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Breakfast Topic: Which faction is more mature?
In the age-old debate on which faction holds supremacy over the other, this topic arose on the WoW Ladies forum: which faction is the most mature, Horde or Alliance? Now, it seems to me that it's hard to pin this one down, seeing as how the population of servers varies greatly. And we're not even talking about the age level of players. It seems more interesting to me to discuss the maturity levels of WoW players on both sides of the game. In my personal experience, I haven't seen much in the way that would indicate a winner on either side, but I also play mostly Alliance on a PvE server. Yes I've seen my share of idiots, I've grouped with them, heck I've even been them on occasion. My horde experience mostly comes from playing in our blog guild, but the It Came from the Blog members seem to be a cut above the rest, so I am not sure I can count them as a slice of the general Horde population. In your experience, have you found Horde players or Alliance players to be more mature?[via WoW Ladies]
Liquidor's rep calculator works for US realms, too
Ask and you shall be given-- the other day we posted about Liquidor's rep calculator, and lamented that it was EU only, and now only a few days later, he's updated it to not only include US realms, but he's completely revamped the design.Sure enough, I punched in my character from the US realms, and I got the nice readout of where I'm at for all my reputations, and one click access to what exactly I need to do to move up a level (apparently I need to keep running Shadow Labs, grrr). Seems like it pulls everything directly from the Armory (where else would he get it from?), so all the info is as up to date as it is on Blizzard's official site.There's also a checkbox now for "TBC Reputation only" that when unclicked gives a warning that says "Soon!," so apparently Liquidor is working on including Old World Azeroth rep as well. Just like we said the other day, this is a terrific tool for working on those all important rep grinds. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm LFG Shadow Labs. Anyone? Please?
Liquidor's EU Rep Calculator shows the way to Exalted
Liquidor posts on the forums about a cool little tool he's put together. His rep calculator is a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about where your character is at in terms of rep, and what you need to rep up. There's just one little catch-- since Liquidor plays on Boulderfist EU, the calculator only works for EU characters at the moment.So those of us on US realms are out of luck, but maybe if we give Liquidor a little more attention here, he'll be convinced enough to let us Americans in on the fun. As much as rep grinding is required in the game now, it's interesting that there's not a lot in terms of reputation tools out there-- WoW Wiki has those cool charts for each rep and the quests that can be done to level it, but Liquidor's guide is unmatched in terms of utility-- he even tells you mobs that can be killed for rep, and how many are needed of each type to rep up. Hopefully, especially as we move toward the next expansion (where even more factions will likely be introduced), players will get better and better tools like this to help their rep grinding.
A quest to switch sides
Even though almost all you hear from players is Horde pride or Alliance cheerleading, let's face it, there have to be a lot of people out there who believe they've made a mistake. Personally, I love the first character I made-- Hunter is still my favorite class, and I'd love to finally get my first Hunter all the way up to 70 and into some epic gear. Why haven't I? Because it's a Night Elf-- I was young then, and confused, and I accidentally rolled Alliance. I can't really play without my awesome Horde guild now, so that Hunter has been sitting there at 59 for a long time.So there are probably plenty of people that want to switch, but there's no way to do so without completely rerolling. Yet, anyway. Here's the best idea I've heard on the subject so far: create a quest that would let players change factions.Yes, I know, there's lots of reasons for Blizzard not to do it (not least of which is the whole interfaction communication thing). But consider it seriously-- it would be a once-in-a-lifetime quest that would have serious costs (so no nightly switching back and forth), and take a long, long (maybe even a series of daily quests) time to get done. This isn't some frivolous thing-- it's a serious decision, a second chance to reconsider a faction choice you might have made 70 levels ago. Right now, you only get once chance to choose a faction, and it's before you even know your character. Surely you should get one chance to reconsider, right?And originally I was thinking that a faction change would be a "Horde in Durnholde" kind of thing-- if you're an Orc, then you suddenly become Human forever. But Blizzard could even work it so that you could stay the same race, and just switch sides. Imagine it-- Gnome and Undead Rogues alongside each other, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Although it would get confusing in the battlegrounds, wouldn't it?
