ethereals
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Blizzard issues transmogrification system clarifications
The new transmogrification system announced this week will allow players to change the appearance of their gear without losing the stats associated with them. This new system will be launching with patch 4.3. For everything you need to know about transmogrification, check out our Queue FAQ on the system, as well as Blizzard's official preview. Many players had questions, however, about the minutiae of the system. Will players be able to convert weapons to legendary skins that they have completed or found? Will there be alternative ways to find cool set items without having to go back to the old content and farm for it? What about some of the gear that isn't available anymore or hard to get? Can we use silly items with the transmogrification system? Blizzard's Kaivax and Zarhym took to the forums to issue some clarifications on these questions and more. Players will need to have both items, the item to be worn and the item to be used as the model, for transmogrification to work. There will not be free presets of gear to choose from, so you will need the pieces you want to wear in the transmogrification process. Also, Blizzard is exploring new, alternative ways to distribute older gear like the death knight starter armor and the old dungeon tier sets. Blizzard also wants to respect the hard work of the artists, so we may not be able to use silly items, such as fish that are daggers and what-not. Hit the jump for lots of blue posts.
Breakfast Topic: How will you use the transmogrification feature?
Yesterday, we got huge news out of Irvine (via Germany): Last week's teaser screenshot showing three ethereals is actually a glimpse at new features coming in patch 4.3. And of all these new features, the one that seems to have the most players talking is transmogrification -- that is, being able to alter the appearance of the armor you currently have equipped. Being a WoW fanatic, I can't help but dream of the possibilities. How would you use the transmogrification system? Is there a specific gear set that you want to transmogrify into? For me, it's all about those priest tier 6 shoulders -- the height of shadow priest fashion. Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Know Your Lore: The Warcraft cosmos, part one: The Material Plane
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Even now, the true battle between the forces of Light and Darkness approaches. We will all be called to join, and in the face of this conflict, all mortal suffering will be meaningless. -- Prophet Velen Far beyond the tiny planet of Azeroth, beyond the shattered shores of Outland -- or Draenor, as it was once called -- there lies the Great Dark Beyond. This dark, empty void between worlds exists even beyond the Twisting Nether. It is the space between planets, existing in the same material plane as the planets themselves. While the Twisting Nether exists within it, it should not be confused with the Nether, because they are two distinctly different entities. In the existing universe of Warcraft, only a small handful of planets have been defined, floating somewhere out there in the vast, empty space of the Great Dark Beyond. All of these planets are connected, which gives way to a larger, slightly more tinfoil hat theory regarding the greater Warcraft cosmos and what it all means, when it comes down to it. But before we indulge in any speculation, we should define what lies within that Great Dark Beyond and how it all plays together in the vastness of the universe.
New Icecrown expansion concludes WoW TCG's Scourgewar arc
World of Warcraft TCG players, rejoice! The newest expansion set to the incredibly popular WoW trading card game, Scourgewar: Icecrown, is now available. A host of new heroes, items, characters (including Thrall, Jaina) and some special guests (the awesome airships The Skybreaker and Orgrim's Hammer) are combating The Lich King's forces. Also new to this expansion are Scourge heroes and allies -- play as and recruit Arthas' toughest warriors, including vrykul, to strengthen your deck. And who better to hunt the Lich King than the greatest hunter of all time: Hemet Nesingwary? Included in every trading card game expansion have been some rare goodies, andIcecrown is no exception. For those lucky enough (or with enough cash for scrounging on eBay), the rare mount Wooly White Rhino, the common loot paint bombs and the uncommon Ethereal Portal, which functions as a super cool-looking hearthstone, are available in this expansion.
