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Totem Talk: PTR Roundup
Well, my PTR transfers haven't gone through yet. I debated putting this column off until tomorrow in the hopes that they would have happened by then but the fear that they might not and I'd be late and still in the same boat caused me to decide to write about it today.We've talked about the most recent changes on the PTR here and here. As of right now these are the changes we're working from in terms of speculating about what the class will look like in 3.1. It's fairly clear that most of the changes are aimed either at shaman viability in PvP. I'm disappointed to see that Frozen Power, the talent aimed at giving shamans a snare/root in PvP is 25 points down the enhancement tree, but not surprised, as it seems to be aimed more at giving enhancement shamans an anti-kite than in giving other shamans a kiting ability.To be honest, none of these changes really makes me want to take an elemental or enhancement shaman into PvP. They're incremental improvements, changes that could in the future form the basis for something exciting for shamans (the new Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem has real potential, even though yes, it does use up your earth totem so that you can't be fear immune when you use it... this is and has always been a drawback of shamans in PvP and I don't think Blizzard is ever going to entirely remove it, although with Frozen Power you at least have a replacement for Earthbind) but at present it still feels somewhat unexciting. The way the changes affect PvE seems more positive, which is odd in a patch aimed at PvP tweaks for the class.
Plagued and Black Proto-drake rewards to be removed
Bornakk had some news today that might send a lot of raiding guilds into a frenzied rush to get those raid Achievements. According to him, Blizzard will be removing the Plagued and Black Proto-Drake rewards from the Glory of the Raider and Heroic: Glory of the Raider meta-Achievements respectively. Blizzard believes that with guilds progressing into Ulduar and getting significantly better gear, those Achievements would be trivialized. So the 310% mounts are sadly going the way of the Amani War Bear.With Patch 3.1 already on the PTR -- although without Ulduar yet -- the clock is ticking for aspiring drake riders. All hope isn't lost, however, as Blizzard is introducing two new reward mounts to go with the 10- and 25-man Ulduar raid Achievements. Pictured above as mined from the PTR files by MMO Champion is the Ironbound Proto-Drake, which I suspect is the reward for the Heroic Ulduar Achievments. There's also a Rusted Proto-Drake, which is likely the reward for the 10-man meta-Achievement. For those of you working towards the Plagued and Black Proto-Drakes, you don't have long now! Hop to it and don't die! 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.
Video of Val'anyr, the Gavel of Ancient Kings
Video of the legendary mace coming in patch 3.1, Val'anyr, the Gavel of Ancient Kings, is already making the rounds. The animation is pretty cool, but I remain unconvinced of its overall awesomeness. We can't see any of the particle effects this weapon may have, because none of that stuff is ever built into the model. We won't know what it really looks like until we see it in-game somewhere, or someone digs out the other bits and pieces it all together.The animation itself, which is the whole point of watching the video, is really freaking sweet. If it's an animation that happens semi-randomly and isn't just a constant thing, I really, really like it. My only concern about the weapon is, again, the particle effects. Something really cool looking is going to need to fill in that gap in the middle. As long as there's something there, this weapon is going to be amazingly cool. If there isn't, it's going to be amazingly boring. A very 'make it or break it' situation, I think. That's just my opinion, though. Do you guys disagree?
Argent Tournament rewards found
MMO Champion has posted some of what are believed to be rewards from the Argent Dawn Tournament coming to the servers, and they are pretty awesome. All of the rewards will apparently be purchased with a new currency called Champion's Seals, and those will be earned from doing dailies, some instanced activity (likely a type of mounted combat -- think PvP-esque, but against mobs), and all of the other various tasks the Argent Dawn is lining up for us. The Tournament itself will appear in 3.1 (and Alex has already posted a great gallery of what it looks like on the PTR), but other activities won't appear until a later content patch.There are epic weapons for everyone (right now priced at 25 seals, though that may change -- the weapons seem to be a little higher 5-man Heroic level), as well as blue boots, belts, gloves, and neckpieces for most classes and specs (all just 10 seals -- about equivalent to the Revered options the endgame reputations). Additionally, you can get tabards for each faction city (at 50 seals, that seems expensive, but they could have a special proc or ability granted with them), you can buy specially colored faction mounts for 100 seals, and at the top of the heap is an Argent Hippogryph for a whopping 250 seals. Seals, it seems, will also be able to be exchanged for reputation commendations, so if you just want to rep up with a certain old faction rep, you can do that, too.Pretty enticing. We have yet to see how exactly seals will be earned or how easy they'll be to come by, but it seems like Blizzard is planning to make this a catch-all option for endgame in terms of picking up rep, mounts, or gear. Just like the champion tabards let us choose just how we could earn rep for the endgame factions, the Argent Tournament appears to be a chance for folks at level 80 to pick up whatever rep or options they like by doing whatever the Tourney offers.
The Queue: Missing out
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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Before we get started today, I just wanted to take a moment and mention that I'm working on a Special Edition (super special!) of The Queue focusing on Dual Specs. It won't interrupt our regular daily doses of The Queue, it'll come seperately. It might take me awhile to piece it together because people have asked a lot of Dual Spec questions, but it's coming! Slowly but surely.jam asked...What happened to the new instance that was supposed to be in Un'Goro crater, accessible only by through the Waygate in Sholazar Basin?
Your own personal train wreck
I don't mean getting outed on Guildwatch for ninja'ing that T7 staff (no, it's still not a Hunter weapon) or cybering the guild masters girlfriend by mistake. I mean the new little beauty in the movie above that we've heard rumors of since Patch 3.1 hit the PTR late Monday night. And fresh from the Dalaran toy store, here it is, the Wind Up Train Wrecker. Just place down a train set, summon your little buddy and watch him go to work. This may very well replace the Crashin' Thrashin' Racer for miniature motorized fun. What other fun goodies await us in the coming patch, you say? How about a Spectral Tiger child's ride. Or an Argent Squire. Or consider the giant mechanical gnome head that you can fly. It's not all Titan killing in 3.1, you know. 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.
Ghostcrawler explains the DK aura changes
When the first set of 3.1 patch notes popped up, many Death Knights were surprised to see that their auras were being reworked into something that, well, just isn't an aura at all.Instead, the effects are being rolled into talents so that, if talented, the Death Knight herself still gains the benefit, but does not extend it to party or raid members. Although they will now be called, for example, Improved Blood Presence, the benefits will be applied regardless of the presence assumed by the character.I have to admit that my first reaction to the change was a negative one. It feels weird to me switching from a Holy Paladin to a character that simply does not have a comparable range of buffs and auras to offer. That's when my roomie and addict of WoW forums and websites, piped in with the why. Today, Ghostcrawler gives an official explanation. Unholy Aura, which grants a 15% movement speed increase, was slowly "becoming mandatory as a raid buff." The ability is not only handy for long corpse runs, as well as fights where movement speed and reaction time are critical, but it seriously impacts the overall damage done by the meleeing crowd. Melee characters spend an annoying amount of time backing out of range because of AoE or ground effects, running around the mobs to always stay behind them, following after a mobile tank, and the like. This disrupts their damage, and because this has always been the case, classes and encounters are balanced assuming that this is still going on.
Patch 3.1 PTR Patch Notes: Build 9626
These notes are for PTR Build #9626. These patch notes might be out of date.Build #9626 was released on February 25th, 2009 around 12:00 a.m. EST.You can find the latest PTR Patch 3.1 Patch Notes at the main patch notes post. You can find an archival listing of all patch notes via WoW Insider's Guide to Patch 3.1.
