Friday, August 08, 2008

'Wrath of the Lich King' looking good, 'WoW' fans say

Since its launch in the fall of 2004, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft has shattered expectations at every turn.

Prior to its release, no American massively multiplayer online game (MMO) had ever reached what was then seen as the magical million subscribers level--even major hits like EverQuest and Ultima Online. Yet almost before anyone could blink, WoW, as it's known, had surpassed 4 million paying users and now has more than 10 million worldwide, and at $15 a month for most users, it may well be bringing in more than $1 billion a year.

Then, prior to the January 2007 release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, no one had ever heard of the kind of nationwide midnight madness lines associated with iPhone and Xbox launches for a game expansion. Sure enough, however, people lined up at game stores everywhere for hours for the right to be among the very first to buy Burning Crusade, and the update went on to sell millions of copies.

And now, with the second major WoW expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King, in beta testing, Blizzard is getting ready to prove yet again that when it comes to American MMOs, it is the undisputed gold standard.

"It's just beautiful," said longtime WoW player and Lich King beta player Katrina Glerum. "The game really feels epic in a way that The Burning Crusade didn't....Burning Crusade felt like an extension of the (original) game. This really feels epic, and that you're part of something grand."

All Lich King players will have to upgrade from Burning Crusade, in particular because the new expansion extends the top level players can reach to 80 from 70 in Burning Crusade, and 60 in the original game.

Right now, the Lich King beta has only recently opened up to those lucky enough to get invitations--or those they have passed their access codes onto. Indeed, the codes are selling on eBay for $150 or more, a testament to the passion or many hardcore WoW players, especially given that the game is still months away from its public launch and riddled with the kinds of bugs common to early beta releases.

There's no way to be sure, of course, that the new expansion--for which an official launch date has not been announced--will be a success, but there does seem to be a lot of enthusiasm being expressed for it, both among players like Glerum and on various WoW blogs and forums.

"I think it'll be just as big, if not bigger" than the Burning Crusade expansion," said Mike Schramm, the editor of WoW Insider. "BC was the biggest-selling PC game sequel ever, I think. Wrath might be a little lower than that, but there'll certainly be lines for it."

Much of the early adoption of the expansion will almost certainly come from the most accomplished Burning Crusade players who want to continue to take the game as far as is possible.

One of the most important new feature of Lich King, according to J. Allen Brack, the production director for WoW, is that it introduces death knights, which are a hero class of character and the first new class to be brought into the game since the original version.

"There will be a lot of pressure to buy it, and anyone who has a character at the highest level will pretty much consider it a necessity," said Schramm. "You'll be walking through the Barrens (an area in WoW), and you'll see a steam tank drive past you with five people sitting in it, or you'll see a death knight clad in frozen armor with five ghouls walking behind him. This stuff is Wrath only. After seeing that, who wouldn't want the expansion?"

To Glerum, there are several areas of the game that Blizzard has made major strides with. Some are practical, while others are directly related to the visceral feeling of being in the WoW universe.

"They took it up a notch, with the complexity of the scenes and the intricacy," said Glerum. "They have some areas which are now misty, which is a really interesting effect, walking through a mist. Previously, they had sort of grayed out the scene and called it mist, but now it's hard to peer through."

More...

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Tradeskill Recipe Merchants

Alright, will try to compose a list over the different Merchants who sells rare/limited Tradeskill recipes...

Becoming a Master Merchant - World of Warcraft

Okay, I'm probably going to nerf the hell out of my strategy but I've been milking it enough I
guess. :-) This takes what other people have said to a new level.

I have 6 characters so this is pretty easy for me. I have one character that just sits in front of
the bank in Ironforge, which of course is right across from the auctionhouse and has a handy
mailbox nearby.

Remember all of those supply vendors you pass by? Well look at their inventory and always
check the last page. There's usually some limited supply recipes that you can buy. The ones
that are in weird places are even better. The goblin in moonbrook sells rage potion recipes,
there are 2 goblins in duskwood, the one on raven hill sells shadow oil recipes and the one on
the road north out of duskwood sells goblin jumper cables. All of these recipes sell for 200-
1000% profit in the auction house.

My biggest secret? I buy 5 different tuxedo patterns from the tailor in ironforge for around 40s
each and turn around and sell them in the auction house for 2g or more! There are also 2
thorium recipes off of the engineer supplier in the gnome area that sells for pretty good. People
are just lazy or don't know that vendors sell these recipes. Keep in mind they're all limited sell
so if a recipe isn't there check back in 20 minutes.

I also have a night elf druid and when she good her port to moonvale i was in heaven. Port over
to moonvale and buy the runecloth recipe from the tailer there. I can't remember which one but
one of the recipes soulbinds to you so be careful. I think it was the boots recipe. Also in
moonvale is the arcanite rod enchantement and some other high level recipes. All of them can
be purchased for 1-2g and buyout in auction for 5-7g. Once you have your recipes hearthstone
back to auberdine and drop them in the mail to your mule guy in front of the auction house.
Periodically while your other characters are doing their thing look up the nearest supply vendor
and buy out their recipes. If you're always logging out in an Inn (which you should) this should
be a piece of cake. If you have a character logged out in Darnassus, be sure to pick up the
Greater Rage potion recipe, Free Action Potion, Martial Linnen Shirt and Greater Adapt Robe
pattern.

If you do it right you should have about 20 auctions going at a time and it doesn't draw
suscpicion like putting up 10 auctions all for the same item (a great way to kill your profits by
the way). I make about 20-30 gold a day from about 30min work. The best part is you can do it
at any level.

Some other good places for recipes, Ashenvale has a ton of good stuff at Astranar and that
other post. You can get the expert cooking book and the big bear steak recipes (the bear
recipes cost like 20s and you can sell it for 1g alot of times, and its unlimited supply). The
Wetlands has a vendor in the middle of the map. Stormwind in the old town district has a pub
and upstairs a guy sells about 20 different cooking recipes, many of the same ones you have to
quest for.

Link

Make 100 World of Warcraft Gold a Week in Just Minutes a Day

Make 100 World of Warcraft Gold a Week in Just Minutes a Day

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

WOW!

Can't believe I haven't posted anything since September. Well, yes I can, I stopped playing then.

But, as of about two weeks ago I started back up. And, for now, I'm pretty addicted. We'll see how long that will last. I started a male Draenei shaman. He's level 19. And I have done pretty well at the Auction House, I have 15 gold and nice bags and wearing alot of good green stuff. I'm doing herbalism/alchemy and my alchemy is a little over 100.

I'll see if I can't get back on Allakhazam and get his profile up on the right-hand side.

- Marc

Ok, got back on Allakhazam. Here is Treesyin's (an anagram of Serenity) WoWReader profile.