WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com prods@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Producers) (Weblogs, Inc. Web Support) en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[WoW's 18 easiest achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/16/wows-18-easiest-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/16/wows-18-easiest-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/16/wows-18-easiest-achievements/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the phrase "low-hanging fruit" comes to mind.

While I collect suggestions for our next article on evil achievements, I thought it might be amusing to turn toward achievements that are considerably easier to get. The 17 achievements (and one Feat of Strength) in today's column are all things that you can do without any real preparation.

I'm going to ignore the super-obvious picks (Shave and a Haircut, anyone? You don't need me to tell you about that) and head straight for the more esoteric stuff. I'm also going to bypass extremely expensive achievements that, while quick, will bankrupt the average player, so nothing like Grand Ice Mammoth. (Looks like I need to update OverAchiever: Straight to the poorhouse, come to think of it.) I briefly considered including achievements that you can only get at the end of a long quest chain or reputation grind but canned that idea too. For example, Skyshattered is relatively easy these days with a 410% mount and a little practice, but you'll only be able to access it after a quest grind, so nuts to that. I also eliminated You'll Feel Right As Rain, Critter Gitter, and Fungal Frenzy for that reason. They're all easy, but you can't just toddle off to get them unless you've already put some work in.

These are all achievements that the average player -- assuming a friend or two, a tiny bit of luck, and a little time -- can just run out and get whenever he or she wants.

Continue reading WoW's 18 easiest achievements

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WoW's 18 easiest achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidebouncecall-in-the-cavalrycritter-gitterduel-iciouseasiest-achievementseasy-achievementseasy-achievements-in-woweclipsefeaturedfreedom-of-the-alliancefreedom-of-the-hordefriend-or-fowlfungal-frenzygoing-downgrand-ice-mammothguidejoy-rideleeroy-jenkinsleroy-jenkinsmedium-raremine-sweepermr-pinchymr-pinchys-magical-crawdad-boxnorthern-exposureshave-and-a-haircutskyshatteredstood-in-the-firestraw-that-broke-the-camels-backthe-lurker-abovethe-old-gnome-and-the-seaultimate-triagewhy-because-its-redworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementsworld-of-warcraft-easiest-achievementsworld-of-warcraft-easy-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-easiest-achievementswow-easy-achievementswow-guidewow-pointsyoull-feel-right-as-rain (Allison Robert) Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Worgen druids at the end of Cataclysm]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/14/worgen-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/14/worgen-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/14/worgen-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, the claws come out.

In November 2010, before Cataclysm hit, I wrote a series of articles on why (or why not) to play a particular druidic race for theorycrafting, lore, and roleplay purposes. These articles turned out to be a really big hit with readers, and you can find them here:
This week, we're going to tackle the worgen, the strangest and most predatory of the four druid races -- and the one with the least sense of responsibility to any bit of territory that doesn't fall under the appellation of Gilneas.

Continue reading Worgen druids at the end of Cataclysm

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Worgen druids at the end of Cataclysm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidstalenttalentswhy-or-why-not-to-play-a-worgen-druidworgen-druidworgen-druid-loreworgen-druid-roleplayworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Allison Robert) Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Where have you spotted any hidden homes?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/breakfast-topic-where-have-you-spotted-any-hidden-homes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/breakfast-topic-where-have-you-spotted-any-hidden-homes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/breakfast-topic-where-have-you-spotted-any-hidden-homes/#comments One of the really nice things about being able to fly in Azeroth is the opportunity to discover little homes in the most unlikely places. On a recent archaeology trip through Feralas, I flew over a tauren tent hidden in the mountains at 88,32 (on the border between Feralas and Mulgore) that I'd never seen before. It's a beautiful spot on a small pond ringed by mountains and Feralas' giant trees, with a travois and a canoe nearby, and I thought to myself: This would be actually be a really nice place to live, if my main had to be concerned with such things.

And then there's the little house in the mountains northeast of Stormwind -- the dwarven farms in the mountains between Ironforge and Menethil Harbor (although players saw that for years on flight paths). And another collection of tauren tents, canoes, and a rather large cave on the southern shore of Silithus. (Man, the tauren really got around.) Since getting flight in Azeroth, have you seen any of these tucked-away places, and are there any you think others should see?

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Breakfast Topic: Where have you spotted any hidden homes? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> facebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionhomeplayer-housingworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Allison Robert) Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Help update our list of evil achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/09/the-overachiever-help-update-our-list-of-evil-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/09/the-overachiever-help-update-our-list-of-evil-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/09/the-overachiever-help-update-our-list-of-evil-achievements/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the abyss stares back.

Almost two years ago, I wrote a series of articles for OverAchiever that turned out to be one of the most popular themes the column's ever visited: evil achievements. It turns out that a lot of folks care deeply about achievements that have been -- allow me to quote myself -- "milked from the angry teat of Satan himself."

Now, it has to be said that all achievements are technically optional. No one is forcing you to do anything, why do you play this game anyway if you aren't having fun, yadda yadda ... all true. But I assume you're reading The OverAchiever because you really like achievements and you think they add something to the game. (Either that, or you're just reading because you're bored, but that's fine too.) Personally, I don't think players really mind difficult achievements or even achievements that they have to peck away at over an extended period of time. But there's a line between an achievement that is genuinely difficult on its own merits and one that makes you privately think the developers want you dead.

So with that in mind, how would we reconstruct a list of evil achievements in 2012 during the Cataclysm era?

You can find the original series here if you're interested in a trip down Memory Lane, although I'll give you a quick rundown on them past the cut:

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Help update our list of evil achievements

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The OverAchiever: Help update our list of evil achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guideevil-achievementsfeaturedgrindgrindingguideinsanerngschool-of-hard-knocksstay-chillthe-insaneworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Potions, Portals, and Scrolls of Recall: How to get around Azeroth as quickly as possible]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/08/potions-portals-and-scrolls-of-recall-how-to-get-around-azero/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/08/potions-portals-and-scrolls-of-recall-how-to-get-around-azero/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/08/potions-portals-and-scrolls-of-recall-how-to-get-around-azero/#comments Azeroth is big. This is readily apparent to any new player who's confined to running around on foot or anyone too cheap to shell out for a mount. Even mounted, you're going to spend a lot of time getting from point A to point B unless you can somehow shorten the journey -- and you can usually shorten it in a number of interesting ways.

We all know about the zeppelins and the boats, the workhorse transportation system of Azeroth, but due to the eccentricity of the many transport options in the game, the shortest distance between two points is not necessarily a straight line. For example, an inventive Horde player without a Hearthstone up who wants to travel from Silithus to Orgrimmar can settle in for a long flight -- or she can simply chug a Potion of Deepholm and take the Orgrimmar portal from the Temple of Earth. No potion, but you've quested through Sholazar Basin? Take the Titan Waygate from northern Un'Goro Crater to Sholazar, then fly south to the Horde's zeppelin at Warsong Hold. You'll still beat a wyvern flying from Cenarion Hold.

With even a few of the following options, a max-level player with some imagination should be able to scrape together a few methods of considerably shortening a journey.

Continue reading Potions, Portals, and Scrolls of Recall: How to get around Azeroth as quickly as possible

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Potions, Portals, and Scrolls of Recall: How to get around Azeroth as quickly as possible originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> argent-crusaders-tabardatieshatiesh-greatstaff-of-the-guardianbaradins-wardens-tabardblessed-medallion-of-karaborboots-of-the-baydimensional-ripperdirebrews-remoteengineeringfishinghearthstonehellscreams-reach-tabardhow-to-travel-in-world-of-warcraftinscriptionjainas-locketlast-relic-of-argusportalpotion-of-deepholmring-of-the-kirin-torscroll-of-recallteleportteleportationtitan-waygateultrasafe-transporterwaygateworld-of-warcraft-transportationworld-of-warcraft-transportation-optionswormhole-generatorwow-transportwow-transportation (Allison Robert) Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Tauren druids at the end of Cataclysm]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/07/tauren-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/07/tauren-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/07/tauren-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, there is a cow level.

In November 2010, before Cataclysm hit, I wrote a series of articles on why (or why not) to play a particular druidic race for theorycrafting, lore, and roleplay purposes. These articles turned out to be a really big hit with readers, and you can find them here:
This week, we're going to revisit the tauren, who are in a truly unique position among the druids. They don't represent the class' old guard (exclusively night elves), but neither are they truly among the new.

Continue reading Tauren druids at the end of Cataclysm

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Tauren druids at the end of Cataclysm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-loredruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidstalenttalentstauren-druid-loretauren-druid-roleplaytauren-racial-bonusestauren-racialswhy-or-why-not-to-play-a-tauren-druidwhy-to-play-a-taurenworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guidewow-tauren-lore (Allison Robert) Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/02/the-overachiever-guide-to-love-is-in-the-air-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/02/the-overachiever-guide-to-love-is-in-the-air-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/02/the-overachiever-guide-to-love-is-in-the-air-2012/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we discover that love is not free.

Hot on the heels of the Lunar Festival comes another WoW holiday! Love is in the Air returns this year from Sunday, Feb. 5 through Sunday, Feb. 19. Personally, I can't see too many players logging into the game on Super Bowl Sunday for the purpose of celebrating love and all its many-splendored things, but to each his own. After many tweaks to the holiday, it's definitely one of the less annoying and RNG-riddled outings from the What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been meta. Before you ask -- yep, it's required if you're still on the warpath for your Violet Proto-Drake. The finished holiday meta will also reward the title the Love Fool.

If you're completely new to Love Is In the Air, you'll probably want to read our FAQ on the holiday. Otherwise, we'll be dealing with the holiday achievements here. There are only two optional ones if you're going for the meta, so I've listed all the ones you'll need first.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-love-is-in-the-airhow-to-do-love-is-in-the-air-wowhow-to-love-is-in-the-airlove-is-in-the-airlove-is-in-the-air-2012love-is-in-the-air-achievement-guidelove-is-in-the-air-achievementslove-is-in-the-air-guidelove-is-in-the-air-guide-2012love-is-in-the-air-wowworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Patch 4.3.2: Hurrah! Druid flight form physics fixed]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/patch-4-3-2-hurrah-druid-flight-form-physics-fixed/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/patch-4-3-2-hurrah-druid-flight-form-physics-fixed/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/patch-4-3-2-hurrah-druid-flight-form-physics-fixed/#comments It's really the littlest (and on occasion, the dumbest) things that often make this game so much fun. Druids have long been used to abusing flight form for the purpose of dropping it and falling in a graceful arc over mountainsides or hills. Why? Because it was there. Because flying bears abusing the momentum from dropping a 451% speed form are funny. Because nobody else could do it without dying.

But when patch 4.3 hit, we were disappointed to discover that this marvelous little trick was no longer possible. No matter the angle in flight form, you'd drop straight down as soon as you'd left it, which resulted in an unexpected death for yours truly flying over the border to Un'Goro on an archaeology run. You never really appreciate the laws of physics until they're not there anymore.

But no longer! As of patch 4.3.2, the momentum after leaving flight form is back. Bears are once again able to soar majestically over mountainsides, and I am able to free fall over the Un'Goro rim without going splat on the border. Thank you, Blizzard!

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Patch 4.3.2: Hurrah! Druid flight form physics fixed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> druid-flight-formflight-formflight-form-bugflight-form-momentumflight-form-speedpatch-4.3patch-4.3.2swift-flight-form (Allison Robert) Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Looking back on healing in Cataclysm]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/31/looking-back-on-healing-in-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/31/looking-back-on-healing-in-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/31/looking-back-on-healing-in-cataclysm/#comments Now, this is a forum post that I think merits a little more attention. We all know that developers weren't happy with the spamfest that healing often was in Wrath of the Lich King and that they looked to make it a far more cerebral activity in Cataclysm. Now that we're approaching the end of the expansion, Practical, one of the Blizzard forum MVPs, recently started a thread examining how healing turned out and what can be improved. Most of the people in the thread generally agree that healing started out pretty fun in tier 11 but declined afterwards. Reasons given range from boring boss mechanics to fights with random elements that made healers feel useless when they couldn't control or prevent player deaths.

Practical observes that a lot of the later problems with healing in Cataclysm might actually be the result of a surfeit of raid fights that required constant stacking, and the inevitable effect they had on certain healing spells' being too powerful. Having recently looked at healer numbers in Dragon Soul, I'd also venture that AoE healing spells that aren't numbers-restricted (for example, Circle of Healing versus Holy Radiance) on top of that raid stacking are making healer balance look worse than it actually is.

So what are your thoughts, healers? How did healing work out for you this expansion, and are you looking forward to the Cataclysm changes? And are the problems we're seeing really the result of healer mechanics or raid design?

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Looking back on healing in Cataclysm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cataclysm-healingdruid-healingdruid-healing-in-cataclysmhealhealerhealer-balancehealershealinghealing-balancepaladin-healingpaladin-healing-in-cataclysmpriest-healingpriest-healing-in-cataclysmshaman-healingshaman-healing-in-cataclysm (Allison Robert) Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Night elf druids at the end of Cataclysm]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/31/shifting-perspectives-night-elf-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/31/shifting-perspectives-night-elf-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/31/shifting-perspectives-night-elf-druids-at-the-end-of-cataclysm/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, we ponder each druidic race's prospects in Mists of Pandaria.

In November 2010, before Cataclysm hit, I wrote a series of articles on why (or why not) to play a particular druidic race for theorycrafting, lore, and roleplay purposes. They turned out to be a really big hit with readers, and you can find them here:
While most of the information contained in these articles is still accurate, a few things have changed since then, and each race approaches the end of Cataclysm and the expansion's events from a different perspective. Because each race's background obviously hasn't changed, I thought that rather than write another comprehensive guide, it'd be useful to revisit each race briefly to see how they and their druids are handling the shift from this expansion to Mists of Pandaria. Of course, once I started writing, I got really into it, and the column started metastasizing in celebrated tumor fashion, so this week's outing is confined to the original druidic race.

Within the game, this is who you are as a night elf druid. This is what the world thinks of you, and this is what you think of the world -- or at least, it's one perspective on it.

Continue reading Night elf druids at the end of Cataclysm

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Night elf druids at the end of Cataclysm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-loredruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsnight-elf-druid-roleplaynight-elf-lorenight-elf-racial-bonusesnight-elf-racialstalenttalentswhy-or-why-not-to-play-a-night-elf-druidwhy-to-play-a-night-elfworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-night-elf-lorewow-talent-guide (Allison Robert) Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Random raid factors and the high cost of failure]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/30/random-raid-factors-and-the-high-cost-of-failure/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/30/random-raid-factors-and-the-high-cost-of-failure/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/30/random-raid-factors-and-the-high-cost-of-failure/#comments Klepsakovic over at Troll Racials are Overpowered has a thought-provoking post asking how Blizzard's advancing raid model is affecting players and how they relate to each other. In particular, he zeroes in on a point that I think a lot of players sense but never really articulate: Not every player in a raid is going to be equally stressed by a fight, and when the stressed party or parties is randomly determined, things get ugly fast.

Compare this to encounters where the primary difficulty is role-specific or even player-specific. Good DPSers pushed their output to the limit on Patchwerk, healers learned to anticipate damage during Malygos' Vortex while one or two people got good at yanking sparks into the raid, and tanks grew experienced with fast pick-ups on Kael'thas. But the average raid group, even when experienced, probably tripped over and over again on encounters like Teron Gorefiend or Anub'arak. When you can't control who gets targeted by Shadow of Death or Anub'arak's spikes and when the randomness limits the experience that any one player can get ... Well, it's easy to see how certain fights acquire the nightmare moniker.

Continue reading Random raid factors and the high cost of failure

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Random raid factors and the high cost of failure originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> anub-arakanubarakblack-templedpshealerskaelthasklepsakovicmalygosnaxxnaxxramaspatchwerkraidraid-experienceraidingraidsrandomnesstanksteron-gorefiendtrial-of-the-crusadertrial-of-the-grand-crusadertroll-racials-are-overpowered (Allison Robert) Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: The worst (maybe) holiday achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/the-overachiever-the-worst-maybe-holiday-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/the-overachiever-the-worst-maybe-holiday-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/the-overachiever-the-worst-maybe-holiday-achievements/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, some holidays are easier to survive than others.

I've been getting a lot of comments and feedback from players recently over troublesome elder placement during the Lunar Festival (the one next to the Razor Hill flightmaster seems to be a particular issue -- more on this in a future article), and it spurred me to start thinking about problematic holiday achievements as a whole. Thing is, Blizzard's really put a lot of effort into its holidays over the past few years, and most of them are much less time-consuming and frustrating then they used to be.

So how many really troublesome holiday achievements are there these days, anyhow? Most of them didn't figure prominently in our evil achievements series (with one sterling exception), but I'll grant that not all of them are sunshine and roses.

But then of course, there's that one. Yes, that one -- the achievement shat into existence by Satan himself onto a bed of Ed Hardy clothing with bad Japanese pop music playing in the background. You know the one I'm talking about.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: The worst (maybe) holiday achievements

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The OverAchiever: The worst (maybe) holiday achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidebad-holiday-achievementsbrewfestchildrens-weekfeaturedguidehallows-endlove-is-in-the-airlunar-festivalmidsummer-fire-festivalnoblegardenpilgrims-bountywinter-veilworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementsworld-of-warcraft-holidaysworst-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-bad-holiday-achievementswow-guidewow-holidaywow-holidayswow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Spill your 5-man PUG stories here]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/breakfast-topic-spill-your-5-man-pug-stories-here/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/breakfast-topic-spill-your-5-man-pug-stories-here/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/breakfast-topic-spill-your-5-man-pug-stories-here/#comments Bad PUG stories used to be a perennial feature on this site, and I've been missing them lately -- good PUG stories too, I suppose, but the bad stuff is always more fun to talk about, mostly because you get to share a sense of outrage with fellow reasonable players. Spill, folks: What's happened to you in 5-mans lately?

I'll start. I usually tank heroics but decided to heal recently (that was my first mistake), and I landed a group of guildies from another realm in a Well of Eternity PUG. Now, the average Cataclysm heroic isn't all that tough to heal these days as long as you're sensibly geared, but it didn't take me long to realize that this group was blowing through an unusually large percentage of my mana pool. They stood in front of the Dreadlord Defenders' Carrion Swarm, couldn't find an interrupt button with two hands and a guide dog, and seemed to DPS at an unusually slow rate even with the crit buff given by Illidan's Shadow Walk.

It was around the time I noticed most of the group sitting in Peroth'arn's Fel Flames that it occurred to me that either this was the most legitimately incompetent group I've ever had the misfortune of encountering, or they were doing it on purpose. But because they never quite managed to get themselves or myself killed, I let it slide. I left at the end with 50 gold and a Forest Emerald from my Satchel, wishing for a Dungeon Finder system sufficiently advanced to recognize that some groups are definitely worth, say, a pony.

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Breakfast Topic: Spill your 5-man PUG stories here originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 5-man5-man-healing5-man-heroic5-mansbad-pug-storiesbad-pugsfacebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionhealerhealinginstanceinstancespugpuggingpugswell-of-eternityworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Allison Robert) Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Robert's not-so-original WoW miscellany]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/roberts-not-so-original-wow-miscellany/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/roberts-not-so-original-wow-miscellany/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/roberts-not-so-original-wow-miscellany/#comments About 10 years ago, a guy called Ben Schott published a little book of completely random facts on equally random subjects. It was called Schott's Original Miscellany, and it went on to become a surprise bestseller for the simple reason that it was really fun to read.

I think it's high time for a World of Warcraft version. Some of these you may know, particularly if you've played the game for a long time, but I hope some are new.

Five months into The Burning Crusade, priests had the unique distinction of having the most popular 31-point talent in the game (Shadowform) and the least popular 31-point talent (Lightwell).

The phrase "Tichondrius is not for you" did not debut with the Arena system, as is popularly believed. The earliest reports trace it to a sign held up at BlizzCon 2005.

Nova from the aborted Starcraft: Ghost is in the game, on a small island floating off the southern coast of Netherstorm at 41,82. She is rarely visible, but a small shrine on the island flashes the letters of her name.

You can still see WoW Insider's first-ever post, published on Nov. 23, 2005. It was immediately declared "the worst thing that ever happened to WoW Insider."

If you were looking for a female player in classic World of Warcraft, she was most likely to be playing a night elf druid. She was least likely to be playing a troll or orc shaman.

Continue reading Robert's not-so-original WoW miscellany

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Robert's not-so-original WoW miscellany originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> miscellanyworld-of-warcraft-factsworld-of-warcraft-fun-factsworld-of-warcraft-random-triviaworld-of-warcraft-triviawow-factswow-fun-factswow-random-triviawow-trivia (Allison Robert) Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Clear and present danger]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/shifting-perspectives-clear-and-present-danger/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/shifting-perspectives-clear-and-present-danger/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/shifting-perspectives-clear-and-present-danger/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, Allison extends your life expectancy without the use of exercise or multivitamins.

I recently had the misfortune of healing a druid tank who did not seem aware of the array of cooldowns available to the class. This first became apparent when he died. No, actually, it was probably apparent before that ... maybe when he was taking an absurd amount of damage at the start of every trash pull. Possibly when every boss ability was cause for quiet panic. Maybe when the combat log showed absolutely no cooldown use of any kind. I don't know. There were several signs along the way.

Not acceptable, druids.

Proper use of cooldowns is the difference between a player who goes home from a bar alone in the evenings and one who has to install a deli ticket counter outside his bedroom and periodically step outside, yelling, "Next!"*

*Note: Statement is not actually true.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Clear and present danger

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Shifting Perspectives: Clear and present danger originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> barkskinbear-cooldownsbear-druid-cooldownsbear-tank-cooldownsclass-helpdruid-cooldownsdruid-feral-tanking-shifting-perspectivesdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsdruid-tank-cooldownsfeaturedferal-cooldownsferal-tanking-cooldownsferal-tanking-druid-cooldownsferal-tanking-druid-shifting-perspectivesfrenzied-regenerationglyph-of-barkskinglyph-of-frenzied-regenerationguideguide-to-bear-cooldownsguide-to-druidsguide-to-tank-cooldownshow-to-use-bear-cooldownshow-to-use-bear-tank-cooldownssurvival-instinctstalenttalentstank-cooldownstanking-cooldownsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Allison Robert) Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: What is WoW's most lucrative profession?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/23/breakfast-topic-what-is-wows-most-lucrative-profession/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/23/breakfast-topic-what-is-wows-most-lucrative-profession/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/23/breakfast-topic-what-is-wows-most-lucrative-profession/#comments I've asked a version of this question previously in a Breakfast Topic when I was curious about which class had the easiest time making gold. There didn't seem to be much of a consensus in the comments, which is a good thing. No one class seemed to have an overwhelming advantage when it came to piling up a boatload of gold. But since Cataclysm launched, it's a question I've occasionally pondered whenever I hear someone grouse about the expense of gemming a tier set or enchanting a new weapon. One of the players in question was a max-level jewelcrafter, which threw me for a moment.

"Shouldn't you be making money hand over fist on the Auction House?" I asked.

"You can," he said. "But a lot of it just pays back the expense of leveling JC in the first place or recouping the cost of buying ore and gems."

I'm curious. For all those of you out there who have two primary professions or just a host of alts with different trade skills, which one has earned you the most?

View Poll

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Breakfast Topic: What is WoW's most lucrative profession? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> facebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussiongoldgold-makingmaking-goldmaking-gold-with-professionsmaking-moneywhich-wow-profession-is-most-lucrativeworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-goldwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-professionswow-topics (Allison Robert) Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 achievements, part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2012-achievements-par/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2012-achievements-par/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2012-achievements-par/#comments Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 achievements, part 2

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 achievements, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Allison Robert) Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2012-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2012-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2012-achievements/#comments
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we burn through a lot of shoe leather.

