#235 Garrosh and the Green Lanterns

A few days ago the people at MMO champion data-mined a whole bunch of new information about patch 5.4 and it looks like this will be the content patch where we will finally take down Garrosh, and it looks like we have our work cut out of us.

MMO Champion, the Wikileaks of WoW

With the data-mining we were given a sneak peek of the new monsters, the tier 16 armor set and some of the boss encounters. But what’s more exciting is that Garrosh has received another graphical makeover to make him prepared to take center spotlight for the siege on Orgrimmar raid and he even comes with a sha-infused version for, I assume, the final stage of the final fight.

Sha touched with a hint of the Old Gods

While everyone and their mother foresaw Garrosh utilizing the power of the Sha to advance his own political and military agenda, I just hope that once everything is all and done Blizzard sticks to their guns and follow through on their plan to have Garrosh willingly accept the power of the Sha  instead of convincing us that Garrosh was corrupted and brainwashed by the ancient evils of Pandaria.

I worry because I have seen this before, if you let me diverge I want to tell you all a story that happened twenty years ago in a different genera of geeky media. Quick! to the local comicbook story for a history lesson.

In the early 90′s DC comics wanted to switch things up with their Green Lantern series so the writers created a story arc where Hal Jordan (the most popular Green Lantern at the time) would see his home town, Coast City,   become completely destroyed in a hug explosion, wiping the entire population. Stricken with grief, Hal then goes crazy and goes on a journey to killing the entire Green Lantern Corp stealing their power rings so that he could have enough power to rewrite the universe in his own image, saving Coast City. During this story arc, he threw away his old name, and started calling himself Parallax.

 

and It was an awesome series

The story transitioned into a major DC crossover event where the rest of the DC  superheroes tried to stop him and of course, the heroes successes in foiling Hal-now-Parallax’s plan, saving the Earth. And because  Hal was too popular to kill off for real, he was tucked away somewhere for a later date.

When Hal was eventually bought back in the comic book fold DC wanted him to be one of the heroes, so to explain his evil plan, the comicbook writers rewrote the past explaining that the crimes that Hal committed was not because he, a regular man, was stricken with guilt after seeing everything and everyone he known be taken away from him, no instead  it was a parasite made of prue fear that was imprisoned the main green lantern on Oa and that parasite, which was the real Parallax, processed Hal and that was the reason for the insane actions of Hal Jordan. Needless to say there were some comicbook readers who were angry at this move, retconing a story arc that depicted one of the best hero’s fall into madness after a tragic event to a simple procession story.  

 

Evil bug trapped in a green night light for thousands and thousands of years, just another story arc in the comicbook world

 

This is what I am worried about moving past patch 5.4, I fear that if Blizzard want to bring back Garrosh as a protagonist in next expansion’s that the game designers will just  brush off Garrosh’s recent actions as a leader who just became an unwilling puppet for the Sha. I know Blizzard has been setting up Garrosh’s downfall for months I do recognize that it is very tempting to take the easy way out when bringing someone back from exile.

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#234 Hearthstone Updated

Well E3 has come and gone, with more light shed on what the gaming community will be getting themselves into next generation with more clarification on the new consoles and the games that will soon be arriving to store shelves. Sadly  I was incorrect in my prediction that Mircosoft would announce the removal of the Xbox Live subscription fee for their player base, but hey them’s the breaks .

But yesterday in non-console news Blizzard updated their HeathStone page with the announcement of new game mechanics that will be arriving to the digital trading card game. In the official post Blizzard announced that like World of Warcraft, the in-game currency to acquire new packs of cards will be gold, that there will be a leveling system in place where the more you play a certain class the higher your chances  are to get better class-specific cards, and the introduction of a friends list so you can keep all your acquaintances organize and invite them for a game any time. All those features are something that I would expect from a Free-to-play card game that tries to take elements from an RPG. What really got my interest was the special abilities of the monsters they showcased.

I wonder if Blizzard would ever created IRL versions of these cards for promotional events.

I have not been following the Hearthstone website too closely in fear of spoiling the game experience by getting myself too hyped up while it was still in development, but today I poked around and saw a subtle change in the way the card’s abilities and interaction with each other since that last time I got my hands on HearthStone.

A few months ago when I was able to play a very early build of the game at Pax East and while I only got to participate in one match, I did make a comment on how the monsters and spells that my opponent and I used were more simple that I was used to, coming from a childhood of playing Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh and Magic the Gathering with my family and friends.

With the new cards introduced and the updated cards Blizzard is defiantly trying to add a bit more complexity and strategy to the decks, with the use of cards that can summon extra minions and spells that has an “if X then Y”.

The ability to summon additional monsters that were not in your hand could be really cool for hunter decks, and devastating to anyone fighting against it.

In the mage deck I played, and the warlock deck I played against,  the most complex card that was used was the Lifetap spell had the warlock sacrifices two Health points to draw an extra card, followed closely by my Fireball spell that just did a set amount of direct damage to a monster.

With these changes I am hoping that there will be enough complexity for players to not only build the best class deck, but also experiment with unusual card combinations (I.E. a monster heavy priest deck or a warrior deck with a focus on spell and abilities) and still be viable in the more competitive matches.

No word on the beta invites yet, but once the eventually do come out is there anyone out there interested for a match?

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#233 Shared Topic: Vanity Items

This week’s Blog Azeroth Shared topic comes from me with the question:

World of Warcraft is known to have a lot of vanity items that you can collect from your adventures and in this expansion Blizzard introduced even more of these silly cosmetic items into the game.

This week’s Shared Topic is, “What is your favorite vanity item in World of Warcraft?”

Vanity items are one of my favorite things to collect in-game, aside from mounts of course, actually during my raiding years I used to have a whole pack full of transformation items to used in a row when ever there was a lull between boss pulls.

While the Iron Boot Flasks and the occasional Savory Deviate Delights are fun at parties but my favorite vanity item would have to go with the beer goggles that I earned during a Brewfest holiday event a few years ago. 

The proper name of the items are called Belbi’s Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles and when equipped it turns all players and NPCs into gnomes (if you’re a Horde you see nothing but goblins). It is so fun wearing that item and just go roaming around the populated cities.

It’s weird since not many people on my server rolls a gnome

It is especially funny equipping the B.E.E.R goggles before going out on an adventure. In my opinion,the greatest moment in World of Warcraft is when I can go out to a field and mowing down countless gnomes or goblins AND complete my chosen set of dailies.

What’s your favorite vanity item in Azeroth and why? Leave a comment below or create a blog post and submit it the Blog Azeroth forums 

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#232 Microsoft’s Double Dipping into their Xbox One Customers

We interrupt this regularly scheduled World of Warcraft blog for an important next generation console post

A few weeks ago Microsoft revealed their next generation game console, the Xbox One at in the form of a big press release event. With promises of better graphics, a new game engines and exclusive games to usher in a new generation of  console games.  The event focused on Television and Netflix, Skype and Fantasy Football apps. It is clear that Microsoft’s plan for the Xbox One is to move the console away from just a gaming device to an all in one media device.

It was so hard to find this picture without big white block text written all over it

After the event, rumors and facts started to by the gaming press about some of the unmentioned features and constraints that the Xbox will place on the players, a mandatory once-a-day internet connection, an always on Xbox, stricter DRMs on their games and Microsoft’s vagueness when came to the question of whether or not the Xbox Live service will still have a subscription fee and if the Xbox Live Dashboard will have advertisements.

Out of all of the most startling thing was the discovery of a year old patent Xbox placed on the idea of player interactive advertisement and their plan to add achievements for people watching ads and special television events. It seems that Microsoft wants to dip into both the old and new business model that has emerged from the internet by asking the players to pay for a service and then turning around and selling the consumer’s information to other businesses and companies.

The old internet business model is the one we are most familiar with, a business creates a product or a service and the customer pays for it with money. We see this at the markets and landscaping services offline and music albums and online videogame subscriptions online. You pay money and receive the desired service, end of story. Microsoft follows this model by asking players to pay the Xbox Live service.

But at the beginning of the 2000’s a second business model emerged by providing the people with a free service for you and everyone else to use. This model was popularized by Google, Facebook, Hulu and Twitter. These companies make money is by selling the information we willingly give to them to other businesses and selling ad spaces that we will see the mix of our news feeds and at the beginning of a Youtube video and even using our information to provide targeted brands and advertisements for our eyes to consume.

“Big brother is following you”
Funny enough I wrote this before the NDA leak

It is a tad Orwellian but it gets the money through. Microsoft is trying to utilize this model by pushing the idea of selling interactive television advertisements and achievements that will encourage the player base to watch certain television series and (ESPN) football events and creating interactive television ads.

We live in a world where people expect one business model or the other, either a finished product with no advertisements to buy or a free product with ads and the  expectation that the company would be selling our information.

The Xbox One is trying to do both and burning the candle at both ends, expects us to pay for their service and then selling advertising space and our information to companies. Which I bet will not be well received by the player community and might be a major factor in deciding what console to get this generation.

The only way Microsoft to save themselves from a major player exodus from their service is to make the Xbox Live service free for everyone who buys the Xbox One. Microsoft may make less money with this business decision but they will be able to save face in the eyes of the consumers and videogame community. If they do make this decision I bet it would be one of their major announcement at this year’s E3.

But what do you think, Do you see a problem with Microsoft asking their consumers to pay for Xbox Live and then display ads on the dashboard? and What is your opinion on the patented interactive television ads that MAY be on the Xbox One?

