Breakfast Topic: How did you get started?
I wanted to have Simply Red’s Something Got Me Started video as the header for this column, but for some reason the video has embedding disabled. Ah well — it’ll probably serve to continue the impression that I have anything resembling good musical taste. Oh no, wait… So the clue’s in the name really: How did you get started playing WoW ? I was never really a big gamer before — not to this extent, anyway. My brother and I had gotten an Amiga 500 as young kids, and we played a lot of a game I think was called Commander Keen and various others. Then, inevitably, we got Game Boys, and Zool was my favorite thing in the world. As we got into the N64, my role was mainly worker-out of puzzles, while the bits that required hand-eye coordination fell to my brother. I am consistently bad at jumping onto things in WoW ; I still have dreams about wiping my raid’s Nefarian attempts with pillar fails. I wish my brother could have stepped in for a second to do that for me. But my friends from the local pub had started talking about this WoW game. One day, while I was sitting at one of their places enjoying Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV on their Xbox while they had a break, they mentioned that I would probably really like WoW , as it was kind of similar and a good few of them played it. I thought, “Nah, why would I do that? You have to pay every month for it.” But then, bored between Christmas and New Year and feeling lonely (as I was on gardening leave and everyone else was working), I downloaded it and haven’t looked back. What got you started? Filed under: Breakfast Topics Breakfast Topic: How did you get started? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Blue Posts and Other WoW News: Transmogging, A WoW turn around
Join us every weekday evening as Today in WoW runs down all the WoW news that you could possibly want. From comments from Blizzard’s blues to the latest datamining info — we’ve got you covered. Please Note : Judge Alex Zarhym will be presiding over this week’s blue posts. Court will always be in session. Don’t forget to check out The Daily Quest and our Weekly Podcast Roundup to find out what else is going on in the WoW community. And if you have a news tip, feel free to drop us a line and let us know. Blue posts WoW news from other sites News and features from WoW Insider Links from around the web Continue reading Blue Posts and Other WoW News: Transmogging, A WoW turn around Filed under: Today in WoW Blue Posts and Other WoW News: Transmogging, A WoW turn around originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Love is in the Air customer support policy
Blizzard has posted a guide to what customer service and support can and cannot do for players during Love is in the Air , the WoW in-game holiday that runs between February 5-20. As with most in-game events like this, players will be getting exclusive items, quests, tokens, prizes, and chances and really rare items like mounts from daily bosses. These events are designed to be rare and happen only once a year, and Blizzard wants to stress (again, by design) that these titles, achievements, and other event goodies need to be acquired during the holiday. Legitimate claims to items lost with logs will be restored as normal, but Blizzard wanted to make sure people knew in advance that item purchases and achievement-related issues during this limited time event will most likely not be able to be addressed. Putting out notices like this is definitely a nice move by the community team. Many people have complained in the past of not knowing when a new event was starting in game, or that their schedules did not permit them to complete all of the necessary holiday achievements and get all of the accompanying items. For many of those, the bright-line rule is that “Blizzard wants these things to be rare” so they are rare by design. Remember: get your holiday stuff done ASAP. This is your early notice that things will most likely not be given to you if you miss the event. The full blue post after the break. Continue reading Love is in the Air customer support policy Filed under: Events , Cataclysm Love is in the Air customer support policy originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
Patch 4.3.2 hotfixes for February 2, 2012
Besides the highly publicized hotfix of the retribution paladin bug, we’ve got some other fixes that were announced tonight. Keep in mind that while most of fixes like this are usually live right away, some may require a restart or not be active immediately — so your mileage may vary. Highlights include a fix to mass dispel, no longer being able to turn off Power of the Aspects buff in the raid finder, and some Darkmoon Faire quick fixes. The full list of hotfixes as follows: Blizzard Entertainment — Patch 4.3 Hotfixes February 2 General Mass Dispel should once again dispel up to 10 friendly or enemy targets. Resilience should now properly reduce the damage over time effects for targets affected by Mind Control. Dungeons and Raids Dragon Soul Lord Afrasastrasz no longer offers the option to disable the Power of the Aspects buff in Raid Finder mode. The Spine of Deathwing Corrupted Bloods should no longer maintain threat after reconstituting themselves from residue. Events Darkmoon Faire Soothsayer’s Runes and A Treatise on Strategy should now drop from all appropriate Heroic and raid bosses. Murozond’s Temporal Cache now has a chance to contain Monstrous Egg and A Treatise on Strategy. Quests and Creatures Players who inadvertently disconnect during Tailgunner! should now find themselves able to complete the quest. Baby Crocolisks have been given tiny teething rings, and Tiny Teeth! should no longer transfer to other players. Players should no longer encounter any invisible Young Crocolisks during the quest The Pit of Scales. Items Cunning of the Cruel will now trigger its Shadowbolt Volley approximately three times as often, but will deal approximately one third as much damage. This results in the tooltip for the item being incorrect, but should moderate its burst damage in PvP. source Filed under: News items Patch 4.3.2 hotfixes for February 2, 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Scattered Shots: Frostheim’s interview with an imaginary Ghostcrawler
