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Why some Annual Passholders have yet to receive a beta invite
Previously we reported that all Annual Passholders had been sent their Mists of Pandaria beta invites. But many players have been complaining that they still hadn't received theirs. Blizzard responded to that today. Those who have purchased the pass after April 18 will get their invites in a future wave. There were also errors when sending the invites to some accounts, and Blizzard is attempting to resolve them. Annual Pass Invite Beta Update We want to confirm that, at this time, all World of Warcraft Annual Pass subscribers have been invited to the Mists of Pandaria beta test, with two groups of exceptions. One exception group are those who purchased an Annual Pass on or after April 18, and will receive their invite in a future wave. The second exception is a small list of remaining accounts from previous waves that encountered an error, and will be properly flagged for beta access as soon as we can resolve the issue. If you haven't yet purchased an Annual Pass, you still have time to guarantee your spot in the beta by signing up for a year agreement (link) before the offer expires on April 30. Those taking advantage of the Annual Pass receive Diablo III for free, access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, and the exclusive Tyrael's Charger flying mount for your World of Warcraft characters. source So if you haven't received your beta invite yet, you will Soon™. No dates have been released for when the remaining invites will go out. In the meantime, you can read up on all of the MoP beta info here on WoW Insider. (No, it's not the same as being able to play the beta, but I'm just saying ...) It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Mists of Pandaria Beta: The best quest ever
Any beta is full of things that aren't going to be implemented on live, and it's all there to discover if you simply take the time to explore. Possibly the craziest thing I've ever seen is the quest above, simply titled Criteria Effects Test Quest. Located on a remote island off the coast of the Krasarang Wilds, this quest asks players to click and interact with a variety of objects. The quest rewards are low level, and there is no gold involved. The point? Well, there isn't one, really -- it's simply there to test the new interactive icons and make sure that players will be able to interact with everything. This isn't part of the storyline of Pandaria or anything like that. It's not an official quest that will be included in the final release. It's just a testing area. However, it's one of those insanely weird, fun, unpredictable moments that you find when you simply roam around on the beta. If you're on the beta servers and you've finished everything there is to do, take some time to explore and see the sights. You never know -- you could find a hidden gem that won't be seen after the beta's over. Oh, and in case you were wondering ...
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Wrathion's return?
The latest patch on the Mists of Pandaria beta opened up Pet Battles (briefly), new areas and more -- including a very familiar face from Cataclysm. Wrathion, the only uncorrupted black dragon in existence and source of the legendary daggers Fangs of the Father, has apparently made good on his mention of exploration in the Fangs of the Father recap posted by Blizzard. Wrathion can now be found in the Tavern of the Mists in the Veiled Stair, north of the Valley of the Four Winds. Lest you think that Wrathion is a Goody Two-shoes, make note of the location. It's also the location of Madam Goya, titled Leader of the Black Market. Goya has nothing for sale yet -- she merely replies to questioning players with a sly, "Wait till you see what I have for you ..." and no other way to interact. But given the shady nature of the black market, it makes one wonder whether Wrathion is simply taking a rest from travel or if perhaps he's up to slightly more sinister pursuits. Tangling with Wrathion wouldn't be recommended, either -- not only is he in the company of Madam Goya, he has two personal guards, simply named Right and Left. All guards and NPCs in this location are level 90 elites. While Wrathion's presence and motives are a mystery for now, it's still nice to see the return of the temperamental prince who earned the respect of many a rogue in Cataclysm. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
The Light and How to Swing It: Evaluating the success of holy power for retribution
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions! Before we begin, go take a look at the new beta build 15640 currently being mined. Some of it is a bit wonky and messed up (Blessing of Might now gives 0 mastery, huh?), but some big ret changes can be found. Blizzard seems to be cleaning up some spell mechanics and tooltips by taking a weed whacker to those abilities that have both attack power and spell power dependencies. The new version of Sheath of Light, Sword of Light, boosts our SP by an additional 20% of our AP. I'll wait until the number crunchers at Elitist Jerks have a chance to digest this material before I say whether or not the extra 20% conversion will make up for losing our double-dipping AP bonuses on things like Censure and Word of Glory, but really this move just strikes me as trying to clean up the mechanics so the devs don't get a migraine every time they want to tweak a few numbers. Hopefully, we'll come out of this change with most of our limbs intact, and the blues will successfully save a few brain cells in the long run.
Skill Mastery: Dragon Roar a crit among new level 60 warrior talents
Dragon Roar is the new talent in the level 60 tier of Mists of Pandaria talents for warriors. As such, you won't be able to take it and either Bladestorm or Shockwave; you have to pick one of the three. That being said, it's not an easy decision. Dragon Roar has several significant benefits. For starters, it's a guaranteed critical hit. You can have no critical strike rating at all, and you'll know that Dragon Roar is going to crit. This means that it's a dynamite AoE threat move if you want an ability you can save for emergencies instead of using on cooldown the way you will Shockwave. In addition, Dragon Roar's damage is substantial, and it combines an AoE knockback with a full 5-second stun, making it very potent for PvP as well as for dealing with sudden adds or keeping adds under control longer. And while it has a 1-minute cooldown, making it longer than Shockwave, it's a full half-minute shorter than Bladestorm, meaning you can use it more often. Also, it's bloody awesome to yell and see an expanding blast of damage flow out from you in all directions. It's hard to catch a good screenshot of that, though. Dragon Roar combines good damage with excellent short-term control, and I have a very hard time deciding between it and its rivals. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Level 85 premade characters now creatable in beta
If you've tried to create a premade monk (or other level 85 character) on Battle.net over the last few days, you may (like many others) have been frustrated with the request remaining locked in a Pending state. Well, we now have an inkling as to why; in the latest build on the beta realms, a Template Character box has been added to the log-in screen. Clicking Create Character here takes you through the standard character creation process, but your character pops out at level 85 in Pandaria. It appears that the system is designed to allow for multiple templates or levels, but currently Level 85 is the only option. Hopefully, future builds will add differing level options so those wanting to test abilities can do so without needing to take the time to level. It's really quite slick and saves a lot of testing hassle. Kudos to Blizzard for implementing this. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
New companion pets coming to the Mists of Pandaria beta
The latest beta patch includes quite a few changes, including five new companion pets. Fishy The spell says it will summon Bubbles, but the actual pet says Fishy. I hope Bubbles is the name that makes it into live. Gilnean Raven Sounds sinister. Red Cricket Seems like this would make good Snake food. Shore Crab Will this pet differ much from the Strand Crawler? Terrible Turnip Do want, just on the name alone. It probably comes from the Tillers faction. No information is available yet as to how most of these pets are obtained or what they look like. I'm dying to know how the Terrible Turnip looks and behaves in battle. When it is injured, does it bleed? And how will Fishy fight? Perhaps it will be in a fishbowl and blow poisonous bubbles at its foe. I can't wait to find out! Note: Pet Battles are not in the beta yet, unfortunately. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
More mounts in the Mists of Pandaria beta
The most recent beta patch has added a handful of new mounts -- including yak mounts, which are automatically super-awesome because they're shaggy ol' yak mounts, and that's awesome. Don't argue with me. And if for some reason you're not willing to clutch a yak mount to your bosom (perhaps you're cruel, wicked, evil and wrong as wrong can be -- I don't judge), you can content yourself with the Amber Scorpion or the Crimson Riding Crane. The Crimson Riding Crane is going to be a frontrunner in the Mounts That Look So Wrong with a Tauren Perched on Their Back contest. I just know it. Personally, I want both the Grand Expedition Yak and the White Riding Yak, and I want to ride them by standing on their backs, one foot on each. But I'll settle for just being able to ride them -- because, yaks. Did I mention that yaks are awesome yet? Sorry if I left that out. Yaks. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Is the beta spellbook layout an improvement?
When I first log in with the default UI, I always enable all four extra action bars on my screen. I then drag every possible spell I can onto my bars. I figure out what's important later as I beat up various quest mobs, reading tooltips mid-cast and dragging abilities around mid-fight. I suppose I'm just too excited (or impatient) to sit with the spellbook for five minutes. Yet I still noticed the spellbook changes in the beta. My racials, guild perks, and flying licenses were jumbled up in the same tab as my spell passives, talented abilities, and regular abilities. Without even a search box up, I had to flip through all the tabs multiple times to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Ghostcrawler posted two weeks ago about the pros and cons of the new beta spellbook design. I don't quite know what four to five tabs he's talking about -- to me, everything appears to be one big mess in the same tab.
Blood Pact: 4 thoughts on destruction in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill finally dives into beta and found that she was having more fun flinging fire than draining souls. I got into the beta a week ago (and with the last Annual Pass wave, a lot of the rest of you should be, too). So I went marching around Jade Forest and found myself continuously crashing to affliction spells triggering a fun little error. I'd heard things about moonkin and fire mages also having troubles, primarily when DoTs or debuffs were being cast. But errors are odd things, and I found I could cast Immolate all day long on my destruction spec. So I did destro for a day of questing and flinging fire at the training dummy. Here are a few of the first thoughts I had.
Totem Talk: The highs and lows of Ascendance for DPS shaman
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids using all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though. Elamism didn't hit level 87 on the beta this week. It wasn't for lack of trying, but something more akin to lack of time. Despite grabbing two heroic No'kaleds from our first heroic Madness kill two weeks ago, I still had guild raiding to do this week (I ended up picking up a heroic Rathrak for my elemental spec, so I can't complain too much), and I had to make preparations for my trip to Michigan next week. Coupled with the fact that I had to dedicate a night to testing my arcane mage as well, I wasn't able to dedicate enough alone time with my shaman to hit level 87. Thankfully, other people have had the opportunity to play more than I did (special thanks to Ashunera, who graciously allowed me to use this Ascendance video here). It's thanks to Ashunera that we've gotten our first taste of Ascendance, the new class ability coming to shaman in Mists of Pandaria. Spoiler alert: It's totally and completely awesome.
WoW Insider's guide to being a productive Mists of Pandaria beta tester
So you finally got into the Mists of Pandaria beta, along with all of the Annual Pass holders. You now have a chance to impact the final product, at least reducing the number of bugs it gets released with. But how do you do that, and what can you expect? We've got you covered in our Beta Testing 101 series. 5 things you should always report How to write a good bug report on the forums What to, and what not to, expect from the MoP beta Addons and the Mists of Pandaria beta Good group etiquette How to stream your beta sessions If you have further questions not answered in the above posts, you can always try The Queue. Or you can let us know in the comments what other beta guides you'd like to see. See you in the Wandering Isle! It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Has the beta changed your mind about Pandaria?
I can't really deny that I've been excited about and looking forward to Mists since I first heard the announcement for it. To me, the idea of a new continent to explore reminded me of the days trekking around Outland, and I've missed that feeling. Sure, Wrath of the Lich King was great, but it was Northrend -- it didn't really have that alien feel of landscape I'd never seen before, even though some areas were pretty breathtaking. But for a little while there, I felt like I was in the minority. The reaction to the Mists of Pandaria announcement was mixed, which had me fairly confused. Much of the gripe seemed to be coming from the fact that pandaren were going to become a playable race. I found this a little odd, especially given that a Know Your Lore I'd written a little over a year before had plenty of people pondering the idea of pandaren in game with delight -- maybe not as playable, but it certainly seemed like people wanted to see them. So ... what gives?
Final 400,000 Annual Pass Mists of Pandaria beta invites sent out
Blizzard has just revealed that the final wave of Annual Pass Mists of Pandaria beta invites has been sent out to subscribers. Bashiok says that this wave of invites concludes the series inviting those who got early beta access as part of their year commitment to WoW. Players can still apply for the Annual Pass and get beta access as well, but it remains to be seen if that happens immediately or during another wave. Check your email and get downloading, you scamps, you.
Shifting Perspectives: I am starting to hate resto druids
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, one of our specs appears to be faring better than others. Much, much better. Certain people are very good at this "life" thing. For example, a relative of mine phoned the other night to let us know that she's thinking about buying a beach property in Costa Rica and that in order to supplement her six-figure commodity broker's salary, she'll probably rent it out whenever she isn't there to surf and drink mojitos herself. "Gotta go," she said. "I think the Mercedes dealership is trying to call me back." Now, this is a fairly soul-destroying thing to hear, and not just because you had to interrupt your dinner, a "freelancer's special" consisting of tomato packets mixed with water. But let's be fair: Nobody gets that lucky by accident. Does it involve hard work? Yep. But it also involves the unerring ability to zero in on a path in life that pays out like a broken slot machine, and then tireless effort to keep your boxcar hitched to the gravy train. Let's not blame the folks who are simply more astute than we are at picking one of life's better roads. After a little more than a week in the Mists of Pandaria beta, something has become horribly obvious: If this relative ever picked up WoW, she'd be playing a resto druid.
Lichborne: The latest Mists of Pandaria beta updates for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Since the last time we talked, we have seen a couple of new updates to the Mists of Pandaria beta. There haven't been many earth-shattering changes for death knights, but some of the changes have been significant enough that it's worth talking about both what they mean for the class and what they may imply about future updates. It's difficult to say where Blizzard is going with our class in Mists, if only because they haven't said much. They've started talking on the beta forums, but they haven't directed anything at the death knight class yet. This isn't completely surprising. Our class is not in a horrible place right now, and the beta's young. Chances are we'll get our turn eventually. That said, having developer feedback is useful for figuring out how to mold your own feedback. Knowing what a developer intends with a certain change can help us test that change with a better understanding of how it fits in to a larger vision. In absence of that, however, we can still look at the implications of these changes to see what we come up with.
Spiritual Guidance: New priest talents in the Mists of Pandaria beta
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. Let's get the bad news out of the way first: We've already lost Path of the Devout on beta. The good news is that in its place, we now have Feathers From Heaven, a talent that allows priests to lay out a little track of speed-boosting feathers. Think of them as those little speed arrows in Mario Kart, only they're feathers, and you can put them wherever you please. The individual feathers have no expiration that I can tell, so you can lay them out in advance on one end of the room for special tactics in your raid encounters or PvP, if it suits your fancy. The ability has no mana cost at the moment. Instead, it is limited by charges: one feather per charge, and you can have three charges at a time. You can place one feather right after the other, but it takes 10 seconds to restore one charge. This allows you to spam three of them on the ground in succession if you like (something you can't do with Body and Soul) or spread them out gradually ahead of you in your path. They can be used by any friendly target, not just party members, so be mindful of people's stealing them if you're using them while leveling to snatch up quest items. Oh yeah, and the feathers can be used on top of water with Levitate. So, you're excited about Mists of Pandaria now, right?
Mists of Pandaria Beta: The return of Hemet Nesingwary
For those wondering where Hemet Nesingwary wandered off to after his illustrious Sholazar Basin appearance in Wrath of the Lich King, we now have the answer -- Pandaria, of course! Both Hemet and his son Hemet Jr. are currently camped out in the Valley of the Four Winds. Pandaria's a huge new land just waiting to be explored, and Hemet and son are there to explore it. Well ... maybe not explore. The two of them are, however, ready and waiting for explorers both Alliance and Horde who'd like to gleefully murder some wildlife in mass quantities. Hemet's camp is far off the beaten path, and his quests are completely optional. Players who don't wander to that particular corner of the zone won't be missing any of the main storyline in Valley of the Four Winds. Those who do choose to go adventure with Hemet and son, however, may encounter a surprise ...
Shifting Perspectives: First thoughts on ferals in the Mists of Pandaria beta
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we practice our looks of genteel disdain. So, I've been down for a few weeks (pro tip: try not to have an allergy attack and a scratched cornea in the same week; they do not mix well), but I finally got into the beta with last week's big push of Annual Pass members. Unfortunately, now that I've had the chance to give the initial feral changes a spin, I'm a bit concerned with the current design direction for the class. Let me start out on a positive note, though, and talk about the good things that Mists is bringing us. What I like The new talents Some of the new talents are great and force tough decisions. The talent design is clearly trying to make you choose between always-on but weak passive abilities, a short-cooldown ability of moderate strength, and a long-cooldown ability of high strength. While some of the talents and tiers need some adjustment, they generally work on a design level.
Arcane Brilliance: A look at frost PvE in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. Christian Belt is usually at the helm, but rumor has it Saruman has trapped him on the tower of Orthanc and he's awaiting rescue by a large, intelligent bird. Senior Understudy and Last Surviving Student Josh Myers has been charged with delivering the ring to the fires of Mount Doom and writing an article about mages in Mists of Pandaria. Chances are he'll only succeed at the latter. I started my mage back in The Burning Crusade with the intent of playing arcane. Arcane wasn't really a feasible leveling spec back then, though, and I ended up switching to frost around the time I hit Thousand Needles. The moment I got my first real Shattered Frostbolt off, though, I was hooked. When my mage hit 85 in Cataclysm, all I wanted to do was stay frost. Thankfully, we were into patch 4.2 by this point, and frost was moderately PvE-viable at the time. When it came time to test the beta version of frost out this week, I had high hopes. Despite my mage being fire for most of DS, frost still feels the most familiar to me, and I was able to slip back into it fairly easily. A lot of the core feeling of the spec remains unchanged, with Frostbolt, Fingers of Frosted Ice Lances, and instant Frostfire Bolts comprising much of your core rotation. There are some real noticeable changes, however, and a lot of them are for the better.
