Big News Of The Week
Game Of The Decade
That’s right, the voters and editors of Gamasutra ran down the top 12 games of the decade that just ended with a surprising, or not really all that surprising result – World of Warcraft was the #1 game of the decade. They quoted Mario Garcia from Mercury Steam, who said
Reasons? Effectiveness of his design, huge infrastructure, big money spent, number of players, net hours of play, mixed demographics, social influence. Also, for me raised serious questions about the responsibility of developers in how his games affect people’s life and the ethics of using game design technics to keep players spending time in the game. I feel this is going to be a big deal in the coming decades.
Rumors And Scuttlebutt
Arena Season 7 To End January 19
Finally. According to our most favorite-named Blizzard community manager Bornakk,
We are currently planning to end Arena Season 7 as early as January 19. At that point we will go through our normal process to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. This process should take approximately one week. It’s very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for the arena-specific titles and/or Relentless Gladiator’s Frostwyrm to refrain from transferring their character to another realm until after Arena Season 7 ends. The following Arena Season will not begin for at least one week after the current season ends. During this time between seasons, all rated matches will be turned off and only skirmishes will be available. When Arena Season 8 begins, all team ratings, personal rating, and arena points will be wiped, but matchmaking rating and honor points will remain.
Throwing Money At The Oculus Problem
And there is, indeed, an Oculus problem. Blizzard community manager Zarhym admitted as much before maintenance this week, saying:
To encourage players not to shy away from the many invigorating adventures to be had in The Oculus, we have applied a change to enhance the rewards players are provided when selected for this dungeon via the Random Heroic option in the Dungeon Finder. Once Ley-Guardian Eregos is defeated, one loot bag per character will be provided in his chest in addition to the current rewards. Each loot bag will offer players rare gems, two additional Emblems of Triumph, and a chance of being rewarded the Reins of the Blue Drake. These fine treasures could be yours should you honor your fellow party members by besting the challenges contained within The Oculus! Keep in mind, however, that these extra loot bags will only be awarded to each party member if Oculus is selected by the Dungeon Finder when players choose the Random Heroic option. In light of this change, the Reins of the Azure Drake will now have a chance of dropping in both 10- and 25-player versions of The Eye of Eternity.
Town Cryer
Sylem writes: I am still leveling my character but i realize on your show you often talk about downloadable content for wow that changes the interface among other things to help you play the game. I have none of these things and i wonder if i need them to fully enjoy the game? If so, which ones are vital.
Simon B. asked: I recently heard something about a fourth boss in VoA which i really just dissmissed until i looked into my Wintergrasp achievements and found a achevement for this fourth boss i was wondering why i havent seen anything about this from blizzard.
Drop Of The Week
They Actually Gave Prizes For Food!
Blizzard announced the winners of their Holiday Cooking Contest on Dec. 23, so you might have missed it, especially if your wife was going into labor at about that time. The winner was “Horde Night Before Winter Veil” by Curt Rapala from Northlake, IL. It consisted of 100% edible, half chocolate/half yellow sheet cake frosted and covered in fondant blanket, Figurines and decorations sculpted in gum paste and fondant, Headboard and bedposts in gingerbread and candy cane, and a Tree made of frosted rice cereal treats decorated with candy. But that doesn’t spoil the page that we’ve got linked for you in the show notes. Blizzard posted the other nine of their 10 finalists with pictures and descriptions.
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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Your caller/email regarding the name is probably correct. I had a rogue that I hadn’t played in quite a while and next time I logged onto her her name had been changed. I was quite annoyed about this as I put some thought in to naming my characters and even though I hadn’t played her for a bit that was still the name I chose for her. If a name is not available it should stay not available.
Hey Scott, what about those macros? I don’t wanna be a huntard!
I second that, where’s them macros?
Yes, i was looking forward for the macros too…
Hey Scott, I too am looking forwards to the macros. I also wanna say good job on the show to both you and Randy, I love listening to each new cast while also running heroics or doing dailys. Hope to se that macro soon.
Thank you Scott and Randy for the best laugh I have had in a long time. I was so glad I decided to play Bejeweled Blitz rather than WoW while listening to the show, with I the laughing I would have caused group wipes.
Yeah the caller about the name is right. I just tried it myself. Petitioned a GM for a name that was coming up as “unavailable” but wasnt showing up in the armory. I got a response from the GM that he had freed it up for me. And now the charecter is level 15 and doing great.
I’ve been looking forward to the macros too.
Indeed, I would like to graduate to hunter. Where can we find these macros?
In regards to Oculus… while none of WoW is rocket science, for this fight, you get additional abilities when going against the boss that you do not get to familiarize yourself with prior to the fight. Also, you never have to coordinate with the other players to implement your own drake’s abiliites. So you get to the last boss and all of a sudden, you don’t really know what to do or when to do it and you wipe (and probably get lost running back). It makes for an unpleasant experience.
Scott and Randy, I think the “this will be a big issue in the coming decades” referred to social responsibility comment not to WoW in particular. Specifically WoW mechanics do a lot of things to keep you logged on for hours on end, which isn’t necessarily good for the players overall health. The idea that game designers should consider the social impact of their games is the big issue in coming decades.
I have played a hunter since launch – I am looking for these macros. I have never used them, just don’t think they will change my life, but I would be willing to give it a try – where be them?
Long time listener, first time poster… Where are the damn macros!!?? lol. Seriously! OMG!!!
Scott, I was looking for the macros you mentioned in the episode. Where might i find those fine sir?
Yeah about the name change. If you listen to the caller carfully he notes that if you ARMORY THE NAME FIRST and it DOESN’T come up then they will change it for you. So its not like you would her your Main’s name kyped because you play him all the time. If he sat there for a year or two with no use…sure you may lose it but thats it.
Great podcast as always! I’d really love to see those hunter macros Scott.
First time listener, first time poster.. really looking forward to those hunter macros..
That “Forget me not” song – what the hell is it? I need to know like people in hell need ice water.
I just want to throw my hat in and say that I just started listening and like it so far. I listened to the latest podcast on the train home and was looking forward to those macros. Where oh where??
My daughter plays a hunter and since no one has asked
, where are those hunter macros?
It figures. I did Occulus yesterday, someone else looted the box, and not knowing what surprises may be there I left the party and missed the treats.
I tried it again this AM but had to leave at the last boss because it’d already taken 50 minutes to get that far and I had to leave for work. Dang it!
The macros are at http://www.wowwiki.com/Hunter_macros as mentioned.
Love the show , i am a relative new listener (episode with dills) and i really enjoy your podcasts and point of view of things.
I got a question tho , as you both raid , what do you think of the difficulty of the normal 25 / 10 man raids?
Myself being in a 25 man raiding guild , the 10 mans r to easy for us , but the hc’s are quite fun indeed. And the 25 man normal is refreshingly a step up , the fights are fun and rly force you to work together well.
In my eyes blizzard has perfected the instance system (content , dificulty LFG tool) , Now what should they focus on next?
I’m a Tank-ard of Terror. After listening to this podcast I went out and tried some new macros. Wow what a change. I can type while fighting now if need be. Big improvement!
Warriors have so many like abilities that its really smoothed out my game play. You guys are awesome thanks!
What macros?
Oh please tell me the hunter macros referred to are NOT the ones on WowWiki… while helpful, there’s nothing new there…
Hi Randy and Scott, Love the show look forward to them. Im doing very well thanks for asking! Grats on the new baby, make sure to go and buy a mini horde t-shirt.
Uhm… I’m one of those who was looking forward to those macros.
HELP MEEEEEE!
I’ve been putting it off for two years worth of playing. Please man, you PROMISED! /beg.
In regards to those who may be upset with the freeing up of names by blizzard, I could understand how you might be upset if you wanted to hold the name for future use, but only if you have been logging in with them every so often. If say you have a lvl 5 druid named juvi (because you wanna heal eventually) but haven’t logged them in for many months wouldn’t it be fair to allow a person who would be leveling up right Now to use it?
during the show Scott talked about some macros he’s using on his hunter and would post in the show notes. I looked but don’t see them. Or am I blind cuz it’s late and I’m tired! Love the show guys!
My alt huntard needs some of these macro’s… Don’t make me get all ready to paint my face with someone’s blooooood!!!!
Macros please!
Scott posted the Hunter Macros here: http://forum.myextralife.com/showpost.php?p=426363&postcount=5