Monday, 15 December 2014

Get Down, You Fiery Bastard


   It was a little...well, a lot of hassle. Next to no one knew what they were doing - I, for once, almost wasn't one of them. I may have pulled a mob or two. And perhaps a patrol. But it was all fine! 2 wipes and the raid was done in an hour and forty five minutes. I realise I was carried, but I did my best at the same time which is better that than standing back like a couple of other people did. I earned my mount ^^ I expected it to go really badly actually, like I'd have to find several groups and give it several goes, but we did it in one which was great. No pet drops, and my helm was already 640 (engi, yay) but it's a great thing to have nevertheless :D
   Seeg and I did it together, which was annoying for him because he, somehow, got 620 before I even managed 615. It was a new gun that finally tipped me over, as well as a few 615 garrison mission. Still, that's done, and I can get into heroic dungeons now, too :B


Thursday, 4 December 2014

Bloody Tanks

   I hate tanks. I do. They're glorified ass-hats. It's true that not all of them are so selfish, but when they're the ones leading the group and deciding when a mob should be pulled, many of them can be complete twats. But I suppose that's just pugs for you.
   I've not done dungeons really since Cataclysm. They became quite complicated at that point, meaning DPS like me couldn't just stand still any more. We had to move. And at the time, that was daunting as I never raided, so tactics were a new concept to me.
   I ran a lot of dungeons in Cataclysm, though, because I learned with everyone else, but in MoP, I think I did a total of 5. Not 5 different dungeons, I mean 5 dungeons, period. I was so scared of the changes and that it would be hard and I'd be shouted at (which I was because no one told me the tactics even though I asked and I hadn't found the dungeon journal yet) so I never went in them. As a result, I'd forgotten how stupid some players could be.

   I tried my first Warlords dungeon the other day. Seeg's best friend offered to take us through a few as a healer and tell us the tactics (we did read up, of course, but it's nice to have someone patient in the group, especially one in a position like Healer which can be hard to replace), and we went into Grimrail Depot.
   Our first tank said little, but they ran us through for a short while until they DC'd. Fine, can't be helped, and since the fourth player was another friend of Seeg's, we decided to kick the tank and find a new one since it was a safe bet that none of the group would leave because of it, and the tank had been running on the spot for a few minutes already.
   Well, then it fell apart. We got some orc tank who kept pulling more than he could handle. Sam, our healer, was doing a fine job keeping him and everyone else alive, but the tank couldn't keep aggro. I admit, my damage, somehow (probably because I'm a hunter), was through the roof, so I did take the aggro a little bit, but it wasn't just me, it was the others, too. We tried what we could to reduce it, but he got shitty with us for taking the aggro and left, but not before pulling a huge mob towards us, leaving the group in the middle of it.
   Then we got another tank, a tauren, and he got shitty with us for falling behind. He kept running ahead and pulling mobs before the healer was ready, other times before we were even with him because one of us had clearly said BRB or were drinking for mana, and left in the end because we wiped (guess why!). There was abuse thrown our way though it wasn't our fault, he just decided, as tank, to charge through at his own pace, never mind the rest of us, and blamed us for his arrogance.
   We weren't sorry to see him go, and it hadn't yet been our fault that any of these tanks had gotten so upset (though a few rough words were exchanged once the tanks started getting on our case) or were making mistakes. But it was taking a while to replace each of them.
   In the end we got our fourth tank for that first dungeon. It was a tauren, and I was dubious - no offence to tauren players, but from my experience, honestly the most asshats I've come across in the game have been tauren tanks.
   This guy, however, maintained aggro, laughed when we wiped and said things like "second time's a charm" before actually corpse running (so far, despite five previous wipes, none of the tanks had corpse run, instead insisting we res them, even though it would have been quicker for them to run with us given how long a res can take) back to his body and trying again. He had good humour and was a good tank, and we ran another dungeon with him after. We stopped after that since the first had taken us so long and the tank had to leave anyway, but while the story had a happy ending, I have been reminded, unfortunately, of how arrogant tanks can be.

   No, not all of them are so arrogant, like I've said at the beginning, but I think tanking does attract a certain type of player - some are leaders and can actually command the group, while others have superiority complexes and choose those roles to put themselves above the rest. A group can't go, after all, if the tank's not there, but the tanks seem to forget the need for the rest of the group, the healer in particular.

   The dungeons were good fun, Grimrail Depot in particular, and I loved all the little cut-scenes (I'm sure they'll get annoying in time), but I can't say much for the loot system. Still, I suppose it keeps your bags from getting cluttered and when there is loot, you can use it and there's no worries about anyone else needing on something they don't need, or having bad luck at rolls, though you still need luck at drops. Still, it was good fun, possibly because I was running it with a group of people I knew (look at me! I have friends now!), but the dungeons themselves weren't bad either.


Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Warlords - My Impressions

   I'd planned to blog a lot when the new expansion came out, but there's been a lot going on at the moment with my shop at the forefront, but also an abrupt trip to the Netherlands to attend the cremation of Seeg's grandmother.
   Seeg and I have been playing together, which is nice since the only other games we play together together is Pokemon (don't judge us) and Lego Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit (again, don't judge us!) Otherwise I just watch him play, or play other things by myself. So it's been great to play WoW with him. Unfortunately, it does feel sort of wrong to be anywhere in Draenor without him except within my garrison.


   But, my impressions: it's awesome. The intro was great, and when we did it it was just the two of us. On my second run-through, with my shaman, there were other people there, but it was awesome with just the two of us. Frostfire Ridge was also quite awesome, and having read little to nothing about the content of this new expansion, I was surprised to see how big a part your garrison plays in the zone's levelling and questlines. It was cool, though, to have my own little place and gradually build it up with what I need, and to have such awesome individuals joining me along the way.


   We hit 100 in exactly a week. We started playing Friday afternoon, the day after its release (Amazon decided to take forever to deliver the game, so I didn't get it until 3pm, half an hour before which we agreed to start the next day instead since it seemed it wouldn't be in with enough time for us to actually use it and get stuck in), and we hit 100 on the morning of the following Friday. So that was quite cool.
   I really liked the Spires of Arak, and it's actually my favourite zone. I liked all of the stone and all of the dark forests, plus it was great to get more info on the Arakkoa. Plus there's a Hobbit reference, three Gronn sat around a fire with a chest containing Dwarven Beard Rings and a Burgler's Vest.


   I also learned mining on Daeaye instead of skinning - you'd think I'd have had mining with my engineering, but you'd be wrong. I'm glad that the mining works the same way as it did in Pandaria, it's nice to not have to fly around mining copper ore to reach just 50, and while mining fragments isn't much use, I'm really glad that you mine full ore in the garrison's mines.

   I also like the way rares work, though only to a certain degree. The fact that they drop their best loot on the first kill kind of makes them pointless to farm, and while farming does suck, being given everything to easily and quickly is a bit...anticlimactic. I can't be the only one who enjoyed the excitement of looting them in the old world, though admittedly the disappointment kind of sucked, but now it feels as if it's as easy as buying them from a vendor, and I don't really like it.
   It's true that not all of the rares spawn so easily, though, and I've yet to see any of the mount-dropping rares. There were a few we found that required 'summoning'. The first we encountered was within Deathweb Hollow - upon entering the back of the area, there were prompts of noises heard nearby, a sense of tension and being watched, and when you moved through the spider eggs, you squished the young ones. After messing around and doing this for a while, there were more prompts, one of which was that something was moving closer. We kept it up for a while, and eventually Taladorantula, a giant, rare spider spawned. That was pretty awesome. As was finding the four blood elves caught in the cocoons and being rewarded by them upon returning to the camp.


   I'm still really busy right now, which sucks because I really want to get stuck in and level my Shaman, who I decided to put the level 90 boost on from level 63 rather than my level 60 rogue (being level 60 also boosted professions), but the business is at least for good reason now. Curse my own success!
   I wanted to start Atherya's diary back up from where I left off, but since I've not had the chance for quite some time, I fear that where I pick it up from will seem a little out of place. But, I really enjoyed writing it and never had the intention of stopping, just taking a break, and it's about time that break was over. I wrote a catch-up diary entry a few weeks ago with the intention of posting it once I'd written three or four more, since they don't take too long, but I ended up getting swamped with other things and The Wyvern's Tail has seriously taken a back seat. Something had to, though.

   I will be blogging off and on about Warlords, both with exploration and screen shots, but I will also be bringing the diary back. I like to write several entries at a time so that I can make sure that I never post just one and then let it die again. At least this way, if it does die, there are several entries lined up to spark it again that will also give me the chance to write more in between. Fingers crossed I find the time. My book has priority when it comes to creative writing, but it's always good to have a more whimsical, less important project on the go to direct my creativity elsewhere and keep things from getting stale.

   So...I'll be back eventually.


Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Brood of Alysrazor and Blazing Wings

   It's not the hardest thing to obtain in Darkmoon Faire, especially following today's hotfix which allows you to see your own rings rather than shared, so I gave it a go and got it done right away. There seem to be around 65 rings, ish. I say 'ish' because it looked like there were something like 10 rings in sight when I'd finished, and a few more I'd missed further out. I didn't pick any kind of route, but I did try to leave lines of rings in case I found myself coming back that way, which I did. But there were no problems. It's very easy, really.
   The Blazing Wings have a 1 hour cooldown, but they also last for an hour, so you could wear them all the time. They don't persist through death, but they are added to the toy box for all characters to use.



Saturday, 1 November 2014

Day of the Dead Contender's Costumes

   While using the last of my tricky treats in the Undercity this morning, I noticed activity near the wicker man. I assumed that there were Allies trying to finish last minute dailies, but when I noticed I wasn't selecting any targets while tabbing, I wondered what was up. Then I noticed half of the attackers were wearing Day of the Dead clothing and performing moves like 'quick punch' and 'sweeping kick' on other Horde players. I was so confused! I figured it had something to do with dancing with Catrine, so I did it but nothing beyond the usual costume appeared. I checked the vendor, curious for any new goodies, though expecting nothing, and I came across five new pieces! Contender's Costumes in five colours and slightly different looks as well all for 100g a piece. Once used (non-consumable, I might add) you're able to attack other players wearing contender's costumes for 10 minutes, using 3 unique abilities - quick punch, sweeping kick and jump attack. And you can kill them, and you can die.
   The costumes can be used outside of the event and seem to have unlimited charges and no expiry. The downside? Apparently they don't count as toys, so there's 5 bank slots used up again because I didn't think about it before buying them all...



   There are three achievements - To The Afterlife for 1 kill, Vientos for 20, and Calavera for 50. I also love how you immediately start flexing when you equip the costumes, but I did notice that the Blooming Rose which Daeaye is wearing has a rose in the mouth - at least on a male orc. Daeaye doesn't seem to have one.
   I also love the sheer chaos that followed in the Undercity shortly after it started. Everyone was after everyone!



Jump Attack

Quick Punch

Sweeping Kick

Friday, 31 October 2014

Happy Halloween!


Perky Pug Halloween Costumes

   I spent the entirety of Hallow's End gathering tricky treats this year. I never usually bother but there were so many new things this year I couldn't help going for them all. I got the Lich King costume on Daeaye - which has now been fixed to allow flying, thank goodness - and I got both of the pets on Atherya, but when I thought "I'll get the pug costumes too" and saw that the Yipp-saron was 150 tricky treats, I knew I'd have to do it on another character as it was very last-minute. But I got them all in the end, and I have to say that, actually, I'm more fond of the mad alchemist costume than the others! I bought it on two other characters with some left-over treats ^^







Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Hallow's End Lich King Costume

   It's taken 12 days (would probably have taken 10 if I'd remembered to do all of the dailies since day 1) but I finally got my Lich King costume, which will now sit proudly in my bank, collecting dust, just in case one day I need 50 charges. Well...no, 49. I had to try it, of course.



   It's really more of an Arthas costume than a Lich King costume since his helmet is off, but this was actually the first time I'd seen it. I had hoped it would clad your character in Lich King armour rather than just change the model to Arthas, but it's still quite cool!
   You can't fly in the costume, though, so I was stuck on top of this mountain for 15 more minutes because I refused to cancel the charge...


Wednesday, 15 October 2014

The Iron Tide, New Character Models, Warlord's Deathwheel

   The Iron Tide has arrived! The dark portal has turned red, and with it have come hundreds of Iron Horde orcs. Both Nethergarde Keep and Okril'lon Hold have been taken over by them, and there is a quest line within which you attempt to undermine their efforts by sabotaging war machinery, collecting their plans and killing their lieutenants. It's far from a challenging quest line, and you're awarded at the end of it with an achievement that will become a 'legacy' achievement in a month's time when the quest line is removed, an 'of the Iron Vanguard' title, and an Iron Starlette companion pet. There are also a ring, neck piece, cloak and trinket with item level 515 to be received from the quests, so it's well worth doing on any character that could do with a few easy upgrades before the expansion.


   The new character models have been integrated, and they're easily toggled on and off in the game menu>system>advanced window. A lot of people are unhappy with them, but for the most part that's simply because it's a change they have to get used to, and that can be hard. I know I'm sad to see some of the features I chose for some of my characters get changed for the worse - Spinegrinder seems to have suffered the most - but otherwise, I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the rest of the changes. More than pleased, in fact - to a small degree, it's like a new game. Some might say that's an extreme statement for just new character models, but when you're focused more on your character and their adventures than on the game's raiding and PvP content like me, it's a pretty big deal. And I've fallen in love with Daeaye all over again.
   We'd already seen comparisons between the old and new faces, but seeing the comparison with your own character feels quite different, and I can't believe how good Daeaye looks, and how bad she used to look. But of course I barely noticed at the time. Yes, female trolls always felt a bit unfinished, with their jerky idle stance and their lack of ability to blink, but I loved them anyway. But now? I watched her blink a few times and called Seeg down see it.


   She. Looks. Fabulous.
   I have changed her face and her hair, however. I love what they've done with the 'cute' face, as I've said before, but I always wanted her to look both attractive and fierce at the same time, but that never felt possible before. Now, however, you have the choice between cute, ugly, cute, fierce, and a mixture of the three. I couldn't be happier. But I had to change her hair because, as much as I adore the mohawk, I didn't like the sudden shade-change in the character portrait. A silly reason, perhaps, but it bothered me, so I changed it to my second favourite hair style. I'm still over the moon with her, though! She runs a little better now, too.

   Vol'jin has now taken his place in the Warchief's hall in Orgrimmar, and all of the Kor'kron have been replaced by ordinary orc, troll and tauren grunts. Orgrimmar almost seems safe and welcoming again! And, Xan'tish has his snakes back. Also, I realise this isn't something that happened in the patch, but I've only just realised that the rug in the centre of the warchief's hall is a very rough map of Azeroth, minus Pandaria. They need to sew a new piece of hide to it.


   The wonderful, wonderful toybox has been implemented, freeing up a good amount of bag and bank space. A few items are automatically added, but they've not been removed from your bags or banks, whereas other items you have need to be added manually. A few items that used to be trinkets are now no longer so, such as the Super Simian Sphere and the Orb of Deception, and now count as toys to be used directly from the toybox tab, which is in the same interface as the mounts and companion pets. So go through your banks and collect anything labelled 'toy' in the tool tip. Delete those that say 'already known', and 'learn' the ones that don't. The toybox also tells you all the remaining toys you've yet to collect and how to obtain them in the same vague manner as the companion pets tab, as well as toys that are presumably coming in the next expansion. So we are clearly going to see a good increase in the silly vanity items that I love since we have somewhere to put them now. This has, as I've said, also freed up some bank space, so while we were 'only' given a void storage tab, we've also been returned some of our bank bags and slots, too. There are also simple achievements such as Toying Around, Having a Ball, and Tons of Toys, and it counts your progress in your collection along the top.


   And last, but certainly not least, is something that Blizz failed to bring to most of our attention. The Horde Chopper - the Warlord's Deathwheel - was added in patch 6.0.2, but not only was the file put in place, but it was actually added into the game. The mount is already in the mounts tab of all Horde players who logged in last month and it looks awesome. Unlike most other mounts, your characters hands actually grasp the handlebars. And Daeaye rocks it. I want to fly in the next expansion to get the most out of the scenery and exploration, but I swear this is one mount I'm excited to become valid again.


   The Alliance mount has yet to be added, however, suggesting they're going to have to wait a little longer before they can purchase their version. I only have one Alliance character, however, so I'm personally far from fussed about that! But I do hope on their behalf that they don't have to wait too long. I would imagine that there will be a vendor towards the end of the Iron Tide or in the next expansion myself. 


Tuesday, 14 October 2014

EU Servers on US Patch Day

You'd think people would have learned by now. All I wanted was a shot of the Dark Portal!




"When are they coming?" "How long to respawn?" "Why is it still green?"


Monday, 13 October 2014

I'm still here!

   I've been really quiet lately because I've had a lot to be busy with. I've been doing a lot of work on both finishing this book and planning my next, I've also been stocking my shop up for Christmas as well as finally making some new products, creating pieces for a gallery exhibit, I've been busy with my other blog, and my load as a carer has doubled as my dad's managed to develop sciatica, so while my boyfriend and I have been caring for my mum (multiple sclerosis), we've also had a lot to do for my dad too. So it's been pretty tough and pretty hectic, and as a result I've not been on WoW for ages, hence I've had nothing to blog about on here. There's not been much for me to do anyway since I'm neither a raider 'nor a PvPer, and I've never been too interested in betas.
   But, with Warlords of Draenor about a month away, the Iron Tide coming tomorrow, my shop almost prepared and my dad beginning to recover, I've resubbed and I'm hoping to have a little bit to talk about. I've also been planning out a competition for WoW's 10 anniversary which I'll hopefully blog about and open for entries very soon, but as it is, those are my excuses for letting The Wyvern's Tail die out.
   I've blogged a couple of times in the space of the last couple of months, but mostly just to reiterate a few things I read elsewhere and give my unnecessary opinions on a few things, but I'm hoping to make my content my own again quite soon!

   I hope everyone is well, and hello to my new followers - the blog isn't dead, I promise! I'll be blogging again soon, I hope!




Patch 6.0.2 - It's All Go!

   It kind of snuck up on me to be honest. I'm a bit forgetful so I didn't really think about the patch containing as much as it does, but patch 6.0.2 - the final patch before expansion release - is coming out October 14, and with it comes more changes than I expected. This means that, as of tomorrow, we can see the new character models (except Blood Elves who will be arriving a little later than the rest), the toy box, class ability pruning, the stat squish and so much more.
   The Iron Tide is also arriving with all of these changes, and with it a small questline to try to hold back the tide. Given that the event is coming out a good month before the expansion's release, it's possible that it might well evolve. As you know, I don't like to read notes because I'm the kind of player who prefers to see everything in the game itself, so I don't know if this has already been confirmed or denied. Not reading the notes admittedly means that sometimes I miss things, but it also means I don't discover everything all at once...but it also means I flounder with my characters a bit initially. This is just the way I prefer to do things and it's the same with brand new games, too. I've seen nothing about the new Assassin's Creeds, nothing about Dragon Age 3, and I saw nothing about Shadow of Mordor (Destiny was a different story after playing both Alpha and Beta) either. I just prefer it that way.

   Anyways, I've already resubbed, and I'm raring to go! I'm not fussed with the changes being made to the current game, so I'm not going to bother trying to get this or that achievement or whatever - whether I regret that or not will be on my head :P if it was important I'm sure I'd have done it already.


Sunday, 12 October 2014

More WoD Character Models and Faces

   MMO-Champion showed the rest of the faces today, and, of course, my focus is on the female Trolls. I might simply be mistaken, but I thought there was a little more difference between the faces than there are currently shown. Like I said, I might just be mistaken, though.
   I have to admit that I'm torn. Part of my problem with the old models was that she looked unfinished and expressionless (and I'm not talking about the lack of eyebrows) and the face I chose for Daeaye - the cute one - was simply because the fierce looking ones were a little too ugly. But now they've been redesigned and some of the fierce ones look a little prettier/younger, my problem is that the cute one also looks a little better, and ever so slightly fiercer itself - slightly. I probably will change her face in the end, most likely for the middle left one shown below, but I have to admit that even the cute one looks quite good now rather than innocent to the realities of the world and subsequently out of place.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4409-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday

   The tusks also look good, though they have, for the most part, only been reskinned, but some of them look more prominent than they did before. Daeaye has the biggest tusks because I wanted to offset the cuteness of the face, but I think I'd be happy to give her slightly smaller ones now.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4409-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday


   I was also quite pleased with the female Tauren - I've never liked them so I've never made one, but I think I'd be happy to make a Tauren now, too. She still doesn't seem quite as hunched as she should be, but I also think that the updated graphics make her appear a little more hunched. Or, at any rate, her neck and shoulders appear more pronounced.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4409-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4409-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday-New-Character-Model-Previews-Blue-Tweets-Dev-Interview-Sunday




Saturday, 11 October 2014

New WoD Character Models and Faces

   There are a few cases of 'same face' and different eye colours, but in all fairness, I think the new character faces for Warlords of Draenor shown on MMO Champion today look pretty good.
   I have my complaints, of course - I think a lot of people will, if just because it's a change - but there's not a single Undead female face I like. It's true that Spinegrinder has a pretty face and a bone jaw, but that's just because I wasn't keen on the ugly Undead faces when I made her 6 years ago. But is it just me, or do the new Undead female faces look far too smooth-skinned and like she's just eaten a lemon and is pretending she liked it? Her lips are puckered and too high up the face.
   I'm almost glad we're going to be able to change our faces at the barbers, and I've already decided which I'm going to change Spinegrinder's to. I've also just noticed while writing this post that one of my least favourite faces - the one which is almost just skull - has been virtually removed. She still has most of her skin on the remake of that version, which is a real shame. No, I never liked it, it was a little too creepy for me, but I don't like that they've gotten rid of the option.
   I'm also not keen on the updated features - Spinegrinder has the rotten bony jaw, and its angle always looked just fine to me, but now they've made it only part of the jaw rather than the entire thing, and it looks...odd. First it looks like she's pulling a face, and second, those patches of skin along the bottom are too perfectly shaped.
   I'm almost tempted to leave her as she is, but I'm not sure about how the new models work - if someone enables them on their account, does that mean they only see the new models, or does it mean that only their models are new both to them and to everyone else?

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4406-New-Character-Model-Previews-CASC-Conversion-Blue-Posts-and-Tweets-Blackhand-Comic http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4406-New-Character-Model-Previews-CASC-Conversion-Blue-Posts-and-Tweets-Blackhand-Comic

   The female Orcs, on the other hand, look all right. I'd have liked to have seen a little more ferocity in some of them, but I think they've done a good job otherwise. I never felt there was really much of a choice to begin with (though, of course, seeing them all laid out like this does make me question that opinion), but I think I'd play my Orc a little more with a new face. By the way, she's just hit Northrend. Only took me a year!

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4406-New-Character-Model-Previews-CASC-Conversion-Blue-Posts-and-Tweets-Blackhand-Comic

   I'm going to finally resub to WoW in the next couple of days, too, as I'm sure many people will. The Iron Tide is coming to Azeroth on October 14th, as will many of the changes. You can read more about the Iron Tide on MMO-Champion.




Wednesday, 27 August 2014

New WoD Faces - Male & Female Trolls, Female Tauren, Male Night Elf & Male Humans

   Wowhead recently showed us some images of the different options for female trolls, male trolls, female tauren, male night elves and male humans. They all look pretty good, but given that I've not made any of those except female trolls, I'm unable to appreciate the improvements in the differing faces.
   The female trolls on the other hand I'm a tiny bit disappointed with because the differences between the faces still aren't as drastic as I had hoped, but they're each undoubtedly a massive improvement on what we have now. Even the cute one looks a little more grown up and less baby-faced, and I can say with confidence that I'll be changing Daeaye's face to something a little more aggressive the moment I'm able to. I also like the slight changes of colour for most of the hair, too!





Friday, 15 August 2014

Warlords of Draenor


   A brilliant cinematic, as always, but what I loved the most was that Grom gave the same killing blow here as he did in Warcraft 3, but instead of being killed by the explosion, he's saved from it. It's a nice little extra something there :D

   They've also released a new mini series, similar to that of the Burdens of Shaohao mini series with the same sort of animation, too. So far only one episode is available; I'm not sure what the release pattern will be, but I think the Burdens of Shaohao was one a day for about a week? This could be similar.


   The Collector's Edition is the same as normal, with a behind the scenes DVD, soundtrack, mouse mat, art book, mount/pet combination, Starcraft 2 portraits and a Diablo 3 pennant, with the addition of 'card backs' for Hearthstone, a level 90 boost, and, of course, the game itself. It's priced at $90/£60. Amazon do have their price promise, but it's not likely to drop. Either way, I pre-ordered my copy way back in March.
   The two things I love the most about collector's editions are the art books and soundtracks, and it took a while but I finally got a copy of the Burning Crusade art book not too long ago. Yay!


   They also released a video of the game content - I've not watched it, I'd rather see it all for myself when the expansion is released, but I've included the video here:
 


Wednesday, 13 August 2014

New Troll Models

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4238-Artcraft-Dem-Trolls-Mon http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4238-Artcraft-Dem-Trolls-Mon
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4238-Artcraft-Dem-Trolls-Mon http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4238-Artcraft-Dem-Trolls-Mon

   I always said what I hated about the female troll faces was that there was one cute one, and the rest were hideous. No, trolls aren't supposed to be the most attractive of races, but what I really wanted was something between cute and hideous, because I liked the viciousness of the hideous ones. And I think they really nailed 'something in between'. She looks great! My single complaint is the lack of abs. I had hoped for more musculature. Seeing the concept art for female trolls in the original World of Warcraft art book made me think it was a possibility, as did the model for High Priestess Mar'li (who I realise is a boss so she gets special treatment) so I am a wee bit disappointed there. But otherwise I have to say that, for once, I'm happy :D Although I am a little concerned that the cute face is going to be made even cuter, in which case I'll have to buy an appearance customisation.
   The males look good, but I'm not seeing a massive difference to be honest and I had hoped for a little bit more, but I can live with it all ^^

   What are your thoughts on the new trolls?