Looking Back On Another Year of WoW - 12.31.2006

Well, World of Warcraft began 2006 with a bang. On the 3rd of January, patch 1.9 (The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj) was released. This patch brought the still popular AQ20 and AQ40. This patch also brought linked auction houses, multi-queued battlegrounds, shard bags, the Paladin talent review, a modified Zul'Gurub, and the guild recruitment channel. This patch was a great way to bring in the new year of WoW. Then, on the 28th of March, came the patch that everyone got excited about. Patch 1.10 (Storms of Azeroth). "Storms of Azeroth" brought weather effects to the world of Azeroth, the tier 0.5 armor, and the priest talent review.
On June 20th, 2006, Blizzard released Patch 1.11 (Shadow of the Necropolis). This was one of the most anticipated patches yet. "Shadow of the Necropolis" brought us the still fresh Naxxramas raid dungeon. Along with this massive dungeon, the players received shaman and mage talent reviews.
The 22nd of August brought the "flop" patch of the year - Patch 1.12, or "Drums of War". Along with boring world PvP additions, Blizzard added the failed rogue talent review. The only real good thing that came out of this patch was the cross-realm battlegrounds.
Not even a month ago, on December 5th, 2006, Blizzard released their pre-expansion patch, patch 2.0.1 - "Before the Storm". This patch brought in a new Looking For Group interface tool, new talents for all classes, a revamped honor system, and the arenas. This patch made is much easier for the casual player to receive [Epic]s.

So, as you can all see, WoW has changed significantly over the past year. With the Burning Crusade coming in half a month, what changes can we expect in 2007? Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

-Punchline

Punchline: Part 1 - 10.22.2006

Punchline is my Gnome Rogue. It's been a long journey with him. I never thought I would reach 60, and neither did any of my friends (real life and in-game). I eventually did hit 60, but I'm still pretty "nOOby". My gear isn't very good at all. I was really excited to hear about how casuals could obtain good gear in patch 2.0, so I began right away. Unfortunately, I didn't start my PvPing until after the 30% honor reduction, but that's okay because today I got my GM Longsword!! I was very excited when I received it. Now, I am going for the epic gear and then eventually my off-hand swiftblade. So, leading my guild (First Blood) as the leader and armed with my longsword and Dal'Rend's off-hand, I will post updates on Punchline's progress every Friday.

-Punchline

2.0.3 PTR's Are Up - 12.21.2006

Well, this came as a bit of an unexpected surprise, but the PTR's for patch 2.0.3 are now up.

Drysc stated,

" The Public Test Realms are now live with the 2.0.3 patch!

This patch test carries a unique and significant difference over previous PTRs as we’re testing a post-expansion realm environment. Current Closed Beta testers will be able to access the public 2.0.3 PTR as “expansion owners” and will continue to have access to expansion content. Players not currently in the Closed Beta will be present and testing as “non-expansion players”, and will only be allowed access to non-expansion content. Along with testing the changes and updates made in the 2.0.3 patch, we will also be testing how an expansion realm will operate with both expansion and non-expansion players present.

As always we appreciate your involvement, testing, and feedback.

You can begin participating by downloading the client and copying your characters to the PTRs through the following link: https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ptr/

Please be sure to visit the Test Realm forum for more information and to post feedback, bug reports, and discussions: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11572"


More info on the PTR's coming soon!!

-Punchline

Blogger Loves WoW? - 12.21.2006

Blogger loves WoW? Well, apparently so... This little bit of a page can be found on your Blogger "dashboard" if you own a blog. Would you rather play WoW than go to Hawaii? :p

-Punchline

Blogcraft's New Home - 12.21.2006

Welcome to World of Blogcraft's new home. All of the old posts from the old blog have been transferred over - and some of the old posts were updated with new content. So take a look around, and if you feel like you want to donate to Blogcraft, go right ahead by clicking the new donate button in the top left area of the blog's home.

-Punchline

'Twas The Night Before BC - 12.20.2006

Scrann of Earthen Ring made a great post today on the WoW forums. Sometimes you are lucky to find a good post on the WoW forums, but it isn't so often that you find a creative post. The following is Scrann's Warcraft version of "The Night Before Christmas". (It is fairly long.)

'Twas the night before BC, and in World of Warcraft Not a creature would /stir, /sing, /dance, /silly, or /laugh The servers were hung, all instancing ceased In hopes the expansion would soon be released

The children were nustled all snug in their beds (Only orcs; no young tauren, trolls, or undeads) And I, in my warlord's gear, from PvP Had just trekked to the inn for some rested XP

When out by the bank there arose such dissent I wondered if Blizzard started a world event I went into cat form, to ensure my good health If demons were invading, I was gonna be stealthed

The moon didn't light up the boring old dirt (C'mon, some Ogrimmar snow couldn't hurt!) When what should I see, out there on the streets? Twas a musclebound orc, and a mess of elites!

He was giving out buffs, which were awesome but brief I knew in a moment it was the warchief Was he giving a quest, or was this an illusion? He started to /yell as we watched in confusion

"Come raiders, and twinkers, and casuals too! Come on PvPers, get out of your queue! To the top of the bank, to the top of the wall! You can dash, you can mount, you can even slowfall!"

He jumped on the mailbox, to give rise to himself I feared for a moment he'd become a night elf But he did not /dance, or remove all his gear So we all gathered round, and we lent him our ear

And then, on the bank, I heard from the roof The prancing of two dozen large tauren hoofs As I drew in my head, visions of taurens prancing I was distracted by a female elf dancing

She was dressed in all epics, from her helm to her rings They spat fire and did other impressive things A bundle of loot she had flung on her back And a two handed sword with a proc-cleave attack

Her eyes, how they twinkled! Her body, so thin! She had golden hair, and odd, peach-colored skin! Her droll little mouth was drawn up in a sneer, As if immune to poly, stunlock, root, and fear

We all drew our weapons, and I readied my claws I'd enjoy tasting elf blood dripping from my jaws But Thrall raised his hammer, and let out a fierce growl We all hesitated, hit by his piercing howl

"Her kind," he claimed, "are not our enemies! They don't hide in shadows, they don't even hug trees! They all hate alliance, and see them as noobs! Even if, like alliance, kids will stare at her... monitor tubes." *ahem*

But from out in the crowd, came a shout, "She's no ally! You can tell from her int-based plate she's a pally! Her hotbar has bubbles and hearthstones adjacent! You've brought us a target, we won't be complacent!"

"But you see," the elf said, her voice calm and malicious, "I may have found the light, but I find it delicious. We stole from their gods!" She screamed while she glowered. "To mock claims that shamans are so overpowered!"

"But where," I responded, "Did you get all your loot?" "My chestpiece has less stats than one of your boots!" She took out her hearthstone, and started to laugh, As she showed me that it was now set to Shattrath

"I got them in Outland, just as you will. In a month your new set is as useless as twill. The Blasted Lands is where to bring this Horde You know, when you levelled, that zone you ignored?"

"It's a land of new quests, and wonderous gifts, Of casual conent, and paradigm shifts. So come to the portal, if you'll continue playing, And take on 'You are not prepared!' as your saying!"

She bubbled and hearthed, in true pally fashion, But in her wake I had found a new passion In this new land I'd find epic apparel Perhaps I would even find something for feral!

Thrall raised his hammer, and looked nearly immortal Then he jumped on his mount and rode for the Dark Portal But I heard him exclaim, as we rode to our fate "I hope when we get there, it will be release date!"'

The original thread can be found here.

-Punchline

WoW: After The Crusade - 12.20.2006

January 16th, 2007… Ah, I just can’t wait. It’ll be lagfest ‘07 in Blasted Lands - that is assuming the game will be up and running. But what happens after that? I don’t mean January 17th, I mean in the months after that; after we have seen everything that the Burning Crusade brings to the table. Well, Blizzard has come out and stated that their goal is to release one expansion a year. (You can find the post here.) By an expansion, they obviously mean new lands, new instances, new abilities, and possibly new races/classes. But what could those be? Well, we know that the Northrend expansion will come sometime, whether it is the next expansion or not, it IS coming. A trip to Northrend would mean a fight against the Lich King. Now, the following is all my opinion and none of it was confirmed - ever.

I believe that the Northrend expansion will indeed be the second expansion. My guess is that it is released sometime around the summer of 2008. The reason I say that the Northrend expansion will be coming “early” is because I believe that Blizzard will be losing players around this time next year (because of various new MMO’s - Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, etc.), and they will need to come out with something BIG. A Pandaria or Great Sea expansion will not bring retired players back, but the chance to face the Lich King on the other hand, will. At what level will we fight the Lich King? Well, my guess would be at level 85. I would also guess that we won’t see anymore races, but we will see 2 more classes. Now, I am going to take a huge guess here, but I think the name will be “World of Warcraft: Expedition to Northrend”.

P.S. - In 2008, Druids will be the Warlocks of today. :p

-Punchline

World of WiiCraft - 12.20.2006

Pooch, from WiiCast, has posted a new segment to his vlog (video blog). This newest segment shows how you can play WoW with your WiiMote. It was only a matter of time…



-Punchline

Premades Must End - 12.15.2006

So, I’ve been grinding in Arathi Basin for the past two days. I have managed about 85 marks of honor and 8-8.5k honor with my mediocre gear and my guilds premade groups. Once, we even managed a 2000 to 0 win in 6 minutes. Here lies the problem. The problem is that if I wasn’t in a premade group for those two days, I would probably be with 40-50 marks and 4k honor - if that. I am lucky to be in a fairly manageable PvP guild, but my friend, who played in PUGs all day won his BG games only a few times. As much as I am happy to have a good premade available whenever I want, I am against premades. This new honor system was made for casuals to get good gear, but it is a flawed system if they still are not able to obtain gear because their PUGs constantly lose to premades. That is just my opinion. What are your thought? E-mail me at worldofblogcraft@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post!!

-Punchline

I Own The Internet - 12.14.2006

It started out as a mere troll post mocking the other threads on “The Burning Crusade Cinematic Premiere”, but mine was the lucky one that blew up. Now, with over 570 posts, my thread is still going. Check it out!! http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=55819940&postId=557749118&sid=1#0

P.S. - Also, don’t forget to watch the new cinematic for the Burning Crusade!!


UPDATE: I believe the thread is now close to a record high. See, threads are usually closed automatically after 500 posts, but when Drysc (a WoW forum CM) saw the thread’s popularity, he decided to re-open it.

-Punchline

The Twelve Days Of Warcraft - 12.10.2006

wOOt!! A post!!

Here is my Warcraft version of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”…


The Twelve Days Of Warcraft

On the twelfth day of Warcraft, Blizzard gave to me…

Twelve angry murlocs,
Eleven nagas swimming,
Ten priests renewing,
Nine ‘locks-a-sharding,
Eight moonkin dancing,
Seven rogues-a-gankin’,
Six night elves naked,
Five lazy peons…
Four calling nerfs,
Three ranging hunters,
Two exploding sheep,
and a pally in the retribution tree!

I just posted the last verse of the song so you could see all of it. It would be a bit annoying to post the song in its many parts.

-Punchline