Quite a few rogue changes in the works. You can read about them here.
Just remember, people: Blizzard are not ignoring any classes, and they will make as many changes as possible to bring about class balance before patch 3.0 goes live.
Build 8885 is out. Go and review your class(es)!
There are also some new cooking recipes.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Maps and Movies
Check out this interactive map at WotLKWiki.
Have a look at some of the landscape, structures and monuments of Northrend in this 17 min streaming video that was posted to Vimeo three months ago.
For more video content, go to Warcraft Movies. There is a Death Knight soloing Onyxia, among other interesting submissions.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Have a look at some of the landscape, structures and monuments of Northrend in this 17 min streaming video that was posted to Vimeo three months ago.
For more video content, go to Warcraft Movies. There is a Death Knight soloing Onyxia, among other interesting submissions.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
The Return of the Player
When I get back in-game, there are a few things that I intend to do.
Mage
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Mage
- Reach Exalted reputation with Gnomeregan Exiles, Ironforge and Stormwind.
- Quest with Wintersaber Trainers to reach Exalted reputation and get Reins of the Winterspring Frostsaber.
- Reach Exalted reputation with Timbermaw Hold and Thorium Brotherhood.
- Raid Zul'Gurub, Onyxia's Lair, Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and Temple of Ahn'Qiraj for Achievements, to reach Exalted reputation with Zandalar Tribe and Hydraxian Waterlords, and to get both Arcanist Regalia (Tier 1 Raid Set) and Netherwind Regalia (Tier 2 Raid Set) again -- this may have to wait for the pre-expansion patch.
- Level Fishing and Cooking professions -- which makes me wonder: what level NPC will teach you how to be a Grand Master of any given profession?
- Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
- Speed mine materials for my Shaman's epic flyer.
- Respec PvE healing.
- Get enough honour for Merciless Gladiator's Slicer.
- Respec Hemo Swords until the expansion.
- Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
- Level his Engineering to 375.
- Craft his Turbo-Charged Flying Machine.
- Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
- Reach Exalted reputation with Shattered Sun Offensive.
- Reach Level 70.
- Get attuned for Onyxia, Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.
- Level her Blacksmithing to 375.
- Wait to level Enchanting -- might get Inscription instead with the pre-expansion patch.
- Roll a Warrior and level her as far as I can by the release of the expansion.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Big Content Patch
Blizzard are going to release a huge content patch prior to release of the expansion, much like they did with TBC. Remember how the new talent trees were implemented, etc? Well, thankfully, things such as achievements, class talent trees and even the new profession, Inscription, will be released pre-expansion. Source.
So strap on your MC boots, don your AQ40 hat and get those raid achievements while you're still 70. XD
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
So strap on your MC boots, don your AQ40 hat and get those raid achievements while you're still 70. XD
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
WoW Radio and the TGS
I only just came across WoW Radio today -- incidentally, while reading through Flintlocke (yes, I'm still reading it through again since the director's cut). Fargo was interviewed. Go listen, if you haven't already. They discuss a few emails, the Blizzcon ticket fiasco and of course the Flintlocke interview with Fargo.
After going on about Blizzcon, I wish that I had the opportunity to go. BUT, I'm going to the Tokyo Game Show this year, so I'm pretty stoked. XD
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
After going on about Blizzcon, I wish that I had the opportunity to go. BUT, I'm going to the Tokyo Game Show this year, so I'm pretty stoked. XD
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
More Gear
Check out a few more pieces of gear that have been released. The barbaric, rugged Norse theme for Northrend gear is pretty cool:
Whew! Also, see what rogues are complaining about.
It can't be long now before I get my laptop. Next week, I should have a home Internet connection and will be able to play again!
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Unnamed Arena Mace
Grips of Sculptured Icicles
Frozen Forest Kilt
Dragon Slayer's Sabatons
Spaulders of the Careless Thief
Cleric's Linen Shoes
Opposed Stasis Leggings
Lifeblade of Belgaristrasz
Wyrmclaw Battleaxe
Girdle of Obscuring
Eredormu's Ornamented Chestguard
Spaulders of Skillful Maneuvers
Eternally Folded Blade
Centrifuge Core Cloak
Projectile Activator
Leather-Braced Chain Leggings
Raiments of the Titans
Gjarngrin Family Signet
Whew! Also, see what rogues are complaining about.
It can't be long now before I get my laptop. Next week, I should have a home Internet connection and will be able to play again!
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Three More Epics
As yet, we don't know what the raid tokens will be called. However, some of the loot can now be accessed.
These drop in Heroic Nexus. My mage would kill for these. XD
Even though it has yet to be named, it looks freaking cool. My shaman would probably kill for this if he were resto.
Another unnamed piece of Naxxramas loot. Paladin. Kill. Enough said. ;)
I hope that they will release information pertaining to the names of the new tokens, the new gear and the equivalent Badges of Justice that will be in the expansion. I reckon that Badge of Eternity would fit, but some people are saying Badge of Honor -- sounds too PvP-ish to me.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Gloves of Glistening Runes
These drop in Heroic Nexus. My mage would kill for these. XD
Naxxramas 10 Badge Loot Healer Shield
Even though it has yet to be named, it looks freaking cool. My shaman would probably kill for this if he were resto.
Naxxramas 10 Badge Loot Tank Shield
Another unnamed piece of Naxxramas loot. Paladin. Kill. Enough said. ;)
I hope that they will release information pertaining to the names of the new tokens, the new gear and the equivalent Badges of Justice that will be in the expansion. I reckon that Badge of Eternity would fit, but some people are saying Badge of Honor -- sounds too PvP-ish to me.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Monday, August 25, 2008
Raid Stacking
If you haven't heard about it already, here is the blue post that explains the intended changes to raid buffing. Basically, they will allow buffs to extend to the entire raid, whether it be 25- or 10-man. This gives more flexibility and allows you to choose from any and every class-type for raid make-up. It also means that you don't have to juggle groups around depending on the fight, but can leave them intact throughout the instance.
There have been a lot of gear updates over the weekend for WotLK instances. As more people hit level 80, more loot in the end-game instances will be uncovered.
Wowhead hasn't been updated with a lot of these items, but check back over the course of this week to see what has been added:
The Nexus
The Nexus
The Oculus
The Eye of Eternity
Ulduar
Halls of Lightning
Utgarde Keep
Utgarde Pinnacle
Caverns of Time
Stratholme Past
Unfortunately, Naxxramas has yet to be updated. However, check out this placeholder weapon. :o
I get ever closer to getting back into the game.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
There have been a lot of gear updates over the weekend for WotLK instances. As more people hit level 80, more loot in the end-game instances will be uncovered.
Wowhead hasn't been updated with a lot of these items, but check back over the course of this week to see what has been added:
The Nexus
The Nexus
The Oculus
The Eye of Eternity
Ulduar
Halls of Lightning
Utgarde Keep
Utgarde Pinnacle
Caverns of Time
Stratholme Past
Unfortunately, Naxxramas has yet to be updated. However, check out this placeholder weapon. :o
I get ever closer to getting back into the game.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Friday, August 22, 2008
Beta Build 8820
It's here! The latest beta update. Changes to skills and talents. More class glyphs.
PvP Items
WotLK Arena Weapons Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
WotLK PVP Necklaces | Rings | Cloaks | Trinkets
Lake Wintergrasp PvP Vendors
Epic Armor
Epic Belt/Boots - 24 800 Honor
Epic Bracers - 15 800 Honor
Epic Necklace - 19 000 Honor
Epic Cloak - 19 000 Honor
Epic Trinket - 24 800 Honor
Epic Rings - 19 000 Honor
Rare Armor Sets
Rare Chest - 6000 Honor
Rare Helm - 6000 Honor
Rare Shoulders - 4800 Honor
Rare Gloves - 3600 Honor
Rare Pants - 6000 Honor
Weapons
Off-hand items - 3600 Honor
Main-Hand (Healer Mace) - 10 000 Honor
Main-Hand (Melee) - 8400 Honor
Two Hands - 12 000 Honor
Ranged Weapon (Hunters) - 12 000 Honor
Throwing Weapons / Wands - 3200 Honor
Shields - 6000 Honor
Relics - 3200 Honor
New Professions Recipes
Engineering
Blacksmithing
Jewelcrafting
Level cap raised to 80 and new instances unlocked! Source.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
PvP Items
WotLK Arena Weapons Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
WotLK PVP Necklaces | Rings | Cloaks | Trinkets
Lake Wintergrasp PvP Vendors
Epic Armor
Epic Belt/Boots - 24 800 Honor
Epic Bracers - 15 800 Honor
Epic Necklace - 19 000 Honor
Epic Cloak - 19 000 Honor
Epic Trinket - 24 800 Honor
Epic Rings - 19 000 Honor
Rare Armor Sets
Rare Chest - 6000 Honor
Rare Helm - 6000 Honor
Rare Shoulders - 4800 Honor
Rare Gloves - 3600 Honor
Rare Pants - 6000 Honor
Weapons
Off-hand items - 3600 Honor
Main-Hand (Healer Mace) - 10 000 Honor
Main-Hand (Melee) - 8400 Honor
Two Hands - 12 000 Honor
Ranged Weapon (Hunters) - 12 000 Honor
Throwing Weapons / Wands - 3200 Honor
Shields - 6000 Honor
Relics - 3200 Honor
New Professions Recipes
Engineering
Blacksmithing
Jewelcrafting
Level cap raised to 80 and new instances unlocked! Source.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
A Lich in Leipzig
Here is a link to the GameSpy interview transcript.
To summarise:
Changes to raiding
Tom Chilton: The feedback we've been getting has been overwhelmingly positive, as far as people really liking the fact that we're supporting 10- and 25-person raids.
Status of the beta
Tom Chilton: Finishing and polishing is really where we're at. The level cap will be bumped up to 80 pretty soon... We'll have Naxxramas in the hands of the players very soon. Wintergrasp will be fully playable for the players very soon.
Changes to class dynamics and new skills being added
Tom Chilton: For the Warlock, there's the demon form which is totally exciting... Knockback mechanics on various classes are exciting, like Thunder on the Shaman. The Mage's Deep Freeze should be a pretty interesting mechanic. We're trying to flesh out Arcane so that it becomes a very viable tree on its own as well...
PvP and competitiveness
Tom Chilton: Obviously we're trying something new with Wintergrasp... We're not changing the philosophy of the game itself. PvE is a huge, huge part of the game, if not the biggest part of the game.
Vehicle combat and what allowing vehicles has opened up in terms of PvP and PvE
J. Allen Brack: The team has just gone berserk with using the vehicle tech in all kinds of crazy ways. There's one quest where you drive a shredder around a field of scourge that's mobilizing. You take out guys twenty at a time, and just emulsify them...
Continuation of humour
Tom Chilton: ...we can't suppress our own sense of humor.
Death Knights -- dark and gritty
J. Allen Brack: In the case of the Death Knight, you actually start out as an agent of the Lich King. You're an evil person, you're a bad guy... you're going to complete quests that might make you a little queasy.
Further development of Warcraft lore
Tom Chilton: It feels like there's more depth to the lore in Lich King... aided by the fact that the storyline is one that's been forming since Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne... it's very rooted in traditional fantasy.
Recruit-a-friend and zerging through old content to prepare for WotLK
Tom Chilton: With Wrath of the Lich King, we're speeding up 60-70... we feel like our quest content from 70-80 is a lot stronger. Even outside the experience standpoint, we'd rather get you to the better content more quickly.
Revising old content
Tom Chilton: We did something like that [revising old content] with Duskwallow Marsh, adding new content there. We plan to do more of that.
J. Allen Brack: Heroic Scarlet Monastery and Heroic Molten Core are two of our biggest requests. Heroic Deadmines would be good too.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
To summarise:
Changes to raiding
Tom Chilton: The feedback we've been getting has been overwhelmingly positive, as far as people really liking the fact that we're supporting 10- and 25-person raids.
Status of the beta
Tom Chilton: Finishing and polishing is really where we're at. The level cap will be bumped up to 80 pretty soon... We'll have Naxxramas in the hands of the players very soon. Wintergrasp will be fully playable for the players very soon.
Changes to class dynamics and new skills being added
Tom Chilton: For the Warlock, there's the demon form which is totally exciting... Knockback mechanics on various classes are exciting, like Thunder on the Shaman. The Mage's Deep Freeze should be a pretty interesting mechanic. We're trying to flesh out Arcane so that it becomes a very viable tree on its own as well...
PvP and competitiveness
Tom Chilton: Obviously we're trying something new with Wintergrasp... We're not changing the philosophy of the game itself. PvE is a huge, huge part of the game, if not the biggest part of the game.
Vehicle combat and what allowing vehicles has opened up in terms of PvP and PvE
J. Allen Brack: The team has just gone berserk with using the vehicle tech in all kinds of crazy ways. There's one quest where you drive a shredder around a field of scourge that's mobilizing. You take out guys twenty at a time, and just emulsify them...
Continuation of humour
Tom Chilton: ...we can't suppress our own sense of humor.
Death Knights -- dark and gritty
J. Allen Brack: In the case of the Death Knight, you actually start out as an agent of the Lich King. You're an evil person, you're a bad guy... you're going to complete quests that might make you a little queasy.
Further development of Warcraft lore
Tom Chilton: It feels like there's more depth to the lore in Lich King... aided by the fact that the storyline is one that's been forming since Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne... it's very rooted in traditional fantasy.
Recruit-a-friend and zerging through old content to prepare for WotLK
Tom Chilton: With Wrath of the Lich King, we're speeding up 60-70... we feel like our quest content from 70-80 is a lot stronger. Even outside the experience standpoint, we'd rather get you to the better content more quickly.
Revising old content
Tom Chilton: We did something like that [revising old content] with Duskwallow Marsh, adding new content there. We plan to do more of that.
J. Allen Brack: Heroic Scarlet Monastery and Heroic Molten Core are two of our biggest requests. Heroic Deadmines would be good too.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
The Trailer is Here!
Another interview. We learn a little bit more about Icecrown and Arthas.
Quote
What can we expect from the currently closed zones in the Beta?
J.A.B: Icecrown is the home of the Lich King. So you'll see the seed of the scourge power. So there will be lots of different scourge things that happens there. Eventually there will be an actual raid to face the Lich King. That will not be when we release Wrath of the Lich King. That will be later on. In Storm Peaks we actually have two different dungeons, that are based on the titans, which are the creators of Azeroth. The next dungeon to open will be the Halls of Lightning.
T.C.: In Icecrown Glacier, theres something a little bit different that players may not have seen before, which is the Horde and Alliance quest hubs are actually gunships that are flying above the zone. Theres an Alliance gunship and a Horde gunship which are sorta the quest hubs.
J.A.B.: The idea behind it is, the Icecrown glacier is so full of the scourge, that neither the Horde or the Alliance have been able to get a toehold, and to create an actual base. So they've actually flown these goblin and gnomish engineering vehicles up and they act as the quest hubs.
The Halls of Lightning are also closed. What awaits us in there?
J.A.B.: The Halls of Lightning is the second of the titan dungeons that we'll be releasing with Wrath of the Lich King. I did a playtest of Halls of Lightning last week and its coming along real well, looks really cool. The art style for it is very good, very exciting. It looks other-worldy. It definitely has a lot of other worldy kind of influences. The architecture that the titans have is really different from the Horde and Alliance architecture. So it just looks very ancient, very powerful, very titan'ish.
See more.
The Wrath of the Lich King cinematic trailer is available to download from the official (EU) site. Download it using the Blizzard Downloader or Filefront.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Quote
What can we expect from the currently closed zones in the Beta?
J.A.B: Icecrown is the home of the Lich King. So you'll see the seed of the scourge power. So there will be lots of different scourge things that happens there. Eventually there will be an actual raid to face the Lich King. That will not be when we release Wrath of the Lich King. That will be later on. In Storm Peaks we actually have two different dungeons, that are based on the titans, which are the creators of Azeroth. The next dungeon to open will be the Halls of Lightning.
T.C.: In Icecrown Glacier, theres something a little bit different that players may not have seen before, which is the Horde and Alliance quest hubs are actually gunships that are flying above the zone. Theres an Alliance gunship and a Horde gunship which are sorta the quest hubs.
J.A.B.: The idea behind it is, the Icecrown glacier is so full of the scourge, that neither the Horde or the Alliance have been able to get a toehold, and to create an actual base. So they've actually flown these goblin and gnomish engineering vehicles up and they act as the quest hubs.
The Halls of Lightning are also closed. What awaits us in there?
J.A.B.: The Halls of Lightning is the second of the titan dungeons that we'll be releasing with Wrath of the Lich King. I did a playtest of Halls of Lightning last week and its coming along real well, looks really cool. The art style for it is very good, very exciting. It looks other-worldy. It definitely has a lot of other worldy kind of influences. The architecture that the titans have is really different from the Horde and Alliance architecture. So it just looks very ancient, very powerful, very titan'ish.
Sindragosa -- The Frost Queen
See more.
The Wrath of the Lich King cinematic trailer is available to download from the official (EU) site. Download it using the Blizzard Downloader or Filefront.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Thursday, August 21, 2008
An Interview and Some Lore
On Lore. The OP was asking about NPCs / structures and their movement around the place according to Warcraft lore. The blue post addresses the movement of Naxxramas and Dalaran, as well as how Alliance get more Ashbringer / Arthas type lore than Horde. He also mentions the Warcraft fiction, such as comic books and such that have been written with reference to the worlds and their lore.
Quote
"By the way, regarding Naxxramas, I just wanted to confirm that this would only be moved to Northrend and the level 60 version will not be available anymore. It's likely there won't be any achievements relating to the old Naxxramas, except there might be something related to Atiesh."
Tom Chilton (aka Kalgan, Lead Game Designer) and J. Allen Brack (Production Director) were interviewed at gamona.de:
Quote
How is the beta going ? Is everything alright?
T.C. - Things are definitely going very well, we've got a lot of very good feedbacks through the beta process. We've been making a lot of changes and improvements based on the feedback but overall it's coming along very well.
The beta servers have been very unstable in the last days, is there any improvement ?
J.A.B - We've got our server team who is looking into all problems, the point of our beta process is to actually figure out what problems we have and get them all fixed before we do the big release.
Is there any plan to open more beta realms ?
T.C. - We do actually have plans to start up a realm that has premade characters at level 80, the reason being that we're going to want to give players another opportunity to test some of the end game content without having to go through the leveling process. We can probably do that near the end of the beta process but it might be on a different server, this isn't decided for sure.
When do you plan to open more instances and rise the level cap to level 80 ?
T.C. - Each time we do another patch on the beta we try to open up new content for the players. [...] I don't know if we'll be able to patch this week while we're being here in Europe but that should be coming very soon.
J.A.B - For each patch we try to evaluate how much content do we have, is it time to give players the chance to open that up ? We're talking internally about when it is time to rise us up to level 80 but we're getting close.
Why didn't you separate PvE from PvP more?
T.C. - We made that decision because prior to The Burning Crusade, what we found as people increase their gear they die quicker because PvE gear is specialized gear. For DPS classes as an example it is designed to do the most damage as possible in the shortest time as possible and it does not have a lot of survivability. If that's the best gear players have available, then what happens is they take that into PvP is that they die very quickly and there's not much time for their strategies to evolve. What we've found is that in PvP we had to create gear with balanced offensive capability and survivability and because of that we had to create this separate set of gear with the new stat called resilience to make sure fights lasted long enough so that they are interesting and have depth. [...] Well, certainly something that we want to do for Litch king is better crossover so that when you're doing PvE you are actually able to accumulate some PvP gear in case you decide to try out some PvP you'll have a good starting point. The same would go in reverse, if you're doing a lot of PvP, you might have a couple of really good items that you could use into PvE and do pretty well.
What about the paladin, is there any plans to nerf the DPS Paladin's damage from what it is on beta servers now?
T.C. - We are just now beginning on going through the heavy tuning phase, we really don't do that until the end of the beta generally, where we start going through all of the classes and finding the things that are way out of balance and there's no doubt right now that the ret paladins are doing a lot more damage than what we would expect.
Are you satisfied with how the death knight is going?
T.C. - Yeah, the death knight has been coming along very well, we've been getting a lot of good feedback from it, people seem to like the class, they seem to enjoy the starting experience very much, we really kind of put our heart into the death knight class, hopefully that's going to pan out.
What talent tree do you prefer on the death knights?
T.C. - Personally, I really enjoy the frost talents, but I believe all three trees are very strong, they all definitely all have a strong role to play.
What else do you plan? Are there any more instances coming?
T.C. - Well, certainly, there are a lot more instances we plan to release, CoT: Strath instance, Ulduar, a handful that we are play testing internally that are pretty much ready for players to see, should be one of the patches that come out any time now [...] but it should be rolling out there very quickly.
All the instances were very well designed, however, I consider it unfortunate that say, Azjol-Nerub only has three bosses, its very short.
T.C. - Most players would consider that a fortunate thing, we've been getting a lot of feedback in the past that some of the instances were taking too long, so we're going for the middle ground here, we want to have some diversity between the instances too, there are a lot of players that miss the old big dungeon crawls, like BRD, etc. We want to find ways to deliver that too, but ultimately I think the core experience is that players should be able to get through an instance in less than an hour. Its something that we're trying to be very conscious about in Wrath, unlike in Burning Crusade when we had the heroic instances, those take a very long time to get through, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours depending on your quality of gear. We're trying to make sure when Litch King comes out that when you do the heroic instances, it doesn't take as much time going through it as you did before.
But, we need the epic feeling from the Blackrock Depths too.
T.C. - We're trying to capture that too as much as possible.
How do you plan to balance the 10 and 25 man raid instances? Are there any changes in boss design?
T.C. - There definitely are changes in boss design, for example, not only do we have to have changes in boss design even to get it down to 25 from the way Naxx used to work, certainly in the past at level 60, the four horseman boss took eight different tanks for instance. There definitely has been design change, but the integrity of the encounter remains the same, you still have the four horsemen, they all are still there. The mechanics of the fight are different, you will tank them in different ways, the horsemen will be tanked by different classes, even non tanking classes, kinda like what we have done in the past with warlocks tanking. We have some mechanics like that in place so that we can maintain the integrity of the encounters even though the actual mechanics will be different.
Will Naxx still be one instance?
T.C. - It is still a single instance, it still has that epic feel.
When will Wrath be released?
T.C. - When its ready. Specifically, the fifth of when it's ready.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Quote
"By the way, regarding Naxxramas, I just wanted to confirm that this would only be moved to Northrend and the level 60 version will not be available anymore. It's likely there won't be any achievements relating to the old Naxxramas, except there might be something related to Atiesh."
Tom Chilton (aka Kalgan, Lead Game Designer) and J. Allen Brack (Production Director) were interviewed at gamona.de:
Quote
How is the beta going ? Is everything alright?
T.C. - Things are definitely going very well, we've got a lot of very good feedbacks through the beta process. We've been making a lot of changes and improvements based on the feedback but overall it's coming along very well.
The beta servers have been very unstable in the last days, is there any improvement ?
J.A.B - We've got our server team who is looking into all problems, the point of our beta process is to actually figure out what problems we have and get them all fixed before we do the big release.
Is there any plan to open more beta realms ?
T.C. - We do actually have plans to start up a realm that has premade characters at level 80, the reason being that we're going to want to give players another opportunity to test some of the end game content without having to go through the leveling process. We can probably do that near the end of the beta process but it might be on a different server, this isn't decided for sure.
When do you plan to open more instances and rise the level cap to level 80 ?
T.C. - Each time we do another patch on the beta we try to open up new content for the players. [...] I don't know if we'll be able to patch this week while we're being here in Europe but that should be coming very soon.
J.A.B - For each patch we try to evaluate how much content do we have, is it time to give players the chance to open that up ? We're talking internally about when it is time to rise us up to level 80 but we're getting close.
Why didn't you separate PvE from PvP more?
