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Archive for March, 2008

Quel’Danas Daily Tips

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Sunwell

If you’re like me, you probably rushed to the Isle of Quel’Denas as soon as the patch was released, both to see the sights and find out what all the hubub was about with these new daily quests. Personally, I’ve had a total blast so far. Getting reputation with the newest faction, The Shattered Sun Offensive has proven quite painless as you get rep for doing just about anything. The daily quests are relatively painless and some are downright fun! If you’re a newcomer to the isle, however, here are some tips to help you on your journey.

  • Bring a Group! Most of the daily quests on the isle can be done as a group, allowing you to have some fun with your friends while gaining reputation and gold in the process. I’ve always had a certain amount of disdain for quests that discouraged group play, as it strikes me as going against the spirit of the game. The bombing quest, for example, as always finished faster with friends in tow, so get out there! As a side note, make sure you all leave at the same time to share credit for bombings.
  • Be Courteous Right now, it’s crowded out there. Scores of people from both factions are stomping through the isle doing their dailies and gathering for groups. Don’t be “that guy” by tagging every be you see someone running for. Many will give you a hand even if they know you tagged them first. Help out others and you’ll get help in return.
  • Watch out for Doomlord Kazzak He’s still there in Hellfire, just waiting for unsuspecting questers to take a step too close. Don’t get yourself and everyone around you killed. If you hear this guy yelling, stay the hell out of the way! I’ve seen a number of players purposely pull the doomlord to grief both friend and foe alike. Again, don’t be “that guy.”
  • Winding Down Friday

    Friday, March 28th, 2008

    As you may have guessed, I’ve been busy exploring the new content that patch 2.4 has to offer, and so we’ve missed a few posts along the way. Not to worry though! In case you missed it I’ve brought up the Fury of the Sunwell Trailer for your entertainment.

    In other news I must say I’m pretty impressed with the new dailies/content. I love Magister’s Terrace as an instance (though a bit heavy on the need for crowd control) and I’ve been doing my part to unlock the latest badge gear vendor, who only shows up once enough dailies have been done to build the anvil!

    If you haven’t been in there just yet, Magister’s Terrace is an interesting mix of healer, anti-caster, and melee mobs. You’ll have to deal with dampening magic fields, fast-casting arcane mages, and full-heal blood knights if you expect to survive! A good rule of thumb is to CC the mobs that do the most damage while targeting healers first (with a healthy amount of spell-interrupts of course). The boss fights are a lot of fun, if familiar. Many seem to take a page from karazahn, just in 5-man form. Here’s a short breakdown:

  • First Boss is much like the Warlord in Steam Vaults. Have your tank bring him near a crystal. When he begins to channel it, destroy the crystal as fast as you can, then move on to the next. If he has mana, he will periodically explode, causing damage to your entire group.
  • The Second Boss is much like curator, except the energy bolts you destroy will cause you to do eat a debuff that increases your damage while causing damage to you. Don’t kill too many yourself, or you’ll get fragged! Be sure to unload as his health winds down, because he’ll start doing a lot of damage to your entire group
  • The Third Boss is very similar to the Moroes fight in kara. You’ll need to CC the adds as best you can. Kill off the witch’s minions first that cannot be reliably controlled, then focus your damage on her, and you’ll be fine.
  • Kael has to be my favorite fight of a 5-man instance in some time. He’ll start off pretty standard, just throwing fireballs and summoning a phoenix, which you must kill ASAP, as he does fairly hefty damage to the group. Once he hits 50%, he’ll cast gravity lapse, throwing your group into the air. At this point, everyone should focus their damage on kael while avoiding the orbs floating around the room (they hurt, a lot!) until dead.
  • It should be noted that this is a summary for non-heroic mode, and while I’m sure you can find a more detailed explanation elsewhere, hopefully this will give you a taste for what’s in store!

    2.4 Goes Live (And Notes)

    Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

    It’s true! The latest patch, 2.4, has officially gone live! Here are the live patch notes:

    Fury of the Sunwell

    * The glorious fount of arcane energy known as the Sunwell empowered the high elves for millennia, until the death knight Arthas laid siege to the elven kingdom and corrupted its sacred energies. Seeing no other alternative, a band of survivors led by Prince Kael’thas destroyed the ancient fount. Over time the surviving elves fell pray to a crippling magical withdrawal.

    Now, promising salvation for his people, Kael’thas has returned. Soon the Sunwell will shine once again, but whether the sacred fount will usher in deliverance or destruction remains to be seen.

    In Memoriam: Gary Gygax

    * Blizzard Entertainment would like to dedicate the patch in memory of Gary Gygax. His work on D&D was an inspiration to us in many ways and helped spark our passion for creating games of our own. As avid D&D players and fellow game developers, we were all saddened by the news of his passing; we feel we’ve lost a true adventuring companion. Thanks for everything and farewell, Gary. You will be missed.

    Combat Log Improvements

    * The combat log has undergone improvements that allow more robust combat text filtering including the ability to define custom colors for enemies and friends, as well as combat text filtering for self and others.

    Global Arena Tournament

    * Players will be able to create level-70 characters with epic equipment and compete on special tournament realms in a new global arena tournament. For more information, details and entry requirements, please visit the official tournament pages.

    General

    * The Sunwell Isle is now available for play. This area includes a new quest hub and 5 and 25-player instances.
    * The combined forces of Shattrath have launched an attack on the Isle of Quel’Danas, to confront Kael’thas and the Legion at the Sunwell and surrounding areas. Players will now be able to gain reputation with the Shattered Sun Offensive and participate in a new set of daily quests.
    * A representative of the Keepers of Time has been spotted at the World’s End Tavern in Shattrath. Players in good standing with the faction will be granted ease of passage to the Caverns of Time.
    * Characters will now retain talented spell ranks so when they retalent they do not have to relearn the spells from trainers.
    * Spell Haste: Spell haste now reduces the global cooldown on spells, down to a minimum of 1 second. This change does not apply to melee and ranged abilities.
    * Item Cast Spells: Many spells cast by items were being cast as if the caster were the same level as the item. Most of those will now be cast at the player’s level, giving them a reasonable chance to miss, be dispelled, or be resisted.
    * Resilience: Now reduces the magnitude of mana draining effects by the same amount that it reduces critical strike damage. The Tooltip has been revised to reflect this.
    * Spirit-Based Mana Regeneration: This system has been adjusted so that as your intellect rises, you will regenerate more mana per point of spirit.
    * Weapon Skill: Points will be gained faster in weapon skills for levels 1 through 59.
    * The Daily Quest limit has been increased to 25.
    * Non-self % based haste spells will no longer stack with each other.

    Racials

    * Find Treasure: This ability no longer deactivates upon death.

    Druids

    * Cyclone range is now 20 yards, down from 30.
    * Empowered Rejuvenation: This talent now properly affects the final heal from Lifebloom.
    * Gift of Nature: This talent now properly affects the healing from Tranquility.
    * Insect Swarm: Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
    * Lacerate: This ability now deals additional damage based on the attack power of the Druid.
    * Lifebloom: The bonus coefficient on the final bloom effect has been reduced by 20%. This spell will no longer cause error messages when interacting with Spellsteal or while the Druid is under the effects of Mind Control.
    * Mangle (Bear) now properly triggers a 1.5 second global cooldown, increased from 1.0 second.
    * Many shapeshift form tooltips have been updated to be consistent with each other.
    * Natural Perfection: This ability will no longer be triggered by taking critical strikes while sitting. In addition, it is now affected by the Subtlety talent and reduces damage by 2/3/4%, down from 1/3/5%.
    * Nurturing Instinct increases your healing spells by up to 50/100% of your Agility, and increases healing done to you by 10/20% while in Cat form.
    * Regrowth: The mana cost of this spell has been reduced by approximately 20%.
    * When a Druid in cat form casts Pounce it will now properly animate.

    Hunter

    * Equipping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will no longer cause animation issues.
    * Casting Flare while in any way not visible, will no longer cause your flare to be invisible to other players.
    * Hunter’s Mark: Hunters with Improved Hunter’s Mark will now properly overwrite Hunter’s Mark cast by Hunters without the talent.
    * Improved Mend Pet now has a 25/50 chance to remove one Curse, Disease, Magic, or Poison effect, up from 15/50%.
    * The stamina tooltip for hunter pets will now display the proper health increase.
    * Track spells will now persist after death.
    * Hunters will no longer spin around if they cast Aimed Shot or Steady Shot while facing away from their target.

