Posts with tag WoW, Warcraft, forum

Every now and then, someone posts a link to Artpad on the official forums, asking people to draw something WoW-related. Artpad is a neat thing for letting people draw and share their drawings on the internet -- it's even neater for letting you see the process they went through in order to draw their work. The latest post of this kind has a grab bag of really good art and non-sensical, or even one or two profane sketches.

Still, the quality of the art that's there (especially if you skip page two of the thread) is worth a look. Some of it is beautiful, and some of it makes you chuckle a bit. If you're not in the mood to sift through the good and the bad of the post, here are my five personal favorites in the thread as it is at the time of this writing.

Night Elf maiden (pictured above)
Draenei maiden
Orc huntress
Murloc and Tauren
Facing Ragnaros

Can you draw something on artpad or find something someone else has drawn about World of Warcraft and link it for us in the comments below? Let's see how WoW Insider reader's art compares to the readers of the forums!

Being a primarily Alliance player, I haven't had a chance to play with very many Shaman. There's one at level 70 in my guild, and he's Enhancement; going on Heroic runs with him has showed me the beauty of totems, and possibly made Heroism my new favorite spell in the game. However, despite the fact that I haven't grouped with Shaman very much, the general aura of discontent with the state of the Shaman class is fairly difficult to avoid. So when Tseric posts something that looks an awful lot like "Enhancement is for 1-69, respec at 70," I cringe when I think of inevitable backlash from the community.

Of course, it's important to note here that Tseric didn't actually come out and say "respec at 70." What he said was "Enhancement Shaman have a difficult time in PvP compared to the other trees," as well as "in PvE, while Enhancement can put out some decent dps, they are also seen as absorbing heals by being in melee range for a boss encounter, so they may not be preferable to a plate wearer or someone who can mitigate enough of their own damage cleanly." Now I might just be reacting without thinking through it, but to me, that really seems to read as "Enhancement is sub-par in PvP, and non-preferable in [group] PvE."

Nevertheless, it doesn't look like there are any new changes to announce to the class at this time, and Tseric has specifically said there won't be any sort of "class redesign" or anything. Every time I read a CM saying they won't be redesigning a given class, I die a little inside, because it's really starting to seem more and more like the devs absolutely refuse to make any big changes to the game, despite stressing how balance in an MMO is a constantly evolving thing. I understand the drive not to make huge changes all at once, but on the other hand, it's impossible to arrive at a redesign by way of gradual changes, so by only using gradual changes, it seems like WoW is doomed to be essentially fossilized in its current state.

Tseric's several posts are copied after the cut. What do you guys think? How are Enhancement Shaman doing in the endgame right now, and is it essential that every tree for every class be viable in the end game, or is it more important to simply make sure that every class is viable?

I missed this last night since I don't spend much time on the Customer Support forums, so thanks to Halicante for bringing it to my attention. It seems that a player bought gold from a web site and only received some of it; the gold sellers claimed the unreceived part got "lost in the mail." Our protagonist then decided to run to the forums and ask Blizz for help reclaiming his lost gold. That he had bought.

Now I kinda wish I hadn't used the ASCII headache man for the Carson story, so I could use it here. Revel in the WTFness of the post (names have been removed by forum mods to protect the guilty):

i bought gold on line from Removed.com and they sent it to me as fallows
22 2007-04-27 16:30:44
22 2007-04-27 18:55:28
56 2007-04-28 07:21:25

the two 22 gold were sent buy the character [Removed], but i only got 1 of the 22g and the 56g. they said they sent the gold and that it was lost in the mail system, so i should contact you guys. can youz help me?

here is my info for the order with the company (doubt that will do you any good though)
559271 Name Removed
WOW US - Mug'thol - Horde - 100 Gold

This in Blizzard's official forums. Sometimes I just have to shake my head and move on...but seriously, folks. Could this possibly be for real? Honestly, who pays money for 100 gold?

