WotLK-Zombie-Event
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Zombies are bad for the economy
It's a good thing the zombies are going away now, isn't it? For the past few days, I noticed -- or rather my money-making wife noticed -- that the undead throng was badly tanking Azerothian commerce. The reason is that a lot of players' bankers and Auction House entrepreneurs are low-level alts that succumbed easily to the plague and random zombie attacks. When a Level 65 city guard turned into a zombie, it would naturally aggro the low-level bank mules and auction house regulars, killing them instantly. It didn't help that most players-turned-minions-of-the-Scourge usually targeted the Banks and Auction Houses for infection. Actually, we even recommended it as the best course of action as a (not so) mindless ghoul.When the disease grew potent enough to transform anyone it infected within a minute, it became practically impossible to accomplish anything. Especially not with Argent Healers calling for a hasty retreat. Entire cities -- or key areas of cities -- were quickly transformed into ghoulish carnivals and it was simply too bothersome to do any business. As a result, players couldn't put anything up on the Auction House nor could anyone buy anything, either, slowing commerce to a crawl. My wife's daily Auction House profits of upwards 500 Gold dwindled down to nary a copper with her alt being unable to collect from the mailbox, move stuff from the bank, or scan the Auction House, as she died istantly to roving zombies.What's next in store for us? Did Blizzard really cave in to the demands of players who felt that the World Event disrupted their normal routine too much? Or is there something more devious waiting in the wings? I know my wife was so upset by being unable to conduct her business that she decided to hold off from logging in at least until the event died down. Now that the zombie infestation seems to be under control, perhaps business will pick up again. Or maybe not, depending on what Blizzard has prepared for Azeroth. One thing's for sure, these Dawn of the Dead-type events certainly take a bite out of the economy.
WoW Insider Show live tomorrow afternoon
Another big show on the podcast tomorrow -- this week we'll welcome back Matthew "Who needs a shirt?" Rossi, who hasn't been on with us for a while. And since he's on, you know we'll be talking about tanking and Shamans, specifically what things are like in patch 3.0.2. Amanda Dean will also join us, and we'll chat with her about how Hallow's End is going so far, and what else she's been up to in game. And while Turpster is off at a wedding this weekend, Duncor from WoW Radio has kindly agreed to join us, so we'll chat with him about his experiences at BlizzCon, the "zompocalypse," and what else might be in store for the big world event going on.Plus, we'll get some talk in about achievements, since we still need to give out that loot card from last week, and we'll have the usual good times, including checking out your emails (feel free to send them to theshow at wowinsider dot com) and putting a few polls in. Don't forget, the action all takes place over on our Ustream channel (I've embedded a stream after the break), and the show kicks off promptly at 3:30pm Eastern. You can use this handy time zone converter to figure out when that is in your neck of the woods.Should be fun -- we'll see you right back here (and on the Ustream page) tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern.
Zombie incubation time halved to five minutes
Well well well. Don't have a full ten minutes to turn yourself into the Undead? As a few tipsters have noticed, the incubation time for the plague has dropped in half to just five minutes -- click a crate (of which there are suddenly plenty around, whoever put those out there) or kill a roach, and five minutes later you're a member of the walking undead.I thought it was going to take a while for this whole thing to play out, but things seem to be moving pretty quickly. Blizzard likes to drop new patches and holidays, it seems, on Friday night/Saturday morning (so weekend players can experience them), so keep your eyes open in Azeroth this evening -- we might finally find out just what this zombie business is all about.Zombies have entered the World of Warcraft in the Wrath of the Lich King world event! Check out our tips for eating brains, our zombie night gallery, or see Blizzard's official zombie infestation guide. They live! Braaiiiiinnnssss!
Meet Tenris Mirkblood, a new Kara boss, possibly for the Scourge event
Our friend Boubouille over at MMO Champion has done some more digging in the datafiles of the beta realms, and pulled out a brand new boss in Karazhan of all places. Meet Prince Tenris Mirkblood of the San'layn, a group of elven princes aligned with none other than The Lich King himself. He's not live on active servers at all -- again, Boubouille dug this up from beta realm files, so we may never actually see Tenris in game.But there are a few quests surrounding the boss as well -- for more on how he might be included in the game during the world event (including possible spoilers), hit the link below.
Prince Menethil's steed and the empty grave
The chaos of the plague has most everyone's attention right now, but the world event potentially brought something a little less easily noticed as well. Just off the road to the Scarlet Monastery, there's an old grave that appears to have recently been dug up. As far as I can tell, it has appeared on servers on either the 19th or 20th or October. It's possible it went in with patch 3.0.2, but if that's the case then nobody noticed it until a couple of days ago. I find that unlikely. Either way, if it did crop up on the 20th, that means it predates the plague by a few days, and may have actually been the kickoff of the whole thing.So what is this grave? According to the gravestone, Prince Arthas Menethil's steed was buried here. The horse, named Invincible (which was apparently a lie), seems to have been dug up recently. By the Scourge, or by someone else? Probably the Scourge, but anything can happen. It's fantasy after all. Drunken Dwarves might have dug it up on accident thinking it was the skeletal remains of a Titan or some nonsense.I look forward to seeing what comes out of this, because the words on the gravestone don't give much away. It's very short and sweet, telling you what's there and little more. I guess that makes sense, It's a gravestone/memorial and I doubt the Scourge would spraypaint "ARTHUS WUZ HERR" across the stone. If you want to see what's engraved upon it, just take a look behind the link below.[ Thanks for the tip, Joseph! ]
Breakfast Topic: Is the Zombie event too PvP for PvE?
First of all, let me be clear. I love the Zombie Invasion. I have spent hours trying to zombify towns and won't be satisfied until all of Orgrimmar is hungering for brains. I adore the comaraderie with my fellow players when turning each other into zombies and defending ourselves against those do-gooder paladins and priests. And I love that this is a pre-expansion, lore changing event.But there have been complaints. Someone I know thinks this is the worst thing to happen to WoW. Her specific complaint is that this event is allowing players to "grief" their own towns on PvE servers. She believes that the zombies should not be able to prevent people from completing quests -- even if it is only temporary.What do you think? Should the PvP component of the event be removed for PvE servers? Or do you find that the fun outweighs the drawbacks?
Zombie Fighting 101
As you probably already know, there are zombies everywhere. Fortunately, you won't need to go to extreme lengths in order to fight them, such as grafting a chainsaw to yourself as a replacement hand. On the other hand, boomsticks will serve you well. Before we go about the strategies of how to fight legions of undead, it might help to read on all their abilities as well as some of their nefarious strategies for growing their numbers. Obviously, we won't need to tell you how to fight NPC zombies... they're mindless. But those crafty players-turned-zombies must be smote with righteous fury!Move fasterThe good news is that Azerothian zombies, just like in most movies, move slow. Just be sure to stay farther than 21 yards away from them as they have Retch! a ranged spell that will slow anyone within the area of effect. This is the smoky green cloud on the ground you see in all those screenshots. They can also summon a burst of speed using Lurch! so don't be too confident that they won't close the distance. That ability also frees them from movement impairing effects so trapping them or slowing them isn't a guarantee you'll be able to stay away from them. The idea is to kite the zombies, because getting into melee range with them is a very bad idea.
The plague grows...
Reports have been coming in from all over that the sinister powers behind the zombie infestation has taken their onslaught to the next level. Conspicuous Crates have begun appearing in major cities as well as Plagued Roaches, critters that infect you when killed. The crates with a grain icon stamped on the side initially appeared in Booty Bay, but have since been distributed to more populated areas all over Azeroth. This is eerily reminiscent of the beginnings of the plague in Warcraft III, where Arthas Menethil fought to stem the tide of the plague but ultimately lost. It seems like Mike was right -- things are indeed taking a turn for the worse. Some readers have also pointed out that although chillingly similar, the source of the infestation might not be the Lich King, after all. As players may well know, the Forsaken's Royal Apothecary Society have been working on a new plague on their own, too. Who is truly behind this dastardly plot? Only time will tell. It's certainly something for all of us to chew on. In the meantime, might we encourage you to try out some other things you can chew on... like braaaaaiiiins, perhaps?
