We've posted about this issue quite a few times, and strangely enough, though Tseric told us way back that things would never change, it just might be fixed. Oceanic players, including Chri who kindly tipped us about this world of warcraft gold, are reporting that their maintenance has been moved from the usual Tuesday evening prime time (which is early Tuesday morning for us in the US) to early Wednesday morning their time. In other words, they didn't have to suffer their servers going down during playtime this week.
Unfortunately, there's no official word on this yet, so we're not sure if it's just this week, or if Blizzard just didn't have to restart this servers this time around cheap wow gold, or what it was. But we do know that Oceanic players are cheering loudly that they didn't have to suffer mistimed maintenance this week, so hopefully Blizzard is taking action as promised on this one.
So very good news for Oceanic players, especially since the lag and shutdowns have been a huge problem for them in the past buy wow gold. If this really is a official change, hopefully we'll see Blizzard confirm that they've finally responded to all the player problems down there.
2008年5月21日星期三
2008年5月20日星期二
15 Minutes of Fame: Character art inspires Cenarion Circle raider
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft gold players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com.
For all the WoW players who sink into Azeroth to escape the travails of the world outside are others who seem set ablaze by the ideas, energy and connections sparked during their gaming. Among the inspired: Aislinana of Cenarion Circre, whose casual interest in assembling a sweet character portrait of a guildmate has morphed into a growing passion, with a growing fan base clamoring for their own portraits.
15 Minutes of Fame: Tell us how you got started doing character portraits – because you're not actually a professional artist or long-time hobbyist, are you?Aislinana: Well, we were hanging around in Black Temple after a raid finished up, so I snapped a screen cap of my friend's priest wow gold, Kallindril, and said I'd spruce it up in Photoshop. Little did I know that it was going to turn into an obsession for me. I mean, I've always loved taking screenshots. I take them all the time to capture something awesome looking, much like I do with my own digital camera. So I've had an eye for this stuff. I just started to retouch/edit and then eventually started painting in effects in Photoshop.
For all the WoW players who sink into Azeroth to escape the travails of the world outside are others who seem set ablaze by the ideas, energy and connections sparked during their gaming. Among the inspired: Aislinana of Cenarion Circre, whose casual interest in assembling a sweet character portrait of a guildmate has morphed into a growing passion, with a growing fan base clamoring for their own portraits.
15 Minutes of Fame: Tell us how you got started doing character portraits – because you're not actually a professional artist or long-time hobbyist, are you?Aislinana: Well, we were hanging around in Black Temple after a raid finished up, so I snapped a screen cap of my friend's priest wow gold, Kallindril, and said I'd spruce it up in Photoshop. Little did I know that it was going to turn into an obsession for me. I mean, I've always loved taking screenshots. I take them all the time to capture something awesome looking, much like I do with my own digital camera. So I've had an eye for this stuff. I just started to retouch/edit and then eventually started painting in effects in Photoshop.
2008年5月19日星期一
Ask WoW Insider: Making friends on a new server
Welcome to today's edition of Ask WoW Insider, in which we publish your questions for dissection by the peanut gallery -- now with extra snark and commentary by one of our writers. This week Matt writes in:
Good afternoon to all the staff at Wow Insider. My name is Matt, early 20's, and am having a problem making new friends on a new server.
I recently Paid Character Transfer'd to Xavius EU from Balnazzar EU, and as they were looking for a hunter for Black Temple I was recruited to a guild without an application. Although this goes against popular opinion from a few of the people on my old server world of warcraft gold, I believe that creating an application provides a formal introduction of both yourself as a character and a person. I went from raid leading and being an important member of a T5 clearing guild to a new recruit and trial member in a T6 almost-cleared guild. The step down has been difficult for me to take, and the feeling of not being able to make decisions has shell-shocked me a little bit.
My issue is, how does one go about creating new friendships and relationships on a completely new server and with a guild that contains no-one you know? Balnazzar had a thriving IRC channel, shared in-game chat channel between members of varying guilds, and a fantastic Wow Europe realm forum - Xavius doesn't seem to have any of these: the IRC channel is unfriendly and quiet, no shared channel and the realm forum is full of useless troll posts. The guild seem to forget that I've pretty much got no-one to speak to on the new server, and I've spent more time on my other two 70's on Balnazzar than my hunter cheap wow gold. Raids are fantastic, and I know that if I was accepted into the more social aspect of the guild I'd enjoy it a lot more than I currently am, but if the situation doesn't change I will probably look elsewhere, which is a shame because the new guild is a really solid, well structured and mostly friendly place to be.
