Thursday, April 30, 2009

Today Podcast Live on TNB

I know stuffs. Or at least some people think I do. I will try to not make an absolute mess of things. If anything it will be a giggle.

I will be live with the Twisted Nether Blogcast tonight, Thursday, April 30th at 9:30PM PST. If you want to listen into the recording you can at TNB Live Show page. The download for this new episode 42 will be available next week.

May your blades never dull.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Thanks Megan

Thank you Megan of Out of Mana for all your fun blog posts over the last two years. Your wit and candidness was always something I looked forward too. Thank you for helping me understand the power and weakness of the warlock. You will be missed.

Good luck!
/bow

Monday, April 27, 2009

Master Angler

After months of trying I finally won the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza. I was shaking in excitement for longer then the 18 minutes it took me to win. I think the goblins finally gave it to me because I have a completely styling fishing outfit.

Now I am back to fishing in the Dalaran fountain. I have one gold coin left for that achievement.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Friday, April 24, 2009

"I fought a lock and the lock won"

To Bobby Fullers “I Fought the Law and law won” Here is my I-had-to-much-time-on-my-hands-at-work rendition.

Stalkin’ pray in the hot sun
I fought a lock and the lock won
I fought a lock and the lock won
I thought she’d die faster then some
I fought a lock and the lock won

I attacked the lock and the idea was bad
Death coiled now I’m done
My health cursed off like I never had
I fought a lock and the lock won
I fought a lock and the lock won

Gankin squishies before they run
I fought a lock and the lock won
I fought a lock and the lock won
Fear me around and it’s not fun

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Screenshots the WoW Way

Screenshots in-game are easy. You press one key and your shot is saved inside a folder automatically. I didn't even look on how to figure this out until I dinged level 70, since then I have taken thousands of shots.

On your keyboard, typically on the upper right, is a “Print Screen” key. Some keyboards you only need to hit this key. Other keyboards you will have to turn on and off the function key to make it work.

While running the World of Warcraft game hit the print screen key to take an in-game screenshot. When you do yellow type with the words “Screen Captured” should flash on your screen.

If you would like to take a shot without your user interface (UI) that is easy too. Type the keys Alt+Z will hide your UI. When you want it back you type Alt+Z again.

That is it. A shot is now saved.

But where is the image?

In your World of Warcraft program file there will be folder called Screenshots. If everything is at the default places it is at “C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Screenshots”.

Within the screenshot folder are jpg files of what was on your screen when the print screen key was pressed.

Now you can modify the image to your delight!

I take screenshots to remind myself of potential blog posts. Sometimes they actually make it into a post, other times it is a pure reminder. I also keep the original unchanged and edit a copy just in case I, you know, mess it up.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Malygos Warlock 3.1 Update

I confirmed it. Demonic Circle no longer pulls you out of vortex on the Malygos fight.This change made me relearn this fight. Before 3.1, I would need minimum healing because I could pop out of vortex early. This allowed my healers to focus on others in the raid.

I miss that self sufficiency.

Now I start dps at 35-40K threat, down from 50K. I may reduce that by starting dps sooner depending how the next couple of runs go.

Rogues can still use Killing Spree to get out of vortex. WHAT is that about?

It was one the few special things as a warlock we had in pre 3.1 content.*sigh*

Friday, April 17, 2009

TNB It’s Friday Live!

I was getting caught up with my podcast listening. So I am listening to the Twisted Nether Blogcast #34. As always I am laughing at the stories and appreciate the effort that Bre and Fim have put into their show.

At the end I hear an invite to bloggers to BA Chat. Then. THEN. Did I hear that correctly. Ratter and Kes said I bite. They did! So I have to set this straight.

I don’t bite… much.
I haven’t bit anyone … lately.
It’s not like you bleed … much.
I have cut back … *twitch*.
I don’t bite … shhh Ratter you will scare off the new pray.

I am now caught up with my podcasts. Friday listen in and join the live recording of the Twisted Nether Blogcast with guest Llanion (aka Bob) once of the misguided frostmage.net and now of Mad Cow Chronicles.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Patch 3.1.0

The full patch notes can be found at on the Warcraft site. As always I never expect anyone to read this. It contains my notes on the things I care about (or found funny) on patch notes. Plus this comes to you a day late. I am sure you have read the notes to its ENTIRETY yesterday while you waited for the servers to come up.

Secrets of Ulduar //10-man and 25-man content. I know you were under a rock so I had to tell you.

The Argent Tournament Begins!
• As the might of the Scourge wanes under the pressure of Azeroth's heroes, the Argent Crusade have taken a foothold in Arthas's back yard. Off the northeastern coast of Icecrown, the Argent Crusade have sounded the call for the most bold and brave adventurers of the Horde and Alliance to take part in the Argent Tournament. Representatives of all ten faction capitals, from Undercity to Exodar, have traveled to the tournament grounds to find champions among their heroes who will prepare for the inevitable battle against the enemy of all living beings, the Lich King. //world event that we all should not miss. I am very much looking forward to the non-combat pets you get in this.
In Memoriam: Dave Arneson
• Blizzard Entertainment would like to dedicate Secrets of Ulduar in memory of Dave Arneson. We were greatly saddened by the news of Dave’s passing. His work, passion, and creativity helped give life to an entirely new genre of gaming, and our fondest memories of playing Dungeons & Dragons continue to inspire us. Farewell, Dave, and thank you. You will be missed. // =(

General
• Due to significant talent tree revisions, all players will have their talent points reimbursed. Several new spells and abilities have been added for select classes. Players will need to visit their class trainer to learn new spells. //don’t forget talent specs for your alts too. They too are talentless.
• All Ground Mounts may now swim without dismounting the rider. Flying Mounts still may NOT, and will dismount the rider upon entering water.
• The Argent Tournament, a permanent in-game event, has come to Icecrown. Players interested in taking part in this event should visit the Argent Pavilion located on the west side of the tournament grounds. Features include:
o New ways of gaining reputation with capital cities.
o All new daily quests, achievements and titles.
o New rare and epic items, tabards, pets, banners, faction shirts and mounts.
o Mounted combat, and much more to come!
• Players level 40 and higher will now be able to visit their trainer to pay a one-time fee and access the dual talent specialization feature. //which costs $1,000 gold. And as one of the other raiders stated it is just the cost of raiding to get this.
• The achievement Brew of the Year has been removed from the Brewmaster meta-achievement. The achievement Brew of the Month has been added in its place. //Yes! Sorry for those that actually did this but I am happy since I did not.
• Noblegarden has been redesigned into a week-long holiday with new items, quests, and more. Various achievements have been added, including the meta-achievement Noble Gardener, which is now required for the meta-achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. //*hopes the RNG for eggs is in her favor*
• Applying a glyph no longer requires a Lexicon of Power. The same rules for switching between dual talent specializations now apply to switching glyphs and cannot be performed while in combat, Battlegrounds (except when Preparation is up), or Arenas (no exceptions).
• New music can be heard at the Argent Tournament grounds and in Ulduar.
PvP
• Arenas
o Enemy Unit Frames: This feature is only available while in Arenas, with several options in the Interface Options. //no more need for an addon.
• Battlegrounds
o Battleground quests “Concerted Efforts” (Alliance) and “For Great Honor” (Horde) now require an Alterac Valley Mark of Honor in addition to the current requirements. These quests now award more honor upon completion.
o Players will now be able to queue for battlegrounds from any location. Leaving a battleground will return you to the location from which you entered.
o Alterac Valley
 Drek’Thar, Vanndar Stormpike, the tower Heralds and Warmasters have received a hit point and damage upgrade in the level 80 version of Alterac Valley.
o Strand of the Ancients
 Capturing the Southern Graveyard will now automatically capture both the East and West Graveyards.
 Seaforium Barrels can now be looted while mounted, seen from anywhere in the zone, and found at the Central Graveyard.
 Teleporters can now be used while mounted and can now be seen from anywhere in the zone.
• Lake Wintergrasp
o Daily quests “Slay Them All!” (Horde) and “No Mercy for the Merciless” (Alliance) have had their PvP kill requirements reduced to 10 from 20. NPCs defending the fortress and south towers now count toward these dailies as well. //the killing of NPCs is a nice touch. I am meh about the kill reduction.
o The number of NPCs defending fortress has been increased. //more NPCs to get the daily done.
o Siege Engines now have Steam Pressure as a resource type (replaces energy).
o The southern Siege Factories can be captured.
o The time between battles will be saved should a realm shut down. If Wintergrasp is active when a realm shuts down, the battle will restart from the beginning when the realm is once again live.
o Towers in Southern Wintergrasp now have more defensive cannons.
Races: General
• Gnomes Rule and you Drool.
Classes: General
• The damage threshold for Fear, Psychic Scream, Hex, Intimidating Shout, and Turn Evil to break early has been significantly reduced. //don’t get feared IMO
• Mana Regeneration: //Lock mana regen is called Life Tap.
Death Knights
• Blah Blah Blah we are OP and broken so we had to now be OP and fixed but Hydra can still kill up in PvP Blah Blah Blah
Druids
• Feral Faerie Fire: The damage generated by this ability in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form has been increased substantially.
• Maim: This ability is now considered a stun, and shares a diminish category with all other stuns. It no longer has a chance to break from the target taking damage. Duration lowered to 1 second per combo point.
• Pounce: No longer affected by diminishing returns with other stuns, however, it now shares a diminishing return with Cheap Shot (Rogue).
• Savage Defense: Trainable at level 40 with Dire Bear Form as a prerequisite. When the druid deals a melee critical strike, it gains a physical damage shield equal to 25% of its attack power. The next hit completely consumes the shield, regardless of how much damage was done. Only active in Bear Form.
• Swipe: The Bear Form and Dire Bear Form version of this ability no longer has a targeting requirement and hits targets behind the druid and to the sides. //Thank you. I am a lazy bear. On top of that when the target dies I can now continue to spam swipe while finding the next main target.
• Talents //stuff changed
Hunters //Mania of course has more.
• Ammunition: All types of gun and bow ammunition now stack to 1000. All quivers and ammo pouches no longer provide haste. 15% ranged haste is now built into the hunter's Auto Shot.
• Aspect of the Pack is now raid wide, and radius increased from 30 yards to 40 yards.
• Call Stabled Pet: This new ability lets the hunter remotely access the stable. 30-minute cooldown. //for a while this was buggy where a pet would vanish. So be careful with a special pet you don’t want to lose just in case.
• Frost Trap: If the target who triggers Frost Trap is immune to its effect, the Frost Trap area effect will no longer be triggered. Now reduces speed by 50% (previously 60%).
• Viper Sting redesigned: Stings the target, draining 4% of mana over 8 seconds (up to a maximum of 8% of the caster's maximum mana), and energizing the hunter equal to 300% of the amount drained. Only one Sting per hunter can be active on any one target. //hunter version of drain mana but it sounds like it is actually useful.
• Talents //stuff changed
o Pets
- Furious Howl (wolf special ability) now stacks with Battle Shout and Blessing of Might, however, it only affects the wolf and hunter. Its effect and cooldown have been doubled so that it provides the same benefit but isn’t up 100% of the time. //hmm not sure about this.
- Gorillas now have a new family ability, Pummel, which works like the warrior ability and has a single rank.
- Thunderstomp is no longer a gorilla-specific family ability and is now available to all Tenacity pets. It has been reduced to one rank.
Mages
• Blah Blah Blah we really want to be warlocks Blah Blah Blah
Paladins
• Blessing of Kings is now trainable at level 20. Removed from talent trees.
• Blah Blah Blah What? There was more? Blah Blah Blah
Priests
//We shall be nice to our priest friends they are having to change their addiction to Spirit. I suggest walking slowly around them. Maybe get them a bunny or something.
Rogues
• Blah Blah Blah Rogue happens Blah Blah Blah
Shaman
• Blah Blah Blah stand in the totum town there are lights Blah Blah Blah.
Warlocks
• Banish: Now has a 6-second PvP duration. //lol. I love banishing my Trees and the silly locks in demon form. Good times.
• Curse of the Elements (Rank 5): Increased to 13% spell damage, up from 10%.
• Curse of Recklessness has been removed.
• Curse of Weakness: Now also reduces the armor of the target by 5%. //thus the above CoR removal.
• Drain Soul: Each time Drain Soul deals damage to a target which can grant experience, it now has a chance to generate a Soul Shard.
• Enslave Demon: Spell haste penalty reduced by 10%. Melee haste penalty reduced by 10%.
• Doomguard: Cooldown reduced to 30 minutes, down from 60 minutes. Damage reduced approximately 30%, and health reduced approximately 30%.
• Warlocks now innately have an increased 10% spell hit chance on the Enslave Demon spell.
• Fire Shield (Imp): You can now cast this ability on raid members, rather than party members. //THIS. Is a change I was actually looking forward too. Kinda buged me that I could not do it to the tank in OS.
• Ritual of Summoning: The summoning of the initial portal is now instant cast, down from 5 seconds. //awww no more slow flashing demon.
• Soul Shard: This item now has a maximum count of 32 in inventory. //BOOOOO. Boo. Hiss. Hiss. You cannot have them stack so we are going to LIMIT you. Someone needs firing. Or maybe a slug in the arm. Repeatedly.
• Voidwalker: The health bonus on this pet has been reduced from 60% to 10%. //Lame. Oh I know why it was done. But still lame.
• Talents
o Affliction
- Eradication: Whenever you deal damage with Corruption, you have a 6% chance to gain the Eradication effect. The Eradication effect increases your spell casting speed by 6/12/20% for 10 seconds. Internal cooldown removed.
- Haunt: Now only increases your shadow damage-over-time spells on the target.
- Malediction: No longer increases the effect of Curse of the Elements, but now also increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Corruption and Unstable Affliction spells by 3/6/9%. //All lock now get CoE at 13% and this is now a self damage increase.
- Pandemic: This talent has been reduced to a 1-point talent. Now grants your Corruption and Unstable Affliction the capability to critically hit. //each tick? First applied? When we /dance? When??!!!
- Shadow Embrace: Now only increases the damage done by your shadow damage periodic spells.
- Siphon Life: The Siphon Life spell has been removed. Siphon Life now causes your Corruption spell to instantly heal you for 40% of the damage done. In addition, the damage done by your Corruption, Seed of Corruption and Unstable Affliction damage-over-time effects is increased by 5%.
- Soul Siphon redesigned: Increases the amount drained by your Drain Life and Drain Soul spells by an additional 3/6% for each of your Affliction effects on the target, up to a maximum of 9/18% additional effect.
- Suppression: Now increases spell hit for all of your spells. //ALL. ALL schools Destruction and Affliction.
- Unstable Affliction and Immolation are now in the same exclusive category (both damage- over- time effects cannot be present at the same time by the same caster on a target). //Think of these like you curse. You can only have one or the other on the target.
o Demonology
- Demonic Empathy has been removed.
- Demonic Empowerment: This talent now has a unique spell effect.
- Demonic Sacrifice: This talent has been removed.
- Fel Synergy has been moved to tier-1. No longer increases intellect, stamina and damage of your summoned demon.
- Improved Enslave Demon talent removed.
- Mana Feed: This talent is now a 1-point talent, down from 3 points. Now is the 21-point talent in Demonology, granting 100% mana return to your pet, up from 33/66/100%.
- Master Conjuror: Increased from 15/30% up to 150/300%.
- New Talent: Decimation: When you Shadowbolt or Incinerate a target that is at or below 35% health, your next Soulfire cast time is reduced by 30/60% and costs no shard. Lasts 10 seconds.
- New Talent: Nemesis: Reduces the cooldown of your Demonic Empowerment, Metamorphosis, Soulstone and Fel Domination spells by 10/20/30%.
o Destruction
- Aftermath redesigned: Increases the periodic damage done by your Immolate by 3/6%, and your Conflagrate has a 50/100% chance to daze the target for 5 seconds.
- Backlash has been moved up to tier-5, up from tier-7. Now requires Intensity (pre-requisite).
- Cataclysm: Now reduces the mana cost of Destruction spells by 4/7/10%. No longer increases the chance to hit.
- Chaos Bolt: Damage increased approximately 15%.
- Conflagrate: Spell now works similar to Swiftmend, consuming an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target and dealing damage based on the strength of that effect. Reduced to a single rank.
- Improved Immolate: Now increases the damage done by your Immolate by 10/20/30%, rather than just the direct damage.
- Improved Shadow Bolt: Now increases the damage done by your Shadow Bolt spell by 1/2/3/4/5%, and causes your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against that target by 1/2/3/4/5%. Effect lasts 30 seconds.
- Improved Soul Leech: Now has a 50/100% chance to proc Replenishment.
- Molten Core: This talent has been moved to Demonology (tier-8). //Took it away from the affliction build. Pfft.
- New Talent: Molten Skin: Reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
- Pyroclasm redesigned: Now increases your Shadow and Fire spell power by 2/4/6% when you critically hit with Searing Pain or Conflagrate. Lasts 10 seconds. Also moved down to tier-7 from tier-5.
Warriors
• Blah Blah Blah we hit stuff more Blah Blah Blah
Professions
• Alchemy
o All flasks now last 1 hour. To compensate, all flask recipes will provide 2 flasks for the same material cost.
o Flask of Endless Rage: Now requires Goldclover instead of Fire Leaf. //I miss my Fire Seed spell power buff. *sniffle*
o Flasks now stack to 20, and their vendor sell prices have been reduced to lower the Auction House deposits. //More gold for my pockets!
o Northrend flasks will be converted to mixtures. This includes the Flask of Stoneblood, Flask of Pure Mojo, Flask of Endless Rage, and Flask of the Frost Wyrm. Mixtures can create 2 flasks of the corresponding type. This allows players who stockpiled Northrend flasks to convert them to the new system without any loss. //Your 2 hour flasks are now white items and can be turned in for 2 of the 1 hour flasks. Do this soon… I feel like this needed a flashing red sign that said “ACT NOW!”
• Blacksmithing
