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World of Warcraft offers up the complete Tales of Pandaria
Do you feel that you got a sense of all the storytelling to be found in Mists of Pandaria? Probably so; you've had more than a year to get through everything, after all. But there's more to the lore than just what's found in World of Warcraft. The complete Tales of Pandaria series of short stories has been collected on the official site, complete with the option to download the stories for offline reading. None of them is essential for understanding what took place on Pandaria, of course, but each of them provides a larger context that questing can sometimes miss. Not really your thing? More interested in watching players beat one another up in-game? Then you can watch the World of Warcraft North American Arena Tournament this Sunday. Starting at 9:45 a.m. EDT, the live stream will cover the best-of-five matches between the current teams in the running, with the three best teams getting a shot at the championships at BlizzCon. If that's more interesting to you than fiction, get the full details on how to watch and who's in the running.
Blizzard sale slashes prices on WoW and Mists of Pandaria
We're sure this has nothing to do with recent themepark releases and impending updates, but here it is anyway: World of Warcraft's summer sale has dropped the prices of the game everyone loves to pretend to hate. The WoW bundle and separate Mists of Pandaria expansion can be had for 10 bucks apiece until July 1st. Our sister site WoW Insider notes that European gamers are looking at €7.50 for WoW and €10.00 for Mists. Sorry, sale fiends; there's no way to rig this one.
World of Warcraft continues its raid retrospective
The launch of Warlords of Draenor is going to shake up the raiding experience in World of Warcraft, and if raiding is what you like to do in the game, that's pretty important. But rather than just explain how raiding will be in the new expansion, Blizzard has opted to look past through the previous expansions and examine how revisions have affected the game over the years. Yesterday's blog covered launch through Wrath of the Lich King, while this entry focuses on Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria. Cataclysm removed the difficulty gap between 10-person and 25-person raids, but the side effect was a pressure to produce smaller raid groups rather than grow to bigger groups. It also introduced the raid finder as a mechanic, encouraging more people to experience the content. Mists of Pandaria, on the other hand, suffered from bottlenecks that prevented non-raiding groups from making any progress, although flex raiding was deemed a better way to get groups in and playing. Take a look at the full article for more details on the ups and downs, with part 3 set to address the future of raiding in Warlords of Draenor.
Should abilities go back to Cataclysm?
It's funny, really, how at the end of an expansion it always seems like things were better before. While Cataclysm was not the most popular expansion, there were some good things about it. PvP was in a better state than it is now, for example, and I think it's fairly safe to say that ability bloat, while a burgeoning issue, had not exploded to Mists levels. And that's what I'm interested in today. I was talking about this recently, with friends, and it seemed to us like a lot of the problem abilities were added or altered in Mists. For example, while it's less of an issue in PvP now than it was at the start of the expansion, the addition of Stampede for hunters was made in Mists. Symbiosis, the convoluted, complicated druid ability, that grants powerful abilities to other classes was added in Mists. Gateway, the warlock ability that served to make 'locks nigh-indispensable for your raid team, along with their other utility of course, was added in Mists.
Blizzard adds Cataclysm to WoW Battle Chest deal
You may have noticed that it's been a little while since that little game called World of Warcraft released -- almost nine years to be exact. And in that time, there have been four major expansions, each adding quite a bit to the game (not to mention their own price tags). So what's a new or long-absent returning player to do? Thanks to Blizzard adding the Cataclysm expansion to the basic Battle Chest edition, it won't be shelling out tons of cash to get caught up. As the previous expansions were already bundled into the basic edition, the $19.99 price tag now nets a player The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm on top of the base game. Also included is one full month of subscription play time. Only the most recent expansion, Mists of Pandaria, must still be purchased separately. So if you've been thinking about jumping (back) into WoW, now is a good time to take the plunge.
Ghostcrawler on the lessons learned in Mists
Long-term WoW Insider readers will likely remember the post-Cataclysm dissection where the developers discussed the mistakes they had made and how they planned to rectify them for future expansions. Well, a twitter user has asked Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street the same question, for Mists of Pandaria, and Ghostcrawler had the following to say in reply: @stephenreis123 Hmm. I'd say two things off the top of my head. 1) We wanted to offer options but didn't offer *enough* options (e.g. GL). - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) April 24, 2013 @stephenreis123 2) As many difficulty levels as we offered, it wasn't enough. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) April 24, 2013 @stephenreis123 I said 2, but also we didn't do a good job of providing direction at L90. Also wish we had added some dungeons in maybe 5.3. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) April 24, 2013 Firstly, one of the great things about Ghostcrawler is how readily he owns up to the team's mistakes here. There's no shame in getting things wrong, but maintaining that you're infallible is both irritating and generally untrue.
Second Wind: World of Warcraft
When I originally started playing World of Warcraft, things were different. Priests were still waiting on their first big class patch. Regular mounts required level 40; most players couldn't afford the 100ish gold fee without a loan from their guild. Epic mounts were so prohibitively expensive as to be considered rare. Raids required the dedication and skill of 40 players, and only a couple of guilds per realm actually even bothered to run high-end content. WoW was, as they say, srs bsns. But that was eight years ago. Since then, World of Warcraft has seen four enormous expansions (Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria) and countless minor content updates. Edges have been softened, skills refined, classes reinvented. Subs have ballooned to a peak of over 12 million, waffled up and down for a few years, then fallen most recently to 9.6 million. Some would argue that the World of Warcraft of 2013 bears only a passing resemblance to the one we played in 2005. Others would claim it's still the same excellent/terrible game, just gussied up with fresh paint. As a longtime WoW lover but recently lapsed subscriber, I ventured into Mists of Pandaria to sort it out for myself.
Watch World of Warcraft's Thunder King trailer
Thunder... thunder... Thunder King, HO! That's the sound of millions of slavering World of Warcraft players who are itching to check out the imminent patch 5.2. To calm them down not one whit, Blizzard released the official trailer to The Thunder King. It's all poetical, too. So whether you're already sold on this next stage of WoW's development or are teasing yourself with the possibility of returning, it can't hurt to check out the following video. Or can it?
Poll: The worst boss of tier 14
Don't pretend you didn't see this coming after the earlier poll asking about the best boss of tier 14. Where there is light, there is shadow, and just as we love to discuss the best of a raid tier here at WoW Insider, we find ourselves duty bound to also talk about its bad sides. What was your worst boss in tier 14? For me, again, just expressing a personal opinion, not a statement of fact, the worst bosses were the worst bosses thanks to either mechanics which I found gimmicky, or fights that seemed overly long and sluggish. Leaping to the head of the pack for my worst boss in the tier, then, is Amber Shaper Un'sok. His random transformation of players into vehicles with, as you'd expect in a vehicle, completely revamped abilities, is frustrating at best. In fact, I say it's random, but it isn't. Almost without exception, Un'sok has a remarkable ability to target the player least equipped to deal with a sudden transformation into Lord Ryolith. If the vehicle was something that could be targeted, or selected for a specific player, it would be fine, but that isn't the case. He is, therefore, number one on my worst boss list.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Killing Throne of Thunder's Ji-Kun
Rejoining Lore from TankSpot and his guild Months Behind, Ji-Kun was our next target. Hers is an interesting fight, which somewhat split the group's opinions, leaving us undecided on whether it was genius or gimmick. Rather like Alysrazor in Firelands, Ji-Kun has a mechanic involving feathers. Actually, she has several mechanics involving feathers, if you include Quills, but the main one I'm thinking of here, indeed the main mechanic of the fight as it is intended, is Daedalian Wings. The tooltip isn't enormously useful here, but this is the buff received by players when they loot feathers from killing off the Hatchlings in one of the nests. Ji-Kun is positioned on a very elevated platform in the center of a circular room, with five other platforms positioned around the edge, below her level, and four more platforms positioned above her. These platforms are the key to this fight, which, apart from their mechanic, is, frankly, rather dull. Some of your party will be traveling to and from the lower platforms, while most will likely remain on the upper.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Isle of the Thunder King testing unlock schedule
Nakatoir has posted today regarding the impending advancement of the Thunder King on the patch 5.2 PTR, laying out the unlock schedule of the unlockable isle. Nakatoir World of Warcraft Patch 5.2: The Thunder King is almost here. The Kirin-Tor Offensive, led by Jaina Proudmoore, and the Sunreaver Onslaught, championed by Lor'themar Theron, are converging on the Isle of the Thunder King to topple the first emperor before he can wreak havoc across Pandaria. Their campaign will march slowly across the island, unlocking new content over time. We're ready to test the full breadth of the island, and that's where you come in: Players who participate on the Public Test Realm can enjoy an accelerated unlock schedule, blasting from the beach to the shores and into the Thunder King's inner citadel in a matter of a few short weeks. By participating, you'll be a great asset to Jaina and Lor'themar. More importantly, you'll help us knock out any nasty problems with the island and its progression before we go live. Transfer over a character and report to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms for instructions! source So, if you want to be among the first to witness the new storylines, the new lore, zones and quests, copy a character or create a pre-made! The full unlock schedule is after the break, so you can understand how the island will progress. Please do note that this is a testing schedule only, not a prediction of a release date. Spoiler Alert! Minor spoilers after the break.
Patch 5.2: Valor and Conquest Points will be reset
Given that patch 5.2 includes a new raid and a new PvP season, it is no great surprise that Valor and Conquest points are being reset. However, one element of said reset is not proceeding quite how recent arrivals to Azeroth might expect. Blizzard PvE Valor -> Justice All Valor is converted to Justice Justice -> Gold Justice above the 4000 cap is converted to gold at a rate of 47 silver per point So let's say the realms go down for the 5.2 patch and you have 450 Valor and 3800 Justice. Because of the 4000 Justice cap, you'd log back in after the patch is released with 0 Valor, 4000 Justice, and be 117 gold and 50 silver richer after the conversion. With 5.2 we won't be changing current Valor items to cost Justice, but they will be much cheaper (discounts from 50-75% off their current costs). You'll need to acquire Valor after the patch is released to buy pieces for their discounted rate, or to buy the new 5.2 Valor items, but we're also introducing new items to spend your Justice on, including heirlooms and Pet Battle stones. source This seems to follow the logic of Blizzard's raid nerf strategy, where players' prior efforts are not wholly negated, but will doubtless ruffle a few feathers. There is also further information provided about Charms, and PvP points.
Speed through Pet Battle achievements with Disciplinary Action
Blogger and WoW artist Disciplinary Action has taken on the task of writing an idiot's guide to certain aspects of pet battles. Her guide sets out to provide a quick and dirty route to getting your hands on some of the achievements associated with pet battles, and does a great job. She started with three level one pets, and spent some gold at the Auction House to get herself some level 20 ringers, then managed in the space of two days to get four pets from level 1 to level 25 -- not including the two level 20 pets -- as well as getting Continental Tamer, Taming Azeroth, which awards the title Tamer, and to make considerable progress towards the completion of World Safari, which awards the title Zookeeper. She already had two L25 pets, from a previous bout of battling. Of course, with the seasonal elements of World Safari, she wasn't able to complete it within the space of two days. But by making wise choices she was able to progress on it while also dealing with the other taming-related achievements. How did she do it? Do have a look at the blog post for all the details, especially the section on leveling three pets to 15 in an hour. There are several other hints and tips, but some key elements are laid out below. Bear in mind that you can't learn a caged pet of a level higher than your highest pet. Don't get carried away on the Auction House! Pick up two level 20 battle pets from the auction house (as long as you have a L20+ pet already), and use their strength to carry low-level pets through levels up to 15, then commence hunting for taming achievements. Use resources such as PetBattleArena or Wowhead's Battle Pet Map to maximize your pet gathering efficiency. Collect as many zone-specific pets as possible while moving through the world for Continental Tamer to contribute to World Safari. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Patch 5.2 PTR: PvP Interface gets a makeover
On the patch 5.2 PTR, the PvP interface has had a much-needed makeover. You can see the results above. The revamp has made the system far more intuitive to use, and brought it in line with the PvE queue screen. Clicking one of the three lines on the left-hand side will bring up the various options available to earn that currency, or, in the case of War Games, a brief explanation on how this under-used feature works, and how to set up a War Game. Perhaps this will result in more players using them, but many still lament the absence of a skirmish system, and there doesn't seem to be a gap for it at present! Moving to the right-hand side, the dice icon next to the Random Battleground is how players will choose which battlegrounds to blacklist. This could be considered an improvement on the current interface, but it's still not entirely obvious that that's what the icon does. In order to queue for specific battlegrounds other than Wintergrasp and Tol Barad, it is necessary to choose them from the drop-down menu at the top right of the screen.
Patch 5.2: Work orders allow reputation gain through your farm
Work orders are in in the patch 5.2 PTR, allowing players to gain reputation with other factions by farming. You can see Matticus' character here being offered several work orders from other factions. Wowhead has datamined many of the quests, indicating that, for now at least, they are available purely for factions added in patch 5.0.4 and patch 5.1. It's no great surprise that the new factions aren't included in these work orders, to be able to earn reputation for the new factions by farming would be rather strange when they have only just appeared. There doesn't, at present, appear to be any prior reputation requirement to get these work order quests, but you do have to have bought your farm in order to receive the work orders, so a considerable dose of Tillers work is required. Edit: A blue post has clarified that you no longer have to buy the farm to receive and complete work orders, but you will need to be exalted with the Tillers and have all plots unlocked. Once you've bought the farm You'll need to farm specific vegetables for specific factions, so, for example, the Golden Lotus want White Turnips. There's two quests for each faction, so continuing to look at the Golden Lotus, the first quest is to plant 8 White Turnip Seeds, and the second is to harvest 8 Ripe White Turnips, resulting in 40 White Turnips. Only the second part of the quest awards reputation, 300 at the moment, but both currently award 236,000 XP. The general consensus seems to be that any way to gain reputation is a bonus, but these don't seem particularly fast. Do they strike a good balance? Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Will Patch 5.2 kill PvP twinking?
If you weren't paying close attention to the most recent addition to the patch 5.2 PTR notes, you may have missed this little tidbit that was slipped in at the very end, under "Battlegrounds." Blizzard Players in low-level Battlegrounds will have their effective level raised to the maximum level allowed in that Battleground bracket. Players' base stats and spells are scaled accordingly, and are treated as the same level when determining hits, misses, and critical effect chance. source More clarity from Blizzard is definitely needed surrounding this change, and I for one am surprised this didn't make it into their recent PvP blog. It's a huge change, and blithely alters the scene of one small but much-loved section of the PvP game forever. PvP twinking is essentially participating in the lower level brackets of battlegrounds and arenas, often with an XP-locked character, and gearing that character to the highest achievable standard for its level.
What I want in patch 5.2 that isn't there yet, and that Rossi didn't mention
The eminent Matt Rossi recently wrote an article detailing what he wanted to see in patch 5.2 that isn't there yet, and while he and I share many of the same opinions, there were things that everyone's favorite warrior left out, in this writer's humble opinion at least. Given that variety is the spice of life, I thought I'd throw my thoughts into the ring for your consideration. 5-man content I heartily agree that more small group content would be fantastic. Scenarios, as someone who mostly enjoys healing and tanking in PvE, don't really do it for me. Yes, they're great for players who focus on DPS, but for those of us who don't, scenarios are less fun. There's no doubt that a healer or a tank is a handy thing to have along in a scenario, but you're not really putting your skills to the test in a situation that's designed for several DPS to complete without your assistance. While I understand Zarhym's assertion that 5-mans would be a bit "funky" at this point in the expansion, and that 5-mans haven't typically been added with every patch in WoW's long and storied history, and whether we really need them or not, I'd love some new 5-man content.
