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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.
Arena Season 3 armor sets are on the PTR
World of Raids is at it again. Arena Season 3 started last night on the PTR and a new Arena vendor popped up in Area 52. WoR already has screenshots of the new PvP armor sets for every class and every talent spec with images from the Dressing Room as well.Every piece has +Resilience and has set bonuses for the same stat. Sprinkled through the armor (and the weapons/ranged slot items) are small enhancements to existing abilities for each class as well.Head over to WoR and check it out, then let us know if you think Blizzard has made a class PvP set that works for you or is it totally off base. You can also check out all the latest Arena Season 3 news right here!
2.3 PTR screenshots rolling in
2.3 is up on the PTR, and both MMO Champion and World of Raids have broken out the Model Viewer and are ripping the new patch to pieces. Man, that bear mount looks awesome. And the engineering mount! And Zul'jin!Spoilers ahead, as well-- these guys are pulling out all the weapons from Zul'Aman, so if you don't want to see what all the new drops look like yet, don't look now. If you want to know what I think, I'd rather see this stuff in-game rather than diving in with the Model Viewer-- it's like reading the last page of a brand new novel, in that you might not know exactly how you get there, but you'll already know just what it looks like. The bear mount above isn't that big of a spoiler-- we already know it drops from. But the weapons and armor-- a big part of me wants to wait and see them in Zul'Aman itself.Still, if seeing the patch laid out in screenshots is your thing, both MMO Champion and World of Raids are going at it, and I'm told we'll be diving in later this evening. 2.3 ahoy! Go test those bugs on the PTR so those of us on the live realms can get it quick!Thanks, Atryd!
Unofficial Patch 2.3 notes
With the avalanche of information from Blizzard in the last week about Patch 2.3 it's been hard to keep track of it all. Fortunately, two sites have done just that. MMO-Champion and World of Raids have both compiled all the blue notes into a theoretical Test Realm Patch 2.3 Notes list. Most of the notes listed have links leading to the official source of the information.There will be a great deal more in the patch than what the blues have revealed so far, so take these as only partial lists. Also, a few items Blizzard hoped to get into the patch may not make it. This is the unfortunate truth in the development process.World of Warcraft Lead Developer Jeff Kaplan, aka Tigole, mentioned that Patch 2.3 may hit the Test server this week. This seems very likely since the current patch on the PTRs, 2.2.2, must move off for Brewfest to go live on Tuesday.
WoR previews Zul'Aman
World of Raids has posted everything they know about Zul'Aman, the next 10man instance due in patch 2.3. Tigole has said that Zul'Aman is coming to the PTR next week, so if your guild is a big fan of the PTR, you could be headed to the Troll city in the Ghostlands very soon.They've got pictures up of four of the bosses, and info about the two last bosses, Hexlord Zin'jakk and Zul'jin himself, that we'll fight together. The first boss (whichever one that is-- I thought it was the Bear boss, but that fight seems more complicated) is supposed to be easier in terms of raid coordination, but Zul'Aman is definitely a continuation of what's going on in Karazhan, according to Blizzard. They say the difficulty will start around Nightbane or Prince and head upwards from there. Also, as we've heard, Zul'Aman will have a timed quest similar to the Baron Run, where you can try doing the instance quickly to earn better loot.Exciting stuff. I usually stay away from the PTRs, just because I like seeing stuff when it's released live on the realms, and any progress I make in the PTRs is eventually lost. But 10 mans are always fun, and I love the Zul instances, so whenever the PTR hits this week, you just might find me there taking down Trolls.Thanks, Atryd!
WoW Radio interviews Nihilum
World of Raids has the story on WoW Radio's interview with Nihilum, WoW EU's leading guild in terms of PVE content. Awake and Ekke represent Nihilum and take us on a 90-minute audio insight into a top-tier raiding guild. Covering topics from adjusting to TBC raiding, the recent nerfs to Gruul and Magtheridon, rogues and girls and raiding guilds, and even their bad taste in music (Justin Timberlake, anyone?), it's well worth the time spent listening to it.My favorite part is when they discuss their preferred healer setup for a 25-man raid. Woo hoo!Click on through to download the MP3 from World of Raids, then come back and share what you found interesting and insightful from the interview.
Adventures in Beta: Head, leg and shoulder enchants
Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief: you don't have to go back to Zul'Gurub to get decent head, shoulder and leg enchantments for your new Burning Crusade gear. The old days of Jindo/Bloodlord runs are over, to be replaced with a myriad of non-enchanting enchantment options, as ably documented by Macalister on World of Raids. To summarize Macalister's list, most of the shoulder enchantments come from reputation with the Aldors and the Scryers, two competing groups of casters (more on them later). Raising your reputation with one will decrease your reputation with the other, so choose wisely! Both sides offer enhancements for most stats, but in different combinations, so it's not the end of the world if you go for one reputation over the other. Head enhancements are available from a wide variety of rep grinds in the Outlands. There are a ton of resistance enchantments at honored reputation with factions, and ZG-like stat enhancers at revered reputation. The revered enhancements cost 100 gold, and are available at revered with Thrallmar/Honor Hold (healing and mana regen), The Sha'Tar (damage/healing and spell hit), Keepers of Time (defense and dodge), Lower City (strength and intellect for some reason) and Cenarion Expedition (attack power and hit). If you're looking for leg enchantments, just find your local tailor or leatherworker. Tailors who do the whole Aldor/Scryer grind can learn either healing/stam spellthread from the Aldors or damage/stam spellthread from the Scryers. They can then embroider the thread onto your pants. (Note: Remove pants before embroidery.) Melee characters can look for the leg armor that is crafted by leatherworkers. Leatherworkers can learn to create stamina/agility leg armor with Cenarion Expedition reputation, and attack power/crit leg armor with Honor Hold/Thrallmar reputation.
