New Level Cap, New Ironman

Well, it’s happened folks.  The challenge was set forth and the World of Warcraft rose to meet it.  We have a new Ironman.

It’s been declared that LYSSAN of VEK’LINASH (US) is our World First Level 90 Immortal Ironman. A great big congratulations on the achievement!

As it has been with past winners, your name is now eternally carved into the history of the Ironman Challenge.

And I must say, a huge props on accomplishing this task with a priest.  Early on in the challenge I know a couple people tried to do priests, thinking that the heals and shield would be helpful in the long run.  Ultimately they were defeated by the massive drain of their mana pool. While I’m not sure if that has changed at all in Mists of Pandaria, I am still willing to say that hitting level 90 on priest Ironman style takes balls. Iron balls.  So a massive congrats to Lyssan!

Mists of Pandaria Leaks You Won’t Believe (Cause they’re LIES!)

Hello and welcome! I am, of course, the distinguished and honored Professor Gnomey, an acclaimed expert on truthism and internetology at Gnomeregan Gnuniveristy.  Professor Billy could not be here today due to some… uh… legal troubles.  Something about him forging his credentials or some such.  Anyway, I am here to discuss the fabulous and fantastical Mists of Pandaria beta.  Or namely, to address some HORRIBLE rumors being tossed around the ‘Tweetor’.  You seem, some rascally hooligans thought it would be fun to make up things about the new WoW expansion on the internet.  Thus breaking the delicate and carefully maintained balance of everything on the internet being true.  Which it has. Completely.  I trusted every word I read on there until these trouble makers decided to start flat out LYING to the whole world.  But I one upped them all. I took notes. I wrote them aaaaall down.  And now I’m gonna to expose them for the dirty little liars they all are.  These are just some of the lies I saw perpetrated under the extremely deceptive hashtag of #FakeMoPBetaLeaks!

@Vrykerion

• In order to combat perceived Horde bias, Alliance quests will get extra love & have twice as many pop culture references.
• The Horde wins, all players get free faction transfers, Alliance becomes a neutral faction of NPCs
• To make Pandaria easier to traverse without flying, a gnomish train system dubbed ‘The Panda Express’ has been added.
• A level 88 quest hints that the reason we fight Garrosh is he ate Thrall’s cookie that was clearly labeled ‘Do Not Eat’
• Shaman receive a class quest at level 90 that after mastering all four elements will receive the “Thrall State” stance
• In a quest to restablish Varian as a good leader, players will be his ‘wingman’ to help him ‘score’ at a Pandaren bar.
• To correct the ‘indignity’ of some classes wearing “skirts” or “dresses”, now all class sets have skirts or dresses!
• The Mogu are NOT related to the Mogwai.
• Morfeeus, a new goblin NPC added to the start zone, will remind goblins that they do NOT know Kung Fu.
• Players will face off against the elusive Warriors of Virtue in a new dungeon and learn a lesson about peer-pressure.
• To foster camaraderie among the Alliance, King Varian will now address all NPCs and players as “bro” regardless of gender.
• To match the Asian theme and tone of the expansion, item levels will be renamed ‘power level’
• Complete combat system overhauled designed around card games confirmed. Spells and abilities replaced with trading cards.
• In order to promote players to get out in the world, Warlock summoning spells will now also kill the caster and clickers
• Female armor does not contain any chain mail or plate bikinis. All pants are ass-less though.
• Mists will introduce a new PvE stat “NotSuck” that will boost all damage and healing in Dungeon & Raid Finder groups.
• In memorial of Theramore, Goth Jaina builds the new Linkon Park.
• Worgen Druids will receive exclusive out-of-combat ‘Human Form’.
• Several Lorekeeper NPCs added to world to remind players that monks are not ninjas, and China is not the same as Japan.
• Demonology Warlocks will be tanks.
• New Legendary Revealed! First Shield Legendary! In order to make sure it’s rare, it will be +Agility.
• Hidden across Pandaria are 7 magical orbs that, if gathered, will summon a dragon and grant your class a buff.
• Pandaren start zone quests include “Wax the Car” and “Paint the Fence”
• The origins of the Sha revealed! They are what happens when you leave Pandaren ice cream out in the sun too long.
• Hunters can tame anything for a variable length depending on the level of their new “Training” skill, even players!
• In a Horde specific scenario, players will face the Horde’s ancient and deadliest foe: BEES. And the Alliance will have a parallel scenario where they face their long time enemy: POOR PEOPLE.
• Tirion Fordring confirmed as faction leader for the Pandaren.
• The Argent Crusade will have a presence in Heroic Scholo. They don’t actually do anything, but they are standing there.
• Along with raising and maintaining a farm, players will also have to defend their land by launching birds at felboars.
• With Monks now in game, Paladins will be losing their tank and healing specs in favor of new abilities that make sparkles.
• Warlocks are getting a glyph that gives them a taunt, Mages will be receiving a new healing AND tanking spec.
• Players will receive a shocking twist at level 90 when a quest line reveals that a pandaren is just 3 gnomes in a suit.

@San_Lear

• The expansion ends with a tearful public service announcement from Garrosh on the dangers of steroid abuse.
• Thrall is forced by Aggra to move into the Cleft of Shadows after being caught trying to “get his Proudmoore on.”
• “Chow Yun Fat-Free” is a BOE cooking recipe.
• Everyone is thrown for a loop when the real villain of Pandaria is revealed to be Shepard from Mass Effect 3.
• The “Harrison Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Item” questline doesn’t go over as well as hoped.
• Druids are given animal forms of the rest of the classes. The Donkey Death Knight is scrapped as “too depressing.”
• Accused of Horde bias, the band “Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain” renames itself “Level 100 Uber Human Dude.”
• Battlegrounds get sponsors, such as “Alterac Valley, brought to you by McDonalds.” The winner gets a McSword or McShield.
• Alementals abilities are datamined. Beer Goggles: +85 inflation to ego. Debuff: Waking up the next morning.
• Players will discover the hard way that the Pandaren do, in fact, have a Kung Fu grip.
• Tirion gives one of Arthas’ twins to a moisture farmer to raise in Tanaris.
• Blizzard begins the “Pandaren, at least they’re not Ewoks” ad campaign.
• The real reason the Forsaken destroyed Southshore is retconned as the cancellation of the Alliance’s “Jersey Southshore.”

@Druidis4fite

• Hidden Continent of Pandaria was under Crusader’s Coliseum all this time.
• Warlock taunt only works on non-boss level mobs and mages
• Hidden continent of Panderia was inside you all along
• Stormwind Library adds several progressive volumes about Orientalism.

Other Awesome People

• New Race added. Trolls! no really please will someone play one of these, We’re bored of Blood elves – @DanRyyu
• Large styled belts are now limited to one per server, players can only challenge for these belts AT WRESTLEMAINA! – @DanRyyu
• All PvP players who refuse to fight near the objective will be permabanned after three BGs. – @CosmicLaurel
• Tier 14 Monk Armor revealed to be a yellow tracksuit with black striping. – @WalksTweets
• Monks surprisingly cannot use the /flirt or /hug commands and cannot enter Goldshire due to vows of chastity.  – @WalksTweets
• Completing 1000 Pandaren cooking dailies will reward the player with a pair of legendary chopsticks – @RogueDarren
• Arcane mages get 3rd DPS ability, makes arcane rotation 33% more difficult – @Leodartbok
• New Death Kinght ability: Furry of Frostmourne – 3 sec cast, turns your enemies into Pandas. – @Leodartbok
• Aggra is carrying Velen’s love child – @Atanae
• The Aspects are re-granted their original powers after eating the magical Sensu beans from the Pandaren. – @Katana_Angel
• Garrosh is discovered to be Thrall’s evil clone, created by the Royal Apothecary Society to destroy the horde from within. – @Katana_Angel
• Everyone can eat and drink at the same time. If you’re a Pandaren, you can eat, drink, and brew beer at the same time. – @WoWCynwise
• Just discovered! In MoP, BM Hunters get 2 min CD Bestial Xform – change into a twin of their active pet for 15 secs! – @BigBearButt
• Pet Battle System only way to earn Trinkets. – @Melofedge
• Genn Greymane gets rabies, bites and infects Jaina Proudmoore, and then sends players on a poop quest in Lordaeron. – @Druidleaves
• Pandaran cooking profession now include a recipe for Sweetfire Chicken sponsored by Panda Express, home of the flying wok. – @KneeDough

((A huge thank you to all the awesome folks that joined in the fun on twitter.  I love to see what people come up with.  To those who aren’t already, I would highly recommend following all these amazing tweeps.  They are an amazingly fun bunch!))

Hail to the Immortal Ironman

Kripparrian, the Immortal Ironman. Err... Irontroll?

Well, back when we did the original Ironman Challenge, I gave a huge shout out to Ironmary for being the first person to make it to 85 and conquer the challenge.  Well, since then we have got a new variation, which some have decided to call the ‘Hardcore Ironman’ or the ‘New Ironman Challenge’ or a couple different names – but I have decided to call it the ‘Immortal Ironman Challenge’.  Not dying is a heavy duty task to tack on top of an already difficult challenge.  A name like Immortal is deserving of one who can pull this off.

Thus it gives me great pleasure to announce that we do have our first Immortal Ironman Challenge victor: Kripparrian the Troll Hunter from Turalyon-US.  You can find more info and Kripparrian’s video here.

Congratulations! You are an Immortal Ironman! Eat, drink and revel in your victory! You have earned it.  If anyone sees Kripparrian in game, give him a /cheer!

(Thanks for MMO Melting Pot for finding this and sending it out on Twitter)

The Ironman Challenge Goes Global

Wow.  Just…   wow.  That’s about the only word I can muster for the amount of sheer awe that I have for this.  Which coming from a guy who spent 5 years of college learning to use fancy words – that says  something.

To bring you all up to speed, a long while ago I asked a simple question on Twitter.  ‘How far could you get in WoW without using  green or better items and not spending talent points?’  Regular readers of this blog or long time followers of my twitter will recall that’s when Psynister and his Notebook jumped in and began an epic back-and-forth of hashing out the rules of the original version of the WoW Ironman challenge.

Several of us attempted the challenge.  Ironkerion made it into the 20’s before I kinda fell out of WoW altogether (We decided to see other people.  We may reconcile over some Pandas.) and so there Ironkerion sits.  I’m not sure how far Psynister made it, but I know that the nerves-of-steel Ironsally from over at Tome of the Ancient made it all the way to 85 on an Ironman Warlock. (Ironsally now hosts a regular video segment being the media darling that we all know and love.)

Cut to months down the way, I have more or less forgotten about the Challenge because I no longer have a subscription to the game.  Then, like a bolt of lightning in a black sky, it reappears.  Not only that, but it’s been built on!  The rules have been expanded to include a “NO DEATH” clause, where if you die you must delete the character and start over.  Talk about taking it up to 11! The no death thing  was discussed in the original twitter conversation, but if I recall we ruled as it because that really danced the line between “fun challenge” and “masochism”.  So we decided to nix the idea.  So those of you attempting to take on this new incarnation have both my greatest respect and deepest sympathies.  You have your work cut out for you.

On top of that, they’ve turned it into a legitimate challenge.  They’ve got a website for it, and everything!  They managed to even get featured on not only WoWInsider but also a WoW community blog post on the official World of Warcraft website!  And now that this entire thing has become a world wide phenomenon, it’s time for good ol’ Vrykerion and his pal Psynister to take that first step into Internet Celebrity-hood!

…Why is nothing happening?  What’s that?  People are arguing about who created it?  Uh huh.  And no one knows our names?  Not even mentioned, you say? I see.

Well, never mind on the whole internet fame thing.  The hipsters can still read my blog cause it’s all ‘underground’ and ‘uncool’ or whatever the heck hipsters like.  (I know NOTHING about hipsters.)  Mostly I’m just happy to see something I had a small part in creating became something amazing.   Even if no one ever acknowledges my existence.  As per usual…   I’m gonna go put on My Little Pony and cry.

Okay, on second thought, NOT being internet famous is sounding pretty good...

Regardless! Good luck to all of you, you Iron-Legion!  May your names be carved in the bedrock of hardcore-ness!  Which is someone near the lake of awesome.  South of YouDaMan-ville.  Yea, I’m gonna go shut up now.