World of Warcraft: Patch 5.4 Siege of Orgrimmar

 

Highlights of Patch 5.4: The Siege of Orgrimmar:

• Vale of Eternal Blossoms is destroyed.  Taran Zhu warned long ago that the new visitors to Pandaria would permanent change the land and he was right.  The newly opened Vale of Eternal Blossoms will be destroyed with the live implementation of the patch.  The achievement for opening the Vale will become a Feat of Strength and will no longer be obtainable.
• ALL water is gone from the Vale
• A new raid, Siege of Orgrimmar: 14 bosses, including Garrosh Hellscream—> will raiders kill him, dethrone him, or what?  So far, Blizzard has kept that secret but we will all know shortly
• A new type of raid: Flex Raiding: raids are now capable of scaling in difficult based on the number of people in the raid.  Raid sizes of anywhere between 10 to 25 players are available for flex raids.  Flex raids DO NOT replace normal and heroic 10 and 25 man raids, or LFR.  Loot quality will be a step above LFR and a step below Normal.
• Proving Grounds: just switch specs, just coming back and skills a little rusty?  Proving Grounds are solo instances in four varying degrees of difficulty designed to test the players skills as tank, healer, or damage.  The four modes are Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Endless and the Proving Ground is located at the Temple in Kun-Lai Summit.
• Timeless Isle: new adventuring zone to be found just off the coast of the Jade Forest.  There will be no new dallies or quest chains to be found.  However, the braver explorer will be rewarded with tokens to allow for faster gearing of alts and gear with an ilvl high enough to get into LFR for the Siege of Orgrimmar raid.
• Legendary quest chain concludes – lucky you, my poor priest is far behind on this one.
• Gear that previously cost Valor points, except for Shado Pan Assault gear, will now cost Justice Points and are no longer locked behind a faction reputation grind
• Valor is not being reset
• Connected Realms are coming but will not be available when the Patch goes live
• Usual number of class changes and balancing changes:
• Taunt type abilities all now increase threat generated by 200%
• Vengeance has multiple changes
• All area knockback effects share diminishing returns
• Spinning Crane Kick, Holy Radiance, Light’s Hammer, Holy Word: Sanctuary, and Healing Rain are now smart heals, healing the six lowest health friendly targets in range but will not heal minor guardian type targets (i.e. wild imps, snakes from traps, etc.)
• Base Resilience increased to 72% up from 65%
• Conquest Points awarded from winning a Random Battleground or Call to Arms increased to 150 for the first win and 75 points for each subsequent win that day.
• Balanced Trillium Ingot plans will drop throughout Pandaria, ingots are required to make the new Raid and PvP Blacksmithing plans
• New cooking recipes have been added
• New enchanting reagent: Sha  Fragment –> come from disenchanting gear that was previous obtained using Valor Points
• Crystals can be combined to make a Sha Crystal
• Engineers can obtain the plans to craft Jard's Peculiar Energy Source from creatures throughout Pandaria, it is required to make new schematics
• Blingatron now has a chance to drop a Lil’Blingatron pet
• All enchantments can now be applied to Heirloom Items but will scale down to a level appropriate for the player
• Cash shop goes live in game

Servers come down at midnight 10 September 2013 Pacific Daylight Time and are anticipated to be live at ten o’clock PDT.  I will post updates if anything major changes.

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Patch 5.4,Siege of Orgrimmar,PvP,cash shop,professions,valor,justice,legendary

World of Warcraft: Pre-Patch 5.4 Regrets?

As we all know, barring a shocking announcement today, Patch 5.4 lands on World of Warcraft Live servers tomorrow when maintenance concludes.  As I lay there last night having trouble falling asleep, I began to have the stirrings of regret that I got lazy and didn’t pound out those last eighteen levels so I could experience the opening of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms from the Horde’s perspective.  There is just something about your character experiencing those pivotal moments in game.

Don’t misunderstand me, I think Blizzard is taking the right path when the Patch launches tomorrow.  I think the actions of Garrosh and his never ending bloodlust should have a dramatic and lasting, un-phased, impact on the world.  I will also admit I started raiding, although the “hardcore”, elite raiders won’t consider it raiding, using the LFR simply so I could gear up characters to kill Garrosh. 

My Horde characters will be getting almost equal playtime as my Alliance characters, especially once she hits level 90 and I can get her over to Timeless Isle to gear up.  I’m torn though, between enjoying the Horde story lines in Wrath and Cataclysm to racing to level her.  But, I know myself well, and I won’t race to the end.  It isn’t a play style I enjoy or respect.  I don’t play to sit at max level for months to years on end and then go back and breeze through content because I vastly out level it. 

Do you have any regrets for things your characters didn’t accomplish before Patch 5.4 hits?

 

Technorati Tags: Blizzard,World of Warcraft,WOW,Patch 5.4,Horde,Alliance,Garrosh Hellscream

World of Warcraft: First Horde Character at 70

Well, my first Horde character ever reached level seventy this morning and I have mixed emotions.  First reaction, was the ever present, reflexive at this point, inner woo hoo moment but it didn’t last very long.  My shadow priest got no new skills, nothing cool was waiting in her inventory to equip, it was more like an “oh look two new instances opened up”.  Honestly it was a complete let down.

I sent her to the Borean Tundra yesterday when she dinged 68, excited to finally get a glimpse at all those mysterious Horde quest lines I have been wondering about for years.  I fully admit I am biased in favor of the Alliance, it is just my nature.  Playing Horde, especially when forced to interact with Garrosh is done is small batches for me because he is one character that turns my stomach.  So, after witnessing pathetic Garrosh whining in Nagrand I wasn’t all that please to find him sitting in Warsong Hold holding court.  Questing for him, turned my stomach but I ignored Garrosh because the questing was different than that on Alliance.  Imagine my utter shock when the ultimate reward for those quest lines was the blue weapon that Alliance players receive for meeting Arthas and dealing with one of his minions.  It was an utter let down.

I’m going to go run LFR today and work on my legendary quest line.  It will give my Horde character a chance to rebuild her rested experience and me a break from the shenanigans of Garrosh.

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Garrosh Hellscream,Horde,Alliance,Arthas

Assassin’s Creed III: Gorgeous but Extremely Disappointing

Assassin’s Creed quickly became one of my favorite franchises this summer with the quality of the story telling in the Ezio trilogy and thus I was looking forward to Assassin’s Creed III.

The game is stunningly beautiful.  The landscapes are drop dead gorgeous and the weather effects are among the best I’ve ever seen.  However, a game can’t survive on looks alone and this installment doesn’t live up to its potential nor honor its past.

Bugs and holes are predominate throughout the game.  It isn’t like the game released last week, it is almost a year post release and the amount of bugs that exist in the game are mind boggling.  How is it possible that Ubisoft’s quality control department, and I use that term loosely here, let a game release with a bug that doesn’t update the protagonist's (Connor) outfit, in a cut scene, based on what the player has the character wearing at the time of any particular cut scene?  It isn’t like there are only one or two cut scenes in the game, the game is filled with cut scenes which makes this bug so infuriating and disconcerting.  After all, they managed to NOT have the bug in previous installments of the franchise.

Connor can fly through trees like a howler monkey with very little thought on the part of a player, but by god a group of three pine trees encountered on the forest floor completely baffles him and he stands there hands in the air helpless.  Connor also has the habit of getting stuck on every little obstacle he encounters on the ground, a situation made worse when he is on horseback. Seriously, these bug me almost as much as the bug above.  Controls are more fluid yes, but fluidity comes at too high a price when a pebble is enough to hang up a horse.  Hubby spent the weekend growling, at various volume levels, about “stupid gummy bear, care bear controls” as Connor would stick to anything and everything he ran into or across during a fight, chase, or tail. 

Whoever designed the crafting interface and game should be sent back to design school immediately.  Poorly implemented is a compliment, highly frustrating is an understatement.  And how did something so vital and new to the franchise make it into the game without a tutorial?  I liked the homestead missions and the interaction with the people Connor collects.  However, the implementation of crafting is so troublesome and frustrating it isn’t worth doing in my opinion.  Yes it is nice your crafters can craft upgrade but good luck understanding the stats on anything they craft because that information isn’t present.  Convoy got attacked?  Good, defend it yourself or send your assassin recruits.  Wait you did that but now your convoy is permanently attacked and nothing you try resolves the situation?  Again, another bug that should have never made it through quality assurance controls.

Now for the story, it is full of so many holes it looks like the practice target at the shooting range.  Random important people appear at the appropriate moment, Connor has a conversation and you are led to believe they have know each other for years.  Marquis de Lafayette case in point.  He appears in the story and greets Connor like an old friend and the player has never seen Lafayette in game before.  Where did they meet?  How?  And then we get to the players first view of Connor and his father, Haytham Kenway, meeting for the first time.  Somehow Haytham knows Connor is his son and knows him by sight.  Huh?  What?  How?  Gapping holes in the story you present in a video game are unforgiveable.  I don’t care that you have third party media out there they may or may not explain the holes, your holes in the media I purchased are glaring and wide enough for a herd of angry cattle to stampede through comfortably.  And this is coming from an individual that doesn’t mind reading books derived from video games!

Then we come to the game breaking bug husband ran into last night, one that Ubisoft has no solution for on it’s forums and no patch for months later.  Hubby began playing the Tyranny of King Washington Episode One: Infamy when he encountered the bug.  On the mission to Stalk the Guard Dogs at Benedict Arnold’s camp in Valley Forge, he couldn’t toss bait, run, or avoid detection.  He was unable to progress the story because of the bug.  This isn’t a minor or annoying bug, this is game breaking and it should have a response and fix from Ubisoft.  It happens across platforms and apparently only happened post release of Episode Two: Betrayal.

Connor is a very likeable and loveable character but is he truly as Assassin worthy of the Brotherhood?  I don’t think so to be honest.  He is brash, most of the time thinking with his heart and not his head and he has no ability to take long term views of his actions.  Case in point, his decision to inform Washington about the Templar plot to kill him.  Connor exhibits no understanding that his role is to work behind the scenes to counter plots and schemes of his Templar counterparts.  He is much less an assassin and much more of a caped crusader without a cape.

Overall, disappointment reigns in our house despite the games beauty and the love of the franchise.  We’ve been having the discussion about whether or not to invest time, energy and money into Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.  I’m willing to give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt and play the game on the XboxOne when it arrives later this Fall.  However, if they screw it up and don’t honestly return to what made the franchise great in previous games then I’m done.  I want to play Assassin’s Creed games that are based on assassinations and honoring what Altair and Ezio established for the fan base.  I want an Assassin’s Creed game where there has been quality control done by competent individuals and no gaping holes in the story.  DO NOT DISAPPOINT AGAIN UBISOFT.

Technorati Tags: Ubisoft,Assassin's Creed III,Assassin's Creed IV,Tyranny of King Washington,bugs,Xbox,Altair,Ezio Auditore,crafting,story