Quantcast
Channel: Adventures in Skywall
Viewing all 92 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

A Nod to the Past

January 12, 2015, 8:43 am
$
0
0
The 10th Anniversary event was supposed to end this past week but due to a blunder over at Blizzard, it was extended. Me and Pigletoos ended up running Molten Core during the first week that it came out. We had prepped a good bit beforehand by doing dungeons, and I even got my Darkmoon Faire trinket made. The run was pretty smooth, and we had no wipes. Of course I didn't get the cosmetic enchant or the mini pet. I ended up buying my Hatespark the Tiny on a different server for a pretty decent deal considering the rarity of the little thing. I really wish that the drop rate for both things were a bit higher considering some of the long queue times I've heard people talking about.

Too soon!
Southshore vs. Tarren Mill was something I was more excited to participate in. I remember leveling up through Hillsbrad Foothills back in BC and always seeing world PvP going on around the area. It took me quite a while before Horde managed to push through and win a game. I actually won my match the day that Highmaul was released, so maybe all the really good Alliance players were raiding that night! Thinking about that makes me giggle. Anyway, while the throwback was fun, I don't think I'd like to do that over and over again. I'm sure there are some that would disagree with me.


This makes me think of a semi heated conversation I had last week with an online friend that used to play WoW. They were basically saying the game isn't like it was in BC, and that gear is super easy to come by, and when you killed a boss back then it actually meant something. Well, I didn't agree with them at all. Yes, the game is definitely not the same game as it was... even a year ago! It evolves and changes with every expansion. I also didn't really find gear was that difficult to come by even in BC. When I stepped into my first raid, I had a full Spellfire set with my other two pieces of Spellstrike. Sure it took me sometime to craft all of it, but doing cloth trades made it much easier. I eventually replaced things as I ran raids and collected badges of justice. Lastly, as for feeling that killing a boss isn't epic anymore, there is mythic raiding. I admire and respect the guilds who are clearing that place. I love seeing my Twitter friends getting excited on their boss kills. They worked hard for that and should be proud.

While events like this give us a tiny glimpse into the past, I personally think that the game is much better than it was back then. My only complaint with WoD right now is that garrisons can be quite tedious if you have a ton of alts, and I wish the Apexis daily gave a little rep with a faction on turn in. Sometimes it's better if we take off the rose colored glasses and look at the game how it's meant to be seen currently. It's nice to look back on the past and think about those feats we achieved, but we must move on and adapt with the new times. I think Garrosh said it best himself.


↧
Search

The Warcraft Movie

June 13, 2016, 9:03 am
$
0
0
Just as many others did, I saw the Warcraft movie this past weekend. I have been hearing about this since I've started playing WoW, and I know others have been waiting for it even longer. To finally have something like this happen is absolutely amazing. I was so awe struck on seeing my favorite video game come to life on the big screen, and despite all the critics giving it terrible reviews, I went in with an open mind. I knew the movie lore was different from the game lore, so I was prepared for that. While I really enjoyed the movie, there were still things minor things that bothered me. I wanted to put down my opinions on it to perhaps persuade those who haven't seen it yet. Don't worry, I promise it's spoiler free.


What I Liked
First off, if you haven't listened to the movie soundtrack, I suggest you do that. The music for the film was amazing. Right from the beginning you get the title track that sounds like something straight from the game. Ramin Djawaldi did an amazing job just as I expected.

The CGI is amazing! As someone who plays a mage in game, I was excited to see all these different spells being cast and naming them all as it happened. The orcs looked phenomenal! They looked so realistic and believable. They were very detailed. In some scenes you could see little hairs on their skin. Also the dwarves looked great. I haven't heard many people talk about them, but they are perfect Warcraft dwarves. I can't say anything more about this than the CGI was top notch. Imagine what you see in Blizzard cinematics and multiply that by a thousand.


The orcs were amazing. Every single actor and actress put in their all and played a believable role. From the first scene in the movie, I fell in love with Durotan and Draka. Not only could you feel the love between them, but also the respect they had for one another. Different feelings brewed up as the movie carried over from Blackhand, to Gul'dan, and definitely to Orgrim. Every scene between the orcs was perfection. I just have to say that Toby Kebbel played an absolute amazing Durotan, and I could have watched an entire movie based around just him and the Frostwolf clan.

On the human side, I wasn't sure how to feel after I heard some rather harsh reviews about Medivh and Khadgar, but I loved them. I like the casting choice of Ben Schnetzer. I loved the awkwardness that he brought to young Khadgar, and I think many people relate to a character like that. For Medivh, I was a little unimpressed at first, but as the movie went on he turned out being my second favorite character. He had the hints of madness and fear that you would expect Medivh to carry all while trying to hold everything together. I think many people missed the complexity of the character Ben Foster was trying to achieve. Once again, I could have watched an entire movie revolving around those two mages.

What I Disliked
From very early on in the movie, it's apparent that the time lapse feels a little... strange. Sometimes it's not clear whether it's been a few days, months, or even longer that has gone by. As someone who knows the Warcraft universe, I knew these things didn't happen overnight. As someone watching who doesn't know, they may be confused - especially having Garona speaking broken common in one scene then perfect common in another. I'm not sure how they could have portrayed time going by, but I'm sure it could have been done in a non cheesy fashion.

While I praised the orcs for being absolutely amazing, I thought that the humans fell flat at times. I believe if it weren't for Khadgar and Medivh, the human story would have been very boring. I was very unimpressed by Lothar, who I was actually looking forward to seeing on screen. I know a lot of people love Travis Fimmel from Vikings, but I'm not so sure he sold me on Lothar. He often came off as empty and something about him on screen just made me uncomfortable. Maybe it's the way he was looking at Garona, but I can't exactly put my finger on it.


King Llane and Queen Taria were no different. I felt no attachment to them as I did with Durotan and Draka, and they didn't feel like a powerful royal unit. There is only one, maybe two, scenes where I thought the King's true emotions and feeling are shown. Other than that, nothing. I think maybe if there were a private scene where he and Queen Taria could have talked more candid about how they felt about the orcish invasion and their kingdom, this may have changed my mind. I can only hope something like this exists in the deleted scenes otherwise, I really didn't care for them.

Of course there are other things little things I liked and disliked, but those points I talked about are the bigger ones. After calming down from seeing it and thinking it over, I'd have to give the movie a solid 8/10. While it's not the best movie I've seen, it's definitely not the worse. I do plan on seeing it once or twice more, and I definitely will be buying whatever the best extended cut/collectors edition they will be releasing on Blu-ray. Basically if you like fantasy movies, you may like this. If you love Warcraft, you will definitely enjoy this. If you're looking into get into Warcraft, sure, go see it! Just don't let any reviews turn you off to it. Be your own critic and judge it for yourself.
↧
↧

Patch 7.0

July 25, 2016, 9:09 am
$
0
0
The new patch is here, and as with all patches, things have changed. That overwhelming sense of having to get everything done right now is racing through many people's minds - as well as mine. As I was sorting through the banks/void storage of one of my alts, it hit me; I don't have to stress over any of this. I have more than enough time to sort out transmog, gather up some of the new items, and learn my new rotations well before the Legion invasions hit the servers. So day one was basically cleaning out banks and void storage, and boy am I happy with all of my new found bag space. Of course there were still some special items I kept on certain characters, but most stuff went out the door. I was sad to realize that the Scarlet set wasn't all changed to plate like I was previously led to believe. So that put a little damper into my paladin plans. I guess I will have to wait and see if it's a bug or until the ensemble is actually available at the Darkmoon Faire. I also realized I have a cloak collecting problem as my 16 pages of them shows. Day two was re-doing talents on all my characters and reading up on their new class rotations and changes. Thank goodness for Icy Veins because I would be a lost mess! The next few days were spent leveling alts and running old raids (these weapon illusions are calling!).


What else? Ah yes, the doomsayers in the cities. These people always like to pop up when times are about to get tough. This time they give out pamphlets, and collecting all twelve will give the user the achievement "It All Makes Sense Now". I decided to casually talk to them every time I was in the city, which has been a lot more than usual these past few days. However, waiting the twenty minutes to get another pamphlet wasn't fast enough for some people. It was funny, and a bit horrifying considering the content of these pamphlets, that people were dropping their characters to their death to get rid of the twenty minute de-buff. I managed to get my achievement this weekend without repeatedly harming my character.


I also can't decide if I want to jump on the gnome hunter bandwagon or just make another mage. I have an alt gnome saved on Scarlet Crusade (US) for Running of the Gnomes, but I never got a chance to participate yet. The gnome itch is strong right now, and I think an engineer hunter with all the mechanical pets would be a good addition to my alt family. However, I also think having a fire mage in the Time Lord's Regalia would also be awesome. The good thing is nothing is set in stone yet so I still have time to decide what I want to do.


After all of that, and a very long Warlords expansion, I guess it's safe to say that this blog has now crossed over into the Legion expansion. As boring as Warlords actually was, I prefer to look back on the better things about it: The questing experience was amazing, and I liked how they gave you faster options such as potions, objectives, and treasures when leveling up alts. The cut scenes between zones were amazing, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in Legion. Let's not forget our "gold farms"... I mean garrisons. Seriously, I will miss logging in to get thousands of gold for virtually doing nothing. Ah, good times. For now, let us leave Warlords behind and wash out that sour taste it left. Bring on Legion!
↧

Legion Invasions

August 24, 2016, 7:39 am
$
0
0
So in my last post, many preparations and decisions were being made before Legion launched. I managed to clean up the remainder of my alts inventories and even managed to begin collecting cloth dungeon items on Vel. I'm starting with vanilla dungeons, and I'm very happy to announce that I've gotten quite a few out of the way. This is something I hope I can continue to work on as I can find the time. So what else have I been doing? Ah yes, enjoying the heartbreaking scenarios that is the start to Legion. Now if you haven't played yet and don't want spoilers, please stop reading here as I'm not putting anything under a cut - You've been warned.


As I logged in that Tuesday I decided to change up the way I do things. I logged onto my Alliance character first and experienced the Broken Shore scenario from their point of view. I knew what was coming, but I didn't know how. I teared up and felt anger toward the Horde. I felt sadness for the loss of such a great King and heartbreak over Anduin having to take on his father's role and Genn having to deal with the loss of yet another close to him. Then I logged over and did it on the Horde side and saw the second point of view. It wasn't until it was all over that I was filled with anger because I did not expect Vol'jin to die. I honestly thought that he was going to fake his death and work undercover. Sadly that was not the case, and to make things worse, he appointed Sylvanas as Warchief. I can sit here and talk about why I don't think she's a good choice, but I won't. I'm just hoping Blizzard uses this as some story line to get Varimathras back in the picture. Expect a speculation blog post about that in the future...

Then we have invasions. After I pretty much geared out my mains and collected all the weapons I could (minus the dagger; no rogue), I put my focus on my alts. I had a few stragglers left over that I made recently or just never got around to leveling. This included a second warlock, which is Melathor's twin, a dwarf shaman, and a brand new gnome hunter. When it was added that characters level 10+ could join in the event, I took advantage. The XP gain was huge, and on the first day I leveled up my alts quite a bit. Sadly the experience gain was nerfed significantly to where it was taking me longer to level. I didn't mind though. I'd often put my characters at a site and /afk while I did housework during the day. This weekend a tagging bug was fixed and our lovely XP was flowing once again. I managed to level my warlock to 100, my shaman to 80, and my hunter to 70. No bad at all. I plan to continue to do these until they are gone.


I also took the plunge and pre-ordered Legion a few days after the invasions began. I now have a lovely demon hunter, and my first night elf as well. I also boosted my paladin like I had stated in a previous blog post. I'm not going to lie though, it was hard. To be honest, I felt a lot better when it was all over and I did a few invasions on him. I forgot how fun paladins are, and possibly my favorite melee class. I do look forward into doing current content with him. It's been way too long. So what's next? Now we wait. In less than ten days, Legion will be launching. I'll be getting some real life stuff done so I can focus on the beginning of the expansion. I hope that Legion give me more inspiration to blog, but I can already feel it in my bones. This one is going to be good!
↧

Dark Whispers and the Banshee Queen

August 29, 2016, 8:40 am
$
0
0
If you have spent any time in a major city during the Legion pre-event, chances are you were effected with the debuff that caused you to turn into a dreadlord, or maybe you saw another person turn into one instead. A player who knows what they are doing can cause quite an amount of chaos in the city until they are defeated. This isn't all that far fetched as dreadlords (or Nathrezim) are commonly known to be masters of manipulation and can use these abilities to weasel their way into positions of power without anyone knowing. Before I get started I wanted to say that this post isn't going to be about the "Jaina is a dreadlord" theory. In my opinion, that's just stupid. Instead this is going to be my theory on why Sylvanas was put into her new role as Warchief of the Horde.

Up ahead contains Legion spoilers, so if you haven't don't the Broken Shore scenario, turn back now. As with all post like this, read it with your tin-foil hat on as this is meant to be fun. Let's begin!


We will talk more about Lady Sylvanas and her new status a bit later. Right now, let's travel back to Wrath of the Lich King and earlier expansions. If you happened to visit the Banshee Queen around that time, by her side was a dreadlord named Varimathras. He and the Dark Lady had quite a strained history. He first helped her by giving her information vital to escaping the grasp of Arthas and the Lich King. Shortly after this he offered her to join the Legion, which she refused, making her an enemy. She brought her army against his forces, but before his defeat he pleaded with her to spare him since he had information on the locations of other demons. She agreed to this and together they hunted down and killed his brethren. Standing by her side as Majordomo, he eventually helped her to build up her Forsaken empire. Of course there is much more to his backstory, and you can read all about it over on WoWpedia.

Things went on seemingly normal until the Battle for Undercity. Varimathras had gotten not only Professor Putress, but many other members of the Royal Apothecary Society on his side. He had not only remained loyal to the Legion all those years, but he did it right under the Banshee Queen's nose. His plans were to overthrow her leadership on Undercity and take control of the Forsaken. During this now removed quest, each faction took different paths with the Alliance defeating Putress and the Horde "defeating" Varimathras. You can view the Alliance side and the Horde side on Youtube. It gives a pretty good idea to what went on during these quests.


Fast forward to current times and the Broken Shore scenario. During the Horde's final stand against Gul'dan and the Legion, they are overrun and Warchief is gravely injured. Vol'jin tells Lady Sylvanas "do not let the Horde die this day". It is here she is forced to make the decision to pull back the Horde forces. This is possibly a decision she did not want to make as she knew it would cause more faction tension. Her apprehension can be seen over her face as their boats leave the shore. Once back in the city, the Horde get a bonus cinematic - the death of the Warchief. It is here, in front of each faction leader that Vol'jin states to the Banshee Queen: "The spirits have granted me clarity - a vision. They whisper a name many will not understand, but you must step out of the shadows and lead. You must be Warchief."

A shocked Sylvanas.
At this moment not only are the other leaders, namely Baine, possibly the player (depending on how you view Sylvanas), and also Sylvanas herself shocked by this revelation. While everyone was celebrating the victory of this fan favorite picked as Warchief, my mind couldn't help but going back to Varimathras and all they had been though. We now know that demons can only be killed in the Twisting Nether, so anyone defeated elsewhere can always come back. Many previously defeated demons can even be seen on the Alliance side of the Broken Shore scenario. Once again, dreadlords throughout the years have used their powers to sway different things to go their way. To name a few, Balnazzar disguising himself to infiltrate the Scarlet Crusade, Mal'ganis guiding Arthas to become the next Lich King, and Sathrovarr possessing Kalecgos. With this information, I don't think Vol'jin was hearing whispers of the spirts. Instead, he was hearing the dark whispers of a dreadlord.

So if this is true, what would Varimathras gain out of having Sylvanas in such a high position? Well if you were Alliance, you don't know what happened on the Horde side of the Broken Shore. To you it would have looked like the Horde retreated, leaving you to die. This raises faction tension once again. If you're busy fighting each other, things can start to slip in through the cracks. Secondly, it's uncertain how the other leaders of the Horde feel toward the Banshee Queen. Her manner of continuing on the Forsaken race had always been a questionable practice. Perhaps some will not agree on the way she choses to do things. Tension with the opposite faction is one thing, but when your own people turn on you, then you have trouble. Lastly we know she will be heading to the Broken Isle, perhaps Varimathras will use this opportunity to overthrow her as he once tried many years ago. The odds would be in his favor this time. So I ask again, what would Varimathras gain? Let's just say that revenge is a dish best served cold.

↧
↧

Legion: First Thoughts

September 7, 2016, 8:29 am
$
0
0
So Legion has been out a week, and I've had enough time to experience each zone, really think about them, and form my own thoughts about it all. Though it's still too early in the expansion to say "Oh my gosh, this is the best thing ever!", I will say that I'm having much more fun than I had at level in WoD. I have so much to do now that I'm max level that it's overwhelming, but also a breath of fresh air. I'm going to try not to post any zone spoilers, but if you didn't fully quest in an area, you may wan to skip out on reading the section below.


Stormheim: This was the first zone I decided to go to for only one reason - the Gilneas/Forsaken conflict. I was not disappointed, and I'm glad Sylvanas finally got the smirk knocked off of her face because she was doing some shady stuff there. I loved every quest, and the entire story of the zone. The landscape is beautiful and reminded me of the first time I ever stepped foot into Northrend (Howling Fjord). Since completing the zone and going back to explore, I've been finding hidden quests here and there, including one along the coast from a fine murloc gentleman.

Azuna: This was my next choice to quest in because I think that this is one of the prettiest areas in the Broken Isles even though most of it is crumbling into the water. I didn't really care for the intro quest where I was flown to the demon hunter camp, but I'm glad the zone got much better. The blue dragonflight quests and following the story of Prince Farondis made me fall in love all over again. As with Stormheim, the side quests were all really fun and even sometimes funny. I plan on spending a lot of time in this zone, especially after hearing that the mysterious Long Forgotten Hippogryph is around here. I love a good mystery!


Highmountain: This was one of my favorite comics, so I had "high" hopes, heh. I was disappointed. I didn't enjoy the repeat quests for each tribe to kill harpys, and I thought not only the main city, but the entire zone, was a bit of a pain to navigate. The only thing that I enjoyed were the side quests, and thankfully there are many good ones. I won't spoil anything, but there is also a snail race, and I think that is pretty cool. Aside from that, this is a zone that I am dreading bringing my alts through and will probably always save it for last.

Val'sharah: I saved what I thought was going to be the best for last, but it wasn't my favorite zone, and definitely not the worst. I enjoyed it. The zone was beautiful and the quests involving Xavius and the corruption was sweeping through the land was really interesting to experience. However, this area was definitely soured a bit by the ridiculous love story that is Tyrande and Malfurion. I get it, you love him. I don't need you to tell me every 5 minutes. *eyeroll* The final scene with Ysera was beautiful and brought a tear to my eye once again. Only Blizzard can invoke such emotions in me about a video game.

So after I completed the main quests for each zone and most of the side quests, I found myself about 2 bars into 109. What? This is the first time I was genuinely confused that I might have missed something, so I began sweeping back over each area. Sadly I guess because I didn't complete most zone objectives, this put me at a disadvantage. So going back and searching, picking up a lost quest here and there, I hit 110 on a tailoring quest. Pretty sad so I didn't even bother taking a screenshot. This was the first time I ever ran into this problem, and not one I was really happy about.


So now I've been venturing into Suramar a little more each day. I can't really comment on it other than it's beautiful and I really love First Arcanist Thalyssra. I make sure to check on my budding settlement daily and keep my elves well fed. No one will be mana hungry while I'm around! World quests are also great, and I've gotten a few upgrades. My final thing I need to get done are my dungeon quests for the other Pillars of Creation. As someone who goes into full panic mode to run stuff with random players, I will be trying to schedule a run with my wonderful friends so I don't have to worry. Anyway, I hope you are all having fun in Legion so far. Feel free to leave a comment below telling me what you liked or didn't like about your leveling experience!
↧

Memories of Ebonchill

September 15, 2016, 8:03 am
$
0
0
As a frost mage, I tend to have a bit more of an advantage when it comes to gathering reputation. Ebonchill has this lovely ability called The Council's Wisdom which gives us frost mages a buff that increases reputation gain by 5%. This is wonderful, especially as you're working towards that Nightfallen reputation to move forward in that quest line, but keep in mind that it doesn't persist through death. This buff can be acquired in Dalaran by talking to one of the Council of Tirisfal memories. These "memories" are actually NPCs that are located in certain parts of the city. While these aren't hard to find, I thought it would be nice to have a little visual guide for those who may have a little trouble or just want to see what the NPCs look like. Though to be fair, I spent way too long looking for Eldragosa who is a large dragon laying on a building. She's not hard to miss yet I ran past her a few times that day!


Blinks was the first memory I was shown via the quest, so I didn't have any issues remembering where this little guy is sitting. You'll have to go in a building for this one. He's on the balcony of the Photonic Playground at about 42,48.


One wouldn't think that a large dragon taking a nap on a building would be something hard to spot, but believe it or not, this one gave me the most trouble. I never thought of looking up while looking for this memory so imagine my surprise when I found it. Eldragosa can be found napping on the herbalist building at about 44,33.


Eve can be found reading a book near the Antonidas Memorial at around 47,17.


Little "Fidge" is pretty easy to spot since she's at a location you either hearth to or pass by going in and out of the city. She is at the entrance to Krasus' Landing at 61,44.


Fiora can be found sipping her glass of wine upstairs in the Violet Citadel. She is located by a table around 24,50.


Seanus (I wonder who he is a reference too... hmmm? lol) is sitting on the stoop of Glorious Goods. He can be found at 51,67.


Finally we have Vyrin who is looking over a map in the Legermain Lounge. He is standing toward the back of the room at about 48,41.

It's also worth mentioning that the quest Memories of Ebonchill tells us we can seek out a different member each day, sadly there is no achievement tied to this. Hopefully this little visual guide helped if you were having trouble finding them. Now you have no excuse to not buff yourself before going fight through those world quests!
↧

Fish Fry!

September 26, 2016, 8:51 am
$
0
0
One of my favorite pastimes - fishing. Not really! I absolutely hate fishing IRL. I remember my father taking me when I was younger, and I thought it was the most boring thing ever. I'd usually release all the bait fish in hopes that we'd get to go home sooner. I did enjoy the smell of the sea water and sometimes seeing the porpoise swimming around. It's good memories though. However, fishing in Warcraft, I could do that all day. Put a cold drink by my side, blast some of my favorite music, and I'm all set.

My good friend, Nat Pagle.
So when I found out that there would be a fishing artifact, I was really happy. I previously won the Northrend fishing competition once and the Booty Bay competition twice in my years of playing WoW, so this was going to be another one of those achievements for myself. With El's Extreme Anglin' gone, I had to search elsewhere for information. While I don't mind using WoWhead for guides, I do prefer sites that are mainly dedicated to a certain thing (such as WarcraftPets for mini pets and Petopia for hunters). I did manage to find a pretty well put together guide that I used. Here is the link for those that are curious.

I went into the expansion knowing about the artifact, so as I leveled through each zone, I'd fish in many of the pools that I'd come across. I know the guide says to use arcane lures from Conjurer Margoss, but the reality for me is that I haven't even visited him yet - oops! That's right, I did this all without. I don't necessarily think it took longer for me, and maybe having those lures would have helped. With my old fishing line, hat, and boots, I was fishing at around 855. Sometimes I'd also use Worm Supreme, so I'm not sure using an arcane lure would have made a difference or not. It's too late to sit here and wonder about it now.


I can't give many tips except to definitely pay attention to the fishing dailies in each zone. I was able to complete one in Highmountain that awarded me with an item for a rare bait. Another thing I learned from browsing many threads was that despite being able to catch the items for the axefish lure and ravenous fly in the ocean, you need to be in the Great Sea to effectively use them. So once you catch them, swim out and use your bait. I liked the open sea off of Sauramar. Lots of little rock islands to sit on and quietly fish from.

So what's next in my fishing plans? Well I will slowly work on leveling up my artifact when the time strikes me. I also plan on finally getting myself acquainted with Conjurer Margoss. There is a mount and mini pet I need from him. I'm also going to take some time and work on The Wish Remover since I have the original achievement. However, my biggest wish would be to see a new fishing competition or possible a revamp of the old one. I won't be holding my breath with this, but as with all things, you never know what the future will bring.
↧
Search

Champion of Azeroth

October 4, 2016, 8:13 am
$
0
0

I stand in the Chamber of the Guardian and look over the one Pillar of Creation I retrieved from Val'sharah. One of the first questions I asked after hitting 110 was "Where are the other pillars?". I completed each zone, read each quest, but I guess I didn't pay enough attention to the fact that they were located in dungeons. Up until a few days ago, they still remained there. It was no one's fault but my own. I hate queuing for randoms because you never know what kind of group you will get. I eventually got it done with my group of wonderful friends. I'm lucky to have a little guild that can run stuff with me, but if you don't, then dungeon/group finder is your other option.

This past week, the first wing of LFR for the Emerald Nightmare was released. While LFR may offer little in upgrades if you're doing world quests and such, it's a good opportunity for people who don't have a dedicated raid group or the time to raid to at least see the bosses. However, this will be the first time that certain quests aren't able to be completed using the LFR system.

Link to tweet
The quests In Nightmares and Essence of Power must be completed in normal+ modes of the raid. There has been much outcry that this isn't fair since many previous quests such as the ones that awarded legendaries back in MoP and WoD were able to be completed in all versions of the raid. To my knowledge, these two quests only award an artifact appearance when completed. I have no issue with Blizzard locking an artifact appearance behind higher raid difficulties since it wouldn't be the first time that's happened. However, I would have a problem with this if it were a key quest in advancing the Legion story line. I don't think that will ever happen, but if it does, I'll make noise!

So the only choice that someone who only runs LFR has is to look for pre-made groups, hope they finally get accepted, and that the group actually makes it to the bosses to complete the quests. I can see people forming groups for this raid in the future of the expansion just for this purpose. Hopefully by that time, the content is so obsolete that you're not being declined over and over. That being said, I do think that Blizzard should have communicated better about this restriction. People will always want the new and shiny things that are released, and this is no different especially when things have never worked that way before. Hopefully in the future these things are made clearer.


I also don't think we should be looking down on those who only run LFR or call the people who raid "no lifers". Two wrongs don't make a right, and you don't know the person behind the computer's circumstances. You basically adapt your game play to your lifestyle and sometimes that means you need to sit back and realize that not everything will be obtainable to you. I will probably never get that appearance unlocked anytime soon along with many other items that just don't fit my play style and never will. I won't let that get me down, since there are plenty of other things I can do. I am not the champion of Azeroth that the game wants me to be, and I'm completely alright with that.
↧
↧

Hippogryph Hunting

October 20, 2016, 8:55 am
$
0
0
I've been sitting on this blog post since the beginning of the month. The reason I haven't talked about it sooner is that it still feels like a fresh wound. I was so close to something and lost it. Of course it's nothing that important, but for a collector like me, it feels that way. I'm talking about the Reins of the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph. Since the finding of it a while back, every time I'm in Azsuna I take a little time to look. This usually turns out with no findings, but on two separate occasions I've gotten semi lucky.

My first crystal sighting was on September 15th. The crystal findings were still pretty new, and not very many varied locations had been found. I searched all the locations that were discovered and ran around the area, but I had no luck. It bothered me, and the crystal stayed up all day! So I guess no one else was lucky in their findings either. I found that a bit strange, but since it was still new I just dismissed it. Maybe the thing was bugged at the time and only one spawned? Who knows, but it did light a spark!

location: 59,37
I didn't find another crystal until a few weeks later. It was late on a Sunday evening and I had just finished my world quests. I decided to take a little trip to  Azsuna before logging off for the night. Then I saw it, sitting perfectly still under the water, damn. I knew I wasn't going to bed any time soon. I was somewhat prepared this time as I had downloaded TomTom and now had some macros for points set. Slowly I started finding them... very slowly. In fact, I started around 10:30 PM and decided to stop looking at around 2:00 AM. I was only able to find 4 out of 5 crystals. So with sore eyes that could barely stay open and a heavy heart, I went to bed.

(mouse over each image for coordinate locations)


So the next morning I reevaluated how I went about things. While checking WoWhead comments I saw that about 30 minutes after I called off my search, someone on my server found all of the crystals and left a comment. I would say that I was happy for them, but I was more disappointed in myself because I was so close to it! Sadly I had not kept up to date with many of the new spawn points. In fact, one of the crystals I found were at one of those locations. Another one of my downfalls was I play with graphics settings all maxed out. This coupled with the tiredness definitely inhibited me from seeing ones that spawn in areas that are very grassy. I know better now, and I won't make the same mistake again.

To be honest, that was the last time I bothered looking for the crystals. Since then, I've been avoiding Azsuna at all cost except for when Court of Farondis is the daily emissary. I think this week I will start up again since I'm beginning to get the itch once more. I know I will get it. I just can't get discouraged, and I must remain patient. Of course once it's mine you can expect another post. This definitely won't be the last time I talk about this one.
↧

7.1 - Bring on the Fun!

November 1, 2016, 8:21 am
$
0
0
The highly anticipated patch 7.1 was released last week. I had been looking forward to this for two reasons, new things to collect and Karazhan! As with many other people, that raid holds a special place in my heart. Back in BC, it was the first raid I ever set foot in. While clearing the new Kara isn't in my very near future, I've made it my little group's Legion goal to clear it. Due to our limited playtime together, this may take a while before we're in mythics, but once we get there, it will feel great! However, I did enjoy watching some of my favorite streamers run the place, and I was even more excited to see how the community came together once again to figure out how to spawn Nightbane.


This patch has also sparked up my interest in pet collecting again. A new Raiding With Leashes achievement has been added. I love these because I usually make a decent amount of gold selling them the first month or so. This always allows me to purchase rarer missing pets and other things I want. I have no idea why people are always in such a hurry to collect something that will most likely always be in game, but I don't mind as long as their gold is flowing into my pockets! Another thing added were these new World Quests in each zone. These quests allow you to adopt an orphaned falcosaur. The little falcosaur will give you different quests, which eventually leads to these mounts and the new Talon's Vengeance faction. If you're interested, Quintessence has a guide for the mini pets, and WoWhead has a little write-up on the new faction.


I also couldn't finish this post without at least touching on Blizzcon. That's happening this week and like last year, I will be posting a follow up on it once the entire thing is over with, and I had a chance to watch everything. Blizzard already stated that there won't be any news on legacy servers there, and though I'm pro-vanilla servers (you can read my post about that here), I don't mind that this won't be touched on at Blizzcon. I am hoping that we see a little 7.2 preview on what's coming up with Nighthold. I'm also hoping for some new Heroes of the Storm character and mount previews (please make Invincible into a mount, thanks). Finally I am most excited about the buzz surrounding Diablo. Is it going to be a new expansion? A new game? Nothing at all? We really have no idea except that the 20th anniversary is coming up soon so hopefully Blizzard has something in store. Those are the only games I care about in the Blizzard franchise, though I'm sure others will have some great announcements. The good thing is we don't have to wait and speculate much longer. Let the excitement begin!
↧

Blizzcon 2016

November 10, 2016, 8:12 am
$
0
0
Blizzcon is over! I spent two glorious days planted on my couch while watching things on some of my favorite games. You know what, being a couch potato is a lot more difficult than you would think; I'm so achy! Anyway, the only thing I have left to watch is the final Heroes of the Storm match. Then I am completely done. As always, I was surprised and excited over some of the announcements while others left me wanting just a little more. Here I will touch on what I'm excited for in some of my favorite Blizzard games. This is the only time of the year that I really discuss anything other than Warcraft here, so it's always a treat. This is kind of a long one, so I put it under a cut so it won't clutter up my front page.

Heroes Of The Storm

The night before Blizzcon, me and my boyfriend were talking about potential heroes. I expected our two fallen heroes of Legion to be announced. People had been wanting a troll for a while, and there is always talk of shadow hunters floating around, so I figured Vol'jin and Varian would both be announced. I was half right with that assumption, but I really didn't think Ragnaros would be the second hero. There was a beautiful release trailer for them, and you can see that here if you haven't already.


I don't have many warrior heroes. In fact, I usually use Diablo to get my dailies done. He's not really one of my favorites though I've played him a bunch. I'm looking forward to trying out Varian, and I think he will most definitely be an instant buy for me. Ragnaros, not so much. There isn't a particular reason for that other than I just can't see myself playing him.

The next thing I'm really excited for is the Nexus Challenge. While the dailies are a great way to keep people logging in, I think this offers them a better incentive to actually continue to play games. While playing 15 games is nothing, playing 30 games may be a bit more of a challenge for people who don't have a lot of free time. Personally I will be playing a few games a day, and hopefully when January 4th comes along, I will be done. It's such a little amount of work for such great rewards for not only HotS but also Overwatch. To read more about all the announcements made at Blizzcon, you can go over to their site here!

Diablo

With the 20th anniversary of Diablo nearing, the community was speculating and expecting much more of an announcement. Though many were disappointed at so little that was once again talked about, there are many things I am excited about and some, eh, not so much.

In honor of the anniversary, Diablo will be running an event called the Darkening of Tristram. This event will allow players to step into a dungeon containing original bosses from the previous Diablo games. Not only that, but it will only be able to be experienced in something they are calling "RetroVision". While in the Darkening of Tristram event, this RetroVision will place a filter over the players screen, making their game look and play closer to the original. I'm not really sold on the whole retro thing because I never played the original games so it holds no nostalgia value to me. If you really like it though, developers said it will be around for a short while during the anniversary each year.


I don't think we can really touch on Diablo without at least bringing up a class that many have wanted for a very, very long time - the Necromancer! I honestly thought we were going to get this class back when Reaper of Souls was released, but I was wrong. Now I don't have to worry anymore. Since I never played the older games, I never had a chance to play the necromancer for myself, but it always was a class I wanted to try out. Sadly this class won't be coming out until the second half of next year, but I think it will be well worth the wait.

Finally we have two new zones that will be coming soon - the Shrouded Moors and the Temple of the Firstborne. Early previews of each zone and some of the enemies were shown at Blizzcon. Also if you had a chance to try out the necromancer on the show floor, that demo took place in a part of the temple. People can complain all they want about not having a new expansion, but Diablo has released many free updates through the years with cosmetics, zones, and other things. No one is forcing you to stick around and play. There are always other options out there. If you would like to know more about what was talked about at Blizzcon, there are two write ups over on the Diablo site, here and here.


World Of Warcraft

Now for the topic everyone wants to discuss! I wasn't really expecting much from this Blizzcon since patch 7.1 had just been released, and I was pleasantly surprised The next patch that will be released is a mini patch, but don't let that fool you. There will be much to do! Some of my favorite things talked about were Micro Holidays! This is perfect for someone like me who enjoys solo play. I'm really looking forward to my participation in Ahn'Qiraj Remembrance Day where both factions will battle it out for their faction flag to be flown above the temple gates.

If you've followed me for a while, you will remember back in MoP when I was working towards completing Brawler's Guild. I did manage to finish it, and it was a very proud moment for me. Now it's back and completely revamped with new bosses, challenges, and a new mount to collect. If you didn't try out the original, I definitely suggest trying out the new one. I was pleasantly surprised and found it hard to peel myself away once I started climbing up the ranks.

There was also patch 7.2 news. I won't touch on the raid, but it looks amazing and the continuation of the story and addition of new world quests should be fun. I'm also excited to see how demonic invasions will act on the Broken Isles. Flying was also announced along with new specific class mounts and artifact appearances. While most of the mounts are beautiful, I'm not 100% thrilled about mine. Maybe I will grow to like it after I see it for myself in game.


What else, what else? Oh yes, we're going to Argus, but I'll save all of that for another post in the future! I can't talk about everything today. Many other WoW news sites have more detailed guides on all the panels. Just go to your favorite one and start reading. There is a lot to get through!

Other Thoughts

I had a few other random thoughts I wanted to touch upon. The biggest one was the hosts for the talent and cosplay contest. I think that Blizzard should stop getting comedians because it seems that the majority of the community doesn't enjoy it and ends up spewing more hate than good toward them. Maybe next year they could get the band Songhammer to perform and introduce the talent acts and someone large in the cosplay community to host the costume contest. People tend to enjoy community members more than someone who doesn't really understand the crowd they are speaking to.

I would also like to see all the panels as well. As with most years, many of the art and voice stuff is completely omitted from the virtual ticket. I know people who actually went to Blizzcon were also upset about that since they couldn't get into the hall to see some of the things. With the popularity of Overwatch climbing, I don't see this slowing down in the next year or so. Hopefully something can be worked out so that everyone can have the option to see everything, just like it is with the eSports stuff.

If there is something you liked, disliked, or just want to voice an opinion, the Blizzcon forums are up and there are still many discussions going on. Hopefully Blizzard takes some of these suggestions and works to make the experience better for everyone next year.
↧

The Long-Forgotten Hippogryph

November 16, 2016, 9:21 am
$
0
0
So eight days after my previous post on the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph, I became the proud owner of one! By some very odd chance, I managed to get lucky and find all of the crystals. The surprising thing out of this was that I wasn't going look for them, but instead complete some world quests to finished getting exalted with the Court of Farondis. The first one was up really close to the road, and with how the servers now seem to be CRZ all the time, I was sure someone else was hot on the trail. So I took a deep breath and decided to have a look anyway. This time I started at around 2:00 in the afternoon.

Location: 60,35
As I said previously, the first one I saw was really close to the road. In fact, it was almost on the road. If you are a tailor, you definitely know the area. It was sitting near the ruins where you find Lyndras. It was one of the previously marked locations I had on my macro, so there wouldn't have been a guessing game with this one.

Location: 41.01,25.59
So after I found the first one, I loaded TomTom and used my macros to show the waypoints. Slowly I started visiting each area, hitting Azurewing Repose first. I looked in the cave and saw nothing, but my next stop was around the perimeter of the pound where I saw the second one sitting, waiting to be clicked on. This was also another location marked. Hitting the second one so soon definitely kept my motivation up.

Location: 38.77,9.27
Next I ran up the road all the way to the top corner of the map. The third crystal was near the rundown fountain by Challiane's Terrace. This was a place I had recently added when I revamped my macro, and I'm glad I did. This one is really out the way, and can definitely be missed as there is no real reason to go to that area.

Here is where I hit a roadblock, once again. I couldn't find the last two. I did numerous circles around the zone, checking all spawn points again and again - nothing. I was beginning to feel let down once again, but my boyfriend gave me a little boost to keep me looking. I took a breather and went to WoWhead. One of the comments there inspired me so I decided to, as suggested, go off the beaten path.

Location: 57.39,16.81
My fourth crystal was at a new spot I didn't have a waypoint for. If the location was previously found, it was rarely new. It was located in the middle of the Ley-Ruins of Zarkhenar. I'm so glad I ran through that area because if I didn't, I would have missed it. I also think this is another place where the crystals can easily blend in, causing your eyes to scan over really fast.

Location: 42.96,28.75
Finally, on to the last one. The last place I decided to check was the area around Doomlord Kazrok as stated in the previous comment. Since that wasn't one I had marked or seen talked about before, I was a bit apprehensive. I was already beginning to feel the claw of defeat until I got there, and the crystal was up, right by the tree. I remember smiling before I gave it one final click...


Ah, sweet victory. This time it didn't take me nearly as long and I completed the entire thing around 3:40. So that's done. To be honest, I wasn't having the greatest of days, but that definitely turned it around. So now that the hunt is over, I can move on to other things. I just hope I won't have to click on any crystals any time soon.
↧
↧

More Suramar

December 8, 2016, 9:29 am
$
0
0
When I first did my initial review of Legion, I hadn't even touched Suramar yet. Now that I think about it, I probably spent the most time in that zone between continuing the story, doing world quest, picking Starflower, or just collecting ancient mana. Before Legion was even announced, I watched the beginning cinematic for the zone and was intrigued by everything about it. I wanted, no, I needed to know more. Once I finally got there, I instantly fell in love with First Arcanist Thalyssra. I wanted to help her and the people that were joining us for refuge. I would even feed them mana daily just because I cared.


That love for the zone slowly began to lessen as I started questing in the city itself. Between demons randomly walking out of buildings, my disguise dropping off, and multiple repeats of following quests, I was beyond frustrated. I even refereed to the questing as "Assassin's Creed copy cat but missed the mark". Maybe I was being too harsh and having a bad day, but thinking back on those quests now, I still don't like them. The one that sticks out in my mind was the quest where you had to follow a guard closely without crossing over into the circle around him. I kept failing on the bridge parts since it was hard to see. Of course after a few tries, I became a pro at it.

As I continued on, I became more powerful, and my adventures in the city became less and less stressful. In fact, I even braved withered training, and I now collect all my mana around the city. Now with the continuation of the story (Insurrection), we are laying the foundation for the release of the Nighthold raid. I've been having so much fun that I really don't want it to end. I've become attached to these characters and their stories. You know things are good when you get emotional over a video game. I'm also curious as to if Suramar City will change after Elisande is defeated in lore. I don't think Blizzard has ever done that before, but I think it would be interesting to see them try it for a change.

 

I also love places that progress as you go through the story. The Isle of Thunder had to be one of my all time favorites. It told the story through scenarios, which I miss, and as progression went, the entire isle was unlocked little by little. I know it's not exactly the same in this case, but the quests each week are still getting us closer and closer to our main goal. As of right now, we're two more objectives away from completing the achievement, and I've never been more excited for reset each week to see what's going to happen next. If you're behind on this, I definitely suggest getting a start on it. I don't think you'll be disappointed and like me, it may even change your mind on the zone.


↧

The "Holidaze"

December 30, 2016, 9:18 am
$
0
0
I have to admit, I'm having trouble adjusting back to a somewhat normal routine. With traveling and events starting from Thanksgiving and lasting up until New Years, no wonder I can't get things together! With patch 7.1.5 on the horizon, I haven't really started anything new in Warcraft. I've been working on clearing out Vel's quest log along with other things I just never got around to finishing. Doing this has also netted me a bump in my achievement score. I am now up to 19,000 points. This was a nice little personal goal for me to achieve though I know a lot of other people have much more than that.


Winter Veil was also lovely this year. I personally think these are some of the best gifts that Blizzard has given. The disposable Winter Veil suits are awesome, and I really wish Blizzard would consider putting something like this in for the other holidays as well. It gives you a chance to dress up without having to hold onto non transmoggable event items (not like space is an issues anymore) or stressing over the fact that you can't transmog them in general! I was also lucky enough to get the Minion of Grumpus mount from a present as well. I'm glad because I was a bit upset I didn't get lucky with it last year. It's such a massive mount that I probably won't even use, but it's fun to have just in case.


So what's next? With the new year coming in really soon, I plan on continuing working on my backlog of things and updating my to-do list here as they are completed. Of course this isn't a full list of things I'm working on, but more just the collecting parts. I also want to say that the third annual Icecrown Challenge is now live! I plan on doing my run this weekend so I will be making some more noise on Twitter about it. If you want to learn more about the event, you can do so over at Ratsel's post. If you want to learn more about why I run, you can see the two previous years posts (2014& 2015). If you just want to donate, I'll include the link to that as well - AFSP Icecrown Challenge Donation Link.
↧
Search

Diablo 20th Anniversary

January 16, 2017, 8:50 am
$
0
0
"Stay awhile and listen."

I'm as much of a Diablo fan as I am a WoW fan. While I never played the original or D2, I've logged countless of hours into D3 and still do with each season. I guess you could imagine my excitement when I heard that the 20th anniversary celebration of Diablo would also be coming to World of Warcraft along with some exclusive items. As with all timed holidays, I get a little nervous because I want to be able to collect everything, and I wasn't sure how bad the drops would be. It turns out they weren't too bad at all.


After poking my nose around for a bit more information, I learned that the best place to consistently find treasure goblins was the Dalaran Underbelly. This caused me to spend more time in the sewers where I was able to grind out a ton of sightless eyes, but I'll save that for another blog post. There always seemed to be a ton of people hanging around the area for the event, so it was never hard to kill a goblin unless someone decided to stun it, causing it to make an escape portal. If the kill was successful, a portal would spawn to take you away to the "Cow Level" upon clicking it.

There is no cow level... right?
Upon entering the "Cow Level", you would have a five minute buff that allowed you to stay in the zone. It was just a field filled with, you guessed it, cows! After enough of them was killed, a rare spawn called the Cow King would come out and fight you. He dropped a Twelve-String Guitar that plays the Diablo Tristram theme. If you ever wanted to be a bard, this is your chance! It's a shame it doesn't have your character hold a lute while strumming along. The boss also had a chance to drop the Livestock Lochaber Axe though I sadly didn't get a chance to collect that item. The next part of the event left me to grind out enough scrolls to combine with a tome to make the town portal toy. I thought for sure killing all of those goblins would eventually net me a Horadric Satchel, but that bag ended up taking me the longest to get. One ended up dropping for me two days before the event expired.


While a lot of people probably wanted more from this event, I'm surprised and really glad that Blizzard actually gave us something to do. It was really refreshing to see a crossover in WoW, and I hope they would do something for another one of their games once it reaches a big milestone. This could have even made players who never set foot in the Diablo universe give the game a try.  If this was a little taste of what's to come with micro holidays, I'm all for it. Our first official micro holiday is happening this week, and I'm sure I'll want to talk about it. Regardless of what you thought about the event, it was a nice little break from the monotony of world quests and artifact power grinding.
↧

Welcome to the Underbelly

January 25, 2017, 8:16 am
$
0
0
I cannot believe that I'm sitting here about to write something that potentially evolves PvP. This is an aspect of the game I really don't enjoy, not because I don't find it fun, but because it tends to bring out the worst in me. Repeated deaths, especially by the same person, throws me into a seething rage, and I have been known to mess up a mouse or two due to this. So I tend to leave PvP to the ones who can handle it. Legion brought some really awesome looking mounts acquired this way, but the one that immediately caught my attention was Ratstallion! It's no surprise that spending a lot of time in the Underbelly of Dalaran would get you a rat mount! If you played during Wrath, you may even remember spending some time in the sewers trying to fish up a giant sewer rat. The conditions down there haven't changed, and it's still as grimy and seedy as ever. I'm just going to say that if you plan on getting a coffee while down there, I'd skip out...


When I first decided I was going to collect this mount, I began by going into the Underbelly and doing the quest that is sometimes available from Fizzi Liverzapper. That quest usually nets you 150 sightless eyes, and is just good to get done if you're in a hurry and can't stay down there. I figured by the time Legion was finished I may have enough for the mount, but that is hardly a way to grind it out. When the Diablo 20th Anniversary event went live, I used this time to understand exactly when to fight and when to run to maximize my sightless eyes collection. In the course of a few days I went from having 5k to 10k and then grinded out about 1k each day until I had all 20k eyes collected.

If you're heading down there, you're going to want to keep an eye out for the "bosses" that spawn. These drop a hefty amount of eyes, especially if you can use a wild mana wand on them. I suggest buying a few of these to keep on hand since you will collect 5k eyes (the max amount you can hold) faster than you think. Buying a feast for everyone also helps as it gives you a nice food buff. Don't forget the temporary mount from the rat crate as well! If the guards happen to go on break while fighting a boss, I would usually just toss up a few AOE moves. If I was lucky I would get a kill or two. If someone would attack me, I'd run away as fast as I could; I'm such a coward, sorry! If you want to wait out the guard's break, you can, but you can also hire a body guard to safely allow you to roam around without being attacked.


I did have a complaint with the default hired guard buff. Other than right when it's about to expire, you don't know how long you have left on it. This can be frustrating for those like me who are trying to grind out sightless eyes with the least amount of PvP as possible, looking for pets to battle, fishing, or even camping the BMAH for that one piece of tier 3 you REALLY want. My boyfriend decided to come to the rescue and create a simple addon that does exactly that. It's called Underbelly Buddy and it tracks the time of the hired guard buff obtainable in the Underbelly of Dalaran. So if you were frustrated with the buff as well, I definitely suggest checking it out. You may find it really helpful!


Though 20k sightless eyes seems like a daunting amount at the beginning, it definitely isn't. If you were putting this one off because the PvP aspect may have turned you away from it, come back! The last tip I can give you is to take it slow and farm out 1k eyes a day. This way you'll be getting your achievement and Ratstallion before you even know it. Good luck and remember, hold onto your wallets and skip out on the coffee!
↧
↧

That Look is so Burning Crusade

February 9, 2017, 9:42 am
$
0
0
Legion has been full of throwbacks to Burning Crusade. As someone who started during that era, I have been loving this. With patch 7.2 slowly creeping closer and closer to release, we've been getting more and more information on different things being released. This patch will bring the Tomb of Sargeras raid along with a new tier set to collect - Tier 20. I'm normally excited for new tier sets, but these leave more to be desired.


Continuing on the BC nostalgia train, Tier 20 is an upgrade of the Tier 6 sets. I know many people have been asking for high resolution versions of older gear, and Blizzard delivered. Among some of my favorites are the warrior, paladin, and priest. Even the new demon hunter set looks good. Sadly, I think a few of these missed the mark. When I look at some of the colors for the mage set, all I see is a mess. To me, the blue, green (definitely this one), and mythic yellow recolors look like they were altered using a color slider in a photo program and not fully balanced giving it a very strange look when put all together.

Hmm, I'm not sure.
Maybe it was just me being a little too nit picky, so I went on Twitter to poke around and see what other people think. A few weeks ago I asked everyone how they felt about the sets. Most people were underwhelmed and most seemed to prefer new sets inspired by older tier instead of a complete update of an older one. I have to agree. I love trying to collect the new sets because they are new. I like to see what the team comes up with using the expansion aesthetics to build a set. Honestly I feel like this fell short on all ends as the original death knight and monk sets that were created look very strange as well.

I know some of my followers don't speak for the entire community, so if you're reading this and have a differing opinion, I'd love to hear it. Do you like the HD remake or would have preferred an original set? Do you really like one of the sets that others have talked badly about? Let me know in a comment below.
↧

Token Bliss

February 22, 2017, 8:31 am
$
0
0
At the beginning of the month, Blizzard announced that WoW Tokens could now be exchanged for a Battle.net balance. I had been sitting on the worry for a while since it was touched upon at Blizzcon last year. I knew it was only a matter of time until it was implemented, but I did not expect it to be so soon or without warning. Since May 2016, I've been purchasing my game time using gold, and it's been really nice. Since then I watched the tokens fluctuate in price from 30k up to around 60k. I knew with this announcement they would definitely rise, and I was worried about what kind of prices I would be paying.


On the night that this feature was implemented, tokens creeped up to 80k. I began to see a lot of worry with some people on whether or not they would be able to keep playing the game this way. I felt really bad for the people who had been playing this way simply because $15 is a bit out of their budget to spend on entertainment each month. Would they be able to keep up with the rising price of the tokens? In fact, I became a little worried myself once they sailed into the 100k+ territory.

Image credit: Reddit
I am sitting on a nice pile of gold right now. I don't really go out of my way to make a ton of it, but I am very comfortable with what I make each month. To renew my game time for February, I bought a token for around 84k. After the initial token boom, prices seem to be settling and are now sitting around 88k - 90k. Would I like to see that price lessen a bit? Of course! Just like money, I prefer my gold in my bank instead of having to spend it.

But what about those who have an abundance of gold and want to cash in? The tokens can be redeemed for $15 when added to your account. This can be used to buy in game items or other Blizzard games. Reddit had many threads with tips on how to get the best deal when converting tokens, and I love that. It's always nice to get the best bang for your buck, even when it's in game currency. It's going to be interesting to see how different game trends will effect the prices in the upcoming year. I wouldn't say I'm happy about this change, but this is something I will just have to learn to deal with if I plan on continuing to use this method for my game time.
↧

Hidden Appearances

March 9, 2017, 9:05 am
$
0
0
I have finally finished! I have collected all three of my mage hidden artifact appearances. This was a little goal that I set for myself, and honestly I thought I'd be done with it a long time before this. That wasn't the case. RNG can be a total block in some cases, and there is nothing you can really do to prevent that except to just keep trying and hoping that someday it will pop up or drop. Since my Ebonchill post is super popular, I thought I would post about getting my hidden appearances as well. Also, some of these require your artifact knowledge to be a certain level, but that isn't really an issue anymore (unless it's your main) due to the Artifact Research Compendium and the ability to send them to alts. I still decided to include the required AK as well just in case.

The Woolmancer's Charge(Requires AK 6)

I am a frost mage, and if I'm not playing frost, I'll be playing fire. Arcane is a spec that I can't seem to ever full enjoy so I'm rarely play it. Of course this would be the first hidden appearance I acquire. To start the "event" for a chance to get The Woolmancer's Charge, you need to travel to each Broken Isle zone and polymorph specific mobs. I won't go into detail here on the specific mobs as they can be found on the Woolmancer's page.

Next is the waiting part. You must wait until a volatile sheep spawns in your class hall. I believe a toast window will pop up to get your attention though one didn't for me. If this doesn't happen, don't worry. The sheep will be following you so it's not hard to miss. Right click on this sheep a few times and BAM, it will explode!


Now fly yourself over to Stormheim and look for an Extremely Volatile Sheep. Once you find this little guy, you're going to want to click on it like you did in your order hall to make it explode. I found making a macro to locate this one worked best. You can even use this to find the specific mobs to polymorph like I explained earlier:

/tar Extremely Volatile Stormheim Sheep
/script SetRaidTarget("target",8);

After this, head to the Tower of Azora in Elwynn Forest and complete the little event for your appearance. I personally find that this is by far one of the silliest and funniest hidden appearances. Plus the staff will sometimes let out this ridiculous scream on polymorph. It's too good!



Everburning Crystal(Requires AK 4)

This is the appearance I wanted the most, and I started working toward it as soon as I could unlock the Teleportation Nexus order hall perk. This perk puts portals in your class hall that leads to each zone on the Broken Isle. When the event for this hidden appearance is triggered, you will see the emote "You hear a strange crackling sound from the portals downstairs." pop up in your chat box when you are in your order hall. From there, take any one of the portals to be ported to this sub-zone of Frostfire Ridge.

 

Once there you will see two elementals. The larger of the two, Asher, will be the one who will give you the Everburning Crystal to unlock this appearance. This is another little macro that may help you check for the daily roll of the arcane and frost artifact. While it didn't work well for me (my frost one was always saying yes) others have had success with using it:

/run f="\124cffffff00\124Hquest:%s:0\124h[%s]\124h\124r: \124cff%s\124r";for k,v in pairs({[44384]="Daily Portal Event Roll",[43828]="Sheep Summon Daily Roll"})do print(format(f,k,v,IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(k)and"00ff00Yes"or"ff0000No"))end

The Stars Design(Requires AK 5)

I really wish I had been prepared when this actually dropped. The truth was that I wasn't even farming for it at the time. I was out in the world questing. This hidden appearance has a chance to drop off of basically any mob in Suramar. I know a lot of people love to farm around Moonguard Stronghold since there are lots of mob packs that respawn pretty fast. I was actually in the dangerous part of the city (yea, that part!), but I have no idea which exact mob it dropped from. While I wasn't actively seeking it at the time, I'm glad to finally have it. The Stars Design is a really gorgeous skin and definitely reminds me of a lot of weapons from Ulduar.

Of course each of these hidden appearances also have separate colors to obtain by doing dungeons, PvP, and world quests. I may just have to save those to talk about another time, lol. If you read through all of that, props to you. I know it was a very lengthy post. I don't care though because if it helps one mage out there, my job has been done!
↧
Viewing all 92 articles
Browse latest View live
Search