Glyph
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Patch 3.2: More profession changes
We've picked up some more details about professions in Patch 3.2. Some of the changes were covered a few days ago by Eliah. The notes made today elaborate more on engineering, alchemy, fishing and cooking changes. Alchemy Stackable potions now stack to 20. Five new epic gem transmute recipes are available from the Northrend trainer. The recipe for transmuting a Cardinal Ruby can be learned from a quest, given by Linzy Blackbolt in Dalaran. Rage potions can now be used by druids. I have an entire guild bank tab filled with nothing but Mana Injectors. I was both saddened and delighted when I heard that potions now stack to 20. Big plus to Potion of Speed and Potion of Wild Magic since those will be stackable now. But are they going to be completely useless? Nope! Wait until you see the Engineering changes. It means I don't have to make any more injectors! New epic gem transmutes are on the way too! More profession changes after the jump.
The Queue: Hodgepodge
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today. Lots of good questions this week, and like yesterday's Queue, we have a full set of them today as well.Boreddruid asked..."Is there any particular time that my guild should start 10-man Ulduar hard modes?"
Spiritual Guidance: 3.1.2 thoughts and the Ulduar experience
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a new UI blog for all classes. So how about them 3.1.2 changes? The upcoming 3.1.2 patch is introducing some minor modifications to some of our Priestly spells. I'd have to say that it's an overall net nerf to Discipline. But in all honesty, I did feel we were slightly overpowered. Yes I'd say some of these were designed to address PvP concerns. Now I don't PvP competitively but when Priest/Rogue or Priest/Anything starts to have mass appeal, I pay a bit more attention and I ask questions to the players that do arena often. It's not that I don't like to arena or hit the battlegrounds. It's always been a time factor for me (due to raiding, writing and school). PvP simply gets the short end of the stick and ends up being something I can't get involved with.
Insider Trader: The patch 3.1 glyph market
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.If you are a Scribe who has not yet stepped into the glyph market since patch 3.1 went live on Tuesday, April 14th, then you'd better hustle! As we discussed pre-patch, the glyph market is undergoing a radical shift. For a limited time, perhaps very limited, it is soaring to epic heights. Unfortunately, this will not last, and I expect the market to take a sobering downturn in the next couple of weeks. This upswing is also affecting related markets, such as those for inks and herbs, and although we will likely see a bit of a price crash once the glyph market deteriorates, these should stabilize relatively quickly. Today, I will be reviewing why and how the glyph market is changing, and make some predictions for the future. I will also discuss how you can earn some of this post-patch wealth, as well as ways to continue making some profit even after the demand for glyphs drops. I will also be pointing you to some interesting stories around the web of how other Scribes are cashing in this week!
The Queue: You have been pwned by a grue
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.What is a grue?The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale. (source) Who wants to go start a WoW based mud with me?Jeni asked..."Regarding the shift in glyphs...what happens if you want to use a Glyph of Levitate in both specs? What if you don't care enough about your off spec to get new glyphs each time you switch specs (for instance, keep your holy glyphs when you switch specs to shadow to quest?) Does it eat up your glyphs anyhow?"
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Warlock glyphs
So many goodies in Patch 3.1, I don't know where to start. Okay, I do know where to start... we looked at some class changes. Now, though, it's time to examine the glyphs of the new patch. We've got some gems here... Glyph of Incinerate - Increases the damage done by Incinerate by 5% (Old: Glyph of Banish Increases the duration of your Banish by 5 sec.)A no-nonsense increase in DPS to replace a glyph that nobody ever took? Why not? Considering Incinerate spam is part of Destruction's deal, this is a pleasant glyph to have.Glyph of Imp - Increases the damage done by your Imp's Firebolt spell by 20%. (Old: 10%)This significantly packs more punch into an Imp's firepower. A solid choice of glyph for Destruction Warlocks who already invest points in Improved Imp, Demonic Power, and Empowered Imp. It's like having a machine gun. A very talkative, smart-lipped machine gun.Glyph of Haunt *new* - The bonus damage granted by your Haunt spell is increased by an additional 3%.Although Haunt was nerfed to apply exclusively to shadow damage, this glyph is hands down the best glyph choice for Affliction Warlocks.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Paladin glyphs
Delicious new glyphs and some rework of old ones in this massive content Patch 3.1. In the midst of all the excitement, let's try to look at the Paladin glyphs and what they mean for the class.Glyph of Exorcism - Increases damage done by Exorcism by 20%. (Old: Your Exorcism also interrupts spellcasting for 2 sec.)You really didn't think they'd let us keep the interrupt now that it can be cast on any target, did you? Of course not. However, this glyph is a solid choice for the third glyph slot for every Retribution Paladin, who will have Exorcism firmly in their rotations. While we pine for the loss of a possible spell interrupt, the DPS increase is pretty solid.Glyph of Divinity - Your Lay on Hands grants twice as much mana as normal and also grants you as much mana as it grants your target. (Old: Your Lay on Hands also grants you as much mana as it grants your target.)The mana returns are great, but there are better glyph choices out there, specially the new ones introduced in Patch 3.1, particularly the next one...Glyph of Lay on Hands -- Reduces the cooldown of your Lay on Hands spell by 5 min.(Old: Increases the mana restored by your Lay on Hands spell by 20%)Now this is an awesome glyph. Without talents, this allows the use of one of the best emergency buttons ever every 15 minutes. With Improved Lay on Hands, that gets cut down to 11 minutes. It still won't be usable in Arenas, of course, but the change makes it excellent for raiding. We'll probably need to use it a lot in Ulduar, anyway. Also, expect Blizzard to change the 4-piece set bonus of the Tier 3 Redemption set, designed during a time when Lay on Hands was on a one-hour cooldown.More glyphs of pure win after the jump...
Arcane Brilliance: Grading the glyphs
Each week Arcane Brilliance writes a column about the ins and outs of Magehood. Mostly, what's in a Mage's hood is the Mage's face (which may or may not have a lower jaw), and what's out of a Mage's hood is fiery death. Did you see what I did there? It's clever word-play, you see...ins and outs...Magehood...in a Mage's hood...out...get it? Oh, fine. You try to come up with something witty every week! It's hard! Stupid italicized introductory paragraphs...I should have just gone with some more Warlock-bashing.I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, discretionary funds were rare and precious. There were so many toys to buy, and so little money with which to purchase them. If Grandma were to send me a card with five bucks in it for my birthday, that was a windfall of epic proportions. Each purchase had to be carefully planned, each dollar wrung for as much value as it could provide. Use the money now on a Storm Shadow action figure (with combat grip!), or save it to someday replace the NES controller that had died a premature death in the wake of a last second Tecmo Super Bowl loss to my little brother? Yes, my childhood was in many ways resource management training for later years spent playing games like Starcraft.And games like World of Warcraft.Do I spend my Stone Keeper's Shards on a meta gem now, or save them for that sweet Mammoth? Use my honor to upgrade my cloak now, or save it and get the trinket? Use that socket for spellpower or hit rating? Kill the Warlock, or kill the Warlock? So many choices. All of which brings us to this week's topic: what to do with our precious and very limited Glyph slots? Follow me through the jump, and we'll discuss.
Spiritual Guidance: Is Greater Heal on Life Support?
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. Is the Priest usage of Greater Heal fading away? Matticus shall answer! An excellent thread on Plus Heal has caught my attention and it's a topic that's also been picked up by Kestrel. It's about the current use of Greater Heal (or lack thereof). Check your meters. Specifically, check your cast sequences. See if you can determine how often you use Greater Heal on a typical night. If you're a player who uses it often, I applaud you. From a mathematical and healing efficiency stand point, Greater Heal has the edge. Under lab conditions. Except raid environments aren't lab conditions. Let's go into detail about when Greater Heal is used in Discipline and Holy after the break.
Glyph of Holy Light nerfed
Yesterday, the healing forums were flooded with complaints largely by Priests alleging that the new 3.0.8 version of the Paladin Glyph of Holy Light was completely overpowered and made Paladins into group healers, shoe-horning them into a niche recently left half-vacant by our Circle of Healing nerf. Such complainants will presumably be happy to hear that the glyph is being hotfixed, reducing the range from 20 yards to 8. Ghostcrawler calls the glyph "vastly overpowered," and goes on in a later post to give a bit more information. Like most changes, this was not done in response to QQ; as it turns out, the glyph was just overpowered. He also states that [major] glyphs are meant to be "about on par with passive talents" in terms of their power, which is in line with what I've been observing (maybe a few percent increase in damage/healing/mitigation per glyph, for the good ones). At any rate, sorry to my Holy Paladin friends; I guess this one was just too good to last. I'm still jealous of your everlasting mana.
The Light and How to Swing It: It's good to be the king
It's a phenomenal time to be a Paladin these days. Let's face it, no matter how we spec, we're actually wanted all throughout Northrend. As Holy, we've got spots in parties, raids, and refreshingly even Arena teams of any bracket. As Retribution, we're actually sought after in groups and -- paired with the right teammates -- can actually shine in Arenas, too. Protection Paladins are just about the best tanks in the game right now, even in raids, what with all trash being AoE'd to kingdom come.Patch 3.0.8 has a few changes that should boost us and balance us in some areas. One big change is how Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Avenging Wrath cannot be used within 30 seconds of each other anymore, and the removal of Forbearance from Avenging Wrath once again. This reworks the quick fix post 3.0 where Retribution Paladins were devastating opponents with wings and a bubble. It wasn't the most elegant solution and hurt Paladin tanking about as much as it toned down Retribution dominance in PvP. With Patch 3.0.8, Paladin tanks can look forward to frontloading massive threat comfortable with the thought that Divine Protection is a mere thirty seconds away. Furthermore, Divine Protection no longer has a penalty, making it nearly identical to a Warrior's Shield Wall. That's right, Tankadins get even better.
Lichborne: Talents for catching up
Welcome to Lichborne, where Daniel Whitcomb is doing some last minute agonizing over what face to give his Death Knight on Thursday.So there are quite a few of us, I imagine, who are still on track to switch to a Death Knight, or at least play one quite extensively, immediately when Wrath of the Lich King hits the live servers. But the fact remains that you'll be 15 levels behind everyone to start, and if you have friends to catch up to, you're going to want to get up there pretty quickly, most likely. Even if you plan to take it slow, you'll still want a good effective leveling build, most likely. So today, we'll look at three solid solo DPS builds from each tree, and discuss how to use them most effectively for grinding and leveling.
WoW Insider Show Episode 62: Why doesn't Tame Beast work on Druids?
Our podcast was back on the air last Saturday, and we were happy to welcome two very talented bloggers to the mix: both Daniel "BigRedKitty" Howell and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli, authors of our BRK and Shifting Perspectives columns, respectively, were aboard to chat with us about whether the endgame is just too easy lately (or whether it's nice that some people who couldn't before are seeing instances and getting loot), the new boss in Karazhan, and how abruptly the zombie event ended. We also hit on Blizzard's almost-mistake with the class forums, and if we really deserved that three-day credit due to lag and queues lately.We answered emails as well -- BRK gave some great AH tips for when to get rid of your primals and mats before Wrath, and BBB helped a listener out who was wondering if he should play a Druid or a Warlock to 80 first. And I got some good glyph hints and tips out of the guys in terms of what to put in those glyph slots for Hunters and Feral Druids. If you have a comment or question for the show, feel free to send it along to theshow at wowinsider dot com, and you might even hear it on next week's show.Perhaps most exciting, we worked a lot last week to make sure the quality of the show was better, and I think for the most part it worked -- we didn't have a single disconnect during the chat, and you should find that the tinny voices in the recording are gone as well. It's not perfect yet, and there's more we want to add into the mix, but we're working on it. The iTunes feed is still on the fritz, but the RSS feed below works just fine for me and it should for you, too. Be sure to tune in next week at 3:30pm Eastern -- we do this live every Saturday, and it is a darn good time.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
A brief introduction to glyphs
Inscription is here (if your server is up, that is). And Inscription's primary goal in life is to make glyphs. For you. I say this because many people seem to have questions about what glyphs are, how they work, and where to get them. In this post I hope to answer those questions. Glyphs are made by players who have learned the new profession of Inscription (AKA scribes). The primary reagent for Inscription is herbs, which are milled to make pigments, which are turned into inks, which are then combined with parchments (which are bought from vendors) to make glyphs. Whew. Scribes can sell/trade/give glyphs to players, who then use them to enhance their spells. Each Glyph enhances a particular spell for a particular class.
Holy and Discipline Priest 3.0.2 spell and ability review
Before continuing to read on, you may wish to refer back to part 1 of the Holy and Discipline Priest 3.0.2 overview. Part 2 will cover many basics including mana management, healing spells, gem questions, and glyphs. It is a very strong bet that patch 3.0.2 patch will activate on Tuesday. For the Priests that are still raiding (I feel like I'm the only one), find out what you need to know after the jump!
Encrypted Text: Rogue Glyphs, part 2
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we finish a discussion on upcoming Rogue glyphs in WOTLK.Wrath of the Lich King (and also the upcoming patch 3.0) includes a new tradeskill: Inscription. Inscriptionists will be able to create scrolls, off-hand items, and parchments to help enchanters sell their wares. However, their key crafted item comes in the form of spell/skill enhancing Glyphs. Every non-inscriptionist character has six Glyph slots they can use to enhance themselves. There are three major and three minor slots; of which you can mix and match appropriate Glyphs. An image of the Glyph interface is shown above (the center slot is thought to be for Inscriptionists themselves as a tradeskill perk).Some of the various Glyphs enhance existing abilities, while others add utility to skills that change its function completely. The current Rogue Glyphs come in 3 major flavors: cooldown/energy cost reduction, range increase, and damage/effect increase. After the cut, let's explore these groups individually.
Ask a Beta Tester: Professions and gems
We'll start out today with a simple enchanting question from WarwolfSwe, who asked.... Is there and new rod for enchanting? And do i need to upgrade the standard Runed Adamantite Rod to a Runed Eternium Rod? There is now a Runed Eternium Rod you can craft at 375 skill. And, yes, it does require a Runed Adamanite Rod to craft (though the other materials -- Greater Planar Essence and Primal Might may be placeholders, as they seem pretty old world-y). For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Lichborne: Death Knight glyphs
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly weekend look at the first hero class, the Death Knight. Daniel Whitcomb is back after dealing with some light administrative work back at the Ebon Hold. Inscription seems to be coming on to the beta server in bits and pieces, especially when it comes to the much looked for glyphs. One or two classes seem to trickle in each build, and in the latest build, it is the Death Knight's turn. Today, we'll take a quick look at the new Death Knight glyphs, and figure out how useful they'll be to the various playstyles and specs of the Death Knight. As always, it's worth noting that these are beta numbers, so things could change by the time Inscription and Death Knights see the light of day on live servers.
Ask a Beta Tester: More about inscription
We might have had more news today -- if Blizzard's beta servers could stay online for more than five minutes consecutively. We've been staring a lot at the "World Server Down" message since Blizzard rolled out patch 8905 late last night (or early this morning, depending on how you look at these things). Let's start today off with more on Inscription. A new beta patch went up last night with a few changes, including.... "Pomaces" have been renamed "Pigments" and have shiny new icons that look less like dust (they were various colors of enchanting dust icons) and look more like... well, I suppose, pigments.You can judge for yourself what you think they look most like. New Glyphs for Shamans, Warlocks, and Warriors. More Glyphs with realistic, skill level appropriate material costs. (Though the majority of them still need the exact same ink, herb, and one of each kind of parchment.) The Glyph cooldown has been changed. Though applying a Glyph still starts an hour cooldown, the cooldown is only for that Glyph, specifically. So if, for example, my Paladin applies Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom, I cannot apply Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom again for an hour. However, I could instantly swap six healing Glyphs for six tanking Glyphs -- I'd just have to wait to switch back to my original healing Glyphs. (And, of course, I'd have to have a new set of healing Glyphs to swap to, as removing them to put in tank-oriented Glyphs would destroy them.) And, though apparently not new, several people in the comments noted that a Glyph can be removed by shift right-clicking -- however, this still destroys the Glyph in the process.For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Ask a Beta Tester: All about Inscription (and a few other things)
Twan kicks us off this morning with.... Is it worth stockpiling herbs or bars/ore if I had to pick one? There's not much you'll be doing with Outland or Azerothian ore... unless you want your new Death Knight to be a Blacksmith or Jewelcrafter... but herbs of all levels will be used in the new Inscription profession. Use them to train Inscription, sell them on the auction house post Wrath... either way, you win! For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! We've got all there is to know about inscription after the break. But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
