Patch 3.3

Wow dude, I am a slacker. I haven't posted here in like...a month! Shame on me! :(

Anyway, yes! Arthas is coming back! And he's pissed! He's going to make people pay for all the disrespect he's been getting over the past months. According to certain rumors, Patch 3.3 is coming out next Tuesday! Hurray!

The long awaited and anticipated raid into Icecrown Citadel is finally becoming available to players of World of Warcraft. I can honestly say I think this might be the biggest WoW patch ever, and not surprising. People have been waiting to take on the Lich King since we all saw the ending of WC3: The Frozen Throne. We all saw Arthas climb that spire, merge with Ner'zhul, and become the Lich King and, since WoW was already announced at the time, people were likely thinking "When are we going to take on this guy in World of Warcraft!"

That fight is finally coming up :) A pity I will likely not see it any time soon, but I'll content myself with Frozen Halls for a while and maybe I'll get lucky with raid pugs later on. At least I hope so...

But anyway, the question is... "Are you ready for Icecrown?"

The answer for me, not quite. At least not in regards with my two mains, Dakore the orc shaman and Dathaniel the tauren deathknight. Almost though.

Dakore:
Just one more set of dailies to get Exalted Champion status with Silvermoon, which will be the last exalted rep and Champion status for the Horde I need to get. He also has the badges needed to buy his T9 shoulders. So he's just about ready.

Dathaniel:
Not so ready, but I think he will be by Patch Day.
1. He needs six more Triumph Badges to get his T9 shoulders. I already finished the Heroic Daily today too. So, I will need to do the heroic daily every day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in order to get the badges I need.

2. Also want to get Exalted Champion status on all Horde cities for Dathaniel. All I have left for that is Undercity and Silvermoon, and I'm already a Champion for Undercity. I just need Exalted status with them. Right now I'm going through the starting quests for undead in order to build up my rep and will be done soon. I'll do the same for Silvermoon as well. Plus I have enough writs in order to get any rep I need after, so I'm not worried about that.

3. Dathaniel needs to finish the quests in Icecrown Citadel, including the Mathius Lehner questline and such. Almost done with those as well.

4. Finally and not quite as important as all the others for Dathaniel and Dakore, max out my cooking so I can walk into Frozen Halls with full stacks of fish feasts on both characters. :)

I'm not worried about achieving all these goals. It'll mean a lot of WoW time over the weekend, but that's okay because the last few have been busy and stressful, so I am looking forward to a good WoW weekend.

T10 - Thoughts

I know this is premature because the shaman set has yet to be revealed, but here are my thoughts on Tier 10 Armor sets as they sit right now.

Death Knight, not bad overall, it has the right design for me to think of DK's at least, though I do wish they had more elaborate shoulder designs. The helm, not pictured, is pretty cool as well.

Druid, this design screams Feral Druid all over. It says that I'm moments away from turning into a bear and eating your face. This doesn't surprise me though considering the love that feral has recieved all through Wrath of the Lich King. Overall, I have to say good design though.

Hunter, meh, nothing special. It's cool with the golden glowy eyes effect, but the design adds to the arguement that Blizzard isn't trying that hard to come up with new designs for their armor anymore.

Mage, Fail with a capitol F. Seriously. C'mon, Blizz! It's bad enough that your armor designs are getting less and less impressive as time goes by, but now you're trying to make mages look like bad wannabe warlocks? For shame.

Paladin, Fail again, but at least with paladins I'm not surprised. The only paladin design I've ever been impressed with is is Tier 1 and everything after has fallen short of even mediocre in my opinion. Kind of like the class itself. Now you're doing the same thing that you're doing with mages. Everything below the neck makes paladin look like they're trying to immitate elemental shamans. The helm itself? Rididculous. Heavy gorget without face protection? Please.

Priest, not bad, but not great either. It has a design that looks like a priest at least, so it gets points for that, but it still falls short with what they did with previous sets I think.

Rogue, this set is win. I love the design that makes them look like ghast mobs, with that one eye in the middle of the face, and the noose around the neck. The armor itself isn't bad either. I'll say that being ganked by rogues wearing this won't exactly be enjoyable. At least it'll be quick.

Shaman, not out yet. I'm both anticipating and dreading what they're going to do. T9 was kind of a let-down so I'm hoping they come up with something good here.

Warlock, so far the most win of any of the sets yet revealed, and I really mean that. Not only does it look like a warlock set, but it also says "I'm a vicious cult leader dude and I'm going to royally fuck you up if I catch you." I'm going to have to start leveling my lock again.

Warrior, I dig the big curvy horn look of the helm. It speaks loudly of the term "Warlord". However, the pig face shoulders I find to be kind of blah. Not saying they're boaring, because they're not. Blizzard actually made an interesting design for warriors, just not one that I'm interested in.

Pure Win :)

I discovered this while listening to The Instance.

ARRRRGGGHHH!!!

That same old question now returns. You think you made a decision, but then you listen to a kick ass heavy medal song and it gets you thinking, maybe this other choice would be more bad ass.

Goblin Mage vs. Goblin Lock.

Which would be more badass?

Nelf Mage, Holy Cow

There's an awful lot of debate and anxiety over this issue, mostly made up by a bunch of QQ'ers who think they know more about the lore than Blizzard does. I doubt this will set the record straight, but I'll make an attempt anyway.

Night Elf Mage. Make sense? Yes.
Night elves were perhaps among the first and greatest mages before the War of Ancients; Azshara and her High Borne were probably the greatest ever. They had the Well of Eternity, and even though it's gone it still has an impact on the world ten thousand years later. Night elves got the ball rolling as far as mages go. After the War of Ancients the druids decided to ban arcane magic use, which they were pretty adament about. They exiled the rogue highborne who would later become High Elves, they stuck Illidan under a tree for 10K years. All of that though was an effort to keep the Burning Legion from entering the world again.

Well that threat has kind of been dealt with, at least for the time being. The Burning Legion came close to invading the world again, but they got beat back, and now they're licking their wounds. During Cataclysm, other threats are going to be presented to Azeroth: Deathwing, Azshara, the return of certain Elemental Lords like Ragnaros, and, of course, the remaining Old Gods. None of which really give a shit if you use arcane magic or not.

In comes the few remaining high borne elves who've been living in Dire Maul all these years, who still use arcane magic, offering to help. Malfurion is not stupid and knows that any edge can help with the current threats, so he sees the inclusion of mages back into Night Elf society as a logical decision.

There you go! Lore for Night Elf mages!

As for Tauren Paladin, yes I do agree that there is no history to support them embracing the light but there's nothing saying that they can't be paladins either. Personally I believe that the tauren are the most benevolant race on Azeroth, even more so than the draenei, who have a smudge of judgementalism about them. Because of that, Holy Cows do make sense as far as I'm concerned.

I hope that helps.

Shrink the Bucket List

Recently removed today, Explore all of the World of Warcraft.


Which got me a nice new title.

Also removed from the list today...


Another title! Hurray!

And finallly...



Three new titles today.
Dakore the Explorer
Dakore the Seeker
Dakore the Loremaster

:)

Chills and Thrills

Courtesy of Nihilum!



Thanks guys for sharing this! :)

Riddle Me This

Riddle me this, fan monkies! I know there are quite a few of you out there who would just love to see Jaina Proudmoore out of the way so you can have more PvP war to giggle about and thumb your noses at lore geeks like me. So answer me this question.

Why would Blizzard go through the extra effort of making a brand new model for Jaina if they were just going to bump her off in a 5-man dungeon? That seems like a big waste of effort, does it not?

Not too shabby, if I must say so. Her coloring and textures looks more vibrant, the only thing I don't like is the somewhat snooty look on her face. The old Jaina's expression looked more kind hearted and not so much like she was a snobish Hollywood actress.

But ah well. I'll take this as a sign that they will not be killing her in Icecrown. True, that hasn't been set in stone yet, and this doesn't necessarily gaurentee that she won't be killed, but it does some far more unlikely now.

Undercity Martial Law?!?!

I was wondering when this would come about. I would have thought to have seen it earlier than this, but I suppose better late than never. To think that Thrall would have trusted Sylvanus' story about betrayal and believe that her hands were clean of what happened at the Wrathgate would be foolish, and Thrall is no fool.

But, like I said, this is very late in the game.

I wonder if something else was the actual catalyst here.

Hmm...

:(

Anyway, check out the new guards replacing the abominations. Kor'kron elite are now stationed in UC as well, and they are not exactly happy either. Here we see the text of what they say to most obviously undead characters, possibly Blood Elves too since it was Sylvanus who introduced them to the Horde. I wonder what they say to orcs, trolls, and tauren though?




PS: On the flip side, YES!!!! YES! Finally! They are replacing Varimathras with a new quest giver! I've been thinking that if you had not done the quests he gives by the time you do the Wrathgate event, you were pretty much out of luck. Now we can go back and do them again!

I iz happi orc shammi! :)

More Jaina Thoughts

Or at least just this one small item.

In a previous post I said that even if Jaina dies I would continue on with the WoW story to see what happens in the end, just like I would continue to read a book if something happened in it that I didn't like.

However, when it comes to instances it's a different story. If Frozen Halls, the 5-man instance of Icecrown Citadel features the death of Jaina Proudmoore at the end of it then you can likely count me out. Sorry, but I'm not about to commit myself to seeing one of my favorite lore characters dying over and over again just in the name of getting new fat lootz. Blizzard and anyone else who has a problem with that can literally go fuck themselves for all I care.

Of course, this means that I won't be seeing the actual Icecrown raid any time soon if that happens, but I can live with that. I'll spend the rest of my WoW time, what I contribute anyway, doing dailys and getting gold to properly gear my goblin mage.

Personally though, I think I'm not the only one who loves Jaina Proudmoore so I doubt Frozen Halls will go over as popular as it's meant to be if we have to see her getting killed over and over again. Blizzard can't be that foolish...

Can they?

Icecrown Realestate

I reflect back to a time not so long ago, when a group of adventurers loyal to the Horde and to each other, who crawled up from the muck with each other, first set foot in the rank halls of the floating necropolis, Naxxaramus. Upon first inspection we saw that it was a real fixer upper if we had any notion of moving in, and people agreed with me on this for certain! There were spiders running rampant, walking abominations and things most unpleasant were romping across the floors and making much noise, but not nearly as much as the rambunctious crowd of Death Knights who seriously had no concept of manners! And to top all of that off was the horrid smell caused by entire hallways overgrowing with fungus and slime and all kinds of creepy crawly not niceness!



The current landlord and his pet frostwyrm were NOT taking care of business, and the people of Voodoo Reborn decided it was time for a change. We ousted that pesky lich and his stupid dragon without prejudice and made Naxxaramus a place where a rabbit could frolick freely in the throne room of Kel'Thuzad.

Lately some of us have been keeping an eye on the highly luxurious and world famous condominium site known only as Ulduar...or at least it used to be world famous. Now it's world infamous due to one very slimy and very unpleasent resident who thinks he owns the place. This...Yogg-saron character is famous for making those who try to stay in the condos of Ulduar completely bat-shit mad. Maybe that explains what happened to Jack Nicholson in "The Shining". Whichever, Yogg-saron certainly needs to go, and we're the ones to do it and make a formerly respectable Northrend getaway into a place even a rabbit could frolick freely.

Very recently however a new location for Northrend has been opened, a place that shall forever be known to the citizens of Azeroth: Icecrown Citadel. Now, you would have to be a complete idiot who has not crawled out of the tents of Durotar for the last six years to not know who the Lich King is, or who Arthas Menethil is. The guy takes an A for infamy. Kill his father, burn down his home nation, turn his people into undead, and then head north, become a king, and set up the newest in Northrend luxury resorts.

On maintaining said resort... Well...just look!



Lots of Frost, Blood, and Unholy stuff? Does that sound like a place like anyone would like to live? Seriously, the only people who would find this remotely welcoming are those Knights of the Ebon Blade jokers who already live in places like this. I suppose we really could not have expected much from an asshole like the Lich King?

Will we ever be able reclaim Icecrown Citadel and make it into something that's actually manageable? Who knows? It may be beyond saving or we might have to set it aside for a future project.

Eventually though, Icecrown Citadel, just like the other places before it, will be made into a safe haven for bunnies, and they will roam freely and without fear on The Frozen Throne.

Jaina, A Follow Up

As much as I would hate it and be pissed off at Blizzard if they decided to kill off Jaina Proudmoore (I honestly don't think they will, but they do have a record for screwing up so I can't help but hold my breath on it), I work under the philosophy that just because you may not like something that happens along the way you shouldn't stop reading the book until it's done.

I hated it when Eddard Stark met his end in A Game of Thrones and I thought the Red Wedding scene was gross and atrocious, but both were critical points to the whole story. Imagine what we sould have missed in the rest of the series if we stopped reading just because we hated those parts! If Jaina were to die though I can see no other reason than to get her out of the way and let the Horde and Alliance duke it out, at least not yet, and maybe that's not giving Blizzard enough credit. Even if she does go I'm not about to quit WoW, even though I think that they would have shot their own story in the foot.

I'll reserve judgement until the curtain has dropped.

That being said, Patch 3.3 with the Icecrown Citadel raids are starting to look FRICKIN' AWESOME!!! More to come on that, stay tuned.

The Fate of Jaina Proudmoore

What is going to happen in Icecrown when Jaina is reunited with what her former lover has become? That seems to be on the tongues of a lot of people lately, especially now that it actually has been confirmed she's going to be the Alliance guiding NPC through the Frozen Halls instances.

Honestly and trully, I'm kind of disturbed but not altogether surprised the number of people who would like to see her die in that instance. Their reasons slightly vary but when you cut down to the core you find that they all just want Jaina out of the way so she can't hold Varian Wrynn's war against the Horde back anymore.

So, in a nutshell, they call her "unrealistic" because she wants peace with the Horde, just like Thrall wants peace with the Alliance. People want her dead because that would help esculate their justification for more PvP in Cataclsym.

Does anyone else besides me find this to be slightly disturbing? Sorry, but if you want someone to die, even fictional characters, because they represent a peaceful stand while you on the other hand want an all out war is a sign of having a sick and evil mind, and I have little respect for you because of it. It's as simple as that.

Yet the speculations continue to roll. One idea I saw is that Jaina and Sylvanus cross paths during the confrentation with the Lich King, Jaina wants to try and save Arthas, Sylvanus wants to kill him, and so Sylvanus kills Jaina to get to Arthas. This would surely escalate the Horde/Alliance war to be sure, but I think it would amount to one of the worst and most tragic wastes of a great character that there has every been. I really would not put it past Blizzard to do this though. They already screwed the pooch by degrading the Lich King from one of the most epic villains of Warcraft lore down to a guy who merely shows up, makes threats, gets pwned by a pally, and then leaves. Bottom line is that I really don't have a lot of faith in Blizzard's story telling capabilities, so I worry about the fate of Jaina Proudmoore.

Garrosh Confirmed!! ...Frick!

You can forget about your George Bush or your Barack Obama messing things up, depending on which side of the aisle you're looking at things from. Neither one of them would compare to the potential damage Garrosh Hellscream can cause, and now it has been confirmed by blue posts. Garrosh will be the new leader of the Horde.

Garrosh is confirmed to be the new leader of the Horde. He has redesigned Orgrimmar and the Taurens and Orcs are the only races allowed in the center of the city because they're the only ones strong enough to defend it.

That's pretty whacked out news although not entirely unexpected. Except the part about Taurens and Orcs being the only ones allowed in the center of Org. What the hell is up with that? I'm especially surprised around the Tauren being there considering there are rumors floating that Garrosh is going to kill Cairne Bloodhoof after he takes over. Are the tauren actually going to follow Garrosh after losing their beloved chieftan? I find that unlikely, so I'm wondering if certain deals are being made with certain old tauren crones who live in parts of Thunder Bluff. Interesting.

Now I'm waiting for the news that Jaina Proudmoore gets ousted from Theramore by Varian Wrynn to reflect what happens with Thrall.

*sigh* Patch Day

Patch day makes Baby Thrall angrier than anything Blackmoore ever did, including the killing of what's-her-name.

Patch day makes Dak want to zap alliance faces with lightning and Waltz want to burn down entire forests.

Patch day punches Chuck Norris in the nads and forces him to ask for seconds.

Patch day could end a marriage.

Patch day could very well make Deathwing think twice about coming out of Deepholm.

