Project Lore

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! Hopefully, this is the last time I will ask you to watch me cook anything. I'm rather tired of cooking.

Later today, I'll have my Turkinator guide up to continue the Pilgrim's Bounty series. Stay tuned!

[caption id="attachment_8169" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Healers rejoice! A fight just for you!"][/caption] Looks like there will be some testing during Turkey Week after all! Why so short a list? Well, according to Lead Encounter Designer Daelo, server issues prevented them from properly testing one of the encounters the previous week, so it's been moved to tomorrow (November 24th), instead. And it can be easily assumed that with the long holiday weekend coming up, the team would rather be stuffing their faces than stuffing their schedule with fruitless tests.

We are scheduling a raid test for Valithria Dreamwalker in Icecrown Citadel for November 24, since we had some server problems last week when trying to test this encounter. The schedule is as follows: US Servers Tuesday, November 24 at 7PM EST / 4 PM PST – Valithria Dreamwalker Heroic difficulties will be available for testing. The Icecrown Citadel raid test schedule will be very flexible, and can change at a moment's notice due to build status, bugs, and server issues. Remember that this is the test server, so things can, do, and will break from time to time. Check this forum for the latest Icecrown Citadel raid testing schedule information in the weeks to come.

Valithria Dreamwalker is certainly one of the most interesting fights in Icecrown Citadel so if you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, I'd recommend getting your test client up-to-date tonight so that you're all prepared for tomorrow. After all, now that we know ICC is being gated, it might be a long time before the encounter becomes available on live servers (the Frostwing Halls will be the final wing released). Edit: I'm editing the updated patch notes into this post because they're too insignificant to form a full post on their own. In fact, there is but one lonely item:

Druid

• Eclipse: This effect will not activate again within 15 seconds of either type of Eclipse effect firing, in addition to the existing 30-second cooldown for each type of Eclipse.

Yep, that's it! A little old tweak to a a Druid skill!

[caption id="attachment_8679" align="alignright" width="350" caption="He's Had As Many Two Minute Comebacks As I've Had NFL Starts"][/caption] The idea of a Monday Morning Quarterback is some who criticizes their team's quarterback from hindsight, often from the comfort of their local watercooler.  The issue so many people have with the act is that making a snap decision while under pressure (literally "under pressure" in football context) isn't the same as when someone is calm and collected.  You're stressed, distracted and under the gun.  A quarterback that can play under these adverse conditions is going places, he's going to win games, big games.  A healer with cat like reflexes under intense situations will go places as well, raids. I'm not there yet. People still die under my guard in close situations, and at least some of the blame is squarely on my play.  Not my gear, not the group and not the tank, but me.  Every time someone's player frame reads "Dead" I begin to wonder what I should have done to keep them alive.  Where in my rotation did I go wrong, and what can I do to make sure it doesn't happen again.  Should I have shielded and then healed, moved from the poison causing an interrupt, let x die to keep y alive, done an AoE heal before the targeted one?  Those are all questions I have asked myself.  If I can't figure out how I screwed up, then I am man enough to ask for help.  I don't mind that I'm inviting someone else to do some armchair quarterbacking, so long as they are helpful.  Unlike the real world version, many of the people are actually qualified (yay alts)! This is the Internet though, and that bit of perceived anonymity enables the same crazy comments that you can find at your water cooler right now to enter the digital realm.  With so much responsibility placed on my shoulders, I've found it somewhat difficulty to filter out the junk, while remaining open to the useful tips.  Just like yesterday's unlucky QBs, the hate pointed in my direction isn't needed.  It doesn't make you avoid the repair bill, it doesn't make me any better, and it doesn't make us any less wiped.  The only thing it will do is move you to my shitlist, guaranteeing that I'll heal you only when everyone else is topped off. Long time readers probably know that my priest isn't totally new, she hit level 70 during the end of The Burning Crusade, but I never had time to learn the healing ropes then (leveling instances with geared level 70s doesn't help you acquire skill).  Now it is different.  I'm playing her frequently and enjoying the new ball game.  Soon I'll be the Brett Favre of healing, but right now I feel more like Donovan McNabb.

[caption id="attachment_8703" align="alignright" width="200" caption="What in the World of Warcraft could it be?"][/caption] Something is astir at Blizzard, but they're not letting the cat out of the bag... yet, anyway. An image popped up on the Warcraft Twitter account earlier today, followed by the words "It's Coming - 11/25." Being only two days out, that means that we'll get to find out pretty soon, but that's more than enough time for the interwebs to go crazy over a mysterious picture. So what could it mean? Time to get all detective on this mother. We're going to analyze this photo so hard, it'll make Billy Bush blush! As you can plainly see, the picture is an upside-down, close-up view of several objects placed in a tableau, though not one of them seems to make any sense with the others (I suppose that's the point). And that's if we're at all correct about what the objects are in the first place:

Exhibit 1 (That Brown Thing In The Middle) -- Honestly, the best guess I've heard about this so far? A stack of Ritz crackers with peanut butter on top. I'm not sure about the peanut butter (the consistency looks a little off), but the "stack" does seem to feature the distinctive ridges on the outside of a Ritz. And down at the bottom there, it looks like a couple of the crackers have had their edges chipped off. Not on purpose, of course. Everyone who's ever eaten a pack of Ritz knows that this an incomplete cracker or two is simply part of the deal! Exhibit 2 (The Long White Thing Along The Side) -- People have speculated that this might be a length of rope or a rubber dog toy. But if it was rope, I'd expect it twine to be wound all the way around, which it isn't. As for the dog toy, they'll make just about anything into a chewable, rubberized plaything these days, won't they? Personally, I think it looks more like bone, which would be decidedly more Warcraft-y than a lot of the other guesses. Exhibit 3 (The "Surface") -- These objects are resting on something, but even what that is isn't entirely clear. The surface appears to be grey and flecked with mineral, like stone. And also like your average rock, it's not completely flat, either. There are clear indentations and curves running along the face of it. There is a flame pattern painted onto it, which a few have speculated to be the Scarlet Crusade tabard design. But that doesn't seem quite right, because the "fire" in this image is double-pronged, and the Scarlet Crusade emblem is not. Exhibit 4 (The Black Disc) -- No idea what this is. We can only see a small part of it, and it may either be attached to or laying on top of "The Long White Thing."

When whatever this is is eventually revealed, I'm sure all of these guesses will be rendered completely wrong, but it's the best we've got for the time being. The quality of the image, undoubtedly intentional, does a lot to obscure the fine details, but the last time Blizzard pulled an image puzzle like this, it resulted in a really odd purple penguin thing somehow related to the announcement of Diablo III. In that sense, it makes you wonder whether or not we'll get better or more full glimpses of these objects over the next couple of days. Likewise, the last time @Warcraft  teased anything significant, we got a preview for The Abyssal Maw. So far I've heard everything from Cataclysm Alpha (false, they never announce those, and they're highly restrictive anyway) to a 5th Anniversary birthday cake (possible?) to a teaser for the World of Warcraft movie (seems a little early, doesn't it?). The best guess I've found is a trailer for 3.3, as well as a solid release date for the upcoming patch, which would be nice and, I think, wound fit the "scope" of a Twitter-based announcement. Trouble is that even a good idea like that doesn't make the mysterious teaser image any easier to decipher. So I leave it up to you, readers! Maybe you can connect the dots better than the rest of us! Tell us what you make of this picture, as well as what you think it might be announcing!

The WoW cooking grind has always been something I've avoided like the plague. Sure, the initial basic cooking of Spice Bread is enough to buy your way to level 50 or so cooking, but beyond that I have not ventured far. All that gathering of bear and raptor meat, clams and crab claws, eggs of all types and countless other ingredients wasn't exactly appealing to me. So I've been putting it off. Needless to say, I wasn't too pleased -- at all -- when I set off to start my Pilgrim's Bounty achievements and discovered that cooking is a staple aspect of the new holiday ( who would have thought!) I cringed at the realization that my cooking only hovered at about level 70. But I decided to not be discouraged, and soon found the shiny silver lining for myself and all of my fellow cooking procrastinators. Upon opening up your Bountiful Cookbook, you'll find five recipes that can be used in succession to bypass the other alternative grind to at least level 300+ cooking. First up: the Spice Bread Stuffing, which requires the absolute minimum cooking experience to be learned at level 1. Buy enough Simple Flour and Mild Spices to cook up a ton of Spice Bread, and level up that cooking to 100, when you can learn to make Pumpkin Pie. Rinse and repeat to cooking 160 for Cranberry Chutney, 220 for Candied Sweet Potato and 280 for Slow-Roasted Turkey. All of the ingredients, except for the turkey in that final recipe, can be purchased from the Pilgrim's Bounty Vendors found outside each capital city, greatly reducing the amount of time you'll need to hunt for the right kind of meat. Just keep a stack of each of the ingredients on hand, since some of them are unique to certain cities. And if you have my luck, it'll probably take you a few times to complete that Turkinator achievement, during which you can pick up a few dozen turkeys to cook up the final recipe until it no longer yields levels. It's as easy as pie. Now if I can just garner up the motivation to grind those final 100 cooking levels... Who else has been able to use this fun and festive event as a means to level up your cooking skills? I've also seen quite a few guildies obtain other cooking achievements after learning these new recipes, from Lunch Lady all the way up to Chef de Cuisine.

