All Things Azeroth #136 – Scrapbooking and Patch Noting

Posted on 2009/10/09 by Medros

All Things Azeroth, your World of Warcraft Podcast, returns as Medros and Graece are back talking about Patch 3.3, Landing Hippogryphs, Authenticators and more as Med interviews Lassirra about Scrapbooking Azeroth

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Predicting the unpredictable Blizzard

Posted on 2009/10/02 by Medros

As I write this, early in the morning on Friday, October 2nd, the Public Test Realms for patch 3.3 have just begun, and the datamining sites have begun their hunt for goodies in the PTR data files. From Dwarven Totems, to an inner preview of the Icecrown Raid, the sites are chock full of 3.3 goodness. Another thing the sites and twitter are full of is ‘when will it go live’. Well, this post is your chance to get your predictions in now. When do you think patch 3.3 will go live? Patch 3.2 was on the PTR for 1 month and 12 days. 3.1 was on them for about a week under 2 months. Also, what do you think the release date will mean for patch 4.0 and then the release of Cataclysm? Comment below to get your say!

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All Things Azeroth #135 – All the Awesome, None of the Evil

Posted on 2009/10/01 by Medros

All Things Azeroth, your World of Warcraft Podcast, is back as Medros and Graece return to talk about race changes, 3.2.2, Azeroth United, Cataclysm info released via PC Gamer UK, and more

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An Authentic question

Posted on 2009/09/30 by Medros

14-8975487248-89. That is the code to my Authenticator. Ok, so not really, but that one piece of information can be your accounts savior, and it’s downfall. The keyfob authenticators hit the scene around Blizzcon 2008, and they truly changed the way that people use their WoW accounts. These little, highly technical pieces of gadgetry have a chip that will, every 60 seconds, let you login to WoW once you provide your username and password. I was overjoyed to get mine, and the only time I have been worried is that one time I thought I had lost my fob in a move. Boy, was I glad I had been smart to put it with stuff I knew I would open early at my new place.

A few months after the key fob version was released, which most of the time saw the authenticator out of stock in the Blizzard Store, Blizzard released the Battle Net authenticator, an app for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, which opened up the Authenticator to many more people without the need to stock and ship an actual device. The biggest benefit, though, was the cost. At a great price of Free, the app based authenticator became an instant hit to iTouch and iPhone using WoW fans, though not long after Blizzard made the authenticator available to other platforms for a small fee, usually a buck or two.

When an iPhone OS update hit, the major flaw in the BattleNet Authenticator was revealed, that the code, a mock up of which I have at the start of this post, changed. Now, you might think that this number changing should be no big deal, right? Alas, you would be wrong. The number changing, made the numbers the game, which was calculating the number to expect based on the original number you supplied, was expecting a very, very different code. “Why not just tell blizz the number changed?” you might be asking. Good question. The information Blizz needs to change or remove the Authenticator on file, among other things, is your username, password, and the code you originally entered. Yup. That number that has now changed.

As this was the first update the iPhone OS since the app came out, no one knew to keep that code handy, and therefore thousands of iPhone or iTouch users were essentially screwed, and forced to call up Blizzard’s non toll free billing number to fix a problem that was not their fault. I am sure their phone companies were overjoyed at the long distance charges accrued in those first few hours of that OS update. This flaw is only the first of many that have cropped up in the app based Authenticators.

Another one cropped up for a listener and staff member of the show, Xandarr2112. Xan was an iPhone owner who had the authenticator on his phone, right up until he lost the job that was providing him the phone. Without the iPhone to get the code from, he too had to make that toll charged call out to California to plead his case with Blizzard to remove the authenticator from his account, the one attached to the phone his employers kept, all without the code he would need to do so. Not a call I would want to make, that’s for sure. Thankfully his account is once again secured, as the show was able to get him an authenticator(and a murloc plushy for his newborn) to replace the phone based one from before.

The final flaw in the entire authenticator system is the scam. The beauty of the authenticator is that a simple Trojan on your computer can get your username and password, but not your authenticator code. Scammers then turned around and began using phishing schemes to get players to give up their username, password, and… yes, even their Authenticator numbers. One would think there would be enough players smart enough to see through these, but the vision of a Spectral Tiger, one of the rarest mounts in the game, is a tempting specter to a player wanting a bit of the unique in a world of copy cat models.

As was reported awhile back on WoW.com, the WoW blog, the scammers used the lure of the Spectral Tiger mount to get players with lots of gold on their accounts to a website that they claimed would be used to redeem the ‘code’ for the mount. Players would go there, fill in the info like username, name, password, and their authenticator code, and once they did that, the hacker would use the handy section of account management to remove the authenticator, change the password, and rape the player’s characters of anything of value.

Blizzard has tried to work around all of these flaws, pulling the app until it is fixed that updates don’t change the authenticator code, changing the mount so that the scammer would just be asked by a smart player to see the mount item, since the TCG loot is no longer BoP, and made the authenticators easily removed with certain info. Still, though, a lost cell phone, a poorly implemented update to OS or app, or many other problems make the Authenticator more than just these handy little devices, or applications, to keep your account secure. Does this mean I recommend against them? Hell no! It is still better to have it, than not, but just be cautious with your info

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Why Garrosh is following in his father’s footsteps

Posted on 2009/09/28 by Medros

Pride will come before the fall

Grom Hellscream was prideful and blood thirsty. He was a mighty warrior who sealed his fate by drinking the blood of Mannoroth, binding his people to the demon’s blood for years. He drank to defeat foes that he and his race were tricked into slaughtering at the will of the very demons they thought they were subjugating. They nearly eradicated the Draenei, and then once their task was done, they became restless from the demon blood burning in them, and began attacking each other, before moving onto Azeroth. All because the mighty Grom Hellscream, wielder of Gorehowl, drank the blood of demons.

Flash forward to the present day. The heir of Grom, Garrosh, is now a leader among the Horde. Once a weak, sick boy, unable to even lift a weapon to combat his father’s enemies, Garrosh has grown into a strong warrior. Alas, Garrosh has the same flaw which brought about his father’s down fall, and the fall of the entire Horde in the second war, Pride. Garrosh feels his people are capable of destroying all of the alliance, and defeat every threat to this world without any help from others. Would Garrosh drink the blood of a demon if promised it would give him the upper hand on the Alliance, giving the entirety of Azeroth to the Horde? You bet he would, and he too, would fall.

Grom was too eager, too blinded by his bloodlust without even the taste of the demon’s blood, to see the trap, the tricks being played on him by Kil’Jaeden. Garrosh too is blinded by blood lust, by an insane need to slaughter those he sees as responsible for the fall of the first horde, that he would too take any advantage offered to him that would give him and his warriors the ability to crush the pesky alliance forces.

No doubt, Variann Wrynn shares similar traits to his own father as well, believing the alliance is undeafeatable, where his father felt Stormwind could not fall, and both seem to be destined to follow the same path, though one can only hope that Variann will be willing to listen to the wisdom of others like Jaina and his son. This article, though, is not about Variann, it’s about Garrosh, even though both do share several personality aspects.

I personally feel that Garrosh becoming warchief, which has been rumored but not confirmed recently confirmed, would be the worst possible thing for the Horde. The Horde is already a blood thirsty, battle hungry organization, even when their leader wishes peace, but a leader who only wishes to see more blood on the blade than peace talks and cooperation will be their downfall. Indeed, Garrosh Hellscream will bring about the downfall of the Horde, much like his father’s actions led to the fall of the first Horde.

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Fore thought of Flying

Posted on 2009/09/27 by Medros

So I was noticing on MMO Champion a few days ago that there was some
changes to flying in the recently applied 3.2.2 patch. After the 3.1
patch brought us the spectacular changes to speed and costs of pretty
much every level of riding(yes, I count fast flight, cause it still had
a discounted rate by rep), the 3.2 patch followed up by blah. Now the
3.2.2 patch that just hit made even more changes to the way mounting
and riding work in World of Warcraft. The cost of slow riding was
slashed more, originally being 800g, then slashed to 600g in 3.2, and
now it is a mere 225g! That is dirt cheap even for the single toon
player that is just hitting 60.

This, though, got me thinking to the future. What will Cataclysm flying
cost us? What would it be called? Will they make us pay at all? These
questions and more will be my theories for this post. First, the cost.
Let’s look at all of the riding costs. slow riding is now 5g to learn,
fast riding is 95g, slow bird is now 225g, and fast bird is 5000g. Cold
Weather Flying is 1,000g. The first two are relics of the Pre expansion
game, while the latter two are the first big upgrades to riding after
almost 3 years of game life. Slow flying had been buffed a bit, going
from 800g to 225g, and 60% to 150% so that now you can fly 1.5 times
faster, and for almost 25% of the original price. Sadly, fast flying is
still the high price and same speed as it’s been since it’s inception
in patch 3.1.

Cold weather Flying, the much hated 1,000g restriction that came in
with Wrath of the Lich King which was a costly barrier to flying on
one’s normal flying mount, which many people paid more than 5,000 gold
to train and use. While there was a loaner mount available for use in
some zones, this was incredibly slow and acted as merely a way to
access the more remote regions if you had no other means to buy the
cold weather skill. The price has also not changed, though they did
introduce a Tome of Cold Weather flying, a Bind on Account single use
heirloom for those who are already 80, and have alts who wish to fly at
68 in Northrend.

Now to that we have the history, let us theorize the possible cost of
flying in Azeroth once the cataclysm is upon us. First, I am sure there
will be some cost. I don’t think they will ruin their track record of
giving us players money sinks for the ample gold they make available in
game by giving us free flying in Azeroth. It just doesn’t compute. As
for the cost, I think it will be in the area of 500-1500 gold, based on
their outlook on it. If they realize there si 5 less levels, and thus
less as we go money making possibilities, they might go low.

If they think of it from the view that we could easily hit max level
much faster and therefore be making max level gold for quest xp, they
could increase it to the high side. I doubt it would balloon over 2,000
gold though, as that comes far too close to the pain of max level
flying costs. I do think it will be unrestricted by level other than
‘you get it when you get flying’, as they are doing all they can these
days to make flying more accessible, from changing the level you get to
fly to 60, making the tome of cold weather flying, and lowering the
cost of the slow flight riding skill.

As for the name, and any possible restrictions, I think the name is up
in the air. Worldwide Flying? Warm Air Flying? Azeroth Flight? I don’t
know, but no doubt it will have some linguistically friendly name. I do
think that Azeroth flight will be available to anyone at level 60 or
better, simply due to the far reaches of the different zones in
Cataclysm. It makes no sense to restrict it to only top level, because the quest zones are all over. Perhaps 80s, but even then it isn’t very logical, not when the entire world is being redesigned, in part to allow it. No, I think it will be at 60, when we get our first flight abilities. Am I right? I’ll let you know in July.

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All Things Azeroth #134 – Getting it up(and running)

Posted on 2009/09/26 by Medros

All Things Azeroth, your World of Warcraft Podcast, is back as Medros and Graece have returned with new gear to discuss the Abyssal Maw, Pirates Day, Brewfest, Outlands in a Cataclysm world, and more

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State of the Show

Posted on 2009/09/24 by Medros

I always hate having to make these posts, because they
usually follow bad stuff coming down the pike. This time I wanted to address a
few things, some good, some bad. First, as you all know, earlier this morning,
and I do emphasize early, All Things Azeroth 133 was released. Recorded on
Monday, August 14th, the show was released a week later than I prefer to see
the shows released after recording. This is due to a Garage Band bug that has
cropped up a few times on Graece’s Mac, and unfortunately I was not able to
devote the time to editing the show myself until Tuesday.

I would like to
say that such a delay between recording and editing won’t happen again, but I
won’t lie to you, friends. I do not know what causes this to happen to Garage
Band, and I don’t have the resources to contact Apple with the needed info to
have them answer with possible solutions and fixes. I do, though, want to move
on, and try to avoid this becoming a week long problem in the future. This is
part of the reason I am making this post.

The front page of ATA has, for
a long time, been a once a week virtual ghost town. I want to change that. I am
therefore putting a request out there for 3 people to be added to the ‘staff’ at
All Things Azeroth. First, I want an audio editor. This person would, at first,
be a back up for Graece’s efforts to bring the show out. The person would need
knowledge of editing Double Enders together, and be able to devote the time
needed to bring the show out with equal or better quality to what we have now.
Second and third, I want to bring on some bloggers. These people would be
responsible for 2-3 posts a week, length not dictated, just that they be quality
posts that can bring readers to the site.

While all three of these would
be unpaid posts with the show, you would, as a person filling these posts, share
in the ad money when money is paid out. Recently Graece and I both got new mics
due to the advertising on the show, and I strongly feel that if we can tighten
up in these two areas, bringing the show out better and sooner, and adding
compelling content to the front of the site, that this will result in more
listeners, and more listeners results in more ad revenue. Other shows have their
publishing within a day or two, if not hours of the show’s release. I am not
sure we can meet the latter option, not without more time in the day, but I
think we can definitely do the former with the right team. Join
us?

Now to the rest of the update. As many in the live show on
the 21st know already, and many of you will hear soon enough, the new mics have
arrived for both me and Graece. Hers is a headset, taking the audio off her Mac,
and mine is a Blue Snowball Condenser Mic which I bought from Stompalina at
Rawrcast. Even in editing my side of the show this week, I was able to tell that
the new mic is totally awesome. It picks up more of what I want it to get, my
voice and the passion in it, and less of the stuff that has been frustrating me,
the background noise in the ‘studio’ here. I fully intend to make this show
totally awesome in sound, and am even considering buying one of these Mic’s for
Graece, if she would have it.

In November we have the National Podcast
Post Month, were we release 1 episode per day for the entire month. We are
accepting ideas, suggestions, and thoughts on what you would like to hear. Last
year we did the lead up to, and fall out from the launch of Wrath of the Lich
King, which was released partway through the month. It was an exciting and
energizing time, and led to some of the content we have done on the show in the
10 months since. We have lots of plans to execute for the NaPodPoMo this month,
and I want to share a bit with you.

First, we will have a month long
contest on the show which we will announce on Graece’s 1 year anniversary show
in a couple weeks. Second, we have a lot of ‘weekly’ releases planned for the
NaPodPoMo, or AzPod show, including weekly interviews, music shows, and
discussions about the highlights, and little mentioned features of the recently
announced Cataclysm expansion. We might look at how professions have changed,
maybe look over some of the zones we know will change and what we will miss
about them, anything is possible and we will have 30 days to fill! Of course, we
will still do our weekly episodes on Monday nights, with a plan to release them
for the Thursdays. Stay tuned!

The last thing I wanted to mention is the
little thing that you see in the top right hand corner of the site. Thanks to
Shawno of the Hypernonsense podcast, who’s wife Jen(no, not Jena) is our weekly
moderator in the live chats(awesome job, Jen!) we now have a voicemail line.
1-785-ATA-WoW-5, or 1-785-282-9695 is the number ot leave us a voicemail for the
show, and if it’s good, it will get played. If you leave an email saying
anything rude or derogatory, you will be blacklisted, and will waste your money.
Call it, give us your thoughts, and hear yourself on the show!

That is
about it for this novel of an update. I hope to hear from the bloggers and
audiophiles out there, and I also hope to hear from all of you by email,
voicemail, or even carrier pigeon! Take care, happy hunting, See you in…
well… November to Remember!

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All Things Azeroth #133 – Better Late Than Never

Posted on 2009/09/23 by Medros

All Things Azeroth, your World of Warcraft Podcast, is finally here as Medros and Graece are back with a slightly delayed episode where they talk about the Model Viewer, iPhone apps, Faction Transfers and more

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All Things Azeroth #132 – Worgen on Wifi

Posted on 2009/09/10 by Medros

All Things Azeroth, your World of Warcraft Podcast, is back as Medros is joined by Cadistra of WoW Eh to talk playing the new races at PAX, Blizzard suspending over trojans, the Stormrage novel and more

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