Project Lore

Tyr's Hand.  I am sure many of you old school players are very fond of this area of the Eastern Plaguelands.  The area is likely named for the Nordic god of justice, Týr, who had his hand bitten off by Fenrir.  Thus Tyr's Hand.  But a lesson in background lore is not why we are here today.  In my first installment of what I hope will become a semi-regular column, I look back on Tyr's Hand and the many hours I spent in the untouched area of the Plaguelands. As soon as I hit 60 I knew that I was going to have some serious farming ahead of me so I followed my rogue officer into Tyr's Hand, an area that I had never been.  We would farm the land before the night's Onyxia or Molten Core runs until our actions became second nature.  As a pair of rogues we would drop entire squads of Scarlet Crusaders without stopping.  Our names became a staple in the area between 4PM and 7:30PM EST.  Basically, we became a more active pair of NPCs.  Only, we focused our attention on destroying the last bastion of humanity in EPL for personal gain.  We were there so often, that numerous people thought we were china farmers. In fact, the china farmers thought we were china farmers!  From our time spent in Tyr's, we managed to pick up basic strings of Chinese to be able to talk with them.  We would trade stacks of Conjured Sweet Rolls for their Runecloth, help them when they seemed to be in trouble or chase off the horde together.  It was a grand old time.  Unfortunately, “ni hao” is all that I remember since my macro has long since been deleted. Although I was simply a very advanced bot when I was in Tyr's Hand, I rather miss it.  Pushing my limits of DPS and seeing how far I could go without eating food became a game to me.  Could I take four guys myself?  Will this guy drop my 6th green in a row?  Will I be able to fill up my bags before the raid begins?  Do the mobs in the eastern castle (up the hill) really have better droprates?  Will I ever have enough money to get my epic mount? Forget dailies, I would rather stand in one area and farm it dry than run all over creation farming.  Too bad running all over creation pays better.

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I have spent the last two days poring over the various confirmed changes and future additions to World of Warcraft.  Eyes glassy and tainted with blue, I have finally been able to come up for a breath.  Blizzard Poster Gamnin kept most of us busy during Tuesday's short maintenance by posting an update to the Rogue changes and some new information on the Warrior class.  As with all changes, people are sure to be up in arms about something or other so I will avoid being 'that guy'.

Courtesy of Mick Stephenson

First we will discuss my favorite class, the rogues.  As mentioned in the comments of my previous Rogue post, Tricks of the Trade is the new level 75 ability and has been confirmed by Gamnin.

• NEW - Tricks of the Trade: The current party or raid member becomes the target of your Tricks of the Trade. The threat caused by your next attack and all actions taken for 6 sec afterwards will be transferred to the target. In addition, all damage caused by the target is increased by 15% during this time. 30 sec cooldown.
• Relentless Strikes moved to Tier 1 Subtlety tree and made 5 ranks, 4/8/12/16/20% chance.
• NEW – Overkill (Assassination Tier 7): Abilities used while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cost 10 less energy.
• Hunger for Blood duration raised to 30 seconds.
• Mace spec ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target’s armor.
• NEW - Blood Poisoning (Combat Tier 9): All physical damage caused to enemies you have poisoned is increased by 1/2%.
• NEW - Filthy Tricks (Subtlety Tier 9): Reduces the cooldown of your Tricks of the Trade and Distract abilities by 5/10 sec.
• Shadowstep will no longer be usable while rooted.

The new abilities and talents sound interesting but choosing a good build seems more difficult than before.  I will reserve my anger and judgments for when we get closer to launch however.  I have never seen a point in A) getting angry over stuff that will likely be changed and B) spending so much time making a build when the trees aren't finalized.  Of course, I just had to end the list with something to piss off the PvPers.

Also of note, is that Blizzard plans to do something about five rogue Tricks of the Trade rotations.  Currently, there is no stacking protection but they are working on some way to avoid the need for it.

The Warrior changes and additions are interesting, just not as lengthy:

• Enraged Regeneration: You regenerate 30% of your total health over 10 sec. This ability consumes all Enrage effects and prevents any from affecting you for the full duration. Must be enraged to use. Cost 15 rage, 3 min cooldown.
• Improved Charge generates 5/10 rage.
• Mace spec ignores 3/6/9/12/15% of target’s armor.
• NEW - Warbringer (Protection Tier 9): Allows Charge to be used in combat.
• Furious Attacks modified to use procs per minute to nullify weapon speed differences.

I like what I heard about Blizzard's take on Shields in WotLK.  The developers hope to make the shield more of a weapon instead of just a defensive tool.  Adding that utility would make them more accurate to how they were used back in the day (see 300).

Oh and Warriors regenerating 30% of their health over 10 seconds...that is gonna be annoying in PvP.

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I have played my fair share of MMOGs. Many of them I only played for a few months, such as Ultima Online, Everquest, Asheron's Call, Auto Assault and Tabula Rasa. I can only truly say that I've been a hardcore player in World of Warcraft, sticking with it for years after its release – and still counting. But all of those games have at least one thing in common. And I don't mean that they have each sucked days of my life from me. As either a hardcore user or just a casual player looking for a new MMO world to immerse myself in, I always get tired of MMO music. After the first few hours, my hands will systematically reach for Control + M to see if that near-universal hotkey was added to the UI. More often than not, the combination will drop the soundtrack instantly. Finally, I am able to continue on my wolf/alien/bear/horde killing ways without hearing the same piece of music for the xth time. It isn't that I don't enjoy the music. In fact, I have shown my love for game music on numerous occasions. This is normally where I note some way to fix the problem. Unfortunately, I do not really have any suggestions on how a company could render the issue, other than constantly producing more tracks. Obviously, that is not really feasible in a business sense. At least, not unless the company is releasing the tracks as part of a large content patch or expansion. Perhaps the greatest screensaver ever created got it right. I am of course speaking of EVE Online. EVE works around the problem by incorporating an MP3 player into their client. This allows players to listen to their own soundtrack without having to alt-tab all the time. For EVE, the addition actually fits their game, but I doubt the citizens of Azeroth would listen to Journey or Tool during their hunting expeditions. What to do...

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Oh BlizzCon, how I wish to be a part of you. Yes, that is right folks, another episode in my on-going saga to join the masses at BlizzCon 2008. I am not simply going just for World of Warcraft either. Yes, I was a hardcore raider during vanilla WoW before turning casual with The Burning Crusade but that is only part of my addiction to Blizzard Entertainment's products. My first Blizzard game was actually their epic Rock N' Roll Racing. But it is hard to be addicted to a racing title from that generation for too long. It was really Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness that drew me into Blizzard and StarCraft that had me addicted. But I was by no means a great StarCraft player. Great in my high school, yeah, but nothing special outside that. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne was a different story though. I was an avid AT (arranged team) player, even winning a few tournaments with my brother. You won't find my name on any replays or in the Worldwide Invitational so stop looking. Just small local tournaments and one regional appearance. And like many of my generation, I learned to mouse click thanks to Diablo II. My point is, I really want to goto BlizzCon, not only WoW but all of Blizzard's properties...and the goodie bag. Despite asking for all your luck I missed out on the lottery drawing. The drawing was my last chance at receiving a ticket through the more official channels. When the BlizzCon e-mail failed to appear in my mailbox I turned into a new man. More grouchy than Oscar in Azeroth. My girlfriend was not amused. This morning at breakfast I started looking at the grey market once again. I refuse to pay the ridiculous eBay prices for my entry into Valhalla so I have found some other alternatives:

• Pixelated Executioner is offering a BlizzCon ticket for the best, original 700+ word story related to Wrath of the Lich King. However, the goodie bag is NOT included.
• Blizzard and its partners are offering an all expenses paid trip for two to BlizzCon. All you have to do is enter some information to be eligible. 25 runner-ups will receive a mix of SteelSeries (they make the Zboard line), UpperDeck Entertainment, Brady Games and J!NX swag.

So far I have only found those two contests, if anyone knows of any others please add them via the comments. Personally, I will likely enter both as they have to have better odds than the lottery system! Can't wait to read some of those stories. The WoW community is so creative that I expect some gems to come from it.

