Posted on December 24th, 2009 by admin
Usually, I am the ‘perfectionist tank’ in a run. I want things to go perfectly: I want to never lose aggro, I want the DPS to all attack the proper target, I want the healer to, well, okay, I mostly just want the healer to heal us, I’m not looking for anything fancy there. As long as a healer seems to be casting healing spells I’m willing to cut her or him a lot of slack, especially in dungeons like Halls of Reflection where people often die through not moving out of giant, inky pools of blackness on the floor that they stand in as if they were instead duck ponds full of adorable baby ducklings. There are no ducklings in the fetid wells of corruption, guys.
Last night, however, I had a sort of small revelation. First and foremost, I was stressing myself way the heck out over a pick up group with four folks I was likely never to see again. Secondly, the faster you go in a PuG, the less likely perfection is to be attainable, and if four people want speed and one guy wants flawless, you’ll get very fast flaws. So that meant I’ve come up with an entirely new tanking philosophy for the new five mans, and an entirely new way to gear for them.
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Posted on December 21st, 2009 by admin
Zach is a Battlegrounds freak. Even if he doesn’t raid or quest or sell things at the auction house, he’ll make sure to get a small dose of Battlegrounds PvP to brighten up his day. You should, too. They’re like vitamins. Bloody, face-melting, honor-gaining, sword-clashing vitamins.
This little thing called patch 3.3 came out some time back, maybe you’d heard. I had planned it to be my return from an unintentionally self-imposed hiatus from hardcore play, considering that all the tools would now be in place to allow all players of all gear levels to catch up the the penultimate level of content. It was a good plan, except that a few things here and there kept me from jumping right into it when the Fall of the Lich King went live.
The new Dungeon Finder system is getting rave reviews from everyone who’s tried it. I think it’s an awesome tool — quite possibly one of the best things to happen to the game. The coolest thing about it for me is that the concept stemmed from the Battlegrounds! That’s right… the Battlegroup-wide grouping system is inspired by the way Battlegrounds get players from various realms from way back since
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Posted on December 17th, 2009 by admin
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss some of the tips and tricks to remember when raiding Icecrown Citadel.
With patch 3.3’s release last week, we saw a brand new tier of raid content released. Our mission to assassinate Arthas while he sits upon his throne has reached its conclusion. After dealing with the immediate threat of Yogg-saron’s corruption and proving ourselves in the Argent Tournament, we’ve been selected as the agents of the Lich King’s demise. We haven’t come this far to fail now!
Before we can walk in and show Frostmourne and company what’s up, we have to cut our teeth on Arthas’ doorkeepers first. The first four bosses of Icecrown Citadel are now available to tackle, and provide some of the most interesting and innovative mechanics that we’ve seen in a boss fight yet. Considering that you’ll be facing these same 4 bosses for the new few weeks, it provides a great opportunity to really learn the fights and capitalize on any tricks that will keep you alive. Read on for my
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Posted on December 14th, 2009 by admin
It was a dark and stormy night. It all started with a one drink. Isn’t that how it always goes? One tough raid is followed up with some drinks to calm the nerves. One drink leads to another and you start thinking about doing crazy things.
Crazy things like jumping into pugs using the new random dungeon finder tool.
I hadn’t done it yet myself and I know the people I’ve spoken with said they’ve had nothing but good things to say about it. But I’m a skeptic. What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen? Maybe I’ll get stuck with a party that has never done Oculus before with a tank that’s no where near defense capped. But what are the odds of that happening, right?
I’m not much of a talker when it comes to dungeon running. My job is there to heal and ensure a stable run. I enjoy the silence and the peace. One of the things I like to do is inspect people just to check them out, you know? I like to see what kind of gear players are packing. It’s not indicative of their skill, but it kind of represents the time investment they’ve spent on their character (usually, anyway).
The tank? He was sporting a nice shield
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Posted on December 10th, 2009 by admin
Blizzard poster Bornakk announced a whole batch of hotfixes and updates to issues that cropped up after the launch of Patch 3.3 earlier this evening. A few of the juicier fixes are just below, and you can find the rest behind the cut. Do note that some of these changes will require a server restart to kick in.
Running up the ramp at the end of the 3rd encounter in Halls of Reflection will no longer disconnect players.
Onyxia has settled down and is once again killable and flying in the proper areas during phase 2.
Bosses no longer respawn in the new Frozen Halls 5 player dungeon after being defeated.
Icetouched Earthragers casting Avalanche now deals appropriate damage.
The quest “Keeping the Enemy at Bay” is now completable.
Totems are no longer targeted by chain effects as intended.
The Death Knight chest piece, Scourgelord Chestguard, has been updated to reflect appropriate tanking statistics.
Emblem of Triumph quartermasters now exchanges one Emblem of Conquest for one Emblem of Triumph.
