175 – The Instance: Ice Cream Citadel

Blood Queen Lana’thel Is Kind Of Spiky
The fabled third wing of Icecrown Citadel – called The Crimson Hall – opened for business this week, bringing the current in-game story back around to focus on the San’layn, those crazy vampire blood elves we’ve been taking out all over Northrend for over a year now, with a culminating encounter with their Queen. She’s got wings!

The Developer Chat Delivered
Just after we recorded the last episode of The Instance, Blizzard’s J. Allen Brack and Greg Street answered a bunch of your questions on Twitter. This was the 2nd gathering of such things by them on Twitter, and has been called by many a WoW-blogger far superior to the first… -Q. If damage and healing is too much per health ratio, then why don’t you have battlegrounds/arenas give a -30% damage/healing debuff? A. We have been talking about solutions like that. It might feel a bit awkward, but it might also solve the problem and maybe it’s okay in the last season before an expansion to experiment a little bit. -Q. When we reach level 58 in Cataclysm on Azeroth do we need to go to Outlands or can we continue leveling in Azeroth? A. You eventually need to do the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content. Azeroth will have a break in content between 60 and 80. -Q. For those of us who collect tabards and armor sets, do you see a way for us to store and not use our very limited inventory? A. Yes. We’d like to store them the same way you do titles. In general, we don’t want to punish the packrats out there who just like to collect stuff. -Q. What will Cataclysm have to offer for solo players? A. Cataclysm has a ton of new quests both in the new zones and in old familiar areas. There will be just a ton to do. Also if you’re a completionist casual type, one word: Archaeology. -Q. Can we expect a Canadian style pet for the Olympics this year? A. I will put in a request today for an epic moose mount, not sure if it will make it in though. -Q. What’s up with the pineapple wallpaper in Gadgetzan? A. You will soon see in Cataclysm that goblins have a somewhat inscrutable sense of taste. They also like tropical drinks.

Town Cryer
Meroluk the troll hunter from the Cenarion Circle realm writes: The new LFG tool came at an almost perfect time for me seeing as your first random of the day rewards you with 2 emblems of triumph. By the time I make 80 I should have a small stash saved and was wondering what pieces should be my first purchases with the emblems to get me ready for entry level raiding?

Grandpa of the Anvilmar server and of the Deep Threat guild writes: I was wondering what your views on names were. Do you think names should always be serious or are funny names fine too.

Aesliip of Anvilmar writes: I am greatly interested in the lore of warcraft, and being a writer and a lover of good stories, I am wondering if there any good fan fiction sites out there that I can check out and participate in.

Check these out!

Warcraft stories at Fan Fiction.net WoWWiki’s list of WoW stories Even more over at GamerTales

You Aren’t Ignoring People Enough
But it’s not your fault. You’re hindered a bit by limitations in-game on how many people you can ignore, and the LFG tool has introduced you to a whole new world of outlaws that you’d like to never meet again. What to do? The answer is Infinite Ignore.