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Breakfast Topic: The perfect group
You've been trying for days to get a group together to run an instance so you can clear out your quest log. Your guild isn't interested in whatever you're up to, and you've wound up in the looking for group channel, where you find three rogues and a hunter who are interested in joining you. Hopefully at this point you wake up from your nightmare... at which point you may be compelled to spend some time considering the ideal group configuration. So what classes would you put in your ideal group? For a 5-man, a 10-man, a 25-man?
What will we call Magister's Terrace?
MT = Mana Tombs.MT = Main Tank.MT = Mistell.MT = Montana (well it does).And now, we've got a new instance coming to the game called Magister's Terrace. And people are wondering the exact same thing I first thought when I heard that yesterday: what do we call it? Terrace? "5man Sunwell"? MagTer? MrT?Sure it's not the most important issue in the game today. But someone's got to think of this stuff, or else we'll end up with:[2. Trade]: Mohawk: LF1M need MT for MT. Whoops, MT, wrong channel.
Patch 2.3 on WoW Insider
Happy patch day! Yes, it's time for patch 2.3 today, and boy do we at WoW Insider have a lot of information for you about today's patch. If you want the whole thing in one big chunk, you can always check out our patch 2.3 tag page, featuring every post that's been tagged with patch 2.3 ever. Let's start at the beginning: the first 2.3 PTR patch notes, and then the first updates to those. One of the first things we noticed was that Griftah is back in town. How to make one of those spiffy Engineering flying machines. Amanda also cooked up a checklist for making that mount. Insider Trader checks out professions in 2.3. Updates to the UI that you may have missed hearing about. Matthew checked out the new Dustwallow Marsh. The minimap got a huge buff. No more Hunter deadzone (but you still need 5 yards to shoot someone). Guild banks are in but they ain't going to be cheap. Amanda M. gets you to exalted with Sporeggar for that new sporebat pet. John did a ton of great tips for farmers before and after the patch: Before parts one and two, and After parts one and two. Eliah checked out the pre-60 dungeons to see what's new in there. And we posted a preview yesterday of what's sure to become the most popular instance in the game, Zul'Aman. And this is just scratching the surface -- use the search box at the top to find anything else you'd like to know about 2.3 -- we covered it all, from the season 1 arena item prices to how Elemental Shamans got buffed to what casuals can do for fun in 2.3 to the changes to Aimed Shot. There is just a ton of stuff changing in our favorite game today, and if you're wondering about it, odds are we wrote a post about it. 2.3 is here!
The Rift loot guide part three lists Minstrel, Lore-master goodies
Ten Ton Hammer has been giving us the lowdown on all the shiny new gear LotRO players can acquire in The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu, the new raid instance Turbine added to the game in the Book 11 update. First they listed the coin rewards. Second, it was the gem rewards for Guardians and Champions. They've just launched part three and this time they're covering all the sweetness Minstrels and Lore-masters can acquire with the elusive gems that drop in the instance.Lore-masters can get a new armor set awesomely and appropriately called "The Elder Days," which gives mad stat boosts as well as some shadow damage mitigation. Minstrels can gather up the pieces of a suit of armor called the "Armour of the Wandering Bard," which provides similarly sweet stat bonuses and tactical critical modifiers. There are new weapons for both classes as well.It's excellent gear, and all this on top of all the other lovin' Minstrels and Lore-masters got in Book 11. We'll let you know when part four of the guide hits the streets.
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Barad Glaran entry added to LotRO Lorebook
Turbine has gone to great lengths to stay true to J.R.R. Tolkien's gigantic library of Middle-earth lore in The Lord of the Rings Online. Regularly updating the official Lorebook is one of the ways they've tried to appeal to gamers who are fans of the literature.Every now and then they write up a new entry to fill us in on the story behind a place or person in the game world. This week, it's the high-level instance of Barad Gúlaran in Angmar. Barad Gúlaran used to be the fortress of the dreaded Witch-king, chief of Sauron's Nazgúl. When a few heroes chased the Witch-king away in the name of the free peoples of Middle-earth, the fortress was left open for plundering ... but it's still not exactly safe.Turbine included a couple of really nice screenshots of the dungeon, as well. And if lore isn't enough for you, you can learn a bit about the gameplay experience of Barad Gúlaran at the unofficial LOTRO-Wiki. That is, if you can tear yourself away from grinding Deeds!
Patch 2.4 is nearly ready for testing
"Sunwell is coming along nicely," says Tigole (a.k.a. Jeffery Kaplan). "It will be on the PTR shortly after 2.3 goes to the live realms. We still need to perfect 2.3 a bit on the PTR." There it is. Most of us suspected that patch 2.4 would be the big Sunwell patch, but now it's official. There's going to be lots of new instancing coming up once all the big changes in patch 2.3 go live. Tigole even adds that "The 5 person dungeon is complete and the 25 person raid instance is progressing nicely. There's also a cool "public" area featuring brand new daily quests called Sunwell Isle." The 5-person dungeon plus even more daily quests are a bit more to look forward to for those casual gamers who thought all their goodies were finished in 2.3, and that 2.4 would be almost entirely about the new 25-person raid dungeon. For the more hardcore-inclined among us, this will be the startling conclusion to The Burning Crusade expansion, the last big raid before Wrath of the Lich King! How does it feel? Exciting? Nostalgic? More of the same?
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?
WoR previews Zul'Aman
World of Raids has posted everything they know about Zul'Aman, the next 10man instance due in patch 2.3. Tigole has said that Zul'Aman is coming to the PTR next week, so if your guild is a big fan of the PTR, you could be headed to the Troll city in the Ghostlands very soon.They've got pictures up of four of the bosses, and info about the two last bosses, Hexlord Zin'jakk and Zul'jin himself, that we'll fight together. The first boss (whichever one that is-- I thought it was the Bear boss, but that fight seems more complicated) is supposed to be easier in terms of raid coordination, but Zul'Aman is definitely a continuation of what's going on in Karazhan, according to Blizzard. They say the difficulty will start around Nightbane or Prince and head upwards from there. Also, as we've heard, Zul'Aman will have a timed quest similar to the Baron Run, where you can try doing the instance quickly to earn better loot.Exciting stuff. I usually stay away from the PTRs, just because I like seeing stuff when it's released live on the realms, and any progress I make in the PTRs is eventually lost. But 10 mans are always fun, and I love the Zul instances, so whenever the PTR hits this week, you just might find me there taking down Trolls.Thanks, Atryd!
Things to know about Patch 2.2
As is common with any major patch day, there are a few issues. Here are a few from the forums and what I've experienced:Instance servers are crashing on many realms. From AV to Tempest Keep, players are having a hard time completing instances. Raiding is particularly hard hit.It's OK to delete the Auction Sale Pending notice from your mailbox. You will still get your cash when the new 1 hour delay is up. And, yes, everyone else seems to hate the new delay, too.Windows resolutions and UI Scaling have been tweaked. It's not your imagination and it also, according to Hortus, isn't a bug. Changing resolutions of the same aspect ratio will only give you a higher or lower image quality, but otherwise your view will not change. Windows are automatically resized to maintain aspect ratios and to reduce issues with stretching and distortion. If you aren't happy with the new size of your UI, turn on UI Scaling in the Video menu and adjust it accordingly.Hopefully the instance servers will have been fixed by the time the patch is live in Europe. Sometimes it's better not being first.I also recommend checking out the undocumented patch notes.
Breakfast Topic: Your favorite instance
For today's Breakfast Topic, we're asking a question I'm not even sure I could answer. I can often be found playing a healer, which makes running instances (and I do mean smaller instances, not raids) is my favorite thing to do. And in the game right now there are so many great instance runs to choose from that it's hard to pick just one as a favorite. But, fortunately, I'm not asking myself, I'm asking you -- what's your favorite small instance (not raid) to run in World of Warcraft today? And if you have a favorite, why is it your favorite? (Great loot, good reputation, amusing mob chats, what?) Tell us all about it in the comments!
The eventual nerfing of Karazhan
When Lua from Doomhammer posts on the forums asking for a little Karazhan trash relief, Bornakk (who's new on the forums-- not sure whether he's a CM or a mod yet) says no-- Blizzard is happy with the pacing of Karazhan. So you're meant to be taking a long time clearing all those little mana guys before and after Curator.But this idea of making Karazhan faster brings up another point I've been mulling over for a while now. When we first heard about Kara, a "new 10man instance," back when we were all playing vanilla WoW, I got really excited about the fact that we were going to have a new UBRS-- an epic raid that 10 people could finish off in a few hours. Kind of a short but preview of the bigger raids to come. Fighting Rend while Nefarian was yelling at him was some of the best times I'd ever had in WoW, and I looked forward to leading the same kinds of groups through Karazhan.But Karazhan didn't turn out like that, did it? It's still more complicated, and for many guilds, it's still the main event. There's a timer on it, most groups take at least two days to clean it out, and while the encounters in UBRS weren't necessarily easy if your group wasn't up to it, the encounters in Karazhan are pretty merciless-- Moroes takes coordination that even the Drakk fight never needed.That's not necessarily a bad thing-- I like Karazhan a lot. But just as UBRS was diluted from its original form (as a harder 15 man instance with more trash than it has now), I wonder if Karazhan will eventually have the same fate. When more and more guilds have moved up the ladder, and we're all farming Zul'Aman and progressing on Mount Hyjal, will Blizzard eventually nerf Kara into the new UBRS, with streamlined trash and no timer?
Guildwatch: King me!
I think it would be really fun if, once you downed a boss like High King Maulgar, your guild got to run the instance for the next group coming through. As in, you all took Maulgar's place, and when the next raid showed up, they had to fight your guild. Sounds like fun, right? No? Ok, well, it was just an idea.Meanwhile, click the link below to read this week's dose of drama, downing, and guild recruiting notices. My ideas might not be so great sometimes, but your stories of guild happenings around the world of Azeroth always are. Send your own to wowguildwatch@gmail.com to see them here next week!
Why do we raid?
It's a question that comes up more and more as I talk to my friends in the game. Why do we raid? The topic comes fairly close to home because I am in a situation where raiding is not quite on the horizon. Sure we have our Kara keys, but the coordination of an actual run has been far from successful. In addition to whatever challenges we have in my guild, there is the fact of my class. I am a mage, and currently the best gear I can reasonably attain is crafted, not found in an instance. So why am I pushing to raid Karazhan when I can get gear made that is better than what I'll find? Quite simply put, I want to know. I want to know what it is like to experience the instance. The more I see of the Warcraft universe, the more I come to appreciate the complex beauty of it as a whole, with rich and deeply laid foundations of story and lore that intrigue me. If the game were a novel (and I've read the novels too, this is just a metaphor) I would sit down at the beginning and read until the end. Raiding is the climax to the story as it has been told, since the pivotal plot points are told in the raid instances. It is in Mount Hyjal that players finally face Archimonde, and in the Black Temple where they can best Illidan, providing they are uber uber leet. In order to read to the end of the story, you must raid. I guess what I'm saying is that I want to raid not only for the chance for sweet gear, and I'm sure there is some still out there for me, if only in the form of weapons. I want to raid because of experience itself. But many are disillusioned with the game since TBC, and some say raiding is broken. Why still do players charge out into the 25-man instances, if they feel that the accomplishment has lost its grandeur despite the game elements becomin more difficult to overcome? Why do we raid? [via James]
It came from the Blog: Into the portals we go wrap-up!
If you missed last week's guild instance-stravaganza in It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh, you missed out on some real fun. Most of us are pretty low level still and many of us are playing unfamiliar classes -- but I have to say we had a blast storming Ragefire Chasm and the Deadmines in all-guild groups. (And when things broke up, some of us took the party into Warsong Gulch.) But even if you missed out, you can experience some of the fun vicariously through our event screenshots. (I know looking through them brings back memories of many a nostalgic Deadmines run for me!)And even if you haven't yet joined us on Zangarmarsh, you're still welcome to hop on for some good times -- there's no level requirements and no class restrictions and whatever you want to play, we'd be happy to have you. Our next event is coming up this Saturday, at 10:00 AM server time, when we're going to be playing hide and seek in the Undercity. (And after that? Who knows!)%Gallery-4105%
Around Azeroth: Entering Uldaman
Reader Marcus sends in this excellent screenshot taken while heading into my least favorite instance -- Uldaman. However, nuisance of an instance it may be, Uldaman has some excellent scenery, including this very striking entrance portal. I mean it! Run around the world yourself and see if you can find an instance portal that has such a vibrant color palette. While the instances you find may be more fun, you're not going to beat this screenshot.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! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Need one more at meeting stone
Elizabeth put a good post up the other day about lazy folks who don't take the time to run back into an instance after a wipe, and this forum post by Eleutheria on EU Earthen Ring points out the other side of instance group laziness: Meeting stone standoffs.Here's how it should work: if there aren't yet two people in your group standing by the meeting stone, everyone in the group should be running, riding, or flying to get there. But of course that's not what really happens-- what happens is that the leader of the group makes it there first, and everyone else continues grinding, or goes to check the AH one more time, or has to run repair, or finish a BG, or any number of things that don't involve getting to the meeting stone and summoning. Worst case scenario is that people start trying to convince others to go for them, and one guy is left at the meeting stone shaking his head.Now, some people say that whoever made the group should be summoning, and in most cases, that seems like a good idea. But there are always exceptions. Even if I'm the last to enter a group, I usually start making my way towards the instance anyway-- the trip is never that long, no matter which instance you're going to, and it's better to be nice and use the flight to get another beer/soda then to sit around demanding a summon.Unfortunately, there's no real way to fix this except to call out people for just plain being lazy. I guess it would be cool if Blizzard gave a nice timed buff to the first two people in a group to use a meeting stone summon, except then you'd probably have tons of people hanging around the RFC meeting stone in Org before they queued up for the battleground. As a few people point out in the thread, probably the best way to deal with it is just to give up on the group. Maybe next time they'll be ready to work together outside the portal as well as inside.
Screenshots from inside Zul'Aman
Borst from the World of Raids forums has reported back this morning with some screenshots from the other side of the Zul'aman portal on live servers. For those of you not familiar, Zul'Aman is an instance just chock-full o' trolls, much like Zul'Farrak and Zul'Gurub are. Unlike the other two, however, the trolls in Zul'Aman make use of the beefier-looking troll model -- specifically, the Forest Trolls who are currently seen in the south-eastern side of the Blood Elf starting area. It is also, per an interview with Tigole, a L70 raid instance, although I haven't personally seen anything official from Blizzard stating if it's a 25 man or a 10 man as yet. Still, for all that the post and exploration was limited to just a couple of interior shots, it's interesting to see some small part of it. Although I do think it would be nice if we weren't killing trolls quite so much... Someone might get the idea that all of us trolls are bad, and it would be troll sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Then who would ya get to dance 'da capoeira, mon? [via World of Raids]
Breakfast Topic: Easiest Heroic
So far, I've been into exactly two Heroic-mode dungeons: Slave Pens and Steamvaults. My guild group cleared through Slave Pens fine, although we had a few wipes, all on trash mobs. Badges of Justice were of course had by all, and I got a nice main-hand for my DPS set. Steamvaults was another story: we did OK on the trash, but couldn't down a single boss. I'm also keyed for Caverns of Time heroics, but judging by how annoying Black Morass is on non-heroic, I don't think I'll be opting to turn up the intensity on that one any time soon. When a forum poster asked which Heroic was the easiest, Tseric Eyonix replied:So far I've only completed two heroic dungeons -- Slave Pens and Mechanar. Slave Pens was definitely much easier for my group than Mechanar was, however, both were fairly challenging. I'm hoping to do some others soon, but right now I'm trying to gain exhaulted with the Sha'tar faction, so running the Tempest Keep dungeons is in my best interest. Perhaps I'll do a heroics mode Botanica or Arcatraz soon.How about you guys? Out of the heroics y'all have tried, which was the least bone-crushingly difficult?
Blizzard posts Burning Crusade attunement tree
While we've certainly seen some excellent player-created guides to instance attunement in The Burning Crusade, sometimes it's just good to know there's also an official source. So it was with great glee that I opened up my email this morning to find that *other* World of Warcraft Insider (you know, the email Bliz sends you that you never read) with mention of this fabulous interactive attunement guide. While I don't know about you (and I hope you'll tell me), I know that a guide like this helps me figure out what I'm headed to do next on my path of content conquering. I honestly had no clue it would be this involved as I was leveling up, but thankfully the faction grind hasn't really felt like a grind at all. In fact, after leveling to 70 on a new shaman, and seeing most of the new instances, I'm now only missing revered with a couple of factions. So, does a guide like this from Blizzard help, or are you more inclined to use the player-generated guides?
Blue Notes: European transfers and Ghaz'an hotfix
Two bits of news for you this brunchtime. First, there's some new transfers for European realms. From Thundy: The below migrations are currently active. They're scheduled to close on Monday January 22nd, at 12:00 (noon) CET. However, again, please note that this may change at any time. Bloodhoof to Bronze Dragonflight Emerald Dream to Bronze Dragonflight Thunderhorn to Bronze Dragonflight Azjol-Nerub to Anachronos Doomhammer to Anachronos Turalyon to Anachronos Ravencrest to Agamaggan Ravencrest to Vek'nilash Neptulon to Vek'nilash Neptulon to Jaedenar Outland to Jaedenar Outland to Spinebreaker And second, Ghaz'an, a boss in The Underbog (one of the Coilfang Reservoir instances in Zangarmarsh), has been hotfixed. Apparently he was spitting poison as if he was at heroic setting; he will no longer be doing so. I've not gotten to any of the Coilfang dungeons myself, being mostly content with Ramparts and Blood Furnace, but I'm glad I won't get spit on quite so much when I do make it there. From Tseric: A hotfix has recently been applied that adjusted Ghaz'an's attack rate. The acid spit rate was occurring at Heroic mode rates, not normal mode rates. The spit should be going off at a more reasonable frequency.
