I am a very disgruntled Warlock player right now. Let me tell you how much I love Affliction…
I LOVE LOVE AFFLICTION
The dance of the affliction lock is something that makes me smile to myself in pleasant company and cackle about when they turn their backs. Cast DoT, DoT, DoT, and run.
I always imagine Hydrargyrum being a toe runner while destroying her enemies. It was not about out running forever, but to out run the DoTs to take the health to zero. Running while kiting and casting above and behind, even at times jump shooting front only abilities… You could move just to move.
But something happened in 6.0. Something bad. Haunt didn’t feel right, cast times were added, and spells were removed. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but affliction felt GROUNDED. No toe dancing. No moving just because you can.
After 8 years (I don’t count that 2 weeks of experimentation in BC) …
I switched to Destruction.
If I was going to be grounded then I would try a purple mage.
I grumbled. That might be to lite a word… I Bitched! … then I admit it … I pouted.
So during the month before WoD was released I raided on my Kitty Druid…and continued to be disgruntled.
… but I didn’t want to change to Druid for WOD so Destruction it was for Dungeons.
Then Highmaul started two weeks ago.
… I am still Destruction and still disgruntled.
With the new changes made this last week SimulationCraft shows a more equal output between Destruction and Affliction again. But will the dance be there? Will I not feel grounded? What if Hydra is no longer an Affliction refugee?
Now I am scared.
Showing posts with label patch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patch. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Patch 5.0.4 - Panda Invasion Prep
From Basiok's 5.0.4 Survival Guide LINK LINK
Warlock:
From Wow Insider LINK
General
Warlock:
- Each warlock specialization has a unique secondary resource which allows them temporary surges in power.
- Affliction warlocks focus more on layering multiple periodic damage effects, and amplifying their effects, and use Soul Shards rotationally for strong damage, or occasionally for utility as before.
- Demonology warlocks now have a new Demonic Fury resource, instead of Soul Shards, which is built by casting their normal spells.
- Destruction warlocks now use Unstable Embers as a resource, which is built up slowly through casting their normal spells, and spent in bursts of massive damage.
- Warlocks no longer use armor spells, instead gaining additional armor and bonus health passively.
- All demons deal similar damage and are no longer linked to a specific spec.
- Doomguard, Infernal and Soulstone cooldowns reset upon wiping to a raid or dungeon boss.
From Wow Insider LINK
General
-
Account-wide Achievements, pets, and mounts
- In Patch 5.0.4 and beyond, the majority of your character's Achievements, pets, and mounts will be shared with your other characters.
-
World Event: Attack on Theramore Isle
- Warchief Garrosh, obsessed with assuring the Horde's supremacy over Kalimdor, launches an all-out attack against Jaina's island home of Theramore. Though valiant Alliance defenders rush to repel the sudden onslaught, they'll soon find themselves unprepared for the terrible scope of Garrosh's true plans...
- This Scenario will become available in the weeks leading up to the launch of Mists of Pandaria on September 25.
-
AOE Looting
- Area of effect looting comes to World of Warcraft with this patch. After killing a group of enemies in close proximity, when you loot one of their corpses, the loot window will include items from all of the nearby corpses for which you have loot rights.
-
BattleTag support in World of Warcraft
-
Players who have enabled their BattleTag will now be able to:
- See BattleTag friends in your friends list.
- Add and remove BattleTag friends.
- Send BattleTag invites to other players via right-click.
-
Players who have enabled their BattleTag will now be able to:
-
Cross-Realm Zones
- In some zones, players are now able to form a group with other players from a select pool of realms.
- When a player is in a zone that is set as a "cross-realm zone", in addition to seeing other players from their native realm, they'll also seamlessly see (and be able to play with) players from other realms.
- Players will always be able to group and quest as they normally would with players from their native realm.
- This functionality will be enabled for a limited number of realms at first, and will be granted to additional realms as we near the release of Mists of Pandaria.
-
All classes have been updated with a new talent system, improved
abilities, and spells (accessible throughout levels 1-85). Your
character's talents have been reset.
- Many old talents have been converted to specialization abilities.
- Druids now have access to a fourth class specialization: Guardian.
- New spells are now learned automatically. Class trainers are only needed to change talents, glyphs, class specialization, or to utilize the dual specialization feature.
- All characters now take 40% less damage from other players.
- Valor points have been converted to Justice points, and Conquest points have been converted to Honor points.
- Neither of the resultant currencies (Justice and Honor) have an enforced hard-cap at this time.
- Players are no longer able to earn Valor or Conquest points (bosses drop Justice, and arenas are closed).
- Items formerly purchasable for Valor/Conquest are available for Justice/Honor.
- Spell Penetration has been replaced by PvP Power on existing items.
-
Head enchants removed
- Enchants that modify the gear in your head slot have been removed from the game. This includes older head enchants of every type.
-
Relics, ranged, and thrown items
- The slot in which ranged, relics, and thrown items were previously equipped has been removed. All weapons should now be equipped in the weapon slot.
- Ranged weapons, including wands, have been adjusted to be more powerful.
- Ranged weapons no longer have a minimum range.
- The glyph system has been updated. Many class glyphs have been added, altered, or moved to different glyph types.
- Prime glyphs have been removed.
- Chef's Award and Dalaran Cooking Award have been removed. Existing awards have been converted to Epicurean's Award.
- The cap for daily quests has been removed.
- There is no longer a displayed count of daily quests completed.
- There is a new user interface for your mounts and pets.
- Character creation screens have been updated.
- Buffs have been consolidated in the UI.
- New roll results frame added. This new feature can be accessed by clicking the word "[Loot]" in chat, or by typing "/loot".
- The PvE queue frames have been unified. You can now queue for dungeons, raids, and other queue-able content in one handy place.
- Vendors now offer item filtering.
- Spellbooks have been updated to reflect changes to core abilities, and now include a brief overview of specializations.
- The Dungeon Journal has been expanded with information on all pre-Cataclysm encounters.
- A new help system has been added to many frames. You can toggle this on and off by clicking the "i" button in the upper left corner of the frame.
- Mac OS X 10.5 is no longer supported.
- Added full support for Retina displays.
- Added support for game resolutions that match Mac screen aspect ratios.
- Switching between Windowed and Fullscreen display modes should be faster.
- A "Help" menu has been added, so that players can quickly navigate to support pages.
- A menu item that allows players to copy system information to the Clipboard has been added.
- A menu item that reveals various game files and folders in Finder has been added.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Patch 4.3 - CHANGES WARLOCK EVERYTHING
Our Shadow Bolt got a new graphic. NO NOES!!! WHAT EVER ARE WE GOING TO DO!!!
/dramatically shakes fist at Blizzard. (Realizes no one thinks she is funny.)
This is a really good sign. This tells me that the balance is good with the 3 different specs. Beyond that the developers are able to spend more time on getting MoP out to us next year.
One raid came out and three new heroics are now available. It will be fun to see what the encounters designers are going to give us. This is the last major patch before an expansion. So take small bites of the new content.
IMPORTANT!!
With the new gear released they converted the points. If your Valor points + Justice Points was more then 4000 you may have lost some. BUT then make sure you go spend some points before doing any dungeons.
I don't feel like regurgitating the sparce patch notes for warlocks here today. I will give you some links if you are intching for more info. If it is really important for me to do that in to future you are going to have to let me know.
Fulguralis LINK
The Warlock's Den Patch 4.3 post LINK
Wowwiki Patch 4.3 notes LINK
Blizzard's Notes LINK
/dramatically shakes fist at Blizzard. (Realizes no one thinks she is funny.)
This is a really good sign. This tells me that the balance is good with the 3 different specs. Beyond that the developers are able to spend more time on getting MoP out to us next year.
One raid came out and three new heroics are now available. It will be fun to see what the encounters designers are going to give us. This is the last major patch before an expansion. So take small bites of the new content.
IMPORTANT!!
With the new gear released they converted the points. If your Valor points + Justice Points was more then 4000 you may have lost some. BUT then make sure you go spend some points before doing any dungeons.
I don't feel like regurgitating the sparce patch notes for warlocks here today. I will give you some links if you are intching for more info. If it is really important for me to do that in to future you are going to have to let me know.
Fulguralis LINK
The Warlock's Den Patch 4.3 post LINK
Wowwiki Patch 4.3 notes LINK
Blizzard's Notes LINK
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Patch 4.2: for the flames.
A lot of stuff going on. A few changes to locks. There are also changes to pets. This is good since there was a whole night I couldnt figure out why my pet was going around randomly. My tanks were pulling fast so it took me half of ICC to realize it was on aggressive stance. Full notes can be found here.
Look for balloons in Stormwind and Ogrimmar. There are a new balloon pets for Alliance and Horde.
World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.2.0
Items
Look for balloons in Stormwind and Ogrimmar. There are a new balloon pets for Alliance and Horde.
World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.2.0
- New Daily Quests: The Regrowth and Molten Front
- In order to partake in the Regrowth and Molten Front daily quests, players must have at least completed Mount Hyjal up to and including the quest Aessina's Miracle. //I suggest finishing Hyjal I thought the stories were really great.
- In order to partake in the Regrowth and Molten Front daily quests, players must have at least completed Mount Hyjal up to and including the quest Aessina's Miracle. //I suggest finishing Hyjal I thought the stories were really great.
- New Quest Chain: Elemental Bonds
- A New quest line is now available to level-85 Horde and Alliance characters.
- New Raid: The Firelands //Watch the trailer if you have not for Firelands. It is excellent.
- New Legendary Item: Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest
- The legendary item questline is only available to druids, mages, priests, shaman, and warlocks. //Are you getting it? I'm not in line. There are others with more attendance in guild raids that I would want to have it. But as my DPS officer is a lock, he will most likely be the first. Then I vote for the mage.
- The legendary item questline is only available to druids, mages, priests, shaman, and warlocks. //Are you getting it? I'm not in line. There are others with more attendance in guild raids that I would want to have it. But as my DPS officer is a lock, he will most likely be the first. Then I vote for the mage.
- New User Interface Feature: Dungeon Journal //I expect this to get a lot of critisisum. Nice that Blizzard is trying.
- Recruit-A-Friend now awards bonus experience and free level grants to level 80, up from level 60. //always nice to see content faster.
- Players are once again free to dance in combat (without causing graphic errors). //I didn't even notice until this was in the notes. I fail to dance.
- Buffs
- All class abilities which place a buff on friendly targets no longer generate any threat. // I always thought that was the case, oh well.
- All class abilities which place a buff on friendly targets no longer generate any threat. // I always thought that was the case, oh well.
- Crowd Control
- Many crowd control abilities no longer cause creatures to attack players when they are cast. The creature will not attack the player when the crowd control wears off, and nearby creatures will not become hostile to the player either. However, if a visible player gets too close to the target creature, the creature will remember and attack the player when the crowd control effect wears off. The intent is to make it easier for dungeon groups to manage crowd control assignments and pulling packs of hostile NPCs. The abilities affected by this change are: Hibernate, Entangling Roots, Wyvern Sting (will still cause hostility when it begins to deal damage), Freezing Trap, Polymorph, Repentance, Shackle Undead, Blind, Hex, Bind Elemental, Banish, Seduction. //FEAR IS NOT ON THE LIST.
- Many crowd control abilities no longer cause creatures to attack players when they are cast. The creature will not attack the player when the crowd control wears off, and nearby creatures will not become hostile to the player either. However, if a visible player gets too close to the target creature, the creature will remember and attack the player when the crowd control effect wears off. The intent is to make it easier for dungeon groups to manage crowd control assignments and pulling packs of hostile NPCs. The abilities affected by this change are: Hibernate, Entangling Roots, Wyvern Sting (will still cause hostility when it begins to deal damage), Freezing Trap, Polymorph, Repentance, Shackle Undead, Blind, Hex, Bind Elemental, Banish, Seduction. //FEAR IS NOT ON THE LIST.
- Pets
- The Aggressive pet stance has been removed and replaced with the Assist stance. This stance will cause the player's pet to attack the player's target. The pet will not change targets unless the master attacks a new target for a few seconds. //No more accedental pulls! Well at least from the pet running away.
- The Defensive pet stance will now only cause the player's pet to attack enemies which attack the pet or the master.
- The Aggressive pet stance has been removed and replaced with the Assist stance. This stance will cause the player's pet to attack the player's target. The pet will not change targets unless the master attacks a new target for a few seconds. //No more accedental pulls! Well at least from the pet running away.
- Spell Interrupts
- When interrupted while casting a single-school spell such as Mind Flay or Frostbolt, players will now be able to cast dual-school spells such as Mind Spike (Frost and Shadow schools) or Frostfire Bolt (Frost and Fire schools). However, being interrupted while casting a dual-school spell will still interrupt all respective schools as intended. //If I PVPed more I would tottaly aim for the dual-school casts.
- When interrupted while casting a single-school spell such as Mind Flay or Frostbolt, players will now be able to cast dual-school spells such as Mind Spike (Frost and Shadow schools) or Frostfire Bolt (Frost and Fire schools). However, being interrupted while casting a dual-school spell will still interrupt all respective schools as intended. //If I PVPed more I would tottaly aim for the dual-school casts.
- Soul Fire is now available at level 20, down from level 54. //another long cast for lower levels. SB seemed long enough.
- Soul Harvest has a new spell effect. //I now know to watch for it.
- Glyphs
- Glyph of Soul Swap now applies a 30-second cooldown to Soul Swap, up from 15 seconds. //boo boo hiss hiss
- Glyph of Soul Swap now applies a 30-second cooldown to Soul Swap, up from 15 seconds. //boo boo hiss hiss
- Warlock Bug Fixes
- It is no longer possible to leave combat while channeling Drain Soul. //I thought that was "working as intended".
Items
- If a player wins a Need roll under the Need Before Greed system on a Bind on Equip item, the item will become Soulbound to that player. The item will remain unbound if won via a Greed roll. //I would love to hear a nijia discover this one.
- Applicable tier 11 items now cost Justice Points. //maybe I will get some more pieces.
- Darkmoon Card: Hurricane damage done when triggered has been increased by 40%, however, it can no longer deal critical strikes and no longer receives any modifiers to its damage from the equipping player. //need to check my trinkets.
- The Keyring bag slot has been removed to make room in the user interface for new features. //Remember when how many keys you had was a brag?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Patch 4.1: Guild Trolls
Two new dungeons were added. Both drop epic gear. The last few weeks I have been telling everyone to sell their Maelstrom Crystals if they have any laying around.
The crystals were selling for just under 2K on my server the last few weeks. In a week I would not be surprised to see them under 500 gold. My officers were not happy with me in raid telling everyone that this week. ... but really. If you need 3 crystals for an enchant and only have 1... you should have sold it. Then use that gold after this patch hits to get them all back.
Now that I have some gear and crystals are dropping in prices I will be redoing all my gear augments. I will have to re-gem and re-enchant to their optimum. I was getting so many pieces that I didn't have time to optimize each time. This will give me a chance too.
Sorry if you didn't hear about the crystals. You could have heard me on Twisted Nether telling everyone a few weeks ago. You should listen to us more.
Below is the Warlock section of the patch notes. Some fun stuff for Affliction and of course all locks get battle res now. The full Patch 4.1 notes can be found here.
Warlocks
* Dark Intent: The friendly target of this ability now receives 1% (stacking 3 times to 3%) periodic spell damage and healing bonus instead of 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%). The casting Warlock still receives 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%). //Nerf to our team members, but not us. We are not a friendly bunch anyway.
* Rain of Fire damage has been increased by 25%. //*blink*
* Seed of Corruption damage has been increased by 20%. //*blink blink*
* Soulstone can now be used in combat to resurrect a targeted dead player. //I am not ok with warlocks or DKs having battle res. As a raider I am extremely happy with this.
* Talent Specializations
o Affliction //The new hotness. Suck on my Dots.
+ Haunt damage has been increased by 30%.
+ Shadow Mastery (passive) has been increased to 30%, up from 25%.
+ Unstable Affliction damage done when it is dispelled has been doubled, but this damage can no longer be critical.
o Demonology
+ Mana Feed now restores more mana (four times as much) when the warlock is using a Felguard or Felhunter.
* Pets
o Doomguard's damage has been increased by 50%. The Doomguard is intended to be the best guardian for single-target damage, and the Infernal the best when there are multiple targets. //Don't forget to update your keys. I have both bound but will need to change their priority location.
o Lash of Pain (Succubus) damage now scales with level, reducing the damage done at lower levels such that it will deal 50% damage at level 20, and 100% damage at level 80 and above.
o Shadow Bite (Felhunter) damage and effect has doubled, and is now available at level 30, down from 42.
o Whiplash (Succubus) now knocks targets away from the center of the targeted location, instead of away from the Succubus. //Yea, nothing like the minion wiping mobs CLOSER to you.
* Glyphs
o Glyph of Soul Swap now increases the cooldown of Soul Swap by 15 seconds, up from 10 seconds.
* Warlock Bug Fixes
o Imps summoned by Bane of Doom now benefit from the warlock's stats.
o Soul Link will no longer be removed by mounting when in a Rated Battleground.
o Damage dealt by Unstable Affliction when it is dispelled now properly benefits from Shadow Mastery.
The crystals were selling for just under 2K on my server the last few weeks. In a week I would not be surprised to see them under 500 gold. My officers were not happy with me in raid telling everyone that this week. ... but really. If you need 3 crystals for an enchant and only have 1... you should have sold it. Then use that gold after this patch hits to get them all back.
Now that I have some gear and crystals are dropping in prices I will be redoing all my gear augments. I will have to re-gem and re-enchant to their optimum. I was getting so many pieces that I didn't have time to optimize each time. This will give me a chance too.
Sorry if you didn't hear about the crystals. You could have heard me on Twisted Nether telling everyone a few weeks ago. You should listen to us more.
Below is the Warlock section of the patch notes. Some fun stuff for Affliction and of course all locks get battle res now. The full Patch 4.1 notes can be found here.
Warlocks
* Dark Intent: The friendly target of this ability now receives 1% (stacking 3 times to 3%) periodic spell damage and healing bonus instead of 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%). The casting Warlock still receives 3% (stacking 3 times to 9%). //Nerf to our team members, but not us. We are not a friendly bunch anyway.
* Rain of Fire damage has been increased by 25%. //*blink*
* Seed of Corruption damage has been increased by 20%. //*blink blink*
* Soulstone can now be used in combat to resurrect a targeted dead player. //I am not ok with warlocks or DKs having battle res. As a raider I am extremely happy with this.
* Talent Specializations
o Affliction //The new hotness. Suck on my Dots.
+ Haunt damage has been increased by 30%.
+ Shadow Mastery (passive) has been increased to 30%, up from 25%.
+ Unstable Affliction damage done when it is dispelled has been doubled, but this damage can no longer be critical.
o Demonology
+ Mana Feed now restores more mana (four times as much) when the warlock is using a Felguard or Felhunter.
* Pets
o Doomguard's damage has been increased by 50%. The Doomguard is intended to be the best guardian for single-target damage, and the Infernal the best when there are multiple targets. //Don't forget to update your keys. I have both bound but will need to change their priority location.
o Lash of Pain (Succubus) damage now scales with level, reducing the damage done at lower levels such that it will deal 50% damage at level 20, and 100% damage at level 80 and above.
o Shadow Bite (Felhunter) damage and effect has doubled, and is now available at level 30, down from 42.
o Whiplash (Succubus) now knocks targets away from the center of the targeted location, instead of away from the Succubus. //Yea, nothing like the minion wiping mobs CLOSER to you.
* Glyphs
o Glyph of Soul Swap now increases the cooldown of Soul Swap by 15 seconds, up from 10 seconds.
* Warlock Bug Fixes
o Imps summoned by Bane of Doom now benefit from the warlock's stats.
o Soul Link will no longer be removed by mounting when in a Rated Battleground.
o Damage dealt by Unstable Affliction when it is dispelled now properly benefits from Shadow Mastery.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Patch 4.0.6 - My Red Gems
Not that anyone would come to my blog for the patch notes. As I have always said they are for me and I am sharing the ones that I care about with you. You never know your normal source maybe blocked for you. Blizzards actual full patch notes are extensive.
World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.0.6
Warlocks
* Curse of Exhaustion now reduces movement speed by 30%, down from 50%. Its range has been increased to 40 yards, up from 30.
* Demon Armor and Fel Armor no longer cost mana and last until canceled. //My Power Auras will finally stop yelling at me in the middle of boss fights.
* Devour (Felhunter) cooldown has been increased to 20 seconds, up from 8. Devour is no longer able to be auto-cast. //I have been intending to macro this for sometime again. It is a must do now.
* Drain Mana has been removed from the game.
* Fear now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds. //Nice an actual PVP buff.
* Fel Armor has been redesigned. It now surrounds the caster with fel energy, increasing spell power and causing the warlock to be healed for 3% of any single-target spell damage he or she deals. //I'm going to have to get a feel for this change to make a good or bad decision.
* Seduction (Succubus) now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds. //Looks like 8 seconds is the new PVP CC hotness.
* Talent Specializations
o Affliction
+ Soul Swap can no longer be dispelled (the aura given to the warlock between swapping).
+ Unstable Affliction's silence effect has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 5.
o Demonology
+ Demonic Aegis now increases the healing effect of Fel Armor by 50/100%.
+ Demonic Rebirth now highlights summoning spells when active.
+ Demon Soul: Imp redesigned. It now increases the critical strike chance of all non instant cast Destruction spells by 30%, rather than increasing critical strike damage. Duration reduced to 20 seconds.
+ Felstorm (Felguard) damage has been reduced by 20%.
+ Immolation Aura damage has been reduced by roughly 30%.
+ Inferno no longer increases the radius of Hellfire, but instead increases the duration of Immolate by 6 seconds in addition to its existing effect.
+ Master Demonologist (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 33%.
o Destruction
+ Burning Embers damage has been reduced by 15%.
+ Fiery Apocalypse (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 8%.
+ Improved Soul Fire now increases Fire and Shadow damage done by 4/8%, rather than 7/15% spell haste. In addition, this talent has been moved to tier-3 Destruction, switching places with Aftermath.
+ Shadow and Flame can now proc from Incinerate in addition to Shadow Bolt. //More auto procing is always a good thing.
* Warlock Bug Fixes
o Rank 2 of Backdraft should no longer have charges consumed when casting Immolate.
o The spell animation for Demon Circle: Summon no longer persists through death.
o Demon Leap should no longer cause players to pass through the environment at the entrance/exit of Orgrimmar.
o Drain Life cast when under the effects of Soulburn no longer has higher damage than the normal version of Drain Life.
o Empowered Imp can no longer proc if the warlock does not have the talent. //ROFL
o Hellfire will not proc the Muradin's Spyglass buff without hitting an enemy target. //A little late?
o Warlocks with the Jinx talent who have an active Curse of the Elements on a target should no longer be interrupted while eating or drinking.
o Nether Protection should now proc properly from all associated abilities.
o Rain of Fire now remains at the same location it was cast at while on a moving transport.
o Ritual of Summoning should no longer yield graphical issues with the created portal.
o Casting Soulburn during the global cooldown of a Soulburn ability, and while under the effects of another self-buff, was sometimes causing Soulburn abilities to be non-functional. This has been corrected. //I SAW THIS!! I just thought it was me and my laggy computer. Nice to know.
o The UI fly-out for a warlocks' summoning spells now updates in real time based on the warlock's available mana.
o The tooltip for the armor value in the Character pane should now be showing the correct amount of armor granted to pets.
o Glyph Fixes
+ Glyph of Voidwalker's tooltip has been updated to the new pet scaling system.
Dungeons & Raids
* Level-85 players can now choose any normal dungeon via the Dungeon Finder. Choosing Random Dungeon will still not add Blackrock Caverns or Throne of the Tides into the rotation.
* Level-85 dungeon bosses in Lost City of the Tol'vir, Grim Batol, and Halls of Origination now drop 30 Justice Points each when killed.
* The daily Random Dungeon reward on normal difficulty has been increased to 140 Justice Points, up from 70.
* Players no longer need to discover Cataclysm dungeon entrances in order to access them via the Dungeon Finder. //This is good since I still have not discovered Grim Batol.
* Dungeon & Raid Bug Fixes
o Error messages for characters unable to enter a Heroic raid dungeon should be more clear.
o Players level 83 and higher should be able to correctly queue for holiday dungeon bosses.
o Players above level 80 can no longer queue for Wrath of the Lich King Heroic dungeons.
o Level 68-79 Wrath of the Lich King dungeons again award reputation.
o If a spell is cast which provides items for players (i.e. Soulwell), members of the party or raid should still be able to access the items after the caster leaves the dungeon.
o The minimum level requirements for many level 1-60 dungeons were too high and have been appropriately adjusted.
Guilds
* The guild reward Armadillo Pup now requires revered faction instead of exalted.
* All guild banners now reward bonus reputation in addition to honor and experience.
* Guild bank vouchers that players unlock as guild rewards now correctly state that they can only be used by Guild Leaders.
* Once a guild hits level 23, the daily cap on experience gained is removed.
* Additional animations have been added to the Armadillo Pet guild reward.
* The guild faction requirement on the Guild Herald has been lowered to Revered reputation.
* We have redefined the definition of a Guild Group for 5-player dungeons.
o If 3 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 50% of the normal rate.
o If 4 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 100% of the normal rate.
o If 5 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 125% of the normal rate.
o Also note that Heroic dungeons offer a 1.5x multiplier on all guild experience earned.
Jewelcrafting
* Meta gems with the Chaotic and Relentless prefixes now have a requirement of 3 red gems. //Finally
All done because The Spawn will not let me read and edit any more patch notes!!
World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.0.6
Warlocks
* Curse of Exhaustion now reduces movement speed by 30%, down from 50%. Its range has been increased to 40 yards, up from 30.
* Demon Armor and Fel Armor no longer cost mana and last until canceled. //My Power Auras will finally stop yelling at me in the middle of boss fights.
* Devour (Felhunter) cooldown has been increased to 20 seconds, up from 8. Devour is no longer able to be auto-cast. //I have been intending to macro this for sometime again. It is a must do now.
* Drain Mana has been removed from the game.
* Fear now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds. //Nice an actual PVP buff.
* Fel Armor has been redesigned. It now surrounds the caster with fel energy, increasing spell power and causing the warlock to be healed for 3% of any single-target spell damage he or she deals. //I'm going to have to get a feel for this change to make a good or bad decision.
* Seduction (Succubus) now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds. //Looks like 8 seconds is the new PVP CC hotness.
* Talent Specializations
o Affliction
+ Soul Swap can no longer be dispelled (the aura given to the warlock between swapping).
+ Unstable Affliction's silence effect has been reduced to 4 seconds, down from 5.
o Demonology
+ Demonic Aegis now increases the healing effect of Fel Armor by 50/100%.
+ Demonic Rebirth now highlights summoning spells when active.
+ Demon Soul: Imp redesigned. It now increases the critical strike chance of all non instant cast Destruction spells by 30%, rather than increasing critical strike damage. Duration reduced to 20 seconds.
+ Felstorm (Felguard) damage has been reduced by 20%.
+ Immolation Aura damage has been reduced by roughly 30%.
+ Inferno no longer increases the radius of Hellfire, but instead increases the duration of Immolate by 6 seconds in addition to its existing effect.
+ Master Demonologist (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 33%.
o Destruction
+ Burning Embers damage has been reduced by 15%.
+ Fiery Apocalypse (Mastery) benefit from mastery increased by approximately 8%.
+ Improved Soul Fire now increases Fire and Shadow damage done by 4/8%, rather than 7/15% spell haste. In addition, this talent has been moved to tier-3 Destruction, switching places with Aftermath.
+ Shadow and Flame can now proc from Incinerate in addition to Shadow Bolt. //More auto procing is always a good thing.
* Warlock Bug Fixes
o Rank 2 of Backdraft should no longer have charges consumed when casting Immolate.
o The spell animation for Demon Circle: Summon no longer persists through death.
o Demon Leap should no longer cause players to pass through the environment at the entrance/exit of Orgrimmar.
o Drain Life cast when under the effects of Soulburn no longer has higher damage than the normal version of Drain Life.
o Empowered Imp can no longer proc if the warlock does not have the talent. //ROFL
o Hellfire will not proc the Muradin's Spyglass buff without hitting an enemy target. //A little late?
o Warlocks with the Jinx talent who have an active Curse of the Elements on a target should no longer be interrupted while eating or drinking.
o Nether Protection should now proc properly from all associated abilities.
o Rain of Fire now remains at the same location it was cast at while on a moving transport.
o Ritual of Summoning should no longer yield graphical issues with the created portal.
o Casting Soulburn during the global cooldown of a Soulburn ability, and while under the effects of another self-buff, was sometimes causing Soulburn abilities to be non-functional. This has been corrected. //I SAW THIS!! I just thought it was me and my laggy computer. Nice to know.
o The UI fly-out for a warlocks' summoning spells now updates in real time based on the warlock's available mana.
o The tooltip for the armor value in the Character pane should now be showing the correct amount of armor granted to pets.
o Glyph Fixes
+ Glyph of Voidwalker's tooltip has been updated to the new pet scaling system.
Dungeons & Raids
* Level-85 players can now choose any normal dungeon via the Dungeon Finder. Choosing Random Dungeon will still not add Blackrock Caverns or Throne of the Tides into the rotation.
* Level-85 dungeon bosses in Lost City of the Tol'vir, Grim Batol, and Halls of Origination now drop 30 Justice Points each when killed.
* The daily Random Dungeon reward on normal difficulty has been increased to 140 Justice Points, up from 70.
* Players no longer need to discover Cataclysm dungeon entrances in order to access them via the Dungeon Finder. //This is good since I still have not discovered Grim Batol.
* Dungeon & Raid Bug Fixes
o Error messages for characters unable to enter a Heroic raid dungeon should be more clear.
o Players level 83 and higher should be able to correctly queue for holiday dungeon bosses.
o Players above level 80 can no longer queue for Wrath of the Lich King Heroic dungeons.
o Level 68-79 Wrath of the Lich King dungeons again award reputation.
o If a spell is cast which provides items for players (i.e. Soulwell), members of the party or raid should still be able to access the items after the caster leaves the dungeon.
o The minimum level requirements for many level 1-60 dungeons were too high and have been appropriately adjusted.
Guilds
* The guild reward Armadillo Pup now requires revered faction instead of exalted.
* All guild banners now reward bonus reputation in addition to honor and experience.
* Guild bank vouchers that players unlock as guild rewards now correctly state that they can only be used by Guild Leaders.
* Once a guild hits level 23, the daily cap on experience gained is removed.
* Additional animations have been added to the Armadillo Pet guild reward.
* The guild faction requirement on the Guild Herald has been lowered to Revered reputation.
* We have redefined the definition of a Guild Group for 5-player dungeons.
o If 3 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 50% of the normal rate.
o If 4 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 100% of the normal rate.
o If 5 out of 5 players in a group are members of the same guild, they will now be able to complete guild achievements and earn guild experience at 125% of the normal rate.
o Also note that Heroic dungeons offer a 1.5x multiplier on all guild experience earned.
Jewelcrafting
* Meta gems with the Chaotic and Relentless prefixes now have a requirement of 3 red gems. //Finally
All done because The Spawn will not let me read and edit any more patch notes!!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
It is All Down
Today is the Peak. Cataclysm is LIVE!
We have been talking about the Cataclysm launch for over a year. Is it everything you were waiting for? Was it worth the over a year wait?
I don’t know yet. I still don’t have it.
(She wore way more clothes then this. She didn't like it, but she wore it.)
Husband, the Spawn, and I stopped over to the Launch Party in Fountain Valley. There was a big stage up front and food trucks in back. Standing around were a lot of excited people wearing black. It looked really well organized.
I cannot tell you if there was more people there then at the Wrath launch. But it seemed very subdued.
After about an hour we decided it was too cold for the Spawn to hang out till midnight. Most of the hour we were there, we shopped around Fry’s Electronics, but they closed at 10 pm. We didn’t have heating any more.
(Kat Hunter looked great.)
If I go to something like this again I will have to have a plan a list of questions to ask people. Everyone was huddled up. But I am sure were really nice. I was torn between worrying about the cold for the Spawn and actually talking to people.
I talked to a woman who was there at 4 pm! She definitely stacked Stamina.
The consensus seems on twitter was the digital download killed the Midnight Launch Parties. The only reason to go would be to get a Collector Edition. Husband and I have one on hold at Best Buy for him. Since I am at the store anyway, I am just getting the normal box.
It would have been cool to get a CE signed by the Blizzard people at the launch party … but really … it is cold. We decided the 2 hour plus wait in the cold was not in the signatures. Particularly with us having a two and a half month old with us.
I know it has been quiet here at Almost Evil. I talk to you all the time. Constantly saying “I should post that!” I have missed posting a lot of things. I miss you my readers. I don’t want you to think I have forgotten. There is hope I will get back writing soon.** You can always email me at HydRAWR at gmail dot com or on twitter at HydRAWR.
**soon as in Blizzard soon.
We have been talking about the Cataclysm launch for over a year. Is it everything you were waiting for? Was it worth the over a year wait?
I don’t know yet. I still don’t have it.
(She wore way more clothes then this. She didn't like it, but she wore it.)
Husband, the Spawn, and I stopped over to the Launch Party in Fountain Valley. There was a big stage up front and food trucks in back. Standing around were a lot of excited people wearing black. It looked really well organized.
I cannot tell you if there was more people there then at the Wrath launch. But it seemed very subdued.
After about an hour we decided it was too cold for the Spawn to hang out till midnight. Most of the hour we were there, we shopped around Fry’s Electronics, but they closed at 10 pm. We didn’t have heating any more.
(Kat Hunter looked great.)
If I go to something like this again I will have to have a plan a list of questions to ask people. Everyone was huddled up. But I am sure were really nice. I was torn between worrying about the cold for the Spawn and actually talking to people.
I talked to a woman who was there at 4 pm! She definitely stacked Stamina.
The consensus seems on twitter was the digital download killed the Midnight Launch Parties. The only reason to go would be to get a Collector Edition. Husband and I have one on hold at Best Buy for him. Since I am at the store anyway, I am just getting the normal box.
It would have been cool to get a CE signed by the Blizzard people at the launch party … but really … it is cold. We decided the 2 hour plus wait in the cold was not in the signatures. Particularly with us having a two and a half month old with us.
I know it has been quiet here at Almost Evil. I talk to you all the time. Constantly saying “I should post that!” I have missed posting a lot of things. I miss you my readers. I don’t want you to think I have forgotten. There is hope I will get back writing soon.** You can always email me at HydRAWR at gmail dot com or on twitter at HydRAWR.
**soon as in Blizzard soon.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Rogue 19 Ranged Weapons Added
Throat Piercers were the best ranged weapon for 19 twinks for a long time. Then we were given the bind on account items, Charmed Ancient Bone Bow and Upgraded Dwarven Hand Cannon. With the release of 4.0.3a new low level quests and items were added.
For rogues at 19 we have a few added ranged slot choices. The Horde only quest Shore Leave in Azshara you can get the Bedlam Gun.
For full twink rogue gearing a great resource is ShadowPanther.net.
Please… PLEASE… PLEASE remember that you MUST turn off your experience before doing these quests.
For rogues at 19 we have a few added ranged slot choices. The Horde only quest Shore Leave in Azshara you can get the Bedlam Gun.
Ranged GunDon’t fret! Ashenvale received some new quests. Both factions can do the quest Dread Head Redemption. This gets you the Bow of Ire.
29 - 56 Damage Speed 2.80
+2 Agility
+2 Stamina
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 2 (1.86% @ L12).
Bow of Ire
Ranged Bow
38 - 73 Damage Speed 2.80
+2 Agility
+3 Stamina
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 1 (0.34% @ L19).
For full twink rogue gearing a great resource is ShadowPanther.net.
Please… PLEASE… PLEASE remember that you MUST turn off your experience before doing these quests.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Patch 4.0.3a NERFED BY 12%
Last night I took all three of my 80s out of Dalaran. Moly is in Undercity. Inucusia is in Darnassus. After running Hydra from one city to another playing with elementals, I thought Ironforge was the best place for her to be during The Shattering.
To see what is going on you can check out the patch notes for 4.0.3a. Other then the complete change of the world around us… warlocks had a 12% nerf. It took 12% of my fun out of the game.
In my calculation the change of the world is a 10% fun increase. Doing the math this patch is 2% less fun then yesterday. /sign
BUT I can totally create a Gnome Priest. Which if you didn’t know is Hydra’s sister that I mentioned in a random RP post.
There are full notes elsewhere. But in-case you cannot see them here are the general and warlock changes.
The Shattering of Azeroth
In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth's defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King's fall, Azeroth's native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.
Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, erupted from the stone heart of Deepholm, the domain of earth within the Elemental Plane. Jagged fissures were torn across the earth, and monstrous waves pummeled coastal regions. From Thousand Needles to the Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth was reforged through violent upheavals. Now, the Horde and the Alliance must defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, burdened by the unsettling fact that the world as they know it has changed... forever.
Azeroth Shattered
Deathwing's return has had an immeasurable impact throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will notice drastically altered terrain, thousands of new quests from levels 1-55, and updated level ranges for some zones to improve the questing flow.
New Race/Class Combinations
In the wake of a world on the brink of destruction, members of the Horde and Alliance have taken to new cultures and studies, mastering crafts previously foreign to them. Many existing playable races now have new class combinations. Check the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website for a breakdown of the new combinations.
General
• The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematic trailer and login screen have been added to the game.
• Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 has been reduced by 20%, which increases leveling rate by 25%.
Classes: General
• Due to several talent revisions for select classes, druids, paladins, priests, and shaman have had their talent trees reset.
• The damage and healing done by players from levels 1-79 has been retuned, with the base points of almost all spells and abilities reduced. This was done to bring combat times at low levels to a more reasonable length. For most abilities that deal weapon damage, the weapon damage percent now rises per level until level 80, and starts at a lower percent.
• Healing Rain, Efflorescence, Holy Radiance, Holy Word: Sanctuary now have a diminished effect when healing more than 6 players at once.
• Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks, Wound Poison, Widow Venom, Permafrost, Improved Mind Blast, Monstrous Bite, and Legion Strike now reduce healing by 10%, down from 25%.
• Effects which are broken from taking too much damage (Fear, Frost Nova, Entangling Roots, etc.) now break automatically from about half as much damage taken as before.
Warlock
• Bane of Agony damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Bane of Doom damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Corruption damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Death Coil damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Drain Life damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Drain Soul damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Immolate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Incinerate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Rain of Fire damage has been increased to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
• Searing Pain damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Seed of Corruption damage has been reduced to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
• Shadowbolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Soul Fire damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Demonology
o Hand of Gul'dan damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Destruction
o Chaos Bolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
o Conflagrate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
o Shadowburn damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Bug Fixes
o Drain Life: The Soulburn version of this was charging 17% of base mana instead of 12% like the normal version. This has been corrected.
Achievements
• The Gladiator reward mounts now award Master Riding.
• What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been now awards Master Riding.
Items
• Mysterious Egg now takes only 3 days to turn into a Cracked Egg and has a slightly greater chance of awarding the Reins of the Green Proto-Drake.
• PvP set bonuses now provide 70 of stats such as Agility, Intellect, and Strength (down from 100) at 2 pieces, and 180 of these stats (down from 300) at 4 pieces.
Professions
• Perfect Gem Cutting and Mixology have been removed as trainable skills and are instead passives profession abilities. When players reach the appropriate skill levels, they will start getting bonuses from Mixology (they must know the recipe to gain the benefit) and/or cutting perfect gems (depending on their profession, of course).
Alchemy
o Alchemy recipes now require Crystal Vials. Deathwing broke all the others because he's mean (or because he didn't want alchemists to carry 5 different vials around with them).
Engineering
o The Engineering Tinkering enchants will no longer provide their bonus stats, but the activated effects will stack with other enchants. In 4.0.1 the stats were there (but hidden) and are now removed.
Bug Fixes
• Certain area-of-effect abilities are no longer ignoring the area-of-effect damage cap.
• Mobs and NPCs should no longer appear to randomly gain or lose health during combat.
• Re-summoning pets in Battlegrounds should no longer count towards a player's total healing done.
Known Issues
• Some tooltips may not reflect the most recent changes to certain abilities.
• Worgen hunters are currently unable to learn Dual Wield.
• The achievement Explore Tol Barad will not be possible to complete upon release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
To see what is going on you can check out the patch notes for 4.0.3a. Other then the complete change of the world around us… warlocks had a 12% nerf. It took 12% of my fun out of the game.
In my calculation the change of the world is a 10% fun increase. Doing the math this patch is 2% less fun then yesterday. /sign
BUT I can totally create a Gnome Priest. Which if you didn’t know is Hydra’s sister that I mentioned in a random RP post.
There are full notes elsewhere. But in-case you cannot see them here are the general and warlock changes.
The Shattering of Azeroth
In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth's defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King's fall, Azeroth's native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.
Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, erupted from the stone heart of Deepholm, the domain of earth within the Elemental Plane. Jagged fissures were torn across the earth, and monstrous waves pummeled coastal regions. From Thousand Needles to the Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth was reforged through violent upheavals. Now, the Horde and the Alliance must defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, burdened by the unsettling fact that the world as they know it has changed... forever.
Azeroth Shattered
Deathwing's return has had an immeasurable impact throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will notice drastically altered terrain, thousands of new quests from levels 1-55, and updated level ranges for some zones to improve the questing flow.
New Race/Class Combinations
In the wake of a world on the brink of destruction, members of the Horde and Alliance have taken to new cultures and studies, mastering crafts previously foreign to them. Many existing playable races now have new class combinations. Check the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website for a breakdown of the new combinations.
General
• The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematic trailer and login screen have been added to the game.
• Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 has been reduced by 20%, which increases leveling rate by 25%.
Classes: General
• Due to several talent revisions for select classes, druids, paladins, priests, and shaman have had their talent trees reset.
• The damage and healing done by players from levels 1-79 has been retuned, with the base points of almost all spells and abilities reduced. This was done to bring combat times at low levels to a more reasonable length. For most abilities that deal weapon damage, the weapon damage percent now rises per level until level 80, and starts at a lower percent.
• Healing Rain, Efflorescence, Holy Radiance, Holy Word: Sanctuary now have a diminished effect when healing more than 6 players at once.
• Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks, Wound Poison, Widow Venom, Permafrost, Improved Mind Blast, Monstrous Bite, and Legion Strike now reduce healing by 10%, down from 25%.
• Effects which are broken from taking too much damage (Fear, Frost Nova, Entangling Roots, etc.) now break automatically from about half as much damage taken as before.
Warlock
• Bane of Agony damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Bane of Doom damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Corruption damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Death Coil damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Drain Life damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Drain Soul damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Immolate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Incinerate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Rain of Fire damage has been increased to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
• Searing Pain damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Seed of Corruption damage has been reduced to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
• Shadowbolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
• Soul Fire damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Demonology
o Hand of Gul'dan damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Destruction
o Chaos Bolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
o Conflagrate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
o Shadowburn damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Bug Fixes
o Drain Life: The Soulburn version of this was charging 17% of base mana instead of 12% like the normal version. This has been corrected.
Achievements
• The Gladiator reward mounts now award Master Riding.
• What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been now awards Master Riding.
Items
• Mysterious Egg now takes only 3 days to turn into a Cracked Egg and has a slightly greater chance of awarding the Reins of the Green Proto-Drake.
• PvP set bonuses now provide 70 of stats such as Agility, Intellect, and Strength (down from 100) at 2 pieces, and 180 of these stats (down from 300) at 4 pieces.
Professions
• Perfect Gem Cutting and Mixology have been removed as trainable skills and are instead passives profession abilities. When players reach the appropriate skill levels, they will start getting bonuses from Mixology (they must know the recipe to gain the benefit) and/or cutting perfect gems (depending on their profession, of course).
Alchemy
o Alchemy recipes now require Crystal Vials. Deathwing broke all the others because he's mean (or because he didn't want alchemists to carry 5 different vials around with them).
Engineering
o The Engineering Tinkering enchants will no longer provide their bonus stats, but the activated effects will stack with other enchants. In 4.0.1 the stats were there (but hidden) and are now removed.
Bug Fixes
• Certain area-of-effect abilities are no longer ignoring the area-of-effect damage cap.
• Mobs and NPCs should no longer appear to randomly gain or lose health during combat.
• Re-summoning pets in Battlegrounds should no longer count towards a player's total healing done.
Known Issues
• Some tooltips may not reflect the most recent changes to certain abilities.
• Worgen hunters are currently unable to learn Dual Wield.
• The achievement Explore Tol Barad will not be possible to complete upon release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Patch 4.0.1 Rock Our World
Cataclysm is starting. We were told last week that December 7th is the release date of the next expansion. Today was the release of the EXTREMELY large patch of 4.0.1.
What to expect to be broken:
Oh… and did I mention that your Lock will have completely different playability with the new shard mechanic. It is so simply stated in the notes. I see some time on a Training Dummy in the spare minutes I get to play WoW in my future.
We are all going to need it.
What to expect to be broken:
- Your internet will lag because you are downloading MB after MB of data.
- Addons will not be recognizable.
- The UI will completely change.
- Guild UI has been updated.
- Professions have been tweaked.
- Your gear stats will look the same but be completely different.
- Change in Riad lockout.
Oh… and did I mention that your Lock will have completely different playability with the new shard mechanic. It is so simply stated in the notes. I see some time on a Training Dummy in the spare minutes I get to play WoW in my future.
WarlocksGood luck to you. May the computer and internet gremlins /ignore you today.
• There is now a new spell fly-out UI feature for warlock pets. Clicking on this single button will open up the list of available pets to summon.
• Soul Shards have been removed from the game as items. Instead, they now exist as a resource system necessary for using, or altering the mechanics of certain spells.
We are all going to need it.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Realm 24 hour Maintenance
All realms have maintenance today. But a select special slice of them are down for 24 hours or more.
Since our raid team runs 11 PM to 2 AM central time. Our Ruby Sanctum 25 man run was on the server shut down timer. We were doing our second pull at 15 minutes to realm shut down. It was quite fun to see who could perform under pressure and those who… well took it in the face with a beam.
If you do not have anything to fill your WoW time tonight check out Twisted Nether Blogcast. Fimlys, Nibbles, and I will have an announcement.
Here are the realms listed by Blizzard for 24 hour down time.
Antonidas
Anub'arak
Blackwater Raiders
Bladefist
Borean Tundra
Cairne
Cenarion Circle
Cenarius
Darrowmere
Drak'Tharon
Drenden
Echo Isles
Farstriders
Fenris
Garrosh
Hydraxis
Hyjal
Korialstrasz
Lightbringer
Maiev
Misha
Mok'Nathal
Moon Guard
Nazgrel
Nordrassil
Quel'dorei
Ravenholdt
Rivendare
Shandris
Shu'halo
Sisters of Elune
The Forgotten Coast
Tortheldrin
Uther
Vashj
Winterhoof
Wyrmrest Accord
Since our raid team runs 11 PM to 2 AM central time. Our Ruby Sanctum 25 man run was on the server shut down timer. We were doing our second pull at 15 minutes to realm shut down. It was quite fun to see who could perform under pressure and those who… well took it in the face with a beam.
If you do not have anything to fill your WoW time tonight check out Twisted Nether Blogcast. Fimlys, Nibbles, and I will have an announcement.
Here are the realms listed by Blizzard for 24 hour down time.
Antonidas
Anub'arak
Blackwater Raiders
Bladefist
Borean Tundra
Cairne
Cenarion Circle
Cenarius
Darrowmere
Drak'Tharon
Drenden
Echo Isles
Farstriders
Fenris
Garrosh
Hydraxis
Hyjal
Korialstrasz
Lightbringer
Maiev
Misha
Mok'Nathal
Moon Guard
Nazgrel
Nordrassil
Quel'dorei
Ravenholdt
Rivendare
Shandris
Shu'halo
Sisters of Elune
The Forgotten Coast
Tortheldrin
Uther
Vashj
Winterhoof
Wyrmrest Accord
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Another Blizzard RealID Post
I have not commented about RealID here on my blog. I was of the opinion if you are worried about it… don’t use it. Someone who doesn’t know your real name and/or you have issues giving your email account to them should not be a RealID friend.
The only people who have my RealID are family and an EXTREMELY short list of friends off realm. The friends were only added because they were off realm. I hope this will make it easier for me to go off leveling on other realms.
If I knew this was coming down the line when I joined battle.net I would have made an email account only for Blizzards use. Oh well… not that big of deal.
While testing the system with Husband I was surprised at how much information RealID gives out. Not only that he was online but it provided full first name, full last name, realm logged into, character Logged into, character level, and zone. I know I like to disappear onto other realms or characters to not be bothered so this was a huge red flag. It confirmed my decision to limit the number of people who I made RealID.
As a blogger other peoples real names displayed is a concern. When I take screenshots for posts now … I have to watch for ACTUAL NAMES. These are not just any names but the people I love and adore in my real life. “Sister-in-law has gone offline” Annoying… but something I can live with because I love them enough to protect their real names and keep them out of my silly WoW blog.
This was my opinion as RealID implemented in-game... I would have liked to have more flexibility (like Nickname, friend access levels, hide characters from friend levels, etc) so it would actually be more useful. But nothing I couldn’t ignore if I wanted too.
Now to the Forum RealID issue…
MMO-Champion.com has link to the blue post and restates it. You can read what Blizzard is doing with the upcoming forums.
Here are my immediate concerns:
1. Minors
I think back to when there was hard core twinking in my battlegroup. Because we use vent I knew that some of the guys we ran with were 13-15 year old boys. The only place for them to rant or rave about a great game was on the Battlegroup forum.
Yes, some got out of hand. I will tell you that there is not one person I talk to today that doesn’t look back at those times and not remember how much fun posting on the forums and arguing with each other. … Ok… that maybe an exaggeration, but the times were still good.
Kids are mean. There have been lawsuits about High School students stalking, bullying, and just being nasty to each other on phones and on the internet. It happens. It is here. It is reality.
As officers we encouraged people to NOT post on the Battlegroup forum because we knew you cannot win with trolls. But they were teenage boys and had to learn for themselves.
The idea that those same minors would have their full first and last names out there are criminal.
These same boys are now applying to colleges and out there getting jobs. If they had a juvenile record it would be sealed and would start off fresh as an adult… like all aspects of the internet … forum post would be out there to stay.
Any comments about Blizzard not retroactively posting names are irrelevant. The point is minors will post under the proposed system because they did post.
As for turning forum post off for minors, what about the customer service? It is just not as easy a solution as switching off.
2. My Real Name
I am Hydra of Almost Evil. That is the alias I go by. Some people know my real name around the blogisphere. If there is a legitimate reason for someone to know my real name, it is not an issue. I just don’t post under it.
As everyone should once in a while, when I google my real name it get another woman in the LPGA, a few of my professional engineering projects, my qualifications when I was a state regulator, some marketing projects I was associated with, and a few organizational memberships.
No where in there would it tell you that I have a blog that has been running about an MMO for over three years.
Anyone with any intuition at all will connect seeing a name posted even on the Blizzard customer service forum to someone that plays Warcraft. As a professional, someone in their mid thirties and looking for regular work and projects I am not happy with my name available in that capacity.
I don’t want a potential employer to see I am having trouble downloading the latest patch, logging in, or having a graphical issue. And as the primary place that Blizzard wants us to communicate issues with them… I don’t see how displaying our real names will encourage that in the future.
3. Other Professionals
In this game over the years I have met professional engineers, teachers, military personnel, doctors, pharmacists, county prosecutors, defense attorneys, fire fighters, chefs, building managers, bank personnel, and so many more. In my guild alone I know more then half have advanced degrees. They are professionals in real life, people like Gnomeaggedon (I will miss you!)
Relevance to RealID on forum? Just don’t post?
The idea that only those who are trolls and flame other people post on the forums are narrow minded.
Well that is nice and all… but what about guild recruitment. Your guild leader will have to post to keep you raiding, bring in new blood, and filling those slots.
I think of my own guild and … it would be unfair for anyone to ask any of the officers to put themselves out there. This is a game and you never know how “playing a game” will affect your career.
We live in a world where we use labels to define those around us. Good or bad that is how it is.
For internal Blizzard use and even in-game use I can work with or without RealID. But to make it so minors and professionals names are readily associated with a game and have no choice in the matter is not a good choice by Blizzard.
The only people who have my RealID are family and an EXTREMELY short list of friends off realm. The friends were only added because they were off realm. I hope this will make it easier for me to go off leveling on other realms.
If I knew this was coming down the line when I joined battle.net I would have made an email account only for Blizzards use. Oh well… not that big of deal.
While testing the system with Husband I was surprised at how much information RealID gives out. Not only that he was online but it provided full first name, full last name, realm logged into, character Logged into, character level, and zone. I know I like to disappear onto other realms or characters to not be bothered so this was a huge red flag. It confirmed my decision to limit the number of people who I made RealID.
As a blogger other peoples real names displayed is a concern. When I take screenshots for posts now … I have to watch for ACTUAL NAMES. These are not just any names but the people I love and adore in my real life. “Sister-in-law has gone offline” Annoying… but something I can live with because I love them enough to protect their real names and keep them out of my silly WoW blog.
This was my opinion as RealID implemented in-game... I would have liked to have more flexibility (like Nickname, friend access levels, hide characters from friend levels, etc) so it would actually be more useful. But nothing I couldn’t ignore if I wanted too.
Now to the Forum RealID issue…
MMO-Champion.com has link to the blue post and restates it. You can read what Blizzard is doing with the upcoming forums.
Here are my immediate concerns:
1. Minors
I think back to when there was hard core twinking in my battlegroup. Because we use vent I knew that some of the guys we ran with were 13-15 year old boys. The only place for them to rant or rave about a great game was on the Battlegroup forum.
Yes, some got out of hand. I will tell you that there is not one person I talk to today that doesn’t look back at those times and not remember how much fun posting on the forums and arguing with each other. … Ok… that maybe an exaggeration, but the times were still good.
Kids are mean. There have been lawsuits about High School students stalking, bullying, and just being nasty to each other on phones and on the internet. It happens. It is here. It is reality.
As officers we encouraged people to NOT post on the Battlegroup forum because we knew you cannot win with trolls. But they were teenage boys and had to learn for themselves.
The idea that those same minors would have their full first and last names out there are criminal.
These same boys are now applying to colleges and out there getting jobs. If they had a juvenile record it would be sealed and would start off fresh as an adult… like all aspects of the internet … forum post would be out there to stay.
Any comments about Blizzard not retroactively posting names are irrelevant. The point is minors will post under the proposed system because they did post.
As for turning forum post off for minors, what about the customer service? It is just not as easy a solution as switching off.
2. My Real Name
I am Hydra of Almost Evil. That is the alias I go by. Some people know my real name around the blogisphere. If there is a legitimate reason for someone to know my real name, it is not an issue. I just don’t post under it.
As everyone should once in a while, when I google my real name it get another woman in the LPGA, a few of my professional engineering projects, my qualifications when I was a state regulator, some marketing projects I was associated with, and a few organizational memberships.
No where in there would it tell you that I have a blog that has been running about an MMO for over three years.
Anyone with any intuition at all will connect seeing a name posted even on the Blizzard customer service forum to someone that plays Warcraft. As a professional, someone in their mid thirties and looking for regular work and projects I am not happy with my name available in that capacity.
I don’t want a potential employer to see I am having trouble downloading the latest patch, logging in, or having a graphical issue. And as the primary place that Blizzard wants us to communicate issues with them… I don’t see how displaying our real names will encourage that in the future.
3. Other Professionals
In this game over the years I have met professional engineers, teachers, military personnel, doctors, pharmacists, county prosecutors, defense attorneys, fire fighters, chefs, building managers, bank personnel, and so many more. In my guild alone I know more then half have advanced degrees. They are professionals in real life, people like Gnomeaggedon (I will miss you!)
Relevance to RealID on forum? Just don’t post?
The idea that only those who are trolls and flame other people post on the forums are narrow minded.
Well that is nice and all… but what about guild recruitment. Your guild leader will have to post to keep you raiding, bring in new blood, and filling those slots.
I think of my own guild and … it would be unfair for anyone to ask any of the officers to put themselves out there. This is a game and you never know how “playing a game” will affect your career.
We live in a world where we use labels to define those around us. Good or bad that is how it is.
For internal Blizzard use and even in-game use I can work with or without RealID. But to make it so minors and professionals names are readily associated with a game and have no choice in the matter is not a good choice by Blizzard.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Patch 3.3.5 - With More Purr
No change for classes. There is now a new dragon to kill. Also, included is an improved way to chat with those you want to chat with. (Chat = cat in french... the title was clever then I typed it, I'm not changing it now.)
Don't freak out that there was no 3.3.4. I am sure it was a place holder if anything horrid happened to fix prior patches.
Below is the full patch notes since it is small.
Assault on the Ruby Sanctum
For ages the red dragonflight and its noble matriarch, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, have dedicated themselves to preserving all life on Azeroth. Recently, the very heart of this virtuous dragonflight has come under threat.
An eerie silence has settled over the Ruby Sanctum, the red dragonflight's sacred lair within the Chamber of the Aspects. This troubling development has led to fears that the sanctum, home to Azeroth's largest clutch of red dragon eggs, has been breached by an unknown, sinister force. If these claims are true and immediate action is not taken, the benevolent red dragonflight might be crippled forever.
Real ID: A New Way to Connect With Your Friends on Battle.net
One of our goals for the new Battle.net is to create the framework for an online gaming experience that is even more accessible, more engaging, and more entertaining than the previous Battle.net. The newly released Real ID feature, available to World of Warcraft players as part of patch 3.3.5, is an integral part of this effort, providing you with advanced ways for forming and maintaining meaningful relationships with your friends on the service.
Real ID is a completely voluntary and optional level of identity that keeps players connected across all of Battle.net. When you and a friend mutually agree to become Real ID friends, you'll have access to a number of additional features that will enrich your social gaming experience in new and exciting ways. Go here for more details.
General
The Ruby Sanctum, an all-new 10- and 25-player raid dungeon featuring normal and Heroic difficulties, has been added! Players will find the dungeon entrance below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. Please note due to the way this patch is being applied in all regions, this dungeon will not immediately be available in North America. Stay tuned to our General Discussion forum for an official announcement on the opening of the Ruby Sanctum.
The functionality of the Vote Kick feature in the Dungeon Finder will now behave differently according to a player's history with the system. Players using the Dungeon Finder who rarely vote to kick players from a group, or rarely abandon groups before a dungeon is complete, will find that the Vote Kick option will have no cooldown. For players who frequently abandon groups or vote to kick other players, the Vote Kick option will be kept on a cooldown. This functionality will adjust itself as a player's behavior while using the Dungeon Finder changes.
User Interface
Chat Frame
Players can now right-click on any chat type (Whisper, Trade, General, Party, Raid, etc.) and choose to move conversation types into separate windows. This will move that chat type to a separate tab in the Chat frame which can be undocked and moved anywhere on the screen.
Using the Move to Whisper Window option on a Whisper will place the conversation with that player in a separate tab.
Any time a conversation with another player is put into its own tab, the tab will glow when a new message is received.
Hovering over the Chat Frame and using the mouse wheel will allow players to scroll through chat text.
Players can select Classic Mode under Interface Options to keep the Chat Frame functionality closer to what it was prior to patch 3.3.5.
The Simple Chat User Interface option has been removed.
Friends List
A new icon has been added to the top left of the Chat Frame which will open up the Friends list.
In addition to its current functionality, the Friends List will now allow players to add Battle.net accounts (Real ID). Players will have to confirm that they are friends in order for a Real ID to be added. Once Real ID friends, players can communicate cross-game, cross-faction and cross-realm.
A new Pending tab has been added where players can accept or decline a Real ID friend request, or select the Report Spam or Block Communications buttons.
Players can now select from three statuses which will be visible to their friends: Available, Away and Busy.
A Broadcast window has been added to the top of the frame. Players can use this to broadcast a message to all of their Real ID friends online. This message will also be displayed under the broadcaster's Real ID information in each friend's list.
For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.
Don't freak out that there was no 3.3.4. I am sure it was a place holder if anything horrid happened to fix prior patches.
Below is the full patch notes since it is small.
Assault on the Ruby Sanctum
For ages the red dragonflight and its noble matriarch, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, have dedicated themselves to preserving all life on Azeroth. Recently, the very heart of this virtuous dragonflight has come under threat.
An eerie silence has settled over the Ruby Sanctum, the red dragonflight's sacred lair within the Chamber of the Aspects. This troubling development has led to fears that the sanctum, home to Azeroth's largest clutch of red dragon eggs, has been breached by an unknown, sinister force. If these claims are true and immediate action is not taken, the benevolent red dragonflight might be crippled forever.
Real ID: A New Way to Connect With Your Friends on Battle.net
One of our goals for the new Battle.net is to create the framework for an online gaming experience that is even more accessible, more engaging, and more entertaining than the previous Battle.net. The newly released Real ID feature, available to World of Warcraft players as part of patch 3.3.5, is an integral part of this effort, providing you with advanced ways for forming and maintaining meaningful relationships with your friends on the service.
Real ID is a completely voluntary and optional level of identity that keeps players connected across all of Battle.net. When you and a friend mutually agree to become Real ID friends, you'll have access to a number of additional features that will enrich your social gaming experience in new and exciting ways. Go here for more details.
General
The Ruby Sanctum, an all-new 10- and 25-player raid dungeon featuring normal and Heroic difficulties, has been added! Players will find the dungeon entrance below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. Please note due to the way this patch is being applied in all regions, this dungeon will not immediately be available in North America. Stay tuned to our General Discussion forum for an official announcement on the opening of the Ruby Sanctum.
The functionality of the Vote Kick feature in the Dungeon Finder will now behave differently according to a player's history with the system. Players using the Dungeon Finder who rarely vote to kick players from a group, or rarely abandon groups before a dungeon is complete, will find that the Vote Kick option will have no cooldown. For players who frequently abandon groups or vote to kick other players, the Vote Kick option will be kept on a cooldown. This functionality will adjust itself as a player's behavior while using the Dungeon Finder changes.
User Interface
Chat Frame
Players can now right-click on any chat type (Whisper, Trade, General, Party, Raid, etc.) and choose to move conversation types into separate windows. This will move that chat type to a separate tab in the Chat frame which can be undocked and moved anywhere on the screen.
Using the Move to Whisper Window option on a Whisper will place the conversation with that player in a separate tab.
Any time a conversation with another player is put into its own tab, the tab will glow when a new message is received.
Hovering over the Chat Frame and using the mouse wheel will allow players to scroll through chat text.
Players can select Classic Mode under Interface Options to keep the Chat Frame functionality closer to what it was prior to patch 3.3.5.
The Simple Chat User Interface option has been removed.
Friends List
A new icon has been added to the top left of the Chat Frame which will open up the Friends list.
In addition to its current functionality, the Friends List will now allow players to add Battle.net accounts (Real ID). Players will have to confirm that they are friends in order for a Real ID to be added. Once Real ID friends, players can communicate cross-game, cross-faction and cross-realm.
A new Pending tab has been added where players can accept or decline a Real ID friend request, or select the Report Spam or Block Communications buttons.
Players can now select from three statuses which will be visible to their friends: Available, Away and Busy.
A Broadcast window has been added to the top of the frame. Players can use this to broadcast a message to all of their Real ID friends online. This message will also be displayed under the broadcaster's Real ID information in each friend's list.
For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Beta is Not Here Yet
You may have noticed that I have not posted anything about all the “fabulous” news about the upcoming changes in Cataclysm. Nibbles over at Mystic Chicanery put together her thoughts on the proposed lock changes, PLUS she linked to a bunch of other locks and their views.
Cataclysm is changing both my raiding classes (Lock and Hunter) so much that it is a waste of my time to study it all until an actual beta comes out.
There I said it. Right now… I don’t care.
If I get a chance to run around in the beta I will worry about it then. If I don’t get into the beta I will worry about it when the beta build gets close to launch. Truthfully all the bitching or rejoicing will not matter if I don’t have a realistic way to communicate them to the developers. I have no plans on wasting your time or mine.
What I am doing for Cata is helping friends get there gold together. I am yelling at my Mom-in-law to sell EVERYTHING. Heck, yelling at myself to clear out everything. I am going through my emblems to sell things at their optimal price now. They will be worthless in a few months.
I love our lock community so much. Some of the smartest players I have ever met were locks. For lock related blue posts and news check out The Warlocks Den forum.
Cataclysm is changing both my raiding classes (Lock and Hunter) so much that it is a waste of my time to study it all until an actual beta comes out.
There I said it. Right now… I don’t care.
If I get a chance to run around in the beta I will worry about it then. If I don’t get into the beta I will worry about it when the beta build gets close to launch. Truthfully all the bitching or rejoicing will not matter if I don’t have a realistic way to communicate them to the developers. I have no plans on wasting your time or mine.
What I am doing for Cata is helping friends get there gold together. I am yelling at my Mom-in-law to sell EVERYTHING. Heck, yelling at myself to clear out everything. I am going through my emblems to sell things at their optimal price now. They will be worthless in a few months.
I love our lock community so much. Some of the smartest players I have ever met were locks. For lock related blue posts and news check out The Warlocks Den forum.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Patch 3.3.3 No more Spirit for Locks
At one point every time I would put on Spirit gear, I would sing to myself a very evil rendition of "We got Spirit Yes we do!" Trust me. Think Wednesday Atoms at camp when they made her smile.
NO MORE SPIRIT LOCKS.
I'm slowly going through my gear.
I still need to go through the patch notes for 3.3.3. Until then here are the lock changes at other places.
The Warlock's Den Patch 3.3.3
Killing 'ems Slowly 3.3.3 Patchy Day
NO MORE SPIRIT LOCKS.
I'm slowly going through my gear.
I still need to go through the patch notes for 3.3.3. Until then here are the lock changes at other places.
The Warlock's Den Patch 3.3.3
Killing 'ems Slowly 3.3.3 Patchy Day
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Patch 3.3.2 - More Lock Buffs
This maybe the last of the lock buffs for a while. I have been shocked by the ones we have been getting.Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am waiting for the stick.
With the start of Season 8 the rewards for Season 7 Arena should be out. I wonder what title I will be getting? I was informed that old pvp titles are removed and new ones replaces them. So you don’t get to accumulate them like in PvE. Not sure of the accuracy of this. Still it will pretty cool for a while.
The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/ or over at MMO-Champion.
Dungeons & Raids
Halls of Stone
* Brann Bronzebeard has been getting into shape and now feels comfortable walking faster when escorted. //Win!
The Forge of Souls
* The Devourer of Souls will now cast Mirrored Souls less often. //Nerf brought to you by the nub pug near you.
* The Spell Reflect ability has been altered on several creatures. It now has a cast time, only has 2 charges, and has a 75% chance of reflecting spells. // Admittedly … I cannot see the reflect shield, I have my window scrolled back far. It is almost guaranteed that I will try to kill myself. I have seen me have all 4 dots on myself before realizing it.
The Nexus
* Anomalus will now use the Create Rift ability only once, down from 3 times. //Which will make getting the Chaos Theory achievement for this boss much easier.
The Old Kingdom
* Elder Nadox now only gets one Ahn'Kahar Guardian during the encounter. //How much are we nerfing the heroic instance bosses for bad pugs? They will never learn. I wish there was actually a boss ability description. Like a tip before a boss fight in your chat frame. /sigh They will never learn.
* Jadoga Shadowseeker now only ascends once during the encounter. //Boooooooring
* Several enemies between the Befouled Terrace and The Desecrated Altar have been removed or had their pathing altered. //How funny is it to watch a mage die from standing in Flame Strike. Good times.
Pit of Saron
* Players can now zone back into the instance if they are dead while encounters with Krick and Ick or Forgemaster Garfrost are in progress. //Stop standing in stuffs so you don’t die. Or be at melee as a healer. /facepalm
Utgarde Pinnacle
* Skadi the Ruthless can now be removed from his drake with 3 harpoon strikes, down from 5. //Boooooring
* Svala Sorrowgrave now casts Ritual of the Sword 1 time during the encounter, down from 3. //So this is actually good for me. I have this tendency to .. umm… after the boss is killed… umm… stand under the big black sword. It kills me of course. It is just mesmerizing to me.
Vault of Archavon
* Toravon, the latest boss to join the Vault's giants and masters of the elements, is now accepting challengers in 10- and 25-player formats. // A reason to go to Vault. Nice. Though. If you actually need the lesser gear in here, no one wants to kill the other bosses.
The Violet Hold
* The time between a boss being defeated and a new portal opening has been decreased. // Less time to go AFK
PvP
Arenas
* Season 8 has officially begun featuring all-new rewards. //Season 7 I should have gotten an Arena Title!! I wonder what it will be.
Warlock
Affliction
* Shadow Embrace: This effect can now stack up to 3 times, up from 2. However, the periodic healing reduction effect has been reduced from 3/6/9/12/15% to 2/4/6/8/10% per application. //For the math impaired. old max and new max healing effect was not changed. But damage is now 3/6/9/12/15% per talent point. This may change your initial boss rotation to ensure 3 stacks are on before throwing up your dots. SB>SB>Haunt>start dots.
Demonology
* Demonic Pact: The damage bonus granted the warlock by this talent has been increased from 1/2/3/4/5% to 2/4/6/8/10%. The buff granted to a raid or party by this talent remains unchanged.
Destruction
* Conflagrate: The damage-over-time effect of Conflagrate has been increased to 40% of the spell's total damage, up from 20%.
* Empowered Imp: The pet bonus damage provided by this talent has been increased to 10/20/30%, up from 5/10/15%.
* Improved Shadow Bolt: Damage done by Shadow Bolt increased by 2/4/6/8/10%, up from 1/2/3/4/5%. //Most PvE specs have this ... More SB damage is always a good thing.
User Interface
* The party leader is now referred to as Guide in chat when a group is formed via the Dungeon Finder. //Really was this change needed?
* Fixed a bug where players with Raid Assist capabilities were unable to perform a Ready Check. //Excellent.
* Fixed a bug where the first couple of tutorials were not displaying upon logging into the game. //Welcome new players!
With the start of Season 8 the rewards for Season 7 Arena should be out. I wonder what title I will be getting? I was informed that old pvp titles are removed and new ones replaces them. So you don’t get to accumulate them like in PvE. Not sure of the accuracy of this. Still it will pretty cool for a while.
The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/ or over at MMO-Champion.
Dungeons & Raids
Halls of Stone
* Brann Bronzebeard has been getting into shape and now feels comfortable walking faster when escorted. //Win!
The Forge of Souls
* The Devourer of Souls will now cast Mirrored Souls less often. //Nerf brought to you by the nub pug near you.
* The Spell Reflect ability has been altered on several creatures. It now has a cast time, only has 2 charges, and has a 75% chance of reflecting spells. // Admittedly … I cannot see the reflect shield, I have my window scrolled back far. It is almost guaranteed that I will try to kill myself. I have seen me have all 4 dots on myself before realizing it.
The Nexus
* Anomalus will now use the Create Rift ability only once, down from 3 times. //Which will make getting the Chaos Theory achievement for this boss much easier.
The Old Kingdom
* Elder Nadox now only gets one Ahn'Kahar Guardian during the encounter. //How much are we nerfing the heroic instance bosses for bad pugs? They will never learn. I wish there was actually a boss ability description. Like a tip before a boss fight in your chat frame. /sigh They will never learn.
* Jadoga Shadowseeker now only ascends once during the encounter. //Boooooooring
* Several enemies between the Befouled Terrace and The Desecrated Altar have been removed or had their pathing altered. //How funny is it to watch a mage die from standing in Flame Strike. Good times.
Pit of Saron
* Players can now zone back into the instance if they are dead while encounters with Krick and Ick or Forgemaster Garfrost are in progress. //Stop standing in stuffs so you don’t die. Or be at melee as a healer. /facepalm
Utgarde Pinnacle
* Skadi the Ruthless can now be removed from his drake with 3 harpoon strikes, down from 5. //Boooooring
* Svala Sorrowgrave now casts Ritual of the Sword 1 time during the encounter, down from 3. //So this is actually good for me. I have this tendency to .. umm… after the boss is killed… umm… stand under the big black sword. It kills me of course. It is just mesmerizing to me.
Vault of Archavon
* Toravon, the latest boss to join the Vault's giants and masters of the elements, is now accepting challengers in 10- and 25-player formats. // A reason to go to Vault. Nice. Though. If you actually need the lesser gear in here, no one wants to kill the other bosses.
The Violet Hold
* The time between a boss being defeated and a new portal opening has been decreased. // Less time to go AFK
PvP
Arenas
* Season 8 has officially begun featuring all-new rewards. //Season 7 I should have gotten an Arena Title!! I wonder what it will be.
Warlock
Affliction
* Shadow Embrace: This effect can now stack up to 3 times, up from 2. However, the periodic healing reduction effect has been reduced from 3/6/9/12/15% to 2/4/6/8/10% per application. //For the math impaired. old max and new max healing effect was not changed. But damage is now 3/6/9/12/15% per talent point. This may change your initial boss rotation to ensure 3 stacks are on before throwing up your dots. SB>SB>Haunt>start dots.
Demonology
* Demonic Pact: The damage bonus granted the warlock by this talent has been increased from 1/2/3/4/5% to 2/4/6/8/10%. The buff granted to a raid or party by this talent remains unchanged.
Destruction
* Conflagrate: The damage-over-time effect of Conflagrate has been increased to 40% of the spell's total damage, up from 20%.
* Empowered Imp: The pet bonus damage provided by this talent has been increased to 10/20/30%, up from 5/10/15%.
* Improved Shadow Bolt: Damage done by Shadow Bolt increased by 2/4/6/8/10%, up from 1/2/3/4/5%. //Most PvE specs have this ... More SB damage is always a good thing.
User Interface
* The party leader is now referred to as Guide in chat when a group is formed via the Dungeon Finder. //Really was this change needed?
* Fixed a bug where players with Raid Assist capabilities were unable to perform a Ready Check. //Excellent.
* Fixed a bug where the first couple of tutorials were not displaying upon logging into the game. //Welcome new players!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Patch Issues
So apparently when the game patched it broke my wow.exe file. It goes nowhere. I now need to revert to a prior version of the game. ... I sure hope I don't have to reinstall the entirety of patch 3.3 but I suspect so.
Hope your patch day is going better.
Update. So I uninstalled the Norton Antivirus on my machine (it was an old copy anyway. ) I saved my Screanshot, WTF, and interface folders. I then did a wow repair. I then had to reinstall all patches since 3.0.2. An hour and 36 minutes and 54 seconds to download the new patch I could get back into wow.
At that point I was so annoyed with it all I didn't log in.So far I have Icecrown Citadel has not started on a good note and I am actually not excited about logging in tomorrow. ... But I am sure I will. ... eventually.
Hope your patch day is going better.
Update. So I uninstalled the Norton Antivirus on my machine (it was an old copy anyway. ) I saved my Screanshot, WTF, and interface folders. I then did a wow repair. I then had to reinstall all patches since 3.0.2. An hour and 36 minutes and 54 seconds to download the new patch I could get back into wow.
At that point I was so annoyed with it all I didn't log in.So far I have Icecrown Citadel has not started on a good note and I am actually not excited about logging in tomorrow. ... But I am sure I will. ... eventually.
Patch 3.3.0 – Icecrown and Newbies
Remember these are me butchering the notes for my own purposes. Full notes can be found here and/or here.
Personally I would have wanted another week for the patch. I was messing with a lot of Hydra’s gear and would have liked to see if I could get a test in TOC25 before all the new Icecrown upgrades. *shrug* Oh well.
At this time some realms are up. You can check here. Good luck in Icecrown!
General
* Icecrown Citadel
o All three wings of the 5-player dungeon are currently available for testing.
o Select encounters in the 10- and 25-player raid dungeon are available for limited testing.
o Additional Icecrown Citadel raid content will be made available in future test builds.
* Quel'Delar Quest Chain: The Battered Hilt, the item needed to start this quest line, can now be purchased from all glyph vendors on the public test realms . //This is that epic quest chain for the weapon. Maybe interested in it depending on your luck in raids or a good thing for alts. Starts here and ends way over here.
* Character Creation: //Updated for new toons.
* Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed. //These low level changes are for new players when the expansion comes out. Not for those of us that have playing for 3 years They are good changes.
* Knockbacks no longer dismount players. //Sure.
* The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says "hello"), while the new /yw is for saying "you're welcome." //How many poople are going to try this all night. Lol.
* Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players' pets. //Aww. No more flying puppies, kitties, and minions.
* Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory. //Ok. I always sold mine to the vendor right off anyway.
* Attack is now called Auto Attack.
* Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character's minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone. //THANK YOU!! This is a fantastic change… which is back to what it originally was. Will be great for twinkiing and Holiday events.
Classes: General
* Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We've redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example. //This is a fundamental change to our Seed of Corruption. Think Whelp in Ony. It will scale with your spell power more. Saresa told me it was a mage nerf. .. Not sure on that but sounds go to me.
* Attack: Level 1 druids, mages, priests, and warlocks will no longer start with the Attack button placed on their action bars by default. //Remember the new players.
* Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon. //Remember the new players.
* Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes. //Melee lock!
* Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player's level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15. //Remember the new players.
* Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master's resilience. //PvP minion buff.
* Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage. //Rememeber the new players. This will help in reducing downtime while leveling.
* Taunt Diminishing Returns: We've revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter. //Limit to bosses and not while leveling.
Races: General
* Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art. //Yea!!
* Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.
* Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.
PvP
* Arenas
o All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes. //More abilities out of luck. Most likely because of some cooldown changes. … but doesn’t effect locks since we don’t have those kinds of cooldowns.
* Battlegrounds
o Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.
o All level 71-80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards. //Sweet! I will be all over that before they nerf it. Typically a low ranking team gets 200-300 points a week. This adds another 175. Reducing the time to get a few pieces by a lot.
* Wintergrasp
o You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:
+ Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults.
+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers.
+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.
Dungeons & Raids
* Naxxramas
o Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron's lair. //For the raid weekly quest.
* Oculus //Trying to make this dungeon more tempting. Oculus... I don’t think Blizzard gets why people don’t like Occulus. It is not the mobs... it is the vehicle mechanic. So the only real change that will make people want to run it is the scaling on drakes by item level.
Death Knights
* Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas. //This is fantastic. How many raids where you had to wait till army was available.
Druids
* Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%. //I like.
* Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.
* Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes. // I forget that even as feral I have this spell.
* Talents
o Feral Combat
+ Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.
Hunters
* Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. //I need to straighten out my stable.
* Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect. //Oh… fun. Hunter evasion.
* Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously. //The multiple hunter part will be really nice in 25s. Silly that it was not already that way.
* Talents
o Beast Mastery
+ Intimidation: If the hunter's pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet's next swing or attack.
* Pets
o Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
o Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet's movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20. //Pet talent change. Seems good to macro into other abilities.
o Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack. //DPS is good.
o Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes. // Carrion Birds only.
o Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%. //talent taken will eliminate speed reduction completely and so only will keep the reduction in damage.
o Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%. //This will help in me getting my stable worked out.
o Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards. //Great… mostly a PvP change. And will be annoying in low levels.
o Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards. //Yes. Yes. Got it.
o Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet's attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.
Mages
//Making them want to roll locks.
Paladins
//Lay on Hands changed. It changed so much I am not going to worry about it. Just let the pallies figure it out.
Priests
//They are a pain in the a$$ in arenas. Or that is what my pally partner tells me.
Rogues
* Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.
* Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.
* Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed. //Remember the new players.
* Talents
o Assassination
+ Improved Poisons: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.
+ Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.
o Subtlety
+ Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
+ Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.
Shamans
//Stuff changed with totems. … someone who cares will tell you and me both.
Warlocks
* Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. //More shard usage.
* Talents
o Affliction
+ Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%. //I hope this is not telling that tanks lost treat somewhere. Have not had an issue with threat except on Malygos.
+ Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds. //Felpupy buff.
+ Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%. //More felpuppy buff.
o Demonology
+ Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards. //Hmm. Is this now actually useful?
+ Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%. //More spell power is always good.
+ Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect. //That is a lot of stuff crammed into one talent. You can now trigger it with corruption.
o Destruction
+ Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.
+ Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
+ Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp's Firebolt spell by 100%. //Pet crit is good for your Empowering Imp talent.
* Pets //More minions stuffs!
o Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
o Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.
o Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
o Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock's damage-over-time effects on the target.
o Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.
Warriors
//Are beautiful prefect people…apparently, minimum change.
User Interface //Remember a lot of changes are for new players. On the up side it also incorporates some addons that you may now get rid of. Plus here is hopping the new LFM is everything it is cracked up to be.
* Many of the default Interface Options settings have been changed for greater ease of use by new players. Existing players who create new characters may want to review the Interface Options in the event that the default settings feel different.
* Quest Tracking Feature
o Players can now track quest objectives on the map ('M' key).
o Quest Log
+ A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player's Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.
o Map
+ The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).
+ All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.
+ Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.
+ Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character's current location.
+ This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.
+ Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.
o Objectives Tracking
+ This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.
+ The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 10 quests for a zone.
+ Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.
+ If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.
+ The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.
o Quest Difficulty Tracking
+ This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).
* Dungeon Finder
o This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
+ Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
+ Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
+ Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
# The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
# The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
# Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
# Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the "Quests" section for details).
# Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
# Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
# Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player's inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon Finder.
+ Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
+ Pick-Up Groups
# Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
# As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
# Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
# A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
# Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon Finder for 15 minutes.
# If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon Finder queue.
# A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
# Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon Finder will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
# The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.
* Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
* Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.
* Looking For Raid
o There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing "/LFR."
+ Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
+ While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
+ Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader's name, the raid information (number of people in the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.
* The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon Finder interface.
* Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
* Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.
* Buffs and Debuffs: This is a new section added to Interface Options.
o New option - Castable Debuffs: Enabling this will cause only debuffs you have cast on an enemy target to appear.
o New option - Consolidate Buffs: Enabling this adds a buff consolidation box near the mini-map. Very short term buffs (e.g. Replenishment) and very long term buffs (e.g. Prayer of Fortitude) are filtered into the buff box. The icons are stacked here, but they can still be seen by moving the mouse cursor over the buff box. Long term buffs will move out of the box when they are about to expire. Buffs such as important procs (e.g. Art of War, Maelstrom Weapon), cooldowns (e.g. Bloodlust / Heroism, Combustion) or limited in range (e.g. totems and paladin auras) are always displayed.
* Tutorial System: The tutorial pop-ups are now larger, contain images, and better try to direct players to the relevant locations or user interface elements on the screen. In addition, several new tips have been added, while some existing tips will now appear at more appropriate times for new players.
* Dungeon & Raid Difficult Display: A group's dungeon or raid difficulty setting will now be displayed via an icon off of the mini-map.
* Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling Need or Greed on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted if an enchanter of the appropriate skill level is in the group. Disenchant works exactly like Greed except if a player wins the Greed roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose Need will always win the item and will always beat those that choose Greed or Disenchant.
* Lag Reports: Players can now report high latency or lag by accessing the Help Request menu. //Great…I am not sure if this is bad or good.
* Unit Nameplates
o The range at which players can see unit nameplates has been increased by 40 yards.
o Unit nameplates are now subject to line-of-sightlimitations in certain situations (this does not pertain to objects like Arena pillars or bridges).
o Players can now adjust select unit nameplate display settings listed below under Interface Options via the Names tab.
+ Friendly/enemy pet nameplates can be toggled.
+ Enemy totem nameplates can be toggled (friendly totem nameplates are never displayed).
+ Players can choose whether or not unit nameplates overlap.
o Unit nameplates for critters are never displayed.
* Non spell-based tracking now persists through logout.
* Any party member may mark targets (this does not apply to raid groups). //Most likely for the new LFG reasons.
* Players will be warned when their talents are reset due to a new patch.
* "/Settitle" command has been added.
* Players below level 10 may not join raids. //I understand why. People inviting new people to raid and they cannot quest. Still runs on Hogger at level 1.
* Ignore list expanded to 50 to match the friends list.
* Unit frames added for special encounters.
* Interface element added next to the mini-map to show what dungeon you are in (ex: 10- and 25-player Heroic dungeons marked with a skull).
* Experience earned for a quest will display in the Quest Rewards section.
* Confirmation box added when buying stable slots.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.
Graphics
* A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). If you are experiencing random crashes related to file read errors or out of memory, this new backend may help. To enable the new backend, add the following line to your Config.WTF file: SET gxApi "d3d9ex". For more information please visit our Test Realm forum. //I have been having memory errors. I sure hope this is what was causing it.
Professions
* Enchanting
o Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster's target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell.
o Enchant Weapon - Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.
* Fishing
o The all-new Kalu'ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck, has come to Northrend! Every Wednesday beginning at 8 PM players can try to catch the elusive Blacktip Shark. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him this shark. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for returning with the first catch. Those who aren't able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave. It is said that these sharks' favorite meal are the bite-sized Pygmy Suckerfish. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick.
Quests
* Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan'dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.
Achievements
* The Achievements to get exalted with the Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley factions have been removed from their respective "Master of" Meta-Achievements. Special titles will be offered to those who reach exalted with these factions.
* "The Party's Over" has been removed from Achievements and is no longer a part of the "Glory of the Hero" Meta-Achievement.
* "Master Angler of Stranglethorn" has been changed to "Master Angler of Azeroth" and can be achieved by winning either the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby or the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.
Reputation
* Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran. Each badge costs 1 Emblem of Triumph. //Nice for a new toon on a new server for Hodir rep.
* Gaining reputation with the Ashen Verdict in Icecrown Citadel will grant players access to upgradeable rings from Ormus the Penitent. Players can switch between the type of ring (melee/caster/tank/healer) at any point in the upgrade path for 200g. //New rings are good.
* The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:
o Argent Crusade
o Alliance Vanguard
o Horde Expedition
o Kirin Tor
o Knights of the Ebon Blade
o Sons of Hodir
o Wyrmrest Accord
* Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.
* Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased (they still require the appropriate faction level to purchase).
Items
* Glyphs
o Warlocks
+ Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.
+ Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock's haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.
* Haris Pilton now sells a new 24-slot bag! She has stubbornly decided to remain in Shattrath City, so those interested should seek her out there.
* Hatchlings: Leaping, Darting, Razormaw, and Ravasaur Hatchlings no longer drop from their associated rare creatures. Instead, there are now rare nests that spawn which contain these hatchlings. For example, the Leaping Hatchling can now be found in Takk's Nest rather than as a drop from Takk the Leaper. //Hmmm… well I hope this is targetable.
* Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.
Bug Fixes
* Items
//Bunch of stuffs.
* Racial Abilities
o Arcane Torrent: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. In addition, this ability will now be properly noted and displayed as an interrupt in the cast bar UI. //Does thei work on Less rabi achievement? I should check.
* Classes
o Druids
+ Glyph of Hurricane: Now modifies the spell tooltip on Hurricane to indicate the spell also applies a movement slowing effect.
+ Hurricane: When cast from Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form, this spell will now channel properly instead of stopping the channel as soon as the shapeshift is cancelled.
+ Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation. Tooltip error corrected.
+ Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.
+ Swipe (Bear): Tooltip corrected to display 8 yard range.
+ Rejuvenation: Druids will no longer get a more powerful spell error message when attempting to overwrite a Rejuvenation they cast.
o Hunters
+ Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects. //haha
+ Explosive Trap: The damage from this trap will now scale properly with the hunter's attack power.
+ Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. In addition, this glyph will now modify the tooltip of Immolation Trap correctly.
+ Glyph of Mending: This glyph will now modify the amount healed in the tooltip on Mend Pet.
+ Point of No Escape: It is no longer possible to gain benefit from this talent multiple times by having a target affected by multiple of the same hunter's traps. In addition, Freezing Arrow will no longer incorrectly provide a critical strike bonus to players beyond the hunter with this talent.
+ Roar of Sacrifice: Corrected tooltip error.
+ Silencing Shot: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
+ Volley: The tooltip for this ability will now update properly from haste.
o Warlocks
+ Conflagrate: This spell will no longer benefit inconsistently from the talents Emberstorm and Improved Immolate, as well as the Glyph of Immolate and Tier 9 set bonus. Just as for Immolate, all stacking percentage increases will be applied additively instead of multiplicatively (+10% and +20% make +30% instead of +32%). In addition, Conflagrate used with Shadowflame will now scale properly from spell power.
+ Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.
+ Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.
+ Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target.
+ Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly.
+ Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed.
+ Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat. //haha
+ Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.
+ Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
+ Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.
* Game Systems
o Target Effects: When this UI feature is activated, Fear, Silence, Frostbolt, and Hamstring will all now display text over the target's head indicating what type of effect has been applied.
Personally I would have wanted another week for the patch. I was messing with a lot of Hydra’s gear and would have liked to see if I could get a test in TOC25 before all the new Icecrown upgrades. *shrug* Oh well.
At this time some realms are up. You can check here. Good luck in Icecrown!
General
* Icecrown Citadel
o All three wings of the 5-player dungeon are currently available for testing.
o Select encounters in the 10- and 25-player raid dungeon are available for limited testing.
o Additional Icecrown Citadel raid content will be made available in future test builds.
