style="width: 250px; height: 50px;"
src="http://images.tentonhammer.com/newsletters/wow/farmwipe.gif"
alt="Now on Farm or That's a Wipe">

In this section
we'll look at the hits and misses taking
place in the
game. 

As Bill (or was it Ted?) would say, " href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DsFMJQHbMs">Strange
things are a foot at the Circle K."
Blizzard is working overtime to announce changes and tweaks.



First up, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/69667">changes
to mounts.
The writing was on the wall for some of these changes when they started
lowering the riding skill level requirements. Hellfire Peninsula just
became that much easier (screw you Fel Reaver and all those pesky
boars). Lowering the cast speed is also a welcome change, but we just
found out that it will only apply to ground mounts, flying mounts are
still 3 seconds.



Next, Blizzard realizes that the PvP situation has gone awry. "There is
too much emphasis on Arenas and not enough on BGs." Ghostcrawler goes
on to discuss the lack of Warlock, Hunters, and Shaman in Arena. I've
played a non-resto Shaman in PvP, it's a good time to try for a high
score on Peggle or Bejeweled while I wait to rez. So they know there is
a problem, now how do they fix it?



 

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src="http://images.tentonhammer.com/newsletters/wow/cavernsoftime.gif"
alt="Caverns of Time">

Looking back at...Instance IDs.



There once was a time that you didn't need a daytimer to remember which
instances you are saved in for the week, and which ones you've
completed for the day.



I appreciate the use of daily quests and the fact that Blizzard doesn't
want instances to be farmed, but I can't tell you how many times (a
day!) the following conversation pops up in guild chat:



[Player 1] "Who wants to go to 10Man VoA?"

[Player 2] "I'm saved, I think. Hold on."

[Player 2] "Yeah, I'm saved, the daily is Heroic VH though, you up for
a short run at some badges?"

[Player 1] "Just did that one, looks like we have enough for an easy
10Man Naxx, who's in?"

[Players 3-10] "Saved to Thursday's run"

[Player 1] "Well crap, guess I'll go level my alt.]

[Player 2] "Want to run Nexus level appropriate?"

[Player 1] "ugh"

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src="http://images.tentonhammer.com/newsletters/wow/mishapsmayhem.gif"
alt="Medeor's Mishaps and Mayhem">

The
last few weeks Blizzard has been forthcoming with all kinds of changes.
Some cosmetic like the Druid forms, other changes will reach across all
levels such as the mount modifications. From my perspective
though, the
biggest change seems to be in Blizzard's admissions of issues for which
they don't have remedies. They have been very good in the past about
discussing mistakes they made, but usually after they were fixed. See
last year's Blizzcon - it was one re-hash after another of mistakes
they made and how they solved them. Outside of glaring bug issues,
rarely has Blizzard said, "We know this is a problem, and this is a
problem, and we're working on it." I hope it is the start of a trend to
be more open with the community.



Speaking of changes in the game, the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/69725">Ulduar
nerfs continue
but I don't see that as a bad thing. The instance is not easy by any
stretch of the imagination. It's also not brutally difficult. Regular
raiders should be able to complete a good portion of the instance by
now, and even irregular raiders (might want to mix in some fiber)
should be able to clear enough bosses to make it wort their while.



Speaking of being regular, thanks to the guys at href="http://www.myextralife.com/wow/">The Instance
Podcast, I wanted to let you
know about a new blog for keeping us gamers fit; href="http://www.shrinkgeek.com/">ShrinkGamer.
I've put on a few pounds, so I wandered over to the site to check it
out. It's got some interesting articles and best of all, it's similar
to the conversation two old friends would have when nobody was
listening. "Have you tried Wii Fit?" The following quote made
me
realize I found a kindred spirit:

That is art.



Last but not least, there will now be a portal to a portal. Yes, in the
next content patch we will be able to portal from Stormwind and
Orgrimmar to the Dark Portal aka Stair of Destiny. It makes me wonder
though, why create this portal that will be used once by some level 58s
and never by most people who have a Mage friend? It's not like Blizzard
to go back and add anything interesting to that area, or is it?
Dustwallow Marsh was revisited, is the Dark Portal going to be home to
something new and fun? Or is this just another travel boost?



Travel news a plenty, PvP is off in left field, and apparently
gamers need to collectively lose weight. What's new in your WoW Week?
Join us for a discussion about any of the above in our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=43658">omnipresent
forums.



Until next
week, have fun and thanks for reading,

Medeor href="http://wow.tentonhammer.com/">