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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.
Hints of another world event soon
This morning Nethaera, a community manager with Blizzard, posted the following on the general forums: "Perhaps something will be occurring before [the release of Wrath]. I guess it's something we'll have to wait and see."This comes in a response to a question asking if there will be a couple more surprises before Wrath of the Lich King. Of course Neth is being her usual vague self here, not really committing to anything one way or another. But the comment does raise an eyebrow, and the fact that she even decided to respond to the question without a definitive "no" is good enough to speculate that there might be another world event headed our way.
Times Online examines WoW's zombies and the connection to real life
Forget Fox News -- the Times Online has an analysis up of Blizzard's zombies event, and their main point seems to be that you can't compare a plague outbreak in the World of Warcraft to one in real life. Risk is what defines real outbreaks, and since there was really no risk in whether you became a zombie or not, players didn't necessarily act as they would in the real world. Some players even willingly submitted to infection, which of course presumably wouldn't happen with a real widespread fatal disease.But there are parallels to be drawn, and professors say that the zombie plague worked a little closer to real life than Hakkar's corrupted blood did (no coincidence, I'm sure, that the zombie plague was designed to be spread, while the Corrupted Blood was basically a bug). While the plague never did really infect everyone in the world, it did spread pretty quickly -- apparently there's a number you can use to track how quickly a disease spreads, and the zombie plague landed in the arena of a normal outbreak of smallpox (given, of course, that we don't know exactly how fast or how widely it spread).Very interesting. There is still more to say about this plague, I think (and though things have slowed down on the realms, hopefully the event itself isn't completely over). But it is fascinating how Blizzard turned emergent gameplay into an official event, and how they mimicked the real-life qualities of a spreading disease (the more of it around, the more likely you were to pick it up) while still leaving the idea firmly grounded in the in-game lore. Very cool indeed.
The scourge of the Scourge
Last Saturday on the WoW Insider Show (which you can hear right here, with an embedded mp3 post coming in just a bit), we voiced an opinion about the Scourge Invasion world event that's getting a little lost in the mix: not everyone is having lots of fun with zombies. While I personally love zombies in all their forms (and am thrilled by all the content the event is bringing us, even if it is moving really fast), lots of players out there are logging in to play World of Warcraft, and finding themselves in the middle of World War Z.As we said on the show, Blizzard is making sure that this is an event that everyone feels -- in the past, you could avoid most of the world events just by staying out of certain areas or certain zones. But at the same time, that made some players feel it wasn't immersive enough -- why have a world event if it doesn't affect the whole world? And so this one does -- no matter what level you are or where you play, whether you got eaten by a zombie or downed Tenris Mirkblood, you know that the Lich King is coming. And some folks, who play the game casually or at a low level, just don't care.Update: Well that's timely. In between the time this post was written and planned to go live, Blizzard has decided to cure the plague. Considering that things moved so fast this weekend, that seems premature, but we'll have to see how the event plays out -- Blizzard is of course saying that it's not because of the vocal minority speaking out against the zombie gameplay, but we'll have to see what happens next.
The bosses of the Scourge Invasion
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/The_bosses_of_the_Scourge_Invasion'; In the chaos of the plague and looming ziggurats, a portion of the overall invasion has been overlooked. Tenris Mirkblood of Karazhan isn't the only limited edition boss during this invasion, and not all of the content is exclusively for top level players. There are unique bosses with unique loot for players of all levels, starting from your early 20s right on to level 70. Whether you're leveling your first character or you're leveling you umpteenth alt, the Scourge Invasion has something for you to do. You get to do it away from all of the chaos, too. Round up some appropriately leveled friends and fill out a group to tackle these bosses, or find a kind-hearted level 70 looking for something to do, and knock these guys out! Behind the link below you'll find a list of each of the bosses, as well as a quick guide for each one of them.
Zombie invasion phase 5.5 - quests to the faction leaders and Shattrath [Updated x4]
Phase 5.5, as we're calling it right now, has started. This phase is coming about approximately six hours after phase 5 began. There are new quests available from any commoner in a main city. The quest will send you to some folks right outside of A'dal's room, who will then send you to your faction leader. During the time you have this quest, you'll be whispered be a Frozen Shade or Dual-plagued Brain, taunting you to join the forces of the Lich King. We have a listing of what these evil creatures are telling you after the break. It is all very, very evil. And very, very cool. These quests all hint at a cure being found for the plague. Additionally, there are new structures appearing in Shattrath. They are all apparently being commanded by Grand Apothecary Putress (WoWWiki information).The bullet points for this phase are as follows. Time stamped updates are given after the break. A cure for the plague is being worked on. New quests given by "commoners" in the capital cities. Quests lead to Putress and the faction leaders. Grand Apothecary Putress appears as a level 80 elite NPC in Shattrath. Putress has some interesting idle conversation while in Shattrath. The Night Elf faction leader hints at a new World Tree upon quest completion. A Frozen Shade or a Dual-plagued Brain will have a conversation with you while you're completing the quests. Look through our gallery below for the new images of this phase.Many thanks to everyone who is sending up tips! You're helping everyone stay abreast of the latest invasion news!%Gallery-35412%
Argent Dawn rewards during the Zombie invasion
Phase four of the zombie invasion has unlocked quite a bit of cool stuff in the game. Out in Light's Hope Chapel in Eastern Plague Lands sits an Argent Dawn Quartermaster. In order for him to even show you his wares, you need to complete the "Under the Shadow" quest from Commander Thomas Helleran who is nearby. There is also another quest called "Shadows of Doom" that you should complete along the way.For the "Under the Shadow" quest you need to collect 10 Necrotic Runes. These runes are an uncommon item (though they are very common in drop rate) which you can get from killing any undead / scourge mob around a necropolis spawn point. You can find the zones these necropolises are in by looking for a purple skull on your continent map. Be forewarned though, there's a lot of people farming these items and you'll be hard pressed to get any without a group.The "Shadows of Doom" quest requires you to kill an elite mob, a Shadow of Doom. These mobs don't hit very hard but are rather difficult to get a hold of unless you're in a group with a plan. In order to make a Shadow of Doom mob appear, you need to give 8 Necrotic Runes to a priest NPC near a necropolis spawn point – they're in the same area you'll pick up the Necrotic Runes from. To complete the Shadows of Doom quest, you'll only need to kill one Shadow of Doom. %Gallery-35369%
Tenris Mirkblood strategy guide
With phase 4 of the zombie invasion going on we've now got a new boss in Karazhan to deal with: Tenris Mirkblood. He's tuned towards a 10-man group of Karazhan geared players, and can be pretty easily brute forced by a group of folks in Sunwell gear. We first heard about the possibility of Tenris earlier this week.Let's take a look at how to get to him, his abilities, and some simple strategy to defeat him.Before You GoGet the quest "Chamber of Secrets" from an Argent Dawn Emissary. There's one in Light's Hope Chapel in Eastern Plague Lands, and there are a couple in the capital cities. This quest can be shared with other raid members. After you've defeated Tenris you can pick up the quest item from his room to complete quest. Return the quest to either Light's Hope Chapel or the NPC you picked it up from.How To Reach Tenris MirkbloodGo into Karazhan and clear up to Attumen. Go up the stairs in the back of Attumen's room, right around where the repair guy is. You'll have to clear several sets of mobs. If you are in T5 gear or below, take your time. Most mobs are grouped up in packs of three to five. There are also a few roaming packs that you'll need to watch out for.At the top of the stairs you can go right or left. While both will eventually take you to Tenris, going right is the quickest. Clear the rest of the mobs until you come to Mirkblood's door. Be sure to clear any mobs around the area that might be patting back and forth.Do not open it until you are buffed up and ready to face him.
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.
