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Patch 5.4.2 PTR: Karazhan cleanup efforts underway
Patch 5.4.2 is on the PTR now and it has some interesting additions, like the ability to send account-bound items in the mail cross-server. But some as-of-yet unexplained changes in Karazhan have left us scratching our heads. A revised version of the Burning Crusade-era raid has stripped the abandoned castle of many of its cobwebs and skeletons. Is someone going to be moving in? Are the ghosts moving out? Or is this perhaps just an alternate, earlier Karazhan we might have a chance to visit? Hopefully Blizzard will clue us in soon, because we're very curious -- but in the meanwhile, Wowhead has a lot of screenshots capturing Karazhan on the live and test realms for comparison purposes, including the Romeo & Juliet skeleton scene in the screenshot above. Have your own theories about just what's going on in Karazhan? Let us know!
Patch 5.2: Horridon and Iron Qon raid testing announced
More raid testing has been scheduled tomorrow for both Horridon and and Iron Qon on 10-man normal difficulty. Horridon was originally slated for last week but technical issues forced the testing to be deferred. If your gear levels aren't at high enough level, player gear will be scaled in the raid to assist with testing. If you're not sure how to get to the Throne of Thunder, we can show you how! Raid Testing Schedule - January 17 On Thursday, January 17, we will be testing two more raid encounters in the Throne of Thunder. Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Public Test Realms. Horridon - 10 Player Normal 10:30 PST (13:30 EST, 19:30 CET) Iron Qon - 10 Player Normal 16:00 PST (19:00 EST, 01:00 CET) As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. This is particularly true for these early tests as we are still nailing down overall patch stability. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback. Important Testing Notes Q: How do I get into the raid zone? A: At the northeastern edge of the swamp on the Thunder King's island, there is a Shado-Pan camp in a small cave. A sewer grate in this cave will take you directly to the zone-in point for the raid zone. (As more of the island unlocks, players will be able to access the main gate directly.) Q: What gear do I use to test the raid? A: As we did for Beta raid testing, we will be scaling players' gear inside the raid in order to facilitate testing. Gear will be scaled (up or down, as appropriate) to item Level 502 for the purposes of testing Normal modes. source
Patch 5.2: Throne of Thunder raid testing schedule announced
Tomorrow on January 11, we'll be seeing raid encounters being tested on the public test realm for patch 5.2. Horridon and the Council of Elders will both be available on normal mode in the new Throne of Thunder raid. If your gear levels aren't at high enough level, don't worr. Player gear will be scaled in the raid to help with testing. In case you're wondering how to actually get into the raid instance, we have a guide showing you how to do just that! Raid Testing Schedule - January 11 On Friday, January 11, we will be testing our first two raid encounters of the 5.2 test cycle. Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Public Test Realms. Horridon - 10 Player Normal 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST) Council of Elders - 10 Player Normal 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST) As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session or cancel it entirely, due to bugs, builds, server hardware issues, etc. This is particularly true for this test, since it's our first 5.2 raid test. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback. Important Testing Notes Q: How do I get into the raid zone? A: At the northeastern edge of the swamp on the Thunder King's island, there is a Shado-Pan camp in a small cave. A sewer grate in this cave will take you directly to the zone-in point for the raid zone. (As more of the island unlocks, players will be able to access the main gate directly.) Q: What gear do I use to test the raid? A: As we did for Beta raid testing, we will be scaling players' gear inside the raid in order to facilitate testing. Gear will be scaled (up or down, as appropriate) to item Level 502 for the purposes of testing Normal modes. source
Patch 5.2: How to enter the Throne of Thunder raid
The recent PTR update for patch 5.2 has fixed issues with interactive objects! In other words, we can finally click the portal at the portal area in the Shrines that will transport us over to the Island of the Thunder King. You'll run into a few NPCs that are leading the charge such as Jaina for the Alliance and Lor'themar for the Horde. Your faction will have assorted daily quests for you to go out and undertake. But we're not here for that. Where's this new raid instance? Read on!
Get a load of World of Warcraft's Isle of the Thunder King
Those of you holding fast to your martial arts ursines in World of Warcraft are probably quite geeked about the upcoming patch 5.2. The second major post-Mists of Pandaria update for the game includes a new quest hub, raid, world bosses, and a farm that you can buy and make your very own. Our sister site WoW Insider took a closer look at 5.2, which is currently on the public test realm. The focus of the article was the Isle of the Thunder King questing zone, which involves a struggle between the Sunreaver Onslaught and Kirin Tor Offensive factions. The area has plenty of cool quest elements; it allows players to transform into the lizardy Sauroks, to be a counselor to golems, and use a ritual stone that summons group bosses. The article notes that players will see the return of a couple of familiar faces, such as the Image of Archmage Vargoth.
Mists of Pandaria cruises toward first big patch
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is chugging along quite nicely, and while there are players content in the current journey to the new endgame, there are always those asking, "What's next?" For the latter crowd, Blizzard has announced that the first major post-expansion content update is heading to the test server soon. Patch 5.1 is slated to advance the storyline, add quest hubs and factions, introduce underground fighting rings in capital cities, improve the pet battle system, and allow players to upgrade gear with valor points. Blizzard says that the progress toward the patch's deployment is a sign that it is taking its commitment to faster content delivery seriously.
Patch 4.3.2 on public test realms now
It appears that the holidays are over at Blizzard today, as our first new content since the launch of patch 4.3 has hit the public test realms with a few interesting tidbits. MMO-Champion has got the full scoop, showing off the datamined Feldrake mount as well as a new World of Warcraft optimization feature that can slim down WoW's footprint on your system. A 64-bit game client is also teased with the addition of a Text x86 client marking, and new client strings show off some of the WoW parental controls. A rideable Feldrake as well as an Eye of the Legion pet, hmm? Could these items give us any clues toward the Mists of Pandaria launch events that are going to be happening presumably within the next few months, making way for the next expansion? Are we getting a glimpse of a demonic invasion that will leave the Horde and the Alliance scrambling to fight off enemies from all sides? Check out all of the changes for patch 4.3.2 over at MMO-Champion. Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Patch 4.2.2 on test realms could signal patch 4.3 soon
Intrepid dataminers over at MMO-Champion have spelled out the changes made recently to the public test realms (PTR). This update solidifies all the changes made in recent bug fixes. It could also signal the ramping up of more PTR action as patch 4.3 heats up for prime time testing. Currently, the PTR is up to patch 4.2.2, so no new content is up, but the realms are now updated with the hotfixes and bug fixes that the servers have already received. Most of the changes listed are tooltip changes that are already live on the servers but might not have been reflected on the PTR while it was in a dormant state. Hopefully this means that after a round of cleanup and bug fixes on the PTR, we'll get some news about patch 4.3 and the wonders that await. What does patch 4.3 hold for the future of World of Warcraft? Well, we don't know yet. It could be new 5-mans, the War of the Ancients raid promised at BlizzCon, or new daily content not unlike the Molten Front. We could even see a tier of raiding pitting players against Deathwing himself soon. While the code strings are nothing new, it might signal that the guild transfer service is in the pipe as we speak; hopefully we'll have more information on this service for patch 4.3. While the strings are focused on naming violations, I can still dream, right? I want to believe! We will find out in time. Read the full list of changes after the break.
Breakfast Topic: Do you test new content on the PTRs?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. It is pretty obvious that the public testing realms are a very useful tool for Blizzard in order to determine what exactly the kinks are in the newest content it is going to roll out -- and even a way to gauge popular opinion on new builds, talents, and bosses. However, the PTR seems to only really cater to one sort of personality: a personality that enjoys seeing everything before it is even brand spankin' new, possibly a little broken (or a lot broken, as the case may be). There have been times when I've been so jazzed about the public testing realms that I've downloaded the server and patches as soon as they are available and jumped right into trying out the freshest raids or quests, and other times, I just don't give a hoot. PTRs are often the lifeblood of up-to-date bloggers and theorycrafters, but for me, it really all depends. Sometimes I like finding bugs; other times, it just doesn't seem worth the hassle. Do you find yourself lining up to get into the latest quests and raids on the PTR? Hitting the testing dummies? Or is it all something you'd rather digest from the front page of WoW Insider instead and leave the testing to the experts?
Raid Rx: Healing changes and Firelands thoughts
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading on the Matticast. Here's one of the larger healing changes coming up in patch 4.2. It'll affect all healers for sure, since it affects the critical strike of heals. We first learned Blizzard was contemplating this change several weeks ago in a Dev Watercooler post. All healing critical strikes now heal for 2 times a normal heal (+100%), up from 1.5 times a normal heal (+50%). source I'll go over my thoughts about the proposed healing changes for patch 4.2. I also had the opportunity to try out some of the new raid encounters on the PTR in Firelands. Think you're ready for the upcoming healing challenge?
Shifting Perspectives: Dispatch from the patch 4.1 PTR
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This week, we nose around the patch 4.1 PTR. As promised, I hit the patch 4.1 PTR to get a feel for the changes we talked about last week. Naturally, the first change I ran to confirm was Prowl's new icon, which I'm pleased to report is totally kickass and addresses all our icon-related needs for the forseeable future. This patch isn't going live with new raid content, so the premade toons on offer are kitted in heroic blues (ilevel 346). This gear is all easily obtainable with a little elbow grease on the live servers, so the numbers you'll see in this column should be representative of what a pre-raid druid will look like. Just for kicks, I also copied my main over, and she's in slightly better gear feral-wise and slightly worse gear resto-wise. As an aside, when did we get that cool little swooping animation upon changing into flight form? Is this totally new, or did it happen in patch 4.0.6 and I missed it while buried under a mountain of snow and subsequent flooding in my winter-ridden hell? Or -- scary thought -- am I so used to shifting to flight form in midair that I've failed to notice it for months? God, that's terrifying.
Breakfast Topic: Do you test patches on the PTR?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Blizzard puts up public test realms (PTRs) for testing new content all the time. At times the PTRs are unplayable, either due to bugs or overcrowding. At times they are ridiculous because of the economy, because people transfer all the gold on their account to a single character before copying them. Some major guilds go whenever there is new raid content to practice it on the PTR, so they can get their world firsts whenever the content does go live. Some people seem to go just to stand around and complain about the changes yet not actually test anything. However, all the problems aside, the PTRs are the only way to experience the new content or class changes prior to live. I tend to copy over to the PTR whenever there is a new raid instance or a major revamp of my class. Having been in the betas for the last couple of expansions, I tend to file lots of bug reports and hope that at least some of my issues are addressed. I have gotten frustrated with people attempting to make a ton of gold in the test realms because they do not seem to grasp the fact that the money doesn't come with them to live. Whatever is done on the test realm stays there and dies there. The PTR is there for testing, and testing requires people to be able to have access to the new material. Because a lot of people don't actually test on the PTRs, we tend to have several mini-patches in order to fix bugs with a major patch. So actually use the PTR for testing, since it will only help cut out some bugs for when it goes live. Do you actually use the PTRs? Do you participate in sending in bug reports? Are you one of these people who copy over all your gold and charge exorbitant AH prices on the PTR? %Poll-60766%
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Testing 4.0.6 PTR changes
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. If you're wondering where your heroic dungeon gear guide is, it's been eaten by the PTR. Frankly, I've been running heroics as DPS and as a tank for about a week straight now, and I'm kind of bleary-eyed anyway, so looking at something aside from a long list of gear might just be the way to go. Above, you may see my draenei warrior just after successfully getting his hands on a new offhand weapon and zoning out of Grim Batol, whereupon Deathwing immediately set him on fire. I mean, I wasn't even done loading yet. Or you may see me, this morning, waking up to the news of the patch notes for the PTR. Take your pick, I suppose. In an expansion that has already proven to be significantly melee-unfriendly (to put it mildly), today's notes make me a touch cranky. Some I understood the reasoning on; others I expected -- but they still didn't do much to make me feel like Cataclysm is going to stop dumping its particular form of love down on melee classes any time soon. So let's take a look at the coal Father Blizzmas is putting in our stockings, shall we? (Hey, I still have a tree up in my living room.)
Official PTR Patch 4.0.6 patch notes
Blizzard has just released the patch notes for patch 4.0.6, hitting the PTR now. You'll see buffs to several racials, sorely-needed buffs for several classes, and more. Hit the jump for the full list. General Many tooltips have been updated to reflect any changes made via recent hotfixes. The guild reward Armadillo Pup now requires revered faction instead of exalted.
StarCraft 2 makes North America a 'public test region,' live now
Like World of Warcraft before it, Blizzard revealed its "public test region" program for StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, giving Zerg-rushers and Zealot-sneakers an early preview of patches yet to come. First up, patch 1.20 is available for PTR participants, giving players hands-on with Battle.net chat channels, editor improvements, and forthcoming balance tweaks (among many, many other things). There doesn't seem to be a limit to the number of SC2 players able to participate, though the FAQ stipulates "players must have an active StarCraft 2 North America game account created before November 11, 2010 -- the player's account must not be a guest pass account, suspended, or banned." According to ShackNews, Blizzard's SC2 public test region program will "conduct public tests for most if not all future game patches." As for how long patch 1.20 will be available in preview? Like most things Blizzard, it won't be available publicly "until we feel the patch has been appropriately tested."
Waging WAR: The new RvR... Are we there yet?
This past week was an exciting week for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the new RvR systems were released for testing on the public test realm of Warpstone. Greg took part in both the Wednesday night and Friday afternoon sessions, and writes about his experiences and impressions in this week's Waging WAR. When Mythic said that testing would begin in October, I don't think anyone expected to get his hands on the new changes to the RvR system so soon. Wednesday night was the first focused test, and I made it a point to take part. I also took part in the European-friendly session scheduled for Friday afternoon. Both events took place in the Tier 3 (Chaos vs. Empire) pairing across the zones of High Pass and Talabecland. There are certain issues that I feel are important enough to discuss regarding the way the new battlefield dynamics will bring about a golden age for melee careers, but this week, I want to focus on the RvR itself. Things have well and truly been shaken up, and this fresh experience is going to take some serious adjustment for veteran players as well as newcomers to the game. Continue along after the break for more discussion on the topic.
The Light and How to Swing It: Retribution in 4.0.1
With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge, and soon, an entire flight of black dragons. Please send screenshots as well as any comments to gregg@wow.com. A couple weeks back, I covered the changes to protection for the 4.0.1 pre-Cataclysm patch that usually goes out a month(ish) or so before release. The point of those patches is so that everyone can play with the new class features and get everything figured out before the chaos that is the actual expansion release. Now it's time to do the same sort of coverage for ret pallies. If you haven't been following the changes thus far, it's going to look odd. There are new class concepts and skill/buff consolidations. First off, picking your spec now has a lot more meaning from the get-go. You receive most of the passive buffs that you'd have to spend 40 talent points getting in the past for free at level 10 that are responsible for making your chosen spec usable. As an example, you get Sheath of Light, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization and Judgements of the Bold. That provides your attack power-to-spellpower conversion, your weapon damage bonus and your mana regeneration. All of this just for picking the spec. In addition, you get a new attack called Templar's Verdict that we'll get into later. First off, let's talk about the biggest change to our class in the expansion: holy power.
PTR character copy service active (Updated)
While we're unsure exactly for what, the Public Test Realm character copy function is currently up and running, but not yet active. Could be for the upcoming Echo Isles and Gnomeregan content, could be for the new Ruby Sanctum raid. We have no idea. It may not even mean anything at all. Of note: my particular character copies haven't been reset since the last PTR testing phase, giving me a grand total of one possible character copy to the PTR servers. You may be in a similar or worse boat. As always, when Blizzard provides more information about the status of the PTR, as well as its contents, we'll be sure to let you know. Until then, feel free to hammer the character copy server -- you were going to anyway. Update: MMO-Champion points out that instead of our normal Anasterian and Broxigar realms on the PTR realm list, we have Broxigar and BlizzCon Event. As Boubouille notes: "When was the last time Blizzard needed a server for BlizzCon?"
Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Priests
If you read the patch notes for the latest public test realm build, you might have noticed there is an odd change being applied to priests of the bubbling nature. Renewed Hope: now has a 60-second duration, up from 20 seconds, but a 20-second cooldown. Seems a bit strange, doesn't it? Is it a buff, a nerf? What would be the point of adding a cooldown to an ability that has a duration exceeding the cooldown? Well, after kicking the Blizzard downloader all night and day, I've finally tested it for myself and as it currently functions on PTR it appears to have no negative impact on discipline priests. That said, I do not believe it is currently working entirely as Blizzard intends it to. For more information on what I observed, hit the jump.
Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Cull Stratholme faster than ever before
The dungeon finder has really changed what players get excited about the most in the World of Warcraft. It's a strange world when one of the most anticipated updates to the game is the ability to tell Arthas to shut his yap. No, we don't mean kill him in Icecrown, we really do mean telling him to shut the hell up. Just in case you missed it in the patch notes we posted a little while ago, there's this waiting for us in patch 3.3.3: Culling of Stratholme: Players may now skip the initial introduction dialog to this dungeon once they have completed it at least once. The pre-Culling of Stratholme dialogue is really cool to experience the first few times, but after that it just starts to feel like a waste of time. The dungeon finder made it even worse, because as awesome as it is, it eliminated some of the social stigma of ditching a group early. Oculus and Culling of Stratholme are the two instances I can always expect some dip to drop from. Hopefully this change and the deserter debuff becoming 30 minutes will discourage that sort of behavior.
