I Apologize - 10.30.31

I apologize for my lack of posts lately, but real life has been keeping me very busy. Expect more posting coming soon. :)

-Matt Graham

Judge Judy Plays - Oh, Wait... - 10.22.2007

Today, the popular TV courtroom judge, Judge Judy, said that she has never heard of World of Warcraft. I guess it's no surprise because of her age, but shouldn't judges know about things that 9 million+ people are into? Oh well...

So anyway, some chick kicked her boyfriend out of her house because he played too much WoW - what's new?

And all this time I thought that Judy played a Paladin...

-Matt Graham

Hallow's End Is Here - 10.18.2007

w00t! It's finally here again, people!

-Matt Graham

365 Days Later - 10.13.2007

A year ago today I began writing entries on a little Wordpress blog I created, entitled "World of Blogcraft". Today, this Blogger blog spans over 115 entries and generates a healthy amount of traffic. I would like to thank all my readers and friends for supporting Blogcraft! Thanks everyone!

Here's to another great year for the World of Blogcraft! *toasts Brewfest mug*

P.S. - Now, this is only the third time in a year that I've asked this, but since it's the one year anniversary, I'm going to remind everyone. If you scroll down a bit, you'll find a donate button on the left side of the page. The smallest donation can go further than you would believe. This blog has received zero donations so far. I would love to bring out new features for the readers, but it's hard to when you don't receive any donations. Now, please don't look at this as begging, because I'm not trying to. I'm really just reminding you guys that there is a donate button for a reason. :p

-Matt Graham

Patch 2.3.0 Public Test Realm - 10.11.2007

Hortus has announced that the patch 2.3.0 Public Test Realm (PTR) will be going up tonight at 6:00 PM PST (9:00 PM EST). He tells us not to attempt to download the new client or copy our characters until 6:00 PM PST because it won't work if we try to anyways.

There are NO premades, NO equipment vendors, and only TWO servers.

Hortus has also posted the patch notes.

-Matt Graham

Hell, It's About Time - 10.11.2007

Oh, oops! Wrong game.

Well, I guess you can use that title for WoW too - in this case. Eyonix has confirmed that a new flight path for Alliance characters will be added to Stranglethorn Vale in patch 2.3. It'll be found at the Rebel Camp. I don't really play Alliance much anymore, but this would have been nice, oh I dunno, like 2 YEARS AGO?!

We're adding a new flight path to Rebel Camp in northern Stranglethorn Vale. It's coming in patch 2.3.

-Matt Graham

Leveling Improvements for Patch 2.3 - 10.8.2007

Over on the EU forums, Vaneras, a Blizzard poster, was nice enough to post everything that we need to know about the new leveling improvements coming in patch 2.3. So, read an enjoy!

As many of you already know we've been working on changes designed to improve various aspects of leveling for those making their way to level 60. These improvements, available in patch 2.3 will come in many forms and should significantly contribute to a more fluid and enjoyable leveling experience .

The first notable change was to simply reduce the amount of experience needed each level by approximately 15% between levels 20 and 60. Please note that when the patch is released, characters affected by this change will remain at their current level percentage. For example, if a character had exactly 50% of the current level's total experience before this change went into effect, the character would still have exactly 50% of the current level's total experience; only now fewer points would be needed to level.

Questing plays a very large role in World of Warcraft, especially while leveling and we felt that improvements to this front were necessary as well. Experience gained for completing quests (on average) between levels 30 and 60 is being increased. The increase becomes more substantial as you make your way towards 60. Additionally, many outdoor elite mobs will become non-elites, making many quests which were previously too difficult or required a group much easier and offer the same rewards (in some cases better!). A good example of this change would be Stromgarde Keep in Arathi Highlands, which will become a solo friendly environment when patch 2.3 goes live.

We've also added approximately 60 new quests in Dustwallow Marsh. This should help players who find themselves lacking quests in the 30-40 range. The Steamwheedle Cartel is building the new town of Mudsprocket in south-west Dustwallow Marsh, so you'll have to wait until construction is complete to learn more about these changes.

We're making other improvements to pre-bc leveling dungeons that players will likely find most agreeable. The level range for most every dungeon is being adjusted so that there is a much smaller range between the level of mobs found early in the dungeon to those found towards the end. For example, Shadowfang Keep is currently designed for levels 18-25 which means that right now, players who are towards the bottom of that range (18) will find it nearly impossible to complete the dungeon, while players towards the top of the range (25) will find most of the dungeon trivial. Using our new model (similar to what you'll notice with Burning Crusade leveling dungeons), Shadowfang Keep is being retuned for levels 18-21.

We also want to make running a leveling up dungeon more worth while. In addition to increasing quest experience for dungeon quests, we're also upgrading all pre-bc dungeon boss drops to blue quality items. Some examples are listed below:

Ragefire Chasm
Robe of Evocation old: +3 Stamina, + 4 Intelligence
Robe of Evocation new: +4 Stamina, +5 Intelligence, and +5 Spell Critical Strike Rating

Deadmines
Smite's Reaver old: +2 Strength, +1 Stamina, +1 Spirit, 11.1 dps
Smite's Reaver new: +2 Strength, +3 Stamina, +2 Hit Rating, 14.5 dps

Shadowfang Keep
Robes of Arugal old: +3 Agility, +5 Stamina, +9 Intelligence, +10 Spirit
Robes of Arugal new: +3 Spirit, +5 Stamina, +9 Intelligence, +12 Spell Damage

As you can see there is much in-store for the next major content patch, particularly a number of changes designed to benefit players who are leveling a character. Though we've given you a few examples of the things to come, we think everyone will pleasantly surprised when they see the full extent of the changes discussed above.

So, there you have it. Pretty good stuff, eh?

-Matt Graham

Toyotacraft - 10.6.2007

The following video premiered for the first time today as a commercial for the Toyota Tacoma during a Georgia/Tennessee football game. It's pretty frickin' funny. "Did you see me lay down the law? I am the lawgiver!"



-Matt Graham

Worlf of Warcraft - 10.3.2007

Note to scammers: When you claim to be the Wrath of the Lich King development team and are attempting to scam someone out of their WoW account...

1. Spell "World of Warcraft" correctly. Dumbasses...
2. Don't say that you're the development team - they don't give out the beta keys.
3. Don't use an obvious hyperlink. It's fairly easy for the person to copy + paste the URL and find out that said "URL" linked isn't a real site. *cough, http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wotlkbeta, cough*
4. Review your Greek alphabet. C'mon now, you can do it. Alpha comes BEFORE Beta.
5. Spell "World of Warcraft" correctly. Oops, already said that one.

P.S. - You can click the above picture for a larger version.

-Matt Graham