Posts with tag zombie-invasion

Reader Verdus sent us a tip reminding us that this weekend is the one-year anniversary of one of the simultaneously most loved and hated events in WoW's history, the zombiepocalypse. Right around this time last year, infected crates started appearing all over the world, and that expanded out into a full-blown zombie invasion (which was so big it made it out into mainstream news). After the zombie plague had been quelled, the Scourge attacked with full force, leaving us to fall back and fight for our necrotic runes up until the expansion released. It was definitely a huge event, and now, a year later, I'm sure most of us (though not all of us) look back on it with fond memories.

And surely Blizzard learned a lot from what happened a year ago -- Linedan has a nice wrapup of the good and the bad that Blizzard may have taken away from the zombie apocalypse. The idea of turning players on players was great, but that unfortunately led to more griefing than most players would have liked (and the fact that, by the end of it, you couldn't avoid the zombies at all, probably didn't help). And for all of the disruption, there was no real reward (the eventual rewards came with the Scourge invasion, and then it was simply just farming tokens), and no real payoff (the final world event seemed half-cooked, and it was only implied that Arthas was the one who'd shipped the crates).

FOX news picked up the story of the big zombie invasion, citing that the plague came to an end on Tuesday. They covered the event as a deliberate contagion that, if left "untreated," would turn you into one of the "flesh-eating zombies." Like our own Mike Schramm, FOX parallels this purposeful in-game disease with the previous accidental "Corrupted Blood" plague.

I love it when WoW is in the news. I love it even more when the media's not talking about us being game-addicted fiends smashing the buttons for our Pavlovian treat. While FOX's story isn't exactly ground-breaking info for those of us toiling against the continuing Scourge invasion, it might reach a few of our friends and coworkers and convince them to give WoW a try.

Or, this coverage could just be another sign of the impact Blizzard's game is having on the mainstream, while that 11 million subscriber base just keeps growing. And, yup, FOX's article does mention the upcoming Wrath release, so it's certainly possible Blizzard will see a few more players from the coverage. Every time WoW has an event like this which has mainstream interest, there'll be a few more people logging for the first time to see what the buzz is about. And, hey, it certainly lines up with the Holiday theme.

So the zombie invasion's over, huh? Just like that, the coolest World Event to ever hit Azeroth was gone just as quickly as it arrived. If you didn't log on this past week, you likely missed what was one of the most chaotic and fun times in the game -- players turning into zombies, infected roaches and rats infesting cities, and hordes of Scourge knocking at our city gates. It was unique, creepy, fun, and sometimes even disruptive -- but it was one of the most well-designed events we've ever seen happen to our favorite game. And now it appears to be over.

What happened there, exactly? Just when everything was ramping up to a fine crescendo -- with the disease duration shaved down to an apocalyptic one minute and infected rats streaming out of our city sewers -- it suddenly dies out without warning or climax. No big battle. No quests to fight zombies. No conclusive finding of a cure (Grand Apothecary Putress' quest line wasn't quite anywhere near epic...). It just... ended. There were rumors of something going down at 4pm server time, but that hour came and went without so much as a bang and a clatter.

What happens now? What do you guys think is in store for Azeroth? Certainly the Lich King won't let things end in such an anti-climactic fashion, right? Arthas, the baddest of all bad guys, must have something else up his cold, icy sleeve, right? What's going to happen next? Armies of Scourge attacking cities, perhaps, or some other impressive, crazy thing. I mean, certainly things won't be status quo all the way until November 13. Or can it?

Good Tuesday mrning everyone. It's a 5 AM to 11 AM PDT downtime today, which means you probably have time to do some reading right now, right? How about reading up on all the latest news from the last busy week of WoW?

So Here's the big story of the moment: Nearly as suddenly as it began, the great Zombie apocalypse is ended, and not with a bang but with a whimper. One blue post later, it quietly exited the servers at about noon PST yesterday. For some, this was a welcome relief. For others, such as myself, it was a bit of a downer. I was looking forward to one last hurrah of pushing the Zombie menace out of the cathedral district. Maybe it's the World War Z addict in me, but I was sort of having fun watching the world (of Warcraft) burn. Still, don't get too bummed, event enthusiasts. There's still plenty of Scourge-Invasion related events leftover to see. Check out those, as well as some of the highlights of the Zombie Invasion and a roundup of other odds and ends.

The Plague: What Remains

• If you haven't been to Karazhan yet, you have only a few days left to get your mitts on Tenris Mirkblood. He drops some pretty sweet stuff, so I'd recommend going for it. We have the strategy guide to help make it simple
• If you're not quite leet enough for Karazhan, don't get too glum. There's also a selection of bosses in many of the mid-level dungeons around the world, and we have a guide to them all.
• The Necropolises will be hovering over select points around Azeroth for at least a few more days. Be sure to get your Necrotic Runes so you can purchase all the cool Argent Dawn Trinkets and summon your own Bubble-hearther in shining armor.

We have good news and bad news. The good news is, if you hated dealing with zombies and the plague, it's going away in just a few hours. The bad news is, if you loved dealing with zombies and the plague, it's going away in just a few hours. Tigole confirmed it in a thread on the General forums, and also mentions that this isn't all that they have planned for the pre-Wrath umm... festivities, I guess?

He doesn't go into specifics about what will be happening next, but the plague is going away. The special bosses and the necropoli wil be around for awhile yet, a week for the former, a few days for the latter, but the zombies will be no more as of noon PST. Tigole also assures us that this had nothing to do with the whining. This part of the story had simply run its course. We have no idea what's next, but whatever it is, I can't wait to see it.

The announcement on the login screen tells us that there'll be rolling restarts for all realms between 5:00 a.m. PDT and 6:00 a.m. PDT. Each realm should be down for no less than 15 minutes.

These restarts have become a common thing in the past few days. From previous information given to everyone from Bllizzard, we know that restarts correct server lag and other connectivity issues. And there have been quite a few of these issues since patch 3.0.2. A restart fixing these things is nothing new. But you have to ask yourself now, are these updates secretly pushing new things onto the server?

It seems like for the past few days after every "rolling restart" a new phase or two of the scourge invasion has begun.

So I'm going to make an educated guess based on what may very well be completely unrelated variables – tomorrow or Monday we'll see phase five of the invasion, complete with something new we haven't yet seen.

Prove me wrong, Blizzard... prove me wrong.

The zombie invasion has hit phase four. We can see that the scourge are full out attacking cities now, and the plague debuff will now turn you into a Zombie after a short period of 2 minutes. There are necropolis appearing all over Azeroth.

Argent Dawn representatives are being spotted around capital cities. The new raid boss in Karazhan, Tenris Mirkblood, is now active and dropping one Arcanite Ripper (a 2H axe), a Vampiric Batling for each raid member, and two badges for each raid member. You can get to him by going through Attuneman, clearing him, and then moving up the stairs behind his room. We've got a strategy guide up now with details on how to defeat him

You can see the location of the necropolises on the world map - they are indicated by little purple skull icons.

A Haunted Momento has been confirmed to drop from rare spawns around the necropolises- it's a leather ball type item that you throw to someone. Whoever has the momento gets to have a wraith follow you around! Pics after the break and in our gallery.

Big Update: Click the Arcanite Ripper and play it like a guitar!

Late night updates: There are Argent Dawn healers appearing at most flight paths (if not all) around the game. They are making is so the flight path NPC does not become a zombie anymore. We have a semi-confirmation of the Lurch buff increasing in speed to 125%. But we also have conflicting reports.

Continue reading after the break for the latest information.

First of all, let me be clear. I love the Zombie Invasion. I have spent hours trying to zombify towns and won't be satisfied until all of Orgrimmar is hungering for brains. I adore the comaraderie with my fellow players when turning each other into zombies and defending ourselves against those do-gooder paladins and priests. And I love that this is a pre-expansion, lore changing event.

But there have been complaints. Someone I know thinks this is the worst thing to happen to WoW. Her specific complaint is that this event is allowing players to "grief" their own towns on PvE servers. She believes that the zombies should not be able to prevent people from completing quests -- even if it is only temporary.

What do you think? Should the PvP component of the event be removed for PvE servers? Or do you find that the fun outweighs the drawbacks?

If you've paid any attention to the goings-on in the World of Warcraft lately, you probably know that Arthas has already made his first move and sent crates of a conspicuous nature to some very public places in Azeroth. They're not exactly gift packages, either, as clicking on these crates will infect you with a ghoulish disease. There've been reports of zombies attacking towns, feasting on the innocents, and turning entire populations into the Lich King's servants.

Have you unwittingly (or wittingly!) gotten infected? Have you had the disease run its course and turn you into one of the malevolent Scourge? Are you one of the remaining bastions of the Light, cleansing all who may be infected and smiting those who have been transformed? How are handling this world event that's preparing us for Wrath of the Lich King?