Wednesday, November 5, 2008

“Echoes of Doom” comes to World of Warcraft

A couple of weeks ago, Blizzard unleashed “Echoes of Doom,” its last major content patch for World of Warcraft Currency wow gold before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion releases on November 13th. The emphasis here is on “major.” There’s a lot of new stuff in “Echoes” and it’s taken about two weeks to sort through it all, particularly with the unbearable lag that almost always accompanies a new update. I am here, however, to hit some of the high points of the new content for you non-WoWers, you once-WoWers, and maybe some of you soon-to-be WoWers. (Disclaimer: While it’d be great, albeit sad, if I had an uber-70 of every class, this will have to be written from my experience, which is predominantly of the mage and warrior varieties.)
Unfortunately, I’m forced to start with the following: no, you can’t make a Death Knight yet. And no, you can’t get to Northrend yet. Read your patch notes people! Sheesh.
A couple of weeks ago, Blizzard unleashed “Echoes of Doom,” its last major content patch for World of Warcraft before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion releases on November 13th. The emphasis here is on “major.” There’s a lot of new stuff in “Echoes” and it’s taken about two weeks to sort through it all, particularly with the unbearable lag that almost always accompanies a new update. I am here, however, to hit some of the high points of the new content for you non-WoWers, you once-WoWers, and maybe some of you soon-to-be WoWers. (Disclaimer: While it’d be great, albeit sad, if I had an uber-70 of every class, this will have to be written from my experience, which is predominantly of the mage and warrior varieties.)

Unfortunately, I’m forced to start with the following: no, you can’t make a Death Knight yet. And no, you can’t get to Northrend yet. Read your patch notes people! Sheesh.
The most notable new addition for the gameplay itself is new talents and abilities geared towards players ultimately achieving level 80. Instead of each talent tree peaking at a level 50 talent, they now peak at a level 60 talent. There are a lot of fun new toys to be had with these new trees, my personal favorite being my Arms warrior’s Bladestorm (pictured), an ability that lets you spin around like mad and smash your weapon into any baddies nearby. While new abilities are great, keep in mind that these are intended to ultimately be balanced at level 80, so there might be some issues for the next few weeks or so while we’re stuck at 70.

Another major new feature is the Inscription profession, available to level up to 375. Inscription allows players to create class-specific Glyphs, which augment a specific ability in some way. Each class will eventually have 6 glyph spots, 3 “major” glyphs and 3 “minor” glyphs (the last major glyph isn’t unlocked until 80, so we’re stuck with 5 for now). Glyphs change abilities in a variety of ways such as increased damage or range, or even some more off-the-wall changes, like the Glyph of Blurred Speed, which allows Rogues to run on water. My mage is enjoying his Glyph of the Penguin, which lets me turn enemies into a penguin instead of a sheep. Jealous?
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Posted by JImmy at 03:03:24 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wrath of the Lich King Beta Over, Relaunch in Nine Days

The testing phase of the second expansion to MMO heavy-hitter World of Warcraft ( Currency : wow gold ) closes it doors and shutters its windows tonight.
“Beta realms down at 12AM PST,” reads the note on Blizzard’s official message boards as the minatory Arthas/Ner’zhul hybrid glares icily from the header snap above. Not to worry, Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for perennial PC MMO chart-buster World of Warcraft, returns in just over a week, Thursday November 13, at which point it’ll finally be available everywhere.
Posting this morning, Blizzard’s Crygil writes
We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the Wrath of the Lich King beta test. We greatly appreciate all of the feedback and you have given us during this critical phase of World of Warcraft ’s development. In preparation for the launch of the game next Thursday, November 13, we will be bringing down our beta realms at 12:00 AM PST. Thanks again, and see you soon in Northrend!
I’ve been tooling around with the beta the last month or so, but in my determination to level from zero, I’ve yet to make it across the pond from
Northern Kalimdor. Oh, I had the option like anyone else to start as a level 70 Death Knight, and I did sneak a peek, but seeing as I never made it past a lowly level 36 Night Elf playing the game in its infancy years ago, that just seemed like cheating.
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Posted by JImmy at 03:02:23 | Permalink | No Comments »

World of Warcraft Expansion Rumors: Trick or Treat?

If you are anything like me, you are salivating over the highly anticipated World of Warcraft ( Currency wow gold ) Expansion: the Wrath of the Lich King.
I’ve been an avid WOW player since the first Beta. I was present during the times when Tauren Mill and Southshore raids were like a playground for kids; at a time when honor kills were nothing but a digital score, and slaying Onyx usually required a 40 man raid. I am Old School.
World of Warcraft holds a special place in my heart.
Given WOW’s power house status in the MMORPG market, well, we only expect the best products from them. And with every expansion, some expectations are met while some are not.
Like many of you, I’m a forum-junkie. I get more out of reading forum posts, than reading articles, columns, and blogs. Don’t get me wrong, articles, columns, and blogs are very informative, but forum posts share a magical aura, bubbled with free thoughts, free debates, and free ideas.
However, not all forum posts are factual. To get in the Halloween spirit, I have gathered a few of my favorite WOW expansion rumors and I need your help distinguishing fact from fiction—or Trick from Treat.
Blizzard Polar Bear Mounts—If you were lucky enough to get a mount card code from Blizzcon, you are now enjoying your very own Polar Bear Mount. However, a lot of devoted fans are not in favor of the Murloc sharing the mount space with you. Rumors have it that in the coming expansion, you will be able to customize your mount by removing or adding animation. And you can do away with your Murloc. Poor Murlocs. Trick or Treat?
Leveling 70-80—Do you remember leveling 60-70? I do. A blue post in the WOW forums stated that the time you spent leveling 60-70, it will take you double the amount of that time, to get from 70-80? There were a lot of complaints, nonetheless. And rumors point to a post that claims leveling will be much faster than stated; as fast as leveling 60-70 again, because of the new Grouping features in the UI. Trick or Treat?
Back to Azeroth—If you have a level 70 character, on that same server, you will be given the option to make a Deathknight class. The Deathknight will start at level 55. And its back through the Dark Portal, and back to Azeroth. There are tons of forums threads claiming vicious ganking and raiding in the old world. Does this mean back to the Tauren Mill and Southshore raids? Lets hope so. Trick or Treat?
The Barber Shop—If you were unhappy with your hair or horns, you can now have a makeover at the barber shop. However, the barber shops only allow changes to the hair color and style, along with various accessories. You cannot do any face rendering. For example, if your character has a hideous face due to lopsided nose or an evil grin, you’re out of luck. The face is permanent. Rumors say that Blizzard is working on the next Patch that will allow face rendering. Need a new nose job? Trick or Treat?
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Posted by JImmy at 02:58:39 | Permalink | No Comments »

World of Warcraft hits 11 million active subscribers worldwide

Belgium?
Bolivia? Israel? Ireland? You’ve got nothing on World of Warcraft (Currency
wow gold ) . Blizzard’s ultra-popular massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, full of orcs, elves, dwarves and undead, has hit 11 million active subscribers. That’s a shade fewer than the population of Greece, and means that one person in every 625 on the planet holds an active subscription.
The milestone is reached just two weeks before the launch of the latest expansion for the game - Wrath of the Lich King. The expansion, which arrives on November 14th, raises the level cap to 80 and opens up the chilly continent of Northrend for exploration, as well as adding a new class and new tradeskills to the game. The previous expansion - The Burning Crusade - holds the record for the fastest-selling PC game of all time, with 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability.

If every subscriber was paying the British subscription fee (and I appreciate that ours is probably one of the most expensive in the world) then £9 times 11,000,000 would mean subscriber revenues of about £100 million a month. That’s not too shabby.
I’m a holder of a subscription, and I’ve got a Paladin on EU-Stormrage that’s about half a level off 70. I’m hoping to hit that tonight. I’m always up for playing with like-minded folks though, so drop me an email if you fancy meeting up in Azeroth sometime. Especially if you fancy a run through Stratholme , so I can get my sodding epic mount that I should have got ten levels ago.
Ahem. Back to the story. If you’ve not tried World of Warcraft, then you really should. It’s a lot of fun, and if you’ve got friends scattered about all over the country, then it’s awesome fun to all sit in a voice chat channel and smack some furbolgs or murclocs about a bit on a Sunday evening. It’s never been easier to join the world and make significant progress without spending hours doing repetitive grinding. Great game.
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Posted by JImmy at 02:57:38 | Permalink | No Comments »

Fable II

The original Fable got a lot of grief for what it wasn’t. It didn’t offer a world in which one could roam forever, like Oblivion (while Metroid Prime drew raves). It didn’t offer constant interaction and an online showcase for your character, like World of Warcraft ( Buy wow gold ) (while no game is quite like World of Warcraft). So for those that decided to hate the first Fable because the trees didn’t grow to your liking, keep moving. You’ve chosen your path. Fable II builds exponentially on the two things that made the first game unique: interaction with the game world on a level beyond the story and combat, and character customization that’s deeper than anywhere else. But we’ll back up. Fable is a fantasy adventure with a storybook setting and style. Your character is introduced as a child to set up the beginnings of an epic quest that takes him or her through the world of
Albion. Aside from the existence of firearms, Albion is what one might expect from a fantasy setting. There is magic, swords and lots of bad guys. But what one might not expect is the primary role the other citizens of Albion play in the every day life of a hero. In most fantasy and role playing games, those who aren’t bad guys in need of an attitude adjustment exist only insofar as you need them. They sell you things, they might ask you for help and they might get in your way while they help move the story along. But in Fable II, they are an integral part of the game. Even though your character doesn’t talk, you can interact with people by using expressions. But they aren’t just expressions, your options include slapping, dancing, whistling, flirting, holding up trophies, and almost everything in between that you can imagine. Each expression has different effects on different people - after all, we all like and dislike different things. What may endear you to some will generate indifference or scorn among others. Even if you don’t use expressions often, the people of Albion talk to each other. As you travel and do your thing you’ll get a reputation. Your appearance will also evolve based on your moral and sartorial choices. Clothes, hair and tattoos make you more or less attractive for obvious reasons. But moral character is something the people of Albion wear on their sleeves. If you’re evil, you’ll begin to look it, and people will know. Horns and glowing red eyes can be a giveaway. All of these factors create a unique experience based on how you play the game. If you’re bad through and through, a lot of people will avoid you like the plague. Those that can’t will charge you more for anything you want to buy. Even then, however, you can woo those willing to listen. Bad guys do get girls, after all. In the first Fable, getting the attention of ladies (or men) was possible, but it was a relatively shallow experience. Fable II takes it a step further by introducing offspring (that’s children) and baggage (that’s STDs, divorce and blackmail). So while it’s almost always possible to change sides and get a second chance, your past sticks with you to varying degrees, as does your dog. He’s a friend from childhood who follows you around telling you danger is coming, telling you were to dig for treasure and taking on your appearance as you grow more evil or pure. He also reacts to your expressions and, in general, is pretty entertaining to have around. Fable II also adds a layer of economic interest to Albion. As you amass wealth (through adventuring or, more quickly, through odd jobs around town in the form of mini games), you can invest in houses, small businesses, large businesses and even a palatial property or two. Being a real estate mogul and a hero - well, who wouldn’t want to be a true renaissance man if shown the opportunity? The main quest and side quests that pop up all over the world lead you through lots of space, and that’s when a coherent map would have come in handy. Instead, each area has it’s own map and you can auto travel to any point of interest through the menu. If you only care about going to your next quest point, you can follow a glowing path. At first the path was obtrusive and felt clumsy, but the option to turn it down without turning it off results in a handy direction finder that you don’t even notice unless you need it. While you’re doing all this, you might notice glowing orbs scattered around the world. These are players from your friends list (or ‘everyone’ if you prefer to change it in the options menu) you can join in cooperative play. You have to split a screen, which is a shame, and your character won’t appear as you see him, but other than that it’s a blast to walk around and wreak havoc in someone else’s world. Lest we forget the nitty gritty: Fable’s system of experience for three distinct categories remains intact. Strength applies to your physical strength, hit point total and use of hand-to-hand weapons. Skill applies to speed, ranged attacks and damage with ranged weapons. And Will is the use of magic, which includes old standbys like fireballs and lightning bolts but also fun tools like slowing time and a force push. Every time you get experience you earn points in the applicable category plus a general pool that can be used to purchase character upgrades of your choosing. It’s as flexible a system as any RPG, and that helps make fun to use. Fable is a rare role playing game that offers incredibly deep customization, style and exploration. It can be both charming and disturbing. Its missions offer equal parts of satisfaction and tragedy, and when you’re not on a mission you’ll be making your own bed in which to lie (including a dog, he’s literally always around). There’s a lot to see (and destroy), a lot to do (and not do), and a whole wide world waiting to be conquered.

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Posted by JImmy at 02:56:27 | Permalink | No Comments »

AT&T to try limiting subscribers’ data use

AT&T customers who obsessively play World of Warcraft (Currency: wow gold ) while downloading dozens of movies: your days of online impunity may be numbered. AT&T has joined the ranks of telecom companies exploring the idea of limiting the amount of their data subscribers can use each month.
The company began this month to apply such limits, testing the policy first in
Reno, Nevada. Subscribers to AT&T’s slowest Internet service there will be limited to downloading 20 gigabytes of data per month. Those who subscribe to the fastest plan will be able to download up to 150 gigabytes per month. Anyone who goes over the limit will pay $1 per extra gigabyte of data downloaded.
AT&T joins the ranks of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and FairPoint Communications, which are planning their own limits. Comcast began capping Internet use in October and said it would suspend service of customers who exceed the company’s 250-gigabytes-per-month limit after repeated warnings.
“Some type of usage-based model, for those customers who have abnormally high usage patterns, seems inevitable,” AT&T spokesman John Britton said. “A small group of customers are using the majority of bandwidth on our network.”
Half of AT&T’s total bandwidth is used by 5% of customers, Britton said.
Most customers don’t come close to needing 250 gigabytes a month, but that may change as telecommunications companies offer faster and faster service that makes it easier for customers to download movies, music and other files. Netflix is encouraging users to download movies through its website, for example, rather than waiting for discs to arrive in the mail.
Downloading a full-length standard movie requires about two gigabytes, according to Comcast. The website StoptheCap says that a five-gigabyte cap limits customers to watching 500 minutes of YouTube videos per month or downloading 1,000 songs from iTunes, but once you do either of those things, you won’t have enough bandwidth to read your e-mail.
For more information on just how much (or how little) you can download with the caps, you can also check out this cheat-sheet from Silicon Alley Insider. Or you can stop worrying about how many movies you’ll be able to download if AT&T decides to cap data use in L.A., and go buy a VCR while you still can. Then you’ll be able to watch as many videos as you want.
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Posted by JImmy at 02:55:13 | Permalink | No Comments »