Patch day could make Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream think of peace and tea parties.

Those Old World Blues, Part 2: Was It All For Nothing!?! :(

Last night, Voodoo Reborn took Onyxia by storm for what might be the very last time in her Old World version. She's getting a revamp to a level 80 version raid in Patch 3.2.2. It was all a hope that I could get the chapter of "Draconic For Dummies" that she possesses.

Well, we went in and ROFL Stomped her pretty easily. Not much the poor girl can do against eight level 80 miscreants like us...at least not yet. Dak went in to check the loots and get the chapter...and there was no chapter.

Then I read this from WoW Wiki:

* Note: These pieces are white items thus they are in the round-robin loot table and cannot be master-looted.

That means, for chapter 1, 6, 8 that require a raid, you have to ask the raid leader to change the loot rule to 'Free for all' or ask the owner of the corpse to check boss' corpse even if he doesn't have this quest. In the later case, if the owner logs off or HSs, this will make effort in vain. Before patch 2.3 you had to ask every single member of the raid to check the corpse in order to find out who'd be the owner, but now it's already possible to check this on the tooltip.

As well, page number 8 from Ragnaros has a time limit upon entering MC. The precise time is unknown, but it is relatively short, under two hours at least. If you are trying for the page, it is suggested to avoid as much trash as possible to maximize your available time for bosses.

Whatinthe... Fuckin' Hell, Blizzard! It's been what...four years since you guys put that quest out and you couldn't fix this shit? That's just sad! Now, unfortunately, I might not get my book chapter and I'll be sitting around wondering if the effort so far, the week of grinding sand and bugs, becoming a gnome with a red turban, was all for nothing. I sent a ticket to Blizzard reps and hopefully I can get reimbursed. Hopefully.

UPDATE: Blizzard reimbursed me for the item! Thank you for not making the trip a total waste of time Blizzard, I do appreciate that! :)

Those Old World Blues

Frickin' hell I hate Azshara. The zone I mean, not the NPC, though I'm sure the zone is appropriately named after a total bitch night elf. This place has got to be one of the most convoluted zones ever made for WoW. Not quite as bad as old Everquest's Butcher Block Mountains and other various mountain zones back then, but still a pain in the ass. Funny thing is that Azshara is set to become the new level 10 to 20 zone for Goblins, possibly for orcs and trolls too at least since Barrens will be getting deep fried.

Ah well, best to get done with the crappy stuff early on, yes?

I still had to go into Azshara to find Azuregos the blue dragon. Many people would recognize him as world raid boss of Vanilla WoW. I find him to be a very interesting and amusing character, excentric even for a dragon. The conversation to get the "Draconic Ledger" questline going was hilarious.

But...come on Blizz, you guys got to get a grip on some of your scripts. Thankfully this is a really old questline and you might have learned a few things since then, but... An orc or any other race other than dwarves saying "By Bronzebeard's...er, Beard" to Azuregos. Just what they hell is that all about?

Anyway, that led to some odd experiences. I'll just say that I hope I never have to see Dak dressed in the guise of a gnome with a red turban and a curly mustache again. Ever.

*Screenshot pending of that* 0_o

Sand And Bugs, Part 5

Done.

I am now neutral with Brood of Nozdormu.

Just shy of permantently going completely cat-shit crazy from the drudgery of that grind.

0_o

And with that neutrality I was finally able to speak with the bronze dragon, Anachronus. I got to see the intro to the whole Shifting Sands war that happened a thousand years in WoW lore past, how the Scepter of Shifting Sands got broken, and how AQ first got sealed. Positively loregasmic stuff I must say!

Now, ONWARD!

I have a certain point that needs to be achieved in order to be ready for our Onyxia run tonight.

Possible Name and Class Difference?

I've been toying with ideas for my goblin lately. First is what class he is going to be. Oringinally I was thinking of making him a fired specced mage with all of its AOE fire based nuclear glory, but then I think of a class that is potentially every bit as destructive as the fire mage, the destruction specced warlock.

The pros of this are that I enjoy the lock a little bit more than the mage. It's more suited to my play style I thin. I tried the mage with Janusath, my blood elf mage, and I found that it's not really my style of play. I probably could get used to it though if I really tried, but I honestly think a goblin warlock actually sounds a bit more fun than a goblin mage.

On the other hand, I already have a warlock, my undead Waltz. I probably could level another one though just to have a goblin with one of the coolest classes around. It's something to think about.

Secondly, I'm having thoughts about the name as well. Earlier, I had the name of Jonesrogen on reserve, and I still do in case I change my mind, but now I also have the name of Jetzeppelin on reserve too. I'm not sure which one to take.

....Actually, I could create one of each.

Jonesrogen the goblin mage or Jetzeppelin the goblin warlock. I like it! :)

Sand and Bugs, Part 4

An update. I am no longer hated with the Brood of Nozdormu. Yay! 3K through Hostile then another 3K through Unfriendly, and I'll finally be at neutral!

I Knew It Was Something Engineering!!!

I knew this item existed somewhere in WoW after seeing it used a few times in PvP videos. Something that looked like flaming rocket shoes that made you run really fast, used really effectively in PvP escapes. They looked really cool, though I was kind of clueless on what they were, until now anyway.

With my growing obsession with goblin mage engineers, I've been paying a bit more attention to engineering and the stuff that comes with it, and now I see that engineers have items like Nitro Boosts which can be attached to boots.

Awesome!! :D

So, imagine a goblin engineer mage with a PvP fire or arcane spec. He potentially has three different possible escapes from classes with melee, or three ways to close in quickly and deliver some nasty dragon breath, arcane explosions, or frost novas.

Blink, of course, always their for mages.
Nitro Boost
Goblin rocket boot racial.

In the hands of a skilled player, I anticipate many, many pissed off alliance gnashing their teetch at escaping gnomes! It's going to be awesome! :D

Sand and Bugs, Part 3: Where's the Sense of it All?!?

Here we have a map of the Old Azeroth zone of Silithus, which has been my home of Sand and Bugs for the past four days. That's all that's really there though: sand and bugs and a big gate into Ahn'Qiraj. In vanilla WoW before Burning Crusade, this zone along with Eastern Plaguelands and Winterspring were the highest level areas in the game. In my opinion this place was the most dangerous area in the game, with three huge silithid hives that were previously filled with lvl 60 elite bugs. In between each is a bunch of worms, spiders, scorpions, and other nasty crap, including various camps of Twilight Hammer cultists. It's not a pleasent place to spend a vacation.

Today, with everyone being level 80 and all the bugs in the three hives no longer elite, this zone is a pushover, and I can pretty much storm through it without much effort, just a lot of time and risiliance to boredom.

That's not what I came here to say though. Rather, if you spend time in Silithus you come to realize that it's a very peculiar place. In the map above, you can see the three main hives of Silithus (the patches of pink): Hive'Ashi in the north, Hive'Zora in the west, and Hive'Regal in the south-east corner. Each of these hives has a town or encampment nestled up against it, with the main town of the area, Cenarion Hold, up against Hive'Ashi, an alliance base against Hive'Zora, and a horde camp watching over Hive'Regal. Now after spending a lot of time in both Hive'Zora and Hive'Regal over the last couple days, I can see why the Cenarion Circle decided to put the Alliance and Horde bases where they currently are.

One might think they're in the idea that Horde are making better warriors so they strategically placed them next to the larger and more dangerous silithid nest! I would agree with this, but I don't think that's the only reason. I personally think that the Cenarion Circle also realized ahead of time that the Alliance really doesn't make a great deal of sense so they put them in charge of a silithid nest they would be well suited to.

You see, both Hive'Zora and Hive'Regal have a particlar type of "worker bug", called Tunnelers in Zora, Burrowers in Regal. These bugs look largely the same, a cross between an aphid and a ladybug, the only difference is their colors depending on what hive their in. In both cases though they're pretty much the same: worker caste insect much like you would find in ant colonies.

In Hive'Regal, there are a few of these workers topside hanging out in a few of the boney spires that make up a silithid nest, a sensible place for a worker doing work. Others can be found down in their tunnels, at dead ends. That makes the most sense, yes? They're burrowers! They should be burrowing! Duh! O_o

Well, you would think so, but I guess Hive'Zora has a pretty different way of doing things. Instead of down in the tunnels digging tunnels as tunnelers should, you'll find the tunnelers wandering aimlessly outside and down the halls not tunneling, being in places where patrolling tank and warrior bugs should be, or maybe he's just being lazy. I'm reminded of the Marijuana Spider and his hammock...

It can be clearly said that Hive'Zora does not make a great deal of sense, so the Alliance got stuck watching over them. Because putting the senseless in charge of those who make no sense only makes perfect sense, am I right?

Sand and Bugs, Part 2

Now at 24,000 out of 36,000 hated with 'The Brood'. Making progress, but slow. 6K rep a day means I'll be out of hated on Friday and into Neutral on Saturday, I hope.

That means we can take out Onyxia and get her chapter on Sunday evening.

After that....I might take a small few days away from WoW. This rep grind reaks of the type of stuff we saw in old school Everquest. >_<

Sand and Bugs

That's all that's been in my WoW life the past few days.

Sand.

And bugs.

Lots of bugs at that, and I don't see it letting up for at least a few more days. I've started up the quest chain for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands, the quest that allowed one person on the server to open the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj on the server they are playing on. This chain was said to be the longest quest chain in the game, and I believe it! Still, even after two expansions, and from what I've seen one of the more convoluted quest chains ever devised. Every leg of the chain had at least one quest that required a raid of level 60 players to complete it, including runs into Onyxia, Molten Core, and Blackwing Lair, and fighting other mobs on the outside world. It was nuts! Today with level 80's it's a lot easier but still, long and convoluted.

And I haven't even reached that part yet! First, I have to kill bugs. Lots of bugs! In order to start the Shifting Sands line I need to get to Neutral reputation status with Brood of Nozdormu, the cadre of bronze dragons in old world Azeroth. EVERYONE starts out at the very bottom rung in faction with them, 0 out of 36,000 reputation in the 'Hated' status. In order to get to where you can start building rep you have to first complete two quests.

First quest is to simply travel to the entrance of the Caverns of Time and see if a bronze dragon, Anachronos, is still around. If he is you go back and report so and then you are sent on the next quest: bring back the head of Broodlord Lashlayer, the third boss of the Blackwing Lair raid. So basically the point of this quest is to see if the player is actually ready to even do this chain. If he's not capable of doing BWL quality raids then there really is no point in him going on (at least this is what it was when the level cap was 60).

Finally, when you hand in the head, you can start in on the reputation grind for Nozdormu's brood. Oya!

The repeatable quest is The Path of the Righteous, and it involves the part with lots of bugs. Sand and bugs. Go to one of the three major hives in Silithus and collect two-hundred carapace fragments from the silithids who live there. When you turn in this quest, you get 500 reputation with 'The Brood'. Remember what I said earlier. Everyone starts out at Hated reputation with 'The Brood', and in order to continue on with Shifting Sands, you need to build your rep up to Neutral with 'The Brood'.

To emphasize:
From 0 to 36,000 reputation in Hated status
Then from 0 to 3000 reputation in Hostile status
Then from 0 to 3000 reputation in Unfriendly status
And once you crawl out of that, you're at Neutral status.

So, the bottom line is, I have to repeat a quest to get 200 fragments from these big silithid bugs (pictured above) who drop anywhere from 1 to 4 fragments each kill. Each repeat of this quest snags me 500 reputation points. Combine these facts with the numbers above and imagine what's in store for my poor orc shaman Dakore. Currently he's at 13,000 out of 36,000.

Like I said, Sand and Bugs. 0_O

To top it all off, one of the items that needs to be acquired in the later parts of the quest chain drops of Onyxia, one of Old Azeroth's major raid bosses. The next patch is bringing a major revamp to Onyxia in order to celebrate the fifth anniversary to WoW, which means she's being upgraded for level 80 players to raid. The item she drops for the Shifting Sands quest chain is supposedly going away, possibly not being able to be acquired anymore. If this is true, then it's also possible that people who haven't got that item before that item is lost will not be able to finish the chain.

That majorly sucks. Now I've got time working against me to get this reputation grind done and get the quest to kill Onyxia done as well.

Thankfully though, the patch did not happen today, so I can assume it's happening next Tuesday. That means I have a week to get the rep grind done and Onyxia killed and get that item. The rest can likely be done afterward, at least I hope so anyway.

Now you might be asking, "why?" Why put myself through that nutty bullshit? Just to say that I actually did it I suppose. Senseless? Maybe, but I am going to get it done. The good news is that as a level 80 elemental shaman, I can pretty much two-shot groups of four with Chain Lightning and a Thunderstorm to follow up, so at least it's sort of fast going. I can't imagine what it must have been like for that one poor sap in the one guild that were doing this chain to open the gates for the server way back in the day. Back then, everyone was still just level 60, and these bugs were all still level 60 elite mobs. Now it's a lot easier.

In the end, I think for killing as many bugs as it's going to take to get to Neutral status with 'The Brood', I think I should get a title: Dakore, The Living Raid Canister.

UPDATE: Now just a big under 18,000 out of 36,000 rep in Hated. Halfway through the biggest rung! Yay!

Azshara

Everyone who's spent much attention to Warcraft lore knows about Queen Azshara. She was said to be the most drop dead gorgeous night elf ever to have existed and also one of the most powerful magic users during the time before the War of Ancients. She ended up becoming corrupted and tried to open a portal to let Sargeras into Azeroth, who would burn it to a cinder. In the end she was defeated and sent to the ocean depths along with old Kalimdor, right into the clutches of the Old Gods.

Boom. There is born the naga race with the now transformed Azshara as their queen. At this point she is set to become a major villain not in this expansion, who is going to be featuring Deathwing as it's major villain, but possibly in the next one, Cataclysm II, or something (level 85 to 90).

At first I was kind of offended by the idea that one of the most badass villains in Warcraft lore was going to be outdone by a prissy nelf queen turned into a snake medusa thing.

Then I realized a couple things.

1. Azshara has been a villain in warcraft lore for just as long as Netharion/Deathwing has. Remember that his insanity and evil began at the time of the War of the Ancients, which was caused by Azshara in all actualities.

2. Azshara has been sitting at the bottom of the sea for the past ten thousand years as a servant of the Old Gods, and is now the primary matron of the entire naga race. Where Deathwing is all about rage and madness, Azshara is more calculating and manipulative, making very dangerous. The fact is that we don't have a clue really how powerful she's become over the years. We can take a look at Deathwing though and see what the increased influence of Old Gods on Azeroth has done to beaf up his powers. Imagine what they could potentially do with Azshara.

Battlegrounds in Old Azeroth

It's pretty clear from the Cataclysm trailer that the Horde took the win for the Battle of Warsong Gulch, judging by the amount of deforestation in Ashenvale now. Do I feel bad for the Silverwing Sentinels? Well...kind of. That is their home that's slowly being chopped down after all.

What about the other battlegrounds of Vanilla WoW though?

Who won Arathi Basin? More importantly, who won Alterac Valley?

That's the one I'm really interested in! I'm a huge fan of the Frostwolf Clan and I think that the Stormpikes can get bent in all the wrong directions. They are the encroachers in that regard. Sure, sure, some Alliance fanboys would accuse the FW as being squaters on lands that never belonged to them, but how the hell would SP be any different? Alterac was destroyed which means that land was up for grabs, and Frostwolves made their home there before the coming of those stupid dwarves.

What's more, FW weren't looking to stripmine the place for the sake of archeology.

Knowing Blizzard and how badly they designed Alterac Valley, I would not doubt that victory went to the Stormpike in that regard and Frostwolves will now be homeless, which would suck yes, but not altogether impossible. Maybe, just maybe though, Blizzard will make up for that foul up with AV's bad design and let the Frost Wolves keep their home. That would be justice after all I think.

We do know that Drek'Thar, current leader of the Frostwolf Clan, accompanies Thrall to Outland when they visit the Mag'har in Nagrand. That's means by lore he was alive at that time, after the battle of Alterac Valley. That doesn't necessarily mean they won the battle though, although victory is obtained by killing the other dude's general, which is Drek'Thar on the Horde side. It leads me to wonder what the current lore status of Vanndar Stormpike is. Hopefully dead, the bastard.

A New Bucket List Task for Dakore

To do the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline. This might take a while, but hopefully I'll have the time to get it done before Cataclysm.

