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Magister's Terrace and the meatshield: Drops to look for
Recently on the forums there have been a number of threads popping up wondering what the average tank's situation is going to look like, gear-wise, after patch 2.4 hits. Assuming you won't be raiding Sunwell Plateau anytime soon, the new 5-man dungeon Magister's Terrace is the obvious choice for new loot drops if you're raising a Warrior, Druid, or Paladin whose primary responsibility will be tanking. My guild is raiding Tier 6 at this point, but I have to admit: 5-mans are still my favorite part of the game and I've been looking forward to seeing Magister's Terrace more than anything else. But after running across a now-departed forum thread complaining that it was going to be even more difficult than usual pugging a tank for a dungeon where virtually no tanking loot drops, it occurred to me that spoiling myself a little with a look through the known drops might be in order, especially as I had heard rumors of a truly amazing drop.Well, it turns out the forum poster was right. Sort of. Thankfully, so were the rumors. If you're looking for an excellent first impression of Magister's Terrace from a tank, Adam Holisky has a write-up, but here we're going to take a closer look at the gear you can expect to see dropping.
Yet another Alterac Valley change in patch 2.4
Although this change is not quite like the others! It turns out that in patch 2.4, you will be able to join Alterac Valley as a group! What I can't tell you is whether or not you can join as a raid. Sorry!Personally, I think this is a good change, even if you can only join as a group and not a raid. Especially if you can only join as a group, actually. Joining as a group will let you reliably play with your friends(without the use of tricksy mods) but won't totally throw off Alterac Valley by flooding it with 40-man premades. You can queue for every other battleground as a raid, though, so Alterac Valley will likely be the same. I look forward to this hitting the live servers, I've missed the days of getting into the more 'epic' battleground with a group of my friends, even if we lost due to complete nubbery. Sure, you could still sort of do it with the aforementioned mods, but it wasn't very reliable and unless I'm mistaken, it was slightly against the TOS.I'm unsure how this will change queue times. Queueing as a 5-man probably won't change much for you from what queue times are right now, but I imagine a 40-man team will be standing around Shattrath for quite a bit longer. I would go try it myself, but I unfortunately do not have 40 friends on the PTR. So lonely.
2.4 PvP sets: Gold and rep requirements
There's a lot to get excited about in patch 2.4, without a doubt. A lot of raiders will be looking to the Sunwell to provide new content and those addicted to daily quests will certainly find a lot to do as well. I'll certainly appreciate these things, but there was one new item that piqued my interest as an altaholic: the new blue PvP sets available from reputation vendors. While a lot of players will likely overlook or outright dismiss these new sets, they are a godsend to someone, like me, that has a ton of high-level alts. While these sets are clearly geared towards PvP, they'll definitely help fill out some of my alts' PvE sets. Additionally, they'll make good starting sets for anyone that wants to get more involved in the arena or battlegrounds.
New class changes found in the PTR notes [Updated]
Tipster Pzychotix has uncovered some new class changes in the latest round of patch notes, and some of them are doozies: For Druids, the Lifebloom healing coefficient has been reduced. It'll be interesting to see how much. Rolling Lifeblooms have been the healing method of choice for most discerning trees, but if the nerf is severe enough, perhaps we'll see some return to Regrowth and Healing Touch. In other changes, Feral Druids are heading further and further to side of agility, with Nurturing Instinct now increasing your healing spells by up to 100% of your agility, and increasing your healing received by 20% of your attack power while in Cat Form. This seems like it may make Cat Druids at least a bit less squishy in PvP, if they're paired with a healer or can find a spare second to duck out of the fray and heal themselves.Lots of additional changes after the break!
Shattered Sun Offensive phase 3: Sun's Reach Harbor
Friday afternoon, when I checked the PTR, only about thirty percent progress had been made on retaking the Sun's Reach Armory. Less than twenty four hours later, we were about ten percent into the next phase, retaking Sun's Reach Harbor. Either a lot of new testers hit the PTR due to the weekend and the new patch build or Blizz helped us along. Either way, here's a quick overview of the new content that's unlocked in this third phase of the Shattered Sun Offensive.Once the Armory is retaken, it's filled with Shattered Sun guards, three new daily quests become available and several new vendors are spawned in the building. Dragonhawks, piloted by Kael's minions, circle the building, doing battle with the archers on the upper level. On the bottom floor, you'll find an ammo vendor, the only one I've been able to find on the Isle. Upstairs are several new "Exotic Gear Purveyors". This is where you'll find all the PvP gear available for Badges of Justice or T4/5/6 armor tokens.
Forum post of the day: BOE Vortexes
In a post entitled BOE Vortexes a SLAP in the FACE to CRAFTERS Solarissa of Korgath claims that changes on the public test realm for patch 2.4 would devalue the efforts of crafters. She says that allowing players to purchase or farm their own materials would greatly reduce profits for crafters who have invested vast amounts of time in farming materials for their epic patterns, such as the Belt of Blasting. Instead of hefty auction house prices, they would receive meager tips for their crafting efforts. Disenchanted crafters believe that this change would make it so there is no way at all to earn money with trade skills. Responses vary from stalwart agreement to arguments that this change would actually drive up the prices for crafted items. Sylindra of Moonrunner is pleased with the change. She feels that it unfair for non-crafters to have to pass on Nether Vortexes since they could only be used by players whose primary characters were crafters. The materials could go into guild banks, or be given to non-crafters to sell on the auction house for a tidy profit of their own.
Shattered Sun Offensive phase 2: Sun's Reach Armory
The second phase of quest and NPC progression on the Isle of Quel'danas began a couple days ago on the US PvE PTR. Yesterday I covered the retaking of Sun's Reach Sanctum and the second phase is all about the building just across the road, the Sun's Reach Armory. The Armory is infested with demons, as you can see in the screenshot, and the new daily quests are all about driving them away.First of all, let me state that the daily quests from phase one were still available on the PTR even after the Sanctum was taken from the Wretched. The names and quest text are a little different to reflect the changed state of the Isle, but the quest objectives and rewards remain exactly the same. It should be safe to assume that this trend will continue throughout every stage of the Shattered Sun Offensive.
Shattered Sun Offensive phase 1: Sun's Reach Sanctum
When you first arrive at the new zone, the Isle of Quel'danas, in patch 2.4, you'll find a chaotic scene, even if there aren't hundreds of naked, level two Blood Elves running around getting slaughtered by level seventy creatures, as there are on the PTR. The Shattered Sun Offensive, the united group of Scryers and Aldor, have a small presence on the isle, consisting of a few tents and a boat, and they're combating a large group of demons and Blood Elves. As time goes on and more daily quests are completed, the new faction will gradually retake buildings on the isle, unlocking vendors, quest givers and a portal to Shattrath. Here's a quick run down of the quests and NPCs involved in the first phase of the offensive, which came to a close a couple of days ago on the US PvE PTR.The first building that is retaken is the Sun's Reach Sanctum, pictured above. It's infested with Wretched, the undead-looking, lowest form of Blood Elves and it's security measures are non-functioning. This of course leads to our first daily quest, "The Sanctum Wards". In this quest, you must obtain four Mana Remnants from the Wretched and then use them on one of the large red crystals near the Sanctum to help recharge them. The crystals are wards that, when recharged, begin to zap nearby baddies with magic. Basically, you need to kill a few Wretched (the drop rate of the quest items is pretty high) and then click on the items in your bag while standing near a crystal. This quest was quick and easy to complete even with a lot of competition from other players.
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Fishing in 2.4: Daily quests and more
One of the first things I checked out on the PTR was the new fishing daily quests. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I actually enjoy fishing in WoW and have been increasingly interested in this quest ever since it came to my attention via the official forums. Now that the 2.4 test realm has been up for a few days, I've been able to do three of the new, randomly rotating quests which start from Old Man Barlo just outside of Shattrath City.The first quest I discovered, and the one that I've seen the most so far, is called "Shrimpin' Ain't Easy". It requires you to fly to Zangarmarsh and fish up a few Bloated Barbed Gill Trout. You can catch these by fishing in any of the lakes in the zone. Once you reel one in, you can open it like any other package in the game to collect a few shrimp and gray items. One fish can hold multiple shrimp and this quest can be completed pretty quickly, assuming that you don't encounter any bugs. Currently, I often encounter a bug where I'm unable to catch any fish (aside from the special fishing pools, which don't yield the quest fish) in Zangarmarsh while on this quest. Abandoning and retaking it has fixed the problem every time so far.
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New World PvP quests: Your daily dose of war!
I was one of the lucky few that was able to copy my character and log onto the public test realm over the weekend. Playing more than I probably should have, I was able to check out all the new daily quests and snap screenshots of much of the new content. In the midst of my frenzied trek around Outland and the Isle of Quel'danas (the new zone that hosts the upcoming dungeons), I made certain to check out the two new PvP daily quests mentioned in the patch notes. These are not the new Battlegrounds Daily PvP quests that are being introduced with the same patch, but all new quest options for World PvP objectives.First off, I headed to Allerian Stronghold in Terokkar Forest. Near the Spirit Shard vendor, I found a new NPC, Exorcist Sullivan, offering that zone's daily quest. The objective is simple enough, merely help in the capture of one of the Spirit Towers in the Bone Wastes. In return you'll be awarded some cash and honor: 11 gold, 99 silver and 209 honor, to be exact. While I haven't been able to check out the Horde version of the quest yet, I'd imagine the NPC should be easy to spot in Stonebreaker Hold, near Spirit Sage Gartok, the Horde Spirit Shard vendor.
Kalecgos! Spoilers! Movie!
If you, like me, are willing to spoil the living heck out of patches before they drop, just generally like watching boss fights to try and work out what they're doing, or are in any way intrigued by a dragon hitting a bear in the face, this is the video for you. Without spoiling, all I can really say is it looks like a really interesting fight, and the lore nerd in me is itching to see how this inclusion of out-game media (the Sunwell Trilogy manga) into WoW proper will continue once things like the movie hit. Will we see characters from the comic book?Seriously, here there be spoilers. Thanks to World of Raids for the video link..I'm not kidding. If you don't like spoilers, do not pass go, as I promise you there's no chance you'll collect $200.
Open fire! PTR 2.4 battleground changes
We've recently featured several posts about player discontent with Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley battle grounds. It looks like Blizzard has been hard at work changing, if not fixing, some of the issues that players have been having in battlegrounds. Alterac Valley It sounds like Blizzard has been listening to the back and forth debate about which faction is favored most in Valley. In the test 2.4 they attempt to balance the distance and challenge of the faction captains. Hortus indicated that they want to focus on WSG first, so it will be a while before we can test out these changes.
Patch 2.3.3 live on the PTRs
Patch 2.3.2 has been out on the live realms for a while now, which can only mean that it's time for patch 2.3.3 on the PTRs! Late last night Blizzard launched the 2.3.3 PTRs to little fanfare. No pre-mades are available this time around, so expect to see more testing and less random dueling with epic'd out level 70 characters on the 2.3.3 PTRs. The patch notes are sparse, containing a couple of bugfixes and some improvements to load time, but as with all patches, you never know what unintended (or unmentioned!) changes might have slipped in. MMO Champion has the latest on the patch notes, though their version differs very little from the official version.Interested in trying the test realm out for yourself? Head over to the official site to download the client and copy one of your existing characters! (Having trouble getting on -- WoWWiki has a great guide to setting up the PTR client.)
Breakfast Topic: Why don't you use the Test server?
Zubon at Kill Ten Rats has posted his top 6 reasons he doesn't use the PTR. Reason number 2 I agreed with: I don't want to get bored of the new content when it's on Test. And I would add that getting bored with it before it hits the live servers means I'm not experiencing that content with my friends on my usual server.But there are other reasons gamers don't play on the Test Server other than non-spoilage. Too much of hassle to patch and transfer toons? Test Server pick up groups (ugh)? Not paid to beta (go Zubon!)?Tells us, if you avoid the PTR, why? And what would get you to change your mind?
PTR Notes: Repair bot and toolbox changed
While the first change has been on the PTR for awhile now, it seems to have gone relatively unnoticed. The old Field Repair Bot 7A has had its mats decreased and is now stackable. The new mats, as pictured above, are 16 x Thorium Bars and 2 x Fused Wiring. I've been able to make a few bots on the PTR and can confirm that they also stack up to five.In addition to the recent changes to the latest PTR build, players are reporting that additional items can now be stored in the Fel Iron Toolbox. The new items include motes, primals and blacksmith hammers. The storage of the elemental ingredients will definitely help out while attempting to maximize bank space. Let's hope that this change was intentional and doesn't get reverted in a future patch.
More AV changes coming
Big changes are coming to the Alterac Valley battleground in patch 2.3, and, as is often the case with these things, players are already expressing their discontent. Nethaera responded to a thread on the official forums yesterday in order to address such complaints. She reminded everyone that the developers are currently monitoring the changes to AV and are tweaking the honor earned in order to keep the overall gain as similar as possible to the current rate on the live realms.The most interesting part of her post, of course, regards a change being implemented regarding the mechanics of capturing a mine. When a mine is captured by a player, his or her team will be awarded a steady stream of reinforcements. According to Neth, the capturing team will receive about one reinforcement every forty-five seconds or so. Since I haven't played the new AV on the PTR, it's difficult for me to develop an opinion on this change. What do you think?Update: Blizzard poster Salthem has posted a few more details of the change to the mines.
The latest changes on the PTR
World of Raids once again has the latest breaking news on the latest Patch 2.3 Public Test Ream changes! Today's class changes seem to be mostly happy buffs, especially for hunters and rogues and paladins, as well as a slight nerf to warriors beyond the jump. Also read on below for Guild Bank prices, New Arena Season 3 weapon models, a Field Repair Bot change, as well as a few new engineering toys.Hunters: It looks like hunters get their version of Mortal Strike after all: Aimed Shot now reduces all healing done on the target by 50% for 10 seconds, in addition to the regularly increased damage. The dead zone has not been eradicated, but it has been reduced to just about 1 yard. Why not just get rid of the dead zone and be done with it? Is Blizzard paranoid about the possibility of using melee and ranged abilities at the same time through latency bugs or something? Rogues: The rogue talent "Aggression" is being improved so that its damage bonus applies to Backstab as well as Sinister Strike and Eviscerate (at +2/4/6% with each rank). Shadowstep now has a 30 second cooldown in addition to being usable out of stealth. Its range has been changed from 0-20 yards to 8-25 yards, and its +20% damage bonus now applies to whatever special attack you make next (i.e. Sinister Strike, Hemorrhage -- even Eviscerate or Rupture). Could this make it beneficial to non-dagger rogues as well? Hemorrhage has received a huge buff: It now increases physical damage dealt to its target by up to 36 (increased from 10!), but its number of charges has been reduced from 30 to 10. This should make hemo rogues more desirable in groups, and also increase the benefit from having more than one in a raid -- but is it really enough? Paladins: The "Fanaticism" talent in the retribution tree now reduces the paladin's threat by 30% at the highest rank in addition to 15% increased critical strike chance with all judgements. The protection talent "Precision" now gives a +3% chance to hit with spells in addition to melee attacks.
2.2.3 on the PTR
Looks like we got a little ahead of ourselves. Before we see 2.3 on the PTRs, we're going to see 2.2.3, a small patch that is supposed to bugfix a lot of the sound problems that players are having. Patch notes are complete below, and I'm betting that if the Kael event isn't fixed yet, a fix for that will also be included in this patch. We can only hope that we'll see a small PTR appearance for 2.2.3 (so test it extra fast, folks), and then the gloriousness of 2.3 will grace us with its presence.PTR 2.2.3 Patch Notes Clients utilizing OpenGL video modes will no longer experience graphical anomalies and missing textures after minimizing/maximizing the window. Fixed an issue that caused Fel Eye Stalks during the Legion Ring event to not despawn when the event is completed. Fixed an issue where zoning after mounting and summoning a pet was disconnecting players. Fixed an issue where the Shift key would get stuck in game. Using a /equip macro while affected by certain crowd control spells will no longer cause the items in the macro to be stuck in your inventory. Continued after the jump...[ via MMO Champion ]
PTRs closed -- and you know what that means!
As any long-time player of World of Warcraft knows, the public test realms open up to allow players to help out Blizzard QA by giving future changes a good stress test. The test realms open as soon as Blizzard has a stable build of the upcoming patch and the test realms close as soon as Blizzard is satisfied that their patch is as polished as it's going to get. Hortus announced this morning that the PTRs were going offline, concluding public testing for patch 2.2. To me, this means we're going to see patch 2.2 coming our way very soon -- perhaps as early as next week! However, we have known Blizzard to close the PTRs weeks in advance of an official patch release, so a final date continues to elude us.So what major changes should you expect come patch day? An updated sound engine Voice chat (on select servers -- it will be rolled out in stages) The continuing shrinking shoulders adventure (Night Elves, Draenei, and Orcs to the best of our knowledge) Movie capture for Macs (sorry, PC users!)
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Beyond Patch 2.2: Schwick's compilation of verified info
Patch 2.2, currently in testing on the PTR, has some great improvements like voice chat and reporting AFK'ers in Battlegrounds. What it doesn't have is any new, big, sexy chunk of playable content. So when are we going to see the post-Karazhan 10-main raid zone, Zul'Aman? New Heroic Badge rewards? Guild banks? Oh, we already know that last one.Forum MVP Schwick on the WoW European forums has compiled a list of known updates in Patch 2.3 and beyond. He often provide reference links to his sources form many of his future patch notes, which makes him an information god in my book.He also goes on to list all the verified information about the WotLK expansion. I thought I had read all the info that was out already, but on Schwick's list I found items I didn't know, like the fact that Blizzard has a plan to deal with the fact that the Horde doesn't have a fear ward. Or that Naxxramas, the last raid zone introduced before TBC launched, will be repurposed in the new expansion. Or that new shaders will be introduced for shinier graphics. Mmm, sparkles.Check out Schwick's post if you want to get a look ahead about what's known for future patches.Screenshot of Zul'Aman boss models courtesy of MMO-Champion.com.
