All Things Azeroth

Welcome to the new site for my show on MMO Radio, Know Your Role. I am going to work on this site, and will use it to talk about the show, the news in WoW, and my information on what you can do to participate in the show. Enjoy the site, and see ya in game!

I have followed the hottest meme in podcasting, the Frappr Maps, and made one for the podcast. I also have one for my podcast, but if you are a WoW player and liusten to my talk show, I would encourage you to hop on over and put a pin in the map and let me, and the rest of the listeners, where the listeners are from.

You all, I assume, know or have noticed that my podcasts, both Know Your Role and Canadian Geek Podcast, have pretty much gone stagnant. Well, I hope that some new developments will change this fact. As I mentioned before, the reason that CGP pretty much pod faded since the beginning of the year was because I moved back to my parents, and my time and ability to podcast pretty much died.

I often do my info gathering and podcasting late in the evening, but when the rest of the house is asleep, the podcast either is forced to change, or ends up fading. I also found it hard to podcast when my shifts were so varied that I would often close one night and need to be back to work with barely enough time to take a bus home, sleep, wake up and go back to work.

Now I find myself in a job with a shift variance of no more than 2 hours from day to day, and I will be moving to my own place again within a few days. I am not sure yet when my internet will be up, but I do plan to at least do some podcast recording within a few weeks or even a few days. Look for new podcasts within the first week or two of August!

I just wanted to pop in before I start work quick to let you all know, across all my sites, that last night I recorded a new episode of Know Your Role, where I discuss some of the stuff in WoW, like the 1.12 patch, the news surrounding the upcoming expansion, Democracy in WoW's creation, and more. I hope you'll all take a listen, and pardon the echo. On the upside, I am told I should be into my new place by the end of next week!

Due to the kindness of a Shadow Walker, my guild in World of Warcraft, I am back in World of Warcraft. The last time I played was the 28th of June, and I must say that taking the break I did has helped, I think. I no longer feel the need to be around and in game all the time. My two main characters are 60, I am happy with my life outside of game, and I am excited about the stuff we have heard so far about the expansion.

My Druid will get to fly, my Paladin will get to be a real tank, taunt and all, if I go that route. There is going to be a lot of new content to explore when the expansion hits, and lots to explore in the world of outlands. From the minimal research I have done, checking fan sites, Google Video and YouTube, it looks awesome. For those who haven't doing the obcessive research I have, the videos that have popped up online are showing stuff like what one sees upon passing through the dark portal.

This is including an as yet unnamed pit lord, though reportedly not Magtheridon as he should be in Hellfire Citadel having orcs doing naughty things to him, automatically known flight paths to at least one location per faction, and plenty fo shiny new excalamation points for all of us to rush to, undoutedly adding tot he hilarious comics pointing out that some NPCs must be pretty rich with their poor return on quest items.

Another video that has come out has shown the different class looks and body features of the two new races, including facial tentacles for draenei and ears of the blood elves. I am still looking for one comparing the visual effects fo the two elven races, which I know some are curious about and thus will undoubtedly be done in due time.

Another thing I am looking forward to, as a miner, is the Jewelcrafting profession. The word has come down that Jewelcrafting will require the act of prospecting for gems from ores that are mined around the worlds. I have a couple of stacks of the higher end ores already, Dark Iron, Thorium, Trusilver and Mithril, and plan to make a fair number of trips around Elwynn to get Copper, Westfall for tin, and Duskwood for Iron, with Silver and gold mixed liberaly as well.

I also plan to go build up my supply of herbs on Arita, as he will soon, I think, be making som good amount of gold off of the lower level potions and herbs due to the large number of Draenei and the larger availability of auction houses in the Draenei city of Exodar. Hell, I might even make a horde character to go between Booty Bay and Silvermoon.

I am of the confident opinion that the Expansion will be out before November is over, and likely out by the 23rd of November, the 2 year anniversary of the game's launch, and which will also be the day before black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year in the US. That means that, if I am right, we will have the expansion in a month's time of when I am writing this.

This is an especially good time for me, as I will be having the weekend after that off from work, and can explore outlands and earn XP galore for a good day or two straight. That also means that, if I am right, which I was for the launch of the game, that I, and many of you, have 1 month with which we can enjoy the game as it is. We can use Decursive, we can gain gold for XP(if you are 60) and if not 60, you have 1 month to get as many levels as possible before the world changes dramatically.

As before I left WoW for a time, anyone can find me in WoW on the Argent Dawn server, I will likely be on my Druid, Arita, or my Paladin, Medros, and will be trying to get as prepared fro the expansion as one can get. Add me to friends and toss me a letter in game if you wish, I will do all I can to help any and all friends, known and new.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 2.0.3 (01/09/2007)

Azeroth is under attack!

Hey folks, I know its been awhile since we put out a show. I just started a new job, and am adapting to that, but we plan to record a new show soon. As for the remainder of the conversation, I may just give the original file a quick listen for long breaks and stuff, and release it. If I do, expect it by Monday evening. In the meantime, you can check out my new blog, From the Abbey to Outlands, for updates on how I am doing in game.

Lelia informed me tonight that she has stepped down as the co-host of All Things Azeroth. As such, all further content is on hold until such time as a replacement, or plan, is set forth. If you wish to submit yourself for consideration for the role, please send an MP3 of you discussing WoW for a minimum of 5 minutes. Pandering to my opinions, while not likely to exclude the applicant, will not increase your Medros rep in any way. Those files should be sent to cdngeek at gmail dot com. Please enjoy the episodes that were released, and I hope to soon have some new for you.

Ok, I figured that after so many of you are being so patient with me, I would give you an update on what's going on. First and foremost, I wanted to reassure everyone that Episode 4 has been recorded, with guest host and applicant for permanent status, Apollo IV. The Azerothian Addon segments on the Elf and Dwarf are going awesome, and while their recent show caused me a bit of inconvenience, since they mentioned some planned mods, it is still full steam ahead. If I was only doing a 3 minute show every week, I think I could easily release a weekly show, but then I would make a cheap show for you all. I hope to have the new episode out by the end of the weekend, but time and illness will be the deciding factors there.

As for WoW, my hunter is nearly 63, my Paladin and Druid are progressing nicely, and the word I am getting it that we should have the new 2.1 patch either the 15th or 22nd. I hope to have episode 4 out before it, but I have no control over the patch. The mod pack is pretty successful, with a few hundred downloading it, and while I am not sure how, I would like to find a way to make it smaller than 12 MB. I know what makes it so fracking big, but am not sure I am willing to lose the mods that are the problem. I plan to give mod makers 2 weeks from patch day to update or scrap their mods before I go out and find the good, recommendable mods, and include them. Is MetaMap a big mod for people? Could it be tossed from the mod pack? Email me.

I know a few people are probably curious about the absense of a new episode of All Things Azeroth. I am saddened to report that it will be a little longer before we see a new episode than I had hoped. As it stands I have not received the audio from the guest host for episode 4 to merge with mine. Also, I am offline until Saturday the 26th of May due to an ISP issue that will not be resolved until I move that weekend. I am certain of one thing, that the audio in the new place will be a whole new experience due to low quality building materials in my new residence and a more open living space than current. Time will tell on the audio quality from the new place, and what can be done to resolve issues that arise. Again, I am really sorry, but at this point it looks like it may be either late May or early June before the 4th episode is released. Hope to hear from you soon.
-Medros

I think I have found the trick. I expect tonight to be releasing episode 4 of All Things Azeroth. It's a short half hour or less episode on the stuff I like and dislike about WoW, though I could have done a whole half hour on the stuff I like if I didn't set a hard time limit for myself. I am about half done the hard editing now, and only need to finish the edit, about an hour and a half of heads down no interrupt work, and then mix in the music bed and do the tagging. I think it is as much psychological as anything that this half hour episode has taken very little time to edit compared to the hour and a half shows I used to do. 1/3 of a hour and a half show would often take me a week, while this has taken me 2 nights of 45-60 minutes of editing. Look for ep 4 soon.

The day's coverage began with many players criticizing the news site WoW Insider for not being willing to cover unverifiable rumors that fan sites like MMO Champion where reporting. Statements of being behind the curve and too slow to be a real source of information came from several readers, even when WoW Insider confirmed for themselves via a Blizz staff member, which is rather laughable seeing as how it proves the difference between a fan site and a new site.

Semantics and opinions aside, the big news was revealed yesterday, fueling a huge amount of hype and speculation. While I have said several times that I didn't think level 80 was enough for facing off against the combined powers of Arthas and the Lich King, and thus had predicted we'd have an Ocean based expansion first, and maybe at level 90 we'd be powerful enough for Arthas. I still think we are too weak, but I guess that is why I do not make these games.