Quick, name the least evil (i.e. most "good") groups of beings in the current World of Warcraft universe. Naaru and/or Draenei, right? We've already talked about how the Draenei are almost too nice, and as for the Naaru, that just seems obvious. They're big glowy friends to all, who want nothing but happiness and the absence of the Burning Legion. There's been speculation that M'uru, the Naaru that the blood elves hold captive to power their Paladins, is faking it, but even that lie would be, presumably, for the reason of brining the blood elves closer to the light or helping them fight the Burning Legion.

But Roam, of Bloodscalp, doesn't trust the big guys at all. From his post titled "Who else thinks the Naaru are probably evil:"

Call me a sceptic, but I've played too many video games to EVER trust a unidentified and unquestioned holy force.
The Naaru seem like good guys and all... but why? Why bother with us at all?
They creep my out. Sound like windchimes and "make you feel safe"... ugh sounds like a fricking trap!

And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense -- if this wasn't a Blizzard game. I agree with later posters that Blizz is just too generally straight-ahead with its story-telling to make the Naaru have been deceiving us. But hey, you never know; as a responder added, "I, as a general rule of thumb, never trust luminescent beings." Words to live by. What do you think? Are the Naaru benevolent creatures, or deceptive forces sent to destroy us?

[thanks, Justin]

I am impressed by EU forumgoer Yippi. Despite having two characters at level 70, one at level 69, two more at 60, and a host of lower levels, Yippi has never even seen a world drop epic. That's enough to make you wonder if the darn things even exist! Even though, in my experience, I have to say that they do -- while leveling, I've gotten Robes of Insight, an Underworld Band, a Jeweled Amulet of Cainwyn, and I've seen (though I didn't win) a Krol Blade. Maybe I'm as lucky as Yippi is unlucky?

But, I don't know... like the guys over at Penny Arcade say -- green is the new purple. Maybe missing out on those world drop epics isn't that bad after all.

Interested in more forumgoer opinions? Take a look at previous forum posts of the day!

You know what forum poster Timat is talking about. Those quests that you died a half dozen times attempting to complete. The quests that took hours of travel or multiple dungeon runs to complete. The quest that you completed after it went grey in your quest log simply because you refused to let the quest beat you. Posters in the thread already have some suggestions: the druid sea form quest, the Onyxia key chain (both horde and alliance versions are a nuisance), and, of course, "Vast Ocean, Deep Sea."

See more player opinions in previous forum posts of the day.

In comparison to all the excitement to be found leveling from 60 to 70 in Outland -- numerous dungeons, zones, and quests available at every level range, with great quest rewards -- old Azeroth looks awfully pale. And to this end forum poster Colrum suggests that perhaps after the 2.1 patch adds the Black Temple, Blizzard could spend a bit of time polishing Azeroth. And commenters in the post have plenty of suggestions on where Blizzard can start. While there are plenty of places in old Azeroth that I find immensely tedious to level through, I still think that I'd rather look forward rather than backwards. But what do you think -- does Azeroth need some work to bring it up to par with all the new content in Outland?

[A full version of the artwork above can be found on Blizzard's site.]

Ah, the things boredom can drive you to do. But at least in the case of Waffels, it's something that can entertain all of us. One dull day, Waffels decided to take Gamon (a level 12 NPC in Orgrimmar used for the rogue lockpicking quest) for a little walk.

To Silithus.

It took him about an hour and a half, but Waffels managed to take Gamon all the way to Cenarion Hold before getting into trouble with a shadow priest decided to end the adventure with a mind blast. However, the 10 copper worth of loot made the entire trip worth it, don't you think?

In a sharp break from the normal way of expressing oneself on the forums (you know, via extensive use of capslock and ascii art), a number of shamans are expressing their problems potetically via haiku. Never has it been more interesting and downright pleasent to read about class complaints. I think my favorite must be this one by poster Vapid for its inclusion of traditional imagery:

Shaman drop to ground
Like the Spring Cherry Blossom
When faced with stunlock

So take a look -- or try your hand writing some shaman haiku of your own. (Remember, it's 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.)

Druids make great tanks. Like any other class, they have strengths and weaknesses, and one of those weaknesses is that they can't use consumables, like health potions, in feral forms. A while back there was some buzz about the devs letting them use some potions in forms, and just having to decide which ones; that's been the Blizz party line for a while now. Now it looks like that may not be happening after all, basically because Druid tanks are currently working as intended™:

Unfortunately we do not yet have much new information available regarding this topic. The developers are still evaluating which pots and procs should be usable in forms, but it is not an easy evaluation process because for the most part Druids currently appear to be performing where the developers want them to.

Because the Druids appears to be performing the way the developers want, then they have to be very considerate and cautious in the evaluation process in order to avoid potential balance issues, which means that they also have to consider whether or not pots/procs in forms is even necessary anymore.

I know that this might sound like bad news to some of you, but please remember that the evaluation process has not yet finished so it is still too early to proclaim doom and gloom.

Druids, what do you think? Do you need pots, or are you doing OK without them?

Some of the changes from 2.1 are going in early. Specifically, Tigole announced that they are hotfixing some raid things:

Because 2.1.0 is not yet on the PTR's (we're hoping by tomorrow or early next week), we're going to hotfix the base creature respawn in Serpentshrine and TK Raid to be 2 hours. We're also going to fix the bug that's causing the creatures to respawn after the boss for the corresponding section has been killed.

These aren't all of the changes that we have for 2.1.0, just two of the ones that we will be able to hotfix. There are more changes coming in 2.1.0 that include creature tuning, better loot etc...

Some examples:

Lots of the creatures have fewer hitpoints
Lots of the creatures are no longer immune to CC (The female naga in SSC can be poly'd, Skeletal Ushers in KZ can be shackled)
Lots of bug fixes

The most interesting bit in this post, though, to my eye, is "Because 2.1.0 is not yet on the PTR's (we're hoping by tomorrow or early next week)." See? PTR next week! What'd I tell ya. Of course, now that he's said this, if we don't get a PTR by Wednesday the forums are going to explode in a fit of angst, which is why Blizz never gives ETAs. I hope they can meet their target on this one, since 2.1 looks like it will be a fun patch for most parts of the game. Once the patch hits PTRs it'll be at least a week or two before it goes live.

Pictured above, by the way, is Al'ar the Phoenix God, a boss in the Eye (the 25-man "TK Raid" referred to by Tigole) who is suspected to drop a 310% speed flying mount called "Peep the Phoenix Mount."

The 2.1 news just keeps coming. As well as boatloads of profession changes and new Darkmoon cards, now there is information on two new graveyards and some new flight points and flight paths:

New Graveyards

Two new graveyards have been added to Blade's Edge Mountains.

New Flypaths
New flight points:
Felwood, Emerald Sanctuary (Both)
Ashenvale, Forest Song (Alliance)

New flight paths:
Stormwind <-> Thorium Point
Grom'gol Base Camp <-> Flame Crest
Ratchet <-> Gadgetzan, Astranaar, Brackenwall Village
Brackenwall Village <-> Ratchet, Camp Taurajo, Freewind Post
Thunderbluff <-> Zoram'gar Outpost
Evergrove <-> Toshley's Station
Honor Hold <-> Shattrath

In addition, many flight paths have been adjusted to be shorter, faster flights.

I must say, I'm pretty apathetic about flight paths these days. Now that I have my epic flying mount, it's easier just to aim myself towards my destination, fly high, hit runlock, and go AFK. No finding a flight master, no fee, and I can go anywhere. Epic mounts: the only way to fly. Still, these improvements are great for anyone that doesn't yet have the epic, including of course my eight zillion alts. And the new paths and points are all long overdue (very long, for the Azeroth ones).

The game changes are starting to come in faster and faster, as 2.1 approaches (my bet's on a PTR next week). From the European forums we have two new and interesting blobs of information. Ommra:

• Jewelcrafting: The cooldown times on Earthstorm and Skyfire Diamond transmutes have been reduced to one day.


• Herbalism: The chances to find a Fel Lotus while picking an herb have been increased.


• Tailoring: The Spellfire and Shadoweave tunics have been changed to robes.


• Primal Nethers may now be puchased from G'eras for Badges of Justice.

These changes will take place in the next patch, 2.1.0.

The previous cooldowns on Earthstorm and Skyfire Diamonds were two days, so this halves that cooldown. Fel Lotus is the new Black Lotus, in that it's used in all the new flasks. But unlike Black Lotus, it doesn't have its own plants. Rather, it has a small chance to spawn off any plant in the Outland. That chance is currently 1-2% depending on the quality of the plant you're picking. In theory, more Fel Lotus should mean cheaper Fel Lotus, which in turn should mean cheaper flasks. The Spellfire and Shadoweave changes are something tailors have been asking for ever since BC's release. And as for the Primal Nether change, it's...interesting. I guess it'll give me something to spend my badges on once I get my trinket. I wonder how many badges they'll cost, though. Edit: word on the street is the exchange rate will be four Badges for one Nether.

And secondly, Aeus brings us news that the Darkmoon Faire will be offering new and better trinkets for new types of cards:

After the upcoming content patch you will have the chance to find additional Darkmoon cards (Lunacy, Storms, Furies and Blessings) on high level creatures in Outlands, which you can turn in to the Darkmoon Faire to make powerful new Darkmoon card trinkets.

This is nice, because the Faire is somewhat useless currently for level 70 characters (although I know at least a few people that are still using Twisting Nether cards). I wonder if they'll convert all the current card drops in Outland to new cards -- I've gotten quite a few old-world cards that I've just vendored because they're relatively worthless now.

Trash mobs (i.e. non-boss mobs in instances, usually raids) have been the subject of a certain amount of discontent within the community recently. Blizz have said they're thinking about doing something about it, and now they're being a little more specific. Aeus, bearer of good news for the hardcore:

We're going to be making some changes to trash mobs in Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep, to make them a bit easier, slower to respawn, and provide some greater incentive to killing them.

We'll be continuing to tune and re-tune dungeons and encounters, but currently these are the two we're most concerned with and will be focusing on.

I'm assuming when he says Tempest Keep he means the Eye, the 25-man raid wing of it. So while this is nice for those of us who are working on those raids already (not me), I really wish they would do something about some of the trash in Karazhan. Specifically, the trash leading up to the Curator. That stuff is bonkers. On the other hand, I haven't been to KZ since Tigole said trash in many zones had been nerfed a bit, so maybe it's better now?

You heard me right. Penguins. And, really, how could you possibly resist rolling a penguin if you had the option? They're adorable and always so smartly dressed. Forum poster Eldrick gives us a rundown of why penguins would work in the World of Warcraft...

• Classified as "Humanoid"?: They stand on two feet, which is more than the Naga can do.
• Wear gear?: They manage fine with tuxedos; chainmail isn't much more of a stretch from there.
• Wield Weapons?: Okay, no thumbs could be trouble.
• Ride the flying creatures: I've seen Moonkin do it. Pretty much the same build.
• Lore: Penguins have played a prominant role as generic critters since Warcraft 3. Several WC:3 and WC:3 TFT Easter Eggs involve Penguins, including a Penguin King which offers Arthas tribute (signs of a highly organized Monarchy), as well as a mysterious clockerwerk penguin figurine which the Centaur worship in the Rexxar campaign. It is possible that the figurine was crafted by intelligent penguins and ended up washing onto Kalimdor's shores.
• Location: Northrend is remote enough that an entire civilization of sentient Penguins could still be hidden away from the other races.

Eldrick has really thought this thing through. All that's left is for Blizzard to figure out is racial abilities (+10 frost resistance is a given) and class options (penguin hunter ftw!).