Project Lore

Long-time readers will know that I'm not a big fan of tabards. Most are bright, ugly, and cover up all that neat armor that you spent so much time earning in dungeons. Not to mention, there are ostensibly better ways of showing your guild pride (such as regaling the denizens of Trade Chat with tales of your l33tness or posting embarrassing videos of your raid leader yelling to Youtube).

So tabards suck. But what about sexy, fashionable overcloaks? Now, that's an idea worth backing!

What little we know about these new vanity items (data-mined by MMO-Champion from the latest build of 3.3.3) indicates that they're currently attached to Pre-Cataclysm events. Specifically, those that we already know something about, like the reclamation of Gnomeregan and the Echo Isles.

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A while back I told you all about the jump into multi-boxing which I've been observing second-hand through my husband's toons. He's been leveling up two hunters through recruit-a-friend: one on his usual account and another on the new account. I helped out a bit in the beginning, then we both cut back on the adventure for a bit. Now that the end of the three-month window of triple xp is coming up, he started the push again and got both hunters both up to level 60. In the process, he racked up 30 levels to grant to another character on his main account. Here's where the fun begins. We decided to team up to act out a bit of the spectacle that can be garnered from level-granting. So I logged on to his level 30 paladin, Horadric, on his main account. And he logged on to the newly level 60 hunter, Officetemp. We met up in Orgrimmar, just in front of the bank and mailbox where there's usually a pretty decent crowd. It started off innocently enough. Officetemp /waved. Horadric /bowed. He said, "Let's see how this works." And so it began. DING! Flash of light, woosh of sound. Officetemp: "Grats!" Horadric: "Thanks!" Not many paid much attention. On with the show. DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! [Horadric] has earned the achievement [Level 40]! Now, a crowd was starting to gather. Chatter began. Some questioned WTH was going on. Some laughed. Some congratulated. Some cheered. Others asked how many levels more would be granted. Oh, the attention. Officetemp: "Hang on, I think I still have some more." DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! [Horadric] has earned the achievement [Level 50]! Now, spectators started speculating about how many more levels would be granted. Would he go all the way to 60 - the cap for level granting? DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! Horadric: "Getting close!" DING! Level 56. DING! Level 57. DING! Level 58. DING! Level 59. ..... Horadric: /bow. Officetemp: ...(silence) The crowd didn't like the suspense. Speech bubbles started popping up as some predicted that Horadric wouldn't get all the way to 60. Some seemed disappointed. Some even complained on Horadric's behalf at the cruelty to leave him hanging at level 59. Officetemp, an orc, finally speaks. And it's not pretty: "You have to work for this one. Dance, you filthy blood elf, DANCE!" Horadric, not one to be discouraged: /dance. The Napolean Dynamite-inspired number ensues. Some of the crowd seems to think this isn't good enough. "Get naked!" someone yells. A couple of spectators derobe and start getting jiggy with Horadric as he strips down, one piece of armor at a time. Toons hollar and whistle at the scene, and Horadric continues with the spectacle. Finally, Officetemp is satisfied. DING! [Horadric] has earned the achievement [Level 60]! The crowd cheers, jumps around, continues to dance, offers congratulations -- and those who guessed that Horadric would go all the way to 60 gloat in their victory. Horadric: /kisses Officetemp. The spectacle has ended, but a full-on party has started in the process. And nearly-naked toons continue to dance the night away. Officetemp logged off, and I handed the reigns to Horadric back over. It was a fun experiment in attention whoring. I was utterly satisfied that some simple role-playing combined with the awesomeness of level granting had made for a fun experience for all. The social aspect and interacting with a group of toons also was a great time. I thirst for more! Now I'm curious about what similar experiences everyone else has had? Have you had an opportunity to create a spectacle in front of a group? If so, what are some of your favorite ways to gather a crowd? Do you like joining in on group parties, or would you rather do your own thing and leave the attention-seekers to themselves?

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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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So far on Project Lore, all of our episodes have featured the team playing as Alliance characters. That is about to change. This week we have a special treat for you. The guys are logging onto their alts to run through an instance from the other side, and it's one that only horde characters are likely to see at the appropriate level. Of course, the instance in question is Ragefire Chasm, located in the middle of Orgrimmar. Each day this week we'll show you how the guys fare inside, so tune in! Here's the full schedule: Project Lore Horde RFC 1.1 - Monday, February 2 at Noon PST Project Lore Horde RFC 1.2 - Tuesday, February 3 at Noon PST Project Lore Horde RFC 1.3 - Wednesday, February 4 at Noon PST Project Lore Horde RFC 1.4 - Thursday, February 5 at Noon PST Project Lore Horde RFC 1.5 - Friday, February 6 at Noon PST Weekly Wrap Up 2/7/09 - Saturday, February 7 at Noon PST Take a look at our subscribe page to find us all over the web, and use the Episodes RSS feed or follow our Twitter to find out when new episodes are out! Project Lore is also on MySpace and Facebook, so please be our friend!

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