Posted on January 7th, 2010 by admin
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW’s newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to’s, visit WoW.com’s WoW Rookie Guide.
Level 80: You’re reached the beginning of the end. It’s never been easier to take your character to epic levels of gear and adventure. Whether you’re five-manning for its own sake or gearing up along the path to raiding, we’ve got the tips to help you make the most of your level 80 group experience. If you’re so new to level 80 (or still working your way there) that you’re not sure what to tackle and where to turn first, read Level 80: Now what?. Once you’ve got a handle on the available options, it’s time to tackle the wide world of Wrath’s five-man instances.
Group like a team player
Get group experience on the way up. Before the advent of the Dungeon Finder, it could be difficult to find a group to run pre-level 80 instances with level-appropriate players. Now? There’s no excuse for reaching level 80 without grouping
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Posted on January 4th, 2010 by admin
Reader comments — ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.
Think you’ve got what it takes to make it through another year in the company of the denizens of [1.Local]? Work your way through the comments on these recent favorite posts at WoW.com — not only the comments listed here from the “Best of” roundups, but the comments on the original posts, too — and we’ll talk.
Cataclysm, Cataclysm, Cataclysm
July 2009 was one long paroxysm about Cataclysm.
dextros: I was sad to see the Worgen pets vanish; for a time, every hunter in our raid group had one. =D
Sargenus: Ahh. The masks! I remember getting into a fight with a friend who apparently -knew- Goblins and Worgen would NEVER be a playable race and told me to stop dreaming. I guess you can tell, I mock him every day after BlizzCon.
Heartfelt connections
One of the most touching pieces that’s ever appeared on WoW.com ran this past August, as
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Posted on January 2nd, 2010 by admin
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all-things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com’s arena column.
Listening Music: Zero, by the Smashing Pumpkins. I knew I wanted to feature the pumpkins today, I just didn’t know what song. I sifted through maybe twenty or thirty songs. I thought about featuring Cherub Rock, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Today, and The Everlasting Gaze, among others. 1979 was out of the question – it feels like too much like Sesame Street to me. In the end, it came down to Zero or Eye. I wanted to feature the Ghost in the Shell video of Eye (NSFW), but it’s got a little cartoon nudity in it, so that’s why we’re going with Zero today.
Last Week: Part III of our beginner’s arena guide. We discussed very basic arena strategy for many popular specs of each class. Last week’s column is pretty long
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Posted on December 29th, 2009 by admin
WoW.com’s Twelve Days of Winter Veil contests keeps on rolling. If you didn’t win a Path of Cenarius code on Christmas, we’re giving away 5 more Path of Cenarius codes today courtesy of WoWTCGLoot.com. Yes, you, too can have flowers follow in your wake. What self-respecting PuG farmer wouldn’t want to have bright foliage sprouting behind them?
To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment in this post by Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 12pm ET (noon). Limit one entry per person and make sure you’re registered with a valid email address. We’ll be choosing five winners randomly from the entrants and contact them via email after the close of the contest.
Don’t forget to check back every day through January 2nd for new contests celebrating the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
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Posted on December 24th, 2009 by admin
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW’s newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to’s, visit WoW.com’s WoW Rookie Guide.
No matter whether you’re the greenest rookie on the block or well into leveling by now, if you haven’t paid attention to the new, improved tutorial system that was launched with Patch 3.3, you’re missing out! “This is great,” says reader Dysmorphia when news broke about the new system. “I didn’t even realize that you could turn your character with a mouse until around level 60 or so. Look at this sad e-mail I wrote to a more experienced druid when PvP got me down: My enemies literally run in circles around me making it very hard for me to attack. If you can offer any advice, I would be much obliged to you. Now it’s the first thing I tell new players. But having it actually clearly explained in a tutorial will be very helpful.”
Sink your teeth into the whole feast’s worth of tips in our tutorial tips gallery, which
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Posted on December 17th, 2009 by admin
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW’s newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to’s, visit WoW.com’s WoW Rookie Guide.
Plotting your path from zero to hero? “Last night, I got my alt mage to level 80 (woop) and thought I’d set about doing some heroics to get those ‘phat loots’ and a have a bit of fun,” writes reader Hedwinkle of EU Daggerspine. “However, I was disappointed to see that I couldn’t queue up for any heroics using the new tool, as my gear level wasn’t high enough. I mean, it’s all blue gear from the later instances, so I guess I have two questions …
“1. What is the gear level required to allow me to queue up for random heroics using the new tool?
“2. What is the best way for me to go about getting my gear level higher? People on my server have very little interest now in finding a group the ‘old-fashioned’ way.”
As it turns out, Hedwinkle’s not the only one who’s been puzzling over the
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Posted on December 14th, 2009 by admin
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, Furious, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We’re especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player.
There have been no immediate changes to the Arena directly due to patch 3.3. Okay, well, that’s not entirely true, but the changes to the Arena are mostly change by implication. Nonetheless, there’s enough little things that will affect the gladiators that it’s worth spending a little time examining.
Probably the biggest change we’ve been hearing about is that you can now pick up Arena points from doing your daily battleground quest. At 25 Arena points per daily, It’s not a huge amount of points. If you’re already a very highly rated arena team, then you’re probably not going to get a large amount of use from an
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Posted on December 10th, 2009 by admin
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about all of the new gear you can find in patch 3.3.
Patch 3.3 descended upon us rather quickly, bringing all of the new patch notes to fruition. It even brought extended maintenance and instance server outages in its wake. You can read more of WoW.com’s coverage of 3.3 in our comprehensive guide. I was lucky enough to survive the instability long enough to run the new 5 man’s, and they’re a ton of fun.
I’ve talked about the changes that rogues can expect, with Combat seeing a nice boost via the Deadly Poison change, and Mutilate is sitting pretty with Murder and the DP change putting it in sole possession of first place. Hopefully you’ve got a pair of daggers lying around. If you don’t, have no fear! Blizzard has put in a ton of new rogue loot, and really pulled out all of the stops. Read on for a list of all the gear you’ll be able to acquire in these first few weeks of our
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Posted on December 7th, 2009 by admin
It’s time again for another Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that loves mages and all things magey. Take this picture, for example. That’s a mage right there. If I’m not mistaken, she’s getting ready to do something magey. Like plant a Fireball deep in the fertile soil of a warlock’s grill. Arcane Brilliance loves everything about that.
So apparently patch 3.3 could literally drop any moment. I’m not even kidding. It might have happened while I was typing that last sentence. I don’t know. More likely, though, is that it will come (as per the usual deployment-method) during the upcoming Tuesday maintenance. This means we’ve only got a little time left before we can enter Icecrown Citadel and begin the patch-long process of shaking its inhabitants down repeatedly for loot. I, for one, cannot wait to place an Arcane Missile or five directly up Arthas’ frosty tailpipe.
But what, exactly, does this patch bring to the mage class? I’m glad you asked. Though this patch is admittedly a bit heavy on the new raid content and light
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Posted on November 30th, 2009 by admin
Hot on the heels of a much larger achievement we’ve recently covered (Twenty-Five Tabards), I’ve decided to do The Keymaster in this article for two reasons:
I recently watched Ghostbusters.
Do I need another reason?
Actually, the other reason is that if you’ve done Twenty-Five Tabards, Keymaster is usually pretty easy because you’ve likely got some Burning Crusade faction rep under your belt. I could tack on a third — I’m constantly surprised at the number of players who aren’t keyed for some of the old-world dungeons, and by “surprised,” possibly I mean “irritated,” because I keep getting pestered to go open doors. Happily, just about all of these keys can be soloed at 80 for most classes, and none of them are particularly time-intensive (with the possible exception of the Scholomance key due to insane travel time) to get.
Auchenai Key
You’ll need at least Honored reputation with Lower City in order to purchase this from Nakodu, the Lower City quartermaster in (where else?) Lower City, Shattrath. Questing for Lower
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