Project Lore

It's that time again! The patch notes of have been updated, and even though the PTR servers are down for the moment, I'm sure it won't be too long before we can get our hands on it. In addition to the usual round of class changes, there are two things worth paying attention to in this build. The first is the fact that meeting stones will no longer be level-restricted, as long as you're at least Level 15 (which is logical enough because you shouldn't be hitting dungeons until that point anyway). As the recent changes to the Dungeon system are going into effect with 3.3 (including the insta-port upon group completion), I'm not sure how helpful meeting stones are any more for the majority of players, though they still might be handy at gathering people for raids. The other bullet point you might notice is that Battlegrounds are now going to reward Arena points. Specifically, 25 of them upon victory (in addition to the normal amount of honor). Now, even though these are only available to players in the 71-80 tier, I still question the decision to make this sort of change. Sure, it might make earning the latest PvP gear a little bit easier, but doesn't that dilute the achievements made by a decent arena team? Perhaps some people more knowledgeable on the subject than me could chime in. There's a clear delineation between the Battlegrounds and Arena in style of play, and I'm just not sure throwing them together in the mixer like this makes either that much better. Edit: Arena points will be given out per DAILY BATTLEGROUND quest, not per victory. Anyway, here are the rest of the notes for your perusal:

General

• Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character’s minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone.

PvP Battlegrounds

• All level 71-80 Battlegrounds will now award victors 25 Arena points in addition to Honor.

Wintergrasp

• You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:

Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults. Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers. Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines. Death Knight

• Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
• Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
• Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.

Mage Frost

• Fingers of Frost: This talent now triggers immediately on casting a spell rather than being delayed until the spell strikes the target.

Paladin

• Divine Intervention: Cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
• Flash of Light: This spell no longer causes a heal-over-time effect unless the player has the Infusion of Light talent.
• Lay on Hands: This ability now places Forbearance on the target and cannot be used on a target with Forbearance.

Holy

• Infusion of Light: This talent now causes the paladin’s Flash of Light spells to heal the target for 50/100% of the Flash of Light healing amount over 12 seconds.

Protection

• Aura Mastery: This effect of this talent has been reduced in duration to 6 seconds.
• Changes to Sacred Shield have been redacted.

Shaman

• Earth Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
• Fire Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Warlock Pets

• Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

User Interface

• Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling Need or Greed on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted if an enchanter of the appropriate skill level is in the group. Disenchant works exactly like Greed except if a player wins the Greed roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose Need will always win the item and will always beat those that choose Greed or Disenchant.

[caption id="attachment_8219" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The New Herodotus"][/caption] My name is iTZKooPA and I'm a History Channel addict. /me waits for other members to say "Hi, iTZKooPA." I watch numerous other shows across the greater TV universe, but the History Channel is one of the networks I always check first.  I don't know what it is about the History Channel, but the endless stream of "useless information" sucks me in, especially when Modern Marvels is on - and running the Engineering Disasters series.  I guess I just enjoy little known facts about often forgotten people, places or events. This unknown hunger for information has driven me to act, as well as absorb.  When I was a part of a hardcore raiding guild in vanilla WoW I took it upon myself to record our accomplishments for posterity's sake.  I didn't care that the GM put up screenshots, soon to be followed by videos, of our server first kills. To me, my few lines of text were needed, you might say unique.  I was a cog in the machine - a DPSer - not one of the heroic few that were often recognized outside the guild - our main tanks, GM, officers and some healers.  My voice was different, it wasn't from the fearless leader trumping up "his" accomplishments, or a reckless hero blood-drunk off his own success, but from lonely assassin just jotting down philosophical meanderings while cleansing his blades. I fired up the document during one of the fabled IRL gatherings not knowing what to expect from those gathered.  Much to my surprise it was a hit.  People had long forgotten many of the hardships we suffered during the Blackwing Lair days, the pain of farming nature resistance gear for Ahn'Qiraj, or reputation farming for Naxxramas.  The 250th member of the guild - alts not included - was but a grain of sand caressing the ocean's waves.  And who in the guild didn't ride the Menion taxi? Nine people, by my count, never rode it.  These "fun facts" started up entirely new conversations that continued beyond the party. Go ahead, dig out some old screenshots, or click through your FRAPS archive.  I'm sure there are plenty of old memories, good and bad, that have been tucked away in your HDD that you've inadvertently kept or forgotten.  Feel free to share them, we all love a good story. It took me awhile to get here, but here's the point.  Imagine if Blizzard kept some of these facts for us.  The game already shares a collection of personal stats, why not apply the same idea to the upcoming guild overhaul?  It'd certainly add some social awareness to the game.  First member, longest-standing member, most charitable, most greedy, highest crit, most deaths, the list can go on and on.  Let's take it one step further, let's apply the compiling of fun facts to servers in general.  Who was the first character created?  Who's logged the most hours?  Who really did kill Onyxia first on Magtheridon-US (ATR!)?  Much of this information is already tracked and logged, we just need Blizzard to share it with us.  Frankly, it's just a merger of the current Achievement system with hidden statistics and social engineering. It wouldn't be as eloquent as my hand-written history, but I know that if the idea ever came to fruition I'd lose a ton of time to reading about guild history on Magtheridon, and comparing my home server to others.  For those who don't care about history, at least you could fact check everyone else's claims a little better, without having to leave the WoW Armory or your game client. P.S. Your statistics can be accessed from your Achievement page - hotkey Y.