The Lunar Festival is one of WoW's more fun and forgiving holidays, and this year it runs from Sunday, Jan. 22 until Sunday, Feb. 12. That's right, folks; you've got three weeks to get everything done, which is definitely a good thing if you're new to the holiday and unfamiliar with the amount of travel time it requires. The basics of the holiday involve talking to a number of elders to honor them, receiving Coins of Ancestry in return, and then using the coins to purchase holiday items. The To Honor One's Elders meta-achievement is also a requirement for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so if you're still after a Violet Proto-Drake, make sure you get this done.

The Lunar Festival is definitely not one of Azeroth's more difficult holidays, but it's time-consuming if you're starting from scratch due to the number of NPCs you'll need to hunt down. However, it's also a good time to do World Explorer and Surveying the Damage for just that reason.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 achievements

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguidehow-to-do-lunar-festivalhow-to-do-lunar-festival-achievementslunar+festival+2012lunar+festival+wow+guide+2012lunar+festival,+world+of+warcraft,+2012lunar-festivallunar-festival-2012lunar-festival-achievementslunar-festival-elderslunar-festival-wowlunarfestival,worldofwarcraft,2012lunarfestival2012lunarfestivalwowguide2012world-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow+insider+lunar+festival+2012wow+lunar+festival+2012wow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-lunar-festivalwow-lunar-festival-achievementswow-lunar-festival-achievements-guidewow-lunar-festival-faqwow-pointswowinsiderlunarfestival2012wowlunarfestival2012 (Allison Robert) Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Probing healer balance in Dragon Soul]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/shifting-perspectives-probing-healer-balance-in-dragon-soul/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/shifting-perspectives-probing-healer-balance-in-dragon-soul/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/shifting-perspectives-probing-healer-balance-in-dragon-soul/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, some numbers frighten us more than others.

Frostheim's work to compare DPS specs in raid content has always interested me, and for a while, I've been toying with the idea of doing a healers' version. However, healing's always been a lot tougher to analyze from meters than DPS. The whole point of DPS is to do as much as you can, but healing is more about doing as much as you can as efficiently and intelligently as you can. There's no point to topping the meters one minute into the fight if you're running OOM doing so. And then there's the minor point that it takes a lot of experience to parse healing meters accurately. I imagine most discipline priests have at least one horror story about a PUG raid leader trying to kick them for "low healing." Nevertheless, we shall do the best we can.

Frostheim uses Raidbots, which in turn pulls its data from World of Logs. World of Logs I was already familiar with, as my guild has used it to upload data after its raid nights, but I'm still new to Raidbots. For both that reason and my comparative inexperience trying to use these tools to generalize about a huge player population, I'll be blunt: This is going to be a much more tentative outing than you'd get from Frostheim. While acknowledging these limitations, I wanted to take at least a quick peek at how healers are faring in Dragon Soul less than two months into patch 4.3, with the promise that we'll revisit this topic in a few months with a much more in-depth look.

Fortunately for me, some trends are so obvious that even I can't screw them up.

(I think.)

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Probing healer balance in Dragon Soul

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Shifting Perspectives: Probing healer balance in Dragon Soul originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-restoration-shifting-perspectivesdruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidshealinghealing-balancerestoration-druid-shifting-perspectivestalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Allison Robert) Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Amazing player-animated and -rendered WoW avatar]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/amazing-player-animated-and-rendered-wow-avatar/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/amazing-player-animated-and-rendered-wow-avatar/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/amazing-player-animated-and-rendered-wow-avatar/#comments Mother of sweet things! I saw this on Reddit's /r/wow community a few days ago and realized that I'm kind of a slacker when it comes to my own forum signatures (which is apparently the whole purpose of the project). Thovald, the player responsible for the video, wrote that he did it in 3D Studio Max and didn't actually change the female troll model itself. The big difference is an increased polygon count for the robes and (I would assume) the graphics of the fire spell being cast. It reminded me more than a bit of the perennial favorite Blind, and it's all the more amazing that Thovald is apparently self-taught.

We know that Blizzard is working on an update for character models, but it's pretty cool to see what players can do with them in the meantime. They might be old, but as Thovald noted, they're still a surprisingly expressive bunch.

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Amazing player-animated and -rendered WoW avatar originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> animationanimationsavatarcharacter-animationcharacter-animationscharacter-modelcharacter-modelscharaction-animationfemale-trollplayer-animationplayer-contentplayer-created-contenttroll (Allison Robert) Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Would you vote-kick that NPC from your party?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/breakfast-topic-would-you-vote-kick-that-npc-from-your-party/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/breakfast-topic-would-you-vote-kick-that-npc-from-your-party/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/breakfast-topic-would-you-vote-kick-that-npc-from-your-party/#comments Pokey-slow NPCs on escort quests have long been the butt of player jokes, but with more extensive NPC participation in the patch 4.3 5-mans, I've started wondering if things are going from bad to worse. Shortly after patch 4.3 hit, I wrote on Twitter that Tyrande, Illidan, and Malfurion in the Well of Eternity are all shining examples of players who would be vote-kicked from the average PUG.

Really! Think about it:
  • Tyrande runs out of arrows, still manages to pull aggro, and then stops DPSing entirely past a certain point during the Mannoroth fight.
  • Illidan thinks he's leet and never shuts up, and he's also the archetypal Go Guy from Wowcrendor's How to win at PUGs and Gear Score.
  • Malfurion goes AFK before the boss fight and then (conveniently enough) shows up while loot is being distributed.
So does this mean that the average person with a bit of common sense is a better player than three major lore figures? I think it kinda does. This is not to say that all NPC participation in your questing or 5-mans is bad (Anduin Wrynn during the Alliance's pre-Twilight Highlands quests is pretty cool), but I hope this isn't a sign of more to come. Oh, and Thrall -- epic ground mounts are not expensive these days. You have no excuse.

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Breakfast Topic: Would you vote-kick that NPC from your party? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> facebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionillidanillidan-stormragemalfurionmalfurion-stormragenpcnpcsthralltyrandetyrande-whisperwindwell-of-eternityworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Allison Robert) Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The 7 best suggestions for improving archaeology]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/12/the-best-7-suggestions-for-improving-archaeology/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/12/the-best-7-suggestions-for-improving-archaeology/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/12/the-best-7-suggestions-for-improving-archaeology/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we are still searching for the Crawling Claw.

Wow. OK, a lot of people care about archaeology, or at least about improving archaeology. Last week's OverAchiever, How archaeology could get a lot worse (and why we hope it won't), spurred a ton of discussion and was kindly linked on the forums as well.

Players wrote in with a lot of their own suggestions, criticisms, and comments, and a lot of them were so good that I honestly felt that WoW's most widely despised profession probably merited another look with those in mind.

Continue reading The 7 best suggestions for improving archaeology

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The 7 best suggestions for improving archaeology originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidearchaeologyfeaturedguidehow-to-fix-wow-archaeologyimproving-wow-archaeologyworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-archaeologistwow-archaeologywow-archaeology-achievementswow-archaeology-civilizationswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Why PvP gear isn't necessarily a stupid idea]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/10/shifting-perspectives-why-pvp-gear-isnt-necessarily-a-stupid-i/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/10/shifting-perspectives-why-pvp-gear-isnt-necessarily-a-stupid-i/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/10/shifting-perspectives-why-pvp-gear-isnt-necessarily-a-stupid-i/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, Allison is somewhat startled to discover that one of her long-held convictions is not necessarily right.

On the few occasions when I can be convinced to do a gear post for bears, I've generally shied away from including PvP gear. This is actually a complete turnaround from our situation in The Burning Crusade, when Arena gear was an absolute godsend due to the bear's desperation for critical strike reduction. The now-vanished talent Survival of the Fittest (the modern Thick Hide) gave us flat 3% crit reduction, and then we had to scrounge the last 2.6% in the interest of not being stomped into oblivion by a raid boss. Not surprisingly, most players wound up using a few pieces of PvP gear to reach the all-important crit cap, because resilience reduced your chance to be crit in PvE as well.

But ever since that changed, I soured on the use of PvP gear in PvE. Resilience is now completely wasted in PvE content, you can't reforge it, and you'll only ever get one other secondary stat on PvP pieces anyway.

"Pooh, pooh," I said.

"Threat generation," I said.

"Why would you want to gimp yourself with so much useless itemization?" I said.

"Three bags full," I said.

However, I couldn't help but notice that PvP gear was still crammed with all manner of agility goodness, and then there's the minor point that Kalon is pretty much always right. So I decided to try a little experiment to see how much the average player would be gimping himself by using a full set of PvP threads. Pay attention, children, because this is the last time for several minutes that I will be heard to utter the following words:

I was wrong.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Why PvP gear isn't necessarily a stupid idea

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Shifting Perspectives: Why PvP gear isn't necessarily a stupid idea originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bear-druidbear-pvp-gearbear-tankbear-tankingbear-tanking-in-cataclysmbears-pvp-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-pvp-geardruid-talentsdruid-tankdruid-tankingdruid-tanking-in-cataclysmfeaturedferal-pvp-gearferal-tanking-druid-shifting-perspectivesguideguide-to-druidspve-vs-pvppve-vs-pvp-gearpvp-gearpvp-gear-for-bearspvp-gear-for-druidspvp-gear-in-pvetalenttalentstanking-pvp-gearworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Allison Robert) Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: How archaeology could get a lot worse (and why we hope it won't)]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/05/the-overachiever-how-archaeology-could-get-a-lot-worse-and-why/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/05/the-overachiever-how-archaeology-could-get-a-lot-worse-and-why/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/05/the-overachiever-how-archaeology-could-get-a-lot-worse-and-why/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we are really, really pissed off that we can't get the Crawling Claw.

There are two kinds of people in WoW: people who hate archaeology, and people who really hate archaeology. While it seemed like it was one of the more promising additions to Cataclysm, archaeology just hasn't worked out as well as everyone had hoped. Even the most dedicated lore nerds are guaranteed to wilt in the face of the game's most relentless RNG.

Whatever, right? Some experiments work, some don't, and it's ultimately more important that Blizzard's willing to take these risks in the first place. But ever since Mists of Pandaria was announced, I've been worrying more about archaeology's future. As Ghostcrawler once observed, archaeology was designed to be easy to add to, and it's reasonable to expect new races and new items to appear in the future. However, unless something fundamental about its design changes between now and Mists, it's the only profession guaranteed to become an absolute hell as it expands.

Why? Because archaeology suffers from two problems: It's too random, and it's not random enough.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: How archaeology could get a lot worse (and why we hope it won't)

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The OverAchiever: How archaeology could get a lot worse (and why we hope it won't) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidearchaeologyfeaturedguidehow-to-fix-wow-archaeologyimproving-wow-archaeologyworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-archaeologistwow-archaeologywow-archaeology-achievementswow-archaeology-civilizationswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: The druid of 2011, part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/shifting-perspectives-the-druid-of-2011-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/shifting-perspectives-the-druid-of-2011-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/shifting-perspectives-the-druid-of-2011-part-2/#comments Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: The druid of 2011, part 2

Shifting Perspectives: The druid of 2011, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Allison Robert) Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: The druid of 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/shifting-perspectives-the-druid-of-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/shifting-perspectives-the-druid-of-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/shifting-perspectives-the-druid-of-2011/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, Allison's grip on reality is less certain than her grip on a bottle of cough syrup.

Sadly, I do not have a cool poem for this past year. 2011 was not a particularly poetic experience, and not just because I spent like two weeks of it without power or with trees on my house or with a new Maine Coon kitten that literally bit through my headphone wires, occasioning a small crisis on my end before I realized they were the cheap ones I got for like five bucks on sale somewhere. But still. If you're new to this tradition (four years running!), I spend the last few weeks of every year catching various illnesses from my relatives, mainlining cough syrup, and then stumbling to a computer to write a year in review column that the editors have to publish because they don't have anything else in the site queue.

So now, dear readers, I will take you on a small tour through the year that was. The other alternative is I take everyone on a run through Zul'Aman, but you'd be safer next to a Cub Scout with matches and poor impulse control, so we're not going to do that.