o Added a new recipe for the Titansteel Spellblade, an epic one-handed caster dagger, available from trainers. //wonder if this is a good starter lock dagger?
• Cooking
o A new recipe has been added to cooking trainers for making Black Jelly, using several Borean Man 'O War as ingredients. While it looks disgusting, it restores more health and mana than the highest level food. //Nice. This maybe my new non mage food replacement. When I cannot badger a mage for some. Never mind that never happens.
o Flint and Tinder is no longer necessary for creating a campfire. You're just that resourceful! //So who else just bought a flint and tinder, used it, and then sold it back to vendor? *raises hand* nice change.
o Grub now sells the Dig Rat Stew recipe to players who completed the quest.
o Ingredients such as Spices, Apples, and the like have been removed from most cooking recipes.
o Players no longer need to complete the Clamlette Surprise quest to gain Artisan cooking. The quest now offers the unique recipe, Clamlette Magnifique. If you already completed the quest, you can visit Dirge Quickcleave in Gadgetzan to learn this recipe (for free).
o Prospector Khazgorm, found in Bael Modan in southern Barrens, now sells the recipe for Dig Rat Stew to the Alliance.
o Several Northrend recipes were given greater skill up ranges to make it easier to reach 450 cooking skill.
o You no longer need to learn cooking from books. The trainers have finally done their reading and are able to teach you the same thing.
• Enchanting
o Added two new recipes for enchanting staves with spell power, available from Vanessa Sellers in Dalaran City.
o Greatly increased the drop rate of recipes found in pre-Lich King dungeons and raids. //Woot! Twink enchants form AQ20, AQ40, and MC. Looking forward to them dropping.
o Several recipes in the 250-300 skill range have been rebalanced, and the reagent requirements have been reduced.
o Some enchants now have level restrictions. Note: the enchant is never removed from the item to which it's applied, however, players no longer receives its benefit until they reach the required level. Any enchants modified in this way have had their tooltips updated. //We knew this form the twink posts.
o The enchanting interface now correctly sorts grey recipes by skill difficulty.
• Engineering
o Stuff changed.
• First Aid
o Bye Bye books.
• Fishing
o A new (and very rare) special mount can now be caught from Northrend fishing pools. //I want it. I neeeeeeed it.
o New fishing dailies are now offered from Marcia Chase in Dalaran City!
o Players are no longer required to do the Nat Pagle, Angler Extreme quest to gain Artisan fishing. The quest now offers a special superior-quality fishing pole instead. If you already completed the quest, you can visit Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh to receive this new fishing pole.
o The time needed to catch fish has been reduced. //To what?!! 15 or 10 seconds I hear.
o You can now fish anywhere, regardless of skill. Every catch has the potential for fishing skill gains, but you are likely to catch worthless junk in areas that are too difficult for your skill.
o You can now fish in Wintergrasp, and the fishin' is good! //Maybe my mount is there!
o You no longer need to learn fishing from books. The trainers have finally done their reading and are able to teach you the same thing.
• Gathering Skills
o Toughness, Master of Anatomy, and Lifeblood now have level requirements equal to the level required for the corresponding skill rank: Apprentice (1), Journeyman (1), Expert (10), Artisan (25), Master (40), Grand Master (55).
o You can no longer fail when Mining, Herbing, and Skinning. //Pfft what I don’t have to click on it twice? Really.
• Herbalism
o Find Herbs no longer tracks Glowcaps.
o Northrend herbs now yield more herbs on average. //Note there is no increase on Frost Lotus.
o The herbalism requirement for gathering Tiger Lily has been reduced to 375.
o The time it takes to gather herbs has been reduced.
• Inscription
o Stuff changed.
• Jewelcrafting
o Stuff changed.
• Leatherworking
o Added a recipe for combining Borean Leather Scraps into Borean Leather. You can still use Borean Scraps from your inventory to combine them. //what? Did they just make it only LWs able to combine scraps. If that is the case … *cough*morons*cough*.
• Mining
o Northrend deposits now despawn 1 minute after mining them. This change was made to speed up respawning when nodes were partially looted. //Loot all the contents people! How many chest have you come across with only cheese.
• Tailoring
o Added new recipes for epic gear, found rarely on Ulduar bosses. These recipes are unbound and can be traded.
o Added recipes for superior-quality PVP cloaks to Northrend tailoring trainers.
o The Lightweave tailoring enchant now sometimes grants a temporary spell power bonus instead of dealing direct damage to your target. //More power! More power!
o Several lower-level items crafted by tailors have received major changes to make them more appealing.
Quests
• Horde characters may now obtain the quest "CLUCK!" from Chickens. While Farmer Saldean won't be selling Special Chicken Feed to the Horde, perhaps "Westfall" William Saldean in Brill might... //Seriously if one of my undead lock brethren emails me a screenshot with a chicken I will post it. I think that would be so AWESOME! And I would think you were weird for actually reading to this far into the patch notes on my site.
Dungeons and Raids
• New dungeon maps have been added for all Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
• Eye of Eternity
o Malygos will now properly delay before breathing after a Vortex on Heroic difficulty. //He killed me with his stinky breath.
• Naxxramas
o The Chains of Kel'Thuzad will no longer reset the raid's threat.
o The Portal of Shadows created by Shade of Naxxramas will only persist for a maximum of one minute.
o Players with pets who attempt to use the Obedience Crystals in Naxxramas will have their pets dismissed automatically so they may possess an Understudy.
• Vault of Archavon
o Archavon, Emalon, and their allies will now banish themselves 10 minutes prior to the beginning of a Lake Wintergrasp battle. A warning will be given 15 minutes prior to the start of Wintergrasp. They will not banish themselves if in combat.
User Interface
• New Advanced features for quest tracking are now available. Players will need to activate this option within the Interface panel.
• Holding the alt key while hovering over any equipped item will bring up a pop-out menu allowing quick access to any items in your bags that will fit in a given slot. Players will also see an option to place the equipped item in their bags.
• A new Color Blind option is available under the Interface panel.
• Spell Effect Level setting has been split into Particle Density and Projected Textures. Previously, Spell Effect Level controlled both of these features.
• Added new Video Mode Ultra (should only be used on the highest-end systems).
• Shadow Quality has a new higher level of detail. The slider for adjusting Shadow Quality remains the same, though there is an additional step at the high end of the spectrum.
• A new feature has been added allowing players to allocate talent points before confirming they’d like to spend them. This feature must be turned on in the Interface Options. //Turn me on baby! Ok. I am getting a bit loopy.
• New high-resolution player textures for Northrend armor sets have been added. Players can enable this feature by setting Player Textures to High in the Effects Panel of the Video Options.
• Players can now return items purchased with an alternate currency back to the original vendor within 2 hours of the purchase time for the original cost of the item. Stackable items (such as Frozen Orbs and gems) and charged items that can be purchased with an alternate currency are not eligible.
• Confirmation boxes have been added to purchases over 150 gold.
• The calendar now supports a guild-wide sign-up sheet, allowing the event organizer to invite his or her entire guild.
• Class roles (i.e. damage, tanking, healing) have been added to the Looking For Group feature. Class roles will be displayed when sorting through the Looking For More section.
• Quest and Achievement tracking are now combined in a new Objectives Tracking window. Advanced features can be activated from the Objectives Options panel.
• On-Use items will display in the Objectives Tracking when tracking a quest that uses them. No more searching through your bags for that on-use quest item!
• Health and Fuel/Ammo bars have been added to the vehicle interface whenever operating a vehicle.
• The mini-map has been optimized for better performance. Displays for vehicles, class colors, and off-map pings have been added as well. //More DoTs More DoTs.
• Players first entering any dungeon that will result in a Raid ID lock-out timer will be warned if they are going to be saved to the instance. This warning will include an option to port to the nearest graveyard before being saved.
• New elite mob frames have been added for V-Key frames.
• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.
Items
• Arena Grand Master Trinket: Dodge rating has been replaced with stamina. //Opps. I didn’t even notice this change on Aurum. Meh. It still works.
• Badges and Emblems looted off of any dungeon bosses by a member of the party or raid will automatically be given to all eligible party or raid members. Party or raid members must still be inside the instance to receive Badges or Emblems. //Woot! No more standing around waiting for the loot to be passed out to get my Emblem.
• Clams
o A new clam, the Giant Darkwater Clam, can be obtained by fishing in Wintergrasp. This mighty clam has a greatly increased chance to drop pearls, and yields up to five times the regular amount of clam meat.
o Loot from clams now stacks correctly! //The Mage actually saved a bunch on an alt so he could wait for the patch to make the clame meat stack. It is the joy of the little things.
o Changed the icon for Succulent Clam Meat so it doesn't look quite as disgusting. Now 100% more succulent!
• Glyphs
o Death Knight
o Druid
o Hunter
o Mage
o Paladin
o Priest
o Rogue
o Shaman
o Warlock
- Glyph of Banish: This glyph has been replaced with Glyph of Incinerate, which increases the damage of Incinerate by 5%.
- Glyph of Chaos Bolt: Reduces the cooldown on Chaos Bolt by 2 seconds.
- Glyph of Demonic Circle: Reduces the cooldown on Demonic Circle by 4 seconds. //Teleport I hope. From 30 sec to 26 sec.
- Glyph of Haunt: The bonus damage granted by your Haunt spell is increased by an additional 3%.
- Glyph of Immolate: The bonus damage provided by this glyph to Immolate’s periodic damage has been reduced to 10%, down from 20%. The 10% reduction to Immolate’s initial damage has been removed.
- Glyph of Imp: Increases your Imp’s Firebolt damage by 20%.
- Glyph of Life Tap: When you use Life Tap, you gain 20% of your spirit as spell power for 20 seconds.
- Glyph of Metamorphosis: Increases the duration of your Metamorphosis by 6 seconds.
- Glyph of Shadowflame: Your Shadowflame also applies a 70% movement speed slow on its victims.
- Glyph of Siphon Life: Redesigned to increase the healing received from the Siphon Life talent.
- Glyph of Soul Link: Increases the percentage of damage shared via your Soul Link by an additional 5%.
- Glyph of Succubus: Redesigned to remove all damage-over-time effects from the target of Seduction.
o Warrior
• Hearthstone: Cooldown has been reduced to 30 minutes down from 60 minutes.
• Magic Dust now has a 10-second PvP duration. //Booooo.
• Old Naxxramas Shoulder Enchants will now soulbind items. //Really really late for this.
• Sprite Darter Eggs: May now (very rarely) drop from Sprite Darters in Feralas. Note that only Horde characters can attack and kill Sprite Darters. //I am thinking about camping my Horde toons here to farm. Just one would get me flying training I am sure.
• Three new mounts are available from Horde mount vendors, equalizing the number of purchasable normal and epic mounts: the Black Wolf, the White Kodo, and the Black Skeletal Horse (in Orgrimmar, Bloodhoof Village, and Brill respectively).
• Thunder Capacitor again requires four charges.
• Tiny Emerald Whelplings: May now (very rarely) drop from Adolescent Whelps in the Swamp of Sorrows.
• White Tickbird Hatchling is now classified as a Pet.
Mac
• People use these you know.
Bug Fixes
• Leaving a group while in an instance will now port you to the nearest graveyard rather than your Hearthstone location.
• Yaaarrrr! now has a detailed tooltip. //lol Wut?
• Classes
o Death Knight
- Blah blah blah you seen the maggots they had a lot of bugs too blah blah blah.
o Druid
- Blah blah blah.
o Hunter
- Blah blah blah.
o Mage
- Blah blah blah.
o Paladin
- Blah blah blah.
o Priest
- Blah blah blah.
o Rogue
- Master of Subtlety: The amount of time remaining on the damage bonus for this talent is now displayed. //Apparently they were not bugged much since this was the only change.
o Shaman
- Blah blah blah.
o Warlock
- Dark Pact: Can no longer be cast when the warlock has an enslaved demon pet that does not have mana.
- Demonic Circle: Summon: This spell can no longer be cast while on a transport or other moving object.
- Fel Synergy: This talent will no longer heal vehicles the warlock is riding.
- Ritual of Summoning: This spell can no longer be cast while on a transport or other moving object.
- Unstable Affliction: Feedback damage from dispelling this debuff will no longer be modified by effects on the victim which modify the damage the victim does.
o Warrior
- Blah blah blah.
• Items
o Dartol's Rod of Transformation has had its tooltip corrected. //It still works!
• Racials
o Blood Fury: The tooltip on the attack power version of this ability will now tell how much attack power it grants to the orc.
o Shadowmeld: Using this ability will no longer cause friendly players to deselect the night elf. //Taa Daa /end

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

DING! Aurum Turns 20

I think I may have just given some good friends a heart flutter. *grin* Not in a good way either.

No worries, the Aurum that gained a level and a half was on the Public Test Realm (PTR). This was the first time I have ever taken the time to fully download and play in the PTR. This was not because of Ulduar, but because of all the warlock and twink changes contained in 3.1.

So after messing with gear and enchants I realized I had some time to kill... so lets go kill something. Where does a fully geared twink rogue go on the PTR??

DEADMINES!!!

So PTR Aurum went to solo Deadmines. It was huge amounts of fun.

Rhahk’Zor and his two watchmen didn’t give me much trouble. Sap, gouge, kill, win. I did have a moment of worry when I realized that the big boss ogre was hitting me harder then I liked. At that moment I remembered I had pots.
On the way to Sneed I hit level 20. Honestly it freaked me out. I actually had a moment where I had to calm myself that I was on the PTR and that real Aurum is safely still level 19.5.Then I arrived at Sneed’s Shredder and Sneed’s room. I had to clear out the room one goblin at a time. Soloing was a bit of a pain because the goblins do an axe throw which stuns you. This prevented me from getting a good line of sight pull. I did die on a few miss-pulls.

But once I got to Sneed it was easy. Truth, I had the entire time pulling the room to figure on a strategy to deal with the robot and then Sneed. The robot was not gouge-able, so I did lose time there. Hey how was I to know you cannot stun lock a robot. *shesh*That was all I had time for since Hydra had to go clear some 25-man Naxx place. What a noob. Don’t you know soloing Deadmines is where it is at!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Fully Tiered and /love Chuck

First time ever to have a full set of the maximum class tiered gear. Well first time I had it while it was relevant. Relevant for like 6-8 hours until the servers all shut down and 3.1 arrives with Ulduar.

I picked up my Valorous Plagueheart Circlet off our 25-man Naxx clear. This was the last piece for the Valorous Plagueheart Gear, the warlock T7.5. (I think.)

I keep getting beaten in dps. *sniffles* I will get over it. Really. I will *snort* I mean the Rogue beat all four locks on Thaddius. *rubs nose*

To top off the night I finally had a crocolisk non-combat pet drop from the Crocolisks in the City fishing daily. Chuck is mine!!!

For those that know what I am talking about it was a full night of name calling.
A$$hole.
Loot Whore.
Retard.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Hydra’s Early Start (Story)

I started to write a story about Hydra the character as a child. While thinking through how this gnome child turned to be a master of shadow and flame, this story of resolved acceptance of this new group life seemed to spew out instead. Read at your own risk, because I never claimed I could write. Some long time readers remember I equate my writing no better then a drunken orangutan.

Life is good. I wait for a salmon to nibble on my line. One time there was no one. It was hard work researching and campaigning alone. The joy of bringing down wanted posters solo. But it has been interesting since then too.

In the distance the sun peeks through the trees. I still have some time before the others expect me for the next battle. I watch as Naltog the imp on the river bank does flips imitating the fish. They jump and he jumps.

In this place of quiet forest I let my pleasant smile turn into a full fledged grin. I let myself feel. I feel the, what was I figured it was, the joy that has made the corruption of minds so natural.

Lately it has been nice to rely on others on their skills.

I received my latest packet of correspondence. The neat writing on the largest packet I recognize as Aurum’s. It is a thicker packet than normal.

Aurum’s last letter asked if I had affection for my minions. Affection is a feeling. Feelings are to be studied, watched, and used to the most advantage. Then the appropriate time will come to manipulate those feelings to get desired results. No, I have no feelings one way or another for my minions.

Picking up the neatly tied stack of papers I start to sort through latest reports.

Above I hear rustling the canopy. Wait a moment. That is not above, but up the hill. Turning to the noise, I see bursting through the trees two humans, the Warrior and the Paladin.

I check the setting sun again. It is not time yet. What are they doing here? I still have two hours before we were to meet. As they approach at a brisk run I hear the Paladin’s clear voice “You told him to do it, didn’t you?” The Warrior just grinned.

As they run past me the Warrior winks at me. The Paladin with a resolved look follows beside. They move across the shallow part of the river into the forest.

I listen closely for there should be more.

Before I see him I hear him “Hydra, you need to start moving.” I glanced up at the elf rogue grinning at me from in the trees. “Remember how we talked about blade flurry and tricks of the trade? It works well.”

When I saw the two humans I had already started readying myself. I never felt his rogue trick on me. I should have felt the magic. I look within and see nothing. So who?

The rogue jumps down and runs across the top of the river water surface, disappearing about half way across.

Then I hear yelling coming form up the hill. “Get back here you long ear cheese thief.” Coming from the whitest draenei Mage I have ever met. He blinks half way down the hill.

I stuff the letters into my pouch next to my shard bag. Mounting up onto my gryphon, I summon Naltog to me and take flight.

As the mage runs to the river bank I see behind him a legion of trolls. The Mage blinks across the river after the elf and humans. There goes my two hours. Apparently we are starting our troll killing early.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Fear.Win What You Doing Questions 3.1

Nevariah over at Fear.Win asked some questions and instead of just commenting on their blog I am posting here incase you are curious.

1. What spec are you currently?
55/0/16 Haunt/Ruin. I have some points in threat reduction which I put in for when we were learning Malygos. They have actually helped when I don’t have my regular tanks around. *shrug* I am to lazy (AKA cheep) to change and will wait for 3.1. Unlike some warlocks in guild *cough*Rybo*cough* I know how to manage my own threat.

2. How long have you used this spec and why did you choose it?
I have run as affliction since vanilla wow. I enjoy a caster on the move playstyle and affliction gives me this feel. I also love the fact that I can cast my DoTs in a 360 degree area. I don’t have to see you to kill you.

3. What are you most unhappy with in your current spec?
Currently affliction is quite spastic to play keeping 6 spells up (with different timers) and weaving in SB. You need micromanaging skills and knowledge of when a DoT was going to drop off. There is also a need to know to the second when a DoT going to drop off so you can start to reapply a DoT with a cast time. But 3.1 will be addressing the number of DoTs to manage, reducing it to 4. I believe that will help the play but I will see if the dps stays as high.

4. What spec will you be taking in 3.1?
Affliction spec, a Haunt/Ruin spec to start off with. My data pre-3.1 utilizes this spec and I want to see if the damage is similar after the changes. Plus affliction has always been my killing things spec of choice.

Side Note: While running lowbie instances (Deadmines, WC, Gnomer) I use Siphon Life almost exclusively. Those runs will now be even faster now that they are adding the Siphon Life component to Corruption. Something I am looking forward too.

5. If you plan on dual speccing, what will be your offspec?
I have dabbled in destruction for raiding in the past. I may try it again. If I do not see a definitive increase in dps, the playstyle in the past was just not for me. I have played with affliction being “not raid highest dps” vs. destruction “best raid dps” in the past. I will again if that comes with 3.1. Once I have decided on a raid spec my second will most likely be for pvp.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Thursday, April 9, 2009

I am EPIC

... because WoW told me I was. I have needed a helm for a while now. Was trying to wait on my T7.5 but the token will not drop. Gothik's Cowl dropped which is an upgrade but not better then the Valorous Plagueheart Circlet I want.

No matter, I was epic before this now I have an affirmation.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Malygos Tips

There were guild and pug runs of 10-man and 25-man Malygos. I wiped a lot before finally it clicked for our group and we killed him. I had so many under 10% wipes I lost count.

Here are the notes I have from that time. (If you waited for me to actually clean this up into an actual guide it would never get posted.) I did a bit of research after each case to see if there were things I could improve or change. I found the Warlock Den forums helpful as always. I surprisingly found a Tank Spot post that help me calm my tanks.

Most helpful tips I can give is relearning how to agro manage, use the macros, and do the Aces High! daily. Once you get that, you too can wonder why there is a blue heart floating next to a loot box.

Phase 1

• Threat! Threat! Threat! Management.
I start DPS at about 50K threat.
• If threat is a big issue make sure you have Improved Drain Soul for the threat reduction. There is also a Enchant Cloak – Wisdom and meta gem, Bracing Earthsiege Diamond, that reduces your threat.
• DPS in spark is more important than DPS out of spark.
• If you are in a spark you don’t want to have to take time to shatter. So don’t put yourself in that position.
• Time shatter after a vortex with Malygos under 75% health.
• If you pull agro, you will be lucky if you only kill yourself, but most likely kill the raid.
• Have the ability to zoom far out to see spark spawn points.
• Keep your baring on where the sparks are coming from.
• Multi sparks recast ALL DoTs including Corruption. Spark dps = win.
Demonic Circle will pull you out of vortex. I put it next to the summoning orb. Careful to not accidentally summon Malygos if you also have a key. As of patch 3.1 this is no longer the case. (I said I was sorry! BTW Rogue’s Killing Spree also gets them out of vortex.)
• Macro for phase 1 & 2:
/tar Power Spark
/tar Scion of Eternity
• Lock will most likely NOT be on spark duty. We do not have CC abilities that help slow or stop a spark.
• Death Coil or Searing Pain a spark if your help is needed to kill sparks.
• Stay away from the head of Malygos. Don’t be a melee lock.
• No tail swipe so if there is a spark stand in it.
• Just before vortex a warrior can Intervene you and scrub off 10% of your threat.
• Keep attacking Malygos even after he hits 50% you can scrub a lot of percents off him as the transition takes place.

Phase 2
DoT the Scions of Eternity (in the air) using macro as you can while standing in the last spark. Instant cast everything and use Haunt.
• At this point the only spell I cast is Haunt and instants unless I can only reach one mob. I keep instant DOTs on any reachable Scions.
• Macro helps immensely.
• You cannot pull agro on Scions of Eternity.
• You CAN pull agro on the Nexus Lords. Make sure the tank has a chance to grab agro first.
• Phase ends when ALL scions are dead. Dotting everything is a great thing to help with this goal.
• Run to or stay in a purple bubble when “Malygos takes a deep breath.” Stand in middle of bubble. The bubble reduces damage but doesn’t eliminate it. Use Lifeblood, healthstone, or pots to help healers if you have too.
• Stay alive!

Phase 3
• If you reach this phase with three minutes for 10-man your time is good. Less time is needed as the raid gets good at keeping stacks up.
• Once the phase starts and have landed on the drake use second macro:
/tar Malygos
/follow SituationallyAwareRaidMember
• Make sure macro is on a bar that doesn’t vanish when you are on a vehicle.
• You can also put the macro in a text document, copy it pre-run and use ctrl+v in your chat window.
• For dpsing on the drakes: 112 or 1112 or 1123 or 11123 whatever your RL wants you to do. They all work.
• Keep around 30-40 energy to shield.
• If you get targeted ensure at least one combo point is up. You don’t get hit right away, you can see Malygos’ cast bar. If you just used your combo point dump (2) you cast (1) to get combo points to shield (5). AKA “Oh Shit” *pound on 5 key*
Practice Aces High! daily.
• I recommend using a combo point timer addon, like MalygosCP until you get your timing set. It activates while doing the daily also so you can get use to it.
• In 25-man you can sacrifice a Malediction lock to put Curse of Elements on Malygos. That is a significant increase to all damage dome by the raid. I personally think people need to just go do the daily.
  1. /tar Malygos
  2. Fly high above him.
  3. Unmount
  4. Spam CoE onto Malygos as you fall to your death.
  5. Watch the pretty stars and patterns while you can take credit for over 10% of all damage being dome by the raid.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

[Apply Patch Here]

If patch 3.1 came out today I don't know about it yet. I'm at work. If it came out great, if not that is great too.

Another random thing I confirmed on the PTR was that the Wintergrasp portal in Dalaran really doesn't let low level toons through it now. Particularly level 19 rogues who wanted to take a stab at a Death Knight.

[Aurum] /y HOLDING ME BACK!!!
[Hydra] You really should not be in Wintergrasp in the first place.
[Aurum] Who gives a sh!t about what I SHOULD do. They were just skared I was on my way. Whah Whah Big cry babies I say.
[Hydra] Who are "they"?
[Aurum] The elementals. Do you know how much eternal fires go on the Auction House??!!!
[Hydra] I don't believe you.
[Aurum] So maybe I was going for a little Horde DK action on the side. They are just skared.
[Aurum] /y Who's OP now B!tche$ the one with the biggest Nerfbat. *unintellagable yelling at portal*

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Twink Changes 3.1 More

BBB recently told how to uber your alt using the Greater Inscription of the Gladiator. This was also a twink item. As of 3.1 that enchant is no longer useful for characters under level 70. So the enchant will not kick in until level 70. You will still be able to use the nice account bound shoulders but not the enchant.

A big issue I had was the Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots now have a level requirement. *sniffles* Bye bye to my Cat Swiftness enchant. On the PTR once I unequipped them I was no longer able to use the boots.

I was having trouble on the PTR on seeing enchants that I didn't have through an enchanter link. So was unable to see anything else. Any new twinks being made really should have done research enough to know changes were happening and to wait until 3.1 was upon us.

Another change is that the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth and the Motorcycle will no longer be classified as vehicles. Which no longer lets you into Underground Ironforge. So I went down and visited.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Twink Changes 3.1

Where 2.4 gave us a few items and changed a few other things, the content patch 3.1 will be modifying a lot of key gear augments.

Prior to 3.1, twink pants were build around placing Outland armor kits on Bind on Equip with a level 60 or higher toon. That is no more.

Some items are being changed so that they will only work on a toon at a SPECIFIC LEVEL or above. It will no longer be the level requirement of the item or the level of the toon putting on the augment. This includes leg kits, some enchants, and librums.

Is this a “NERF TWINKS”?


I don’t see it that way. Twinking is about having the best gear and augments available. The most important piece though is to have the skill to go with them. The change in 3.1 will not change twinking. It will only change how we twink.

The rules change, we adapt.

A scrub is a scrub.

A twink is only a twink if you have the skill to back up your enchants.

Twink Changes 3.1 More...

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

I Won WOW!

Heroic Malygos done. Malygos died the first night we tried him. I was skeptical that we could do it. We went in with 24/25 raid members but DPS was not a problem at all. Once everyone stopped dieing on phase 2 it was easy.

I rocked the dps on phase 1 and 2 (not that it mattered). I then had the highest DPS on phase 3 (not that it mattered. *grin*)

I just won WoW!

With raid time left we went over to do Heroic Obsidian Sanctum and tried it with one drake up.

Once again we left Tenebron up with all his adds. I was helping the mages with AoE. That went well for a while. I died on an unfortunate void zone. Too many adds I didn't even see it.

War Machine has the skill but we are lacking time and full raids. For us "casual" raiding guild is a description of number of raid nights and length of raids. I am very excited to see us filling raid nights.