The Instance #105 - “How do you spell AIE?”
Posted on May 9th, 2008 by The Instance Podcast
Big News Of The Week
Major League Gaming Announces New PC Circuit
Hot on the heels of Blizzard’s worldwide PvP blowout, Major League Gaming - the self-proclaimed “governing body” for professional gamer sporting - has announced three PC gaming tournaments, each to be contested in World of Warcraft 3v3 Arena PvP, and each garnering a total of $22,500 in prizes. The events will take place in San Diego, June 13-15th, Orlando, July 11th-13th and Dallas, October 3-5. There will be only 32 teams allowed into each tournament.
Rumors & Scuttlebutt
Blizzard Gets Their Gear In Gear
Just minutes after we wrapped the last episode of The Instance, Blizzard launched their improved store. The choice and layout is very cool, and we’ve heard a rumor:
-With every purchase, customers of the Blizzard store may opt into a drawing to win a free key to the WotLK beta test.
Enter Art Contest, Win Sword, Play Beta
Blizzard looking for the best original artwork that depicts Arthas wielding the legendary Frostmourne. You can choose any setting you like but the artwork must include Arthas and Frostmourne to be eligible. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a Frostmourne replica by Epic Weapons that is second to none in detailed craftsmanship and technology:
* 47″ Overall Length with 28″ Stainless Steel Blade
* Genuine Leather Wrapped Grip
* Limited Edition Sword
* Embedded with Patented G2G Authenticity Microchip
Also Included in the box with the Frostmourne replica:
* Collector’s Display Mount
* Limited Edition Poster
* Certificate of Authenticity
* Game 2 Gear Handheld Authenticity Reader
The Grand Prize winner will also receive guaranteed entry into the Wrath of the Lich King beta test. Two Runner Up winners will also be selected to receive guaranteed entry into the beta test of the upcoming World of Warcraft® expansion Wrath of the Lich King.
For European listeners.
For American listeners.
Arena Changes Are Coming. Look Out!
Blizzard CM Drysc confirmed this week that Blizzard is determined to put a stop to win trading and point selling in the PvP Arena segment of WoW. Specifically:
-”If a team does not enter an arena match that is starting they will lose points equal to the amount that would have been deducted if they had played and lost.”
He also said that:
-”If a character’s personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating.”
and:
-”If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team’s rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating.”
Town Cryer
Jason C. writes:
I have a level 61 undead rogue that I am working on getting to 70. I have been focusing on the combat tree for leveling, but once I get to 70 I want to split my time between pvp and pve. What are you personal recommendations for a final hybrid build?
Randy’s suggestion here.
An alternative build here.
Drop Of The Week
The Guild Visits Blizzard
No, not our guild - the stars of The Guild, the webshow we’ve talked about regularly - were invited by Blizzard last week to tour their facilities in Irvine. A full and funny write-up of the experience was produced by Jeff Lewis, who plays Vork in the show, complete with pictures!
Additional show content provided by Patrick from France, Mean Gene and the outstanding Instance Community.
Special thanks to TypeFrag and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.
The Instance #104 - “Arena Your Heart Out”
Posted on May 3rd, 2008 by The Instance Podcast
Big News Of The Week
Worldwide Arena Tournament Closes Week 4
After 4 weeks, the number one team is named “Slash Bark”, but currently only contains a priest who has won 13 out of 17 matches. Not bad. Our attention is drawn to the team in 2nd place on the leaderboard - “Eclipse”. Eclipse is made up of an undead Rogue, and undead Mage and and undead Priest. They’ve won 70% of their 225+ matches. Looking at the leaderboards, Mage/Rogue/Priest is the 3 person combo to have.
Rumors & Scuttlebutt
Children’s Week Has Begun
Get all the details here. Don’t forget to apply Papa Hummel’s Pet Biscuits to your orphan!
Season 4 Arena Gear Revealed!
Boubouille at MMO Champion has once again scooped the news, and revealed the Season 4 Arena Gear in its entirety. And with screenshots!
Town Cryer
Tim S. writes:
Sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you had T-shirts for the AIE guild? I saw some in the forums in pictures and I would like to order one.
Hey Tim! Look here.
Drop Of The Week
Character Planning at Chardev
It’s a Character Planning tool that allows you to start by importing your character from the WoW Armory into the tool, and then the fun begins. You can do anything with your character’s gear - give her enchants, gems, elixers… anything you want to test, and Chardev lists all your stats.
Additional show content provided by Patrick from France, Mean Gene and the outstanding Instance Community.
Special thanks to TypeFrag and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.
The Instance #103 - “Transplant my Dungeon”
Posted on April 25th, 2008 by The Instance Podcast
Big News Of The Week
Naxxramas Confirmed for Northrend, Tier 3 Gear Going Bye-Bye
Blizzard clarified this week that the hardest, most un-played dungeon in the game - before the first expansion - will be undergoing transplant surgery in the 2nd expansion. Naxxramas is moving to Northrend, leaving it’s place in the sky above Eastern Plaguelands, and getting encounters re-tuned to the levels that players will bring in. Furthermore, Blizzard CM Bornakk confirmed in a post on the WoW forums that Naxxramas would not exist in two places at once, meaning that Tier 3 gear will no longer be available for new acquisitions. If you don’t have any Tier 3 gear when the expansion moves the instance, you never will.
Rumors & Scuttlebutt
Direct A Music Video For Level 70 Elite Tauren Cheiftans, Win Prizes
Blizzard posted a sweet new contest this week. Create a music video using footage from World of Warcraft and the original song, “Rogues Do it From Behind” and submit it to us, via our submission page. Videos can be no bigger than 50 megabytes in size and must be recorded in .WMV, .MOV, or .AVI formats. The winning videos will be featured on the Blizzard website and the following prizes awarded:
* Three Grand Prize winners will each receive one Ipod Touch 8GB version.
* Five First Place winners will each receive one Logitech G15 keyboard, and one World of Warcraft Battlechest signed by the members of L70ETC.
Something Weird Is Going On At Diablo3.com
Diablo3.com, which is not affiliated with Blizzard (as far as we can tell) other than in name and subject, put up a cryptic message this week that currently reads: “Seven: The number of days until half the web links to Diablo3.com. But why???” That means that Diablo3.com is claiming that on May 1st, there will be a really strong reason to read what they have to say. What could it be?
Drop Of The Week
Science Conference To Be Held In WoW, And We Are There
It’s the “Convergence of the Real and the Virtual”, The First Scientific Conference in World of Warcraft. This is a scientific conference to be held May 9-11, 2008, inside World of Warcraft, devoted to research on WoW and on virtual worlds in general. It was proposed by John Bohannon, who creates the Gonzo Scientist feature for the AAAS journal “Science.” The organizer is William Sims Bainbridge, a social and information scientist, also known as Catullus in the largest guild in the world - Alea Iacta Est! That’s right - this conference is taking place on our server - Earthen Ring!
Additional show content provided by Patrick from France, Mean Gene and the outstanding Instance Community.
Special thanks to TypeFrag, PlaySwitch.com, and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.
The Instance #102 - “The Curt Schilling Episode”
Posted on April 11th, 2008 by The Instance Podcast
Big News Of The Week
Wrath Of The Lich King May Be Alpha Testing
That’s right, a well-sourced rumor started making the rounds today that the 2nd Expansion to World Of Warcraft may be alpha testing as we speak. First, the clearly useful “beta.worldofwarcraft.com” came online on April 2, and the very next day, Blizzard took down the PTR, which is very unusual for them. Blizzard usually leaves the PTR up and running for many days after a major patch. The anonymously sourced rumor today has to be so, because Blizzard has a strict NDA on the alpha testing of WOTLK.
Interview With Curt Schilling
Champion Baseball Pro, Future Hall Of Famer, WoW Geek
An Instance exclusive! We were highly fortunate to spend some quality time with Curt Schilling. Yes, that Curt Schilling. Visit his blog and ventures here.
And you’ll find the Azeroth Advisor that Curt mentioned here.
Town Cryer
Trebblebase of Scarshield Legion EU writes:
Hey Scott and Randy I was wondering if there is a Roleplaying list for Clothing in WoW, Ive had a look around but I cant find a definative list. I know alot of what you wear is up to the imagination but it would be great to have some pointers to go by. Any ideas?
Gaap, Undead Priest - Dragonmaw.eu writes:
I play a lot of Alterac Valley for grinding honor (it’s the fastest way to farm honor IMO). The only annoying thing I’m finding annoying about this is that I end up with hundreds of AV marks in my mailbox after a night of AV. I’ve already got 100 marks in my bag so they’re automatically sent in to me in the mail. Only problem is that they only last for 24 hours before they’re deleted. My question is this: Is there anything I can “waste” AV marks on by purchasing? I already have the mount and tabard but can’t see anything else that can be bought with just AV marks.
Drop Of The Week
You think we’re kidding?
Additional show content provided by Patrick from France, Mean Gene and the outstanding Instance Community.
Special thanks to TypeFrag, PlaySwitch, and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.
The Instance #101 - “An Acre of Ham”
Posted on April 4th, 2008 by The Instance Podcast
Big News Of The Week
The 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament Is Underway
Within a structured format comprising two six-week-long qualifying rounds, players will battle on special tournament realms purely dedicated to the competitive format of 3v3 Arena matches. The characters used on these realms are new level 70s that you create, decked to the brim with PvP armor and weapons. The top teams from each qualifier will battle in regional live events, culminating in the global finals, which will feature a total prize pool of $120,000 — $75,000 of which will go to the grand-prize-winning team!
Tournament registration is open to any active World of Warcraft account. Registration costs one payment of $20.00, which grants one World of Warcraft account access to the tournament realms for the duration of the six-week tourney. Players will be able to create up to three new characters on these realms, instantly level them to 70, and deck them out with a full set of PvP gear. Then form your new 3v3 team and enter the Arenas, where a whole new level of competitive play awaits you.
Rumors and Scuttlebutt
Blizzard Celebrates Their Biggest Holiday Of The Year
# New World of Warcraft Hero Class: Bard
# New StarCraft II Unit: Tauren Marine
# World of Warcraft on a Console
# Diablo Loot Piñata
Keep It Short And Win A Lot
Penny Arcade is giving away a big pile of loot from Upperdeck. We’re talking about “four boxes of boosters, tournament playmats, a Winterveil collector’s box, deckboxes, sleeves, two binders, three raid decks, three starter decks, and one of these awesome dice chest things.” But that’s not all - each of the three winners will get an X-51 Nether-Rocket card! All you have to do is “write a short story, set in World of Warcraft, and this story must be precisely ten words long.”
Town Cryer
Stormclaw from the Alexstraza Realm writes:
First Question: What class is the best to tank a spell caster boss/pure melee boss/hybrid boss with?
Second Question: What class, would you say from personal experience, is the best overall tanking class?
Third Question: What class is the best at tanking multiple monsters at once?
Fourth Question: What is the best class at tanking Gruul in the Gruuls Lair?
Fifth Question: In your opinion, would you say a Druid tank is necessary for the Morgrim Tide-walker fight in Serpent Shrine Cavern?
Alkali from Skywall writes:
For all of us offensive casters out there, could you please discuss the differences between Spell Hit and Spell Crit. More importantly, how do you feel is the best way to optimize these stats since you can receive them as either an enchant and/or from specific gems? Example: When enchanting gloves, do you take Spell Strike(+15 Spell Hit) or Blasting(+10 Spell crit)? When slotting a yellow gem, do you take Gleaming Dawnstone(+8 spell crit) or Great Dawnstone(+8 spell hit)?
Additional show content provided by Patrick from France, Mean Gene and the outstanding Instance Community.
Special thanks to TypeFrag, PlaySwitch and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.
