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Blood Pact: What's up with everybody?
Another week, another Blood Pact! Bringing you all the wacky Warlockery that nine out of ten healers recommend for a healthy diet. And it's not because Nick paid them off or anything. Hello again, my reprehensible cabal of spell casters I call a readership! How's it hangin?Not a great deal has actually changed for me since last week. I was forced to disband my raiding group due to unfortunate scheduling problems, so I still haven't set foot in Ulduar. And since heroics stopped offering an interesting challenge months ago, I haven't had much of a reason to log in as of late. With Noblegarden upon us though, I suppose I'd better get to it--a proto-drake in my class color doesn't come along every day, yo!Lacking any escapades of my own to pen for your amusement, I thought it would be nice if I did some research on how the various specs are being played these days, for the benefit of players (like me) who wish their spec' s play style would settle down longer than a handful of months. It's hard enough to be a DPS class beset by near-constant nerfs -- radically changing our play style all the time isn't helping. But enough QQ, lets talk about how Warlocks are doing their pew pew these days.
Lichborne: A Patch 3.1 talent build cookie platter for Death Knights
Welcome to Lichborne, your (usually) weekly (I swear) source for Death Knight news and tips.So now that Patch 3.1 is underway, the basic cookie cutter tank and DPS builds have begun emerging. The Patch 3.1 nerfs really haven't slowed us down in any major way, and with dual specs in, we're doing better than ever on the whole versatility front. In recognition of this, let's give you some straight information, no chaser. Here's a handful of cookie cutter DPS and Tank builds for each tree to get you on the right path to DPS or tanking dominance in Patch 3.1, or both if you've dropped that 1000 gold. All of these builds also included recommended glyphs at the link as well.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Noblegarden achievements
UPDATE: This guide has been revised for Noblegarden 2010. In honor of Noblegarden, we're running a special-edition OverAchiever today, dedicated to what you'll need for the meta-achievement Noble Gardener. Should you finish, not only do you get a spiffy new title, but you also get to check off another set of achievements toward What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, the yearlong achievement-palooza rewarding a 310% speed Violet Proto-Drake. Because Noblegarden has been extensively reworked, most of what you'll be doing this year is completely new, and some of this guide is going to be comprised of educated (or not-so-educated) guesses as to the difficulty of the achievements on the live realms, and tips on how to get them done. I'll let you know if I just plain don't know something or have to hazard a guess based on PTR information, but fortunately most of the holiday is pretty straightforward. We're only going to cover the achievements you need to worry about for the meta, as everything else you can achieve is really based on luck and doesn't count toward Noble Gardener. Let's get started!
The Light and How to Swing It: Holy Paladins in Ulduar
It's been over a week now since Ulduar was unleashed, and I hope that you've all gone in and had a taste of what Blizzard has emphatically called a "hard" raid. Harder than Naxxramas, at least. Aside from towerless Flame Leviathan, who was cruelly invented to trick players into thinking that Ulduar was puggable, the bosses -- heck, even the trash -- in Ulduar is a return to some good old-fashioned wipefests and headbanging against the wall. Of course, the world's top guilds were well equipped and prepared to clear all the way up to Yogg-Saron, but most guilds will struggle a bit.Did I say a bit? Some guilds will struggle a lot, actually. While Ulduar still seems easier by far than the so-called guild killers, Blizzard has ramped up the difficultly nicely and many guilds will find it a challenge but eventually conquer it in time. So where do Paladins fit in with all this conquering business? Well, it depends on your spec. Fortunately for us, Patch 3.1 also introduced dual-specs, and if there's anything a Paladin should plunk 1,000 Gold on, it's to learn a secondary spec. Today we'll take a look at how healers fare in Ulduar two weeks in after the jump.
World of Warcraft Patch 3.1.1a
A good note from the EU side of things today. There will be a minor bug patch to the client side of the game in the next few days. This patch will bring the game up to version 3.1.1a.The only change that we're told about right now in 3.1.1a will be indicting on the Exorcism tooltip that it will not damage other players. Exorcism was changed in 3.1.1, leaving many PvP Paladins unhappy.As for when exactly this small patch will drop, we're not told. I wouldn't be surprised to see it tomorrow morning, however.
Patch 3.1.1 download mirror
Our sister site Big Download has the PC patch files for patch 3.1.1 mirrored. The download is only 8 megs in size, so it shouldn't take you too long at all if you download it from them. However while the Blizzard downloader is working now, you might not have much luck later on. The Blizzard downloader has been known to crumble under intense usage (I know it's counter intuitive given the Blizzard downloader works off torrents, but it's what happens).Big Download will be getting the Mac patch up soon enough, and we'll update this post when they have it.Comments have been disabled for this post.
Maintenance extended by two hours
Not that this should be a surprise to anyone...But maintenance has been extended until 1:00 p.m. PDT / 4:00 p.m. EDT. There is no indication why the maintenance has been extended, but that's the norm as well.You can find out what's in the patch over on the Patch 3.1.1 Patch Notes and Bug Fix List, as well as by checking out our updated Guide To Patch 3.1. We'll update this post with the latest news / server status when we have it.
How to download Patch 3.1.1 with a Battle.Net account
Having problems getting patch 3.1.1 to download? Thinking that WoW Insider is crazy for announcing a patch without the download happening? Well, we might be insane, but we're not crazy.If you've converted to a battle.net account, you cannot download the patch via the traditional log-in-and-it'll-start method. To get the patch to download, enter your old non-battle.net username and password and the game will begin downloading patch 3.1.1. It's about 10-megs. You can't log-in and play the game with that user name and password anymore, but you can get the patch with it.Seems that Blizzard hasn't worked all the kinks out of the battle.net account system. But at least there's a way around the problems this time.Update: Articles goes up...and 45 minutes later it's fixed!Many thanks to our twitter followers who let us know about this!
Patch 3.1.1 notes released
As we posted earlier, patch 3.1.1 is going live today. The official patch notes have now been posted to the WoW forums. Here are highlights; I'll put the full patch notes behind the cut. In order to address issues with the dual talent specialization system, all players will have their talents points refunded. Players who have purchased dual talent specializations will have both specializations reset. Glyphs will not be affected by this reset. Characters who are not of the same race or class are once again able to view each others' professions linked in chat. The mob packs in the XT-002 Deconstructor encounter can now be engaged separately and are no longer linked. Yeah, it's a pretty small patch.
Tuesday Morning Post: It's Patching Again edition
Welcome to Patch Day! Seems like we were just here, doesn't it? But anyway, it looks like we're headed for 3.1.1 today, which is mostly be bugs fixes that were a bit too involved to be applied via hotfix. That, of course, means we get an extended downtime again, from 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific time. When it rains, it seems it pours! This time, hopefully there won't be any free-playtime-worthy unexpected downtime.While you're waiting for the servers come up so you can continue work on that second champion title or de-arm Kologarn or get started on Season 6, I suggest one of two things: First thing you can do go out and buy Arthas. Unless you won it from us or something. Otherwise, I'd say it's a good morning for catching up WoW Insider. Here's a few suggestions to get you started:
World of Warcraft Patch 3.1.1
We've been talking about a new small patch for tomorrow most of the night. MMO-Champion has confirmed that patch 3.1.1 is going live tomorrow. The patch notes just point to a forum thread that outlines the bug fixes we posted earlier this evening (which includes a free talent respec).Now while I'd love real patch notes, having a forum thread with the latest updated information on it isn't a very bad way to do things. We'll keep our list updated as well, and let you know if anything changes (as of 1:10 a.m. EDT it hasn't).If you have time tomorrow fire up your client before you leave for work or school to grab the patch while you're away. We'll get a download mirror up as soon as we can for you.For a comprehensive listing of everything that's changed in Patch 3.1 and Patch 3.1.1, check out WoW Insider's Guide to Patch 3.1. Patch 3.1.1 is live, giving us many nice bug fixes. Patch 3.1 takes us into Ulduar, delivers us dual specs, and brings significant changes to all the classes! Check out our Guide to Patch 3.1 and the official patch notes!
Blood Pact: WTB Glyph of Haunt...anybody?
Greetings fellow Warlocks! Welcome, to our wicked weekly: Blood Pact! Here, heretical happenings are heard, diabolical deeds are done, and alliteration is always awesome. So continue to sit at your computer, continue to read your monitor, and enjoy the ramblings of Old Man Sentai as much as you're able. I've dreaded the coming of 3.1 for awhile now. I love the new features of course. Being able to switch to a spec with replenishment any time my raid needs it will certainly be handy, and Ulduar will be a nice change of pace once I get in there -- even if I really wanted to get a few more Naxx achievements done before moving on. What I don't love is the new Affliction. There's so few buttons I feel like I'm playing Burning Crusade style Destruction. (Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt...)3.0 Affliction's rotation went something akin to Shadow Bolt > Haunt > Corruption > Siphon Life > Curse of Agony > Unstable Affliction > Immolate > Shadow Bolt Spam, followed by dot refreshments as needed, and Drain Soul once the target was below 25%. There was some variation based on whether or not the group wanted Curse of Elements, or whether you liked your short duration dots to go up first, but on average that's how it was. Now that Siphon Life has been removed as an active spell, as well as Unstable Affliction and Immolate being altered so that they're mutually exclusive on a given target, two dots are out of the rotation. I'm sure it's a welcome change for some, but I'll be referencing the period between 3.0 and 3.1 as the golden age of Affliction from now on. Oh well, such is WoW.
Patch 3.1 lesser-known changes
Sure, you know about dual spec, the Argent Tournament, and Ulduar. But patch 3.1 was a patch of many changes, and some of them seem to have flown under most people's radar. Here are a few changes that have been surprising some people recently, judging by the tips we've been getting. Siphon Life is no longer a separate spell. The talent now adds a self-healing effect to your Corruption, as well as boosting the damage on Corruption, Seed of Corruption, and Unstable Affliction. Emblems are now automatically distributed to everyone upon the first person looting them, similar to gold. This means no more forgotten emblems, and no more rush to the corpse as everyone goes to get theirs. It will also make loot chests much less unpleasant. Many spells with ground effects, such as Rain of Fire, Blizzard, and Death and Decay, are not showing the same as they used to. This is because there is a new video effects option, "Show Projected Textures," which controls whether things like the rune circles from RoF/Blizz/DnD are rendered on your client. It also appears to control my framerate in 25-man raids. The 10% experience bonus from heirloom shoulders now applies to quest experience as well as experience gained from killing mobs. Is there anything else that took you by surprise in patch 3.1?
Wrath 101: Emalon the Storm Watcher
So ends the age of the weekly loot piñata. The Wintergrasp raid instance, somewhat inappropriately called the Vault of Archavon, has a new tenant who isn't quite the pushover Archavon the Stone Watcher has been since the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. The Vault of Archavon was essentially every Level 80 player's weekly lottery and near guaranteed shot at Emblems. It was the most compelling reason to capture Wintergrasp as the raid was only available to the faction in control of the zone. Enter Emalon the Storm Watcher, a new raid boss with Patch 3.1 who drops Ulduar and Season 6 loot. Emalon's difficulty is ramped up considerably from Archavon and -- if initial forays are any indication -- hard enough to give seasoned raiders like our own Matt Low an aneurysm.Unlike his meek neighbor Archavon, Emalon actually requires a bit of strategy and situational awareness. He also comes with four bodyguards, the Tempest Minions, who are integral to the fight. As can probably be inferred from his name and his crew, Emalon the Storm Watcher's primary source of damage is lightning, or Nature damage. It won't be necessary to stack resistance, just an understanding of the fight, his abilities, and knowing what to do and avoid. You can visit Emalon by turning into a corridor on the right just before heading into Archavon.
Top Ulduar achievements earned thus far
The folks over at GuildOx, a guild progress and achievement ranking site, were kind enough to email us some interesting new statistics about Ulduar's achievements. As it stands a large portion of the raids are, of course, not getting encounter specific achievements the first time they go into the zone. However there are some that are getting them nonetheless.People may wonder if guilds are getting the achievements this quickly because Ulduar is too easy. My opinion on the matter is that Ulduar itself sans hard modes won't be abnormally challenging, however when you put in the hard modes and various twists to the encounter in order to earn the achievements, Ulduar is going to become quite challenging.The achievements that have made the list so far, like A Quick Shave where you have to kill Razorscale with her only flying into the air once, just requires a lot of DPS. That's not too hard for most geared out groups to muster.Take a look after the break for GuildOx's list of the top five Ulduar 10 and 25 man achievements, and head over there to take a look at things overall.
Ghostcrawler explains why it took five months to nerf Death Knights
The Warlock community was in an uproar over the extremely quick hotfix that Blizzard applied to nerf Conflagrate among other niggling issues with the recent Patch 3.1. Aside from the fact that nerfs are never a fun thing, Warlock players pointed out that Death Knights, while acknowledged by Blizzard to be overpowered, reigned for months before getting nerfed (somewhat) in the latest patch. Warlocks also pointed an accusatory finger at Holy Paladins, who dominated Arenas throughout Season 5 and promptly got a fix along with Death Knights.On the other hand. it took all of 24 hours for Warlocks to enjoy insane Conflagrate numbers, which was promptly fixed. Ghostcrawler explain why through a lengthy response over at the forums, noting that Death Knights were imbalanced for more reasons than a simply overpowered spell coefficient. He also said that Death Knights and Paladins were nerfed over the course of several patches leading to Patch 3.1, but none proved to be enough to balance them.It needs to be said that Death Knights were changed the most in this patch, with talent trees completely revised, some notable abilities removed (oh, Shadow of Death, how we'll miss you...), and class mechanics changed. It's quite possible that even these changes won't curb Death Knight dominance, but it's a massive change that simply isn't hotfixable. It's a fair response and a pretty good read. Ghostcrawler makes several important points, one of which is that players shouldn't feel that developers don't love them. So don't be emo.
Flawless Victor title removed in Patch 3.1
With stealthiness worthy of an Arashikage, Blizzard removed the Flawless Victor title granted by the Achievement Hot Hot Hot Streak, along with the Achievement itself in Patch 3.1. This tiny little 'inconvenience' was conveniently left out of the patch notes, surprising many players who logged in to the puzzling message 'Title removed: Flawless Victor'. Conversations with GMs didn't manage to shed light into the situation, either, with the standard answer bring "apologies for the inconvenience".Blizzard gives no reason for the removal of the Achievement and title, and forum posts asking about the matter have so far received no blue responses. On the other hand, Bornakk was quick to address the bug about the Champion of the Frozen Wastes title, which was hotfixed. It's fairly certain that Blizzard removed the Achievement intentionally. Some suspect that there were exploits that allowed players to obtain the Achievement with ease, while others dismissed it as a meaningless title in what is arguably the most imbalanced Arena season to date. With the Arena system being completely overhauled yet again for Season 6, it is possible that we may see the title return in some form or the other.
Ensidia downs Yogg-Saron
It was inevitable that someone would down Yogg-Saron pretty quickly, and less than twenty four hours after the patch went live European guild Ensidia have claimed World First on the Death God. Given the non-linear progression into Ulduar, a lot of other guilds were able to pull off world firsts on other bosses. It also seems that Ensidia was focusing on clearing Ulduar in normal mode, as none of their kills were done on hard mode. This means we're unlikely to see Algalon downed this week (not by Ensidia, anyway). While it came as no surprise that someone killed him, what surprised me was that it was Ensidia. I was betting on Vodka (can I get a 'for the Alliance!' from anyone?) and that they managed to do it while many of the EU realms were having stability issues. Of course, it should be noted that Ensidia was the same guild that cleared all Wrath content three days after its release (they hadn't decided on a name yet).Boubouille over at MMO Champion has a full raid list and info on some of the loot that dropped, including a rather nice cloak and a piece of that legendary healer mace.
Breakfast Topic: What do you think of 3.1
It's been a long old twenty four hours but the US servers have had Patch 3.1 running life for a little while now. I can just imagine the thousands of people swamping Ulduar, the Argent Tournament and every class trainer from Azuremyst to Thunderbluff will be stood on by thousands of toons trying to dual spec. Now over the last few weeks Breakfast Topic has been, quite understandably, a little Patch 3.1-heavy. We've asked about your most anticipated feature, whether your guild is ready and where your toon will be when the realms restart (just in case you were wondering, Serisa is waiting outside Ulduar to see if the above happens on live as well).So if you're lucky, you've had a few hours to poke around and take a look, I want to know what your impressions are of The Secrets of Ulduar now that it's gone live?
WoW Insider's Patch 3.1 FAQ
Our own Elizabeth Harper has been hard at work gathering together all of the most frequently asked questions that we've received over the last few weeks regarding patch 3.1. Now that the realms are finally coming up, it's a good time to get these out to you all because many of you will probably be asking them soon, too!Our FAQ is listed below, and if you ever want to find it again just bookmark this page. It will always be there, and should there be a need to update it at any point, we'll be sure to do so! Thanks for sticking with us today, ladies and gentlemen.
