Project Lore

Patch 3.2 Executing.... Whenever Blizzard decides to lay a patch on us I hold my breath.  Sure, I want the bounty of content, but sometimes that isn't all we receive.  Oftentimes we'll be stuck at login screens, the World Server will be down, our add-ons will cease to work, or worse, fail to do their jobs appropriately.  And that's just some of the "features" that we hope to see on a Tuesday evening.  More painful are the Slowsky approved download speeds, constant reboots, authentication problems, massive lag, or lag spikes, and the realization that nothing is going to be accomplished till Wednesday.  Think I am being a bit dramatic?  Then allow me to refresh your memory of Patch 3.0.8. I was as excited as anyone for Call of the Crusade (the game can never have too many 5-mans), but I had my reservations about the patch actually going live.  Boy have I never been so glad to eat my words before. Blizzard delivered the patch with only slightly extended downtime.  While I didn't login till a few hours after my server returned from dead, I was greeted with a stable, normal latency experience the entire night.  It didn't matter if I was running around the generally packed Dalaran or the newly flooded Argent Tournament grounds.  It was all entirely playable on Magtheridon (NA).  The post-patch trauma has been so negligible that I've been able to run through the dailies, grab a level and change on Solidsagart and tackle the new dungeon (repeatedly), along with some heroics.  And that was just on Tuesday! To round out the objectiveness of the post I should point out that it hasn't been all roses.  Roughly half of my add-ons were broke (and some remain unfixed by authors too busy with content) by Patch 3.2.  I've encountered the Trial of the Crusade opening encounter bug (is there an accepted name for it?) roughly half of my attempts.  Last, but not least, is the ninja change to Malygos, I doubt it's a bug, that gave our raid a bit of pause.  The big blue dragon's Vortex drops players off far farther from their original location than ever before.  And no, I still haven't kill the crazed warmonger. I heard there was something up with Kel'Thuzad, but haven't come across the lich recently.  Has anyone experienced anything wonky with that encounter?  How stable has your server been since patch day?  Have you been able to chain those heroics? All things considered I believe Call of the Crusade was the most expertly executed patch in recent memory.  Certainly since Wrath of the Lich King's launch back in November.  Dare we assume Blizzard is finally getting the hang of the patch spiel?!

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There's a crapload of stuff to do in this upcoming patch.  Thanks to Blizzard's shift in patch design, from just high end content to a solid mix of content for all player types, the Call of the Crusade patch has my head spinning.  I hope you have a grasp on the content thanks to our extensive coverage, but that doesn't mean you have a plan for tonight.  I love content, so my plan is already in the works. I'm a realist.  I will be shocked, stunned, stupefied if the servers come up on time.  Let alone coming up and being stable enough to raid, heroic get anything of substance done.  My pessimistic outlook on patching doesn't mean I won't be logging in though.  You damn well better believe I will be spamming the servers next to each and everyone of you.  Downloading the patch is of the utmost importance, but I haven't seen it available anywhere as of the time of this writing.  The first order of business that we should all take care of upon logging in is following Heartbourne's advice, and dumping the old and busted emblems for some new hotness.  With a purse full of Emblems of Conquest I will be able to pick up a few minor upgrades before venturing into the new 5-man and old heroics.  Then Solidsamm will revisit his old stomping ground of the Argent Tournament.  He's heard through the grapevine that there's a lot more to do up there these days.  Not to mention that the Black Knight has been heard calling him out. My little stabbing machine can receive his fair share of upgrades from Conquest and Triumph badges, but its Solidsagart who can benefit the most.  I'll surely get called into heroics and raids during the week, but my main focus is going to be on the priest.  I'd be absolutely stupid to not hit level 80 on my healer ASAP.  With everyone and their brother once again running heroics it'll be incredibly easy to find groups, and fairly easy to collect badges for her.  Much to the hardcore playerbase's chagrin, she'll be geared out the wazoo in no time.  She'll just have to wait until Solidsamm conquers the new 5-man dungeon. Those are the basic starting points for me.  What are you going to do as soon as the servers return to a stable state?  Return to the Argent Tournament grounds for the new dailies and easy money?  Continue working on your pile of Champion's Seals for the mounts and pets?  Go Raptor hunting?  Or are you going to just dive right into one of the four levels of the Argent Coliseum's raid content? As with all patches, I will be rapidly filling my coffers thanks to all the needed materials I have been hording for weeks.  Gnomes love gold almost as much as Goblins.

