The Mighty Nerfbat

Once the mortal enemy of the Retribution Paladin, the Nerfbat has a new calling. It's task, to completely belittle the 5 Man Heroic Dungeon!

Here, via wow.com, is a list of what we should expect to see completely mullered in the next patch. Those of you of a sensitive disposition may wish to look away, as this isn't pleasant...

Halls of Stone

• Brann Bronzebeard has been working out, so he'll run faster during the escort event.

Forge of Souls

• Devourer of Souls will cast Mirrored Soul less often.
• Trash mob Spell Reflect abilities have been changed. It now has a casting time, and will proc only twice at a rate of 75% instead of 100%.

Nexus

• Anomalus will create rifts only once.

Ahn'Kahet: Old Kingdom

• Elder Nadox's Ahn'kahar Guardian will only spawn once.
• Jedoga Shadowseeker will initiate her volunteer phase only once.
• Some trash packs between Nadox and Jedoga have been reduced/removed.

Pit of Saron

• Dead players are now able to re-enter the instance when the Ick/Krick and Forgemaster Garfrost encounters are active.

Utgarde Pinnacle

• Players can bring down Skadi's drake using only three harpoons, down from five.
• Svala Sorrowgrave only casts Ritual of the Sword once, down from thrice.

Vault of Archavon

• Toravon the Ice Watcher has been added to the dungeon! He awaits your challenge on 10-and 25-player difficulties.

Violet Hold

• Portals will open faster after Portal Guardians are killed.

It's still unclear whether this is part of a patch that will be applied today in the US (MMO Champion are saying not this week), but it shouldn't be long before we do. If that's the case, EU nerfing would begin in earnest tomorrow morning...

Is It Worth It?

Here is the one item that bothers me the most in-game right now. Let me tell you why.

The life of the average crafter can be tough, you know. Once upon a time it used to be all about the grinding. I have often regailed you with tales of the Burning Steppes, of long hours farming Black Dragonscale to craft that set which was pretty much required wearing for any Hunter taking their first tentative steps into Molten Core. It was hard, yes, but it was fun, and the only restriction was you. You farmed until you had the mats you needed, you sold everything you didn't need, you crafted (and never asked for a fee) and as a result the tips were normally pretty good. You earnt enough for half an epic mount [*] and then you earnt enough to buy the mats to allow your Warlock to do the Dire Maul Epic run. Then TBC came along, and all the crafting changed.

Blizzard introduced the wildcard, the additional material. The Primal Nether completely transformed the way crafting works in game, by adding a vital final factor to the mix. Now crafters were in a position where, to make the best items, you needed to (assuming you first had the reputation to buy the patterns you required) either a) get lucky and have a Nether drop after a L70/Heroic run or b) afford to buy a Nether on the AH. Of course the Nether was added as a way to extend the life of content, I completely understand that. It meant that you couldn't have the best items three days after launch or just farm until your eyes bled any more, you were required to provide an item that was only available via instances. You had to go work with four other people. Ultimately this caused problems, and when Blizzard offered a solution to those people who thought the Nether drop was restrictive, it created a whole new slew of issues. Once you could buy Nethers with Badges of Justice, things got really interesting.

As crafting has progressed into TBC, prices have closely mirrored content for these additional materials. Runed Orbs, the key to Ulduar patterns, now sell for under 100g on my server where once you could have happily added an extra 0 to that number. Crusader Orbs, the ToTC added extra, just dropped below 200g, and as they are used in all the iLevel 245 gears, now is a great time to be going out and grabbing them and crafting bracers especially, which are more than likely going to last the majority of players all the way to Cataclysm. Primordial Saronite right now is worth 2000g a piece. I cannot see it dipping much below that price until ICC is fully open and Hard Modes have been engaged.

Sorry, but that just seems like too much to ask.

Money like that makes people look to gold farmers, I know it does. 1000g for Crusader Orbs made at least one person I am aware of just that, and despite me reporting them to Blizzard they are still playing. I think it's a dangerous game when inflation in-game doesn't just affect the stats of your gear, it makes people expect to pay frankly unrealistic sums for items that, if we are honest, are only there to help you compete the current portion of content and which will be disgarded come Cataclysm. At the price of 23 Emblems of Frost, I cannot imagine there will EVER be a point where I can afford to purchase them this way either, unless Blizzard upgrade the Heroic content to Frost for the last few months of the game. This is where we see a major difference in the additional material market. Frosts ONLY come from Weekly quests, ICC or the Daily Heroic, making the Primordial Saronite the most sought after. You can downgrade all higher Emblems for purchase EXCEPT Frost, so if I wanted to I could use Frost to buy Crusader Orbs or Runed Orbs, but only if I was certifiably insane. These ilevel 264 items are unique not simply because of the ingredients, but also because it costs a Primordial Saronite to purchase the recipes.

I have a real quandry to consider as a LW once I hit honored with the Ashen Verdict: the completist in me wants four recipes, the GM in me wants to be able to offer the choice to Guildies. This will mean an outlay of either 92 Frosties or 8000g. I was saving that for my Chopper :( To make matters worse that's the same again at Revered for the leg recipes. I would have to seriously up my game time to even consider this at present, and I know that there are people out there who will be dialing 1-800-GOLD-FARM without a second thought, and that makes me sad. Yes I'm sure that's always been the case, but this is a frankly mind-boggling amount of cash or emblems to spend.

I know Blizzard have said that things seem hard currently with so little content to run for Frost Emblems, but still, the fact remains I can only run ICC 10 once a week, and Primordial Saronite hasn't dropped from ANY of the bosses there. With Daily Random plus weekly Raid Quest I can afford a new Saronite roughly every 10 days assuming I don't upgrade my Tier Gear or anything else. All the other creation crafts have a three day cooldown :p I find myself wondering if this is a deliberately steep mountain I've been given to climb, or whether my old age and cynicism has finally broken through: what is the point to buying these items when I have so many hoops to jump through to even be able to craft them.