(If you do answer leave a comment on whether or not you currently own an Xbox 360 and if you are planning to buy the Xbox One)

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#231 The Warcraft-Pokemon movie

One of the biggest World of Warcraft news that came out this month was Blizzard’s plan to start shooting for the Warcraft movie by early next year Which is great news for Wacraft fans because it means we can finally seen this project that we have been hearing rumors and speculation about for years start going underway.

Blimey at least Marvel conformed the Avengers movie after Nick Fury revealed himself at the end of the first Iron Man film.

With things finally getting started it is time to ask the age-old question of, ‘What story could Blizzard go with for the silver screen?’ Starting from Warcraft I to Mists of Pandaria, there is a massive amount of lore in Azeroth and there is a challenge of picking the right story that is good enough to earn the average fan’s approval but simple enough to be enjoyed and consumed by new comers (whether that be new players or parents and friends that will be dragged along for the ride)

If Blizzard wants to make a successful videogame movie they should take notes on what the Pokemon franchise did when creating their feature-length movies, and knowing them they already have.

All of the Pokemon movies, all 16 odd movies, were written in such a way that you do not need to know any back story what so ever before watching the film. All of the movies focuses on Ash and his two or three other friends and the adventure that is its own separate story without any connection to the games or current television season that is running along at the same time.

They even take place in towns that are just introduced and are never mentioned again

If Blizzard takes this path, rather than trying to coordinate content from the movie match the current content in the game (that would instantly date the movie within a few months).

I bet is that we are going to a good old fashion Warcraft origin story, with one of the first few interactions with the Orcs and Humans.  If Blizzard writes it well enough they can have the Orcs and Humans start their journey in creating the Horde and Alliance and introduce the threat of the Burning Legion without going into the high fantasy lore of the Titans, the fall of Sargeras, the Old Gods, Space Goats or the half-dozen other hospitable worlds in the Warcraft Universe.

I would be interested in seeing an old conflict between the Orcs and Humans from Warcraft I retold with today’s technology, but I want to know what you think.
What story do you want Blizzard to tell in their movie? and are you excited for the movie?

 

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#230 Screenshots of Pandaria Part X

Is this really the tenth screenshot post on this blog?  Whoa. I will say that  since starting this blog the amount of screenshots that I have taken from World of Warcraft have skyrocketed compared the previous years of playing WoW.

932 screenshots, just taken this year (I’ll do a final count at the end of the year)

I am amazed by the Architecture in some of the mogu buildings. I am more amazed on the fact that the Pandarens never dismantled these statues.

Another month and still no killer bunny at the Dark Moon Faire

Still my favorite way of transportation in the entire game

I miss the over-population that occurs within the first few days of a new expansion

This was an old screenshot back when I was a member of the Horde, helping out the Argent Crusade fend off the Lich King’s assault.

 

See you guys Friday

 

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#229 A Change in the Warcraft’s Log-in Screen

Is it just me or do you think we should have a change of log-in screen for World of Warcraft?

I came across this question over the weekend when I was logging online for a session of aiding the rebelling trolls against Garrosh by stealing resources from Kor’kron camps, usually by way of bloodshed, but before I even started my adventure into the harsh barrens landscape I was greeted with a calm soothing image of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

Complete with leaves blowing in the wind

Blizzard has traditionally gave the players one log-in screen for each expansion and while it did its job to capture the overall tone of the expansion, it never captured the current content.  If we are going to be spending most of our play time on Kalimdor I do not want to see my log-in screen showcase an already explored area of Pandaria.

I would love to have a change in scenery once in a while, a new log-in screen for every major content patch, to match the loading screen of the current raid. Very similar to how, for a brief moment, there was a different character select screen for the Alliance and Horde.

To this day I still don’t know what I did to unlock this character select screen.

I do not know a thing on how graphic designers/ art department functions at Blizzard, but I can not imagine too much time would be taken away from development to make a new log-in screen of the zone we are going to be focused on with a npc idly moving around with music from the raid.

Imagine, logging in every day of the last major patch of Mists of Pandaria to see the front gate of Orgrimmar under siege by the Trolls and Alliance.

If Blizzard takes this path, they could earn bonus points from the players by adding a toggle on the log-in screen that allows players switch to their favorite log-in screen on their own computers. 

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#228 The Long Awaited Bat Mount

Yesterday Blizzard revealed their newest mount, the Armored Bloodwing bat, available to players of both factions who can afford the $25 price tag.

Even though I am still on my quest to collect 200 mounts, I am not quite that desperate to drop $25 dollars to achieve my goal, not again.

After reading the announcement and seeing the all the players in Stormwind on their new mounts I felt sad about this mount release,   because players of the Horde have been waiting for years and years for a flying bat mount. Ever since the launch of the Burning Crusade and the members of the Alliance was able to collect both Gryphons and Hippogryph taxi mounts while the Horde could only get the Wind Rider taxi from Kalimor.

We got a hint of that bats would be returning in the troll’s Zalazane’s Fall pre-catalysm event when the members of the horde were asked to hop on the Darkspear’s bats to rain frog-bomb the enemies. It just feels cheap that Blizzard would only put the bat mount in the stores.

Although I’m still holding out that Blizzard will make the bat mount obtainable in-game, either Blizzard’s next major Undead/Lady Sylvanas chapter or in that one last trolls raid that I know Blizzard has tucked in their sleeves. Similar to how Heart of the Aspect gave some players a chance to get the eastern dragon design a few months before Mists released the Cloud Serpent model to the rest of the players population.

**********************

And Now for something completely different.

In Humble Bundle’s never-ending goal to separate me from my money as fast as possible, I have just been informed that they have teamed up with Telltale Games and is currently selling a bundle of their best games, including such titles like Back to the Future, Sam & Max and Wallace & Gromit and if you pay above the average, you will also get the award-winning, Walking Dead game.

It follows theirs previous payment policy, where you get to decide how much you want to pay for the games and you get to choose where your money is going.

But what really made me excited for this bundle is game, Poker Night at the Inventory, not because I play poker but it is because Matt Chapman returns to gives his voice to Strong Bad! Strong Bad was one of the first internet celebrities I ever experienced, I remember spending hours and hours watching and rewatching the Homestar runner skits and waiting each week to see what new email Strong Bad would answer. 

The bundle’s average now is holding at  about $4.30 http://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

Now if you excuse me I have to marathon every Sbemail on their website to recapture some nostalgia.

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#227 Shared Topic: Repurposed

This week’s Blog Azeroth Shared topic comes from Mataoka with the question:

What junk or grey items in game should be made to be used for spells or buff foods, etc? There are many fun items that no one wants, but could be used in imaginative ways!

One of the things I love to do in this game is collect odd and unique things whether it be mounts, exclusive holiday items, pieces of gear, and grey items that are constantly eating up my bank space. 

My first choice would be The Stoppable Force, a trash drop from Burning Crusade that became a bit of an inside joke between my friends in high school and for this I just want Blizzard to change it so that it becomes a transmoggable. 

Maybe this will make a reappearance as a joke in a future demon themed expansion

My second choice would be the Bottled Fire, an item I received from a Blingtron 4000 daily.  There are dozens of consumable items that deals damage to enemies in battle and I wish made this one made the cut.

Just look at the warning! It causes death. I know of a particular Horde Warchief that I would gladly use it on

Fun Fact: there is already a grey item that unlocks a special in-game event, if you encounter a hunter and link them the Crystalline Tear of Loyalty and lie to them about looting it from the rare spawn that he or she was searching for they will cry. 

******

I also feel like it’s my civic duty as a citizen of the internet to inform as much people as I can about the Humble Bundle’s eighth Indie Bundle.

The same rooms apply, five DRM-free, cross-platform games with their soundtracks listed at name your price, beat the average and you get two additional games. With a customizable part of your proceeds going to two awesome charities 

You can find more about this sale at http://www.humblebundle.com/, better hurry because this deal only lasts for 13 more days.

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

#226 First Impressions of the Barrens Battlefield

This weekend I spent most of my Warcraft play-time revisiting one of my favorite zones back when I played an undead on the Horde,  the one the only, Barrens zone.

I forgot how awesome the color orange can be

The very first impression I got when I completed the introductory quest chain and first few stages of the proper zone was  how awesome it was.

One of the first things I saw when I was gathering information about the recent changes within the horde was a mobilized orc military, imprisoning rebel trolls and keeping them at gun point.

 

Bam! Instant awesome from a Political Science fan

 

After getting the rebel trolls and Vol’jin himself to trust the Alliance to join the cause of overthrowing Garrosh, I was then asked to complete a quest to steal gather wood, meat, oil and stone from the Kor’kron forces.Although I despise most gathering quests, this was one of the few times I can tolerate. As I mentioned before in one of my posts about the Isle of Thunder, I did not feel like I was making any progress every time I completed a Kirin Tor offensive daily.Each Mogu and Saurok I killed did not bring the faction to stopping the Thunder King, we were just dealing with his foot soldiers and wild life.

But in the Barrens Battlefield I actually feel like each barrel of oil I steal and each shaman I take out cripples Garrosh’s army and aids the Alliance and Trolls’ cause.  I just wish that Blizzard would add a Windwool cloth turn in quest at the questhub, it seems the most appropriate time to bring that ancients quest model back.

Find me on Google+ for updates on this blog

I’m also on Twitter

Be MOP focuses on the Mists of Pandaria expansion of World of Warcraft with my own reflections about the current news and developments that happens throughout the game’s life cycle. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays