Project Lore

With 3.2 once again the game has received a fresh coat of paint, and we have a whole list new things to do. Personally I have enjoyed getting back into heroics, trying new raid content, and earning some coin on the new dailies.

Clearly most of the new content involves the Argent Tournament, and all of the instances and quests surrounding it. So far one of my favorite activities has been collecting champion seals and saving up for all of the new toys they have introduced.

While in 3.1 there were plenty of gear and pets we could buy, with 3.2 Blizzard has dramatically increased the rate at which we can get the seals, as well and introduced some amazing rewards.

For me the first thing I bought as soon as I got that Crusader title was the Argent Crusade Tabard. Despite having the Tabard of the Achiever, I have never really been a big fan of tabards. That is, of course, unless they do something for me besides just looking stylish. Well, this one does, and it is amazing. Every 30 minutes you can teleport yourself directly to the Argent Tournament grounds. For me this is something infinitely useful, and something that I am doing several times a day.

Say I have a few extra minutes to knock out some quick dailies, I just port straight to the quest hub and get them down. Then say I am running late to a raid, I can port there again and be zoned in before summons even go out. The point is that the Argent Tournament Grounds are where EVERYTHING is going on in this patch, and getting there instantly is amazingly useful. I would suggest you guys pick this one up as soon as you can.

Beyond that, the Argent Pony Bridal is another game changer that should be at the top of any serious players priority list. This will transform your squire into more than a fun vanity pet. It will allow him to act as a banker, vendor, or mailbox once every 4 hours. You can only imagine the hundreds of scenarios where this will come in handy. Bags filling up while questing, forgetting your offset during a raid, or mailing yourself consumable from an alt. The list goes on.

Personally there are a few other rewards I have my eye on, although they do start to take a turn toward vanity items at this point. For me I am getting the Argent Charger very soon, for no other reason that I love the idea of a Paladin only mount, there are also tons of pets, mounts, tabards, and trinkets to collect.

Regardless of what you are after I think Blizzard has done a great job of giving us some carrots to go after that are not just standard gear. What do you guys think? Any new in-game items that you are chasing after?

Click to read more ...

Via Wikipedia

Some of you may have noticed a lack of a blog from me on Friday. No, I wasn't “Indisposed,” at least not in that sense. I decided to take a mini-vacation before the holidays for some early-season skiing in Westminster, MA. It was a wonderful time filled with friends, food, drink, falls and bruises. However, I went without a computer from Thursday evening until this morning, only checking my e-mail when I got home late last night. I am still recovering.

The freshly made and natural snow could not keep me from thinking about my favorite MMORPG. Some may call that addiction, but I call it “letting one's mind wander while on the chairlift.” Top on my mind was my lack of leveling, causing me to fall behind my guildmates a little further. Now that we have started doing Naxxramas, it actually means something to be behind. Lucky for me, I know those encounters from my Naxxramas 40-man days, so I am not completely clueless. Also, the instance is very easy.

After getting over my lack of dinging, I focused on more productive objectives, like faction grinding. I still haven't decided if I am gonna begin my faction grinds and Championing sessions right after I hit 80, or if I should switch off and focus on leveling my Priest. To continue contributing to my little guild I will probably begin Heroics, with raiding as they need me, and only play my healer during off hours or when needed by other members.

As I sat in the cold, I tried remember which factions I would need to work on the most. I came up with a rough idea of which factions I should do. The Alliance Vanguard will be my initial focus for the sexy dagger.  Although they don't have the best collection of items to offer, the design of Northrend has led me to quest for them substantially, thus it should not require much grinding. Due to my incessant need to prove my worth to factions, I already have gained enough reputation for the Kalu'ak's chest piece (just not the level requirement), but I will definitely come back to them for the epic fishing pole, and the vanity pet modeled after my favorite animal IRL.

While fighting off the blistering winds I couldn't recall who I should Champion for after I complete AV rep, Kirin Tor or the Frenzyheart Tribe. While the Frenzyheart Tribe have three pieces for a rogue, none of them are offered before revered, and the pants are not as beneficial as the item from the Kirin Tor. To top it off, the dagger from the wizard sect is acquired at honored, and is a great main hand for a Mutilate Rogue, making the decision easy once I looked into the specifics a second time.

It is hard to guess past that though. I expect to be doing Naxxramas before the holidays, and much of the Tier 7 gear will not be replaced by faction items. In the end, the stuff offered by the Argent Crusade, Wyrmrest Accord, Knights of Ebon Hold and Sons of Hodir will be used to fill in a few slots, or only for their enchantments.  Hopefully my Priest will get more use out of these other factions.

Anyone else have their Championing schedule mapped out?  Did you do it out of sheer boredom as well?

Click to read more ...

To celebrate the 2008 Olympic Games, Blizzard has implemented a couple of fun new rewards for competition in battlegrounds. There is a new tabard that is pretty much a participation ribbon, it is a white tabard with four colored rings on it. In order to get it, all you need to do is run any battleground once and stay until the marks are awarded. You don't have to win, but you need to stay till the bitter end. Afterwards, you'll get the tabard in the mail. Easy, right? In a year, it might be a rare item that you can show off to all of those people who got recruited by their friends who just wanted an exclusive mount. Something that may end up being a little rarer than the tabard is the vanity pet. It is a very cool looking chinese type dragon, and you can summon it using the Gold Medal that you have a chance to receive when you win any battleground. Check your mail after each win if you're one of the many pet collectors. Now you've got even more incentive to keep running those BGs. Don't forget to read up on the basic strategies for each battleground that SaintGermain posted a while back, if you really want a chance at winning that gold medal.

Click to read more ...