General: October 2008 Archives

I thought I would post a medley of thoughts on this, an All Hallow's Eve, seeing as you get a mix of the interesting and the odd in your goodie bags on this day, and I may as well keep the tradition alive.

I am a long time lover of weapon buffs like oils and stones that increase the stats of a weapon. My Druid keeps a healthy stock of Superior Wizard Oil, and Medros and Telaan both stock heavily in the sharpening stoned, since both use axes now. According to Verimonde on the forums these temporary enchant items will no longer be made, since they take some of the unique aspects of certain classes away. I will say I hope to see them buff the weapons we get by those often useful and critical stats.

I am one of the many people who, even though I do not play Feral, is eager to get new feral form art. I may not be in those forms, like cat, travel, and bear, much, but I do like to go into then often enough that I would welcome new forms for the feral side of the shapeshifters. Blizzard has always, and remains cagey about when this might come, but it seems to be coming more assuredly now, eventually at least.

Blizzard long ago gave up the notion of handing out game time credits whenever there was a hiccup in a realm, but they have continued to be fair when major disruptions happen in game time, and the 3.0.2 patch, along with it's related server instability and 18 hour down time, is one such case. Therfore, says Nethaera, all accounts in North America and Europe will receive a 3 day game credit.

In the wake of the news we will get credit for the extreme state of the servers after the 3.0.2 patch hit, I have begun to ponder a bit what we might expect on the 13th, since this will not only have new old world content, but Northrend and Acherus content as well,which might well kill off the realms. I am thinking I might get a toon or two to Northrend and roll my Death Knight, Connroe, and then stick to Outlands for a bit. Wait, ok, I can't even say that sincerely. Of COURSE I will go to Northrend and venture amongst the hordes of players on the continent!

Blizzard did a waffle manuever yesterday, first announcing they were scrapping the class forum arrangement, and instead going with a role based forum arrangement. Then, because they got untold flack for bringing the worst trolls of the game into their flame filled heaven, they waffled and announced they will keep the class forums and merely add the role forums, organized as Damage, Tank, and Healing classifications, in order to enable the most productive forum discussions. While Blizzard did say why they made the original change, the biggest outcry, and the most reasonable, was that forcing people into role based forums would give all the the 'stfu, you don't know shit' type trolls an easy to find location for their many targets. Ret nerf incoming? Better hit the damage forums so we can mock the reasonable and valid complaints for no reason other than shits and giggles!' Thank you Blizzard, for keeping the sanity and the signal to noise of the forums to a tolerable level.

Lastly, and the biggest news, is that World of Warcraft has now reached 11 million(11,000,000) players worldwide. I have predicted, in the past, both that WoW could reach 15 million by the end of 2009, and that they might lose a lot of players due to mistakes surrounding this patch. Both could potentially come true, but congrats Blizz for reaching this momentous milestone. I look forward to your 12 and 13 million announcements in the coming months!

Sorry for the tardiness on this post, but yesterday was a big recording day for me, getting some All Things Azeroth episodes pre recorded for the upcoming NaPodPoMo, and just ran out of time before bed that would allow me to write this post. If you'll recall the last couple of posts I have showed you the mods that went bad, the new mods I found to fill the roles I needed, and today I am going to go over the mods that, like a rock, stayed by my side like a good friend.

I wouldn't say WIM was a rock, more a strong tree, but still it's there, and it does work well enough. It feels like it's lost some of it's features, like tab to move to the next window, but for now it's working enough to be useful. One mod that remained strong, though feeling incomplete, is Titan Panel. Like it's bar based competitor, FuBar, Titan Panel allows mod authors to write plugins for it, and that is there I have found Titan falling short. Many of the plugins I most cherished have not been updated, and therefore do not work as well as I would like.

I was pretty sure when I saw Ark Inventory available for use in the beta, I would be able to upgrade to it when the patch hit, and I was dead on. The patch showed that AI was fully functional and ready to go on patch day, and I rejoiced in the knowledge I would have that small piece of comfort. Auctioneer is another one that works, though I have not spent much time in the auction house to do testing to ensure all of it's features are where they should be in the mix.

When it comes to raiding, Deadly Boss Mods was a mod I knew would need to be done, because many raid groups count on it to be polished and working or wipes can, and often do ensue. Thankfully DBM didn't even hiccup in the face of 3.0.2, in fact it did better than expected in game queues for boss events like the rain in Zul'aman. Omen, likewise, is essential to any good raider and was updated, with a new parchment look, for the patch, and hasn't showed a bit of hesitancy since. In fact, I like the new config interface better, as it clearly shows me how to change that horrid 'you're getting aggro' sound off.

Chatter is working, though it was copied from the old install, so I can't say it's a rock, since it hasn't stayed strong, just stayed functional. The quest log combo of DoubleWide and Lightheaded were updated within a few days, allowing for useful and happy questing throughout my WoW time. Pally Power is working nicely, though I am still grasping how it works and how to customize it properly. I am using AlphaMap again, which is a cute little map mod that shows on mouse over the current zone's map. Minimap Button Frame is also working, thought here is not a lot to the mod other than clearing up the minimap from the clutter of buttons that seemingly every mod tosses up there.

Gatherer was a mod that many in my guild were worried might not be fixed for the patch, and while it was not on day of, a couple days later it was updated and working, once again recording herbs and mineral spawns found in my travels. Lastly Statusbars, a mod I find essential for keeping my eyes on the action instead of wandering to the edges of my screen, was updated quickly, cleanly, and without any problems. I am loving the ability it gives me to see what's going on in front of me, and know if I need to run, heal, bubble, or push my DPS to the max in a fight if it is close.

That's about it. There was a couple of new mods I forgot to mention yesterday, like Class Bars v3, The Collector, and Mapster. The first I find invaluable to my play style, giving me more of my bars with which I can use for more critical abilities. The second helped with the pet and mount achievements by easily showing you what you do not yet have. the last is a replacement for the MetaMap mod, which I always found hogged my resources more than I liked. And there we have it, my mods in a nutshell. Below you can see a peak at my UI.

I wrote yesterday about the mods I sadly had to abandon from my post 3.0.2 world, well today I will talk about the mods that I have found since patch day and have fallen in mod-whore love with. Enjoy this list, and look forward tomorrow to the next in my impromptu series on mods; the mods which never went bad.

As I mentioned yesterday, Skillet is my new mod for crafting my items, be they gems, armor, or potions. Combine that mod, which allows me to search and craft based on a number of parameters, with TradeTabs, which puts a tab for every crafting profession that you know. This is a really simply, very useful way to keep all of my professions easily accessible and usable. I do not know if either of these are, or need to be updated for Inscription, however comments are down below if you want to test them out.

I fell in love, or back in love with TrainerSkills in the beta. I used to use this, or a mod like this, ages ago. It basically tells you when you can learn something and what that is. Whether it be a new class skill on ding, or a new profession item on reaching a certain point, these things are all clearly pointed out to you in the chat window of your choice. A long lost mod, come back and just as awesome as before!

Since I am trying to avoid the crutch of CT Mod, I have been forced to go elsewhere for a few things I loved about the package. TipTop takes care of the tooltip placement problem, though it admittedly took a bit to get the tooltip right where I like it, which is to say center of my screen right below TitanPanel. oRA2 is a mod recommended by a guildie as we prepared for a post 3.0.2 raid, and realized that CTRA had been abandoned. I replaced the bar mods part of CT Mod, which was always more broken than fixed, with Dominos, though I have a Druid in Cat while Prowling bug I had to fix. Lastly I have not yet found a fix for the mail mod, but I am working on it and have a few leads.

The last batch of mods I have come across is the Achievement mods. Overachiever is a nice mod that helps me track where I am on an achievement, and it also changes exploration tracking based on zones and the /love you've given, or need to give to critters all over the world. AchievementSS is a cool mod which takes a screenshot whenever you complete and achievement, no matter where you are. Lastly, we have Urban Achiever, which is accessed by /ua and allows you to search for any achievement, text for an achievement, or criteria in order to find an achievement.

So there you have it. A few of the neat new mods I have found in this, the post 3.0.2 mod world. Like I said before, check back for the strong and true mods that never, or barely faltered for me when modpocalypse hit. [Update: Dominos not only allowed me to turn off the bar changing in prowl mode, but also turn off the moonkin bar change! I have more bars now!]

Hallow's end, with it's tricks and treats, horsemen and helping little orphans across the world, is finally back in full swing. Last year we saw the introduction of the first ever seasonal boss, the Headless Horseman, who quickly became one of the most farmed bosses in Azeroth. There were a few snags, like the brooms not using their true duration and the forced SM reset to summon the Horseman, but in the end the event went off stunningly, and it's only gotten better this year!

This year each of the major inns of the world has a Trick or Treat pumpkin that, at 70, rewards a sweet 4 gold and change, plus some minor stat food that does not count toward your Well Fed buff. The Horseman is back, and easier to summon this time, which is much like Coren Direbrew and Lord Ahune, and he has even better loot. The rings are still there, decent for their level, but not great, and now the mount drops are infinitetly better. Instead of dropping 4 brooms, the Horseman drops 1 broom which adjusts it's speed to the player's skill level and location, and also now drops a permaneant mount much like his horse. No screens are up yet of the mount, but I am sure we will see some soon.

The biggest new thing this year, for me, is the Hallowed Be Thy Name event achievement. The Horde and Alliance side of the achievement have 12 parts each, and once completed you will be awarded a title '<name> The Hallowed'. The various parts are a lot of work, but they also earn you a lot of gold for the time it takes. Flying around to the various inns, killing the Horseman over and over, all of this is a lot of fun. My one bit of sadness is that now, when Telaan is high enough to get and make use of the Hallowed Helm, there are a lot of people who will be rolling against me for it. What are you looking forward to most from the Hallow's End Festival?

Today we have 38 days until we can begin hopping on boats and zepplins to travel to Northrend and begin the much touted Death Knight Starting Experience. I thought I would go over a few things that you, me, or anyone can do to pass the next 38 rotations of our big blue marble.

Farm Herbs - With the new Inscription profession coming in the patch that is expected to go live in 9 days, there are a multitude of herbs that you can gather, even if you are a level 70 and fresh to herbalism. If you want to check out the numbers of herbs you may need to get a character up to 375, the level that you will be able to learn up to before the actual expansion.

Farm Ore - Once you have all the herbs you want, you may want to think a bit on the professions your Death Knight, if you choose to make one, will have. Mine will be going Incription/Weaponsmith, since the Death Knight's most noticeable piece of gear is his blade. I would look into the burn rate on materials for the profession, including the steps needed to become a Weaponsmith, then begin gathering those materials up to power to 375 Blacksmithing as early as possible into Wrath.

Prepare for Achievements - There are hundreds of achievements coming in Wrath, and while some will have to wait for the expansion to go live, there are plenty of Achievements you can begin working on now, like exploration, professional, and more. You can go to dungeons, go to NPCs, or just wait for 3.0.2 to be live and start /love'ing the critters in your life.

Grind Rep - There are a number of reputation Achievements in the expansion that rely on reputations, and some of those even award titles. If you are a druid, you might find the Guardian of Cenarius to be one destined for your To Do list, and with the huge leaps in rep for the Encrypted Twilight Texts, you can get the rare Exalted Cenarion Circle part done in no time, assuming you are 70.

Obtain the Impossible - When 3.0.2 hits, there are several raid based rewards that will no longer be available, so why not spend some time now shooting for them? Champion of the Naaru, Hand of Ad'al, and the Amani Warbear are all going bye bye, for those who do not have them, once the new patch goes live, so I encourage you to go for them with all you have, if that is your wish.

There you have it, folks, a short list among many things you can do to pass your time for the next 38 days, that is if you are not participating in one election or another, working your ass off to earn the time off to play Wrath, or just, ya know, taking a break and trying out the competition while they are still around. What are you doing for the next 38 days?

A few days back I saw an entry from Siha, over at the best Paladin blog around, Banana Shoulders, that Pike made a challenge to folks to show their banks. Well, I have 4 level 70 characters, and a mule with his own 3 tab guild bank, so I am not going to show all of them. I will, though, show a couple of my level 70 banks. First we have my main, Medros.
So what we have is the bank on the right, and bags on the left. The bank has a fair number of pets/mounts(the section I am calling the 3.0.2 consumables), but the bags have the most. I count about 45 pets or so and I am still working in live on getting more. The next section over is random soulbound items, ones that I pick up from mobs, stuff like the Picnic Basket, and so on. The far right section at the top is my gear. Weapons or armor that I get, make, or buy. Yeah, there is a lot. A few pieces are sentimental, like the first Blue I got in Outlands, the mace given to Med by Tirion Fordring, and Uther's Strength, all which are connected to the back story of Medros.

Bottom row we have the quest items, like the warbeads, insignias, and so on. Some of these and some from the top middle will be turned into currency in a special tab come Wrath. Next over we have food, and as you can tell, I have some of the top of the line. Next we have consumables. Potions, elixits, temporary weapon enchants, all of these will go right here. Lastly we have trade goods. The stuff that falls into this is stuff like the Primals, motes, ore, bars, and, in other professions, herbs, gems, and so on. Your cloth goes here, and apparently so does my Pumpkin Bag from 2 Hallow's End ago.


Now for Telaan's bag and bank. I have a couple of different rows for this toon. The top row, which I will one day set up on all my toons(likely post Wrath), is his RP gear, I will likely set up 'sections' for each of my toon's possible specs. For Med, Telaan, and Arita it would be one section for DPS, Tank, and Heal, just so I can keep these straight. When I post the wedding photos(coming soon I promise) you will see that Telaan has all of the gear up there on, except the ring, which his beloved gave to him. There are a couple alternate pieces, but otherwise it's all original. Next to that we have the enchanters stuff, a section set up for my enchanting toon.

Otherwise everything is set up the same as Med. On Telaan there is a Miners bag and a gem bag, which allows me to stock the plentiful ore and powder, as well as the decent number of gems. Until we had a date for Wrath, there was more than 40 of each rare gem, and more of the uncommon gems. I do not keep epic gems in stock, as they are too unpredictable to risk. Last thing I wanted to point out was the gold that Telaan has. 11,325 gold at time of screen shot, and has almost 12,000 now. He is the stores for my pre Wrath stock piling, and all excess gold goes to him.

To answer a few questions I expect to get, the bag mod is Ark Inventory, which allows you to look at the keyring, bags, bank, wearing, and guild vault of any toon you have on any realm. The mod that shows the gold in the red line there, that is called Simple Gold. It easily, on mouse over, shows your gold on every character, and without mouse over it shows the gold on your current one. It's a handy mod to have, especially when you want to know where you can snag gold from in a pinch. Enjoy my bags, and let me know what interesting things you have!

So we look to have a date for the upcoming 3.0.2 patch, which will bring in some of the features of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, so I thought I would give you the lowdown on the stuff that will make it into 3.0.2 based on the latest PTR builds, what you have to wait until the expansion for, and what won't be in until much later on.

The Patch - We know we will see the Barbershop feature in the patch, giving us the chance to finally change those hairstyles we've had for up to four years. Achievements will make it in, so while a few will wait for many of the Achievements that require Northrend to complete, we can get many of our desired achievements out of the way before we slag through the lengthy install process for the expansion. Inscription will be active, which is surprising a lot of people since Jewelcrafting was not available unless you had the expansion. A feature we will see that has many of my character's banks rejoicing is the Pets/Mounts tab, which will be in for the patch. Thousands of vanity pets will soon find a new home!

Hunters will get to customize their pets in a new talent style of ability system, with the old system of training points going the way of the Ghost Wolf. Hunters will also get Exotic pets, so expect to see Devilsaurs, Rhinos, Chimeras and Worms in your local bank. Stormwind Harbor will finally open up, and King Varian Wrynn will return to Stormwind, bringing a new era to the land of Azeroth. The patch will bring in new UI features like the Calendar system, built in threat meter, and many new emotes.

In the way of combat we will also be seeing several stat changes. Hit, Crit, and Haste will affect Melee and Spell attacks, while Spell Damage and Healing stats will be unified into a universal Spell Power, meaning more gear can be shared between the various casting classes. Lastly on this section, channeling and casting interrupts are changing, with any hits after the second no longer interrupting or stopping a cast bar, though I believe full spell interrupts like Kick and Counterspell will still work as usual. As you can tell, the patch will be bringing some big things for all players of the game.

The Expansion - As big as the patch is, the expansion is even bigger. Of course we get to travel to Northrend, which can be accessed from boats in either Stormwind Harbor or Menethil Harbor. There is also the leveling to 80 thing, which is a pretty important expansion-only feature to mention. From my travels in beta, this is going to be an area that is well worth the time to buy the expansion for. The mobs are interesting, and often unique. The zones are huge, and each has many quest hubs. Medros, one of my Paladins, has gone through all of Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, Howling Fjord, and part of Grizzly Hills before he hit 76.

I am in Sholazar Basin, have left a bunch of unfinished quests in Grizzly Hills, and I have yet to enter any Northrend instances. I haven't even touched quests in Zul'Drak, Crystalsong(quests Not Yet Implemented), Storm Peaks, or Icecrown. I feel it is quite possible Medros could ding 80 without even touching the top two zones, and on Live it would be even easier with guildies to run dungeons with. No need to worry, folks, there will be no lack of things to do when Wrath hits, even beyond the 80 Ding.

With reaching 80, you immediately have the chance to hop into the 10 man Naxxramas dungeon, which is followed by the 25 man, and the other three Raid dungeons, The Nexus, Eye of Eternity, and Ulduar. According to Blizzard's reps, you should be able to enter Naxx 10 man with just the quest and dungeon gear you have when you hit 80 or shortly thereafter, and the gear progresses naturally from there. While Icecrown Glacier the raid will not be in at launch, it should launch in 3.1, which can be expected a couple months into 2009.

While we have not seen any sign yet of the Dance studios, the Death Knight is definitely the biggest thing not yet listed, and it will require the expansion to create one. You too get to go through the Starting Experience, likely the first example of the implemented phasing technology Blizzard has made a huge deal of that most people will see. You will be able to Death Grip people from vast distances, summon ghouls from the bones of friends and enemies, and ride and walk on water using the Path of Frost ability given to our friends of the Ebon Blade.

Of course we have the little stuff, like new profession abilities, discovery for many crafters, and so on, not to mention the excitement of the culmination of 2 years of Blizzard's efforts. So while there is no doubt plenty to get excited about in patch 3.0.2 when it hits, expected to be on Octber 14th, there is yet more to get pumped about in Wrath of the Lich King, on store shelves, and online, November 13th.