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Elite Battle Pet quest line: Beasts of Fable
Have you ever read the great Pandaren book of fables? Pandaren pass these stories on to their cubs - stories of the cricket and the hawk, or the slow-moving turtle - to teach them lessons that they will find useful in life. What few cubs know is that these creatures exist, here, in Pandaria! Though the stories of their travels are made up, they are powerful denizens of this world. Should you happen upon them in your travels, you may test the might of your pets against their storied statures. Take on the fabled beasts! Wowhead has published new information today on two quests from the patch 5.2 PTR, both with the same title, that allow the player to take on what's called an Elite Battle Pet. These quests are both known as Beasts of Fable, and the fact that one is a single quest, and one a daily quest, might imply that the quest becomes a daily after its first completion. Commenter Ozlem states that the new Elite Pets are easy to spot thanks to their distinctive yellow pawprint icon replacing the standard green one. They add that these pets are of orange, or legendary quality, higher than the purple quality epic pets. Ozlem notes that so far he has found just one per zone, and listed out their spawn points. He adds that, fortunately, they cannot be killed at present. What do the quests reward? The non-daily version awards a Red Panda pet, which you may recall Panser mentioning in her pre-PTR round-up, and the presumably subsequent daily versions award Fabled Pandaren Pet Supplies, which can contain a Mountain Panda, Sunfur Panda, or a Snowy Panda as well as the usual supplies. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Get a load of World of Warcraft's Isle of the Thunder King
Those of you holding fast to your martial arts ursines in World of Warcraft are probably quite geeked about the upcoming patch 5.2. The second major post-Mists of Pandaria update for the game includes a new quest hub, raid, world bosses, and a farm that you can buy and make your very own. Our sister site WoW Insider took a closer look at 5.2, which is currently on the public test realm. The focus of the article was the Isle of the Thunder King questing zone, which involves a struggle between the Sunreaver Onslaught and Kirin Tor Offensive factions. The area has plenty of cool quest elements; it allows players to transform into the lizardy Sauroks, to be a counselor to golems, and use a ritual stone that summons group bosses. The article notes that players will see the return of a couple of familiar faces, such as the Image of Archmage Vargoth.
Stormwind and Orgrimmar get repaired, somewhat, on the patch 5.2 PTR
The builders in Stormwind and Orgrimmar have finally got their act together and fixed up the front gates of both cities, after Deathwing left his fiery marks throughout Azeroth. It's about time, given that Cataclysm launched back in December 2010, but it seems reasonable that the builders would be wary of starting any work while Deathwing still roamed the world, breathing fire on unsuspecting citizens. Orgrimmar's front gates, as can be seen from the video above, have been completely repaired, as have the ones in Stormwind, along with a couple of previously scorched clock towers, but the Night Elf builders have obviously been struggling to keep up, as the Park area remains a crumbling ruin. In all fairness, they have a little more to contend with than a few slightly singed stones, the whole area was decimated, and the ground it was constructed on is now a smoldering cliff face. Do you think the Night Elves will rebuild the Stormwind zone they used to inhabit? Or will it remain a wreck for years to come? Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Are our Cataclysm attitudes ruining Mists?
Back in Cataclysm, the world was a very different place. While the journey from 80 to 85 was certainly a little tiresome, with the obligatory travel through Deepholm bringing many a draenei to their oddly-shaped knees, once that achievement flashed across your screen you were home and dry. Gearing a character for raiding was a predictable and straightforward task. Get a few bits and jump into the latest 5-mans, which were very easy and certainly achievable with PvP gear, as long as you were one of the classes that didn't do too badly from it. Preferably not a plate tank, then! If you were adamant that cheaty PvP-based gearing wasn't for you, you could just run a few of the normals and earlier heroics, such as the Zul'roics or even the ones before, to get yourself geared to an acceptable level for the 4.3 heroics. What's more, your main could send your alts decent, current gear with their inevitable glut of valor points, and your justice points bought you the previous tier's gear. Why the Cataclysm retrospective? As a reminder of how easy it was, in Cataclysm's twilight hours, to level and gear alts to a raid-ready level, or, for that matter, to a competitive PvP level. Quite apart from the ease, it was really the only thing left to do, after months upon months of Dragon Soul.
Goldrush: Another new datamined battleground?
The good folks over at Adriacraft have been busily mining through the data in the Patch 5.2 PTR, and unearthed another new battleground map! Adriacraft's Stevan informed us that this map is currently titled Goldrush BG, which, given the titles of Eye of the Storm (Netherstorm BG) and Gilneas BG for, well, Battle for Gilneas, it seems relatively likely that this is another new battleground map. Looking at the map itself, which Adriacraft have provided an overhead screenshot of, this seems like a far smaller map than the previously datamined Defense of the Alehouse. It's likely for 10 or so players, and appears to have, or intend to have, two bases, as well as at least two resource nodes. Given the name of the battleground file, it's possible that these are gold mines, but from the map there are three small golden bits in the middle, also visible at five seconds into the video, so perhaps it's a spawning node capture. Stevan also informed us that there are human models in the patch 5.2 PTR files, and therefore speculated that this battleground could have NPCs in it, bringing gold to players, who might have to defend resources that allow the NPCs to carry out their task. Or, to bring my own speculation into it, perhaps there are mines or nodes that can be captured, which permit players to ferry gold back and forth, and the NPCs mine up the nodes or gold. Naturally, this is datamined information, and should be treated accordingly, not as confirmation of any new element of the game. But, it's fun to speculate, and encouraging indeed to see new PvP content appearing in the patch 5.2 PTR. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Raid Finder drop rate will increase in patch 5.2
Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street tweeted today regarding raid finder loot drops. @gorndar Yes. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 8, 2013 As the OP opined, this will be welcome news indeed for players worried about gearing alts after the appearance of patch 5.2. The introduction of the new raid tier so soon after the current tier likely leaves many players worried about the time investment required to catch up to a relevant gear level. Given Blizzard's desire not to introduce new 5-man content at this stage in the gearing curve, the main gear progression will continue to be via raid finder, requiring players leveling alts for 5.2 raiding to gear up through 5.0's raid finder. The increased drop rate will, therefore, surely be welcomed. Nonetheless, it seems likely that a new 90 will have to work their way through gearing via the three current raids before being able to progress too quickly into the 5.2 tier. This seems a fairly high demand, given how easily players were able to gear alts in Cataclysm. Is the contrast between this expansion and the last too great? With 5.2, Blizzard have certainly hinted that alt catch-up will be on the table. What else could the be doing to help players progress several characters without spoiling the fun of those who only want a main? Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Patch 5.2: Blizzard's preview trailer
Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok has heralded his recent return to the WoW Community Team by sending over a teaser video for Patch 5.2: The Thunder King. You can see the video above, and our first impression is that it looks great. There's previews of the raid, the new mounts, and the new zones packed in there. The new mounts appear to be very dinosaur themed, to the extent that they are pretty much all dinosaurs, with some very Zandalari-looking armor added. Which is your favorite? For me, it's absolutely the triceratops mount, I adore the look of it, but the one that strongly resembles Oondasta is a very close second. Moving on to the raid, the darkness and feeling of a forgotten world is captured beautifully, there's a real sensation of having worked your way into a long-abandoned temple or palace. One part of the video that filled me with horror, though, is the shot of what appears to be a boss room, where the floor is made up of several square-topped pillars. I'm not the best at jumping around in a co-ordinated fashion, having killed my raid countless times by not making it onto Nefarian's pillars, so a room like this sends shivers down my spine! What do you think of the trailer? Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Warlock area datamined
