Evening Reading

Anyone going to BlizzCon next week? I'll be there covering the games for Shacknews and I'd like to know if any Shackers will be in attendance. I don't know if I'll be going for both days, but I'll be there on Friday for sure.

I'm definitely looking forward to playing my yearly hour or two of Diablo III as well as see what's in planning for StarCraft II. World of Warcraft will obviously dominate the show, but it isn't of particular interest to me as a gamer. I haven't playing WoW seriously in years...

Gaming News o'the Day

Links from Morning Discussion

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 12, 2010 5:00 PM

    WoW servers still down. Still sad.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:01 PM

      x1000

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:02 PM

      I want to see what its like to not have to deal with mana ever again...

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:05 PM

      Lies.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:07 PM

      they're back up, but I can't select my region (oceania). no option to do so :(

      no characters on the NA servers

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:10 PM

      This patch is taking forever to install anyway.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:20 PM

        Someone send me a new HD, mine keeps running out of space fuck.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:18 PM

      Take longer, patch! Damn.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:20 PM

      WTF, patch finally applies, enters into launcher, and now it's downloading ANOTHER patch? This one is 1.4 GB, the other one was 4. something.

      I want to fucking play.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:22 PM

      If I have to spend the entire night staring at a blue bar, it should at least have Deathwing instead of boring old Arthas

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:22 PM

      I can't even patch the damn game. =/

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:23 PM

      Jesus my plugins are so FUBAR I can barely even load the game.

      • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        October 12, 2010 5:25 PM

        Run it clean like I do. Well, when I resub anyways. ;)

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:29 PM

        Or I could disable them all and it still takes forever to get in.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:26 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:27 PM

      Shack WoW Guild}y

      Server: Mal'Ganis
      Faction: {rHorde}r

      This is an All Shack guild with room for casual and serious raiding. We're huge, and we're awesome.

      /join shacknews and ask for an invite there.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:27 PM

        Tags, whatever.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:28 PM

        I think I decided i'm going to transfer my death knight over in a little bit!

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 5:30 PM

          I'm seriously thinking of doing the same.

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 5:35 PM

            The smart thing for me to do wouldve been doing this earlier. Of course the transfer page just went down a second ago :(

            • reply
              October 13, 2010 2:37 AM

              yay more plate dps!

              lol

      • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        October 12, 2010 5:32 PM

        Shackguild question: you guys have their shackname in the guild note, so people know who everyone is? We did that back in the glory days and it always helped me. :)

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:33 PM

        Love bumping into other members out questing around. One rouge saved my ass a few times out in Hillsbrand as I kept stupidly pulling mobs.

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 7:28 PM

          If a rouge saved you, you have a lot to "makeup" for.

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 8:15 PM

            does it matter if he was a higher level? :)

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:37 PM

        reinstalling tonight :(

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:37 PM

        I might transfer over when Cataclysm hits

      • reply
        October 13, 2010 12:42 AM

        I asked for an invite in chat like 20 times and got straight ignored.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:29 PM

      Wow, Chill of the Throne has been removed. I bet ICC is easy mode now.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:31 PM

        chill was added to make healers lives easier. with the changes to parry, it shouldn't be as necessary.

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 5:32 PM

          What? Chill was a debuff.

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 5:34 PM

            yeah, to make avoidance tanks like DKs easier to heal. spiky damage is really hard to heal. sure, with chill tanks took more damage overall, but it was a lot easier for healers to predict and take care of.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 5:39 PM

        I've heard a lot of people speculating that it'll be a fucking nightmare now, since all the changes to healing just went in but ICC was designed around people being able to toss huge heals without worrying about running out of mana.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:30 PM

      [deleted]

      • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        October 12, 2010 5:33 PM

        Then they have to credit you an extra day. ;)

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 5:35 PM

      Woot! I'm in.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:12 PM

      Anybody have a Scroll of Resurrection? I'm bored.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:13 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:13 PM

      wow, DK is like a whole new class. someone give me a tank spec

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:30 PM

      sounds like a perfect time to play some MINECRAFT !!!

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:31 PM

      wow crashed :(

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:38 PM

      lol @ 90kb/s from fileshack (with Mercury mind you) on the patch.

