Blizzard Goes All In With Cataclysm

I thought my first post after Blizzcon would be about the expansion, what we're going to see, what I'm disappointed we won't be seeing.

No.

Blizzard announced they are reworking the combat stats system. This is the biggest revamp of the combat system since the game was released.

Blizzard announced they are reworking the Warlock class. Soul Shards are now a meter that recharges out of combat and can be spent to amplify spells off the GCD. This is the second biggest change they've made to any class since launch.

Blizzard announced they are reworking the Hunter class. Mana is gone. It's being replaced by Focus. This is the biggest change they've made to any class since launch.

This is my favorite : the biggest feature of the expansion is that they're going to rework all the 1-60 content in the game. Basically they're calling shenanigans on Classic WoW. And, oh yeah -- this is content that any existing max-level character will never experience at level.

On top of that we're going to get all the normal expansion stuff -- new zones, new dungeons, new raids, new gear, a new tradeskill, etc.

I never thought Blizzard would surprise me, didn't think they had it in 'em. But they did it.

They're insane.

And I'm surprised.

Better Cliffs

WoW is great because it has great cliffs.

In classic WoW or Burning Crusade WoW you'd always be on top of a cliff and wanting to get down quickly. Except you couldn't really do it because you would die if you jumped down.

Enter Lich King and Howling Fjord.

Howling Fjord has all sorts of tall cliffs. It's not a vertical zone but there is a lot of verticality in the zone. Guess what else it has? Better Cliffs :



That's right, nice little stepping stones so you can get down a cliff without dying or finding a walkway.

F*** The Streak And Other Interesting Stories

I decided to end my achievement streak yesterday. I had been trying to get an achievement every day and ten a week.

I made it eight weeks.

In the end I found it is fun to get achievements, but it is not fun to not get achievements, the deliberate rationing of which is necessary if you are going to stretch your achievement-getting to lengths streakable.

I'm about to log on tonight, and I can tell you that I know exactly what I want to do tonight: I would love to PvP in battlegrounds. Which is awesome, because I'm only 68 and I need to get back to leveling to 80 and thus need to avoid fun at all costs. Level 68 can, as far as I'm concerned ... well, it's not really printable, what I think level 68 should do to itself.

Finally, I recently wrote a shining five-star review on iTunes for my favorite WoW podcast, The Instance. I was hoping they would share it in their show but they did not. So today I share it with you :

Listening to The Instance is like being beaten severely with chocolate feet and fists.

Good Day, and happy gaming!