Project Lore

You guys may have noticed yesterday that ProjectLore.com now has a fresh, updated look. We're still the same Project Lore crew you know and love, just with a little more functionality and an overhaul from Squarespace.

Up top, you'll see a few new navigational features that will help you get around the site. We still have the same fun forums for all our readers, and we've added links for quick access to the Project Lore fan guild page, to our WoW glossary,  to the Project Lore store, and to our social page.

We've also highlighted a few of our more popular blog columns, including Proverb and WoWFlix, and given you easy access to news on Cataclysm and, of course, to our ever-popular episodes. Along the right-hand column you can sort blogs and episodes by their author and take a look at our handy guides on classes and talents, professions and instances.

Along with the new look, we also have a new podcast that we're hoping to continue with and grow in the coming weeks. Episode 3 has been recorded and will be posted soon for all of you to enjoy.

But we know not everything is perfect yet. Most of our archived blog posts from 2009 and earlier have formatting issues,  and we lost a large number of reader comments from the past few months. Please be patient with us, also, as we fix some links that don't appear to be working yet.

That's where you all come in. Although we know of some issues on the site resulting from our transition, we also know that more may arise as we work through getting our site as functional as possible. If you see anything that could be improved, please post a comment and let us know. Our comments feature, although a little different from our previous homepage, should still be working for all of you. And we'd love to hear more feedback from readers on what you think.

We hope you enjoy our new look!

Earlier this month two new MMORPGs released, Global Agenda and Star Trek Online.  Both of them saw some hiccups early, and STO still has long queues, but things have settled down and stabilized for the most part.  Over five years ago World of Warcraft launched to a larger mess than either GA or STO.  It wasn't devastating by any means.  In fact, the problems were mostly due to the game's incredible popularity, which caused Blizzard to scramble to put dozens of additional servers online ASAP.  The subscription base has bloated over the 11 million mark forcing Blizzard to continue to add additional servers to the mix to compensate.  Fine and dandy, but what's been going on with the old servers.  The originals, the systems that were put together before the game was even released?  They've been upgraded, but has it been enough?

The past few weeks have been awful for the two servers I predominately play on.  Coincidentally, both server happen to be original.  Things have been so bad on Magtheridon this week that Tuesday and Wednesday were total loses for raiding.  Tuesday was marred by the extended maintenance, which is fine and understandable, but Magtheridon became Lagtheridon immediately after going online.  The entire world, instances and all, was totally unplayable.  A server restart didn't help, and I eventually gave up around 10:30 PM.  Wednesday followed with more of the same, but cleared up much earlier.  The damage had already been done, all the raiders gave up and logged before Magtheridon became stable, so nothing died.

I know my server is far from the only server to connect people to Azeroth, but from what I've heard around the blogosphere and official forums is that something is amidst.  Many people blame it on the new holiday and its mechanics.  Others point out that server instability is not a recent occurrence.

Whatever the reason, it seems that WoW players are giving Blizzard a pass on the issue.  That's partly because we've become somewhat accustom to the day-long hiccups.  I believe it's also because we play so much WoW that we can shrug off missing a day.  We just use the unexpected free time for other forms of entertainment or games.  It's old and busted to us now, not new hotness. 

Imagine if your brand new MMORPG was largely unplayable for two days just after its launch.  If WoW had released alongside STO and GA, that's exactly what would have occurred.  Can you imagine the nerd rage that would have hit the Internet? 

I know WoW's server farm is far more complex than STO or GA, but that doesn't give Blizzard a free pass.  After all, WoW is pulling in a billion dollars a year for Blizzard.  Yet, few players seem the least bit outraged.  I guess that's one of the advantages to having five years behind you?

Blizzard still expects to put out the Cataclysm expansion pack this year, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick announced Wednesday in the 2009 fourth quarter conference call on financial earnings.

During the call, Kotick discussed the “better than expected” financial results that Activision Blizzard has shown through 2009, and also spoke on what the company expects for 2010:

“For World of Warcraft, we expect to launch the next expansion pack, Cataclysm, and continue to grow our player base around the world. And finally, a much anticipated release of Starcraft II, which will also be available for download on the new Battle.net site. And that illustrates how we’re building significant digital capabilities, and that we we expect these to create new and unique opportunities for gameplay.”

This is a bit of a relief for me to hear after going months since the reveal of Cataclysm at BlizzCon. We had been told at that point that Blizzard anticipated a 2010 release for Cataclysm, but since then we’ve heard very little. Now we have at least another morsel of hope that we’ll see the expansion in the relatively near future (well, the next 11 months.)

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime expanded on the topic, adding that the development team is continuing work on the expansion, and is aiming for “a release in the back half of 2010.” As we already know, one of the big changes expected is the overhaul of the Old World, and Morhaime states that developers are trying to bring those areas up to match the team’s “constantly rising design standards.”

Of course, things can always change, and a lengthy disclaimer at the front of the webcast conference call notes that “forward looking statements” should not be taken as fact. But hopefully this will hold out as true. And to any of you who have seen release dates listed on gaming sites or Amazon or some such, I would warn you that until we hear it straight from Blizzard, those dates likely aren’t anything beyond a guess.

Some other morsels from the webcast:

Click to read more ...

<wuss>Squeal!</wuss>

<man>I wasn't so hot on the premium Auction House Armory idea, WoW gold, or the Blizzard Store pets that came late last year, but Blizzard's latest premium content has me excited.  Blizzard announced a new pair of store-only vanity pets, and this time they will come with a real-life counterpart.  When you purchase a new Wind Rider Cub or theGryphon Hatchling a plushie - that's a stuffed animal - will be delivered to your door as part of the purchase.  The pets are available to both factions.

Being a pet collecting addict - still no oozling - purchasing these pets is a no brainer.  I didn't break down for a monk or Lil' KT because $10 is steep sum for a virtual pet.  Once I heard a plushie came included the kid in me began to perform his hissy-fit ritual.  My inner child is already on his back, ready to kick and scream if my fiscally conservative brain denies him.

Blizzard has kept the price point and release date ("weeks ahead") hush hush, much like the premium Auction House content.  Expect the financial damage to be higher than the previous vanity items.  As soon as we hear of either we'll let you know. 

Right now I've gotta run and clear some space on the bed for these guys to camp.  Good thing these winged beasts are too cute for Ms. iTZKooPA to say no.  Why isn't it socially acceptable for a full grown man to have stuffed animals anyways?  Who made that crazy rule?  What if I need something to throw?!

Yes, I know that technically speaking Blizzard is selling the plushie, and not the pets, but come on.  We all know which item is really going to move the other. 

I'll just leave that last HTML tag open.

The absolute number one reason why I play World of Warcraft is for the universe.  I've always loved stories, from the "Slugger" baseball story my grandfather often recited to me as a child to Dune.  A good story has always roped me in, no matter its length.  WoW has come a long way in its story telling in these fives year, in design and execution.  Initially, the quests were spread all over the world, causing many players to abandon them halfway through the chain.  Blizzard, in the second and third go around, consolidated these chains to span single, or perhaps adjacent zones only, which lead to a rise in completion.

Storywise, Blizzard has recanted a lot of its previous lore, up to and including Wrath of the Lich King.  But the writers have expanded on previous ideas, or sneaked in other storylines as well.  Some of these were planned, Ulduar and Ahn'Qiraj, others, like Sunwell Plateau, were out of the necessity for additional content.

Metzen and his crew continue to intrigue me, but I have two main beefs with Blizzard's execution of storytelling in WoW, which actually extends to most MMOGs. The first idea, branching storylines, was lightly touched on in the Useless WoW Leaders post, and brought up a second time in ProjectLorians Super Happy Fun Hour: Dave Edition audio podcast.  Wrath of the Lich King was designed to focus on the Lich King, to throw us in his path on numerous occasions and cement him as the bad guy, and it achieved that.  Outside of a few Ulduar lore questlines in select zones there was little besides the Lich King or his forces.  What I'd like to see are more side missions like Bridenbrad's tale - hopefully without the real-life tragedy attached.  The questline is one of the most memorable in the game due to its excellent writing, and the use of known NPCs that we hadn't heard from lately.

The other issue that needs addressing is orphaned storylines.  These are the quest chains that start, but the story is never completed.  The tale of The Missing Diplomat and Ashbringer are the most famous, and they finally had their day.  There are many more epic tales that have been left dangling that I'd much prefer tackling than another "Kill 10 foozles" quest.  Even if I have to travel a little to do so.

Groups tackling normal modes in Icecrown Citadel no longer will be limited by a fixed number of available attempts, Blizzard blue poster Daelo announced on the official WoW forums late Monday. Here's what was posted:

After each region's maintenance this week, raids will no longer lose attempts on wipes in Normal mode for Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. There will still be limited attempts in Heroic mode. We will continue to monitor developments in Icecrown Citadel in the future, especially since the Heroic difficulty has been unlocked by a significant number of raids.

A few hours later, Slorkuz expanded on the topic in the European forums:

Click to read more ...