Breakfast Topic: Predicting the future: Patch 5.0.1
Patch 4.0.1 is live on the public test realm. The data is being downloaded onto your computer as you read this, if it isn't there already. The prologue for Cataclysm is about to begin. Here at WoW Insider, we've put an incredible amount of cumulative effort into reporting what's going on both in the Cataclysm beta and on the PTR. We've already got that new-instruction-book smell flooding our nostrils. And quite frankly, we're a little exhausted. So instead of spending this morning reflecting on Cataclysm yet again, let's do something different. It's time to look to the future. The future, Fox? That's right, friends for life, it's time we all look into the future. All the way to the year 2000 ... and, um, 12. 2012. Cataclysm will be two years old. A new expansion -- or perhaps even a brand new World of Warcraft MMO -- will be upon us. We first started speculating on what would happen in patch 4.0.2 4.0.1 all the way back in 2008, so there's no reason why we can't start speculating about World of Warcraft 5.0.1 now. So, what do you think we're in for? What's going to be the theme of the next major expansion? Are we in for new races? (Come on, Ethereals!) Are we in for new classes? And most importantly, what horrifying quest will involve the two-year-old remains of Old Blanchy?
Breakfast Topic: What Race or Organization should make a return in the Expansion?
So I've been thinking a lot about lore lately, and one thing that's been nagging for a long time is how fast some really cool and interesting storyline and organizations seem to fade into the background once the patch or zone that focuses on them is over and done.Example prime might be the Ethereals. They were an amazing group. The Consortium was Goblins except with actual charisma, business savvy, common sense, and inventions that worked. The Protectorate was a pretty badass group of elite fighters battling the forces of darkness. Even the Ethereum had a story of tragedy and corruption to make the Scarlet Crusade look like amateurs at the whole fanatic game. But in Wrath? Okay, we get some Ethereum hanging out with Malygos' posse, but that's it. Poof. Ethereals are all but gone. I would have loved to see them selling their Eco-dome tech to settlers in Northrend's snowy areas or something, or handing us monthly gem bags for Frost Wyrm Ivory.
The Queue: I'm back. It's me, DP.
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Today I am pleased to announce something even bigger than a new WoW expansion. In fact, it has nothing to do with WoW at all, but it's still something every single person reading this blog will want to know about. It's something that will bring excitement to all of our lives. Our inner children will burst forth in joy at this announcement. This is something that's 17 years in the making, folks. That's probably longer than some of you have been alive.Yes, that's right. Don't Copy That Floppy is getting a sequel. Naix asked..."Will we ever see each faction get their own special class again like the Paladin and Shaman?"
From Outland with gems
Dear players,Things are good back here in Nagrand -- though we don't see anyone but Death Knights coming through nowadays, I often think back to a few years ago when I saw so many of you come through leveling up, just as you are now in Northrend. You were so innocent and naive back then -- you really weren't prepared, at level 66 and 67, still not knowing what treachery Illidan might have planned or what treasure the walls of Tempest Keep might hold. Nowadays, the space inside those walls is empty except for the occasional Death Knight group -- my friend Ghabar up in Stormspire says they see even fewer players than we do here.Even the boys in Halaa say things are slow -- while I'm sure it's a relief not to be under attack every other hour, they come down here to Aeris Landing every once in a while just to pass the time and see what's up. I suppose when the Death Knights are gone, that'll be pretty much the end for us. Oh sure, we'll have the occasional newbie come through (I'll always need Crystal Fragments and Obsidian Warbeads, as long as there are suppliers to buy them -- and there are), but things won't be the same. Maybe I'll even get out of the trading business and take up a profession of my own. I hear Inscription can be fun.Oh, and by the way, it's the first of the month, so I've got your monthly gems sitting here. You may not need them up in Northrend, with your Lich King and your dragons and whatever else you've discovered up there (have you found any Ethereals yet?). But they're here, just like the rest of us, waiting for you. Sigh.Yours,Gezhe at Aeris Landing in Nagrand
Ask a Lore Nerd: Yogg-Saron and Warchief Garrosh Hellscream
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition. Wrath of the Lich King is finally here, and with it comes a whole load of new lore and stories to discover. I hope you guys are reading your quest text! I imagine all of these new quests will bring up a lot of new questions as well, and to that I say bring it on. For now, though, let's field some questions from last week.Rosa asked...Personally, I'm tired of Outland and demons and fantasy-tech and I'm glad to see Warcraft going gothic again, buuuut there's one thing that I love about Outland and I'm hoping it's not gone forever. Ethereals are, like, totally awesome, and my favourite unplayable race in WoW. The question I have is, do we see these guys anywhere in Wrath? And if not, do you think that we'll see them ever again?
Get your free gems for October!
