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WoW, Casually: Making the most of holidays
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win.Holidays are for all players, of course, but I think they are particularly appropriate for players with limited playtime. Sure, there are often raiding quests or achievements that we can't complete, but overall, the activities seem to be designed for casual gameplay. For the most part, I think I'm preaching to the choir, here. But every once in a while, I read comments from people who just don't get holidays and avoid them completely. So here is my sales pitch about why every casual player should give each holiday a try.
Noblegarden extended to a week on the PTR
Elizabeth's wishes have been answered -- in-game Easter holiday Noblegarden has been extended to a full week according to the calendar on the PTR. That's six more days to run around getting eggs, not to mention doing all of the new Noblegarden achievements being included in the holiday. In the past, Noblegarden hasn't meant that much to players -- the rewards were never that great, and the fact that it was on only one day (a day usually reserved by most celebrating for family dinners away from the game) made it much less active than it could have been. But Blizzard has revamped the holiday, apparently, so be on the lookout for some eggs and bunnies starting on Sunday, April 12th.One quick note for those of you worried about your Violet Proto-drakes: apparently still none of the Nobelgarden quests are included in the meta achievement. So there won't be any Bags of Candy or monthly Brews to get -- just enjoy the festivities.And we'll give a shout-out to Kisirani here as well -- since she took over World Events on the Blizzard team, we've seen some great changes. Despite the issues with the Zombie launch event for Wrath, it was still a ton of fun, and we're pretty sure that she and her team also been behind the popular Brewfest and Hallow's End holidays as well. Excellent work -- we can't wait to see what the new Noblegarden is like.
WoW Rookie: Saddle up your mount at level 30
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.UPDATE: Progress gallops forward and mount requirements have changed ... Visit our updated WoW Rookie mounts post for the latest mount information.Hitting level 30 is a major milestone in today's World of Warcraft: the level at which you get your mount. Up to this point, you've spent plenty of time hoofing it, getting to know the lay of the land. On the back of your trusty steed, you'll be able to zip across increasingly larger zones and quest areas in style. You'll start off on a standard ground mount, such as a Horse, Wolf or Kodo. Later, you can upgrade to faster versions of those creatures and eventually to mounts that can fly (in Burning Crusade and Wrath content).Mounts used to become available at level 40. Now that the game extends to level 80 and early character progression has been sped up, you get to speed up at an earlier level, too.
One Shots: Diablo doesn't dance
While this One Shots is a bit late for the Halloween holiday, but it's still not too late to be enjoyed! We figured it would be nice to enjoy a look back at some World of Warcraft areas that many people have deserted in their dash through Northrend. Today's One Shots comes to us from our staff columnist, Craig Withers, who snapped this in the Horde outpost in Nagrand at the tail end of last month. Craig writes: [This] is a little more mundane, and is simply a shot of one of my characters turned into mini-Diablo during the Hallow's End event. Despite looking kind of evilly cute or cutely evil, he didn't have much going for him with no emote visuals or even a jumping animation. If you've snagged some silly or fun screenshots of yourself during a recent holiday or server event, we'd love to see them! Just send those to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game, and a quick description of what we're seeing. Your screenshots help us show off new and interesting lands here on One Shots (not to mention mean that we can quit digging through staff screenshot folders) so send yours in today! %Gallery-9798%
15 Minutes of Fame: More dings, less killing
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. The diminutive subject of 15 Minutes of Fame's inaugural profile, back in January of this year, spent a good chunk of change longer than a mere quarter-hour in the limelight. The life and times of Noor the Pacifist, who levels without experience from kills, garnered widespread attention not only here at WoW Insider but in an onslaught of hits from Digg, Stumble Upon, Fark and even the very cool people at Boing Boing. It seemed like everyone wanted to talk about the guy who plays World of Warcraft without actually killing anything. Naysayers opined that Noor would give up the ghost of the tedious task of leveling without killing long before he reached level 70. But lo and behold, here we are just post-Wrath launch – and Noor's ticked right past 70, plugging steadily along toward the new max level cap of 80. 15 Minutes of Fame caught up with him to see how he was holding up on the long, slow climb to the top.
WoW Moviewatch: An Unusual Night
You have good nights, bad nights, and then you have dang weird nights. In An Unusual Night, FireboltPro documents a dang weird night for his gnomish protagonist. He wakes up, the mood is dark and gloomy. And then, he begins suffering a rapid succession of Halloween cliches, most seemingly bent on squishing the little fella. This was an entry into the Halloween contest at WarcraftMovies.com. Some of the encounters worked for me, others didn't. The giant monster made me laugh, though I'm not sure how that particular critter has become the token Halloween comedic appearance. As a commenter on the Myndflame site mentions, the movie was a little dark (probably due to compression), and that took away from some of the details that help get the short's tension across. The ending was slightly predictable, entirely due to an ironic piece of dialogue. Still, if you're a gnome-hater, you'll find that ending satisfying. Overall, I enjoyed "An Unusual Night", and look forward to more from FireboltPro. [Via Myndflame]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Realms are up
The realms, they're back to workin'. After you've download patch 3.0.3, which is only 20 megs, you can log into the game and play around with some of the new features. We are not expecting very many realm problems tonight, since this was mainly a bug patch which fixed several outstanding issues.However if there are connection problems tonight, we'll keep you updated with all the latest news from Blizzard.So as long as you're able to get in and play, you'll quickly notice that the best part of the realms being up is that everyone and their cousin Niko is sporting the new Hallow's End title, "the Hallowed." If you weren't able to finish off everything necessary to get the achievement and accompanying title you'll need to wait until next year.Of course you could always start worshiping the Ori. I hear they're pretty hallowed as well.
An end to Hallow's End
Hallow's End went away today at 4am server time, just as sneakily as it arrived. The end of the Seasonal Event brought to a close about a month of the Scarlet Monastery being just about the most popular instance in the game. Some players ended the event completing the Meta-Achievement while others, like myself, fell short. With a mere twenty-eight minutes to go, I rounded up a bunch of guildies and used up about five summons to try and complete Sinister Calling.While I ended up missing the Hallowed Helm, two Squashling pets dropped out of five tries, which was a pretty good deal for the short time we had. We ran out of time on the last summon... as my guildie completed the quest to call out the Headless Horseman, he was able to utter the challenge but nothing came out from the grave. In fact, as the clock struck precisely at 4pm, the giant pumpkin disappeared, leaving us stupefied.It was a fun Hallow's End event, even if it did get rudely interrupted by zombies. I hope that unlike me, most of you got what you needed from the event. The mount would've been nice, but I suppose there's always next year. By that time, I hope Blizzard will update the encounter for Level 80 with matching new loot. The Headless Horseman has about 12 months to level up.
Blizzard's 2008 pumpkin carving contest winners announced
Blizzard's annual pumpkin carving contest has come to a close and the winners have been announced. I gotta say, some of them look incredible. The sheer amount of detail these people are able to pack into a pumpkin is pretty mind blowing. Like I mentioned when we displayed the Ghostcrawler pumpkin here, I'm barely capable of cutting big triangle eyes. My oafish hands would scream in horror if someone asked me to do something like these carvings. I wonder if the people who did these carvings are the sort that do it professionally for various holiday events. If not, they should be.The winners of the contest were each awarded a Logitech G51 Surround Sound Speaker System. That rig retails for about $200, so that's not a bad deal at all. Since I don't even currently own speakers and use a pair of $15 headphones, I'm a little jealous. Maybe I'll go out and buy some speakers soon. Not a $200 set, but speakers nonetheless.
WoW Moviewatch: Hallow's End Special
The Myndflame team is back with a just-in-time release for this year's Hallow's End. The Myndflame community collaborated on this machinima, and I think you can see the results of a team effort. Those folks are already known for their humor, and the Hallow's End Special isn't a let down. The basic setup is that it's Hallow's End, and everyone should have a good, scary costume. Thrall is having a bit of a challenge, and finds a book to help him on his way. (One minion tells us that his mom used to make him pretend to be scared of Thrall's costume.) I have to admit, my first thought was "Aww, poor Thrall." But, it turns out all right in the end. Like I said, Myndflame's already known pretty well for bringing the funny, and they didn't disappoint this time, either. I'm always amazed with how much emotion they get into the relatively static faces of WoW, and how their angles set up the humor of their work. Go and see it for yourself on Myndflame! Lastly, I'm fairly certain no actual kittens were harmed in the production of this movie. %Gallery-35793% Previously on Moviewatch...
Around Azeroth: This is Hallow's End
All good things must come to an end, and so it is with WoW's Hallow's End festival, which closes out tomorrow. Velarya of <Divine Comedy> on Shadowmoon has captured the spirit of the holiday with a flight over Nagrand on her broom. Have a safe and fun Halloween, whether you're taking the kids trick-or-treating, watching scary movies or attending Halloween parties. And remember, if you're going to one of the many college town street bashes, please don't go up to the police and say "nice costume." That is no longer funny after the fiftieth time. Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards%Gallery-1816%.
Send us your Halloween costumes!
Dressing up like something WoW-related for Halloween this year? Take a picture and send it to our tips line, because we'd love to see it! Whether you nabbed one of Blizzard's official costumes, worked a long time on a Tauren costume, or are just gluing some ears on and calling yourself a Night Elf, we'd love to take a look at what you're dressing up as, and we're sure our readers do, too. We'll collect all the pictures together and post them tomorrow, so we can check out what WoW fans are pretending to be this Halloween.And if you need some inspiration, here's all of our costume galleries from the past two BlizzCons and the results of last year's ingame contest. Sure, you probably can't beat that girl on the turtle (or can you?), but as the couple and their adorable baby Murloc above show (they're from Blizzard's official gallery from last year), even a little bit of costume goes a long way.%Gallery-9805%%Gallery-34205%%Gallery-5529%
A very crabby Hallow's End
Yeah, I know, more Ghostcrawler love. We all look like a bunch of fanboys, don't we? Well, what can I say, we love developers that communicate, even if they make mistakes and end up wrong sometimes. We're not the only ones that love him, either.The fabulous crab-o'-lantern above was made by Isana of Lightning's Blade-US. As far as we know, there's no huge story behind it, it's just downright cool. It's made even more cool by the fact that my jack-o'-lantern skills don't go beyond triangle eyes and crescent moon mouths, so this just blows my mind. I think it's about time I pick a quirky mascot so people start carving me pumpkins. I'm cool too, right? ...Right?Guys? Why are you leaving?
FOX news covers WoW's Zombie Invasion
FOX news picked up the story of the big zombie invasion, citing that the plague came to an end on Tuesday. They covered the event as a deliberate contagion that, if left "untreated," would turn you into one of the "flesh-eating zombies." Like our own Mike Schramm, FOX parallels this purposeful in-game disease with the previous accidental "Corrupted Blood" plague. I love it when WoW is in the news. I love it even more when the media's not talking about us being game-addicted fiends smashing the buttons for our Pavlovian treat. While FOX's story isn't exactly ground-breaking info for those of us toiling against the continuing Scourge invasion, it might reach a few of our friends and coworkers and convince them to give WoW a try. Or, this coverage could just be another sign of the impact Blizzard's game is having on the mainstream, while that 11 million subscriber base just keeps growing. And, yup, FOX's article does mention the upcoming Wrath release, so it's certainly possible Blizzard will see a few more players from the coverage. Every time WoW has an event like this which has mainstream interest, there'll be a few more people logging for the first time to see what the buzz is about. And, hey, it certainly lines up with the Holiday theme.
Breakfast Topic: Last minute tasks for Hallow's End
The Hallow's End event is set to end in a couple of days. During its first years, the event was merely a way to get some moderately useful candy. Last year, the introduction of the Headless Horseman gave away some pretty sweet loot, giving everybody reason to visit the least popular wing of the Scarlet Monastery. Actually, before the Headless Horseman arrived on the scene, quite a lot of players had never even gone into that part of the instance!So anyway, this year Hallowed's End came along with the introduction of Achievements, and a lot of players have gone after the Meta-Achievement Hallowed Be Thy Name. Some people want it for the title, others merely as a component of the Meta-Meta-Achievement that grants a Violet Proto-Drake flying mount. My wife already has the Hallowed title in the bag for her Warlock, and the Squashling was pet number 45 towards getting herself a skunk. I just used the trick or treating to level up my Hunter -- at over 4,350 xp per bucket and the reduced XP requirement, I actually got lots of bubbles in. How about you? Have you been enjoying Hallow's End? The zombie invasion caused a bit of havoc for some people, and I'm sure it led to more than a few aborted Horseman visits, but now that its over, we can all go back to enjoying the Seasonal event in relative peace. What last minute tasks have you yet to accomplish? I know a lot of folks still need those elusive Tooth Picks, while others got really lucky with their treat bags and got the pet and helm. Daniel asked this a few days back, so I'm gonna see how everyone's done so far. With only a couple of days to go, I hope everyone's gotten what they want or need!
The voice of the Headless Horseman
It is over, your search is done! Let fate choose now, the righteous one."Over here, you idiot!" ring a bell? We've had a bunch of readers ask us lately just who does the voice for the Headless Horseman -- corny poetry aside, players are really loving the laugh and timbre of the guy who doesn't even have a throat to speak with. The most common guess we've heard is Gerard Butler, star of 300, but that doesn't really compute, as Blizzard usually uses lesser known voice actors and even most of their sound crew and artists (Chris Metzen does quite a few voices, actually, including most of the Orcs in game).We've got two guesses for the Headless Horseman: the first is voice actor Michael McConnohie -- he's done a few other voices for Blizzard before (including Kel'thuzad). While his voice is definitely recognizable (he sounds like the Human male to me), the other strong male voice we know has worked for Blizzard is Mark Graue, who runs a voice studio in LA, and has worked on WoW since the beginning (he did the Undead emotes). Here's Graue's demos -- he sounded to me like the Horseman for sure when I first listened, but a few times in, I'm not so sure any more.You can listen to the voice demos for both those guys and judge for yourself. Again, those are just guesses, based on who's worked with Blizzard in the past -- we don't really know for sure who it is. But we do have a query in to Blizzard on just whose manical laugh that is you hear when you throw a Jack-o-Lantern on your friend's head, so if they get back to us with a name, we'll post it here.
Breakfast Topic: The elusive achievements of Hallow's End
I have to admit. Achievements were a pretty bright idea. Holiday achievements, even more so. Now I have something to keep me focused through the holiday seasons, keep my eyes on the prize so to speak. For example, with Hallow's End fully underway, I've been racking up the achievements on my Hunter, looking to get that title. It's a nice goal to strive for. It's a good thing that the A Mask for All Occasions requirement will be off Hallowed Be Thy Name in 3.0.3, or I'd be in trouble. Collecting one of each different mask? Please. Actually, I haven't even managed to collect one single mask, leaving The Mask Task woefully undone. I'm not sure what it is, but even doing 3-5 Trick or Treats a day, I have not managed to get one of those flimsy things on my Hunter. In past Hallow's Ends, I seemed to be destroying masks constantly, saying not nice things under my breath. This year, I pray for one, and instead have to deal with Penny Pouches and Candy Corn and costumes and no sign of a Mask. The random number generator just hasn't been kind to me. As it is, I was afraid that the toothpicks would do me in. I didn't even get a set of Tooth Picks on my Hunter until yesterday. The other item I need to finish out my Hallowed Title is the Hallowed Helm, which comes both from the Headless Horseman and Trick or Treating. I've seen it drop from the Horseman a few times, but I've always lost the rolls. But it's a rare drop, a low drop rate and a bit of luck should be expected to be needed for this stuff. But here's the funny thing: I have actually found Hallowed Helms while Trick or Treating. The problem is, I got them on 2 of my alts, my Paladin and my Warlock. Not exactly useful for my Hunter. But I keep trick or treating, praying my Hallowed Helm luck will strike one more time, and in the meantime admire how badass my Warlock looks with a pumpkin head. How goes your achievement hunt? Do you have one or two Hallow's End Achievements that just keep eluding you? For that matter, how's your luck on the Headless Horseman? I know that despite having done a run a day on him, I have yet to see a sword, a horse, or a flying broom, so I'm interested to find if anyone is seeing those in abundance.
WoW Insider Show live tomorrow afternoon
Another big show on the podcast tomorrow -- this week we'll welcome back Matthew "Who needs a shirt?" Rossi, who hasn't been on with us for a while. And since he's on, you know we'll be talking about tanking and Shamans, specifically what things are like in patch 3.0.2. Amanda Dean will also join us, and we'll chat with her about how Hallow's End is going so far, and what else she's been up to in game. And while Turpster is off at a wedding this weekend, Duncor from WoW Radio has kindly agreed to join us, so we'll chat with him about his experiences at BlizzCon, the "zompocalypse," and what else might be in store for the big world event going on.Plus, we'll get some talk in about achievements, since we still need to give out that loot card from last week, and we'll have the usual good times, including checking out your emails (feel free to send them to theshow at wowinsider dot com) and putting a few polls in. Don't forget, the action all takes place over on our Ustream channel (I've embedded a stream after the break), and the show kicks off promptly at 3:30pm Eastern. You can use this handy time zone converter to figure out when that is in your neck of the woods.Should be fun -- we'll see you right back here (and on the Ustream page) tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern.
Reminder: It came from the Blog Hallow's End event tonight
With all the hubbub about zombies, we haven't forgotten that WoW Insider's in-game guild will be getting together to fight the Headless Horseman's flames in Brill. Here are the details: Where: Brill on Zangarmarsh Server (U.S.) When: 6:30pm Pacific Time (7:30pm Server Time, 9:30pm Blog/Eastern time) Who: Any Horde character, any class or race or level How: Send a tell to Robiness or anyone in guild for an invite to the raid and the guild. I am offering summons to new Tauren characters, but everyone else should be able to make it to Brill easily. Please login a few minutes ahead of time and make your way to Tirisfal Glades. If we have time, we may have to zombify the place -- more than it already is. I'll be there with a too much candy sugar high (though I don't like candy corn) and a few other bloggers may be attending as well (if they aren't too busy eating brains). We hope you will join us!
Scourgebane RP event on Shadow Council on October 25th
Here's a roleplay event, nicely timed to take advantage of the brain-munching Zombie plague. The Scourgebane Resolute on Shadow Council are holding a rally tomorrow (Saturday, October the 25th) to kick off their withdrawal from Outland, and re-focus their miiltary efforts toward Northrend. And like any good military body about to launch a strike, they want to convince the community of Azeroth that the Scourgebane are in the right, they have a plan, and everyone should go with them. The leader of the rally will be providing an inspirational speech, which is also recorded as an audio file. You can get a copy on their their Guild's website. And while they don't provide any information about other, structured activities, you can probably expect a plethora of roleplay, duels, and discussions about what the Scourgebane will be up to in Northrend. Since this event is taking place on the fringe of Brill, Alliance characters could drop by and hang out, also. It's on the way to the Wicker Man, which makes it easy for you to visit and say "Howdy!" (Alliance are invited, and since this is an RP server, you don't get insta-flagged for wandering nearby.) The Scourgebane don't explicitly say they'll be ganking zombies on sight -- but they are called the Scourgebane. Brain-munch at your own risk.
