New MoP Beta Mount

So I still don't have access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, but that's ok. I hear the content at the moment is pretty sparse and you get through it rather quickly. So Blizzard can make up for it by giving me access later so I have more to do. I have a feeling this request may actually get heard. Speaking of the beta though, a few days ago MMO champion showcased the new jewel crafting mounts which will be available. Before I comment on them take a look at them.

Now I know it is beta and models are not final, but really? I understand they are jewel crafting mounts and they want them to look as if they were carved out of jewels. At least that is what I would hope they were going for looking like this, but really? They look as if they are bringing Thundercats back from the dead in the worst way possible. I really can't stop looking at them and thinking "really?". Maybe it is just me though, but really? I honestly have no idea what to say. Maybe someone else has a better way to describe them so I am not at such a loss for words.

Forget Solar Power

Some of you may have seen the new Scarlet Monastery preview and if you haven't I suggest you take a look. Although it is shorter than the original, and may be disappointing to some because of this. The updates look like they are all for the better, and this is just the beginning of the beta. I would tell you what it feels like to play it directly, but Blizzard has this thing about not giving me beta access to anything. Wait that's not true I had access to classic WoW beta. It is like they have been punishing me for that.

Anyways, I saw this on Daily Blink and I thought not only was it priceless, but it contains the obvious humour which I know all of you can appreciate.

Yes, torturing Paladins is the greatest power source in history

Mists Of Pandaria Beta Is Live

Yes you have heard correctly. Now it is live and nothing has changed that I don't have access to it, but then that was expected. There is a ridiculous amount of information coming out, and I cannot begin to cover it as well as others. So have a look at MMO Champion for an unreal amount of coverage. There are models, items, mounts, and anything else you can possibly think of. Take your time look through it all and maybe it will do what it did for me. That is stop thinking about the decision with Garrosh. One thing to note is that some if not most of the models are in their testing phase so expect many changes to come from now and until release

You Fail At Talking About The MoP NDA Lift If...

Oh it is that time again. You guessed it Fail Day. I hope you would have guessed it since it is in the title and everything. That actually leads me to the question do people actually read the title of the post, or do they just go right to reading it? Or do they read the title and decide if they actually want to read it? Anyway, that has nothing to do with anything. Today we explore the failure that is talking about the NDA.

You Fail At Talking About The MoP NDA Lift If...

• You did it before yesterday
• You think the female Pandern looks worse then the female Worgen
• You fort some reason have a reason to complain about AoE looting
• You automatically when reading "build your own farm" that farmville had made its way into WoW
• You are complaining there is no mention of player housing
• You think account wide mounts are a bad idea
• You believe it is unfair that Human and Orcs get their models updated next even though they were the ones that started it all
• You disapprove of world bosses
• Even after a whole explanation of why no 15 man raids you still start forum thread upon forum thread complaining there is none
• Jaina complainers are still complaining
• You have a problem with them making archaeology more exciting
• You find issues with tank, or healer, or dps not being specifically needed in scenarios
• You guessed that a cloud serpent would be the Pandern Mount

and finally

• You didn't know Garrosh Hellscream will be the final boss of the expansion

There it is this week's edition of fail. Hope most of you are on the non-fail end.

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Yes, it is that time of the week again. What a week in gaming this past week and it continues this week. Sunday though in Gauss land means it is time for Ask Gauss. The post of the week where I answer questions sent to me throughout the week. If you are interested in sending in questions it is pretty simple, there is a link on the top right of the page or you can just email them directly to gaussafication@gmail.com. So with that out of the way let's get right into the questions.

You surprised with when the Diablo III release date is?


Actually I was thinking it was going to be late May or early June. So pretty close to what I was thinking, but glad it was on the earlier side of my thoughts. This is actually a game I have been waiting to play for an extremely long time. Also as a mathematician I am excited what analysis I can actually do on how a real time online economy is working, that being the Real Money Auction house. Now I don't think people will be making millions of dollars, but they will be making something with their free time playing a game, something which I think is quite interesting. Regardless May 15th cannot come soon enough.


Mist of Pandaria NDA is lifted on Monday, excited with the information and such?


Well to be honest from the previous lifts of NDAs with WoW expansions there wasn't much information that hasn't been given out already. The thing which is exciting to see is the screens and actually everything you have been told and talking about in practice. Also you get first hand critiques of everything which is available. So that is what I am excited to see and hear. If you think there are going to be new features that we haven't heard about you are going to be extremely disappointed. Be prepared though because once all the information becomes available there is going to be a huge explosion everywhere.


What is a game not many people know about, but you would suggest playing?


Worms Ultimate Mayhem. Great game to play by yourself or especially with others.

And we are done, questions answered for the week. If I didn't answer your question on here it doesn't mean that I won't just wait a little bit, and I will without a doubt get to it. Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Ask Gauss

Sunday, yes the end of the weekend is here. In addition I had to lose an extra hour of sleep because of the switch to daylights savings time. Completely messing with my routine. Regardless today is Sunday meaning it is time for Ask Gauss. The post of the week where I answer a few questions sent to me throughout the week. So without me going off on a rant that could take several minutes of reading time. I will just get right to it.

So the PvP Arena System will not be active when Diablo III Launches. Do you see this as poor design?


Diablo is and never will be a PvP game. It is not going to be balanced for it whatsoever, and will just be a side thing to the game as a whole. Diablo is about slaying demons and being immersed into the environment, and of course collecting pretty treasures while you are doing it. No one knows who long it will take up to level a character in Diablo III at the moment anyway therefore by the time you are actually max level and put some effort into your character then you may see the arena patch has already happened.


Think of WoW for a second. Battlegrounds where not there when the game launched and when they were actually put into the game they were not even close to being an effective way of leveling. Therefore players couldn't get a real use out of them until they were max level something which had just happened for most active players slightly before they came out.


Blizzard is a smart company. They know people want to play this game, and they know that delaying something which is a great extra, but not fundamental to the game will not have much backlash at all if any worth noting.


Have you seen the Encyclopaedia Blizzanica?


Oh I did and had the pleasure of reading it an its additions. For those of you who haven't read it you can check it out by clicking here. Of all of them I think this is my favourite

Loot - The centre of the gaming universe. These magical collections of pictures and numbers have in the past inspired lawsuits, murders, divorce, brawls, real money transactions, oral favours and tons and tons of QQ. It also follows laws of it's own that frequently differ from the laws of physics. Adventurers are frequently shocked the first time they swat the mosquito which has just landed on their ear and it proceeds to drop a three hundred kilogram battleaxe.

So with MoP Beta soon should we expect complain posts about no beta for you?

You know me so well don't you.

There you have it. Questions answered for the week. Hope you all got something out of it. Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Ask Gauss

Sunday here it is the last day of the weekend. An extremely beautiful weekend weather wise, well as good as you can expect in Canada at the beginning of March. So let's just leave it that I am in a pretty good mood. With it being Sunday you should know by now if you have been around long enough that this is the post of the week where I answer questions sent to me throughout the week. So with that in mind let's get to answering some.

With the revelation that Blizzard has gone through some layoffs can we assume this is the reason that Diablo III has been delayed?


Honestly they have stated that only 10% of the layoffs where made from development. I actually believe a lot of them where from Blizzcon committees, since there will be non this year. That being said still 10% were from development. Do I actually think this has delayed Diablo III? No. You see with the whole issue with the real money auction house in Korea and all of that Blizzard took some time to actually improve on the game since they had the time. In typical Blizzard fashion these adjustments are not just minor tweaks and they got over there head. This does mean that we will have to wait longer for the game, but it also means that the game we will receive will be better than expected since more time went into seeing how things were done.


Think of it this way. After an expansion to WoW is released they realize things that are good and things that are bad. The next time an expansion comes around they learn from what happened the first time, and therefore can make the experience that much better. With Diablo they were already able to do minor adjustments because the game itself had to be delayed to wait for the approval of the auction house. So it really is win win even if our win will be later in the year.


Do you think Mists of Pandaria is WoWs last shot?


The game has over 10 million currently active subscriptions. Does that seem like a game on its last legs? Honestly I think people are so focused on when WoW is going to "die" that every time a game comes out it has to be a killer, or every time an expansion comes out it will be the one that will ruin the game. Yes, the game has changed over the years and for the most part for the better. It has learned from its mistakes and other games mistakes and become the best selling and largest MMO for a reason. Why not focus on what the game is adding and if it is something you will enjoy rather than if the game will "die". 


Dr. Pepper or Coke?


Is that even a real question?

There you have it questions answered for the week. Hope you at least got something out of it. Enjoy the weather outside if you got something like what I have and take care for the rest of the weekend!

Yak Mount?

So it was recently confirmed by Bashiok that the Yak we saw in the screenshot of Mists of Pandaria will actually be available for a mount. If you haven't seen the screen

This being confirmed is leaving to all sorts of speculation that this will be the Pandren's offical mount. This I really doubt as it just doesn't seem to fit at all. I believe this will be something more like the mammoths were in Northrend. This would also open the doors for them to create a new Travelers mount which has more useful materials. This does lead into, what is the Pandaren mount going to be? There has been talk of a dragon, frog, a rickshaw, and then there is the people who think it could even be a giant red ball. Of all of those I would love to see a dragon type mount. Obviously it cannot be a dragon as we currently know it in WoW, because that wouldn't make too much sense. It can be something which is a dragon like serpent, which in my opinion would be nothing sort of epic.

Ask Gauss

Yes it is that time of the week again. It is Sunday the day of the week where we run through all of our emotions because the weekend is just about over and we are starting to realize it. But time to stop being depressing, Sunday is also time for Ask Gauss the post of the week where I am put on the spot and answer questions that were sent to me throughout the week. So without waiting any longer let's get to it.

Do you believe that Blizzard just wants to just put this expansion out as quickly as possible and as it is in pretty much its current state?

This question has been asked in quite a few forms in the past few weeks. I assume this is because Blizzard is showcasing all their content lately. Now many are comparing this to how much was added with Cataclysm. The whole 1-60 content, but what you have to remember that truly wasn't added with Cataclysm. It was extra that was a revamp of old content, which was given to everyone regardless if you purchased Cataclysm or not. When you really look at it content added at the time of release of expansions it really isn't as much as you think. 1-2 raids, a few 5 mans and the 2-3 new features. Those features being races, or a class or something along the line of pet battles. So I really think what we have see is what we will get in regards to MoP, but that doesn't mean it is minimal content compared to past expansions, if anything it is actually more.

What do you think will happen to Mal'Ganis?

Another popular question and even more so after the last Fail post. Mal'ganis I think is a weird one because his story and lore is surrounded by the Lich King. While the other dreadlords have other connections to story arcs. Thos being directly related to the burning legion. I do think we will see Mal'ganis again in all likely hood it will be in the Argus or Burning Legion expansion, but myself and I would assume others who are involved in the lore will be rather confused how he compared to some other dreadlords will fit into the plot. Blizzard has found ways around this before and I am sure they won't have issues, but it is just something to think about.

Are you going to become a pet battle master?

I don't think so.

There you have it, questions answered for the week. Hope you all got somethings answered or at least got something out of it. For those waiting for it, next week's reader post I want to know what you think will happen with Mal'Ganis. As always thank you to everyone who submitted questions it wouldn't be possible to do this post without them. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War

So you all know that I am a huge fan of the lore of Warcraft. I am also not bias, although I am Horde for life. I do not exclude myself from being up to date on all the Alliance Lore, as well. I like to be informed and able to answer any questions about the universe in general and make predictions on what could occur in the future. Why? Because sitting back and waiting for everything to happen is not fun to me. Being told and not being able to question it doesn't fly with me either. If something doesn't make sense I will say right away why it doesn't. I will also be right there to defend why something could work. Perfect example of that is the Tauren adaption to the light to become Priests and Paladins. So what does this have to do with anything? Well simple, you can now pre-order the book called Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War.

The release date is set at the moment for June 12 2012. Now obviously this book is about Jaina and expanding of her character, but it is my opinion that this book is the precursor for Mists of Pandaria expansion. Just like Arthas: Rise of the Lich King and The Shattering, were for the previous expansions. This is the book that will give us all the background information on what is to come. Now I am not just saying this because it is the next book coming out, although I could have. The key I believe is in "tides of war". We know the expansion is going to be about the intensifying conflict between the Horde and the Alliance, but one thing to take note of is we know the Horde attacks and takes Theramore, and who rules Theramore? Well Jaina of course. This will be the event that sets off everything. Also remember where Jaina comes from Kul'Tiras, a naval nation, what is the event that the Horde and the Alliance end up on Pandaria? A large Naval battle. Coincidence? I think not.

Also this book serves as a purpose to shut up all the Alliance who are all over Blizzard for expanding on the Horde lore and never touching the Alliance. Something which is completely false, but it should shut them up. So excited, interested? Of course, but until then I will be speculating about it like crazy.

You Fail At Complaining About The New Expansion If...

Tuesday! Meaning Fail Day, yes that is right it is that time again. Time to sit back and poke fun at those who Fail. Isn't this a wonderful world we live it. Last week on Fail Day we made fun of people who failed at knowing nothing about the new expansion this week we will poke fun at those who keep complaining endlessly. I know I cannot wait either so let's just get right into it.

You Fail At Complaining About The New Expansion If...

• You think it needs a big baddie get over it there isn't one
• You're a pally because you have lost your ability to complain to Death Knights
• You are going on and on about pet battles.
• You are a melee Hunter
• You are a range Warrior
• You have said "where is my dance studio?"
• You think world pvp is stupid
• You think Pandaren's are for children
• You think the monk class is the absolute worst idea for a class ever
• You are a druid who is pissed off you are going to lose gear to monks
• You think everyone will race change to Pandaren for the food buff racial
• You think MoP is a stupid acronym
• You are going on and on about them making WoW competitive
• You think it is a complete ripoff of Kung fu Panda
• You believe this is Blizzard's way to get into the Asian market

and finally

• You think the game is finished

There you have it this week's edition of Fail, hope you are not one of the many that fail this week. And for this week's quote one that many forget, but one that I think works perfectly for what is to come.

"You will hear my story! You will hear it and understand...for there is a worse danger on the horizon, one which touches us as well."

Good luck this reset!

The MoP Reveal

It is Friday and wow that week went by so fast didn't it? Well it did for me at least. Last week at this time we were all getting pumped up and excited for Blizzcon. All ready for anticipation for what was going to be revealed to us. That was why on Sunday I wanted to know what all of you were most excited for with everything which was revealed to us. So without waiting any longer here is what some of you said.

I am one of those weird people that are looking forward to the pet battles. When you are sitting around doing nothing this will be something that will pass the time. Not to mention the fact that you can name them and give them something directly related to your character for RP purposes.

Account wide achievements without question. You see I am an altaholic and some months I play one character and then the next patch I will play another. So my achievements are wide spread, but overall I would probably be close to the 10k level if they were all combined. So when you look at one toon which has 3k it makes me look like a noob compared to someone with 7k, which is very far from the truth.

Instance Challenges finally a balanced way to compete on the server a way for us to see who is actually better at something when gear is not an issue. I remember when you talked about them doing this for Arenas how it would help with it being a true test of skill, which is why I am surprised they didn't put something to do with them as well. I really like the idea of a leader board though, and I really hope they will eventually add this concept to raids in the future.

Pandas! Could it be anything else? Well it could be the monk class! Two things I have been waiting for them to put in the game since it started. I am also extremely happy they did not go the hero class route because I feel completely that it would destroy peoples opinion of the class itself.

No flying till make level. While they are at it they should take flying out all together. I think it takes away a lot from the game. I understand the convenience thing, but flying to me just takes away a lot from the experience of the game. I makes it so you are less involved in everything. Since that will never happen though I can settle with the fact that they are at least taking it out until level 90.

There you have it. Thanks to everyone who submitted something it is as always very much appreciated. Without your submissions there would be no Reader Post. If you are interested in participating in next week's post look for the topic during Sunday's Ask Gauss topic. Until then have a great weekend everyone!

The Pet Battles

So I have never seen such uproar about something so simple that is being added to the game that people threaten to quit or go berserk over something being added to a game. Now there I times when things are being taken out or changed that has made players quite angry. Things like this although I probably didn't agree with them I understand why they may be upset. But adding a feature? Seriously?

For those who don't know what pet battles is. Blizzard is basically adding a combat feature where your non combat pets can battle. Basically Pokemon inside of WoW. There thinking is this is just something else for people to do rather than just standing around. Pokemon something I am not interested in mainly because when that came around I was already pasted those thins. Other WoW players and a lot of them I would think grew up during the craze. Regardless I am not interested in this type of system doesn't mean I will not try it and will not just mess around with it. I probably wouldn't ever take it too seriously, but it does make your non combat pets you have been collecting for years have a purpose. Now this being my opinion here is the argument against them.

Developer time has to be allocated to be spent on different things that people in different interests have been asking for. You can't stretch Dev time to buy three things for the price of one. They chose one thing, and the two other things that people have been asking for have been put off for an unknowable amount of time.


People are upset because the pet battle system is a feature that, frankly, people see as an activity that does not fit in with the scheme of WoW, and feel that the developer time could have been spent on other features that does more for the immersion and assistance for pre existing features in the game such as, for example, guild/player housing or the dance studio.

The issue that people have is that it's such a side niche of interest appeal that it really is something that stands far apart from the other features of the game and could ultimately wind up serving a very small audience that does not justify the amount of developer time that was invested in it compared to other features that could have been.
 
Now this does sound like a pretty good argument. Lets agree that the dance studio and pet battles are basically on the same level. I think people can agree to that. In regards to guild or player housing I don't see Blizzard adding this ever because it removes people from the community. They don't like how at the moment people are running around cities doing nothing, but waiting for raids and queues. Mists of Pandaria is bringing people out into the world again. So why would they put in a feature that keeps people away form everyone else? They wouldn't.
 
Now back to the dance studio vs pet battles. The dance studio although they have probably worked on it in some regard would require a lot of work to implement. With that in mind back when Mountain Dew made the WoW red/blue game fuel you could get those in game tank pets that could battle each other. With that in mind, if they already had a basic structure for this pet battle system in place, it may not take as much developer time as many seem to think it would. So they can add a brand new system with minimal coding on their part, and something that will help players pass the time. When you look at it, that is all it is a mini game to help players pass the time. It is not a way that they are slowly changing the demographic of WoW like all the crazy people think.

You Fail Knowing Anything About The New Expansion If...

Tuesday, meaning Fail Day is here. The day of the week where we see how much you or anyone you know fails. All in good fun of course. I wouldn't purposely make people feel horrible about themselves now would I? When looking for a topic for today I figured Blizzcon was this past weekend and the expansion was announced so why not. So here we go

You Fail At Knowing Anything About The New Expansion If...

• You did not know it was called Mists of Pandaria
• The first words to come to your mind were "Pandas really?"
• You were not aware Pokemon has invaded Azeroth
• You are an Alliance player and have not been shedding tears for Theramore
• You are still complaining they are not adding Account wide achievements
• You think there is a big baddie
• You think it is unfair that the Horde/Alliance got the panderen and the Alliance/Horde didn't
• You cannot believe they are adding another hero class to the game
• You think End Game questing is stupid
• You have no idea how scenarios are any better than instances
• You think them letting us fly on mounts while leveling will ruin the experience
• You think the dungeon challenges will be stupid because those who outgear them will always have the best times
• You still think they should have overhauled the talent system
• You think rogues and warriors should just be able to throw there weapons instead of having range weapons they never use.

and finally

• You have no idea who Chen Stormstout is

There you have it, this week's edition of fail. Hope you all got a kick out of it. Now a quote from our favourite Brewmaster to end it

"Ah perhaps it needs some refinement. Afterall we must learn to crawl before we run"

Good luck on this week's reset!

Ask Gauss

Sunday morning you know that time of the week when you are sitting there wondering, why the hell am I awake? Yep don't you got to love Sunday? Anyways, what does Sunday mean? Well Ask Gauss, of course. The time of the week where I look through all the questions that have been sent to me throughout the week and decide which to answer in this post. I know very exciting. If there are people who don't have a clue how to send me their questions, well I would think you might be blind and didn't look at the top right of the page. If you are one of those people scared to click on links then you can just email them to me at gaussafication@gmail.com. So with that out of the way let's get to the questions shall we?

Do you think Blizzard playing the Panda card is a desperate attempt to bring people back to WoW?

When Cataclysm came out this expansion was in all likely hood half way done. It is not  a spur of the moment that this decision was made. I think many people read the name "Mists of Pandaria" and think oh that is just going to be about Pandas. That is not the case at all. I believe this is the South Seas expansion everyone has been waiting for. If you watched the Metzen panel type thing you also heard him announce that the book after Wolfheart is going to be a book about Jaina. Let's think here for a minute before Lich King we had Arthas book, which led us into Wrath, before Cata we had The Shattering that brought us to Cata, so this book I am saying is going to bring us into the South Seas. What better way then introducing Kul'Tiras. I am calling it now besides Pandaria we are going to be visiting the Broken Isles, Plunder Isle, Tel Abim, and Zandalar. So let's not get hung up on Pandas.

Don't you find it weird they are going to base an expansion off an Apirl Fools joke?

Let's make something clear. Let me link you something directly from WoW Pedia

The pandaren started as a creation of the Blizzard artist Samwise Didier and an April Fool's joke, but they got a massive response from Warcraft fans. In the first BlizzCast episode launched on Jan. 10, 2008, Samwise recalled the process to the creation of the Pandaren April Fool's page: "But so we put that up in there and everyone was like “Oh my God! A PANDA RACE? That’s kind of cool!” And I’m like “Are you kidding me, really? You want to see pandas in Warcraft III or whatever?”" Soon, they were included in the Warcraft III expansion and Chris Metzen began to write them into the game lore.

So yes they did start out as an Apirl Fools joke, but they are way beyond that and are part of the lore. There probably has been more written about them then some of the races, which are already in the game. They are no longer a joke they are part of the universe so everyone better get used to it.

How can Panda's be playable, whichever faction gets them will be so unfair.

Keep in mind when we went to Northrend we had Tuskarr, but didn't get to play them. Even though that would have been awesome.

That is it for this week. Hope you all got what you needed out of this Panda focused Ask Gauss. For those waiting for it Next Week's Ask Gauss is going to be about what you think "Mists of Pandaria" is all about. As always send in your ideas by Thursday night. Enjoy what is left of your weekend everyone!

Possible Hero Classes

So I really don't think we will see Pandaren be a playable race. The reason is for this to work both sides Horde and Alliance would have to get the opportunity to play as them. This would mean creating a neutral faction something Blizzard has said in the past they don't really want to do. The other reason being not as convincing being there were new races with BC, a new class with Wrath, and new races with Cata, so logically you would say Mists of Pandaria would bring a new class.

So on that idea lets have a little speculation. The last hero class that was put in was a plate wearing melee or tank. So my guess would be the next hero class would be a leather or cloth wearing Range DPS or Healer. Making a hero class that is a healer could accomplish the same ideas why they wanted a hero class as a tank. This would increase the amount of healers in the game. So with this in mind we have 2 possible hero classes which I would assume the Pandaren's would some how teach you to be, since we will not be playing them.

Monk or Brewmaster. A monk would accomplish the healer roll, but would be melee DPS, which doesn't really fill the range roll, but a melee healer wouldn't be an awful idea. The Brewmaster is what Pandaren's are know for more than anything else. If anyone remembers the Warcraft 3 hero he had some kickass DPS with his Earth, Storm, and Fire split. Think talent trees it could work the same way one of them most likely earth being the healing tree. Having a non-Pandaren Brewmaster might be weird, but could still be doable. If I had to choose it would be the Brewmaster. Everyone who thinks Brewmasters would be no something which would scare the enemy at all. Let me remind you of the greatest of the Brewmasters