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Norrathian Notebook: EverQuest Next Round Table roundup, round three
Quick on the heels of our second Round Table roundup for EverQuest Next and EQN Landmark comes the third, filled with the next bushel of questions! In these (lucky) seven queries, devs asked players to give their opinions on starter zones, modding the UI, length of the day and night cycle, grouping, preferred Landmark building styles, and the role of NPC merchants. And of course, devs also offered their personal opinions on these topics. Did you participate in all the polls the first time through? If not, we've got them all right here for you. Go ahead and join in the discussions; it is never too late to voice your opinions! You never know when your comment might be the one that turns the tide of thinking or offers a new solution no one had considered before.
The Tattered Notebook: Quips, quotes, and EQ Next tidbits from SOE Live
It's official: I survived SOE Live! (I'd have included "with my sanity intact," but we all know I didn't have any going into it.) It's not that I seriously doubted this conclusion; I did successfully survive my inaugural visit after all. But with so much to see and hear and do, there was bound to be a casualty of some sort. In this case, it was sleep. Even sacrificing that, there was still no way to experience it all -- and I tried! If you haven't been to SOE's annual "family reunion" in a while, you might not realize just how big it has grown. And adding EverQuest Next and EverQuest Next Landmark to the already expanded portfolio of games represented made for more news than could reasonably be condensed into nice little packages. That's where The Tattered Notebook comes in! I'm going to share an assortment of hidden gems and hilarious moments from the convention, including plenty of EQ Next intel from various developer interviews.
Cataclysm: Guards in starting zones buffed to level 90
Planning on kicking off Cataclysm by killing all the quest givers in newbie zones? Think again: Blizzard has increased the level of starting zone guards in areas like Coldridge Pass and Deathknell to 90. These guards are currently level 65 on the live servers. The change, which guarantees you'll be at least five levels lower than the guards, takes advantage of existing game mechanics to protect lower-level players from mischief. NPCs that are five levels higher than you are exceedingly difficult to hit (spell casters will suffer a 39 percent chance to miss) and frequently wallop you for higher-damage-causing crushing blows far more often. The guards will also have higher health pools as well. This contrasts vividly with guards on the live server, who are prone to dying if a level 80 character accidentally sneezes on them. Level 90 guards are better suited to protecting newbie players from max-level griefers. Note that only starting areas will see these high-level guards. The guards in major cities are now level 85 -- dangerous, but soloable. Players who are upset by this change are encouraged to stop being jerks who grief newbies. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The Daily Quest: Hello, goodbye, we'll miss you
WoW Insider's on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. One of the most hotly debated topics regarding Cataclysm has surrounded the soon-to-be former Warchief Thrall and his replacement Garrosh. One of the most anticipated things about Cataclysm is the upcoming revamp of the old starting zones. Luckily, the blogosphere seems to be discussing each of these things! Convenient, eh? The Dead Good Tanking Guide has an ode to the new Warchief. Player Versus Developer discusses Thrall's farewell to Nagrand. Lastly, The Barrens Chat is reviewing the current starter zones -- including a look at the gnome and dwarf areas. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
LotRO F2P launch day roundup
Volume III, Book 2: The Ride of the Grey Company is upon us, a massive Lord of the Rings Online patch that is functioning as a virtual relaunch of the game. In addition to adding loads of new content, Turbine is transforming LotRO into a hybrid subscription/free-to-play model in the hopes that this choice will draw fresh crowds to the game. The company's even opened eight new servers for the launch -- four for US and four for EU. Unfortunately, we have received word that Codemasters is going to release the patch in Europe "later than expected." Hit the jump for a roundup of our LotRO F2P news and discussion!
Latest LotRO free-to-play screens show new starting areas
Part of the transition to free-to-play for The Lord of the Rings Online includes some cosmetic changes here and there. We got a glimpse of that a few weeks ago, and now Turbine is giving us a look at another area that's undergone some changes. The man and hobbit starting areas will have a new look when free-to-play arrives this fall. You'll see some familiar faces, and you'll still have the standard assortment of shadowy figures, backstory, and angry creatures to fight, but things will look a bit different. Check out the newest addition to the gallery below for a look at the new man and hobbit starting areas. %Gallery-97576%
Alganon reveals much of the overhauled launch experience
It's easy to get wrapped up in the war of words between the inimitable Derek Smart and the equally inimitable David Allen, but the whole reason behind that back-and-forth is a game. Much of the news coming out about Alganon has been both sides sniping at each other, but it looks like the development team has been hard at work revamping the game for an April 28th launch. As the website has slowly been updated, they've begun posting more and more information about what's due out when the game goes live... which promises to be pretty extensive. There's more about the various cash shop items that can be purchased with the new "subscription-free" model, which follows a vaguely Dungeons & Dragons Online pattern -- increased experience gain, bonuses to study speeds, limited-duration enchanted equipment. The starter areas are also being revamped, with the Asharr Humans starting in the Temple of Argon (which may or may not contain an eye) and the Temple of Xukiss becoming the start point for Talrok Kujix characters. And as expected, the feature list prominently states that Alganon's graphics have been overhauled, especially for the UI. With a little over a week to go, it should be interesting to see how the new iteration of the game plays out.
Gnome and troll starting zones to be revamped
After five years of squatting in other races' capital cities, gnomes and trolls will have their starting zones revamped, developers confirmed through the recently concluded chat over Twitter. It probably isn't much of a spoiler now after the developers talked about it, but discovered among the files in Patch 3.3.3 were quests and Achievements related to the retaking of Gnomeregan and Echo Isles. It's been a long time coming for two of the game's original races who got the shaft when Burning Crusade introduced two new races with their own capital cities while gnomes and trolls continued to squat in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, respectively. Over the chat, developers mentioned that they were looking at revamping all the original starting zones, with particular focus on the two races. Now that Cataclysm is on the horizon and Blizzard plans to introduce two more races with the worgens and goblins, it only seemed fitting that gnomes and trolls get their due. However, the developers were quick to point out that the zones won't get as "epic" a feel as the two new races in Cataclysm. They did reveal that they have "big plans" for the two races, hinting at the events set to come in a future patch, if not Patch 3.3.3. Blizzard also reminded everyone that they planned to overhaul all the starting zones with Cataclysm, which improves gameplay, quest flow, and overall experience. Now that these squatter races are finally getting equal status with the others, maybe Blizzard will finally let us see a gnome in the Cataclysm cinematic?
Blizzard at PAX 2009 wrapup
PAX wrapped up over the weekend in Seattle, and from what we've heard of our friends' experiences over at Joystiq, it was a wild, wild time. Blizzard was there as expected, and it sounds like the setup was pretty awesome. They had all three playable demos up from BlizzCon, including the Starcraft II singleplayer game, the Diablo III monk class, and of course the Cataclysm Worgen and Goblin race starting areas. We hear that Blizzard had their GMs in attendance as well, and reader Aveiceae (whose pictures you can see in the gallery below) reports that she saw both Drysc and Bornakk there. She also says that Blizzard gave away some of their famous hand sanitizer throughout the show -- very important, especially at a gaming convention during swine flu season.Tisoi also has a report over on WoW LJ, including a few pictures of the setup on the convention floor, as well as a few (sneaky) screenshots of the Worgen and Goblin areas. He also got to meet Jeff "Vork" Lewis and Sandeep "Zaboo" Parikh of The Guild. Felicia Day wasn't there (she spent the weekend at Dragon*Con, where there was other WoW-related shenanigans going on), but as Sandeep reported on his Twitter, she wasn't needed, thanks to cosplayers. Sounds like a great time was had by all. Next year, PAX is headed out east -- we'll have to keep an eye out and see if Blizzard is going there as well.%Gallery-72105%
Breakfast Topic: Is WoW too complex?
As I said the other day, we've talked about the dumbed-down argument quite a few times before, but I think this is the first time I've ever heard the opposite argument put forth so succinctly: Tadaa asks, over on the forums, "Is WoW getting too complex?" Longtime players will probably say no at first glance -- the game has been streamlined a lot since it first game out, and things that took up much of your time previously (tracking quests, looking up quest targets, dealing with respecs, and finding groups) now have systems built into the game that let you get past them easily. But think of what it would be like to step into Azeroth nowadays -- instead of just a chat channel where you can find groups, there's a whole system with terms like "damage" and "tank" in there. On first glance, it might be tough to figure out. And then there's things like resilience and Replenishment (which some experienced players don't even fully understand), and even things we think of as helpful features (getting pets and currency out of our inventory) can be super confusing for new players: where did that pet go that I just clicked on, or that badge that I just saw looted to me in the combat window?
Best starting race
I've been leveling a few Draenei alts off and on and finally figured out just why it is that I keep rolling the damn things in addition to my beloved Tauren; their starting quests rock. You wake from stasis, meet the locals, save a princess, make early ties to the Alliance and find out why there's a good reason the some of 'em won't trust you right off the bat, discover nefarious deeds afoot, fight a dragon, and then save your people and get a cool tabard. "Find your way back to the Outland, Hero of Argus," Exarch Admetius tells you, in a nice preview of things to come, and Velen has a good lore moment with you shortly afterwards.Having leveled a toon out of every starting area to at least 20, it's hard not to notice that some areas make it a lot easier than others. I don't mean the general ease of leveling per se, but just how fast the time seems to fly by. For all that a certain percentage of the playerbase frowns on RP on non-RP servers, most peoples' favorite quests do have an element of RP to them, or at least the RP sense of being fully engaged with the world. And in that respect the Draenei starting zones are, in my opinion, unparalleled. If I had to rank them --
Scattered Shots: Your first levels as a new Hunter
Every week, Brian Karasek and David Bowers bring you help, tips and advice for the leveling Hunter in Scattered Shots. For those veterans looking for high end Hunter goodness, BRK will be returning to active duty next week. This post is part of the Hunter Leveling Guide. [Also, it was actually written by Brian Karasek, not David Bowers.] Hunters have it easy. They get a pet to hang around with and keep them company. They don't get hit that often (or at least for very long, one way or the other), and they have one of the best ways to shake off foes in the game. Furthermore, and most tellingly, Hunters can pretty much get to the level cap without ever working in a group or running a dungeon. It's our blessing and our curse, our boon and our bane. We have a built in tank that we can heal, and we're our own DPS support. What this means is that we can reach the heights of leveling in a multiplayer game, without once needing to play with multiple players.A problem for hunters often comes there: a level 70 character is often expected to know how to do things in a group, with multiple players. And many a hunter has gone into a level 70 instance as their first dungeon run, resulting in less than optimal outcomes.In this column, which I'll be sharing duty with one of my colleagues here at WoW Insider, I'll be discussing the Hunter class from the ground up, from a casual point of view. Starting from level 1 and going all the way to the level cap, I'll share my experience and advice, and ask for yours as well. For new hunters, I hope this column will let you avoid some stereotypical mistakes Hunters make. For old hunters, I hope this column will let you point out my shortcomings, offer your own advice, or notice some of your own.We ding level 2, after the jump!
Walking into a void
Is it just me, or did the process for obtaining my voidwalker get way too hard in the Burning Crusade? I now play a Blood Elf Warlock along with my alliance toons, and just last night I had to go into Ghostlands, to Goldenmist Village to summon a VW, defeat him and high-tail it out of there to get my big fluffy blue peep. No, I have done it before on other toons on other servers, but even with a friend I found this task to be all too difficult. ON the Alliance side, getting your VW in Stormwind can be done while eating IRL, giving the dog a bath, or watching reruns of <insert favorite show>. An ambitious imp can nearly solo it.Generally, most starting area content in Burning Crusade has been easier. Early quests in both Eversong Woods and Azuremyst Isle give you bags to help you hold more right off the bat, and in both areas you can go from 0-12 in a matter of a few hours. Most quests are geographically close together, and the content is very well laid out to help you move on to the better stuff quickly. This Warlock rite of passage is the hardest thing I have seen in the lower-level starting areas for a Blood Elf, and it is incredibly hard, especially if you are soloing it. The aggro, and respawn rate of all the ghosties in the area are cranked up much higher than they should be in my opinion, and I think many players would agree. You literally cannot stop running or 3-5 ghosts will be owning your imp in nothing flat, not to mention you. Try it yourself, roll a Blood Elf Warlock and get it to level ten, and try to get your VW, and you'll see what I mean.Have you found the content in Burning Crusade to be too hard, starting areas or otherwise? Are there areas and problem spots that continually give you hassle that you Blizzard should maybe address, you know, after they put out the new expansion pack that is? Sure it is easy to complain, and says things aren't right, but in this case, I feel that some sort of tweaking is needed. I can't imagine someone who is just starting to play being able to complete this quest, and I have been playing for a while.
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Forum Post of the Day: Westfall
This forum thread isn't particularly long, but it is actually useful, and prompts some additional thought and discussion. Imagine that! The original poster, Revelatia from Demon Soul, complains that he/she is ready for Westfall too soon after running out of quests in Elwynn. Level 9 questing in Westfall? Not much fun. To my surprise, instead of incredibly stupid responses and sarcastic "NOOB!" replies, Revelatia spurs a good conversation on Alliance-side low-level questing. Even Drysc gets in on the action. Some of the replies include... Bouncing back and forth between other starting areas. I do this a lot myself. I do all the low-level quests in Loch Modan, roll into Westfall around level 13 and then quest and grind myself all the way up to level 17 or so before I start looking for new adventure. Make sure you do ALL the quests in Elwynn. This includes the farm quests in the South and the logging camp quests in the East. You could do some of the higher-level quests in Dun Morogh. I have to admit, I tend to avoid Dun Morogh. Too much running in my opinion. It's always nice to get a forum thread that is constructive and not overrun with lame replies. And this one is useful as well! Win-win.
