The dish on parenting ... check out the new ParentDish!
Posts with tag cool

Player housing revisited, Blizzard still not interested

Of all the recurring topics Blizzard faces on the forums, player housing might be the most recurring-- since many other MMOs are more than happy to offer customizable spaces to their players in the game world, a lot of players continually ask Blizzard why they haven't. And the answer is only partially unclear: as you might expect, Blizzard isn't interested in doing something if they can't do it better than everyone else, and at this point they just haven't figured out exactly how to do it their own polished way.

But in its current iteration on the forums, there's a bit of a surprise: many players don't care about player housing in the first place. As Drysc says, "support is not widespread," and considering everything that Blizzard is working on, there's no way they're going to jump into something as big as player housing without having a large portion of the player base behind them.

Then again, players are always in favor of customizing their characters-- look at the hairstyles coming up in the next expansion. If Blizzard can figure out a way to give players a customizable space that was both great looking and easy to customize-- something players could show off to each other and store achievements in-- then there's no doubt that most players would probably jump at the chance.

Graphics drivers updates for everyone

Just a quick technical note (thanks to WorldofWar for the heads up): both of the major graphics card makers have released brand new drivers for their video cards recently. Even if you're not technically inclined, all you need to know is that the newer the version of video card drivers you have running, the better your 3D videogames (of which WoW is one) will look.

If you're running Nvidia cards, you can get the latest version right here. And those with ATI cards can find their new drivers over on their site. Just download the right file for your operating system, run it (you'll probably have to restart your system, so save your work), and then marvel at... OK, it probably won't look too different, but trust me when I tell you you want to be running the newest drivers possible. In fact, if anything will fix those graphical problems people have been seeing in the last patch, this probably will.

But Mike, you say, what if I don't know what kind of card I have? For Windows XP, just right click on My Computer and go to Properties. Choose the Hardware tab, then Device Manager, and then look for the "Display Adapters" menu in the list-- that should tell you the build and brand of your video card. For Mac OS X, you don't have to worry-- Apple updates your drivers for you with Software Update. And for Linux-- well, if you're running WoW on Linux, I'll assume you already know what you're doing, because I sure don't (though you can probably find help here if you need it). And yes, you technically inclined and sharp-eyed ladies and gents, I do call my custom-built, lightning fast XP box "Refridgerator." Why? Because it's freakin' cool, man.


RESOURCES

Class Columns
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (40)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (33)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (14)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (35)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (47)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (20)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (33)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (44)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (26)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (48)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (22)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (21)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (17)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (55)
(Professions) Insider Trader (56)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (17)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (2)
(Raiding) Ready Check (19)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (36)
Hybrid Theory (13)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (79)
Macro Anatomy (12)
Reader UI of the Week (25)
Reader WoWspace of the week (28)
The Creamy GUI Center (11)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (472)
Barrens Chat (2)
Know your Lore (51)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (466)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (18)
About the Bloggers (24)
Ask WoW Insider (55)
Azeroth Security Advisor (1)
Back In The Day (3)
Breakfast topics (675)
Build Shop (34)
Gamers on the Street (19)
Guildwatch (76)
He Said She Said (4)
It came from the Blog (25)
Phat Loot Phriday (86)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (22)
World of WarCrafts (19)
WoW Insider Show (52)
WoW Rookie (36)
[1.Local] (6)
Classes
Death Knight (54)
Druid (264)
Hunter (252)
Mage (156)
Paladin (266)
Priest (219)
Rogue (160)
Shaman (245)
Warlock (172)
Warrior (182)
News
Account Security (10)
AddOns (231)
Analysis / Opinion (2698)
Blizzard (1472)
BlizzCon (184)
Bugs (212)
Burning Crusade (358)
Contests (204)
Economy (183)
Events (366)
Expansions (562)
Fan stuff (821)
Features (606)
Forums (244)
Guilds (461)
Hardware (25)
Humor (723)
Interviews (136)
Lore (265)
Mounts (128)
News items (1403)
NPCs (186)
Odds and ends (1592)
Patches (1112)
Podcasting (73)
Ranking (50)
Realm News (274)
Realm Status (226)
RP (159)
Rumors (32)
Virtual selves (612)
WoW Insider Business (278)
WoW Social Conventions (135)
WoW TCG (49)
Wrath of the Lich King (262)
Strategy
Alts (85)
Arena (167)
Battlegrounds (104)
Bosses (311)
Buffs (114)
Cheats (67)
Classes (285)
Enchants (30)
Factions (146)
Guides (324)
How-tos (362)
Instances (614)
Items (791)
Leveling (246)
Making money (164)
PvP (692)
Quests (342)
Raiding (670)
Talents (120)
Tips (541)
Tricks (215)
Walkthroughs (74)
Media
Comics (63)
Fan art (34)
Galleries (136)
Machinima (541)
Podcasts (52)
Polls (55)
Screenshots (610)
Races
Alliance (103)
Draenei (61)
Dwarves (15)
Gnomes (39)
Human (15)
Night Elves (42)
Horde (102)
Blood Elves (68)
Orcs (25)
Tauren (42)
Trolls (22)
Undead (21)
Professions
Alchemy (75)
Blacksmithing (55)
Cooking (66)
Enchanting (71)
Engineering (106)
First Aid (16)
Fishing (57)
Herbalism (44)
Inscription (10)
Jewelcrafting (78)
Leatherworking (58)
Mining (42)
Skinning (27)
Tailoring (63)
Retired
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Magisters' Terrace walkthrough
    Patch 2.4 Sunwell Isle
    Kil'jaeden loot
    It came from the Blog: Mother's Day Event
    It came from the Blog: Children's Week Gallery
    Children's Week: Stormwind
    Children's Week: Orgrimmar
    M'uru loot
    Children's Week: Dornaa's quests

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Weblogs, Inc. Network

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: