public-test-realms
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The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in 4.0.1
With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge, and soon, an entire flight of black dragons. Please send screenshots as well as any comments to gregg@wow.com. A couple weeks back, I covered the changes to protection for the 4.0.1 pre-Cataclysm patch that usually goes out a month(ish) or so before release. The point of those patches is so that everyone can play with the new class features and get everything figured out before the chaos that is the actual expansion release. Now it's time to do the same sort of coverage for ret pallies. If you haven't been following the changes thus far, it's going to look odd. There are new class concepts and skill/buff consolidations. First off, picking your spec now has a lot more meaning from the get-go. You receive most of the passive buffs that you'd have to spend 40 talent points getting in the past for free at level 10 that are responsible for making your chosen spec usable. As an example, you get Sheath of Light, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization and Judgements of the Bold. That provides your attack power-to-spellpower conversion, your weapon damage bonus and your mana regeneration. All of this just for picking the spec. In addition, you get a new attack called Templar's Verdict that we'll get into later. First off, let's talk about the biggest change to our class in the expansion: holy power.
PTR character copy service active (Updated)
While we're unsure exactly for what, the Public Test Realm character copy function is currently up and running, but not yet active. Could be for the upcoming Echo Isles and Gnomeregan content, could be for the new Ruby Sanctum raid. We have no idea. It may not even mean anything at all. Of note: my particular character copies haven't been reset since the last PTR testing phase, giving me a grand total of one possible character copy to the PTR servers. You may be in a similar or worse boat. As always, when Blizzard provides more information about the status of the PTR, as well as its contents, we'll be sure to let you know. Until then, feel free to hammer the character copy server -- you were going to anyway. Update: MMO-Champion points out that instead of our normal Anasterian and Broxigar realms on the PTR realm list, we have Broxigar and BlizzCon Event. As Boubouille notes: "When was the last time Blizzard needed a server for BlizzCon?"
Patch 3.2.2 PTR: First impresssions of Onyxia
Onyxia. Pictures, text and video cannot express the emotions associated with this classic boss fight. I'm going to try nevertheless, though. Announced mere days ago, the idea that Onyxia will be revamped into a level 80 10 and 25 man raid (for a limited time) has suddenly become reality with the return of PTR testing for patch 3.2.2. Everyone and their best mate is currently swarming Onyxia's Lair, determined to dispatch the Broodmother once more. This time for kicks and enhanced loot.Her name is reverberating around the PTR right now. In fact, within three seconds of logging on with my premade I was asked if I wanted to join a 10-man raid to kick her scaly butt. Of course I accepted and found myself once more outside the scary gates of the Broodmother's lair. Let's me be straight about one thing, the only things which have been changed about this fight are the suped-up uber-trashkin and Onyxia herself. There's no need for a key or attunement, you just grab a raid and walk right on in. The cavern leading into her lair is the same as it ever was, except the trash now have the power to kick serious butt against level 80's wearing full epics. Such is the case, our group wiped the first time we pulled two of the dragonkin.%Gallery-70078%
World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.2.2 Paladin changes
In unsurprisingly quick fashion, the Patch 3.2.2 notes went up along with the PTR today, barely two weeks after Patch 3.2 went live. We already knew that this minor patch was on its way, with the special re-tooling of the Onyxia encounter to celebrate the World of Warcraft's fifth Anniversary. What do Paladins get in this minor patch? Expectedly not much, but still more balance fixes brought about by -- wait for it -- Arenas. Alright, admittedly, not everything is caused by Arenas, but the biggest changes are. Let's go through the ones aren't borne from Arenas:Righteous Fury: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.First of all, Righteous Fury isn't a talent but a baseline ability, so the patch notes just might be worded weirdly (wouldn't be the first time). Second, the nerf is probably just to bring Paladin tanking threat more in line with other tanks' threat generation. With only a week or so in to Patch 3.2, I'm not certain it was too palpable, but the changes to block value and Judgements must've pushed Protection DPS and consequently TPS a little above the threshold.
PTRs back up for more testing mayhem
Been itching to try out some of the new hotness of the test realms? If so, you're in luck. Blizzard has brought the test realms back online for all your something-new-to-do needs. There are still people reporting problems with level 80 characters who were transferred over being locked, which may prove to be a snag if you transferred early, got shunted to the Spanish PTRs, then tried to re-copy. (No update on that situation as of yet.) If you want to go try out your new Mechanostrider or Chocob...err...Hawkstrider mount; see what kind of nerfs or buffs have hit your favorite class; number-crunch the PvP changes; or check out any of the myriad changes coming up in 3.0.8 - now is the time!
Patches, addons and drama in the forums
While surfing the forums this morning, I came across a little gem of a thread protesting against Blizzard for the following: Breaking "our" addons and mods. Incorporating features from popular addons into the default User Interface, and thus breaking addons and mods. There's also a sentiment that Blizzard is "stealing" these ideas rather than being innovators. Fixing "their" bugs which in turn breaks "our" addons and mods. The suggestion is that they don't care, or could take steps to prevent this. As you can imagine, all sorts of responses cropped up, including the usual people who get into arguments with other posters, players in agreement, joking and sarcastic responses, and of course, an awesome string of blue responses.%Gallery-27848%
New class changes found in the PTR notes [Updated]
Tipster Pzychotix has uncovered some new class changes in the latest round of patch notes, and some of them are doozies: For Druids, the Lifebloom healing coefficient has been reduced. It'll be interesting to see how much. Rolling Lifeblooms have been the healing method of choice for most discerning trees, but if the nerf is severe enough, perhaps we'll see some return to Regrowth and Healing Touch. In other changes, Feral Druids are heading further and further to side of agility, with Nurturing Instinct now increasing your healing spells by up to 100% of your agility, and increasing your healing received by 20% of your attack power while in Cat Form. This seems like it may make Cat Druids at least a bit less squishy in PvP, if they're paired with a healer or can find a spare second to duck out of the fray and heal themselves.Lots of additional changes after the break!
Patch 2.3.3 live on the PTRs
Patch 2.3.2 has been out on the live realms for a while now, which can only mean that it's time for patch 2.3.3 on the PTRs! Late last night Blizzard launched the 2.3.3 PTRs to little fanfare. No pre-mades are available this time around, so expect to see more testing and less random dueling with epic'd out level 70 characters on the 2.3.3 PTRs. The patch notes are sparse, containing a couple of bugfixes and some improvements to load time, but as with all patches, you never know what unintended (or unmentioned!) changes might have slipped in. MMO Champion has the latest on the patch notes, though their version differs very little from the official version.Interested in trying the test realm out for yourself? Head over to the official site to download the client and copy one of your existing characters! (Having trouble getting on -- WoWWiki has a great guide to setting up the PTR client.)
Getting ready for the Test Realm
IncGamers has a great tip for those of you who were on the last Public Test Realm, and can't wait for the 2.3 PTR to come up (and I know you're out there-- you're like PTR locusts!). Make sure to, right now, delete your WoW test realm folders, so that when the new realm comes out, it'll automatically download to the right place and you won't have to worry about anything getting mixed up.In Windows, apparently Blizzard is recommending that you do a Find Folders and Files (Windows key + F) for "wowtest," and delete everything that pops up. On the Mac, everything is neat and tidy (as usual)-- it's all in the /Applications/World of Warcraft/WoWTest folder. Delete that, and you're good to go for the 2.3 PTRs.I don't know if this is really required-- it seems to me that the WoW PTR Client would likely just overwrite anything whatever you had in those folders, and your PTR download would still work. But you never know-- maybe files will be left behind if you don't delete, so it's probably best to clear everything out and start over with the new download (and I bet it'll be a big one-- this is a big content patch). Plus, you can feel like you're all ready for patch 2.3: bring on the new PTR!
PTRs closed -- and you know what that means!
As any long-time player of World of Warcraft knows, the public test realms open up to allow players to help out Blizzard QA by giving future changes a good stress test. The test realms open as soon as Blizzard has a stable build of the upcoming patch and the test realms close as soon as Blizzard is satisfied that their patch is as polished as it's going to get. Hortus announced this morning that the PTRs were going offline, concluding public testing for patch 2.2. To me, this means we're going to see patch 2.2 coming our way very soon -- perhaps as early as next week! However, we have known Blizzard to close the PTRs weeks in advance of an official patch release, so a final date continues to elude us.So what major changes should you expect come patch day? An updated sound engine Voice chat (on select servers -- it will be rolled out in stages) The continuing shrinking shoulders adventure (Night Elves, Draenei, and Orcs to the best of our knowledge) Movie capture for Macs (sorry, PC users!)
Breakfast Topic: Testing, 1, 2, 3...
By now we all know that the PTRs are up and running (depending on your definition of "running" -- according to reports on the PTR forums they're crashing frequently) -- after all, the PTR client is where we got these lovely patch notes from! So, have you copied your characters over? Are you raiding the Black Temple to get the very first look at new content? In short, do you bother with all the tedious testing and bug reporting that's associated with playing on the public test realms? Or do you simply ignore the entire affair and continue playing the game as though nothing were happening?
Don't worry: it's called a "test" realm for a reason
I know that many of us read the new 2.1 patch notes and went into a panic. Paladin's illumination? Mage's sheep and ice block? Priest's shadow weaving? Shaman's elemental focus? There are plenty of changes here that could strike dread into the hearts of players who have picked their classes, talents, and professions for specific reasons that have suddenly vanished out from under them. But is it worth panicing over? I say not yet -- and Tseric agrees with me. The public test realms -- the only place where patch 2.1 is currently deployed -- are brought online for a reason. You guessed it: to test things. While the test realms are online, we can all log on and get a first-hand look at how these changes will impact our characters. From there, we can offer our feedback and opinions. And, while many of you will say that these are never listened to, it's not unheard of for Blizzard to make major changes to a patch in light of public outcry. But for those of you in the audience who are upset or angry about the proposed patch 2.1 changes, I advise you to try to post your complaints calmly and constructively -- all caps typing and angry flames will only serve to get you banned from posting.
PTRs online... well, sorta.
There are obvious downloading issues, so apparently I'll have a more detailed report for you in about 11 hours. However, you can get started downloading your own PTR patch here (though if you could just wait until I've got mine that'd be great). The character copy function (there are apparently no pre-made characters available for copying) is overloaded by traffic and only gives a "server too busy" message.However, lucky reader Mark is further along in the download process -- and managed to snag these screenshots of the patch notes. See page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, page 5, and page 6 for the full patch notes -- or read on for a transcribed version (via Kyrra on the test realm forums).
Another Week and No Patch?
Hortus (who works, I believe, in QA) has announced that the public test realms will be offline tomorrow between 12:00 PM PDT to 8:00 PM PDT for hardware maintenance. The fact that the realms are scheduled to come back online after Tuesday's regular maintenance window suggests that, yes, we're going another week without 1.12 being deployed on the live servers. Though I suppose that, while unlikely, it wouldn't be impossible for the PTRs to go offline running patch 1.12 and come back online running 1.13 - Blizzard does come out with surprises from time to time, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Drysc's message that "there are no current intentions to announce the release date of 1.12 beforehand" doesn't make me optimistic, either, though.Update: My mistake, the PTR maintenance was Monday evening, not Tuesday evening. The overall point still holds, however.
US PTR Maintenance: Now!
Well, they don't usually give us much warning on these things, so at 4:44 PM PDT we received word that the PTRs were going offline for patch maintenance with no ETA on them coming back online. The fact that the PTRs continue to be updated, despite being online since July 17th, makes me feel that patch 1.12 is still something that's being fine tuned - which lends me to think that the patch going live may still be some time off. Of course... Blizzard has been known to surprise me before, so take this thought with a grain of salt (or two or three). And... since the test realms are still online and going strong - it's a great place to have some fun playing a class you know nothing about!Update: The PTRs seem to have come back online at 7:25 PM PDT.
US Test Realm Maintenance Today
Not long after the live realms come back online, the test realms are scheduled to go offline. They'll be down between 2:00PM and 4:00PM PDT for some maintenance. Also, one of the realms will be moving to the "Oceanic" tab (no news on which realm will be making the move) for further cross-realms battlegrounds testing. Haven't had your chance to test yet? Well, you've got at least another week before there's a chance to roll out the patch on the live realms, and the test realms are a great opportunity to give new talent builds - or entire classes - a good try to see how they work out. Plus, it has the potential to be a lot of fun.Update: The test realms were late coming back online, but they all seem to be back online as of 5:42PM PDT.
My Secret Life as a Rogue: Of Talents and Talent Builds
It's been some time since I wrote about my initial attempts at playing the rogue class. And, no, I haven't given it up yet! I've only reached the fairly puny level of 33, but the rogue changes coming in the next patch have me excited about continued leveling - after all, there's little joy in having half of a talent build. However, my recent efforts have been divided between my own rogue on the live realms and a pre-made level 60 rogue on the test realms. After some initial goofing off - it is, after all, a bit disorienting to jump from a low-30s character in mostly greens to a level 60 character with dual crusader enchants - I set to work trying different talent builds. Of course I've read all of the discussion on possible builds, but sometimes there's just no substitute for experience - and the test realms provide an ideal opportunity to see just what the class is capable of, with all possible talent permutations. And, perhaps, some experimentation could teach me something about how to play my own, lesser rogue a bit better...
Patch 1.12: Undocumented Changes
Another patch, and another set of changes that didn't quite make it into the patch notes. Of course, everything on the test realms is subject to change, but as it stands, this is what you will find on the test realms. This list seems to be updated regularly, so if you aren't planning on playing on the test realms, check back often to see what's happening. Most controversial of these changes seems to be a battlegrounds change that automatically adds everyone to a group upon entering a battleground - a group they cannot leave. As a healer, I am always glad to have a group in battlegrounds in order to be better able to monitor my group's health and step in as needed - but to those who preferred to gain maximum honor per kill by attacking battlegrounds ungrouped, this is the end of the battlegrounds system.
Patch 1.12 PTRs Online!
Well, at least the US public test realms are sort of online... in my experience I get a few seconds of connectivity before getting kicked off and needing to log on again. And of the two pre-made characters I attempted to copy over, one wound up on the PVE test realm and another on the RP-PvP test realm. But, usual technical problems aside, the realms are online. Of special note is the fact that the two world PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands are not yet up on the PTR, though Blizzard explains they will be patched in later for testing. So what is there to test? Well, you can check out the rogue changes, the cross-realm battlegrounds, and anything else that didn't make it into the patch notes. Head over to the PTR site to download the client and copy a character. Head over to the PTR site to download the client and copy a character.
Patch 1.12: PTR and Patch Notes
The number of available character transfers to the test realm reset sometime Friday evening - usually a sign that the public test realms are coming online soon. The rumors flying around on the forums garnered an official response from Tseric, who said that efforts were made to get the PTR online Friday, but it was likely to be pushed back until Monday. However, a lucky group of people were, apparently, able to download the new patch and find patch notes for it. I know you're curious, so read on for all the details.