It starts with doing quests in Silithus, so maybe I can work on my Cenarion Circle rep at the same time.

Shadow Council Presence A. C.

I'm sure that most WoW players who ever rolled an orc character and played through the quests in Durotar to their fulfillment remembers the quests given by Thrall to act as a double agent against guys like Neeru Fireblade, pictured right. Thrall knows that Neeru is a traitor, loyal to the hated Shadow Council and the Burning Blade Clan, but he stays his hand from giving him what he deserves because he seeks to learn more about his enemy before killing off his best source of information. A wise move.

But as far as I know, Neeru Fireblade is still there, sitting in his little glowing hut at the bottom of Orgrimmar's Cleft of Shadows district, and the time of the Cataclysm is drawing near. If rumors about Thrall leaving the Horde turn out to be true, I hope he doesn't overlook this guy. It's possible, considering Thrall has a shitload of important things on his plate already: King Douche and the Alliance, the war against the Lich King, and dealing with buttholes like Garrosh Hellscream.

And there lies the big risk. Suppose it is true that Garrosh takes over the Horde. What happens then with the Burning Blade Clan and their Shadow Council masters?

I can think of a couple possibilities. I believe that Garrosh does have some redeaming factors. He knows his father was the hero who freed the Horde from demonic taint so I can't really see him willingly joinging up with the servants of the Burning Legion right off the bat. If he learns that Neeru Fireblade is a Shadow Council puppet, then Garrosh's temper being what it is, that will be one less orc without a head. He'll likely then mock Thrall for being a coward or a fool for not disposing of him to begin with, yada, yada, yada. The other likely outcome is that Garrosh ends up not knowing about Neeru and the Shadow Council presence within the Horde, which, in turn, will mean he is going to be fresh meat for them.

Almost certainly Garrosh is going to take the war to the Alliance with earnest and butt heads with Varian directly if he takes control of the Horde. The guy wants nothing more than to fill his dad's shoes and become a hero of the Horde, and he's doing that the best way that most orcs know: war. Varian isn't going to be an easy nut to crack though, far from it in fact. You got to admit, the guy might be an asshole, but he is tough, and he is a good leader. I foresee a stalemate between these two. That said, Garrosh is likely going to get frustrated and want to seek new weapons for an easy win, perhaps even desperate enough to start courting demonic energies.

Who then do you think is going to rear up their ugly heads and say "Hey, we're still here!" when that time comes? Right. Neeru Fireblade and his masters. There begins the downword spiral of the Horde back to what it was during the days of Blackhand.

Of course, this is all just speculation. I haven't read any lore on what the fate is of Neeru Fireblade after that beginning questline, but he is involved in at least one quest later on down the road and I haven't seen anything on what happens to him during Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King. I can only assume then that he's still there, plotting in the shadows and waiting for the right moment, which is likely coming very, very soon.

An Item Off My Bucket List

Thanks to Equinox and Marvah, I have one less thing to worry about between now and Cataclysm.

Tonight we went into Molten Core and Dakore got his "Woop Ragnaros' Ass" achievement.

Thanks guys! :D

Garrosh, Warchief?

It's on the tongues of the rumor spreaders and naysayers of the internet that when the Cataclysm happens, Thrall will be taking leave of the Horde for a...special project alongside Jaina Proudmoore. So the question arrises, who is going to be the next warchief?

Rumors and speculation abound hint that it's going to be the newest super badass, or just plain ass depending on how you look at things, Garrosh Hellscream.

This choice of new warchief, assuming they are true, is not exactly popular among the WoW fanbase. In fact, someone on WoW Insider managed to come up with a list of people who would make better warchiefs than Garrosh Hellscream, found here.

LOL at #15 and 16 :D

I have to agree, Garrosh would make a lousy warchief. Right now when I look at Garrosh, I see the Horde version of Joffrey Baratheon from A Song of Ice and Fire, who, as everyone who is smart enough to have read that series knows, is a bloodthirsty little fucker. (Btw, if you're not smart enough to have read that series, GTFO your computer now and go get it, the first volume is A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin). Anyway, the point is, Garrosh, like Joffrey, is going to mess things up...a lot. The moment he gets into power is the moment the war between the Horde and Alliance goes to a new level of violence, and everything that Thrall has done to bring the Horde up out of the dark is going to be ruined in very short order.

For a lot of citizens of Horde, this is very much wanted actually. With the recent declaration of war against the Horde by Varian Wrynn and the alliance, and renewed aggression between the two factions, more than a few of the Horde have been viewing Thrall's wishes for peace as weak and frustrating, and they want action to be taken. I'm sure a lot of alliance also saw this in guys like Bolvar, Jaina, Tyrande, and King Magni before Varian came back, and their new king served as a breath of fresh air in the Horde vs Alliance theatre.

Garrosh Hellscream might be the same thing for the Horde. Tragic? Yes, and a lot of both Horde and Alliance lives will be lost in that war, especially with the Cataclysm killing the world and Deathwing breathing down everyone's necks. Not a good time to start a war, Garrosh! But then again, what stopped Varian from doing the same thing when the Lich King was still at large.

...Holy crap, here I am talking like Wrath of the Lich King is already over! Ah well, at this point I really am more looking forward to Cataclysm.

Anyway, I think that Garrosh taking over the Horde and butting heads with Varian in an all out gankfest is going to be a very interesting story. Garrosh is possibly going to bring the Horde back down to where it was when Blackhand's days, or at least Orgrim Doomhammer anyway. Garrosh is definately more like Orgrim. He's nobody's bitch, unlike Blackhand who was a tool for Gul'dan. This will create two scenarios. 1) It will give Thrall a chance to be a hero again when his duties to the Council of Tirisfal are completed and 2) it will give Varian a chance to make up for his past moments of being a total douche bag. Thrall and Varian working together to bring down Garrosh?

Might be interesting. :)

Good Points At WoW Insider

Ooops, I mean WoW.com :)

Particularly this thread about the fact that a great deal, if not all, of the old Azeroth quests that we currently have are going to be disappearing forever once the Cataclysm goes live. Also possibly lost will be chances to gain reputation with some of those guys left behind in the old world.

So, time to make a bucket list of things to do before Old Azeroth is destroyed and made into New Azeroth. I'm only doing this for Dakore though. I'm not going to lose any sleep anymore if none of my other characters don't get this because, well, I just don't have the time and energy to devote that much effort. ;)

Anyway, Dakore's Bucket list:
Loremaster Title
Exalted with Cenariun Circle
Exalted with Argent Dawn
Exalted with All Horde Reputations (attainable through Argent Tourney and doing quests for Loremaster, so two birds with one stone there)
Defeat of Onyxia
Defeat of Ragnaros
Defeat of Nefarion
Defeat of C'Thun

and, of course,

FOR THE HORDE, meaning I want to roflstomp all Alliance leaders. DEATH TO KING DOUCHE!! :D

Best Idea Ever

In Cataclysm, engineers should get a new recipe called "Portable Fire Hydrant". Placed on a specific location much like a totem, its effect would be to cause a five second stun to any canine mob in the area.

This does include Worgen players. ;)

Mind Job

When you see it, you'll shit a brick.



For those of you who don't get it, Waltz is my undead warlock alt who is on the same account as Dakore. You just got to love the things that can happen on Tuesday Maintenance, especially on days like 9/1/09 which might have been the heaviest cluster that Blizzard has ever done on a maintenance day. This first of all first kind of gives new meaning to that. ;)

So Where Is the Red Queen During All This?

Here on the left is a picture of the lovely Alexstrasza, The Aspect of Life and queen of the red dragonflight, in her elven form. Currently it seems she is staring off at...something. What it could be is anyone's guess.

Brooding over the loss of her brother, the aspect of magic, Malygos, to end the Nexus War? Perhaps.

Contemplating the upcoming battle against the Lich King? Could be.

She could even be glancing at Krasus and looking forward to a hot night of red dragon love? You never know. *Bow Chica Bow Wow* ;)

Or, maybe she's thinking forward to the Cataclysm and the return of Deathwing. That's always possible. Nozdormu of the bronze flight is the aspect of time but that doesn't mean that Alexstrasza doesn't have some pretense on things before they happen as well. Kind of like Yoda, only different. Especially when Deathwing is involved. Along with that, maybe she's thinking "WTF Blizzard! How could you leave me out of this!?"

Yes, Alex does have a reason to be a little peeved. I can't think of a single NPC in the entire history of Warcraft who would be more affected by Deathwing's return more than Alexstrasza would be. The two have a loooooong history together, some good mostly all bad. They are the worst of enemies now, Alexstrasza and her red flight now standing in direct opposition to Deathwing and his black flight, life versus destruction. It's epic, people! Not only that, but I believe that Deathwing has always had, and still does, a certain degree of lust for Alexstrasza. He doesn't want to kill her really. His goal is to subjugate the other dragonflights under his will and force the red queen to be one of his consorts. Kind of ick, since they are siblings, but the dude is totally frickin' insane so what can you expect?

Yes, of all the NPC's in WoW, no one should be farther at the frontline to meet Deathwing than Alexstrasza.

Yet, for some reason, she isn't mentioned on Blizzard's "Faces of Cataclysm" page. Let's see, we have Thrall as the very first, followed by Garrosh and then King Douche. After that it's King Greymane. Now, all of these I can understand. They're the leaders of the people who are going to be affected by all this after all. Their roles are going to be super important once the world becomes Deathwing's chew toy.

After that though it's....wut?!?! Queen Azshara!? Where does she play a role in all of this? It was suppose to be her turn in the later expansion! We won't see her fishy face again until after Deathwing has been taken care of, so why list her name now? Stupid, Blizzard! Royally stupid.

And, lo and behold, no Alexstrasza, at least not yet. I find this interesting, that the most important character in the Deathwing homecoming other than Deathwing himself is somehow left out of the picture. It could be that they just haven't thought of what Alex's role is going to be in the story. It is a complicated situation going on here. If I had the choice I would have her leading the neutral faction that is poised against the Twilight Highlands, right against Deathwing's front door. In the fight against Deathwing she should also be involved. She was against Malygos, why not against her greatest rival? In only makes sense.

Blizzard kind of has a bad habit of providing disappointing content as far as lore goes. I still feel bad for the Lich King now and where he stands after being overhyped for ten years. They really messed up with him I think, but that's beside the point. This is about Alexstrasza and her continued feud with Deathwing. Hopefully Blizzard wisens up and gets her involved as well.

Belf Druids

This race/class option has been discussed now and then every since the release of Burning Crusade, now about three years back down the road is it? There is at least one in existence, as a boss NPC in the Botanica instance, High Botanist Freywinn. Most would agree the dude looks kind of cool in that Tier 1 Druid set. I would say so anyway, and I always agreed that if druids became a playable option for blood elves I would consider rolling one.

That was then, and today nothing's really changed. I still wouldn't mind rolling one. Though I do think it would just sit their and collect dust as I played my goblin mage. ;)

Well here we are with Cataclysm on the fringes, and Blizzard has opened up with brand new race and class combinations. Holy Cows, human and undead hunters, dwarf shamans, orc and nelf mages, and troll druids.

And some people blinked, when they went down that list of green checkmarks, looking in the row for blood elves and the column for druids. Lo and behold, there was no green checkmark there! People blinked, and they began to freak out.

"Wait! You let trolls be druids, but not blood elves! OMG!"

Honestly, as much of a fan I am of belf druids, I think trolls do make more sense. They're a bit more tuned with nature than the arcane addicted blood elves at this point, who care more about magic than the natural world. That's all there is to it. Sure, Kael'Thas employed a few of his followers as druids, which I did find a little odd. If not there, why not here?

Good question. Hopefully Blizzard might give this some thought, but if they do give in then they also have to give one of the alliance races access to druids. Who would that be? Dwarves? Humans? Gnomes even? Possibly draenei? No. Not one of them is really in tune with nature at all. If it's not machine, magic, or in someway connected with archeology or the light, it's not worth paying attention to.

Personally I think Blizzard made the right choice in this.

PS: Night elves are getting mages, the supposed favored class of blood elves. This is also an arguement for blood elf druids, the supposed favored class of night elves. Honest trade!

Ozzy Glasses!

[X-Posting this to the WoW suggestion forum]

Dear Blizzard,

With the inclusion of barber shops and abilities to change our hairstyles in Wrath of the Lich King, you took an extra initiative and helped fulfill the dreams and fantasies of Night Elf Mohawk-wannabes and Mr. T fanboys across the world by letting Nelf males have that mohawk hairstyle.

Good for you.

I think it's high time you took a new initiative with including items seen in your celebrity commercials. I'm speaking not as a Shatner-fanboy or a Vern Troyer follower, but I most certainly am an Ozzy fan, so I propose this.

In preperation for my future goblin mage once Cataclysm goes live, I think Ozzy Osbourne style sunglasses would make a fine addition to WoW as in-game items and would look especially good on an up and coming goblin spell-caster. I would bet that I am not the only one who would like to see this, so you really should get on top of this and make it happen.

Like, right now.

:)

Sincerely,

A Happy and Hopeful WoW Gamer

Deathwing's Homecoming (Chris Metzen at Blizzcon)

I'm sure some have seen this, but here's some information on Deathwing as told by Christ Metzen at Blizzcon.



That actually explains a great deal of things. After seeing the images of Deathwing on the Cataclysm website and reading how it was his return that pretty much turned the world on its head, I couldn't help but think "He seems a lot more powerful than he used to be." Now I know why. :)

It's kind of the reverse on what we saw with the Lich King thus far. At the end The Frozen Throne we see Arthas' ascension and him becoming the Lich King, and we get the impression that he's going to be the new "be all, end all" villain of Azeroth, the greatest threat to humanity. We're left kind of thinking that when it comes time for him to be seen on WoW, that's going to be the biggest and baddest raid boss that we ever fight. Lo and behold, here we are not far away from the end of Wrath of the Lich King, and the dude is on a fast track to becoming the most overrated villain ever.

What does he do throughout the expansion? At the end of the Death Knight intro quest he gets pwned a bit by Tirion Fordring, and all the subsequent appearances after that in Northrend involves him showing up, threatening the players, sending his followers to their deaths against the players, or getting pwned somemore. Not all that threatening. It could very well change with the opening of Icecrown Citadel. We'll have to wait and see.

However, Arthas is probably miffed about something else right now besides a tournament that is meant to be a symbol of defiance against him being setup in his own backyard. That thing is the unveiling of Deathwing and the future big ka-boom that he is going to make.

Those who know their Warcraft Lore will know that Deathwing started rather small when he was first introduced. He was little more than a normal dragon unit with beafed up stats and a cooler looking portrait. All we knew of him at that time was that he was an evil dragon who had metal plates grafted onto his hide.

Since then more lore was added about him and he became one of the five dragon aspects, lord of the Black Dragon flight, and one of the most notorious villains in Azeroth history. There was probably not a single civilization in the world who didn't know about Deathwing.

Now he's making an even bigger jump from his previous status than before. The shere potential for how badass this guy is now is kind of disturbing and exciting on what we'll be facing.

Jonesrogen

I posted this on my LJ and a couple other places, but I figure why not here too. :)

Anyway, my proposed goblin character for when the Cataclysm comes:

Jonesrogen
Goblin Arch-Pyromancer of Kezan,
World Renowned Archeologist, Demolitionist, and Burninator,
Illustrious Gambler, Womanizer and Taster of Fine Wines,
Loremaster of all things Ghostly, Goblinish, and things related to Dragons,
and General Destroyer of Random Crap while cruisin' on a Harley.

"I'll see you on the other side!" B-)



The guy in front is a mage but I don't think that's what Jonesrogen is going to look like. I'm hoping for a bit more hair on gobbies than this. We'll have to wait and see though.

Cataclysm: New Hero Class?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I seem to remember Blizzard saying at some point after they announced Wrath of the Lich King that there would be a new hero class released with every expansion from here on out.

Did they say that? I think that's what they were alluding to, but they certainly said that more would be following after Death Knights.

Where is Cataclysm's hero class? I was hoping for something dragonish! Dragonknight? Dragon Wizard? Dragonjester?

Don't tell me that the recent class balance fiasco with Death Knights scared Blizzard away from introducing new classes into the. I guess that would be understandable because the concept of "Hero Class" was kind of a fail when it came to Death Knights. They should have just called them a new class that started out at level 55.

Well, after doing some research, it seems that Blizz is deciding not to include any new classes with this expansion. Too bad. :(

Cataclysm: Mini-Expansion?

Howdy all.

I can't help but think that Cataclysm is going to amount to something more on the lines of a "Mini-Expansion" rather than a full blown expansion like Burning Crusade or Wrath.

Sure, we have a great deal of new content coming out such as two new races being released, and the level cap is raising. Just by five levels though instead of ten?

Also, there really isn't all that much being added as far as new zones are concerned. A lot of old world material is being redesigned, yes. But actual new zones? Hyjal, Twilight Highlands, South Seas, Gilneas, and a few others.

It doesn't seem to amount to what we were given in BC or Wrath, yet it's enough to amount to its own software.

I say this because I wonder, will Cataclysm take less time to release than Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King?

Wha...?

From WoWwiki's Cataclysm page:

"Stats armor penetration, attack power, block value, defense, mp5, and spell power are being removed from the game."

0_O

0_o

@_@

~_~

So...what then?

Back In Business...Sort Of

I renewed my WoW account today. I didn't think I would be able to do to some freaky computer issues, but the computer itself seems fine. It's my connection that sucks balls right now. I'm not sure if it's the modem or my ethernet card that's giving issues, and hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed soon. In any case, glad to see the inside of WoW again. :)

PS: I'm still going to keep my time to a relative minimum compared to before. Probably not much on raiding, assuming VR is doing any right now. I'm hoping they are.

So, Mankirk's Wife...

What's going to happen to the poor girl's body once the Barrens gets its face lifted I wonder.

Will Mankirk have finally gone out and retrieved it and given it a proper burial after all these years? Or will she fall down into a deep, fiery ravine and have her be burned not-so-alive.

Either way, I see it as a win-win situation for her. The poor woman has had to put up with five years now of her dumbass husband not going out to where her body was, taking it a graveyard, and giving her the proper burial one think she is entitled to, yes? Instead, it's four years of him begging noobs to go out and help him find it for him, and they go out, fondle her corpse to make sure it's her, then go back and let him know where it was.

Just how many times did that happen accross all the game servers combined over the last five years? Probably in the millions I would guess. Imagine a million noobs being sent out to poke your corpse and then go back to tell your husband, and then he never comes out to get you. He just gets another noob! That would piss me off! Right now I'd be willing to bet that Mankrik's wife is wishing that the Lich King had come to visit her to join the Scourge and make her into a Death Knight, so that she would have been able to come back and Scourge Strike him in the junk. Instead she's likely going to have to wait until the Barrens gets torn in half and her body falls into the lava, never to be seen again, much lest to be prodded by noobs. I'm sure she thinks that is a bonus!

And what's more, what's going to happen to Crossroads when the Barrens go up in flames? It is kind of right in the middle of Barrens, so unless the rift kind of does a zig and then a zag at exactly the right time, there will be no more crossroads.

Mankrik's Wife: "Did you hear that, you dirty bastard! I may be going down in flames, but I'm taking you with me! Thank you, Deathwing!" XD

I also kind of think that the other NPC's of Crossroads will be happy to go as well. Never again will they have to put up with Alliance assholes sacking the entire town and then wonder why no one came out to help, and they'll never again have to facepalm whenever they hear Barren's chat! Win! They had to put up with about five years of such silliness and apathy, I think death would be most welcome for the poor souls.

Well, that's just my opinion though. We'll just have to wait and see what fate has in store for Mankrik, his wife, and the people of Crossroads.

Alright, I Confess

I think it's about time I started getting back into WoW, but I'm still having computer issues. I might download some AVG anti-virus to compensate for the Norton I refuse to pay for (can't afford right now), but that doesn't change the fact that my home internet is still slow. I might give Comcast a buzz about that and see if they can get someone to check it out. We'll see.

Hopefully it really is them and not my computer.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the announcement of the new cataclysm! Well...almost nothing. I admit, that expansion looks damn cool. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Death Wing shows up again.

And we still have Arthas to deal with! 0_0

Another Facepalm Pic...

Or even better, an Implied Facepalm!


I think it's a bit more fitting for this situation.

Picture this. A system where your class is determined by what weapon you are currently wielding. So, if you want to be a fighter you take up a sword, or if you want to be a wizard you take up a staff. It seems kind of ass backwards to me and it was a system I hoped that a certain game I've been looking at would not use.

Unfortunately it looks like they are using that system. Not only that, but they are going to apparently allow players to switch weapons, and their class, right in the middle of combat. Furthermore, when they change weapons then they change their appearance as well, so fighters will look like fighters just by holding their swords just as wizards will have gandalf hats and robes when they bring a staff out. Just pick a weapon and *poof*.

There is no certainty that FFXIV will be using this system, but reading their website descriptions, that's the vibe that I am getting. If it is, this game is badly setting itself up to fail very early in its career. What happens when a player masters life as a healer and a warrior? All they have to do is fight with one, switch to the other, heal himself to full, and switch back. It's like WoW paladins set on infinite God mode and something that will turn out to be very, very boring.

Disappointing to say the least. I was really hoping for better with this game.

Uh-huh....

Why in the nine hells didn't I see THIS coming?

Ridiculous, but to be expected at this point. The earlier news released that multiplayer Starcraft 2 will be restricted to Battle.net only, and will not be supported for Lan play, was a close factor in making me wonder if I will bother getting this game or not. I consider it to be a sign of greed on the part of the developers for this game. Kind of like what EA did with Spore and that "can only install this game from one disk a few times before it becomes useless" issue.

Are you becoming the next Sony Online Entertainment, Blizzard? The next Electronic Arts? You used to care more about your players than you did about your dollars. With what's been going on with WoW over the past number of months and now this, I think it's become kind of apparent to me that that's not the case anymore. I guess we can see the outcome of that whole deal with Activision now, can't we?

Someone mentioned Diablo 3 will probably be pushed back to late 2011 as well. Dudes, don't make me laugh or cry. Okay? 2011 is when we'll see the next expansion for World of Warcraft get released, which will probably be announced sometime very early next year, or at the end of this year. There are some new MMO's coming up in development that are scheduled to get released sometime next year and Blizzard is going to need something to compete with that, so whatever the next expansion is for WoW, THAT will become their next pet project.

Diablo 3? We can expect it sometime in 2013, that is if it doesn't go the same way as StarCraft: Ghost.

...but I also might make a wrong choice.

They released some information on the races for Final Fantasy XIV today.

I had a hunch that even though the avatars and looks of these races were about the same as their FFXI counterparts, they would do something like change the names. Well, they did, and this is what they have to offer.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w62/Egobrane/1249399178914.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w62/Egobrane/1249399056298.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w62/Egobrane/1249399301196.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w62/Egobrane/1249398998514.jpg

Let me say that yes I agree, these races do look very nice, though I will miss the original Tarutaru cuteness. Personally I think the old version did look better than the new, but I seem to be in the minority with this opinion.

I also seem to be in the minority on the fact that I really do not like the new names of the FFXIV races. First off, I have to say, why the hell even change them up? They are the same races, and though they are in a new world, new setting, did you guys have to give them new names? And such lame names as well?

These names make it sound like it was from a poorly crafted, poorly translated anime that is more childish than Pokemon.

Sorry, but Lalafell instead of Tarutaru?

With the way they look now and that name to go with it, it's going to feel like I'm playing a damn teletubby.

I LOATHE teletubbies!!!

Will I be able to play this? I don't know. I would still like to try it out but now I have to see some game mechanics, class mechanics, and other things to keep my interest. I hate to think that a silly think like race looks and what they are called is going to be a deciding factor, but I would rather play a damn WoW gnome than play something that feels like a teletubby. That's all there is to it.

PS: Don't get me wrong. I had these inhibitions when I first saw the Tarutaru and what they looked like, and today I love them. I'm still an avid fan of the little guy with high capability for nuking (except WoW gnomes who sound annoying and look like mini-pedophiles). I might still be willing to give the new Taru...er, the Lalafell a chance. It might work out pretty well. We'll see.

Looks like I made the right choice...

Blizzard just released the patch notes for Patch 2.3: "Call of the Crusade" or whatever. Like I give a fuck anymore. After reading these patch notes and seeing that my suspicions are now verified, I am now undoubtedly finished with this game.

Fuck you, Blizzard. I may see you in StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, but hell if I'm going to give you any more time for World of Warcraft or your new MMORPG that is supposedly in development.

Let's take a look. Click here to see the newest patch notes.

The first glaring nerf to the DK: "Frost Strike: This ability can now be dodged, parried, or blocked. Weapon damage bonus reduced to 55%, down from 60%." If that's not a nerf, I don't know what their definition of a nerf really is. DK tanks depended on this ability as a way to gain hate on mobs because it could not be blocked, dodged, or parried. Now this and it's damage has been decreased as well as an extra slap in the face. Tell me Blizzard, just how many of your arena regulars needed to bitch and moan to get you to make THAT change?

It doesn't end there either. Look at these gems:

Icebound Fortitude: Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.

Frost Presence: 10% bonus health reduced to 6% bonus stamina.

Toughness: This talent now grants 2/4/6/8/10% armor instead of 3/6/9/12/15%, placing it in line with similar abilities of other classes

I really, really, REALLY feel sorry for Death Knight tanks now. I am also really really glad that I no longer play this game. I hope Dathaniel the tauren DK and Dakore the orc shaman are enjoying their retirement back home in Mulgore and Durotar. The chances that you'll see them in this game I now consider about ruined are slim to none. I've had enough of seeing PvE players get screwed because Blizzard's rampant asskissing of their PvE player base.

I'll read about the Lich King's downfall in the newspapers.

Final Fantasy XIV and MMO Essentials #3: Keep Your PvP Out of my PvE (part 2)

Continuing on this subject of PvE players being screwed by a PvP system that sucks yesterday's crack pipes, I come to you with another issue. Last time it was about PvP'ers who would get their way when they complain enough to developers and get the nerfs they want, and PvE'ers are the ones who have to compensate for the sudden difference in their toon's capabilities.

Now I'm going to talk about something different, and I hope that SquareEnix is paying attention to this (more wishful thinking).

Bottom line: I don't want to see another situation where some bored, high level asshole walks into a low-level enemy town, kills all the NPC guards, kills all the NPC vendors, kills all the quest givers, and then sits there and mocks the low level players who just got screwed, and then get away with it with nothing happening to him.

Ever.

I swear on the name of God and Jesus, if this happens once in Final Fantasy XIV I will quit the game right then and there. If they get to the point where they've killed a few vendors and then a mass of guards equal to the player runs out and stomps his skull into the mud, then I would laugh, because that's what should happen. If they let it progress to the point where a town is destroyed and people are sitting there waiting for something to happen... No. Just no.

If I wanted to keep participating in that shit, I would not have quit WoW. I gained interest in FFXIV because it's a new Final Fantasy MMO and I'm hoping to escape that ludicrous bullshit. I know there are a few proponents to PvP being in the game. They can have it, just keep it in its own designated areas and have no world PvP in the game whatsoever. I could live with that better than anything.

So this is my suggestion to SquareEnix. Please, please, please leave world wide PvP out of the game. You can keep in stuff like the Balista matches or assigned battle grounds if you want to, I don't care. Just keep tucked away in a corner where I don't have to see it if I don't want. Those players who want unrestricted world domination PvP that like to go in and slaughter entire towns can get bent. If they're upset by my words I'm telling them now to ship off back to WoW and Warhammer Online.

Leave Final Fantasy XIV for the PvE players!

Final Fantasy XIV and MMO Essentials #3: Keep Your PvP Out of My PvE!

Ok, I'm going to refrain from the "welcome to blah blah blah" bit that I had in my last two posts. They were a bit too presumptuous in my opinion. If you're here and reading this then you know you're welcome already. Public blogs are public after all, yes?

Anyway, this is pretty much a simple concept I think any regular player of MMO's can appreciate. How do you balance PvP gameplay with PvE gameplay in games like this. There is no doubt that there are tons of dudes and ladies out there who like nothing more than to pit their skills against human opponents and try to win bragging rights on who is most leet. Some people like to take part in battles between huge armies. Others just like to band together with friends and go up against dungeons filled with AI monsters. It's a pretty diverse group of gamers out there and games like this should normally be diverse. Some MMO's on the market lean more towards PvP, such as Warhammer Online, others are more PvE like Everquest 2 (last I checked anyway). Others try to be in the middle and give equal share of both pies, like World of Warcraft.

I say "try" when I mention WoW, but I should also say "fail rather discretely".

This is one of the main reasons why I turned my back on WoW. Imagine you are playing a certain class and have his talents set so he can perform in a certain role, and you are doing really good in that role. You are having fun doing raids with your guild or heroic instances with your friends, and you don't PvP that much. Life is good for you.

But somewhere else we have the player of another class besides yours. He's really into PvP, he's really into playing the arena, he wants to be thought of as leet. The dude has this notion of him and his team getting to the top %10 of all arena participants. However, for some reason, the dude can only win half his matches, and he is upset about that.

This poor guy is not the first to think too highly of his own abilities and end up not doing all that well in the arena ladders. Neither is he the first to not face the facts that his skills are just average. Remember, he wants to be leet, and he wants people to think he's leet! Psychologically, he just isn't capable to face the fact that he kind of sucks, so he tries to make excuses instead. If he's so leet and awesome at PvP, and yet he's still losing many of his matches, then OBVIOUSLY the system is broken! No way it can be him!

Like I said, he's not the first with these thoughts. Nor is he the last. There are TONS of players who are currently playing WoW PvP who are in this mindset. They flood the forums almost daily with threads saying...

"Warlocks are to OP, NERF THEM NOW OR I QUIT WOW!!"

"ZOMG War is Broken! Fix Now Blizz! U SUXXORS!!!1111lol"

"Blizzard, you guys suck with deathknights! Frost strike can hit every time and they can do it bunches of times in a Row! OMG! NERF NOW!"

Nerf this, nerf that, nerf it all, buff me, buff my class, nerf his, yada yada yada, blah blah blah...

The river of crap and tears never ends!

Well, since these whiners and cheeseheads make up so many of the WoW playerbase, it would be foolish on Blizzard's part to not listen to what they want, and sometimes they get the nerfs that they demand. Now, we come back to the guy who does not PvP and prefers to raid and dungeon crawl with friends. Supposedly, WoW has just as much balance into those who prefer PvE over fighting other players, but suddenly this guy find he can't tank as well as he used to, or his abilities are not damaging as much as the last time he went through. Are they still able to get through the raid and get some loots? Maybe, but not always. Maybe that decrease in armor makes it so he dies to early when he's trying to tank a boss or that decline in DPS makes them take too long to get the boss down. Who knows?

The PvE was working before though! So, what the hell Blizzard? Why the nerf?

OHHHHhhhhh!

It's because Johny Wannabe the PvP Fanatic cried for the nerf bat and he got it.

Folks, it's almost impossible to balance both PvP and PvE at the same time. If one class or job gets nerfed because they're too much on the battlefield, the PvE factor of their jobs is going to take a hit as well. That's just the nature of the beast. That is why I am hoping against hope that SquareEnix sticks predominently to their original MMO roots and keeps the majority of gameplay on Final Fantasy XIV on a PvE basis. Am I outright opposed to any type of Player vs Player game? No, I am not. I might be willing to do a Ballista match here and there, or whatever FFXIV might have included, but it won't be very often.

I'm interested in FFXIV because I'm looking for a better, cleaner gaming environment then what I had in WoW. Part of the dirt that developed there was that there were too many PvP'ers making ridiculous demands and too many of them were getting listened to. It would have been stupid for Blizzard not to at that point. Those impacts had negative concequences for those of us who didn't want to fight in battlegrounds.

So, the bottom line is this. If you are having trouble in whatever FFXIV's PvP system, you can't kill that black mage because he nukes you too hard before he can get to you, I'm going to tell you to learn how to silence him. If SquareEnix is smart, every job should have at least some counter to something like that. That's just basic class balance.

If you demand that SquareEnix nerf the black mage and downgrade his ability to nuke, I'm going to tell you to get bent and go play some other game with rampant PvP.

If SquareEnix actually gives into your demand and nerfs the black mage because you can't kill him otherwise, I'll tell them to get bent and I'll be the one to go play something else.

If that happened then I think FFXIV would officially be WoW 2.0

Have a nice day.