wow-ptr
Latest
Patch 5.4 PTR: Countless cosmetic items on the Timeless Isle
If you're one of the many players who don't like to spend real cash on virtual items (like Blizzard's recently added cosmetic helms), you'll be glad to know that patch 5.4's Timeless Isle is packed with cool cosmetic items that won't cost you anything but time. And by time, we mean grinding -- though with the array of interesting events and rare spawns to be found on the Timeless Isle, it could be more entertaining than your average grinding experience. So what's on offer? Mounts, pets, vanity gear, disguises, and odd gizmos of all sorts. There's so many, in fact, that it's hard to narrow the list down to our favorites, but these are some of the most interesting: Weather stones -- which come in sunset, rain, blizzard, and ashen varieties -- can be used to change the weather in the area. Cauterizing Core, an item with 20 charges which allows you to resurrect on death with 20% health and mana. Pi'jiu Brews, which summon a spectral monk -- mistweaver, windwalker, or brewmaster -- to fight for you for 10 minutes. Faintly-Glowing Herb, which restores 50,000 health per second for 10 seconds. If that sounds overpowered, it's probably because it's a BoA and has a duration of only a day -- so if you want them, you'll have to farm them yourself. As to how to get this gear, a lot of it comes from rare drops, rare spawns, or events, but some is bought with Bloody Coins or Shaohao reputation. And this list is only scratching the surface -- check out Wowhead for the full list of vanity items you're likely to find on the Timeless Isle as well as how to get them for yourself come patch day.
What new players need to know about WoW patches
If World of Warcraft had but one holiday, it would be Patch Day: the glorious Tuesday (or Wednesday) in which the WoW servers go down for maintenance but come back online brimming with new, unexplored content. If you're new to World of Warcraft, or MMOs in general, you may not entirely understand all the fuss the community makes over patches. So just what is a patch? Why are they so important? And how can you get your hands on one? We'll do our best to explain. What is a WoW patch? Did you know we're playing version 5 of World of Warcraft right now? It's true: Version 1.1 was World of Warcraft's launch client and every expansion since has bumped the version number up a full number, while each patch release is a decimal place. The original game went up to patch 1.12 (the 1.1 launch client and 11 patches after), Burning Crusade (2.0) had a scant 4 patches, Wrath of the Lich King (3.0) had 3, Cataclysm (4.0) had 3, and Mists of Pandaria (5.0) is about to see the release of its 3rd patch, patch 5.3. These days, patches are coming more quickly than ever and we have no idea how many patches to expect before the next expansion arrives.
Patch 4.2: Shaman and warlock tier 12 sets revealed
Building on their previews from last week, Blizzard has released sneak peeks at two more tier 12 sets: shaman and warlock. The warlock set is pretty clearly based on Firelands boss Beth'tilac, the gargantuan fire spider queen; the shaman set is a little more general but you can definitely see influences from old Ragnaros gear like the Crown of Destruction. Besides, we all know that the best shaman sets are ones where chains and exploding rocks are involved, so chalk this one up as a win for patch 4.2. Check out the warlock set after the cut, and be sure to check out our full tier 12 gallery below. %Gallery-122557%
Patch 4.2 PTR: Over 800 new items
Wowhead's new news site has datamined the new patch 4.2 PTR client and come up with, well, a whole heck of a lot of stuff. There are over 800 new items in this patch alone. So far we've seen: Some tier set names, including Immolation for paladins and Elementium Dragon for death knights; the warrior set has molten giant faces on the shoulders. Several mounts, like the new BoA epic horse and wolf to go along with your Warbringer/Warbound title. Item names that may indicate different color gear depending on your spec. Item level 363 crafted weapons and 378 crafted gear. The return of Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros. A 36-slot gem bag (as well as inscription and mining versions)! And lots more! There's sure to be a lot more cool stuff incoming, including new models, so keep an eye out. The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!
Patch 4.0.6 PTR patch notes updated
An updated version of the patch 4.0.6 patch notes from the PTR has been unveiled. This includes the recent shaman and warlock changes that have been discussed, as well as many additional changes across the board to heroics. Some highlights include: Baron Ashbury: Sadly, in his hubris he has forgotten how to Mend Rotten Flesh. Ozruk: There is now a precast visual on the ground to make it clear how far away a player must get to be clear of Shatter. Earthrager Ptah's Flame Bolt now deals more damage per second on Heroic difficulty. Follow behind the break below for the full patch notes.
PvP with Blizzard today
Taking place tomorrow from 4:00 p.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. EST until 6:30 p.m. PST / 9:30 p.m. EST is another chance for you to engage in PvP combat with Blizzard employees on the U.S. PTR. The Community Team and Quality Assurance team will queue up via the Random Battleground Finder and fight the pleabes in this battle royale. Want to show Zarhym how much you love him? Now's your chance! Also taking place tomorrow is the twitter developer chat with Cory Stockton and Greg Street, so you won't have an opportunity to exact revenge on Ghostcrawler for nerfing your class to the ground (baby). But there's certainly a lot of potential for some community engaged WoW fun tomorrow. In general the blues on the PTR can be quite entertaining... especially when they decide to start turning people into toads and chickens. Good times! Ujumqin -- PvP a Blizzard Employee Hey all, Ever wanted to Pwn a Blizzard employee in WoW PvP? Now's your chance because [today] from 4:00PM to 6:30PM (PST) a few of us will be queuing up for BGs via the new Random Battleground Finder on the US [PTR] realms! Bring your main/alt/premade and show us what you got! What: Random Battleground Finder Who: Blizzard Community Team and Blizzard QA Place: US Servers Broxigar and Anasterian Time: 4:30 - 6:30 PST Date: 2-26-2010 (Note: Time/Event is subject to change.) source P.S. Zarhym: We totally won't replace the Wyvern with an Orc or Onyxia or something. For real. We'll behave. Promise. Just ask Ghostcrawler.
Breakfast Topic: La la la I'm not listening
Spoilers. The word strikes fear into the hearts of many a fan, whether it involves books, television, or video games. Some people are fanatical about not learning information before it's officially released. Others love nothing more than to run around and spoil things for the general public who would rather have the experience of being surprised. My first real experience with spoilers was way back when I was playing a little game called Final Fantasy VII. I had played (and still own!) all of the prior Final Fantasy games, so this was something I'd been dying to play since the moment it came out. I was making pretty good progress through the first disc and working my way to the end of it when it happened. A coworker and I, who had hit it off quite well talking about video games, were discussing what we were currently playing one day in the break room. I mentioned I had finally gotten FFVII and was slowly making my way through the first disc, when he turned to me and blurted, "Man I hated the part where Aeris dies!" He survived the subsequent pummeling. Since then I've taken a far more casual approach to spoilers -- yes, there are things I'd rather remain a secret, but there's a part of me that loves learning about things ahead of time. It's probably the same part that enjoyed trying to find where my parents hid the Christmas presents every November*. Still, I do respect people that wish to remain unspoiled, and make it a point to always post a spoiler warning on information I think people might not want to see. I do it because I remember that moment of sheer devastation when I realized the character I really liked was going to bite the dust, and nothing that I did in the game would prevent it. With the release of the Icecrown Citadel patch, and now that 3.3.3 is on the PTR, what do you think about spoilers? Do you shy away from spoiler tags, or are you the type that gleefully ruins the surprise for other people? *They were always in the closet in their bedroom. Mom and Dad were so predictable.
Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Cull Stratholme faster than ever before
The dungeon finder has really changed what players get excited about the most in the World of Warcraft. It's a strange world when one of the most anticipated updates to the game is the ability to tell Arthas to shut his yap. No, we don't mean kill him in Icecrown, we really do mean telling him to shut the hell up. Just in case you missed it in the patch notes we posted a little while ago, there's this waiting for us in patch 3.3.3: Culling of Stratholme: Players may now skip the initial introduction dialog to this dungeon once they have completed it at least once. The pre-Culling of Stratholme dialogue is really cool to experience the first few times, but after that it just starts to feel like a waste of time. The dungeon finder made it even worse, because as awesome as it is, it eliminated some of the social stigma of ditching a group early. Oculus and Culling of Stratholme are the two instances I can always expect some dip to drop from. Hopefully this change and the deserter debuff becoming 30 minutes will discourage that sort of behavior.
Patch 3.3.3 PTR patch notes [Updated]
The official Patch 3.3.3 patch notes have just been posted to the official site, so we're likely to see the PTR incredibly soon, if it isn't up right now. You can find the patch notes in full below. Do note, however, that this is Patch 3.3.3 and not Patch 3.3.5. This will not include the Ruby Sanctum raid dungeon. Some highlights: Death Knights: Icy Touch: This ability now causes a very high amount of threat while the death knight is in Frost Presence. Many aura abilities such as Unleashed Rage, Abomination's Might, and Elemental Oath are now passive auras and do no need to be triggered by certain strikes. Frozo the Renowned has moved into the Dalaran Magus Commerce Exchange and will be trading your Frozen Orbs for various other trade goods. We do not yet know what these items are, but we'll be sure to look as soon as we get on the PTR. Look behind the break for the rest of the Patch 3.3.3 patch notes. These patch notes are up to date as of March 10th, 2010.
Patch 3.3 PTR: Ghostcrawler explains Paladin changes
You know how it goes. Blizzard nerfs Paladins, Paladins shake their heads in disbelief, then break out the pitchforks and scream bloody murder for a bit, beg Blizzard not to push through with the changes, and eventually run home and cry into My Little Pony sheets and staining pink underwear. Sure enough, when the recent PTR patch notes hinted at nerfs to the Paladin class, the pitchfork-wielding and bloody murder-screaming ensued. We're now about to enter the stage of bargaining. It's still on the PTR, after all. For those wondering what the bed-wetting ruckus is all about, Sacred Shield was nerfed to proc only once every 30 seconds (essentially proccing only once every cast of the spell unless augmented with talents), Aura Mastery was nerfed to 6 seconds down from 10, and Lay on Hands is being primed to be uncastable on one's self. Ghostcrawler said that he didn't "want to promise (they) won't change the spell for 3.3," but that players also shouldn't "worry too much on the Lay on Hands change at this point" since it didn't make it to the latest PTR build. He explains in the forums that Paladins are no longer just a support class (as they were for quite a long time), but that all the abilities over time have contributed to making the class feel like a "one-man army" that is able to play offensively, defensively, and essentially take on more challenges without having to change stances, forms, or even specs. In a rather snippy response to a troll crying (with My Little Pony blanket in hand) in the forums, Ghostcrawler simply said, "Dear OP, Bye. Hugs, GC."
Patch 3.3 PTR available for download
A quick note to let all you curious beta testers out there know that the Public Test Realm (PTR) for Patch 3.3 is now available for download. As you can see from the picture above, the patch is a big one - just under 1.4 GB. If you don't have a super fast cable modem, you might want to consider downloading it overnight.Patch 3.3 will introduce a new 10 and 25 man raid, as well as new 5 man dungeons. And as promised by Blizzard at BlizzCon this year, we should see cross-server instances as well. You can check out all the changes thus far in the recently released Patch 3.3 PTR Patch Notes.Stay tuned to WoW.com in the coming hours and days as we get all the latest information up for you.
The Queue: WoW 4.0
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.People responded quite well to the Patches of Yesteryear column that I started up yesterday, so I thought for today's Queue I'd use one of the screenshots of the old UI that I dug up on the internet. A few old readers (yes, you're old farts) noted that the UI featured above likely came from an internal alpha build or something way before the beta 4* when WoW went into "public" beta mode. So the above screenshot and yesterday's screenshot are quite old. Possibly as old as 2001 when WoW was first announced.And for next week's Patches of Yesteryear column we'll either look at how the models have changed or examine a couple dozen talents that have gone through some pretty amazing metamorphosis. But enough about that old column, time for Queue!Siaperas asked..."WoWHead's PTR site lists a heroic achievement titled: "I've Had Worse". The achievement made me giggle a bit; is that really an achievement on the PTR?"
