Community Project 2014

Community Project: All The Other Things!

Welcome to the final blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series!

This final post is an amalgamation of lots of other things that have been suggested that didn’t easily fit into a category.

Accessibility

“Something for everyone”

This received a staggering amount of votes compared to the rest of the subject in the category. If you think about it, WoW is one of the few MMO’s that offer such a massive range of things to do: from raiding and PvP to transmog and pet battles. You only have to glance at this project for a short selection of what we all enjoy. If this doesn’t keep you coming back, I don’t know what will.

Comics and Fan Fiction

We had to put this here as we are massive fans of the “Dark Legacy Comic“ series. Below are lists of some worthwhile things to read:

  • TEH GLADIATORS – Mr B has been reading this for YEARS and enjoys it a lot
  • LFG Comic – ditto as above
  • Trolling Azeroth. I’m going to put this person here as they produce some funny comics, albeit, not too regularly. Check them out!
  • War Crimes by Christie Golden has been recommended a lot but we still haven’t got round to reading it.

Lore

So many people suggested the Lore as one of the most important parts of the game. The story, experiencing the world from their characters point of view and the war are all mentioned. We are both very nooby about Warcraft lore, although we do enjoy reading it. We thoroughly enjoyed the short lore mini, “Lords of War” shown at the Cinematic Release:

Heallarious has also added a couple of other videos AND some books to read, see those here.

Finally, a few recommendations have been suggested which I’ll add below.

  • Lore for Noobs
  • Know Your Lore, WoWInsider
  • Nobbel87
  • Some of Aleveria’s favourite quest lines:  Fallen Hero in Icecrown, The Lady’s Necklace, Battle of Darrowshire, and Rhea’s Last Egg

As AXA says: “READ THE QUEST TEXT!”

Machinima

I literally had no idea what this was til @XimVewDew suggested it. Apparently “making [Warcraft] videos is the best ever!”… and apparently it’s a huge thing.

Mr B recommends “Blind”, telling the tale of  “a blood elf rogue trying to kill Onyxia in her human form in Stormwind”. I won’t say anymore, just watch it :p

Music

Neither of us has particularly sat and listened to huge amounts of the Warcraft soundtrack, which is rather embarrassing as I am a music teacher!! @ofgnomeregan has recommended the soundtrack below, specifically Track 9.

I think the best thing to do is get a compilation up on YouTube and discover the music for yourself. We have a lovely CD of various famous game music, which appeals to us nerds!

Professions / Farming

This is probably a very sensible thing to be doing pre-Warlords as there’s so much to farm: mounts, gold, materials for professions etc. If you have lots of alts and not all professions… WHY NOT?? They can make you a nice bit of cash too. See the Gold and Auction House post for more on that though.

@laplante_ent and @bunji05 both mentioned farming stuff for other people, which is really kind. It’s also a great way to help guildies, especially if they are gearing up and you can’t sell those old pieces of 496 gear.

My favourite professions are probably Archaeology (along with Twenty20 and others!) because of the pets and mounts (and achievements!) you can earn. I also like fishing for the same reason, and the fish do sell especially if you fish at the beginning of an expansion.

Transmogrification

“This is what makes my characters look DAMN GOOD!” (Ikralla) If you haven’t tried it yet, please do. Many love running the old raids for the perfect piece of mog kit!

World Design

What can I say? Isn’t the World of Warcraft beautiful and amazing? Loads of us post screenshots like they’re going out of fashion and there are loads of blog events which celebrate just this.

We all have our favourite places to hang out: Halfhill, Jade Forest, Nagrand, Zangermarsh… the list is almost endless. The sheer diversity – from mountains to valleys, from snow to desert, what more could you ask for? If you don’t have the Explorers achievement and title yet, go and do it. The world is outstanding.

wowscrnshot_051313_192826.jpg

Contributors________________________________________________________________________________________

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Community Project: Raiding and PvP

Welcome to the ninth blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series!

Raiding

This was a very popular topic of suggestions, from casual raiding, to Heroic progression and gear farming. I’ll add any quotes I don’t use next to their owners at the foot of the page – please do scroll down and check them out.

If you haven’t geared up yet, this is really the easiest and most perfect time to do it. With the Timeless Isle, valour and rep buffs and the upgrade system, it’s pretty easy. The best thing is? You don’t have to go into LFR to get to a pretty good gear level! Yay!

For those who have geared up and are wanting to raid but can’t find a group, I’d recommend trying Twitter first (we might be able to put you in touch with someone if you’re desperate!). If not, Open Raid. Open Raid is a site where you can register to the raid you’d like to complete (old or new) and the group is formed online. This obviously increases your immediate player base.

Remember, if you’re a causal player like ourselves, flex raiding is probably ideal for you. Don’t feel pressured into comitting time each week to wipe 38455389 times on Thok if you don’t want to. With cross-realm raiding in place, this has become very flexible indeed.

Challenge Modes

I’ve mentioned this before here. I know it’s not exactly “raiding”, but it certainly requires the same skills and you do get some excellent rewards (mounts, gold, transmog gear). I’d recommend trying these if you’ve exhausted SoO (I know I have!!).

Old Content

This was also a popular suggestion. Old content (upto Firelands) can be solo’d pretty easily now. You can 3 man Firelands without too much trouble too if you have some gear, so we would really recommend working your way through the achievements (MOUNTS!) and experiencing the raids if you haven’t before. Or if you want some pretty axes from ICC. Or the legendaries from Black Temple. Or the pets from SSC.  Lots of stuff to choose from!

Fancy a bit of fun? Check out our Naked Raids at Molton Core / Black Temple.

Two little red kittins having a play fight

IRL druids playing IRL PvP. If only it was this cute in WoW!

PvP

This wasn’t as popular as I thought it would be, but Mr WoW loves it so much it’d be horror if I didn’t!! Here’s his advice:

It’s hard at first, as it’s a completely different skill set (although some may disagree). The best thing I can advise is to PRACTICE. The more the better. Keep your temper, and remember it’s not PvE – you die a LOT. You can buy beginner gear off the auction house, covert justice or just spam random battlegrounds until you get enough honour – it accumulates quickly.”

Also – remember the PvP mounts! If there’s ever motivation needed, it’s for those bad-boys!

As @XimVewDew sums up: “owning people’s faces <3″.

There are lots of PvP guides out there if you’re hesitant. I have a full PvP set (non-conquest because I can’t arena) but honestly, I do more damage in my PvE set so I just smash people looking fabulous. If you’re still worried, I’d recommend going with a pal, because repeatedly dying can get very boring when you’re alone!

I’m currently doing a “How To Survive PvP” series, so check back soon for that if you’re interested.

Contributors_________________________________________________________________________________________

  • @XimVewDew
  • @laplante_ent: [I’d recommend] casual raiding (which is hard to find with most being hard core & openly hostile to anyone that maybe isn’t as “good” as they should be)
  • Velgana: (Old Raids) “There is always someone out there who is looking to get that certain tier set or even that one perfect piece to complete their transmog. Not to mention some of the really awesome mounts that have a chance to drop.”
  • @Boomy_CTR: “Why I play: soloing content. I solo everything, trying Firelands right now.”
  • @Mementh: “raiding!! Helping friends gear up!”
  • Matt : (Raiding) “Fighting bosses and interacting with wonderful people is fun!
  • Heallarious: “I know this isn’t really any special, but without raiding, I wouldn’t still be playing this game. Overcoming challenges together with your guildies is one of the best things there is gaming wise, standing out progress wise just makes my special snowflake glow!” [He wrote about his favourite raid too – go read it! 😉 )
  • DrHannah: (Old content runs) “ I love going back to old raids/dungeons at max level to try to solo/duo them. I’ve managed to duo everything up to Lich King raid, and hoping that will be more manageable once I hit 100.”

 

 

 

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Community Project: Quests

Welcome to the eighth blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series!

If I’m honest, I probably wouldn’t have included this topic, but many people have suggested it: “The simple grinding with a reward (either a level up or a quest reward), and sometimes you meet new friends =) Even though I’ve done it countless of times and I know many quests already by heart, it doesn’t bore me.” (Haenlic)

I’m not the greatest fan of levelling (says she with 10 level 90’s), but here we go anyway with some fun quest suggestions!

Lorelei has even written a whole chapter about her favourite quests! Read them here.

Level an alt

Some people *cough* not us *cough* are altoholics and clearly enjoy trying new characters/race combinations. It sounds obvious, but if you haven’t tried the opposite faction or a certain class or even another server, this is the time to try. Instead of questing, try levelling through PvP or dungeons. Little changes to your routine can be invigorating. Promise.

The Insane Title

Exactly what it says on the tin… you’ve got to be insane to try it. However, the rewards are great if you dare. I haven’t yet started it, but you can get lots of info here. You can’t possibly complain about having nothing to do if you haven’t yet completed this… I suppose.

The Quest for Green Fire

I’ve tried this sooooo many times on my Warlock. I’ve come to the conclusion that my skill and gear level is lacking and it’ll have to wait until I become more patient, or one of them improves. However, the effect is really cool and it’s really worth perseverance. If you haven’t got a Warlock and fancy the challenge, perhaps this is a good candidate for your level 90 boost.

I won’t regurgitate the Internet, as all the info you need can be found here. I can recommend a YouTube guide by Sparkuggz which is below.

If you have tried this and need some encouragement to continue, we have a couple of friends who managed to complete it below 500 ilvl.

Yeah, the first thing I thought was “HAX!” too :p

Loremaster

I did this, bane of my life, but if you’re an achievement hunter or lore enthusiast, this is right up your street. YES, it’s a time grind, but it’s not the worst I can think of and you get a nice title. Gogogo!

Brawler’s Guild Special Bosses

I love the Brawler’s Guild, it’s not a secret. In itself, there’s no questing however, certain quest lines and boss kills in Pandaria grant you access to a quest in the Brawler’s Guild which award you gold and a special vanity item… and ultimately a meta achievement for killing them all. They range in level and skill, but they’re really fun and worth seeking out if you’ve already finished with the ranks.

Try Grandpa Grumplefloot to start, he’s awesome.

The Day Deathwing Came

@Schmonzh from Twitter suggested this and we agree – it’s a really fun quest. If you’ve levelled through Badlands you’ll know it well: several NPCs tell you their account of the day Deathwing came and you relive the story through them. It is fantastically silly, but punching him in the face is fab.

Nomi

nomi

Old picture, but just as cute ^^

This adorable creature is part of the Halfhill daily and rep quests. Once you’ve finished To Be A Master, you can buy the Cooking School Bell with 100 tokens and the daily quests unlock. I’ve written about the process in a bit more detail here.  Not only do you feel wise when you impart your knowledge upon your apprentice, but you also get free stuff and it’s REALLY easy.

In fact, I’m just going to put the whole of the Halfhill quests and experience here. I love the place. You can read more about my enchantment with the area here.

Other

I loved this answer by Lexicon of Power:

“Bonus: the sound that plays when I accept and complete quests

This brings me back to the first day I played WoW, and still gets me every time. It makes me think of hunting and learning and ADVENTURE! And adventuring is what it’s all about.”

Twitter

Click here for all of the suggestions submitted via Twitter. There’s some excellent quest lines to pursue!

Contributors____________________________________________________________________________________________

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Community Project: Mini-Games

Welcome to the seventh blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series!

This is one of the most fun of the blog posts we’ll be doing. Mainly because I love mini-games… but every adult has an inner child I think ^^

Pet Battles

I KNOW everyone has their own opinions of these beauties, but I’m going to put them in because I love them. And lots of people suggested them. But primarily because I love them. Not gonna lie.

If you’re truly bored and you’ve never tried pet battles, this is the place for you. It’s not like Pokémon, I promise. Ok, a tiny bit, but it’s worth it. There are lots of achievements up for grabs, from PvE to PvP, collecting, battling and completing goals. If that isn’t tempting, how about all the cute pets you can have? Or how about completing the Celestial Tournament? I’ve recently completed this and I have to say, although it’s really frustrating, the adrenaline when you finally complete it is a-may-zing.

There are many many people who write about pet battles and I couldn’t possibly mention them all. However, I will link a couple of guides to get you started:

  • WoWhead. This is a pretty conclusive guide to the whole tournament, including the set-ups for all teams and alternative pets. It doesn’t always use store bought pets either which is good. The comments are also really helpful from other players and their experiences. I recently found a comment buried deep down and it worked perfectly after over an hour of trying different combinations of pets.
  • WoWWiki has a clear description of strengths/weaknesses near the bottom of the page.
  • Liopleurodon. I love her and her blog. Very helpful, very approachable. Highly recommended (even if I don’t really understand the technical talk!). Lots of in-depth strategies and guides here.
  • Matt (aka Heallarious) is a pretty cool guy and has helped me a lot with pet battles. He’s also a contributor to this project so if you’re looking for a basic, workable guide, this is for you.
  • Warcraft Pets. Some good information here on pets and where to obtain them.

Singing Sunflower

This is a fun little mini-game called Peacebloom vs Ghouls based up in Hillsbrad which is similar to the Plants vs Zombies game. You work your way through the levels and if you’re successful you get a very cute little battle pet, the Singing Sunflower. I actually found it quite tricky to get the hang of, and it took about an hour to obtain my little pet. Worth doing, for sure… and really fun too!

Hearthstone

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Hearthstone is the new card game from Blizzard. It definitely deserves a mention here, although it isn’t technically World of Warcraft, it is based upon the game.

Neither of us are Hearthstone impresarios – we have done enough to get the shiny Hearthsteed mount, but that’s all. Here are a few tips we can give you. Google will probably be just as helpful :p

  1. Remember, it’s just a game. Definitely not worth throwing your pc out the window for
  2. RNG sucks
  3. The more you play, the better you get. Even if you loose every game like us.
  4. Watch other people play (via Twitch etc) as this does help your understanding
  5. For the mount, you must win 3 games. All we did was go full offensive: used a beginner shaman deck; used as many minions as possible in the deck, put as many minions/totems down as possible to overwhelm the other player, then full nuke. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked like a charm.

Sentinal and Warden’s Games

This isn’t technically a mini-game I suppose, but I always enjoy them, so I couldn’t miss it out. Part way through the quest line, you’re lead underground to explore the area and have to complete the games above. If you haven’t quested in Badlands, I recommend passing through to complete this quest chain as they’re really fun.

The Skyrace

It’s amazing, but I’ve written about it before for the project so I won’t repeat myself… click here to read.

Shadow Hopper

This is again related to the Order of the Cloud Serpent’s rep grind. When the daily called “Catch!” is up, speak to the quest giver to be given a ball to play catch with your little serpentling. Catch it 25 times for the achievement.

yourhatchling

It’s a pretty simple game, truth be told, but can be tricky because of the mobs and scenery in the vicinity. It appears the quest is still bugged however, so your tries are cumulative – if you drop it, start again and it should count towards the 25. Whether they will fix this remains to be seen. Anyway, it’s a fun achievement!

Argent Tournament

Ugh I can’t believe I’m putting this here, as I’m not a fan, however if you like a mindless grind with lots of reward, this is for you. The whole thing awards plenty of mounts and it’s not hard. The mini-game itself is a jousting tournament between yourself and Champions of other factions. It’s pretty fun the first few times. 4 months later, perhaps not so much. Needless-to-say, only one suggestion by @Ngakma for the Tournament, BUT if you want pretty mounts and pets I encourage you to go play being a Knight.

There are probably many more, please feel free to add them in the comments below. Definitely give them a go if you haven’t already!

Contributors_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Community Project: Gold Making & Auction House

Welcome to the sixth blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series!

As Twenty says, “WoD will probably be extremely expensive”, so I’m in all agreement that increasing your gold wealth is probably one of the best ways to spend your downtime at the moment. Whether you like to farm your materials and gold, or use the Auction House to flip items for profit, we all need at least a small disposable sum.

goldmaking

Farming

In a roundabout way, farming is directly related to your gold wealth. Whether you choose to or not, I’m willing to bet that the vast amount of wealth on our servers come from someone farming the mats.

Our favourite farming space is in Krasarang Wilds, one of the Angler’s daily spots on the beach. Pop a potion of luck, take a lowbie alt friend and park them on the roof of a hut and voila, both profit. They get lots of free xp, you get lots of cloth and greens to disenchant.

Another excellent space is farming the Mogu in the Vale. These, of course, drop the Skyshards for Alani, but also Cache Keys which have a chance to give you loads of lovely goodies, in the form of cloth, leather, gold etc.

We also have a friend who swears by farming Grim Batol and Naxxramas with a potion of luck. He sells and disenchants the greens, whilst also pocketing a lot of profit from the pets. I’ve recently had some good luck with pets from SSC too.

Organising

If farming isn’t for you, how about taking the first step to cleaning out your bank account and void storage? By being brutal and throwing out stuff you don’t need (do you REALLY need those Nexus Crystals???), you can pocket the profit. Non-soulbound stuff could sell on the Auction House…. nothing to loose, right?

P.S, I recently sold some cageable pets that I had double of…. well worth it!

The Auction House

Matt: “It’s not for everyone, but I’m a big fan of the AH-goldmaking “mini-game”. Buy low, sell high, take some chances, win big! I just passed the 600k gold mark this week, so it’s definitely both fun AND profitable.”

I’m not an Auction House extroadinaire, but the basic tips are simple: choose a market, keep an eye on it, buy low, sell high. Into Transmog? Great, use your knowledge there. See a stack of spirit dust mispriced? Buy it, then resell. There are plenty of guides (and people to approach on twitter!) online, and as Matt says, it can be fun!

Some of the contributors for this section have written their own pieces of advice – find all links below!

Remember folks, it’s not real money. Set yourself a small goal and go for it – what have you got to loose?!

Contributors_______________________________________________________________________________________

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Community Project – The Warcraft Community

Welcome to the fifth blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series! This is a slightly unusual topic as it will not give you  ‘things to do’, but more celebrating our amazing Community.

This was one category where many people mentioned some form of ‘the Community’ multiple times in their suggestions: their Guild, friends, helping others, bloggers… the list goes on. If the quotes below don’t make your heart smile, I don’t know what will!

Friends

Marathal: “The people first and foremost. Those we play with, talk to, laugh, cry, have fun playing a game that many cannot understand the appeal. They are what makes logging in an doing nothing except hanging out for an evening worth while.”

@Eolien_WoW: “Friend making (that’s a thing)”

@blockrates:  “community and friends”

Ayasun: “playing with other people – possibly even make friends”

We have also written many times about our own online friends who we recently met for the first time.

friends-fingers

Helping Others

@laplante_ent: “helping new players navigate the ins and outs of WoW and become better players with hopes to better the player-base in general”

WoW_Axa:  “what I propose is not just about encouraging you to get back in LOVE with the game but to help someone else out. You will feel good about it. So what do I mean? Simply put help someone out.”  – 

**”Paying it Forward” is a concept that is very dear to our hearts, which Axa has so briefly touched on. We wrote our own piece about this a while ago – click here**

Pay-it-forward-chart1

Anthony (@bunji05): “Helping others… crafting stuff, beating bosses, guiding them, flying them, in general… Helping out where I can. Free or very cheaply, as I make my gold through questing and the AH.”

The Community

Julie (@TwijfeelkontWoW): “Passion! The WoW community! Sometimes it sucks horribly!But mostly it’s like an instant connection when you meet someone else who plays :)”

Gwendlyn: “Wow allows us to talk to people who we would not necessarily meet within the confines of our normal life. It is a world which doesn’t put you in a labelled box (well unless you count factions), which means you have more freedom than you do in life. You can talk to people that share the same interests or goals without having the barrier of age, race, religion or social hierarchy. This is what I love, the equality of things.”

Sugar&Blood: “This is my true community […] all encouraging and inspiring me”

I urge to to read those posts listed below. Each has an individual story and are wonderful to read. As Ambermist sums up:

“I’m not going to get sappy, but I am going to say that I do care about the friends with whom I play WoW. They’re genuinely awesome people, and if I unsubbed and couldn’t chat any more, I’d be bummed.”

 

Contributors_________________________________________________________________________________________

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Community Project: Characters and NPCs

Welcome to the fourth blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series!

Our Characters

No one could say that we don’t get invested in our own characters. Just taking a look at our blog and the blurb for our own toons, let alone all the other members of the community! I hope Sugar&Blood doesn’t mind me mentioning their blog here, as they have a perfect array of Draenei’s. Or there’s Ikralla who clearly loves the Pandaren! Not to mention, of course, the 100’s of days /played we all have, it’s not surprising that our characters were suggested as one of the reasons to keep coming back to Warcraft.

If you need a change, why not try what LeeAnn suggests? “No matter how many times you play or how many characters you have, there’s likely a combo you haven’t given a shot. Goblin priest with a fishing fetish? Dwarven chef who likes to freeze the baddies? Blood elf with a tanky vibe?”

I, for one, recommend trying the opposite faction, especially their opening story lines – I particularly enjoyed the Goblins. She never got further than level 20 (none of my Horde alts do!), but I loved the opening quests! If you’re a hardened altoholic, perhaps trying a new character might not be the best way to banish the boredom blues 😉

Role Playing

We have never dabbled in this particular hobby, but as it was suggested I wanted to include it. RP-ing seems to follow naturally from the identity and relationship we form with our online characters, so how about giving it a go?

@Eolien_WoW answered some of my nooby questions:  “It certainly is daunting but the most important thing you can do is to find a guild that interests your RP style and will be willing to help […] <click for link> is a great guides thread. Another here. Even though it’s on the Argent Dawn forum section, there are many useful guides for all RP.”

Other guides as suggested are:

NPCs

Blizzard have put many Easter Eggs in WoW (read more here), but I wanted to mention a couple of our favourites for you to go and visit:

  • Execution of Ji Firepaw (nominated by Navimie – she even as a video, go see!)
  • Haris Pilton – if you buy the bag she has available for an exorbitant amount of gold, you even get an achievement!
  • Slim <Shady Dealer>
  • Granny Smith <Fruit Vendor>
  • The adorable Lunk – if you haven’t done this quest line, you totally should.
  • Bambina, Flora and Thudder. Clearly a reference to Disney. I love that. A lot.
  • Elloric, husband of Twitter’s very own @GhemitHunts. We don’t know Ghemit that well, but we remember his raw pain sadly and we visit Elloric, who lives in one of my favourite places (above MSV in the library/archaeology place), often.
  • Finally, in-game memorials. We think it’s wonderful that Blizzard puts these into the game and to understand the context of each gives them the deserved respect. The video below is worth watching!

 

Contributors__________________________________________________________________________________________

  • Navimie
  • @Eolien_WoW via Twitter
  • Ikralla
  • LeeAnn
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Community Project: Blizzard

Welcome to the third blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series! Today is a shorter, yet just as important post.

I was surprised that this topic was suggested so many times, but the more I think about it, the more logical it is. This topic is all about the people who bring World of Warcraft to life: Blizzard.

Blizzard-entertainment

For some of the Community, Blizzard is a mild irritant in the background. For others, the company and what it represents is much more important. I think the majority, ourselves included, only really consider them when there’s a problem or an issue that needs resolving. However, when you really think about it, if you invest a lot of time and money into a game, as we do, Blizzard plays a bigger role in your life than you would at first admit.

Some of the comments left for the Project were lovely:

“Blizzard has been making quality games since the olden days. I have been playing for a decade and don’t intend to stop any time soon. Blizzard continues to impress me.” (@CakeHasVitamins)

Blizzard have a pretty important job. We rely on them to look after our game, our money, our information and our enjoyment. We also rely on them to produce regular content (no comments please!!), to fix problems, to keep the servers running.  Some may say that that’s just their job, but we all know that for many, Warcraft isn’t ‘just’ a game.

csmeter

I quickly asked twitter whether they trusted Blizzard. I don’t want to be technical… I want a gut reaction. Do you trust Blizzard with your game and your money? Some were hesitant, others responded without hesitation.

Here’s a cross section (for some reason my pc won’t print screen twitter, sorry!):

  • @Casually_Casual: “I guess my answer is NO. I dont trust anyone to do the right 100% of the time when they exist to make money.$=Evil”
  • @Epic_Insanity: “I trust blizzard. Why? Because I trust a company built by gamers for gamers. They play the games they build. They are passionate about their work & their customers. Sure they may upset me, but I haven’t walked away after 10 yrs. nor them from me”
  • @Marathal: “Yes I do, as a company as large as they have grown in 10 years, I believe they do all they can to protect my information and provide me with entertainment”
  • @Pallimmanis: “Yes, because they haven’t done/said anything to make me NOT trust them.” (this one came a few times)
In fact, out of all the responses I had, only one said they didn’t. Perhaps this is testament to the company and their customer service. No, this post isn’t something to “do” before Warlords, but the community was so resoundingly enthusiastic about the developers, I had to include some of the positive comments!
What about you? Are you happy that we’ve included Blizzard to remind the community that we have approachable, friendly devs? Or are you not a fan?
Contributors__________________________________________________________________________________________
  • @CakeHasVitamins
  • The responders to this twitter thread.
  • Many others who are featured elsewhere in this project – go read the posts!

Community Project: Areas and Exploration

Welcome to the second blog post in the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” series! Today, we are talking about the loose subject of “Areas and Exploration”. If you’re looking to journey to far (and not so far) off places… this is the page for you!

Easter eggs

This was another fairly popular topic within the community suggestions. These little nuggets of joy are not, in fact, chocolate goodies, but references to the outside world or inside jokes which are found in-game. I, alongside much of the community, LOVE to go and find these eggs. My favourite is probably the house from the film “Up”, found off the coast of Jade Forest…

…but some are as simple as the city guards responding to your /salute or your companion pets idle animation of lying down if you’re still.

See below for information so you can go and find them!

The Lorewalkerscho

We are going to put this in here, as we think it is the best way to explore the whole of Pandaria (and access the lore!) once you reach max-level in MoP. Of course, you could do it on your ground mount for a more “immersive” experience, but it’s just as beautiful (and quicker) from the air.

The Lorewalkers are a reputation faction introduced in MoP, who focus, as their name suggests, on the Lore of Pandaria. Their reputation grind is the easiest to start you off: as you explore Pandaria, you stumble across their scrolls of lore.

Each one counts towards a set, which in turn when handed in, awards reputation. You can read our own detailed post here.

Faction Capitals

Levelwhimsically (click for the original post!) recommended visiting the opposing faction capitals and as an Alliance-only player, I think it’s a fantastic idea. The best way to go about this is rolling a little alt and go explore. The easiest would be:

  • Stormwind —> Human
  • Orgrimmar —> Orc or Troll

Of course, there are other capitals to explore… roll a Tauren and go and visit the particularly quirky  Thunderbluff, or a Night Elf and the beautiful city of Darnassus. Whichever you choose, you will have a confusing but satisfying hour.

Navimie also wrote an excellent post about Dalaran. You should read the original post as she is so passionate about it: “Dalaran is not merely the city of magic – the place is MAGICAL!  It’s full of wonderful little secrets and references”. 

What she recommends to do, among others, is to go and visit Windle Sparkleshine after 9pm who is responsible for lighting the lights of Dalaran. You can buy a “Windle’s Lighter” off him (for a nominal fee of about 50s) when he’s finished which enables you to go around the city and light the lights that he missed. It was such a fantastic 10 minutes of my play time and I can’t recommend it enough.

Eversong woods

I’m putting this here because Haenlic was so passionate about it, I couldn’t miss it out. I’ll quote directly. ABSORB THE ENTHUSIASM!

“The atmosphere in Eversong Woods […]  is so relaxing.. it’s so beautiful! I always finish EVERY quest there to stay there as long as possible.

I could stand there for hours just listening to the music while doing other stuff.”

The Whispering Forest

Click here for our full post.

Up in Tirisfal Glades, there lies a strange ring of mushrooms in the forest. If you wait patiently, Faerie Dragons start to appear. When there are a good crowd, magic happens and the forest comes to life.

If you haven’t yet experienced this, you must. It was fleeting and beautiful.

Festivals

I was going to write about the Wanderers Festival before Erinys’ blog post about her 3 favourite things cropped up. We both agree that this little festival is a wonderful way to spend an evening… you can read my more detailed description here. You also get an achievement for going – winwin!

wi-wanderers-festival

One of my other favourites is the Darkmoon Faire – pets, mounts, games, free profession skill-ups. What could be better?

How about Pirate’s Day, where you can dress up like a pirate and drink rum all day? Or Day of the Dead, celebrating the Mexican festival of the same name, where you can earn a rather wonderful Macabre Marionnette pet? How about the more romantic Love is in the Air event – where you can daub yourself with perfume and defeat the Crown Chemical Co whilst smelling divine?

The other world events in WoW are very fun. I know lots of people moan about the grind and the need to do them for the meta achievement, but we both really enjoy them. With achievements, pets and rare mounts up for grabs… how can you resist?!

We hope this page has given you some places to go and re-discover. The contributors to this category came across as particularly passionate.

As LeeAnn so perfectly puts it:

“Exploring, the endless potential for discovery.

You can run through an area 700 times and on 701 you think, “Oooh, I never saw THAT statue/ building/ big ass monster about to eat me before!”

 

Contributors__________________________________________________________________________________________

Community Project: Achievements

This is the first category for the “Warcraft Community’s Top Things To Do Before WoD” community project. Below are plenty of ideas submitted by the community (whose contact details are at the bottom) via twitter, in-game or blog. Have fun!

The Feat of Strength

DoctorHannah is a big fan of the feat of strength you achieve from earning 9,000 achievement points and told me that it’s one of her “greatest achievements”. Well, if that’s not enough of an accolade I don’t know what is! There are many ways to go about earning those points doing things you enjoy or something new you might want to try. As Velgana states, “it allows you to focus on the new content that comes out, without having to sweat about going back into the old world”. Lots of the MoP achievements are now much easier than at release, so don’t let that put you off!

9000

Proving Grounds

@clewdacris is a big fan of the proving grounds, resolutely stating that they “really help you improve”. If you are a beginner or trying for the Endless roles, the solo scenario just requires grit and determination to progress. There’s no pressure, as you’re alone, and you can try a Tank, Healer or DPS role as you prefer. Not convinced yet? Well, there’s a title and achievement points up for grabs plus the bragging rights when you reach gold. An excellent guide can be found here.

Sky Race 

cloudserpent

This is one of my favourite achievements. The Sky Race is part of the Order of the Cloud Serpent dailies group and rep grind. Even if  you hate grinding reputation, it’s worth getting to revered so you can take part in the Sky Race and ride your Cloud Serpent to victory! It’s a lot of fun and there are several achievements to gain too: from finishing the race, to beating your competitors and coming first.

 

Rare Mounts and Mount Farming

This was one of the most popular responses within the community.It seems like everyone is using the calm time to grind those pretty new mounts and the achievements/feats of strength that accompanies them. As the Mistress of Faff points out: there’s 250 mounts to collect to earn that beautiful Felfire Hawk in WoD – the sooner we get on it the better! Twenty20 makes an excellent point to the community – actually, *most* of these mount runs are old content and therefore soloable, which at a time when many people are taking a break, it’s very handy! Some of the prettier dungeons, like Vortex Pinnacle and Magisters Terrace make Tome want to stay in there forever and make the farming seem less arduous.

@witty_warlock and I agree that the Argent Tournament is an excellent way to go about mount farming. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an absolute nightmare of a grind and unless you do it on multiple characters daily, it’ll take you months. However, with over 10 mounts available (not to mention the pets, tabards and banners!), it’s an excellent – and easy – way to earn more mounts.

STUPIDTOURNAMENTI love this meme by dressedtocuddle.blogspot.com – bang on the money!

 

There are some more fun mount grinds out in the world: @elpheagle can give more information on the 9,999 bone farm from the Isle of Giants which awards the Bone White Primal Raptor. Whilst farming these, there’s also a chance at a Primal Egg, which when hatched, awards one of 3 raptor mounts – you can go back and hunt for all 3! Axa suggests The Netherwing Drake grind which is now very easy with an addon and multiple dailies per day… nothing like the TBC days, it’ll take you only a couple of weeks and awards multiple pretty drakes.

In WoD, a new mount feature in-game will enable us to see where which mounts we have not yet earned, plus where to get them – like the pet window we have currently. Until then, use the links above and Google ’til your finger pads are worn away!

Challenge Modes

We argued about putting this in the achievements category as it doesn’t really fit anywhere. However, I won so here it is. Challenge Modes are a new feature that MoP offers in order to test your mettle against the bosses of Pandaria with scaled gear and a time limit. @trimbleirl is a big fan, stating that although they “are tough if you’re not prepared” they are totally worth the hassle. We recommend finding a good group of pals, or trying OpenRaid and giving it a shot if you have the time. They’re fun!

Meta Achievements

I had to put this in here, as there are so many other achievements in-game that earn you a greater reward when completed as part of a set. For example, world events, raiding and dungeon metas, PvP and so on. There are too many to mention here, but they are exceptionally varied: from old to new content, PvP to PvE, levelling to end-game, that there must be something that interests you. @Aleveria loves to have a goal to work towards and I agree when she states that a whole day can be lost working towards it!

Contributors________________________________________________________________________________________