Good afternoon to all the staff at Wow Insider. My name is Matt, early 20's, and am having a problem making new friends on a new server.
I recently Paid Character Transfer'd to Xavius EU from Balnazzar EU, and as they were looking for a hunter for Black Temple I was recruited to a guild without an application. Although this goes against popular opinion from a few of the people on my old server world of warcraft gold, I believe that creating an application provides a formal introduction of both yourself as a character and a person. I went from raid leading and being an important member of a T5 clearing guild to a new recruit and trial member in a T6 almost-cleared guild. The step down has been difficult for me to take, and the feeling of not being able to make decisions has shell-shocked me a little bit.
My issue is, how does one go about creating new friendships and relationships on a completely new server and with a guild that contains no-one you know? Balnazzar had a thriving IRC channel, shared in-game chat channel between members of varying guilds, and a fantastic Wow Europe realm forum - Xavius doesn't seem to have any of these: the IRC channel is unfriendly and quiet, no shared channel and the realm forum is full of useless troll posts. The guild seem to forget that I've pretty much got no-one to speak to on the new server, and I've spent more time on my other two 70's on Balnazzar than my hunter cheap wow gold. Raids are fantastic, and I know that if I was accepted into the more social aspect of the guild I'd enjoy it a lot more than I currently am, but if the situation doesn't change I will probably look elsewhere, which is a shame because the new guild is a really solid, well structured and mostly friendly place to be.
2008年5月18日星期日
Is Karazhan no longer for entry level raiders?
We ran Karazhan the other day and for the first time in a long time we didn't clear it in one run and took almost four hours only to call it at Prince. Only about half of our regular group could make it that day and we were forced to PuG the rest world of warcraft gold, even filling the last spot with a player who had never done Karazhan before. Our raid leader and tank grumbled throughout the entire run, sending me tells of wanting to kick people from the group. In the end, we conspired to end our misery by acceding to a couple of attempts at Prince but no more.
For the past weeks, we had been doing 2 1/2 hour Karazhan for badges, and for the most part we made sure that our raid members were equipped in Tier 4-5 or better. We'd turbo pull to bosses with a Paladin tank and Disenchanted nearly every drop because, really, no one needed anything from there wow gold. We ran it for badges and wanted to breeze through the instance as quickly as possible. We would wince if we brought someone who wasn't familiar with the strats or had more than a few blues.
For the past weeks, we had been doing 2 1/2 hour Karazhan for badges, and for the most part we made sure that our raid members were equipped in Tier 4-5 or better. We'd turbo pull to bosses with a Paladin tank and Disenchanted nearly every drop because, really, no one needed anything from there wow gold. We ran it for badges and wanted to breeze through the instance as quickly as possible. We would wince if we brought someone who wasn't familiar with the strats or had more than a few blues.
2008年5月17日星期六
12-year-old China quake survivor loses leg
CHENGDU, China - As Huang Siyu ran down the stairs of her school after the powerful earthquake, the building collapsed and her teacher was killed. A chunk of falling debris crushed the fifth grader's left leg, and her schoolmates dragged her to safety.
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"I was so scared," said the willowy 12-year-old, who tried to be cheerful in her hospital bed Saturday though her parents were still missing after Monday's earthquake.
Siyu is among the millions of survivors scarred by China's deadliest earthquake in three decades. The monster 7.9 tremor was so strong that it could felt thousands of miles away.
The fear gradually faded in Beijing and other cities cheap wow gold, but the nightmare was just starting for Siyu, who came from one of the worst hit towns.
Siyu, who likes math but wants to be a fashion consultant when she grows up, recalled how a class of first graders was buried in her collapsed school and waited for rescue in Yingxiu, a town in Wenchuan county, the quake's epicenter.
"One little boy in the first grade was really brave. His name was Zhou Yuyan," she said. "When he and his friends were trapped, before they were rescued, he sang a song to comfort them. He sang 'Two Tigers'" — a popular children's tune.
State-run media reported only 100 out of 447 students and teachers survived at the school.
The quake and the landslides it triggered knocked out mountain roads and phone service to Yingxiu, cutting off the town. Heavy rains hampered helicopter flights. Siyu waited two days to be flown to the West China Hospital in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where most of the serious cases were taken.
The flight to Chengdu was Siyu's first ride in an aircraft, but it left her with no special impression. "I didn't feel like I was flying," she said. "I was in so much pain."
Siyu — whose name translates as "thoughtful rain" — underwent surgery Wednesday to complete the amputation of her leg.
Millions of other people living near the epicenter suffered much the same misery and danger in a large swathe of Sichuan world of warcraft gold, a rugged southwestern province that's sometimes called the "Texas of China" because of its enormous size and location.
Factories were flattened, apartment buildings became piles of rubble and dams threatened to burst and flood vast areas already devastated by the quake. Homeless people left cities and towns in droves, while tent camps popped up along roads and in parks.
Tens of thousands of troops with shovels and little else were mobilized for often futile rescues and searches for the dead, and by Saturday, the rescue effort had burgeoned to almost 150,000 soldiers and police, using hundreds of heavy earth-moving machines to cut through the debris. The government says it expects a final death toll of at least 50,000.
"My mother was buried for five days before they recovered her body. Five days!" said Chen Xiaofeng, a 44-year-old high school teacher, as he left the crematorium in the hard-hit city of Dujiangyan, north of Chengdu.
The crematorium chimneys belched black smoke all day as bodies were delivered by flatbed trucks, vans and three-wheel motorcycle carts. A man with a large can of disinfectant strapped to his back sprayed down the bodies as they passed through the crematorium's massive stone gate decorated with carvings of the Buddha and dragons.
The disaster was yet another big, unexpected challenge for China in an already difficult year. The country's leaders would like to just focus on one of the nation's most prestigious projects — the staging of the Beijing Olympics less than three months away wow gold. But in recent months, the communist leadership has been distracted by unrest in Tibet and protests that dogged the Olympic torch relay overseas.
Soon after the quake hit, Premier Wen Jiabao jetted off to the quake zone. Wen, a grand-fatherly, empathetic figure, made special stops at demolished schools, where many of the victims died. The government has said nearly 6,900 schoolrooms collapsed, fueling anger among many Chinese who suspect shoddy construction pushed up the death toll. For many families, the dead child was their only offspring — a tragic side-effect of China's "one-child" family planning policy.
Three days after her operation, Siyu sat propped up with pillows in her hospital bed in a room shared with two other child quake survivors. Two hospital volunteers sat at her side and kept her chatting and laughing with games and a simple art project using crayons to color a fish and a cat.
"I like dogs better than cats because a dog really cares about you," she said. "A dog can save your life."
She likes to have her hair braided and twisted into a bun pinned on the side of her head. When her catheter leaked and soaked her pajamas with urine buy wow gold, she looked horrified and began to cry. She used to ask constantly where her parents were, her caretakers said, but not so much anymore.
When the nurses brought her bowls of dumplings and rice, she uttered a meek, "Thank you."
Throughout the hospital, residents of Chengdu who wanted somehow to help — a kindergarten teacher, a hairstylist and a child psychologist among them — were handed hospital badges and deployed to keep Siyu and the other injured company.
Although she lost her leg, Siyu said she feels fortunate. After lunch, she stared at the patient across from her bed and noted the boy's head was wrapped with a white thick bandage.
"Look, he hurt his head, so I feel lucky," she said. "When the roof caved in, I put my hands and arms over my head and protected it."
ADVERTISEMENT
"I was so scared," said the willowy 12-year-old, who tried to be cheerful in her hospital bed Saturday though her parents were still missing after Monday's earthquake.
Siyu is among the millions of survivors scarred by China's deadliest earthquake in three decades. The monster 7.9 tremor was so strong that it could felt thousands of miles away.
The fear gradually faded in Beijing and other cities cheap wow gold, but the nightmare was just starting for Siyu, who came from one of the worst hit towns.
Siyu, who likes math but wants to be a fashion consultant when she grows up, recalled how a class of first graders was buried in her collapsed school and waited for rescue in Yingxiu, a town in Wenchuan county, the quake's epicenter.
"One little boy in the first grade was really brave. His name was Zhou Yuyan," she said. "When he and his friends were trapped, before they were rescued, he sang a song to comfort them. He sang 'Two Tigers'" — a popular children's tune.
State-run media reported only 100 out of 447 students and teachers survived at the school.
The quake and the landslides it triggered knocked out mountain roads and phone service to Yingxiu, cutting off the town. Heavy rains hampered helicopter flights. Siyu waited two days to be flown to the West China Hospital in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where most of the serious cases were taken.
The flight to Chengdu was Siyu's first ride in an aircraft, but it left her with no special impression. "I didn't feel like I was flying," she said. "I was in so much pain."
Siyu — whose name translates as "thoughtful rain" — underwent surgery Wednesday to complete the amputation of her leg.
