Tuesday Morning Post: A farewell to portals edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Sep 28th 2010 at 7:00AM
There have also been a bunch of wild rumors flying around about Cataclysm's release date. First, Amazon.com started sending out bunches of emails about release date changes which put the release at late November, and now there are rumors of a December release. Of course, they're all rumors; only Blizzard knows for sure, and it isn't talking. Still, 4.0.1 is on the PTR, and the background downloader is chugging away, so it feels like we're on the home stretch, regardless.
Maintenance this week consists of rolling restarts at 5 a.m. Pacific time, although a small handful of servers will get the normal 5-11 a.m. downtime. No matter which server you're on, there was a whole lot of interesting news from the live servers, from the beta servers and from the PTR in the past 7 days -- so how about catching up on it right now?
Hot news and features
- There are some pretty awesome new titles in a recent Cataclysm beta build.
- Justice and Valorous gear is now available on the beta servers and we have screenshots.
- The WoW Insider Reader Meetup at BlizzCon has been a blast in the past, and it'll be even better this year. Join us at BlizzCon 2010!
- Blizzard has introduced an automatic recovery form for hacked and stolen accounts.
- Guild chat is coming to the official mobile armory app, as well as 3-D models, activity feeds and other upgrades.
- Heroic Cataclysm dungeons are now available for testing on the beta servers.
- 15 Minutes of Fame talks with a WoW-playing pastor.
- The pre-Cataclysm world events are up for testing on the PTR.
- With Cataclysm fast approaching, we say farewell to the little-known zone of Quel'thalas.
- Check out the new male worgen animations, and the worgen-Gilnean character creation process.
- Check out the latest restoration shamans changes from build 13033.
- Arcane Brilliance looks at running Cataclysm heroics as a mage.
- Totem Talk looks at restoration shamans in patch 4.0.1, as well as enhancement and elemental in patch 4.0.1.
- Lichborne looks at what's changing for death knights in patch 4.0.1.
- Shifting Perspectives looks at bear druids in 4.0.1 and the latest balance druid changes.
- Spiritual Guidance looks at mana regeneration for shadow priests in patch 4.0.1 and patch 4.0.1 for holy and discipline priests.
- The Care And Feeding of Warriors has a beta grab bag of topics, including heroics and the latest warrior changes.
- The Light And How to Swing It looks at Guardian of Ancient Kings for protection and retribution and new heal spells for holy paladins.
- Encrypted Text looks at the most useful new abilities for rogues in Cataclysm.
- Scattered Shots looks at balancing hunter masteries in Cataclysm.
- Always wanted to get dungeon set 2? Here's how.
- Ghostcrawler offers some insight into hit scaling in Cataclysm.
- Blood Sport deals with bad momentum in arena PvP.
- The Art of War(craft) looks at the current state of Cataclysm battleground PvP.
- Gold Capped looks at the Quick Auction Poster addon.
- The OverAchiever looks at more new and changed Cataclysm achievements.
- Raid Rx looks at the fun factor (or lack thereof) in healing rotations.
- Addon Spotlight looks at addons for leveling your pre-Cataclysm alt.
- Older raid achievements will have their requirements reduced in Cataclysm.
- Insider Trader looks at inscription and glyphs in Cataclysm.
- Check out The Guild, season 4, episode 10!
- Wowcrendor has launched an instructional machinima website.
- The Lawbringer looks at the truth and the myths about WoW in China.
- World of Raids is shutting down.
- Check out pictures of the newest WoW figurines.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
shadowdk Sep 28th 2010 7:18AM
i know what blizzard is trying to do, but the biggest reason that i hang out in Dalaran, is to get away from the low level people that are begging for gold. But that is really my only issue, other then that, it will just be a change to get used to
Merus Sep 28th 2010 7:50AM
I have more of a problem with people getting me to sign their guild petition, mostly because I love messing with beggars. It's endlessly fun to open up trade with a beggar, drop 10,000g in there and then go and read websites for ten minutes. Oldie but goodie.
My chief concern is that the portals made it very convenient to get around. I'm sure Blizzard will add in portals somewhere for Cataclysm players to zip from Orgrimmar to Undercity and from Stormwind to Darnassus, but what if they don't?
shadowdk Sep 28th 2010 7:59AM
It will be interesting to see what they do about that/
Samutz Sep 28th 2010 8:21AM
"I'm sure Blizzard will add in portals somewhere for Cataclysm players to zip from Orgrimmar to Undercity and from Stormwind to Darnassus, but what if they don't?"
Then you could keep using the boats/zeps that do exactly that.
Elmo Sep 28th 2010 9:53AM
Also, since BC we barely saw any goldsellers adds if we had a blocking addon...
now we're back in SW and Org I bet we'll see floating lvl 1's spelling out stuff all the time!
/shiver...
Rufio Sep 28th 2010 10:44AM
When was the last time you saw low level characters begging for gold? I haven't seen one for what feels like an eternity. No-ons broke these days and given that there's such a multitude of high level characters everywhere I'd think the chances of you getting singled out by the vare occasional newbie would be negligible. Come back to orgrimmar/stormwind, you'll like it there, I promise.
shadowdk Sep 28th 2010 10:58AM
it happened to me so often i made /r macro, i wont way the wording, because i dont recall for sure right now, but it basically said, if you dont go out in rl and beg for money, please dont do it in game.
(cutaia) Sep 28th 2010 11:10AM
"I bet we'll see floating lvl 1's spelling out stuff all the time!"
Am I the only one who wishes a gold hacker would just get bored one day and go rogue, spelling out random things like "BRITCHES!"
clundgren Sep 28th 2010 12:40PM
""I'm sure Blizzard will add in portals somewhere for Cataclysm players to zip from Orgrimmar to Undercity and from Stormwind to Darnassus, but what if they don't?""
