World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Welcome to The Overpull, Ten Ton Hammer's weekly newsletter that discusses all things WoW.
 

This week is short and sweet. We're not commenting on what might be rumor or scuttlebutt, so there isn't too much going on prior to BlizzCon. Luckily there are a few items of interest though:

Onyxia's return is a welcome flash back and revamp. I am looking forward to the new and improved Ony fight and can only hope that it inspires another Ony Wipe Animation.

Two ways to win. For the first time we'll have the option to buy a net-stream to watch BlizzCon from the comfort of our desks or we can move to the couch and watch on DirecTV. I'm not sure either is worth $40 but I'm tempted to hit the "accept" button anyway. I can say that the Ozzy concert offers me no incentive. I watch the people at my relative's retirement community do Karaoke, so I feel like I've seen plenty of old people singing.

In other news that leaves me blah, the Guild will be onhand at BlizzCon. I get it, it's a funny concept and well done for budget video. It's also becoming a bit overplayed. Words to the cast: squeeze all you can out of this fleeting fame. The new "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" video brought a laugh from my non-WoW playing friends though.

   
Blues Clues 

Oops, 2010 not 2009
Originally the blues posted last year's schedule, or a draft of a schedule which was promptly pulled down and replaced with the fancier correct version. It may look prettier but it does not reveal what we all want to talk about. No beans have been spilled in the making of this schedule.


Now 33% more Con!
The map of the show floor is now available. This year the whole convention center is BlizzCon. Even though it is fun to see the horror on the neighboring conventioneers faces when they see the BlizzCon attendees, having more space is a good thing. Now if they could just do something about the store lines...
   

When Blizzard increases the drop rate on lemons, increase your skill in making lemonade.

Last week was rough, but instead of moping I turned my frown upside down and decided it was time for a change. Typically a carebear, I have spent time in the Battlegrounds only long enough to rack up about 30,000 honorable kills on various characters. Most of that time was spent farming honor to gear up alts.

This week was different, this time I was farming experience. Let me tell you friends, the farming is good, verging on amazing. I decided to level from 79 to 80 strictly using PvP experience (and the quests associated with it). The Warsong Gulches would award 20,000 xp for a flag capture which was nice, but the only place to watch your blue bar fly accross the screen is Altarac Valley. Boy howdy I was getting a bubble to two bubbles for each session in AV. With all of my screwing around in the different BGs I didn't go as fast as I could (if I were to do it again I would probably cut the time in half or more) so I completed level 79 in about 10 hours of play time as evidenced by exhibit A below:



Yes, that is yet another Paladin in my arsenal of level 80 Paladins. Yes the horde won. 

Many of you are hopefully making your way to Anaheim to start the Blizcon festivites. Let Elune's grace favor you and provide you with patience so that you don't go on a rampage and hurt people. The lines will be long, but it looks like the weather will not be too punishing (~80 degrees, or some random number generated in Centigrade).

A true pre-Blizzcon newsletter would not be complete without some prognostication. So here are my predictions for the news that will bubble forth out of Southern California in about 48 hours:

• New Expansion called the Cataclysm with hellfire and brimstone spewing forth and a special world event called the Medeor Shower.
• New playable races; Worgen, Goblins and Gnomes. I know it sounds crazy, who would want to play a Gnome?
• New Race/Class combinations become available. Everyone can roll an Undead Hunter and we can start the jokes of Feigning Undeath.
• The level cap will be raised to 90. Or it will be raised to 81 which would be much more funny.
• There will be a new option to start any class at level 55, this has been in the works since the Death Knights could do it.
• I predict that 2,147 jokes will be made about body odor.
• The DirecTV feed will be watched by 1/3 of the people who bought it since most people just want the pet.
• The internet feed will be watched by 90% of the people who bought it because they are more hard core than the couch crew.
• Starcraft II launch date will be announced to the groans of "a whole year from now?!" And that is just for part one of three. How many decades until we see the other two parts?
• A new class for Diablo III will be shown with a short cut scene and very little other information. Currently on the schedule they have one session called Heroes and Monsters and then an art discussion and Q&A. Expect very little here friends.
• Turning it up to 11, Blizzard will announce heirloom items for sale via micro-transactions that might not be so micro. 
• The new dances will finally make their way into the game. 
• Someone will master a new dance for the contest later in the show.
• The language barrier will drop and we will be able to speak to members of the opposite faction.
• Last but not least, player housing and guild halls will be discussed yet will never happen.

So there are your iron-clad locks for this year's BlizzCon.  
I am envious of you folk heading west to attend this year. The stars did not line up for me to attend but I'll be watching on the internet stream as much as my schedule allows. Best of luck with the lines, we'll see you on the other side!

What do you think of the iron clad locks for the BlizzCon predictions? Let's discuss in our forums.

Have a great week, and thanks for reading.

-Jay "Medeor" Johnson