target-dummies
Latest
Does WoW need a training dummy for healers?
You've just gotten a new piece of gear and you want to see what swapping it in will do for your gameplay. So you head to the nearest major city and find a training dummy to hit while you keep an eye on how you're performing. This seems like a good plan until you realize that training dummies really only help measure your DPS -- there's no easy way for a tank or healer to gauge how new gear helps them without jumping into a raid or dungeon and seeing how it performs. While that certainly works, it means those classes don't have an easy measuring stick. This is exactly why Healer CDs has argued that healers need their own healing dummy -- and on Twitter, Celestalon has chimed in saying he sees the value in the idea... but isn't sure if it will be included in Warlords. We'll just keep our fingers crossed.
Raid target dummies ding level 93 in patch 5.0.4
Along with the mass of pre-Mists of Pandaria changes that patch 5.0.4 brought to the game is an important change to the raid target dummies: They have leveled up to level 93. The raid boss target dummies found in major cities are now the Mists of Pandaria dummies, set up for level 90 characters. This means that the boss dummies now have much more armor, so even if your level 85 character is hit-capped and dodge-capped, you will still miss and be dodged by the target dummy. It also means that your physical attacks will do vastly less damage. You cannot compare your DPS to the raid target dummy before and after patch 5.0.4, alas. So if you thought your DPS went way down, don't worry. It may just be the target dummy change.
Dalaran continues to grow and change
Dalaran, the magical "Shattrath of Wrath," just keeps growing and changing. Mumper spelled out some of the coming changes for Dalaran. Don't worry -- it's all good news for those of us looking forward to slumming it up with Rhonin in the floating citadel. One of the more nagging issues about Dalaran is that no matter how high above the city you fly, you get a debuff that warns your flying mount is about to disappear. You must land before you plummet to your doom. It's set up this way to help enhance the feel of the living, bustling city -- you experience it from the ground, without racing Netherdrakes swooping by you at every turn. Mumper promises they're keeping an eye on the debuff and any other issue where flying mounts might disappear. There are many more NPCs coming for Dalaran. Vendors will have both dungeon token gear, like the new Heirloom items, and also high end Honor gear. Mumper describes a pretty awesome new NPC. Around 6pm each night, a new character will walk around the city, and light each of the lamps with a spell. It's just fluff, but it's awesome. Details like this make WoW such a rich, interesting game. There are other bits and pieces. Characters jumping into the magic well will get teleported to one of five sewer locations. Guards will be spawn at the exit of Dalaran, to deal with any griefers trying to keep PvP flagged characters from leaving the city in safety. And the target dummies are definitely staying.
