July 11, 2009

Excited about the new WoW 5-man?

Yes, that's me, the handsome draenei shaman up there with the irresistible moustache. Despite the bugs with the encounters on the Patch 3.2 PTR, my party had a fun time in the Trial of the Crusader, the new 5-man normal and Heroic dungeon in the Crusader's Coliseum.

We were a bit surprised to discover that each boss in the Normal version of the instance drops one or more very well-itemized item level 200 epics (heroics/Naxx 10-level gear) and the Heroic version drops item level 213 epics (Naxx 25-level gear, non-Sapph/KT), as shown in our loot gallery. And this is on top of the healthy number of Conquest badges and Champion's Seals you get for running it!

If things stay the way they are, this instance will be the absolute best place to gear out your fresh-to-80 alts, a godsend for those who need shards, and an amazing source of Conquest badges and Champion's Seals for those desiring specific rewards.

With this information in mind, are you looking forward to the Trial of the Champion? Were you already? Does the new information about drops help sway you? After seeing pictures and video of my shaman in action, Is your only point of contention not being able to run the instance with me personally? I'm sorry, ladies, there's only so much of me to go around here.

WoW Farming Relics Of Ulduar

The Sons Of Hodir the place for the best shoulder enchants and some pretty cool Ice Mammoth mounts, you can complete the daily or quests or hand in relics of Ulduar. Relic's are similar to the
BC rep items for the Aldor or Scryers.
Once you have complete the starting quest chain from K3 and become neutral with The Sons Of Hodir you can turn these relics into Lillehoff the quartermaster (66,61). A lot of 10 will give you 250 rep (275 for human), they stack in 200's. There are always lots of people farming these and selling them on AH for a good profit.


I've been testing various location in the Storm Peaks, looking for areas with best drop rate, fastest re-spawn time and quiet little spots. The figures give are relics per hour and the gold you would make by vendoring/auctioning the other drops at lowest price.

1. Snowdrift Plains ( 32,48)
Relics 48
Gold 163

In Between the various Iron Dwarf settlements here a nice strip of plain white snow, littered with Stromriders and some jonmungar. There are quests around here people running through but generally avoiding these mobs, by the time you run from the start (34,47) to the end of the snow (28,40) the mobs will have re-spawned at the start.

2. Frostfield Lake (70,60)
Relics 68
Gold 107

Next to Dun Nifflem a frozen lake, the only mob here is Brittle Revenants. There is a daily quest for Sons OF Hodir here but they re-spawn very fast, there were other player here the whole time I was killing these and I never ran out of mobs to kill, got agro whilst eating/drinking move off the lake and into the snow for full feeding.

3. Terrace Of The Makers (36,40)
Relics 59
Gold 92

The only thing up here is library guardians, I did not see anything useful drop from these just grey vendor items. There are a lot of mobs here and the quests here involve getting information out of the data cells and blowing up the stone chunks, other people here are more interested in that than killing the mobs.

4.Narvins Cradle (31,48)
Relics 73
Gold 165

There 3 parts to running here, there is an outer ring on the snow, a stepped down ring and the various levels going up around the Colosus.
I started by killing the outer ring, killing all of the inner ring and going up 2 levels Waiting for downstairs to re-spawn. You don't want to spend too much time up on the platforms as there is a lot of walking/flying between each mob, the bottom bit is more concentrated and lots can be pulled without moving.

Fjorn's Anvil Seams to be the most populated farming area, I went there and tried to kill the Seathing Revenant's but there was too much competition another 6 players all after the same mobs. I will return when its quieter, and bring some more relic farming spots.

Important WoW Raiding Addons

The main aim at level 80 is to clear the end game content. There are many addons out there that will assist you in doing this and will make it easier to assess your own performance and the performance of others.

Deadly Boss Mods
Having an addon like this is key to making sure you don't fail. Deadly Boss Mods gives you important information during boss fights like when the next phase begins or when adds are spawning or when the boss is going to use a special ability. The advantage of having this is that you can prepare for the next step like on Anub you could get to the centre ring a bit quicker or on Sapphiron you could move away from the boss earlier to make it easier to get behind an ice block. It also records how long your fights have taken and you can compare how your group has done with previous weeks. On top of all this it isn't very memory consuming.

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info8814-DeadlyBossMods.htm

Omen
Omen is a lightweight threat meter. Having a threat meter is important because as a tank you need to make sure that you are putting out enough threat to be ahead of everyone else and as a DPS you need to make sure that you are below a tank. There are other threat meters but I personally use Omen and it is very customisable and never had a problem with it so far.

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info8459-OmenThreatMeter.html

Recount
Recount is an addon to track statistics, such as DPS and TPS, it also can track how much healing has been done and many other statistics. It is good to compare yourself to other players and you can report your results in party, guild, whisper etc. In a pug you can see who is straggling behind and you can use it to compare how much damage you do in different gear against a dummy.

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/recount.aspx

Simple Marker
This is only really for tanks or raid leaders to use. It makes it much faster to mark targets so there should be less mistakes with dps pulling aggro off a target with low threat.

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info12131-SimpleMarker.html

FailBot
This one is also only recommended for tanks or raid leaders. It doesn't really do much in terms of help but it reports in raid channel if anyway has done a 'fail' some of these include, the slimes after Patchwerk, the Thaddius jump and messing up the charges on Thaddius. It allows you to see who is slacking and it may embarass them and may want them to rectify their mistakes.

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11819-FailBot.html

Grid
Grid allows you to see the whole raid in nice neat format very nice for healers as they can click a member on the grid and heal them that way. Very customisable and will save space rather than party frames. Also shows debuffs etc.

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info5747-Grid.html

These addons are not required by any means and it may be more challenging without them. Also there are other addons which do basically the same job, but I like these ones.

Important WoW Raiding Addons

The main aim at level 80 is to clear the end game content. There are many addons out there that will assist you in doing this and will make it easier to assess your own performance and the performance of others.

Deadly Boss Mods
Having an addon like this is key to making sure you don't fail. Deadly Boss Mods gives you important information during boss fights like when the next phase begins or when adds are spawning or when the boss is going to use a special ability. The advantage of having this is that you can prepare for the next step like on Anub you could get to the centre ring a bit quicker or on Sapphiron you could move away from the boss earlier to make it easier to get behind an ice block. It also records how long your fights have taken and you can compare how your group has done with previous weeks. On top of all this it isn't very memory consuming.

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info8814-DeadlyBossMods.htm

WoW Pre-Naxx Hunter Gear List

Unless you have a nice guild chances are you will have to gear up before you can being raiding with them. There are a lot of items out there that a hunter can use, but choosing the best can at times be difficult. In this guide I will advise you to pick up some gear which will help you get raid spots.

Head

King Dred's Helm This is a great piece of gear and there is only two better from Naxx 10. It drops from King Dred in Drak'Tharon Keep Heroic.

Plunderer's Helmet This drops from Invagar the Plunderer in Utgarde Keep Heroic. This is a good head because it is the only one pre-raid that has a meta slot. (Excluding PvP)

Shoulder

Massive Pauldrons of the JormungarDrops from Gortek Palehoof in Utgarde Pinnacle Heroic.

Spauldrons of the Black Arrow These require revered with Knight's of the Ebon Blade and also require you to have unlocked the Shadow Vault.

Chest

Aviary Guardsman's Hauberk This is a zone drop from Drak'Tharon Keep Heroic, luckily it is BOE and you can normally pick it up from the auction house relatively cheap.

Hauberk of Arcane Wrath This drops from Anomalus in Nexus Heroic

Hands

Handgrips of the Savage Emissary These drop from Cyanigosa in Violet Hold Heroic

Grips of the Beast God These drop from Gal'Darah in Gundrak Heroic.

