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Officers' Quarters: Brainstorming future perks
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. A few weeks from now, BlizzCon will reveal all about the next WoW expansion and the evolution of the game. Guild perks aren't really at the top of anyone's list of BlizzCon announcements, but they are nonetheless a big feature of guilds now. On that front, Mists took away more than it gave us. I'm hopeful that patch 6.0 will be more generous. Here are some much-needed perks that Blizzard could provide. Bait and Switch: While fishing, you have a 30% chance to catch extra fish. Fishing has received lots of support in Mists, but the act of fishing is still deadly dull. Apologies to the last two people who enjoy it, but it is -- by a long shot -- the one thing in WoW I can't bring myself to do. The profession desperately needs an overhaul. Blizzard mentioned back in 2009 that such an overhaul was in the works, but it has yet to see the light of day. Given that fish are often ingredients in feasts, noodle carts, etc., they are a commodity that guilds need. They are also the commodity that most guild members don't want to farm. A bonus to cut down on the time it takes to farm said fish would be very welcome.
WoW Archivist: The rocky history of meeting stones
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Now that Have Group, Will Travel has been removed as a guild perk, raid groups are once again turning to meeting stones to summon their fellow raiders to the entrance. Meeting stones have a long and uneven history in WoW. They were despised and ridiculed when they were first patched in. They've gone through periods of high use and periods where they were all but ignored. What was their original purpose? How have they changed over the years? Read on to find out! The original dungeon finders Even in early vanilla, Blizzard was trying to find ways to make it easier for players to run dungeons together. In those days, most dungeons formed either in guild chat or trade chat. Players made their own groups and then took zeppelins, flight points, etc. to the dungeon entrance. In March 2005, patch 1.3 gave us Blizzard's first attempt at a grouping system: the lowly meeting stones. In their first incarnation, meeting stones could be clicked to place you in a queue for their dungeon. The queue tried to match you up with players of a similar level and to find a tank and a healer. Players hated meeting stones immediately. It was a deep and abiding hate.
Have Group Will Travel is gone -- now what?
Patch 5.0.4 is the point at which even if you have a group, you can no longer travel. Gone are the days of sending one poor soul to wait at the instance while the raid leader hangs out in Orgrimmar or Stormwind, spamming trade chat for ranged DPSers. Have Group Will Travel will be removed from the game with this patch, replaced with a boost to flight path speed. For those of you who had gotten used to its presence in the game, what do you do to get to your instances now? There are a few methods available. Of course you can fly, ride or walk to instances. If you know roughly where you're headed -- for example, Dragon Soul is in the Caverns of Time in Tanaris -- you can hop a flight path to as near as possible to your destination. For Dragon Soul, that is probably Gadgetzan.
Have Group, Will Travel replaced with faster flight paths, flask "Chug-A-Lug" perk removed
We knew from the press tour last week that the current level 21 guild perk Have Group, Will Travel was going away. Looks like we now know what it's getting replaced with: Ride Like the Wind: Take it for what you will; I'm sure the reaction is going to be pretty strong. Blizzard has said that it wants people to get out into the world more and not have WoW just be a game where you sit in a city waiting for things to happen. This will certainly do that in terms of raiding. The flask perk has also been removed, according to the list at Wowhead. It could appear as a perk in a later guild level (if that happens), but as it stands now, Chug-A-Lug isn't in the beta. It's been replaced with ... wait for it ... increased health from bandages with The Doctor is In. Of course, this is the beta, so it all could change. Time will tell if this sticks or not. [Thanks to Cutaia for the tip and our friends at Wowhead for the awesome datamining!]