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Mmm, finally Rogues have received a nice blue post from Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard Poster Gamnin updated the stabbing community on changes they can expect to see in the near future. Gamnin admits that these are changes that are currently being worked on, as well as future goals. Therefore, some of these changes may not come for some time. Nevertheless, many of them have me in a twitter. Got me in a twitter:

• Removal of numerous reagents (Thieves’ Tools, Flash Powder).
• Poison skill removed – poisons available via vendors.
• Level 75 unannounced ability designed and teased as adding group utility.
• Fist weapon spec merged with dagger spec.
• Mace Specialization will now grant armor penetration when using a mace.

Much hotness:

• Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes on Evasion, Sprint, Vanish.
• Subtlety Tier 1 redesigned to be more attractive
• Fewer dagger specifics talents in subtlety to allow more diverse build options
• Hunger for Blood will remove any harmful physical effects. No longer just Bleed or Magic.

I have always fancied the dagger specialization more, just because I felt that it required more “skill”. In actuality, it just requires that you move around a lot more (and have more patience) but I will keep telling myself that that equals skill. Unfortunately, raiders have claimed that dagger builds were doing less DPS than the other specs for some time, a statement which Blizzard owned up to.  With that in mind, the merger of maces into the dagger spec and armor penetration instead of a stun proc make maces much more attractive to me.  Maybe it is time to give up my trusty blades? The removal of the poison skill makes sense, as it was simply as waste of time to create them so often. On top of that, its not like it was difficult to do or troublesome to locate the materials. For those reasons, the switch to a vendor item makes a lot of sense. But seeing as I never carried around poison mats, just a few stacks of crafted poisons, I don't see how it will help bag space. As for the hotness changes?  I did not note that Cloak of Shadows' cooldown is being raised to two minutes since I was focusing on the good.  But that makes the changes to Hunger for Blood look more enticing for the PvP players out there.  And should I make that jump to maces, it is nice to know that Blizzard will try to make the subtlety tree a viable option. Be sure to check out the blue post though. Gamnin mentions a lot of other changes and future additions that I did not touch upon.  Sadly, there wasn't enough to convince me that daggers will be taking over as highest DPS again – and I feel they should be the highest.

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Some more details have been coming out about the pre-Wrath of the Lich King content patch. As you know, the upcoming patch will act as a “bridging” patch. What this means is that Blizzard will use patch 3.0.2 to introduce a chunk of the Wrath changes, before Wrath is launched. This is the same thing Blizzard did with patch 2.0.1, introducing some aspects of The Burning Crusade into vanilla World of Warcraft. That addition came just a little over a month before TBC's release. Eyonix mentioned as part of patch 3.0.2's announcement that the notes would be coming shortly. However they still have not been posted. Nevertheless, Blizzard has posted additional information through alternative means. First we have a promise from Bornakk that the game won't be broken by the patch. I still remember the horror of “Assault on Blackwing Lair” or patch 1.6.0. I never wanted to use add-ons again after how long it took for all of my add-ons to be repaired, and then the time it took to go find them.  One by one.  Thankfully, we have tools like BLASC now. Bornakk also mentions that the patch should arrive “in the coming weeks”. To back up that statement the PTR forums have been wiped. An act that always happens shortly before a new patch is tested. Zarhym brought us the first list of detailed changes yesterday, the long promised changes to raid buffs/debuffs and stacking. The changes are drastic and the post is long, so it is worth the read for the hardcore PvE players out there. The Summation:

• Most buffs/debuffs will be raid-wide (ie Warrior shouts, Shaman totems).
• All buffs are categorized in one or more of 30 categories. Most categories have only a few buffs in them.
• Buffs from the same categories will not stack, with the most powerful buff taking precedence
• Mana regeneration buffs to be assigned to 10 players with the least mana
• Numerous existing buffs and debuffs have been reworked for the new system

Blizzard hopes that the changes will allow raiders to bring whomever is available to a raid – within reason - instead of requiring a concrete template be filled. Zarhym noted that Blizzard will be fine tuning the system and changes as needed based on internal testing and community feedback. So start the feedback process.

