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Operation Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall events now available
Players who're able to log on after maintenance is over today will discover that the Operation Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall world events are now available! These are two of the introductory Cataclysm world events. Head to Kharanos in Dun Morogh or the Echo Isles in Durotar to take advantage of these limited-time experiences. To start the Echo Isles quests, you want to talk to Vanira, who is right next to Voljin in the Sen'jin village in Durotar. To start the Operation Gnomeregan quests, you want to talk to High Tinker Mekkatorque, who is located in the Tinker Town district of Ironforge. These quests are counting towards the Loremaster achievement. More information on the event: Official Gnomeregan and Echo Isles announcement and information Operation Echo Isles / Zalazane's Fall: Transcripts and details Operation Gnomeregan: Transcripts and details Echo Isles / Zalazane's Fall quest summary and gallery PrintWarcraft.com offers original WoW posters %Gallery-93811%
AdventureQuest Worlds threatened by opera, fights back with punk
AdventureQuest Worlds, the seriously tongue-in-cheek free-to-play browser-based MMO that draws people like crazy every year at Dragon*Con, has announced that the war meter is currently climbing. For those of you who aren't aware of this brightly colored world, this means that the end of the current chapter, Mythsong, is coming to a close. According to the story so far, Chaos Lord Discordia has made off with all the bands in AdventureQuest Worlds, save one, and is poised to infect the world with an eternity of nothing but opera. His minions, the hilarious "Music Pirates," will invade in force, attempting to skew the world towards Chaos -- and Puccini. As if that weren't enough, the invasion -- slated to start this Friday, June 25th at 8pm Eastern -- will also play host to an enormous in-world concert by punk band One-Eyed Doll. Apparently Discordia made off with all the bands, save that one, so players will get to join forces with One-Eyed Doll to fight against the Chaos Lord's music-mad minions -- while enjoying a free concert. On top of that, special limited-edition items related to the war against Discordia will be available in the AQ Worlds shop; afterwards, these items will disappear forever. So if you're in the mood to smack down some opera-fiending Music Pirates, or catch One-Eyed Doll's show, then head over to the AdventureQuest Worlds site and get signed in -- or signed up!
EVE Online brings back live events with Tyrannis
Read that title for a second. No, you're not dreaming and you haven't stepped into a time machine and emerged on April 1st. EVE Online is finally bringing back live in-game events that players can participate in. Any player old enough to have participated in EVE's live events should be as giddy in their seats as I am right about now. In years gone by, CCP ran short sequences of events that pushed an important storyline arc in the game's fiction. Developers would take on the roles of key figures in the story, acting their part according to a guideline script. The idea that if you were in the right place at the right time you could become embroiled in a terrorist plot or find yourself in the midst of an epic battle between NPC factions was as intoxicating back in 2005 as it is today. This is sure to be a huge boost not just for EVE's role-playing community but for the everyday player that wants to get involved in the great stories of New Eden. Skip past the cut for more details.
Operation Echo Isles: Transcripts and details
WARNING: This post is chock full of spoilers. Spoilers like you would not believe. If you'd like to be surprised about anything involving the Echo Isles and what is contained within, I wouldn't recommend continuing onward. If, however, you are clamoring for more information, read on! There is a lot of great information about upcoming world events in the current patch 3.3.3 PTR. We've already posted about some of the story inside the Ruby Sanctum as well as what is being referred to as "Operation Gnomeregan". However, the trolls have their own operation underway in trying to take back the Echo Isles from the evil hex master Zalazane. There are lots and lots of spoilers about the quest line and the story behind it. Please note that this is just an assembly of transcripts from all of the sound files put in what appears to be a proper order. Dere be some dark voodoo inside. Do ye have what it takes?
Blizzard's comments on the in-game Cataclysm earthquakes
Blue posters in the official forums have started leaving comments about the earthquakes happening in-game, which as we reported the other day, appear to be linked to in-game mobs that are potentially ushering in the beginning of the Cataclysm world event. The comments are somewhat cryptic, but that is par for the course with Blizzard. They like to tease -- to hold the carrot in front of you and make you run for it. But the evidence we presented Monday was pretty solid, and it's gained even more traction in the community and around the net; so this is an interesting follow up to it all. The comments thus far after the break.
