holiday bosses that have required queuing for a dungeon to complete. Do we have a Winter Veil revamp in the works here? We won't really know until December, but it's certainly interesting to think about -- and if this is the case, will we see any other holidays get a makeover as well?
Wowhead releases BoE set armor guide
If you're a fan of transmogrification, you're no doubt familiar with the difficulties of trying to keep track of all those green BoE sets out there in Azeroth. Over at Wowhead, that process has just been made a lot easier with a transmogrification guide put together by Perculia, detailing BoE sets in cloth, leather, mail and plate. Specifically covering those pesky world-drop greens, the guide has model views of each set that you can see with a simple mouseover. BoE green drops have long been a hit-or-miss for transmog fanatics, but Wowhead's guide is an easy, quick reference to help not only with tracking down obscure sets, but offering alternate pieces of gear with the same models as well. The mouseover visuals are incredibly handy for anyone looking for color-matching items, and of course Wowhead is its usual helpful self when it comes to finding out the best place to find all the gear your transmog-addicted heart desires. While you're checking out the BoE guide, you may want to take a look at Wowhead's other guides as well, covering everything from your typical tier armor sets to lookalikes, quest rewards, dungeon sets and more. If you've been looking for a new look for your character, going back to the sets of old for inspiration isn't a bad idea at all.
Wowhead launches Hearthstone section
Our friends at Wowhead seem to have caught Hearthstone fever -- and, really, who can blame them? In addition to the site's very handy WoW data, they've added a new Hearthstone section that has a database of cards for you to search. Obviously, no one has access to a Hearthstone client, so Wowhead is pulling this info from datamining -- which means it's incomplete and may contain errors. And, of course, with the game not even in beta yet, everything you see now is still subject to change; maybe even a lot of change. However, with a database of just over 500 cards already on the site, it's a pretty impressive collection and a great way to get an early look at the game. The Hearthstone section lets you search for cards and, when you've found one you're interested in, displays card artwork (and the artist), type, quality, class, set, casting cost, special abilities, and health and attack for cards that have it. And, like the rest of Wowhead, each card has its own comments section -- though we haven't run into any cards with comments so far. So while we continue to wait for our beta keys (they're in the mail, right, Blizzard?), we'll be sure to be prepared by checking out all of the cards on Wowhead.
April Fools' Day comes to the PTR courtesy of Wowhead
If you haven't had enough of April Fools' Day quite yet -- and in light of Blizzard's joke no-show this year, maybe you haven't -- you'll enjoy Wowhead's celebration of this silly holiday in the form of what they tell us is new information about patch 5.3 on the PTR. So just what have we got to look forward to? We think the highlight is the new Earth Week holiday, in which we'll be cleaning up Azeroth and battling the forces of evil otherwise known as The Crown Chemical Co. We'll also be fighting a new boss called the Sky Sludge, which drops five epic rings that seem awfully familiar. But if that doesn't strike your fancy, there's also new cosmetic armor and auras, in-game Hearthstone, and the delicious-looking Doritos Locos Feast. And, while we are pretty sure this is all a joke, Blizzard has been known to have a strange sense of humor before...
Patch 5.3 PTR: Epic cloaks point at a legendary reward
Some fascinating new cloaks have been dug up in the patch 5.3 PTR by the intrepid explorers over at Wowhead -- and they may be more than they seem. There are six cloaks in all, each named with an indicator that points to the August Celestials as their inspiration. But what's really astonishing about these cloaks is the ilvl and stats. Each cloak has been designated with an ilvl of 600 -- far above anything we've encountered in game to date. And each has a whopping +918 to every secondary stat minus hit and expertise. So what does it all mean? It means that these things are powerhouses of bonus stats -- and if you have a spec that doesn't use one particular side stat, you can reforge it to gain a healthy chunk of hit or expertise on the side. Because of the August Celestials influence in the cloak designs and names, Wowhead has pointed out that these cloaks likely tie into the latest branch of the Wrathion chain. Wrathion's achievement for patch 5.3 has been changed on the PTR as well. Now called Chapter IV: Celestial Blessings, the achievement requires players to accompany Wrathion on his journey to obtain blessings from all four August Celestials. The reward for the achievement is a Cloak of Virture, and all the new cloaks carry this designation, so it looks like Wowhead's assessment is dead on. But what's curious about all of this is that despite the ilvl, despite the method of obtaining the cloaks, and despite the stats, the cloaks are still designated epic quality. Given Wrathion's penchant for handing over orange quality items, it does make one wonder if this will be changed as the PTR moves on. If these cloaks are indeed designated legendary quality, they'll be the first piece of legendary armor we've seen in game since the ill-fated Talisman of Binding Shard removed in vanilla. While we don't know yet exactly what the future of these cloaks happens to be, it would be wise to keep in mind that as with anything else on the PTR, it's all subject to change at the drop of a hat until it goes live. We may see the ilvl reduced, we may see the quality change, or we may see them appear exactly as they are now -- it's all up in the air until 5.3 officially drops. Until then, have a look at Wowhead for a glimpse at these gorgeous models.
Patch 5.3 PTR: New mount models, achievements
The intrepid folks over at Wowhead have been busy digging through the patch 5.3 PTR and discovering a host of new models and items associated with the new patch. For mount collecting enthusiasts, the addition of a new mount achievement in patch 5.1 and the Jade Pandaren Kite as a reward was a delightful surprise. For those who have been collecting mounts for quite some time, however, the kite was immediately available upon the launch of patch 5.1, and it didn't appear as though any further rewards would be offered. But mount collectors should be happy to note that there has been yet another mount achievement added in with patch 5.3. Mount Parade is earned by collecting 200 mounts, and offers two uniquely colored mounts as rewards. Alliance players will receive the Armored Blue Dragonhawk, and Horde players will receive the Armored Red Dragonhawk. Wowhead has models of both versions available for viewing -- and frankly, they're really well done. I wasn't sure what to expect with yet another dragonhawk to pile on the collection, but the detail in these models is pretty stunning. Also datamined with the latest round of the 5.3 PTR was the warhorse pictured above. There doesn't appear to be a file for it on Wowhead at this time, but the 3D model is viewable by checking Wowhead's latest news post. As of yet there's no news on what this horse is, where it drops, or if it's even available to players in the next patch. However, another mount has been added to the list -- the Brawler's Burly Mushan Beast. At the moment there is no model available for the mount, but the name suggests that perhaps the Brawler's Guild will be seeing some pretty cool rewards soon. As a mount collector, I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the new reward models -- but I'd love to hear what you guys think. Would you rather have seen something else? What do you think of the warhorse? And don't forget to check out Wowhead for a look at the 3D models for the new mounts.
Wowhead releases new battle pet tools
If you're a pet battler, Wowhead is a popular stop for solutions to head-scratching trainers or mysterious wild pets. There are so many collectable battle pets that it can get a bit hairy to memorize every ability or plan out a team before leveling a new battle pet. Wowhead has just released new and updated battle pet tools to make the journey to master tamer a smooth one. Being an avid pet battler, I'm very excited to see these additions. It hasn't been easy to track battle pet breeds and other information outside of addons in-game. So, being able to look everything up at once over at Wowhead will be a time-saver. The Battle Pet Calculator displays health, power, and speed based on the battle pet's breed, quality, and level with an easy-to-use slider. An enhanced Battle Pet Listview now makes it easy to see a breakdown of a level 25 battle pet's stats, abilities, as well as other key pieces of data. The Pet Abilities filter is similar to Wowhead's current Spells filter, and allows users to filter by mechanics -- like Block or Burn -- buffs, debuffs, battle pet family, and more. There's more to see, so head over and take a look at the new tools.
Gear up in 5.2 with these awesome guides
The release of a new raid tier means new challenges to face, new bosses to crush, and of course, new loot to covet. If you weren't already familiar with it, Wowhead user Hhalle567 has a brilliant guide to the PvE gear of Mists of Pandaria, including tier 15 iLevel 522 drops. You can sort by slot, boss, class, and spec so that you know exactly what you're looking for -- and where to use a Mogu Rune of Fate. Note that the guide doesn't yet seem to include all the loot from world bosses Oondasta and Nalak. Oondasta, at least, is known to drop items that are unobtainable in the Throne of Thunder itself. Until those bosses get added in, you can check out other Wowhead guides for the missing pieces. Hats off to Hhalle567 and Perculia for these great references!
Blizzard developers discuss patch 5.2 and more
Last week was a flurry of preparation for patch 5.2's launch, including a whole host of developer interviews. WoW Insider had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak, but there were plenty more interviews to be had as the week progressed. And just in case you happened to miss any of that developer excitement, we've put together a roundup of all the fan site interviews in one handy spot. Battlecraft quizzes Cory Stockton on 5.2 content (Italian/English) Blizzplanet talks game development with Tom Chilton Epic Podcast chats 5.2 story and content with Dave Kosak and Cory Stockton Gamebreaker TV talks trailer lore with Dave Kosak Legendary digs into design with Greg Street and Ion Hazzikostas GuildOx talks raiding and group content with Ion Hazzikostas The Instance talks 5.2, Twitter and more with Greg Street JudgeHype chats with Tom Chilton about game development and 5.2 (French/English) Totemspot discusses class balance and more with Greg Street Twizzcast digs into running MMOs with Tom Chilton Vanion chats 5.2 content with Dave Kosak (German/English) WoW Insider discusses lore, dailies and more with Dave Kosak Warcraft Pets talks pet battles and more with Cory Stockton Wowhead chats about group content, encounters and 5.2 with Ion Hazzikostas While the same developers may have done multiple interviews, each interview offers a different look at what's in store for patch 5.2 and beyond. It's certainly nice to see the developers out and about in the community and talking content -- and one thing's for certain, everyone is pumped for patch 5.2's release. Be sure to check out all of the interviews for the most in-depth look at patch 5.2 you can get.
Wowhead interviews Lead Encounter Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas
The slew of developer interviews continues! Wowhead guru Perculia interviewed Lead Encounter Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas earlier this week, quizzing him about all things patch 5.2. Included in the discussion was the Ra'den encounter, which is not only hidden behind a heroic kill of the final boss of the raid, but also features limited attempts. Also included were plenty of questions about Tier 14 content and how the developers felt it worked out, as well as the question of just what kinds of progression paths are in store for raiders that have yet to complete Tier 14 content. Perhaps most interesting to me, however, was a discussion regarding Challenge Modes and the lack of new 5-man content. So far we're at the second patch for Mists of Pandaria, and while we've gotten plenty of scenarios, we have yet to see any new dungeons added to the game. While Hazzikostas stated that no details were set in stone as of yet, there were plenty of dungeons that Blizzard has done in the past that would be fun to revisit. The idea of suddenly making old dungeons relevant to players is honestly something I think could be really fun. There have been plenty of dungeons over the years that I've completely fallen in love with -- but as the game wends on and new expansions are launched, there's little reason to visit any of those prior dungeons. And while transmogrification usually leads me back, the dungeons themselves are easily soloed at this point in the game. What would it look like if the dungeons of old were suddenly a challenge all over again? Check out Wowhead for more from Hazzikostas, including discussion on Feats of Strength, legendary weapons, those intriguing new Thunderforged items and much more.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Lore spoilers, an entire post full of them
First up, let me reiterate what the title of this post indicated: there will be many spoilers for patch 5.2 in this post. If you don't want spoilers for patch 5.2, then I suggest you don't read any further, because that's what this post is going to be. Before I get into the spoilers, though, I should in good conscience link to some posts Anne Stickney and myself did on the subject of the mogu and their true nature, and the secrets of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and Pandaria itself. Why do I do this? Well, if you continue on with this post, you will find out. From this point on, there be nothing but spoilers The folks over at Wowhead have mined up a heaping helping of audio files for this new patch, and man, the story is advancing.
Patch 5.2 PTR zone previews from Wowhead
If, like me, you're stuck waiting for the PTR to download so you can run around exploring the new content of patch 5.2, Wowhead has a gallery of the new zones already up for you to obsessively comb over. These galleries include content from the new scenarios, To The Skies! and Tear Down This Wall. When I was able to get on briefly, I managed to queue up for Tear Down This Wall, but no one else entered and I wasn't able to progress. However, the scenarios take place in an instanced version of the Isle of the Thunder King, which gives you the pictures from the Wowhead gallery. There's a lot to explore, so head over and take a look. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
