The Instance Podcast

Big News Of The Week

There’s Nothing Sexier Than A Good Statistic

This week, Blizzard gave us a complete essay on numbers changes coming to the game with Cataclysm. There are apparently going to be big numbers, and little numbers, and if Blizzard has their way, they’re going to make a bit more sense than they currently do. Eyonix started the big post on their forums with the following quote:

Our ultimate goal is make gear a more interesting (and less confusing) choice by making each stat valuable to more players. While the reasoning behind some of the following changes may be clear, we understand that you may have questions about some of the less obvious alterations.

The goal is that classes will want to wear the gear intended for them.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Five Creepy Ways Video Game Designers Are Trying To Get You Addicted

That’s the crazy title of an article by David Wong on Cracked.com today, and it’s a doozy. The psychological impact of playing video games has been studied for decades, but only recently has the audience began to catch on to the complexities of what encourages them to buy a game, or play a game into the wee hours of the night, or pre-order the next game.

Town Cryer

Jim writes: I was wondering what the economy was like on your server? I blame Gold Sellers and Gold buyers for the inflation of level 264 gear going for 15K plus and the damn “Battered Hilt” scaling the top of the charts at 30K a pop! Do you know if Blizzard is planning on addressing the issue?

Tymonger P. writes: What is the best website to get information about being the best healer?

Drop Of The Week

They Finished The Mosaic

We’ve mentioned it a few times over the many years and years that Blizzard has been working on their Battlecry mosaic, and we will now talk about it for the very last time. The Mosaic is complete!

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, FigurePrints!, TypeFrag and SquareSpace for sponsoring this episode.

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Big News Of The Week

3.3.3 Is Bringing The Pain!

It’s been a while since Blizzard made wholesale changes to the PvP system in WoW, and they’re about to do so again in the next patch 3.3.3. The constant drive to streamline PvP in terms of rewards and your ability to improve your character so that you can match up better with other players is taking a fairly sharp turn in this next patch, and it is hard to say how it’s all going to shake out.

Wintergrasp is getting adjusted again! Over on the forums, Zarhym wrote: “In the next minor content patch, we will be making some minor alterations to the way in which the internal balance system for Wintergrasp works in an attempt to better support realms with greater variations in the level of participation between the Alliance and Horde. Since we have never gone into much detail about how this hidden system currently works, we’d like to explain exactly how it will work in the next patch. Keep in mind that, although this information may feel very new to you, the actual changes being made in the patch to the current system are relatively minor.”

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Another Week, Another Blizzard Dev Chat

Well, not exactly. Blizzard checked in with their third open developers interview this week, and we figured it might be fun to go over a few of the more interesting questions and answers.

We Want A 2-Person Rocket Mount

MMO-Champion thrilled us with the production of a graphic from the game that appears to be a flying mount in the shape of a mean-looking rocket, with two seats!

Town Cryer

Drop Of The Week

We Always Get Asked About The Chatroom

Most every day, someone e-mails us or asks us in our forums, or Skypes one of us and says “How can I be a part of that chatroom you always refer-to during the live recording of The Instance?” Well we’ve decided to do this thing right here, right now!

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, FigurePrints!, TypeFrag and SquareSpace for sponsoring this episode.

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Big News Of The Week

This Is A World Of Warcraft Show, Right?

It was just last week that we speculated on the coming of the Starcraft 2 beta, and sure enough, it showed up in all its glory! It’s hard to think of anything that is going to affect WoW more – before Cataclysm comes along – than Starcraft 2. At least, that’s what we think.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Cataclysm Is Coming Before Cataclysm

We talked last episode about signs that Cataclysm isn’t coming as hot on the heals of 3.3 as previously expected when Blizzard announced that there would be no further major content patches. This week, Game Informer increased the volume of that talk with an interview with Tom Chilton, in which he proposed that Blizzard has a pocket-full of new content to deliver before Cataclysm.  Mr. Chilton said

We are looking into the possibility of having a boss in the Ruby Sanctum, which is another part of Wyrmrest Temple. It’s a little too early to have a lot of details on that, but I wouldn’t characterize it as a huge chunk of content.

On the forums, Blizzard CM Zarhym wasn’t so coy:

We’d like to tell you about an exciting new raid dungeon we are working on for content patch 3.3.5. The Ruby Sanctum A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights. The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion’s servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm. The Ruby Sanctum will feature 10- and 25-player content, Heroic difficulties and all-new rewards! Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to its release. “

And then, Blizzard posted an early version of patch 3.3.3 to the PTR this week.

Say Goodbye To Upper Deck

Zarhym said

As some of you may already be aware, we will not be renewing the World of Warcraft: The Trading Card Game license with Upper Deck. We want to assure you that we are committed to supporting the TCG, and players can look forward to new content and strong organized play support in the near future. We will share additional details about the game’s transition to a new partner as soon as possible. For those awaiting tournament prizes, we will ensure you receive them.

UpperDeck had a slightly different spin on it, in this press release:

After long and careful deliberation, Upper Deck International (UDI) will not be renewing its World of Warcraft license agreements with Blizzard Entertainment… Due to gradually declining sales over the past few years and the overall downturn in the economic climate, we have had to make the tough decision to discontinue our World of Warcraft product lines.

UDI World of Warcraft products will be available until the end of March. Upcoming products such as the Class Starter Deck, Wrathgate Booster, Souls of Vengeance Starter, Deluxe Starter and Booster will not go into production.

Look out for special events at your local gaming store with some of the greatest prize support ever and a final opportunity to complete your collection.”

Town Cryer

Delmombo from Undermine writes: Much like Scott, I’ve never really enjoyed professions but Blizzard has implemented something into the game to actually make me want to fish: The Dread Pirate Ring. Being the heirloom fanatic that I am, I must have this ring. I have done some research & understand the basics of how to obtain it. My question to Randy is: Are there any tricks of the trade that can give me an edge on the competition to winning? e.g. A certain fishing pole or bait? Any tips would greatly be appreciated.

Hey Delmombo! Check out El’s Anglin’ here.

Drop Of The Week

I Love The Whole World…. Of Warcraft!

Have you seen the Discovery Channel commercial with the catchy Boom-Dee-Yada song? Yeah, that was SO January 2010. It got WoWized, and it’s funny.

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, FigurePrints!, TypeFrag and SquareSpace for sponsoring this episode.

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Official word from Blizzard today finally confirms the development of a system that has been among the  improvements most-requested by players for years: access to the AH from outside the game itself.  Bornakk posted:

Since the launch of the World of Warcraft Armory, we’ve been regularly releasing updates and new features designed to help players stay connected to the game even when they’re not logged in. Today, we wanted to give you a heads-up about a new service now in development that will let players access the Auction House directly through the Armory website or Armory App for iPhone or iPod touch.

While there are still plenty of details to be worked out, we’re designing the service to offer auction functionality similar to what’s available in-game. Players have been requesting — and we’ve been hoping to implement — a feature like this for a long time, and we’re excited that the Armory and the game have evolved to a point that makes it possible.

This is a fairly complex service to develop, due in large part to its unprecedented integration with the game, so we don’t have an exact release date yet. It’s important to note here that certain elements of the service will be premium-based, which we’ll go into more detail on once the service functionality is finalized. As with all of the services we offer, we plan to integrate the Auction House and Armory in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience, and we won’t release it until it meets the quality standards that we’ve set for our other features and services. You may be seeing bits and pieces of the Auction House service pop up in the test builds we use for the public test realms as we go through the process of internal testing. We’ll have more info to share with you here and at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as we get closer to release.

We’re very excited about this.  You can join in the discussion on The Instance forums here.

Big News Of The Week

Blood Queen Lana’thel Is Kind Of Spiky

The fabled third wing of Icecrown Citadel – called The Crimson Hall – opened for business this week, bringing the current in-game story back around to focus on the San’layn, those crazy vampire blood elves we’ve been taking out all over Northrend for over a year now, with a culminating encounter with their Queen.  She’s got wings!

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

The Developer Chat Delivered

Just after we recorded the last episode of The Instance, Blizzard’s J. Allen Brack and Greg Street answered a bunch of your questions on Twitter. This was the 2nd gathering of such things by them on Twitter, and has been called by many a WoW-blogger far superior to the first…

-Q. If damage and healing is too much per health ratio, then why don’t you have battlegrounds/arenas give a -30% damage/healing debuff?
A. We have been talking about solutions like that. It might feel a bit awkward, but it might also solve the problem and maybe it’s okay in the last season before an expansion to experiment a little bit.

-Q. When we reach level 58 in Cataclysm on Azeroth do we need to go to Outlands or can we continue leveling in Azeroth?
A. You eventually need to do the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content. Azeroth will have a break in content between 60 and 80.

-Q. For those of us who collect tabards and armor sets, do you see a way for us to store and not use our very limited inventory?
A. Yes. We’d like to store them the same way you do titles. In general, we don’t want to punish the packrats out there who just like to collect stuff.

-Q. What will Cataclysm have to offer for solo players?
A. Cataclysm has a ton of new quests both in the new zones and in old familiar areas. There will be just a ton to do. Also if you’re a completionist casual type, one word: Archaeology.

-Q. Can we expect a Canadian style pet for the Olympics this year?
A. I will put in a request today for an epic moose mount, not sure if it will make it in though.

-Q. What’s up with the pineapple wallpaper in Gadgetzan?
A. You will soon see in Cataclysm that goblins have a somewhat inscrutable sense of taste. They also like tropical drinks.

Town Cryer

Meroluk the troll hunter from the Cenarion Circle realm writes: The new LFG tool came at an almost perfect time for me seeing as your first random of the day rewards you with 2 emblems of triumph. By the time I make 80 I should have a small stash saved and was wondering what pieces should be my first purchases with the emblems to get me ready for entry level raiding?

Grandpa of the Anvilmar server and of the Deep Threat guild writes: I was wondering what your views on names were. Do you think names should always be serious or are funny names fine too.

Aesliip of Anvilmar writes: I am greatly interested in the lore of warcraft, and being a writer and a lover of good stories, I am wondering if there any good fan fiction sites out there that I can check out and participate in.

Check these out!

Warcraft stories at Fan Fiction.net
WoWWiki’s list of WoW stories
Even more over at GamerTales

Drop Of The Week

You Aren’t Ignoring People Enough

But it’s not your fault. You’re hindered a bit by limitations in-game on how many people you can ignore, and the LFG tool has introduced you to a whole new world of outlaws that you’d like to never meet again. What to do? The answer is Infinite Ignore.

And a big tip of our hat to J. Davidson, who clued us in to the wonders of Infinite Ignore this week.

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, FigurePrints!, TypeFrag and SquareSpace for sponsoring this episode.

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The MP3 File
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The Zune Feed