Elder charms only apply to 5.0 raids in Patch 5.2
Blizzard community manager Takralus posted last night, clarifying some upcoming changes to Elder Charms of Good Fortune come patch 5.2. Quote: I have not been able to play PTR and was wondering if there are any non daily ways to collect charms yet? It would be refreshing to be able to acquire Lesser or Elder charms from a non daily quest related way. Adding either Lesser or Greater Charms as a low drop chance to the "Greater Cache of Treasures" from doing random Scenarios seems like an excellent spot to place them to mix it up. Is there anything like this currently on the PTR? Would be a nice change of pace from dailies. Just for clarity's sake, once patch 5.2 is live, Elder Charms of Good Fortune will only apply to Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, Terrace of Endless Spring, the Sha of Anger, and Salyis' Warband (Galleon). There will also be a brand new Elder Charm equivalent currently called the Mogu Charm of Fate. MRFs will be used in the new content being released in 5.2 including Throne of Thunder, Nalak the Storm Lord, and Oondasta (ooh, say it again!). They'll still be "purchased" with lesser charms of good fortune though, exactly how the current Lesser Charm to Elder Charm conversion works. We'll be sure to let you guys know how various currencies (including Conquest and Valor) will work before the release of the patch, so you have some time to plan. source So, players who have been collecting lesser charms have nothing to fear, those will still be exchangeable for the relevant charm come patch 5.2, but converting those into Elder Charms will not be on the pre-5.2 to do list. It will certainly be interesting to see what currency changes come to pass in 5.2, it seems likely that Valor and Conquest will be converted to Justice and Honor. That is, however, not certain! What do you think we will see with the arrival of patch 5.2? Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Patch 5.2 PTR: More hats!
Perculia of Wowhead has been very busy indeed dealing with the denizens of the Darkmoon Faire on the patch 5.2 PTR. Her hot topic of today is hats, including this fetching headgear in the header image. This is the Darkmoon Top Hat, a recently discovered headpiece which grants the wearer a 10% buff to reputation and experience gain that lasts one hour. Quite apart from that, it looks marvelously fetching, don't you think? Upon using said hat, as Perculia adeptly displays in the image above, the wearer will briefly experience the hat's built in firework display, which will sporadically reappear throughout the hour it lasts for. Note that we said using, not equipping, because the wearer only appears to be wearing the hat. There is no need to remove your existing hat, this hat is naught but an hour-long illusion. Alas, the hat is consumed upon use, but fear not, a fresh hat can be purchased from Gelvas Grimegate for the princely sum of ten Darkmoon Prize Tickets. The hat can also drop from the Darkmoon Game Prize awarded by the Darkmoon daily quests, such as The Humanoid Cannonball. In other Darkmoon hat news, Wowhead has also datamined the Darkmoon Fishing Cap. While it doesn't sound nearly as dapper as the Darkmoon Top Hat, the Fishing Cap grants the wearer an additional five fishing skill, and has a very handy on-use effect, summoning a pool of Shipwrecked Debris -- the Darkmoon fishing pool. Gone are the days of searching for fishing pools, now they come to you, as long as the Darkmoon Faire is in town, and you don't mmind waiting an hour between pools. On second thought, your fishing may be more time-efficient if you do also search for pools. The source of the Fishing Cap is, as yet, unknown... Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Blizzard clarifies patch 5.2 item upgrade changes, upgrade NPC gone
To help alleviate the confusion about the absence of gear upgrades come patch 5.2, Lead Systems designed Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street recently tweeted the following: @panterpe No gear. The NPC is gone. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 11, 2013 Naturally, this response prompted a flurry of tweets from players concerned about various aspects of the proposed changes. Ghostcrawler responded to several, with further explanation, and Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok subsequently posted a longer explanation on the US forums. Players concerns related, understandably, to gear which had already been upgraded. Would it keep its upgrades? The response, reassuringly, from Ghostcrawler, was yes, it would. This fact itself brings other issues with it, particularly for PvP gearing. Upgraded Conquest gear is already so much higher than honor gear, with a maximum item level of 491 compared to honor's maximum of 466. The new honor gear arriving in 5.2 would have brought the two levels closer together, but it was then downgraded from 483 to 476. There have been several posts from various Blizzard sources saying that PvP gearing would be totally revamped for 5.2, the outcome of which PvP players await with trepidation. And for PvE, the issue is pretty similar -- the pressure is now on to get gear upgraded before patch 5.2 arrives, when, currently, the ability to do so will be removed. From Ghostcrawler's follow-up tweets, it will return in patch 5.3, if it returns at all.