    Mages

    * Arcane Explosion: The damage cap for area of effect damage on this spell has been increased by approximately 50%.
    * Arcane Fortitude now increases your armor by an amount equal to 100% of your Intellect, up from 50%.
    * Blink, Slow, and Spellsteal have all had their mana cost reduced.
    * Improved Blink: This talent no longer reduces the mana cost of Blink. Instead, it increases the chance for all attacks to miss the Mage by 25% for 2/4 sec after Blink is cast.
    * Using low ranks of Fire Ward and Frost Ward spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
    * Frostbite: When a frost spell is reflected back at a Mage, it is now possible for the Mage to suffer from the Frostbite effect.
    * Ice Barrier: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
    * Icy Veins no longer increases the chance your chilling effects will Freeze the target, but now increases the chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any spell by 100% while active.
    * Improved FireWard has become Molten Shields.
    * Mana Shield: This spell will now get a percentage of the Mage’s bonus to spell damage as an additional effect.
    * New Talent: Molten Shields will cause your Fire Ward to have a 10/20% chance to reflect Fire spells while active. In addition, your Molten Armor has a 50/100% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks.
    * Permafrost: This talent will now correctly increase the movement slowing effect of frost Armor instead of the attack speed slowing effect.
    * Spellsteal will no longer overwrite a longer duration buff.

    Paladins

    * Avenger’s Shield, Holy Shield and Holy Shock: Casting lower ranks of these spells is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
    * Avenger’s Shield: This ability will no longer jump to secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. I.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Crusader Strike: This ability will no longer refresh the Healing Way buff from the Shaman talent.
    * Illumination: The mana energize from this talent no longer has a chance to set off other triggered effects.
    * Holy Shock: The healing, damage, and mana cost of this spell have all been increased.
    * Judgment of the Crusader: It is no longer possible to have icons for two different ranks of Judgment of the Crusader appear at the same time when judged by multiple Paladins.
    * Judgment of Wisdom: Some abilities (such as Frostbolt) were not triggering the mana energize effect from this spell. This has now been fixed.
    * Resistance Auras: It is no longer possible for two Paladins in the same party to make it appear that players have two of the same resistance aura active.
    * Righteous Defense: This spell will now always be castable on friendly npcs.
    * Seal of Blood: This ability will no longer cause spell pushback for the Paladin with this seal active.
    * Sense Undead- Now persists after death.
    * Turn Undead(Rank 3):This spell has been reworked and has been renamed to “Turn Evil”. It will now work on Demons in addition to Undead. Turn Evil is subject to diminishing returns, and lasts 10 seconds in PvP.

    Priests

    * Chastise no longer disorients the target, but now is instant cast and roots the target for 2 seconds.
    * Fear Ward is now usable while in Shadow form.
    * Focused Will now reduces damage by 2/3/4%, up from 1/3/5%.
    * Inner Focus: Chastise now benefits from Inner Focus. In addition, Starshards no longer consumes Inner Focus.
    * Mass Dispel now affects a maximum of 10 targets, increased from 5.
    * Power Infusion: Infuses the target with power, increasing their spell haste by 20% and reducing the mana cost of all spells by 20%. Lasts for 15 seconds.This will not stack with other haste effects, such as Heroism, Bloodlust, or Icy Veins.
    * Power Word: Shield: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
    * Prayer of Mending: This spell will now fade from players who leave or enter an instance, change continents, or exit the game.
    * Reflective Shield: The reflective damage from this talent no longer breaks crowd control effects which break on taking damage.
    * Shadowguard: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered.
    * Silent Resolve:This talent now affects Surge of Light, Power Infusion, Inspiration, Spirit Tap, Blackout, Levitate, Shackle Undead, Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, and Symbol of Hope.
    * Touch of Weakness: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered.It will also function properly even when the Priest with Touch of Weakness on is silenced or stunned.
    * Vampiric Touch: Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.

    Rogues

    * Abilities that can be used while stealthed, without breaking stealth, can now be cast without breaking Vanish when used at the same time.
    * Cheat Death: A combat log message will now show when this ability activates and now has an animation.. It will now almost always be accurate in displaying the amount of damage done to a rogue when under the effects of Cheat Death.
    * Improved Backstab is now called Puncturing Wounds.
    * Puncturing Wounds increases your critical strike chance with Backstab by 10/20/30%, and the critical strike chance with your Mutilate ability by 5/10/15%.
    * Improved Sprint: This ability will now always remove Entangling Roots.
    * Sap mechanic changed from “Incapacitate” to “Sap”. This will allow more humanoids that were previously immune to Sap to be vulnerable to Sap, but still immune to Gouge. Note that anything that removed Sap previously will still remove Sap after the change.
    * Vanish: This ability will no longer sometimes cause the UI to display Shadowmeld as active when it has been cancelled.

    Shaman

    * Call of Thunder: (Rank 5) now gives 5% critical strike chance, down from 6%.
    * Earth Shield: Mana cost reduced roughly in half, and charges reduced from 10 to 6.
    * Elemental Focus: This buff will no longer be removed when Shamanistic Focus is triggered.
    * Flametongue Weapon: Having different ranks of this enchantment cast on two different weapons will no longer cause the enchantments to trigger multiple times per swing.
    * Ghost Wolf: Cast time reduced to 2 seconds, down from 3.
    * The Global Cooldown of all Totems has been reduced to 1 seconds, down from 1.5 seconds.
    * Healing Grace: This talent now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.The resistance to being dispelled modifier from this talent now applies correctly to Water Breathing.
    * Rockbiter Weapon: Tooltip and error messages have been adjusted slightly.
    * Shamanistic Rage is now a Physical ability instead of a Magic spell, and thus is no longer dispellable. It now reduces all damage taken by 30% and gives your successful melee attacks a chance to regenerate mana equal to 30% of your attack power. This lasts for 15 seconds with a 2 minute cooldown.
    * Stormstrike has a new icon.
    * Totem timer icons will now show up under your player portrait when you cast totem spells. Right-clicking a totem timer icon will destroy that totem.
    * Toughness will now also reduce the duration of movement slowing effects on you by 10/20/30/40/50%.
    * Tremor Totem now pulses every 3 seconds, down from 4 seconds.
    * The Shaman spell Fire Nova Totem will no longer sometimes detonate without doing any damage.

    Warlocks

    * Blood Pact now has a tooltip.
    * Demonic Knowledge: This buff will no longer remain on enslaved demons when Enslave Demon is removed. It will now increase your spell damage by an amount equal to 4/8/12%, down from 5/10/15%.
    * Demonic Sacrifice: Now works properly in sanctuary regions (such as Shattrath City and the Stair of Destiny).
    * Emberstorm now also reduces the cast time of your incinerate spell by 2/4/6/8/10%.
    * Nether Protection: The buff from this talent will no longer interrupt capturing PvP flags and bases.
    * Pyroclasm: This talent now works correctly again with Rain of Fire.
    * Ritual of Summoning can be used to summon players into instances if they meet the instance requirements.
    * Sense Demon now persists after death.
    * Shadow Ward: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.

    Warriors

    * Cleave: This ability will no longer strike any secondary target which is under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Endless Rage will now give the correct amount of rage as intended from damage dealt by a Warrior.
    * Improved Hamstring (Arms) effect is now subject to diminishing returns when used in PvP.
    * Stances: It is no longer possible to accidentally change into a stance you are already in via macros (resulting in a global cooldown and loss of rage).
    * Whirlwind: Critical strikes with the off-hand weapon from this ability can now trigger Flurry and Rampage.
    * Flurry will properly refresh if a crit occurs with 1 charge left.

    PvP

    * Diminishing returns on honor for kills is being eliminated.
    * Honor will now be instantly calculated, and available for player use.
    * Players that have the resurrection sickness debuff will be worth no honor.
    * Added new PvP daily quests that send players to Halaa and the Spirit Towers of the Bone Wastes. These quests are available for Alliance and Horde at their respective local quest hubs.
    * Arenas
    o Personal Rating: The amount a player’s personal rating can climb above his or her team’s rating is now limited.
    o The benefits of drinking out of combat have been delayed while in the Arena. It will now take four seconds before the full benefit of the mana regeneration will come into effect.
    o Queue times for arena matches have been reduced. Players will now be able to enter matches faster than previously.
    o Shadow Sight now increases damage taken by 5% rather than dealing damage over time. Duration has been reduced from 21 seconds to 15 seconds.
    o Players feared outside of the Arena (through the world or outside the arena walls) will now be teleported back to the center of the arena map.
    * Battlegrounds
    o If a player dies 50 times or more in a battleground, they will no longer be worth honor for the remainder of that battle.
    o When you first enter a battleground, messages about other players joining the battleground will be linked together for the first minute. You will see a message in AV like “28 players joined” rather than a line for each player that joined. After the first minute, it will work as it always has. In addition, all of the messages about other players leaving the battleground and getting marks of honor once the battleground is complete have been removed.
    o Battleground Rune Buffs:Speed, Restoration, and Berserking buffs received from battleground runes will no longer cause Stealth or Prowl to break.
    o Alterac Valley
    + Captain Balinda Stonehearth Stonehearth can no longer be interrupted, silenced, or have her spells slowed. In addition, her water elemental cannot be banished, and does increased damage.
    + Vanndar Stormpike and Captain Balinda Stonehearth have had their health totals reduced to match the health totals of Drek’Thar and Captain Galvangar…
    + Warmasters/marshals in Alterac Valley now increase each other’s maximum health and damage by 25%. This is a stacking effect.
    + Horde players will now start the battle closer to Drek’Thar and Frostwolf Keep.
    + There is now a Join as Party option.
    o Warsong Gulch
    + When both flags are held, the flag carriers will receive 50% increased damage done to them after approximately 10 minutes and 100% increased damage after approximately 15 minutes.
    + Flag carriers can now be tracked 45 seconds after picking up the flag.

    Professions

    * Added several new tradeskill items to the new Sunwell Daily faction vendor:
    o Enchanting recipe to shatter a Void Crystal into two Large Prismatic Shards.
    o Enchanting recipe to increase Defense Rating by 15 for chest armor.
    o Three jewelcrafting recipes to cut gems with spell haste from Dawnstones, Talasite, and noble Topaz.
    o Two new meta gem recipes.
    * Alchemy
    o Gift of Arthas now stacks to 20.
    o Transmute Arcanite no longer has a cooldown.
    * Cooking
    o Broiled Bloodfin now increases resistances to all schools of magic instead of increasing Stamina and Spirit.
    o New recipes, Charred Bear Kabobs and Juicy Bear Burgers, can be purchased from either Bale (Horde) or Malygen (Alliance) in Felwood. These recipes requires 250 skill to learn, and are created from meat found on level 48-56 bears. This will aid players in leveling up their cooking skill to 300 without fishing.
    * Enchanting
    o Reduced the materials required for Enchant Shield – Resistance
    * Engineering
    o Gagsprocket in Ratchet now sells the plans for the Minor Recombobulator.
    o Goblin Jumper Cables and Goblin Jumper Cables XL now display cooldown information in their tooltips.
    o Removed the level requirement for the Craftsman’s Monocle.
    o The stun caused by engineering Bombs and Grenades is now considered an Incapacitate effect and uses the appropriate Incapacitate diminishing returns. Bomb and Grenades can now inflict damage to targets immune to Stun and Incapacitate effects.
    o A new recipe has been added for Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite, a cloth version of the Rocket Boots Xtreme. This pattern drops from Mechano-Lord Capacitus.
    o Rocket Boots Xtreme now have all their stat points allocated toward Attack Power, and will no longer have Stamina.
    o Rocket Boots Xtreme and Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite will cause players to drop a PvP flag if used while carrying one. (Warsong Gulch, Eye of the Storm, and Zangarmarsh)
    * Fishing
    o New Fishing Daily Quests! Visit the mysterious old man fishing at Silmyr Lake outside of Shattrath City to discover what treasures he has to offer.
    o Find Fish now correctly tracks Schools of Tastyfish and Muddy Churning Waters.
    o Feltail fishing nodes have been changed to Brackish Mixed Schools; they now produce mostly Golden Darters and some Feltail.
    o Removed the level requirement from the expert fishing book, The Bass and You.
    * Herbalism
    o Ancient Lichen now has a chance to drop a Fel Lotus where it used to drop a piece of random green jewelry.
    o Black Lotus replaced by Fel Lotus in herbalism skinning tables for Outland creatures.
    o Increased the chance that Felweed, Dreaming Glory, Ragveil, and Flame Caps will contain a Fel Lotus.
    o Warp Splinter can now be skinned with Herbalism in heroic difficulty.
    * Jewelcrafting
    o A new jewelcrafting recipe has been added to transform many green quality gems into a single random blue quality gem. This recipe is available from grandmaster jewelcrafting trainers.
    * Leatherworking
    o Shadow Oil will now fit into Leatherworking Bags.
    * Mining
    o Increased the skill up potential for most smelting recipes.

    Quests

    * New Daily Dungeon quests for both the heroic and non-heroic five-person Magister’s Terrace dungeon at the Sunwell.
    * Players can now turn in one of each battleground mark for an honor reward. The questgivers for this turn-in are the Horde Warbringer and the Alliance Brigadier General and can be found near the battlemasters in the capital cities.
    * Dungeon and Group Quest Experience: The amount of experience awarded for dungeon and 5-person group quests in Outland has been increased in almost all cases.
    * The daily quest Escape from Skettis has had its reward tuned down.
    * The number of elite Shadowsworn Drakonid patrollers on the Ata’mal Terrace has been cut in half. Most of the remainder have had their patrol paths lengthened.
    * Increased the slots on Old Blanchy’s Feed Pouch to 8.
    * The Thunderspike no longer sparkles for Alliance characters, nor does it show up on the mini-map when Find Treasure is in use.
    * “Zapper Fuel” is now flagged as a Sunken Temple dungeon quest.

    Dungeons and Raids

    * All 25-player raid bosses have had their cash drops increased!
    * All 25- player raid bosses that drop set tokens will now drop an additional token!
    * Badges of Justice have been added to all raid bosses who did not previously have them!
    * Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter Hyjal.
    * Players will no longer require an attunement quest to enter the Black Temple.
    * Players who have completed the attunement quests for Black Temple and Hyjal will be granted the title of “Hand of A’dal”.
    * You may now fight Prince Kael’thas and Lady Vashj without first killing all the other bosses in their respective dungeons.
    * The Unstable Cloud and Frost Breath spells are now treated properly as a movement impairing spells.
    * Non-corporeal Undead and Mechanical creatures are now susceptible to bleed effects.
    * Elemental creatures are no longer explicitly immune to poison and disease effects. Elementals with nature school immunities will still be immune to nature-based poisons, however.
    * Gems obtained through Heroic difficulty instances are no longer Unique-equipped.
    * Loot dropped by Doomlord Kazzak and Doomwalker has been changed to Bind on Equip. In addition, the cash dropped by these bosses has been significantly increased.
    * Scale of the Sands reputation will now be awarded in Hyjal at a much higher rate.
    * Caverns of Time: Heroic Black Morass
    o Rift Keepers and Rift Lords now have reduced hit points.
    * Caverns of Time: Mount Hyjal
    o The Vials of Eternity quest is no longer necessary for entry to Hyjal. This quest is still required for faction rings.
    o Azgalor’s Rain of Fire now affects a smaller area.
    * Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad
    o The Human Illusion effect will now always be removed properly when a player leaves the instance.
    o Durnholde Lookouts no longer spawn in the Heroic version of the instance. The placement of creatures around Durnholde Keep in Heroic mode is now identical to that of Normal mode.
    * Hellfire Citadel: Magtheridon’s Lair
    o Many gameplay elements of the encounters in Magtheridon’s Lair have been changed to decrease their overall complexity and difficulty.
    * Karazhan
    o Players will no longer need the Master’s Key to enter Karazhan. The gates to Karazhan will still require the Master’s Key to be unlocked.
    * Tempest Keep: The Eye
    o The Vapor Clouds in the Kael’thas encounter are significantly easier to see.
    o Void Reaver is now immune to Vindication again.
    * Tempest Keep: The Mechanar
    o The Mechanar: It is no longer possible to gain an additional Badge of Justice by bringing Cache of the Legion keys obtained in other copies of the instance.
    * Zul’Aman
    o Jan’alai will now only teleport players to him if they are too far away.

