Giving Away Those Steins, With Our Thanks

Almost two months ago, we announced a contest wherein we called for you to submit your best concept for a new in-game beverage, with the prizes to be given away being two Tankards Of Terror from Taverncraft.  Your response to it was overwhelming.

And we dropped the ball.

But we did judge them!  We got a couple of friends to help us, and we chose winners.  In doing so, we realized just how thankful we are to have an audience of such talented and fun-loving folk. Here the two winners:

Maxz, who proposed Blackrock Dopplebock:

“As the caverns of Blackrock Mountain began to tremble and quake the Dwarves continued to delve greedily and deep, uncovering the secrets of this dark brew. Like the monks of old, they hoped this liquid sustenance would sustain them through the upheaval to come. In the tradition of the Dopplebock, this dark beer is rich and malty with obsidian undertones. The bitterness of the hops is heightened by notes of brimstone, but remains submerged beneath the depth of the sweet, hearty body. As expected of a bock and a Dwarven brew, the alcohol heavy finish explodes from deep within like an ancient beast.”

Our other winner is Zurriel, with this Official press release from the offices of Vyral the Vile:

“This year’s Brewfest brings many new offerings, and we would be low to dissuade any discerning imbiber from trying them. In fact, we encourage it! Brewfest is a time-honored tradition, where every batch can share the spotlight. At the end of the day, we know you’ll return to your old standby. A brew as time-honored as the festival itself (well…maybe even a little more so). A beer that isn’t made from rusty hops and that doesn’t exploit captured Hydraxians—we have a purer source. Much purer. The beer that was with you through tough times and worse times. Twilight’s Hammer’d premium dark lager. Strong, slowly-roasted malty flavors that ultimately culminate in uncompromising victory. Your heart will explode. A refined taste smooth enough for an elf, yet strong enough for an ogre. Your friends will abandon you. A name backed up by centuries of unwavering resolve. You are already drunk. So enjoy this year’s festival! But when the stench of wet dog fades and you pine for an old friend, we know who you’ll turn to. Because everyone will. Eventually.”

Bravo! More after the break. Continue reading

The Instance #211: Orgrimmar’s Back Door

Big News Of The Week

He’s Huge, He Can Fly, He’s Fiery, And He’s Pissed!

As if you weren’t fully aware of the obvious, we are one week away from World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the third expansion to WoW, and all its pleasant delights! We are also now one week past The Shattering, that night last week when Deathwing flew all over Azeroth and destroyed the very landscape, in addition to most of some of the cities we love. Don’t worry, they got partially-rebuilt really quickly. Like, immediately. But there is still some scaffolding up. Sorry about the mess.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Do We Get Results, Or What?

One week ago, on the eve of The Shattering, we discussed the cost to the player who decides to take up World of Warcraft for the first time now, or in the near future. Something then happened that seems to happen a lot with The Instance: On the very next day, literally withing a couple of hours of posting the show, Blizzard slashed the prices of the original game and the first two expansions.

Town Cryer

Kevin I. writes: I just returned home from serving with the Air Force in the middle east and I was looking to pre-order Cataclysm Collectors Edition and do an in-store pickup so I can play the day of launch. Seems like all the stores in northern Utah are not selling them or are sold out and won’t hold on to one for me. I was wondering if you know where i can pick one up the night of. Waiting 3-5 days on shipping and paying twice the MSRP is not something I’m willing to do if i can avoid it. I don’t really want to buy it twice, one regular copy for launch day and one collectors edition 3-5 days later.

Cataclysmic Drop Of The Week

We’re doing this one last time, folks!

The Cataclysm is upon you, and you need some websites.  While this is by no means a comprehensive list, we want you to benefit from all the web has to offer by way of helping you find hat you need in-game over the next few days and weeks.  This list will be updated as we come across more best-in-class sites to bookmark:

Fishing – El’s Anglin

Pet finding – Warcraft Pets

Jewelcrafting and gem fitting – WoW-Gem

Mounts mounts mounts – Warcraft Mounts

Archaeology – WoWpedia’s Archaeology page

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

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, GoDaddy, and TypeFrag for sponsoring this episode.

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Renewed RP

Welcome back to another edition of RoleCraft, roleplayers! I managed to survive the Shattering this week, intact and in good health.

Much of the past week was spent exploring an Azeroth turned nearly upside-down and inside-out. New areas opened up, and many old areas are now so different they might as well be new. There are a ton of new quests and quest lines to follow, some fancy new RP clothing and trinkets to experiment with, and lots of other groovy stuff. All this long before (well, a week) the official Cataclysm expansion goes live!
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The Instance #210: Got A Bad Case Of The Shattering

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Big News Of The Week

The Upheaval Will Not Be Televised

In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth’s defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King’s fall, Azeroth’s native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Let’s Talk Realm Firsts!

You know the routine. A new expansion comes out that has tons of feats of strength that only certain people can ever get. After the first few days of play, you’ve seen strangers on your realm get realm first achievements for reaching max level, maxing their professions, defeating the major raid dungeons, and every one of them for doing it before anyone else on the realm. And you’ll say to yourself, “next expansion, that’s going to be me.” Well, next expansion is two weeks away. Let’s get cracking now!

Rapid Fire Rumors And Scuttlebutt!

This Year’s WoWniversary Is Scaled Way Back.

Your Fortune Awaits! Blizzard is running a little Darkmoon Faire game.

Town Cryer

Elevator Operator writes: I was told the city portals were going away in Dalaran and Shattrath. What does this mean for my level 30 toon who got mage ported to Dalaran at level 5? Am I stuck there?

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

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, GoDaddy, and TypeFrag for sponsoring this episode.

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Shattered!

Brace yourselves, roleplayers, Azeroth is about to get rocked!

Patch 4.0.3a will hit WoW this week, so my ramblings about all things RPish will be light today. Instead, like probably many of you, I’ll be in game getting some last minute items squared away on a couple of characters before all Deathwing breaks loose.

I also open the forum up to all the readers, as I would love to hear how you are roleplaying the final days before the Cataclysm.  How much, and in what ways, has the impending destruction influenced your character(s), or not?  Have you created any new characters specifically for the event, aside from a goblin or worgen? Have you brought back any older characters into play? What quests, achievements, and items have you tied into your RP sessions for the event? Which character do you plan on having in game at the time the Cataclysm hits, where will they be, and for what RP purpose?

Take a few minutes for a thorough reading of the official 4.0.3a Patch Notes, and the same over at MMO Champion to tweak your character preparations for this week. Then get yourselves in game and enjoy the roleplay. Until next week (if I survive this one), role on!

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Some Ringtones For You

We thought it might be fun today to grab some of the various sounds you’ve heard on The Instance and make them into ringtones. Alternately, it might make you want to snap your phone in half. Enjoy:

Scott blurting out “I will paint my face with your blargh!!” – iPhone M4RMP3

Randy singing “In The Navy”. – iPhone M4RMP3

Scott and Randy asking one another “How you doin’?” – iPhone M4RMP3

Scott quoting Back To The Future “They found me!” – iPhone M4RMP3

Scott asks Randy “Does this Tier make my butt look big?” – iPhone M4RMP3

Randy and Scott saying “On with the show!”- iPhone M4RMP3

And all six .M4R files are collected in this archive.

Tavern Watch (15 Nov 2010)

Welcome back, roleplayers! Today’s edition of RoleCraft will aim to draw your attention to a few good items I found while reading through the World’s End Tavern section of the official World of Warcraft forums.

Yes, I know, it’s a place to be entered at your own risk, for sure. Yet, on occasion, there are some good and above quality posts that may be found there. The posts I have here are some I think may be quite useful for roleplayers they are trying to connect with, and I want to help with that connection.
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The Instance #209: Don’t Show Us How The Sausage Is Made

Big News Of The Week

I Just Called

In what certainly puts this last week among the least exciting we’ve ever had in terms of WoW news, Blizzard released the Battle.net Dial-In Authenticator.

If you sign up for the Battle.net Dial-in Authenticator, you will be asked to make a toll-free phone call from a specific phone of your choosing to authorize unusual login attempts with the associated Battle.net account. Please note that you will only be asked to make this phone call when something about your login attempt appears out of the ordinary. For example, if you were to log in from a location from which you do not typically play, you may be asked to call in and provide your selected PIN and a unique, single-use security code before access to the account will be granted.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Lookin’ At Tier 11!

We got a look at what appears to be Blizzard’s final pass at the forthcoming Tier 11 gear sets this week.

BoysGirls

(Hat tip to MMO Champion)

For The Last Time, Yes. We Think.

For over a year, you’ve written us and asked us questions about race or class availability in Cataclysm. Questions like,

“Will my heirloom gear work on my goblin?” or

“Can I use refer-a-friend with a new Worgen on December 8th?” or

“Will they let me race change to one of those new races immediately?”

This week Blizzard reiterated that the answer is yes. To all of those.  In a post on the new community site, Blizzard specifically outlined that last question, saying,

“Paid faction and race changes will be available immediately once Cataclysm is released. Realm First achievements for leveling any class to 85 will be available in Cataclysm. However there will be no Realm First achievements associated with leveling characters of a specific race.”

Rapid Fire Rumors And Scuttlebutt!

Troll Druids Will Have Their Own Flight Form.

Blizzard Put Up Screenshots of ‘Lil Ragnaros and Moonkin Hatchling, Coming Soon to the Blizzard Store.

Taverncraft Has A New Murloc Stein.

Town Cryer

Brent B. writes: I am for the horde, but my wife plays alliance. What should we do?

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

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, GoDaddy, and TypeFrag for sponsoring this episode.

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Cataclysm Lore Quiz

Greetings, roleplayers! This edition of RoleCraft is going to try something new, by way of hosting a short lore quiz.

Roleplayers know that knowing lore is tantamount to being a quality MMORPG roleplayer. Here I have gathered a short list of ten questions regarding the lore of the upcoming Cataclysm to test your knowledge with. If you find answering these questions easy for you, then consider yourself prepared. If there is some difficulty in answering, then hopefully you’ll brush up on your WoW lore before the next expansion.

Let’s get started!
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The Instance #208: Wrath of the Triple Rainbow

Big News Of The Week

The WoW Community Gets A Brand New Bag

Of course, ‘round these parts, we call that a sack. A whole new sack of goodies went live this week for all you World Of Warcraft players who also want to interact with one another and with Blizzard on the web. The new WoW Community site is on Battle Net, and it is slick and pretty. Just like Ghostcrawler.

Links! Website Bug Reports HereWebsite Feature Requests Here.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Region-wide Battlegroup Matching

Blizzard announced this week that they are in the process of rolling out a change to the game that is so technically broad, we wouldn’t have believed it possible before 4.0. It isn’t a surprise, since it was quite specifically proposed by Blizzard previously, but they’ve proposed many things that never quite came to pass.

Catching Up With Mr. Brower

As we teased in our last episode, Randy’s longest interview at Blizzcon this year was too long to include in episode #207. In fact, it was too long to record in only one part! So right here for you this week, we have both parts of this fun interview of Russell Brower, recorded on Oct. 23rd.

Rapid Fire Rumors And Scuttlebutt!

Say goodbye to WoWiki, sort of.

We’ve talked about this a bit: You can now download Cataclysm and install it entirely before Dec. 7.

Town Cryer

All calls this week.

Drop Of The Week

The End Is Nigh!

This special feature on The Instance is re-born!! As you know, all Summer this year we presented suggestions and challenges to you, the WoW enthusiast, that we thought you might enjoy or simply miss having gotten done once the next expansion wipes a lot from the game. This week, we’re looking forward to Cataclysm, and with exactly one month to go, there are things afoot in the game that are so timely that you should go experience them, now!

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