Meet The Jormungar // Solo Dungeons?

I hope this creature is scaled to size like the picture cause I would be in my glory. To stand toe to toe with this thing would be epic. This is called a Jormungar. It's a new creature we'll be facing in Northrend.

"The fiercely aggressive Jormungar are a marvel of evolution, possessing rows of chisel-like teeth capable of boring through solid rock, as well as muscular, flattened bodies well adapted to rapid underground navigation.

Legends tell of the nerubians' using the jormungar as creatures of labor, forcing them to carve massive tunnels through Northrend's subterranean ice and lay the groundwork for the nerubians' ancient civilization. With the fall of the nerubian empire, swarms of rogue jormungar ran amok, drilling through the region's permafrost, attacking surface dwellers, and devouring everything in their path."

Serves those Nerubians' right... Silly spiders, Jormungars are for Pallys :-D.

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Another post which caught my eye on MMO-Champion is a thread on the WoW Forums asking for Solo Raid Content. The poster makes valid points:

"First I just want to say thank you Blizz for making such awesome games. I love to play WoW. However, I also love to solo. Unfortunately when it comes to endgame the two don’t mesh.

I understand that RAID = WORK and as such raiders should receive better rewards for working harder. I do not understand however why this reward should be seeing content. Isn’t better gear enough? How about titles? Shiny glowing auras to prove you’re better than everyone else?

I personally play for FUN not WORK. This along with the fact that I cannot schedule time to play a game (Well I could… but I would need to get a divorce first) is why I do not raid.

I think Blizzard is taking a step in the right direction with the upcoming xpac making all raids being able to be done with 10 or 25 person groups. I’d like to see this taken one step further. Make instances and raids have a solo setting and have the gear be one step lower. For example in WotLK if in 25 man mode the raid would drop Tier 9 gear then in 10 man it will drop Tier 8 gear and in Solo mode it should drop Tier 7 gear. This would serve two purposes.

1. It would give people that don’t like to group (like myself and many others) a chance to see all the content and enjoy this extremely well crafted story and game Blizzard has put together.

2. It would give new subscribers who do want to group a chance to catch up to their guilds and help raid without putting as much strain on guildmates to come back and help them with as much low content to get their new friend up to being raid capable. You do the raids on solo to get your T7 gear. You get 9 guildmates to give you a hand and do the raid again on 10 man and get your T8 gear. Then you are up to doing the 25 mans to start actually helping your guild progress.

I’m not asking to be handed anything easy. I would really like as much challenge as I can get. However I don’t want that challenge to come in the form of trying to get people together to do an instance/raid and dealing with all the crap that comes along with that (Idiots wiping the group, people having to leave in the middle of a session, loot ninjas, etc.)

I apologize for the wall of text, you may now proceed to flame."

Bornakk responded in a typical Blizzard. In short, 'Sorry we're not doing things that you like but, tough luck.'

"I understand your desire for this, but grouping up is an important part of the game, our goal with the 10 person raids is to making the raiding content feel a little less exclusive to players, but if you want to see everything then you would need to take on the challenges of every aspect of the game.

When the new expansions come out everybody has to level their characters up and at some point find new gear. This is a great opportunity for new players to get involved in their guilds if they are looking to take on a bigger roll in progression.

We do have a lot of solo-content available in the game as it is. You can level up to the max level, go through every zone, complete the vast majority of quests, enter battlegrounds and continually do a number of daily quests without ever grouping up with other players - but adding more variety to the game is important to a lot of people and that is where the 5 person and then 10/25 person raid dungeons come into play. These aspects are more challenging and so the story arcs they involve build up accordingly.

In short, we don't currently have any plans to add solo play to every aspect of World of Warcraft."

I feel Tremallyn's pain. I would love to go toe to toe with Illidan, but for someone who only gets to play 1-2 nights a week (for only an hour or two each time), it makes me miss out on the story. One way Blizzard can do this is to set up a Solo Instance for all dungeons. You will get to choose whether to solo it or raid it. If you choose solo, and beat the boss, you will never be able to go back in. The gates will be shut - the boss will be dead. Award honor instead of badges (because most solo players either do dailies or PVP at L70). Lets say, 25,000 honor for Grull, 50,000 honor for Illidan, etc etc. And maybe some dungeon marks which can be used as any of the battleground marks. Honor shouldn't be just for PVP. We're fighting in a war and you should get honor points for achieving a big goal in the storyline.

Vacation: All I Ever Wanted

I'll be on vacation for the next week. I haven't had a week off in 11 months. I'm not taking my laptop so I won't be blogging. I need to get away from my job and computers.

Here's a follow up interview with Republican Rep from CT about her WoW characters and her views on video game legislation.

I'm sure there will be much news to talk about when I get back. Cya in a week!

Finally, Something Juicy To Talk About!

Leave it to the media to blow a situation out of the water. There is an article today about a missed 14 year old girl was found in a campground with a 27 year old man. They both met over WoW, he drove to pick her up, and took her to the campground.

First and foremost, I think all child abductors are skum. With that said, I still do not believe it is right to charge this man with kidnapping when the article clearly says that, "Saddie "Elaine" Julian, 14, of Boise was believed to have run away with Morgan Douglas Jones, 27, a man she met over the Internet." The key note is "run away with", not abducted or kidnapped. Leave it to US law to try to protect everyone; no matter the circumstance.

Of course, WoW Insider was right on the case with none other than Adam Holisky (it seems like everytime I disagree with WoW Insider, it is when he posts...). Adam writes, "I am amazed at some of the creeps who play this game, and Morgon Jones definitely falls into that category. 27 years old and running off with a 14 year old girl he met through the game. It's time for him to get outside and enjoy life while he still can, since hopefully there'll be some good ol' prison time coming his way."

Innocent until proven guilty, in my opinion. Who are we to judge someone's character by a news report?

Badger, a WoW Insider reader, made a comment directed at Adam indicating the flaws in his article and the news report.

"Adam,

First off, I love how both of the other Blog posts to which you linked were your own, and the reference to "commenters" was a parenthetical side-note. If you're looking for validation, look to a third-party, not yourself.

Second: As you're not directly involved in the case, you can't tell from this article whether: (a) the girl went willingly rather than being kidnapped (despite the charges); (b) the parents gave enough of a shit to try and stop her or to try and monitor her activity in-game when she was already below the advised age for playing *and* using the Voice Chat system; or (c) the guy responsible is in need of serious psychiatric and psychological help, unable to draw the line between responsible and irresponsible behavior. Maybe *his* parents didn't give enough of a shit to raise him to see the distinction.

Personally, my gut tells me the same thing yours does - that the guy is a lecherous scumbag - but nobody outside of the affected family and the two parties involved in the "kidnapping" case knows that for sure, so please don't make snap judgments on cases like this (even if they're probably correct). Rise above the standard for typical media (like the TV station that posted this article) and wait for all the facts to come in."

This just supports my theory even more. A: It was never said she was forced to go with him and actually, the article said that she "ran away" with him. B: Some cases of runaways stem off of a fight with parents or disagreements. Maybe they should have spent more time monitoring her. And C: Yeah, the guy was an idiot to go along with it anyway. If he had half a brain, he'd known that the law indicates this a kidnapping (even though, ethically, it wasn't).

I don't believe he should get jail time. However, I do think he should be punished in some way. Maybe a hefty fine or some psychological revaluations if it comes down to that. Maybe he does have some problems up there. Then again, who am I to judge? For all I know, he's perfectly fine.

I guess the two morals are:
1) Don't go running off with underage people; no matter what.
And 2) Don't push an article that is flawed and doesn't have their facts straight.

Connecticut Finally Got In The WoW News

WoW Insider is reporting that 101's District unanimous Republican nominee does, in fact, play World Of Warcraft. That district covers North Guilford and Madison (about a 25 minute drive from me). Her name is Jeanne Stevens (R) of Madison, CT. This article states that:

"The mother of four boys, she volunteers for Madison Safe Rides and co-chairs the town's Safe Homes program, as well as volunteers at the library of Island Avenue School. She is active in her parish, St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church, also in Madison. She also enjoys playing the video game World of Warcraft."

I would bet one of her sons got her into it :-D. Now, the Shore Line Times did not mention anything more about WoW in their article and I would imagine this is all we'll hear about it. I'll have to mention it in conversation with some people around the area to see if they know anything more... If I ever do find out more, I'll let you know.

Question To The Readers (2)

Summer vacations! 'Tis the season of College finals ending and the working class starts to take their vacation days/weeks. The servers will soon fill up; even at 10am compared to when everyone is usually busy. 5am will be the only safe time.

So, what are you going to do with all your time off? I know I'll be working (as usual) and taking 1 or 2 weeks off for a vacation. I've already opened our summer house so WoW on the weekends will be slim to none. I'll just be popping on to check the Auction House.

Also, what will you be doing in game? I'll be playing my Mage (still 69) and doing dailies with him and Aticus.

So, leave a comment with the answers to...
What are you going to do with your time off and what will you be doing in WoW?

Paladins Kinda Cut Out of Tuesday's Wrath Leak

I've read over http://wotlk.wikidot.com/ (which has all sorts of Wrath Alpha info) and I was very disappointed to find that there was only one spell leak for the Paladin. *Spoiler***Highlight the following text** The spell is called Martyr: Redirect all harmful spells directed at friendly targets to yourself for X time.***

So, where it's something, I would have liked to have seen more spells. There have been 5 classes already who have some spells and talents leaked but just the one from the Paladin. I wanna see the new changes to Protection (like Blizzard has said).

The new Mage spells and talents are really something wicked. Especially the Frost tree. Stun anyone? Mwhahaha. Warlocks will finally get Metamorphosis! I loved the spell in Warcraft 3 and now it is in WoW. They have screenshots too! And how about that picture at the top of the page? I would bet that might be the non-combat pet we'll get for the collector's edition.

On a Mage update, my Mage is currently 68. We're working really hard on to get him to 70 and at least into the battlegrounds for some epics. The time has come to settle down, save your money, and build up for the expansion.

Also, congratz to David Cook for winning the American Idol competition! And rightfully so. It wasn't even close. He won by 12 million votes! Amazing! I can't wait for his second album.

Wrath Alpha

So, I don't have much to talk about and it has been a very non-eventful weekend in WoW. However, MMO-Champion has the Blizzard Wrath Alpha patch notes (SPOILERS):

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- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King: Friends and Family Alpha
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Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Friends and Family Alpha. The list below contains information on the current available content available for testing and general information. This information is subject to change.
General
- The continent of Northrend is now available! To travel there, visit one of four transportation masters in either Orgrimmar, Undercity, Theramore,or Menethil Harbor.
- Transportation between Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra can be found at the Tuskarr villages in those zones.
- NPC Transportation Locations
Horde:
Undercity to Vengeance Landing (Howling Fjord)
Orgrimmar to Warsong Hold (Borean Tundra)
Alliance:
Menethil Harbor to Valgarde (Holwing Fjord)
Theramore Valiance Keep (Borean Tundra)

World Environment Zones
- The following zones are available for testing: Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills
Dungeons
- The following dungeons are available for testing:
Howling Fjord: Utgarde Keep (70-72)
Howling Fjord: Utgarde Pinnacle (80)
Borean Tundra: The Nexus (70-72)
Grizzly Hills: Drak’Tharon Keep (74-76)

Classes
- All Classes are available for play. Spells and talents will be available for testing past 70 for the following classes: Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
- The Death Knight Hero class is now available for play.
Creating a new Death Knight will start you at level 55 in Eastern Plaguelands.
No starting quests are implemented though Death Knight abilities will be available for testing.
Several Death Knight talents, although they will appear on the talent pane, are not yet implemented.

Tradeskills
- The following tradeskills are available to train up to 450: First Aid, Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning.