Showing posts with label rogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rogue. Show all posts

Friday, December 2, 2011

Rogue Legendary Notes Part 1

Husband started the journey. Fangs of the Father is the rogue legendary weapon, which gives you the blades Golad, Twilight of Aspects and Tiriosh, Nightmare of Ages It will take him (aka us) some time to finish it. Here are some links and notes we found helpful.
  • Blizzard with video of animation LINK
  • Wowhead Item LINK
  • Wowhead Guide LINK
  • Flying to Wyrmrest Tower in Dragonblight will not get you the quest. I repeat the NPC will not have a quest for you in Northrend.
  • The quest starts with Lord Afrasastrasz in the raid. Make sure you are in the Dragon Soul raid instance to get the quest. 
  • You cannot pickpocket Hagara, the 4th boss, for the quest while doing LFG.
  • You can pickpocket Hagara after killing the second third boss in your own raid.
  • The ring will charge while you are LOGGED OFF. It is not 12 hours ingame.
  • While stealthing through Ravenholdt Manor make use of Sap.
  • Shadowstep is helpful when trying to get through the Manor.
  • Assassinate Creed quest can be a pain. Make sure you interrupt Blackhowl's Will. If you don't it sucks up all your energy. 
  • Get something to tell you when he is casting Blackhowl's Will. Power Auras would be really good. But I am sure there are other options. You can even make the target cast bar really big. ... Or you can do as Husband did... get the Hydra WoW Addon who stands over your shoulder to /YELL KICK 'EM!!!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Wrath Close: Husband - Rogue

Husband raided more than I did. He not only did 25s but 10 mans.

To my shock he helped run a pretty successful raid 10 man group. They had fun and were much more relaxed then others. His biggest understanding was that raid leading has a lot to do with loot, not just the boss fights. If there is anything he is good with is following rules.

He worked on the Insane title. He is about half way there. I am sure he will continue that journey through this expansion. 

Husband enjoys Combat. REALLY likes killing spree. With all the rogues in guild it was great that he could really keep up with the other rogues AND be in a "lesser" raid spec. This always goes back to... you will do better in raid if you are playing a spec you ENJOY!!

When we started doing ICC Hardmodes he went Assassination because he picked up the Lungbreaker. With none of the normally Assassin rogues in group... he got it. He respeced and liked it.

Now there was hours and hours of conversation of Hunger for Blood. Initially it was why he was Combat. (I'm a good wife, but not that good to listen and REMEMBER every change. I had to call him to find out what it was.) It had to do with dots dropping off. ... and every-time he said that... I would roll my eyes.  *points to self, Affliction Warlock* But it is changed and much better now.

The one thing I am upset at is he is ONE achievement away for both the drakes from Ulduar and ICC. All that raiding and I feel that neither is finished. I cannot even bring it up in our house because I get all ranty. THIS topic makes me grumpy.

He is really happy with the raiding he has done.  We got to see every boss go down. Even got to do all on hardmode. No they didn't all die in hardmode ... but he got to try them all.

I know he is going to be raiding a bit less in Cataclysm because of the baby. We should get some raiding in together. I think our reputation in guild will help a lot with this plan. Officers know we can do it. Both of us we hardmode players and learn our class to help our raids. That groundwork laid in Wrath will pay off in Cataclysm.

Again I didn't get his hours /played at 80 but this is what it is at 81.

Total time played: 226 days, 14 hours, 20 minutes, 25 seconds
Time played this level: 0 days, 2 hours, 44 minutes, 47 seconds

Raiding Gear:
Geistlord's Punishment Sack
Precious' Putrid Collar
Sanctified Shadowblade Pauldrons
Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak
Ikfirus' Sack of Wonder
Toskk's Maximized Wristguards
ldriana's Gloves of Secrecy
Astrylian's Sutured Cinch
Sanctified Shadowblade Legplates
Frostbitten Fur Boots
Runed Band of the Kirin Tor
Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance
Whispering Fanged Skull
Deathbringer's Will
Havoc's Call, Blade of Lordaeron Kings
Lungbreaker
Shrapnel Star

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.
Ranged Gun
29 - 56 Damage Speed 2.80
+2 Agility
+2 Stamina
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 2 (1.86% @ L12).
Don’t fret! Ashenvale received some new quests. Both factions can do the quest Dread Head Redemption. This gets you the Bow of Ire.
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.

Friday, September 10, 2010

ICC Bosses Rogue: Combat or Mutilate

Husband (The Rogue) and I were having lunch this weekend and we started chatting about his gear and specs.

He has enjoyed Combat for most of the Wrath expansion. Granted Mutilate was the highest DPS spec. Except Mutilate weapons were the weapons that were being drooled over by other rogues. He could pick up the best Combat weapons with less difficulty.

Design your rogue around the weapons you can get.

Then something happened… and the other three rogues vanished. SO … not only did he have some of the best Combat weapons in the game… but in two weeks he had a matched set of Lungbreaker (Heroic). (Since then I taunt the last occasionally raiding rogue with the fact that we have sharded the dagger 4 times.)

The Rogue now has two DPS sets of gear from ICC 25 for Combat and Mutilate. I thought it was interesting on how he uses them on each of the ICC Bosses.

(Yes. I pulled out a notepad and scratched down notes during lunch with Husband. That is normal right?)

Things my Rogue wanted me to point out:
• Heroic vs. Regular doesn’t make a real difference. It is the boss fight mechanics that determine the decision.
• Learn to Strafe.
• Control your debuffs.
• Utilize your random buffs.
Tricks, Cloak of Shadow, and Feint:
o Should be understood.
o If not, you are not using your rogue to the fullest.
o If not using them you should not be playing a rogue.


Icecrown Citadel
Lower Spire

Lord Marrowgar – Either spec – We make all but hunters stand in melee. Someone calls out “On HUNTER” and range is responsible for the Bone Spike. For Mutilate the spikes go down so fast the debuffs on the boss should not drop off.

Lady Deathwhisper – Combat – Add swapping.

Gunship Battle – Combat – Add swapping.

Deathbringer Saurfang – Mutilate – Kick butt. Sometimes (rarely) on one add on Heroic to assist but back on boss before debuff drops.

The Plagueworks

Festergut – Mutilate

Rotface – Mutilate

Professor Putricide – Combat
 
The Crimson Hall

Blood Prince Council (Valanar, Keleseth and Taldaram) – Combat

Blood-Queen Lana'thel – Mutilate

Frostwing Halls

Valithria Dreamwalker – Combat – Save Blade Flury and Killing Spree for Suppressors. On second Blazing Skeleton use Adrenallen Rush, because others typically use their cooldowns on the first one. Always kick Risen Archmage (Mages). (BTW. Warlocks should be using Curse of Tongue on Mages.)

Sindragosa – Depends on where you or the raid is having trouble. – It is harder on Mutilate. The Air Phase and Ice Blocks makes you have to restart your DPS build up. Use Combat if the trouble is in the last phase. Use the Combat ability Adrenalin Rush when Heroism/Bloodlust is up and on Ice Blocks, particularly if raid team is getting behind on Ice Blocks.

The Frozen Throne

The Lich King – Combat – Primarily for the burst DPS for the Val'kyrs in phase 2.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Evil Check: Averted Guild Drama

The guild did a 10 man raider shuffle. We had a three and a halfish 10 man teams going. With the transfer of a few players off server a few weeks ago things got rearranged.

Just because I am not involved doesn’t mean I will not make myself involved.

Husband is nice. Shocking as a rogue, but if you met him you will just know it. Any sarcasm he has is from spending 20 plus years in my presence. We don’t complete each other (I never understood that line and actually hate when people use it.) but we do balance each other.

Husband helps a Tree in guild co-raid-lead a 10-man group. For purposes of this blog I will call it Husband’s 10 man. He will correct me by saying he just helps… so we acknowledge that and are moving on.

Officers worked with Raid Leaders to rearrange groups. Balance classes and styles.

The toughest part in all of it was tanks. In a 25 man raid guild there are two primary tanks and then a short list of off tanks.

Two of the officers trying to “help groups out” were coming in to Husband’s group and tanking. This worked out great … except for one thing. They have their own 10 mans on their mains. In our raiding schedule they only had one night a week available to them. This left the other eight raiders with no tanks the other two nights.

Somewhere in here I started talking to officers.

Here is where I had to decide my involvement. My evil check was this...
1) I had a moment of KNOWing I could watch things blow up.
2) I could start some things so when people start getting heated they have actually have thought about it a bit.

With the second option... there is the benefit of maybe having my opinions in their head.

I was concerned about WTF is going on about the tanks. Husband’s group was told they were getting one of the 25 man main tanks into their group. But after three weeks … it had not happened.

Then … not only were the two main tanks in the guild leader's 10 man raid but also the two geared off tanks (as dps).

We see the problem with this correct?

BEFORE anyone flipped a lid… though it didn’t prevent some steam... I had already continued conversations with most all of the officers. Admittedly I didn’t talk to the guild leader. I respect the GL to much to think he had devious plans. I wanted to understand if this was a conscious decision by all officers or just a tanking spiral of potential guild drama.

I enjoy a good bit of drama… but not near me. I will not tolerate it. I also know the officers are not a fan either.

Most of my conversations went like this (not exactly but close enough)…
[Hydra] Hey. So who are the tanks in guild?
[Officer] That would be Uberpally and The Bear. There are some more…

[Hydra] You could include the Lolret going tank and the DK. They both have great off sets and know what they are doing.
[Officer] Yea. Them too. That is not a lot of tanks is it?
[Hydra] Nope.

[Officer] We need to work on that.

[Hydra] Agreed. Just out of curiosity whose 10 man are they running in? ‘Cause some of the ten mans are looking for tanks.

[Officer] ummm… they are all in the …same …group.


It was about this time that Husband and co-RL were starting to realize the current state and health of their 10 man.

Extended conversations happened. I was not privy to them all. Which I don’t need to be to know what was going on. I was focusing on Husband’s sudden grumpyness and cussing. (He apologized to co-RL for later *eye roll*).

These things take time to address. No one involved had intentions of making anyone angry or lie to them. It was just a situation.

In a night or two some conversations between officers and Husband and his co-RL happened.

I stuck myself into vent. Put myself in-game. I than stuck a “/AFK” comment in my vent comment …And listened in.

No one was deluding themselves that I was ACTUALLY /AFK. It became quite evident when I started whispering them.

Whispering Husband about points he told me that he was NOT telling the Officers. Whispering Officers that the offer of help they gave and Husband and the co-RL pushed off as no big deal was ACTUALLY a big deal to them but were to NICE to say so. Everyone pretended I was not there… which made me laugh.

Ultimately everything was worked out.

This is the thing I love about my current guild. They are adults. They act like they are adults. Adults can be wrong, but with communication and understanding it can be fixed. People can have fits, but it is how they react after them that makes them mature or not.

At no point would I feel I could call this guild drama. This was a growing pain that had to be addressed. Sometimes to do that it takes time and communication. Without either of those this could have been HUGE.

While /AFK listening in … I did have something reinforced by an officer to Husband and co-RL.

“You guys are lucky to have Hydra as an advocate. I would want her on my side too.”

Which got me a whispered “I love you.” from my husband.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Skelly Dragon FINALLY Died

We have been beating our heads against Sindragosa for MONTHS on 25s. We started bashing our heads on her before we were getting the ICC percentage buffs. It took us all the way to 15% percent yesterday to finally kill her.

First, it was healing. Next, it was tanking. Then, it was dps. Then, it was movement. Then, it was healers again. Then, with loss of a tank it was tanking again. Then, it was movement again. After that, it was not the right people showing up. Finally, She died.

I thought it would be interesting to show you my kill shot verses Husband’s kill shot.

Here I am. I am itty bitty on my screen on this fight. I like to scroll out so I can see the entirety of the room to LOS (line of sight) the frost bombs on the air phase. I do not have to swing my camera angle so much. Allowing me to concentrate on my debuffs more.
Ignore the fact that Husband died. He got Ice Tombed and then killed by it, something about running out of health in there. Healers got all frantic at the end and HOTs on those with Ice Tomb were starting to get sketchy. It is kinda cool to see that Haunt in Husbands screen and seeing in mine that my Addon, Scrolling Combat Text, was telling me I got a self heal of 4303 from Sindragosa.

Off to kill Arthas!

Please, please, pretty please with epics and frost lotus on top, will we please not take three more months for us to kill The Lich King.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Hit Calculator

Wow heroes has a simple little hit calculator. You can find it here.

We should all know how to calculate warlock hit rating.This confirms it and gives a quick check of raid buffs you should look out for to increase your hit rating.

My Rogue is constantly jabbering on about hit rating. As a melee class they have a hit cap for their specials and then for their white damage. When designing your gear you have to decide early what your goals are for hit.

It is very easy to use. I looked at the information on warlocks, hunters, and rogues so the data should be good for all classes. If your perception of hit is different from the tool check if you can back calculate what they are doing. Sometimes you can find things you are missing that way.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Turning Off Experience

Turning off twink experience was the first thing I did when I logged into Aurum.

From 3.2 patch notes:
Players who do not wish to gain experience through PvP can visit Behsten in Stormwind or Slahtz in Orgrimmar - both located near the Battlemasters in either city - and turn off all experience accumulation for the cost of 10 gold.
To turn off ALL your experience points for a character you need to visit you faction specific NPC. Here is where to find them.

AllianceGo to the Stormwind War Room as you enter you will find Behsten just to the right. He is a stealthed human rogue in the corner. Talk to him and let him know “I no longer wish to gain experience”. This will turn off your experience for 10 gold.

If you want to turn experience back on, you respond to him “I wish to start gaining experience again.” After that you will start getting experience again.

HordeGo to the Orgrimmar War Room turn left when you get into the building. He is a stealthed undead rogue. Talk to him and let him know “I no longer wish to gain experience”. This will turn off your experience for 10 gold.

If you want to turn experience back on, you respond to him “I wish to start gaining experience again.” After that you will start getting experience again.You will notice that both Behsten and Slahtz are geared as 19 rogue twinks. A guildy and I made quick work identifying their gear: Green Tinted Goggles, Sentry Cloak, Serpent's Shoulders, Gloves of the Fang, Blackened Defias Armor, Deviate Scale Belt, Blackend Defias leggings, Feet of the Lynx, Assassin's Blade, Cruel Barb, and both weapons are enchanted with Lifestealing.
It actually took me a while to identify the life stealing enchant. It had been so long ago that I tested it. As a guild we recommend against that enchant because the proc rate is so bad at 19. We have done a lot of testing in the 19s.

While standing there inspecting Behsten’s gear I was able to see some of his emotes.A guildie was all excited about the turned off experience. He was able to finally level his skinning and even farm for the Prefect Deviate scales while waiting on queues to pop. He can even do some questing for the fun of it.

Also, I want to say thank you to MissB. He has been instrumental in creating www.FarstridersElite.com and keeping all the hot headed PvPers going. I also want to give him a very belated congratulation to having over 50,000 honor kills on a 19 twink. I feel privileged to have been a part of a few thousand of those. MissB is now over 50% on his way to the “of the Alliance” title.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Patch 3.2 Hacked Up Notes

I don’t think I am the target audience for Blizzard. I watched the cinematic for Patch 3.2 Call of the Crusade. The cinematic looks great. Once it was done I realized it didn’t highlight anyone thing that I am looking forward to in this patch.

1) Twink only battles by turning off experience points.
2) Lifeblood doesn’t have GCD, again.
3) I get a purple Kitteh.

I rewatched it after reading the patch notes. Still nothing…

Here are the patch notes with only things I care about or thought funny. There is no reason for you to read these except in EXTREAM boredom. The full patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/.

Crusaders' Coliseum
//They added 6 new instances. Crusaders' Coliseum holds 5-man normal and heroic, 10-man normal and heroic, and 25-man normal and heroic.

Isle of Conquest
//a new BG was added. It is time to get your vehicle on 40 man style. The resources usage takes me back to Age of Mythology.

General
//Blah blah blah. There are other places to get this information, like the real patch notes.

* The Argent Tournament Expands
o All new Argent Crusader daily quests and rewards have been added for players with the Crusader title. Rewards include a new Argent Crusader banner and tabard (which can port players to the tournament grounds), a mounted squire (can periodically run bank, mail or vendor errands for the player), a paladin-exclusive Argent Crusader Charger mount and new heirloom items. //Hearth to tourney and I have been wanting a more useful slave child since I cannot put a leash on him.
* New Dungeon Loot Feature
o Players will now be able to trade soulbound items with other raid or group members that were eligible for the loot. This system will work like the Item Buy Back system and allow 2 hours for players to trade an item after it has been looted. Players who choose to enchant or add gems to the item will get one last confirmation before losing the ability to trade the item. // This is pure customer service win.
* New druid art for Cat Form and Bear Form has been added. There are now five unique color schemes for each form and faction. Changing hair color (night elves) or skin tone (tauren) via the barbershop will change the look of one's cat and bear forms. //PURPLE KITTEH NOW!!!! *lick*

PvP

* Arenas
o Beginning with season 7, players will no longer have access to the newest season's weapons or shoulder armor and will not qualify for the Gladiator title/rewards with ratings from the 2v2 bracket alone. Ratings obtained through 3v3 and 5v5 game play will be required for these rewards, while the rest of the newest season's items will remain available to players in all brackets (standard rating restrictions still apply). //I am going to be running Arenas this season. I was told there needs to be more warlocks in arena so I have been practicing. What have I learned? I was going to say “I’m a noob.” But I knew that already, mostly that Demonic Circle http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=48020 is your friend and Shadowfury http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=47847 is fun!
* Battlegrounds
o Battleground experience has arrived!
+ Players will now be awarded experience for completing objectives and actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds (honorable kills not included).
+ Players who do not wish to gain experience through PvP can visit Behsten in Stormwind or Slahtz in Orgrimmar - both located near the Battlemasters in either city - and turn off all experience accumulation for the cost of 10 gold. //TWINKS DO IT. This should be one of the first things you should do. I am going to do this with different toons to try it all out before Aurum sets foot into another BG.
+ Disabling experience gains will prevent a player from gaining experience through any means available in the game.
+ Players with experience gains turned off who compete in Battlegrounds will face off only against other players with experience gains turned off. //I like this a lot. I am still concern about the queue times. Time will tell us if it is bad or not.
+ Behsten and Slahtz can reinstate experience gains for players, for a 10 gold fee of course. Any experience that would've been accumulated if experience gains were enabled cannot be recovered. //The unrecoverable experience is a good thing. I had a flash of turning this off and months of exp popping up for the toon. *shiver*
o Battlemasters in major cities affiliated with specific Battlegrounds have been replaced with a Battlemaster for each faction that will allow players to queue for any Battleground. Battlemasters for specific Battlegrounds will still be seen around the cities during corresponding Battleground holiday weekends. //Less NPCs. I was just thinking though that the ones in Ironforge seemed to be having an intense meeting. Apparently they are done chatting it up.
o When standing at a capture point that you control, you will gain a buff called Honorable Defender. This buff grants +50% honor gained from kills. This currently affects Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm and Isle of Conquest.
o Arathi Basin
+ The time it requires to capture a base has been reduced to 8 seconds, down from 10 seconds.
+ The game now ends when one team reaches 1600 victory points, down from 2000.
o Eye of the Storm
+ The time it requires to capture the center flag has been reduced to 8 seconds, down from 10 seconds
+ The game now ends when one team reaches 1600 victory points, down from 2000.
o Strand of the Ancients
+ The faction starting on attack/defense will now be randomized at the start of each match.
o Warsong Gulch
+ There is a now a 20-minute timer on this Battleground. After that time, the team with the most flag captures wins. If this would result in a tie, the team that captured the first flag wins. If neither side has captured a flag, then the game ends in a tie.
* Wintergrasp //LOSERS! Take something that was so popular and f-uk it up. If these changes make it painful to do my fishing daily, I am putting in a help ticket. EVERY TIME.
o To provide players with a more transparent notification of when Wintergrasp battles occur, as well as better control zone population and stability, several changes have been made.
+ Players now have the option to queue for Wintergrasp from a Wintergrasp Battlemaster in any capital city or by simply entering the Wintergrasp zone.
+ Queuing will begin 15 minutes before each battle. If chosen, you will automatically be teleported to the zone. Any players in the zone who have not been chosen from the queue will be teleported out when the battle begins.
+ The queue system remains active for the entire battle. As soon as a player leaves, a new one will be chosen from the queue.
+ Trying to enter Wintergrasp during an active battle for which you have not been chosen will teleport you out. Please note that, as you are now able to fly over Wintergrasp, you will only be teleported out if you try to land and join the battle. //What about fishing f-ckers. This whole impeding my fishing is making me twitch.
+ Level 80 players get higher priority in the queue than lower level players. In addition, a random selection of queued players will be taken from both the Battlemasters and the zone itself.
+ The queue will accept up to 120 players from each faction, resulting in a maximum battle of 240 players at a time.
o Wintergrasp factories can no longer be damaged or destroyed.

Dungeons and Raids

* Dungeon and Raid ID Extensions //We will see how this goes. I think smaller guilds will benefit from this more.
* Emblem System Changes. //Yes. This is a good thing.
* The Nexus: The Oculus & The Eye of Eternity
o Drakes used by players in these instances will now scale in health and damage according to the rider's average item level. //YES. This may make up do our last achievements for heroic instances to get out drakes.
* Ulduar //Yogg-Saron changes. Which I would care about if we could poke at ‘em.
o Players can now use Blink, Shadowstep, and Demonic Teleport while participating in the illusion events in the Yogg-Saron encounter.

Items: General

* Agility: The amount of agility required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%.
* Dodge Rating: The amount of dodge rating required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%.
* Item Buy Back Feature Revised
o The Item Buy Back time will now expire if the player enchants or sockets an item. Players will see a confirmation dialog box now when they attempt to enchant or add gems to an item giving them a last chance to reconsider.
* Items with Triggered Effects: These items generally have cooldowns on how often they can be triggered. Those cooldowns are now triggered each time the item is equipped (example: A trinket has a 45-second cooldown on an effect triggered by player attacks; when a player equips that item, the effect will be unable to be triggered for the first 45 seconds it is worn).
* Mounts //I am sure you know riding skills changed. Go someplace else for details.
o Flying over Dalaran and Wintergrasp is now possible so long as players keep a healthy distance above the ground.
* Mana Regeneration: All items that provide "X mana per five seconds" have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%.
* Resilience: No longer reduces the amount of damage done by damage-over-time spells, but instead reduces the amount of all damage done by players by the same proportion. In addition, the amount of resilience needed to reduce critical strike chance, critical strike damage and overall damage has been increased by 15%.

Classes: General

* All pets now receive 40% of their master's resilience and 100% of their master's spell penetration. In addition, if a player is at their appropriate spell hit chance or hit chance maximum, their pet will be at the maximum for spell hit chance, hit chance, and expertise. If they are below the maximum, their pet will be proportionately below those maximums. //Pet buff! But I am sure you had as much pet control as I did that your pet survivability was high already, correct? O.o
* Replenishment: This buff now grants 1% of the target's maximum mana over 5 seconds instead of 0.25% per second. This applies to all 5 sources of Replenishment (Vampiric Touch, Judgements of the Wise, Hunting Party, Enduring Winter Frostbolts and Soul Leech). //Replenishment nerf. What was once 0.25% per second is now 0.20% per second. A 20% reduction.
* Silence, Strangulate, Silencing Shot, and Arcane Torrent: These abilities will also apply a 3-second Interrupt effect against non-player controlled targets, making them more versatile against creatures immune to silencing effects. //Thinking the Gundrak mammoth interrupt achievement.

Death Knights

//My DK has been QQ about this for weeks and weeks. It is now here. I am now bracing myself for more QQ. I still like him anyway.
* Due to significant talent changes, all death knight talents will be reset for players.

Druids //PURPLE KITTEH.

* Enrage: This Bear Form ability now generates 20 rage initially, and 10 rage over the next 10 seconds. The armor penalty is unchanged.
* Flight Form: Can now be learned at level 60. Flight speed increased to 150%.
* Flight Form and Swift Flight Form: Now benefit from a paladin's Crusader Aura.
* Innervate: Duration reduced to 10 seconds, and cooldown reduced to 3 minutes. This means each use of Innervate will give half as much mana as before, but it will be available twice as often.
* Mangle: Ranks 4 and 5 base points reduced by about 11%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.
* Rake: Ranks 6 and 7 base points on initial and periodic damage reduced by about 7%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.
* Rip: Ranks 8 and 9 base points and points per combo point reduced by about 6%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.
* Savage Defense: The animation for gaining this buff will no longer make the bear stand upright
* Shred: Ranks 8 and 9 base points reduced by about 10%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.
* Swift Flight Form: Druids who have acquired a mount able to go 310% flight speed will now also go that speed while in this form. //That is a very cool change. And unexpected. Not that I have one.
* Swipe (Cat): Percent of weapon damage done reduced from 260% to 250%.
* Travel Form: Can now be learned at level 16.
* Talents
o Balance
+ Balance of Power: Now reduces all spell damage taken by 3/6%, rather than reducing the chance to be hit by spells by 2/4%.
o Feral Combat
+ King of the Jungle: This talent now reduces the mana cost of Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form by 20/40/60%.
+ Primal Tenacity: This talent no longer reduces the mana cost of Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
o Restoration
+ Empowered Touch: Now also increases the amount of bonus healing effects for Nourish by 10/20%.
+ Improved Barkskin: No longer provides dispel resistance to all effects on the druid, but now reduces the chance your Barkskin is dispelled by an additional 35/70%.

Hunters

* Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16. //Yummy. Cheetah running hunters for Aurum’s blades.
* Traps now have separate 30-second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.

Mages

* Mirror Image: Images will no longer trigger the death sound when their time expires. //*sniffles* I will miss all the dead mages.

Paladins

//Lots of Pally stuffs. As we all know, each patch is like pallies getting a whole new class to play.

Priests

//Priests happen.

Rogues

* After much quiet contemplation, rogues now possess the ability to learn how to use one-handed axes. //They get new toys.
* Talents
o Combat
+ Sword Specialization: This talent is now called Hack and Slash and applies to axes as well as swords.
o Subtlety
+ Shadow Dance: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute. Now lasts 6 seconds, down from 10 seconds.

Shamans

* A customizable totem bar will now be available for shamans allowing the storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the ground at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of all 4 totems.
* Ghost Wolf: Can now be learned at level 16. While in this form, snaring effects may not bring the shaman below base normal run speed. //This is going to suck at 19. With Shammies, hunters, and druids getting speed increase it will complete change the different roles in the WSG game.

Warlocks

* Banish: Effect will now be cancelled if Banish is recast on a banished target. //Which is great… if you was not trying to re-banish. Even more reason for you to pay attention to when your banish breaks.
* Dreadsteed: Can now be learned at level 40.
* Felsteed: Can now be learned at level 20.
* Shadowflame: The angle of the cone effect on this ability was inadvertently very small, making it difficult to use. Its cone is now the same size as similar spells, such as Cone of Cold.
* Soulshatter cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes //This may give us time to use it twice. … but not likely.
* Talents
o Affliction
+ Pandemic: Now also increases the critical damage bonus of Haunt by 100%.
o Demonology
+ Fel Domination cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 15 minutes. //… this will be very nice in BGs.
o Destruction
+ Empowered Imp: The warlock's critical hit chance is increased to 100%, up from 20% for the next spell cast after the Imp critically hits a target.
+ Fire and Brimstone: Reduced to 2/4/6/8/10% increased damage from Incinerate and Chaos Bolt on targets afflicted with Immolate, down from 3/6/9/12/15%.

Warriors

//Warriors happen.

User Interface

* The quest log is now double-paned for more easily viewing quest information. The list of all quests a player has will show in one pane, while the quest details of any highlighted quest will display in the next. //One less addon. It replaces my use of Doublewide.
* Character name auto-completion for the chat frame, pop-ups, and mail interface is now active
* Character names can now be colorized according to class in the chat frame. This feature can be enabled through the chat settings by right-clicking on a chat window.
* Casting bars under the target frame, focus frame and nameplates will now display as shielded if the cast cannot be interrupted.
* Druids will now be able to see their mana bars when shape-shifted.
* Item Comparisons: Holding the shift key while hovering over an item will now display the stat differences with the item currently equipped in the relevant slot. //Nice! A simple ratingsbuster.
* Item Level: A new option has been added under Display in the Interface Options to show the item level on item tooltips.
* Macros and scripts will no longer be able to target totems by name. //PvP will now be … well shimmies were OP before.. now just well … *grumbles*
* New Feature Icons: Options recently added to any of the options menus will now display a yellow exclamation point next to them to indicate that they are new features.
* Vendor prices will now be listed on items whether or not players are at a vendor.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Graphics

* The frame rate for those with Shadow Effects enabled under the Ultra Video settings has been improved.

World Environment

* Wolvar and Gorloc orphans have arrived in Dalaran and need your help! Players can find out more by visiting the Eventide District (completing the quests being offered for this event will not count toward any Children's Week achievements). Players have a limited amount of time to care for these orphans before they take their leave. They will then return again for the regularly-scheduled Children's Week next year. //Wait … I know I killed those Wolvar pups already.
* Portal areas in all major cities now offer a portal to the Blasted Lands near the Dark Portal. //I WANT A PORTAL FROM SHATT TO NORTHREND.
* Once crossing through the Dark Portal, players can access a flight path directly from the Stair of Destiny to Shattrath.
* A new zeppelin docking ramp has been added to Thunder Bluff allowing Horde players easier transport to and from Orgrimmar.
* The local Postal Service has grown tired of walking so far each day to collect mail and has decided to install a large number of new mailboxes in Stormwind, Undercity, Darnassus and Orgrimmar.
* Mathiel in Darnassus has finally earned himself enough money from your repair bills that he was able to buy himself an anvil.

Quests

* The ravasaur trainer Mor'vek has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.

Achievements

* A Brew-FAST Mount: A new Feat of Strength achievement for acquiring any epic Brewfest mount.
* Have Keg, Will Travel: Now requires either a Brewfest mount or using Brewfest Hops to transform yours into one.

Professions //When reading these you should allway think of what mats you have or collect will now be worth.

* Alchemy
o All stackable potions now stack to 20. //More bag space.
o Added a new pattern for Flask of the North, usable by players with a high alchemy skill. The recipe is purchased from Northrend trainers. Flask of the North increases your spell power, attack power or strength for 1 hour and is usable in Arenas. It is not consumed when used. //They took their potions but added a flask for arenas.
o Endless Healing Potion and Endless Mana Potion no longer usable in arenas. Amount of health and mana has been increased, and the cooldown reduced.
o Five new epic gem transmute recipes are available from the Northrend trainer. The recipe for transmuting a Cardinal Ruby can be learned from a quest, given by Linzy Blackbolt in Dalaran.
o The Mixology benefits from Northrend elixirs and flasks have been increased.
o Rage potions can now be used by druids.
* Cooking
o Blackened Dragonfin Recipe: Now only requires 1 Dragonfin Angelfish.
o Chef's Hat is now superior quality and allows the chef to cook faster. //I may actually buy it now. =)
o Increased the drop rate for recipes from the Outland Daily Cooking quests.
o Increased the chance to get a bonus Dalaran Cooking Token from the Spice Bag.
o The recipe for Captain Rumsey's Lager can now be randomly found in the quest reward Crate, Barrel, or Spice Bag from the cooking dailies.
* Enchanting
o Values on Northrend ring enchants increased.
* Engineering
//A whole lot of changes.
* Fishing
o Players with 300 or higher cooking have a chance to find a Waterlogged Recipe in the Bag of Fishing Treasures awarded by the Northrend fishing dailies. This item can be traded to other players and rewards several Dalaran Cooking Rewards when turned in. //Ummm. Gold gain somewhere in there?
* Herbalism
o Increased healing from Lifeblood (Rank 6).
o Lifeblood now scales slightly with maximum health. No longer affected by global cooldown. //YES!! *dance* the removal of the GCD will make this re-uber. Since they stealth nerfed it and now undid it.
* Inscription
//little change.
* Jewelcrafting
o Dragon's Eye gems stat bonuses increased. In addition, these gems are no longer prismatic and must be matched to the appropriate colored socket to activate an item's socket bonus.
o New recipes have been added for cutting epic gems and can be purchased using Dalaran Jewelcrafter's tokens.
o Icy Prism now has a chance of yielding an epic gem.
o Raw epic gems can be obtained via the following means:
+ Prospecting Titanium Ore //I have a full guild bank tab. I need to find a JC to prospect it all for me. =)
+ Alchemy transmutations
+ Purchased with honor
+ Purchased with Emblems of Heroism
* Leatherworking
//little change.
* Mining
o Toughness (Rank 6) provides more stamina.
o In addition to the normal requirements, mining deposits in Northrend now require a minimum character level of 65 to mine.
* Skinning
o Master of Anatomy (Rank 6) provides more critical strike rating.
* Tailoring
o Embroideries improved. //We shall see.

Items

* Feral Druid PvP Gloves (seasons 3 and 4): Maim bonus changed from the Interrupt bonus used in The Burning Crusade Arena seasons to the cost reduction used in Wrath of the Lich King Arena seasons.
* Glyphs
o Warlocks
+ Glyph of Lifetap: Duration of the buff from this glyph increased to 40 seconds.
* Idol of the Corruptor: The agility buff from this idol is now exclusive with the agility buff from Idol of Terror.
* Non-Combat Pets: 8 new pets have been added (not including Argent Tournament rewards). Raptor Hatchlings can be found on rare and elite raptors throughout the game world. In addition, an Obsidian Raptor Hatchling can be purchased from Breanni in Dalaran. //Wailing Cavers shall now become our friend. This is also a item for ZG and ZA farming.
* Tome of Cold Weather Flight: New heirloom item. Requires level 68.
* Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings: //They are buffing Legendaries. More of this IMO.

Bug Fixes

//stuffs fixed.
* Warlocks
o Demonic Circle: The visual for this spell should now despawn when the warlock dies or when the warlock otherwise loses the aura that allows transport to the circle.
o Immolate and Unstable Affliction: All ranks of these two spells will now overwrite each other.
o Improved Imp: Each time an Imp is summoned it will recast Blood Pact (if autocast is on), forcing it to benefit from this talent, even if the Imp was not summoned at the time the talent was learned.
o Improved Shadow Bolt: Redesigned slightly. Instead of a 100% chance to apply a 1/2/3/4/5% critical strike increase on the target, it now has a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to apply a 5% critical strike increase.
* Warriors
* Items
o Commendation of Bravery: No longer useable when player is already at the maximum honor allowed.
o Glyphs
+ Glyph of Shadowflame: The effect from this glyph will now work properly when multiple Warlocks use Shadowflame on the target.
o Heavy Netherweave Net: Using this item no longer causes the user to break shapeshifts. //I need to use these more.
o Trinkets: Various trinkets which did not work properly with channeled area-of-effect spells will now work with those spells. This includes (but is not limited to) Illustration of the Dragon Soul, Darkmoon Card: Greatness, and Egg of Mortal Essence.
o Wintergrasp Commendation: No longer useable when player is already at the maximum honor allowed.
* Professions
o Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment can now be triggered by some spells it did not previously work with, including Curse of Agony, Blizzard, and Typhoon.
//I am done and can be pulled off this summers feeding of patch notes. Hope everyone is having a good summer.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Patch 3.1.0

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

DING! Aurum Turns 20

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

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

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

DEADMINES!!!

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

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

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

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Farming Zul’Gurub

Three level 80s are farming the three bosses for the book and mounts. Zul’Gurub resets every three days. We make pretty quick work of it.

Zul’Gurub goals:
1. Tome of Polymorph: Turtle
2. Swift Razzashi Raptor
3. Swift Zulian Tiger

The turtle book sells for a lot of gold on my realm. I think the last on I saw up in the auction house was 1600 gold. Beyond that I am sick and tired of My Mages QQ (I know right?) about the dang thing.

Then the possibility of two different bosses having a potential to drop mounts. I saw the orange kitty and fell in love with the possibility. But heck if I am there why not try for the raptor too.

I truly believe as a warlock I can one man these bosses. But since I don’t see a direct gold benefit, except for the off chance the turtle book drops, I choose farm with friends and not to re-talent. Gahz'ranka and Bloodlord Mandokir are relatively easy to two man (Rogue and Warlock). High Priest Thekal was a challenge with two but easy with three.

Turtle Book

This nice BoE item drops off Gahz'ranka. There is less then a 15% chance for the book to drop.

To be able to summon this boss:
1. You have to pick up the quest by getting Nat’s Measuring Tape in ZG
2. Deliver it to Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh.
3. Once at Nat Pagle, don’t forget to buy a Mudskunk Lure or two. They are not soulbound so you can hold a few on a storage toon if you don’t want to track over there to get another for a while.
4. Once back at ZG, fish five of the Zulian Mudskunk. Find Fish ability makes this really easy. The fish is also not soulbound again something you can pre farm if you wish, but take all of a minute and half to fish out.
5. Right clicking on the Lure with the five Mudskunk in your bags summons Gahz’ranka. This also gets you the achievement Deadliest Catch.

I am quite sure as a demonology warlock I could easily farm him myself. Felguard tank him and I kill him. Thinking about it maybe I will try the infernal.

Gahz hits for a bout 2K and has a knock back. The knock back deals damage and you also take fall damage. So fighting in the water is recommended. I suggest under the pretty waterfall.

For efficiency sake it is best to have two people to kill Gahz. Rogue and Warlock worked quite well. Rogue evasion tanked and I dotted. He vanished I kited. Then the boss died.

Our first trip there rewarded us with the Turtle Book. Which we wrapped up and I sent to one of the mages in guild. He has 10 level 80s in guild and is a character himself. I like him, even though not only is his main a mage… he has two… level 80 mages.

Swift Razzashi Raptor

The raptor mount drops off Bloodlord Mandokir. There is less then a 1% chance for his raptor to drop.

This can absolutely be 2-maned. We sometimes kill a few mobs around the base of the temple he patrols. If you have a real concern about the fears kill a few of the packs. You can PvP trinket out of the fears and I am sure the human racial. Honestly this is about time saving farming so unless we randomly aggro a pack we leave them alone.

Kill the Troll first and then kill his mount. Mandokir does whirlwind and AoE fear. If one person dies a ghost approaches and resurrects you. Nothing fancy needed at 80 it is a tank and spank.

Swift Zulian Tiger

The orange tiger mount drops off High Priest Thekal. Again there is less then a 1% chance for the tiger to drop.

Here you need to kill all the little tigers and trolls before the boss. They will come in and help the boss in the fight. The ax throwers have a nasty silence and stun. Focus on killing them first.

The trick to this fight is that the High Priest and friends, Zealot Zath (rogue like abilities) and Zealot Lor'Khan (shaman like abilities), have to die at the same time or they will resurrect each other. And have to be killed all over again.

A warrior, rogue, and lock had no problems killing the three of them at the same time. Twice actually. *cringe*

After the three die Thekal comes back as a weretiger. Kill him and loot.

Good luck!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My Add-ons

“It would be nice if you'd make a post about what add-ons you are using. Could you do that?” –Jakob

WIT (Warlock-in-Training) Jakob asked this as a very nice comment. WIT Jakob is now called a WIT because he made me giggle. No worries Jakob we are all WITs.

Normally I would ignore and not answer. But decided that I could call WIT Jakob a WIT and that would make me laugh more. Plus he was not the first to ask. With add-ons post 3.0 out a while things have stabilized in the add-on area.

I use wowmatrix.com program to update all my add-ons. Some people do not like it, but I update two computers. During a big patch day this has saved me from taking things and throwing them out a window. It is up to your own research on if you like it to use it or not.

Before I use any add-on I go to the actually developer site or if not found to the download site. I scan issues, bugs, and last few update notes. This gives me an idea if it will be around for a while, currently being updated, if things are just getting refined, etc.

Presenting my very long list…

Interface:

XPerl – I love it. Having my toon, target, target of target shown below my character is something I have gotten very use too.
Chatter – An easy to use and modify chat window. Two things it does for me is the ability to copy text and change height and width easily.
RicoMiniMap – Gives me a square, can modify position, and I can change the size of the minimap.

Class Specific:

Necrosis (warlock only)– Gives me my most used warlock abilities a click or two away. I use it to make SS, stones, or summon my minions including other raid/party members. *grin*
Nudge (hunter) – Shows when my hunters are in range of target.
RuneWatch (death knight only) – To help me figure out how to play my Death Knight.

Tools During Battles:

Omen – Tank aggro here I come!
Proximo – Used in Arenas I am not as good as other players so this helps me keep track of who I am up against.
Recount – Damage meter to see my …well… damage.
Deadly Boss Mod – Yes. We know and love it for the dungeon and raids. I like it for battlegrounds also.
DotTimer – This is finally back to being as customizable as I liked it. I am constantly changing it a bit here and there. This is where my eyes are at in a fight.

Additional Info:

Fubar (+plugins) – I am not all that excited about. I used titan panel pre-wrath. I had it showing the gold I had on the current character and the drop down showed total. Currently I am looking at total gold, but I want only gold on the current toon shown. But over all not so bad.
Atlas & AtlasLoot – Atlas give me ingame dungeon maps…since I still get lost in Gnomeregon and Wailing Caverns.
Auctioneer Advanced –If Auctioneer suddenly no longer existed… I would seriously have to consider if I was going to continue to play WoW or not.
EasyMail – Empties my mail box with one click.
Enchantrix – It is part of the full Auctioneer suite. This tells me what things may disenchant into.
DoubleWide – Makes my quest pane into two larger easier to read areas.
TomTom – This shows me my coordinates when I am out and about. Used with LightHeaded and put a big arrow in the direction I should be going. I love this add-on.
LiveStock – Mount and non-combat pet randomizer. Really easy to use and highly recommend it.
RatingBuster – In game gear calculator, I use it as a guide for gear comparison. Only you can determine with your other gear if it is an actual upgrade.
Outfitter – Lots of fun for my toons. I wait till they are max level or gear has stabilized.
LightHeaded – wowhead.com in game. Partnered with TomTom (clickable blue coordinates) I can get less lost in questing.
TourGuide – I use this to level alts. Partnered with LightHeaded and TomTom the three make leveling easy.
LoggerHead – Turns on and off my combat log. Unfortunately I have it turned on somewhere over Theramore Isle and when I fly over it always turn on. I have yet been able to figure out how to fix that. Otherwise it does exactly what I need it to do.

...and I am still looking at some other add-ons.