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URL hints at Wrath beta
Alright, this is only the ghost of a hint, but at this point I'll take what I can get with anything that looks reminiscent of a Wrath of the Lich King beta. A tipster known only as "Anonymous" wrote in to let us know that the URL http://beta.worldofwarcraft.com is active, and redirects to http://beta.worldofwarcraft.com/game/character-copy.html. The logical conclusion is that this page is meant to let (authorized) people transfer characters for some sort of beta. And what's coming up that might be beta-tested? Wrath.Right now, the address returns a "403 Forbidden" page, but obviously, someone at Blizzard HQ bothered to set up the "beta" subdomain and make it redirect to something. Any address on beta.worldofwarcraft.com seems to redirects to that "character-copy" page. Remember, a "forbidden" URL was our first real confirmation that Wrath of the Lich King was going to be the title of the expansion, so we've gotten information this way before. There's still no telling how long it'll take until a beta is available to us, as this page may well just apply to an interior beta, but this might be a clue that we're getting closer. Does this mean there won't be a patch 2.5?
No chests in MrT, and that's just fine with Blizz
Here's something that didn't really hit me on the first few times through Magisters' Terrace: there are no loot chests in the instance. Eleste of Frostwolf asks why, but Drysc only answers "why not" -- apparently Blizzard isn't too bothered that the only loot to be found in the instance is on dead mobs.Which isn't exactly new -- not only are chests open to many exploits, but Blizzard has slowly been taking steps away from putting random caches of loot out there for anyone to grab. In the last patch, they even made it so that chest loot gets rolled on, so it's probably a fair guess to say that most loot chests are on their way out of the game.They weren't in there for no reason -- Blizzard wanted to make it so that after toppling a group of mobs, you could be lucky enough to spot an extra stash of loot to grab all for yourself (not to mention that they give Rogues something else to do in instances). But apparently the problems of loot chests outweigh the positives, and it's probably true that MrT is a preview of Wrath -- loot chests are going to be rarer than ever.
Tuskarr Animation movie
While 2.4 has been mostly concerned with the Sunwell and Kil'jaedan, there's still WoTLK to look for in the future, and still a few preliminary tidbits hidden away in the patch files. We've already showed you some shots of the Tuskarr that made it in, as well as the preview page for the race over on the official WoTLK site, and now it looks like someone's dug a bit deeper into the files and found the Tuskarr Animations. The animations are pretty straightfoward, mostly just running, fighting, and casting, but there is an animation in which the Tuskarr jumps up and slams his behind on the ground - perhaps a high powered War "Stomp" to make even Taurens envious? Enjoy this closer look at the gentle giants of the Borean Tundra!
Forum post of the day: "Long Road Home"
If it were up to me, I'd call this "forum post of the month," but I guess March is still young and that would probably be premature. At 2,600 words, this is one of the longest forum posts I've read in its entirety, but it was entirely worth it. In fact, it was so well-written that it didn't feel like a wall of text at all. Alright, but what is it about?Titled "Long Road Home - Vanilla to WotLK", this great post by Calian (of Norgannon-A) explores the history of the endgame in WoW, from the days when MC was the only raid and there were no battlegrounds all the way through to the forthcoming patch 2.4 and into Wrath. It focuses on the origin and development of the casual/hardcore divide, which has become one of the hottest topics in WoW discussion today.You owe it to yourself to read the post, but in short, he comes back to the familiar conclusion that casuals need hardcores to inspire them, and hardcores need casuals to show off to; therefore the animosity between the two groups is very much misplaced, and they are in fact in a mutually beneficial relationship. I'm inclined to agree. What's your take on it?[via WarCry]
Dragonblight thoughts from a lore nerd
As I posted yesterday, the Dragonblight has been revealed. As a lore nerd and someone fascinated with Northrend, I am stoked. What kind of person uses the word stoked? I have no idea, but it sounded good.If you've read the official page, you'll know a little bit about the zone and what's going on there. It's a Dragon Graveyard, and rumored to be the place that the Dragon Aspects were originally granted their powers by the Titans. Specifically, that place would be Wyrmrest Keep. Apparently the Scourge are after Wyrmrest Keep and the five accompanying shrines, which are tied to each of the Dragonflights. Why would they be after these shrines? To create their own dragons, of course.
Tuskarr page stealth-edited
Although it only went live a few days ago, Blizzard's Tuskarr page on their Wrath of the Lich King site has already been subtly updated. I don't have a copy of the old page, but it used to say something about being beset by Taunka and Murlocs. Here's what it says now:...they are constantly beset by the Kvaldir and an arctic race of murloc-like creatures known as the Gorloc.As Blizzplanet speculates, it's possible that the Kvaldir are just a specific faction of Taunka, but their name looks more Vrykul-ish, and in fact seems to be derived from an Icelandic word meaning "to afflict torment" (credit for this theory goes to Drakhzor, of Deathwing-EU). It's also interesting that the Gorloc are listed as "murloc-like;" hopefully this means they won't be quite so annoying. Do they say "mrgllrgll" in a Northern accent?
