Project Lore

[caption id="attachment_6007" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Deathwing: The New Year's Baby to the Lich King's Dying, Old Man."][/caption] As I sit here, deep in the Central Time Zone of the United States, I know that some parts of the world have already crossed over the invisible threshold into the waiting arms of a brand new year. It's still kind of depressing on this end, what with all the famous deaths and seemingly endless problems plaguing our tiny, blue marble. Maybe you people from the future are already reporting a brighter, more promising life ahead. Those of us still in 2009 could use a little bit of your tangible optimism, because the only brand we'll experience until the clock strikes twelve is that of an empty bottle of champagne. However, for us gamers, us World of Warcraft players, at least one bright spot beckons from beyond the horizon: 2010 is the year of Cataclysm. Where we might think our troubles can't get any worse, the denizens of Azeroth are in for one of the biggest world-shaking events they've ever experienced. Their planet is about to be torn asunder and thrown into another veritable dark age of destruction and strife. With disaster also comes a chance for rebirth. Sure, players will get to experience a whole new world with limitless possibilities; new races, new zones, new dungeons, new paths of progression are all part of the usual package. But there is also the possibility of starting again. Maybe that means something as simple as creating a fresh alt to experience the new leveling process, or something more meaningful, like finally revisiting the game after writing it off so long ago. Perhaps you'll even bring in a few new friends to experience it with, too. I fully expect the population to surge the day that Cataclysm lands on shelves. Let's not beat around the bush: patch numbers aside, this is effectively World of Warcraft 2.0. Never has a revamp this large been attempted in a game before without calling it a sequel. In the more immediate future, we will face and finally defeat the dreaded Lich King. This represents the culmination of a storyline nearly eight years in the making. Those worried that Deathwing will not make as effective a villain should take note that the world's conflict with him is significantly older! But it is nonetheless important for these events to transpire. Blizzard can, once and for all, collectively move the story forward into new and exciting territory. And that is what will make 2010 such a fantastic year for World of Warcraft. I'm already giddy about it! Aren't you? I think it's safe to say that we'll all be indulging in the expansion, but do you have any other resolutions for the next year of WoW? Do you plan on coming back to the game after a long hiatus? Do you have any unmet goals you finally want to complete? How about finishing content or achievements that might disappear with the launch of patch 4.0? Personally, I foresee great things for my guild. It's a good one, no doubt, but I also know that we can be so much better. I'm aiming for realm (or at least faction) firsts in the expansion. And with a swelling roster of capable folks, I think 2010 is the year of Severance Pay! Of course, last year saw the near death of the guild over the summer months, but hopefully a timely release of Cataclysm will stave off the mid-year woes this time around. So please, we're eager to hear your resolutions and expectations for World of Warcraft in 2010.

[caption id="attachment_9406" align="alignright" width="300" caption="How about we find someone that is both?"][/caption] My 2009 World of Warcraft career can easily be summed up in two words, guild hopping.  Since the Year of the Ox began I have been a raiding member of four guilds, and another while everyone was still leveling.  To me, the act of switching that often is sacrilege, but fleeting guild experiences have become the norm.  With Wrath of the Lich King's introduction of 10- and 25-man raids, an easier badge system, and now the Dungeon Finder, guilds have become neigh replaceable by PUGs.  The changes have lead me to experience the gauntlet of raid leader types since the Alliance and the Horde decided to take the Lich King's threat head on.  From the best-friend to the belittling asshole, I've dealt with them all in 2009.  The main concern is that the best, and who is the most fun to play with tend to be two different answers. Without question the most productive guild I have been a part of is my current one.  We cleared ICC 25-man the second day, the guild drops ToGC like it's Naxxramas and TotC is done with alts.  Everyone is geared out the wazoo - I was only accepted because two members vouched for me - with the best enchants, full epic gems and Rawr checking all being required.  By required I don't mean you'll be sat.  The GM and officers are no where near that lenient, opting to outright kick players who fall behind in the slightest.  The guild demands perfection, something I actually prefer, but the raid leader I've largely dealt with is wearing on me.  I've yet to screw up, but the constant stream of swears, belittling of other members and his power complex is getting to me.  I am still having fun, but that is due to the competitive nature among the rogues and the progression itself, not from the guild atmosphere. It's amazing to me that so many people will deal with these attitudes for the sake of progression and loot.  Although I am being hypocritical at the moment, I know there will come a time in the near future where I snap and attempt to find another guild.  Hopefully by then one of the guilds I was in that collapsed will return, because they made the game truly enjoyable. The two guilds I am thinking of brought everyone together for the singular purpose of downing 10-man content.  In the end, the limited progression was their downfall - players kept leaving because 25-man runs couldn't be fielded every week - but that's a story for another day.  The officers and GMs made a concentrated effort to help everyone, to make everyone feel welcome and to teach each other about the game.  They had no qualms with accepting an undergeared friend of a member and spending hours gearing them up for the next raid. Or going over how to use Rawr with everyone, or even encounters that everyone should have known.  Because of the supportive, rather than deconstructive nature, of the guild, member retention was 100% for a core group of raiders. It was the few people constantly leaving for greener pastures, read gear, that lead to their ultimate downfall.  Rather than member burnout, the guild's leadership was burned out from helping so many people, only to see them leave.  The rest of us weren't members, but friends.  Friends that stay in touch even though our toons are spread across the server now. Obviously, the perfect scenario would be a blending of the two.  A raid leader who can lay down the law and get everyone to perform at their peak, while still managing to forge a friendly and helpful community.  The attributes aren't mutually exclusive, and yet they remain almost impossible to find. Has anyone had better luck than I?  How many guilds have you gone through this year?

Protip is short video series with various tips and guides. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne for notifications of new videos!

Protip 5 features the achievement BB King. I invade the Alliance cities and whip out my BB gun on the Alliance leaders. FOR THE HORDE!

Protip is short video series with various tips and guides. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne for notifications of new videos!

 

Today on Protip, we grab the achievement 'Tis the Season by collecting winter clothes from the Nexus, tailoring, and leatherworking.

"y u do this?"

Halls of Reflection measures up as the hardest heroic by most people's standards. You may have heard of tanking in the nooks behind the bosses Falric and Marwyn for the first encounter, but an entirely new "strategy" has come to light for the second encounter that completely trivializes it. Called the "ledge" trick, players simply allow the Lich King to run past them before the encounter starts. The Lich King will continue forward, but the armies he raises will simply backtrack toward your group. You will have as much time as you need to kill the mobs. The time limit of Arthas approaching is really the important part of this encounter, so I imagine this makes the encounter really easy. Additionally, the mobs have different spawn and run speeds, so they are spread out even more and can be taken down nigh individually. However, most people agree that this is considered an exploit and players should not to attempt it. Unlike tanking behind the walls near the bosses, which was an intentional design decision, this is very clearly a bug. No Blizzard designer would intentionally make an encounter that becomes completely silly and pointless with strange player positioning. That being said, are you going to risk the warnings and try it since it is quickly becoming ubiquitous?

I've only gotten into dungeons and raids since the release of WotLK, in the age of brute-force smashing your way through groups of elites, without much planning or group coordination beyond who tanks and who heals. Alright, maybe it's not exactly that cut and dry, but crowd control definitely hasn't been as huge of a deal in WotLK as it once was. That last couple of weeks have changed that. If you still want to power your way through a group of five or six elites in the halls of Icecrown Citadel, you'd better be ready to take a beating. If you want to play smart, it's time for you to dig deep into that old bag of tricks and pull out some crowd control. Let's start in the new heroics. The Forge of Souls has several challenging pulls of four to five mobs at once. And they hit -- hard. The Soulguard Adepts particularly can be a pain in the butt with a combination of Shadow Bolts and Drain Life. They're humanoid, so you have CC options aplenty, depending on what classes you have in your group. That also can make the pulls trickier for those AoE-happy groups that could inadvertently pull the mob out of its CC, so be careful of that. The FoS still is pretty easy to power through without the use of CC. But that gets a bit harder toward the end of the Pit of Saron, as you near the final gauntlet before confronting Scourgelord Tyrannus. Two particularly nasty pulls involve taking on five elites at once -- two Ymirjar Flamebearers, two Wrathbringers and a Deathbringer. An effective tactic my priest-heavy groups have been employing is shackling the Flamebearers, who do some heavy AoE damage that can be hard to heal through, and saving them to kill one at a time after the other three mobs. After killing those two groups of five, use the same tactic with the next two big pulls. CC one of the casters if possible, AoE down the big group away from him, then switch your attention once again. Effective, and usually less painful. Unfortunately, CC is tough to pull off in waves of mobs within Halls of Reflection. Especially in heroic, you'll just need a good group - a tank that can employ line of sight and hold aggro, dpsers that can focus fire down targets and keep their composure as the Lich King pursues, and a healer that can keep up with the massive damage everyone will be taking. That's all (whew). The most fun so far for me with CC has been in the first wing of Icecrown Citadel. The spider mobs between Lord Marrowgar and Lady Deathwhisper once again pull in big groups, and with groups of 10 or 25 players, you should have plenty of CC options at your disposal. Unfortunately, I haven't yet cleared past the deathwhisperer (like the ghost whisperer but better) -- so you'll have to let me know where else CC comes in handy. Have fun with it. And make sure to use that rogue to disarm traps! (Another rarely-used ploy in the WotLK's play book). So if you didn't play your class in Vanilla WoW, make sure to take another look through your skills. You may find something really useful that until now you've never used before. Has anyone else also been pulling out crowd control tactics for the new Patch 3.3 content? Are you happy to see it make a comeback?

[caption id="attachment_9363" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Official Maga, eh?"][/caption] One of the most unexpected things to come out of BlizzCon 2009 had to be the revelation of an official World of Warcraft magazine.  With many flavors of print media dieing off, magazines, newspapers, etc, the introduction of an all-new property was unexpected, to say the least.  I know quite a few people that outright laughed at the prospect of a new gaming magazine, let alone one dedicated to a single game.  But this is WoW we are talking about, and Future Publishing is banking on that. Even though most of my writing is of the digital sort, I maintain a soft spot for magazines, books, and newspaper.  There's something special about a presentation that isn't procedurally generated.  One that is designed, from scratch, to flesh out the meaning of an article or highlight the important details.  You also cannot deny the appeal of picking something up because the cover perked your interest.  How many times have you picked up your friends laptop from the coffee table because the Yahoo frontpage intrigued you? The very notion of an official WoW magazine intrigued me, so I hunted down Future's booth, signed up for a two-year commitment and scored a murloc plushie as a reward.  I then proceeded to chew Dan Amrich's ear off for more than an hour.  He was passionate about the project, and more than willing to talk to the public (or press) about the upcoming product.  To hear him tell it, the WoW magazine is to be a rebirth of gaming journalism, focusing on thenitty gritty aspects of this massive game with top notch production (thick glossy paper!) and writing.  It won't try to compete with the fast-paced Internet hubs like WoW.com, MMO -Champion.com or ProjectLore.com.  Instead the magazine is to leverage it's official connection to Blizzard, and a longer stewing time to produce pieces that would be interesting to any Warcraft lover.  The premium price of $69.95 for the two-year commitment also means that it will be ad free, although I honestly can't see it staying that way for long. Dan Amrich sold me.  I was pumped over the prospect of having something to read while I drop the kids off at the pool.  Then he left, bringing his talent full circle to Activision itself, and causing some concern. Future stated right away that the magazine was still coming, and has now made good on that promise with a lengthy preview (there is more content in the preview than most magazines have in total) and some attractive cover art.  It's doubtful that the inaugural issue will make it in 2009, but if the preview is anything to go by, Amrich's vision is still well intact. You will not be able to pick this bad boy up in newstands or your local Borders.  It is subscription only, just like WoW.

Protip is short video series with various tips and guides. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne for notifications of new videos!

Protip continues our Winter Veil coverage. Today, I open presents and grab the achievement Simply Abominable for killing the Greench.

