The second Blizzcore guide has been released.

This time, it is an instance guide.  We are starting small, with Ragefire Chasm.  While this may not be the most interesting location, we plan on doing higher level instances (and eventually, raids) when we are comfortable with the format and information, so we can make the future guides as in-depth and awesome as possible.

The first few pulls are quite straight-forward, starting with two Earthborers (level 13 or 14) which can be pulled individually and have 900 or 819 HP (depending on level) each.  You can skip one of them, along with a Molten Elemental (level 14 with 900 HP) if you do not need the EXP by taking a small passage near one wall.  After killing four more Earthborers individually, you will encounter two new types of monster.  Ragefire Shamans can be level 13 to 15, with HP ranging from 759 to 903.  Ragefire Troggs are similar, yet with slightly higher HP.  Both of these monsters are part of the Testing the Enemy’s Strength quest.

Enjoy! Look out for some of the guides we have lined up in the coming weeks.  As usual, let me know if you have any additions.

Blizzcore, World of Warcraft guide, horde, Instance, orgrimmar, rfc

Vraelen Isu’rith

Vraelen, bearing the emblem of the Phoenix Guard.

As a member of the Phoenix Guard, Vraelen Isu’rith fights for his people and city with a loyal heart, earning his title as Blade Dancer, and scout of Quel’Thalas. Vraelen, although quite small and thin, is a powerful, vigorous soul, trained in the ways of the Rogue, Vraelen uses his small build to his advantage, fighting with edge and swiftly drawing his blade. Isu’rith, short for an elf, but well rounded with a slender muscular appearance, with his long brown hair, covering his right shoulder. Vraelen’s face is gaunt, pale and his chin covered with the thinnest, dark goatee which clashes with his shocking green eyes.

Isu’rith can usually be seen wearing the colours of the Phoenix Guard, accompanied by his two rune blades, of which the hilt is always close to hand. His two blades, one previously owned by his farther and the other founded by the local blacksmith, double team his foe, with stabs and lunges, piercing armour and flesh alike.

As a child Vraelen lived a happy childhood, his mother bringing him up as a loyal Sin’Dorei, and his farther backing the war effort. Vraelen didn’t see his farther much, but when he did, there time spent together was as good as legend. When his farther was away, Vraelen would spend time with his closest friend, Raerhn Dawncaller. Raerhn and Vraelen, young at heart but strong in mind. Together they would hunt the wilds of Eversong, catching there lunch, which would lead both of them to become what they are today. Great adventures did they both go on, throughout all of Quel’Thalas and beyond.

The Phoenix Guard took Vraelen under there wing after the coming of the Scourge. Arthas killed his mother and his farther missing. During in his days left as a half-ling, Vraelen lived with the old blacksmith, south of the Anchorage, where it was safe. During his time with the old blacksmith, Vraelen learnt the ways of the blade, taking up his fathers sword and going off into the distance to meet his destiny as a Blade Master!

Look out for the next issue where we will be taking an in-depth look at the Phoenix Guard of Darkmoon Faire!

Warcraft, World of Warcraft Darkmoon Faire, Guard, Isu'rith, Phoenix, Play, role, Role-Play, Spotlight, Vraelen

There’s no doubt that Blizzard are trying to cater for all classes and specs easily. Things like spellpower allowing healers and caster DPS to roll on the same items, to increasing the benefits of Agility for Shaman to allow them to share gear with Hunters.

However, now it seems they’re trying to do this for the forums. They have removed the old Class forums, and replaced them with three ‘role’ forums, appropriately named ‘Tanking’, ‘Healing’, and ‘Damage Dealing’.

Here’s the post by Nethaera:

With the upcoming release of Wrath of the Lich King and the many changes the expansion brings to classes and mechanics, we have decided to rearrange our forums to make it easier for players to hold constructive discussions. To that end, we have created three role-based forums — Tanking, Damage Dealing, and Healing — in place of the class forums. Why?

Common ground for common roles. The new structure provides central places for players of diverse classes and specs to discuss their common roles. Until now, there was no one obvious forum for a holy paladin to discuss Arena healing tactics with a restoration shaman, or for a protection warrior to talk tanking mechanics with a feral druid. This often led to splintered, fractured, and redundant discussions. In addition, the original class forum structure never properly took the impact of talents into account, lumping together a shadow priest and a holy priest (for example) when that didn’t necessarily make sense.

Damage Dealing- http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=13395581&sid=1

To me, this looks like an unnecessary change that will just lead to more trolling, QQing, and other nonsense. Plus, in order to properly browse forums as a Druid (which is what I play), I will need to keep up with all three forums, as I enjoy playing all roles as a Druid. So what do you guys think, is this a good idea? Will it remain like this? What could be done to improve on the idea?

World of Warcraft Class, forums, role

Welcome to a new feature of Blizzcore which will be coming to the homepage weekly! The purpose of these posts is simple: to highlight some of the must-have addons to make your gameplay experience as enjoyable as possible! To start off, we will be reviewing Cartographer, a popular map addon.

First - what does it do? It completely replaces the default map with a new one, which is full of features such as displaying instance maps with boss-specific loot tables, changing the size and opacity of the zone map and it’s surroundings, and showing level range and fishing requirements of a zone when hovered over on the continent screen as well as instance requirements when hovering over their location on a zone map.

Another option is to add waypoints, which allow you to add an arrow to your screen pointing you to a specific area so you do not have to keep opening the map to find your way.  This goes well with the coordinates feature, which proves extremely useful when finding quest details, etc, as they show you a specific location rather than a vague area to search in.

This is a great improvement over the default map, and will make gameplay much easier and more comfortable with the many features and improved look.  I would recommend it to everyone!

Get it here!

Blizzcore, World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King addon, coordinate, map, waypoint

The first Blizzcore guide has been added to the “Guides” tab!

A terminology guide has been added to the Guides tab, and includes an informative A-Z of phrases and abbreviations you will hear throughout your gameplay.  The introduction for the guide:

Have you ever sat there, clicking away at your mouse, hacking away at those murlocs, wondering what people are talking about when they say, for example, “I’ll go to TP, you go to IW”? You haven’t a clue what they mean, and you go running off to cap a graveyard.  Perhaps it’s that people are asking you if you “Want BT”? You certainly don’t want BT, their internet is terrible.  You haven’t a clue what they mean.  Have no fear, this guide shall save you from these dilemmas, and you will return to the world (of Warcraft) with a whole new vocabulary.

I hope it helps you! If you feel that anything has been left out, send an email to strands@blizzcore.com and I will add it.

Blizzcore, Diablo, Diablo 3, General, Starcraft, Starcraft 2, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King phrase, phrases, terms

It’s been done many times on the beta servers, but now, it has been done on live servers at level 70. That’s right, a Protection Warrior and two Paladins, Retribution and Holy, from the guild Twisted of Bleeding Hollow have 3-manned Karazhan, only having trouble with Netherspite and Shade of Aran, but eventually downing them.

The Shade of Aran video can be found here:
The Netherspite video can be found here:

World of Warcraft 3 man, 3.0.2, Karazhan

Role-Player will be a monthly news letter concerning RP throughout the EU realms, and to inform what is going off in a community not far from you. Myself and Strands will be posting about events from the following realms:

-Argent Dawn

-Darkmoon Faire (horde only)

-Earthen Ring

-Moonglade

-Steamwheedle Cartel

-The Sha’tar (horde only)

From reading Role-Player you should be able to get a brief picture of what is going off on each realm and what/who are the big thing at the moment. Also, I will be posting dates and times of events from these servers, again giving a brief description and what requirements are needed to participate.

The newsletter may also open some new doors for people new to RP, giving them an insight to the different realms, so that they can fit in with what is going on at a certain point in time, eventually making RP more appealing, hopefully. Specific stories about specific groups/characters may fill the letter sometimes, giving you in-depth insight into some of the realms population!

I will post the first edition shortly, explaining the goings on of the Phoenix Guard from Darkmoon Faire, and what events are taking place shortly on the realm. Darkmoon Faire has a limited RP base, so I think the first edition may be quite short, but still a very good read,  Please. I ask of you, give it some time and even if RP isn’t your seen, just take a look, you may be pleasantly surprised.

General argent dawn, Darkmoon Faire, earthen ring, moonglade, roleplay, RP, steamwheedle cartel, the sha'tar

In the newly released patch 3.0.2, which came in preperation for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack, the achievements system was introduced.  The purpose of this quite major addition to the game was for the player to track their progress and various accomplishments throughout their play.  The interface is easy to use, with features such as tracking a specific objective, which adds progress information to the right of the screen near the quest progress text.

There is a large variety of achievements, ranging from slaying turkeys to conquering the frozen citadel of Naxxramas in Northrend to finding and slaying rare monsters.  Already, millions of subscribers are battling to be the first to unlock the many rewards in the form of mounts, tabards and titles.  Hallow’s End is almost gone, and many high level players have been attempting to gain the title of the Hallowed as a reward for completing such tasks as being transformed by wands, obtaining pets and masks, and visiting candy buckets from inns throughout Azeroth and the Outlands.

Then, there are Feats of Strength.  From collecting a unique pet from a holiday event to being the first to kill a boss, it is now possible to record these achievements, and they will now display in the “Feats of Strength” section of the achievement menu.

This new addition to World of Warcraft adds a huge amount to the to-do list, with “Achievement Points” to track your progress.  Over seven hundred achievements are available so far, with many more to come.  This ensures that one is never without something to do, and there is always something to reach for, whether it be a “Jenkins” title for your character, a huge drake mount, or a unique tabard.  The future of the Achievements system looks to contain nothing but growth, with more to do in each patch.  Good luck!

World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King 3.0.2, achievements

Magus Medivh was the last Guardian of Tirisfal, an ancient line of protectors bestowed with great powers to do battle with the agents of the Burning Legion. He was corrupted from birth and possessed by the spirit of the demonlord Sargeras, who used Medivh in his plan to conquer Azeroth. Medivh contacted the orcish warlock, Gul’dan, and together they opened the Dark Portal, which allowed the Horde to begin its destruction of Azeroth. He was slain shortly after by a party led by one of his friends, Lothar. Shortly before the beginning of the Third War, Medivh returned as a mysterious prophet, guiding the mortal races to victory at the Battle of Mount Hyjal.  The prophet’s name means “keeper of secrets” in Thalassian.

King Terenas of Lordaeron and Antonidas of Dalaran both dismissed the prophet as a madman. The King’s son, Prince Arthas, refused to leave his beleaguered people. Only the young daughter of Daelin Proudmoore, and apprentice of Antonidas, Jaina, sensed that he was perhaps right. When he appeared to her after the destruction of Stratholme, she heeded his warning and prepared to leave for the west. She set sail with a group of her people just as the invasion began.

The prophet remained aloof for some time, until he reappeared to Thrall and Jaina as they prepared to do battle with each other. He told them that they must cease hostilities if they ever hoped to defeat the Burning Legion. They reluctantly agreed to his words. Finally, the prophet revealed his identity when the time came to rally the forces. Appearing in a dream to Thrall, the night elves Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind, and Jaina, the prophet told them that they must form an alliance to battle the common enemy. He told them that he was, in fact, Medivh, the Last Guardian of Tirisfal, and that it was his doing that brought the orcs, and, in turn, the Burning Legion, to Azeroth. Jaina, Thrall, and Tyrande became convinced that victory could only be achieved through an alliance, and they rallied together to defend the World Tree, Nordrassil. In the final hour, nature’s spirits, called into action by the Horn of Cenarius’ clarion call, swarmed around Archimonde, and destroyed the demon once and for all.

Full article can be found at WoWWiki.

Warcraft, World of Warcraft Hyjal, Karazhan, lore, Medivh, Warcraft

With Blizzard adding more and more content to WoW, we are surely to see an increase in fan art, desktop wallpapers and there new additions, ring tones and mobile pictures. I have personally purchased some of them and I have to say, the quality is amazing, and the priceless look on peoples faces when the hear a murloc in your pocket, pure priceless!

Carry a little piece of Azeroth wherever your real-world travels take you with our new World of Warcraft-themed wallpapers and ringtones for your phone. We’ve just launched a new service in the United States that lets you download content related to your favorite Blizzard Entertainment games to supported mobile phones. Currently, these wallpapers and ringtones are available through carriers AT&T, Cellular One, Sprint, and Verizon; support for T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile is coming soon.

Over 65 pieces of content are currently available, including ringtones of World of Warcraft’s capital city themes and the distinctive murloc gurgle, as well as wallpapers featuring character artwork, class and faction emblems, and more. Visit the new Mobile Ringtones and Wallpapers page (linked below) for more information — and while you’re there, be sure to check out our StarCraft and Diablo mobile content, too.

http://mobile.blizzard.com

General, Warcraft, World of Warcraft mobile, murloc, pocket, wow