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Most of these executives gained their position due to crafty manipulation and NOT by actually, really improving a product or product line, increasing profitability or market share. But they were and will be always great at presenting their (short or very short term) results in the best light possible, and excellent at knowing and manipulating the right people.

Tom, is that you?

Have you verified that WoW is properly detecting the number of CPU cores you have? I've seen it be stupid and keep setting itself back to using only one core.

You can try setting the number of cores manually:
http://www.wowwiki.com/CVar_processAffinityMask

it's a reference to the Draenai - an alliance race that was introduced in the first expansion.

This.

Well, asides from the inflammatory tone.

There was a bit of novelty in the quest structure of some of the lore-ish questlines, and the "Angrathar/Battle of the Undercity" chain you mention is a premier example. To a lesser extent, the "Argent Vanguard/Argent Pinnacle" chains.

The common mechanical factor is, I think, phasing. This capability seems to have taken the chains off of the quest writers, and they've broken out with some memorable quest lines.

That said, there were some memorable and affecting quest lines in the old content as well.

This.

Well, asides from the inflammatory tone.

There was a bit of novelty in the quest structure of some of the lore-ish questlines, and the "Angrathar/Battle of the Undercity" chain you mention is a premier example. To a lesser extent, the "Argent Vanguard/Argent Pinnacle" chains.

The common mechanical factor is, I think, phasing. This capability seems to have taken the chains off of the quest writers, and they've broken out with some memorable quest lines.

That said, there were some memorable and affecting quest lines in the old content as well.

In other words, Blizzard announces that Starcraft 2 will be released 'Soon'.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Soon

Well, we already have the "Green Hills of Stranglethorn" by Hemet Nesignwary.

Maybe it's not the game makers that are the problem, but the jerkoffs who refuse to engineer half-cow half-man, half-goat half-bluemangroup, reanimated corpses, manbearpigs, and cross-breeds between humans, monkeys, and patches of sod!

FFS! this kind of whining is what gives liberals like me a bad name!
My guild on wow is run by a husband and wife team, and there are other women, black people, germans, and indians in the guild (i KNOW, I speak to them over voice chat!!). NONE of them complain.

Maybe he's hiking in the Stonetalons?

MOD UP! (the cauldron is also in Searing Gorge, further adding to the hilarity).

It's actually one of the jokes you can tell if you type /joke in the game console.

I... am aware of this :)

http://www.wowwiki.com/Jokes

I just tried to point out the little bit of irony.

Most memorable quote ever: "SCOURGE! Gamon will protect you!"

If you want to follow the story behind wow, can I suggest WoWWIki? It's got just about everything about the WoW lore all in one place. Good places to start are outlined in a recent post on my blog about WoW lore and what to browse through on WoWwiki.

peculation began when Blizzard trademarked Cataclysm recently, and then later when a test server briefly popped up with the word 'Maelstrom' in its name.

A test server named Maelstrom? Now I know they're pulling shit out of their ass, as Maelstrom is an existing RPPvP server that launched in September of 2006.

Damage done by fatigue can be healed. It is possible for a low level healer to swim through the fatigue whilst healing itself and regenerating sufficient mana to continue infinitely, and reach often unrendered places that are otherwise impossible to reach.

So while I was incorrect in the mechanic, and the story I was told was a lie, it's still fairly likely that some of these places are in fact reachable; at least in theory.

[...] I mounted, and as I lept off into the horizon, I casted levitate. I came to a point where the map disappeared, but the water continued to stretch out into the distance.
Some theorize that this is where GM Island is located.
Okay, so we all know that GM Island is in an instance now. But like any instance, there's a non-instance version of it. Like when you set old world instances to "Heroic" and walk behind the portals. GM Island wasn't always an instance, and programmers just don't delete environment from the game. Case in point, Old Ironforge and Ironforge Airport.
Granted, you'd have to walk pretty far, assuming GM Island IS in that direction...
Moving on, it's unreachable alone...attempted it. However, multiple priests together could do this easy. Have 5 or so in a group together so they can heal off of each other with renew and circle of healing. Another tip, wear +healing gear that has no stamina. Fatigue hits for 20% of your max health every 1-3 seconds. Low health means low damage, high healing means you can heal over it. 5 priests means you can have a few of them sit back and relax while the others cast, so not everyone wastes mana.
If you are really interested in doing this, make it 4 priests and a warlock.
"Harmonex wishes to summon you to GM Island." [...] Of course, this is all under the assumption that GM Island even exists on the main map...

[...] I mounted, and as I lept off into the horizon, I casted levitate. I came to a point where the map disappeared, but the water continued to stretch out into the distance.
Some theorize that this is where GM Island is located.
Okay, so we all know that GM Island is in an instance now. But like any instance, there's a non-instance version of it. Like when you set old world instances to "Heroic" and walk behind the portals. GM Island wasn't always an instance, and programmers just don't delete environment from the game. Case in point, Old Ironforge and Ironforge Airport.
Granted, you'd have to walk pretty far, assuming GM Island IS in that direction...
Moving on, it's unreachable alone...attempted it. However, multiple priests together could do this easy. Have 5 or so in a group together so they can heal off of each other with renew and circle of healing. Another tip, wear +healing gear that has no stamina. Fatigue hits for 20% of your max health every 1-3 seconds. Low health means low damage, high healing means you can heal over it. 5 priests means you can have a few of them sit back and relax while the others cast, so not everyone wastes mana.
If you are really interested in doing this, make it 4 priests and a warlock.
"Harmonex wishes to summon you to GM Island." [...] Of course, this is all under the assumption that GM Island even exists on the main map...

There are places you can go in World of Warcraft that are more secluded than Newman's Landing. For example; the Dun Morough Airfield or Quel'Thalas or Shatterspear Village. Some of them are easier to get to than others. Newman's Landing (mentioned in TFA) is certainly easier to get to than any of the above.

JSL

There are places you can go in World of Warcraft that are more secluded than Newman's Landing. For example; the Dun Morough Airfield or Quel'Thalas or Shatterspear Village. Some of them are easier to get to than others. Newman's Landing (mentioned in TFA) is certainly easier to get to than any of the above.

JSL

There are places you can go in World of Warcraft that are more secluded than Newman's Landing. For example; the Dun Morough Airfield or Quel'Thalas or Shatterspear Village. Some of them are easier to get to than others. Newman's Landing (mentioned in TFA) is certainly easier to get to than any of the above.

JSL

Ask, and ye shall receive...
US_realm_list_by_datacenter

...getting distracted with flame wars.

RIP Tseric

As compiled by WoWWiki.

I also find WoWHead to be useful, as a newb.

How in the name of Jesus Allah Christ (tm) is WoW complex? There's 2 builds for each class, PvE and PvP, and all you do is left click / hit hotkeys over and over as everything is autohit. Complex is a game like Asheron's Call or Darkfall/a) or Ultima Online.

Sounds to me like you played some pure DPS class to 30 and then quit. Am I right?

In general, the only classes that only have two viable builds are pure DPS classes, and the developers are working pretty hard to change that so that every class has at least three viable builds for PvP or PvE (although the degree of success so far varies by class). Hybrid classes usually have at least three builds. Druids have four, and Death Knights have seven (yes, seven).

Besides that, the complexity isn't in character design. That's something you do once over the course of a few minutes and then go play the game. The real complexity is in the raid encounters. Read up on the tactics required to beat Kael'thas Sunstrider or C'thun or Sartharion. If you run into those (or any other high-level boss fight) and just mash your hotkeys, you're going to die, and you're going to get the rest of your raid killed with you.

How in the name of Jesus Allah Christ (tm) is WoW complex? There's 2 builds for each class, PvE and PvP, and all you do is left click / hit hotkeys over and over as everything is autohit. Complex is a game like Asheron's Call or Darkfall/a) or Ultima Online.

Sounds to me like you played some pure DPS class to 30 and then quit. Am I right?

In general, the only classes that only have two viable builds are pure DPS classes, and the developers are working pretty hard to change that so that every class has at least three viable builds for PvP or PvE (although the degree of success so far varies by class). Hybrid classes usually have at least three builds. Druids have four, and Death Knights have seven (yes, seven).

Besides that, the complexity isn't in character design. That's something you do once over the course of a few minutes and then go play the game. The real complexity is in the raid encounters. Read up on the tactics required to beat Kael'thas Sunstrider or C'thun or Sartharion. If you run into those (or any other high-level boss fight) and just mash your hotkeys, you're going to die, and you're going to get the rest of your raid killed with you.

How in the name of Jesus Allah Christ (tm) is WoW complex? There's 2 builds for each class, PvE and PvP, and all you do is left click / hit hotkeys over and over as everything is autohit. Complex is a game like Asheron's Call or Darkfall/a) or Ultima Online.

Sounds to me like you played some pure DPS class to 30 and then quit. Am I right?

In general, the only classes that only have two viable builds are pure DPS classes, and the developers are working pretty hard to change that so that every class has at least three viable builds for PvP or PvE (although the degree of success so far varies by class). Hybrid classes usually have at least three builds. Druids have four, and Death Knights have seven (yes, seven).

Besides that, the complexity isn't in character design. That's something you do once over the course of a few minutes and then go play the game. The real complexity is in the raid encounters. Read up on the tactics required to beat Kael'thas Sunstrider or C'thun or Sartharion. If you run into those (or any other high-level boss fight) and just mash your hotkeys, you're going to die, and you're going to get the rest of your raid killed with you.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Shiny_Bauble Looks like they're fishing for money, they may need this.. Blizzard has deep pockets.

It's an interesting contrast when compared to WoW. WoW has over 100 realms in North America alone, and they are still adding more. Maybe not on the same pace as when it first launched, but there have been 4 new realms opened just since the beginning of the year. Source

I'm reminded of a comment I saw a few months ago by a Blizzard exec (I don't have the source and don't feel sufficiently motivated to look it up) that basically said that most of the people that had canceled their WoW account indicating that they were moving on to Warhammer have since reactivated their WoW account.

I think that's pretty telling.

Looks like something the silithid might build. I'm thinking the cenarion circle is going to ask me to go there and hack up 15 searchers, 20 tunnelers, and return with 5 egg sacks for study.

What are you babbling on about? You didn't pay for Naxx? What's the first raid dungeon in WOTLK? Oh yeah... that one. And not everyone that played WoW raided.

The Naxx you're talking about? That's not the same Naxx he's talking about. Unless you want to talk about lore - but we're talking content.

As for raiding - I suppose you're wanting to talk about the Battlegrounds then?

What are you babbling on about? You didn't pay for Naxx? What's the first raid dungeon in WOTLK? Oh yeah... that one. And not everyone that played WoW raided.

The Naxx you're talking about? That's not the same Naxx he's talking about. Unless you want to talk about lore - but we're talking content.

As for raiding - I suppose you're wanting to talk about the Battlegrounds then?

I think you mean Nerglish.

I really wish I spoke murloc. I'm really curious what you just said that got you modded Interesting.

Speaking of MMO's, in WoW for a long time there was speculation about the name of the raid leader being the seed for the Random number generator for loot drops, as some guilds found that the same gear kept dropping until they changed their raid leader.

Many random number generator conspiracy theories sprung up in MMO's, I remember one, i think it was everquest, where people would do their crafting in Churches because they thought it gave them a better chance of success, and another involving quest item drop rates in Warcraft, where, for example, an item had a 1 in 3 chance of dropping, and three people were killing enemies for the item, if each person killed the enemies at the same rate, one person would continually recieve the item while the other two wouldn't.

Where people spend so much time around a random number generator they begin to see patterns in the randomness, and even believe they can control it

Actually, there are two cities underneath that "big spiral". (It's a giant, magical storm called the Maelstrom.)

There are two opposing cities there: Nazjatar, capital city of the Naga, and Mak'aru, capital city of the Makrura. They are locked in constant conflict.

Lorewise, this is begging for an expansion. One side can get the Naga and the other can get the Makrura. (I'd say Allies get the Makrura and Horde gets the Naga.) Underwater mounts (think dolphins, sea turtles, Gnomish submarines, etc.). A reason to upgrade the underwater fighting. Whole new legions of "deep sea" enemies, like giant evil angler fish etc. There's enough of a backstory here to form an expansion in its own right.

Actually, there are two cities underneath that "big spiral". (It's a giant, magical storm called the Maelstrom.)

There are two opposing cities there: Nazjatar, capital city of the Naga, and Mak'aru, capital city of the Makrura. They are locked in constant conflict.

Lorewise, this is begging for an expansion. One side can get the Naga and the other can get the Makrura. (I'd say Allies get the Makrura and Horde gets the Naga.) Underwater mounts (think dolphins, sea turtles, Gnomish submarines, etc.). A reason to upgrade the underwater fighting. Whole new legions of "deep sea" enemies, like giant evil angler fish etc. There's enough of a backstory here to form an expansion in its own right.

Actually, there are two cities underneath that "big spiral". (It's a giant, magical storm called the Maelstrom.)

There are two opposing cities there: Nazjatar, capital city of the Naga, and Mak'aru, capital city of the Makrura. They are locked in constant conflict.

Lorewise, this is begging for an expansion. One side can get the Naga and the other can get the Makrura. (I'd say Allies get the Makrura and Horde gets the Naga.) Underwater mounts (think dolphins, sea turtles, Gnomish submarines, etc.). A reason to upgrade the underwater fighting. Whole new legions of "deep sea" enemies, like giant evil angler fish etc. There's enough of a backstory here to form an expansion in its own right.

Actually, there are two cities underneath that "big spiral". (It's a giant, magical storm called the Maelstrom.)

There are two opposing cities there: Nazjatar, capital city of the Naga, and Mak'aru, capital city of the Makrura. They are locked in constant conflict.

Lorewise, this is begging for an expansion. One side can get the Naga and the other can get the Makrura. (I'd say Allies get the Makrura and Horde gets the Naga.) Underwater mounts (think dolphins, sea turtles, Gnomish submarines, etc.). A reason to upgrade the underwater fighting. Whole new legions of "deep sea" enemies, like giant evil angler fish etc. There's enough of a backstory here to form an expansion in its own right.

Actually, there are two cities underneath that "big spiral". (It's a giant, magical storm called the Maelstrom.)

There are two opposing cities there: Nazjatar, capital city of the Naga, and Mak'aru, capital city of the Makrura. They are locked in constant conflict.

Lorewise, this is begging for an expansion. One side can get the Naga and the other can get the Makrura. (I'd say Allies get the Makrura and Horde gets the Naga.) Underwater mounts (think dolphins, sea turtles, Gnomish submarines, etc.). A reason to upgrade the underwater fighting. Whole new legions of "deep sea" enemies, like giant evil angler fish etc. There's enough of a backstory here to form an expansion in its own right.

aka RwlRwlRwlRwl aka MRGLR GLMRGLMR RRLGGG http://www.wowwiki.com/Murloc

I find the Penny Arcade comic sums up my feelings on the expansion: clicky Seriously - how many areas are just the same?

When one of the level-80 raid is a repeat of the same raid (which is no longer available) at level 60 - it is just the same old Warcrack.

Raids are parties of 6-40 people divided into 2-8 groups of up to 5 players. The terms raid and raiding primarily and traditionally refer to PVE raid-specific instances and zones. If you're the party leader, you can convert your group into a raid group by accessing your "Social" Panel, selecting 'Raid' and choosing "Convert Group to Raid." From then on, anyone you invite will join your raid group (up to a maximum of 40).

Source, WoWWiki.

40-person: * Molten Core * Onyxia's Lair * Blackwing Lair * Temple of Ahn'Qiraj * Naxxramas

If you are going to take a game like WoW to it's extreme, then do it in style!
I can see the attraction - PUGs (pick up groups) can be very annoying as it takes just one muppet to ruin the quest/dungeon/raid for everybody else.
That said, I doubt I would go past the more standard 5 that multi-boxers (http://www.wowwiki.com/Multiboxing) seem to go for as a standard group is 5 and that makes a bit more sense...

the cap for all rolls is based on the idea that outcomes are determined on a random 100-sided die.

Defense mod = 0.04 * (defense - (350 + (5 * mob level delta))
Example: for a lvl70 player against a lvl73 mob, that's (defense - 365).

The table looks like this:
Miss = base 5% + (defense mod)
Parry = stat mods + (defense mod)
Dodge = stat mods + (defense mod)
Block = stat mods + (defense mod)
Crit = 5% - (defense mod) - (resil mod)
crush = (5 * (mob level delta)) - (defense mod)
Hit = (remainder, but 1% minimum)

So that "1%" changes your dodge line. It's not a 1% change to your chance to dodge, what it does is make an additional 1% of all attacks become dodges.

As a tank, the goal is to become "uncrushable" and "uncritable" which happens by using up all the stuff on top, taking crit and crush "off the table" since Blizzard set the table up to make anything past 100% be ignored. So, make miss 10%, parry 15%, dodge 15%, and block 60% and tada...you can't be crit or crushed.

So that 1% doesn't sound like a lot to non-tanks, but damn is it...

(see http://www.wowwiki.com/Attack_Table for details)

Chris Metzen is primarily in charge of organizing lore in WoW. "Every quest that is proposed during the game's development, no matter how small, must first be validated by Metzen, as well."

Pay no attention; this whole thread has degenerated into the Barrens general chat channel.

All we need is a rousing round of Chuck Norris facts to make it complete.

Interestingly enough, there is actually a WoW addon API call IsLinuxClient() that always returns false. It appears they put it in with the hope it might be used some day.

Yeah, it was seriously time for me to get a life last night. So I went to Zangarmarsh and farmed up about 20 of them.

/fail

people who don't play as much as others.. a way to keep them in synch. What you need is a device that allows more casual gamers to stay somewhat on par with other players, as to character level. It's also a clever device to encourage less-active players to keep their accounts, making players want to come back and play some more after some time away from the game. Rest also adds more value to the subscription fee. In light of the controversy of game addiction, rest also gives players reason to cease play. Blizzard has also indirectly stated that World of Warcraft play should be taken in moderation according to loading screen tips.

First-- it would need a name..... rested bonus?
http://www.wowwiki.com/Rest

nah-- that's lame-- that could never work..... and it would certainly never be the same MMOPRG I know.. Could it?

downloadPatches.sh - shell script that extracts the torrent files from all Blizzard Downloader clients in the current directory
extorrents - Perl script that extracts the torrent files from all Blizzard Downloader clients in the current directory
biz-extorrents.py - Python script to extract torrent files from all Blizzard Downloader clients in the current directory
web app extractor - Web app to extract torrent files out of any Blizzard Downloader EXE linked online

Source

Sounds an awful lot like the way rogues (combo points)/warriors (rage) work in WoW.

And I'm sure WoW borrowed those mechanics from another game as well. There's an awful lot of "borrowing" in the MMO industry.

Except in your WoW examples the combo points and rage are applied to a mode which you used to gain them in the first place. It sounds like WarHammer is applying them orthogonal to your usage mode. i.e, you get heal points when you attack, and attack points when you heal.

This difference sounds like it could provide a very different gameplay experience to standard WoW party roles.