Guild Updates in Cataclysm
By flisk | July 21, 2010
This is what I’ve been waiting for; Guild Achievements, Guild Level ups, and new Guild Tools! (most of this was obtained from wowhead.com )
Guild Achievements:
Guild achievements are of two basic types – raid achievements and general achievements. Some of the current achievements will become guild achievements. A few example achievements were shown at BlizzCon, including:
We are Legendary: Complete 10 Legendary items.
United Nations: Become Exalted with all Northrend factions.
Working as a Team: Become a Grand Master in all professions.
Insider Trading: Trade 100,000 craftable items among guild members.
Raid achievements are more or less identical to the players’ raid achievements, the only difference in the scale – you need at least 75% of the raid to be from the same guild in order for the guild to earn a specific raid achievement.
Guild Experience & Leveling
Your guild is now able to level up with you! Similarly to players’ leveling, your guild gains levels – starting at 1, going to maximum of 20 – based on experience it earns through its members. Most of the semi-significant actions performed by players within a guild will award guild experience – earning achievements, maxing out a profession, winning an arena match or a rated battleground, and a few more. To balance small and big guilds, only the top 20 “contributors” in each guild will attribute their experiences to the guild level every day.
Guild Perks
Originally introduced as guild talents, these were originally announced during BlizzCon 2009 but have been scrapped in favour of an easier to understand “perks” system where you will gain a new perk every guild level.
Here is a list of all the “perks” currently available, along with their guild levels required:
Level 1: Fast Track: Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.
Level 2: Mount Up: Increases speed while mounted by 5%. Not active in Battlegrounds or Arenas.
Level 3: Mr. Popularity: Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.
Level 4: Cash Flow: Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 5% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
Level 5: Fast Track: Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
Level 6: Reinforce: Items take 5% less durability loss when you die.
Level 7: Hasty Hearth: Reduces the cooldown on your Hearthstone by 15 minutes.
Level 8: Reinforce: Items take 10% less durability loss when you die.
Level 9: Chug-A-Lug: The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 50%.
Level 10: Mobile Banking: Summons your guild bank.
Level 11: Mr. Popularity: Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
Level 12: Honorable Mention: Increases Honor points gained by 5%.
Level 13: Working Overtime: Increases the chance to gain a skill increase on tradeskills by 10%.
Level 14: The Quick and the Dead: Increases health and mana gained when resurrected by a guild member by 50% and increases movement speed while dead by 100%. Does not function in combat or while in a Battleground or Arena.
Level 15: Cash Flow: Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 10% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
Level 16: Guild Mail: In-game mail sent between guild members now arrives instantly.
Level 17: Everyone’s A Hero: Increases Heroism points gained by 5%.
Level 18: Honorable Mention: Increases Honor points gained by 10%.
Level 19: Happy Hour: Increases the number of flasks gained from using a flask cauldron by 100%.
Level 20: Have Group, Will Travel: Summons all raid or party members to the caster’s current location.
Level 21: Chug-A-Lug: The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 100%.
Level 22: Bountiful Bags: Increases the quantity of materials gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism, and Disenchanting by 15%.
Level 23: Bartering: Reduces the price of items from all vendors by 5%.
Level 24: Everyone’s A Hero: Increases Heroism points gained by 10%.
Level 25: Mass Resurrection: Brings all dead party and raid members back to life with 35 health and 35 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
Improved Guild Interface
Guild Experience: Displays how much experience your guild has accumulated.
Guild Landing Page
Guild News: Recent activity feed for your guild.
Containing useful information like recent bosses killed and players who hit max level.
Items can be stickied like the Guild Message of the Day or an awesome boss kill.
Events Calendar: A separate section listing upcoming guild events from the calendar.
New Roster tab: A better way to browse the members in your guild, and see an overview of all sorts of information about them: achievements, status, professions, PvP, and more. Now filterable!
Popularity: 2% [?]
Topics: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Blacksmithing in Cataclysm
By flisk | July 17, 2010
Now that the NDA has been lifted all sorts of goodies are popping up. Today I want to look at some of the basic Blacksmithing in the new expansion for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Soon we will be able to achieve Grand Master status which will take us up to skill level 525.