[caption id="attachment_9345" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="This is where his rogue hopes to be soon."][/caption] In an effort to continue our series on what makes Project Lore tick, I managed to pin down Amatera.  Before he could squirm his way to freedom and return to blue hunting and forum trolling I assaulted him with a handful of questions.  Between his tantrums and gasping for breath, he obliged to answer. Project Lore: We know where your name came from, but why did you start playing WoW in the first place? Amatera: Well, it's a bit of a fuzzy story. Though I purchased the game at release, I've actually "started" playing twice. The first was at launch, of course. At the time, I was really into Final Fantasy XI, and from everything I'd read about the game indicated that World of Warcraft was big on the instant gratification. If you think WoW was hardcore back then (compared to what it is now), then you clearly weren't coming off of playing other MMOs. Simple things like leveling up off of quests just wasn't part of the equation! But I loved Blizzard's work and the lore was a draw, so I decided to take a brief hiatus from Final Fantasy XI and check it out. I think I got to about...level 28 or so, and made the (admittedly premature) decision that it was just too easy for me. About nine months later, long after I had stopped playing FFXI as well, I found out that my new roommate played with a raiding guild at the level cap and decided that, with some close friends playing, it might be time to jump in again. The experience was much smoother the second time around and, eager to raid, I was determined to join them for the end-game content. Though guilds have come and gone, and I've taken a couple short breaks, I don't think I've entertained entirely quitting since. In the end, it was Final Fantasy XI that I couldn't go back to. Despite pretensions of being "hardcore," Warcraft proved to be a hell of a lot more fun. PL: What's your main right now? Amatera: It is, and always has been my female troll rogue, Amatera. PL: For the Horde or Alliance? Amatera: FOR THE HORDE! I'm entertaining the thought of starting up a Worgen character in the next expansion, but I can't say I've had a whole lot of fun playing on the Alliance side no matter how many times I try. PL: Do you have any in-game infatuations, ie mount/pet collecting, AH farming, etc? Amatera: Quite simply, raiding. And raiding accomplishments. It's the nexus of World of Warcraft, where the gameplay and lore come to a head (in my opinion, the most essential parts of the game). I do everything else sort of half-heartedly. I'll engage in other activities when I'm bored, but I never feel truly driven to become the best at it like I do with raiding. PL: What is your favorite dungeon?  What about raid? Amatera: Favorite dungeon? That's a tough one... I'm tempted to say the trio of Icecrown Citadel 5-mans, but for all the pomp and circumstance, they still feel remarkably neutered. I think I'd have to go with an old world dungeon like Blackrock Depths. It's amazing how it feels bigger and more complete than even the latest raid dungeons, even if it's not nearly as streamlined. Determining my favorite raid is quite a bit easier. Hands down, it's got to be Zul'Aman. ZA is such a tightly-constructed 10-man experience, with a great set of bosses, and the timed reward structure made it very replayable (the shorter reset timer didn't hurt, either). Even with high-value productions like Ulduar, you get tired of slogging through it week after week. Zul'Aman, in contrast, has always remained fun. PL: What do you spend most of your time on in Azeroth? Amatera: Once again, raiding. But I've made a good deal of friends in game, primarily the officer core of my guild (of which I'm a member). We spend a lot of time screwing around in officer chat when there's nothing else to do. PL: Do you have a favorite WoW story? Amatera: Not a single experience, per se, but a bit of a lesson learned. When I joined my second guild (after the first one collapsed), I quickly realized how bad of a player I was. I mean, I was a good member and all; I signed up for events, attended on time, and generally tried not to cause any drama.  But I didn't realize at the time that good behavior wasn't enough to get me into the latest raids, and I idly wondered why I wasn't getting invited to participate. Well, here I was on a Subtlety rogue trying to play with the big boys. Once I got over my own stubbornness and naivety, I decided the best thing to do was to, well, improve. I started looking up things on the internet, figuring out what gear I needed to get, and changed my spec to Combat (which was in style at the time). My DPS shot through the roof and, in no time, there I was sitting at the "Adult Table." Now an officer of the same guild, this is the parable I tell to any member who isn't playing up to par or wonders, like I did, why they aren't getting included in things. I firmly believe that every player has the potential to be a great one, as long as they come to realize they're not nearly as good as they think they are. PL: Ever quit the game?  If so, why, and what sucked you back in? Amatera: As I said above, I wasn't very enchanted with WoW the first time around. When I started playing again, it was with the prospect of joining a community and engaging in end-game content. Of course, getting to experience a lot more of the game (in terms of zones, quests, and other such ephemera) helped, too. PL: What aspect of WoW does Blizzard need to attend to the most? Amatera: You know, I come off as rather ambivalent to Blizzard's recent approach to the game; the whole "catering to casual players thing." But deep down I want things to be ball-bustingly hard again. I want to get put through the ringer every time I engage a new raid boss, and I want people to put in a lot more effort to get the greatest rewards in the game. The margin for hardcore players, though still there, has become razor thin. And I don't say this as a particularly hardcore player. Though I have always been a part of progression raiding guilds, I've never been privy to experiencing the latest content until quite recently. I don't think we ever fully completed a dungeon past Gruul/Magtheridon in Burning Crusade. Sure, we had our hands in a few different pots, but we never could get the cookie at the bottom of any one of them before patch 3.0 hit. It sucked not being able to make it as far along as we had hoped, but the farther your mouth is from the old carrot on the sick, the more delicious it seems. Having so much content to look forward to at the level cap made the game seem endless. Now, it's easy to have the latest raid on farm in a matter of a couple weeks. The other thing they need to work on is the 1-60 game, but that's clearly being redone in Cataclysm. PL: You've become known for your timely reporting on the latest WoW news.  How do you manage to stay so up-to-date on such a wide variety of WoW topics? Amatera: Mainly not having a whole lot else to do! Project Lore is my only gig right now, so I've got to make that one count. Finding the news is really a matter of efficiently using your resources and contacts. PL: Do you have a favorite post of your own?  What about the other bloggers? Amatera: I don't have any particularly favorite post, but I wrote more analytical pieces when I first started. Those can be draining when compared to relaying the news, and I've found that my priorities often don't match up with those of our audience.  At the same time, they can be rewarding and educational.  I think I'm at my best (and have the most fun) when I'm trying to predict the future! I'm not one to play favorites with my fellow bloggers, either, but any post discussing lore is cool with me. It lives up to the name of the site and with Warcraft having such a rich backstory, there's always something interesting to talk about. Once again, trying to figure out where Blizzard is going to take the plot in the future is entertaining to puzzle out. PL: What do you to unwind from WoW? Amatera: Mostly play console games. There are a lot of good ones out there and it's nice, at least every once in awhile, not to be shackled by raid schedules or have anyone else relying on your in-game performance! PL: Adios? Amatera: So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night! /me releases his co-worker.

Wait! Stop! Did you feel that?! Players all over Azeroth are asking each other this same question as minor tremors begin to rock their screens all over the world. But what's causing them? Reports have cited earthquakes where they don't normally occur and with no over-sized Hunter pets or other big baddies in sight (think Fel Reavers or the Giants in Howling Fjord). The cause is currently theorized to be unseen mobs called "Shakers." Some players managed to spot, or at least target them, back when 3.3 was still on the Patch Test Realm, and even though they have long since become undetectable again, they were found in areas that are currently experiencing the tremors. Of course, they're more like widgets than NPCs, special markers used to tell the game to use a certain special effect within a specific area for a set amount of time. You aren't supposed to see them! All this begs the question, though: why are they just now becoming active? The most obvious explanation is that they're part of the early setup for a Cataclysm-related world event. Shivers turn into shakes and eventually into full-blown earthquakes as Deathwing bores his way through the dimensional plane. But the plot thickens a little bit when you realize that Blizzard already employs Shakers to warn people about flying too close over Dalaran. That these tremors mostly seem to occur around capital cities has led some to speculate that said Shakers are being implemented because players won't be able to hover over them when they gain otherwise free use of their flying mounts in the next expansion. I'm still inclined to believe this is part of the run up, though. Why implement a Dalaran-style warning system when the updated city models haven't been added to the game yet? And furthermore, in places where it shouldn't be a concern at all, like Ironforge? I suspect that tremors are happening in these areas simply because they're where the most players gather and, subsequently, where most players will notice them. After all, it wouldn't be the first of the expansion hints placed in the game. Several minor quests and NPCs have been added to help explain the new class/race combinations to be introduced in Cataclysm. Whatever the real reason for the Shakers, and the mysterious tremors they cause, might be, it's clearly with an eye towards the future and a portent for exciting things to come. Blizzard is keeping mum for now, but we'll keep you updated if any further hints are dropped. In the mean time, speculate away! Let us know what you make of these puzzling events!