Project Lore

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 the beginning of September, and you know what that means! New content for all! OK, so that has less to do with the beginning of the month, and more to do with it being a Tuesday. But that doesn't mean we can't get excited about it, right? You can bet the forums are abuzz with people discussing Arena Season 7, Koralon: The Flame Watcher, and the release of the final boss in Trial of the Crusader, Anub'Arak (which brings with it the unlocking of Heroic mode).

• Oddly enough, the big issue of the day is none of these things. Instead, people are concerned with something Bornakk said yesterday in regards to heirloom items in Cataclysm: "Heirloom items specifically state that they go from levels 1 to 80 so we don't currently plan to make the currently available items auto-update to go to level 85 in the next expansion. As for the experience gain, nothing is set in stone yet, but I think it makes sense that we won't want players to get a 20% exp bonus when leveling to 85." Seems like some people will do just about anything to get ahead! Isn't a boost from 1-80 good enough for ya? After all, they were meant to lend you a hand through the painful process of leveling an alt for the umpteenth time. Bigger and broader changes are being made to the 1-60 game in Cataclysm, not to mention all of the new items and equipment that Blizzard would probably rather you use (considering they've spent so much time developing them already). Really, heirloom items should be less of a concern until the whole process becomes boring once again. Why not concentrate on enjoying the streamlined leveling experience and new zones instead of being the first on your server to hit the cap? Wryxian doesn't rule out the potential for "Tome of Cold Weather Flying" style upgrades when your first character hits 85.
• RAWK! The complaining doesn't end there. You'd think Carstalker would be happy after beating out his little sister for first place in the Domino Rally, but he's only interested in figuring out what he's going to do with all those badges he spent on heirloom gear (you know, the ones that Blizzard practically hands out for free these days?): "Sooooooo i just spent alot of badges for my shadowcraft parts giving me a total of 20% bonus to experience gained for my rogue which has been lvl 80 since a week after wotlk was released... can i have these badges back please? i feel kinda tricked, the chest heirloom got handed too us pretty recently ingame which made me think that heirlooms is going to be a + when cataclysm arrives..." Listen up, Carstalker, I'm not sure you're entitled to anything. Blizzard's not out to get you, mon frere! Outside of the experience bonus, do you really think it's worth running around in those old hand-me-downs like Azeroth's own Bag Lady? Surely, you'll be able to find better (and better looking) gear from quest rewards and leveling dungeons. Maybe it's just me, but I get really cheesed when it seems the only thing anybody ever worries about is the race to the finish. What do you think, readers, should the man get all those badges back or is he simply a victim of planning a little too far ahead for his own good?
• Kanye West impersonator, er... Kanye, insists that he doesn't like fish sticks. But he does enjoy things when they're hard. Case in point: raiding in World of Warcraft. Echoing a popular philosophy amongst the player base, he asks if Blizzard can make Icecrown Citadel just as challenging as Sunwell: "The concept of a hard version of every instance sounds okay at first, but then you realize how easy they make the regular version and it just seems pointless. This expansion needs more fights like Brut/Muru that are extreme cockblocks and make you feel awesome when they die. Hopefully some of the ToC hardmodes are like this, as well as plenty of Icecrown encounters. I will be beyond disappointed if 3 or 4 months into Icecrown these same 31 guilds have killed Arthas too. This may come off as me being an elitist #%%###* but who can honestly say they hope the final encounter of the game will be puggable eventually? There were only like 10 guilds to kill Illidan and even less to kill KJ at level 70 on my server." The reponse from Valnoth was as curt as his rant was verbose: "Heroic Modes are for progression. Please make use of them." I'm a rather big fan of difficult raids myself. To most people, they may feel like running a sheet of sandpaper over your genitals until they bleed, but oh man does the payoff make all the pain worth it. At the end of the day, though, I'm not going to let it bother me. While my guild's easily bested all comers in Trial of the Crusader so far, we still haven't made it past General Vezax in Ulduar. I'd say raid difficulty, overall, is more lop-sided than it used to be, but challenges remain for those who seek them.

Anyway, that's enough from me. All of the servers should certainly be up by now, so go forth, and enjoy the new offerings Blizzard has so beautifully laid out before us today. Whether you're a fan of PvE or PvP, there's something for everyone!

Click to read more ...

Cataclysm Countdown is a series of informed speculative articles concerning things we might see in the next expansion that I will be posting every day this week, leading right up to Blizzcon. In the interest of thought purity, I will do my best to steer clear of recent “leaked” material, relying upon it only where it logically connects with the existing lore. Nothing hereafter is official or has been confirmed/denied by Blizzard at the time of its writing. It's coming down to the wire, folks. I've done the research, I've looked at the maps, I've made liberal use of WoWWiki. I've wrenched every bit of related lore out of my head that I possibly can without completely ruining Heartbourne's Proverb series! At this point, barring an eleventh-hour spillage of the beans, there just isn't a whole lot left to talk about. Speculation involving specifics of gear, skills, quest lines, professions, or anything else that can be easily slotted into a spreadsheet is completely off the table. There's just nowhere I can really go without more details. I call it... the Failstrom! Instead, I will shift my focus and give you some 100% pure, unbridled, Amatera-brand speculation about... your speculation. Or, rather, what people are buzzing about all over the WoWified regions of the internet. And just how completely wrong they are. Let's face it, when everything you "know" is simply what you've made up in your own head, then sometimes it's just better to keep your mouth shut. I think it was Peter Parker's Uncle Ben that said, "Add two cups of water and bring to a boil." Wise words, old man. Wise words, indeed. Regardless, below are several common things you need to be aware of as we enter the final countdown. Excuse me while I play this kickin' guitar solo... Item 1: "The List" -- You've probably seen it floating around the 'net over the past couple of years. It's a breakdown of zone "sets" reportedly used as a guideline for future expansions. According to the legend, it was first implemented by Blizzard internally, but only surfaced on the interwebs several years later (conveniently after Wrath had already been revealed). There is no legitimate record of this list anywhere before 2007, but since it's out in the wild now, its real test of validity will start with Cataclysm. Here's what it predicts for the next expansion: Gilneas - 77 to 80 Grim Batol - 78 to 81 Kul Tiras - 79 to 82 Kezan - 81 to 86 Tel Abim - 83 to 85 Zandalar - 84 to 87 Plunder Isle - 86 to 88 The Broken Isles - 87 to 90 The Maelstrom - 89 to 90 Rumors are rumors, but this doesn't totally jive with what we've been hearing lately, especially in terms of the level cap. Then again, if something like this was ever used within Blizzard in the beginning, I would expect it to diverge farther and farther from what is listed here as time goes on. But in all likelihood, the list is a farce. It's not terribly hard to put together. A good eye for details and a keen sense of prediction are all you truly need to do so. Lore nerds are pretty good about remembering which story threads have been left hanging, and by browsing through some of the extended-universe stuff found in the novels, as well as the books used to flesh out the table-top RPG, you can make a cursory list of interesting zones and places to visit in no time flat. Look closely at the set of zones above, and then cross-reference that with my speculative post about zones from two days ago. I'm not sure that Plunder Isle and Tel Abim are big enough to support players through two levels of experience. Now, there's a good chance we'll see several of these areas in the actual expansion, but really all this list represents is good guesswork. It's not from Blizzard, and never has been, so when somebody brings it up as a point of proof, don't take it as gospel. Item 2: Cataclysm's Release Date -- If anybody tells you that they know the expansion's release date, simply don't listen to them. I've heard everything from the end of this year to December 2012 (the appropriately apocalyptic end of the Mayan calendar). Addressing the former, I was honestly shocked there were people out there who expected Blizzard to pump out content faster than I did! In reality, there are several factors at play that make it impossible to pin down when Cataclysm might actually come out. First, how long will it take to wrap up Wrath of the Lich King? The Crusader's Coliseum is only halfway released. We can look forward to the revamped Onyxia fight in around a month (no, we won't have to wait 'til November; an encounter like that isn't going to sit on the PTR for over three months) or so. So unless Blizzard throws us a curve ball beforehand, we're likely to see Icecrown Citadel before the end of the year. Some people seem to think that won't be enough to hold players off until the expansion, though. My own prediction puts Cataclysm late next Spring or early next Summer, but it's become tradition to insert some sort of transitional event between expansions. Vanilla got the original version of Naxxramas and Burning Crusade got Sunwell. I'm having trouble wracking my brain for what we could see after Arthas, but perhaps the answer is simpler. Icecrown Citadel is rumored to be quite big, and I don't think it would be too far out there to assume that it may be released over two patches, with the Lich King sealing off his inner sanctum to delay players even further. Second, we have to consider Blizzard's own intentions. On one hand, they've expressed interest in releasing content, and expansions, at a faster pace. On the other, they're Blizzard. They've always taken the time necessary to polish their work until they're satisfied enough to put it out on the market. In that sense, I think it really depends on how far along they already are with Cataclysm. After pouring so much work into Wrath, it's hard to believe that they've already gotten the bulk of the next expansion done. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. With at least one major raid dungeon, and associated content, to go, don't expect to see it this year. And be wary of anyone who claims they know what the release date will be or throws a tantrum and says that the game is going to lose a significant portion of the playerbase if it doesn't come soon. Item 3: The New Azeroth Will Be Completely Phased -- I was naive. I admit it. Not too long ago, I proposed phasing the entirety of Azeroth to introduce new content to the old world. But unless the technology has significantly improved, that's no longer a possibility. You see, this was before we knew that the geography itself would change. Currently, phasing can only modify objects or widgets that are laid over the base terrain, which would rule out any tweaks to the shape of the land. Some people have wondered how they would be able to play with their low-level friends or what might happen to those few remaining chumps who only own the original game. Well, no worries. There will be phasing involved in certain quest lines or events, but the old world will be gone. Completely. You'll be able to interact with your lowbie buds in a brand-spankin'-new Azeroth. And for those unwilling to make the upgrade? Well, if they haven't been keeping up with the expansions, there's a good chance they haven't really been playing anyway. Item 4: The Globes of Ulduar -- These are interesting finds, indeed. If you go into Halls of Lightning or the Ulduar raid instance, you might stumble across some animated globes that show a distinctly different version of Azeroth. A big chunk of central Kalimdor is simply... gone. And several other areas have had their coastlines shorn. Some have speculated that these are visions of a future catastrophe, while others believe they merely show an ancient Azeroth under construction by the Ancients. The problem is that, until the Sundering, Azeroth was one giant landmass, Pangaea-style. These globes clearly show the continents separated, so whatever they depict, it happens after the collapsing of the Well of Eternity. But that's not why you should be wary, anyway. The fact of the matter is that these were likely Easter eggs put in by Blizzard during Wrath's development, and the level of destruction shown on the face of each globe is somewhat different. Despite the wonderful map overlays created by the community, they don't always match up with the details found in the text-based spoilers, either. These globes provide us with a hint of the future, but they are unlikely to be definitive representations of the Azeroth soon to be revealed. Item 5: It's Impossible To Do [Blank] -- There's been an awful lot of belly-aching in the community lately (and honestly, when isn't there?). People complaining about the new class combinations, or that Blizzard's seriously messing up the lore. It's hard to surf the official forums or comments section on any WoW-related blog without seeing people spreading the doom-and-gloom, warning Blizzard that they're about to alienate all their players by doing something they deem impossible. But the Warcraft universe is moving forward. Things must change, and Blizzard is well within their power to do so. All bets are off where Cataclysm is concerned. The world is reshaped, its people are forced into situations and alliances that they never have been before. Those who are friends will share their knowledge and skills, while those who are enemies will escalate their rage to new levels. Beyond that, some changes must be made to comply with new innovations in gameplay. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply kidding themselves. So, equipped with the knowledge I've given you, you should be going into the announcement tomorrow with a better understanding of what to expect. Writing these speculative columns has been more challenge than you might think. It entails more than just pulling stuff out of your ass. Research and taking the time out to really reconsider what you're typing isn't easy. And, no doubt, some of it is going to be completely wrong. But I do hope that, in the end, I've been steering this ship in the right direction. So stay tuned to Project Lore over the weekend for extensive coverage of BlizzCon and just about all the Cataclysm goodies you can handle! Have you enjoyed these articles over the past week? What can I do to improve them in the future? In addition to hearing the remainder of your thoughts on the upcoming expansion (or how horribly misguided I've been), please give me your opinions or suggestions, as well.

