Posted on January 2nd, 2010 by admin
My guild is made up of long-time gamers, including folks who’ve been roleplaying for dang near two decades. And even though we like to style ourselves “hardcore raiders,” we all have to admit that we have those characterization inclinations from time to time. We like our immersion. We like our stories. So when we came across Lady Deathwhisper, we had to make a story up for ourselves.
As the story goes, we met and defeated Kel’Thuzad back in Naxxramas. But, Arthas wasn’t quite finished with his trusted lieutenant yet, and raised him (again) from the dead. But something went horribly, horribly wrong. Lord Kel’Thuzad returned from the grave as Lady Deathwhisper! Naxxramas was only a setback, but it was one heck of a setback!
While this little story of ours has no real basis in real game lore, the comparison between the two characters is absolutely appropriate. Both boss fights involve heavy magic damage, adds that spring from the walls to defend the boss, and more than a little coordination. I actually think Leady Deathwhisper is the most difficult fight of the first wing of Icecrown Citadel, which makes her a decent comparison to
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Posted on December 24th, 2009 by admin
‘Twas the night before Winter Veil and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, sans a click of the mouse
The presents were stored by the tree with great care,
In hopes that Grand’ Winter would soon be there;
The orphans were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Pandaren Brew danced in their heads;
And my guildie in her ‘kerchief, and I in my helm,
Had just settled down for a long battle-ground,
When out of the mine there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my mammoth to see what was the matter.
Away to the entrance I jogged like a flash,
Tore open the door as I threw up the latch.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to the objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be thine old Ghost!
More rapid than gryphons his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Vashj! Now, Kael! On Yogg and Arthas!
On, Neth! On Bornakk! On Zarhym and Metzen!
To the top of the arena! Don’t scale those walls!
Now sprint away! Dash away!
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Posted on December 17th, 2009 by admin
Totem Talk is the column for shamans. With the new Random Dungeons and Dungeon Finder, healing has never been more in demand, and shamans find themselves faced with the dilemma: do I wait 10 minutes and go as DPS, or get instantly invited by being willing to heal? Matthew Rossi is impatient and terrifyingly willing to heal random strangers.
Ah, the Pick Up Group. Long a staple of our gameplay in WoW, patch 3.3 revolutionized the way we do it with the new dungeon finder, giving us incentives to put up with fury warriors who rush the tank, ret paladins who forget to turn Righteous Fury off, and runs consisting of two DK’s, a paladin, a warrior and a shaman where people ask the shaman if he’s tanking. (Hint, he wasn’t.) Other things the shaman will not be doing in a PUG include making a summoning portal, a mage table (it’s got mage in the name what is wrong with you), casting combat res on the tank when he dies, summoning Army of the Dead (seriously, I can understand being frustrated that someone cast that and it dragged the trash around, but shamans do not generally summon forth armies of walking corpses), washing your laundry (that’s just gross),
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Posted on December 14th, 2009 by admin
Freedom of speech is one of the most often quoted rights by gamers and people online, yet it is sadly one of the most misunderstood. This right comes about regularly when people are discussing forum bans, moderation, and people like Ghostcrawler telling folks they need to behave. People think that just because they live in a democracy or free society that they have an innate right to do and say whatever they want wherever they want.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In a private forum, such as the official World of Warcraft forums, or on a site like WoW.com, you don’t have any inherent right to do anything. The people running the site or designing the game sets the rules, and that’s that. If Blizzard says all communication must end with “Ni!” or you’re banned from their forums, then that’s the rule you must follow. It’s their property and their choice to do that.
If we say every comment must make fun of gnomes or the commenter will be banned, then that’s the rule you must follow. It’s our website.
Freedom of speech has absolutely no bearing within a private organization. When you accept WoW’s Terms of Service or
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Posted on December 10th, 2009 by admin
Every week, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them. This week, we cross our fingers and hope there are more fights like the gunship battle up ahead.
Hail, druids. I’ll be continuing a look at Balance gear whenever the gear lists on Wowhead start behaving themselves (down, boy!), which I sincerely hope is going to start happening soon. Right now they’re kind of a mess post-patch. In the meantime, I’ve been able to return to raiding with the benefit of a new computer, and the guild stomped through Icecrown Citadel last night (with, as I previously vowed, Jaina Proudmoore’s coin in my packs because it is awesome and lore-appropriate and I could not be a bigger nerd).
As with Ulduar, I’d like to do a series of class-specific tips for each encounter. Again, I go into these assuming you have a basic understanding of the fight’s mechanics, and then delve into more druid-specific commentary. Before the next set of Icecrown bosses hits, I hope to have covered Marrowgar (here), Lady Deathwhisper (in which binding Remove Curse to all of your hotkeys plays a significant role in the raid’s success), the
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Posted on December 7th, 2009 by admin
The Darkmoon Faire is in Elwynn Forest this week, and that means it’s time for another It came from the Blog event. The event will be in three parts:
The run to Elwynn: We will be running from Orgrimmar to Elwynn using a path I plotted out for maximum lowbie protection — also, photo opportunities.
Hogger Fist Fight: This is not a level 1 Hogger raid. That’s so 2007 (ok that link does not go to a level 1 Hogger raid either, but you know what I mean). All levels are invited to this event, but we will be removing our weapons, and not using spells, so we can punch Hogger and his buddies.
Darkmoon Faire fun: We’ll buy frog pets, shoot ourselves out of cannons and even turn in stuff if we’ve been collecting it.
Here are the particulars:
When: Saturday, December 12th, 5pm EST (2pm PST, 3pm Server)
Where: Meet in front of Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh (U.S.)
Who: Any level Horde character
How: Just send a tell to Robinator or any It came from the Blog Lurker for a guild invite.
If you have any questions about our WoW.com guild in general, please see our FAQ. There are more event details after the break.
Things to know about the Elwynn Extravaganza:
We will
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Posted on November 30th, 2009 by admin
I love Battlegrounds. I think they all have their positives, though my favorite is still Alterac Valley. So I’ve been wanting to hold an It came from the Blog BG event for a while and I’ve decided it’s time… Time for the first Battleground Bonanza! Here are the details:
When: Wednesday, December 2, 11:00pm EST (8:00pm PST, 9:00pm Server time)
Where: The Hall of the Brave (where the Battlemasters are), Orgrimmar, Zangarmarsh U.S.
Who: Any level 10 or above Horde character.
How: Ask any It came from the Blog Lurker or Robinella for a guild invite.
What: Battleground premades
Though any Battleground level character is invited, I will be playing on Robinella, who is a level 60 Death Knight and will therefore be playing in the 60 to 69 range BGs. We will be forming groups and hitting as many level/group-size appropriate BGs as we can for an hour or so. If you can’t make it to the Hall of the Brave in time for the event, you will miss out on the first screenshot, but will still be able to participate. If you are unfamiliar with Battleground play, please do some homework so that it will be more fun for both you and your teammates.
More details are after
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Posted on November 26th, 2009 by admin
It’s Pilgrim’s Bounty, folks, and that means that it’s a time for family. A time for friends. A time for giving. A time for mercilessly slaughtering hundreds of thousands of helpless game birds. And a time, of course, to be thankful. While you stuff your polygonal face with potatoes, pie, and, of course, the ol’ bird, remember to keep that in mind. So, on that note …
What on Azeroth are you thankful for this Pilgrim’s Bounty? What’s warming your heart besides cholesterol?
Me, I’m thankful for heirloom items. I’m thankful for The Art of War and Judgments of the Wise. I’m thankful for Predatory Strikes and Lightning Overload. I’m thankful for my readers and my faction leaders.
And you guys? How about you? Pass the gravy and let us know.
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Posted on November 23rd, 2009 by admin
In celebration of today ushering in five years of WoW, let’s take a step away from traditional Moviewatch material and look at some early alpha and beta footage from Stormwind and Ironforge.
The footage is quite astounding when you watch it. You’ll notice that there are entire sections of both cities which have changed dramatically, and indeed Ironforge itself was nearly entirely revamped to remove the “second level” from it. You can see remnants of the second level of Ironforge today in that there are some oddly placed balconies and doors — it all looks normal to us now, but when you watch the video you can see that it looks much more natural the way it was.
The “internet consensus” is that alpha Ironforge was changed because people were getting themselves lost all the time in it — something which isn’t very good for a starting city. However as far as I can tell that never came out of published comments from a WoW designer, so take it with a grain of salt.
And yes, before some you inevitably ask, Patches of Yesteryear will be returning this week — although we’ll only be running it once every other week due to
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Posted on November 19th, 2009 by admin
This sort of video isn’t usually considered to be WoW Moviewatch material. I can admit that. But the video still made me smile, and it has enough unique qualities that it’s a step apart from the usual “Level 1 Raid video.” So, take a moment and check out Level 1 Dwarven Hunter Raid.
First, the music used by the Warcraft Hunters Union gives the video a sense of narrative motion. There’s definitely a building crescendo and anticipation to the events. Second, there isn’t the usual rapid-fire spam of tiny numbers telling you how much damage the level 1 raiders are performing.
Last, these chaps made it all the way to a dragon. And won. They admit that there was a level 80 or two floating around to give some hep, and they mostly zerged the dragon to death. Still, it’s a nice little surprise at the end of a fun video.
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