Getting what you see

Over at Raph's Place today, Raph posted some thoughts about WYSIWYG loot. Basically, the question is this:

If you see a mob with a spear, leather jerkin and sandals, why are you not able to loot that spear, leather jerkin and sandals when you kill it?

And, if you could, in what game could you best do this?

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Who DOES Blizzard need to fear?

A few conversations of late have been about particular games coming that post a threat to WoW. This topic picked up steam again because of the announced delay in the release of the expansion. Some feel Vanguard poses a thread. Others feel Warhammer Online (WHO or WAR, depending on your mood) does.

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WoW Expansion Delayed to Jan. 2007

Blizzard announced on their forums that the Burning Crusade expansion to World of Warcraft is going to be delayed until 2007.

I can appreciate why they say they're delaying it, I just don't know that I buy the reason.

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They get it: WoW’s new LFG tool

Blizzard launched a new sub-section previewing their new LFG tool.

Continue reading They get it: WoW’s new LFG tool…

WoW: Things I thought I’d never see

Last night I visited Molten Core with the guild, and we finished clearing all the way through to Ragnaros. This wasn't the guild's first time, but it was my own. And afterward I realized there have been a few things I've since in the last two months since returning that I never thought I would. Ever.

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Emergent Leadership

Upon returning to World of Warcraft after a nine month hiatus, I quickly realized the being focused just on Raiding wasn't going to cut it for me. Lots of reasons really, but the biggest one is Burning Crusade. With the increase in the level cap comes the increase in equipment one can get, both in soloable quests and small group ones. I don't mind the occasional Raid, but eventually it becomes a slot machine: you're just going through the motions until something drops.

So I decided to tip-toe a bit into PvP, specifically Battlegrounds. Oddly enough, being over a year late, I haven't been completely outclassed. And I'm playing what amounts to the least survivable template of a near-one-dimensional class.

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Supply and Demand at IGE

Over at Grimwell Online, Mank points to a post by Edward Castranova over at Terra Nova in which he mentioned IGE has stopped buying WoW gold. That post, and the thread at Grimwell, cover some of the significance of this.

I have some other thoughts.

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Planned sellout of Burning Crusade?

I've been to a few GameSpots over the past few days, because they happen to be in locations we take our family for shopping. I can't help myself though. I love playing dumb and asking the staff what they know about my genre. I never correct them either. I figure what's the point, they're there to the easy-to-sell console games anyway.

But I have learned two interesting things about their perception of WoW:

• Expected on-shelf date was November 28th. This means I was right. I love being right.
• Blizzard is only planning to ship 4 million units of Burning Crusade boxes.

Huh?

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Best played diversely

There's folks who play MMORPGs with a single-minded focus and dedication to rival a mercenary.

I'm not one of them.

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Leaks

This week seems to have been the official start of the Blizzard Alpha Test event, according to a few places. It took all of a few picoseconds before the entirety of the Alpha was leaked to the web.

Personally, this pisses me off enough for me to use the word "pisses" in a sentence. Doesn't anyone read and respect an NDA for an event to which they were a hand-picked invitee?

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