* Quel'Delar Quest Chain: The Battered Hilt, the item needed to start this quest line, can now be purchased from all glyph vendors on the public test realms . //This is that epic quest chain for the weapon. Maybe interested in it depending on your luck in raids or a good thing for alts. Starts here and ends way over here.
* Character Creation: //Updated for new toons.
* Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed. //These low level changes are for new players when the expansion comes out. Not for those of us that have playing for 3 years They are good changes.
* Knockbacks no longer dismount players. //Sure.
* The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says "hello"), while the new /yw is for saying "you're welcome." //How many poople are going to try this all night. Lol.
* Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players' pets. //Aww. No more flying puppies, kitties, and minions.
* Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory. //Ok. I always sold mine to the vendor right off anyway.
* Attack is now called Auto Attack.
* Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character's minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone. //THANK YOU!! This is a fantastic change… which is back to what it originally was. Will be great for twinkiing and Holiday events.
Classes: General
* Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We've redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example. //This is a fundamental change to our Seed of Corruption. Think Whelp in Ony. It will scale with your spell power more. Saresa told me it was a mage nerf. .. Not sure on that but sounds go to me.
* Attack: Level 1 druids, mages, priests, and warlocks will no longer start with the Attack button placed on their action bars by default. //Remember the new players.
* Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon. //Remember the new players.
* Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes. //Melee lock!
* Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player's level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15. //Remember the new players.
* Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master's resilience. //PvP minion buff.
* Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage. //Rememeber the new players. This will help in reducing downtime while leveling.
* Taunt Diminishing Returns: We've revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter. //Limit to bosses and not while leveling.
Races: General
* Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art. //Yea!!
* Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.
* Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.
PvP
* Arenas
o All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes. //More abilities out of luck. Most likely because of some cooldown changes. … but doesn’t effect locks since we don’t have those kinds of cooldowns.
* Battlegrounds
o Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.
o All level 71-80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards. //Sweet! I will be all over that before they nerf it. Typically a low ranking team gets 200-300 points a week. This adds another 175. Reducing the time to get a few pieces by a lot.
* Wintergrasp
o You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:
+ Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults.
+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers.
+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.
Dungeons & Raids
* Naxxramas
o Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron's lair. //For the raid weekly quest.
* Oculus //Trying to make this dungeon more tempting. Oculus... I don’t think Blizzard gets why people don’t like Occulus. It is not the mobs... it is the vehicle mechanic. So the only real change that will make people want to run it is the scaling on drakes by item level.
Death Knights
* Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas. //This is fantastic. How many raids where you had to wait till army was available.
Druids
* Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%. //I like.
* Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.
* Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes. // I forget that even as feral I have this spell.
* Talents
o Feral Combat
+ Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.
Hunters
* Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. //I need to straighten out my stable.
* Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect. //Oh… fun. Hunter evasion.
* Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously. //The multiple hunter part will be really nice in 25s. Silly that it was not already that way.
* Talents
o Beast Mastery
+ Intimidation: If the hunter's pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet's next swing or attack.
* Pets
o Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
o Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet's movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20. //Pet talent change. Seems good to macro into other abilities.
o Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack. //DPS is good.
o Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes. // Carrion Birds only.
o Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%. //talent taken will eliminate speed reduction completely and so only will keep the reduction in damage.
o Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%. //This will help in me getting my stable worked out.
o Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards. //Great… mostly a PvP change. And will be annoying in low levels.
o Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards. //Yes. Yes. Got it.
o Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet's attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.
Mages
//Making them want to roll locks.
Paladins
//Lay on Hands changed. It changed so much I am not going to worry about it. Just let the pallies figure it out.
Priests
//They are a pain in the a$$ in arenas. Or that is what my pally partner tells me.
Rogues
* Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.
* Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.
* Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed. //Remember the new players.
* Talents
o Assassination
+ Improved Poisons: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.
+ Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.
o Subtlety
+ Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
+ Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.
Shamans
//Stuff changed with totems. … someone who cares will tell you and me both.
Warlocks
* Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. //More shard usage.
* Talents
o Affliction
+ Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%. //I hope this is not telling that tanks lost treat somewhere. Have not had an issue with threat except on Malygos.
+ Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds. //Felpupy buff.
+ Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%. //More felpuppy buff.
o Demonology
+ Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards. //Hmm. Is this now actually useful?
+ Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%. //More spell power is always good.
+ Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect. //That is a lot of stuff crammed into one talent. You can now trigger it with corruption.
o Destruction
+ Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.
+ Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
+ Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp's Firebolt spell by 100%. //Pet crit is good for your Empowering Imp talent.
* Pets //More minions stuffs!
o Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
o Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.
o Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
o Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock's damage-over-time effects on the target.
o Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.
Warriors
//Are beautiful prefect people…apparently, minimum change.
User Interface //Remember a lot of changes are for new players. On the up side it also incorporates some addons that you may now get rid of. Plus here is hopping the new LFM is everything it is cracked up to be.
* Many of the default Interface Options settings have been changed for greater ease of use by new players. Existing players who create new characters may want to review the Interface Options in the event that the default settings feel different.
* Quest Tracking Feature
o Players can now track quest objectives on the map ('M' key).
o Quest Log
+ A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player's Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.
o Map
+ The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).
+ All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.
+ Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.
+ Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character's current location.
+ This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.
+ Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.
o Objectives Tracking
+ This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.
+ The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 10 quests for a zone.
+ Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.
+ If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.
+ The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.
o Quest Difficulty Tracking
+ This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).
* Dungeon Finder
o This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
+ Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
+ Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
+ Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
# The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
# The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
# Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
# Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the "Quests" section for details).
# Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
# Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
# Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player's inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon Finder.
+ Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
+ Pick-Up Groups
# Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
# As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
# Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
# A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
# Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon Finder for 15 minutes.
# If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon Finder queue.
# A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
# Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon Finder will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
# The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.
* Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
* Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.
* Looking For Raid
o There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing "/LFR."
+ Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
+ While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
+ Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader's name, the raid information (number of people in the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.
* The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon Finder interface.
* Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
* Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.
* Buffs and Debuffs: This is a new section added to Interface Options.
o New option - Castable Debuffs: Enabling this will cause only debuffs you have cast on an enemy target to appear.
o New option - Consolidate Buffs: Enabling this adds a buff consolidation box near the mini-map. Very short term buffs (e.g. Replenishment) and very long term buffs (e.g. Prayer of Fortitude) are filtered into the buff box. The icons are stacked here, but they can still be seen by moving the mouse cursor over the buff box. Long term buffs will move out of the box when they are about to expire. Buffs such as important procs (e.g. Art of War, Maelstrom Weapon), cooldowns (e.g. Bloodlust / Heroism, Combustion) or limited in range (e.g. totems and paladin auras) are always displayed.
* Tutorial System: The tutorial pop-ups are now larger, contain images, and better try to direct players to the relevant locations or user interface elements on the screen. In addition, several new tips have been added, while some existing tips will now appear at more appropriate times for new players.
* Dungeon & Raid Difficult Display: A group's dungeon or raid difficulty setting will now be displayed via an icon off of the mini-map.
* Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling Need or Greed on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted if an enchanter of the appropriate skill level is in the group. Disenchant works exactly like Greed except if a player wins the Greed roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose Need will always win the item and will always beat those that choose Greed or Disenchant.
* Lag Reports: Players can now report high latency or lag by accessing the Help Request menu. //Great…I am not sure if this is bad or good.
* Unit Nameplates
o The range at which players can see unit nameplates has been increased by 40 yards.
o Unit nameplates are now subject to line-of-sightlimitations in certain situations (this does not pertain to objects like Arena pillars or bridges).
o Players can now adjust select unit nameplate display settings listed below under Interface Options via the Names tab.
+ Friendly/enemy pet nameplates can be toggled.
+ Enemy totem nameplates can be toggled (friendly totem nameplates are never displayed).
+ Players can choose whether or not unit nameplates overlap.
o Unit nameplates for critters are never displayed.
* Non spell-based tracking now persists through logout.
* Any party member may mark targets (this does not apply to raid groups). //Most likely for the new LFG reasons.
* Players will be warned when their talents are reset due to a new patch.
* "/Settitle" command has been added.
* Players below level 10 may not join raids. //I understand why. People inviting new people to raid and they cannot quest. Still runs on Hogger at level 1.
* Ignore list expanded to 50 to match the friends list.
* Unit frames added for special encounters.
* Interface element added next to the mini-map to show what dungeon you are in (ex: 10- and 25-player Heroic dungeons marked with a skull).
* Experience earned for a quest will display in the Quest Rewards section.
* Confirmation box added when buying stable slots.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.
Graphics
* A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). If you are experiencing random crashes related to file read errors or out of memory, this new backend may help. To enable the new backend, add the following line to your Config.WTF file: SET gxApi "d3d9ex". For more information please visit our Test Realm forum. //I have been having memory errors. I sure hope this is what was causing it.
Professions
* Enchanting
o Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster's target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell.
o Enchant Weapon - Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.
* Fishing
o The all-new Kalu'ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck, has come to Northrend! Every Wednesday beginning at 8 PM players can try to catch the elusive Blacktip Shark. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him this shark. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for returning with the first catch. Those who aren't able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave. It is said that these sharks' favorite meal are the bite-sized Pygmy Suckerfish. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick.
Quests
* Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan'dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.
Achievements
* The Achievements to get exalted with the Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley factions have been removed from their respective "Master of" Meta-Achievements. Special titles will be offered to those who reach exalted with these factions.
* "The Party's Over" has been removed from Achievements and is no longer a part of the "Glory of the Hero" Meta-Achievement.
* "Master Angler of Stranglethorn" has been changed to "Master Angler of Azeroth" and can be achieved by winning either the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby or the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.
Reputation
* Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran. Each badge costs 1 Emblem of Triumph. //Nice for a new toon on a new server for Hodir rep.
* Gaining reputation with the Ashen Verdict in Icecrown Citadel will grant players access to upgradeable rings from Ormus the Penitent. Players can switch between the type of ring (melee/caster/tank/healer) at any point in the upgrade path for 200g. //New rings are good.
* The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:
o Argent Crusade
o Alliance Vanguard
o Horde Expedition
o Kirin Tor
o Knights of the Ebon Blade
o Sons of Hodir
o Wyrmrest Accord
* Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.
* Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased (they still require the appropriate faction level to purchase).
Items
* Glyphs
o Warlocks
+ Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.
+ Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock's haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.
* Haris Pilton now sells a new 24-slot bag! She has stubbornly decided to remain in Shattrath City, so those interested should seek her out there.
* Hatchlings: Leaping, Darting, Razormaw, and Ravasaur Hatchlings no longer drop from their associated rare creatures. Instead, there are now rare nests that spawn which contain these hatchlings. For example, the Leaping Hatchling can now be found in Takk's Nest rather than as a drop from Takk the Leaper. //Hmmm… well I hope this is targetable.
* Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.
Bug Fixes
* Items
//Bunch of stuffs.
* Racial Abilities
o Arcane Torrent: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. In addition, this ability will now be properly noted and displayed as an interrupt in the cast bar UI. //Does thei work on Less rabi achievement? I should check.
* Classes
o Druids
+ Glyph of Hurricane: Now modifies the spell tooltip on Hurricane to indicate the spell also applies a movement slowing effect.
+ Hurricane: When cast from Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form, this spell will now channel properly instead of stopping the channel as soon as the shapeshift is cancelled.
+ Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation. Tooltip error corrected.
+ Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.
+ Swipe (Bear): Tooltip corrected to display 8 yard range.
+ Rejuvenation: Druids will no longer get a more powerful spell error message when attempting to overwrite a Rejuvenation they cast.
o Hunters
+ Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects. //haha
+ Explosive Trap: The damage from this trap will now scale properly with the hunter's attack power.
+ Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. In addition, this glyph will now modify the tooltip of Immolation Trap correctly.
+ Glyph of Mending: This glyph will now modify the amount healed in the tooltip on Mend Pet.
+ Point of No Escape: It is no longer possible to gain benefit from this talent multiple times by having a target affected by multiple of the same hunter's traps. In addition, Freezing Arrow will no longer incorrectly provide a critical strike bonus to players beyond the hunter with this talent.
+ Roar of Sacrifice: Corrected tooltip error.
+ Silencing Shot: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
+ Volley: The tooltip for this ability will now update properly from haste.
o Warlocks
+ Conflagrate: This spell will no longer benefit inconsistently from the talents Emberstorm and Improved Immolate, as well as the Glyph of Immolate and Tier 9 set bonus. Just as for Immolate, all stacking percentage increases will be applied additively instead of multiplicatively (+10% and +20% make +30% instead of +32%). In addition, Conflagrate used with Shadowflame will now scale properly from spell power.
+ Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.
+ Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.
+ Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target.
+ Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly.
+ Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed.
+ Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat. //haha
+ Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.
+ Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
+ Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.
* Game Systems
o Target Effects: When this UI feature is activated, Fear, Silence, Frostbolt, and Hamstring will all now display text over the target's head indicating what type of effect has been applied.
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