wrath-beta
Latest
Wrath storage solutions
By now you have surely heard of the new Achievements system set up for Wrath of the Lich King. While this will finally give collectors an extra incentive and reward, players are a bit worried about their bag space. It was announced recently that non-combat pets and mounts would take up no bag space in Wrath, and instead, the item that currently houses the pet will serve to teach you a spell for summoning the pet, and then disappear. While this is a huge weight off of the shoulders of many players, when reading through the current list of Achievements, one begins to wonder where all of their tabards, battleground tokens, badges, holiday items, epics, trinkets, and the like are going to go. Although we don't have information regarding the storage of every item we'll soon be collecting, Tigole made the following statement:Your bags will be ok. I promise. Pets, Mounts, Heroic Badges, BG Tokens are all getting storage space.I wonder how badges and tokens are getting storage space. Surely, they cannot be turned into spells, and I don't have room for bags specifically dedicated to only one or the other, so I'm definitely interested to know what they have up their sleeves, and if any other collectible items will get similar treatment.
Death Knight News: Rune swapping gone, Runeforging to be powerful
The introduction of runeforging to the Wrath Beta was a bit of surprise and slightly unexpected. Instead of rune swapping -- the idea of being able to change the nature and configuration of the runes on your runeblade -- Death Knights got a solid 2 Unholy, 2 Blood, and 2 Frost runes. Runeforging itself became a weapon enchantment system whereby Death Knights could enchant their weapon with various special procs and buffs for various situations. There has as of yet been no sign of an ability to swap runes, and Jayde, aka Jadefury, recently asked if there were still plans for one. The short answer, according to blue poster Ghostcrawler, is no. The long answer is perhaps a bit more complicated, and reinforces Blizzard's stated goals with the Death Knight class role and the new runeforging ability.
Wrath Hunter Talent Analysis, Part I: Marksmanship
Hunter talents are out, and there's definitely a lot to say about them, both good and bad. While we have discussed some of the changes to the lower Survival tree, what we haven't touched on is all the new talents and the talent changes in other trees. If I was to sum it all up in one sentence, I'd say this: The 51 point talents look lackluster, but most of the rest is downright drool inducing. Marksmanship's early tiers are now full of easily obtainable goodies for any Hunter, Survival's gained even more group and raid buff utility, and Beastmastery has even more amazing pet synergy. There's a lot to cover, so we'll tackle it one tree at a time. First, we'll look at Marksmanship, which was once premiere Hunter tree, but has fallen a bit to Beastmastery in Burning Crusade. It's certainly seen some marked improvement for Wrath so far, and even if you don't plan to spec Marksmanship, you'll at least want to know about the first few tier talents, as you'll probably want to grab many of them anyway.
Forum post of the day: Beta buying blues
Now that Blizzard has confirmed that beta keys from Blizzcon 07 and Worldwide Invitation 08 will be used to get into the Wrath of the Lich King test, they've become a pretty hot commodity. Sure they're for sale on eBay ranging from about $200 to $600, but what are they worth. I kind of wish I'd been able to go to one of those events to guarantee a spot in the beta. This same thing happened during the beta release of the Burning Crusade. Cheesytacos of Dragonblight thinks it's unfair to folks who win the beta lottery that folks are selling their beta keys for profit. For those willing to part with their keys, the sale price is at least worth the price of admission. I have to admit, it's well, annoying that folks who went to Blizzard's little soirées are granted passes into the new content. We come across the issue of property ownership many times in WoW. In general the assumption is that all things WoW are not actually the property of the players but of Blizzard. Are beta keys the property of the key holders to do with what they please until activation?
Wrath Beta keys sent out to BlizzCon and WWI code holders
Numerous reports are coming in that the Wrath Beta keys are making their way to players now. Attendees of last year's BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, and the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France, received a card with a code for a "future Blizzard title" as part of their goody bags. Wryxian confirmed over at the official forums that the said title was Wrath of the Lich King and urged everyone to register their codes immediately. Players who do so will be prompted to enter the codes from the cards as well as their e-mail address, as Beta access information is sent through e-mail. Reader Phi mentions that it doesn't matter when the codes were claimed. She registered her code right after BlizzCon last year while her boyfriend registered only yesterday after Blizzard's announcement, and both received their keys today. If you're one of the lucky few who attended either Blizzard event or managed to snag a beta code through other channels like eBay, registering the code should see you receiving invites in the mail. WoW Insider's Elizabeth Harper, who attended both, received two invites to the Beta eight minutes apart from each other. The official e-mail from prompts players to follow the step-by-step instructions over at Blizzard's official Beta page. Thanks to everyone who tipped this in!
More JC info from the beta
Last time we met to talk about Jewelcrafting in Wrath, I only knew the names of the various uncommon and rare gems. Now I have the names of the epic gems too, as well as values for the cuts. The epics are called: Red: Cardinal Ruby Yellow: King's Amber Blue: Majestic Zircon Purple: Dreadstone Orange: Flawless Ametrine Green: Eye of Zul More cool names, in this blogger's opinion. Except Cardinal Ruby – that sounds a little "blah" to me. Which is not to say I won't socket them, of course; that +parry rating cut that looks quite tasty for a Death Knight tank.
Wowhead's WotLK site is open
The gates to Northrend are open – to the lucky few who have gotten invites into the beta. For the rest of us, the best we can do is follow along on sites like, oh, here, as well as WotlkWiki and others. Now there's one more to add to the list: Wowhead has opened their Wrath site, with details on hundreds of items, quests, spells, and more, as well as the talent calculators we've talked about before One of my particular favorites is the beta patch notes, which are nicely formatted and have links to all relevant spells, abilities, talents, and items mentioned in the notes (super-handy). New data updates are coming in all the time. There are many neat and yet-undiscovered things to be found there, so take a look around, and let us know if you come up with anything interesting.
What's brewing in Northrend
I love you, WotlkWiki, I really do. First you bring us specifics on Inscription, and now we get the effects of the new potions, elixirs, and flasks that your friendly neighborhood alchemist will be cooking up in the frosty north. We got all the names for these items a few days ago, along with details on the transmutations (I'll take any excuse to make a pretty diagram), but the effects of them had not yet come to light, until now. There's nothing stunning, I'm afraid; more like some nice upgrades to current favorites. But I certainly expect be popping flasks and pots in Naxx at least as much as I currently am in Zul'Aman. Anyway, let's see what we've got. I'll compare to the BC or old-world versions where appropriate.
Breakfast Topic: Knowing about the Wrath beta
Well, it's here -- we've been waiting for the Wrath beta and all the information that'll come with it for a long time, and soon we'll all be headed to a pre-release Northrend to see what there is to see. But how much is too much? Iris asks on WoW Ladies, and we're asking too, "How much do you want to know about the Wrath beta?"A few people have already asked us for a non-Wrath RSS feed, and we're working on asking our tech guys if that's possible (it's very possible to get RSS feeds of any of our categories by adding "rss.xml" to the end of any of our Category listings, but it's not so easy to get a feed if everything but a certain category), and we're doing as much as we can to keep major spoiler information behind the breaks and out of sight if possible. But the information's out there, and just like the Burning Crusade beta, odds are that you'll have heard a little bit about what's happening in Northrend if you read any WoW sites at all.The good news, of course, is that Blizzard always keeps a few aces up their sleeve -- even if you drowned yourself in the latest and greatest Wrath leaks and information, it's a guarantee that you'll find at least something in the live version of Northrend that you didn't hear about before. But until then, just how much do you want to know? Are you planning on playing the beta nonstop in the hopes that you do so much you don't have to buy the actual game, or are you keeping ears and eyes closed for the next few months in hopes that you'll enter a completely new and unfamiliar world whenever you install the next expansion?
Inscription details: Glyphs, runewords, and more
We found out a little bit about inscription and what materials it might need when the Wrath of the Lich King beta debuted last week, and yesterday we learned that they will be helping Enchanters use the auction house, but we were still left wondering about what was originally promoted as the central purpose of the new profession: enhancing spells. Thanks to the WotLK Wiki, we now have some information on that very intriguing functionality. Spells will be enhanced by Glyphs, which will be created by inscribers and will be tradable (though there may be some inscriber-only Glyphs). Glyphs come in three sizes: Minor, Lesser, and Greater. Minor Glyphs have small effects or cosmetic changes, Lesser Glyphs give moderate upgrades to spells, and Greater Glyphs give major upgrades to spells. Each character has six Glyph slots: two Minor, two Lesser, and two Greater. The screenshot shown here is the Glyph interface, available to every character. The slots at top and bottom are for Greater Glyphs, those at top-right and top-left are for Lesser, and the sad-looking ones at bottom-left and bottom-right are for Minor glyphs. There is an ability called Glyph Mastery that's categorized under Inscription which gives access to an additional Glyph slot for the inscriber, but it is unknown how this ability is attained. Maybe it's a specialization, like other professions have.
Hunter pets to have family skills
No, I'm not talking about parenting and honey-do skills. In Wrath of the Lich King, each hunter family will have its own unique skill, just as Warp Stalkers currently have Warp. While we've known this since the release of the Beta patch notes, we now have some of the details, courtesy of Mania of Mania's Arcania and Petopia. In fact, some of the pet skills are so enticing that I'm beginning to think I'm going to need about 8 more stable slots! Here is a look at some of the juicier talents: Bats will be able to stun an opponent for 2 seconds. Bears will be able to Swipe similarly to druids, hitting three enemies in melee range. Birds of Prey will be able to disarm opponents for 6 seconds. Hyenas will reduce movement speed. Moths will be increasing their own attack power, and healing themselves. Nether Rays will have a spellcasting interrupt, preventing any spells from that school for one second. Are you as excited as I am? Don't forget to head over to Petopia to check out the full, detailed list. What pets will you be taming?Tip: Don't confuse pet skills with pet talents! Read up on the new pet talent trees for more information.
My shadow is following me
Yes, apparently in Wrath you will see your shadow do things like change depending on where you are in relation to light sources and look more like you and less like a circle on the ground. It may not seem like a big change, but it's certainly an interesting one and helps to progressively create a sense of immersion (yay, my one theatre class finally pays off) in the world.Now that we have this feature being implemented (although it does make me feel that time is fast approaching where I will have to upgrade my computer) what else would you like to see? We already have day/night cycles, some zones have weather to a degree and clearly that's going to also be the case in Northrend, so what's left? What are you looking forward to or hoping they'll add to the look of the game? Personally, I'm still hoping for dyes to customize my armor colors somewhat.
The Wrath of the Shaman Part 1: Enhancement
Okay, there's so much happening with Shamans that I don't think we can wait for the next Totem Talk to discuss it all. Between itemization changes, patch notes and new talents, there's a lot to discuss. First off, the new itemization.In part, the real power of the shift towards granting AP from agility isn't even that it will make agility more attractive on our gear, although it will. The real power is in this move's synergy with the incoming enhancement talent Mental Dexterity. A great deal of the mail currently sneered at as 'hunter mail' has both agility and intellect on it. One example is the Mantle of the Tireless Tracker, an SSC drop. Under current itemization these shoulders grant 64 AP. With the new way items work with shamans, they will grant 86 AP, or 109 AP if you have full Mental Dexterity.
BlizzCon 2007 Beta codes will be used for Wrath
EU CM Wryxian has good news for everyone who attended BlizzCon last year (or just bought the beta key cards off of eBay): the codes given out last year will be used for the Wrath of the Lich King beta. Wryx says if you've got a code, register it immediately, and then do what everyone else is doing -- wait for the beta email to show up.To tell the truth, I'm a little disappointed. I've got a beta key from BlizzCon, but I've already signed up for the Wrath beta through the usual channels. Of course, we still don't know how this works -- maybe those with a key will be given access before those who just signed up randomly, but it sure seems like everybody will get in eventually. Which means that even if you didn't get a key at BlizzCon, you'll still get into the beta anyway. I thought that Blizzard would have treated those who came out to their event a little better (and, at the very least, been a lot clearer about how registration for the beta is working -- are they making it up as they go along?).But on the other hand, the open registration just means more people will get into the beta, and I don't have a problem with that -- the more the merrier. As always, the problem with Blizzard is communication -- it's fine if they want to keep which beta these WWI or BlizzCon keys are for a secret, but when the beta registration actually starts, they should make a plan, stick with it, and let all of us would-be beta testers in on what it is.
Death Knight Gameplay Movies: Frost and more Blood leveling
We bought you Jadefury's Unholy and Blood Death Knight game play videos yesterday, and now he's released another batch. This time, his Death Knight is a bit higher level, and he puts two new talent builds through their paces. In the video above, he focuses on the Frost tree. You can see the control that Frost provides specifically - the freezing effects actually seem to last a remarkably long time, certainly long enough to set up a nice chain of abilities and spells for maximum damage. A Hungering Cold followed by a Deathchill and finished up with a Howling Blast can be particularly devastating. Jadefury also points out that if you have any lingering diseases on any of your targets, you can use Blood Boil to quickly wipe them out, doing extra damage and making them susceptible to being frozen again. Frost, reports Jadefury, is probably the least solo-friendly build. Because you need to go very deep into the frost tree to get all the abilities you need for maximum control and damage, You can't get the self-sustainability talents in the Blood tree such as Vendetta. That said, Frost should still be amazing for groups, since you'll be able to provide some very passable crowd control and damage, and I myself am still looking forward to seeing what a good Frost Mage/Death Knight team can do in PvP. Now that his Death Knight is a bit higher level, Jadefury also released a second Blood tree video that showcases a higher level build.
Breakfast Topic: Achievement Suggestions
By now, you've hopefully had a chance to look through all the Achievements that we'll be seeing in the Achievement system to be released with WotLK. There's definitely a lot of them, and they seem to cover almost every possible angle of the game. Still, there's bound to be one or two good ones Blizzard missed. In this Beta forums thread, which is apparently being watched by Tigole, people have begun offering some pretty good suggestions for possible achievements that could be implemented in the future. Gish of Lich King suggests that one could get achievements for collecting full tier armor sets. Pez of Lich King suggests class specific achievements such as number of Mage tables summoned or number of lock boxes picked. I'd like to hear your suggestions too. Is there an Achievement that you'd like to see in Wrath of the Lich King?
Wrath of the Lich King Beta weekend coverage roundup
Good Monday morning everyone! It's time for most of us to head back to work and school today, which means it's also a perfect time to catch up on any news you missed over the weekend -- after you're done with your work, of course. I'm sure you checked in at least once during the weekend and saw the big news. It's not just a rumor, the Wrath of the Lich King Beta is indeed live. I'm sure you were out barbequing, or camping, or whatever else all you people who had the weekend off were doing. We here at WoW Insider, of course, were working on rounding up and analyzing all the new information coming out from the newly NDA free Alpha and Beta. So if you missed the coverage, or if you just want to look it over again, read on. Also, keep an eye on our Wrath news page that we'll keep updated with the latest expansion news as it happens. General Information: First of all, you're probably going to want to read and bookmark our Wrath of the Lich King directory page. It will be updated every day with all the latest articles and information on the expansion. Check out the first iteration of the Wrath Beta patch notes. If you haven't signed up for a chance at a Beta key yet, be sure to visit Blizzard's official opt-in page. If you have signed up for a chance at a Beta key, keep an eye on your in-box. Netheara says that invites should be going out -- just watch out for the scams, of course. If you're still unsure about some aspect of the Beta, be sure to check the official Beta FAQ. Even if you're not in the Beta, you can still browse the official forums and see what testers are discussing -- and how the devs are answering them. Keep reading after the break for more on class changes, talents, tradeskills, and more.
Spiritual Guidance: The new age raiding Holy Priest
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is now Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. For the next few weeks, I'll be taking a look into the depths of Black Temple from a Priestly perspective. I was planning on finishing my Black Temple guide but the lure of all this awesome beta news is simply too hard to ignore! I'll have to postpone the guide for a rainy day. Fellow WoW Insider blogger Alex Z. has a terrific analysis of the new Priest talents! It's an excellent analysis of how the Priests will be come the expansion. This week, I want to go further in depth on not just new spells and abilities that Priests bring to a raid but how changes to the other classes will be affecting us. I'll also touch a bit on threat, my thoughts on Lightwell, and the raid viability of Discipline.
Tradeskill links coming in Wrath
Another fun little addition for tradeskills and crafters straight from the Beta realms is the ability to peruse the recipes that someone else knows. It works very simply, too. The crafter links his tradeskill like it were an item. You click on that link and a regular tradeskill window pops open, minus the option to craft, create or enchant what you're looking at. You can see all of their recipes and the materials required for them.This seems like it's going to be especially useful for the tradeskills that have a large variety of things that people need. Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, et cetera. It would be much easier to link a guildmate the list of what I can do rather than look up everything they need myself. "Can you do Savagery? Vitality? Spell damage to bracers? MP5 to chest? Strength to gloves?" Maybe! Here, check and see! Linking your recipe book over the Trade channel should help sell enchants and inscriptions as well, hopefully replacing the endless spam of three paragraph advertisement macros. Okay, so maybe those macros will never go away, but we can hope can't we? By the way, you can click on the image to the right to make it bigger, in case you can't see it very well as it is.
The roads of Azeroth: Now with biker gangs
I know we've been laying the Wrath news on thick but we're all incredibly excited, and I think most of you are, too. It's especially difficult to restrain myself when I see things like the motorcycle you see above, which I was directed to by an acquaintance of mine that's in the Beta. I don't have a concrete source on the fact that these motorcycles are made by Engineers, but I'm pretty confident that's the case. Is there anything else they could be? I suppose it's possible that they're strictly for quest use, but I somehow have my doubts. It looks like they put too much work into them for their role to only be for a quest or two.The only thing that really makes me wonder if these are actually Engineering mounts or not is the fact that they're distinct by faction. A nice touch, but I think that would make it the first Horde/Alliance division in the profession. I suppose dividing the bikes by Goblin and Gnomish Engineering wouldn't make them as awesome looking. They're not quite Orange County material by any means, but they're still pretty slick. Let's be honest though, some races riding these things will be hilarious. Biker Tauren? Really? I suppose I can see a Dwarf riding the Alliance bike, but a Male Draenei driving it would probably be the silliest thing I've ever seen.Basically, what I am saying is, is that these are completely awesome no matter how absurd they may be. If you want to see the Alliance ride, check it out behind the cut.
