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Phat Loot Phriday: Red Sword of Courage
Some call it the Sun Eater 2.0. We just call it badass.Name: Red Sword of Courage (Wowhead, Thottbot, Wowdigger)Type: Epic Unique-equipped One-hand SwordDamage/Speed: 160-299 / 1.60 (143.4 DPS)Abilities: +25 Strength, +58 Stamina Increases defense rating by 38 and hit rating by 26. %Gallery-33600%
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Expertise and hit in WoTLK
There are the aspects of playing the warrior class that are flashy, obvious and fun... 7k shield slam crits, dual wielding huge, berserking enchanted weapons, bladestorming... and it is right and proper that we should gush about those aspects of the class to the high heavens. However, sometimes you have to get down to the nuts and bolts of things, as it were.We got an email this week from Sean which stated that he wanted us to talk about the importance of hit and expertise on tanking gear. Now, we've talked about those stats before, but it's a whole expansion later and as such, we should re-familiarize ourselves with hit rating and expertise for tanks and DPS warriors, because both specs need both stats but weight them differently. This week, we'll talk about tanking gear. Why does tanking gear have hit and expertise and why is it good that it should have those stats?
Encrypted Text: Guide to Rogue stats for new raiders
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we'll discuss what stats are important for raiding Rogues in today's end-game.Wrath's first true raid instances come in the form of a level 60 raid instance put in the microwave for 20 levels and served with a side of dragons. Don't get me wrong; I love the retouched Naxxramas. I never got to experience all of the fights against Kel'Thuzad's minions before they relocated to Northrend, so being able to re-enter the citadel of death and slay some undead is a welcome opportunity.If you search for "naxx 60 rogue gear guide" I'm sure you'll find a bunch of articles that recommend you sport at least 8/8 Bloodfang and maybe a weapon or two from Ahn'Qiraj. Times have changed, and so have the gear requirements. There are a few magic numbers that every Rogue wants to shoot for. After the cut I'll detail these vital stats and explain why they're so important to us.
Mining mechanics changed, one hit per node
The updated 3.0.8 patch notes released today have an interesting, yet significant, change to mining.Miners will now only hit the node once to get all the ore and associated loot.This change might seem mundane but it actually carries some significant weight. Farmers regularly fly or run around zones, stopping at every node they see. Under the current system most nodes required between two and four hits to extract all the ore, sometimes even more for the rich nodes. An ore farmer would spend a portion of his time ensuring the mobs were cleared around the node enough so that he would be able to hit it multiple times, and then actually spend the minute sitting on the node farming it.With the one hit method that is now being implemented in 3.0.8, the process becomes significantly easier. Point, click, wait a second, fly off to the other destination, profit. There's no "???" in there, just a pure and easy way to make money.
The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing up your Retribution Paladin for Hit
I know I was supposed to write a guide to gearing up for Haste, but some of you pointed out that Hit is way more important, particularly with the change to melee Haste in late Burning Crusade. You guys are absolutely right, as melee Haste no longer gives the same oomph in Wrath as it did back then. In fact, if we're looking at maximizing our DPS, it's important to actually land our hits. All that Strength isn't going to do jack if we miss our target.So first things first. We make out Hit cap, which frees up our gems and enchants for the all-important Strength. At Level 80, every 32.8 Hit Rating gives us 1% Hit, which means that we'll need a total of about 262.4 to reach the cap or 8%. Raid bosses are considered to be Level 83, three levels above max level -- hence the skull, so we'll need 8%, or 3% above the 5% base chance to miss targets of the same level. Fortunately, there's a whole lot of +Hit DPS plate in Northrend that we won't struggle to hit that cap at all. Here's a quick guide to gearing up our Retribution Paladins for +Hit.
Blood Pact: Warlocks taking a hit
Have you seen any Warlocks lately? For some reason, the only remnant of Warlocks that I see are the odd Demonic Circles scattered here and there in Dalaran. Otherwise, pretty much everybody's re-rolled the flavor-of-the-month Death Knight or a Retribution Paladin. Where's the love? As much as Warlocks are reputedly overpowered in PvP, exactly how a Warlock deals with Death Grip, Strangulate, and a string of crits from the Death Knight and his friends isn't exactly the kind of stuff that make PvP legends.In fact, the way we're designed to deal damage in a slow, painful stream, Warlocks downright blow in PvP -- particularly Arenas -- right now. The king of Arenas today is burst damage, and instagibbing an opponent with a zerg is the order of the day. With very few players stacking the necessary Resilience, Arenas are dominated by players who have gear from heroic Naxxramas. Out of all the cloth classes, Warlocks are the only one without a natural 'out' of a zerg save for the preparation-heavy Demonic Circle (which doesn't break a stun, by the way, and has a meager 40 yard range). Mages still have Ice Block, Blink, and the target-removing Mirror Image. Priests, more than ever, have higher survivability across the board, specially with Pain Suppression, Guardian Spirit, and Dispersion across three trees and a plethora of instant heals. This makes Warlocks Target #1 when it comes to a zerg train in Arenas. And it takes about 4 seconds for us to blow up.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Overstacking
When coming into a new spec and role, one of the things you find yourself doing at first is making constant small adjustments. Part of this is simply the nature of the beast. You've been a PvP arms warrior for most of TBC, for example, but now you're a raiding Arms DPS warrior and you need different things from your spec, which in addition is pretty significantly changed from what it was at level 70. Or you were a tank for the original endgame, but stepped away for a while and then came back in time to level to 70 just before the expansion, and are now looking at what you need to do to get ready to tank 10 man raids for your small guild, and are realizing that the leveling prot spec you were using isn't quite up to it.Or you could be fury again after tanking for over a year and you realize that your spec has points in all the wrong places and you have too much hit and not enough crit or AP on your gear. Not that I'd know what that was like. Okay, so I do. In fairness to me, it's not like I intended to be sitting at 550 hit rating and once I stopped and looked at the upgrades I've recently acquired, I realized that I'd gone overboard on hit to the detriment of crit and AP. It's true that the white hit cap for fury is somewhere around 950 hit rating but I'm easily over the 361 or so you need for specials while dual wielding. Assuming that the miss chance for special attacks is 9%, and not 8%, as I've been hearing lately - if it's 8% now, which seems fairly well tested and proved by this point, then you can shift how much hit I need with TG down the table. Once they drop the 5% penalty on specials, you can drop it even further. So while making that soft hit cap on special attacks is very important, you can do it with roughly half the hit rating I've accidentally collected. What I need now is crit and AP. Not related to any of this, but check out this post from the EJ forums and boggle at the significance of passive haste somehow adding hit.
Encrypted Text: I roll on caster loot
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we'll be talking about hit rating and the seeming lack thereof in Northrend gear.After a few all-nighters in a row and a lot of showing up to work very tired, I finally reached level 80 this weekend. After a few victory laps in Dalaran to celebrate my victory over experience points and blue bubbles and Hemet Nesingwary (not for long, I'm sure); the looming realization of level-cap responsibilities started to enter my mind. Reputations, heroics, arena points, and honor – I had a lot of work to do. So, I took my own advice and decided to start some heroics, but not before spec'ing into my PvP mutilate build. I thought about trying out the truly insane DPS of Honor Amongst Thieves builds, but decided to postpone that until I've got some more gear to give it a real trial. Read on to see what I discovered on the way to my first Emblem of Heroism.
Name one thing you'd change about your class
Ghostcrawler is known to recite this line here and there. He mentions often that the purpose of saying such a thing isn't to get them (Blizzard) to change just one thing in a class the next patch, but to get people to zone in on a real problem.A real problem is something like "Fury Warriors do not have enough survivability and therefore are less effective in terms of spike PvP and PvE damage."A non real problem is something like "Blizzard hates Shamans and doesn't pay enough attention to them."So as an exercise this evening let's see what the WoW Insider readers think. Name one thing you would like changed about your class.As a full time PvE Protection Warrior, I think that we have a problem with obtaining the hit cap and would like to see more +hit gear drop in heroics and 10-man raid instances. I think an inclusion of items that have both +hit and +parry would help solve this wonderfully. I've also been known to dabble in Holy Paladins once in a while.
Spiritual Guidance: Hitting the cap
Welcome to Spiritual Guidance, usually brought to you by Matt Low of World of Matticus. This week, resident Shadow Priest Alex Ziebart steps in to make your day a little darker. We're getting to the point in Wrath where more than just the hardcorest of the hardcore are raiding. Not everyone is there (and not everyone is interested), but the time will come. On the way there, you're going to have to visit an old friend: The hit cap.In Wrath of the Lich King, the hit cap has moved from the original 16% to 17% hit. Why? Prior to this expansion, there was a baseline 1% chance to miss with spells that you could not remove. No matter how much hit rating you had, you were stuck with a 1% chance to miss. In Wrath, that's gone. It can be overcome.
Checking your caps: Defense, Block, Hit, Expertise
Honor's Code has a great post up about the secondary gear stats that often get overlooked in favor of the main attributes. Everyone knows that Hunters need Agility and Warriors need Strength, but after that, things tend to get a little fuzzy -- just what does Expertise or Hit do for you? HC breaks it down from a Pally perspective, but what they say about these stats is helpful for any class that has to deal with attacking the bad guys.Defense comes first -- defense rating, for tanks, allows you to make sure that bosses can't crit you. Each class has its own defense cap, and the cap has changed from 70 to 80, so you'll have to keep an eye out for your own cap when you get that far. Block is next -- a high Block rating means you're pushing other attack options off the table when you're hit, so that when something does hit you, you block the damage on it. Both of those stats are mainly for tanks -- other classes, who aren't getting hit, won't have to worry about them at all.But Hit and Expertise you will have to worry about if you're DPS -- Hit will make sure that you don't miss your target (the fewer misses you have, the higher your DPS), and Expertise makes sure that those hits don't become dodges or parries. This is tough stuff, and it shows up much earlier in Wrath, it seems, than it did in Burning Crusade, But the good news is that there's a lot of help around -- Honor's Code offers a great overview for what everything means, and from there, you can search our site or others for what you need to know about each stat and how it works with your class.
The Queue: Yes, this is what we call it now
Yep. Ask a Beta Tester is officially The Queue. It's kind of a joke, you get it? Get it? You know, queue, like you wait in line for an answer? An A to your Q? Q? Queue? Hahah! Get it? Get it!? Hahahah! Ugh. Queue queue.Anyway, The Queue is now our daily Q&A column, where the WoW Insider staff answers your questions about the game to the best of our ability. Previously limited to Wrath content, we'll now happily answer most anything about the game if we're able. Today is obviously no exception, so we're going to start with a question from Andostre... TBC saw a rise in the necessity of Hit Rating. Is Hit as important in Wrath? I ask because Hit isn't nearly as fun as Attack/Spell Power or Crit rating.
Ask a Beta Tester: Heirloom items, class trainers, and more
Another day, another edition of Ask a Beta Tester. Today, as a special treat, I am going to answer your questions while blindfolded. And on fire. And covered in bees....actually, I don't really like that idea so I'm going to answer your questions like I normally do, starting with Naraxus's question...Something I was thinking about was how much of an important stat "Hit" was on endgame gear in BC. A couple of patches ago a lot of the lower level gear was given a hit stat to it and I was wondering if the 70-79 gear in WotLK has "Hit" or is it just basic stats and spell power, attack power etc?There's some Hit on leveling gear, but not enough to keep you capped right to 80 in my experience. I actually didn't really try, I concerned myself more with survival and longevity. In the case of a Priest, that meant stamina, spirit, and spell damage. Leveling gear is a bit more simplified. Raw stats, and some attack power/spell power in most cases.You'll also find some crit, hit, and haste, but your leveling gear isn't going to have as many random stats slapped on it as you see on some raid gear.
Phat Loot Phriday: Crossbow of Relentless Strikes
BM Hunters, here's something you can spend those Badges on.Name: Crossbow of Relentless Strikes (Wowhead, Thottbot, Goblin Workshop)Type: Epic CrossbowDamage/Speed: 182-339 / 2.80 (93.0 DPS)Abilities: It can strike relentlessly, obviously. Improves hit rating by 14 and crit strike rating by 18, and increases attack power by 32. The hit is very nice for a bow and it takes up a good chunk of the +hit you need to meet the hit cap, which means you probably will have a gem or two free elsewhere to add more Agility into the mix. The crit is nice, and more attack power is always a good thing obviously. But the real stat on this bow is its speed -- while the damage ain't the best, the lower speed makes it easier for BM Hunters especially to match up their Steady Shot/Autoshot rotation, which means more DPS overall. This bow is a gift from Blizzard to Beastmaster Hunters, How to Get It: It's relatively easy -- just lug 150 Badges of Justice (those things have to be heavy, right?) to the Badge Vendors in Quel'danas or Shattrath. There's 22 Badges in a full Karazhan clear, and Heroics have about 3-5 each (plus a few more for the daily quest), so run Kara and the daily Heroics all week long, and it should only take you about two or three weeks to pick up all the badges you need. Throw in some ZA if your guild is running that one, and add in the fact that you probably already have a few badges in the bank, and this baby's almost in your hands. It'll last you at least until Sunwell, too, and even if the expansion rolls around before you can make it in there, you should at least be able to get a level or two under your belt before it eventually gets replaced by a green. If you're looking for something to do ingame before the expansion, this bow's not a bad goal to have -- think of all the rep, other gear, and gold you'll pull out of running all these instances, too.Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into a Void Crystal, but just like most Badge gear, vendors won't buy it back from you. As I said, odds are that if you don't replace it with a Sunwell piece, you'll probably replace it at some point in Northrend. But the thrill of gear isn't in having it, it's in chasing it, right?
Combat stats and spellpower consolidated on Alpha
Sources are saying that a new Alpha build showed up on the WoTLK Alpha servers yesterday, featuring a few interesting changes. Kalgan's promised spellpower change we have mentioned, and it now appears to be on the Alpha servers. In addition, it looks like the dev team is working on consolidating even more stats. As of the latest build, all instances of haste rating, hit rating, and critical strike rating on gear will now modify both physical attacks and spells at the same time.
DIY hit counter rings bell to welcome each visitor
Ah, the wonderful world of homegrown hit counters. This iteration was designed to be particular useful during the holiday season, as the bell ringing you'll hear should be just the thing to get your spirits up -- or drive you mad. Regardless, those interested in creating one for themselves don't have a whole lot of work ahead; you'll just need an Arduino Board, a servo motor, a bell of your choosing, a couple paperclips, a website, a computer (with intarweb access), wires and well-rested fingers ready to punch in some code. For all the details, be sure and hit the read link -- and major kudos to anyone who can stand having this thing wired up and active for over 24 hours.[Via Coolest-Gadgets]
Quick guide to end-game hit rating
If you're not sure what hit rating is, I'll explain. When attacking a monster, with spells or physical weapons, you have a certain percent chance to miss them entirely. This chance is based on the type of weapons you're using and your level compared to the level of the monster you're trying to hit. So for max levels attempting to tackle boss content, there's a certain amount of +hit gear that will prevent you from missing -- but any +hit over that amount is wasted. (After you've negated any chance to miss, +hit gear does nothing for you.) For those of you interested in the elusive amount of +hit you need as a level 70 fighting boss-level monsters, Coriel over at Blessing of Kings has compiled all of the necessary data for you, taking possible talents and different weapons into consideration.
360 survives hit and run accident
Xbox 360 owner Zikronix was in a hit and run accident on Monday, and while he managed to escape with a bruised elbow, his truck and Xbox 360 didn't fare so well.According to the story, his system and games were flung all over the street after his truck rolled several times. There's even a tire mark on the console, and check out that mangled controller.He took the mangled console back home found that, to his surprise, it still started up just fine and played games and DVDs, even though it looks like the remains of the printer in Office Space.Check out his pix here, and watch the YouTube video after the jump. We still wanna know how this accident happened, but at least the 360 looks tougher you'd expect. Should have driven a Ford *ducks onslaught from Chevy fanboys*.
Get your own SmackBook Pro
Remember Scott's 'Smack your MacBook Pro' post from yesterday? It looks like Scott got his wish: now you can go a step further and get your own SmackBook Pro. That's right boys and girls, for the low low price of nothing (all code is released under the GPL), you too can have your very own smackable MacBook Pro. If you don't want to deal with the instructions, some commenters have compiled new versions; scroll down for the links.It sounds like this might work on any Apple notebooks with a motion sensor, as I also noticed some commenters were tinkering with getting this to work on a recent 12" PowerBook. Either way, Erling Ellingsen has ushered in a brave new world of computing - a world where you can literally smack your computer to make it do something productive.[via UNEASYsilence]
iSale 3.1 adds eBay interactivity, prepares for upcoming site changes
iSale, the application our own Scott McNulty dubbed 'the Delicious Library for eBay auctions', has been bumped to version 3.1 with some very useful site interactivity and significant changes under the hood. iSale 3.1 can now relist unsold auctions and allow you to watch how many people have looked at and are watching your auction - right from within iSale. An improved widget can also display the watch count, hit count, highest bid and feedback from the highest bidder. Last in this new version is a localized and active links preview for English, German and French languages. Under the hood, iSale has been tuned for an upcoming change to eBay's communication standards which goes live on July 1st.For a refresher, here's a list of the other features iSale already offers: beautiful auction templates, a 'funky pinboard' with photos of auction items, one-click locating of buyers with Google Maps, 'Smart Date' simplified auction scheduling, description importing from Amazon and eBay, Address Book/Mail integration, .Mac syncing, iCal scheduling and much more.iSale 3.1 is a Universal Binary, offers a three-auction demo and sells for $39.95 USD. Upgrades from iSale 2.x are $14.90 USD.
