WoW Gold,Buy WoW Gold News List
Editorial - The BlizzCon That Wasn2009-03-10 00:00:00The question posed this week is this: how common is it for players to meet other players (in real life) they originally met in-game. While meet and greets are relatively common for first and second generation MMOs (i.e. those games before the veritable birth of the casual in late Nov. 2004), its a different story with the game that - to many - made the MMORPG casual and accessible.
Im not saying that World of Warcraft guilds are any less tight-knit or organized than guilds in other MMORPGs; in fact, one of WoWs many innovations was making the repeatable instanced endgame (with all its needs for a large, well-organized, well-equipped raid group) accessible to the common player. But, lets face it, WoW is so casual that theres little need for a guild until that very endgame C other than maybe a little chat-window hilarity. From where I stand, WoW guilds that form prior to the endgame and last longer than a weekend tend to be groups of players that either 1) already know each other in real life (either friends, family, or workmates), or 2) know each other from an extant online community (e.g. a guild from another game, forum buddies, etc.).
So what to do with the those that come to WoW without a ready-mad...
Editorial - The Business of MMOs - A Look at your Monthly Fees2009-03-10 00:00:00In most MMOs if you want to play, you have to pay. Its just a part of the game. There are the exceptions out there like Guild Wars and a few others, but the standard MMO has a monthly fee. In this editorial I look at the following questions and answer them from my point of view.
Does paying a fee drive players to squeeze more enjoyment out of the game, or does it make players more likely to quit at the first significant hurdle? Nobody likes the monthly fee, but what good comes of it? Are game's pricing models a good fit for the player base, and do they change based on the player base? For games without a monthly fee, such as Guild Wars, do you find yourself less forgiving of other fee-based MMOs? Does the lack of a fee make players less intense about playing regularly
All interesting questions about the monthly fees and all will be answered. If anyone has any others, please send them in and I can add them on to the editorial at a later date.
Does paying a fee make players squeeze more out of a game? I dont really believe it does, although I can see that a fee will make players leave a game. If you need to pay each month to play a game and you are constantly getting stuck or frustrated with it y...
Editorial - Wacky Crazy Waving Insane Opposite Day2009-03-10 00:00:00What makes a good MMORPG? This is a question that is heavily debated on every video game message board out there. Everything is listed from removing RPG elements to free ice cream. However, is this really the question that should be asked? Truly is there even an answer to this mystical magical question? Why yes, there is. The answer is another question: What makes a bad MMORPG
Through my experience in online gaming, especially MMORPGs, I feel confident to call myself a specialist in the field of BADMMORPGs. What allows me to claim such a boisterous title? Well, the fact that anytime I mention one of my good game ideas someone instantly responds with That is such a bad idea! I think by bad they mean rad, so I will show you my plans for my rad MMORPG!
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World of WoodCraft
(Parody Begin) The first thing any new game needs is a development company. For this example I shall create a fictional company called Zaft Games with a near infinite budget. The first order of business would be hiring the staff. Id hire 50 video game programmers (25 experienced, 25 who went to summer video game camp), 50 designers (25 experienced, 25 house decorators), 50 customer service represe...
Editorial - When is it OK to Switch Guilds2009-03-10 00:00:00This weeks editorial is about a topic that I just had to find my way through this past few weeks. It is one that many players either struggle with at some emotional level or take far too casually. While not gettin...
Editorial - Women and Raiding2009-03-10 00:00:00A lot of men are awful at WoW. So are a lot of women.
As you read through the following article you may have a gut reaction to either wholeheartedly agree or wholeheartedly disagree; I would hope that -- in either case -- you catch the nuance of my arguments. This is a gender issue that deals with problematic relationships in raiding guilds; as such, the article does not give as much credit as it should to the genuine friendships and solid couples that are the foundation of many guilds. Understand I do not intend for extremity.
You will find that I clarify twice that there is no realistic difference between men and women in gaming. I do not want to reinforce any view or tone that suggests this; as such, it becomes difficult to expand on the genuinely good aspects of both men and women and the non-gender issues that arise for everyone due to the context of this article.
Bit of background. I grew up Mormon; this meant I was raised in a semi-segregated setting, as many other large church organizations are. There was a Young Men's and Young Women's organization. While Sunday School was mutual, many of our other activities and weeknight get-togethers were based on age group and sex. In Boy Scouts, I would ...
Encrypted Text2009-03-10 00:00:00Welcome back, fellow rogues! Everyone on the site has been going into a leveling guide frenzy, and it's our turn to cover the earliest possible levels.
However, I rolled my rogue ... well, I rolled my rogue a long time ago. An embarassingly long time ago. Suffice it to say that when I rolled my rogue, Gwen Stefani was singing about not being a hollaback girl, whatever the frude that is. So the memories of level 1-20 are sort of fuzzy in my head. But I recall it being a lot easier than my hunter (gee, ten levels of raptor striking anything with no pet) and less boring than my pally (seal, judge. seal, judge.)
The first thing you need to do is pick your race. Krystalle covered this fairly in-depth in the past, but for the quick and dirty, here's a few tips:
The best PVP racials are those of the undead (Will of the Forsaken), gnomes (Escape Artist) and blood elves (Mana Tap/Arcane Torrent).
The best PVE racials are those of the trolls (Regeneration and Berserking, theoretically) and the humans (Sword and Mace Specialization, Diplomacy).
Night elves, gnomes and trolls have the most starting agility.
Dwarves and orcs have the most starting stamina and health.
The most common rogues are night e...
Encrypted Text2009-03-10 00:00:00Last week, we looked at what stats are important for a PvE Rogue, and how those stats interact with each other and why they're important. To summarize, hit and expertise ratings are very important until you reach a few key milestones, after which the pure damage options like Agility and Attack Power become more attractive.
The key is to be over 99 hit rating (the Yellow Hit Cap - YHC) but under 315 hit rating (the Poison Hit Cap - PHC) and to never be over 214 expertise rating (the Expertise Cap - EC)? If you look in the right places, reaching these numbers becomes fairly simple. Bind on Equip Leatherworking goods, Heroic drops, and reputation rewards will form the core of your gear as a newly 80 Rogue. Let's explore where to find the right type of gear to prepare you for that Naxxramas raid next weekend. Much of this information can be found at Shadow Panther, however I have collected the pieces that specifically sport Hit or Expertise that can be acquired in 5 man Dungeons or below. Remember that the PHC and EC are "caps" and not necessarily goals, and that you shouldn't sacrifice other stats to reach these goals unless you have used a spreadsheet to determine which is the better piece of equipment.
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Encrypted Text2009-03-10 00:00:00Every 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'll discuss what stats are important for raiding Rogues in today's end-game.
Wrath's first true raid instances come in the form of a level 60 raid instance put in the microwave for 20 levels and served with a side of dragons. Don't get me wrong; I love the retouched Naxxramas. I never got to experience all of the fights against Kel'Thuzad's minions before they relocated to Northrend, so being able to re-enter the citadel of death and slay some undead is a welcome opportunity.
If you search for "naxx 60 rogue gear guide" I'm sure you'll find a bunch of articles that recommend you sport at least 8/8 Bloodfang and maybe a weapon or two from Ahn'Qiraj. Times have changed, and so have the gear requirements. There are a few magic numbers that every Rogue wants to shoot for. After the cut I'll detail these vital stats and explain why they're so important to us.
Key Stats:
Gear designed for assassins like us can have a variety of stats. Haste rating and armor penetration are among the fringe stats that are simple DPS increases without any sort ...
Encrypted Text2009-03-10 00:00:00Welcome to another edition of Encrypted Text! This week I'm continuing the class leveling guide started by Elizabeth, covering levels 21 to 40. I've only leveled characters on a PvP server, so I know when I hit 20 or so it's time to abandon the safe land of Care Bears for the contested areas where the opposing faction is just waiting to kill you. Luckily, you're a Rogue and thus have an advantage: since you generally keep a low profile, killing quickly and stealthing from target to target, you are hard to spot unless someone much higher level gets right on top of you.
When leveling, especially on a PvP server, use this to your advantage. Unless there's a good reason (like traveling long distances or killing a mob), you should stay in stealth. Even if you're spotted, you still stand a decent chance of getting away -- try throwing something in their face to Blind them, then Sprint away until you can restealth. Well, let's get started. I'm going to assume you've read about levels 1-20, have a good idea of how your Energy and Combo Point mechanics work, and have at least a few points in the Combat tree. If so, read on -- if not, go back and read about your first 20 levels!
For this portion of the guide, I'...
Encrypted Text2009-03-10 00:00:00Every 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 dive deep into the 3.0.9 patch changes for Rogues.
I remember where I was at when I read the 3.0.9 patch notes when they were forwarded our way on the WoW Insider tip line. I was in line at the grocery store, picking up a gallon of milk and some sausage to make biscuits and gravy. Reading the tiny print on my iPhone, I scrolled down to the Brittle Yellow class text that triggers an instant reaction from any fellow assassin: Rogue changes.
Just four tiny lines, yet our entry doubled that of nearly every other class. These short, simple sentences would set the blogging community and the Official Rogue (and General, and Damage Dealing, and Paladin...) Forums ablaze in riot. How could we keep believing in Blizzard? My first thought upon reading the now infamous Assassination nerf: "They're nerfing Mutilate by HOW much?"
Let's take a step back for a moment. Trying to isolate a single change and crucify Ghostcrawler for something that was taken out of context is not going to be an effective negotiating strategy. Taking the patch notes as a wh...
