4.3 News

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4.3 News:

The wait is over. Blizzard has begun releasing news on World of Warcraft’s patch 4.3 to the slavering nerd masses, and boy, is there some big stuff here.

Ah dun been transmogrified:

Perhaps the biggest piece of news is the revelation of what that mysteriously leaked picture was. It is… exactly what we all thought it would be. Transmogrification is a new service that will allow players to make any piece of gear they have look like any other piece of gear they have–within certain limitations. The source item for transmogrification must be the same armor/weapon type as the item it is modifying, so no DKs in sundresses or mages dual wielding Ashkandi. The exceptions are guns, bows, and crossbows, which will all be interchangeable with each other. Also, disappointingly, you will not be able to transmogrify non-legendary weapons to look like legendaries, a decision which has crushed Illidan fanboys everywhere.

This decision has been met with an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. If you go to WoW’s official forum, a place normally reserved for endless whining and flame wars, the joy is palpable. In all honesty, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

For myself, I initially thought this idea was somewhat of a waste of time, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. My rogue can go back to her beloved VanCleef’s Battlegear and Liar’s Tongue, and my pally can be stylin’ with Lucky Old Sun and the Royal Crest of Lordaeron, though I will probably go with Quickening Blade of the Prince for my tank set. I am so glad I’m in the habit of hoarding old gear.

That said, it is a little disappointing to see weapons so restricted. I never really met a dagger I liked, and I’d prefer to make my rogue’s offhand weapon into a sword, axe, or fist weapon.

Stare into the void:

Another new feature for patch 4.3 closely related to transmogrification is the addition of void storage, an expanded bank that allows one to store large amounts of old gear and items–with a hefty gold fee attached to depositing and withdrawing gear.

This won’t affect nearly as many people as transmogrification, but it’s a nice feature for chronic packrats, and it does give us a place to put all our gear for transmogrification. Hopefully we won’t have to pay the withdrawal fee every time we want to use a piece of gear for transmogrification; otherwise, it could get quite irritating.

Death to Deathwing:

4.3 will also include a new raid tier, which will theoretically include the final battle with Deathwing. If true, this means that either Cataclysm is coming to an end much sooner than anyone outside of Blizzard could have anticipated, or that Deathwing will not be the expansion’s ultimate boss. They did something similar to this by letting people fight Illidan early in Burning Crusade, but if memory serves, even Blizzard admitted that was a poor decision, so it’s hard to see them doing it again.

It is worth noting that Blizzard has not categorically stated this is the patch in which we will kill Deathwing, though it is strongly implied by their wording. Personally, I wouldn’t be shocked if this turned to not be the patch where the fallen Earthwarder meets his end, but only time will tell.

4.3 is also confirmed to feature no less than three new five man dungeons. Dungeons are tied with quests for my favourite part of this game, so I’m very excited about this, especially since some are saying they will be the War of the Ancients Caverns of Time instance we’ve been hearing about since before Cataclysm’s launch.

WotA was originally slated to be a raid, but it may have been downgraded. This might disappoint some, but as a lore fan who doesn’t get to raid much, I jump for joy at the prospect.

Although come 4.3, raid accessibility may not be so much of a problem…

The Raid Finder:

The one final big piece of news to come out of 4.3 is the addition of a Raid Finder tool which will theoretically function much like the current Dungeon Finder tool. Little is known about the specifics of this feature at present, but it could change the game immeasurably.

In the past, I’ve tended to view a Raid Finder as a wonderful idea that would never work. My biggest complaint about WoW is and always has been that raids are too hard to access for the casual player.

I used to feel the same about dungeons, but the Dungeon Finder changed all that. I don’t care how much people hate on it, the DF revolutionized the game for the better for me. Dungeons went from a chore rarely embarked upon to one of my favourite parts of the game. I would have quit long ago if not for it.

But raids are a different beast from dungeons. They’re much harder and more complicated, and I always thought a Raid Finder would end in disaster. But lately, I’m not so sure. A lot of fans have come up with very good ideas for how to solve the potential problems of a Raid Finder–for example, have people queue for specific bosses instead of whole raids, allowing for raid compositions tailored to that specific boss.

Furthermore, I’m starting to wonder if dungeons and raids are really that different anymore. Dungeon fights are getting ever more complex and unforgiving, especially in the Troll dungeons of 4.1.

I honestly think Jin’do the PUGbreaker and High Priest Venoxis are as hard as many raid fights, and I might even go so far as to say that they might be harder than some of them–I’ve seen a lot more PUGs wipe on Jin’do than the faceroll that is post-4.2 Halfus Wyrmbreaker. Many groups suffered horribly on these bosses for weeks, but experience and gear levels have gone up, and now I can’t remember the last wipe I had on either of them. The Dungeon Finder community rose to the challenge, and I can’t help but wonder if the same thing might not happen with a Raid Finder–it’s a horror show at first, but eventually, people learn the fights and begin to waltz through them.

In fact, if I might put on my tinfoil hat for a moment, I can’t help but wonder if Jin’do was a test to see if random PUGs could handle the challenges a Raid Finder would throw at them.

Again, only time will tell, but I’m cautiously optimistic about this Raid Finder.

Sources:

4.3: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2973396284

Transmogrification: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3309048#blog

Void storage: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3342240

Retro Review: Genesis of Shannara

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Retro Review: Genesis of Shannara:

If you’re a fan of fantasy literature, you’ve probably at least heard of Terry Brooks, if not read some of his books. He’s one of the biggest names in the fantasy field, a bestseller and author of no less than three large fantasy series: the high fantasy Shannara, the urban fantasy the Word and the Void, and the satirical the Magic Kingdom of Landover.

The Genesis of Shannara trilogy–“Armageddon’s Children,” “The Elves of Cintra,” and “The Gypsy Morph”–is both a prequel to the other Shannara books and a sequel to the Word and the Void. That said, it doesn’t draw too heavily on the other series, and you could easily read it and enjoy it even if you’ve never read a Terry Brooks book before.

Set in the late 21st century, Genesis of Shannara depicts a world utterly destroyed by war and environmental disaster. Diseases and radiation blight the landscape, creating various strains of mutants, and armies of nightmarish Once-men ravage all in their path. Worse still, Demons lurk in the shadows, working tirelessly to extinguish what life remains in the name of the Void. The few survivors that remain are forced to cram into tiny, Spartan fortress-cities where the weak and infirm are cast off, lest they divert resources from the more worthy, or eek out a meager existence on the streets, where disease, Once-men, and other gangs are a constant threat.

It’s hammered home early in the series that our world is dead. Not dying. Dead. Those few who still survive know they won’t for much longer.

It’s this bleak feeling–even more so than it’s utterly different setting–that sets this apart from the other Shannara books, which had frankly become rather dull and formulaic up until Genesis. Whereas the other recent Shannara books had tended to be lacking in character and emotion, Genesis is haunting, rich with feeling, and has a stellar cast of characters.

Most memorable of these for me are the Ghosts, a gang of street children trying to survive in the ruins of Seattle. They sum up the books’ sorrowful feeling perfectly with the ritual greeting they give when meeting other gangs: “We are the ghosts. We haunt the ruins of the world our parents destroyed.”

Every Ghost came to their little family with a tale of tragedy. But it’s not all misery with them. There are lots of quiet little moments of peace that contrast wonderfully with the horror that occupies the rest of the books. Some of the best scenes in Genesis are the more familial moments, such as Owl, the “mother” of the family, reading bedtime stories to the younger children.

And that’s what really makes Genesis of Shannara so brilliant. If it were all sadness and doom, it would simply be depressing. But remember this is a prequel. It’s not just about the death of our world; it’s about the hope that a new world might rise from its ashes. It’s this mix of hope and sorrow that makes these books so special.

Now, the series does a lag a bit in the middle with “The Elves of Cintra.” Brooks’ Elves have never been anything special–they always just come across as humans with pointy ears, and the parts of Genesis that focus on them feel as tired as his previous Shannara books. And if I have to read about the Blue Elfstones one more time, I’m going to punch Terry Brooks in the face.

Luckily, the story picks up again in “The Gypsy Morph,” and overall, the books maintain a high level of quality.

One other nit to pick is that it is somewhat confusing that this series features two largely unrelated groups of creatures that are both referred to as Demons. It makes a little more sense if you’ve read his other books, but only a little. But once you figure out which Demons are which, it’s not much of an issue.

Genesis of Shannara combines a lot of different elements in very unique ways: fantasy and science fiction, high fantasy and urban fantasy, hope and despair, epic scale and intimate character moments. It’s a very moving and intriguing series that I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in science fiction or fantasy.

Overall rating: 9.4/10

You can buy the Genesis of Shannara books on my Amazon Affiliate.