Posts with tag it-came-from-the-blog

After a very vocal community outpouring and harsh response to Blizzard's announcement that guilds would be hard-capped at 600 members, the policy has been re-evaluated and the cap has been raised to 1,000 members per guild in patch 4.0.1.

While there are not a huge amount of guilds that go over the 1,000-player limit, those multitudes of players came out in anger over Blizzard's decision to set a hard cap. Now, with that cap raised, these guilds may potentially fall under the new rules, keeping their organizations intact. Hit the jump for the full announcement.

Large guilds face a certain number of unique challenges. Beyond the usual demands of leading large numbers of players, guilds with memberships greater than 500 have an unfortunate tendency to break the guild interface. Up until now, this has been more of a nuisance than anything else -- Blizzard has never imposed a hard cap on guild membership. (WoW Insider's very own guild, <It Came from the Blog>, stands at 1,100 members, for example.)

Blizzard was keenly aware of the problems that these large guilds suffered, promising earlier in the summer to address them for Cataclysm. Well, not-so-great news, members of giant mega guilds: Blizzard is effectively throwing in the towel on large guilds and imposing a hard cap of 600 members effective the moment patch 4.0.1 goes live.

While the official blue post by Mumper says this will have no effect on 99.9 percent of guilds, this move could effectively devastate the remaining 0.1 percent. The full text is available after the break.

From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame.

Time flies when you're having fun -- and somehow it's been two whole years since we last profiled a reader favorite from the hallowed halls of the WoW Insider comments. Time to remedy that!

So who's the latest man of the hour? Why, commenter extraordinaire Brian Cutaia, of course! He's already a prolific commenter, and he's well on his way to becoming a prolific guest writer, too. Cutaia (rhymes with "papaya") is also a vocal member of <It came from the Blog>. The only point in the WoW Insider landscape that his acerbic commentary and wry witticisms seem to be absent is Twitter. (A new frontier for Cutaia? Stranger things have happened ...) Join us today in discovering why this WoW Insider community regular is so soundly appreciated by both readers and staffers alike.

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

If you're not a leveling player -- and sorry, but that does not include you wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am types zipping up your latest alts -- then as I tell my family when they're hovering around me when I'm trying to write, "I love you; now go away." Today's WoW Rookie is all about stuff that matters to players who focus on WoW's leveling game. If you've got the whole leveling thing down pat ... if leveling is just a chore to get to the end game, where "the game begins at 80" ... if your pre-80 character is just one among your entire stable of toons ... then move along, big guy. Your secret handshake didn't pass muster at this clubhouse.

For those of us gleefully picking our way through the levels, we're going to take another look this week at what's ahead for us in the expansion. First, I've got a lead to share on a friendly place to tuck into for companionable leveling. Then we'll round up a whole collection of facts and developments on how Cataclysm will change the game for players in the 1-60ish range. If you're an assiduous reader of The Queue, none of this will be new news; we've cherry-picked some recent goodies that apply to players in the early to middle levels.

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. See all our collected tips, tricks and how-to's at WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide.

Come out, come out, wherever you are ... We know you're out there leveling! The dungeon finder feature isn't the only way to meet new and leveling players – in fact, it's one of the worst, since you'll only occasionally be paired off with another player from your home realm. Today's WoW makes it possible to scuttle from the auction house to the dungeon finder without forming any lasting relationships to speak of at all. Here at WoW Rookie, we're all about enjoying the journey, rather than racing for the finish line. Let's go over the best ways, then, to join up with folks you can adventure with along the way. In ascending order:

10. Hit the dungeon finder. We know, we just said the dungeon finder is not a great way to make friends. It's not. That said, we've heard more than one tale of players who transferred realms to play with friends they met through the dungeon finder. You're more likely to find a compatible group for the length of a single evening than a permanent partnership that persists over the levels -- but hey, it could happen.

It came from the Blog is holding its second Battleground Bonanza today:

• When: Saturday, January 16th, 4:30pm EST (1:30pm PST, 2:30pm Server time)
• Where: The Hall of the Brave (where the Battlemasters are), Orgrimmar, Zangarmarsh U.S.
• Who: Any level 10 or above Horde character.
• How: Ask any It came from the Blog Lurker or Robinator for a guild invite.
• What: Battleground premades

We will be forming groups and hitting as many level/group-size appropriate BGs as we can for an hour or so. If you can't make it to the Hall of the Brave in time for the event, you will miss out on the first screenshot, but will still be able to participate. We will also be doing some BG related quests, so there will be some traveling for certain level ranges.

If you are unfamiliar with Battleground play, please do some homework so that it will be more fun for both you and your teammates. Also, if you have any questions about the WoW.com guild, please read our FAQ.

Come join the fun!

Last week, the gang from It came from the Blog participated in several Hallow's End activities. We put out the fires in Falconwing Square, pranked Southshore and went Trick or Treating through the Eastern Kingdoms. Levels were dinged (and those that received them were called Dingalings), Achievements were achieved and a dwarf dressed as a troll was rescued.

Here are some screenshots of the fun:



Also, at the beginning of October, It came from the Blog went on an Epic Harvest Brewfestival Ride to honor a hero in Ashenvale. The pictures from this event are long overdue and here they are:



Look for more It Came from the Blog activities in November and throughout the in-game holidays.

Well, here we are at the weekend, and yet again we're all in danger. Alex Ziebart has been bitten by the dread PTR and is stalking the halls of Wow.com central, craving our succulent brains and/or posts about patch 3.3, while we struggle to survive. Or to provide him with PTR posts and patch details like, say, Quel'Delar, This weekend, it's not just a game, it's a battle to survive against a fiend more dead than alive! Well, until he gets his morning nosh, then he's usually okay. Woe betide thee that denies said nosh! A peckish zombie is a fearful adversary. Luckily, I have a character skilled in dealing with the undead and he just got himself a new toy.

But what about the gaming, you ask? I'm glad you did, because I'm awful at segues. Seriously, just awful. I mean, look at this one, it's just atrocious.

Ye not be forgetting It came from the Blog's Pirates' Day parrrty!

• When: 5pm EDT (3pm Server Time, 2pm PDT) Today
• Where: Meet in Orgrimmar in front of the bank on Zangarmarsh U.S.
• Who: A Horde character, any level
• How: Send a tell to Robiness or any It came from the Blog member to join the guild

Be ye in league with Bloodsails? The Booty Bay guards arrrr sleepin' off a bit too much brew, so ye can join in on the parrrty. Aaargh the guards be wide awake and feisty.

Drag yer carcasses to Orgrimmar early, else ye will be travellin' to Booty Bay on yer own. Thar will be no summonin' fer lazy landlubbers. Ye have been warned.

Avast me hearties! It nears time for Pirates' Day! Yarrrr!

Come celebrate Pirates' Day with It came from the Blog. Here are the details:

• When: 5pm EDT (3pm Server Time, 2pm PDT) Saturday, September 19th
• Where: Meet in Orgrimmar in front of the bank on Zangarmarsh U.S.
• Who: A Horde character, any level
• How: Send a tell to Robiness or any It came from the Blog member to join the guild
• What: We'll get a pirate costume and an Achievement.

We'll run from Orgrimmar to Ratchet together and then take the boat to Booty Bay for the festivities. All races and levels should be able to get to Org with little trouble. Tauren can take the zeppelin from Thunder Bluff and Blood Elves can take the teleport from Silvermoon to the Undercity and then the zeppelin from Undercity to Orgrimmar.

So get there before 5pm EDT if you want to run with the guildies. All latecomers can just meet us at Booty Bay.

For more info about It came from the Blog, please see our FAQ.

The day has arrived. A little while ago, we challenged you fans to get us over 9000 Twitter followers, and somehow, some way, you delivered. So now we have to keep our promises -- tomorrow, the WoW Insider Show, which has only ever been an audio podcast, will include video with our live feed, and you'll be able to see the faces of all your favorite bloggers (for better or worse). Turpster and I will be dressed in our finest threads, we'll be toasting champagne (so bring your own if you want to toast with us, 21+ please), and we'll host a cavalcade of bloggers and friends of the show on live video. We've got some surprises planned, and hopefully Ustream will hold up under the strain -- whatever happens, it'll surely be wild.

The show begins our Ustream page at May 23, 2009 3:30 PM EDT , or you can jump after the break to see an embedded feed. The audio archive of the show will appear here on Monday, and we'll have a video version on Ustream, but unfortunately Ustream will only save one video stream -- mine. So if you want to see Turpster and our guests on video, someone in the live audience might have to Fraps it out. And directly after the show, we'll be spending some time on Zangarmarsh (It Came From the Blog is our guild over there on Horde side, and I'll be hanging out and dueling Peggle if you want to stop by).

Whew. It will be memorable, I can guarantee that. We'll also talk a little bit of Warcraft, and of course we'll talk about the new WoW.com and what it means for the podcast as well. We'll see you (and by see you, I mean you'll actually see us) tomorrow afternoon.

Leveling, questing, PvPing, raiding, Lunar Festival achievements... that's what the WoW Insider team is doing this weekend: a little bit of everything. And if you aren't up to anything Saturday afternoon, you could join us for some fun with our guild, It Came from the Blog, on Zangarmarsh (US), Horde-side, to hang out, collect some festival coins, and chat. But some of us, apparently, have been skipping Wrathgate, a quest-chain which is without question one of the most impressive in the game. Why would anyone do that to themselves?

Michael Gray explains it for us: Fishing up Old Crafty, so I can complete my Warthgate quest series. I really want to finish levelling my Paladin, but Old Crafty mocks me. In my sleep. In nightmares. Like some drooling, fanged monster.

And apparently Michael isn't the only one. Daniel chimed in to say "I leveled from 1 to 270 fishing in Instance Ogrimmar before finally giving up and finishing Wrathgate. Then I came back later and got Crafty on the second cast. Old Ironjaw in Ironforge still eludes me though." But, sadly, not all of us thought up this strategy in advance. Matt Rossi joined in with, "Wait, you're not finishing Wrathgate so you can go to the Org that's phased for Martial Law? Sneaky, I like it."

For the rest of the team -- and to add your own thoughts on skipping Wrathgate -- read on!

Reader comments – ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

(Baby) Spice, spice, baby Readers seem to have cooked up a satisfying solution to the problem of thoughtless creeps who park their mounts atop summoning stones, flight masters and other necessities, blocking them from use. "LOL, whenever I see a giant Tauren on his Humongous Impressive War Mammoth parked on the Dalaran flight master, it's Baby Spice to the rescue," giggles Euphronius. "Nothing more hilarious than seeing him reduced to the size of a Great Dane." Woof.

Did you know that WoW Insider has a guild? It is an event-oriented, excruciatingly casual guild called It Came from the Blog and it resides on Zangarmarsh, US, Horde-side. . We haven't done anything since Hallow's End, but it's time to dust off the cobwebs and go visit some Elders.

That's right, this Saturday, ICftB will be celebrating the Lunar Festival by honoring our Elders and collecting Ancient Coins. Here are the details:

• When: Saturday, January 31st, 6PM Eastern (3PM Pacific, 4PM Server time)
• Where: Bank in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh, U.S.
• Who: Any Horde character with at least 3 silver and not in the service of the Lich King. (Death Knights are fine as long as they have finished their initial quests and have been accepted by Thrall.)
• How: Just send a tell to Robiness or any It Came from the Blog member to get an invite to the raid and the guild