Project Lore

There's a few well-known lucky rollers in my guild, and let's just say I'm not one of them. Sure, I get my fair share of loot, but oftentimes it's by default (that is, no one else wants said loot). When it comes to my guild's 10-man groups, we don't use an intricate loot system -- we're all pretty fair people. Roll if you want something. If it's a bigger upgrade for someone else in the group, take that into consideration. And if you've already won several pieces of loot in a night, consider sitting out a roll. It's not a system that works for PUGs or guilds that don't share a sense of camaraderie, but it's great for my guild.

When it comes to 25-man loot, we usually use Suicide Kings (more on that in a later post). But this past weekend we were just having fun running some random stuff. I asked who wanted to run Onyxia since we hadn't done much dragon-slaying in awhile, and off we went. We wiped once when we tried it out with a 20-man group, then we filled the rest of those slots with friends of friends, and decided to just go with straight-up rolls for gear.

We got her down right away, and none of us were expecting the drop of all drops -- Reins of the Onyxian Drake. It was the first time that any of us had seen it drop. And thank goodness the raid leader had set it to master looter, because it's definitely one of those items that someone might deem worthy of a ninja.

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There's been one specific horse trampling his mark all over WoW news this week, and his name is Invincible. On the official World of Warcraft website Wednesday, Blizzard unveiled a page devoted to Arthas' horse along with the news that the Invincible Charger mount will drop upon defeat of the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel, on heroic difficulty. The site also goes into considerable depth on the history of Invincible -- in both life and undeath -- and just why he is so epic and frightening:

The mare Brightmane gave birth to Invincible as a young Prince Arthas watched with rapt attention. In the years following Invincible's birth, the horse and Arthas formed a bond that carried them across the warring nations of Azeroth, through the icy grip of death, and into the throes of battle. The stallion's coiled muscles were made for speed, and Arthas often felt that his mount flew rather than galloped across the countryside.

With the slightest touch of his heel, Arthas was able to convey his directions, and Invincible obeyed without question or hesitation. It was Invincible's unfaltering faith in his master that inevitably led to the stallion's death and unholy rebirth. On a cold winter afternoon as snow was blanketing the ground, Arthas was desperate to get away from the city even if it meant riding through harsh and unforgiving weather. Once outside, Arthas guided Invincible over a familiar jump, but the stallion slipped on slick ice, and the fall shattered his forelegs.With no way to save his companion, Arthas was forced to give Invincible a merciful death, and the prince carried that guilt with him for a very long time.

Years later, after the Lich King granted Arthas necromantic powers, Arthas returned to the grave where he had buried Invincible and raised his loyal servant into undeath. It was in this dark act that Arthas felt a sense of purpose. He believed that Invincible's death was not an accident; rather, it was essential to Arthas's destiny. Invincible was not bred to be a warhorse, but after he was brought back from the dead and made immune to hunger, pain, and exhaustion, he became the perfect steed for Arthas.

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I was elated when Blizzard announced that they'd be giving you access to flying mounts the moment you hit Outland. Anything that got me out of there just as fast was sure to be a good thing. Sure, there was a point in time when I actually liked running around on ol' Draenor, but now-a-days, it's just a speedbump on the way to Level 80. Buy a fresh flyer at Thrallmar or Honor Hold and you could just cruise through the 58-68 grind! Out of bad habit, I still went all the way to Shadowmoon Valley to get mine, but the overall experience was much more tolerable. But, wait a minute. Without some really clever playing of the auction house and an amount of resource grinding equal to or greater than that which is required to level, how could you possibly have the 600+ gold required to purchase the Expert Riding skill right away? Sure, once you've quested all the way around Outland, you should have the cash on hand, but not if you're a green-eyed recruit who just popped their Dark Portal cherry. Luckily for my last alt to make the journey, I had a wealthy main who could send the required dough through the mail system, but not everyone finds their experience so serendipitous. Blizzard apparently felt your pain, and introduced a stealth update in the last patch (that they have now confirmed) which lowered the cost of Expert Riding from 600g to 225g:

"You guys are correct, we reduced the expert riding skill price in 3.2.2 to 225g. We also changed the faction discounts for the riding skill vendors in Honor Hold and Thrallmar to use Stormwind and Orgrimmar faction. There are a couple reasons we made this change. First off, we wanted expert riding to be available to more people at level 60. 600g just did not seem like a reasonable expectation for most level 60 players to have when they roll into Hellfire Peninsula. Especially after purchasing your level 60 skills. The second change, regarding the factions just made a lot more sense this way since you will not have any Thrallmar or Honor Hold faction when you enter Hellfire. Finally, I want to apologize for this change not making the patch notes. We strive to get every change we make into the notes but this one somehow slipped by. Once again, my apologies on that, but hopefully the lower price will help make up for it. ;)"

Don't fret too much, those of you who continue to see such changes as "dumbing down" the game. Artisan Riding still costs a steep 5000 gold. And, honestly, if you've got that much of a beef, you've probably been playing the game for a very long time. We should be welcoming the charity for all future alts who will eventually have to pass through Outland anyway. My piece is said, folks. What do you readers think of this discount?

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I'm sure most everyone who's gotten through the WotLK content can relate. You've been in Northrend for a while and cruising through the journey to level 80. And finally, one of those landmarks that you've been waiting for -  Level 77: the level you become eligible to train Cold Weather Flying. And if you play it right, it's also a transition to some quick leveling. I've been questing in Northrend since level 68, so I skipped over expert and artisan riding that became available at level 70. But regardless, flying has been something I've really been looking forward to. Leading up to hitting 77, I had been questing in Zul'Drak, then headed back to Borean Tundra to catch some quests I missed earlier. When I dinged, I headed straight away to Dalaran and paid a visit to Hira Snowdawn at Krasus' Landing to buy the skills, and Dama Wildmane in Shadowmoon Valley to pick up my swift purple wind rider. About 7,000 gold later, I was ready to fly. The only problem? It takes some getting used to. I summoned the wyvern and started off with a jump. Flight practice. I tried aiming for the top of a tower in Shadowmoon Valley, and started the flying climp up. Much, much faster than I anticipated, I had overshot the roof and was hovering above it. I changed tactics and decided to aim with the mouse. Just like swimming. I aimed again, and touched down on the tower. Not too bad. I got the hang of getting around, but still am perfecting the art of picking out the perfect spot to touch down when near mobs. And running off the side of a cliff still makes my stomach flop over as I expect to start falling. But the wind rider's got my back. For now, the act of flying is still somewhat of a luxury for me because it's still so new. But I know soon enough, it'll become just another aspect of the game that I take for granted - that's the natural course of things. I remember how paying for my first trip between flight paths also seemed pretty magical, and quickly was only a means to get around. Especially with all the changes to mounts coming for patch 3.2, it seemed the appropriate time to reminisce a bit about the thrill of first flight. Do you all remember your first jaunt on a flying mount?

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You now can add another significant mount change to the ones already announced for Patch 3.2. Earlier this week, Wow.com discovered a nifty new item on the Public Test Realm. The Tome of Cold Weather Flight, a bind to account item, teaches Cold Weather Flying at level 68. Blue poster Zarhym confirmed the upcoming addition in a thread that linked to the post, and he also elaborated a bit on how the tome will work:

Just to confirm, Tome of Cold Weather Flight is actually a new heirloom item planned to go into patch 3.2. At level 80 players can buy this heirloom item from the Cold Weather Flying Trainer in Dalaran for 1,000 gold and send it to an alt of the same realm, faction and account. The tome can be used to learn Cold Weather Flying at level 68, consuming the tome in the process. Please note this feature is not yet in the newest version of the public test realm patch notes updated today. The item and its functionality are subject to change during the testing process.

So this clears up one thing: You only will be able to get the Tome of Cold Weather Flying once you've already gotten at least one character to level 80. This is something I can get behind, knowing that players will (hopefully) be able to fully appreciate all the wonderful lore in the Northrend area before plowing through the content as quickly as you'll be able to on a flying mount. In subsequent posts, Zarhym responded to questions about whether an alt would still have to buy the flying skill if they have a tome:

You just have to buy the tome. The cost for the player is the same. It just means if you have an alt and can afford it, you can get yourself flying in Northrend by level 68. ...The tome costs 1,000 gold. It is not meant to bypass the cost of the training, but only to allow for level 80 players with alts the ability to fly in Northrend once they arrive at level 68. It's a small perk for those who have reached level 80 and like leveling new races or classes. :)

I still have a couple of questions that I haven't seen answered, and likely won't be answered until we see how it works when Patch 3.2 goes live to all realms (things may change by then anyways, since the PTR is subject to change). Mostly - if this is BtA, but a players has level 80 characters of both factions, are they required to choose only one faction to use this new ability (since it only can be sent to players on same realm, same faction)? Or, since the tome is consumed when used, perhaps that means that we'll be able to buy the item multiple times, but only have one active at any one time? It'll be interesting to see how this one unfolds. I've heard a lot of complaints from players about what they see as nerfs to a lot of the WoW content coming in 3.2. So what do you guys think - would you consider this a nerf, or does the fact that you have to have a level 80 to get the tome help negate that? Personally, I'm a long distance away from having an alt to level 68. But I'd be all for taking advantage of the change once that time comes.

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Blue poster Zarhym on Wednesday night announced some pretty huge mount changes coming up for the next major content patch, 3.2. You'll be able to learn your apprentice, journeyman and expert riding skills all considerably earlier than before and at a reduced cost. As an added bonus, regular flying mounts now will fly at 150% speed, instead of 60%. All of this, Zarhym said, is "to further improve the leveling experience in World of Warcraft." Here's the breakdown of changes to cost and level requirements, according to what Zarhym posted, with my own notes in italics:

• Apprentice Riding (Skill 75)
  • 60% land mount speed
  • Requires level 20 - a whole 10 levels earlier
  • Cost: 4 gold - way down from 35g
  • Mount cost: 1 gold - instead of 10g
  • Mail will be sent to players at level 20 guiding them to the riding trainer

• Journeyman Riding (Skill 150)
  • 100% land mount speed
  • Requires level 40 - OMG 20 levels sooner!
  • Cost: 50 gold - currently 600g
  • Mount cost: 10 gold - down from 100g
  • Mail will be sent to players at level 40 guiding them back to the riding trainer

• Expert Riding (Skill 225)
  • 150% flying mount speed instead of 60%; 60% land mount speed
  • Requires level 60 - Previously level 70
  • Cost: 600 gold (faction discounts now apply) - currently 800g
  • Mount Cost: 50 gold - down from 100g
  • Can now be learned in Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)

• Artisan Riding (Skill 300)
  • 280% flying mount speed; 100% land mount speed
  • Requires level 70
  • Cost: 5,000 gold (faction discounts now apply)
  • Mount Cost: 100 gold - instead of 200g

And, after getting lots of questions from other posters about Cold Weather Flying, Zarhym replied that at least that much will "remain unchanged." It looks to me like these changes will help leveling go quite a bit faster, especially when in many of the wide, open spaces common throughout Azeroth. Not to mention the zones in Outland, too! AND the huge price slashes will mean that it's much less of a hardship for players to pay for mounts, especially for those poor alts. Most people in the forums seem to be pretty ecstatic about the announcement, but there are plenty also who are starting to say that the changes are catered toward the casual player (or that they should have been implemented xx months ago!). But these changes will affect everyone across the board - and in my opinion, it's all for the good. It's not about being lazy when leveling - it's about enjoying the game. And I think for a lot of us, mounts are fun. Zarhym also announced that the casting time for summoning all mounts will go from its current 3 seconds down to 1.5 seconds. Which, to me, equals a greater chance that I'll be able to get my mount out in time after breaking stealth and before getting attacked. And maybe you also can successfully escape any other baddies heading your way before entering combat. I guess that would "improve the leveling experience" in my book. Add this to all the other changes coming for Call of the Crusade, and a new battleground, and I'm just giddy. So what does everyone else think about these upcoming changes? FTW? Or FTL?

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Image via WoWInsider.com

There has been much hoopla over one of the capstone changes in patch 3.1: dual specs. In short, it allows a level 80 character who has "learned" dual spec to switch between specs easily. Essentially, this means finding a Lexicon of Power or using an item made by scribes to start a ritual that requires 3 players to be present for on the spot switching, aimed at raids. It instantly changes all your talent points between 2 configurations, switches between two sets of glyphs, remaps hotkeys, and reconfigures action bars. Well, there is a price to pay for everything. Our friends at WoWinsider received a tip from a player on the PTR that training for dual talent specialization currently costs 1000g. This is precisely the cost of training Cold Weather Flying, which enables players to fly in Northrend. This is not cheap, but currently players who switch specs 2+ times a week for raiding and other reasons, such as PvP, heroics, or just experimenting with other specs, have to pay 50g per switch and have to replace all their glyphs (an additional cost) as well as perhaps reconfigure their action bars and hotkeys. I think the 1000g will be much cheaper in the long run for serious players and will allow players to have a lot more flexibility in experimenting with new specs. Many people are excited about this, and there has been a lot of speculation about the implication of a dual spec feature. There are the issues of it mainly only appealing to players who both PvP and PvE, its availability being restricted to level 80 players, and the new complication of loot drops for players with multiple specs. However, as a rogue, I am excited to be able to switch between my Hunger for Blood raiding spec and Mutilate/Prep PvP spec, as well as explore Shadow Dance. This should be taken with a grain of salt as it is coming from information obtained on the public test realm. This cost is subject to change, but I think the 1000g cost is right where Blizzard wants it. What do you think? Too expensive, or just right? Useless, or the panecea to the healer and tank shortage?

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