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Imagination Tech reveals Warrior CPU core to fight (uphill) battle against ARM
This news isn't remotely surprising, given Imagination Tech's recent acquisition of CPU designer MIPS, but reporting it still gives us a little flutter of excitement. And for good reason: Imagination has just revealed that its first MIPS-based CPU core, which should be able to run Android, will be introduced by the end of this year, and that it'll go by the totally appropriate codename of Warrior (or, less dramatically, "MIPS Series5"). The core's first battle will be to prove that the MIPS architecture really can be a competitive alternative to ARM (which uses a similar low-power RISC architecture) and that Imagination didn't just blow $100 million on hot air. Speaking of which, the attached press release comes with plenty of bold claims, including a statement that the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Warrior will offer "best-in-class performance and efficiency," and a promise that Imagination "will change the landscape for CPU IP." We have no idea how all of this is going to play out, but we fully intend to be ringside when it does.
Ghostcrawler on Vengeance and patch 5.4
Yes, patch 5.3 isn't even out yet, and we're already looking towards patch 5.4. Thanks to Ghostcrawler, we have this to think about for the future, namely that Vengeance is getting capped at a significantly lower threshold in raids in the future. If you remember back at August of last year, Vengeance saw some significant changes that increased how fast it could ramp up in raids and also gave it a far larger maximum potential. It's been adjusted over time, but in general what GC said back last August has held true -- tank DPS in raiding really did go up. To the point where on some pulls it's not unusual to see tanks leading the DPS, sometimes by extremely large numbers. Since this is a big change that will drastically lower tank damage output (25-man tanks with their 600,000 or more health buffed will lose roughly 300,000 AP on fights where Vengeance was capping at 100% of their health) I'm not surprise it won't be coming in 5.3 -- I am a little surprised it's happening at all, because we all knew Vengeance and tank damage would do exactly what it has done when it was changed. Still, I wait to observe if it has much practical difference since aside from AoE tanking where a multitude of hits can roll in a short window of time (that 20 second ramp up period) and the tanks can make effective use of all that AP I'm not sure it will matter. 5-mans and scenarios were not mentioned, so for now I'm assuming this is only for the raids mentioned.
Choose My Adventure: Pouring the foundation in Darkfall
It's relocation time! Although there were plenty of tempting properties spread around various locales to choose from, once the bidding wars began, Darkfall Unholy Wars grabbed the lead and refused to let go. So we're packing up our tools and moving to Agon to get this Choose My Adventure project started. And considering the whole neighborhood just went through a recent renovation, I'm sure we'll fit right in building our new retreat. Now, we just need... hm, where did we put those blueprints? Do we even have blueprints? No? Well, no matter; you can just give me the instructions as we go. Rome wasn't built in a day, and we've got five more weeks to work together to create this new retreat. I've got to tell you, I'm quite excited for this venture. One of the greatest things about the CMA series is that it forces us to finally dive in and check out games we've been wanting to but never quite "found the time." Once it becomes a part of your daily job, you have no choice but to make the time! Darkfall was always one of those games for me, and my curiosity and interest was piqued even more with Unholy Wars. So let's get this started. First, we need a foundation.
Arcane Legends arrives on iOS
Arcane Legends' staggered rollout crossed a major barrier today, as Spacetime Studios' newest title got approved for the Apple app store and released for iOS. It's currently available as a free download with in-app purchases. This makes it the fourth MMO in Spacetime's Legends series. Massively's Beau recently took some time to sit down with the MMO and suss out whether it has that Spacetime charm. We've also seen Arcane Legends' short cinematic trailer. The game launched a couple of weeks ago for both Android and Chrome. Spacetime reports that to date, Arcane Legends has accumulated more than two million downloads. To celebrate the iOS launch of the game, the studio posted a few new screenshots of the game, which you can check out in the gallery below! [Source: Spacetime Studios press release]%Gallery-170781%
Wings Over Atreia: Aion's classy balancing act
I'm in trouble now. I thought I had it made; I thought I was on easy street. I had one Aion character slot left, open and waiting for that inspiration. Then along came the cloak-donning, guns-blazing gunslinger class. Right on! I know who that slot's going to come 4.0. Or do I? Basically, NCsoft is evil! I had no interest in a musically minded class, none at all... until the Troubadour announcement last week. A healer! Come on, that's not fair; healing classes are my favorite, my passion, my calling in life. Short of a second Aion account, what in Atreia do I do now? This is not a good predicament for the decisionally challenged. Thankfully, at least I know I have no interest in the third class. No, really -- this time I mean it! I know, because even though I gave it a shot once before, I just have no desire to play a tank. And how do I know it is a tank? Elementary, my dear Daeva.
Arcane Legends debuts cinematic trailer
Spacetime Studios, creator of such mobile hits as Pocket Legends and Dark Legends, has released the first cinematic trailer for its newest entry in the Legends series: Arcane Legends. The video whimsically showcases the MMO's three character classes -- Warrior, Rogue, and Mage -- as well as the helpful battle pet that can fight along side you and grant special bonuses along the way. Each class can combine its skills for group combos, while later specializing in certain skills to fit each player's playstyle. Arcane Legends is expected to release this fall for Android, iOS, and Chrome. [Source: Spacetime Studios press release]
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Rage tanks get angrier
Rage tanking is in a weird place right now. Both as a tank and as a DPS in runs I've noticed a certain amount of squishiness that wasn't there before, both due to certain abilities being fairly hard to use (Both Shield Block and a full Shield Barrier are expensive, costing 60 rage) and the loss of a lot of passive mitigation we were all accustomed to. Apparently the devs have noticed it too: Ghostcrawler posted these changes coming for rage warriors on live and the beta fairly soon. Ghostcrawler - Beta Class Balance Analysis Tank Time I mentioned previously (though it very well could have been in another thread) that we have been looking a lot at tank balance. We think tanks surviving short windows of spike damage has been fairly balanced in beta for some time, and indeed we are seeing all tank classes used effectively in beta Challenge Modes and Heroic raid testing. We have made a few changes to longer-term tank healing required, which will show up both on beta and live very soon. I mentioned that we were initially going to nerf monk and DK, but we now think they and paladins are fine. Instead, the rage tanks required too much healing, so we are causing them to take less damage and have more rage for active mitigation. Druid -- Auto attack rage generation increased by 75%. -- Thick Hide now provides 12% physical damage reduction. Warrior -- Rage generation from Revenge increased from 10 to 15. -- Rage generation from Shield Slam increased from 15 to 20. (Sword and Board continues to give 5 extra, so 25 now). -- Reduced internal cooldown on Critical Block from Enrage from 5 sec to 3 sec. -- Increased damage reduction from Defensive Stance from 15% to 25%. -- Increased armor from Unwavering Sentinel from 10% to 25%. source The rage changes are nice (druids will now get 10.85 rage from an auto attack) because they'll allow for rage tanks to be more often using their active mitigation. Honestly, high incoming rage really isn't an issue for tanks, since we don't use rage abilities for threat anymore (with the exception of rage bleeds like Heroic Strike or Maul) as much as we do for survival. What impressed me was the change to Thick Hide and the Defensive Stance/Unwavering Sentinel changes. Were they warranted? Absolutely. Warriors in particular have been the squishiest tanks since the patch, with druids not far behind, and this change will help even out some of that sustained damage that erodes healer mana and thus, our lives. This is me, being happy over here. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Massively Exclusive: DK Online Paladin revealed
Magic and meatshields are practically a staple in the fantasy genre. In this way, the upcoming free-to-play MMO DK Online is no different; Aeria Games recently revealed its take on these roles with the Sorceress and the Warrior classes. Today, the company introduces a righteous avenger to the mix, the Paladin. Massively brings you an exclusive look at this new class with a dev blog, an interview, and a trailer showing off some of the holy fighter's moves.
Warrior glyph changes in patch 5.0.4
When the new 5.0 patch flips over on Aug. 28, will you be ready with glyphs? Blizzard is recycling old glyphs instead of making new spell IDs and charring old ones. Some glyphs are staying the same, some are new, but some share IDs with old Cataclysm glyphs. Below is our list of new or changing glyphs for warriors. This is not a list of changing tooltips, just which glyphs you ought to have if you want to automatically have the new glyphs when the patch flips over. Warriors have a few brand new minor glyphs: Glyph of the Blazing Trail Glyph of Burning Anger Glyph of Crow Feast Glyph of Incite Glyphs that are changing into new majors: Intervene become Blitz Intercept becomes Bull Rush Shockwave becomes Death From Above Rapid Charge becomes Enraged Speed Heroic Throw becomes Gag Order Slam becomes Hamstring Devastate becomes Heavy Repercussions Cleaving becomes Hindering Strikes Sunder Armor becomes Hoarse Voice Revenge becomes Hold the Line Raging Blow becomes Raging Wind Death Wish becomes Recklessness Piercing Howl becomes Rude Interruption Command becomes Thunder Strike Thunder Clap becomes Unending Rage Bladestorm becomes Whirlwind Glyphs that are changing into new minors: Berserker Rage becomes Bloodcurdling Shout Demoralizing Shout becomes Gushing Wound Enduring Victory becomes Mighty Victory Battle becomes Mystic Shout It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Massively Exclusive: DK Online Warrior class spotlight
DK Online is ramping up development as Aeria Games maneuvers to prepare for the coming of this action MMO. Today, the company is shining a big ol' spotlight on DK Online's Warrior class, and we've got the scoop with a dev blog, interview, and class video. The class looks to defy stereotypes associated with the name, as DK Online is a lot more flexible with its roles than elsewhere. As companies are wont to do with pre-release titles, Aeria Games is rebranding the game from Dragon Knights Online. As such, the game's official website will be switching over to a new address later today. Get a load of the Warrior after the jump and see if this might be the class for you!
Arcane Legends officially announced
While we knew it was coming, it is still nice to get official confirmation: Spacetime Studios has announced Arcane Legends, its latest MMO for iOS, Android, and Chrome. With Arcane Legends, Spacetime Studios is going back to its fantasy roots. Instead of Pocket Legends' more traditional MMO combat, however, Arcane Legends will feature action combat full of combos and button-mashing. During the combat, a rage meter will allow players to activate powerful abilities when it's completely full. The three classes announced for the game are the Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer. Arcane Legends will support both co-op and PvP gameplay. CEO Gary Gattis thinks that Arcane Legends is different enough from previous Spacetime endeavors to justify its development: "With every Legends title we are focused on bringing something distinct to cross-platform gaming. With Arcane Legends we set out to create an action RPG with a clever and funny story, meaningful multiplayer gameplay and above all furious fast-paced tactical combat." Massively will be getting its first look at Arcane Legends at E3 next month.
The Azeroth Ethicist: Cheating (or not cheating) the roll system
I was healing a Well of Eternity PUG a few days ago when I got a whisper from the group's warrior tank. Warrior: Could you help me out with something? Me: Sure, what do you need? Warrior: If Varo'then's Brooch drops at the end, would you roll on it for me? Me: Um ... I'd been off in my own little world watching health bars and thinking about next week's Shifting Perspectives column and hadn't paid any attention to the group's composition. It turns out the DPSers were a mage, a hunter, and -- oh, there we go -- a frost death knight. So in the event that the strength trinket dropped, the warrior tank wanted me to roll on it and, if I won, give it to him over the DK. He probably asked the mage and the priest to do the same thing, but the group was quiet in party chat, so I have no way of knowing. We had a small and, to his credit, civil conversation over it, and there are a few issues here on which I'd like to get readers' opinions.
Skill Mastery: Shield Barrier takes the beating for you
Shield Barrier is one of my favorite new abilities. One of the reasons I love it is that it scales both with the amount of rage you have when you use it and with your attack power, meaning that it will continuously get better as you level and gear up. Shield Barrier provides you with a damage absorption shield that, when used with the minimum amount of rage (20 rage), puts up a respectable amount of absorption. On my level 89 tauren warrior, above, it did roughly 6k with a baseline use, eating more than half of that Agitated Seedstealer's fire spell. But when used at full rage, it can do significantly more. The most I've seen was a 20,000 absorption shield, which will admittedly be fairly rare because it's hard to ensure you have exactly 60 rage when you use the ability. You're more likely to pepper the area with 10k or 12k absorbs that make soloing an absolute dream. Tanking in 5-mans, it's still a potent part of your arsenal, but you're much more likely to alternate it with Shield Block there. Shield Barrier is an ability warrior tanks have probably needed for a very long time, a way to mitigate incoming damage no matter what it is. I personally love the ability. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Ghostcrawler talks warriors on the Mists of Pandaria beta forums
Ghostcrawler has contributed a great deal to an already large list of consolidated warrior issues on the Mists of Pandaria beta forums, and then just kept on posting. It's actually a lot to consider -- so much so that I'm fairly certain I can get two big posts out of it. This post will be the one that tries to break down what it all means. Some of what he's posting is of more concern to beta testers than the general population (for instance, how the devs prefer their feedback), but we can still take some interesting points from the two posts where GC lays everything out for us. If you'll forgive me for a lot of paraphrasing and selecting: Tanking for warriors (the oft-discussed active mitigation system) is designed around the concept of turning rage into survival. Shield Block and Shield Barrier are designed that keeping them up reliably will improve your survival, but in cutting-edge content, you'll want to use them in a smart way (that is, save them for big damage situations) rather than just hitting them as soon as you have the rage. Tanking for new tanks will be designed so that missing a Shield Block now and again won't wreck you. Rage is the limiting mechanic for the class, not cooldowns, at least so far as the design vision of the class is concerned. Arms and fury have a big rage generation attack and a big rage spending attack, but that's where the similarities between them are intended to end. Arms should feel more predictable but have slower rage generation due to its use of a single, slow weapon, while fury abilities proc less reliably, but the spec has more rage to spend because it uses two weapons, to fit the distinction between arms as a disciplined blade expert and fury as a screaming madman. The intention for Battle Stance is to be the default battle stance (as the name would suggest), while Berserker Stance will be attractive for PvP or fights with high incoming damage. Blizzard's still working on Berserker Stance's design, but that's the goal. There's more to discuss, so let's get to discussing it.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: New strings hint at help for sweeping class changes
One of the biggest complaints players have about the ever-changing system design of World of Warcraft is that each expansion brings with it sweeping changes or new mechanics that need to be relearned. In addition, if you were absent from World of Warcraft for an expansion or two, your class will not look the same in any way, shape, or form (with respect to rogues, of course). Blizzard has apparently been listening to these concerns, if these new beta strings are any indication. With the release of a new beta patch comes new data strings and the information contained within. Recently uncovered was a family of strings called "What has changed," with some examples for the warrior listed in the files. "What has changed" looks to re-educate old players or bring new players up to speed on the design, rotation, and role of each class. The warrior, for instance, has four strings at this time, letting the player know about the Rend/Deep Wounds change, how some old talents are now just learned specialization spells, and some examples of the new rage mechanics. WHAT_HAS_CHANGED - What has changed? WHC_WARRIOR_1 - Many old talents have become specialization spells. WHC_WARRIOR_2 - Warrior abilities no longer require specific stances. You can use any ability in any stance. WHC_WARRIOR_3 - Rage is generated by Mortal Strike (id 12294), Bloodthirst (id 23881) or Shield Slam (id 23922). Only use Heroic Strike (id 78) when you have more Rage than you can spend. WHC_WARRIOR_4 - Rend (icon ability_gouge) is now called Deep Wounds (id 115768). It is automatically applied so it won't appear in your spell book. I couldn't be happier for these new helpful tips. I don't even know where to begin with rotations or strategies with new classes (especially mages, for some reason). Hopefully with these new tips, old players and players tired of mechanics changes will be able to slip into Mists of Pandaria much more easily, if that's what these strings indicate at all. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
War Banner is three abilities in one
War Banner is one of the abilities I was most curious to play with on the beta -- so curious, in fact, that I stayed up to level to 87 once the latest patch fixed my constant crashing issue. The downside to playing six warriors on the beta is that none of them levels very fast. However, now that I have the ability, I have to report I find it very interesting. The interface is very familiar if you've ever had a shaman, since it's similar to the totem interface. Mouse over the War Banner, and you can select one of three banners, the Skull, Demoralizing or Mocking Banner. The banners are currently designated as totems in game, but all three have a far more limited duration. On the plus side, all three can be Intervened to, so placing one at a distances means you can use it to get distance for a charge or otherwise move around the battlefield. The banners do not share a cooldown aside from the global cooldown; I dropped each banner one after the other to test them out. At present, Skull Banner increases critical damage of any party or raid member within 30 yards by 20%, lasting 10 seconds with a 3-minute cooldown. It's the handsome yellow banner in the screenshot above. Mocking Banner taunts mobs within 15 yards of the banner to you, forcing them to attack you for 6 seconds. It lasts for 30 seconds, making it the best banner to drop if you intend to use it for Intervene. Finally, Demoralizing Banner reduces all damage by every enemy in range (30 yards) by 10% for 15 seconds. Since each banner has a 3-minute cooldown, you can choose to stagger them out or drop them all one after the other, depending on your need. The banners themselves look pretty cool, although they seem to have a tendency to float over the ground rather than sink into it. Time will tell if they become beloved additions to the class, but right now I'm fairly enjoying them just for novelty and using them to creatively mess with mobs. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
GuildOx player analysis highlights the warlock decline
The folks at GuildOx have gone through their database and done some simple filtering that reveals some fascinating things about who is raiding heroic Dragon Soul. GuildOx started with level 85 characters, filtered for characters with ilevel 400 gear, and then filtered out anyone with PvP gear. What you see in the chart above is the result of that work -- a representative sample of who out of the over 13 million level 85 characters in the GuildOx database is raiding heroic Dragon Soul. If you remember the post about the complexity of systems and player retention that I made a couple of weeks back, you'll remember that I mentioned Cynwise's excellent posts about the warlock decline. Well, here it is again reflected in GuildOx's data. Warlocks are the least played class in heroic raiding. Warriors aren't doing much better, really. Most other classes seem fairly healthy, with classes that have healing specs doing fairly well and rogues absolutely ruling heroic raiding despite being one of the least-played classes in the game overall. It gets even more interesting once we get to look at the GuildOx spec-by-spec breakdown.
