Posted in Blizzard, Starcraft Pulse, tagged 4.1, Blizzard, cata, Cataclysm, Contest, Entertainment, Episode 61, Gaming, Lumin, Memories, Mount, News, patch 4.2, Pulse, Video, video game, Winged White Lion, World Of Warcraft, World Warcraft, wow on March 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In this episode we take a look at some more Patch 4.1 goodies, why Ghostcrawler has stopped posting on the official forums, the latest Ask The Devs questions and answers, some cool new art & much more! 😀
Watch in HD! Remember to like it, favourite it, share it and subscribe!
‘Read More’ for links!
Posted in Blizzard, World Of Warcraft, tagged 4.2, Blizzard, Cataclysm, Flying, Image, Maps, Mount, Notes, Patch 4.1, update, White Lion, World Of Warcraft, wow, Zul Aman, Zul Gurub on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
There’s been less Patch 4.1 talk and news this week, not much less, but still not quite as much as the mountains of updates and reveals we were seeing last week. We’re about to take a look at the new updates, new items we’re set to be looting in the newly redone Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman instances, a few new maps that were added for some older content and a few smaller extras.
New patch notes have just hit the Public Test Realms with some interesting new changes. Atramedes, Nefarian, and Cho’gall all got a couple nerfs, several persistent ground effects now display different visuals for hostile and friendly players. The following spells have the same visual effects for friendly players, but new alternate visuals for hostile players: Ring of Frost, Consecration, Desecration, Wild Mushroom, Flare, Ice Trap, Power Word: Barrier, Smoke Bomb, and Hand of Gul’dan. As a general rule, the alternate effects have a red tint or hue indicating they are created by an enemy player.
And, perhaps one of the biggest, and to me weirdest changes is that Colossus Smash now ignores 50% of armor in PvP but still ignores the 100% armor in PvE. This was done after Blizzard’s developer answers said that they did not want to make two rule sets for the game, for PvE and PvP. Oh well, I guess the changes do make sense, though. You can read the full March 15 Patch notes below!
Patch 4.1 Public Test Realm Notes – March 15 – Official
As you all probably know by now, due to all the talk, good and bad, the upcoming patch 4.1 marks the return of the classic Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub raids as 5-player Heroic dungeons. These instances are set to feature item level 353 epic quality loot and, well, we’ve just been given a bit of a preview of what kind of items to expect, thanks to MMO-Champion and Wowhead. The items have apparently just shown up in the latest batch of PTR data and they’ve all been posted for our viewing pleasure! The only sad thing about all of this is that the items are not yet implemented as drops, nor do any of them have any unique models just yet. This is where everyone will start wondering what Blizzards plans are… are we just going to be seeing some recolored versions of the previous ZG and ZA items? I can think of a great many people that would have a great many complaints about that.
If you’re keen to see how beefy those items are and which of your items you’ll probably be replacing soon, check the links below! And as usual, keep checking back here soon for more! 😀
Patch 4.1 – Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub Items on PTR– Wowhead
Zul’gurub and Zul’aman Loot List – MMO-Champion
Next up, it seems like Patch 4.1 will add the last wave of missing dungeon maps to the game by updating all the Burning Crusade content! Yes, most TBC 5-man dungeons and raid instances now feature a shiny new map. Along with that, the latest PTR build also included the maps of Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub and the updated map for Baradin Hold, which features a brand new boss wing. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the next arena season is only set to start with Patch 4.2, so we probably won’t be exploring that new wing for quite some time! So if you’re keen to check those new maps out, you know exactly where to look, I gotta say, it is great seeing some of those old dungeons getting some love, let’s just hope Blizzard don’t decide to remake them, next.
Patch 4.1 Updated TBC & Zul Maps – MMO-Champion
As a few 4.1 extras you can read about how the Blood Elves and High Elves are set to unite against Zul’Aman, you can read all the complaints that players have about the recycling of content that is taking place and all the blue responses to those complaints. Zarhym replied with the following – There definitely is not a hard and fast rule about updating existing content. If we feel revamping existing content makes sense in the current state of the game and lore — and we think it will be fun — sure, it’s a possibility. You definitely shouldn’t expect this every patch though. In the grand scheme of World of Warcraft’s history, we’ve reintroduced very little existing content per patch and expansion. He also just reminded everyone that there wasn’t a singular art team working on all the Blizzard games. Diablo III and Heart of the Swarm will not slow down production on any of the World of Warcraft updates or patches. Good to hear, again! Next up, one of the latest beta builds of Patch 4.1 on PTRs added a new mount model, the Winged Lion Mount! MMO-Champion reports that we don’t have any information on this mount for the moment, and it does look like a very early version of the model but hey, it’s a lion with wings… Lastly in the 4.1 extras, you can read what Blizzard had to say about the changes made to the Ragnaros model, you know, those legs. In short we were told that the problem is we have no context or perspective on the model we’ve seen but a static image of. There’s more to it, obviously, so read all about all those extras below, if you wish.
WoW PTR 4.1 (13726) Blood Elves and High Elves Unite Against Zul’Aman – BlizzPlanet
Blues On Recycling Content – MMO-Champion
Blues On Ragnaros’ Legs – MMO-Champion
Winged Lion Mount – MMO-Champion
What I will call a concerned fan, or fellow World of Warcraft player, recently posted an open letter to Ghostcrawler pretty much thanking him for, during the Wrath era, giving us as the players of their most epic and intricate of games, a view into the development process and for caring enough to read, listen, and impart. Sadly for the fan, or I guess all of us, there was no response from Ghostcrawler himself, but Bashiok did step in to enlighten the masses. he basically just said that the forums have always been about players talking to players and that they don’t want to foster the expectation that everything will get a blue response if the poster tries hard enough. Bashiok says that while Ghostcrawler added a lot to the forums, the North American forums, he says that he is sure Blizzard can reach more players, especially those in all the other regions of the world, through their blog posts or concerted Q&A’s.
After that Bashiok just lists all the reasons that the blog posts actually work better, and he makes a lot of sense while doing so. (But let’s not fool ourselves, the World of Warcraft forums are never, ever and easy place to post, let alone be taken seriously!) So if you want to know why Ghostcrawler has not been quite as active on the World of Warcraft forums as he was back during Wrath of the Lich King then I guess these blue posts will be worth a read for you.
Where’s GhostCrawler? – MMO-Champion
The answers are in from Blizzard’s last installment of Ask the Devs, and a new questions thread is now available, this time around they want PvP questions. When posting your question, please keep in mind that each edition of Ask the Devs is now focused on a specific topic as noted in the thread title and, to make things that little bit easier it would probably be better just to stick to the topic. The anwsers provided to all the questions asked in the first installment of the Ask The Devs Q&A were indeed quite interesting and diverse covering everything from Updated Textures: Will We Ever Get Any? To the Northrend and Outland leveling flow, to even asking if anything was going to be done about World PvP, as many feel it is quite dead right now. Yeah, there really is a lot more than I can possibly mention here, so, if any of you are keen to read all those questions, you know where to look!
