- Since I wrote my recent post about the constant slagging of World of Warcraft, I've received some comments that make me think I need to consider the other side of the coin. No, I'm not taking the "WoW Suxxors" side. Instead, let's talk about everyone who doesn't play WoW and what the expansion onslaught looks to them.
- If you are not a WoW player, the sudden flood of Cataclysm posts must be overwhelming. Many blogs that cover a wide range of topics are suddenly dominated by this one game. And if you don't care about WoW, your interaction with the community will be dropping considerably.
- This isn't new for WoW, though. Anytime a new game becomes the flavor of the month, you are going to see a lot of talk about it. And if you are not on that bandwagon, you end up hitting "Mark As Read" in your feedreader a lot. For the last several months, there have been a number of bloggers talking in excitement about Star Wars: The Old Republic. I'm not sure I even want to play it, so I end up skipping a lot of blogs. WoW blogging is an entire magnitute greater than that, so it must seem like the entire community has turn away from you.
- I think that is part of the reason that there are two MMO communities, there is WoW and then there is everything else. Just look at the split between WoW Insider and Massively. There is no reason that Massively couldn't cover WoW, except that the WoW community is voracious for WoW centric content. That's why there are WoW bloggers, WoW forums, WoW everything. But WoW is still an MMO and even the most game-promiscuous player will return to the mothership from time to time.
- I think we could all do a better job in remembering that, although there is crossover, not everyone enjoys WoW. There are valid reasons for not enjoying the game. WoW is not a religion and we are not missionaries to the unenlightened. Continue to share your experiences, but remember to be friendly about it.
- And if you find yourself overwhelmed by all the WoW talk, just remember that it will pass. It always does. Pretty soon another game will comes along and everyone will jump on that bandwagon. And if not, people will burnout sooner or later. It's just a matter of time.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- Congratulations on your decision to explore the fascinating field of Archaeology, the craze that is sweeping the World of Warcraft. Maybe you're wondering if Archaeology is right for you? Well, you've come to the right place. My assistant, Kyralahn, and I are here to explain what this new profession is all about so you can make an informed decision.
- It looks like Kyra is ready to go, so let's get moving.
- When you decide to take up Archaeology, it pays to learn from the best. That's why the University of Stormwind employs only the best professors in the field. Here we see Professor Harrison Jones, back from his recent expedition to Grizzly Hills, speaking with his students. Due to his affiliation with the university, only Alliance students will be accepted. Members of the Horde may have to resort to less reputable instructors.
- Once you've been instructed in the basics of the profession, you are ready for adventure. There is nothing else to buy. All of your surveying equipment is provided as a part of your education.
- To find various artifact sites, check your continental map. On each continent (based on your skill level), you will find four shovel icons showing where artifact fragments can be found. There are several possibilities all over the world. Find the one best suited for you (I like to start close by and move farther afield as I go) and set off. Flight Master transportation can add up over time, so get used to flying yourself.
- When you enter a zone where the dig sites are found, the zone map will display red rings showing exactly where you should be searching. Pick a spot and get started.
- Why did it have to be drakes?
- Maybe we'll try somewhere else first.
- Now that we've chosen our site, let's explain how your new survey equipment works. When you use your Survey ability, your equipment will scan the area for artifacts. Here you can see that the red indicator has been illuminated. This lets us know that we are nowhere close to an artifact. Don't let that discourage you. Think of that red light as a check mark on your list of potential locations. That's one less area you need to search!
- The yellow indicator here tells us that we are getting closer. While the equipment only gives a vague direction under a red light, when you are in the yellow band the direction is much more clear. When I see a yellow light, I know that I'm closing in.
- Helpful Hint Number One: When the yellow light comes up, run straight in the direction that equipment points for as long as it takes for the cooldown on your Survey ability to expire. Very often, the five seconds of running you do will put you within range of your quarry.
- And finally we see the green indicator. Your instrument is calibrated to light the green lamp when you are within forty yards of the artifact. For reference, forty yards is the distance that a first level mage can throw a fireball or a first level tauren can kick a gnome.
- Ah, we see here that Kyra has gotten herself in a little trouble. It is important to keep in mind that the dig sites we will be exploring will be inhabited by potentially hostile forces. It's a dangerous world out there, so don't get caught unaware.
- Don't be afraid to loot those bodies. Just think if it as archaeology at a very early stage.
- Now that Kyra is in the clear, we will demonstrate how to triangulate your artifact. Here Kyra demonstrates taking the first reading. Memorize the direction your instrument is pointing because you will be moving it in a moment.
- Next, Kyra moves several paces off to the side of the first sighting to take a second reading.
