185 – The Instance: I Need Fifty Dollars To Take You To Halaa

Everyone Is Talking About The New Store Items
Blizzard surprised us on Thursday with the release of the Celestial Steed in-game mount and the Lil’ XT companion pet, as purchasable items in the Blizzard store. The Celestial Steed is a starry supernatural horse that sprouts wings in Outland and Northrend, and flies at +310% of your run speed, if you already have a 310-mount. ‘Lil XT is a miniature version of that memorable Ulduar boss – XT-002 Deconstructor.

Vashj’ir Looks Wet
It’s a level 78–82 zone coming in Cataclysm where players will be called to explore the depths of the Great Sea and stop the naga from seizing immeasurable power from the realm of Neptulon the Tidehunter. This expansive underwater zone will feature an unprecedented fight for survival against the naga overwhelming the area, several new quest hubs — including Alliance and Horde naval ships and submarines — all-new underwater travel and combat mechanics, several pocketed undersea caves free from water’s grip, two new five-player dungeons (Throne of the Tides and Abyssal Maw), and the first-ever opportunity to explore the remains of the once-majestic city of Vashj’ir!

Would Blizzard Alter The Level 40 Gear Switch?
A poster named Tamryel delivered a veritable manifesto on the subject of changing the way players consider gear for their lower-level characters, and got an interesting response from Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street a couple of days ago. Tamryel’s complaint was that loot drama is something that this game has far too much of and should be limited, and his suggestion was that Blizzard do two things differently: make the armor type a class wears at endgame the armor type they wear at level 1, and prevent each class from equipping a different armor type.

The Blizzard Friday Night Developer Chat
You had questions, and Blizzard answered some of them. Friday night was the most recent round of Blizzard’s online text chat with the community, and a couple of our biggest questions were addressed.

Town Cryer
It’s an all-calls Town Cryer!

A More Elite Armory
You know how, like everyone else in the entire world of Warcraft – you hate gearscore? You hate it with a passion and so does everyone else. Except you still run three different mods that incorporate gearscoring and secretly, you feel quite conflicted about this. Well conflict no more! The elitist armory gives you much, much more to scrutinize about that complete stranger who wants in on your Sarth + 3 drakes run than you ever imagined.