tier-8
Latest
MMO-Champion's updated Tier 8 preview
MMO-Champion put up an update for its Tier 8 listings today, including some high res screenshots showing off the high res skins, and a video of all of the sets. Most of this is stuff that we've seen before, but some of it is new. New and wonderful. I'm really not a fan of the Paladin set this time around, but there also seems to be a robe version which I like much better. It's still pretty awful on Females, though. Again, I ask, why in the world did they bring midriff back on tier sets? Leave that to the greens and blues!We've also started to see stats for some of these sets on the PTR, but not many. A lot of the raid items that are becoming available on the PTR haven't actually had their stats adjusted from the Tier 7 items they were copy-pasted from. In this case, the Warrior set that we've seen is from Ulduar-10 and shares stats with gear from Naxxramas-25. That might actually be a pretty accurate indicator of what it will be on live, with maybe a little extra tweaking upwards to make the 10-man still useful for people who did Naxx-25 previously.
The best of WoW Insider: February 24 - March 3, 2009
Lots of new information on Joystiq's WoW-obsessed site WoW Insider this week. There's a new PTR, a new patch on the way, and lots of new tidbits and insights about what's going to be new in Azeroth in a little while. Having trouble staying on top of all the changes? We can help. News WoW Insider's Guide to Patch 3.1Top to bottom coverage of the upcoming content patch. Full Tier 8 armor sets beginning to emergeWe're getting our first looks at the hot new armor coming out of the endgame instances. Datamined Ulduar boss information, with analysisWhat kinds of bosses will you be facing down in the new Ulduar raid instance? We'll let you know. WoW PTR 3.1: Swimming mount videoTake your mounts for a swim with videos of every single mount we could find. PTR quests show hard mode, Ulduar storyline, and Val'anyrDefinite spoilers here, but if you want a look at what we'll be questing for in the new content, check this out. Features Guildwatch: Brother against brotherOur guild gossip column dives into the worst of guild drama from around the realms just for your enjoyment. The Queue: Missing outHave questions about the World of Warcraft? Our Q&A column has answers. Insider Trader: Your livelihood after patch 3.1How you'll make your money after the new content patch comes out. Arcane Brilliance: Mage changes (or lack of) on the PTRSo what's up with Mages on the PTR? Not much, apparently. WoW Insider Show Episode 79: Argently competingOur weekly podcast lays down the lowdown on the latest in game news.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Tailor
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the twenty-seventh in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class (or profession!) well, without embarrassing yourself. Tailoring is another aspect of Warcraft which people tend to just gloss over without realizing it is an important element of your character's backstory and personality. "I am Zorlastine the wicked Forsaken warlock!" one might say, "I have come to wreak havoc and destruction upon this world! I also sell extremely large bags on the auction house!" Often it's an element that doesn't quite jive with the rest of one's character, but at the same time, nobody really notices. A powerful mage capable of teleportation, massive explosions, and yes, even KNITTING! Makes perfect sense, right?No it doesn't.So today we have gathered a few ideas for how to weave your cloth-wearing character's capability to create cloth wearables into the actual story and roleplay of your character. You think making clothes is a tedious profession? A pastime just for old ladies? No, tailoring is an avant-garde artistic activity of the elite, an excellent way for a starving hero to make cash, and even a mystical philosophy all on its own.
The Daily Quest: Of class quests, Warcraft music and Big Black Kitties
Patch 3.1 is still burning up the PTR and sending most classes into a tail spin trying to figure out what their new talent builds will be when the patch goes live. Forget the madness of the ever-changing class mechanics for a few minutes to peruse today's WoW-related posts from around the blogosphere. Big Red Kitty shows off what could be the latest Hunter pet models or what could be a texture glitch seen running amok on the Test realm (see pic above.) More on his site. To PTR or not PTR, that is the question explored at Shields Up. They look at both sides of the controversial topic. Tier 8 gear have you interested in raiding for the first time? Check out The Virtues of the Effective Raider, a good primer for people first dipping their toe into WoW raiding. And for those more experienced in raiding, check out our weekly raiding columns, Ready Check and Raid Rx. Though the Echoes of War music was released months ago, Blizzard made an official announcement this week. Next week, they'll be announcing the launch of The Burning Crusade... Hoping for more class-specific quests? You'll have to wait a little longer according to European CM Vaneras. They take time to create and implement. He doesn't specifically say they are making more, but does go into the process involved.
Ulduar on the 3.1 PTR: The Iron Council
Last night was round 2 of the Ulduar encounter testing on the 3.1 PTR, and after last night's attempts at Hodir, my guildies and waste-of-a-raid-spot coworker were excited to get back into the beautiful Titan dinner party and sink our teeth into another new encounter. And if we wanted a snack, we got ourselves a three-course meal: The Iron Council, a veritable Three's Company of dudes made of metal. Except Three's Company really had one dude in it regularly, and the other two were women. And none of the Iron Councilmen are Councilwomen. Clearly Iron society is not as progressive as ours. As expected, the server couldn't be convinced to just let us get in and do what we needed to do, so we spent an inordinately long time logging in, stalling at the loading screen, getting in, crashing out, getting stuck in queue, swearing loudly in Ventrilo, and getting alcohol to ease the pain.But we did manage to try the fight a few times. This writeup is spoiler-heavy! If you don't wish to know anything about the strategy for this or any Ulduar boss, don't click below. You've been warned.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Druid glyphs and undocumented changes
Personally the change I'm still plotzing over most in relation to 3.1 is the sheer locational chutzpah of the Argent Tournament. I'm not sure I understand why the northern portion of Icecrown is considered an appropriate spot. It's like seeing some Milwaukee strip-mall developer parachute into the middle of Mordor and exclaim over the retail and tourist opportunities within a 100-yard radius of Sauron's eye. What does the Scourge think about this tournament? Did they get a cut of the concession stand's profits as a means of buying their cooperation? Who else was bribed in order to make this happen? These are all questions to which I think we deserve answers.Anyway, I seem to be one of the unlucky souls doomed to disconnect every 10 minutes from the PTR (although I'm not anywhere near Dalaran), but I'm sure it'll get fixed. One minor suggestion for all those Druids porting to Moonglade in order to pick up dual-specs immediately; have 1,000g in hand before you do so. As we all know, getting into Moonglade is rather easy. Getting out of Moonglade tends to be rather more time-consuming unless you're willing to burn your hearth in a world newly free of ghetto-hearthing.Some of the undocumented changes we've actually already talked about, so if you don't see something here but missed our first article, you should find them here.
Tier 8 Ulduar weapon models previewed, Val'anyr included
3.1 and Ulduar are coming soon. No doubt a lot of you have been looking forward to seeing what your reward for hacking apart a variety of priceless Titan artifacts and servants of the Old Gods would be. MMO-Champion, as always, has your back! They've released a preview for the weapon and accessory models that'll be in Ulduar, and they look fantastic. The theme of the instance seems to carry through into all of its gear, and I'm going to love just how good my guild and I will look after a bit of time in there. The image above is a paladin holding one of the Ulduar shields and the much-touted Val'anyr, Gavel of Ancient Kings, and that's just the tip of the iceberg from MMOC, who promises a video of it in action very soon. Bear in mind these are still tentative models and the art may change, but even then, what are you waiting for? Santa won't get mad if you peek. Go go go! Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
The Queue: Dye job
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today. So the Patch 3.1 PTR has dropped and all the madness associated with it has started. I always find it interesting to watch how some ideas and changes morph from "AMG! Imma gonna stop paying MY $15 A MONTH right now and you're gonna be out of a job because Titan's Grip didn't need to be nerfed!" to "WoW! These new Warrior changes make the Titan's Grip nerf pointless! I am so uber again!" I /facepalm at that sort of thought progression, as I suspect many of you do as well.Cielago asked:"How how long do I have to get title and mount rewards for the achievements associated with Wrath raids and heroics? Is it until patch 3.1 when Ulduar gear will make them easier? Until the next expansion? Some time in between?"
Full Tier 8 armor sets beginning to emerge [Updatedx2]
We're starting to see full Tier 8 sets emerge from folks around the web. Many thanks to everyone who's sent us images in!We've compiled what we have in a gallery below. Obviously we'll be adding more to it over the next hours / days as we get more pictures and what not.The druid armor looks particularly cool I think, and is featured on the image above. Click it for a higher resolution image.The warrior set reminds me of Tier 5 from SSC/TK, and I do not like that. Not one bit. But... at least it's not the Paladin Tier 4 set.We'll let you know when we have more sets in for your eyes to enjoy!Update: Shaman Tier 8 gear added.Updatex2: All classes Tier 8 gear added and concept art as well. Big shout out to MMO-Champion for providing the new shots. Click here for first shot of new gallery entries. %Gallery-45769% Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Druid changes
All right, Druids. I've been rolled out of bed to come look at the new PTR test notes, because apparently this is a big deal or something. As far as I'm concerned, all important business can wait until a reasonable hour in the morning, like 3 PM, but because this site is run by crazy people here I am.So let's go skim the patch notes quickly -- /flick flick flick -- and try to answer the most important question first:Is Tauren cat form still in the game?/flick flickYes.Man, %*#$ this patch.Leaving aside this EGREGIOUS OMISSION, we're going to take a look at the preliminary Druid changes in patch 3.1 past the cut here, and courtesy of Michael Sacco and some data-mining gnomes, we also have the Druid Tier 8 shoulder graphic, which is pretty cool and reminds me a lot of Tier 5. I'm also seeing some undocumented changes in the game files off MMO Champion, but I'll have to examine those later today. I haven't been able to get on the PTR yet, so I can't confirm whether these changes have actually gone live on the test realm.
The best of WoW Insider: January 27 - February 3, 2009
This past week in the World of Warcraft was enough to make moonkins laugh with glee (that's what a moonkin is above, in case you don't know your WoW lingo). And WoW Insider covered it all -- here's our top 10 posts of the week for you to peruse at your pleasure. News Believe it or don't: Patch 3.1 notes leaked?These patch notes were later confirmed as fake. But they sure look purty. Mysterious twink rends worldsA level 10 twink ... that beat Gruul? Tier 8 preview videoA look at the new gear you'll probably never have. Official 3.0.8.9506 patch notesBugfixes for bugfixes in the latest patch to the game. Replenishment is mandatory, and other buff discussion from GhostcrawlerThe forum dev with the mostest ruffles a few buff feathers. Features Guildwatch: Topping meters on every character, every nightDrama, downed, and recruiting news from guilds around the realms. The Queue: Last ritesOur Q&A column answers what to do with just one month left in the game, and other reader questions. Ask a Lore Nerd: More Scourge loveSome people know some lore. The Lore Nerd knows all. Scattered Shots: Hunter changes in 3.0.9 and 3.1Our Hunter column examines the future of the ranged DPSers. WoW Rookie: Will my computer run WoW?Unsure if your PC will play? Let our beginner column help you out.
A kind-of-sort-of Ulduar preview
Our intrepid YouTube adventurer Dan O'Halloran found this video posted back on the 5th of January this year detailing the Ulduar raid zone thus far. It was made using private server technology, and contains heavy spoilers. You've been warned.When you watch the video you'll notice that much of it is incomplete. Large areas are nothing more than gray swaths with no content in them. This is intentional and normal – the areas just are not developed yet.However there are areas which are vibrant and high quality. Parts of the place resemble (as expected) the ancient gods look to it. The place could (and will) be sitting right next to the Halls of Lightning.Take a watch through the video when you have a moment today. And don't forget to check out the previews of the Tier 8 gear MMO-Champion is offering.Update 7:38 p.m. EST: Looks like Blizzard had YouTube take the video down.
MMO-Champion's Tier 8 preview video
I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty hungry for patch 3.1 information. There's not a whole lot of it yet, but I suspect we'll be hit with a deluge of it by mid-Februrary. That's just my personal guess though, and I can't say there's much to back it up. It's sort of a void of information right now. I'm still itching to see and hear more about it though, so I was pretty happy to see the video MMO-Champion posted earlier today. It highlights the Tier 8 sets that can currently be found in the datafiles, which we've seen before but not in such a clear and simple video, with nice and (generally) neutral lighting. Death Knights, Hunters, Rogues, Mages, Warlocks, and Priests are highlighted, in that order. The last few classes don't have any skins (or hints of skins) buried in the game yet, so we'll need to wait awhile to see those. Out of the ones we can see, I'm not really sure which set is my favorite. They're all pretty cool and fit the class decently enough, except for possibly Hunters which is still cool but looks a lot like a Plate set for some reason. The Priest set is pretty amazing, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on it eventually.
More on Ulduar and hard modes
Daelo, the lead encounter designer, has dropped a few more details about Ulduar, the tier 8 raid that is coming in patch 3.1 (whenever that happens to be). We heard yesterday that there will be more "hard modes" in the raid, analogous to Sartharion. Today we learn that, again like Sartharion, completing the hard modes will give you not only achievements but also additional, better loot. There is also, apparently, going to be an optional encounter in the raid that will be hard-mode-only; I'm picturing something like Nightbane here. Furthermore, Ulduar in general, according to the post, will be harder than Naxxramas is. Naxx was tuned easy on purpose, and the devs have been saying for a while that Ulduar will not be that way, to the same extent. The analogy Daelo makes in his post is that if Naxx is "the introduction to raiding 101 class for players who have never raided before," Ulduar is "the second year class." So we won't be hitting a brick wall, but it probably won't be compared to UBRS either like Naxx often is now. Either way, we won't know much for sure until it's up on the PTR, but I'm certainly looking forward to it.
The Queue: Tier 8, wormholes, and more
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.The above video is a video that has been posted very, very early in the Wrath beta, possibly even the alpha. Originally thought to be Tier 7, it's actually the next tier up, Tier 8. There are a few graphical glitches in the armor because it hadn't been fully implemented yet at the time the video was made. Your Hunter will not have big green squares sticking out of their head, I promise. I embedded it into today's post in response to Tanglebones's question:Oh! I got a question. What the heck is Apothecary Putress wearing on his head, and where can i get one?Watch the video and found out!Covnam asked...I hit 70 on my Mage shortly before Wrath came out, so I never graduated from normal dungeons to heroic dungeons and raids. Once I hit 80, where should I go? Do Heroic dungeons come first or 10/25 man raids? Also what type of stats would you recommend before running either of these types of end game content?
EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskilling: armor
We have one last link to share with you from EQ2 Traders Corner tonight. Previously, in their blitz on EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskill coverage, we featured their new harvested resources and furniture showcase pages. This final page has to do with pimping out your character's appearance (and undoubtedly stats, though we don't see that just yet) in the expansion, with a large gallery of the different kinds of crafted armor.This gallery has front and back shots of males and females wearing what looks like every kind of new armor. As with the furniture catalogue, it contains items of both the common and rare variety. There is one set of chain armor that has been updated in-game and not yet on their page, but apart from that, you should be able to determine what your avatar will look like once you've been kitted out by your local crafter after RoK hits.Have a browse of the armor shots, and stay tuned to Massively for more Rise of Kunark coverage both leading up to and after the anticipated release.
EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskilling: furniture
Earlier today we linked to EQ2 Traders Corner's article on harvested resources found in EverQuest II's upcoming Rise of Kunark expansion. This wasn't the only hard work that they did to document their creative journeys in Kunark, as we now bring you their tier 8 furniture showcase.There are nearly 60 screenshots in this gallery of brand new crafted furniture, from the expected lighting, bed, table and bookshelf items, to other more unique things such as weighing scales and hourglasses. Some of the paintings that can be made look particularly nice, and will surely be a popular choice for those wanting to shake up the aesthetics of their housing.If you're less concerned with what these items look like, and more with what they can actually do for you, the page also tells us that the common items will reduce rent status by 125, and the rare items by 1100. Have a window shop for things you'd like to buy in the expansion via the related story link, and there is more still to come from EQ2 Traders Corner later on.
EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskilling: harvested resources
There's not long left now before EverQuest II's world will be expanded once again, and Rise of Kunark is released. Leading up to the November 13th launch, the tradeskill fanatics at EQ2 Traders Corner have put up a ton of great information for crafters in the new expansion. One of their most useful pages details the tier 8 harvested resources found on the continent of Kunark.The names of all the new resource types can be found here, including the rare harvests, as well as a list of transmuting items. Apart from this, the page informs that meats will no longer come from animal dens as they used to. Dens are solely for hides now, and meat will be obtained by killing mobs. We are assured, however, that for those tradeskillers that prefer not to bloody their blades, there is a level-up path for Provisioners that does not involve meats at all. Check out the resource lists at the link below, and we'll feature some more excellent RoK crafting coverage from EQ2 Traders Corner, later in the day.
EQ2 tradeskill writs confirmed for Tier 8
If you were worried that you would be grinding your EverQuest II tradeskiller to 80 without any writs to help along the way, then fear not. EQ2 tradeskill developer Domino has replied in a thread on the official forums, stating that T8 writs are currently being beta tested for inclusion with Rise of Kunark, the new expansion that will see the level cap for both adventuring and tradeskilling raised to 80. It was also confirmed that the existing distribution scheme of writs throughout a tier, will be used for T8 -- that is to say, the writs will be at level 70, 74 and 79. There was some discussion in the thread as to the possibility of changing this formula, particularly moving the 79 writ a little closer to 74 -- people argued that there was limited use of a new writ on the second-to-last level, and that the few levels prior to this are punishing when grinding on a lower level writ. However, Domino stated that for the time being, the levels would remain the same for the new tier, and could not say whether they would be changed in the future.Are there any EQ2 tradeskill buffs out there that have an opinion on this matter? Would you prefer to see the last level of writs moved down somewhat, to bridge the large gap -- or perhaps, an extra level of writs to be added altogether? Or are you of the mind that it is fine as is? Let your voice be heard in our comments section.
