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Smartphone MMO Avabel Online releases new content
While it didn't impress too much in the beginning, Avabel Online is hoping its latest major content update changes a few minds. A mobile 3-D action game available on both Android and iOS smartphones, Avabel Online offers both PvE content and PvP. The newest update adds six advanced classes (each with four new skills) to the 12 already available. Additionally, characters can now equip items in their left hands, from daggers to guns to fist weapons. Players can also roam new maps. See what's in store in the trailer below. You can try the game and try it out for yourself by visiting Apple's AppStore, Google Play, or Amazon. [Source: ASOBIMO, Inc press release]
Lichborne: Warlords of Draenor Q&A for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Last week, we covered the basic class changes of Warlords of Draenor. This week, we're taking a few common questions about those changes and combining them with new information. We'll be discussing the new secondary stats and how they affect tanks, examine the possible return of dual wield tanking, and consider death knight lore in the new expansion. Without further ado, let's get started. Q: Could dual wield tanking come back with Warlords of Draenor? After all, your weapons hit more now that hit and expertise are gone. No. Ghostcrawler clarified recently that the miss chance for dual wield weapons isn't going away. You will still miss with "white" hits, it's just that your special hits will never miss (at least, not because of your gear). This will be exacerbated by the fact that blood death knight special attacks will not hit with the off-hand. The reason dual wielding works for frost is that Threat of Thassarian exists. It does not exist for blood death knights, therefore blood death knight dual wielding is still inferior and likely will stay inferior in Warlords of Draenor. The only real advantage dual wield tanking has is that you might get more Bloodworms, but that is not enough to offset the losses.
Lichborne: Switching death knight specs for patch 5.2
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. When a new patch comes, especially one with some major class changes like patch 5.2, it becomes a good time to reflect on your play style and priorities. Does your spec serve those priorities? With a new patch coming, it's a good time to experiment with new stuff. You can do it pretty easily on the PTR, and when the patch goes live, the game's got some fresh new content, so it's as good excuse as any to jump into a new spec and get used to it while killing trolls for all these new quests. You'll also be getting new gear, so changing up gearing priorities becomes easier. Today, we'll take a quick look at all the death knight specs, with some of their pros and cons, so you can make a solid judgment call as to whether to switch and try something new, or stick with the familiar. This isn't meant to a complete guide to playing each spec, just a quick overview so you can decide if the play style and responsibilities of the spec are right for you.
The Light and How to Swing It: 3 crazy design ideas that would turn ret on its head
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions! When I was young, I had an appointment with a doctor and three syringes for some vaccinations before I started school in the fall. I clearly remember the feeling of anxiety and reluctance as each foot took another step toward the entrance to the clinic. I screamed, I kicked, and I may have even cried a little bit (OK, maybe a lot). But once all was said and done, and after the aching in my arm subsided, I reflected on my experience and realized that it wasn't as terrifying as my overactive imagination had built it up to be. This very much reflects my experience with the changeover to holy power from Wrath of the Lich King to Cataclysm. I was really, really hesitant and was not looking forward to relearning how to play my class, but once I got the hang of things it started growing on me. Big changes tend to make us anxious, even angry, but there's something about starting over and learning new things that makes the whole experience worthwhile in the end. With this in mind, I let my imagination run wild between trash packs in Bastion of Twilight the other night and thought of three crazy design ideas for redefining retribution.
Wasteland Diaries: Weapon balance
Rock, scissors, paper. It's not quite that simple when referring to the three weapon classes in Fallen Earth. You have the two ranged disciplines: rifles and pistols. And then you have melee weapons. They all have distinct advantages in combat, and they are all viable in PvP and PvE when played properly. There is a lot of debate about weapon balance on the forums and in the game (gotta love global chat) about weapon balance. I come from the school of thought that believes the weapons are currently as balanced as they have ever been. Many people will disagree with me on that point. But the vast majority of people who agree that the combat is well-balanced in Fallen Earth's current system are my contemporaries who have been PvPing since alpha, beta or launch. Many newer, less experienced players feel that certain weapon classes are overpowered or useless. I say that is not the case. Continue past the cut and I'll explain why I feel that way.
Lichborne: Tier 11 raid and valor point gear for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. Join World of Warcraft's first hero class as we head into a new expansion and shed the new kid on the block label. With 4.1 on the PTR, I've been hearing the usual grumbling. Why should we raid anymore? We'll just wait for the next tier of raiding and get all new good stuff. This argument always sort of strikes me as a little bit off, but it definitely doesn't apply to this patch. Not only is patch 4.1 heroic gear only going to be item level 353, but we won't get a new raiding tier until patch 4.2. That means you probably have multiple months left in which the best gear still comes from raiding tier 11 content. With that in mind, this week we'll look at all the item level 359 gear available in game and figure out what's best for the up-and-coming DPS death knight. This guide will primarily cover raid gear and valor point purchases, with BoE world drops and crafting and reputation purchases where they seem to fit well into the hierarchy of what to wear.
Fiesta Online reveals the Trickster
"The Trickster is here!" the brand-new trailer for Fiesta Online proclaims. Affectionately known as "Trixie," this class has had players wondering what Outspark had planned for the New Heroes of Isya patch. While the trailer doesn't cover much territory, the main feature of the class is highlighted: dual-wielding. Trixie is shown with a pair of nasty-looking dual claws, although the video promises that dual blades is also a lethal option. The Trickster can specialize as either a Renegade or Reaper, and Outspark has said that the class deals damage in a freaky new way. You can get a glimpse of Fiesta Online's Trickster after the jump, and don't miss out on our interview with Outspark about this upcoming patch!
Lichborne: Death knight regemming and reforging for patch 4.0.1
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. Now that we've had a bit of time with patch 4.0.1, hopefully you've settled in to a decent rotation and spec and have begun to feel your way around the new system. Now that you've done that, there's one more step to take: figuring out the best way to reforge and regem your gear. Reforging can be done through certain NPCs in major cities and is a process whereby you take one secondary stat (the ones in green text) and reforge part of it into another stat. This process can be very useful for getting rid of extra stats past the soft cap or just plain getting rid of stats that aren't important for your class or spec. You can't reforge a stat into another stat that's already on the item, but otherwise, your possibilities are endless. Gemming remains more or less how it always has. The one big, new curveball we've been thrown is the fact that hit gems are now blue. This is probably overall a win for DPS death knights, as it gives us a few more options to aim for gear bonuses without handicapping ourselves as much. To understand how, when and if to regem and reforge your gear, you'll need to understand stat weights. While it's still pretty early in the 4.0.1 game (and therefore, it's not completely clear what stat weights are for every spec), the death knight community has still done enough math that we're relatively certain of the general order. With that in mind, let's look at every spec and figure out the best ways to regem and reforge.
Lichborne: Unholy and the state of the Cataclysm beta talent trees
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly source for news, guides, tips and opinions on the death knight class. With this week's Lichborne, I was hoping to have run a few heroic Cataclysm dungeons so I could report back to you on how death knights play through them -- but alas, it was not to be, as my beta client refuses to log in to the game without crashing. Luckily, there are plenty of things to discuss apart from that. This week, I'd like to discuss our talent trees as they currently are in the beta and where things are headed for us as the release date draws nearer.
Lichborne: The death knight beta diaries, part 2: Dual wielding in Deepholm
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly source for news, guides, tips and opinions on the death knight class. Our adventures in beta continue, as promised, with a new zone and a new spec. With Hyjal behind us, the next logical zone to head to is Deepholm, and such is where I headed, after a suitably epic breadcrumb quest sequence. My spec was dual wield frost. Just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from with this testing, I should note that I have been equipping quest rewards if they're itemized for death knight usage, even if they're downgrades, in order to get an idea of how much survivability and damage potential your average casual death knight will have.
Two blades are better than one: MapleStory announces dual blade class
When it comes to weapons, the general thought process in pop culture goes, "One is definitely good, but two is twice as good, not to mention really, really cool looking." Let's be honest -- if people had three hands, we'd be seeing Hollywood movies full of triple-wielding gunslingers, and we'd love it. MapleStory knows this, which is why their latest class strips away pretensions and plays it like it is. Dual blades are a subset of the thief class, specializing in melee weapons to lay down a double-whammy on the bad guys. The new class also comes with an interactive backstory, as they're accepted into an organization of secret thieves (as if thieves advertise) who are out for revenge against the Dark Lord. With a name like Dark Lord, you know he isn't just selling Girl Scout cookies, so he probably deserves what's heading his way. Nexon's set up a special site for the new class that includes a trailer, three contests for impressive prizes, and a handful of dual blade wallpaper downloads to spiffy up your desktop. You can check out all of MapleStory's double-wielding action here.
Vindictus shows off the dual-wielding mayhem of Lann
Vindictus has no small number of people looking in its direction with longing, on account of its detailed graphics and action-oriented approach. Potential players might get a chance at previewing the game at San Diego Comic-Con, but everyone will get the chance to take a look at the newest preview video featuring Lann, the dual-blade warrior of the game. Even within the context of the game, Lann is a high-speed character, spinning about and dispensing death with both of his weapons. Starting in light armor, Lann will eventually get access to heavy armor as well as the potential to wield paired spears instead of swords. He specializes in mobility, able to easily sidestep several blows and move quickly to engage an enemy. Even if he doesn't get out of the way, he also possesses skills to counterattack after a knockdown and hit multiple enemies at once. Take a look past the break for the short video, and keep your eyes peeled for more reveals about Vindictus as we approach the promised release late in the year.
Lichborne: Notes from the Twitter developer chat
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly source for news, guides, tips and opinions on the death knight class. While paladins got some of the biggest bombshells in last week's big developer Twitter chat, there was still quite a bit of juicy information for death knights. Reading between the lines, it's pretty obvious we're getting some major tree revamps, especially in the frost tree, what with On a Pale Horse being added and Runic Empowerment being made baseline. The answers also bought some interesting insights into some of the various decisions being made as our class takes shape in Cataclysm. A few of the answers definitely merit some deeper discussion, so let's get to it.
Lichborne: Frost DPS 101
Welcome to Lichborne, where we're taking a break from all the Cataclysm info and analysis to focus on the here and now in death knight issues. One of Patch 3.3.3's biggest focuses was adjusting frost DPS to be viable at the end game. The changes proved to be mostly successful, and as a result, dual-wield frost DPS is back on the map and may have an outside chance of not getting you laughed out of a raid. With that in mind, it's a perfect time to take a look at the spec. This guide will give you a rundown of the basic stuff you need to know to break into the ground floor of the spec. The goal is to make speccing, gemming, glyphing and doing damage as simple to understand and implement as possible, making it easier for you to break into the playstyle and start using it on your own character. In some cases, this means "cutting corners," and in other places it means making judgment calls on gemming and glyphing options that are still a bit more nebulous once you get to the really heady theorycrafting stuff. This article is meant to make being moderately success at frost an easier task. Without further ado, then, let's begin!
Warhammer Online Producer's Letter teases 1.3.5 improvements
As March winds down to a close, the WAR continues -- and Mythic producer Carrie Gouskos steps up to rally the troops behind a few juicy, if tantalizingly vague, quality of life improvements coming in the 1.3.5 patch. Take my hand, Dorothy, for it's dyes, scenarios, Marauders and minimaps, oh my! Following Warhammer Online's patch 1.3.4, the team has kept a close eye on the PvP scenarios, and while they are happy overall, the plague of player /AFK's have taken their toll. Carrie promises that they are "actively investigating a solution for this problem." She also highlighted the improved communication efforts of the team, as seen on the official Dev Discussions forum. Small but attractive improvements are in store for WAR's 1.3.5 patch, including a sharper look for armor dyes, "gutters" for the minimap to show off-map objective directions, and dual wielding for the mutated Marauder class.
Lichborne: The rise of PvE frost DPS on the patch 3.3.3 PTR
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly look at the world of the death knight. With Patch 3.3.3 on the PTR and looking closer and closer to going live, the buzz around death knights is just about where you'd expect it to be, squarely on the frost talent tree. This is especially true of frost DPS. While it once reigned supreme as a cornerstone of the famous 39/32 builds, it's fallen out of favor, and even Threat of Thassarian hasn't been enough to keep it from being consigned to the status of third rate, a pariah from any raid that already has a shaman to provide Windfury. Blizzard's obviously dedicated to getting the tree properly buffed in Patch 3.3.3, but have they succeeded? Let's take a look at the frost tree thus far, and what we may be doing with our own builds and talents in a few weeks' time.
PS3 motion games: Dual wanding not required
Did Dirty Harry ever need a second Model 29 to mop up the streets? No sir. Likewise, you'll get by just fine with one PS3 motion controller on your person. "We are approaching the launch [of the PlayStation motion controller] by making sure that all games that we create can be played with one controller and the camera," Sony boss Shuhei Yoshida assured penny-pinching purchasers during a recent interview with Eurogamer.Of course, adding a second motion controller to your loadout could really make the magic happen: "It's like putting your arms into the TV, like a gaming space, and you have total control of the 3D space in front of you," Yoshida described of the experience of dual wanding.Woah. Did anyone else just feel that? For a second there we were totally transported into the fourth dimension.
World of Warcraft Patch 3.2 Death Knight Guide
WoW.com has covered patch 3.2 extensively. Everything from the surprising changes to flying mounts, to the latest and greatest loot, and all the changes in between. In our patch 3.2 class, raiding, and PvP guides we take a look at exactly what changes and how the changes will affect your playing.With the arrival of Patch 3.2, let's take stock of what's going on with Death Knights and how things have turned out for us. The Patch 3.2 PTR's been the testing grounds for a few major changes to various trees and play styles, and now it'll be interesting to see how things play out on the live server. You can see the basic size of the Death Knight changes in this original analysis of the patch changes, but some things have changed since then, as we will note below.TankingWe do get a couple hits to tanking this patch. Frost Presence will be switching from a health buff to a stamina buff, and Veteran of the Third War will be nerfed to only a 3% stamina gain at the top level. Toughness is also dropping from 15% to 10% armor buffed at its top level. Honestly, I don't think these changes alone will be so bad as to drop us too low on the tanking totem pole, especially since we've been up at the top so long.
The Queue: I don't really know what's happening here
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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.The video I've included in today's edition of The Queue is... something. It is certainly a thing. A thing that is entirely unrelated to WoW. I know the music is produced by Justice, but the video? Well. It's a video. Enjoy?corwin asked... "Is anything more going to be done with the Grizzly Hills Venture Bay PVP areas? It seems like it has a lot of potential and isn't paid any attention."
Lichborne: Patch 3.2 Death Knight changes in-depth
Welcome to Lichborne, the Death Knight column, with your host, Daniel Whitcomb.On my first read-through of the Patch 3.2 Death Knight patch notes, I had to chuckle a bit. If the theme of the Retribution overhauls was making Retribution DPS a bit more complicated, it was definitely very much about the simplification for Death Knights. Simplification is a relative term, of course, given that rune rotations are still in full effect, but there has been some streamlining of techniques and adjustment of cooldowns that will lead many of us to do some tuning up on our rotations. Let's take a deep look at the changes and see what they'll mean for us going forward into Patch 3.2.