Oh, and if you care about this sort of thing:
  • The druid of 2008 The first year I got sick and unwisely decided that a surfeit of cough syrup would allow me to finish a column on time.
  • The druid of 2009 "The ridiculously-popular death knight was, in many ways, designed to counter the restoration druid, although I am hedging this somewhat by saying in many ways instead of definitely, and counter instead of annihilate."
  • The druid of 2010 Letitia, the official fashion consultant and Snark Passenger to the Shifting Perspectives column, makes her second appearance to remind me that I am not a shirtless Christian Bale.

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]]> class-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-of-2011druid-talentsfeaturedferal-tanking-druid-shifting-perspectivesguideguide-to-druidsrestoration-druid-shifting-perspectivestalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guideyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[20 observations from a leveling tank]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/20-observations-from-a-leveling-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/20-observations-from-a-leveling-tank/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/20-observations-from-a-leveling-tank/#comments My main is a druid tank and healer, but on occasion, I've returned to two low-level warrior alts and braved leveling in the Dungeon Finder. Most leveling groups are a bit like the proverbial little girl with pigtails: When they're good, they're very, very good ... and when they're bad, they're horrid.

The following is a list of somewhat random observations I have collected after several expansions' worth of tanking for low-level groups.

1. Don't take shortcuts on trash packs. The time you save sneaking past one of them will be eliminated by the time you'll lose when someone blunders into them and dies.

2. Someone will almost always blunder into them and die.

3. Despite common complaints on the forums, the vast majority of players are actually really nice people who are perfectly willing to tolerate mistakes and the learning curve. The actual occurrence of true, unforgivable jackasses seems to be about one per five groups, although this depends on when you're queuing.

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20 observations from a leveling tank originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 5-man5-man-tanking5-mansauchenai-cryptsblackrock-depthsblood-and-thunderblood-presencebrdhalls-of-reflectionhellfire-rampartsinstanceinstancesmagisters-terracerampartsrendscholomancetanktankingthunder-clapthunderstormtyphoon (Allison Robert) Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: December 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2011/#comments

Bearheals: (on archaeology) The smallest distance between two points is a bunch of erratic zigzags.

After patch 4.3 went live in late November, class columnists and commenters busied themselves with the new 5-mans and Dragon Soul raid. I think it's safe to say that Raid Finder problems have dominated December commentary. Players loved it as a feature, but they hated the various cheats that guilds used to get themselves to a four-piece tier bonus as quickly as possible, and they especially hated the outbreak of loot greed. More on this past the cut.

That wraps up our look back at 2011, and I'm looking forward to a bright, happy, and hopefully less trees-falling-on-my-house-filled 2012, even if the world is apparently scheduled to come to a crashing halt next December. Happy New Year, everyone, and if you're out partying tonight, stay safe.

Continue reading The Best of WoW Insider: December 2011

The Best of WoW Insider: December 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Allison Robert) Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: November 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2011/#comments

Silversol: You cast symbiosis on a warlock. You get soul swap. They get symbiosis. Combat log divides by zero. Your computer gets sucked into a black hole.

Patch 4.3 went live on Nov. 29 to much rejoicing (well, from everyone barring a very unhappy legion of restoration druids smarting over the Wild Growth nerf), and Blizzard saw it, and said that it was good, and rested on Sunday, and then went back to nerfing everything on Monday.

Also, Skyrim was released around the middle of the month, and we didn't hear from several of our staffers for weeks.

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The Best of WoW Insider: November 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories (Allison Robert) Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: October 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2011/#comments

@Druidis4fite The AH Fee structure is a regressive tax on the poor. #OccupyGregStreet
@Warcraft This movement doesn't seem to have a clear message. -- CM Lylirra

As with all BlizzCon-related months, October was jam-packed and probably the busiest month of 2011 for the site.

However, this bit of news belongs in a special category all its own: Hello and Goodbye. Dan O'Halloran, our fearless editor-in-chief and a mysterious figure who communicated largely through a series of lolcats, left to head up Tecca, and Alex Ziebart took the reins. Goodbye, farewell, and amen, Dan. By the way, the image you see above is Fox's response to Dan's email earlier this year about restarting the About the Bloggers series.

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The Best of WoW Insider: October 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: September 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2011/#comments

Curulan: Pigeon raid boss. I love it. GET ON THIS, BLIZZARD.

September was pretty much all patch 4.3, all the time. The PTR didn't actually go live until close to the end of the month, but we definitely made up for lost time when it did. Transmogrification thoughts still dominated the site's more idle discussion -- who doesn't love cool-looking gear? -- but art-related talk kicked into high gear once everyone saw the visual proc off the new rogue legendary. That would go on to provide one of December's better jokes.

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The Best of WoW Insider: September 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: August 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2011/#comments

Candida: Knitting Grandmas would be an awesome guild name.


Money, money, money, money. Money! August saw an avalanche of money and gold-related discussion as Blizzard announced that Diablo 3 would feature a real-money Auction House. Oh, and Blizzard registered Mists of Pandaria as a trademark, spurring an endless series of fights on what the hell was going on with that. And then it announced transmogrification and void storage, and we all forgot about pandas for a bit in the interest of farming old raids for some sweet-looking gear.

And holy mother of God, Drama Mamas was on a roll this month.

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The Best of WoW Insider: August 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: July 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2011/#comments

Rekon13: To make you look at other gearing options, we've decided to remove other gearing options.

July was a very busy month for the site. Patch 4.2 hit in late June and with it, the Molten Front, Firelands, and a slew of mechanics and policy changes for the game. The latter is something you'll see pop up in our news coverage quite a bit -- but for my money, the best news item from July 2011 concerned a theme park in China that was just too troublesome to license.

Continue reading The Best of WoW Insider: July 2011

The Best of WoW Insider: July 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Allison Robert) Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: June 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2011/#comments Merry Christmas to all those of you who celebrate! June 2011 was a pretty patch-oriented month. 4.2 was still on the PTR, and we slowly wound our way through the content there, writing as we went. As with patch 4.1, it was a late entrant in the month it debuted, so you'll see most of our commentary from the live servers in July.

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The Best of WoW Insider: June 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: May 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2011/#comments

Does WoW ever creep you out?
NoYou Read trade for more than 20 seconds and you can make a strong case against evolution.
CloakedDrifter The Goldshire inn on Moon Guard. *shudder*
MattKrotzer It creeps me out that one of the quest writers has such a fascination with poop, and making us sift through it.

This was a news-heavy month due to patch 4.1's dropping in late April and the quick arrival of patch 4.2 on the Public Test Realm. However, it was also a vibrant month for the arts scene, and WoW Archivist was en fuego in May. Did you know that Molten Core shipped with a third legendary? Don't lie.

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The Best of WoW Insider: May 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: April 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2011/#comments

Afrozombie: At least we know why it took so long for them to release (the new version of Zul'Gurub). They were stuck waiting for (Bloodlord Mandokir) to finally find and solve his sword, Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds.


You know all that editorializing and back-and-forth discussion you saw in January and February over the Dungeon Finder and how much work Blizzard did to improve a slow-moving DPS queue? Things came to a head in April with the announcement of the Call to Arms system, a still-controversial decision that provoked wide-ranging debate. Are tanking and healing just too difficult and stressful for PUGs these days? Is it really fair to functionally deny DPS a shot at the Satchel of Exotic Mysteries? And why haven't I gotten any rare pets or mounts out of it yet?

Weirdly, the other issue that kept cropping up in April discussion was that of Horde leadership and whether Garrosh was fit to be within 50 miles of it. Part of me wonders if it's simply because new raid content wasn't on the horizon for a few months, and lore concerns tend to be popular topics whenever that's the case. The other part of me points out that Portal 2 went live on April 19, and it's kind of a miracle that anything got written at all on this site afterwards.

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The Best of WoW Insider: April 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: March 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2011/#comments

Rai Yer a wizard, Harrypotterarthasdk.

In marked contrast to February, this was a fabulous time for the arts and WoW Moviewatch. However, what jumps out at me most about March are the number of things that, with the benefit of hindsight, we realized Blizzard was already thinking about for Mists of Pandaria. Stat scaling, tank design, and cryptic responses in the developer Q&As from March all make reappearances later in the year.

You won't see quite so many editorials this time around, as most of our writers were too busy getting pasted in the revamped troll dungeons (or, as Sacco referred to them, Zul'Again) on the patch 4.1 PTR.

Oh, and Adam introduced us all to Rebecca Black's Friday.

%&* you, Adam.

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The Best of WoW Insider: March 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: February 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2011/#comments

Croe We even had a tank go to the first boss in Stonecore for farming a mount, and dropped immediately afterwards.
Snuzzle He's gonna be joining and dropping Stonecore for a while then, 'cause the mount drops from the second boss.

This was a relatively slow month for WoW Moviewatch, although there were a few sterling exceptions. I suspect most machinimators were still too busy leveling or gearing toons to crank out a lot of new material. However, that didn't stop other players from offering a wealth of opinions on how to fix an ongoing rash of issues with the Dungeon Finder, and I think February is really the month where frustration with the number of players trying to beat the system reached its peak.

And -- oops -- Blizzard finally fixed a bug that had unintentionally been adding to everyone's misery in 5-mans.

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The Best of WoW Insider: February 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: January 2011]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2011/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2011/#comments
Revrant: (What's the best new quest of the expansion?) The Bears Up There. Climb a tree, grab bear cubs, throw them screaming through the air, and they explode if you miss.
Good gravy -- this is the third year I've written a Best of the Year series for WoW Insider! Longtime readers will probably know the drill, but if you don't, from today through Dec. 31, you'll find an article each day recapping the best and most representative articles published on WoW Insider for a given month. Depending on the month, the collection of articles you'll find numbers between 5% and 15% of what we published. We've tried hard to pick the stuff that best captured WoW's fast-changing zeitgeist.

Cataclysm was still a fresh expansion in January 2011, with the attendant problems and pleasures that new expansions bring. The trend that's most apparent here as I look through our January articles is the amount of discussion over the problems with the Dungeon Finder, leveling, and Tol Barad. Suffice it to say that January was an incredibly prolific month for our editorialists.

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The Best of WoW Insider: January 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2011-wow-insider-best-stories2011-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2011-best-storieswow-insider-2011-year-in-reviewwow-insider-year-in-reviewwow.com-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Has the time come for Outland story updates?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/breakfast-topic-stories-from-outland/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/breakfast-topic-stories-from-outland/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/breakfast-topic-stories-from-outland/#comments After Chris Metzen's seeming joke at BlizzCon concerning the possible reappearance of Illidan in future WoW storylines, it occurred to me that we really haven't seen much of Outland or its storylines lately. Well, maybe that's not fair -- if you're leveling a character between 58 and 68, I imagine you've seen all too much of Outland and are heartily sick of the whole continent and its dungeons by now. Still, The Burning Crusade featured some great stories, and if Illidan ever does come back, there are a few people I hope he'll (metaphorically) drag alongside him.

The two that come immediately to mind are the Netherwing Dragonflight and the Ashtongue Deathsworn. What's up with the Netherwing since Deathwing's demise? Do they even know about it or what's happened with the Aspects? And what's going on with Akama now? I'd argue that he, more than Kael or Vashj or Illidan, was the greatest and most compelling character of WoW's first expansion, and he had one hell of a unique model. The brains behind the Ashtongue's high-stakes Batman Gambit (warning: TV Tropes link) has got to be up to something these days, and if Blizzard ever revamps Outland questing, I hope it gives players a peek.

Then again, that's assuming that yanking Illidan back from the dead is even a good idea to begin with (is it?) or that Outland stories can be made relevant to their modern counterparts. Thoughts, readers?

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Breakfast Topic: Has the time come for Outland story updates? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> akamaashtongueashtongue-deathswornbreakfast-topicbrokenelder-sage-akamafacebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionillidannetherwingnetherwing-dragonflightnetherwing-drakeworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Allison Robert) Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider