Posts with tag all-things-azeroth

Since the announcement of Hearthstone at PAX East, many developer interviews have been circulating (including our own!). This week the All Things Azeroth podcast featured Hearthstone production director Jason Chayes and game designer Ben Brode, and there are a few interesting tidbits to take away from the interview that you might not have heard before. In particular, they detail an example of the types of fun cards they're developing to keep gamers on their toes. The example they discuss is King Mukla. You might be familiar with King Mukla if you've quested through The Cape of Stranglethorn, he's the enormous gorilla you need to kill to complete the Princess Poobah questline. In Hearthstone, Mukla is a cheap card to play that packs a punch, but the catch is that he'll give your opponent bananas which allows them some extra abilities, so you've got to think carefully about when you play him!

Other topics covered during the interview include some more details about card crafting and the rationale behind it, the Golden Card upgrades, and some of the developers' thoughts on things like a client for Hearthstone in WoW to ease the pain on those long DPS dungeon queues. I must say, the more I hear about Hearthstone, the more fun it sounds. I've got high hopes for this game, not least because I think there's a good chance that it might be the magic video-game bullet that finally piques my boyfriend's interest. Hey, he's resisted all my attempts to get him into WoW so far, I'm getting desperate!

You can check out All Thing's Azeroth's conversation with Jason Chayes and Ben Brode in episode 339. Happy listening!

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All Things Azeroth, a podcast hosted by Medros and cohosted by Shade, is recording its 300th episode on July 2. (Spoiler: Shade is our own Anne Stickney.) They are holding contests to celebrate with some very enticing prizes, including a World of Warcraft Monopoly Collector's Edition board game and some plushies from the Blizzard Store.

Some of the things you can do to win are:

• Make an intro to the podcast.
• Answer some trivia questions.
• Follow All Things Azeroth on Twitter and Facebook.

Each of the six contests has its own prizes and rules, so please check out ATA's site for the full details.

All Things Azeroth has been around for over five years, discussing (as the name suggests) anything having to do with World of Warcraft. They record live every Monday night at 8 p.m. CST. Medros has always hosted, but a few cohosts have joined him over the years. The current duo has been the winning combination for over 100 episodes.

So mark your calendars for the first Monday in July and listen to Medros and Anne Shade on their 300th episode.

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We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• All Things Azeroth is doing a podcast a day during the month of November.
• Myth Busted: Fast Weapon Upgrades at Big Hit Box.
• World of Matticus talks about his guild's recruiting strategy and how he's using the World of Raids recruiting tool.
• Moonglade talks about the Aim for Hybrid DPS.
• Pikestaff of Aspect of the Hare looks at the Long and Winding Road in WoW and the WoW-blogosphere.

Go Phillies!

We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• The blogosphere is going to be a little less fun from now on. Ratshag has called it a day.
• All Things Azeroth #138 is available for download. Check out the website for a list of topics!
• Help! Help! I'm at 540 defense and got crit! What happened!?
• Too Many Annas has a bunch of tips for the brand new roleplayer.

• All Things Azeroth is having a bit of a celebration this month, seeing as its National Podcast Post Month. Did you know that was a thing? Yeah, I didn't either! If you want a chance to win some sweet prizes, head on over to ATA.
• We're coming up on Halloween pretty quick here, and this recipe from Nourish is, perhaps, more delicious than even all of the holiday candy.
• Runeforge Gossip proves just how overpowered Death Knights really are in just a few screenshots.
• One Rogue's Journey details what a Rupture-less rotation would entail.

• All Things Azeroth #136 is available for download!
• Big Hit Box tackles the Enhancement Shaman T10 set bonuses, as well as the Rogue set bonuses.
• Episode 9 of The Hunting Party Podcast is also available for download.
• Gray Matter maths out the Tier 10 set bonuses for Boomkin.

We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• Episode 54 of the Twisted Nether Blogcast welcomed StoneyBaby of BigHitBox to the show.
• All Things Azeroth #125 is waiting to invade the inner sanctums your ears, too!
• World of Matticus and 4 Haelz both have guides to healing Lord Jaraxxus, this week's Trial of the Crusader boss.
• Too Many Annas discusses roleplaying different genders in WoW.

• World of Ming interviews a Brother/Sister Gladiator pair! Be warned, a few drug references lie within.
• All Things Azeroth #122 was released this past week. This time around, the podcast covers WoW social networks, Worgen, and all of the recent expansion speculation.
• Lorecrafted has his own take on the Worgen/Goblin rumors.
• While not exactly a WoW link, we thought you might want to know about TheSpeedGamers. They're marathon gamers... for charity! They're already been going for over sixty hours. Head on over, cheer them on, and support their cause: ACT Today.
• GuildOx's admin has a new offering for everyone today: 10 easy steps to secure your WoW account.

Yes, our friend Medros of All Things Azeroth joined us on the podcast last week for an extra long show, and what we can say? There was just tons of things to talk about. Medros, Turpster, our own Lesley Smith and I answered your emails (including updates on faction changes as well as the big response we got from fans of Ensidia last week), and talked about the most popular stories from the World of Warcraft. Of course we didn't need the chat channel to remind us of the Worgen pet issue (though they reminded us anyway), we talked about Tom Chilton's interview and the chance that WoW may one day go "free to play," and we talked about Bind to Account items twice: how they'll work with faction changes in the future, and what items like the Tome of Cold Weather Flight tell us about Blizzard's plans for the future.

Lots of laughs were had, and hopefully we gave out some insight as well. Enjoy the show, and we'll see you next week. I'll still be out of town, so we're not quite sure when it'll be broadcasting live yet, but stay tuned here to WoW.com -- we'll let you know as soon as we do. Or just subscribe up in iTunes, and you'll get every show sent directly to your iPod every week like clockwork. And if you do head over there, be sure to toss us a rating and/or a review -- the more you put in there, the merrier we'll be. Thanks!

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We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• Serennia discusses the 2v2 arena bracket. Would we be better off if they replaced it with a 4v4 bracket?
• Too Many Annas answers reader mail regarding a fairly widespread (in my experience) phenomenon: RPers griefing RPers that raid simply because they raid.
• Are you a Hunter? Are you a Hunter that hates Naxxramas as much as I do? The Hunter's Rhok shows you how to gear up for Ulduar without it!
• Episode #115 of All Things Azeroth has been released. This week it features an interview with Cadistra of WoW, Eh? along with a whole load of other topics.

Those of you using our WoW.com profile system... we want your blogs! Have you written something that you think is worth being featured on The Daily Quest? Have you discovered another good blog here on WoW.com? Send them in using the link below! No, this doesn't mean we're going to stop linking to other sites, so don't worry! We have enough love to go around.

We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• The Sacred Duty Paladin blog looks at skipping Spiritual Attunement with the change to Divine Plea in Patch 3.1.
• The Hunter's Rhok blog details the strategy used to successfully complete the Ruby Void achievement. And they perfected it in a PuG!
• Tanking Tips has a Strafing 101 guide up for tanks that also includes Strafing 102. Some interesting tips in the comments section as well.
• All Things Azeroth has podcast #105 ready for your listening pleasure. They cover many topics this time including the Glider ruling, Ulduar achievements and the difficulty of becoming Immortal.
• Big Red Kitty has also posted his latest podcast.

Submit a guide, post, podcast or resource for inclusion in TDQ, by using our tip line and we'll consider it for a future TDQ post.

Bummed that, unlike last week, our podcast is back on Saturday this week? Worry not -- we've got a special dose of WoW Insider podcastery goodness midweek for you. Tonight, over on PixelatedLIVE's Ustream page, they're broadcasting a special World of Warcraft-themed show, and they've asked us to appear, along with our good friends Matticus (from World of Matticus and our own Spiritual Guidance Priest column) and Medros of All Things Azeroth as well as Erin from Eringames.com and Darren of MyGameMug. Whew! It'll likely be a Warcraft extravaganza, and as a bonus (or a penalty?), they're even broadcasting video, so you'll be able to see my ugly mug on screen while I'm on. Make sure to send your young children and weak-willed women out of the room first.

The show starts at 7:30 pm Pacific (use this to figure out what time that is where you are) over on Ustream. And they're having a trivia contest, too -- they're looking for people who have a Ustream account (you can get one here), Skype installed, and a good headset to come on the air with them and answer questions to win prizes.

Seems like quite a party. Definitely stop by and tune in tonight (I'll probably be Twittering while I do it, so you can follow us there as well), and of course if you can't make it, our official podcast will return to our own page on Ustream this Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern.

Our good friend Medros is just about to hit episode 100 of his podcast, All Things Azeroth (and come to think of it, our podcast isn't that far off, either), and to celebrate, he's doing one of our favorite things: giving stuff away. He's got two different contests going on. The first one is giving away a Papa Hummel's Pet Biscuit (made with love by Papa Hummel himself), and to win that one, you've got to listen during the 100th show and be in the live chat, which starts at 8pm EST next Monday.

And the second contest starts right now: Medros wants your best WoW screenshot -- drop him an email (the address is on his site) with the screenshot attached, and they're choosing the best one to win a copy of all three soundtracks from the Collector's Editions of the game. Very cool -- this isn't that big soundtrack set, as we understand it. This is the actual soundtrack CDs from each of the Collector's Editions. Nice prize for sure.

You don't have to be listening to the show for that second prize, but if you're around next Monday night, be sure to tune in and give him a listen. Congrats to Medros and All Things Azeroth on the 100th episode of their show -- here's to many more!

Our good friend Medros over at the All Things Azeroth podcast has posted a contest over on the site asking for some Warcraft-related audio content. He's looking for the best bit of audio drama, podcast promo, or simply audio comments that you can come up with, and he'll choose the best one by December 20th. Not only will he play the winners on the show, but the grand prize gets a Papa Hummel's Old Fashioned Pet Biscuit (handmade by Papa Hummel himself, as I always say), and two second prizes will pick up what is surely a spectacular Wrath poster and bookmark.

I love hearing great audio production -- would be awesome to see some really good audio drama come out of this. If you've got an idea, get started on it now: Medros is asking for emailed entries no later than December 20th. Can't wait to hear the results.

This past Monday, June 23, The WotLK Information Wiki relaunched on a new web host after having been pulled down by a Cease and Desist order from Blizzard. Darkside, one of the admins for the WotLK Information Wiki, gave an interview to Medros over at All Things Azeroth to explain what happened. The interview was conducted as part of Medros' podcast Episode 53. Some highlights from the interview include:

• Most of the information that the alpha wiki provides is a result of file and image extraction from Blizzard's publically-available alpha client.
• The alpha client files contain all the information on the spells, creatures and environments to be tested and new things are added or subtracted each time the alpha is patched.
• The alpha wiki folks set up a "sandbox" where they could fly through the new locations and spawn creatures for screenshots.
• A small portion of the WotLK info -- some screenshots, for example -- has come from Blizzard employees under non-disclosure agreements the identities of whom the alpha wiki admins protect.
• Blizzard, Vivendi, and Activision IP addresses had visited the wiki frequently since it began.
  
• The Cease and Desist order from Blizzard arrived last Friday, June 20. Over the weekend the WotLK wiki admins tried several ways to appease the lawyers and eventually settled on moving to a new web host.
• The wiki's readership is approximately 200,000 page views per day.

Go to All Things Azeroth to hear the rest of the interview. Make sure you listen to the first few minutes of the podcast to hear a very humorous and well-sung parody of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues called Pugging Kara Blues.

[Thanks, Matticus and uber.]