WOW Insiderhttp://www.wowinsider.comWOW Insiderhttp://www.wowinsider.com/media/feedlogo.gifWOW Insiderhttp://www.wowinsider.comen-usCopyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Lichborne: Death Knight glyphshttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/06/lichborne-death-knight-glyphs/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/06/lichborne-death-knight-glyphs/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/06/lichborne-death-knight-glyphs/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly weekend look at the first hero class, the Death Knight. Daniel Whitcomb is back after dealing with some light administrative work back at the Ebon Hold.

Inscription seems to be coming on to the beta server in bits and pieces, especially when it comes to the much looked for glyphs. One or two classes seem to trickle in each build, and in the latest build, it is the Death Knight's turn. Today, we'll take a quick look at the new Death Knight glyphs, and figure out how useful they'll be to the various playstyles and specs of the Death Knight. As always, it's worth noting that these are beta numbers, so things could change by the time Inscription and Death Knights see the light of day on live servers.

Continue reading Lichborne: Death Knight glyphs

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]]>annihilationanti-magic-shellbloodblood-boilblood-plagueblood-tapbone-shieldchains-of-icechilblainsdancing-rune-weapondark-commandDeath-and-decaydeath-coildeath-gripdeath-runedeaths-embracedesecrationfrostfrost-feverfrost-strikeglyphglyphshorn-of-wintericebound-fortitudeicy-topuchicy-touchlichbornemaster-of-ghoulsobliteratepestilenceplague-strikeraise-deadrune-strikerunic-powerscourge-strikestrangulatesudden-doomsummon-gargoyleunbreakable-armorunholyunholy-blightvampiric-bloodwotlk-betawrath-betawrath-of-the-lich-kingDaniel WhitcombSat, 06 Sep 2008 21:30:00 ESTArcane Brilliance: Patch 3.0.2 and youhttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/06/arcane-brilliance-patch-3-0-2-and-you/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/06/arcane-brilliance-patch-3-0-2-and-you/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/06/arcane-brilliance-patch-3-0-2-and-you/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , ,



Each week, Arcane Brilliance journeys to the heart of Mageland, braves all the perils of Blinking backwards, premature sheep-breakage, and table-ninjas that infest that mystical place, and returns triumphant, bearing with it the spoils of its epic victory: one-to-two-thousand words, a center-aligned image of some type, and several dozen Wowhead links. It then distributes these treasures among the citizenry, spreading word of its conquests throughout the villages and townships, before kneeling before the King of Mageland and presenting him with the head of a Warlock.

And there is much rejoicing.

I don't know about you, but the idea of patch 3.0.2 scares the living crap out of me. I mean, I'm excited about a lot of it--changing my Mage's hairstyle and restoring his lower jaw, for instance (it still perplexes me how a barber can alter my entire facial structure)--but there are things about the impending patch that absolutely terrify me. Chief among these is that free respec.

Choosing a spec on the beta, where respecs cost a whopping 1 copper, has been difficult enough. Almost every talent we have now will be changed (in most cases improved), moved, or flat-out abolished when the patch hits, and many new talents will appear. Believe me when I say that none of the currently accepted level 70 talent specs will remain intact. In many ways, Mages, like every other class, are getting what amounts to a complete class reset. Everything we know about talent builds will essentially have to be forgotten and relearned. Even raids your guild knows frontward and back will become a crazy new adventure, and PvP will become a giant crap-shoot. The good news is that for at least that first week, the Arena playing field will be leveled completely.

But don't worry. Arcane Brilliance is here to help. Follow me after the break to see what kind of fun we can have with our 61 talent points after the patch hits.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Patch 3.0.2 and you

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]]>arcane-brilliancemagemage-buildsmage-columnmage-specsmage-talentsnew-talent-treesnew-talentspatch-3.0.2world-of-warcraftworld-of-warcraft-magewotlkwotlk-betawotlk-magewowwrath-magewrath-of-the-lich-kingChristian BeltSat, 06 Sep 2008 18:00:00 ESTThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: The Great Divide part 1http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/05/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-the-great-divide-part-1/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/05/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-the-great-divide-part-1/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/05/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-the-great-divide-part-1/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


Warriors, at the heart of it, only do one thing.

They hit things. And that's it.

Everything warriors do is in terms of hitting things, ultimately. An argument could be made that some warriors spend an awful lot of time trying to make it so things that hit them don't kill them as fast as they could and that argument would have merit. But I'd argue that those warriors are merely attempting to optimize their hitting things time. Generally speaking, most things won't hit themselves, so if you die when they hit you, then they'll go off and hit someone else. You have to keep upright if you're to keep hitting anything.

Well, okay, I suppose warriors do two things. They hit things and they yell a lot. They yell at the mobs, they yell at their fellow adventurers which somehow makes them feel healthier (I admit that I'm not terribly sure why my shouting can have all these variable effects. I must have amazing vocal control. Like Don LaFontaine, may he rest in peace.) Well, it seems to me in reading the various posts by Ghostcrawler in the warrior beta forums that the intention for prot warriors is to emphasize their hitting of things.

Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: The Great Divide part 1

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]]>DPSpatch-3.0patch-3.0.2ProtectionTankingwarriorswrath-betawrath-of-the-lich-kingMatthew RossiFri, 05 Sep 2008 15:00:00 EST60-70 XP changes coming in 3.0.2http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/04/60-70-xp-changes-coming-in-3-0-2/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/04/60-70-xp-changes-coming-in-3-0-2/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/04/60-70-xp-changes-coming-in-3-0-2/#commentsFiled under: ,

Patch 3.0.2 is going to bring us much of Wrath, without the new content. Specifically, we'll be getting the new spells and talents, which come out to a total class revamp for many classes. We'll also be getting a couple other fixes, like learnable mounts and mini-pets. And Tigole just confirmed today that among these will be a reduction in the amount of experience required to level between 60 and 70.

Levels 20-60 were sped up dramatically a little while ago, which I have been very much enjoying on my various alts. But the Outland levels have remained at the same rate as always. This isn't so much of an issue now, when 70 is the endgame, but of course we're getting another ten levels in LK, and trudging through Outland then will feel a lot like dragging yet another toon through Plaguelands now. (I know some of you like Plaguelands, but I just don't understand it.) So I'm glad this is coming a little sooner, so that hopefully I can have at least three 70s poised to go into Northrend instead of the two I have now.

What kind of a speed increase are we looking at? Well, the only hard numbers I've seen so far are 30% less XP required per level, and possibly 20% more XP given per mob, with no changes on quests. This is fairly substantial; I would be pleased.

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]]>bluelevelingleveling-speedoutlandpatch-3.0.2tigoleEliah HechtThu, 04 Sep 2008 14:00:00 ESTPTR forums up, more beta invites going outhttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/04/ptr-forums-up-more-beta-invites-going-out/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/04/ptr-forums-up-more-beta-invites-going-out/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/04/ptr-forums-up-more-beta-invites-going-out/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


As a few of our readers have noted (thanks Nicholas!), the Public Test Realm Forum is back up and running, apparently in anticipation for the impending test cycle of patch 3.0.2, the pre-Wrath content patch set to release in the next few weeks or months. As of this writing, Blizzard hasn't posted anything in there yet, but considering Blizzard apparently likes to break open servers right before the weekend, we could have access to 3.0.2 as soon as tomorrow evening.

And more folks are getting into the Wrath beta as well -- we've heard from quite a few people on our tips line, and there's been lots of murmuring on the forums that new beta invites are going out. Looks like Blizzard is ratcheting up testing of the new content in a big way. That doesn't mean that we'll move our expectation of the release date up, as there's still a lot of work to be done on what we've seen in the beta. But if you've been waiting patiently for your chance to check out some of the new content, it could be right around the corner.

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]]>betabeta-keysblizzardinvitesopen-betaptrptr-forumspublic-test-realmtestingMike SchrammThu, 04 Sep 2008 12:30:00 ESTWarrior Update Incominghttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/03/warrior-update-incoming/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/03/warrior-update-incoming/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/03/warrior-update-incoming/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Blue poster Gamnin posted to the warrior forums a list of changes that either came in on the last patch or which are intended for an upcoming patch. Later in the thread he posted to answer questions and clarify a few things. We can assume that we will be seeing the effects of all this when patch 3.0 goes live.

Now, some of these changes are at least potentially very nice... I especially like where the designers are going with the talent Vigilance. I've always believed that warriors should have a form of threat transfer, so getting 10% of target threat with this ability is definitely a step in the right direction. Other changes, such as the ability Warbringer in the prot tree (the ability to charge in combat that's had us all scratching our heads) don't do much for me. Since it's only usable in Battle Stance, you still have to risk stance dancing over, losing a huge chunk of your rage, getting back some rage from the charge and then dumping most of it to switch back to defensive again... it's just an odd ability right now, very deep in prot for a minimal benefit. If you could use charge in defensive, then I'd be more exacted about it, but Gamnin confirmed in his clarification that they intended the current design and don't want charge used in defensive stance.

Arms had the new armor penetration effect of mace spec highlighted (totally on the fence about this, no idea if it's good or not), while Fury's big changes are the removal of the cooldown component of Improved Whirlwind (which is bad, in my opinion, Imp Whirlwind was used to make the ability more friendly to damage rotations, but with the greater number of possible abilities that's no longer as crucial) and the note that they believe Titan's Grip still needs a counterbalance but they haven't decided on one yet.

I'll admit to being mildly underwhelmed: I really feel like Prot has given away most of its best abilities to other classes (Last Stand, Shield Wall, Shield Slam) and hasn't gotten much of anything. The reworking of Enraged Assault to either include or become Enraged Regeneration is a nice step. but if we're going to have parity between tanking classes, then all four tanks need to be able to do the same jobs and that means more love to the prot tree, in my opinion. But go check it out for yourselves, you may love what you see.

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]]>patch-3.0patch-3.0.2talentswarriorwarriorswrath-betawrath-of-the-lich-kingMatthew RossiWed, 03 Sep 2008 10:30:00 ESTWoW Insider Show Episode 53: A dragon the size of your househttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/02/wow-insider-show-episode-53-a-dragon-the-size-of-your-house/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/02/wow-insider-show-episode-53-a-dragon-the-size-of-your-house/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/02/wow-insider-show-episode-53-a-dragon-the-size-of-your-house/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , ,

Just as it does every Saturday, our weekly podcast went live over the weekend, and the recording of the show is now up on the WoW Radio website for listening. Michael Gray joined us for the first time on the show, and Turpster was aboard for the ride as usual. We chatted about a lot of the most popular stories from the last week in Warcraft, including:
It was a pretty packed show -- if you listened to the live feed, you know we had a little streaming problem in the beginning, but don't worry, because the recording is complete, so anything you missed then you can hear now. Additionally, if you hear anything that inspire you to write to us, please do: the email is theshow@wowinsider.com. Additionally, you can also look us up in iTunes -- if you haven't written a review of the show there yet, please do, as we're always hungry for feedback.

Enjoy the show, and we'll see you next week.

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]]>bambidiscussiondownrankingmichael-graynorthrendpatch-3.0.2podcastthe-colosseumturpsterwow-insider-showwow-radiowrathMike SchrammTue, 02 Sep 2008 15:30:00 ESTBreakfast Topic: What are you looking forward to in 3.0.2?http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/02/breakfast-topic-what-are-looking-forward-to-in-3-0-2/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/02/breakfast-topic-what-are-looking-forward-to-in-3-0-2/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/02/breakfast-topic-what-are-looking-forward-to-in-3-0-2/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

So we're expecting the new pre-Wrath content patch any week now, and with it a whole flood of new mechanics and abilities, such as raid buff stacking. It should be interesting to see how all this new stuff fits in to the current Burning Crusade end game, and how people adapt to it as they prepare to plunge into Wrath. Of course, many will probably get a head start on Inscription, while others may already have a new haircut picked out.

Myself, I'm looking forward to playing around with the new changes to my Hunter. Disengage and the new Freezing Trap mechanics are looking delicious enough to me that I may just see if I can get back into Arenas for a few weeks to check them out. I'm also pretty interested to see how the Aspect of the Viper changes feel on some big boss battles. It'll be nice to have to essentially have no mana regeneration worries ever again, assuming the current version stays as is.

What about you? Given everything we'll likely see in patch 3.0.2, what are you looking forward to doing while you wait for Wrath?

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]]>3.03.0.2aspect-of-the-viperbarbershopsbuff-stackingcontent-patchdisengagefreezing-trappatch-3.0patch-3.0.2pre-wrath-patchraid-stackingwotlkwrathDaniel WhitcombTue, 02 Sep 2008 08:00:00 ESTThe Light and How to Swing It: Paladin 3.0http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/31/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-paladin-3-0/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/31/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-paladin-3-0/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/31/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-paladin-3-0/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


It's pretty exciting, isn't it? Patch 3.0 is coming, well, "soon[TM]" according to Blizzard. Considering that our favorite class hasn't gotten a second pass, it might be a bit premature to talk about Paladin changes when the pre-Wrath patch finally hits. That said, it looks like more than a few new talents will make it at least into the PTRs more or less intact. Hopefully and changes we'll see during our second pass will be tweaks to numbers and some mechanics refinements but hopefully no major changes.

