wrath-beta
Latest
Death Knight Gameplay Movies: Unholy and Blood trees
Jadefury, also known as Leiah, writer of the World of Feedback blog, has fast become one of the most recognizable names in Deathknighting of those following the Wrath Beta. Among his contributions have been 2 videos that showcase the leveling playstyle of Unholy and Blood trees. They're definitely worth a watch for anyone who's seriously thinking of playing a Death Knight in Wrath of the Lich King. The Unholy video, shown above, uses this spec. It actually relies quite heavily on two Blood talents: Butchery and Vendetta. Those 2 talents provide the Death Knight with health and runic power after every mob death, which helps power Corpse Explosions and allows the Death Knight to stand up to lots of monsters at once. Jadefury also shows the power of Death and Decay, Lichborne, and Bone Armor, and even throws in an exploding Ghoul or two, following it all up with a showcase of the awesome Death Gate animation. I have to admit that I have some concern that this style of AE farming won't be viable for Death Knights everywhere, since in this video, he relied extensively on getting Runic Power via Vendetta due to quick kills on the low HP slimes in the Pools of Aggonar. On the other hand, it looks like a lot of fun, and solidifies my personal resolve to try an Unholy build first. After the break, we'll watch the Blood video.
Enhancement shamans, now 50% more huntery
Yes, I know 'huntery' isn't a word.Tipster Korgak sent in a piece of news from the Wrath Shaman forums: shamans now get AP from agility. To quote Blue poster Koraa: Sorry about that, it should of been in the patch notes. The idea is for DPS mail (with AGI and AP) to be viable for both Hunters and Shaman. Strength is mostly now only a stat for Death Knights, Warriors and Ret Paladins. While this won't immediately take shamans out of wearing leather for their enhancement DPS needs, it does make the leather that feral druids wear less attractive. Rogue leather, which tends to have agi, attack power and crit will still be fairly attractive, but now all that mail that has stats for hunters will look a lot more appealing to our melee branch of the best class in the game. One depressing note seems to be that our agility to crit formulas seem to have changed negatively as well, most likely because we're expected to push agility more than currently.(Thanks again to Korgak for the tip)
Breakfast Topic: What would you do for a Beta Invite?
We're going to do something a little different for today's Breakfast Topic. Let's play a little game. Almost all of us have seen those corny, awful Klondike Bar commercials, right? If not, YouTube has some examples for you so you can bask in their ridiculousness. So my request for you this fine Sunday morning is to tell us (tastefully) what you would do for a beta invite, in the style of the Klondike Bar commercials. Yes, I'm serious! Heck, even if you don't want a beta invite, play along! This is purely to have ourselves a good time this morning.So, out with it. What would you doo-OOO-ooo for a Beta invite?What would I do for a beta invitation, you ask? Well, I would sing and record the Lament of Captain Placeholder, save it as an mp3 and post it on WoW Insider to be downloaded and mocked by thousands of our readers around the world. But, um... no video. I can only handle so much shame.I'll see if I can convince some of our other bloggers to answer the question here throughout the day.
Arcane Brilliance: The Arcane tree in WotLK
Each week, Arcane Brilliance blinks in from out of nowhere to deliver an instant cast full of Mage info and analysis to the interwebs. Or at least it tries to. Sometimes it blinks sideways, you see. Sometimes, backwards. On rare occasions, Arcane Brilliance casts Blink and goes absolutely nowhere. Oh well, at least the sparkly lights looked pretty.Let's hear it for no more NDA! Now we can finally talk in detail about things a lot of us have known about for months. I'm sure we're all underwhelmed by the Beta patch notes as they apply to Mages. Here they are, in full. Pull up a chair, these could take you a full 90 seconds to read:Mage Arcane Focus (Arcane) is now 3 ranks and increases chance to hit and reduces mana cost of Arcane spells by 1/2/3%. Counterspell now costs 9% of base mana. Frost Armor, Ice Armor, Mage Armor and Molten Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled. Invisibility now makes the caster invisible after 3 seconds, reduced from 5 seconds. Magic Attunement (Arcane) now also increases the range of your Arcane spells by 3/6 yards. Polymorph now costs 12% of base mana. Portal spells now cost 18% of base mana. Prismatic Cloak (Arcane) now also reduces the fade time of Invisibility by 1/2 seconds. Slow Fall now costs 6% of base mana. Teleport spells now cost 9% of base mana. Ok. Deep breath. Repress urge to kill. Repeat after me: "It is still early in the testing process. These notes are incomplete. Changes are likely coming. Mages will get something cool." Feel better? No? Me either. Still, there are some things worth discussing here, and with the lifting of the embargo on leaked Alpha talents, we do have a great many things to talk about. Join me after the break and we'll do just that, starting with the tree that has changed the most: the Arcane tree.
Wrath Beta patch notes: Warlock part I
So, the world (and WoW Insider) is alive with the sound of the Wrath of the Lich King beta, and it's high time that we take a look at our favorite commander of evil... the Warlock. We'll want to be sure we understand what's coming for us, so as not to let anyone think those other evil guys are horning in on our territory. And, yeah, there's definitely some things changing.A lot of the changes are a little hard to noggin out -- are they meant to be buffs? Nerfs? Inexplicably different, but not really better or worse? Demonology is certainly getting a thorough shuffle, but it's hard to say whether it's good or bad. We'll chat more about it after the cut. Let's start with what the first beta patch notes obviously say, and consider what each item means. Then, in Part II, we'll start looking at each tree individually, with each of its new spells.
Wrath Beta patch notes: Rogue
The long awaited Wrath of the Lich King beta is hitting the masses and the patch notes are out. As you've seen regarding other classes there is a ton of really exciting news. Right off the bat Blizzard is changing stat itemization in regards to +Hit and +Crit to a more generalized Hit Rating and Critical Strike Rating. These stats, which in the past had been separated into melee and spell versions are now a single stat that can be attributed to any class. For classes with mixed or hybrid functions, this should greatly assist overall gearing. Rogues should see no overall changes in the way the Hit or Crit mechanic works on pre WotLK gear other than just wording on the tooltip.I have to say that the changes that Rogues can expect aren't of the world-shaking variety, but many of them serve as excellent clean up improvements.
Wrath Beta patch notes: Feral and Restoration Druids
Continuing on from the analysis of the changes to the Balance druid talent tree, as shown in the first patch notes for the official Wrath of the Lich King Beta, we'll now examine the Feral and Restoration trees. Feral treeThe Feral tree is seeing changes to limit the benefits that the other two trees, specifically Restoration, can gain from investing a few points into the first few tiers. We are also seeing changes to the ways in which bears will be generating aggro. The Faerie Fire (Feral) and Feral Charge swapFeral Charge is currently an 11-point talent into the Feral tree, which contributing to the advantages that Restoration druids currently have in arena. It allows Restoration druids the ability to charge, immobilizing their target and interrupting spells for four seconds. Instead, Faerie Fire (Feral), which is not something that a Restoration druid would likely spend 11 points to get, will take up the 11-point spot, with Feral Charge taking its place in the tree 21 points in. In addition, Feral Charge will be usable in cat form, dazing the target and moving the cat behind it. This will help address the concerns that cat form is not especially viable in PvP, although their crit dependency is still a weakness. It will also be useful in dungeons to catch runners and other out of place mobs.
Wrath Beta patch notes: Balance Druids
Now that the Wrath of the Lich King Beta is live, and the patch notes are up, we have some solid information on Druid talents as they're being tested. Here is what the patch revealed:Balance treeIf you were to invest three points into your Brambles tier three talent, you will not only have the current 75% boost to damage caused by Thorns and Entangling Roots, but your Treants will have their damage boosted by 15%. In addition, all damage caused by Treants, and any attacks done to you while Barkskin is active, have a 15% chance of dazing the target for three seconds. Actually, Force of Nature, which summons your Treants, is having its cooldown reduced from three minutes to two. This will be a nifty talent for Moonkin in battlegrounds and arena, although it won't be enough to convert all of those Restoration druids to the ways of the Giant Chicken.
[1.Local]: The under-the-radar edition
[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.With Wrath of the Lich King beta upon us, who has time to read comments from the past week's worth of posts? Little ol' [1.Local] would be a sad panda if we weren't positive that the meta-fans who love to comment about comments are still circling. So here ya go, guys – this Bash Ale's for you.Up for discussion this week: making Spellcloth without danger ... your vision of a perfect world for crafting ... a reader's new feature request answered ... a dissection of drama-queen tanks ... chatter over the recent anti-botting court decision ... and what might just be the final word on Horde vs. Alliance faction choices.Join us after the break for this week's meatiest reader comments here at WoW Insider. Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.
Death Knights at the Dawn
Okay, this is so massively spoiler ridden for Death Knights, their role in the lore, and how you will be experiencing their gameplay that I cannot in good conscience post it without first warning you, and more than once. This is pretty darn epic, and thanks to the folks at DeathKnight.info, I can finally say I now actually want to play a Death Knight. (If you follow that link you may well see spoilers, so be warned.)No, I'm completely serious here. This is levels upon levels of spoilers that deal with years of Warcraft lore. If you want to see this fresh when you first roll your new Death Knight, then you don't want to read any further. It involves factions and characters we've all come to know. I personally love this kind of thing, but if you're someone who just can't stand finding out before you get to experience it yourself, then you shouldn't read any further.You still here?Okay. I'm not going to post the link or explain what I'm talking about here on the front page. I don't think that would be cool. So we're going to take this into the dark, shadowy places Death Knights are pretty at home in anyway. Follow me, if you will... after the jump.(Cue diabolical laughter.)
The Achievements UI: a guided tour
It's not secret that I'm very excited about Achievements. Over 500 little questlets to do and work on all the time, with snazzy tabards and pets as rewards? Sold. But aside from a few screenshots on Blizzard's official page, we've had little idea what it was going to look like for the players. Now, thanks to Skosiris of Wowhead, that's going to change (Wowhead's WotLK site just opened up to the public, by the way). He sent me these exclusive screenshots from the beta just a little while ago – click on for a promenade through the Achievements UI.%Gallery-28061%
Pet talent trees unleashed
Thanks to Mania (creator of the indispensable Petopia), we now have information on the new pet talent trees for Wrath. This excellent information was brought to us by Nimizar, a hunter lucky enough to get into the beta today. Mania hasn't had time to code any talent calculators up, but I'm more than happy to look at the text of this stuff. Each pet family has access to one of three talent trees, named Tenacity, Cunning, and Ferocity; however, the trees have a large amount of overlap. There are 17 talents per tree, nine of which are shared with the other two trees and eight of which are only found in that tree. The talents are arranged in five tiers. Each tier requires you to put three points into it to move on to the next tier (compare to five for character talents). The full description of the talents is too lengthy to put here, so I'll just give the highlights. There are some very appealing skills.
Playing with talent calculators
Now that the NDA has been lifted from the official Alpha testing, and Beta is beginning, there's some real information out there about what the various classes' talent trees might look like. Of course, anything is subject to change, but it seems as though some classes, hunters and paladins in particular, are getting a much-needed overhaul. If you'd like to play around with your could-be future talent tree, both Wowhead and MMO Champion have updated their talent calculators to reflect the information revealed from the Alpha once the NDA lifted. When you're bored with that, you can head over to the official Beta forums and surf around.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Wrath Beta Edition
Well, we were going to talk about other things, but with the Beta coming out I have to admit I've entirely forgotten what they were. There's really no point in pretending that we're not going to be talk about this, is there? I don't think so myself.We learn nothing about any new talents that don't directly replace older talents. Nothing about Bladestorm or Titan's Grip, and talents like Incite are only mentioned because they're directly replacing talents like Defiance. We also don't learn what the big new protection talent to replace Shield Slam is from these notes. (We do have other sources and we will be discussing those talents in more depth, I'm just pointing out what the notes don't specifically mention.) The notes focus more on protection spec than others although we do find out that mace spec and sword spec are being slightly nerfed while poleaxe spec is getting a nice little buff: these changes seem PvP related to my eyes, but I have no idea how effective they'll actually be. The juggling of talents and the alteration of their effects definitely seems to confirm the notion that crushing blows are a thing of the past. On the one hand, this is a huge change to warrior tanking mechanics, as we're noted for our ability to hit uncrushability while druid tanks simply soak the damage with higher armor and stamina (paladins use the same mechanic as we do for uncrushable, they just need more block rating but can stay uncrushable longer than we can due to how their abilities work vs. ours): we've yet to see how this is going to play out. With the addition of DK's as tanks, removing CB's keeps them from having to rely on a gimmicky high parry (since they won't use a shield to tank) to avoid being crushed, but it also means that warriors will need a means to stay competitive with other tanks. Threat seems to be getting entirely reworked, so for now I'm cautiously optimistic about where tanking is heading for protection spec warriors, and indeed, all warriors. I'll go so far as to say that arms and fury warriors will be tanking in Wrath. I don't expect them to be dedicated main tanks for raids, but I do expect to see them tanking in five mans without respeccing, and that is without taking the possible two talent spec idea into account.
Passive buffs for gatherers
We've seen some interesting things come out of the Wrath beta already for some of the crafting professions, including Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, Enchanting, and the new Inscription. But what about us humble gatherers? Skinners, Herbalists, and Miners need love too. Well, it looks like Blizz is ready to give us some of that love, at least for Skinners and Miners. Check out the following spells: Toughness (categorized under Mining) Master of Anatomy (categorized under Skinning) Note that those buffs are passive. 35 stam all the time for all grand master miners, and 25 crit rating for grand master skinners. Each of those abilities have six ranks, which I take to correspond to the six ranks of profession skill: apprentice, journeyman, expert, artisan, master, and the new grand master. This is awesome stuff, if you ask me. My analysis is that these benefits are meant to stand in for the epic BoP items that the production professions get access to. Why there is no benefit for herbalism is something of a mystery; it might not be implemented yet, or it might be absent on purpose. Natalie pointed out that it might be because several herbs already give buffs when you pick them, so that's another possibility. I think these benefits are low enough that people with maxed-out professions aren't going to be dropping them just to get the extra 35 stam, but high enough to provide a meaningful, stabbity perk for those who've just about had it with skinning their ten-thousandth beast (who am I kidding, skinning is fun). Good change, and I do hope we see something for herbalism.
All about alchemy in the beta
Seeing as how Alchemy is not yet officially implemented in the Wrath beta, we don't know all of what's in store for the masters of elixirs, flasks, potions, and transmutation. However, we can get some idea, given that the spells themselves seem to be in the game files, so we know the names of some alchemy spells and products, if not their actual effects (though some recipes are easy enough to guess). Flask of Endless Rage Flask of Pure Mojo Flask of Stoneblood Flask of the Frost Wyrm
Wrath Beta patch notes: Shaman
With the Wrath of the Lich King beta upon us, we now have a plethora of new information about where shamans are going in the expansion, and one thing is clear: totems are changing. And for some folks, those changes may be seen as pretty bad. If you're a DPS warrior, you're not going to like the change to Windfury Totem."Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified."The up side for shamans is that our own Windfury Weapon ability seems to be unaffected, according to MMO-Champion. In fact, there's no reason that the two efffects couldn't co-exist, meaning that an enhancement shaman could get the benefit of Strength of Earth (with its new strength and agility benefits), Windfury Totem (with the flat melee haste) and Windfury Weapon allowing for the damage of two extra attacks with increased attack power. We can talk more about the changes inside, shall we?
Enchanted in Northrend
Being the only non-gathering primary profession that has, thus far, been implemented in the Wrath beta, enchanters should feel special. No word yet on the long-rumored ability to sell enchants on the AH, but we do at least have some interesting new enchants to look forward to. Here are some of my favorites: Enchant Cloak: Haste Enchant Cloak: Spirit Enchant Boots: Icewalker Enchant Cloak: Shadow Armor Enchant Gloves: Armsman Enchant Bracer: Expertise Enchant Weapon: Lifeward Enchant Gloves: Gatherer
More Runeforging weapon enchantments unveiled
We've already shown you screenshots of some of the new Runeforging abilities for Death Knights. Now, we have them all via MMO-Champion. As expected, they should let you customize your weapon for whatever role you expect to play, whether it be tanking or DPS, and what type of enemy you expect to go up again, be they undead, spellcasters, or melee. It looks to be an exciting system. Read on for a full list of the Runeforging Enchantments.
Gems in Wrath
The crafting professions may not yet be implemented in the Wrath of the Lich King beta, but we do get to see their mats. I'm not sure how much we can figure out from them. I do, however, really like some of the names, especially for the gems. It looks like we'll have the same gem system as in BC, with six colors (three primary and three secondary) and one uncommon and one rare gem for each Epic gems have, understandably, not been unveiled yet, and common gems have made no appearance. Here are the names we have:
