Friday, May 21, 2010

AVR Mod Broken in 3.3.5

This is a notice that we’re making changes in 3.3.5 in attempts to break the ability for the AVR (Augmented Virtual Reality) mod to continue functioning. For those unaware, this mod allows players to draw in the 3D space of the game world, which can then be shared with others who are also using the mod. In some cases this manifests itself through drawing/tagging/defacing the game world, but more popularly is used to give visual guides for dungeon and raid encounters.

We’re making this change for two reasons. The invasive nature of a mod altering and/or interacting with the game world (virtually or directly) is not intended and not something we will allow. World of Warcraft UI addons are never intended to interact with the game world itself. This is mirrored in our stance and restriction of model and texture alterations. The second reason is that it removes too much player reaction and decision-making while facing dungeon and raid encounters. While some other mods also work to this end, we find that AVR and the act of visualizing strategy within the game world simply goes beyond what we’re willing to allow.

The change we’re making in attempts to break the functionality is light in its touch and approach. When blocking any functionality we run the risk of affecting other mods, but we’ve targeted the changes as carefully as possible. If we find that the AVR mod (or any mod attempting to replicate its functions) are usable after 3.3.5 we will take further, more drastic steps.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Female Worgen Models

MMO Champion has picures up of the female worgen models. If you want to see the lot, go check here.

The legs look like dranei legs, but that's not really what bothers me. I mean they have to make 4 footers walk up straight, so you're bound to get some oddly shaped legs.

What does bother me are the heads.

I stuck a male worgen head down for comparison, but I see nothing of the viciousness of the worgen back in the female worgen head. This looks more like a hyena than like a worgen so far.

What I do absolutely looooove are the purple eyes though!

But hey, work in progress, right?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

To all of you melee newbs out there!

I do randoms on 5 characters now, and all too often I see melee happily chopping away in the mob's face. The worst part is that half the times I tell them to go stand behind, I get foulmouthed.

So for all those people out there who have absolutely no idea why it is that healers, tanks, and yaknow, generally just more experienced people, are asking you to stand behind the boss....

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Real ID afterthought

3.3.5 is on the PTR, and it includes the whole Real ID thing. I was discussing it with Thror, and he mentioned that the Blizzard employees themselves cannot even use it because of the way it links characters to real names.

Their characters would be hunted and tracked down by crowds of people....just so they could say, "Hey Ghostcrawler, you promised me a pony!".

On the good side, I did see that there are statuses available, shame they forgot the invisible status.

Friday, May 7, 2010

ICC10 heroic Guide - Deathbringer Saurfang

Deathbringer Saurfang is the last boss of the first wing, and also the gate to all the other wings. This is also the hardest boss of the first wing, and the first boss in the instance who will drop tokens on heroic mode. Tokens that will allow you to upgrade your tier gear to the 264 version.

We one-shot the first 3 bosses, and then wiped 5 times in a row on this one...good times.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Battle.net Real ID

So while MMO Champion is going crazy on the screenshots and previews of Cataclysm, the tiny message that came in the post before that I had almost missed. And funny enough, I found this one way more interesting since it's actually about to go live and available to players.

You can read the original blue post here.
We’ve just released a new preview of our upcoming Real ID feature, ( http://www.battle.net/realid/ ) a new, optional way to connect with your friends on the revamped Battle.net. When you and a friend agree to become Real ID friends, you’ll have access to a number of options designed to enrich your social gaming experience, including cross-game chat, broadcast messages, the ability to keep in contact with your friends without having to keep track of their different characters across realms or across games, and much more. Check out our new Real ID page here. http://www.battle.net/realid/ 

ICC10 heroic Guide - Gunship Battle

Group Composition
- 2 tanks
- at least 1 healer
- dps

Differences between normal and heroic:
- The rockets knock you back 7 yards

This is about the easiest one, perhaps consider it a small gift after the first two.

Just do this as you've always done it, but don't be silly and stand in a rocket close to the edge though, they will send you flying off the edge...

Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

ICC10 heroic Guide - Lady Deathwhisper

Group Composition:
- 2 tanks
- 2 or 3 healers (depending on how strong your healers are, we 2 heal it)
- 5 or 6 dps


Differences between normal and heroic:
- She will periodically Mind Control 1 person
- Add Waves come faster
- Phase 2 she's not tauntable
- Phase 2 one add keeps coming from the back (tauntable)
- Vile Spirits now explode in a 20yard radius
- More damage, more health

Unlike for Marrowgar there are quite a few things different here, but the fight does sort of go the same.