By most estimates, Cataclysm is two to four months away from release. With it, everything relating to crafting and professions changes again. Some materials will become junk for a time, while others will soar in value. People are also playing less, raiding less, crafting less. Demand seems to be down for materials everywhere. My gut feel is if I’m going to be making money in this expansion, this is the last chance I’ll get to do it.
As such, I’ve been taking a good hard look at my bank contents, my professions and my gathering skills and trying to work out just how to turn it into a healthy amount of gold. There are still a few things I’d like to pick up on my main (like the Traveler’s Tundra Mammoth), plus there are a couple of alts I’m planning to level that will need riding skills and so on. I’m trying to lay the groundwork now while there’s little to do so that I’m not having to scrimp and save when the expansion hits.
This week we welcomed back Pewter from The ‘mental Shaman! It was great to get her back on the show and hear her unique insights into the week’s topics. If you think Stu is a bit quiet, his router died about halfway through the podcast. We blame ninja moose.
In the episode this week we have:
Throne of the Four Winds
Blizzard Auras (Built in Power Auras) – new graphics
New Mounts!
Archaeology – not much known, except Harrison Jones as trainer!
NCSoft being sued for making Lineage too addicting?
For this week’s Obscurity we discussed our gamer heritage – where we came from as players, where we hope it will lead to and what our fears are for the future.
For a future show we’re hoping to examine the Warcraft cultural divide – how do you play WoW that you think is unique to your country? Have you noticed anything that players from other countries do? Mail us your thoughts at the address below and we’ll use them in the show.
You can subscribe to us in iTunes. While you’re there, please rate the podcast and leave us a review.
As always, if you want to contact us about anything on the podcast you can mail us at obscurecast@manaobscura.com, post a reply here on the blog or tweet us at @manaobscura.
I’m taking a break from my regular Warcraft posts to ask a basic question – is there a game that you have chosen not to play purely for moral reasons? That’s not to say that the style of game isn’t one you enjoy, but instead that you object to the content or creative direction a game takes.
Let me give you an example. I don’t play anything with FIFA in the title because I don’t like sports games as a genre. I’m not morally opposed to them though, even though my hatred of football (soccer, not American football) is fairly well known. On the other hand I know people who won’t play World War II shooters out of respect of those close to them who lost their lives. It’s this latter kind of objection I wanted to look at.
So why bring it up? Well, it turns out that I may have found the first game that I’d object to buying or playing on moral grounds. It’s surprising because it was one I’d been interested in playing for a while. Since then it seems that the focus of development has shifted somewhat.
Spoiler Warning: Video of new mage Cataclysm spells and Fire mage rotations. Filmed in Ironforge, so no location-based spoilers in this one. There’s more to come, so subscribe to the Youtube channel!
One thing I promised to do as part of my beta coverage was produce some videos of the mage changes in Cataclysm. They say that a picture tells a thousand words, and sometimes it’s more helpful to produce a video showing something than a blogpost describing something.
This is the first video, covering an intro to the new spells and effects and a quick look at rotations. I’m hoping to put subsequent videos together to go into further detail on particular aspects.
Apologies for the low quality. Although I’ve bought a copy of FRAPS, I’m going to have to wait a few weeks before I can get a copy of Sony Vegas. After that, things should definitely improve.
If there’s anything that you’d like to see in a video, feel free to ask and I’ll do what I can. No promises though!
Apologies for the sound quality in this episode. Stu’s mic has been playing up something chronic, so we’ve ordered him a new one. It should be with him before the next show, so fingers crossed!
For this week’s Obscurity we discussed your Cataclysm hopes and fears. We got a great response on this – it seems a lot of people are really concerned about their favourite classes.
For next week’s show we’re hoping to examine the Warcraft cultural divide – how do you play WoW that you think is unique to your country? Have you noticed anything that players from other countries do? Mail us your thoughts at the address below and we’ll use them in the show.
We’ll be broadcasting live on uStream every Wednesday from 9PM BST/ 8PM GMT. Feel free to join us if you’re around. You can also subscribe to us in iTunes. While you’re there, please rate the podcast and leave us a review.
As always, if you want to contact us about anything on the podcast you can mail us at obscurecast@manaobscura.com, post a reply here on the blog or tweet us at @manaobscura.
Gazimoff has been playing World of Warcraft following the UK release in 2005. Since then he's dabbled in other MMOs, but somehow always comes back to playing his mage.
Beep, also known as bpx or even sometimes Stu, is Gazimoff's co-host and sidekick on The Obscurecast. Witty, charming and ginger, Stu is a strong open-source advocate and occasional code monkey
Current Plan: Continue testing Worgen Mage leveling up to 20, try to test early instances. Test single target fire damage specs and rotation. Use premade mage to test feel of Frost and Arcane specs at 80.
Spoiler Warning: Video of new mage Cataclysm spells and Fire mage rotations. Filmed in Ironforge, so no location-based spoilers in this one. There’s more to come, so subscribe to the 
