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Friendly reminder: Halo 3 Heroic maps free today [update]
Happy free Heroic Map Pack day everyone! For those with a little patience, you'll be rewarded today with Halo 3's former $10 set of maps for the cost of air (but not PerriAir; that the Spaceballs still charge for). The pack includes Standoff, Rat's Nest and Foundry. While we'd love to tell you all about these levels, we're getting our first taste of them today.With all that said, there's currently a hiccup in the system and the content – which was supposed to be free at 2AM pacific last night – is still listed for $10 on Xbox Live Marketplace. Bungie's forum has a nice thread (about to break 100 pages) on the issue and we're trying to get an answer from Major Nelson for the Microsoft angle. We'll update when the map pack actually becomes, you know ... free.Update: It's free now, go get 'em.%Gallery-10581%.
Halo 3's Heroic Map Pack to be free this Tuesday
While Bungie is probably hoping that everyone will get excited about their quickly approaching Legendary Map Pack, we'd wager that a larger percentage of the Halo 3-playing populous are instead anticipating the price reduction on Bungie's last expansion, the Heroic Map Pack. In their latest weekly update, Bungie announced the discount would come sooner than expected -- as of 2 a.m. this coming Tuesday, the pack will be free to download on Xbox Live Marketplace.For those living under rocks (or PS3s), that means you've got no reason not to purchase the formerly $10 set including Standoff, Rat's Nest, and the highly customizable Foundry. Unless you hate free things, or, even less likely, you never purchased Bungie's third ringworld romp.[Thanks, Sam.]
Hardcore Casual finds himself "stuck in easy mode"
Hardcore Casual has a post up about how easy he says World of Warcraft really is -- just by learning your class, getting the right gear, and theorycrafting a bit, you can roll right through, and get to the point where even yellow or sometimes even red monsters don't give you trouble.There is one viewpoint here (and it's not one that I necessarily espouse) that HC is just falling into the old "hardcore/casual" trap that Penny Arcade put so well this week -- he thinks that he's casual, when actually, if you're running higher-level-than-you're-meant-to five man instances with your friends (and theorycrafting a bit), you're actually what Blizzard would consider a hardcore player, and thus of course the game is easy for you. But while I think there's a little bit of that going on here, I don't think we need to go that far: the fact is that WoW is an easy game. That's how it's garnered such a big audience. And anyone who has ever beaten Diablo is going to find that yes, if you read a guide or two, run the right instances at the right times, and put some thought into your specs, you'll have an easy time.So what HC asks for is the difficulty to scale -- instead of just Normal and Heroic, have three or four modes that players can choose to set their own experience. A few games have done this already, and indeed, Blizzard may decide that that's called for in future instances (though it seems unlikely that they'll do this on older content, considering how they've abandoned it so far). But for now, WoW is an easy game, and that's the way Blizzard wants it. After all, you don't get a 10 million subscriber base by beating players up.
The best of WoW Insider: February 19-26, 2008
Quite a week in the World of Warcraft, which Joystiq sister site WoW Insider covers like a Warcraft Adventures-style bedsheet each and every single day. We continued to get lots of great information about patch 2.4 (including big news from the new raid instance,The Sunwell), and Heroics made a nice return to the news, with all the new badge loot. Oh, and we even had a liveblog go down straight from GDC. Here's our best stuff.News GDC08: Live form Rob Pardo's talk about Blizzard's approach to MMOsThe Senior VP of game design lays out what the big plan is for Blizzard's biggest game. PTR Notes: Patch note watch 2/20New buffs and nerfs continue to drop from the Public Test Realm as Blizzard gets the next patch ready to go live. 2.4 PvP sets gold and rep requirementsWhat you'll need to do to get what you want. Meet Lord AhuneBlizzard is also updating the Midsummer Fire Festival, and so here's the new Headless Horseman -- epics for everyone! Thrall gets a new Big Brother: US government wants to search for terrorists on WoWCould Bin Laden be hiding in Elwynn Forest? Features What does the Warlock Lifetap nerf mean?Lifetap got taken down a notch, but why is everyone up in arms about it? Breakfast Topic: Heroic PuGs from hellEveryone's been in a group like this, but being in a Heroic makes it even worse. Know Your Lore: The story of the Burning CrusadeThe expansion's lore is going to get wrapped up in the next patch, so here's what you need to know before we all go see the ending. Dress yourself up completely in Badge LootGot Heroic Badges? Now you can gear yourself all out. Hybrid Theory: What's a hybrid v2.0Our column on hybrid classes returns with a new writer and a new outlook on what it means to step across lines in the RPG class trinity.
WoW Insider Show Episode 26: Badges, Blizzard and buffs
This past Saturday the WoW Insider Show welcomed Amanda Dean and Adam Holisky on, as well as myself and Turpster, for the 26th episode of our podcast on WoW Radio. Despite some lackluster, if I may say so, email from readers (you can send us some better emails at theshow@wow.com), we charged through and got a lot of good discussion done: We chatted about Amanda's hacked characters, and what a little name-dropping will get you from Blizzard (not much) We confronted whether all this new badge loot makes raiding worthless (surprise -- we decided it does not) We talked about all the new class changes on the PTR, with a special look at Shamans, and the Warlock change to Lifetap. We ran over what Rob Pardo said during the GDC Liveblog And finally, we wondered just what kind of player it takes to PuG with Adam All in all, good show, and you can listen to it right now over on WoW Radio's website. You can also subscribe to our podcast in iTunes if you so choose, and we'll be back at it again next weekend -- every Saturday at 3:30pm EST. Enjoy the show!
Magister's Terrace and the meatshield: Drops to look for
Recently on the forums there have been a number of threads popping up wondering what the average tank's situation is going to look like, gear-wise, after patch 2.4 hits. Assuming you won't be raiding Sunwell Plateau anytime soon, the new 5-man dungeon Magister's Terrace is the obvious choice for new loot drops if you're raising a Warrior, Druid, or Paladin whose primary responsibility will be tanking. My guild is raiding Tier 6 at this point, but I have to admit: 5-mans are still my favorite part of the game and I've been looking forward to seeing Magister's Terrace more than anything else. But after running across a now-departed forum thread complaining that it was going to be even more difficult than usual pugging a tank for a dungeon where virtually no tanking loot drops, it occurred to me that spoiling myself a little with a look through the known drops might be in order, especially as I had heard rumors of a truly amazing drop.Well, it turns out the forum poster was right. Sort of. Thankfully, so were the rumors. If you're looking for an excellent first impression of Magister's Terrace from a tank, Adam Holisky has a write-up, but here we're going to take a closer look at the gear you can expect to see dropping.
New badge gear vendor unlocked on PTR
We've already discussed the loot, but we now have official confirmation: It is badge gear, and the vendor is unlocked with the "Make Ready" quest from the smith herself after the Armory phase of the daily chain is unlocked. You're going to want to start saving up the badges now, though. the prices are as follows: -150 badges for the two-handers, the crossbow and the one-handed caster weapons.-105 badges for the main hand melee weapons.-45 badges for the off-hand melee weapons.-100 badges for chest and leg armor.-75 badges for waist, belt, and foot armor.-60 badges for the rings.This is the PTR of course, so these totals could easily change, but if you want to get yourself some of this phat loot the moment the vendor gets unlocked on your server, you'll probably want to start planning those Karazhan runs and Heroic sessions now.If you want to go check it out yourself, by the way, the portal to Quel'danas from Shattrath has been opened on test server as well, so you can just head to the center of Shattrath city and teleport directly there. Thanks to our various tipsters for the heads up.
Tigole talks attunement
Attunement is one of those subjects that divides WoW players. You either think people should have to work to get into high-end dungeons, or you think they should be open to anyone with the guts to try. Of course, you're more likely to fall into the first camp if you yourself had to do that work, hence the recent controversy over the attunements for the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal being removed.Well, it turns out that if WoW lead developer Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan had his way, attunement would be much less of a pain. He dropped the following information in a thread on "Attunement and Alts" in the general forums today: They would like to make it so getting a Karazhan key or a heroic key gave all your other max-level alts access as well. They're looking into guild and raid attunements, but "no promises." They're interested in doing server events to open up content, like the AQ war but, Tigole says, with more fun dailies and fewer boring collection grinds. Overall, he says the topic of attunement comes up often at Blizz HQ, and they want to do better moving forward and going into Wrath.
Swift White Hawkstrider debuts in Patch 2.4
The good news just keeps on coming as Patch 2.4 is shaping up to be one incredibly sweet patch. Following the news of what might just be the coolest non-combat pet -- aside from the Pet Bombling, imho -- the Phoenix Hatchling, it appears that Kael'thas drops even more amazing stuff like the new Swift White Chocobo Hawkstrider. The model for the Swift White Hawkstrider has been in the files for quite some time now, and former speculation was that it was the PvP reward mount similar to Red Skeletal Warhorses or Black War Kodos. However, according to MMO Champion -- which has been on a massive roll uncovering the sweet loot hidden in Patch 2.4 -- the mount drops off Kael'thas in Heroic Magister's Terrace.The new patch is shaping up to be very casual-friendly, as the vanity items such as the phoenix pet and this bragging-rights mount both drop from the 5-man instance (albeit in different modes), something that all players can reasonably aspire towards. Mount aficionados can now add this to their wish list along with (if they don't already have it) Zul'Aman's Amani War Bear or the Druid epic quest boss bonus drop Reins of the Raven Lord. The bad news is that these Hawkstriders can't support the heft of Tauren or Draenei, so players dreaming of cows on chickens will have to keep on dreaming.
Raid dungeons for everyone?
Earlier today, WoW player Blabberwort posted on the official forums with an interesting suggestion: Create a new dungeon setting that allows players to explore dungeons on a lower level of difficulty. According to the poster, this "Tourist" setting (as opposed to "Heroic") would allow curious players to experience the content although they wouldn't be able to earn any loot from killing creatures in the dungeons. For many players, this would likely satisfy their raiding urges, since it seems that a lot of non-raiders would simply like to experience the content once or twice without the pressure to continually farm it for loot.Prior to the expansion, I didn't have a lot of opportunities to raid and a similar idea occurred to me. At the time I thought it would be pretty cool if there was a quest for each major raid dungeon that gave the player the chance to explore it without being able to engage in combat with any of the creatures. For instance, at the end of a lengthy quest line throughout Blackrock Mountain and the surrounding zones, you're finally tasked with a reconnaissance mission into the heart of Ragnaros's lair. You'd be able to enter the zone just like normal, but when you arrived inside the Core, you'd be wearing a non-removable Dark Iron dwarf costume. All the creatures would be friendly to you and you could talk to them as you made your way through the dungeon, completing the requirements of your quest. (Check out the quest "Who Are They?" for an example of what I'm talking about.) Perhaps you'd have to deliver a message to one of the bosses or simply visit certain locations in the dungeon, but the quest would have a definite objective and ending. If you chose not to complete the quest, you could keep it in your log and continually explore the zone.
A New Year's quest log
Everyone has New Year's resolutions, including MMO players. Here is a two-page list of resolutions we found on a particularly busy player whose list is in a particularly accessible format that any quest runner will understand.
Around Azeroth: Revenge of the Patch
Today's Around Azeroth comes to us courtesy of Dameon, level 70 Disc/Holy Priest of the Nazjatar Server. He said this about the above picture:This was taken 10 minutes after 2.3 went public and the Nazjatar realm was back up. With the release of new items from the Heroic Badge vendor, it looked like half of the server was there.Considering we have Arena Season 3 coming, I suspect this will be repeated -- only this time at the PvP gear vendors, and not at the Heroic Badge vendors. Well, except there will likely be a lot of bodies laying around them on PvP servers as players kill each other for the chance to get their gear. Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You could find your pictures and story featured next on Around Azeroth! %Gallery-1816%
Repetitive heroic dailies
I've enjoyed the heroic daily quests recently added to WoW. In addition to the new badge rewards, they give me a reason to run five-player dungeons again, which is really one of my favorite parts of the game. While some of the quests have led to frustrating situations where the group is trying to learn the strategy for a heroic dungeon that none of us have attempted before, most of my experiences have been good ones.One downside of the random nature of the quests is the fact that the same dungeon can be selected several days in a row. On my main server, Auchenai Crypts has been selected three times over the last four days. This dungeon was considerably nerfed in the last patch, but some of the encounters are still annoying and many of my guildmates have expressed their growing distaste for the instance.Have you had much repetition in the new daily quests on your server?
