Posts with tag shattrath

So with patch 2.4 coming on us soon, I was thinking about it, and I have to say that I can't remember the last time I was filled with this much anticipation over a patch. Aside from 1.8, which made Feral Druids viable, this might be my favorite patch. But why do I love it? Why can't I wait until the servers come up on patch day and we're allowed in?

Let me count the ways! Here's 7 relatively simple reasons that I am watching my computer like a hawk, waiting for 2.4 to make it live.

Every day we put out a call for user submitted screenshots and every day since the beginning of the Lunar Festival, we've asked you to refrain from sending us the seen-there done-that Omen in Ogrimmar pics. So what do we get? Why, a Pitlord in Shattrath! The player who sent us this had no explanation for this event. Anyone care to explain?

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime.

Ubarjabula, a Troll Shadow Priest on the Uther server took advantage of his Merciless Gladiator's Satin Hood, Shadowform's effects on a mount and the shaft of light courtesy of Shattrath's Naru. Together they make for quite a chilling effect. Death from above never looked so imminent.

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime. Oh, and no more shots of Omen killed in Ogrimmar. It's cool, we get it. A lot of it.

Many of us that have played the game every day over the years have developed some habits of sort. One of the habits that I've found myself doing night after night is logging off in the same spot. For me, this spot is at the staff vendor in the Aldor section of Shattrath. I find myself logging off here almost every night since I hearth back to Shat when I'm done raiding, and then go and repair immediately (less I get yelled at for not being fully repaired).

I can imagine that there are some better spots than others to log off at. In particular the PvP servers I'm sure pose certain pragmatic limitations on where you can disembark from the game. In the PvE world, I could (if I wanted to) log off anywhere in the wild. Save for the wandering aggressive mob, I would be just fine. However, I don't think this would be too good in a PvP environment.

The second phase of quest and NPC progression on the Isle of Quel'danas began a couple days ago on the US PvE PTR. Yesterday I covered the retaking of Sun's Reach Sanctum and the second phase is all about the building just across the road, the Sun's Reach Armory. The Armory is infested with demons, as you can see in the screenshot, and the new daily quests are all about driving them away.

First of all, let me state that the daily quests from phase one were still available on the PTR even after the Sanctum was taken from the Wretched. The names and quest text are a little different to reflect the changed state of the Isle, but the quest objectives and rewards remain exactly the same. It should be safe to assume that this trend will continue throughout every stage of the Shattered Sun Offensive.

I've noticed lately while running around and doing my daily cooking quest that some flames are not the same as others. This seems rather silly to me. After all, a flame is a flame, right?

For those of you that don't cook in WoW, I'll fill you in. You need to find a cooking fire every time you want to cook something. Everyone has the ability to make a simple fire, but this requires reagents, and is not something that people normally waste space on. So instead of making your own fire, you can find a premade fire, stove, kettle, etc... and cook your food there. These heat sources are spread out all over major cities and out in the wild.

But, there are oddities. For example, take these two kettles - which are the exact same model.

Thargor has done something pretty crazy, and he's throwing a party to celebrate. But unlike a few other players who've thrown big parties for a ding, he's doing something a little bigger than that. Instead of celebrating just one ding, he's going to celebrate not three, not six, but dinging nine level 70s within a half hour.

Wild. And they're all different classes, too, which means that since November of 2005, he's been simultaneously leveling all the classes at the same time (he added a Paladin when BC came out, and leveled only her for a bit to bring her up to speed. And now he's level 69 and a half across the board, and he's going to hold an event where he levels each of them to 70 at basically the same time by doing the Khadgar quest in Shattrath. No word yet on when it's going down, but Thargor, if you're reading, throw us a tip and we'll let everybody know about it.

That's crazy. I have trouble repeating the same areas twice with two alts-- I usually have to level in different places as much as possible, just to keep it interesting. But to do the same quests nine different times all at the same time-- lunacy. But super impressive-- as someone else in the thread says, he's already seen 621 dings go by.

Reader Tracer of Earthen Ring (EU) sends along this perfectly ordinary, nothing to say shot of Shattrath City. So why bother posting it here? Well, instead of catching any of the typical Shattrath scenes, Tracer seems to catch the city at an angle and time of day that it simply sparkles in the sunlight.

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world!

MMO Champion has reported that new "Specialty Ammunition Vendors" have been discovered on the PTR in patch 2.3. These vendors, Archer Delvinar and Marksman Bova, can be found in once empty structures in the Scryer and Aldor areas, respectively, in Shattrath City. Not only do they sell the best types of normal vendor ammunition outside of Halaa, but they also stock ammunition that has reputation requirements. Instead of running over to the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh every time you need to stock up on Warden's Arrows, you can now buy the same ammo in Shattrath.

The same vendors also carry ammunition that is currently only available from vendors in Honor Hold/Thrallmar and the Caverns of Time. Currently the cost of all the ammunition sold by these vendors appears to be tied to Aldor/Scryer reputation level, but still requires the specified faction requirement to actually purchase and use.

Of course, the best news is that these vendors also carry a new type of ammunition. The Mysterious Arrows and Mysterious Shells require revered reputation with the Violet Eye and provide 46.5 additional damage per second. A stack of 200 costs 1 gold without any price reductions from reputation.

Clearly these new items are meant to fill the gap between Adamantite and Timeless ammunition and help hunters that are tackling Magtheridon, Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep increase their damage output. With the new Adamantite Stingers also being added 2.3, hunters will have more options than ever before when choosing a type of ammunition.

Reader Ashendra of Glory of War on Lightning's Blade sends us this shot with the curious question: have you ever noticed that security is a bit minimal in the Aldor bank in Shattrath City? As a frequenter of the Scryer bank I have to say I'm much more confident in my banking choice after seeing this shot. (And to see what Ashendra has to say on the subject, click the image above for a higher resolution version -- in which you can read the quote.)

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world!

What can I say? I happen to think those paladin wings (aka Avenging Wrath) are one of the coolest graphical effects in the game. And this shot, by reader Kevan shows off the Paladin's winged appearance to the great backdrop of Shattrath City.

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world!

Reader Liskad of Perenolde sends us a shot of this perch high above Shattrath City. I must say, there's something about having a flying mount that drives people to explore all the high places in Outland, even if only to find the perfect place to stop and idle.

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing a copy to aroundazeroth@wow.com, with as much or as little detail as you'd like to share with the world!

Sorun is a rogue who loves his Horde-Alliance conflict. As he posted on the forums, he feels that every action and little quest in the World of Warcraft should reflect the reality of War that exists in that world, not the good old intra-faction get-together that Shattrath has turned out to be. If Dalaran is going to be a neutral city in Wrath of the Lich King, however, it could really mess up the lore and war-filled feeling of the game:

Neutral Dalaran? How does that even make any sense when horde to this day have quests to go attack the ruins of dalaran and can and have been freely killing the wizzards [sic] all around that area.

He's got a point there. What is Blizzard really going to do with Dalaran in the next expansion? Read on to see what Blizzard says about it.

Malygos is a new kind of antagonist for the Warcraft universe in that he's probably the enemy with the least actual evil we've seen so far, in sharp contrast to the Burning Legion, the Scourge, the Old Gods, and a host of others. As we've already noted, some players think he may actually be right: he wants to protect Azerothians from the magic they're dabbling in, for fear that they might end up bringing the Burning Legion back with it, except that he goes about "protecting" the people by waging war on them, which somehow eerily familiar....

Anyway, Malygos is just the latest example of an antagonist in WoW that we can almost sympathize with, a bad guy that isn't all that bad. Malygos' particular place at the other end of our attack buttons can be attributed mainly to his conflicting point of view rather than an evil and corrupted soul. His ultimate aim is still the greater good of all life -- he just believes (wrongfully, we hope) that he needs to destroy the minority of magic users in order to save the remaining majority of all other life on the world.

Some of you longtime readers may remember a while back when we posted video of A'dal (the big floaty Naaru in Shattrath's center) getting the crap beat out of him. In fact, that was the post where I coined the Lord British Postulate, which stated that if anything existed as a live creature in an MMO, someone, somewhere would try to kill it. Why hasn't that caught on by now?

But apparently A'dal is a pushover no more. When someone kited a Fel Reaver into Shattrath (that's the big tangle of lifeless metal in the upper left of the picture above), A'dal laid the smack down with a 114,952 hit. Naaru please! He ain't playin', son.

A sharp increase in the strength of the Naaru, or just a sign that Blizzard really doesn't want anyone messing around with beings made of energy? You decide.