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery , marksmanship and survival hunters. Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Mail your hunter questions to Frostheim . This is not actually an interview with Ghostcrawler. I did not ask him any of these questions, and he did not answer with any of these answers. But in a deeper sense, a more spiritual sense, Ghostcrawler and I are two lost souls reaching for each other across the vastness of the information superhighway, each seeking that other half to fill the emptiness within us. We are platonic life partners bound by the love of the hunter experience. Because of this connection we share, this ephemeral bond, I am able to predict how he’d answer if we did in fact conduct an interview. If I happened to sit at a bar next to Ghostcrawler in the not-too-distant future and our eyes met over a glass of stout in a moment of magic, I think we can agree that everything in the following transcript is exactly as he would say it. The only thing that might possibly be different is the words. Continue reading Scattered Shots: Frostheim’s interview with an imaginary Ghostcrawler Filed under: Hunter , (Hunter) Scattered Shots Scattered Shots: Frostheim’s interview with an imaginary Ghostcrawler originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Ol’ Grumpy and the specter of pointless elitism
Ol’ Grumpy (that’s me) has a bit of a problem. He’s started tanking for pickup groups lately. I guess technically that means I have two problems, but doctors probably can prescribe some medication or something for white-hot eruptions of seething rage. I’m starting to think Neltharion was the tank for the dragon aspects’ regular 5-man group. However, my molten cauldron of hate masquerading as a soul isn’t what I came to talk to you about today. No, I’m actually here to explain what pointless elitism is and why it’s actually bad. I’ll use an example from a recent 5-man. I had signed up to tank because I wanted the goody bag of potent bribery . I admit it, I’m weak. I zoned into End Time, said hello to the mostly uncommunicative group, and started charging things, as I am wont to do. Things died, we progressed, no one pulled aggro by DoTing a mob while I was mounted and on the other side of the map — it was pretty much ideal for a pickup. Then we got to Sylvanas, killed her, and as someone looted, two of the DPSers begin savaging the third for doing less than they. I look at Skada and saw that all three of them were floating between 11k and 14k DPS overall, with this one player sinking to 7k on Sylv. They were all geared about the same — a couple of HoT pieces — so clearly, they were all there because they needed the gear. Continue reading Ol’ Grumpy and the specter of pointless elitism Filed under: Analysis / Opinion , Cataclysm Ol’ Grumpy and the specter of pointless elitism originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we discover that love is not free. Hot on the heels of the Lunar Festival comes another WoW holiday! Love is in the Air returns this year from Sunday, Feb. 5 through Sunday, Feb. 19. Personally, I can’t see too many players logging into the game on Super Bowl Sunday for the purpose of celebrating love and all its many-splendored things, but to each his own. After many tweaks to the holiday, it’s definitely one of the less annoying and RNG-riddled outings from the What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been meta. Before you ask — yep, it’s required if you’re still on the warpath for your Violet Proto-Drake . The finished holiday meta will also reward the title the Love Fool . If you’re completely new to Love Is In the Air, you’ll probably want to read our FAQ on the holiday . Otherwise, we’ll be dealing with the holiday achievements here. There are only two optional ones if you’re going for the meta, so I’ve listed all the ones you’ll need first. Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012 Filed under: Events , Achievements , The Overachiever The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Transmogrify your gear into a Thisalee Crow look-alike
Thisalee Crow is one of the new NPCs of Cataclysm , encountered in Hyjal. A member of the Druid of the Talon, Thisalee’s unique personality immediately set her apart from her fellow druids — and so does her unique set of threads. Thisalee’s a fashionable sort, whether she’s sitting quietly on the sidelines or holding a dagger to a harpy’s neck . It’s her gear that sets her apart in this case. You’re not really going to see that particular set of gear on a player character, and there are a few good reasons for that. Thisalee’s model has a few distinct characteristics that can’t be recreated with transmogrification. First off, she’s wearing a Feathered Breastplate as a shirt, with another leather chestpiece on top of it — something we can’t do at all. Secondly, those gorgeous, white leafy shoulders? Sadly, we can’t get those in game. However, that doesn’t mean Miss Crow’s look can’t be cleverly replicated with a little transmogrification … albeit in a slightly different color scheme. Continue reading Transmogrify your gear into a Thisalee Crow look-alike Filed under: Transmogrification Transmogrify your gear into a Thisalee Crow look-alike originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
