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Breakfast Topic: Farewell for now, Darkmoon Island
Today is the final day of the Darkmoon Faire for the month of December. It's also the end of our first month with the totally revamped Faire we received in patch 4.3. The question that most immediately springs to mind for me this morning is ... what did you think? Did you enjoy the new Faire? Personally, I loved it. When my characters weren't in one of the new dungeons or in Dragon Soul via the Raid Finder, I was on Darkmoon Island playing games or fishing -- yeah, I'm one of those people ... I like fishing. My primary issues with the Faire are temporary ones. It simply wasn't realistic to get all of the Darkmoon Artifacts from the Adventurer's Guide over the course of one week unless you dumped a hefty amount of gold on the Auction House. However, since you can get those items even while the Faire isn't active as long as you have the guide with you, that won't be a problem going forward. I'd also like to see more tickets coming from the actual games of the Faire, but I understand why Blizzard might not like that. Too much emphasis on the daily games and you start retreading the same issues we ran into with daily dungeon runs for valor points and why those became weekly in the first place. The punishment for not logging in every day of the week would be too extreme. De-emphasizing the daily nature of things is much more player friendly in the long run. What's your take? Did you have a good time? Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
The Light and How to Swing It: The new tanking gear of patch 4.3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense. Last week, we talked about what you needed to know to prepare for the dawning of the Hour of Twilight. Now let's talk about what shiny new purples you can expect to rip from the still-warm carcasses that will lie in your wake as your cut a swath through the new content. Our itemization goals haven't changed since 4.2. Mastery is still king, and threat stats are still to be avoided. In the list below, I didn't list the gear in any particular order, so don't expect the top choice to be the best. Indeed, the best piece will depend on how much mastery you have and thus how close you are to block cap.
WoW Insider's guide to Warlord Zon'ozz
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid. Unlike the other encounters in Dragon Soul, Warlord Zon'ozz only requires a single tank. For cooldown purposes, it is possible to bring in a second tank; however, there isn't too much of a need to do so. Per usual, you will want to have around five to six healers. Switch your off tank for an additional healer if you feel that would help. Your DPS should be a solid mix of both ranged and melee; there does need to be a solid balance of both. Healers should be split among the DPS, with tank healers staying with the melee. Abilities Zon'ozz doesn't have all that many abilities, but he's still a hands-on encounter. Most of your time will be spent watching the Void of Unmaking and bouncing it back and forth. Healers will focus more on clearing away Disrupting Shadows. For once, tanks probably have the easiest time on this encounter, only really having to watch out for a single ability that occurs about once per phase or so.
WoW Rookie: How to gear up for Raid Finder
The Raid Finder's been out for a week now, leading hundreds (perhaps thousands, millions?) of players to finally get their own, personal bite-sized piece of endgame content. This week, Raid Finder groups are now able to lay low Deathwing himself. It's a very exciting time. Of course, for players who are just coming back to the game, gearing up alts, or just now considering the idea that they can finally take part in a raid, there's a single obstacle that must be overcome. In order to take part in a Raid Finder group, you must have achieved an item level of 372. That number isn't terrible. It's somewhere just shy of Firelands gear, though it's well above the drops you'd get from Blackwing Descent and such. The number is high enough that just randomly doing all the things won't get you there; someone who's hit item level 372 presumably has some idea of what the hell they're doing.
Encrypted Text: A savvy rogue's guide to starting Dragon Soul via the Raid Finder
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. The introduction of the Raid Finder is one of the biggest features in patch 4.3, and so far it has been everything that we could ask for and more. The queues have been quick, the bosses are tuned just right for the demographic, and the rewards are potent enough to keep the system running. Anyone with decent gear can queue up for a raid, gaining valuable experience and gear. I think the new system is perfect for allowing new raiders to get their feet wet, preparing them for what lies ahead. Even as a pure DPS class, the Raid Finder queues haven't been too bad for rogues. Between my own experience and the word on the street (not Greg), queue times are between 15 and 30 minutes, and groups are mostly competent. To a class that's historically had problems finding a spot in a raid group, the Raid Finder looks like our new best friend. The only bummer is that we can't start or progress in our legendary quest line in the Raid Finder. In order to maximize our random group's chance for success, we need to be prepared to do our best.
The Light and How to Swing It: Raid gear for ret paladins in Dragon Soul
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions! Before we begin talking about upgrades in Dragon Soul, we need to discuss the three separate tiers of raid gear available in patch 4.3. Thanks to the introduction of the Raid Finder, a lower tier of the same gear that drops from normal and heroic Dragon Soul is readily available to those who queue for it. This lower tier is of ilevel 384, the same level gear that drops from Ragnaros on normal difficulty. If you had done any heroic Firelands raiding and got some gear, you will find that the Raid Finder tier is seven ilevels behind that gear. For most pieces, you will want to upgrade as normal (from 378 to 384, for example). For tier gear, however, it appears that the new two-piece T13 set bonus overpowers the itemization difference between heroic T12 and Raid Finder gear, at least for now. If you're available to do additional testing, I'm sure the theorycrafters at the Elitist Jerks retribution thread would adore you for contributing. For the time being, I would pick up some lower-ilevel tier and test it out while still holding onto your heroic T12. Remember, four-piece T13 is our ultimate goal here, so don't skimp on those loot rolls.
Blood Sport: How should you prepare for season 11 PvP?
WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs. So you've had a week away from the arena. What have you been up to in that week? Playing in the autumn leaves? Finally cleaning your keyboard? Or maybe you've been frantically gathering a transmogrification set (once you'd got over the fact that you couldn't transmogrify your paladin into a power ranger)? I know I have, and I'm now in love with Kezzik in Area 52! Perhaps you've been running the new dungeons or flirting with the new raid? ...Or ganking your GM in the Darkmoon Faire's Deathmatch Arena, like @trimbleirl. If you are one of the people who has done enough hard work in season 10 to get a title, you should give yourself a pat on the back. Well done! You're well on your way to the upper echelons of PvP, and I hope you climb even higher this season! And if you're one of the people who has been working through Battlegrounds every day to get your conquest points, congratulations! You're going to be among the first to get your grubby mitts on the new gear. But moving on from what you could have been doing to what you could be doing now, what are the top tips to prepare yourself for season 11?
The Queue: Get angry! Get mad!
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. That sure was a lot of The Big Bang Theory hate yesterday. I have nothing to add to that conversation, but wow. You guys are passionate about your television. Passion is a good thing. Aszra asked: Is there a way to turn in your old 'tattered' Darkmoon Faire tickets into current darkmoon currency? I have like 60 tickets saved up in my bank from the old version of the faire and it just seems like such a waste if I can't use them.
Know Your Lore: Archbishop Benedictus of the Holy Light
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. The Church of Light. Central to the hearts and minds of most of the humans of Azeroth, it has stood as a bedrock of philosophy and faith for humankind throughout the madness of the orcish invasion, the war to restore Stormwind, and to the present day. The heroes who have borne the standard of the Light are many: General Turalyon, Uther the Lightbringer, Tirion Fordring, Alonsus Faol. It has endured betrayals from some of its best and brightest, such as Prince Arthas Menethil. It has sunk its roots into the very souls of humanity and been their beacon and their deliverance from evil. In Stormwind today, the heart of the Church of Light is the grand Cathedral that dominates the eponymous district. The head of the Church of Light is Archbishop Benedictus, successor to Alonsus Faol, and it is Benedictus who has served as the rock of the faith. During the years that King Varian Wrynn was missing, when dragons and orcs menace Stormwind, Benedictus stood as a shining example, sending young heroes across the sea to root out the Scourge in Razorfen Downs. Even after the King's return and the assault of the very elements on Stormwind, Benedictus used his faith in the Light to defend his city and his people. The following post contains spoilers for Patch 4.3, especially the Hour of Twilight dungeon and the novel Thrall, Twilight of the Aspects.
Patch 4.3 Hotfixes for Dec. 6, 2011
You want some hotfixes, you say? Well, you're in luck! Blizzard has released one heck of a large list of hotfixes this evening, dealing with everything form class abilities to very big pains like the Yor'sahj encounter in the Raid Finder. Some of the highlights include: Yor'sahj had its Raid Finder HP for slimes, mana voids, and forgotten ones nerfed by 20%. Ball damage is now splitting correctly on Zon'ozz in the Raid Finder. Echo of Baine trash is hitting for less. Deep Wounds is working better (more correctly) for warriors. Lots and lots of changes after the break.
Darkmoon artifacts will drop even when there is no Faire
Bashiok has provided further clarification on the Darkmoon Island artifacts that drop from dungeons, Battlegrounds, and raids that are turned in for Darkmoon tickets -- these will continue to drop for players who have a Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide regardless of whether the Faire is in town. These artifacts can be saved up and turned in when the Darkmoon Island event is taking place, so don't worry about grinding out these artifacts this week only. This makes me a very happy Faire-goer. Darkmoon Artifacts will drop regardless of whether the faire is in town Just to clarify one point, the quest drops that happen in the dungeons/raids/BG's happen all the time, even if the faire isn't in town. Think of it sort of like the Darkmoon Card redemptions. You're out playing all month, while you're doing stuff you're getting chances at the items, then when the faire is in town you turn it all in. (It's also worth pointing out that the turn-in items aren't soulbound, so just like the cards I'd expect some people to farm them just to put them up on the AH.) It's really just this first week and appearance of the faire that's off because the Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide wasn't available for the 3 weeks prior. When it rolls around next month there should be better feel for how the whole system and ticket acquisition rate feels. source Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Darkmoon Faire ticket clarifications
One of the coolest features in patch 4.3 was the introduction of the Darkmoon Faire Island, a brand new, self-contained island packed with new games, pets, mounts, prizes, and everything Silas Darkmoon and his merry band of carnies and personalities can muster for your enjoyment. Players earn tickets from completing games, bringing in Darkmoon artifacts from dungeons, PvP, and raids and from doing profession quests. Many players (myself included) were confused as to how many tickets players could earn each week, considering there is so much we want to buy and so many tickets needed to save up for it all. Bashiok has put together a great forum post that outlines just how many tickets you can get per month. Bashiok's post clearly points out that the max number of tickets a player can get during each Darkmoon Island week is 145 tickets. The only issue is that a mount from the Darkmoon Faire costs 180 tickets, so players will have to wait until the next Darkmoon Island opens to claim their first mount reward. Now that the number of tickets is spelled out, it doesn't actually seem as bad as I originally thought it was going to be. However, the weird thing that still permeates all of this is why playing the games at the Faire, the real focus of the island, rewards players with the lowest amount of tickets. The random Darkmoon artifacts that you get as drops from PvP, dungeons, and raids give substantially more in terms of tickets than the games themselves; the random pickups or Auction House items eclipse the daily games in terms of rewards. I really like the new Faire and hope that the prize ticket changes for the games can be upped to reflect their focus. Hit the jump to read Bashiok's breakdown of Darkmoon Faire tickets.
Blood Pact: Initial impressions of 4.3 raiding as a warlock
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid. The first week of raiding after the release of patch 4.3 has more or less come and gone by this point, and while raiding isn't everything, it is the primary focus on this tier. Not only do we finally get to tackle with Deathwing himself, but Blizzard also introduced the Raid Finder tool in order to bring more players into the raiding game. Another part of this patch was an effort to bring destruction's damage up to par with that of our other two specs. While there is still much more time needed in order to tell how exactly things are going to play out, for now it is time to lay down the initial impressions that raiding within this recent patch has left in my mouth. Some are good, some are bad, but the common denominator is that, hey -- at least we aren't mages.
The Light and How to Swing It: The best patch 4.3 gear for your holy paladin
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. The itemization team at Blizzard has been especially stingy when it comes to holy paladin drops in Dragon Soul. While there were hundreds of items added in patch 4.3, very few of them are ideal for holy paladins. We're used to this sort of treatment though, as we're the only special snowflake spec that requires its own set of gear. No other class wants to wear intellect plate, and there's nothing more frustrating for a raid group than seeing the same plate healing gloves drop every single week. A few character slots have a limited number of items available, but there's an upgrade for every single piece of gear you have today. Between blacksmiths, the valor points vendor, and Dragon Soul bosses, there are still plenty of gear for us to lust after. There are also new epic gems available from the Dragon Soul bosses that we can adorn our gear with, making us more powerful than ever. Our overall gearing strategy hasn't changed much since the last patch, although mastery rating is a bit better due to the new design of Holy Radiance. I am favoring spirit as the best secondary stat, with haste close behind. Critical strike rating and mastery rating are a toss-up; you can pick your favorite.
Shifting Perspectives: Your patch 4.3 feral cheat sheet
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our feral cat edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. Let the face clawing begin! Patch 4.3 is upon us. It's time to take down Deathwing. Are you prepared? If not, fear not: This handy cheat sheet will sum up all the feral changes you need to know to keep you performing at your best. (As always, thanks to Tangedyn and Yawning for their invaluable analysis; make sure to check out Mew, if you haven't already.) I'm going to put this right up front, since this is easily the most frequent question I receive: What should I reforge to, and what are my stat priorities? Easy -- it doesn't matter. Seriously. All of the secondary stats (mastery, haste, crit, hit, expertise) are roughly equal in value for DPS purposes. This was the case in 4.2, and it remains the case in 4.3. (To put a more exact number on it, it's a roughly 1% DPS difference, which is well within the margin of error for any given fight.) My personal preference remains the same: Cap hit and expertise (960/780 rating, respectively) to reduce rotational unpredictability, which has benefits that aren't captured by computer simulations that play perfectly. By all means, however, reforge to whatever you prefer; just make sure you're still gemming and enchanting your gear, going for agility wherever possible. OK, on to the interesting stuff.
The Queue: Shades.app
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. It's late (early?) and I'm tired, so I'm just using Fox's WRUP header for today's Queue header. Deal with it. jaymccowan13 asked: On top of Wyrmrest Temple, why is Kalecgos the only one without a title in his name? Normally, one gets a title from doing something of note, and Kalecgos hasn't done much yet as Aspect of Magic. Nor will he apparently have the opportunity to! Womp, womp.
The Darkmoon Faire begins!
The brand new Darkmoon Island opens for business today for the very first time. The WoW Insider staff is extremely eager to jump right into the celebrations, especially those of us who squeezed in a few hours of it on the PTR -- that brief taste made the anticipation all the sweeter. There are games to play, mounts and pets to purchase, and sweet, sweet transmogrification gear to get our hands on. If you weren't able to check out the Faire on the PTR and you're utterly lost as to what to do there, no worries. Our test realm coverage may help you out a little. Darkmoon Faire video tour Replica armor, heirlooms and their prices The games of Darkmoon Island The one question everybody seems to be asking but nobody thought to answer is: How the heck do you get to the Darkmoon Island? Do you fly there? Is there a boat? No, neither of those things. It's much easier than that. The former carnival grounds in Elwynn Forest (just south of Goldshire) or Mulgore (just west of Thunder Bluff) will get you there. Go to one of those two areas, find the great big portal to Darkmoon Island, and you're on your way. Going through the portal will even earn you what is possibly one of the easiest achievements in the entire game: Come One, Come All!
Totem Talk: Enhancement shaman, welcome to patch 4.3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Josh Myers once only tackled the hard questions about enhancement but has recently expanded his sphere of responsibility to all shaman DPS specs. (And no, two-handed enhancement is still never coming back.) I'm going to start this post by talking about how excited I am. For those of you who've read my About The Bloggers, you'd know that I considered the last patch of Icecrown Citadel to be the absolute worst patch this game has ever seen. In hindsight, 4.2 was probably the second worst. Enhancement's DPS was mediocre unless you abused a gimmick. Our AoE was pathetic. Firelands was an exercise in trying to discern how much red and orange the human mind could take in before making us go totally mental and putting a fist through the monitor. But now, 4.3 is here! Fresh, new heroic 5-mans are here, complete with a beautiful new axe for enhancement shaman who couldn't get Gatecrasher to drop. Dragon Soul has been introduced, offering various backdrops for your boss slayings, a new super-easy mode option, and mechanics that actually seem to favor having an enhancement shaman present. Most of all, though, we received a terribly needed buff to our AoE, breathing a new quality of life to being an enhancement shaman.
Arcane Brilliance: Blinking into the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator, part deux
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we teleport ourselves back into the thick of the newly revealed MoP talent calculator, and this time, we aren't teleporting out until we get that calculator down and it drops phat loot. I trust you're all knee-deep in patch 4.3 by now, snatching up sparkly new gear from the new dungeons, raid, and Darkmoon Faires and such, and then promptly transmogrifying that gear to look like something you wore five years ago. Last week, we talked about the baseline abilities that all mages will be learning. If you skipped it for some reason, kill a warlock as penance (I'm not sure how that could be considered a punishment, but just stay with me here), go read part one, then come back and resume the conversation with us this week.
The Queue: I will not
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Between Thrall's downright Alucardian delivery of that line, Tyrande's exotic new accent, Murozond's "I did not know!" and Illidan's "Strike in an area!," 4.3 is a treasure trove of unintentionally hilarious lines. Slim1256 asked: In End Time last night, our pally tank was doing ridonculous DPS - typically 2nd or 3rd on the meters, in a competent guild group with decent gear. However, when we moved on to Well of Eternity, the tank's DPS dropped to a more normal level. Is there a buff for tanks in End Time that I missed? Was it an anomaly? Did the slight Ret pally buffs really make that big a difference for Prot pallys? If you guys fought Baine, it's possible that your tank was affected by Molten Fists, the buff that you get from being in the lava during the Baine encounter. My rogue was pulling insane DPS in that fight, thanks to that buff. And Murozond, well ... Murozond lets you use all the cooldowns you want, basically. I can't recall off hand what DPS cooldowns non-ret paladins have available to them, but he could have been popping them.