Millions of other people living near the epicenter suffered much the same misery and danger in a large swathe of Sichuan world of warcraft gold, a rugged southwestern province that's sometimes called the "Texas of China" because of its enormous size and location.
Factories were flattened, apartment buildings became piles of rubble and dams threatened to burst and flood vast areas already devastated by the quake. Homeless people left cities and towns in droves, while tent camps popped up along roads and in parks.
Tens of thousands of troops with shovels and little else were mobilized for often futile rescues and searches for the dead, and by Saturday, the rescue effort had burgeoned to almost 150,000 soldiers and police, using hundreds of heavy earth-moving machines to cut through the debris. The government says it expects a final death toll of at least 50,000.
"My mother was buried for five days before they recovered her body. Five days!" said Chen Xiaofeng, a 44-year-old high school teacher, as he left the crematorium in the hard-hit city of Dujiangyan, north of Chengdu.
The crematorium chimneys belched black smoke all day as bodies were delivered by flatbed trucks, vans and three-wheel motorcycle carts. A man with a large can of disinfectant strapped to his back sprayed down the bodies as they passed through the crematorium's massive stone gate decorated with carvings of the Buddha and dragons.
The disaster was yet another big, unexpected challenge for China in an already difficult year. The country's leaders would like to just focus on one of the nation's most prestigious projects — the staging of the Beijing Olympics less than three months away wow gold. But in recent months, the communist leadership has been distracted by unrest in Tibet and protests that dogged the Olympic torch relay overseas.
Soon after the quake hit, Premier Wen Jiabao jetted off to the quake zone. Wen, a grand-fatherly, empathetic figure, made special stops at demolished schools, where many of the victims died. The government has said nearly 6,900 schoolrooms collapsed, fueling anger among many Chinese who suspect shoddy construction pushed up the death toll. For many families, the dead child was their only offspring — a tragic side-effect of China's "one-child" family planning policy.
Three days after her operation, Siyu sat propped up with pillows in her hospital bed in a room shared with two other child quake survivors. Two hospital volunteers sat at her side and kept her chatting and laughing with games and a simple art project using crayons to color a fish and a cat.
"I like dogs better than cats because a dog really cares about you," she said. "A dog can save your life."
She likes to have her hair braided and twisted into a bun pinned on the side of her head. When her catheter leaked and soaked her pajamas with urine buy wow gold, she looked horrified and began to cry. She used to ask constantly where her parents were, her caretakers said, but not so much anymore.
When the nurses brought her bowls of dumplings and rice, she uttered a meek, "Thank you."
Throughout the hospital, residents of Chengdu who wanted somehow to help — a kindergarten teacher, a hairstylist and a child psychologist among them — were handed hospital badges and deployed to keep Siyu and the other injured company.
Although she lost her leg, Siyu said she feels fortunate. After lunch, she stared at the patient across from her bed and noted the boy's head was wrapped with a white thick bandage.
"Look, he hurt his head, so I feel lucky," she said. "When the roof caved in, I put my hands and arms over my head and protected it."
2008年5月13日星期二
Patch 2.4.2 surprised me
Not that it was happening, but rather that it added a really strange sound effect to my Bloodrage and Berserker Rage abilities. My wife described it as sounding like the mutant offspring of an orc and a murloc howling in anguish world of warcraft, and she's not far off. After a while I realized I recognized the sound as being the same one that plays when Horde shamans use Bloodlust.
Now, I don't know why, but while I accept the sound when it comes out of an orc, I have a really hard time hearing it when my human pops bloodrage... which he does a lot wow gold, since you know, needs more rage and all. This is reminiscent of the previous patch with the unexpected change to Whirlwind (also a sound effect change) and it makes me wonder every time if I just wasn't listening or if it's an actual change.
Furthermore, it always makes me stop and think about just how much development work goes on for things like new music in inns, new sound effects, a new pet model... these things all add up and it's a lot of work if you stop and think about it.
Have you noticed any other changes buy wow gold, undocumented or just stuff you didn't really think about?
Now, I don't know why, but while I accept the sound when it comes out of an orc, I have a really hard time hearing it when my human pops bloodrage... which he does a lot wow gold, since you know, needs more rage and all. This is reminiscent of the previous patch with the unexpected change to Whirlwind (also a sound effect change) and it makes me wonder every time if I just wasn't listening or if it's an actual change.
Furthermore, it always makes me stop and think about just how much development work goes on for things like new music in inns, new sound effects, a new pet model... these things all add up and it's a lot of work if you stop and think about it.
