Filed under: Fan stuff, Features, Humor, Comics, Sunday Morning Funnies

It is once again, Sunday morning. While you Americans are probably still munching on turkey and pawing through the fruits of your Black Friday labors, I put up my Christmas tree and toasted myself a bagel. It isn’t quite the same, of course, but it also gave me time to compose this week’s list of hilarity and adventure.

• From World of Warcraft, Eh? comes Cold is Only a State of Mind.
• I’m Rich! from Dark Legacy Comics.
• Sam Taylor on leveling.
• This next entry is not a comic, but an English translation of a German comedic hit, and there are some images. 10 reasons to hate World of Warcraft (Lich King Edition).
• The 2008 Flintlocke Thanksgiving Special.
• Shakes and Fidget go on a Holiday.
• GU Comics hosted a guest comic by Zukan, Well Me Not. The same illustrator also did The Modern Orc.
• From GU Comics comes Silly Arthas.
• Three Panel Soul released a WoW-related comic. Thanks Scelerat for the tip!
• The plot thickens with the latest LFG.
• Noobcow and the No Flying Zone from Manic Graffiti.
• Epic from NoObz.
• Check out the latest from The Scout Report.
• And Then There Was One from Teh Gladiators.
• Monkey Punchers presents Math According to Blizzard.

Sunday Morning Funnies: Feeling violated originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast topics, Instances, Quests, Leveling, Factions, Wrath of the Lich King

No more collecting huge stacks of Unidentified Plant Parts or Arrakoa Feathers. No more running Hellfire Ramparts half a dozen times before starting in on quests. In Northrend, it seems like there’s two basic ways to get reputation with a faction: Either you do quests, or you grab the proper tabard and run a level 80 dungeon.

For the most part, I do like the latter option. It’s nice not to feel like I have to jump through hoops to maximize my reputation gain. Still, being able to pre-gather stuff is sometimes pretty cool too, and part of me sort of wishes they had kept some of that in, maybe in that way I’ve talked about before where you can have around 12k max of your reputation be gathered items, but that they can be turned in at any point in the grind, if only to keep options open.

How are you liking the new reputation system?

Breakfast Topic: Gaining Reputation originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Alliance, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, How-tos, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Quests, Achievements

It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving, the family has all left, there’s nothing but turkey leftovers to eat, and you hit level 80 last week, and you’re just waiting for your guild to level up so you can start the endgame. What is there to do on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon? Find all of the Well Read books — WoWWiki has the guide I’ve been looking for ever since I first got excited about this achievement. I count 43 in total, and they’ve got a list of all the books you need and where you can find them for reading.

The vast majority of the books can be found in Scholomance and the Scarlet Monastery, so a run through both of those instances (you can easily solo both at 80) will get you many of the books you need. From there it’s time to travel the world — Brill, Southshore, the Eastvale Logging Camp, Duskwood, and Booty Bay, and a few other places, depending on your faction (Alliance seems to have a little bit of an advantage there, as Stormwind and Orgrimmar have nice libraries. There are a few good books in Undercity, but the Orcs and Tauren aren’t much for book learning, apparently).

Seems totally doable in a quick afternoon, and while you won’t really get anything but the 10 achievement points (and probably a nice chance to pick up some more of the old Azeroth explorer achievement), why else would you do this, other than to brag about it. Whenever anyone argues that you don’t know your Azeroth lore, you can just point them to your Armory page, and tell them to check the part about you being Well Read.

Getting all the Well Read books originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Expansions, Raiding, Burning Crusade, Bosses, Wrath of the Lich King

One of the biggest concerns we’ve heard from players since the expansion launched is that everything is too easy — not only did the hardcore raiders burn down the PvE endgame content in a matter of days, but upgrades aren’t really what they used to be, and anyone with some solid gear that blow through most of the instances without too much trouble. Which begs the question: is Wrath too easy?

No, according to our buddy Ghostcrawler. He says that Blizzard’s goal this time around was to avoid the Karazhan mistake from the last expansion, where players butted their heads up against tougher content in the early endgame. GC says that Blizzard certainly knows how to make tougher content, but they’d rather everyone got a turn this time around.

The only question I have left is why they didn’t include it all in the same release — Blizzard seems to be saying that harder content is on the way, but wouldn’t it be more prudent to have both easy and hard content in at the same time? As a casual player, I’m thrilled to hear that the endgame is easier — I’ll get to see more of it. But we’ve got two versions of each endgame instance now — do they both have to be easy enough to conquer in a few days?

Ghostcrawler: Wrath’s difficulty is where we want it originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Herbalism, Mining, Skinning, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Walkthroughs, Quests, Expansions, Features, Leveling, Guides, Making money, (Professions) Insider Trader, Wrath of the Lich King

Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

As more of the player base steps into Northrend, the demand for goods and services rises. Craftspeople are especially concerned with developing their skills, and for this to be possible, there needs to be a decent supply of gathered raw materials available.

This is where you gatherers will shine. Of course, you will have to level your skills as well, and this week’s edition of Insider Trader will have you maximized and making cash in no time.

Continue reading Insider Trader: Gather in Northrend

Insider Trader: Gather in Northrend originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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