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Blizzard is known for pulling random, often unrequested, features out of the collective brain trust and adding them to an upcoming patch without warning.  Normally people cheer for additions to the default setup.  Some of the features just don't cut it, falling way short of the robustness offered by the many add-ons already available.  Other changes are entirely unobtainable outside of Blizzard's doing.  Case in point, the changes to Raid Info in Secrets of Ulduar.  The change in code enabled players to accept or deny a raid lockout for various reasons.  If something wasn't right, then we'd be able to abort that cleared instance or one that started ages ago unbeknownst to us.  Without a doubt a useful addition which has made everyone's instancing less cumbersome. Following the same RaidID logic, Blizzard confirmed this week that Call of the Crusade will give players the ability to extend your raid lockout period.  No longer will you have to give up on an instance with just Kel'Thuzad up, or clear the beginning of Ulduar just to make further attempts on Yogg-Saron.  Instead members of a raid or party can chose, individually, to continue the instance at a later date by extending the lockout timer for another session (seven days for most raids, another day for heroics).  The lockout timer can be extended indefinitely.  Worried that you'll extend your lockout timer only to fail at completing your goal?  Fear not, Blizzard will allow players to drop the extended instance so long as nothing of substance was completed since its extension. Why would Blizzard do this you ask?  Eyonix has your basic sure-to-upset-the-hardcore answer.  "This new option is being added as a means to allow parties and raids to progress through an instance at their chosen pace". Initially I was annoyed with the announcement.  Not only did it seem to be a pointless waste of development time, but it removes one of the reasons for a lockout period to exist.  I got over those issues though.  The development time spent on the change is nothing in the long run, perhaps a week's worth of work for a programmer and some QA personal.  And the lockouts exist mainly to keep people from getting too much loot in a week, not as a race against the (long) clock.  In the end both casual and hardcore guilds will benefit from the change, and it is doubtful that the gear gap between the teams will shrink with the added feature.  Leave that up to the emblem changes. Time well spent or is this going to be a rarely used feature like in-game voice chat?  Another win for casual raiders and a strike for the hardcore?  As an added, perhaps unintended, bonus we'll be able to gear up our alts by taking over older, partially cleared (all hard modes downed) instances and cleaning up any remaining easy bosses.  That can't be bad right? For more details, check the latest official PTR notes.

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Non-combat, Vanity, Companion pets.  Call them whatever you want, these fluffy critters make me coo like a school girl and giddy as if a new Hello Kitty product was announced.  It's a sad state of affairs, but I'll admit that my manhood goes right out the window whenever I happen upon a fluffy animal, in game or out.  Consider me the male Elmyra. I blame Boubouille for my further emasculation.  The game file spelunking, PTR canvasing leader of MMO-Champion has dug up new information for us once again.  The weekend update unveiled fifteen or so non-combat pets (my name of choice) that are going to be added to Azeroth in the upcoming Call of the Crusade patch.  In a move to keep me from staying up for two weeks straight, Blizzard will be releasing the dozen plus pets over the course of the patch, rather than unleashing them all at once. We'll start with the unknowns before moving on to the previously revealed critters.

• The Macabre Marionette is a new pet rumored to be linked to the upcoming Day of the Dead seasonal event.  A mini skeletal pirate isn't exactly my idea of a companion, but I'll take it.
• The Calico Cat is the first of a feline triple threat.  She's nothing special, your standard cat model with a new paint job, but everyone lovesCalicos.  Currently the multi-colored kitty is not available from the Crazy Cat Lady on the PTR, so its location remains unknown.
• If you are one to shy away from the mutant cat due to allergies, then you will be happy to know that Patch 3.2 will be bringing not one, but two hypoallergenic furballs.  They are to come in stone forms, Onyx and Jade.  The rocky members of species catus have been attached to separate achievements.

