State of Azeroth: Hello new content

Well things have been busy since the last State of Azeroth. We now have Patch 4.1 and the Firelands raid to look forward to along with some other changes coming our way. We’re also getting back two old dungeons which have been revamped to be Heroic 5-mans: Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman. And yes the mounts are back. Let’s get into some more news.

News

The biggest news to come out has been information regarding patch 4.1 and the Firelands raid. Firelands will be coming in 4.2 and we’ve been able to get some ideas of what the new raid will be like. I’m going to start with Ragnaros himself, who’s model we’ve been able to see. Many complaints have come about due to the size of his stubby little legs. Personally I’m not a fan at all. I much prefer his original form that we’ve seen (and beaten) before. Granted things will look a lot different in game (as we’ve been assured from Blizzard), that Ragnaros will be more imposing and epic once we see him in the raid with all of the effects going. Not to mention our characters are probably the size of his fingernail (if he has those).

But we do get some new instances in 4.1! Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub are returning as 5 man heroics. There will be all new loot tables (iLevel 353), and the mounts will be returning as well. These will all have newer models, so those who previously got the mounts will still have something unique. As a mount collector this makes me happy since I was never lucky enough with the old instances. Plus more high iLevel gear is always a good thing.

The other really great thing coming in 4.1 are Guild Challenges. These will be built into the guild UI and are weekly tasks that guild groups can try and complete to get guild experience, achievements and gold. I know I’m not the only one to not be too happy with the slow experience gain (and rep for that matter) can work on these tasks each week to get bonuses. Best of all? The experience will go up even if you’ve already hit the cap!

The final bit of news I wanted to touch on was the fact that the loved/hated Celestial Steed will soon no longer be the only mount in the Blizzard shop. First datamined up and then confirmed, there will be a new mount:  the Winged Guardian. It’s a pretty awesome looking black, purple and white winged lion, and quite honestly is a lot more impressive looking than the Celestial Steed. Not much else is known regarding the mount besides the fact that it will be in the store when patch 4.1 goes live. I can only assume that it will also be $25 like the previous mount.

As always, the latest patch notes from the test realm can be found here.

The Diplomatic Priest

Welcome Azerothians!

Coming to you with another edition of The Diplomatic Priest, I’m going to make a left hand turn from the usual discussion on issues pertaining to the WoW community as a whole and single out the closest group you have in game; your guild.

Guilds are not only a core group of raiders, PvPers, and achievement junkies but it’s a community within a community. For some a guild comprises of real life friends who can spend their Tuesdays and Thursdays taking down Magmaw, and Friday nights out to dinner. Other guilds are filled with people who may not even have a face to a name but work in harmony when it comes down to instances and arena teams.

Above all things, when in tight knit group as a guild can or should be, you have to be respectful of everyone. It’s inevitable that personalities may clash and the group may carry many different dynamics in the guild but just as you are with co-workers in real life you have to be respectful of the decisions and opinions around you. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in guilds where jokes fly from one end of the spectrum to the other and for us it’s all laughs, but that reality may not hold true to other players and that’s both okay and normal.

To those who may be the jester and may be reaching the boundary line, take a step back to reserve your thoughts and opinions to those that you know can merely take the joke. If the shoe was to be on the other foot though and you’ve witnessed off color remarks or jokes flying and you legitimately find yourself uncomfortable, reach out to your guild master and express your concerns privately if you wish to keep a sense of anonymity. A guild master carries the responsibilities to not only lead a group, but to make decisions in the best interests of all parties involved for an enjoyable playing experience so be confident that your GM will address the concerns to resolve any and all issues.

Look for specific advice from Reilana and want to see it posted? Be sure to drop an email to thediplomaticpriest@gmail.com

Achievements and Goals

Since the launch of the achievement system these two things have gone hand in hand. But even before this, players always had their own goals. Mine didn’t get solidified until the achievements were integrated, but even before then I had a thing about doing the holiday quests, collecting pets and mounts, and just going around and exploring Azeroth (and points beyond). But they came to the forefront when I saw I could get titles and pets and mounts for my efforts. It also tapped into my love of collecting achievement points on Xbox Live. I’ve since racked up quite a few achievements, and am pleased with being ranked #4 in my guild on achievements behind 3 of the most achievement obsessed people I know.

But reading through achievements can also lead people to make goals for themselves. I recently had a friend, who even though her main is only at level 40, is working on her way towards getting Bloodthirsty. Obtaining 250,000 honorable kills in PvP is quite the feat, but since she’s more of a fan of PvP than I, I’m sure she will only start getting more, especially the closer she gets to level capping. Plus I love how excited she is for this, and the fact that other guild members will go on lower level toons to join her in battlegrounds for fun.

I’ve also had friends and guildmates help or join me in getting achievements. This dynamic of being able to group up on some things with friends really makes the system, and even attaining your goals a lot more fun.

Plus, players in WoW set goals that aren’t just based on achievements. Some really want to have an amazing Arena Team, while others work on being the first to take down new raid bosses. I also know of many players who just like to collect fashion items, and no they’re not on RP servers. I’m personally a fan of keeping pieces of armor that I really like, even if I can legitimately use it. It may make me a candidate for Hoarders: World of Warcraft edition, but I don’t care.

It’s always good to have some goals when playing. It keeps things interesting and it’s a great way to just have fun with some friends.

Expanding the collection

Taverncraft, who’s site I visit on a regular basis to drool at steins, has released more awesome products for WoW fans: City mugs! Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Ironforge and Undercity have been made into mugs so that you can not only faction, but city pride. The mugs can hold 18oz of liquid and are made of top quality stoneware. Plus they just look great! Each mug is going for $19.99 plus shipping.

One other really neat item that was brought to my attention recently was the officially licensed sheet music of the music from WoW. Published by Alfred Music Publishing, the collection contains the piano and vocals for 13 songs from the game. It would be nice to see the music made for some other instruments, but I’m sure that WoW players who are gifted with playing piano, or even singing, will enjoy this. The collection runs $19.99 plus shipping.

Well... I’m still in Azeroth [my thoughts on Rift]

Rift launched not too long ago to huge fanfare and the extremely bold tagline “We’re not in Azeroth anymore.”

Well I tried out the game while it was in beta, and while it was fun it didn’t make me go running to pre-order or sign up at launch. I enjoyed the graphics, and had fun playing as one of the Defiant. Their starting zone alone was engaging and drew me into the game a heck of a lot more than the Guardian side. I also really enjoyed the detailed class system that the game has. The depth that you can go to with the different specs is pretty detailed. The graphics are also really nice with detailed environments and enemies, but I found I wasn’t a huge fan of the player/race models. I felt those could have been done a bit better.

But all in all it was not engaging enough to make me want to pay another $15 a month for a MMO subscription. True it could bring in more people who have not yet delved into the world of MMOs, or first timers from the free to play side. And maybe it could have got me more into it had I been able to level a character higher than 10 before the beta ended. But in the end, I’m still in Azeroth.

New MMOs like Rift may like challenging the old heavyweight but at the same time, I really do think that they should try and step away from directly challenging WoW and move towards just being their own game, maybe bringing some new game mechanics or a story to the world of MMOs. I do wish Trion good luck with Rift. From what I’ve heard it has a solid player base and players seem happy. Maybe some day I’ll get a chance to play it further and see more of the game.

Call to readers!

If you have any tips, tricks, news or funnies you would like to send in to be included in the next State of Azeroth please send an email to steph@gamingangels.com!

Thanks to Necrotic Designs for the awesome State of Azeroth banner!