Gripped by Wintergrasp...

Another bad patch day, and apparently Wintergrasp was causing the server to crash when a faction "won" the game. The primary joke on our server is that it was crashing because the Alliance won, and this was by Alliance characters. Which most of us who play know that when it comes to BG's, Alliance is usually NOT victorious.

Now, I don't know the details, and I don't read the forums, but what this meant for me and many other folks is that we couldn't play most of the day again. My plans for world domination and level 80 were crushed by crazy world server malfunctions.

The interesting part of today is that I logged in with my long time favorite old school character Cardinal Fear... He is still just a level 6, but it was amazing how many other level 6 Dark Elf Warlock and Priest characters were also out there in Shadowmoon with me standing around chatting about how Northrend's servers kept crashing. I am sure they have either put something in place now or turned Wintergrasp off, but either way, I was a bit annoyed that I didn't get to play much last night.

A couple of other observations, is that there seems to be some confusion over the Death Knight creation changes, and there seems to be some reputation blocks on buying pets that were said to be removed. Again, I don't read all the forums and don't have any other details. I just speak for myself and what I saw...

More to come, gotta see if they went into maint again this morning.

Our Time Has Come... DK's get "adjusted"...

I will have more on these later, this is just an FYI of what happened in patch 3.0.8.

General

Players may now create death knights on any realm once they reach level 55.
Bonus Armor: The mechanics for items with bonus armor on them has changed (any cloth, leather, mail, or plate items with extra armor, or any other items with any armor). Bonus armor beyond the base armor of an item will no longer be multiplied by any talents or by the bonuses of Bear Form, Dire Bear Form, or Frost Presence.
Racial restrictions on mounts have now been lifted. Night Elves on mechanostriders? Tauren on raptors? You’re not seeing things.
Racial Resistances: These can now be mitigated against by gaining additional chance to hit.
Tapping: All player spells which cause a creature to become aggressive to you will now also immediately cause the creature to be tapped.
All Silence spells now have diminishing returns. This includes: Arcane Torrent, Garrote silence effect, Improved Counterspell effect, Improved Kick effect, Silence, Gag Order, Silencing Shot, Spell Lock, and Strangulate.
Dispel Resist talents have changed to protect only beneficial spells and damage over time effects.
Shield Wall, Barkskin, Guardian Spirit, and Divine Protection are now off the Global Cooldown.
A new mailbox is now available at the Crows Tavern in the Dalaran Sewers.
We have added over 60 new graveyards to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.
The run speed in spirit form has been increased by 50%. Night Elves in Wisp form will now move at a bonus 75% speed.
Reputation rewarded for killing mobs will no longer automatically deprecate. This means trivial mobs will continue to give out their full amounts of reputation on kill for the majority of cases in the game (level 70 creatures in Stratholme, for example, will continue to award the full amount of rep to level 80 players seeking to boost their Argent Dawn faction).
World of Warcraft now supports 3-D imaging. Visit http://www.nvidia.com/object/GeForce_3D_Vision_Main.html for more information.
Achievements

The Loremaster of Kalimdor Achievement has had its quest amount reduced.
The Perma-Peddle Achievement is no longer a part of the “Fool for Love” meta-achievement.
The Winds of the North has had its requirements changed. This achievement is now earned by getting Exalted with the Alliance Vanguard or Horde Expedition.
PvP

Vehicles can now be affected by most player spells, except CC, snares and roots.
Arenas
Arena rating requirements for all Deadly Gladiator’s Arena items have been reduced by 100.
All rage and runic power are set to 0 when an Arena begins and the preparation period is over.
Ring of Valor: The small pillars will now rise immediately once the arena begins.
Battlegrounds
Lake Wintergrasp
Wintergrasp Commendations can now also be purchased for the low low price of 9 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor. Players can visit their respective Wintergrasp vendors and put those Marks of Honor to use!
Wintergrasp PvP vehicles have had their health increased.
Wintergrasp Tower cannons have had their health increased.
The Wintergrasp Fortress Exterior walls have had their health increased.
The Fortress Keep door now has had its health decreased.
The Orb is now instantly clickable.
Elementals should now always despawn when the battle begins.
Wintergrasp now extends further south so that more revenants can be reached.
There are now three ranks in Wintergrasp: Recruit, Corporal, and First Lieutenant.
Players will be eligible for participation rewards after two honorable kills.
Players will receive increased honor with increased rank.
Players will receive additional Marks of Honor at Corporal or higher rank.
Players will receive corporal rank at 5 honorable kills instead of two.
Strand of the Ancients
Antipersonnel Turrets will now gain vehicle immunities, use falloff damage, and damage increased to 4000 + 200 per level to compensate for falloff.
The Strand of the Ancients Demolisher has had its health increased.
The Strand of the Ancients tower cannon has had its health increased.
Seaforium charges have been moved closer to the graveyards on the 2nd tier.
Death Knights

All multi-rune abilities generate 15 runic power.
Anti-Magic Shell: The cooldown has been lowered to 45 sec from 60 sec.
Anti-Magic Zone: This ability’s duration has been cut to 10 seconds.
Blood Aura now grants 2/4% instead of 1/2% healing.
Blood Presence now grants 2/4% instead of 1/2% healing.
Bloody Strikes will receive extra bonus damage from Pestilence.
Bone Shield: The mitigation has been reduced from 40% to 20%.
Corpse Explosion: Damage increased substantially, added 5 sec. cooldown, and changed cost to 40 runic power.
Dark Command: Range increased to 30 yards.
Death Pact now grants 40% instead of 20% healing.
Frost Presence: The bonus armor has been increased from 60 to 80% and magic damage reduction increased from 5 to 15%.
Heart Strike no longer has a haste debuff but will now be able to strike two targets.
Horn of Winter now has no cost and grants 10 runic power in addition to its stat buff, but has a 20 second cooldown.
Howling Blast: Cooldown removed.
Icebound Fortitude now reduces damage by 20% instead of 50%. The amount of damage reduced increases with bonus Defense (to about 35% for 540 Defense, but can go higher).
Killing Machine: Instead of a chance to be triggered on critical strike, this talent now has a chance to be triggered on each swing based on the swing time of the weapon (slow weapons more likely, fast weapons less likely).
Mark of Blood: The total amount of healing this can grant is now capped based on a percentage of standard creature health at the target’s level.
Night of the Dead now grants 40/70% passive area spell avoidance to your pet in addition to its current effects.
Outbreak will no longer receive bonus damage from pestilence. The bonus from Plague Strike and Blood Boil has been increased slightly.
Pestilence no longer has a 10 seconds cooldown.
Raise Dead has now been split into two spells:
Raise Dead now raises a ghoul or pet ghoul (if talented). Requires corpse dust if no humanoid corpse is nearby.
Raise Ally now raises a fallen party member as a ghoul and has no reagent. Available at level 72. This should now last for 4 minutes.
Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle (two-handed only) now grants 25 Defense and 2% Stamina.
Rune Strike: Damage decreased from 200% to 150% but threat increased to 150% from 100%.
Shadow of Death: The duration has been changed from 45 seconds to 25 secondsseconds and now has a 15 minute cooldown.
Summon Gargoyle: Damage dealt by the Gargoyle reduced by approximately 20% and maximum duration cut to 30 seconds.
Unholy Blight had had its cost reduced from 60 to 40 runic power.
Wandering Plague will now properly reset after being castand now considers the resilience of the target in determining its chance to be triggered.
Vampiric Blood (DK) changed from 20% health / 50% healing to 15 % health / 35% healing.
Will of the Necropolis will now reduce the damage of any attack that takes the DK below 35% health by 5 /10/15% instead of boosting armor when wounded. It no longer affects the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell and retains the current damage reduction bonus.

Well, Thanks Man! That Was Cool!

I was just checking some links on my page here and come to find out the folks that were hosting all of the BV Audio Show's have decided to go offline.

I was reading the farewell speech from Viceroy and he had a nice comment for me: "I can only hope that just like Fear of BattleVortex.com inspired me, that my work and others who worked at UORadio will inspire others to pick up the reigns and continue this legacy. Fear, should you someday read this, I salute you for your contributions you've made and you will always be missed."

