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Warlords of Draenor: The Burning Crusade 2.0 – Part 1

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Warlords of Draenor is coming out in 3 months time and at the time of release we’ll have had 14 months of Siege of Orgrimmar, 2 pvp seasons, the timeless isle and countless heroic scenario runs. While usually I look at something game design/philosophy-wise with the Mezzy Talks series, instead I’ll review Warlords of Draenor as an expansion. Keep in mind that it’s still in Beta, so anything that might be a concern could very well change before release.

Anyone who has been lucky enough to get a beta invite will probably agree that it’s a breath of fresh air: Back to leveling, building a base for the first time in WoW, building up your own personal army and a lot of story integrated in the leveling experience.

Before we get into a zone by zone analysis, the general feeling: While questing in Draenor it really does feel like you’re back in Outland, playing The Burning Crusade expansion, except even better. The difference is that the story is much more cohesive and the graphics blow it out of the water.

It’s hard to get everything across so let’s go zone by zone what makes it good or bad. After that, in part 2, we’ll take a look at the features/changes to game mechanics that come along in WoD.

Shadowmoon Valley

 

Shadowmoon Valley2

When questing in Shadowmoon Valley as an alliance player you really feel like you are on a strange outlandish planet. The draenei have their own problems they have to deal with and you have to prove yourself to them as an ally. The flaura and fauna are beautiful and are not quite what you would find on azeroth. You’re just as foreign to the locals as they are to you. There is one thing you might get annoyed by though, and that’s the amount of hills you have to get around while questing. Although in most zones I did not miss my flying mount, at some points I did on SMV. If you read quests or pay attention to what happens during the RP this zone certainly brings some shocking story progression, which you would not expect from just questing. As an alliance player this is a good zone to start Draenor with and you’ll certainly enjoy it.

Frostfire Ridge

 

Whereas Shadowmoon is the re-envisioning of a zone in outland, Frostfire Ridge is a brand new zone. You get the same type of feeling in Frostfire Ridge, except you’re helping Thrall’s ancestor’s clan. FRR (Frostfire Ridge) is a cold desolate vast plain, a similar feeling to Hellfire Peninsula, except much much grander. The Bladespire Fortress alone is a testament to how the environment team has continued to grow after Mists of Pandaria. Most of the zone is quite fluid when it comes to questing here. There is one particular quest that comes to mind though that you can’t pick up until level 92, which rewards a follower, but you’ll come across it at level 91. Meaning that if you forget to come back after leveling up again you’ll miss out on a follower. Between the two starting zones it’s hard to pick a favorite, both are quite enjoyable to play through and I certainly won’t regret using my lvl 90 character boost to get a lvl 90 horde character.

Gorgrond

 

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Gorgrond is a mixed bag of feelings for me, the start of the zone is hard to get in to, the story did not really feel engaging. On the other hand you build your first outpost which is your garrison away from your garrison. You’ll get to choose between the lumber mill and sparring arena for your outpost. Each gives a different garrison ability for you to use in the zone. The LM gives you the ability to use a shredder which has 2 dps abilities and can fly for a short while. The SA gives you the ability to summon a gladiator. It’ll be a different one each time on rotation. When the gladiator leaves you’ll have a buff for a short while. By far the worst was the chance on hit reduced damage taken and the best was the chance to stun your target. So the usefulness of this ability will vary each time you use it. This is also the first zone where you’ll get different followers depending on which outpost building you choose.

Once you get past the initial quests it will start to feel more fluid. There is a lot of traveling here so prepare yourself for it. It’s not a bad thing however, as while exploring (or using this guide) you can come across 2 events which give you unique looking followers to add to your personal army. Another perk is that there are bonus objectives everywhere. These are quests on location that give A LOT of experience compared to regular quests (3 to 5 times as much), which make them very much worth doing. You’ll have already come across bonus objectives in your starter zone, but this is where you’ll want to do as many as possible if you haven’t yet, and that’s because of the next zone.

Talador

 

Oh Talador, how you remind me of Terrokkar forest. While the nature of the zone is for the most part nice, the quests are scattered. It doesn’t feel coherent and it’s just a lot of traveling that makes you long for your flying mount. I’m painting a bleak picture here, but it is compared to the other dreanor zones because they are just that good. Once you get to the main questline for Talador things turn around and things actually get quite epic as you get your first big series of encounters with the burning legion. The story is engaging, the quest flow is good and you get a good follower out of it at the end.

When it comes to your outpost building choice, I feel that the artillery tower/ armory is by far the best choice. It gives a cooldown with 3 charges that bombards an area for roughly 300k damage and each bombardment stuns those hit.

The mage tower gives you a 5 minute cooldown that summons an arcane orb for 30 seconds. Although it looks cool as it reminds you of Algalon and titan technology, it has a pretty weak AoE for the duration as it follows you around.

Overall this zone will feel rather slow for a while but once you get to Auchindoun you’ll enjoy yourself when kicking some demon butt.

Spires of Arak

 

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The spires of arak is another completely new zone where you’ll encounter the Arrakoa, both with the old and new models. If you’re into lore then you’ll want to pay attention here as you get into Terokk’s past.

A fun addition to this zone are the archeaology treasures that you can loot through the completion of jumping puzzles that you’ll encounter here. As of right now the treasures show up on your mini map, so you’ll come across these naturally if you just quest. They’re particularly good because of the amount of fragments they give. Allowing for a quick headstart on solves while questing, and if you’re lucky enough (like I was on the beta, meaning I won’t on live) you might even already get a rare solve.

Your outpost choices consist of the inn and the trading post. The inn gives you a extra hearthstome which brings you back to your Spires outpost and a passive 20% experience bonus. Which is nice if you want to level quickly. There’s a price you pay for this choice though, as you can not currently switch outpost buildings. The trading post allows you to summon a trader who sells rare goods, including a follower with a sun guardian model. Choosing the inn currently means sacrificing the chance to get him.

Due to the arrakoa pressence this zone continues your feeling of being in another world and the meaningful outpost choice and archeaology jumping puzzles make this a meaningful zone.

Nagrand

 

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Nagrand is the last of the leveling zones and it feels just like the original one, except that it’s so much bigger. It has not only expanded on the ground level, it has also expanded towards the sky giving you a lot to explore. The latest beta build added new flightmasters, making it easier to get from one side of the zone to the other.

You continue the Iron Horde story and encounter Highmaul, the ogre raid. You also get to tie up some loose ends in a questline. For the outpost you get to choose between the siegeworks and the stables. The siegeworks gives you a siegetank which does plenty of damage and is definitely the way to go if you’re a hunter. The stables gives you a talbuk mount that you can ride in battle. You’ll be able to cast while moving at a 100% movement increase.

The pacing of the zone feels good, there’s a lot to see and you’ll feel good being back in Nagrand. Again with exploring (or with our guide) you’ll be able to find some interesting followers to add to your garrison. Exploring is highly recommended for Nagrand just because of it’s grand scale and it feels like a good last leveling zone.

Conclusion

The leveling in Warlords is a lot more fun compared to previous expansions, the zones and quests are more interesting and the many rares and garrison interactions give it a breath of fresh air. In part 2 we’ll take a look at the features/changes to game mechanics that come along in WoD.

WoD Beta: Gorgrond Image Gallery

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Up next in our Image Gallery series we take a look at Gorgrond. Gorgrond is the first zone you go to after completing your faction’s intro zone (SMV or Frostfire Ridge). These images were originally posted on our facebook page.

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Raid Testing Schedule – September 4-5

Raid testing continues at the end of this week!

Quote from: Blizzard
On Thursday, September 4, and Friday, September 5, we will continue Warlords Mythic raid testing. As always given the nature of beta, it is quite possible that there will be technical or gameplay issues that disrupt the testing. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Mythic difficulty is designed for a fixed-size 20-player group.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below on all Beta servers.

Thursday, September 4

Kargath – Mythic Highmaul
10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)

Tectus – Mythic Highmaul
13:30 PDT (16:30 EDT, 22:30 CEST)

Ko’ragh – Mythic Highmaul
16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST)

Friday, September 5

Brackenspore – Mythic Highmaul
10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)

Hans’gar and Franzok – Mythic Foundry
13:30 PDT (16:30 EDT, 22:30 CEST)

Operator Thogar – Mythic Foundry
15:00 PDT (18:00 EDT, 24:00 CEST)

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, fire, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Important Testing Notes

Q: How do I get into the raid zone?

A: In Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Dalaran, Shattrath, the two Vale Shrines, and your garrison, you may speak to Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade in order to teleport into the raid zone while it is open for testing. (The option to teleport into a zone will not be available when the zone is not open for testing.) Note that new teleport NPC locations have been added to other expansions’ capital cities, as well as near the zone portals in Stormwind and Orgrimmar.

Q: What character should I use to test the raid?

A: Whichever you prefer. We will be scaling players’ effective level to 100 for raid testing, and their item level to an appropriate threshold for the encounter(s) being tested.

Q: How long does testing last?

A: The primary purpose of testing is to give us the information we need to balance the encounters, evaluate how mechanics are playing out in practice, and identify bugs. Once we’re satisfied that we’ve received that information for a given boss, we’ll be shutting down testing. Usually this takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, but there are no guarantees.

