Diablo 3 - Release Launch Times, Customization, Loot Mooching, Graphics, Blue Posts

Zandalari Island Area Preview
In previous posts, on the Blizzcon Pandaria map, and in interviews, a Zandalari Island off the coast of Pandaria has been mentioned, which might be the unlabeled island in the northwest corner of the current World Map.

Important - As usual, this is WORK IN PROGRESS. The screenshots and video do not reflect the final version of the area.








Misc Beta Changes - Guild Perks, Scenarios, and more
The last few patches have added a few small but interesting things to the game.

Guild Perks
New Scenario Objectives
  • Rescue the villagers from the 6 nearby houses.
  • Defeat Vengeful Hui
  • Bring Brewmaster Bo to the Unga Ingoo Brewing Cauldron.
  • Bring 100 Jungle Brew to the Brewing Cauldron.
  • Defeat Captain Ook.
New Scenarios
  • Klaxxi Island
  • Brewmaster 04
New Guild Challenges
  • Scenario - 5 per week at 10,000 guild XP each. Rewards 125 gold.
  • Challenge Mode Dungeon - 3 per week at 10,000 guild XP each. Rewards 250 gold.



Cloud Serpent Questing Area
A previous interview mentioned that you would be able to raise your own cloud serpent through ~20 days of daily quests, which would involve things like racing. One area of Jade Forest has trainers, cloud serpents in training, race spectators, and an island right off the coast with level 90 mobs and an instructor.

There are also several NPCs that mention joining the training program after you have some more experience. One of the NPCs in this area of The Arboretum has a quest that is not accessible yet at level 87. It is likely that this area will be the area you do some of the Cloud Serpent questing in.







Leaders of Azeroth: Velen Short Story Now Available
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Not long ago, the prophet Velen and a number of draenei resettled on Azeroth, hoping to put a halt to the Legion’s murderous activities in Outland. Sensing great courage in the Alliance, the draenei pledged themselves to this noble faction.

Yet much time has passed since then. The Legion's forces in Outland have been greatly diminished. Now, Velen must guide his people into an uncertain future and decide what role, if any, the draenei will play in the Alliance.

The Seat of the Naaru's soaring energies inspired inner peace from the most bloodthirsty of warrior pilgrims, awe from even the most jaded of Azeroth's inhabitants. The figure floating before the Seat had long taken comfort from this column of Light. Velen looked out from his meditation chamber, seeking insight. . . in all the connections, great and small, where he might perceive the lines of the future. For the past several months, those lines had increasingly felt fragmented.

As the Prophet of the draenei meditated -- his legs crossed beneath him, his hands resting on his ancient knees -- the crystals that reflected his energies glowed and pulsed and swirled around him, not in patterns but in chaos. And the visions, the endless possibilities of tomorrows, assaulted him.


Blizzard Entertainment is proud to present the latest entry in the "Leaders of Azeroth" short story series: Prophet's Lesson!

Reminder: WoW Annual Pass – Last Chance
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As adventurers gear up to battle demonic hordes with the impending launch of Diablo III, the World of Warcraft Annual Pass offer will soon close to new sign ups. If you plan on questing in both Sanctuary and Azeroth in the coming year and haven’t signed up yet, the Annual Pass is a great value that should not be missed.

You have until Monday, April 30 to sign up for the WoW: Annual Pass, which includes a 12 month subscription commitment to World of Warcraft, a free digital version of Diablo III (available when the game launches), the Tyrael’s Charger flying mount for WoW (available immediately), and other epic benefits. If you’ve been waiting for the last possible moment to sign up for the Annual Pass, this is it! After April 30, this offer will no longer be available.

Save the Children Charity Marathon
The Dragon Soul Challenge a few days ago was successful in helping to raise money for hungry children in the Horn of Africa, so we are doing it again! Nik and Kevin are going to be streaming monk leveling from 1-87 starting on Friday, April 27th at 8 PM CET

This article was originally published in forum thread: Zandalari Island Preview, Misc Beta Changes, Cloud Serpent Questing Area, Blue Posts started by chaud View original post
Comments 158 Comments
  1. kazso's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kootabang View Post
    MMOs are more than logging in --> asking for a summon --> Raiding --> Hearthing//Logging off.
    Maybe other MMO's are, but not WoW. WoW's "endgame" is raiding. If you reach that level, then there's really nothing else to do aside from the occassional material farming (which is really exciting *yawn*).
  1. mmoca6967c3bea's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Hterezal View Post
    I am curious about these gaming fund raisers that people do these days; Are there special forms that they have to file as with charities or non-profits, or do they simply do their thing, collect money and then pass it on down the road?
    No special form. Literally the only way to donate to the MMO-Champion stream is during this short period and you actually donate straight to the Save the Children fundraiser (No money touches our hands). If you've ever watch the stream you'll know that I'm very picky about never accepting personal donations from doing the stream. It's just a personal preference of mine to never do anything like that and never make any money from you guys watching the stream.

    I'd much rather you whitelist the stream and we make some money together from the Ads that will be going straight into the charity fund.
  1. Velshin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by kazso View Post
    Maybe other MMO's are, but not WoW. WoW's "endgame" is raiding. If you reach that level, then there's really nothing else to do aside from the occassional material farming (which is really exciting *yawn*).
    There is more in this game than just raiding really..pvp, farming material as you said, farming rare mobs, pets, rare spawn mobs, archaeology, professions, questing, and hunting achievements and much much more it's all about your play style. Please say next time that you only like raiding as end game and nothing else instead of saying that the game offers nothing to do in end level.
  1. Yakshamash's Avatar
    No freaking way I'll do same thing 20 days for bloody mount... Is that the best they can come out???
  1. lilbuddhaman's Avatar
    They remade stranglethorn vale I see, added some chinese looking shit too.
  1. Wromthrax's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Yakshamash View Post
    No freaking way I'll do same thing 20 days for bloody mount... Is that the best they can come out???
    No one is forcing you to have this mount, personally I think it should take 200 days so ONLY people that are dedicated enough will get it, the rest won't.
  1. Laylriana's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by valcrist View Post
    I am glad they are getting rid of group travel, people have gotten lazy, everyone just sits in town, trolls, shows off mounts for hours and waits for one person to summon everyone, i totally see why blizzard wants people out in the world and i am totally for it. As for the new perks, i like them but they seem like lower level perks instead of upper level perks and honestly 30 needs to be better then what it is, that perk seems more like a 4 or 5 level perk but it also seems like blizzard is trying to fix the perks so people dont think they have to join a level 30 guild. Who knows though its still beta so stop bitching so early in the game, blizzard can easily change those levels and perks 20 times before the retail launch, people really need to stop basing the game off beta, its a fing beta the point is to test if crap works and get feed back on it not sit in forums and bitch like its set in stone.
    How is getting rid of group travel really getting people out into the world? It only means using fp to closest point and then flying to raid/dungeon and standing around waiting for everyone else to get summoned. Remember waiting outside raids with all the people from other groups crowding around the summoning stone, and trying to click your group's summoning port instead of someone else's. Always so much fun since people like to stand around them on their dragons especially.
  1. slayton's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by lilbuddhaman View Post
    They remade stranglethorn vale I see, added some chinese looking shit too.
    You seem like the type of person who would go deep into a North American forest then go into a tropical rainforest and say "WTF I saw tree's back in the U.S., this place sucks!"
  1. Megalithic's Avatar
    How about we get rid of mounts too? Walking from the main city to your raid on foot will really let you see the world.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kootabang View Post
    For everyone complaining about removing Have Group Will Travel..

    MMOs are more than logging in --> asking for a summon --> Raiding --> Hearthing//Logging off.

    I realize everyone has limited time to play the game, but this is an MMO. (MASSIVELY Multiplayer online) Stop being selfish. WoW's playerbase was spoiled from HGWT. As a raider myself, it was handy. Especially for times when I couldn't log in until ~5minutes prior to the start of a raid. But in the end, it's a change for the good.


    ---------- Post added 2012-04-24 at 07:32 PM ----------

    Actually you'll need to farm 4 times as many mats based on the changes, since we're losing both the duration buff perk and the number of flask perk.

    Quote Originally Posted by littlewisp View Post
    The guild perk changes are pretty disappointing. I've posted on the beta forums about how they don't need to be changed, but I guess myself and others just weren't convincing enough. Definitely won't be feeling the urge to get the guild to max level this time around! I do hope they lessen the amount of herbs needed for flasks. For my ten man I'm the one who farms -- our server is small, and you can't guarantee there will be herbs or fish on the AH at any time, so we have to farm our mats. There's a lot I want to do outside of WoW these days, and so I was hoping the time spent farming might decrease, not increase (as is unless they up how long flasks last I'd have to farm double just to make sure we have enough for the raid nights).
  1. Shaede's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Prokne View Post
    My opinion is that they removed HGWT because of the world bosses. They dont want one guys alt camping the spawn and then summoning the entire 40 man group to the fight, they want all 40 to camp and maybe fight with the other faction.

    I dont think its too much to ask to have a HGWT that just summons your group. It would allow people to still get help with quests and summon to dungeons without a hassle. Even if you chain summoned it would take a while and be pretty cumbersome. The other option would be just to not allow you to use it within 1000yd or whatever of the area the boss spawns at.[COLOR="red"]
    This makes the most sense.
  1. lostsyn's Avatar
    i am getting sick of trolls......
    i know that trolls have been apart of azeroth for along time now but that doesnt mean every damn expansion or major content patch we have to have a new troll area.
    we should rise up and kill the trolls once and for all....
  1. Darthballz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kootabang View Post
    For everyone complaining about removing Have Group Will Travel..

    MMOs are more than logging in --> asking for a summon --> Raiding --> Hearthing//Logging off.

    I realize everyone has limited time to play the game, but this is an MMO. (MASSIVELY Multiplayer online) Stop being selfish. WoW's playerbase was spoiled from HGWT. As a raider myself, it was handy. Especially for times when I couldn't log in until ~5minutes prior to the start of a raid. But in the end, it's a change for the good.
    Nope sorry it's the only reason I play WoW anymore is for the raiding. Think of all the 10mans without a warlock now. Having to go to town to replace someone and then now they have to travel all the way with you to the instance is not going to be fun. Sure at the start of an expansion I do every single quest there is and get dungeons done, but after and raiding starts it's all I care about doing.
  1. Calamari's Avatar
    It would seem that Warriors won't be needing eyes where they are going.

    Hell of a sexy set though.
  1. ringpriest's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darthballz View Post
    Nope sorry it's the only reason I play WoW anymore is for the raiding. Think of all the 10mans without a warlock now. Having to go to town to replace someone and then now they have to travel all the way with you to the instance is not going to be fun. Sure at the start of an expansion I do every single quest there is and get dungeons done, but after and raiding starts it's all I care about doing.
    Speaking of warlocks, isn't this going to cause a higher demand for them in raids? And if it does, what does that say about "bring the player, not the class?" Ah well, I really should have learned better than to expect consistency from Blizz.
  1. Omega10's Avatar
    "No one is forcing you to have this mount, personally I think it should take 200 days so ONLY people that are dedicated enough will get it, the rest won't."

    To me, 200 days for the new mount is a bit much. But 50 (2 months minus days off) would be about perfect.
  1. Malis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by tala1the5cyborg View Post
    hmm... i hope..REALLY hope this isnt Zandalar, THE zandalari island.. but something tells me it is...
    I always imagined a huge island looking zul-gurub-ish with a huge astec temple(gundrak size atleast) in the middle, where Rastakhan would sit at the top of a throne.

    Not something chinese mogu shit with some huts off the coast....
    "Zandalar is a sizeable island a ways southwest of Westfall. Two huge mountains rise from its green canopy; one of these mountains is in fact the great ziggurat-city Zuldazar, while the other is snowy Mount Mugamba. Other, smaller ziggurats — the domains of troll priests and witch doctors — also jut from the jungle, and birds and stranger beasts fl it above and among the trees. Troll priests and witch doctors live all over the island. It is a lush and tropical place, and a deadly one."

    If it is Zandalar Isle then I am hoping they change the Mogu-style back to the Ziggurats also... I -love- the Arathi Highlands and all those tiers of the huge temples ect. Right now it just says a Zandalari isle so hopefully it'll be an offshoot and not Zandalar it'self. Though I would adore to see the Isle of Zandalar being as my Troll is Zandalari (and has been from the beginning)

    As for HGWT, It's going to be missed as I run old school raids and it was a boon to be able to hop from raid to raid or add new people when we shifted from one to the other. I can live without it, but it will be greatly missed.
  1. Kaleredar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ringpriest View Post
    Speaking of warlocks, isn't this going to cause a higher demand for them in raids? And if it does, what does that say about "bring the player, not the class?" Ah well, I really should have learned better than to expect consistency from Blizz.
    Or people could just fly to the damn raid. It's one unified continent to travel over... It's not like you have to get 40 people from Storwind to Silithus.
  1. mmoc09a309d1ff's Avatar
    i think blizzard is trying to give an old feeling since people always mention how they miss vanilla or tbc age. As for travelling lets wait and see . Mages might get portals to instances or near them and locks might be able to summon more than 1 person. Also a good raider is not someone that sits and wait to be summon but someone who is outside the instance ready to go in.

    On the other hand when people are used to have the candy in their mouths sudderly to remove it and place 1km away might cause alot of complains in the first month.

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