The Instance! World of Warcraft Podcast

Randydeluxe December 23rd, 2008

Big News Of The Week

Pulling The Veil Back On Winter’s Feast

Today is day eight of the eighteen days of The Feast Of Winter’s Veil in-game. Blizzard expanded Winter’s Veil this year to account for the achievements system, draw players into Northrend, and most importantly, give you even more reasons than before to recover the stolen gifts from the Abominable Greench and rescue that constant hostage, Metzen the Reindeer. Winter’s Veil is all about fun, so we decided to spend some time having fun with the various bits of the event that you might otherwise miss, or just plain didn’t know about.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Blizzard Needs Money, Turns To Panhandling

Or, as the argument in favor of it goes, Blizzard decided this week to make a bit better use of some very valuable landscape on the Internet: their WoW forums where hundreds of thousands of eyeballs look every day at pages that are now serving up advertisements for such things as the WoW Miniatures Game and SwagDog. The majority of players we heard from on the subject were either mildly bothered, quite annoyed, or downright apalled. But don’t forget, you don’t have to see the ads at all.

Felicia Day And The Guild Make The LA Times

Here’s a nice little article in the LA Times about our favorite fictional misanthropes, and some interesting tidbits about The Guild directly from Felicia Day, the much-loved writer, producer and costar of that show.

Town Cryer

Keith M. writes:

What are your thoughts on Star Trek Online?

Nick M. writes:
I was buying a epic speed raptor mount from the vendor in Sen’jin Village yesterday, and I noticed he had 2 low level quests. These quests entailed turning in a Violet or Red raptor for something cooler. How do I get these epic Violet or Red raptors, when was this quest added to the game, and what do I get if I turn in one or both of those mounts?

Drop Of The Week

Echoes Of War Hits iTunes

When the Blizzard music super-package Echoes Of War went on sale a month ago, there were some eyebrows raised by the $50 price tag of the legendary edition. This week, Blizzard completed the offering of Eminence performing music from WoW and Diablo 3, among others, by releasing the full track list in iTunes. You can buy Volume One for $5.94. You can purchase Volume Two  for $8.91 in iTunes right now. All of the songs are available as ringtones, as well!

And this week, we’re giving away a pack of five UpperDeck Loot cards. The pack contains: Footsteps Of Illidan, Personal Weather Maker, Gone Fishin’, Papa Hummel’s Old Fashioned Pet Biscuit, and Slashdance.

Additional show content provided by Mean Gene, Patrick from France, Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, TypeFrag and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.

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Randydeluxe December 14th, 2008

Big News Of The Week

Blizzard Announces Patch 3.0.8, Changes Everything

Well, not really. But when the preliminary patch notes for version 3.0.8 of WoW came out this week, there was a lot yelling. And a little crying. Mostly questioning. And some rejoicing. We run down the big spots of bother.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

A Deluxe Edition Of The Minis Game, Just In Time For Winter’s Veil

If you still have some shopping to do, and who doesn’t, Blizzard may have the fix for the WoW lover in your life: A deluxe edition of the WoW Miniatures game just hit the Blizzard store. It has everything two people need to play: two 3-figure parties from the playable factions (Alliance, Horde, or Monster), as well as matching gameplay bases, one of three different deluxe game boards with moveable terrain pieces (Ashenvale, Tanaris, or Winterspring), and a World of Warcraft TCG preview pack.

Re-Customization Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry

Ready for a new look in World of Warcraft, but the barbershop’s just not cutting it? You can now change a character’s gender, face, skin color, and other cosmetic features (such as tauren horn styles or a night elf’s facial markings) using the brand-new Character Re-Customization service. Available at the Account Management page for a flat fee of $15, Character Re-Customization covers all available cosmetic options for a single character and includes an optional name change to go with your new look.

In Case You Never Got To Fight The Farting Princess

Blizzard blue poster Daelo announced this week that old world instances are going to be a lot easier to enter and complete for characters who have never done them before. Specifically, “The ritual objects that used to require 3 players to activate in Blackrock Spire and Uldaman now only require 1. You no longer need quintessence to summon Majordomo Executus. You no longer need the Scepter of Celebras to teleport to the final section of Maraudon. You no longer need the Mallet of Zul’Farrak to summon Gahz’rilla.”

Town Cryer

We talk to Instance listener Lisa Curley, AKA Zewt, about the rampant misogyny on The Instance, as well as the fragility of women.

Also,

Daniel C. writes:
I play Kuniyo a Dwarven Hunter on Galakrond. I was talking with my guild master the other day about the guild bank and keeping it organized. The way he has done things in the past was to just vendor things that have been in the bank for a while. I suggested that it might be better to just toss the stuff on the AH for more guild profit. The problem I have is I have the memory of a goldfish and can’t remember what was in the guild bank and what wasn’t. Do you know of a mod that would help me keep track of this kind of problem?

Ryan M. writes:
I live in British Columbia, Canada and I was wondering if since I won’t be getting Wrath of the Lich King until Christmas if there was anything I should do before getting the Expansion.

Double Drop Of The Week

Blizzard Goes High-Def

One of the design goals for Wrath of the Lich King was to elevate storytelling in World of Warcraft to new heights. Northrend is brought to life by engaging quests, memorable characters, beautiful environments, and the introduction of a brand-new feature: in-game cinematics. The first of these cinematics, The Wrath Gate, is now available for viewing and download on the Wrath of the Lich King website, and it’s presented in high definition. We’ve got a link to the movie, along with short story by Evelyn Fredericksen called “Glory”.

Get Yourself To Rochester, Or Just Support A Good Cause

Millennium Games and Hobbies in Rochester, NY is hosting a Minis event the weekend of December 19-21, and all the proceeds will go to Toys for Tots. In addition to helping a good cause, the event will feature some special and valuable prizes. Each event at Millennium Games will have an entry fee of $10, 20, 30 or $40, and prizes include several Red Bearon Loot Cards, dozens of minis booster sets, and the winners of the two main events will each receive two of the original four paint masters from the WoW Minis Starter set. If you can’t get to Rochester next weekend, do go to Toys For Tots and lend some support.

And This week, we’re giving away a pack of five UpperDeck Loot cards. The pack contains: Footsteps Of Illidan, Personal Weather Maker, Gone Fishin’, Papa Hummel’s Old Fashioned Pet Biscuit, and Slashdance. Listen to learn how to win this cool prize!!

Additional show content provided by Mean Gene, Patrick from France, Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, TypeFrag and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.

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Randydeluxe December 5th, 2008

Big News Of The Week

Armory Goes Invasive

The new WoW Armory went online on November 26th, leading to a storm of outcry over the level of character detail now being publicly published by Blizzard. Yesterday, Blizzard pulled back in response, taking out the wealth category from the armory, so that people cannot see how much gold your character has and has ever had.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Arena Season 5 Is Coming

We touched on it in the last episode of The Instance, and want to take a minute to talk about it now - Arena Season 4 is totally closed in-game (the team creation vendors are even mute) and Season 5 starts on December 17. That’s exactly two weeks from today. There are, however, skirmish brackets available (71-75 and 76-80). Also, the rumor is that those of you who are getting Season 4 rewards will be getting them on Tuesday during maintenance. That’s Tuesday, December 9th.

More Dots. More Dots. Come On Dots.

Blizzard Lead Encounter Designer Daelo posted an announcement yesterday on the official forums that the debuff limit on mobs has been removed. In case you never counted the dots, there was previously a limit of 40 debuffs that you could put on a single mob. Now, you could have thousands.

The Richard Bartle ‘Torture’ Kerfuffle

IncGamers ran a story last week that Bartle posted on his blog, youhaventlived.com, that he was upset by a quest in the Wrath Of The Lich King expansion. This caused all manner of debate online over the Thanksgiving holiday, and Bartle decided to post a follow-up to all of the opinion that he received because of the original post.

Town Cryer

Ferras writes:

Why is WoW so hot? I don’t get why WoW is so big. I am thinking about playing but i don’t understand what is so good about WoW.

Drop Of The Week

Coverville Goes For The Cash Value

We interview Brian and Tristan Ibbott, and find this useful website.

And this week, we award the winner of the Hippogryph Hatchling Card , provided by Tracielynn. Thanks, Tracielynn! Listen next week to to win another cool prize!!

Additional show content provided by Mean Gene, Patrick from France, Shawn Basic, Darrell the Tipgiver, and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to TypeFrag and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.

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Randydeluxe November 22nd, 2008

Big News Of The Week

Wrath Of The Lich King Shatters Sales Record

Blizzard announced on Thursday that the 2nd expansion to World Of Warcraft sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. This eclipses the previous record of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in 24 hours, set by The Burning Crusade.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Tabula Rasa To Go Bye-Bye

Only a year after the Richard Garriot-designed MMORPG Tabula Rasa launched, NCSoft announced yesterday that it will be discontinued on February 28th. Interestingly, they’re making it free-to-play starting on January 10.

Improving The Warlock Ritual Of Summoning

Anyone who has been looking for a warlock in Dalaran the last nine days knows that, at least until level 74, they’ve got the worst gig in town. It’s the place everyone wants to be, but it’s way up in the sky and unless you are summoned, ported or battleground-queued to Dalaran, you can’t get there until level 74. Mages have it good. They can port you to Dalaran from wherever they are and charge you up front. But Warlocks don’t get that racket. They have to get two other people in Dalaran to help, they have to have a stack of soul shards, ect. Blizzard has finally decided to improve the warlock ritual of summoning. According to community manager Vaneck, the spell will be improved in the very next patch (pre 3.1), and will now create a meeting stone that can be re-used for up to five minutes to summon everyone in a raid.

Who Is The Real Prince Of Darkness?

Blizzard introduced two new television advertisements this week. The first starred Steven van Zandt, who played Silvio on The Sopranos, in an homage to Godfather 3. The second starred the real Prince Of Darkness, non other than Ozzy Osbourne!

Town Cryer

Dark Winter writes:

I play Wintess on the Outland EU realm and I’ve got a Lich King question for you both. I’ve recently bought the expansion here in the UK and also got a copy of the collectors edition box from the USA. So yes, I have 2 copies of the game. My question is thus: would the USA key be able to activate the expansion on an EU account?
The North American WoW Support site.
The European WoW Support site.

Savrockk on the Firetree server writes:
A Long time ago you guys talked or mention an addon that would take like 40% of the silver/copper/gold from mobs and save it away. What was that addon called? Since WOTLK is out i want to save some money.

Depositbox can be found here.

Drop Of The Week

Check Your Mail For Baby Bears

We started getting reports this morning that Blizzard is sending out a unique companion pet to players in the game - a Baby Blizzard Bear! At least, we’ve heard from a few Oceanic players, for whom it is already Sunday, November 23rd. We don’t know much about the Baby Bear yet, including the most important question - what determines whether or not you receive one, but we’ve seen a couple of screenshots, and it’s adorable.

And this week, we’re giving away a Hippogryph Hatchling Card, provided by Tracielynn. Thanks, Tracielynn! Listen to win!!

Additional show content provided by Mean Gene, Patrick from France, Shawn Basic, Darrell the Tipgiver, and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to TypeFrag and Godaddy for sponsoring this episode.

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Randydeluxe November 15th, 2008

Big News Of The Week

The Lich King Likes You And Wants To Be Your Friend

As you may or may not have heard, a little change came to World Of Warcraft yesterday, with the launch of a mostly insignificant patch that even has it’s own title - Wrath Of The Lich King. We’ve rarely seen something so small create so much hysteria.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

My Bull Wants To Be A Cow

At the Wrath launch event early yesterday, Oli Welsh from Eurogamer got to speak to Blizzard’s Paul Sams and Lee Sparks, who indicated that Blizzard is close to allowing players to go back and reverse decisions made in the character creation process. They added that the charge was intended as a “deterrent” to stop players using the feature all the time, similar to the existing name change and server transfer services.

Even Cowgirls Get Realm Queues

For many players, logging in to play Wrath Of The Lich King for the first time meant enduring something painful for the first time - a queue to get into their realm. Blizzard has a lot of free transfers now available for both US and EU players, and we don’t know if they are going to solve the crowding problem, but if you’re looking for a new home, it might just be Fizzcrank.

Want To Start Over Completely?

Surprisingly, Blizzard opened an all-new realm this week: Grizzly Hills. It’s a PvE (normal)in the US Eastern time zone, and belongs to the Retaliation battlegroup. Before you ask, yes, the Ahn Quiraj gates on Grizzly Hills are closed, and they are not allowing transfers of existing characters into the realm. Ever wondered what it felt like when WoW first went live? Wondering what a realm with only 5 pages on the auction house and ZERO death knights feels like? Here you go.

Here’s Your Random Mount Macro

This could have been the drop of the week, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry, and the question has been coming in all over the place: How do I get the right mount in version 3 of WoW, what with Northrend not being flyable yet and all that. Answer? Use this macro:

#showtooltip Swift Red Wind Rider
/run if IsMounted() then Dismount() return end local t if IsFlyableArea() then t={7} else t={1,2,5,6,8} end CallCompanion(”MOUNT”,t[random(#t)])
/dismount [mounted]

And read all about it here.

Drop Of The Week

Can You Smell What The Lich King Is Cookin’?

You need sites. We has them.
WoWInsider’s Wrath 101 Post
The WoWHead Complete WOTLK Guide
MapWoW’s Northrend Revelation

Additional show content provided by Mean Gene, Patrick from France, Shawn Basic, Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to TypeFrag and Godaddy, and DogHouse Systems for sponsoring this episode.

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