Like everyone else on the planet, we’ve sunk some time into Diablo III so far, and it’s a blast. So far I’m greatly enjoying the Wizard (LASER FREEZE RAY) and the Demon Hunter is also a lot of fun. I’ve played around with the Monk a bit, but I don’t think I enjoy the melee playstyle. I’ll stick with my blasters.

Vid, of course, is playing a Wizard. Shocking, I know!

(SHOCKING BECAUSE yeah you get it.)

As for the older games? Despite what it might say in the strip, Vid’s never played the original two Diablo games. I, however, have. I fondly remember the old Diablo days, spamming Charged Bolt and filling entire rooms with lightning, or the unforgettable baddies like the Butcher, King Leoric and Gharbad the Weak.

I also fondly remember trapping friends on Wirt’s little island and refusing to let them pass until they paid me a toll. Yeah, panel 2? That’s an 100% verbatim conversation, from many years ago.

You see, Wirt the Peg-Legged Boy was a vendor found on the outskirts of Tristram in the original Diablo. He sold random magical items, sometimes very good ones, so players usually made the trip out to visit him and see what he had in stock.

The only problem was, the only way to reach him was by going across a 1-tile wide footbridge. And game technology was a different beast back then. In Diablo, you couldn’t actually walk through other players. You’d walk around them. But if someone was in your way, and there wasn’t an open path to walk around them, you just stood there, stuck.

Thus, the “toll bridge.”

I remember my brother’s poor friend, who was brand-new to the game, and possibly video games in general. He reluctantly gave me his gold, then he gave me his one, lone possession – something like a battered club, his starting weapon. He nearly cried when I took it, then solemnly informed him that it was not enough.

Ahh, those were the days.

This is the special prize strip Cymre of Bubbles of Mischief won by taking 1st place in the Great Blog Noblegarden Egg Hunt!

Congratulations Cymre! We hope you enjoy your guest appearance!

Cymre maintains an amazing gallery of World of Warcraft rare spawns on her blog – aka, “Silver Dragons” – so we thought, hey, what better way to celebrate her egg-hunting victory than with some Silver Dragon love of her own?

Of course, to the REST of us, rare spawns are highly coveted! Special drops, bonus bursts of XP, achievements, you name it! I know I personally can never pass up a rare spawn I happen across…after all, they might drop something great for transmogrifying!

Anyway, Cymre also has great screenshot galleries of scenic WoW locations, transmog outfits, Mists of Pandaria beta stuff, and more! So do yourself a favor and camp her (blog). You won’t regret it!

The Calgary Expo was on the weekend, and, well, it was an…interesting experience.

There was waiting. There were photos with Patrick Stewart and autographs from Wil Wheaton. There was more waiting. There was the chance to meet Fyreuni of Daily Quests.

Oh, and there was a near-riot when the Expo shut the doors because they had oversold and weren’t letting in any more attendees, regardless of pre-purchased tickets, “we have a scheduled photoshoot with Patrick Stewart”, or “I just stepped outside for a smoke and my family is still inside!” statuses. I know this because I was still outside, some 3-4 hours after we’d arrived.

People were not happy.

I entertained myself by tweeting Expo haikus, and watching the crowd with a mixture of curiosity and excitement. I mean, if I wasn’t going to get in, maybe I could at least witness a comic/Sci-Fi riot, so the entire day wouldn’t be a total waste!

However, riots were averted, and I did eventually get in, met up with Vid and Voss, and met Fyreuni. So overall, it turned out okay! Our feet were killing us and we just wanted to go home and fall asleep, but the Expo itself was definitely a lot of fun.

Fyre asked us if From Draenor would have a booth next year. Who knows? A year is a long time. There’d be a lot of work and preparation involved.

Then again, you get CHAIRS if you get a booth.

Hmm. Tempting.

HEY MURADIN PUT A BIRD ON IT

Like we said last week…Warrior glyphs in Mists = THE COOLEST.

Some news about the next few weeks! This weekend, we’ll be attending a Comic Expo in Calgary! Excitement! Our strip next week will be something based off the Expo, we hope. Then, the week after that we plan on presenting the special guest strip for Cymre, winner of this year’s Great Blog Noblegarden Egg Hunt! So keep your eyes peeled!

…I can’t stop laughing at Muradin’s face in the last panel, guys.

SERIOUSLY JUST LOOK AT IT

A Glyph that lights you on fire? A Glyph that causes a lightning strike?

…I have a sudden urge to play a warrior in Mists.

Seriously though, it’s terrific that Blizzard is giving us all these new fun cosmetic glyphs. They’re little touches, but damn are they cool.

My personal favorite so far? That would be Glyph of the Geist. BECAUSE GEISTS ARE AWESOME.

(In other news, I think Vid is going to revolt if I make her draw Garrosh again.)

It’s a good thing hitting the button on LFR Ultraxion isn’t necessary to beat the fight, because if it was, I don’t think a single LFR group would ever kill him. Like, seriously, it’s NOT THAT HARD, PEOPLE. PUSH THE DAMN BUTTON. IT’S RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR SCREEN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

But no. It’s enough to make a healer tear their hair out in frustration.

In other news, here is a snippet of the From Draenor creative process at work:

Rades: I think it needs some underbrush, in the background?
Rades: like whatever trees they have there
Rades: alternately, explosions
Rades: maybe bullet casings flying out of gun?
Vid: oh does that happen?
Rades: DOES THAT HAPPEN
Vid: hahaha man
Vid: I’m pretty sure the gun is also completely wrong
Rades: haha
Vid: I don’t know how a gun works
Vid: I’m like, huh I think it’s like, look there’s a holdy thing here
Rades: you have the front ammo clip, that’s enough to show it’s a gun
Vid: wtf is an ammo clip, did I draw that
Rades: …
Vid: nevermind, hahaha

The new glyphs on the Mists of Pandaria beta sound amazing. Trust me, this is not the only glyph feature you’ll be seeing on From Draenor.

I was actually surprised to see an Orca glyph, since they seem more suitable for Northrend than the lush, temperate zones of Pandaria. Wouldn’t it be funny if there were a huge assortment of minor glyphs that changed the appearance of druid travel and aquatic forms? Imagine the possibilities! Aquatic form: SQUID. Travel form: GIANT FERRET. Aquatic form: JELLYFISH.

Ah well. Maybe while they’re working on druid aesthetics, they can finally give troll druids the ability to perch. THEY CAN’T PERCH! How are their lives even worth living?!

As everyone knows by now, Garrosh Hellscream will be the boss of Mists of Pandaria’s final content patch, and we take him down in an exciting-sounding “Siege of Orgrimmar.”

Now, there’s a lot of time between now and then, but I have to say…given what we’ve seen of Sylvanas in Cataclysm – being quite dastardly towards the Worgen during their starting zone, raising unwilling humans into new Forsaken and conscripting them into her forces, and her cold and callous treatment towards Koltira – I really expected her to be the Horde leader we’d end up killing as a raid boss. Garrosh has actually been quite level-headed and reasonable in his Cata appearances, in comparison.

I mean, one of these leaders has executed their overeager lieutenant, outraged that they bombed an innocent grove of druids. The other leader has utterly destroyed an enemy lakeshore town with plague and disease, leaving only sickly wreckage behind.

Which one sounds like a future villain to you?

Also…corrupted and doing really nasty things beneath their city? Um, are we SURE we’re not talking about Sylvanas? Maybe Garrosh has been taking pointers…

From Draenor presents, Real Azerothian Geniuses.

Today we salute you, Mr. Lamp Hum Sound Creator Guy.

You work tirelessly to capture the tranquil sound of a summer breeze or the frantic buzz of fireflies trapped in a jar, just to make our weary trek through the wild a little less scary.

In the darkest of nights, we pause on our journey, wondering if that subtle rustling we just heard was one of your masterpieces singing its peaceful song of illumination, or a horrible flesh-eating zombie lurking in the bushes.

Usually, we shake our heads and smile, breathing a sigh of relief when we realize it was just a lamp. Oh, those mischievous lamps. Other times, we get devoured by ghouls, but hey, you can’t win ‘em all, right?

So here’s to you, Mr. Lamp Hum Sound Creator Guy.

You light up our lives…with the sounds of freedom.

Everyone’s been buzzing about the new & improved Scroll of Resurrection, and why not? A free level 80, realm transfer AND faction transfer? Just for coming back to the game? Yeah, it’s no wonder the new Scroll offer has been so popular.

Of course, we all know what’s REALLY behind the Scroll frenzy.

SPECTRAL MOUNTS.

Awww yeah. That’s the kind of incentive that gets RESULTS.

PS: Did you know Stormwind really does have a War Room? Seriously, it’s right next to Varian’s throne room. Go take a look.