View the entire UO Radio farewell here.

Well thank you Viceroy! I wish that when we had met I was able to go forward with the projects that we had planned. Unfortunately time and money has forced a different plan for us. Maybe someday we can once again wield the reigns of immortality in radio cyberspace. For now, my only hope is that I can continue to get my life and my goals back in order. I hope you find what you are looking for and I am glad that what I did with BV Audio inspired such a wonderful program as your UO Radio.

You don't know how much I would love to do Internet radio again. Right now the cards just don't want to play in my general direction. I am happy that I have been able to return to MMOG's and I am grateful that I am playing a game who happens to be lead by one of my own friends and co-hosts of BV Audio from the days of UO.

A lot of people don't talk anymore about much of anything in the world of corporate MMO's anymore, but I have to say I am proud of Pete "Adrick" Warner and Tom "Evocare" Chilton for their contributions in both the BV Audio Shows and now working for some major players in the gaming universe. (Their aliases may have changed, but we remember where they came from.)

I hope someday, I can aspire to accomplish the goals that these two have in their lifetimes starting out as avid UO players on the same UO server as myself. (GO NAPA VALLEY!!! WOOT!)

Well, hopefully, I can find a place to put my archives, and once again keep the memory of what was alive and kicking.

Thanks again Viceroy! You comments mean a lot!

Down With Icecrown!

Level 79 and a half. Icecrown was definitely made for those with fast flying mounts. These guys have had me flapping all over the darn place and heck if I can find more then 3 flight paths in the entire zone.

There has only been one of those incredibly long quest chains where you have to go see the same guys more then 5 times. They sent me to get this guy a cure for his illness and each time I had to take the 3 minute flight back and forth. I was so glad when that was over. I got a nice ring from it but that one really wore me out.

Icecrown has a host of daily quests you can do but they are mostly launched from a ship flying about in the sky. The ship does a large circular path and it shows up on your map once you are within range. If you happen to be in Dalaran you can take a flying mount to get there from the flight deck but once you pick up your dailies you are on your own flapping your way to victory.

The quests in Icecrown are somewhat fun but I wasn't feeling the same warm excitement as Zul'Drak. I think Icecrown needs more flight paths but, that's from someone who doesn't have the 5000 Gold to spend on 300 Riding skill. There is much more danger in Ice because they are more geared to deal with flyers. There are always other flying enemies around so you have to be on your feet on the ground as well as keeping your head out of the clouds while in the air.

I am gonna have to give the overall fun level a "not so much" at least thus far, and will hopefully see what I came for soon so I can move on.

I want to see us kick the kings hiney!

*** UPDATE *** I just touched something I wasn't supposed to, News at 11:30 AM...

Level 78 Update, For the Horde!

After clearing the entire zone of Zul'Drak including the small dungeon quests, I ended up very close to level 78. Zul'Drak started out kind of boring with a long quest line of zombie killing. As I got deeper into the zone, things turned up a notch and I was able to get help in some key areas and started to like Zul'Drak. By the time I hit Zim Torga, I was very ready to have some fun. So, my overall experience is, yea, it was "fun". I don't really care for the Jamican accent guys, but overall, I was kept interested enough to do all 100 quests and get the achievement for it.

Some of the things I really like about Northrend is the rewards. It just seems like they did a much better job in this expansion to give us some stuff to strive for without having to be a dungeon diver to aquire the items. Many times I have received blue items for simply finishing a short quest line without going through the hassle of getting a large group together. There were also some items, that I felt compelled to group with people 1-4 just because I really wanted it to go with my other blue items. This was not a feeling I had when I was playing levels 60-70. Outland was way more focused on group events, green items, and PvP in every zone.

Bliz is doing many strange, yet exciting things now with shared instances. The terrain will look one way when you get there, and at the end of your questing, there will be a completely different terrain. I think this really enhances gameplay, and makes you feel like you are making some kind of a difference to the game. As a programmer, I am intrigued as to how they coded it, and as a player, I am excited to see my work progress into something better at the end of the questing day.

They have similar quests in Dragonblight, where you see a movie, and then you have to go back to Undercity to retake it with the help of Thrall and some other folks. It is strange, because you see the same old places, but they are totally gutted and stuffed to the brim with baddies. On the Undercity with Thrall quest, you fight hundreds of Elite mobs and you never lose all of your health which is nice. The only downside was the quest took like 30 minutes, and I was starting to lose interest after awhile.

In Zul'Drak there are no movies or quests that put you in battle with huge amounts of Elite mobs, but there were a few where they give you a "leg-up" and help you by having a questgiver or other friendly pc help you kill the bad guy. They also have the quests where if you do the right things, you can effectively make the Elite mob into a normal mob, thus allowing you to kill it. A little bit of puzzle work was also introduced into WoTK, which I have seen before. You really needed to read the quest to figure out where these items may be located and then of course you need to combine all of your pieces into the main piece, or in this case the ritual that allowed me to summon help to get an Elite out of his stronghold and destroy him.

I liked Zul'Drak mostly because it was I could do most of on my own, only leaving a few small parts where I needed some help. The rewards in most cases were worth getting help or continuing a questline. I have moved into Icecrown now, and there we have the same continuing story driven questing where they groom you for what will come down the road for you in the future.

Icecrown has a huge "Lord Of The Rings" look and feel. Even down to the ocular eye that you have to kill because the Lich King uses it to see everything, just like LoTR. Many of the quests in Icecrown require that you know how to fly in cold weather and have a mount. So, if you venture there, please save up 1,900 Gold before you go.

Funny story of the day is that I got my cold weather flying training at 77 like I should. Since I was running my DK, which started at level 55 and mostly skipped over Outland, I never bought the mount since it wouldn't have worked in Northrend anyway. So, I get cold weather flying, then I was going to fly to Shadowmoon to pick up a cheap mount since I didn't have enough for the DK mount yet which is 900 Gold. I saw a question mark pop up on my screen, so I walk over and this guy asks me if I want to go to this ship in Icecrown. I figured I could go check it out just to see what they have going on and then return. I tell the guy to take me to the ship, and they flew me in one of those engineering flying planes, and I get to the ship. I checked out the ship, and even watched it go into battle with the Ally ship while I was looking for the guy to talk to that would send me back home or take me to the next place. Well, there isn't anyone to talk to because you have to fly off the ship with your MOUNT. I realized, this was going to be a problem, so I asked someone if I had to fly off the ship, and he replied that the alternative wasn't pretty. So, here I am standing on this ship, hearth had already been used for Dalaran.

I had an hour to wait before going there again quickly. Someone told me that where the ship was floating, there is a flight path near. I though "oh cool". I can dive off the ship, die, and then find the flight path. Well, I jumped off, right into the middle of the largest cluster of level 78-80 mobs I have ever seen. I didn't live long the three times I tried to escape, so I broke down and used my Death Gate hearth to get out of there.

I flew up to Quel Danas from there to go ahead and get the daily quest where you get a scroll to return to Shatarath. I figured I could go from there to Shadowmoon, get my mount and we will be g2g (Good to go). I get to QD, and I mean that place is a worse ghost town then anywhere I have been in a long time. There were so many mobs there I had a hard time getting to my keyline points. Fortunately, they are all pretty low level for me at this point, so I eventually fought my way where I needed to be. I remember when you almost had to wait in line to kill this stuff just a short time ago, and now it is just the most crazy mob land you can imagine. Once I got done, I went back to Shat, flew to Shadowmoon, and got my mount. End of story.

I really hope Bliz has some plans to bring Shat back to life. I mean, if you think they killed off the old lands when Burning Crusade came out, that is nothing compared to the ghost town that is now Outland. At least with the old lands, you still have to go there for auctions and many of the festival/holiday quests only take place there, but Outland is almost worthless. You only need to go through about 3 zones there just to get up from 58, to 68 and then you are on your way to Northrend. So, while the old lands hold a special place for 1-58, Outland gets 10 levels out of you and you are gone.

