WoW Insider
Significant changes to Northrend flying mounts discovered on the Patch 3.2 PTR [Updated]
A little surprise on the Patch 3.2 PTR was discovered this evening. The Cold Weather Flying training, which previously had to be purchased for each character that wanted to fly in Northrend is now available as a Bind on Account book purchasable at the exotic mounts vendor in Dalaran.
The Use text is a little odd in that it notes the "tome is consumed when read." To me that means that the book is only a one use thing, which is a departure from current BoA items. And why have a level 68 requirement on this and not the normal Cold Weather Flying training? If you're 68 you're likely to be able to get to Dalaran anyways these days.
But wait Did you see it? You might have missed it.
It shows level 68 being the required level, not level 77.
Filed under: News items
Significant changes to Northrend flying mounts discovered on the Patch 3.2 PTR [Updated] originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Maintenance for select realms tomrrow
Maintenance came and went today, and many people were initially pleasantly surprised to see their realm up early. However this quickly became a thing of disappointment as they found the instance servers were laggier than normal, and the realms themselves were rather unstable.
While there were a series of quick restarts to correct many of the problems, several issues still existed. And of course another maintenance period has gone by without any fix to the dreaded "Additional instances cannot be launched, please try again later," error.
Those words are nearly burned into my monitor now.
Tomorrow morning from 5:00 a.m. PDT / 8:00 a.m. EDT until 8:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. EDT the following realms after the break will be down for additional maintenance and hardware upgrades. These short downtimes usually mean that nothing too special is happening, but in case there's a cataclysmic event we'll be sure to let you know. (See what I did thar?)
The list of affected realms after the break!
Continue reading Maintenance for select realms tomrrow
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Maintenance for select realms tomrrow originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Changes in Patch 3.2 PTR build 10072
Another week, another Patch 3.2 PTR build with no access to the new instances yet. I'm sure they'll appear on the PTR when they're ready ([TM]). In the mean time, what tweaks and changes have they made in build 10072?
Well, for one thing, they added in the Crusader's Coliseum versions of the Undying achievements. A Tribute to Immortality requires you to reach the end of the heroic-mode raid with 50 attempts remaining (possibly a placeholder quantity), and without any of the raid members dying during boss encounters. It doesn't say for sure, but I would guess this is calculated in the Ulduar style - if you down boss A without anyone dying one week, boss B the next, etc., you get the achievement.
In lieu of the now semi-traditional Proto-Drake mount fancy title, those who complete this feat are granted a black or white Crusader's Warhorse (as pictured above-right).
Continue reading Changes in Patch 3.2 PTR build 10072
Filed under: Patches, News items
Changes in Patch 3.2 PTR build 10072 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Stars snag world-first legitimate Alone in the Darkness
World-first Heroic: Alone in the Darkness? "Didn't Exodus already get that?" you may ask. Well, they did get the achievement, but they used an exploit, and were slapped on the wrist to the tune of a 72 hour suspension. Which means: the stage was open for a legitimate world-first!
In a break from the tradition of European guilds getting major world-first accomplishments, Chinese guild Stars (playing on the Taiwanese servers) has apparently completed the achievement legitimately. They got that nifty Mimiron's Head mount, too.
In case you're scratching your head wondering what this is all about, during the Yogg-Saron fight (the last boss of Ulduar), the four Keepers of Ulduar (Freya, Thorim, Hodir, and Mimiron) help you out. You can choose how many of the Keepers you want to activate for the fight, and if you use fewer than all of them, it's hard-mode. "Alone in the Darkness" is Yogg-Saron with zero keepers: as hard as it gets.
Congratulations to Stars on a truly impressive feat.
Filed under: News items, Raiding, Bosses, Achievements
Stars snag world-first legitimate Alone in the Darkness originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Ready Check: Hodir
Ready Check is a twice-a-week column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Today, we step back a little and look at endgame in the context of sports.
Let's recap Ulduar so far, shall we?
You've wrecked the Flame Leviathan. With a touch of kindness in your heart, you euthanized Razorscale. In a moment of vengeance, you laid some justice down on Ignis the Furnace Master. Guffawing in humor at his odd voice, you looted Deconstructor.
Then it came time to "bridge your experience" by beating up Kologarn. The Assembly of Iron proved to be no difficulty for your incredible raiding prowess. Even Auriaya and her small legion of adds gave you little pause.
Continue reading Ready Check: Hodir
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, (Raiding) Ready Check
Ready Check: Hodir originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
WoWPals helps you find more friends in Azeroth
Personally, I think WoW already covers the bases of a social network (though in the past I've said I would like to have the option to see more about players than the characters, and these sites can certainly fill that need), so all of these end up being either extraneous -- do I really need another Twitter just for my characters? -- or just plain unnecessary: maybe I don't want my friends to know exactly what I did in game last night.
So no, I personally haven't been sold on any of these sites yet (though I do like reading through the player blogs here on WoW.com, and I'm not just saying that because I work here). I'm active ingame, and I'm active on various social networks, and keeping the two separate is fine by me. But if you are looking for even more ways to find new friends in World of Warcraft, maybe you can meet some new pals with WoWPals, too.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends
WoWPals helps you find more friends in Azeroth originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Queue: Full of it
Since today's first question in Maelstrom-themed, we've decided today's edition of The Queue was a good time to link the supposed leaked trailer of the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, to be announced at BlizzCon '09. We haven't embedded the video to try and dodge waking up to a DMCA tomorrow, so just check it out on YouTube. We'll let Google deal with the mess, eh?
Revan asked...
"What instances would you suggest for a Maelstrom expansion?"
All of the things you suggested yesterday would work pretty well. Nazjatar and the Tomb of Sargeras would definitely be raid zones in a future expansion. I suspect we would also have a hella fun time in The Eye of the Maelstrom, which is the center of the whole storm there. Maybe we'd even visit Mak'aru, which is where all the gross crab people live. It probably wouldn't be a raid, but I could see a 5-man there. That is, if we don't ally with the gross crabfolk. Did I mention they're gross? Gross. I'd also lay down money that we'll get an Onyxia/Gruul/Malygos-style raid with a sea monster of some sort. The Lurker Below v2.0, now with eye lasers?
Continue reading The Queue: Full of it
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, The Queue
The Queue: Full of it originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Daily Quest: Cata-what?
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.
- Big Hit Box covers the Best In Slot Emblem Gear in Patch 3.2 for the Enhancement Shaman.
- Twisted Nether Blogcast episode 51 is up and ready for listening.
- Lorecrafted has a good bit of speculation on the possibility of WoW: Cataclysm.
- BlizzPlanet is getting in on the Cataclysm speculation, too. A new playable race?
Filed under: The Daily Quest
The Daily Quest: Cata-what? originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Worgen Garwal hotfixed, now untamable
Our tip lines have been buzzing recently with news about a tameable Worgen. If you haven't been paying attention, in short, Garwal (a quest NPC that starts as a wolf, but turns into a Worgen) could be tamed as a Worgen if you get your timing right, and then you'd have a very unusual pet following you around.
Note that I say "could be tamed," not "can": apparently Blizzard has hotfixed the NPC so that he can no longer be tamed, stating that they never intended players to have a humanoid pet. Players who have already tamed Garwal will find that they have no talents or abilities for him, nor can they feed or buff him rendering him effectively useless except as a vanity pet. I would expect him to be removed even as a vanity pet soon.
Filed under: Hunter, News items
Worgen Garwal hotfixed, now untamable originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Patches of Yesteryear: Patch 0.6
World of Warcraft has been around for a while now, and the game has changed significantly. Back in the day, way back in the day, things were so different you probably wouldn't recognize it. A couple times a week WoW.com will look back at old patches, lamenting on what once was.
Welcome to the first post in our Patches of Yesteryear series. We're going to take a look at old patch notes (listed after the break) and point out some of the ridiculous, and not so ridiculous changes that have gone through the game the past five years.
To start off with, let's look at Patch 0.6. This patch was released on April 13th, 2004. That's about seven months before WoW hit the retail shelves and became a hit. This beta version of WoW had a few important parts of the game that began their life in this patch:
- Scarlet Monastery, the level 30 dungeons near the Undercity
- Blackfathom Deeps, the cave maze dungeon out in Kalimdor
- Druids became available for play
- You had five states of rested that affected the gain of your experience gains: well rested, rested, normal, fatigued, and exhausted
Continue reading The Patches of Yesteryear: Patch 0.6
Filed under: Druid, Mage, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Odds and ends, Leveling
The Patches of Yesteryear: Patch 0.6 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Preparing for BlizzCon: You need good shoes
BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard's gaming extravaganza.
Even if you are taking my advice and training your feet and legs for BlizzCon, you are still going to need good shoes for all of those lines. The Anaheim Convention Center floor is hard and unforgiving, so your shoes will need to provide the appropriate cushion and support to make up for it. In many conventions, companies will put carpet with extra padding in their booths so that people will stand there longer for demos of their products and services. Unless something has changed this year, there is no padding -- no respite for the feet unless you go outside and find a patch of grass.
Continue reading Preparing for BlizzCon: You need good shoes
Preparing for BlizzCon: You need good shoes originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 Updated
Patch 3.2 is out on the PTR, and every day seems to bring new surprises. From raid lockouts to tier gear and heirloom pieces.
For Patch 3.2 we've been steadily updating WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2. with everything we've written about the Patch 3.2 PTR. Included in there are links to the latest patch notes, class changes and analysis, and tons of galleries of the new gear and quests.
Check out the guide and all its updates for Patch 3.2 goodness!
Read the Patch 3.2 Guide >>
WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 Updated originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Lichborne: The Future of Death Runes in Patch 3.2
I admit to being a bit underwhelmed by the Death Knight Q&A. To be fair, this is primarily because most of the things covered were already in the 3.2 patch notes, and the rest was pretty common sense stuff. However, one little comment by Ghostcrawler did catch my attention: His praise of Death Runes.
This caught me more than a bit by surprise, since, if anything, the Death Knight changes in Patch 3.2 seem tailor made to discourage the use of Death Runes, at least for Frost and Unholy.
Between the damage buff to Blood Strike and diseases, and the nerf to Scourge Strike, we have a pretty good chance of seeing people move away from using Death Runes. The major reason to use Blood Strike in both trees right now is to create Death Runes so you can use higher damage abilities on your next refresh cycle. If Blood Strike becomes the higher damage ability, it's not worth it to use the Death Runes on something else. There's a off-chance, I suppose, that you might want the Death Runes handy for an emergency use of Ghoul Frenzy, in theory, but that chance is so slim that no-one's going to want to waste the talent points in Reaping, at the very least.
Continue reading Lichborne: The Future of Death Runes in Patch 3.2
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Talents, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Lichborne: The Future of Death Runes in Patch 3.2 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
WoW Moviewatch: Take My Quest
TaintedLore is back with a new video titled Take My Quest. This video was created by ViKarious Productions. (That's not a typo -- the "K" is capital in their name.) Of course, the singing itself is by Sharm. I think I may need to brush up on my pop music, because I couldn't be sure whether the song is a parody, or a completely original work.
At any rate, the video work in this piece is pretty good. It's got a good variety of action and models, all which come together in proper harmony with the song. I've not seen anything by ViKarious before, so this was a pretty good break onto the scene for them.
My only complaint, of course, is the return of Auto-Tune. I've always enjoy Sharm's singing, and think she could be fairly talented. Like I said when Why I Raid? was released, I guess auto-tune could be being used for artistic reasons, but it's just not necessary. The voice work is great without it.
Edit: There's a rumor this may be a parody of the Destiny's Child song, Say My Name.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch
WoW Moviewatch: Take My Quest originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
European weekly maintenance: 8th July 2009
"Cower in fear, puny mortals! Maintenance time is upon you!"
Maintenance time ho! Yes Europe, it's nearly the middle of the week again. I'm honestly not sure how that happened but once more unto the breach. Unfortunately the downtime is a little longer than normal this week, hence poor Serisa quaking in fear in the picture above. Blizzard has announced that all European realms will be offline from 3:00am until 1:00pm (CEST) tomorrow.
So, that makes a good few hours in which to kick your heels. Kind of annoying but it's a necessary evil. Once more coming to our rescue, Daniel W. has got a nice round up with a heavy focus on the cataclysmic news from last week. Cataclysmic, get it? Anyway, last week was quite news intensive and if you start to get withdrawal, what about hitting the PTR for a bit and trying out all the juicy Patch 3.2 goodness.
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Expansions, Europe
European weekly maintenance: 8th July 2009 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The sin of Tab targeting
So how to get it right? TLaG suggests this post from TankingTips, which hints at using the mouse instead of the keyboard to target (you can choose friendly targets easier that way), but doesn't offer any real suggestions of how to make the switch. Moving the camera back is one, getting your positioning right is probably another. And learning to use focus and macro targets is probably the best tip you can have: anything that's more specific or direct than either Tab or click targeting is probably better. Addons like Promixo will help in the Arenas as well.
No one's perfect, and no one way to do things is perfect either -- depending on your situation, Tab targeting might be better. But it's important to have as many tools as possible, so if you, like me, find yourself depending on the Tab key more often than not, it might be time to mix up your toolbag a bit.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, PvP, Raiding, Hardware
The sin of Tab targeting originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Around Azeroth: Overkill
The Westfall Brigade might need more constructive ways to occupy their time. When Jaeren of <I Shoulda Been Horde> on Rexxar pulled Vengeful Bambina over to their camp, the Brigade went to town on the poor deer, who just stood there while the guards hacked away in a futile effort to kill the immortal fawn. See, the Horde doesn't have these kinds of problems. At least, not since the Royal Apothecary Society deployed their Chronic Wasting Disease catapults.
Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!
Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word "Azeroth" in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, gold seller ads, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.
Gallery: Around Azeroth
Filed under: Screenshots, Around Azeroth, Galleries
Around Azeroth: Overkill originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively
Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all those other shiny MMOs! Check out this roundup of the latest news from the wider MMO world. Being a WoW fan doesn't mean you're an MMO fan
Syncaine posted an interesting article on his blog discussing why he thinks there hasn't been much uptake in the majority of MMOs released since World of Warcraft. Basically, he believes that just because you enjoy playing WoW, it doesn't mean you'll enjoy other MMOs. EverQuest's 51/50 server "Mayong" is live
Earlier in the week, EverQuest's new 51/50 server "Mayong" went live. Pretty much anyone that played EQ around launch will recognize the name as that of the infamous vampire Mayong Mistmoore, a character that was sometimes played by GMs and devs for live events way back in the day. For those not familiar with the special rules of this server type, it's fairly simple: 51 is your starting level, and 50 is the number of AAs you automatically receive upon making a character. Redefining MMOs: Terminology
As we look back at the past several years of the MMO scene, we see a genre that has gone through significant evolutionary leaps. With those pioneering days of text MUDs and blocky graphics behind us, today we enjoy professionally developed games with impressive development teams and massive budgets behind them. The genre's depths have been thoroughly explored and we've even categorised the features we've come to love and expect from our favourite online retreats. Every part of the genre, from the types of gameplay available to the terminology we use, has been routinely evolving and redefining itself over time. Massively's DDO Unlimited developer tour
Love can sometimes be a fickle thing, but I'm pretty sure that I love what Turbine has done with the DDO Store in Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited. I'll admit that initially I was a little concerned with the concept of an in-game store, but after playing with it at bit and asking some questions my fears have pretty much melted away.
Continue reading MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Features
MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Breakfast Topic: Do you wish we didn't have to use AddOns?
AddOns are great. We all use them and they enhance game play. Indeed as we've seen from sites like Curse there's a thriving trade. The thing is a lot of newer MMOs, most notably Aion, have everything that AddOns provide and a bit more built in. While Blizzard is starting to cotton on with the introduction of their own threat meter and quest tracker, there's still a long way to go. Perhaps the most notable change in this direction is the promise of a somewhat basic quest helper in 3.2. Now I've been using the actual QuestHelper for quite a long time (indeed it's one of my essential AddOns) and from what I've seen of Blizzard's version, they have a long way to go.
But, it's a start. In the past year Blizzard seem to have finally realised that their player base like the perks of AddOns and the way they enhance the game, but not the frequent updating which is required with every major patch. So readers, what are your thoughts on the whole Blizzard/AddOn thing? Do you think they are just taking the best ideas and adapting the most popular AddOns into their own versions? Do you prefer using AddOns like Omen and QuestHelper? Do you see yourself using them for a long time yet? What would you like to see AddOn-esque feature would you like Blizzard to implement next?
Filed under: Blizzard, AddOns, Breakfast topics, Instances, Quests, Raiding, Leveling
Breakfast Topic: Do you wish we didn't have to use AddOns? originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tuesday Morning Post: Cataclysmic Edition
The big news, of course, is the Cataclysm. Blizzard went on a trademark registering spree around this word, which has everyone abuzz with speculation. Are we seeing the name of the new, maelstrom-related expansion? Or is this another secret project, perhaps even that new top secret MMO? Only time will tell, but it's fun to guess anyway. Once you're done being all atwitter over that little bit of gossip, here's some more stuff to read until your server comes up:
Continue reading Tuesday Morning Post: Cataclysmic Edition
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, Odds and ends, News items
Tuesday Morning Post: Cataclysmic Edition originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.