Project Lore

As Juggynaut informed us all last week, with Patch 3.2 up on the PTR we're learning a lot more about what kind of new achievements and other goodies will be coming our way soon. A couple of the ones that caught my eye, since I love holidays, are Pirates' Day, Day of the Dead and Pilgrim's Bounty. It looks like those first two will be pretty small in scale, with the Pirate Day's achievement coming from drinking with the Dread Captain DeMeza (not Roberts!?) and joining her crew, and the Day of the Dead achievement from dancing with Catrina to become a skeleton. It's the Pilgrim's Bounty event that probably will draw in the most people because it seems to have the makings of a full-on world event that I guess would scan at least a week, like most others of this scope. From what MMO-Champion has uncovered, it looks like the Pilgrim's Bounty event will have something for everyone. Of course you have the random, just-for-fun achievements for the event: "Food Fight!" in which you bounce cranberries, stuffing, turkey, pie and sweet potatoes off a fellow feaster's head at a Bountiful Table; The Turkinator, which will have you heating up turkeys; Sharing is Caring, for which you'll pass candied yam, slow-roasted turkey, cranberry chutney, pumpkin pie and  spice bread stuffing at the table; Cook up each of these same dishes, and you'll earn Now We're Cooking (better get up that cooking skill!); And if you sit down to feast in each major city, you'll get Pilgrim's Paunch. On the PvP side, you'll have to wear your pilgrim attire and sit down to a bountiful table in each enemy capital city to earn the Pilgrim's Peril achievement. Anyone who enjoys daily quests will get a kick out of the Pilgrim's Progress achievement, for which you'll need to complete five Pilgrim's Bounty daily quests. You raiders out there will hopefully enjoy a draw back into Burning Crusade content to defeat the feathered and, might I say, turkey look-alike Talon King Ikiss in Sethekk Halls while wearing Pilgrim attire. This earns you the Terokkar Turkey Time achievement. And perhaps the oddest of all these (but sure to create some in-game fun) is the Turkey Lurkey achievement, for which you have to "blast those dirty, sneaking Rogues (of all 8 playable races) with your Turkey Shooter." I know I'll certainly be lurking around with my rogue just for the fun of that one. Now once all of this is completed, you'll get the Pilgrim title. Keep in mind that as we all know, information gleaned on the PTR is never official until it goes live on all servers. So things could change until then. But it looks like Blizzard has a pretty good idea of how they want this event to play out. Should make for a good time! Do you guys agree - is this an event you can get behind? Or are you dreading this as a possible addition needed to earn your Violet Proto Drake? What aspects of it are you most looking forward to? As for myself, all this talk of Thanksgiving feasts is making me hungry!

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Patch 3.2 is finally available on the PTR, which means that players will be able to find out all sorts of fun information about what changes lay ahead for us. Most of the changes are covered in the patch notes, but MMO-Champion found a bunch of new achievements to go along with the new patch. I, as an achievement whore, am very excited about these new (pointless) goals. Browsing through the list of achievements, they come out in a few different categories, covering the 10- and 25-player versions of the Crusader's Colloseum along with their heroic modes, Isle of Conquest (the brand new battleground), Koralon (the new Vault boss), and Pilgrim's Bounty and Pirate Day/Day of the dead. Wait, Pilgrim's Bounty? Pirate Day? Day of the Dead? New world events! Since Pirate Day and Day of the Dead only have one achievement listed for each of them, I'd assume they'll occur for only one day and have minimal impact on the world for their duration. But Pilgrim's Bounty raises my excitement level! There are a number of fun looking achievements to go along with the new holiday that I'll assume will take place over Thanksgiving week. For those of you unaware, Thanksgiving takes place on the fourth Thursday of every November in the United States. Of course, Blizzard could always adopt the Canadian version, which takes place on the second Monday of October each year. The only question I have is whether or not we'll have to participate in this new world event to get our Violet Proto Drakes from the Long Strange Trip achievement. If it's anything like the new and improved Noblegarden, then we will. I'm OK with that, but I'm sure some of the other players hoping to get that 310% mount might get upset. In addition to those new holiday achievements, there are a few new Feats of Strength, which hint at some more free pets for logging in. A Jade Tiger sounds like fun! What are your thoughts on these new achievements? Anything in particular draw your interest? What about the new world event? Can't wait or sick of holidays?

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With all the Patch 3.2 hullabaloo (and it's impending release on the PTR), it's easy to forget about other things that might be going on in the World of Warcraft. This Sunday marks the beginning of the seminal Midsummer Fire Festival, a gala event that recognizes the Summer Solstice and runs through the United States' real life Independence Day. Though most people don't celebrate the Solstice on Earth, it's an important holiday for Azerothians the world over. Despite the relative absurdity of lighting fires on the hottest days of the year, there's a lot more to see and do since its makeover in 2008. Below, I will detail what you need to check out to, ahem, "get your fire started." Update: Apparently, Blizzard has added fires in Northrend this year. Unfortunately, it seems as though you cannot repeat any of the fires you honor/extinguished last year for more blossoms, possibly preventing you from being able to complete the Midsummer set for the pole-dancing achievement. Word on the street is that this is a bug, but we have yet to receive an official response. Keepers of the Flame

Most world events have you running around willy-nilly collecting all sorts of strange objects, and Midsummer is no exception. If no new ones are added in Northrend, there are a total of 62 bonfires spread throughout the other three continents. These tend to be stationed at various faction-specific outposts in nearly every zone (there are none in the Plaguelands, Searing Gorge, Deadwind Pass, Azshara, Un'Goro Crater, Moonglade, or Felwood). When you come across one of your own faction, you're offered the chance to "honor" it and will earn 5 Burning Blossoms (the event's currency) and some experience (or several gold if you're level-capped). Likewise, if you find one of the opposite faction, you can choose to stamp it out for 10 Burning Blossoms and more experience (or about double the gold). Be warned, though, that it will flag you for PvP and, as other players are likely to be participating in the event, you'll might have to get a little sneaky. Many of the achievements for the holiday are centered around honoring or extinguishing these fires, so it's well within your interest to do so if you're itching for some points. Save for a few, it's not terribly hard to find all of them, just time consuming, and you actually get a nice chunk of extra change or xp out of it for relatively little effort. Note, however, that you can only honor or douse each fire once for the duration of the event.

Stealing Fire

It wouldn't be WoW without a little bit of racial conflict thrown in, would it? Each of the eight main home cities has its own sacred flame pit which you can "steal" by looting. Obtaining one will allow a player of level 50 or above to activate a quest in which they simply have to turn to the flame in to a Festival Talespinner. For each turn in, they will have their choice of event-themed consumables and a whopping 25 Burning Blossoms. Of course, turning a flame in is the easy part. Getting it in the first place is where the challenge begins! As a rogue, I had an immense amount of fun trying to sneak into the Alliance's cities. Sometimes avoiding the guards was tougher than avoiding the players. Enemy faction players still pose quite a problem, though, as there will almost certainly be plenty near the flame, where most of the daily quests and mini-games take place. I can't speak from an Alliance perspective, but each of their cities posed a unique problem (aside from, perhaps, The Exodar). Making the run for Darnassus' portal resulted in several deaths last year (note, this is not necessary for the City Flame, but it is for the bonfires in the Night Elves' starting zone, which you might as well grab if you're in the area), Ironforge's flame is located on the complete opposite side from the city's entrance, and Stormwind's practically demanded a dangerous trip right through the Trade District (though the addition of the Docks area may or may not make things easier). Let's not forget about the wandering superguards that can see through any manner of stealth, either. If you don't have a character capable of sneaking about, expect people to organize regular raids on the opposing factions' cities. While they sometimes end up in an "every man for themselves" kind of melee as people scramble for their chance to grab the flame, just keep on trying and you're sure to get it eventually! Turning in all four flames will open up A Thief's Reward, a simple quest that will allow you to obtain the Crown of the Fire Festival, which is necessary to complete one of the Achievements.

Enjoying the Festival

If you're not one for traveling (or you're simply not a high enough level to fully participate in hunting flames), there are still other ways to enjoy Midsummer (although "enjoy" may not be the operative word). You see, near the City Flame of each home town, there are several mini-games that you can engage in, even at a lowly level one. The problem is that my memories of them contain no merriment or fun, only pain and a heck of a lot of suffering. OK, well, Torch Tossing isn't so bad. This game requires you to stand near a bonfire and, within a specified amount of time, toss torches so that they light up braziers several feet away. The goal is to aim at the braziers lit up with an arrow, which will change constantly, much like the classic game Whack-A-Mole. Timing is key, so make sure that you bind the torches you're given to a hotkey, so that you only really have to worry about aiming the green reticule that appears on the ground. It may take several tries to get Torch Tossing down, but at least it's not as treacherous as the dreaded Torch Catching. Starting from the bonfire, you have to click on the lit torches in your inventory, which will send it arcing behind you in a semi-random direction. Your goal is to run over to where you think it's going to land and "catch" it, which will toss it back up in the air again. The initial quest asks you to do this four times in a row, while the daily version requires ten volleys. This may not seem very difficult until you actually try to catch a torch for yourself. First of all, it's not entirely accurate. I found that, last year, I had to slightly lead where I expected the torch to fall in order to catch it. Second, the shadow that you're supposed to use as a guide has a habit of fading out or or disappearing altogether. Considering that the last time this event ran there were no advanced shadowing options, this problem may have been rectified by now. Lastly, there are probably going to be other players attempting to catch torches at the same time, and it's not hard to lose sight of which one is yours, causing you to miss completely. If that weren't enough, missing a torch will cause it to explode on the ground, scorching you for several thousand damage in the process. If you are not careful, you can die catching torches! So why would you want to do this? Once you've run out of flames to honor/douse/steal, which may happen during the first several days of the event, this is going to be your primary means of obtaining more Burning Blossoms (5 for each, plus some gold). After you've worn yourself out playing with torches, why not relax by spinning around a giant blazing pole? Sounds like a blast, right? In Midsummer's version of a ribbon dance, simply clicking on the flagstaff will send your character whirling, accompanied by a stream of multi-colored flame. There's an achievement for dancing around for 60 seconds in full Fire Festival Regalia (this does not require the crown obtained from the City Flame quests, only the shoes, mantle, and dress, which can be bought from event vendors); otherwise, it will give you a 10% stacking experience buff (3 minutes added per 3 seconds of dancing, up to 60 minutes).

Frost Lord Ahune

You think everyone would just like to chill out during the hottest days of the year, but Azerothians have to battle the cold, literally. A holiday-specific boss called Ahune, The Frost Lord appears in the depths of The Slave Pens, a 5-man dungeon underneath Zangarmarsh in Outland. Frost Lord Ahune The questline needed to fight him begins with a Festival Talespinner and you must be level 70 in order to complete it (though, I believe it is possible to participate in the encounter, even if you're a few levels lower). There are two different encounters with Ahune (who looks like a dark blue version of Murmur or Ragnaros), one for either the normal or heroic version of the dungeon. This is not a hard fight at all, and since Blizzard has not upgraded him from last year, it's going to be even easier. However, there are a few quirks that make it fun. The first phase is an add phase, during which Ahune only takes a quarter of the damage inflicted upon him. Ranged DPS can do little to hurt him, and melee shouldn't even bother at all, as Ahune will flick them away if they try to get too close. So forget about the boss and focus on his summons, which should comprise of one elite elemental and several smaller ones. After 90 seconds, he will submerge and go into Phase 2. At this point everyone should be attacking his exposed core. He will not summon adds while submerged, but he will cast Ice Spears that will shoot up from the ground and knock players into the air. Likewise, be wary of the ice slicks covering the ground, as you can slip and fall on them. After 30 seconds, he'll come back up again. This cycle will repeat until you defeat him, with the only change being that he will summon additional adds every time he goes back into Phase 1. As for rewards? He gave out some pretty sweet cloaks last year, and there are a few of the usual, unique trinkets event bosses tend to hand out like a Scorchling Pet or the Deathfrost Enchantment. Also, by returning the Shards of Ahune he drops, you have your choice of two tabards.

The Rest of the Fest

Festival vendors offer the following items (and their costs, in Burning Blossoms) for purchase:

