dr-boom
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Breakfast Topic: Northrend pop culture references
Blizzard is famous for adding references from all kinds of films, TV shows and other media into WoW (aka Easter Eggs.) Take this lovely young flower seller in Dalaran. Remind you of anyone? As I wander through Azeroth and Outland, I'm struck by the number of references to real world pop culture. From snakes on a plane in Nagrand to Dr. Boom in Netherstorm to Florist Gump in Stormwind, not to mention a talking rat and some turtles in Dalaran sewer. The list goes on and on. I also quite like the virtual presence of beloved Blues in the form of Eyonix in the Stormspire and Drysc in the Exodar, but my favourite is that human joke about a bracelet of power.With the addition of Wrath, it seems we have even more references to uncover. So tell us, constant readers, which are you favourites and have you uncovered any new ones post Patch 3.1?%Gallery-18980%
Training Dummies in capital cities
If you've been exploring your capital city, you may have noticed something new. Grandmaster's Training Dummies now hang out in the cities, casually waiting for enterprising player characters to come and beat them. (I don't judge their lifestyles, I'm just reporting the facts.) If you're looking at the picture on the right, you're correct in your keen observation -- the clever training dummies even carry the flag of your opposing faction.The dummies are level 80, obviously in preparation for Wrath's release on November 13th. We were fortunate enough to get them in the content patch, but it does lead to a few questions. What are these masochistic constructions for? What is their purpose? Do they give you anything?Dr. Boom in Netherstorm was a staple of Hunters', Warlocks' and Mages' theorycrafting. The analysts of the communities would park themselves on a crate, and fire away at the goblin. Using AddOns likes Recount, or combat log parsers like WWS, they'd leverage the information to draw conclusions about which damage rotations and talents yielded the best results.Target Dummies fulfill the same role, but are a little more universally accessible. (Melee had problems with Dr. Boom, since they could find themselves getting blown up by adds.) They also have benefit of not being out in the field. While safe and protected in your capital city, you can fire away until you feel confident in the data you're seeing.There's a caveat to the dummies, however. Some spells (like Siphon Life) don't seem to give accurate results. Also, since the dummies aren't the specific bosses you'll be fighting, you're not going to get the exact same numbers as you would against the real thing. They're intended, after all, characters to practice on, not simulate the actual fights. Edit: As some commenters have pointed out, there are level 70 and 60 dummies to be had also, in the same general area as the level 80 versions.
Training dummies updated in the Wrath beta
In the most recent beta push, patch 8885, training dummies were added to the sewers of Dalaran (and many other places in the world as well, apparently) by popular request. They were requested to replace what Dr. Boom did for everyone in The Burning Crusade: A way to benchmark DPS and crunch other numbers while outside of a raid, on a mob that didn't die long before you hit your limit. These training dummies certainly helped, but there was only one problem. The dummies were level 1, so certain important stats were greatly inflated while hitting them, such as critical strike percentages.Luckily, Kalgan has posted that the training dummies will be getting an upgrade in the next patch. The level 1 dummies will be replaced by level 80 dummies with typical level 80 stats, as well as 'boss level' dummies with boss stats. This will definitely provide much more accurate numbers for players trying to benchmark themselves. I, for one, look forward to testing the upcoming Shadow Priest changes on one of these as soon as it's all in place. I do not, however, look forward to searching for a dummy not already in use by someone else! They've been insanely popular on the beta realms in their level 1 state, and I think beta testers will love them even more at the proper levels.