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 continue my foray into the world of Pilgrim's Bounty cooking.

Tomorrow, I finish up cooking and rack up those achievements!

WoWFlix Vault is a column featuring videos you may have missed from around the web related to World of Warcraft. If you find something you’d like to be featured, leave a comment or send a tweet to @Heartbourne.

 In this edition of WoWFlix Vault, we are featuring Boombox. This video was recommended to me by one of our commenters, Vayder. It was made by Invisusira over at Pally Stole My Bike, the same person who made Ulduar: Defiance. The quality of this video is pretty astounding. It has pretty good lip-syncing, much better than most WoW machinima. The use of the emotes, dancing, and animations is very clever, especially with the wide camera pans and slow motion. This video really amplifies the comedy of the song. Whenever I think of this song by The Lonely Island, I pretty much will only listen to it with this video.

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!

This week, we dive headfirst into the Thanksgiving holiday, Pilgrim's Bounty.

In this first episode, we pick up the achievements "FOOD FIGHT!" and Sharing is Caring. Come by tomorrow for part 2!

[caption id="attachment_8630" align="alignright" width="300" caption="D'aawwwww...."][/caption] It looks like Pilgrim's Bounty isn't the only thing being celebrated right now. A day ahead of World of Warcraft's official fifth anniversary, players are already being treated to the special vanity pet associated with the event. People who were online when the clock struck 12 AM on November 22nd soon found the Onyxia Whelpling in their in-game mailbox as well as a Feat of Strength signifying that they were there when the game reached its fifth. Honestly, it's quite  a feat for any game to maintain the popularity that World of Warcraft has for half a decade, and that's only set to increase! Don't fret if you weren't logged into the game for the roll-over though, you'll still be able to get both the Onyxia Whelpling pet and the achievement. Blizzard hasn't stated a specific duration for the event, but they have said that you'll be privy to bother rewards as long as you're online at some point over the next few weeks. The Whelpling is terribly cute, more than it has any right to be considering its namesake, but who can resist its mindless fluttering about and goggle-eyed stare? And, of course, if you've read about it in the past, you know that it occasionally attempts a Deep Breath maneuver, which only results in coughing up a handful of wimpy smoke rings. Now that you can get your hands on the pet yourself, tell us what you think about it! In a time when you have to pay for premium companions like the Pandaren Monk, its nice to know that Blizzard is still willing to give us some really cool things for free (if you count paying $14.99 a month free).

What's a better way to relax and unwind after scarfing down some turkey than by scarfing down some virtual turkey? Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken Blizzard this long to do it, but one of the great world holidays as finally turned Azerothian. The denizens of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms now have their own Thanksgiving in the form of Pilgrim's Bounty, complete with the themes of food and familial strife around the dinner table! And if there's something to be thankful for, it's that unlike the last two additions to the calendar, this event is as fully featured as any of the other existing holidays. Considering this is the first year the holiday is being run, we aren't sure of what all we can expect to see, but we will guide you as best we can through the things that we do know.

Things To Do During Pilgrim's Bounty

• As you might expect, cooking is a major part of Pilgrim's Bounty and there are at least several new recipes for players to learn. Right now it seems as though these are the sorts of foods anyone, even those who just pick up the Cooking skill for the event, should be able to make: [Candied Sweet Potato], [Cranberry Chutney], [Pumpkin Pie], [Slow-Roasted Turkey], [Spice Bread Stuffing]. It's unknown what buffs, if any, consuming these foods might give you. Several achievements involve creating these tasty treats, so its unknown whether the materials are easily purchased or must be gathered in some other way.
• Bountiful Tables will also be placed in every racial Capitol City (they may also be placed in Dalaran or Shattrath, but those aren't involved in the achievements below). Just as during Thanksgiving, these are major hubs of activity and in true Azerothian holiday fashion, you will have to visit not only your own, but those of your enemies.
• Hunting plays into a couple of the achievements, including both Wild Turkeys and the most dangerous game of all, Rogues. I'm not sure how I feel about having a bounty on my head the entire week, or stalking my fellow classmates for that matter! It seems that you'll be able to purchase or earn a [Turkey Shooter] for these tasks.
• Dress-up time! Traditional Pilgrims' attire will be available so that you can look like one without having to worry about that pesky Puritanical code!

Pilgrim's Bounty Achievements

These are the achievements you can expect to earn during Pilgrim's Bounty. Each is worth ten points. The meta will award you the Title of Pilgrim and a Plump Turkey pet.

• FOOD FIGHT! -- Bounce food off a fellow feaster's head at a Bountiful Table.
• Now We're Cookin'-- Cook up one of every Pilgrim's Bounty dish: Candied Sweet Potato, Cranberry Chutney, Pumpkin Pie, Slow-Roasted Tureky, Spice Bread Stuffing.
• Pilgrim's Paunch -- Acquire the Spirit of Sharing from a complete Bountiful Table feast at every Alliance and Horde capital.
• Pilgrim's Peril -- While wearing either a [Pilgrim's Dress], [Robe], or [Attire], take a seat at each enemy capital's Bountiful Table.
• Pilgrim's Progress -- Complete each of the Pilgrim's Bounty dailies: Can't Get Enough Turkey, Don't Forget the Stuffing!, Easy as Pie, She Says Potato, We're Out of Cranberry Chutney Again?
• Sharing is Caring -- Pass one of every dish at a Bountiful Table: Candied Sweet Potato, Cranberry Chutney, Pumpkin Pie, Slow-Roasted Tureky, Spice Bread Stuffing.
• Terrokar Turkey Time -- Defeat Talon King Ikiss (Sethekk Halls) while wearing a [Pilgrim's Hat] and either a [Pilgrim's Dress], [Robe], or [Attire].
• The Turkinator -- Hunt enough Wild Turkeys quickly enough to gain Turkey Triumph.
• Turkey Lurkey -- Blast those dirty, sneaking rogues with your [Turkey Shooter]: Blood Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Orc, Troll, Undead.
• Pilgrim (Meta) -- Complete the Pilgrim's Bounty achievements listed below: FOOD FIGHT!, Pilgrim's Paunch, Pilgrim's Progress, Terrokar Turkey Time, Turkey Lurkey, Now We're Cookin', Pilgrim's Peril, Sharing is Caring, The Turkinator.

Pilgrim's Bounty Dailies

There are several daily events associated with Pilgrim's Bounty and they all involve cooking and/or bringing twenty of a particular dish to an NPC at the feasting area in a capital city.

• Can't Get Enough Turkey -- Bring 20 Slow-Roasted Turkeys to <Caitrin Ironkettle/Ondani Greatmill> outside of <Ironforge/Orgrimmar>.
• Don't Forget The Stuffing -- Bring 20 Spice Bread Stuffing to <Caitrin Ironkettle/Ondani Greatmill> at the feasting area outside <Ironforge/Orgrimmar>.
• Easy As Pie -- Bring 20 pieces of Pumpkin Pie to <Mary Allerton/Marhara Goldwheat> at the feasting area <near the gates of Darnassus/outside Thunder Bluff>.
• She Says Potato -- Bring 20 Candied Sweet Potatoes to <Jasper Moore/William Mullins> at the feasting area <outside of Stormwind/above Undercity>.
• We're Out Of Cranberry Chutney Again? -- Bring 20 servings of Cranberry Chutney to <Ellen Moore/Roberta Carter> at the feasting area <outside Stormwind/in the courtyard above Undercity>.

The holiday will run from November 22nd to November 28th, giving you just under a week to complete all the tasks. Don't fret if you won't be able to participate in the activities, though, as Pilgrim's Bounty does not count towards the Violet Proto-Drake meta-achievement. We here at Project Lore hope to see you around the Bountiful Tables in the coming week and no doubt will be covering the holiday to the best of our capabilities for the duration of the event. Stay tuned!