On to the known beasts.

• Northrend's Children's Week will bring lil' game hunters either a Curious Wolvar Pup or a Curious Oracle Hatchling.  Neither looks like they can top the cutest pet currently in the game, Egbert, but I'll be flying around Northrend anyways.
• The Shimmering Wyrmling gives players something to look forward to when they hit exalted with the Silver Covenant or The Sunreavers.  A feat many of us have already accomplished thanks to The Argent Tournament.  "Freebies" are nice.
• Last, but certainly not least, is a collection of what could be the cutest pets ever viewed since the application of the wide angle lens on animals, mini big-headed Raptors.  There's a total of seven of them available as drops off of rare raptors throughout Azeroth and in instances.  The promised eighth velociraptor can be purchased for 50 gold from Breanni.  Seven farmable pets at once.  There goes a week, of sleep.

They may not be furry, still covered in their eggs or exactly cuddly, but damn if those killer dinosaurs aren't cute.  I can't really decide which reduces my manliness the most, thus the first I will far for, but I think I have it narrowed down to two.  It will either be the ZG raptor, since I could solo it, or the Leaping dino, for the off chance that the animation is amazing.  You can check out the rest of the carnivorous beasts and where to get them at the full post. It's nice to see Blizzard paying more attention to all those mount collectors out there.  I just hope they keep up the good artistic work by allowing the developers time to fully animate the beasts, giving each animal its own personality.  I've already got the Wyrmling in the bag, as I assume many of you do.  Who's going to be farming raptors, cats and keeping orphans busy with me? "I'm gonna hug you and kiss you and love you forever (and never use you up)." - Elmyra

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Good lord.  You do a post on just recently announced content and the day it goes live Blizzard drops a cavalcade of new information on the WoW playing populace.  I don't know about you, but when this much information comes out at once I tend to become overwhelmed.   Sure, there isn't much to digest rogue-wise (yay Axes! </sarcasm> Daggers fo' lyfe yo!), or even priest-wise, so that cuts out most of the critical thinking that goes into patch notes for me.  With nothing to QQ about I have been focusing on the little gems and locating overlooked modifications. For example, the ability to level in battlegrounds (via quests, not killing people, which would be cooler) is one hot tamale.  It's also a feature that has been requested for some time.  When this was originally discovered pre-patch notes, people were worried about the state of twinking.  Well, Blizzard has all those level 19 rogues in VanCleef gear covered with the power to turn off XP gain.  That feature is simply huge and goes well beyond twinking to "classic" servers.  While not exactly the same as a vanilla or TBC locked server, turning off your XP gain can enable nostalgic gamers to level a character to 60, or 70, and play as if it were 2004, or 2007!  In the end I think this is a great solution to the classic server problem.  It enables those rosey-eyed gamers to (almost) get what they want, but doesn't cost Blizzard much of anything. My fellow vanity pet collectors are likely rejoicing over the new critters we can add to our stables.  It isn't just a token addition either.  Sure, the Argent Tournament has another one, and you can go the cheesy way and purchase one from Breanni, but the true nuts will be out in Un'Goro, Stranglethorn Vale and numerous other areas farming the pets from elite raptors across Azeroth.  A total of 8 vanity pets have been added to the game (not including Argent Tournament rewards).  Pet owners aren't the only players getting some dinosaur action.  Horde players can pick up a poisonous Ravasaur mount from the trainer in Un'Goro.  Yes, the mount is Horde only. We also have more profession changes.  The biggest one that I came across was the change to potion stacking.  No longer will raiders have to dedicate a full bag to their assorted potions, as they will now stack to a respectable amount, 20.  Of course I foresee most raiders filling their bags with stacks of 20 anyways, crazy blocks that they are.  In Cooking we have the tweak to the Chef's Hat.  The fashionable cookware not only makes you looks good, no to mention dedicated to the art of cuisine, but enables Wolfgang Puck impersonators to cook faster.  I'll be picking up one of these bad boys for that utility.  Still no concrete data on the "increase benefits" to the Engineering goodies though, but it's nice to see that Potion Injectors give an added 25% benefit when used by a tinkerer.  Gas cloud discovery is being moved to the Mote Extractor and off the Goggles.  What the hell took so long? Call of the Crusade is shaping up to be a nice patch.  It may not have an ostentatious sized raid like Secrets of Ulduar, but it does have a copious collection of changes.  What diamonds in the rough have you most excited?  Perhaps actual (epic) diamonds?  Maybe the bloating of the Dalaran Sewers Arena map?

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Normally when Blizzard starts releasing this much information on a patch in such a short time frame it means that the patch is on the horizon.  I'd be pretty shocked if Call of the Crusade came out so soon after Ulduar, but Blizzard has to battle with Summer somehow.  After all most guilds are still working on their first clear of the Titan and Old God happy fun zone.  Getting behind on our raiding won't stop us from absorbing all the new information though! As we already knew, the coliseum will be completed when Patch 3.2, an update that basically revolves around the Argent Crusade, is launched.  The additional details that Bornakk gave us yesterday are the interesting morsels.

• A new "epic 10- and 25-player raid dungeon with five encounters".  The new raid will also contain an interesting property, the raid will sport four difficulty levels, 10- and 25-man normal and 10- and 25-man heroic.  Did I read that right, we get one boss per week?  Or are my reading comprehension skills shot from lack of sleep?
• Crusader's Tribute - The tribute system is an attempt to reward the best players for their consistency.  The setup "will limit players on the number of attempts they get in the Coliseum each week."  The less attempts you need to clear, the more rewards you can reap.  Utterly fail and you get nothing.  Better be sure to have well-oiled, well-geared, alert and sober members in the runs.
• New 5-man dungeon with three encounters.  Each encounter will reward a Champion's Seal.
• New tier of armor and weapons.  The phat loot will be modeled with Alliance- and Horde-specific themes.

The added difficulties are nice, but I fear having to farm four different raids for gear.  Hopefully Blizzard realizes how annoying that will be, and distributes the gear accordingly.  At first I thought that the lockout mechanic was rather annoying, but if they do plan on releasing Call of the Crusade soon, then the small amount of content combined with the lockout period would allow players to keep Ulduar as their main target, and head over to the Coliseum for a quick fix of loot and change of scenery.  I would equate it to a lengthier Malygos, better loot, but not the focus. I like the Crusader's Tribute idea, but I am sure I will get annoyed with the mechanic once a healer disconnects on the pull.  But in theory, rewarding for skill and dedication is a good way to go.  All things considered, the Coliseum definitely follows the same design philosophy as Argent Tournament, solo gameplay.  Allow me to finish.  Although you need buddies to help you through the raids and dungeons, I'd wager that it'll all be over quickly which means it should be PUG friendly.  Also, I haven't read anything on the raid's difficulty. I can't help but wonder what is going to be the lore behind the area.  I mean are these encounters just to challenge our skills for the upcoming conflict with Arthas, or did some nefarious organization infiltrate the Coliseum and set up shop?  I'm sure many of you don't care about the storyline aspect, but I need more than just loot. Do you raid leaders already have A and B groups in mind for the Coliseum Tribute runs?  Think the new content will be ezmode, or another small step up in difficulty? Let's not forget the other, more Argent Tournament-based, Patch 3.2 details that Amatera detailed earlier this week, and Heartbourne's profession changes.

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No, it isn't the name of the latest Legendary item to appear in Azeroth, although it certainly possess that kind of power.  Summer, with all of its sunshine, growth, and activities, may not be in Azeroth directly, but the season is a force to be reckoned with nonetheless.  With school over for most kids, nearly every human being is going to want to enjoy their few months of sunshine.  Me?  Well I turn in to a freckled lobster when those rays lick my skin, so I do my best to avoid the giant ball of fusion. Here's the rub, my guild isn't full of pale Irish people who's only natural UV defense is to catch a tan through a screen.  Due to this pesky little "evolutionary" trait I have found summer to be an incredibly boring period inside World of Warcraft, at best.  At worst, it's nearly caused my (two times former) guild to collapse, twice, and my former guild to all but disappear from the WoW.  Now I am fearing if my current guild will have a similar fate. Looking back, it seems like previous summers were set up to be a disappointment.  By the time kids left school the most recent content was incredibly stale.  To boot there was nothing on the immediate horizon, a dangerous pairing of inactivity and zero hype.  I would never think that Blizzard would plan such a thing on purpose, after all, letting people escape the game for too long is dangerous, but the early days of WoW were marred with inconsistent content development that caused these unfortunate coincidences. Fast forward to June 2009 and it looks like we might be safe.  First and foremost, Ulduar is still fresh to nearly the entire playerbase - especially Chinese players, a group that hasn't even received Wrath yet!  Backing up, or filling out if you prefer, the new raid content is the excitement around Patch 3.2.  We already know some basics, and major changes, have an inkling of the upcoming Battleground and have been teased with massive additions to the Argent Tournament grounds.  As guilds begin to put Ulduar on farm (I don't see this happening for at least another month) players will increasingly turn to waiting for the next big thing.  But the hype can only hold onto us for so long.  I think Blizzard timed Ulduar correctly, whether by coincidence, or on purpose, who knows, but here's to hoping Ulduar stays fresh for the summer.  If not, then let's hope that Patch v3.2 comes out in a timely fashion. Has your guild been destroyed or nearly so by a past summer?  Do any of the GMs, officers or raid leaders have any tips to keeping things running during these lax months?  The second time All That Remains almost failed we rolled the bored players into PvP groups and tore apart Magtheridon's horde for a solid month.  The mass genocide of five races held us over till the end of the summer.  Twas an interesting way to save a hardcore PvE guild to say the least. We'll see how things play out, but I am looking forward to spending a portion of my lazy summer days in Azeroth.  I just hope there will be others to play with.

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What, No Official Trailer? Wow, Blizzard's holiday announcement was certainly unexpected.  The company began discussing the intimate details of Patch v3.2 starting with its official title, Call of the Crusade.  Previously, we were enlightened to some of CotC's updates thanks to various forum revelations, like the new battleground and Argent Tournament updates.  Now we have some additional juicy details to salivate over. As the title suggests, Patch v3.2 will bring us one step closer to the upcoming battle with Arthas.  In preparation, the Argent Crusade will drastically expand their operations in the area thanks to all the resources we have happily donated.  Those of you who are, like me, a bit bored of the Argent Tournament will be happy to know that the Crusade will unleash a collection of "new dailies, rewards, and more" in an attempt to lure us into the soon-to-be-erected coliseum.  The Crusade's new digs is no joke, it'll contain not only a 5-player challenges, but 10- and 25-player ones as well.  It is unknown what these tasks will be, PvP, PvE or some combination thereof. For the PvPers out there, not me, you've got two things coming your way.  Amazingly, the start of Season 7 at the outset of Patch v3.2 probably isn't the most exciting bit of news.  Nope, that would belong to the Isle of Conquest announcement, a new "large-scale siege Battleground."  According to Zarhym, the Isle will be a battle over resources that plays out in the style of “Wintergrasp combined with Alterac Valley.“   I absolutely loved the age old Alterac Valley - not the original, original incarnation, but the tweaked vanilla WoW version - and combining it with the best aspects of open world PvP makes this rogue sharpen his pokers and "practice my stabbing". Best of all, it appears that Blizzard has gotten ahold of their patch development cycles, because this patch is expected in a more timely manner.  When chastised by a player who didn't expect the patch before the end of the year the disembodied skull of Zarhym stated that his "presumed time lines are way too inflated? :)"  Of course he could have been referring to when we will see Icecrown Citadel...that wouldn't be bad either. New solo content, check.  New PvP content, check.  New PvE content - probably part of the Coliseum updates - check.  So ladies and gentlemen, let the thoughts, impressions, QQing and sequels of excitement begin!

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