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Massively in Moria: Hands on with the Warden
The Warden is one of the two new classes releasing in Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria on November 18th. It is considered a tank of sorts, yet uses medium leather armor instead of plate, and wields both a spear for melee combat, and a javelin for ranged combat. They're considered the guardian angels of Middle-earth, and specialize in special skill combinations called Gambits that can let the player adjust their skill needs on the fly, according to a particular situation. While they may not be the heaviest hitters or the most heavily-armored, their flexibility and adaptability in combat is where the Warden really shines.After spending several weeks in the Moria beta, we're going to approach this article as a hands-on piece, without spending too much time with stats and figures. Turbine has just released a dev diary showcasing the Warden with a wonderful summary of the basics of the class. We highly recommend using that article as a learning tool, and this one as our general impressions of the Warden in certain situations. We'll go through some of the skills that you'll get with the higher-level Warden, explain some useful Gambits, discuss solo-ability vs. group play and then give our final impressions. Follow along through the link below to see what we thought. Skills and Gambits >>
Turbine releases three new Mines of Moria videos
Turbine has just released three new videos promoting their upcoming expansion for Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria. These videos show the two new classes: the Warden and Rune-keeper. Plus, they delve a bit into the new Foundations of Stone area within the Mines.If you weren't pumped up enough already about Moria, following our extensive coverage and our upcoming coverage, these short videos might help with that excitement a bit. Although we've seen plenty of pics for both of the new classes, this is the first official video showing the Warden and the Rune-keeper. Be sure to check out all three videos embedded just after the cut.
LotRO dev diary looks back at creating the Warden class
Turbine's posted a new developer diary that exposes the creative and mechanical processes of designing the Warden, one of the new classes coming in Mines of Moria. There's something for everyone in the diary from the inspiration of the Warden to its gambit combat mechanic. We don't get an in-depth look at gambits and instead get a more introductory look at how they function. Thankfully we didn't come out of the read-through confused, in fact we felt like Turbine did a good job of laying the groundwork for understanding the class even before it hits retail.Anyone who's watched movies like 300 or Troy is definitely going to fall in love with the Warden. Not that the class is exactly like the Spartan soldier led by Leonidas -- it evokes that imagery a bit, though. We can't wait to see the Warden in action on our monitors in just a months time.
Moria and Harvestfest explored on Massively
Turbine games are down for their bi-weekly maintenance, but Massively has your back with lots of LotRO goodness. Our guide to the Fall Harvest Festival provides you with a walkthrough to gain all the seasonal items you won't see until next year (and who doesn't want that creepy bunny mask?). And if you are looking forward to the Mines of Moria expansion, we have an exclusive walkthrough of the dwarven kingdom as well as video of the new terrain. Soon the NDA will drop on the beta and Massively will have extensive guides on the new master classes, the spear-wielding Warden tank and the healing and dps machine known as the Rune-keeper, as well has walkthroughs for the opening Books of Volume 2 and many of the Moria encounters. Until then, enjoy our guides and let us know in the comments what you want to see from our Moria coverage.
New Mines of Moria Warden and Rune-keeper screenshots released
As part of the continued stream of exciting information we've been getting for Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, Turbine has recently released eight new screenshots showcasing the two new classes coming with the expansion. We have four for the Warden, and four for the Rune-keeper, all showing various action shots to get us fired up for what's to come.You may remember, courtesy of some previous articles we've written, about the functionalities of the Warden and the Rune-keeper. The Warden being the one that uses the special "gambit" skills, and the Rune-keeper being the one that uses either healing or DPS proficiencies, depending on how you'd like to play the class. Once more information is released on these classes and Moria in general, you can count on us to let you know about it!%Gallery-18340%
Wrath splash screen appears on the Launcher
Eagle-eyed readers noticed that Blizzard is prepping a new version of the launcher for the Wrath of the Lich King launch -- a quick update showed up just this afternoon in the launcher software, and afterwards, when starting up, the program flashes the blank screen above, with the Lich King logo, before it then covers it up again with the current iTunes promotion splash screen.This means nothing for certain, of course -- Blizzard is either changing the launcher software and the way the splash screen works completely (and putting the new version live behind the current version), or they're just working on an update for when the game does launch later this year. There's a possibility that this was a mistake, and that the screen was sent live too early, but it doesn't appear to have any affect on the actual program or the game itself -- everything else starts up just fine, with no issues at all. Just like the icy logo around the official site, Blizzard too is getting ready for Wrath.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Massively's exclusive interview with Turbine: Moria and more
Recently, we were fortunate enough to sit down with some of the fine folks at Turbine to discuss a few more details on their newest content patch and the future of Lord of the Rings Online. During this play session, we got a load of screenshots and an in-game video to document the amazing content that will launch with Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion.The details of that play session are coming soon in another post and gallery, but for now, we'll tide you over with an exclusive interview with Jeffrey Steefel, Adam Mersky, Meghan "Patience" Rodberg and Aaron Campbell of Turbine. In it, we cover everything from the challenges Turbine may face with global distribution, to the reasoning behind introducing two new classes with Mines of Moria. Follow along after the jump for the complete interview.
Azeroth Security Advisor: WoW is watching you, part 2
Every week, computer security expert Jon Eldridge is your Azeroth Security Advisor. He will delve into the darkest reaches of computer security rumor and bring the facts back home even if they're wriggling at the end of a pike. His goal is to provide useful information to gamers who don't think about security much and flame fodder for those self appointed experts who need to rationalize the cost of their expensive certifications. Like any good security force he's a mercenary at heart and is happy to take subject requests from the user community that he serves. So feel free to leave a comment below or just sit back and enjoy the show. Welcome back to the Azeroth Security Advisor. Last week I discussed two of the three ways Blizzard keeps an eye on your computer. This week I'll cover the controversial Warden program whose discovery in Oct 2005 by Greg Hoglund caused a great deal of outrage and confusion not unlike accidentally joining a pickup group full of rogues. Reactions have been so strong that some trolls dwelling in their parents basements are still alternately posting "OMFG BLIZ HACKZ CALL COPS!!!" or "U SIGNED EULA SO STFU N00B!!!!!" depending on which of their medications are kicking in at the time. Most people forgot to care one way or the other within a few weeks and went back to life as usual. Lucky for Blizzard apathy is the universal solvent for organized resistance otherwise they might be facing a class action lawsuit by now. The Warden's core mission is to continuously audit your PC for suspicious activity while you play. First it reads all the DLL's loaded into the WoW process space, which is a perfectly legitimate activity any way you slice it. After that, the Warden ditches its friendly park ranger hat for a ski mask and takes a look around the rest of your PC. It reads the text in the title bar of every window you have open including that really embarrassing Furry fan site you don't want your friends to know about. Yes Nekudotayim, Bliz knows about your pr0nz.! The Warden then creates a hash code (think fingerprint) of each window title and compares the results to a list of "banning hashes" for potential matches and subsequent divine retribution.
Azeroth Security Advisor: WoW is watching you, part 1
Every week, computer security expert Jon Eldridge is your Azeroth Security Advisor. He will delve into the darkest reaches of computer security rumor and bring the facts back home even if they're wriggling at the end of a pike. His goal is to provide useful information to gamers who don't think about security much and flame fodder for those self appointed experts who need to rationalize the cost of their expensive certifications. Like any good security force he's a mercenary at heart and is happy to take subject requests from the user community that he serves. So feel free to leave a comment below or just sit back and enjoy the show. If you play World of Warcraft you agreed to the Terms of Use Agreement and End User License Agreement even if you don't know it. If you're like most gamers you "agreed" with all the forethought and consideration of a lab rat agreeing to run a maze in exchange for a yummy pellet of rat chow. Scurry, scurry, click, click... yum! Let's face it, when you're just two clicks away from playing the hottest MMORPG on the planet those screens usually go by just as fast as they appear. But what else besides deep fat fried MMO goodness is contained within the WoW client you're running? One of things you agreed to while merrily clearing those pesky EULA and Terms of Use screens after every patch is that Blizzard "MAY" monitor your PC's RAM and CPU processes for "unauthorized" 3rd party programs that by Blizzard's "sole determination" may or may not be deemed naughty. Naughty in this case includes but is not limited to teleporting, data mining, exploiting bugs, facilitating bots and generally doing an end run around the game mechanics for fun and profit. In reality the WoW.exe DOES monitor your system, silently, thoroughly, and every 15 seconds.
Blizzard's new Warden, and our privacy
Tech community Slashdot is going mad over a little present Blizzard apparently included with patch 2.3 this week: a brand new version of Warden (the program Blizzard uses to check for hacks, bots, and keyloggers) that they say effectively gives Blizzard total control over our computers. The technical stuff is a little hard to understand, but apparently Warden is what's called a "polymorphic program"-- that means that it actually hides from anyone looking at it exactly what it's doing and which files it's changing with a random code. Obviously, Blizzard wants to keep the program's activities secret from attackers-- if a hacker knows what Warden does, then he can more easily avoid it.In previous versions of Warden, this randomization was "easy to predict," but Slashdot is saying that the new version effectively hides from even the user exactly what Blizzard is doing on your computer. Now, there is no clear reason why Blizzard would want to do anything bad with your computer-- odds are that this new software is the most effective version they've yet developed at making sure you can play the game without fear of hacks or keyloggers, and that's all they want to do with it.But you should know that, according to "Captain Kirk," who wrote this article, Blizzard effectively has access to anything and everything on your computer, and can now edit or retrieve information at will without even you knowing what has happened. There's no reason not to trust Blizzard-- they're a high profile company with a long reputation of developing great software. But if a wayward employee at Blizzard wanted to steal your private information from your computer, or install a virus or malware on your PC, we're being told that this program will let them do it without your knowledge. You agreed to this-- it's in Section 14 of the Terms of Use-- and so it's up to you whether you trust Blizzard with your computer or not.WoW Insider has contacted Blizzard and asked them to clarify the situation if necessary-- we'll let you know if we hear anything from them.
Danger Will Robinson!
I saw this screen shot last night on the WoW LJ community, and I have to admit, it took me by surprise. This is the first time I've ever actually seen the World of Warcraft launcher/load screen come out and point-blank warn people about the presence of Trojans on their machines. As there are a lot of variants of this particular Trojan out in the wild, that specific name doesn't surprise me.Considering the fact that two Blue accounts were recently compromised, it looks like it's a good time to once again make sure your systems are patched, your virus scanners are up to date, and that you've got some good lines of defense against these Trojans. (Personally, I'm a huge fan of FireFox and some of the browser extensions that have come out for it.) Or, as some of my friends have told me, I could just get a Mac, and not have to worry so much about these kinds of things either. I keep telling them I'll happily switch when they buy me one.
Bans coming in for Linux players
Cedega is a handy piece of software that many use to run World of Warcraft on their Linux machines. And it's apparently been working well for everyone -- until yesterday, when numerous Cedega users began to report being banned from World of Warcraft with the following generic message in their mailbox:This account has been found to have employed third party software designed to automate many aspects of the World of Warcraft game play experience. Such software runs contrary to the essence of World of Warcraft and provides an advantage over other players. In addition, use of this software can lead to exploitation and destabilization of the World of Warcraft server economy. As such, this account has been closed and will not be reopened under any circumstances.While ominous, it sounds to be a case of a problem with Blizzard's automated anti-hacking scans. TransGaming (makers of Cedega) is currently working with Blizzard's engineering team to resolve the issue -- and has been told that it wasn't Blizzard's intention to ban Cedega players. If you're a Cedega player who has suddenly been banned, Transgaming is offering to help reinstate your account -- let them know you've been banned and give them your account name, either via this support thread or e-mail to their support team.[Thanks to Pat and Druid dude. Cedega links via Slashdot.]
