challenge-modes
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Challenge modes provide new teleportation options
The fine folks at Wowhead have discovered a tasty tidbit in the latest beta patch for those upset about the upcoming loss of the Have Group, Will Travel guild perk. It appears that completing a dungeon challenge mode on Gold will unlock an ability called Challenger's Path, enabling you to instantly teleport to that dungeon's entrance whenever you choose. Personally, I love this. I still use my Dimensional Ripper and Wormhole Generator to go hopping around the lands of the old expansions whenever I'm messing around with things, and being able to flit around Pandaria will be amazing as well. (Yes, there's a new Wormhole Generator for Pandaria, but it apparently only takes you to a random spot in the continent, which isn't as helpful.) For more details, port over to Wowhead News. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Blizzard clarifies Challenge Mode gear scaling
U.S. blue Watcher has recently been online answering questions about Challenge Mode gear scaling. Blizzard first responded to discussion about the upscaling of old items, confirming that as many suspected, this has been purely for beta testing purposes. Gear above ilevel 463 will be scaled down, but gear below ilevel 463 will be left alone. This certainly means that challenge modes will not be available to those who have only recently started working their way through the dungeon gearing system, and I definitely think that is working as intended. After all, players who aren't experienced at the dungeons they're attempting will likely not do well in challenge mode scenarios. One commenter mentioned that it meant they could choose their favorite tier set bonus. I rather sympathize with that perspective; it would be really cool to have the opportunity to go back and reuse those old set bonuses. In a later post, Watcher went on to clarify how the scaling would work on in the live game. Check it out after the break!
Ghostcrawler explains Mists of Pandaria dungeon changes
In Mists of Pandaria, there are no level 90 normal mode dungeons. There are normal dungeons, but those are leveling content. Once you hit level 90, you're expected to be geared enough to start in on heroics, because those are tuned for players to be able to step in and run them. In order to explain how this all works, Ghostcrawler took to the forums to answer some questions. Ghostcrawler - Why take away regular queues at 90? There are no level 90 regular dungeons. The Mists of Pandaria heroic dungeons are easier than the Cataclysm heroic dungeons.* Once we made that decision, we thought that having two versions of the level 90 dungeons (normal and heroic) didn't make sense because they would be very similar in difficulty and offer similar loot. We thought about calling them something besides "heroic," since heroic tends to mean hard to a lot of players, but we also needed to call them something, because some dungeons like Temple of the Jade Serpent have a lower-level and a level 90 version. We thought about calling them "level 90 versions" but figured "heroic" required less explanation. (We also could have dispensed with lower level dungeons, or made lower level versions of the level 90 dungeons, but we felt like both solutions were just to make the nomenclature of "heroic" more clear, which seemed like bad reasons.) TLDR: Some Mists of Pandaria dungeons have lower level and level 90 versions. Others just have level 90 versions. In both cases, the level 90 versions are called "heroic." * - If you like very difficult dungeons, Challenge Modes are targeted at you. source And in case you're wondering, he also explains challenge modes in more detail as well as explaining why Blizzard has decided to tweak what you can queue for at 90. As always, even if you can't queue for something, you can always walk or ride up to the door and zone in that way. I remember when that was the only way you could run a dungeon. I also remember when all my gear was "of the Bear." I'm old, is what I'm saying. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
New achievements in the Mists of Pandaria beta
The latest Mists of Pandaria beta build has revealed over 100 new achievements, including about 60 (yes, 60!) related to Pet Battles. If you like your points, I hope you like your pets. There's also mention of a platinum level for challenge modes. Some of the more interesting achievements: Realm First! Pandaren Ambassador This is the first guild realm-first achievement that involves reputation (non-guild), I believe. Guild Hardware - Platinum This one's new to me. Looks like Blizzard's adding a new tier for challenge modes above the gold tier that was previously announced. It's unknown if the rewards previously mentioned for gold will move to platinum or there are new shinies we haven't seen yet. Grand Master Pet Battler / Grand Master Pet Brawler If you were planning on cheesing -- erm, helping your friends with every Pet Battle achievement, might want to think again. Master Pet Hunter Collect all the things! Raise 75 pets to level 25 Once you've collected all the things, fill all the bars! It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Blizzard's post-mortem on Cataclysm dungeons and raids
Blizzard recently released a blog from Dave "Fargo" Kosak that acted as a post-mortem for Cataclysm's quest design. Following on its heels is this entry from Scott "Daelo" Mercer, the lead encounter designer for World of Warcraft. In it, Scott talks successes (Dungeon Journal, Raid Finder) and failures (difficulty level of launch heroics) in the dungeons and raids portion of the game's third expansion and shares what he's looking forward to with the release of Mists of Pandaria. I'm definitely with him in anticipating challenge modes and PvE scenarios. Read the full interview after the break.