• Handful of Summer Petals - 2 BB - Using these will shower a fellow player in the sweet flowers of Summer.
• Mantle of the Fire Festival - 100 BB - Equipping these will post two large braziers on your shoulders (also festive during Hanukkah!).
• Vestment of Summer - 100 BB - A nice, long Summer dress that casts an orange glow over your body and causes your hands to flame up when you /dance
• Sandals of Summer- 200 BB - Wearing these shoes causes a small fire to form around your feet, though being a troll, I'll never know the pleasure of fine footwear!
• Brazier of Dancing Flames - 350 BB - Dancing? Fire? I'm noticing a trend here... this brazier will summon a tiny, hot-footin' female elemental (looks like a Draenei) to shake it for you. It will respond to your emotes and using /dance while targeting it will turn your character into a larger version of the elemental.
• Captured Flame - 350 BB - Summons a "Spirit of Summer" pet, which looks like a small, red-colored wisp.
• Elderberry Pie - 5 BB
• Fire-toasted Bun - 5 BB
• Midsummer Sausage - 5 BB
• Toasted Smorc - 5 BB
• Bag of Smorc Ingredients - 5 BB - Allows you to create the Summer favorite at campfires around Azeroth.
• Fiery Festival Brew - 2 BB

Note that, even if you collect every Blossom possible during the event, you will not be able to purchase everything. If you're going for achievements, I'd spend all of your Burning Blossoms on the clothing first, which should leave you enough for either the Brazier of Dancing Flames or the Capture Flame. The former, in my opinion, is the better reward. On the note of Achievements, it seems that the Alliance and Horde will received slightly different titles upon completion. Here's the lineup:

• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Eastern Kingdoms - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in the Eastern Kingdoms.
• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Kalimdor - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in Kalimdor.
• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Outland - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in Outland
• The Fires of Azeroth - 10 AP - Complete the above three achievements.
• Extinguishing Eastern Kingdoms - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Eastern Kingdoms
• Extinguishing Kalimdor - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Kalimdor.
• Extinguishing Outland - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Outland.
• Desecration of the Horde (or Alliance) - 10 AP - Complete the above three achievements.
• King of the Fire Festival - 10 AP - Steal all of the opposing cities' flames and complete the quest "A Thief's Reward."
• Ice the Frost Lord - 10 AP - Kill Ahune, the Frost Lord in the Slave Pens.
• Burning Hot Pole Dance - 10 AP - Dance around a ribbon pole for 60 seconds while wearing all three pieces of the Midsummer clothing set.
• Torch Juggler - 10 AP - Juggle 40 torches in 15 seconds in Dalaran.
• The Flame Warden - 20 AP - This is the event's meta-achievement. You need to complete: The Fires of Azeroth, Ice the Frost Lord, King of the Fire Festival, Desecration of the Horde (or Alliance), Burning Hot Pole Dance, and Torch Juggler. Your reward is either the title of Flame Warden (Alliance) or Flame Keeper (Horde).

I would personally recommend completing all of the fire honoring/dousing/stealing achievements first, so that you have plenty of Burning Blossoms to buy all of the Midsummer clothing with. Ahune can be done at pretty much any time, and the others are relatively easy to complete. There are a few other, minor aspects to the event, including the ability to receive buffs (or extinguish them) utilizing the bonfires scattered throughout Azeroth, as well as a daily quest from the Earthen Ring called Striking Back, which asks you to kill a Twilight Cultist out on the Zoram Strand in Ashenvale.

Personally, I'd have to say that, since its revamp, this is one of my favorite world events in the game, and probably the first one I took seriously. I won't lie, I look forward to stealing the Alliance's fires all over again! What about you guys and gals? Share some memories or thoughts about the Midsummer Fire Festival in our comments section! This is a lengthy article, and it contains a lot of information, but I may not have covered everything you wanted to know. If you have any questions, please feel free to post those, as well.

