warlock
Latest
The Tattered Notebook: Exec. Producer Dave Georgeson on EverQuest II and EverQuest Next
If there's one thing that came out of Fan Faire about EQ Next, it's that no one will talk about EQ Next. No matter who you talked to, any time the subject came up, the answer was always, "I can't talk about that." However, Executive Producer Dave "SmokeJumper" Georgeson sat down with Massively during Fan Faire to talk more about EverQuest II, and during that interview, he did give a tiny glimpse into what that game would be like. In this week's Tattered Notebook, Massively gets the scoop on Beastlords, the dungeon builder, Freeport's revamp, and much more.
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.
Patch 4.2: Shaman and warlock tier 12 sets revealed
Building on their previews from last week, Blizzard has released sneak peeks at two more tier 12 sets: shaman and warlock. The warlock set is pretty clearly based on Firelands boss Beth'tilac, the gargantuan fire spider queen; the shaman set is a little more general but you can definitely see influences from old Ragnaros gear like the Crown of Destruction. Besides, we all know that the best shaman sets are ones where chains and exploding rocks are involved, so chalk this one up as a win for patch 4.2. Check out the warlock set after the cut, and be sure to check out our full tier 12 gallery below. %Gallery-122557%
Patch 4.2 Preview: Tier 12 armor sets
Blizzard has been on an information release kick this week for Rage of the Firelands, the next content patch for Cataclysm. World of Warcraft has been known, for better or for worse, by its armor design choices. Some of the armor sets in WoW actually have transcended the game itself, becoming part of a healthy nostalgia for players old and new. Firelands is not going to have any shortage of cool raid gear. The tier 12 armor preview has just been released and contains images of the paladin, mage, rogue, hunter, death knight and priest sets. Warlocks, warriors, shaman, and druids are currently absent, though we can bet druids will also have a fire motif, considering Fandral Staghelm's role in the Firelands raid. %Gallery-122557%
Enter at Your Own Rift: Zero-sum game
Ever since I started following RIFT, I've been entranced by the wide-open -- but not limitless -- class system. After all, the virtual world and everything populating it is only half the game; the other half resides in the avatar that sticks with you while you explore it all. Many MMOs have interesting ways of letting you build and grow your character, but sooner or later they come to a point where there's little more to be done other than incrementally increasing your stats by gaining better gear. Not so with RIFT, as even a level 50 can drop a few coins to shape a completely new build from scratch. No longer are we bound to a rigidly defined creation; we are free to experiment, tinker, and try out these roles to our hearts' content. With RIFT's soul system, there are a few ground rules that everyone learns early in the game. You can have up to three souls in your archetype active at any one time; you can only spend as many points in a build as you have in levels (such as 10 points at level 10); and you'll end up with 66 points at level 50, which means that you'll at least dabble in a second soul tree with every build. And while you can certainly spread soul points across all three trees, today I wanted to look at the benefits of a zero-point soul, the "third wheel," if you will, of builds.
In defense of gear simulations
Josh Myers is not a scientist. The closest he's ever come to being one is winning the Science Fair in 8th grade and getting straight As in physics in high school. Despite these clear signs telling him to look for a career in science, he decided instead to go for a degree in English. His wallet hasn't forgiven him since. "Just sim it" is a phrase almost everyone who has played World of Warcraft in the past few years is familiar with. Should my enhancement shaman use Tunic of Failed Experiments or Voltage Source Chestguard? Sim it. How much of a DPS increase is the four-piece Firelord's Vestments bonus? Spreadsheet it. How much DPS am I losing since I can't afford a Flask of the Winds on my hunter? SIM IT! I'll be the very first to say that saying "just sim it" isn't a constructive thing to say. Beyond being slightly rude, it doesn't explain why simming is such a good idea. However, while I find "just sim it" to be in poor taste, the actual act of simming or spreadsheeting gear choices is a really good idea. This post aims to address why we encourage spreadsheeting your DPS choices.
Warlocks find their pets renamed in patch 4.0.1 [Updated]
This is actually kind of sweet, especially for a class that spends the larger portion of its time channeling dark magic and cursing everything in its path. When patch 4.0.1 hit, warlocks suddenly found themselves toting new and unexpected minions around. No, new pet skins didn't go live, and Blizzard didn't program any new demons into the game, but many of warlocks' trusted minions are sporting different names. For example, my own baby warlock has had an imp named Pagfip who's accompanied him since his earliest days in the Tirisfal countryside, but now I've got ... Garloz? That can't be right. Most warlocks have had at least one demon's name changed. Many have lost demons they've had since classic WoW and -- to put it mildly -- they're not happy about it. Even non-warlocks have chimed in: "Zilnip, our GM's imp, is an important member of our family and we'd like him back, please." If you're not familiar with minion names, the usual deal is they're randomly generated upon creation (whether of the minion or the warlock toon itself, I'm not sure) and remain the same thereafter; lorewise, it's assumed that you're summoning and resummoning the exact same demon from the Twisting Nether. If you really wanted to play with this, you could run with the story that your real felguard's on vacation or whatever, but this seems to be a bug that most warlocks would just as soon have fixed as quickly as possible. That's assuming it's fixable at all, and I'm a little worried that it's not; the only other recourse would be petitioning a GM to have the names changed individually. Notes Cornpuff of Uther, "It's like someone came into my house in the middle of the night and swapped all of my children with evil clones." Thanks to Scott and Zhiva for writing in! Update: Bornakk and Bashiok hit the forums to provide an update on this issue. Warlocks, you'll be getting your original pets back during the next maintenance period! This is it! Patch 4.0.1 begins the slide into December's upcoming expansion. It's a whole new game from here on out. Get oriented with our roundup of everything there is to know about patch 4.0.1 and how it changes the game until the launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Status update on current patch 4.0.1 issues
Vrakthris (Blizzard customer service representative) posted a list of major issues people are coming across in patch 4.0.1, along with updates and expected timetables on when some of them will be resolved. If you're having issues with any of the following topics, read on to find out what is currently being done about the situation. Master riding Missing enchantments Insect Swarm Guild issues with authenticator Warlock pets renamed Missing characters Item durability standardization Removed from battleground
WoW Moviewatch: WarLock
I first featured this song a few months ago. WarLock is a collaboration piece by Cryssy, Sharm and Quixotica. It celebrates that most DoT-oriented class. At the time, there was a lot of hubbub about my use of "iconic" to describe Kesha. To be fair, I never said anything about whether I find that style of performance good or not; I only really said that if a person hears it, that person tends to think of Kesha. But I'm especially glad for WarLock because whenever I hear the music from Tik-Tok, it's WarLock's lyrics that spring to mind. WarLock has completely eclipsed the original in my subconscious, so I get to have that little party dance with myself. It's the little victories that make life worth living. Now is good timing to bring WarLock back up, because I hear Cryssy is working on a new project, so I hope to see that come to fruition soon. In the meantime, I'm just glad to have a few of Keisha's lyrics gone from my brain. Edit: Fixed the spelling of Keisha. When spellcheck goes wild, right? 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 machinima@wow.com.
Breakfast Topic: The best class choice for new players
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. I'm living a dream that many guys out there have: My girlfriend is actively learning how to play World of Warcraft and is enjoying it. After a couple of false starts, she finally found a class that suited her. First, she tried a warlock. Too many things to remember. Keeping DoTs up, keeping up with soul shards and collecting them, keeping tabs on her demon in battle. It was too much for her. She tried a hunter. Taming her own pet was cool at first, but then she had to feed it and manage it in dungeons. Throw Feign Death, Deterrence and Disengage into the mix, and it was not her cup of tea. She's flying back 10 yards into other packs of mobs and feigning death every time the cooldown is up because she's afraid of the tank yelling at her for "doing the aggro thing." I was dismayed that a hunter didn't work out, because I always deemed it the default starter class for new players. At least it was for me. Then came the paladin. Oh, blessed paladin, how she loves thee. At first, all she had to do was run up to the mob and hit it with Judgement of Light. The only "tricky" thing I had to teach her was when the Judgement of Light button was dark and wouldn't let her use it, it meant she needed to apply her Seal of Righteousness again. I even put the Seal right above the Judgement so she wouldn't forget. She was actually having pure joy with her new class. She didn't wonder if she was doing it right. She didn't worry about forgetting something. Just kill, kill, kill and love every second of it.
Cataclysm Beta: Cataclysm will bring troll and dwarf warlocks
If you've been thinking about rolling one of the new class/race combinations, but haven't really been impressed by the ones they announced a ways back, you may be in luck. Lead systems designer Ghostcrawler has confirmed that troll and dwarf warlocks will be coming with Cataclysm. There's no word yet on the lore behind this change, but between Zalazane on the troll side and the Dark Irons on the dwarf side, it seems likely there's good enough reason to unlock the class. Now if only we could get them to give us Worgen paladins, we'd really be cooking. Stay tuned to WoW.com, there's more juicy Cataclysm info to come.
E3 2010: Hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara
We've had our eye on Rift: Planes of Telara for some time now, especially after getting a little face time with the game back in April. Fortune smiles upon us all once more as Trion Worlds made the trek to E3 to showcase this gorgeous fantasy title. Shouldering our way to the front of the line -- hey, hey, I'm reporting here! -- we took the wheel of an interactive demo while the developers were kind enough to answer a few questions about Rift. Your very first decision in game will be to choose a faction: the Guardians or the Defiant. Both are tasked with saving a world under attack, although they each have their own approach and butt heads against the other in the process. The Guardians are blessed by the gods and are chosen to be their holy knights, while the Defiant take the anti-hero route and rely on their own technology to wage this war. The Defiant had created vast cities in the desert using their magical tech, but they were infiltrated by dragons and saw their great achievements wiped away, reducing them to desert wanderers. There are races unique to each faction, as well as races shared by both. We learned that the Defiant have access to both the Eth (human) and Bahmi (human/elemental) races.
The cynic's guide to World of Warcraft
We tend to be very careful while composing articles here at WoW Insider. We're always mindful that not everyone plays the game in the same way, or has the same experience on different servers or factions, but every so often a certain madness seizes us and we feel the urge to ... tell the truth. In that vein, I am pleased (sort of) to present The Cynic's Guide to World of Warcraft. This article owes a heavy debt to Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. If you want to see a real master at work, read that.
Choose My Adventure: Warlock advice and stories
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on US Zangarmarsh-H. Yes, that's Selfloathius jumping to his doom. Yes, we have his story this week. We also have a story from Andrenorton and some advice from Dominic Hobbs for Yakkowakko, Sahko and Selfloathius. But first, the remaining schedule for this week: Michael Sacco as Sahko, the orc warlock: Wednesday, 7 p.m. EDT Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the troll shaman, and Robin Torres as Robinemia, the undead mage: Wednesday, 11 p.m. EDT Amy Schley as Patent, the troll rogue: Thursday, 10 p.m. EDT Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the blood elf paladin: Friday, 8 p.m. EDT Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the troll mage, Michael Gray as Grayfields, the tauren hunter, Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the tauren druid, and Gregg Reece as Yakkowakko, the orc warlock, will be making appearances as they can Turn the page for the warlocky and whiny goodness. (Was that redundant?)
Choose My Adventure: There's a new 'lock in town
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on US Zangarmarsh-H. It looks like the mid-20s crew will be hanging out in Hillsbrad Foothills this week. And, of course, Christian Belt will begin playing his new blood elf warlock tonight. I hope you're all proud of yourselves. (I know you are.) Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, blood elf warlock: Monday, 11 p.m. EDT Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the troll shaman, and Robin Torres as Robinemia, the undead mage: Monday and Wednesday, 11 p.m. EDT Anne Stickney as Annephora, the troll warrior, will be on Tuesday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Monday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time). Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the blood elf paladin: Friday, 8 p.m. EDT. Michael Sacco as Sahko, the orc warlock: Wednesday, 7 p.m. EDT. Amy Schley as Patent, the troll rogue, Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the troll mage, Michael Gray as Grayfields, the tauren hunter, Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the tauren druid, and Gregg Reece as Yakkowakko, the orc warlock, will be making appearances as they can. %Gallery-89597% If you want to join in on the fun of Choose My Adventure, please join us on US Zangarmarsh-H in <It came from the Blog>. Ask Robiness, Robinemia or any member online for an invite. Guild ranks of Lurker or above have the ability to invite. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules, that can be summed up with "Don't be a Funsucker!" Also, please see the guild FAQ for the most common questions.
The Daily Quest: The mage vs. warlock battle
Here at WoW.com we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow! Take a look at the links below, and be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites. We have a friendly little rivalry going on here at WoW.com between warlock Dominic Hobbs, writer of Blood Pact, and mage Christian Belt, writer of Arcane Brilliance. They even took their viewpoints to each other's columns, with hilarious results. But this battle between mages and warlocks transcends our class experts and wages on in the blogosphere. Felfire is hosting the Official Murder a Mage Contest, which ends May 16. The Save a Soul TODAY contest on Gnomeageddon ends May 18. Destructive Reach explains why Saresa absolutely adores mages. Murloc Parliament weighs in on the mage vs. 'lock debate by interviewing caster classes. The Lazy Sniper says shadow priests don't care.
The Art of War(craft): Three kinds of warlocks and how to kill them
Zach brings warmth to your day with a regular weekly dose of good, old-fashioned PvP. Like a comforting hot cup of cocoa with little pink marshmallows in the shape of stars. And battle axes. And skulls. We'll take this opportunity in the lull between Cataclysm news to continue our introductory guide to killing this and that. Sure, it'll be radically different from now and the next expansion, but it should ultimately be useful to help a lot of beginners getting their feet wet (or bloodied) in the Battlegrounds until then. And believe me, the Battlegrounds is where it's going to be at. So take this opportunity to immerse yourself in the Battleground experience before Cataclysm shakes things up. We left our guides hanging with an introduction to warlocks and the usual abilities they employ on the battlefield. Today we'll wrap things up with a closer look at the three specs. The fun thing about Wrath is that Blizzard made an earnest effort to make each warlock spec feel and play differently from each other, going so far as to tailor certain pets to work better with a specific spec. It was in Wrath where felpuppies became affliction warlocks' best friends, and destruction warlocks were encouraged to hang out with imps. Demonology, as always, had their burly bodyguards. After the jump ... how to spot them and, hopefully, squish them.
Breakfast Topic: Is it time for a change?
This Breakfast Topic is brought to you by WoW.com's guest blogger program. Want to participate in a future call for guest posts? Read up on how to contribute, and keep an eye on the site for program announcements. I've played World of Warcraft before and absolutely loved it -- I loved it until it became a second job for me. Then when I quit cold turkey, it turned into a bad break-up. I wanted to play it again but didn't want it consuming all of my time. I wanted to level without hating myself for sitting on a chair until my butt hurt, then finding a pillow and valiantly continuing on. It's actually a deep, dark secret of mine (obviously not any more) that I never once got to the promised land that is level 80. I'll admit though, I had a lot of fun with the game. Hitting up instances and running through the well-written quests with friends was loads of fun. I wasn't a PvP god or anything, but I definitely had my good days back in my prime. I'll admit also that I still feel its callings now from time to time, and for all I know, I could be playing again tomorrow. This brings me to an important question. What is it that keeps World of Warcraft players going strong? I remember when I first broke up with World of Warcraft, I went through an awkward rebound phase where I looked for any game I could find that would replace it. The sad part of this search was that I found myself wanting other games to be like Warcraft. The truth is, it may very well be the best one out there. Even if it is the best, I want to know what gets people through the struggle of questing and grinding. As a semi-retired World of Warcraft gamer, I want to know if getting to the level cap is in fact worth the struggle. Is it the journey or the reward? What makes it all worth it to you?
A roundup of World of Warcraft's major class changes
Love it or hate it, World of Warcraft is the 900-pound gorilla of the MMO market at the moment. Nearly everyone who games online has at least tried it, and even those of us who play other games very possibly still play it as an old standby. So it's hard to miss the news about the newest expansion, Cataclysm, which is poised to remake the world in many ways. It's also home to an ambitious series of overhauls to classes and their talent structure, with far-reaching changes for every class in the game. Our sister site, WoW.com, has been keeping abreast of the development team's slow roll of new information about each class, with every class but Paladins having their upcoming changes previewed. (Paladins are due out on the 16th, due to being "deep in development.") They've also gone through an in-depth analysis of each different set of changes, from the good to the bad. So if you've played the game at all -- and the odds are you have -- take a look past the break for a quick version of everything coming when World of Warcraft brings down the end of the world.
Breakfast Topic: Which class will change the most?
Over the next three days (and a week from Friday for paladins), Blizzard will be announcing some of the class revamp information that will be implemented in Cataclysm. This will by no means be all of the information, and if you followed us during the Wrath beta, you'll know that these things might change before the expansion comes out. While I'm sure that the class you're waiting to hear info on the most is your own class, I've got a little bit of a different question for you: Which class do you think is going to be changing the most in Cataclysm? Will it be warriors, due to the impending rage normalization? How about death knights, since blood will be the only tanking spec after the expansion hits? Will it be hunters with their mana changing to a focus system or warlocks with their complete revamp of Soul Shards? Let us know what you think. %Poll-44032%