Almost three months after WoW returned back to China (albeit censored) after a months-long hiatus, the game has hit a snag once again. According to a Wall Street Journal article, NetEase, the company which relaunched the game after former provider The9 ran into financial troubles and lost those rights, is essentially in a "turf battle" with China's General Administration of Press and Publications. The GAPP is China's regulating body for news, print and internet publications, and as such has the right to decide which online games will be allowed into the country. Monday, the GAPP announced it had rejected NetEase's application to provide the Burning Crusade, and further demanded that NetEase cease the collection subscription fees or the registration of new WoW accounts. The punishment for continuing to do so, according to the article, could include the “suspension of its internet service.” The governing body insists that NetEase's use of the game license that The9 previously had obtained was "commercial exploitation." Although the GAPP had allowed NetEase to start beta testing BC, they said, they had not authorized either the registration of new accounts or the collection of subscription fees. But here's the potential saving grace. Apparently China's central government recently decided that the GAPP would only have the ability to pre-approve an online game. Once published, it becomes the responsibility of China's Ministry of Culture. Liu Qiang, director of the ministry’s Internet culture office, has weighed in to the debate and said that GAPP "would be violating government regulations if it punished an online game company." For the sake of gamers in China, I hope this conflict is resolved soon. If I was a player there, I'd be pretty upset, but perhaps not too surprised given the long history of WoW issues in the country. Said the WSJ article:

Chinese WoW players are divided over the dispute. Some are seething with anger. It’s “really a tragedy…WoW playes are the ones suffer the most….Who cares about us?” said one player on a popular local game forum. Other said they were taking a wait-and-see approach.

How will this affect NetEase's previous plans to release WotLK later this month? Only time will tell.

Proverb is a rare yet delicious column discussing the lore of Warcraft. It is spoiler heavy for all Warcraft games, novels, and other media. Comment on this post or send a tweet to @Heartbourne and let us know what you would like to see in future columns! You may want to read part 1 and 2 before continuing. Blizzard has provided a preview of the Quel'Delar lore and questline. Additionally, a lot more data has been datamined to give us some insight into the ancient sword. Blizzard's preview is as follows:

