Finally releasing on August 20 is 3 Minutes to Midnight from Scarecrow Studios. It’s a comedy/mystery with a flashy cartoon style. The developer is working on another point and click adventure as well. I love the art style.
Coming August 14, a remaster of Sam and Max The Devil’s Playhouse. Need quality time with a dog and a rabbit? Say no more. It’s discounted till the end of August but I think I’ll get the whole series at the next Steam Sale, as it’s offered in a bundle.
This is the first of the expansions I’m writing about which hasn’t had a Classic (with some changes) version of it.
Remix
Good thing, then, I just ran a new character from one to seventy in Wow Remix: Mists of Pandaria. While I started out questing as always in Remix, it became obvious I’d run out of time with my limited time to play. I ended up just running a few dungeons a day when I could. You could also do scenarios and raids, but I can’t stand either of them, so dungeons it was.
I’m not a real fan of Pandaria’s dungeons, so this was a bit torturous too. At first I was annoyed that they added in Scholomance and the Scarlet Monastery to the mix. After a while though, they didn’t seem so bad. There were lots of occasions where the tank was super powered and they ran way ahead of everyone killing everything, and your job was to loot little sparkly NPC piles as you ran to catch up. This bothered me at first, but then, when the tank was a normal plink plink plink person, it was slightly disappointing.
For some reason they let you fish in Remix, but you can’t do any other profession. No little farm at Halfhill.
You can’t leave the Remix area, you’re sort of trapped in amber. Can’t send mail, receive mail. There’s no area chat. I kept thinking, this is like Pandaria with all the life sucked out of it. Just a few days to set my baby free. I even thought, I’m going to send this character through REAL Pandaria when this is over.
Luckily, I’m sending another low level Panda to go through the Mists and just play through the game.
I’ve really enjoyed looking at and sharing the old Blizzcon announcement trailers. This one features a rather young looking, but stylistically the same Chris Metzen. He can sell a story.
Pandaria is a rich expansion in zone design and storytelling. Loved the fishing, cooking and farm. I really wanted them to add a farm to the garrisons in Draenor. It was the first place in World of Warcraft that seemed like a home. As a gardener, well, the farm was pretty fun.
Loved the zones except Townlong Steppes and the Dread Wastes. Valley of the Four Winds and Krasarang Wilds are my favorites.
I’m ready to adventure to Pandaria again with my Sophiebear character, who gets to do all of the things. I might even try a scenario just to give her the full experience. Maybe they’re not horrible. Off she goes.
One of the big things I remember about the (then) upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion was all of the distress (putting it kindly) about the Pandarens being a Kung Fu Panda knockoff.
I admit I was not looking forward to an expansion that was full of Martial Arts references (which it was). After all of the heroic tales we’d been through, this is what we got?
Apparently the new Pet Battle system was a mirror of Pokemon, something my son played but never remotely appealed to me. Somehow, World of Warcaft was going to become a kiddie game. Why why why.
I’m not the only one who had misgivings. Here’s a lengthy Reddit thread of people just so mad. And a long statement quote from Chris Metzen that they wanted to add Pandarens back in the Burning Crusade. Who knew? Not me.
Way back in 2012, Mists of Pandaria had lots of competition, according to Sophie Prell at NBC News:
2012 is the year of the blockbuster MMO: TERA, The Secret World, Guild Wars 2, and an impending re-launch of Final Fantasy XIV add up to an extremely competitive market and a lot of quality content. Factor inThe Old Republic, which released at the tail end of 2011, and the market is practically choking on triple-A MMO titles. So what hope does Mists of Pandaria, the latest expansion to an eight-year old game, have? A good amount, actually, but that’s due to the already invested World of Warcraft player base.
I like this thread from MMO Champion wherein the Devious Chicken points out known similarities to the film before the game is released. Particularly that the Hozen are just like the movie’s monkeys.
I should have said I’ve never seen the movie Kung Fu Panda, but well, I sure didn’t want all that in my game.
All of that said, I really remember this cinematic, much more than the official announcement one, and I think I felt maybe it would all be alright after all. It made it seem grittier. Cooler. Had to love that Panda.
Here you are, Fallout Shelter fans, Betty Pearson, current Vault 33 Overseer joins the vault. I wondered who might be next. If they do Steph, will she be perky Steph or fork in the eye Steph? There is some precedent in giving her an outfit that reflects the show plot.
You can use Action Wedding Dress on your dweller:
or Wedding Dress for the dressier pre-Raider reveal: Cooper Howard is another character with options (in his non-ghoul form): Coop: You can make and wear Ma June’s jacket, but it will transform you into her image.
For Mr. Redbeard, who feels our Anduin is no longer a boy, the pictures I could get of Anduin from my files, live shots on the Classic and Cata Servers, a few snares from cinematics. Dang I know I took pictures of him in the recent Pandaria Remix run but where, where, where. I play on three computers, but hmmm. It’s a keen one, because I really couldn’t stand Anduin and his selfishness in Pandaria, but came to just adore him in Battle for Azeroth. (Sniff such a sweet soul).
Through Wrath of the Lich King, as far as I can find, Anduin was a popsicle headed kind of bratty little guy.
Logging into Cata Classic, he was a teen who actually doesn’t look too far off from his current day burnt out Anduin.
Much more hunky, but sorrowful in Legion.
Best of all versions of Anduin: Battle for Azeroth, the cinematics version.
Still noble but doomed, Shadowlands.
His features completely altered by his hellish experiences in the Shadowlands, as he is now. Still a boy on the inside, but a shattered one. I’m hoping they will give him a chance to heal.
Thanks for reading this on a Sunday, thus defying Bhaggy’s Rule “Nobody Reads Blogs On The Weekend”
So…Worgens and Death Knights…. This is Katress, my first and favorite Death Knight. Named somewhat after the character Katniss from the Hunger Games books, she’s my go to character when I just need someone to go out and get something done. Powerful, and endlessly useful, she can pick up both Minerals and Herbs. She’s the only character ever to make it through all the quests in Vashj’ir. Don’t you just want to give her a hug, though.
Despite the sundering of the landscape in many areas of the world, Cataclysm was fun and exciting on release. My characters seemed to advance faster, with more silver in their pockets. Hyjal and Uldum have always been favorite zones to play in. Not so much the rest of the zones, but I spent time in each.
The big selling point for Cataclysm, was that my family actually had a great time leveling the guilds on Blackwater Raiders, then Earthen Ring. The guild perks were a keen reason to play and everyone helped work towards them. To me, it was the best era for guilds, even a small family one.
From Wowhead, a list of the Guild Perks from Cataclysm.
Increases health and mana gained when resurrected by a guild member by 50% and increases movement speed while dead by 100%. Does not function in combat or while in a Battleground or Arena.
Brings all dead party and raid members back to life with 35 health and 35 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
I spent some time in the Cata Classic beta, and at first, all guilds were given level 25, and thus all the perks. It was incredibly exciting, and guilds would be advertising that you’d have all these advantages to your game play if you joined a guild. Naturally you got your character in a guild as fast as possible. It was as I’d remembered it.
Somewhere along the line, they changed Cata Classic so that there is no Guild Leveling, and only a few of the perks remain with guilds, most are just given to your character. What the heck. I have to go back to my grumpy NO Changes stance it seems.
Guild Perks aside, I’m liking the quests in each zone, I love banks and auction houses at both ends of Stormwind. All those added flight paths, man, particularly at Eastvale Logging Camp and Goldshire are a dream. Darkmoon Faire is the recognizable modern version rather than the static boring smattering of tents. Certainly all the modern features aren’t in but it’s the Faire I came to love once I started using it to level professions. I love the Daily Fishing and Cooking Quests, and do them with any character who gets played. People are really fiendish about trying to grab apples or catfish barrels out from under you, with the competition for crabs in the SW canal the worst. All just as I remember it.
