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The coolest quest
And so, in my quest to level my warlock, I found myself soaring high above the lakes of Zangarmarsh, transformed into bird-form for the quest As the Crow Flies. Not ever having had a high level druid, I haven't known the thrill of flapping my own wings traveling through the sky. At least not until now. There are so many fascinating quests in WoW it's hard to pick one. Up until I rolled a Draenei, I wouldn't have been able to put a finger on my favorite quest. Once I learned the furbolg language and took of in search of the Totem of Yor, I was won over completely. For the moment that is by far my favorite quest. But I haven't experienced everything in the game. All my Horde characters are below level 25, so I don't know the quest lines for that faction all that well, but I am sure there are some wonderful ones awaiting my shadow priest in It came from the Blog whenever I get her to that level. I would love to hear what you would vote as the coolest quest in the game so far. Is there one particular quest I should look out for as the ultimate in cool?
Guide to Itadaki Street characters
Confession time! We haven't played a Dragon Quest game since the first one. And that was in the ancient times-- we were basically playing it on an oscilloscope. As such, we don't know any of the characters besides slimes (who could forget slimes?).If you're like us (old and anachronistic), you might need a lesson on who all these adorable Dragon Quest characters are in Itadaki Street. That is exactly what Siliconera has done, because we asked for it just now. Oh, there we go with the anachronism again.Finally, we know the names and origins of Guy Who Looks Kinda Like Dante and Spikey-Haired Guy. Now we're ready for the US version of the game, which will probably never exist.
Virtually Overlooked Special: A bunch of NES games I get mixed up with each other
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative. Last week, I asked for reader suggestions for this week's Virtually Overlooked. One reader suggested The Guardian Legend, and I thought that was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. The Guardian Legend was one of the biggest sleeper hits of the NES era, and something that is definitely worth checking out, especially for fans of Ys and Faxanadu.It was only later that I realized that I was thinking of Legacy of the Wizard. I get those two mixed up a lot. They both fall into that "sleeper" category, they were both published by Brøderbund, and they both have "Leg" in the title. They're practically the same game, except that one's a hybrid vertical shooter/Zelda-style adventure developed by Compile, and the other is a side-scrolling action RPG from Nihon Falcom. But other than that, the same game.Inspired by my inability to keep two similar things separate, I thought this week we could look at some more NES games I get confused about, either because they're so similar or because I'm so dumb.
Singing a new Forest Song
And so, in my quest for a cross-racial mount, I took my level 36 Draenei priest to Ashenvale. Now, this is a zone I really don't enjoy playing in. The map discovery is very difficult, the terrain is tough to traverse, and everything is so spread out it takes forever to complete quests. I have not quested in this zone for about a year or more. All of my Night Elf alts I have leveled in human lands because I know the quests so well. But, like I said, I am on a personal quest to get my priest a palomino at 40, and so I trudged on into Ashenvale with a heavy heart. In Astranaar I met up with Vindicator Palanaar (whose name seems an odd coincidence, don't you think?) who sent me on to Forest Song. Here is where I roll my eyes and groan, but travel out to Forest Song I did. What I was expecting to find was one random guy with two quests and a whole vacant ruin to himself. What I did find was something completely different. The Silverwing Sentinels are there, as is an ancient protector, not to mention a whole heap of Draenei. They even added a flight point. The area has been fixed.
Druid epic flight form is live with patch 2.1
Patch 2.1 brought many treats to the adventurers of Azeroth, but one of the sweetest is the Epic Druid Flight Form quest. Unlike its predecessor, Flight Form, this ability isn't handed out to every high level shape shifter with the appropriate riding skill. The quest to fly at epic speed is long and complex. Revered reputation grinding, Heroic instance running, escort quests, exploding foliage and much more await the intrepid druid. Oh, and they have to pay the 5000g riding skill upgrade before they can even start the quest. When they finish, druids not only get the Swift Flight Form ability, but also a relic that works for any druid spec: Idol of the Raven Goddess - Increases the healing granted by the Tree of Life form aura by 20, adds 9 critical strike rating to the Leader of the Pack aura, and adds 9 spell critical strike rating to the Moonkin form aura.An excellent walkthrough, Wiki style, can be found here at the Servants of Seagis guild site.EDIT: Another reward received in the quest chain: Charm of Swift Flight, Trinket, Equip: Increases speed in Flight Form and Swift Flight Form by 10%. Thanks to Felixia from the Uldum Server for the heads up!
Square-Enix remakes just keep on comin'
Not content with releasing eighty remakes of popular Final Fantasy titles and making an obscene profit from said actions, a recent online interview with CEO Yoichi Wada revealed that the company has plans to remake an unknown number of their other mega-popular franchise, Dragon Quest (also known, for earlier iterations, as Dragon Warrior here in the states).Which titles and how many are as of yet unknown ... the information seemed to just slip right out of Wada-san's vocal cords ... but we'd imagine a compilation similar to Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls. Also, while not officially confirmed for the DS, we can't really imagine these titles going anywhere else. Does this news excite you guys, or are the old-school DQ titles just a bit too old-school?
DS Fanboy Favorites: Eric's top five
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers. When my afternoons aren't busied by hours of photoshopping cat heads onto pictures of my friends, I pass the time with puzzlers and plumbers on my DS Lite. But those kitten-free days are few and far between, so I end up being able to only fit either the most polished or the most eccentric games into my packed schedule. Wario: Master of Disguise? Sorry, I've got things to do and feline faces to retouch. Lost in Blue 2? I'll have to pass -- I'm already lost in trying to get these whiskers to look perfect. My collection is a mishmash of AAA titles and niche releases, their cases piled atop one another like a Jenga stack of mismatched blocks, threatening to topple over at any moment. Just pulling a game from the middle of the shaky structure is an act preceded by hours of anxiety and self-doubt. Having my wife provide commentary during the ordeal, remarking "Oh god, it's going to crash this time for sure, I just know it. Why'd you even try, Eric?! Game over, man! Game over!" as I tug out my copy of Advance Wars DS doesn't make the challenge any easier. So when I do manage to put aside the pussycat photos and secure a game to play, it better damn well be worth it. Journey forth and read which of those titles have captured a place not only on my top five list, but in my heart.
PTR notes: Exalted with Netherwing
Wondering what exactly happens when you get exalted with the Netherwing faction to get that neat flying drake? Joni of Malygos has done the grind on the test realm and has some information for all would-be dragonriders. After pretending to work for (and sabotaging) the Fel Orcs, she had to race six netherdrakes at honored reputation. On the way to exalted, she could complete 9 daily quests for reputation with the Netherwing. Finally, she hit exalted and got her "reward" from the Fel Orcs ... a personal audience with Illidan. Oops. Looks like those magical eyes can see through your disguise, and you'd be pretty much boned if the Netherwings didn't come down and save you. Joni ended up being flown to Shattrath and getting to pick a free netherdrake from a number of available colors. The questline also gave her a nice trinket that summons a netherwhelp as a combat pet! She says the grind will take a non-human about two weeks if you do all the daily quests each day, and she plans on writing up a Netherwing guide to help those of us who are a little less motivated to do the whole thing on the PTR. Congratulations, Joni, and may you fly your dragon proudly through the skies of the test realm.
Japanese hardware sales, Apr. 2 - Apr. 8: Puzzle Quest 2: Tetris edition
The superlative Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords had this crazy notion to blend the classic gameplay of Bejeweled with a surprisingly deep RPG experience. We think this is a great idea, and decided: why not revisit the greatest classic of all? That's right, folks, here's our design document for the guaranteed billion-seller, Destiny of Tetris: Age of the Mystic Blade. Play as one of seven exciting classes, including square, T-shape, and leftways squiggly! Discover a hidden conspiracy regarding the NexPiece, a legendary window said to grant its users access to the future! Obtain new skills as you progress, including attack spells, elemental tetromino summons, and increased vodka tolerance. Build an empire: well, what the hell else did you think you were building with those blocks? Surely, thou art tingling with excitement. We can hardly believe this game's brilliance ourselves. Stay tuned for Destiny of Tetris 2: Kremlin Fever and Destiny of Tetris Advance: Little Kids Throw Snowballs At Each Other.- DS Lite: 110,845 30,948 (38.73%)- Wii: 52,583 1,218 (2.37%)- PSP: 31,503 7,574 (19.38%) - PS3: 14,520 2,369 (14.03%) - PS2: 14,234 3,553 (19.98%) - Xbox 360: 2,963 926 (23.81%) - GBA SP: 833 224 (36.78%) - Game Boy Micro: 512 76 (12.93%) - Gamecube: 255 50 (24.39%) - DS Phat: 90 25 (21.74%) - GBA: 12 3 (33.33%)[Source: Media Create]
A few more Itadaki Street screens
Any time mascot characters from different game companies converge, it's a big deal. As mascot-converging deals go, it doesn't get much bigger than Itadaki Street DS, which forcefully jams the worlds of Dragon Quest and Mario together onto a game board. There's also the fact that another long-time Square Enix franchise heading to the DS is likely to cause a sales supernova. We enjoy keeping tabs on this game in anticipation of that upcoming cosmic event.While you wait for that June 21st release date, and ponder learning how to read "slime" in Japanese (????????????), why not take a look at some new screenshots?
DS Daily: Should we get it...?
We'll admit it ... we're not fully sold on Puzzle Quest. After the superlative Meteos, another DS puzzler seems like it might let us down, and yet sterling reviews keep pouring in. What's a group of poor bloggers to do? Why, ask their readers, of course!The game is apparently nigh impossible to find, but we know a guy. Did any of you pick it up, and is it as totally awesome as the messengers say? Even without the cart, you can pick up a PC demo right here, which we're about to install. Let's hear the verdict!
Phat Loot Phriday: Tabard of Laos Flipor
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Tabard_of_Laos_Flipor'; When Blizzard introduced the Tabard of the Protector, it was pretty much a given that before long, we'd see more useful tabards coming in the game. And now, after the latest patch, players have unearthed this piece of phat loot.Name: Tabard of Laos FliporType: TabardArmor: NAAbilities: It's a tabard with stats! +10 Strength, +10 Agility, +10 Stamina, +10 Intellect,, and +10 Spirit (kind of like The 1 Ring, but ten times better!) You may not think +10 is much of a bonus, but +10 Intellect means an extra 150 mana. And +10 Agility actually grants a whopping +20 Armor. Added up, these all mean a lot, and the fact that they're on a tabard makes them just icing on the cake. Laos Flipor, if you weren't already aware, is a little-known lore figure-- she used to be a jester in the Court of Lordaeron. She was known for telling bad jokes, and apparently she told one too many and got Arthas angry at her. Right after he murdered Dad in WC III, he offed her, too. How to Get It: If you've ever done the CLUCK! quest in Westfall, you'll be able to do this one. You can get the tabard from (where else?) the guild tabard vendor in every capital city. But they won't offer it to you unless you can prove, like Laos, how funny you are. So just go up to a guild tabard vendor, target them, and do the /silly emote 200 times.200 jokes later, a ? will pop up above the tabard vendor's head, and this baby is yours.Getting Rid of It: It's BOP, but any vendor will give you 4 silver, 1 copper for it. Then again, at that price, you'd be a fool not to keep it!Update: Pishnaa (thanks, this is awesome) has given us photographic proof! And if it's in a screenshot, it must be true.
Fun with Archmage Vargoth
Seen this wizard (or these wizards) around lately? It's Archmage Vargoth. Actually, it's an image of Archmage Vargoth-- the guy himself is locked, by Kael'thas, inside the Violet Tower up in Netherstorm. The image is summoned with a staff obtained from a long quest chain that starts in Area 52. At around the third quest in the chain, you can obtain Vargoth's staff, which lets you summon an image of him which actually works as a questgiver for the rest of the chain (the eventual end of the chain is to get him out of the tower, though some players say it's not working correctly).In fact, as long as you have the staff, you can summon him again. And again. And, yes, again. And you can do it anywhere. This guy had a little Vargoth party in Karazhan, and Vargoth has been popping up all over Azeroth-- in the captial cities, and even in battlegrounds. The only drawback is that the staff has a 2 minute cooldown on it, and so does the image-- you can't summon more than one at a time with just one staff. But if you have more than one player with the staff, Vargoth clones can appear, which means with a little coordination, he can become a very familiar face around Azeroth.Until it gets "fixed," that is-- chances are that Blizzard will attach a location to the staff, only letting you summon him close to the tower where he's trapped. But until then, I can't wait to see this little purple wizard in as many unexpected places as possible.
From Scryer to Aldor (and back again)
When we first heard that there would be two mutually exclusive factions in Outland, I knew it would happen, but here's the first time I've seen it in the wild: Coraline on LJ decided that Scryer wasn't the right decision for her warlock, and decided to grind her way back to the Aldor.It can't be an easy process. As you know if you've done the Shattrath tour, doing quests for Aldor lowers your reputation with the Scryers, and vice versa. And there are three levels of hate for each faction-- you start at Unfriendly (depending on which faction you first chose to join), and then slowly fall down to Hostile, and then Hated. You can't actually get the normal rep quests for the other side until you reach Neutral, so if you want to switch sides, you have to go to Shattrath and get a special quest (for Scryer rep, it's Voren'thal's Visions, and for Aldor, it's Strained Supplies). That quest consists of a simple animal drop (basilisk eyes and spider venom sacs, both from Terrokar), and can be repeated all the way back up to Neutral.Coraline says it's not actually that bad-- she went from Hostile to Unfriendly within about an hour of farming (which means she still has to fight to Neutral to start doing the normal quests). People working back towards Aldor are able to get silk from the spiders (that sells well on the AH), but unfortunately for repentant Scryers, the basilisks don't drop anything really good. They do drop Chunk O'Basilisk if you're a cook, and they can be skinned if you're a leatherworker, so there's that.Anyone else made the tredge back between the Aldor and Scryer factions? Coraline doesn't say she did this, but I would: if you're leaving your faction, make sure to grab all the goodies you can. I would be completely impressed to see someone dual-wielding both the Vindicator's Brand and the Retainer's Blade at the same time (you don't actually need the rep to wield them, do you? Just to own them, I'd assume).Update: We've got confirmation-- commenter shooter's guildie shows it is possible to wear both Aldor and Scryer gear at the same time. Could be a bug, but if you want to grind both factions for all the rewards, it seems you can do it.
Breakfast Topic: Favorite quests
Yesterday we talked about the most annoying quests you'd found in Azeroth and Outland -- so today we're talking about the opposite. Let's hear about the most interesting, most rewarding, and most out and out fun quests you've found in the game since the expansion's come out. My own personal favorite remains a fairly early quest in Terokkar Forest. Exploring the Cenarion Thicket for other quests, you're likely to run into the half-crazed Warden Treelos, who requests that you slaughter a beast he calls Naphthal'ar. Of Naphthal'ar, Treelos tells you:If you can, convince it to come down for tea. But, by all means, get it to stop staring at me!And once you have slain the beast, Treelos mourns:It's for the best, really. If it cannot civilly accept an invitation then it has no business attending.That little interaction makes me giggle every time I recall it, and -- for me at least -- makes an otherwise simple "go here, kill this" quest a memorable favorite.
Phat Loot Phriday: Chained Essence of Eranikus
I know we've been pretty centered on Outland loot lately, just because all the stuff there is so, well, phat. But here's a cool little trinket you don't need the expansion to get, and it's just steeped in lore.Name: Chained Essence of EranikusType: TrinketDamage / Speed: N/AAbilities: On use, it'll poison all enemies in an 8 yard radius, giving them 50 Nature damage every 5 seconds for 45 seconds, on a 15 minute cooldown. Not great, but not too shabby for a level 55 trinket. I found this really helpful on my Warrior (at least until around level 60 or so), but YMMV, of course. Also, whenever you use this, you get a personal, only-you-can-hear-it whisper from non other than the tortured soul of Eranikus the dragon (he's the big green monster above). Yes, that is a voice in your head, and it's coming from this trinket. More on that in a second. How to Get It: This is a long one. I'll leave the details for one of Elizabeth's great Know Your Lore posts, but all you need to know is that the Green Dragonflight is tied to a realm called the Emerald Dream, and that place is currently being corrupted into the Emerald Nightmare. Deep within Sunken Temple (on the same level as all the other dragons and Jammalan the Prophet), a Shade of the dragon Eranikus is sleeping. He was sent there by Ysera, leader of the Green Dragonflight, to take care of all the trolls messing about. But instead, corrupted by the Emerald Dream's troubles, he's sleeping on the job, which is when you come upon him.After you take him down, everyone in the party can loot a gem from his body, called the Essence of Eranikus. You have to get a quest from that gem, and then take it to the font located in the back of the same room where you fight him. Instead of releasing Eranikus, however, it turns out the font itself is corrupted, and he becomes Chained inside the gem, creating this trinket as a quest reward from that quest.Now, the trinket is actually a quest item in another series of quests that currently isn't done. You can take the gem to Itharius, an elf (some players say he's a green dragon in disguise) inside a cave in the Swamp of Sorrows, and give it to him to get a quest to meet up with someone else in Winterspring. But the questline ends right after that, with no final rewards or lore to show for it. It's widely assumed that this quest chain will eventually be where we have a chance, whenever Blizzard gets around to it, to actually enter the Emerald Dream, and confront whatever's causing the corruption in there.Eranikus also makes a quick appearance in the questline to open up the Gates of Ahn Qiraj (along with Tyrande Whisperwind!), but that's a long story for another day...Getting Rid of It: You can give it to Itharius if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it until Blizzard actually updates that quest chain. A vendor will give 64s 64c, or it will usually disenchant into Illusion Dust.
Return of the Luffa
Answer honestly now: who actually kept the Luffa? The Luffa is a pretty much worthless trinket (except maybe for Rogues who often fight Druids or Warriors) available at level 49 from a quest in Searing Gorge. All it does is remove one bleed effect. It's not a bad trinket when you get it at level 49, but after that, more and more trinkets show up that do so much more that for most players, the Luffa ends up either in the bank, or, more likely, vendored away.I know I sold it. But those of you who hang on to everything you find in the game have a reason to celebrate: the Luffa is back. Apparently in Karazhan, there's a rogue boss named Moroes who lays down a debuff called "Garrote"-- it's a whopping 1000 damage per 3 seconds for five minutes (or until he dies, as of 2.0.6), which is a lot of damage. And yet, while Stoneform, Divine Shield and Ice Block will all remove it, the only other way you'll get it off is, you guessed it, the ol' Luffa.If, like me, you did vendor it, don't worry too much-- the Luffa only works sometimes, and the fight's not impossible without it anyway. But a few players are feeling a little regret at tossing away something they'd never thought they'd need. Maybe a future quest in Outland will someday grant us an extra absorbent Luffa for future use.Update: And here's even more reason to keep it. Commenter Wari asks about Rokmar the Crackler's debuff in the Slave Pens (he drops a bleed that does damage until the player who has it is healed to full), and it looks like the Luffa will clean that annoying buff off too. Who knew the Luffa would be so useful?
The quest for Autumn: Windows XP's elusive backdrop
It's no secret that people have been fascinated, or at least intrigued, by wallpapers and screensavers since the desktop first graced their eyes, and judging by the sheer multitude of websites and man-hours devoted to perfecting the screen that you so rarely see once you launch that first app, it's also no shock to hear a tale of such obsession. Although Autumn may not be most people's default background in Windows XP, it's still well regarded, and for one Vanity Fair writer, it sparked a worldwide quest to find its origin. Expecting the task to be one of relative ease in the age of email, meta tags, and digital archives, he began by questioning the usual suspects about its humble beginnings, but to his dismay, was turned down time and time again by rights protectors who wouldn't divulge the author nor location of such a highly prized stock photograph. Eventually, his entire team was onboard in a furious (albeit seemingly futile) search to discover precisely where this image was shot, once leading to thoughts of permanent relocation if the locale was finally unearthed. After what seemed like months of running into brick walls, an email to Bill Gates himself resulted in an apparently automated response that belted out nothing more but the snapshot's place of origin, which incited fits of jovial celebration office-wide. To Campbellville, Ontario, Canada they headed, in desperate need to visit the orangey area so burned into their memories, and thanks to the purportedly mysterious workings of a co-worker, they even landed the shooter's name. Eventually, the journey led them to a rarely traveled path in the city of Burlington, where the old Harris Homestead quietly sat behind a vigilant row of bare trees surrounded by glistening white snow. It truly was Winter, at last for the adventurous crew, but it certainly gives us pause when deciding whether or not to seek out the origin of Ascent and Azul in our spare time.
Get out the scooper, time to take the felhound for a walk
Udderpants of Twisting Nether makes a really great point on the forums: We've braved an entire civilization of trolls (and the avatar they worship), we've brought dragon heads back to our cities, and we've slaughtered the opposing faction until our leaders deemed us worthy enough to be given the best gear-- and yet we're consigned to picking up felhound poop in Outland. Can't say I was prepared for that.Which isn't to say that I don't like the quest. One of the things I was hoping for in Outland was a little more quest variety, and while the actual clicking is still there (that gear does an amazing number of things), at least there's a little more story-- I also like the quest (also Horde) in which you find out that a Blood Elf at Falcon Watch is being cheated on by her lover.But still-- poop? I've got over 400 spell damage, fer chrissakes! Neth says, in her almost infinite wisdom (she did have a little bit of trouble explaining away the honor nerf way back when) says it's to teach us humility, which all great heroes should have in-- excuse me on this one-- spades. I guess before you get to clean out all the crap in Karahzan and the Black Temple, everyone's gotta pick up a little poop.
Bug leaves Draenei out of the Alliance
It kind of boggles my mind that there are Draenei out there going through the Onyxia quest (not just because they're not supposed to be that level yet, but also because who still cares about Ony?), but apparently there are, and they're having issues. It seems the Draenei aren't yet considered to be in the Alliance for a few quests-- the note in A Crumpled Up Note isn't dropping for them at all. Also, the Flute of Xavaric, another Alliance item isn't appearing for them either. Drysc confirms it's a bug, and they're working on it.Which is a little strange, when you think about the mechanics of the game. One player mentions the Horde's experience with the necklace in Uldaman-- when Horde try to pick up that necklace, they get an error message (but at least it drops for them). Likewise, Blizzard was able to easily make Pally gear drop on all those Horde runs before the expansion, but they can't flag the Draenei as Alliance? Bit of an oversight, that.But here's hoping it'll be fixed soon, and the Draenei can be folded back under the wing of the Alliance forces for good.