- When the second reading is made, run in the direction the instrument points until you reach the line from the first reading. Kyra thinks she's found the spot, so let's take another reading and see how well we did.
- Perfect! It doesn't always work that well, so you may need to take additional readings before you hit your target. Don't forget to loot your fragments.
- Helpful Hint Number Two: After you loot the fragment, make your next survey from the very same spot. You would be surprised how many times multiple artifacts can be found together.
- As you find fragments, they will be listed in your archaeology journal. In Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, you will find artifacts relating to the Dwarf, Troll, and Night Elf peoples as well as fossils from prehistoric times.
- Since you will tracking down various different types of fragments, your journal will keep track of what artifact of each type you are trying to piece together. Once you have enough fragments, you can "solve" the artifact. Once the artifact is whole, it is placed in your inventory. Since most artifacts are particularly common, you can then sell them to any interested party. This helps fund further expeditions and passes your findings on to the world. Remember, archaeology is about the acquisition of knowledge, not things. Although, there are rumors of exceptional artifacts to be found.
- Helpful Hint Number Three: Don't actually solve any of your artifacts until you have at least 75 (if not 100) skill points in Archaeology. Up until you reach that point, you earn skill points by collecting fragments. Once you pass 100, you will only earn points by completing artifacts. And you can collect many more fragments than the artifacts require, so you won't lose any by waiting.
- Completed artifacts will be recorded in your journal. Here you will find the list of all your accomplishments.
- Each artifact also has a description when you hold your cursor over it. Some are quite interesting to the knowledge hungry adventurer.
- And now that we're finished with the lesson, it's time to ride off into the sunset. Kyra and I hope this was helpful to you. Now get out there and see what treasures the world holds!
- Since the new guild I joined was on the Alliance, I knew that I would be putting my blood elves on the back burner for a while. That is honestly okay because I've enjoyed bringing my original character out of mothballs. Also, I just prefer the Alliance more. The Horde (especially the Forsaken) still feel like the bad guys, no matter how you dress it up.
- The only issue I had that since I didn't play her that much in the last couple years, my paladin only got to level 73. That would have to be rectified. I went on a questing sprint through Northrend, trying to reach 80 before the expansion. Last night, with only three hours to spare, I made it. I'm kind of shocked myself. It helps that Blizzard pushed the leveling curve between level 70 and 80 down by twenty percent.
- So you might be asking how I spend my first minutes in the new expansion? Did I run off to Vashj'ir or Mount Hyjal to explore the new content? Did I join the masses and roll a new worgen or goblin? None of the above actually.
- Instead I ran off for a meeting with Harrison Jones, the Archaeology trainer in Stormwind. Ever since the expansion was launched, I've been interested in this new profession. And even after The Path of the Titans was removed, I wanted to see what had become of Archaeology.
- So far, I'm enjoying myself. The new dig sites show up right on your world map. You just ride (or fly!) up to the sight and start surveying the area. It is a little maddening when the artifact is right along the edge of the dig site because it make triangulation more difficult, but I didn't have to give up on any of the sites. In fact, I was pretty proficient at hitting the right spot with a minimum of surveys.
- That went on for a couple hours. I flew all around the Eastern Kingdoms, hitting every dig site I could find, until I hit 75 in my Archaeology skill. No acheivement for that (you need 150 for the first) but I needed to go train anyway and call it a night. I ended up completely three artifacts (all gray quality) which I sold to the Stormwind innkeeper in trade for logging for the night.
- Now that the rush has passed, I'll be heading out to Hyjal today. But you know I'll be back to digging soon. I think I'm hooked.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- On the verge of the new expansion, I am compelled to point out that no one will be forced to play World of Warcraft. No one will think less of you for not renewing your subscription. Your paladin and druid won't be moping around Dalaran wishing you would come back and play with them. Blizzard won't be sending the Brute Squad around to collect the non-WoW-ites and put them into Cataclysm Indoctrination Centers.
- I feel like the point needs to be made because people are already defensive about all the WoW talk going on. And by defensive, I mean actively offensive about the game. Whenever talk comes around of WoW, all the usual suspects talk about how dumbed down it is, how real gamers play real games instead of baby games like WoW, and, of course, how they don't like playing on rails.
- Fine. Don't play. My enjoyment of the game is not contingent on your approval. The WoW you enjoyed before is gone, if it ever was the game you remember at all. There are hundreds of other games out there to champion. (Like Champions, for instance, which is my personal underdog.) I'd much rather see you write about the games you love than the games you hate.
- Anyway, you're all just jealous. Nyah, nyah, nyah.
- UPDATE: For a follow-up to this post, check out Random Shots: WoW Versus Everyone Else.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- I'm trying something a little different in World of Warcraft this time around. I've decided to try playing with other people.
- Feel free to get all of the snarky comments out of your system now before we move on.
- A few weeks ago, I got an email from an old high school friend I haven't heard from in years. He knew that I was a WoW player and wondered if I wanted to level up a new character with him so that we could experience The Shattering from a level appropriate perspective. Plus, and this may just be me, leveling up is fun. I'm an achiever type through and through and there is nothing I like more than watching my character grow in power.
- The first night we got together, we all rolled new characters and leveled through our own starting zone until 10. Although I had planned on waiting until I could trip with a worgen, I rolled a night elf druid. It's a very different experience for me. I've never played a druid before and I deleted every one of my night elves. None of them stuck for some reason.
- Those first ten levels were, unsurprisingly, a breeze. Teldrassil was always a pain previously. But the new story flow, and the redesigned quests, made it much less annoying than before. In a couple of quests, I was joined by an NPC who helped me through a particularly tough events. It was a nice touch to allow you to take on greater challenges while giving you the feel of adventuring with another player. I'm also liking the new quest-level enemies, as Rohan calls them. Having hard enemies to take on that are still soloable is a great boon.
- Unfortunately, I hit level 10 before I finished out the zone, so I don't know if there was a big event at the end. Instead, we ended the night by gathering in Stormwind to take on the great terror of Elwynn Forest, Hogger. Blizzard turned taking on Hogger into an huge event. Taking down the renowned villain was a great way to end our first night.
- The second day, our party journeyed into Westfall. I couldn't believe how much the zone has been redesigned. The main quest line has you investigating a murder as you travel across the zone. Like Teldrassil, you move pretty quickly from quest hub to quest hub. Most of the time, I felt like I got everything out of a location before moving on so it did not feel too rushed. Westfall has an amazing storyline, one that I'm looking forward to coming back to from time to time. Blizzard's use of phasing in the zone was phenomenal, really allowing the story to move forward without relying on an overabundance of quest text. But if you are a conscientious reader like me, you will be rewarded by reading the quest items you pick up along the way.
- As much as I loved the main quest line, I did appreciate that they left two of the off-the-beaten-path quest series in the game. So you can still wander the zone is search of the pirate's treasure. And the lighthouse ghost is still around to give you a tour of the coast. As much as I like the heavy story approach Blizzard took with the zone, I'm glad they gave us reasons to explore on our own.
- This was also the first night we tried the new Deadmines. The quest giver was right inside the zone, just as we'd heard, and it was a great addition. The only issue we ran into was that we had to run back to the entrance every time we needed to pick up the next quest, except for the very last one. But the instance itself was great. Blizzard did an excellent job updating the zone so that it fell new again. And the boss encounters felt like something out of a Northrend dungeon. I couldn't believe how involved the encounters were. No more tank-and-spank for the low level newbies anymore. The final two battles were a lot of fun, if completely chaotic. I look forward to trying Deadmines again on heroic difficulty.
- The third night we got together, we journeyed to Redridge Mountains. However, we did run into the issue of overleveling the zone. You might have read that dungeon quests were giving too much experience. Well, it was true. We started Redridge at levels 17 and 18, quite a bit higher than the 15 expected. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the new zone just fine. Like Westfall, Redridge was overhauled and its story advanced nicely. There were some great sights for long time players like ourselves. Were once a lonely guard patrolled Three Corners, there is now a guard tower dominating the region. Darcy, the waitress in Lakeshire who sent you out with a lunch for the guard, Parker, is now Darcy Parker who, along with their daughter, Libby, resides in the tower. And the infamous unfinished bridge has finally been completed. Blizzard even teases you that they might destroy the bridge, but you are able to nearly avoid that fate.
- The main quest line sees you assembling a strike force to take on an Orcish incursion. My friend immediately identified the story as an homage to First Blood. Like Westfall and its nod to CSI, Blizzard likes it's pop culture references. But they always to a great job to make the story compelling anyway, so you can chuckle at the references even while enjoying the adventure. One funny thing to note. There are several quests where you are joined by NPCs. But even though we are in a group, each player is assigned their own copy of the NPC. So at some points the three of us had five NPCs each, making our party into a raid force instead. But again, we really enjoyed the action movie story that we played. We ended the night when we completed the main quest and headed back to Lakeshire, having saved the town from the orcs.
- So far, Blizzard has done an amazing job of using each zone to tell a full and complete story, something I have been wanting for a long time. My favorite original WoW zone has always been Duskwood and that is where we are headed to next. I'm greatly looking forward to what Blizzard has in store for us, both in Duskwood and the rest of our journey.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