"Then you could keep using the boats/zeps that do exactly that."
@Samutz: Traveling all the way to Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord, then waiting for transportation to a capital to auction, etc, then repeating in reverse to get back to your leveling (30 minutes later) is not exactly convenient, and is hardly the same as a quick portal.
To circumvent this problem, I hope that Blizz will implement an AH to go with the new trainers in Dal and Shatt. Since removing the portals removes the incentive for players to congregate in those towns unless they are leveling, there is no longer a reason not to give them their own AH.
(cutaia) Sep 28th 2010 1:15PM
To those worried about access to the auction house from levels 58-80:
"The reason the portals from Shattrath were not removed from Outland when Wrath of the Lich King released is that there was a new central hub with portals to all major cities in Northrend. There is no longer a neutral city hub which both factions will be using in Cataclysm. We want to ensure visiting the major faction capitals is still the most attractive thing to do in Cataclysm, rather than having people use Shattrath and Dalaran as easy connector hubs.
To make up for this, we'd like to add class trainers and Auctioneers in Shattrath and Dalaran for those leveling through The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content."
Source: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/26859191406/disappointed-about-the-dalaran-portal-change/
brian Sep 28th 2010 10:35PM
"Am I the only one who wishes a gold hacker would just get bored one day and go rogue, spelling out random things like "BRITCHES!" "
Knock it off, you Khaki britches!
zayd Sep 28th 2010 7:38AM
I wish Blizz would nail down a release date soon.
Still got 2 weeks of time off left to take off and a cheap package holiday to Azeroth could be just the ticket!
Schadenfreude Sep 28th 2010 8:20AM
I think a November release date is still likely, but I'm getting the increasing feeling that it will be pushed back to December, if only because of the continuing chicanery of the female Worgen models. We've gone from Death Chihuahua to Crazy Eyes McCrazy to Disney Sparkledog, and I reeeeeeeally hope there will be further iterations or I'll be scrapping my planned worgen priest. The female worgen model is also just really clearly built up out of the female draenei model. Their lack of mounts also disappoints me-- I think Running Wild is cool, don't get me wrong, but it really feels like a cop-out. I admit I was excited about deathpigs.
All this really reinforces my theory that Blizzard's modeling department is dysfunctional. Not bad-- I'm certain you have to be really good to get hired at Blizzard-- but something is wrong with it: they don't work well as a team, they're mismanaged, it's cliquish, something. With the degree that model skeletons and animations are reused, the failed dance studios, the fact that it took 4.5 years for new druid forms, the lack of updates for current player forms-- it just feels like this department is really, really hard to squeeze work out of and they can only shoot for the bare minimum. It's certainly gotten better over time-- compare the diversity of models in, say, MC to ICC or Ulduar --but I still get the impression that blood sacrifice and blackmail are needed to get anything out of these artists.
Just an observation-- I love this game, but I sometimes wonder...
Scooter Sep 28th 2010 11:26AM
With all due respect Schadenfreude, you have made the most selfish ignorant statement I have ever read on these forms. You have absolutely no concept of any software development processes much less the one used by Blizzard. You've ignored the immense amount of content and updates provided on a regular basis. You've made claims of incompetence, mismanagement, and laziness on the parts of all Blizzard staff. You've ignored the amount of content blizzard had tried to place and used it as evidence for your argument without acknowledging the reasoning behind the contents dismissal.
Try doing a little research or better yet ASK before coming up with these wild assumptions. At least try to avoid basing your argument over "I wanted this and didn't get it, WAAAAAAH!"
That being said you are entitled to your opinions and to post them... but so am I.
clundgren Sep 28th 2010 12:58PM
Well, if yer gonna vote Scooter down, vote me down with him, because he's right. Schaden's argument cites no factual evidence other than the fact that he hasn't gotten everything he wanted, and he uses that to indict an entire department of probably hard working people as being lazy, incompetent, or otherwise dysfunctional and unprofessional. That's not cool.
jfofla Sep 28th 2010 1:04PM
Before you guys take the bait, do you know what schadenfreude means?
It means taking pleasure in the pain of others.
Could there be a better name for a troll?
clundgren Sep 28th 2010 2:53PM
I am aware of what the name means, but I don't think his post is a troll, or is especially trollish.
As witness the number of folks who agree with him, I think Schaden is in fact expressing a common sentiment on these forums, namely that because a feature *I* want isn't done yet or done to my satisfaction, Blizzard isn't doing their job. This sentiment is not necessarily wrong -- sometimes Blizzard is in fact doing a poor job. But I don't think Schaden makes a reasonable case, is all.
Schadenfreude Sep 28th 2010 3:12PM
Looks like I mocked a sacred cow. At the risk of being trolled, I'd like to clarify that I don't think Blizzard staff are lazy and incompetent. I don't think *anyone* at Blizzard is lazy or incompetent. I think they have a very high standard for WoW and I enjoy it and will go on enjoying it even if we end up with Gilnean Sparkledogs. I just feel like shortcuts have been taken and think that things could be so much greater in regard to the 3D monster and character modeling, and to that end I wondered what problems could exist in that department that would result in the very talented people involved not meeting their potential.
dave313 Sep 28th 2010 7:38AM
Looks like a Mage will come in handy again throughout the game. It seemed once most got to 60 and could get to Shatt, Mage ports became less needed due to the portals.
Jamie Sep 28th 2010 8:01AM
Indeed, but you'd think the city of mages would be able to power the portals, I guess from a lore point of view the mages of Dalaran feel they no longer need to aid the forces of the Alliance & Horde now that the Lich King is dead.
On another note, isn't it funny how some zones changes with time like this slight change in Dalaran with no portals but the Argent Tournament will forever be stuck in it's own time.