Project Lore

I'll admit it, Icecrown Citadel is already starting to wear a little thin. No, my guild hasn't conquered it yet. And we haven't even started Hard Modes (which seem to be a mixed bag in terms of difficulty themselves), but we're sort of at that point where everything is on farm except for one or two fights that we continually butt our heads against week after week.

Progress, at this point, is being made at a snail's pace. So, with little else to do when I log on and we aren't raiding, I've been turning my eye towards earning old world achievements once again. At the top of my priority list have been those associated with faction reputation (like Timbermaw Hold or the Argent Dawn) and the notoriously frustrating Loremaster title.

For those of you not in pursuit of such goals, finding and completing every quest can be quite maddening. You can't always depend on quest hubs, as some start as drops from random creatures, or can only be found in the farthest corners of a given zone. The hunt only gets worse the more that you complete, since the remaining ones are all that much harder to discover.

But if there's one thing that makes this journey far more annoying than it needs to be, it's all the absolutely useless junk that finds its way into your bags! Isn't there an easy way to solve this problem?

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Our new listeners out there know that we've been struggling to come up with a name for Project Lore's official audio podcast.  We've currently recorded an entire trilogy of shows - impressive, I know - but the best title we've been able to come up with is the Dave Edition.  It was a hit with at least one fan, our current maximum.  Now we are asking, neigh begging, our fans to help us create the perfect moniker.  And this time we are offering rewards phat loot.

Tokyopop, makers of the World of Warcraft manga, my most beloved surprise of 2009, has donated three prize packs that will be awarded to the best names.  The winners will be chosen at the discretion of Project Lore's contributors, and a vote from Tokyopop will break any tie.  Ideas must be submitted as comments to this post.  Leave your real e-mail address or we'll have no way of contacting you should you win.  If you have submitted ideas on previous posts, please resubmit them for further consideration.  You are allowed to submit more than one entry, and more than once.  Feel free to explain the reasoning behind your submission as well.

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That didn't take long.

Blood Legion, a Horde guild on U.S. Illidan server, has earned the world-first 10-man Arthas kill, scoring The Fall of the Lich King and The Frozen Throne achievements as well as a Kingslayer title. And, from the looks of a screenshot they posted, the group also earned a little something extra... what looks like a giant, floating statue of Tirion Fordring. Ok.

So what does one normal-mode Lich King kill on the first night of its release mean? Well, I doubt that the fight is a walk in the park, or we would have seen more thrilled guilds announcing their success. There's still plenty of potential for other top-notch guilds to get their own realm-first 10-man kills, and then there's also the 25-man version, not to mention hard modes. And it won't be long, I'm sure, until we see more and more guilds making it to the Frost Wing.

So while many of us (including myself) aren't nearly to that point yet, let's dream a little. The WoW Armory now lists the Lich King's drool-worthy loot table for all four incarnations of the fight. And there's a little something for everyone:

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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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You may have heard of 3 Point Entertainment before. They're the creators of the official World of Warcraft beer steins. Well, they couldn't just let such a monumental (and conveniently-themed) event like Brewfest just go by without honoring it, right? Of course not. And their replica of the recently added Coren Direbrew drop, the Tankard O' Terror, does just that. This 226 iLevel BoE Mace, discovered by our very own Juggynaut, is a very rare drop in-game, but just about anybody can score the real life version of the mug for a cool $39.99. Though it's the cheapest of the company's steins by a fair margin, 3 Point didn't slouch on the craftsmanship. With all of its lo-fi angles and textures modeled after those in the game, replica isn't just a buzz word, it's a promise. You'd swear they were actually made by the finest Dwarven stoneworkers in Azeroth. While the Tankard O' Terror's authenticity is no doubt amusing, it's questionable whether or not anyone would actually want to drink out of it. Certainly, with a 2-liter capacity, it can hold a lot of brew, and the company insists that entire collection of mugs is perfectly safe to use in the act of imbibing, but this one's not very ergonomic, is it? The handle doesn't look particularly comfortable to hold and, while there are not pictures provided of the tankard from above, it looks like it might have a wide lip. Of course you could always wield it as weapon, like it's intended to be in the game. At a height of nearly 10 inches, and a weight of 4 lbs,  there's little doubt it could be used to crack a few skulls if the need should arise. Or, you could just set it out to view as a nice piece of World of Warcraft-themed ephemera. Although you can purchase them now, please note that shipping and handling is not included in the price tag, and that they will not actually be available until at least mid-November. Be sure to check out the other steins while you're at the website, most of which are a bit more ornate than the Tankard O' Terror and feature artwork by well-known names like Samwise Didier and Alex Horley.

