Posts with tag Silvermoon-City

@stephenreis123 The 5.2 valor gear requires a rep, but it's not a rep you earn from dailies. (There is also a daily rep like in 5.1.)

- Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 12, 2013

This announcement will be music to the ears of many players who were not overly enamored with the gearing system at the start of Mists of Pandaria. Its focus on daily quests in order to purchase valor gear was a big change from Cataclysm, and not always popular, although it has many fans.

Ghostcrawler is likely, though not certainly, referring to the Shado-Pan Assault faction. The patch 5.2 PTR notes had the following to say about this new faction:

Join the Shado-Pan Assault in their singular drive to see Lei Shen, The Thunder King, defeated once and for all, and gain access to impressive Valor reward items. Reputation with this faction can be earned only within the Throne of Thunder raid dungeon.

From this patch note excerpt and Ghostcrawler's tweet, it seems fairly likely that the reputation for the Shado-Pan Assault will be earned, not from carrying out quests within the raid, but simply from killing bosses and progressing. This is very similar to Firelands' Avengers of Hyjal, but the rewards earned from it will hopefully not purely be rings, trinkets, cloaks and belts.

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we are grateful to play Horde.

This past week, I was tabbed out of the game writing an OverAchiever on Bloody Rare as a follow-up to our guide on Northern Exposure when something interesting started happening in the background. In the sliver of laptop screen dedicated to WoW, the chat channels exploded with warnings that the Alliance was attacking Orgrimmar. Given that the Midsummer Fire Festival is still going on with lots of players busy stealing enemy fires, this isn't particularly unusual. I shrugged and went back to work.

And yet, the warnings just kept coming. Curious, I tabbed back into the game to discover that a full 40-man Alliance raid was fighting its way to Garrosh Hellscream. Other players said that none of the other Horde leaders had been attacked, so I can only assume the raid was starting For the Alliance! with the toughest foe among them.

Now, Garrosh is by no stretch of the imagination anywhere near as popular as Thrall was, but lots of Horde players are still willing to defend him from attack because, well, he's got his moments. Orgrimmar's central district quickly became a lagfest of epic proportions as dozens of players who'd been gossiping in trade or loitering around the Auction House rushed to defend Garrosh. The Alliance raid was ultimately defeated, but they rallied and tried again -- unsuccessfully -- an hour later.

This was the first of three days that I saw the same Alliance raid desperately trying to kill Garrosh, and something started to niggle at me by day two. Namely, For the Alliance! and For the Horde! are among the very few achievements that are significantly tougher if you play one faction over the other.

In high fantasy, the archetype of the priest is a patient, powerful figure whose strength comes from his vigilance and his faith. This iconic archetype exists in World of Warcraft as well, manifesting in the form of inspiring heroes like Tyrande Whisperwind or Prophet Velen. Want to follow in their footsteps? Well, you'll have to roll a priest ... At least, that's what you had to do prior to patch 4.3. Now, thanks to transmogrification, all cloth wearers can finally "take the cloth."

This week, I'll be showing you how to create the look of a traveling, battle-ready priest. With the draped hood and cloth foot wraps, I want to call on the idea of a medieval monk or friar sent to a far-off land on a divine errand. The set is wearable by all cloth wearers, so even mages and warlocks can get in touch with their holy side. Most of the key pieces come from a recolored version of the Absolution Regalia (priest tier 6), with a few twists to make the outfit look less crisp and uniform.

The WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

This week's edition of the Archivist will be a little different than what you may be used to seeing. Rather than exploring a specific event in World of Warcraft's history, we're going to look at a bit of antiquated game design. Specifically, we will be looking at one of Blizzard's old development practices: trying to hide content development in progress on live realms.

Before I begin, I want to note that to my knowledge, none of the hidden locations outlined in this article are accessible anymore. If there are still ways of accessing them on live realms, I want to request that none of you discuss the methods of entering these places on our site. Blizzard hid these places for a reason, even if it didn't do it very well.

Follow along for a look at the Emerald Dream, an early Outland testing ground, and other Z-axis shortcuts and secrets.

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

You may or may not remember my poll from the other day. You know, Taco Bell vs. KFC? I was impressed with how many people yelled at me to learn how to cook so I don't need to eat fast food. Come on, guys. Give me some credit here! I know how to cook. I cook all the time. Sometimes you just want some fast food! Seriously, I can cook. I promise. Tell you what, if any of you magically fall down my chimney one day, I'll whip up a nice spinach quiche for dinner. Unless you'd prefer a pot of chili or some shrimp scampi? Maybe even potato pancakes if you're that kind of guy or gal. We can have a piece of old-fashioned slab apple cake for dessert. Family recipe!

