Patch 4.1 Archaeology Items, 4.1 PTR Notes Update, Blue Posts, Artwork, Daily Blink

[Boubouille]

Patch 4.1 Archaeology Rewards
As promised in earlier blue posts, Patch 4.1 adds a couple of Archaeology rewards to the game. The Fossile and Troll branches are getting some love and you should be able to find these new rare items after the patches.

Artifact	Project	Type	Branch	Fragments
Extinct Turtle Shell	Extinct Turtle Shell	Shield	Fossil	150
Pterrordax Hatchling	Pterrordax Hatchling	Companion Pet	Fossil	120
Voodoo Figurine	Voodoo Figurine	Companion Pet	Troll	100
Vrykul Drinking Horn	Vrykyl Drinking Horn	Misc.	Vrykul	100
Ancient Amber	Ancient Amber	Misc.	Fossil	100
Haunted War Drum	Haunted War Drum	Misc.	Troll	100

Patch 4.1 Public Test Realm Notes - April 8 #2
The Patch 4.1 PTR notes have been updated slightly after Blizzard published the update on their blog yesterday. The change to allow player to use flying mounts in Ghostlands was removed and Sinestra is being slightly tweaked.

General

• Flying mounts can now be used in Ghostlands.
• Several persistent ground effects now display different visuals for hostile and friendly players. The following spells have the same visual effects for friendly players, but new alternate visuals for hostile players: Ring of Frost, Consecration, Desecration, Wild Mushroom, Flare, Ice Trap, Power Word: Barrier, Smoke Bomb, and Hand of Gul'dan. As a general rule, the alternate effects have a red tint or hue indicating they are created by an enemy player. There are currently some issues with this new change which are affecting several of these abilities and is not working as intended at this time.

Raids & Dungeons
Sinestra

• Twilight Slicer is now less likely to target two helers at once.
• Wrack will avoid jumping to tanks.

Guilds
Guild Challenges

• Gold rewards require the qualified guild members of the group to be honored with their guild, and the guild must be are now deposited into the guild bank once the guild reaches level 5. The text for the Cash Flow guild perk has been updated appropriately.

Blue Posts
Blue posts outside of announcements almost feel like christmas lately, I wonder if anyone is going to bring cookies.

Making WoW Easier
I understand and respect gaming masochism. But, I think that changing mechanics to be more reasonable and less punishing is an improvement, not a detriment, to games in general. Many of us Original Gamers pine for the days of D&D-based yore when games were seemingly intended to break us down into sobbing masses created by an uncaring necromancer of pain and suffering, or at least didn't try to avoid it. Overcoming all of the obstacles (I CHOOSE NOT TO SHOOT HER WITH THE SILVER ARROW... NOOOOO) was a big part of what gaming (I HAVE 1 LIFE!?), and especially PC gaming (HOW DO I LOAD MOUSE DRIVERS?), were about. But, I feel we're lucky to now be in an age where those ideals (intended or not) are giving way to actual fun, actual challenge, and not fabricating it through high-reach requirements (I NEED A FAIRY MONK WITH A MAGIC LOCKPICK?).

What we've always been trying to do, what WoW has always been about (and to which much of its success is due) is to make an accessible MMO. Anyone that looks back at the game at launch and wishes it was as challenging now as it was then is not aware of the painstaking effort put into making this game accessible as compared to its predecessors. Since release we've refined that intent, eventually evolving the very few masochistic designs WoW actually ever started with, but ideally still offering those same prestige goals that give that feeling of achieving something great if you're able to pull it off. We've made a lot of progress toward striking that balance and continuing to evolve the game, but it's not something we're ever likely to perfect, and we'll be constantly working to hit that elusive goal. Hopefully it's to the benefit of everyone playing and enjoying the game, and they'll continue to enjoy the journey that a living, breathing, persistent universe will take us on. (Source)

Blizzard Art Gallery Update
The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Art gallery has been updated with three pieces representing the Warcraft universe.

The Daily Blink - Tragedy of the Commons
The Daily Blink published a new comic about the new Call To Arms in the Dungeon Finder.

[Adjutant]

maybe i should level arch for some purples... Comic was funny.

[Izzyasha]

Daily Blink has the right of it sadly...

[Deleted]

Yay for new fossil artifacts. Now if only they could make archaeology more interesting too :P

[Hypro]

yeah we are going 2 see alot of tanks next patch....

[Torian kel]

Daily blink sums it all up :/

And yay for news archeology artefacts, i stoped two months ago when i got the last ones !

[lillbrorsan]

Sadly i believe Daily Blink is spot on, also the Amber item sounds awesome :>

[Elysia]

Woooooooooooooooo for more fossil/troll rares. Especially the pets.

[Frozen Death Knight]

This is the first "the Daily Blink" that I think is pure bullcrap logic. Granted, there will be people who will try this, but the very idea of doing it will be crushed right when people join the instance. People are already extremely cynical when it comes to players with bad gear, especially when it comes to tanks and healers, so why on earth would that change with this new system? Also, even if the people in the group would accept the badly geared tank, which I very much doubt, do you think the person will be able to stay long after his first wipe, which will be the very first pack of mobs? The system is enough unforgiving for this behaviour to simply die off, while the point of the rewards to get the more skilled people to join the queu will still be there, and will only be available to the person who can do their role well and finish the instance.

[Notos]

Finally I can stop dreading getting fossil sites when I'm grinding for my epix. That shield would be awesome for my pally!

[bbr]

Yeah,, every nut and mong will queue as tank now xD
We are soo doomed ! doomed i say ! doooooooom....


The 2 more companion pets should get me to 100 soon :P

[paloo]

Well I think ima get me some professor title next patch

[Deleted]

i lold so much at the daily blink ^^, I NEED MORE DEEPS FOR DEEPING .. YO hahaha

[Pandragon]

Daily Blink has the right of it sadly...

Yeah, except that happens already. This isnt gonna bring morons to tanking, they are already here.

[Brett Skullcrack]

I understand and respect gaming masochism. But, I think that changing mechanics to be more reasonable and less punishing is an improvement, not a detriment, to games in general.

It's amazing how Blizzard, or at least these guys currently working on WoW, don't understand gaming at all. It's not about masochism or punishing content, it's about providing an artificial challenge of increasing difficulty. Video games since the beginning have had levels that get increasingly difficult, meaning that to get further and see more you need to improve your skills at the game. Yes if you jump straight to the last level it may seem like punishing and unreasonable, but that's just because you haven't gained the skills necessary to reach that level yet.

Dumbing down the game has been happening since WotLK because a large part of the players and designers are not gamers. They're people who fuck around Sims or Farmville and who think just paying for the game means they should get a free ride through it. And that's fine if Blizzard actually stated what they're doing up front: "There's a lot more money being made from the Facebook 'gamers' than real gamers so that's who we will develop for." But they don't have the balls to admit that.

We've made a lot of progress toward striking that balance and continuing to evolve the game, but it's not something we're ever likely to perfect, and we'll be constantly working to hit that elusive goal.

Even the designers themselves admit they're not skilled enough to get it right. Do they think their customers want to keep paying monthly to see them "try their hardest"? Fuck no, if you can't get it right then quit and let Blizzard hire people who can get it right - they've had plenty of these people in the past.

[Deleted]

You should always have a fairy monk with a magic lockpick with you. Come on, everyone knows that.

[Sylf]

I'm supprised not seeing any QQ comment about the Cash flow fix.

I myself dont really care but for some guilds with loads of players this will decrease income by alot

[Jurwi]

We've made a lot of progress toward striking that balance and continuing to evolve the game, but it's not something we're ever likely to perfect, and we'll be constantly working to hit that elusive goal.

Even the designers themselves admit they're not skilled enough to get it right. Do they think their customers want to keep paying monthly to see them "try their hardest"? Fuck no, if you can't get it right then quit and let Blizzard hire people who can get it right - they've had plenty of these people in the past.

This kind of game is not ever possible to get perfectly balanced. Blizzard does know and acknowledge that fact. I'm amazed that there are idiots like you around who actually think that WoW would magically turn into 100% perfect and balanced game just by changing the blizzard staff

[Deleted]

I understand and respect gaming masochism. But, I think that changing mechanics to be more reasonable and less punishing is an improvement, not a detriment, to games in general.

It's amazing how Blizzard, or at least these guys currently working on WoW, don't understand gaming at all. It's not about masochism or punishing content, it's about providing an artificial challenge of increasing difficulty. Video games since the beginning have had levels that get increasingly difficult, meaning that to get further and see more you need to improve your skills at the game. Yes if you jump straight to the last level it may seem like punishing and unreasonable, but that's just because you haven't gained the skills necessary to reach that level yet.

Dumbing down the game has been happening since WotLK because a large part of the players and designers are not gamers. They're people who fuck around Sims or Farmville and who think just paying for the game means they should get a free ride through it. And that's fine if Blizzard actually stated what they're doing up front: "There's a lot more money being made from the Facebook 'gamers' than real gamers so that's who we will develop for." But they don't have the balls to admit that.

We've made a lot of progress toward striking that balance and continuing to evolve the game, but it's not something we're ever likely to perfect, and we'll be constantly working to hit that elusive goal.

Even the designers themselves admit they're not skilled enough to get it right. Do they think their customers want to keep paying monthly to see them "try their hardest"? Fuck no, if you can't get it right then quit and let Blizzard hire people who can get it right - they've had plenty of these people in the past.

Calm down, man. You're getting cheetos all over your keyboard.

[Doomspirit]

i need a fairy monk with a magic lockpick?