The Daily Blues
Each day, WoW Insider takes you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From the latest posts from Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) to the lowdown on StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, we'll keep you informed.
We've been sparse on running this, because honestly, there's not a lot the blues are saying that isn't just repeats of what's been said before. But a lot of you like this feature, so we're picking it back up now. Ghostcrawler has apparently left day-to-day posting on the forums, at least for now. So don't expect to have your daily bit of the crab. /sniff
Today's blue posts, after the break.
Serbian site WoW Serbia reports on Tom's World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm Performance Guide, which is an excellent read if you seek to improve your gaming experience by upgrading or tweaking your computer. This site has also posted a small piece on the first guild to have cleared all the bosses in 10 man normal mode.
Danish site WoW.Gaming.dk has posted a short guide on where to quest from level 80 to 85. On this site you can also find a neat video showing the last 3 bosses in Deadmines Heroic.
English site WoW Juju has updated their Reputation Calculator Tool to include the Cataclysm new factions.
English site Myndflame offers fans an opportunity to get their hands on Myndflame's very own and original Learn 2 Play 2-CD Box, MC Raider and Animation.
Swedish site LevelCap.se got an opportunity to meet Senior Game Producer Rob Foote and Level Designer Ed Hanes during their recent visit in Sweden, which has resulted in this awesome interview.
Dutch site WoW Nederland has made an announcement of a complete site revamp, and they would like to receive your feedback in regards to site design and ideas for new features!
Czech and Slovak site WoWfan.cz continues their article series on Warcraft lore characters wih this latest instalment about Tichondrius. This site also takes a look at the contents of the Cataclysm Collector's edition.
Italian site Battlecraft has posted a comprehensive guide on how to get the [Glory of the Cataclysm Hero] achievement
Turkish site WoW-TR has posted a neat strategy guide to Grim Batol.
Looking For Group: There be something else
Teh Gladiators Gun vs. Cannon: Round 1, part 1 and part 2
Beyond the Tree: Quest complete
World of Warcraft, Eh?: A Hot Side of Beef
Arena-Inside: Indeed he does!
Blood and Thunder!: On Procrastination
World of Questcraft: Disasters
GU Comics: Whassat?
It was bad enough in Deepholm and just got plain stupid in Uldum. I'd like to be able to hand in more than two quests in a row without them, please.
Ping pong wing wong king kong cheech and chong hop hip kajagoogoo!
Why does it seem like I only need to use one spell to DPS as a Disc Priest?
Mind Spike costs less mana, seems to do more damage (I currently crit for 7-8k) and has no cool down versus Mind Blast which costs about 50% more mana (~1800/1200) and has a long cool down?
Even with the 90% chance to crti with Mind Blast - it only crits for around 4k while Mind Spike routinely hits for around the same.
Anyone else getting the same?
It seems as if you're limiting yourself on the spells you're using. Mind Spike isn't the only viable spell in the Disc Priest's arsenal.
Mana is supposed to matter for healers, and in the case of Holy paladins, that just wasn't happening. We were seeing raid groups attempting to learn new bosses where the other healers were out of mana while the paladins were still at 90% of mana. We also thought the experience of paladins healing harder heroic dungeons was inconsistent with that of other healers, or our design intent. We thought it was only a matter of time before groups started going out of their way to stack paladins for raids or recruit them for dungeon runs, which of course is not our intent. For this reason, we thought it was important to address this point now rather than sitting on it until a future patch.
The main culprit for the increased paladin efficiency this was Holy Power from Tower of Radiance. We were seeing a strategy develop where paladins would cast Holy Light on a Beaconed tank, and then cast Light of Dawn on the raid (and use very few other spells). This strategy was remarkably successful considering how simple it is. The Holy Power-based heals are supposed to be an important component of the paladin kit, but because Holy Light is designed to be super efficient, the overall strategy was too efficient. The intent of Tower of Radiance was to make directly healing a Beacon of Light target less punitive, but instead it was becoming the only smart way to play. You can still generate Holy Power by using Flash of Light or Divine Light on a Beaconed target, or through a variety of other ways. Remember, overall it isn't balanced if paladins are just as mana efficient as other healers and have several mana-free spells.
Light of Dawn was adjusted because it was completely eclipsing Word of Glory. We lowered the healing of Word of Glory late in development, but also redesigned Light of Dawn. They had fallen out of sync, and Light of Dawn was just too good.
