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A look back at a cataclysmic year for World of Warcraft
It's been a big year for World of Warcraft, especially considering that the MMO behemoth is currently hitting its seventh year of operation. Considering its nigh-ubiquitous nature in the MMO sphere, it's hard to imagine that there was a time without it. And this past year of the game almost perfectly synchronizes with the latest expansion, Cataclysm, an expansion that was bound and determined to head back to the old and re-work everything up to new standards. So how did that work out? What's been happening with the game over the past year? Let's pick up in December because that's when the story really begins, a story that involves a dragon smashing huge chunks of both continents to pieces. The result was a complete revamp of the game's lower-level areas, the addition of several new high-level areas, and a redesign of the way the game handled progression. It kicked off a war against primal forces and Old Gods for players, and that's without even getting in to the mechanical shifts.
Spiritual Guidance: Further thoughts on priest healing in Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. A few weeks back at BlizzCon 2011 when the Mists of Pandaria talents were first unveiled, I spoke at length with fellow priest Oestrus about her thoughts on the new talents. One of the things she proposed was very interesting to me, that the new talent system might spell the end of the strong distinction between disc and holy. The idea was that since holy and disc priests would be able to use each other's talents now, it might blur the edge between discipline and holy to a point that we'd start thinking of ourselves more as healing priests, rather than disc priests or holy priests.
Mists of Pandaria: The myth of the talent tree choice
Blizzard played up the Cataclysm expansion as a groundbreaking expansion that would change everything, but the truth is that the Shattering was nothing compared to what is happening to class talent trees in the new Mists of Pandaria expansion. Those giant talent trees we visited every two levels are gone, replaced with six separate choices spread across the course of 90 levels. To be fair, there are a lot of terrific ideas in what Blizzard is planning to do with our talent trees. Removed are the choices that everyone should make. And yes, Blizzard did say that in Cataclysm, but this time, the designers mean it. What shadow priest doesn't take Vampiric Touch? What balance druid doesn't invest that crucial talent point to take Moonkin Form? But ultimately, if the goal here is to make things easier on the players, to make this a choice that players don't need to extensively research, Blizzard totally missed the mark.
Spiritual Guidance: A first look at healing priest talents in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. Just over a week ago, Blizzard unveiled its plans for the next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, and with it will comes a new talent system to simplify things dramatically. In the case of healing priests, it looks like we might be changing the way we view ourselves from now on, since only our spells will distinguish us from one another, not our talents. Before you know it, discipline priests will be tank healing with Serendipity and holy priests will be casting Power Infusion on themselves to call down torrents of healing. It's ... [Pandemonium joke goes here]. We better take a look at the talents before things get too furry.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Specializations in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. We are about to live in interesting times, my friends. Last week's BlizzCon effectively promised us most, if not all, of the candy I wanted. With the full awareness that this is all subject to change, take a look at the mock-up for abilities (not talents, core abilities) that all fury warriors will get as they level from 1 to 90 in the revamped Mists of Pandaria scheme. With the announcement that Slam will be an arms-only ability, I personally suspect that Wild Strike is the replacement for Bloodsurge's Slam proc. More importantly, you'll note a few things. One I really want to highlight at the start are the no-brainer talents that aren't talents anymore, like Flurry, Raging Blow, Bloodsurge and both Titan's Grip and Single-Minded Fury. You'll also note that you don't have to choose between TG and SMF. You get both at level 38. I used the fury abilities screenshot because that's the one I managed to get. If Blizzard did an arms or protection one, I didn't see it. But all three talent specializations are worth discussing, because we're heading into a future where your talent choices are no longer constrained by spec.
WRUP: WRUP of Horrors XVII
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too! Saturday, Oct. 22 Like many of my fellow WoW Insider writers, I start to feel a slight tickle at the back of my throat. The BlizzCon Flu! As the day wears on, my skin starts feeling itchy and, in some select areas, starts to fall off. I consider calling my primary care physician on return to Boston. Sunday, Oct. 23 For some reason, a trip to Jack in the Box doesn't seem to sate my appetite. Shortly after leaving the restaurant, I throw Basil Berntsen down to the ground, crack his skull open, and start feasting on his delicious brains. It has nothing to do with me wanting to steal the rest of his Gold Capped columns from him, I swear. Monday, Oct. 24 New editor-in-chief Alex Ziebart makes an executive decision to lock me in a closet "for my own safety." Tuesday, Oct. 25 Fellow WoW Insider writer Tyler Caraway is shoved into the closet with me. My first instinct is to eat him, so that's what I do. I remain hungry immediately after, as his body carries on it absolutely no meat nor nutritional value. Wednesday, Oct. 26 Apparently, the BlizzCon Flu has gone full-on epidemic in Anaheim. I hear the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland is finally entertaining, if not slightly inappropriate for children under the age of 13 (on account of the surprisingly realistic murdering and blood and brain eating, you understand). Thursday, Oct. 27 Apparently, Taylor Lautner has been here in the closet this whole time! Being hungry, I eat him. Friday, Oct. 28 Since I haven't heard from Alex in a while, I shamble out of the poorly barricaded closet. My moisturizer seems ill-equipped to handle the level of dryness my skin has succumbed to -- it's still falling off in chunks. My ability to solve simple puzzles and think rationally seems strangely impaired, if not gone entirely. Sadly, the only thing my quickly decomposing brain is still able to handle is ... compiling What aRe yoU Playing.
Arcane Brilliance: A preliminary look at the Pandaria talent tree for mages
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we engage in wild, baseless speculation and make hasty, groundless assumptions based on that wild, baseless speculation. So ... just like every week. A quick recap for those of you who have limited internet access and choose (understandably) to use each of your precious online moments reading this column each week, but otherwise ignore the internet completely: Blizzard announced a new expansion for World of Warcraft. It has pandas. The WoW online community appears to be simultaneously overjoyed, mildly excited, meh, and borderline suicidal. Monks are the new class, and they will be able to tank while drunk, which makes them pretty much identical to every other tank I know. Most importantly, though, the design team plans to throw our current talent system into a virtual wood chipper, pick up the pieces that come out of the other side, and mash them together into a completely new, singular talent tree for each class. The three distinct mage trees will survive, but the majority of the school-specific talents and spells we have now are slated to become baseline abilities that we'll gain as we level (automatically -- no more going to a mage trainer). Ability customization once Mists of Pandaria hits will exist as six talent choices available regardless of spec, one choice between three talents every 15 experience levels. Talent specs as we have known them since the game began in 2004 will cease to exist once patch 5.0 hits, and I expect that to occur in less than a year.
Mists of Pandaria live developer Q&A transcript
Blizzard held a Mists of Pandaria live developer Q&A this evening. It was moderated by Community Manager Zarhym, with most of the questions being answered by Cory "Mumper" Stockton and Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street. The questions ran the gamut from serious to silly and offered a lot of great insight into the upcoming expansion and the inner workings of the development team. Highlights include, but are not limited to: The new Pandaria faction hubs New guild levels and perks New talent system Pet Battle system, including a possible spectator mode The possible abolishing of prime glyphs Ghostcrawler's feelings on #OccupyGregStreet Matticus. Just ... Matticus. The developers have already expressed interest in holding more of these chats, and I know I'm all in favor of it. For more information on the content of this evening's chat, check the official site, or stick with us after the break for a complete transcript.
Pandaria to eschew capital cities for scattered vendors, separate faction hubs
In today's Mists of Pandaria Live Developer QA, a player asked whether we'd see a Dalaran-like capital city on the new continent of Pandaria. Cory Stockton's answer reveals a surprising amount about the new Pandaria paradigm of exploration.
Spiritual Guidance: Shadow priest Pandaren and the new MoP talent tree
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the darkness to bask in your loving adoration (and to smack Tyler with a Shadow Word: Death when he's least expecting it). Cataclysm was a great expansion to play a shadow priest in, but if what we learned at BlizzCon 2011 is any clue, playing a shadow priest in Mists of Pandaria is going to be a whole lot better. I know those are big words, but when we start delving into the new-for-MoP talent trees, I feel these new talents will back those words up. We're getting a new playmate for our Shadowfiend, a whole new talent tree with spectacular new abilities, and a new, RNG-free mechanism for Shadow Orbs and Mind Blast. And, oh yeah: Pandaren can be shadow priests. Excited? You should be.
The Daily Grind: Will Pandaren lure you back to WoW?
Blizzard Entertainment is taking a gamble on its next expansion, Mists of Pandaria. World of Warcraft is still on top, but since Cataclysm it's nevertheless taken a beating. Some players attribute recent subscriber losses to games like RIFT; others blame it on natural gamer fatigue. Still others point to blunders in Blizzard's game development decisions. Wherever the blame lies, there's little question that MoP must deliver, especially with a few other likely blockbusters just beyond the horizon. But on WoW's official forums, existing players aren't exactly united in praise for BlizzCon's reveals. While some fans are happy for the new race, class, and zones, others complain of cute-overload and yet another massive do-over for talents. And on non-WoW sites like Massively, gamers are already suggesting that the expansion is jumping the shark. What do you think -- are Pandaren Monks, a new Asian-inspired setting, and new dungeons enough to lure you back to WoW? Or is there nothing Blizzard can do to win you over? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
BlizzCon 2011: Goodbye, ranged slot
If you didn't see this coming, you haven't been paying attention: as of Mists of Pandaria and patch 5.0, the ranged slot is being dismantled. Relics are going extinct, hunter ranged weapons will become their only weapons, and wands? Those are main-hand weapons now, too. To be extra clear: Relics are going away Wands become main hand weapons (and will function as wands do now) Hunters can only equip ranged weapons (and hunter minimum range is going away) This is something we've expected for a long time here at WoW Insider, as it's a topic Ghostcrawler discussed at BlizzCon '10. It's a removal of superfluous stat sticks and that's a good thing. None of us will miss our librams with +10 to Character Sheet Clutter and absolutely no visual, no real effect, and no purpose. The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!
Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner review
We live in a world full of fabulous idle distractions -- a million TV channels, videogames at our fingertips, the world's greatest literature just a few menu selections away. Yet still we're stuck cleaning the same floors more or less the same way our forefathers did, despite the fact that they had a lot less fun stuff they could be doing instead. The $249 Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner is another attempt to free us from that burdensome task and, like the Neato XV-11 we recently reviewed, it is quite clinical and comprehensive in the way that it does things. However, while this one is likewise a heck of a lot smarter than a Roomba, for some it'll be of rather more limited usefulness. Why? Read on to find out. %Gallery-105973%
Harmonix requests licensing from Timbaland, other non-rock stars
The rhythm-based games developer has apparently filed for several hip-hop and rap song licenses, indicating something a bit funkier and perhaps a bit fresher is in the works. Scripts may be flipped. We really don't know. Here are the requested tracks (via Royalty Network): "Ante Up" by M.O.P. "Evacuate the Dancefloor" by Cascada "Say Aah" by Trey Songz "The Way I Are" by Timbaland feat D.O.E. As you can tell, these tracks aren't really known for their rocking and/or rolling, so it's not the usual Rock Band fare. Wanton speculation would suggest that Harmonix is working on an extension of its franchise into the hip-hop, R&B and rap segments -- a possible answer to Activision's DJ Hero? [Via Destructoid]
