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Ask WoW Insider: Top PvP classes at level 70?
It's time for this week's edition of Ask WoW Insider, wherein we publish one of your questions for your Warcraft-loving peers to answer. Last week we looked at the best ways to make money in Burning Crusade. This week we turn from fiscal concerns to our concern with pwning faces. Our question comes from reader Noah, who writes: "I know this is a heavily debated question but I was wondering what you guys thought the top PvP classes at 70 will be." We've looked at who you love and who you hate, and now Noah wants to know who'll be ripping you to shreds in the level 70 PvP bracket. Have at it! And don't forget to send us your questions at ask AT wowinsider DOT com.
Hey! You've got your Azeroth in my Outland!
So earlier today I finally decided to leave the confines of Hellfire Peninsula (I haven't even come close to finishing all the quests there-- Outland is just plain packed with things to collect and kill) and check out the rest of the continent for myself. I did a quick loop around Zangarmarsh and then headed for my favorite zone so far, Nagrand, to see the PVP town of Halaa, and then, on my way back to Terokkar Forest and Shattrath, I noticed a familiar looking camp on the side of the road. I pulled up, shocked, and sure enough, it was my old friend Hemet Nesingwary! The master hunter (and quest giver) actually recognized me when I talked to him from our time together back in STV (apparently he's left his son in charge back there), and said he'd come through the portal and leveled up to 70 in the blink of an eye, just to see how the hunting is here in Outland.Likewise, while I haven't seen him yet, I hear Rexxar, the questgiver in the Horde Onyxia quest chain who used to be in Desolace, now resides at a settlement in Blade's Edge Mountains. Maybe I just don't know how much WoW has affected me, but seeing Hemet in Nagrand was like seeing an old friend, and I know when I see Rexxar I'll have to give him a /nod or even a /wave as well.And the self-referential stuff goes back even farther than WoW's Azeroth-- the Unyielding Vengeful Knights and Footmen in the Expedition Armory in Hellfire Peninsula are right out of Warcraft II, and the first time I went to Shattrath to do the little tour quest, I was too agog at the scenery to realize the questgiver I was clicking through was none other than Khadgar-- THE Khadgar! As in, the one standing with the rest of the statues in Stormwind!I love Blizzard's references to pop culture and the real world. And yes, it's nerdy, but I think that I love their self-referential lore stuff even more-- it's awesome to see the story of these characters play out before our eyes. Seen any other familiar faces in Outland yet?
Breakfast Topic: The rush to 70
Well, the rush to 70 is just reaching its stride. On my server, I did a quick "/who 70," and during prime time I saw about 17 people on (one of them in my guild). Another guildie is at 69, and a few more are at 67, which means a good ten or fifteen will be 70 within the weekend, most likely, and there will only be more after that.And yet frankly, I'm not all that concerned with getting there. Sure, you might say it's a copout (I haven't won the race to 70, so I'm quitting), but even though I played for quite a bit after the expansion first released, my leveling pace has pretty much dropped back down to normal-- not too fast, not real slow. Enough to make the quests fun, but enough to keep it moving on the rewards end. And even though I'd be getting more XP in the other zones, I haven't even left Hellfire Peninsula yet-- partly because I want to see all the great lore and scenery, but partly because, like Mystic Worlds, I'm really in no rush to 70.Because while all the "good" raiding is at 70-- the exclusive 25-man endgame stuff-- that's also when I stop earning XP. And unless I'm headed for a specific item or attunement, it seems to me that playing solo without XP is a waste of time. The game ends at 70, and I'm in no hurry to end it. So what about you-- are you making (or have you already made) the mad dash to 70, or are you stopping to smell the mushrooms in Zangarmarsh?
BC selling like hotcakes made of gold
Our good friends over at Joystiq are reporting the first of the Burning Crusade sales numbers: in a mere 24 hours, the WoW expansion sold 2.3 million copies on North America and Europe, and an extra .1 million to make it 2.4 million worldwide. That makes Blizzard's expansion the fastest selling PC game ever. And that's game as in game, not just expansion. The other interesting figure is that Blizzard says they have only 2 million players in North America, which is a much smaller portion than I expected of the eight million worldwide players. But of those 2 million, they say 1.2 million bought the expansion in the first day, which (just over 50%) is a huge sellthrough rate for an expansion no matter how you slice it.Now, I thought the Walmart figures were crazy, but they said the expansion would sell 5 million in the first ten days, and considering they've sold at least half that in the first day, that means they're on pretty good track to do exactly what they thought-- at least. And they've just plain rocked the best selling expansion pack ever (Sims: Livin' Large), which sold what seemed like a whopping 700,000 copies in its first year.Say what you want about Blizzard (the Warriors definitely do), but these guys know how to sell a game.
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Just. One. More. Contest.
Now that the expansion is out we've been able to access the Master Contest Trainer, and in the interest of leveling up our contest skill beyond 300 we've got one final Burning Crusade giveaway for you. Plus, we had such a good time counting down to Burning Crusade that we're going through a bit of withdrawal. This contest is yet another very simple /Need roll affair, and we're going to pick one winner and one runner-up from the needy, undergeared commenters. The winner will receive a copy of Burning Crusade -- we realize many of you already pwn own the expansion, but for those who haven't or have been waiting, or who want to give the gift of WoW to a friend or S.O. (pushers!), this contest is for you. The runner-up will receive a copy of The Rise of the Horde novel by Christie Golden. You must leave your comment in this thread by 3pm EST tomorrow, Wednesday January 24 to be eligible to win one of the prizes. Good luck to everyone!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Machinima contest winner
We're happy to announce the winner of the Countdown to Burning Crusade grand prize machinima contest. The winner is going to be receiving a Logitech G15 keyboard and a JINX World of Warcraft hoodie for the first place entry. The prize goes to Nelson Abalos for his "Almost machinima" entry, bringing WoW into real life for the "Quest for Burning Crusade" -- the video is embedded below. We'd like to extend a big grats to Nelson for his work, grats to Myssiing our runner-up machinima contest winner, and a huge thanks to everyone who participated in our two weeks+ worth of contests here at WoW Insider during the Countdown to Burning Crusade. We hope you had as much fun as we did!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Machinima contest runner-up
We've made it to the last of our grand prize contests in the Countdown to Burning Crusade, and it's high time to announce the prize winners. The runner-up, who will take home a JINX World of Warcraft hoodie for her efforts, is Myssiing on Stonemaul, aka photochik02, who sent in the following video pitting night elf versus blood elf in an Annie Get Your Gun-style sing-off to the death (no, to the pain!). Grats to Myssiing, and stay tuned for our first place machinima winner!
How to fix the old instances
Before the expansion came out, we wondered and wondered what would happen to the old level 60 instances when the Dark Portal opened. And now that it's here, we know: no one's running them. Oh, there's a few quest groups here and there of people working their way up to 58 (the bare minimum to come through to Outland), but there's almost zero reason to run AQ or ZG 20-mans, considering the loot is just so much better, even just in Hellfire Peninsula. And MC, on my server at least, is a barren wasteland-- why take four hours with 40 people just for a few good pieces when you can get much better loot in 15 minutes of questing in Outland?So what to do? We're sure Blizzard will come up with a way to make these instances relevant again-- in fact, I'd be surprised if, despite what they said earlier, they weren't already working on it now. But just to help them, here's a few suggestions of how to fix the old instances.-First, and most obvious, is enabling Heroic mode. We already have dungeons in Outland that will be able to be tuned to Heroic mode, which means bosses and mobs are harder, but give much better drops. In the same way, Blizzard is likely going to let us optionally turn up the difficulty in UBRS or Stratholme, offering better loot for a bigger challenge.
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Fan art contest winners
We have our winners in the penultimate Countdown to Burning Crusade Fan art contest. Matthew Renner is going to receive the Sennheiser PC 160 noise-cancelling headset and a More Dots! t-shirt for his entry above (right-click for a high-res version) of his main character Sheltem who, "having specced 40 arcane 11 fire, procs enough ignites to know the true meaning of 'more dots.'" Our fan art runner-up, who will be rewarded with a More Dots! t-shirt, is Simon Sørensen for his rendition of a blood elf. Check out Simon's artwork after the jump, grats to both of our winners, and thanks to everyone who participated in the fan art contest. Stay tuned for our machinima contest winners!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Lyrics contest winner
Without further ado, the grand prize winner of the Countdown to Burning Crusade lyrics contest: Josh Refenes, aka Ragbar, is going to take home the Belkin N52 gamepad and a Green Linen shirt for his entry, Soon the Crusade is Burning which spoofs "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. Click on to read the rest of the lyrics, and also be sure to check out the excellent runners-up. Thanks to everyone who participated! Soon the Crusade is Burning -- by Josh Refenes (aka, Ragbar)Started out on Launch Day, Couldn't wait, install and play,In Azeroth there's Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms tooDarnassus, Durotar, Silithus is very farStranglethorn, Elwynn Forest, don't forget WestfallLevel up, quest grind, AoE will save you timeMove on up, don't delay, South Park just killed boars all dayGanked again in STV, corpse camping, let me beMy class sucks, it's not fair, I'm rolling warlockCHORUS:Soon the Crusade is BurningIn a few more days,We'll waste our lives awaySoon the Crusade is BurningDon't even try to fight itYou know you're gonna buy it
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Lyrics contest runners-up
At long last, we are pleased to announce the winners of the Countdown to Burning Crusade lyrics contest. The grand prize winner will be announced shortly, so stay tuned -- the second place award and a Green Linen t-shirt are going to Clinton Wolf for The Holiday Forum Song, aka The First LOL, sung to "The First Noel." The lyrics continue after the jump, so click on to check out the whole piece, as well as the lyrics from several excellent honorable mentions. Thanks huge to everyone who sent in lyrics -- you made it a tough contest to judge! The Holiday Forum Song, aka The First LOLThe first LOLOn the forums did say,"U should stop your QQing and just lrn2playIf u lrn2playThen u won't stay a sheepAs that POM Pyroblast makes your eyes weep.LOL, LOL, LOL, LOLBest lrn2play or you'll stay in nub hell."The OP logged on,And he saw the flameFrom that level 1 forum alt trolling for gameAnd to his great shame,He swallowed the baitAnd there was no rogue needed to Seal this Fate."LOL, LOL, LOL, LOLPost on ur main if u think ur so swell!"
Forum Post of the Day: Randomly funny things in Outland
Have you seen anything in Outland that's just made you stop and laugh? Commenters in this thread are sharing the humorous things they've found in Outland, starting with this random chatter you'll find if you idle in Honor Hold for very long:Magus Filinthus says: A mailbox? Well is that not the salt on the wounds! Twenty years cut-off from the world and now a mailbox! WONDERFUL!Ah, so many funny moments, so little time.
So you didn't buy the Burning Crusade
Just about everyone I know in WoW has jumped headfirst into the Burning Crusade, whether going to Outlands or leveling new blood elves and draenei. Many people who quit the game a long time ago have also come back, looking for a fresh start in the new content. But what about the people who didn't buy the expansion? Kaiza of Dunemaul complains on the forums about how Burning Crusade seems to be mandatory, and relates her experiences of trying to PVP without the expansion. She suggests that Blizzard create a 60-only bracket where people who don't buy the expansion can compete as, essentially, twinks. Her hostile tone makes her few friends, and most posters seem to have the same question I do -- if you love WoW, why the heck wouldn't you buy the expansion? The people I know who haven't bought it are either trying to quit WoW or had to wait for their boyfriend/girlfriend to get it too. As for the PVP brackets, I agree with Topspin, who says, "Look at it this way. People paid 40 dollars so they could whip up on people who decided to be cheap." Do you know anyone who's still playing WoW, but doesn't plan to buy the Burning Crusade? If so, why?
Finding your way through Outland's first instances
Definitely my favorite part of BC so far has got to be the instances. We haven't seen new 5-man content in such a long time, and it's so much fun to be facing new pulls, new lore, and new bosses, most of them with brand new models, and even audio! Although, while I do like Magtheridon's voice, it seems like yes, those "puny magics" are actually holding him for a long, long time-- we get it.Most of the new strats aren't too hard to get down with trial and error, but there are a few quirks to figure out. And for that reason, my guild's raidleader, Belacroix of Gothic Bunnies on Thundehorn-H, has punched together a few quickguides of the first few instances-- two wings of Hellfire Citadel, and The Slave Pens and the Underbog in Coifang Reservoir. They're not complete walkthroughs by any means, but if you want a little insight on how to take down certain bosses or what you'll find in there, Bela's guides are a good read.WoW blogger Relmstein has also been running instances in Outland, and he's got even more complete walkthroughs for Hellfire Ramparts and the Blood Furnace (so far, the Furnace is my favorite). And I have to make a mention of WoW Wiki as well (and everyone that works on it)-- they've got strategy up for almost every boss seen in the instances so far, so if you've got a group stuck on something, they're the place to go.
Breakfast Topic: Your first weekend in the Burning Crusade
As we wind into our first weekend since the much anticipated release of the Burning Crusade, I wonder what everyone's up to. Some people around the world are already hitting level 70 -- a feat, which, with my leveling speed, astounds me -- and I've even seen the first level 70 on my home realm. Of my immediate circle of friends I have a few people of lower level who haven't bothered to buy the expansion yet, several pushing their mains as far as they can, others starting anew with Blood Elves or Draenei, and yet others who can't decide which alts to play. With a priest at 62, a rogue at 61, and a new paladin at 14, I think I fall into that last category. So what have you been up to since the release, and what does the weekend have in store for you -- in Azeroth or Outland?
Ask WoW Insider: Best ways to make money in Burning Crusade?
It's time for this week's installment of Ask WoW Insider, wherein we pick a question you've sent and publish it for your fellow readers to answer. This week's question comes to us from Jacob H, who asks Where's the first aid trainer? Just kidding! Jacob, being a sensible and pragmatic fellow, wants to know your tips and tricks for earning the dough for that flying mount: "What are some good ways of making money for levels 60-70 in Burning Crusade? Are there people making money from jewelcrafting yet, should I pick that up? What about good mobs to grind or drops that sell well to vendors or on the AH? Thanks in advance for any advice." Do you have any money-making tips to share with Jacob? Don't forget to send us your questions at ask AT wowinsider DOT com -- what do you want to know? Your peers can help!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Day 11 winner
It was a heated battle, many flags capped on all sides, but we finally have a winner in the day 11 best PvP screenshot contest. Paul Kruyt sent the above Alterac Valley panorama made of 5 screenshots (you should definitely click the image for a high-res version), taken "back in the days when you could still walk over the mountains in the center of the map along 2 alternative paths." Paul is going to receive the Burning Crusade Official Strategy Guide for his effort. Thanks to everyone who sent in their PvP shots -- check after the break for screenshots from the runners-up!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Tale of Two Cities, Orgrimmar winner
We have the winning Orgrimmar screenshot from the Tale of Two Cities contest -- Nick Slabaugh sent the above shot of the moon over the city. Grats to Nick, who wins a Horde crest t-shirt in his choice of size. Check out the Ironforge winner, and click on for the Orgrimmar runner-up. Thanks to everyone who sent in your shots!
Countdown to Burning Crusade: Tale of Two Cities, Ironforge winner
We still have several prizes left to give away from our Countdown to Burning Crusade, including our grand prizes. The entry deadlines have passed and we've been vigorously debating painstankingly reviewing losing sleep over oh, who are we kidding -- we've been playing too much freaking Warcraft! There's only so much contest judging you can do whilst alt-tabbed. But without further ado, we're happy to announce the winner of the Alliance portion of the Tale of Two Cities contest, in which we asked you to send your best screenshots of Ironforge and Orgrimmar -- Daniel McMahon sent the above "Lonely Ironforge" shot, taken on Blade's Edge, subtitled "Once a thriving metropolis, the city of Ironforge lies empty as warriors flock to the Outlands seeking new adventures." Grats to Daniel, who wins an Alliance crest t-shirt. Check after the break for the runners up, and stay tuned for the Horde winner check out the Horde winner.
Always look on the bright side of server crashes
Like Chris's server, my server has been a pit of instability and crashes that make the game nearly impossible to play. Tuesday night, Magtheridon was crashing literally every minute, and half the time no mobs would spawn when the server was up. This is pretty annoying for people trying to quest or do instances, but it led to a couple of fun little side games. Among these were:
