TheBurningCrusade
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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?
More Details on the Arena System
We didn't know much about the upcoming arena PvP system that's coming with the expansion. However, this afternoon CM Drysc graced us with some additional details on how the arenas will work, and a bit about how the new ranking system will work - and how Blizzard is trying to make these arenas an even playing ground. So without further ado, here's what we know about the arena: When a player enters an arena battle, all buffs and conjured items are purged/deleted. This is done to ensure no outside buffs or items from members outside of your team are able to be used in an arena battle. No consumables other than bandages and conjured items can be used while in the arena. There will be a waiting area similar to the current battlegrounds where players on the team will be able to conjure items and cast buffs. Abilities/spells/items with cooldowns longer than 15 minutes cannot be used while in the arena. Each arena team will be given a rating, and will be matched up in the arena queue against teams of a similar rating (matching within that specific cross-realm battlegroup). As time progresses the matching system will broaden its search up to a limit if a closely rated team cannot be found. Ratings adjustments are made in the same way that ELO ratings adjustments are made. This system works by adjusting each arena team's rating from a specific match based on the rating of the team they are up against. If a team wins against a team of a higher rating, the increase of their arena rating would be much higher than if they had won against a team of a lower rating. This system will help promote players improving their skill and besting teams which may have previously held the top spots. At the end of each week, characters receive arena points based on their team's rating. A team must have fought a minimum number of battles for the week, which we have announced as currently set to 10 games. A player must have played in at least 30% of the team's battles that week in order to be eligible to receive arena points. Each eligible player will then receive a fraction of the teams total awarded points to spend on arena rewards. Players may spend their points on arena rewards, or save their points until they have enough to get the rewards they desire. There is a limit to the number of points a player can stockpile, which is currently planned to be as high as the most expensive item. At the end of a season, players on a team are given a title based on their team's relative position on the ladder which will last through the next arena season. [Fan art by Guillaume Bonnet]
Breakfast Topic: Favorite New Mount?
The title says it all. We now know what the new mounts are for the Draenei and Blood Elves, so what's your favorite? While we don't have screenshots of either yet, we know that the Draenei will be riding the elephant-like elekk, and the Blood Elves will be riding on cockatrices. While a number of posters seem to think that a cockatrice is some sort of chicken (I've also seen comparisons to Final Fantasy's Chocobo), but the half-bird, half-lizard has the chance to look awfully interesting. Of course, there could be a lot of differences between our perception of these creatures and Blizzard's perception of these creatures. But I'm personally looking forward to a gnome riding an elephant...
Debuff Limit to Change in Expansion
Back at the dawn of time, the debuff limit was 8. That means only 8 debuffs could be on a monster at any given time - which lead to severe restrictions when you had 40 players attacking the same thing in a raid environment. (You would either always have important debuffs being bumped off or you would have very strict raid rules which only allowed certain debuffs to be used by certain players.) And warlocks, whose DOT spells actually made up good portion of their damage done, were reduced to shadowbolting machines. The debuff limit was later doubled, and currently sits at 16, which allows for a lot more flexibility. However, recently the CMs dropped what I consider to be quite the bombshell: in the expansion, in addition to smaller raid size, the debuff limit will be increased again - to 40. Combined with 25-player raids, that's a heck of a lot of debuffs...!
Breakfast Topic: Why Not Change History?
With the expansion, we'll be able to venture into the Caverns of Time, where we'll be able to travel through time and visit crucial moments of Azeroth's history. We're tasked with safeguarding the past, but... why? Will Alliance players really be enthusiastic about aiding in Thrall's escape from Durnholde Keep? Do any of us want to return to the past only to idly watch as Medivh opens the Dark Portal, for example? It seems Nozdormu really needs to work on his advertising pitch...And if we have the power to travel to the past, why not use it to fix things? Tired of farming to create a Scepter of the Shifting Sands? Why not just go back and prevent Fandral Staghelm from smashing it in the first place - or better yet, take it from him? So we can travel into the past - but why don't we change it?
Another Burning Crusade Preview
When I first started babbling excitedly to a friend about the major PvP changes coming with the Burning Crusade, he thought I must be making it up. I sent him links, and he still wondered if this was just some kind of joke. It all sounds like fake patch notes, he explained - where someone has read the forums for a while and bundled every complaint into a patch. Well, this Burning Crusade preview at Gamespot mainly offers confirmation to hopeless pessimists that these changes are, indeed, real.But it does have some unique pieces of news, including the following... The difficulty settings on dungeons currently only apply to expansion dungeons, though they've been thinking about adding these features to some of the game's older dungeons. The Dreanei mount will be the "elekk" - which Gamespot describes as a creature resembling a war elephant The Blood Elf mount will be the cockatrice - presumably one similar to myth. Besides the Nether Drake, there will be faction-specific flying mounts. The Horde will get an armored wyvern and the Alliance will have armored griffons. Brief previews of the zones Silvermoon Castle (home of the Blood Elves), Exodar (home of the Dreanei), Tempest Keep, Hellfire Citadel, Collfang Reservoir, Karazahn Tower, and Nagrand.
Joystiq Interviews Jeff Kaplan
Joystiq managed to get a interview with World of Warcraft's lead designer, Jeff Kaplan, (you may know him as "Tigole" on the forums) - and there's some interesting stuff here. Of course there's a lot of info here, but some of the most interesting talk revolves around the new PvP system. As was posted earlier, the system will consist of arena matches of 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 which will can be alliance v. horde, alliance v. alliance, or horde v. horde and cross-server. And the honor system as we know it will be gone entirely - to quote Kaplan: It's a competitive-based ladder that uses a rating system similar to the chess ELO rating. One of the key differences is that we require a minimum number of games that you have to play. Unlike in the chess system where if you're on top, you can just sit there, we wanted to ensure that the No. 1 guy can be knocked off his top spot. But, we don't require too many games. We'll require something around ten games. Further, honor points as we know them will be significantly changed. There will be no more honor decay and instead of determining your PVP rank, the honor points you accumulate can be spent to purchase PVP gear. And other tidbits touched on by the interview include... News that there's been some thought about implementing voice chat in the game, though it won't be coming in the Burning Crusade. Dungeons (though whether all dungeons, or simply expansion dungeons) will have a "normal" and "hard" difficulty setting, and loot will be adjusted accordingly. They're currently anticipating new races with every expansion - though there is a finite limit on the number of races in Azeroth. I can't help but be excited about this news.
Caverns of Time Preview
The entrance to the Caverns of Time has long existed in-game, nestled in the Tanaris desert and guarded by several rather unfriendly members of the bronze dragonflight. However, in the Burning Crusade, players will, for the first time, be able to venture inside the caverns and aid the bronze flight in its mission to safeguard the past. Inside, players will be able to help with Trall's escape from Durnholde keep, participate in the Battle of Mount Hyjal, and witness the original opening of the Dark Portal by Medivh. There's still a lot we don't know about this upcoming dungeon - level requirement? number of players needed? - but it already sounds exciting.
Burning Crusade Release Date?
While we regularly get tips on the supposed release date of the game - no, we still don't know for certain. Amazon.com says October 15th, Best Buy says November 9th, and EB Games & GameStop both say November 28th. Why the conflicting dates? Well, Blizzard hasn't announced an official date, and it's harder to sell pre-orders without some release date - so all of these retailers are guessing in the dark. However, that doesn't mean one of them couldn't be right - Blizzard has said that they're aiming for a Q4 2006 release, which doesn't rule out much of the ongoing speculation. (Though the date could always slip, you know...)
