Operation Gnomeregan

by Stagmo, 2 days ago

Operation Gnomeregan has begun!

For those of you who don't know what this is, the gnomes have decided that it is time to take Gnomeregan back from Thermaplugg, and this is the beginning of said retaking.





And of course, it wouldn't be a good gnome event if there weren't a bunch of dead gnomes, so here you go:

Rescue Me....Again!

by Velodrome, 13 days ago

Congrats TEW on our first Rescue of Valithria Dreamwalker (H) (10 man)!!!

Bloody Simple...Again

by Stagmo, 26 days ago

Congrats TEW on our first Heroic: The Crimson Halls (10 man)!!!

Online Gaming Accounts for 10% of Internet Usage

by Mithoron, 35 days ago

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29742/Nielsen_Gaming_Near_Top_Of_Americans_Online_Priority_List.php

Gamasutra wrote:

While social network use is the single most significant occupier of Americans' online time, a June study indicates that playing games has climbed up to grab the second place spot away from email, which held the runner up position last year. Social networks alone comprised 22.7 percent of online time in June, up by nearly half from 15.8 percent during the same period last year. They, by far, are responsible for the biggest chunk of online time. That data comes from a new Nielsen Company report on internet habits. According to Nielsen, gaming was one of the only categories that was not eroded in social networking's wake. Online game time rose 10 percent year-over-year to make up 10.2 percent of Americans' internet use in June, up from 9.3 percent. That's in stark contrast to email, whose use fell 28 percent to 8.3 percent, and instant messaging, whose use fell 15 percent to 4.0 percent -- both likely at least partial casualties of social networking, which is becoming increasingly dominant as a communication tool. "Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the web, 40 percent of U.S. online time is spent on just three activities -- social networking, playing games, and emailing -- leaving a whole lot of other sectors fighting for a declining share of the online pie," said Nielsen analyst Dave Martin in an analysis on the tracking company's official blog. The situation looks quite different on mobile devices, however, which tend to feature less fully-fledged online experiences than desktop and laptop browsers. There, a massive 60 percent of online time is spent using email, followed by 11.7 percent on web portals and 10.5 percent on social networks. Nielsen doesn't list game activity on mobiles; the ambiguous "entertainment" comprises 3.3 percent of online time, and "other" takes up 7.8 percent. This is likely because many mobile games, particularly in the United States, are played offline.

(View Post) | 0 Replies | (Post Reply)

Beware of Scam Phishing emails!

by Mithoron, 42 days ago

Another friendly reminder for EVERYBODY to beware of SCAM and Phishing e-mails! In this day and age I highly recommend ANYBODY who has a Warcraft account get a Blizzard Authenticator...it will be the cheapest $6.00 you ever spent and well worth 10 times that amount!

Here is an example of yet one of the latest phishing scams I recieved:

Quote:

SUBJECT: attle.net Account Management Greetings! Recently, the problem of account invasion is getting worse and worse which cause enormous player¡¯s equipments and virtual currency stolen. This severely damages the benefits of mass players, also causes our company lose a lot of customers. Our company has to adopt some measures to safeguard our common benefits in order to strengthen the safety of mass players'accounts, and firmly resist the account to be stolen again.Through our company's research and investigation to xxx customers,we will make the following decisions: we launch a package of updated code strengthen system and dynamic code protection card which can effectively prevent the accounts invaded. We will send this package of code protection system to players free of charge. Please open this connection: LINK REMOVED TO PREVENT PEOPLE FROM CLICKING! If your account passes the check successfully, we will send this package of dynamic code protection card to you in the form of e-mail. In 3 days after you receiving the e-mail, if you don't submit your information, we have right to freeze your account, every player is obligated to protect the safety of the account. You must work together with us to be determined to crack down all the behaviors of destroying games. If you had already authenticator your account, please disregard this automatic notification. Regards, The World of Warcraft Support Team Blizzard Entertainment

Key features to know this is a scam:

1. The return address is not from BATTLE.NET but from batt1e.net (note the 1 versus L)
   
2. The subject header misspells Battle.net
   
3. Poor Engrish throughout the email
   
4. Various misspellings throughout the email
   
5. The link it refers to is NOT a Blizzard link (removed to prevent somebody from clicking it)
   
6. "Dynamic code protection"? The new term for Trojan and virus?

Just alerting everybody to not believe everything you read on the internet (except from me of course) and to watch what you click!

(View Post) | 10 Replies | (Post Reply)

The King and I

by Stagmo, 49 days ago

Congrats TEW on our first kill of The Lich King (10 man)!!!

Beta, it's not for fun!

by Mithoron, 50 days ago

With the beta preview of Cataclysm and such now going on, MMORPG has a timely article on why Betas should be avoided...

Quote:

In the summer months it’s easy to fall into a sort of gaming doldrums fit. For one, it’s so nice out that I feel guilty about playing too many games, usually reserving my sessions for after nightfall or on rainy days. For another there’s usually a lack of quality games released in the summer months. Part of me thinks the developers of some of gaming’s major upcoming MMOGs realize this and have strategically decided to start betas or at least begin sign-ups around the hot months. And while the itch to sign up for such an event may be often too hard to ignore, there are some valid reasons for saying no to the opportunity to test the next crop of MMORPGs. DC Universe just announced sign-ups, The Old Republic has begun testing, and Guild Wars 2’s beta is right around the corner. Sure there are a slew of positives, especially in the “Open Beta” phase serving as a sort of try-before-you-buy for games that generally don’t offer a demo at launch. But by and large, we think you may be better served by resisting the urge to hop on the beta bandwagon, and here’s why… 5.) Shh… It’s Secret! Everyone has their own opinion on whether or not the secretive nature of most MMO betas is a necessary precaution for the developer or a pointless way to keep your potential user base out of the loop, but the main thing for the beta-hopeful to remember is that pretty much any game that lets you in on the fun will be expecting you to keep quiet about it. And if you’re the type of gamer who goes out of his way to sign up for a beta test, chances are you’re the type of game who wants to tell the world about it… and yet you can’t. This of course leads to the NDA leaks we all know and love/loathe, and then those who are on the inside start getting lambasted by those on the outside, the developers and PR people have a muck of a mess to deal with should said leaks damage the reputation of the game, and in general the whole thing just becomes a giant practice in aggravation on all sides. Unless some fearless game developer comes along and says, “Hey come test this game, and talk about it all you want” one could argue that it’s not worth your time to put up with the NDA attached to a beta experience. 4.) Beta (for the most part) =/= Live Game This is always debatable, as often times the game you play in Open Beta is going to be very similar to the game you play at launch. But at times when you begin your stint as a tester in the early stages of development, chances are the game’s going to change tremendously between beta phases, much less between now and launch. As is too often the case, I see my friends and internet peers form opinions of a game from five minutes spent tooling around with the beta client, never to return or watch as that game progresses toward launch. I do believe that Open Beta is often a great indicator for a release product as developers usually use OB phases to merely stress test the game, but a great many developers who genuinely try and seek help from the community in terms of feedback only get players looking for free games to waste time with. As anyone from years ago who spent time in the early World of Warcraft beta can attest, there’s a reason these things are often selective of who they invite to participate, and why they’re under NDA. Still maybe developers need to be even more selective… or just scrap the public beta notion altogether. 3.) Not Permanent MMORPGs are known for their permanence. Beta tests for these games are not. Okay, so you’ve been accepted to test and play The Old Republic. Let’s say for the sake of this example that you can play all you want seven days a week. Let’s say that the game really hooks you, you offer plenty of feedback to the developers, and soon you find yourself playing TOR more than any other game on your hard drive. After all of your hard work leveling your Jedi Consular, after the weeks you spent leveling him or her up from scratch, and after all of the quests you’ve completed… it gets erased as the game moves forward into launch. And then you realize you’ve got to do it all over again. Yeah. That part sucks. Don’t pretend it doesn’t. But there are better reasons than that to avoid getting too into betas. 2.) It’s Really Meant to Be Work Going back to number three, the beta testing experience is not meant to be just free time for you to play an unreleased game. It’s meant to be a volunteer “job” of sorts where you help out the developer by playing the game, reporting bugs, and providing feedback on the gameplay experience. All too often I hear of folks signing up for beta just to get an early taste of “The Next Big Thing” and they forget that the beta experience is supposed to be something of a QA job for dedicated hobbyists. Tying in with the above, if your goal in gaming is to have fun, beta might not be the best place to look. It’s bound to be riddled with bugs and deficiencies, downtimes and other development hell problems. So unless that part of the game development process really interests you as a fan of the industry, it might be wisest to stay away from beta testing. 1.) Burn-Out Ultimately when we sign up for a beta, we’re signing up as gamers. All MMOs, no matter how deep and diverse they may be require a time from us when we must put them down, go outside, and take a break from the virtual world. MMO Burn-Out is a common side effect of indulging in too much of a good thing. I can’t think of a single game, MMO or not, that I haven’t needed a break from at one time or another. And I can name several that have gotten stale for me and have never reverted back to their “fresh” state. Why then would you want to risk running into this problem during beta? Why would you want to risk getting all your excitement for launch day worn out before the time launch day even rolls around? To me, this is the best reason to avoid playing a game’s beta. I understand the need to “test drive” a potential purchase, and thankfully we have Open Betas for that very thing. But if you want to retain any sense of mystery and anticipation at all about some upcoming game you’re jazzed for, I’d heartily recommend avoiding the beta experience. It will wind up making those first steps into a new world that much more exciting.

(View Post) | 3 Replies | (Post Reply)

Cataclysm Preview: Questing in Mount Hyjal

by Mithoron, 51 days ago

MMORPG continues their review on Cataclysm now that beta servers are up and running:

Quote:

So in continuing previews of Cataclysm, we wanted to take a look at Mt. Hyjal. The zone really is the first place that many level 80s will venture to when the expansion opens. I transferred by shaman over to have a look around the zone and learned that for all of the new features coming with Cataclysm, WoW remains WoW as we have known it for the last six years. You start in the zone by doing quests with the Druids to help restore the World Tree. The area instantly opens with starting quests to take out some rock elementals and some fanatics using Fairy Dragons to snuff them out. Two quick and easy quests that most experienced players will go through in less than ten minutes. It is World of Warcraft all over again, day one. The zone is nice and does have some great terrain features to it, but the game play and design are the same as we have known for a long time. One thing that was a shocking reminder to the old days of WoW I had known was that I chose a PvP server (Gilneas) for my beta, since I play on a PvP server in regular WoW. Instantly I am reminded of ganking as two level 82 Alliance are standing there waiting for me. Well, on a PvP server you take your lumps and keep going. So I did after a few fights though it was time to move on. I do like PvP servers in WoW and would never change over, it was just that I had grown comfortable in my Dalaran home base, with various raid and battleground trips. You can easily forget what it is like leveling in the open world as well as becoming a target for the other faction. After running a few quests, I took flight to check out the zone as a whole. It is definitely telling of the Cataclysm story line as the Druids and their great tree look to be coming back from the brink of fire and brimstone disaster. In one giant crater where there are fire elementals running wild, it was good to see old Baron Geddon sitting in the middle holding court. I spent many nights on massive raids in Molten Core back in the old days of WoW. It’s nice to see the characters returning. The one not-so-great thing about Mount Hyjal is that the quest lines are very linear, similar to the starting zones for Worgen and Goblin. The game moves much faster now and Hyjal proves that. While running quests from the various hubs in the zone I truly did not feel like I was lost in terms of story and grinding experience. The system is much more streamlined and give players a better experience overall. If this has been done overall with Cataclysm, which I have heard the Blizzard devs talk about, then the game will move better for players. Finding and completing the quest hubs improved with Wrath of the Lich King and is now much smoother in the news zones for Cataclysm. Overall Mt. Hyjal has been a good experience, even with the PvP fights going on at almost every quest hub. Still, that is my choice as a player. The zone is solid, has a good story line and keeps you moving through areas at a nice pace so you don’t get tired. There is one thing that I must point out that always kills me when Warcraft does an expansion when it comes to gear. With all of my raid gear from Ice Crown, the minute I get the first drop in Mount Hyjal, the Green item I get is instantly better. I know it has been a while and I know that Blizzard has to find ways to motivate characters to play and gear is always one of those major factors. It still hurts when you see a first drop green item that is better than your epic rig. Call it a personal feeling, I just always felt that Blizzard should keep the epics strong, at least until the first blue drop from the instances. Now that my shaman has transferred I will continue to explore and review the new zones in Cataclysm. I am looking forward to checking out the new under water area, Vashj’ir. I have to admit, there is no way I can look at the zone and not think of Dark Age of Camelot’s Trials of Atlantis expansion. So when I write that article I will be doing a close comparison of the two. Which leads me to think about how Cataclysm is being presented and what similarities there are between the two games, are they alike? There certainly are comparisons that can be drawn. Next week we will start looking at the other zones as well as some new features from some older games.

Personally it's not a very glowing review for somebody like me who left WoW out of boredom of the same old same old and wondering if they should return. For those that still enjoy the normal vanilla WoW stuff it may keep you going...but at this point, doesn't seem like anything new other than the scenery...

(View Post) | 4 Replies | (Post Reply)

RSS Feeds now available!

by Mithoron, 56 days ago

Forgot to mention this with the latest Guild Launch updated, but for those interested:

Guild Launch wrote:

RSS Feeds have been on my to-do list for a while. Today, 3 critical items came off that list. 1. A behind the scenes system for generating RSS feeds is now in place. Meaning we can more quickly create new ones. 2. We now have an RSS feed for each news widget. 3. We now have an RSS feed for recent public posts. 4. We now have an RSS feed "summary" page. This page is linked from the footer and shows the available feeds. We've also put feed links where appropriate. For now, the data shown is what is publicly available. We'll tackle authentication in a later iteration. Enjoy! Stephen

Now you can get up-to-the-minute news delivered to you without having to come to the website!


Also, for those interested, Guild Launch is currently working on improving the Mobile sites for guilds. If you view the site with your mobile device and are interested in testing this feature out, PM me and I can give you the URL of the test server with our site for suggestions, comments, improvements! This will be enabled in the next couple versions...

(View Post) | 0 Replies | (Post Reply)

DKP suspended

by Bigdiesel, 57 days ago

Effective immediately DKP has been suspended on 25 man raids. This means that all TEW guild members are now allowed to PUG ICC 25 & Ruby Sanctum 25 on all of their toons (mains & alts)

Please see the detailed post in the members section for information on why we came to this decision.


Thanks

BigD