I have to ask, is it worth it? Sadly, right now at least for me, the answer is no :(

[*] ... and then your Husband generously gave you the rest. What a top guy :D

When Lag ATTACKS!

On my server, the lag really does bite.
AP/Steve Chen, from www.thecolincompany.com.

Last night, shortly after P finally managed to get the Halls of Reflection ticked off the 'To Do' list, our Battlegroup fell over with some style. Stories drifted through the ether of priests tanking Rotface in ICC and taking no damage. Whatever happened, it was huge, unimpressive and ultimately frustrating. We'd done ICC in a Guild 4 man with one PuG Mage, who after waiting 10 minutes for the LFG Randomiser to send us somewhere was told it would probably be best if he tried to get back to his own Server first. When the dust finally settled we ended up in The Oculus, which pre-nerfs we'd have simply left in disgust. Last night we resolved to four man it. In the end we were 90 seconds outside the Make it Count achievement, and P got Experienced Drake Rider for her troubles.

Anyone who still thinks The Oculus is worth skipping... as long as you get the drake abilities, it's simple. If you have trouble with the three dimensional aspect of the flight, stick someone on follow and pretend. Even with chronic lag, we did it in under thirty minutes. That really can't be bad.

The fact remains however, our Battlegroup capacity remains wanting. As Lord Marrowgar is our Weekly Raid Quest, last night a far higher than normal amount of people were in ICC, and the servers simply couldn't cope. The ominous 'additional instances cannot be launched' message made a reappearance last night as well, and I have to hope someone in France was paying attention and has ticked the 'Needs Moar Hamster' button next to our server cluster. I know it's cold, maybe the rodents could use a good cuddle. Needless to say, this is not the first time it's been this awful. A member of our party last night remarked that maybe we'd inadvertantly become part of a Social Experiment, just to see how much we'd put up with before logging off in disgust. I tried logging off. It took nearly five minutes.

Please Blizzard, sort it out :(

IWIN, but You Lose.

 Leave the easy mode button ALONE...

It's Official: Blizzard has pressed the I.W.I.N button for 5 Man Heroics.

I have to say, this makes me a Sad Panda. I like things to be a bit difficult. I enjoy a challenge. I think that being able to do OK, all the bosses, is considerably more satisfying than the sanitised version that Blizzard will now be presenting us with come the end of the upcoming PvP Season. However, what worries me more is the following comment from Zarhym:

We've learned a lot from our Wrath of the Lich King dungeons. I think you can expect us to approach Cataclysm dungeons with some new ideas, especially taking into consideration the Dungeon Finder. This system has drastically changed the way dungeons are run and we want to make sure future dungeons are designed with this in consideration.

I honestly hope this does NOT mean dungeons with no CC required, thought on competion or indeed ramped levels of difficulty. I pray this means we won't see an end to the Epic Dungeons like UBRS and BRD (or even Sunken Temple, with the fabulous statue unlocking thingy). I fear that this might mean that five mans stop being the place where the new players learn their craft, but instead they become a mechanic to obtain tokens to buy gear that players then have no idea what to do with. They fall into raids with no understanding of role or function, and then it's up to the poor hapless Raid Leaders to teach them how to actually play.

Don't get me wrong by the way, I appreciate that some dungeons (especially the Culling of Stratholme) lose their appeal once you've had to sit through the preamble a dozen or so times. However, when that dungeon was launched it was by far the most enjoyable five man to run PRECISELY BECAUSE of that preamble, encompassing the lore that it did, laying the foundations for our trip to Icecrown. The lessons have been learnt with the five man Trial and the Halls of Reflection, and I hope in future all 'lore' dungeons are fitted with the 'skip the pagentry' option. However I am concerned that this might mean the removal of the lore altogether, which would be a terrible loss to the entire feel of the game.

The Easy Mode stuffs, I suppose, were inevitable considering the life of the game. The current content, the ICC Five Mans, are at a level of difficulty that won't be changed I would suspect because the next time we see a new slew of dungeons it's going to be with an expansion. This means the content that is accessible to the majority is streamlined, giving everyone new gear and allowing people back into the bigger theatres (Naxx, Ulduar, Trials) with an advantage, as will be the case once Icecrown is fully open and the area buff comes into play. Of course it makes sense in order to retain player interest in the 8-10 months we have to wait. However, will it mean people get lazy and complacent, and will it mean that if new levels of difficulty appear in Cataclysm people will complain anew that things are too hard when infact they're significantly easier than they ever were?

Let's be honest, that's the way it's always been. I remember taking four hours to clear the Cathedral in SM and being proud it took us such a short time. I remember spending nine hours in BRD one weekend because I was determined to get to the end boss and finish the quest I'd had in my log for a month. Yes, back in the day when it took three days for fourty people to clear Molten Core, everything was hard and then Blizzard wielded the nerfbat on content far more people would cheer than would ever bemoan the simplification of the mechanics. Even though it makes me sad, it's clear that nothing has actually changed that much in five years, it's just my perception of the surroundings that alters.

If you ask me this game needs less Easy Modes, and more people with branes.

COME ON!

See that! Server 27th Kill, that was :D Bring on the Next Wing!

The Scores on the Doors

Not often do I get a chance to start a post with Larry Grayson: picture from
bbc.co.uk. Why is he here? Click here to understand my twisted mind.

There is a good chance you still have no idea what a gear score is. I didn't until a few months ago, but of late it has become something of an obsession on my Server, mostly because it has become a way of judging your character's relative position on the Game Progression Ladder 'o' Doom.

Type 'what is a gear score in wow' into Google and you'll pull up a link to WoWWiki's basic yet functional definition:

Gear score is numerical value based on the statistics of a player's gear. In addition to item level (ilvl), the item's actual statistics or abilities may or may not be included for calculation, as determined by specific formulas or addons.

In it's basic form, it is an incredibly simplistic way to see what a player has done. The higher the score, the more places that person has been. It won't tell you if they ninjaed all the items, it won't account for appauling choices of enchant or gemmage, and it has absolutely NOTHING to do with that person's basic ability, but it's a fair indicator of what they could be capable of. We shouldn't have arbitrary numbers like this in game, of course, as we have been told more times than we care to remember that it's not about the class, the spec or the gear, it's the player that matters... except I think it's a fair bet Blizzard is using a system pretty similar to this to put us all together in groups for the LFG System. Like it or not, the game itself is currently using our gear to judge us.

There are many different scoring systems currently: WoW Heroes uses one, Be Imba another. The Gear Score addon is used by many as it's simple and runs in-game. However, I suspect the LFG System will be looking at an iLevel average (taking all your bits of gear, adding up the iLevels and coming up with a number based across all your slots) After all, Blizzard deliberately added iLevel functionality to the game, so we can now see this if we want via the Interface. They must have done it for a reason...

So, I decided to do a sweep of all my current 80's and do some comparison. I used PuG Checker, which does the maths for me (plus provides a handy list of all the dungeons and instances you've participated in) The results were not a real surprise:

P (Main, ICC Raiding)   Average iLevel = 241.88
M (Shaman, PuG raiding)   Average iLevel = 233.39
W (PuG raiding, WG resident)   Average iLevel = 232.50
M (Druid, ex Main and Ulduar)   Average iLevel = 228.44
G (Demon Miner and Layabout)  Average iLevel = 217.29
K (Dinged 80 moments ago)  Average iLevel = 207.44

The numbers bear out the truth: P is raiding, score is high. M & W have been PuG-ging the occasional 10 man. K gets out maybe once a week, does a couple of randoms, makes cloth, and that's it. In this basic form the scoring does work: most work at the top, and then read down the list, so in that regard the numbers do have merit.

However, I have to wonder whether this is the start of a bigger trend. Some one asked today whether if you change gear you can avoid certain dungeons on WoW.com and as the answer seems to be no, that adds credence to the idea that the tool is probably using the Armoury as a guide. The only way to find out for certain I suspect would be to log out naked and then attempt to join the queue, but if the tool uses a saved cache of your gear... but I suspect Blizzard have that contingency covered. They are, like it or not, applying decisions based on your character and the information available online, as anyone who demands your gear score for a raid invite. So if you're one of those people who thinks knowing how good your gear is isn't relevant, I'd argue that everyone, including the game's designers, is beginning to think otherwise.

This raises other questions too: the sheer amount of information currently available to Blizzard and already accessible to us via the Achievements and Statistics pages makes me wonder what other algorithms might be possible: checking achievements certainly for PuG Raid runs (though theoretically that's how a lot of people might get the achievements in the first place) With the Gold Tracker I wonder how hard it might be to have a programme that could access accumulated wealth on a character, which could have fraud prevention applications. I suspect the LFG Tool will be the first of many 'helpful' additions to the game using the data Blizzard has access to... I wonder what else they have up their sleeves.

If you didn't know what a Gear Score was when you started reading here it's probably time you went and found out. If you're sensible you won't obsess about it, you'll accept it as another layer to the game and it's foundation on statistics and mathematical calculations. What you should understand however is that unlike the Real World, there's not much subelty when your online persona needs to be judged in purely mathematical terms. I'd suggest you stop worrying, press the LFG button and get better geared.

Arrrr....

Two more inches of snow over the weekend, but it's all melting now :(

Gunship Battle done, first hit. How the HELL do you manage I'm on a Boat?

Saurfang is going to take some work, I suspect, and more dps than we were able to muster last night. In a controlled situation (with two hunters ping-pong kiting the Blood Beasts) we got him to 50% before he enraged. That's a LOT of dps missing. Leave it with us. I suspect we will be back again before the reset.

I will this week do a full character catchup as well. I WILL.

Jet-Propelled!

Six inches of snow outside \o/

Inside, we made Icecrown progress last night :D

Yes, that's me with a Rocket Pack. When we left the Gunship Battle last night we'd cracked a great deal of the tactical gubbins, so when we go back I suspect that's another job done. Marrowgar was CONSIDERABLY more nerfed than he was last week, and with the tweaks we made it was a foregone conclusion. However hats must be removed to my Husband who had an inspired moment with the tactics for Lady Deathwhisper. She went down (I think) on the fourth try of asking. It was suitably impressive watching everyone hit the same point on the learning curve. Oh, and she dropped the most Awesome Bow Evah \o/

All told, not a bad night's work. I might even go so far as to say we could have the first wing's content cleared before the gating is removed... depends on how hard Saurfang is...

Muahahaha!

First Random Dungeon Selected: Occulus.
First Random Achievement Completed: Make It Count.

Yes, they nerfed it :D

He Knows, You Know :: SPOILERS for Icecrown

In my defense, I know. I think WAY too much about character motivation, but I'm a writer, these things fascinate me. Below, you'll find some thoughts on the Way to Icecrown in light of the new 3.3 Trailer. I warned you.

There's a reason it's in game. You don't pick it up. Someone else does...

Once upon a time in Azeroth, the Bad Guys had no fear.

If we go back to Old Skool Onyxia, to Nefarion, even to C'Thun (as we're peering back into the midsts of Vanilla territory) it's fair to say these guys weren't expecting to die, in ANY way, shape or form. In the mould of so many other classic villains their job was simple: have great-looking Underground Lairs, take no grief from anyone who wasn't also a Villain (because that makes you all inferior anyway) and die spectacularly, normally after many days and weeks of being hit. In Vanilla, being the Bad Guy was easy.

Not so for Arthas Menethil. He comes with a fairly complicated and very well-documented back story. He has a love interest. He has undead women with death-wishes against him who are nowhere near inferior, oh no. He also arrives with a legacy, as we are shown via the Icecrown sound files. Whether we like it or not, we can't actually destroy the Lich King at all, because if we do... well, it would be bad. Uther, the First Paladin, will explain:

There is... something else that you should know about the Lich King. Control over the scourge must never be lost. Even if you were to strike down the Lich King, another would have to take its place. For without the control of its master, the scourge would run rampant across the world, destroying all living things.

So, let's take a moment to digest that. We can kill Arthas, but if we do we are the agents of our own demise. Uther, love his heart, is basically telling us that if we go and do what we've been conditioned to do over all these years we'll lose. Funny that, as people have already suggested this would be a great thing. This of course means that at some point someone will have to go step into that breach, and I'll think you'll find the smart money's already being laid on a Mr B. Fordragon from Stormwind being the #1 Candidate.

This also marks a fairly significant departure from WoW's traditional form of storytelling. Before, with a Big Bad, you'd kill them and they'd simply respawn in a week, and the Lore around them would remain blissfully unaware of the occurrence. Arthas again is different: even though we have the chance to kill him, over and over again if we so desire for the phat lewts and the Hard Modes, the foundations are in place for him to die for good. Once Arthas disappears, it's been placed in Lore that he has a replacement. He doesn't just keep coming back. We have closure. Of course it's only temporary but this falls in line with the way Blizzard have moved forward story lines in Wrath. With the coming of 3.3 the Beasts of Northrend gradually begin to disappear from outside the Tournament [*], because we no longer need to fight them, we're all off to Icecrown. Yes of course they're still there in the Instance, but in the outside World of Warcraft, they've gone. We've moved on.

Most importantly of all however, I believe with Arthas we have a bad guy who is singularly different from any other before him: this one knows he's going to die. His time for arrogance is gone. The trailer shows us a room full of souls, the people Arthas has killed and placed in Frostmourne by his own hand but not necessarily by his own will. The sword has a control over it's wielder, after all, as does the Crown Arthas wears. Jaina is right, the Arthas she knows may yet still be trapped beneath the horror. Those souls hear the call of the Light, as must Arthas himself, and here, in a very refreshing departure, we see a villain who doesn't rail against those who come to taunt him, far from it. It is the sword that hungers, but is it Arthas too? I think not.

So, really, the new logo for 3.3 should look more as follows:

I believe this is a Bad Guy in Warcraft who knows his number is up. Come April, I think a great many people may be surprised at what they find when they go to the Frozen Throne to confront him.

[*] They'd all gone on the PTR and they are still here currently with 3.3 live, so I am assuming as the wings phase in then the beasts will phase out, which will be pretty cool. Blizzard, don't disappoint me!

Soooooo....

So, what to do while we wait in Europe for the Servers to come back up? Well, first of all you should really take a look at the Lich King trailer because... well, you'll see. Best Trailer EVER. After that, you can digest the fact that the second wing of Icecrown is scheduled to open January 5th, and at that rate nobody is likely to see Arthas before April.

Hmmm.

There's going to be a lot of time to fill when I'm not raiding then. Time to finish that LFG Guide!

Our Feature Presentation

No, it's not Patch Day yet.

NO, IT'S NOT PATCH DAY YET.

You know that feeling you used to get when you rushed to the Cinema, desperate to see that film you'd been talking about watching all week with your mates? You'd just want to see the movie, and instead you'd have to sit through all those annoying adverts first... Well, just imagine today in Europe is the equivalent of those. If you're too young to remember those adverts, we can help you there too.




I would have been pushing towards 80 today too, had there not been a Domestic Issue involving bugs. No, really, you don't want to know...

It's in The Trees...

3.3 is coming. The Kate Bush track is, as per usual, simply an excuse.

Even if The People In the Know are wrong and it isn't this week, it's going to be the week after. There is no escaping the fact that it's BIG. The question is, are you ready for it?

There are those of you, I know from painful Guild experience, who think that it's someone else's job to read the patch notes for them. Major sites offer the service; wow.com being especially good at digesting the months worth of information that drip-feeds its way out of the PTR's into lovely bite-sized chunks. However convenient this may look, I maintain it's no substitute for doing it yourself.

At this point we do not have the final set of notes, but it's a pretty good bet they will look an awful lot like this:

3.3.0 Patch NOTES

Take fifteen minutes to sit down and read them. My husband did it today, with a bacon roll and a cup of tea, and was amazed by the changes to AoE and Threat. He didn't fully grasp that ALL level restrictions will be removed from Meeting Stones (despite us having a conversation about it at least a week ago) and he was pleased to see when you emote /welcome you will say hello. That's just the first couple of paragraphs: then there's Arena points from BG's, no more slogging through Naxx to access the final two bosses, the HUGE number of class changes, the metamorphosis of the Map window, the new Dungeon Finder... and then there's the new Emblems and the Weekly Raid Quest. Seriously, you've seen big patches before, but they're just peanuts compared to 3.3. The next time something this major happens, it'll be time to get out the REM video...

My Server this weekend has been eerily silent. It is very much the calm before the storm. Alt levelling is everywhere, as the major guilds gird their collective loins in anticipation of what is to come. We all have to run the 10 mans together, no exceptions, this time around. You can't do 25 man Icecrown without it, after all...

Things are going to get pretty crazy come Wednesday.

Coming Soon...

Via MMO Champion, and with thanks to Kinaesthesia from Vodka (US-Alterac Mountains), here's a taster of 3.3's HAWT 5 Man action. Spoilers aplenty, watch AT YOUR PERIL.

But you're gonna watch. Oh yes.



ZOMG. Is it Wednesday yet????

200 Posts!

The first Xmas card arrives in the mail. The kids have to be beaten off with a stick, and told they get their Advent calenders when they get home from school. Yes, the Festive Season has properly arrived, and with it I will be attempting to do a post a day, on anything and everything Warcraft-related, in an attempt to see if I can't get my brain to work better than it has over the last few Christmasses. Consider it an exercise in stimulation.

There's a stupid amount of Alt Levelling going on at present, not simply in out Guild but all over my Server. Starting area mats are selling like Mince Pies or Brussels Sprouts at the moment. Now is the time to be making cash. I've taken my Rogue, dropped Leatherworking and converted her to Gathering Spec (mining[*]/skinning) for the not insignificant Sta/Crit buff combo she'll get when she finally hits 80, which she will, but not before my recently-humanified Mage does first. She's halfway through 76 right now, and the normal rules will apply once we turn 77: go start the Tournament Dailies, do WG as often as possible, start the Blue Laydees questline (even though when 3.3 hits it's largely irrelevant) and wait for the package in the mail from Rhonin...

After the Rogue it's my Pally. After that... gonna be a LONG wait for Cataclysm.

I see rumours circulating that 3.3 is gonna drop next week. I don't reckon it'll even be then, I'm still holding out on the 16th, which will mean, if I'm cute, I can have a Rogue close to the 50/60's and be happily strip mining Burning Steppes and Hellfire while everyone else goes mental over the Icecrown stuffs. Because of the deliberate gating Blizzard will be implimenting there's going to be a HUGE amount of lead time between wings, so the focus will inevitably shift to the new 5 mans. I can see me doing a lot of work towards getting a Perky Pug. After all, for everyone except my Main, that gear and the Triumph/Frost gear the Elbows provide will be the items I'm wearing once I move into the Expansion. I have probably 10-11 months to gear everybody, so it's not like it all has to be done tomorrow. I am speculating with nominating an alt a month, and focussing simply on getting that alt geared, sorting them with achievements and the like, and then moving on. We will see how things work, but I know for a fact cash won't be a problem with the amount of things I can now do to obtain it.

I doubt it's going to be anything but a Fun (but cold) Winter :D


[*] 30g from levelling Mining from 1-75, selling the ore and stone on the AH. Proof if needed that selling the right things makes money \o/

Oh I Say :O

As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, we wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point we can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.

The rest of the statement is here.

To be honest, on reflection, this isn't a big surprise. They have to make this content last, possibly until the Summer (depending on what goes down with the pre-Cataclysm events) The fact they don't know yet when this will all be phased in is however a bit of a surprise. I would have thought by now they'd have a handle on their timescales...

I find myself wondering what the Hardcore Guilds will think of this. They ARE FORCED to do the 10 mans of these dungeons before they can attempt 25 man, which is possibly the most significant development we've seen since the introduction of 10 man raiding. Things will be made deliberately easy for those late to the party with a raid-wide buff that will be introduced once all four wings are open. Yes, it's the Sunwell all over again, but this time it's forcing everybody to do things in the same order, in the same timescales. I'm not sure that's a good or a bad thing.

Part of me thinks this is going to be really rather hard. I do hope that's the case.

We Interrupt Our Real Life...

...to return to posting here. Explanations will be forthcoming, in the meantime I need to post a small but VERY vital piece of information from the latest PTR push:

Enginein

• Iceblade Arrow has been added to the game - Creates Iceblade Arrow x 1000. / Reagents: Crystallized Shadow x 2
• Shatter Rounds has been added to the game - Creates Shatter Rounds x 1000. / Reagents: Crystallized Earth x 2
  
  

To be honest I didn't think we'd see any new ammo until Cataclysm for Hunters, so two new recipes for Engis is great news both for moneymaking and for Hunters generally. The increase in DPS they bring... let's look at the numbers:

Old Ammo = 67.5 dps New Ammo = 91.5 dps

That's not too shabby, even by my own Dodgy Theorycraft standards.

Better start stocking up on some mats :D

This is Not the Post You're Looking For...

New PTR Push, and no I haven't downloaded it yet coz I'm trawling through MMO's site, where they have. There's a gazillion sound files for Icecrown, and there's a lot given away. Go there at your peril.

What has grabbed me most however (apart from the Meeting Stone change, which frankly is well overdue) is this line of text:

PvP
Battlegrounds

• All level 71-80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards.

Now, this is fairly huge. Yes, really, it is. Before 3.3 THE ONLY WAY to get arena points was via the Arena, quite obviously. The fact that Blizzard has now decided to award them for BG victories is pretty damn significant.

I assume it will work like this: all current Season's gear (the stuff that requires an actual team rating) will remain as is, but the previous Season's gear (and by that I don't just mean armour, I mean weapons as well) will have it's rating removed, thus allowing people to purchase them both after reaching the current points total. By far the biggest beef of everyone I know in PvP is the fact you have to play arena to buy resilience weaponry. Not any more, I'd fancy.

This is great news for my slacker PvP aspirations. Yes, I can see myself  grinding a 2 hander for P at least. But what is probably more significant is the fact that from 71-80 I can now level in BG's and have some points towards what would be (if it is true) some fairly decent kit for my alt family. Weaponry is always a big beef at 80: not just the main hand stuff but (certainly in the case of my casters) the offhands. Offhands are like hen's teeth when you run on a casual basis. Shields too, especially in the case of my Shaman.

I can see a lot of hardcore Arena players getting annoyed by this, as it's undoubtedly another concession by Blizz for the casuals. For me at least it's a great step forward in making PvP viable in my relaxed playing style.

Everything Must Go

It's a PTR CRAZY SALE!!!! All Commendations are now available for the low, low price of 1 Badge of Triumph! Get them while they're HoT!

That's a new PTR version by the way... off to look at Patch Notes now...

Odds and Ends

- There's details about the new Weekly Fishing Quest up all over the place. The +5% XP BoA ring as a reward is rather special (and any mention of Dread Pirates is welcomed here) but a line from the Blue post jumped out and caught my eye ahead of the actual details:

Don't forget, in patch 3.3.0 you never catch trash from fishing pools, regardless of skill.

That's pretty significant, you know. If you spend your life simply fishing in pools, you can level and NEVER get useless items. There's been talk of further upgrades to fishing come Cataclysm, I reckon this could be a start.

- We're seeing a lot of changes to the starting areas, plus the addition of Tutorials and the changes to the Character Creation screen. WoW.com flags up the changes to wolves in the Elwynn Starting Area and postulates this may be part of a bigger move. Mania's Arcania suggests it may simply be as a result of upcoming changes to Felwood. Either way, any changes to the Old World will be keenly followed as Cataclysm grows closer...

- A quick screenie, if I may.

We cleared the 10 man event at the Tournament on Saturday night in a little under 50 minutes, which makes me think we're probably ready for the Heroic Mode. At a loss we decided we'd go try do some 10 man Ulduar achievements. Heartbreaker is the first Hard Mode we've tried and succeeded with, and we did it with 9 people for the last 45%. As a result of Saturday's efforts we're now ranked #4 on our Server's 10 Man Strict Achievements Listing. What does this mean, I hear you cry? Here's the lowdown from GuildOx:

What is the 10-man 'strict' criteria?

Guilds will be excluded when they earn any Coliseum 25 normal kills or any Ulduar 25 hard-mode kills. Please allow 3-4 days for a guild to be excluded from the strict list after earning an excluding kill. Guilds must also have their 10M Progress World Rank be better than (lower than) their 25M Progress World Rank.

Normally guilds will earn these 25m kill achievements when either 10 players complete a kill in the same raid or when 15 players complete the kill over time. We have added a special trigger for the Coliseum 25 normal kills that will exclude a guild from strict rankings when 5 players achieve any boss kill in the same raid or a total of 10 players achieve it over time. For example, if your guild pugs Coliseum 25 normal then you will be excluded from the strict rankings when a total of 10 players in your guild participate in the Beasts of Northrend 25 normal kill (or if 5 of them earn the kill in the same raid).

 Got that? Good!

Will be off to the PTR later, so part 2 of our Quest for the Sword will continue!

All Change!

New push on the PTR. Part 2 of the Quel'delar Sword Quest 'in progress'. For now, possibly the most significant change I've seen so far is when you log in. After an eternity, the Create Character screen's had a revamp:

Expect all those character icons to shift up a bit once the two new races appear: the whole thing is far less cluttered and it's spelt out a lot more precisely what each race can do, and what each class can be adapted to. Frankly this is long overdue, and it's part of a HUGE Interface overhaul. This includes the following (thanks again to MMO for the text):

• Buffs and Debuffs: This is a new section added to Interface Options.
• New option - Castable Debuffs: Enabling this will cause only debuffs you have cast on an enemy target to appear.
• New option - Consolidate Buffs: Enabling this adds a buff consolidation box near the mini-map. Very short term buffs (e.g. Replenishment) and very long term buffs (e.g. Prayer of Fortitude) are filtered into the buff box. The icons are stacked here, but they can still be seen by moving the mouse cursor over the buff box. Long term buffs will move out of the box when they are about to expire. Buffs such as important procs (e.g. Art of War, Lightning Overload), cooldowns (e.g. Bloodlust / Heroism, Combustion) or limited in range (e.g. totems and paladin auras) are always displayed.
• Tutorial System: The tutorial pop-ups are now larger, contain images, and better try to direct players to the relevant locations or user interface elements on the screen. In addition, several new tips have been added, while some existing tips will now appear at more appropriate times for new players.
• Dungeon & Raid Difficult Display: A group’s dungeon or raid difficulty setting will now be displayed via an icon off of the mini-map.
• Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling “Need” or “Greed” on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted. “Disenchant” works exactly like “Greed” except if a player wins the “Greed” roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose “Need” will always win the item and will always beat those that choose “Greed” or “Disenchant.”
• Lag Reports: Players can now report high latency or lag by accessing the Help Request menu.
  
  

So, there's an option for reporting lag. That's gonna get a LOT of use on our server... :(

Looking Good! SPOILERS FOR 3.3

Remember that manky old sword in the ice outside the Tournament? Not so shabby now... The changes to Icecrown are continuing apace, but in rather worrying news the latest PTR build has bought a COMPLETE lack of flying mounts. Nothing works, clearly it must be extra cold this build. The upshot of this is that riding to Icecrown from the Tournament is a proper adventure. 5 deaths, and a hefty repair bill later, I made it through the Commanders and to the gates...

... only to discover the raid group I was invited to consisted of three people in phase with me and five who were not. Annoyingly therefore the Citadel remains undiscovered for now :(

I was going to go take a look and see if the there's details on what the Reputation changes look like thus far but I'm now locked out of the server altogether. More news when I can make it back in.

End of the Tunnel

So, this week has seen not one, but TWO 25 man Guild outings, and the 25 man achievement for doing Boss #1 without a System Shutdown. The drama was worth it.

This morning brings a new PTR build and some much needed love for Alts.

• The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:

            Argent Crusade
            Alliance Vanguard
            Horde Expedition
            Kirin Tor
            Knights of the Ebon Blade
            Sons of Hodir
            Wyrmrest Accord

• Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.
• Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased (they still require the appropriate faction level to purchase).
• Reputation commendations can now be purchased for 1 Emblem of Triumph each.

That's a fabulous change :D It also gives a sense of the game moving forward to it's logical conclusion in this expansion as well, which is exciting in itself. What do you mean, that's what Icecrown is for? :P

Hunter

• Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%.

To the person who asks me how pets level, here's the answer, it's experience based. I thought it was directly related to kills but if it's experience then it does include quest rewards as well. Every day is a school day :D

There's also a very BIG SPOILER that I won't reveal here as yet but I'm very happy about, as it means one of my favourite Alliance NPC's survived the Wrathgate...

This weekend we'll do a roundup, I'll get some pics of the faction stuff, and there will be chocolate cake. Oh yes.

Executive Power via Swords SPOILERS FOR 3.3 PTR

There be spoilers ahead, yarr. Ye know the drill by now, matey....

DENNIS: Listen! Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

ARTHUR: Be quiet!

DENNIS: Well you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

ARTHUR: Shut up!

DENNIS: I mean, if I went around sayin' I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me they'd put me away!

 Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Arthur's brush with the Lady of the Lake (I'd like to believe if it did happen it was a lot less mythical and more Monty Python, but that's just me) is just one of the countless examples of how large pieces of metal made by sweaty overweight Blacksmiths have come to be something of a big deal. Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan is as important in that country's history as Excalibur is in ours, and scattered throughout literature there are countless examples of Named Swords with Magical Powers. I could give you you a dozen from Lord of the Rings for starters... but fortunately for now, I won't. What I will do is talk about one particular sword that is about to become fairly significant in Warcraft Lore: Quel'Delar.

The sword in question, outside the Argent Tournament on the PTR

From the datamining that MMO have done on the sword, it becomes clear there's an Epic questline being prepared to reforge Quel'Delar. You find initially the hilt (though as yet there's no indication as to it's drop location) and then you're sent on a series of errands to bring together what remains of the sword, in an attempt to reforge it. This can only be attempted inside the Pit of Saron, the second of the three new five mans, and requires Infused Saronite to do so. You also need the hammer from Forgemaster Garfrost, and to be at his anvil to complete the process. Once complete you're forced to go back to the Forge of Souls to temper the blade... after which, according to the datamined information, you begin to feel a strange compulsion...

'You have re-forged and tempered the sword, yet it sits quietly in its sheath, showing no signs of the power it should possess. You say the sword pulls you, as though it possesses a will? Dare you bring it where it wishes to go? It is not right that the sword should be this silent and this insistent, yet I fear that if you do not take the sword to its destination, we will never learn why. Bear it with you to the Halls of Reflection, but be on your guard and prepare to tell me all of what you learn there'

And here we get our biggest indicator as to what exactly is going to happen in the Halls of Reflection, courtesy again of the quest text. We will meet someone of HUGE Lore significance: Uther the Lightbringer:

'Take Quel'Delar to the Sunwell as quickly as possible, P. Trust in Uther's words when he says that you will not always be able to control the blade while it is subject to the evil of the Lich King's influence. You must travel to the Isle of Quel'Danas, and there, seek entry to the Sunwell itself, where you can cleanse the sword. The guardians of the Sunwell will not simply allow you to walk in, so you must find Halduron Brightwing, who will be inspecting the guards there'

It's probably wise at this point to say a few words about Arthas' sword, Frostmourne.

"Whomsoever takes up this blade shall wield power eternal. Just as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit."

Discovered in a cave in Dragonblight by explorer Muradin Bronzebeard, the sword allowed Arthas to finally defeat the Dreadlord Mal'Ganis, but forfeited his soul to the Lich King, transforming him into a Death Knight. Clearly it is an item of tremendous power: however, there are hints that if separated from the wielder the sword's power can diminish. WoWWiki has a section on Frostmourne's powers as detailed in the Roleplaying game, and it says something very interesting in light of what we found out yesterday about the weapon's current location on the PTR:

'...as long as the wielder's original body remains within one mile of Frostmourne, the sword maintains control of the body, and he may not be completely aware that his consciousness has shifted to the weapon. Beyond one mile, the sword cannot control the wielder's body, and the wielder of course finally becomes quite aware of his current state (if he is not already)...'

So we have stablished that Frostmourne lies in the Halls of Reflection, unguarded. We surmise from the RPG information that if separated from it's owner, it's power wanes. We now also know that Uther himself is tied in with Quel'Delar's reforging and that the two blades are destined to be inextricably linked... and then there is the information today that has surfaced on Blizzard's website, in the form of two new biographies. This sword will be wielded by both Horde and Alliance, by two women whose fates are forever entwined with Arthas and the Lich King. One is out for revenge, the other to save the love she lost so long ago.

What we are yet to see is what happens when Qulel'Delar and Frostmourne are in the same room. As you can tell I'm already rather excited at the prospect...

A Tribute to Insanity

New PTR Build downloading as I type. Maybe this time I can go get into the new instance \o/

Amongst the datamined items popping up thus far, a new slew of Achievements:

• Looking For More: Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 10 random players total.
• Looking For Many: Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 50 random players total. Awards the title: the Patient.
• Looking For Multitudes: Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 100 random players total.

I am SO aiming for that title. Just.... well, just *because* :D

What is To Come...

One of the things I love about the datamined information from MMO is the chance it gives people like me to speculate on what may be coming in game. In amongst the first slew of information we got from the PTR was the addition of a new model: Terenas Menethil. Those of you paying attention will know this is the father of Arthas, the voice we hear in the Lich King cinematic:

My Son... the day you were born, the very forests of Lordaeron whispered the name... Arthas.

My child, I watched with pride as you grew into a weapon... of righteousness. Remember, our line has always ruled with wisdom, and strength. And I know you will show restraint when exercising your great power.

But the truest victory, my son, is stirring the hearts of your people.

I tell you all this, for when my days have come to an end, you shall be King...

It is no surprise therefore to see Arthas' father appear in game as we approach Icecrown, especially if you take a look at the video above which is by far the best representation of an in-game event I have ever seen. Ashbringer depicts the events around the Epic Death Knight quest 'The Battle for Light's Hope Chapel' and I cannot help but think the parallels between Mograine and Arthas will be played on to the full. In fact, I'd put money on seeing a similar scene with Arthas and his father as we witness at Light's Hope with the Mograines.

What is most satisfying for me from a Lore Nerd's point of view is the foreshadowing we've had of the events leading to Icecrown. The sword in the ice, Quel'delar, so close to the spot where Sindragosa was raised, has been sitting quietly for a long time, and now we also have the potential of an epic questline to reforge it and use it in the batttle ahead. We have a man in Tirion Fordring who understands Arthas, but who also understands what it is like to lose a son. The questline in EPL/WPL that starts with Fordring and helps you escort his son ultimately to his death (and ultimately pushes Fordring to retake his place as the Head of the Order of the Silver Hand) is the start of a long journey with this Paladin, a man driven by a need to see justice prevail and the Light win over the Darkness. We have two factions almost at war, their men looking only to conquest and their women left to aid us in what could well be Azeroth's darkest hour. I have never been a great fain of Jaina Proudmoore but I feel it's right that it's her who will be leading the Alliance in the first part of our journey in the 5 mans. Considering how badly the Sons of Azeroth have done...

Considering the changes Blizzard have made to the game with Wrath, I cannot help but feel a sense of anticipation at what is to come. Part of me thinks that another Wrathgate Cutscene is coming, and I hope I'm right, because to have those added to the game at this point would be pretty much the icing on the cake of an expansion that has delivered the dramatic, and more. I'd expect to see Bolvar back too, in one form or another, but in the end I'm hoping that Blizzard can deliver an end to this Expansion that justifies all that we have come through, that ties up the Hero Class storyline and that finally sees us taking centre stage with Azeroth's heroes of past, present and future.

Roll on 3.3 :D

Decisions, Decisions

This may be news to some of you so I'm repeating it here: as of 3.3 there will be a Raid Quest available from the guys who currently give out the Dailies. The reward is a rather nice 33+ glods and... TEN Emblems of Frost. All you need is to take down a raid boss. The current datamined list (thanks to MMO) on the PTR is as follows:

• Lord Marrowgar Must Die!
• Lord Jaraxxus Must Die!
• XT-002 Deconstructor Must Die!
• Ignis the Furnace Master Must Die!
• Razorscale Must Die!
• Flame Leviathan Must Die!
• Malygos Must Die!
• Patchwerk Must Die!
• Instructor Razuvious Must Die!
• Noth the Plaguebringer Must Die!
• Anub'Rekhan Must Die!
• Sartharion Must Die!
  

It's an interesting selection, considering it can be completed in either 10 or 25 man 'flavours'. That's the easiest parts of Ulduar, the first 4 bosses in each wing of Naxx, what I assume will be the first boss in Icecrown (Marrowgar), OS  and... er... Malygos. I suspect as a Guild when that one pops up it will be a good opportunity to get a load of people their Achievement and the Champion of the Frozen Wastes title, and for the better geared to try the six minute achievement. Needless to say ten elbows is going to be a pretty big incentive to go do the bosses in question...

This of course answers the question 'what happens to Emblems of Conquest in 3.3?' They will be useless, in effect. Everything moves up a slot: Triumph becomes the emblem that drops in Heroics, Frost replaces Triumph. Much QQ'ing results as people realise that you can again gear quickly without ever stepping into a 10 man.

I look forward to seeing the rewards when they pop up on the PTR.

Guiding the Way

Back from my break, with the customary Post-Getaway-Illness. Kids, you gotta love them. I meant to do this before I left, but you know how it goes... so here we are now with what I think is one of the most significant PTR developments thus far.

So the Game Map has again undergone something of a regeneration. We have already noted how quest items can be tracked, now we have the quests themselves to refer to (though as you can see it is not yet fully functional, bizzare green squares notwithstanding) There I am, the small arrow at the Tournament, but I would bet at some point that icon will change to something easier to see on a map that size. What I'm now interested in is how this particular feature will play out in Expansion Beta, especially with new areas as yet unexplored.

I'm still unable to get into the new instance because of the Phasing issue, and there are still issues with DC's on zoning (which to be honest I'm having in the game as well currently and therefore may well be related to server lag) so there's nothing new to report, but I'd expect a new build soon especially as it's US maintenance today. What I will show you as a point of interest is my PTR mailbox.

So, they may not move across your achievements when you make a PTR copy, but it appears that the things you achieved as a result are unaffected, especially when related to in-game rewards. Of course none of this stuff is any real use (though I will grab the potions from Rhonin's package should I get a chance to instance) but it does show how much stuff I've managed to nab via Achievement in the last few months. I can see why it's such a popular pastime...

Right, updates later but for now I gotta find a place to hang all this washing with it tipping down outside... :(

Phased Away

It's all go now outside the Argent Tournament...

So, I was hoping to bring you some pictures from the new instance in Icecrown... but it's currently broken. The phasing technology allowed two of the party I joined inside and left the rest of us locked out. So, they kinda need to fix that soon.As I discovered flying to the Tournament THAT sword suddenly got a lot more people interested in it, plus you can see in the background that Fordring got some cash to build some new watchtowers for protection.

I'm away for a few days now but rest assured when I return there will be more PTR faffing... :D

3.3 ALREADY????

PTR Downloading as I type... ^^

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised this is happening as fast as it is. There's been a HUGE amount of info dumped via MMO in the last 24 hours, including Dwarven Totem models, which is making me think the race changes really can't be that far away either. On a cursory first glance, things are looking interesting, including links to the mystery sword in the ice at the Tournament, a new slew of resist gears for crafting and a WEEKLY RAID QUEST which rewards you for killing a specified raid boss with 10 emblems. TEN!!! They're giving them away!!!

My screenshots folder is now so large I'm going to need to take a copy and delete the lot. Before I do...

The Shammy finally lucked out with a decent Ony group last night (it was in essence a Guild run with me and someone else as #9 & 10) and I have the 22 slot bag to show for my troubles. Getting the heroics done was a good bonus, and my gear is well on it's way to being acceptable for most raiding situations.

Talking of raiding, yesterday I was asked for my gear score when in LFG. My first reaction was 'whut'? Things move so fast at the moment, you're asked for so much to even play in a PuG (drivers licence and birth certificate soon to be a requirement) that I had to admit being a nub and having no idea what I was being asked. Thirty minutes later, I had the Gear Score addon installed to see what all the fuss was about:

It appears that each item you wear is 'scored' depending on it's iLevel and where it drops, and an overal score is then derived as a result. As you can see, I have a score of 4543, which is 'not imba but ok', at least according to the 12 year old Raid Leader that decided as a result I was good enough to do VoA 10 with his mates (and yes I did ask him why when I discovered he was 12 he wasn't in school and apparently he has H1N1, so may be best avoided anyway) Needless to say this is not really the best way to be deciding anyone is good enough for your group, it's yet another example of what you can do when you know how to code and like pretty colours. I expect everyone to be using it therefore within a week...

Oooh, PTR has finished...