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Noblegarden started on Sunday, and if you're like me, you want that Violet Proto Drake, which means you'll have to get your egg hunt on. Being a late addition to the Long, Strange Trip world event meta-achievement, the collection of achievements required to attain "the Noble" title was quite certainly affected by feedback from the player community regarding other similar achievements. If you remember, many players were upset that they had to rely heavily on the Random Number Generator (RNG) for certain parts of the other holiday meta-achievements. Luckily, Blizzard recognized this fact and both retroactively changed the Fool for Love achievement and decided against including random achievements in the Noble Gardener meta-achievement. While there are still Noblegarden achievements that do rely on the RNG - Sunday's Finest and Dressed for the Occasion - they are not part of the Meta. This means it is basically possible - even with the worst of luck - to brute force your way to the title, getting one step closer to that 310% flying mount. Breaking it down, you'll have to open the following number of eggs to complete all of the required achievements: 100 for eating (Required for Chocoholic) 100 for Spring Rabbit's Foot (Required for Spring Fling) 50 for Spring Flowers (Required for Shake Your Bunny-Maker) 50 for Spring Robes (Required for Desert Rose) 5 for Noblegarden Egg (Required for Noble Garden) This totals out to 305 eggs, which will take a bit of a time investment. If you manage to find an egg every 15 seconds, that will come out to over an hour of egg hunting. If you have more trouble finding the eggs, it will take even longer. Remember, this is the maximum number of eggs you'll have to open. Most people I talked to got at least one required item within the first 50 or so eggs they opened, so you'll probably need to open fewer eggs. By the time I had looted 300 eggs, I already found nearly everything I needed from the eggs, so I purchased the last thing I needed - the spring flowers - and picked up the Spring Circlet to complete my collection. All of the other items you'll need for achievements are obtainable through other means. The Tuxedo Shirt, Tuxedo Pants, and Elegant Dress are all tradeable, meaning you can get Blushing Bride for a few coins at the auction house or even free if you find a generous person who will loan or give you a tux. Remember, though, you will not get Sunday's Finest or Dressed for the Occasion unless you specifically loot the items from eggs. The Blossoming Branch is a reward for the daily quest to turn in 20 egg shells and can be used on other players to help them get Hard Boiled. Remember to find someone who has one in their inventory to help you get that one. The Spring Circlet, for 50 chocolates, is not used in any achievements. Mages may want to collect the Tome of Polymorph: Rabbit, which can be purchased for another 100 chocolates. Even though the requirements for the meta-achievement are not completely dictated by the RNG like Be Mine! was, they can still take a significant amount of time to complete. I'd estimate that it took me three to four hours to complete all of them, including collecting eggs, traveling, and finding all of those females for Shake Your Bunny-Maker. So, do you guys prefer having alternative ways of getting items in addition to the RNG, or would you rather just leave out the randomness completely? Or heck, would you prefer all of it to be in fate's hands?

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Oh, Wrath of the Lich King, how we await your arrival. Come Wednesday night, I will be camping my local EBGames for my copy of Wrath, only to receive my Collector's Edition in the mail the following day or so. Yes, I am that excited for Northrend. It appears I am not the only one, for the Lich King kicked off another world event last night. As of press time, the event isn't nearly as large as the infamous “Zombiefication of the Azerothian Nation,” but it is still new and exciting. WoWInsider had ongoing coverage of the event while it unfolded, and confirmed that it repeated every 20 minutes or so. Players will have to travel to Stormwind or Orgrimmar, to see the story unfold. Once again, the two factions are not created equal, as the Horde get to see Warchief Thrall and Garrosh Hellscream – Son of Grom – duke it out in the Ring of Honor. The attack on these main cities is strike two against Arthas and his better half. The event doesn't particularly lead one to believe that the factions will turn and head straight for Northrend, so there may be more to the proceedings. Reports indicate that the attack was still repeating before maintenance, so if you missed it, you may be able to catch a repeat later today. I for one, hope that Arthas tries something more dastardly, causing the combined forces of the Horde and Alliance to head to Northrend, each seeking their own revenge. What do you lore nuts think the outcome from the attacks could be? I predict that Garrosh will leave Thrall's side and head to Northrend. Possibly without Thrall's consent or perhaps to banish him from Orgrimmar for kicking his ass (Spoiler: We already know he is a Warchief in Northrend, but not under what circumstances). Bolvar Fordragon is probably bored with playing politics, and with King Varian Wrynn's return, he will return to the battlefield. I am incredibly excited for WotLK's lore!

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I know feelings were very mixed, but I personally thought that the scourge invasion has been awesome. I loved the whole zombie thing, it was unique enough to really get attention, and it completely changed the world (…of Warcraft) for a few days. Furthermore, it was short enough that it didn’t get a chance to get really annoying. The necropolis attacks have been great fun as well. I loved flying from zone to zone looking to the skies for piles of undead to blow through. For me, the opportunity to pick up some one time only rewards has been very satisfying. It may be my Paladin bias, but I think it was all well executed and most importantly fun. All that being said, I’m worried. This event that started so fast and furious had all the potential in the world. But now it’s all but stopped. Sure, zones are still being attacked, but nothing new has happened in quite a while. Most people got their runes and have moved on. The world event felt so alive when every new day brought a new stage in the invasion, and a new phase of the plague, but now most people don’t even noticed it is still here. This has all been a bit disappointing to me. I am assuming that something else will happen, but when it does it had better be epic. I feel that so much momentum has been lost during this lull that it risks turning the event from a huge success to an utter failure. Right now things are just plain quiet. In my mind great world changing events shouldn’t start suddenly build up insane momentum, stop overnight, then pick back up a week and a half later. In the end I guess we will all have to wait and see. Perhaps this is all part of Blizzard’s master plan, or perhaps there was a bit too much QQ so they decided to take a break. Either way I would appreciate an explanation, or at the very least a new development. Come on Blizz, get us excited again! Northrend calls!

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I was around during the initial Scourge Invasion.  In fact, I was still playing WoW hours upon hours a day, many of them spent in raids, instances or just farming for gold.  Yet, I never really joined in on the fun of the Scourge Invasion.  I checked it out, but you wouldn't find me there day in and day out, in an attempt to stop the Necropoli from taking over.  I can't recall my reasoning, but it probably had something to do with the fact that I already had the Argent Dawn reputation that I needed for Naxxaramas.  This time around, I have been all over the invasion. This year's invasion started off with the infamous plague that turned so many of Azeroth's heroes into minions for the Scourge.  The Horde and Alliance put aside their differences, got together, and rid the lands of the threat in only a few days time.  But the plague was only an attempt by the Lich King to weaken Azeroth before sending out his Necropoli and Undead fodder. I enjoyed the plague for all that it was worth, and the continuation into the Scourge Invasion is partially what sucked me into the re-hashed event.  Invasion 2.0 is not all that different from the original pre-Naxxaramas event, if I remember correctly.  We have the areas under attack by the Necropoli, Necrotic Shards, Shadow of Dooms, Undead weapon enchants, and extra bosses in select instances. Only a few things have been added, namely rewards for participating.  Rather than receiving superior gear for our efforts, players can now select from almost Karazhan-quality gear that bump up one's Undead slaughtering capabilities.  We even have a few trinkets that summon an Argent Dawn agent or abilities to our side.  On the content side of things, players can still tackle the new Karazhan boss, Tenris Mirkblood, who seems to be the only thing remaining from the plague days gone by.  Not to mention, the only thing I have found that could really link the two events. This Rogue and Priest combo will be continuing the purging of the Undead from the Plaguelands until the event ends.  I am mainly doing it so I can try out Solidsamm's new spec, but I tend to be a sucker for summonable buddies.  So if you see a purple skull appear on your map (and are on Magtheridon), I will likely be in their base, killing their mans.  To bad the Argent Dawn reputation has been replaced by the Argent Crusade in Wrath of the Lich King and will be useless. Sadly, I haven't seen many other people partaking in the Scourge Invasion, is it just too old hat for you?  Or are you burned out from the plague - as the Lich King intended?

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The Wrath of the Lich King World Event has come a long way since our little discussion on Friday. The event progressed to what many called Phase 4 during the weekend and just passed into Phase 5 last night. It was followed a few hours later by Phase 6, with the factions claiming to be developing a cure for the plague. Wouldn't it be awesome if the “cure” was the same one that Nathan Petrelli tried to implement in the alternate future of Heroes?  I digress. One thing we do know is that the new Karazhan boss mob, Tenris Mirkblood, will only be “around for approximately 10 days.” So if you want his non-combat pet or the ability to shred in World of Warcraft, then you better get that Karazhan group together before the 4th of November. If you want a run down on the zombiefication of the Azerothian nation, then head over to Wowhead. A recap is not why I am here. The real reason I write to you today is about the world event as a whole. This is the first designed event that has had any kind of perceived negative impact on the game. As many commentators noted in my previous post; it can be incredibly difficult to level during this time. I can understand their complaints under one condition, that they are entirely new to the game. I remember the good old days, before hours of raiding, before min-max charts, before perfecting one's spec for the best possible DPS or healing. I like to call them the virgin days. Everything was new and awe inspiring back then and you just wanted to take it in and never let it go. The World Event has disrupted all that, with most servers having nearly all of the NPCs whipped out and turned into minions of the Lich King. Quite hard to level and enjoy a new title under those conditions. However, most of you are not new to the game.  In fact, I would think that if you are visiting a site like ProjectLore, then you are pretty familiar with the title. That being said, please stop fussing over losing a few weeks of leveling your fifth alt and take in the world event for all that it is worth. These events happen once in a blue moon and can offer experiences in gameplay unmatched by any other title or genre you may play again. Ever.  Just ask the people that were around for the launch of the Outlands portal, the construction of Quel'Danas or better yet, the months long struggle for the opening of Ahn'Qiraj. Who doesn't remember the ringing of the gong outside AQ and the succeeding events? You are part of an epic and unforgettable event, live it.

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Remember that small issue Blizzard had with Zul'Gurub a few years ago? You know the one I am talking about. It revolved around one of Hakkar The Soulflayer's abillities, Corrupted Blood. The ability was harmless to most high level players, causing a direct hit of 875-1125 shadow damage plus 200 damage a second after that. It wasn't until someone managed to hearth to a major city with the debuff that the problems started. To lower level players and players not paying attention, the DOT could easily kill them, while spreading further.

Many servers were absolutely destroyed by the bug, with Blizzard running around to try and repair the damage. After the mess was finally cleaned up, the academics that focus on video games and/or contagious diseases became interested in the topic. Numerous academic outlets, including the Center for Disease Control (CDC), requested the data with hopes of using it as a model for real world research. A devastating bug in a video game may turn out to be good after all.

I am shocked and dismayed that so few people have put that little issue together with the current World Event going on in World of Warcraft. To me the events occurring now are clearly designed based on the accidental Corrupted Blood plague. For those of you who may not have noticed, various places in Azeroth have been delivered a package by someone, Booty Bay is considered to be the first. The packages began arriving hours after the Argent Dawn setup posts in all the major cities, warning all the citizens that the Lich King was coming. Oh, and said packages corrupt those around them with You're Infected!

There are slight differences between the Corrupted Blood issue and the Lich King World Event though. Those differences are easily attributed to that fact that the designers did this event on purpose. The You're Infected! debuff does no damage, it will simply turn you into an undead zombie should the timer run out. Getting hit by the zombie ability Mangle, will reduce your timer by a full minute, so mind those who hunger for brains. As of press time, most of the continent of Kalimdor on my server has been whipped clean of NPCs, cities and mobs.

I believe that Blizzard Poster Kisirani's statements lead credibility to my thoughts. When a poster said that the plague was to easy to avoid – Argent Healers, Priests, Paladins and Shamans can dispell it – Kisirani quipped “It certainly does seem containable, doesn't it? :)” Seems like a dead reference to how “easy” it should have been to contain Corrupted Blood. On the flip side, the crates have been appearing in more locations, as well as an introduction infected critters, such as roaches.  Making it easier for the zombies to lay waste to Azeroth.

So what are you guys doing? Plundering your homelands while having fun conversing with the opposing faction through zombie chat or are you defending your castle? Perhaps you are trying to find out exactly who is behind this mess? Or are you still stuck on farming those Hallow's End items?

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I’m sure everyone has noticed, the new world event is going on right now. Blizzard is now providing us with the reason we all need to charge into Northrend, and the reason is simple: A ZOMBIE ATTACK. Awesome. I am super excited as I missed the world event for BC. I'll just say: I think this is going to be really cool. It is obvious that this is an evolving event, and I can only imagine where this is going to go. It all started with a crate showing up in booty bay turning somewhat willing victims into zombies. Players get infected by the crate and in 10 minutes time if no action is taken, the turn into full fledged zombies with a whole host of new abilities. During the “infection phase” players can be cured by Argent Dawn healers in the major cities or by friendly (or unfriendly depending on how you look at it) priests and paladins. Now it is clear the plague is getting stronger. On the second day of the event crates and plagued critters are showing up in all the capitol cities. Additionally the infection is becoming harder to dispel, priests and pallies now usually have to try multiple times to remove the infection. While it will likely start affecting our play style some, I am very interested to see where this thing goes. The idea of my Paladin fighting off waves of undead zombies controlled by other players is just too cool to be ignored. I can only hope this whole ordeal will involve some sort of cool reward for participating such as a tabard like players received last year. Of course I want a souvenir from the great zombie attack of '08! While I did run around as a zombie for a little while earlier today I haven’t really had a chance to fully explore the zombie side of things. It appears that after a few days it may be unavoidable. While that may be bothersome to many players I am just along for the ride at this point. This event is only going to happen one time ever, so I intend to make the most of it. How about you? How are you enjoying your “zombie time?” Are you avoiding the whole scene, or are you running around feasting on delicious brains?

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