Breakfast Topic: Day of the Dead ends today
Whoosh. Well, that went by rather quickly, didn't it? Day of the Dead ends today. Two days is most certainly a short time for a World of Warcraft holiday, but fortunately, there was little to do. Just a visit to Catrina, buying a bread recipe, sharing it with some dead folks, and that's it. It didn't exactly go off without a hitch, either, as there were some known issues with the event. But everything was fixed, eventually, and the short event is now about to finish. How did everyone find the short holiday? It mirrored the short holiday it was based on in the real world, and even similar holidays all over the world. In the Philippines, we got a non-working holiday for November 2, where most folks are off to the provinces visiting their dead. How did everyone's Day of the Dead go? Were you able to take a gander at the lovely dancing Catrina? Were you able to bake some (presumably stale) bread? What's your take on these short holidays? Personally, I think it's a nice touch. These blink-and-you'll-miss-it events similar to Pirate's Day are nice nods to our real world happenings. Hopefully, all of you got a chance to enjoy this new but brief world event.
The Zombiepocalypse: One year later
Reader Verdus sent us a tip reminding us that this weekend is the one-year anniversary of one of the simultaneously most loved and hated events in WoW's history, the zombiepocalypse. Right around this time last year, infected crates started appearing all over the world, and that expanded out into a full-blown zombie invasion (which was so big it made it out into mainstream news). After the zombie plague had been quelled, the Scourge attacked with full force, leaving us to fall back and fight for our necrotic runes up until the expansion released. It was definitely a huge event, and now, a year later, I'm sure most of us (though not all of us) look back on it with fond memories. And surely Blizzard learned a lot from what happened a year ago -- Linedan has a nice wrapup of the good and the bad that Blizzard may have taken away from the zombie apocalypse. The idea of turning players on players was great, but that unfortunately led to more griefing than most players would have liked (and the fact that, by the end of it, you couldn't avoid the zombies at all, probably didn't help). And for all of the disruption, there was no real reward (the eventual rewards came with the Scourge invasion, and then it was simply just farming tokens), and no real payoff (the final world event seemed half-cooked, and it was only implied that Arthas was the one who'd shipped the crates). %Gallery-35140%
Kisirani on the world post-Icecrown
Obviously, if you've been paying attention to what players are saying about Garrosh Hellscream, confidence isn't high in the guy. Especially if, as rumored, he's going to be getting a promotion very soon. But lest your fears about the guy are overtaking your Horde pride, just wait -- Kisirani says that we haven't learned all there is to know about the son of Grom. He may yet show a more palatable side, as we're told that we "haven't seen the entirety of who Garrosh is."And what better place to do that, she continues, than in the run up to Cataclysm. We already know there's going to be a world event, but Kisirani hints yet again that it's going to be quite sizable -- considering that she mentions it between Icecrown and the expansion release itself, we could just be talking about a whole content patch on its own. However it all plays out, it's quite clear that Icecrown is definitely not the end of this round of content, and the world we'll be playing in when Cataclysm actually releases will be very different than the one we know today.
What does Blizzard have planned for a Cataclysm in-game launch event?
So Cataclysm is coming and Kisirani is already working on an in-game launch event. It's gotta mean something right? Now don't get me wrong, even with my self-confessed zombiephobia, I loved last November's zombie invasion (though, at times, it got really frustrating). So now Kisirani is officially hard at work planning a new event to herald the beginning of an Azerothian cataclysm, I can't help but wonder what she has up her sleeves for us.Is anyone else excited? I certainly am and it gives us something to focus on during the inevitable wait. To be fair, at least Cataclysm's not scheduled for 2012! We don't have that long to wait, we could be rolling Worgen and Goblins in just under/over a year's time. That just about makes it bearable. But it also leaves us with time to think about what Blizzard will do to introduce players to this brave new world.Hit the jump to find out what we think could well happen prior to the launch of Cataclysm.
In-Game Launch event for Cataclysm confirmed
From the "duh, but still cool" news department comes confirmation that there will be an in-game launch event for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, WoW's third expansion.Kisirani, your friendly neighborhood world designer, replied to a comment in the general forms today where a player said he'd be disappointed if there wasn't a Cataclysm launch event. Kisirani replied:*rolls up her sleeves and idly kicks the crates from last launch event under her desk* We're on it.That's confirmation in Blizzard speak.Will it be as badass as the Lich King launching his forces into Stormwind, Orgrimmar, and the rest of Azeroth? My guess is that it'll be at least 37 times as badass.%Gallery-36583%
Zoltan scores over 10,000 achievement points
Zoltan of Aegwynn is the guy who's been sitting on top of the overall achievement point lists for a while, and he's just recently cracked the incredible total of 10,000 points. At the time of this writing, he's finished off a total of 908 out of 931 achievements currently in the game, giving him a total of 10,005 achievement points.The Champion of Ulduar is the one that put him over the top according to his Armory profile, and strangely, he doesn't appear to have any of the Feats of Strength (edit: never mind, I read it wrong -- he's got plenty). He is only missing the two World Event achievements left (Brewmaster and the meta-achievement, neither of which are yet possible), the Sea Turtle achievement, and then a few more Heroic Ulduar endgame points. Given that the 3.2 patch achievements will likely come out before Brewmaster, there's no way yet to clear everything completely, but he's as close as it gets.Very impressive indeed. Zoltan has just one or two people on his heels, and then the numbers drop out to a few hundred below 10,000 (and strangely enough, the top five players are all EU folks). There's no reward for all of those points (and Blizzard has no plans to offer any), but it's quite, as you might say, an achievement.
Design your own holiday
Crygil wants to know: if you could design a new holiday for the game, what would it be? I don't think I've ever heard the question asked before -- holidays are really just optional fun for more players, and Blizzard has always covered the basics (Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc.), and even added in some of their own by giving real-world holidays some Azerothian flavor (Midsummer Fire Festival, and of course Brewfest). Are there really any holidays they missed?I guess Labor Day and Memorial Day are the two biggest ones -- maybe all of the NPCs could take a day off, there could be giant barbeques set up in the capital cities, or players could take a day to remember those fallen in the past wars. Or you could go another route and just make up your own holiday: Grumpyfool of Azjol-Nerub recommends Gnome Appreciation Week (a whole week?), where Azeroth's shortest denizens can get some love of their own. A more recently based holiday might be fun, too -- maybe once a year we could remember Arthas' (it was Arthas, right?) zombie attack on our homeland.I doubt this is going to be used to determine actual Blizzard policy. Seems more like just a fun thought experiment. But there are definitely some interesting ideas in there -- if Blizzard ever wants to add yet another holiday to the calendar, there are plenty of ideas.
Breakfast Topic: What do you want to see in the Argent Tournament?
So here's the deal. We've been told we have more Argent Tournament content coming, that's a given. As late as a couple days ago, Blues were telling us, for example, that we'll definitely see more ways to earn Champion's Seals. In short, come 3.2, it seems more than likely that we can expect the Goblins to be done building that coliseum, and the next phase of the tourney to be underway. So the question is, what exactly will we see?
Noblegarden removed from in-game calendar
Thanks to the astute eyes of reader Jadissa, we can report that Noblegarden is no longer present on the in-game calendar. This is likely a clear indicator that the in-game world event is getting pushed back. Based on what we know already (that it will be part of other achievements), it should not be assumed that the event was removed.We've spoke about the upcoming changes to Noblegarden before: it might get delayed, and it will be part of the overall world event achievement What a Long, Strange Trip.There has been no indication from Blizzard when exactly it will start up, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it go live towards the end of the month. We'll have to wait and see when this start date is, and we'll be sure to announce it here on WoW Insider as soon as we know.This is not an April Fools joke.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR: New Noble Garden Achievements
More patch 3.1 information, this time the Noble Garden achievement revamp. Noble Garden is an Easter like celebration, complete with eggs and all other sorts of festivities. The event has been rather mundane in the past, especially compared to some other events like the fire festival or Halloween, but that appears to no longer be the case.You might be wondering why the Playboy Bunny is displayed as this article's image.Well, one of the achievements for the Noble Garden is to "Use Spring Flowers to place rabbit ears upon females of at least 18th level." And that to me just screams getting the title "Hefner," and I mean, Kendra was 18. So it's all good.The list of Noble Garden achievements after the break.
Breakfast Topic: Love is in the Air!
The time for loving is finally here! Officially, that is. You can do your love thing any day. On the other hand, today is the start of Love is in the Air, the second world event of the year. If you're looking to get that Achievement, required for the meta-Achievement to get that Violet Proto-drake, the best place to start would be The OverAchiever, where Dan wrote up a handy guide to becoming a Love Fool.Now that we all have an excuse to act like fools for love, I have to ask -- what's the most foolish thing you've done for love in-game? I know one guildie who's been busily farming the various drake pets and the Disgusting Oozling to give to his lady love in time for the season. The cheesiest I ever got was when my wife and I took off to have a nice picnic on one of the floating isles in Nagrand, complete with roses, picnic baskets, and formal wear. I don't have a lot of money in-game, so all the extravagant gifts come from my wife instead. This time, though, I think I'm going to bake her a Delicious Chocolate Cake and maybe a Bouquet of Black Roses. I know, I'm sort of cheap and uncreative, but hey, I'd love to hear some suggestions! I can probably pick up some Achievements along the way, and I could always use some reputation gains with my wife, after all... Love is in the Air and on WoW Insider. Check out our continuing coverage of the event and our guide to earning the achievement. And you better hurry; the holiday only lasts five days!
What Blizzard did right (and wrong) with the world event
I've been waiting to do some breakdown analysis of the Wrath world event until it actually ended, and since we're now swarming over Northrend and exploring Arthas' domain, I think the time has come to determine a verdict on whether or not Blizzard's world event delivered.The short answer? I think it did, but not without a few bumps along the way. This was certainly the most ambitious world event Blizzard has attempted yet, both reusing some of their old techniques (the Scourge invasion), some newer tricks (a special boss with extra loot, which they learned from the Horseman last year), and even some tricks they picked up from players. But there were certain issues -- the timing was just plain bad, and the event really fizzled out rather than finished with a bang.After the break, we run through what Blizzard did right and wrong with the world event, and what we can expect in the future.
The best of WoW Insider: November 4-11, 2008
It's almost here! A whole continent of new content in Northrend, a brand new class in the Death Knight, and ten more levels of the greatest MMO ever created. Wrath of the Lich King, WoW's second expansion, releases on Wednesday night, and Joystiq's sister site, WoW Insider, is buzzing with anticipation. Here's ten of our most popular posts from the last week (all dressed up in our brand new redesign), but stay glued to the site over the next few days, because the frozen north is about to heat up. News The Lich King attacks Orgrimmar and StormwindArthas taunts Azeroth just a few days before we're supposed to head up north and lay the smack down. Mystery continent spottedThere are three known continents on Azeroth -- and this little map found ingame has four. Profession epics go BoE in WrathThe epic gear that you make will likely be able to go to your friends (and the AH) in Wrath. Official WoW site now full Wrath of the Lich KingBlizzard switches over their official site to a more wintry theme. Wrath shipped to stores, copies being sold early at 7-11The game is in stores, and some of them are breaking ranks already. Features The 15 most beautiful Hunter petsLooking good, kitty cat. Here are the best-looking pets for Hunters. Wrath 101: How to get to Northrend and where to go once you get thereUnsure of what to do in the frozen north? We've got you covered. Essential addons for Wrath of the Lich KingAll the addons you need in expansion number two. Ready Check: A look back at Burning Crusade raidingWe're about to move to a new endgame, so here's a final look back at the old one. Preparing for WrathOur in-depth series of posts will get you ready for anything Arthas throws at you, no matter what class or spec you are, in Northrend.
Lich King begins assault on Azeroth, starting with Orgrimmar
World of Warcraft players are experiencing a world event leading up to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. No, it's not another invasion of flesh-craving zombies -- but it's just as cool. You see, the Lich King is currently launching attacks on Orgrimmar via Frostwyrms and Aboms. The event restarts every 20 minutes and is specifically located in the Valley of Honor. We're unsure how many servers the event has begun on, so if you run into yours and find it peaceful and serene don't feel discouraged as you may only need to wait a little bit before the frost bolts start raining down. Gallery: Orgrimmar is under attack! One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Wrath World Event continues: Lich King attacking Orgrimmar and Stormwind [Updated]
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Lich_King_is_attacking_the_World_of_Warcraft'; The Wrath of the Lich King opening event continues tonight. Orgrimmar is under attack. If it hasn't happened yet on your server it will soon. The major points of the attack are as follows: Thrall is fighting Garrosh Hellscream in the Ring of Valor. Hellscream wins. Frost Wyrms and Aboms are attacking the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar. Sylvanas can be seen marching around the Valley of Honor with a contingent of skeleton soldiers. The event appears to repeat itself every 20 minutes The Horde leaders are all talking to each other about the war with Arthas in-between Thrall fighting Hellscream. There are many reports that the necropolises have left the major cities. In Stormwind, Varian Wynn, Bolvarr, and a few other nobles are standing under a tent in the Harbor. They are offering quite a bit of new flavor text when you talk to them. Stormwind Harbor is being attacked with Frost Wyrms and Aboms. The King and his company of nobles are defending the Harbor the best they can. Continue reading on after the break for the full record of events! The events of the evening appear to be over, however if anything else develops we'll update this post. %Gallery-36583%%Gallery-36584%