Have you noticed any other changes buy wow gold, undocumented or just stuff you didn't really think about?
2008年5月12日星期一
Wrath will have mounts with passengers
Some more information on Wrath has bubbled to the surface. This is like Christmas every day for me! I'm very excited wow gold. New bits in today's installment of Facts of the Lich King:
* Some Wrath mounts will be able to take passengers (!), and ground passenger mounts will work in the old world as well! This sounds awesome -- although it might be boring to be the one who's not driving, it could also let you take a break. And being able to cart around lower-level characters in the old world will really speed up those instance runs.
* Trainers and AH will stay in the old world world of warcraft. Not surprising, but incredibly irritating. At best, it's a minor inconvenience and burns your Hearthstone timer. At worst, you're stuck in Stormwind for an hour when you could be doing much more interesting things, all because you wanted to respec or buy some mats. Not to mention the leveling-up process -- going back to the old world every level to train was obnoxious in BC, and it'll almost certainly be obnoxious in Wrath.
* Some Wrath mounts will be able to take passengers (!), and ground passenger mounts will work in the old world as well! This sounds awesome -- although it might be boring to be the one who's not driving, it could also let you take a break. And being able to cart around lower-level characters in the old world will really speed up those instance runs.
* Trainers and AH will stay in the old world world of warcraft. Not surprising, but incredibly irritating. At best, it's a minor inconvenience and burns your Hearthstone timer. At worst, you're stuck in Stormwind for an hour when you could be doing much more interesting things, all because you wanted to respec or buy some mats. Not to mention the leveling-up process -- going back to the old world every level to train was obnoxious in BC, and it'll almost certainly be obnoxious in Wrath.
2008年5月11日星期日
All things Wrath of the Lich King
Lore, Factions, Know your Lore, Galleries, Interviews, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, Inscription
Over the past week, particularly in the last few days, the crisp Internet air has been abuzz with news from the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Fear you're out of the loop? Here's a quick round-up of all the information being released wow gold, along with analysis and opinion:
Dungeons and raids
1. An analysis on Arthas as a ten-manned event, including its impact on the 25-man raiding structure, as well an exploration of its consistency with the lore.
2. Did you know that all expansion raids will have a 10-man setting, as well as a 25-man?
3. Read through some of our initial impressions on the 10-man raiding set-up.
4. We also wrote up a concise overview of the ins and outs of dungeons post-expansion, including a new token system cheap wow gold, similar to [Badge of Justice].
Zones, factions, and relevant lore
1. Alex has written an excellent overview of the Grizzly Hills, a soon-to-be zone for low to mid-seventies. With old factions reappearing, along with other surprises, it's definitely something to look forward to!
2. If news of the Dragonblight has intrigued you, you'll be pleased to know that more information has been made available.
3. While we're brushing up on our lore and learning about new areas and factions, Alex thought it fitting to illuminate the lore behind Azjol-Nerub, as the Nerubians will have their own role in the expansion.
Continue through the break for new information on Death Knights buy wow gold, as well as video and interviews with key people, as well as our full-range of Wrath galleries..
Over the past week, particularly in the last few days, the crisp Internet air has been abuzz with news from the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Fear you're out of the loop? Here's a quick round-up of all the information being released wow gold, along with analysis and opinion:
Dungeons and raids
1. An analysis on Arthas as a ten-manned event, including its impact on the 25-man raiding structure, as well an exploration of its consistency with the lore.
2. Did you know that all expansion raids will have a 10-man setting, as well as a 25-man?
3. Read through some of our initial impressions on the 10-man raiding set-up.
4. We also wrote up a concise overview of the ins and outs of dungeons post-expansion, including a new token system cheap wow gold, similar to [Badge of Justice].
Zones, factions, and relevant lore
1. Alex has written an excellent overview of the Grizzly Hills, a soon-to-be zone for low to mid-seventies. With old factions reappearing, along with other surprises, it's definitely something to look forward to!
2. If news of the Dragonblight has intrigued you, you'll be pleased to know that more information has been made available.
3. While we're brushing up on our lore and learning about new areas and factions, Alex thought it fitting to illuminate the lore behind Azjol-Nerub, as the Nerubians will have their own role in the expansion.
Continue through the break for new information on Death Knights buy wow gold, as well as video and interviews with key people, as well as our full-range of Wrath galleries..
