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Breakfast Topic: Most frustrating non-drop
Unless you are a Ridiculously Lucky Bastard, odds are good that you've gone the length of your time in the game without managing to get a particular drop you really wanted. It's been a running joke in my guild that, try as I might, I can never get Pillar of Ferocity to drop from Anetheron. It didn't once drop in the near-year I ran Hyjal during Burning Crusade, and it sure isn't dropping during our occasional fun runs now. I don't even know why I want it as badly as I do. It wasn't a giant upgrade back in the day given how oddly it was itemized for Druid tanks in comparison to the Wildfury Greatstaff, and it's sure as heck not an upgrade now. But every so often I find myself staring at Atlasloot in celebrated Captain Ahabesque fashion, being driven to the brink of madness over an elusive white whale weapon that is among the last of that now-vanishing breed, the feral tanking staff. A Restoration Shaman pal spent each Hyjal alongside me waiting for a pair of Howling Wind Bracers that never came (let's face it, Hyjal hated us), and our Holy Paladin colleague went more than a year in Karazhan without ever seeing a Shard of the VIrtuous. With gear consolidation in Wrath and generally smaller loot lists all-around, you get the slightly more exciting problem of being more likely to see a drop but losing it to someone else, possibly multiple times (see: Illustration of the Dragon Soul, enormous popularity thereof). Spill, folks; what are your horror stories?
World of Warcraft Patch 3.2 Loot Guide
WoW.com has covered patch 3.2 extensively. Everything from the surprising changes to flying mounts, to the latest and greatest loot, and all the changes in between. In our patch 3.2 class, raiding, and PvP guides we take a look at exactly what changes and how the changes will affect your playing.New instances and raids are fun and all, but let's not forget what we're all here for: the loot. With the new patch out on servers, there's a whole slew of new items and gear to win and collect. Here's a quick roundup of everything we know about the new loot coming in patch 3.2, from the badges you pull from dead bosses' bodies, to the sweet epics you can turn them in to get.
Insider Trader: Farming recipes in Northrend
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.This week, Insider Trader will be listing the locations and mobs that will drop recipes to help you complete your collection and expand your knowledge to boost sales. Because this list is meant to be a reference for planning out your next farming expedition, I will not be including "world drops" that can drop from nearly any mob in a given zone or from a specific level of mobs across zones. UlduarThere are several epic crafting recipes that will drop in Ulduar. They have a chance to drop from each of the bosses on Heroic mode (25-man), although 10-man groups can also acquire them by downing the bosses on Hard mode. Currently, there are two Enchanting formulas, six Blacksmithing plans, eight Leatherworking patterns and four Tailoring patterns that fall under this category.Given Ulduar's close associations with Engineering, many people have been quite vocal about the lack of schematics in the dungeon, although many of the mobs can be harvested for parts and vendor junk.
EVE Evolved: Combat boosters
The drug trade has been a part of EVE since the very beginning. Originally, drugs were nothing more than a trading commodity occasionally demanded by agents in low security space. The old drug trade goods still exist in EVE, a non-functional relic of years gone past. A new drug trade has taken its place - the black market for performance-enhancing combat boosters. If you want to push your ship to the absolute limit of its abilities, whether it's for PvE or PvP, you're definitely going to want to get your hands on some combat boosters. In this article, I take a look at the drug trade in EVE and the different kinds of performance-enhancing combat boosters that are available.
In praise of fishing dailies
I have to say: I am so happy that we have fishing dailies back in the game. Leafshine has found a new addiction to fishing, and I have, too: though I'm a little underwhelmed with the actual rewards (while I was a little taken aback by the cooking daily awards system when it first came out, now I really like it, and wish they'd come up with a version of that for fishing), I like the quests, and I like taking my hard-earned Mastercraft Kalua'k Fishing Pole and going out into the world to find some fish. Leafshine is exactly right: it's a terrific way to kill a few minutes that really doesn't feel like a grind at all. And while you're out fishing, there's no better time to keep an eye out for pools, too -- you never know when that Turtle mount might drop.You might say that fishing is boring, and it is -- though they've made some really generous changes to how it levels up, you're still going to be clicking a bobber for a long, long time. But it's never been so rewarding in terms of what you can get, and it is probably the most fleshed-out minigame in Azeroth. If you, like me, sometimes prefer a little break from the usual combat (the war, if you will, of Warcraft), I can't recommend Fishing highly enough.
Phat Loot Phriday: Avool's Sword of Jin
That doesn't look like a sword. It just looks like a terrifying swath of death! We love it.Name: Avool's Sword of Jin (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoW-Arsenal)Type: Epic One-hand SwordDamage/Speed: 150-280 / 1.50 (143.3 DPS)Abilities: +38 Agility, +36 Stamina Improves hit rating by 31 and attack power by 62 Great sword for Rogues or Hunters, though the method of obtaining it (see below) probably outweighs the actual stats of it, unless you really, really want one. The hit is great, the fact that it can be dual wielded is nice, and the attack power is just icing on the cake. Plus, just look at it. If someone is running at you and holding that thing, it's pretty clear they don't want to give you a hug and take you out to dinner. It reminds me of the Kill-O-Zap guns from the Hitchhiker's Guide: "the designers of which decided to make it totally clear that it had a right end, and a wrong end, and if that meant sticking blacked and evil-looking devices and prongs all over the wrong end, so be it." %Gallery-33600%
Activision-Blizzard stock falls
What's going on at Activision-Blizzard? Yesterday, their stock fell back down to the lowest its been since November of 2006. Even coming off of huge sales last year (they run the Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and obviously Blizzard's World of Warcraft franchises, all of which had banner years in 2008), the stock price fell 6.5% yesterday, compared to a high in the last year of $19.28.It's not Wrath -- the game's been selling like gold encrusted hotcakes since launch. There could be an upcoming shakeup in Activision's leadership (is Bobby K on his way out?), or it could just be that as well as Activision did this past year, the rough economy is hitting them hard, too.At any rate, this will likely be just a bump in the road -- Activision is poised to become (if they haven't already) the biggest publisher in the game, and as you can see from this graph on their website, the stock is already back up above $9. We don't know what the reason is for this quick drop, but everything else we've seen points to a bright future for Activision-Blizzard.
November sales data: Mac desktops down, laptops strong
The NPD data for November retail sales have arrived, and the news is not that cheery: year-over-year Mac sales were flat last month, while Windows PC sales grew 7 percent over 2007's total. Desktops on both platforms got hammered, with 20% drops across both platforms -- Windows machines down 15% and Mac desktop sales down a dramatic 38%. Some of this may be attributable to the long-idle Mac mini (soon to be refreshed, we hear), static feature set of the iMac, and reduced purchasing of Mac Pros and iMacs by education and corporate customers, but consumer buying is clearly down for the desktop. The tables are turned on the portable side: year over year, Mac laptop sales grew 22 percent for November vs. a Windows increase of 15%. This is good news for Apple's refreshed portables as customers do seem to be taking to the unibody models. It's not clear from the report whether the blossoming netbook category, which includes a sizable chunk of machines shipped with a flavor of Linux, counts entirely as Windows laptop sales or if it's chopped up by the shipping OS -- I'll try to find out. Update: NPD tells me that the Linux netbooks were included in the Windows sales number, but those configurations didn't make a material difference to retail sales. Did your microeconomic purchasing plans for year's end get derailed by the macroeconomic circumstances? Let us know below.
Seeking the Time-Lost Proto Drake
I don't know if we've mentioned this before, but even if we have, it's interesting enough to put out there again, I think. There is a dragon in the expansion that can be soloed, and drops a epic flying mount at 100% drop rate -- all you've got to do is find him. A few people have already nabbed the mount, and lots more are on the hunt right now. The mob in question is the Time-Lost Proto Drake: it's a rare elite spawn (but as I said, it's possible to solo it, especially at level 80) that shows up every six hours or so flying around the Storm Peaks. Unfortunately, none of the usual suspects have maps of where he's been seen yet, but we're hearing it's around the southern part of the zone. When he goes down, he'll drop the mount, a good chunk of gold, some Frostweave, and a random enchantment Talisman.An interesting tactic on Blizzard's part -- on the one hand, this is definitely a big change from the huge questlines and rep grind from the netherdrakes: just kill this one dragon and you're guaranteed the mount. On the other hand, the rare spawn rate, and the fact that it is a 100% drop rate means there'll be a lot of competition, at first anyway, for the kill. But the good news is that the odds will only get better -- if you're willing to do some dragon hunting for a few hours and have some keen eyes for what's in the air, you could pick up one of the coolest flying mounts yet.
World of Warcraft meets Guitar Hero
Our sister site WoW Insider has video footage of a new World of Warcraft drop that's an 'axe' in every sense of the word -- the Arcanite Ripper is a guitar as well as a weapon. In fact, WoW Insider's dubbed it "The WoW Guitar Hero." The drop comes from the boss Tenris Mirkblood in Karazhan. Once equipped, the Arcanite Ripper can transform you into a skeletal rockstar. Check out the video of the Arcanite Ripper in action below the cut, as WoW-player Telanis rocks out with it in Ironforge. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
BlackBerry Bold doesn't handle pavement well
Always looking to make lemonade out of lemons, the self-proclaimed BGizzle took the opportunity to inform prospective (and current) BlackBerry Bold owners of the handset's fragile nature. To no one's surprise, the naked Bold didn't stand up too well to pavement when dropped from about two feet -- maybe this is where a real metal bezel would come in handy? Anywho, we're not told whether or not the essential functions were fubared, but we'd recommend taking his advice and snapping up a skin / case before welcoming it to the world.
Insider Trader: Guide to farming cloth
Cloth is like the gathering profession for everyone. You don't have to pay to pick it up, and there are no skills to level. Because of the sheer number of tailors, the amount of cloth tailoring eats up (not to mention first aid), cloth gathering can be a lucrative pass-time. Failing that, it can provide for your own cloth needs without having to hit the auction house. This week's Insider Trader will be going in-depth into the world of farming for cloth, and tackling the following issues: The best areas to farm the cloth you need. How to alleviate some of the boredom. Ways to make the most out of your farming stints. We will also be covering cloth that can be obtained by even level ones, and not just level 70s, as well as information about what it is used for, and who is going to want it. Linen cloth. (lvl 1-15) Wool cloth. (lvl 14-30) Silk cloth. (lvl 28-40) Mageweave cloth. (lvl 38-50) Runecloth. (lvl 50-62) Netherweave cloth. (lvl 58-70+) Felcloth. (lvl 50-60). Whether your career hinges on stacks of cloth or you're looking to finance your other exploits, you won't want to miss this week's guide.
DS Daily: Drop it like it's hot
What's the highest height you've ever dropped your Nintendo DS from? Did your handheld survive the fall, despite your negligence? Or did it end up looking like the photo above? Also, how did this unfortunate event play out? Inquiring minds want to know.
Analyst: PS3 production costs dropped by 50% in a year
Business Week spoke with Nikko Citigroup analyst Kota Ezawa who believes changes in the PlayStation 3 have dropped production costs from $800 to about $400 per unit. Although Sony may have cut production costs dramatically it's not all sunshine and lollipops, Ezawa expects the Sony games division to lose about $1.4 billion this fiscal year, which is still better than the $2.1 billion loss last year and he doesn't expect prosperity in the division until '09.With production costs continuing to drop and signs that Sony may see Blu-ray succeed, consumers who held out on the PS3 may see benefits this year. If the cadre of American analysts is correct, there may be another PS3 price drop this year -- although this time it'll appear more a sign of growth than desperation.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
Sony gets head in the game with new PS3 ads
The word you're looking for is: FINALLY. Sony America finally gets their damn head in the game to sell some PS3s with a new ad campaign for this holiday. Sony Senior VP of Marketing and PSN Peter Dille wrote a long love letter on Sony's blog about the plan with this holiday's marketing. "Last year, we launched the PS3 with a campaign that become known as the 'White Room' and we received a strong reaction to those ads for being provocative and demonstrating the PS3's power," Dille wrote, obviously unaware of the extreme delusion in that statement. "With those technology messages now firmly embedded, we wanted to move beyond the 'power' message with a more high-energy, entertainment driven focus for the PS3. The games are here, the price point is now $399 and we wanted to make the news loud and clear."The 30 second spot (above) focuses on the exclusive games for the console. And in a shocker for Sony, they actually show the games in the ads. After the break is the 60 second spot focusing on the PS3's features. Now we wait to see if new consumers notice the lack of backwards compatibility in their new $399 PS3.
PS3 sees sales spike in Europe
MCV reports European tracking firm Chart Track informed them that the PS3 has seen a 178% increase in sales recently. They reached this conclusion calculating the "week-on-week PS3 hardware sales" following the introduction of the 60GB bundle and the new 40GB unit. It sounds like some fancy math is going on there, but we'll take any good news on the PS3 at this point.Chart Track says the introduction of the 40GB PS3 created the third largest hardware sales week for the system behind the console's first two weeks on sale. Software sales also increased as Resistance: Fall of Man jumped the charts from #22 to #8. Heavenly Sword and Motorstorm also saw increases. It appears Sony is finally getting the PS3 into a price range consumers are comfortable with.
40GB PS3 announced for Japan, Sony introduces white PS3
Sony announced today the 40GB PS3 will go on sale in Japan beginning Nov. 11. The 20GB and 60GB models, both still available in Japan, will have a 5,000 yen ($43) price cut next week. This means that the prices for the PS3 in Japan will be 20GB at 44,980 yen ($384), 60GB at 54,980 yen ($469) and 40GB at 39,980 yen ($341) yen. The 40GB is cheaper than the 20GB version, however it will lack backwards compatibility, memory card slots and a couple USB ports.Sony is also unleashing a white version of the 40GB PS3 model for Japan in ceramic white. It will cost the same as the regular black PS3. A white DualShock 3 controller will also be available to purchase beginning Nov 11. If Sony can't offer consumers backwards compatibility, might as well razzle dazzle 'em with new colors.
Analysts believe 80GB to go $499 this year
With all the 60GB PlayStation 3s out of the warehouse and finding homes, it's time for the analysts to say that the 80GB PS3 will drop to $499 (duh) -- this year (wha?). Both Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter and -- please sense the Alan Rickman octave change -- simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich, believe there will be a price cut for the 80GB model before Jesus' birthday.The analysts go on to say what you can probably just guess. Unless Sony wants to eat a huge helping of "we are total jerks," they'll have to drop the 80GB price to remove the clearance sale tag their 60GB model has been stuck with since the PR nightmare during E3 week when they announced the price drop and followed it up on Friday by announcing a discontinuation of the 60GB model. It's all about the timing now. When will the 60GBs be gone? Who's buying them with this second price drop ready to pop out? We know it has to happen for the sake of PR.
Sony not cutting price in Europe ... ouch!
We just felt Europe's pain. Sony has announced that they will not be cutting the price of the European PlayStation 3 and they will not be offering the 80GB PS3 at this time either. To compensate, Sony will offer a "starter pack" at the respective countries current price. For example, in England, the £425 PS3 will allegedly have an extra £115 of content included as well. No word yet on what that will be.So, um, yeah. There's speculation of a second price cut in the States before the end of the year and Europe just can't get any love. Hey, at least for this they've got universal healthcare, good cheese, cheap wine ... we're just trying to find the silver lining in this. Sorry.[Thanks GiantHaystax]
Rumor: Circuit City drops PS3 price by $100 week of July 15
An "employee of Circuit City" dropped this clip in our tip box about an alleged sale for the PlayStation 3. The flyer shows that Circuit City is dropping the price of the PS3 by $100 for the week of July 15. We contacted Sony to ask how they felt about the price drop and they told us, "Circuit City hasn't announced any price drop on PS3, so we have no comment." To be clear, despite the collective game consciousness' longing for a PS3 price drop and its possible announcement at next week's Min-E3 ... this is merely a clip of an alleged flyer which shows a week long sale at Circuit City for the PlayStation 3.Now, if somebody happened to get their hands on the whole flyer, we'd have something to go back to Sony with. Don't get us wrong, this plot is thick like cheddar soup. Have we seen the price drop of a console, or even a sale, without it being officially sanctioned by the console manufacturer? Nope. Can we verify the validity of this flyer? Nope. Could Circuit City be desperate enough to sell the PS3 console at a loss to themselves just to move product and software? Well, that's the real question, isn't it?Update: GameDaily reports an anonymous source who is the "merchandising manager at one of the world's biggest retailers" confirmed the price drop is retail-wide and begins July 12. The first wave of flyers are July 15. There's also an ongoing thread regarding the price drop at Cheap Ass Gamer.Update 2: We now have the full page Circuit City ad found after the break. The tipster goes on to say, "And just to make things clear. This is not just for Circuit City. This will be for all retailers in the US and will be $499 from now on. No store can sell a console for cheaper without the permission from the console's company so no Sony did NOT give Circuit City a special deal to sale the PS3 at this price." [Thanks Se7enwolf]
