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Ask a Beta Tester: It's all about the money
We have a lot of profession questions today, but also a few about Achievements, the Beast Mastery 51-point talent, and what happens when you push Death Knights off a cliff:Riley asks...How is the Shaman Hex ability working? Does the target still have control of movement and does the PvP trinket work against it?Hex is a the crowd-control spell for Shamans referenced by the devs at the class panel here, and it's been tinkered with a lot since we first heard about it. It was originally meant to be more of an emergency-only, short-duration CC. In its present form, Hex's duration has been increased to 30 seconds and it doesn't necessarily break on damage. However, in PvP the target can control where they go, the PvP trinket does work (you can also shapeshift out of it as a Druid), and it's considered a curse and can be dispelled by Mages, Druids, and restoration Shamans (who will have the ability do dispel curses with a 31-point talent Cleanse Spirit). Think of it as a somewhat odd combination of Counterspell, Fear, and Polymorph.
Brutal Gladiator's Investiture
The Brutal Gladiator's Investiture is the armor set for Holy and Discipline, or healing Priests. It is a mooncloth, or cloth armor usable only by Priests and is usually matched with Guardian's Mooncloth armor pieces. The armor set can be purchased from Big Zokk Torquewrench in Netherstorm and Ontokk Shatterhorn in Shattrath City. The matching Guardian items may be purchased from Doris Volanthius in the Hall of Legends and Lieutenant Tristia in the Champion's Hall. Brutal Gladiator's Mooncloth Gloves The Brutal Gladiator armor piece for the hands are the cheapest and easiest Season 4 Arena gear to obtain. With no personal rating requirements, most players will be able to purchase this piece and is the Arena gear likely to be most widespread as soon as the season begins. The bonus is the same for both Priest-specific sets, reducing the cooldown to Psychic Scream. The gloves have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent): 306 Armor (+13)+56 Stamina (+7)+28 Intellect (+5) +25 Resilience (+0) +77 Healing / +26 Spell Damage (+11 / +4)Reduces the cooldown of Psychic Scream by 3 secs.Classes: Priest WoW Insider says: These gloves are low-cost and have no rating requirements, and the high Stamina and good +Healing make it making it one of the best Season 4 purchases, specially for starting Arena players. Brutal Gladiator's Mooncloth LeggingsThe leg armor possesses a personal rating requirement of 1550, which isn't too difficult to obtain, particularly for healing Priests. While not as accessible as the gloves, the leg armor is highly visible on a character and is also likely to be a popular purchase, even at 1875 Arena points. The leggings have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):442 Armor (+18)+77 Stamina (+7)+34 Intellect (+6) +31 Resilience (+0) +95 Healing / +32 Spell Damage (+14 / +5)16 Mana / 5 Secs (+2 / 5)Classes: PriestWoW Insider says: The lack of sockets mean that the only customization that can be done will be through Tailoring or Leatherworkingenchants. The leggings are an excellent Brutal Gladiator piece, with a massive mp5 as an added bonus. Brutal Gladiator's Mooncloth RobeWith three sockets, the chestpiece is the most customizable Arena armor piece, and is the next best purchase after the gloves. Furthermore, 1600 should be an easy goal for many experienced healers. In PvE, the chest armor is traditionally a drop from the final boss in a series (Magtheridon drops Tier 4 chest token, Kael'thas drops Tier 5 chest token, Illidan drops Tier 6 chest token, etc.). Arenas are different in this regard, but the item level of the chest is identical to PvE chest pieces. Sunwell Plateau breaks from tradition in that the final boss, Kil'jaeden, does not drop chest tokens or armor. However, the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is equivalent to the drops from Entropius and is the best combination of cost and restriction among all the armor pieces. The robe has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):476 Armor (+22)+68 Stamina (+7)+33 Intellect (+6) +28 Resilience (+0)+73 Healing / +25 Spell Damage (+14 / +5)11 Mana / 5 Secs (+2 / 5) Socket Bonus: +4 Resilience Rating Classes: PriestWoW Insider says: The Mooncloth Robe has the lowest stamina compared to other cloth pieces, similar to the Mage's Silk Raiment. It has very good mp5 that comes in handy during long (or drain) matches. Because of its PvE equivalent, obtaining the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is almost like killing Entropius in Sunwell Plateau. Well, ok not really, but if you don't raid, that's about as close to a raid drop as you're going to get.Brutal Gladiator's Mooncloth HoodThe helm is very likely the last Brutal Gladiator armor piece that many players will obtain. With the shoulders at an extremely prohibitive 2200, most players will only manage 4/5 of Season 4. Discipline Priests, popular in Arenas, should have an easier time getting a 1700 personal rating to get this hood, which costs the same as the chest and leg armor pieces. With a personal rating attached to it, the Brutal Gladiator helm might be one helm graphic that players would like to leave on. It is also identical in model to the pieces that drop off Kil'jaeden in Sunwell Plateau. The hood has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):426 Armor (+17)+82 Stamina (+9)+30 Intellect (+7) +33 Resilience (+0)+86 Healing / +29 Spell DamageSocket Bonus: +4 Resilience RatingClasses: PriestWoW Insider says: One of the higher stamina Brutal Gladiator pieces for healing priests, the hood is worth the purchase. It is far superior to the other Priest Season 4 head piece, the Satin Hood, as well.Brutal Gladiator's Mooncloth Mantle The 2200 personal ratings requirement for the shoulders are almost Gladiator-level for most Battlegroups, and will likely be a very rare sight in most realms. It is quite likely that more than a few Discipline Priests will be sporting these through the season, though. It is the cheapest item after the gloves, but it is also the most difficult to get. Blizzard's reasoning for this is that the shoulders are the most "visually impacting" armor piece, confirming Blizzard's opinion that PvP achievements should be on display. The mantle has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):339 Armor (+16)+56 Stamina (+7) +26 Intellect (+5)+25 Resilience (+0)+68 Healing / +23 Spell Damage (+11 / +4)Socket Bonus: +3 Resilience RatingClasses: PriestWoW Insider says: Brutal Gladiator Shoulders are peacock gear. There's nothing particularly special about the Season 4 shoulders, and is not such a big upgrade from Season 3. Players not able to reach 2200 personal rating -- and there should be plenty -- will do just fine with last season's gear, even if it does require 1950 personal rating. Guardian's Mooncloth Belt Because it is a visual match for the Brutal Gladiator's Investiture, and because it comes with no personal ratings requirement, the belt is most likely to be the most widely distributed Season 4 gear. It is purchasable with Honor points, so even players who do not participate in Arena PvP can obtain it. The belt has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):219 Armor (+11)+56 Stamina (+7)+36 Intellect (+5) +31 Resilience (+0) +88 Healing / +30 Spell Damage (+11 / +4)Classes: Priest, Mage, WarlockWoW Insider says: Hands down the best purchase for a healing Priest in Season 4, the low Honor cost and ratings-free belt is a no-brainer. Even outside of PvP, this belt trumps most PvE healing belts outside of Sunwell Plateau, with a higher +Healing and overall stats than even drops from the Illidari Council or Kaz'rogal. Guardian's Mooncloth CuffsThe only other Guardian piece with a socket is the amulet, which doesn't have a personal rating requirement. Coupled with the fact that bracers are visually insignificant, being hidden under gloves or robes, most players feel that there's little urgency to get them. A 1575 personal ratings requirement also requires decent performance in Arenas. The cuffs have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):183 (+10)+38 Stamina (+4)+24 Intellect (+4)+17 Resilience (+0) +64 Healing / +22 Spell Damage (+9 / +3)Socket Bonus: +2 StaminaClasses: Priest, Mage, WarlockWoW Insider says: Despite the 1575 personal ratings requirement, the cuffs are a worthy purchase for healers as they are the best healing wrist armor outside of Sunwell Plateau. They are roughly as powerful as the Bracers of Martyrdom from Rage Winterchill in Mount Hyjal.Guardian's Mooncloth SlippersThe most visually important match of all Guardian items, the boots are a big jump from a 1575 personal ratings requirement and is as demanding to get as the head piece at 1700 personal ratings. It is also as expensive to purchase as the belt, which has no ratings requirement. The slippers have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):253 Armor (+15)+56 Stamina (+7)+36 Intellect (+5) +31 Resilience (+0) +88 Healing / +30 Spell DamageClasses: Priest, Mage, WarlockWoW Insider says: Although 1700 is the highest personal ratings requirement outside of the weapons and shoulders, even PvE healing Priests would do well to strive for it as the slippers are the best healing boots before Sunwell Plateau gear. It is better point-for-point than Archbishop's Slippers from Anatheron in Hyjal Summit. %Gallery-25440% Looking for more Season 4 info? We've rounded up everything you need to know about the Brutal Gladiator season right here.
Insider Trader: Leatherworking in alpha, and profession changes for patch 2.4.3
Although there is information being leaked about the upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King, because of the alpha testing that is currently underway, it is too soon to tell what will make it into the final copy, and what will not. Furthermore, most things will be changed, and there are details that may never be leaked until, of course, release.Still, it is a valuable experience to peer into Blizzard's process of designing, reforming, and progressing the game's professions. This week, Insider Trader will focus on analyzing the tentative progression of the leatherworking trade. In addition, we'll take a brief look at professions-related changes in the upcoming patch 2.4.3. While mounts at level 30 and Haris Pilton might be first in your mind, Blizzard isn't overlooking the trade sector this round.
The red-headed step-children of crafting
Today I made my first two pieces of Shadowcloth. It's quite an accomplishment for my level 62 warlock, with the somewhat dangerous trek out to the Altar of Shadows. As I was feeling the roaring winds of the air elementals snap at my behind as I rode, I began to wonder if I shouldn't have chosen one of the other two paths instead. It's a lot of work to jog on out to the Altar, and you take your life into your hands every time you do. Somehow the three disciplines seem somewhat uneven. Had I chosen Mooncloth tailoring, my travel time would include a small jaunt out to the Cenarian Refuge and a dip in the Moonwell.
Insider Trader: New mooncloth on Monday
Each week Lisa Poisso brings us Insider Trader -- your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.As stats on tailored cloth sets ricochet between the developers, the PTR and tailors buzzing like angry bees at the prospect of changes, healing clothies continue to click through their cooldowns to create two of the best healing sets in the game: the Primal Mooncloth set and the Whitemend Wisdom set. Primal mooncloth tailoring is where it's at for healers -- and it offers some tasty treats for PvP casters as well as anyone who wants more bag space.Just how good are the healing sets? Most priests swear by their phenomenal +healing, mp5 and set bonuses, considering them clearly superior to Tier 4 and rivaling Tier 5. Patch 2.1 will buff the Primal Mooncloth set's overall stats and ease the component requirements. As a package, the Primal Mooncloth/Whitemend combo is weak on stamina (and some say the two sets don't complement one another as well as they could), but most healers compensate with other pieces, swap in stamina gear for specific fights or rely on enchants and gems to reach their preferred stats balance. There's been some QQing over the fact that primal mooncloth gear is BoP and the complementary Whitemend Wisdom set requires the wearer to have a 350 tailoring skill to get the set bonus. Some players say these restrictions make tailoring "required" for cloth healers. Still, most priests feel the primal mooncloth's set bonus -- 5% mana regeneration during casting -- takes the sting out of upgrading away from their beloved Transcendence three-piece set bonus. But before we /moon you with the details of mooncloth tailoring, what if you're not the healing type? PvP casters might be tempted by the Unyielding Girdle or the Resolute Cape (buffed to 349 armor in 2.1). And just about everyone craves more bag space. The 20-slot Primal Mooncloth Bag delivers, for a mere 72 Netherweave Cloth, 8 Arcane Dust, 40 Motes of Life (4 Primal Life), 40 Motes of Water (4 Primal Water) and 4 Netherweb Spider Silk from a mooncloth-specced tailor. (Well, what else were you gonna do with all that extra gold and farming time?)
Is tailoring necessary for clothies?
The forums of the famous Horde raiding guild Elitist Jerks are home to possibly the most intelligent, respectful and creative WoW micro-community out there. (Amusingly, their Alliance counterparts, Death and Taxes, have one of the most vicious and mind-numbing forums out there. Coincidence?) They're deep into theorycrafting and gear questions, so it should come as no surprise that they've created one of the most intriguing threads about caster itemization I've ever seen. Basically, according to Mearis, the BOP crafted tailoring sets -- Primal Mooncloth, Frozen Shadoweave, and Spellfire -- are actually superior for raid DPS and healing to Tier 4 and 5. For example, here is the Tier 5 priest damage gear, compared to the Frozen Shadoweave Vest. The Frozen Shadoweave offers significantly more pure shadow damage, and the spirit and crit on the Tier 5 isn't that great for shadow priests. A warlock I talked to also rated Frozen Shadoweave above lock T4, and checking out the gear in general, the crafted sets seem to feature nearly double the damage increase (for a certain class of spells) of the tier gear. Mearis says this has two negative effects. First off, it makes tailoring nearly mandatory to stay competitive in early end-game DPS, and by having early access to seriously powerful gear, it allows mages, locks and priests to do much more damage than comparative physical DPS classes -- and leads to more nerf cries from rogues and warriors. I talked to a warlock in the top raiding guild on my server who has the full Frozen Shadoweave set. He said that he considered the tailored items "amazing" and that they probably did contribute to cloth-wearers dominating the damage charts early on. However, he added that he noticed rogues and warriors catching up to mages and locks in damage as they began getting more pieces of their Tier 4 and arena gears, while the clothies weren't replacing their BOP crafted sets yet. And since tailoring was pretty much a money pit before TBC, he didn't mind that it was now suddenly powerful for raiding. "I'm not ready to jump on the bandwagon and say that the crafted is overpowered because it is expensive to make and may be replaced as early as 4-piece Tier 4," he said. "And I'm happy to see tailoring be a worthwhile prof while it lasts." Plus, the caster pieces don't have a ton of stamina, which is important on certain boss fights. A shadow priest in my guild with Frozen Shadoweave and Battlecast added, "They're not overpowered -- the T4-T5 sets are just weak." Personally, I like the idea of crafted sets that are equal to raid sets, and think the tailoring clothes and the blacksmithing items are a step forward for the game. Now if only leatherworkers and engineers could get nice things ...
