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2.1 patch notes (part 2)
Continued from part 1 Items The majority of level 70 epic items have been upgraded to reflect their intended power. Armor: All Burning Crusade items that spent part of their budget on increased armor have been re-evaluated. Some gained additional armor, while others gained other additional bonuses. Common unique items will not drop for you if you already have them in your inventory. Items which start quests you've already completed will show the correct feedback if you try to use them. Heroic difficulty instances end bosses will now always drop an epic item, in addition all bosses in Heroic difficulty instances will have a chance to drop an epic gem! Additional darkmoon cards can now be found on high level outland creatures. They can be turned in to the darkmoon faire to make powerful new darkmoon card trinkets. Look for Lunacy, Storms, Furies and Blessings cards. Serpent-Coil Braid: The bonus spell damage from this trinket is now removed if the trinket is unequipped. Argussian Compass: A bug where this trinket sometimes caused all the damage from an attack to be absorbed has been fixed. Health Regeneration: This effect on random property items has been renamed to Health per 5 sec. Khorium Lockboxes will now drop occasionally off creatures over level 65. Devilsaur Tooth: This item has been reverted to pre-Burning Crusade design, granting an automatic critical strike to your pet's next attack. Nethershard, Ceremonial Kris, Illidari-Bane Mageblade, Summoner's Blade, Thunderlord Scalpel, Vibro Dagger, Vibro Sword, and Revered Mother's Crysknife: These weapons can now only be used in the main hand. The Serpentshrine Shuriken can now be sold to vendors. Xavian Stiletto can now be sold to vendors. Wand of Biting Cold can now be sold to vendors. Bloodseeker now can now be sold to vendors. The Ironscale War Cloak can now be disenchanted. Boots of the Infernal Coven can now be disenchanted. Crown of Endless Knowledge can now be disenchanted. Valanos' Longbow can now be disenchanted. Ravager's Cuffs can now be disenchanted. Deep Core Lantern can now be disenchanted. The Devilshark Cape can now be disenchanted. Demon Hide Spaulders can now be disenchanted. Gladiator's Heavy Crossbow can no longer be disenchanted. Tranquilien Reputation Items: Some of the items on this vendor were disenchantable. They no longer are disenchantable. Gladiator's Endgame can no longer be disenchanted. Corrected a typo in the tooltip of The Hammer of Destiny's proc. Corrected a typo in the tooltip of Anesthetic Poison in regards to the number of charge applied. Malefic Raiment: Corrected a tooltip calculation error. Bangle of Endless Blessings: Fixed tooltip error on Meditation effect. Cataclysm Harness: Fixed a tooltip error on Invigorated effect. Updated the tooltip for Vengeance of the Illdari to clarify that it increases spell damage. Blade of Eternal Darkness: The tooltip has been adjusted to indicate it only works with direct damage spells. Wushoolay's Charm of Nature: The tooltip has been corrected to indicate it grants spell haste. Corrected a naming inconsistency with Windchanneller's items. Figurine of the Colossus corrected a typo in the tooltip of the buff provided by this item. Marsh Lichen: This food is now considered a fungus. Stromgarde Muenster is now correctly considered cheese for the purposes of feeding pets. Edible Fern now triggers a global cooldown on use. Rumsey Rum, Rumsey Rum Light, Rumsey Rum Dark, Rumsey Rum Black Label, Halaani Whiskey, Gordok Green Grog, Raptor Punch, Stormstout, Trogg Ale, and Thunderbrew Lager: The stat bonuses from these drinks no longer stacks with stamina bonuses from other foods. Felguard Annihilators will now drop the proper loot in Heroic difficulty. Khorium Lockboxes will now contain loot of the appropriate level. Aeonus will now properly drop a Primal Nether in Heroic Difficulty. Coilfang Collaborators will now drop the proper loot in Heroic Difficulty. Demon Hunter Supplicants now drop the proper loot. Auchenai Death-Speakers and Doomsayers will now drop the appropriate loot. Netherstrike armor has had it's socket bonuses changed. PvP Set Bonuses: Set bonuses of 35 resilience rating will now stack correctly if received from two different sets. Alliance Shaman PvP Sets: These sets now have set bonuses as intended. General's Dreadweave Boots: Now available for purchase from the PvP vendor as intended. Assassination Set: The haste bonus from this set will no longer be triggered if your attack does not land on the target. Avatar Regalia Set: Tooltips corrected on the Shadow Word: Pain set bonus to indicate the triggered bonus works on the next spell cast only. The bonus also now correctly affects healing spells. Black Dragonscale Set: The hit rating bonus from this set now stacks properly with hit rating bonuses from other effects. Black Dragon Mail Set: The hit rating and critical strike rating set bonuses from this set will now stack correctly with other sources of those ratings. Cataclysm Harness Set: The cast time reduction to Lesser Healing Wave will now be displayed correctly as 1.5 sec in the Invigorated tooltip. Cenarion Raiment Set: The spell critical strike rating set bonus will now stack properly with other effects that give spell critical strike rating. Defiler's Purpose Set: The critical strike rating rom this set bonus will now be applied properly. Defiler's Resolution Set: The critical strike rating from this set will now stack correctly with other bonuses to critical strike rating. Devilsaur Armor Set: The hit rating bonus from this set now stacks properly with hit rating bonuses from other effects. Devilsaur Set: The hit rating set bonus will now stack correctly with hit rating bonuses from other items. Earthfury Set: The set bonus that increases totem radius now works on Wrath of Air Totem. Ebon Netherscale Set: The hit rating bonus from this set will now stack correctly with other hit rating bonuses. Frostfire Set: The 4 piece set bonus now works correctly with rank 4 Mage Armor. Frozen Shadoweave Set: The set bonus from these items will no longer have its tooltip modified by the Vampiric Embrace talent and can no longer cause a critical strike heal. Hallowed Raiment Set: The Binding Heal set bonus on this set has been changed to 30% chance to resist losing casting time off Binding Heal when taking damage. Imbued Netherweave Set: The critical strike rating set bonus now stacks correctly with other effects that grant critical strike rating. Incanter's Set: Corrected precision error in display of cast time reduction in Flamestrike. The actual value is unchanged; it was displaying a rounded-off value before. Justicar Armor Set: The bonus to Seal of Vengeance now functions correctly. Malefic Raiment Set: The set bonus granting heals from periodic spells can longer get critical strikes. Netherblade Set: The set bonus giving a chance to gain combo points on finishers now works correctly with Slice and Dice and Deadly Throw. Overlord's Resolution Set: The dodge rating bonus from this set now stacks correctly with all other dodge rating effects. Voidheart Set: This set bonus will now trigger correctly from all shadow and fire spells. Warbringer Armor Set: The Revenge set bonus will no longer apply an excessive bonus to Heroic Strike. Wyrmhide Set: Adjusted the tooltip on Moonfire cost reduction to indicate it is a reduces by a percentage of the base cost, not the talented cost. Nordrassil Regalia: The Regrowth set bonus will now correctly be consumed by the first casting of Regrowth. Clefthoof Hide Leggings: There were two items with this name. The world drop item has been renamed as Elekk Hide Leggings. Fathom-Brooch of the Tidewalker: Healing spells and spells which are not critical strikes can now trigger this trinket. Heavenly Inspiration no longer shares a cooldown with other trinkets which temporarily increase spell damage. The Talon of Al'ar: This trinket now applies correctly to Scatter Shot and Silencing Shot. Energized Wristwraps: This item was incorrectly set to superior quality. It has been changed to good quality with the stat bonuses unchanged. Murloc Eggs: These pet-summoning items are now set to superior quality. Swift Flying Mounts: All the swift flying mounts will now display as epic items, rather