Wrists

Eaglebane Bracers These are made by Leatherworkers and require 40 Icy Dragonscales. They are incredibly cheap for how good they are. These are arguably better than most of the Naxx drops too.

Giantmaim Bracers These are also made by Leatherworkers but are more expensive than the Eaglebane ones. This may be better if you are hitcapped.

Waist

Sovereign's Belt This drops from King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle Heroic.

Belt of Tassled Lanterns This is a zone drop from Gundrak Heroic. It is BOE so check the auction house for it.

Legs

Giantmaim Legguards These are made by Leatherworkers and may set you back a couple of hundred gold.

Leggings of the Stone Halls These drop from Sjonnir The Ironshaper in Halls of Stone Heroic.

Feet

Dragon Slayer's Sabatons These drop from Keristrasza in Nexus Heroic

Boots of Twinkling Stars These require exalted with Kirin Tor and so aren't too desirable.

Neck

Titanium Impact Choker This is made by Jewelcrafters and is quite expensive.

Pendant of the Outcast Hero This costs 25 Emblems of Heroism.

Rings

The Prospector's Prize Drops from Krystallus in Heroic Stones of Hall. This is only good if you are under the hit cap.

Titanium Impact Band Like the necklace, made by Jewelcrafters and is fairly expensive.

Ring of Scarlet Shadows Made by Jewelcrafters.

Mobius Band Drops from Chrono Lord Epoch in Heroic Culling of Stratholme.

Trinkets

Darkmoon Card: Greatness As the name suggests this is a great trinket, comes from handing in the nobles deck to the Darmoon Faire, however it costs a couple of thousand gold. The 90 intellect version is good too.

Incisor Fragment Drops from King Dred in Heroic Drak'Tharon Keep.

Sphere of Red Dragon's Blood Drops from Keristrasza in Nexus Heroic.

Mirror of Truth A great trinket, costs 40 emblems of heroism. 10% proc and so the more crit you have the more often it will proc. The buff lasts for 10 seconds and has a 30 second internal cooldown.

I hope that this helps you gear up for raids!

WoW Storm Peaks Gold Farming

Near Grom'arsh Crash Site there is an area called Valkyrion in this area you will find Valkyrion Aspirant's and Nascent Val'kyr's. This is an area that isn't that popular so there aren't many players around but they drop some nice things that you can make money from such as;

The Valkyrion Aspirant's drop Frostweave Cloth & Relics of Ulduar both at a 70% drop rate. Both sell very well on the AH.

The Nascent Val'kyr's drop Dissolved Soul Essence at a 100% drop rate and a stack of 20 sells for 13g.
They also drop a trinket called Tears of Bitter Anguish

Tears of Bitter Anguish
Binds when equipped
Unique
Trinket
Requires Level 80
Equip: Improves haste rating by 73 (2.2% at 80).
Equip: Chance on melee and ranged critical strike to increase your haste rating by 410 for 10 secs.
"They shimmer with sadness and woe."

It is a very nice trinket and can either be used or sold for anywhere between $2,000g - $12,000g but it has a drop rate of 0.4% so it is extremly rare but it is fantastic if it drops.

Both the Valkyrion Aspirant's and the Nascent Val'kyr's drop grey vendor trash items that can sell for up to 2g+ and they can drop green items which can either be disenchanted by enchanters or sold at the AH.

Depending on how many Aspirant's and Val'kyr's you kill, with the cloth, relics of ulduar and dissolved soul essence as well as anything else that drops for you, it is possible to make atleast 300g+ an hour.

WoW PTR 3.2 Focused Testing: Wintergrasp

Wintergrasp has gotten considerable changes in the PTR 3.2. Blizzard wishes players to focus most of their efforts in testing these Wintergrasp changes and to report any bugs, or suggest ideas through the bug report system, or on the PTR forums.

Blizzard Quote:
We have implemented several new changes to the Wintergrasp outdoor PVP area, and would like to request some focused testing and feedback. Games will be running at normal intervals on the PTR.

As a reminder, here are the changes to Wintergrasp listed in the patch notes:

Wintergrasp

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.
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 100 players from each faction, resulting in a maximum battle of 200 players at a time.


WoW Wintergrasp factories can no longer be damaged or destroyed.

What do you think of the WoW downtime in China

For the citizens of China, Azeroth is silent. During the transition from The9 to NetEase, the servers have been taken offline leaving millions of people with nothing to do. There are other MMOs, plenty in fact. Some from the west and loads with that distinctly eastern vibe. Yet I'm sure WoW has the vast majority of the Chinese MMO player base suffering major withdrawal and pining for Azeroth. Of course, many will have transferred to Taiwanese servers where Wrath is already live, up to date and there is no downtime but the vast majority will be left waiting.

The most contact we have with Chinese players is usually through whispers asking if you want to buy gold, gnome corpses in Ironforge linking to websites, phishing scams and bots. I admit, I've noticed a marked decrease on my own server and the corpses have moved to Stormwind instead. Gold farmers aren't exactly the most positive form of contact and most Chinese players seem to be branded gold farmers regardless (guilty until proven innocent) and treated with disdain. So readers, how have you found the last couple of weeks in Azeroth? What do you think of the forced downtime? How do you think this will effect Chinese players (and I mean players, not farmers or bots)? Do you play on a Chinese realm? Have you migrated and rerolled or are you playing the waiting game?

July 10, 2009

SWAPS loot system offers another WoW DKP option

I'm finding myself really fascinated with loot systems lately -- the old DKP is pretty good, but

even that has drama, and it seems like there's a lot of interesting ideas going around about how

to evenly and fairly distribute loot amongst a group of people. OutDPS has a writeup about a loot

system called SWAPS. Instead of sending "points" off into the void, you actually "give" your spent

points to everyone else in the raid. You start out with 1,000 free points (though those are

distributed over time, to prevent new players from having tons of points early on) and then when

an item comes up, everyone bids on it: the highest bid gets the item and the points they bid are

spread around to the rest of the raiders. In other words, if someone in a 10-man raid bids 500

points and wins an item, those 500 points are distributed evenly amongst the other nine raiders.

While the winner loses the 500 points they spent, everyone else gets a bonus 56 points. The person

winning the item "pays" for the privilege of taking it by beefing up everyone else's point totals.

It is probably not a perfect system (there's no way to reward points for anything other than loot

dropping, for one thing, and while some people have modified the rules to create a separate

bidding pool for class items, the basic system doesn't cover class or offspec items), but it does

solve a lot of the questions of fairness, and it keeps everything pretty above-board: if you are

low on points, the only reason would be that either you just started raiding, or that you've just

spent a lot of points on an item. There's an addon, of course, and it will give you all sorts of

reports and updates on where all of your raiders are at in the system. If you've been poking

around for a DKP system that is based on being open and fair, it might be worth trying out in your

guild.

WOW Class Patch 3.2 Q&A: Paladin

Once again, it's time for a Class Q&A with Ghostcrawler! Today Paladins get their chance to shine

(previously: Shaman, Mage, Death Knight, Warlock).

As with the other Q&As, this one starts with a bit on what the idea is behind paladins, with a

glance at their history and at their present.

In the beginning: paladins were a "defensive buffing class...buffs were pretty much the entire

reason you'd want to group with a paladin." End-game classic WoW: paladins were healers only. BC:

paladins could tank, but were still mostly OTs. Wrath: "finally embraced all three specs."

Paladins still have several unique facets: bubbles, strong dispels, plate armor as a healer, and

the Seal and Judgment system.

Itemization: so far in Wrath, MP5 wasn't particularly valuable, and they claim it wasn't inteded

to be. They still think MP5 is undervalued right now, though, hence the buffs coming to it in

patch 3.2. They also think Int/Crit based mana regen is a bit out of control, and furthermore than

in patch 3.2, some Holy pallies might look into taking Haste.

At this point they drop a hint that is interesting for all caster classes: they're considering

collapsing MP5 and Spirit into one stat. This is for the farther future, though.

Paladins can expect to see "other interesting healing spells" later on, but not in 3.2, and don't

expect "something that looks like Prayer of Healing or Wild Growth." Flash of Light should be more

valuable now with the Sacred Shield changes, and the Beacon changes should make paladins "an

exceptional dual target healer" (is that a valuable role?).

Ret PvE DPS is too low right now; they're buffing it with the new Seal of Vengeance/Corruption.

SoV is aimed towards boss fights, since it works best once the pally gets five stacks up; Seal of

Command is for short PvP or PvE fights.

The change to Exorcism (adding a cast time) means Rets have to pay a bit more attention to their

rotation - you want to use Exorcism with Art of War procs, most of the time. To compensate for the

nerf to Prot that his change brings, they also buffed Hand of Reckoning.

On the topic of Avenging Wrath and possible dispel immunity ("possible but not probable"), they

mention again that they want to redo the entire dispelling system. One method they suggest is to

give defensive magic dispelling to all healers, but prevent offensive dispelling entirely, or at

least for most buffs.

They would like to add a "stand-alone interrupt" to pallies, although they need to get Ret burst

down a bit still first before giving them more tools. As far as escape and gap-closer abilities,

Judgment of Justice is meant to be pallies' gap-closer.

Finally, they would like to make Librams visible on the Paladin models, but this might take a

while. The same goes for Shaman totems and Hunter quivers (but I thought they were getting rid of

quivers).

Is it just me, or is this Q&A even fluffier and more content-free than the ones we've gotten so

far? I guess they just don't have a lot of Paladin news to talk about that we haven't already seen

in the patch 3.2 notes.

The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Patch 3.2 gets weird

Another week, another series of patch notes to leave me scratching my head and saying "Seriously?

This is what we're doing, nerfing the crap out of agility for tanking? Did dodge rating steal

somebody's lunch money as a kid? And Shield Block, I trusted you." It's strange to feel betrayed

by a core tanking ability. I get why they're nerfing it, since they're increasing the amount of

Block value on gear that has to double it's current values, I've already heard Prot warriors and

paladins contemplating putting together BV sets for PvP and this change will keep warriors from

using SB to get hideous crits in PvP with Shield Slam. At least I think that's the reasoning: I

can't believe that anyone was actually worried about Prot Warriors' DPS while tanking in PvE

content being too high after the change for 10 seconds out of every 40. Even if Protection

Warriors put on every single piece of Block value gear imaginable, that 10 seconds of double

damage with Shield Slam would still leave them at the absolute bottom of the tanking basement in

terms of damage dealt while tanking.

The agility change is a near non-issue for almost all Warrior tanks: maybe you had Agility as your

cape enchant or a few AGI gems, but for the most part Warriors don't stack Agility as tanks.

However, since Dodge is at the moment probably the best stat a warrior can stack, the Dodge rating

changes will sting quite a bit. (I am aware they're more like a hammer to the back of the head for

Druids, but even so.)

Let us look at the specific changes (both Warrior and general) that stood out to me from the most

recent patch notes. First we'll look at the changes from the general items section.

Agility: The amount of agility required per percentage of Dodge has been increased by 15%. This

change required recalibrating the amount of Dodge a player has with 0 Agility by a slight amount

as well, so all players will see their Dodge percentage vary a small amount. Block Value: The

amount of bonus Block value on all items has been doubled. This does not affect the base Block

value on shields or Block value derived from Strength. On-Use Block Value Items: All items and set

bonuses that trigger temporary increases to Block value have been modified. Instead of increasing

their Block value amount by 100% like other items, they have all had their effect durations

doubled. This applies to Glyph of Deflection, Gnomeregan Autoblocker, Coren's Lucky Coin,

Lavanthor's Talisman, Libram of Obstruction, Tome of the Lightbringer, Libram of the Sacred

Shield, the tier-8 paladin Shield of Righteousness bonus, the tier-5 paladin Holy Shield bonus,

and the tier-5 warrior Shield Block bonus. Dodge Rating: The amount of Dodge rating required per

percentage of Dodge has been increased by 15%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with

other changes, this makes Dodge rating and Parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns

apply. Parry Rating: The amount of Parry rating required per percentage of Parry has been reduced

by 8%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes Dodge rating

and Parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply. Parry still diminishes more

quickly than Dodge. The Block value changes we were already familiar with, of course. I do get

that they want Parry and Dodge to be roughly equivalent in terms of their effectiveness to tanks

and they have to take gear inflation into account, but man, I was not expecting it. Perhaps this

just shows how out of touch with tanking I actually am. I do find it interesting that Block rating

alone escaped being reduced but with them buffing Block value it would be kind of surreal to nerf

the least desirable tanking stat. Perhaps it's Block rating's unique status as half a tanking

variable (neither Dodge nor Parry have a rating to determine whether or not they happen and then a

value to determine how effective they are as Block does) that spared it the chopping block, or

perhaps the changes are meant to bring both Dodge and Parry in line with Block's effectiveness or

lack thereof.

Since both Dodges and Parries effectively negate a melee attack (you take no damage on a

successful Parry or Dodge) while Blocks only reduce an incoming attack's damage by the Block value

of the tank in question (this can reduce an attack to zero, making high Block rating/Block value

sets shockingly good against trash pulls and shockingly bad against mobs that hit for more than,

say, 4 to 5k damage with an attack) maybe reducing both Dodge and Parry in this way is the only

way to equalize them with Block. I guess nerfing every other tanking stat is one way to make Block

more comparatively attractive.

Now let's look at the specific changes to warriors.


Warriors

Bloodrage: This ability now generates 20 rage initially, and 10 rage over the next 10 seconds. The

health cost is unchanged. Execute: This ability now never costs more than a total of 30 rage. The

tooltip for Sudden Death has been revised to remove reference to that maximum, since the ability

now behaves that way even when untalented. Shield Block: Shield Slam no longer benefits from the

increased block value granted by this ability. However, while Shield Block is active, Shield Slam

generates 100% additional threat Talents
Fury Armored to the Teeth: This talent now provides 1/2/3 attack power per 108 armor, up from per

180 armor. Bloodsurge: Notification that Slam has become instant now appears in floating combat

text. Protection
Devastate: Weapon damage increased to 60% and bonus per Sunder Armor on the target increased by

20%. Shield Specialization: Now provides 5 rage on a block, dodge or parry instead of 2 rage on a

block. Well, the Bloodrage change is good and long overdue. With full talents, we're looking at 40

Rage from the ability, good for both DPS and tanking. The Execute change angers me, although it's

a non issue for Arms (for the most part) one of the things I liked about execute was being able to

wait a couple of seconds to build rage while a boss ticked down to 20%, then hit Recklessness and

the crit for an obscene amount three times in a row. Is it really going to change the way I, or

most DPS warriors, play? Not really. It's better DPS to spread your executes out into your normal

rotation than it is to just spam the ability and if you're an Arms warrior this is exactly how

Sudden Death works anyway, so the only time you'd even notice a change is when the boss enters

what is currently called 'Execute range' and in the future will be called "Great, I have to weave

another instant attack into my rotation" range. (I kid, it's not like you could spam Execute

before.)

The Shield Block change irritates me. Just leave the damage on it! It's not going to make Prot

Warriors the kings of DPS among the tanks! Adding a static threat modifier to compensate for the

damage loss just irks me. Yes, you read right, it irks me! It's necessary to compensate warrior

tanks for the threat they'll be losing, but there's no good reason outside of some theoretical

case of stacking every possible block value item and going to Wintergrasp with it where the damage

from SB/Shield Slam was going to be that great anyway. So what if a prot warrior occasionally

shield slams for 10k (I'm deliberately overstating this) in a battleground, when the rest of the

time he's plinking along for 2 to 3k? I just find the idea of lowering prot warrior DPS while

tanking, or at all really to be absurd. Is it just against the rules of the game for warriors to

hurt things now?