We're a little late on the notice this time around (two whole days!), but if you haven't done so yet, get yourself out to Nagrand and pick up your free gems from the Consortium! They're not exactly worth much on most servers now, since people are throwing everything they own on the auction house to get rid of it before Wrath, and thus tanking the prices on everything, but free is free. You might as well pick them up, even if you just use them as skipping stones at the lakefront.If you've never done this before, let me break it down: Once you reach Friendly with the Consortium, Gezhe at Aeris Landing will have some free gems for you at the beginning of each month. As you gain higher levels of reputation, you'll get more gems. Not necessarily better gems, just more of them. Don't know where Aeris Landing is? It's directly north of that freaky diamond mountain spaceship with the Naaru in it, Oshu'gun.%Poll-20506%
Breakfast Topic: Player race desires
Since the beginning of The Burning Crusade, I've wanted playable Ethereals. I don't care which faction or what classes, I just want to play an Ethereal. Heck, if all you could do with an ethereal character is walk around and emote, I would still roll one. I don't know why I'm so infatuated with them, but I pretty much like most things about them. Their design, their towns, the Consortium's debonaire way of operations.The other Burning Crusade race I want to play is an Arakkoa. Specifically an Arakkoa Priest or Paladin. I don't like the birdmen as much as the blinkymen, but I found myself incredibly intrigued by the few Light-following arakkoa scattered around. I wanted to learn more about them, but there wasn't anymore to learn, unfortunately.Now that I'm in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta, my new fascination is the Vrykul. Aesthetically, they are by far the most awesome race in WoW, and they're steeped in Norse lore which is just awesome. Their women look like they could destroy me with their bare hands, and the men seem like they have enough hair customization options to put a player race to shame. If these became a player race, I would reroll so fast.Do you guys have any races you would just love to see playable? I have a lot of friends that would adore the chance to play a Goblin but I couldn't do that personally. Not a fan of Goblins. Are you after something a little more 'out there' like Nerubians? Are you a fan of a race from another setting that you'd love to be added to WoW?
Looking for the ladies in Outland
Reader Thiago asked a good question today: Why do so many NPC races not have female models? I admit, it's something I and a lot of other fellow lore nerds in my guild have noticed and discussed before. Why have all the females gone? I figured it might be fun to do a little bit of an analysis, and see what might have happened to all these ladies. This is by no means a complete list of the femaleless races in game, of course, or I'd have to spend a couple days on this article. But here's a few select ones to discuss.
A(nother) return to Azeroth, and all that grinding
Clive Thompson is probably my favorite technology writer -- I really enjoy everything he writes (lots of his stuff appears regularly in Wired), and he's got a real talent for not only tracking technological trends, but then explaining them in a way that's interesting and easy to understand. So I was pretty excited to see that he's back playing WoW, and just like a few of us here at WI, he enjoys the regular grind of it all.I don't know whether it's a result of all the Wrath beta news coming out lately, but it seems to me that we're already experiencing a resurgence of players around the expansion. Burning Crusade brought a lot of players back to the game, and it seems like things have started early for the next expansion -- people are returning to level their alts, get their epic mount dailies done, level up their professions, and just generally get back into the mix of things.And Thompson's piece is really about grinding -- like "obedient workers in a Soviet collective," he says, we return to mindlessly killing boars, or ravagers, or Ethereals, or whatever else it is we need to hit that next level of experience or reputation or profession. Why? Because we're rewarded for it. Increasingly, we live in a world where time invested doesn't always equal reward returned. But while grinding in a game like WoW, it always, always does, and that's why we love it so much.
Poll: Are you looking forward to WoTLK more than you looked forward to Burning Crusade?
So recently, Tobold was saying that excitement around Wrath of the Lich King is visibly much less than the excitement that led up to the release of Burning Crusade. People are tired out by the 2 year wait, WoW isn't innovating, WoW isn't adding the content fast enough: there's just so many reasons that the Wrath of the Lich King is being greeted with ennui instead of excitement. My first thought upon reading that: Wait, people aren't excited over WoTLK?
Breaking News: Ethereals better than Goblins!
After looking back on my post about disliked races in WoW again and talking to some friends of mine, I can't help but notice one of my favorite races gets quite a bit of hate! Which is funny, because one of the races I greatly dislike(but didn't make my list) are sort of their 'competition' and get quite a bit of love!There are a lot of similarities between the Ethereals(like) and the Goblins(dislike), which is rather neat! It's interesting to see the two races somewhat rubbing against one another. Competition is fun to watch. Even more fun are the differences, though. I imagine that's where the opinions are formed.Read on to discuss the Barons of Bling and the Planar Princes!
Phase 2 Dailies: Intercepting the Mana Cells
This Daily is located back in Shattrath, and given by a Draenei called Exarch Nasuun. He will be located in A'dal's chambers, in the northwestern Alcove where G'eras, the Badge of Justice vendor, used to be (G'eras himself is now on the walkway above the Alcove). He'll send you to the Bash'ir Landing, on the northern plateau of Blade's Edge Mountains. This means that this daily will require you to have a flying mount. Once you receive the the quest, you can fly to Evergrove in Ruann Weald via flightmaster, then fly northwest from there on your mount to reach Bash'ir landing. Once you're there, you'll want to kill any of the Ethereals until you receive the Bash'ir Phasing Device. The device is a very common drop, so you shouldn't have to kill more than one or two ethereals until you get one. This Device will put you, your pets, and your group members into a state not unlike the Mage spell Invisibility. You will not be able to see any non-phased players or mobs, nor will they be able to see you. This device, however, only works with Bash'ir landing, and any pets or groups members must stay within 100 yards of the person who used the device to get the benefit. As long as you stay within Bash'ir landing, the effect is permanent, although you can right-click it off. Once you're phased, you will need to start looking for your quest objective, the Smuggled Mana Cells, which will appear on the ground as translucent hot pink boxes. The boxes will appear mostly near the machinery and other stacked boxes around the camp. They will be guarded by Phase Wyrms, which should be relatively easy for a level 70 take out, and drop Motes of Mana for a nice little bonus. Once you have your 10 cells, you can drop the phased buff (Be careful for any ethereal aggro when you do. You can't see them while phased, but they'll be there when you come out of phased mode), mount up, and head back to Shattrath. Upon turning this quest in to Nasuun, you'll get 10 gold, 10 silver, a cache of Shattered Sun Supplies, and some credit toward the opening of a portal to Quel'danas on your server. All in all a very worthwhile quest, especially if your cache has a Badge of Justice. Once the portal is opened, this quest will be renamed "Maintaining the Sunwell Portal," but the objectives and rewards will remain the same. For more information, you can also read the pages for this quest on Wowwiki and Wowhead.
25 Easter eggs of the Burning Crusade
We at WoW Insider felt that, in honor of Easter/Noblegarden, we'd go looking for some of the best Easter eggs in Burning Crusade. This is by no means an exhaustive gallery of all the little nods you can find in BC; it's really almost impossible to go anywhere without running into a programmer's sly joke. I had to limit my gallery to things that could be seen by toons who'd outleveled some of the really good quest-related ones ("How To Serve Goblins" was great) or who had ready access to the Blood Elf/Draenei starter areas. Enjoy your trawl through a feast of cleverly-placed pop-culture references, and you can visit BlizzPlanet for an exhaustive list of Burning Crusade Easter eggs if these whet your appetite for more! Don't forget that with our new gallery functions, you can hit the "Hi Res" button at the top right of the page if you want to see a photo in more detail.%Gallery-18980%
Breakfast Topic: Off to the races
I doubt that, since the latest expansion featured two new races, we'll see any more playable races in Azeroth for a while-- more likely would be simply new content, a new class, or (most likely) the hero classes we've heard so much about.But sleepyfoxy on Livejournal says that if she could play as one race, it would be the sporelings, the little mushroomy guys that populate Sporeggar in Zangarmarsh. Personally, ever since I ran Mana Tombs for the first time, I think it would be awesome to play as an ethereal, the mana mummy-looking guys that make up the Consortium (I even like their Arabesque smuggler lore background). And though we still haven't seen them in the game, I thought for sure that Pandaren would appear at least as a mention (maybe among the Lower City refugees) in the expansion.So today's question is: what race will you never play as that you wish you could?