In ages past the great Dragon Aspects worked alongside the night elves to forge powerful prismatic blades that could be used to thwart any evil that came into the world. They would become known as the blades of Quel’Serrar. One of these blades, which had become lost in time, was recently unearthed again by brave heroes of Azeroth. Now rediscovered, Quel’Serrar is revered once more as a mighty tool of raw power. Its sister blade, however, has not been seen for many years... Quel'Delar The sword known as Quel’Delar was held by the group of kaldorei who would eventully become the high elves, and it was handed down from generation to generation. Most recently Quel’Delar was wielded by the valiant high elven warrior Thalorien Dawnseeker. Thalorien fought tirelessly in the Troll Wars to defend his beloved home of Silvermoon, the Sunwell, and all of Quel’Thalas. When the Scourge swept through the lands during the Third War, Thalorien was among the last lines of defense for the Sunwell. Despite the sword’s power, he was ultimately slain by the overwhelming might of Arthas and his legendary runeblade, Frostmourne. Quel’Delar was thought to be lost forever. Following the destruction of their homeland, the determined blood elves began to regroup and rebuild. It was during this time that the battle-hardened warrior Lana’thel stumbled upon Quel’Delar, and soon afterward the greatest opportunity to use the blade presented itself: Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider raised an army and combined forces with Illidan Stormrage, who led them north to Icecrown on a mission to destroy the Lich King. Lana’thel readily followed her prince with one thought in mind -- revenge against the Scourge -- but only tragedy awaited her. Queen of the San’layn In the icy hills of Northrend, Arthas ultimately defeated Illidan and Kael’thas, and the expedition’s few survivors were scattered across the frozen wastes. One by one the Lich King sought out those who had challenged him, and Lana’thel found herself cornered. Using Quel’Delar, she struck at him with all her might... but Frostmourne’s evil powers overwhelmed her. Through his blade, the Lich King chose Lana’thel to serve him in undeath as queen of the San’layn, a group responsible for overseeing the Scourge’s operations across Azeroth. Queen Lana’thel eagerly carried out her new duties, but every time she looked at her blade, maddening anger would swell within her as she remembered her former life. She could not afford such distractions, and with a scream that echoed throughout Icecrown, she shattered Quel’Delar and flung the fractured pieces as far as she could. Now... The champions of the Alliance and the Horde who confront the Lich King’s armies have but a slim chance of finding the pieces of this fabled blade. If they succeed, the heroes can embark on an epic adventure to re-forge Quel’Delar. They will require the strongest materials and a source of great power to make this shattered blade into the fearsome weapon it once was. Several classes can use Quel’Delar, and the sword can fit several different play styles. For any class that is unable to wield it, however, the Sunreaver blood elves and the Silver Covenant high elves will gladly take this relic of their history in exchange for a usable weapon. The search begins soon...

Juicy. Its history of dueling with Frostmourne is tantalizing. The last couple of sentences offer some of the most compelling gameplay news involving the blade that we've seen yet. The blade seems to be obtainable and usable by sword-wielding classes, but by completing the quest to restore Quel'Delar and returning it to the High Elves or Blood Elves will reward you with another usable weapon, like a staff. I imagine this must be a rather strong weapon, as it is a long, rather involved questline that requires clearing the Icecrown 5 mans, and perhaps Sunwell. It also seems like the item that starts the questline, the Battered Hilt, will be a very rare random drop from some sort of Scourge, likely the 5 man dungeons. The item is of epic quality, and it seems to able to be traded or sold. As for the lore, this fleshes out a lot of suspicions that players have had for the past few weeks about the blade based on datamining. More interesting, however, is the new information we have about the San'layn. There were all sorts of wild theories flying around about who they really were. We now know that they are indeed undead High and Blood Elves raised by Arthas to carry out the missions of the Scourge, and Lana'thel is their queen. Some recent datamining has some interesting revelations as well. Once players obtain the hilt, they get sent by either the Sunreavers or Silver Covenant to Krasus at the Wyrmrest Temple to identify the blade. Krasus then has the following dialogue with our favorite blue dragon, Kalecgos:

