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Phat Loot Phriday: Fang of the Leviathan
I was really bummed out the other day that shaman can't use swords-- Mana Wrath dropped for us in Mechanar, and I really wanted to use it for spell damage gear. Oh well, guess I'll have to level up my mage. And while I was looking around for encouragement, I found this sweet caster blade.Name: Fang of the LeviathanType: Epic Main-hand SwordDamage/Speed: 23-125 / 1.80 (41.3 DPS)Abilities: Right now: +13 Stamina, +13 Intellect, +14 spell crit, and +187 spell damage and healing After 2.1: +28 Stamina, +19 Intellect, +20 spell crit, and a whopping +209 spell damage and healing, which makes this currently the highest +spell damage weapon in the entire game. Careful, you got a little drool on you there. Those stats are, of course subject to change, but no matter what, this is one of the nicest caster blades in the game. There are a few floating around with more spell crit (and one BoE Epic with a really nice proc on it), but for pure +damage, this is probably the one you should be dreaming about. Until we see what comes out of the Black Temple, anyway. How to Get It: All you've got to do is kill Leotheras the Blind, a demon hunter boss in Serpentshrine Caverns. The fight apparently isn't that tough if you're already raiding at that level, but it does have some cool elements to it-- the boss splits into his human and demon forms at 15%, and throughout the fight, his demon half will summon a few raid members' "inner demons." Those are dopplegangers that you have to fight and kill before the boss flips back to human, otherwise those raiders become mind controlled for 10 minutes. Wacky stuff, but a few guilds are rolling through there now, and more all the time.Anyway, down Leo, and there's about a 15% chance this'll drop for you.Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 12g 34s 13c. Disenchants (probably-- obviously no one has gotten rid of it yet) into a Void Crystal.
Boeing working to provide tracking abilities sans GPS signals
No sooner than the Joint Forces Command announces an initiative to utilize hybrid GPS technology to get geo-tracking information to soldiers whilst inside buildings or otherwise obstructed from GPS range, DARPA has went and hired Boeing to do almost the same thing. The Robust Surface Navigation (RSN) program seeks to "exploit signals of opportunity to deliver precise location information to the US warfighter in GPS-denied environments," which could theoretically overcome any GPS jamming techniques that our enemies may try. Essentially, Boeing is looking to companies such as ROSUM to figure out how to provide tracking data via terrestrial broadcast signals and augmented broadcast signals instead of GPS. The 15-month Phase 1 concept development contract is just getting underway, and while no commercial plans have been cooked up just yet, we can't imagine this staying out of civilian hands for too awfully long.[Via Gizmag]
Raid hotfixes and 2.1 PTR ETA
Some of the changes from 2.1 are going in early. Specifically, Tigole announced that they are hotfixing some raid things:Because 2.1.0 is not yet on the PTR's (we're hoping by tomorrow or early next week), we're going to hotfix the base creature respawn in Serpentshrine and TK Raid to be 2 hours. We're also going to fix the bug that's causing the creatures to respawn after the boss for the corresponding section has been killed. These aren't all of the changes that we have for 2.1.0, just two of the ones that we will be able to hotfix. There are more changes coming in 2.1.0 that include creature tuning, better loot etc... Some examples: Lots of the creatures have fewer hitpoints Lots of the creatures are no longer immune to CC (The female naga in SSC can be poly'd, Skeletal Ushers in KZ can be shackled) Lots of bug fixesThe most interesting bit in this post, though, to my eye, is "Because 2.1.0 is not yet on the PTR's (we're hoping by tomorrow or early next week)." See? PTR next week! What'd I tell ya. Of course, now that he's said this, if we don't get a PTR by Wednesday the forums are going to explode in a fit of angst, which is why Blizz never gives ETAs. I hope they can meet their target on this one, since 2.1 looks like it will be a fun patch for most parts of the game. Once the patch hits PTRs it'll be at least a week or two before it goes live.Pictured above, by the way, is Al'ar the Phoenix God, a boss in the Eye (the 25-man "TK Raid" referred to by Tigole) who is suspected to drop a 310% speed flying mount called "Peep the Phoenix Mount."
Blue Notes: 25-man trash and EU arena teams
Trash mobs (i.e. non-boss mobs in instances, usually raids) have been the subject of a certain amount of discontent within the community recently. Blizz have said they're thinking about doing something about it, and now they're being a little more specific. Aeus, bearer of good news for the hardcore:We're going to be making some changes to trash mobs in Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep, to make them a bit easier, slower to respawn, and provide some greater incentive to killing them. We'll be continuing to tune and re-tune dungeons and encounters, but currently these are the two we're most concerned with and will be focusing on.I'm assuming when he says Tempest Keep he means the Eye, the 25-man raid wing of it. So while this is nice for those of us who are working on those raids already (not me), I really wish they would do something about some of the trash in Karazhan. Specifically, the trash leading up to the Curator. That stuff is bonkers. On the other hand, I haven't been to KZ since Tigole said trash in many zones had been nerfed a bit, so maybe it's better now?
Nihilum gets Vashj to 3%
Superstar guild Nihilum (H-Magtheridon-EU) has apparently gotten Lady Vashj, the final boss of Serpentshrine Cavern and Illidan fangirl extaordinaire, down to 3%. This means the world first kill is probably not far off. In the grand tradition of end bosses for large raids, this follows after a hotfix nerf to Vashj a week or so ago; Ragnaros, Nefarian, C'thun, and Kel'Thuzad (I think; not quite positive on KT) were all nerfed before they were first defeated.Being as how nobody's ever killed her before, we don't really know much of what she might drop (other than probably T5 tokens like the rest of SSC and the Eye). But we do know one item: the Fang of Vashj, a one-handed (i.e. not restricted to main or off-hand) dagger with the following stats: "92.8 DPS, 133-201 damage, 1.8 attack speed, increases attack power by 50 and increases dagger skill by 14." We know this item exists because it's listed in the official Bradygames strategy guide, although besides its name we have no actual confirmation that it will drop from Vashj. If those stats are accurate, it would be the highest DPS one-handed weapon in the game, aside from the epic weaponsmithing weapons (Blazefury, Dragonstrike, and Wicked Edge of the Plains).[via MMO-Champion]
