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Lichborne: Racial abilities for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. With all the upheaval regarding death knight abilities and DPS happening right now, it's sometimes a good idea to go back to the basics and figure out some of the stuff that underlies a good, solid death knight. One of the most basic cornerstones of choosing a death knight is choosing your race. Since every single race can be a death knight, you have your pick, and since there's a race change service, you don't even have to stay the same race forever. Personally, I tend to say that you choose whatever race feels right for you -- but for those who want to pick a race (or change your current race) based on what racials are "best," this guide is for you.
Wasteland Diaries: Progress
I had some spare time this week, so I went on the Fallen Earth public test server to check out some of the new stuff. Progress towns have made their debut, and so has a slew of new skills and abilities. Actually, saying that there are new skills and abilities is kind of an understatement. There is an entirely new skills-and-abilities system in place on the PTS. It is barely recognizable compared to what we have now. Yes, it's that different. Is this a good thing, or is it bad? With Sector 4 looming on Fallen Earth's horizon, we are looking down the barrel of the gun of change. There are a lot of new things coming our way soon, most of which are closely guarded secrets. I did have an opportunity to see some of the new stuff we'll be seeing in the next patch, but I didn't get to peer behind the giant wall that keeps our prying clone eyes out of the next sector. If any of this stuff interests you, click past the cut and I'll go into a little more detail about it.
Making the Racial traits more individual
Hot on the heels of word about all the new changes to racial abilities in Wrath, reader Mike sent us a suggestion he thought up to give a little twist to racial abilities in game: Blizzard could unlock some of them from a few races, and instead give players the ability to choose a few on a peronal basis -- they could pick and choose certain abilities for their characters to have from the beginning. As in, each ability would get put into a budget, and instead of merely choosing a race, players could then choose one or two skills from the budget to give to their characters. You could end up having a Troll with Escape Artist and Diplomacy, or a Human with Hardiness and Magic resistance.Of course, some abilities are pretty strictly defined by the races themselves, so not everything could be pick and choose -- Gift of the Naaru and Will of the Forsaken would have to stick with Draenei and Undead, respectively (they'd have to stay Racial traits, not personal ones). But abilities like Endurance and Quickness are so insignificant in the bigger picture of things that it would be nice to customize your character a little bit more -- match it up to your style of play rather than just want race you'd like to be. Character creation is quickly becoming the one thing in the game that's stayed exactly the same since launch, and for many reasons, from RP to theorycrafting, players would really get a kick out of customizing their characters that little bit more.As Mike told us, each character has their own personal background and insights, so why shouldn't each individual character have their own personal traits to shine in? It's a little late for Wrath, of course, but it's something to think about in the future -- if Pets get their own choices about their strengths, why shouldn't the different ingame races?
New racial abilities for Wrath
It looks like Blizzard isn't done tinkering with everything for Wrath of the Lich King. This time, they've turned their attention to racial abilities, which many have pointed out to be imbalanced. Kalgan dropped by the forums to answer a good question regarding the Orc racial Hardiness, which grants a passive 15% resistance to stuns. It's been nerfed a long way from its original 25% resistance, but the poster made a good point about the game's direction towards reduced durations instead of resistances.Kalgan responds by saying that Hardiness was being changed into exactly that -- an effect duration reduction of 15%. He also goes over all the other racials, some of which were changed, others of which were buffed, and yet a few others of which were inevitably nerfed. The changes should make it into the next Beta push. Check after the break to see the complete list. [CLARIFICATION: This isn't the complete list of racial abilities. Abilities not listed here are unchanged or, if they will be changed, will be mentioned in the future.]
Gnomes or Dwarves: Which would be better to attach to a bottle rocket?
I don't know if it's just the kid in me that likes to blow things up, but I always find myself aiming to make a few explosions happen around this time of year. As I've grown older and understood more about physics, chemistry, etc., I've come to make the explosions even larger. For instance, putting a bunch of fireworks in a barrel, lightening them all on fire at the same time, and then funneling the explosion towards the ground usually has a humorous result. Humorous might be a few missing fingers, but they can be reattached. And really, who needs their middle finger for anything good? This year I'm going to try to attach things to bottle rockets, perhaps 10 to 20 all tied together in a bundle. My goal is to see how high I can make things go up in the air. It's going to be a grand ol' time. And after all, what better way to celebrate the birth of America than to blow your own little part of it up? All this talk about blowing things up has got me thinking though, which race would fit better on a rocket, and which would fly farther? Gnomes or Dwarves? Let's look at the strengths and weaknesses of both. %Poll-16438%
Why Gnomes (supposedly) rock
I can't say I agree with the premise of this post that reader Syp wrote and sent to us (I'm Horde to the core, so for me, Gnomes only rock when eaten with a side of fries and Horde soda), but I can't really argue with most of his points. He sets out 10 reasons why Gnomes rock, and I have no doubt that they're sure to inspire lots of cross-faction discussion.I do have to admit-- the Gnome mount is one of my favorites, and engineering has gotten to be lots of fun. Escape Artist is an excellent ability (especially since it went instant a little while ago), and I have missed out on the fun that I hear is Toshley's Station-- I'm trying to work my little Gnome Warrior up to the mid-60s so I can get in on the Star Wars references, too.But I do take issue with Syp's "underdog" and "conformity" points. If you really want to play a race/gender that doesn't get a lot of love, try a Dwarf Female.
