the-burning-crusade
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Quest rewards in the Burning Crusade
This lone screenshot has spawned a lot of excitement, by presenting us with a glance of what sort of itemization we can expect to see in the mid-60s. If you're already decked out in epic gear, these items might make you cry, but if you aren't, they might make you jump for joy. (My thought is that they never should have allowed Goblins to name these things.) The items in the screenshot, for those who can't bother to click on, include the following...QR 9977 2H AxeTwo-Hand Axe221 - 333 Damage Speed 3.40(81.5 damage per second)+31 Strength+30 Agility+45 StaminaQR 9977 Caster StaffTwo-Hand Staff92 - 162 Damage Speed 2.10(60.4 damage per second)+45 Stamina+31 IntellectEquip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 30.Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 85.QR 9977 DPS DaggerOne-Hand Dagger74 - 139 Damage Speed 1.70(62.6 damage per second)+13 Agility+19 StaminaEquip: +26 Attack PowerQR 9977 Feral StaffTwo-Hand Staff144 - 253 Damage Speed 3.30(60.2 damage per second)+31 Strength+30 Agility+45 StaminaEquip: +298 Attack Power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear, and Moonkin forms only.QR 9977 Fist WeaponOne-Hand Fist Weapon109-204 Damage Speed 2.50(62.6 damage per second)+13 Agility+19 StaminaEquip: +26 Attack Power.QR 9977 Healer MaceThe screenshot, for some reason, does not include a mouseover of this mace. However, later in the thread, someone comments that the mace has "160ish +healing and some other stats I dont recall."
Burning Crusade Spells & Talents Updated
No, no -- still no hunter abilities. The main body of these changes seems to be extensive revisions to the priest abilities, making them a lot more interesting (and actually tempting me to spec higher than 31 points in any tree -- crazy!). However, there are also some tweaks for paladins, warlocks, and warriors. Check them out on the forums, or read on for the details.
A chance to get in to the BC beta!
At present, I'm only seeing this contest up on the European website, but it wouldn't surprise me to find a similar affair on the US website soon. (If not, expect more moaning on the forums than usual over the next few days.) Winning is simple -- just take a screenshot of your guild near a well-known NPC. So get out your fanciest clothes and get searching for that perfect spot. The best 40 entries will receive 25 beta keys for the guild. Now get going -- you only have until October 5th to send in your entry!
Character screens from the Burning Crusade
You won't find huge amounts of new data here, but poster ethan_th on the Curse Gaming forums has posted a number of screenshots of the character screen in the Burning Crusade expansion. This screenshot selects the defenses menu, which shows off the much talked about new resilience statistic -- the mouseover for which reads: "Decrease the chance of enemy a criticial hit on you by 0.0)%" Read on for some additional screenshots.
Have some friends who aren't yet hooked?
Not very likely, I know. But if you do have a friend that hasn't yet been convinced to start playing World of Warcraft, it's a cheap time to get started, as Blizzard seems to have quietly dropped the cost of retail boxes to $19.99. Local prices may vary, but I've noticed several local retailers showing this markdown, including Best Buy, EBgames, Fry's Electronics, and Amazon.com (coming in with the low, low price of $18.98). So, unable to finish a post without adding in some Burning Crusade speculation, I have to wonder if is this price drop another sign of impending expansion release? (Get a few new players in before the expansion hits, or lower the cost of entry for new players once the expansion is released, perhaps?)
Blizzard 1, BC rumor sites 0
The pluralization is a bit pre-emptive here, as only one site I know of has had its contents pulled offline due to Blizzard's requests. That site, the Caverns of Time, was a great compilation of rumors and occasionally legitimate information about the upcoming expansion (the screenshot above, pulled from the site, was obviously not an accurate representation of the druid changes). They've received notice from Blizzard giving them 48 hours to remove contents of the site or else face "formal action," and they seem to have complied. You can check the site, still, for a copy of what I assume is Blizzard's complaint. Ah well -- I'm sure three sites will spring up tomorrow to replace it, thus providing us a steady stream of interesting Burning Crusade gossip!
Another hint at the Burning Crusade release date
Alert reader Elüna points out an interesting fact about the possible release date of the coming expansion -- the release date of the official Bradygames strategy guide. This isn't an avenue I'd thought to check before, but apparently the strategy guide is scheduled for a November 15th release. And while game release dates tend to be guessed at by retailers (hard to sell a pre-order without a release date!), I doubt that book release date information, from the official publisher, is done in quite the same fashion. So what do the rest of you think -- are we looking towards a mid-November expansion release? My magic 8-ball says "maybe!"
Beta invites for raiding guilds?
Multiple threads on the forums have popped up today asking about mails claiming to come from Blizzard (that is to say, an e-mail address ending in @blizzard.com) requesting the names and e-mail addresses of 25 players for beta invites. Is this real? A hoax? A scam? Responses in the forums have ranged from calling it out as an obvious scam, to saying that it's a known fact that Blizzard has been looking for raiders to test the newest raid content. Well, Tseric has replied to one such thread dodging the scam issue entirely, telling us the following: "The players invited to the beta have a rather broad demographic, so looking at it as only raiding guilds being invited into the beta is simply inaccurate." This seems to kill the scam angle and open up another question -- if Blizzard isn't simply picking out raiding guilds for these out-of-the-blue beta invites, who are they picking? (And what do I have to do to get one? Huh, Tseric?)
Official BC Druid talents announced!
Been waiting? Wait no longer -- the druid's talent preview is up and running on the European website! See new skills here and talent trees here. Interesting highlights include a flight form for flying transport around the Outlands, a new CC spell called Cyclone that has no limitations on enemy type or an indoor/outdoor restriction (but does require level 70), the ubiquitous pet-summon at 41-points balance, and increased HoT spell domination with new healing spell Lifebloom and the 41-point restoration ability Tree of Restoration -- which only allows a druid to cast HoTs.
Possible Expansion Priest & Druid Abilities
I apparently can't resist a good rumor. And true or false, this information (complete with fuzzy screenshots!) is certainly interesting. The theme of pets continues, with the druid rumors showing a summonable Treant as their 41 point balance talent. The priest rumors are less substantial and without any screenshots but still intriguing. I'm nearly tempted to discount them immediately, but, despairing for news of my favorite class, I'm forced to consider them. The rumors are universally odd. They include a shadow-based healing spell which seems ludicrous, but which I can nearly see being balanced with its sky-high mana cost. Holy abilities mainly seem to focus on a priest declaring a player their "champion" and opening up a variety of new spells that are castable only on the champion. True or false, check out the speculation.
Burning Crusade Profession Rumors
World of Raids has some interesting information on professions in the expansion. But are they accurate? Well, I'm a little confused by the listed alchemy specializations - which are very unlike existing profession specializations in the game, which tend to open up new, specialized patterns. (A "potion master" will be able to sometimes produce two potions instead of one, when crafting potions. A "transmutation master" will sometimes get greater results from alchemical transmutations. And an "elixir master" will be able to sometimes produce two elixirs instead of one, when crafting elixirs.) Further, some of the enchants strike me as strange - a +4 all stats enchant for a ring (doesn't that seem... somewhat overpowered?), a +30 healing enchant for bracers (there's already a +24 healing enchant for bracers, and the added +6 seems quite minor). However, take a look and decide for yourself!
The Making of Illidan
If you were at E3 this year, you may have noticed the Illidan of which I refer - a nine foot tall sculpture that brought the character to life in a world away from Azeroth. And now you can see, step by step, the process involved in creating this Illidan. There's not a lot of reading, but plenty of great pictures to check out.
Last Week in Warcraft: August 21st - 27th
Patch 1.12Patch 1.12 goes live!The Burning CrusadeWill we see BC before 2007? (And am I the only hopeless optimist here?)The Burning Crusade alpha test - already in progress?The Burning Crusade leaks begin, with possible information on paladin, mage, warlock, and rogue talents.Interesting rumored rogue talent trees.Breakfast Topics & DiscussionWhat do you think the best player grouping for the expansions arena PvP matches will be?With 1.12 due to be released this week, what are you looking forward to in the patch?What other games do you play when the servers are down?What do you think of patch 1.12?Was there one piece of loot that always eluded you?PvPDon't expect arena PvP to be a spectator sport.Cross-realm battlegrounds are a hit!ContestsA comic contest honorable mention.Win a piece of custom character art.Another comic contest honorable mention.Blizzard NewsTwo new US realms opened.Get ready - Blizzard is planning yearly expansions for us.The new official forums are now live! Check 'em out!The Week's MaintenanceExtended Tuesday maintenance for US realms.Further extended maintenance for US realms.Downtime compensation for several US realms.The usual patch day excitement.Missing characters on several US realms.Extended European maintenance.Wednesday maintenance on several US realms.GuildsIn this week's GuildWatch: raiding is serious stuff.Death & Taxes take out the Four Horsemen in a world first!Raids & DungeonsRaiders respond to the announced change to dungeon caps.Tips & TricksEssential addons for the discerning level 60.A guide to frustration-free instances.Other Items of InterestIn Moviewatch, we have bubble hearth.Roleplaying Azeroth as a living world - are you up to the challenge?Phat Loot Phriday presents - the Amberseal Keeper.
Burning Crusade Abilities Updates
Tseric posted - rather cryptically, I must say - telling us that the talent and abilities page for the burning crusade had been updated. However, he left it to us to figure out what changes may have been made. I've only noticed a few minor changes - though I certainly might have missed something. If anyone has seen any other changes, please leave a comment and let everyone know. However, I've seen the following, which I don't believe were there before... The paladin's consecrate spell will now be a trainable spell for paladins starting at level 20 (and the rank at level 70 will do 592 holy damage over 8 seconds). The paladin's tier 1 protection talent, redoubt, had been changed. Previously, it would incerase the paladin's chance to block with a shield after being a victim of a critical strike. Instead, the increased block ability will have a 10% chance to proc off all melee and ranged attacks. The rogue's evasion ability will now also reduce the chance ranged attacks hit the rogue by 50% for its duration. The warlock's unstable affliction ability (41-point affliction talent) now, in addition to doing damage to the dispeller when dispelled, silences the dispeller for 5 seconds. Additionally, the mana cost for the top rank has been lowered. The warlock's seed of corruption ability now has text suggesting that only one "corruption" spell can be on the target at any one time. Update: Adding information as I find it - thanks, Andy, Eliah.Update: Okay, I'm leaving keeping up with all of the little changes to the professionals. There's a great (and very detailed!) list of all of the tweaks up on the official forums.
Breakfast Topic: Favorite Expansion Build
You've seen the expansion talents for most classes, so now's the time to ask - what do you think? (And if you haven't seen them, you can check them out at the official site or on Wowhead.) Do you already have a talent build all planned out or are you having trouble deciding? Since the priest changes haven't yet been announced yet, I have been busy drooling over the talent trees of other healing classes and plotting out my paladin-to-be. (I think at least 42 points in holy is called for!) So, have you got the perfect talent build yet? Tell us all about it!
Wait No Longer: Official Talent Information!
It's not so long since I put up a post about more Burning Crusade rumors - but now there's no more waiting to determine what's fake and what's not (unless you were waiting for druid, hunter, or priest news). Blizzard has announced the official talent and spell changes for six classes! (Though they do not that the information shown is not final and still subject to change.) The new information comes complete with talent calculator, so you can go right ahead and plot your new build. These changes confirm some things we've seen rumored, and deny others. And all in all, these changes only make me more curious about what Blizzard has planned for the three classes they've not yet done announcements for.
More Potential Burning Crusade Data
We've got yet more leaked data about the Burning Crusade! And perhaps I'm just being naive, but I'm tempted to believe there's at least some truth in all of these rumors. The Caverns of Time site has information on the druid, mage, paladin, rogue, shaman, warlock, and warrior talent trees as well as a large collection of interesting screenshots (including the Draenei mount). (Though, of course, the class about which I am most curious - the priest - is still conspicuously absent!) At any rate, check it out for yourself and tell us what you think.[Thanks, Nelson]
Possible Expansion Rogue Talent Trees
Whether this is legitimate or no, we may not know until there's an official announcement. However, this image has made its way out onto the net, displaying all three rogue trees and the tooltips for new talents. The talents don't look terribly unreasonable, and they contain some interesting things (and by "interesting" I mean "things I've never seen players discuss or ask for") that we've seen in other rumors - specifically the talent that increases the effect of healing on the player. But you'll have to decide for yourself if you think these are for real. A list of talents shown in the screenshot continues below.
Breakfast Topic: Best Arena Group Composition
If you wish to compete in arena PvP matches in the expansion, you'll have to be part of an arena team. Formed and organized similarly to guilds, these teams will have a set membership and a maximum size (4 for 2v2 arenas, 6 for 3v3 arenas, or 10 for 5v5 arenas). So the question is - what's the best class makeup for an arena group? I'm considering a priest/hunter team - but more because my best in-game friend plays a hunter than because I think it's the perfect class combination. I honestly can't decide on the best combination for these arena battles. Would you attempt to stack multiples of powerful classes - a pair or trio of shadow priests, for example. Or try to cover all of your bases with hybrid classes - pairing a druid off with a shaman or paladin. So what do you think the ideal class balance will be for these arena matches - and do you have your dream team ready to go yet?
Breakfast Topic: What Do You Want from the Expansion?
This question posed on the general forums, while I presume it to be in jest, got me to thinking. The poster wants a blue dragon whelpling as a non-combat pet and claims, succinctly, that if one is not provided in the expansion, he will not be purchasing it. However, what are the real make-or-break features of the expansion? The features the game must have, and without which you wouldn't think to purchase it? I'm quite sure I'm already hooked - the revised PvP system and the smaller dungeon caps have already sold me on it. But I'm sure there are others who disagree. So what do you feel the expansion must have to keep you interested and involved in the game?
