Project Lore

Hey Pixiestixy, I'll tell you why there's so much rogue hate going around, and it's not because of our past deeds.  It's because of me, and other rogues like me.  I've been purposely teasing my opposing faction, the dirty Horde, with my turkified body.  Prancing, gobbling and forming Horde trains as I run freely through the floating city of Dalaran.  Once I've wasted enough of their time, often four or five people are waiting, I'll dispel the buff and allow one, and only one, person to reapply it.  Then I train then some more.  And that's if I'm feeling kind.  Let the in-fighting begin!  Nuts to them if they can't wait, I'm a gnome rogue, one of the not-so-common combinations.  They can love it or go home without the title. Yea, I am being a total jerk, but you know what, that's what they get for constantly killing me while I am farming.  I hardly everQQ about being killed, so I don't want to hear your QQ about my fowl mood.  Actually, that's what they get for allowing that warmongering Garrosh to rise the ranks, aligning himself as the next Warchief. You'll be happy to know that I am being a jerk to the Alliance as well.  In an effort to make them pay for all the gnomists (racism against gnomes) and punting jokes, I've charged for the privilege of shooting me in the face with a bunch of feathers.  If you've got 20 gold to waste, then I'll drop the buff for you.  Otherwise, you better hope to be in my guild, get in one of my heroic, or raid runs to find me sans feathers. I've got about four days left of payback, and I plan on using every minute of it to stand up for my people - the Alliance and the gnome race.  For Gnomeregan!

Welcome to The High Inquisitor, where Project Lore pokes fun at all those crazy, unexplained WoW impossibilities. While the answers to these great mysteries of Azeroth often are a matter of game mechanics, here we're less interested in that aspect, and more interested in exploring our own unique brand of lore that could happily provide explanations. Each installment, the inquisitor will attack a previously unanswered question and attempt to explain the unknown. But she won’t rest until all plausible explanations are explored. The best, most probable comment(s) will be highlighted with the next edition’s inquisition. Looks like it's time for another High Inquisition, and just in time for the Pilgrim's Bounty festivities. In commemoration of the food that we'll all be cooking and eating this week in-game, let's ask a question that may leave you wondering whether you should have actually just eaten that 37th slice of Pumpkin Pie. But first, a quick look back at the last inquisition, where we questioned whether spirit healers are inhibiting the progression of the world by bringing everyone back to life time and time again. Many of our readers seemed puzzled by my question, and for that I can only blame myself. Yes, even the High Inquisitor gets writer's block from time to time, and I don't believe I gave a solid enough example from which you all could draw your own conclusions. Here's one: The spirit healer actually is looking toward the end-game, where players have to have earned a certain amount of fighting experience (what we like to call level 80) to take down the ultimate big bad. If the spirit healer didn't bring back all those creatures that we kill along the way to that quest, then everyone else wouldn't be able kill them and also get experience. It can be a troublesome loop at times, but it works. And here's another way to phrase it, as said by Innosinned :

...So, the question remaining is, do the enemies have a Spirit Healer? We don’t really know much about Spirit Healers, I think. Maybe they only choose to resurrect those who do good in this world. Maybe we players are allowed to linger as spirits and find our bodies back, because we are needed for a future goal, like beating the Lich King or whatever comes after he is dead.

Well put, my friend! And now onward to this special, food-inspired edition. Straight to the question this time: What in the crazy world of Azeroth makes our food stay good for so long? During this week's special Pilgrim's Bounty festivities, we make a lot of food. And, as expected, leftovers can only stay good for so long. Once all your event-inspired foods are made, they only have a duration of seven days. The same was true of our Trick-or-treat goodies, too. But they are the exception to the rule in Azeroth. For some reason, be it magic, really good preservation, or otherwise, most of our food and feasts have no expiration date. Think about that Fish Feast that we all partake in before a raid. Do you really know how old it is? Who knows how long the chef may have held on to those Musselback Sculpin, Glacial Salmon and Nettlefish before combining them with Northern Spices to create that tasty (and power-boosting) feast. Once the concoction was made, how long did it sit in his bank or bags before he used it? And wouldn't you think chefs (and their bottomless bags) must really stink while carrying all that food around?! One plausible explanation: those spices - be they mild spices, northern spices, hot spices, soothing spices, holiday spices -- you get the point -- must have some kind of mystical preserving power that keeps our food delicious and safe-to-eat forever. But then what about the recipes that no longer call for said spices? Or perhaps its not the ingredients we use, but the skill with which they are prepared. Maybe those cooking trainers are a strict bunch who won't pass on their recipes unless the trainee learns the secret of how to make the food last during wartime. Whatever the case, this is one week during which we'll all have plenty of freshly-prepared food. Eat up, while you can! And while you're at it, share your own thoughts on Azerothian foods in the comments section below. Happy Turkey-time!

Remember that weird image posted on @Warcraft we told you about a couple of days ago? Well, that "stack of Ritz crackers" turned out to be the spout of a keg belonging to one very special Brewmaster: Chen Stormstout. Though his presence in the game world is relegated to a single quest involving one of his lost barrels of grog (and even then you never get to interact with him), you can now have a Pandaren of your very own by ordering the new deluxe figurine straight off of Blizzard's website.

The first pandaren collectible ever!  Capturing the elusive (and world-celebrated) Chen Stormstout for the first time in 3D, the Pandaren Brewmaster Deluxe Action Figure is a limited edition, one-of-a-kind Blizzard online store exclusive!  This premium-sculpted piece stands at a colossal 8", features Chen's signature bamboo Bo staff and Brewmaster's keg and comes packaged in a 4-color, spot UV collectors window box. Art Directed by Blizzard Cinematic Creative Director Nick Carpenter. Exquisitely sculpted by Ray Villafane and painstakingly painted by Eddie Wires. Pandaren Brewmaster Action Figure is a limited edition opportunity and is subject to a first-come, first-serve basis for distribution.

I've got to admit, it's quite a piece of work. Exquisitely detailed (and it better be for $49.99)! Still, I can't help but ask: what's with all the Pandaren lately? Are you trying to tell us something Blizzard? It's obvious you love them, and it's obvious that the fans love them. You know, it's probably too late for any truly significant additions to be made to Cataclysm, but I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see a small Pandaren presence in the expansion, even if it was relegated to a handful of NPCs. Certainly an event as earth-shattering as Deathwing emerging into the world would be enough to rattle their homeland of Pandaria, as well. Anyway, as awesome as the figure looks, I think it might be a little too expensive for my blood (though its a pittance for what "collectible figurines" would cost you in certain circles). But I'm sure some of you already have your credit cards out, so let us know if you plan on buying one! Do remember that this is a limited edition figure, so you better act fast!

Pilgrim's Bounty started, and I may as well ought to have had a target plastered onto my face. No rogues in Azeroth are safe! All are being hunted! Take shelter -- run for your lives!! Okay, so I'm being a little overly dramatic. But that's what it felt like -- that this whole Turkey Lurkey achievement has turned the World of Warcraft against rogues, encouraging players to "Blast those dirty, sneaking Rogues with your Turkey Shooter." Sure, we're sneaky. That's kind of the point. But dirty? Seriously!? On Sunday, I decided to revolt. I went into stealth as often as possible to avoid getting turkey-fied. Which was difficult while achievement hunting, considering that I cannot cook or eat from a feast table while in stealth. But I couldn't do anything in peace. I don't think I went 5 minutes without getting shot in the back while amongst the masses. Even my own guildies turned on me during 25-man Ulduar raid night. It appears that some players have a lot of pent up rage against rogues - perhaps for being stun-locked one too many times (not that I'm any good at achieving said stun-lock, but I've had it done against me, too). Then, upon completing my cooking achievements for the day, I had a moment of horror as I came to a certain realization: If I want the Pilgrim title, I, too, must take aim with my turkey shooter and morph my fellow rogues into gobbling critters. Monday, I decided to take a new approach when I saw a freshly-created level one troll rogue dancing just outside of the Horde area in Dalaran, happily getting turned into a turkey again and again, and dispelling the effects quickly so the next person could also take a shot. Horde and Alliance toons alike were invited to fire their rounds, and they bowed in thanks in return. This, I can deal with. I joined in, and soon we had a pretty good group going. My own blood elf, the troll and even a dwarf, gnome and night elf joined in to the fun at one point. We danced, we each got in our own shots on a willing party, and we did our good deed for the day by taking hits from the passers-by. I don't mind so much when I'm so obviously on display as a shooting target. When done the right way, it feels less like rogue hate. And more like rogue love. So to all you rogue-hunters out there, a simple request: a simple /bow or /thanks goes a long way. I'll take a hit for the gracious and polite any day. How far along is everyone else in your efforts for the Turkey Lurkey achievement, and overall Pilgrim achievement?

Today I PvP just about as much as I did several years ago, which is to say not very much at all. But I did partake in the occasional Battleground and earned myself the meager rank of Sergeant before the ability to do so was taken away in Burning Crusade. Sure, the Arena system has its own set, but I know I can't be the only one out there who misses the chance to win titles for good old "regular" PvP. Plus, you could get access to some pretty cool loot in the process! [caption id="attachment_8767" align="alignright" width="300" caption="You should be able to earn all sorts of things through rated Battlegrounds, but this badge for peace is certainly not one of them!"][/caption] Blizzard has apparently been listening, and stated today on the official forums that they might just be bringing them back with the rated Battleground system being introduced in the expansion. According to Zarhym in a series of posts:

In Cataclysm, we plan to make the old PvP titles available based on your performance in our upcoming rated Battleground system, similar to the current Arena titles which are based on your performance in the Arenas. Keep in mind, however, that Cataclysm is still relatively early in the development stages and this information is subject to change. We'll have more on the rated Battleground system and associated rewards in the months ahead... I'm going to clarify my original post, as I don't believe it's been decided yet whether they'll be purchased with Arena points or Honor points, or if a specific Battleground rating is the only requirement to unlock them. There are no plans to make these titles available for real-world money...

Of course, some of the quote-unquote "old" PvP community was up in arms over this revelation. And for what reason? We've been hearing this excuse a lot lately: because Blizzard is dumbing down the game. But Zarhym insists that the only reason titles were taken away initially was because the system used for earning them was archaic and largely championed time spent over skill. He assures us that this will not be the case with rated Battlegrounds:

We feel they're going to fit well with the new rated Battleground system. The titles were previously earned through a very cumbersome experience that didn't necessarily measure a player's PvP skill. With a new system for measuring performance in the Battlegrounds, we feel it's a good fit to award the honor titles to those who excel. We do not intend for the top titles to be earned in a trivial manner. It's going to be quite hard to get High Warlord or Grand Marshal; and not because it's going to require that someone plays in the Battlegrounds more than everyone else on their realm each week, but because it's going to require a very impressive win/loss ratio.

To me, it sounds like a bunch of whining from people who think their prestige will be hurt when their "unobtainable" titles suddenly become attainable again and, shock and awe, by people who may have only started playing in the last couple of years. I'm not a fan of making things easier on players either (more fun or more convenient, sure), but I also know how to appreciate skill and if what Zarhym says is true, then it will be hard, if not more difficult to earn titles than it used to be. I think those that are complaining are just afraid they won't be able to turn it into a pure timesink again. Regardless of my perspective, I think this would be a wonderful thing to add back into the game. Maybe it's just because I've been playing an awful lot of Modern Warfare 2 lately, but I wouldn't mind sporting a nice, shiny rank next to my name to show off how awesome I am! What about you readers? How do you feel about the prospect of PvP titles coming back? Did you participate in the system originally?

BlizzCon 2009 was full of surprises, some little, some known and some huge.  One of the little ones was the announcement that players in PUGs would be rewarded for helping out strangers.  It was a great idea, in fact, it was such an obvious idea that there was a collective "Why didn't I think of that" among the crowd. It's simple really, leading a PUG is an arduous task in management.  You have to gather random players of the right classes, organize them into suitable groups, deal with the wipes that are often associated with the mish-mash of a group and waste tons of time.  All of these headaches for the shot at a reward, and that's if things go well.  If they go poorly you'll be marked as failure.  It'll be your fault that the raid failed.  It isn't quite lose-lose, but you can't get much closer. What better way to get more people leading and participating in PUGs than with rewards?  That's exactly what Blizzard plans to do in Patch 3.3, offering the Perky PUG as one of the (hopefully) many rewards available to the altruistic gamers among us. I am absolutely loving the recent influx of highly diverse and well executed pets.  Good to finally discover why Dalaran's carpets stink.

Protip is a weekly short video segment. Check back every Monday for a new guide or tip. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne for notifications of new videos! Today, I snag Turkinator, Pilgrim's Paunch, Pilgrim's Progress, and Now We're Cooking.

Couple of other tips:

• Consider picking up some Tracker Snacks. They will show Wild Turkeys on your minimap.
• You cannot mail Pilgrim's Bounty food to alts. Conjured items cannot be mailed.

Tomorrow, we'll finish off the Pilgrim's Bounty series. Stay tuned!

The release of Icecrown Citadel dungeons and raids via Patch 3.3 may still be weeks away, but the development team is already starting to ramp up promotion of the upcoming challenges.  This past weekend, perhaps as part of the WoW Fifth Anniversary celebration, WoW Europe posted an interview with Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton and Lead Systems Designer Greg Street (also known as Ghostcrawler) about the climax to Wrath of the Lich King. I took the liberty of pulling out some of what I found to be some of the most interesting questions and answers, and also highlighting in bold some of the key statements which may (or may not) answer some of our questions about WotLK. As Amatera pointed out in his recent post about MMOzine's interview with Ghostcrawler, some of the information is a lot of what we already know. But some of the hints sprinkled throughout could also point to a little bit beyond that. If you want to read the full interview, make sure to check out the official site where its posted. Also check out the still-in-development ICC Bosstiary, which also just made its debut. Let's jump right into the interview, which touches on topics such as loot, inspiration for aspects of the dungeons, item abilities, a new faction and tier-10 gear: What were you looking forward to most about developing Icecrown Citadel?

Cory: I think the most exciting thing about developing Icecrown Citadel was just knowing that we were working on the final chapter of the Northrend expansion, and that we'd really be able to give players that ultimate sense of completion of the storyline. Arthas is a huge character in Warcraft lore, so we took a lot of pride in making this the best experience we possibly could. Icecrown and the Frozen Throne are important parts of the world of Azeroth and have quite a bit of history, especially for longtime Warcraft players. How do you convey the significance of these places and the events that took place there in design? Cory: History was a large factor in the design of Icecrown Citadel from the very beginning. When we first sat down to discuss the layout of the raid itself, we immediately went back to Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne to think about how the spire from the ending cinematic could be translated into World of Warcraft. We decided to actually build Icecrown Citadel around the original spire to pull players even more into the storyline. This kind of thinking carried on throughout the entire design process. Greg: We want Icecrown to be an epic experience from top to bottom, and that includes the loot you get. We're not going to shower players in items -- well, more than we already do -- but we do want to make sure the items are sufficiently powerful so that they're upgrades for all of our players.

Is there an existing model in World of Warcraft for Icecrown Citadel's itemization or style of play? What lessons that you'd learned from earlier projects wound up being applied to Icecrown Citadel?

Greg: The nice thing about Icecrown Citadel from an itemization perspective is that we have lots of bosses. That's something of a relief coming from the Crusaders' Coliseum, where we had only five bosses. For Icecrown, we can afford to have multiple options for a particular slot -- say a healing leather bracer or a melee trinket -- and even itemize some of the more unusual pieces. We have a pretty effective system for figuring out who is going to drop what to make sure that an individual boss will be interesting to a variety of players in terms of loot. Most of our lessons learned are in the realm of what differences there should be between 10- and 25-player itemization, the role of tradeskill recipes, and what kinds of items to place with badge vendors. Cory: I think we learn lessons from every raid that we do. We didn't model Icecrown specifically after any of our previous raids, but you can definitely see influences. For example, we have a winged structure in Icecrown that players will remember from Naxxramas. Another example of an influence would be the teleporters from Ulduar. We know that players really loved that concept, so we brought it back in Icecrown.

What sorts of new loot and item abilities will we see in Icecrown?

Greg: There are three main sources of loot for Icecrown: the bosses themselves, the Emblem of Frost badge vendors, and a new faction, the Ashen Verdict, that will provide suitable rewards as well, particularly at the Exalted level. As far as the items themselves go, we want them to feel epic. In addition to having favorable optimization, we also want to try a lot of experiments to make the items feel cool and unique. We are going to try to do a lot of weapon procs, for instance, which is something we haven't done much since the original World of Warcraft.

Do you itemize Icecrown's "trash" -- the enemies between bosses -- differently from elites elsewhere in the world elsewhere?

Greg: We make sure there is epic trash loot -- specific items that only drop from trash. It helps keep players interested between bosses. However, we aren't doing Heroic trash, just Heroic bosses, so there won't be unique trash loot for Heroic versions of the 10- and 25-player versions of the raid. We try to construct the trash in such a way that it isn't trivial to go farm the first pull or whatever in hopes that an epic drops. We make our raids more accessible now in general, so I'm not sure the motivation is there to try stunts like that the way it once was. We want players who have raided so far in Wrath of the Lich King to be able to actually fight the Lich King, so chances are a lot of raiders will have plenty of opportunities to gear up. Now, the Heroics are another story -- those will be as challenging as they were in Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader, and the items will likewise be even better.

What have you done to make the tier-10 sets feel like a meaningful advancement from tier 8 and tier 9? How do they visually represent Icecrown's lore and history?

Greg: Not only do we want them to be a meaningful advancement, but we want them to feel really awesome. This is Arthas loot you're talking about. We started by spending a lot of time on the concept art to make sure it tied into the type of creatures you'll encounter and the whole Icecrown art "kit" in general. For example, the rogue tier-10 set has a strong geist look to it, while the hunter set has strong Nerubian elements, and the mage set looks a lot like the Blood Princes. You can see the Icecrown look and feel in a lot of pieces, which itself drew strongly from the Lich King's original helmet. Look for lots of blue, ice, skulls, and spikes. We have also spent a lot longer on the set bonuses than we usually do. It's important that they feel awesome for every class and spec. Going back to the Crusaders' Coliseum, part of the challenge we made for ourselves was to create an instance that didn't require as much time or resources as Ulduar to develop, yet was still cool. We had set bonuses for the tier-9 gear, but they were often simple -- more crit on a common ability was a typical one. For tier 10, we're really going for set bonuses that change your game up a little. At the very least, you should want to change your rotation a little, though this is easier with some classes than others.

Icecrown is the last major raid and dungeon before the release of Cataclysm -- how has that affected the design?

Greg: The major challenge from an itemization perspective is that the items have to last basically until Cataclysm. That means we can't afford to give them away too quickly, but they also need to feel powerful enough that players are motivated to keep trying for them. On the other hand, the really fun thing about doing a final raid tier is how it unties your hands. We can afford to make these items great because nothing needs to follow on their heels. It's cool to be able to optimize the items very well, because it's okay if players don't want to replace these items for a long time. Cory: We are really pushing as hard as we can to deliver the most epic experience possible. We know that our players have been waiting for this for a long time, and we plan to deliver. Everyone should expect to see this sort of storytelling and attention to detail in Cataclysm as well. I think we are always striving to pull the people who play our game into the storyline and really give them an explanation for why they're there. It won't be too long before they'll get a chance to bring the pain to Deathwing!

Well there's the core of the interview, folks, and a quite interesting one in my opinion. The gear, especially, is starting to sound more and more drool-worthy. Who else can't wait to jump in?

[caption id="attachment_8732" align="alignright" width="354" caption="Should Of Learned It 400+ Days Ago..."][/caption] Logic has done it to me again.  And by it, I mean making me look like a complete moron (I lack a brain).  During my last PTR run I learned something that I really should have known for over a year.  A simple, small detail pertaining to World of Warcraft's itemization.  Hell, I've played along side it, seen it in action, even inspected those geniuses who figured it out, but the synapse never fired.  The light bulb never turned on.  I never knew that you can put any color gem in any color slot (meta and prismatic aren't colors). I was late to the last PTR run so I was rushing to get my gear all settled.  Due to time constraints, I asked another party member which gems I should create and was told to fill everything with haste and spell power.  "Wait, in all of the slots?" I asked.  I imagine he rolled his eyes and nodded his head as he nonchalantly said yes.  "You...you can do that?" I stammered, completely unaware that Blizzard allows you to break the color coding (how dare Blizzard!). Seriously, how dare the designers allow such an atrocity.  That's like letting a kindergartner hit the square block through the round hole.  It doesn't work that way!  It's blasphemy, sacrilege, desecration!  My world is shattered.  Up is now down, left is topwise and right is cornerwise.  Jon & Kate might as well be divorced.  I'm lost.  Dejected.  Stupefied at my oversight. No wonder Rawr kept telling me to decorate Solidsamm with Delicate Cardinal Rubies.  I...just assumed it was wrong.  Pretty sure that assumption just made an ass of me.  Time to go poke my brain with a Q-Tip. Needless to say, I dropped badges, honor and cold hard gold on regemming Solidsamm and Solidsagart to cover for my stupidity.  Hopefully my story allows for someone else to come to the realization that nothing in WoW has to be logical, before it bites them in the rump. Note: You'll negate any socketing bonus if you fill the slots with incorrect colors.

Blizzard has been doing a fantastic job of releasing content for WoW's 5th Anniversary. From the Onyxia encounter, the mini-pet, and the various interviews around the web, the WoW team has been celebrating the 5th anniversary in a big way.

Click through to see the interview

Their latest entry was a legnthy video retrospective and interview with a large portion of the WoW team. A bunch of the big names are there: Jeff Kaplan, Alex Afrasiabi, Chris Metzen, Rob Pardo, Greg Street, Tom Chilton, and dozens more. There isn't really any new information, but its a great anecdotal account of 5 years of World of Warcraft development. I really enjoy the dialogue that Blizzard is promoting. I really like the idea of Blizzcast and hopes it becomes a more regular thing. Hop on over to worldofwarcraft.com and check it out!