New Titles In Wrath

The following was posted by Blizzard this past week:

Achievements Titles

• Arena Master - Complete the arena achievements
  
• Salty - Complete the fishing achievements
  
• The Diplomat - Raise your reputation level from unfriendly to exalted with Timbermaw Hold, Sporeggar and the Kurenai / The Mag'har.
  
• The Hallowed - Complete the Hallow's End achievements
  
• The Seeker - Complete 3000 quests.
  
  

Feats of Strength

• Twilight Vanquisher - Participated in the realm first Sartharion the Onyx Guardian kill (25 player).
  
• The Supreme - First player on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Assassin - First rogue on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Warbringer - First warrior on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Archmage - First mage on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of The Ebon Blade - First death knight on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Stalker - First hunter on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Malefic - First warlock on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Prophet - First priest on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Crusader - First paladin on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Arch Druid - First druid on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of the Ten Storms - First shaman on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Magic Seeker - Participated in the realm first Malygos kill (25 player).
  
• Conqueror of Naxxramas - Participated in the realm first Kel'Thuzad kill (25 player).
  
• Of Gnomeregan - First gnome on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of Quel'thalas - First blood elf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of Argus - First draenei on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of Khaz Modan - First dwarf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Lion Hearted - First human on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Champion of Elune - First night elf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Hero of Orgrimmar - First orc on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Plainsrunner - First tauren on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of the Darkspear - First troll on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Forsaken - First forsaken on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Grand Master Blacksmith - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in blacksmithing.
  
• Grand Master Alchemist - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in alchemy.
  
• Iron Chef - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in cooking.
  
• Grand Master Enchanter - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in enchanting.
  
• Grand Master Engineer - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in engineering.
  
• Doctor - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in first aid.
  
• Grand Master Angler - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in fishing.
  
• Grand Master Herbalist - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in herbalism.
  
• Grand Master Scribe - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in inscription.
  
• Grand Master Jewelcrafter - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in jewelcrafting.
  
• Grand Master Leatherworker - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in leatherworking.
  
• Grand Master Miner - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in mining.
  
• Grand Master Skinner - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in skinning.
  
• Grand Master Tailor - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in tailoring.
  
• Hero of Northrend - First player on the realm to gain exalted reputation with the Argent Crusade, Wyrmrest Accord, Kirin Tor and Knights of the Ebon Blade.

The Doctor title and Iron Chief are pretty awesome. I also like The Diplomat. Hurry and get your titles first!

The Best Power Ranger... EVER!

So, I was surfing YouTube this morning and discovered this:

(Watch and enjoy - Please finish chewing anything you may have and swallow the last gulp of drink)

Off Topic

Slow week in news so I figured I'd branch off of the news and opinions to talk about what's coming up in my life.

The big thing is that I'll be getting a new phone late this week / early next week. It's the Samsung i760 Smartphone/PDA. Not only is it a 3G (with a windows upgrade) but it'll hold up to 32gb of space. I'll only be getting a 4gb microSD card but it's nice to know I could upgrade. Also, I'll be getting internet on my phone! Now, if I get stuck in traffic or my internet craps out or I'm hanging out in jury duty, I'll be able to blog here. The picture above is the phone with it's keyboard out.

Now, I got this phone on eBay for 227.50. I can sell my u740 Alias phone on eBay for 150. If that happens, I would basically get this new Smartphone for only $70. Booyah!

My Goddaughter turned 2 last week. She's adorable. I got her into Winnie The Pooh and now she's bouncing her 3 1/2 foot Pooh like Tigger does.

School is starting up again next week. It's only 3 classes so I'm not too bothered by it. Part-time students for the win.

And lastly, I've decided to be The Wanderer from Diablo 2 for Halloween. I have a Kit-Rae sword which looks like the one from the Act 1 cinematic. I also have a 13th century replica monk's robe which looks like a normal cloak. Should be pretty epic. Halloween for me is when my summer community has it (Columbus Day weekend) so expect pictures or something before Halloween.

Wrath Cinematic Trailer!

Blizzard has finally released the Wrath Of The Lich King Trailer! Click on that link to watch and also to download the video.

(Spoilers bellow!!!)

As always, it looks great. Blizzard really knows how to create a cinematic trailer. I'm kinda disappointed with it because I expected more of Arthas slaying Horde and Alliance characters and narrating himself; not his father (almost like the Zul' jin trailer). But, I really can't complain; it's awesome anyway. The Frost Wymn looked great and his army was exactly how I imagined it would be. Go check it out!

Adam Sessler Rants On The D3 Haters

Adam Sessler is still my favorite gaming guru. In last week's Sessler's Soapbox, he flames the Diablo 3 art haters. I've been waiting for him to finally speak on the subject because I knew he would make good points. If you want to see more of Sessler's Soapbox, you can get it through iTunes video podcast, G4's website, and youtube.



PS: Madden 09, Fantasy Football, and NFL preseason games took up all of my free time last week. This week, I should have a post up ASAP.

Today's The Day!

Don't forget: Today is August 11th and Blizzcon08 tickets are going on sale!

However, the site is currently down lol.

Keep checking back to the Blizzard store and get your tickets before they all sell out.

*Update*

Tickets are sold out. Hope you got yours!

Old Diablo 2 Characters May Appear In D3

I was going to post yesterday but once I got home and turned on the NFL network for my daily Brett Favre update, I noticed one little small headline.... Brett Favre was traded to the J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! JETS!! So, for the rest of the day, I was kinda glued to my TV :-D.

But onto news. Blizzard has been busy with Diablo 3 lately. MTV Multiplayer has Blizzard's take on why older classes (ie: Necromancer) are not in Diablo 3.

“Our approach for classes in ‘Diablo III’ is that we don’t have a strong desire to bring back classes from the previous game,” Wilson told me. “The goal is to try and give people new gameplay and not just re-hash old gameplay. We’re not just making a ‘Diablo II’ with updated 3D graphics.”

Well, that's dandy. If you wanted to stay away from older classes, then why do I see the Barbarian there? Not just the Barbarian but you're creating the same gameplay of the Necromancer in the Doctor with some added fireballs. Stop making excuses for something fans want. Diablo 2's characters are perfect (well, not the Assassin and Druid... they could have been improved a bit) so why change it? If nothing is wrong, don't fix it.

“There’s a lot of people on our team who aren’t happy with our class choices,” he admitted. “But after we’ve established ‘Diablo III’ as its own game with its own type of gameplay and experiences, I wouldn’t be opposed to looking at old classes. We are trying to design [the Witch Doctor] class so that if we did bring back the Necromancer, there’s room for him. We’re looking out ahead of time at what our expansions are going to be, so we’ve got to keep room open for some of those other classes down the road.” Wilson added, “It’s one of those things where, unless we put like 30 classes in the game, people are going to be unhappy. But if we put 30 classes in the game, we’d hurt the game. I think that of the classes that we’ve chosen, there will be something for everyone. I’m not worried that people won’t be able to find a class that they like to play.”

I can agree with the 30 classes argument but give us more than 5 classes. If you are going to release an expansion, and it's going to take as long as Wrath to make, make sure the characters are good and something that the fans want. It sounds like this new director is doing what HE wants to do and not what he people want in their classes. If HALF of your team wants some older classes back, I think that throws up some red flags. But if they make another assassin or rouge type class, I'm going to pull my hair out. I hate playing those classes and because it's Diablo, I'm going to have to play it.

The Shockadin In Wrath

Synovia at wowpaladin.org wrote an amazing article on how great Shockadins are going to be when we go north. I'm running out the door now for a looooong day at the office so I'll post the article here for you to read but I highly recommend wowpaladin.org for a lot of raid Paladin news.

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"With WotLK being tentatively slotted for a November release, it’s easy to get overly excited about the possibilities. However, something in particular caught my attention today as I was browsing through the Beta talent calculator over at www.wowhead.com: Are Holy Paladins to be limited to back of the raid healbotting? After some deliberation and placement of talent points, I’m inclined to state that it certainly seems as though this time around Blizzard has opened the proverbial doors for a large variety of Paladin playstyles: the Shockadin being one of them.

Now while I won’t at all claim a Shockadin now or even then to have any kind of raid viability, as of the present I am extremely confident as to their effectiveness in PvP. Let me share with you my thoughts on just why I believe what I do.

As of present, the Shockadin arsenal requires the expenditure of talent points to retrieve all of the following:

• 1/1 Sanctity Aura (Retribution)
• 1/1 Holy Shock (Holy)
• 5/5 Holy Guidance (Holy)
• 5/5 Improved Seal of Righteousness (Holy)
• 5/5 Divine Intellect (Holy)
• 3/3 Crusade (Retribution)

Now we can all agree the list above, although comprised of “essential” Shockadin talents, is lengthy. They are required as such due to the nature of the spec. It is unarguable that each of these talents directly affects the damage output of the build but what’s more is that although WotLK is removing the first altogether (Sanctity Aura), it is providing not just one replacement to increase DPS but several.

At this time, I would like to draw your attention to the following build:

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=sEA0xhzGVzMxkZZVbhxbczh

The list above now receives the following additions:

• 3/3 Healing Light (Holy)
  • This talent currently only increases the healing done by Flash of Light and Holy light by 4/8/12%. As of WotLK it will still do this but it will additionally increase the effectiveness of your Holy Shock spell by 4/8/12% as well.
• 5/5 Conviction (Retribution)
  • As of today, this talent only increases your melee critical strike chance by 1/2/3/4/5%. With WotLK, it will also increase your spell critical strike chance by 1/2/3/4/5%
• 3/3 Sheath of Light
  • This new talent increases your Spell Power by 10/20/30% of your attack power and puts a HoT on your heal targets any time your crit them with a heal.
• 1/1 Sanctified Retribution
  • Allows for 2% flat damage increase by anyone affected by Retribution Aura. This essentially replaces Improved Sanctity Aura directly.

So we’ve lost the flat 10% damage increase to Holy spells granted by Sanctity Aura but in return we’ve gained the above four sources of extra damage on our Holy Shocks. Let’s see how this all breaks down in WotLK terms.

For this demonstration, I’m going to make a floored assumption that my statistics on my Holy Paladin, in her Holy gear, will remain unchanged at level 80. The only difference I”m assuming is the acquisition of 10 more talent points to spend within the WotLK talent trees. I makes these assumptions for simplicity in calculation and also so I can use real numbers taken directly from my Holy Paladin.

The coefficient used for instant cast damaging spells is 42.86%. Although Blizzard has noted that coefficients are being adjusted for healing spells given the removal of +healing gear and the introduction of spell power, the damage coefficients will remain in tact as no change is needed.

Holy Shock, at level 80, does a base range of damage beginning at 967 and ending at 1047. From here, we would first apply our +damage (or Spell Power) at rate consistent with the above coefficient of 42.86%. For my Holy Paladin, this is done as follows:

• 1047 + (740 spell damage * .4286) = 1365

However, we know that Sheath of Light will yield an addition Spell Power value of 30% of my attack power. At first consideration this many seem negligible but even someone completely naked has an attack power granted by their level alone. For example, my Holy Paladin’s level 70 attack power, while garbed in full Holy PvP gear is actually 436. Taking this into account we have the following base damage instead:

• 1047 + (740 + (436 * .3) * .4286) = 1421

With the base damage calculation completed, we now turn to talents for any further benefit to the spell. The order of application for these talents is irrelevant so we’ll begin arbitrarily with Healing Light which adds 12% effectiveness to Holy Shock:

• 1421 * 1.12 = 1592

Next, we account for Sanctified Retribution:

• 1592 * 1.02 = 1624

Lastly, we consider Crusade:

• 1624 * 1.03 = 1673

As we can see, our basetop-end damage on Holy Shock, in level 70 Holy (not even spell damage gear) PvP gear and without any additional stats (that will obviously be accumulated on our way to 80) is 1624. Now, let’s add the icing on our delicious cake by applying Avenging Wrath:

• 1673 * 1.20 = 2008

Now the fun begins. Spell critical strikes deal 150% damage after damage-increasing calculation has concluded. Given a top-end of 2008 damage as calculated above, let’s assume either a straight away critical strike or use of Divine Favor to yield one:

• 2008 * 1.50 = 3012

Please remind yourself that all these calculations were done off the statistics present for my level 70 Holy Paladin in healing(Ornamented) PvP gear. Most Shockadins presently in World of Warcraft float around 1200 spell damage and not my awe-devoid 740. Let’s make one last assumption, shall we? Let’s assume, on what I would consider to be the far low end of the potential spectrum, that a level 80 Shockadin has 500 attack power and 1600 spell damage. Using these new numbers, let’s run through the calculation one last time:

• 1047 + (1600 * .4286) = 1733 (base spell damage including Sheath of Light)
• 1733 * 1.12 = 1941 (Healing Light)
• 1941 * 1.02 = 1980 (Sanctified Retribution)
• 1980 * 1.03 = 2040 (Crusade)
• 2040 * 1.20 = 2448 (Avenging Wrath)
• 2448 * 1.50 = 3672 (Critical Strike)

As you can see, even low-balling the potential spell damage of a level 80 Shockadin immensely still leads us to near 4000+ damage Holy Shocks. I would argue that it won’t be uncommon for Shockadins, with proper buffs to be capable of putting out 5000+ damage Holy Shocks in PvP.

So what are the possibilities? You tell me. Seemingly, they are endless as already at level 70 the Shockadin has proven his worth in 2v2 arena by bursting down topped-off Warriors with 13K HP in 3 seconds. Perhaps Blizzard saw this video as well and realized the potential for a very fun aspect to the Paladin game play. We can only wait and see.

This is Synovia, taking her leave."

Arthas In Soul Calibur 4?

For those who don't already know, Wrath is confirmed for October-December 2008. But onto other epic things. I came across this Joystiq post which showed a video of Soul Calibur 4 with 24 customizable characters from video games and movies. What really caught my eye though, was Paladin Arthas and Death Knight Arthas! I was freaking out from the awesomeness; seriously.

The Paladin Arthas was using Astaroth's hammer and Death Knight Arthas was using Soul Calibur. For those who have Soul Calibur 4 (AND YOU SHOULD!), you can create these guys by using the Paladin Armor (white and black), long blonde and white hair, Astaroth's fighting style and Siegfried's fighting style. I'm going to try and make my own Arthas too... in fact, right now.

Here's the link to the video! It's about 14-15 minutes until you see Arthas.

*UPDATE*

I was fooling around with the Soul Calibur editor this morning and was able to make an ok Joker and an amazing looking Harley Quinn! There's no suit for the Joker and the faces given are horrible. I had to give him normal pants (which look good) and a stupid looking jacket. Oh well.

Harley Quinn on the other hand is amazing! I unlocked the Jester Costume and changed the colors around as best as I could to fit her suit (ex: With her boots, I was not able to make one boot Red and the other Black. I had to choose one color). She came out great though. Here's some pics from my cell phone. Not the best quality but it's the best I got: