WoW Ironman Challenge Completed, Blue Posts, Fan Art, Curse Weekly Roundup

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Diablo 3 - Possible Big Announcement Soon, Magic Find Change, the "Right" Choice, Blue posts, wallpaper

WoW Ironman Challenge Completed
You may remember that a community run challenge became popular a while back which involves leveling to 85 with no deaths, as well as other restrictions. Kripparrian of Turalyon recently completed the Challenge with his Hunter, and Nik had the chance to ask him a few questions about it.

So go ahead, why don't you introduce yourself.
My name is Octavian, I enjoy LCD tanning at my computer desk, newly vegan, and live in Toronto Canada. When I'm not working or cycling, I play online games as Kripp (Kripparrian). I primarily play WoW PvE with Exodus. Before playing WoW, under other alias', I played Dark Age of Camelot for about 7 years, and Diablo 2 HCCL (Hardcore Classic Ladder) on and off.

What inspired you to attempt the Ironman challenge?
I heard about the challenge 3 weeks ago, once it had already become a fairly well known movement. It was clearly created as a non-competitive activity, but the way I see it; if you have a ladder for something -- its competitive. As such, the challenge really appealed to my taste of activity within a game. I thought that if anyone was to complete it, it would be someone like me (as I'm sure many people feel).

Why did you chose Hunter to completed the challenge?
Well, I have played a Hunter for nearly all my time playing WoW. The only other class I know how to play reasonably well is a DK, and they are against the general rules of the challenge. My mains armory can be found here and hunter that I used to complete the challenge here.

How long did it take you and what was the majority of your time spent doing?
My first try was on Feb 12th, and I died at level 23 on the Mor'shan Caravan Delivery quest. I have not done the new Cata quests before this challenge and my inexperience followed by my death caused me to take a more cautious approach until level 60. I made the final character on the 13th and have played as much as I could until yesterday when I hit 85 at 4 days 17 hours 40 minutes played. All my in game time was spent on questing, I did not spend any time with the AH or trades as I felt it would be considered outside help -- although allowed by the rules of the challenge.

Do you think it's even possible to be able to complete it using another class?
I think any class can make it to 85. However, most classes will have to stick it out in WotLK zones and level to 85 with dailies as Cata mobs are brutal. Using the safe daily approach takes a lot more in-game time, leaving your character more prone to mistakes and disconnects. I think the chance of success with this method is about the same for those reasons.

Was there any planning involved regarding it all?
Of course! I really played this challenge to be the first to 85 -- and with others having a several week head start, my strategy was to make it near the top as soon as possible, then begin applying pressure. Last Wednesday (I get Wednesdays off work) I managed to play 14 hours straight;. During this time I leveled from 70 to 79 in one sitting and managed to pass all of the 3-4 of the challengers ahead of me. I was hoping to put a scare on the others near the top, and make them think they're behind, forcing them to play outside of their comfort range. Did it work? I don't know for sure, but when I was at work the next day, everybody else over 70 managed to die off. With this newly acquired 10 level lead, I changed my game plan to being more cautious. When I hit 81 after a couple days, I developed a game plan that I felt was safe enough, while still securing my lead in the challenge, you can check it out here. I had to change my game plan and go to Deepholm in the middle of Vashjir questing because the quest "Looking Forward" bugged, and I was not able to continue the main quest chain.

Any tips for those following in your footsteps and attempt the Ironman Challenge?
Have patience with this, but don't waste your in-game time. You may still see it as a race, as I did, but every action should prioritize security. If you have to use the bathroom, look up a quest, or check on something, log out! Utilize your in-game time only towards leveling, as being logged in just about anywhere has its potential risks -- falling through the world, kill exploits, etc.

Any shoutouts that you'd like to give?
I want to thank all the people participating in the Ironman Challenge for making it such a unique and special experience. Those who have supported it at wowironman.com and the many individuals on The Official Ironman Challenge Thread. I am also grateful for the people that have given me their support and encouragement; the many on the forums, my YouTube subscribers, Taeyeon and Ennuo from Exodus, and my online friend of 10 years Krippie.

Thanks for your time Kripparrian. If you'd like more from him or his guild you can check his Youtube channel or guild website. Kripparrian has also uploaded a video where he talks more in detail about the challenge.

Blue Posts

Dev Watercooler - Question about stats
I think this sentence of the blog is important to note: First of all, please note that we actually aren’t making many stat changes compared to the ones we made in Cataclysm.

That doesn't mean nothing is changing with the other stats. But if said changes aren't laid out in Greg's latest blog, chances are the changes aren't as broad in scope.

We'll start digging into the meat of the other stats and how we plan for them to play out in Mists of Pandaria class design soon enough. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Naxx Achievement Drakes
In some cases, we like to keep the mounts for those that managed to complete the content when it was at its peak. I think of it as a nod to the effort that went into achieving the task. Isn't it a good thing that, as Kazera said, some things can stay rare? (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

WoW Training Grounds
The WoW training grounds is a max-level training ground with scripted training for each class and each of their specs.
We've discussed a similar idea in the past, and it might be possible to use the technology we're using to build out the Scenarios coming in Mists to make something like this happen at some point in the future. Maybe!

It would be cool. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

PvP Balance
We are sorry to hear that you feel that we perform sweeping game changes in expansions and that it makes the game more difficult for us to balance; each expansion has come with changes that presented their own unique challenges and we would like to feel that we overcame these with varying degrees of success, but success none-the-less. We are our own harshest critic mind you, and we are not afraid to say that some things did not work out as planned though.

In regards to this particular comment: I think that if blizz instead stopped adding that many spells and instead focused on fixing what we have, not creating something new, then the game would be better.

You have to remember that World of Warcraft is an incredibly complex machine and while we can make small changes and tweaks as we go along, things that affect multiple systems aren’t so simply changed in that way. We do the best that we can to make the minor adjustments wherever possible, but expansions afford us the opportunity to make those larger changes that will help improve and balance the game, and apply the resources we need to do them.

These changes we are making to things such as abilities, talents and other systems are designed to try and create compelling choices and engaging content, for the betterment of both PvP and PvE. We just want to be sure that you know that none of the changes made through an expansion are done on a whim, they are incredibly thought out and made to ensure that the game will be as balanced and enjoyable as possible for everyone come its release.

We have a lot of information that will be coming out over the following weeks regarding Mists of Pandaria, covering both the changes in store for PvP and PvE. We hope that you look forward to reading it as much as we are excited to be bringing it to you! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

PvP Ignored?
I'm not going to go point by point right now, but I do want to reassure you that we're not ignoring PvP. We're definitely aware of the concerns that players have and like much of the current development, are working on many things for the future of World of Warcraft (as a whole) and Mists of Pandaria. With the press tour coming up in March, we can hopefully be able to get you a better look at what we have planned and how we're planning to address things such as the PvP concerns that people have and have been expressing. I'm not going to promise that we'll "fix" everything that everyone has concerns about because that's not something we can ever guarantee, but we will be keeping a close eye on all of the (constructive) feedback that we expect you will have. We also look forward to when we'll be able to get community members into the beta test (when it occurs) to give it a first-hand look as well.

For those who are falling back to "Next expansion pack will fix it" as a complaint-- The most I can say is that this is the cycle of MMO development. As you also know, we've generally made changes that affect the game as a whole available to anyone regardless of whether they have purchased the new expansion pack or not as well as add content that is available via the expansion. That said though, I'm not making any guarantees of anything at this point in time, but I want the door left open for the possibilities. We'll be doing our best to explain all of this in the near future as I've mentioned.

Will you please confirm that those of us on PvE servers who do not want or care for world PvP will not find themselves forced into PvP...
I can't address these concerns for you right now, but we're aware of them and as I've mentioned in prior posts, we want to make sure what we're doing allows for PvP without infringing on those who are not as interested in taking part. The devil (as always) is in the details, however and we'll make sure to share those details with you all when we can so we can get your feedback. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

New Race and Class Combinations
Well, we're adding the pandaren and monk in Mists of Pandaria and the monk class will be available to all races save for goblin and worgen, so you could say that, "yes, we're still adding new race/class combos." That said, we want to make sure that when we add things like this that they make sense for the longevity of the game so we can't make any guarantees as to what or how often these will be added into the game. Balancing new classes into the game is a bit more difficult than adding a new race, but there are obviously complexities to both.

Will races will get other classes. Remember how Cata got Human Hunters, Night Elf Mages, Tauren Paladins, etc...?
That too is always a possibility if the developers feel it makes sense, but it would still incur some amount of additional development to make it all fit within the world both in terms of the story and in terms of items/gear. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Fan Art Update
The World of Warcraft Fan Art Section has been updated with five new pieces of fan artwork.

Curse Weekly Roundup
Pico is back to catch us up with the news in Minecraft, LoL, Guild Wars 2, Realm of the Mad God, Aion and Borderlands 2.

[Soisoisoi]

Not to put a downer on Kripp, but I'm sure this has already been completed?

[Eleveneleven]

Candians don't really have anything else to do once they realize they're no good at hockey.

[Duncanîdaho]

Not to put a downer on Kripp, but I'm sure this has already been completed?

To be considered part of the challenge there is some ladder out there you get put on, that tracks certain things that are against the rules. He is the first one who did it on the ladder. If not done on the ladder it does not count I believe. If you have not tried it and are thinking its easy, its really hard near the end.

[diox990]

i like the answer of the question about the Naxx mounts i mean i don't have one but i like to see just a little amount of them they did those achievs in time and they deserve it

[furydeath]

Isn't it a good thing that, as Kazera said, some things can stay rare?

Like scarab lord or the other glory mounts? oh wait...

[Pandragon]

I'll say congrats. But a class like Hunters shouldn't have been allowed. Gear or not a hunter will just have his pet to do all his work, and never have to worry about mobs touching him. It kind of defeats the "disqualify on death" thing. Before anyone says this. I'm not jealous, I have no care for this type of thing. lol

[undethknight]

Like scarab lord or the other glory mounts? oh wait...

Scarab lord is still extremely rare.

[theredviola]

Congrats to him!

[Foto]

More mounts should be removed once the content is obscelete. I personally am a massive mount fan but I'd rather have those who achieved it when it was hard have the mount rather than everyone a few patchs later who went and out geared it all.also grats to Kripp amazing fete

[Deleted]

I'll say congrats. But a class like Hunters shouldn't have been allowed. Gear or not a hunter will just have his pet to do all his work, and never have to worry about mobs touching him. It kind of defeats the "disqualify on death" thing. Before anyone says this. I'm not jealous, I have no care for this type of thing. lol

You realise that hunters pets get all their stats from the hunter... a hunter in greys with just armor = a squishy pet, not just a squishy hunter...

[RadGH]

I'll say congrats. But a class like Hunters shouldn't have been allowed. Gear or not a hunter will just have his pet to do all his work, and never have to worry about mobs touching him. It kind of defeats the "disqualify on death" thing. Before anyone says this. I'm not jealous, I have no care for this type of thing. lol

I agree. Pet classes in any game have the advantage that they don't rely on gear nearly as much as say, a warrior.

[Jarlon]

I'll say congrats. But a class like Hunters shouldn't have been allowed. Gear or not a hunter will just have his pet to do all his work, and never have to worry about mobs touching him. It kind of defeats the "disqualify on death" thing. Before anyone says this. I'm not jealous, I have no care for this type of thing. lol

Well the other class he said he could play reasonably was a DK. Its funny, Hunter and DK are the only classes my 4 year old can play reasonably too lol

[Markluzz]

I agree. Pet classes in any game have the advantage that they don't rely on gear nearly as much as say, a warrior.

The pet gets its stats from hunter stats meaning squishy hunter = squishy pet, every class has a decent chance at this, hunters are a misconception to be easier

[subanark]

I'd say a shaman would probably be the hardest class to do this with since they get a lot of their damage from their spec. If you ever tried to dps using a shaman's restro spec you would know what I mean.

[furydeath]

Scarab lord is still extremely rare.

After the death knights where getting it i stop calling it rare.

[Zer0323]

The pet gets its stats from hunter stats meaning squishy hunter = squishy pet, every class has a decent chance at this, hunters are a misconception to be easier

the hunter class is a little bit easier then the other classes considering not all of your stats go to your pet only some of them do, also armor is a stat that isnt effected by the hunter so the pet is just as tough but he has less health.

[Salvage]

The pet gets its stats from hunter stats meaning squishy hunter = squishy pet, every class has a decent chance at this, hunters are a misconception to be easier

Hunters do have it easier its a fact. Even if the pet dies in say 2-4 hits that's 2-4 extra hits that the hunter isn't getting hurt. That gives the hunter time to lay down some smack on a mob and get some range once the pet dies.

[slimjimcop]

Not to knock his achievement, which it is extremely hard to do but, did no one else realize he actually broke the rules by fishing? According to his armory he caught a fish on the 17th, therefore breaking the 5th rule on the forum post and ending that character's challenge."5. No professions or secondary skills. An exception is made for First Aid." If you don't believe me check his armory and the rule page. He didn't complete the challenge.

[furydeath]

Rule 5 is No professions or secondary skills, except for First Aid. According to his armory he doesn't have fishing. So how he got them no clue. Looting the item still counts for the achievement.