than superior-quality items. The Twin-Bladed Ripper icon has been changed. The Netherwhelp's Collar now has it's own unique icon. The Lightsworn Hammer icon has been changed to a mace icon. Replaced the placeholder art for Zeth'gor Shield and Dragonscale Shield with permanent art. Staff of Prehistoria: A placeholder icon will no longer become visible when creating this staff. Corrected the stats of Girdle of the Endless Pit. Corrected the stats of Supple Leather Boots. Scroll of Strength V will now give the proper stat increase. Corrected many issues with helmets displaying and not displaying hair correctly. The Stealther's Helmet of Second Sight will now properly hide facial hair. Warmaul Helmet: This helmet no longer displays facial hair clipping through the helm. The Citrine Pendant of Golden Healing should now properly work on players of all levels. Removed the level requirement on Battle Scarred Leggings. The Consortium Combatant's Robes level requirement has been removed. The Spellfire and Shadoweave tunics have been changed to robes. Robes of Insight will again correctly have its effect consumed by casting Blink. Masquerade Gown will now be triggered correctly by any spell, not just critical strikes. Adamantite Weight Stones now work on staves and fist weapons. Fel Weightstone now works on fist weapons. Spymaster's Crossbow can now be used by non-hunters. The Azerothian Longbow will now properly display it's firing animation. Halaa Ammo has been reduced in damage and soulbound, but you can carry any number of them. Draenic Light Crossbow now correctly uses arrows and has had it's firing animation corrected. Lead Slug Shotgun: Correct sounds and animations are now attached. Longbeard Rifle now has a gun animation and sound. Dragonbreath Musket, PC-54 Shotgun, Sporting Rifle, and Tauren Runed Musket all now have a gun sound and animation instead of crossbow. The Night Blade: The chance for the effect on this item to trigger has been reduced. The Flarethorn will now display properly when sheathed. Aldor Guardian Rifle will now work correctly. Mag'hari Light Recurve will now work correctly. Ragehammer again grants increased damage instead of attack power. Searing Needle: The damage effect from this item is fixed and now works correctly. Atiesh (Greatstaff of the Guardian): The party aura from these items will now be reapplied correctly when a player logs into the game while already mounted. Hammer of Destiny: The mana restoring effect from this item will now display in the combat log. Earthwarden: Damage when not shapeshifted reduced on this weapon; this was intended to be reduced like other feral weapons, but was overlooked. The Silver Star: This low-level quest reward has been fixed to match the new system for thrown weapons. For technical reasons, all old Silver Stars are now listed as Broken and cannot be used. New ones gained will work correctly. Grunt's Waterskin: This item now has the same effect as Footman's Waterskin. The Decapitator should no longer give an immune message when used on certain creature types. The Discombobulator Ray no longer works on flying targets. Goblin Rocket Launcher: When this item stuns a warrior opponent, it can now trigger Second Wind. Cosmic Infuser: This item now works with Gift of the Naaru and Holy Nova. It does not work with affects which cause a target to heal themselves, Earth Shield, Lifebloom, Prayer of Mending, etc., or which are caused by draining life or vampirism. Health potions and other consumables will no longer trigger it either. Mana Thistle: Picking this herb will no longer case abilities such as Lightning Shield to trigger and burn changes. Nightmare Vine: The poison from picking this herb is now considered Nature damage instead of Physical damage. Pendant of the Violet Eye will no longer trigger from spells with no mana cost. It will also no longer get double procs from some Paladin spells. Pendant of Golden Healing: This item no longer gains benefit from bonus healing effects. Bangle of Endless Blessings will no longer proc off of tradeskills. Bogslayer Bracers now make the proper sound when moved in your inventory. Reduced the Silence and Interrupt reduction provided by Talisman of the Breaker. Band of the Eternal Champion: This item is no longer triggered from being hit by ranged attacks. Band of the Eternal Defender: The effect from this item now only affects the wearer, instead of the whole party. Eye of Gruul has been redesigned to give a chance of healing discount each time a heal is cast. Oculus of the Hidden Eye: The tooltip for this item now specifies the user must kill a creature to gain its benefit. Lesser Rune of Warding: This effect will now continue to work correctly after the target dies and resurrects. Greater Rune of Warding: This effect will now continue to work correctly after the target dies and resurrects. Mark of Conquest: The mana energizing effect from this item now correctly occurs on dealing ranged damage instead of taking it. Glyph of Renewal: The mana regeneration from this enchantment will now stack correctly with all other mana regeneration effects. Libram of Eternal Rest was causing Judgement of the Crusader not to refresh on each hit. That has been fixed. Auslese's Light Channeler: Avenger's Shield will now consume the effect from this item. Hazza'rah's Charm of Healing now provides haste rating as intended, instead of a fixed reduced cast time. Aegis of Preservation: This item will now correctly heal the user; it was showing up in the log, but not increasing actual health. Mystical Skyfire Diamond: The triggering rate on this item has been increased, but it now only reduces the cast time on spells by half; and Warlocks casting Corruption with maximum ranks in Improved Corruption will no longer consume the Focus buff from this gem. Lifegiving Gem: This item will now only increase maximum and current health of the user by 1500. It will not also heal the user for 1500. Enraged Fel Sparks now properly drop Motes of Fire instead of Motes of Shadow. Primal Nethers may now be purchased from G'eras for Badges of Justice. Oracle Belt of Timeless Mystery: The On Use effect changed to On Equip as intended. Abyssal Cloth Slippers: There were two items with this name. The ones from the Burning Crusade have been renamed Abyssal Cloth Footwraps. Updated the General's Leather Boots to properly reflect the Alliance counterpart. Area 52 Defender's Pants: Arcane resistance on this item was unintended and has been removed. Brood Mother Leggings: Now has a spell price and can be worn by non-hunters. Razaani-Buster Leggings: This item can now be sold to a vendor. Mok'Nathal Hero's Pantaloons now has a sell price and can be worn by non-hunters. Enchant Boots - Vitality: The health regeneration from this enchantment will now work in combat. Enchant Weapon- Spellsurge: The mana gained from this enchantment will now show up in the combat log. Malorne Raiment and Malorne Regalia: These sets no longer erroneously apply a reduction in cost to some Druid spells. Cyclone Regalia: The chance for a mana cost reduction to occur has been reduced. Warrior Tier 4 Tanking Set: The Blade Turning Bonus now prevents the correct amount of damage, 200. Priest Tier 5 Shadow Set: The Sadist buff will no longer be consumed when casting a spell which does neither damage nor healing. Priest Tier 4 Shadow Set: Mind Flay will now benefit correctly from the 4 piece bonus. Shaman Tier 5 Spell Damage Set: The 4 piece bonus will no longer be triggered by Shocks and Chain Lightning. Professions Alchemy The chance of a discovery occurring while making potions has been substantially increased. Elixirs now stack in two categories, Battle (Offensive) and Guardian (Defensive) Elixirs. You can only have one of each type of Elixir up at a time. As a result Elixirs now stack with class abilities such as Arcane Intellect. Elixirs now stack to 20. Four new defensive elixirs have been added. Two are on trainers, one is in Halaa and one is in Cenarion Expedition. Flask of Petrification can no longer be turned off during its duration, but it now will clear all threat from all monsters for the duration of the effect. Though monsters may reacquire you after the effect ends. Cooldown time on Earthstorm and Skyfire Diamond transmutes has been reduced to 1 day. Invulnerability potions now stop the first 120 damage per hit for 8 seconds, rather than making the imbiber physically immune. The major protection potions made by Alchemy now require more Mana Thistle and vials, but create 5 potions instead of just one. Fel Strength elixirs now work correctly with elixir mastery. Elemental Absorption potions now have a 2 minute duration rather than the 60 min duration they used to have. Alchemy transmute of Heart of Fire to Elemental Fire changed to 15 minute cooldown. Reagent costs and potency of all flasks has been reduced. The cost of Imbued Vials has been reduced. The chance to find a Fel Lotus while picking an herb has been increased. Juju Chill and Juju Ember are now considered Guardian Elixirs and do not stack with other resistance buffs. Juju Flurry is now considered a Battle Elixir and has been converted from haste to haste rating. Ground Scorpok Assay, Juju Might, Juju Power, Lung Juice Cocktail, and R.O.I.D.S are now considered Battle Elixirs. Crystal Force, Crystal Ward,Gizzard Gum, Infallible Mind,Juju Escape, Juju Guile, Sheen of Zanza and Swiftness of Zanza are all now considered Guardian Elixirs. Sheen of Zanza is now considered a Guardian Elixir. Stamina and Spirit bonuses have been reduced to 25. Elixir of Fortitude now correctly displays its name in its buff tooltip. The Alchemist's Stone bonus now works on potions that restore both health and mana. Super Mana Potions now require 2 Dreaming Glory instead of 2 Netherbloom to create. Super Healing Potions now require 2 Netherbloom instead of 2 Dreaming Glory to create. Reduced the number of Stonescale Oil required to make Greater Stoneshield Potions. Reduced the reagents required to make Ironshield Potions. New cauldron recipes can now be discovered when making most major protection potions. Cauldrons can provide an entire raid with a major protection potion. Enchanting Enchant Bracer-Spellpower had its primal costs reduced slightly. Enchanting recipes that increase spell damage now also increase healing as well. The Major Defense Bracer enchantment has been moved from Ethereum Researchers to Ethereum Nullifiers. Engineering 11 new epic goggles have been introduced at 350 engineering skill and are available from the trainer. They range from cloth to plate, and have a variety of stats to appeal to most talent specs. A recipe for Frost Grenades and the Icy Blasting Primers needed to make them are now on engineering trainers. Engineering recipes can now be placed in engineering bags, as can engineer made fireworks. Many engineering recipes will now give skillups for longer than the previously did. An engineering recipe to make Fused Wiring can be found in both Everlook and Shattrath. Engineering Skill required to make the Felsteel Stabilizer, Hardened Adamantite Tube and Khorium Power Core have been reduced slightly. Adamantite Shells now require less adamantite and do slightly more damage. The recipe for Elemental Blasting Powder now gives 4 powder when creating it, though it now requires an additional mote of earth. Engineers now make 3 Smoke Flares instead of just one when they create them. Also Smoke Flares now have a buy/sell price. Seaforium now opens locked chests as well as locked doors. The Consortium Vendor Karaaz now sells the engineering recipe for an Elemental Seaforium Charge if you are revered with them. The Poultryizer has a smaller chance of getting malfunction effects and is now a superior quality item. The Nigh Invulnerability Belt now has a smaller chance of failure. Healing Potion Injectors and Mana Potion Injectors created by engineers now have new icons and the engineering requirement to use them has been reduced. Goblin Rocket Launcher now has a 2 minute cooldown, and had its casting time reduced to 3.5 sec. Gnomish Flame Turret now creates 3 turrets instead of 1. Thorium Tube requirement changed to Fel Iron Casing. Fishing The fishing timer has been reduced from 30 to 20 seconds and it now takes less time to fish.--> You now catch fish faster. The fishing timer can no longer run through its duration without a fish biting. Fishing has been removed from Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley. Fixed a bug where you could catch 2 fish at once in some zones. You can now fish in Underbog. Jewelcrafting The jewelcrafting UI now has gems split up by color so it is easier to find gems of a specific color to create. A new set of more powerful gems can be found by raiding Hyjal and Black Temple. Their stats exceed those of previous gems that could be found. A number new gem cuts to existing gems have been added to the game. Included among them are a spell hit gem and more multi-stat gems that have attack power on them. Jewelcrafters can make two new melee oriented meta gems. One is found randomly as a world drop and the other sold by the reputation vendor. Thorium Setting only requires 1 thorium bar now. Many Jewelcrafting recipes that required 200-280 skill to learn now have changed/reduced materials required to make them Mithril filigree has a slightly reduced range that it gives skillups. A number of jewelcrafting gems now give skill increases for slightly longer than they used to. Pendant of Blasting and Necklace of Battle will now grant their click effects to players correctly, previously they only worked on characters higher than level 47. Jewelcrafting Onslaught ring thorium cost reduced The vendor value for the raw green gems have been reduced. This will also make these gems cheaper to put up on the auction house (Blood Garnet, Golden Draenite, etc...) Prospecting now always yields at least 1 gem. Grand Master Jewelcrafters Hamanar (Shattrath City), Jazdalaad (The Stormspire), Kalaen (Thrallmar) and Tatiana (Honor Hold) may teach all levels of Jewelcrafting. The recipe for Figurine - Golden Hare no longer requires a Cut Citrine. It now requires copper bars. Several new recipes that use Jaggal and Shadow Pearls have been added to jewelcrafting trainers. Increased the chance to find blue gems when prospecting. Removed the 1 hour cooldown when cutting diamonds. Reduced the matching requirements for some diamonds. Leatherworking Knothide Armor kits now require less leather to make and give skill increases for longer. Leatherworking made Primalstrike set now has an attack power set bonus rather than a strength set bonus. Additional snakes that drop cobra scales are in the highlands of nagrand as well as in shadowmoon valley. Leatherworker made Drums of Restoration had their health/mana effects reduced slightly. Nethercobra Leg Armor and Nethercleft Leg Armor have been slightly improved. Heavy Clefthoof Boots, Heavy Clefthoof Leggings, and Heavy Clefthoof Vest have had their armor increased at the expense of some stamina and defense rating. Changed the socket bonuses on the Windhawk set to something more appropriate. Herbalism The Dreaming Glory buff now correctly works in combat. Netherbloom no longer causes negative effects, although the positive effects happen less frequently. Additionally, the effects will not replace one another. Nightmare Vine has a reduced chance to poison the herbalist. Underbog Colossus have an increased number of herbs on them when harvested by an herbalist. Additional Profession Changes You can now unspecialize in tailoring and alchemy, and then select a new specialization. This is a repeatable choice, but costs gold each time. Skinning higher level creatures will give more leather; you will no longer get a single leather scrap. Reduced the time required to skin. Gathering skills no longer fail when you have reached the maximum skill possible. The Stoneforged Claymore model has been updated. Fel Iron Bars now have an icon unique from Felsteel Bars. Felsteel Bars are now good quality (green items). The Tailoring recipe Ebon Shadowbag no longer drops from Spirit Walkers. Profession recipes that had 24 hour or longer cooldowns, have had their cooldowns reduced by 1 hour. Added Warped Flesh to high level warpstalkers. Alliance Cooks can now purchase the Mok'Nathal Shortrib and Crunchy Serpent recipes at Toshley's Station. Monsters will now attack players who are mining mineral nodes near to them, even if they didn't notice them previously. Golden Spellthread and Runic Spellthread have been slightly improved. Enchant Weapon- Major Spellpower enchant has been stolen from the Razaani spell thieves by the Bash'ir spell thieves. The Bash'ir are more likely to have the recipe than the Razaani previously did, however. Imbued Netherweave Tunic and Robe recipes are vendor purchased so are now white instead of blue. Nightmare Seed found with herbalism now requires level 60 to use. The location of many of the Outland mineral nodes have been adjusted both to put them in locations that are more traveled and to make them more likely to be near creatures. Essences (Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Living) have had their drop rates significantly increased. Also Outland creatures that dropped motes will now have a chance of dropping essences as well. Materials required to make the Blacksmithing Adamantite plate armor have been reduced. Motes of Shadow now primarily drop from void creatures and have been removed from nearly all demons. Void Crystals maximum stack size increased to 20 from 10. Quest You can now interact with wanted posters while mounted. Grishnath Orbs can no longer be interacted with unless the character is on the quest, Exorcising the Trees. The Ammen Vale quest, Rescue the Survivors! is now properly flagged as draenei-only. Non-draenei who have this quest in their log should abandon it. Fixed a grammatical error in the quest, The Ring of Mmmrrrggglll. The quest, Defiling Uther's Tomb no longer has a time limit attached to it. The level for the Hellfire Peninsula quest, Natural Remedies has been dropped from 64 to 63. The Shadowy Disguise for the quest, Who Are They? can no longer be gained while shapeshifted. Adjusted a few Restless Bones piles in the Bone Wastes so that they were not under the ground. Fixed an issue with the quest, Sabotage the Warp-Gate!, which would sometimes fail the escort as it began. The Blade's Edge Mountains quest, On Spirit's Wings is no longer shareable. Fixed some typos in the quest, Reunion. Completing the Horde quest, Reunion, will now auto-launch the next quest in the series, On Spirit's Wings. Directions to the Bloodmaul Camp are now included in the quest, The Smallest Creatures. The Horde version of the quest, Gorgrom the Dragon-Eater is no longer shareable. Completing the Horde version of the quest Gorgrom the Dragon-Eater will now auto-launch the quest, Prisoner of the Bladespire. Directions to Gruul's Lair are now included in the quest, Prisoner of the Bladespire. The Scrap Reaver X6000 from the quest, You, Robot, no longer has its Repair ability. Matron Varah of Mok'Nathal Village no longer offers the quest, Understanding the Mok'Nathal. Now, only Leoroxx has that distinction, as was intended. Minimap arrow for the quest, Report to the Allerian Post fixed. Whispers of the Raven God: Understanding Ravenspeech will now hit players at range. Bash'ir Landing and Razaan's Landing in Blade's Edge Mountains have been significantly expanded to support questing. Skettis in Terokkar Forest has had some adjustments to support questing. Millhouse Manastorm will now only award players credit for completing the Trial of the Naaru: Tenacity upon the death of Harbinger Skyriss and only ONCE. Players will no longer receive credit through a gossip option on Millhouse. Goliathon, involved in the Natural Remedies quest, is now level 63. Goliathon Shardlings are now level 60-61. Uvuros in Shadowmoon Valley has had its powers and abilities reduced. The Brain Damage buff given from Ethereum Essences now lasts 60 seconds. Ethereum Relay corpses will now be viewable and lootable without having to be under the influence of Brain Damage. The quests Trouble at Auchindoun, The Codex of Blood, Into the Heart of the Labyrinth, Find Spy To'gun, and The Soul Devices, have had their minimum level reduced to 68. The drop rate for Rotten Arakkoa Eggs used in the quest Of Thistleheads and Eggs... has been increased. The Cipher of Damnation - Borak's Charge, has had its recommended players increased to 4. Ruul the Darkener has had his hit points and abilities slightly adjusted to make him not as punishing. The questline, Zuluhed the Whacked now requires that players kill Zuluhed as part of the completion criteria. The Charred Bone Fragment for the quest Digging Up the Past is now on a quicker respawn timer. Sunfury Disguise pieces are now flagged as multi-drop. The Enraged Wraiths that spawn during the Eversong quest Powering Our Defenses have been scaled back in difficulty. Fengus' Ferocity,Mol'dar's Moxie,Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer, Slip'kik's Savvy and Spirit of Zandalar these buffs will no longer work on targets over level 63. Of Thistleheads and Eggs: The Rotting Putresence debuff gained during this quest is now correctly considered a stun, and effects which remove stuns will remove it. Shizz Work: The Stanky debuff will no longer cause some procs to trigger. The drops for The Vials of Eternity have been modified. Vashj's and Kael's Vial Remnants are now multi-drop quest items. This means they'll be lootable by each raid member who is on the quest, as opposed to the four vials that drop at the moment. Void Crystals maximum stack size has been increased to 20 from 10. Zephyrium Capacitorium: This interactable object now makes a player immune to all attacks and spells while it is operating on them. Reduced the number of Black Dragonscales required for the warlock mount quest. Reputation Players will experience diminished gains in reputation from killing outdoor mobs while in raids larger than five players. Scout's Arrow reputation requirement for Cenarion Expedition has been moved to friendly. Warden's Arrow minimum level has been changed to 68. Coilfang Armaments will now drop from heroic difficulty Slave Pens. New title of Justicaris now available for Alliance players exalted with Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch factions. New title of Conqueror is now available for Horde players exalted with Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch factions. An option is available at Exalted with the Violet Eye to turn in faction ring along with gold for a different exalted-level faction ring. High-level bullets can be purchased from Honor Hold and Thrallmar factions at revered. Dungeons and Raids Sounds and voice-overs have been added to all Outland dungeons and raid zones. All 25 man raid bosses who drop set tokens will now drop an additional token. Lightsworn Vindicators outside the Black Temple will no longer attack players who are Hostile with the Aldor. Creatures will no longer Cleave targets that aren't in front of them. Silence spell duration has been changed from 6 to 5 seconds. Polymorph spell duration has been changed from 20 seconds to 8 seconds. Hooked Net spell duration changed from 10 to 6 seconds. Electrified Net spell duration changed from 10 to 6 seconds. Net spell duration changed from 10 to 6 seconds. Creatures will no longer perform Sweeping Strikes. Creature versions of Hamstring now deal 20% of the creature's normal melee damage, and is no longer tied to the creature's normal swings. Creature versions of Wing Clip now deal 20% of the creature's normal melee damage. Many humanoid Heroic creatures that are marked as uncharmable can now be seduced by a Warlock's Succubus pet. There is now a control panel to control the waterfall that blocks the entrance to Coilfang Raid to allow people stuck on the other side of the waterfall to leave. Mortog Steamhead standing outside of the Coilfang dungeons will repair armor and weapons as well as sell various items to those exalted with the Cenarion Expedition. Mortog will now trade players Cenarion healing and mana salves for Coilfang Armaments. These potions only work inside the Coilfang dungeon and raid zones. Most dungeon boss creatures will no longer slow their movement speed when they are wounded. Arcanist Xorith of the Scryers and Haldor the Compulsive of the Aldor will sell specialized flasks only usable in raid zones to players who are exalted with Cenarion Expedition: the Sha'tar and the Scryers or the Aldor (respectively). The flasks will only be purchasable with tokens obtained from creatures in Tempest Keep: The Eye, The Serpentshrine, and The Black Temple. The Domination spell can no longer choose pets as valid targets. Gruul is now more likely to use his Hurtful Strike and Ground Slam abilities on players instead of Cave-In. Hellfire Citadel:Ramparts Bonechewer Destroyers now has a 