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The Queue: Necessary measures
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Well, this morning was exciting. In my quest to dispose of a citronella candle that had been turned into an ant colony without my prior approval, I discovered a mountain of maggots absorbing my outdoor garbage bin. I had to take extreme measures to resolve the situation. It won't be a problem anymore. grpcaro asked: if the pandaren will leave the wandering island at level 10, and then they will start going trough the Cataclysm zones, what does that mean?? according to lore they were already with us soon after the cataclysm?? or is another Outland/Northrend thing??
Know Your Lore: Getting into the lore of Mists
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Well, this has certainly been a week, hasn't it? Mists of Pandaria will officially be out and in your hands on Sept. 25. In the tidbits I've discussed here and there regarding Mists of Pandaria, I've pointed out time and time again that the lore we will see with this expansion will all be new. Does it tie into old lore and events that have been set up in prior expansions? Absolutely. Will we be dealing with villains from days of old? ... Not so much. This isn't something to be annoyed about; it's something that we should embrace. The continuation of a story is always a good thing. For a story as massive as Warcraft's, it's about time we had a shot of new lore added into the mix. The best part about the lore in Mists is that because it's all so very new, everyone will be on roughly the same page headed into the expansion. For players who know the lore inside and out, this will all be new material to learn. For new players just looking to get into the lore, you'll be on the same page -- looking at brand new material and figuring it all out. There are a few story threads that have been picked up, but by and large, everything on Pandaria originated on Pandaria. So how do you get started processing all that stuff? Let's take a look, minus the spoilers. Sorry, guys -- you will eventually get more Pandaria info than you can shake a stick at, but it's going to be September before I start throwing it at you with unbridled glee.
Challenge modes provide new teleportation options
The fine folks at Wowhead have discovered a tasty tidbit in the latest beta patch for those upset about the upcoming loss of the Have Group, Will Travel guild perk. It appears that completing a dungeon challenge mode on Gold will unlock an ability called Challenger's Path, enabling you to instantly teleport to that dungeon's entrance whenever you choose. Personally, I love this. I still use my Dimensional Ripper and Wormhole Generator to go hopping around the lands of the old expansions whenever I'm messing around with things, and being able to flit around Pandaria will be amazing as well. (Yes, there's a new Wormhole Generator for Pandaria, but it apparently only takes you to a random spot in the continent, which isn't as helpful.) For more details, port over to Wowhead News. 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: StarCraft Baneling pet swarms into beta with more new pets, mounts
If you like pets and mounts (or are married to someone who does, as I am), then we have news for you from the latest Mists of Pandaria beta information from Wowhead. What, you may ask, are we looking at? The StarCraft II collector's edition Baneling pet. A new schematic to craft the Warbot pet and recipes to make the fuel for it. The achievement for 400 pet battle achievement points, Time to Open a Pet Store, now grants the Jade Tentacle pet. The Ancestral Phoenix Egg from challenge modes will allow you to chose what color of phoenix mount you want. August Celestials offer the Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent at exalted rep. Head on over to Wowhead News for the complete list of new stuff. 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: Druid Symbiosis updated (includes tables)
The latest beta build includes the most recent changes to the druid Symbiosis spell. Symbiosis, as you may know, is essentially a spell swap between a druid and any other class. It's not done automatically, so if the druid is in a class-run raid group -- a group where there are no duplicate classes -- the druid can choose to give it to any raid team member. In return for this generosity, the druid receives a spell back from the target, which appears on the druid's bars and is currently usable with all the usual restrictions of that spell, such as cooldown, range and similar. The spell distribution follows after the break -- first, the spells that other classes receive from their druid friends.
Raid testing schedule for Thursday, July 26
Level 90 10-man teams are able to test two more raid encounters on all Mists of Pandaria test servers tomorrow. Participants should make note of the fact that while any of the encounters may change without notice, Elegon is more likely to do so. Watcher We will be testing two 10-player Heroic raid encounters tomorrow, Thursday July 26th. Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Beta Test Realms, regardless of suggested geographical region. Imperial Vizier Zor'lok (Heart of Fear) - 10 Player Heroic 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST) Elegon (Mogu'shan Vaults) - 10 Player Heroic* 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST) As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session or cancel it entirely, due to bugs, builds, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback. *In particular, Elegon may change to Blade Lord Ta'yak instead. We'll update this post accordingly. source There are feedback posts for each dungeon at the Beta Dungeon forums for your updating and/or perusing pleasure. 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!