Zulix asked ...

"Just rolled a BE, and In Silvermoon City by the entrance, there is a 'harassed citizen' surrounded by guards, and you talk to the guards they say it doesn't concern you. What's the lore behind that?"

I love Silvermoon. I mean, really, I think it's the best capital city in the game. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that all the Battlemasters are close together in one room and I hardly have to move in order to queue for three Battlegrounds. Of course, if the changes in Patch 3.1 push through and I'm able to queue from anywhere, that plus won't be so important anymore. That said, I think Silvermoon is beautiful, has multiple mailboxes, two banks, two Inns, and more importantly, is always lag-free.

This brings me to today's question... with the Argent Tournament that's slated to arrive with Patch 3.1 allowing players to choose a city to champion, which one would you pick? You could, of course, base your decision solely on what appears to be city-based vanity pet rewards. An Elwynn Lamb, perhaps, for championing Stormwind? Or a Durotar Scorpion for taking hits for Orgrimmar? I'm destined to end with an Enchanted Broom, I think, similar to what you find in the streets of Silvermoon City.

There are probably other rewards, such as city-based tabards, and maybe even titles (remember the original titles for server-first races?). Without knowing all the rewards, though, which city's name are you inclined to fight under when the Argent Tournament arrives? Are you a defender of Dun Morogh? An exemplar of Exodar? Or maybe even a soldier of Sen'jin Village!

I have a few alts on an RP realm that I visit from time to time, and I remember thinking to myself at one point: "These characters are a bunch of deadbeats." I'd gotten too used to the alts on my main realm being a bunch of pampered brats, spoiled rotten by the presence of a hardworking main, so financial discipline had grown to be a thing of the past.

Not so on another realm where you don't have a main, and I realized that unless I went back to a few monetary basics, my alts would wind up dancing naked on mailboxes in pursuit of gold. This is a fine tactic with a long and storied history, but when your most promising alt is a level 16 Undead Mage, you're up the proverbial creek. No one wants to see a rotting, naked corpse.

So I started not being a deadbeat, and it was with surprise and delight that I logged on to find the little tyke sitting on a pretty respectable pile of gold by level 21 -- as in, he can afford to pay for his level 30 mount and training several times over, and still have enough left over to train himself all the way to 45 even if he doesn't make another penny.

One of the more amusing things that polarizes WoW players is the various capital cities. Everyone has a favorite, very few people are ever neutral. Some of my friends like Ironforge for its simplicity, it's all laid out in a circle. Some like Stormwind for the truly city-like appearance. Some even like Darnassus because they have a thing for purple. Some of my friends wish we played Horde so we could have Orgrimmar, because I guess they need more spikes in their life or something. Me? I'm a Stormwind (and Silvermoon City) kind of guy, but Dalaran has stole my heart. Plenty of people hate Dalaran too, though.

Everyone just wants different things out of their cities. I like cities with tons of flavor, with a very city feel. Stormwind feels like people really live there, despite how small it is. Dalaran most definitely feels like a city of mages, and there's a ton of flavor and neat stuff to look at there. The fact that every single person who gives you directions in Dalaran has a name is crazy neat. The little daily event at 9 PM where you get to help turn on the lights is amazingly cool for how simple it is.

How about all of you, what's your favorite? What do you like about it, or dislike about the others? What would your ideal capital have, if you're not very fond of any of them?

Stealing the Light

At this point it is important to draw a distinction between the blood elves who followed Kael'thas and the naga through the portal into Outland, and the blood elves who stayed behind in Quel'thalas and Silvermoon City. They were still one faction at this point, but a number of differences were starting to appear. For one, although the blood elves in Quel'thalas were drawing on fel energies just like their brethren in Outland, they certainly weren't surrounded by demons like Illidan and all his minions all the time, not to mention the vast energies of the evil Twisting Nether, which surrounded all of Outland. Thus, the blood elves in Outland were saturated to overflowing in magic and power, while the blood elves in Quel'thalas were still rather hungry for it.

Therefore, Kael'thas thought it wise to send the gift of this captured naaru, named M'uru, back to Silvermoon City, so that his people there could have more energy to help quench their magical thirst. Soon, however, the blood elves of Quel'thalas found a way to start using this power of the Light rather than merely feeding on it, casting spells and blessings in the same way that human, dwarven, and draenei paladins could -- while the other races drew on the Light through the power of their faith, the blood elves learned to control it as it flowed through M'uru.

The first blood elf to take up this path of corrupted paladinhood was Lady Liadrin, who then founded the order of Blood Knights that became infamous throughout Azeroth and Outland alike. Thrall and the other leaders of the Horde disagreed with the methods the Blood Knights had employed, but could not deny their strategic value on the battlefield.

So like Alex, I figure I probably have a few more alts than your average player. I have 3 level 70s, 3 more characters above level 60, and a few more at various levels of play. I even started a new shaman just this past week, just because I decided I had a really cool character concept for a female Orc shaman.

Anyhow, I've been playing the shaman quite a bit, and I've actually not been twinking her at all, enjoying the challenge of starting a character from scratch and making sure I still have my mojo despite getting all fat and sassy from all that easy daily money from Sunwell Isle. WoW's done a pretty decent job of keeping the lower level game easy enough for characters, but there's a couple things I've noticed while playing that still feel like they need some work. If I could highlight one, it would be the complete lack of Shaman trainers in Lordaeron.

My Blood Elf Paladin is level 63 now, and I'm currently after Sporeggar reputation, in hot pursuit of that greatest of Protadin prizes, the Petrified Lichen Guard. Of course, when I started, the first thing I did was go buy a few Bog Lord Tendrils, planning to turn them in until I jumped out of unfriendly. It was the most efficient way to get that faction jump, so I considered the silver money well spent. With friendly under my belt, I can safe turn in a load of Mature Spore Sacs and Glowcaps (I took the quests before I turned in the Tendrils, so I can still turn them in despite being friendly).

So, with Children's Week upon us, the lore buff in me was wondering something: What's going to happen with Salandria?

If you had a high level character Horde last year and did the Shattrath Orphan's Week quest, you know what I'm talking about. Salandria, your Blood Elf Orphan, is a somewhat snooty and stuck up girl who loves to stick her nose where it might not be safe (such as the fire elemental up at the Throne of Elements), but she seems mostly like a normal, if slightly precocious girl.

Until she asks to go to Silvermoon and the Caverns of Time.

In a bold move that is perhaps indicative of the direction Blizzard will be taking with the game and lore progression, Patch 2.4 saw the removal of M'uru from Silvermoon City and the displacement of Lady Liadrin from the chamber in Farstriders' Square. In a scripted event that reveals what happened to the captured Naaru, Lady Liadrin pays a visit to A'dal in Shattrath City, eventually pledging the service of the Blood Knights to the Shattered Sun Offensive. In the blink of an eye, Lady Liadrin become Exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive (where'd she get that quest, I wonder!) and leaves Shattrath wearing one of the coolest tabards in the World of Warcraft.

What does this imply for Blood Elf Paladins? Gameplay-wise, not much. Although I would've welcomed a change in the quests for Horde, the biggest changes were that all the quests that were previously available from Lady Liadrin are now obtained from Lord Solanar Bloodwrath. Obviously moved for logistical reasons, the quests are virtually identical to the ones that Lady Liadrin dispensed. The one noticeable change is in the early quest Claiming the Light from Knight-Lord Bloodvalor. In the original quest, players were to fill a Shimmering Vessel with power from M'uru, whom the Blood Knights used to hold captive. The updated quest now requires the player to draw the lingering energies from the Blood Elf Magisters rather than M'uru, indicating that what remains are mere vestiges of the power that the Blood Knights once wielded.

Toy News International reports that the World of Warcraft action figures from DC Direct are coming in the last quarter of this year. I love my toys and I love WoW so this comes as great news, particularly with the new selection of figures -- a Blood Elf Paladin named Quin'thalan Sunfire (hell yeah!); Tamuura, a Draenei Mage; an Undead Rogue called Skeeve Sorrowblade; and a Human Priest, Sister Benedron, who can probably cure your allergies. As with previous World of Warcraft action figures from DC direct, the sculpts are mostly based on existing armor sets that players might recognize.

Tamuura sports the Tier 6 raid set Tempest Regalia, while Sister Benedron is depicted in Tier 5 Avatar gear with exaggerated shoulder wings; Skeeve Sorrowblade appears to be wearing a highly-detailed version of Deathmantle, the Rogue Tier 5 set; and Quin'thalan Sunfire looks... well, he looks like he's a generic Silvermoon City guard whom you ask for directions. It's a bit disappointing, personally, although I guess it's cool to have a Silvermoon City guard. It would be kind of like having a named Stormtrooper or something. Historically, DC Direct's action figures have appeared in the World of Warcraft comic, so expect one or more of these new figures to make an appearance in the Chris Metzen-approved canon comic series.

More pictures after the jump. So clickety-click, toy lovers (and uh, WoW fans)...