My name is Eric Franklin and I am a World of Warcraft slacker. You wouldn't know it, however, judging by the weekend I had. From Thursday morning until Sunday night I collectively played more than 40 hours of the new WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.
I played whenever I could, but with household responsibilities, a guest in town, and annoying necessities like eating, bio breaks, and sleep, I am unsatisfied with my progress after four days.
I decided to level one character straight from 70 to 80 and forgo creating a Death Knight for now. I thought maybe I could get to 77 by the end of the weekend and earn the use of my flying mount. Especially since by Saturday afternoon Death Knights--which start at level 55--were running around at a higher level than my Warlock, who started at 70!
See that lil guy in the middle? That's me, about to die. Again.
(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET Networks)Did I mention that I'm on a PVP server and that I mostly only quest by myself? That may have something to do with my slow progression. As much as I wanted to level quickly it was not always up to me. No, guys with names like Foodfoodz would kill me constantly and then offer food to my still warm body. Seriously.
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Nerds! Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!
(Credit: Fox)Neeeerrrdddsss!!! We got black nerds, brown nerds, and yellow nerds represented here. It's a nerd fest as I prep for the Wrath of the Lich King launch.
Then Dong and I give out some helpful World of Warcraft add-on security hints and general Internet shopping security tips. This includes Dong's password-protection techniques. Can you believe people still fall for phishing?
Finally, a user has a problem with one of my extremely biased monitor videos.
BTW, we'll be announcing the winner of our tagline contest in the next episode.
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(Credit:
Eric Franklin/CNET Networks)
To paraphrase the immortal Sergeant Roger Murtaugh, I'm getting too old for this stuff.
I started noticing it last summer while standing in line for The Dark Knight's midnight showing. For one, I took note that a good 70 percent of the participants were in the 18-22 age bracket, which as a mid-30s guy standing in line at 11 p.m. on a weekday night tends to make me feel just a tad old. Especially when I start getting sleepy eyes while most around me are positively brimming with vim and vigor.
It was virtually no different a few hours ago at the San Francisco launch party for Blizzard's much-anticipated second expansion to World of Warcraft--Wrath of the Lich King. Even as I type this, I'm fighting sleep as it's way past ol' grandpa here's bedtime. I really don't have many midnight launches/premieres left in me. I'm thinking Watchmen and The Hobbit. Then I retire from these types of things.
It's funny. Years ago, I would have been mixing it up with more of my fellow geeks, talking about WoW to no end. Don't get me wrong, there was quite a bit of that going on, but once I actually got in line, I went into, "Don't talk to me, get out of my way, and just give me my friggin' game. No seriously, you need to get the hell out of my way and give me my game" mode.
OK, enough complaining. This event was basically like a miniature Blizzcon. There was face painting, a dance contest, a costume contest, and developers on their feet for hours on end being constantly interviewed.
Then there was the ridiculous three-block-long line. As you can see from some of the pics, there are some real hardcore fans who take the time they put into this game seriously. Most were there with friends, and for them WoW is basically a social network. A useful way to keep in touch while pwning nubs.
The most impressive thing of the night was a woman dressed as a Night Elf Druid. It wasn't her incredibly detailed and well-thought-out costume that impressed the most, but her admission that she'd once played WoW 28 hours straight. That beats my record by about eight hours.
Lots more geeky pics after the jump.
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The inside of the 'Wrath of the Lich King' retail box teases players with a challenge. The expansion to the hugely popular 'World of Warcraft' goes on sale tonight at midnight.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)For World of Warcraft players who over the years have grown accustomed to seeing busy in-world auction houses, the last few weeks may have seemed odd.
Normally bustling with players eager to buy or sell weapons, clothing, armor, or other goods, business at the auction houses has recently slowed to a crawl. But it's not because of the global economic crisis.
Rather, say WoW aficionados, players have been hoarding their gold in anticipation of the release Thursday of the game's latest expansion, , and holding off on buying items that would soon be obsolete.
This is just one example of players of the hugely popular massively multiplayer online game behaving differently as Lich King's release approaches.
The game will go on sale nationwide after midnight (12 a.m.) Thursday, and retail stores expect lines across the country.
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Three of my team vs. one Paladin and she still managed to slice through us like a hot knife through butter. Bring on the nerf bat.
(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET Networks)If you're excited about the next World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, then you've probably already downloaded the latest WoW patch--3.0.2, released Tuesday. If for some reason you haven't done so, then I implore you to, as the game sees many positive changes with this latest update.
The World of Warcraft patch 3.0.2: Echoes of Doom brings a number of changes and new features. Among them are:
- New talents and spells for existing classes (all talent points have been refunded!)
- The implementation of barber shops for players
- Two new arenas featuring more dynamic terrain than previous arenas
- Guild calendar
- The Hunter pet skill revamp
- A new profession: inscription
- The new achievement system
- Spellpower consolidation
In addition to these major changes are many, many small ones. Some of my favorites are:
- New animations for all three Warlock drain spells (in addition to many other other new animations)
- Noncombat pets and mounts no longer taking up space in bags
- Battleground tokens and Badges of Justice no longer taking up space in bags
- The new currency tab
OK, this next paragraph will get fairly hard-core and nerdy. if you're interested, have your WoW friends translate for you. You've been warned.
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When we at Crave UK are not mua-ha-ha-ing at each other, dreaming of world domination, we like to make new things.
But before we go off and get too excited about anything new, we like to ask people what they think of it first. So the very sharpest brains in the business--at CBS Interactive, our owner--have selected you, the humble Crave reader, as the ideal demographic to offer your respected opinions on this latest wheeze to come out of the corporate megalith.
It's a show all about World of Warcraft--you know, that game where you can pretend to be a dwarf and make shoes for a living. Or something.
This is the pilot episode, so we're looking for comments and suggestions. What do you think of the idea? Did it make you laugh? Did it cover the right sort of things? Anything else you'd like to add? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Any help or advice you could give us would be very much appreciated. We'll love you always--honest.
(Credit:
Blizzard Entertainment)
As a part of my morning routine, I do a little Web surfing before leaving the house. One of the pages I read is Wowhead.com, a World of Warcraft database. When I opened the page Monday morning, instead of the usual plain black background, I was treated to a Wrath of the Lich King graphic. In oversize font at the bottom of the page were the letters "In Stores 11.13.08."
After taking a second to confirm that today was not April 1, I quickly went to the official WoW page and, sure enough, there was the announcement that the game would be in U.S. stores on November 13, 2008.
On that same date, Blizzard Entertainment will also release the game in Europe, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Russia. On November 14, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand will get the game. On November 18, the game comes to Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Blizzard added that information on Wrath of the Lich King's debut in China would be released later.
About two weeks ago, the company announced that it would be releasing a "prepatch" for the current version of WoW, to bridge the gap between it and the expansion. No word yet on when this patch will be released; however, Blizzard commenced public testing on it this past weekend.
The expansion will be offered in two packages: a standard edition for $39.99 and for all the uber-geeks, like me, whose money is apparently burning a hole in their pocket even as the economy as we know it is collapsing before our eyes, the Collector's Edition for $69.99.
The Collector's Edition includes the following:
- The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, a 208-page book featuring never-before-seen images from the game.
- An exclusive in-game pet: Frosty, the baby frost wyrm.
- A behind-the-scenes DVD containing more than an hour of developer interviews, the Wrath of the Lich King introduction cinematic with director's commentary and more.
- The official soundtrack CD, containing 21 epic tracks from the game, along with exclusive bonus tracks.
- A mouse pad featuring a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend.
- Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game March of the Legion, starter decks, along with two exclusive cards available only in the Collector's Edition.
Well there you have it. Confirmation on when we can expect the lives of 10 million people the world over to come to a screeching halt. Now, to put in that vacation time request...
The Death Knight in all his overpowered glory.
(Credit: Blizzard Entertainment)Hot on the heels of its new expansion's cinematic debut last week, Blizzard Entertainment on Monday announced that it will release a World of Warcraft patch "in coming weeks" that will include features from its second expansion Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard said the patch is designed to "bridge current game content with that of the expansion."
Among the additions players should expect:
New talents and spells for existing classes
The implementation of barber shops for players
Two new arenas featuring more dynamic terrain than previous arenas
Guild calendar
The hunter pet skill revamp
A new profession: inscription
Blizzard said these are just some of the major highlights.
Blizzard did something similar in late 2006, before the release of the first expansion The Burning Crusade, when it allowed players to access new talents for their current characters. That expansion included two new races that were not available in the "prepatch." Here's hoping, however, that it finds it in itself to release the new Death Knight class in the forthcoming prepatch. This would at least give new Death Knight players some time to level and learn the ins and out of the class.
Blizzard Entertainment on Thursday released the CG intro for its next game, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. This is the second expansion for WoW. The first, The Burning Crusade was released in January 2007 and sold 2.4 million copies in 24 hours to become the fastest-selling PC game in history.
Arthas, the Lich King, enacts his plan for the domination of the world...of Warcraft.
(Credit: Blizzard Entertainment)The CG intro for The Burning Crusade appeared about a month before the game's release. Blizzard has commented already that it expects Wrath to be released sometime in the fourth quarter. The fact that it's debuted the intro for the game is evidence that things are at least going well in the beta, and we could see a release as early as October.
Even if you're not a fan of WoW, you owe it to yourself to check out the intro as it's incredibly cinematic and has more story and character in its 3 minutes than many movies have in 90.
Also, the CG quality is really second to none, but that's usually the case with Blizzard CG intros. Fans of the previous WoW intros may be a little disappointed though. There is no montage of character classes showing off their badass-ness.
The cinematic focuses on one character only, so just be prepared for that. While I was initially disappointed that we didn't get our montage, I have to say that the intro is growing on me having watched it five times at the time of this writing. Hmm, maybe I'll start using the high-res version for monitor testing.
Blizzard Entertainment has recently opened up the beta for its forthcoming expansion to 'World of Warcraft,' 'The Wrath of the Lich King.' According to people familiar with the beta, the expansion offers some big improvements and appears likely to sell millions of copies.
(Credit: Blizzard Entertainment)Since its launch in the fall of 2004, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft has shattered expectations at every turn.
Prior to its release, no American massively multiplayer online game (MMO) had ever reached what was then seen as the magical million subscribers level--even major hits like EverQuest and Ultima Online. Yet almost before anyone could blink, WoW, as it's known, had surpassed 4 million paying users and now has more than 10 million worldwide, and at $15 a month for most users, it may well be bringing in more than $1 billion a year.
Then, prior to the January 2007 release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, no one had ever heard of the kind of nationwide midnight madness lines associated with iPhone and Xbox launches for a game expansion. Sure enough, however, people lined up at game stores everywhere for hours for the right to be among the very first to buy Burning Crusade, and the update went on to sell millions of copies.
And now, with the second major WoW expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King, in beta testing, Blizzard is getting ready to prove yet again that when it comes to American MMOs, it is the undisputed gold standard.
"It's just beautiful," said longtime WoW player and Lich King beta player Katrina Glerum. "The game really feels epic in a way that The Burning Crusade didn't....Burning Crusade felt like an extension of the (original) game. This really feels epic, and that you're part of something grand."
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