Rob Pardo at the GDC

Rob Pardo, Blizzard's Executive Vice President of Game Design, held a panel at the Game Developers Conference the other day about the success of World of Warcraft; what Blizzard did and didn't do right.

Go to wow.com to see a summary, complete with images.

Recently, I have been doing Argent Tournament dailies with Gaiwyn. I initially intended to save up for one of the heirloom trinkets to make levelling Kynthaea easier when Cataclysm hits (as I have upgraded her gear significantly). But now, I want to see if I can get the 150 Champion's Seals that I need to purchase a Silver Covenant Hippogryph.

It would also be nice to get a Great Red Elekk, a Swift Gray Steed, a Swift Moonsaber, a Swift Violet Ram and a Turbostrider -- each costing a mere 5 Champion's Seals and 400g (with faction discount).

I'm also hoping that they introduce a good range of new mounts in Cataclysm to make getting Mountain o' Mounts much more possible, and thus bringing my Blue Dragonhawk within reach.

Not much else to report. I play when I can and have been trying to recruit for my guild. It's hard to find casual players that are patient enough to stick around while we find other casual players.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Shaman

Couldn't think of a better title for this post.

Since my warrior is 80 and I don't have time to find groups for running even normal Trial of the Champion, I simply log her now to do the Argent Tournament dailies. Once I have 50 Champion's Seals, I'll be able to get two Claymores of the Prophet. Upgrading to a weapon with haste isn't really very good, but it will give me a slight DPS boost in preparation for chain instancing (normal Icecrown and Trial) once 3.3 hits. The gear won't exactly roll in, due to my limited play-time, but I should be able to gear up for heroics in a few weeks.

And so I decided to level another toon. My rogue and shaman are the only other two that have epic flyers, so I flipped a coin to see which one to give Cold Weather Flying to, and start playing.

I was leaning towards shaman anyway -- since his mount is way cooler and I had just levelled a melee toon -- so when the coin flip backed me up, I grabbed the tome and started carving (or at least lightning bolting) my way through Borean Tundra.

Now he's level 71, and I will try and play him as often as I can. I guess I got sick of playing my priest, but I'll get her through those last two levels eventually. I just feel like damaging stuff.

Also, it will be fun to level Engineering.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

You Must Equip A Lance

I've really cut back my play time. I have reached the second stage of the Argent Tournament with my Mage and specced my Priest as Holy-smite-batman. That's about all.

I created some guild forums for the sake of something to do, but don't really want to raid at this time. I'm enjoying life outside the game atm. Which really puts this blog in a strange place. Expect some updates but nothing major anytime soon.

Also, check out these two addons -- they are games that you can play... in-game.

/exit

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Hardcore Guild is Hardcore

Ensidia has downed Yogg-Saron, the final boss of Ulduar.

Mind you, they are possibly the most hardcore guild in the world at present. And they, along with every other insane guild, have yet to complete Ulduar on "hardmode". Let's just hope that it really will be a serious gear check, and that no one will even get to Algalon the Observer for a few weeks yet.

In other news, I started on the Argent Tournament today. I will try and log in each day to do the dailies and work towards not only becoming a Champion representative, but also to earn enough tokens to get both the ground and flying mounts that are available.

A Mage with a lance. Funfun. >.<

My Warlock is level 30, finally. And I will try and find time also to play my Priest a bit. I will be speccing Discipline next time I log her. I just miss healing. ^_^

Of course, I will fill the build out as I level, until it is 57/14/0. I look forward to healing heroics!

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

3.1 Commences

And patch 3.1 fell hurtling from the sky like a screaming comet, inadvertently bent on the destruction of free time and real life priorities and commitments.

It's upon us at last: the biggest content patch for quite some time, and the first major patch of the current instalment of the game. Highly anticipated by every ilk, whether raider or casual altaholic, PvPer or socialite, patch 3.1 brings a lot of welcome changes and additions to the game.

[Official Ulduar Trailer]

Check it:
Ulduar, with its 14 bosses -- including the old god, Yogg-Saron --, varying tiers of difficulty, and over 800 new pieces of equipment -- including the much anticipated and coveted Tier 8 armor.
The Argent Tournament in Icecrown -- sure to keep most of us occupied for weeks, if not months to come -- with its daily quests, achievements, mounts and other items.
Dual-spec.
Class talent tree changes -- and we get all of our talent points refunded (meaning free respecs for everyone!).
Many profession changes -- including additional recipes, changes to buff durations, tweaking of oldschool items, etc.
And a whole lot more additions, tweaks, fixes and changes. [3.1 Patch Notes]

I really miss raiding. I wish that I was given the opportunity to raid Ulduar, but with my inability (and unwillingness) to commit to a specific raiding day or time, it makes raiding all but impossible. I will, however, be cheering on various high-end guilds in their race to complete Ulduar and defeat Yogg-Saron, garnering them the server first achievement and some form of strange geek respect for having no lives and achieving something so monumental in a mere virtual world.

It is time to dust off my Mage's robes and fire up those afterburners. I want to try and enjoy what content I do get to experience with these additions and changes to the game.

Let the Secrets of Ulduar begin.

Long live the Alliance!

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore