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The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Wild, wild speculation and the BlizzCon effect
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. Well, how about that change to Mortal Strike? I mentioned a few weeks back that it felt to me like arms had lost its teeth in PvP, that it needed all of its cooldowns lined up to really put the hurt on anyone and that it had lost its identity as a force to be reckoned with. Does this change restore it? Well, yes and no. Yes, in that it will indisputably increase arms (and rogue, and hunter pet) potency in the PvP setting. No, in that it will not increase it by all that much. A 10% healing debuff is trivial. A 25% healing debuff is more than twice as good, but we'll see if that means much against healers at the level of gear they're going to have. What the MS change really did to my brain (especially as I write this on the verge of BlizzCon, where hopefully many secrets will be revealed) is think about what I would like them to do for all three warrior specs. What do I want to see? What would I never, ever want to see again? Let us peer into this completely imaginary crystal ball and speculate. This post will be broken up into two parts. Part one will be my pre-BlizzCon speculations. Then, in part two, I'll come back after BlizzCon and react to what the announcements are, and see how close I managed to get to the mark.
Blizzard Publishing announces two new Pandaren stories and more
New expansions require new lore, especially if it's something we've never before seen. At the Blizzard Publishing: So What's the Story? panel earlier today, it was announced that there would be two new lore releases. The first, Pearl of Pandaria, is a graphic novel written by Micky Neilson. Neilson should be a familiar name, not only is he Senior Writer and Voice Director of Blizzard Entertainment, he also penned the World of Warcraft: Ashbringer comic, and the short story Unbroken. Pearl of Pandaria is a "before" look at the Pandaren – it takes place before the Shattering that raised the mists that cloaked Pandaria from the rest of the world. The second story is called Quest for Pandaria, a four part novella by author Sarah Pine. It will be released on Blizzard's website much like the leader short stories, and it takes up the story after the Shattering and brings it up to speed. Sarah Pine was the winner of the first Blizzard creating writing contest with her story In the Shadow of the Sun, about Lor'themar Theron, and she's also penned the leader short story Garrosh Hellscream: Heart of War. Other interesting tidbits from the panel include a heads up on the Curse of the Worgen graphic novel by Mickey Neilson and James Waugh, which includes five extra pages of story. Those five pages? They're really important, if you like keeping track of the lore -- they tell the story of Velinde Starsong and the Scythe of Elune, which players experienced in World of Warcraft itself. On top of that, Christie Golden is still diligently working on Tides of War, the Jaina Proudmoore novel which will presumably tie into the Pandaria expansion. It's nice to see that the upcoming expansion will see as much attention to story detail as Cataclysm – and that the precedent set by the leader short stories will continue on with more lore on the official Blizzard website as time goes on. The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!
