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've heard quite a few tales of players getting both the Kodo and Ram mounts from the Brewfest boss in BRD. What I haven't heard mentioned at all was a piece of loot that dropped on my 20th (and final) run for today: the Tankard O' Terror. The slow one-handed mace is not only higher item level than any other loot from Direbrew, but is also BoE. Since googling the term showed no results, I figure it must be an extremely rare drop. The stats on it are actually very good for a melee, especially an enhancement shaman. Not only that, but it looks amazing. A huge mug that is acutally useful in combat? Very nice. Almost as good as an overflowing chalice or a broken beer bottle. Anybody else seen unexpected items come off of our old friend Coren? I have yet to nab a Kodo from him so I'll likely be spending more time piling the floor with his corpses. For all of the times I've already killed the guy, this drop was quite the surprise. Maybe there is reason for people to go in there, even after they have all of the trinkets they can handle.

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I finally achieved the elusive What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been, the achievement for completing the main achievements for all the major holidays. It awards the Violet Proto-Drake, which is an epic 310% movement speed flying mount, currently among the fastest in the game. Players who receive the achievement get their drakes in the mail from Alexstrasza, with the following message:

With the drums of war pounding in the distance, it is easy for the denizens of Azeroth to forget all that life has to offer. You, on the other hand, have maintained the dignity of the good races of Azeroth with your ability to remember what we fight for. To not celebrate our victories is another form of defeat. Remember that well, Reveler. May others be inspired by your good cheer, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder

Note that I corrected Alexstrasza's misspelling of "remember", which was written as "remeber". Come on, Blizzard! Its very curious to me where Alexstrasza is getting all of these drakes from and how she is fitting them in the mail. She also sends the Red Proto-Drake to players who complete Glory of the Hero. There are a lot of controversies surrounding the Violet Proto-Drake. The number of 310% move speed mounts is extremely small, and most of the others can only be obtained by completing very difficult raid achievements when the content is still very new. The other 310% are the Black Proto-Drake, Plagued Proto-Drake, Ironbound Proto-Drake, and the Rusted Proto-Drake. Aside from the Violet Proto-Drake, you must be in a progression raiding guild to obtain one of these super-fast mounts. Is it fair that players who just participate in all of the holidays can get one of these mounts? They will likely be pretty common by the end of Brewfest, and even more common by Hallow's End, which was the first holiday the occur after the launch of the achievement system last year. I personally will enjoy my Violet Proto-Drake and won't complain. The other issue is that there is no reason to use other mounts once a player obtains a 310% movement speed mount. I love my Sunreaver Dragonhawk, Turbo-charged Flying Machine, and Green Proto-Drake, but they will not see the light of day when I'm flying around, as they are slower than my Violet Proto-Drake. Its really a pity, because I put a lot of effort into getting those mounts and they are really cool. Blizzard has said that they might do this in the future, but for now, I'm stuck flaunting only one of my flying mounts. Should Blizzard scale mounts up with riding skill, including those at 150% movement speed?

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Alex, Jeff and Juggy are back with their toons Droobins, Winterstrike and Juggynaut continue their mount run in Zul'Gurub. This time they try for the Raptor mount. Will they get it?  Find out in this episode of Project Lore.

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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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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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A Goblin Zeppelin heading into Undercity. Pixiestixy broke the news last night about the mount changes that will be coming in the next major patch, 3.2. There are some additional news to note as Zarhym posted some more information about transportation changes which are being implemented to improve leveling: From the World of Warcraft Forums:

In the next major content patch we will be adding a few methods of improved transportation to areas of interest while leveling. It is time for the denizens of Azeroth to witness the full might of the Horde as they do what they do best: employ goblins to construct zeppelin towers and float players across vast seas using sky boats. That's right, a new zeppelin route is being added in Thunder Bluff and will transport players to Orgrimmar. Isn't technology magnificent? Also, brought to you by Azeroth's greatest users of magic, are all new portals coming to Stormwind and Orgrimmar. These portals will transport players directly to the Stair of Destiny at the Dark Portal. Travel is just so much more convenient when it's instantaneous! Players will then find that a new connecting flight path exists at the Stair of Destiny allowing players new to Outland easy and direct access to the city of Shattrath. Keep your seat backs and tray tables in a full upright and locked position, and we hope you continue to enjoy your methods of travel in Azeroth and beyond!

So even more changes are in store! Horde players I'm sure will be loving the new zeppelin between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff, while everyone can appreciate the instant transport to the Stair of Destiny to get you to the Outlands faster! These changes seem to fall in line with the Blizzard philosophy of making leveling more accessible and faster for players. As a player who has only one max level character and a multitude of alts I can really appreciate this! This is not the end of the changes of course as there are also changes coming to the class specific mounts and movement abilities, also found on the World of WarCraft Forums:

Movement Speed Training By Class

• Druid
  • Travel Form: Requires level 16
  • Flight Form: Requires level 60 (150% flight speed)
  • Swift Flight Form: Requires level 70
• Hunter
  • Aspect of the Cheetah: Requires level 16
• Shaman
  • Ghost Wolf: Requires level 16
• Paladin
  • Warhorse: Requires level 20
  • Charger: Requires level 40
• Warlock
  • Felsteed: Requires level 20
  • Dreadsteed: Requires level 40

No surprises from the class mount changes, but the movement ability changes are nice as getting ghost wolf, aspect of the cheetah and travel form earlier will be a really nice change for leveling! What do you think of these changes? Good or bad? Is Blizzard making it too easy for newer players?

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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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It's always best to know where you're going before you get there. It's true in life and it's true in WoW. There may never be everything you want in a game such as WoW, like better spells or dual-wielding mages, but there are a few things you can do in game and what ever those things may be, you have to have it as a goal to go fo it. For example, when you started playing WoW, it was probably all about leveling. This included quest, killing innocent pigs or wolves or bats, and hearing that now addictive level ding. Next it was probably get to level ten so you can get talent points. Put a few here, some more there as you level and then whoop arse. Next it was probably to get to level 30 (or 40 for all the 'old school players - Heeeyyy) so you could get a wonderful new mount to run around on. Then at 60, the epic mount. Then at 70, the flying mount and epic flying mount. Then 80, then instances, then badge loot, then raids, then.... So there's a lot of little goals along the way that really help you get to your next goal or one of your bigger goals. For me, my most recent goal was getting a new title, that of Twilight Vanquisher. Yes there have been a few things that got in my way - RL work, people drama, and one big guild drama that resulted in me /gquitting on principle. Too bad a few loud dishonorable people screwed it up for everyone. Then there was the drama of getting a new guild - applying, asking around, looking up guilds on websites looking for any clues that a top guilds on my server that needed FFB mages. And when I got into a guild, I had to prove my worth again by raiding and kicking butt again on the DPS charts, learning how the new-to-me main tank was holding aggro and making sure I was helping the new guild as best as I could. Then I had to get invited to the OS3 raid and then, after flasks and flasks and enough fish feasts to fill up Sholazar basin, we downed those drakes and got a nice little bag for me to boot. So that goal took focus and planning and determination. It took the right bunch of people and their focus after so many wipes, bad waves and random flame strikes. And - I knew what I wanted and I got it. In RL it's just the same. You need focus and planning and determination to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be. If you want to learn to play the piano, then focus, plan, persevere. If you want to ride a bike, same. If you want anything at all, you have to do the same. So what have been your goals in game and in RL that you set forth and accomplished? How did you do it? And what did you do when you thought you couldn't but still wanted it anyway? Because whatever that may be, those same skills that you used to get it will help you get anything you want in WoW or RL.

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