Religion in Azeroth: Why God is Alliance
We got into a guild discussion the other day somehow about whether God is Horde or Alliance. There is never any rhyme of reason to why you discuss such things, but how about it? What do you think about the off-the-wall subject?I personally think God is Alliance, because in the Bible it says God pwns the cows on a thousand hillsides (Psalm 50:9-11). If God pwns the cows (read: Tauren) on a thousand hills and all the animals in the forest (read: Horde), he is clearly Alliance and has pwned all of Elwynn too, doesn't it sound like it?No offense to the Horde, but I think this is definitive proof that God is Alliance, not that this makes you evil at all, just not on God's side. If you disagree, or can find evidence to the contrary, I'd love to hear it. Oh, and if you're wondering, I am Alliance too. A question for next time, which class would God play?NOTE: I also have Horde characters (Tauren in fact) which I play and like very much, so I am obviously kidding here. This is for the benefit of those of you who never got the EPIC drop of [A Sense of Humor]. Cheers!
What you need to know about daily quests
I'm a man of many distractions. Between a full time career, a growing family and a new writing gig at WoWInsider, I don't have as much time as I used to when it comes to my video games. When I do log on to WoW, I often look for objectives I can complete in a short amount of time, but still give me some sense of progress. Enter my new obsession: daily quests.New factions were introduced with the The Black Temple 2.1 Patch and with it came the specter of the dreaded rep grind. But this time Blizzard has added quests that reward players with hefty reputation gains in exchange for limiting their completion to once a day. Since these appeal to me greatly, I did some digging around and found a few helpful facts that may aid you in your Outland adventures. Daily quests count against your total quest count in your quest log You can have a maximum of 10 daily quests in your log at any given time The timer on redoing a daily quest is not reset every 24 hours from when you complete it, but at 2am PST Many daily quests that work in one reputation level (i.e. Neutral) continue to work in when you've achieved higher rep levels Currently you must be L70 to get these quests so they give no experience The biggest change here from previous rep grinds is being able to do lower level rep grinds while at a higher rep level. Other than that, dive in. You can try out daily quests with the Sha'tari Skyguards, Ogri'la and Netherwing factions. For a starter guide on these quest chains, check out our "Where to start with 2.1 content."
Showin' that Aldor pride
This thread by Tenaciousp offers my sentiments exactly: Aldor rule, Scryers drool! Aldor assemble!Ok, well, actually it's a cut-and-paste of an identical Scryer thread, but still, I'm all for a little faction pride. Besides the rewards and the turn-ins, I haven't heard a peep out of the big dueling factions in Shattrath City. Sure, there have been the occasional skirmishes (I can't believe you all did that to our soup!), and I make it a point to shout "Death to Scryers!" whenever I see an Arcane Tome drop, but there's not much else to speak of. Sure, there's different areas in Shattrath and in Shadowmoon Valley, and a few diffferent quests, but where's the faction-on-faction PvP or really any player-involved opposition between the two factions at all?Now, hopefully more is coming in 2.1 and beyond-- I'd love to see those daily quests involve targets that the Aldor and Scryer have to fight over. And there are ways to pit the two factions against each other without actually pitting players against their own side. What about a repeatable quest that brought reinforcements to a periodic battle? As in, I bring armor scraps to Aldor Rise and every day at 3pm, the two factions have it out, with the winning faction making a special vendor available? Or it doesn't even have to be that complicated-- say whatever side brings the most turn-ins in a day gets an increased rep rate for the next 24 hours. Something to let us compete together and show a little Aldor/Scryer pride.Whether you think the Aldorks are losers or the Scrybabies are whiners, it's clear that there's animosity between the red and blue in Shattrath. It's just a shame there aren't more ways for players to mix it up in game.
Five must-see quests at 70
When I finally hit 70 on my main, the last thing I wanted to do was more quests. But lately, after a lot of prodding from guildies and a lot of drooling over the thought of a quest reward Netherwing mount, I've gotten back into questing with my main. And after going at it for a week or so now, I've discovered there are some pretty awesome quests to do even after you hit that final ding in Outland. If you're just getting ready to start questing for gold instead of XP, here's five terrific quest chains you can seek out and work through.(And yes, I do realize that most hardcore players will have already found and completed these chains-- if you know of more fun, rewarding, or cool quests to do post-70, feel free to add them in the comments below.)1. The Cipher of Damnation. This is a loooong, long questline that will get you ready to do The Eye, the 25-man raid in Tempest Keep. It starts off with some solo quests in Shadowmoon, and then takes you through all the Heroic instances in TK. Along the way, you'll use boars to dig for tubers, and puke your guts out going through rotten Arrakoa eggs. Lots of fun. It starts in Shadowmoon Valley's Wildhammer Stronghold if you're Alliance, or Shadowmoon Village if you're Horde.2. Entry Into the Citadel. This questline and the next one are key quests-- they'll finish with key rewards that will let you into endgame dungeons. This questline is the making of the Shattered Halls key, necessary to enter the toughest 5 man in Hellfire Citadel (not every group member needs these keys to enter these instances, just one-- unlike the raid instances). So lots of guildies will love you if you finish these quests, and for this questline, you get to kill a Fel Reaver in the process. The Shattered Halls key questline starts from a drop from Smith Gorlunk, on the Northern Terraces outside of the Black Temple in Shadowmoon Valley.
WoW Moviewatch: Nether ray mounts
In 2.1, once reaching exalted with the Sha'tari Skyguard, it will be possible to get a brand-new type of flying mount: a nether ray! Pretty nifty, if you ask me; I was just recently lamenting the lack of flying mount variety. But what does it look like? Peep the video, friends! (For those who do not wish to peep it: its flying motions look pretty much exactly like the nether rays mobs in the game.) I wonder how hard that rep is going to be to grind...Props to Fibb, of Burning Blade, for making this.And I know I always talk about the music in these videos, but...why does every WoW vid have to be set to hard rock or metal? I swear, if I ever make one I'm gonna set it to Pavement or Ella Fitzgerald or something...Previously on Moviewatch...[via MMO-Champion]
PTR notes: Welcome to Ogri'la
Along with the Skettis Skyguard, there's another new faction to grind for in 2.1: Ogri'la. In my search for the elusive ogres, I was sent down to the Lower City by a quest giver in Shattrath's Terrace of Light; from there, the next step is to zip up to the Ring of Blood in Blade's Edge and talk to an ogre there. (Side note: the journey was hilarious, as epic flying mounts on the PTR are currently bugged to flutter their wings insanely fast when you fly forward.) I didn't follow through after that, because all the "real" quests to gain reputation with the Ogri'la ogres appear to be 5-man, and the thought of pugging with four other random PTRers was a little daunting.Never fear, though, I did go over to Ogri'la to snap the above shot and check out the rewards, which you can see in the picture after the cut (not composited by me; my pic was much worse). The prices of all the gear are in Apexis Crystals and Apexis Shards, which I assume drop from whatever it is you have to kill to get Ogri'la rep. If it's anything like the Sporeggar, getting the required reputation level is much more difficult than getting the turn-in tokens. Oh, and there's a repair vendor there, which is always pleasant. Ogri'la is located in the west of Blade's Edge, between Forge Camp Terror and Forge Camp Wrath.
Suggestions on implementing faction-neutral battlegrounds
Now that players are starting to grind up some real rep in Outland, we're definitely seeing more and more Aldor vs. Scryer sentiments-- Death to Scryers, by the way, because I'm Aldor to the Core(TM). And at least a few players have already suggested that the Aldor/Scryer rivalry might eventually lead to something new in PvP: an Aldor vs. Scryer battleground that finally mixes up the factions on either side, and lets Alliance play alongside Horde and vice versa.Paladinsucks, in fact, says why wait? Aldor and Scryer battlegrounds would be cool, but there's a lot of benefit in making the old battlegrounds "faction-neutral" as well. All you'd have to do, PS postulates, is employ the Old Hillsbrad trick of costuming (when you enter Old Hillsbrad in the Caverns of Time, your character temporarily becomes Human), and boom, you've got a whole new world of PvP. If you were Horde, you'd sometimes be defending Warsong, and sometimes Silverwing. In AB, some Alliance players, playing as Horde, would guard the Farm. Strategies would be more complex, and, in perhaps the most intriguing benefit, queue times would cut in half.There are drawbacks, though, too-- the fun of playing Horde is hating the Alliance, and vice versa, and if you had the enemy on your side, things just wouldn't be the same. PS doesn't offer any suggestions as to how you decide who plays what side, too-- is it random, or do people get to choose their "faction"? (Because if they chose, who would choose to play as Alliance in AV?) I would love to see some faction-neutral PvP in the game (besides the Arenas, which are every man for himself), but getting a new Aldor/Scryer battleground, in which I can play for my faction on my own character, seems a much better solution than completely revamping the old ones.
Ask WoW Insider: Aldor or Scryer?
We've explored the topic of the Aldors and the Scryers before, but reader Tetelestia gives us a great excuse to revisit this question of faction allegiance again now that we've had some time to spend in Burning Crusade. For this week's Ask WoW Insider, Tetelestia writes "I primarily play a horde character, and I want to make the best choice of allegiance for the quest in Shattrath city. As a noob coming up on my first character, I made the grave mistake of 'fighting' my way through to Winterspring. Mistake. I'd like to avoid that in BC, so I'm looking for readers input on which allegiance they took and why, instead of me just guessing." So, which faction did you choose to (or plan to) ally yourself with, and why? As ever, please don't forget to send us your questions for Ask WoW Insider to ask AT wowinsider DOT com. See you next week!
Adventures in Beta: The Aldors and the Scryers
Get ready for the reputation grind of all reputation grinds. The Aldors and the Scryers are two competing factions in the Burning Crusade -- and they offer enough profession recipes that you just might want to do the grind twice. The Aldors and the Scryers both make their home in Shattrath City, the Orgrimmar/Ironforge of the Outlands. The Aldors are a group of Draenei priests, while the Scryers are Blood Elf magic-users. Both factions are helping the Naaru fight the Burning Legion, but they're also competing with each other for power. This has a nasty effect on you, the player, because completing quests for the Scryers will decrease your Aldor faction, and vice versa. It's kind of like the Magram and Gelkis centaur clans all over again, except this one actually matters.
The Burning Crusade: Faction reputation guide
Faction, can't live with it, can't access Naxxramas without it. Up to now, we've really not had to worry too much about faction in the World of Warcraft. Sure, if you want to get cheap access to Naxxramas, or if you'd like to get the Ahn'qiraj rewards you'd have to get pretty far along with the Argent Dawn and Cenarion Circle, respectively. But outside of that, faction was really just a way to earn a cool mount from another race. All of that is about to change. The Burning Crusade brings us not just a couple of expected new factions (Silvermoon for Blood Elves and Exodar for Draenei), but a whole host of interesting sounding names, such as the Ashtongue Deathswarm, Sporregar, The Consortium, Kurenai, The Violet Eye, The Mag'Har, Netherwing, The Cenarion Expedition, and a whole lot more. In fact, there are currently at least 19 new factions to gain reputation with. Luckily, World of Raids is here to help us with a continually-updated Burning Crusade Faction Reputation Guide. From locations, to rewards, to repeatable quests, the guide is set up to have it all. If you have a chance, go check it out, and if you're in the beta, why don't you give them a hand in fleshing it out.
Breakfast Topic: Bad Guys?
When I first started playing Warcraft games, way back in high school, I always chose the humans in multiplayer. Why? Well, I was a pretty straight laced fellow, and the humans were the good guys! The orcs were terrible, evil folks who allied themselves with the equally as nasty trolls. And ogres. Why would I want to associate myself with that? Then after Warcraft III hit, the line was completely blurred between the good and bad. The orcs didn't seem so terrible, and boy, those humans sure did screw things up. The storyline in World of Warcraft has really done nothing to change that blurred line. Which leads me to my question for you folks...is there any true villain race or faction in WoW? Sure, the Undead seem kind of creepy, and they send you off on some truly questionable quests, but they are counterbalanced by the Tauren, who I think may be the most virtuous race in the game. And for some reason, don't the humans seem a little shady? Onyxia fools them and hangs out in their capital city and, in all honesty, I think they stuck it to Van Cleef. Come the expansion...what about the Blood Elves? They surely don't seem as nice and docile as their Night Elf cousins. So what do you guys think? Which WoW race is the most evil? Which one the most noble?
Guild Wars beta testing to begin in China
As if Chinese gamers didn't have enough online gaming to occupy their leisure (and work) time, The9 has announced Guild Wars China will begin closed beta testing on Nov. 29. One of the most anticipated games on the mainland, Guild Wars attracted 200,000 applicants on the first day of beta registration last week. Maybe an aspiring Chinese clan will unseat South Korea's reigning Guild Wars champs The Last Pride at the next world tournament.The9 also hosts World of Warcraft and Webzen's Soul of the Ultimate Nation, but it is unknown if the Shanghai-based developer's Guild Wars deal with NCsoft also includes the Factions and Nightfall expansions.See also: Nightfall world premiere sets Guild Wars record
Nightfall world premiere sets Guild Wars record
NCsoft and ArenaNet have confirmed a franchise record attendance for the world premiere event of Guild Wars Nightfall. This past weekend, nearly 500,000 MMO enthusiasts spent an average of 8.5 hours trying out the new expansion pack, which officially launches Oct. 27. How many of you participated in this event?If you've been thinking about trying out Guild Wars, the Factions expansion pack is on sale for $30 at Circuit City until tomorrow (and you don't need the original game to play).See also: 3 million hours spent on Guild Wars Factions preview weekend
New Guild Wars Nightfall trailer
With Nightfall's pre-release bonus pack just one month away, NCsoft and ArenaNet have released a trailer for the next Guild Wars campaign. The video includes sweeping panoramas of the African-themed landscape where Nightfall takes place, as well as battle footage featuring the new paragon and dervish professions.For some tips on what makes a successful guild, the game's official web site has posted interviews with top international teams from the Guild Wars Championships.
Alliance/Horde Ratio Over Time
PlayOn has some interesting data on the ratio of Alliance to Horde players on different server types over the course of about six months. The numbers are surprisingly stable over time, with PvP samples being close on 1-to-1 and PvE samples being nearer 2-to-1. However, this data only makes me more curious as to what the numbers will look like after the Burning Crusade is released, when shamans and paladins are available to both factions.
Breakfast Topic: Fixing Faction Imbalance
Blizzard's announcement yesterday that the Horde would have access to paladins and the Alliance would have access to shaman has been getting mixed responses on the forums. Some seem to find this the most equitable solution to faction imbalances - now each side will have access to the same classes and abilities. Others, however, think that with this change there will be no longer be any defining difference between the Horde and the Alliance, and that you may well flip a coin to decide which to play. For myself, I remain undecided - and am adopting a wait-and-see approach to watch how Blizzard plans to run with this change.While this is one way to address the continued concerns of Horde players with regards to PvE imbalance, but it certainly wasn't the only way they may have gone about improving the situation. And so, readers, if left to your hands, how would you have addressed the issue? Is there another way to help bring a bit more PvP power to the Alliance and a bit more PvE power to the Horde, while maintaining their sense of uniqueness?
