Project Lore

What? So soon?! With the Lich King Hard Mode the only remaining unconquered content in Icecrown Citadel (well, for the guilds at the tip of the top, anyway), it may not be that big of a surprise.

Nonetheless, my ears perked up when I heard that WoW-Europe had recently activated their Patch Test Realm forum again, indicating that a new testing phase may be on the way.

Do keep in mind that, despite the curiosity of these events, there is no official indication that anything is about to happen. In fact, Wryxian emphasizes that the PTR is not currently live in one of his posts on the forum:

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Love 'em or hate 'em, rogues have got to be sneaky. It's a good part of what defines the class, allows them, as leather-wearers, to deal melee dps without instant death, and sets them apart from other DPSers. So it's no huge surprise that Vanish, one of the key skills that rounds out that specialty, has long been debated because it's, as some players would say, "broken."

Just how is it or isn't it broken? Different players of different classes will give you varying answers. But the debate revolves around players/mobs/pets still being able to attack a rogue who has vanished, and a number of AoE/DoT effects that will immediately pull a vanished rogue back out of stealth. Personally, my main is a rogue, so I tend toward the side that vanish should allow a little bit of lenience to allow some time to get away, heal or regenerate some energy. But I certainly don't want it to be overpowered, either, because then it will inevitably get a nerf.

Enter Patch 3.3 on the PTR, and game developers announced hefty plans to unveil a Vanish fix. The hoopla began about a month ago, with blue poster Ghostcrawler announcing Blizzard's intentions on the WoW forums:

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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 Day 4, and somehow I'm still truckin'. All of this info-gathering business can really take it out of a guy, but I've still got some juicy tidbits for my loyal readers! Without a doubt, the biggest piece of Official World of Warcraft Forum-related news today is the opening of the Cataclysm section. There's not much to be found there yet, but it's sure to be the place to go for developer thoughts on the next expansion in the near future. I think I'm going to shake up the format a little bit today, if that's alright with you folks. Don't worry, I'll keep all the commentary and silly non-sequiturs intact. I just think it might be a tad more readable if I stay away from the bullet points. Paragraph breaks are a good thing, trust me! Guild Advancement Suggestion Quintas wants a Ferrari that brews coffee for you and irons your clothes on the way to work. Outside of some Xzibit-brand charity, she's going to have a hard time making that happen (and she'd probably have to actually own one of those zippy, Italian roadsters in the first place). Likewise, she wonders why we can't have our own Guild Houses that do everything for us, defeating the need to ever visit the outside world again! As WoW players, don't we already have that problem? Amongst her proposed "enhancements" is an Artisan system that attracts specialist NPCs to your guild, supplying them with unique patterns and schematics. Yo, yo, yo! It's yo' boy, Xzibit, here teamin' up with West Fall Customs to bring you the tightest rides this side of the Thandol Span! Like most "good ideas," though, it quickly spirals out of control, and soon enough you're running back and forth around the world collecting materials, doing dailies, and trying your best to woo this demanding NPC for what amounts to very little in return. I'm sure Blizzard isn't short on good ideas, it's more a matter of whether or not they're worth executing, something that I think Qunitas forgot to consider while in the midst of her illustrious proposal. I highlighted this post to once again address the issue of Guild Housing: it's just too much of a hassle. If you ask me, Blizzard's got the right idea. They're implementing most of the features people have always asked for, but they're doing it through the UI, instead of spending resources on constructing virtual domiciles. Think of it this way: why go through the trouble of having to meet up in a Guild Hall every time you want to do something when all of your normal business can be conducted through Guild Chat? Player housing is great when you can implement it from the ground up, and when you have the opportunity to incorporate it into PvP play (sacking fortresses and whatnot), but it's not worth shoe-horning into the game for purely cosmetic purposes. Will we ever see it in WoW? Maybe. Blizzard always used to rebuff the idea of changing Azeroth and, well, look where we are now. I just wouldn't expect it anytime soon when there are clearly so many more interesting things for the development team to work on. My Tiny Crimson Whelp Story Judging by the thread title, Velliana either writes articles for Highlights or has seen one too many episodes of  Taxicab Confessions. I'm not sure what a "Tiny Crimson Whelp" might entail in the world of prostitution, but I bet  you could find out for a couple Benjamins. The (admittedly short) story details her jaunt into Grim Batol, and the epic, emotional struggle she underwent wondering whether or not it would be worth killing a whelp for the mere chance of a drop! You'll have to click through to the thread for the shocking conclusion! What I found most interesting about this post is that it attracted more attention from the Community Management team than even the worst nerf complaint thread. Not one, not two, but three chose to respond, each detailing their own attempts at collecting all of Azeroth's tiny whelps. Thundgot had an especially tough time. It took him over an estimated 5000 kills to lock down all four. Thankfully, he made some extra gold along the way, but it just goes to show you that even Blizzard employees don't get everything handed to them on a silver platter. I don't have any of the whelps myself (I've barely even tried), but how about the rest of you? Were you as lucky as Miss Velliana here or was it a much more laborious and frustrating experience? Elitist Jerks Closes Thread on Unholy DK Ghostcrawler's been on the warpath today, dealing primarily with massive amounts of Hunter QQ. But that's not all! The Death Knights are itching to have their say, too. Now, I'm always a little wary of people who obsess over min-maxing their characters, but I can't deny that Elitist Jerks is one of the best sites to look at if you really want to understand how to play your class (that is, if you can sort through the long threads and gobs of esoteric information). Why Skaven is whining to Blizzard about something someone else decided to do on another forum, I don't know, but he sure is upset about them closing one of his favorite threads. GC reminds us of why he likes Elitist Jerks so much. They conduct the kinds of conversations he likes to see: "One of the things I personally appreciate about the EJ forums is they tend to focus on what is, not in their opinions on what should be. That tends to lead to discussions based on facts and not opinions. Their Unholy DK threads focus on how to maximize dps as Unholy not on petitioning Blizzard to buff Scourge Strike." The way I understand Skaven's complaint is that changes made to Unholy spec now favor one skill over another similar skill. Now we all know that sometimes even small modifications to a class can have a greater impact on the way they work in practice. But, as Ghostcrawler points out, he and so many others, like to complain because their class no longer fits the idea of what they think it should be. In other words, he's freaking out over having to re-learn the ins-and-outs of his Unholy Death Knight, even when the change itself is miniscule. This may seem like pointing out the obvious, but it's clear that there are many people out there who have yet to learn that crying on the forums isn't going to help or change anything. I think that about wraps it up for this edition. Please chime in with your thoughts on all of these topics below, and let me know if you prefer this format over the other one!

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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. Welcome to day two of Blue Stew, everyone. A lot of you seemed interested in what this column has to offer, so I'm going to do my best to bring you its brothy goodness every day this week. Now, on with today's serving...

• Oh man, what is it with Druids? It seems that poor Blizzard just can't get a break from their polymorphic prejudice! Veere has set up an obstacle course made out of Winchesters so that he can get even better at jumping the gun. Wanting to test his progress, he decided to post this gem on the official forums: "NE Mages = The Death of Lore?" I don't know what it is that makes people think that lore exists in a vacuum. Moving forward with the timeline and shaking things up a little bit doesn't equal a retcon, people! So the arcane has been forbidden from Night Elf culture for thousands of years? OK, that's fine, but I'm sure you've all heard this phrase before: "Desperate times call for desperate measures!" Look at it this way, when the world is as threatened as it is by a force like Deathwing, each and every race on Azeroth is going to take a good, long, hard look at themselves and figure out what they can or need to do to overcome that destruction, and sometimes that means breaking taboos and sharing resources with each other. If that means paths once closed need to be re-opened, well, I see no problems with that. But, of course, there will be ramifications for doing so. Blue poster Kisirani reminds us that Blizzard is not ignorant of such things: "I'd like to reinforce that we're perfectly aware of the way Night Elf society has viewed arcane magic over the years. We are similarly aware that Night Elf Mages have been in the game since patch 1.3. Not all Highborne became the High Elves and Blood Elves of today. As evidenced in the screenshot linked, patch 3.2.2 begins the explanation. We're not ignoring what came before, but we are moving the storyline forward, and at times, that means change and a shake up in the status quo." So, please, where Cataclysm lore is concerned, be aware that these things have been announced long before they actually occur within the game world.
• Lyresse spends most of her days inside a giant, plastic bubble. Not because she's sick, but because she's always wondered what it was like to be a hamster. She's also curious about WoW's shoulda-beens and coulda-beens, and asks if phasing technology could be used to breathe new life into old quest lines. Her given examples include finishing the bridge in Redridge Mountains and the remote nature of Marshall's Refuge in Un'Goro Crater (how the heck did they manage to get a flight path out there?). Wryxian responds with a tight-lipped answer, admitting that he knows little of what the development team plans to do with the technology, but that "the main issue will be deciding on when to stop using it." It doesn't seem like we'll be getting any real answers on this subject anytime soon, and while I have no doubt it will be used to make new quest lines more exciting, I'm not sure what can be done for old ones like those Lyresse is interested in. The fact of the matter is that we have to consider Cataclysm as a quantum leap forward in the WoW universe. Everything is moving forward, and many of those old quests might not even be available any longer. That is to say that we likely won't get another line dealing with the bridge in Redridge, because either it will be finished at the start of the expansion, or it will be utterly destroyed. So, I'm not entirely sure that we're going to see old areas of the world that could've benefitted from it in the past actually incorporate phasing now, but rather that they all will from here on out.
• Grand Apothecary Putress I think Lindra can read minds, because she's asked a question that I've been itching to ever since being clued into the massive changes of Cataclysm: "What's going to happen to the Plaguelands?" Wryxian answered the call once again, expressing his own interest in the possibilities: "It's really intriguing wondering what exactly will happen to places like the Plaguelands. Will they be kept much as they are, even despite the nailing we all expect Arthas will receive, or will they be liberated and thus potentially becoming hotly contested by all the various races that may be interested in re-claiming the area for their own?" With Arthas most likely gone, the Scourge will lose their power. Like a bee hive without its Queen, they'll become listless and without direction. With production of new Scourge at a halt, they become easy pickin's for the likes of the Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade, eventually allowed the Plaguelands to be reclaimed by those who seek to call it home. Will the Blood Elves want to rebuild Quel'Thalas? Do the Humans want to reclaim their former capital of Lordaeron? And what about the Forsaken? They still need a place to call home (and, in fact, they seem intent on expanding their influence with the sacking of Gilneas). It seems to me that, with the spirit of open contention between factions at hand, that the Plaguelands will once again become a battlefield. So, what of the Scourge? Just because Arthas is gone doesn't mean they've lost all of their masters. In fact, there are a couple traitorous Forsaken who might see the Lick King's death as an opportunity. Despite their disdain for the Scourge, who could resist controlling an instant army?

Well, that wraps it up for today, folks. Add your thoughts below and, as always, keep those suggestions flowing!

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I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but it looks like one of the greatest points of contention regarding the recently announced mount changes for 3.2 will continue to upset players of WoW. In comments both on my post here at Project Lore and on the official WoW forums, posters have begrudged the major price dips for mounts because they had to pay so much more when they bought their mounts. Some have gone so far as to suggest (or demand, in some cases) that Blizzard refund their in-game gold. Not surprisingly, blue poster Zarhym has responded to these requests in a couple of different places in the forums. After the complaints started rolling in Wednesday, he said:

"We have no plans of offering in-game gold refunds on item costs to compensate for this content change, as has always been our policy."

Later on,  in an individual thread asking for refunds, he expanded on that point:

"It's truly a great thing that online gaming has expanded to the point where a game can grow and evolve over time with new content. As a gaming company, we can look back with hind sight and make changes to update older content within the context of everything that has come since. Several times over this has led to price adjustments in a number of areas, and we do not reimburse items or money due to changes in content. There are simply too many variables and too many changes each content patch to attempt to compensate anyone who's been negatively affected by a change."

Now this doesn't seem like a hugely unexpected revelation. As he said, I can't think of any other time that Blizzard has made any overarching gold refunds for in-game price adjustments. I'm also not sure that anything has ever decreased in price across-the-board this drastically before, but I can't say for sure. But still, this has been a major point that has players up in arms, and it probably will continue to be controversial. I predict that all the hoopla will die down once patch 3.2 comes out (whenever that is - it may still be awhile), and people start getting cheap-ass mounts for their level 20 alts. Plus, all those other changes that also are planned for 3.2! Personally, I can't wait. One thing I'm still undecided on - what's the verdict for all of you who are on the verge of buying your mount? Do you wait for the patch, however long that may be? Or do you shovel out the cash so you can get the benefit of faster travel now? And if you do, will you QQ about it?

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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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Now you see me...

When I first rolled Locomomo, going rogue was an easy choice. I thought the idea of having stealth right from level 1 was absolutely brilliant. I loved it, and reveled in it. From the start, I embraced the cunning practice of disappearing into the shadows and pick pocketing my enemies before ambushing them with poisons. By the time I was seen, my dagger already was bloody with my opponent's innards. Just like most other elusive rogues, I didn't mind using crafty, violent and yes, even straight up vile methods to down those who would stand against me. The power consumed me, and I grew stronger.

Now you don't!

My deception also was my entertainment: I took comfort in harassing those who couldn't see me. I would stealth, and choose a friendly, lower-level target to distract while they puzzled at a puff of smoke exploding, and then laughter echoing in the seemingly empty street in front of them. But slowly, the novelty wore off. Sap and Cheap Shot became routine, and my daggers rusty. I was eager to level, and I traded in the backstabbers for two shiny new swords. A quick respec for dual-wielding swords, and I was ready to go. No more backstab or ambush, my two key skills requiring daggers. No hopes for mutilate, either. And not as much need for stealth, since I didn't have to get behind my enemy. But level, I did. Soon, I reached Outland, and then Northrend. It was the Borean Tundra that brought me back to my stealthy roots. First, a series of quests led me to the Fang of the Desolate Soul. Then, east to Dragonblight where I was asked to kill Magister Keldonus and in exchange, take possession of the Backtwister. A free respec for patch 3.1.1 solidified my conviction - it was time to  regain my close quarters combat specialization and rediscover my love for stealthier gameplay. So far, I'm having a bloody good time. Now I wouldn't say that rogues are the best class for everyone. And I can't leave out the fact that we've gotten nerfed from time to time. But I'm in it for the fun. And, damn. Stealth is fun. I think iTZKooPA knows what I'm talking about, and also has some good tips for the muti spec. So now you all know one of my favorite aspects of being a rogue. Based on a thread in our forums, I know I'm not the only one. So, what is it that drives you to play your class?

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Edit: Forums are Back Up! Just a quick note to those of you who love posting on our forums - They'll be undergoing a little bit of maintenance over the next few hours. They should be back up and running later this evening. Meanwhile, check out this awesome YouTube video:

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Playing on the public test realm isn't for everyone. Of course, we love to keep track of Project Lore posts so we know about exciting upcoming features such as Ulduar, dual spec and tons of new achievements. But we may not be as keen about suffering through significant bugs while knowing that any progress we make in-game ultimately will be lost. I, for one, prefer to keep tabs on progress of the PTR through WoW's official test realm forum. There are plenty of players who are quite willing, for any number of reasons, to play on the PTR despite its drawbacks. And their reports back to Blizzard through the forum provide us with a glimpse of how things are coming along. Bugs, no matter how insignificant, can be frustrating for the players. But my favorite posts are the ones reporting bug hilarity. Such as this one:

Two of my characters I use regularly on the PTR are now pantless on the character selection screen. Both are Death Knights, one is a level 58 gnome female on the PvP server, the other is an 80 tauren female on the PvE server. It doesn't seem to matter if I take my pants off in the game or not, my character selection shows 'em half naked.

And, to my surprise, Blizzard poster Dresorull responded:

Completely intended! Not actually... this is currently being investigated as a bug. Thanks for the report.

Glad they're on that one! Also in the realm of toon vanity, I've also seen mention of the character selection screen not displaying weapons, of minions freezing mid-animation when a player goes AFK and of emote sounds not timing correctly with the animation. Again, not game-breaking errors, but annoying nonetheless. And I'm sure Blizzard appreciates being told of bugs large and small. That's what the PTR is for. Even Blizzard has posted a non-comprehensive list of 15 known bugs. Now on to the more significant reported bugs. Issues range from clams not opening and pets disappearing to the deletion of glyphs. And that's once you get on the PTR. Many complaints stem from issues with logging on, such as new passwords not working, patching errors or locked-out characters. Granted, I never accept a post at face-value because some of these issues may not actually be bugs. But I'd like to think most PTR players know what they're doing. Even on the regular servers, new bugs are constantly being discovered, and oftentimes exploited. Regardless, from what I've seen, it looks to me like Blizzard still has a lot of work ahead of them on the PTR. In my opinion, it's probably about the same as previous PTRs, because you have to start somewhere. But what do you guys think? Is this, as one poster ranted, the "worst ptr EVER?"

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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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