Lichborne: The Future of Death Runes in Patch 3.2
Welcome to Lichborne, the Death Knight class column, with your host, Daniel Whitcomb, who's still wearing mourning black for AE Unholy Blight. And also because black looks awesome.I admit to being a bit underwhelmed by the Death Knight Q&A. To be fair, this is primarily because most of the things covered were already in the 3.2 patch notes, and the rest was pretty common sense stuff. However, one little comment by Ghostcrawler did catch my attention: His praise of Death Runes. This caught me more than a bit by surprise, since, if anything, the Death Knight changes in Patch 3.2 seem tailor made to discourage the use of Death Runes, at least for Frost and Unholy.Between the damage buff to Blood Strike and diseases, and the nerf to Scourge Strike, we have a pretty good chance of seeing people move away from using Death Runes. The major reason to use Blood Strike in both trees right now is to create Death Runes so you can use higher damage abilities on your next refresh cycle. If Blood Strike becomes the higher damage ability, it's not worth it to use the Death Runes on something else. There's a off-chance, I suppose, that you might want the Death Runes handy for an emergency use of Ghoul Frenzy, in theory, but that chance is so slim that no-one's going to want to waste the talent points in Reaping, at the very least.
The Light and How to Swing It: Patch 3.1 and you
With Patch 3.1 looming ever closer (there's a good bet it comes out this Tuesday or the next, but I won't promise to eat a hat it if it doesn't), it's time to examine just how the content will affect our favorite class. The patch is huge, with new features and a massive raid dungeon that should keep us all busy for at least a few months before everyone starts whining about having nothing to do. Except those freaks in Ensidia, maybe, who'll be paid to finish all the content in -- oh -- 27 minutes or something. For the rest of us, it'll be a brave new world and a time to relearn a few things. First off, we'll all be getting free respecs, which is good because the talent trees have changed considerably, particularly Protection and a bit of Retribution. Holy didn't get shaken up too much, but it did get a solid nerfing, so some Holy Paladins might want to ditch the tree for something else. Or not. Patch 3.1 will also introduce Dual Specs, which will allow players to have two different, toggleable talent trees for the special price of 1,000 Gold. So yeah, Holy Paladins can grumpily keep being Holy with the option to switch to another spec like a Transformer. I suppose the best way to go about this is to look at what's in store for Paladins per spec, so let's get right to it.
Raid Rx: Healing Ulduar and what to expect
Raid Rx has returned from retirement! Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a new WoW blog for all things UI, macro, and addon related. Ulduar is almost here! Are you prepared? The patch for Ulduar is imminent. There's no release date yet. Personally I believe it will land sometime this month. Healing assignments has just gotten more complicated. Incoming damage is more than what's currently in the game. To cap it all off, mana regen's been slightly nerfed. So here's a quick summary of what to expect and how to counteract for it. I've participated in some of the normal mode Ulduar raids and a few heroic mode Ulduar raids. It's tough. The level of complexity and effort required is somewhere along the pre-nerf Hyjal and Black Temple days.
Insider Trader: All about patch 3.1
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.This week Insider Trader will be discussing everything craftspeople need to know about patch 3.1. By the end of this article, you will know what you should be doing to prepare for patch day, what will be changing, and how the community is reacting to these changes.I have been covering these topics to the best of my abilities as information has been released and altered over the weeks, but as we draw closer to patch day, the post-patch scene is becoming increasingly easy to visualize.
New PTR patch notes
Blizzard has once again updated the PTR patch notes for patch 3.1. As usual, none of the changes here will be a surprise to you if you've been following all the action, but for the sake of completeness, I'm going to list them here anyway. Many commenters requested last time if they could just see what's changed between this and the previous patch notes, so that's what I have for you tonight. These are just the new things in tonight's patch notes revision. If you want to see the latest PTR patch notes in full, head over to the Blizzard PTR forums. General: Due to significant talent tree revisions, all players will have their talent points reimbursed. Several new spells and abilities have been added for select classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells. The Argent Tournament, a permanent in-game event, has come to Icecrown. Players interested in taking part in this event should visit the Argent Pavilion located on the west side of the tournament grounds. Features include: New ways of gaining reputation with capital cities. All new daily quests, achievements and titles. New rare and epic items, tabards, pets, banners, faction shirts and mounts. Mounted combat, and much more to come!
Totem Talk: 3.1 Shaman Gear Part 1
I guess I'm gambling that the patch won't be next week. Because there's no way I can cover all the gear available for shamans in 3.1 (both set and otherwise) for three specs in anything like two weeks of this column. In addition to discussing sets for resto, elemental and enhancement there's quite a lot of non-set gear to discuss, rings, trinkets, and so on. We know that Flametongue Weapon will be changed to reassert the superiority of the slow/slow combo for enhancement, for instance, so there's also weapons to discuss. Since I know that's not possible for me to cover in one column and probably not in two, we'll just take it as it goes. This week, we'll discuss the Tier 8 sets from Ulduar 10 and 25, the Valorous and Conqueror's Worldbreaker sets. As is usual for shamans, it comes in Battlegear for Enhancement, Garb for Elemental and Regalia for Restoration. As was the case for Tier 7, the 10 and 25 man sets have the same set bonuses and will work with each other, so if you have two pieces of Tier 8 from 10 man raids and 2 pieces from 25, you'll get both set bonuses.First up, let's look at the Conqueror's and Valorous Worldbreaker Battlegear.
Breakfast Topic: A feeling of dread
There are a lot of great features coming our way in Patch 3.1, from dual-specs, a massive raid dungeon with difficulty levels you can toggle, an entire event in Icecrown... Blizzard has called it their most ambitious content patch ever. And from the size of it, it looks like they weren't kidding. So even though sometimes we wish some things were added to the game, there are things that probably should never see the light of day.I mean, the Tempest Keep dance-off is obviously a joke, but I'm sure I don't ever want to see it in-game. As much as I know the change to Spiritual Attunement actually works better for the class, there was a point where I wish they never implemented it. Or even -- argh -- the bubble-breaking Shattering Throw. But these things are actually really good changes that will improve gameplay. So here we go... what feature in Patch 3.1 are you dreading the most? To be honest, I think everything's going to improve the game, but not everything will be rosy for everyone. I mean, I'm sure more than a few Death Knights will miss Shadow of Death, right? Engineers will miss the burst of the Lightning Generator (sorry, Arena guys...). Is there anything you're not looking forward to in the inevitable patch?
Shifting Perspectives: Ulduar class preview, part I
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, our author pretends to know more about Ulduar than she actually does, which makes a refreshing change from pretending to know more than she actually does about things that are already in the game.Hail and well met, Druids. For the next three Shifting Perspectives columns, I'm going to take a look at Druid class roles on Ulduar fights. If patch 3.1 hits earlier than expected (I'm currently betting that it hits in late April/early May), I'll try to squeeze these in a little bit faster than once per week. But with luck (and, I hope, a parade of annoying bugs for Blizzard to hunt down and squash before they let the patch go live), we should have some information to chew on before we set foot in a live Ulduar. Now watch Blizzard deploy the frickin' patch next week.I have not gotten the opportunity to test all of these fights personally because I'm only on the North American PTR, and some fights -- like Yogg-Saron -- haven't been available for testing at all. What I write here is going to be a compilation of personal experience, details concerning boss abilities available on the PTR version of Wowhead, information I've gotten from pestering various people on both PTR's, and news available around the web, principally from WoW Insider's previous PTR testing, Wowwiki, MMO Champion, and World of Raids. Bear in mind that some things here may wind up being very different when Ulduar actually goes live, so take numbers and conjecture here with a grain of salt. I'm going to assume that basic boss mechanics are likely to remain the same or similar, so let's get started with the first three encounters.
