Project Lore

Trial of the Crusader has been something of a test-bed for Blizzard's raid experimentation. There's no trash, there are four different versions to complete, (almost) all of the fights take place in the same room, and you can choose from three different levels of tiered gear (not to mention the split between Alliance/Horde-themed equipment, and the resulting similarities of said pieces between classes of the same faction). The devs have made it clear that this dungeon doesn't represent a fundamental change in their raiding philosophy. That's to say that while we may see similar instances at some point in the far future, there are no plans to use ToC as a template for everything they create from here on out. Now that Anub'Arak has been released (and conquered), and we've all had a chance to see the instance from beginning to end, I think it's safe to raise the question: has it been a success? Is the model for Trial of the Crusader a good one to build upon in the future? There's no way for us to tell how Blizzard feels, except for the random bits of information that we can occasionally glean from posts on the forums or the rare developer interview, but that shouldn't stop the rest of us from discussing it amongst ourselves. We hate to love it, and we love to hate it. To me, Trial is a risky proposition. In many ways, it's the idealized form of what a raid should be: several interesting boss fights that drop desirable loot, with as little bullshit as possible. This is, essentially, what many players say that they desire. On Normal mode, with a decent group, you've got a really good chance of clearing it in an hour or so and walking away with some top-of-the-line gear (and even if you don't, those Triumph badges build up real quick). So, why is that a potential problem? My personal philosophy is that, whether we like them or not, we all have to play by the rules of the MMORPG. That means that we're all slaves to the good ol' "carrot-and-stick." It's an odd relationship, for sure. Blizzard's got to figure out how big to make that carrot and how hard to whack us with the stick, while we players have to decide whether or not the carrot's big and tasty enough to make getting whacked by the stick worth it in the first place. What makes it even more complicated is that each and every player has a different level of tolerance. But here's the rub: at the end of the day, I think most of us secretly like getting hit by the stick, because that makes the carrot oh-so-much-yummier by the time we actually get to eat it. Does that mean we're masochists? Well, quite simply, yes. Trash, wipes, and other hardships draw out the experience. If you think of each raid as its own narrative, all of these things help build the story slowly towards its climax. Trial of the Crusader, on the other hand, gives us all the details up front. Which is great, for the short time we get to enjoy it, but the excitement dulls all that much quicker. It didn't help that even the most casual of guilds have been clearing bosses within their first few attempts (my guild one-shot Jaraxxus, Val'kyr Twins, and Anub'Arak the day they were unlocked). I can tell you that, even after banging our heads against the wall last night on Heroic 10-man, I'm secretly happy that we weren't simply able to bowl over the Northrend Beasts encounter as we always have before. Sure, some top-tier guilds have already blown through these more difficult encounters, but I think the margin of success will be much slimmer than it was at first perceived to be. As I mull over these thoughts in my head, I think I've come to the conclusion that while Trial of the Crusader may seem like a misstep right now (aside from the excitement provided by its near-instant reward structure), that's only because it currently represents the highest level of raiding content. When placed in the context of a greater spectrum (for instance, after Icecrown Citadel is released), Trial of the Crusader is going to be vindicated as a great place to blow off some steam for those guilds still intent on exploring everything Wrath of the Lich King has to offer. After long hauls through Naxxramas and Ulduar, ToC is going to feel like a breath of fresh air, and a respite from the arduous nature of your typical raiding regimen. I think that's quite enough rambling from me today, but I'm still interested in what you readers think. This is a subject more central to our gameplay experience than we might initially believe!

Click to read more ...

Word on the street is that Blizzard was running an in-house pool to bet on whether or not anyone would complete the Heroic version of Trial of the Crusader released today. Well... it looks like at least one employee owes everyone else some money! Why? Because Premonition, what can now be considered the premiere U.S.-based raiding guild, has brought down the house. Not only did they clear the challenge on 10-man within a few hours of its release, but they also did it in less than five attempts. That earns them the A Tribute To Mad Skill achievement, which is rewarded to players who defeat all of the bosses, up through Anub'Arak, with 45 tries left on their counter. Just check Delia's Armory profile to see it for yourself! If you aren't familiar with the mechanic, Heroic runs through Trial of the Crusader allow you to obtain extra rewards depending on how many attempts you have left by the end. The total starts at 50 and dwindles, with each wipe, from there. I can tell you from first-hand experience that it's quite a feat. Is it harder than Yogg + 0? Perhaps not. But even after my guild one-shot Anub'Arak on Normal (not as surprising as you might think), we wiped for a good hour-and-a-half on Heroic Northrend Beasts. By the end of our scheduled raid time tonight, we were down to 35 attempts for the week. So for those of you who feared that ToC would be a cakewalk, worry no longer. This is the way it should've been all along (we'll bring you impressions in a forthcoming post)! But as far as we know right now, the World First for Heroic 25-man Trial of the Crusader is still fair game. So what do you guys think about this Premonition's achievement? I know speed kills like this can be discouraging to some people out there, but remember that this was done by one of the top guilds in the world. And hey, remember, they still wiped to Hogger at BlizzCon!

Click to read more ...

With the entirety of Trial of the Crusader finally unlocked, The Totally Rad Guild will be trying the 10-man version of the instance tonight starting in about an hour at  7pm PDT/10pm EDT. Once we get through Anub'arak, we will be starting on hard modes of the encounters. With just 50 wipes per week to use on the Trial of the Grand Crusader, some Blizzard employees doubt the abilities of raiders to complete the instance in its first week of being available. We'll have to see how far we are able to get. I, for one, can't wait to run into some actually difficult content outside of Ulduar! Tomorrow at the same times (7pm PDT/10pm EDT), we'll be running through the 25-man version of the same instances. So if you want to see the differences, come back tomorrow and see! As usual, I'll be in the USTREAM chat and I'll try to answer any questions that come up whenever I can. The streamed video and chat are embedded below, so come in, join the chat, and check it out. You can also follow Project Lore on twitter or check out our USTREAM channel to find out more! Also, if you happen to miss the stream, there should be some archived videos embedded below!

Click to read more ...

Blue Stew is a new daily column bringing you a delicious concoction of developer news, thoughts, and opinions straight from the boiling pot that is the official World of Warcraft forums. The highlights of each day include additional commentary by Project Lore staff. It's the beginning of September, and you know what that means! New content for all! OK, so that has less to do with the beginning of the month, and more to do with it being a Tuesday. But that doesn't mean we can't get excited about it, right? You can bet the forums are abuzz with people discussing Arena Season 7, Koralon: The Flame Watcher, and the release of the final boss in Trial of the Crusader, Anub'Arak (which brings with it the unlocking of Heroic mode).

• Oddly enough, the big issue of the day is none of these things. Instead, people are concerned with something Bornakk said yesterday in regards to heirloom items in Cataclysm: "Heirloom items specifically state that they go from levels 1 to 80 so we don't currently plan to make the currently available items auto-update to go to level 85 in the next expansion. As for the experience gain, nothing is set in stone yet, but I think it makes sense that we won't want players to get a 20% exp bonus when leveling to 85." Seems like some people will do just about anything to get ahead! Isn't a boost from 1-80 good enough for ya? After all, they were meant to lend you a hand through the painful process of leveling an alt for the umpteenth time. Bigger and broader changes are being made to the 1-60 game in Cataclysm, not to mention all of the new items and equipment that Blizzard would probably rather you use (considering they've spent so much time developing them already). Really, heirloom items should be less of a concern until the whole process becomes boring once again. Why not concentrate on enjoying the streamlined leveling experience and new zones instead of being the first on your server to hit the cap? Wryxian doesn't rule out the potential for "Tome of Cold Weather Flying" style upgrades when your first character hits 85.
• RAWK! The complaining doesn't end there. You'd think Carstalker would be happy after beating out his little sister for first place in the Domino Rally, but he's only interested in figuring out what he's going to do with all those badges he spent on heirloom gear (you know, the ones that Blizzard practically hands out for free these days?): "Sooooooo i just spent alot of badges for my shadowcraft parts giving me a total of 20% bonus to experience gained for my rogue which has been lvl 80 since a week after wotlk was released... can i have these badges back please? i feel kinda tricked, the chest heirloom got handed too us pretty recently ingame which made me think that heirlooms is going to be a + when cataclysm arrives..." Listen up, Carstalker, I'm not sure you're entitled to anything. Blizzard's not out to get you, mon frere! Outside of the experience bonus, do you really think it's worth running around in those old hand-me-downs like Azeroth's own Bag Lady? Surely, you'll be able to find better (and better looking) gear from quest rewards and leveling dungeons. Maybe it's just me, but I get really cheesed when it seems the only thing anybody ever worries about is the race to the finish. What do you think, readers, should the man get all those badges back or is he simply a victim of planning a little too far ahead for his own good?
• Kanye West impersonator, er... Kanye, insists that he doesn't like fish sticks. But he does enjoy things when they're hard. Case in point: raiding in World of Warcraft. Echoing a popular philosophy amongst the player base, he asks if Blizzard can make Icecrown Citadel just as challenging as Sunwell: "The concept of a hard version of every instance sounds okay at first, but then you realize how easy they make the regular version and it just seems pointless. This expansion needs more fights like Brut/Muru that are extreme cockblocks and make you feel awesome when they die. Hopefully some of the ToC hardmodes are like this, as well as plenty of Icecrown encounters. I will be beyond disappointed if 3 or 4 months into Icecrown these same 31 guilds have killed Arthas too. This may come off as me being an elitist #%%###* but who can honestly say they hope the final encounter of the game will be puggable eventually? There were only like 10 guilds to kill Illidan and even less to kill KJ at level 70 on my server." The reponse from Valnoth was as curt as his rant was verbose: "Heroic Modes are for progression. Please make use of them." I'm a rather big fan of difficult raids myself. To most people, they may feel like running a sheet of sandpaper over your genitals until they bleed, but oh man does the payoff make all the pain worth it. At the end of the day, though, I'm not going to let it bother me. While my guild's easily bested all comers in Trial of the Crusader so far, we still haven't made it past General Vezax in Ulduar. I'd say raid difficulty, overall, is more lop-sided than it used to be, but challenges remain for those who seek them.

Anyway, that's enough from me. All of the servers should certainly be up by now, so go forth, and enjoy the new offerings Blizzard has so beautifully laid out before us today. Whether you're a fan of PvE or PvP, there's something for everyone!

Click to read more ...