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Archive for November, 2009

Different Game, Same Name?

November 19, 2009 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Other

I came across this interview at WoW.com and was absolutely stunned. The play experience described by Mixler was so far removed from my day to day experience in WoW that I had to take a step back and admire the meta game that he’s helped to establish on Feathermoon. For those of us who are reading impaired, here is a quick run down.

Mixler has formed an Alliance Guildwatch on Feathermoon that is designed solely to defend all Alliance held territories from Horde incursions. He uses a blend of scouts, spies, defensive tactics and global chat channels to organize defenses.  They operate under a strict code of honor, forgoing any offensive strikes against the Horde to focus entirely on defense. Read more…

Cast Away

November 18, 2009 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Community, Podcast

Since I’ve found myself listening to more and more podcasts the longer I’ve played WoW, I now have a library of over 20 podcasts that I’ve subscribed to. Parsing through the massive list of WoW podcasts on ITunes can be a chore and there is generally little rhyme or reason to which casts are quality. Here is a list of some of the more obscure casts that are among my favorite.

Proudmoore Pansies: This cast serves as a much needed deep breath from a game that can oftentimes be extremely serious. The two hosts, Josh and Nate, approach WoW with a heaping dose of common sense and humor that drives home the point that WoW is after all, just a game. Both hosts provide an interesting look into the day to day operations of running a guild, the difficulties of getting players to sign up for raids and the week to week triumphs and disappointments that they experience in game. This is a must listen. Read more…

5 Years In

November 17, 2009 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Community, Other

Rob Pardo gave an interesting interview in WarCry last week. If you missed it, you can read the full interview here. One portion in particular that caught my eye discussed Blizzard’s view of other MMOs and specifically the idea of a WoW Killer.

Media outlets often report on Blizzard’s long development cycle in reference to Diablo III, Starcraft II and even WoW expansions. The mantra is they’ll release it when its ready and it’s this in house iteration that is often credited as the key to Blizzard’s continued success. For Vanilla WoW, the core game released five years ago, it took Blizzard a full five years to get it ready. What that means is that new competitors coming into the field, whether its Warhammer Online or Aion, are facing a competitor that has been working and iterating on the same game for ten years (five years in internal development and five years in live development). Read more…

Episode 45: Gone Beta Fishing

November 17, 2009 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - Podcast

This week Haf and Stomp are beta testing Allods, a new subscription-less MMORPG now in closed beta, as well as raiding TOC as we are all anxiously awaiting the release of ICC. If you are looking to kill some time, leave a comment here for your chance to pop on the closed beta and try out this visually amazing game. It has already received amazing reviews from massively.com, and from the looks of it, this online RPG has a lot going for it!

Aside from the testing, Haf seems to be a bit obsessed with achievement farming in his downtime, as Stomp is striving to keep some face time with the guild. And, Azeroth United skyrockets past it’s goal to raise $5K for Child’s Play Charity! Catch up with these happenings, along with a few of this week’s 3.3 PTR updates and patch note changes.

This and much more is available for your listening pleasure via iTunes, RSS feed, direct download, or you can stream it from our main page.allods

Links to topics discussed this week:

As the lull waiting for Icecrown has begun to take a toll on our off-night interaction, we have been given an amazing opprotunity to do some beta testing together as a guild members and listeners.

Allods is a new subscription-less MMORPG. The download was super-fast, and the graphics are amazing. At first glance, it is very WoW-ish… which has yet to be a bad thing. But, in certain areas where WoW is still developing, Allods has nailed it before release. I think it will be a great distraction while we wait for ICC.

We have been given a group of beta keys to giveaway to members of the guild, and listeners of Rawrcast. The closed beta is underway through November 24th. So, if you are interested please leave a comment here, and make sure to check back!

Coming November 14th this week…

Cadistra from WoW, Eh? Webcomic, Nourish, and a member of Azeroth United, joins Haf and Stomp to discuss her adventures with Kissless, and a few holiday recipes submitted by the readers of Nourish! So, break out your Rawrcast apron, and let’s dive in! Join the discussion surrounding this, and other future episodes here.

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The Great Divide; Real Life and WoW

November 16, 2009 :: Posted by - Rhabella :: Category - Community

While making a blog round, I came across honorshammer‘s new post concerning his friends who don’t play WoW.  I have to admit, I was immediately thrown at just how close to home he hit with me.  I’d even go so far as to say after a discussion with Hafrot at the DFW WoW meetup, the post holds value to most WoW players.  We are all familiar with the term “warcrack”, and we have all read the articles or seen reports ripping gamers as so disconnected from reality they are willing to keep playing to the detriment of their own health. Read more…

How Awesome Would It Be If…

November 15, 2009 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Other, Role Play

How awesome would it be if players could perform a treasonous act and move between factions? Sure, players can faction transfer already but imagine how cool it would be to see a Night Elf Rogue stalking the streets of Ogrimmar. Many of the differences between classes have already been eliminated (Alliance can be Shamans and Horde can be Paladins), why not take the extra step and allow players to do the unthinkable; commit treason.

Any players wishing to Benedict Arnold would have to perform an extensive quest line that truly imparted the gravity of the decision they’re making (Something similar to the Death Knight starting experience). Players can’t simply switch factions, they’d have to prove their dedication to the cause. Imagine putting the citizens of Goldshire to the sword or making the streets of Hammerfall run red with blood.  How about flinging open the gates of Stormwind to a Defias Invasion or setting explosives in the Deeprun Tram.  The options are endless. Read more…

What is on your bucket list?

November 15, 2009 :: Posted by - Ozimandias :: Category - Cataclysm, Community, PVE

With the new expansion coming out in the (not-so-distant) future, the thing that excites me the most is the new vanilla WoW that we are going to enjoy. It really was about time that the old world got some love and I especially can’t wait to see Stormwind and Thunder Bluff from the air.
As WoW turns 5 and starts to show its age somewhat, expansions like Cataclysm inject much-needed contents and fuel excitement about the game. Things do tend to get stale quickly in the fickle world that we all raid, quest and love in. (On a side note, I would hate to be a WoW developer in the sense that months of work spent designing and balancing an instance might be completely ignored by the masses in a matter of weeks as players progress towards the new level cap.) While change can be exciting, it can also be sad. Things as we know them are going to change radically, and some things are never coming back. There are a couple of tasks that I wanted to accomplish before the expansion comes out. Call it my WoW bucket list.
This list was compiled some time ago, just after the announcement of the new and (sexier?) Onyxia came out. So the first item on my list has been accomplished.
1. Defeat Onyxia before she got all uber.
This was a lot of fun, and when I posted on my guild forums asking for help with this, I was shocked at the response. This actually turned out to be the first “raid” that I conceived, executed and delivered on. She went down fast, even though wearing equipment was optional. This sparked off talk of guild retro-raids on Saturdays before the Ulduar raids. The second on the bucket list is happening as I write this.
2. Roll a Tauren Shammy and explore the starting area/quests
Now I know that there might be quite a few of you out there that are wondering why I would want to do something so mundane as roll a Tauren Shaman. Why a Tauren? I have always played Ally, and quite honestly, I am sick of getting war stomped in BGs. So I am employing the old adage, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
I used to go to the Barrens on my rogue just to gank Horde at the Cross Roads. Now I am going through the starting areas and learning about Horde. The quests out there are pretty interesting, and even though there is not a whole lot to look at in terms of scenery, it is a nice change from Westfall.
Thinking that I could kill two birds with one stone, I rolled this toon on Stomp and Haf’s server, Staghelm. I figured that since I was the EIC of their website, that I would join their guild. Well I never did put in my application because another idea hit me.
3. Go it alone and level a toon without a Main or a Guild
That’s right, going old school! This is walking-15-miles-to-school-in-the-blinding-snow-uphill-both-ways like old Grandpa Bill used to complain about. Even my first ever toon had some stimulus money come to him in the form of a roommate giving him 5 gold to buy some gear. My roomie at the time was a mage and a tailor so he was able to make me bags. Not this time, I wanted to forgo power-leveling instances, guild banks and extra gold from a main.
This one decision has forced me to change how I play WoW more than any other decision that I have made so far. When you’re prancing around at level 17 with a 6 slot bag and you are still wearing white gear the ripping and running through mobs that I enjoyed in the past is gone. Speaking of gone, that is something that I have been experiencing a lot with this toon. Yup, the old corpse run. I was so happy when I sold a stack of peacebloom on the AH and got 7 gold for it I was so happy that I did a dance and tweeted about it. Crazy huh?
So what are some things that you want to do before the xpac hits? Is there a title that you are going for? Quest lines that you have not gotten to?  Jumping factions has changed my view of WoW for the better, and quite honestly, I am glad that I didn’t pay the $50 to change servers and factions. That is the easy way, and now that WoW is getting easier and easier with every patch, I am glad to be one of the old grumpy players hanging on to things that are hard. Why? Because I can.
NOW YOU KIDS GET OFF OF MY GRASS!!!

Look! Old guys!

With the new expansion coming out in the (not-so-distant) future, the thing that excites me the most is the new vanilla WoW we are going to enjoy. It really was about time that the old world got some love and I especially can’t wait to see Stormwind and Thunder Bluff from the air.

As WoW turns 5 and starts to show its age somewhat, expansions like Cataclysm inject much-needed content and fuels excitement about the game. Things do tend to get stale quickly in the fickle world that we all raid, quest and love in. (On a side note, I would hate to be a WoW developer in the sense that months of work spent designing and balancing an instance might be completely ignored by the masses in a matter of weeks as players progress towards the new level cap.) While change can be exciting, it can also be sad. Things as we know them are going to change radically, and some things are never coming back. There are a couple of tasks that I wanted to accomplish before the expansion comes out. Call it my WoW bucket list. Read more…

Progression

November 14, 2009 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Community, Other, Raiding

Before we get started, let’s all agree to shelve our own individual notions of difficulty. It is, after all, a totally subjective notion and what could be difficult to one player can be a cakewalk to another. Excellent! Now that that’s settled, we can talk about the joy and utter despair that is progression raiding.

My guild has recently started attempting Heroic ToGC (25 man) and last night was our first real success. We managed, with the aid of several resilient Paladins and Shamans that were the last members of our raid left standing, to down Icehowl. We spent a couple of hours adjusting our strategy (plant totems here, park imps here, space out approximately 15 yards, etc) and after lots of frustrating wipes, we succeeded! Read more…

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