Posts with tag tabard

Possible changes to tabards, backpacks, and banks

by Gregg Reece Jan 16th 2010 at 4:00PM

In the recent Blizzard developer chat there were several questions pertaining to player storage. They spoke about the issue with storing tabards from all of your various factions, the default backpack falling behind other bags, and being able to access the bank slots of your alts without the need to use the mail.

All three of these are long standing issues that have usually been avoided when direct questions came up, usually invoking the safe and often used "we'll see" remark. I would love to be able to replace my backpack with a Glacial Bag and gain six storage slots or clear out the bank space I'm using to store specialty tabards. Let's take a look at their responses after the break.

Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

The OverAchiever: Twenty-five tabards

by Allison Robert Nov 13th 2009 at 1:00PM

Twenty-Five Tabards is one of the cooler achievements to do -- not only does it reward a pretty neat-looking tabard in the end, but having the reputations necessary to pull it off (unless you're cheesing it with a lot of TCG tabards) is going to help you a lot while going for The Exalted.

The first thing I'd like to point out is that you don't need to do what I did while getting pictures for this article and run around like a headless chicken collecting tabards from all corners of the world. The easiest way to re-collect any tabards you've previously owned is by visiting Elizabeth Ross in Dalaran or a tabard vendor in any major city. I do need to mention that they sell tabards for the currency each faction uses (e.g. you still have to pay 10 Glowcaps to purchase a Sporeggar tabard from them) so if you don't have the currency on you at the time, you'll still be making a field trip to collect it.

For this guide I'm assuming that you do not necessarily have access to now-unobtainable tabards like Competitor's Tabard or Tabard of the Protector, so if you do have pieces like this sitting around your bank, you're just that much closer to the achievement. As mentioned previously, you can fudge Twenty-Five Tabards by getting TCG tabards like Tabard of Nature or Tabard of Frost, but I'm also assuming you don't have access to any of these. This achievement is very much doable with a little hard work and a pinch of luck, so let's get rolling.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Features, Achievements, The Overachiever

Replica tabards and banners from Windlass Studios

by Mike Schramm Oct 28th 2009 at 3:00PM

Blizzard has announced that they've partnered with a company called Windlass Studios to release real-life versions of a couple popular in-game banners and tabards. $40 will get you a banner of the Alliance or Horde, while $80 will get you a real-life faction tabard to wear. Each of the pieces is apparently 100% cotton, and silkscreened with the familiar faction insignia. Very interesting -- we've seen some nice fanmade pieces before, but these are commercial releases bearing official logos.

The company has also released a latex rubber version of Frostmourne -- it's not quite as nice as the Epic Weapons metal version, but then again, it's $149, and the metal version is over $400. I still wouldn't spend over $100 on a rubber sword, but hey, if that's your thing, there you go. And speaking of spending money on rubber costumes, the Blizzard store is also chock full of Halloween costumes this year, and there are a few other masks, including Illidan and a new Draenei mask, floating around the Internet for purchase as well.

Filed under: Items, Fan stuff, Blizzard

The Queue: There's more than one way to skin a worgen

by Adam Holisky Oct 19th 2009 at 3:00PM

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.

So my thought process Monday morning goes like this. Kubien asks a question about skining worgens. My cat is next to me vying for my attention, and after headbutting me for a few minutes decides to pounce on my arm. Luckily I'm a fatty so all is good and he just bounces off harmlessly to the floor, but it makes me think for a minute about punishing him. Then I remember the old saying, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."

And from cat, to lolcat, to lolwowcats.

I'm sorry Warcraft community, I really am. But what's done is done. Let's just move on and go have some tea and crumpets.

Kubien asked...

"While killing Worgen in Silverpine Forest the other day, it occurred to me I can skin them. When Alliance play Worgen, can I skin them? Please!"

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Economy, The Queue, Worgen

BlizzCon 2009: Hands-on with Creative's World of Warcraft headset

by Mike Schramm Aug 25th 2009 at 6:00PM

When they stopped by the WoW.com meetup last Thursday before BlizzCon, Creative not only brought along a prototype of their upcoming World of Warcraft headset to show some readers in attendance, but they invited us by their booth at the show to hold it in our hands and see just what those lighted glyphs on the earcups were like. We happily obliged, and as a result, we're also happy to bring you the first look (along with some exclusive prototype photos) at what Creative's new headset will be.

Keep in mind that they're still in the prototype stage right now: Creative's Ryan Schlieper told me that the way it works is that they make a mold and a prototype first (which is what we held -- not a fully working version, but a 1:1 model with the exact weight and size of the final version), and then make 1000 of those in a fully working version to test. If those 1000 work and are right, then they go on to production, and if not, then they go back to the mold and start over again. Schlieper says they're in the prototype stage right now, and once testing is done (including Blizzard's approval), then they'll roll out the final headsets. So how did this prototype look and feel? Hit the galleries below to see pictures both on the floor and of Creative's 3D designs, and check after the break for our very first impressions.

Gallery: Creative World of Warcraft headset

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009: Creative World of Warcraft headset hands-on

Filed under: Items, Odds and ends, Add-Ons, BlizzCon, Hardware

A real-life tabard for the Keepers of Stromgarde

by Mike Schramm Feb 25th 2009 at 5:00PM

This is very cool -- Jellis of Keepers of Stromgarde on the Venture Company server (the guild is an RP-PVP guild that has taken root in Stromgarde and claimed it as their own) put together this real-life version of their tabard, and it looks great. It's a little different from the "official" Stromgarde tabard, but I think this is probably the best they could do with the guild interface. She's even offered to make copies for everyone in the guild (we're told there's 75 members), which is pretty darn incredible. Plus, if you're willing to wear a tabard around in public, clearly you're dedicated to your guild.

This reminded me of the Scarlet Crusade t-shirt we saw made a while back -- you can check that one out in the gallery below. I'll admit it: I'm jealous. Maybe my guild needs to recruit some crafty people so we can start getting some cool real-life stuff of our own, too.

Gallery: Scarlet Crusade Tabard T-shirt

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Guilds, Odds and ends, Humor, Raiding, RP

Tabard storage solution incoming

by Daniel Whitcomb Feb 7th 2009 at 8:00PM

So Blizzard's slowly but surely been expanding our storage system via extra bank slots, a keychain, and most recently, a new UI for mounts and vanity pets. It's become a lot easier to be a collector because of this, but as I have pointed out before, one major space problem remains: Tabards. Between Burning Crusade tabards, Wrath Reputation tabards, holiday tabards, world event tabards, TCG tabards, and achievement tabards, there's not enough room, either in your inventory or in your bank. Sure, you can sell off the tabards and rebuy them later, but that's sort of a pain.

Luckily, there's finally signs that Blizzard means to bring us relief. Eyonix mentioned this morning that they've begun to look at possible ways to relieve the tabard space conundrum. It looks like the concept is still in the early stages, and Eyonix specifically said they have no ETA, but it may be coming, which is good news enough. I'm still advocating for a simple drop-down menu of tabards similar to the title dropdown on the character screen, or maybe a way to select a faction from the reputation screen to be your tabard of choice.

But however they do it, I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy flying various colors at various times for RP or fun reasons, so being able to switch swiftly should both make this easier and championing on the fly easier. Here's hoping we get an ETA soon, and that it's sooner rather than later.

Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, News items, Achievements

Breakfast Topic: Gaining Reputation

by Daniel Whitcomb Nov 30th 2008 at 8:00AM

No more collecting huge stacks of Unidentified Plant Parts or Arrakoa Feathers. No more running Hellfire Ramparts half a dozen times before starting in on quests. In Northrend, it seems like there's two basic ways to get reputation with a faction: Either you do quests, or you grab the proper tabard and run a level 80 dungeon.

For the most part, I do like the latter option. It's nice not to feel like I have to jump through hoops to maximize my reputation gain. Still, being able to pre-gather stuff is sometimes pretty cool too, and part of me sort of wishes they had kept some of that in, maybe in that way I've talked about before where you can have around 12k max of your reputation be gathered items, but that they can be turned in at any point in the grind, if only to keep options open.

