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by Alex Ziebart 
Oct 8th 2011 at 12:00PM
Your regularly scheduled Mike Sacco has been postponed due to rain. Enjoy whatever this is instead.
Fantastik asked:
So what is the WoWInsider crew's best guess as to when they think 4.3 is coming out?
My personal guess is late November or early December. My guess may change as the PTR progresses.
Titusx asked:
Why is tier 2.5 so ugly?
You can argue that one tier is better looking than other or that it fits a certain race better than other for each class. But when it comes to picking the worst looking tier, 2.5 is the worse looking tier across the board. The textures are odd, the palette is way to bright and the overall theme of that tier seems to be "sea shells on lsd". Why is that?
Tier 2.5 tried to make armor out of bugs. Bugs are disgusting, ergo ...
Seriously, though, take the theme of bugs and try to apply it to each class in the game. How do you make an insectoid paladin? How do you make an insectoid warrior? It was an experiment in thematic design that went a little wonky. It wasn't a big deal, though. Tier 2.5 wasn't a real tier; it wasn't a necessary part of progression. It's raid content that went alongside other things. Your tier 2 and tier 3 were the good stuff, and tier 2.5 was this strange, experimental, in-betweeny thing you could use to fill gaps in your other gear.
What Blizzard should have done was give us Big Bad Beetleborg costumes. That would've owned. (Fun fact: Power Rangers reused the defunct Beetleborg suits as villains in the infamous Forever Red episode of Power Rangers Wild Force.)
Phoenix asked:
WoW Insider streamed two of the new dungeons on the PTR, End Time and Hour of Twilight. Which is your favorite so far?
End Time is an enjoyable jaunt, and I will happily run it over and over again. Hour of Twilight is a huge headache. I did not think it was possible to make Thrall a more irritating companion than he was in Escape from Durnholde, but Blizzard pulled it off. I hate him. I really, truly hate him.
Running down a plain, snowy pathway in Hour of Twilight doesn't feel very good, either. Especially after the wholly different, post-apocalyptic view of the exact same zone that we get in End Time. It's like ... End Time is a delicious chocolate cake, right? Hour of Twilight is that same cake, except someone scraped all of the frosting off. And your green-skinned friend runs up and throws it on the ground before you can eat any of it.
This is the PTR, though. They can still make Thrall not-a-pain-in-the-ass. We don't know how close they are to finished with these instances at all, so don't take my opinion as any sort of solid condemnation.
End Time is where it's at.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
Filed under: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 7)
Pyre Oct 8th 2011 6:39PM
@Ashstryke: I thought Jordan's first 5 (6?) WoT books were amazing. 7, 8, and parts of 9 drag on interminably. I get that there is a lot of stuff going on in relatively tiny timeframes, but ... /shakes head. The latest 3 have been much closer to the earlier feel. (and, as always, YMMV).
In other news, I absolutely have to second the recommendation for Valdemar. The poor main characters tend to get beat down (and Misty likes to beat the snot out of her characters at the drop of a hat! "... -Any- hat."), but mostly it serves to keep them relatable to the reader, I thought. Note to self: if in Valdemar, don't develop Adept-level powers.
I'm surprised Piers Anthony got mentioned, I don't often see his name thrown out in a recommendation thread. Probably because he's best known for Xanth, I suppose. I liked Split Infinity best of his fantasy work, and if you're also into sci-fi, try his Bio of a Space Tyrant books.
For authors/series I haven't seen mentioned yet today: Janny Wurts, Cycle of Fire. Elizabeth Moon, Deed of Paksennarion. David Eddings, Elenium (the trilogy pair, not the quintet pair). Raymond Feist, Riftwar Saga. David B. Coe, Lon-Tobyn. Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel books (more adult-oriented). David Gemmell, anything, though I liked Knights of Dark Renown best of what I've read, I think. Angus Wells, Lords of the Sky (and others). Dennis McKiernan, anything. Sara Douglass, Starman trilogy. A last few, that I liked everything I read (... and can't remember specific titles thanks to intervening time): Gordon Dickson. Tom Dietz. Jack L. Chalker. James Priest. Katherine Kurtz. Orson Scott Card. Michael Moorcock.
Unlike many others, I did not like Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth. (Had I read it before Eye of the World I might have felt differently, but that's a whole other discussion.) I found the series good and bad by approximately equal turns, although he tends to wax very preachy, which kinda turned me away from it.
Caylynn Oct 8th 2011 7:04PM
My favourite fantasy authors include L.E. Modesitt Jr (love all the Recluse books), Brandon Sanderson (his original stuff - although the Wheel of Time stuff is okay too - it's just a series that has gone on forever and ever), Sara Douglass, Anne McCaffrey, Guy Gavriel Kay (amazing stuff and he's a fellow Canadian to boot), Jack Whyte (historical fiction/fantasy), and, of course, George R.R. Martin.
Someone mentioned Mercedes Lackey - I liked her stuff when I was younger, now, as a more "mature" adult (approaching 40) I find her stuff to be more like fantasy "mind candy." Fun to read when I want something light and easy, but not really deep or satisfying. But YMMV.
Drustai Oct 8th 2011 7:37PM
@Kylene
I wouldn't say Christie's novels are much better. She does not have the technical matters down any better than the others. She rushes her books and it shows greatly--particularly in the pacing and excessive exposition. Not to mention, she doesn't seem to double-check and edit things, leading to a lot of contradictions or outright silly ideas. Rise of the Horde was not a good book at all, and had many of those failings.
Maybe it's because I have a degree in Creative Writing and thus have lots of experience with going through and reading/editing people's work, but it's very painful for me to read any of the WarCraft books.
As far as people's comments about 'writing in another person's IP is the cause', I'd say that's fairly inaccurate. You can do it very well if you're a decent writer, and given a bit of freedom in plot. Golden, Knaak, etc are not decent writers. The Star Wars books are a good example of decent fiction in another IP--they certainly aren't the best books in the world, but they are very technically sound and flow well, and for the most part they do get the characters and setting right. They're definitely miles ahead of any of the WarCraft novels (especially Zahn's and Allston's work).
I'd really like to see Blizzard hire some better authors, and also give more leeway as to plots (very tired of seeing stories about our glorious Mary Sue the World-Shaman. I find new characters far more interesting than Blizzard's mains). While writing in another IP isn't necessarily problematic, when the books are just preplanned and used solely as a way of introducing/explaining upcoming content then it does have the effect of making the plots boring. When combined with the poor writing talent of the current stock of authors, this makes for bad novels.
Nadia Oct 8th 2011 7:55PM
@ Chance,
If you are at all uncomfortable with incest and child rape, do not read the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Watch the show instead, where at least the child rape is missing.
I say the same thing to anyone thinking of reading Clan of the Cave Bear. Good world and story, but some very sensitive topics for some, and with no warning.
Luke Oct 8th 2011 8:25PM
I'm going to refrain from commenting on the Warcraft novels but do yourself a favor and pick up the Riverrun Trilogy by S. P. Somtow. It's an excellent combination of fantasy and science fiction, neither element over shadows the other and it's just superb writing.
Seriously, go find a copy now, I'll wait.
Chance Oct 9th 2011 1:31AM
@Nadia
Thanks for the heads up, but I'll be fine. I've been desencitised for quite some time now. :)
Thomas Higgins Oct 9th 2011 6:47AM
All these recommendations for Fantasy fiction and no one has mentioned the late husband and wife team, David and Leigh Eddings? Shame on Queue! The Belgariad, the Malloreon, the Elenium and the Tamuli Cycles all add up to among the best if not THE best sixteen High Fantasy books ever written.
The authors were quite gleeful and blatant about using just about every Trope in the tvtropes.org list. Indeed, David Eddings himself was proud to say it was the
"literary equivalent of peddling dope".
And the books were almost to a page the best examples of their genre ever written.
The authors did write another series, the Dreamers verse, but no one talks about those, 8-)
(even Picasso had his off days)
Pugs 'R Us Oct 8th 2011 12:03PM
'Fessions: are you a pro or a con?
Whig Oct 8th 2011 12:07PM
I like hour of twilight for the fights and the trash. The trash is challenging and fun but brief, the boss fights are interesting without being too difficult to understand for a PUG.
The art direction in the zone needs work. More junk, more war, more sense of impending doom.
At least Thrall drops that nice totem for us. Way over there, away from the fight...
etherlithium Oct 8th 2011 12:11PM
Q for the Q: Are any of the WoW Insider team prepping entries for the 2011 Global Writing Contest?
CDave Oct 8th 2011 12:45PM
I think I saw Anne Stickney mention she was writing an entry in the weekend round-up.
Revnah Oct 8th 2011 12:14PM
You mean, a Blizz Pro or a Blizz Con?
*ducks incoming hurled objects*
Noyou Oct 8th 2011 12:18PM
You been hanging out with Amaxe?
sturob Oct 8th 2011 12:15PM
Have they felt too easy to you, Alex?
I've been pally healing with a premade on the PTR. My first run through End Time, the rest of the group all had Cyrillic names. We couldn't communicate but we blew through it. My subsequent experiences have been similar.
I guess it could be because we're all tricked out in 378 stuff, but even with all the changes. The bear tank was unstoppable. DPS seemed low but that could have been people getting used to stuff.
Thoughts?
Brett Porter Oct 8th 2011 12:23PM
One thought a party member in End Time had is that they are making it easy to test out bugs and whatnot, and will tune it up as we get closer to release. Which is possible, considering how ridiculous testing Heroic Deadmines was in Cata Beta, and it just made it not want to be tested, imo.
I don't think they want to go back to the era of Wrath dungeons either, but if they were all this easy then that would fly in the face of that thought; also it would seem weird for the level 3 (for want of a better term) heroic dungeons in Cata to be easier to run than the level 2 dungeons, where significantly better gear is dropped. It would still be easier than the Troll dungeons post nerf, I think.
VioletArrows Oct 8th 2011 12:27PM
They're undertuned so everyone can get through them and find bugs easier. If it crushes every pug that goes in there, people will cry about that instead of the part where Jaina screws up the whole dungeon or Nozdormu not adding the correct portals to get to the next part. Once the bug parts are all ironed out, then they'll raise the numbers.
sturob Oct 8th 2011 12:59PM
Your points are well-taken.
I guess, from the healing perspective . . . careful on how easy because it's kind of hard for me to test the changes to healing when I have to do so little.
But yeah, who'd want to do the things if you just wiped constantly.
S
Trilynne Oct 8th 2011 12:22PM
This has nothing to do with the Queue, but since my last comment on this topic generated some interest from other commentors who are apparently interested in it, I thought I would share...
Our son was born Oct. 3rd! Unfortunately I didn't get to wipe a raid when I started labor. :P
Brett Porter Oct 8th 2011 12:24PM
Congratulations!!
Noyou Oct 8th 2011 12:25PM
Grats! Good to hear :) GL with the baby aggro :P