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Inscription details: Glyphs, runewords, and more
We found out a little bit about inscription and what materials it might need when the Wrath of the Lich King beta debuted last week, and yesterday we learned that they will be helping Enchanters use the auction house, but we were still left wondering about what was originally promoted as the central purpose of the new profession: enhancing spells. Thanks to the WotLK Wiki, we now have some information on that very intriguing functionality. Spells will be enhanced by Glyphs, which will be created by inscribers and will be tradable (though there may be some inscriber-only Glyphs). Glyphs come in three sizes: Minor, Lesser, and Greater. Minor Glyphs have small effects or cosmetic changes, Lesser Glyphs give moderate upgrades to spells, and Greater Glyphs give major upgrades to spells. Each character has six Glyph slots: two Minor, two Lesser, and two Greater. The screenshot shown here is the Glyph interface, available to every character. The slots at top and bottom are for Greater Glyphs, those at top-right and top-left are for Lesser, and the sad-looking ones at bottom-left and bottom-right are for Minor glyphs. There is an ability called Glyph Mastery that's categorized under Inscription which gives access to an additional Glyph slot for the inscriber, but it is unknown how this ability is attained. Maybe it's a specialization, like other professions have.
Inscription to allow enchanters to sell on the AH
Blizzard has been saying for a while that they're working on letting Enchanters ply their trade via the Auction House. When the Wrath beta launched, we didn't immediately see any way that this feature has been implemented. However, Elisalia, a beta-tester, wrote in to let us know that she'd figured it out. The link between Enchanters and the AH is going to be Inscription, and it looks like it will work as follows: Inscriptors can create blank parchments, such as the Bleached Parchment seen in the picture. Each type of parchment works for one type of item to enchant -- armor, weapon, etc. Enchanters can cast enchantments on those parchments, to create, for instance, that Scroll of Enchant Cloak - Greater Defense. These scrolls can be listed on the AH, mailed, or traded like any other unbound item. The scrolls can be right-clicked by anyone to apply the enchantment to their own items. It's a good system, and I like it. In addition to using the AH, of course, this will also allow enchanters to give enchantments to their own alts -- about time. I wonder if Inscriptors will be able to use a similar system to vend their own spell enhancements. Also, hopefully the cost of the parchment will not be too high; if it's more than a few gold, people will likely circumvent this system entirely and keep doing enchants the way we do them now. Enchanters, does this look like a good system to you? Would you rather preserve the face-to-face, personalized nature of the enchantment transaction?
Inscription insights from the beta
While every class is getting new talents and spells in Wrath, there are three big, brand-new additions to the game: Death Knights, Northrend, and the new profession: Inscription. We've known for a little while that the general gist of Inscription would be to add effects to spells you already have, like a knockback to your fireball - basically enchantments for your skills. Now that the beta has gone up, we have a few actual examples of inscriptions and what they might need, though so far we still aren't seeing any inscriptions that add to spell effects. Inscriptions evidently require various kinds of ink, which will be made from herbs by a skill called Milling, which destroys five herbs to create ink (very like jewelcrafting's Prospecting). Parchment will also be required to create scrolls, although the items it's made from are not yet implemented. And what could this Mysterious Tarot be? Maybe just a high-level parchment, given that it requires the same reagents, only more of them? There's another skill called Decipher that "allows the deciphering of tomes, books, and scrolls," though what that might mean I"m not entirely sure.
Neth teases about tattoos in Wrath
Nethaera has been pretty visible on the forums lately, answering a lot of questions about Wrath of the Lich King. She even popped into one discussion asking about the possibility of being able to change faces in the expansion if only to say that plastic surgery isn't in the cards quite yet. However, Neth mentions that players will be able to change hairstyles, facial hair, and possibly even get tattoos. So while some of us who've chosen wrinkled, old mugs might not get a rejuvenating facelift (and Undead who don't have jaws will continue to miss them), a lot of customization will be available in the form of new horns for tauren, jewelry, and maybe tattoos. Salthem states the same thing in another thread, saying that there's a lot of development to be done, but that this was the direction they were taking.The April Fool's prank that Blizzard pulled this year featured the Guitar Hero-inspired Bard class, and pictures of the character had intricate tattoos on both arms. Some early speculation posited that it could be from the new profession Inscription. It could be that the tattoos were just an artist's embellishment for the prank, but it's equally probable that the barber shops in Northrend just might be tattoo parlors, as well.
Neth hints at the next gold sink
With the advent of the Burning Crusade, flying and epic flying mounts at 70 became a sink for the extra gold floating around Outlands in player's pockets. There has been speculation ever since about what a similar sink might be in Wrath of the Lich King. In jest, Nethaera put forth the following:Animal rescue centers will be set up by D.E.H.T.A (Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals) and the movement to rid the world of Nessingwary will need funding! Save the penguins! Save the world!Considering what a pain the Nessingwary quests can be, it's almost sad that he gets to continue recruiting for the butchering of beasts. Still, at least there will actually be penguins to "save!"She also hinted at some of the actual possibilities for our next big purchases. Inscription will be the next trade skill, which will likely see many players dropping other professions and paying to level it, as well as all players shelling out hard-earned gold in order to purchase inscriptions on a regular basis.
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?
Breakfast Topic: Looking forward to Wrath (revisited)
Just a week and a half or so ago, we wanted to know what you were most looking forward to in Wrath of the Lich King, and then last Friday we heard about umpteen million new things about Wrath. So we should probably ask again: considering what we learned last week, now what are you most excited about for the next expansion?New talents solidly won the poll last time around (and unfortunately, it one of the thing we haven't heard much about yet -- besides the Warlock hints, Blizzard hasn't said much about what classes will be able to do in the next ten levels), but surely the 10/25 man news (that we've been talking about all weekend) will get some more folks excited about the raids. And personally, I'm much more excited about siege engines than I was before Friday -- I previously thought it would only be a few quests in Lake Wintergrasp, but from what we heard, siege engines and multi-person mounts are going to become a big part of life all over Azeroth.So how's your outlook on Wrath of the Lich King looking now? Are you still waiting to hear about those new talents, or did all that news on Friday pique your interest in something else? What are you most excited about for the next expansion?
Arcane Brilliance: The world of Mage-crafting, part 2
Each Saturday, Arcane Brilliance jumps off the ledge near the lumber mill in Arathi Basin and Slow Falls all the way to your computer screens...at which point it PoM-Pyroblasts the guy defending the blacksmith and caps the flag solo...after which it gets killed by a Warlock at 25% health. Last week we discussed four of the seven crafting professions and what they had to offer Mages. This week we'll move on to the rest, including wild speculation about what Inscription might have to offer those of us who enjoy wearing dresses into battle.When I started WoW and rolled my Mage, I asked around and perused the official website and learned that I should probably be a tailor. I wore cloth armor, so it seemed like a no-brainer that I should take the profession that would give me gear I could wear. I gave that strange undead man outside Brill my ten copper pieces and he taught me to fashion pants from scraps of linen I had removed from corpses. I have never really regretted that decision, though I have since learned that while Tailoring is a fine choice for a Mage, it's certainly not the only choice. Almost every profession out there offers something worth having to our wonderful class, and some of them might surprise you. Last week we went over the unique benefits of Enchanting, Engineering, and Blacksmithing (although that last one really doesn't offer much to us at all), in addition to Tailoring, the old stand-by. This week, we're going to explore Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, and the three secondary professions.Come back after the jump for the details, along with as much unsolicited commentary as you can stand.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Are warriors underpowered?
The Care and Feeding of Warriors knew that there would be discussion of whether or not warriors are broken, and so decided to provide picture evidence that at least one warrior is broken indeed! Matthew Rossi apologizes for that pun. Really, he couldn't be expected to resist it, now could he? Look, mob violence never solved anything.I have in the past written about what's not broken in the warrior class. So you might think that a column entitled "Are warriors underpowered?" would be easily answered with a no, and then we could move on.And so it is. See you next week!Oh, right. I still have to write a column. Also, to be fair, the answer is more complicated than no, although it ultimately works out to a no by means of averages. Warriors in the whole are not underpowered or broken, but they have some issues. Some aspects that have always annoyed me. It's too bad I don't have a weekly column about warriors so I can talk about that, isn't it?
Inscriptions hidden in patch 2.4
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/First_WoW_Wrath_of_the_Lich_king_Inscription_spell_found'; Blizzard has included the first look at inscriptions via hidden entries in the patch 2.4 data files. Inscription will be a new profession that will be released with Wrath of the Lich King. We are treated to an early glimpse at the Demonic Runes inscription that will increase fire damage done by the Mage Fireball spell by 50 additional points. The data is courtesy of WoW Head. There are two important things to realize from this newly discovered information. First, it shows that Blizzard is hard at work on Wrath of the Lich King, and is already starting to include content in the patch files. We saw this same behavior in patch 2.0 with Jewelcrafting recipes. %Gallery-5525%
Surprises may loom in Wrath
Relmstein has posted a theory that Blizzard has been holding back some surprising features of the upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King. We've had no news about the expansion for quite awhile now, and no news might mean good news. In the near future, World of Warcraft will be facing some hefty competition from the MMO world, from games such as Warhammer Online. Relmstein has asserted that "Lake Wintergrasp, one hero class, and ten more levels...can't hold up the expansion". Compared to what the competition will have to offer, if Blizzard doesn't up their ante, the launch of Wrath of the Lich King could get lost in the mix. Of course, the expansion will also be including a new profession called inscription, as well as siege weapons, new NPC races, changeable hairstyles, new dances, and other interesting details. Askander, a commenter, pointed out that pre-BC, Blizzard withheld the announcement about the "Shaman/Paladin faction swap" until late in the game, surprising many players. While some players may remain cautiously skeptical, Tigole has been on the forums hinting of bigger things to come. What do you think? Does Blizzard have some dynamic plans in the works that they're not sharing for the upcoming expansion, or will they launch with only the announced features? Do you think they have underestimated their competition, or have grown distracted with development of their upcoming MMO and Starcraft 2? Wrath did make Yahoo!'s list of the most anticipated games of 2008, and was the only expansion listed. Can Wrath live up to our expectations without added features?
Learning a third profession at level 80
Nerrisa brings up an interesting idea on the forums that I hadn't considered before-- what if we all got to choose a third profession when we reach level 80? For some, handling two professions is more than enough, but there are also plenty of people who could definitely benefit from a third. And although the professions are paired off pretty well (Alchemy and Herbalism, Leatherworking and Skinning), there are definitely some trios that would work well also-- Enchanting goes great with anything, and Mining, Blacksmithing and Engineering would be a great combo, too, for power players who've reached 80 and are looking for lots more to do.Of course, Bornakk says no to the idea (actually, as Incgamers points out, he really says there are "no unannounced plans" for it to happen, which is quite a few qualifiers for him), so it's unlikely that we'll have an extra profession slot to face Arthas with. But don't forget that we will have a new profession, Inscription, and if Blizzard adds many more professions, maybe we will need a third slot to keep them all straight. I'd love for my characters to learn more, I'm just not sure if I'd have the diligence to get them all to 375-- I'm having enough trouble with two as it is.
More WotLK info from Games for Windows
World of Raids has more info up from the Games for Windows spread about Wrath of the Lich King. Eliah posted the zone list yesterday, and while we've heard some of this stuff before, there are a few juicy new tidbits. On the Sunwell, it seems the Burning Legion is using the Mana Forges in Netherstorm to power the Sunwell and summon Kil'Jaeden. The instance will have 6-8 bosses, and Kil'Jaeden will not be fully summoned when you fight him (which is supposed to explain how 25 level 70s can drop him). Dalaran will have one or two instanced dungeons in it (!), and will not have Auction Houses. It will have portals, including maybe one to Shattrath. There's some good Death Knight info, including a new AoE spell called Death and Decay. Blood runes will be damage oriented, Unholy runes will be utility and DoTs, and Frost runes will be CC-ish abilities. Finally, Inscription will give players the ability to sell scrolls (is it just me, or did the developers clearly say at BlizzCon that inscribers wouldn't sell scrolls?), and they will only be able to update "core spells"-- Priest's Mind Control no, Hunter Freeze Traps yes. Get ready for a round of QQing about what "core spells" are. Don't get too excited-- the expansion is still a long way away (and Zul'Aman is coming much sooner than Arthas will). But it is good news, especially the idea of dungeons inside Dalaran. Creatively implemented dungeons seeped in lore are always a good thing.Update: Changed Mind Control back to Mind Vision. And apparently it was just me who thought devs said no scrolls at BlizzCon.Thanks, Meth!
Two Blizzard inverviews from Leipzig now on video
Yesterday, new Wrath of the Lich King information began trickling out of the Leipzig Game Convention in Germany. Journalists are lining up to talk to Blizzard and two of the interviews with Warcraft Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan can be viewed as video. First, we reported on German game site Buffed's interview with Jeff Kaplan that revealed more details of the new COT: Stratholme instance and an explanation of the Death Knight rune system. If you go to their page, scroll down past all that German and you'll find a video of the interview (in English!)Later in the day, we covered Curse Gaming's own interview with Kaplan that announced Utgarde Pinnacle, gave more detail on the new Inscription profession, revealed the plan behind the increased pre-60 leveling curve and explored the dev's thoughts about giving the Hunter class some PvP love. Now Curse has put up a video of the interview.Leipzig isn't over yet. Hopefully we'll have more revelations before the weekend is over.
More Wrath info from Leipzig
It seems that WoW Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan has a new bit of expansion information for every journalist he talks to at this week's European Game Conference in Leipzig, Germany. This batch of news comes from Curse gaming, who has sent a couple of journalists over to get the scoop. We already know about the L70 instance called Utgarde Keep in the Howling Fjord zone. Now we learn that there will be a second wing of the instance for L80 players called Utgarde Pinnacle. Both dungeons will have Normal and Heroic modes. Yay for key grinding! Anybody? The new Inscription profession will do more than increases effectiveness of spells and abilities. Devs are playing with the concept of using Inscription to improve other elements like range, duration, etc. The "increased leveling curve" of levels 20-60 is going to be accomplished two ways: reduction of the amount of experience required per level and increasing the amount of experience a quest grants by 30%. To address Hunter concerns, Blizzard is considering a Woodworking profession as well as a Mortal Strike kind of ability that reduces healing effectiveness on the target in PvP. These are just ideas they are currently considering and have not been confirmed as going live. The full interview can be read on Curse's front page. Curse promises a video of the interview later tonight. I'll update this post with the link when it goes live.As for the pre-60 leveling increase, I've been toying with leveling an enhancement shaman, but have been weary about the grind. This may be the incentive to get me to accomplish that goal. Is this enough for you? Will you level an alt before the expansion?
Insider Trader: When good patterns go green
Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Nothing interrupts a peaceful night of crafting like a lunatic guildmate ranting about learning a coveted new pattern, only to find that it's already green in skill level – nothing, that is, except that sickening feeling in your stomach as you consider what you'll do when your favorite patterns go green. Skilling up a profession can be a rollercoaster ride, if you don't hit the right patterns at the right time. (Of course, all the professions have those infamous "dead zones," when skilling up seems to be based on either unfathomable luck or unfathomable finances – or maybe both. But we'll cover dead zones in another installment.)Skilling up in a profession can happen when you create an item that's listed in green, yellow or orange in your tradeskill window. Items listed in grey will not give you any skill points for creating them; red listings anywhere means you don't have the required skill level. Just as it does with creatures you fight, pattern color indicates difficulty and skill-up potential. Green items raise your skill occasionally, yellows about half the time and oranges every single time. (The exception to orange skill-ups occurs in skinning, in which successfully skinning an orange creature does not guarantee a skill-up.) As a burgeoning crafter, your goal is to find patterns that are relatively easy to get the materials to make while providing a solid shot at skilling up. While orange patterns offer a guaranteed chance of gaining a skill point, the best bang for the buck is often a yellow pattern.And that's where things start getting murky ...
Bring on the horizontal changes, please
Mystic Worlds lays out exactly what is, in my humble opinion, the biggest problem with World of Warcraft right now: We need some horizontal change. As I said in my impressions of BlizzCon, Blizzard seems intent on building more and more vertical content into the game-- Zul'Aman is built to be played after Karazhan, and Wrath of the Lich King will add another 10 levels onto the top of the 70 we have now. And while Blizzard keeps building up, they're more or less ditching everything that happens from 1-58. Even worse, the only changes we're seeing there are going to be to move past that stuff faster-- not only are they ignoring it, they're working on pushing it out of the game entirely.So Mystic Worlds wants more horizontal changes. That doesn't necessarily mean midlevel content (although a lot of her suggestions mean more things to do for midlevel players). Instead it means that Blizzard should take a breath, and set their teams on making the existing game experience more fulfilling. Things like guild halls, single player dungeons, more professions (Inscription will probably provide new items 1-70, but Woodworking has been necessary for a long time), and little touches-- more live events, gambling minigames (that all players can do), and fun little additions that all players can get involved in, not just those who have made it to 70.Now, there has to be some part of Blizzard that is pushing for this stuff-- it's not quite as simple as casual vs. raiders in this case. But Blizzard seems to think that they're behind on high end content, and that they're rushing to catch up to players who are hungry for more of it. I don't think either perception is true. If anyone is hungry for new things to do, it's players who have more than three alts, and yet a main that hasn't yet reached 70. I'm more than willing to trade one of the three or four 25 man instances planned in WotLK for two or three of these "horizontal changes," and I'd guess most other players are, too.
BlizzCon Profession recap featuring Inscription
At BlizzCon, we learned of what Blizzard has planned for professions in patches as well as the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. We are not getting a knitting profession any time soon, regardless of what Penny Arcade says, but we are getting Inscription and a lot of love for our current professions.What kind of love? How, what, when? Your questions are answered after the jump:
Wrath of the Lich King Demo panel: liveblogging from BlizzCon
We are live on the floor at BlizzCon, and in just a few minutes, the devs will sit down on stage and show us everything that the Wrath of the Lich King entails. Tom Chilton, Jeff Kaplan, and Lee Sparks will all be here right around 1pm (2 minutes by my clock), and updates are forthcoming.The liveblog starts right after the jump. Here we go!