Since Bliz kind of reinvented everything again the same but better in Northrend, it really takes its toll on what Outland had to offer. Outland was also very "Green" item heavy, where Northrend is way more about the "Blue" items, which are better, and quite frankly are usually worth getting excited about.

One other thing, I think Bliz should keep in mind is not to make the quest chains extremely long. Now in Zul'Drak, I was given a lot of cool stuff, and everything was fairly easy to get to, so I didn't mind so much. The quest chains in Zul'Drak took me to a different place each time. The ones I am talking about are like the one in Dragonspite that the goulish crazy lady kept sending me back to the same place over, and over, and over, like she just couldn't get enough of jacking with these poor folks. There was also one in Grizzly Hills where a Tauren lady just kept sending me all over the map and wanted this, that and the other to where I couldn't stand her anymore. I really like the quest chains that keep a shorter leash on the questgivers and move us on to another place or a new questgiver. I don't even mind if the questgiver moves, which happens more in Zul'Drak and Icecrown. It is more interesting to me if you can just get away or move on from each area of the map a little faster.

Just another observation here... I have found 3 rare mobs in the last week. Two of them were in Northrend, and the other was in the strangest place near the exit from Blades Edge into Area-52. I had a green quest for me to speak to this guy in Area 52, and while I was running through there, this crazy mob attacks me.. I have never seen that guy before, and I used to visit Blades Edge rather frequently. It is the same way I have found all of the rare mobs. I will be traveling around, and they come out of nowhere with that silver dragon wrapped around their picture. I will always stop immediately and kill those guys. Every blue drop, even the ones in Outland are worth a good amount of money and don't bind when you pick them up. It is exciting when you find a rare monster, because it doesn't happen all the time. My warlock has only ever found one in her lifetime, and she has been around much longer then the DK. So, I just thought I would share that little bit of my questing experience.

Final words for today... I got my DK mount, and I am running around Icecrown making a fool out of myself. I am sure I will have more to say about that zone as I get further into it. Happy hunting ya'll!

Take care!

Still moving on... Level 75 (4 Bubbles to 76)

I moved into Zul'Drak. I have been cruzing around there for awhile, trying to get a grip as to what we are trying to accomplish here. This is a good zone to fight in, although I am getting sick of Scourge. I rode a 100 foot giant called the King Of Storms and killed some really nasty, elite mobs. Now I am playing another discuise game with the Scourge to gain their trust so we can destroy them... (Another "bad" tactic, but it is by Death Knights this time, who were once "bad".)

A couple of new things that bother me about the expansion are that, for one thing, Death Knight mobs in the game do not realize that I am just like them. They speak to me as if I am a Blood Elf, and not a DK, which kinda pisses me off. I have the same powers they do, and I am part of the same Ebon Blade collective. Second, the pet for the Death Knight should not speak like a vendor when clicked on. I think that was an oversight or just plain lazy, but either way, that little guy should say something completely different then "Buy, Sell, Trade", or say nothing at all.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Gotta get back to grindage...

DK For The Win...

So, the DK is level 75 now. I am still puttering around in Dragonblight and the zone to the East, called Grizzly Hills. So, the designers have managed to make some aspects of the game like a single player version. I was about into my last few quests on the Eastern side of DB, when I was thrust into a movie segment where we once again attempted to assault Arthas. We failed of course due to some undead from Venomspite that threw chemical weapons at us killing the Scorge, and all of the living.

This started to make me think that whomever is working on these scenerios is heavy into the military or different aspects of war that have become very evident and public in the last few years. Between all the torture quests, and now the chemical weapons and a host of unthinkable actions carried out by the "good guys". I feel they have moved beyond the game and have attempted to show us more of an ugly side to war.

I like war, but there are just some things you can't do in real life war, that are being done here with the new expansion. I can only imagine that some folks will become disturbed by these things especially when they have you doing stuff that you know is "bad", and yet it's okay here in fantasy land. I am not so sure it should be like that.

Anyway, all is going well, I am taking my time getting to 80. I am sure there won't be another expansion any time soon, so no hurry right?

I hope everyone had a great holiday, talk to you soon!