And, as I mentioned, remember to get those PvP themed questions in for the next round!
Ask the Devs – #1 – Official
The latest image from the guys over at the Daily Blink. This one is for all those mages out there, definitely made me chuckle!
The Daily Blink – But Really, I’m Number One – The Daily Blink
Time for a few new World of Warcraft art updates! The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with a whopping ten new pieces of fan artwork set within the Warcraft universe, quite a few of which are of the always attractive Banshee Queen, so that’s a bonus. We’ve also been treated with four new official pieces in the official Wrath of the Lich King art gallery. These updates are, as usual, well worth getting, or at least looking at, in full size. Check the links below!
Blizzard Art Gallery Update – Official
New Warcraft Fan Art – Official
As a little art extra you can also check this amazingly cool Murloc Space Marine fan art out. This was created by Jorge Jacinto from over at Deviant ART and CDHub. Very cool!
Aren’t You Murlocs A Little Short For Terran Space Marines?– Kotaku
Poll: Reel Serious Options – Official
New Player Tips: We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat – Official
The Razer Switchblade concept slithers its way to GDC 2011 – WoW Insider
Site Updates: New Profiler Features, Custom Stat Weights and Reforging!– Wowhead
Site Updates: Anvil and Forge Tracking, Polls for Premium– Wowhead
Blizz Blues – Ep 9 – AndroBots in Ya’lls BGs!– Wowhead
Cataclysm Leveling Flow Guide: 1-60– Wowhead
This Woman Used Japan’s Tragedy to Troll The Entire Internet– Kotaku
World of Warcraft: Wolfheart (Richard A Knaak) On Oct 11, 2011– BlizzPlanet
World of Warcraft T-shirts Super Colossal Sale Ends 3.17.2011– BlizzPlanet
GDC 2011: J. Allen Brack on Cataclysm– BlizzPlanet
2011 PAX East: Cryptozoic Entertainment & WoW TCG: Worldbreaker – BlizzPlanet
Blizzard Products 2011 Release Dates List– BlizzPlanet
PST Episode 20 – YouTube
The Weekly Marmot – Dealing with RNG – YouTube
Death Knight Solo Yogg-Saron Kill – YouTube
The MMO Report – Guild Wars 2 at GDC – G4TV
…On Botting in WoW – MMO-Champion
…On Heroic Leap – MMO-Champion
Posted in Blizzard, Starcraft Pulse, tagged Activision, barbarian, battle.net, BattleNet, Beta, Blizzard Entertainment, Computer, Demon Hunter, Diablo III, Game, Gameplay, Lumin, Microsoft, MMORPG, Monk, multiplayer, News, PC, Pulse 60, PvE, PvP, Roleplaying, RPG, via, Video, Windows, Witch Doctor, Wizard on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In this episode we take a look at the some contest winners, more Facebook Like updates, some Treasure Seeker information, more art controversy, PvE & PvP Balance, Weapon Types & More!
Watch in HD! Remember to like it, favourite it, share it and subscribe!
‘Read More’ for links!
Posted in Blizzard, tagged Anniversary, Blizzard, Contest, Entertainment, Guardian Of Accounts, Video, Winners on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Though the loss of life and limb was great, the ocular fortitude of Blizzard’s judges allowed them to see the job through: the winners of the 2010 Global Writing Contest have been chosen. Many judges were felled by the 18 million words that made up this year’s competition, but whilst their souls are now forfeit to the contest’s patron deity, C’Thun, their sacrifices were not in vain. Behold, the victors!
Winner:
“Silver Hand, Ebon Blade” by Raphael Ahad
Finalists (In Alphabetical Order):
“Defiant” by Corwin D. Riddle
“Entombed” by Saif Ansari
“Fresh” by Meghan O’Hara
“In the Blood” by Celine Taillefer
“Loose Ends” by Pedram Javidpour
“Memories of the Future” by Michael D. O’Reilly
“The Wicked and the Righteous” by Marika Kermode
Honorable Mentions:
“ATLAS Rising: Shootout on the Supercarriers” by David Tsai
“Jackson’s Farewell” by Roderick Leeuwenhart
“The Maker’s Burden” by Walter Handloser
“Returning Gnome” by Richard Powell
“Spectre of the Past” by Craig E. Stalbaum
“The Case of the Scrivener’s Seal” by Michelle Millar
The winner of the 2010 Global Writing Contest will be invited to visit Blizzard Entertainment’s headquarters to meet and eat with Chris Metzen and the rest of the creative development team. He will also receive his choice of a Frostmourne sword or Diablo III barbarian statue. The seven finalists will each receive signed copies of the Diablo Archive, StarCraft Archive, Warcraft Archive, and Warcraft: War of the Ancients Archivebooks.
There were a couple of complaints that most of the stories were in fact set in the WarCraft universes, but I guess that’s just the way of things. With all that said, the winning entry, along with excerpts from the finalists, can now be found on the contest website. Check them out and enjoy the abundance of textual pleasure!
2010 Global Writing Contest Winners! – Official
Another contest winner has been announced! The first winner in Blizzard’s recurring contest, “The Guardian of Accounts Art Contest”, has been picked. Featuring quite the clever blueprints of a StarCraft II inspired anti account-theft trap, the submission by Markus from Germany managed to impress many and you can see it on your screens right now, quite intricate!
Congratulations, Markus, and good work!
As a reminder, Blizzard just let us know that they will continue picking one winner in “The Guardian of Accounts Art Contest” each month until January 2012. Each winner will receive a nifty iPad along with the fame, fortune and pleasure that comes from having others appreciate their work! I would love to enter something like this, I do however believe that nothing I enter would ever be as good as something like this, oh well…
See the full size image and all the details you’d need to enter below!
Contest Winner: Guardian of Accounts – February 2011 – Official
The official contest rules, details and prizes for the Blizzard Entertainment 20th Anniversary Video Contest have been revealed! The prizes include an all expenses-paid trip to BlizzCon, keyboards, mice and headsets from Razer, Steelseries and Creative Labs, drinking vessels from TavernCraft, action figures from DC Direct and even custom posters featuring your very own character from PrintWarCraft. That is quite a load of cool stuff and I really can’t wait to see what the fans come up with for this competition.
Ready to take on this journey through time and space? Check out the official rules page for details and eligibility and if any of you watching this enter, be sure to let me know! 😀
Memories of Blizzard Video Contest – Official
Posted in Blizzard, Diablo III, tagged 3, Art, Beta, Blizzard, D3, Diablo, Diablo III, DIII, Force, PvE, PvP, Strategy, Treasure Seeker, weapons on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Blizzard’s Diablo fanpage on Facebook rolled past the 650,000 ‘likes’ mark recently and, needless to say, we were rewarded with a new piece of artwork and a screenshot! The artwork given is a concept of the mischievous looking Treasure Seeker. This artwork wa done by Vic Lee and he’ll randomly and rarely appear in dungeons, but when he does you’ll want to beat the candy out of him as he’ll drop progressively better loot with each hit. Don’t let him escape! The image is really cool and, if you’re interested in reading more about this most cunning of creatures, you can do so below at the Diablo INC Gamers post!
The screenshot is of a male monk and a trio of fallen shaman and this screenshot seems to have been taken mere seconds after the previous monk shot we were rewarded, the one with the poisonous cloud of gas. A pretty cool shot and a lot of carnage, check it out in full size below!
The Diablo Facebook Ransom is Paid: Part V – Diablo INC Gamers
Diablo Facebook Fanpage – Facebook
As a little extra, it seems like the blue posters were more than ready to discuss the Treasure Seeker a little after these latest art updates. Bashiok let us know that the Treasure Seeker was inspired by the little bastards in Golden Axe you’d wake up to stealing your stuff and have to kick the crap out of them. Yeah, you remember those guys… He also just told us that the balance on that little menace was not tuned correctly back at BlizzCon 2010 and he was indeed dying too easily to ranged classes and casters. You can read those full interactions and everyone’s thoughts on them below!
Blue on the Treasure Seeker – Diablo INC Gamers
A keen fan, that apparently has way too much time to ponder on his hands, named Steyaertr has revived the good old Art Controversy relating to Diablo III’s new, more colorful style, by taking a bunch of clips from the old Wizard, Monk, and Demon Hunter gameplay videos and whipping them through some filters to give them a darker and in his opinion, more gothic, look. Diablo INC Gamers first reported this and said that the new look he gave the videos is in fact oversaturated and too dark to see anything at all. This is, as many of you know, not the first time that people do something like this. Over the years there have been many, many arguments and debates, many reworks of those static images and, well, just a lot of whining too. I personally I feel that most of the amazing art and texture work would be going to waste if Blizzard used a style such as the one in this video. What do you think? Do you like the visuals we’ve seen thus far or do you feel it needs that more hardcore look?
The Art Controvery Returns…? – Diablo INC Gamers
The Diablo III balance talk is back yet again and this time Bashiok had a few more words on the always present issue of PvE and PvP balancing. He said, on the note of balancing PvE and PvP separately, it’s something they want to largely avoid. We do have the ability to keep separate functionality, but we want to try to avoid big differences that make it feel like two different games when you play PvE and PvP.
One area where things work differently, and they think it’s ok, is in the case of Crowd control, like stuns, snares, slows, etc. The duration of these skills is fairly significantly reduced when used against players, however, that same reduction in effectiveness is also see in the PvE game when it comes to unique/champion/boss monsters. So, it’s not only a jarring difference, it’s also actually experienced in PvE. This is very similar to how World of Warcraft does it, and, I would not be surprised if we see something like diminishing returns come into play at some point…
Bashiok says that the bottom line is that they’ll have to wait and see but, balancing them separately is something Blizzard has the ability to do if needed but would prefer to largely avoid. It is, as usual, great to see so much thought going into all of this and, well, as with the whole art controversy thing, I think issues like this are safest in the hands of the guys at Blizzard. The only thing we will need to worry about is getting some sleep once the game hits. Read more about all of this balance talk below!
Blue on Balancing PvP and PvE Separately – Diablo INC Gamers
A fan recently started a post up on the official Battle.net forums saying that he, or she, heard that all characters, creeps and monsters have a 95% flat chance to hit, then asking whether there would at least be traits to influence these percentages because he could well see a Demon Hunter or Monk avoiding more hits… Lucky for us, Bashiok couldn’t let that question go without an answer, so here it goes.
He let the fan, and indirectly all of us know, that there is no stat to modify an enemies chance to hit you, but, there is a Dodge stat. It’s only given in small amounts through traits, and potentially some specific items. With Dodge, an enemy could still “hit” you, but you dodge the hit negating the damage entirely. He says that it is a stat that’s being controlled fairly strictly, and as the poster said is probably going to be more appropriate for some classes (ie monk), while others may instead have more in the way of damage mitigation. Blizzard don’t intend for Dodge to overcome the need for damage mitigation through Defense and related damage reduction stats, even for the classes that have more of it available to them. Well, while that definitely answered everything, the poster wanted more, as any good Diablo fan should.
Next up he asked a quick question about rune swapping that didn’t really yield any new information and lastly, a very good question that I am glad was asked! He asked whether all the weapon types would actually be useful in Diablo III, unlike in Diablo II where some were hands down better than others.
In response, he was told that Blizzard are spending plenty of ‘thought cycles’ to ensure weapon choices are indeed choices, and not determined by a clear cut strength to go for one over another. Traits and skills obviously play a part in weapon choice as there are traits that offer bonuses while using a specific weapon type, and some skills favor certain types of weapons. As far as the base benefit of simply carrying around these weapons, yeah the bonuses associated between two weapons over one weapon are being kept in mind. Staves and 2-handers can have bigger and more powerful affixes than are allowed to generate on 1-handed weapons, for example. Equal amounts of sockets. That kind of thing. What else can I say, I am glad they are catering for all the styles and preferences out there. I, personally, have not yet even made my mind up about which class I want to play, let alone the weapons they will use. I will need to think long and hard on all of this.
If you want to read more about all of the aforementioned news, check the links below for all of it!
Blue on Combat, Rune-Swapping, and Two-Handed Weapons – Diablo INC Gamers
Time for the next two Fan Art Watch posts! Oh my, is there a lot of good stuff to look at this week! First up, in Fan Art Watch #80, we have 5 new pieces from the Diablo 1 / 2 gallery over at Diablo INC Gamers. My favourite of the lot has got ot be the Hydralisk-like version of the demon in ‘Looking for Baal?’ by Choboroy. Quite a frightening looking baddie, to be sure. After that we have 4 different, and I really do mean quite different, realistic, funny, colorful, they’ve got it all covered and definitely deserve your views!
In Fan Art Watch #81, Flux gives us a couple of new Sorceress images while apparently warning of a lot more to come! I don’t think anyone would really complain about any Sorceress fan art at all as most of them really do look quite good. Check all of that out below and be sure to leave those comments of appreciation.
Diablo Fan Art Watch #81: Weekend Sorceresses – Diablo INC Gamers
Diablo Fan Art Watch #80: Duriel – Looking for Baal? – Diablo INC Gamers
After the apparent success of Force’s Purgatory episode recently posted on Diablofans.com, it seems like the two have teamed up yet again, this time bringing us the first episode in a new series titled DiabloCast. In this promised weekly podcast they plan to discuss all the happenings in the world of Diablo for each week. The first episode clocks in at around 25 minutes and I guess is worth the watch if you want a different perspective on everything that’s happening in the news. Check it out on YouTube or over at Diablofans.com!
DiabloCast: Epsiode I – Diablofans
Diablo 3 – DiabloCast: The Diablo 3 Podcast – Episode 1 – YouTube
Poll: Who is Your Favorite Character? – Diablofans
A DiabloFans Editorial: The Guiding Parchment – Diablofans
http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/no-d3-pax-east/ – Diablo INC Gamers
PAX East Panels on Being a CM, Facebook, and Working for Activision – Diablo INC Gamers
Q: What is the next big event you guys will be at to talk about Diablo 3? – Scyberdragon
A: We haven’t announced any events except BlizzCon. But if we do we’ll definitely be on the tweeterspace letting you know. – Diablo
Q: How’s the Gargantuan for the WD looking? – MultiKillGaming
A: Amazing. Almost too cool to be a class skill. – Diablo
Q: How are the bosses coming along? Are they all as awesome as the Siegebreaker, or *gasp* awesomer? – Vulcaino
A: Way awesomer. – Diablo
Q: Say I found an item in D3 that pwned, then it was nerfed in a patch. Would I still keep that pre-patch item? Or would it disappear? – AcidReign87
A: You’d keep the item of course. It would simply be changed to reflect the alteration made to it in the patch. – Diablo
Q: When you say 18 sets you mean 18 different boots, leggings,etc? And does that 18 include unique armor or are they totally different? – Theeliminator2k
A: They’re visual tiers of gear, not actual specific items by name and stat. It’s the same as Diablo II, but more and better. – Diablo
A: To clarify, there are 18 complete tier looks. Complete. 18 individual looks for each item slot. – Diablo
Posted in Blizzard, Starcraft Pulse, tagged Activision, Blizzard, Code-S, Entertainment, esports, Final, Footage, Gameplay, GOMTV, GSL, Heart Of The Swarm, July, Lumin, March, MC, News, oGs, Pulse 59, Release, SC2, Starcraft II on March 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In this episode we take a look at the sacrifices that were made during the development of StarCraft II, for eSports, some Heart of the Swarm release date news, NASL, GSL & TSL Updates, PonyCraft II, some Day[9] stand-up comedy, art updates & More!
Watch in HD! Remember to like it, favourite it, share it and subscribe!
‘Read More’ for links!
Posted in Blizzard, Starcraft II, tagged 2, ACE, Activision, Blizzard, Comedy, Date, Day9, GSL, Heart Of The Swarm, IEM, Moon, NASL, PonyCraft II, Release, SC2, SCII, STACE, Starcraft 2, TSL, Updates on March 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Over one million people have “liked” the English StarCraft Facebook page! Yea, that is quite a lot and that number is steadily catching up to the Warcraft Facebook page, currently sitting on around 1.2 Million. Blizzard have had the pleasure of sharing thousands of news stories, images, and movies with a thriving Facebook community, but they tell us that they’re not done yet! To celebrate this milestone, StarCraft II Senior Art Director Samwise Didier whipped up the image seen on your screens right now!
So, to thank us for making the community as great as it is, they’ve released a new desktop wallpaper image depicting the Hyperion’s daring escape as featured in the Zero Hour mission cinematic. You can capture it for yourself in Blizzard’s wallpaper gallery, where you can find other inspiring StarCraft themed wallpapers as well.
If you aren’t already following the Blizzard games on Facebook, be sure to visit the official Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Blizzard pages for constant updates and much more! 😀
One Million Swarm Facebook! – Official
During yet another GDC Interview, which I definitely won’t complain about, Lead StarCraft II Designer Dustin Browder said that many sacrifices were made during the design and creation of StarCraft II… In the name of eSports. Apparently, when the StarCraft II team began its work on the game, it looked at its competition, namely Relic Entertainment’s Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Gas Powered’s Games’ Supreme Commander. Dawn of War featured four playable races to StarCraft’s three. Supreme Commander drowned the player with playable units, with more than 150 at a player’s disposal. StarCraft II would stick with the three races featured in its prequel, Zerg, Protoss and Terran – and a total of 45 units. Browder said that the reason it had less ‘perceived content’ than its competitors was because StarCraft II needed to be a sport, watchable and entertaining enough that people would want to tune in and watch other people play it competitively.
Browder said that trying to design StarCraft II’s multiplayer side was “insanely hard” and “like inventing Basketball 2” and back in 2005, both he and Blizzard Entertainment believed that “maybe, if they really hoofed it, they could ship it in 2008.” Needless to say, that didn’t happen!
So to make StarCraft II watchable and easily understood by all, it needed to be visually clear. “This is why the artists hate me,” Browder Said while showing concept art of the 300 ton Ultralisk, with a tiny Protoss Zealot to illustrate scale. He then showed the in-game Ultralisk, tiny and unimposing. Browder explained that having an Ultralisk to scale would never work. Players could hide 20 Zerglings behind a beast that size, sowing visual confusion. It really is a lot to think about and I don’t envy the designers, or artists any of it.
He finished it all off by saying that a key component in keeping StarCraft’s eSport qualities intact is skill through micromanagement and macromanagement, flanking and terrain tactics, skills other real-time strategy games tried to scrub out.
Do you think Blizzard succeeded? Do you like the visual simplicity of StarCraft II and Blizzards philosophy of ‘keep it simple but make it hard to master’, or would you prefer those sun obscuring motherships, base crushing ultralisks and titanic thors filling up your screen? Do you care about the fact that some of the units aren’t even in the multiplayer, or doesn’t that matter to you at all? Personally I am more than happy with how StarCraft II came out. I enjoyed the singleplayer immensely and, well, I think you all know that I absolutely love the multiplayer and all it entails, too.
One last GDC extra is that the Reaper is currently not where Blizzard wants it and will be addressed in Heart of the Swarm. A quote from Browder: “The Reaper not in a happy place. It was a bit of a mis-step for us. The players showed us what it was capable of and we nerfed it into obscurity. This will be addressed in Heart of the Swarm.”
That sure sounds good! Read all about everything Blizzard and all their employees had to say at the GDC about StarCraft II below.
Dustin Browder Talks eSports and HotS at GDC 2011 – GosuGamers
GDC 2011: Developing StarCraft II Like Inventing ‘Basketball 2’ – Gamasutra
If there is one thing the StarCraft players of the world know, and know well, it’s patience. Yes, we have been patiently Blizzard to give out more information regarding StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the first expansion planned for the game. At GDC 2011, during a panel on the future of the strategy genre, yes, the very same one I was quoting mere minutes ago, Blizzard’s Dustin Browder gave a little more info on when Heart of the Swarm might be coming out. He stated that he expects Heart of the Swarm to be released in the “next six months to a year.” That would suggest that the game could in fact be out by the end of 2011, but it is quite unlikely. Either way, any talk about Heart of the Swarm is welcomed. Funny, though, that Blizzard seem to have quite a lot planned for the next 6 months to a year, here’s hoping nothing goes wrong!
Read more about all of this below, courtesy of BigDownload.
GDC 2011: StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm due out in “next six months to a year” – BigDownload
In my previous posts and Pulse episodes I spoke about Blizzards 20 year anniversary and all the special stuff they released for it, including that cool Retrospective video. One thing I did not mention, however, was that the Blizzard cofounders Frank Pearce and Mike Morhaime spent some time playing a game of StarCraft II at the NASDAQ Marketsite at Times Square. Pearce and Morhaime were joined by fellow cofounder Allen Adham and Activision Blizzard COO Thomas Tipl to preside over the NASDAQ closing bell on their most special of days. So, if that is not a big enough treat for our friends at Blizzard, they also got to play trailers for StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm in Times Square. Exciting stuff and definitely worth if their 20 years in the business!
A few dedicated and pretty enthusiastic StarCraft community members made a mod for StarCraft II of the original StarCraft campaign. There are, obviously, benefits in having the campaign remade in StarCraft II. Vastly improved graphics, higher resolutions and all the features of the new StarCraft II Galaxy Editor. Some changes to this campaign, which the creators see as improvements, include the addition of medics, which will definitely spice things up a little. They also added and changed a few skills, upped the difficulty a little and apparently also put a few easter eggs in there for us to find, too!
They let everyone know that they did not skip anything at all, including the original tutorial, soundtrack, voice acting, dialogue and text. Pretty crazy and, well, how can you not want to check this out?! If you are new to the StarCraft scene and want to experience the amazing story of the first game without having to endure it’s now archaic look, this one is for you. You can find a link to Starcraft: Episode I – Rebel Yell’s official page below, along with a download link!
Starcraft: Episode I – Rebel Yell – SC2Mapster
Starcraft: Episode I – Rebel Yell – Download – SC2Mapster
LSPrime and JackyPrime have apparently been working with Blizzard for about a month already to add Crevasse, Tal’Darim Altar, Terminus RE to ladder map pool on the Korean servers. And now, it seems like things got a little more official, with the map changes announced on the Korean Community Forums. The blue post linked below includes Blizzard’s thoughts on ladder map pool, but, the poster on TeamLiquid sharing this information deemed most of it ‘not worth translating’, and only gave us what we actually want to see. Here’s the short translation:
We’re going to maintain the number of ladder maps to 9 with 3 macro-oriented, 3 aggressive and 3 intermediate maps, so that a player can thumb down based on the player’s preference. GSL maps(soon) are macro-oriented.
That all sounds quite good and I really hope they think of adding these maps to the EU and North American ladders, too. Read more below!
GSL Maps on Ladder SOON™ – TeamLiquid
Tt eSports StarCraft 2 Cup – GosuGamers
Team Dignitas Gamer Search – Team Dignitas
oGs, GosuGamers and more invited to second FXOpen – GosuGamers
DeMusliM still not fit; dropped from EPS – ESFI World
The North American StarLeague. Yes, it may yet be a while off but the hype and excitement continues to grow. Why, you ask? Well the most recent influx of entertainment has come in the form of all the new application videos that have been sent in from players of all shapes and sizes. Firstly, the guys from the NASL said that only ‘Teams & Players that were NOT contacted must submit a public application with all the required information.’ So yes, these are the guys that weren’t picked but want in. Some names you might know that have applied are the following: qxc, SjoW, SelecT, Catz, PainUser, Grubby and, wait for it… Artosis and even Brother Mack, yes, they can’t possibly not accept The Brother Mack. Yeah, I don’t think anyone saw that coming. So, you can watch all the video applications these guys, and more, sent in over the past few days. Some of them are extremely entertaining and it’s great to see why some of these players feel they should be in the NASL.
I have no doubt there will be more NASL news and / or announcements soon, but, untill then, check these out and enjoy!
NASL application VODS – TeamLiquid
The Intel Extreme Masters that took place at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany, is over and we have a champion! Twelve competitors entered the fray, fighting for the title of IEM StarCraft II World Champion and a share of $30,000 in prize money. The unforgiving early rounds eventually reduced that number to two: Jung Woo ‘Ace’ Seo and Jaeho ‘Moon’ Jang reached the Grand Final on Saturday.
Moon showed some unusual tactics during the first two matches of the final, but as the clash continued we were treated to a beautiful display of late-game prowess from both players. Ace eventually overcame his foe to win the series 3 to 2 and take home the title of IEM StarCraft II World Champion, plus, how can we forget the $13,000 first prize money?! Moon earned second place and with it $6,500, while Squirtle was able to take down mOOn-GLaDe and win $4,000 for third place.
If you want to catch up on all the action you may have missed you can find all the VODs and replays of the event over at the ESL site, check a photo gallery of the event on the official StarCraft Facebook Page or just see the full brackets and results on various other sites. As an extra you can even check an interview out with TLO from the event where he says that being a commentator isn’t all that bad and he would actually consider doing it professionally. All of that and more can be found below!
The IEM StarCraft II World Champion is crowned! – Official
VIDEO: IEM: TLO talks commentator job and the future – GosuGamers
Ace crushes through IEM World Championship – SK Gaming
Here we go, GSL updates! The GSL Code-S has entered and completed its semi finals, yes, that far already. The two victors of those matches? Well, that part is obvious, too. July and MC both made it through to the finals and are set to face off against each other in the most epic of ZvP’s. If you are as keen as me to find out who our next champion will be, be ready on March the 19th and check the links below for all the other results and drama from the past few days!
The GSL Code-A has already crowned its champion. The finals happened on the 11th of March between Losira and SuperNova. This ZvT ended with the Zerg, Losira, taking the series with a score of 4 to 3.
The GSL Up/Down matches are set to happen on the 14th and 15th of March with quite a few big names competing. The likes of FruitDealer, MVP, NesTea and many others are under a lot of pressure to do well. So, if you want to read all about what’s going on with in the closing stages of the 5th season of the GSL, check it out below.
[GSL] Code S Semifinals – TeamLiquid
[GSL] Code A finals – TeamLiquid
Up/Down Match Groups GSL S5 – TeamLiquid
[GSL March] Code S Ro8 Day – TeamLiquid
[GSL March] Code S Ro8 Day 2 – TeamLiquid
As a few GSL related extras, you can read about when the next seasons’ qualification is set to start, all about how Kelly Milkies is apparently heading back so Singapore after only one season at GOMtv, about the new Code-A caster DoA, an interview with John about the new Code-A casters, how you can now also find all the GSL VODs (In full HS and for free) on YouTube at the new GOMtv channel, a video of the best Tastosis quotes from the past 2 weeks, featuring an extra dose of high gives and even how mOOnglade can’t wait to get back to Korea. A lot of interesting read, watch, and enjoy!
[R&S] GOM Code S/Code A March 2011 – TeamLiquid
KellyMILKIES to return to Singapore – ESFI World
GOMtv On YouTube – YouTube
New Code-A Caster – ESFI World
GOMtv: Q&A with John in Regards to Code A Casters – GosuGamers
mOOnGLaDe can’t wait to return to Korea – ESFI World
GSL May Code A Preliminaries – GOMtv
Tastosis Highlights (ft. Kelly) – GSL March – Week 2 – YouTube
Just a day or two ago GOMtv announced the 2011 GSL World Championship, an international StarCraft II tournament that will include players from Europe, America and Korea. It is set to take place from March 28th to April 9th, the event will begin with online preliminaries featuring 4-8 players from three regions of the world (Europe, America and Asia), of which only five will make it to the tournament itself. Two Europeans, two American and one Asian representative will be selected. The prize purse is set to be a whopping $50,000.
The offline tournament will consist of a 16 player single-elimination bracket and the series will begin in best of 3 format, then move into best of five until the grand finals, which will be best of 7. In addition to the solo event the guys from GOMtv also have a GSL TeamLeague planned, too, which will be detailed in full soon.
Players currently qualified, as of March 7th, are NesTea, MVP, MarineKing, NaDa , mOOnGLaDe, Jinro and Morrow. You can also find the list of preliminary participants that GOMtv announced from each region below.
GSL World Championship details revealed – ESFI World
[GOM] 2011 GSL World Championship – TeamLiquid
The Top 200 lists have been updated again and, as usual, you can find the North American, European, Korean and South East Asian lists below!
StarCraft II: Top 200 – EU – Official
StarCraft II: Top 200 – US – Official
StarCraft II: Top 200 – KR – Official
StarCraft II: Top 200 – SEA – Official
The brackets for the upcoming TSL3 have been set up, we have our pairings and, to make it all even sweeter, we have a start date for this most anticipated of StarCraft Leagues, March the 19th. The first day of the Ro32 will feature four highly enticing match-ups, which are as follows:
BoxeR vs NightEnd
Tyler vs Strelok
SEn vs Fenix
Thorzain vs FruitDealer
With games like those coming up, and yes, this is only the round of 32… who wouldn’t be excited? So it begins, do not forget to tune in on March 19th at 20:00 CET to catch the first batch of TSL 3 games. Check the links below for all the TSL details you could ever want! As an extra, the maps and casters for the TSL3 have been revealed too, but I will leave that as a mystery and force you to check the links below if you want to know.
[TSL] Casters and Maps – TeamLiquid
[TSL] RO32 Day 1 – Get Ready! – TeamLiquid
[TSL] Bracket released! – TeamLiquid
Just a few days ago I mentioned that the Blizzard games might well be excluded from the WCG 2011 finals, but now, I have some good news! World Cyber Games has released an official list of nine games that will be featured at the upcoming event in Korea and Blizzard’s masterpiece StarCraft II, quite fortunately, included. Other games to be played include WarCraft III, World of WarCraft Cataclysm and Counterstrike 1.6, to name a few. So, all those Blizzard fans out there that just happen to be WCG fans, rest easy tonight, all is well. Read more below!
StarCraft 2 finds its way to WCG 2011 – SK Gaming
More info on next StarCraft II hardcover novel revealed – BigDownload
I… Um…PonyCraft II? Yes, let that sink in just a little bit before we continue. Firstly, the amount of My Little Pony that the creator of this would have had to watch to create something as amazing and, um, accurate, as this, is just off the hook. That is some REAL dedication. Now, this is probably one of the best, and by far weirdest, strangest, oddest crossovers ever. You have to watch the entire thing, I can’t possibly hype it up enough. If this video doesn’t spread all over the internet, well, then there truly is no justice in the world. Check it out and enjoy!
PonyCraft 2 – YouTube
Time for a few StarCraft related art updates, the best kind of updates! The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with new artwork from our community peers, four new, pretty well done, pieces from the StarCraft universe. Along with these we have also been treated with the latest batch of winning comics from Blizzard’s ongoing comic contest. There are two StarCraft related pieces and one WarCraft pieces. I have to say I did chuckle at the poor SCV’s playing with the mule!
Check all those new images out below, enjoy!
New StarCraft Fan Art – Official
Comic Contest Winners – Official
The next Liquid weekly is up, number 30, is up and ready for our viewing! You can read about HuK and his progress, which has sadly halted, in the GSL Code-A, Ret moving back to Europe and some more TSL goodness. Check it out over at TeamLiquid, or the links below, and enjoy the best of the Liquid community!
The Liquid Weekly #30 – TeamLiquid
Day[9] doing stand-up comedy? Yes, it’s true and thoroughly entertaining. If you want to see one of the funniest videos of Day[9] ever, then you’ve come to the right place. In this routine, or maybe we should call it a rant, Sean Plott goes on about the eHarmony web dating scene and this gem was recorded back in 2008. Check it out right here on YouTube, you won’t regret it!
Sean Plott – eHarmony Rant – YouTube
As a few Day[9] extras you can also find a few VODs of him commentating with the super talented Zoe, aswell as a recorded piece of one of his pre-shows where he was overly obsessed with the word penis and lastly a video of Day[9], Khaldor and a bottle of beer. Yes, that is all you’re getting. Check them out below!
Pre-Daily#266 Penis – YouTube
Day[9] and Soe – reddit
Day[9], Khaldor and a bottle of beer… – YouTube
The next few GGVision Episodes are out and man, is there a lot of good stuff to be seen! Everything from GSL talk to IEM news and reviews to quite a few super interesting live-shows. All that, coupled with the ever entertaining Sebastian, what’s not to like? Check the ESFI World and PolygonreVue channels out below to see it all!
ESFI World – YouTube
PolygonreVue – YouTube
Ah Athene, it seems like you are most definitely back, and here to stay. So, troller extraordinaire, Athene, has struck again, twice. Firstly by setting up a new YouTube channel to no doubt double his already no doubt impressive income, in this channel he is going to be providing gaming and poker tips to the masses. Secondly, by offering up a thousand dollars to any StarCraft player able to take 4 insane PC’s out, 4v1. It seems like after this feat was achieved by an incredibly keen player, said player did contact Athene and is apparently set to receive the money. So, if you want to see the drama generator that is Athene in action, or just want some poker tips, you can find the links to both his channels below!
AtheneWins Channel – YouTube
Chiren80 Channel – YouTube
Athene challenge was the real deal – reddit
On the South African StarCraft II front you can read about how Stripe took enjoy down in the PolarfluKe: MMMarch finals and watch those VODs below. The guys and girls from over at eGamer.co.za have a great ‘guide’ up covering our little StarCraft community. The article features a couple of quick interviews with a few big name local players and gives everyone reading a few pointers on where to find the most, or best action. Worth checking out!
PolarfluKe: MMMArch Finals VODs – mitarn
Posted in Blizzard, Starcraft II, tagged 1080p, Activition, analysis, blistering sands, Blizzard, Daily, Day 9, Day9, English, First person, Gaming, HD, Ladder, Mitarn, POV, SC2, shadowthief, Starcraft, Sven, zerg vs protoss on March 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Watch in HD! Remember to like it, favourite it, share it and subscribe! 😀
Another POV ladder game of mine. In this one I try to fast expand, spot an all-in Marine SCV push coming and react as best I can! (Then clown around a bit!)
Posted in Blizzard, Starcraft Pulse, tagged 4.1, Activision, Blizzard, Bosses, Cataclysm, episode 58, Firelands, Game, Gameplay, Lumin, MMO, MMORPG, patch 4.2, PC, Preview, Project, PTR, Pulse, Raid, RPG, Show, Titan, World Of Warcraft, wow on March 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In this episode we take a look at everything that’s coming (and not coming) in Patch 4.1, Patch 4.2 and Firelands, Hotfixes, Art Updates & More!
Watch in HD! Remember to like it, favourite it, share it and subscribe!
‘Read More’ for links!
Posted in Blizzard, World Of Warcraft, tagged 4.1, 4.2, Aman, Cataclysm, Dungeon, Firelands, Gurub, Hot, instance, Patch, Raid, Stranglethorn questline, Therazane, Trolls, World Of Warcraft, wow, Zul on March 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The recent World of WarCraft news has been pretty much solely about Patch 4.1 and and all that’s coming, and not coming, with it. There’s also been a bit of talk about Patch 4.2, which has more than a few people frustrated, seeing that some thing that Patch 4.1 does in fact not have enough content lined up for it…
Let’s start with what is actually confirmed to be coming with Patch 4.1, the changes, additions, fixes, updates and, um, others stuff! In a recent blue post, Zarhym let us know exactly what we can expect and promised more details in the days to come. The main content features currently planned for 4.1 are the following:
We kinda knew about most of this already, though, but one big surprise, to me at least, would be the Guild Challenges. (And yes, let us not even mention the fact that there is no new raid coming in 4.1, I will talk about that in just a second!) We’ve not been given any details concerning the guild challenges, but, never fear, as soon as the information is available I shall report on it! Warriors and cloth users will be happy to know that both Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub will also feature appropriately itemized pre-raid ranged slot weapons, something that Cataclysm was kind of lacking untill now. Next up, archaeologists, yes! Players with appropriately leveled archaeology will be able to unlock the new Edge of Madness bosses in Zul’Gurub! (This even used to require alchemy back in the day.)
The latest sets of changes to the patch notes were made on March the 1st, March the 3rd and most recently March the 9th. There were, as usual, quite a few balance changes and improvements added with some notable ones being the following: Lifebloom’s bloom effect has been reduced by 20%, Howling Blast has a facing requirement. Shattered Barrier’s root effect now has diminishing returns. Grand Crusader will generate holy power if Avenger’s Shield is used within 5 seconds of the proc, Prowl has a new icon, Druids now innately have 100% pushback protection from damage while channeling Tranquility, Pet Happiness system has been removed, and all skills which previously provided it to pets will no longer do so, many Arcane spells have had their damage increased, Priests now innately have 100% pushback protection from damage while channeling Divine Hymn and Hymn of Hope – Priest – Chakra now lasts until canceled, up from 1 minute, the Dungeon Finder now attempts to avoid putting damage-dealing classes with the same armor type in a group and, well, much more that I won’t bother mentioning and can be found in the full and updated patch notes below.
Patch 4.1 Public Test Realm Notes – March 9 – Official
PTR Patch 4.1 Notes Updated (3/1) – Wowhead
PTR Patch 4.1 Notes Updated (3/3) – Wowhead
PTR Patch 4.1 Notes Updated (3/9) – Wowhead
Blizzard Posts on Upcoming 4.1 Features (Including Guild Challenges!) – Wowhead
So then, as a few Patch 4.1 extras, below you can find all the new icons and graphics that Wowhead dug up, quite a few 3D Models of quite a few new items that we can expect to see in the Firelands Raid, (Yes, yes, I know, that’s patch 4.2) some preview shots of the new character pane and looking for guild UI, there were a ton of new maps added in the latest build, including maps for Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman, a legendary fishing pole that apparently adds 1000 to fishing, (I am almost sure that’s a joke!) and lastly the Amani Battle Bear is now in the game. If you want to read all of the aforementioned 4.1 related stuff, plus a few blue posts about the same topic, check the links below!
Patch 4.1 – PTR Build 13726 – TONS of New Dungeon & Raid Maps! – Wowhead
Patch 4.1 – PTR Build 13726 – Latest Additions – Wowhead
Patch 4.1 – PTR Build 13707 – Spell Changes – Wowhead
Patch 4.1 – 3D Models – Huge Assortment of Firelands Raid + PVP Weapons – Wowhead
Patch 4.1 – Character Pane Updates + Guild UI – Wowhead
Patch 4.1 – PTR Build 13698 – Spell Changes, Icons, Maps – Wowhead
Blizzard has just come out and said it, put us out of our misery, The Firelands Raid won’t be coming with Patch 4.1, they feel it is too soon. This, to many players shocking information, was revealed during a recent interview with Eurogamer.net at the GDC, in which Blizzard stated that the Firelands raid would not be included in the upcoming patch 4.1. We will instead be seeing the Firelands raid added as part of the next big content patch, 4.2.
“We feel like the player base isn’t really ready for the next raid yet, and that led to some changes where Firelands is now actually going to be in 4.2.”
“Patch 4.1 provides our players with access to the completely redesigned Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub five-player dungeons, where they’ll be able to experience challenging encounters featuring all-new boss mechanics, obtain updated epic-level loot, and possibly acquire rare mounts.
“One of our long-standing development goals is to release regular content updates for the community to enjoy. These updates are generally focused on introducing specific content, like a new raid or new gameplay features.
“Our plan is to package these features into smaller content updates and to release them as soon as possible, rather than wait and release larger updates more infrequently.”
So yes, love it or hate it, excited or not, we will have to wait for patch 4.2 for the next set of raid content. After this announcement and interview, Bashiok stepped in and said a few words regarding all of it.
He basically just said that Blizzard’s goal with each major patch release, and especially with each expansion, is to learn from the past and use that knowledge to improve the game as they move forward. One of their biggest regrets in the pacing of Wrath of the Lich King was the Crusaders’ Coliseum. The Trial of the Champion 10- and 25-player raid was released while many raiders were still busy with Ulduar, which meant a premature end to Ulduar raiding — and a lot of players didn’t get a chance to experience all of Ulduar’s content during the normal expansion progression. Having learned that lesson in pacing from Wrath of the Lich King, they don’t feel Cataclysm needs a new raid tier just yet. He then also just reiterates what I mentioned before about there being more regular, smaller content patches.
So while Blizzard know that some raiders feel prepared to smack down the Firelord once again, releasing an epic raid dungeon before its time would, in the words of Ragnaros himself, be “too soon!”
Blizzard Says Putting Firelands in 4.1 Would Be “Too Soon!” – Wowhead
Firelands raid will not be in WOW patch 4.1 News – Eurogamer
As a few extras you can actually see an entire raid preview of The Firelands over at MMO-Champion as well as a preview of the new daily questing area we are set to be hitting, come patch 4.2. The conversion from Valor to Justice Points, as well as the release of the next Arena season, won’t happen until the release of 4.2, and you can read all about that below, too. Lastly, Season 10 arena armor models, yet another preview courtesy of MMO-Champion. Some cool stuff and well worth having a look at!
Firelands Daily Area Preview, Blizzard Anniversary Video, MMO Report, Comics – MMO-Champion
Firelands Raid Preview, Reckful 3 PvP Video, Blizzard Retrospective Video – MMO-Champion
Patch 4.2 – Season 10 Armor Models Preview – MMO-Champion
Back on the live server front we have yet another round of Cataclysm Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes! I am not even sure why I even wanted to mention these here, but hey, do I need to say it again? Yeah, okay, fixes are fixes and they are always welcome! So in the March 1 set of hotfixes we see the following changes: Flag carriers in rated Battlegrounds now take 25% more damage from all magical and physical attacks. The 25% additional damage from carrying the flag stacks with the Focus and Brutal Assault debuffs. Flag carriers in normal Battlegrounds are not affected by this change. Secondly, and yes, lastly, we see the temporary removal of the escort daily quest in Tol Barad. The issues plaguing the quest require a server restart to be fixed!
That’s it, that’s all the changes and fixes and you can find the official notes below!
Patch 4.0.6 Hotfixes – March 1 – Official
Blizzard is hosting a Global World of Warcraft ‘Ask the Devs’ Q&A where players can post and vote on questions that will be answered by Blizzard developers themselves! The main idea is that the community gets to help decide on what questions Blizzard needs to answer through the thumbs-up voting system. The Blizzard guys let us know that they will be collecting questions from around the world in each of their regional forums to make this a truly global effort. So if you want to read how it works, get your questions in, check the rules, or just find a few tips to help get your submissions noticed, check the links below for all that and more!
Ask the Devs – Official
Blizzard are, as you all no doubt know, always looking for ways to improve World of Warcraft and, for Cataclysm, they introduced several UI features and new types of technology to help make questing more accessible, more immersive, and, most importantly, more fun! I have to say, that is one thing I find they really succeeded in doing. The new level 1 to 60 experience was out of this world. So, the World of WarCraft players amongst you have probably already encountered many of these mechanics as you’ve explored post-shattering Azeroth, but Blizzard still wanted to take some time to discuss these changes’ purpose and functionality with all of us, as well as get our feedback on how they’ve contributed to our leveling experience this expansion.
Yes, enter Blizzards latest ‘blog’ post. Som what’s new, you ask? A few worth mention would be the ability to complete and accept new quests in the field, quest NPC objective windows, highlighted quest NPC names, new and shiny resource bars for certain quests and raid encounters, terrain phasing and quite a few others! As usual, Blizzard would love to hear our thoughts on these new mechanics and how they’ve improved or otherwise affected our gaming. So if you’re interested, check the post out and tell them what you think in the comments section of it!
In With the New: Cataclysm Quest Mechanics – Official
Seriously, if only this was how Therazane really looked!
Time for the ever interesting art updates of the past week! Both the Fan Art and Official Galleries have been updated and I have to say, as I always seem to, there really are some great pieces, especially in the fan art, this time around. There are four new official Burning Crusade and Warcraft III pieces along with those five amazingly crazy looking pieces of fan art. My favourite, and yes, how could it not be, can be seen on your screens right now! 😀
Blizzard Art Gallery Update – Official
New Warcraft Fan Art – Official
New Player Tips: U Mod, Bro? – Official
Poll: Add-on Your Opinion – Official
Numbers Where You Want Them: Movable Stats – Official
Curse of the Worgen Issue #4 Now Available – Official
Celebrate March Murloc Madness with Free Mug Offer – Official
GDC 2011: Blizzard’s Cataclysm And Retaining A Game’s ‘Soul’ – Gamasutra
World of Warcraft: Shadow Wing Vol. 2: Nexus Point On Sale – BlizzPlanet
Richard A. Knaak Q&A Transcript: War of the Ancients & Warcraft Manga Interview – BlizzPlanet
FNATIC Welcomes Fans to Chat on Raidcall – BlizzPlanet
2011 WCG Adds StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm – BlizzPlanet
Rob Pardo Shows World of Warcraft At TED 2011 Conference – BlizzPlanet
Blizz Blues – Ep 8 – ‘Exclusive’ Charlie Sheen Interview – Wowhead
BFF Report – Cataclysm 4.1 – Zul’Gurub – Wowhead
Legendary – The WoW Video Podcast – Firelands? – Wowhead
Public Service Announcement: Don’t file false GM reports – WoW Insider
Know Your Lore: Darius Crowley, Lord of Silverpine – WoW Insider
PST Episode 19 – YouTube
The Weekly Marmot – Taking out the Trash – YouTube
TankSpot’s Guide to Heroic Atramedes – YouTube
World First Glory of the Cataclysm Raider by Immersion – YouTube
Warcraft III patch 1.25b is now live! – BlizzPlanet
…On Soulstone as a Combat Resurrection – Wowhead
…On An End to Graveyard Camping in WSG – Wowhead
…On Preventing Spam Through Chat Limitations – Wowhead
…On the State of DK Tanking – Wowhead
…On Upcoming Druid Lifebloom Nerf – Wowead
…On Upcoming Battle of Gilneas Graveyard Changes – Wowhead
…On Upcoming Change to ‘Ambassador’ Title Achievement – Wowhead
…On Winterspring Frostsaber Quest Changes in 4.1 – Wowhead
…On Archaeology Item Cooldowns – Wowhead
…On Why Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman Are heroic instances – MMO-Champion
…On The Planned Daily Quest Hub In Mount Hyjal – MMO-Champion
…On The Size Of Tol Barad – MMO-Champion
mitarn 