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Blizzard's got excitement coming at us from all angles this week. First, we got Patch 3.2 much sooner than many expected (although Heartborne let us all know his suspicions before the fact). And starting today, we get a short preview of sorts of BlizzCon through a special pre-sale of convention goodies. Blizz sent out this message to ticket holders Monday:

Heading to BlizzCon 2009? Planning to purchase some souvenirs at the show? We wanted to send you one last reminder that for the first time ever, you'll be able to shop for items from the BlizzCon 2009 store BEFORE the event during our limited-time-only, online BlizzCon 48-Hour Sale!

Starting today at 10:01 a.m. Pacific Time (which equates to 1:01 p.m. for me on the east coast), BlizzCon ticket buyers will be able to shop online for select convention merchandise. This will be my first time attending BlizzCon, but I've heard nightmarish stories of store lines at the show in years past (though I bet the crazyness doesn't quite compete with the trouble we go through just to score tickets). Hopefully, buying goodies online will be a bit less stressful, and I'm hopeful that it might even cut down the lines at the actual event since many will have already bought their souvenirs. But I'm not holding my breath. I know that I, for one, will still want to visit the actual store at the event. But that doesn't simmer my excitement for the upcoming 48-hour sale. I don't have a ton of WoW-related merchandise. A couple books and manga here, a figurine there, but that's about it. So I am eager to mark the occasion of my first BlizzCon with plenty of loot. Now if they just have any of those plushy murlocs in stock, I will be a happy (ecstatic) camper. If not, I may settle for a nice poster, calendar or something along those lines. Hmm, on second thought, maybe a T-shirt or some buttons would be nice. Or hair accessories? Oh, the possibilities (If only, right ladies?)! For those of you who were lucky enough to score tickets, here's Blizz's instructions for how to participate:

• Between 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on August 5 and 10:00 a.m. on August 7, log in to the online Blizzard Store (www.blizzard.com/store) using the Battle.net account you used to purchase your BlizzCon 2009 tickets.
• Click the special "BlizzCon Sale" button in the lower-right corner of your screen.
• Browse new BlizzCon 2009 items created especially for attendees, add them to your cart, and then proceed to check out.
• Items will be shipped directly to your home.
• Enjoy the show!

Take note that you have to be an original ticket buyer to participate (which likely means we'll soon see more BlizzCon goodies on eBay from those who bought tickets to resell them). Regardless... what goodies are you hoping to score?

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As more and more information comes out of the PTR, its pretty hard to not pay attention to it. I am personally getting pumped for all the great new content Blizzard is getting ready for us. As I'm pretty sure most of you have noticed, the new loot we will be able to earn is amazing. Tons of great drops, crafted gear, and most importantly the new tier pieces. While it all exciting, with 3.2 seeming near it makes me wonder if it all is coming a bit soon. I know this may sound a bit odd coming from the guy who complained about how long we were stuck in Naxx, but I don't think we have had enough time in Ulduar. Most of my shiny new T8 epics still have that new car smell, and there is plenty of hard-mode loot I haven't even had a chance to farm. Perhaps I am just concerned that the new loot showing up on the PTR is a bit too good. With all of this new stuff available I will see little reason to go back to Ulduar. This would be a shame because I think Ulduar is an amazing instance! Blizzard managed to create a challenging instance that is full of story and has tons of replayability with the hard modes. I am not ready to leave! While I'm sure people will still be running it, finding motivated groups will be difficult with all of the best stuff somewhere else. At the very least it would be nice to still make the hard mode loot relevant. Yes, I know there will still be best-in-slot items sprinkled around in old content, but by and large we are progressing past it. While I feel most people have had a fair shot at Ulduar itself, I know many people want time to go deeper and try those hard modes. Of course you can never make everyone happy, people progress at different paces, so while some are farming Algalon, many are still in Naxx. None the less for me, this seems fast. How do you guys feel about it? Want more time, or are you ready for something new already?

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Like you guys and gals, I have been poring over all the exciting info coming out of the PTR right now. New gear, dungeons, and battlegrounds are so much fun and what keep this game exciting. But I can't help feel that the most significant change in this patch is something we found out about a while ago, and will change the way we play this game more than you might realize. The change I am referring to is the changes that Blizzard is making to the emblem system. In case you missed the blue post, here is the section I am referring to.

• Emblem System Changes
• Both the 10 and 25-player instances of the Crusaders' Coliseum drop a new Emblem of Triumph.
• Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor, such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead. Emblems of Conquest can still be converted to Valor or Heroism.
• The Heroic dungeon daily quest will now reward 2 Emblems of Triumph and the normal daily dungeon quest will reward 1 Emblem of Triumph.
• The existing achievements to collect 1, 25, 50, etc. Emblems of Heroism, Valor, and Conquest have been converted to Feats of Strength since Heroism and Valor Emblems are no longer attainable.
• New achievements have been added to collect various amounts of any combination of emblems.

So what does this mean for our daily play style? Simply that we now have lots of reason to run heroics. Currently there is virtually no reason for me to step into a heroic. I don't need heroism emblems, gear, or rep. I, like many others, have progressed past this. But now things are different. With every boss dropping Conquest Badges the first few weeks of 3.2 are going to be full of heroic runs. This will let us get all the T8 tier gear, runed orbs, and deadly gear that we could possibly want in a very short period of time. Eventually we will all get all the conquest gear we can handle, but for a short time heroics will be very important. What is even more exciting is the details regarding daily quest rewards. Both the daily and heroic dailies will no give us Emblems of Triumph, which will purchase the next highest level of gear and, presumably, T9 tokens. To me this means I will be doing both of those dungeons every day that I can. It will certainly be an adjustment, but I must say I am sort of looking forward to it. I have always been a big fan of 5-mans, something about that groups size lends itself to a fun relaxed atmosphere. It is something I have missed. With this news I know I have lots of heroic dungeons ahead of me, and more importantly heroic dungeons worth doing! How do you feel about this change? Looking forward to getting back in those 5-mans? Or would you just as well leave them behind?

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When Ulduar first hit I made a post asking when we all thought Algalon the Observer (the true final boss of Ulduar) would go down. Well it appears that Ensidia has answered my questions, well, at least for 10 mans.

The super guild announced on their web site that one of their 10-man teams had finally downed him (and also buried a note that another had completed world first Alone In The Darkness).

While I know it will be quite a while before I get to wear the Starcaller title, it is very exciting to hear their impressions of the fight. They of course comment on the added challenge of the one hour timer, but they also claim it is “not quite as hard as Blizzard made it out to be.” I’m taking that with a grain of salt because I imagine their idea of difficult is quite a bit different than mine!

For those that are interested they also provide a link for the loot they obtained as well as some screenshots of the quest chain. They promise video is on the way in short order.

It is encouraging to me to see it took them as long as it did, because in Ensidia time, this took a while! After all they certainly didn’t waste anytime getting world first Yogg, or any other world first for that matter!

So now the only question is how long until we see Algalon-25 go down? Or how about some of the Algalon hard modes? It pretty clear Blizzard intends to keep us all busy for a while.

If you want to keep track of the world first Algalon-25 progress for yourself I recommend you keep an eye on Ensidia’s site… I have a feeling that the news will break there!

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Way back when I started here at ProjectLore.com I was all giddy over a new engineering pattern that showed up on the Wrath of the Lich King Beta. The Mechano-hog (Horde) or Mekineer's Chopper (Alliance) infatuated me with its ridiculous clunkiness , gnomish features and lifelong dream to be part of a biker gang.  We should also factor in the hilarious Predator reference that comes via the accompanying achievement, Get to the Choppa!

I had been waiting to get on this bike since Wrath launched, but its insanely steep price and my incredibly slow grind to level 80 have delayed me severely. I am underselling the price when I say steep though. The bike is on the Auction House for downright ludicrous prices, well over 10,000 gold the last few times I have checked.  I am not poor but in this economy I find it difficult to even spend virtual money.

Being an engie, Solidsamm has an alternate route, making it himself. This would require a crapload of money spent to level the profession (see link above), then a boatload of time spent getting the required materials. Lastly, a small purse full of money and time spent rep-grinding to pick up the pattern itself. All of this to ride around in a spiffy hog, that can't fly.  At the moment my time is better spent on other things, causing me to go with option three, the passenger's seat. Shotgun!

While participating in yesterday's Heroic Daily, I noticed my tank had pulled out his shiny new Hog, complete with PWN license plate. As I ran up to him to get a free ride click the green arrow, a party member dove in before me. Being the little knee biter that I am, I harassed the paladin until he got out of the sidecar and allowed me to navigate. After all, I did call shotgun.

To my surprise, Blizzard actually intended the person in the sidecar to navigate. Once belted in, I noticed a scroll of parchment placed in front of my character. On it was a map of Kalimdor. The map wouldn't help in Stratholme (Lordaeron is part of the Eastern Kingdoms) but I loved the small detail nonetheless. It is the little things Blizzard adds that make their titles more enjoyable.

Although we didn't succeed in completing the timed event (I blame Arthas and his snail pace), I did score some loot. Sadly, it was two new pairs of gloves, but they may both be used. Until I can get my hit rating up to something respectable, the Handwraps of Preserved History are my new gloves. Bile-Cured Gloves should make an appearance when I begin to approach the the hit cap. This is all assuming both pairs aren't replaced by then.

I would say that Solidsamm had quite a productive weekend. Scored a few pieces of new loot, got more than a dozen Emblems of Heroism, over twenty Stone Keeper's Shards, a good amount of reputation and his first ride in Wrath's version of the ROFLCopter.  He also got a sad reminder of his sister's lack of playtime. According to the returned mail he received from Solidsagart, I haven't paid much attention to her in 30 days!

The irony of the whole situation was that as I oogled that glorious chopper, my buddy went on to explain that he wanted my Mechanostrider...Anyone else manage to have a productive weekend in Azeroth?

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