Krasus says: You're too late, <name>. Another visitor from Dalaran came asking after information about the same prismatic dragon blades. Krasus says: From your description, I'm certain that the book I loaned our visitor could allow you to easily identify the weapon. Krasus says: I'm afraid you'll have to ask -- Kalecgos? Krasus says: What brings you to Wyrmrest, Kalecgos? Kalcegos says: Are you certain you should be helping these mortals in their quest for the sword? Kalcegos says: These blades, Krasus… They were made long ago, when things were… different. Krasus says: You believe our allies will not be able to control the power of the swords? Kalcegos says: Our enemies once turned our strongest weapon against us. What makes you think the prismatic blades will be any different? Alexstrasza the Life-Binder says: Mortal champions have long used these weapons to combat evil. I see no reason to keep the swords from them in this battle. Kalcegos says: As you wish, my queen. I will not stand in their way, but I will keep a close watch. Krasus says: As will we all. Krasus says: Please mortal, speak with Arcanist Tybalin in Dalaran. He may be able to negotiate with the (Sunreavers/Silver Covenant) for access to the book.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was wondering what blue dragons like Kalecgos are doing now that Malygos is dead. Maybe Kalecgos or Tyrigosa will step up as leader of a reformed blue dragonflight against Deathwing. I can't imagine that the blue dragonflight, which suffered immensely at the hands of Deathwing, will stay quiet during Cataclysm, even with their kind eradicated and their Aspect the first to die. After doing some spywork in Dalaran and infiltrating the opposing faction's district in Dalaran (with the help of cleaning a tabard freshly laundered by a mage and his water elemental), players obtain the book and take it to Myralion Sunblaze or Caladis Brightspear to identify it. The following dialogue occurs:

Blood Queen Lana'thel

Myralion Sunblaze says: The style of this blade and its marking hinted that it might be a dragonforged sword. At last, we will have our answer. Caladis Brightspear says: I knew this was a dragonforged blade when I first laid eyes on it. Myralion Sunblaze: says: After all these years, can it really be -- Caladis Brightspear says: But can it be? Is this really -- Silver Covenant Sentinel says: You are not welcome here, minion of the Lich king! Lana'thel says: Quel'Delar. Lana'thel says: Quiet, fools. If I had wished to kill you, you'd already be dead. Lana'thel says: As Quel'Serrar was forged by the dragons and given to the kaldorei, its twin, Quel'Delar, was given to my people. Lana'thel says: The king bestowed the blade upon my friend, Thalorien Dawnseeker. Lana'thel says: But even Thalorien's skill and Quel'Delar's magic could not save Silvermoon from the might of the Scourge. Lana'thel says: Thalorien fell before the gates of the Sunwell, buying time for others to escape. Lana'thel says: After the battle, I recovered the sword from the field. I bore it to Northrend in service of my prince, seeking to avenge our people's defeat. Lana'thel says: Arthas shattered our forces and took the most powerful of us into his service as the San'layn. Lana'thel says: My memories of Thalorien went cold and so did his blade. Lana'thel says: It was I who brought Quel'Delar here, to return it to its makers. In breaking the weapon, so did I break its power. Lana'thel says: Quel'Delar will never server another! Caladis Brightspear says: I vow that the Silver Covenant will see Quel'Delar restored! or Myralion Sunblaze says: It falls to us to see Quel'Delar restored for the Sunreavers.

It is from here that players go about restoring it by re-tempering it with Saronite and various other methods in the Icecrown 5 mans and the Sunwell. This part is still not completely clear, but it will soon become clear with the release of patch 3.3 on the horizon.