Other highlights of the features already announced for the expansion are that we will go to Northrend, where we will face mobs such as the Tuskarr, Vrykul(15 foot tall viking like mobs), and possibly blue dragons as well. The home city of Northrend, the Shattrath of Northrend if you will, is going to be a transported Dalaran, which float above the lands of Northrend. Surprising no one, Blizz took this chance to get a few laughs with an animation of the beloved purple dome floating up to Northrend.

This expansion will bring to the game several features people have wanted, and in some cases Blizzard has suggested, since before the original launch of the game. Hero classes, starting with at least the Death Knight class, will be coming in the expansion, as well as Siege Weapons in Battle Grounds, and improve character customizations, even on existing characters. Can you say hair salons? I knew you could. Hair will not be the only customization, as dances and other features will be customizable, but Blizzard developers did say that plastic surgery would likely not be in the expansion.

From the Expansion panel, where Developers gave more details than the general publicity stuff of the main announcement, we learned the names, designs, and details about the first 4 zones of Northrend that are done right now. The main entry points to Northrend will be the Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra zones, the first being home to Utgarde Keep and the aforementioned large, evil vikings who have become corrupted by the Lich King Arthas, and the second being home to Tuskarr with Naga apparently working to melt the glacial lands of the Tundra.

The other 2 zones that Blizzard introduced where Grizzly Hills, home to some unpleasant Furbolg, and Dragonblight, the graveyard of the dragon flights, and suspected home of the Blue Dragonflight and their aspect, Malygos. I saw no information on which zone Dalaran will be in, but Blizzard did say it will be floating in the sky of Northrend, and accessible by land and by flying mounts, which will give us our first chance to control our own mounts in Azeroth. In response to a question on whether we will need new flying mounts for Northrend, a developer answered that there will be new mounts available, but old ones should still work.

As I said before, WoW players have been waiting for Hero Classes for almost 3 years, and the general consensus seems to be that while Death Knights are a good start, many hope there are other hero classes at the expansion's launch to allow players more choice and broader variations to the available hero classes. When asked about additional character slots, the original answer was no, but after much negative reaction from the audience, the devs said they would look into it.

The sense I got from what I read is that this may be simply a delaying tactic. I guess we will see. I would be happy with a different character selection screen for Heroes, but as my main server has currently 10/10 characters, if they do not have some way to add to the max limit, I would not be able to get a hero class. I would be more than a little disappointed at this. I hope we will see some news on this over the next few months.

Some of the stuff we learned about the hero class Death Knight is that it will have undead minion pets, wear plate, and have proficiency in bladed weapons. It will use runes instead of mana, with spells using specific rune combinations, each a mix of the three run types, frost, unholy, and blood. Death Knights will perform shadow spells, and will almost be a mix of the two classes Blizzard wanted to introduce in the beginning, Death Knight and Necromancer. The hero class will begin at somewhere between 55 and 70, and be a raid centric character, with the stated ability to 'hang out with Arthas'.

Some of the changes they stated that would be coming between now and the expansion is another CoT instance, the previously announced Zul'Aman, Voice chat, and Guild banks, more daily quests, dealing with stuff like cooking, battlegrounds, and at least one dungeon. We can eventually expect to see an improvement on the lowbie grind, more information on the new Inscription profession, and much more. Oh, and for those interested, Inscription can allow you to add effects and power to spells you already have.

I hope you like my summary/review of the news out of BlizzCon, and please stay tuned for the next episode of All Things Azeroth, coming sometime this coming week.

After much consideration, I have decided to take on a sponsor for this here lowly
podcast, at least on a trial basis. This means that it is pretty likely that your RSS
feed has recently downloaded, or attempted to download, about 45 episodes of the
podcast due to some changes made to my RSS feed. I want to apologize briefly for this.
I plan and hope that this will be the last time you will have to see this occurrence.

You will also, if you are reading this, see an ad up top for my new sponsor. I have
known of Gotomeeting for a long time, but I only recently had the opportunity to check
them out. This is a first for me on my podcast, as the only ad offers before were for
gold sellers, which I adamantly refused due to my stand on the product, so I hope you
will all show my sponsor the respect they deserve for taking the plunge in supporting
this podcast, and at least check out their 45 day free trial offer.

Hopefully they will stay around, perhaps other offers will come my way, but for the
time being, this is where we're at.

This from WoW Insider, a new community for WoW bloggers and their fans can talk about stories and ideas in one easy place. Blog Azeroth is a great place to meet the bloggers you read every day(including me) and discuss hot topics in the World of Warcraft with those who are the most passionate about the game. With a section for podcasts, another for blogging tools, and tips for those who are planning to blog WoW. Check it out, and tell them Medros sent you!