How are those Heroic PUGs coming?
Lane asks a good question on WoW LJ that I'd like to ask you as well-- how are those Heroic PUGs coming? With the recent changes to reputation requirements for Heroic dungeons, there's probably a whole lot more players out there ready to run Heroics and looking for groups to do it with. But as classically unorganized as most pick up groups are, and as much concentration and skill that Heroics require, I can't imagine a Heroic PUG would ever been a good time, unless you got really, really lucky. Heck, I have enough trouble running with a normal PUG-- a Heroic PUG seems like it would be hell and a half.I'm sure it's not impossible-- if you've already got a good tank and some good CC, you can probably PUG a DPS or Healer and do OK. And I'm sure that, just like real PUGs, every once in a while, you'll strike gold and get a group that really has it together. But as easy as badges are to come by nowadays, I have to stand in awe of the people who still go for Heroic PUGs. How's it going out there?
Heroic dungeons now require "Honored" reputation
This just in: In addition to the latest Patch 2.3 updates we just noted, the various heroic instance keys will no longer require "Revered" reputation with the various factions around Outland. "Honored" is now sufficient to get you in to Heroic dungeons everywhere.This raises myriad questions: Does this devalue the heroic instances at all, or does it simply open them up to more players? Is it a slap in the face to all those who had to grind their way to revered up to now, or is it just the natural progression of opening up content for more and more people to access as time goes by? Will anyone run regular Steamvents, Shattered Halls, or Shadow Labyrinth when they can just skip to the heroic versions? Will this get thousands (or millions?) of players who got burned out on the rep-grind back into the game?
Heroic badges in Kara and Zul'Aman
Dan mentioned it in a quick note earlier this morning, but this is such a big piece of news, to my mind, that it deserves an even bigger mention: in patch 2.3, Heroic badges will drop from bosses in Karazhan and Zul'Aman.That's a gigantic change. We can only guess that it'll work the same way that Heroic instance bosses do now-- every member of the raid will get to grab their own Badge of Honor for each and every boss kill. And that is big-- currently, the badges are only available from bosses in Heroic mode dungeons, which means the only way to get them is to run Heroics.Of course, whether Heroics or Karazhan are harder for you depends on your experience and your raid, but my sense of the general consensus is that most guilds are already farming Karazhan, while Heroics are only being run by small groups of really experienced players just to get the badges. And when you don't need to get the badges from Heroics any more, what reason is there to go in there?
Son saves his Dad's life - wants a PS3 for it
Usually when you hear stories about the PS3 on the local news, it's because somebody got stabbed for one or an old lady got punched in the face over it or something -- kind of depressing really. So we were stoked when we saw GamingTarget's story about a 9-year-old boy who saved his father's life and decided he deserved a PS3 for the heroic act.According to the news segment, 9-year-old Matty Lovo was able to gain control of a 100,000 pound tractor-trailer after his dad passed out behind the wheel. He used the truck's CB to call for help and a second driver was able to come and bring the truck to a stop. His grateful father was interviewed by the local news agency, and said his son "keeps telling me he thinks he needs his PlayStation 3 now for a reward."Seems like a pretty reasonable trade -- your son saves your life, you drop 500 dollars (or 600 if you're feeling extra thankful) to get him a PS3. Best part of the story though? When the co-anchor on the news show admits he has no idea how to use his own PS3. Pure Ron Burgundy right there.
Phat Loot Phriday: Icon of the Silver Crescent
The difference between a good caster and a great caster? Knowing when to pop the trinkets. And when you do so, this is the one of the best you can get.Name: Icon of the Silver CrescentType: Epic TrinketAbilities: Equip: Increases spell damage and healing by up to 43. Use: Increases spell damage and healing by up to 155 for 20 seconds A two minute cooldown, which, I've found, goes pretty darn fast. Depending on how fast your groups move, you can usually pop a trinket at least every other fight in an instance, if not more if you take a while eating and drinking between fights. And as I said: trinkets are the difference between pouring out amazing DPS or healing, and just being average. If you've got trinkets, you should be using them almost every chance you get-- the +43 damage/healing on this is nice, but if you're casting, the +155 is much better. Put those suckers on your hotbars, and light them up near the beginning of the fight (just as you're about to start casting). And as most veteran players can tell you, you can use these things twice on some boss fights-- a player casting without his trinkets in use or cooldown is a player not living up to their full potential. How to Get It: You *are* running Heroics by now, right? If you're not, that's exactly what you got to do to get this baby. G'eras in the middle of Shattrath City will take your Heroic badges and give you epix for them, so bring him 41 Badges of Justice (that's 8 and 1/5 successful Heroic Mechanar runs, or about 60 curse and stress-filled failed Shattered Halls runs, in case you're counting), and the Icon is yours.Oh, and speaking of trinkets, here's an extra piece of Phat Loot for you: If you're a caster, and you are keyed to run Heroic Mechanar, that means you're Revered with Sha'tar, so stop by the Quartermaster, also in the middle of Shattrah City and pick up Xiri's Gift. Great trinket, easy to grab, and while the equip isn't as good as this one, the use is almost as nice, without having to pick up tons of Badges.Getting Rid of It: You don't want to get rid of it. Even if you do, it's a trinket-- put it in your bags and keep it for later. Personally, I carry about six trinkets around with me, and every one has its own place and time for use.
Forum post of the day: Thrilling heroics
For all that the forums are wretched hives, every so often some really good posts come out of them. This looks like one of those posts: Tinker, of Bloodhoof-EU, has written a little guide for every heroic instance. (Well, almost all of them; Black Morass is coming soon.) The guides are copied after the cut if you want to check them out from work. He gives every heroic a difficulty rating, too; here's what he came up with: 1/5: Blood Furnace 1.5/5: Slave Pens, Mechanar 2/5: Ramparts, Underbog 3/5: Steamvault, Auchenai Crypts, Sethekk Halls 3.5/5: Botanica 3.5–4.5/5: Old Hillsbrad 4/5: Arcatraz 4.5/5: Mana Tombs, Shadow Labyrinth 5/5: Shattered Halls Looks like a pretty reasonable scale to me. I haven't run anything above a 3 on his list, so I can't comment about the relative order of those. Is this rating system accurate in your experience? And what would you give the CoT heroics?
For great (Badge of) Justice!
The other night my guild stepped into a heroic instance for the first time. Now this isn't great news for those of you who already spend your weekend nights huggling Gruul, but it's a great accomplishment for us. Since we all have the Coilfang Resevoir key we started with Slave Pens, and I must say it was a joy to have challenge in that instance again. It felt like I had been given the instance back, as it were. If I were to walk into Slave Pens at the normal level I would feel little interest since it's tuned for 62-64. I finally understand the method behind the heroic dungeon concept, to allow level 70 players to have fun going to those dungeons again. But what I'd really like is heroic dungeon settings for the old instances in Azeroth. Can you imagine what Van Cleef would be like at level 70? It makes me giddy just to think of it. We only got as far as the first boss, and then the trash beat us to a complete pulp before exhaustion forced us to quit. I really was surprised how the tides shift with heroics. I have a hard time reconciling trash mobs who are impossible to kill and bosses who are manageable. Either way I am excited to have such a novel experience added to our game play. Whoever came up with the concept of heroic dungeons was brilliant. I have my first Badge of Justice, now. Only 112 to go.