2 second melee round time and will no longer Knock Away and wipe the target's threat on Heroic. Bonechewer Evokers now attack slower. Bleeding Hollow Scryer's Fear extended the repeat cooldown so the ability will happen less frequently. Bonechewer Raveners on Heroic, damage has been reduced and will now attack slower. The Liquid Fire damage radius graphic has been slightly altered to align more properly with damage; and damage has been significantly reduced in Heroic difficulty. Omor the Unscarred's Treacherous Bane ability on Heroic will now have the correct damage listed on the tooltip. The damage has also been reduced in Heroic. Changed the graphic to be more noticeable. Added a 2 second cast time to Omor the Unscarred's Treacherous Aura and Treacherous Bane abilities. Vazruden's Revenge damage has been raised on Heroic difficulty. Nazan now emotes before landing. Nazan now has a slight delay before fireballing after breathing fire while landed. Vazruden's Warn Horn is now present in Hellfire Ramparts. It can be used to call Vazruden back if he leaves the instance between wipes. Hellfire Citadel: Blood Furnace Shadowmoon Adepts on Heroic now double attack instead of triple attack on occasion. Laughing Skull Legionnaire no longer uses the Sweeping Strikes ability. Shadowmoon Technician's Silence spell is used less frequently. Laughing Skull Warden will stay engaged with his main target on Heroic difficulty. The Maker's Exploding Beaker damage and knockback radii have changed for consistency to both be 8 yards. The Maker's Exploding Beaker damage has been increased on Heroic difficulty. Shadowmoon Technician's Throw Dynamite ability damage has been increased. Nascent Fel Orc will Dual Wield properly now. Keli'dan the Breaker's Shadow Bolt Volley has had both its damage and range increased Shadowmoon Channeler's Mark of Shadow will have a longer delay before being cast at the start of the fight and now does more damage. Felguard Annihilators and Felguard Brutes will now do less damage. Hellfire Citadel:Magtheridon's Lair Hellfire Warders have been significantly reduced in difficulty. Hellfire Channeler's Shadow Bolt Volley has been made much more easy to interrupt. The melee damage of Burning Abyssals has been significantly reduced. Hellfire Citadel: Shattered Halls The Resist Shadow buff cast by Shadowmoon Acolytes will be dispelled from players if they leave the dungeon. Shattered Hand Reavers will do less damage in Heroic difficulty. The Uppercut used by the Shattered Hand Reaver now has a smaller combat range. Rabid Warhounds on Heroic will now do less damage. Shattered Hand Houndmaster's Impaling bolt damage and movement impairing effects have been increased. Warbringer O'mrogg now applies a smaller amount of threat to the target of his Beatdown ability and will now correctly disable his Burning Maul ability after a wipe. Warbringer O'mrogg and Warchief Kargath Bladefist can be seen from a farther distance. Warchief Kargath Bladefist can now travel slightly farther during Blade Dance. Coilfang: The Slave Pens Coilfang Defenders are only found in pairs while in Heroic difficulty. Wastewalker Slaves will now be more difficult in Heroic difficulty. Coilfang Defenders in Heroic difficulty no longer dual wield with their shields. Rokmar the Crackler will now only apply Grievous Wound to his current target. The maximum range of Quagmirran's Poison Bolt Volley has been increased and the spell now ignores line of sight. The damage over time component also is now fully affected by a player's nature resistance. Coilfang Defenders should come in no more than a 2 pulls in Slave Pens on Heroic Difficulty. The 2 Myrmidon, 1 Sorceress, 1 Slavehandler pull has been changed to a 2 Myrmidon pull. Naturalist Bite is now level 70 in Heroic difficulty Slave Pens. Coilfang: The Underbog Underbat in Heroic difficulty damage has been reduced. Underbog Lurker in Heroic difficulty damage has been reduced. Wild Growth on the Underbog Lurkers has been fixed. Underbog Lurkers will now have a slight delay before using the Coral Cut ability on a target. Murkblood Oracles and Murkblood Healers now have more mana. The Murkblood Spearmen's Throw ability does more damage in Heroic difficulty. Lykul Wasp and Lykul Stinger melee damage has been reduced. Underbog Lords have had their damage reduced. The Black Stalker's Spore Strider Summon should happen at more regular intervals and be less random. Coilfang: Steamvaults Coilfang Oracles, Coilfang Sirens and Coilfang Sorceresses now have more mana. Coilfang Engineer damage has been increased in Heroic difficulty. Coilfang Engineer Throw Bomb ability damage has been increased and will throw more frequently. Steam Surger damage damage has been significantly reduced. Tidal Surger damage has been slightly reduced in Heroic difficulty. The Bog Overlord's Trample has been changed to be a 50 yard radius effect, but now does decreased damage and will be used less frequently in both heroic and normal difficulty. Coilfang Siren's Fear now has a 1 second cast time and no longer removes all threat from feared players. Coilfang: Serpentshrine Cavern The creatures that lead up to Hydross the Unstable and creatures at the six pumping stations are now on a 2 hour respawn instead of 45 minutes. Slight changes on most creatures have been made including: aggro range changed to 30 yards detect, 15 yard call for help and hitpoints reduced. (Boss specific adds are not affected by this hitpoint reduction.) Slightly reduced the number of creatures from the cavern entrance. Modified the patrol patterns of some of the murlocs in Morogrim's room to make them easier to pull. Non-boss creatures in Serpentshrine will now no longer respawn if the nearby boss has been killed, and should not respawn while in combat with the boss in question. Fixed an issue with Hydross where you would kill him and he would instead change into his alternate form with 1 health. The Mark of Hydross and Mark of Corruption debuffs can now affect the increases of the nature or frost damage taken up to 500%. Refreshing Mist now correctly restores health. Fixed an exploit related to Leotheras' Consuming Madness spell. Lady Vashj can no longer use the ability Persuasion. Toxic Spores no longer deal damage upon impact. Tidewalker Lurkers no longer call for help from other nearby creatures. Greyheart Technicians are now much easier to kill, and deal less damage. Coilfang Priestesses may now be polymorphed. Coilfang Priestess' Holy Fire spell now deals Holy damage, and the damage dealt by the spell has been lowered. Morogrim Tidewalker's Earthquake no longer obeys line of sight restrictions Creatures in the Serpentshrine now have a chance to drop Coilfang Armaments. Hydross the Unstable's Vile Sludge spell will no longer hit pets. Hydross the Unstable's melee damage has been reduced. The spawns of Hydross have fewer hit points. The Coilfang Frenzy now does increased melee damage, but Scalding Water damage has been decreased. Leotheras the Blind's Chaos Blast radius has been significantly reduced, which will allow additional melee to damage Leotheras while he is in metamorphosis form. Leotheras the Blind will now also spend less time whirlwinding before shifting into his metamorphosis form. Leotheras the Blind's hit points have been reduced. Inner Demons are now slightly easier to kill and deal less damage. Serpentshrine Lurkers are now banishable and fearable, and no longer create mushrooms so quickly. Morogrim Tidewalker has been moved to a more central location in his room. Hydross the Unstable's hit points have been slightly reduced. Colossus Ragers have had their health reduced significantly. Auchindoun: Mana-Tombs Ethereal Sorcerer's in Heroic difficulty will summon Arcane Fiends less frequently. The Dark Shell of Pandemonious is now more visibly noticeable when cast. The duration has been lowered from 8 to 6 seconds for Heroic difficulty. Ethereal Priests, Ethereal Sorcerors, Spellbinders, and Theurgists now have more mana. Nexus-Prince Shaffar's will now summon Ethereal Beacon at a more regular interval. Auchindoun: Auchenai Crypts Angered and Raging Skeletons have had their movement speed decreased on Heroic difficulty. Avatar of the Martyred's Mortal Strike damage has been reduced. Shirrak the Dead Watcher's Fiery Blast damage has been reduced on Heroic difficulty. Raging Souls will now correctly despawn after casting their Rage spell on Heroic difficulty. Auchindoun: Sethekk Halls Sethekk Guard's damage has been greatly reduced. Sethekk Ravenguard's damage has been reduced on Heroic difficulty. Darkweaver Syth's aggro radius has been increased, and he can now see through both stealth and invisibility. Sethekk Oracle's Arcane Lightning damage reduced and it will be cast less frequently. Sethekk Oracles, Sethekk Shamans, Cobalt Serpents, and Time-Lost Scryers in Normal difficulty now have mor mana. Sethekk Prophets, Time-Lost Controllers, and Time-Lost Shadowmages in both difficultys now have mor mana. Added a 1 second cast time to the Spell Reflection ability of the Sethekk Initiates. Note that this is an ability and not a spell, and as such the ability can not be interrupted via counterspell, kick, and other interrupts. The Arcane Destruction buff cast by Sethekk Scryers when mind controlled or spell-steal is used, will now be automatically dispelled when a player leaves the instance. Sethekk Talon Lords now wield a scimitar and shield instead of a polearm. Time-Lost Shadowmage will now be able to cast Curse of the Dark Talon spell more than once. Talon King Ikiss on Heroic difficulty has been significantly reworked. He now has a point blank area of effect slow spell, increased damage on the Arcane volley , increased damage on the Arcane Explosion, and reduced the frequency on his Polymorph. Talon King Ikiss is more obvious when he is about to cast Arcane Explosion. Auchindoun: Shadow Labyrinth The Shadow Defense spell cast by a Cabal Acolyte when mind controlled or spell-steal is used, will now be automatically dispelled when a player leaves the instance. Fel Overseer's Mortal Strike in Heroic difficulty now deals less damage. Malicious Instructor, Cabal Cultist, Cabal Assassin, Cabal Fanatic and Blackheart the Inciter have all had their damage reduced in Heroic difficulty. Cabal Cultist's damage has been reduced in Heroic difficulty changed. The damage dealt by Murmur's Thundering Storm is now increased properly by Resonance. Reduced the number of creatures in Shadow Labyrinth. Caverns of Time: Escape from Durnholde The Durnholde Mage's Polymorph spell will be cast less frequently. Infinite Slayer's Mortal Strike damage has been reduced. Lieutenant Drake's melee speed has been slowed slightly and damage reduced. Captain Skarloc's Consecration ability and melee damage has been increased on Heroic difficulty.He will now take damage properly when he dispels Unstable Affliction. Infinite Defiler's Curse of Infinity on Heroic difficulty has been renamed to Bane of Infinity, since the effect is not removable as a curse. The Human Illusion spell will now interact correctly with Shadowform and Druid shapeshifts. Caverns of Time: Opening of the Dark Portal Temporus' Spell Reflection ability on Heroic difficulty now has a duration of 6 instead of 8 seconds. Temporus may no longer be disarmed. Chrono Lord Deja's Time Lapse may no longer be reflected. Karazhan Prince Malchezaar's door will now close when his encounter begins. Prince Malchezaar's aggro range has been reduced. Romulo's Daring spell now increases haste and damage by 35% instead of 50%. Romulo's Poisoned Thrust will now be used less frequently. Backward Lunge damage has been decreased. The Deadly Swathe now operates based on the new creature cleave rule when engaging Romulo. Fixed an issue where if Romulo or Julianne were killed in the final phase and the raid then died, the dead actor would not despawn, forcing players to soft reset the instance to fix things. Blinding Passion will now only hit players. Immunity effects such as Ice Block will no longer remove the secondary effects of being Little Red Riding Hood. Fixed a bug that was causing Maiden of Virtue's Repentance to hit her current target. Ethereal Theives and Spellfilchers in the upper floors have been retuned slightly. Terestian Illhoof will no longer sacrifice his primary target. Terestian Illhoof will now wait longer before resurrecting his imp, Kil'rek. Terestian Illhoof's Imps have had their hitpoints reduced slightly. Spectral Guest melee damage per second has been slightly reduced. Shade of Aran's conjured elementals now despawn when he is defeated. Nether Protection will no longer cause Flame Wreath to detonate. Netherspite correctly puts the raid into combat and is no longer affected by immolate and other forms of vertex coloring. Roar is now susceptible to Horror effects. The Rolling Pin of the Ghostly Baker will now only deal damage to one target. Shade of Aran's conjured elementals now have significantly less health. Shade of Aran's Blizzard should now be more visible and its duration has been reduced. Shade of Aran's Flame Wreath should completely ignore pets, summons, guardians and mind-controlled NPCs. Shade of Aran's Door should no longer lock if he dies while drinking. Shade of Aran's respawn region should properly shut down if he dies while drinking. Shade of Aran will no longer cast Dragon's Breath. Netherspite's room now has a door that locks when the encounter begins. Netherspite's Nether Burn and Nether Breath will now ignore line of sight. Netherspite will no longer cast Nether Burn while crazed. The arcane creatures that spawn in the Menagerie will now respawn less frequently. Phantom Valets and Ghostly Stewards are now larger to make them stand out a bit more from the other residents of the tower. Skeletal Ushers can now be affected by Shackle Undead. Syphoners and Mana Feeders have been substantially reduced in hit points, and the Syphoner's melee damage has also been reduced. Karazhan Tomes Redemption of the Fallen will now correctly summon a lvl 70 creature. Wrath of the Titans will no longer gain the full effect from +dmg gear Torment of the Worgen will now deal additional shadow damage when it procs (previously it did not work and did not log) Legacy of the Mountain King remains unchanged. Dark Screechers should no longer chain-cast Sonic Burst. Negatron's Earthquake will now play correctly. Tempest Keep The hitpoints of all non-boss mobs has been reduced. The boss specific adds should not be affected by this change. Creatures in Tempest Keep: The Eye, The Arcatraz, The Mechanar, The Botanica all have a chance at dropping health and mana potions that will only function inside the Tempest Keep raid and dungeon instances. The damage dealt by Novice Astromancers and Apprentice Star Scryers has been greatly reduced. Crystalcore Sentinels no longer Trample. The range of Crimson Hand Battle Mage's Frost Bolt Volley has been increased. Astromancers and Astromancer Lords no longer use the Blast Wave ability, and the range of their Fireball Volley spells has been increased. The damage over time and radius of the Star Scryer's Starfall spell has been reduced. Arcane Resistance will prove much more effective against High Astromancer Solarian's spells. High Astromancer Solarian now summons fewer Solarian agents, and the Solarium Agents now deal less damage. The Al'ar encounter has been significantly reworked. Her movement around the room will now be more predictable, Al'ar's hit points have been reduced, and killing the Embers of Al'ar will now be both much more possible and more rewarding to the raid. High Astromancer Solarian's hit points have been greatly reduced. Continued in part 3
2.1 patch notes (part 1)
World of Warcraft Client Patch 2.1.0 The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/ The Black Temple The Temple of Karabor was the center of draenei worship until its priests were slaughtered by demonically corrupted orcs. In the massacre's aftermath the warlocks of the Shadow Council seized the structure and gave it a new name: the Black Temple. When the Alliance invaded Draenor after the Second War, the orc shaman Ner'zhul hastily opened several dimensional portals in order to escape. The resulting magical backlash ripped the world apart. Drawn by these portals, the pit lord Magtheridon arrived in what had come to be known as Outland and took the temple as his seat of power. His dominion over Outland remained unchallenged until the arrival of Illidan the Betrayer. The pit lord proved no match for the wielder of the Twin Blades of Azzinoth. Today Illidan occupies the temple, awaiting any and all who would challenge his rule.
Patch 2.1 live tomorrow!
For those of you who didn't want to wander through the extremely long transcript for the Stratics House of Commons Dev Chat in the last post, I thought I would point out one extremely pertinent bit. According to Tigole, Kalgan, Drysc and Eyonix, patch 2.1 is going live tomorrow morning to all servers. If you've been holding off on running the torrent, or meaning to look for that patch mirror site but never got around to it, you might want to get that download started. In either case, patches generally mean strange bugs and rolling restarts, if not an extended downtime in the first place. Best to prepare for an extended WoW jones now and some frustration as the bugs get worked out of the system.Me? I've got my World of Warcraft home game, WoW Insider, and caffeine. I'm ready to face patch day!What kind of things do you do on patch day? Have any particular things you do on maintenance Tuesdays like the WoW LJ community does with their Caturday - Servers Screwed thread? Share your tips and save your fellow WoW players from boredom tomorrow!Edited to add: Yep, Drysc confirmed extended downtime: We will be performing extended maintenance on May 22 for all realms.
Official Black Temple trailer
Blizzard have updated their patch 2.1 preview page with an official Black Temple desktop, as well as a preview movie, in streaming flash or DivX download. The movie offers us a bit of background information on the history of the Black Temple, and we get to see some fun scenes of Illidan, Vashj, Kael'thas, and the narrator of the video kicking it villian-style, as well as some of the Temple's interior.I can't quite place the narrator, though; he's a Draenei who is ostensibly under the service of Illidan because Illidan came through and opposed Magtheridon, whom this Draenei really didn't like. Mr. Narrator isn't under any illusions as to Illidan's nature, though. He knows full well Illidan is evil and tells us that "soon, the Betrayer will become the betrayed." I'm sure the narrator is someone I ought to recognize -- who is it? Or is it just some random peon? Edit: It's Akama. Thanks, everyone. That's what I get for ignoring most Shadowmoon quests.Seeing as how my guild is still on Aran in Karazhan, I don't imagine I'll set foot in the Black Temple any time soon. Still, this video has certainly got me excited about it, and I'm already drooling at the loot we've seen from the PTR. Any of you guys reckon you'll be starting weekly BT raids when the patch hits?
Magtheridon's head, some Black Temple loot, and more!
From the guilds Drama and Curse on the PTR comes some more Black Temple loot! This stuff is amazing, folks! Both guilds have succeeded in slaying two bosses of the Black Temple instance, and I'd like to give you a preview of the loot. How about a 100.2 DPS One-Hand Axe? Or a high-stat crossbow? Or, maybe some resto-shaman gears? Check out all the linked gear so far, here. One of the biggest things I noticed about the few healing gears linked so far were the perma-haste casting effects on-equip. This could be a huge hint at what's to come, where you may need to get those big heals down to under one-second cast times. I'm very excited to see more from the PTR. On a different note, another quest has been reported: The head of Magtheridon is a quest item that is turned into Thrallmar or Honor Hold. Like the heads of Onyxia and Nefarion, the quest turn-in gives a zone-wide buff: "In Hellfire Peninsula and Hellfire Citadel, increases Honor Hold/Thrallmar reputation gained from killing monsters by 10%." Here is a snippet of the quest dialogue:
PTR: Images of Illidan in the wild
Many of us have been curious to see just how Illidan would look when he was actually in-game as opposed to data-mined from the PTR client and then previewed through the WoW model viewer. Well, several brave souls from the PTR have managed to locate him in the Black Temple and have sent back the above screen shot of the man Night Elf-Demon himself in game. The reports are that he's roughly as tall as Onyxia large, but not overly so, yet extremely imposing when you're standing face-to-err ... hooves. The rumor from the peanut gallery says that when he gets to 20%, he despawns saying only "A terrible and costly mistake you have made. It is not my time, mortals." [via Curse, with a video size confirmation from Ysona]
Know Your Lore: Teron Gorefiend
Sometimes you don't have to slay a dragon, topple a kingdom or save the world to be famous in Azeroth. Sometimes you can just be a total bastard. So today we're featuring Teron Gorefiend -- Death Knight, deceptive questgiver, Black Temple boss and all-around badass. Who: Teron Gorefiend. What: Formerly an orc warlock, now an orc warlock's spirit in the body of an undead human knight, aka a Death Knight. History: Teron Gorefiend was a member of the Shadowmoon Clan of orcs, based in Shadowmoon Valley. Along with his clan's leader, Ner'Zhul, he turned from the shamanistic legacy of the orcs into the dark teachings of the warlocks. Eventually, Ner'Zhul broke a pact he had made with the Burning Legion demon lord Kil'Jaeden and went on to a bright future as the Lich King. His apprentice, Gul'Dan, took up where he had left off and organized the orc clans into a single entity with a council of powerful warlocks supporting it, known as the Shadow Council. Gorefiend joined up with the Council. During the first war against the Alliance, Gorefiend and the Shadow Council manipulated events from behind the scenes, including the assassination of King Llane Wrynn. But Gul'Dan overreached when he tried to gain secrets from the mind of Medivh, ending up trapped in a coma when Medivh died. Orgrim Doomhammer, chief of the Blackrock Clan, figured that it was time for a coup. Doomhammer killed the Shadow Council's puppet warchief and slaughtered as many Shadow Council warlocks as he could -- including Gorefiend.
PTR notes: tier 6 stats
Wow, those PTR folks sure have been busy. Now we have the full stats for every single class's Tier 6 set(s), which drop in the Black Temple. This came to us almost simultaneously via MMO-Champion and World of Raids, though I have to say World of Raids's versions are a little less irritatingly watermarked. Looks like the names and set bonuses that came out a little while ago were correct, as far as I can tell.Ever one to have fun with math, I decided to add up the total stats on all the T6 gear, so you could compare them with other sets more easily. Here are the results (socket bonuses included):
Deathwing lives! (Maybe!)
Never heard of Deathwing? Well, I suppose you can be forgiven -- he's not currently in the game. However, Deathwing (also known as Neltharion), the former leader of the Black Dragonflight plays a big part in Warcraft lore. Despite the fact that he's not currently to be found in Azeroth, there's a lot of speculation as to where Deathwing might be. Grim Batol, where he was last seen? Returned to his long-empty lair? Or perhaps he's truly dead? Well, new information coming from the public test realms suggest that Deathwing may be back. BlizzPlanet is reporting that in the Black Temple, the NPC Lady Sinestra has a dialog referring to "the master" -- presumably Deathwing. Still curious? Full text of the dialog after the jump.
Mr. Stormrage's Worst-Dressed List, 2007
Tier 6 is out and about on the forums, so it's time for everyone to do their best Joan Rivers imitations (especially the undead, who are halfway there already) and critique the sets. Boubouille has been nice enough to link us to all the Tier 6 skins in his massive 2.1.0 info collection, so I'll be using his skins as the basis for the criticism. Ready to get bitchy? Let's go!
PTR notes: Massive 2.1 roundup at MMO-Champion
The internets have generally been going crazy over 2.1 information every since the PTRs went live, with us being no exception. So if you've lost track of all the new information that's come out, I don't blame you. Fortunately, MMO-Champion has come to the rescue again, with this massive infodump full of pretty much everything we know about 2.1 so far. There's not very much new information, but here's what he has that I hadn't seen before: New loading screens Black Temple screenshots (lots) A couple gear pieces filed under Northrend New gems This as well as T6 graphics for all classes (like the Warlock set pictured above, which is in this blogger's opinion the greatest tier set ever, graphics-wise), new engineering stuff, rep rewards, and pretty much everything else that you're probably curious about, so go look it over. Do you think the wings on the Warlock set are functional? And kudos, Boubouille, I know how much work these things can be to put together.
Preview: Black Temple bosses
MMO-Champion is at it again (Boubouille has just been doing a bangup job showing off content from this 2.1 patch!), and this time, he's somehow delved into the Black Temple and pulled out screengrabs of (most of) the bosses. As of this writing, there's no Illidan grabs yet, but that may still be coming.Since we killed the site off the last time we linked to it, I've gone ahead and mirrored the Boss shots: Here's High Warlord Naj'entus (he's the Naga-looking thing we saw last time), Supremus, Teron Gorefiend (judge me by my size, do you?), Gurtogg Bloodboil (the best looking one, in my opinion), Mother Shahraz, and Essence of Souls (the last one appears to be an encounter of sorts, and it's probably where that three faced boss-- Desire, Grief, Anger-- appears).Boubouille has also grabbed a layout of the class trinkets available at the Exalted levels of the Ashtongue Deathsworn rep, so you can know right now what you're going to be working for. I have to admit that all the content looks sweet, but just like all really high level content, I wonder how many people are actually going to see it. The Black Temple seems fun, but to tell the truth, I'm actually looking forward to the Ogri'la and Sethekk quest areas more.
PTR notes: Johnny McWeaksauce wants you to have T5
Well, this is certainly an innovative solution. Tonight the Black Temple opened on the test realms. However, Blizz seems to have realized that most people would not be sufficiently geared to test it out. So what did they do? Gave everyone free Tier 5 gear! That's right, if you go to the Terrace of Light (or the banks, or the inns) in Shattrath on the test realms, there is an NPC named Johnny McWeaksauce handing out free boxes full of T5 tokens and comparable items to fill the other slots, along with Black Temple keys.There's a slight catch: you need to be honored with the Violet Eye. Basically, this means Blizzard is selecting for people with some experience raiding Karazhan. You don't need that much raiding experience, though -- I got Honored clearing through Curator twice. Also, as you might expect, seemingly every single character on the PTR is either at McWeaksauce or the T5 vendors, resulting in horrendous lag and mountains of "This item is busy" errors. In fact, at this time, I still haven't managed to get my actual T5 -- it took a couple minutes of spam-clicking just to get the box of tokens. They tried to fix it by replicating Jimmy many times, but the bottleneck now is the T5 vendors. There's a few more of them, but not near enough.Anyway, if you're Honored or above with the Violet Eye and want to see what it's like to have phat epics, log on and try it out! Or, to save much frustration, wait a day or so. And here's a few tips: If you want cash for your epic mount or whatever on the PTR, you can grab some boxes of gear from Johnny and just vendor the gear. Free boxes of epics + epics sell for cash = profit. If you're an off-spec (Shadow Priest, Feral Druid), you can grab the box for your class to get the T5 gear and then pick an appropriate other class to get their box for gear for other slots. (Shadow Priests, for instance: grab a Priest box and a Warlock or Mage box.) There aren't any vendors for enchants or high-quality gems.
April news from Blizzard Europe
Most of Blizzard Europe's announcements today mirror the main Blizzard announcements, which we've already seen. However, from the European site, we get an extra tidbit of Black Temple information: complete information on the new Priests of Baa'ri faction! What do we know about these priests? Well, they were closely connected with the priesthood of the Temple of Karabor, now known as the Black Temple, and now they seek new allies to help reclaim the Temple of Karabor from Illidan's clutches.And now on to the important stuff: faction rewards. Depending on how friendly you are with them, the Priest of Baa'ri may be willing to sell you patterns to craft holy resistance gear of all armor types, a new type of spellthread with +healing and holy resistance, and an armor kit with holy resistance. Does this mean we're going to have to worry about holy damage in the Black Temple? Well, I suppose I can start getting concerned about collecting resistance gear after I finish the attunement chain...
Blizzard updates Under Development page
For the first time since before the Burning Crusade was released, Blizzard have updated their Under Development page to tell us that the Black Temple is going to be opened soon, and will contain Tier 6 armor. We knew it was going to be opened eventually, given that the physical edifice is already in the game, and even the instance portal (though it tells you that the instance isn't available yet), but this probably means it'll be in the next content patch. Here's Blizz's text:Originally founded as a Draenei temple, this plot has been conquered and despoiled many times throughout the history of Outland, removing any spiritual grace it may have once held. The Black Temple has been the stage of the Orc Horde's blood curse, a fortress for the then-mortal Ner'zhul, and a prime staging ground for the Burning Legion's campaign of destruction. Most recently, it has been claimed as home by Illidan, where he and his minions make their bid for power over the remnants of the shattered planet. Now, it is up to you to face the malefic forces of Illidan and his minions in hopes of freeing Outland from chaos and tyranny.Black Temple is a 25-person raid dungeon located in Shadowmoon Valley. Explore an ancient site steeped in Warcraft lore Gain access to more than a hundred new rare and epic items, including tier-6 armor sets Choose your path through a nonlinear level-70 raid dungeon, as you make your way to... Face Illidan himself! I'm interested to learn more about the nonlinearity of this place, although it probably just means that you don't have to do all the bosses. Also, note that we almost certainly won't be able to destroy Illidan -- Blizz have hinted that he's too powerful to be destroyed by mere level 70s. The usual guess is that it'll go something like the Majordomo Executus fight in MC. And the stats on T4 and T5 are already pretty crazy -- anyone have any info on what T6 is like?
Know Your Lore: Illidan
It has come to our attention that there are quite a few people out there who don't know anything about the Warcraft universe. Considering that the Burning Crusade expansion is chock-full of major lore characters, this is somewhat disturbing. While it's definitely not necessary to play the previous Warcraft games to enjoy WoW, this is an online roleplaying game set in a particular universe, and understanding a little bit of the history behind the game can make your time in Azeroth more enjoyable. Sure, it's not exactly The Wheel Of Time in complexity, but there's some cool stuff going on in the world that you can only "get" if you know who's who. With that in mind, the new Know Your Lore feature will present quick and dirty biographies of some of the most famous names in Azeroth. Our inaugural article showcases someone you've definitely heard of, and will be hearing much more from in the near future -- Illidan Stormrage, the ultimate boss of the Burning Crusade expansion.
