Tuesday Morning Post: Mass glee edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jun 7th 2011 at 7:00AM
Okay, now that I have that out of my system, it's back to the WoW stuff. Don't get me wrong -- there's some pretty exciting stuff going on here, too. We have plenty of patch 4.2 news, as well as all the usual class, dungeon, profession, and PVP guides and discussions, waiting for you after the break. Scheduled maintenance this morning is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to read it all.
Hot news and features
- Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street offers his opinion on the successes and failures of the Cataclysm talent tree revamp.
- It looks like the BlizzCon goodie bag will feature a Diablo-themed murloc pet for WoW players.
- The Winged Lion mount is now available for purchase at the Blizzard pet store. We have footage of the mount in action if you want to take a little test drive.
- Our guide to the patch 4.2 dailies continues. This week, we have Punting Season and Echoes of Nemesis.
- Check out the latest patch 4.2 PTR updates for March 31 and June 6.
- Check out the patch 4.1 hotfixes for June 1. We archaeologists would like to request a moment of silence for the loss of Bountiful Bags for keystones.
- Patch 4.2 will include some special pet taming challenges. Check out our video of one of them, Ahnka.
- Check out footage of the new patch 4.2 vanity pets and the new vanity item, Mylune's Call.
- Patch 4.2 has a new way to make your gear heroic.
- WoW Archivist tells the tale of one the first WoW theorycrafters.
- Our Cataclysm post-mortem series begins with an in-depth discussion of Hyjal.
Class news and guides
- Lichborne tackles the latest patch 4.2 death knight changes.
- The Light And How To Swing It looks at the patch 4.2 Holy Shield changes. We also deal with healing caps.
- Raid Rx discusses overcoming healer deaths.
- Encrypted Text explains why rogues have to be number one.
- Totem Talk answers your restoration shaman questions. We also have a state of the enhancement shaman address.
- The Care And Feeding of Warriors analyzes rage in Cataclysm.
- Shifting Perspectives continues a periodic discussion on the endangered bear tank. We also rhapsodize on the moonkin raison d'être.
- Spiritual Guidance has a guide to using Shadow Word: Death. We also have tips for healing heroic tier 11 raids.
- Scattered Shots looks at new hunter gear in patch 4.2.
- Blood Pact discusses warlock armor spells.
Dungeons, items, professions, PVP, and more
- Gold Capped helps you unload Books of Glyph Mastery.
- Ready Check helps you give your guild a social compatibility checkup.
- Addon GTFO helps you stay out of the fire.
- Blood Sport philosophizes on the reasons we arena.
- The Drama Mamas discuss loot drama on loot for cash runs.
- WoW Rookie has advice for playing WoW with a partner.
- The OverAchiever discusses mounts you can grab from professions.
Odds and ends
- Know Your Lore continues to examine the sources of magic. We also offer some crazy theories on the nature of the planes.
- All the World's a Stage lays out the tauren timeline.
- Rossi waxes eloquent on rediscovering his alts.
- The Lawbringer lays it all on the line: We must stop buying gold.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Oteo Jun 7th 2011 7:13AM
Woke up at 6 AM (pretty early) and think I can hop on the game to pass the time... then I realize it's Tuesday. Damnit!
etherlithium Jun 7th 2011 7:18AM
Words cannot describe the level of stoked I am for Mass Effect 3. I just pray that the on-rails driving/shooting (as in the Reaper Base video) is minimal. Back in the early 2000's EA inserted that into every single shooter franchise they bought, and it was never really all that fun.
Oteo Jun 7th 2011 7:26AM
I just need to figure out how to convince my brother to ship me his Xbox, which has my save file on it...
Luke Jun 7th 2011 8:04AM
No disrespect to you etherlithium but I personally wasn't all that impressed with the first so I never played the second. Did the series get better? The first game had a pretty decent story and was visually appealing, but the game play was so freakin' boring I just couldn't find it interesting enough to play through.
I enjoy games with good story of course, but if the game play sucks, what's the point? I could just watch a movie...
etherlithium Jun 7th 2011 8:51AM
Interesting. As you say, the story was spectacular, I think anyone who has played it can agree with that. What you might be disappointed with gameplay wise is how you have guns but it's not a shooter; however, the emphasis was more on timed deployment than anything else, given the separate cooldowns on all powers and the literal need to cool down the weapons if they were fired too much. In Mass Effect 2, the emphasis shifted - everything was on a shared, shorter cooldown, and guns had ammunition (never mind the lore). Addiitonally, the weapons more or less fired where you wanted them to, right out of the box. What you saw as a player was that gameplay became a lot closer to a standard FPS, and combat became a lot faster paced, visceral. Reading between the lines, I'd guess you'd have preferred ME1 to be more adrenaline-pumping and brutal. ME2 delivered on that score, and from the looks of things ME3 will go even further in that direction.
Feanora Jun 7th 2011 7:58AM
I am really, really scared about how Mass Effect 3 will turn out.
Why? I haven't played it, but Dragon Age 2 was widely regarded as a complete disaster. And I'm incredibly worried that Bioware may have lost it and ME3 will turn out the same way.
:(
I need a hug...
Zebreck Jun 7th 2011 8:49AM
It wasn't a disaster by any means, but it definitely wasn't Dragon Age 1 all over again. It became obvious very early on in development that the game was going in a different direction. Yet the community appears to have made a meme out of claiming that Bioware broke their promises and released a buggy half finished mess, primarily because their own pet list of features was not included. Sound familiar? I treat those people the same way I treat the hyperbole brigade in wow: Ignore them. Try it out. I liked it, you may too.
poggg Jun 7th 2011 8:52AM
DA2 isn't "widely regarded as a complete disaster". The people who think that are simply very vocal. It's fared worse than most of Bioware's games, yes, but it was still an overall success.
Nynaeve Jun 7th 2011 10:19AM
I love dragon age 2. I don't visit the forums at bioware so I don't see the people whining about it. Wish I'd done the same with WoW.
Daniel Whitcomb Jun 7th 2011 11:29AM
Haha, you probably don't want to talk to me, I think DA2 was far, far superior to DA:O.
Of course, what flaws it did have (in my eyes) were mostly the result of a dev cycle that was at least 6 months too short, so the fact that ME3's cycle is much longer and has already been pushed back once is probably a good sign anyhow!
veil Jun 7th 2011 11:19AM
da1 was more varied, but a little slow at times. da2 has a faster pace, but is often too repetitive. i still had fun with da2...enough to go thru it twice.
5318008 Jun 7th 2011 7:59AM
Mass Effect 4 will feature a motion detector that will allow you to control your character while you eat. They're calling it the OM-NOM-NOMni-Blade.
etherlithium Jun 7th 2011 8:52AM
Shame I won't be using that; I have to use a public TERMINAL because my Omni-Tool has been broken for ETERNITY :(
Thereone Jun 7th 2011 1:41PM
@etherlithium: you win a bioware trivia cookie! That mission was one of my favorites in ME2, just because of the many options you were offered to get the attention of Morinth. Lol @ dancing Shepard.