The NPC Usuri Brightcoin in Dalaran now exchanges one Emblem of Triumph for one Emblem of Frost.
Scourgelord Tyrannus now heals to full when the encounter begins.
The chance
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Posted on December 7th, 2009 by admin
Warning: This video involves some not-safe-for-work imagery. That includes a scantily clad female, as well as more artistic nudity near the end.
In order to really “get” this piece, you’re probably going to need a little back story. First, there’s this wonderful IRC channel where many of the superstars of machinima hang out. It’s a little bit random chat, it’s a little bit artist’s studio, and it’s little bit of a lot of other things.
As the story goes, about two years ago, there was a new kind of project being attempted. A handful of machinima creators decided to collaborate on a new video. The idea was that one person would work on a piece, then pass it off to the next. That person would then add their own segment, and pass it on to another.
As things sometimes happen, the collaboration was never completed. The work seemed lost. Until this past weekend, when Dopefish and Baron Soosdon were able to ferret out the whereabouts of each piece of that collaboration. And then, Dopefish uploaded the video.
This #Machinima Collaboration video includes work from Olibith, Nyhm, UncleTom, tehtaco, Telemora, Dopefish and Baron Soosdon. You
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Posted on November 30th, 2009 by admin
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.
Celestior of Mal’Ganis is the mage member of LOL YOU MAD, the 1st ranked 5v5 team on the Stormstrike battlegroup. His 2v2 team is currently ranked 19th, and his 3v3 team is ranked 56th. This all adds up to a mage that probably knows his PvP-fu.
Celestior was kind enough to talk to The Colosseum about his impression of the current season, as well as what keeps motivating him to play. Check out what he had to say behind the cut.
WoW.com: Who are your teammates right now? What’s the general plan behind your composition? What challenges does your team have? How do you prefer to run your comp?
Celestior: I play with a lot of people for fun, but my main team has been my 5s team. My teammates are Audiolol, Tommylol, Filovirus, and Cprawr.
The
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Posted on November 26th, 2009 by admin
You are cordially invited to party like a Pilgrim tonight with It came from the Blog! Here are the details:
When: 11pm EST (8pm PST, 9pm Server time) Wednesday, November 25th
Where: Meet at the Ruins of Lordaeron (Undercity) on Zangarmarsh (U.S.)
Who: Any Horde character of any level. No mounts required.
How: Ask Robinator, Robinella, Robiness or any It came from the Blog Lurker or above for an invite to the guild.
What: We will be gaining some Pilgrim’s Bounty Achievements: Food Fight!, Sharing is Caring and Pilgrim’s Paunch.
Robinator will be providing ports to each city (as long as I don’t just port myself like I did the other night), so there will be no need for mounts or flightpaths. We may have a few WoW.com bloggers join us for the fun and we also may (no guarantees) give out some loot codes. Regardless, we should have a good time filling up the tables and throwing food at each other while spamming up guildchat with Achievements.
If you have any questions about our guild, please see our FAQ. Hope to see you there!
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Posted on November 23rd, 2009 by admin
Today is November 23rd, and that means it’s the fifth anniversary of the release of World of Warcraft. That’s a long time! Especially in the high-risk world of MMOs, where a bad launch can mean your whole game is doomed, or a sudden change in gameplay can make your whole audience rear up on its hind legs at you.
Thankfully, Blizzard has made WoW a living, breathing document, a world that constantly changes and evolves to match its players, which is what makes it so accessible. Throughout dozens of patches, tiers upon tiers of raid bosses, waves of dailies, faction grinds and honor grinds, legendaries and greens, WoW has managed to keep growing and growing along with its subscriber count. And of course, you’ve been there, too. Maybe not for the whole five years like some of us, but everyone’s experienced the game in their own way.
So what about you? How long have you been with the game? What’s your favorite memory of “growing up” in WoW? Will you keep playing for another five years?
Happy anniversary, everybody. Here’s to five more!
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Posted on November 19th, 2009 by admin
My wife was watching the Cataclysm trailer last night on our TV (we’ve discovered the magical ability to stream video directly, it’s all fantastic and magical and don’t stare at me like that I know you all already knew how to do it) and turned to me with that particular look that means “I’m frustrated with something that you have no control over at all but you’re the only one in the room” which, to be fair is a look I get as well from time to time.
Her brow furrowed as the list of upcoming features for Cataclysm scrolled by.Finally, she exhorted me to discover just what had happened to customizable dances. She also forced me to do an imitation of the voice over from the trailer if it were the only way anyone could talk. “I need to go raid the bathroom of unremembered eternity ” I said in my best Chris Metzen as I considered her question. What did happen to customizable dances?
Or Stormwind Vault, for that matter? It’s been in the game files since the game launched, but we’ve never heard a peep out of the place. It looks likely we’ll get to raid Tol’Barad before we set foot inside the Vault. So now
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