2008年5月10日星期六
The Darkmoon Faire departing until June
Remember, tomorrow will be the last day you can attend the Darkmoon Faire this month. If you haven't had an opportunity to turn in your decks or acquire your tickets yet, you should hurry! Even if you don't want any material rewards wow gold, at least shoot yourself out of a cannon before it's all over.
If you haven't finished your decks yet, you'll be waiting quite awhile for another opportunity to do so. The Darkmoon Faire will return on June 9th and no earlier. As always, if you haven't been able to visit the Faire in person for one reason or another cheap wow gold, you can always check out our image gallery below!
If you haven't finished your decks yet, you'll be waiting quite awhile for another opportunity to do so. The Darkmoon Faire will return on June 9th and no earlier. As always, if you haven't been able to visit the Faire in person for one reason or another cheap wow gold, you can always check out our image gallery below!
2008年5月6日星期二
WoW Insider Show Episode 36: MEH-lay
Both Duncor and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli were on the podcast with me last Saturday, and despite my being a bit behind (Liberty City claimed most of my time last week), the show went really well cheap wow gold.
We chatted a lot about the mounts of Warcraft, including why you can't ride most of the bug mounts outside of AQ. We talked about how to make raiding faster We hit on a number of player events, including John's post about those crazy Druids in Nagrand, and our own It Came From the Blog fun We talked about what we're looking forward to in Wrath of the Lich King (I can't wait for the five man instances) And we answered lots of emails -- a few more jokes, a little advice, some good thoughts about Trinkets (and maybe putting an extra inventory slot in there), player housing, and lots of making fun of Duncor for quitting the game. And we figured out the real pronunciation of melee -- here it is wow gold. Definitely give it a listen -- there's a lot of good stuff in there. As usual, the show is available over on WoW Radio, or in iTunes if you'd rather get it that way.
And here's a special announcement: This coming week on the WoW Insider Show (which will be live on WoW Radio at 3:30pm EST on May 10th), we'll have a special Mother's Day edition of the podcast. Not only will we have Robin Torres (who is herself a mother) on with Turpster and I, but both Amanda Dean and her mother will be live on the show as well. Moms and WoW -- next week on the WoW Insider Show.
We chatted a lot about the mounts of Warcraft, including why you can't ride most of the bug mounts outside of AQ. We talked about how to make raiding faster We hit on a number of player events, including John's post about those crazy Druids in Nagrand, and our own It Came From the Blog fun We talked about what we're looking forward to in Wrath of the Lich King (I can't wait for the five man instances) And we answered lots of emails -- a few more jokes, a little advice, some good thoughts about Trinkets (and maybe putting an extra inventory slot in there), player housing, and lots of making fun of Duncor for quitting the game. And we figured out the real pronunciation of melee -- here it is wow gold. Definitely give it a listen -- there's a lot of good stuff in there. As usual, the show is available over on WoW Radio, or in iTunes if you'd rather get it that way.
And here's a special announcement: This coming week on the WoW Insider Show (which will be live on WoW Radio at 3:30pm EST on May 10th), we'll have a special Mother's Day edition of the podcast. Not only will we have Robin Torres (who is herself a mother) on with Turpster and I, but both Amanda Dean and her mother will be live on the show as well. Moms and WoW -- next week on the WoW Insider Show.
2008年5月5日星期一
Forum Post of the Day: Assassination nation
I love what Kre's doing on the forums: he's calling for NPC assassination targets. And he's not all talk -- when he gets asked to take a target out, whether it be Katrina Prestor herself or the Ironforge bread vendor (who will not... shut... up!) wow gold, he and his assassination crew get the job done.
My choice for a kill has already been done (Die, Fandral Staghelm!), but there are all kinds of great requests in the thread -- unfortunately, due to the code of the assassin, Kre can't kill the little kid who stole that dolly in Stormwind, as children are not viable targets. But even Drysc has been sent to meet his maker by these guys. Hilarious. If an NPC has been giving you trouble lately cheap wow gold, they'll make sure there are no more problems, if you know what we mean.
Not all the war in Warcraft can be fought on the battlefield -- some of it has to be fought in the back alleys and in the shadows wow. Glad to see that Kre and his crew (Aelas has pulled off some excellent kills here, too) are going a little guerilla in the constant fight against NPCs.
My choice for a kill has already been done (Die, Fandral Staghelm!), but there are all kinds of great requests in the thread -- unfortunately, due to the code of the assassin, Kre can't kill the little kid who stole that dolly in Stormwind, as children are not viable targets. But even Drysc has been sent to meet his maker by these guys. Hilarious. If an NPC has been giving you trouble lately cheap wow gold, they'll make sure there are no more problems, if you know what we mean.
