News and Opinion

General news and opinion about WoW.

Know what the Worse Thing in Wrath Is?

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serious

Nevermind that Retribution Paladins are overpowered.
… of that class balance is non-existent.
… or that herb prices are off the charts.
… or the mount and pet disappearing bug.
… or messed up UI’s.

There is one major problem that trumps them all. Did you know this issue has been prevalent since the era of Molten Core? It wasn’t an issue then, sure. But it always represented a thorn on the side of raiding Guilds everywhere.

In Burning Crusade, Blizzard has proven yet again they glaze over severe problems. They addressed many mistakes since Vanilla WoW and showed some savvy in raid design in Burning Crusade.

When I went into Wrath with the intent of beta raiding, I prayed long and hard that this monstrous issue would be fixed. To my utter dismay, I have discovered they have not. Do you realize what this means? This could potentially kill Guilds everywhere before they even get off the ground!

The colossal problem that I’m referring to?

chest-loot

It is the looting of chests.

In Molten Core, it wasn’t a problem as raid leaders could master loot items.

In Karazhan, there were only 10 players to worry about with everyone wanted badges.

But in Naxxramas, the 4 Horsemen drop a chest. With Badges (or Emblems). They’re lootable by everyone. That’s 25 players who want badges. 25 players that will be spam clicking the chest.

This is a serious problem.

25 players each taking 10 seconds to loot a chest.

That’s almost 4 minutes of pure chest looting.

Which means it’s 4 less minutes to save the world.

Something must be done!

Image credits: coolza

A Note about Mother Shahraz Post 3.0

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A comment from Xserisi has been brought to my attention. I figured it would benefit many players if they knew about it as well so I decided to turn it into a blog post.

Last night we saw BT, we stopped before Mother Shiraz, seeing we ran out of time and were unsure about our health if we would go in with with low or nill shadow resist gear. (anyone tried after patch?)

Yes. I can say with certainty that you don’t need to have full Shadow Resist gear on for Mother Shahraz. Prayer of Shadow Protection or Shadow Aura from the Paladins should be enough to get you through it. DPS has to be high. You don’t want to take more than 3 or 4 teleports. She should be able to go down relatively fast.

Keep in mind, everyone has to commit. If you go full Shadow Resist, make sure every one does so. If you want to go for the blitz method, then keep your raiding gear on. Soak tanks are still important. Your healers have to stand on their head (hockey expression for goalies making unbelievable saves).

As my ancestor Napoleonicus once said:

There ain’t a problem in the world that can’t be solved by copious amounts of DPS.

Defending Your Faction Leaders with Guardian Spirit

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Aylii pointed this out to me the other day. I thought it was hilarious. It was located in the Bug Report forum.

We were trying to kill the faction leaders tonight, even though they are level 83 and we are 70 we managed to fight are way threw it.

Anyway we were on the bloodelf faction leader and many horde priest were in the room non-flagged.
When we got the boss low they would cast Guardian Spirit on the boss and pretty much he would get healed to full or half health. We brought his health down to 1% at least 4 times only having him be healed to full. It only takes 1 hit and trying to get 40 people to stop damage that quickly is tough. So after about 1hr 30min doing that we wiped out all the rest of the flagged horde left in the room and left.

This should not be allowed to work on faction leaders. It is way overpowered and it’s impossible to kill them if the other faction’s priest cast this spell on the boss.

I’m looking for a nurf to this spell on faction leaders only. Any blue want to comment?

Source: Bug Report Forum (World of Warcraft)

7 Cliche’d Ideas to Jump Start Your WoW Related NaNoWriMo

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nanowrimo

For those of you that might not be aware, November is National Novel Writing Month. So what exactly is it?

According to Wikipedia:

National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo) is a creative writing project in which participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.

Unfortunately, I cannot participate this year. School, WoW, and blogging keep me fairly busy. If I were to tackle another project, I know I’d probably get yelled at by a few of my friends.

That doesn’t mean I can’t help participate in my own way, however. In my off time when I’m not thinking about blog posts to write, I think about stories I’d like to tell (Yeah. I know. I can’t find an off button).

So here’s a few ideas Anna inspired and ones that I came up with the other day.

Important leaders kidnapped

A summit meeting has been planned by all major faction leaders. They have all agreed to use Shattrath as the meeting point. The war against Illidan has taken its toll. Neither faction can unseat him without the help of the other. Suddenly, a leader from the opposing faction has been intercepted and kidnapped en route which has sent talks to a virtual stand still. Not only that, but a bomb plot has been discovered. Explosive Mana bombs have been planted in various capital cities in Azeroth. You have to uncover the plot and rescue the captured dignitary (Inspired by 24).

Special teams working together

You are the leader of task force Echo, one of your faction’s special forces units. Your unit was important in the take down of Kael who subsequently disappeared. New intelligence from SI:7 (or the Horde equivalent) has reported that Kael is still alive. Your team has been asked to lead the charge in establishing a beach head on Quel’Danas. The catch? You’ll be working with the opposite faction. Can both teams work together and overcome their differences? (Rainbow Six)

Framed for murder

Several officials arrive at your residence, serve a warrant and proceed to arrest you. Taken to court, you discover that you have been framed for a murder you did not commit. You suspect that one of your rivals are behind this but you don’t know which. You must escape from the Stockades and find out the truth to clear your name.

Doomsday scenario

When you get to Illidan and you look up, you can sort of see Azeroth. It looks rather large, doesn’t it? And it’s getting closer. Gnomish and Goblin scientists have independently verified that Outland is about to intercept Azeroth’s orbit. Time is running out. You have to find a way to save both Azeroth and Outland from destruction before the world’s collide (literally). (Armageddon)

Unstoppable monster

A sentient Ooze-ling from Wetlands has been gaining strength and momentum from devouring other Oozes and creatures. After traveling through the zone and absorbing (eating) just about everything in its path, it has set its sights on the closest township. It’s a race against time as you and your friends must come up with a way to stop Oozezilla from wiping Menethil Harbor off the map. (Random monster movie)

Vengeful hero

All your life, you have been nothing more than a simple farmer. You dreamed of a life of glory and adventure but the love you had for your family has prevented you from pursuing this opportunity. You return home one day from business in the city to find your home destroyed. Your wife and child have been mutilated and murdered. With nothing more than a pitch fork, you swear vengeance intending to bring these brigands to justice.

Forgotten evil

An expedition has been commissioned by your faction to explore the Maelstrom closely. You are a retired veteran who has been chosen to lead your team and explore it. A ship is being built combining the brute strength of Goblins and the ingenuity of Gnomes. A crew needs to be assembled to venture into swirling unknown. When you arrive, you discover that a great and terrible evil has been awakened. With no hope of backup and reinforcements, its up to you and your crew to contain and banish the threat back where it came from.

Good luck to everyone who is participating this year! I know there are a number of WoW bloggers that are involved (Ego, Bre, and Ratshag at least, though I’m sure there are more).

Do you plan on taking part this year? Have you gotten your story ready?

Undisputed Method of Earning Damage Control

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damage-control

You can earn the Damage Control achievement by either dishing out 300000 points of damage or healing 300000 points of health. Now you could always just grind AV in the hopes of getting lucky and having the game last long enough.

I think my way is a little easier but no less frustrating. Warsong Gulch will continue to be the undisputed stalemate of BGs for a long time to come even at level 80.