Story of Warcraft Wallpaper and Art Updates

by Nebu Mar 29, 2013 8:00 AM PDT

New Story of Warcraft Wallpaper
We’ve just released a new wallpaper image featuring art from The Story of Warcraft , a historical record that will bring you up to speed with everything that’s happened in the Warcraft universe since the release of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.

Art Gallery update
We've updated our Trading Card Game art gallery to feature ten new pieces. Each image is taken directly from the official World of Warcraft Trading Card Game .

Be sure to give a shout-out to your favorite pieces in the comments below.

Spamming Illegal Not Specified Other Real Life Threats Advertising Harassment Bad Link Trolling

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Community Spotlight: Vintage Destination Posters by Josh Atack

Josh Atack is a talented concept artist whose work can be admired at badgertracks.net .  He was kind enough to share a few of his World of Warcraft vintage-styled posters with us so we could share them with you. Excellent work, Josh!

If you are an artist who has been inspired by Blizzard games and have created some fan art you’d like to share, click here to review our submission policy and to send it over. We look forward to seeing your work!

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CUR-ATE – Alexander the Great

CUR-ATE is an interesting program run by LACMA where a museum visit is combined with a unique take on cuisine. This event, hosted on March 11, 2013, revolved thematically around Alexander the Great’s epic conquests across Asia.

The evening began with a brief (one hour) tour by Maite Gomez-Rejón (above) through some of the antiquities galleries. This was fun, but rather lightweight for a series Alexandrite like myself. I’ve always had a thing for the conquerer, particularly given that I was born (reborn?) the night he died (albeit 2293 years later), and succumb myself on occasion to delusions of grandeur.

The menu for the evening, “inspired” by culinary influences along the road Alexander traveled.

We were hosted in LACMA’s Ray’s and Stark Bar and the meal was designed by Executive Chef Kris Morningstar.

Bread, probably far more leavened than the son of Zeus was accustomed too.

Crispy Paneer. Spinch-almond puree, cinnamon scented gold rice, pickled sultanas.

This kind of pan fried fresh cheese is very traditional actually, and particularly paired with a bit of sweet and savory. There are similar dishes in Apicius. It was also delicious.

Rock Cod. Coconut curry, charred lime, cilantro, lentils. Another fabulous dish with an almost Tom Yum Goong vibe to the broth.

An extra, a tandoori charred octopus.

And for a vegetarian, a homemade buccatini with cheese and vegetables.

Lamb Sirloin. Skordhalia, braised artichokes, feta cheese, salsa verde. Also fabulous melding Italian, Middle Eastern, and modern sensibilities.

Spiced Carrot Soup. Pistachio financier, saffron-honey frozen yogurt, candied pistachios, cardamon opaline, pistachio yogurt.

What do you get when you mate carrot cake with bouillabaisse? This dish! And it was fabulous.

Homemade oreos. Hardly Alexandrian, but lovely.

I didn’t have a lot of expectations with regard to this meal but it turned out to be absolutely first rate. The dishes were exciting and memorable with very interesting flavors and excellent execution. Very impressive for a modern riff on exotic and traditional ingredients.

It was a fun evening too, with foodies and history buffs alike!

You can also check out this Roman meal at the Getty based (more authentically) on Apicius.

Often considered one of the better likenesses of Alexander from antiquity

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Major Payne’s Pet Menagerie: Spectral Porcupette

Many years ago, I was in Loch Modan training to become the mighty paragon of a champion you see before you. Let’s not quibble about how legendary I am to behold! One day while I was out hunting grizzlies, armed with nothing more than a Whittling Knife, I was ambushed by a wily Mosshide chieftain by the name of Sagepaw! Several hours later, I was the proud owner of a fist-full of gnoll teeth, three new scars, and a very warm fur blanket. You know you’re impressed!

The reason I’m regaling you with this tale of just one of my many triumphs is that I know exactly how you tamers are gonna feel with this week’s challenge: Collect enough Giant Dinosaur Bones to earn yourself a Spectral Porcupette! There’s no hiking half-way across Pandaria carrying grummles on your back this time. No, your training will come at the hands—err, claws and hooves—of the primal monstrosities that run rampant on the Isle of Giants. There you will be reminded of just how fragile life can be!  If you want one of these paranormal, prickly pets, you’re gonna have to work for it! Give these tamers what for, Crithto.

Crithto : This ghostly creature can be yours for a hefty pile of bones, if you dare to face the powerful beasts that roam the Isle of Giants. The Spectral Porcupette uses new moves drawn from the realm of spirits, blinding foes with Spectral Spine to strike them for heavy damage with Spectral Strike. The Porcupette can also go on the defensive, throwing up Spirit Spikes to damage any pet foolish enough to strike it, and warding off blows with Illusionary Barrier.

You have your orders! Be prepared to face some of Azeroth’s most dangerous creatures . . . and if the challenge makes you feel like you need a bottle and “nap nap time”, I won't laugh too hard if you want to bring some friends along with you. Tamers dismissed!

Come join the discussion about this pet in our Pet Battles forum. You can also learn more about the Spectral Porcupette by visiting Warcraftpets.com.

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Best Classes for Solo/Group PVE & PVP

I gave Warlocks the following:

5/5 Solo PvE: pets that tank, melee, or range DPS, ranged DPS, threat dumps, healing, massive amounts of CC, self-ressurection, powerful cooldowns, and strong executes
5/5 Group PvE: provides summons, healthstones, CC support, powerful damage, cleaving and AoE abilities, stamina and spell power buff, and can battle-res
4/5 Solo PvP: strong against some, weak against others.  Without a pocket healer, Warlocks are susceptible to various abilties such as Warrior reflect, any silencing effect, Rogues, etc.  As always, it depends on the calibur of the Warlock against the calibur of the other player, but I generally find those types of things difficult to handle a lot.
5/5 Group PvP: when not focused, Warlocks can deliver win-creating CC, peeling, and burst to kill healers.  Cleaving, AoE, and self-healing allow for lots of group synergy.

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Will the new LoTRO Player Council work?

If you hadn’t heard, LoTRO’s developers Turbine [are imitating EVE Online](https://www.lotro.com/playercouncil), and adding a new Player Council to give the developers direct feedback on improvements.

But will it work? Is the devil in the details? Will players be able to talk to the developers often enough and early enough to make a difference?

Veteran LoTRO blogger Doc Holliday took a look at the new proposals, and comes up with some very interesting points:

> “On the positive side, there’s quite a bit of detail to the makeup and roles of the council. Also the timing seems good as they’ll be able to interact with the team pre-alpha which should be early enough to actually make changes. It also seems like the council will more or less be the funnel for the community to really focus attention to the areas Turbine needs to pay attention to. The size of the council (30 to 50 members) should certainly be good enough to get a good cross section of the community and also not overly task any single member.

> However, I think the biggest issue will be the lack of feedback from the Council to the community. Again, this is another NDA protected avenue such that even though we’ll know who’s in the council, we still won’t be able to get an idea of what the council is actually doing.”

Read [My Hopes For The New Turbine Player Council](http://docholidaymmo.com/2013/03/22/my-hopes-for-the-new-turbine-player-council/)

Tagged as: player council

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: Lord Of The Rings Online

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Will 7 fresh days draw an old player back to Azeroth?

He thought he got out. But Blizzard might just have sucked him back in.

Yes, The Ancient Gaming Noob has once again returned to Azeroth’s increasingly blocky but still comforting shores, courtesy of Blizzard’s free 7-day re-trial offer. (The same one, I might note, that they keep offering me – someone who still has a subscription. But I digress.)

And it was good! He was taken in again by the quest design, by the slick UI, by the familiarity. But will Azeroth succeed in reclaiming another blogger?

> At the rebel camp I was greeted with several familiar quests. If Red Ridge had been almost completely redone, then it looked like Northern Stranglethorn had retained a large number of its old stable of quests. There was the one for the jungle remedy and for finding documents in the Kurzen camp along with the pointer quest to the Nesingwary campsite. I started filling up my quest log, then ran along to add in the expected hunting quests from the Nesingwary expedition.

> And I got what I expected. There was a quest for croc skins along with the panther, tiger, raptor (10 each please) hunting quests. The first real surprise was the Green Hills of Stranglethorn quest. Once a wonder in its inventory clogging ability, it now needs just one drop. It appears that only page 14 is still missing from the book, and it showed up with my first kill.

Read [The Seductive Comfort Of Azeroth](http://tagn.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/the-seductive-comfort-of-azeroth/)

Tagged as: mists of pandaria, returns

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: World of Warcraft

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Hearthstone: Thank You PAX East!

PAX East has come to an end, and we’re so thankful to have been able to share this first glimpse of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft with you! We’re humbled by the overwhelming reaction from those of you excited to try it, and kind words from those who had a chance to actually stop by and play it this weekend.

But we’re just getting started, and we want to know what you think! You can help us test Hearthstone by signing up for the upcoming beta , come talk about the game in the official forums at PlayHearthstone.com , tweet us @PlayHearthstone and come like us at Facebook.com/PlayHearthstone .