Not all the war in Warcraft can be fought on the battlefield -- some of it has to be fought in the back alleys and in the shadows wow. Glad to see that Kre and his crew (Aelas has pulled off some excellent kills here, too) are going a little guerilla in the constant fight against NPCs.
2008年4月30日星期三
Build Shop: Shaman 18/43/0
Today on Build Shop, we're going to take a look at a Shaman build that's a little different from the usual since we've already covered the basic cookie-cutter specs of Elemental, Enhancement, and Mike Schramm's personal variant of Restoration wow gold. The Enhancement spec that we'll tinker with will try to focus on the built-in synergy between some Elemental and Enhancement talents, as opposed to the more familiar complement of Restoration talents. This Enhancement build is focused on dealing damage, with less focus on the raid or party utility that Restoration talents provide. You can take a quick look at the build here.
Shock and awe
For optimum DPS, an Enhancement Shaman's spell cycle should be punctuated by shocks, which are instant cast damage-dealing spells that don't interfere with a Shaman's swing timer. The biggest problem cheap wow gold with utilizing shocks as part of an offensive spell cycle is the prohibitive mana cost, which can make a dent on an Enhancement Shaman's relatively low mana pool. To alleviate this , we take 5/5 Convection from the first tier of the Elemental tree, which reduces the cost of Lightning and Shock spells by 10%.
Shock and awe
For optimum DPS, an Enhancement Shaman's spell cycle should be punctuated by shocks, which are instant cast damage-dealing spells that don't interfere with a Shaman's swing timer. The biggest problem cheap wow gold with utilizing shocks as part of an offensive spell cycle is the prohibitive mana cost, which can make a dent on an Enhancement Shaman's relatively low mana pool. To alleviate this , we take 5/5 Convection from the first tier of the Elemental tree, which reduces the cost of Lightning and Shock spells by 10%.
2008年4月28日星期一
WoW Rookie: Azeroth Reputations
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider wow if you have suggestions for what new players need to know.
Grinding for reputation is a part of the game. Think of it as leveling up with different factions. Last week we looked at the levels of reputation. This week we'll examine some of the reputations that you encounter in Azeroth cheap wow gold.
Each of the major cities represent factions reputations that you can grind up with by completing quests and donating cloth. Increasing your reputation with the cities of your faction gives you the opportunity to purchase their racial mounts and tabards, in addition to discounts from vendors. For example if you play a Human, you can rep up to exalted with Darnasus in order to get a Nightsaber mount. Be warned buy wow gold, though because of scaling restrictions some models may not have access to all racial mounts.
Grinding for reputation is a part of the game. Think of it as leveling up with different factions. Last week we looked at the levels of reputation. This week we'll examine some of the reputations that you encounter in Azeroth cheap wow gold.
Each of the major cities represent factions reputations that you can grind up with by completing quests and donating cloth. Increasing your reputation with the cities of your faction gives you the opportunity to purchase their racial mounts and tabards, in addition to discounts from vendors. For example if you play a Human, you can rep up to exalted with Darnasus in order to get a Nightsaber mount. Be warned buy wow gold, though because of scaling restrictions some models may not have access to all racial mounts.
2008年4月27日星期日
Five tips to minimize raiding downtime
I'm a rather avid raider, putting in a solid 20 hours a week on my Warrior. One of the major things about the time spent raiding is that it can be very precious wow gold. There is only so much time that 24 other people, plus appropriate class substitutions, can be available each week. It's critical that the time spent raiding is used well.
Unfortunately, using raiding time well is about as much of a challenge as is downing Illidan. In preparation for this article, I've spent the past three weeks keeping track of the down time in raids. We raid Sunday through Thursday nights, from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. We experience a downtime of about 51 minutes for each raid buy wow gold, which is about 20% of the time. Down time is defined as the time that my character is standing still, not attacking, not moving, and not being MDed to.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not really sure.
Tip #1: Chain pulling
Personally, I do my best at the main tank to chain pull and push the trash through as fast as possible. This works out 99% of the time, however the 1% of the time it doesn't work out can grind the raid to a halt. Case and point: The trash to Supremus isn't too bad, and is a lot of packs where the MT, OT, and Pally tank each have some mobs to tank. There are also some ranged dragons that the Warlocks tank. These pulls can go very fast, and are very predictable. Pulling slowly we can do this in about 40 minutes world of warcraft gold, while chain pulling each group, we can push through in 15.
