WoW Junkie

Blizzard: “How would we bring WoW to the console?”

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Sadly, the ultimate answer appears to be "very reluctantly" but it's an interesting read anyway. J. Allen Brack talks to G4 about WoW, consoles, and the barriers to entry for an MMO. The usual suspects apply, of course. WoW was designed for keyboards, consoles tend to have a short lifespan compared to the development time of a MMO, and WoW currently takes up about 15gb worth of memory while consoles like an XBox 360 have at most 20gb worth of hard drive space without buying any additions. This is no surprise, of course... they've said all this before.

What I really found interesting was that this is supposedly something they think about a lot. "In the case of WoW, we talk about it all the time." I'm the curious sort, so I find myself wondering why, given all the reasons Brack himself lists. Personally, I'd love to see a single player Warcraft property of some sort for consoles, perhaps a God of War style action game or even a Dragon Age/Mass Effect hybrid RPG. And who knows, perhaps Blizzard will come up with a way to do it despite their laundry list of reasons why they won't, they've surprised me before.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Blizzard: "How would we bring WoW to the console?" originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Know Your Lore: The Green Dragonflight

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:00:00 +0000

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Each flight of dragons is vouchsafed with an aspect of creation itself to supervise. The five Dragon Aspects were granted their powers and dominion over Azeroth's life, magic, earth, time and more by the Titans who created them from the massive proto-dragon Galakrond in long vanished times past. In the past few KYL's we've covered Alexstrasza's Red Dragonflight, Deathwing's Black Dragonflight and its offshoot the Netherwing, and deceased Malygos' Blue Dragonflight.

This time we look at what might be the strangest dragons of them all. The servants of Ysera, the dragons of the Emerald Dream, the Green Dragonflight. In order to truly understand the green dragons, one would have to be able to understand the dream they all dream, but who can do that? How can one tell the dreamers from the dream?

Easy. The dreamers are great honking green dragons that will kill you. It's relatively simple. If you doubt their power or their resolve, go to the Temple of Atal'Hakkar and ask the Atali, trapped in a complex smashed into the water by the fury and might of Ysera herself. Even when they themselves fall victim to corruption, the green dragons are fearsome opponents. While Alexstrasza and her brood concern themselves with life and living things, Ysera is effectively the shepherd of what Dylan Thomas called 'the force that through the green fuse drives the flower' - effectively, that which makes life itself possible.

This is also what often gets them in trouble with old gods, blasphemous troll deities of bloodlust, and the loathsome Scourge and its malefic master. (I have been waiting to use 'malefic' in a sentence for so long now.)

Continue reading Know Your Lore: The Green Dragonflight

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Know your Lore

Know Your Lore: The Green Dragonflight originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Classifieds: The most uber players of the week

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:00:00 +0000

The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild happenings, raid progression rankings, player milestones and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com.

Welcome to the Uber Player Edition of The Classifieds. As you know, we've been building Random Acts of Uberness, a section of the column devoted to shout-outs to the folks who've made your PUG experiences shine. With more and more submissions every week, we're inevitably approaching that time when we'll have to start editing notes for length. But not this week. This week, your stories were so inspirational, your experiences were so uberific, that we simply decided to turn over the bulk of The Classifieds to the Random Acts section and let the uberness run wild and free.

"I'm not to proud to admit it: when we're short on tanks, my husband and I will let our kid tank for us -- our just shy of seven-year-old, who diligently (and with trade chat disabled and parental controls on, his toon parked in our friends-and-fam guild instead of the casual raiding guild our mains are in) ground his teeny gnome warrior up to 80," writes Haelmari of US Eonar-A. "Tonight, we and some guildies needed a random. He wanted to play. Win/win, right?

"We lacked a healer. ..."

The uber resolution of Haelmari's situation, after the break.

Continue reading The Classifieds: The most uber players of the week

Filed under: Guilds, The Classifieds

The Classifieds: The most uber players of the week originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Encrypted Text: Stealth mechanics deep-dive

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss the rogue iconic ability: Stealth.

Have you ever tried to describe the rogue class to a friend or family member? I remember when a paladin acquaintance of mine asked what rogues were all about, what their secret sauce was. The question took me off guard, because I had been playing the rogue for so long that I saw everything through rogue-colored glasses. I struggled to find a simple explanation, because we are simply such a diverse class (once you overlook the pure DPS aspect, at least).

While we could be summed up by one word, awesome, I have always felt that describing our class is a real challenge. Once I started thinking seriously about it, trying to find a class-defining moment or example, it hit me. What could be more ubiquitous than a rogue stealth run? An assassination force of shadow, rogues in their most feared form. We approach our opponents unnoticed, we strike from the shadows with great force, and we retreat into darkness before we're ever seen.

Continue reading Encrypted Text: Stealth mechanics deep-dive

Filed under: Rogue, (Rogue) Encrypted Text

Encrypted Text: Stealth mechanics deep-dive originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Moviewatch: I Play as a Chick

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Work Warning: This video has WoW models in their underwear, and sexually suggestive themes.
I Play as a Chick is one of those videos that come with amazing coordination and collaboration between artists. Yumfries, Sharm, Wick, and Tradechat got together to create this epic piece of work, and the final product is absolutely amazing. While I can't say I'm at home in the rap genre, even I could easily acknowledge the great work these folks have produced.

The video is awesome. It's been a while since the production values of a music video were so astoundingly high that I felt someone had raised the bar, but Yumfries has definitely accomplished that with I Play as a Chick. The graphics never got boring or stale, and they seemed to constantly be creating new scenery. Even if some of the video was a bit racier than some viewers would prefer, the artistry that went into it is clear.

The song itself was equally good, with creative lyrics and an overall playful tone. The "narrative" of the song has a playful ending, with a certain tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the subject matter's ridiculousness.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.

Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

WoW Moviewatch: I Play as a Chick originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Queue: Ghostcrawler promised me a Sea Mouse

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

I'm using that picture of a Sea Mouse in The Queue today for a few reasons. First, it's disgusting and I can't wait to see all the comments. Second, this is the stuff Ghostcrawler dealt with before he was in video games. Knowing that makes one understand why he has such a sarcastic take on trolls.

So let's get into it.

Phil asked...

"Where do babies come from?"

Continue reading The Queue: Ghostcrawler promised me a Sea Mouse

Filed under: The Queue

The Queue: Ghostcrawler promised me a Sea Mouse originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Around Azeroth: The taurlock

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Tired of managing her totems, Naiara of on Earthen Ring is seeking a new path in life. "Ever since I won the roll on the gas mask I knew I must put my evil plan in motion!" she writes. "Never fear, this is just an ordinary mad scientist ... but this is no ordinary mad scientist! With the proper equipment, and access to Professor Putricide's laboratory, Naiara is poised to spearhead the Tauren Warlock class!"

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word "Azeroth" in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val'kyr on mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

Gallery: Around Azeroth

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Around Azeroth: The taurlock originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider Show live today at noon Eastern

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Every week, we broadcast live from several places worldwide (several rooms, anyway) to present you with the WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion, covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW.com to emails from our readers to what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Along with your hosts, WoW.com editor Michael Sacco and contributing editor Matthew Rossi, we also feature rotating guest hosts, whether regular WoW.com contributors or personalities from other sites.

We're broadcasting early this week to allow behind-the-scenes tinkerer Adam Holisky to take a well-deserved vacation.

Today's WoW Insider Show features:

Guest host: WoW.com editor Adam Holisky
Cataclysm's Mastery system preview
Goon Squad's heroic defeat of Tirion Fordring
Reader emails
And more!

Want to participate? Join in the conversation in the chat channel on our Ustream site while the show's broadcasting! Want to have your question read on the air? Drop us a line any time at theshow@wow.com!

Just want to listen? Follow the jump.

Continue reading WoW Insider Show live today at noon Eastern

Filed under: WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show live today at noon Eastern originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: The Icecrown raid buff and you

WoW.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

The Icecrown Citadel raid buff has been out for a week now. For the time being, it's only a 5% buff to healing, health, and damage (and let's not forget that it will affect damage absorption spells soon). It'll continue to slowly ramp up as time goes by. I know the question I've asked myself is whether or not we should have the buff active for progression bosses. There doesn't seem to be an achievement or any incentive to take down bosses without it so it becomes more of a question of "Why not?". When we were working on Blood Queen the week before the buff was up, we've had some extremely close shaves where she hit her enrage timer at 6%, then at 2% before we killed her post enrage with 6 players still standing. That 5% damage would've easily given us some extra breathing room. Cutting through trash and taking down the early wings with the buffs up means we can cut through that stuff faster and get to the hard bosses earlier. So I know for me, I'm okay with working on bosses with it up. It's only 5%. Now I just need to figure out where to draw the line.

How about you? Have you been disabling Strength of Wrynn or Hellscream's Warsong for your raids just to say that you can do the bosses without it?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Raiding

Breakfast Topic: The Icecrown raid buff and you originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW: Elitist Group Addon Review at Ten Ton Hammer

Xerin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:22:30 +0000

Is Elitist Group for Elitist Jerks or is it a useful mod? Find out here!

In this day and age in World of Warcraft it's hard not to judge someone based on their gear.