September, 2008
iPhone App: Realm Status
It's been a pretty active week for native iPhone/Touch applications, an unprecedented three releases. Now there's actually five World of Warcraft related or themed applications available. The latest application to be release on the App Store is called Realm Status [iTunes link], and it's available for free!
Realm Status is written by John Baker at WOOT! Systems and it's title pretty much explains what the program does, but here's the application's description:
"Patch Tuesday got you down? Not any more! Now you can know the status of your favorite World of Warcraft realm no matter where you are. Supports US and EU realms."
The first time it's started up, you are greeted by a blank page as it connects to the internet and does a realm status check. The blank page persists and you should know that you need to add realms you'd like to track. Adding a realm is simple and you are greeted by an alphabetical list of all the US and EU realms. Once you add one it will either show up in the "All" tab if it's up, or the "Down" tab if it's down. Most likely it'll be in the All tab unless you're trying this during the weekly maintenance downtime. Since you can select and save which realms to monitor it should have fast updates using the "refresh" button when needed.
It's a simple program and it's user interface is clean but basic and sparse. I don't care for the rudimentary interface, but perhaps others will like it's simplicity. I actually prefer the long list of all realms that WarcraftStat [iTunes link] has, but that program only lists the US realms and has yet to be updated with any of the other regions. Perhaps a later update to Realm Status will include the other world regions and hopefully a way to filter just the region you're interested in.
Though this program has a specific use and will probably only be used when you notice your realm is down outside of the regular weekly downtime. I personally like seeing all the realm status in one list as it can be helpful in diagnosing if it's just my realm, all the realms, or even just problems associated with a particular datacenter.
Interlude
We're at an odd time for players of the World of Warcraft. The interlude between expansions where game activity has either slowed or stopped completely while people wait in eager anticipation. It's a time where many individuals and guilds have decided to stop pushing or progressing through the (soon to be) old content and either just settle on preparing for the expansion (saving materials or gold) or just stop playing all together. Sure there are those that are still pushing on, and those that are in the beta and actively progressing through new content, but for the most part things have definitely slowed down.
Though it's a slower time in the game, it doesn't have to be boring. I personally believe this interlude is a perfect time to try out new things. Go ahead and try a new spec, a new class, a different race, or even learn what it's like on the "other" side and hop factions. It's a perfect time to do all the things that you didn't have time to do before and you definitely won't have time to do when the Wrath of the Lich King comes out.
I've been dual boxing Team DoubleD for the past few weeks and they are one quest turn-in away from 60. My intent was to level two healing types, but along the way I realized that Pally tanking is actually pretty fun. So I got to thinking about what it would be like to try playing a tanking class? I've been a hunter and to some extent a priest for most of my WoW career. I've never really considered a tanking class and every time I tried one I just couldn't do it for very long. I think the highest I ever got a tank (warrior) was level 18, I couldn't even get him to 20. I just found that I had so much I wanted to do with my hunter main, Ziv, that other things fell into the "only if time" category.
I know when Wrath comes out there will be the mad dash to 80 as well as relearning to play the class again incorporating in all the new changes. There's new content to experience and explore, new skills and talents to master, and once you hit 80 possibly progressing though the new end game raids. That doesn't even take into consideration leveling an alt to 80 if you have more than one 70, or even a new Death Knight to 80. There's going to be so much to do. Who will seriously have the time to try out a new class, or level a new alt, or try the "other" side? I know I won't for a while, so now is the perfect time to try new things!
What I've done is went ahead and rolled up a new Dwarf warrior and will give that a chance (at least I'll try to get past level 18). I've also rolled up a new Dwarf priest to accompany my warrior through Azeroth (dual boxed). But wait, didn't I just level a new priest as part of Team DoubleD? Well yes I did, and I realized that I'm not the hugest fan of Dranei priests. I'm sure they make great priests, but basically I'm just not a fan. If this was any other time I wouldn't even think about re-rolling an alt of a class that I already have at a decently high level, but like I said, now is the perfect time to do so!
So take advantage of this interlude because you may not get another chance at it again for a while.
iPhone App: WoW Talent now free
It seems that the developers of the native iPhone and iPod Touch application, WoWTalent [iTunes link], is now offering it for free! This application was originally listed at $4.99 (US), and then lowered to $0.99 (US) shortly after it's release, and today it's being offered for free.
From their website:
By popular demand, WoWTalent is now FREE.
If you like our App, please support us by donating.
It took a LOT of time to develop and will take a lot of time to update.
Any amount is appreciated. We promise we won't buy booze with your money.
I contacted the developers shortly after I posted my review, and they told me that they had considered this move already. This is also a preemptive move to avoid a cease and desist letter from Blizzard. I'm sure Robert and Peter would rather have their application out there for people to use than be banned from the App Store and all their work gone to waste.
So if you are using this program and want to see updates and continued development, head over to their website and make a donation. I'm sure they'd appreciate it and we all could have continued updates and maybe even new features.
iPhone App: WoWTalent
I usually do a casual daily search of the iTunes App Store for World of Warcraft themed or related applications and wasn't expecting another one to show up, especially another one that was actually charging money for the application. I was convinced that the the recent legal hammer that Blizzard has been swinging (in the form of cease and desist letters) at iPhone/Touch developers (Armory Browser and Warcraft Arena Calculator) that further development of paid for applications would completely stop.
However that doesn't appear to be the case and today WoWTalent [iTunes link] was available for purchase and download on the App Store. This program is written by Robert Lo and Peter Shih of OrzWare and they are charging a whopping $4.99 (US) for it! Now I say that with some exclamation because I know that people will find the price of admission for this program to be somewhat steep considering what it is and does. $0.99 (US) for it.
The above is stricken out because as I was in the middle of writing this post I tried to purchase it (at the $4.99) and wasn't able to. I got an error box that said the item was not currently available and was being modified.
Click image for larger versionA while later I tried again and the price of the product went from $4.99 to $0.99!
If you look carefully at the full image, you'll see that the reviews were completely unfavorable towards the $4.99 price tag. It's obvious that the developers responded in kind and lowered the price down to a more reasonable $0.99.
When I first received the error that I could not purchase the program I thought that perhaps Blizzard had already swung their legal hammer at Apple and they were in the process of taking it down. Luckily that wasn't the case, because I really wanted it to at least give it a fair review. However we'll have to see how things go.
Here's the description of the application as written on the iTunes App Store:
WoW Talent is a World of Warcraft Talent Calculator for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Does not require internet access to use.
More features to come, including Wrath of the Lich King talent trees.
It's exactly as they describe, it's an offline talent tree/calculator. It's actually a pretty well designed program and the authors took great care in making it familiar, functional, and also nice looking. It actually looks and feels almost exactly like Blizzard's official Talent Calculators.
When you start the program you are greeted by a screen of icons, one for each class. Select a class and you are brought to the familiar looking talent tree. Slide your finger across the screen (left or right) to access the other branches of the tree. Everyone should be familiar with how the talent tree/calculator works so I won't get into it too much, but basically you tap an icon to add a point to each talent. If you select an icon and hold it for a second then release, a detailed description of the talent will appear.
Since the program is an offline talent tree/calculator, it will have to be manually updated with each change Blizzard implements. According to the developer they would be providing free updates everytime there is a new patch, so that means Wrath of the Lich King talents will be available once the game is released.
Many people will wonder why even pay anything for this when they could just open up the mobile Safari web browser and use the official talent calculator or any of the other available talent calculators out there. Most will argue that it should be free, but I'm sure the developers will argue that developing software is not easy nor is it free to them. They still have to devote the time and effort into coding and testing. So I see both sides of this and at least the developer saw it fit to reduce the price to something a little easier to accept. However, I don't think the real problem here is the actual cost of the item, but rather that there is a cost. Now to be perfectly clear, I'm not complaining about the $0.99, I'm merely emphasizing that Blizzard has went after the two other developers that were charging for their applications.
The troubling part of this program is that it is so well done and mimics Blizzard's Talent Calculators so well that it could have been done by Blizzard themselves, and that is where I see the problem. Even though the program works offline and doesn't access any of Blizzard's web resources, it does use the same artwork, and has the exact same look and feel of Blizzard's own interfaces. This and the fact that the developers are charging money for it could mean that this may not be available for very long, or at least that is my opinion based on the previous two programs that were removed from the App Store.
If this program is removed from the App Store by either Apple or the developer because of pressure from Blizzard, having this program return to the App Store could be very unlikely. Even if the developer were to offer it for free. This is because the developer would have to basically get the "blessing" from Blizzard that it doesn't infringe on their copyright or intellectual property before Apple allows it back on. The author of the now removed Armory Browser has been trying to get her program back on to the App Store for free, but hasn't been able to without further discussions with Blizzard.
Well, overall this is a well written program. As always I'm also curious how this story will pan out. Will it stay? Will it go? Only time will tell.
iPhone App: Armory Spy Lite
Just when I thought there wasn't going to be any more new native iPhone/Touch applications released due to a wave of cease and desist letters from Blizzard to other developers (Armory Browser and Warcraft Arena Calculator), one shows up on the scene. Yesterday another application become available for download on the App Store. It's written by Network Coders and called Armory Spy Lite [iTunes link]. The best part is that it's also available for free.
Here's a description of the application:
"Armory Spy is an enhanced browser for the WoW Armory for you iPhone or iPod Touch. Using Armory Spy you can search for and inspect in detail characters, guilds, arena teams and items.
Features:
- Search - Search for characters, guilds, arena teams and items.
- Character Details - Inspect gear, stats, arena teams, skills and reputations (and eventually talents).
- Item Details - Inspect items and the vendor that sells them as well as the entity that drops them.
- Watch - Keep tabs on your allies and sinister enemies using the watch list. The list is automatically refreshed and cached for offline/fast viewing. Gear is cached as equipped by the character including enchants and gems.
- Stalk - Stalk characters to keep a running list of equipped items that Armory Spy has ever seen on them. Using stalked data, stalking also provides information on raiding progression. (The lite version is limited to one character stalk).
- Talents - While a work in progress, the talent browser currently allows talent tree inspection.
More features on the way!"
It's an impressive feature list isn't it? The program itself has a beautiful and intuitive interface. There's definitely a lot to this program and just from reading the features list it seems the authors have a lot planned for it. They released it as a version 0.90 so it's still a work in progress, but it's definitely got a lot of polish already.
One of the things that stands out of the features list is "Stalk". This is a tracking feature for gear that your character possess, or at least the gear your character has equipped when you logged out of the game. The way the Stalk feature provides information on possible raid progression is via this gear tracking. So if your character has a particular piece of gear from a raid boss equipped, you are given credit for a positive boss kill. As with any means of raid progression based on equipped gear, it's limited to what gear you have equipped when you log out. So if you don't have equipped or never got a drop from a raid boss even though you have downed it, it won't be able to credit you a positive boss kill. However, I noticed that it did list "possible" boss kills but I'm not sure how it determines that yet. The program listed me with a positive kill on Attumen the Huntsman from Karazhan because I have the Steelhawk Crossbow equipped, and a "possible" kill on Coren Direbrew from Blackrock Depths (the new Brewfest boss). I should have been given a positive kill on Coren since I did have the Empty Mug of Direbrew equipped, but it could be that he's such a new boss that his full loot table has yet to be verified.
Other notable features that I found unique to this program is the ability to search for Guilds and Arena Teams, as well as Items. A nice thing I found about the Item search is that it will also list from whom or what they are dropped by, and also sold by if they are from a vendor. The Dropped By list wasn't working when I searched a common item, but worked just fine when the item was dropped from a unique mob or boss.
As identified in their features list, the Talents are still a work in progress. Presently it will show you just the talent tree and when you select a particular talent it displays what the talent is. I'm sure they are working listing your character's current talent tree, and it seems like it could be a talent calculator as well, but at this time it's limited to talent tree inspection.
So what is up with the "Lite" tag on this program? I assume it's because they are planning a "Full" version at a later date. Actually, in their application description they give a little indication of at least one thing that the full version would have; the ability to "stalk" more than one character. I don't know what else would distinguish the full version from this lite version. I also don't know what they have planned for the full version in terms of cost. Will the full version be a paid for application, or is this "lite" an indication that they know they haven't fully implemented all the features they wanted?
It's going to be interesting to see what this full version will be about and whether it will still be offered for free or not. If they are planning on making it a paid for application then I hope they are aware that the developers of the other paid for applications (Armory Browser and Warcraft Arena Calculator) were issued cease and desist letters and were taken off the App Store.
It's good to see another World of Warcraft themed application for the iPhone/Touch come out, I was worried that with the wave of cease and desist letters issued by Blizzard that development of further applications has either slowed to a cautious crawl, or stopped all together. I for one wish for this application to continue it's development and am again anxiously awaiting to see what subsequent versions have as well as the "full" version of this application.
If you made it this far you're obviously interested in this program, so what are you waiting for? Go download it and try it out for yourself, Armory Spy Lite [iTunes link].
[Update] I received a message from the author of the program regarding the Stalk feature. Here's what he wrote:
"Note, Stalk feature can and will remember gear even if you swap gear and log out. So it will for instance remember 3 shoulder pieces if it has seen three different shoulder pieces on you while you are stalked. For example, if I'm in my PVE set and log out then inspect Armory Spy I will see my PVE gear. If I then log into WoW, change to PVP and log out I will now see my PVP and PVE gear in Armory Spy (so long as I'm stalked). One of the missing elements to this feature is that it doesn't backtrack badge gear. This should be addressed prior to 1.0 as well as many other ideas, including a fully implemented talent browser."
Wrath of the Lich King on November 13, 2008!
Blizzard has officially announced that Wrath of the Lich King will be in stores on:
- November 13, 2008: North America, Europe, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Russia
- November 14, 2008: Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia
- November 18, 2008: Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau
Release in China will be announced at a later date.
Retailers are now taking pre-orders. Those that are interested, there will also be a Collector's Edition of the expansion.
Another Cease and Desist Notice
The other day I noticed that there were now only two World of Warcraft related native iPhone / iPod Touch applications on the iTunes App Store. Just a couple weeks ago there were actually four.
The first to receive a cease and desist notice from Blizzard was Armory Browser and it was pulled from the iTunes App Store on August 25, 2008. It appears that a second cease and desist notice went out to Zevo Inc., the developers of Warcraft Arena Calculator since that application was just pulled from the App Store a couple days ago. The people at Zevo Inc., hasn't actually posted anything about it on their website, but when I sent an email to them, I got a short reply which said that it violated Blizzard's intellectual property and was infringing on their copyright.
It's interesting as the remaining two applications available on the App Store are, Warcraft Characters [iTunes link] and WarcraftStat [iTunes link], are offered for free. The two that have been removed had charged money for the application. Though they were both charging only 99 cents (US) they still were charging nonetheless. As I suspected earlier, I believe it's because Blizzard is taking issue with someone charging for an application that basically accessed their freely provided service (the official WoW Armory). I'm still wondering if these applications were provided for free if Blizzard would still want them to cease and desist?
I had thought at one point that perhaps Blizzard was going after any WoW related iPhone / iPod Touch application because they were going to make their own, but the fact that Warcraft Characters and WarcraftStat are still available leads me to believe that it really was because those developers were charging money.
Let's hope Blizzard doesn't also go after the free applications!
iPhone App: Warcraft Characters 2.1.1
Early today version 2.1.1 of Warcraft Characters [iTunes link] was released on the App Store.
It has some minor updates, but ones that were highly anticipated:
- Character specific item information, including sets, enchants, and gems.
- Item detail language fix for Asian regions.
You should be able to update as usual either via iTunes or directly on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
