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Live
PTR
10.2.7
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10.2.6
Beta
News
Live
Cataclysm Model Update - Neptulon and Goblin Cars!
As all Cataclysm Beta participants are expected to happily redownload and reinstall the client using the
new-and-improved (or so they say!) Launcher
, my joyous adventures taking screenshots for our
Cataclysm guide
have come to a temporary halt. But that won't stop me; Wowhead demands eyecandy (and justice)!
Thankfully,
Alayton
managed to find a few more Cataclysm 3D models that I completely forgot to post - UNTIL NOW! Check out some new models after the break!
Live
The Weekly Marmot - The Cataclysm Healing Game (Part 2)
This week, in part 2 of my discussion on the effects that the Cataclysm healing changes have on the game, I go over how Tanking and DPS roles will be affected. Will avoidance make a comeback? How responsible are DPS for their survivability? These questions and more will be answered in this week's show!
Also, my wallpaper is amazing.
Live
Games to Teach the Youth
For most of my life I have been unhappy with the education that has been offered to me. Few countries know how to deal with gifted or troubled students, and only a few teachers are able to act properly when they find one. The bane of the genius and the idiot is to never be understood, they say. Well, I did a little thinking, some more talking, and finally decided to do some writing on the topic as well. Why do we often find education inadequate, and why are students growing increasingly uninterested in the classroom activities?
A simple answer would be something like "They are not interesting." Well, let's stick with this and try to figure out how to make learning more interesting. After all you can be the greatest teacher the world has ever known and will ever know, but if your students are not interested in the stuff you are talking about, almost all of your talent is wasted. We can look at neurobiology, or at religion, or at psychology, or at philosophy, and we would probably find some pretty good answers. However, I would like to offer you a drastically different approach to the problem - let's look at games.
Live
New Cataclysm Beta Launcher (Soon!)
Our favorite floating skull Zarhym just announced that a new launcher for the Cataclysm Beta is in the works. It should be available with the next beta patch, and will incorporate a few of the programs you already need to run during patching. Namely, those are the Launcher, the Updater, and the Downloader. It will also stream game data while you are in the game, playing. In other words, patching should happen much easier, and hopefully - faster. If the downloading process is slowing down your internet, or if the patching is eating your processor, you could always stop either one of those processes and let it finish after you are done playing.
Update:
Zarhym has posted a FAQ on the new launcher, you can read all about it after the break!
Live
Win an Alienware Laptop: City of Heroes Sweepstakes on ZAM
I don't know if any of you guys play
City of Heroes
, but in honor of their new expansion, ZAM is running a contest right now with some pretty awesome stuff to give away.
We've got a Dell Alienware M11X Laptop, a Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Mouse, a pair of Gunnar Optiks gaming glasses, and an actual plaque celebrating the achievements of your CoH character!
If you want to sign up, just hop on over to their sweepstakes page here:
http://www.zam.com/contests/goingrogue.html
If you're a CoH fan, they also have a pretty amusing character quiz here:
http://www.zam.com/quizes/determineyourdestiny.html
Good luck!
Live
The Weekly Marmot - The Cataclysm Healing Game (Part 1)
This week, in the first of a two-part series, I begin a discussion about the changes to the way health and healing works in Cataclysm. To start, I take a little trip down memory lane to how healing worked in The Burning Crusade, as well as WoW Classic.
Also, LOOK AT THE PUPPY.
Live
Cataclysm Beta (Build 12644) Models - Malfurion, Deathwing, Dungeon Tier and More!
We've got some stunning new models for you guys from the latest Cataclysm beta update!
Notable new additions include famous faces such as
Deathwing
in his human form and a heavily updated model for everyone's favorite archdruid,
Malfurion Stormrage
! He now looks more like a
Druid of the Talon
(Warcraft III) - I hope we see an incredible Storm Crow shapeshift form soon! We've also uncovered the model for one of the Twilight Ascendants we'll be facing in the Bastion of Twilight! Oh, and did I mention there's a
SHARK
? He's no
whale shark
, though.
We've also got some new item models for you guys, including models for a
new dungeon set
- I know I'm not the only one anxiously awaiting updated models for the level 80+
twill
everyone's sporting on the beta realms! As always, you can check out all of our previous model posts filed under the
3D Models
tag!
Check out all of the new models after the break!
Live
Cataclysm Beta (Build 12644) New Icons and Updated Map!
Stop playing Starcraft II for a second and check this stuff out! Another small Cataclysm beta patch from Blizzard brings some excellent new icons and a new map! We've got a ton of new achievement icons, including boss mugs from
The Bastion of Twilight
,
Blackrock Caverns
and
Grim Batol
! We've even got one of a certain lady who is now hanging out in the
Blackwing Descent
raid (until we kill her again in a
flamboyant manner
, that is)! As always, you can check out the latest items, NPCs and other recent finds by browsing the
Latest Additions
section of our
Cataclysm site
! Check out all of the visual goodness after the break!
Live
The BFF Report..er.. Reports from the Worgen Starting Zones!
I finally got into Cataclysm and with it, over 800gb of in game footage that I have to somehow squeeze into these tiny ten minute segments. The first piece of coverage I'm offering up is a walkthrough of the Worgen starting zone. Besides all the bareback riding, missed opportunities for good Twilight jokes (is there such thing?), and epic phasing abuse, Blizz seems to have taken a completely different approach to creating these zones than what we are used to.
Think Westfall... probably 80% of the quests are centered at Sentinel Hill, Gilneas is the complete opposite. I found myself doing 2-3 quests at each outpost/abandoned house/street corner before moving on to the next mini-hub. This was cool and all, but I found that (besides Grandma Wahl) in the end, I didn't really care about any of them. I mean, Ill never forget Mankrik, Jitters, the fat drunk in Westfall hills, but these guys? Who cares!
*OMG SPOILER ALART!11*
It's not like I'm going to see them again anyways...
Live
Wowhead Interview on Puggernaut!
I know that you all have been desperately missing the silky sound of my voice, so I spent a few minutes with the folks over at
Puggernaut
, doing an interview for their weekly podcast!
If you're not already familiar, Puggernaut is a community of PUG raiders across a bunch of different servers, who use the Puggernaut site to arrange runs together. They also do a weekly podcast called
Onward!
, and this week it would seem I am their special guest.
If you're interested in taking a listen, pop on over to their
podcast page
, and take a listen!
http://www.puggernaut.com/index.php?gid=87302
Live
Cataclysm Beta Key Giveaway!
Would you like a Cataclysm beta key?
You don't need to say anything. We already know the answer.
Right now,
Allakhazam
is giving away a big stack of Cataclysm beta keys! All you have to do is go to the
thread
in their forums and post what you're looking forward to the most in Cataclysm, and on Monday the ZAM team will pick winners from among the posters!
They have 50 keys to give away—and don't worry, both us here at Wowhead and the guys at
TankSpot
will have some of our own to give out shortly.
Click here for the full rules!
http://wow.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=22862
PS:
Blizzard has notified us that they're having a little trouble with the activation process. The keys are good, but it may be a day or two before they actually activate your account properly.
PPS:
Remember, if you're a
Premium
member, you already have a ZAM account! If you signed up through Wowhead, your username wil
Live
Cataclysm: New Guild UI
In the recent Cataclysm beta build the new
Guild UI
has been partially enabled. The new Guild UI is only available by typing /groster currently, but presumably will have it's own menu option in the future.
Inside you'll start off with the revamped roster list. Several new panels have been added to the roster, with the default panel displaying level, class, name and last zone the player was in. A little drop down at the top will let you switch to the other two panels:
Guild Status
and
Professions
. The Guild Status panel is pretty much exactly the same as the one we currently see in-game. The real nice part about the new roster is the addition of the all-new Professions panel! The list allows you to see who has what profession, and then open up a second window to see all the patterns you have within the guild, and to view who has them.
Check out an extensive visual tour of the new Guild UI after the break! Also, be sure to check out our recent
Guild Perks
blog for a full rundown of all the interesting new benefits you can earn by being in a guild!
Live
Official Forums Now Use Authenticators
Live
Cataclysm: New Raid Frames and Reforging(?)
In a recent Cataclysm beta build Blizzard introduced
new raid frames
, to allow better testing (since there are no new raids enabled) they have enabled them as party frames. The new raid frames are vastly different from the live version. Taking some design aspects of popular addons like
Grid
I believe Blizzard has designed raid frames that I personally might not have to use an addon for!
Also added in the newest build,
Reforging
has finally made its appearance. Performed by Highborne Thaumaturges in the major cities, reforging allows you take secondary stats on your armor and convert them to another secondary stat. An example used by the in-game thaumaturges is, if you have an item that increases hit rating but you would rather it increase your haste rating you can convert the hit to haste for a price.
