wow-exploration
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Warlords of Draenor: Jumping puzzles abound
Our friends at Wowhead have uncovered something I can honestly say I never thought I'd see in WoW: jumping puzzles. Well, I guess you could call those really annoying spots in Blackfathom Deeps and Wailing Caverns "jumping puzzles" but really, they're just jumps. So far three separate jumping puzzles have been spotted in Draenor. You'll find them at the Circle of Blood, the waterfall at Moonwillow Peak in Shadowmoon Valley, and the eastern end of Daggermaw Ravine. According to Wowhead, Circle of Blood is the easiest of the three, and Daggermaw Ravine the most difficult. All have rewards awaiting the intrepid jumping populace, be it a rare spawn with rare loot or a treasure chest of goodies. The presence of jumping puzzles in the game brings the question of player flying capabilities to the forefront once more. We already know we won't be able to fly in Draenor at release, but it's been speculated that flying will be added into the game after a certain point. However, player flying renders challenges such as jumping puzzles completely obsolete. Why would you bother when you can just drop in from above? Of course, that doesn't mean that Blizzard will never allow flying in Draenor--content isn't designed to be new indefinitely. However, it does make me feel like perhaps our grounding in Draenor is meant to be more permanent than initially expected. Or maybe I'm reading way too much into this. What do you think?
New addon Explore the World offers trivia, exploration fun
Sometimes, in the rush to get to level 90 and reach the ever-alluring temptations of endgame in WoW, players forgo all the really cool stuff there is to see while going about the process of getting there. It was with this in mind that Symphonym came up with a new addon called Explore the World -- an addon deliberately crafted to pique player's interest in the world around them. The addon is currently in the beta stages, but can be downloaded and tested via Curse for those interested in a lively bout of exploration and fun. Explore the World is a game within a game -- a trivia game based around what you see and find while out and about in Azeroth. But there's a twist to the game: you have to actually travel and be in the relevant location in order to answer the questions. There are four categories to choose from -- Tracking, which requires you to track down and target an NPC based on clues and 3D models, Investigation, which requires you to locate an area and answer questions based on its surroundings, and Exploration, which involves locating a particular sub zone in the game. The fourth is called Group Questions, which appropriately enough simply requires 2-5 players to be in a party to answer the questions as a group. This is a really cool idea, and something that sounds like a really engaging, fun way to get people out there and actively looking at the world around them while playing. An interactive virtual trivia game that involves actually running around and participating in a virtual world. At the moment there are only 50 or so questions to answer -- Symphonym is using this initial release to test the addon and its features, as well as judge the general demand for the addon itself. If this sounds like something that is right up your alley, I'd suggest downloading the addon and giving it a spin -- it's definitely a far more creative take on the usual trivia minigames, and sounds incredibly fun.
WoW Archivist: Patch 1.8, Dragons of Nightmare
The WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Who says every content patch needs a new raid tier? Patch 1.8, released Oct. 10, 2005 (just slightly under one month after patch 1.7), laughs at your raid tiers. It was actually quite a small patch as far as content goes, and there wasn't anything particularly world-shattering in it, but it still did something interesting: It built up future content. Patch 1.8 implemented the following: The Dragons of Nightmare world bosses A revamp of Silithus The groundwork for holidays such as Hallow's End and Winter Veil None of these things, on their own, were very large events. They were cool pieces of content, but they weren't supported by a raid or dungeon. Quite the opposite -- they laid the groundwork that would herald a raid coming in a later patch. Let's dig in, shall we? First the patch notes in full, then the analysis.