Midweek News Roundup 3 September, Gaze Of The Black Prince, Live Q&A And More!

We’ve been quite busy the past few days, meaning we have not been able to do the daily news reporting. So instead here’s a round up of the news from the last few days!

Gaze of the Black Prince

The Gaze of the Black Prince buff has returned for 1 last time before Warlords of Draenor!

Quote from: Blizzard
The Gaze of the Black Prince Returns

Beginning Tuesday, September 2 at 10:00 a.m. PDT, through Tuesday, September 16 at 9:00 a.m. PDT, we’ll be applying the Gaze of the Black Prince buff for the final time before the Warlords of Draenor expansion. This buff will increase the reputation gained with the Black Prince by 100%. It will also increase the chance of obtaining items from his foes needed as a part of the Legendary Cloak quest line including: the Secrets of the Empire, Sigil of Wisdom, Sigil of Power, or Titan Runestones.

To learn more about the Legendary Cloak quest line, check out our previous blog posts: I am Legendary and The Time Has Come: Legendary Quest Line.

Valor Point Removal

As we already knew, Valor Points and Item Upgrades are being removed in WoD. However in the short timespan between 6.0 and WoD launch you’ll be able to use your lesser coins to upgrade any of your MoP items that still need upgrading! Also the quest Test of Valor for the legendary cloak will be removed in 6.0.

Quote from: Blizzard

As a couple posters have mentioned, we’re planning to remove the Test of Valor step from the Legendary chain.Regarding item upgrades, those are being converted to use Lesser Charms of Good Fortune as currency instead of Justice or Valor.

On a related note the quest for the raid bonus roll coins will no longer have it’s weekly restriction.

Quote from: Blizzard
One other related change worth mentioning is that the turn-in quest for Warforged Seals is having its weekly restriction lifted in 6.0, so you can get as many Warforged Seals as you have charms for!

Most other things will become purchasable with gold, such as the heirlooms that currently require Justice Points!

Quote from: Blizzard
Nearly everything that previously was purchased with Valor (or Justice) will now be purchased with gold instead. The only exception I’m aware of is Item Upgrades.

Live Q&A

On friday there will be a Live Q&A with Lead Game Designer Cory Stockton and Lead Narrative Designer Dave Kosak. This Q&A will focus more on story and garrisons and less on class design for example.

Quote from: Blizzard
Live Developer Q&A this Friday

This Friday, September 5, at 10:00 a.m. PDT, Community Manager Josh “Lore” Allen sits down with Lead Game Designer Cory Stockton and Lead Narrative Designer Dave Kosak for a special Q&A where they’ll answer your questions live on Twitch.TV. They’ll be discussing topics such as the world design of Draenor, the new exciting activities you’ll be able to take part in, and a ton of information on the highly anticipated new Garrisons feature.

The event will take place this Friday, September 5 at 10:00 a.m. PDT on our Twitch.TV channel. If you’ve got a question you’d like to see answered, send us a tweet using the hashtag #WarlordsQA.  We’ll see you there!

Obtaining Tier

In Warlords tier tokens will work like the tokens on the timeless isle work right now! This means that you’ll be able to wear your new piece of gear much quicker!

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!

 

 

 

 

Pyrruss’ Puzzlings, The First Post!

Hi guys, I’m WoW Weekly’s newest columnist, Zoe, aka Pyrruss. This will be a small column focusing on the lighter side of WoW and my adventures within it! For this week though, I thought it would be nice to know where I’ve come from.

I started WoW at the very beginning, I even tried a little of the beta via a friend who had it. I created my little Tauren shaman called Pyrrus on The Maelstrom, here I began what was to be an epic adventure!
Back then it took a loooooong time to level, I only hit 60 about 2 weeks before the AQ event and try as I might I didn’t manage to attend and join in as I was only half way through the questline and a guild opened it at like 4am so I missed out. Still bugs me today lol!

I started raiding and cleared everything bar naxx as my guild were stuck on 4 horsemen… That really was a horrific fight back then…
Raided with some pretty awesome guilds in TBC, even applied to Nihilium but I was declined once I had the vent interview ’cause I’m female! Certainly laughable now! After realm hopping a lot I ended up on Karazhan with some IRL friends and flirted with being a GM and raid leader before practically quitting for health stuff. When Onyxia was re-released I was asked to help a friend and his guild kill her and ended up joining , whom I’m still with in theory today.

Over the next few weeks I’ll tell you more of what’s been happening with lunacy and where I am living now then I’ll get onto the fun things like stories, stupidity and stuff! I hope you’ll enjoy my weekly adventures in WoW! (The name Pyrruss’ Puzzlings might change for this column/blog series)