Legendary
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Nihilum meets Kael'thas, finds new Legendary
Nihilum has made it to see Kael'thas Sunstrider, the end boss in the 25-man raid The Eye (in Tempest Keep), and though they haven't downed him yet, they've come back to tell the tales.First things first, there's a new Legendary in the game, a two-hand axe called Devastation, with a +50 crit, +150 attack power, and a speed buff of 50% and an attack speed buff of 20% as a chance on hit. Oh, and did I mention that it's got 158.1 DPS on it? I think I just did. I believe that makes it the highest DPS weapon in the game? Nope, there is at least one wand that goes higher (thanks readers! see comments below). The only thing I know of that's higher is Illidan's Twin Blades of Azzinoth, and those have only been seen on GMs so far.There is a catch, however-- the axe can only be used during the fight with Kael'thas. As for the event itself, Nihilum says "the encounter seems very cool," and it looks like Kael comes with (at least) four adds-- his advisors Thaladred the Darkener, Master Engineer Telonicus, and Grand Astromancer Capernian and Lord Sanguinar.No mention yet on how they're doing with the encounter, but I'd guess we might see a world first as early as this weekend.[ via MMO-Champion ]
The making of a legend: H3 Legendary edition
Bungie has posted an article explaining all the detailed planning that went into the production of the $130 Legendary edition of Halo 3. Planning for the Legendary edition has been underway since June of 2005, when discussions were first held concerning what sort of molding method to use to form the helmet. In the end Microsoft chose injection molding and gave the project to one of its largest keyboard manufacturers in China. That's right, your fancy schmancy helmet is coming from a keyboard factory. According to the article, once peak capacity is reached at the factory, a new helmet will be produced every 12 seconds! Most of the article centers on the planning of the Legendary edition, but there are several photos of the manufacturing process sprinkled throughout as well.Die-hard Halo fanatics may hit the "read" link to read the full article.
Halo 3 priced downunder
While you might think that Americans and Canadians will be paying through the nose of the Legendary Edition of Halo 3, we got word of the Australian prices for the 3 SKUs. To get the cat-helmet, you'll need to drop AU$ 199.95, which is about $160 USD. The Limited Edition comes in at AU$ 119.95, or $96 USD. To just get the game, you'll be paying AU$ 99.95, which translates to $80 USD. While this doesn't make the North American pricing any better, it at least puts it in perspective for everyone. Are any of you Aussies willing to shell out 200 dollars of your currency for the Legendary Edition? [Via QJ.net]
Bungie comments on Legendary price point
While Bungie's Weekly Update had a slew of goodies for you to get excited about Halo 3, they also touched on the $30 increase in price for the Legendary Edition. They more or less apologized for the misleading initial price point, and assured us that the final product will be definitely worth every penny, especially to those who are die hard Halo fans. They even revealed that the Legendary Edition is limited enough to warrant Bungie staff pre-ordering their own copies, and that each one is individually numbered. So, with that coming from them, does it change your opinion on the thirty dollar discrepancy?
Putting an end to the myth of the legendary axe
We're having a lootful Friday around here, so I just want to take a quick second to address something that's been going around ye olde internets for the past few weeks.Grom Hellscream does not have a legendary axe.Contrary to popular belief, Grom Hellscream's axe does actually drop in the game, and no, it ain't orange. In fact, the name heard to this point -- Grom'ogh, Edge of Hellscream -- isn't even the moniker of the in-game weapon. Instead, our buddy Grom carried around Gorehowl, a regular old epic axe of pretty decent statistics.Anyway, just a little bit more loot info for you on a Friday evening. The controversy has been settled, the true identity of the axe revealed, yada yada. Now be sure to let my pally and my shammy roll on it.
WoW Moviewatch: Behold, the power of a GM
Digg is linking to this blog post (who knows how long it will last) about "the Top 10 WoW Exploits of All Time." Like most Digg stuff, it's a few things you've probably seen before, compiled and hyped up to be much cooler than it is. But of the exploits-- Old Ironforge, falling under Stormwind, the airport, and the top of Ogrimmar-- the last one is the most interesting (and not really an exploit). It's video of someone setting up a private server and showing off just how much control a GM has over the game. The comments in Digg point out that these "commands" are probably not what the actual Blizzard GMs use to control the game-- they're placeholder commands created by whoever hacked the server code. And while all of this stuff is pretty cool, we're guessing that if you're actually a GM, the chance to use it is rare-- usually you're fixing tickets, not spawning legendary weapons or Rag in the middle of Stormwind. Still, it's a fun little watch.
EB-Gamestop wants your Halo 3 money -- now!
EB-Gamestop has launched an aggressive campaign to secure your Halo 3 pre-order, today -- well, technically, yesterday. Chances are if you're on file, the company spammed you yesterday, via phone, to let you know that pre-orders for three different Halo 3 editions are now being accepted.First, the details (or lack thereof): EB-Gamestop is collecting $5 for the standard edition, $10 for a collector's edition, and $25 for Legendary Edition (a.k.a. Master Chief's bust). The company cannot confirm the final retail price for any of these items*, nor does it know when it will stop accepting your free money. "We stop taking pre-orders the day they call and tell us to," a Gamestop employee in the New York area told us today.Certainly there's a pre-order cap, but what is it? Collectively, retailers sold more than 1.5 million Halo 2 pre-orders. Let's assume each of those pre-orders cost $5 -- knowing that many were sold for more. That's $7,500,000. Say, EB-Gamestop secured 30% of those pre-orders; then the company alone pulled in $2.25 million, plus interest.Accepting Halo 3 pre-orders now is taking advantage of us, the consumers. The game isn't due until at least next year, but for fear of pre-orders suddenly ceasing, for fear of not owning Halo 3 on day one, we go out there and hand over our security deposits; and the retailers sit on it, making money off of our money -- the money that bought us nothing more than a promise.It's fine to offer pre-orders a few months in advance. In fact, it's a good idea -- but only once the release date is known; the retail prices confirmed; and shipment numbers allocated. But asking for our Halo 3 money now? Today? C'mon, you really gonna play us like that?*Legendary Edition is rumored to be priced at $100.[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]
Atiesh spawns legendary Andonisus, Reaper of Souls
Well, Risen's guild website is back up after the beating it recieved when they crafted the worldfirst of Atiesh, and it appears this new Legendary staff is even cooler than previously thought. Not only does it have some crazy stats worth of a Legendary item, and not only can it open a portal directly to the previously unseen zone of Karazhan, but apparently this thing even spawns Legendary items of its own.Paladinsucks has a picture of a sword called Andonisus, Reaper of Souls, which is supposedly a brand new Legendary mainhand sword that makes Thunderfury look like a pointy piece of metal. But there's a catch-- the sword is supposed to be a conjured item (via a usage of Atiesh) that only works in Stratholme, and only for 10 minutes (or 15? or until logout?). Risen's forum has lots of people asking about Andonisus, but not a lot of answers-- one post suggests it can only be spawned during one boss fight, and another forum says it only spawns for the server first of Atiesh.Sounds awesome, but it would be great to have some solid information on this one. Anyone from Risen want to give us the dirt? Send us a tip on the sidebar and I'll update as we hear about it.Update: Unfortunately, from what we're hearing in the comments, Andonisus only shows up during a specially summoned boss in Stratholme that you only fight during the crafting of Atiesh. And then, it only hangs around for ten minutes. Pretty limited usage, so don't bother working this one into any of your gear builds. But it is still sweet.
Legendary Caster Staff Stats
While I haven't seen any details on how this is acquired, it's safe to assume (since this information was most likely data-mined from the patch 1.11 files we currently have access to) that it's going to involve Naxxramas. I must say, these staves - different for different classes - look perfectly delightful and I would be happy to have one - though I can't say I look forward to the no doubt extensive efforts required to get it.
New Items in Patch 1.11
Here's an interesting list of new items we can expect to see in the 1.11 content patch. There are some components shown for what appears to be a legendary caster item, though the final product is still a mystery. And I don't know about you, but the suspense is killing me!
Blizzard's Word: WoW Movie Officialy a Go
We reported yesterday about the news of a new WoW motion picture in development, and now it looks like the boys in blue have indeed confirmed that report. An official press release went out today, announcing the joint development of the film, with producers Legendary Pictures at the reigns.The release quotes both the Blizzard creative team and the filmmakers, and shines some light on what we can expect to see from the upcoming epic. No talent or crew have been signed as of yet, but I'm sure that the rumors will start flying anytime now, and the fans will have plenty to chew upon as the project comes to fruition.Aside from my wary words yesterday, I do indeed hope for the best with this adaptation; aside from being a fantasy fan in general, I would enjoy a property I'm familiar with being given the proper screen treatment. I'm sure every WoW fan under the sun has their own idea of what the ideal Warcraft movie would be, and I'm sure the filmmakers are going to be listening to those ideas as the project moves forth, so start your dream casting now, folks!
WoW: Coming to a Theater Near You?
Well, we knew it had to be on the drawing board somewhere. It seems that Legendary Pictures, producers of both the latest Superman & Batman films, are interested in bringing World of Warcraft to the big screen, according to this IGN article. The film would likely hit screens via Warner Bros., as they have handled most of the distribution for Legendary's releases so far.This could be exciting news for all Warcraft fans, but we all know just how well video games usually survive translation into the film medium. Alone in the Dark, Doom, Silent Hill....Super Mario Brothers, anyone? Still, just by the law of averages, they have to get one right sometime...here's hoping the best for WoW's big-screen maiden voyage.
Status Symbols
I have recently come to the conclusion that I would really like a Winterspring Frostsaber mount, which has started me thinking about some of Warcraft's biggest time sinks - rare items that few acquire due to the difficulty involved, that make your character stand out in the crowds of players all wearing the same top-tier armor. The first players on the my server with prized items such as the Ashkahndi, the Staff of the Shadow Flame, and the Claw of Chromaggus had minor celebrity status for a while, but as more and more players have acquired the same drops, the unique factor of them has worn off. There are even enough players on the server with legendary items such as Sulfuras and Thunderfury that those no longer get a second glance. However, there are still a few items in-game that remain sufficiently rare as to be status symbols of a sort. Rare mounts rank highly among these, such as the Winterspring Frostsaber (which requires a long quest grind), the Swift Razzashi Raptor (a very rare drop from Zul'Gurub), the Swift Zulian Tiger (another very rare drop from Zul'Gurub), and Baron Rivendare's steed (such a rare drop that I have never seen anyone riding one).Are there any other items that you see as in-game status symbols (for good or bad)? Or any such rare items you plan to spend the time or effort acquiring for yourself?
Legendary Items
Everyone's heard of epic items - those purple colored goodies that fetch absurdly high prices on the auction house. Epic items may be obtained from random world drops (if you're very, very lucky!), crafted items (the recipes will either be rare drops or require faction grinding to obtain, and the required materials to be time-consuming and difficult to acquire), or drops in raid dungeons like Zul'Gurub, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair. However, more rare and desirable than even the best epic item is the legendary item - only two of these orange colored items are known to exist in Azeroth - Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros and Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker. Acquiring these items is a task in itself - both require two very rare drops from Molten Core, as well as having long quests and materials involved in their creation. However, there are rumors of a third legendary item known as the Ashbringer.