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Vanity pets, non-combat pets, small pets, companions, mini-pets, waste of bag space, whatever you know them as, they are here to stay. I am by no means a collector of the pets, but I know plenty of people who are. Way back in vanilla World of Warcraft, I had a guildie whose goal was to fill up all his bag slots with the buggers and then pull them out one by one during a Molten Core run. But just because I don't collect them doesn't mean I don't enjoy them or strive to achieve a few. This year's Children's Week brought the cutest pet I have seen in the game. Getting a hold of the foul beast meant that I had to spend a few hours running all over Azeroth to get Egbert's Egg. Seeing that little Hawkstrider wig out when you stand idle was well worth the time. Then Blizzard Entertainment got into the Olympic mood and added a Gold Medallion that would summon a small dragon known as the Spirit of Competition. This pet also required a bit of a time commitment. For each PvP battleground a player won, they had a chance to be rewarded with the item. The chance was fairly high, making the non-combat pet a fairly common one on my server. Nevertheless, being a huge fan of the Olympics and dragons, I had to have one. The Worldwide Invitational also had an interesting pet that I was not able to get my hands on, Archangel Tyrael of Diablo II fame. Shortly after people began populating the world with Tyrael – not to mention trying to get him to duel with Diablo – I heard that he wasn't that cool of a pet. In fact, Tyrael has one animations to speak of, crossing his arms. He also responds to /dance, he just won't stop dancing until he is re-summoned. Seeing as my main is a rogue, I don't get to run around with my pets too much. It wasn't until I ran a string of heroics and some Karazhans that I realized the Spirit of Competition doesn't have any animations to speak of either. It just floats there, acting like a Wind Serpent. Lame. So what this means is that the last two semi- to near- exclusive pets have almost no animations, idle or emotes, to speak of. It appears that the newest pets have had far less time put into them than the easily accessible rewards from Children's Week or the dozens of other companions running around. I know vanity pets aren't that big of a deal but these are supposed to be the exclusive ones, they should be the coolest to own. What's up with that Blizzard? Did they finally revolt?

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A few things have cropped up in the larger World of Warcraft community that are likely to interest many of you. Both of them are Wrath based, although I would not call any of the upcoming information a “spoiler.” So feel free to read on without learning that Arthas is a sled and that Azeroth is really Earth in the distant future. First up, we have a YouTube look at the new calendar system. The guild calendar is one of the biggest changes that Wrath of the Lich King will bring to the user interface. Although, we now know that the change will be coming as part of the last content patch for The Burning Crusade. When the patch launches, guilds can stop depending on, and the author can stop creating, GroupCalendar. Since the video is from the beta, things may change a bit before it goes live. Highlights include:

• Personal calendar filtering by Battleground Holidays, Raid Lockouts, Darkmoon Faire, Weekly Holidays and Raid Resets.
• All users can create events viewable by a selected group and/or the guild.
• Created events can be of various categories - PvP, Raid, Dungeon, Meeting, Other.
• Creators and moderators can modify the event including attendee status.
• Users will be notified of event invites by a flashing calendar icon on the minimap. They can then RSVP to the event.
• Events will display the number and classes of players that have RSVPed. Inviting from the calendar interface is also possible.

The next piece of Wrath goodness isn't created by Blizzard in anyway. WotLKWiki has put together a tidy, interactive map of Northrend that acts a lot like Google maps (it is “Powered by Google” after all). You can click-drag the map, center, zoom in and out. Double clicking on an area will zoom in and center. So yea, just like Google Maps. Really there isn't anything too impressive with the map but it's fun to take for a spin.

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During the late afternoon yesterday it came out that we World of Warcrafters would be receiving one more content patch before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. This isn't that unexpected as Blizzard Entertainment did the same thing shortly before the launch of The Burning Crusade. Blizzard Poster Eyonix updated us with information on the patch that is meant to bridge the upcoming content changes. Here are the highlights:

• New class spells and talents
• Stormwind Harbor
• Barbershops in capital cities
• Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
• Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
• Guild calendar
• New profession: Inscription
• Hunter pet skill revamp

Eyonix was quick to point out that the above list is simply highlights, nothing more. The flapping dragon mentions that the patch notes will be out as soon as they are available. Also of interest to some will be the addition of the Inscription profession. Blizzard will not be limiting the new profession to just purchasers of Wrath. Any owner of The Burning Crusade will be able to select Inscription as one of their professions with a max training level of 375. Those with Wrath installed will be able to train Inscription, and other professions, beyond 375. Inscription doesn't have me that excited to be honest.  But that is because I simply do not want to train another profession.  I will likely just remain as a consumer of the new profession rather than a producer.  What does have me excited is the changes to Stormwind.  I hope that Blizzard makes the changes slowly, progressing the addition as Wrath approaches.  If done correctly, the process should make the city feel more alive. Last but not least, Arenas with environmental hazards and obstacles?  Awesome.  What has you guys hot and bothered?

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Blizzard debuted the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic trailer during last week's Leipzig Games Convention to much discussion. Many, yours truly included, felt that it was lacking something. At the same time, others enjoyed how Blizzard "hid" the lore by not explaining it during the video but eluding to the backstory. Either way, just about everyone loved the animation and art. Surely, not everyone is a lore nut and therefore may not know what Arthas is doing in Northrend, or simply forgot. Today we will add a little lore to ProjectLore with a quick re-cap of Arthas and his ascension as the new Lich king. Prince Arthas was first introduced to the Warcraft univserse with the release of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Blizzard's third RTS in the series revolved around the return of the Burning Legion to the land and the four races' attempts to stop them. Arthas begins his career as a Knight of the Silver Hand by defending Strahnbrad before moving onto Stratholme. His actions in Stratholme mark the beginning of his turn, as he purges the town of its people in an attempt to stave off the plague. With Kel'Thuzad, the plague bringer, dead, Arthas pursues Mal'Ganis into Northrend where he and Muradin Bronzebeard find Frostmourne. In his final conversation with Muradin, Arthas explains that "I would gladly bear any curse to save my homeland!" shortly before a powerful explosion shatters the ice surrounding the sword, wounding Muradin. With Frostmourne in hand Arthas seeks revenge upon Mal'Ganis. Striking the dreadlord down before he returns to Lordaeron. To kill his father. Now corrupted, following the bidding of Tichondrius, hearing the Lich King's sweet nothings and lacking a soul, Arthas began performing unthinkable acts. For months he carried out Tichondrius' bidding, including exhuming the corpse of Kel'Thuzad, and obtaining a magical urn for his body. An urn protected by his former mentor Uther the Lightbringer and one that possessed his father's ashes. Without remorse, the former Prince dispatched of his mentor and discarded the last remains of King Terenas Menethil II. The Death Knight proceeded to resurrect Kel'Thuzad as a powerful lich after destroying Silvermoon and plundering the Sunwell for its power. With his resurrection complete, Kel'Thuzad tells Arthas of the Lich King's full plan. The pair sought the Book of Medivh and succeeded in summoning Archimonde to their lands. The demon - not knowing their plan - disregarded the pair, allowing them to meet with Archimonde's enemies. Arthas located the recently freed Illidan Stormrage and divulged the secret to Archimonde's demise, the Skull of Gul'dan. Arthas made his return shortly after the combined forces of the Night Elves, Humans, and Orcs defeated Archimonde. Archimonde's remaining three dreadlords realized that the Lich King's power was waning and moved to seek their revenge. Thanks to Kel'Thuzad, Arthas narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by his former aide, Sylvanas Windrunner. The ordeal left Arthas shaken and the Lich King called him to protect The Frozen Throne in Northrend. After being saved by Anub'arak, the former king of Azjol-Nerub, the pair ventured towards the Icecrown Glacier via the remains of Azjol-Nerub. During their descent into the caves they first claimed the treasures of Sapphiron and after his defeat, Arthas managed to raise him once again as a powerful frost wyrm. Then, they were confronted by the remaining forces of Muradin, led by Baelgun. After dispatching of the dwarves, the team ran into the legendary race known as the Faceless Ones before managing to reach the Upper Kingdom. Arthas' forces clashed with Illidan's as he attempted to open the path to The Frozen Throne. Upon starting his ascent he was greeted by Illidan. Arthas quickly dispatched the demon-infused elf and so he climbed the icy stairs to receive the Lich King's armor. With a powerful cry Arthas shattered the throne and claimed the helm of the Lich King. The act merged the soul of Arthas with that of the Lich King. Ner'Zhul and Arthas became one and await you in Icecrown Glacier. For more information on Arthas check out his WoWWiki page or the plot's to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

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