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8885 is not entirely kind to Priests
My favorite class was certainly not left out of the party when it came to this beta build. The most interesting changes to me: Inner Fire works on spell power now, not just healing spell power as was the case in previous builds. This only makes sense, given that spell power is unified now. Penance has been buffed for all ranks, but I need to see proper numbers before I can make any conclusions. MMO-Champion is noting that it now ticks twice instead of thrice; I'm hoping that's a bug related to lowering the channel time to 2 sec. The new Disc talent Grace got the stuffing nerfed out of it. It now reads as follows: Your Flash Heal, Greater Heal, and Penance spells have a 50/100% chance to bless the target with Grace, reducing damage done to the target by 1%. This effect will stack up to 3 times. Effect lasts 8 sec. Yikes. It was a very strong talent, but I'm not sure it deserved to be hit quite this hard. Focused Power reworked to increase your total spell damage and healing by 2/4%, and reduce the cast time of Mass Dispel by 0.5 sec. Anything that makes you 2% more Priest per talent point is practically a must-have talent. New Disc talent: Renewed Hope (Tier 8): Increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal, Greater Heal and Penance spells by 3% on targets afflicted by the Weakened Soul effect. Our Shadow brethren were not left out either, though perhaps they will wish they had been (this is all stuff that had been previewed in the big "raid stacking" post). Vampiric Touch changed to implement the new mana battery model ("cause up to 10 party or raid members to gain 0.5% of their maximum mana per second while you are dealing shadow damage"). Misery changed to 3 ranks, now gives 1/2/3% spell hit. Shadow Weaving changed to 3 ranks, and now only increases the shadow damage you deal. Definitely a bittersweet moment in the Priest development cycle. I really hope Shadow gets some major buffs soon. [via MMO-Champion]
Skill Mastery: Penance
Welcome to Skill Mastery! In the weeks to come, the WoW Insider staff will give you the skinny on each and every new skill coming in Wrath of the Lich King or, in some cases, in the 3.0 patch. Healing priests aren't getting a ton of new tricks in Wrath. In fact, some of our old tricks are getting removed: downranking is no longer viable, so goodbye Greater Heal (Rank 1). However, like every other class, we are getting a few new spells, and one of them is Penance. Penance is the 51-point Discipline talent, and it currently reads like this (at max rank): 33% of base mana, 30 yard range Channeled, 10 sec cooldown Launces a volley of holy light at the target, causing 184 Holy damage to an enemy, or 670 to 756 healing to an ally every 1 sec for 3 sec.
Terminal Tip: Burning a disc
Are you a Terminal geek (or wannabe, but not the pop star type)? If so, did you know that you can burn discs right from the Terminal window with a simple command and a drag/drop? Just enter the following command followed by the path to a folder or disk image: drutil burn filehere Don't type the "filehere" -- that's where you put the path to the file/folder that you wish to burn. You can either type the location manually or drag and drop the file onto the Terminal window. But that's not all you can do with drutil; you can also eject media from the optical drive by typing "drutil eject." To see all of the available drutil options, just type in drutil for a quick list or man drutil for a full description.
Pioneer develops 16-layer, 400GB Blu-ray disc
Dual-layer Blu-ray discs are so 2006. The new hotness is Pioneer's just-developed, 16-layer Blu-ray disc (pictured above) with a whopping 400GB of writable storage space. For reference, that disc could hold roughly eight copies of Metal Gear Solid 4, 187 copies of Final Fantasy VII, or 1.25 million copies of the original Super Mario Bros.The new discs require a special "wide-range spherical aberration compensator and light-receiving element" to detect the weaker laser signal, so don't plan on sticking one of these data-bloated monstrosities into your existing PS3. That said, the next generation of game consoles could support this new disc system, which is fully backward-compatible with existing Blu-ray discs. Of course, by the next generation, game systems might not be using optical discs at all, so who knows what the future will hold.
Sanwa's CD-RE1AT repairs beat up discs
We understand that not everyone practices safe spinning, so for those of you who've been burned by neglecting those disc condoms, Sanwa's cranked out what amounts to your morning after pill. The CD-RE1AT actually looks like a Sony Discman circa 1986, but instead of playing back your favorite Gin Blossoms jams, it spends its time removing scratches and repairing discs. Seems a pretty simple solution if it actually works, but we're not going to be the first to drop our ¥7,350 ($70) in order to find out.[Via AkihabaraNews]
Mac Automation: Burn a backup disc of recent iPhotos
Time Machine is great way to backup your entire Mac, but what if you want to make a single backup of your recently imported photos in iPhoto? Well, Automator for Leopard is here to help with this task. In this how-to, I will show you how to find photos taken in the last 2 months and burn the resulting photos to a disc for safe keeping. Continue reading to learn how to create this Automator workflow.
Smash Bros. Brawl not working on some Wiis, Nintendo responds
While we're sure most of us would describe Wii fanatics as the most lighthearted of the console enthusiasts, we can only imagine that being forced to wait nearly two years for the most highly anticipated game on your console, only to come home from a midnight launch to discover you cannot extract the frenzied multiplayer mayhem stored on the disc you've purchased might incite one's dander to "get up". Alas, many a brawler-to-be recently found themselves in this lamentable situation, as Super Smash Bros. Brawl has reportedly had performance anxiety in a number of Wii consoles.Nintendo has swiftly replied with a North American repair form, explaining that the double-layer disc can only be read by a squeaky-clean disc drive lens. They implore you not to try to clean said lens on your own, and to send in your crudely adhered Gamecubes to Nintendo HQ for a thorough purging. We're sure they'll get your newly spruced console back to you in a timely manner -- which will likely offer little consolation to a Nintyfan scorned.[Thanks to all the unlucky souls who sent this in. Our thoughts are with you during these trying times.]
Maxell to no longer manufacture discs, blow customers away
Though the Maxell brand name will live on, the company announced it is ending production of CD, DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD discs at the end of the month. It plans to outsource to other manufacturers (like Mitsubishi perhaps?) and though the name on the packaging will be the same, we just don't see how anyone else can provide the rather unique experience of Maxell tape discs.[Via Impress]
Mitsubishi develops corrosion-resistant DVD-Rs for the long haul
Yeah, companies have been trumpeting their ability to crank out discs that will last long after Martians come and evaporate our minds here on Earth for some time, but for archive junkies out there, more is always better. On deck today is Mitsubishi's ARLEDIA DVD-Rs, which reportedly feature corrosion-resistant coatings made from gold and silver. 'Course, you can only write to these at 8x, but they are expected to last about twice as long as traditional recordable discs. Not like you'll be around to prove 'em wrong, though. [Via Impress]
DiscTop
This is probably one of the coolest freeware applications on the Mac that I've seen in a while. Have you ever placed a disc in your Mac's drive, only to shut it down with the disc still in there? I know I have a couple of times. Now you will never do that again, thanks to DiscTop. When you load a CD or DVD into your Mac, DiscTop displays a disc-like icon on the desktop, letting you know that you currently have a disc inserted. When you eject the disc, the icon zooms off the screen. The coolest thing about DiscTop is that when you insert a known DVD (say, The Simpsons Movie) you can set the artwork via an Amazon search and display it over top of the DVD icon. DiscTop even asks you what type of Mac you use and then positions the disc accordingly. For instance, I have an iMac Core Duo (early 2006 model), so when I use that profile DiscTop will make sure the disc's icon is positioned where the optical drive is located. Very cool!If you want to give DiscTop a spin it's freeware and available at the developers website.
Eyonix delivers: Focused Will, Natural Perfection, and Discipline
It goes on! In a post titled "Focused Will: The Saga Continues" (has Eyonix been reading WoW Insider? What up, drake!), we get another update on the new Discipline talent slated for patch 2.3:Feedback was read, gathered and the designers are fully aware of all that you've provided. As a result, we're making an adjustment to the talent so instead of seeing this morning's version of focused will in the next PTR push, you'll see:"After taking a critical hit you gain the Focused Will effect, reducing all damage taken by 1/3/5% and increasing healing effects on you by 4/7/10% for 6 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times."This is up from 1/2/3% reduced damage and 4/8/12% increased heals earlier today, although it stacked up to five times then. The associated change to the Druid talent Natural Perfection has been similarly buffed:We've read through a great deal of feedback and are making another adjustment to the natural perfection talent which you'll see in the next PTR data push."Now also grants the Natural Perfection effect after being critically hit, reducing all damage taken by 1/3/5% for 6 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times."It used to be 1/2/3% and five stacks as well. In related news, Eyonix has gotten a look at the Discipline tree in store for Wrath of the Lich King, and while his post is short on details, it does make me all warm and tingly.
PTR Notes: Natural Perfection and Focused Will 2.0
As of the next push to the patch 2.3 PTR, the Druid Restoration talent Natural Perfection will be enhanced:The restoration talent, natural perfection will now also (upon the next data push to the public test realms), grant the natural perfection effect after being critically hit, reducing all damage taken by 1/2/3% for 6 seconds. This will stacks up to 5 times. (Eyonix)This is in addition to its current effect: "Your critical strike chance with all spells is increased by 1/2/3% and melee and ranged critical strikes against you cause 4/8/12% less damage." Natural Perfection requires 30 points in Resto. If you have any feedback on that, feel free to drop a post on Eyonix over at the thread, which he promises to read throughout the day. Or leave a comment here, which I will read throughout the day, but no guarantees of it reaching the devs.The saga of the new Priest Discipline talent Focused Will continues. Here is the new version:The new discipline talent, focused will, has been redesigned. Once the next data push to the public test realms occur, upon taking a critical hit you gain the focused will effect, which will reduce all damage taken by 1/2/3% and increase healing effects on you by 2/4/6% for 6 seconds, and will stacks up to five times. (Eyonix)Like above, go over to the thread if you want to give Eyonix your opinion on it. I definitely like it better than the first version ("after taking a critical hit you gain the Focused Will effect, reducing critical damage taken by 10/20/30% and increasing healing on you by 10/20/30% for 6 sec"), and I do think it achieves the stated goal of providing an alternative to Blessed Resilience for those who would rather go deep Discipline. It could be a little stronger, though, especially considering how deep it is (requires 30 in Disc).
PTR Notes: BG Daily = 400 honor, Focused Will and Elemental under consideration
Patch 2.3: the patch that just keeps on alternately disappointing and bringing joy to the player community. Apparently, the staggering 4000 honor that had been previously reported to be the reward of the new daily battleground quest was a typo, of the "extra zero" variety. The correct reward is 400 honor, still up from its original value of 200:It's off by a factor of 10. Battleground Daily quest bonus honor is supposed to be equivalent to 20 player kills at your level, ie 400 honor at level 70. (Drysc)The new Priest talent Focused Will, reported yesterday, is going to be redesigned, so don't bother commenting on it in its current state. This is a good thing, because as far as I know no-one really liked the talent they proposed that much.We wanted you to know that we're going to be redesigning the new discipline talent, focused will, so please hold off on providing further feedback on the ability until the new version is announced and/or it's pushed to the public test realms. The goal of the talent will still focus on survivability. (Eyonix)The intention of this talent is provide an alternative to the holy talent, blessed resilience, so the priest who desires a talent of this nature has more than one option, adding more flexibility to the talent choices they make leading up to either. (Eyonix)And finally, the changed-up Shaman Elemental tree is under much scrutiny from the dev team at the moment:Though not the best thread to plug this into give what was provided, I'd like to state that we are looking into this [Elemental] quite extensively at the moment. (Eyonix)
PTR Notes: New Discipline talent, PvP item tweaks
Yesterday a new build of patch 2.3 went live on the PTRs, and while the blues don't seem to have updated the patch notes, World of Raids has the full scoop on the changes. Here's what's new: 5 new PvP trinkets, available for 30k honor plus 40 AV marks from the honor vendors, or for 75 Badges of Justice from G'eras (man, that guy's item list is getting long). A new Priest talent in Discipline, called Focused Will (see screenshot). It sits right next to Power Infusion, and has no specific prerequisite. The Retribution Paladin season 3 arena set, Gladiator's Vindication, has had its spell damage stats replaced with physical damage stats. The Restoration Druid season 3 arena set, Gladiator's Refuge, has had its recently-added spirit reverted back to mp5. "The new pvp daily quest now rewards 11g99s and 4192 honor (up from about 2000) Edit: this was a typo, apparently on Blizzard's part. The actual reward is 400 honor, but it no longer rewards marks of honor." Zul'Aman's starting event "improved" It is no longer possible to have both a PvP title and a PvE title at the same time. The fish-tracking manual has been found (fished up), as well as an item that starts a (currently bugged) fishing quest. Many ZA weapons and armor pieces have been recolored. For more details on all of this, bounce on over to World of Raids. What do you guys think of Focused Will? It looks a little weak to me for being that deep in the tree (not to mention its name is distractingly similar to Force of Will). Obviously a PvP talent. Arena fiends, will you be taking it?
JVC announces first rewritable single-sided dual layer DVDs
Inventing the dual layer DVD-RW standard may seem like an extreme example of too little too late in the days of 15GB+ HD DVD and 25GB+ Blu-ray, but JVC has gone ahead and done it anyway. Hitting up the same 8.5GB capacity as regular double layer DVD-RWs and dual layer DVD-RWs, the JVC discs come with a specially hardened coating which is apparently "150 times" more effective than the coating on plain old DVDs. Unfortunately, the new format requires entirely new burners, is only available at 2x write speeds, and no shipping dates or details are available. Sounds like JVC's got a winner on its hands ... yeah.
Victor's single-sided 8.5GB DVD-RW coming in August
While everyone is up in arms over the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD debate, Victor is creeping up from behind with some fresh DVD technology that you never even saw coming. The Japanese company has created a new variation on the DVD-RW format with a single-sided, two-layer disc that can handle up to 8.5GB of data on one side. Up until now, if you wanted to get that much onto a rewritable, you would have had to use a dual-sided disk, but it would appear that Victor has found a way around those problems. No telling if this opens the door for a double-sided, two-layer disc with 17GB of capacity, but it sure does seem to be heading in that direction.[Via Impress]
Consoles make up bulk of high-def movie player sales
There are more game systems that can play high-definition movies than standalone players that can do the same, according to sales numbers culled from recent media reports.In the HD DVD realm, a Microsoft representative told CNet UK that the company had sold 155,000 units of the Xbox 360's HD DVD player in the States, making it the best-selling add-on in the system's short history. Compare that to the 100,000 standalone players that the HD DVD Promotional Group said had sold through April and you can see that it's primarily gamers driving adoption of the format.The results are similar in the Blu-Ray realm, where the million-plus PS3s sold in North America dwarfs the "less than 100,000" standalone players sold according to a Business Week article. It's unclear exactly how many PS3 owners are actually using their systems to play the high-def movie format, but strong Blu-ray disc sales would seem to indicate that at least some of them are taking advantage of the feature.What's more, the sales of high-def discs seem to finally be making a dent in the traditional DVD market. Sales of standard-definition DVDs were down eight percent in the first quarter of this year and analysts predict they'll begin to level off as more high-def game systems are sold.Read - HD DVD Posse: "There's Room for Both Formats" (CNet UK) [Via Xbox360Fanboy]Read - In DVD war, body blows for Toshiba (BusinessWeek)
Microsoft's 'elite' HCCB barcodes to contain promo extras
High Capacity Color Barcode: Microsoft's solution to the storage-deficient UPC. Up to two-pages of data can be stored in the four- and eight-color geometric patterns. That's double the amount a traditional UPC can store, according to BBC.The HCCB will find its way onto Xbox 360 discs (and standard DVDs) by the end of the year as a 'partner' barcode. "The UPC barcodes will always be there. Ours is more of a niche barcode where you want to put a lot of information in a small space," Microsoft Research engineering director Gavin Jancke told BBC. But why?It seems that camera phones have the iddy biddy keys to unlock the jumbled mess of triangles. Snap a photo and you've got yourself a web address. Hit up the website and you'll find a pot of digital swag. Viva free wallpaper!Eh, anything to turn the tide of a console war, right?
Microsoft looking into disc scratching
Xbox 360 scratching your discs? Well, you aren't alone. Dutch television show Kassa recorded an experiment testing 360s to see if they were scratching discs. What they found out was that most of the December 2006 manufactured 360s were indeed scratchers, probably due to a missing stabilizer piece in the drive itself. They send the video to Microsoft, complained a little, and finally got a response. In their statement, Microsoft acknowledges that their could be a problem with said 360s and that they will happily take a look at your console if you think it's scratching discs. If they find a problem they'll fix her up to a "normal" state, but only on a case by case basis. It's not really an admission of anything fundamentally wrong or a recall, but it's a statement none the less. So, if your 360 is scratching your games, just give Microsoft a call and they should treat you right.[Via Engadget, Thanks Teddings]
Xbox 360 scratching discs? Maybe, says Microsoft
So far the Xbox 360 has had its fair share of hardware problems, both large and small, and while Microsoft has dealt with most of these challenges by extending warranties and offering up free fixes, it usually takes its own sweet time to come around, which seems to be the case here. After completely ignoring a minor public outcry over what appeared to be a problem with a decent number of the 360s produced in December 2006 -- where a missing part in the drive caused the Xbox to scratch the disc it was reading -- Microsoft is finally confessing that there might actually be a problem and promising to look into it. This statement comes after Dutch TV show "Kassa" gave the movement some PR and ran its own tests on the 360, proving it to be the scratching culprit. Microsoft's still pretty wishy-washy about the whole thing: "We are not able to respond in detail on the results. It is possible that scratches on discs originate from frequent use. However, we have no indication that the results of the tests from Kassa are a large scale problem." But at least now Microsoft is willing to hear out customer complaints on the matter, and recommends that affected users contact support to deal with the issue. We're not quite sure what kind of pyrotechnics it'll take for Microsoft to actually run its own tests on these things, but at least things are moving in the right direction.[Via gadgetzone.nl]Update: Microsoft hit us with its actual statement on the matter, since a bit of the meaning got lost in translation. The truth is a bit more encouraging: "Due to the fact that we did not participate in the experiment done by Kassa and have little insight into the methodology that was used, we cannot comment specifically on the outcome. While we are aware that discs can potentially be scratched through normal wear and tear, we have not received any widespread reports of the issue highlighted here. There are millions of Xbox consoles in use today and we know that the majority of our customers are having a great gaming experience. That said, it is important to us that all of our customers have the best gaming experiences possible, and these claims are obviously very concerning to us. We encourage any Xbox customer who believes that their discs have been scratched in the same manner as identified by KASSA, to contact us at www.xbox.com/supportor 1-800-4-MY-XBOX for additional information. We will examine the console and make appropriate repairs if necessary in order to restore the console to full working order, as well as provide customers with information on how to obtain replacement discs should they need them."
