Posts with tag WoW, Warcraft, Burning Crusade

Over at Curmudgeon Gamer there's some speculation that the zone Hellfire Peninsula is meant to be Blizzard's commentary on the Iraq war. And Blizzard is certainly known for making in-game references to pop culture; why in Outland alone you can find Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Monty Python, Snakes on a Plane (literally!), Star Trek, and Dune, just to name a handful. But usually they restrict themselves to to humor -- their goal, after all, is to entertain, and making you stop and laugh (come on, did anyone not lol at the "Voidwalkers Gone Wild" quest?) is just part of the job.

So is Blizzard really making Iraq war references here? Curmudgeon Gamer makes note of the invading army (us: the denizens of Azeroth), the plumes of fire coming out of the ground (oil refinery fires, anyone?), and the Zeth'Gor Must Burn quest which requires you to mark towers in Zeth'Gor for later bombing runs. And then there's this bit of NPC chatter:

Marshal Isildor says: Do you think that demons will play fair? These beasts are more savage than orcs and more cunning than the undead.
Marshal Isildor says: How many more soldiers need to die before we start paying attention out there?

While I see his points, I'm not so certain the zone is meant to be a specific reference to the Iraq war as opposed to trying to catch the feel of a front-line war zone in general. With the Iraq war being the current event of the day, a connection stands out -- but I wonder if the political climate were different would we just connect Hellfire Peninsula to the most recent conflict?

While we've certainly seen some excellent player-created guides to instance attunement in The Burning Crusade, sometimes it's just good to know there's also an official source.

So it was with great glee that I opened up my email this morning to find that *other* World of Warcraft Insider (you know, the email Bliz sends you that you never read) with mention of this fabulous interactive attunement guide.

While I don't know about you (and I hope you'll tell me), I know that a guide like this helps me figure out what I'm headed to do next on my path of content conquering. I honestly had no clue it would be this involved as I was leveling up, but thankfully the faction grind hasn't really felt like a grind at all. In fact, after leveling to 70 on a new shaman, and seeing most of the new instances, I'm now only missing revered with a couple of factions.

So, does a guide like this from Blizzard help, or are you more inclined to use the player-generated guides?

After taking out Magtheridon, the guild Nihilum has been able to complete the attunement quest to access the Eye of Tempest Keep. And since they can get there and we can't, they've decided to share some video of the place with the rest of us, giving us a first look at the place. And if the video's not enough for you, there's also a preview of the instance with some pretty sweet screenshots.

[Via World of Raids]

I'm still feeling awfully silly running around in my set of Outland greens and blues. And I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks my character's appearance has taken a turn for the worst since leveling past 60. Even Drysc has chimed in on the topic, telling us...

...leveling items are almost always go to look more or less "plain". We want the end-game items to really stand out, both in ability/power and the way they look. The items you had at 60 were the end-game items, they were the best of the best and their look really showed that visually just running around the city. As you're leveling again you may be finding better gear than what you had, but it's not the uber end-game gear, and so it sort of has a plain look to match.

Of course, I don't think that my complaint is over the fact that the gear looks "plain" -- in fact, I think "plain" would be a major improvement over what I'm wearing now. And while all of us want the incredible end-game gear to look, well, incredible, that doesn't seem like a great reason to make the rest of the gear in the game look awful, or just as bad -- boring and recycled. With most of the sights in Outland making me want to gape in wonder, the fact that my character would look about the same (perhaps better -- I don't recall low level greens being this jarringly colored) if I went and geared myself with the best that Elwynn Forest had to offer is a little disappointing.

How could the current system be improved? Read on for some thoughts.

My warlock hit level 70 during one of the horrendous trash pulls in the Auchindoun's Shadow Labyrinth. It took about 2 weeks, a little over but for the first four days my server was unplayable.

I have a few suggestions for those of you who are trying to get 70 in the minimum amount of time spent. First, get out of Hellfire Peninsula as quickly as possible. There are so many people in that zone that I spent way too much time waiting for spawns. Second, unless you are a mage getting powerleveled with the help of a entire guild, quests are the way to go, not grinding and not instances. Finally, my pattern was Hellfire Peninsula to Zangarmarsh to Nagrand to Terokkar Forest to Blade's Edge to Shadowmoon Valley. I did Nagrand first Terokkar Forest was very heavily in use, and I wanted to stay out of that mess. They're about the same level, so it works out. I haven't even been into the Netherstorm area. Why did I skip Netherstorm? I'm a warlock. Shadowmoon Valley is full of demons. I was completely playing to my strengths.

I started The Burning Crusade with about 150 gold on my warlock. I ended with a tad over 1500, not counting green items (sold via my bank alt) but counting all consumables, repairs, flights, and other expenses. Whenever there were quest rewards with no usable options, I picked the 2 handed weapon or the plate armor, those items tended to sell better. Unless you blow all of your cash on tradeskills, you should have basic flying mount cash very quickly.

I managed to find groups to finish nearly all of my group quests on an ad hoc basis. On a couple of quests I got help from in-guild. Now that I've finished leveling, my goals are to finish up all my keys, do some instances, and help the rest of the people in my guild level.

Blizzard did say that they were looking into digital distribution, and now they've made good on that promise. You can now pay for and download the expansion in your bathrobe in the warm sanctuary of your own pad (because game stores have such a stringent dress code). From Crezax, who is indeed, as his signature claims, "so hot right now:"

• You can now buy and download The Burning Crusade online. No need to wait in line at your local store, just click (http://www.wow-europe.com/account/) to buy and download The Burning Crusade from the comfort of your own home! Whether you journey through the Dark Portal as a seasoned adventurer, or witness the wonders of Outland as one of the two new playable races- the blood elves and the draenei...

Cut because we all know what the Burning Crusade has to offer, don't we?

No word yet on when or if this is coming for North America, but if you're in Europe, you don't have the BC yet, and you want it but really hate going out, now's your chance!

Edit: There is some strangeness going on. The forum thread I found this in no longer exists, and apparently the link Crezax gave does not have any way to buy BC online as promised. A premature announcement on Crezax's part, maybe? (Thanks, Pete, for writing in.)

Edit 2: "It seems we encountered a small problem with that feature, so it is taken down for now." (Crezax)

As we wind into our first weekend since the much anticipated release of the Burning Crusade, I wonder what everyone's up to. Some people around the world are already hitting level 70 -- a feat, which, with my leveling speed, astounds me -- and I've even seen the first level 70 on my home realm. Of my immediate circle of friends I have a few people of lower level who haven't bothered to buy the expansion yet, several pushing their mains as far as they can, others starting anew with Blood Elves or Draenei, and yet others who can't decide which alts to play. With a priest at 62, a rogue at 61, and a new paladin at 14, I think I fall into that last category. So what have you been up to since the release, and what does the weekend have in store for you -- in Azeroth or Outland?

ToyFare reports that DC Direct is producing some lovely Burning Crusade figurines, schedule to debut this fall. All we have so far are pictures of unpainted prototypes (like "you are not prepared" Illidan, pictured at right). They look pretty nifty to me, although I know very little about figurines.

Two things about this story strike me as odd. As they point out over at ToyFare, DC Direct usually makes stuff based on DC comics for the direct market, as you might expect. These are of course not based on DC work, and furthermore seem to be headed for the mass market. Second, "release date: fall?" That's over six months from now; it seems like they would have done better to get them out a bit sooner. But maybe the manufacturing process doesn't allow for that or something.

Anyway, click on over to ToyFare to see the prototypes for a Draenei Paladin, an Orc Shaman, a Dwarf Warrior, and Illidan. (Is it just me, or is the paladin wielding a one-handed weapon with no shield nor offhand?)

The forums are abuzz this morning with news of a world-first level 70. In just 28 hours, Gullerbone, of the EU Archimonde server took his mage named Gawell from 60 to 70 in the Outlands.

Our friends over at World of Raids managed to get an interview with Gullerbone shortly after the event.

The beginning of the interview is below, click the read link for more, and then come back and let us know what you think about Gullerbone's dogged determination to get this world first.

[WoR]Teza: Can you introduce yourself quickly in a few words?

Gullerbone: I am french and 24 years old, a member of Millenium (french guild) since 1-2 months and I was the one playing the mage called Gawell for this exp rush, eventually I will reroll shaman to complete my PvP arena team.


[WoR]Teza: Whats your played time from 60 to 70? Which zone were you in when you reached lvl 70?

Gullerbone: It took me 28 hours to get from 60 to 70, and dinged 70 at 4:04 am (CET) on Januar 17. I was in Netherstorm (subzone: Mana forge) when i reached lvl 70.


[WoR]Teza: What was your preparation? How did you make it in such a short time?

Gullerbone: Cau (the 1st european lvl 60) and I planned the exp route step by steps, trying everything to make sure it was the most approriate, the groups organization with the guild Millenium and their members. Each member rotated using a definite order to help me to grind on mobs, mostly with AE, surrounded with several guildmates healers, tanks, pullers etc...

If you're tired of reading about midnight launches and what people would do to get a Collector's Edition, then move along. If instead you want to read about the trials and tribulations of a man who's closer to the arctic circle than is necessary, stay with me.

So, being in Saskatoon, we didn't get a midnight launch. Maybe it's because both of our EB Games locations are in malls and our Walmarts close at 10pm like everything else in the city, and that's it really is too dark and too cold for people to be out that late on a Monday night. Whatever the reason, a midnight launch was a no-go. I watched my guildies leap through the Dark Portal with the giddy giggles of four-year olds at Christmas. I kept saying "Grats" to every ding from a newly created Draenei. And then I went to bed, falling asleep in a puddle of tears.

No, not really. Earlier on Monday evening, five of us had piled into my car to hit every shop in town to see a) If they had any Collector's Editions in stock and b) If they could be bribed to sell them to us a little early. While a fun experience, it proved unfruitful. It seemed like hope was dwindling for me and my dashed dreams of a Collector's Edition.

I pre-ordered months ago, and finally the night had come. A few days ago GameStop robo-called my phone to tell me to come down at 11:00, so they could pre-process the transaction and make the whole thing that much smoother. Anticipating lines and general hilarity, I got to the mall around 10:30. It took me a while to find the part of the mall where the line was; here's what I saw when I stepped out of my car.

Yesterday, we asked you what you were going to do after you installed BC. Since many of you have gotten a chance to buy and install BC by now, I'd like to see if you lived up to your predictions. What's the first think you did do when you installed BC? Personally, I did what I thought I would: rolled a male Draenei warrior named Giles. So let's have it -- new toon or Outland adventures? Feel free to come back and post here whenever you get the expansion.

I won't be buying the Collector's Edition, because it's just not my sort of thing. However, the people at GameDaily have gotten ahold of one a bit early, and have posted a lovely series of pictures with the full contents, so cheap people like me can lust over the glory that is Blizzard ephemera. I do rather fancy the Outland map mouse pad, even though I usually play on my laptop's trackpad (I know, I know). And for those of you who will be getting a CE, here's what's in store.

[via Joystiq]

When Ramanan tipped us off that he'd managed to snag a copy of the Burning Crusade on January the 12th -- four entire days before the official release -- the very first thing I did was to scout all possible stores near my house to see if I could find anyone else making a similar mistake. No such luck! However, despite Wal-Mart's careful planning, it seems that at least some stores have stocked shelves with the expansion a bit early. Ramanan made off with a copy from his local Wal-Mart and was able to install and upgrade his account -- though it still sounds as though expansion content is blocked. At least for a while longer.

It's nearly time! By this time tomorrow we can all have our hands on an official copy of the Burning Crusade. And once you've got the game box in your hands, what do you plan on doing? Rushing into Outland with your favorite level 60? Rerolling a new Draenei or Blood Elf? Inquiring minds want to know!