Patch 3.1 PTR Patch Notes: Build 9614
This allows the deathknight to keep the healing from damage done bonus of Blood Presence in any presence, and increases healing received while in Blood Presence. Blood-Gorged now grants armor penetration instead of expertise. Bloody Strikes now increases Blood Boil damage instead of Pestilence.
WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Build 9626 Patch Notes Changes
A new Patch 3.1 PTR build is out tonight, build #9626. This build adds some changes and brings a few undocumented changes into their proper documented status. And with this new build, we're going to try something new here at WoW Insider. Each time the patch notes change, we'll bring you a listing of significant changes to them.What's a significant change? Non-grammatical, there are grammar and spelling errors in the patch notes. While people might like to make fun of them, they're not of any consequence. Non-contextual, sometimes the context of a note changes but doesn't really make any difference. Something like a Shield Bash change moved from the Arms tree (where it was mistakenly placed) to the Protection tree (where it belongs). Non-formatting, often times the format of the patch notes will change. This includes things like using ":" or "-" in the appropriate places. These don't concern us. Sometimes the new changes to the patch notes will just be undocumented things becoming documented. But that's important to know too. So after the break you'll see our first go at this. A complete list of the changes from the initial Patch 3.1 PTR build to PTR build #9626. You can also view the fully updated notes, and view an archive of previous iterations of the patch notes.Enjoy!
Aquatic mounts and the next expansion
A lot of you readers glommed right on to the first thing that I too noticed in the notes about the patch 3.1 pets and mounts yesterday. Ok, well, the first thing I noticed was the Gurloc and Wolvar orphans -- new Children's Week fun! -- but the second thing was the fact that we've got an "aquatic" mount going into the game for the first time ever. Not only are normal mounts going underwater, but we'll soon have access to an Aquatic Riding Ray that will presumably only work under water.That's a big deal, and it pins just a little more credence onto the longtime rumors that the next expansion of the game will take us into the big watery swirly known as the Maelstrom. Lots of water activity was actually updated in this expansion already -- there are many more items designed to help us breathe underwater, and breathing itself was buffed quite a bit.Of course, the Emerald Dream is also rumored to be included in the next big expansion, but of course we've also heard rumors that we'll actually see both at the same time. Whatever the truth turns out to be, you can probably put money on the fact that this is only the first Aquatic mount we'll see in the game, and that we'll be headed into the water even more soon. 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.
You may be a Love Fool after all
If you played WoW at all during the Love is in the Air holiday event that ran in early February, then you surely heard the moaning about the meta achievement, Fool For Love, which grants the title, Love Fool. Whether you wanted to celebrate this month or not, anyone seeking to complete their long and strange trip and acquire the coveted Violet Proto-Drake, had to be a Fool For Love.One of the requirements was to complete the achievement, Be Mine, which had players running back to old world capital cities, dousing themselves in smelly concoctions, and begging the guards and citizens not to break their hearts. This gave us one chance per hour at obtaining the elusive Bag of Candies that would allow players ten chances to create, ideally, eight unique candies. The drop rate for the bag was so poor and the holiday so short that people begged Blizzard to improve their chances. While the drop rate for the bag was increased at the last minute, many people who put in a superb effort still did not acquire their title. Blizzard has since crunched the numbers, and some great news was handed down by Zarhym that should put everyone's mind at rest. While the Be Mine achievement is not being removed as a requirement for completion of the meta achievement, instead of needing all eight candies, you will only need to have obtained six!Not only that, but you won't have to wait until next year. As of patch 3.1, all you will need to do is login to be granted your achievement, as well as your title, as long as you had made at least six unique candies. Many players would still like to see that particular achievement removed from the meta entirely, but Blizzard stands firm that the point of What a Long, Strange Trip it's Been and its reward is to be something that only a dedicated few will earn each year. They aren't about to make it too easy.If you missed this requirement, will you be getting your title on patch day, or are you still feeling disgruntled?
Ghostcrawler defends Death Knight Howling Blast nerf
Ghostcrawler is on the forums today getting feedback on all of the patch 3.1 notes we saw yesterday, and the conversation has turned to the Death Knight's Howling Blast nerf, which some players are complaining has "dismantled" the DK's dual wield chances. Our own Daniel Whitcomb agrees -- he says that the 0/32/39 build will pretty much be out with 3.1 on the live realms.But Ghostcrawler responds with an insight that all classes might benefit from hearing: Players will find a way. First, he says that if Blizzard didn't want Death Knights to dual wield, they wouldn't be able to. He says that the damage needed to be nerfed, if only so other classes didn't think they were going to start being able to do that kind of DPS. And then had adds that just because one build is being quashed, it doesn't mean other builds won't eventually appear -- Blizzard predicts what players might do with their talents, but GC says they're almost always surprised by what players come up with, and that he expects Death Knights will come up with another way (some already known by Blizzard) to make two weapons more than viable.Which some players don't appreciate (they accuse GC of designing by breaking first and letting player fix later), but I kind of like that idea. As Ghostcrawler says in his followup, if there was just one way to play a class, everyone would play it that way. It's Blizzard's (and his team's) job to put the challenge not just in the dragons we fight, but in the tough choices in the talent trees. Everyone knew DKs were getting nerfed (and GC even says that players always say "but I didn't know they were getting nerfed that much!"), and it's interesting that Blizzard is already looking forward to Death Knight players re-finding their grooves, even with the nerfs.
Human Females trade faces on the PTR
One of the more mysterious bugs currently on the PTR is the fact that Human Females (maybe others, but none I've noticed) transferred over to the PTR are having their faces swapped around. In the picture above, you can see that my Paladin has two different faces. The one on the left is from Live servers, the one on the Right is from the patch 3.1 test realm. It isn't happening to all characters, oddly. Just some of them. My Priest, who is also a Human Female, transferred just fine and has the same face she always does. Which happens to be the face my Paladin has on the PTR now. Funky.It's a known issue, and I'm sure it'll go away long before this patch ever hits live realms, but it's a very curious bug. It was likely caused by something quite mundane, but it makes me wonder if they were working on something that caused faces to shift out of the numerical order they had before. Adding new skins, perhaps? Updating old ones? Maybe, maybe not.
WoW Insider's Argent Tournament gallery
The Argent Tournament is part of the new content coming in patch 3.1, and it was sort of a surprise when it was announced the other day, just before the PTR came up. We hadn't heard anything about it previously, not even any hints at its addition, so it grabbed our interest right away.We had to check it out, of course. There are a few quests you can do right off the bat, but they're not particularly exciting. The first two quests you pick up are just some gathering quests. It gets a little more exciting from there, but I was honestly much more interested in the visuals of the event. While there's obviously a lot of development still happening there (lots of placeholder tags), what is done looks really awesome. When this event goes live, I have no doubt we'll see a lot of people going back to using their racial mounts once these new skins have been added in.Just south of the tournament, there also seems to be a failed Frost Wyrm resurrection site, a Death Knight's blade jutting out of the ice with a wyrm just below the surface. I wish we knew the story behind that!Screenshots of the new mounts, tabards, banners, and the whole shebang are in the gallery below. Check it out, and if there's anything you want to see in greater detail, leave a comment to this post and I'll see what I can do for you.%Gallery-45851%
New Ulduar video from Blizzard
Ulduar is here, and Blizzard has released a new video you can watch above. We see new mobs and animations, get a look at Freya and some vehicle combat, and see some absolutely stunning interiors of the new raid zone.The video lasts just under 2 minutes, and is worth your time to take a look. There is also some Blizzard music along with it, so be sure to have your sound turned up a bit. You can download high resolution versions of the video from Blizzard.Perhaps the coolest thing in the video is around the 1:20 mark where we see a new tram style monorail (cue the Simpson's song). There are also very interesting stain glass like windows shown at the end.Ulduar represents the latest in Blizzard's dungeon making and artistic design, and by the looks of it they're poised to create one helluva masterpiece.For more coverage of Patch 3.1 and Ulduar, check out WoW Insider's Guide to Patch 3.1.
Argent Tournament lowdown from Zarhym
Zarhym took the time out to answer some questions about the Argent Tournament surprise event that Blizzard sprung on us the other day. He explains that it will be a permanent event unlike the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj or the scourge invasion. If I understand it correctly, it will be similar to the phased events in the Isle of Quel'danas, with daily quests to contribute to the construction of the coliseum. The coliseum itself will not be part of Patch 3.1 and will be introduced in a later content patch. Blizzard plans many events centered around the Argent Tournament and plans to roll them out over time. Zaryhm confirms that the coliseum, or the event proper, will be instanced and will not be PvP-related. He also explains that the Argent Tournament is a concerted effort from all the capital cities, and players will earn the chance to represent their city of choice in the eventual battle against the Lich King. For those concerned about the lore behind this seemingly festive jousting tournament, Zarhym states, "Tournaments and competitions like this may seem like trivial games in times of real struggle against the Scourge, but it's also an opportunity to rally those who oppose the Lich King through blood sport." Nothing like a little knight's tale to get players pumped for battle, I suppose. 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.
Encrypted Text: Patch 3.1 change analysis
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we look at the patch 3.1 patch notes.With the PTRs recently launched (my bet in the WoW Insider pool was Tuesday during maintenance), we've seen the first iteration of the 3.1 patch notes. They match what Ghostcrawler and Eyonix were kind enough to give us early, mostly in the flavor of Combat buffs and a change to HfB which I predict nobody will be happy with.While talking with some fellow assassins, we began musing as to what these changes will mean for Rogues of all specs and playstyles. Read on after the cut for a full analysis of the big changes.
Technical issues in Dalaran makes the PTR nearly unplayable
So you're on the PTR wanting to enjoy all the gooey goodness that is Patch 3.1. You have this urge to go to Dalaran. I mean, it's so pretty right? And there's a bank there, and your hearth stone is probably set to their as well if you don't have a Ring of the Kirin Tor.Wrong. Move.There are hundreds of reports coming in from around the net going up on the official Blizzard forums, tons coming into the WoW Insider Tip Line, and the problem has been experienced by every staff member here that's been on the PTR.You can move no more than a few dozen paces in Dalaran without there being a critical error that causes WoW to crash.There were some early reported rumors that the problem is linked exclusively to ATI video cards, but I can say beyond a doubt that such is not the case – I have an nVidia GeForce GTX 260 I'm getting crashed every few minutes while in Dalaran.
Breakfast Topic: Which city will you champion?
I love Silvermoon. I mean, really, I think it's the best capital city in the game. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that all the Battlemasters are close together in one room and I hardly have to move in order to queue for three Battlegrounds. Of course, if the changes in Patch 3.1 push through and I'm able to queue from anywhere, that plus won't be so important anymore. That said, I think Silvermoon is beautiful, has multiple mailboxes, two banks, two Inns, and more importantly, is always lag-free.This brings me to today's question... with the Argent Tournament that's slated to arrive with Patch 3.1 allowing players to choose a city to champion, which one would you pick? You could, of course, base your decision solely on what appears to be city-based vanity pet rewards. An Elwynn Lamb, perhaps, for championing Stormwind? Or a Durotar Scorpion for taking hits for Orgrimmar? I'm destined to end with an Enchanted Broom, I think, similar to what you find in the streets of Silvermoon City. There are probably other rewards, such as city-based tabards, and maybe even titles (remember the original titles for server-first races?). Without knowing all the rewards, though, which city's name are you inclined to fight under when the Argent Tournament arrives? Are you a defender of Dun Morogh? An exemplar of Exodar? Or maybe even a soldier of Sen'jin Village!
