Posted on September 28th, 2009 by admin
This morning I want to play the hypothetical game a bit and talk about what would happen if Cataclysm included a new class. Not only what it would be, but how it would fit into the overall balance of WoW. And just to be clear, there won’t be a new class in Cataclysm. Numerous Blizzard employees have stated that doing one new class an expansion would be too much work (paraphrased, don’t go complain to your favorite blue that this was a direct quote).
The Death Knight in Wrath of the Lich King was the first class introduced to WoW, and it’s inclusion in the game has had mixed reviews. Most folks agree that the class provided a great new element to play in the game, however its balance in raids and PvP is something that is constantly under the microscope. Ghostcrawler has mentioned numerous times that the Death Knight has taken up more time to balance in Wrath than any other class. This is problematic for numerous reasons, but has been able to be handled nicely by the designers and programmers (I’m sure there’ll be some who disagree, however show some restraint in your disagreement).
So now for the hypothetical part — if Blizzard were to introduce a new class in Cataclysm, I would suspect that it would be the healing counterpart to the Death
Filed under: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Posted on September 24th, 2009 by admin
Two Bosses Enter … but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com’s series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let’s get ready to rumble!
Despite King Ymiron’s cavalier dismissal from the cage by the dino-fanboys (“On the one hand, Ymiron is a Viking. On the other hand, Dred is a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The part of my brain that is still 5 years old has decided this is no contest. If Ymiron is not allowed to use Dred as a mount, then he must die so that Dred may live. – DeathPaladin), the Vrykul king ruled King Dred in last week’s Two Bosses Thunderdome, 51% to 44%. Comments from the stands were lively in what one fan called “one of the most deadly and greatest match-ups so far.”
Reader Pollux contributed not one but two viewpoints on the matchup.
Pollux: The recounting of this clash begins with King Ymiron, who is in his throne room, rubbing the last few smatterings of blood off his face and armor. He’s just finished hacking and blasting his way through a ragtag crew of miscreants who, like so many others, believed they could stand against him, even in his own hall. He’s slightly weary after this latest confrontation and is forced to admit to himself
Filed under: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Posted on September 21st, 2009 by admin
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, Furious, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We’re especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player.
Furious Gladiator Euneek is one of the top Paladins in BG9. If you haven’t already heard, BG9 (Bloodlust) is often considered to be one of the most competitive battlegroups in WoW. Obviously, Euneek’s achievements in BG9 are that much more impressive for being in that highly skilled environment.
Euneek was kind enough to answer some questions about the new Season, the changes which are affecting Season 7, and then also how he is coping with the new season. Check out what he had to say behind the cut!
WoW.com: How do you feel the Resilience change (to reduce all damage) is affecting the overall dynamic in the Arena?
Euneek: Thus far in S7, it seems as though the Resilience change is moving in the right direction. It has slowed down the arena matches slightly. But there are still a few times where I watch people get
Filed under: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Posted on September 14th, 2009 by admin
A lone shadowed figure approaches the village as it settles down for the approaching night. A hush falls with his passing and all eyes turn to follow. Who can say what has brought him here but there’s no mistaking his calling; there’s a Warlock in town.
With more than seven weeks since the last Blood Pact column there was bound to be a few things that weren’t covered. Not too much though, right? It’s not like anything major happened in those weeks. Did it?
I’m kidding of course; the last couple of months have seen huge changes and awesome announcements. There’s simply no way I can cover them all, and do justice to any of them, in one article. That said these things can’t be left on the shelf to moulder. So I’m going to do a quick run-down of what’s been going on in Blood Pact’s absence and then we can start plunging into their dark and squishy innards going forward.
Patch 3.2
The Patch 3.2 Warlock Guide took us through most of our class changes but what have they meant to us? The back end spell mechanics have probably had little direct impact on the way we play; changes to Pandemic, Fire and Brimstone and Empowered Imp haven’t moved destruction from the top DPS slot for PvE. Whereas the changes to Shadowflame,
Filed under: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Posted on September 11th, 2009 by admin
Last week I posted a poll to try and figure out some of the numbers behind the newly implemented faction transfers, and now that we’ve got quite a few votes in there, it’s probably a time to look at what we got and see if we can make any sense of it. The most conclusive data there is the answer above: about 18.6% of our reader polled said that yes, they had made a faction transfer already. That sounds high to me — maybe it’s because WoW.com readers know about the faction transfer service that more of them may have taken advantage of it. But if it’s true that 19% of players did take advantage of the transfer service, then 570,000 of the around 3 million US players have switched factions, making Blizzard $17.1 million in gross revenue alone, just in the last week since it’s opened.
The other questions were a little hairier — I tried to ask people not to answer if they didn’t fit the criteria for each question, and there’s no way to tell for sure that’s what happened. Also, lots of people wanted to see the answers without voting, and unfortunately, our voting system doesn’t allow a clear way to do that (I have since checked with our tech guys, who say that the solution we came up with, voting without choosing an
Filed under: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Posted on September 7th, 2009 by admin
All the World’s a Stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. They have their stories and their characters; and one player in his time plays many roles.
As you know, the new race and class combinations coming up in the Cataclysm will open a whole new set of doors to people who want an alternative character choice that goes against the grain of their typical racial customs, to one degree or another. With the exception of a couple combinations that feel as though they should have been there from the beginning (such as blood elf warriors, which need no discussion here), each new possibility presents roleplayers with an opportunity to play an outcast of sorts, a character who has made a significant break from the traditions his or her race usually represent.
The lore behind each combination is not yet fully clear. We know tauren paladins will probably worship the sun and call themselves “Sunwalkers” for instance, but not much more than that. Some things are clear, though, and there’s a lot to get the imagination going for those roleplayers who yearn to play something a little different.
Tauren paladins and priests
Here we have the most obvious departure from the traditions and culture of a race in WoW. Blood elves already had a somewhat convoluted
Filed under: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Posted on September 3rd, 2009 by admin
Our tipline just lit up with news that the faction change service discussed so often recently is now available! At least in the US, anyway. One of our super secret to-be-announced new bloggers from the EU mentioned that he doesn’t see it overseas yet, but Rogue specialist Chase Christian is already swapping his Rogue over. Hopefully Europe will have it very soon.
The faction change (accessed via your account management page), in addition to allowing you to flip from Horde to Alliance (and vice versa) also seems to include the ability to change anything else you could change through a character recustomization, such as a name change for the price of $30. We have some picture of the process incoming, so keep an eye on this spot. We’ll have them put together for you in just a moment.
Update: And here are the images of the process. Enjoy!
Update #2: The faction change FAQ has some additional details you might find interesting. There are some mount/reputation restrictions when you switch over that you might want to be aware of before you drop your $30.
Filed under: World of Warcraft | No Comments »