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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 Mog Log: Final Fantasy XI classes, round 3
There's a certain brilliance to the fact that the first six classes in Final Fantasy XI mirror your selections back in the first Final Fantasy game. Once you hit 30, you can start transferring into the more iconic and frequently bonus-laden advanced jobs, but your initial selection is meant to call back to the start of the game. Those are the classes that I've already covered in this column, first with a column on the three physical classes, then the three caster classes. But that's barely the tip of the iceberg. The core game only offered six advanced choices: Paladin, Dark Knight, Ranger, Beastmaster, Bard, and Summoner. Today, I'm going to be taking a look at the somewhat more physical side of the group, using criteria established way back when I started talking about class design philosophy. Bear in mind that this isn't meant to discuss strict power levels; that's the sort of thing that gets fiddled with easily enough and frequently enough that a unique mechanical identity matters more than who's on top at any given week. On with the first batch of advanced jobs!
Remembering the Apple Paladin and other prototypes
Way back in 2006 we had a story from AppleGazette about 5 Apple products which never made it to production. Today there's a photo of an old "touchscreen" phone Apple prototyped circulating (although I remember digging this up when the iPhone was announced; we never ran the story it seems) and I wound up doing a whopping five minutes of research on Flickr for more Apple prototypes. Like fishing for Steve Jobs videos on YouTube, these diversions can be a lot of fun. It's a bit like staring into an alternate universe, seeing glimpses of Apple's ambitions -- often ahead of their time, and re-appearing years later in substantially refined form. The Paladin is one of those Frankenstein machines you'd never imagine would emerge out of Cupertino. While the "touchscreen phone" prototype was stylish, the Paladin looks like a Duo and a fax machine took a cue from the Wuzzles and had some freakish techno-mutt. Paladin had a pull-out keyboard with trackball. The combination of a fax machine, scanner, phone and computer probably made sense before the Newton, but molded as a typical fax machine in that old beige just seems so... uninspired. Then again, this was 1994 -- not exactly an era of innovation from Apple, unless you count endless models of Performas "progress" (the market sure didn't). The Paladin doesn't even have an Apple logo up top, instead showing Apple on the label only. Of course, the pics from Jim Abeles are showing a prototype, so there's no real reason to attach a logo at this point in the process. Mr. Abeles has a few curious prototypes on his Flickr page, including an iPhone, a 13" MacBook in very rough form, the Newton-powered Bic and Cadillac prototypes (way before the iPad), the W.A.L.T. (Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone), and a Mac Portable with transparent case (translucent plastic, OMG!). Apparently he's collected more, but only these ultra-rare prototypes are on Flickr. What a collection!
The New Class: Monks and class balance
I've wanted to talk about this for a while. The game's hybrid vs. pure debate is about to swing into high gear. With the monk, not only will there be a third class that can tank, heal or DPS, but it will be doing these things with entirely new mechanics. What does the monk mean for everyone, both those who will adopt and love it and those who will have to compete against it? The first change the monk brings along with it is simple: the class numbers game. Not only will we have 11 classes now, but all sorts of other numbers change as well. For instance, there will now be five classes capable of tanking and five capable of healing. We'll have four pure DPS classes and seven hybrids that can DPS. There will be a total of 33 specializations (although it may be easier to balance with talents shifting to the new system) to design around.
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.
Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2 dev diary looks at melee classes
Last week, Ignited Games announced the upcoming 2-D side-scroller WindSlayer 2. This week, the title is back for more with a new developer diary that looks at the game's melee classes. Those who prefer to go wading into battle on the front lines will have three choices: the valiant Warrior, the dexterous Rogue, or the enlightened Monk. For the full details on each of these classes, head on past the cut for the full dev diary. And once you're done, don't forget to head on over to the game's official site (linked below) to register for a shot at a spot in the closed beta test.
The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in the Firelands, part 3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned retribution 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 compliments! We're on the home stretch, ladies and gents. We have slain Shannox and Lord Rhyolith. We have squashed Beth'tilac and Alysrazor. Now only three bosses stand between you and that pretty orange mace that has "The Retribution Dream" etched on the hilt. However, before you start making vacation plans with your beloved future acquisition, we need to get through those roadblocks.
The Light and How to Swing It: Synergizing with priests
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. Holy paladins can't do it all. While we might be the best-dressed spec in the game, we occasionally need for other healers to give us a hand. The developers have done a great job giving each healer a niche for them to fill. A holy paladin must know the strengths and weaknesses of the other healing classes in order to be able to work alongside them. While all healers are somewhat normalized by Cataclysm's introduction of the three heal model, it's each class's unique spells that give them flavor. We all start with the same base, and then our signature heals and cooldowns allow us to differentiate ourselves. Holy paladins can adjust their healing style and strategy to complement their partner healers instead of competing with them.
Retribution paladin buff and other hotfixes incoming tonight
A number of hotfixes have been (or will be) applied to live realms today. One is a particularly noteworthy PVE retribution paladin fix intended to bring ret DPS up to match the competition in the Firelands, as paladin DPS has fallen a bit behind in this raid tier. Paladins will be receiving a +40% damage boost to Censure, the stacking DOT associated with Seal of Truth. The other hotfixes are aimed at quest-related bugs that may have been interfering with players' solo progression. The explanation for the retribution buff and the details of these quest hotfixes can both be found after the break below.
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.
Is it time to kill tanking?
Please note I said "tanking" and not "tanks." If you know a tank, give him or her a hug. He or she isn't clad in cold metal or an angry bear that will tear off your face because of you; it's those pesky mobs. The tanking system has long been somewhat problematic in World of Warcraft. While it scales to some degree, from 5-man dungeons to 10-man raids, the scaling falls apart when we get to 25-man raiding, which currently demands about the same amount of tanking as 10-man. You can get through most of Firelands with two tanks, no matter your raid size. Majordomo Staghelm only requires one tank, again, no matter your raid size. This means that the scaling from five to 10 works, but as soon as you go from 10 to 25, instead of needing 2.5 times more tanks, you need no more tanks. The other problem is simply that there already aren't enough tanks for every 5-man group. When the Call to Arms feature was announced for the Dungeon Finder tool, it was created out of the simple fact that we're not seeing the distribution we'd expect in the playerbase. In order for the Dungeon Finder to work without significant group queues, we would need 20% of the people queuing up to be tanks (1 in 5 = 20%). This is not the case. People simply don't want the perceived group responsibility of tanking. It's why changes were made to CC mechanics that allow groups to CC on the fly without pulling. It's why Call to Arms exists. And yet, despite both of these changes, tanking was still so unattractive to players that threat itself needed to be redesigned. All of this work to try and get people to tank. Maybe the problem isn't the players here, though. Maybe it's the role.
Reader UI of the Week: Pathanos' clean and simple setup
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. Last week, Reader UI of the Week profiled Lellee's UI and a call for help in fixing up a non-widescreen UI and just making the whole thing work a little bit better. One thing that I try to do during a call-for-help-type article is point people in the direction of an example of what I am trying to articulate. In this case, I wanted to profile a user interface that is simple enough to replicate on your own with a minimal amount of configuration addons, with an acceptable amount of time needed to create it. That's what today is about -- the philosophical process and a general outline to making your user interface look nice and tidy, just like our friend Pathanos has here. Pathanos' UI is built around a Razer Naga-plus-keyboard setup for his tanking paladin. In the screenshot, you will see his sparse raiding UI, a clutterless view space that allows for plenty of information gathering while not being an addon monstrosity. Hopefully we can get you up to speed as well as to what is needed to set up something like this, with a quick understanding of the concepts needed, where to start, and what you want to look for when building it.
The Light and How to Swing It: Basic retribution cooldowns -- when to pop your wings
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. With the Light as his strength, Durin Mundahl takes on the foes of Azeroth with all the wrath of a retribution paladin. Feel free to send your retribution questions or comments to durin@wowinsider.com. Hello, my Light-wielding brethren. Let me start off by saying that all of this information applies to patch 4.2 and the current state of retribution paladins. In future patches, this information may become outdated. Use your own Judgement when reading. Some side effects may include increases of a few thousand DPS on target dummies and an overall feeling of ecstasy. Working as intended. After my last article, I got a few emails asking basic questions about retribution paladins and how to play them. I get questions like What's my rotation?, How is your damage so high?, and Why do you keep pulling aggro? pretty frequently. When I'm not trying to convince my guild it's the tank's fault I'm pulling aggro (even though it isn't), I try to explain to people that the key to doing good damage nowadays comes mainly from cooldown management, much like a lot of other classes -- but I'm not writing about mages or warriors here.
The Light And How To Swing It: Retribution changes and new gear in 4.2
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. With the Light as his strength, Durin Mundahl takes on the foes of Azeroth with all the wrath of a retribution paladin. Feel free to send your retribution questions or comments to durin@wowinsider.com. Where do retribution paladins stand now that 4.2 is here? Let's look at the current state of the ret pally. In future patches, this information may become outdated, so use your own Judgement when reading. Side effects may include increased raid AOE damage and an overall feeling of satisfaction. Working as intended. Let's get down to business, shall we? Seal of Righteousness now can be activated by any melee ability, not just single target melee abilities. This adds Hammer of the Righteous (the physical component) and Divine Storm to the list of abilities that can activate this seal. In addition, Seal of Righteousness procs can now be critical effects. Inquiry of Faith now increases Inquisition duration by 66/133/200%, up from 50/100/150%. The Seals of Command talent now makes Seal of Righteousness hit an unlimited number of melee targets, instead of only 2 additional targets. Selfless Healer can no longer be dispelled and cannot be stolen via Spellsteal; and, in addition to its current effects, it lowers the cooldown of Word of Glory by 5/10 seconds. Glyph of Seal of Truth expertise bonus now also works when Seal of Righteousness is active. source
Pillar of the community: Vindictus adds a new character and events in 1.31
The always over-the-top Vindictus has released its latest update on the game world, Karok: Pillar of Strength. Actually, more like "Pillar of Smash Your Face In," although that doesn't fit as well on business cards. The 1.31 update comes with a host of additions to the game, chief among them the ability to play a completely new character. The titular Karok is a hulking 400-pound giant who swings a barbed pillar, knocking foes out of the park. While he boasts great strength and power, his slower speed and lack of AoE attacks make playing him a challenge. The Karok update also includes new transformations for the Dark Knight and Paladin, a leaderboard ranking system, party member ranking, new avatars for characters, and the end of the game's token system. To celebrate the update, Nexon is throwing three in-game events. The Blood Brothers Event (June 15th to July 13th) gives your lowbie characters an XP boost if you have a level 40 or higher toon. During the New Recruit Event (June 15th to the 28th), baby-faced characters that hit level 10 will receive a welcome package. And finally, the Power Personified Event (also June 15th to the 28th) will reward new level 20 characters with three dye ampoules. You can watch the Karok: Pillar of Strength trailer after the jump!
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.
The Light and How to Swing It: Patch 4.2 lets our mastery stack
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. Intellect is the best holy paladin stat. There's no need to discuss it, as everyone agrees that intellect is king. Since all of our gear has intellect on it already, most of our stat choices revolve around our secondary stats. Haste and spirit are currently the two stats that most holy paladins prefer, with critical strike rating and mastery rating taking up the rear. Blizzard has already tried making our mastery bonus more attractive a few times in Cataclysm, but with little success. In patch 4.2, the developers have made several changes to our mechanics that make the healing secondary stats much more powerful. Our critical heals will be healing for 200% of their original value in the next patch. Critical strike rating will be more valuable in a double-crit world, but haste will likely still be champion. On a more interesting note, our Illuminated Healing mastery bubbles are stacking on the patch 4.2 PTR. Each heal adds more absorption, up to a maximum of 33% of our total health.
Ask the Devs Round 9 wants your tanking questions
At precisely noon today (that's right now!), Ask the Devs Round 9 will be up on the official forums. This time, the devs want to know what you want to know about tanking. Are you interested in the incoming 4.2 change that strips dodge from agility for warrior, paladin and death knight tanks? I'm personally interested in why they bothered to do that. Maybe you're more curious about the general direction of tanking in 5-mans, raids and even tank specs in PVP, or you're wondering about how good mastery is going to be for your paladin tank in 4.2. Whatever your questions are, now is your chance to answer them. So go! Go, my legion of the tanks, go and get the developers' aggro and do not let it go until your questions are answered! The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!
Raid Rx: Healing changes and Firelands thoughts
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading on the Matticast. Here's one of the larger healing changes coming up in patch 4.2. It'll affect all healers for sure, since it affects the critical strike of heals. We first learned Blizzard was contemplating this change several weeks ago in a Dev Watercooler post. All healing critical strikes now heal for 2 times a normal heal (+100%), up from 1.5 times a normal heal (+50%). source I'll go over my thoughts about the proposed healing changes for patch 4.2. I also had the opportunity to try out some of the new raid encounters on the PTR in Firelands. Think you're ready for the upcoming healing challenge?
Raid Rx: Analyzing tier 12 healing set bonuses
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading on the Matticast. Good news, everyone! Patch 4.2 information is heating up! I've already fired up my PTR client, and I'll be eagerly testing any new encounters. Some of the new information that has been released includes the new tier bonuses, which I'm sure you're burning with desire to know more about. I'll see if I can help stoke the flames of your anticipation. I suspect we'll have some players returning to see if new content is going to rekindle their interest in the game. Too many fire puns? Okay, let's just blaze on through and look at healing tier bonuses.
