Posts tagged Sheep at WOW Insider

Posts with tag sheep

PTR is closed

Posted May 5th 2008 3:00PM by Adam Holisky
Filed under: Patches, News items

Hortus just posted that the PTR server for patch 2.4.2 has been taken down, and that the PTR phase for the patch has ended. This is a strong indicator that patch 2.4.2 is on its way soon, perhaps during some expected maintenance tomorrow.

Take a look at the official and un-official notes for a comprehensive look at what will change. Nothing in the patch is game-breaking, in my opinion, but there are some nice changes. Some of the major highlights include:

Changes to the way arena points are calculated.
Void Shatter no longer has a cooldown, and other cooldowns have been reduced.
If you are sheeped / polymorphed by a mob, you will no longer gain back health (ie: the mass sheep in Aran, which regens your health before he fire blasts the raid).
Many main hand weapons are now one hand weapons.

WoW Insider will carry the latest on the patch, including as soon as we know when it's set to go live. Stay tuned!

Edit 3:24 p.m. EDT: It should be noted that the final version of the patch notes have not been released yet, however they are usually close to what the PTR patch notes are.

CC: How to run instances without a net

Posted Mar 16th 2008 7:00PM by Adam Holisky
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, How-tos, Instances, Guides

Running 5 man instances is the bread and butter of gearing up any PvE character. There are some short instances, and some longer ones. There are some bosses that are ready for fun, and others that like to die fast. Many people consider it a universal truth that all you need to do these instances is solid crowd control. When you're faced with a pack of six or seven level 70 elite mobs, the last thing you want is one or two of them running loose.

But what can you do if you don't have any CC available? Are you just out of luck? Nope! There are a few tricks to running instances without CC, and if you pay close attention, you won't miss the lack of sheeps at all.

In fact, you might just start preferring to run without crowd control entirely.

Continue reading CC: How to run instances without a net

Cleavage buffed on PTR

Posted Mar 5th 2008 10:30PM by Eliah Hecht
Filed under: Patches, News items

The PTR has changed once more. Sure, the star changes are rollbacks on the Life Tap nerf and Flametongue buff, but there is at least one other change that I think is highly significant. Expect a Patch Note Watch soon exhaustively detailing every change that made it into the patch notes. Until then, however, enjoy the following:

Cleave, Multi-Shot, Swipe, Chain Lightning, and Avenger's Shield will no longer hit targets that are under the effect of CC spells that break on damage, such as Polymorph or Sap. This includes Felguard Cleave and the Chain Lightning effects caused by various items. As far as I can make out, this is all spells that hit multiple targets, but are not AoE; Thunder Clap, for instance, will still break sheep. Edit: Whirlwind, Sweeping Strikes, and Blade Flurry do not seem to be included. Overall this change is, frankly, awesome. The implications for tanking alone are highly pleasant, as well as for Hunter and Elemental Shaman DPS. I'm starting to get excited about patch 2.4 all over again.

Due for more Polymorph options

Posted Jan 30th 2008 4:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Instances

Here's a good idea from the forums: more sheep choices! Polymorph was one of the most beloved spells in the Warcraft RTS games, and so players were thrilled to see it come to World of Warcraft, and even more thrilled when two other variations on the spell were learned: instead of sheeping, players can either polymorph pig or turtle with two learned spells from quests or drops in the game.

But since the introduction of Zul'Gurub, we haven't seen any other options for mages in game. And there are plenty to choose from by now-- Polymorph: Ravager, Polymorph: Clefthoof, or Polymorph: Elekk would all work great. Polymorph: Willy would even be lots of fun. Oh, and yes, as players in the thread say, since we're headed to Northrend, Polymorph: Penguin would not be out of order in the next expansion.

Blizzard has done a pretty good job of taking mounts, both flying and ground-based, towards a little horizontal progress-- giving more options on one level instead of setting up a few options over multiple levels. But hopefully Polymorph will get a little love, too-- even though mages are the only ones who benefit directly, my guild has always had fun making sure our mages have all the Polymorph options possible.

100 amazing Mage tricks

Posted Aug 8th 2007 2:30PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Tricks, Classes

If you're a Mage, this thread from the EU forums is definitely worth a read-- it's based on a Warlock tips thread (which I looked around for but couldn't find-- if you see it, let me know and I'll link it up for the locks) that basically ran down 100 basic and advanced tips for players of that class.

If you're a super advanced Mage, you probably already know most of this stuff. The basics are here for sure-- use Blink judiciously to move in an out of range, use Sheep to interrupt casters, and downrank utility spells in PvP. But there's some other interesting things here as well-- I play a Shaman, and my first step when fighting mages (well, right after Grounding Totem) is to Purge all those buffs off. So casting Ice Barrier during my spellcast is ingenious-- either I have to interrupt to purge, or just let the barrier eat the damage.

Especially for beginner mages, this stuff is gold. If you're in the mood for tips on how to make your mage better, check it out for sure.

Update: Here's the Warlock thread. Thanks to everyone who sent it to me. Also, apparently the Warlock thread was based on a Warrior tricks thread. Anyone seen that one?

Polly wanna morph?

Posted May 7th 2007 6:04PM by Amanda Rivera
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion

Last night we ventured back into Zul'Gurub, mudskunks in hand, for another unsuccessful attempt at the fishing boss. Although Gahz'ranka didn't see fit to drop my book, again, I was grateful for the opportunity. I don't know why I am obsessed with getting the third polymorph spell, but I am. In fact, I think there should be more of these little gems. I have often found myself in a group with another mage, and having a pig and a sheep certainly makes knowing who's target is who's that much easier. So I have been thinking about the polymorphs I have seen used by NPCs in the game, and the ones I would like to use myself.

Yesterday, after the ganking discussion, I started a blood elf warlock on a pvp server. I didn't get far, but I managed to get some apprentice discipline in before I switched characters. There it was, another polymorph I hadn't even recognized, and although I don't really want to be able to turn people into boars, it's out there as a possibility. I've been turned into squirrels, frogs, rats, chickens, even flowers. All of these spells are in the game, albeit as NPC abilities, and I think should be available to the mages willing to slough through the difficult task of getting them. The way I see it, the more variety the more chance for personalization of the character, and it sure would be easy to distinguish one mage's poly from another in raids.

Another idea on customization goes along with the concept of beauty parlors. Instead of having a lot of different animals, mages could quest for the ability to colorize their sheep. I've done it in other games, and this would be another way to distinguish targets. Plus, it would just plain be fun.

What do you think? Which animals would you like to see added to the list of polymorphs? Personally, I'm voting for polymorph: panda.

Blue Notes: No free respecs, Polymorph bug is a bug

Posted Apr 19th 2007 11:31PM by Eliah Hecht
Filed under: Mage, Patches, Bugs, Odds and ends, News items, Talents

Several classes are having talents changed in 2.1, but apparently no-one's going to be getting free respecs. From Drysc to you:

Free respecs are only given in cases where talent positions actually move and would break a build, and not in cases where talents are simply altered as far as the benefit they provide.

So if I read this right, it means you will only ever get a free respec if they move a talent, not if they change it, no matter how radically. Yes, ~~Improved Sap~~ Dirty Tricks, I'm looking at you -- I'm sure there are a lot of Rogues, myself included, who had seven points in subtlety that will no longer be there post-patch. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy about the change, but this seems like the kind of situation where a respec is merited, at least for players who had points in the affected talents. On the other hand, even the maximum respec cost of 50g is fairly painless to make these days, so perhaps it's a non-issue.

And in case there were any doubts, Polymorph is still meant to restore health; the version on the PTR right now is bugged:

This is a bug on the PTR at current, yes.

Around Azeroth: Sheep on a Gryphon

Posted Apr 1st 2007 2:00PM by Elizabeth Harper
Filed under: Screenshots, Around Azeroth

Bugs happen. Like the one you see here, in which player Abelard is stuck appearing as though he's riding a gryphon. Sure, you don't see players running around on gryphons every day, but it's not so uncommon as to be worthy of note, for the most part. Well, except, maybe, for this shot, sent in by moink, which shows a player in such a situation who has just been polymorphed. Tee hee.

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.

See more of your pics from Around Azeroth.

Gallery: Around Azeroth

Around Azeroth: Mooooo...

Posted Dec 30th 2006 10:46AM by Elizabeth Harper
Filed under: Features, Screenshots

Hooray of Greymane sends in this shot taken while playing a since-deleted mage alt. I can't see why it would have gotten deleted, what with all the obvious fun that polymorph ability is...

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.

More of your pics from Around Azeroth.

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PTR is closed

CC: How to run instances without a net

Cleavage buffed on PTR

Due for more Polymorph options

100 amazing Mage tricks

Polly wanna morph?

Blue Notes: No free respecs, Polymorph bug is a bug

Around Azeroth: Sheep on a Gryphon

Around Azeroth: Mooooo...

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