app

Sedna Logic Limited released the latest update to Warcraft Chest [iTunes link]. Warcraft Chest is an offline browser for item drops from raid and instance bosses, as well as items from reputation and PvP vendors.  This update brings Warcraft Chest to version 1.1 but it DOES NOT include content from the Wrath of the Lich King.  Apprently this release was submitted to Apple before Wrath and just made it through their approval process.

Though it doesn't include any Wrath content, it's still a significant update and includes the following changes:

• Update item data to WOW 3.0.x
• Smaller App Size (14Mb)
• Faster download and installation
• Improved Startup time
• Now display long English text correctly
• Improved application stability & memory usage.
• Bug fixes and more ...

The functionality of the program remains the same as the original release, however the bug fixes and performance improvements are significant.  It looks like the developers put a lot of effort into reducing the application's memory footprint and improving it's performance.

In my original review, one major issue with the program was the application's startup time (14 seconds).  This new version now starts up in only a few seconds, and it's size has been reduced from 31.1 MB to 14.1 MB.  It's interesting that the developers noted "Faster download and installation" of the program.  The reason this is significant is because the original version took a painful amount of time to upload from iTunes to the iPhone/Touch.  I retested this several times with the original version and it took 10 minutes each time!  I have no idea why a 31.1 MB program would take so long especially since other programs of similar size would easily take less than a minute.  The good news is that this new version took less than a minute to transfer.  Though that's a small issue that only arises when uploading the program to the iPhone/Touch, it's was important enough and a large enough improvement to make it noteworthy.

One thing I still noticed is that they still don't have the Frostsaber Trainers in the "Classic" Reputation Rewards. Again not a big deal but I did mention it in my original review and even sent the developers an email, but never got a response from them.  Maybe in the next release?

The improvements in performance are huge and make this program a lot more useable.  It is very nice to have an offline tool to browse instance and raid drops, but if you're working through WotLK right now this doesn't have the new content yet.  I'm sure the next release will be updated to include the WotLK instances, raids, and reputation rewards. 

So if you're using this program now for pre-Wrath content definitely give it an update, the performance improvements are well worth it.  If you're waiting for WotLK content, then you'll have to wait a little longer. 

Related:
     iPhone App: Warcraft Chest (30 October 2008)

Just a quick note to say that the latest update to WoWTalent [iTunes link] is available for download or update on the App Store.

This update makes it current with the Wrath of the Lich King release and opens the previously locked Death Knight talent tree.  

What's new in this version:

• Talents updated to 3.0.3
• Level cap raised to 80
• Death Knight tree unlocked
• Localization support added

      

Related:
     iPhone App: WoWTalent (22 September 2008)
     iPhone App: WoWTalent now free (25 September 2008)
     iPhone App: WoWTalent 1.1 (22 October 2008)
     iPhone App: WoWTalent 1.2 (24 October 2008)

I didn't think there would be any updates to the existing WoW related iPhone/Touch apps and definitely didn't expect any new apps until after the Wrath of the Lich King was released, but today I noticed a new native iPhone / iPod Touch application called WOW NEWS [iTunes link] was available on the App Store.  With all the news surrounding the current problems with WoW and the release of the Wrath of the Lich King, the timing of this app is definitely appropriate.

The application is being developed by Steve Caudle and Matrixsites Inc. and is available for 99 cents (US) on Apple's App Store.  The application description listed is quite thorough and goes over it's functionality quite nicely:

WOW TOTAL NEWS!!!

WOW TOTAL NEWS covers everything for the game of World of Warcraft.  Now you can enjoy all the latest information anywhere right on your iphone.  With the release or WotLK this will be a very valuable tool to learn all the new content as fast as possible.

Free Updates.

Most sections are updated Daily.

You can add your comments to every Article that is posted and read others who have posted comments.

The Sections list.

TOP Breaking News
This section will keep you up to date on everything for game, patches, add-ons, maps, quest information, guild information.

WotLK News and Videos
This section is everything just for WotLK from quests, guides, leveling information, tricks and hints.

Class News
This is class related news.  Changes to class, new talents, Hero Class, anything that you need to know for your class and other classes.

Video Section
The video section is great, with tons of videos and more added each week.  Nice samples of new spells, walk thru guides, all kinds of player made videos right on your iphone.

We are working hard for the next release and will be adding several new items covering WotLK when it gets release and we have some time spent with it.  Also customer feed back to us if you would like something added just email to support @matrixsites.com

Check out the screen shots for more information.

Network connection is required!

Ipod supported on Wifi connection.

This is not a RSS only reader.  Most of the articles are reformatted for display on the iphone.  You will not be dropped out of the application into Safari when viewing the full articles as this is done within the application.  We pull the news from several locations and each article has full link back to main story.

New source's will be added as they become available.

Reading through the description you'd think this is just a glorified, WoW themed RSS reader, and quite frankly you'd be mostly correct.  As the developers mentioned, the news that WOW NEWS is getting and showing has been reformatted for the iPhone/Touch display, and it does make for a nice and clean interface.  Reading the news is actually quite nice.  You could browse the main headlines, hit the down arrow to read a teaser if the headline piqued your interest, and of course you have access to the full story.  One of the features that's actually quite unique is the ability to view and actually leave comments on the selected news stories.

      

There are currently three sections for News: Breaking, WotLK, and Class which is self explanatory, and one for WoW related videos. The Videos section is of special interest because once you find a video you'd like to watch, it seemlessly moves you in and out of the iPhone/Touch's builtin YouTube video player.  There was a slight delay in displaying the news headlines, but it's most likely due to my internet connection or the server responsivness than the application itself.  The speed at which the news and of course videos are downloaded will depend on your internet connection (Edge, 3G, or WiFi), quality of connection, and file size.  News came up rather quickly over all the network connection types, and when I tried the same video over the three, I found the typical performance scenario: WiFi > 3G > Edge.  Navigating the application is both intuitive and fluid.

The application seems to aggregate news from a few sources.  Though there isn't a consolidated list of which news sources are being used by the aggregator, each news listing does have the source listed and linked.  So far I've seen news coming from WoW Insider, Ten Ton Hammer, WoWInterface, WoW Vault, and World of Warcraft Stratics to name a few.  I'm sure there are more but those are what I was able to see while trying out the application.  The videos seem to all come from YouTube and probably has gone through some kind of selection process to make sure the videos are appropriately WoW related.  The developers did say that more news sources would be added as they become relevant or available.  It'd be nice to have a list somewhere of where it's currently pulling from and at what frequency it's checking these news sources.

So it is just a glorified, WoW themed RSS news reader then?  Well, yes, but it's limited to what news sources the developer has decided to aggregate and display.  There isn't a way for you to select or add any of your own news sources if you wanted, so it's unlike a regular RSS news reader in that way.  If you want this kind of customization and control however, you would have to move to any of available full featured RSS readers or the builtin one in mobile Safari.  But, if you want focused WoW news in one application, then this will do the trick just fine. 

I like this application and have been using it throughout the day.  One thing that I would like to see added is a "Blue Tracker".  A news section that tracks posts from the Blizzard GM's specifically.  I frequent MMO-Champion BlueTracker and could easily see something like this integrated into WOW NEWS.  I've heard from one of the other iPhone/Touch app developers that they've thought of making a specific Blue tracking app, so I may not be the only one awaiting some way to track what those Blizzard GM's are posting.  At times like this past Black Tuesday Maintenance, knowing what the GM's were saying was extremely helpful.

Naturally I bought this application.  I believe I've actually bought every WoW related iPhone/Touch application that had charged something for it when it was first released.  Now I've written before about Blizzard and their cease and desist letters [1, 2] to developers that were charging money for WoW related/themed applications, and because of these, all the programs presently available are for free.  A few initially charged for their application but quickly switched the price to free to avoid any legal letters from Blizzard.  I'm not sure if this application will garner the attention of Blizzard's legal team since it's not directly accessing any of Blizzard's freely available resources (like some of the other applications were).  If anything, the ones that may have an issue would be the news content creators, but all news stories are just aggregated and are back linked to their original sites.  I suppose only time will tell if Blizzard would take offense to this application or not.  Let's hope this one isn't one to fall to Blizzard's epic legal hammer.

So now the big question, is it worth 99 cents (US)? Is it worth paying anything when one could use freely available news readers or Safari bookmarks?  For me it is for a couple reasons.  Review purposes aside, it's worth it because it saves me time.  The convenience of having focused and consolidated WoW news in one application is nice. Also, I personally like supporting developers especially if they are working on a product that I would either use or find useful.  Now I realize there are people that wouldn't pay for something they could do for free and that's perfectly fine. So whether it's worth the price of admission is really up to you. I have mine already and am keeping up with the latest news.

[Update 7:20 PM PST:] As I was browsing the WoW Top News using WOW NEWS, I noticed that Steve posted a request for some help with some news feeds. Since this was released on the WOW NEWS aggregator feed I think only current users would have seen it. I have been in contact with Steve about the program and he's been very responsive seems genuinely excited about making a feature rich product. He's even already integrated the MMO-Champion BlueTracker that I requested in my original post. I hope he doesn't mind me re-posting his post here:

WOW NEWS REQUEST
NOV / 12 / 08 - 5:55pm > admin

First I would like to thank everyone that has purchased this application. I wanted to post an update on the status of the application and ask for your help. We are currently adding several new features to the application and should submit it to Apple for approval by Monday. Not sure how long it will take Apple to approve but it seem Appls is getting really fast with the updates.

Next, as you all know we aggregate news from a few sources right now and want to add several more as soon as possible. But we are having a hard time finding good WOW news feeds. We are not interested in the 5 word fee that really is just a link, but a nice feed that offers content lead in to full a story. Most of the feeds we have reviewed are very old and do no offer current news feeds. If you know any good news feeds please post a comment here with a URL so we can review and write the aggregate code to pull to our servers.

It is our goal to make this a great app for the WOW fans and we know we have a long way to go but we will have nice updates each week until we feel it is what the user would like to have and use.

Any suggestions would also be welcome and we will try to work them into the application.

Thanks and have a great time with WotLK and hope to see you in the game.

Steve Caudle
CEO
Matrixsites Inc.

If you know of any good feeds you could post here and I could forward them along, or even better is to just send them directly, support@matrixsites.com.

iPhone / Touch users just got a nice new native application that will allow them to browse item drops from raids and dungeons as well as reputation and PvP rewards from the various faction vendors.  Warcraft Chest [iTunes link] is a brand new Warcraft themed application written by Sedna Logic Limited for the iPhone / Touch.  It's available now on the App Store and like all the other WoW related apps, it's free.

Application description from the App Store:

Want to access items drop in the World of Warcraft while out-game?
Warcraft Chest is a browser for items drops available in dungeons, raids, badge of justice rewards, reputation as well as PVP rewards.
Inspect your favorite items and prepare for you next adventure!

FEATURES:
Browse items for TBC and Classic (2.4.3) including:

• Dungeon and Raid Drops
• Badge of Justice Rewards
• Reputation Rewards
• PVP Rewards

General impressions is that the program is nicely written with a clean and inutitive interface.  Initial startup is very slow and  took about 14 seconds before the first screen appeared.  You'll need a little patience starting up this program, but afterwards the performace is pretty snappy.  Once the program loads, you are asked to select your language preference (English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, or Korean are supported), and you could now start browsing the various raid and instance drops, as well as reputation and Badge of Justice vendor rewards.

      

It appears that the program is an offline browser so you could still browse those items regardless of internet connectivity or not.  The program's large size (31.1 MB) is probably partly due to having all the items stored within the program's database.  I'm sure when the new content for WotLK becomes available, this program will be updated as the new content becomes available. 

As I was using the program, it crashed and closed at seemingly random times.  I remember that the another program, WoW Talent 1.1, had a similar issue when the iPhone was on for extended periods of time and had to be power-cycled.  Since I don't usually turn off my iPhone, I went and did a power-cycle reset and that seems to have resolved the issue.  So if you are getting frequent crashes with this program, try power-cycling your device.  Perhaps the developers are already aware of this and have a hotfix in the works.

One other very minor exclusion I noticed was the absence of the Frostsaber Trainers under the "Classic" reputation vendors.  I know they only offer Reigns of the Winterspring Frostsaber at Exalted, but since I spent many hours grinding reputation for them, I just thought I'd mention it. 

Overall it's a nice little program and I see some utility in this both in- and out- of game.  So if you want a mobile, offline way to browse raid and instance drops, as well as reputation and PvP rewards this program will do the trick nicely.

The latest update to WoWTalent [iTunes link] is available for download on the App Store. The release is version 1.2 and addresses a serious known bug in the previous version, 1.1. If you have version 1.1 or an earlier version, it is highly recommended you update the application as soon as possible.

Other improvements in this version also include:

• Improved Stability
• Modified summary formatting
• Hold durations for talent button functions adjusted
• Save/Load improvements
• Tabbing added to info pages, tap left or right edges to move

The last feature is actually pretty nice as you don't have to back out to the talent tree to select another talent description. I wonder why they decided to use tapping of the edges to move from page to page instead of the built in feature many iPhone users are accustomed to when tabbing multiple pages, the nifty "finger slide" across the screen. They already have this feature applied to switch between talent tree branches, so why not in this part as well?

I suppose while I'm commenting on the talent tree feature I think it would be nice to perhaps have some kind of "split screen" mode where I could see both the talent tree as well as the talent information. Perhaps rotating the screen while in the talent tree will put it into this "spit screen" mode? A split screen mode would require more screen space so rotating it into landscape mode seems reasonable. I think I'll suggest this to Robert and Peter. They've been very responsive to bug fixes, updates, and emails before, perhaps they'll be just as responsive to a feature request.

Speaking of features, it looks like they have a feature planned that would allow uploading, emailing, or Bonjour transfers of your talent builds to other WoWTalent users. They also promise speed improvements which I have no doubt they will deliver on. So stay tuned for more to come, but in the meantime, go download the latest version now.

An updated version of the native iPhone / Touch application, WoWTalent [iTunes link], is now available on the App Store. WoWTalent is an offline talent tree/calculator that has been updated with the latest information from Patch 3.0.2, the Echoes of Doom.

When I reviewed the initial release of this application I was very impressed by it.  This version maintains the same look and feel as the original, but updates the application to include the new class talent trees, pet talent trees, UI improvements, and now has save and load functionality.  There's even a placeholder for the Death Knight.

      

We've only had the new talent trees a week and many (including myself) are still testing different talent builds.  Since my main is a hunter, I've also been taming new pets and testing their respective talent trees.  This application will definitely come in handy especially when I start playing with the talent trees of all my alts.

There was on major problem. As I was working with the application, it unexpectedly crashed, and closed. I tried to open the application again and within a few button presses it crashed and closed again. Subsequent tries caused the application to crash and close immediately upon starting. I had to power cycle reset my iPhone before I could open the application again.  I was about to submit a bug report but saw that they already knew about it:

Important Version 1.1 Update Announcement!

As you may have noticed, we released a Version 1.1 of WoWTalent this past weekend to coincide with the 3.0.2 patch.
We have found that in some rare cases (particularly when the iPhone/iPod has been on for extended duration) that we run into memory overruns that cause the App to crash.

We think we have found the source of this problem, and have a hotfix ready to be submitted for approval.

In the meantime, if you are having crashing issues, don't worry... it will not break anything. A lot of people have reported successful operation with a POWER-CYCLE of the phone/ipod.

We apologize for the bug... hopefully the HOTFIX will be approved by Apple soon!
We would like to thank everyone for helping report bugs and offering suggestions!

So if you have the older version, you could either head over to the App Store and grab the update now, or just wait a little longer for the hotfixed version.

There was something amiss last night when I checked the App Store. There use to be five World of Warcraft related native iPhone / iPod Touch applications available but now there are only four. It appears that Realm Status which was released a little over a week ago, has silently disappeared. Was this another casualty of Blizzard's legal letters?

I was surprised to see this application off of the App Store as I could not see a reason why it should be. It was available for free and Blizzard has left the freely available apps alone, but you never know. Instead of continue on with speculation, I decided to just send a message over to John Baker, the developer over at WOOT! Systems if he knew why his application went missing.

Here's his response:

"A change in Blizzard's realm status XML feed caused the app to always report an 'up' status (for US servers). I'm accelerating development on v1.5, which will fix this bug, along with the app crashes reported."

So it was intentionally removed by John so he could fix it and I'm sure he'll release v1.5 when it's ready. Looking forward to having it back up and available on the App Store.

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.

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.

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 version

A 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.