In the most recent beta push, patch 8885, training dummies were added to the sewers of Dalaran (and many other places in the world as well, apparently) by popular request. They were requested to replace what Dr. Boom did for everyone in The Burning Crusade: A way to benchmark DPS and crunch other numbers while outside of a raid, on a mob that didn't die long before you hit your limit. These training dummies certainly helped, but there was only one problem. The dummies were level 1, so certain important stats were greatly inflated while hitting them, such as critical strike percentages.

Luckily, Kalgan has posted that the training dummies will be getting an upgrade in the next patch. The level 1 dummies will be replaced by level 80 dummies with typical level 80 stats, as well as 'boss level' dummies with boss stats. This will definitely provide much more accurate numbers for players trying to benchmark themselves. I, for one, look forward to testing the upcoming Shadow Priest changes on one of these as soon as it's all in place. I do not, however, look forward to searching for a dummy not already in use by someone else! They've been insanely popular on the beta realms in their level 1 state, and I think beta testers will love them even more at the proper levels.

Just the other day, a fun little potential toy for Engineers cropped up. Wormholes! Wormholes? Yes, wormholes. What do they do? Think about Mages for a moment. They have both Teleport and Portal spells. Teleport spells take only them to a capital city of their choosing. Portals create a way for your entire party or raid to go to that capital city.

Engineers have Transporters, which work similar to a Mage's Teleport. They take you specifically to whichever Goblin or Gnome town your Engineering specialization likes best. Wormholes will be the answer to the Mage's Portal. You will be able to take your entire party to that town, not just you. The only one we've seen so far is a Wormhole to Gadgetzan, which may actually prove to be quite useful. While Shattrath has an NPC that will teleport you straight to the Caverns of Time, I haven't seen one of those in Dalaran so far in the Wrath Beta.

Currently it seems the intent is to have Engineers quest for these Wormhole generators, but they aren't available on either the live or beta realms quite yet. That could easily change before we see them ourselves. We may also see these in Patch 3.02 rather than Wrath of the Lich King as well, seeing as Northrend has Goblin towns of its own.

[ via MMO-Champion ]

While it isn't the most exciting, mind-blowing, game-changing addition to Dalaran thus far, I thought the addition of a cupcake vendor was pretty cool, especially now that they've itemized it. The vendor has some mundane found that are still pretty fun like Dalaran Brownies and Carrot Cupcakes, which are charming but not entirely what grabbed my attention.

What did grab my attention? She sells cakes! The Lovely Cake and Chocolate Celebration Cake are sold on this vendor, perhaps a little expensive (about 25g), but they work pretty neat. The cakes are used like Lightwells (Cakewell?), you lay them on the ground with a targeting circle and 5-10 of your friends can grab a slice. Maybe a Mage's food table was a better comparison, but I prefer the idea of a cakewell.

Isn't this fella cute? Sooo cute? Adorable!? No? He isn't? Yeah, i don't think so either. We'll get back to these horrible abominations a little later, because Meethan asked...

Is Hunger For Blood, the 51 point Assassination talent, at all useful for solo leveling?

I asked a friend of mine about this since I don't personally play a Rogue, and he says popular opinion is that Hunger for Blood is mostly going to be a PvP talent. Keeping the damage buff up constantly while questing isn't worthwhile, and the debuff clearing it provides will be highly situational while soloing through Northrend. You can take it if you're gung ho about Assassination, but you'd be better served picking up something else until you start PvPing often.

Drewcast asked...

Are there or will there be any Aldor vs. Scryer type factions?

If you tend to be a strictly weekend-centric WoW Insider reader, you may have missed some of the best stuff to come out of the Wrath beta thus far: the eye candy! Class updates, mechanics changes, pfft, who needs that stuff? No no my friends, me, I'm all about the shinies. Okay, and I like all of that other stuff, too. Luckily, we have a little bit of everything, and in case you did miss our eye candy, let's take a look back at some of it, shall we? Be warned, however, that most of these galleries contain some minor spoilers. If you don't want to be spoiled, be careful!

	The Borean Tundra The Borean Tundra, accessed from either the Orgrimmar zeppelin tower or the Stormwind Harbor, is one of two starter zones in Northrend. The Tundra houses Valiance Keep, Warsong Hold, D.E.H.T.A. the Coldarra (home of the Blue Dragonflight) and much more.
	The Howling Fjord The Howling Fjord is the second of the two Northrend starter zones, accessed via Menethil Harbor or the Tirisfal zeppelin towers. The Howling Fjord is home to Valgarde, the Forsaken's Vengeance Landing, the Vrykul fortress Utgarde, and the Ember Clutch.

The most recent Wrath beta push began adding the profession specific quests discussed in the latest Blizzcast. A number of Jewelcrafting daily quests were implemented, as well as the accompanying tokens and recipes.

The rewards are a very nice spread of rare cuts, ranging from five to eight Dalaran Jewelcrafter's Tokens each. Doing the daily quest each and every day, you'll be averaging one new cut per week, which isn't too shabby. Both regular cuts and metagem cuts are available for purchase.

With the way it has been implemented, it seems you'll want to coordinate with other Jewelcrafters in your guild, or simply other Jewelcrafters you know, to pick and choose which your guild will need first, Once that's done you can work towards completion. Not bad, I think, and it should be a fun dynamic. Better than random world drops, for sure. Still, we'll need to see it in action for awhile before we can make a real decision about it either way. So far, I like it and I'm curious to see how it will be handled for other professions.

If you're interested in the cuts available, we've added them to our Wrath Jewelcraftng gallery, which you can see below. As always, click the Hi Res button to see them a little larger.

Step off the zeppelin or boat to Northrend and you're in a new world. Even when there's not snow, Northrend simply feels cold. Piano playing in the background in Dragonblight even sounds like ice should feel. It's a brave new world of strange sights, unusual architecture, and unheard of beasts. Curious about what you should expect? Read on.

Nizari asked....

Have you seen much of the Nordic influence that Wrath is supposed to have? I know you've discussed the Vrykul and the Val'kyr before, but I'm wondering if you've seen any more esoteric or obscure references? I'd find it mighty entertaining if there was a baker who sold Kransekake, or a cooking recipe to make Lutefisk.

I think this question pretty much floored most of the team -- because none of us really experts in Norse mythology. Your friend and mine, Alex, had this to say about Norse influences in the expansion: There are the jormungar, of course, and the Avatar of Freya in the Sholazar Basin. The Avatar of Freya is a vaguely Druidic being that is battling the Scourge and Freya is one of the Titans. The Titans themselves are heavily inspired by Norse and Greek mythology.

For more of your questions -- and our answers! -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.

Alc asked....

How does Blizzard account for all the wanton slaughter of Dalaran folk by the Horde? How would a hordie get into Dalaran because of this?

Not being Chris Metzen, it's tricky to answer this question. Dalaran was not treated kindly by the Horde in the Second War and even today in Silverpine Forest and Hillsbrad Foothills, Horde questlines encourage the killing of Dalaran's mages. So how exactly is Blizzard working around this minor problem? WoWWiki claims that Dalaran has been neutral since the Lands in Conflict RPG sourcebook, but provides no additional details. How Blizzard is going to make lore mesh with reality? We aren't sure yet, but we're keeping out eyes open.

For more of your questions -- and our answers! -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.

Here's a somewhat annoying little problem with the Beta. As of the latest build, you can't just walk into Dalaran, or rather, you can't just use the teleportation crystal go up. Instead, you have to complete a quest to align yourself to Dalaran. But this quest is only available at level 74.

In the Outlands, it's not uncommon for a fresh 58 to head through the Dark Portal and right to Shattrath City. Binding in one of the Inns there essentially puts all of the Outlands before you, with flights connecting you easily to where you wish to go.

It seems strange that Blizzard has put up this strange quest attunement roadblock to those who wish to alight from the boat to Northrend and head straight to the capital. Perhaps it's a similar decision that caused them to restrict flying mounts to level 77 and above -- they don't want people skimping on exploration and seeing content, so they make you hang around the newbie zones for a while before you can just stick with Dalaran.

Luckily, not all is completely lost. Much like with Shattrath before level 58, You can still get teleported or summoned up by a Mage or Warlock before level 74. Still, it's a strange little extra hoop Blizzard's having us leap through to get the to top.

Dalaran gets more shine and polish with ever beta patch, and the most recent is no exception. The Violet Citadel has had it's front doors opened, though it remains unpopulated. Many missing textures have been filled in, and a lot of the empty buildings have been put to use.

We've updated our Dalaran image gallery to reflect some of these updates, and added a new batch of pictures including things such as the Dalaran Sewers. Click the link or thumbnails below to check it out. As always, if you want to see a Hi Res version of the image you're looking at, the button is in the upper right.

If you're on a coastline in the World of Warcraft, encountering hostile pirates is always a possibility -- and Northrend seems to be no exception. I'm not sure what this intrepid crew intends to plunder, but if you meet up with them on the open seas, watch out -- I was nearly swallowed by an Orca trying to swim to shore. But enough about me: let's get to your questions!

Warlia asked...

Does the game really look more crisp and detailed like people are saying?

Remember walking into The Exodar or Silvermoon City for the first time? I bet you immediately compared them to the other major cities in the game and suddenly all of those other cities looked a bit less impressive. Walking into Northrend is going to be just like that. Everything in Northrend looks so good that it makes previous parts of the world look a trifle dusty. Blizzard seems to be using textures in Wrath that have a lot more detail than anything they've done previously. And though I haven't gone and counted polygons, the architecture in Dalarn (especially the curvy tunnels of the sewers, which are much more pleasent than you'd imagine) looks like it might use more of 'em. And beyond the architecture of the place, the environment is tremendously detailed. For example, if you visit Dalaran's toy shop you'll find shelves packed with all manner of toy -- nearly all of which are constantly buzzing, whirring, or moving. There are reflections and real-time shadows. Everything looks fantastic. (Though I've seen some reports -- as recently as in the comments thread of the previous edition of Ask a Beta Tester -- of content outside of Northrend looking better, I can't say I'm seeing a difference, though it could be a hardware issue.)

For more on the game's video quality -- and other questions! -- keep reading! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving things away here and there.

I can't say enough good things about Dalaran. It's the most beautiful place in the game -- the architecture and textures in the area are more detailed than any we've ever seen. If it weren't for the invisible holes in the ground that send you plummeting to the Crystalsong Forest below, I'd probably never leave! Now that I think of it, that's probably why we don't have more flying cities: health hazards. (Yes, at present, visitors to Dalaran may fall through the city to the ground below without warning.) However, it has its own fruit vendor, so it can't be all bad, can it? But on to your questions!

Boowat asked....

How do you actually get to Dalaran. It's really high up... can you only fly there?

Earlier in the beta, anyone could reach Dalaran by visiting the Crystalsong Forest and using a crystal below the city to teleport up. However, more recently, transport has been further restricted. To visit Dalaran one must be level 74 and complete a quest. (As I'm not yet level 74, I can't give you details on the quest, I've only been told it exists.) Commentor Ktok also notes that Mages get a self-only port to Dalaran at level 71.

The level 74 thing does seem a bit odd (can you imagine Shattrath with a level-restriction?), but we'll see if the restriction sticks around and makes it live.

(Viewers be warned that this video contains spoilers for the Wrath of the Lich King beta.)

Muffins did a great job with her most recent exploration video. If you're looking for another artistic take on the new locations available in WotLK, this is the movie for you. The areas that she visits include Howling Fjord, Borelean Tundra, The Nexus (Instance), Utgarde Keep (Instance), Crystalsong Forest, Dragonblight, Stone Halls (Instance), Drak'tharon Keep (Instance), Zul'Drak, Dalaran, Sholazar Basin, and Grizzly Hills.

The other day, I mentioned that Razzik may have had his exploration video removed from Vimeo. While I have yet to confirm it with him, there is a comment on Muffins' WCM page saying that they removed hers. I'll be weighing in on this shortly with some additional news from other sites, as well as recommendations for where to keep your machinima safe.

[Via Warcraftmovies.com]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

It's that time again, ladies and gents. Alex here with today's round of answers to your Wrath Beta questions. Keep the questions coming, and we'll keep answering. To everyone that asked about Arena points: We don't know anything about that yet, and Blizzard doesn't either. As soon as they know, we'll know, and then you'll know.

Gurluas asks...

How many high elves are there in Wrath, and what are their role now that they have thier own faction?

The High Elves actually have a pretty strong presence, which I'm rather excited about. The High Elves (and Blood Elves to a much lesser extent) are one of my favorite Warcraft races, and it makes me sad I can't play one. Alliance FTW. Dalaran, first of all, is packed full of them. Most of them are under the banner of the Silver Covenant, an Alliance-aligned faction of High Elves that aren't too happy about the Blood Elves being given a sizable section of Dalaran.

There are also High Elves scattered throughout the Alliance forces in Northrend. There are a few of them in the 7th Legion (no, they're not all High Elves), the Argent Crusade, and just the Alliance forces overall. The fellow in charge of the Alliance contingent helping the Red Dragonflight at the Red Dragonshrine is a High Elf. He's a total badass, by the way. Check him out up there. Ashkandi is Draconic for Awesome.