The Tuesday Morning Post: It's quiet. Too quiet.
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Dec 9th 2008 at 7:30AM
So. Here we are. It's coming up on a month into the expansion and... I don't know, it's sort of quiet. Well, I mean, not too quiet. We have plenty of stuff to do. About half of you are still trying to make it to 80. I say you when I mean us, because I haven't quite made it there myself. In my defense, I'm leveling a Death Knight, so I started handicapped. But anyway, I mean quiet as in, there seems like we should get some earth shattering news soon. Maybe a 3.0.4 PTR if nothing else. But I shouldn't complain, we have a whole expansion to keep us busy for a while. Still, I'm going to make a prophecy anyway. 3.0.4 before the new year. You heard it here first.
In the meantime, we'll have to satisfy ourselves with news from the past week. You can read while your server's down for the 5 AM rolling restarts:
Hot News and Features
- Looking for a Holiday gift for the special WoW player in your life? We have just the gift list for you.
- If you have a question about the game, check and if The Queue has answered it lately. Among this week's topics are Protodrakes, stolen mailboxes, and who does Putress' tailoring.
- Also continuing full steam ahead is our Wrath 101 series, where we give you the basics on the basic elements of Wrath of the Lich King. This week, we focused on Grizzly Hills flight paths and the Sons of Hodir.
- Arena season 5 officially begins on December 17th, so be sure to get those teams formed ASAP.
- Blizzard's legal machine has leapt into action again, this time targetting private servers.
Class News and Guides
- As 3.0.4 draws closer, we're starting to hear more about class balance. For example, Ghostcrawler revealed some rather nice planned Death Knight changes.
- Shifting Perspectives this week features a guide to reputation gear for Druids.
- Shamans, we have a reputation gear guide for you as well.
- For Hunters, we have a guide to normal dungeon gear.
- For Rogues, we have a guide to Emblem of Heroism rewards.
- For Warlocks in love with Haste rating, we have a gear guide for you this week.
- For Warriors, we have a guide to Fury leveling talents.
- Here's some good news for quite a few classes, especially Warlocks, Shadow Priests, and Unholy Death Knights: The debuff limit is gone.
Professions, items, dungeons, and more
- Forget the Death Knight starting quests, this Kalu'ak daily right here is what I call a creepy quest.
- Also for Death Knights, we have a primer for Death Knight stats and gearing.
- If you're a casual who's wondering if it's a good idea to take the Death Knight plunge, we also have 7 reasons you should.
- If you don't mind running around Storm Peaks for a while, you could have a Protodrake mount without any reputation grinding or token gathering at all.
- If you don't mind do a bit of questing, you can also grab yourself a polar bear mount.
- Are you a skinner? We have some tips (and etiquette advice) for you on the fine art of poaching.
- Are you a Blacksmith? Are you a weapons specialist? Read this before you unlearn a specialization.
- Last week's Insider Trader focused on the highlights of professions in Wrath.
- If you've ever faced Loken, this next tidbit probably won't surprise you. He's the most deadly mob in the game.
- This week's Ready Check focuses on the Plague Quarter of Naxxramas.
- Ghostcrawler spoke on the difficulty of Wrath and the definition of hardcore earlier this week.
Odds and Ends
- Attention Guild fans: Episode 2 of Season 2 is out.
- Ghostcrawler and Vaneras speak out on what the GMs play.
- Here's an interesting tweak to the armory: The wealth achievement summary category is gone.
- Frustrated with Warsong? Maybe you shouldn't have a nice cup of tea.
- Slow leveler? Feeling a bit left behind by the 80s? You may not be as alone as you think.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andrew R. Dec 9th 2008 7:40AM
" If you don't mind running around Storm Peaks for a while, you could have a Protodrake mount WITH ANY reputation grinding or token gathering at all."
It's ok Dan, it's early, you're allowed to make a typo before 8am =P
The Kalu'ak daily is just weird. Stealing pups balances things out?
Hudders Dec 9th 2008 8:24AM
"Stealing pups balances things out?"
Om nom nom nom...
Narlic Dec 9th 2008 1:34PM
I know right? Do you *see* any pups around that guy? A dozen a day would add up pretty quickly, you'd think. I suspect they end up in a sack in the bay, and then they get skinned and eaten. Good job walrus man! Can I have the fishing pole yet? No? Oh well, back to STEALING BABIES.
Axolotl Dec 9th 2008 7:46AM
They won't be announcing the next xpac till september, but they could start making work of when Arthas will be showing up in Northrend ... yeah it's the still before the storm
Insano Dec 9th 2008 11:19AM
Its quiet because wrath is nothing more than a Patch forcing people to level. And until the bulk of us get to 80, its gonna be quiet.
Over all, wrath has sucked in terms of bringing something "new" to the game. Its jsut the same nonsense since before BC.
Thank god Im a PVP guy and find my joy in a world were the players themselves impact the play and not the developers. Cause Blizzard has their head up their.....
Artemizz Dec 9th 2008 12:06PM
I've only gotten to 71 on my main, and gotten a DK to 62 because of finals, but I'm more than impressed with what Wrath has brought. You're probably the first person I've seen say that it's just the same, and that they're happy to go rely on PvP for entertainment.
They've introduced much more fun ways of leveling this time around, and hey, if the 'same nonsense', whatever that is, is what keeps 11 million people playing... why change it?
PvP is a side product of the game for me. I'm not a raider, never been able to commit the time, I'm geared in all S2 gear, and still think PvP is an extra to the immense story and gameplay.
Thander Dec 9th 2008 12:40PM
I enjoyed BC and Wrath is pretty much better in every way. If you don't like Wrath, you didn't like BC either. You should not be playing this game.
Chamual Dec 9th 2008 1:19PM
I kind of agree with the post saying Wrath hasn't really brought anything extra. I enjoyed levelling more than I thought I would because of the quests and excellent lore, but now I've hit 80 and started gearing up it kinda just all looks like the same grind over again, for rep, drops, gold, mounts. Sure there is heaps to aim for now but it does kind of seem like a grind again.
tbh I'm sick to death of daily quests. I did so many saving up for epic flier, then aldor rep, and then all the Sunwell dailies that the thought of doing it all over again to get the new shoulder enchants with Hodir fills me with dread. I just don't want to spend my time doing repetative tasks over and over on a daily basis for the shoulder enchants that I do need if I want to raid :\
Come on Blizz, think of something other than daily quests please!!!!!! after all, I go to work every day and shouldn't have to come home and put in another hour or twos work before raiding starts!
Sylythn Dec 9th 2008 1:31PM
Bah, let the poor folks at Blizz have a break. :) We've still got plenty of stuff to do before we need an expansion.
GrayElf Dec 9th 2008 6:01PM
"Bah, let the poor folks at Blizz have a break. :) We've still got plenty of stuff to do before we need an expansion."
I think the fact that someone even THOUGHT of a comment like this, less than a MONTH after the last expansion, says a lot about how much (end-game) is missing from Wrath. Yep, the journey is fun - but waddya do once you hit 80? Dailies and achievements? A month worth of raiding?
Yes, I know there's more planned...but Blizz turned around from the mistake of including too much end-game content in BC, to putting in far too little in Wrath, especially considering they wanted it easy enough for everyone and his dog to be able to do...
Seriously, ONE multi-boss raid? BC started launched with 4, from memory...as well as single-bosses, and world-bosses...
Yes, there's more to do before we start looking for the next expansion. If we're lucky, it might last halfway to the next content patch...but don't hold your breath.
Aloja Dec 9th 2008 9:41PM
What if we do it in slow motion? At .0001% walk speed?