    Items

    * Players will now be able to purchase level 70 Superior quality PvP items from reputation vendors.
    * Avatar Regalia: The two-piece bonus from this set will now be consumed by Vampiric Embrace as intended.
    * Bloody Brass Knuckles, Eerie Stable Lantern, Baelog’s Shortbow, and Snakeskin Bag have been upgraded to Superior items.
    * Blue Suede Shoes can now be disenchanted.
    * Crystalforge Raiment: The two-piece set bonus will now work properly. Additionally, the four piece bonus will now only work on the next Holy Light cast, as intended.
    * Cyclone Regalia: Trade skills will no longer consume the Energized effect.
    * Darkmoon Card: Madness: The buffs from this item will no longer interrupt casting and channeling.
    * Deadman’s Hand: This item’s effect now works while the victim is sitting. In addition, its effect is now properly considered a root for purposes of being dispelled or removed.
    * Deathwing Brood Cloak: These cloaks are now bound on equip instead of bound on pickup.
    * Druid Balance PvP Sets: The bonus movement speed for Bear, Cat, and Travel Form has been removed and replaced with a new bonus to Wrath and Starfire.
    * Druid Restoration PvP Sets: The bonus movement speed for Bear, Cat, and Travel Form has been removed and replaced with a new bonus to Regrowth.
    * Discombobulator Ray: This item will again not work on mounted players.
    * Frostfire Regalia: The resistance bonus from this set now works with the Burning Crusade ranks of Mage Armor.
    * Gladiator’s Leather Gloves: This arena bonus will now properly school lock enemies when the damage from Deadly Throw causes them to stop channeling.
    * The Gladiator’s Thunderfist 4 piece set bonus has been reduced from 70% to 50%.
    * Gnomish Mind Control Cap: Victims of the Gnomish Mind Control Cap will no longer get Forbearance when the mind control is terminated due to Blessing of Protection.
    * Gnomish Poultryizer: This item will again not work on mounted players.
    * Goblin Rocket Launcher: Creatures will no longer gain health while affected by the Stun from this item.
    * Heavy Netherweave Bandage: It is no longer possible to have two players bandage the same target simultaneously using this item.
    * Netherweave Bandage: It is no longer possible to have two players bandage the same target simultaneously using this item.
    * Idol of the Crescent Goddess: The mana discount on Regrowth has been increased.
    * Idol of Feral Shadows: The bonus damage to Rip has been increased.
    * Idol of the Raven Goddess: The bonus healing, critical strike rating, and spell critical strike rating from this item have been increased. In addition, it no longer sometimes fails to apply the healing bonus.
    * Idol of the Unseen Moon: The cooldown added in a previous patch has been removed.
    * Idol of Ursoc: The bonus damage to Lacerate has been increased and the tooltip clarified to indicate it applies to both initial and periodic damage.
    * Idol of the White Stag: Duration increased.
    * Items intended for Retribution Paladins have had their stats adjusted. Retribution Paladins should see an increase in dps as a result.
    * Jade Pendant of Blasting: This item no longer increases physical damage dealt.
    * Justicar Raiment: The 2 piece bonus will now always give the correct amount of bonus healing to the Judgement Light effect.
    * Libram of Absolute Truth: The Holy Light mana discount has been increased.
    * Libram of Divine Purpose: The bonus damage on Seal and Judgment of Righteousness has been increased.
    * Libram of Mending: The mana regeneration buff has had its duration increased. The name of the buff granted by this item changed to Grace of the Naaru to avoid having the same name as the Light’s Grace talent.
    * Libram of Righteous Power: The bonus damage for Crusader Strike has been increased.
    * Libram of Souls Redeemed: The bonus for Flash of Light has been decreased and the bonus for Holy Light has been increased.
    * Libram of Wracking: This item now increases the damage on Holy Wrath and Exorcism instead of decreasing their mana cost.
    * Nether Vortex are no longer Bind on Pickup and can now be purchased from G’eras for 15 Badges of Justice!
    * Masquerade Gown: The spirit bonus from this item will now properly trigger all benefits from the Tree of Life talent.
    * Masterwork Stormhammer: The Chain Lightning cast by this item will no longer jump to secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Mojo: A pvp-flagged player can no longer kiss Mojo and cause non-flagged players to become flagged.
    * Moongraze Stag Tenderloin can now be consumed by hunter pets that eat meat.
    * Noggenfogger Elixir: It is no longer possible using this item to keep the Old Hillsbrad human illusion outside of the instance.
    * Paladin Healer Gladiator Sets: The set bonus changing Hammer of Justice cooldown has been changed to a set bonus increasing the amount healed by Holy Shock.
    * Pendant of the Violet Eye: Paladin Judgment spells will again properly trigger this item.
    * Players can now only carry 80 Conjured Manna Biscuits at a time.
    * Primal Nether are no longer Bind on Pickup!
    * PvP Relics: The bonus resilience from Idols, Librams, and Totems is no longer stackable by swapping between multiple relics.
    * Resilience has been added to all Retribution Paladin PvP gear.
    * Added Shattrath Flask of Pure Death and Shattrath Flask of Blinding Light to the reputation flask vendors in Shattrath.
    * Shaman Elemental PvP Sets: The resistance on Lightning Bolt spell pushback has been reduced to 50%.
    * Shaman PvP Boots: The pre-Burning Crusade bonus to increase Ghost Wolf speed no longer works for players over level 60.
    * Shattrath Flasks now work inside the Sunwell Plateau raid instance.
    * Skull of Gul’dan: This item now shares its cooldown with other similar trinkets.
    * Steam Tonk Controller: This item can no longer trigger the Warrior talent Second Wind when it is driven out of range by the Warrior.
    * The On Use effect has been properly changed to passive for the following items: Blue Overalls, Brantwood Sash, Firewalker Boots, Gloves of Kapelan, Hellion Boots, Hibernal Gloves, Hibernal Pants, Kimbra Boots, Mistscape Gloves, Nightsky Trousers, Sacred Burial Trousers, Turquoise Sash, and Woolen Boots, Spinesever.
    * Thunderstrike: The Chain Lightning cast by this item will no longer jump to secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Tome of the Lightbringer: The block value and buff duration have been increased.
    * Totem of the Pulsing Earth: The mana discount for Lightning Bolt has been increased slightly.
    * Vengeful Gladiator’s Waraxe: The weapon delay has been reduced.
    * Weightstones and Sharpening Stones: The bonus damage from these temporary enchantments now works while shapeshifted.
    * Winterfall Firewater: The tooltip no longer specifies only melee attack power.

    User Interface

    * The Interface Options screen has been completely redesigned. AddOns that interact with the Interface Options screen will need to be updated.
    * Players will now be able to inspect other players via their chat link.
    * Players may now inspect players of the opposing faction while they are not flagged for PvP.
    * Combat Log Improvements
    o New tabs are available for sorting combat messages.
    o ctrl-right clicking functionality has been added for individual information sorting
    o Colors may now be assigned for friends and enemies
    o The WoWCombatLog.txt file format has been changed to make it easier for programs to read.
    o The ability to chat-link player spells and talents.
    * Cast sequences work with slot numbers again.
    * GM messages now appear with a Blizzard icon near their name.
    * You can now declare war on a faction in the reputation UI while you are in combat.
    * Spell haste and Armor Penetration will now display on the character sheet. (Armor Penetration displays in the hit rating section). Spell Penetration now displays under the spell hit section.
    * Weapon enchants are now shown at the character selection screen.
    * The friends list now has a notes field per friend. Click on the note icon to add a note for a particular friend.
    * There is now a UI option to display free bag space. When turned on, your backpack will display the total number of free spaces available in all your bags.
    * You can now link quests into the chat log by Shift-Clicking on the quest name in the quest log.
    * Merchants now display how many pages of merchandise they sell (Page 1 of 2).
    * Guild Bank Changes
    o Ranks can now be set to allow withdraw of funds or allow repair with funds or both.
    o When purchasing a bank tab, it takes money out of the guild bank before it takes your personal money. This is logged as well.
    o Each Tab now has an info pane. This pane can be used for requests or for rules about the tab or anything at all really.
    * When looting Bind on Pickup items, the confirmation dialogue now lists the name of the item in the dialogue. You can now verify that you are picking up the correct bind on pickup item.
    * Bind on Pickup items that only you can pick up (Heroic Badges for instance) will no longer bring up a confirmation dialogue.
    * Players can now opt out of looting for group loot, round robin and need before greed looting styles. If a player turns this on, they will not get a looting turn in the loot cycle. This can be turned on from the right-click menu on your own portrait.
    * In Master Loot mode, all players in the group will see sparkles on corpses that have loot above the master loot threshold. This lets everyone see what the master loot items are, though they cannot interact with them. Only the master looter can loot those items still.
    * Searching for an item in the tradeskill search box should now hide empty categories.
    * The names over the heads of nearby players who are on your friends list will appear in a different color now so you can tell when they are nearby.
    * Stacked items for sale at the auction house now display the per unit price and per unit buyout price in the item mouseover.
    * The profession UI search field has been improved and now allows for searching of more types of things. For instance you can search for items by socket color, by effect (”Critical Strike” for instance) or search gems by their effect (”Strength” for instance). In addition, the searching of items by level has been made more intuitive. You can now search for items by level with “15-20″ to search for items that you can make that have a minimum level required of 15 to 20.
    * The Tooltip for player Dodge/Block/Parry in the character sheet has been changed slightly.
    * Optimized particle system rendering for improved frame rates.
    * The casting bar will now display properly when casting Blizzard (mage) or Rain of Fire (warlock) with spell haste.
    * For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

    World Environment

    * Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin, Warsong Gulch, Blade’s Edge Arena, Lordaeron Arena, and Nagrand Arena: Players who fall below the world in these environments will now die instead of being stuck.
    * Creature versions of Intimidating Shout have been changed to Frightening Shout, and the primary target of the ability is now feared instead of stunned.
    * Critters: Ambient level 1 creatures will no longer be picked as subsequent targets by chaining spells and abilities.
    * Doomwalker: This creature will no longer sometimes cause a player’s Darkmoon Card: Vengeance to trigger and put the player in combat with the Doomwalker.
    * Elites in Blade’s Edge Plateau Regions: These creatures now have an increased chance to drop rare depleted items.
    * Eye of Culuthas and Hound of Culuthas now drop grey loot.
    * Goreclaw the Ravenous can now be skinned.
    * Interacting with objects (chests, mining nodes, herbs) should no longer aggro neutral creatures.
    * Monstrous Kaliri have learned how to chase players going straight up.
    * Shardtooth Mauler: This creature now drops meat like other bears.
    * Outland Rare Spawn
    o The following creatures have had their hit points and damage significantly reduced: Collidus the Warp-Watcher, Fulgorge, Hemathion, Kraator, Marticar, Morcrush, and Nuramoc
    * The Ratchet bank now has access to the Guild Vault.
    * A mailbox has been added to the inn in Darnassus.

    Bug Fixes

    * Fixed an error that was causing many auctions to never complete due to the item no longer being on the auction house.
    * Splintertree Raiders will now respawn with Torek if Duriel Moonfire and her guards are killed while the Raiders are still alive.
    * Female Draenei can no longer become stuck under a root in the tunnels leading to Blackfathom Deeps, Ashenvale.
    * The quest description text for “The Corpulent One” no longer refers to it being a group quest.
    * Saber/Tiger Mounts will now make footprints when walking backwards in snow.
    * Ogri’la Peacekeeper’s weapons have been scaled to a size more appropriate for keeping the peace.
    * Unplugging speakers/headphones during the opening cinematic will no longer freeze the cinematic until canceled.
    * Pets are now able to properly attack mobs near the walls on the ramps in Zul’Aman, Bear Wing.
    * The flag on the battle map in Eye of the Storm will no longer show up as Horde controlled even if an alliance player has picked it up.
    * Channeling spells will no longer continue to show the channeling bar after zoning into arena battlegrounds.
    * Blood Elf corpses now properly have loot in Alterac Valley battlegrounds.
    * Snake Trap will no longer affect non-combat flagged players.
    * Leaving a 2v2 arena team and creating a new 2v2 team while on a 3v3 arena team will no longer result in incorrect rosters listed for each team.
    * Joining a second arena match before a previous arena has closed will no longer result in personal rating not updating correctly.
    * Attempting to promote an arena team member to Team Captain while that member is offline will no longer result in a “Player not found” error.
    * Disbanding an arena team while inside an arena battle will no longer cause the arena UI to become corrupted until logout.
    * The Arena Team Petition Window will now automatically close when the Arena Captain is out of range or offline.
    * Switching arena teams after playing a game will no longer cause the PvP tab to incorrectly display your old team’s rating.
    * There is now a chat message given after attaining a new title.
    * Spells that require targeting circles will now be castable on textures that would previously disallow their use.
    * Alterac Valley quests will now properly show a golden ! or blue ? for players above level 65.
    * Nazan in Hellfire Citadel: Nazan will no longer sometimes not land on the ground until after Vazruden the Herald is killed or Nazan is heavily damaged.
    * Archimonde’s Grip of the Legion will no longer target pets.
    * It is no longer possible to be saved to a Heroic instance while not meeting the requirements to get into it.
    * There is no longer an area in Serpentine Cavern where using Field Repair Bot 74A will cause it to fall through the ground.
    * There is no longer an area in Coilfang Steamvaults where ground targeting AOE effects cannot be cast.
    * The proc from Black Bow of the Betrayer will no longer break crowd control effects such as Scatter Shot.
    * Vengeful Gladiator’s Mooncloth Hood and Vengeful Gladiator’s Satin Hood will now display Troll Tusks.
    * Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury will now display its bow animations correctly.
    * The Legion Ring boundary markers no longer occasionally disappear.
    * Monthly quests will now properly reset at midnight server time.
    * Fixed an area in Netherwing Fields in Shadowmoon Valley where players on flying mounts could be dismounted and were unable to mount.
    * It is no longer possible for players to use guild banks in opposing faction cities.
    * The Clockwork Rocket Bot can no longer be buffed.
    * Players with moderator status in custom channels will now properly lose moderator status when kicked by the channel owner.
    * Sending mail to a non-existent character will now result in players getting the message, “Cannot find mail recipient”.
    * Zeppelin Master Zapetta will no longer become confused about whether the zeppelin in Orgrimmar is arriving or leaving.

    Forum Buzz: Arena Win Trading

    Monday, March 24th, 2008

    Elf

    The introduction of the arena system has been a controversial subject ever since it was first released. In part because many players perceive it as an “easier” way to obtain gear, and also because much of the game’s balance changes for classes have been primarily driven by how said class performs in an arena setting. Personally I think arenas are fun for what they are. I don’t go in expecting a flawless, perfectly balanced fight. No MMO will be able to offer that to you.

    The problem that many competitors in the arena are seeing, however, has nothing to do with class changes, balance or anything like that. Instead the topic of the day is exploitation. Many higher-rated arena players are selling their ratings to lesser-geared players and essentially power-leveling their way to arena gear. The practice has begun to be more widespread of late, prompting a bit of an outrage from the average player. Blizzard hasn’t announced any specific changes to combat this problem as of yet, though I hope we see a solution in the near future.

    This is particularly painful to the teams at mid-ratings, who fight, claw and scratch their way through each week, only to get steamrolled by a team wearing full season 3. Blizzard has stated this is not an intentional mechanic, but hasn’t gone so far as to say it’s illegal yet. I’ve always enjoyed arenas quite a bit myself, and it’s a pity to see the system taken advantage of in this way. I experienced the problem first hand on my warlock who, after breaking a rating of 1600, began to see teams that quite simply didn’t belong in that bracket. We were forced to eat quite a few losses before we came up against an evenly matched team.

    An example of this can be found .

    How Much Downtime is Too Much?

    Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

    Kara

    As per the usual, the servers came down for maintenance yesterday. Since, like most I’m sure, I’m either sleeping or at work when the maintenance goes down, it doesn’t really affect me very much. I did notice, however, that quite a number of players were agitated by the fact that a large number of servers were down for “extended” maintenance. Well after the game is usually back online and running, these servers were still down, and a significant number of players stomped through the forums yelling about how unfair and awful Blizzard was for doing this to them. Being completely honest, I’d wager these were a lot of kids on spring break, and for many Tuesday afternoon over spring break would likely be prime WoW time!

    I usually disregard such sentiments, as really, there’s always something else to do if Warcraft servers are down. If you are really THAT angry about the fact that there was extended maintenance (and it’s likely in anticipation of the new patch), you may want to examine your play schedule and re-prioritize your in-game time. That said, they may have a point.

    Even tolerable players can get irritated by downtime if it goes on long enough. Even casual rational players staged protests on the Lake Superior shard in Ultima Online after it was down for a few days. What then, is the limit for acceptable downtime? 4 hours? 8 hours? 24 hours?

    From those I know that play, 6 hours is about right, and anything beyond 12 is excessive.

    What do you think?

    All Quiet on the Western Front

    Monday, March 17th, 2008

    Frostmourne Hungers

    As the approach of 2.4 comes ever closer (some are betting on tomorrow, whether that actually pans out is anyone’s guess), there’s just not a lot going on that’s new and exciting, but I’m here to entertain you anyhow.

    An interesting side note is that Blizzard recently released a replica of the infamous sword, Frostmourne. I think the price is pretty steep myself, but if you’re THAT hardcore of a fan, you may want to go pick up one. Apparently they’re limited edition with some kind of fancy doohicky microchip to verify authenticity. Personally I think it should at least be sharpened…what good is Frostmourne if it breaks when you hit something with it?!

    I also recently came across a great comic over at Hammer of Grammar, which if you’re not familiar is a fairly popular web-comic based on the game. There are a select few web comics that I read on a regular basis, as I have enough distractions already in any given day. This however does make the cut.

    In other news I recently read an interesting post from Bornakk, one of Blizzard’s faithful CM’s, in regards to responding to comments about an interview back in 2005, which was called upon to show the changing of the game’s direction since then. Bornakk, unsurprisingly, disagreed:

    “There wasn’t a question in the original post, I was just commenting on it and pointing out some similarities from 2005 to patch 2.4 in 2008.

    As for your questions, the reason why would be to improve the game. And top end PvP and PvE players continue to have access to some of the best items in the game, so I’d say we have no plans to change that.”

    Personally, I’m happy with how things have panned out for Warcraft, given the multiple ways to progress your character these days. If you disagree however, perhaps the above quote will shed some light on what’s to come.

    A Brief Guide to Blizzard CMs

    Friday, March 14th, 2008

    If you’ve ever visited the WoW forums; a dark, desolate place filled with nonsense, trolls, and a lot of angry people wanting to complain about one thing or another, there are brief glimpses of useful information. One of the easiest ways to navigate the forums is to just skip posts not touched on by players all together. If you click on search, there’s an option to look through posts that have been replied to by Blizzard Staff. In this way you can cut out the garbage and go right to the nit and grit of what you’re looking for. Granted, sometimes CMs just pop into a thread to join in on a joke or give a witty response to an issue they don’t perceive as important, but if you’re lucky here and there they will divulge details on upcoming changes or the future direction of the game.

    If you want to spot some of these CMs on your own, here’s a brief list (not exhaustive, I’m sure there are more)

    Nethaera

    Drysc

    Eyonix

    Bornakk

    It’s important to seek out these posters when looking for important game information or just to see what the CMs are looking into at the moment. They may not have exactly what you’re looking for, or even anything particularly useful, but it’s nice to be able to have a point of contact with Blizzard at least. Not necessarily a perfect system (as any forum-goer will tell you, I’m sure), but it allows you to have at least some impact on the game by communicating changes you’d like to see or new content you’d like to experience. Good luck!

    Mid-Week Video: Frost Shock!

    Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

    I’ll be the first to admit that this video is a bit dated, but from what I understand it’s a classic (although I had never seen it before, that’s hardly an indication). There were a number of videos on youtube as well in reference to switching classes.

    And really? I’m all for it!

    I think the presentation on this clip is great, and it also demonstrates the “grass is greener” mentality that a lot of players have when it comes to other classes. Warlocks may seem like the most overpowered class in the game right up until you roll one and level him up, only to find that it’s not an “I win” button all the time like you thought it was. It helps puts things in perspective when viewing game balance as well. I’ve seen a lot of players begrudge Blizzard for having horrible class balance in reference to X class, without ever really taking the time to think about how the class plays or whether in the grand scheme of things they’re all that and a bag of chips.

    Of course there are going to be classes that do have significant advantages at one time or another in the game’s development, but wailing and moaning isn’t going to help you. Playing other classes and being an altoholic can help freshen up the game a bit with no playstyles and abilities.

    Enjoy!

    Class Re-Cap: Balance Druids

    Monday, March 10th, 2008

    MOONKIN

    Every so often I like to peruse the forums and pick out some issues on classes and specs that aren’t often utilized. One such spec I don’t see very often is balance druids. Why this is I’m not entirely sure, but it could be a plethora of reasons.

    1. Druids make great healers, seriously. I love tree healers and always welcome them to a group. Many druids are specced restoration for PvP and PvE purposes, as they are viable as both.
    2. Feral tends to be a fun spec for many. Often seen as “the” levelling spec, you also incorporate the ability to tank alongside with the ability to DPS. With a good resilience set, druid tanks can be a force to be reckoned with.
    3. Let’s face it, balance druids are not the flashiest class to play. You won’t be out-dpsing most dedicated casters like mages and warlocks. Instead you bring increased utility. Innervate is a godsend to small groups, casters LOVE moonkin aura, and you also help mitigation for your tank via insect swarm.

    Despite the above, I think a well-played balance druid can be a great boon to any group. If you don’t believe me, I have some tips and tricks available to you that can help optimize your boomkin and make sure he’s dishing out as much as he possibly can.

  • -If you’re the min/max type player that likes playing with numbers, you can utilize this great spreadsheet that helps calculate what stats you should be stacking and what damage you’ll be outputting given a certain configuration of gear. I track my stats and performance, but not at this level
  • You can find everything there is to know about a balance druid on the forums. I’ll save you from having to cut through the crying and trolls though. You can find a great thread about being a balance druid here.
  • What’s Your Favorite Profession?

    Friday, March 7th, 2008

    ALCHEMY!

    When creating a new character, I’m always torn by my choice of professions. On one hand, I want to try out new options. I’ve never done enchanting, for example, so why not pick that up? On the other, I’m usually drawn to the same professions over and over. One such professions is jewelcrafting, but my all time favorite is engineering. Sure the craft has taken some lumps and been ignored for large gaps of time, but for fun factor, you really can’t beat it!

    When choosing a profession, it’s important to take into account what exactly you’ll be playing your character for. I made the foolish mistake of making my main character 2 crafting professions, alchemy and engineering. I maxed them both out with the help of friends as well as the occasional visit to the auction house for supplies. My next character though, had the gathering skills so that if I wanted to run around and collect the materials needed, I could! Professions allow an extra step of customization for your character, and you should take full advantage.

    For Money I’ve found that mining and herbalism are both highly profitable professions. People are constantly using herbs for potions, and these are one-use items, so the demand is usually there on a regular basis! Skinning is good, but not “as” profitable as some other gathering professions. Your experience may differ, of course!

    For Fun I think jewelcrafting and engineering have to be my most enjoyable crafts yet. I love trinkets, and they both have their fair share available. Engineers also have the additional bonus of explosives, which can prove particularly useful to those without a wide variety of ranged attacks, such as rogues, warriors, and paladins.

    For Utility I think enchanting takes the cake for all around utility, though the crafted sets/items of leatherworking, tailoring, smithing, etc. all have their own respective advantages and are nothing to sneeze at!

    That’s a summary of the professions I utilize and the reasons I use them. What do you you use and why?

    2.4 Class Changes! (On Test)

    Thursday, March 6th, 2008

    Scarlet

    Beware, my fellow, players, the nerf bat could be coming to a class near you next patch! Some changes are being made to select classes to tone down or modify the effectiveness of various abilities. There are some buffs mixed in as well of course! I’ve been digging through the forums and official patch notes to find out what’s in store for me (and you!) come 2.4.

    DISCLAIMER: These are not confirmed changes as they are still in test!

    Druids

    * Empowered Rejuvenation: This talent now properly affects the final heal from Lifebloom.
    * Gift of Nature: This talent now properly affects the healing from Tranquility.
    * Insect Swarm: Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
    * Lacerate: This ability now deals additional damage based on the attack power of the Druid.
    * Lifebloom: the healing coefficient has been reduced. This spell will no longer cause error messages when interacting with Spellsteal or while the Druid is under the effects of Mind Control.
    * Mangle (Bear) now properly triggers a 1.5 second global cooldown, increased from 1.0 second.
    * Many shapeshift form tooltips have been updated to be consistent with each other.
    * Natural Perfection: This ability will no longer be triggered by taking critical strikes while sitting. In addition, it is now affected by the Subtlety talent and reduces damage by 2/3/4%, down from 1/3/5%.
    * Nurturing Instinct increases your healing spells by up to 50/100% of your Agility, and increases healing done to you by 10/20% while in Cat form.
    * Swipe: This ability will no longer strike any secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * When a Druid in cat form casts Pounce it will now properly animate.

    Hunter

    * Equipping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will no longer cause animation issues.
    * Casting Flare while in any way not visible, will no longer cause your flare to be invisible to other players.
    * Hunter’s Mark: Hunters with Improved Hunter’s Mark will now properly overwrite Hunter’s Mark cast by Hunters without the talent.
    * Improved Mend Pet now has a 50/100% chance to remove one Curse, Disease, Magic, or Poison effect, up from 15/50%.
    * Multi-Shot: This ability will no longer strike any secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * The stamina tooltip for hunter pets will now display the proper health increase.
    * Track spells will now persist after death.
    * Hunters will no longer spin around if they cast Aimed Shot or Steady Shot while facing away from their target.

    Mages

    * Arcane Explosion: The damage cap for area of effect damage on this spell has been increased by approximately 50%.
    * Arcane Fortitude now increases your armor by an amount equal to 100% of your Intellect, up from 50%.
    * Blink, Slow, and Spellsteal have all had their mana cost reduced.
    * Improved Blink: This talent no longer reduces the mana cost of Blink. Instead, it increases the chance for all attacks to miss the Mage by 25% for 2/4 sec after Blink is cast.
    * Using low ranks of Fire Ward and Frost Ward spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
    * Frostbite: When a frost spell is reflected back at a Mage, it is now possible for the Mage to suffer from the Frostbite effect.
    * Ice Barrier: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
    * Icy Veins no longer stacks with Bloodlust, Heroism, or Power Infusion.
    * Icy Veins no longer increases the chance your chilling effects will Freeze the target, but now increases the chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any spell by 100%.
    * Improved FireWard has become Molten Shields.
    * Mana Shield: This spell will now get a percentage of the Mage’s bonus to spell damage as an additional effect.
    * New Talent: Molten Shields will cause your Fire Ward to have a 10/20% chance to reflect Fire spells while active. In addition, your Molten Armor has a 50/100% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks.
    * Permafrost: This talent will now correctly increase the movement slowing effect of frost Armor instead of the attack speed slowing effect.
    * Spellsteal will no longer overwrite a longer duration buff.

    Paladins

    * Avenger’s Shield, Holy Shield and Holy Shock: Casting lower ranks of these spells is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.
    * Avenger’s Shield: This ability will no longer jump to secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. I.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Crusader Strike: This ability will no longer refresh the Healing Way buff from the Shaman talent.
    * Divine Illumination: The mana energize from this talent no longer has a chance to set off other triggered effects.
    * Holy Shock: The healing, damage, and mana cost of this spell have all been increased.
    * Judgment of the Crusader: It is no longer possible to have icons for two different ranks of Judgment of the Crusader appear at the same time when judged by multiple Paladins.
    * Judgment of Wisdom: Some abilities (such as Frostbolt) were not triggering the mana energize effect from this spell. This has now been fixed.
    * Resistance Auras: It is no longer possible for two Paladins in the same party to make it appear that players have two of the same resistance aura active.
    * Righteous Defense: This spell will now always be castable on friendly npcs.
    * Seal of Blood: This ability will no longer cause spell pushback for the Paladin with this seal active.
    * Sense Undead- Now persists after death.
    * Turn Undead(Rank 3):This spell has been reworked and has been renamed to “Turn Evil”. It will now work on Demons in addition to Undead. Turn Evil is subject to diminishing returns, and lasts 10 seconds in PvP.

    Priests

    * Chastise no longer disorients the target, but now is instant cast and roots the target for 2 seconds.
    * Fear Ward is now usable while in Shadow form.
    * Focused Will now reduces damage by 2/3/4%, down from 1/3/5%.
    * Inner Focus: Chastise now benefits from Inner Focus. In addition, Starshards no longer consumes Inner Focus.
    * Mass Dispel now affects a maximum of 10 targets, increased from 5.
    * Power Infusion: Infuses the target with power, increasing their spell haste by 20% and reducing the mana cost of all spells by 20%. Lasts for 15 seconds.This will not stack with other haste effects, such as Heroism, Bloodlust, or Icy Veins.
    * Power Word: Shield: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.
    * Prayer of Mending: This spell will now fade from players who leave or enter an instance, change continents, or exit the game.
    * Reflective Shield: The reflective damage from this talent no longer breaks crowd control effects which break on taking damage.
    * Shadowguard: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered.
    * Silent Resolve:This talent now affects Surge of Light, Power Infusion, Inspiration, Spirit Tap, Blackout, Levitate, Shackle Undead, Touch of Weakness, Hex of Weakness, and Symbol of Hope.
    * Touch of Weakness: No longer consumes the charge of Inner Focus when triggered.It will also function properly even when the Priest with Touch of Weakness on is silenced or stunned.
    * Vampiric Touch: Casting lower ranks of this spell is now properly penalized like other healing and damage effects.

    Rogues

    * Abilities that can be used while stealthed, without breaking stealth, can now be cast without breaking Vanish when used at the same time.
    * Cheat Death: A combat log message will now show when this ability activates and now has an animation.. It will now almost always be accurate in displaying the amount of damage done to a rogue when under the effects of Cheat Death.
    * Improved Backstab is now called Puncturing Wounds.
    * Puncturing Wounds increases your critical strike chance with Backstab by 10/20/30%, and the critical strike chance with your Mutilate ability by 5/10/15%.
    * Improved Sprint: This ability will now always remove Entangling Roots.
    * Sap mechanic changed from “Incapacitate” to “Sap”. This will allow more humanoids that were previously immune to Sap to be vulnerable to Sap, but still immune to Gouge. Note that anything that removed Sap previously will still remove Sap after the change.
    * Vanish: This ability will no longer sometimes cause the UI to display Shadowmeld as active when it has been cancelled.

    Shaman

    * Call of Thunder: (Rank 5) now gives 5% critical strike chance.
    * Chain Lightning: This ability will no longer jump to secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Earth Shield: Mana cost reduced roughly in half, and charges reduced from 10 to 6.
    * Elemental Focus: This buff will no longer be removed when Shamanistic Focus is triggered.
    * Flametongue Weapon: Having different ranks of this enchantment cast on two different weapons will no longer cause the enchantments to trigger multiple times per swing.
    * Ghost Wolf: Cast time reduced to 2 seconds, down from 3.
    * The Global Cooldown of all Totems has been reduced to 1 seconds, down from 1.5 seconds.
    * Healing Grace: This talent now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.The resistance to being dispelled modifier from this talent now applies correctly to Water Breathing.
    * Rockbiter Weapon: Tooltip and error messages have been adjusted slightly.
    * Shamanistic Rage is now a Physical ability instead of a Magic spell, and thus is no longer dispellable. It now reduces all damage taken by 30% and gives your successful melee attacks a chance to regenerate mana equal to 30% of your attack power. This lasts for 15 seconds with a 2 minute cooldown.
    * Stormstrike has a new icon.
    * Totem timer icons will now show up under your player portrait when you cast totem spells. Right-clicking a totem timer icon will destroy that totem.
    * Toughness will now also reduce the duration of movement slowing effects on you by 10/20/30/40/50%.
    * Tremor Totem now pulses every 3 seconds, down from 4 seconds.
    * The Shaman spell Fire Nova Totem will no longer sometimes detonate without doing any damage.

    Warlocks

    * Blood Pact now has a tooltip.
    * Demonic Knowledge: This buff will no longer remain on enslaved demons when Enslave Demon is removed. It will now increase your spell damage by an amount equal to 4/8/12%, down from 5/10/15%.
    * Demonic Sacrifice: Now works properly in sanctuary regions (such as Shattrath City and the Stair of Destiny).
    * Emberstorm now also reduces the cast time of your incinerate spell by 2/4/6/8/10%.
    * Felguard Cleave: This ability will no longer strike any secondary target which is under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. ie. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Nether Protection: The buff from this talent will no longer interrupt capturing PvP flags and bases.
    * Pyroclasm: This talent now works correctly again with Rain of Fire.
    * Ritual of Summoning can be used to summon players into instances if they meet the instance requirements.
    * Sense Demon now persists after death.
    * Shadow Ward: Using low ranks of this spell will now be penalized the same way healing spells are penalized.

    Warriors

    * Cleave: This ability will no longer strike any secondary target which is under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
    * Endless Rage will now give the correct amount of rage as intended from damage dealt by a Warrior.
    * Improved Hamstring (Arms) effect is now subject to diminishing returns when used in PvP.
    * Stances: It is no longer possible to accidentally change into a stance you are already in via macros (resulting in a global cooldown and loss of rage).
    * Whirlwind: Critical strikes with the off-hand weapon from this ability can now trigger Flurry and Rampage.
    * Flurry will properly refresh if a crit occurs with 1 charge left.
    * Improved Hamstring (Arms) effect is now subject to diminishing returns when used in PvP.

    Once a Day Activies for Fun and Gear

    Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

    Zeppelin!

    I know, usually I have our mid-week video right? But instead I’m gonna shake things up a bit and visit some activities that I do once a day for fun and of course, new equipment. On average, these activities can be done in about an hour per day. You don’t need to do them all of course, but if you happen to only have 15-20 minutes you can still squeeze in a daily or transmute here and there. Here’s what I like to do to progress my character in a limited amount of time.

    1. Dailies (Average completion time: 5-15 minutes per quest) I know I’ve mentioned daily quests in previous articles, but for the sake of completeness I thought they were worth mentioning again. If I only have 15-20 minutes of game time to work with, I’ll often head over to Ogri’lah and get as many dailies done as possible. If you are very limited on time stick to wrangling aether rays and the attunement quest, as these are the quickest timewise and will give you precious rep that will lead to solid (though overall sub-par) gear and potions from your favorite ogres. Be sure to leave your hearth near by, so that you can log in and hearth to your dailies if need be.

    2. Dungeon Dailies (Average Completion time: 30min-1 hour and 15 min.) I’ve made a past time if trying to complete dungeons as fast as humanly possible. I think it really accelerates the challenge and skill of an instance, especially if you outgear the place. Don’t write off the regular dungeon daily, either. You can burn through a regular instance in a short amount of time, and end up with some blues to disenchant as well as the money from the quest (and consortium rep!). Heroics are a bit more of a complicated affair, so make sure to bring a group of friends you travel regularly with. For me, our group usually clears a heroic (depending on the instance) in about 45 minutes to an hour. Take advantage!

    3. Gathering Professions (Average Completion time: 10 minutes) These are great money makers for alts looking to make a quick buck. Simply park your character near a zone/area that often has node spawns or herbs, log in, and run them around a pre-designated loop. This can take an extremely short amount of time if you happen to have an epic flying mount! I’ve often spent a couple weeks grabbing nodes on an alt this way, and ended up with a tidy sum after selling my goods to the auction house. Again I’m sure this is a re-cap of what I mentioned in an earlier post, but it’s important to note!

    4. PvP Daily (Average Completion time: 20-40 minutes) If you happen to like the battlegrounds, but don’t want to get burned out cranking out match after match, the pvp daily is a great way to earn extra money and honor. I usually hop on a character, do the associated daily, and log off, happy with my small taste of pvp for the day. It’s important to note that you should only do dailies that your faction is likely to win. You don’t want to spend the next 2 hours getting face stomped in eye of the storm, do you? Instead stick to surefire winners, such as the AV alliance side, in my case. Play to your factions strengths, and you can pull in a solid amount of honor and gold each day.

    I’m sure there’s more to it than that, so feel free to send me any money-making ideas you come across. I’m not really a min-max type of player myself, so I usually pick one of the above depending on what I think will be the most fun, and I encourage you to do the same!

    Thoughts on 2.4

    Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

    Magister

    Well as usual I’ll be listing the patch notes when they are released and live, but I thought it would be fun to pick and choose some of my favorite upcoming changes and list exactly why I think they’ll be of benefit to the average player. I can’t possibly go through each individual change of course, but I’ll do my best:

    1. New Badge Gear I always seem to run into the problem of having plenty of badges but nothing to do with said badges. This will soon be alleviated by the addition of brand spanking new badge gear that is top-quality stuff! I think this will go a long way in helping players that prefer smaller-group content progress in a meaningful way, and that’s especially true for the new weapons. For a complete list, you can check out the link here.

    2. New 5-man Instance and Dailies It’s fairly rare once an expansion has been released for new 5 man instanced to pop up. These instances tend to be a bit more innovative than their lower-level counterparts. I really enjoyed Dire Maul North when it was first released, for example, because it gave players objectives aside from the “kill trash, kill boss” formula. I really hope that the new 5-man sunwell instance offers new and innovative gameplay as well! For full information on the new dungeon, Magister’s Terrace, check out the link here.

    3. Spell Haste Affects Global Cooldown Primarily, I play caster classes, and when spell haste was first introduced, I thought of the stat as more of a novelty. My spells flying a little faster admittedly *was* interesting, but not really so important that I’d be willing to give up my precious +spell hit (for raids) or other important stats in it’s place. With the upcoming change to have haste also reduce the global cooldown on spells, I’m very excited to see what kinds of different specs and gearsets I can tweak to make a new unique way to DPS/heal. I’m also curious to see what, if any, impact this change will have in player versus player settings.

    There’s so much more with the patch of course, but hopefully that shines a little light on the upcoming patch and what it has in store for us. Personally, I can’t wait!

    Arena Item Information

    Monday, March 3rd, 2008

    BG

    I don’t know about you, but I’ve been itching to find out exactly how the Arena World Tournament is going to end up. Blizzard has created an interesting new avenue of competition, but some roadblocks remain to success. One of those roadblocks is figuring out what items should be allowed and what should not.

    This is particularly important because you want to give participants a certain amount of flexibility, such as the ability to mix in some raid gear with PvP gear to allow an optimal combination of damage and defense. This means that players can load out their team in a wider variety of gear, making game play more exciting and interesting!

    Here’s the full list of items that will be available to tournament participants.

    As you can see, the item list is very extensive! Drops from allover the game will be available for use, and I’m excited to see what combinations of trinkets/armor/accessories teams will suit up with to attain victory. Not only do you have a ton of accessories and addons like spellthread and armor kits, you’ll also be able to use the latest and greatest enchantments as well! Heck I may even throw together a team myself and see how we do! I’m sure there will be a number of common combinations in 3v3s, but personally I like to root for the underdog.

    What about you, readers? Is there any specific class/gear combination that you think will be particularly successful for the upcoming tournament? Do you happen to see any items that you believe shouldn’t be allowed? I’m always interested in hearing feedback, so feel free to drop me a line!

    About World of Warcraft

    Got2WoW.com provides detailed information about PVP, questing, leveling, and raiding in a blog style fashion. Current projects which are being blogged include; leveling 58-70 in outlands, leveling a holy priest, forming an arena team, and many other daily blogs. Always updating and providing the warcraft gamer with the information he needs.

    World of Warcraft Author(s)

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