This is going to hurt...

At level 80, decked out in ICC gear, I was practically immortal when it came to questing through WotLK (and earlier) material. Waves of mobs? No problem. Giant pull while questing? AoE is all it takes. Group quests? Solo’ed them.

And I was far from being the only one. Level-capped players in WotLK with decent gear and half a brain could breeze through missed quests, dailies and the like without even breaking a sweat.

It’s nice — humbling, even — to be smacked down from that high horse.

Questing through Cataclysm content has refreshed my sense of being a mere mortal in these lands of Azeroth. I’ve died in the most unexpected of situations simply because I hadn’t yet adapted to the fact that I was no longer playing through material for which I was massively overqualified. Continue Reading

Grim Batol's Erudax is one of the toughest bosses on Heroic. Remember when 6 million health was reserved for raid encounters?

Bravo, Blizzard! You’ve finally done it! Heroics are now, verifiably, “serious business.” That isn’t sarcasm, folks — I’m genuinely happy about this development and it seems I’m not alone. Apparently, this thread makes Zarhym very happy, and I imagine much of the development and support team must be just as proud of their work.

During my first real trip into the realm of Cataclysm Heroics, I met a fellow who’s name I can’t quite recall, but clearly had some experience in the dungeons already. Whether that was because he and his guildmates had barnstormed their way to Level 85 (and an average 329 ilevel, needed to queue for Heroics) or the guy had spent some time in beta, I’m not sure. Either way, it quickly became apparent that there was a difference between him and the revolving door of players who kept leaving the group after a wipe or two, which he (and now I) affectionately called “Wrath Babies.”

That being casuals weaned on a diet of steamrolling dungeon bosses and turning off their brains in the process. I’d like to think I belong to a guild of moderately successful players, members of a broad World of Warcraft “middle class” who desire to push as much content as they can whilst not dedicating their entire lives to the endeavor. We’re not Paragon, but we’re not about to roll over and feign death after our second wipe to a difficult encounter, either.

I suppose what sticks in my craw the most about the thread I referenced above, though, is the idea that Blizzard needs to change their philosophy and “stop catering to elitists.” Thankfully, most of the people who replied to this whiner likewise berated him for his blasphemous thoughts. It seems like common sense that things towards the end of current content should be more difficult than what has come before it, but let’s look just a little deeper. You might recall that going from Burning Crusade to Wrath, what Blizzard sought was a way to take casuals from the beginning of the game’s storyline to its very end, and since most of the major plots — including the one that some people had been waiting to finish since the end of Warcraft 3 — ended in raid dungeons, the decision was made to dumb things down a bit. Normal mode boss encounters would be much easier than they were in the previous expansion and now Hard Modes would be introduced to appease the higher-level players. Continue Reading

According to MMO-Champion, a new beta build for Cataclysm has been discovered (12942, if you’re counting). There is simply far too much information to be worth replicating here, but when something catches our eye, we like to report it. So consider the following a bit of a PSA for all you achievement heads out there: get as many badges as you can while you can still earn them.

As you might be aware, the system for earning rewards will be changing in the expansion, and that means scrapping the ability to earn the old ones. Along with a score of new achievements come two Feats of Strength reflecting your… erm, dedication to Wrath of the Lich King dungeons:

• 1000 Dungeon & Raid Emblems – Loot 1000 Emblems of Heroism, Valor, Conquest, Triumph or Frost.
• 2500 Dungeon & Raid Emblems – Loot 2500 Emblems of Heroism, Valor, Conquest, Triumph or Frost.

Now, if you’ve had the stomach to run as many dungeons and raids as possible per week for the past two years, you probably already meet the requirements. But newer players, people who have long since grown bored of grinding them out (like myself), and those who have switched alts over time may currently be well below the threshold. I’d imagine a dedicated raider has at least 1000, but reaching 2500 might be a bit tougher to manage.

And while I’m at it, how about this little “surprise” MMO-Champion dug up?

• Azerothian Navigation – Allows you to ride flying mounts in Azeroth.

Up until now, it was explained that players would be able to use their flying mounts gratis, but apparently that’s not quite the case any longer. Azerothian Navigation has been found to cost 250g, a rather cheap fee that should both accommodate high-level players and those that get their first flying mounts around Level 60.

Oh, and hey, what’s this? An in-game map of the Maelstrom? I’m surprised there aren’t any Undead-riding-raptors-riding-sharks-with-laser-beams-on-their-heads scribbled in the margins! Continue Reading