Click to read more ...

A long, long time ago, in Stranglethorn Vale, our guild started Zul'Gurub. At the same time, the elite guilds had finished ZG, Molten Core, Black Wing Lair, and were doing AQ20, AQ40 and Naxxramas. We had Dungeon Set 0 and epic PvP gear, they were decked out in Tier 3. There was a huge chasm of raiding experience and gear-level between us and them. A long time ago, in the Caverns of Time, our guild finished Mount Hyjal. At the same time, the elite guilds had completed Black Temple and Sunwell. We had 4/5 Tier 5 and they were decked out in Tier 6. There was a significant difference in gear-level and raiding experience between us and them. As of this week, our guild has completed all 10- and 25-man raiding content in WotLK. The only challenges left in front of us are Sartharion with two and three drakes up, and some raiding achievements. The elite guilds have finished the "hard modes," but there is no raid-boss they've seen that we haven't. We are 13/15ths of the way to being totally decked-out in Tier 7.5 gear - they have a better necklace and trinket than we do. They also have the gun from Kel'Thuzad, those rotten {expletive (plural) deleted}. There is no real difference in gear-level, and while they have many more years of end-game content raiding experience than we do, we’ve walked where they've walked in the new expansion, and not years after they have. So what’s the deal? We've heard over and over that the content is easier. Bullpucky. We remember our first kills in Karazhan. We remember going to Maiden and being sure it was going to take many hours to kill her. We remember warning the guild that wipes were the price of success. Then, we one-shot her. /kapow! "Don't move when Flame Wreath is cast!" And if you didn't move, and you had the DPS, you'd beat Shade of Aran. Learning the skill took time, as did getting a high enough raid-DPS, but once the skill was learned, never again did a movement fight cause as much fear. Thaddius in Naxxramas is a movement fight, and people don't freak out about that guy nearly as much as they did about Shade of Aran. The problem with Karazhan was two-fold: First, an entirely new population of WoW-players suddenly had access to raiding content, and they weren't used to it. Second, in a 40-person raid, you can have a screw-up. In a 10-person raid, a single person could easily wipe everything. So in old-school raiding, the old-school raiders learned to raid as they were "carried" through Molten Core. They made mistakes, they were mostly hidden, and the raid kept on trucking. By the time they got to Karazhan, they knew how to raid and thus breezed through it. In contrast, a new generation of players learned to raid in 10-man Karazhan, and they learned to raid as they wiped. Karazhan was hard, not because of the difficulty of the content, but because individual mistakes were magnified and the results were much more severe. Was Gruul or Magtheridon much harder than Karazhan? No, because these 25-person raids required Karazhan-geared people to attempt them. And once you've gotten gear from Karazhan, you probably knew how to behave in a raid. The difference between 10- and 25-person raiding isn't much, the only difference is in specific people learning their specific roles. Once the trick of the boss is mastered, the basic raid skills needed are already known. (i.e. don't stand in the fire or the black circle, don't take aggro from the tank, etc.) Then we get to WotLK and the new Naxxramas. Is 10-person Naxx easier than Kara was? Yes. Is it because the content is easier? We say No. We say that people crushed Naxx with such relative ease because there were no new skills needed to defeat the place. If you raided Kara, you could raid Naxx. There is no skill needed for Naxx that was not taught in Kara. And who didn't raid Kara? What percentage of people who are raiding Naxx do you think didn't step foot in Kara? Five percent? That means ninety-five percent of the people with their eyes set on Naxxramas just had to level to 80, then they'd have the gear and the Kara-learned raiding knowledge to defeat the place. And they did, foshizzle. So now we have the promise of Ulduar. What's the big scary thing there? Vehicle-mounts for combat. /shudder What fight do we have right now with something like vehicle-mounts? Malygos. What raid boss do people dislike the most? Malygos. Why? Phase three - The drakes. People dislike the drakes because they don't get to play their own class, and because it's a new mechanic. We love Naxx because it's just an extension of Kara. We've mastered Kara, so Naxx is easy. We have never had a vehicle-mount boss before, so people hate learning Malygos. Defeating one, two, and three drakes-up Sartharion is a matter of gear, positioning, and DPS. All three of these things are easily comprehended by Kara-experienced raiders, and thus three drakes-up Sartharion, while technically a much greater challenge than Malygos, does not inspire the same dread and hostility as Malygos does. Ulduar is bringing vehicle-mount boss fights to an entire new level, like it or not. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to farm Naxx for fun and profit? Are you going to go for the hard-mode achievements and beat 10-person Sartharion with three drakes up? Or are you going to practice your vehicle-mount combat skills in Malygos? Just as the Aces High! daily is practice for Malygos, so is Malygos himself practice for Ulduar. If you have the choice, we recommend you get your happy little tuckus out to Borean Tundrea every week, do both 10- and 25-person Malygos, not so much for the gear, but to get used to the dynamic. The skills you learn in Malygos are going to prepare you Ulduar, just like Kara prepared you for Naxx.

Click to read more ...

Oh my favorite dailies friend of all time, other than my RL buddies whom I play with from time to time has to be K'iru. She is, or he is, the wonderful Naaru that appears after all of the Shatterd Sun Offensive objectives have been completed and the Isle of Quel'Danas has been taken back from the jerks trying to take over the island. So why is she / he my favorite friend? One word... err buff:  K'iru's Song of Victory. What does that do? Well let me tell you. It gives you a fantastic buff of 79 stamina nd 40 intellect while in Sunwell, Magister's Terrace and the entire Isle of Quel'Danas... for free... forever... for freakin' frackin' awesome. Woot! Can we just agree that this buff is quite nice when doing those 15 or so daily quests around the Isle? It's so nice. And to have that buff while in Sunwell and MgT is super awesome... well not that great since you can't stack fortitude or arcane brilliance with it, but still very nice. So has your sever unlocked K'iru yet? Was it one of the first or is it still trying? Let me know. I'm always curious how my server Frostmane is doing compaired to other servers. Just fun info for me. If you got it, run to the Isle, grind those dalies, and go buy some really over-priced bags to get ready for WotLK. See you on the Isle.

Click to read more ...