dalaran
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Breakfast Topic: What's the First thing you did when you got to Dalaran?
So Alex's latest Know Your Lore on Dalaran got me thinking. Now, some part of me is still sort of annoyed that Rhonin was made archmage and the Horde got to enter Dalaran with nary a peep about their tendency to kill all those citizens of Dalaran in Alterac or Silverpine, but I have to admit, Dalaran is an amazing city.Everywhere you turn, there's something interesting going on, and every shop has its own life. The Architecture is an amazing blend of human and elven styles that looks to have organically evolved from a rich magical culture, and the atmosphere is lively without descending into the constant laughing and lag inducing sparring of the Aldor and the Shattered Sun Offensive that plagued Shattrath's outer ring. It also feels livelier and more city-like than Shattrath's strangely alien fortress and adjoining shanty town.
The Queue: For poops and giggles
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. I'm sure The Queue is the last thing you're all interested in the day the PTR goes up, but too bad! You get it anyway! Let's get the Q&A started, eh?Velina asked...I have a Shadow Priest I leveled to 34, then had her boosted to level 60 through Recruit-a-Friend level grants. She's now stuck in level 25-30-ish questing greens and SFK blues. I'm wondering what would be the best way to gear her. Would she be able to survive questing in Outland in her very low-level gear, or am I going to have to round up some gold for her?
The best of WoW Insider: December 2-9, 2008
Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider celebrated our third anniversary this week, just after the game we play celebrated its fourth. So it was a week of looking both back and forward, as we checked out our top 10 most popular stories of all time, and covered all of the latest and greatest secrets in Northrend and the new expansion. From polar bears to proto drakes, here's to many more years of both World of Warcraft and WoW Insider. News Loken the most dangerous mob in the gameA look at the game's stats pages shows we've got a new player-killer in town. Storm Peaks daily quests reward a polar bear mountDo your dailies, get a mount. Blizzard legal targets private serversBlizzard lays the smack down on anyone running an unauthorized server. Ghostcrawler's thoughts on Death KnightsA dev tells us what he thinks of Death Knights and where they're at. Seeking the Time-Lost Proto DrakeHere's a practically free mount, a 100% drop from a soloable mob. The catch? Good luck finding it. Features WoW Insider's top ten stories of all timeOn our third anniversary, we take a look back at some of the biggest stories we've posted so far. Wrath 101: The sons of HodirAn endgame reputation grind that's "God of War meets WoW." The Queue: Trinkets, sigils, and death by OrcsOur Q&A column has instant insight every day on what players want to know about most. WoW, Casually: 7 reasons to make a Death KnightSeven reasons for casual players to try out the newest class in the game. Know Your Lore: DalaranHere's a look at the history of the game's new Northrend hub, and these are some historic streets we're walking.
Ghostcrawler on dual specs and loot tied to achievements
So sayeth the Ghostcrawler and so we shall listen. He spoke today regarding a few issues that are of prime importance to many players. However instead of long rants or detailed analysis on the issues of raiding difficulty, dual specs, and achievements he presented them in bullet points.First dual specs, a topic hot on everyone's mind. He provided some new insight into how things will work. In particular he said that "It will be trivial to do in town. You will also be able to do it out of towns, but not as trivially." This is new information and should make everyone tingle with gleeful anticipation at how trivial it might be to switch specs while in Dalaran.He also makes mention of things we already knew. They are aiming to allow people to swap glyphs and action bars with the dual spec feature, and that it should be along ideally in the next major content patch.That patch cannot come soon enough.In addition to the dual spec information, Ghostcrawler went into some points on raid difficulty. While there isn't any really new in terms of how difficult the raiding environment is (or isn't) and what may lie in store for the future (a harder Ulduar raid zone), there is some new news about loot tied to achievements.
Wrath Dailies: Infused Mushroom Meatloaf
Let's take a look at the daily cooking quest "Infused Mushroom Meatloaf." But before we go into the quest details, ask yourself for a minute if you've ever had mushroom meatloaf. I can say that I haven't, and upon googling it I learned a bit more.A mushroom meatloaf is a meatloaf with about a half pound of minced mushrooms in it. The meatloaf itself is cooked and made just like a normal meatloaf, expect for the added mushrooms in it and sprinkled on top. Put some ketchup on it for added flavor.I'm not a big fan of meatloaf or mushrooms (except on steak), so this isn't a favorite dish of mine. However the in game quest is.Quest Giver: Awilo Lon'gomba (Horde) or Katherine Lee (Alliance)Reputation: Kirin TorReward: 150 rep, 9.9g at level 80, a Dalaran Cooking Award, a Small Spice BagMinimum Level: 65Required Chain: Cooking at 375 or above.Read on after the break for our walkthrough of the quest, complete with a few tricks you can do to get it done quickly and easily
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Mage
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the sixteenth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. It's also the first installment with a title that rhymes! The Mage is the foremost master of magic in the Warcraft universe. Although all the other classes excluding the Warrior and the Rogue use magic of one sort or another with equally wonderful effects, the Mage is the class that's named after the stuff.But what is magic? What does it feel like to harness it? Does the mage have to do a strange ritual or utter incomprehensible words in an ancient language in order to cast her spells? Other fantasy settings often have one or more of these elements together, but as far as I can tell, Warcraft lacks them.Arcane magic in the World of Warcraft is an ever-present energy field surrounding the whole world. Mages access it by concentrating in the magic energy within themselves, feeling it rush through their body, and directing it as they please. Those spells that require reagents need an extra focusing item with magical properties of its own in order to bring about the desired effect, but for the most part, fireballs, frostbolts and arcane explosions can be created through the mere act of will on the part of a properly educated mind.
The Queue: Tier 8, wormholes, and more
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.The above video is a video that has been posted very, very early in the Wrath beta, possibly even the alpha. Originally thought to be Tier 7, it's actually the next tier up, Tier 8. There are a few graphical glitches in the armor because it hadn't been fully implemented yet at the time the video was made. Your Hunter will not have big green squares sticking out of their head, I promise. I embedded it into today's post in response to Tanglebones's question:Oh! I got a question. What the heck is Apothecary Putress wearing on his head, and where can i get one?Watch the video and found out!Covnam asked...I hit 70 on my Mage shortly before Wrath came out, so I never graduated from normal dungeons to heroic dungeons and raids. Once I hit 80, where should I go? Do Heroic dungeons come first or 10/25 man raids? Also what type of stats would you recommend before running either of these types of end game content?
Know Your Lore: Dalaran
Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Alex Ziebart brings you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm. Have suggestions for future KYL topics? Leave a comment below! Dalaran has been one of the most prominent nations in the Eastern Kingdoms since its founding, though it's actually quite small. A nation only thousands strong at its height has perhaps held more sway over world leaders in its time than any other nation, and has attracted the ire of some of the most powerful entities Azeroth has ever seen.Dalaran, located in the heart of former Lordaeron territory, has been the center of Arcane knowledge since its creation, and could be considered the Humans' answer to Quel'Thalas, though the nation accepts Elves (and many others) in its ranks as well. Magic is Dalaran's lifeblood, and is even ruled through the strength and wisdom of its magi. Dalaran is a magocracy, a government ruled by a council of mages known as the Kirin Tor, elected by citizens of the nation. Their icon is the Violet Eye, with Violet being the motif used for the nation itself, and the color purple representing the Arcane as a whole in Warcraft (Arcane Missiles, Netherstorm).
Embrace your Chilled Meat
Leveling through Northrend, you're probably coming across oodles of Chilled Meat. It drops off of just about every beast (and some other critters) in Northrend, so it piles up pretty quick. You get multiple stacks of it just questing normally. With it being so horirbly common, you might be inclined to just toss it. I mean, it can't be that useful, right? It's everywhere! No. Keep it. Trust me. Keep it.Why should you keep Chilled Meat? Well, it's not only used in Cooking awesome things like Feasts (and everyone loves to feast), but it's also used in almost all of the new Cooking daily quests in Dalaran. If you're a Cook, you'll want a massive stockpile of the stuff. If you're not a Cook, your friends will really appreciate it, and if you don't like your friends that much, you can auction it for a lot. I've been watching the prices on them, and it varies wildly between being cheap and unreasonably expensive, depending on what the daily quest is and what day of the week it is. Weekends the price drops significantly since more people are leveling, but come the middle of the week, peoples' stores start slipping.
The Queue: Death Knights in the arena and other things
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Hey, welcome back! How was your Thanksgiving, my American pals? Did you sit around and laugh at Europeans like I did? You did? Great! High five! No, I'm just kidding, I love all of you equally. My Thanksgiving was pretty good! Well, as good as Thanksgiving can be when nobody feels like cooking so you buy a pound of sliced turkey and drop it in a pot of warm canned gravy, toss some of it on bread, and have a can of jellied cranberry sauce on the side. It's not good unless you can still see the can ripples in it. Mmm. Can ripples. Delicious.Right, right, the Q&A! Let's start with Rasman's question...I was just thinking about Death Knights and PvP and realized, Casters are really going to be hurting in the areas now if they match up agianst a DK. Death Knights don't care about your casting bar because they can just yank you in or go Vader on you because you forgot his cookies, and choke you for the Silence. Matter of fact, if they get you close, they really have 3 or 4 ways to interupt those casts, if you include the stun from an Unholy DK's Ghoul, that is. Am I just stammering on and not knowing what I'm talking about, or are Death Knights going to make this upcoming Arena season VERY Melee heavy?
One Shots: A bug for fishing
In the vast wildnerness of World of Warcraft's Northrend, one can find the surprisingly beautiful city of Dalaran. We say "surprisingly" because Dalaran used to be covered in an enormous purple magical bubble, and the nearby buildings outside certainly weren't anything to look at. In this lovely area, for those who just love to fish, there's an spot under the city called the Underbelly. While roaming around there you can find Underbelly Elixir, which will mutate you into one of several things. We're not going to entirely spoil the surprise here, but One Shots reader Kilawhar sent this in to show off what can happen when drinking an elixir while fishing -- you become a giant firefly with a fishing pole!Are you into fishing in your favorite game? (We know it's not just the World of Warcraft fans who like to relax with a fishing pole!) We're curious about what you do to relax, so why not send in relaxation screens to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com! Be sure to include your name, game and a brief description of your R&R time, and we'll post it here on Massively!%Gallery-9798%
WoW Insider's guide to the dungeons of Wrath
Still leveling? Looking to do some dungeon runs? Want to know where to go, or where to find your quests? ...No? Oh. Well, okay. You can leave, then. Wait, I think I heard someone say yes! In that case, you might be interested in WoW Insider's guide to the dungeons of Wrath.In the gallery below you'll find a quick guide to all of the 5-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King, in order of the level of the instance. It contains brief descriptions of each dungeon, their level range, and just where to find all of the quests for each of them. I hope it proves useful, and if not, at least some of the pictures are pretty!%Gallery-37974%
Wrath 101: The Oracles and the Frenzyheart Tribe
Throughout the lifespan of Ask a Beta Tester (now The Queue), people have asked if there are any factions like the Aldor and Scryers. Are there two factions like that, you get to pick one or the other? The answer is yes, but they don't play as big of a role. They're less prime players of the expansion, and more lolcat comedy relief.I'm convinced that this situation in Sholazar Basin isn't to be determined by which faction you like more, but which faction you hate less. The two warring factions are The Oracles and the Frenzyheart Tribe. The Oracles are a group of fully sentient, 'intelligent' gorlocs (a step up in murloc evolution) that unknowingly worship the Titans. The Frenzyheart Tribe are a tribe of wolvar (little wolverine men) and they're fairly new to Sholazar Basin. They're huge jerks that do jerk things and steal gorloc land like jerks. The gorlocs do have big, annoyingly floppy tongues though, so I guess it's justified.
BigRedKitty: Mario Andretti Mammoth
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. One more Mammoth-movie, no hissing please.The Traveler's Tundra Mammoth is a vehicle, not a mount. The difference is that a vehicle is part of your party, like a hunter-pet. This means that he can be buffed, just like any other member of your party.Hunters have a nifty party-buff called Aspect of the Pack that grants 30% increased movement speed to the hunter and all members of the hunter's party, who are within thirty yards of the hunter. Our Mammoth is a vehicle, thus, AotP buffs our Mammoth. We did this movie to show you just how fast a 130% Mammoth is.Mammoths can accept any buff, like Water Walking! And if you have a party of five people, all on Mammoths, and member of that party is a hunter with Aspect of the Pack cooking, all five Mammoth-riders will be riding at 130%! Who needs Paladins anymore! You are invited to download the YouTube version (26MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (42MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! Nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
Wrath 101: How to get to Dalaran
Dalaran, as we all know by now, is Wrath's equivalent of Shattrath. It's a neutral city with portals back to every other major city (each faction's four capitals plus Shattrath), it has profession trainers and a bank (but no class trainers besides Mage and no auction house), and we'll probably be spending a lot of time in it once we all hit 80. It floats above Crystalsong Forest in central Northrend. But how do you get there? Mages can teleport there at level 71, and give portals there at 74. So that's one option. Similarly, you can get a Warlock to summon you, if they can find players around to help. Players also get quests to go there legitimately and get attuned to use the crystal that teleports you up and down at level 74, but who wants to wait that long? Enter the Battleground summon. This is how I and almost everyone I know got to Dalaran the first time, and it goes like this: Find someone in Dalaran ("/who Dalaran" is helpful for this) and ask politely if they are willing to group with you and queue the group for a battleground. When you get into the battleground, /afk out (or play it through). Poof! You're in Dalaran. This works at any level, for any character (although you do need to ensure the person queueing you is in the same battleground level bracket as you; thanks to Faeries Wear Boots for pointing this out). Once there you can set your hearthstone at any of several inns for quick return, and there is a flight point at Krasus' Landing - if you grab a flight point or two in Dragonblight for connections (Mo'aki Harbor being the easiest), you should then be able to fly to Dalaran from most flight points in Northrend. Arthas awaits and so do your questions. Find the answers you've been looking for that will help you with your journey into Northrend and to level 80 with Wrath 101.
The Queue: Reputation, daily quests, and performance in Dalaran
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Daily quests and reputation has been a really hot topic lately, not only in The Queue but across WoW in general. Some of our questions today will focus on that, but I'd also like to let you guys know that WoW Insider will overall have more information on those things coming really, really soon. Keep an eye on the site today and in the coming days for all of that good stuff.Alright, let's gets started with my2cents' question... Where, if anywhere, is the quartermaster for Valiance Expedition? I'm almost revered and I'm curious to see if there are any rewards available.
Ask A Beta Tester: AABT's greatest hits, part 2
On to part 2! This series of questions spans August and early September, and we'll keep moving forward this week.Hoops asked.... How much gold roughly would you get from questing 70-77 (until you unlock the flying mount)? I was wondering if it would it be worth farming money beforehand or would the money from questing be enough. Elizabeth answers: I'm not 77 yet, so I can't exactly address the question as asked, but I can tell you that I've made about 400g leveling from 70 to 72. That's just from questing, vendoring trash & unneeded greens -- and it includes some stupid deaths, plenty of repair bills(I blame Dalaran for many of them!), and training a couple of professions (35g to train a primary profession to the next skill level and 100g to train a secondary profession to the next skill level). Allie adds: I finally started keeping track of how I was doing gold-wise while leveling. On the beta I leveled a lot through instance runs because the demand for healers was so high; on the live realms I've leveled mostly through questing. Between 70 and 76 so far (remarkably fast for me but my guild starts raiding next week) I've made somewhere in the region of 2K gold after training, repairs, professions, etc., mostly through questing and keeping my bags as open as possible to sell vendor trash. As Elizabeth observes, that part's key; Northrend vendor trash and greens sell for a LOT.
Ask A Beta Tester: AABT's greatest hits, part 1
Yep, we've shocked the ol' column back to gasping life. The good kind of reanimation, though, not the kind you're probably killing in Northrend.Wow, this took ages. We got a lot of standout questions while doing Ask A Beta Tester, and I went through all of them trying to pick out the best, funniest, most helpful, or most unintentionally prescient among them. To be perfectly frank, we had so many that I started splitting them into separate articles. I've eliminated the questions that I expect readers will probably have answered for themselves at this point (e.g. Death Knight starting faction reputation) but kept all of the questions that I'm pretty sure are still relevant to the first week of gameplay in Wrath. I've also made a few additions and updates based on what we saw both in the beta and now on the live realms. I hope you guys enjoy reading these as much as we did answering them.I'm going to start off with the earliest series of questions that Elizabeth Harper and Alex Ziebart took in July and August. To round out the rest of AABT's best in the next few days, we'll keep moving through August, September, October, and up to the very end of AABT.
Yes, that 2H mace makes you look fat
Important news for all 20 of you playing female Tauren out there (of whom Robin Torres and I are two, so I guess it's for the other 18); beware the port to Lake Wintergrasp from Dalaran when your faction controls the fortress. Our reader Amalline wrote in to let us know that an unfortunate bug from the beta concerning the room you're ported to has made its way to the live realms. And by "unfortunate bug," I mean "hilarious joke for all those of you not playing female Tauren" -- you can't get out the door.Those who have played female Tauren since World of Warcraft classic will recognize this as the latest iteration of the old and equally annoying "I can't get into Molten Core!" bug. Now, while I personally have no intention whatsoever of entering Wintergrasp (which, given my previous track record on such resolutions, means that one of my more sadistic friends will make sure I get stuck there within 2 weeks), I realize that there may be people among the remaining 18 worldwide players with an itch to go an ungainly killin' spree. If I were you, I would plan on being solidly part of the defense for the time being.
Ask A Beta Tester: So long, and thanks for all the fish
Yes, folks, the proverbial fat lady has sung, and this is the last "real" Ask A Beta Tester. Tomorrow we're going to run an AABT that showcases the best, funniest, and most prescient questions we received, and after that -- bowing to popular demand -- the column's going to change gears somewhat and become Ask A Guy (or Girl) Something, or...I dunno, whatever we decide to call it. AAGoGS is cumbersome but oddly endearing, I admit.Deri (among others) asks...At 77, approximately how much money will I have made levelling up through quests?At 77 you'll be eligible to train Cold Weather Flying for 1,000g, which I assume is what this is about. Will you have made that much questing? I'd made...I want to say somewhere in the region of 800g leveling between 70 and 77, but I also tanked and healed a LOT of instance runs, so my quest income was on the low side. So I'd say it's probably going to be very easy to finance Cold Weather Flying just from Northrend quests. If you're occupied with a lot of instance runs, just keep in mind that you'll be leveling proportionately faster than you're making money, though.
