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Category: A Look At

Getting Through All The Changes In The New Patch 6.0.2

Welcome to A Look At, an editorial series where we try to keep things lighter than your average guide.

Patch 6.0.2 is live on both the US and EU servers now and it possibly has the biggest amount of changes to the game we’ve seen in any pre-expansion patch. Because of this you’ll undoubtedly run into some things that could be confusing or just broken. Let’s take a look at what you could run into and how to go about dealing with it. (You can always check out the patch notes here)

Class Changes

Let’s face it, one of the biggest things you’ll encounter is the amount of changes you might have gotten to your class. The ability pruning and stat/healer/tank changes were all needed for the longevity of the game but no doubt some things might frustrate you at first. You’ll have to get used to playing your class or spec again in a different way compared to what you were used to. You might even have to switch specs if it turns out due to the changes another spec has more damage/healing output. Icy veins has guides to help you along in getting used to the changes for your class.

Along with those guides what can you do to get up to speed? Practice. Use the training dummies in the city to get used to your new rotation (Raid dummies have been updated to level 100 raid bosses, so use the level 90 dummies in your faction’s shrine in pandaria). It’s ok that it can cost a bit of time, just be patient. There’s a reason these pre-expansion patches are released ahead of an expansion. By getting used to everything now you’ll be able to rock the socks of the Iron Horde when Warlords is actually released.

WoD Logo

System Changes And Bugs

There’s no doubt that a lot of the changes are straight forward, especially taking into consideration all of the bagspace changes. However because of all these changes it’s quite possible that there are still bugs lurking beneath the surface because of the complexity of each system. If you come across such a bug, don’t get too frustrated. Again this is why we get the changes now and not when the actual expansion is launched. Report the bugs with as much detail as you can through the appropriate bug reporting channels. You can also check to see if the bug or issue is already known.

  • For the EU, use the ingame bug reporting tool. In WoW go to the menu (escape), help,  click Submit Bug. Then Enter the details of the bug, making sure to follow the guidelines outlined on the submission form. Afterwards click Submit.
  • For the US, other than the ingame way of reporting you also have the bug report forums.

Community Manager Zarhym had this to say about any stat squish issues:

Quote from: Blizzard

If any particular creatures aren’t properly squished, be sure to report them by name in the Bug Report forum so we can hotfix these as quickly as possible.As an aside, Patch 6.0.2 is the biggest change World of Warcraft has ever seen, particularly on the technical side with file structure and coding, as well as on the mechanical side with things like the stat squish, ability pruning, etc. There are bound to be some unforeseen bugs or other issues, which is why we have all hands on deck ready to pounce on these as we find them. With your help and patience we’ll get things sorted even faster.

Addons

As a last mention, due to all the system changes it’s quite possible some or many of your addons might be broken. The process of fixing an addon, let alone writing one, can be quite long. So if your favorite addon hasn’t been updated yet and is completely broken just turn it off for now and wait until it has been fixed by the author. (And you can always choose to find another addon that does the same and has been fixed for 6.0)

Conclusion

Pre-expansion patches are always exciting times, but they can be frustrated too. Just remember a game can be a complicated thing beneath the surface. So just take your time to get used to the new things and report any bugs you might come across. That way you’ll help the developers and be completely ready when the real goal comes around: Warlords of Draenor.

Examining Blizzard Story Telling Via Media

Hi I am Matt aka Vivii and I will be writing blogs for the website every now and then and this is my first one! Hope you enjoy and any feedback is always welcome.

As a lot of people are aware blizzard has always put a lot of thought into their back story and lore around what they are producing. Such as a series of books regarding more of the ancient lore. However, this is not what i wanted to talk about in this blog. I wanted to concentrate on the more recent developments that we have seen in the last expansion when it comes to storytelling and put my idea’s forward on where we could go in the future. So lets get started.

Mini Series

As many people who enjoy World of Warcraft  know, in MoP, Blizzard embarked on something a little different to what they have previously done. They decided to do that, to help people understand more of the emperor they would hear much about during the quest lines and adventuring around the land of Pandaria. This was called The Burdens of Shaohao and this explain to us the story of the last emperor of Pandaria and the struggles that he would overcome and also the issues he had along the way. I liked this series and found the artwork and the way it was presented really good and for once i actually paid attention to the Lore! Normally i would speak to Mezzy or LJ and they would explain all the lore i did not know/understand, but this for me made it more accessible. The pace of the series was decent and it never felt a chore to watch any episode.

From this first project they have now moved onto the “Lords of War” to help give every day gamers who do not know much about the lore of WoW and the past of Draenor a chance to learn about who they will be fighting. We’ve only seen the first episode at the time i am writing this but all i can say regarding the first episode is wow. I just loved it. The main thing i like about the first episode is just how dark it is and again the pace of it. I also love that it is from the alliances point of view with Vindicator Maraad giving his knowledge to the King. If this is a sample of things to come regards the rest of the series i just can not wait for the rest of the series.

What i would like now is for Blizzard to extend this style of series to explain more of the Lore that there is in wow. Just imagine a series explaining other iconic events in wow. Such as stories around Illidan, Arthas and other bad guys from the world. I think these would go down well if they are done in a similar style to the recent series. I believe this would be a very worthwhile as there are allot of people who do not read the books and quite allot of players who never played the original warcraft games. For me it depends how the rest of this series is received and how much time they have. That depends on how long this new expansion is going to be and only time will tell.

Online Comic Series

Blizzard have also been tapping into another resource that they used a while back and that is comics but this time they are free online (to be fair i may be incorrect but i do not believe the others were free online). These original series lasted from 2007 through to 2009 with 4 story arcs.

Now they have started with WoD and i have to say i was impressed by the first comic release called “Guldan the Stranger”. Again another form of media to give more of a back story to some of those pesky orcs! I like the artwork and also like the flow of it. It leaves me looking forward to the rest of the series and hoping for more of the same. Hopefully it will be released to coincide with the Lords of War mini series and really add depth to all of the characters.

 

Conclusion

Overall these other media outlets that are being used do add a lot to the story. They help explain why you should hate or love the character they are about. With the burdens of Shaohao it was seeing the struggles that the last emperor had to go through and actually caring about his plight. In the first Lords of War it really made you realise how much of a bad ass that Kargath actually is. The first time i watched them they had the wow factor that has been missing from the game in recent years and do make you excited about what you may now face in the game. This is the reaction that Blizzard will want and i believe it is the reaction that they are getting. Hopefully the rest of the series continues in this trend and makes every one of us just want to kick the Orcs ass!  As an extra piece of content i love the comic i like the way its produces and the look of it. Again i am looking forward to more. So all in all i believe that these extra pieces of media that are using are a benefit to the World of Warcraft and should continue and expanded upon. They should not be limited to “current” content. If this happens there will be a lot of extra people. I know there may be a couple of this missed out but for me these are the two main things so hope you enjoyed the read!

 

 

 

 

World Of Warcraft And Trollz, A Love Story Or More A Stephen King Novel?

Heey everybody! I’m Ljohnsilver or L-J for short.You might have seen me on the Podcast that WoW Weekly does every week and decided to do my first column so if it sucks (which it probably will), cut me some slack and please say what I could improve! I’ve been playing WoW almost from the start now as a Healadin. Anyways, I’m gonna be doing it a little bit differently than you are probably used to on WoW Weekly. As this is basically all pro WoW and everything around it (except the devs cause f*ck em) im gonna be talking about WoW players and why they can be such…. unfriendly people (in-game that is! No promises on “Real Life” situations).


 

We probably have all encountered one of the aforementioned people one time or another, when leveling your first character, running LFR (never ceases to amaze me, LFR that is) or just in general when standing in Stor
mwind/Orgrimmar. Now, I’m not saying that all players like this, on the contrary Watson, in my personal experience 95% of all people are generally nice and helpful when you are nice and polite yourself. It just that rotten egg once in a while that ticks you off by being unreasonable, annoying, rude or any of the other 15 million reasons that are possible.

 

Now, why is this? Why is it so difficult for some people to actually be a kind human being and help you with your quest or why do they swoop in to steal that mining node while clearly you were killing those mobs for it. Now,I have no idea as to the psychological aspects to this (please see my brother who is studying psychology!) but I can figure out one or two things that are in effect here and will try my best to explain them in the next few paragraphs:

 

The Internet

We all know and love the internet and what it has brought us. It has opened up and changed world like nothing has before. You can watch, buy, sell and much much more all in a few mouse clicks. Regular citizens and people have never had so much power in which, when gathered together for a common purpose we have brought down companies. But the internet also gives us anonymity (Not you NSA, please go away). And it’s this anonymity which gives a lot of people a feeling of power which leads them to be really rotten on online games. We all know the reputation average Call of Duty players have gotten over the years as being spoiled 13-year-olds that have *beeeep* with my mother. This is not the only example out there and I am willing to bet most of us have our own experience with this behaviour which is almost accepted nowadays. The “trollz” (how these people are known as) always like to antagonize the average Joe and Jane which leads me to my next bit.

 

The time and energy

I’m guessing, as you are on a website that provides you with WoW news, you to play WoW or at least, you play games. We all know that this can consume a lot of your time in which you try to achieve the greatest feat possible or you just simply enjoy yourself and have a good time. This is where we, the people, and them, the trollz, differ. As we like to mind our own business or in a party just want the dungeon to be done/enjoy the dungeon, the troll seems to enjoy themself by spending its time and energy in wasting yours. Not only is this frustrating, it is also confusing to most people as the trolls are playing the same game as you, they are probably the same level as you which means they have spent about as much time in the game as you, yet all they do is make life miserable to others. To most, of which I am one, this is mind boggling and leads me to my third and final bit about the troll.

 

WoW, higher than average?

Now, as stated before,Ihave played WoW for almost 10 years and my /played is scary. But I have also played a lot (and I mean a lot) of other games, single and multiplayer (yes CoD, Battlefield and other, major extreme time consumers a.k.a. MMOs). And in my own experience WoW, or more specific, the community is becoming more and more, infested if you will, with trollz. Now this is only the hardcore trollz who make trolling a profession and not the average 13-year-old that say everything that comes up in their mind because they don’t have a filter yet, I think that WoW has mostly become a victim of its own success when the subs were high and a lot of people were playing the game. A lot of people joined and played the game and a lot of the people who joined back then have become fed up with the game and have since resorted to other methods inside the game to have fun in their own way.

 

Epic Conclusion

After playing WoW for so long and there isn’t an end in sight for me,I think that as the game progresses, a lot of people will either stop playing it, including trolls, or they will become more and more biBoss killingtter which is a path that can ultimately lead to the dark side. Trollz have also been something that is inside of every human being, some more than other is which the feeling of being better than others and showing this, narcissism, is a normal feeling, to a certain degree. It is what the person decides to do with this feeling which ultimately leads to becoming a troll, becoming a bitter player, staying and just playing the game or leaving the game altogether.

L-J

 

P.s.I hope you enjoyed reading my first column! Please do post your opinions below and any (constructive) remarks as to the column (such as writing style, the subject etc) will be seriously be taken into account in the future!

Thanks again!

Different concept on: Specializations

Hello everyone,

Euxxa here.  I wanted to share something with you that has been a subject of high importance for me for a long time:  the class specializations in World of Warcraft.  This is my first post here in WoW Weekly and hopefully many more will follow.

So allow me to start off by asking the following question:  Are we playing a class exactly how our talent tree suggests?

Is our character really supposed to look, feel and perform the way we have come to know this far?

This question has haunted me for a while and now that we are approaching the release date of a new expansion, it becomes clear to me that this is not as trivial an argument as it may look.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that with a new expansion, we are given the opportunity to make big changes; correct errors of the past, address poor attempts to patch a problem or fix a mechanic that isn’t broken in the first place.

I wanted to write this article to share some of my views on this topic, debate on a few things that I feel at some point should be addressed and, why not, get feedback from what others may think of it – as I may be completely out of line here. So here it goes…

It starts with something as simple as: does my character play exactly as it’s supposed to? This may be a silly question at first but, before we can even begin to jump into the question and its subsequent response, let’s analyse a few things.

First of all, what each class is supposed to be?

WoW has taught the MMO industry that we can only play characters that belong to 3 very distinctive categories: Tanks, Healers and Damage Dealers. Is even easy to understand why this concept works so well, it’s easy! One takes the damage away from the group distracting from the rest, one keep that character alive while others kill the enemy.