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Breakfast Topic: Wishlist
2006 was a year of much change for our favorite MMO, from patch 1.9 through 2.0.1 (not to mention the BC beta). Here's a quick rundown: 1.9 saw the first world event in the form of the opening of AQ. It also contributed further to server unification by linking auction houses. Paladin talents were updated. 1.10 gave us weather effects, new Priest talents, and Tier 0.5. 1.11 introduced Naxx, keyrings, nifty Mage talents, and a global LFG channel, which was quickly patched to default to off. 1.12 had cross-realm BGs, the EPL and Silithus PvP objectives, and new Rogue talents 2.0.1, as I'm sure you all know, was the day the add-ons died, honor got completely overhauled, and we all got shiny new abilities and talents to tide us over till the expansion. What would you all like to see come to with WoW in 2007? Is the Burning Crusade giving you all your wishes, or do you have more burning desires for the game?
WoW Moviewatch: Tier 6
For your late-night/early-morning/whatever-time-it-is enjoyment, I present to you the following sneak peak at the Tier 6 gear that awaits you in the expansion. Sadly, the Paladin set is missing from this video compilation, but the rest is sure to bring you joy. These all seem surprisingly class-appropriate to me (except the Hunter, but that's only to be expected). [Thanks, Bet]Previous Moviewatches
Forum Post of the Day: Name an item...
Can you name an item you have now that you're planning on keeping at level 70? Of course there are the obvious trinket toys (there are multiple mentions of WoW Insider favorite Dartol's Rod of Transformation), non-combat pets, and fancy clothes -- but think about it, is there any actual gear you plan on holding on to by the time you hit 70? For my part, I imagine my priest will be holding on to the Blue Dragon Darkmoon Faire card, as it has a unique effect that I doubt I'll see duplicated elsewhere. But for ordinary gear -- even epic gear that's taken hour upon hour upon hour of learning encounters and attending raids -- it may smooth the trip to 70 a bit, but I don't see any of it being irreplaceable.
Are you raiding?
Over the past few months, it seems as though all of the big raiding guilds -- both Alliance and Horde -- have disbanded on my server. For my part, I've watched each drama-filled guildsplosion while nodding to myself, thinking this to be an obvious result of the coming Burning Crusade expansion. By next month we'll all be jumping into playing Draenei or Blood Elves, or leveling our mains to 70. And would you rather spend four hours a night, as Zubon of Kill Ten Rats puts it, for a tiny chance at rolling on a desired item -- or would you rather just wait a few more weeks and pick up similar-quality gear as quest rewards and new instance drops?I know I stand firmly in the latter camp. The closer we've gotten to the expansion's release, the less I've bothered with my main. Why push forward into raid dungeons when I'll be replacing most of my gear in the leveling spree to come? So when I play, I play alts -- getting a new class to 60 just seems more useful than the slight chance of a minuscule improvement for my priest main seems right now. But what about you? Are you out there pushing through raid content? And if so, I must say I'm curious -- why?
Jewelcrafting recipe database
WoW blogger Kaliope writes that she spent yesterday with Mr. Kaliope putting their fairly comprehensive database of Jewelcrafting recipes up at Crafter's Tome (a new site to me, but it looks quite cool). "I believe it's more complete than Allakhazam or Thottbot at the moment", she says, so that looks like the go-to place for Jewelcrafting recipes right now. Not that it's of very much practical use unless you're in the BC beta, but it's pretty to look at, and if you're smarter than me you might be able to predict what mats would be best to stockpile.Personally, I haven't read very much there, since I'm so excited about Jewelcrafting that I'm trying to keep myself relatively spoiler-free on the subject. My BC character is going to be taking Mining and Jewelcrafting. I'd like to approach it relatively free of metagaming, so I'm giving a fairly wide berth to this sort of Jewelcrafting stuff. But what I have seen of the profession looks almost unreasonably awesome, and it's safe to say that in the month-plus between now and the BC release I'm probably going to crack and read a bunch more spoilers.What impressions have you guys formed so far about Jewelcrafting? More powerful than Enchanting? Harder to level than Armorsmithing? I'm taking it no matter what you guys say, so don't hold back on my account.[via Kaliope's WoW Crafting Beta Blog]
Beta key giveaway at Wowhead
One of my favorite WoW database sites, Wowhead, is currently running a contest to give away 100 coveted Burning Crusade beta keys, as well as a 20" LCD monitor at the end of the contest. For a chance to win, all you have to do is post comments, send them screenshots, or use their client to upload data. Sounds pretty easy to me.I enjoy Wowhead not only for their clean, low-calorie design, but also because, unlike some other prominent WoW sites, they don't accept ads from gold sellers. So go over there and take one for the team by winning a beta pass!Edit: I've been alerted that WoW Insider itself apparently features gold ads. It would be sort of ironic if they were contextually triggered by the word "gold" in this very post....Anyway, sorry for that bit of pot-calling-the-kettle-black-ism. That's what I get for always using AdBlock, I suppose.[Thanks, Silvertusk]
All the expansion news that's fit to print
EU MVP Schwick has been keeping this thread containing expansion details relevant and updated since February (yes, February!). And after all this time, this Q&A is still the best place to go to get all of your Burning Crusade questions answered in one convenient spot. With the expansion release just around the corner, you'd hate to be caught by surprise![Thanks, Schwick]
Instances in Burning Crusade and beyond
Relmstein's got a great roundup of the new instances coming in the Burning Crusade, including the lowdown on two instances that won't show up in January, but will likely appear in two releases after the expansion.The Black Temple, it seems, won't be available when the expansion hits-- Blizz says they want to "polish" it before release. Relmstein says that's fine, because it will take players a few weeks to get to level 70 anyway. I'm not sure that's true-- you should never underestimate how fast players can eat up new content, but I do think that the other new instances will be more than enough to at least keep the majority of players interested for a while. The other instance we'll have to wait a bit on is Zul'Aman, a 10-man instance that's Troll-based like Zul'Gurub and Zul'Farrak. Of course I knew that there would be lots of new 10-man content in BC (the highest dungeons will have a limit of 25 players), but the thought still gets me excited-- UBRS is one of my favorite instances in the current game (and relatively easy to get a group together at any time), so more 10-man content will be very welcome to see.Finally, Relmstein takes a look at instances and areas that still haven't opened in the world. Hyjal and the Island in the middle of the map we already suspect will open in later expansions, but there's a few instances that might be closer-- specifically Uldum in the south of Tanaris (a Dwarf lore instance like Uldaman) and Gilneas near Silverpine Forest. There's no plans yet for either to open (Blizzard has acknowledged that they want to, but probably aren't currently working on either), but considering that instances are many players' favorite part of the game at large, it's extremely exciting to think what swirly portals we'll be walking through soon.
New epic mount drop found in BC
With all of the hoopla going down about the non-expansion patch today, you might almost forget that in a little over a month, we're still going to find a whole new world of items. And news from the beta front is that at least one of them is going to be a sweet new dropped mount.Tcher over on LJ posts (some strange looking) pics of what appears to be a new mount, and the World of Raids thread related to it confirmed it's a dropped red horsey, found on the first boss in the 10 man Karazhan instance (the boss' name is Attumen the Huntsman). The item requires level 70, but only a riding skill of 150, so it's likely this is your standard 100% epic mount, like the Deathcharger's Reins or the Bloodlord's dino. As you can see from the pic, it looks (and this is a technical term) frickin' sweet.But aside from the cool looking horse, this could mean a lot of fun other stuff for BC: we already know Blizzard switched the riding prices because they wanted to add more mounts into the game, and so it's likely this isn't the only mount floating around out there. Likewise, this thing drops from the first boss in an instance, while current drop mounts come off of relatively hard bosses (Baron, it could be argued, is the final 5-man boss in the game). Any way you slice it, it looks like this is just the beginning of cool mounts in the expansion (for everyone, too-- look at that cow riding the horse!)
WoW Moviewatch: Maiev Shadowsong lives!
No idea who Maiev Shadowsong is? Well, I'm happy to refresh your memory -- Maiev was a priestess of Elune who was chosen to safekeep Illidan in his prison after the War of the Ancients. After Illidan was freed by Tyrande (who hoped he would aid in fight against the Burning Legion during the Third War), Maiev became obsessed with recapturing Illidan and bringing him to justice. And by all accounts, Miaev is said to have died pursuing Illidan past the dark portal -- and yet here we find her, imprisoned in Shadowmoon Valley.
Breakfast Topic: What will you be playing in the expansion?
We're getting closer and closer to the expansion's release date, and if you're anything like me, you're making plans! As a long-time Horde aligned healbot, I'm excited about the addition of paladins to the Horde, and will be making one of the hundreds of newbie Horde paladins -- and possibly making it my new main character. And with the countless changes to classes across the board, I can't be the only one planning on having a different main in the Burning Crusade than I do now. So, what do you think you'll be playing in the expansion?
More beta expansion changes
The latest beta patch has come down with some interesting changes. As usual, some of them are good, some of them are unbelievably good, and some of them will make you want to cry. My thoughts: rogues have come out nicely, if the unofficial notes are to be believed. And by "nicely" I mean "my main is now a rogue!" Also in the patch and not in the notes -- a couple of warlock nerfs. You may check out Nethaera's official notes and Idejder's unofficial notes, or read on to see both.
First steps into the Burning Crusade beta
Yesterday, I rolled a blood elf. I didn't exactly plan to, but what else is one supposed to do while waiting for high-level characters to transfer? And besides, they're so pretty.I found myself alone -- but for fifty paladins -- on Sunstrider Isle, armed with nothing but a dagger and some lurid green clothes. For the first time in months, I didn't know what to do next -- and I liked it.
Another hint at the Burning Crusade release date
Alert reader Elüna points out an interesting fact about the possible release date of the coming expansion -- the release date of the official Bradygames strategy guide. This isn't an avenue I'd thought to check before, but apparently the strategy guide is scheduled for a November 15th release. And while game release dates tend to be guessed at by retailers (hard to sell a pre-order without a release date!), I doubt that book release date information, from the official publisher, is done in quite the same fashion. So what do the rest of you think -- are we looking towards a mid-November expansion release? My magic 8-ball says "maybe!"
