For this episode of The Instance, we’re joined by CNet’s Tom Merritt. You can find all of Tom’s webexploits at his website here.
Big News Of The Week
Surprise! It’s The Argent Tournament!
Blizzard waited until right before the 3.1 public test realms went live this week to drop a big announcement on us – the next patch will not only contain new raids, nerfs, buffs, new quests, dual-specs and A NEW CAR!!!… just kidding about that last one… 3.1 will not only be a big content patch, but it’s also coming with a one-time event to top all. We hope. That is, if you have a character above, say, level 77. It’s The Argent Tournament, and we’ve got a first look what this in-game event has in store.
Rumors And Scuttlebutt
Blizzard Announces Sim-Theme Park Game
Err, contest. It’s a contest! Nethaera announced it on the official forums a couple of days ago, and her post went like this: “What would you do if you could design the Blizzard Entertainment theme park of your dreams? Here’s your chance to show us! We’re inviting you to illustrate your own original Blizzard Entertainment theme park, complete with rides and attractions based on the Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft universes. The most creative and fantastic designs will receive prizes including StarCraft II beta keys, a chance to have their entry displayed at BlizzCon 2009, and more.” For more information, head to the contest page or read the official rules.
How To Get The Armored Murloc
Last week on The Instance, we talked about the start of the 2009 open Arena Tournament, and mentioned that one thing that got everyone listening – loot. On Tuesday, Blizzard CM Aratil made a post in the WoW forums clarifying several points about the Arena tournament. Simply put, folks, you should be participating in PvP madness.
We Said We Were Going To Talk About It
We’ve gotten quite a few follow-up inquiries from listeners about our promise to discuss the WoWMatrix controversy. Many of them have been bitter complaints from small-ish mod writers who feel that WoWMatrix is a great killjoy in the WoW modding community. Many have been odes to joy from WoWMatrix users who couldn’t imagine playing without the utility. Do we have a solution? Maybe.
Town Cryer
Matt C. writes:
I am a level 48 Hunter from the Nazgrel server, and I am wondering how can i know whether I’m doing good DPS or not.
Drop Of The Week
A Heaping Of DPS On Your Plate
It’s the DPS Plate blog, and it caught our eye when Scott was looking for some opinion on the Recount mod. The post of interest is called “Ten Commandments for All DPS“, and it’s very useful.
Additional show content provided by Mean Gene, Patrick from France, Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz and the outstanding Instance Community.
Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, TypeFrag and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.
This is regarding the wowmatrix talk i don’t know if you guys know this but curse now has its own mod database program
just real quick, the first link is dead. no worries, google was there to help me. Its the link to Tom Merritt site. feel free to delete this note if you see it and fix it =) didnt know where else to turn to.
and ofc, love the show so far, just started listening. ever wanna see howling fjords irl, come to norway! (its in N.Europe)
//bunnlose of kul tiras eu , the viking from norway
New MMO? Steampunk. Blizzard doing a ‘Bioshock’ MMO would rule and get them new IP to explore.
Scott and Randy,
I was just listening to you talking about new MMO or gaming genres and the sports subject came up. Well, for PVP and sports, look no further than http://www.bloodbowl-game.com . There’s football, murder and tons of FUN!
Title should read: “… and a NEW CAR!!!”
hey scott/randy…
It’s molsen… thanks for reading my mail on the show!
I am a girl.
There are many differences in restroom quality. I have learned that these diffrences are due mostly to female charity. There are unwritten rules in female restrooms, such as, do not steal the fancy lotion that someone donated “to the cause.” The fancy lotions and soap are “donated” by women who use that restroom everyday. This femininity factor can be seen through the different estrogen levels…. butch vs. non butch… I was in a Student Nursing Building last week… it had a wonderful tray with fancy lotion on it!
About the couches… if you are a manager that has a extra “waiting room couch” where would there be less of a chance of it being soaked in urine? men or women’s rest room?
There are all kinds of laws concerning public bathrooms. For example, I have heard that there was a law that male and female could ONLY have the same number of toliets…. and the male restrooms had to have the same number of urinals as toliets. This leads to double the male places to pee as women!!! I guess there are local/state/federal regulations for everything…
Dear Scott and Randy (a shout-out to the whole crew too!)
First of all. I am SO SORRY!
It’s been weeks of frustration already — rooted from the fact that i am unable to give you guys your well-deserved 5 stars (too bad, no six) in the Apple iTunes Store. Apple keeps rerouting me to the Apple Store of my country. Boo. Which leads me to my introduction.
I am Greytusk from the Bonechewer Server, a level 80 Troll Hunter, (For the … Faction that lacks Footwear! Arghhhh!) and I play here all the way in the Philippines. (yes. there.) And i stumbled upon your podcast a few months back. Perfect timing for me actually start the experience with “episode 131: the hunter is made of nerf”. I instantly enjoyed listening to you guys since then and I’ve been an avid listener/downloader of the show.
Keep up the fantastic work — the indepth discussions, the fabulous insights, the hilarious experience talk, and… the brand new car! (the unexpected audio inserts = for the win.)
For the Horde!
p.s. there there, buxley. /pat
Players don’t need to obsess about DPS, but how can you measure how well you play without some measurement of it? My Paladin’s DPS has increased since I downloaded recount because I get feedback on what combination of moves actualy create more damage. And when I’m in an instance I’m thrilled if my retribution pali is near the top, but I’m more interested in its DPS–that’s a measure of how well I’m playing, how well I’m following the action, and how well I’m filling my role.
My frost mage has improved his value inside instances, bringing out his elemental and mirrors as often as he can to increase his DPS against specific targets, and otherwise he spams blizzards on tightly formed crowds.
What I’d like to know is what DPS values I should be aiming for. What should a retribution Pali be DPSing @ level 78? What should a frost mage average inside specific instances at level 80?
What would improve Recount is collecting statistics from its users so we can see who can generate the highest DPS in identical circumstances–whether questing or instancing.
Isn’t that why we plaid Space Invaders over and over, to see our initials at the top of the list?