Outlands, here we come

Soon it's time to install the expansion and enter the Outlands. All major cities were buzzing with activities of players getting ready, sorting their bags and buying or selling last-minute. Over the last one and a half weeks i got the impression some people sold their last shirt at the AH for absolute cheapo-price to free up space. Some raid communities sold their entire bank as they did split up to regroup in smaller communities in TBC. That the expectations are high is not only shown by some morons yelling in IF that they can't await it anymore or the flash countdowns you can see on all major WoW fansites, but also at the frustration & concerns of players after the last two mini-patches, which broke more then they fixed. Do i expect the expansion launch to run smoothly? Hell no! That's why I'm rather relaxed about what will happen. I won't get my copy before tomorrow afternoon, as the store by accident ordered the wrong game version. They ordered a German version, but i play with the international one. Luckily, how it looks now, they could fix it.

If all hell breaks loose, here are two links you might want to keep handy:
Expansion Account Upgrade
Account Management

If you did not really bother yet about what and how things will happen, you could also read the official Burning Crusade Expansion FAQ. So what more to prepare for tomorrow? Are you already choosing which Flying Mount
you should choose at 70? BTW, isn't it lame that all epic gryphons look the same? Couldn't they at least have some different basic colors, like the normal ones?
Here are more links i found to Outland maps, which might prove handy for orientation:
Complete Outland Overview Map (with flight paths)
Zone Maps with POIs

I also saw two small videos you might find interesting. The first one is a preview for the Exploration The Escapade, a long awaited exploration video by Fanatik. Watch the Preview here. The other one is a small vid that shows how to enter the "stages" inside the AH and how to climb various buildings in Everlook, not really new stuff, but some might not know that. Check it out here.

So see you in the Outlands! And if you should find dropped alchemy recipes, contact me ingame, I'll pay premium prices for the ones i don't have.

PS: If you are a fan of ItemSync, like I am, here is the good news... finally the new version is out!

The Dark Portal becomes porous

Yo Thulf! Where have you been? That's a question i was often asked over the last days. But you know how it is.. xmas & NY, some holidays, good food and such. I reloaded my batteries for the upcoming expansion. So yes, I'll be here with you for the new adventures to come.

The last patch brought us the "opening event" for the Dark Portal. Tons of demons coming through.. but boy, what a disappointment. Again a situation i ask myself why i pay a monthly fee. Such a lame implementation... even if they would have revoked the undead invasion again that would have been more fun. So what do we get? Only one quest and Kruul (raid boss) roaming around as Kazzak left through the portal. The quest tabard is just the standard AD design - yay for time invested in cool new models Blizzard. *rolleyes* Then i rather play a warcraft inspired flash game like Tower Defense instead of crappy new stuff. /rant over

The last patch broke a few mods and also gifted us with a bunch of bugs - like not correct working raid promotes, etc. - which result in players asking Blizzard "Are you prepared?", referring to the expansion. I'm not sure yet how well it will be handled with the storm of players.

In preparation for TBC, here are links that might aid you for the start:
- Burning Crusade Maps with Locations
- Noob's Guide to Outland
- Reputations FAQ in BC

There are tons of pics and movies out from the beta server, most are rather bad or boring. I'm still waiting on teh final exploration movie... but in the meantime you can drool over Warrior T6 models
or check out this movie: Karazhan (Unskilled) [416 Mb]

On a final note, i updated my addon list to the right again. Minor changes like link fixes to new versions and such mainly. The most interesting new mod i installed is PartySpotter, which adds visibility for raid members with group numbers on your map. Some more features, go check it out. And for all fishermen, you can rejoice: The new Fishing Buddy beta brought the EasyCast function back.

You are not prepared

...that's at least what Illidan seems to think in the new BC Trailer (high-quality), now officially released by Blizzard in much better quality. As always a treat for your visual senses. ;)

As you can see on the pictures and most likely saw for yourself in WoW, christmas time is near and the larger cities are decorated for the Winter Veil fest. I'm not going to list all the things you can do over the holidays again. As my blog is around for over a year, just have a look in the archive for last december, nothing really changed.

If you're raiding, I'm sure your raid found some shaman loot as well? Yesterday in BWL we got 2xshaman on Razorgore, 2xshaman on Vael and one shaman later on as well. If you see the loot you only think "you must be fucking kiddin' me Bliizard!" Yes, we all know it will not change and we have to live with it until TBC comes out, but honestly.... how many of you think Blizzard was just lazy and implemented a lot of bugs/chaotic stuff with the last patch? I'm sure most will raise their hands.

Talking about faulty implemented things with the last patch, i recently got a tip you can buy figurines (crafted via jewelcrafting) in Theramore. The vendor is probably supposed to sell the designs, but atm she sells the crafted figurines. Helenia Olden sells (rare supply, but fast respawn) for 60s those two figurines:
Figurine - Truesilver Crab
Figurine - Black Pearl Panther

Not really very useful for a level 60, but maybe one or the other rogue would like the panther. But for characters at the appropriate level it's cheap and very good trinkets. Careful tho, as they are both BoP. Oh yes, and they'll summon small pets for the time the effect will be used.

As a final note: Did you use an item DB as well? Maybe even ItemSync? I really miss that mod and don't really want to switch, as it was better coded then most others for the large amount of data to store. Here is the good news for you: Derkyle is still around and works on an updated version of ItemSync. Yay! Let's hope it will be finished soon, so i can collect item links again. ;)