Unfortunately we are unable to test reforging to get more exact information, as it is currently bugged!
Live
Cataclysm Spell Updates: Armor Specializations and New Talent Calculator Interface
So not only do we have a ton of spell and talent updates for you (including the new
armor specializations
, we've also updated the appearance of the
talent calculator
to match the in-game interface—right down to the shiny glow effect on the specialization selector!
The new talent calculator interface features icons for the class roles (both on the spec selector and across the header), icons to let you know which trees are still locked and which are available, and more. We've also got a full list of the new skills available, including a complete list of the new
armor specializations
!
New abilities, talents and professions in this build
Updated Cataclysm talent calculator
Armor specializations
Live
Cataclysm Beta (Build 12604) 3D Models Added!
Yet another update to the Cataclysm Beta!
Here's a few more 3D models for you guys - most notable new additions include some amazing seahorses (mounts?!?!) and some extremely interesting new Grim Batol objects! I don't care what anybody else says, those seahorses are some of the best looking models to ever hit the game, hands down. Of course, if we do discover any more cool new models, we'll be sure to keep the blog updated - c'mon Blizzard, one-up the seahorses! You can check out all of our previous model posts filed under the
3D Models
tag!
Check out all of the new models after the break!
Live
Cataclysm Beta (Build 12604) New Icons and Map Changed!
Yet another
Cataclysm Closed Beta
patch, so soon! Blizzard has released another update to the Cataclysm Beta, and we've got a few new goodies for you guys! As always, you can check out the latest items, NPCs and other recent finds by browsing the
Latest Additions
page. Check out the latest Cataclysm goodness after the break!
Live
Cataclysm: Mount Hyjal and Vashj'ir Level Changes
In the next beta build it seems Blizzard is changing the minimum level requirement for entering both
Vashj'ir
and
Mount Hyjal
. The quests which allow entrance into the two new zones will be available at level 80, not level 78 as it was previously set at. You will also need to be level 80 to enter
Throne of the Tides
or
Blackrock Caverns
Along with this change mob health is getting double for all 80+ Cataclysm creatures. So a mob that had 16,400 HP now has 31,000 HP!
So now that you've heard these changes, how does the community feel about them?
In the next beta build the minimum level for entering and questing in Mount Hyjal and Vashj’ir will change from level 78 to level 80. All associated creature will have their levels increased to match the new flow.
Additionally, after careful review and consideration we've decided to increase the hit point values of level 80+ Cataclysm creatures. The new hit point values are roughly double their previous values.
Level 80 (OLD)
16400
Level 80 (NEW)
31000
Players will also
Live
The "Editors of Azeroth" Podcast—From the Folks at the WoW Official Magazine!
Those of us with the
World of Warcraft Official Magazine
genuinely love community. Whether it's through forums or face to face conversations, we thrive on feedback, questions, and interaction with our readers. Sadly, here in the world of publishing time can be scarse, and while I'm able to peruse the forums out here on a regular basis, the Editor-in-Chief
Marty Cortinas
and the Creative Director
Julian Rignall
find themselves relatively unable to do so (hence the low post counts).
So, in lieu of them being active forum monkeys like me we've started up
The Editors of Azeroth Podcast
! Every two weeks we'll be sitting down in a small, hot room to talk about the latest World of Warcraft news, interview folks from around the community, and answer any questions that you want to ask us. On that note, please -- give it a listen, and ask us any burning questions you might have.
Send your questions to:
Email:
letters worldofwarcraftthemagazine.com (make sure to include 'Podcast'
Live
The BFF Report Welcomes You to the Future...?
When I first walked in the door at E3, there was this super attractive young lady (shocker, right?) who took my hand and escorted me over to this giant, baby food orange booth. She likely picked me because of my incredible aura of masculinity, and not because Dolby was standing right behind me sporting a super giant news camera, amirite? She dropped a funky PS3'esque controller into my, now sweaty, palm and introduced me to the future of gaming. Sort of..
You guys ever heard of this fancy "cloud computing" technology that allows you to access documents from virtually any computer terminal? Well, replace those silly DPS calculators with games and you have OnLive. The game I was playing was not hosted by any console or gaming PC anywhere in the vicinity, but rather being streamed, live, over the interwebs, to the giant LCD TV in front of me. The first thing that came to mind was "LOLOLLOLatency," but after ninja tapping the controller a few times...
btw, I got her number.
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