      I was getting it "just in case" ... because I do have something of an urge to check it out, but jesus.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 6:39 PM

        ooh, anyone have a res scroll? That could do the trick.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:38 PM

      Oh, wtf?!? I spend the afternoon out letting the patch download. Come back, computer is turned off, download failed, start it up again, and it doesn't want to resume. =/

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:40 PM

      If this patch was any slower, dead snails would be passing it.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 6:42 PM

        I just started the digital download installer. I expect it to take a week or so. No hurry.

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 6:43 PM

          I had everything precached, but the installer portion has been running for over an hour and it's only 66% done.

          The last patch I had that took this long was the first patch for Daikatana.

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 6:47 PM

            oh it's pulling at 1MBps so guess not.

            Also that is definitely a long patch. Cataclysm definitely didn't require anything like that at any point, but I guess it was already well beyond 4.0.1

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 6:53 PM

            I just passed an hour and I'm at 75%. Wheeee.

            • reply
              October 12, 2010 7:17 PM

              Oh god. I finally finished patching after 1.5 hours, and now it's downloading another 1.3 GB. I don't understand. Isn't this what preloading is for?

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 7:01 PM

            I think it's replacing all 12GB of your installation during the application of the 4GB patch. It certainly eats a shitload more space during installation than 4GB. Either way, it tooks hours and i'm glad I did it this morning.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 6:44 PM

        be excited for the additional 1gb patch that comes after that.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 6:52 PM

        solid 1.5hrs here installing, at 73%. crazy.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:41 PM

      my god, all gyphs on my server are going 100-150g on the ah. :/ i should have read up on the change and stocked up

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 6:41 PM

        what change caused that price increase? i only know how they work now from the beta, but can't remember what was different before that would cause this.

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 6:47 PM

          well you have 3 additional glyph slots called "prime" glyphs. so there are prime/major/minor now 3 each. and when you dont have to relearn glyphs, they go into your glyph book kinda like spells.

          so you only need to buy a glyph once and you can use it forever even if you change them. so thats good.

          the bad news is now i have 3 empty glyphs and a few of the old ones i had have changed and i'm gonna want to replace em.

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 7:03 PM

          Basically, everyone wants to buy all the glyphs right now to populate their glyph list. I suppose i should jump on my lowbie scribe and sell some shit.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 6:53 PM

        Just wait a few days. Prices will drop once everyone has them all.

      • reply
        October 13, 2010 3:15 AM

        Not surprised. don't worry, the market will die once everyone has them.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 6:53 PM

      I hope they snuck in more stuff for halloween

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 7:02 PM

      god damnit it won't even let me get logged in enough to tell me I need to patch

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 7:13 PM

      Gems 400g. Glyphs 250g. DAMN YOU ALL.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 7:40 PM

        yea i'm gonna wait a bit on those. that shit is outta sight

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 7:41 PM

      I finally got in. Now to get my addons up to date...

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 7:43 PM

        Some days I feel like I'm one of the only people who plays vanilla WoW...

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 7:53 PM

          I tried to play without addons for a bit tonight and ran pit of saron. I didn't like it at all. I'm used to all the information and the layout of my addons.

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 8:04 PM

          Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one trying to gentrify this neighborhood...

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 7:42 PM

      Oh god, warriors kind of suck now and mages are super powered.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 8:06 PM

        No surprise there if you remember the last time they tried to normalize rage. Warriors are used to being crapped on by now.

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 8:19 PM

          My warrior is level 76 now, I'll probably finish him up to 80 but my DPS kind of sucks now as an arms spec so I probably won't do much end game with him except to get some heirlooms for my lower level alts.

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 10:11 PM

            What? Your warrior isn't even 80 and it feels worse?!?! Fuck.. the rage normalization is supposed to be to help lower level/geared warriors and stop uber geared warriors being overpowered.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 7:46 PM

      I'll have to re-up my sub when I get back from Thailand next week...

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 7:48 PM

      No shit. My 4gb patch was predownloaded, I come home to install it and that takes 20 minutes. Go to play, 1.4GB patch downloading now :(

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 7:57 PM

      did DKs lose the 25% of str as parry thing?

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 8:00 PM

      the armory now lists my achievement points as 0. nice

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 8:01 PM

        blizzard accidentally the whole data

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 8:08 PM

          interestingly all the spellpower gem bonuses are still there as spellpower and not intellect

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 8:24 PM

            yeah socket bonus as spell power, that's odd. and all those badges gone... sorta humbling

            • reply
              October 12, 2010 8:50 PM

              i also like how they removed all the intellect from my weapon. what's going on with that

              • reply
                October 12, 2010 8:56 PM

                well, except for my baller Burning Crusade +30 intellect enchant. take that blizzard

                • reply
                  October 12, 2010 9:09 PM

                  now I gotta try to sneak in on a lich kill lolololol

              • reply
                October 12, 2010 9:00 PM

                They know you quit WoW so they removed it only from yours.

              • reply
                October 12, 2010 9:04 PM

                electroly... i have it installed :(

                • reply
                  October 12, 2010 9:06 PM

                  which is more sad, going back to wow, or canceling wow but still checking the armory the instant it's back up to see what changed about my gear.

                  I'VE GOT A NEW, EMPTY GEM SLOT THAT I CAN'T FIX UNLESS I UNSUBSCRIBE. this will bother me every single day until i'm de-listed from the armory

                  • reply
                    October 12, 2010 9:06 PM

                    I MEAN RESUBSCRIBE

                  • reply
                    October 12, 2010 9:07 PM

                    I am not on the armory anymore :(

                    you know you will be back.

                    • reply
                      October 12, 2010 9:13 PM

                      let's hope not. resubscribing leads to leveling, leveling leads to raiding, and raiding leads to suffering. i can't go back there man!!!

                      • reply
                        October 12, 2010 9:55 PM

                        But there will be more dresses in Cata!

                        • reply
                          October 12, 2010 10:03 PM

                          shitty dresses :( they still pretty much all use the exact same, boring model. hard to get excited when a dress is just a low resolution texture. Aion is 100x better in this department

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 11:02 PM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 8:14 PM

      I really don't understand this new downloader.

      I had all the patch data, things go fucked up, and I ended up having to re-install.

      So I re-install, apply the new patch...and yet somehow it said I still had 2.4gigs to download?

      New downloader though, it'll let you play while it's downloading, so I give it a shot. It works okay.

      Now I've exited the game and let it continue downloading only now it says I have 3.4 gigs left to download. What the fuck is going on here?

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 11:03 PM

        Reinstall puts you at what, 3.0.1? Patcher downloaded for your previous 3.3 install - its gunna need to d/l 3.0 to 3.3 stuff.

    • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      October 12, 2010 8:47 PM

      As a Mage, my DPS just doubled.

      DOUBLED

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 8:49 PM

        don't worry it's probably fucked, and we'll be huddling around our GLYPH OF CONJURING

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 8:50 PM

        I just re-subscribed and am downloading the entire game again. :(

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          October 12, 2010 9:10 PM

          I'm actually in a raiding guild (casual, though).

          Not sure how that happened.

          I have to admit that I'm having fun with it.

          You already have a server?

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 9:12 PM

            No, not really, I plan on moving. My main DK is on Thunderhorn and my Rogue is on Scilla still. I just switched my DK back to Horde too.

            • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
              reply
              October 12, 2010 9:15 PM

              Aww, well, if you come over to Alliance on Trollbane, I've got 3 locals there (and a guild) that play most nights, and we're all (the locals, not the guild) making fresh characters with Cata.

              • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                reply
                October 12, 2010 9:16 PM

                Ooh, especially if your DK is 80 and somewhat equipped. Guild doesn't have one at all, now. On the "actively recruiting" list

                • reply
                  October 12, 2010 9:19 PM

                  You're alliance?! :( I just payed to switch to Horde, ugh

                  • reply
                    October 12, 2010 9:21 PM

                    Caught it in time.

                  • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                    reply
                    October 12, 2010 9:23 PM

                    Yes :(

                    Human until Cata, then a leg-lifter. I'm thinking Priest.

                    I miss healing. :(

                    • reply
                      October 12, 2010 9:30 PM

                      What's a leg-lifter? I'll probably do a Pally again for Cata.

                      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                        reply
                        October 12, 2010 9:31 PM

                        Worgen (dog joke!)

                        • reply
                          October 12, 2010 9:33 PM

                          Ugh, please tell me they changed that ugly female Worgen asset to something cool.

                          • reply
                            October 12, 2010 9:35 PM

                            Ok, seeing videos it looks a lot better.

                            • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                              reply
                              October 12, 2010 9:45 PM

                              Her voice is kind of annoying. The guy's voice is decent, though.

                              • reply
                                October 12, 2010 9:47 PM

                                Looks like I'll have to play Priest too, since they can't be Pallys. :/

                                • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                                  reply
                                  October 12, 2010 10:01 PM

                                  Or Shaman. Shaman was actually going to be my first choice.

                                  I'm still kind of torn between Hunter, Priest, and Warrior. And Druid.

                                  I have the BoAs for all of them, I'm just horrible at making my mind up. Hell, Mage was a borderline accident.

                                  • reply
                                    October 12, 2010 10:09 PM

                                    I've played everything but Priest, so I kind of want to take one to 85.

                                    • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                                      reply
                                      October 12, 2010 10:16 PM

                                      As healer or dps? Although, with Dual Spec being only 100g now, why choose!

                                      • reply
                                        October 12, 2010 10:23 PM

                                        If you go Priest as well, then I would level as dps.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 8:52 PM

        From what to what, as what spec?

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          October 12, 2010 9:11 PM

          Arcane

          3500 to over 7k

          Our guild's main DPSer (a better equipped mage) jumped about 10% to 10k

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 9:32 PM

            Cant wait to see how much mine went up then, sweet.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 8:47 PM

      My moonkin is like a mage + lock now, awesome nukes and my ticks hurt like a bitch now.

      Also thanks for the silence blizz I'm very happy birdkin tonight.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 9:09 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 9:12 PM

        Now's a good time. No one really knows wtf they are doing. It's brand new :)

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          October 12, 2010 9:12 PM

          Oh god, everyone's newbing it up.

          It's hilariously annoyingly amazing. >_<

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 9:12 PM

      I went from 8.5k on the boss dummy to 6.2k on the boss dummy with my enhancement shaman. Fuck this patch.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 9:18 PM

        why hello there my fellow nerfed melee dps friend :(

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 9:17 PM

      Can't believe that dual monitor support is just choosing which monitor, you poor bastards - the UI is so cluttered.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 9:18 PM

        what?

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 9:18 PM

        Are you sure about that? Sounds lame.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 9:18 PM

        the built-in UI isn't really cluttered at all, but a lot of people's addon explosions are

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 9:19 PM

          especially with the changes in Cata, it is pretty nice overall.

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 9:24 PM

            does cataclysm have swimsuits and beach hats y/n

            • reply
              October 12, 2010 9:25 PM

              n. goblins!

              • reply
                October 12, 2010 9:29 PM

                i refuse to acknowledge your dirty goblins. they may have broken off from the booty bay faction but their blood is still tainted!!! as a loyal bloodsail admiral i can't condone intermingling with their kind

                • reply
                  October 12, 2010 9:30 PM

                  but they are lovable :(

                  • reply
                    October 12, 2010 9:33 PM

                    i've said it before and i'll say it again, they'll never do better than blood elves

                    • reply
                      October 12, 2010 11:04 PM

                      The only thing missing from bloodelf males is a giant rubber dildo as a sword model.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 11:12 PM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 9:22 PM

      My paladin is an ass kicking machine now from the little I played tonight. I really wish they'd let you resize and move the map though. It's silly. Also how do I turn off the THUUUNG noise that pops up everytime a guildmate signs in? That was annoying.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 9:32 PM

      I got mixed feelings about this... they made it easier for noob dot classes because now dots can't clip, but then

      http://www.worldoflogs.com/rankings/players/Icecrown_Citadel/Professor_Putricide/25H/Shadow_Priest/
      http://www.worldoflogs.com/rankings/players/Icecrown_Citadel/Blood_Prince_Council/25H/Shadow_Priest/

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 9:46 PM

        What am I seeing here?

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 9:48 PM

          you are seeing shadow priests doing 21k dps

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 9:50 PM

            although if you check the warrior tree, you will see warriors doing 32k dps. something looks funny, because the differences between classes is enormous.

            • reply
              October 12, 2010 11:10 PM

              high end guilds tend to bunch up the princes together so they can be cleaved to pad the meters.

          • reply
            October 12, 2010 9:53 PM

            isnt that OP at the top of list?

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 9:53 PM

      2h frost is retarded once again, and wouldn't you know it my focus is spent so fast im waiting just as long as i did for mana :<

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 10:05 PM

      Just ran an instance on my bear druid (only level 22) and shit was bananas. Everything was dying incredibly fast.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 10:07 PM

      how did i miss this bizarre change? resto shaman don't cure poison/disease anymore, now we cleanse curses/magic! can't really complain, but what's the rationale?!? oh well, now i'll just watch for purple/blue debuffs on Grid instead of green/brown. weird.

      • reply
        October 12, 2010 10:36 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          October 12, 2010 10:46 PM

          yeah, druids get a third...but shammies just get the two they never had before! i don't mind at all, i just wonder why they flipped us like that

          • reply
            October 13, 2010 4:03 AM

            Strange. You'd think being all about nature they'd get poisons still, but doesn't make much difference to me.

    • reply
      October 12, 2010 11:12 PM

      So what did they do to leather working specialization?

      • reply
        October 13, 2010 4:04 AM

        Just got rid of it. There was never much point past vanilla IMO, my main is LW.

    • reply
      October 13, 2010 12:36 AM

      My poor, poor feral Druid.... dear Lord... :..(

      • reply
        October 13, 2010 1:32 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        October 13, 2010 1:43 AM

        what happened?

        btw, i got a druid tank in one of my random dailies. he had 80k life O_O

        • reply
          October 13, 2010 2:00 AM

          We can't AoE tank for shit now. Or main ability, swipe, now has a six second cooldown. In combat thats fucking ages.

          • reply
            October 13, 2010 2:27 AM

            Didn't they nerf AOE tanking across the board?

            • reply
              October 13, 2010 2:42 AM

              Yes, tanks will have to L2TANK like the old days again. Just like DPS will have to learn to focus one threat targets again, instead of just nuke away.

              • reply
                October 13, 2010 3:16 AM

                Except us Hunter, lololo Feign Death \o/

                • reply
                  October 13, 2010 3:21 AM

                  [deleted]

                  • reply
                    October 13, 2010 4:03 AM

                    Depends on healer. Shaman and druid I saw no mana issues at all at 80.

                    • reply
                      October 13, 2010 6:04 AM

                      Just healed a random Halls of Reflection on my druid, and I could NOT make a dent in my mana.

                      • reply
                        October 13, 2010 6:21 AM

                        It's meant to fall off a cliff at 85.

              • reply
                October 13, 2010 4:14 AM

                God damn pug DPS are terrible. They are still stuck in "lol aoe" mode and pull aggro like crazy.

                I give a disclaimer that if they pull aggro because they are on the wrong mob, they tank it. If they pull aggro off me because I suck, I will taunt it off. It takes one or two deaths before they bitch and leave the group, which is fine, being a tank I get instant queues anyways, they can enjoy their 20+ minute wait.

                • reply
                  October 13, 2010 4:16 AM

                  Haha, same thing with healing. Especially when a Warlock dies from life tapping before a pull then gets one shot. I refuse to heal life tapped warlocks with more than maybe a quick, low priority HoT.

                  • reply
                    October 13, 2010 5:42 AM

                    just did trial of the champion heroic with a smart, and reasonably well-geared group.

                    holy shit game is 10x more fun with a good group now. shit comes together so much better. focused dps, aggro management, focused heals. so good.

          • reply
            October 13, 2010 2:47 AM

            [deleted]

    • reply
      October 13, 2010 3:56 AM

      Behold THE HUNCHBACK OF LIFEBLOOM-SPAM WTF have they done to Druid tree form?

      http://media.mmo-champion.com/images/news/2010/october/druidtreeoflife.jpg

      Oh thank fuck I'm probably going resto shammy, that looks beyond retarded.

    • reply
      October 13, 2010 6:01 AM

      Suddenly, warlocks are summoning different minions. WTF? I spent 5+ years with an imp called Grimdoom, I don't want this new Jizbelwhateverthefuck his name is.



      The talent trees feel like there is very little choice in what you spec, just a handful of talents you don't pick up (at least for lock / druid that I've looked at so far).

      Chat spam filter by default is something that should have been in years ago, so that's finally nice.

Hello, Meet Lola