Adriacraft have been at it again, datamining what is believed to be the containing zone for an element of the warlock-specific "green fire quest" area. On first look, the zone itself, though not the map, appears to bear a striking visual resemblance to the zone in which the Obsidian Sanctum raid takes place, but with additional items added. It seems from a brief glance at Wowhead's warlock-specific quests that the majority of the currently known quests refer, as expected, to the Black Temple, without mentioning another zone. Could this "island" be an instanced area accessed from within the Black Temple? It looks far too fiery for that to me at least, but with the little we know about the Council of the Black Harvest, also known as the Council of Six Daggers, and their ties to other, older zones, it could be that this is some area associated with that group. What do you think? I know I'm really pleased I leveled my warlock, these quests look really exciting, even with our very limited knowledge of how it will all unfurl. Do note, as ever, that this is datamined information, and place an according amount of weight upon it. Let's hope this leads to more class-specific quests in future! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
New Patch 5.2 world boss Oondasta
Patch 5.2 brings two new world bosses, the easiest to locate of which is Oondasta. I was exploring the new zones on the PTR today, and, after a failed attempt to fly to Thunder Isle, headed over to the Isle of Giants, to the north of Kun Lai Summit, as you can see in the map I bring up on the video. The Isle of Giants is home to Oondasta. Oondasta is likely the first of many great-looking models to come out of the patch, and might be reminiscent of the appearance of the fantastically named Dinomancers mentioned in the second boss fight of the Throne of Thunder raid. The troll influence is pretty obvious from the boss's appearance, and man, I love the look of the armor! Moving on to Oondasta's abilities, as per the dungeon journal, the Crush ability implies the need for a tank-swap, as it stacks. Frill Blast is a cone effect probably best dodged rather than soaked, given that it inflicts 800,000 damage to all players within it. There's a 200,000 damage roar effect that, similar to Halfus Wyrmbreaker in Bastion of Twilight, or Warmaster Blackhorn in Dragon Soul, interrupts spellcasting, but with a hefty ten-second lockout. Healers will need to avoid this! Other than that, there's a stacking damage increase called Growing Fury, and an interesting ability called Spiritfire Beam, which deals heavy damage and also jumps to up to 20 players in range, dealing 50% more damage with each jump. The logical solution to this might be to isolate the targeted player, preventing the beam from jumping, as the damage will quickly become unhealable as the jumps occur. This boss sounds like it might prove a challenge for PuGs! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
What should and shouldn't be on the Black Market Auction House?
Perculia of Wowhead recently posted an update about undocumented changes and vanity items, which included some new information on what was and wasn't on the Black Market Auction House, as far as mounts, pets and items. Perculia's update included the Sun-Lute of the Phoenix King, as used by Sig Nicious of the Elite Tauren Chieftains, but also the Reins of the Plagued Proto-Drake, which was a reward for completing Glory of the Raider back in Wrath of the Lich King. If you were wondering what else is sold on the Black Market Auction House, you can check out Wowhead's full list. While the "axe" is a fun item, the one likely to cause more of a stir is the Reins of the Plagued Proto-Drake. As Wowhead notes, this reward was removed from the game after the arrival of tier 8, and has therefore long been unavailable to players who didn't get the achievement before that time. So, since the arrival of Ulduar, that drake has been completely unavailable to new players until now. This raises a question which has been, and no doubt will continue to be, a hot topic of conversation surrounding the Black Market Auction House. Should old items such as these, which were a trophy for completing a fairly tricky achievement when it was relevant, now be available to players on the Black Market Auction House?
Challenge Modes could be coming to older dungeons
Blizzard Community Manager Draztal posted on the forums today in response to a topic created about Challenge Modes. Draztal Quote: Will you guys ever consider adding more CMs, perhaps old dungeons like Ragefire Chasm/Wailing Caverns?. Actually, the developers would like to add Challenge Modes to existing dungeons from previous expansions. No timelines or anything, though, but it's definitely something they're considering. source This seems like a really exciting proposition, and the question is, what dungeons would be the best ones to redo? We discussed this at WoW Insider, very briefly, and one suggestion was Upper Blackrock Spire and Lower Blackrock Spire. My preference would likely not be anything that took place in Blackrock Mountain, just because it seems like such a samey place, but what do you all think, dear readers?
Trinket nerfs insufficient to repair PvP burst issues
We reported last week on the trinket nerfs implemented by Blizzard's team, in order to help fix the current issues in PvP burst. Blizzard Community Manager Daxxarri explained that Blizzard's team's data led them to believe that the on-use trinkets were a major contributor to the very high levels of burst currently being experienced by players. Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street recently tweeted the following: .@rick97950219 We are concerned that trinket nerfs were not sufficient in curbing mage and warrior burst. Discussing options. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) December 7, 2012 Given Ghostcrawler's tweet, it seems that warriors and mages are still putting out too much damage, in Blizzard's eyes at least. While it may be the case that specific actions are required to address these classes, any attempts to improve the situation in PvP are appreciated. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Ride your own Darkmoon Carousel (sandbox) mounts
The wonderful Perculia of Wowhead fame tweeted today that she'd added a new vendor's items to the site, and it caught WoW Insider's collective eye, with our love for quirky items and the like. Just added this to the DMF guide, Gelvas Grimegate sells more sandbox rides in 5.1, looks like carousel rides: wowhead.com/npc=14828 - perculia (@perculia) December 5, 2012 Sandbox mounts that look like the Darkmoon Carousel? We had to check it out. It took a short while to locate the vendor, Gelvas Grimegate, very near to the carousel itself. But once we did, he had a huge array of sandbox mounts to sell, for only one Darkmoon Prize token for ten charges. What's the catch? With a deal as good as that, there's always a catch. And this is no exception. Sandbox mounts don't move, they are stuck to the ground by their springy stands, and simply undulate gently back and forth. What's more, that one Darkmoon Prize Token only buys you ten charges, but you can carry as many sets of those ten-charge items as you see fit. So you can only summon this incredibly entertaining wooden murloc ten times per purchase, and the same applies for the rest, of which there are many! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Shapeshift into a baby panda
The panda on the left? That's Meng Meng. He can be found in Stormwind, cheerfully rolling around and napping by the portal to Pandaria. The panda on the right? That panda's not a panda at all, it's a dwarf shaman. How did the dwarf shaman become a baby panda? Well, it's simple really, all you have to do is show a little affection to Meng Meng. Meng Meng's horde counterpart is Luo Luo, found near the portal in Orgrimmar. Performing emotes such as /hug, /love, and /pet at these little pandas will make little hearts float above their heads and put an item in your bag called Magic Bamboo Shoot. This is unique, so you can only have one at a time, but you can carry it with you until an opportune moment for some pandafication arises. If you just can't wait, another option is to use the bamboo shoot immediately, then hug Meng Meng or Luo Luo again for another item. There are mixed reports on whether this persists through combat, with some players asserting that you can do entire dungeons as a baby panda. With the buff lasting only 10 minutes, you'd have to be fast! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
50% off all Blizzard store mounts this week
This offer was just announced by Blizzard in the EU, and if previous promotions are anything to go by, it will be announced by Blizzard US very shortly. This offer allows the purchase of the Celestial Steed, the Winged Guardian, or the Heart of the Aspects for half price, which, in the EU, equates to €10 or £8.50. In the US, all three mounts are available for $12.50 each. With Christmas fast approaching, you may want to leave this article open on the computer of a family member, or a good friend, or maybe this is the perfect time to pick up a mount for someone special. If you're planning to give a mount as a gift, do remember that, while the codes can be redeemed on any account via the Item Redemption Page, they are region-specific, so players wishing to purchase a mount in the US will need to do so via the US version of the pet store. It follows, then, that players wishing to buy a mount in the EU need to visit the EU pet store. Within those regions, though, there are no country-specific limitations. Of course, these mounts count towards the various mount achievements available in-game, and with the changes in patch 5.0.4, are available on every character, rather than just on the one they were redeemed for. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Blingtron bugged, is far less blingy
The blank look and glazed smile are hiding his pain. Blingtron 4000 loves to give out gifts, loves it. It's his thing, handing out Fire Spirits and steamy romance novels. He used to hand out his gift packages to you once per day, but right now, since the advent of Patch 5.1, something's gone horribly wrong for Blingtron 4000. The little guy's bugged out, what people originally thought was a stealth change by Blizzard to make him usable only for one person on your account appears to be something far more serious, with forum posters asserting that Blingtron can only be used by one character on one account, ever. What's not clear at the time of writing is the extent of Blingtron's bug. Was it working as intended that he only hands out one gift per account per day? Or was that just the bug manifesting itself for the first time for players? Will he be back to his blingy ways in no time, or is he only ever going to have one gift for each account per day? Blizzard's Sapperwix had just this to say: Sapperwix We're aware of this issue and are actively working on a fix. Thanks for your reports! source We're all hoping Blingtron will be back to his old ways as soon as possible! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Scenario rewards improved
Scenarios have had a boost to their rewards with Patch 5.1, now offering the upgraded Greater Cache of Treasures, with added epics! This reward only drops from random scenarios, along with valor points, and currently appears to drop from every random scenario undertaken in a day, although it is possible that this is a bug. The previous Cache of Treasures rewards can still be obtained from the upgraded Greater Cache. These new caches will now include item level 476 items of all materials to fill all slots, along with 450 and 463 rares. Drop rates haven't yet been clarified, but having done a few scenarios the chances of winning blue pieces seem to have drastically increased! The 463 items include a few weapons, so could be a great way to get over the hurdle into raid finder gear levels, if the usual avenues aren't open to you. Also, they're certainly a decent way to get things to disenchant, as the drops don't seem to be particularly tailored to your spec. Perhaps this will be the boost scenarios need, of course WoW Insider doesn't have access to in-game figures, but they seem not to be something that players are making a great deal of use of, possibly thanks at least in part to the suboptimal rewards. Hopefully, these improvements will make scenarios more useful, and therefore more widely utilized. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Patch 5.1 alters US and Oceanic realm event times
Blizzard Senior Community Manager Zarhym has posted on the US forums, informing players that, with the arrival of patch 5.1, substantial changes have been made to realm reset times throughout the US realm region, including oceanic servers. The reason behind this is the impact of cross-realm zones, or CRZ, on times events such as the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza. Previously, players were able to manipulate the new feature to "realm-hop" to hand in the quests the moment the tournaments began, so Blizzard shut them down while the devs worked on a solution. The solution they've reached for patch 5.1 is to normalize event times across the US, and set up a different group of normalized times for the Oceanic region. The EU's servers have worked like this for many years, and it seems a viable answer to the problem, although some adjustment will be necessary for those who are inconvenienced by the changes. Due to the huge time difference, as noted, Oceanic servers have different reset times, but they continue to share raid and dungeon lockouts with US servers as Blizzard's team wish to maintain the large player pool for their matchmaking systems to draw from. Hit the break for Zarhym's full post and to see when your new reset times are.
Patch 5.1: Pet battle UI changes
Blizzard has integrated the features of many current add-ons into the pet battle UI for patch 5.1. The journal, wild pet tooltips, and battle UI now display information making it easier to choose which pets to capture and which to kill. During battle, the quality of the pet is shown in the color of the opponent creature's name as well as the border of the icon. This renders Pet Battle Glow unnecessary. Mousing over a pet in the wild now shows how many of that creature you have collected, if any. It does not show what the highest quality of that particular pet you own, however. So the Pet Caught add-on will still give more information than the new UI. Mousing over the opponent creature during the battle will also display how many of the pets you own, but again, not their qualities. More changes are after the break.
Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition half price at Amazon
In part of its Cyber Monday week deals, Amazon is selling the Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition for $39.99 $34.99. Not only is this half off of the usual price, it is the same price as the normal edition. This price is for the box, not the digital edition version. The Collector's Edition includes the following The Imperial Quilen mount, also included in the Digital Deluxe version The Lucky Quilen Cub pet, again in the Digital Deluxe version as well Behind-the-scenes Blu-ray and DVD Chen Stormstout mouse pad The Art of Mists of Pandaria hardback book Collector's Edition Soundtrack CD We don't know how long this sale will continue. So whether you want the physical goodies for yourself or for a gift, this price is likely to be the lowest of the season. Update Nov 26: The price for Cyber Monday is $34.99.