World of Warcraft: Game or drug?

Not to sound like a public service announcement, but addiction is a serious matter. We all are familiar with drug and alcohol addiction (health class taught us well), but what about the forgotten one? What about the addiction that is claiming victims across the nation? What about the addiction that is causing seemingly good students to fail, and for college students, to get kicked out for a lack luster academic performance? What about the addiction that is ruining friendships and intimate relationships? What is this culprit you ask; none other than the online video game, World of Warcraft Currencywow gold . By now you may be laughing, but I assure you this in no laughing matter. World of Warcraft, commonly known as WoW, is a game that has taken the nation by storm. WoW is Blizzard Entertainment’s latest installment of the fantasy Warcraft universe. It was released in 2004 with the first expansion set, The Burning Crusade, making an appearance in January of 2007. Players of the game are required to set up an account and pay for a subscription either by buying a game card for a pre-determined amount of interaction time from a retailer (i.e. GameStop), or by using a credit or debit card to pay on a consistent basis. WoW has an extremely dedicated fan base with eleven million monthly subscribers. That’s a lot of addicts!So what’s the big deal? Let me tell you. In a nutshell, WoW allows players to create and control a character, an avatar if you will. The game takes place through a 3-D representation of the Warcraft universe. Players use their characters to explore locations, defeat monster looking things, and complete quests. The idea is that when a character completes these activities, they gain experience points. After a set amount of experience points have been earned, your character gains a level, and in turn has the capability of learning new skills to help them along the rest of their quest. Fun? Yes this is true, but with this game, fun translates into ADDICTION. Senior Howard Hipp says, “I never let it get too involved in my life…[but] I have, on free days, when my friends were either working, sleeping, or busy, spent upwards of about six hours playing the game.” Hipp made the wise decision to deactivate his account on the grounds that “school is more important.” If only others were so responsible. I heard a story of a college student who spent so many hours playing the game that he neglected his academic responsibilities and ended up having to leave college and take courses at a community college.

But WoW not only takes its toll on the lives of college students; there are other victims. The website askapadwe.com highlights several horror stories involving world of warcraft, many of them involving non-college students and their demise. Stories range from fallen marriages, to a 16-year-old high school student who spends 70 to 90 hours a week playing the game, and has a 1.7 GPA (I wonder why?), to a 30-year-old man, complete with a wife and two kids, who has tried quitting the game three times and has had no success. Each story is fascinating and prompts the question of whether WoW would be considered a drug. It sure seems that way, especially when the first lines of many of the entries read, “Hello my name is ‘Tom’ and I’m addicted to WoW.” Acceptance is the first step. After some difficulty in gaining access to the game, I was able to try it on for size by using a ten day free trial period that is offered. After waiting roughly four hours for it to download onto my computer, I was thrown headfirst into World of Warcraft Buywow gold . I am not a fan of video games, but I have to admit that I was fascinated with the graphics, complete with weird-looking characters and ugly monsters that I rather enjoyed killing. I found myself interacting vocally with the game with shouts of, “BOOYAH, TAKE THAT, and GET UP, SO I CAN KNOCK YOU BACK DOWN AGAIN.” It was exciting and shocking that I would be so enthralled. That was the first interaction, and when I was done, I felt as if I was satisfied enough with my test run and would never return to the game again. However, the next day, I sat gazing at my computer, itching to battle another monster. UH OH! I immediately erased the program so I would not fall victim to its lure.There is no program to help these poor souls who have not been able to overcome their vice, and you never know who is suffering. It could be your neighbor; it could be the person that sits next to you in class. It could even be your professor, for no demographic is safe. If you are not already hooked, please proceed with caution, and for those of you who are, you are in our thoughts.
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Posted by JImmy at 02:52:40 | Permalink | No Comments »