Should they Revamp the Old Instances

Like most people I love doing Heroics, old isntances with fresh challenges and some pretty nice gems to boot. I have done some more times than is wise, leaving me with a slight distaste for them, but even after I have grown tired I still find myself going back when it's the daily heroic.

The question arises though, why not make all instances have a Heroic Mode, with better loot and some fun quirks.

Running gnomeregan with maybe a gauntlet stage as you head down, Deadmines with an Epic Van Cleef or maybe going through Shadowfang Keep (One of my favorite, if not more pain in the arse instances to get to)

I would quite like a Heroic Scarlet Monestary, Cathedral was a hellova fun instance in my view, as was SM Library and SM Armoury. These instances were a staple of my levelling and I have to admit I miss them sometimes!

But with the new heroics I think there should definately be new challenges, like the gauntlet in ZA or maybe just bosses with more inventive special abilities that we saw appear in the burning crusade (I loved the variety in Karazhan!) Hell why not have a Heroic Karazhan!

Do you think that the old instances should get given a Heroic Mode?

Are Daily Quests a Good Thing?

Blizzard are quite obviously pushing Daily Quests into the game of World of Warcraft. With Patch 2.4 and the introduction of sunwell isle there were 36 new quests, although some were 'continuation quests' once a phase had been completed. (See Here for the Full Shattered Sun Offensive Patch 2.4 Daily Quests)

Now despite the occasional daily quest being fun (I love the bombing run dailys) suddenly people realised you could make a lot of gold very quickly by doing daily quests. All of a sudden the influx of people doing daily quests destroyed raid groups, set to motion people logging on for 4 hours and doing nothing but the same quests over and over, and eventually saw a lot of people quit because what they were doing was boring and held no challenge.

My view on dailies is that while they are a good idea their implementation makes them too powerful. The fact is that these should be a supplement to the game, instead because they reward so well they are infact BECOMING the game. In my personal opinion the daily quest rewards should be significantly dropped so people can play the game once more.

I like to raid, I can see why people PVP, Hell I even agree that arena Epics aren't welfare (Though the ones bought with honour and tokens most definitely ARE welfare epics!) Daily quests have turned world of warcraft away from a game aimed at focusing on being the best and instead have shot it right into the realm of boring repetitive questing.

Begging for Gold

Gold beggars are prevailant in Stormwind and Ironforge nowdays. It seems that when I stand in these cities I am pestered almost continuously by low level beggars crying for a few gold. Despite my suggestions that they go out and kill things they still seem to find it necessary to keep whispering me and opening trade windows.

And so as I told a rather annoying gold beggar to 'Shoveth hys heade where thee sun shineth rarely' I began to thnik about why gold beggars exist.

The most obvious kind of beggar is the 'noob' beggar, new to the game and uncertain as to what they are doing. These guys sometimes act positively to good advice.

The Alt is the worst kind, this may be a lvl 10-12 character that has been dressed down to look more pitiful. These guys can be found in lvl 2-3 grey items claiming they are new to the game. My best solution here is to chase them around shouting scam until they log off.

The final kind is the gold seller. These gold beggars tend to have poorly formed English and tend to be more persistant than others. For these guys it is best to open a trade window and leave several thousand gold in it, then go AFK. It is quite humorous to look back through the chat log and see for just how long the beggar sat there asking you to press the trade button.

So why do these people do it?

Easy, it's profitable.

Despite how most people mock and derise the gold beggars many others still pass over a bit of money here and there regardless. This might be because they have fallen for a story (Pls I just need 2 gold for spells!) or maybe they are just feeling charitable. The fact of the matter is that, like the gold spammers ingame, they do it because it works.

So please, everyone join me in not giving gold to beggars in WoW, and maybe, just maybe, the cities will become just a little less annoying.

World of Warcraft Levelling Guides

Levelling in WoW can be a dreary, mind numbingly boring task, for some of us it takes weeks, others it can take months. There are a lot of guides out there, some are just ebooks where as there are others out there which are inbuilt into the game as an addon, these include Teaam iDemise's Guide, Elite WoW Guide and the Ultimate WoW Guide. All of these can get you from level one to seventy in less than a week of play time.

The question many ask though is should these be used?

The truth of the matter is that these guides, while effective make you miss out on a lot of the ingame content and background. Should WoW players use these levelling guides when it makes them miss out a lot of the intricate parts of the game. Ontop of that speeding through the content can leave a player a little lack lustre in skill.

Personally I have never used a levelling guide however I have been sent Review copies of them and I can safely say their quality is excellent, with fantastic way point, quest and killing information built into the game to ensuer you level at the fastest possible speed in WoW.

Guild Sponsorship in WoW

Now it is well known that some guilds, the larger ones have been sponsored by some big names in world of warcraft. But what about the smaller guilds?

Well as advertising ingame in WoW becomes more and more dificult while also becoming less and less profitable it was only a matter of time till the gold spammers tried something new. It seems hat time has arrived. Many guilds have complained that they have been inundated with gold sellers offering to host their guild site or cover all their oporational real life costs, donate several thousand gold ot their guild bank or similar all for a small advert on their guild website. This is no miniscule offer for many guilds who have to dredge up several hundred pounds a year to operate.

Needless to say there has been outrage from a huge amount of guilds around this, but at the same time quite a few guild websites are slowly putting into play an odd gold selling advert here and there.


Now from a moral standpoint I am against the gold sellers, more for how annoying they are in game than anything else. I can see why some people would buy gold, after all they cant play WoW much, they dont have time to grind etc, Hell I have the same problem a lot of the time. I can also see the point of view of those saying they have spent ages grinding gold just to have other people buy it for fifty quid.

To them I say hell, you try working two jobs, keeping a girlfriend, your mates and some semblance of a family together and then talk to me about grinding time.

I havn't bought gold, I dont plan to but I do sympathise. I also personally like the fact that these guys are putting something into the WoW community, low key website adverts are much more to my taste than annoying gold spam messages in trade every two seconds (Please anyone who DOES buy gold boycott mmo-inn)

So if my guild gets offered this I am sorely tempted to take it, hell our guild costs are around £220 a year, pretty high I think you'll agree!

The Bringing Together of the Horde and the Alliance

With the coming of patch 2.4 blizzard has fully brought into play the fact that they want the Alliance and the Horde to work together. In Sunwell Isle you will find yourself fighting side by side with your once feared enemies, and more often than not they will give you a helping hand. Now while this fits in with blizzards story line it does seem to conflict with their previous decisions, such as cutting all lines of communication between the factions, even making it a bannable offence according to blizzards ToC's.

Personally I liked the slight PvP conflict that this brought into the game, and I hope they replace it with maybe an Aldor/Scryer rep points thing, where killing members of your own faction loses you reputation while killing those of the other boosts it. While it is a nice thought, and a much funner way of getting my rep up, I do get the feeling the Outlands would turn once more into a gankfest.

For now however we are stuck with the fact that unless we co-operate we will find our grind for the Epic Badges Vendor in Sunwell isle taking quite some time.

End Game Healing Maces - Which is the Best?

Today I will be taking a look at two of the best current end game healing maces, namely Archon's Gavel and the Crystal Spire of Karabor. Both of these weapons have amazing stats, but are focused in different areas of healing.

The Crystal Spire of Karabor has an insane healing ability, addint between 180 to 220+ healing to your spells if your terget is below 50% health. However many more healers are swinging towards the new Sunwell Platau Raid in patch 2.4 to pick up Archin's Gavel. While it doesnt have the burst of healing below 50% it does have much higher standard + healing, great for keeping a raid topped up, as well as having a good amount 11 Mp5 anda socket for whatever you may desire.

The choice is a difficult one for Priest and Paladins, although Druids would nearly always go for Archon's Gavel. The choice mainly rests on how you play, main tank healers could find the + healing below 50% an invaluable bonus when the tank is taking heavy damage, likewise raid healers who rarely see below 50% health may find the mana regen and constant plus healing of Archons Gavel a great boost to their raid healing skill. If your groups are hardly seeing below 50% health, then The Crystal Spire of Karabor is infact only a minor upgrade over maces like the Light's Justice from Karazhan, especially for Holy Priests where spirit is such a bonus.

So which would you choose?