The Devastate and Shield Spec changes are both good. More damage, more rage, good for tanking.

Anything that allows a prot warrior tank to put out more damage while tanking I can get behind.

I hopped on test and did a heroic Nexus run last night to test the Bloodsurge change and it was

spotty: despite having combat text turned on, I didn't get many Bloodsurge notifications at all.

It didn't actually hurt my DPS that much, but I'd like to see this change go live working properly

since at present I have to use power auras to inform me of a bloodsurge proc. Armored to the Teeth

we already knew about, and it's a solid 200 or so AP for me, but I'm in all plate at this point

anyway.

All in all, the changes go from confusing to maddening to somewhat positive to somewhat negative,

it's a roller coaster but not one of those really fancy ones at the good theme parks, more of an

older one built really close to a flume where you get splashed a lot. Honestly, I still feel hurt

by what Shield Block has done, and that's ridiculous, I know Shield Block isn't a sapient being

that can actually betray me and yet how could you do this to me, Shield Block? Next week, I get

some tissues and eat some brownie ice cream while holding a picture of the Shield Block icon

during a montage of all the times I pushed the Shield Block button set to the music of Zamfir,

master of the pan flute. (Yes, okay, the Shield Block change is not that big a deal, just go with

it.)

Trial of the Crusader testing off to a rough start

For those of you hoping to get in on some PTR testing this evening, you'll be happy to know that

you're not alone in your "Trials of the Instance Not Available" raid. Lord Jaraxxus was supposed

to be available for the US this evening, which is the 10/25 man raid boss.

Daelo has posted that Blizzard has had some technical issues with the testing tonight, and that

things are being delayed until they get fixed.

WoW.com has a group assembled and will be going in when the darn things works, and hopefully we'll

have some good guides for you in the next couple of days.

Check back for updates on this all. Fingers crossed, we'll bring you good news.

Update: Daelo (Me say Dae-ooo) has canceled the testing for tonight. Check back for later for an

updated schedule.

WoW Raiding spec for Hunter pets

This past week has been an interesting one for Hunters and their pets. If you were like me,

finding out that Hunters could tame Garwal's Worgen form, reminded you of why being a Hunter is

truly awesome. Of course it would last and Zyrhym showed up and had to burst our bubble by

delivering the bad news that Blizzard was removing them from the game. Well, it was fun while it

lasted.

What was nice about this glitch was the passionate responses seen on the Official Forums and

Hunter community at large. It really highlighted how much we Hunters love our pets. Many of us see

them more as companions than just some other weapon in our Hunter bag of tricks.

One way Blizzard has helped foster this idea is by letting us have three different categories

(Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning) and literally hundreds of different pets to go out and tame. But

to me the best part is being able to not only tame my pet of choice, but having the ability to

train him. Doing this makes Hunters and their pets a combination as epic as Nutella and Pancakes.

When you set out to tame your pet, make sure and match your need with the correct category. For

pure DPS you have Ferocity. Need a tanking or good solo pet? Get a Tenacity one. And if you are in

a PvP situation and want to make sure someone has your back no matter what? You could try a

Cunning pet. With dual specs and Call Stabled Pet you can now match up your spec with the right

pet and further enhance your status as the Supreme Hunter! Let's take a moment and talk about

Ferocity Pets and raiding specs, alright?

Raiding Pets

As I mentioned earlier, the Ferocity pet is a Hunter's raiding companion. Just like the Hunter in

a raid, their only job is to help you down bosses faster. There is a down side to all this raw

aggression. Ferocity Pets aren't known for their survivability. This is one reason you have heard

Hunters over on the Official Forums complain about pet survivability and the Blizzard development

team responded with the recent resilience changes.

There are several options out there for the hunter to choose to take along for a raid. However, if

you are really looking to make sure and bring your spec's "A" game to raid you really only have

two. For the Beast Master your best pet DPS choice is the Devilsaur. Yes, I know. It's really just

an overgrown raptor. You're right, because of its size, no one in their right mind would let you

take it in a raid with them. However, even with these issues, the Devilsaur is still the best

raiding pet for the Beast Master Hunter.

Now if you're Marksman or Survival, and or if your raid refuses to let you bring T-Rex along with

you, then your new best friend will be a Wolf. Wolves have earned their preferred raiding spot

with everyone because of their Furious Howl. Furious Howl will increase the melee but more

importantly the ranged Attack Power by a whopping 320. There is no way anyone can just sneeze at

that.

Pet Talent Distribution

You need to be aware of a few things when deciding to spec your new best friend. If you are a

Marksmanship or Survival Hunter you will have only 16 pet talent points to spend. You get 20 pet

talent points if you are Beast Mastery. Let's look at where you will spend those points.

You'll first want to put two points into Cobra Reflexes. I know it does less damage, but the sheer

number of additional attacks more than makes up for it.

Next you will want to put one point into Dash. This will help you send in your pet or call him

back quickly aiding in pet management. Now that you have spent your required 3 points into the

first tier, you can move on to the second.

Time to put 2 points into Bloodthirsty for Beast Mastery Hunters and 1 point for Marks/Survival.

It might not seem all that useful, but remember, every moment you spend casting a Mend Pet means

less DPS. Having Bloodthirsty will hopefully help and reduce the need to cast it as much.

Add to that 3 points into Spiked Collar and you now just gave Fido an additional 9% damage on all

of his attacks.
The tier three talents might look a bit lackluster, but think of putting 3 points into Avoidance

for the 75% reduction in damage from Area of Effect attacks as added insurance for pet

survivability.

Your next choice is going to be three points into Spider Bite for a 9% increase in your pet's

chance to land a critical strike.

You are going to spend two pet talents on the fifth tier. You need to put one point into Rabid.

This will gives your pet a chance to increase its Attack Power by 5% over the next 20 seconds.

What is even better about this talent is it stacks up to 5 times. Now can you see why we added

Dash? Think of it as the pet's version of haste now giving you the possibility of increasing your

pet's Attack Power by 20-25%. (Yes, I know the odds are against me that it would happen, but I can

dream can't I?)

Now skip right over Lick Your Wounds and put a point into Call of the Wild. Right now Call of the

Wild will increase your pet's Attack Power by 10%, lasting for 20 seconds.

On the final tier things change up a bit depending whether you are a Marks or Survival Hunter or

Beast Mastery. The reason is due to Beast Mastery Hunters having Beast Mastery. Speccing into the

51st talent will cause you thave have four pet talent points remaining. On the other hand, if you

are Marksmanship or Survival, you only have one pet talents remaining.

As a Marksmanship or Survival Hunter you want to put your final talent into Wild Hunt. Here your

pet will get a contribution from your Stamina by 20% and Attack Power by 10%. (Note: As of right

now MMO Champion reports that in Patch 3.2 we might even see that change to "Increases the

contribution your pet gets from your Stamina by 20% and Attack Power by 15%.")

If you are a Beast Mastery Hunter you will want to put two talents into Wild Hunt increasing your

contribution to Stamina by 40% and Attack Power by 20%.

Your final two talents should be placed into Shark Attack. Shark Attack is an instant 6% Attack

Power boost. Nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure.

Recap

Now you have tamed your Wolf or Devilsaur and used up all of your pet talents making your pet one

seriously mean dips machine. And to help make sure you have created either the 16 point talent

spec or the 20 point spec I have included images of both below.

This past week has been an interesting one for Hunters and their pets. If you were like me,

finding out that Hunters could tame Garwal's Worgen form, reminded you of why being a Hunter is

truly awesome. Of course it would last and Zyrhym showed up and had to burst our bubble by

delivering the bad news that Blizzard was removing them from the game. Well, it was fun while it

lasted.

What was nice about this glitch was the passionate responses seen on the Official Forums and

Hunter community at large. It really highlighted how much we Hunters love our pets. Many of us see

them more as companions than just some other weapon in our Hunter bag of tricks.

One way Blizzard has helped foster this idea is by letting us have three different categories

(Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning) and literally hundreds of different pets to go out and tame. But

to me the best part is being able to not only tame my pet of choice, but having the ability to

train him. Doing this makes Hunters and their pets a combination as epic as Nutella and Pancakes.

When you set out to tame your pet, make sure and match your need with the correct category. For

pure DPS you have Ferocity. Need a tanking or good solo pet? Get a Tenacity one. And if you are in

a PvP situation and want to make sure someone has your back no matter what? You could try a

Cunning pet. With dual specs and Call Stabled Pet you can now match up your spec with the right

pet and further enhance your status as the Supreme Hunter! Let's take a moment and talk about

Ferocity Pets and raiding specs, alright?

Raiding Pets

As I mentioned earlier, the Ferocity pet is a Hunter's raiding companion. Just like the Hunter in

a raid, their only job is to help you down bosses faster. There is a down side to all this raw

aggression. Ferocity Pets aren't known for their survivability. This is one reason you have heard

Hunters over on the Official Forums complain about pet survivability and the Blizzard development

team responded with the recent resilience changes.

There are several options out there for the hunter to choose to take along for a raid. However, if

you are really looking to make sure and bring your spec's "A" game to raid you really only have

two. For the Beast Master your best pet DPS choice is the Devilsaur. Yes, I know. It's really just

an overgrown raptor. You're right, because of its size, no one in their right mind would let you

take it in a raid with them. However, even with these issues, the Devilsaur is still the best

raiding pet for the Beast Master Hunter.

Now if you're Marksman or Survival, and or if your raid refuses to let you bring T-Rex along with

you, then your new best friend will be a Wolf. Wolves have earned their preferred raiding spot

with everyone because of their Furious Howl. Furious Howl will increase the melee but more

importantly the ranged Attack Power by a whopping 320. There is no way anyone can just sneeze at

that.

Pet Talent Distribution

You need to be aware of a few things when deciding to spec your new best friend. If you are a

Marksmanship or Survival Hunter you will have only 16 pet talent points to spend. You get 20 pet

talent points if you are Beast Mastery. Let's look at where you will spend those points.

You'll first want to put two points into Cobra Reflexes. I know it does less damage, but the sheer

number of additional attacks more than makes up for it.

Next you will want to put one point into Dash. This will help you send in your pet or call him

back quickly aiding in pet management. Now that you have spent your required 3 points into the

first tier, you can move on to the second.

Time to put 2 points into Bloodthirsty for Beast Mastery Hunters and 1 point for Marks/Survival.

It might not seem all that useful, but remember, every moment you spend casting a Mend Pet means

less DPS. Having Bloodthirsty will hopefully help and reduce the need to cast it as much.

Add to that 3 points into Spiked Collar and you now just gave Fido an additional 9% damage on all

of his attacks.
The tier three talents might look a bit lackluster, but think of putting 3 points into Avoidance

for the 75% reduction in damage from Area of Effect attacks as added insurance for pet

survivability.

Your next choice is going to be three points into Spider Bite for a 9% increase in your pet's

chance to land a critical strike.

You are going to spend two pet talents on the fifth tier. You need to put one point into Rabid.

This will gives your pet a chance to increase its Attack Power by 5% over the next 20 seconds.

What is even better about this talent is it stacks up to 5 times. Now can you see why we added

Dash? Think of it as the pet's version of haste now giving you the possibility of increasing your

pet's Attack Power by 20-25%. (Yes, I know the odds are against me that it would happen, but I can

dream can't I?)

Now skip right over Lick Your Wounds and put a point into Call of the Wild. Right now Call of the

Wild will increase your pet's Attack Power by 10%, lasting for 20 seconds.

On the final tier things change up a bit depending whether you are a Marks or Survival Hunter or

Beast Mastery. The reason is due to Beast Mastery Hunters having Beast Mastery. Speccing into the

51st talent will cause you thave have four pet talent points remaining. On the other hand, if you

are Marksmanship or Survival, you only have one pet talents remaining.

As a Marksmanship or Survival Hunter you want to put your final talent into Wild Hunt. Here your

pet will get a contribution from your Stamina by 20% and Attack Power by 10%. (Note: As of right

now MMO Champion reports that in Patch 3.2 we might even see that change to "Increases the

contribution your pet gets from your Stamina by 20% and Attack Power by 15%.")

If you are a Beast Mastery Hunter you will want to put two talents into Wild Hunt increasing your

contribution to Stamina by 40% and Attack Power by 20%.

Your final two talents should be placed into Shark Attack. Shark Attack is an instant 6% Attack

Power boost. Nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure.

Recap

Now you have tamed your Wolf or Devilsaur and used up all of your pet talents making your pet one

seriously mean dips machine. And to help make sure you have created either the 16 point talent

spec or the 20 point spec I have included images of both below.

This past week has been an interesting one for Hunters and their pets. If you were like me,

finding out that Hunters could tame Garwal's Worgen form, reminded you of why being a Hunter is

truly awesome. Of course it would last and Zyrhym showed up and had to burst our bubble by

delivering the bad news that Blizzard was removing them from the game. Well, it was fun while it

lasted.

What was nice about this glitch was the passionate responses seen on the Official Forums and

Hunter community at large. It really highlighted how much we Hunters love our pets. Many of us see

them more as companions than just some other weapon in our Hunter bag of tricks.

One way Blizzard has helped foster this idea is by letting us have three different categories

(Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning) and literally hundreds of different pets to go out and tame. But

to me the best part is being able to not only tame my pet of choice, but having the ability to

train him. Doing this makes Hunters and their pets a combination as epic as Nutella and Pancakes.

When you set out to tame your pet, make sure and match your need with the correct category. For

pure DPS you have Ferocity. Need a tanking or good solo pet? Get a Tenacity one. And if you are in

a PvP situation and want to make sure someone has your back no matter what? You could try a

Cunning pet. With dual specs and Call Stabled Pet you can now match up your spec with the right

pet and further enhance your status as the Supreme Hunter! Let's take a moment and talk about

Ferocity Pets and raiding specs, alright?

Raiding Pets

As I mentioned earlier, the Ferocity pet is a Hunter's raiding companion. Just like the Hunter in

a raid, their only job is to help you down bosses faster. There is a down side to all this raw

aggression. Ferocity Pets aren't known for their survivability. This is one reason you have heard

Hunters over on the Official Forums complain about pet survivability and the Blizzard development

team responded with the recent resilience changes.

There are several options out there for the hunter to choose to take along for a raid. However, if

you are really looking to make sure and bring your spec's "A" game to raid you really only have

two. For the Beast Master your best pet DPS choice is the Devilsaur. Yes, I know. It's really just

an overgrown raptor. You're right, because of its size, no one in their right mind would let you

take it in a raid with them. However, even with these issues, the Devilsaur is still the best

raiding pet for the Beast Master Hunter.

Now if you're Marksman or Survival, and or if your raid refuses to let you bring T-Rex along with

you, then your new best friend will be a Wolf. Wolves have earned their preferred raiding spot

with everyone because of their Furious Howl. Furious Howl will increase the melee but more

importantly the ranged Attack Power by a whopping 320. There is no way anyone can just sneeze at

that.

Pet Talent Distribution

You need to be aware of a few things when deciding to spec your new best friend. If you are a

Marksmanship or Survival Hunter you will have only 16 pet talent points to spend. You get 20 pet

talent points if you are Beast Mastery. Let's look at where you will spend those points.

You'll first want to put two points into Cobra Reflexes. I know it does less damage, but the sheer

number of additional attacks more than makes up for it.

Next you will want to put one point into Dash. This will help you send in your pet or call him

back quickly aiding in pet management. Now that you have spent your required 3 points into the

first tier, you can move on to the second.

Time to put 2 points into Bloodthirsty for Beast Mastery Hunters and 1 point for Marks/Survival.

It might not seem all that useful, but remember, every moment you spend casting a Mend Pet means

less DPS. Having Bloodthirsty will hopefully help and reduce the need to cast it as much.

Add to that 3 points into Spiked Collar and you now just gave Fido an additional 9% damage on all

of his attacks.
The tier three talents might look a bit lackluster, but think of putting 3 points into Avoidance

for the 75% reduction in damage from Area of Effect attacks as added insurance for pet

survivability.

Your next choice is going to be three points into Spider Bite for a 9% increase in your pet's

chance to land a critical strike.

You are going to spend two pet talents on the fifth tier. You need to put one point into Rabid.

This will gives your pet a chance to increase its Attack Power by 5% over the next 20 seconds.

What is even better about this talent is it stacks up to 5 times. Now can you see why we added

Dash? Think of it as the pet's version of haste now giving you the possibility of increasing your

pet's Attack Power by 20-25%. (Yes, I know the odds are against me that it would happen, but I can

dream can't I?)

Now skip right over Lick Your Wounds and put a point into Call of the Wild. Right now Call of the

Wild will increase your pet's Attack Power by 10%, lasting for 20 seconds.

On the final tier things change up a bit depending whether you are a Marks or Survival Hunter or

Beast Mastery. The reason is due to Beast Mastery Hunters having Beast Mastery. Speccing into the

51st talent will cause you thave have four pet talent points remaining. On the other hand, if you

are Marksmanship or Survival, you only have one pet talents remaining.

As a Marksmanship or Survival Hunter you want to put your final talent into Wild Hunt. Here your

pet will get a contribution from your Stamina by 20% and Attack Power by 10%. (Note: As of right

now MMO Champion reports that in Patch 3.2 we might even see that change to "Increases the

contribution your pet gets from your Stamina by 20% and Attack Power by 15%.")

If you are a Beast Mastery Hunter you will want to put two talents into Wild Hunt increasing your

contribution to Stamina by 40% and Attack Power by 20%.

Your final two talents should be placed into Shark Attack. Shark Attack is an instant 6% Attack

Power boost. Nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure.

Recap

Now you have tamed your Wolf or Devilsaur and used up all of your pet talents making your pet one

seriously mean dips machine. And to help make sure you have created either the 16 point talent

spec or the 20 point spec I have included images of both below.

That wraps up this issue of Scattered Shots. Does your raiding spec look like this? Do you have

any recommendations or changes for the readers? If so, I know I would love to hear them and am

sure our readers would also.

July 9, 2009

WoW Testing of Crusader's Coliseum starts tomorrow

I was just bemoaning that we haven't gotten a chance to see patch 3.2's new raid content yet. It
looks like that chance will come sooner than I expected: Testing of Crusader's Coliseum tomorrow
night!
Daelo has just posted a testing schedule for Trial of the Crusader (a.k.a. Crusader's Coliseum).
North American realms: Lord Jaraxxus, Thursday, July 9, starting at 7 PM EDT European realms:
Eydis Darkbane and Fjola Lightbane, Thursday, July 9, starting at 19:00 CEST Both of these fights
will be available in normal mode (10 or 25) only, not heroic. The new 5-man, Trial of the
Champion, will be open "later in the PTR cycle." Testing of Crusader's Coliseum!
He also notes that Koralon, the new Vault boss, will be up, and you'll be able to access it if
your side has Wintergrasp. Tanking and DPS Patchwerks will make a return. Unlike the patch 3.1 PTR
tanking Patchwerk, this one just hits really hard ("as hard as Algalon"), all the time (instead of
ramping his damage up over time).
Oh, and one more thing: there is, apparently, no trash at all in this raid. Woot?

WoW Edition released as a standalone download

There's Peggle the original PC game, Peggle the XBLA game, Peggle the iPhone game, Peggle: Steam
edition, and Peggle the WoW addon, and so when I heard rumblings of "Peggle: WoW edition," I just
figured people were talking about one of the many, many already-released versions of PopCap's
popular Plinko-inspired pasttime. But no -- the folks at PopCap have released another version of
Peggle: Peggle World of Warcraft edition is a standalone, free (PC-only) download that allows you
to play a WoW-related version completely outside of World of Warcraft.
All that make sense? It sounds like PopCap realized that there was a call for a brand new version
of Peggle (including new stages, WoW-related backgrounds, and even a secret easter egg between
Arthas and Bjorn the unicorn) that was different enough to stand as its own PC game, so they
worked their coding magic and put it all together into a downloadable standalone. And much to the
lament of Mac gamers everywhere, it's PC-only.
But then again, it's free, it's Peggle, and so if you haven't gotten your Peggle fix through any
of the aforementioned channels yet, here's the hit you've been waiting for. If you do the math
(and chart the number of Peggle versions over time), we're pretty sure that, soon, all games will
be Peggle. And strangely enough, we're kind of OK with that. Peggle is really fun.

TurpsterVision: Northrend Children's Week

First up a bit of housekeeping; thanks to all of you who took part in last week's contest -- over 500 of you! A winner has been chosen via the highly technical method of a /random in-game roll. Sorry to the others of you who didn't win this time, but who knows, maybe in the future we'll have another giveaway on TurpsterVision!

This week we take a trip on the PTR and experience the new Northrend Children's Week, doing the impossible and completing both sides of the event to show you what is on offer. Lesley Smith posted about the event before and we even put up a handy gallery if you would like to take a closer look at some of the quest text.

The quest I talked about in Sholazar Basin is Reclamation part of a chain started by the Avatar of Freya. We've since discovered that the Oracle's quest to go through the Waygate does not require this quest and in fact opens the Waygate for later use – but you should all totally do this quest if you haven't already, it's too much fun!

On the live realms we will only be able to complete this quest for one of the children each year and in my mind there is no question which orphan I will choose...

I can has aged yolk?

Before I get back to the PTR I'll have to show you something that made me smile while questing and confirmed Roo as the greatest orphan ever to set foot in WoW!

July 8, 2009

Patch 3.2 PTR: Priest changes in build 10072

A new build for patch 3.2 hit the PTR recently, and all of the related Shadow Priest changes are things that the recent Q&A hinted toward or straight out told us to expect. Let's not waste any time here and dig right into the changes.

Vampiric Touch now deals more damage when dispelled. (Max rank deals 1360 damage, previously 680) Definitely not a surprise here. I've been saying for a long time that this component of the spell needed a significant buff, Ghostcrawler agreed, and doubling its base damage can probably be considered that. We'll still need to see it in action to determine if it's enough. If it's not enough, at least it's closer, and that's something.

Devouring Plague cooldown removed, can now only be applied to one target at a time. This is a change I long expected, and despite Ghostcrawler initially seeming iffy on it in the Shadow Priest Q&A, the simple fact that it was mentioned made me more hopeful that it would happen. And it is happening! So I'm pretty happy about that. There isn't much more to say. It'll make playing a Shadow Priest much less frustrating when it comes to encounters where you're swapping targets a lot. Yogg-Saron, I'm looking at you.
Dispersion's cooldown has been lowered to 2 minutes. This is a good change for the arena, and probably PvP in general. For all of our grievances with it, it does do its job in the arena. Buying you time while your partner heals or peels, stopping an assist train dead. It doesn't do anything for our grievances with it in PvE, though, which is unfortunate.

Improved Mind Blast now has a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to reduce healing done to the target by 20% for 10 seconds when used in Shadowform. Eh. Eh. It's a buff, a pretty useful one, but I'm pretty... unexcited about it. I mean, really? Another MS effect? And they gave one to Frost Mages in this build, too. The same one Shadow Priests get, but built into Permafrost. Whatever happened to, 'If we give everyone MS, we might as well put a healing debuff aura on everyone when they enter the arena.' We're getting pretty close to saying screw it and putting up that aura, aren't we?

Is Mortal Strike the mechanic they default to when they notice a class has PvP problems? Mortal Strike, Aimed Shot, Wound Poison, then they tried it out on Flametongue (which didn't make it live), and now they're spreading the debuff to Shadow Priests and Frost Mages? Of course, they're probably not spreading the debuff around because people need MS as a class, but rather because arena teams need the debuff. They're enforcing the "bring the player" mantra that I've grown so tired of hearing* on PvP now, rather than just PvE. Still, 'throw MS at it until we have another idea' is pretty old at this point. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm complaining about an undeniable buff and something likely needed for arena balance. I shouldn't be, but come on now. Whatever happened to creativity?

*I don't hate the design philosophy, it's a good one that I appreciate. I hate the phrase being used ad nauseum for whatever agenda someone is pushing at that particular moment.

Hunter gear for the level 80 beginning raider

Have you just reached level 80?

Hoping to see endgame before Patch 3.2?

Are you wanting to raid, but not sure what gear to get?

Well then, this guide is for you!

It might be true that you can go straight from questing and leveling straight into raiding Naxxramas. Maybe even get carried on a few 10man Ulduar Normal mode runs (if this happens I'm sure you will probably be a part of the next Guildwatch post.)

When you make the transition into endgame you really can't expect to crush the damage meters. Don't feel all insulted and indignant, it really isn't your fault. When your questing and leveling you don't really focus on gear much. Not to mention making sure you have the correct pet or spec to achieve the numbers published on Elitist Jerks or some of those other Hunter sites.

Another drawback of making the mad dash to end game could meant that you might have passed up on some great items to get your endgame raiding started on the right foot. Worse yet, you might have vendored or disenchanted some of those quest and reputation rewards for easy gold. Nothing can make you feel lower than a Gnome Warlock than showing up in quest greens and blues, doing less dps than the Tank all because you didn't think ahead and get a good starting raid set.

Of course your favorite Hunter columnist would never think of leaving you out in the cold that way. So I decided to put together a quick gearing guide that will help you achieve solid dps when you start raiding endgame content.


Head
Headguard of Westrift from Cache of Eregos in The Oculus or Truesight Ice Blinders if an Engineer Neck
Necklace of the Chrono-Lord from Chrono-Lord Epoch in Stratholme Past or Titanium Impact Choker from Jewelcrafting Back:
Ice Striker's Cloak from Leatherworking Shoulders:
Spaulders of Skillful Maneuvers from Mage-Lord Urom in Normal mode The Oculus Chest:
Lightningbringer's Hauberk from the Whatever it Takes! Quest in Halls of Lightning or Polished Regimental Hauberk when Exalted with Argent Crusade Waist:
Waistband of the Thuzadin from Salramm the Fleshcrafter in The Culling of Stratholme Hands:
Tear-Linked Gauntlets from Svala Sorrowgrave in Utgarde Pinnacle Wrists:
Tornado Cuffs from Ionar in Halls of Lightening or Dragonfriend Bracers when Exalted with Wyrmrest Accord Legs:
Leather-Braced Chain Leggings from Loken in Halls of Lightning or Giantmaim Legguards from Leatherworking Feet:
Boots of the Terrestrial Guardian from Halls of Lightning or Dragonstompers from Leatherworking Rings:
Bjarngrim Family Signet from General Bjarngrim in Halls of Lightning or Band of the Kirin Tor from the Jewelry Vendor in Dalaran and Titanium Impact Band from Jewelcrafting Trinkets:
Fezzik's Pocketwatch from the The Last Line of Defense quest in Icecrown and Vestige of Haldor from King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle Gun:
Zombie Sweeper Shotgun when Revered with Argent Crusade or Nesingwary 4000 from Engineering Melee:
Runeblade of Demonstrable Power when Revered with Ebon Blade or Whale-Stick Harpoon when Revered with Kalu'ak

July 5, 2009

Hunters discover "new" Worgen pet

As the holiday weekend rolled around, we started to get a number of tips that Hunters were

successfully training themselves a...Worgen pet? Worgen?!? How was this level of cool allowed into

the game without anyone knowing about it until now?

Well, it turns out that the Worgen pet is in fact a very clever use of game mechanics somewhat

akin to those used by Hunters in order to tame the (now sadly vanished) Grimtotem Spirit Guide.

Garwal, a warg NPC in northern Howling Fjord who can turn into a Worgen as part of a questline

(the link is the Horde version, but it's the same for both Horde and Alliance) can actually be

tamed and kept in Worgen form if the timing is right. Mania's Arcania has a look at the process

used here, which involves a little math, a little guesswork, and the strategic use of Wyvern

Sting.

Regrettably, you can only get Garwal to transform into a Worgen if you haven't done the questline

concerned, so I would imagine most Hunters at 80 who leveled in Howling Fjord are out of luck

(unless you can snag someone who hasn't done it yet -- and even then I'm not sure you'd see him in

Worgen form without the requisite quest item).

Neither of my Hunters are close to Wrath content yet, but I'd absolutely kill for this pet. That

said, I'm not confident that Blizzard's going to let this stay in the game, but they did let

people who had already tamed a Grimtotem wolf keep them. Even if the Hotfix Hammer is falling,

your Hunter may want to try this for the sheer awesome of having a Worgen pet for a little while.

WRUP: WRUPing on the 4th of July

Another week has come and gone again, leaving us stranded in yet another weekend (and a holiday

weekend for many of us, at that). How are we ever going to kill the time until Monday? By spending

some time in Azeroth! So what's everyone playing this weekend? The WoW.com team will get the

conversation started, so to see what we're up to -- and tell us what you're up to! -- in game this

weekend, read on!

Adam Holisky (@adamholisky): Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a land side.

No escape from reality. (Which means I'm playing my Mage/Druid Horde dualbox toons). Alex Ziebart

(@aziebart): It finally seems like I'll get some time to dig into leveling Turpen again, so that's

what I'll be doing in between raids, 4th of July celebrations, and working. Amanda Miller: Going

after Yogg once again. I might try to fit in a farming session or two. Daniel Whitcomb

(@Danielwhitcomb): I've been bitten by the bug to level my Blood Elf Paladin for some reason, so

I'm working on him. He also only needs to kill Ahune for Flame Keeper, so I'll see if I can grab

that for him as well. Oh yeah, I can also mention that I am gonna start my weight loss regimen

this weekend in the geekiest way possible -- with Dance Dance Revolution. Eddie Carrington

(@Brigwyn): Another no WoW weekend for me. I'll be flying cross country to the Philly FP on the

4th and flying back home on the 5th. At least I got the Flightpoints. Otherwise it would be worse

than trying to run from Darnassus to Ironforge at level 10 before WoTLK came out. Elizabeth

Wachowski: Continuing my hiatus from WoW, I will be playing Fallout 3, Prototype, and Final

Fantasy Tactics. Lisa Poisso (@eMused): We are celebrating my daughter's new Midsummer Fire dress

by, ummm, not wearing it and staying offline for the weekend. ;) Mark Turpin (@The_T): I'll be

leveling up some Warlocks, got till the end of the month till my RAF runs out, just got these

warlocks and then some Druids to level up and then I'll have all the classes to 60. Matt Low

(@mattycus): Farming mad badges and preparing for epic gems. Everyone's expected to replace all

blue quality gems with epic ones when they're available. That means Naxx. Fun! Matthew Rossi:

Leveling another DK through Outland, I usually seem to peter out around level 72 for some reason,

we'll see if this one makes it. Robin Torres (@cosmiclaurel): This weekend includes the zoo and a

birthday party, so I'm not sure how many alts I can get through their level appropriate Midsummer

achievements. I've also been distracted by taking in-game videos -- we'll see if anything comes of

that. Zach Yonzon (@trymykungfu): Busy making travel arrangements for BlizzCon in August on top of

working on my personal site, business, and a long-forestalled comic project. Which means it's an

awful time to dust off my Shaman, whom I thought would finally get some love and get to 80. Back

to the shelf with you, Troll! So, everyone, what do you find yourself playing this weekend?

Patch 3.2 PTR: Finding the Raptor Pets


For those of us who like to collect stuff in WoW, one of the cooler announcements for patch 3.2

was the inclusion of a whole new set of raptor hatchling pets, dropped around the world by rare

and elite raptors. Of course, it was also an announcement of dread for serious collectors who can

tell horror stories of killing thousands upon thousands of slimes and dragons for rare pets

before. But will it be all as bad as that? WoW fansites have been on the case.

Mania, maven of Hunter pets, has also been looking into the drop rates and drop mobs, and has

compiled a handy chart on her blog. Between Mania and the news on Warcraft Pets, it seems we can

mostly confirm that the rare raptors (such as, for example, Takk the Leaper) will always drop

their pets, while those that drop only off elites have a very rare drop rate more similar to the

aforementioned slimes or dragons.

Of course, this is all according to preliminary reports compiled by Mania and Warcraft Pets from

player submissions and Wowhead comments, and it is a PTR, so things may change. Still, if you're a

hardcore collector, or want to get a jump on the inevitable 100 pet achievement when it comes, or

just want your own cute baby raptor to squeeze, you may want to start making raptor hunting plans

now. And remember, if your rare pet farming luck is horrid, Breanni will be selling a raptor pet

as well.

Patch 3.2 updates and Engineering analysis

Over the past few weeks, Insider Trader has been discussing and analyzing the changes to

professions set to go live with patch 3.2:

Patch 3.2 Profession Change Analysis takes an in-depth look at the early announcements. Patch 3.2

Q&A answers questions being asked in the WoW community.
Recently, a rather large list of Patch 3.2 Engineering Changes was released. This week's column

will be devoted to updating you on some of the newer changes, clarifying as many details as

possible, and analyzing some of those juicy Engineering changes.

Alchemy

In last week's Q&A, we could only speculate about whether the new epic gem transmutes would have a

cooldown. This week, it was announced that in fact, it will have a 20-hour cooldown. While this

may sound like a bit of a pain, it will accomplish two things:

Transmute Masters, if there are any left, will once again feel that their chosen specialization is

useful and profitable.
The market will not flood with epic gems to the point that they become commonplace and cheap.

Thus, the demand for blue quality gems should also not drop too low. Transmute reagents have also

been changed to the following:

Transmute Ametrine: 1 Monarch Topaz and 1 Eternal Shadow. Transmute Cardinal Ruby: 1 Scarlet Ruby

and 1 Eternal Fire. Transmute Dreadstone: 1 Twilight Opal and 1 Eternal Shadow. Transmute Eye of

Zul: 3 Eternal Life. Transmute King's Amber: 1 Autumn's Glow and 1 Eternal Life. Transmute

Majestic Zircon: 1 Sky Sapphire and 1 Eternal Air.
This change has actually reduced the materials needed, and was likely implemented to balance out

the cooldown.

Blacksmithing

Titanium Plating currently increases block value by 40, but come patch 3.2, it will increase it by

81. That's a hair more than double!

Now that we've covered the latest updates, let's dig into the Engineering changes.

Engineering

As I mentioned earlier, we recently posted a rather substantial list of upcoming toys and gadgets

that will be coming to the Engineering profession with patch 3.2. If you haven't seen it, go check

it out, and then come back!

Because I have already analyzed several of these changes, if you feel that anything is missing

from today's column, be sure to check out the earlier Patch 3.2 Profession Change Analysis.

1. Mind Amplification Dish:

This is a head attachment, and I'm sorry to say, will overwrite any other enchant you try to place

on that helm. Of course, that won't keep you from applying it to a second helm, preferably the

silliest one you can find.

If you've ever envied a Priest's ability to Mind Control, this is the attachment for you. Of

course, there is a chance that it will backfire and you'll find yourself, well, under the

influence, but that's all in good fun.

Honestly, I see this being a lot of fun. While it won't work in Arena, and the targets have to be

humanoid, there are plenty of other opportunities to play around with it. Plus, this is much

cooler than its ancient counterpart, Gnomish Mind Control Cap. At the very least, it should make

dueling more entertaining!

2. Goblin Welding Beam:

This will allow you to repair friendly mechanical or vehicular units. While this has a lot of

potential, it is unclear to what extent Blizzard will allow us to use it. Will it work on the

spider-like vehicles that you commandeer on your way to Mimiron? Will it be helpful in Strand of

the Ancients or the battle for Wintergrasp?.

3. Portable Wormhole Generator, Northrend:

This is definitely one of the best Engineering changes being made this patch. You blast open a

wormhole and are able to travel to various locations in Northrend!

Of course, you may land yourself in a big ol' pot o' trouble, but that's the Engineering way. None

of this "we'll release it when it's ready" junk.

The wording also makes it sound like perhaps you will be able to choose your Northrend

destination. Well, more or less. Perhaps you can aim for a province or even attempt to reach a

specific town. Has anyone tried this on the PTR?

4. Just Ask Jeeves:

Have you ever wanted to make your own personal butler? Well soon, you can! He is the "ultimate

gentleman robot butler" and he aims to please. He will repair, buy and sell for your raid buddies,

and even open a bank! Of course, you have to be a member of the gentleman's club (read: 350+

Engineering) to gain bank privileges.

Jeeves is in high demand, so he can only visit once an hour, although he will allot 10 minutes in

his schedule for you.

It is said that his schematic can be found hidden within the parts of another robot. This means

that you will need to hunt down mechanicals, loot them, and then salvage through their parts, much

the way a Miner can mine the "bodies" of fallen stone/crystal baddies.

The drop rate will be highest among rare and high level robots, especially those in Ulduar,

although it can drop from any mechanical level 70+ in Northrend.

Seriously though, bank access during raids? Think of the possibilities! You could store some of

your favorite gems, enchant scrolls, glyphs, leg kits, arcanums, and even shoulder enchant tokens

in the bank, and effortlessly trick out your latest piece of gear. Heck, you could leave your dual

spec set in the bank for more bag space, and pull it out on the fly!

Between Jeeves (10 mins/hr), MOLL-E (currently once per 8 hours, but come patch 3.2, will have a

"significantly reduced cooldown"), Scrapbot (5 minutes, 15 min cooldown), the upcoming Argent

Squire upgraded pets (self-use only), and the other repair bots, life is looking good for your

average raider.

5. Powered by Steam:

If bank access isn't enough to get your boat floating, perhaps you will get a kick out of the

Steam-Powered Auctioneer! Now, it isn't portable, but it is located in Dalaran, meaning that

traveling to Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms simply to do some trading will be a thing of the past.

This Auction House will be found in the Like Clockwork Engineering shop, and is programmed with a

superiority chip. Only Grand Master Engineers allowed!

Now, Dalaran isn't my favorite place (laaaaaag), but it does seem to be the most convenient pit

stop in between heroics, before raids, and while touring your daily quest circuit. Heck you can

farm, auction off your goods, and head back out without having to take that detour that you know

will only make it harder to get back out there and farm some more.

6. Dimensional Folder: K3

You asked for it, and it's coming! You will be able to fold dimensional fabric and step through

(ultra safely, might I add) to K3. Hopefully, you don't fall on a minefield.