- 1 Talk
-
this wiki
Home
WoWWiki content portals
 |  |  | |||
 |  | ||||
 |  |  | |||
Selected links from across WoWWiki
|
|
Warcraft news •
| read more...May 14, 2012 Krasarang Wilds: Screenshots and Video by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
Screenshots of the Krasarang Wilds has been added! Unlike the Jade Forest, which is more serene at times with a lighter ambiance, the Wilds are covered a in thick, foreboding jungle. This oppressive feeling is instant as we stepped into Zhu's Watch, and only grew as we encountered hostile elements, chief among them the mogu, sha, and saurok. Enjoy the screenshots below and take a look at the video. You'll catch a glimpse of Galleon, one of the first world bosses we've spotted, standing high upon the cliffs within the first seconds of the clip.
The jungle The Deepwild  The Field of Korja  The Forbidden Jungle     The Ruins of Dojan  The Ruins of Korja  The Shattered Convoy  Beach and islandsSettlementsVideo
| |
| read more...May 7, 2012 MoP Video Gallery by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
We've got a few videos to share before we delve into Krasarang Wilds. We know it's one thing to look at a collection of screenshots, but it can be quite a different experience to see with your own eyes! Check out the small bundle of videos below for a few zone teasers and a look at what pandaren use as taxis for their flight paths.
| |
| read more...May 5, 2012 The Veiled Stair and Valley of the Four Winds SS Gallery by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
| After romping through the Jade Forest previously, we continued on to the Valley of the Four Winds. There is a distinct difference between the two zones. The Jade Forest is covered in dense trees and littered with hozen and all manner of wild creatures, while the majority of the Valley of the Four Winds appears relatively peaceful, with gently rolling, grassy hills.
Of course, this verdant serenity is misleading, to say the least; each farmstead has some sort of beast or thief they are concerned about, ranging from now-familiar virmen to beasts such as worgs and hawks. Steep mountains, a shattered wall, a long river, and dizzying cliffs serve as borders for the Valley. While we were exploring, we also ran across the Veiled Stair. This rocky path is carved into the mountains in the northeast section of the Valley near the Grassy Cline. Into the mists it ascends, allowing eventual passage to Kun-Lai Summit. We included screenshots of this zone as well, so pick up your favorite beverage and enjoy the look! Did we mention we saw some familiar faces along the way? Hemet Nesingwary and his son were spotted in the Valley, while Wrathion is at the inn within the Veiled Stair! Valley of the Four Winds
 Halfhill  Halfhill Market  The Heartland  The Imperial Granary  Mudmug's Place  New Cifera  Pang's Stead  Shang's Stead  The Silkmasters  Stoneplow  Stoneplow Fields  Sunsong Ranch  Thirsty Alley  Thunderfoot Farm  Thunderfoot Ranch  Nesingwary's Safari
 Cattail Lake  The Gilded Fan  The Gilding Stream  Pools of Purity  Singing Marshes  Lair of the Beast  Torjari Pit  Yan-Zhe River
 Cliffs of Despair  Dustback Gorge  Grassy Cline  Kunzen Village  Paoquan Hollow The Veiled Stair Path of a Hundred Steps  Tavern in the Mists  The Spring Road  Gate of Endless Spring  The Ancient Passage  The Secret Aerie
| |
| read more...April 30, 2012 Jade Forest: Screenshots and Misc Videos by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
We're taking a small hiatus from running through quests in order to focus on our zone updates! The Jade Forest is largely complete, and before we start really jumping into the Valley of the Four Winds we decided you might appreciate a large gallery of all the subzones we've visited. We've also included three videos: the newly updated character creation screen and the Alliance and Horde intros to Pandaria. Enjoy!
 Amberfly Bog  Ascent of Swirling Winds  Nook of Konk  The Bamboo Wilds  Camp Gormal  Camp Nooka Nooka  Den of Sorrow  Emperor's Omen  Ethereal Lake  Fertile Copse  Forest Heart  Lair of the Jade Witch  Fox Grove  Greenstone Mason's Quarter  Lake Kittitata  Moonwater Retreat  Nectarbreeze Orchard  Orchid Hollow  Path of Enlightenment  Sapphire's End  Sea Mist Ridge  Serenity Falls  Shrine of the Dawn  Silken Shore  The Silkwood  Slicky Stream  Slingtail Pits  The Thunderwood  Tidemist Thicket  Owen's Wishing Well  Tigers' Wood  Veridian Grove  Waxwood  Windless Isle  Woods of the Lost  Ruins of Gan Shi  Wreck of the Sky Shark
 The Arboretum  Dawn Bridge  Dawn's Blossom  Dreamer's Pavilion  The Gong of Hope  Greenstone Village  Jade Temple Grounds  Serpent's Heart  Shang's Valley  Sri-La Village  Sunbreak Spire  Tian Monastery
 Pearlfin Village  Pearl Lake  Wayward Landing
 Dookin' Grounds  Grookin Hill  Hellscream's Fist  Character Creation Screen (Updated)  Alliance intro  Horde intro
| |
| read more...April 19, 2012 Beta testing: Hellscream's Hope (Horde) by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
Now that we've managed to survive the crash of the Sky Shark, recover a few supplies, and rescue a few of our crew mates, it's time to bid adieu to the Wreck of the Sky Shark (or what's left after we detonated the wreckage) and make our way to the small encampment that General Nazgrim has managed to secure. Hellscream's Hope is a bit of a jog to the south, and we dodge plenty of hozen in order to make it there. It's a very simple camp, and all that seems to really make it Horde is a single stone tower. Piles of hozen scavengers ring the perimeter, Nazgrim and his troops having slaughtered them in claiming the area.   We come upon all the crew members we helped find earlier. Our situation here is slightly better now, but there's still more hozen to deal with! Yep, it seems we crashed into one of the most populated sections of the Jade Forest, and the area around Hellscream's Hope is crawling with them. Plus, there seems to be one rather loud-mouthed hozen yelling insults at Nazgrim, which really detracts from his ability to focus on our survival. Nazgrim does what comes naturally to any hot-blooded orc: he tells us what a great job we've done, then sends us right back out to wipe a few more hozen off the map. Rivett is a little more pragmatic. We're sent out near Serenity Falls to gather yet more supplies from the thieving hozen. Kiryn, though, is the most resourceful of the lot. The hozen are annoying? Fine. Let's get some poison from the local flora, spray the hozen from the air, and then deal with their loud-mouthed leader. More on that in a second. First, some nice shots of the surrounding area: Kiryn's quests are pretty straight forward, but flying around on a drone is more akin to a goblin idea than one suggested by one of the Forsaken. The task is pretty simple once we have her poison in hand: tether ourselves to a goblin drone, then get hauled overhead through the Fertile Copse, dropping her poison-tipped stars on them. The quest was pretty fun, as you could single-target or use an AoE ability once you were over one of their camps. Once we dropped some acid on them and they got a really good look at our faces, Kiryn decides it's a great idea to send us after their leader. You know, sending us running through the very same area we just carpet-bombed, surrounded by extremely angry hozen. Those Forsaken are quite cheeky.  Yoggtord's camp  Happy to meet us! With Yoggtord dealt with, hopefully Nazgrim can work in relative peace. We pick up the sacred scroll that just happens to be sitting in Yoggtord's camp. Just up the path begins the next leg of our adventure... where there sits a cave... and the Horde's first interaction with the pandaren people...
| |
| read more...April 14, 2012 Beta testing: The Jade Forest (Horde intro) by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
|
When last we met, we were finishing up the pandaren starting experience on the Wandering Isle. True as Blizz said, the beginning zone was fairly relaxed and almost serene compared to where we're off to next. Seeing as how we finished the Isle choosing to be an Alliance pandaren, we're going to give the Horde a little love as we step into the Jade Forest of Pandaria. Did we say "step into"? That's not quite what happens... We begin our journey in Orgrimmar and, by chance, walk into a conversation between Garrosh Hellscream, General Nazgrim (that's right! he's been promoted!), and a goblin survivor. It turns out there's a whole fleet of warships that has vanished while being attacked by the Alliance, and our little gobo has managed to crawl his way back to inform Garrosh about his ships and missing "cargo". We find out much later this cargo is, in fact, Anduin Wrynn, a situation which seems oddly familiar. Garrosh, instead of treating the goblin's injuries and at least thanking him for his efforts, grabs him by the throat, chokes him, and throws him across Grommash Hold. The little guy doesn't survive the launch, and now we see a glimmer of the despot Garrosh is destined to become by expansion's end. Oh, and did we fail to mention that several of the Horde kingdoms are a little behind in paying their dues to Orgrimmar? Garrosh isn't all too pleased about that, either. In an effort to find his missing ships and precious cargo, Garrosh orders Nazgrim to take the finest warriors (which, of course, includes us) to track down the fleet. We board the Sky Shark, a nice big zeppelin, and chart a course for the unknown. Into the fog surrounding Pandaria we go, and what could possibly go wrong?  Off to Pandaria!  Through the mists.  The enemy is spotted.  Exchange of cannon fire...  The Sky Shark aflame. When we regain our senses, we're smack in the middle of the Wreck of the Sky Shark. A deep trench has been plowed into the ground leading up to the biggest flaming section, letting us know we hit extremely hard and fast. Other pieces have landed in the hozen villages nearby, and more than a few, including our supplies, have gone completely over the cliff. To make matters worse, all we find of Nazgrim is his axe. The largest section in flames.  Glad we didn't fall there. Our concern is short lived, for Nazgrim is much further down the hill from us and just regaining consciousness himself. Most of the crew is dead, and many missing, and the hozen are coming at us from every side. We realize with a certain amount of dread that we are now cut off from any help. Nazgrim takes command, ordering us to find survivors. Things are worse than they seem as we answer his call and find one of Hellscream's Vanguard mortally wounded: not only are the hozen ransacking what little supplies that remain, they're carrying off the wounded to their villages! From the looks of things, they aren't dragging them in to patch them up and give them tea, either. We vow to recover their remains to give them a proper burial (via catapult), thin out the hozen, and recover some of the technology used in the construction of the Sky Shark. The Alliance are still out there somewhere, and we wouldn't want it falling into the wrong hands. That's a good summation of the Horde's Jade Forest welcome. We aren't occupying, we aren't marching and taking over new territory; we're just scrambling to survive. As we find more survivors we perform more tasks to increase our chances of survival, including recovering weapons from the sprites at Sea Mist Ridge, gathering water to put out the wreckage fires, and retrieving our supplies...by leaping off a cliff and using the tail of a Cliff Glider to bungee jump. Seriously.  Down we go!  Starting our ascent. Aside from the burning wreckage, we do find some nice spots in our new home away from home: Once we're finished saving our fellow crew and scouring the area, we can now go join Nazgrim further south. Our enterprising general has carved out an encampment, and it looks like he may have wiped out a village of hozen to do it. Now to figure out how we're going to survive out here, what enemies and allies we might make, and whatever became of the Alliance.
| |
| read more...April 6, 2012 Beta testing: Wandering Isle finale by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
After rescuing Dafeng from the Onyx Serpent, we follow Master Shang Xi from the Chamber of Whispers to the Elders' Path. Our good elder informs us that only the truly worthy are ever invited on the journey we are now undertaking, and there seems to be a sort of finality to his tone we can't quite put our finger on. Up the long flight of stone stairs we go, regardless, and we face off against a small challenge to prove our worth. Shang Xi watches as we unleash the powers at our disposal, pleased with our success. Then he takes us into the Wood of Staves.
 The entrance to the Elders' Path  The Wood of Staves Almost at once we are struck by the serenity of the Wood. Talismans hang from the tree branches, and we can see shrines dotting the landscape, none more prominent than the one nearest the cliffs. Master Shang Xi informs us that the Wood is infested with sprites, and we are only too happy to help him in clearing a few of them out. But now we learn why he brought us here: it is time for him to move on, just as others have before him, and he has chosen us to pass his wisdom down to. It is up to us to continue the journey to help Shen-zin Su, and perhaps our trek will bring us further than the Wandering Isle. We meet Aysa Cloudsinger and Ji Firepaw at the overlook near a hot air balloon. Though Ji tries to make light, we know they are both saddened by the loss of Shang Xi. We press on, however, riding in the balloon to talk to our giant turtle, and perhaps finally find out what has been ailing him!  Our hot air balloon.  Taking off!  Shen-zin Su So why did we bring all those elemental spirits together? Evidently we needed them to speak to Shen-zin, and now he tells us he's got this pain in his side, a large thorn that needs to be removed if he's to swim straight. Of course, he can't take a look at it himself to understand what it really is, nor can he bend his neck that far to remove it himself. Our hot air balloon ride takes us right over the site... and it doesn't look good. It isn't a "thorn" at all, but a ship that has buried itself into his flesh, broken all to pieces! We can't tell much as we head on over to Mandori Village to be dropped off, but we think we spot an Alliance flag near the wreck, and some strange looking lizard men swarming over the wreckage. At Mandori Village we stop just long enough to let Elder Shaopai know what's going on before rushing down to Pei-Wu Forest. It isn't nicknamed the "Forbidden Forest" for nothing, as we have to unlock a few gates to get there, and once we step off the beaten path, we can see tigers stalking through the grasses all around us. No time to waste, we sprint through the woods to visit the only pandaren loony enough to live here: the old hermit, Wei Palerage.  Pei-Wu Forest in the background.  The hermit's hut. There's a surprise when we reach his hut, though, for now we are faced with tauren and orcs. That's right. The ship we saw was carrying Horde prisoners, and these escapees made their way to the hut after the crash. Now we meet the Horde for the first time. They want to help us with the ship, but they need to gather weapons and a few scattered explosives if they want to make themselves useful. Not to mention we need to fend off those saurok we saw earlier. Ji comes up with the brilliant - or maybe ill-thought - plan of using the explosives on the ship to get it out of Shen-zin's side. First, he figures, we need to go find Aysa and warn her. She had traipsed away earlier to the Alliance camp...  The Horde camp  The Alliance camp  One of the types of saurok The Alliance aren't in a any better condition, but at least they're armed. Aysa's off trying to rescue as many as she can from the wreckage, and so we're left with the captain of the Skyfire, Delora Lionheart, and Jojo Ironbrow. For once, he isn't trying to break anything with his head. Again we have to deal with the saurok, but now we need to gather medical supplies and rescue some sailors. Now is when things start getting intense. We find Aysa battling (presumably) the leader of these saurok and help her dispatch him. Then we need to have a little chat with Ji, who's busy setting explosives on the bridge of the Skyfire. Evidently he hasn't thought about what sort of further damage he might do to Shen-zin, and we tend to agree with Aysa that we should at least think things through first. Ji convinces her (not us, really) that it really needs to be done, and so BOOM!  The ship buried in Shen-zin's side.  Well that doesn't look much better... Perhaps it's a precursor of what's to come with the remainder of the expansion, but the Horde and Alliance team up to help heal Shen-zin. The saurok do their best to stop the magic, attacking the healers and swarming through the sands. Their numbers are overwhelming, but heroes of both factions and the pandaren stand fast, with Jojo appearing to wield the Jade Tiger Pillar he couldn't break earlier. Soon the invaders are repelled, Shen-zin is healed, and the Horde and Alliance are now glaring balefully at one another. At this point, it's just a short cart ride up to the Temple of Five Dawns where we see... hey, it's Master Shang Xi, or at least his spirit! Now it's up to us to decide whether to go with Ji and the Horde to Orgrimmar, or go with Aysa, Jojo, and the Alliance to Stormwind City... 
| |
| read more...April 2, 2012 Beta testing: Morning Breeze Village by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
| Now that we've got Shu and Wugou safe and sound back at the Temple of Five Dawns, we need to track down the last missing ancient spirit: Dafeng. Where is he? No one is quite certain. He abandoned his normal stomping grounds at the Ridge of Laughing Winds for some reason, and so Master Shang Xi sends his star pupils, Aysa Cloudsinger and Ji Firepaw, ahead to start getting answers. To get to Morning Breeze Village to meet them, Shang Xi summons some wind and tosses us to the top of the Temple. Ji leads us from there across the Dawning Span.
We cross briefly into the Ridge which seems to be swarming with hozen. Could this be what has chased Dafeng away? On we go to Morning Breeze Village, and Ji awats us at the lake. Now we learn that the hozen aren't the culprits, but they do pose a threat to the pandaren village. They've been stealing supplies, fireworks, and - what's worse - defacing the scrolls of wisdom the pandaren have passed down from generation to generation! While Aysa meditates on just how to find Dafeng, Ji and Elder Shaopai send us to deal with the hozen along the Ridge... and Jojo Ironbrow wants us to find something else he can smash.  Morning Breeze Village  Morning Breeze Lake  The Ridge of Laughing Winds Ji discovers that the hozen leader is behind all this madness. We haven't retrieved the fireworks yet, so Ji sends us to the nearby Fe-Fang Village. The hozen village sits dangerously close to the pandaren. Off we go! The place is swarming with hozen, and it proves a difficult task to avoid the ones that scamper at random through the clearings and huts. Not to worry, though, as Ji accompanies us.  Up the hill to the Village.  Inside the village.  A hozen statue On the way we notice an odd statue just outside the village that crtainly doesn't look hozen-made. In our infinite wisdom we decide to bring it to... Jojo. Who, of course, tries to smash it with his head. This time he's unsuccessful with what we bring him, and we learn that the pillar must be over 10,000 years old, imbued with magic. We get the feeling we'll hear something else about this later. Now we get to talk to Aysa, who's been meditating in the center of Morning Breeze Lake all this time. She has determined that Dafeng is within the Chamber of Whispers at the other end of the Ridge. We scamper along, avoiding the scroll-defacing hozen, and get to the entrance. Right when we step inside, Aysa intervenes with a poignant warning! Strong winds batter the entry, and we follow her when they die down momentarily. Using her advice, we wait for the next break, then hurry across the room to a waiting Dafeng. Note: We watched pandaren after pandaren foolishly ignore her warning, sprinting through the winds, only to die at the stairs. Needless to say, both rooms of the Chamber were littered with corpses.  The Chamber of Whispers  Dafeng!  What really scares Dafeng. We find that Dafeng has retreated to this sanctum due to the (as-now-unseen) Onyx Serpent flitting around outside. If we would just get rid of it, Dafeng could exit his Chamber and happily return to the Temple of Five Dawns. Remembering the fireworks we retrieved from the hozen, Ji places them in a circular pattern outside the Chamber and we proceed to shoot the cloud serpent down from the sky! Dafeng is free. Now we'll find out - Master Shang Xi appears. He's happy that Dafeng is free and has returned to the Temple. And what's ailing our giant turtle, the one that's carrying the Wandering Isle on its back? Shang Xi promises we'll get to that in just a bit. First, he wants to take us on a very special journey, a journey only the truly worthy are invited to participate in...
| |
| read more...November 23, 2011 Official MoP talent calculator revealed by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
Blizzard recently unveiled the highly-anticipated talent calculator for their upcoming expansion,  Mists of Pandaria. Below you will find direct links to each of the classes. On the site you will find both talents and abilities for all classes ( Monk coming soon). This includes the new Guardian/Feral split for  Druids.
Keep in mind the caveat offered on the site, however: All specs, spells and talents are not final and may change during the development process. | |
WoWWiki news
| read more...February 15, 2012 Opinion: Achievements for WoWWiki by Raylan13 | |
|---|---|
| Achievements are a great way for WoWWiki users to compete in a friendly contest of badge collection, as well as a way to chart individual contributions. Just like achievements in Warcraft, these are for bragging rights, a way to get your name noticed, and a way to collect a large array of badges to display on your personal page.
A leaderboard keeps track of points earned, as well as most recent badges. Badges and ways to earn them are themed according to Warcraft. They can be as simple as making a single edit, making a thousand edits, or making edits to specific types of pages. Achievements can cover editing, blogging, uploading pics, uploading videos, and more. If folks are interested, a forum thread would be dedicated to ideas about images, names, and badge requirements. A poll has been set up here for voting. People can leave comments there or here, if they'd like to leave one. It isn't required! More information about achievements can be found here. | |
| read more...December 15, 2011 Wikia sends Fandyllic a nice holiday card by Fandyllic | |
|---|---|
Just thought I'd share the nice holiday card Wikia staff sent me.
They also gave me a big pack of | |
| read more...August 31, 2011 Some ideas to get back subscribers for World of Warcraft by Fandyllic | |
|---|---|
Commentary and ideas
As much press as hardcore players get around World of Warcraft, the difference in making money or not for Blizzard Entertainment is not the hardcore players. Hardcore players don't represent the majority of players, but use up a vast majority of the resources in the game. This is because it is obvious that Blizzard spends a majority of its time catering to hardcore players. They spend inordinate amounts of time creating, refining and tweaking top-level raids, creating and tinkering with itemization for top-level raids and heroic instances, and responding to complaints and support requests from raiders. Blizzard is falling into the squeaky wheel trap. Because of this misplaced focus on hardcore players and their desire for top-level content, Blizzard is losing casuals. Casuals is what separates World of Warcraft from most MMOs. When the game first came out it was by far the most casual friendly MMO with the most depth and wise gameplay compromises. Blizzard has lost its way from this winning formula and so it is losing casuals[1] at a rate too fast to maintain growth or even keeping at a plateau.[2][3] Why are casuals so important? Because they pay as much as hardcore players, but use far less of Blizzard's resources. If the trend continues, Blizzard will continue to spend more and more resources on less and less players. It could become a vicious cycle.[4] This time is still probably quite far off, since Blizzard can probably justify and maintain adequate content release cycles as long as their player base remains in the multiple millions, but they appear to be on the downside of the game's life-cycle[5] and are doing very little to really reverse the trend.
Another group of players, some of whom could actually be considered "hardcore" in many respects, that Blizzard is also neglecting is the twink community. Blizzard has apparently long voiced its support for the twink community, but hasn't really delivered in their laser focus on end-game content.[6] Although they acknowledge the problem, Blizzard has actually stated that their priority is on max-level PvP and that they apparently don't want to divert resources away from that.[7] The twink community is less interested in immersion, lore, and quests than some of the casual community, but they definitely want focus on non-level cap, non-end game content. The twinks want attention to class balance and itemization at lower levels. So, as casuals will spend more time leveling at low levels, some of the benefits gained from aiding either twinks or casuals will benefit both.
References
| |
 | Gaming Wikis |
|---|---|
|
Age of Conan • AliceSoft • Bloodrayne • Dead or Alive • Donkey Kong • Fable • Fatal Fury • Jak and Daxter • Killzone • Lego Pirates the Video Game • Lord of the Rings Online • Mario • Metal Gear • Ninja Gaiden • Nintendo • Nitrome • Ōkami • Pokémon • Professor Layton • Rare • Ratchet and Clank • Saints Row • Soul Calibur • Spore • StarCraft • Touhou Project • Warhammer Online • World of Warcraft |
Help, policies and guidelines
WoWWiki is a wiki dedicated to cataloguing Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe (with a focus on World of Warcraft), covering the entire Warcraft series of games, RPG reference books, strategy guides, novels and other sources.
Want to help out? Get an account, and start editing!
Got questions? Check out the help pages or visit our forums! We love having new editors around!
For more info about WoWWiki, visit WoWWiki:About and the community portal.
Featured article
Alterac Valley is a battleground in the continuing war between the Horde and the Alliance. The two opposing sides are the Frostwolf Clan (led by General Drek'Thar) and the Stormpike Guard (also known as the Stormpike Expedition, led by General Vanndar Stormpike), both of whom lay claim to this secluded territory.
Polls
Featured media
