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Updating the graphics of WoW
The times they are a changin'. If you've ogled the latest WotLK screenshots as much as I have, then you'll notice that the art department at Blizzard has been pushing the envelope style-wise of late. It seems that since TBC the graphics in WoW have gotten not just better, but measurably more detailed and stylistic. Each new instance, area, race -- heck, even the new weapons added to the game -- they all just get more interesting and creative as time goes on. I am continually amazed at what these artists do with 1000 polygons. Some players are asking about updating the older models in the game to reflect the updated style evidenced in the newer content. Anyone who's run Old Hillsbrad can see exactly how far we've come from the WoW original models, and some would like to be able to have new choices as we progress into WotLK. Drysc reminds us, though, that some people are very attached to their character's physical appearance. Some players have been with those characters since 2004. To change their faces would be like giving a friend plastic surgery. Or what about body types? Would you feel that you were playing the same character if there was suddenly a major change to their physique?Personally, I am eager for the hairstyle changes coming in the expansion. I don't feel like my character needs a new face perse, but the difference between a Blood Elf or Draenei hairstyle and a human one is pretty drastic. I actually considered rerolling my main character because the new races just look a whole lot cooler than she does. Faces though, I'm not sure. How would you react if Blizz changed the models, or gave you more choices?
New WotLK Screenshots
Frost just posted two new screenshots from the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. One of them is even somewhat wintery, which is a nice change. Check out our WotLK gallery for a further glimpse into the landscapes we'll all be traipsing through! %Gallery-5525%
Building a better MMOusetrap: Can you teach old content new tricks?
A common outcry I hear when playing MMO's, has to do with expansions and their almost unfailing ability to devour original content, and let it die a pitiful death. It's as if overnight, the quests people had been grinding on, the bosses they have endlessly battled, or the items they had no longer matter. Everything you worked for up to this point, is instantly obsolete.Most recently I have been talking with WoW players in relation to the release of The Burning Crusade expansion, and how those who were not in the forefront of raiding content before the expansion most likely will never get to see the old 40 man raid content. There have been all sorts of statistics thrown around since TBC came out that only 2% (or 10%, or 40%, etc) of the population of WoW actually got to make it into Naxxramas, with only a slightly larger number having made it into the 40-man wing of AQ.This sort of thing isn't just afflicting WoW either, back in the day when I was playing FFXI, and new expansions came out (Chains of Promathia, I'm looking at you), there was a great deal of content from the original game, or the Rise of the Zilart expansion I hadn't seen yet. Now on its third expansion (Treasures of Aht Urhgan) and on its way to the fourth in Wings of the Goddess there are a lot of players who are crying out that they have so much left to do.
Forum Post of the Day: The discipline tree remix
So much as been going on with revitalizing underutilized talent trees of late. A long while back Feral Druids and Shadow Priests were changed so dramatically that they are now coveted members of raid groups. In Patch 2.3 Retribution Paladins will see passive threat reduction, and a boost to DPS that will give pallies back their Jack-of-all-Trades persona. Now there is talk of turning attention to the discipline tree. In a post today on the forums Eyonix laid the foundation for what will become some juicy speculation on what Blizzard has wanted from the discipline priests:Yesterday I took an extensive review of what we have in store for discipline (though it will see many changes between now and release) in Wrath of the Lich King. For quite some time I've been providing the designers with feedback from the community, as well as my own thoughts and ideas. Though it may not always be apparent every member of our team works very hard communicating all aspects of player feedback. With that being said, the current iteration of the tree literally blew my mind. I was in the class designers office in under a minute discussing the changes like I was a nine year old child who was given a sneak peak of an entire set of unreleased Garbage Pail Kids cards. I can't say much but I will say this: The tree will stand on its own two feet. It will be viable in PvE. You will notice impact from player feedbackThe statement is so marvelous I wanted to give it to you in its entirety (minus the first line, that merely let us know no formal announcement is being made at this time). We're going to see a fully -functional Discipline tree in WotLK, able to stand alone as a viable PvE option for priests. Finally it appears that Blizzard knows where Discipline fits in now in the scheme of things, and it seems their goal of giving every class three viable trees is coming to fruition. Who will next receive the love, do you think?
Badges of Justice may not be in WotLK
I sure thought that Badges of Justice were here to stay (especially since Blizzard has been ramping up where they're used and what they buy), but maybe that's not the case. When a player asks if they'll still be around in Northrend, Neth says it's not a sure thing, and that's a lot less certain than I thought I was.I really don't think Blizzard will abandon the turn-in system entirely-- although Badges are a little different than they've ever done it before (and yes, they probably do need a little tweaking in how they're given out), the system works. It gives people a reason to run instances, and it lets you choose what you want to run, and then choose the loot that you want from that run. Token-based loot, in general, is so far a great alternative to the drop or the quest system.However, I can definitely see Blizzard moving on to some new tokens. Maybe as WotLK comes out, they'll just spread these Badges around more and more, making the Heroic loot more and more easy to get, and then when we reach Northrend, the next iteration of token loot will go back to being much more rare.
Hidden Wrath site discovered in Blizzard newsletter
World of Raids found a hidden link in Blizzard's latest newsletter. That link has led them to a special page on the official Wrath of the Lich King site that you can't find on the expansion's main page.On this special page is an extensive exploration of how the Warcraft team designed the Northrend 5-man instance, Utgarde Keep in the Howling Fjord zone. First they delve into the story elements that ramp up to your introduction to the "impenetrable fortress in the side of a mountain." Upon arriving by boat to Daggercap Bay, you will see the damage wrought by the enormous, native Viking race and their proto-dragon mounts.Overland quests from there will tell the story of how these Vrykul have used Utgarde Keep as a staging area to wage a battle against what they see as an invading force of Alliance and Horde.The page goes on to explain other design decisions that will play out in Utgarde: as a "starter" dungeon, it's designed to be finished quickly; it will be more mission based due to the popularity of Old Hillsbrad and Black Morass in Burning Crusade; and you will get glimpses of the end boss before finally encountering him.
No new WoW Battlegrounds until WotLK
PvP in World of Warcraft isn't perfect, but it is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, there are only four Battlegrounds (and the Arena) to choose from at present, so it can get a bit, well ... old after a while. That's why we've been itching for a new one. We've been promised one in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, but that's so far away! Will there be another Battleground somewhere in the middle to keep us interested until the WotLK launch?Blizzard rep Nethaera said "no" in a post on the official forums yesterday. Our friends at WoW Insider have previously cited Blizzard's concern over stretching the Battlegroups too thin (thereby increasing queue times) as a reason for the hold-up. This time, though, Nethaera just said the devs at Blizzard are too busy working on patch 2.3 (which includes improvements to the Alterac Valley Battleground) and the expansion, which "includes a new battleground and of course the outdoor pvp zone, Lake Wintergrasp." So how are they going to solve the queue time problem when WotLK ships? Hmm.Well, get comfy, fellow PvP fanatics; it's going to be a long wait before we get something totally new to play with.[Via WoW Insider]
No new battleground until WotLK
Nethaera has confirmed that there will be no new battlegrounds revealed prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King, much to the chagrin of PvP'ers everywhere. Although players have previously expressed interest in having more choice, Blizzard has voiced concern about the effects that a fifth choice might have on queues. Hopefully they have some tricks up their sleeves for combating this when the highly anticipated new battleground arrives via the expansion. Although this is a bit disappointing, it is hardly unexpected, and there are so many upcoming positive changes that it's hard to be a sad panda for long. Currently, the devs are focused on improving Alterac Valley for patch 2.3 and creating new content for WotLK, which will include an outdoor PvP zone, Lake Wintergrasp. Following in the wake of Halaa's undeniable success, this zone will boast siege warfare, and many other innovations in world PvP. As for what the new battleground will be like? I'd still love to see an Aldor vs. Scryers battleground; and as much as we all love to see new content drop, we can at least try to satiate ourselves knowing that what we will be getting will continue to advance PvP as we know it. Now; a little less sad panda face please!
Eyonix delivers: Focused Will, Natural Perfection, and Discipline
It goes on! In a post titled "Focused Will: The Saga Continues" (has Eyonix been reading WoW Insider? What up, drake!), we get another update on the new Discipline talent slated for patch 2.3:Feedback was read, gathered and the designers are fully aware of all that you've provided. As a result, we're making an adjustment to the talent so instead of seeing this morning's version of focused will in the next PTR push, you'll see:"After taking a critical hit you gain the Focused Will effect, reducing all damage taken by 1/3/5% and increasing healing effects on you by 4/7/10% for 6 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times."This is up from 1/2/3% reduced damage and 4/8/12% increased heals earlier today, although it stacked up to five times then. The associated change to the Druid talent Natural Perfection has been similarly buffed:We've read through a great deal of feedback and are making another adjustment to the natural perfection talent which you'll see in the next PTR data push."Now also grants the Natural Perfection effect after being critically hit, reducing all damage taken by 1/3/5% for 6 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times."It used to be 1/2/3% and five stacks as well. In related news, Eyonix has gotten a look at the Discipline tree in store for Wrath of the Lich King, and while his post is short on details, it does make me all warm and tingly.
The skies of Northrend
One of the latest screenshots of Wrath of the Lich King shows a pink-colored sky over Northrend, with some possible cloud-moving effect I haven't seen in WoW before. When I look at this screenshot I imagine all those clouds roiling in the sky and I wonder if Northrend couldn't possibly beat Outland in most interesting skies after all. It's a tough comparison -- Outland planets floating above the horizon are hard to beat, whereas Northrend will be limited to a more terrestrial skyscape. When The Burning Crusade first came out, I remember being impressed that the skies had any animation at all, whereas now, of course, the bar has been raised much much higher. Still, there's a lot that the skies of Northrend could offer us, especially if Blizzard were to go crazy with clouds and colors inspired by the Aurora Borealis. What do you expect of future WoW skies? Do you hope for ever-increasing complexity, or do you think simple and realistic is always best?
Patch 2.4 is nearly ready for testing
"Sunwell is coming along nicely," says Tigole (a.k.a. Jeffery Kaplan). "It will be on the PTR shortly after 2.3 goes to the live realms. We still need to perfect 2.3 a bit on the PTR." There it is. Most of us suspected that patch 2.4 would be the big Sunwell patch, but now it's official. There's going to be lots of new instancing coming up once all the big changes in patch 2.3 go live. Tigole even adds that "The 5 person dungeon is complete and the 25 person raid instance is progressing nicely. There's also a cool "public" area featuring brand new daily quests called Sunwell Isle." The 5-person dungeon plus even more daily quests are a bit more to look forward to for those casual gamers who thought all their goodies were finished in 2.3, and that 2.4 would be almost entirely about the new 25-person raid dungeon. For the more hardcore-inclined among us, this will be the startling conclusion to The Burning Crusade expansion, the last big raid before Wrath of the Lich King! How does it feel? Exciting? Nostalgic? More of the same?
Priests are lacking in discipline
It's official: even Blizzard rep Eyonix says that Priests are somewhat vague on the whole discipline thing -- not the virtue, that is, but the talent tree. Responding to a forum question asking "What is the purpose of Discipline?" Eyonix said:Though some priests have found a use for the discipline tree, right now, it doesn't quite have a solid purpose/goal, but rather seems to act as a supporting tree. This is something we plan on addressing with Wrath of the Lich King. Originally, the goal of the tree was primarily intended to provide staying power, vs. the holy tree which provides throughput. Also, so you're aware, the 41-point discipline talent, pain suppression, is being changed to be usable on others for patch 2.3. I'll admit that my own priest is sadly a mere level 8, but I'm aware that this has been one of the big priest issues for a long time. One of my friends strives to be one of those special priests who have "found a use for the discipline tree" and he seems to do pretty well at it, though he admitted that he recently changed some of his talents around, leaving behind lesser-used talents in discipline in exchange for some holy talents. He refuses to give in and become yet another shadow priest, since he revels in succeeding at something few other priests try.I would be quite interested to see how Blizzard changes the discipline talents in the next expansion. Will they stick with the original "staying power" idea, or will they go for something new? What do you think needs to be done?
Wrath of the Lich King Alpha in the wild?
Take this with a gigantic shaker full of salt, but a sketchy guild site host named Ejeet Networks claims to have received screenshots of the downloader for the Wrath of the Lich King alpha (watch out for the automatic music player on their site, too). Again, this means almost nothing-- even if the downloader is really out there in the wild, it hardly means the game is anywhere near done, or that anyone but Blizzard employees are still playing it at this point. But Ejeet says the DNS server for the WotLK beta is online and answering DNS resolution, and they claim that a "Swedish contact" sent them screenshots of the alpha downloader.Personally, I call shenanigans-- their first screenshot says version .1, and then the Properties screen they have says version 2.0.3.70, so which is it? They also claim that since the Properties screen says "{c} 2004-2008 Blizzard Entertainment," that's proof that we'll see Wrath in 2008, but that's hardly true as well. I have no doubt that we'll see the beta in 2008, but I'd bet money we won't see the expansion itself until January 2009. I'd love to be wrong, but them's the breaks.But I leave it up to you-- as much as I disagree, these could be proof that Blizzard has an expansion alpha up and running. Anyone else spot any other weirdness that could rule these out as fakes?Thanks, Dan!
Forum Post of the Day: Dalaran and faction animosity
When Wrath launches next year huge changes are in store for the people and places of Azeroth. The greatest reason I love this game is because of the compelling storyline underneath it all. We not only have great characters and plot lines to interact with, those plot lines progress, which is not always the case in an MMO. Dalaran, for instance, which has been sealed away for generations, will be opened up as the new capital city for those traveling to Northrend.But some are not happy with the prospect of another neutral city akin to Shattrath. As Sorun of The Venture Co sees it, shifting Dalaran from an Alliance city to a neutral city would only harm the lore. He says that the factions want to hate each other, want to be pitted head-to-head at every turn, and certain elements in TBC and elsewhere have shown a trend toward cooperation he doesn't like at all. Drysc mentions that no one has yet confirmed that the city will be neutral, and Neth makes a valid point on the subject later on in the thread: I think it's a bit too early to be worried or upset about what is and isn't going to be in Dalaran. When we are further along and have information on it, we'll share it with you all. In the meantime, remember, Dalaran is filled with the world's most powerful magic users. While they work together, they are also filled with many different personalities and more importantly, have a bit of a crisis on their hands by the name of Malygos. I am going to hazard a guess that the Kirin Tor are going to be using all the available resources they can to survive the onslaught.Irregardless of whether or not Dalaran ends up a neutral city, the forum thread raises an interesting topic: do players really want to hate members of the opposite faction? I know there is plenty of rivalry between the Horde and the Alliance, some created by the game itself and some created by the players. But I personally play characters of both factions and can't really say I prefer one over the other. Maybe I'm in the minority, I'm not sure. Perhaps you can help out here. Do you prefer hatred and animosity between the factions, or is cooperation more your thing? %Poll-3998%
The Missing Diplomat might be found in Northrend
We've talked quite a bit about Sylvanas and her history with Arthas in the past, but let's not forget that there is another woman Arthas has a nice long history with on the opposite faction: Jaina Proudmoore. Jaina's biggest moment in WoW is probably the Missing Diplomat quest-- after a long goose chase to find out where the lost King of Stormwind is, all you do is end up finding the man who betrayed him, and then Jaina thanks you and wishes you farewell. Wha? Players have always though the quest ended a little too quick, and Blizzard has admitted that they plan to continue the storyline at a later day.As in, during the next expansion. When a player asks what happened to Jaina and the Missing Diplomat, Drysc mysteriously says "Northrend holds many secrets, and many answers." So it's a good guess that we'll find out at least another piece of the puzzle to where the Lost King of Stormwind has gone.And it's also a pretty good guess that Jaina will be there, somehow. Despite the fact that she's pretty much the strongest leader the Alliance has, she's also pretty buddy-buddy with Thrall, and she's got that history with Arthas-- they were friends (and possibly romantically linked) before he went all power-crazy and possessed. There's no question that some of the answers we uncover in Northrend, whatever they may be, will involve Jaina Proudmoore.
Beware new Wrath beta e-mails scams
The account stealing scams are starting early this year. Many players received e-mails this week from a company that appeared to be Blizzard, inviting them into the Wrath of the Lich King beta. The link in the e-mail even took you to a very well done front page that asked you for, you guessed, your account name and password.Blizzard let everyone know that this week that they have not issued any beta invitations and that any e-mails you may have received are false and, most likely, account stealing scams. They also went on to list resources they have previously posted that help prevent players from losing accounts, equipment and gold from these kinds of scams: How To Spot Real Blizzard E-Mails How To Spot Bogus E-Mails How To Protect Your PC Blizzard recommended that all players interested in participating the beta should keep an eye on the official site for notification of when the beta begins.
New Wrath Alliance town screenshots
Blizzard posted two new Wrath of the Lich King screenshots today. One looks like a lighthouse next to an Alliance port town. The other appears to be the port town in question with a ship building yard. It's hard to tell where these were taken. The only Alliance town we know of so far in Northrend is Valgarde, settled by Humans and Dwarves left behind.But the screenshots we've seen of Valgarde look different than this one. Maybe a new Alliance town is to be revealed soon.We've added the 2 new screenshots to the gallery below and have added 11 more new screenshots as well. We'll continue to grow our Northrend gallery as the expansion draws closer. %Gallery-5525%
Dalaran might be Alliance-only
Sorun is a rogue who loves his Horde-Alliance conflict. As he posted on the forums, he feels that every action and little quest in the World of Warcraft should reflect the reality of War that exists in that world, not the good old intra-faction get-together that Shattrath has turned out to be. If Dalaran is going to be a neutral city in Wrath of the Lich King, however, it could really mess up the lore and war-filled feeling of the game:Neutral Dalaran? How does that even make any sense when horde to this day have quests to go attack the ruins of dalaran and can and have been freely killing the wizzards [sic] all around that area. He's got a point there. What is Blizzard really going to do with Dalaran in the next expansion? Read on to see what Blizzard says about it.
Death Knight "interview" and lore on official site
The official Wrath page is slowly accreting information, which is good, because it started out pretty dang empty. The latest addition to it is an "interview" about the Death Knight class with the developers, along with a page on lore. I put "interview" in quotes because it doesn't feel like a real interview; it reads like an excuse for the devs to give the same information we already have. Which is fine and all, I just think "interview" is the wrong term for it. Here's a summary in my own words: Why did you pick Death Knight for the new class? They have a connection to Arthas and Northrend, and we needed more tanks. The playable DKs will be allied with the Horde or Alliance, fighting against Arthas. What will adding another tanking class do to the group/raid game? We want all tank classes to be equally good in general, so you can use any of them for a 5-man, but we want them to have distinct raiding roles. (They also took this opportunity to reiterate for the nth time that "hero class" doesn't mean it's more powerful than other classes, just more different.) How is the DK different from other tanks? No shield, powerful melee abilities, magic attacks. The devs are making sure they have the core tanking abilities of keeping aggro and mitigating damage, while still making the DK feel like its own thing. Will we see some classic DK spells and abilities? Yes, we're taking a lot from previous Warcraft material. One thing that will set them apart as a new class, but still tie them into WC3 DKs, is the rune system. The lore page is less decipherable to me, since I don't actually know a lot of the background information of the Warcraft universe. It gives a relatively short overview of the evolution and status of Death Knights. Is it new information that "modern death knights consist mainly of paladins who lost their faith and pledged their souls to the Lich King in exchange for the promise of immortality?" If DKs come from paladins, why can we make them in non-Paladin races? So Blood Elves don't get even more popular, I guess.
What will happen to the Scourge when Arthas dies?
We've talked before about the question of what exactly will happen to Arthas, but it's looking pretty likely that we are going to be able to actually kill him in Wrath of the Lich King. This raises another interesting question however: Sincast asked over on the forums, "When Arthas is killed in-game does that mean that undead will be no more?..." Nethaera popped in right away to answer him... sorta:Interesting concept to think about isn't it? But does killing Arthas really mean the undead cease to exist? They existed when he was just a paladin didn't they? There are things to ponder here but most importantly... Does the Lich King cease to be when the vessel is destroyed?Although we have seen that Arthas and the Lich King are now "one," it remains to be seen what "one" really means for them. Are they two souls in one body? Is Arthas the flesh and the Lich King his armor? What kind of state would the Lich King exist in after Arthas was killed? What sort of threat would the Scourge pose at that point -- just fodder for new characters leveling up in future expansions perhaps?
