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Ask a Beta Tester: Of Paladins and Primals
We'll start off with a question from Alja that we've probably answered before, but let's try to clear it up.... With +healing and +spell damage becoming just +spell power will this change items that are +fire damage or +nature damage? I currently have the spellfire set but wouldn't mind going frost for leveling purposes in the beta but my gear currently isn't set up for that, will specialized gear still exist or is everything become just spell power? I haven't yet run into any gear that gives +spell power to a specific school of damage, but all existing gear that gives +spell damage to a specific school of damage retains its specific school of damage in Wrath, it's just called "spell power" instead of "spell damage." If anyone out there has seen new Northrend gear that contains school-specific spell damage, please speak up in the comments to let us know!For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Breakfast Topic: If you could choose your racials
If you haven't already checked out the list of updated racial abilities, you should. Some have been nerfed, others were buffed, and new ones, like the "Voodoo Shuffle" were added. While racials are a nice bonus, they can weigh heavily on your racial decision when rolling a given class. For example, many Horde warriors roll Tauren because of the 5% health increase. This conflicts with rolling the race that you'd prefer combined with the class you desire. There has been much speculation about what it would be like to be able to choose your own racials, and reader Mike even came up with a talent tree method for doing just that. If you were given the power to choose, which three or four would you choose, and why? Keep in mind the overall balance which generally includes a passive ability, an active one, and one or two minor buffs to stats such as resistances, health, or professions.
Things don't look pretty for PvP Hunters in 8926
The best thing you can say about Hunters in Wrath in this Beta build is that we still have the new Disengage, at least for now. In this build, most of our new PvP tools have had much of their new functionality removed or greatly scaled back in this build.
Mind Flay gets bigger crits, better beams
The class designers have filtered out a little more information regarding our Mind Flay upgrades, and it's very pleasant to hear. In addition to the higher coefficient on Mind Flay and gaining an ability to crit, Shadow Power will give Mind Flay 100% bonus damage crits, rather than the baseline 50%. This is very good news, because 50% crits just don't cut it anymore. Almost everybody has 100% bonus crit damage via talents, and not having the option to spec that way is quite a hurdle when you're trying to be competitive. Very good news indeed.In less game changing but still exciting news, Mind Flay and other beam-type spells (Drain Life, Drain Soul, etc) will be getting a graphical overhaul. Perhaps they'll be more like Penance's fancy missiles? Or maybe they'll just be more of a beam than "behold my blue/green/purple/yellow squiggly line of doom!" Either way, I'm happy to hear it. I'm a firm believer in 'shinier is better.'
Ask a Beta Tester: Professions and Primals
Demonocracy asked.... Recently 22 slot bags have become available through a vendor in Shattrath for 1,200 gold each. When I saw this my first reaction was to buy-buy-buy, but I questioned whether this was an effort on Blizzard's part to draw gold out of the economy before Wrath. What are tailors capable of creating in terms of bags in Wrath? Right now tailors in the beta with 410 skill can craft Frostweave Bags with 20 slots. However, it has pretty basic materials and I'd guess that there will be 22 slots, at least, at higher levels.For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Death Knight Ghouls' baby name book
If you spec your Death Knight as Unholy, 30 points into the talent tree you get the Master of Ghouls ability which lets you control your ghoul like a pet. On the PvE beta realms, your ghoul doesn't have a name yet; it comes up "RandomPetName," as pictured to the right. However, on the new Murmur PvP realm (US only), level 80 Death Knight premade characters are getting names for their pet-ghouls. An enterprising poster on the beta forums is compiling a list of possible names using set prefixes and suffixes they've seen. Here's the list so far. Prefixes Suffixes Blight Basher Bone Chewer Brain Cruncher Carrion Feeder Corpse Gnaw Crypt Gobbler Dirt Grinder Grave Leaper Gravel Masher Rib Muncher Rot Ravager Skull Ripper Stone Slicer Tomb Stalker Basically, the ghoul names come from picking a prefix from column A and combining it with a suffix from column B. I hope my ghoul's name comes out to be GraveFeeder or CorpseCruncher. However, as you can imagine, some of these name combinations just will not fly as they may sound too R-rated. (In particular, Blizzard might want to consider killing the "Muncher" suffix altogether.) Similar to a Warlock's minion name, it appears that the ghoul's name stays constant, even after dismissing and resummoning. Blue forum poster Ghostcrawler says that generating a random name for every summon requires a code change that won't happen before Wrath hits. However, Ghostcrawler does say that the randomizing code will likely be included in a post-Wrath release.
Some Gnomes glitched in Wrath beta
Gnomes can't handle their weapons. At least not in the Wrath beta. In a strange graphics glitch, gnomes of certain classes look as if their swords are glued to the backs of their hands instead of being grasped. The glitch occurs whether fighting or not. It doesn't happen with Warlocks, who hold their weapons correctly, but I was able to replicate it with a Rogue and there are Warrior screenshots elsewhere on the web. Some players are even reporting that their offhand weapon is floating away and seeming to fight by itself. Blue forum poster, Gradina, says that Blizzard knows about the issue and is working on a fix. Now in the meantime, I think a little creativity is called for. Instead of stabbing or slicing with your sword, you could slap mobs upside the head. (Who doesn't like the phrase "upside the head"?) Or, you could spin around really quickly, Whirlwind style, and scrape everyone on the ankles, thereby cutting them down to your size. Maybe for the female Gnomes out there, you could use your weapon as a mirror for smoothing out split ends after a fight. And if your offhand weapon gets frisky and floats away? Take some time out for a bite of toast or to smell the roses while your extra weapon does all the work.
Ask a Beta Tester: Professions and gems
We'll start out today with a simple enchanting question from WarwolfSwe, who asked.... Is there and new rod for enchanting? And do i need to upgrade the standard Runed Adamantite Rod to a Runed Eternium Rod? There is now a Runed Eternium Rod you can craft at 375 skill. And, yes, it does require a Runed Adamanite Rod to craft (though the other materials -- Greater Planar Essence and Primal Might may be placeholders, as they seem pretty old world-y). For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Ask a Beta Tester: Beta from A to Z
Today we've got achievements, zeppelins, and a few things in between. We'll start at the end of the alphabet and work forward from there with a question from tehvoid.... Any news about the come back of the boats and zeppelins' crews? Do boats in Northrend have a crew? Yes! Well... sort of. Zeppelins currently have a single crew-member whom you cannot click on and doesn't speak. (Shown to the right -- and, yes, when the zeppelin moves, she pedals.) But the fact that they've bothered adding them in the first place suggests they do have plans for crewing these vessels. For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Lichborne: Death Knight glyphs
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly weekend look at the first hero class, the Death Knight. Daniel Whitcomb is back after dealing with some light administrative work back at the Ebon Hold. Inscription seems to be coming on to the beta server in bits and pieces, especially when it comes to the much looked for glyphs. One or two classes seem to trickle in each build, and in the latest build, it is the Death Knight's turn. Today, we'll take a quick look at the new Death Knight glyphs, and figure out how useful they'll be to the various playstyles and specs of the Death Knight. As always, it's worth noting that these are beta numbers, so things could change by the time Inscription and Death Knights see the light of day on live servers.
Arcane Brilliance: Patch 3.0.2 and you
Each week, Arcane Brilliance journeys to the heart of Mageland, braves all the perils of Blinking backwards, premature sheep-breakage, and table-ninjas that infest that mystical place, and returns triumphant, bearing with it the spoils of its epic victory: one-to-two-thousand words, a center-aligned image of some type, and several dozen Wowhead links. It then distributes these treasures among the citizenry, spreading word of its conquests throughout the villages and townships, before kneeling before the King of Mageland and presenting him with the head of a Warlock.And there is much rejoicing. I don't know about you, but the idea of patch 3.0.2 scares the living crap out of me. I mean, I'm excited about a lot of it--changing my Mage's hairstyle and restoring his lower jaw, for instance (it still perplexes me how a barber can alter my entire facial structure)--but there are things about the impending patch that absolutely terrify me. Chief among these is that free respec.Choosing a spec on the beta, where respecs cost a whopping 1 copper, has been difficult enough. Almost every talent we have now will be changed (in most cases improved), moved, or flat-out abolished when the patch hits, and many new talents will appear. Believe me when I say that none of the currently accepted level 70 talent specs will remain intact. In many ways, Mages, like every other class, are getting what amounts to a complete class reset. Everything we know about talent builds will essentially have to be forgotten and relearned. Even raids your guild knows frontward and back will become a crazy new adventure, and PvP will become a giant crap-shoot. The good news is that for at least that first week, the Arena playing field will be leveled completely.But don't worry. Arcane Brilliance is here to help. Follow me after the break to see what kind of fun we can have with our 61 talent points after the patch hits.
Ask a Beta Tester: More about inscription
We might have had more news today -- if Blizzard's beta servers could stay online for more than five minutes consecutively. We've been staring a lot at the "World Server Down" message since Blizzard rolled out patch 8905 late last night (or early this morning, depending on how you look at these things). Let's start today off with more on Inscription. A new beta patch went up last night with a few changes, including.... "Pomaces" have been renamed "Pigments" and have shiny new icons that look less like dust (they were various colors of enchanting dust icons) and look more like... well, I suppose, pigments.You can judge for yourself what you think they look most like. New Glyphs for Shamans, Warlocks, and Warriors. More Glyphs with realistic, skill level appropriate material costs. (Though the majority of them still need the exact same ink, herb, and one of each kind of parchment.) The Glyph cooldown has been changed. Though applying a Glyph still starts an hour cooldown, the cooldown is only for that Glyph, specifically. So if, for example, my Paladin applies Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom, I cannot apply Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom again for an hour. However, I could instantly swap six healing Glyphs for six tanking Glyphs -- I'd just have to wait to switch back to my original healing Glyphs. (And, of course, I'd have to have a new set of healing Glyphs to swap to, as removing them to put in tank-oriented Glyphs would destroy them.) And, though apparently not new, several people in the comments noted that a Glyph can be removed by shift right-clicking -- however, this still destroys the Glyph in the process.For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Ask a Beta Tester: All about Inscription (and a few other things)
Twan kicks us off this morning with.... Is it worth stockpiling herbs or bars/ore if I had to pick one? There's not much you'll be doing with Outland or Azerothian ore... unless you want your new Death Knight to be a Blacksmith or Jewelcrafter... but herbs of all levels will be used in the new Inscription profession. Use them to train Inscription, sell them on the auction house post Wrath... either way, you win! For more of your beta questions -- and our beta answers -- read on! We've got all there is to know about inscription after the break. But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
Around Azeroth: A whale of a tale
Fine, fine, orcas aren't actually whales. There's nothing out there that rhymes with orca, so I had to improvise. What are you, a marine biologist? Anyway, Wrath of the Lich King photoblogger Chaotique, of Perenolde's semi-infamous <Sleeper Cartel>, sent us a handful of irregularly-sized photos for Around Azeroth, including this shot of a struggling flying machine creating a smoke trail over a seemingly blissful marine mammal. With all the engineers and their polluting devices heading to Northrend, how long will it be before the air quality equals that of Los Angeles? But I suppose that in a world constantly being threatened by undead hordes and enormous red demons, pollution is the least dire threat. This image came to us straight from the Wrath of the Lich King beta -- and we'd love to have your beta screenshots, too! If you have anything our readers might like, beta or not, sharing it is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it.%Gallery-1816%
Karazhan three manned on the Wrath beta
A lot of people who read Ask a Beta Tester regularly have been asking about how easy Burning Crusade heroics will be at level 80. Can they be 3 manned? Can they be duo'd? This one's for you, guys. I decided it's worth a mention all on its own.Three players, two Death Knights and a Priest, have recently trio'd almost the entirety of Karazhan, minus only Nightbane due to not having completed the quest needed to summon him. Admittedly both Death Knights were using a deep Unholy build which is tuned a little high now, but they're not wearing any high end gear, either. The spec that the tank used is a bit unusual for an Unholy Tanking build. They didn't take Bone Shield, and I suspect Magic Suppression being bugged had something to do with its exclusion, though that may have been fixed and I missed it. A fun little detail they discovered is that Gift of Arthas, which procs a disease, is counted as one of your diseases as a Death Knight and augments abilities that scale depending on how many diseases you have active such as Death Strike.So there's your answer, ladies and gentlemen. Karazhan can be 3-manned before any raid gear is available, so Burning Crusade heroics will surely be able to be duo'd if you're still hoping and praying for Anzu come level 80.[ via DeathKnight.info ]
Training dummies updated in the Wrath beta
In the most recent beta push, patch 8885, training dummies were added to the sewers of Dalaran (and many other places in the world as well, apparently) by popular request. They were requested to replace what Dr. Boom did for everyone in The Burning Crusade: A way to benchmark DPS and crunch other numbers while outside of a raid, on a mob that didn't die long before you hit your limit. These training dummies certainly helped, but there was only one problem. The dummies were level 1, so certain important stats were greatly inflated while hitting them, such as critical strike percentages.Luckily, Kalgan has posted that the training dummies will be getting an upgrade in the next patch. The level 1 dummies will be replaced by level 80 dummies with typical level 80 stats, as well as 'boss level' dummies with boss stats. This will definitely provide much more accurate numbers for players trying to benchmark themselves. I, for one, look forward to testing the upcoming Shadow Priest changes on one of these as soon as it's all in place. I do not, however, look forward to searching for a dummy not already in use by someone else! They've been insanely popular on the beta realms in their level 1 state, and I think beta testers will love them even more at the proper levels.
Shadow Priests finally get love in the Wrath beta
Shadow Priests have been eagerly anticipating some love in the Wrath Beta for a long time now, and we've finally received some feedback beyond a pat on the head and a "hold on a bit." Koraa has just posted some great news in a thread started by the ShadowPriest.com community.While it won't fix all things, it's definitely a start, and a good one: Mind Flay's coefficient will be raised by roughly 30% "to start," and it will gain the ability to crit. Yes, that's right. The coefficient will be de-gutted, and it will benefit from crit. After months of nothing, this is like a ray of sunshine from the heavens. Koraa also mentions that they'll be looking at the rest of the Shadow tree, but states that most people agree the tree itself is fine, the issue is the Shadow spells themselves, which I will more or less agree with. While some new spells would be nice, the class is plenty functional with what they have assuming the numbers will be tuned properly, and our gear matches up with that.Hopefully we'll be seeing the new and improved Mind Flay in the next beta build, but it may take a little longer than that since it will be a complete rebuild of the spell. As soon as it's in, I'll be back here raving about it, I promise.
The Tuesday Morning Post: Treadmills, Bambi, and keyloggers in space
Good Tuesday morning, everyone! Most of us will be getting away just a quick set of rolling restarts at 5AM PDT today, but there is a handful of servers that will be going down for extended maintenance from 3AM PDT to 11AM PDT. Those servers include Azjol-Nerub, Bloodscalp, Bonechewer, Boulderfist, Bronzebeard, Crushridge, Daggerspine, Darkspear, Draenor, Dragonblight, Dragonmaw, Dunemaul, Eldre'Thalas, Feathermoon, Firetree, Frostmane, Gurubashi, Nathrezim, Perenolde, Scarlet Crusade, Shadow Council, Shadowsong, Silvermoon, Skywall, Smolderthorn, Spirestone, Stonemaul, Stormscale, Suramar, Terenas, Uldum, Windrunner. As always, for those who play on the affected servers, or those who are unable to play WoW at the moment, let me suggest some articles from the past week. There was certainly a lot of news to discuss, with build 8885 going up on the Wrath Beta servers and a good smattering of con news as well. Let's check it out: Hot News and Features If you haven't done your WoW Crossword for the week yet, it's a perfect way to waste time while waiting for your server to restart. 1-60 in 20 minutes? It's no joke. Welcome to the brave new world of WoW leveling, courtesy of Refer-A-Friend! It seem like most retailers are expecting Wrath to come out on November 4th. Still, it's best to take any release date not officially announced by Blizzard with a huge grain of salt. Ever wondered how much work it is for our characters to run everywhere in Azeroth? These folks hooked up a treadmill to find out for themselves. Raid stacking will be getting a huge overhaul come patch 3.0.2. We're talking massive, game-changing stuff here. If you raid or plan to raid at the 10 or 25-man level in the future, you should check it out. Breaking News: Bambi invades Wrath of the Lich King! We're serious. Tons of new character titles are coming with Wrath of the Lich King. Comcast has announced a bandwidth cap, it's true, but don't worry. It probably won't affect your WoW playing.
Arcane Brilliance: Mages in the beta
Each week, Arcane Brilliance conjured up a sizable serving of delicious Mage cookies for everyone to enjoy. This week, special thanks goes out to a very generous reader who wishes to remain anonymous, but was selfless enough to donate his beta key to Arcane Brilliance, for the the benefit of all who read it. To that wonderful reader, I say thank you, thank you, and every time I kill something, I will kill it in your name. When I Cannibalize the corpse, though, that's all for me.Let me begin by saying the beta is awesome.After six hours of downloading and installing, several more hours of patching, and approximately seventy-three different server crashes and shutdowns, I've been able to spend a solid four hours on the beta so far. In those four hours, I've respecced no less than 8 times. I've cast Living Bomb on rabbits on multiple occasions. I've gotten a whole two bars of the way to level 71. I've been impressed with or disappointed with but always amazed by almost everything I've seen and done. There's such an overwhelming sense of newness that pervades the entire experience, it's difficult to adequately describe.Four hours may not be long enough to do a lot of things (I swear it took me like a half-hour to navigate from the top of the zeppelin platform at Vengeance Landing to the bottom), but in experimenting with the new talents I've had plenty of time to formulate some strong opinions. There are things I like, and thing I don't, but in both cases I'm almost embarrassingly excited.Join me after the break for the all the highs and lows four hours can deliver, and I promise not to spoil any plot points. If you don't wish to find out which talents seem to work well and which don't then stay away, but otherwise you're safe.
Leatherworking recipes in 8885
Some exciting new abilities for leatherworkers have appeared in Beta build 8885. Namely, the ability to enchant our own gear, and not through the use of kits. Soon we'll be able to line our armor with fur, creating a range of effects. All of the following can only be used on the leatherworker's bracers, and will cause the item to become soulbound.[Fur Lining: Attack Power]: Permanently enchant bracers to increase attack power by 120. [Fur Lining: Stamina]: Permanently enchant bracers to increase stamina by 90. [Fur Lining: Spell Damage]: Permanently enchant bracers to increase spell power by 70. Aside from the above three, there are linings that increase fire, frost, shadow, nature and arcane resistance respectively, each by 60. I love this addition because our kits cannot be used on bracers, and this will allow leatherworkers to personally modify their own bracers in ways that no one else can.