Last but not least a shout out to our PAX East booth-mates and Besties in Boston: Diablo III is coming to consoles, and hot damn is it a good time! Follow all the devilishly good news @Diablo , Facebook.com/Diablo , and of course Diablo3.com .

 

“More importantly, it won me over on a genre that, 24 hours earlier, I couldn't have cared less about. That doesn't happen every day.”
-  Eurogamer

Based on appearance alone, this game looks close to being ready for release, and the artists should be proud of their handiwork.
-  MashThoseButtons

My favorite aspect of Hearthstone so far are all of the little touches. For example, you can see which cards your opponent is fiddling with during gameplay. The decorative UI fringe has some light interactivity, such as a launchable catapult, to keep you entertained while your opponent takes their sweet time.
-  Mobile Nations

“So, my first impression after playing? Absolutely positive. Seeing how accessible the game is, I'm most excited to share it with other people. Hearthstone would allow my friends to play something with me without a huge investment of time or demand for skill.”
-  WoW Insider

? “There is playing a card game, and then there is Blizzard's version of that. Everything in the game has an epic feel to it. From ending a deck, to casting spells, the power is in the players hands. Blizzard does spell effects the best and even in a small card game, you feel and see power in every turn. It is what sets them apart from other games.”
-  MMORPG

? “And with the incredible polish of the game’s presentation, and the promise of immediate accessibility to hardcore and casual gamers alike, I fear that no one will be safe from getting sucked into its rich and imaginative world and never wanting to come out.”
-  Gamezebo

Interviews

WoW Insider - Interview Jason Chayes and Eric DoddsCurse - Interview with Jason Chayes and Ben BrodeBlizzPlanet - Interview with Ben Brode and Jason ChayesPolygon - Interview with Rob PardoPolygon - Interview with Eric Dodds and Jason ChayesPenny-Arcade - Interview with Rob Pardo

Hands-on Impressions

PCGamer - "the kind of ‘just one more turn’ game that will keep you going even when it’s three in the morning"Destructoid - " The first thing I noticed when starting a game of Hearthstone was the simplicity. This certainly isn't a bad trait -- in fact, it's very inviting."WoW Insider - "I credit my ability to quickly grasp the mechanics of Hearthstone to the game's animations."

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Will you regret gaming on your deathbed?

“I can’t believe I spent all that time playing WoW.”

If you haven’t heard those words from an evangelical ex-WoW player, you’re quite unusual. Gaming seems, for a lot of people, to occupy the same mental space as smoking – a shameful habit that provides endless fodder for self-congratulation if avoided. But unlike smoking, is that actually a reasonable way to look at games?

I’d imagine most of us would say not – but why? For that we have to turn to Syl’s excellent dissection of the subject, in which she recounts an encounter with an evangelical ex-WoWer, and just why she felt he was so very wrong:

“Sometimes I still wonder, in a brief moment of desperate frustration, how long is it gonna take? How much more established do videogames need to become in contemporary, western culture to be regarded just as any other hobby out there that isn’t necessarily making “financial profit”(?) That isn’t productive on a first-glance or physically tangible level (tangible on many other levels though). Heck, some hobbies are actually downright detrimental to your health and wellbeing and even those are more accepted than gaming. It’s nuts.

Read the rest of The Deathbed Fallacy.

Tagged as: deathbed, gaming

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: General MMO Interest

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Under the Hood: Anatomy of Sound Design

Patch 5.2: The Thunder King brought with it not only new and exotic locations to visit (if you don’t mind a few storms) but a slew of new creatures. One of these creatures is the Zandalari Battlesaur whose roar can shake even the most stalwart hero. But, what exactly goes into crafting a voice for such a creature? The World of Warcraft Sound team was able to pop the hood and give us a look at the anatomy of the sound design within.

There are subtleties to sound design that aren’t always evident at first listen. In this case, the Zandalari Battlesaur’s roar consists of several layers of sound that are integrated into one unified voice. These layers include:

A voice actor : We pulled in some of the best voice talent in the industry who excel in making creature sounds. In this case, we were able to bring in Jon Olson who also did the non-Voice Over sounds for sha and hozen mobs. What you hear is an edit of two takes that form a base layer of performance and sound that other layers and effects are crafted around.Bear : Early last year, senior Sound Designer Chris Kowalski took his recording gear and his courage to Big Bear to gather some scary up-close source material from several of the wild animals at Predators in Action. The bear recordings from that visit were used to add size and embellish some of what the actor did.Tiger : While at Predators in Action, Chris was also given the opportunity to record the tiger that was used in the movie Gladiator. This resulted in a ton of great material, including a lot of big cat chest rumbles and roars you may hear mixed into several creatures across Pandaria.Final Sound : The final mix is comprised of all the layers above along with additional processing and mastering that make it fit within the world.

Here’s a brief video with individual sounds before and after they’ve been mixed in.

Tell us More:

We spoke with the World of Warcraft Sound Supervisor (and the sound designer behind the Zandalari Battlesaur), Mike Johnson and Sound Producer Jay Maguire for a little more insight.

Q. How many team members do you have currently working on World of Warcraft sound design specifically?

[Jay Maguire] We currently have five sound designers working full-time on World of Warcraft. They are Mike Johnson, Jon Graves, Chris Kowalski, Eric LeBlanc, and Peter Steinbach. The soundscape of World of Warcraft is continually evolving along with the game and this talented group is always looking for ways to raise the bar and immerse players in the environment through ambient background sound, vocal post-processing, and spell, creature, and object sfx.

Q. How often do you get to go out into the field to do recordings for sound design?

[Mike Johnson] Not often enough unfortunately, so when we do have the ability to go out and record some new source material we really go after the big stuff that we need, like animals. One of the things that I wanted to accomplish for Mists of Pandaria was adding as much variation as possible to our creature kits, so getting enough material to work with was essential. Since we had so many new creatures to make in Mists we made it a top priority to get a wealth of new animal recordings to use in our design work at the studio here at Blizzard. Obviously you can’t go out into the wild and record a Battlesaur, or Mogu, or a Sha so we have to think of individual layers (both real and synthetic) that when mixed together make these creatures.

Q. What sorts of Foley work can you do at the studio itself?

[Mike Johnson] On Mists of Pandaria, we recorded a great deal of new source material for the new Monk class (mainly whooshes and impacts) and for various mounts and creatures as well. Everyone on the World of Warcraft Sound Team spent time in our recording booth recording what they felt they needed in order to bring their creations to life. For the Monk we had a whoosh recording session where Chris (Kowalski), Jon (Graves), and Peter (Steinbach) all took turns swinging around various objects tied onto the end of a rope at high speeds. Many of these whooshes were then processed by Chris and then utilized for all of the new abilities for the Monk class. We also did a big vegetable destruction recording session where we tore up ears of corn, smashed walnuts, hit cabbage, and twisted celery among other things to use for sweeteners. These sounds were used in various ambiences, Monk abilities, creature exertions, farming, doodads, spells and in many different quests.

Q. What’s the most satisfying part of working on sound designs such as these?

[Mike Johnson] The most rewarding part of creating sounds for World of Warcraft is experiencing the new expansion while it has little or no sound while in development and hearing it all come together in the final shipped version of the game.

There are so many other audio disciplines like Dialog, Music, and Cinematics in addition to sound design that are equally responsible for creating a believable soundscape to immerse our players into the game world.

Of course during production we’re aware of what each other is doing, but something magical happens when it all comes together at the end and we get to hear everything together and it just works.

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A Question About Tier Set bonuses

Hi,

Having never raided before this expansion I have a question that maybe a bit noobish.....

If I have a T14 2 set bonus, can I also have a T15 2 set bonus?

Thanks for any answers

Gulfv

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The Story of Warcraft: Landfall

We’ve updated The Story of Warcraft with details on Patch 5.1, Landfall. While you join your faction in battle against the Thunder King, familiarize yourself with the saga of war and betrayal that led Horde and Alliance alike to the Isle of Thunder.

As heroes great and small continue to carve out the legends of Azeroth, we’ll keep a record right here.

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Developer Appreciation Week is back!

Yes, once again this year Scary is running his Developer Appreciation Week – a week of blogging in support and praise of the people who make our games happen.

Previous years have been fantastic, and I’m sure we’ll see some great posts this year. So this is just a call to bloggers – remember Developer Appreciation Week and write a post if you can!

Personally, this year I’m particularly appreciative of non-MMO developers (or at least, not-yet-MMO-Developers) Mojang, who make Minecraft. I bought the game for 15 Euros, and so far I’ve played it longer than most MMOs. Their commitment to openness, their very cool attitude to mods and licensing, their massive development rate, and everything else make them the developer of the year for me.

Tagged as: developer appreciation week

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: General MMO Interest

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PvP Gear in Patch 5.3

There are more really big changes coming to the way that PVP gear works coming in patch 5.3. As you know if you read our previous blog on the subject, we approached patch 5.2 with the goal in mind of narrowing the PvP gear gap, as well as working to make PvP more accessible to all players, to broaden interest and provide a robust pool of competitors that enriches the PvP experience for everyone.