Assuming that most of the changes push through, we should expect a completely different Paladin in the coming months. Even without taking the new talents into account, there are baseline changes that should make gameplay technically different. The most significant change, of course, is in the way Judgements work. This is the one change that will take some getting used to. First of all, there are now three Judgements and they activate the GCD. This means no more macros for Seals and Judgements, which is actually fine because of two things: first, Judgements no longer consume Seals; second, Seals now last for a micromanagement-light two minutes.

Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Paladin 3.0

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]]>BetaBlessing-of-SanctuaryConvictionDivine-FavorDivine-ProtectionDivine-ShieldForbearanceHand-of-FreedomHand-of-ProtectionHand-of-SacrificeHand-of-SalvationHolyHoly-ShockJudgementsJudgements-of-the-JustJudgements-of-the-PureJudgements-of-the-WiseLay-on-HandsPaladinPatch-3.0ProtectionReplenishmentRetributionRetribution-AuraSanctified-RetributionSanctified-WrathSeal-of-BloodSeal-of-CorruptionSeal-of-the-MartyrSeal-of-VengeanceSealsWrath-BetaZach YonzonSun, 31 Aug 2008 18:00:00 ESTShamans in Beta build 8885http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/shamans-in-beta-build-8885/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/shamans-in-beta-build-8885/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/shamans-in-beta-build-8885/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Well, since I think we're all pretty aware at this point what a spoiler is, and how reading this post is going to create some for you, I'm not going to try and obfuscate too much in this header paragraph. There are good things, bad things, and still quite a few buggy things held over from the previous build in build 8885. For instance, weapon imbues like Windfury Weapon can be applied to weapons from Northrend again! That's good.

Ancestral Spirit, the shaman's res spell, can no longer be cast on dead targets. That's bad. (And it's a bug, based on the comments I did not make this clear. My apologies if I scared anyone.) Purification works (good) but Healing Way doesn't (bad). And none of this even covers the changes, just the bugs that have and haven't been addressed. Also, I'm pretty sure we didn't get any Frogurt but that's just as well, as it might well have been cursed.

Well, let's go on to the choice of toppings... er, I mean talents and skill changes. You can scroll down here for some patch note goodness, and I'll be discussing the changes after the jump.

The jump does not contain monosodium glutamate.

Continue reading Shamans in Beta build 8885

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]]>Beta-Build-8885elementalenhancementrestorationshamanswrath-betawrath-of-the-lich-kingMatthew RossiSat, 30 Aug 2008 14:30:00 ESTDruid changes in 8885http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/druid-changes-in-8885/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/druid-changes-in-8885/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/druid-changes-in-8885/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The latest beta push, build 8885, had changes for pretty much every class. Druids, of course, were no exception. Balance received the bulk of the changes, though it's mostly on the level of small tweaks. A few talents were moved around in the talent tree. Notably, Insect Swarm has been pushed down two tiers and correspondingly buffed up to 5% reduced chance to hit.

The really interesting part of the Balance tree changes is some great synergy for Resto druids. For instance:

  • New Talent Nature's Splendor (Tier 3): Increases the duration of your Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom and Flourish spells by 10/20/30%.
  • New Talent Genesis (Tier 1): Increases the damage and healing done by your periodic spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Focused Starlight renamed Nature's Majesty and now affects Nourish and Healing Touch as well.

Looks like yet another step in the new quest to open up the talent trees and give us more options. Oh, and the Moonkin Aura now hits any raid member within 45 yards. Edit: Nature's Grasp now trainable, 100% chance to hit.

Continue reading Druid changes in 8885

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]]>balancebearbetabuild-8885druidferallkmoonkinrestowotlkwrathwrath-betaEliah HechtSat, 30 Aug 2008 13:00:00 ESTWarriors and Beta build 8885http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/warriors-and-beta-build-8885/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/warriors-and-beta-build-8885/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/30/warriors-and-beta-build-8885/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

I'm warning you now, any further reading will contain spoilers for talents and skills for warriors in Wrath of the Lich King. You cannot say you were not warned, if not by the title of the post, then by me now.

Overall, the changes are deceptive. They look small at first, until you really stop and think about them. The biggest changes are also a little baffling, but not necessarily bad. You can't really expect sweeping changes two builds in a row, so it's really not terribly surprising that prot didn't get the big review we've been waiting for to date. On the whole, the changes aren't anything to get worked up over, but they do seem to be heading towards a desire to balance threat generation, and so I applaud them even if I don't think they were entirely successful.

I've dithered enough: on to the changes, concealed from view behind the jump.

Continue reading Warriors and Beta build 8885

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]]>ArmsBuild-8885FuryProtwarriorswrath-betawrath-of-the-lich-kingMatthew RossiSat, 30 Aug 2008 04:00:00 ESTThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: The Climb to 80http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/29/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-the-climb-to-80/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/29/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-the-climb-to-80/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/29/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-the-climb-to-80/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,


It took several days longer than I expected, in part due to there being one less zone than there would be live, but last night I managed to level my tauren warrior to 80 in a mix of blues and greens, all of his PvP epics and Karazhan gear having been finally replaced. Admittedly, in some cases I deliberately chose a sidegrade merely to be able to say that I'd changed my gear or to try and preserve my crit rate from level degradation, so it's safe to say that if you have Kara epics or better they'll certainly last you into level 74 - 75, but by 80 I had only one piece of gear from before the beta still intact. And that was a really nice trinket that I kept mostly for the proc.

I figure, with the new talents and abilities stated to be coming before Wrath, I should discuss my experiences to some degree.

Based on the leveling experience, I can tell you various things about gear and spec in Wrath that I would have felt premature talking about before now. However, since it would be spoilertastic, it will go behind the jump. Just imagine me flapping my giant white arms now. Also, while it's not the subject of today's post, I am kind of concerned that Battle Shout won't stack with Blessing of Might anymore. That seems like a nerf. We'll see how it plays out.

Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: The Climb to 80

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]]>ArmsDPSFurypatch-3.0ProtTankingWarriorwrath-betawrath-of-the-lich-kingMatthew RossiFri, 29 Aug 2008 17:00:00 ESTFuror buffed for 3.0.2http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/29/furor-buffed-for-3-0-2/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/29/furor-buffed-for-3-0-2/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/29/furor-buffed-for-3-0-2/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Do you guys remember yesterday, when I wrote about how the Druid talent Furor was altered to prevent powershifting? Well, if not, that's OK. Furor has just been rewritten again, and this time it has all I asked for and then some. The new Furor reads as follows (with 5/5 talent points in it):

Gives you 100% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear Form, and you keep up to 100 of your Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form, and increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 10%.

Holy sweet monkeys, Druid fans. Not only is there now no penalty whatsoever for switching in and out of cat form, we get some added Moonkin utility for this already excellent talent. This is one of those days where I just want to hug the devs, all of them.

In case anyone is unclear about how this latest iteration of Furor works, here's a quick rundown (as I understand it). The game will now track your energy regeneration even when not in cat form, like it tracks your mana regen in feral forms now. When you shift back into cat, you'll have whatever amount of energy you would have had if you had just stayed in cat in the first place. Shift out to heal at 80 energy? You'll have 100 when you pop back in, 2 seconds later. Arrive at your destination and switch from flight into cat form? 100 energy to go mangle some faces.

Powershifting is still out, but this is way better for the soloing Druid, not to mention the Moonkin perks. There is some concern that this may be overpowered in PvP: what's to stop you from DPSing in cat till you're at 0 energy, then shifting to bear for 10 seconds to DPS that way, then back to cat? Well, nothing, as far as I know. However, keep in mind that this is still beta, and if ferals end up hideously overpowered in arenas, I'm sure they'll make changes as necessary.

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]]>balance-druidbearbluecatdruidferalferal-druidfurorlkmoonkinpatch-3.0.2powershiftingwotlkwrathwrath-betaEliah HechtFri, 29 Aug 2008 15:30:00 ESTBornakk clarifies Achievements and Feats of Strengthhttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/28/bornakk-clarifies-achievements-and-feats-of-strength/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/28/bornakk-clarifies-achievements-and-feats-of-strength/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/28/bornakk-clarifies-achievements-and-feats-of-strength/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Bornakk drops some serious knowledge about the difference between Achievements and Feats of Strength (both of which, apparently, are showing up as of patch 3.0). Achievements grant points, and are apparently things that you can accomplish in the game while they're given out -- if there is an achievement on the list, you can earn it. But Feats of Strength are different; not only do they not give points, but "some of them may no longer be possible to do." So Feats of Strength may include things like opening the AQ gates, and so on. The good news is that if there's an Achievement for something in the game, Blizzard will make sure that it's possible to jump through the hoops you need to do it.

But the bad news is that there's really no way to know whether you'll get credit for either Achievements or Feats of Strength until the system shows up on the live realms. As we've heard, Blizzard is going to try to be as retroactive as possible -- they'll be looking at quests and maybe even equipment to determine who's killed which boss in the past. But nothing, as Bornakk says, is guaranteed -- you may get one achievement for an old boss, but you may need to redo another old boss again.

There's one more great thing coming out of all of this as well -- hopefully, Achievements and Feats of Strength both will drive traffic back to the old content, and people who've never run Naxx or AQ, for example, will be able to find regular groups for "Achievement runs." Even people who've already downed the content will want to do back if their Feats of Strength don't register, so lots of people who didn't should have new chances to see it.

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]]>achievementsaq-20aq-40blizzardbornakkfeats-of-strengthgatesnaxxpatch-3.0patch-3.0.2Mike SchrammThu, 28 Aug 2008 18:20:00 ESTTotem Talk: What will Patch 3.0 mean?http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/28/totem-talk-what-will-patch-3-0-mean/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/28/totem-talk-what-will-patch-3-0-mean/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/28/totem-talk-what-will-patch-3-0-mean/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


Well, this week we found out that we're going to get a taste of the new talents and skills for Wrath of the Lich King, which wasn't exactly a surprise, as we got a similar content patch before the launch of The Burning Crusade. However, as we've been getting quite a bit of mail asking what, exactly, it means for shamans when patch 3.0 goes live. While I always try to avoid Wrath spoilers, in this case I feel like we're not talking about expansion secrets: there are changes that will be affecting you in your day to day playing before you set foot in Northrend. So a brief overview out in the open seems warranted.

For starters, we know that the new skills and talents for each class will be implemented. What does that mean for your shaman? Well, as best as we can tell at this point, this will be your talent tree.At level 70 (since new levels and skills that require those levels will not be unlocked) you will be able to spend 61 points, placing the 51 point talents within reach. It means that the spell power changes are certain to be implemented, since many of the talents require that new mechanic. (This is of course subject to change, but there's been no sign that Blizzard's thinking differently about the change.) It means that totems will most likely be raid wide, that Windfury Totem and Wrath of Air Totem will change to the haste mechanic, that enhancement shamans will now gain 1 AP per point of strength, 1 AP per point of agility, and will be able to gain 1 AP per point of Intellect as well, changing their ideal itemization. (This may actually increase the attack power of some shaman tier gear.) And there will be entirely new abilities open to shamans of all three talent builds. (As pointed out in the comments, we'll also get Earthliving Weapon.)

Please keep in mind that there will be changes to these trees. There's already discussion of changes to Anticipation, Shamanistic Focus and Windfury Weapon in recent blue posts and any such changes are inherently going to be reflected in patch 3.0.

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]]>ElementalEnhancementPatch-3.0.2RestorationShamanMatthew RossiThu, 28 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EST3.0 won't break everythinghttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/27/3-0-wont-break-everything/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/27/3-0-wont-break-everything/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/27/3-0-wont-break-everything/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

A lot of people (including some folks here at WoW Insider) are super concerned that when Blizzard does release a 3.0 patch early, it'll basically break everything we're doing now. Potion sickness on the live realms? Shield Block cooldown extended? With those changes, it seems bosses like Illidan would be basically unbeatable.

But Blizzard says, as they always do: don't worry. The latest word is that 3.0.2 is heading to the PTRs, and it's pretty clear that if 3.0 is going to break everything in the game, that's where Blizzard will find out. Don't forget that we've got months until the expansion comes out (and likely even a few months until the actual patch hits the live realms), which means there's tons of time to tweak and twist and get all of the new changes working with the old content.

This doesn't mean that things won't be broken -- we're curious to see, especially in even older instances like AQ and Molten Core, what things are like with all of the 3.0 updates. But it does mean that they'll likely be broken on the PTR -- in a few months from now, when this patch finally goes live, Blizzard should have most of the wrinkles evened out.

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]]>aqblizzardmolten-corepanicpatch-3.0patch-3.0.2potion-sicknessptrsshield-blockwrath-of-the-lich-kingMike SchrammWed, 27 Aug 2008 15:30:00 EST3.0.2 PTR imminenthttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/27/3-0-2-ptr-imminent/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/27/3-0-2-ptr-imminent/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/27/3-0-2-ptr-imminent/#commentsFiled under: ,

We haven't seen much PTR action in a little while (although I guess the beta realms are really a PTR for Wrath). That may change soon, though: the European PTR forums were just wiped, and Tigole recently said "3.0 will be on the PTR's soon." Disregarding his apostrophe abuse, and Blizzard's colorful history with the word "soon," this does conspire with the forum wipe to indicate that the PTRs will probably be up with this pre-Wrath patch within, I'd say, a week or so.

What does this say about the Wrath release date? Well, I'd say nothing, really. In the same post, Tigole mentions that some patches were on the PTR for over two months (which is good because a lot of the new talents are really half-baked right now). Additionally, 3.0.2 could come any amount of time before LK. 2.0.1, the pre-Burning Crusade patch, came a bit over a month before BC was released.

There is one notable advantage to bringing 3.0.2 to the PTR as soon as possible: more testing. While a fair number of people are in the LK beta by now, everyone who wants to (and had an active account the last time the PTR authentication server was updated) can access the PTR. As I mentioned above (and as Tigole agreed in his post) none of the classes is done yet, and the more people we get play-testing them, the better.

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]]>betalkpatch-3.0patch-3.0.2ptrptrspublic-test-realmtigolewotlkwrathEliah HechtWed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 ESTWrath PvP gear hints at Arena Season 5http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/26/wrath-pvp-gear-hints-at-arena-season-5/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/26/wrath-pvp-gear-hints-at-arena-season-5/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/26/wrath-pvp-gear-hints-at-arena-season-5/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


I was somewhat puzzled when the first pieces of PvP gear started showing up in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta. The traditional 5-piece set of helm, shoulders, chest, legs, and gloves (as well as the weapons) were of blue or rare quality while the non-set pieces normally obtained through Honor -- bracers, belt, and boots -- were purples or epic. The blue items were tagged 'LK Arena 1' items and the purples were tagged 'LK Honor' items, which were easy enough to decipher.

However, MMO Champion uncovered an epic quality 2-handed mace tagged 'LK Arena 2', which is a rather curious item considering the game files already have LK Arena 1 2h Mace. What does it mean? At this point, not much. A lot can change from now until Wrath finally goes live, but if we were to put some weight into the item nomenclature, it might indicate that Blizzard plans to tier Arena gear similar to how they plan to create two separate tiers for 10- and 25-man dungeon items.

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]]>ArenaArena-pointsarena-season-5PvP-gearrewardsseason-5WrathWrath-BetaWrath-of-the-Lich-KingZach YonzonTue, 26 Aug 2008 18:00:00 ESTBreakfast Topic: The pre-Wrath patchhttp://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/26/breakfast-topic-the-pre-wrath-patch/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/26/breakfast-topic-the-pre-wrath-patch/http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/26/breakfast-topic-the-pre-wrath-patch/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Wow. That was some big news there, wasn't it? As excited as we all were for Wrath of the Lich King, I don't think any of us expected the announcement that a pre-Wrath content patch would be unleashed upon the public in -- to quote Eyonix -- "the coming weeks". While this is Blizzard we're talking about, a few weeks isn't quite as nebulous as their traditional "soon". This can also mean that the content patch could be strategically, shrewdly timed to coincide with the launch of another game that also starts with 'W'.

If that's the case, then we can expect to see the pre-Wrath patch in about four weeks! That's nerve-wrackingly close. Anyway, Eyonix ran through a list of stuff that will come with the patch and it's exciting to see that Inscription will be in it. This means that players won't be required to purchase Wrath of the Lich King in order to take it up, unlike Jewelcrafting. There are a bunch of other stuff coming in the patch -- what's the thing that excites you most?

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]]>ArenaArena-mapsInscriptionPollPollsSurveyTalentsWrathWrath-of-the-Lich-KingZach YonzonTue, 26 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EST