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World of Warcraft's 2.4 patch angers Warlocks, amuses everyone else
When it comes to coverage of major changes to World of Warcraft, you can't beat Massively's sister site WoW Insider, right? There are many talented folks commenting on the realm of Azeroth across sites around the internets. The snarky stylings of AFK Gamer's Foton is one of my personal favorites. He has a few things to say about the recent news of changes to the Warlock class. Along with commenting on the woeful lack of long-haul healers in the game right now, he is pretty upfront about the effect the potential Life Tap nerf would have had on 'locks. The whole issue of nerfing locks in Patch 2.4 is tainted by accusations of developer favoritism, accusation Foton understandably shrugs off - but not without a comment or two.His comments are especially interesting given that the Life Tap nerf has been rolled back on the Test Realms. To assuage the poor traumatized Warlocks, Blizzard's Kalgan is even hinting at possible new toys the class could enjoy in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. As much as I appreciate the 'locks on my side in Battlegrounds ... is it hard for anyone else to weep for their 'pain'?
AFK Gamer reviews post-2.3 Alterac Valley
In a great post called 'Let's Swap', Foton of the AFK Gamer blog breaks down the post-2.3 changes to the Alterac Valley Battleground in World of Warcraft. After several weeks of post-patch gaming, Foton laid into the new 'improved' PvP experience. While he acknowledges that honor awards for the BG were a bit off (I knew it, you knew it, they knew it), I think his complaint that he earned just 20 bonus honor for his time vs. '600+' for the victorious Horde is a valid one. He runs down the usual excuses, debunking them as he goes: maturity, class targeting, organization, gear, skillz ... and finds them all wanting. In the end, he says, he want to put this argument to rest once and for all. The best way to answer the question "Is the Alterac Valley map inherently mismatched?" is to swap sides.Sure, it'd be a pain to code, but it would settle the arguments and dispell the myths - from both sides. I'll assault Dun Baldur with my merry band of crappy paladins, and you Horde can assault Frostwolf Keep with your stomping cows and after a few weeks, we can see who's crying then ... or still. Mostly this would be to satisfy my own curiosity, because whether the map is or isn't at fault in Alterac Valley, it will be the same result: players will not queue for a battleground that won't put out. Losers need more for their time than, umm, ZERO, unless there's absolutely no other alternate activity. Fortunately, there is such an alternative. Salvation, thy name is Eye of the Storm. What say you, WoW players? Does the Horde have an unfair advantage in AV? Or is the Alliance just full of sour grapes? An even bigger issue: does AV offer up enough reward to make it worthwhile to play?
World of Cryingcraft
This one gave me a good chuckle: "World of Cryingcraft" is a deadpan voice reading of the various self-contradicting complaints you always hear about different classes. I could swear I've read a lot of these exact words before on the forums many, many times, so it's quite refreshing to hear them absuldly read aloud in what sounds to me like a cheery computer voice. I especially like how the voice uses all the silly forum language as if it were perfectly natural, such as when he says, "Sometimes I dodge them and then they overpower my face off for literally 2000 damage." and "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. You know what else is stupid?" (as if we'd really like to know).Be warned that there's lots of cheerful-but-nasty swearing in this (so it's not so safe for work or kids), as well as a surprise ending once the topic turns to shamans. If you really hate swearing (or hold very strong opinions about class complaints) you may not find this very funny, but if you think all the class crying is absurd, you'll probably enjoy it.[Via AFK Gamer]
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WoW Blog Roundup: 2.0.1 Edition
The patch came out yesterday and as you'd imagine, we have some opinions from around the WoW blogging community... Paladin Sucks checks in with an interesting piece regarding 2.0.1 pally specs (go figure) and why they like the talent system. Paladin Sucks likes something? Wow! Tobold looks at the changes for healers in 2.0.1. He is not happy. Like Mike, Photon at AFK Gamer is none too thrilled about Blizzard's response to the planned warrior protest. Lauren from Mystic Worlds looks at the different talent specs in 2.0.1. Hopefully 2.0.1 keeps Lauren around for a bit. Relmstein has some suggestions for new loading screen tips. Finally, Not Addicted checks in with one of my favorite topics, the level one alt forum troll! If you happen to read a good blog entry, or you write one yourself, let us know!
Straight from a GM's mouth
Over at Something Awful, an alleged ex-Blizzard Europe GM is answering questions from the fray on what it's really like behind the curtain. From 25-year accounts to GM Island, there are some interesting questions and answers on the front page, although you'll have to subscribe to Something Awful if you want to read the entire thread.GMs don't speak out frequently about their jobs, but it can be a thankless task. From newbie questions to insults and petty disputes, the GMs have to put up with a lot from us; but without them the world would run much less smoothly. Yesterday was France's Labour Day, meaning that no GM tickets were available, so I dread to think what they will be deluged with this morning.There's more about the life of a GM on the WoW website; Blizzard are often recruiting, if this sounds like a dream job. Of course, there are other ways of getting paid to play WoW![Via AFK Gamer]
Crazy UI: cute overload
From AFK Gamer comes this example of a UI that's gone one step too far. There's cute, and then there's... this. Fortunately, other players have no idea what UI you're using--it would be interesting seeing the reactions to this ingame if they did.The UI looks to be Discord Art with some custom artwork involved--if you're feeling brave, why not try creating your own?
