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Big News Of The Week
The Doldrums Are Neither Dole, Nor Drums
As we’ve seen with every expansion to World Of Warcraft, going back four years to the days before The Burning Crusade was released, player interest in the game has been diminishing noticeably in the weeks and months of anticipation of a completely new game and a different paradigm for play. Simply put, WoW suffers a lame duck time when the majority of players feel that they either have nothing new and grand to accomplish in the game, or feel that what’s coming with the expansion makes anything they might do in the game today valueless.
Rumors And Scuttlebutt
Please Keep Your Complaints To 140 Characters Or Less
Blizzard has a Customer Service Twitter feed now!
Matthew C. writes: After a recent server change and a 100 point latency difference I went to wowwiki and learned the data center locations had all moved in the last 2 months. Assumably during the 24 maint periods.
Rapid Fire R&S!
Signups for the Blizzcon contests are now ongoing.
Town Cryer
Jay writes: 2 days ago, I won a Cataclysm beta key. I installed (now twice), patched and everything looked good, but when I tried to log in, I got the “Cannot Connect, Try Again Later” message. I can’t post on the forum because I never got to make a beta character. What I’m wondering is if you have to have an active WoW account in order to log into the beta even if you win a key.
Drop Of The Week
Get Your Number 2 On!
Believe it or not, this is the twelfth special drop of the week – wherein we are highlighting things you can do in WoW before Cataclysm, that you might not get to do after Azeroth is torn asunder.
The so-called Dungeon Set of gear was also referred to as Tier Zero back in the day, and it was special because it was a full set of epics that you could obtain without having to take down 40-man bosses. If this is news to you, you might be surprised to learn that it can be upgraded!
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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Blizzard has never said not to release videos of game content.
They asked to not release datamined information about incomplete areas. The starting animations/voiceovers aren’t datamined, they’re simply frapsed from the beta client.
Anyone in beta can see these by hitting Create New Character.
Also, it’s absolutely absurd to claim that people aren’t getting into the beta because Blizzard doesn’t want them to preview content. They’re not getting into the beta because three servers can only fit so many people.
Blizzard has no legal leg to stand on if they cease and desist these videos. They’ve allowed people to show raid guide videos, boss kill videos, PTR videos, PvP videos, machinima, etc. Even if they hadn’t, these videos, if commentated, fall under fair use. They’d be just as justified in going after you guys for saying “Paintmyfacewithyourblooood!” as you’re obviously providing a major piece of WotLK content to people who haven’t paid for the expansion. They’d be just as justified going after any gaming site or magazine for publishing a preview article.
Not that Blizzard would ever try this, since they’re not dumb enough to sabotage what is in effect millions of dollars worth of free grassroots advertising for the next installment of their #1 cash cow.
Don’t pretend you’re on the beta simply to test. That’s a relatively small part of why the closed beta exists, the actual testing and feedback could be done just as well by the F&F invitees, far better than the countless random beta lottery winners who roll a werewolf for 2 hours and then never log back in when the server crashes twice in 15 minutes.
The primary reason for the beta is to market Cataclysm.
Fyi guys the Tier 0 set is not epic, its all blue…there is a quest line just like you said that you could swap out ‘some’ of the blues for epics but it wasnt a full epic set. We used to call it tier 0.5, love the show guys keep up the awesome work
Scott,
I’m curious about one of the music clips you played for this episode. Could you give me the name of the song and artist for the piece that was playing during your Typefrag spot? It has a Chinese sound to it and morphs into some electronica later on. Thanks.
I’m also looking for the name of the track mentioned above. It was playing at about the 1hr mark.
I don’t believe a “Lame Duck” period before every WoW expansion is necessary. All Blizzard has to do is give us objectives to “prepare” for the next expansion. It could be as simple as saying, “Look, old world flying is going to cost 20,000G.” For many people, that would motivate them to start doing more dailies, or grinding for gold now in order to save up. Along the same vein, what if old world flying will require the Explorer title in Azeroth, or have the cost of it slashed by 50% if you have the Ambassador title? Give us a compelling reason to come back to Azeroth and prepare for what is about to happen there. Perhaps provide a few new quest lines in the old world, explaining the original history of Deathwing, or going into more detail regarding the goblins and the worgen? I see no reason to hold onto all of that until Cataclysm drops. And since every new expansion brings with it new reputation grinds, why not introduce a way to start earning some of that reputation now, with a few daily quests or item turn-ins, similar to the war effort before AQ? My ideas aren’t the most cutting-edge, I’ll admit, but the bottom line is: give us objectives that DO matter in the upcoming expansion, real goals to prepare for it. I think this would increase player interest in the new expansion, and give us a feeling that it’s right around the corner, that what we are doing now will directly benefit us once the expansion goes live.
I suggest that Blizzard create “transition content.” This content would make use of existing locations and NPCs. There would be quest item drops that would not be usable, or be of minimal use in the old content. These item drops would open quests in the expansion that would lead to awesome loot and experiences in the expansion. There could be achievements too.
For example a broken item could drop in LK, this item would have a description that “it is not at its full potential.” Then at level 80 in Cataclysm, a quest would be available to fix the item. Then at 82 a quest would allow the item to be “power infused.” This would continue until at 85 the item would be near or at best in slot.
This would not only give players something to do, leading up to an expansion, but also build the story line and create excitement.
Imagine if, during the transition from BC to LK, you could have found quests that could only have been done as a zombie or found drops that needed to be cold-tempered in Northrend.
best thing they can do to make me play the game before the expantion is to release the 4.0 patch. the new talent trees and new stats is what i want to play with.
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Was Randy great thanks for asking?!?
No word on that song? The “songs” section of the site hasn’t been updated in a long while.
I heard you talk of the guy who did the race intros and you said he had died. This is not true. The man who did (and does) the race intros and also plays the voice of King Terenas Menethil is Earl Boen. He is very much alive and is in fact the guy who played criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in the Terminator film series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Boen
My idea to combat “lame duck” WoW is slightly different, but doesn’t require much in the way of tweeking. Why not give everyone some sort of insane exp buff, like 200% or something? That will encourage people to keep playing, make new characters, etc. Also (or in place of that), make any 232 gear or lower all BoE. People can gear up alts, etc. I know people are going to say how easy the game already is, etc. But if it’s only temporary, it might keep the game fun. And that’s what it’s all about, right?
I got into the WoW cataclysm beta while i was still playing WoW wotlk. i froze my account due to bordem and i can still log into WoW cataclysm beta.
falsefacts in the podcast
Can someone please post the title of that break song?
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Scott! Randy! The people demand to know the name of that break song! What are you, the alliance, with the sneaky witholding of information?
Are the cataclysmic drops of the week gathered into one place?
I would also like to know the break music (near the 1 hour mark). Was really cool and would like to listen to it more or more of the same artist.
Thanks guys!
Let me preface this by saying that I really wish I did NOT have to post this comment. I have been a long time listener and supporter of Scott and Randy and everyone involved with The Instance. That being said I feel as if I need to let people know about how The Instance has been lying, not holding up to promises they make, and not caring if they falsely advertise. What do I mean by all this? Well, I was a contest winner on the show a while back. They announced my name on the air and I won 2 months of Wow on a game card. I was very happy and excited to hear my name called. Especially since my job had just been outsourced overseas and I didn’t think I could afford to play WoW anymore. Anyway I emailed the boys to claim my prize and didn’t get a responce. So I politely tried again. Eventually I got Randy to write me back and said he’d “look into it”. I didn’t understand what that meant, didn’t they have the prize already? Isn’t it as easy as just sending me the code? I guess not. Anyway, I did not want to see like a bother so I left a couple weeks go by before contacting Randy again. Sent him another email very politely asking the status of my prize and got nothing in responce. Again I waited patiently and tried again. I explained in the email that I didn’t want to be a bother and that if there is some issue just to let me know. Randy replied with a game code … that didn’t work. I emailed him back and told him it didn’t work and he said he’d “look into it” again. Well this time I let a few months pass by and I had almost forgotten about the whole thing when I saw he was online in google chat. So once more I politely asked him if he had a moment to chat and that I was a prize winner that was given a used/bad/fake code. Again I was almost completely ignored. I explained that I am sorry if I am bothering Mr. Randy Deluxe but I just want to be treated fairly and nicely and just want an answer either way if I am ever going to get my prize. To my disbelief he just said “i dont know” and then I was totally ignored (even though I could see he was not idle). I can’t believe someone from The Instance would treat their fans this way. And I understand its “just a wow game card”, but its the principle of it. I followed the directions and did what they asked to enter the contest, I won the contest fair and square, and not only did I never get the prize, I was ignored and swept under the carpet after several attempts to politely find out what the problem was. I know I’m not some important guest like Curt Schilling, or some developer from Blizzard, but I *USED* to be a FAN. And I would think Scott and Randy would treat their fans with respect. That’s just wrong. Anyway, I have resigned to the fact that I probably will never get the contest prize. Either they never had it in the first place, or someone else used the code first.
I will be boycotting The Instance and posting this up in as many places as I can. I would ask you to do the same if you don’t agree with false advertising and general rudeness. Again, it’s with a heavy heart that I do this. I loved The Instance, but I am also calling BS where I see it.
doldrums are because there is so much repetitiveness in end game. truth is, some people don’t find certain parts to be fun. take away the incentive and they simply won’t do it.
~~
Randy do you have a guess on the system requirements and what kind of graphics card i should get? or did you cover that already :ponder:
@Vicki: you’re on it but I suggest a different tack. new profession recipes using northrend mats.
alright you guys know i do this is 3′s so here’s the last one:
geniunely feral cats are not going to the humane society to be distributed to loving homes. They will run around a night and eat trash and bring home E. coli to your children. These cats are going straight to biology class for dissection.
still would love to know what song was used (see many comments above)…
Hi Rott and Scandy,
What is the mid of the show song please, while it is nice to listen to the show again and again for the song, when i got less than 90 minutes in front of me, i would like to be able to listen to the song….if only i could know the name / author.
Thanks indeed.
Still requesting the name of that song. Please let us know! Thanks!
What is the song right before Ask Buxley segment?
. It sounds epic!
I appreciate you taking to time to conitrbute That’s very helpful.