Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. Personally, I couldn’t stand using Quest Helper, and one reason was that damned “GPS arrow” that wouldn’t permanently go away no matter how many times I told it to. Likewise, I never really cared for the associated “quickest route” feature because it would nag me every time I went somewhere it didn’t want me to go. I’m game for something a little more coherent, a little more simplified.

Blizzard’s stab at this sort of functionality places your tracked quests into a numbered list. When moused-over (or clicked), the map lights up with the area in which their objectives can be found. Easy and clean!

At this point in the game, I’m pretty excited to have something like this. It’ll no doubt come in handy when I’m leveling an alt or simply can’t remember where precisely a quest mob is located even though I’ve done it a dozen times in the past. But moving forward? I think I’m going to leave it off, as something like this can quickly ruin the journey of exploration and discovery associated with brand new content. I don’t want the solutions to all of the new quests (in old zones and new) handed to me the second I boot up Cataclysm for the first time.

That said, on with the video, which will show you the finer details of the new map/quest interface:

So what did you think? As it didn’t track all of the quests I gave it, I’ll venture to guess that this system isn’t entirely finished yet, but it’s sure a lot more functional than when we say it in its infancy (the first build of 3.3 on the PTR over a month ago). As I’ve already said, I like it for what it is, but undoubtedly some people are going to continue using their more robust add-ons, just as they have with the inclusion of the Equipment Manager and Voice Chat (oh god, the in-game voice chat). On which end of the spectrum do you exist, readers?

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Paladin - As usual, I think this Tier 10 set looks better than the majority of the community seems to. The open-helmet design with glowing skull looks boss and the erupting shoulder pads do, too. I especially like the runed purple ribbon design that runs consistently throughout the outfit. Now, if the complaints have come from anywhere, it’s from those players upset about having to wear a skirt again. Maybe it’s the fact that I don’t have to wear it, but it doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal to me. One of the all-time favorite Paladin sets is Judgment (Tier 2), and that also features a dress as opposed to hard-plated armor. Even if Judgment still looks nice in terms of design, it’s a bit of a wake-up call as to how far the art and modeling teams have come since then. Colors are deeper, shapes are more complex. The equipment shows off a little bit of wear and tear. It’s just more interesting overall. And really, who wouldn’t want to be as awesome as Tirion Fordring?

Priest - Now people who haven’t taken kindly to the Priest’s Tier 10 seem to think that it just looks far too plain. And… I can see where they’re coming from. I don’t think it looks terrible by any means, it’s well-enough designed, but players have come to expect their armor to look big and bombastic. This set seems rather mild by comparison and the random burning fires don’t seem to add as much flair as the usual shoulder/head-slot embellishments do. If there’s one thing that really stands out to me, it’s the bad-ass collar. With the cowl thrown in there, casting shade over the Priest’s face, I can see this Tier being a favorite of Shadow-specced players, as opposed to the usual holy-rollers.

If I can point to one thing that makes all of this armor look goofy, it’s the terrible posing. Maybe it’s just the traditionally stiff posture of the Male Human model or the weird angle that they’re being photographed at (leaning forward on one foot and slightly hunched over?), but either way, I’m pretty sure it’ll look more appropriate on live servers than it does on these test dummies.

Of course, the big question now is: where the hell is the Shaman set. This far into devleopment, with most other sets good and ready to go, and not even the data-miners have been able to find one piece or texture from the Shaman’s Tier 10. You know that if we find out anything, we’ll keep you posted, but for now, it remains a mystery to everybody.

I’d still love to hear your thoughts on the direction that the newest sets are headed in though, and feel free to talk about the others previously revealed if the mood strikes you!

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The other big nugget of this build is the implementation of the new map/quest integration features, clearly inspired by popular mods like QuestHelper. As we reported, an unworking preview of this system was included with the very first version of 3.3. Though it still doesn’t seem to be entirely complete, it’s much more functional at this point. Read on to find out the specifics of what it has to offer. We’ll be bringing you a video demonstration in a later post.

PvP
Arenas

• All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.

Dungeons & Raids

• Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron’s lair.

Death Knight
Unholy

• Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. In addition, this talent now reduces the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 2/4 minutes, down from 5/10 minutes.

Druid

• Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Mage
Frost

• Deep Freeze: This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. In addition, when this ability deals damage it will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost for those mages with the Shatter talent.

Paladin
Holy

• Sanctified Light: This talent now also has a 33/66/100% chance to prevent Lay on Hands from causing Forbearance when Lay on Hands is used on others.

Retribution

• Repentance: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by Righteous Vengeance.

Priest

• Divine Hymn: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Rogue
Subtlety

• Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
• Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.

User Interface
Quest Tracking Feature
Players can now track quest objectives on the map (‘M’ key).

• Quest Log
  • A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player’s Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.
• Map
  • The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).
  • All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.
  • Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.
  • Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character’s current location.
  • This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.
  • Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.
• Objectives Tracking
  • This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.
  • The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 12 quests for a zone.
  • Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.
  • If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.
  • The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.
• Quest Difficulty Tracking

• This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).

As for the remainder of the changes: hey, look, they did something to Rogues! Sadly, Preparation does nothing for me as a player with a deep Assassination build, but it might be good for others out there. Sadly, the nerf to the accompanying talent seems to mitigate any great, beneficial effects.

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Valithria Dreamwalker, tested again on US servers.

“We are scheduling raid tests in Icecrown Citadel for November 6-7.

The schedule is as follows:

US Servers

Friday, November 6 at 7PM EST / 4 PM PST – Valithria Dreamwalker
Saturday, November 7 at 4PM EST / 1PM PST – Icecrown Gunship Battle

EU Servers

Friday, November 6 at 19:30 CET – Lady Deathwhisper
Saturday, November 7 at 19:30 CET – Professor Putricide

Only normal difficulties will be tested, although 10 and 25 player raids will be available.

The Icecrown Citadel raid test schedule will be very flexible, and can change at a moment’s notice due to build status, bugs, and server issues. Remember that this is the test server, so things can, do, and will break from time to time. Check this forum for the latest Icecrown Citadel raid testing schedule information in the weeks to come.”

Looks like there’s only one new encounter being tested , and that’s Professor Putricide. As that’s on the EU realms, I won’t be able to bring you the down-low just yet, but it does bring us one step closer to the eventual release of Patch 3.3, doesn’t it? So far, (including this week) we’ve seen the following fights:

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I have been spending a substantial amount of time leveling a new toon since BlizzCon 2009’s Cataclysm announcements.  Like many players, I want to experience the aspects of vanilla WoW before they disappear into the digital abyss (maybe then Blizzard will setup a vanilla server cluster?).  And no, I am not running the 1-60 gauntlet alone, but with a group of five other players.  Amazingly, we’ve actually managed to stay within a few levels of each other.

We’ve noticed a ton of major differences from v1.0 to patch 3.2.2 during our trek to level 22, the Christmas tree effect is gone, the multitude of traveling quests to far away lands have been reduced dramatically, the painful menagerie of escort snail quests have all but disappeared, and mounts at level 20 that cost a disgusting four gold are nice.  Since the group has been able to pull off that rare leveling feat, we’ve been able to tackle a few 5-man dungeons, and boy has dungeon quest design radically changed.

Once WoW hit its third month of service the characters spread across the level range with incredible coverage.  It was easy to find a group during early days of WoW for nearly any instance in the game, from RFC to BRD.  That was only half the battle though, once the group was formed it became clear that not everyone was prepared.  People hadn’t done the multitude ofpre -requisite quests to open up this or that quest.  Off the group went, splitting up to tackle the various tasks before returning, often an hour later, to the entrance. Or the group as a whole failed to pick-up the quest with the amazing reward offered by an NPC in a far away city.  There goes another 30 minutes.  Finally, finally you begin the run, pounding through the dungeon, claiming life after life, only to realize that there isn’t enough of a quest item to go around.  Cue the greed factor as everyone scrambles to grab this or that plant, skin, weapon or other interactive item on the ground, instead of performing their job.  God forbid you have to run the instance a second time!

Blizzard may get ragged on for abandoning so much of the old world, but this archaic design was downright painful.  The pre-requisite quests aren’t awful - in fact, they tend to be the ones that contribute most to the dungeon’s lore - but the scramble they caused, and wasted time, was.  Sadly, the category has largely been abandoned.  As has the crosscountry treks, a win-win in my book, and a logical move.  After all, how many people in Ironforge really care about what is going on in Blackfathom Deeps?  They are literally on opposite sides of the world.  It’s the guy standing outside the instance, or in the closest town that should be concerned - and has been since The Burning Crusade.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, we all rolled classes that we’ve never played before.  Should be interesting when we have to actually begin using strategy.

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I’m sorry but running the same raid four separate times in a week isn’t fun for anyone.  Quad running ToC was an unintended side effect - that Blizzard had to see coming - but may go away in the near future, according to Bornakk.  The news came by way of Bornakk’s announcement that our assault on Icecrown Citadel will feature a new difficulty design philosophy.

“In the upcoming patch we are adding a new feature to the Icecrown raid instance that allows the raid leader to change the instance’s difficulty setting on a boss per boss basis (emphasis mine). The way the raid leader chooses to switch is the same as now, by right-clicking on the character portrait.”

Bornakk detailed the new technique a bit further, explaining that it only becomes available after the Lich King has been defeated on normal mode, and there is no heroic version of trash, only bosses.  The blue fell short of callingToC’s method a mistake, claiming that the size of IC lead to a different direction, but Ulduar’s design was picked on.

“We didn’t want to use the Trial of the Crusader method, and have four versions on a raid of this size. We felt the Ulduar method of having to know a certain trick to do on the boss was difficult to communicate and tied too heavily to achievements” he continued.

Bornakk closed the update by saying ToC may change to the new technique, one would assume that it would depend on how successful it does in IC.  However, “Ulduar and Naxxramas will likely never change.”

I wasn’t a fan of the quad running method at all, but Ulduar’s “tricks” reminded me of Zelda’s boss fights, undefeatable unless you know exactly what to do.  Something that I will always cherish.

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It sounded like a great idea, and I joined up. Another guild fresh off a 25-man Onyxia kill all attended, and were joined by many others in the WG group, as well. The strategy began. We called out when we were getting a group of siege engines rolling, asked for more gunners if we needed them, made sure we were all heading together as groups instead of off on our own, and coordinated who would defend the towers.

All seemed to be going well as far as our own strategies went. There was just one problem: everywhere we went, the Allies went, too, and very quickly. For all our coordination efforts, theirs seemed to be just as good. But we pushed on.

About 10 minutes into the battle, we took up a new tactic. “Let’s head east,” someone suggested. That’s when we heard it. An unfamiliar voice that had been silent up until then clicked through the vent server. “They’re heading east!!” he said. Everything fell silent. Then, the same voice again. “Wrong vent server.”

Turns out, someone from the previous Ony raid had switched to his ally player before WG, but stayed on Vent with the group. Simultaneously, he was in an alliance vent server, relaying all of our precious tactical information to the enemy. The traitor! I knew one thing: this meant war.

Other than people cursing out the treacherous infiltrator, the vent channel grew quiet. We took to our keyboards to plan our next move and, with everyone informed via raid chat, we even started announcing false information on our mics. The enemy grew confused. And, apparently, very frustrated.

As we smashed through the Keep’s walls and tore down their defenses, that now-familiar, previously smug voice came through the vent loud and clear. Yells of defeat. We had beaten him at his own game in an epic battle of wit.

Which leads me to my conclusion: vent may not be the best choice for giant raid groups composed mostly of people who you don’t know. If you go this route, boot anyone who’s unfamiliar until they gain your trust. Also, allies suck (just kidding… except for this particular group of alliance!). For the Horde!

Although this is the first case of this happening to me, I am certain it’s not all that uncommon with the availability of creating characters of both factions on a server. What stories do you have of cross-faction treachery?

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Head over to the Pet Store section of the official online Blizzard store to check out what pets they have available. Currently, you can get a Lil’ K.T. or a Pandaren Monk, both of which have been data-mined in the past.

The pets cost you $10 and are bound to a World of Warcraft Account. All characters on that account get that pet. Transferring a character off of the account will result in a loss of the pet.

Blizzard sugar-coats it a little bit by having “charity pets”, where half of the cost of the pet goes to charity. Currently, the panda is the charity pet, and its proceeds go to the Make a Wish Foundation.

Check out the site FAQ:

Pet Store FAQ

Why are you introducing this service?

The Pet Store provides a new way for players to obtain unique companion pets outside of the game, which is something that has been requested by many players who enjoy World of Warcraft’s non-combat companions.

Will more companions be available for purchase in the future?

We plan to add more pets to the Pet Store in the near future. Keep an eye on the official World of Warcraft website and the online Blizzard Store for details.

Where can I go to purchase these pets?

You can purchase these in-game companions by visiting this link or heading to the online Blizzard Store, where you’ll find the Pet Store pets under the Collectibles tab.

Will I be able to acquire these Pet Store pets by questing, through holidays, on in-game vendors, or by any other in-game methods?

No. Pets purchasable through the Pet Store will not be obtainable through quests or other in-game means — they’re only available through the online Blizzard Store.

How do I redeem a Pet Store pet once it’s been purchased from the Blizzard Store?

After you purchase the pet, you’ll receive a code that can then be redeemed on any World of Warcraft account via Battle.net Account Management. You don’t need to redeem the code on the same Battle.net account that made the initial purchase – feel free to send the code to a friend as a gift.

Will these pets count toward pet-related achievements?

These Pet Store pets will count toward the total number of pets a character has for achievements like Plethora of Pets or Lil’ Game Hunter.

Will these pets help me in combat?

No, these pets are strictly cosmetic. They have some fun animations and sound effects, but they will not help you in PvP or PvE.

What characters will receive the Pet Store pet that I purchase?

Once you redeem your code on an individual World of Warcraft account, every character on the account will receive the pet in their in-game mailbox (including any characters you create in the future). If you wish to purchase the pet for multiple different World of Warcraft accounts merged with the same Battle.net account, you will need to buy a separate pet for each World of Warcraft account individually.

**Please Note** If a character transfers off of the account where the pet is bound the pet will be lost.**

How long will these Pet Store pets be available?

We do not currently have any plans to remove these pets from the Pet Store. The Blizzard Store purchasing page will provide information on any changes to availability.

In what regions are these pets available?

The Pet Store pets are available only to players on realms located in North America, Europe, and Korea. A Battle.net account is required in order to redeem the pet.

Charity Pet

What charity will I be supporting when I purchase the Pandaren Monk pet?

Donations from every sale of the Pandaren Monk pet through December 31, 2009, will be given to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. To find out more about this charity, please visit www.wish.org.

How much of every Pandaren Monk pet sale will go to charity?

For each Pandaren Monk sale, we’ll donate 50% of the $10 purchase price to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For more information on this charity, visit www.wish.org.

How long will you be making this donation?

We will continue to make a donation for each Pandaren Monk pet purchased until December 31, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Will the pet still be available for purchase after the donation period is over?

Yes, you will still be able to purchase the pet after December 31, and we do not currently have any plans to remove this pet from the Pet Store. The Blizzard Store purchasing page will provide information on any changes to availability.

Does this mean you’ll be introducing more services like this in the future? Will you be introducing the ability to buy epic weapons/etc. in the future, for example?

As with the pets, mounts, and other items players can obtain through Loot cards from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, Pet Store pets are purely cosmetic and just for fun. Like other paid services we offer, such as Paid Name Changes, Race Changes, and Character Re-Customizations, the Pet Store service is entirely optional and intended to provide players another means to enjoy World of Warcraft in a way that isn’t detrimental to the game and that doesn’t detract from the gameplay experience for players who choose not to use the service.

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Thanks www.norcblueprint.org

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been on a bit of a social kick lately, analyzing everything from FarmVille to guild history and how the topics could play out in World of Warcraft.  Yesterday’s post only furthered that thinking, leading me to remember the the age old adage of respecting your elders.  In our digital land of Azeroth it just doesn’t apply.  Few people have any idea who the server first 60 was, which guilds were the premiere guilds back in vanilla, or who contributed the most to the Ahn’Qiraj resource grind.  Those who do remember where likely part of the accomplishment, or close to those that where.

To me, the people responsible for these feats should wear them as a badge of honor.  They are prideful accomplishments, a show of dedication.  Impacting our playground far more than yesterday’s “fun facts” that players may glance at while bored.

You know where I stand, I believe that these feats are something to be looked up to.  Something that deserved respect and admiration.  However, notice the use of the past tense.  The raiders of vanilla WoW are definitely the current raiders elders.  They participated in the ancient, some would say more difficult and hardcore, games.  But everyone would agree that raiding back then was a different beast.  It’s like football before the forward pass was introduced, an entirely new game.

Do they deserve our respect now?  Should we look up to these old school raiders like a big brother blazing a trail through our parent’s rules and regulations?  Do they deserve that scent of arrogance, or are they relics who’s knowledge in the arts of 40-mans has become truly useless?  And what of those players who’ve continued to raid, making the leap from hardcore Naxxramas to dropping the hard mode bosses of ToC?  Do they deserve extra respect for their adaptability?  Will they be remembered come Cataclysm?  Should they be?

As I look in to it more, it pains me to realize how socially unaware players and guilds are of their surroundings, aka their server community, past, present, and future.

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I don’t know how I missed this last year, but it is fantastic.

This video tells the story of a player investigating the town of Darrowshire in Eastern Plaguelands and redeeming Joseph Redpath. In case you are unfamiliar with the questline, players find the ghost of a little girl named Pamela Redpath. She asks players to restore her doll and find out what happened to her family. Pamela and all of the Redpath family, save for her sister Jessica, were killed at the Battle of Darrowshire during the Third War. The spirit of their father, Joseph Redpath, was corrupted after his death by Horgus. Players work with the yellow dragon Chromie to rewrite the history of Darrowshire to ensure that after Joseph Redpath was corrupted and joined the ranks of the Scourge, he met a swift end. By changing this outcome of the Battle of Darrowshire, the spirits of Darrowshire are finally laid to rest.

Its so satisfying to see a video with well done original music. This is one of the few original WoW-related songs that isn’t a parody or comical; its very sober and very moving. I bought the track on iTunes, and I suggest you check out Cranius’ blog for more information about him, this video, and his other work.

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