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Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Plants vs Zomb... err Peacebloom vs Ghouls!
Blizzard added this new minigame for Cataclysm, as well as a few achievements related to it.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Battle For Gilneas Preview!
When King Greymane severed ties with the Alliance after the Second War, the kingdom of Gilneas became independent from all other nations and opposing forces. Although the massive Greymane Wall protected Gilneas from outside threats, a virulent worgen curse and civil war crippled the kingdom from within. As the Cataclysm strikes and the Greymane Wall's gates are destroyed, the people of Gilneas must come to terms with their dark curse and learn to persevere through catastrophic earthquakes and an unrelenting Forsaken invasion. The Horde recognizes this land as a strategic location with key resources to fuel the faction's war effort against the Alliance, and Horde forces will not stop their siege until the city and its surrounding territories are under their control. To protect its lands from the Horde, the once-isolated nation of Gilneas must now work with the Alliance.
Controlling Resources
The Battle for Gilneas is a new 10 vs. 10 Battleground for level-85 players. Much like they do in Arathi Basin, teams must control strategic capture points on the map to accumulate resources. The first team to gather 2000 resources wins.
The Battle
Teams will start at opposite ends of the map with default graveyards nearby. Once the match begins, teams will race toward each other to vie for control of three strategic points; each point will allow your team to gain resources and additional graveyards. Adding to the intensity of the battle are many obstacles that block line of sight, as well as chokepoints for fending off enemy advances.
The Overlook
In the center of the map is an area known as the Overlook. Hills on either side of the map create chokepoints, while narrow paths through the hills provide teams with alternate routes. A river dividing the map will also lead opponents toward a single bridge. In some cases, dominating the Overlook might be the key to controlling the capture points.
Capture Points
In The Battle for Gilneas, three distinct resource points are available for the taking by either the Horde or the Alliance: the Mines, the Lighthouse, and the Waterworks. Once any of these points is held by a team, access to nearby graveyards will be granted. In addition, workers from the controlling faction will show up to collect the resources necessary to win the battle.
Chaos will be unleashed upon Azeroth when Deathwing returns, but many steadfast leaders will see the Cataclysm as an opportunity to further the cause of their people... or simply attain more power. The situation in Gilneas is no different. Will the embattled Gilneans be able to defend their land after realigning with the Alliance? Or will the Forsaken, reinforced by Garrosh's Horde, seize this near-forgotten territory as a new stronghold in the Eastern Kingdoms?
Controlling Resources
The Battle for Gilneas is a new 10 vs. 10 Battleground for level-85 players. Much like they do in Arathi Basin, teams must control strategic capture points on the map to accumulate resources. The first team to gather 2000 resources wins.
The Battle
Teams will start at opposite ends of the map with default graveyards nearby. Once the match begins, teams will race toward each other to vie for control of three strategic points; each point will allow your team to gain resources and additional graveyards. Adding to the intensity of the battle are many obstacles that block line of sight, as well as chokepoints for fending off enemy advances.
The Overlook
In the center of the map is an area known as the Overlook. Hills on either side of the map create chokepoints, while narrow paths through the hills provide teams with alternate routes. A river dividing the map will also lead opponents toward a single bridge. In some cases, dominating the Overlook might be the key to controlling the capture points.
Capture Points
In The Battle for Gilneas, three distinct resource points are available for the taking by either the Horde or the Alliance: the Mines, the Lighthouse, and the Waterworks. Once any of these points is held by a team, access to nearby graveyards will be granted. In addition, workers from the controlling faction will show up to collect the resources necessary to win the battle.
Chaos will be unleashed upon Azeroth when Deathwing returns, but many steadfast leaders will see the Cataclysm as an opportunity to further the cause of their people... or simply attain more power. The situation in Gilneas is no different. Will the embattled Gilneans be able to defend their land after realigning with the Alliance? Or will the Forsaken, reinforced by Garrosh's Horde, seize this near-forgotten territory as a new stronghold in the Eastern Kingdoms?
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
More on the Currency Change
My OP didnt work they way I planned it to, so here are the conversion tables:
The following items are immediately converted to gold:
Your New Honor Points total will be the sum of the following amounts:
Your Justice Points total will be equal to (Emblems of Triumph + Emblems of Frost ) * 2.75
Again, the softcap for both Honor and Justice conversions is 4000 points. This means that if a character converts to above 4,000 points, it will not be possible for them to earn more until they fall below the 4,000 cap.
A hardcap will be implemented in a following patch before Cataclysm's release. At that time, any excess points above 4,000 will be converted as follows:
- Emblem of Heroism = 5.5 gold each
- Emblem of Valor = 5.5 gold each
- Emblem of Conquest = 5.5 gold each
- Badge of Justice = 1.833 gold each
Your New Honor Points total will be the sum of the following amounts:
- Old Honor * 0.024
- Old Arena Points * 0.85
- Battleground Mark of Honor * 2.976
- Wintergrasp Mark of Honor * 19.08
- Stone Keeper Shard * 1.6
- Venture Coin * 3
- Spirit Shard * 1
Your Justice Points total will be equal to (Emblems of Triumph + Emblems of Frost ) * 2.75
Again, the softcap for both Honor and Justice conversions is 4000 points. This means that if a character converts to above 4,000 points, it will not be possible for them to earn more until they fall below the 4,000 cap.
A hardcap will be implemented in a following patch before Cataclysm's release. At that time, any excess points above 4,000 will be converted as follows:
- Honor points above 4,000 are converted to gold at a rate of 35 silver per point of Honor.
- Justice points above 4,000 are converted to gold at a rate of 2 gold per point of Justice.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Cata Currency
Cataclysm Currency Changes Explained
In a nutshell:
In a nutshell:
- Emblems of Triumph and Emblems of Frost will be converted into Justice Points.
- All PvE emblems and badges below Frost and Triumph will be converted into gold. This even includes legacy badges, like Badges of Justice.
- Arena Points, Honor Points, any leftover Battleground Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper's Shards, Venture Coins, and Spirit Shards will be converted into the new Honor Points.
- Rated Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds won't be available again until Season 9 (shortly after the release of Cataclysm), when they can be entered to win the higher-tier PvP Conquest Points.
Someone asked how much gold per badge, and it was figured out to be 3.75g per badge.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Cataclysm (Speculated) Release Date
It is speculated that the 3rd expansion for World of Warcraft series will be released on November, 2nd.
Also, the MMO-Report is cool.
Also, the MMO-Report is cool.
Friday, September 10, 2010
New Titles!
Assistant Professor (#189)
Associate Professor (#190)
Professor (#191)
Ishmael (#192)
, Veteran of the Alliance (#193)
, Veteran of the Horde (#194)
, Hero of the Alliance (#223)
, Hero of the Horde (#224)
Also, all the old PvP titles have been brought back to the game as part of the rated bg system.
Guild Achievements!
Guild - General
Crittergeddon (WIP) - Kill 100,000 critters
That's a Lot of Travel Time - Complete 50,000 quests.
A Daily Routine - Complete 50,000 daily quests.
The Daily Grind (WIP) - Complete 100,000 quests.
Guilds - PvP
Now That's Teamwork - Win 1000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
Stick Together Team - Win 2000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
Stick Together Team - Win 2000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
The Perfect Guild Storm - Win a rated Eye of the Storm match with a score of 1600 to 0 while in a guild raid.
Guild Gulch - Win a rated Warsong Gulch match with a score of 3 to 0 while in a guild raid.
The Buddy System - Win 500 arena matches with a team composed of guild members.
Killing With Friends - Win 1000 arena matches with a team composed entirely of guild members.
Guilds - Professions
Gemcrafter Extrodinare - Cut 25,000 gems of at least superior quality. (Old - Cut 10,000 gems.)
Master Crafter - Craft 1,500 Epic items with an item level of at least 359. (Old - Craft 1,000 Epic items.)
That's A Lot of Bait - Catch 50,000 fish from fishing pools.
We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat - Catch 100,000 fish from fishing pools.
Player Achivements!
General
Helping Inscribers Pay the Bills - Learn 20 glyphs for your class.
Raids & Dungeons - Raids
Keeping it in the Family - Start [phase 3] with Nefarian below 50% health and then defeat Nefarian in Blackwing Descent.
Double Dragon - Killl 2 Twilight Fiends in the Twilight Realm and then defeat Valiona and Theralion in the Bastion of Twilight.
Glory of the Cataclysm Raider - Complete the Cataclysm raid achievements listed below.
Argaloth - Defeat Argaloth in Baradin Hold.
Heroic: Argaloth - Defeat Argaloth in Baradin Hold on Heroic difficulty.
Parasite Evening - Defeat Magmaw in Blackwing Descent without anyone in the raid becoming infected with a parasite.
Achieve-a-tron - Defeat the Tron Council in Blackwing Descent without being hit by the following attacks.
Silence is Golden - Defeat Atramedes in Blackwing Descent without any raid member's sound bar going over 11.
Full of Sound and Fury - Defeat Chimaron in Blackwing Descent with only 2 raid member deaths.
Abberant Behavior - Kill 12 Aberrations within 12 seconds on the Maloriak encounter in Blackwing Descent and then defeat Maloriak.
The Only Escape - Defeat Halfus Wyrmbreaker after defeating two drakes within 10 seconds of each other. The Emerald Whelp pack counts as one drake for this purpose.
Elementary - Defeat the Elementium Monstrosity in the Twilight Ascended Council encounter in Blackwing Descent with only one Liquid Ice patch.
The Abyss Will Gaze Back Into You - Defeat Cho'gall in the Bastion of Twilight before any raid member earns more than 30% Corrupted Blood.
I Can't Hear You Over the Sound of How Awesome I Am - Defeat Sinestra in the Bastion of Twilight on Heroic difficulty on the first attempt without letting any raid members die.
Stay Chill - Defeat the Council of the Four Winds in the Throne of the Four Winds while everyone in the raid has at least 7 stacks of Freezing Wind.
Four Play - Defeat Al'Akir in the Throne of the Four Winds while under the effects of 7 or more stacks of Feedback.
Raids & Dungeons - Dungeons
Crushing Bones and Cracking Skulls - Get Rom'ogg Bonecrusher to kill 1000 of his adds with his Skullcracker ability in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Arrested Development - Defeat Corla, Herald of Twilight before any Zealots become Evolved Twilight Zealots in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Too Hot to Handle - Defeat Karsh Steelbender after he has reached 10 stacks of Heated Armor in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Ascendant Descending - Defeat Ascendant Lord Obsidius before he gets 4 stacks of Mortal Strike in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Old Faithful - Get Lady Naz'jar to kill 1000 of her adds with her Geyser ability in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
Prince of Tides - Defeat an Unyielding Behemoth while you have the Tidal Surge effect during the Ozumat encounter in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
Rotten to the Core - Defeat 60 Disciples within 2 seconds during the High Priestess Magneto encounter in the Stone Core on Heroic Difficulty.
No Static at All - Completely avoid the Static Cling effect during the Asaad encounter in the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic Difficulty.
Extra Credit Bonus Stage - Collect 5 Red Coins in a single visit to the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.
Kill It With Fire! - Defeat 3 Burning Souls during the High Prophet Barim encounter in Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
Acrocalpyse Now - Defeat 20 Frenzied Crocolisks within 5 seconds during the Lockmaw encounter in the Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
Headed South - Defeat Siamat, Lord of the South Wind, with 3 stacks of Lightning Charge in Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
I Hate That Song - Interrupt Temple Guardian Anhuur within 3 seconds of his casting Reverberating Hymn in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Straw That Broke the Camel's Back - Defeat Earthrager Ptah while mounted on a camel in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Sun of a.... - Defat Rajh before he casts Blessing of the Sun in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Faster Than the Speed of Light - Complete the Vault of Lights within 5 minutes of entering in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Umbrage for Umbriss (NNF) - Defeat General Umbriss while he is cursed in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
Don't Need to Break Eggs to Make an Omelet - Defeat Erudax before any eggs hatch in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
Exploration
From Hell's Heart I Stab at Thee - Defeat the Whale Shark in Vashj'ir (despite or perhaps because of the fact that he drops no loot). Title Reward: Ishmael
Professions
I Had It in My Hand - Find a rare artifact. Title Reward: Assistant Professor
What was Briefly Yours is Now Mine - Find 5 rare artifacts. Title Reward: Associate Professor
It Belongs in a Museum! - Find every rare artifact. Yes every one. Stop whining. Title Reward: Professor
Feats of Strength
1000 Dungeon & Raid Emblems - Loot 1000 Emblems of Heroism, Valor, Conquest, Triumph or Frost.
2500 Dungeon & Raid Emblems - Loot 2500 Emblems of Heroism, Valor, Conquest, Triumph or Frost.
Quests
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Complete the Neptulon quests in Vashj'ir up to and including Defending the Rift.
The New 344 Milimeter LePage Glue Gun - Shoot down 999 Schnotzz Aces during the Tailgunner! daily quest in Uldum.
Help the Bombardier! I'm the Bombardier! - Kill 10 Schnotzz infantry with one artillery shell during the Fire From the Sky daily quest in Uldum.
King of the Mountain - Complete the Twilight's Hammer quest chain in Twilight Highlands up to and including Skullcrusher the Mountain.
Player vs. Player
Three's Company: 1100 - Earn a 1100 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Three's Company: 1350 - Earn a 1350 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Three's Company: 2400 - Earn a 2400 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Three's Company: 2700 - Earn a 2700 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Battleground - Battle for Gilneas
Battle For Gilneas Victory - Win Battle For Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas Veteran - Complete 100 victories in the Battle For Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas Perfection - Win the Battle For Gilneas with a score of 2000 to 0.
Bustin' Caps To Make It Haps - Take 50 flags in the Battle for Gilneas.
One Two Three You Don't Know About Me - Assault 3 bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Out Of The Fog - Defend 3 bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Not Your Average PUG'er - Come to the defense of a base in the Battle for Gilneas 50 times by recapping the flag.
Don't Get Cocky Kid - Overcome a 500 resource disadvantage in a match of the Battle for Gilneas and claim victory.
Full Coverage - Win 10 Battles for Gilneas while controlling all 3 flags.
Newbs To Plowshares - Win the Battle for Gilneas in 6 minutes.
Jugger Not - Win the Battle for Gilneas by 10 points (2000 to 1990).
Double Rainbow - Perform a /gasp emote under the double rainbow in the Battle For Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas All-Star - Assault and Defend 2 bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas Assassin - Get 10 honorable kills at each of the bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Master of the Battle For Gilneas - Complete the Battle for Gilneas achievements listed below.
Battleground - Twin Peaks
Twin Peaking - Win 2 Twin Peaks battles.
Twin Peaks Veteran - Complete 100 victories in Twin Peaks.
Two-Timer - Personally carry and capture the flag 2 times in Twin Peaks.
Top Defender - Return 50 flags as a defender in Twin Peaks.
Soaring Spirits - Kill 100 flag carriers in Twin Peaks.
Soaring Spirits - Kill 100 flag carriers in Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks Perfection - Win Twin Peaks with a score of 3 to 0 without dying while also getting at least 1 killing blow.
Peak Speed - Win Twin Peaks in under 7 minutes.
Cloud Nine - In a single Twin Peaks battle, capture and return a total of 9 flags.
Cloud Nine - In a single Twin Peaks battle, capture and return a total of 9 flags.
Drag a Maw** - Kill 3 different Orcs in a single Twin Peaks battle.
Wild Hammering** - Kill 3 different Dwarves in a single Twin Peaks battle.
Altitude Sickness - In a single Twin Peaks battle, kill 2 flag carriers before they leave the Wildhammer Stronghold.
The Dragon's Maw - In a single Twin Peaks battle, kill 2 flag carriers before they leave the Dragonmaw Flag Room.
Endurance Training - Grab the flag and capture it in under 75 seconds.
Endurance Training - Grab the flag and capture it in under 75 seconds.
Twin Peaks Mountaineer** - Perform a roar emote while sailing through the air with the flag while under the effect of a speed power up and either slow fall or levitation.
Double Jeopardy - Win a Twin Peaks battle after being behind by a score of 0 to 2.
Master of Twin Peaks - Complete the Twin Peaks achievements listed below.
Rated Battlegrounds
In Service Of The Alliance - Win a rated battleground.
In Service Of The Alliance - Win 30 rated battlegrounds.
In Service Of The Alliance - Win 60 rated battlegrounds.
In Service Of The Alliance - Win 100 rated battlegrounds.
Veteran Of The Alliance - Win 500 rated battlegrounds. Title Reward: Veteran of the Alliance / Veteran of the Horde
Rated Battlegrounds - Horde Titles
Scout - Earn a battleground rating of 1000. Title Reward: Scout
Grunt - Earn a battleground rating of 1100. Title Reward: Grunt
Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1200. Title Reward: Sergeant
Senior Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1300. Title Reward: Senior Sergeant
First Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1400. Title Reward: First Sergeant
Stone Guard - Earn a battleground rating of 1500. Title Reward: Stone
Blood Guard - Earn a battleground rating of 1600. Title Reward: Blood
Legionnaire - Earn a battleground rating of 1700. Title Reward: Legionnaire
Centurion - Earn a battleground rating of 1800. Title Reward: Centurion
Champion - Earn a battleground rating of 1900. Title Reward: Champion
Lieutenant General - Earn a battleground rating of 2000. Title Reward: Lieutenant General
General - Earn a battleground rating of 2100. Title Reward: General
Warlord - Earn a battleground rating of 2200. Title Reward: Warlord
High Warlord - Earn a battleground rating of 2300. Title Reward: High Warlord
Hero of the Horde: Vicious - End PvP season 9 in the top .5% of of the rated battleground ladder. Title Reward: Hero of the Horde
Rated Battlegrounds - Alliance Titles
Private - Earn a battleground rating of 1000. Title Reward: Private
Corporal - Earn a battleground rating of 1100. Title Reward: Corporal
Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1200. Title Reward: Sergeant
Master Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1300. Title Reward: Master Sergeant
Sergeant Major - Earn a battleground rating of 1400. Title Reward: Sergeant
Knight - Earn a battleground rating of 1500. Title Reward: Knight
Knight-Lieutenant - Earn a battleground rating of 1600. Title Reward: Knight-Lieutenant
Knight-Captain - Earn a battleground rating of 1700. Title Reward: Knight-Captain
Knight-Champion - Earn a battleground rating of 1800. Title Reward: Knight-Champion
Lieutenant Commander - Earn a battleground rating of 1900. Title Reward: Lieutenant Commander
Commander - Earn a battleground rating of 2000. Title Reward: Commander
Marshal - Earn a battleground rating of 2100. Title Reward: Marshal
Field Marshal - Earn a battleground rating of 2200. Title Reward: Field Marshal
Grand Marshal - Earn a battleground rating of 2300. Title Reward: Grand Marshal
Hero of the Alliance: Vicious - End PvP season 9 in the top .5% of of the rated battleground ladder. Title Reward: Hero of the Alliance
Assistant Professor (#189)
Associate Professor (#190)
Professor (#191)
Ishmael (#192)
, Veteran of the Alliance (#193)
, Veteran of the Horde (#194)
, Hero of the Alliance (#223)
, Hero of the Horde (#224)
Also, all the old PvP titles have been brought back to the game as part of the rated bg system.
Guild Achievements!
Guild - General
Crittergeddon (WIP) - Kill 100,000 critters
That's a Lot of Travel Time - Complete 50,000 quests.
A Daily Routine - Complete 50,000 daily quests.
The Daily Grind (WIP) - Complete 100,000 quests.
Guilds - PvP
Now That's Teamwork - Win 1000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
Stick Together Team - Win 2000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
Stick Together Team - Win 2000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
The Perfect Guild Storm - Win a rated Eye of the Storm match with a score of 1600 to 0 while in a guild raid.
Guild Gulch - Win a rated Warsong Gulch match with a score of 3 to 0 while in a guild raid.
The Buddy System - Win 500 arena matches with a team composed of guild members.
Killing With Friends - Win 1000 arena matches with a team composed entirely of guild members.
Guilds - Professions
Gemcrafter Extrodinare - Cut 25,000 gems of at least superior quality. (Old - Cut 10,000 gems.)
Master Crafter - Craft 1,500 Epic items with an item level of at least 359. (Old - Craft 1,000 Epic items.)
That's A Lot of Bait - Catch 50,000 fish from fishing pools.
We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat - Catch 100,000 fish from fishing pools.
Player Achivements!
General
Helping Inscribers Pay the Bills - Learn 20 glyphs for your class.
Raids & Dungeons - Raids
Keeping it in the Family - Start [phase 3] with Nefarian below 50% health and then defeat Nefarian in Blackwing Descent.
Double Dragon - Killl 2 Twilight Fiends in the Twilight Realm and then defeat Valiona and Theralion in the Bastion of Twilight.
Glory of the Cataclysm Raider - Complete the Cataclysm raid achievements listed below.
Argaloth - Defeat Argaloth in Baradin Hold.
Heroic: Argaloth - Defeat Argaloth in Baradin Hold on Heroic difficulty.
Parasite Evening - Defeat Magmaw in Blackwing Descent without anyone in the raid becoming infected with a parasite.
Achieve-a-tron - Defeat the Tron Council in Blackwing Descent without being hit by the following attacks.
Silence is Golden - Defeat Atramedes in Blackwing Descent without any raid member's sound bar going over 11.
Full of Sound and Fury - Defeat Chimaron in Blackwing Descent with only 2 raid member deaths.
Abberant Behavior - Kill 12 Aberrations within 12 seconds on the Maloriak encounter in Blackwing Descent and then defeat Maloriak.
The Only Escape - Defeat Halfus Wyrmbreaker after defeating two drakes within 10 seconds of each other. The Emerald Whelp pack counts as one drake for this purpose.
Elementary - Defeat the Elementium Monstrosity in the Twilight Ascended Council encounter in Blackwing Descent with only one Liquid Ice patch.
The Abyss Will Gaze Back Into You - Defeat Cho'gall in the Bastion of Twilight before any raid member earns more than 30% Corrupted Blood.
I Can't Hear You Over the Sound of How Awesome I Am - Defeat Sinestra in the Bastion of Twilight on Heroic difficulty on the first attempt without letting any raid members die.
Stay Chill - Defeat the Council of the Four Winds in the Throne of the Four Winds while everyone in the raid has at least 7 stacks of Freezing Wind.
Four Play - Defeat Al'Akir in the Throne of the Four Winds while under the effects of 7 or more stacks of Feedback.
Raids & Dungeons - Dungeons
Crushing Bones and Cracking Skulls - Get Rom'ogg Bonecrusher to kill 1000 of his adds with his Skullcracker ability in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Arrested Development - Defeat Corla, Herald of Twilight before any Zealots become Evolved Twilight Zealots in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Too Hot to Handle - Defeat Karsh Steelbender after he has reached 10 stacks of Heated Armor in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Ascendant Descending - Defeat Ascendant Lord Obsidius before he gets 4 stacks of Mortal Strike in Blackrock Caverns on Heroic difficulty.
Old Faithful - Get Lady Naz'jar to kill 1000 of her adds with her Geyser ability in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
Prince of Tides - Defeat an Unyielding Behemoth while you have the Tidal Surge effect during the Ozumat encounter in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
Rotten to the Core - Defeat 60 Disciples within 2 seconds during the High Priestess Magneto encounter in the Stone Core on Heroic Difficulty.
No Static at All - Completely avoid the Static Cling effect during the Asaad encounter in the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic Difficulty.
Extra Credit Bonus Stage - Collect 5 Red Coins in a single visit to the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.
Kill It With Fire! - Defeat 3 Burning Souls during the High Prophet Barim encounter in Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
Acrocalpyse Now - Defeat 20 Frenzied Crocolisks within 5 seconds during the Lockmaw encounter in the Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
Headed South - Defeat Siamat, Lord of the South Wind, with 3 stacks of Lightning Charge in Lost City of the Tol'vir on Heroic difficulty.
I Hate That Song - Interrupt Temple Guardian Anhuur within 3 seconds of his casting Reverberating Hymn in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Straw That Broke the Camel's Back - Defeat Earthrager Ptah while mounted on a camel in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Sun of a.... - Defat Rajh before he casts Blessing of the Sun in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Faster Than the Speed of Light - Complete the Vault of Lights within 5 minutes of entering in the Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
Umbrage for Umbriss (NNF) - Defeat General Umbriss while he is cursed in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
Don't Need to Break Eggs to Make an Omelet - Defeat Erudax before any eggs hatch in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
Exploration
From Hell's Heart I Stab at Thee - Defeat the Whale Shark in Vashj'ir (despite or perhaps because of the fact that he drops no loot). Title Reward: Ishmael
Professions
I Had It in My Hand - Find a rare artifact. Title Reward: Assistant Professor
What was Briefly Yours is Now Mine - Find 5 rare artifacts. Title Reward: Associate Professor
It Belongs in a Museum! - Find every rare artifact. Yes every one. Stop whining. Title Reward: Professor
Feats of Strength
1000 Dungeon & Raid Emblems - Loot 1000 Emblems of Heroism, Valor, Conquest, Triumph or Frost.
2500 Dungeon & Raid Emblems - Loot 2500 Emblems of Heroism, Valor, Conquest, Triumph or Frost.
Quests
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Complete the Neptulon quests in Vashj'ir up to and including Defending the Rift.
The New 344 Milimeter LePage Glue Gun - Shoot down 999 Schnotzz Aces during the Tailgunner! daily quest in Uldum.
Help the Bombardier! I'm the Bombardier! - Kill 10 Schnotzz infantry with one artillery shell during the Fire From the Sky daily quest in Uldum.
King of the Mountain - Complete the Twilight's Hammer quest chain in Twilight Highlands up to and including Skullcrusher the Mountain.
Player vs. Player
Three's Company: 1100 - Earn a 1100 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Three's Company: 1350 - Earn a 1350 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Three's Company: 2400 - Earn a 2400 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Three's Company: 2700 - Earn a 2700 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena.
Battleground - Battle for Gilneas
Battle For Gilneas Victory - Win Battle For Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas Veteran - Complete 100 victories in the Battle For Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas Perfection - Win the Battle For Gilneas with a score of 2000 to 0.
Bustin' Caps To Make It Haps - Take 50 flags in the Battle for Gilneas.
One Two Three You Don't Know About Me - Assault 3 bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Out Of The Fog - Defend 3 bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Not Your Average PUG'er - Come to the defense of a base in the Battle for Gilneas 50 times by recapping the flag.
Don't Get Cocky Kid - Overcome a 500 resource disadvantage in a match of the Battle for Gilneas and claim victory.
Full Coverage - Win 10 Battles for Gilneas while controlling all 3 flags.
Newbs To Plowshares - Win the Battle for Gilneas in 6 minutes.
Jugger Not - Win the Battle for Gilneas by 10 points (2000 to 1990).
Double Rainbow - Perform a /gasp emote under the double rainbow in the Battle For Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas All-Star - Assault and Defend 2 bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Battle For Gilneas Assassin - Get 10 honorable kills at each of the bases in a single Battle for Gilneas.
Master of the Battle For Gilneas - Complete the Battle for Gilneas achievements listed below.
Battleground - Twin Peaks
Twin Peaking - Win 2 Twin Peaks battles.
Twin Peaks Veteran - Complete 100 victories in Twin Peaks.
Two-Timer - Personally carry and capture the flag 2 times in Twin Peaks.
Top Defender - Return 50 flags as a defender in Twin Peaks.
Soaring Spirits - Kill 100 flag carriers in Twin Peaks.
Soaring Spirits - Kill 100 flag carriers in Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks Perfection - Win Twin Peaks with a score of 3 to 0 without dying while also getting at least 1 killing blow.
Peak Speed - Win Twin Peaks in under 7 minutes.
Cloud Nine - In a single Twin Peaks battle, capture and return a total of 9 flags.
Cloud Nine - In a single Twin Peaks battle, capture and return a total of 9 flags.
Drag a Maw** - Kill 3 different Orcs in a single Twin Peaks battle.
Wild Hammering** - Kill 3 different Dwarves in a single Twin Peaks battle.
Altitude Sickness - In a single Twin Peaks battle, kill 2 flag carriers before they leave the Wildhammer Stronghold.
The Dragon's Maw - In a single Twin Peaks battle, kill 2 flag carriers before they leave the Dragonmaw Flag Room.
Endurance Training - Grab the flag and capture it in under 75 seconds.
Endurance Training - Grab the flag and capture it in under 75 seconds.
Twin Peaks Mountaineer** - Perform a roar emote while sailing through the air with the flag while under the effect of a speed power up and either slow fall or levitation.
Double Jeopardy - Win a Twin Peaks battle after being behind by a score of 0 to 2.
Master of Twin Peaks - Complete the Twin Peaks achievements listed below.
Rated Battlegrounds
In Service Of The Alliance - Win a rated battleground.
In Service Of The Alliance - Win 30 rated battlegrounds.
In Service Of The Alliance - Win 60 rated battlegrounds.
In Service Of The Alliance - Win 100 rated battlegrounds.
Veteran Of The Alliance - Win 500 rated battlegrounds. Title Reward: Veteran of the Alliance / Veteran of the Horde
Rated Battlegrounds - Horde Titles
Scout - Earn a battleground rating of 1000. Title Reward: Scout
Grunt - Earn a battleground rating of 1100. Title Reward: Grunt
Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1200. Title Reward: Sergeant
Senior Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1300. Title Reward: Senior Sergeant
First Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1400. Title Reward: First Sergeant
Stone Guard - Earn a battleground rating of 1500. Title Reward: Stone
Blood Guard - Earn a battleground rating of 1600. Title Reward: Blood
Legionnaire - Earn a battleground rating of 1700. Title Reward: Legionnaire
Centurion - Earn a battleground rating of 1800. Title Reward: Centurion
Champion - Earn a battleground rating of 1900. Title Reward: Champion
Lieutenant General - Earn a battleground rating of 2000. Title Reward: Lieutenant General
General - Earn a battleground rating of 2100. Title Reward: General
Warlord - Earn a battleground rating of 2200. Title Reward: Warlord
High Warlord - Earn a battleground rating of 2300. Title Reward: High Warlord
Hero of the Horde: Vicious - End PvP season 9 in the top .5% of of the rated battleground ladder. Title Reward: Hero of the Horde
Rated Battlegrounds - Alliance Titles
Private - Earn a battleground rating of 1000. Title Reward: Private
Corporal - Earn a battleground rating of 1100. Title Reward: Corporal
Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1200. Title Reward: Sergeant
Master Sergeant - Earn a battleground rating of 1300. Title Reward: Master Sergeant
Sergeant Major - Earn a battleground rating of 1400. Title Reward: Sergeant
Knight - Earn a battleground rating of 1500. Title Reward: Knight
Knight-Lieutenant - Earn a battleground rating of 1600. Title Reward: Knight-Lieutenant
Knight-Captain - Earn a battleground rating of 1700. Title Reward: Knight-Captain
Knight-Champion - Earn a battleground rating of 1800. Title Reward: Knight-Champion
Lieutenant Commander - Earn a battleground rating of 1900. Title Reward: Lieutenant Commander
Commander - Earn a battleground rating of 2000. Title Reward: Commander
Marshal - Earn a battleground rating of 2100. Title Reward: Marshal
Field Marshal - Earn a battleground rating of 2200. Title Reward: Field Marshal
Grand Marshal - Earn a battleground rating of 2300. Title Reward: Grand Marshal
Hero of the Alliance: Vicious - End PvP season 9 in the top .5% of of the rated battleground ladder. Title Reward: Hero of the Alliance
T11 Bonuses!
Death Knight
Item - Death Knight T11 Blood 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Death Strike ability by 5%. / Instant
Item - Death Knight T11 Blood 4P Bonus - Increases the duration of your Icebound Fortitude ability by 50%. / Instant
Item - Death Knight T11 DPS 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Death Coil and Frost Strike abilities by 5%. / Instant
Item - Death Knight T11 DPS 4P Bonus - Each time you gain a Death Rune, you also gain 1% increased attack power for 30 sec. Stacks up to 3 times. / Instant
Druid
Item - Druid T11 Restoration 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of the periodic portion of your Lifebloom spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Restoration 4P Bonus - Whenever you have Lifebloom stacked to its maximum of 3 applications on its target, you gain 540 Spirit. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Balance 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Insect Swarm and Moonfire spells by 5%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Balance 4P Bonus - Whenever Eclipse triggers, your critical strike chance with spells is increased by 99% for 8 sec. Each critical strike you achieve reduces that bonus by 33%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Feral 2P Bonus - Increases the periodic damage done by your Rake and Lacerate abilities by 10%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Feral 4P Bonus - Each time you use Mangle (Cat) you gain a 1% increase to attack power for 30 sec stacking up to 3 times, and the duration of your Survival Instinct ability is increased by 50%. / Instant
Hunter
Item - Hunter T11 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Serpent Sting ability by 5%. / Instant
Item - Hunter T11 4P Bonus - Your Focus Fire ability grants 1% additional haste per application of Frenzy, your Chimera Shot ability has a 10% chance to immediately refund half its focus cost, and your Black Arrow also deals instant damage to your target. / Instant
Mage
Item - Mage T11 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of Arcane Missiles, Ice Lance, and Pyroblast by 5%. / Instant
Item - Mage T11 4P Bonus - Reduces the cast time of Arcane Blast, Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, and Frostbolt by 10%. / Instant
Paladin
Item - Paladin T11 Retribution 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Templar's Verdict ability by 10%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Retribution 4P Bonus - Your Inquisition ability's duration is calculated as if you had one additional Holy Power. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Protection 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Crusader Strike ability by 10%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Protection 4P Bonus - Increases the duration of your Guardian of Ancient Kings ability by 50%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Holy 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Holy Light spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Holy 4P Bonus - Whenever your Holy Radiance spell is active, you gain 1620 Spirit. / Instant
Priest
Item - Priest T11 Healer 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Heal spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Priest T11 Healer 4P Bonus - Each time your Penance spell heals a target with Weakened Soul you gain 540 Spirit for 10 sec, and being in a Chakra state grants you 540 Spirit for the duration of the Chakra. / Instant
Item - Priest T11 Shadow 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Mind Flay and Mind Sear spells by 5%. / Instant
Item - Priest T11 Shadow 4P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Shadowy Apparitions by 30%. / Instant
Rogue
Item - Rogue T11 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Backstab Mutilate, and Sinister Strike abilities by 5%. / Instant
Item - Rogue T11 4P Bonus - Each of your melee autoattacks has a 1% chance to activate Deadly Scheme for 15 sec, increasing the critical strike chance on your next Eviscerate or Envenom by 100%. / Instant
Shaman
Item - Shaman T11 Restoration 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Healing Wave spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Restoration 4P Bonus - Grants 540 Spirit for 6 sec after you cast Riptide / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Enhancement 2P Bonus - Increases damage done by your Lava Lash and Stormstrike abilities by 10%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Enhancment 4P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Lightning Bolt spell by 10%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Elemental 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Flame Shock spell by 10%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Elemental 4P Bonus - Reduces the cast time of your Lightning Bolt spell by 10%. / Instant
Warlock
Item - Warlock T11 2P Bonus - Reduces the cast time of your Chaos Bolt, Hand of Gul'dan, and Haunt spells by 10%. / Instant
Item - Warlock T11 4P Bonus - Periodic damage from your Immolate and Unstable Affliction spells has a 2% chance to cause your next Fel Flame spell to have a 100% increased critical strike chance. / Instant
Warrior
Item - Warrior T11 DPS 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Bloodthirst and Mortal Strike abilities by 5%. / Instant
Item - Warrior T11 DPS 4P Bonus - Each time you use Overpower or Raging Blow you gain a 1% increase to attack power for 30 sec stacking up to 3 times. / Instant
Item - Warrior T11 Protection 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Shield Slam ability by 5%. / Instant
Item - Warrior T11 Protection 4P Bonus - Increases the duration of your Shield Wall ability by 50%. / Instant
Item - Death Knight T11 Blood 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Death Strike ability by 5%. / Instant
Item - Death Knight T11 Blood 4P Bonus - Increases the duration of your Icebound Fortitude ability by 50%. / Instant
Item - Death Knight T11 DPS 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Death Coil and Frost Strike abilities by 5%. / Instant
Item - Death Knight T11 DPS 4P Bonus - Each time you gain a Death Rune, you also gain 1% increased attack power for 30 sec. Stacks up to 3 times. / Instant
Druid
Item - Druid T11 Restoration 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of the periodic portion of your Lifebloom spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Restoration 4P Bonus - Whenever you have Lifebloom stacked to its maximum of 3 applications on its target, you gain 540 Spirit. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Balance 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Insect Swarm and Moonfire spells by 5%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Balance 4P Bonus - Whenever Eclipse triggers, your critical strike chance with spells is increased by 99% for 8 sec. Each critical strike you achieve reduces that bonus by 33%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Feral 2P Bonus - Increases the periodic damage done by your Rake and Lacerate abilities by 10%. / Instant
Item - Druid T11 Feral 4P Bonus - Each time you use Mangle (Cat) you gain a 1% increase to attack power for 30 sec stacking up to 3 times, and the duration of your Survival Instinct ability is increased by 50%. / Instant
Hunter
Item - Hunter T11 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Serpent Sting ability by 5%. / Instant
Item - Hunter T11 4P Bonus - Your Focus Fire ability grants 1% additional haste per application of Frenzy, your Chimera Shot ability has a 10% chance to immediately refund half its focus cost, and your Black Arrow also deals instant damage to your target. / Instant
Mage
Item - Mage T11 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of Arcane Missiles, Ice Lance, and Pyroblast by 5%. / Instant
Item - Mage T11 4P Bonus - Reduces the cast time of Arcane Blast, Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, and Frostbolt by 10%. / Instant
Paladin
Item - Paladin T11 Retribution 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Templar's Verdict ability by 10%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Retribution 4P Bonus - Your Inquisition ability's duration is calculated as if you had one additional Holy Power. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Protection 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Crusader Strike ability by 10%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Protection 4P Bonus - Increases the duration of your Guardian of Ancient Kings ability by 50%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Holy 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Holy Light spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Paladin T11 Holy 4P Bonus - Whenever your Holy Radiance spell is active, you gain 1620 Spirit. / Instant
Priest
Item - Priest T11 Healer 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Heal spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Priest T11 Healer 4P Bonus - Each time your Penance spell heals a target with Weakened Soul you gain 540 Spirit for 10 sec, and being in a Chakra state grants you 540 Spirit for the duration of the Chakra. / Instant
Item - Priest T11 Shadow 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Mind Flay and Mind Sear spells by 5%. / Instant
Item - Priest T11 Shadow 4P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Shadowy Apparitions by 30%. / Instant
Rogue
Item - Rogue T11 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Backstab Mutilate, and Sinister Strike abilities by 5%. / Instant
Item - Rogue T11 4P Bonus - Each of your melee autoattacks has a 1% chance to activate Deadly Scheme for 15 sec, increasing the critical strike chance on your next Eviscerate or Envenom by 100%. / Instant
Shaman
Item - Shaman T11 Restoration 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Healing Wave spell by 5%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Restoration 4P Bonus - Grants 540 Spirit for 6 sec after you cast Riptide / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Enhancement 2P Bonus - Increases damage done by your Lava Lash and Stormstrike abilities by 10%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Enhancment 4P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Lightning Bolt spell by 10%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Elemental 2P Bonus - Increases the critical strike chance of your Flame Shock spell by 10%. / Instant
Item - Shaman T11 Elemental 4P Bonus - Reduces the cast time of your Lightning Bolt spell by 10%. / Instant
Warlock
Item - Warlock T11 2P Bonus - Reduces the cast time of your Chaos Bolt, Hand of Gul'dan, and Haunt spells by 10%. / Instant
Item - Warlock T11 4P Bonus - Periodic damage from your Immolate and Unstable Affliction spells has a 2% chance to cause your next Fel Flame spell to have a 100% increased critical strike chance. / Instant
Warrior
Item - Warrior T11 DPS 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Bloodthirst and Mortal Strike abilities by 5%. / Instant
Item - Warrior T11 DPS 4P Bonus - Each time you use Overpower or Raging Blow you gain a 1% increase to attack power for 30 sec stacking up to 3 times. / Instant
Item - Warrior T11 Protection 2P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Shield Slam ability by 5%. / Instant
Item - Warrior T11 Protection 4P Bonus - Increases the duration of your Shield Wall ability by 50%. / Instant
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
From Ghostcrawler
Cataclysm Dungeons difficulty
The normal dungeons require a little more crowd control than many LK players are typically used to, but they aren't intended to be brutal. You shouldn't need to farm a lot of gear before stepping into one. Keep in mind that feedback is going to be all over the place in a beta. Some players are heading into dungeons they know nothing about and getting frustrated when someone can't immediately explain the boss mechanics to them. Some just have no sense in investment since this isn't their "real" character (such irony). Some of the bosses are overtuned and some of the class abilities are undertuned at this stage. Because Uldum and Twilight don't have quest rewards yet, there are also some folks who are just really undergeared. Half your glyphs probably don't work. The new enchants aren't readily available. And so it goes. That sort of thing will all get ironed out over the next several weeks.
You shouldn't have huge mana problems in a normal dungeon. Your middle heal should get you through most of it just fine. You'll have to use more of your emergency heals in the heroics and raids, and you'll also be expected to gear up a little more for the heroics and raids. In Burning Crusade, players went and finished the Shadowmoon quest lines or got their reps to Exalted or maxed out their trade skills in order to have the best gear available for the heroics and raids. That is our model for Cataclysm.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Operation: Gnomeregan / Zalazane's Fall live!
The first of the Pre-Cataclysm Events are deployed on US servers. The EU version will be deployed after Wednesdays maintainence.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Today in WoW
OP by Blizzard Entertainment:
Leveling makes you "weaker" in Cataclysm
Your primary stats go up, but your combat ratings go down. The reason for this is that those ratings convert to percentages. If you started with say 50% crit chance, and then gained a level and your new gear had say +4% crit chance instead of +2% crit chance, then you'd quickly get to 100% crit and stay there. This was the reason we implemented combat ratings in the first place. (You can blame Blackhand's Breadth.)
This particularly gets to be a problem when you reach max level. The reason is because you are going to go through several tiers of gear without increasing your character level, so we need to have enough space in the numbers for them to increase. We figure out what the highest say crit and haste chance the game can handle and then work backwards giving each tier a meaningful upgrade (or getting new gear won't be fun) and that determines the combat ratings on the starting gear.
We definitely understand the confusion / weird perception issues this causes and we've talked about some ways to completely revamp the game's combat equations so that we didn't need to use percentage-based stats influenced by ratings with diminishing returns. That is too large a change for Cataclysm, but something we might do in the future (when we aren't also tackling talent and glyph revamps).
Also remember that if you are leveling to 85, you are skipping over a lot of potential quest rewards that you can't get yet. The item leaps among levels are pretty large at level 80-85, which we had to do to make the upgrades feel meaningful. (Imagine the alternatives where you could go to Twilight Highlands directly from Icecrown and do okay.) Once those quest items are in, you'll be more powerful as you level.
Tuning abilities numbers
A lot of you are focusing on numbers, which are just such easy things to tweak at this stage that we haven't turned our attention to them yet. If a "fun" ability for you is synonymous with "one that hits hard" then what you find fun is liable to be random and switch from build to build.
We have adjusted mob health and damage quite a bit in the beta and we're going to continue to do so. In LK, quest mobs got to be a bit of a joke, such that everyone was used to killing clouds of them with ease. We're trying to return to a world where you can generally handle one, but might want to think about using some of your crowd control or emergency buttons when you get an extra one or two. (Again, that's the intent. We're still adjusting things to get there.)
Uldum and Twilight Highlands are hard!
Unfortunately, this is the most salient point in the original post. Everything from mana cost to tank damage are designed around having the correct gear. Doing an 85 zone in 83 gear is much, much harder than doing a 75 zone in 73 gear. Why? Because with only 5 levels, we made the level to level jump in item stats really high. That also means mobs also jump up a lot in power from level 73 to 75.
Almost every "Wow, things are hard" thread I have read on this and other forums are a direct result of not having Uldum and Twilight gear yet. We thought long and hard about whether it was a good idea to bump the level cap without that gear in place. In the end, we thought it was worth getting feedback on the quest design and some of the encounter design. But encounter balance is enormously dependent on having the right gear. Just keep that in mind. Things will feel better when you have ugrades available.
Healing throughput
Throughput won't go up enormously, but it will go up. Regen will go up. Most importantly, tank health and total dps will go up a lot. You won't be able to top anyone off in a GCD, but nobody will die so quickly that you'll need to. In all of our dungeon tests, tanks don't die in 2 or 3 hits unless they are doing something very wrong in the encounter.
Death Knight
Dark Simulacrum
There' still some polish needed on Dark Simulacrum. We are going to try and let it affect everything we possibly can, but there have to be some limitations. Copying pets and the like is just something we can't handle really well. We also need to make sure that some effects have a duration. It's probably okay to copy Shadowform, but Shadowform itself has no duration and the DK version needs to.
Paladin
Hammer of the Righteous
I think if Hammer of the Righteous went back to its old design of hitting 3 targets, you'd see the forums swarming with paladins in a few weeks demanding some way to AE, such as... removing the cooldown on Consecrate again. There is no way to change the Prot paladin rotation up without changing some core abilities, and we are committed to changing the Prot rotation up.
We have some room to experiment with the proc rates for Grand Crusader, but remember that the more often it procs, the weaker it has to hit.
Tanking in Cataclysm
Generally, you should use Inquisition when AE tanking, since it will boost the Holy portion of Hammer of the Righteous as well as Consecrate. You should use Shield of the Righteous when fighting single (or perhaps 2-3) targets, because it's going to hit a lot harder.
Beyond that, you have a few options. You can glyph Avenger's Shield to focus on one target if you'd like. You can switch to Shield of the Righteous even on group targets when you get Sacred Duty procs. You can use Grand Crusader procs to focus on the targets you are already in melee with, or use Avenger's Shield on additional targets to help hold threat. Consecrate isn't the "threat glue" is used to be, nor does it have 100% up time, so you're going to have some choices about when and where you use it.
Words of Glory
The main strength of Word of Glory is its cost. No matter how strained mana might get, you're always going to have ample usage of an instant, free heal.
Healing Mods Talents
It's difficult to offer talents that mod the other heals. If you have a talent that makes Flash of Light more cost effective or Divine Light faster, then those aren't really filling those niches anymore. We had a lot of problems like this in the past where a combination of talents, glyphs or set bonuses made Flash of Light or Holy Light the obvious heal for paladins, and the other one just died. We want to use all 3 of the cast-time healing spells in Cataclysm, but we're offering the most gameplay around Holy Shock and Word of Glory, because those are what make Holy paladins feel the most different from other healers.
Beacon of Light
As others have pointed out, Beacon just can't stay as "I heal at 200% effectiveness" in the Cataclysm healing model. It will still give you extra healing, particularly with the Tower of Radiance component.
AE Healing
We're not worried about the AE healing situation. In Lich King there were situations, especially in raids, where healers were called upon to instantly heal multiple targets at once or someone was going to die. With the larger health pools in Cataclysm, those situations are just going to be very rare. AE damage, and sometimes raid-wide AE auras, will still exist, but your tools are more than adequate to handle them. No, Light of Dawn may not take 5+ targets from 50% damage to 0% damage, but it also doesn't need to. You'll have time to top them off with single target heals, or just wait until the next AE heal is available. We just don't think spammable AE heals are that fun. If we wanted them to be a big part of the game, we'd need to make actual AE healing rotations that did more. The LK scenarios of hitting Wild Growth and Circle of Healing on cooldown are not something we want to go back to (plus, we've increased those cooldowns).
Healing and Mana management
Right. Another way to think of it is Heal, Holy Light and Healing Wave are essentially your heal autoattacks. They won't do anything too impressive, but you can essentially do them forever.
Holy Mastery Shield
The paladin mastery should definitely replace a lower shield with a larger one. We're a bit hesitant to just let you continually stack the shield up to its max size. That feels more annoying if anything because then paladins would feel compelled to spam heals on a tank before the pull so they could start with a max strength shield and then drink to restore the mana investment.
Guardian of Ancient Kings
The Guardian of Ancient Kings shouldn't take damage or die.
Exorcism
As far as where things are supposed to be, we don't want Exorcism to be the largest source of your damage. There were a couple of bugs with the spell implementation (double dipping on AP for instance) and we also recently decided to change Ret's mastery to no longer affect Holy damage, since it was just propping up Exorcism too much.
Templar's Verdict/Divine Storm without 3 Holy Power
We think situationally you will want to use TV or Divine Storm with less than 3 stacks. However, if it's very efficient to do so, then players will never wait for 3 stacks because having 3 smaller hits is more valuable than having 1 large hit of the same total damage.
Priest )
Griefing friendly players with Leap of Faith
Leap of Faith needs to be constrained to your group only.
Shaman
Enhancement
In my experience, every time I read one of these "lack of focus" or "we don't have a role" threads, it's nearly always because the players are looking for something very different in the class than what it offers and are trying to steer things in a different direction. As such, we generally don't get much useful feedback out of these "existential crisis" kinds of discussions.
Think really hard about what it is you're asking for. Are you trying to turn Enhancement into a Fury warrior? Are you trying to make a true hybrid that fills many roles at once? Do you just want to be the superhero that always saves your party? Or are you just busting with spell ideas that you'd like to see get implemented? Try and stick with the details and not the big picture from 10,000 feet high. What is the problem you're trying to solve? The intent of the spec design isn't something you need to solve. Figuring out the rough edge that don't feel right is where you can be more helpful.
Enhancement is a spec designed around combining melee weapons strikes with spells. They also have totems and weapon enchants. Almost all of the talents in the tree support that direction. If half of your talents were trying to turn you into a healer and half of them were trying to turn you into a tank or something, then I'd understand the "no consistent direction" feedback. But that's not what the tree does at all. Stormstrike boosts weapon and spell damage. That is the tree in a nutshell. Other talents boost melee damage or spell damage or both. There are a few survival-oriented talents that should have even more use in PvE in the Cataclysm environment, but are still optional.
Feedback on which abilities you like or dislike or talents you find useful or not useful is totally appropriate and appreciated. The whole "we're adrift at sea without a direction" nearly always comes across as QQ at best or "here is my pet list of talents" at worst (whether it was intended to or not) so my advice is just to avoid it.
I'm not trying to shoot down the feedback. I'm trying to steer it into a format that is more likely to produce the kind of results that I sense you're really looking for.
Warrior
Icon Highlights
The icon highlights for things like Overpower and Revenge need a little more polish so that they don't stay lit all the time or light up during a cooldown.
Colossus Smash
Colossus Smash is indeed still bugged and will make targets harder to kill. It required new tech to get this effect working at all, and it's going to take some time before it is working correctly.
Heroic Leap
The Thunder Clap portion of Heroic Leap was the subject of much derision on this very forum. If you liked it, you should have stuck up for it then. It's gone now.
That sounds harsh, which isn't my intention, but it is really, really common on these forums to see a concerted effort among some players to say "Change X" and then when we do, other players come out of the woodwork to say "But we liked X!" I can't suggest a great solution to that except to pay attention to the kinds of discussions that are happening, and chime in if you disagree with something strongly.
Damage Tuning
We aren't focused on numbers tuning yet, so comments like "RB doesn't hit very hard" or "SMF doesn't compete with TG" just aren't going to be terribly useful posts at this stage. If your measurement of "fun" is "hits for big numbers" then you aren't going to be able to provide beta feedback that helps the developers much.
Tooltips not showing "true" damage
We'll make sure the tooltips reflect the actual damage being done. It's hard to know without looking at each spell individually whether the damage is wrong or the description.
Friday, September 3, 2010
I was over on http://www.mmo-champion.com again and watched the new introductions for all the races.
Major SPOILERS!
Major SPOILERS!
The World of Warcraft - Glyphs
So I was looking at mmo-champion.com today and I noticed that Boubouille posted about the new glyph changes. Most of them seem okay, but I think they'll be less powerful than their current live counterparts. Hopefully they will be the "medium" and minor glyphs and the "prime" glyphs will be better than these.
(all images are owned and by Boubouille at mmo-champion.com).
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