What I want to show you is a side by side comparison of a new set from Cata vs existing fairly decent gear.
Head Slot
Redsteel Helm
Faceplate of Thunderous Rampage
Leg Slot
Redsteel Legguards
Titan-Forged Plate Legguards of Triumph
Foot Slot
Redsteel Boots
Plated Greaves of Providence
Chest Slot
Redsteel Breastplate
Titanium Razorplate
Just take a look at those greens! I mean thoese guys are not going to take forever to get the mats for and make and they are almost over twice as good as level 80 Purple items! I’m diggin it and am certainly looking forward to gathering up some ore and getting back to Blacksmithing!
Popularity: 2% [?]
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Magic the Gathering M11 Sneak Peak
By flisk | June 25, 2010
Yep! It’s almost here, the new Magic the Gathering Core Set, M11. The tag line for this is:
A set everyone can sink their teeth into.
Walk amongst the elite – The ultimate strategic duelists. The few who can control deadly creatures and wield terrifying sorceries. Battle on countless worlds beyond this one in a quest for supremacy, and know what it means to say, “Here I Rule.”
From what I understand this core set, 249 cards, is supposed to be 50% reprints and 50% new stuff.
| Set Name | Magic 2011 |
| Three-Letter Abbreviation | M11 |
| Number of Cards | 249 |
| Prerelease Date | July 10-11, 2010 |
| Release Date | July 16, 2010 |
| Launch Party | July 16-18, 2010 |
| Game Day | August 14, 2010 |
| Design Team | Aaron Forsythe (lead) Doug Beyer Mark Globus Tom LaPille Gregory Marques |
| Development Team | Erik Lauer (lead) Dave Guskin Tom LaPille Kenneth Nagle |
Okay, with the technical info out of the way, let’s check out some of the sneak preview cards sent my way:
And let’s take a look at one more, a Mythic Rare from M11…
Now wait a second, hold the phone! Isn’t this just like TimeTwister from Alpha/Beta days?? Yep! Okay, so it’s 1 Colorless and 1 Blue mana more than TimeTwister but damn! In today’s play field that’s nothing! And you can play with 4 of these bad boys!
Keep checking back for more spoilers! (remember in September/October of this year we have the new block coming out (Scars of Mirrodin)
Popularity: 4% [?]
Topics: Wizards of the Coast | No Comments »
Magic the Gathering Archenemy
By flisk | June 24, 2010
Directly from Wizards.com:
What Is Archenemy?
Archenemy gives you everything you need to play a new casual variant of the same name. In an Archenemy game, one player—the archenemy—takes on the role of a merciless tyrant bent on total domination. The other players form a team dedicated to stopping the archenemy at any cost, taking a shared turn Two-Headed Giant–style.
But teaming up on the archenemy isn’t unfair—it’s a desperate survival tactic. The archenemy comes to the fight armed not only with a normal 60-card deck, but also with a deck of 20 oversized scheme cards. These represent the clever plots and monstrous machinations of the archenemy, and they give his or her deck the power boost it needs to—maybe—take out two, three, four, or even more opponents.
We’ll take a look at a scheme card in a moment, but first let’s talk about how to set up the game.
Arranging the Pieces
To play Archenemy, each player needs a deck made of normal-sized Magic cards. By default these will be normal Constructed decks consisting of at least 60 cards (such as, for example, the 60-card decks featured in the four Archenemy game packs), but in theory you could also try this with 100-card EDH decks, 40-card Sealed Decks, or any other Magic decks. The player playing as the archenemy also needs a scheme deck made of at least 20 oversized scheme cards (also included in each game pack—note that some schemes appear in more than one game pack).
If each player has an Archenemy game pack, players can take turns using their scheme decks as the archenemy. If you want to customize the scheme deck, there are only two rules to follow: the deck must have at least 20 scheme cards and it can’t include more than two of any single card.
At the start of the game, each player shuffles his or her traditional deck. The archenemy also shuffles his or her scheme deck. The archenemy keeps the scheme deck face down and can’t look at it or rearrange the cards in it, just like his or her library.
Set Your Schemes in Motion
The archenemy’s turn plays out just like a turn in any Magic game, with one major difference. As the first main phase of the archenemy’s turn begins, that player sets a scheme in motion—yes, that is now an actual game action!—by turning the top card of the scheme deck face up. It might look something like this:
Most scheme cards, including this one, have abilities that trigger “When you set this scheme in motion.” As with other triggered abilities, archenemy and his or her opponents have the chance to respond to these abilities by casting spells or activating abilities.
Some schemes say ongoing on their type line, like this one:
An ongoing scheme remains face up until an effect causes it to be abandoned (put on the bottom of the scheme deck). Most ongoing schemes have a condition that causes them to be abandoned, although it will likely take some work on your opponents’ part. Note that ongoing schemes aren’t on the battlefield; they’re not permanents, and they can’t be destroyed.
Schemes that aren’t ongoing are simply put on the bottom of the scheme deck once all their abilities resolve or are countered (for having no legal targets, for example).
Some schemes may ask you to pay some amount of mana to reap their full benefits:
If a scheme’s triggered ability has one or more targets, as this one does, you’ll choose them when you put the triggered ability on the stack, as with any other triggered ability. You won’t choose how much mana to pay for 
, however, until the ability resolves. So your opponents will know what’s going to take damage, but they won’t know how much.
A few “hot seat” schemes let you put one of your opponents in a very awkward position by asking, “Self or others?”
Will your opponent take one for the team, choosing the option that puts less total hurt on the archenemy’s opponents? Or will he or she decide to let teammates take the heat, leaving his or her own position unchanged? A team player will look at this choice objectively, consult with his or her teammates, and choose the option that’s best for the team as a whole … but not everybody’s a team player!
If the opponent you choose doesn’t have any teammates left, he or she can choose “others” and suffer no ill effects at all. On the other hand, that player is facing you and your scheme deck all alone—not an enviable position!
Revealing a scheme as your first main phase begins is mandatory. Gravely intoning its name and flavor text and then cackling madly is optional.
Win, Lose, or Draw
The rest of the rules are pretty straightforward. The archenemy starts at 40 life, and each other player starts at 20 life. Each player draws an opening hand of seven cards, and players may then take mulligans as normal. In multiplayer games, the first time a player takes a mulligan, he or she draws a new hand of seven cards rather than six cards, then subsequent hands decrease by one card as normal.
The archenemy goes first and draws a card during his or her first draw step. (We told you they were malevolent!)
The archenemy’s opponents share a turn, in the same way that teammates do in Two-Headed Giant. You each untap your permanents during your team’s untap step, you each draw a card as your team’s draw step begins, and so on. Each teammate can play a land during the team’s main phase. Each teammate chooses which of his or her creatures will attack the archenemy or a planeswalker the archenemy controls, and then those creatures all attack at the same time. You can’t attack your teammates.
The team of players opposing the archenemy needs to work together to have any hope of defeating the archenemy’s quest for domination. But you can’t share cards or other resources. You can’t give your teammates mana to cast spells, for example.
If you or a member of your alliance is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave the game, the rest of the team continues the fight. However, the usual rules for what happens when a player leaves a multiplayer game apply: All permanents and other cards that player owned leave the game, any spells or abilities controlled by that player cease to exist, and any effects that caused the player to gain control of permanents he or she doesn’t own end.
The archenemy wins the game by defeating each member of the opposing team. The opposing team wins by defeating the archenemy. Every player on that team wins the game, even players that left the game before its conclusion.
Remember, players lose the game when their life total is reduced to 0 or less, when they have to draw a card from an empty library, when they have ten or more poison counters, or when an effect says that player loses the game or an opponent wins the game. If the archenemy would lose the game at the same time as the last remaining member of the opposing team, the game is a draw.
In addition to the default “One vs. Many” Archenemy format, there’s a Free-for-All variant. The twist? Everybody gets a scheme deck! Maybe you’re all archenemies who have finished off those pesky heroes and are now fighting over the wreckage of a ruined world. Perhaps a few heroes have tapped into some source of terrible power and risen to fight you on equal terms. Regardless, this variant has the potential for some super-powered, crushingly brutal back-and-forths. And in this format, asking “Self or other?” isn’t putting someone on the hot seat—it’s doing them a favor!
Popularity: 4% [?]
Topics: Wizards of the Coast | No Comments »
Magic the Gathering Auctions
By flisk | June 20, 2010
Attention all Magic the Gathering Fans: We came across a small horde of cards and decided to put them up on eBay. As always you can see our auctions via our Auctions Link at the top of this page (well, and all the other ways one can check out eBay auctions). Check these out:
Vengevine from Rise of the Eldrazi
Jace, the mind Sculptor from WorldWake
OLD Alpha, Beta, The Dark, and More Lot!
Remember Bid High and Have Fun!
Popularity: 4% [?]
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How to Teleport and Time Travel
By flisk | June 18, 2010
Last night the key was revealed to me on how to Teleport and to an extent on how to travel through Time. Allow me to preface this with the following:
Back in 1991 a friend of mine and I were playing a game on the computer (possibly Bard’s Tale or Ultima 5) and our conversation wandered from “If a gate were to open in front of you that went to an alternate dimension or another world, could you leave everything you know behind and step through” to “is time travel possible?”. We probably pondered that possibility for a couple of hours before we came up with a plan.
What took place that afternoon was a letter. I wrote it to myself at about 6 PM. Shortly after it was written my friend and I went out to dinner with my mom. When we got back home we discovered something that blew my mind.
This is the letter:
“On the night of March 22 1991, will put a pencil, red in the top of my computer desk. I will go back in time and do this. I shall check the drawer at approximately 10:02 P.M. on that Friday night. I swear to do this if I ever Time-Travel.”
I’ve kept that letter with me ever since, folded and in my wallet.
When we arrived home from dinner we looked at about 10 PM in that computer desk drawer and yes, there was a red pencil in there. I will be honest in saying I do not ever recall having placed that pencil in there prior to my writing that letter (which was done in ink).
Later that night my friend and I agreed that we would unravel the mystery to time travel. I was to go to school to learn physics and quantum mechanics while he was to learn to become a pilot. The theory was that it had to be a fast moving machine (like the DeLorian in Back to the Future) and we figured a plane would be about as fast as we would need.
Sadly I never learned anything beyond Freshman Physics and he never became a pilot.
However, after last night there has been a renewal of hope and new insight to how to Travel through Time.
Imagine this scenario, you are being chased by someone and all you know is that you must get away. You are chased down into a field and come to a wall made of brick. There is no foothold with which to climb over and the person chasing you is closing in fast. To get away is simple. Teleport through the wall to the other side.
Teleport through the wall? How the hell am I supposed to do that? This is how:
Travel back in time to when the wall was not there then simply move past where the wall will be, then travel back to your “present”. You will have then successfully teleported beyond the wall. However, the trick then is How do you Time Travel.
Sadly I have yet to unlock that mystery. However, with this new key and insight that I found myself face to face with last night I discovered something.
Where I had previously theorized that it would require a machine or tool to Time Travel, I discovered that it does not! Perhaps it is simply an opening in the mind that will allow for this stepping into the past or future and back again. The events that took place last night (actually it was at about 1 in the morning) opened my mind to an entirely new theory.
What were the events you ask? Woof, you’d probably not believe me if I told you..
Popularity: 4% [?]
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Map of Cataclysm
By flisk | May 29, 2010
One of the biggest speculations about Cataclysm right now is the map itself. Many theorize that in Ulduar is a map to what the lands will look like after Cataclysm hits. There are several planets floating and on one appears to be a map of Azeroth, torn asunder. This is what it looks like from the game files:
Now, as I stated this is pure speculation. What I did was take that wire-frame map and overlayed it on top of our current in-game map. This is what I came up with:
Why I state that this is pure speculation, well obviously, Cataclysm is not out yet. For another, it’s been leaked that 1000 Needles has been flooded and in my rendition of the map, well, it’s not. The sunken city of Vashj’ir is also not on the map (but as best I can estimate it would be where the large swirl is in the middle of the map). The starting area of Gilneas (Worgen) and the Isle of Kezan (Goblins) also are not reflected on the map.
Popularity: 6% [?]
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Will Cataclysm bring on Guild Achievements?
By flisk | May 28, 2010
With Cataclysm approaching, there is much speculation about changes being made to the game we love to play, World of Warcraft.
One such change is a zone that is entirelly under water – The Sunken City of Vashj’ir.
What I really wish to see, however, is Guild Achievements. I suppose if they do these it will primarily focus around Raids and perhaps even PvP Battlegrounds. But I don’t see any reason we could not have a group effort in exploring an area or group related quests. I like guilds, I’ve got a good family created in the Shadow Lords, and I think having Guild Achievements would overall add to a little more fun in the game.
Stay tuned for the next post: Map of Cataclysm!
Popularity: 6% [?]
Topics: World of Warcraft | No Comments »
Eldrazi Fat Pack Pull
By flisk | April 23, 2010
The new tradition: Get a Fat Pack of the newest set to be released for Magic the Gathering and post it’s contents. It just so happens that today, April 23rd, 2010 is the Official Release Date for Rise of the Eldrazi!
Seriously, these are great buys! In my last Fat Pack Pull from WorldWake, I feel I got an above average pull. On this Eldrazi Fat Pack pull, I feel it too was an above average pull, but only slightly.
Okay, in the Fat Pack you get the traditional stuff; a D20 (they call it a spindown life counter), 40 card pack of land, 8 boosters, chapter insert of a book, Players Guide (my favorite because it shows full color spoilers of the cards), the wrap around art-sleeve, and the holding box itself.
What’d you get?
I got:
24 Uncommons:
1 Blue
4 Red
4 Green
4 Black
4 Artifact
4 White
3 Eldrazi
2 Foils:
5 Rares:
3 Mythic Rares:
Yeah, with getting 3 Mythic Rares, I’d say this was an above average pull. Not as spectacular as my WorldWake Fat Pack Pull, but still…. Now to figure out how to incorporate some of these Eldrazi cards into some existing decks…
Popularity: 10% [?]
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My God, it’s full of Stars! – New Warcraft Mount
By flisk | April 21, 2010
Blizzard released last week, via their Blizzard Online Store, a new “toy” to obtain within World of Warcraft. Previously we have been able to purchase in game pets via their store (for $10.00 cold hard cash), Lil’ K.T., and the Pandaren Monk. Also released was a new pet, Lil’ XT. But we don’t care about him. What we care about is this new guy…
The Celestial Steed Mount
Yep, it’s a mount! And it’s full of stars! Here is the description right from Blizzard’s store:
“Freshly born from the Twisting Nether, the Celestial Steed flying mount lets you travel in style astride wings of pure elemental stardust. So saddle up, because this supernatural warhorse will fly as fast as your riding skill will take you, and it will travel at 310% speed if you have at least one other 310% mount.”
The bad part; it’s $25.00. Yeah, Twenty-Five bucks! Ouch Blizzard aren’t you rich enough?? Evidently not.
Check this out: When it [Celestial Steed] became available to purchase, hordes of fans (Alliance and Horde alike) flocked to the store to purchase it. This caused a major back-log of stock. How’s that, you may ask, it’s a virtual item!!! Virtual item it may be, but there were so many players attempting to purchase it at the same time that Blizzard placed everyone into a ‘Purchase Queue’.
At one point it is estimated that there were about 90,000 people in queue each HOUR to purchase this guy. That went on for just over 4 hours. It’s estimated that Blizzard sold about 500,000 (if not more, of these. At $25.00 a pop… That’s over $12,000,000 (yep Twelve Million) they made… In just a few hours!
Now this begs the question, with something as sucessful as this (and oh yes, it was certainly a success at 12 Million) will we see more items, possibly ones that could alter game play? Weapons? Armor? Spells? Maybe the next item will be a 30 slot Celestial Bag for every-day use.
Damnit. I’m one of the ones that helped to contribute to Blizzard making loads of money from this Celestial Steed. It’s a fun little guy and I had a little extra cash to spend.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Topics: World of Warcraft | 3 Comments »
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