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Totem Talk: Enhancement beta update
Axes, maces, lightning, Windfury and wolves. It can mean only one thing: enhancement. Rich Maloy lives it and loves it. His main spec is enhance. His off-spec is enhance. He blogs about the life and times of enhance, and leads the guild Big Crits (Week 13 now live!)as the enhancement shaman Stoneybaby. It's been a few weeks since my last beta post. I feel like I'm back in grammar school at good ol' St. Louise de Marillac, "forgive me readers, it's been four weeks since my last beta post. Since then I've been mean to my guild, and I tried to kill my own priest." In game priest, in game! I can't wait to read the letters to the editor about that slip up. Oh well, at least I didn't use the word "casual." Moving right along to important topics that everyone cares about: beta changes for enhancement shamans! Well, I suppose "everyone" excludes people that are not interested in beta spoilers. Great, two paragraphs in and I've already offended Catholics, priests, and people not interested in beta spoilers. Look on the bright side: at least I didn't use an offensive font this week! If you are interested in the latest beta changes as they relate to enhancement shamans then please read on. Please note that beyond this point, this post will not further offend your good, wholesome middle Azerothian sensibilities.
Arcane Brilliance: Mage AoE in Cataclysm, part 1
It's time again for Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column known for its special five-alarm chili recipe. It's a delicate blend of three different conjured beans, spiced up with Fireballs, Scorches, and slow-cooked over a smoldering Flamestrike, loaded with lamb, bacon, and the occasional roasted monkey, glazed with a dusting of Frostfire, then lit aflame with a Pyroblast. And the secret ingredient? Warlock tears. If there's one thing mages have been known for during the course of this fine game we all play, it's mass murder. We have at our disposal a wide array of spells that wreak havoc over a large area, perhaps more so than any other class. When it comes to killing things in large numbers, mages are remarkably adept. It's a role we embrace wholeheartedly. AoE has evolved quite since the inception of the game. In vanilla WoW, AoE was a great way to get yourself killed in an instance, a method of attack that was mostly limited to solo farming and certain trash pulls. These days, with the ability tanks have to hold multiple mobs with relative ease, AoE has morphed into the go-to way to deal with multiple-mob pulls of all shapes and sizes. Crowd control has gone the way of Wand Specialization; it simply isn't required in most situations in Wrath. Cataclysm is bringing with it some fairly sweeping changes to the way we utilize our AoE repertoire. The developers have stated their intention to return us to a time when we actually had to worry about things like crowd control and pull-sizes, and though we're not reverting completely, pulls on the beta certainly feel more like vanilla or Burning Crusade pulls than anything we saw in Wrath. Join me after the break and we'll go over how our AoE spells will work in this coming era.
Cataclysm beta: New glyphs for rogues and shaman
Blizzard's been hard at work adjusting a lot of WoW's game systems for Cataclysm, and one of the biggest changes in the pipeline is the overhaul of the inscription profession. You may remember the Path of the Titans alternate advancement system was axed in favor of making inscription, well, better. On top of other changes and a new UI, part of this task is adding a new tier of glyphs -- called prime glyphs -- on top of the already-existing tiers of major and minor. Ghostcrawler recently had this to say about the new glyph system: Ghostcrawler Prime glyphs aren't going to be exciting in a "change up your rotation" style. We want primes to be unambiguous dps (etc.) increases so we figured they might as well be easy to understand rather than something so convoluted that everyone would just go to a fansite to see which 3 to pick. The majors are more interesting, because they are either not dps increases at all, or dps increases in ways that are tricky to math out. We think players will debate and geek out more about which majors to use, and with the new glyph design, swapping them out once in awhile isn't very painful. Minors are basically convenience or fun. source Several classes have had their glyphs worked on and updated as of this beta patch, but only rogues and shaman glyph passes appear to be "done," so we've listed glyphs for those two after the break.
The Queue: Dog Wizard
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. /cast Conjure Bone /cast Conjure Bone /cast Conjure Bone /cast Conjure Bone Bui asked: With the level cap having gone up to 85 now and I'm guessing plenty of beta testers have reached it whats the gear looking like from the quests and other sources ? I mean is it apparent that all the ICC stuff you got will be put to shame by the new greens? I know you've said that most of your gear will be getting replaced by around 83 but how vast is the gap between ICC and like an 85 green? Uldum and Twilight Highlands aren't itemized yet, so we don't know. My ICC gear (non-heroic) was replaced handily by stuff in Deepholm and Hyjal before it; if not due to pure power differences, than because of mastery and much-needed stamina against the hard-hitting Cataclysm mobs.
The Light and How to Swing It: Where did they go?
With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge, and soon, an entire flight of black dragons. Please send screenshots as well as any comments to my email at gregg@wow.com. Before we get on to business, I need another batch of screenshots for headers if anyone feels like tossing a couple my way. A lot of abilities have been either renamed, revamped or removed in the Cataclysm beta. This is part of a consolidation process to remove a lot of buttons off of our bars. Other abilities were changed to remove durability and healing from retribution. However, in the interest of explaining where things went, I decided it might be best to make a list of our lost and renamed abilities, for those of you who haven't been able to keep up with all of the changes.
Heroic Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines will be released with Cataclysm
Good news, everyone! I've fixed the poison slime pi -- wait. We've got other good news! Heroic Shadowfang Keep and heroic Deadmines, which were said at the Cataclysm press event to have been scrapped until a later patch, are now slated to be in at release! Valnoth has confirmed that the new versions of these classic dungeons are being released with Cataclysm. Valnoth -- Re: Now when Valnoth said ALL dungeons... Quote: Heroic SFK/Deadmines are not being released with Cataclysm, but with a patch after it goes live. Heroic Shadowfang Keep and Heroic Deadmines WILL be released with Cataclysm. You will not have to wait for a later patch. source Players can now expect Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep to join the heroic ranks of Throne of the Tides, Blackrock Caverns, The Stonecore, The Halls of Origination, Grim Batol, Vortex Pinnacle and The Lost City of Tol'vir when Cataclysm releases.
The Queue: The corner of Elizabeth and Harper
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Apparently, this intersection exists in Canada. Who knew? Thanks for alerting us, Task! Pieet asked: "Since Tanaris will be (mostly) underwater in Cataclysm, what will happen to the Noggenfogger Elixir? Is the NPC still there?"
Shifting Perspectives: Healers, selfishness and trouble ahead
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them. This week, we stress the importance of pattern recognition. Cirocco: I enjoy a healing model based around triage, quick reactions and maximizing output. I very much doubt I'll enjoy a healing model based around parsimoniously doling out mana and yelling at people who snipe my HOTs. I've been guilty of a little pessimism concerning the restoration tree in Cataclysm. Many of my experiences healing on the beta haven't been good, and while I'm willing to allow for the likely possibility that that's just because I suck, it hasn't escaped my attention that a lot of druids have had the same hard time. Normal Cataclysm instances aren't bad if people are well-geared and play sensibly, but when things go wrong, it feels like you're emptying your mana into a group with nothing to show for it. To be frank, it really is too early to evaluate whether the 5-man experience is representative of what we can expect in raids at 85, but I'm not worried about the numbers themselves. As Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) has reminded us, numbers are pretty easy to fix. What worries me is more systemic; right now, it's hard to escape the conclusion that what made the restoration spec succeed in Wrath of the Lich King is a bad fit for Cataclysm, and a lot of our effectiveness is going to depend on player behavior that I'm not sure is going to change. EDIT: Naturally I had to finish this article shortly before new information concerning beta build 12857 became available. It's not live on the beta servers yet, and may not be (12857 might be a purely internal build, in which case I wonder who Boubouille paid off), but there are a few things there that would have impacted how I wrote this column.
Blood Pact: Destruction warlock changes in the beta
Echoes of distant incantations fade through the stagnant air, announcing the warlock's departure. His maddening enslavement is no more, and fearful citizens once entrapped in darkness now fill the streets in celebration. But such revelry is hollow, for with the warlock lies the protection of his Blood Pact -- and where it is removed, destruction follows. Greetings from the eternal dark, master summoners. Here we are again, at the beginning of another week, and dealing with the hot mess that the beta continues to splatter all over our computer screens. It is quite the experience, let me tell you. In some ways, it is glorious and satisfying. In others, well, let's just say that I have witnessed numerous screen flickers, program crashes, and enough bugs to warrant an exterminator. And yes, I know -- such is the testing phase and I should just be happy for the opportunity to enjoy four frames per second of Cataclysm goodness while so many others just hope for an invitation. Believe it or not, I am thrilled about it. You just can't tell because, as usual, I am in an incredibly wretched mood -- I play a warlock, after all. During our last meeting, we took to the trees to break down the interesting changes made to the once lowly but now supremely sexy demonology specialization, which has developed beyond puberty to become a stunning piece of work. This week, we shift our focus to the right. We'll be eyeing the key changes made to the least DoT-dependent of warlock specializations. Some call it the "shadow mage equivalent" and should be slapped in the face with meat cleaver. The more intelligent call it "destruction." As is always the case with posts like these, there will be what some consider to be spoilers in the information ahead. So please, click responsibly.
Cataclysm Beta: Updates to archaeology and inscription
It's not on the beta servers yet -- which means the facts are still sketchy -- but there's information from a new beta (build 12857) up on MMO-Champion that includes a number of new items for archaeology and inscription. Archaeology item descriptions offer intriguing hints of things that may be, without any solid details on the items. Some examples: Bone Gaming Dice Dwarves love gold and dwarves love drinking, so gaming seemed like a natural fit for both. These dice appear to have been carved from sheep bones. What might be dried blood is still visible on the 5 pip. Cloak Clasp with Antlers This clasp is fashioned of lacquered wood carved to resemble stag antlers. On the reverse is engraved the name "Pyramond" in Darnassian. Fossilized Hatchling When you finished assembling this tiny skeleton through some eldritch magic, the little critter sprang back to life. He's a pretty good pet. Since he's a skeleton he doesn't eat much. Wooden Whistle A small whistle carved from oak. It might have been used to summon a pet or mount or possibly used as a child's toy. It appears to have been chewed on by an animal or young dwarf. While there are just as many nondescript inscription items listed, some have more detail: Cataclysm Reclamation: Blacksmithing Allows you to rewrite blacksmithing plans from once-lost recipe fragments. Cataclysm Reclamation: Enchanting Allows you to rewrite blacksmithing plans from once-lost recipe fragments. Cataclysm Reclamation: Jewelcrafting Allows you to rewrite jewelcrafting plans from once-lost recipe fragments. Cataclysm Reclamation: Leatherworking Allows you to rewrite leatherworking plans from once-lost recipe fragments. Cataclysm Reclamation: Tailoring Allows you to rewrite tailoring plans from once-lost recipe fragments. Felfire Inscription Permanently adds 130 Intellect and 25 haste rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound. Inscription of the Earth Prince Permanently adds 195 Stamina and 25 dodge rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound. Lionsmane Inscription Permanently adds 130 Strength and 25 critical strike rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound. Swiftsteel Inscription Permanently adds 130 Agility and 25 mastery rating to shoulder armor.Can only be applied to your own armor, and doing so will cause it to become soulbound. Check out the full list of updated profession items at MMO-Champion.
Cataclysm Beta: Guild achievements
The latest beta build, which somehow worked its way into the hands of MMO-Champion before appearing on the beta servers (let's be really clear: these changes are not on the beta servers yet), includes a host of new achievements, including the much-anticipated set of guild achievements. Also included, although not highlighted here, are the regular realm-first achievements, as well as the heroic dungeon achievements. Everything is pretty standard in that regard. But what's not standard? The guild achievements. After the break, we'll take a look at the top ones.
The Queue: I still ...
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today. How could we not use this image? Bui asked: "I am considering starting a new toon on an RP server and giving that a shot. My question to you is, how easy do you think it is starting on a server with zero support? I know people do it all the time, but do they stick with those new toons or do they go back? I mean, I'm not cutting my mains out of the picture or any such thing, I just wanted to know how much easier/difficult it is starting over."
Officers' Quarters: March of the freeloaders, part 2
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available from No Starch Press. Last week, I discussed how players interested in Cataclysm's guild perks can get into guilds without becoming "freeloaders." Today, I'll look at the issue from an officer's perspective. I'll examine the drawbacks of having freeloaders in your guild, steps you can take to filter them and methods for dealing with them if they make it past those filters. What do I mean by a freeloader? A freeloader is a player who is in your guild purely out of self-interest, who has no desire to contribute to the guild in any way. In short, a freeloader is there only for your precious, precious perks. Are freeloaders a problem? A few freeloaders on your roster won't be a major issue, in most cases. You can simply hope that they'll keep to themselves and won't actively cause problems. They may even chip in some guild experience when they have an active day. Small guilds may actually decide to seek out such players to help them level up faster. I don't recommend it, but you will level faster with more players, up to a point. Larger guilds won't benefit much from inviting freeloaders. You'll get all the experience you need from the players you trust, so there's no real advantage (aside from a little extra cash) to inviting more players. In fact, doing so carries a bevy of risks.
The Queue: Me, myself and everybody else
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Today's edition of The Queue is very us-centric. Since you guys asked many questions about the staff here at WoW.com yesterday, I decided to try and knock them all out at one time. So if you hate our staff and all that we stand for, you might not enjoy this post! However, I'd like to think you don't hate us and in fact love us. We love you, too. Gossamer asked: "It seems like nearly every article on WoW.com has a spoiler warning on it recently. This got me to thinking, how does the WoW.com staff feel about spoilers? Are there any surprises left for you? Is there anything you've kept from yourself so you can experience it on release day?"
The Queue: I, Mike Sacco, smell terrible
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. This title is what happens when you don't title your own post and leave it to Alex to do it. You have all been warned. Sumadin asked: With Menethil Harbor flooded how do Alliance players get to Theramore and Howling Fjord? Has it all been moved to Stormwind? As it turns out, docks float. Menethil Harbor is both a fully-functional quest hub and fully-functional port town. You can still get to Theramore and Valiance Keep from there.
Arcane Brilliance: Things I'm going to miss
It's time again for Arcane Brilliance, weekly mage column extraordinaire, and source of 99% of your daily recommended allowance of warlock hate. It's also rich in vitamin D. If you're wondering where you can get the other 1%, the answer is inside-out cheeseburgers. Very tasty, and warlock-hate is the secret ingredient. There comes a time in everyone's life when they must say goodbye to something. My first major loss came in the summer of 1986. I wept like a little girl when the rubber band holding Snake Eyes' pelvis to his legs and torso finally snapped on that day, after a hard day of battle in which he and Storm Shadow had faced each other in mortal combat no less than twenty times. Even his ensuing career as the first, incredibly violent casualty in every firefight didn't dull the pain of that initial loss. I loved Snake Eyes! Why couldn't it have been Snow Job's stupid pelvis that snapped? For the love of God, why? Incidentally, I asked that same question when I redboxed the recent movie bearing sullying the venerable toy-line/cartoon series' good name. And though I've spent the last few weeks laying out palm fronds and rose petals in preparation for Cataclysm's triumphant entry into the World of Warcraft, perhaps all is not as wondrous as I've made it out to be. Even in my optimism, I am becoming painfully cognizant of several aspects of the current game that I'll be missing to varying degrees once Deathwing arrives and brings with him all of his fancy new talent trees, masteries, guild perks, and approximately 11 million level 1 worgen hunters. Yes, despite all the awesomeness in store, we mages will also be losing a few things. Follow me past the jump to gaze wistfully one last time at a few of these soon-to-be-gone relics of a bygone age.
The Queue: Earthinating the peasants
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. We've reached critical pop culture reference mass here, folks. We're going to run out of pop culture to reference in quests and NPCs. It's only a matter of time now. Soon NPCs will have to reference internet memes that don't exist yet. McDreamy asked: My question may not be answerable since the level cap is still 83: any idea where the badge vendors are going to be? Are they going to be in every capital city, or just the lead one (Org for Horde, Stormwind? for alliance)? Or are they going to be at the raid entrance like ToC? They'll be in Stormwind and Orgrimmar. They currently exist in the beta but can't be interacted with.
The Queue: What a lode
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column in which the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. It's a joke about rocks, everybody. Rock jokes everywhere. Who wants a rock joke? I've got a million of 'em. All rock jokes, all the time, here in The Queue. Gossamer asked: "Are there any new Caverns of Time or 'time-travel-related' instances in Cataclysm? I'd love to play through some of the old lore that might apply to this expansion, much like the Culling of Stratholme was important in Wrath. In all of the CoT instances so far, we turn into humans (if I'm not mistaken). It'd be fun to play through, say, Thrall and Grom fighting Mannoroth or some such thing and get to turn into orcs instead ..." Yes. Blizzard plans to release a War of the Ancients raid within the Caverns of Time. Details are scarce at this time.
Raid Rx: What's up with these location healing spells?
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand pooh-bah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. If you're looking for more healing advice, check out the Plus Heal community. That's what the current Holy Word: Sanctuary looks like on beta, if you were curious. I haven't really thought of a cool name for this new type of spells yet. Maybe someone else can coin a better term for them. Of course, what I'm referring to are the new AoE spells that all the healing classes have gained: Efflorescence Power Word: Barrier Holy Word: Sanctuary Light of Dawn Healing Rain This is going to involve a new set of healing tactics for healers to learn and get accustomed to. I predict that there's going to be a bit of a learning curve, not just for the healer but for the rest of the players, as well. I had a strange dream the other night. You know how some players have difficulty moving out of fires or void zones? Well, I dreamed that those same players would somehow be able to miss standing on healing circles. So what is the best way to utilize these new abilities?
Blizzard opens Cataclysm beta key contest for Oceanic guilds
Did you miss out on the Cataclysm beta guild contest, simply because you lived in an Oceanic area? Still want in on the Cataclysm beta? Fear not -- there is now a contest open just for you. Unlike your US counterparts, this time there are no essays involved -- screenshots are the name of the game. Today Community Manager Zarhym announced the Oceanic Guild Screenshot Beta contest which, much like the version for US servers, will award each winner with 10 beta keys for their guild members to use. Zarhym We're proud to announce a brand new contest open exclusively to residents of Australia and New Zealand. We're looking for some tightly knit guilds who are ready to rumble their way into our World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test. We want you to share screenshots of your guild's greatest triumphs and proudest achievements with us. Whether you and your mates just took down the Twilight Destroyer or you've crushed Kel'thuzad for the first time, we want to witness the milestones of your success. Each guild master who submits a winning screenshot will win 10 invitations to the World of Warcraft Cataclysm beta test for their guild. The contest will be on for five weeks and each guild is limited to just one submission. We'll pick five winners each week for a total of 25 winning submissions from eligible participants, starting August 27, 2010. Before entering the contest, be sure to read the full contest rules for details and eligibility: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/contests/cataclysm-beta/sea.html source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