I’ve gotten my son and sister to create characters on the Cata server, but can’t budge my spouse to play. He’s still mad about that Gnoll Camp in Hardcore Classic Westfall where he kept skirting the edge of the camp, one time even pulling the whole camp after him. As another of my characters had died in a similar situation, where I healed him and he lived but my character died…ya we don’t talk about it. Hmmpf.
And here as always is the Blizzcon Catalcysm reveal. Sounded good, was good!
Note: Oops, indeed! Put Worgens into this post when the belong in tomorrow’s! Almost didn’t write a post it’s been such a tough week. Beware what your brain does when it’s over stressed, people! Lucky for you I do have to say something about a main feature of Wrath: Death Knights.
Released in 2008, Wrath of the Lich King finally caught my interest enough to begin playing regularly. Part of it was my sister and her family were huge fans, as was my son.
I was hugely encouraged to level up by my sister who really liked Northrend, and couldn’t say enough about how much gold you could make, and how superior the gear was right away.
As I have to play every class, I created a Death Knight. The starter area for Death Knights runs a close second for my least favorite starting area. Firstly, the endless drone of the Death King urging you onward. I came to dislike that voice very quickly, and the first few times I went through the area, I vowed to find the Lich King when I got out, no matter what it took, and I was going to kill him. You slaughter innocents. Hate the sequence where you are assaulting the walls and I’m so bad at that sort of targeting that I die over and over. The turrets respawn like mad and take you out. I like two parts for some reason. Where you ride a mine cart down to a ship to use the same type of targeting to kill minions. Luckily this one I can do, because the minions are barely fighting back. My favorite bit for some reason is hiding behind a shrub that looks like a silly wooden tree prop from a play waiting for a messenger. Oh, what’s this? I’ve left new Death Knights in this area for months because I hated the area. One poor thing got killed off before they ever finished the area for their character slot. Let’s not forget the terrible fly infested, rotten fruit and vegetable arrival in Stormwind, when you finally make it out.
Still playing Galaxies and Lord of the Rings online, but I made time for World of Warcraft too. Still using Game Card time since I couldn’t commit to a subscription.
Here’s the Blizzcon 2007 reveal. It surprises me how much it focuses on Howling Fjord.
Playing Wrath Classic really fleshed out the game for me. I finally played through all zones of the game for the first time. Zul’drak is an area I hadn’t quested in before, and it’s a favorite for the storylines around The Argent Stand and Zim’Torga. I also completed all of the quests in Howling Fjord and the Grizzly Hills for the first time.
I’ve characters on the Cataclysm Classic realm of Bloodsail Buccaneers who are still working through those areas. Just writing this makes me want to go exploring with them.
I enjoyed the era enough so that, had Wrath Classic been offered as an era where you could leave character copies behind, I think I would have done so for the first time. Who knows, at some point when Classic catches up to the modern era, maybe they’ll reboot the whole thing and offer you the opportunity to stay and play in each of the expansion eras.
Blizzard as we know, excels at presenting cinematics that can produce powerful responses. I am so taken with this cinematic, showing an event in the past of Azj-kahet, one of the zones we will explore in The War Within.
For someone like myself who is indifferent to The Old Gods, and is finding the Harbinger Xal’atath to be a watered down Sylvanas (could be wrong about her), the trailer resonates.
Queen Neferess expels the Old God Ny’alotha, despite his warnings her land and people will wither, and turns down the offer of power from Harbinger Xal’atath, to allow her people to endure and remain free. This was my first look at a nerubian with humanoid facial features, and she’s quite magnificent, and powerful in her own way. I admired her strength as a leader, holding out to do what she felt was best for her people.
A much easier target was her daughter Ansurek, who listened to the Harbinger, killed her own mother, and gathered for herself what she imagines will be unlimited power to make her people’s destiny come to fruition. An old story, always a compelling story.
All with a grinning, triumphant Xal’atath in the background.
The Burning Crusade seems to me to be revered by many as the best expansion. Back in the day, when it was announced in 2005, I was all in playing Star Wars Galaxies. When it was released in 2007, I was still playing Galaxies, with some beginnings of interest in Lord of the Rings Online, so World of Warcraft wasn’t something that captured my imagination, though I think I had tried it a time or two with a Game Card.
Here’s the original expansion trailer from Blizzcon 2005. I think if I’d seen this trailer I would have been a bit interested, because they make it sound quite mysterious and filled with adventures of all kinds that I had not experienced in a game before.
As a bonus, here’s the lead up to the announcement at the very first Blizzcon in 2005. I don’t know who the speaker is, but man, he is super excited and a complete geek for the game and for being at the convention.
Fast forward to 2021 and the announcement of the Classic version of The Burning Crusade. I have to say it isn’t as interesting as anything from the original trailer. Sort of generic.
Playing Classic Burning Crusade was my first time though this expansion from its beginning. I was struck by how familiar the world and its quests were to me. After clawing through a version of the old world I hadn’t experienced before for a year and more, it was kind of a relief to be on familiar ground. I knew the quests, where to go, what to do.
The biggest impression TBC made on me was the fact that you got two gold for every quest completed. So. Much. Money.
If you play one character (who ARE you?), I’m sure you amass gold and everything else you want easily. I always have the maximum number of allowed alts, though. I want to play all of the available races and classes, do all of the tradeskills. So unless one character leads and moves ahead of the rest, nobody has money. (Back to doing that on live, yes!)
That also meant few of my characters got flying mounts, because, way too pricey. So most of my adventuring was done hoofing it along. It’s a great way to actually learn the terrain, and to come upon resource nodes. However, for those who did get to fly, it felt like cheating. You avoid all the crap, zip in, get your stuff, zip out. Loved it so much!
Though I have played through all of the Outlands areas in live at some time or another, while playing Classic, I never did a single quest in Shadowmoon Valley, and few in Blades Edge or Netherstorm. I only went to Netherstorm for potion ingredients, and did a few quests there.
I love the dungeons in the Burning Crusade, generally enjoy Hellfire and Zangarmarsh, cannot stand Shattrath and the Scryers/Aldor Factions.
I thought I’d go through the World of Warcraft game eras, now that I’ve actually played through them. Through Wrath of the Lich King, of course, on the Classic Servers. Sometime during the Cataclysm expansion, the game finally caught my attention and kept it.
This mini-series will go right up to the Dragon Isles, so get out the popcorn and your drink of choice. We’re going on a mini-tour, with my thoughts on each of the expansions. In prep for this one I played a little of my Hardcore server main character, now a citizen of the badly named “Mankrik” server. Tell me nothing of him and his wife. Not remotely interested.
To set the mood:
To be clear, I never played the Vanilla era of the game until its Classic version was released. My family joined in to play, with all of the adults liking of the challenge of it, and the kids all say it was “too hard”
I played my main Hardcore now Classic Era character for a bit tonight. I’m glad this version of the game is available, because once you gone through all the modern iterations, it seems like a better, tighter, more challenging game.
My notes tonight:
No money, ever.
A Banker character is a must. You have no inventory of bank space. You need a place for stuff.
Can’t see herbs worth …Let’s play Spot the Briarthorn!
Mana Mana Mana. The bane of most character’s existence.
Eat and drink after every fight.
Respawns are the devil.
Everything has a long aggro radius. Creep forward, draw a Vile Fang back out of respawn range (and you know exactly where that respawn will be!), fight to the death. Repeat.
Buffs! Everyone is so nice and supportive. All those random buffs when someone goes by!
I need to spend more time in this era.
Can’t stay there forever, though, because at some point, you’re at the top and there’s nowhere to go. This is why I moved all my characters forward and didn’t leave copies.
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