Greetings and good tidings.  Before we jump into the issue at hand let me introduce myself.  I am Raven, a 38 year old father, teacher, and gamer.  I have been involved in gaming since my first TRS-80 and Commodore Vic 20.  I will be covering issues for the casual gamer, the person who has about two hours a day to devote to our favorite pastime.  My observations will, for the most part, be opinion generated to spark discussion.  Like the onyx bird that Poe wrote about, let me fly right into our topic of the moment.  Holiday Events, time sink or valid adventuring tool?

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I got snowed in yesterday and because of snow I got lazy. That and digging out my car from about a foot of snow took up some time.

Anyway a few news bits to report. WOW’s next expansion, Cataclysm, looks like it will be launching sometime later this year. Probably around the time of their anniversary in November. How much more can WOW bring to the table? We’re working with 6-8 year old technology and I’ve been impressed with what Warcraft has brought to us on an old engine.

Stay tuned to Blizzard for more information, but I’ve heard rumblings that their new MMOG will be announced at this year’s Blizzcon. I can’t wait for that. It should be huge.

I liked it…

I hear all the time that World of Warcraft has no community outside the small group of people in your guild. That it’s full of mouth breathers and denizens of Barrens Chat that can’t function in normal society. I also hear that Warcraft is a game on rails where you can solo your way to the top and no one wants to do anything else.

Well fuck whoever says that because they’re wrong.

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Has World of Warcraft become a little drab for you? Want to spruce it up a little bit? A guy by the name of Chronalis has come up with a way of shedding some light into Azeroth.

So what is going on with this? It’s an HDR mod. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range which allows for definition of textures. Wiki might explain it better than I can though.

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to represent more accurately the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

Chronalis has done this for Warcraft. After taking a look at a video of it in action (see after the break), I’m going to have to give this a shot later. It looks pretty damn good.

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At 1:00 am this morning on this glorious Tuesday, Blizzard has unveiled the final patch notes for their patch due later today. 3.3: The Fall of the Lich King.. This patch is massive. Among the major updates, there will be Icecrown Citadel, the new Group Dungeon finder, and a mess of class fixes.

The official notes are in this forum post, along with many Q/A from forum mods

Fall of the Lich King, the latest World of Warcraft content update, is coming! The heroes of the Horde and the Alliance have faced unimaginable horrors and suffered terrible losses in their desperate struggle against the Scourge. Now the time has come to break through the fortified gates of Icecrown Citadel and confront the Lich King in the frozen heart of his domain. Follow Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas Windrunner through the Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection in an attempt to subvert the Lich King’s army in a new multi-wing 5-player dungeon. Join the Ashen Verdict as they charge through the citadel’s main gate to take on the Scourge’s most powerful leaders and fearsome monstrosities in a new 10- and 25-player raid. Fall of the Lich King also introduces the cross-realm Dungeon Finder interface, new quest-tracking features designed to make it easier to find objectives, and much more.