Posts with tag Skills
Wrath of the Lich King: Warrior roundup
Nov 12th, 2008
Wrath of the Lich King. It's here. You're ready. At least, you think you're ready. You recall the last time we all went off to a new place to kick some butt, some guy said something about not being prepared, and you don't want to be unprepared. So let's go over all the coverage we've done on the site that might be of interest to you.Talents and Skills
- The Most Recent Changes - What do your skills and abilities currently do? Here's the skinny.
- Protection - how will the spec perform in Northrend? Pretty dang well, it turns out.
- DPS warriors - If you like to smash things we covered how to go about doing that.
- Skill Mastery covered Damage Shield, Shockwave and Bloodsurge, three new warrior abilities.
Leveling Builds
- Try out a Prot Grinding Build - 0/8/53 for soloing groups of mobs as well as tanking.
- This Fury/Prot build brings Titan's Grip with a touch of Improved Thunder Clap and Incite for moderate tanking viability and damage.
- Here's a heavy Arms build - substitute your weapon specialization of choice.
Gearing guides
Hopefully this will get you started in Northrend. Have fun killing things and taking their stuff!
Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King
Encrypted Text: Lifestyle of the Northrend Rogue
Oct 1st, 2008
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we explore quality of life changes for Rogues in the upcoming expansion.After playing The Burning Crusade for nearly two years now, most Rogues have gotten into their level 70 groove. They know where the poison vendors are in Shattrath and where to acquire some good leather gear. They know where to level up their lockpicking and the best way to organize reagents in their bags. However, all that is about to change.
Blizzard is implementing a ton of new simple changes to the Rogue class that are guaranteed to have many of us confused at first. I've tried to make this transition a little bit easier by outlining some of the differences between your time at 70 and the upcoming road to 80. Read on to find out what these changes mean to your daily Rogue lifestyle.
Rogue, Tips, Tricks, Odds and ends, Expansions, Classes, (Rogue) Encrypted Text, Wrath of the Lich King
Paladin changes in Beta build 8885
Aug 30th, 2008
Beacon of Light
The target becomes a Beacon of Light to all targets within a 40 yard radius. Any heals you cast on those targets will also heal the Beacon for 100% of the amount healed.
The promised rework of Beacon of Light is finally here and it's absolutely amazing. It fits better with the Paladin's kit, which is -- still -- cast heals vs. HoTs and single target healing. Paladins are the best single target healers in the game and the new Beacon of Light capitalizes on that by adding a secondary target to the primary heal. It's not quite the group heal we've been asking for, but it does the job quite nicely. In fact, it's like the now retired Blessing of Light's great granddaddy for heals because when you heal the Beacon of Light's target, the heal is doubled. I don't know if that's intended or a bug because when you cast Beacon of Light on yourself, it won't work.
Blizzard announces Pre-Wrath content patch
Aug 25th, 2008
Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen. In a sign that Wrath of the Lich King is quickly moving toward release, Eyonix officially announced today that we will see a new content patch "in the coming weeks."
This patch will introduce a good portion of the old world Wrath-related content and UI improvements, and will probably start the pre-Wrath opening event (If you don't mind spoilers, you can get some info on what that event may entail from us). Check out Eyonix's list of what is being implemented and what it may mean after the break.
Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard, News items, PvP, Expansions, Classes, Talents, Buffs, Wrath of the Lich King, Arena
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Officers' Quarters: Padding your resume
Aug 18th, 2008
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.I'm not sure how, because I usually avoid the topic around "civilians," but the subject of Warcraft came up a few weeks ago as I was speaking with a co-worker in my department. I don't mean my glamorous position blogging for WoW Insider that has made me a globally recognized household name -- in this case, I'm talking about my corporate, Clark Kent job. When you talk about the Lich King there, people think it's some kind of organic fast-food restaurant.
During this conversation I started talking about my role as a guild leader. While I was explaining it, I realized just how much of this role I've applied to situations in my office life. Wouldn't a company value this type of training? The author of this week's e-mail asks just how to present your guild leadership experience to a potential employer.
It's not easy to be the GM/officer/leader in a successful guild, regardless of how you define 'successful.' We work hard to keep drama at a minimum, create an environment where our members are comfortable and having fun, recruit new folks, 'fire' bad seeds among many other duties and obligations. All while developing our own toons, often to be on par with the best of the rest.
