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Mage glyph changes in patch 5.0.4
When the new 5.0 patch flips over on Aug. 28, will you be ready with glyphs? Blizzard is recycling old glyphs instead of making new spell IDs and charring old ones. Some glyphs are staying the same, some are new, but some share IDs with old Cataclysm glyphs. Below is our list of new or changing glyphs for mages. This is not a list of changing tooltips, just which glyphs you ought to have if you want to automatically have the new glyphs when the patch flips over. Mages have no new glyphs but seem to be the masters of musical glyph chairs, namely Icy Veins and Cone of Cold. If you currently have both, you will have both, so get both just to be sure. Glyphs that are changing into new majors: Arcane Power becomes Arcane Explosion Arcane Blast becomes Arcane Power Frost Armor becomes Armors Fireball becomes Combustion Icy Veins becomes Cone of Cold Mana Shield becomes Counterspell Ice Barrier becomes Deep Freeze Living Bomb becomes Fire Blast Frostfire becomes Frostfire Bolt Cone of Cold becomes Icy Veins Mage Armor becomes Mana Gem Blast Wave becomes Remove Curse Dragon's Breath becomes Spellsteal Deep Freeze becomes Water Elemental Glyphs that are changing into new minors: Slow Fall becomes Arcane Language Conjuring becomes Conjure Familiar Molten Armor becomes Crittermorph Arcane Barrage becomes Illusion Arcane Missiles becomes Loose Mana Pyroblast becomes Momentum Arcane Brilliance becomes the Porcupine Armors becomes Rapid Teleportation 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!
RIFT announces battle mage soul: The Harbinger
If you listen very carefully, you'll hear the cry from over the mountaintops: "Battle mage? Battle mage?" And if you listen even closer, you'll hear Trion Worlds' response: "Coming in Storm Legion! Coming in Storm Legion!" Indeed, RIFT's development team has confirmed the first of four new souls for the Storm Legion expansion, the Harbinger. Designed for the Mage calling, the Harbinger is a melee DPS soul. Unlike other Mage souls, this one prefers to get up close and personal with attacks, summoning fiercesome weapons for the fight, such as the energy scythe and lightning blade. It's designed to work well with the other souls and to bring survivability and utility to the calling. The Harbinger's special armor also reduces cast time, allowing the melee soul to mix in quick magical attacks into its rotation. In the same livestream, the team also teased the upcoming announcement of a massive horned mount nicknamed "Mr. Landslide." The devs said we should be hearing more on this mount next week. The full reveal video is after the break.
WoW Moviewatch: I Went Fire On My Mage
Adam didn't convince me to do Moviewatch today -- I just decided to help myself to the job. I have a soft spot in my heart for machinima, mostly because I've always wanted to be a machinima artist myself. Unfortunately, I'm held back by the fact that I use a Mac. Yeah ... Anyway, today's video is a music video for Sharm's I Went Fire On My Mage, a parody of Set Fire to the Rain by Adele. The parody tells the story of an arcane mage who decides to switch specs to fire after she realizes she doesn't have the physical endurance to continue playing arcane. (That will make more sense after you watch the video.) Sharm's lyrics are brilliantly funny and fit in well with the original music. In terms of the lyrics, it's definitely one of the stronger WoW music parodies I've heard. And as usual, she nails the execution of the song with her lovely voice. What else would you expect by now? The video was created by machinima artist Rogahar, who uses a combination of footage from in-game capture and WoW Model Viewer. The video adds a lot to the song, impressing a tone to it which I don't think I'd have noticed nearly as much if I'd just heard the song on its own. The opening and closing shots of the video in particular really set a sad and then remorseful mood to the story. My only complaint with the video is that by the third chorus, some of the images become a bit too repetitive, but seeing as this is Rogahar's first machinima (to my knowledge), I think it's forgiveable. For now, I'm looking forward to see more from this new artist. Check it out! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Diablo III's Wizard rebels against the system
The cracking you hear is the sound of thousands of index fingers flexing and twitching in anticipation for Diablo III's release. It's... kind of disturbing to behold, actually. To take our mind off the wait (or perhaps to exacerbate it), Blizzard has released the final class spotlight, this time featuring the Wizard. Diablo III's Wizards are described as "brilliant practitioners of the arcane arts who deftly wield the energies of fire, ice, lightning, and even time itself in the pursuit of their enigmatic goals." These Wizards are part of an underground rebellion that is seeking great power, and they are scorned by the mages in charge, yet they may be the only ones to save the world from the great new threat that's arisen. Check out the fire-and-brimstone action of the Wizard after the jump!
GuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline
The folks at GuildOx have gone through their database and done some simple filtering that reveals some fascinating things about who is raiding heroic Dragon Soul. GuildOx started with level 85 characters, filtered for characters with ilevel 400 gear, and then filtered out anyone with PvP gear. What you see in the chart above is the result of that work -- a representative sample of who out of the over 13 million level 85 characters in the GuildOx database is raiding heroic Dragon Soul. If you remember the post about the complexity of systems and player retention that I made a couple of weeks back, you'll remember that I mentioned Cynwise's excellent posts about the warlock decline. Well, here it is again reflected in GuildOx's data. Warlocks are the least played class in heroic raiding. Warriors aren't doing much better, really. Most other classes seem fairly healthy, with classes that have healing specs doing fairly well and rogues absolutely ruling heroic raiding despite being one of the least-played classes in the game overall. It gets even more interesting once we get to look at the GuildOx spec-by-spec breakdown.
The Summoner's Guidebook: Yes, I've seen your bear Tibbers
Annie is a very popular champion in the lower skill ranks of League of Legends. This is especially true of the Classic gametypes, where she is one of the more common choices for the solo mid lane. Additionally, she is a fearsome enemy even when played by the AI. Horror stories of Annie Bot wrecking whole teams have been going on since the dawn of the game. Because Annie is so popular and deadly, she's an ideal character to spotlight on the Guidebook. She's fun, easy to play, and oh-so-very cute. When you go up against her, it's good to know exactly what to expect.
Reader UI of the Week: Magistrum's basic setup makes great addon starting place
Each week, WoW Insider and Mathew McCurley bring you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you'd like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you're using to readerui@wowinsider.com, and follow Mathew on Twitter. One of the most amazing things about World of Warcraft's addons is that you're always learning something new or adapting your interface to the new standards because you can build on top of what's already there. Sometimes you do the opposite -- take all of the information you've learned and processed but strip it all away and start from stratch. It's liberating to re-form your UI with years of potentially new and useful knowledge and expectations when going to build your legacy UI. Magistrum sent me a screenshot for his mage's new UI. I looked at the picture first as I usually do when picking out a UI for the column and saw a very basic design that didn't jump out at me while being far from offensive. After reading the short email, it dawned on me that I was looking at this UI all wrong. This wasn't a first attempt at cleanliness with a new player, hitting the game for the first time. No, this was years of learning and understanding what makes your own personal UI yours. The little pieces are all in place where you want them.
A priest's guide to class romance
It's a troubling yet underpublicized fact that four out of five shadow priests respecced shadow for the first time after experiencing a romantic break-up. Recent studies show that priests are 63% more likely to respec shadow within 72 hours of a break-up, while a separate poll found that 78% of healing priests had seriously considered respeccing to shadow after having an argument with their spouse or significant other. To the tenderhearted healing priest, shadow probably seems like a quick way to steel yourself and mend a broken heart; unfortunately, too few priests realize the two points they're putting into Masochism 'til they're staring down into an empty bottle of Volcanic Potion and wishing they could do the same DPS as a warlock. The simple way to avoid all these drastic courses of action is, of course, to skip getting your heart broken in the first place. Easier said than done, you think? Perhaps, but knowing the battlefield of love will certainly help you avoid the more obvious pitfalls. Want to know what your best match is? What about your worst? This week, I've got the answers in a special guide to the classes.
The Queue: Name that companion pet.
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Josh Myers will be your host today. As one of the youngest writers on the WoW Insider staff, I was of an acceptable age for Pokémon playing when Pikachu first sailed the ocean blue and Pokémon Red landed in my Game Boy Pocket. It was Christmas Day, 1998. I hadn't quite learned that electronics required battery power to operate at that point, and losing my Charizard because I didn't save once in an eight hour pocket monster marathon would be my most crushing video game defeat until our first 20k HP wipe on Professor Putricide 12 years later. As you might expect from someone whose first video game glory days involved beating the Elite Four with a Mewtwo and thinking he was the best Pokémon master in the world, I'm a little psyched for companion battling. And by a little excited, I almost forgot to be excited about the rest of the awesome stuff coming in the freshly announced Mists of Pandaria, including the Pandaren themselves. While I'm now allowing myself to be excited for monks, PVE scenarios, and the entire talent tree overhaul, I can't help alt-tabbing out of our blogging platform to decide which of my companion pets I'm going to level up first. Will it be my shiny new Murkablo, my staple Fossilized Hatchling, or am I going to go Black Kingsnake, just because no one else will? Maybe I'll even name him Onyx.
BlizzCon 2011: Screenshots of the new Pandaria talents for all classes
If you wanted to look at the new talents that will be debuting in Mists of Pandaria, I would hope you followed our liveblog of the talent system overhaul. The short version is you get to pick 1 talent from a pool of 3 talents every 15 levels. By the time you hit the new level cap of 90, you will have 6 talents. Each set of talents does the same thing, more or less, in different ways. Now, for your perusal, we present a class by class gallery of the new talent system as it stands today. Remember this is subject to change, alot, before Pandaria, launches. Make no mistake, this is a significant game changer for everyone. This is the dawning of unparalleled flexibility in personal customization choice. Arms warriors with Shockwave, fury warriors with Bladestorm. This is the biggest change to the game since reforging. There are no tree examples for the upcoming Monk class yet. Galleries of each class's talents after the cut.
Aeria reveals new Lime Odyssey website, trailer
Aeria Games' new Lime Odyssey MMO has been in the works for a while now. We first caught wind of the free-to-play fantasy game in late 2010, and since then news pickings have been rather slim. Now, though, Aeria has ponied up a press release that adds a few more details into the mix (including a new website as well as a trailer comprised of the game's opening cinematic). Lime Odyssey: The Chronicles of Orta will feature three races -- Humans, Turga, and Muris -- as well as three adventuring and three crafting classes. Players may choose from traditional Thief, Mage, or Warrior archetypes for the former and Tailor, Chef, and Blacksmith disciplines for the latter. Gameplay revolves around the collection of a sacred substance known as lime, and players will "traverse mountains, deserts, and oceans on [a] quest for peace and harmony (while killing lots of mobs, of course). Hit the jump for the cinematic. [Source: Aeria press release]
Allods Online: Undaunted goes live with gifts for all
You know how older siblings always complain that their younger brothers and sisters get all the leeway and extra love? Sometimes MMO vets feel like that about beginners to their game: "Back in my day, we never had it so easy! We had to log in using a 2400-baud modem and pay to play by the second!" Well, Allods Online is certainly lavishing affection on the beginner experience in its October update, Undaunted, although high-level players have quite a bit to enjoy as well. Undaunted is removing the fatigue system and lowering enemy health, which should expedite the leveling process. There's also a new level 5 zone for Imperial players and an additional class for each faction: the Elven Psionicist and Xadaganian Mage. Experienced adventurers can try their hands at the Mausoleum of Sparks, a "survival mode" dungeon that seeks to pick off players one by one until only the toughest remain, or the new high-level zone, Kingdom of Elements. Allods Online's arena system now boasts a matchmaking feature that allows players to jump into PvP bouts anytime from anywhere. To celebrate Undaunted's release, gPotato is handing out boxes of Gem Shards (US) and Boutique Coins (EU) that are worth anywhere between $1 and $100 worth of in-game currency. New players will have to wait until level 20 to receive their prize boxes, however. You can watch the trailer for Undaunted after the jump! [Source: gPotato press release]
Leaderboard: Magic vs. melee
Magic and melee: the yin and yang of the fantasy world. It's hard to imagine one existing without the other, the spell-slinging wizard without the mace-wielding hedge knight, the Gandalf without the Conan. Do they exist in a strange symbiosis of mysticism and steel, or is one the clear superior of the other? On one side, magicians have all the power of the elements at their disposal, able to do supernatural feats of wonder with a snap of their fingertips. Of course, this comes at a cost: namely, a terry cloth bathrobe dress code and approximately six-and-a-half hit points. On the other side, melee fighters spend their lives honing their bodies to physical perfection, becoming the Olympic athletes of the fantasy world, if the Olympics had 50-meter Beheading as a category. Then again, fighters tend to have the intellect of a dull brick and try to solve every problem, including PTA meetings, by headbutting it. Who will be crowned the victor today: the wizard or the warrior? Cast your vote -- and the fate of humankind -- after the jump!
Blizzard reveals mage tier 13 raid gear
Blizzard has been on a spree of patch 4.3 raid information recently, first showcasing the new warrior tier 13 Colossal Dragonplate Deathwing-inspired armor as well as the warlock tier 13 General Vezax/Faceless Ones-inspired set called the Faceless Shroud. Druids and shaman also got to see their new gear. Mages are next up for a tier 13 sneak peek as well as a retrospective on the previous tier sets to showcase all the past mage regalia for transmogrification when the patch hits. This new set, Timelord Regalia, looks absolutely awesome, with crazy explorer goggles and a nice color scheme. Mage tier sets have always been pretty cool, in my opinion, but this takes the cake. I love the goggles. Cataclysm armor design has been top-notch throughout, and this final raid's epic sets really bring home the weight of our actions at the end of the expansion. %Gallery-133939% Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Reader UI of the Week: I am Jack's multi-purpose
Each week, WoW Insider and Mathew McCurley bring you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you'd like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you're using to readerui@wowinsider.com, and follow Mathew on Twitter. Greetings, Reader UI of the Week fans. Everyone seems to have some sort of food poisoning or stomach problems this week, and I have no idea what is up with that. We have a national stomach epidemic here in the United States. Here's something that won't upset your delicate bodily balance; Jack's smooth and slick user interface setup, centered around grouping, dungeons, and questing. While I am a raider at heart, my recent obsession has been with players and nonraiding UIs. Not that I think that there is anything wrong with a raiding UI, but as someone who primarily lives in raiding content, it is interesting to look and see what 5-man-focused UIs are built around. With the coming of the Raid Finder in patch 4.3 as an introductory raiding system, more and more players are going to have to adapt their 5-man UI setups to a raiding environment if they want to succeed in taking down the big bosses of the raiding world. Jack's UI is a competent setup that can make the change and stands up on its own two legs.
Is it time to kill pure DPS?
Hi guys, you may remember me from last week when I threw a rock into a hornet's nest. I was frankly blown away by the responses, some of which were very well thought-out, that supported, refuted, or elaborated on the issue of tanking and if it is here to stay or on its last legs. Since I find that kind of discussion valuable, I thought, "Well, I can always find another rock, right?" And so here we are. The DPS classes in World of Warcraft present us with a conundrum. If we consider the holy trinity of tanking, damage dealing and healing to be a pyramid that the game relies on, then the base of the pyramid is most easily envisioned as cornered by the tanking and healing classes and the apex occupied by the DPSers. The issue is, only four classes can hold up the tanking corner, only four can hold up the healing corner (and two of those classes are also in the tanking corner), and absolutely every single class in the game can stand on the top of the pyramid. This results in a pyramid that's metaphorically heavier on top than at the bottom. Furthermore, of the game's 10 classes, four of them (the rogue, mage, warlock, and hunter) can only stand at the top. Whether or not they want to do something else is immaterial (although one assumes that they do not, elsewise they might have chosen a different class), because they simply cannot do so -- at least if we continue to visualize the game as based around the tanking/damaging/healing triad. So what to do? Well, we can get rid of DPS classes entirely.
Nexon releases new MapleStory map and two new classes
MapleStory's Big Bang patch series is reloading for a second round of content updates, and this time the new stuff includes a new map, two new classes, and a new story. Nexon's free-to-play fantasy side-scroller now features the Wild Hunter and Battle Mage classes, which players can commandeer in an effort to stem the tide of the relentless Black Wing menace that threatens to destroy the Resistance. Surprisingly, the Battle Mage isn't a bring-up-the-rear kind of DPSer like most mages you may have met. Nexon's press release says he'll be "the first into danger, placing himself between his teammates and the forces of darkness." The Wild Hunter, on the other hand, is very much a keep-'em-at-range kind of gal who "will shoot down her targets with deadly accuracy [while riding] on the back of a jaguar." MapleStory will also be featuring another Hot Time event on August 6th, so mark your calendars and be sure to log in, grab an SP reset scroll and get some double XP. Finally, don't forget to click past the cut for a couple of videos focused on the new classes.
ArcheAge videos show off PvP
Following ArcheAge here in the West often involves copious use of Google Translate as well as wading through tons of difficult-to-decipher web postings. Fortunately, the player community likes to post gameplay videos from the sandpark title's various Korean closed betas, and today we've stumbled across a couple of noteworthy clips that aren't subject to the whims of online translation. Both clips center around PvP, and though ArcheAge will feature world PvP in certain areas, the game also boasts battlegrounds for those who prefer less randomness. The first video features a Mage/Bard/Archer player in a skirmish against an invading pirate guild. The second clip takes place inside a battleground and features the same class combo again. There's quite a bit more footage on this one, though, and the 13-minute running time gives us a pretty good look at what it's like to siege a castle. You'll find both videos after the cut.
Wings Over Atreia: You are what you play
Have you ever noticed how some people just gravitate toward certain archetypes when it comes to choosing a class to play in-game? That some players just seem to really fit their role? It doesn't matter if it is the first class they dive into the moment that character selection screen pops up or the one they always end up with no matter how many times they try something different. Not only have I seen this play out repeatedly in Aion, but I have experienced it firsthand. It's quite fascinating, really -- certain personality traits are simply drawn to certain classes. More so than any other aspect of gaming, character class is a reflection of some of our core traits and beliefs; character creation is rarely just random but rather is guided by conscious and unconscious desires. Don't believe me? Take a look around Atreia -- it is demonstrated time and time again. Warriors, scouts, mages, priests... each has idiosyncrasies that are unique to the archetype and are fitting for the gamers who play them. And don't think others' opinions aren't colored by your class; each also subtly alludes to these specific traits. So what does your class say about you (or your legionmates)? Step past the cut into my office and we can delve into these personality profiles within Aion.
Official tier 12 armor set preview updated with warrior and druid
Blizzard has updated the community site tier 12 armor preview with the final 2 armor sets -- warrior and druid. Patch 4.2 is coming soon, as players prepare for the invasion into the Firelands to confront Ragnaros for the (potentially) last time. Each armor set for this raid tier has its looks originating from something in the Firelands, going for the instance motif over the class motif. Warriors will dress themselves in the Molten Giant Battleplate, made in the image of the new molten giant model. You may remember molten giants and molten destroyers from the Molten Core. They also wander fields of lava in the Firelands, ready to lumber over to unsuspecting players. Druids will be donning the Obsidian Arborweave sets, based on what appears to be the tree that Malfurion and the Avengers of Hyjal are growing in the Firelands as the foward base against Ragnaros. Maybe, as a restoration druid, you were upset that Tree of Life was not a permanent form anymore. Well, now you get to dress up like a tree. Compromise. Hit the jump for a pic of the druid set. By the way, Obsidian Arborweave is the most "Blizzard" name for anything I have ever seen. I hope that guy got a raise.