Tuskarr info on official site
Slowly and steadily, the official Wrath of the Lich King site is getting fleshed out with some actual information. Today, they added a page about the walrus-inspired Tuskarr, a new neutral race in Northrend. The Tuskarr are nomadic and peaceful, with tribal affiliations inscribed on their tusks. Despite their pacifistic nature, they are frequently attacked by taunka and those pesky murlocs. They are excellent fishers, and catch whales, giant squid, and "unnamed leviathans."Although the info box at the right says "both" under "Horde/Alliance," the body of the text says "with the Horde's recent arrival they have found a new ally in the ongoing struggle against the hostile forces of Northrend." Not quite sure how to interpret that. Nethaera clarifies by calling them neutral in this forum post. Their faction name is "The Kalu'ak" (what is it with Blizz and apostrophes?), and their main settlement is called Kaskalka, in the Borean Tundra, with outposts at Kamagua in the Howling Fjord and Moa'ki Harbor in Dragonblight. Aside from a few bits of art and screenshots, that's all the new page contains; you can check it out here. More information on the Tuskarr is also available at Wowwiki.
Arcane Brilliance: A squishy year in review
With so much to look forward to in patch 2.4 and WotLK, Arcane Brilliance would like to take one last look back at the road behind, mostly to see if there's a Rogue back there waiting to stab us. It's a little late, perhaps, but here's a look at the year that was, from a Mage's perspective. 2007 was a splendid year. Someday, when our children's children are grown, we will bore them with stories of 2007, and perhaps refer to it as "back in the day," or "the year I dinged 70," or "the year I learned never to mix chili with microwavable burritos in the hopes that their powers will combine to form 'Chilitos,' the perfect food." Here at Arcane Brilliance, we like to think of it as the "Year of the Mage." We also like to think of 2006 as the "Year of the Mage," and frankly we think of 1902 the same way, so take that in whatever way you wish. Basically we like Mages here, and 2007 was a fun year for those well-versed in wizardry. Not everything was magelicious, though. The highlights--and lowlights--after the jump.
There is no Wrath beta
This is a public service announcement from all of us here at WoW Insider: there is currently no beta running for Wrath of the Lich King. This means that if you receive an invitation that claims to be for a Wrath beta, it's definitely a scam and you should under no circumstances click the links therein. If there were an actual Wrath beta, you would surely hear about it here and/or on the official website. If you have signed up for any alleged beta test, it would be a good idea to change your account password as soon as possible; you can't be too safe these days.Oh, and while we're on the subject of misinformation about Wrath, release dates on retailers' web pages mean nothing. They have to make a date up in order to enter the product into their system most of the time, but unless they're Blizzard, they're just guessing, and your guess is probably as good as theirs. Now have a nice weekend, and don't sign up for any dodgy beta tests.
Tigole talks attunement
Attunement is one of those subjects that divides WoW players. You either think people should have to work to get into high-end dungeons, or you think they should be open to anyone with the guts to try. Of course, you're more likely to fall into the first camp if you yourself had to do that work, hence the recent controversy over the attunements for the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal being removed.Well, it turns out that if WoW lead developer Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan had his way, attunement would be much less of a pain. He dropped the following information in a thread on "Attunement and Alts" in the general forums today: They would like to make it so getting a Karazhan key or a heroic key gave all your other max-level alts access as well. They're looking into guild and raid attunements, but "no promises." They're interested in doing server events to open up content, like the AQ war but, Tigole says, with more fun dailies and fewer boring collection grinds. Overall, he says the topic of attunement comes up often at Blizz HQ, and they want to do better moving forward and going into Wrath.
WWI 2008 announced: no Wrath before July?
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/No_Wrath_of_the_Lich_King_until_July_at_least'; Blizzard today announced their fourth annual Worldwide Invitational tournament, featuring competition in all their current major games: Warcraft III, Starcraft, and of course WoW. It'll be held in Paris on June 28th and 29th. This is the first European engagement for the ongoing series. There will also be the usual excitement for a Blizz even, including developer panels, music, and "hands-on play" of both Starcraft II and Wrath of the Lich King. Wait, what? Hands-on of Wrath? I may be reading too much into this, but that really makes it look like the expansion won't be released until after the tournament. Why would they have a hands-on demo of something that had already come out? So it looks like we're going to be waiting until July at least to get our Wrath on. Edit: Yes, I know we didn't really expect it before Q3 or Q4. But I like to hope. Suddenly releasing another raid doesn't seem like such a bad idea. More information on the WWI is available at Blizzard Europe.
Spiritual Guidance: Holyform and lesser Holy talents
There are a few things that have been desired by the players ever since WoW began. Rideable pets for hunters, player housing, guild banks (now in the game! yay!), and additional classes (one coming in Wrath of the Lich King) are a few examples. Here's one more, close to my heart since I have a Holy priest main: Holyform. The dark side of the Priest talent tree has a form; why not the light side? It would supplement our legendarily bad 21/31/41-point talents with something that was truly compelling for the dedicated healer, and of course it would look awesome.Well, Wowhead and WOWDB now have entries for a spell called, indeed, Holyform, as shown above right. It's hidden in the data files for the 2.4 patch; note that it is not currently trainable by priests on the PTRs. It could be there for any number of reasons: it could be an NPC spell, it could be an ability usable only during the Kil'Jaeden fight, like the Kael'Thas legendaries, or it could just be a cruel joke. The most compelling explanation I've seen is that Blizzard is distributing some of the Wrath patch files early, to lessen the initial download, and this is going to be the new 51-point Holy talent. Please let that be it. Update: comments are reporting that this is an NPC spell in Sunwell. Too bad.
Darkmoon Faire Decks: An overview
As I've mentioned before, The Darkmoon Faire is currently in Terrokar Forest, just outside Shattrath City, so if you have decks to turn in or need to refill your private stock of Darkmoon Special Reserve, now's the time to get on it. But if you're still a little bit taken aback by the prospect of gathering all those cards, or wondering if the trinket at the end will really be worth it, we'd like to help you out. In this post, we'll be looking at both the old and new decks and listing some pros and cons of each deck so you can figure out if you want to spend the next month tracking down cards before the Faire shows up in Elwynn Forest in March, or even if you just want to blow your epic flying mount fund on getting a deck before it leaves for the month. We'll start in on everything after the jump.
WoW Insider Show Episode 22: Fake patch notes, rumored loot and wild speculation
Episode 22 of The WoW Insider Show is now available streaming on the WoW Radio site. Turpster, Matthew Rossi (our Warrior & Shaman class columnist) and I mixed it up about a number of current topics, including: Theories behind the fake patch notes. Are players creating these to let Blizzard know what they'd like to see? Predictions about the leaked Sunwell loot making it to the live servers. The lack of new information lately on the Wrath expansion and the impact of announcing only 1 Heroic class. The Sunwell Plateau 25-man progression and Blizzard's lack of focus on new content for high end raiders until now WoW's new subscriber base of 10 million. What does this means in terms of the MMO landscape? In addition to those conversations, we had a number of fun diversions into Paladin issues, Druid Feral tanking and Turpsters obsession with tea.Join us every week on Saturday at 3:30pm EST for an hour of live debate on The WoW Insider Show.
Tigole hits the forums
Tigole has been busy on the forums today, and that always tends to bring out interesting tidbits about the future of our favorite game. While it is certainly not earth-shattering, the most interesting thing that he mentions has to do with the future of the PVP battlemasters. In patch 2.4 these guys will be put on a pedestal, literally. Much like the auctioneers in many cities, the battlemasters will be placed on a raised platform that is inaccessible to players in order to keep people from blocking them with their character's model. He also hints that Wrath will see even better improvements. This is certainly a welcome change to remove a minor annoyance that is sometimes imposed upon us by our fellow players.Other posts hint at the future of guild banks, the title system, and a possible reward for Wrath's Lake Wintergrasp. First of all, he mentions that they're "exploring" the option to allow guild masters to set prices for items in the guild bank. I know in my guild this would be great for the guild leader, since it would probably save him a lot of time in the auction house and also provide an easy solution to those situations where he gets a valuable item and is not sure how to distribute it to the rest of the guild. I imagine that this could be exploited, to an extent, by guild leaders who might suddenly slap a price on everything in the bank rather than allowing free withdrawals, but that would probably fix itself over time as people leave the guild and/or stop donating to the bank.
You'll always remember your first
Togus is right-- there's something about your first character. Many of us, as I said yesterday, have tons of alts floating around, but your first character (while probably not your best-- I didn't understand First Aid when I started playing the game, so I just didn't train it at all) was a big deal. Finishing that starting area and realizing there was a whole World out there, grouping up for the first time, and learning just how all the spells worked and what everything looked like-- your first character may not be your main now, but odds are it's still sitting there on the server, like an old friend from years ago.This idea of a "first character" is actually especially interesting to me, as just yesterday my very first character dinged level 60. As I said on the podcast the other day, I'm going back to play the Night Elf Hunter (yeah, yeah-- I was young and impetuous, and I heard Hunter was a good solo class) I started playing the game with, and take it all the way to level 70, and then 80 when Wrath comes out. In some way, I see it as finishing what I started way back when. And after all this time playing something different in game (Horde, obviously, and classes besides Hunter-- Warrior, Shaman, Rogue, Priest), it's been extremely interesting to go back to the beginning. And seeing Outland (and eventually Northrend) through the eyes of the first character I've ever played promises to be a trip. I feel like I'm rediscovering this game I've played so much of already yet again.What happened to the first character you ever started? You didn't delete them, did you? Were you able to get them all the way to 70? And when the next expansion comes out, will you take them further?
PC Zone has Wrath PvP teaser info
PC Zone magazine has an interview with WoW Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan. In it Kaplan reveals details about Wrath of the Lich King PvP warfare as well as the epic feel players will experience when first entering Northrend. Sounds great, huh?Unfortunately, you have to buy the magazine today to get the entire interview. They have only released a snippet of it online to send us into a frenzy of anticipation. What we learn from this sneak peek is that the Northrend PvP zone, Lake Wintergrasp, will be about the size of Westfall and will be all PvP. No PvE objectives in it at all. It will also be a static zone, not instanced. He also mentions that it will have destructible buildings and siege weapons, which we knew from his Leipzig interviews. Not much new there other than the size comparison to Westfall.Kaplan also talked about learning from the Hellfire Peninsula experience. This entry point into the first expansion wasn't epic enough. The design team wants to raise the bar for Northrend. We know from earlier interviews that entry into the expansion will be split. The Alliance will grab their sword and the Horde will get their own damn battlecry and both head into either Howling Fjord or Borean Tundra. How Blizzard is going to raise the bar is still a mystery.Argh! More infoz, please! If anyone gets their hands on the magazine, send us a tip with details. We'll happily give you credit.EDIT: Clarified entry points for both factions.[via World of Raids]%Gallery-5525%
Shifting Perspectives: New Druid Leveling - 1 through 5
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them. This week John Patricelli, sometimes known as the Big Bear Butt Blogger, finally starts his series on leveling a new Druid, covering the strategies of your first 5 levels. In this week's column, we're going to begin to have some fun with our brand new level 1 Druid! Check out our Level 1 Tauren Druid off to the right... isn't he a handsome devil? And modest, too! Your first five levels set the tone for how your Druid will feel. It's all about casting spells for ranged combat. You're going to want to spend as much time burning them down on the run as you can, and minimize the time you spend whacking them in the face with your stick. In many ways, the lessons you can learn here about casting strategies will form the foundation of your play style, at least until you finally get that workhorse of Druid leveling at 20; the Cat form.
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Blizzard wants feedback on your class
With Wrath of the Lich King looming on the (far) horizon, it turns out that Blizzard may actually care what you want in it! They've just opened feedback threads for every class on the official forums, asking players to list one or two sentences about their top three problem areas, and their top five problem talents/spells/abilities for their class, along with what talent trees you tend to invest in and what sort of content you play most (PvP, raid, solo, etc.). It's a highly structured format, and you're also instructed not to engage in discussion with other posters or put suggestions on how things should be improved. Just point out what you have a problem with.The posts note that when they feel they have collected enough feedback, the threads will be closed, so make sure you get your opinion in before that happens. Here are the links for the various classes on the North American forums: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior. And here are the European links: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior. It's possible that all the players speaking their minds have brought down the forum servers, since I can't get them to load, but I'm sure they'll be back presently. And you may not be allowed to have discussion in the Blizzard threads, but feel free to use the comments on this post: what's wrong with your class? What do you think they should do to fix it?
Doomguard & Infernal getting buffed
Yesterday, a player posted on the official WoW forum asking about the current state of the Doomguard and Infernal Warlock pets. It's a hassle to learn how to summon these demons, requiring the completion of multiple quests for each, and summoning them requires reagents, including the death of one of your party members (for the Doomguard at least). With all these requirements, one would think the pets would be worthwhile, but their cost and unpredictability (they have to be continually enslaved, which is on diminishing returns and may break at any time) make them worse than the normal Warlock pets.Eyonix answers the original poster, saying that the devs are concerned about these pets and will buff them sometime in the future. That "future" may be the next expansion, but this is a better answer than the class has received on the subject in a long time. To the best of my knowledge, previous answers were something along the line of "These spells may have situational uses and will not be changed from that role". Now there is once again hope that these cool and iconic (watch the original WoW cinematic, if you don't recall) Warlock pets will become more than simple novelties.