I'm growing to believe that Blizzard loves to tease us players with awesome, world event-inspired items, then steal them away just as we've grown accustomed to them. Case number one: Synthebrew Goggles, the beer goggles of the WoW world, which when I equipped made everyone look like a female orc. Somewhat disturbing, but they were a fun addition to my vanity gear with the yellow, glowing beams of light they emit from each lens. I shelled out 100 Brewfest tokens for those suckers, then Brewfest ended and the goggles departed from my inventory. At least I still have the Brewfest dress. Case number two: The coveted Magic Broom: By far my favorite of the stolen-away gear. Both a ground and flying mount, this little contraption added a magical feel to WoW for those precious couple weeks of Hallow's End. At least I saw this one coming, since it never was a learned mount, but instead a temporary item in my inventory. So, I made the most of my time with the broom; I challenged friends to races around Dalaran on it, and me and a few friends had grand plans to mount the brooms and stage a Harry Potter-style quidditch match at the Tournament Grounds. But that was stolen away from us. As was our uneaten candy. Noooooooo! Now we have another awesome item just ready to be snatched away. Case number three: The Macabre Marionette. Who wouldn't want a miniature dancing skeleton to match their dancing undead costume? You, too, can get your own. But, like the broom, you won't actually add this pet as a permanent member of your collection. Come the end of Day(s) of the Dead, POOF! The marionette will become but a dancing memory. I understand that Blizzard has their reasons for taking away our fun: by making the items special to only their designated world event, they become more of a novelty during that short window of time. If you want a permanent reminder of the events, you'll have to work harder to get a rare drop like the Brewfest mounts or Headless Horseman mount. But while I perfectly understand this reasoning, that doesn't mean I like it. If it was up to me, we'd be able to mount a broom while eating candy, wearing goggles and calling forth our little dancing skeletons, all at once. Let me keep my precious lootz! Anyone else agree?

Now that everyone is busy shaking their maracas and eating skull pastries, why don't we take a quick look back at the other celebration that just passed? Easy things like bobbing for apples and eating G.N.E.R.Ds will only get you so far during Hallow's End. To truly "complete" the holiday you have to contend with pesky content lock-outs (read: wait a whole hour to Trick or Treat again) or terrible, terrible drop rates on items. Earning the associated achievements can be a lot like going door to door and begging for candy. Sometimes you get Sour Patch Kids in your bucket and, well, sometimes you're left with black licorice (or even dental floss by that one lady in the neighborhood). Under that pretense, I ask: what was your haul? [caption id="attachment_8198" align="alignright" width="234" caption="The one thing that stood between me and total holiday domination!"][/caption] Personally, after last year, I only needed a Sinister Squashling to complete my meta-achievement, so the first thing I jumped on was getting a group together for the Headless Horseman. After four days of plunging deep into the heart of the Scarlet Monastery, it finally dropped. A fellow guild member felt slighted after I won the roll. I won't lie, finding the last piece of the puzzle was a tad more satisfying than worrying about someone else who had just started doing the achievements this year. I'd been waiting a very long time! But, lo and behold, after all those other misfires, another Squashling dropped on the next attempt, so we all left that day pretty happy with ourselves. However, the Horseman's mount continued to evade me for the duration of the event. After that, I considered myself more or less done. I think I continued to Trick or Treat for a day or two in the hopes of earning masks for the one part of the achievements that (thankfully) doesn't apply to the meta. When I only came up with a handful, and considering the fact that I got duplicates of those instead of new ones I needed, I realized that it wasn't going to be worth my time. I don't care what Blizzard says. Even if it isn't a part of the meta anymore, it still needs to be fixed. I observed my fellow guildmates, too, who had plenty of trouble getting Toothpicks to drop and were always asking if anybody had a certain costume wand when we got together to raid, reminding me that even the more pedestrian items can be tough to obtain. I'm sure the experience couldn't have been too much different for most of you out there, but I, for one, was happy to finally get Hallow's End finished. Next on the agenda? The Feast of Winter Veil (but let's not forget the new holiday, Pilgrim's Bounty later this month, either). I may be getting my Violet Proto-Drake a lot later than some of you, but I'm still going to, gosh darn it!

I've been playing my priest a lot more often these days.  No matter which spec she's in, I use far more keys, far more frequently, than on my rogue.  Solidsamm doesn't go much farther than 6 on the keyboard, with ctrl+1-6 and Q and E joining the fun during certain situations.  Sagart , either in healing spec or DPS spec, is equipped with more rotational spells than her rogue counterpart, and just as many situational skills. Due to the switch in playtime I've taken a hard look at my keyboard layout in an attempt to optimize my left hand's ability to handle everything Solidsagart should be throwing out.  Solidsagart has remapped Q and E (strafing is now A+D, the former turning keys) to handy spells just like Solidsamm.  She's also followed his example with the upper main bar, linking them to 1-0 with ctrl as the modifier.  Shift 1-= (handles 12 things total) has turned in to the right pair of bars, something Solidsamm rarely ventures too, and Autobar provides her with a collection of collapsible bars right above the main bars, which also happens to be directly below her on-screen avatar. I'll continue to refine her layout as I participate in more heroic healing roles, but I would love input from seasoned healers (her DPS spec is currently fairly optimized).  Meaning, what should I make sure I have quick and easy access to, and which spells are more situational?  Allow me to answer the obvious question - I'm using the cookie cutter Holy raid (AoE) healer build. I feel that Solidsamm's layout is incredibly fine-tuned, enabling me to pull off ~5k DPS in gear that averages an ilvl of a pitiful 207.  If you feel like you could be producing more and have already asked others for help with spell rotation, spec and macros, then a look at your keyboard should be next on your list.  Heck, for many people, switching between mouse-clicking and keyboard-clicking is a giant leap in effectiveness.  A highly optimized keyboard layout will only help that much more. I've been able to use a pretty basic keyboard throughout my DPSing career, but I'm thinking the lack of a left-handed overload may hamper my healing abilities.  Do most healers out there do it with a basic keyboard, or are you rocking a G15 with a G9 in the right?

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!

The Day of the Dead is upon us. Now is the time to get the Dead Man's Party achievement, which I recently obtained on my Death Knight. To get the achievement, just /dance with Catrina near any major graveyard. The cooking part seems to only be doable in Dalaran or in your race's captiol city's graveyard. I could only get it to work in Dalaran. To do it, just track down some Simple Flour and Ice Cold Milk and learn the Bread of the Dead recipe. Then, you are just an Orange Camelia away from a (temporary) non-combat Macabre Marionette pet. Do you think Blizzard should make him a permanent pet? Why don't you think they did?

Blizzcast, the official Blizzard podcast, is released about as often as new Project Lore videos. They just released Episode 11, where they recap Blizzcon 2009. They seem to be late to the party, as many sites had great Blizzcon coverage back in August.

Regardless, Blizzcast is enjoyable to listen to as always. Rob Simpson, who is on the e-sports team of Blizzard, talks with the Community Managers (or CMs) of the three major Blizzard franchises. Their names were announced on the podcast as screen names, and I had never heard of them, nor were they typed out in any description, so I have no way to look up these CMs. Regardless, it was an entertaining anecdotal account from the side of the organizers of the event. It made me regret not attend Blizzcon; hearing about the pyrotechnics during the Cataclysm trailer when Deathwing appeared absolutely made me pine to see it live.

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Proverb is a rare yet delicious column discussing the lore of Warcraft. It is spoiler heavy for all Warcraft games, novels, and other media. Comment on this post or send a tweet to @Heartbourne and let us know what you would like to see in future columns!

The Council of Six, also known as The Six, is the ruling governance of Dalaran. They used to have a lot more to do when Dalaran was more of a city-state and had to make political decisions. Without land to manage or other kingdoms to disagree with, there isn't much for them to do, and they haven't really been featured much in Warcraft media.

The Six used to be a completely secret group. Its existence was known to the Kirin Tor (the collection of high-ranking magocrats that live and study in Dalaran), but the public was unaware of which magi were on the council. Their meetings occurred in the Chamber of Air, a room completely sealed off from the rest of the world and accessible only through spells known to The Six. It is thought to be located somewhere within the Violet Citadel, but it could very well exist in a parallel dimension. This is not unlike the Chamber of Aspects, which was believed to be inaccessible until it was unearthed beneath the Dragonblight after the Sundering. When The Six would meet with non-members, they would be in magical disguises and kept their identities a strict secret, as well as their precise location. A few talented mages have been able to infiltrate the council, such as Khadgar, but it is rare and requires exceptional skill to do so.

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