Weekend (14 Nov) - Cata Meanderings

Weekend (14 Nov) - Cata Meanderings

Random thought - I'm glad the new expansion has the simple nickname "Cata." I got really tired of having to type WotLK all the time.

The whole idea of goblins and worgen suddenly diminished for me when Blizzard announced on Wednesday that players would be able to pay for faction/race changes for both goblins and worgen starting with the last patch before Cata. I thought the whole idea of having two new races was to get a lot of folks leveling up in the remade world of the Cataclysm? Now we are going to have level 80 worgen and goblins before Cata even gets here. Most players love this idea, by the way, and certainly Blizzard loves the $25 you have to pay to make the switch. I still plan on leveling an alliance worgen from level 1 to as high as I can get him/her.

As for the Horde goblin . . . I wonder how Happy would feel about being turned into a goblin? What do you think? Maybe we could change his name, too. How about Hapless?

There are also some seemingly tough bugs in the Cata beta, serious enough that the rumors are starting to fly that the 7 Dec release date might be in jeopardy. Things I have been hearing about:

* The latest tweaking to the beta has resulted in a bizarre stunting of the troll player race. All trolls appear at a tenth of their actual size and look like paper cutouts. Apparently the developers haven't been able to figure out what is causing this.

* There is some kind of problem with the worgen race, unspecified, although a fix was supposedly in the works.

* In the old world of Azeroth, players can't fly on the two original continents. In Cata, players can use their flying mounts. However, apparently many beta players find themselves falling to their death after taking to the skies. If they can't fix it maybe Blizzard will just incorporate it into the game. After all, in the current game engineers can make items that only work some of the time, and occasionally explode when used. Maybe the use of flying mounts in the old world will come with a warning that flying could be hazardous to their health.

Or, here's an idea, mayhaps they should use those tiny, flat trolls as the image on their flying warning. You know, THIS could happen to you! :P

Oh, and who doesn't remember Gamon? If you're horde, that is. Gamon lives in the Orgrimmar city Inn and is regularly killed as part of a quest. Lots of other folks that don't even have the quest go out of their way to kill him just for fun. He's famous. And unloved. In Cata it's payback time. Gamon has graduated into a level 85 elite. I wouldn't mess with that bad boy now.

There are some more pre-Cata quests to do, which I'll get to in another post. Things are getting crazier. The earthquake rumblings are getting more frequent and more fierce. The leaders of Azeroth grow more worried. Blizzard is doing a great job of setting the stage, as well as pre-staging events with so that they can advance the story more often and at different times than the usual Tuesday maintenance cycle.

Oh, I checked with the recount addon author and got an answer on why Efflorescence is not showing up on the healing meters. Blizzard categorizes different things different ways, and for some unknown reason Blizzard has designated Efflorescence a "guardian" spell, spells typically associated with pets. So, I can split out "pet" heals and see it as a separate category, but the author has no way of splitting it out and showing it in the overall healing numbers. Oh well.

I decided to buy the Cataclysm digital download a couple of days ago. Cost me $40, and the 800MB file downloaded pretty fast. Theoretically, I will be able to install and play Cataclysm at the stroke of Midnight on 7 Dec. That is, assuming that the release date holds. And of course, barring however many last minute patches that might have to be downloaded, and considering how many millions of other players will be trying to login at the same time, and most likely dealing with server crashes and unforeseen bugs etc etc etc. The Mrs says she's sympathetic - she's giving me a week, but then she is dragging me off in the RV for a week away from home. My whole guild will be level 85 by the time I come back. Wives can be so cruel . . .