World of Warcraft 4

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Expansions, Raiding, Burning Crusade, Bosses, Wrath of the Lich King

One of the biggest concerns we’ve heard from players since the expansion launched is that everything is too easy — not only did the hardcore raiders burn down the PvE endgame content in a matter of days, but upgrades aren’t really what they used to be, and anyone with some solid gear that blow through most of the instances without too much trouble. Which begs the question: is Wrath too easy?

No, according to our buddy Ghostcrawler. He says that Blizzard’s goal this time around was to avoid the Karazhan mistake from the last expansion, where players butted their heads up against tougher content in the early endgame. GC says that Blizzard certainly knows how to make tougher content, but they’d rather everyone got a turn this time around.

The only question I have left is why they didn’t include it all in the same release — Blizzard seems to be saying that harder content is on the way, but wouldn’t it be more prudent to have both easy and hard content in at the same time? As a casual player, I’m thrilled to hear that the endgame is easier — I’ll get to see more of it. But we’ve got two versions of each endgame instance now — do they both have to be easy enough to conquer in a few days?

Ghostcrawler: Wrath’s difficulty is where we want it originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Screenshots, Around Azeroth, Galleries

When King Mrgl-Mrgl asked Faelthas of Bael’Gun to don a murloc suit and kill the Winterfin murloc leader under the pretext of surrender, he forgot to give Faelthas one vital piece of information. In a related matter, the first test of the Winterfin Caverns trebuchet was a smashing success.

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, “mounted mounts”, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

Around Azeroth: Freefalling originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Alliance, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Quests, Achievements

It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving, the family has all left, there’s nothing but turkey leftovers to eat, and you hit level 80 last week, and you’re just waiting for your guild to level up so you can start the endgame. What is there to do on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon? Find all of the Well Read books — WoWWiki has the guide I’ve been looking for ever since I first got excited about this achievement. I count 43 in total, and they’ve got a list of all the books you need and where you can find them for reading.

The vast majority of the books can be found in Scholomance and the Scarlet Monastery, so a run through both of those instances (you can easily solo both at 80) will get you many of the books you need. From there it’s time to travel the world — Brill, Southshore, the Eastvale Logging Camp, Duskwood, and Booty Bay, and a few other places, depending on your faction (Alliance seems to have a little bit of an advantage there, as Stormwind and Orgrimmar have nice libraries. There are a few good books in Undercity, but the Orcs and Tauren aren’t much for book learning, apparently).

Seems totally doable in a quick afternoon, and while you won’t really get anything but the 10 achievement points (and probably a nice chance to pick up some more of the old Azeroth explorer achievement), why else would you do this, other than to brag about it. Whenever anyone argues that you don’t know your Azeroth lore, you can just point them to your Armory page, and tell them to check the part about you being Well Read.

Getting all the Well Read books originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King, The Queue

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider’s daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.

Another day, another Q&A! Now, without delay, let’s get to the questions.

Ven asked…

In looking at badge rewards, a couple guildies and I noticed that there are more rewards and item types available for 25-man badges than for 10-man badges. Is this intended? Are the heroic and 10-man level badges relegated to stacking endlessly once you have the two or three pieces of gear you need from them? Or is Blizz planning on adding more gear soon? Compared to BC badge gear, there is very little available.

Continue reading The Queue: Easy heroics and reverse DPS

The Queue: Easy heroics and reverse DPS originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch

There’s a lot going on in Darkness II by Erunno. It’s a longer, story driven piece. According to the author, this installment is a continuation of the first Darkness. (Thus, “II”.)

The animation is ample and sufficient for the story-driven purpose of the machinima. While one can always look for more graphic enhancements, sometimes that flash and funk can actually detract from the story that’s being told. I think Erunno hit a pretty sweet spot with “Darkness II,” by providing a little embellishment (via Model Viewer), but without spending all of his time and energy and on the special effects.

I could have used a slightly faster pacing, personally, but that’s entirely a matter of my own preference. Some of the dialogue felt a little forced to me, but that was rare. Overall, “Darkness II” is just a fairly high end piece, which I’d recommend checking out.

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch …

WoW Moviewatch: Darkness II originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Items, Tips, Instances, Quests, Guides, Achievements

It’s a good time to be a pet collector. We’re getting recognition, cool toys for our pets, and even an achievement series especially for us. If you’re new to the world of pet collecting, or have just dabbled in it so far though, you may be struggling a bit to get those last few pets for the achievement. In the spirit of helping out my fellow pet enthusiasts, here’s a few rarer or lesser known old world pets that you might have overlooked, especially if you started the game after Burning Crusade.

Continue reading Five old world vanity pets you may have missed

Five old world vanity pets you may have missed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Features, Factions, Guides, Classes, Enchants, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance, Wrath of the Lich King

Each week Arcane Brilliance cooks up a feast for Mages everywhere, just like your mom does. Well…maybe your mom cooks for Druids–I don’t know–but my mom always cooked for Mages. Especially at this special time of year, she wanted her little Mages to eat well and give thanks for the bounty they had been given. She taught us to always be grateful for Pyroblast, and Polymorph, but most of all, for Mirror Image. Oh, and she also taught us to kill Warlocks, but that’s a whole other story.

So I assume that you’re all about sick of leftover turkey at this point (at least, those of you who happen to live in America, I guess), and are ready for a heaping helping of something…Magier. Fear not, for Arcane Brilliance is here to serve a steaming pile of Mage directly to you. If you top it with enough gravy, it tastes pretty good.

Last week we went over some of the new Wrath factions and the rewards they offer for Mages. If you missed that first part, you can find it here. As quite a few of you pointed out in the comments, the stuff from those factions was a bit…underwhelming. Fear not, fellow Mages, the best is yet to come. This week, we’ll hit the rest of the new expansion’s reputation rewards and highlight those that you’ll want to start grinding for now, if you haven’t already started.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Wrath reputation rewards for Mages, part 2

Arcane Brilliance: Wrath reputation rewards for Mages, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Tips, How-tos, Raiding, Bosses, (Raiding) Ready Check

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at the first few bosses in Naxxramas.

Today we’ll be looking at a blast from the past, revisiting Naxxramas and providing details on the boss encounters that await those brave enough to enter the dread citadel. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to look inside the all-new Naxx, here’s your spoiler warning: look away now if you don’t want to hear about what’s in store.

This week’s article examines the Arachnid Quarter, and we’ll be visiting the other quarters in upcoming articles. We’ll look at each boss on both normal and heroic modes, pointing out the differences (beyond HP increases). Generally, if you’ve defeated the boss on normal mode, there are only minor changes to adapt to on heroic mode (and vice versa).

Continue reading Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Arachnid Quarter)

Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Arachnid Quarter) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Realm News, Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Account Security

We’re just now coming out of our Thanksgiving turkey-induced haze here at WoW Insider, so if you’ve seen this already, forgive us, but Blizzard announced late last week that there’s relief on the way for EU characters tied up by queues — they’ve got a whole mess of free migrations in the mix. We’ve got the whole list of transfers after the break as well.

Argent Dawn appears to be in the worst shape, as Blizzard is sending players from that realm onto three different realms. Magtheridon seems to be the least busy — all they’re transferring off there is the Horde-side players. They’re also transferring players off of a few different realms to the newly-created one, Chamber of Aspects, so if you’re looking for a new start, there you go.

These migrations are going until December 2nd, so now’s your chance, EU players, if you’re on the selected realms and have been waiting to jump ship.

Continue reading Free character migration for EU realms

Free character migration for EU realms originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Dwarves, Humor, (Hunter) Big Red Kitty

Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.

If we were to ever re-roll Horde, we’d be a female Troll hunter. Yes, the Trolls got their kiesters kicked by rampaging murlocs — murlocs! — but the ladies can be hunters, and have just enough ‘oomph’ in both looks and performance to make them our first choice should the Alliance ever be eliminated. What about our other options?

Orcs are just too steel-plate-in-the-skull dumb for our liking. Nobody does nude better than Orcs, but who hunts in the buff?

…

Wait, these are Orcs we’re talking about… OK, who seriously hunts in the buff?

Taurens should either be warriors or druids, period, not hunters. Tauren warriors rock our socks, but Tauren hunters? Excluding Rhino-pets, the size difference between a Tauren and his pet is just silly. If you’re a Tauren hunter and don’t have a Rhino, you’re not bringing it like you should. A Survivalist Tauren hunter is about as wrong an idea as there can possibly be. Survivalist? How are you going to ’survive’ when every member of the Alliance has targeted you, just because you take up one quarter of their screen!

Nobody likes Blood Elves, not even other Horde. Are we right? Of course we are.

And the Forsaken can’t even be hunters; they deserve our pity more than anything else.

But we’re not going to re-roll, for we are a member of the best race in the game. The race that Warcraft made its cover picture, the race that introduced WoW to millions, the race that oozes — both literally and figuratively — charisma, competence, and warm ale: The Dwarves.

Continue reading BigRedKitty: It’s Thanksgiving, so we’re stirring the pot

BigRedKitty: It’s Thanksgiving, so we’re stirring the pot originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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