Blizzard just unveiled more information about one of the new dungeons in Cataclysm — the Halls of Origination, located in the desert zone of Uldum.
“The Halls of Origination in Uldum is a level-85 five-player dungeon available in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, featuring an unparalleled journey through the timeless titan construction and seven unique boss fights. Hidden deep within its halls lies an ancient treasure that, if placed in the wrong hands, could endanger all life on Azeroth. Should players survive the perils of Uldum, they will be called to help Brann Bronzebeard unlock the mysteries within these treacherous titan halls and protect the titans’ ancient secrets.”
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Last week’s information avalanche from ArenaNet answered a pile of questions about Guild Wars 2, then created what was possibly an even bigger pile of questions with a lot of speculation thrown in to boot.
ArenaNet’s been on the ball, keeping a close eye on the buzz and compiling a list of the most asked questions. Today, those questions were answered, thanks to Guild Wars 2 Lead Designer Eric Flannum. Possibly the most significant piece of news was the confirmation that the companion system is in fact dead. As development progressed and the focus on group play and casual grouping became clearer, the team decided that the system wasn’t necessary.
The companion system was only the beginning — Flannum covered nine key points in this blog entry, ranging from the skill bar to non-combat activities. As with all of the latest Guild Wars 2 news, anyone with an interest in the game will find it well worth their time to read through this latest blog entry.
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The latest Cataclysm screenshot from Blizzard is shown above, featuring a look at a goblin rocket! I wonder if this is a mode of transportation or a doodad? Either way, it looks like it’s in — or at least aiming at — Stonetalon Mountains. What’s left of them in Cataclysm, anyway.
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Want to get Gold Capped? This column shows you how. Join author Basil “Euripides” Berntsen, also of outdps.com, the Hunting Party podcast and the Call to Auction podcast.
Enchanting is like the auctioneer’s sonic screwdriver. Having a maxed-out enchanter is a major boost to many other professions, as their ability to disenchant is just amazing. It will help you recuperate money when leveling your professions, as well as open up business opportunities that may not have been profitable otherwise.
So how else can you make money with enchanting?
The wrong way to make money with enchanting
Read more…
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It’s that time in the Guild Wars 2 information cycle again: just as we are beginning to despair of ever getting new information, the floodgates open. ArenaNet’s been dropping some very broad hints over the past few weeks, most recently sending out a couple of very mysterious images.
Today dropped a couple of significant new pieces of information. First, one of the figures in the image (by the incredibly talented Kekai Kotaki) changed to reveal itself as what is almost certainly an Elementalist. Hopefully this is the first in a pattern, and we’ll get a look at the other figures still waiting in the background.
Our excitement over the new image barely had time to register when ArenaNet dropped a second bomb: a Guild Wars 2 blog. Talk about starting off with a bang: this first blog entry — accurately labeled a manifesto — takes the main points of GW2, things that we already knew, and expands upon them in a big way. Many points that we’ve wondered about are clarified, and the blog entry is easily the biggest piece of information we’ve gotten from ArenaNet since the last trailer.
If you’re one of the many waiting for Guild Wars 2, this blog entry is a must read, and be sure to check out next week’s Flameseeker Chronicles as we go over all the new information in detail.
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When it comes to stories of engaging fantasy worlds, one of the premier names that comes to the minds of many gamers is R.A. Salvatore. His Forgotten Realms books chronicling the adventures of Drizzt Do’Urden are fan favorites, and many are curious as to just what he’s doing on 38 Studios’ upcoming MMO, codenamed Copernicus. Thankfully, Salvatore took some time to sit down with Gamasutra and discuss plans for the MMO, as well as their lore-related single-player game, codenamed Mercury.
In this interview, Salvatore talks both on his gaming past, and whether or not his varied experiences in gaming have affected his writing on this project. He also touches on how important he feels immersion is in terms of getting people engaged — suspending their disbelief, and jumping into the fantastic worlds he weaves. Another interesting tidbit is how he feels that characters are most important in terms of telling a story — a tenet that has served him extremely well, if sales of his books are any indication!
If you’re looking for more illumination into the mind of the man shaping the overall stories for 38 Studios, then you’ll definitely want to pop over to Gamasutra and check out this latest interview. Of course, we also happen to have a pretty sweet interview of our own with Salvatore about Copernicus that you’ll want to check out if you missed it the first time around.
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The big announcement out of Star Wars: The Old Republic came ahead of time this week, with the release of a surprise video documentary detailing combat. On the other hand, the game isn’t only about combat. Having completed the Threat of Peace storyline in comic form, the site has launched a new comic to continue exploring the game’s lore in more personal terms. Blood of the Empire has gone live, taking the exact opposite approach to the prior comic by focusing on a young Sith during the conquest of Republic worlds for the growing empire.
True to form, the comic presents the Sith in the most straightforward fashion possible, leaving plenty of room for the moral ambiguity that classically defines BioWare’s games. If that doesn’t quite grab your fancy, the team’s fan roundup has gone live, along with new concept art and a short trailer for the game. The former shows off some of the technology designs at work, while the latter highlights environmental effects from sparking generators to rippling water. It’s a somewhat more contemplative look at Star Wars: The Old Republic compared to non-stop lightsabers and laser blasts, and it might prove a welcome contrast after the earlier announcements
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Dungeons and Dragons Online fans know that the DDO Store has items on sale almost constantly, but rarely does the crew at Turbine mark items down with such enthusiasm.
The normal DDO Store sales usually involve a handful of Adventure Packs and maybe a few other items. This sale, however, includes all Adventure Packs at a 30% discount, as well as an impressive array of other items large and small. Some of the more expensive premium items are discounted — the Drow and Warforged races and the 32-point build — as well as items all the way on the other end of the scale. Cleric Hirelings can be had for as little as 5 Turbine Points, for example. If you’re planning to stock up, keep in mind that the DDO Store only allows you to purchase items appropriate to your character’s current class and level, so you’ll be a bit limited according to your current character roster.
If you’re a fan of the DDO Store or have been considering a purchase, this is a good time to take a look. The sale ends on the 29th.
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The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on news from around the WoW community. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? Email TheClassifieds@wow.com.
The RNG does not hate you. It’s just been spending all of its quality time this week snuggling up to Taedran of US Silvermoon-A. “I’ve been having a strange week,” Taedran confesses. “Physically, IRL, I’ve been really sick and feeling awful, but in WoW … It’s as if God is smiling upon me, because there are a few items I have been farming for every chance I get, items that I have been farming for, for more than a year. These items are: Swift Razzashi Raptor from Zul’gurub, Orb of the Sin’dorei from heroic Magister’s Terrace, Shard of the Fallen Star from AQ40 and quite a few others! This week has fulfilled all my dropping wants! And to top that all off, my guild just beat Lich King, and so we are all Kingslayers now. And guess what Lich King dropped? The only item I want off of him — the healing mace. And I won it!”
This is the point at which we should probably all gather ’round and clap Taedran on the back, congratulating and wishing him well … It’s just that I think I have something in my eye, and I really don’t have a free hand, anyway. I have to keep pounding this need button over here — unless I make the right sequence of rolls (I’m going for 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42; I read ‘em on this weird metal hatch out in the middle of Sholazar Basin), something bad is going to happen … Something that might keep me from prying my fair share of loot out of the grip of that filthy rotten fleabag gloriously lucky bloke, Taedran …
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Warcraft: Shadow Wing, Vol. 1: Dragons of Outland, the new Warcraft manga written by Richard A. Knaak and illustrated by Jae-Hwan Kim, now has a preview available online at BlizzPlanet.com. Shadow Wing follows the continuing story of Jorad Mace and the blue dragon Tyrygosa, who parted ways with Kalecgos and Anveena at the end of the Sunwell Trilogy. Jorad and Tyri meet up in Outland — and hopefully the manga explains what the two have been doing out on Celestial Ridge all this time, and how Tyri’s research eventually ties in to Malygos’ efforts up in Northrend.
In addition, there is also a preview available for Warcraft: Mage, the second in the series of class-based books that began with Warcraft: Death Knight. Unlike Death Knight, which detailed the untold story of Thassarian, Warcraft: Mage seems to be taking a different route and telling the story of a character as yet unseen in World of Warcraft. Aodhan is a young man who comes from a lineage of paladins and warriors, but finds himself drawn to an entirely different path. While training to become a mage in Dalaran, Aodhan and the rest of the city abruptly find themselves under siege by Malygos and the Blue Dragonflight. Warcraft: Mage is also written by Richard A. Knaak and illustrated by Ryo Kawakami, who has also done work for the Warcraft: Legends series.
While the manga novels still aren’t available for pre-order, it looks like both novels will be released on June 1, 2010, from TOKYOPOP, and will be available at bookstores across the country.
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This afternoon we have a new preview of another Cataclysm zone, this time the zone of Vashj’ir. Vashj’ir is partially an underwater zone that lets the players face off against the Naga. There will be both Alliance and Horde forces present, including submarines and naval ships for both factions.
This is where we’ll also see the five-man dungeons of the Throne of the Tides and the Abyssal Maw. Additional details on the new Cataclysm dungeons can be found here.
The zone is for players level 78 to 82.
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I’ll be completely honest: If I were to describe the death knight update with three words, it would be these: We need more. PvP-focused death knights will likely be pleased with the new revealed skills, but for PvE death knights, all three hold little to no PvE applicability. The new rune system’s original explanation is somewhat convoluted, and while I think I have a handle on it after some extensive testing and theorycrafting, we really can’t say much about how well it will work until we know more about how our abilities will be rebalanced. The talent discussion mostly focused on telling us what we learned a few days ago when we were told blood will be the only tanking tree.
Essentially, given this update, a large part of me wishes they had just held off until the beta. Right now, we just don’t have enough information to make anything more than vague educated guesses about how the new rotations and abilities will play off of each other. That said, it’s still worth a look at what’s going down, so let’s start it up and see what we can surmise.
Read more…
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The Aion official site features a brief interview with producer Chris ‘Kinslon’ Hager regarding the forthcoming 1.9 game update. Though NCSoft remains as coy as ever regarding a release date for the elusive patch, Hager manages to drop a few hints about what’s coming.
Perhaps most interesting (or alarming, if you’re one of the eleventy billion assassins stealthing about) are the anti-stun mechanics being introduced. “If your character becomes stunned in combat, Remove Shock becomes available as a chain skill that you can use to remove the stun and increase your character’s resistance to stun, knock back, and similar conditions for seven seconds. At later levels, class-specific skills that you can also learn will act as chain skills that let you go on the offensive in addition to the basic abilities of Remove Shock,” Hager says.
He also mentions rewards for the much-anticipated daily quests. “The quest givers will offer are a wide range of rewards, from XP and Kinah to mist (time-limited) weapons, armor, and even some new titles,” he says.
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The Alliance Tournament is one of EVE Online’s annual highlights. Loved by participants and watched by hundreds of excited fans, the tournament is a showcase of EVE’s combat mechanics and pure strategy. With the interesting new “flagship” rule to shake things up and the usual commentary on EVE TV, this year’s tournament in June is definitely something to look forward to. In a recent news post, CCP confirmed that sign-ups for teams officially open on April 12th. Alliances wanting to enter have until April 23rd to submit their interest in taking up one of the 64 slots in the event.
Most of the slots for this year’s tournament will be assigned to applicants completely at random, with last year’s winners being guaranteed a spot. In an effort to make sure EVE’s big alliances aren’t excluded by the luck of the draw, eight slots will be reserved for auction. Alliances will bid against each other for one of the eight guaranteed spots, allowing eight of EVE’s richer alliances to choose to secure their slots. There are enough slots left over, however, that those who don’t enter the auction will still stand a very high chance of winning a slot at random. To help reduce the number of absentee entrants from last year’s total, every alliance entering will also have to pay a 2 billion ISK non-refundable sign-up fee.
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Okay, I admit it, I don’t understand you priests at all. You wear cloth, you sometimes heal people and even when you hurt people, you do so in a profoundly confusing way to me. At no point do you seem to actually hit anything with those staves, maces, daggers and so on that you collect. This baffles me. However, out of residual affection for the healing spells you cast and grudging (I mean it, seriously grudging) respect for your DPS, I take it upon myself to present to you the follow-up blue posts on the priest Cataclysm preview. (And every time I see Mind Spike I can’t help but think “Mind bullets! That’s telekinesis, Kyle!”)
I mean, you’re a two-role hybrid, I’m a two-role hybrid … we should stick together. So here comes some blue posts explaining Inner Fire, Mind Spike, Chakra, what happened to Misery, and if Lightwell is getting any love.
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