The past month or so of WoW, for many of us, has been so incredibly concentrated on Icecrown Citadel. And I don't really see that as a bad thing, but it's nice to change things up every now and then. Which is why I welcome Love is in the Air with open arms.

Something about collecting Lovely Charms and assembling them into Lovely Charm bracelets for each of your faction's leaders (I haven't tried it yet, but a couple of my guildies have had great success collecting charms by targeting dwarves in Ulduar while atop a siege engine), all in the hope of gathering up enough love tokens to make all of the fun purchases you desire (achievement aside, I'm eying you, Lovely Red Dress)... it can get monotonous, sure, but I've been having a blast and also working toward the What a Long, Strange Trip it's Been meta-achievement too.

And of course we also have that crazy apothecary trio that many of us will be taking down multiple times every day. Beyond the ilevel 226 amulets that drop upon each kill (most of my guildies have been picking up pieces for their off-specs), it seems everyone is hoping to get a lucky roll on a Big Love Rocket (nice, subtle name, Blizzard). I've yet to see anyone on my server riding a love rocket, much less seen it drop. But a couple of YouTube videos posted the few days proves it does, indeed, exist -- though perhaps a bit more rare (and sexy) than, say, the coveted Brewfest mounts.

From the video, it appears that the rocket, similar to the Magic brooms from Hallow's Eve, works as both a flying and ground mount, depending on where it's summoned. And the one who posted the video claims it's also a 310% speed mount. I really want one!

What are your goals for this festive, lovely event? Anyone get any of those rare loot drops yet, or are all of you simply still drooling as I am?

I just found out that one of my guildmates passed away the other day after being diagnosed with Leukemia a few months ago.  To be entirely honest I barely knew the guy - he quit before Wrath was released - but the guild has a few people that knew him in real life, and a handful that have played video games with him for years.

Even though I barely knew the gentlemen I felt absolutely awful to hear the news.  I've experienced death in my life, so I understand the feeling of lose, the depression and the way losing someone close makes one feel so small.  It's impossible for one to express the appropriate sympathy and support via World of Warcraft, but all of us tried.  We gave our condolences via green letters, offered our support to the friends of the fallen and asked that they be passed on to his family.  We're even trying to organize a flower arrangement in his honor from the guild.  Although that may be incredibly odd for the non-WoW playing people at the services given the guild's name, Bonus Lizard.  Still we want to do something to show his family that'll he'll be greatly missed, even by people he's never actually met.

Has any ProjectLorian experienced anything like this?  I've heard of in-game funerals before - such as the one that broke out into world PvP - but don't think that's an option due to the account's security.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

Don't worry buddy, we'll get the Lich King.  You'll be missed.

In our second edition of the currently unnamed experimental Project Lore audio podcast, Pixiestixy, Itzkoopa, and Amatera discussed a range of topics, such as the Ensidia ban, world first Arthas kill, auction house anywhere, and other WoW and MMO topics. Grab the mp3 or Subscribe with RSS!

It's that time of the year again, the week stretch where 80% of the WoW population tries to woo the other 20% with virtual candies, roses, affection, boss runs and poetry.  Oh, the poetry.  Love is in the Air started over the weekend, and I've already managed to grab one of the achievements.  Being the digital scrooge that I am I only actually care about two things Love is in the Air has to offer, Peddlefeet and Toxic Wasteling.

This year Peddlefeet is far easier to obtain.  Blizzard realized how god-awful-annoying it is to have achievement requirements based solely on the unfriendly RNG.  That means 2010's Peddlefeet, the goblin cupid, is purchasable with the reasonable sum of 40xLove Token.  It shouldn't take more than a day to farm for him.

The Toxic Wasteling, well that'll be another story entirely.  That little gremlin will require far more luck and time to acquire on average.  It is one of the random drops from the new Valentine's Day...I mean Love is in the Air boss, Apothecary Hummel.  The oozling is one of a few seasonal items that Hummel drops (I assume a Protip is coming soon for the fight). In additional to ilvl 226 necks we also have a rose for our mohawks, a gas mask, a sob-inducing item and an incredibly low shot at one of the coolest looking mounts in the game.

/me heads off to Shadowfang Keep.

I'm hunting Hummel mainly for the wasteling.  Just look at this tooltip description, "Do not feed toxic wasteling. Do not allow toxic wasteling to approach small animals. Do not touch, sniff, or even look at toxic wasteling for extended periods of time."  Sounds like it should be an interesting vanity pet.

I know some of you out there are nuts about seasonal events, so how much farther do you have until you get the meta achievement?  Anyone score the mount yet, or even see it drop?

P.S. Here's WoWHead's guide.