To me, that sounds like a great resume builder for the real world. Employers are looking for that kind of leadership, discipline, and knowledge.
Totem Talk: The Wrath of the Shaman part 3 - Restoration and Synergy
Jul 24th, 2008
First off, of course, I will talk about Earthliving Weapon. Now, we all know I love this (despite a lot of naysayers who look at it as similar to the Fel Reaver's Piston and call it undesirable) but let's be fair: we have no idea how good it will be at 80. All of the current ranks are the same as rank one. The reason I linked to the comments was to show user defektunge's estimate for how it will look at rank 6. Assuming he's in the ballpark, at rank 6 it will be an extra 102 healing plus a chance to proc roughly 1400 healing over 12 seconds. Depending on how high stamina values are on gear by then, and how often the proc really contributes to healing, the HoT of Earthliving could be a gimmick or it could be pure awesome. It's definitely an attempt by Blizzard to address the shaman's lack of any kind of heal over time while remaining true to the Windfury 'random proc' mechanic.
I personally hope that this estimate is low. By level 80 I expect stamina values to be significantly higher (a well geared T5/T6 tank can have well over 22k health, as much as 26k on some right now, so I expect tanks in blues to be easily pushing 19k by the time we're all 80) so I'd hope for double both those numbers. But I'm still excited for Earthliving, especially for leveling shamans or shamans who need to heal in a pinch. Throw on your healing weapon and imbue it for extra oomph.
Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Leveling, Talents, (Shaman) Totem Talk, Wrath of the Lich King
Wrath Beta patch notes: Shaman
Jul 18th, 2008
With the Wrath of the Lich King beta upon us, we now have a plethora of new information about where shamans are going in the expansion, and one thing is clear: totems are changing. And for some folks, those changes may be seen as pretty bad. If you're a DPS warrior, you're not going to like the change to Windfury Totem."Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified."
The up side for shamans is that our own Windfury Weapon ability seems to be unaffected, according to MMO-Champion. In fact, there's no reason that the two efffects couldn't co-exist, meaning that an enhancement shaman could get the benefit of Strength of Earth (with its new strength and agility benefits), Windfury Totem (with the flat melee haste) and Windfury Weapon allowing for the damage of two extra attacks with increased attack power.
We can talk more about the changes inside, shall we?
Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items, Expansions, Classes, Buffs, Wrath of the Lich King
Is World of Warcraft really World of Diablo?
Jul 12th, 2008
So how do you design Diablo 3 anyway? Bargain Bin Reviews has an idea -- just retrofit World of Warcraft. Shift talent points to spells, decrease enemy health and damage and increase the number of enemies by a factor of 10 or so, do away with healing spells and tanking, and you're essentially done. It's a bit silly and a bit tongue in cheek, yes, but it also brings up a good point. In the end, WoW is probably influenced by Diablo 2 as much as it is by Warcraft 3, if not more.
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Forum post of the day: You are prepared for a Death Knight
Jun 26th, 2008
We still don't have a release date for Wrath of the Lich king, but I suspect we will in the very near future. From what I've seen any folks are chomping at the bit to get started on their Death Knights. Blizzard's been handing out tidbits of information on the class. Many players have been dreaming about the gender and race combinations they'll select for the Death Knight, or even how to play the class. Aside from that, what can we do to be ready for our first heroic class?
Rizelle of Gurubashi is already preparing herself for the arrival. In a thread entitled "I'm already playing my Death Knight," she described the actions she's taking:
Leveling, Alts, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, Forum Post of the Day
WoW Rookie: Mad weapon skillz
May 31st, 2008
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know.
One of my favorite things about World of Warcraft is the wide variety of sharp, pointy objects and projectiles at my disposal for beating on my foes (and occasionally my friends). At times I find myself overwhelmed by the number of options for each class, and I've always wanted a handy guide to what I can use and where to get it. Since I couldn't find such a guide, I've decided to create one. Hopefully you will all find it useful also.
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Learning your leadership skills from World of Warcraft
May 14th, 2008
We've covered the IBM/Seriosity study before -- that's the one that said players who are able to organize and lead guilds can use those same skills to succeed in the workplace. Just recently, Computerworld sat down to chat with Seriosity co-founder Byron Reeves, who's since used his research to actually develop ways for companies to use MMO-style gameplay in the workplace, including creating a currency system to develop and manage interactions between employees.It's very interesting stuff. Reeves says that MMO games and the leaders in them are a prime example of the environment creating the leader, not necessarily the talents of the person themselves -- when a game gives you the tools and influences necessary to have you leading a guild, you'll do a good job at it. He also says that the speed of online games can be a huge benefit to workers -- when you need to organize groups fast ingame, those skills will directly translate to running groups in real life.
Not everything is the same -- Reeves admits that the risks are much smaller when running around a virtual world (no one loses their livelihood if you don't down a boss), and there's a lot more transparency in games -- you can know characters' levels and specs, but you can't really know exactly how much experience your employees have or what they're really good at just by looking them up in the Armory. The interview is definitely an interesting read for anyone who's ever lead a guild or a workplace -- it's becoming more and more apparently that there are many lessons to be learned across both.
Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Guilds, Blizzard, News items
Insider Trader: Alchemy, the final stretch
Mar 21st, 2008
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.While alchemy is certainly not the most flashy or popular profession out there, alchemists are an integral part of the game, and any guild worth its salt has at least one, preferably several, working to supply guildmates and fill the guild bank with stacks of consumables and transmuted items.
This week's leveling guide will feature the usual cheapest route, and the most useful, to 375 for solos and casuals.
For those of you who will be working for your guild (and hopefully are also being financed, or supported by herbalists), we'll show you how to reach 375 by making the most useful items. They might cost more, but your guild will be requiring them anyway, so you might as well get your skill points that way, rather than making stacks of items you won't be using.
Alchemy, Patches, Items, How-tos, Guilds, Walkthroughs, Economy, Features, Leveling, Guides, Making money, Buffs, (Professions) Insider Trader
Petopia ready for 2.3
Nov 12th, 2007
I'm especially excited because I've purposely left my BE hunter at about level 29 since all these 2.3 changes were announced, so his eyes are the ones I'm going to be seeing patch 2.3, the new Dustwallow Marsh, and all the updated pre-60 instances through. Petopia is a great guide for all Hunters, but I'm especially excited to use it for myself.
Hunter, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Leveling, Guides
PTR Notes: Aimed Shot changed again
Nov 7th, 2007
A few hours ago, Eyonix posted on the WoW forums regarding another change to the Hunter skill Aimed Shot in patch 2.3. The ability, which has already gained a healing debuff akin to Mortal Strike, will now also have a reduced cast time. The shot will now take a flat 3 seconds to perform, which is a half a second drop from its previous time of 3.5 seconds. In addition, Eyonix also mentioned that the developers are monitoring the ability's effectiveness and may further reduce the cast time after 2.3 goes live.
As is often the case on the WoW forums, there is a rather large outcry over this change, the latest in a series of buffs to hunters. In discussing and defending the change, Eyonix suggests that the developers are trying to make this skill more appealing to the class in addition to helping them be more viable in PvP overall. What are your thoughts on the subject?
Sticks and stones...
Nov 6th, 2007
Yesterday a player on the WoW forums pointed out that the Warrior skill Demoralizing Shout would be interesting to see in action. According to Undamian's interpretation, essentially, the skill involves insulting your opponents to throw them off balance in combat. Taunt, Challenging Shout, Piercing Howl and Intimidating Shout could also be viewed in a like manner. Unlike similar skills in other classes, warriors aren't considered magic users, so they must have an extensive vocabulary and a lot of creativity in order to affect their foes with mere words and body language.The original poster's idea, of course, led to a slew of suggestions as to what it is that warrior's actually say when they use these abilities. Community Manager Nethaera even proffered a suggestion, and as the thread progressed, other skills, such as Commanding and Battle Shout were included. Some players even posted catch phrases that they have bound to their abilities in game via macros. What do you imagine your character would say when using these skills? Please keep it clean.
Four year anniversary pet and feat of strength achievement
Ritual of Summoning revamped
Wrath sells 2.8 million in the first 24 hours
Championship Gaming Series folds
World first Level 80 Death Knight?
Sunday Morning Funnies: Promotion
Arcane Brilliance: Wrath reputation rewards for Mages, part 1
Wrath 101: The Oracles and the Frenzyheart Tribe
Wrath 101: Factions and reputation
The Queue: Future raids and more on daily quests
