Archive for February, 2010

Exciting times! On the latest Twitter Dev Chat, a fun little inquiry for old 5-mans came up: do you think we’ll get to see older instances given the heroic makeover?

It’s already been confirmed that both Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines will be made heroic, mostly for their own story purposes. This poses an interesting thought — what other instances could be made heroic, and why? Since we know that Desolace is going to be green and lush, maybe they’ll do something with Maraudon? (I’m not sure who would want to see Princess Theradras again, but hey.) Perhaps a heroic Blackfathom Deeps, considering that the Twlilight’s Hammer is making such a big comeback in the next expansion? Or hey, why not even a heroic Razorfen Downs? Why? Why not, I say!

So, dear readers – what old world instances should be given the heroic upgrade, and why? Personally, I think I’d rather stick hot pokers in my eyes than see a heroic Wailing Caverns, but that’s just me.

Axes, maces, lightning, fire, frost, and wolves, and best of all, Windfury. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance at Big Hit Box and pens the enhance side of Totem Talk.

A dead DPS does no DPS. It’s as simple as that. Whether in a raid, an arena, or out soloing and leveling, staying alive is priority number one. This is as true for enhancement shamans as it is for any class. Thankfully as enhancement we have a few more options than most DPS classes including our saving-throw talent: Maelstrom Weapon.

I consider it an absolutely essential duty to toss out MW4/5 heals in a damage-intensive environment, especially if the fight is new progression for your guild or you’re in a tough match in PvP. I remember working on Tidewalker in Serpentshrine Cavern, I’d throw MW5-Healing Waves on the tank constantly. The damage was so intense on our main tanks and their health so spiky that at 4 procs of Maelstrom Weapon he’d be at full health then a split second later when I had 5 More >

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.

The history of Azeroth, as well as its origins, is often confusing and lacking in solid information. However, there are a few facts that are well known – once upon a time somewhere in the universe, there were great creatures known as the Titans. The Titans were an odd race of beings that were obsessed with creating order out of chaos. They traveled from world to world, setting things up so that life would progress in an orderly, structured fashion. Sort of like those people you can hire to organize your kitchens and closets.

Enter Azeroth. The Titans came to Azeroth and muddled with it, creating order out of the races that existed on it and tidying everything up, but there was a larger problem that took some intensive cleaning. Ancient creatures known as the Old Gods decided they’d really like to take over the nice chunk of rock — and More >

The recent Twitter dev chat confirmed what is fast becoming a tradition: We will be getting a new Caverns of Time instance with the upcoming expansion. It’s certainly not something I have much trouble with. The Caverns of Time are an excellent tool for looking back and understanding old pieces of the story that brought us to the current world as it is. Unfortunately, the devs were not willing to drop any hints as to the exact nature of the new instance, but we can, of course, make our own guesses.

The original questioner suggests War of the Ancients as a possible destination. In a way, that might be an interesting battle. It would, if nothing else, give us some insight into the character of Malfurion Stormrage, who promises to be a key figure in the expansion. That said, Rhonin, Broxigar, and Krasus have already traveled back in time to deal with the War of the Ancients, and you’d have to think that if you keep shoveling more time travelers back there, something’s bound to give.

Continue reading New Caverns of Time instance coming in Cataclysm