Blizzard giving away even more MoP beta keys on Facebook
With today's news of Mists of Pandaria's Sept. 25 release date, there's sure to be a surge of interest in the expansion, and Blizzard is giving you the opportunity to get into the beta before it ends with a new sweepstakes. All you have to do is follow Warcraft on Facebook and complete the entry form, and you're good to go. They'll draw 2,000 names a week, and half of those will receive another key to give to a friend, for a grand total of 15,000 keys. Check out the full Blizzard summary below, and get crackin' if you're not in the beta yet! Mists of Pandaria Beta Key Sweepstakes We've just launched a Mists of Pandaria Beta Key Sweepstakes! Starting July 31, we'll be randomly selecting 2,000 winners each week to receive a key to our exclusive World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta test. In addition, every other winner chosen will receive a second key to share with a friend! Drawings will occur every Tuesday for five weeks for a total of 15,000 keys. To enter participants simply need to follow Warcraft on Facebook and complete our official entry form between now and August 27 for a chance to win. For more information about how to participate, check out the sweepstakes rules and eligibility page and our sweepstakes FAQ. source 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: Many pet battle changes in next build
The pet battle quests in the current MoP build are largely incomplete and due for extensive updates in the next build, according to Cory "Mumper" Stockton. One significant change is making the tamer battles account-wide and therefore only completable on one character. This does not apply to the dailies, so individual characters can still complete those quests once per day. [Edited because I originally misinterpreted Mumper's statement, though it is not entirely clear.] The same character who completes the initial battle that opens up the dailies does not have to be the one to complete them. So any other character on your account can still do those quests once per day. (You know, because they're dailies. Captain Obvious needs to stop whispering in my ear.) While Stockton says that "significant updates" will be coming in the next build, he lists highlights of what they "have been working on." This distinction may indicate that some of the updates will not necessarily make it into the next beta patch. Mumper's full post is after the break.
Guide to Pet Battle info from around the web
So you want to send your companions into battle but need more info as to who and how? We've got your links right here. The official Pet Battle System preview Blizzard posted a preview at the Mists of Pandaria community site. Anne Stickney's quick guide It's the answer to the first question in The Queue. Matt Low's guide Go go, Team Matticus! Warcraft Pets' Overview Here's an extensive guide, including how to capture wild pets. Pet abilities Wowhead has the current list of pet abilities. Pet species Wowhead has the list of pet species, too. Pet family passives Wowjuju has a clear and handy infographic to lay it all out for you. But the strengths and weaknesses are by attacks and not by family, so disregard that part of it. All of WoW Insider's pet battle coverage can be accessed using this handy link and will be updated as needed. Remember, all of this information is subject to change without notice -- beta is beta. 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: Pandaren introduction video
In what seems to be an update to the latest beta patch, the full video and audio files for pandaren just starting out on the Wandering Isle have been added. Like other starting zone videos, this one features a sweep over the Wandering Isle's gorgeous landscape, offering a small taste of what's to come. The voiceover feels like a marked departure from the other starting zones; there's a different flavor to the audio and music that feels entirely different from anything we've seen before. Of course, there's still one question that everyone is waiting to find out: Now that the official introduction has been added, how long will it be before we see Mists hit live servers? It's going to take a release date before we know that one for certain. However, the fact that the 5.0.4 PTR is now live seems to suggest sooner, rather than later. 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 Care and Feeding of Warriors: The endless rage treadmill
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. You knew we were going to talk about this again, partially because rage and rage income is, by far, the most important aspect of the warrior class. The majority of warrior balance issues in the past have come from rage income. Whether it be too little rage (as it was in the first few months of The Burning Crusade) or too much rage (as was the argument for fury DPS in ICC at the end of Wrath of the Lich King), we always end up back at the same dance. Since the post earlier this week announcing that enrage would be changed, we've seen a new beta build where exactly that happened, and Ghostcrawler responded to a post on the forums in greater detail for how the rage design in Mists of Pandaria is intended to go. We're going to talk about both of those things this week in some detail, which is code for "Matt gets all long-winded." Luckily, in this online format, I don't actually have to say all of this stuff -- I just type it out. So let's look at the changes to Mists's beta build 15882 first. Many of these changes are merely tooltip changes, but a few definitely are more than that. They're the first stages in the change to enrage promised in that earlier post.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Druids get new default travel form
The folks over at MMO-Champion have a video and images of the new default -- that's right, I said default -- druid travel form, the stag. If you love your cheetah form, don't fret; there's a glyph for that. The Glyph of the Stag, meanwhile, will allow your fellow party members to ride on your back and pretend you're a megaloceros. Well, that's what I assume they'll be doing. I know it's what I will be doing. As for you druids, you can pretend to be Malorne now! I really like the ornamentation on these forms, and I'll admit I find the small tusks on the Horde form to be adorable. Very nice job on the design here, in my opinion. While these are some pretty awesomely detailed stag forms, I won't pretend I'm not disappointed we're not also getting some variety for certain other forms, like a rhino tanking form. If we had a rhino tanking form, I would be sorely tempted to actually level a druid. 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: A look at the changes so far coming in Mists
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense. It seems like we're in the closing stretch of the beta cycle, and we have a fairly clear picture of how we're going to be tanking in the next expansion. There are some amazing changes and some disheartening ones. Nonetheless, they are the cards we are being dealt, and it behooves us to flip up that corner and peek at what we have so we can make informed decisions in advance, before anything can sneak up on us. There's a lot to go over, so I'm just going to jump right in. Active mitigation While this was initially sold to be a much bigger deal, it's still going to make a difference in how we tank. In addition to doing damage, Shield of the Righteous now reduces physical damage taken by 30% for 3 seconds and applies the Bastion of Glory effect. Bastion of Glory in turn buffs Word of Glory by 10%, and the effect can stack up to five times. Shield of the Righteous is now only usable at 3 holy power, so it's more than ever a finisher. You'll want to use as often as possible -- which shouldn't be too hard, since the ability is off the global cooldown and can be woven in between other abilities. Our survivability (thanks to Bastion of Glory) will be heavily tied in to how we use Shield of the Righteous.
The best macro ever
Power Word Gold posted about this today, calling it the last macro your hunter will ever need. They're quite right. The Mists hunter glyph Glyph of Fetch teaches your pet how to fetch. Like any good dog, your pet will learn to scamper gleefully over to whatever you just killed and loot it. This is pretty awesome as far as glyphs go, but it gets even cooler with a macro. And that macro really is, quite simply, the best ever: /targetlasttarget /cast Fetch Woah, people. Like, woah. Push a button, and your pet goes to get your loot. Now all the hunter community needs is another glyph that lets their pets mine, herbalize, skin, and fish. Maybe one that gets them to disenchant all the greens, too. Or do dailies. My hunter suddenly shot up my priority list of leveling alts. Did yours? 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: Raid testing for July 20-23
Looking for something to do this weekend? Raid testing on the beta has gone on overdrive, it seems, with a host of bosses available for testing over the weekend. If you're level 90 and on the beta, grab a few friends and check out the plethora of bosses available during the times listed below. Watcher Over the next few days, we will be testing a number of raid encounters. Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Beta Test Realms, regardless of suggested geographical region. Friday, July 20th Grand Empress Shek'zeer (Heart of Fear) - 10 Player Normal 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST) Feng the Accursed (Mogu'shan Vaults) - 10 Player Heroic 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST) Saturday, July 21st Wind Lord Mel'jarak (Heart of Fear) - 10 Player Heroic 12:00 PDT (15:00 EDT, 21:00 CEST) Protectors of the Endless (Terrace of Endless Spring) - 10 Player Heroic 14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST) Amber-Shaper Un'sok (Heart of Fear) - 10 Player Heroic 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST) Sunday, July 22nd Stone Guard (Mogu'shan Vaults) - 10 Player Heroic 12:00 PDT (15:00 EDT, 21:00 CEST) Lei Shi (Terrace of Endless Spring) - 10 Player Heroic 14:00 PDT (17:00 EDT, 23:00 CEST) Monday, July 23rd Garalon (Heart of Fear) - 10 Player Heroic 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST) Tsulong (Terrace of Endless Spring) - 10 Player Heroic 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST) As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session or cancel it entirely, due to bugs, builds, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback. source If you do participate in beta testing these encounters, don't forget to leave any feedback you have in the appropriate threads on the Beta Dungeons forum. 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: Krol the Blade and Nessos the Oracle
Sylier over at Ace Games was nice enough to tip us off about these two rare elites he's run into on the Mists of Pandaria beta. The first, Krol the Blade, is a giant mogu who tickles my fancy for a couple of reasons, the first being that he's a Krol Blade reference, and I love the Krol Blade. More interestingly, however, he drops the Elixir of Ancient Knowledge, which is weird and cool because it gives you 300% XP gain for one hour. Next up is Nessos the Oracle, another rare elite. He drops the Hardened Shell, an item that you can throw at a mounted player and which dismounts them. In the video, you can see Sylier dismount a flying player with it. This is probably going to be a huge item for PvP realms and any world PvP. There's also a series of achievements for killing these rare elites (and there are a lot more than these two) throughout Pandaria. [Thanks to Sylier for the videos.] 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: 48 daily quests available on any given day
We all know that Mists of Pandaria is removing the daily quest limit, meaning that you can do as many dailies as you want. And now we have numbers, courtesy of Vaneras, explaining why that is -- specifically, because if you limit yourself purely to the new dailies coming in Mists of Pandaria, you still could barely do half of the ones available per day with the old limit. Vaneras - Quests As things are right now, it looks like there will be approximately 1300 quests in Mists of Pandaria. This is a very rough number though, and this is of course still subject to change. There is some overlap between Alliance and Horde, but the majority of these quests are neutral and because of this we do not expect there to be more than 200 or so faction-specific quests. Of these 1300 quests, roughly 300 of them are dailies. Right this moment we don't have the numbers off-hand to show how that that compares exactly to the previous expansions, but the quest count seems to more closely mirror Wrath of the Lich King, however with a much greater emphasis on dailies. Mists of Pandaria is actually the expansion where we have emphasized dailies the most... ever! The dailies are of course randomized, which means that you will never log in and find that you have 300 daily quests to do. We expect that if a player has progressed sufficiently with the neutral factions, and thus advanced to their maximum possible quest availability, you would have around 48 quests available on any given day. source While risking sounding like Matthew Broderick in Godzilla, that is a lot of quests. When you combine those 48 available dailies a day with older rep grinds some players are going to want to complete such as those at the Argent Tournament, the Molten Front and even Ogri'la or the Isle of Quel'danas, it seems that it was a very good call to remove that cap. It also sounds like I'm going to have a lot of questing to do. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Ghostcrawler discusses warriors and rage in Mists of Pandaria
Rage as a resource has been the bane and boon of warrior existence. It starts off weak every expansion, as we miss the auto-attacks needed to generate it in our leveling gear, and then grows stronger as we level and gain the offensive stats needed. Classes that mocked our weakness are suddenly discontented by our strength and demand nerfs, which are granted despite the fact that we had to live with being far below par for months to get there. This cycle is by now so familiar to us old-timers that we have debates as to when exactly in the expansion the nerfs will come. (For the record, since we saw nerfs in pretty much every patch this expansion -- we all won the pool -- but it was an extremely hollow victory.) I've talked a lot about rage in the upcoming expansion and how I expect to see the same cycle we always have. If anything, making us so dependent on white hits and enrage procs will just exacerbate the problem. Well, it appears that the devs are aware of the problem as well. How could they not be aware of it, really, since it's the same problem we've had for eight years now? Ghostcrawler recently commented on a thread on the Mists beta forums about warrior issues, and I want to share his comments and discuss them here.
Totem Talk: Restoration update and preparing for Mists
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore podcast), shows you how. Did you miss me? I know I missed you! I know you were all super excited about the update to restoration shaman on the beta a couple of weeks ago. I was. We got some good information to mull over. Clarification on one of our new talents along with some numbers for estimated proc rate was a good starting point, and we even got our first glimpse of the tier 14 raid set bonuses. I still believe that the four-piece bonus needs to be revisited, because I think that it will wind up wasted on us for the most part. I'm holding out hope that we'll get an update sometime soonish. That said, we haven't had a whole lot in the way of updates the last few weeks for restoration shaman. Things are starting to slow down, at least for right now. I'm guessing that will change as soon as more raid data gets parsed and verified. We'll see some tweaks, whether it's to spell coefficients or mana regeneration. While it's been slow, there has been at least some news and some blue responses to the current restoration position.
Warcraft Pets presents a Pet Battles overview
So, if you're dying of curiosity about Pet Battles, then the folks over at Warcraft Pets have something for you. It's an overview of the Pet Battles on the beta, and if you're interested in getting into the nitty-gritty details of how they're working and how you go about getting started, it's definitely for you. It has a list of pet tamers, locations of wild pets you can battle and capture, tips for beginners, and all sorts of useful information for you as you start out battling. Head on over to Warcraft Pets and give it a read-through. If you're interested in Pet Battles, you definitely won't regret it. 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!