How are you liking the new reputation system?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Quests, Leveling, Factions, Wrath of the Lich King

Ask a Beta Tester: Dalaran coins, environment effects, and AoE tanking

by Allison Robert Oct 12th 2008 at 1:00PM

I ran into two common questions last night on the Dalaran coin post, so I thought I'd start off by answering those here. I apologize if we haven't yet gotten to everyone's questions; most of them, like Gurluas' question concerning The Missing Diplomat and the high elves in Northrend, we're just not 100% sure of the answer to yet, but I'll keep trying.

Keyra asks...

Just curious...the gold coins all have "Use: Throw this coin back into the Dalaran fountain", yet I've seen people commenting (as well as the author) that they'll carry the coin in their packs. What happens when/if you throw the coin back in?

When you toss a gold coin back into the fountain, you gain the "Lucky" buff for 2 minutes, increasing your chance to fish up any and all coins from the fountain (rather than fishing hooks or goldfish). You don't have to toss them back in if you don't want to, in which case they'll just occupy a bag slot like anything else, or you can sell them to a vendor (not for much). But most people throw the coin/s back in because fishing the coin up is enough to give you the Achievement for getting it. Particular coins would be carried solely for personal or sentimental reasons, i.e. I can definitely appreciate the irony and RP value of grimly hunting Arthas down like a dog while carrying a symbol of Sylvanas' wasted hopes.

Rexigar asks...

Question though, do we have to keep the coins for the achievement or does it count when we throw it back in?

It counts as of the moment you've fished it up. No matter what you do with it afterwards, the Achievement's yours. The same mechanic is true of everything else; once the game "knows" you've done something and an Achievement's gained, nothing can take it away.

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Fishing, Blacksmithing, Analysis / Opinion, Economy, Expansions, Features, Factions, Classes, Wrath of the Lich King, Achievements

Not at BlizzCon? Enter to win a Tabard of Flame anyway

by Mike Schramm Oct 9th 2008 at 11:00AM

Everyone going to BlizzCon has already left, right? And there's no Internet access for people in Anaheim, right? Good, because we wanted to talk just to you folks who aren't going. Sure the next few days are going to be full of fun Blizzard news and galleries full of nerds dressed like Night Elves, but we wanted to make sure those of you at home aren't left out. While we've got tons of giveaways to pass out at our reader meetup later this evening, we're not forgetting about you forlorn souls: thanks to the good folks at WoWTCGLoot, we've got a tabard code to offer you.

That's right, leave a comment on this post during BlizzCon (that is, before Saturday night, October 11th, at midnight Eastern), and you'll be entered in a contest to randomly win a code for a Tabard of Flame. We'll pick one random winner (and you can use the code on the US or EU realms), and help them make up for missing out on BlizzCon by putting them in some sweet tabard threads. Please note: you may only enter once, by leaving a comment on this post, and please use a real email so we can contact the winner afterwards.

We just wanted to make sure the weekend wasn't a complete wash -- thanks to WoWTCGLoot for helping us out with this (and make sure to visit them if you want any info about all the loot from the TCG). Good luck to everyone, whether you're at BlizzCon or not.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, WoW Insider Business, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Contests, BlizzCon, WoW TCG

WoWTCGLoot giving away more TCG loot

by Mike Schramm Sep 29th 2008 at 6:00PM

Our friends at WoWTCGLoot just can't stop being generous with all of that loot -- to celebrate the release of six (!) new tabards from Upper Deck, they're giving away twelve of them in total. To sign up for the contest, all you've got to do is fill out the form with "a link to a webpage containing something interesting or entertaining," enter your email, and then sit back and wait to see if you win. They're choosing twelve winners at random, and a 13th will pick up a Paper Flying Machine. Good luck to everyone who enters, and don't forget to visit the rest of the site over there -- if you're going hunting for any TCG Loot items anytime soon, they're a terrific resource.

And don't worry too much if you don't win -- the nice folks over there have also passed a few tabard codes over to WoW Insider that we'll be giving away here on the site very soon (or perhaps even at BlizzCon, so keep an eye out for us if you're going there as well). We told you -- there's no end to their generosity! Go enter WoWTCGLoot's contest right now, and stay tuned to WoW Insider to hear about more chances to pick up an ingame tabard of your own.

Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Contests

Ask a Beta Tester: Mounts, threat meters, and tabards

by Alex Ziebart Sep 19th 2008 at 11:00AM

We'll jump right into things in today's Ask a Beta Tester, because destiny waits for no man!

andyjay220 asked...

How have people liked the new threat meter? I have tried PTR but I don't really understand it as I am used to Omen. As far as I can tell the only information it gives you is "YOU NOW HAVE 100% AGGRO" which isn't very helpful. I want to see a meter showing how far away from pulling aggro I am so i can gauge my attacking accordingly. Any way someone could explain it to me?

The threat meter's UI is pretty simplistic. It displays yellow when you're close to pulling aggro, and red when you've done it. It's accurate, but hard to gauge how close you really are. It shows the percentage in your tooltip... but that's a strange place for it. It won't replace things like Omen (when it's updated for 3.0.2) but its addition will allow Omen and similar mods to be much more accurate.

Of course, for things like 5-man dungeons, you don't need to the nitty gritty numbers, really. There's very little reason to be at the max possible threat before pulling aggro, just take it a little easier. Raids, though? You'll want Omen.

Read on for more answers to your questions!

Filed under: Wrath of the Lich King

Less QQ More Pew Pew holding Tabard contest

by Mike Schramm Sep 4th 2008 at 6:30PM

Didn't win the Tabard of Flame in our recent contest? Worry not, Less QQ More Pew Pew has another chance at a great tabard for you -- all you've got to do is answer a few questions about the blog over there, and submit them by tomorrow evening. And then, oh yeah, you need to be the first person to email in all the answers (not likely), or be one of two random people who sent the answers in. That last part is the hard one.

Just to help you out, we'll answer the first question for you: "Khagan." Cheating? Maybe, but we really want you to have that tabard. Good luck to everyone who enters, always nice to see members of the community holding fun contests like this to hand out some special items to the public.

[via Mania]

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Contests, WoW TCG

Breakfast Topic: What tabard do you wear?

by Daniel Whitcomb Aug 18th 2008 at 8:00AM

So I have to admit, one of the most annoying parts of Beta testing my Death Knight is that I don't have access to any decent tabards. It's annoying, and I feel almost naked without one, but I don't have the time to grind exalted with any factions.

Thinking about that got me thinking about my tabard choices for my other characters. Of course, in Wrath, tabards are going to get all mixed up a bit, what with that new championing system, but I'll probably keep my favorite tabards on hand for swapping in when I'm not grinding faction. Actually, I may just tend toward my guild's tabard in Northrend, since our guild's backstory is intertwined with Northrend itself. Besides, I like to show a little guild pride when I can, and it's been a while since I wore a guild tabard on any of my alliance 70s.

Currently, my Druid wears the Cenarion Expedition tabard. Not only does the green and brown go well with his leather, but it's the closest there is to a Cenarion Circle tabard. For my Dwarf Hunter, it's an Argent Dawn tabard, since she's an especially zealous enemy of the Scourge. For my Warlock, the Scryer's Tabard, because he admires the Blood Elf race and (what he sees as) their dedication to knowledge at any price.

So why do your characters wear the tabard they wear? Do you plan to do any tabard swapping for Wrath of the Lich King?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Factions

SwagDog and Blizzard team up to offer custom t-shirts with guild and toon info

by Mike Schramm Aug 11th 2008 at 5:30PM

The BlizzCon tickets are slowly (and unsurely) being sold, and the first few lucky buyers have been linked to a "BlizzCon Exclusive" from SwagDog.com -- apparently they've teamed up with Blizzard to offer real-life versions of your guild tabard on a t-shirt, and folks who attend BlizzCon will get their pick of the first shirts off the presses.

Note to Blizzard and SwagDog: feel free to send the royalty checks over to me whenever you want. The bad news is that they've eschewed the idea of "t-shirt as tabard", and instead it looks like they're making a custom-printed shirt for everyone, so it'll have not just your tabard on their shirt, but your guild's name, and your character's name and realm, race, class and faction as well.

As neat as these are, I think I'd like something a little more subtle -- all that text and the icons muddy it up a bit. But otherwise, definitely seems like (assuming the prices and shirt quality are respectable) a fun way to show off a little guild and toon pride.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, WoW Social Conventions, Virtual selves, Guilds, Blizzard, BlizzCon

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