PvE vs. PvP
We face some significant challenges, so we’re prepared to take some unprecedented steps to meet them. Historically, we have always had a hard time balancing PvP gear against PvE gear, as these two areas of the game have very different gear design goals. In PvP, we want gear to matter, but we don’t want gear to become the overwhelming reason someone wins a match. For PvE, the difference in power between tiers has to be significant enough that players really feel rewarded and more powerful when they upgrade. This problem has been compounded as we now have Raid Finder, normal and heroic raid tiers, as well as item level gating to enter the Raid Finder.

Transitions: From Season 12 to Season 13
Patch 5.2’s gear changes represented our first attempt to balance PvP gear with PvE gear, and offer better ways to narrow the gear gap. We introduced the Elite tier of gear that would be available to all players after earning 27,000 Conquest Points throughout the season.  This allowed us to balance Honor gear against Raid Finder gear, Conquest gear against normal mode raiding gear and Elite gear against Heroic mode raid gear. But, keeping pace with PvE gear also means that there is significant difference between this season’s Honor gear and the Elite gear. Not to mention that there is a tremendous difference between a fresh 90 and a veteran, Elite geared player. While it’s important to have that difference, the competitive nature of PvP means that highly geared players can serve as a deterrent to players who are looking into trying PvP for the first time. Trying to keep pace with the escalating ilevel of PvE gear has proven quite difficult for PvP.

Furthermore, as Season 13 has illustrated, having more than two levels of PvP gear can generate some significant issues during season transitions. Players expect that each season will start on a fairly level playing field. The presence of upgrades in 5.1 meant that some players now have a gear advantage over players with this season’s Honor gear. The presence of higher ilevel Elite gear has the potential to create an even bigger issue in Season 14.

Still, we think we’ve taken some great steps forward with PvP gear in Mists of Pandaria. PvP Power has given us an extremely useful ‘knob’ to turn so we can adjust PvP gear to make sure that it’s better than its PvE equivalent. Meanwhile Resilience, while well-intentioned, has actually made the gear gap worse over time. We think that most players would be okay with going into PvP with lower damage if they were a bit more durable. We believe that a broader population of PvPers will offer a better experience for everyone, and also provide a better pool of players as we introduce refinements to how Battleground queuing works in the future. One of the best ways for us to increase the number of players that participate in PvP is to reduce the barrier to entry for those who play World of Warcraft regularly but don’t participate in PvP. Specifically, we’re referring to PvE players that spend a lot of time gearing up in PvE but feel that PvE gear is a severe liability in PvP (because, well, it is ).

Incoming 5.3 Gear Changes
With all of this in mind, we’re making some pretty dramatic changes to PvP gear and the PvP environment in 5.3:

Base Resilience will be set to 65% for all characters level 85 and higherResilience will be removed from nearly all PvP gearPlayers will still be able to use Resilience gems and enchantsPvP power will remain exclusively on PvP gearPvP set bonuses that currently provide Resilience will now provide PvP PowerHealers and hybrid-casters will benefit to a greater degree from PvP Power, and Battle Fatigue will increase to make PvP gear superior for healers.Conquest gear will be increased to item level 496 (up from 493).Elite gear will be decreased to item level 496. This gear will essentially become a prestige upgrade.The Big Change: We will be adding an item level ceiling to all gear in unrated Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas All gear with item levels higher than 496 will be scaled down to 496 (Conquest gear item level). This includes even Conquest items that exceed the ilevel ceiling, such as weapons. 

In addition, some of the changes that we’ve discussed previously will also be implemented:

In patches that don’t include a new season (including patch 5.3), the seasonal currency requirement of 7,250 Conquest Points earned will be lifted from weapons. The seasonal currency requirement must always be met to purchase Elite items, though.Once the 27,000 Conquest Point seasonal currency requirement is reached, players will be able to purchase Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear with Honor Points.The Conquest Point catch up cap will be introduced. You can read our PvP Gear in 5.2 and Beyond blog for more information on these changes.

We’re taking these steps because we want to improve by providing a richer pool of potential competitors (which can result in faster queues, as well as queuing system refinements later on), and make an incredibly fun element of World of Warcraft more accessible to a larger audience.

What to Expect
We expect these changes will bring about a number of significant effects. First, we feel that they will still preserve our most important design goal: the best gear for competitive PvP will come from PvP. Since all other gear will be scaled down to the Conquest’s item level of 496 as a maximum, the Conquest gear will always be better by a significant margin because it will have PvP Power on it (which doesn’t count toward the item’s item level budget). Even Honor gear, with its considerable amount of PvP Power, will provide more damage in PvP than normal and Heroic raid gear. For example, a Heroic Thunderforged weapon and a Conquest weapon will be the same item level in PvP, with the same amount of primary stats, secondary stats and stamina. While the PvE weapon will do very good damage, it will still do less damage than the Conquest weapon due to the presence of PvP power on the PvP weapon.

We also believe that the changes will make it easier for those who aren’t PvPing now to give it a try or possibly motivate those that play only rarely to play more often. While they will do less damage than a player with PvP gear, they will have the same survivability, Stamina and Resilience. The damage differences shouldn’t be so great that they will be ‘insta-gibbed’ by the average opponent in PvP gear either. We expect these improvements will make PvP more fun for both hardcore players who want a more even playing field, as well as competitors who just want to dive in and have some fun without feeling the need to assemble a specialized gear set.

We Want Your Feedback!
This is a pretty massive change for World of Warcraft and while it would probably be more appropriate at the start of a new season, or even an expansion, we want to address the current gear situation quickly. We think this solution will help us meet our design goals and help create a more active, competitive, and fun PvP environment.

We know that concerns and questions are inevitable, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject. We invite you to try these changes on the PTR for yourself, and we’ll be watching for your feedback on the PTR Discussion forum.

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The Wretched of Muirwood

Title: The Wretched of Muirwood

Author: Jeff Wheeler

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Length: 300 pages

Read: March 3-15, 2013

Summary: Great prose, characters, and setup

The first half of this novel was pure and unadulterated fantasy pleasure. The prose is very good. Descriptive but quick and lively. It’s pretty straight up third-person past, but it has a tinge of the poetic about it.

The story tightly follows Lia, an orphaned kitchen drudge living in an alternate Medieval Abbey. She’s a very lively personality and a lot of fun. There’s an interesting magical/religious system which is about halfway between “hard” and “soft” magic. I’m not going to get into the plot, per se, but this first half is basically of the “something new and strange comes into someone’s life” variety. This part is excellent.

About halfway through the book, this intrusion forces Lia to leave the Abbey and go on a quest. This occupies the second half of the novel and in the end the secret of her parentage is more or less revealed. There was nothing seriously wrong with this second half and I read it easily enough, but it somehow lacked the visceral grab that the setup did. Putting on my structural hat, I’d have to guess that the problem was one of drama and complication. There are complications, but they just sort of pop up and are resolved one way or another without a tremendous amount of agency from the protagonist. I’m excepting the final confrontation, which while abbreviated, did have said agency. This is all in contrast to the first half of the book where Lia is extremely proactive, even if it got her in trouble.

But there could be other factors. In the first half, she’s pretty sharp tongued, but this takes a back burner outside the Abbey.

I admit to sometimes having this “second act” myself, as it’s hard to both adhere to the plot target and simultaneously make the protagonist proactive rather than reactive. Still, it robbed Wretched of some drama. I felt less engaged.

There is also the possibility that it’s all me, as I seem to be having this problem in recent years where I enjoy the first act and not the second or third. Maybe I’m jaded. But this complaint aside, Wretched is still one of the better fantasies I’ve read in some time. It’s more personal (and shorter) than the traditional epic novel, but that seems to be a trend in this new e-book centric age.

For more book reviews, click here.

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raiding and pvp class:)

xulingaming, on 25 March 2013 - 11:23 PM, said:

i really apologize my english verbal i hope u can andurstand

Hehe ya kind of tough.

From what I can tell you're asking if rogues and mages do well in PvE raiding? I've never heard a mage complain about being a mage so I'd assume that they are pretty fun. They are also the top class in simulations.  If you went the mage route I have a feeling you'd be pretty happy. You might have to work harder as a rogue to do as well as mage, but that could be that "reward" you're looking for. Its tough to compare the two since they are completely different playstyles being melee vs. ranged.

You mentioned you have a 90 druid? You might check out playing feral druid as well. They do pretty well in PvE for melee classes. About the same as rogues.

In short: Mages are very good for PvE raiding. Rogues are fine, but not as good. Both would be rewarding.

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A Question about Tanking

Having a group of people you know to learn is a lot better than doing randoms.  If you go into a random and just plain can't tank or know what you are doing it is a MAJOR pain.  As for leveling up that is up to you though I agree you won't learn a whole lot as tanking at max level is different without the same cooldwons and abilites.

If you are going to give tanking a go then get some valor gear and do a few LFR's and change your toons spec to tank spec after the fight and give a second roll for a tank piece till 5.3 when you can just select the spec you would like to get gear for.  Don't just find some random greens and call yourself a tank.  An addon or two geared towards tanking will help as well.  Tidy plates with threatplates is nice so you can see that you have agro on the mobs and Tauntmaster can be helpful for taunting something off of the rest of the group.

And until you have figured tanking out let people know. . . don't just go in and start fighting and then loose agro and let a mage tank something.  Repair bills add up and they will either leave or you will get kicked, even if you just have to make a macro to tell the group you are new to tanking and learning will help.  If I know someone is having a rough time or going to I lay off the DPS a bit so they can get agro easier, otherwise I charge in when the tank does and coun't till three till I pop sweeping strikes and bladestorm. . . after that good luck on getting agro if you aern't ready for it.

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Crazed Bloggers Play 10 MMOs in 10 Days

In one of the coolest and craziest blogging projects I’ve heard of for a while, Syp, Jeromai and other bloggers are taking on the ultimate MMO challenge:

10 days. 10 MMOs they’ve never played before.

Will they love ‘em? Will they find a new favourite? Will they even manage to get past the installer?

It’s only day 2 of the challenge, and already Runescape, Aion, and several other MMOs have gone under the microscope:

Syp’s the originator of the idea, and has already tested out Runescape and Aion, with more to come – “At the very worst, I’ll get a bunch of new stories and posts out of it, and at the very best, an MMO might surprise me and hook me in.”Jeromai has leaped on the project with gusto, and has so far tested Maple Story and Mabinogi – “I chucked in a baker’s dozen instead of ten, as I’m really not sure some offer free trials. If they don’t, they’re off the list.”And Nerdy Bookahs has only tested out The Missing Ink so far, but gives a thorough writeup – “it doesn’t get a bad review from me, because me not liking the style does not mean the game is bad. It just means “not for me””Tagged as: 10/10 project

If you enjoyed this article, check out our other posts from these categories: General MMO Interest

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Weak Auras - Trying to understand

Installed and followed a couple of starting guides from the net.  However, I am a bit confused as how ensure the settings made for one character, will not be the same for another?  In other words, how do you save the settings for one character, and be able to start another one for a different character.  The guides I have consulted, and boy there are a ton  of them out there, don't really specify how this is done.    So some friendly advice would be very welcome indeed.

On a related issue, I did find and downloaded Character specific "strings" which one is to install using the import button.  Fine and dandy.  However, are these automatic when the character is online, or do you need to open the weak auras to configure?  Thanks for listening.

My train of thoughts were derailed.  There were no survivors.
"Life's too important to be taken seriously."  Oscar Wilde
"Who is John Galt?"

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Game Update 2.0 released on PTS

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Firefall: Open Beta Weekend

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Defiance: Pre-Orders Now Available

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World of Warcraft: The Thunder King

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What Does Fox News, SWTOR, and You have in common?

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MMO Burnout: Help I’m Infected

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The Repopulation: Beta Coming this Spring

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Video Games, the Gun Debate, and Convenient Escape Goats

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PlayStation 4: Wrap-Up

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World of Warcraft: Patch 5.2 Rise of the Thunder King

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Defiance: First true cross over television and MMO (Updated)

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Game Update 1.7 Return of the Gree

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World of Warcraft: Patch 5.2 Rise of the Thunder King

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World of Warcraft: 5.2 Patch – Expected to Drop Next Week

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The Elder Scrolls Online: Beta Sign-Ups

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Wizardry Online Launch Delayed

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XBox 360: On-Demand Games HUGE Sale

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Destiny: Unveiled

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BlizzCon 2013

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World of Warcraft: Class Changes Review Blogs

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Firefall: Beta Weekend

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Expansion Video First Look

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World of Warcraft: Patch 5.2 tomorrow?

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Planetside 2: 30 January 2013 Update

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Lifestyle: I figured out why I had Burnout

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5.3 PTR Patch Notes now available

Patch 5.3 will soon be available for testing on the Public Test Realms ! By participating, you can help us test new content before it's available. This patch includes a brand new Battleground, a new arena, new scenarios, assorted bug fixes, and more.

Please keep in mind that the below notes are not final, and a great deal could change before the final patch 5.3 release.

Updated March 22

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 5.3

Please note: During the 5.3 PTR, not all the content listed may not be available for testing or may only be available during a limited testing window. Keep an eye on our PTR Discussion forum for details.New Battleground: Deepwind Gorge In the new Battleground situated in the Valley of the Four Winds, the Alliance and Horde continue their war for Pandaria’s precious resources. While the two factions battle for control over mines, they must also protect their own resources from being stolen and turned against them!New Arena: Shado-Pan Gladiator hopefuls have a new location to test their mettle amidst the Kun-Lai mountain tops, in the training grounds of the powerful Shado-Pan. Players must make use of the looming tiger statues and fenced platforms to gain an advantage that will bring victory and glory!New Scenario: Battle on the High Seas Help your faction fend off enemy forces in the midst of a battle for naval supremacy on the High Seas.New Scenario: Blood in the Snow An agent of Zandalar has infiltrated Dun Morogh and rallied the Frostmane trolls. At Varian’s request, Moira will lead her personal guard against them once the king’s champions have stopped the magical storm protecting Shimmer Ridge.New Scenario: Dark Heart of Pandaria Goblin engineers have been excavating in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to find a mysterious artifact, but all they've found is trouble; you have been personally called upon by the Warchief to aid them in their hour of need.New Scenario: The Secrets of Emberdeep Infiltrate the Emberdeep Caverns and assist the Gob Squad in investigating a recent disappearance in Durotar.Heroic Scenarios A heroic difficulty for Scenarios have been added and are designed to provide challenging content for small groups of well-seasoned adventurers. Completing a Heroic Scenario awards Valor points, and a chance to obtain Raid Finder quality items.

Classes

General

Mark of the Wild had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 10%.Symbiosis: Intimidating Roar had its cooldown increased to 90 seconds, up from 60 seconds.

General

Arcane Brilliance had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.Dalaran Brilliance had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.

General

Spear Hand Strike now locks a spell school out for 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds.

Windwalker

Legacy of the Emperor had its energy cost reduced to 1%, down from 6%.Legacy of the White Tiger had its energy cost reduced to 1%, down from 6%.

General

Blessing of Kings had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.Blessing of Might had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.

General

Power Word: Fortitude had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4.4%.

General

Dark Intent had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.

Talents

Vigilance now resets the cooldown on Taunt in addition to its current effects.

Oondasta Shiny Pile of Refuse now has a chance to contain a Primal Egg, and a number of Dinosaur Bones.Spitfire Beam no longer increases in damage with each jump, deals a flat 200,000 damage(up from 150,000 damage), and jumps to 99 targets (up from 20 targets).

Dueling for Pet Battles are now available in all dungeons and raids. Enjoy!

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

Loot Specialization

Players can now choose to receive loot for a specialization that's different from their current class role. This feature could be accessed by right-clicking on the character portrait and selecting the option from the drop-down list. Loot specialization is available for bonus rolls, Raid Finder, and Pandarian quest rewards.

Raids

Bonus Roll Protection for bad luck streaks have been added to bonus rolls. Each bonus roll that does not provide loot has a progressively better chance to award loot to the player.Serpentshrine Cavern For the Fathom-Lord Karathress encounter, Cataclysmic Bolt now deals 10% of the target's maximum health plus 500 damage, down from 50% of target's maximum health, the stun effect is now a Stun mechanic, and can target any player instead of only characters with mana.Lady Vashj Coilfang Strider's Panic ability now activates every 4 seconds, up from every 2 seconds.Shock Blast's stun effect is now a  Stun mechanic.Tainted Elementals now despawn after 20 seconds, up from 15 seconds.Tempest Keep For the High Astromancer Solarian encounter, Nether Scryer's Domination spell now has a 2 second cast time, up from instant cast, and can be silenced.For the Void Reaver encounter, the radius for Arcane Orb has been reduced to 15 yards, down from 20 yards.Throne of Thunder Amani’shi Beast Shaman no longer casts Chain Lightning while mounted on Amani Warbears.

Additional information and explanation for the reasoning behind PvP changes will be available very soon.All characters now have a base Resilience of 65%.Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear.Season 13 Tyrannical gear had their item levels increased to ilevel 496, up from ilevel 493.Season 13 Tyrannical Elite gear had their item levels decreased to ilevel 496, down from ilevel 512.Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, and Arenas now have an ilevel cap. All gear will be scaled down to ilevel 496.

Herbalists of low skill can now pick herbs in Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield an herbalist will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.Miners of low skill can now mine mineral deposits in Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield a miner will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.

The Voidbinders are back in capital cities and shrines. PvE Item Upgrades Items upgradable by Valor now require 250 Valor to upgrade per 4 item levels, for a total of 500 Valor for 8 item levels per item. This is retroactive to all items that use Valor.Items upgradable by Justice now require 750 Justice to upgrade per 8 item levels, for a total of 750 Justice for 8 item levels per item. This is retroactive to all items that use Justice.PvP Item Upgrades Malevolent Gladiator’s Conquest (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.Dreadful Gladiator’s Honor (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.No other PvP items are upgradable.Unclaimed Black Market Containers are now available on the Black Market Auction House. What's inside? It's a mystery! When opened, the container has a chance to contain any item that can be available on the BMAH.Courageous Primal Diamond had its clearcasting effect renamed to “Lucidity” to differentiate it from other spells with that name.

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