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Naxx-10 loot discovered
The ten-man version of Naxxramas was enabled in last night's beta patch, including loot. And thanks to insomniac beta testers and to MMO-Champion, we now get to see a whole bunch of that loot, including class sets, which is what I'm most interested in at the moment. The class sets aren't quite finished yet – their names are things like "Naxxramas 10 Rogue Set," and there aren't any set bonuses – but it's still interesting to see what sort of stats Blizz is planning on giving us. Some observations: The item level on all this stuff is 200; Kil'jaeden's drops are ilvl 164. Given that two tiers are typically about 14 ilvls apart, this implies that when we see Naxx-25 loot it will probably be ilvl 214 or so. I know that we've got spell power now, and no +healing, but it still took me a few minutes to figure out why I couldn't find a healing weapon. Melee one-handed weapons are doing 143 DPS; by comparison, Hand of the Deceiver, from Kil'jaeden, does 114 (the highest currently available in a one-handed weaopn). I don't like to see items with shield block on them that aren't shields (Deflection Band, Waistguard of the Tutor), since only half of the tanks can use them. There's an oddly large amount of crit rating on the Priest healing set. Is this a consequence of some change I haven't quite digested yet? Anyway, this all looks good; go look at the items yourself at MMO-Champion. I can't wait to see what they're going to do with tokens, and to see some of the Naxx-25 stuff start to drop.
Eliah Hecht09.06.2008
Terra Nova looks back (and forward) at the Diku legacy
EverQuest, World of Warcraft, The Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and many other MMOs all have one important thing in common. Well, okay; they have a lot of things in common -- like about 85% or more of their gameplay mechanics. But the main thing -- indeed, the reason why they have so much in common -- is that they are all descendants of a kind of text MUD game called Diku.Acknowledging that, virtual worlds blog Terra Nova published a "State of the Diku" article for the year 2008. The article was written by Timothy Burke. It's mostly a dispassionate look at game design -- serious business. Burke starts out questioning the purpose of "vendor trash" drops (or grey items as they're generally known in many popular contemporary MMOs). Then he analyzes the public quests of Warhammer Online, viewing them as a positive variation on traditional Diku design.If you're into thnking critically about MMO design, it's worth checking out. We take for granted the fact that most of today's MMOs are based on the Diku formula; maybe that means we're clinging to old ideas that don't make a lot of sense in today's world.
Samuel Axon08.30.2008
Asheron's Call's 100th update is live and kicking
The much-heralded 100th Asheron's Call update has finally arrived! In addition to new areas and monsters, it notably adds in the highly anticipated faction system, with three distinct societies that players can join. There are also two new towns which may be captured in PvP. The society that controls a town will have access to the Black Market, which sells special items unavailable anywhere else.A new tier of loot has been added -- mostly for levels 150 and up -- which includes armor sets for players above level 180 and items used in crafting new spells. Yep, there are new spells -- a whole level of them in fact! Level 8 spells may either be researched in the traditional way, or learned via combination of certain item drops from the new tier.The complete release notes, including details on how to acquire items in the new loot tier, are available at Turbine's AC website. This is a huge update (accompanied, of course, by the August event), and it's a great time to feel proud that you're among the special few playing Asheron's Call today.
Samuel Axon08.27.2008
Mega Man 9's item shop is the future of Mega Man's past
Though it's intended as a sort of continuation of Mega Man 2, Mega Man 9 still manages to sneak in some elements from the later games. The item store is full of things that have shown up in Mega Man 6 and later, which is fine! We like later Mega Man games, and the idea of synthesizing the best elements from the whole series is a sound one. Plus some of this stuff is really helpful.You can use the bolts found throughout the levels to buy these items. Just for reference, we saw several of these bolts in the E3 demo levels, but couldn't reach any of them. So good luck! You can probably figure out what they all are from looking, but we'll describe them for you as well after the break.
JC Fletcher08.14.2008
This is a very fast rug
We've already talked about what was said in the latest Blizzcast: mainly profession details and music, as well as a few snippets on dungeons and raids from Kaplan (and some Starcraft II stuff). But there were some interesting pieces of information given away in an image linked on the podcast transcript page that were not discussed in the podcast, in the way of new crafted items. The image is replicated above; click for a bigger version. My favorite is definitely the Magnificent Flying Carpet. Yes, it's a flying mount for tailors, and I am pretty certain that it will be awesome. Here's everything I found in that image that I don't remember having seen elsewhere: Magnificent Flying Carpet: Requires level 70, tailoring (450). Use: Calls forth and dismisses a flying carpet. This is a very fast rug. This mount can only be summoned in Outland and Northrend. Requires artisan riding skill or higher to use. Floral Foundations: Encrypted, requires inscription (50). A small collection of rare herbs. [No, I have no idea what this is, aside from something to do with Inscription.] Spring Loaded Cloak Expander: requires engineering (425). Use: permanently modifies a cloak so it can be activated by a skilled engineer, causing them to fall slowly for 10 sec. The effect can only be activated every 5 min. This last item ties in to what Jon LeCraft (WoW's lead profession designer) was saying about engineering having items to give effects to gear, as opposed to replacing gear outright like the Parachute Cloak. Engineered enchants, basically. Overall, I continue to be more and more excited about professions in Wrath.
Eliah Hecht08.11.2008
Phat Loot Phriday: Star's Tears
"Water?" I hear you asking. How could plain old mana water be Phat Loot? But this is no ordinary water, my friends -- it's also known as Cheater's Juice. This, dear readers, is Arena water.Name: Star's Tears (Thottbot, Wowhead)Type: Common ConsumableDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Requires level 65. On drinking, restores 7200 mana over 30 seconds. Which isn't that great -- you can get this water from any Mage, right? But this water doesn't come from a Mage, and that's what's so special about it. It's the cheapest vendor water you can buy -- just 25s and two (that's right, two) Honor points per 5, in stacks of 20. Just one BG will earn you enough to not worry about the Honor points, and overall, you'll save money (probably even cheaper than that Mage you're tipping every time you log in) every time you buy it. And, as Arena players all know, this is the only non-Mage water usable in the Arenas. As the tooltip says, it's "carefully extracted for warfare use," so Arena players who can duck out of combat (Hunters, for example, can Feign Death out of combat and drink) can get back some mana fast even without a Mage in the group. Plus, as all Warcraft players (and bloggers) know, tears are the tastiest drink of all. Mmmmm tears. QQ moar pls. How to Get It: This tasty drink is just a vendor away -- you've got to run to the Officer Accessories Quartermaster in each capital city to pick up your couple of stacks. That's Brave Stonehide in Orgrimmar, and Master Sargeant Biggins in Stormwind City. Give them your money and a couple of Honor points, and the drink is yours. Who needs Mages anyway?Getting Rid of It: You could, um, drink it? Otherwise, you can sell it back to the vendor for 1s 25c, which is suprising -- these are the tears of stars, people! Famous people cried their eyes out just so you could have these!
Mike Schramm08.08.2008
Blizzard confirms retroactive achievements, when possible
Ever since achievements were announced, the question I've heard the most from players has been about whether what they've already done will count. I attemped to answer this with a little bit of speculation last week, and today Tigole has basically confirmed what we'd already said: that where possible, Blizzard will award achievements retroactively.As we said last week, things like reputations and quests are easy to track -- other than dailies, you can't do the same quest twice, so it's easy for Blizzard to know, since day one, which quests you've done. And if a quest takes you to kill, say Onyxia, and you've completed it, then obviously you've got the achievement. Where it gets a little fuzzier is if you haven't done that quest, but you have killed Onyxia -- Blizzard probably doesn't even know yet if they'll do things like look for specific loot from certain bosses in a character's history, or if they'll extrapolate things even farther -- if you're Exalted with Hydraxian Waterlords, does that mean you've cleared MC?But Tigole does say that Blizzard is making a conscious decision to be as inclusive as possible on these old achievements -- whenever they can, they'll reward credit rather than making you go back to redo old content. That's a good choice -- it does mean that a few people will get angry for not getting the achievement because they killed the boss but didn't do the quest, but the alternative, awarding no retroactive achievements at all, would be even more frustrating.
Mike Schramm08.06.2008
The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing up your Retadin for Karazhan part IV
Alright. Let's call a spade a spade. I nubbed last week's installment by putting down Agility as a stat. Agility is good -- still not a Retadin's primary strength (pun intended), but definitely part of the equation. An informative article can be found on WoWWiki comparing Strength to Agility and determining the point where investing points in Agility gives better DPS returns than investing in Strength. Unlike Rogues or Hunters, who will never reach a point where Strength gives better returns, there is a certain point for Paladins (or Shamans and Warriors, for that matter) where it becomes better to invest in Agility. It's quite a bit of math, but suffice it to say that the equilibrium point is pretty high and not achievable by a fresh 70 gearing up for Karazhan. I also dismissed Expertise (pfft, why make one mistake when you can make two!), a new stat introduced in Patch 2.3, which reduces the chance a mob will Dodge or Parry your attacks. If you can manage it, you should always attack from behind, negating Parry to begin with, but barring that, Expertise is a good stat to pursue after you're Hit capped. In fact, as some readers pointed out, the Shard of Contempt is the best melee DPS trinket in the game right now as it prevents even yellow, or special, attacks from being Dodged or Parried. With all the technical stuff out of the way, let's move on to the last part of this series, where we'll take a look at all the permanent enchants, gems, and even consumables that you'll need to do a good job in Karazhan.
Zach Yonzon07.31.2008
A look at the Death Knight's 'dungeon set' and other goodies
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/A_guide_to_Death_Knight_starting_gear'; Death Knights have it pretty good. Old school players will remember the pain of collecting our dungeon sets, such as the Shaman's The Elements or the Paladin's Lightforge Armor. These weren't class-specific armor sets, but for a long time they certainly represented the best of how some classes looked. Completing these armor sets were a real pain, with key pieces dropping off the end bosses of what were then the hardest dungeons in the game. Head pieces dropped off Darkmaster Gandling in Scholomance, leg armor dropped from Baron Rivendare in Stratholme, and the chestpiece from General Drakkisath in Upper Blackrock Spire.In Wrath of the Lich King, Death Knights won't be hoping for drops from bosses. They won't need to. If Wrath breaks as planned, Death Knights will be getting upgrades in every slot before they even reach Level 60 -- through quests. This includes a full complement of absolutely badass armor that isn't really an Item Set but a visually matched assortment of blue (literally and item level-wise) gear. I think I'll dub it the Deathplate Armor. Check out the gallery for a look at all the quest swag Death Knights get through questing. %Gallery-28750%
Zach Yonzon07.30.2008
Contest: Win an exclusive City of Heroes in-game item from Comic-Con
We stopped by the NCsoft booth at Comic-Con 2008 and had the chance to chat with City of Heroes Community Manager Alex 'Lighthouse' Von Minden, who noted that a number of community members were disappointed about not being able to attend the Con for a chance to snag the exclusive in-game item from the VIP Pass. We thought it would be fun to give players not in attendance a chance to pick one up, so we're happy to present Massively readers with 10 chances to win a unique in-game CoH Comic-Con item. This contest is open to all ages and locations -- you'll just need an active City of Heroes account to claim it. To enter, just leave a comment in this thread by 5pm EST Wednesday, July 30. We'll choose 10 winners at random to receive a code for the unique in-game item. Good luck!Update: contest closed! Thanks to everyone who entered -- we'll be announcing winners ASAP!
Barb Dybwad07.28.2008
[UPDATED!] A look at Wrath of the Lich King's Green quest rewards
When Blizzard half-seriously apologized for the brutally ugly Season 4 Brutal Gladiator gear by saying that their artists were hard at work on the expansion, they weren't kidding. If any of us were afraid that there'd be massive clown action, we can rest easy because from the look of things, even green items have an epic feel to them. The designers over at Blizzard have done a fantastic job making the green quest rewards in Northrend look impressive and even menacing that players won't feel embarrassed to equip them. I haven't checked out all of the armor pieces, but a quick perusal of the weapons shows that Northrend won't be a total circus when we finally get there. I mean, just look at the gun above. That looks really badass, specially with the skull and weathered metal. Check out pics of uncommon, or 'green', weapons found all over Northrend in the gallery below. [UPDATE!] By popular demand, I included a couple of green staves and as a bonus, took a sneak peek at the two blue quest reward items for Death Knights. I know they're not green, but they're pretty cool, nonetheless. %Gallery-28586%
Zach Yonzon07.27.2008
The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing up your Retadin for Karazhan part III
Alright. So you got your weapon. I can't stress enough that this is the single most important piece of equipment in a Retribution Paladin's possession. Then there's your armor. Your armor pieces are only slightly more important than the stuff we'll be covering if only because 1) they confer larger stat bonuses, and 2) having a matching set makes you look cool. And Retadins must always look cool. It's bad enough that the pre-Wrath population laughs you out of raids and 5-mans. When the expansion hits, of course, you'll smash all their faces with the Divine Storm just to put them in their place. Until then, you gear up. Today we're looking at the last few pieces of the puzzle. Amulets, cloaks, librams, rings, and trinkets. Unlike the weapons or armor pieces, where the real meat is Strength, you can have a little creativity with these slots because many items confer non-stat bonuses. Strength is obviously a premium, but it all comes down to taste. Once you've filled about half your gear slots, you should be ready enough for Karazhan and not gimp the raid.
Zach Yonzon07.26.2008
The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing your Retadin for Karazhan part II
Let's take a short breather from this whole flood of Wrath of the Lich King Beta news for a bit. I know everyone's excited to find out more about what's waiting for us in Northrend, but some of us would actually like to play the game right now, instead of waiting for *cough* a few months. As exciting as the new Paladin changes seem to be, players with fresh Level 70 characters would do well to focus on gearing up for now. After all, it'll make it so much easier to fight the numerous baddies in Northrend.Previously, we discussed the weapons for a Retribution Paladin only starting to gear up for the ever-popular Karazhan. More than anything -- more than any piece of armor -- a Retadin must find the biggest, baddest 2-handed weapon she can find to strike righteous fear into the hearts of her enemies. Once she has that, everything follows. In this installment of The Light and How to Swing It, let's take a look at the armor pieces that every Karazhan-bound Retadin should be wearing.
Zach Yonzon07.21.2008
All the World's a Stage: Dear Wrath
The art of roleplaying is like a field of tender soil. You only get something back after you put something in.World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. But wait... before we get serious about this new expansion of our relationship, Wrath, there's something you should understand about me: I may be a hunter, druid, rogue, warlock, warrior, shaman, and even a mage, but above and beyond all these things I'm also a roleplayer. Yes, I love all those promises you're making me these days about how wonderful our life together is going to be, but something inside tells me that you don't really understand what I really want. You only understand the part of me that likes to shoot, shred, stun, fear, strike, shock and even blast my pixelated enemies into oblivion. But what about my artistic vision?Oh sure, I see you smirking. What does artistic vision have to do with "Warcraft," "Wrath," and "Lich King?" ... well, you're forgetting the very first thing that anyone ever sees or hears about you: "World." You may have lots of violence, anger, and nasty enemies, but in the end what you really are is a world, a space, and a stage, where my friends and I can get together and have a good time. This is what you don't understand, Wrath: I'm a person, and I like to have things to do and talk about with other people that don't involve damage, threat, or recovering from damage and threat. Okay okay, you have a point. It's not like you've ignored this aspect of our relationship completely; I'll give you credit for that. In fact, there are some new non-violent things I'm really looking forward to, which I wouldn't be able to do without you.
David Bowers07.20.2008
Buying spots in raids
Adam asked how much a guild should charge for a spot in a ZA raid, but Lane on WoW LJ comes at the issue from the other side: how much should you offer? Personally, like a lot of comments on Adam's post, I'd offer nothing -- I'd much rather earn everything I wear rather than just paying out gold to be in someone else's raid run.But certainly there are quite a few folks out there, who, for whatever reason, are either at their wits' end and ready to spend money, or just too lazy or busy to join a guild themselves. So what's the going rate for a boss? Adam's post landed pretty low -- 500g to 2500g definitely got the most votes, and I'm guessing that was mostly because there was no free option. So, depending on how well you know the guild you'll be running with, seems like a good idea would be to start at around 500g, and then head upwards from there.Of course, especially on a relatively early dungeon like ZA, it's not really that hard to get 10 people together and run it every week -- even if you're not a hardcore raider, running just one raid instance a week is enough to get you learning how it works and building up your gear.
Mike Schramm07.15.2008
Guildwatch: The Robin Hood of Gurubashi
Now that's a good looking website. There aren't many around, and while, sure, you don't really need a great looking website as a guild (it's probably better to actually be downing bosses ingame than building resources outside of it), a good-looking website doesn't hurt when getting your guildies excited about being a part of the group.Lots more guilds and websites (including the drama, downing and recruiting news you're here for) in this week's GW, which starts right after the jump. Don't forget to send us your tips at wowguildwatch@gmail.com -- whether it's your guild or someone else's, we want to hear about it here!
Mike Schramm07.02.2008
All the World's a Stage: What Blizzard seems not to see
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players.Blizzard definitely cares about roleplayers. They listen to us and there's a special place for us in their hearts -- which is natural, because in many ways, their whole world has its own story and background which means a lot to them, and while all players get to see that story unfolding through their activities in the game, roleplayers are the ones who participate in that story by making their own stories within it.The problem is that Blizzard and its roleplayers are on pretty different wavelengths when it comes to what roleplayers want to receive and what Blizzard wants to provide. Blizzard wants to give us more neat toys and perfect places to enjoy, with lots of lore and story behind them -- and while this is all very interesting and everyone enjoys it, most roleplayers are wishing they had more sandbox-like tools, spaces and items they can easily bend or shape in their own ways, to use for their own purposes.Blizzard may care, but do they really understand? Read on for insights Blizzard may be missing.
David Bowers06.29.2008
Armory updated with Season 4 gear
The World of Warcraft Armory has just been updated with Season 4 Brutal Gladiator and Guardian -- or Honor-bought -- gear. This update comes hot on the heels of the new Arena season, which began last June 24. This probably isn't what Robin had in mind when she asked if the Armory needs more information, but it's a timely addition to Blizzard's extensive database and may help players plan out their gear. For a more extensive overview of all the class armor sets, however, you can go check out WoW Insider's Season 4 gear guide.
Zach Yonzon06.28.2008
Phat Loot Phriday: Hypnotist's Watch
The post about trash and trinkets earlier this week reminded me of this item that we've never covered on PLP before. It's very class specific (hence the "trash and trinkets" argument), but for the right situation, it's pretty useful.Name: Hypnotist's Watch (Wowhead, Thottbot, Goblin Workshop)Type: Uncommon TrinketDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Use: Reduces your threat to enemy targets within 30 yards, making them less likely to attack you. Cooldown of five minutes, which means you're meant to use it a little less than every other fight -- usually only in situations where you need it. A two-minute trinket is meant to be used more often obviously (and you already know by now that you should be using trinkets as much as possible, right?), but this one is a little more special. Most people say it reduces threat by about 720, which isn't much (and there are a few other trinkets floating around that will do more). But this one is super easy to get, and in a few situations, 720 threat is all you need. Like which situations? Pets, mostly -- Warlocks or Hunters who accidentally pull aggro off their pets while leveling can pop this one and sent mobs back to their mini-tanks. DPS Warriors and Rogues can also use it as a preventative measure in instances, though in most cases there, you'll want to stick to DPS trinkets and rely on your usual threat management abilities to keep things controlled. This trinket is more for when you want to mess around solo, not when you're in a group and other people are depending on you. And one more thing: this trinket drops threat, but doesn't erase it. It won't make you lose aggro completely, like Vanish or Feign Death -- all it does is drop the threat numbers, and someone else (or your pet) has to be there to pick the mob up. How to Get It: This is husky loot today -- most of the items we've done the past few weeks are hardcore endgame raiding items, so here's one everyone can get. Everyone that can navigate Hellfire Peninsula, that is -- you'll want to talk to "Screaming" Screed Luckhead, who is one of the goblins near the wrecked Zepplin in the southwest part of the peninsula. He'll have you do a quest to pick up zepplin pieces, and then run you far south to the Warp Fields, where you'll have to kill Voidwalkers and steal their essence (of course, this is right near the Ravager nests down there, and near the Human ghosts area, so you'll probably want to chain quests by this point).Do the Voidwalker thing (the quest is called "Voidwalkers Gone Wild" -- cute), and then bring the essences back to Luckhead to claim your trinket.Getting Rid of It: By level 68, there are a few other threat trinkets which will serve you better, and by then hopefully you've learned how to control your threat anyway and have a much better DPS or utility trinket to use. This one will disenchant into an Arcane Dust, a Lesser Planar Essence, or a small chance of a Small Prismatic Shard, and will sell to vendors for 74s 64c. You are getting very sleepy...
Mike Schramm06.27.2008
It's-a Mario World: Rare Power-ups
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/It_s_a_Mario_World_Rare_power_ups'; Welcome to the inaugural edition of It's-a Mario World, Nintendo Wii Fanboy's newest feature about one of Nintendo's oldest characters. Every Thursday, we'll bring you a fresh perspective on Mario games and culture, emphasizing his lesser-discussed titles and memorable game content for your nostalgic enjoyment. In this first issue, join us as we reminisce about Mario's hard-to-find power-ups.You know the common fare: Mushrooms, flowers and stars comprise the mainstay arsenal in any Mario game, and other traditional items like golden coins and 1-ups are found in sequels and off-shoots everywhere. But what about the obscured items of Mushroom Kingdom history, the rare perishables you rationed and strange pick-ups you briefly adored? Why didn't they catch on? Were they too uncouth for mainstream appeal? Let our gallery shed some light on these shadowy items of utmost rarity. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of Princess Peach and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Thursday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
kenneth caldwell06.26.2008