Skill Mastery: Dragon Roar a crit among new level 60 warrior talents
Dragon Roar is the new talent in the level 60 tier of Mists of Pandaria talents for warriors. As such, you won't be able to take it and either Bladestorm or Shockwave; you have to pick one of the three. That being said, it's not an easy decision. Dragon Roar has several significant benefits. For starters, it's a guaranteed critical hit. You can have no critical strike rating at all, and you'll know that Dragon Roar is going to crit. This means that it's a dynamite AoE threat move if you want an ability you can save for emergencies instead of using on cooldown the way you will Shockwave. In addition, Dragon Roar's damage is substantial, and it combines an AoE knockback with a full 5-second stun, making it very potent for PvP as well as for dealing with sudden adds or keeping adds under control longer. And while it has a 1-minute cooldown, making it longer than Shockwave, it's a full half-minute shorter than Bladestorm, meaning you can use it more often. Also, it's bloody awesome to yell and see an expanding blast of damage flow out from you in all directions. It's hard to catch a good screenshot of that, though. Dragon Roar combines good damage with excellent short-term control, and I have a very hard time deciding between it and its rivals. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Complexity of systems and player retention
If you don't read Cynwise's Warcraft Journal, you probably should. Cyn's been doing an excellent series of posts about warlocks in Cataclysm that are interesting and thought-provoking -- even if, like me, you're not a warlock and don't really know much about the class. For me, one of the most striking tidbits was that rogues are the second-to-least-played class overall, but the second-most-played class in high-end PvP, implying that people only play rogues to PvP. There's a lot of interesting data in there about class representation, role representation, and who is playing what and at what levels. The post that really grabbed my attention was this one about warlock complexity in Cataclysm because it highlights an extreme form of something we've talked about before, the design philosophy that argues for increased complexity in a character's suite of abilities. In its simplest form, it can be summed up as the hitting buttons is fun argument, although at the extreme Cyn describes for warlocks, it becomes a game of if X, then Y that resembles programming your first computer in Basic. If you remember making a chain of dirty words scroll on a loop up the screen, congratulations on being old with me. Cyn's comparison of the destruction rotation in Wrath and Cataclysm shows a rotation with seven elements mushroom out to one with 14 elements to remember and consider. That if X, then Y flowchart just got as complex as a subway map. In my experience, all DPS rotations in general have a little bit of this kind of gameplay nowadays. The difficulty is in hitting the sweet spot where the rotation is designed so that random elements or procs serve to liven up an otherwise predictable set of abilities (providing the fun in the hitting buttons scenario) without making a rotation so complex you need six to seven addons to help you plot it out.
Spirit Tales introduces the Lunar Fox and Maned Dragon tribes
If you are allergic to stupefyingly adorable things, you may want to look away now. If you're not, you may be interested in KoramGame's upcoming free-to-play title Spirit Tales. Fans of fluffy wittle animal-people with eyes the size of some small galaxies will find themselves right at home with the two newly announced tribes, the Lunar Fox tribe and the Maned Dragon tribe. Each tribe has its own unique classes available to it; the Maned Dragon tribe sticks to tradition with the mainstays of Warrior (which plays the role of defender) and Archer (which supplies ranged DPS), while the Lunar Fox tribe bring some magic and cunning (and lots of DPS) to the table with the Sorcerer and Assassin classes. The full details on each tribe and its respective classes can be found over at the official Spirit Tales forums.
