Seasonal: October 2008 Archives

So a lot has been said lately in the blog world about the Wrath lead up events surrounding the plague and the zombies found all around the world. There seem to be two sides in this debate, the Infected and the Defending. The defenders are annoyed with the infected cause they keep turning the NPCs needed for training, quests, and bartering into Zombies. They recruit the classes who can cure the plague to their side, begging them to eliminate the threat to their game play. Some on RP servers like my own Argent dawn use the reason/excuse 'I am RPing, don't break my RP'. I think that like, while normally acceptable, is being abused and by some who don't use it sincerely.

The Infected are out to convert. Some convert everyone they see, some convert those interested, and some just convert NPCs. The plague can overwhelm any single player or NPC easily, and enough converts to the undead in your group, you can quite quickly overtake a small town, then a bigger town, and perhaps eventually the cities. These players alledge that many of the so called 'defenders' are griefing their attempts to RP the spread of the plague and can often get very vocal in their anger when cleansed or killed mid campaign.

So we have two sides, both angry and hostile toward one another. Some say this world event is poorly timed, a distruption to their game, and claim the right to seek penalties for their goals being hindered by Zombies, plague, and players. So many opinions, so many aggravations, and add to that the fact that we still have Hallow's End going on for a full week, and you have a really volatile mix of opinions, aggravations, and stress. So who is right? Well, All and none. To those who say Blizzard should not have World Events, I say 'there's the door'. Players love world events like Hallow's End, Winter Veil, and more. They also love the lead up events.

The Burning Crusade lead up event was.. a little boring. There was a big boss, but he rarely spawned. There was stuff at the portal, but it got so bad it killed most servers and made the quest from there nearly impossible to complete. The Defenders and the Infected should both get along, with neither playing God Mode. Even the Paladins of the Silver Hand could not cure all of those plague ridden, or Lordaeron would not have fallen. Not all of the Cult of the Damned got their way, got their wish, and died to be risen as undead. A well played out RP would have a win some, lose some basis, and I think that anyone looking to play either role needs to see that, and accept that in their story. What do you think?

The patch 3.0.2 has been out for about a week now, and I have taken a close look at the trends of what people have been doing since the patch hit. I think I have discovered what the 1 month between 3.0.2 hit and the expansion comes out will be for. I have seen guildie after guildie heasd back to the old world, you know, that content that is dead and gone? Yeah, the Achievements, the Inscriptions, the Hallow's End, and eventually I am sure in a few weeks we will see the Wrath events lead us back to the old world of Azeroth and Kalimdor to face off against the Lich King as has been hinted to in the sound files.

True, the patch did bring us new talents and some new profession abilities, but even those brought us back to the old cities to train. I am really beginning to be convinced that all about this, these events, are a ploy to push us all back into the old world content. Sure, there are Outlands acheivements, but there are more people running pre BC dungeons, for acheivements, for events, for exploration, than I have in the last two years. What do you all think?

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?