T.C. - We made that decision because prior to The Burning Crusade, what we found as people increase their gear they die quicker because PvE gear is specialized gear. For DPS classes as an example it is designed to do the most damage as possible in the shortest time as possible and it does not have a lot of survivability. If that's the best gear players have available, then what happens is they take that into PvP is that they die very quickly and there's not much time for their strategies to evolve. What we've found is that in PvP we had to create gear with balanced offensive capability and survivability and because of that we had to create this separate set of gear with the new stat called resilience to make sure fights lasted long enough so that they are interesting and have depth. [...] Well, certainly something that we want to do for Litch king is better crossover so that when you're doing PvE you are actually able to accumulate some PvP gear in case you decide to try out some PvP you'll have a good starting point. The same would go in reverse, if you're doing a lot of PvP, you might have a couple of really good items that you could use into PvE and do pretty well.
What about the paladin, is there any plans to nerf the DPS Paladin's damage from what it is on beta servers now?
T.C. - We are just now beginning on going through the heavy tuning phase, we really don't do that until the end of the beta generally, where we start going through all of the classes and finding the things that are way out of balance and there's no doubt right now that the ret paladins are doing a lot more damage than what we would expect.
Are you satisfied with how the death knight is going?
T.C. - Yeah, the death knight has been coming along very well, we've been getting a lot of good feedback from it, people seem to like the class, they seem to enjoy the starting experience very much, we really kind of put our heart into the death knight class, hopefully that's going to pan out.
What talent tree do you prefer on the death knights?
T.C. - Personally, I really enjoy the frost talents, but I believe all three trees are very strong, they all definitely all have a strong role to play.
What else do you plan? Are there any more instances coming?
T.C. - Well, certainly, there are a lot more instances we plan to release, CoT: Strath instance, Ulduar, a handful that we are play testing internally that are pretty much ready for players to see, should be one of the patches that come out any time now [...] but it should be rolling out there very quickly.
All the instances were very well designed, however, I consider it unfortunate that say, Azjol-Nerub only has three bosses, its very short.
T.C. - Most players would consider that a fortunate thing, we've been getting a lot of feedback in the past that some of the instances were taking too long, so we're going for the middle ground here, we want to have some diversity between the instances too, there are a lot of players that miss the old big dungeon crawls, like BRD, etc. We want to find ways to deliver that too, but ultimately I think the core experience is that players should be able to get through an instance in less than an hour. Its something that we're trying to be very conscious about in Wrath, unlike in Burning Crusade when we had the heroic instances, those take a very long time to get through, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours depending on your quality of gear. We're trying to make sure when Litch King comes out that when you do the heroic instances, it doesn't take as much time going through it as you did before.
But, we need the epic feeling from the Blackrock Depths too.
T.C. - We're trying to capture that too as much as possible.
How do you plan to balance the 10 and 25 man raid instances? Are there any changes in boss design?
T.C. - There definitely are changes in boss design, for example, not only do we have to have changes in boss design even to get it down to 25 from the way Naxx used to work, certainly in the past at level 60, the four horseman boss took eight different tanks for instance. There definitely has been design change, but the integrity of the encounter remains the same, you still have the four horsemen, they all are still there. The mechanics of the fight are different, you will tank them in different ways, the horsemen will be tanked by different classes, even non tanking classes, kinda like what we have done in the past with warlocks tanking. We have some mechanics like that in place so that we can maintain the integrity of the encounters even though the actual mechanics will be different.
Will Naxx still be one instance?
T.C. - It is still a single instance, it still has that epic feel.
When will Wrath be released?
T.C. - When its ready. Specifically, the fifth of when it's ready.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Vaneras' Mug
I want my mage to be able to off-hand this sucker. :p
I have nothing better to do... :o
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I have nothing better to do... :o
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Mounts in Action
Check out these YouTube videos of beta mounts. XD
The Hog -- no doubt sped up.
Mammoth Mount -- just like a war elephant.
Frost Wyrm Flying Mount -- is it just for Death Knights? I hope not!
Bear Mount -- not quite as cool as an Amani War Bear.
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The Hog -- no doubt sped up.
Mammoth Mount -- just like a war elephant.
Frost Wyrm Flying Mount -- is it just for Death Knights? I hope not!
Bear Mount -- not quite as cool as an Amani War Bear.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Talent Builds at Level 80
Despite the fact that skills and talents are constantly being tweaked, we do have a fair idea of what most classes' final trees will look like. As I currently have so much time around here, I felt like putting together my intended build for each character. For most of my characters, I will be respeccing into a different tree -- which should make the game more interesting.
Mage
Level 70 -- 2/48/11 -- Fire
Level 80 -- 53/0/18 -- Arcane Frost
My reasoning: I tried arcane for a while at 70 but it was just too mana intensive (a lot of downtime in heroics, even after the mana gem changes). I love fire for its DoT and mana efficiency while also putting out a steady stream of damage. However, I look forward to a change and believe that if I will be raiding at 80, arcane will benefit me the most in terms of overall damage and fun. With frost as my second school, I am also optimising my efficiency as a caster. Essentially, it's time for a change and the new talents provide me with the excuse to do so!
Priest
Level 70 -- 42/19/0 -- Arena Discipline
Level 80 -- 14/0/57 -- Shadow
My reasoning: I want to play as a PvE shadow priest. However, I might respec to my old holy build at release of the expansion and level to 80 as a healer, seeing as I have much better healing than damage gear. Still, levelling to 70 as a shadow priest was fine when it came to healing level 60-68 instances, so I guess I'll see at the time.
Rogue
Level 70 -- 49/0/12 -- PvP Mutilate
Level 80 --19/52/0 -- Combat Swords
Reasoning: Of course, I would have Remorseless Attacks as I levelled. I still intend to finish getting the honour to afford my Merciless Gladiator's Slicer so I can respec to hemo. However, I am contemplating not PvPing with my rogue at level 80, but rather having fun doing damage as a combat specced sword-wielding rogue. Once again, opportunity presents me with the excuse to change.
Hunter
Level 70 -- 5/53/3 -- Marksmanship
I have no plans to level him to 80.
Reasoning: Too much effort for a toon that I only really used for cooking and fishing (and dailies) -- even though I did level his leatherworking and got his epic set and a few more crafted epics for the sake of it. I think I will level those secondary professions with my mage between when I start playing again and the release of the expansion.
Shaman
Level 70 -- 41/0/20 -- Elemental
Level 80 -- 0/5/66 -- Restoration or 51/0/20 -- Elemental
Reasoning: I haven't tried a healing spec as a shaman. I have healed a bit as elemental and I really enjoy being a caster, so elemental suits me as a player. However, I can't decide at this point if I will try the whole restoration spec thing or stay elemental. With the changes to spell pushback, Eye of the Storm and Healing Focus will probably be reviewed, as well.
Druid
Level 70 -- 0/47/14 -- Feral Combat
I have no plans to level her to 80.
Reasoning: Levelling a druid was an experiment for me. I just wanted to see how playing a druid was. I must admit, I really enjoyed it (it was the fastest class to level). I might level her to 80 before the third expansion, but I really don't want to spend time levelling a toon I will barely play except to do dailies a little differently.
Paladin
Level 62 -- 0/51/2 -- Protection
Level 80 -- 0/63/8 -- Protection
Reasoning: I don't know why I took so long to roll and level a paladin. It was easy to quest alongside my friend as holy but when he stopped playing I had to go retribution. I didn't particularly like that spec, and since giving my warrior to my brother my only tank was my druid. I intend to level Dvaenya to 80 as my main tank toon -- and I am contemplating dropping enchanting for inscription, too. Prot pallies FTW!
No doubt as talents are altered between now and the release of WotLK, I will think more about these possible builds. I still want to respec into these particular trees for my toons, but some talents will possibly be juggled around a bit. I want to raid at level 80 with my mage and priest and run heroics with the other toons that I eventually level.
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Mage
Level 70 -- 2/48/11 -- Fire
Level 80 -- 53/0/18 -- Arcane Frost
My reasoning: I tried arcane for a while at 70 but it was just too mana intensive (a lot of downtime in heroics, even after the mana gem changes). I love fire for its DoT and mana efficiency while also putting out a steady stream of damage. However, I look forward to a change and believe that if I will be raiding at 80, arcane will benefit me the most in terms of overall damage and fun. With frost as my second school, I am also optimising my efficiency as a caster. Essentially, it's time for a change and the new talents provide me with the excuse to do so!
Priest
Level 70 -- 42/19/0 -- Arena Discipline
Level 80 -- 14/0/57 -- Shadow
My reasoning: I want to play as a PvE shadow priest. However, I might respec to my old holy build at release of the expansion and level to 80 as a healer, seeing as I have much better healing than damage gear. Still, levelling to 70 as a shadow priest was fine when it came to healing level 60-68 instances, so I guess I'll see at the time.
Rogue
Level 70 -- 49/0/12 -- PvP Mutilate
Level 80 --19/52/0 -- Combat Swords
Reasoning: Of course, I would have Remorseless Attacks as I levelled. I still intend to finish getting the honour to afford my Merciless Gladiator's Slicer so I can respec to hemo. However, I am contemplating not PvPing with my rogue at level 80, but rather having fun doing damage as a combat specced sword-wielding rogue. Once again, opportunity presents me with the excuse to change.
Hunter
Level 70 -- 5/53/3 -- Marksmanship
I have no plans to level him to 80.
Reasoning: Too much effort for a toon that I only really used for cooking and fishing (and dailies) -- even though I did level his leatherworking and got his epic set and a few more crafted epics for the sake of it. I think I will level those secondary professions with my mage between when I start playing again and the release of the expansion.
Shaman
Level 70 -- 41/0/20 -- Elemental
Level 80 -- 0/5/66 -- Restoration or 51/0/20 -- Elemental
Reasoning: I haven't tried a healing spec as a shaman. I have healed a bit as elemental and I really enjoy being a caster, so elemental suits me as a player. However, I can't decide at this point if I will try the whole restoration spec thing or stay elemental. With the changes to spell pushback, Eye of the Storm and Healing Focus will probably be reviewed, as well.
Druid
Level 70 -- 0/47/14 -- Feral Combat
I have no plans to level her to 80.
Reasoning: Levelling a druid was an experiment for me. I just wanted to see how playing a druid was. I must admit, I really enjoyed it (it was the fastest class to level). I might level her to 80 before the third expansion, but I really don't want to spend time levelling a toon I will barely play except to do dailies a little differently.
Paladin
Level 62 -- 0/51/2 -- Protection
Level 80 -- 0/63/8 -- Protection
Reasoning: I don't know why I took so long to roll and level a paladin. It was easy to quest alongside my friend as holy but when he stopped playing I had to go retribution. I didn't particularly like that spec, and since giving my warrior to my brother my only tank was my druid. I intend to level Dvaenya to 80 as my main tank toon -- and I am contemplating dropping enchanting for inscription, too. Prot pallies FTW!
No doubt as talents are altered between now and the release of WotLK, I will think more about these possible builds. I still want to respec into these particular trees for my toons, but some talents will possibly be juggled around a bit. I want to raid at level 80 with my mage and priest and run heroics with the other toons that I eventually level.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
WotLK Cinematic and The Hog
Maxconsole.net reported the following mail from Blizz PR regarding WotLK. It has been widely circulated but has yet to be officially confirmed:
Just wanted to let you all know that Blizzard will be unveiling the opening cinematic movie for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King at the Games Convention in Leipzig. The cinematic will be shown at 1:00 p.m., Thursday 21 August at the Blizzard Entertainment booth (D01 in Hall 5). A Q&A session featuring members of the cinematics team will immediately follow.
Blizzard’s lineup of activity will also feature hands-on gameplay with StarCraft II and Wrath of the Lich King, Q&A sessions with members from the StarCraft II and Diablo III teams, and more.
Also, The Hog has been confirmed in-game:
And finally, there is an update to the Blizzcon ticket lottery.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Just wanted to let you all know that Blizzard will be unveiling the opening cinematic movie for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King at the Games Convention in Leipzig. The cinematic will be shown at 1:00 p.m., Thursday 21 August at the Blizzard Entertainment booth (D01 in Hall 5). A Q&A session featuring members of the cinematics team will immediately follow.
Blizzard’s lineup of activity will also feature hands-on gameplay with StarCraft II and Wrath of the Lich King, Q&A sessions with members from the StarCraft II and Diablo III teams, and more.
Also, The Hog has been confirmed in-game:
- A few more changes have been or are being made to classes: Druid armour; Hunters' pet growl, boar charge and kill command; Shadow priests (I'm looking forward to seeing these changes); and Shaman totem tweaks and earth shock downranking.
- The recently added /cower animation is being tweaked. Source.
- Some passwords on the beta server may have changed to new ones when refreshed from live accounts. Source.
And finally, there is an update to the Blizzcon ticket lottery.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Wow Desktops
I added a new link to the sidebar, under Media: Wow Desktops. If you send an image of your toon along with the requested info, Methuselah will create a desktop wallpaper for you. And I thought I had a lot of free time. XD
Go check it out!
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Go check it out!
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Updated Zones
MMO-Champion have updated some of the new zones and released a whole lot of great imagery. Click on each image to go to its respective page, where there are links to screenshots and other tidbits relating to that zone.
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Strand of the Ancients
The Violet Hold
Caverns of Time -- Stratholme
Chamber of Aspects
Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom
Gun'drak
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Blizzcon Lottery
Blizzard made an announcement that because of the stuffup with Blizzcon tickets, they would release 3,000 more through a lottery system. The only condition is that if you managed at all to get even one ticket last week, you are not eligible to enter the lottery to have a chance to claim any more tickets.
Source: Zarhym. He also responds again three posts down from his initial response.
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Source: Zarhym. He also responds again three posts down from his initial response.
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Monday, August 18, 2008
Mounts and Jewelcrafting Quests
Firstly, I just want to briefly mention the changes in the latest build (8788). Hunters, Warriors and Death Knights have perhaps received the most changes since my last update. If you are interested, check their talents.
Daily jewelcrafting quests have been added. Six new daily quests have been added that require you to craft items and receive certain drops from monsters. Thoughts are that one random quest will be available daily, but for now you can choose one of the six and the other five are locked. The rewards for these quests are the tokens I mentioned in this post. The Dalaran Jewelcrafter's Token allows you to purchase these rewards. See also: screenshot.
Finally, mounts. I'd like to mention again the Magnificent Flying Carpet that I am looking forward to crafting on my mage. It requires 450 tailoring, but it will be so cool to fly around Outland and Northrend on a flying carpet! Also, the speed of mounts has changed to: "Speed scales with riding skill."
Some screenies:
Suh-weet!
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Daily jewelcrafting quests have been added. Six new daily quests have been added that require you to craft items and receive certain drops from monsters. Thoughts are that one random quest will be available daily, but for now you can choose one of the six and the other five are locked. The rewards for these quests are the tokens I mentioned in this post. The Dalaran Jewelcrafter's Token allows you to purchase these rewards. See also: screenshot.
Finally, mounts. I'd like to mention again the Magnificent Flying Carpet that I am looking forward to crafting on my mage. It requires 450 tailoring, but it will be so cool to fly around Outland and Northrend on a flying carpet! Also, the speed of mounts has changed to: "Speed scales with riding skill."
Some screenies:
Suh-weet!
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Blue Linkage
Added a link to the sidebar for direct access to recent Blue (ie. Blizzard staff) posts, for your viewing ease. Thanks to MMO-Champion for having this setup. Now all I need to work out is an RSS feed from somewhere. :p
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More Blue Posts
I really wish I could play. Hopefully I will have enough money this weekend to buy my laptop. :/
Here are a few more blue posts from the last 24 hours:
Death Knights
Disease Damage
Tanking
Necrosis
Auras
Attack Power
Warlocks
Affliction
Imp's Firebolt nerf
Haunt hotfixed
DPS vs Utility
Shaman
EotS
Static Shock
Priests
VT nerf and Raid-wide VT
Mages
DPS vs Utility (same as above)
Hunters
Changes to pet focus costs.
Remember to check the skills and talents for classes. Current beta build is 8770.
Remember the spell pushback changes? Well, talents that affect spell interrupt and pushback will be evaluated and adjusted. Source.
Buffs / debuffs and raid composition. Read: Oomkin vs. DK.
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Here are a few more blue posts from the last 24 hours:
Death Knights
Disease Damage
Tanking
Necrosis
Auras
Attack Power
Warlocks
Affliction
Imp's Firebolt nerf
Haunt hotfixed
DPS vs Utility
Shaman
EotS
Static Shock
Priests
VT nerf and Raid-wide VT
Mages
DPS vs Utility (same as above)
Hunters
Changes to pet focus costs.
Remember to check the skills and talents for classes. Current beta build is 8770.
Remember the spell pushback changes? Well, talents that affect spell interrupt and pushback will be evaluated and adjusted. Source.
Buffs / debuffs and raid composition. Read: Oomkin vs. DK.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Changes to Statuses
Aside from fights being broken up into phases, some bosses have enrages or frenzies. Changes have been made to the terminology here for clarity in boss fights.
Basically put, when a boss enrages (eg. Magmadar in Molten Core), the enraged state can be dispelled with Tranquilizing Shot; when a boss frenzies (eg. Maexxna at 30% health), they do more damage and this should be dealt with (by extra healing, warrior tank popping Last Stand, etc); when a boss berserks (eg. Netherspite), you have taken too long to complete the fight, which has been designed with a time limit in mind. Source: Daelo.
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Basically put, when a boss enrages (eg. Magmadar in Molten Core), the enraged state can be dispelled with Tranquilizing Shot; when a boss frenzies (eg. Maexxna at 30% health), they do more damage and this should be dealt with (by extra healing, warrior tank popping Last Stand, etc); when a boss berserks (eg. Netherspite), you have taken too long to complete the fight, which has been designed with a time limit in mind. Source: Daelo.
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Professionally Speaking
I read the transcript of three interviews yesterday with various Bliz personnel. The first interview was about music in the game, especially focusing on what is to be expected in WotLK.
The second interview was what I was most interested in. It covered professions and expected changes with the expansion. I have every profession across my toons, and so found many things in that interview to be interesting. Check out the following summary from MMO-Champion (edited):
General
Blacksmithing
Fishing
Engineering
Enchanting
Alchemy
Jewelcrafting
Tailoring
Inscription
So these are some of the changes to look foward to with professions! The third part of the transcript covered a few questions that people had directed towards Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan. It makes for an interesting read.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
The second interview was what I was most interested in. It covered professions and expected changes with the expansion. I have every profession across my toons, and so found many things in that interview to be interesting. Check out the following summary from MMO-Champion (edited):
General
- The alchemy discovery system could be added to all professions, but will be restricted to "fun" discoveries or more predictable outcomes.
- Players may be able to collect tokens from daily profession quests and use these to purchase select recipes from token vendors.
- 375 skill requirement for the best craftable gear was too high -- expect the required level for epic craftable gear to be lower than the max 450 in WotLK.
- Sets such as Frozen Shadoweave were "too powerful", damage stats being equated with Tier 6, but available to any tailor without too much trouble (eg. Didn't require nethers). School-specific craftable items will be reviewed.
Blacksmithing
- Blacksmiths will be able to add sockets to a weapon, Armorsmiths will be able to add a metasocket to armor.
- The plan is to try to balance Armorsmithing and Weaponsmithing to make both specs viable and interesting.
Fishing
- Fishing will be more interesting and require more than half-conscious clicking.
- There will be fishing-specific food in WotLK just like what was introduced in TBC with recipes like Spicy Crawdad or Golden Fish Sticks. (Might be time to get both this and the cooking skill for my mage...).
Engineering
- Some of the engineering items nerfed in TBC like the Gnomish Mind Control Cap will probably be un-nerfed and/or upgraded in WotLK.
- Items like Rocket Boots will be changed to an "enchantment" allowing you to convert any footwear to Rocket Boots.
- WotLK now allows engineers to do "on-use enchantments" to items, and they're going to use it a lot. (Parachute Cloak enchant, or something to let you shoot webs from your gloves, etc.) -- each "enchantment" would replace any existing one on the armour, and vice versa.
Enchanting
- Enchanters will be able to sell their enchantments at the Auction House (or send them to alts) -- Scrolls of Enchantment.
Alchemy
- Discovery won't be used for "important" recipes anymore, it will be either predictable or just produce "fun" recipes.
Jewelcrafting
- Not as reliant on world drops.
Tailoring
- Tailoring-only flying mount -- the Magnificient Flying Carpet! (I can't wait!)
Inscription
- One inscription is equivalent to one or two talent points, and all the inscriptions aren't about increasing power; sometime they’re a big power increase but they’ll change something else about the spell. (eg. reducing the cast time of Pyroblast down to 3 sec but adding a 25 sec cooldown, or decreasing the effect of Last Stand from 30% to 20% of your max health, but giving it a 2 min cooldown instead of an 8 min cooldown).
- Inscriptions will affect talents, but probably won't affect passive talents very often.
- 15-20 Inscriptions will be available for each class, sometimes with more than one inscription available for a specific skill.
So these are some of the changes to look foward to with professions! The third part of the transcript covered a few questions that people had directed towards Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan. It makes for an interesting read.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Flintlocke and Load
Good news for casters:
General
Spell casting and spell channelling pushback has been changed to the following:
When casting a spell:
When channelling a spell:
Read the full beta notes for the current build, updated yesterday.
Also, Fargo released the Director's cut of Flintlocke, a GameSpy WoW comic that originally ran from 2004-2007. You can read his comments below each panel in the comments section. With over 350 strips, the whole thing will take quite a while to get through; it might pay to take it episode by episode.
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General
Spell casting and spell channelling pushback has been changed to the following:
When casting a spell:
- The first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time.
- All hits after the second will have no effect.
When channelling a spell:
- The first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each.
- All hits after the second will have no effect.
Read the full beta notes for the current build, updated yesterday.
Also, Fargo released the Director's cut of Flintlocke, a GameSpy WoW comic that originally ran from 2004-2007. You can read his comments below each panel in the comments section. With over 350 strips, the whole thing will take quite a while to get through; it might pay to take it episode by episode.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Sage Completed
Continued from A Mage, a Priest and a Rogue Walk into an Inn...:
Unknown was just starting on Blackwing Lair when the guild leader invited me in. As is usual with joining a new guild, I was under a trial period to prove my dedication and commitment to the guild and to their progression as a raiding body. I fit right in, having found a new home, and was able to attend most raids -- more than the minimum weekly requirement.
We spent the next few months learning the boss encounters and progressing through BWL, while also continuing to clear Molten Core on a weekly basis -- more of us still required gear (I started out with just blues and I think I eventually acquired my full Arcanist set). At the same time, I kept up my PvP as much as I could, achieving rank 7, Knight-Captain. It turned out to be my limit, because I was too dedicated to the PvE elements of the game.
I rolled a warrior at some point and levelled him to 60 throughout that year. I eventually brought him along to alternate runs of Molten Core and Onyxia and got him some Might pieces and his T2 Helm.
Unlike my time as a hunter with BoV, I was present for all boss kills but Chromaggus. My most memorable game moment would have to be when we first killed Nefarian, the final boss for Blackwing Lair, on 10 October 2006. Teamspeak -- our choice of voice communication -- erupted, as everyone cheered and whooped for a couple of mins. It was both exhilirating and relieving and I will never forget that moment. My mage won the roll for the Head of Nefarian, which I handed in for my Master Dragonslayer's Orb.
A week following our first Nefarian kill, I was promoted from regular member to Mage Officer. We had started on the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj -- I could go on about the opening of the gates, our experiences in the 20-man, my grind to exalted with Cenarion Circle to acquire the Blade of Vaulted Secrets, and everything surrounding this time. But I won't. If you want to read a lot more indepth about my 2006 year and my experiences in the game, read my old blog's 2006 entires, as they detail a lot of what happened during the peak of my oldschool gameplay. Warning: plenty of images and detailed World of Warcraft play experience!
Suffice to say, we only managed to get Skeram down, and no other bosses. And when it came to Naxxramas, it was just too close to Christmas and the holiday period before the release of the expansion, so we didn't get even one boss down in that instance. I am immensely looking forward to the Northrend Naxxramas experience!
I did, however, level a rogue to 60, faster than any previous character. It was seven days total playtime, as compared to nine for my warrior. Levelling my fourth 60 before the expansion was an indication that I enjoyed the act of levelling toons. Something about hitting that next level and unlocking skills just appeals to me.
Come the release of The Burning Crusade, I levelled my mage to 70 in eight days. I had run instances with some friends from Ruined and another guildy who was levelling at my own breakneck pace. He beat me to 70 because on the night before I hit that final level, the servers went down. I was two bubbles from levelling and waited for about two hours, but it got too late, so I simply went to bed. When I logged in, guess who had hit 70 overnight. Oh well, I was the first guild member to get my epic flying mount!
What came after the expansion is somewhat tragic. Some of us got impatient and decided to venture off on our own to begin raiding the new content. Infusion was born and we launched into Karazhan in February 2007. We recruited and advanced and made ok progression. We eventually got the numbers to raid Gruul's Lair, but soon after that, interest waned, often not enough members were present to even fill two Karazhan groups, and Infusion dwindled and died.
What I regret the most is our hastiness in going back to raiding. We destroyed Unknown for no good reason but selfishness and impatience. Who knows what might have happened had we waited for enough people to level to 70 and taken things easy for a while. After the fall of Infusion, my PvE raiding went on a downhill slide. My mage went from guild to guild, but everywhere I went, we eventually came up against that brick wall where not enough people would log in for raids. What is it with undedicated people and not wanting to wipe to new content in order to learn and proceed?
I guess this all changed my mindset. As 2008 rolled around, I had levelled six characters to 70. Earlier this year, I gave my 70 warrior to my brother so he could PvP with him. As you can see from my Character List, I enjoy levelling toons almost as much as I used to enjoy raiding. That's not to say that I no longer enjoy raiding -- I love PvE content; it is what drives me in this game. I wish that I was under playable circumstances, but my subscription expired almost two months ago.
When I am able to, I will play again. I will finish levelling my paladin, get my shaman's epic flying mount, try and acquire exalted status with a few more factions on my mage, and possibly even level another toon. I've done the PvP thing a bit, but I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best arena or battlegrounds player. It's fun and challenging as both healer and dps in PvP, but I am wired for PvE content.
I look forward to levelling in Wrath of the Lich King and enjoying these last few months before the expansion is released. I hope that I will be able to raid at level 80 and that circumstances will not prevent me from enjoying regular gaming and monster slaying in the lands of Azeroth, Outland and Northrend.
My World is Warcraft.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Unknown was just starting on Blackwing Lair when the guild leader invited me in. As is usual with joining a new guild, I was under a trial period to prove my dedication and commitment to the guild and to their progression as a raiding body. I fit right in, having found a new home, and was able to attend most raids -- more than the minimum weekly requirement.
We spent the next few months learning the boss encounters and progressing through BWL, while also continuing to clear Molten Core on a weekly basis -- more of us still required gear (I started out with just blues and I think I eventually acquired my full Arcanist set). At the same time, I kept up my PvP as much as I could, achieving rank 7, Knight-Captain. It turned out to be my limit, because I was too dedicated to the PvE elements of the game.
I rolled a warrior at some point and levelled him to 60 throughout that year. I eventually brought him along to alternate runs of Molten Core and Onyxia and got him some Might pieces and his T2 Helm.
Unlike my time as a hunter with BoV, I was present for all boss kills but Chromaggus. My most memorable game moment would have to be when we first killed Nefarian, the final boss for Blackwing Lair, on 10 October 2006. Teamspeak -- our choice of voice communication -- erupted, as everyone cheered and whooped for a couple of mins. It was both exhilirating and relieving and I will never forget that moment. My mage won the roll for the Head of Nefarian, which I handed in for my Master Dragonslayer's Orb.
A week following our first Nefarian kill, I was promoted from regular member to Mage Officer. We had started on the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj -- I could go on about the opening of the gates, our experiences in the 20-man, my grind to exalted with Cenarion Circle to acquire the Blade of Vaulted Secrets, and everything surrounding this time. But I won't. If you want to read a lot more indepth about my 2006 year and my experiences in the game, read my old blog's 2006 entires, as they detail a lot of what happened during the peak of my oldschool gameplay. Warning: plenty of images and detailed World of Warcraft play experience!
Suffice to say, we only managed to get Skeram down, and no other bosses. And when it came to Naxxramas, it was just too close to Christmas and the holiday period before the release of the expansion, so we didn't get even one boss down in that instance. I am immensely looking forward to the Northrend Naxxramas experience!
I did, however, level a rogue to 60, faster than any previous character. It was seven days total playtime, as compared to nine for my warrior. Levelling my fourth 60 before the expansion was an indication that I enjoyed the act of levelling toons. Something about hitting that next level and unlocking skills just appeals to me.
Come the release of The Burning Crusade, I levelled my mage to 70 in eight days. I had run instances with some friends from Ruined and another guildy who was levelling at my own breakneck pace. He beat me to 70 because on the night before I hit that final level, the servers went down. I was two bubbles from levelling and waited for about two hours, but it got too late, so I simply went to bed. When I logged in, guess who had hit 70 overnight. Oh well, I was the first guild member to get my epic flying mount!
What came after the expansion is somewhat tragic. Some of us got impatient and decided to venture off on our own to begin raiding the new content. Infusion was born and we launched into Karazhan in February 2007. We recruited and advanced and made ok progression. We eventually got the numbers to raid Gruul's Lair, but soon after that, interest waned, often not enough members were present to even fill two Karazhan groups, and Infusion dwindled and died.
What I regret the most is our hastiness in going back to raiding. We destroyed Unknown for no good reason but selfishness and impatience. Who knows what might have happened had we waited for enough people to level to 70 and taken things easy for a while. After the fall of Infusion, my PvE raiding went on a downhill slide. My mage went from guild to guild, but everywhere I went, we eventually came up against that brick wall where not enough people would log in for raids. What is it with undedicated people and not wanting to wipe to new content in order to learn and proceed?
I guess this all changed my mindset. As 2008 rolled around, I had levelled six characters to 70. Earlier this year, I gave my 70 warrior to my brother so he could PvP with him. As you can see from my Character List, I enjoy levelling toons almost as much as I used to enjoy raiding. That's not to say that I no longer enjoy raiding -- I love PvE content; it is what drives me in this game. I wish that I was under playable circumstances, but my subscription expired almost two months ago.
When I am able to, I will play again. I will finish levelling my paladin, get my shaman's epic flying mount, try and acquire exalted status with a few more factions on my mage, and possibly even level another toon. I've done the PvP thing a bit, but I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best arena or battlegrounds player. It's fun and challenging as both healer and dps in PvP, but I am wired for PvE content.
I look forward to levelling in Wrath of the Lich King and enjoying these last few months before the expansion is released. I hope that I will be able to raid at level 80 and that circumstances will not prevent me from enjoying regular gaming and monster slaying in the lands of Azeroth, Outland and Northrend.
My World is Warcraft.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
The Beta Rolls On
There were a lot of beta changes over the weekend. More blacksmith craftable weapons and armours have been released; Lake Wintergrasp (PvP zone) was made available; Mages, Warriors, Rogues, Shaman, Druids, and Warlocks all had their talents updated; Naxxramas tokens can be used to purchase a healer shield and a tank shield; many new class glyphs for the inscription profession have been released.
I still yearn for a laptop to hook myself back into playing, grarghhh. :o
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
I still yearn for a laptop to hook myself back into playing, grarghhh. :o
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Friday, August 8, 2008
Mage Talents Updated
Mage talents update for the WotLK beta, as posted by Blizzard:
Arcane
Fire
Frost
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Arcane
- Arcane Shielding Decreases the mana lost per point of damage taken when Mana Shield is active by 17/25% (Previously 10/20%) and increases the resistance granted by Mage Armor by 25/50%.
- Improved Counterspell chance to silence has been removed. You will now luckily silence the target for 2/4 seconds.
- New Talent: Torment of the Weak: All damage done to slowed targets is increased by 1/2/3 %.
- Spell Power moved from tier 7 to tier 10.
- Mind Mastery now increases spell power by 3/6/9/12/15 % instead of 5/10/15/20/25 %
- Incanter´s Absorption moved from tier 9 to tier 7.
- Missile Barrage moved from tier 10 to tier 9
- Netherwind presence moved from tier 9 to tier 10.
- Arcane Barrage mana cost reduced from 610 to 592.
Fire
- Impact proc chance changed from 2/4/6/8/10% and is now 4/7/10%. Additionally, it now procs from ALL damaging spells and isn't restricted to fire spells anymore.
- Molten Shields causes your Fire Ward and Frost Ward spells to have a 15/30% chance to reflect the warded spell while active. In addition, your Molten Armor has a 50% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks.( Previously only procced on Fire Ward with a 10/20 % chance)
- Blast Wave mana cost reduced from 930 to 620.
- Fiery Payback reworked: When below 35% health all damage taken is reduced by 10/20% and your Pyroblast spell´s cast time is reduced by 1.8 seconds while the cooldown is increased by 2.5 seconds. (Previously: When below 35% health all physical and Fire damage taken is reduced by 10/20% and your Pyroblast spell´s cast time is reduced by 1.75 seconds.
- Living Bomb mana cost reduced from 1010 to 980. Now does 115 Fire damage every 2 seconds for 6 seconds ( previously 130 Fire damage every 2 seconds for 6 seconds), range increased from 10 yards to 35 yards, explodes after 12 seconds for 759 Fire damage (previously 520 Fire damage) and will now knock all targets up in the air( previously burned mana and damaged equal to the amount drained ).
Frost
- Frost Warding reworked: Increased the armor and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor spells by 25/50%. In addition, gives your Frost Ward and Fire Ward a 15% chance to negate the warded damage spell and restore mana equal to the damage caused. (Previously increased the armor and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor spells by 15/30%. In addition, gave your Frost Ward a 10/20% chance to reflect Frost spells and effects while active)
- Elemental Precision moved from tier 1 to tier 2.
- Ice Floes moved from tier 6 to tier 1. Now affects Icy Veins instead of Ice Barrier.
- Improved Frost Nova talent removed.
- Arctic Reach now affects Deep Freeze as well.
- Frost Channeling now reduces mana cost of Frost spells with 4/7//10% instead of 5/10/15%.
- New Talent: Cold as ice: Reduces the cooldown of your Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Deep Freeze and Summon Water Elemental spells by 10/20%.
- Winter´s Chill now affects Arcane, Fire and Frost Spells. Proc chance is now 33/66/100% (previously 20/40/60/80/10%).
- Shattered Barrier tooltip changed: Gives your Ice Barrier spell a 50/100 % chance to freeze all enemies within 10 yards for 8 seconds when it is destroyed. (Previously: Gives your ice barrier spell a 50/100% chance to trigger a Frost Nova when it is destroyed)
- Empowered Frostbolt spell power co-efficiency increase changed to 5/10% (previously 2/4/6/8/10%) and critical strike chance increase reduced from 1/2/3/4/5% to 2/4%.
- Improved Water Elemental will now increase the duration of your Summon Water Elemental spell by 5/10/15 seconds and your Water Elemental restores mana to all party or raid members an amount equal to 1/2/3% of their total mana every 5 seconds. (Previously restored party and raid members health equal to 1/2/3% of their total health every 5 seconds.)
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Character Overview
Last edit
-Tuesday, 15th of February 2011 (Patch 4.0.6)
-Updated links
-Separated characters into sections and rearranged in order of importance and level
-Waiting for XML update to us.battle.net before replacing embedded character profiles and achievement feeds
Character Summaries
Main characters
Alts
Bank Toon
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
-Tuesday, 15th of February 2011 (Patch 4.0.6)
-Updated links
-Separated characters into sections and rearranged in order of importance and level
-Waiting for XML update to us.battle.net before replacing embedded character profiles and achievement feeds
Character Summaries
Main characters
| Gaiwyn | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
| Ilyaena | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
| Selaena | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
Alts
| Elvanus | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
| Zlaenya | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
| Mordreth | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
| Baeryc | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
| Aedrianel | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
| Dvaenya | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
Bank Toon
| Kynthaea | |
|---|---|
| --Waiting for Battle.net to update its xml feeds-- | |
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Orange You Glad?
My story will contine shortly. I just wanted to say a few things about what is happening in the world at the moment. Well, in the World of Warcraft, anyway. A lot of the time I will be posting recycled news. After all, without having my hand in every jar I can't get every flavour of cookie now, can I? That's just the way baked goods crumble.
So it seems that a rogue from the guild Vicarious, one Analogkid -- who incidentally already sports both Warglaives of Azzinoth -- was awarded the legendary bow, Thori'dal, the Star's Fury. Suffice to say, two hunters who were present and overlooked for the Kil'Jaeden drop weren't too happy about the decision to award a rogue with what in many people's eyes is a hunter priority weapon.
I'm not one to judge such actions, but good on him for acquiring three legendary weapons. Not that I have huntard hatred or anything, but I can see the point of the raid leaders in that the player had shown his raiding dedication for a very long time and this was his reward. Congrats to him, I say!
On another note, GameSpy editors recently leaped into the Wrath beta. I'm glad that they are enjoying it to an extent, but most of it is pretty old news, since my brother has been playing the beta since alpha players were given access. One interesting piece of information -- and good news -- I was not aware of, though, until I read the article. It appears that Riding Crops and the like will be permanently bound to your mount. This frees up a trinket slot and avoids any issues of swapping in trinkets with cooldowns when you dismount!
Speaking of mounts -- and my mage has many: both epic flying and land ones -- until you complete a questline in Northrend, you cannot access your flying mount. You need to do this to acquire the Cold Weather Flying skill. The questline itself begins with An Embarassing Incident in Sholazar Basin and is accessible at level 77.
If you haven't heard already (and what rock have you been sleeping under?), the latest Recruit-A-Friend endeavour should be enough incentive to entice many people into twisting their friend's arms and ruining their li- I mean, encouraging them to play -- casually, of course. Zhevra mounts, hourly summoning, triple experience and free levels. What more incentive would you need? Find out more.
I am currently working on building this blog site up to a reasonable standard. While I am not currently subscribed to the game I can spare the time it will take to improve what I have managed to do so far. Nothing fancy, mind you, but I would like to find a decent RSS feed to place somewhere, and get a good number of links up in the side menu. I also want to create a banner and tweak some of the style settings, but more visual-type aspects will have to wait until I have got myself a laptop and am able to access the Internet of my own accord (ie. not on this office network).
So look forward to more entries, more beta news, improvements to the blog, and the continuation of my Wow story!
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
So it seems that a rogue from the guild Vicarious, one Analogkid -- who incidentally already sports both Warglaives of Azzinoth -- was awarded the legendary bow, Thori'dal, the Star's Fury. Suffice to say, two hunters who were present and overlooked for the Kil'Jaeden drop weren't too happy about the decision to award a rogue with what in many people's eyes is a hunter priority weapon.
I'm not one to judge such actions, but good on him for acquiring three legendary weapons. Not that I have huntard hatred or anything, but I can see the point of the raid leaders in that the player had shown his raiding dedication for a very long time and this was his reward. Congrats to him, I say!
On another note, GameSpy editors recently leaped into the Wrath beta. I'm glad that they are enjoying it to an extent, but most of it is pretty old news, since my brother has been playing the beta since alpha players were given access. One interesting piece of information -- and good news -- I was not aware of, though, until I read the article. It appears that Riding Crops and the like will be permanently bound to your mount. This frees up a trinket slot and avoids any issues of swapping in trinkets with cooldowns when you dismount!
Speaking of mounts -- and my mage has many: both epic flying and land ones -- until you complete a questline in Northrend, you cannot access your flying mount. You need to do this to acquire the Cold Weather Flying skill. The questline itself begins with An Embarassing Incident in Sholazar Basin and is accessible at level 77.
If you haven't heard already (and what rock have you been sleeping under?), the latest Recruit-A-Friend endeavour should be enough incentive to entice many people into twisting their friend's arms and ruining their li- I mean, encouraging them to play -- casually, of course. Zhevra mounts, hourly summoning, triple experience and free levels. What more incentive would you need? Find out more.
I am currently working on building this blog site up to a reasonable standard. While I am not currently subscribed to the game I can spare the time it will take to improve what I have managed to do so far. Nothing fancy, mind you, but I would like to find a decent RSS feed to place somewhere, and get a good number of links up in the side menu. I also want to create a banner and tweak some of the style settings, but more visual-type aspects will have to wait until I have got myself a laptop and am able to access the Internet of my own accord (ie. not on this office network).
So look forward to more entries, more beta news, improvements to the blog, and the continuation of my Wow story!
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
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