PTR Build 9704

Glyph changes, spell changes, v. 9704 talent build, and stats and set bonuses of Tier 8!

Check Bobouille's post for the lowdown on all of it.

The Mage Tier 8 4-piece bonus seems pretty lame. It would be nicer if it automatically cast again whatever spell you did on the proc. Take, for example, Brain Freeze (seeing as I am a Frost mage). If it procs, I will cast a free, instant Fireball. I would then have the time of a GCD to register whether Brain Freeze was consumed or if my bonus procced and it is still up. With all that goes on in raids, someone will probably have to make a mod that gives you a warning when your proc is not consumed; otherwise you are unlikely to react in time and will start casting your next Frostbolt -- which has a chance of proccing Brain Freeze again, and therefore you could be wasting your bonus.

I will never have Tier 8 gear, so this won't affect me either way, anyway.

Perhaps we will just have to wait and see how these bonuses pan out once the top guilds have geared up with Tier 8. The Death Knight ones look nice, at least. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Exciting Pre-Expansion Changes

Patch 3.0.2 goes live tonight. The servers have been down for a while already and will continue to be down until everything is completed tomorrow. I'm going to be restless all day as I wait to finish work. I'm excited about these pre-expansion changes!

Here's a summary of what is being changed and added:

• You can no longer get bear mounts from ZA


• Hand of A'dal and Champion of the Naaru titles are no longer obtainable


• The Onyxia attunement and Atiesh questlines have been removed


• Naxxramas has been shifted to Northrend and will not be accessible until the expansion goes live


• Barber shops are available in major faction cities


• Graphics have been updated, including the new shadow engine


• Stormwind Harbor is available but ships don't yet go to Northrend


• Mounts and vanity pets are now trainable and will go into your Pet tab when learned


• The entrance to Caverns of Time: Stratholme has been added, though you cannot zone into the instance


• Badges of Justice, Marks of Honor, etc are now Tokens


• The in-game events calendar has been added


• Achievements should be live -- check Wowhead for a complete list


• Healing and Spell Damage stats have been combined into the new Spellpower stat -- this includes school specific damage (nature, fire, frost etc)


• A lot of armour and items have been changed to reflect the new game mechanics


• Buffs, debuffs and auras are all now raid-wide


• TBC raid monsters have had a 30% health reduction


• New talent trees for all classes


• Introduction of the Inscription profession: scrolls, vellum and class glyphs


• Two new arenas: Dalaran Arena and The Ring of Valor


• Honor-purchased gems are no longer BoP or unique-equipped, so can be sold on the AH

Go ahead and check everything out if you haven't already. This is a huge patch with many playstyle-affecting changes. Everyone's toons will have to be re-treed tomorrow; and there will be a lot to take in.

I was going to wait to roll my Death Knight before picking up Inscription, but people are likely to charge exorbitant prices for everything. At least we have another month to hoard our gold in preparation for levelling to 80.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

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.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore