Arcane Brilliance: Good and Bad in patch 3.2
Welcome to another edition of Arcane Brilliance , the weekly Mage column where you can find all the latest issues that are important to those of us who can alter the molecular structure of our enemies, conjure great missiles of entwined flame and ice , and create delicious pastries from the very air around us, but can’t seem to negotiate the mysteries of wearing anything more substantial than a fancy bathrobe into battle. Mages: masters of the arcane, failures at dressing. Let me begin with a few nice things. These are things I like–things that do not, in principle, infuriate me. We’ll get to things that do a bit later. I’ll hide them after the jump, I suppose, so as not to annoy those of you who cannot stand to see even the most minor of complaints from any class but your own. For now, we’ll be positive and cheery, and illustrate that–as it ever has been and ever will be–there are aspects of this game that I love, and aspects that I simultaneously do not. Such is life on the class-balance carousel. As a Mage with a pulpit from which to preach, I will never cease to celebrate the changes I agree with , and decry those which I consider to be affronts to Magekind . Preamble aside, let me tell you what I love right now: our mana gems no longer share a cooldown with Warlock healthstones . Yes, though it wasn’t in the patch notes, this seems to be an undocumented change that has made it live, and one that Mages have been lobbying in favor of for a very, very long time. For far too long, we’ve been largely unable to take advantage of the one good thing Warlocks have to offer, for fear that we’d use one and then not be able to pop our own mana returning item when the need arose. No more! Dying? Need a few thousand health in a hurry and can’t wait for the healer to notice you’re on death’s doorstep? Ice Block on cooldown? Use that healthstone with impunity, my fellow Mages! More good stuff after the break. Also bad stuff. If you dine on Mage tears, feel free to wring the second half of this column for whatever sustenance it might provide. Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Good and Bad in patch 3.2 Filed under: Mage , Patches , Analysis / Opinion , Blizzard , PvP , Features , Raiding , Classes , Talents , (Mage) Arcane Brilliance Arcane Brilliance: Good and Bad in patch 3.2 originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
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Scattered Shots: So you want to be a Hunter – Part 1 Racials
Good day folks and welcome to Scattered Shots . The column that takes a good look at what it takes to be a Hunter in the World of Warcraft. I am Eddie “Brigwyn” Carrington from the Hunting Lodge . This week we’ll be starting our “So you want to be a Hunter” class guide series. I have to admit something, I’m a chronic leveler. I do it over and over. Yes, I know it’s not the typical play style. Yes, I also know it’s highly unorthodox. By now you are probably thinking, “Who in their right mind would want to be a chronic leveler?” That someone would be me. See when I get bored, and the game starts to become a bit of a drag I can’t help myself. It only becomes a matter of time till I feel the need to scratch an itch to start over. Yes, I know it’s crazy. But you can look at it this way, at least I know how the game works for the beginning Hunter just as well as the raiding one. Having done this a few times now, I thought it would idea to put this experience to some practical purpose. It seems to be a waste and not at least write up a Hunter guide for new Hunters. So I thought I’d create a new series of posts entitled, “So you want to be a Hunter.” Before we get started, I need to make sure we’re all on the same page by setting some ground rules. This series is intended for the new player and/or a new Hunter. Since most new player won’t have a rich uncle in game, nor does everyone use Recruit-A-Friend , I’ll just focus on leveling up the old fashioned way. When discussing zone and levels, I’ll only highlight some key quests along the way. Except for when we reach the “getting ready to raid ” guide, all guides will focus on using a solo-leveling/grinding build. So there, with some ground rules set. Let’s get started on making you the best Hunter possible. Continue reading Scattered Shots: So you want to be a Hunter – Part 1 Racials Filed under: Horde , Alliance , Night Elves , Dwarves , Orcs , Tauren , Trolls , Hunter , Analysis / Opinion , How-tos , Draenei , Blood Elves , Leveling , Factions , Guides , Classes , (Hunter) Scattered Shots Scattered Shots: So you want to be a Hunter – Part 1 Racials originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Around Azeroth: Violence begets violence. Awesomely.
Today’s image (and caption) comes from Manbearpig from the guild Clandestine Circle, on the Garona-US realm. He says, “After growing up a poor bullied cub in Teldrassil, Manbearpig wasn’t just going to stand by and watch these Frenzyheart keep the poor Oracle Orphan from his shinies any more ! Rawr! Volunteering his time, Manbearpig hopes to teach this young Oracle that to deal with bullies you have to stand up for yourself. Tell them “No! Stop it!” in a loud voice. Then walk away, or run if you have to. If all else fails, then Mangle (Rank 5)!” Personally, I’d start with the whole Mangle thing a lot sooner than that. I’m not really sure what that says about me, to be honest. 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 with dead gnomes any race at all, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Gallery: Around Azeroth Filed under: Around Azeroth Around Azeroth: Violence begets violence. Awesomely. originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Sunday Morning Funnies: Lookin’ familiar
Once again, I have a new comic to list! Keep the tips coming. Somewhere in the list today is the secret identity of last week’s “mystery” picture ! Check out Noobs , a new comic, and one that is not to be confused with NoObz, which isn’t WoW -related this week. Scout Report: We finally find out why Scout’s sister is hanging around! This of course leads to a rather strange conversation , about kittens (of a sort). Cru the Dwarf: Bless This Thy Holy Boot . Well, they’ve reached the Scarlet Monastery. The message at the bottom says it all! Dark Legacy Comics: Gretta’s Plan . Experience Points: Vincent is planning his trip to BlizzCon with his new pal, Steve. Experience Points: Vincent hangs out with Steve on patch day. I am kind of afraid of his sandwich . LFG: Meet the Mistress of Magma . NPC: Overcome . NPC: A break seems to be in the couple’s future, but Smelly Demographics shows the flaw in the first activity suggested. So, they decide to take a different sort of trip, because they’ve had Too Much WoW . Check out the latest from Teh Gladiators . Kuo: This guest comic is awesomely cute, and in translation. For regular comics, evidently, Sylvanas just wasn’t as cool before she died. Beyond the Tree: No purse, no pursuit . WoW-eh: The Mis-Adventures of… . Filed under: Analysis / Opinion , Features , Humor , Sunday Morning Funnies Sunday Morning Funnies: Lookin’ familiar originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
Breakfast Topic: So what do you think of patch 3.2?
It’s been an interesting week in Azeroth with Call of the Crusade finally landing on live servers. Patch 3.2 did bring with it another painful bout of maintenance for everyone involved that seemed to go one forever. However its offerings were certainly plentiful! After an age of waiting for the European realms to pop up, I appeared in Dalaran to find most of the server surrounding Matron Aria in an attempt to get the Wolvar/Oracle orphans (I went with Kekek, if you must know), the rest were swarming the Argent Tournament grounds and pushing and shoving to get into the new instance. Top of my list was to try out the new Druid forms and then get my hair colored. The rest of my guild made a beeline for “the new place” (aka the Coliseum) or moaning about the buffing/nerfing of such and such a class. So, constant readers, what did you do first? More importantly, what do you think of the patch? I admit I’m still sitting on the fence, there were some nice additions but I’m still a heck of a lot more interested in patch 3.3 . Tell us in the usual fashion by dropping your thoughts in the box below. Filed under: Druid , Patches , Events , Blizzard , Breakfast topics , Wrath of the Lich King , Europe Breakfast Topic: So what do you think of patch 3.2? originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
The Colosseum: Dimitrius of Korgath
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, Furious, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We’re especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player. Last week, we had the opportunity to look at a mega-mix of about six different gladiators from Korgath. However, since it’s likely going to be a little while before I can come back around to Korgath, I wanted to make sure to include one final person. This person is Starcaller Dimitrius . While Paladins have probably had enough face time in the highest Arena echelons since Wrath of the Lich King , the accomplishments from Dimitrius are a little different from what we’ve featured before. Specifically, Dimitrius has achieved the #1 spot on his battlegroup in 5v5. Take a look at what Dimitrius had to say behind the cut. Don’t worry — the interview is fairly short, especially as compared to last week’s epic. Continue reading The Colosseum: Dimitrius of Korgath Filed under: Analysis / Opinion , The Colosseum The Colosseum: Dimitrius of Korgath originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
Insider Trader: Progressive Professions
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products. Professions in The World of Warcraft are one of the many endeavors in which players can invest their time and efforts. Despite the fact that most players do indeed level them, and the fact that there is quite a bit of interest in them, people are often left questioning their value at the end of the day. Profitability and cost to level are two of the most frequent complaints against their chosen professions, but today I would like you to consider another reason: boredom. It is not that the professions themselves are inherently boring. It is more that, in a game where there are always new things to collect, new reasons to PvP or run raid content, new dailies and new factions, professions just can’t compete. Most can be leveled in an hour or two at the Auction House, and once this has been achieved, the key items made, and the buffs applied to your gear, what else is there? Continue reading Insider Trader: Progressive Professions Filed under: Analysis / Opinion , Expansions , Features , (Professions) Insider Trader Insider Trader: Progressive Professions originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
WRUP: Bragging rights edition
Every weekend, the WoW.com asks you (and ourselves) a simple question: What are you playing? This week, our bloggers’ answers are compiled by Michael Sacco , directed by Michael Sacco, and starring Michael Sacco. It’s Saturday again! I know this because Friday is the night my guild’s 10-man progression group, uh, progresses. And as of last night, with the defeat of Mimiron on hard mode and Yogg-Saron with one Keeper assisting, we’ve progressed directly onto the backs of Rusted Proto-Drakes. This is the mount that I’ve wanted since I first laid eyes on it, and by gum, now I’ve got it. I’m so happy about it I’m probably going to tell you again in just a moment. So, yeah, Friday’s over! That means it’s time for WRUP. Just what are our contributors up to? Check out the sampling below, replete with Twitter names where applicable, and mosey on past the jump if you’re all about minutiae like the rest of the internet at large. Adam Holisky: ( @adamholisky ) Loremaster and equipping all my alts with flying skill. Hooray for the mount changes! Alex Ziebart : ( @aziebart ) Gearing up my Paladin alt a bit more through the new 5-man so I can skip stupid Naxxramas and go straight into Ulduar. Also leveling Turpen, getting Triumph badges on my main, and we finally got a post up on the new blog I’ll be contributing to now and then. Busy busy. Robin Torres: ( @cosmiclaurel ) The plan to get to 80 before BlizzCon has evaporated into mist as I have to make a decision: Do I go feral just so that I can look at the pretty kitty? Instead, I am cultivating a pile o’ Alliance alts (I know! Where’s my Horde bias?) to support Itchee the Gnome Warlock (The Spawn’s character). Yeah, I think part of my altitis problem is due to a profession addiction. Lisa Poisso: ( @eMused ) Sneaking in more levels on my new Rogue in “alternate” areas, so I don’t get off track on quest lines with my usual groupmates. Ummm, what were those areas again? Continue reading WRUP: Bragging rights edition WRUP: Bragging rights edition originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
