ulduar-25
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Breakfast Topic: Where's the epic, part two
Okay guys. After spending days thinking this over in the back of my mind and trying to figure out which sock drawer Blizzard stuffed the "epic" into, I've come to a conclusion: It's not about the "epic". What it is about, what's lacking, is something that's strictly based on design. Let's go back to Ragnaros and Molten Core for a moment and see if I can get this point across: the reason that Ragnaros felt "epic" was because the dungeon itself was specifically designed with 40 players in mind. The spacing of the zone, the placement of the rocks and bosses was all designed around the idea that there would be 40 players in this zone. Moving on, Hyjal felt odd at first because I was used to that 40man model. It faded because the dungeons of Burning Crusade were designed with 25 players in mind. Hyjal, Black Temple, Serpentshrine Cavern, all of it, designed with the intent of 25 players being present in that zone, so they felt natural. On the same principle, the 10man dungeons -- Karazhan and Zul'Aman -- both felt exactly right, because they were designed with 10 players in mind. Karazhan was huge, but not once did the experience feel awkward because all boss encounters and rooms were designed around 10 people playing in there. When you get to Wrath, Ulduar in particular -- Ulduar was designed with 25 players in mind. The boss rooms, the open spaces were all created specifically so that 25 people would feel like this space was absolutely gigantic. But when you take 10 people in that space, what was once comfortably "huge" for 25 borders on the absurd for 10 players. That's why it doesn't feel right -- because the space simply doesn't fit the people in it.
Several Ulduar weapons buffed
Apparently a few tweaks to items were either too random or too last-minute to make it into the patch 3.1.2 notes. Three weapons have had their stats improved, "to match their appropriate item level:" Icecore Staff Boreal Guard Malice You can see a screenshot of the new stats at right. Additionally, eight weapons have had their speed changed, "to make them more optimized when used in PvE content compared to equivalent weapons obtained in the Arena." I read that as "Arena weapons were too good, so we changed the speed on these ones to make them better." Golden Saronite Dragon: 2.6 -> ? Remorse: 1.6 -> 1.5 Stonerender: 1.6 -> 1.5 Voldrethar, Dark Blade of Oblivion: 3.4 -> ? Dark Edge of Depravity: ? -> ? Aesir's Edge: 3.5 -> ? Hammer of Crushing Whispers: 3.5 -> ? Caress of Insanity: 2.6 -> ? If anyone can fill in the question marks, please leave the information in the comments.
Val'anyr stats discovered [updated]
Like Boubouille, I'm pretty surprised to find that Val'anyr, the legendary healer mace from Ulduar-25, is up on the Armory, but there it is [update: it's been removed from the US Armory; still up on the EU Armory], and that means we now know all the stats on it. Just on the off-chance that someone considers this information to be a spoiler, I've put it behind the cut, so click on if you want to know what the Hammer of the Ancient Kings has to offer.
Vaneras clarifies Ulduar emblems
There has been a certain amount of confusion about what exactly is going on with emblems in Ulduar. We've known for a while that Emblems of Valor, which currently drop from 25-man Naxxramas, are going to drop in 10-man Ulduar, and that Ulduar-25 is going to drop a new badge: Emblem of Conquest. However, there were some rumors that the EoVs from Uld-10 would be a different "color" than the EoVs from Naxx-25, enabling purchase of some gear for the new EoVs that would not be buyable with the Naxx-25 EoVs. There have also been various theories about whether Tier 8 tokens would be buyable with emblems, like some of the T7 tokens are now. Vaneras has gone and clarified these questions and more, in a FAQ post on the European forums. I'll try to distill the information that I found useful into a few bullet points. The EoVs in Uld-10 are the same as the ones from Naxx-25, and let you buy the same rewards. Relics from Naxx-25 are being added to the EoV quartermasters; nothing else is being added to them at this time. Tier 8.5 gear tokens (chest and helm) will be buyable with EoCs (from Uld-25). Tier 8.0 gear tokens will not be buyable in any way. There will be a new EoC quartermaster with the two 8.5 tokens and additional ilvl 226 gear for purchase. The justification for T8.0 not being buyable for tokens is that they didn't want current Naxx-25 raiders stockpiling huge numbers of EoVs to buy stuff on the 3.1 release. This does make some sense, although there are other routes they could have gone with it. Anyway, it's good to have clarification.
The Queue: Procs and more on Patch 3.1
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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Good morning, ladies and gents! Or afternoon for some of you. Probably evening for a few others! It's morning for me, though. That's all that matters, isn't it? Indeed. Adam is out of the office today thanks to a blizzard murdering his internet connection, so I'll be covering for him even though today is technically his turn to do The Queue. Lazy such-and-such, letting weather get in his way. Grumble.Ian R. asked...Do you think the first couple of bosses in Ulduar can be PUG'd on easy mode? Like Sartharion and Vault of Archavon?