Tip #2: Fully self buffed, all the time
It doesn't take much to buff yourself. Every class has some buff they can apply to themselves, be it food buffs, spell buffs, or shouts. The key here is that you can find a minute or two to always buff at least yourself, if not others. Although, it might not always be possible to buff others as you're going along - and that's okay with most raid leaders for trash pulls.
Unfortunately, using raiding time well is about as much of a challenge as is downing Illidan. In preparation for this article, I've spent the past three weeks keeping track of the down time in raids. We raid Sunday through Thursday nights, from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. We experience a downtime of about 51 minutes for each raid buy wow gold, which is about 20% of the time. Down time is defined as the time that my character is standing still, not attacking, not moving, and not being MDed to.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not really sure.
Tip #1: Chain pulling
Personally, I do my best at the main tank to chain pull and push the trash through as fast as possible. This works out 99% of the time, however the 1% of the time it doesn't work out can grind the raid to a halt. Case and point: The trash to Supremus isn't too bad, and is a lot of packs where the MT, OT, and Pally tank each have some mobs to tank. There are also some ranged dragons that the Warlocks tank. These pulls can go very fast, and are very predictable. Pulling slowly we can do this in about 40 minutes world of warcraft gold, while chain pulling each group, we can push through in 15.
Tip #2: Fully self buffed, all the time
It doesn't take much to buff yourself. Every class has some buff they can apply to themselves, be it food buffs, spell buffs, or shouts. The key here is that you can find a minute or two to always buff at least yourself, if not others. Although, it might not always be possible to buff others as you're going along - and that's okay with most raid leaders for trash pulls.
2008年4月26日星期六
Patch 2.4.2 notes released
Blizzard has released tonight the patch notes for patch 2.4.2, which means the PTR will probably be up and running sometime soon wow gold. Patch 2.4 will likely be the last major patch before Wrath of the Lich King, and we expect to see a couple more of these minor patches before WotLK comes out.
Highlights of 2.4.2 include:
* Changes to the way arena points are calculated - essentially what Drysc talked about earlier.
* Void Shatter no longer has a cooldown, and other cooldowns have been reduced.
* Illidan will no longer despawn if a raid wipes during his death speech cheap wow gold.
* If you are sheeped / polymorphed by a mob, you will no longer gain back health (ie: the mass sheep in Aran, which regens your health before he fire blasts the raid). This is a potentially large change.
* Many main hand weapons are now one hand weapons.
* A good list of bug fixes, including several problems associated with sounds.
Full patch notes for your convenience after the break world of warcraft!
Highlights of 2.4.2 include:
* Changes to the way arena points are calculated - essentially what Drysc talked about earlier.
* Void Shatter no longer has a cooldown, and other cooldowns have been reduced.
* Illidan will no longer despawn if a raid wipes during his death speech cheap wow gold.
* If you are sheeped / polymorphed by a mob, you will no longer gain back health (ie: the mass sheep in Aran, which regens your health before he fire blasts the raid). This is a potentially large change.
* Many main hand weapons are now one hand weapons.
* A good list of bug fixes, including several problems associated with sounds.
Full patch notes for your convenience after the break world of warcraft!
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Are warriors underpowered?
The Care and Feeding of Warriors knew that there would be discussion of whether or not warriors are broken, and so decided to provide picture evidence that at least one warrior is broken indeed! Matthew Rossi apologizes for that pun wow gold. Really, he couldn't be expected to resist it, now could he? Look, mob violence never solved anything.
I have in the past written about what's not broken in the warrior class. So you might think that a column entitled "Are warriors underpowered?" would be easily answered with a no, and then we could move on cheap wow gold.
And so it is. See you next week!
Oh, right. I still have to write a column. Also, to be fair, the answer is more complicated than no, although it ultimately works out to a no by means of averages. Warriors in the whole are not underpowered or broken, but they have some issues. Some aspects that world of warcraft have always annoyed me. It's too bad I don't have a weekly column about warriors so I can talk about that, isn't it?
I have in the past written about what's not broken in the warrior class. So you might think that a column entitled "Are warriors underpowered?" would be easily answered with a no, and then we could move on cheap wow gold.
And so it is. See you next week!
Oh, right. I still have to write a column. Also, to be fair, the answer is more complicated than no, although it ultimately works out to a no by means of averages. Warriors in the whole are not underpowered or broken, but they have some issues. Some aspects that world of warcraft have always annoyed me. It's too bad I don't have a weekly column about warriors so I can talk about that, isn't it?
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