Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Rotation. It’s not as Easy as you think.



 
 

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via TankingTips.com by admin on 12/30/08

I'm guilty of thinking it was as simple as prioritizing:

Shield Slam > Revenge > Devastate

…but, it's not.

The Real Priority System

Shield Slam > Revenge > Concussion Blow > Shockwave > Devastate

…and when you throw in the mix that you many have to renew Battle/Commanding Shout, Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap as well which all take precidence over Devastate, it becomes very apparent how little Devastate is part of the threat system now. Which isn't to say you shouldn't get to 5 Sunders as quickly as possible, you definitely should, but it does mean that when it comes to bosses that Devastate just shouldn't be a big part of your rotation.

The Ramifications

It's for this reason that Puncture is currently one of the weakest talents in the Protection tree. You simply don't Devastate enough to justify spending 3 points (or even 1 for that matter) on this talent. On the flip side, however, the desire to Devastate as little as possible makes Glyph of Devastate more appealing than one might have expected for the 3rd Major Glyph slot (behind the Blocking and Revenge Glyphs) as it does doubly duty being useful on both Bosses (allowing you to do your proper rotation sooner) and on Trash.


 
 

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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Chain Heal Rises as Circle of Healing Falls



 
 

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via World of Matticus by Matticus on 12/23/08

This is a guest post by Lodur, a blogger from Way of the Totem. Today, he examines the nerf to Circle of Healing, the impact it will have to Resto Shamans and how they may need to compensate.

The patch notes can be found here: PTR Patch Notes!

This is going to be important to us in several ways, not least of which is the change to some of the other classes. I'd like to offer my opinion on it. Let's take a look at priests.

Holy: Circle of Healing now has a 6 second cooldown.

This is going to be extremely important to us. The fact that Circle of Healing is getting a 6 second cooldown is huge. My current experience with CoH raiding priests is they blow group healing out of the water. One of our Shadow priests rolled over to Holy to fill a gap for raiding in 25 man Naxx. With no gear change, he was able to blow past me in healing output while maintaining mana. Now I'm not suggesting that we need to be the kings of the roost, nor am I doubting the abilities of this priest, but it was a difference of almost half a million pure healing output over the next closest.

In a normal raid you would find a few percentage difference between the top 4 or 5. maybe 1-2% difference. Between healer in first and second was a whopping 6%. As someone who has poured over stats and combat logs after raids trying to figure out how to keep the tanks up while maintaining the raid's health, let me tell you, that's a lot. The higher the discrepancy between places, the more over-healing there is, the more mana issues during the actual encounter is, and so on.

This "nerf" to CoH to me, is an attempt to try to bring the spell back into line and make healing more consistent. I can't say I didn't see it coming, I do however think 6 seconds is going to be a bit much of a cooldownn, but only time will tell as the PTR is being run. I've been pestering my priests about it, so we'll see what they say. In the meantime it means we should be preparing for another reliable group heal not being as powerful or present as it was before, we should be ready to pick up the slack so to speak.

I've gone on and on about the joys of haste, you can see it here For those that don't remember there is a formula we follow to figure out the cast time of your spells and how it's affected by haste. And look, here it is!

newcasttime

Importance of Haste Rating

If you want to spam your chain heals and heal a raid it's time to start looking at your haste gear and to start looking at your glyphs.

First of all you should be shooting for somewhere near 350-400 haste. 340 haste with a Wrath of Air totem will net you a 2.2 second Chain Heal cast time.

Your goal should be around a 2.0s cast time on your chain heal.

This will allow for your Global Cool Down to be up but also allow you to keep a constant stream of CH casting. By using the formula above we see that 2.0 seconds = 820 haste rating, however one must take into account the haste around you in a raid. The trend of almost every raiding guild I've seen has been to include at least one Retribution Paladin, and lets face it, Balance Druids have come a long way since vanilla and have found their way into raids quite frequently.

I'm going to make the assumption that you'll have at least a Ret Paladin. So we can assume you'll have 350ish haste, Wrath of Air totem down and a Ret paladin, your chain heal will be 2.2 seconds. Not bad. If you snag yourself the all holy Egg (which currently does not have a cooldown on the proc) the proc will put you at a 1.9 second cast time. This is good as this thing procs off just about everything. You can see more about the egg proccing in my post here. Now the reason you want to shoot for a 2.0 second cast time is other haste effects. Heroism / Bloodlust give you 30% increase in your casting speed. If you push too much haste, when you use it you will push yourself past your global cooldown timer, causing you to trip over your heals and keeps you from being able to heal effectively.

Glyphs

To go with your haste gear you should also be looking at glyphs. If you are going to be raid healing I have three major suggestions.

  • Glyph of Water Mastery: Will help keep your mana supply coming in good order (30% counts for a lot more then you would normally assume),
  • Glyph of Chain Heal: Necessary. The extra target just makes the spell even more effective. This again allows it to claim the title as most mana efficient heal around.
  • Glyph of Earthliving Weapon This one is a must for a few reasons. First, the Earthliving Weapon ability can proc of any heal, and each target of Chain Heal counts towards it proccing. Second, is the fact that the egg procs off HoT ticks. So, with chain heal delivering Earth Living to everyone and ensuring you have 4 targets and more then likely a HoT up at all times, your egg should be giving you an almost constant 505 haste. Pushing you right at 1.9 - 1.8s chain heals constantly allowing you to keep that raid nice and topped off.

Mana Regen

Now I'm sure many of you are asking "but what about mana regen?"

MP5, the magic shaman stat, is still present. If you are collecting gear based on haste, much of it also comes with a healthy dose of MP5. With that said, it is well within reason to have around 350 haste while still being able to pull off close to 550 mp5 while in combat. Once you reach your haste number, start getting a few pieces with MP5 in spades and everything will be fine.

On the topic of MP5 we do have a change on the horizon that will help with this.

On the PTR currently we see these:

Healing Way: Now only one application is required to reach full benefit. No longer stacks.

Improved Water Shield: Lesser Healing Wave now has a reduced chance to trigger this talent WOOOOOO.

First, of all lets talk improved Water shield. On a crit of Lesser Healing Wave or Riptide It will consume a charge of water shield, giving you the mana return as if you were hit. This is fine and dandy but in the heat of a battle, there are times you won't be able to give up the Global Cool Down to put it back up instead of healing. A reduction in the proc rate down from 100% is very very good as it allows the orbs to stay up giving use more passive mana regeneration, which will come out to more overall MP5 in the long run.

Second, the change to Healing Way means we only have to plop down one Healing Wave instead of the 3 we normally would have, which means we can conserve that mana and still get the full effect.

Front loading the effect was an amazing move on the part of Blizzard.

That's it for my thoughts on this patch at this time. I'm currently waiting on a response from my priests as far as their input goes on the talent change, but in the meantime, be prepared to step up and fill the gap.

Happy healing!

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Chain Heal Rises as Circle of Healing Falls


 
 

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Saturday, December 13, 2008

Blizzard opens up old instances to soloers, changes quest items



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Mike Schramm on 12/12/08

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Blue poster Daelo has good news for people aiming to solo old instances -- Blizzard has made a few changes to the way keys and unlocks work in the old dungeons, so that you no longer need keys or multiple people to get to the good stuff. The rituals in Blackrock Spire and Uldaman only require one click now, and quintessence (in Molten Core to summon Executus before the Ragnaros fight), the Scepter of Celebras (in Maraudon), and the Mallet of Zul'Farrak (in the ZF, obviously) are no longer needed to do their jobs. Additionally, Nightbane will be accessible in Karazhan without the Blackened Urn.

Some may be disappointed that items we worked so hard for are now pretty much useless, but as you probably know by now, that's the way of things when an expansion hits. The good news, obviously, is that people running through instances solo or with just a few people will be able to hit all the content they couldn't get to before. And if you happen to be running the content, you won't need to worry about whether you left the Mallet in the bank or forgot the Scepter on a Princess run.

And unfortunately, collectors will be left out as well -- most of the items will actually change form into weapons or other useless objects, so even if you have the old items, they won't be usable in the same way. Sure, the Mallet was a pain to get, but it'll be a little sad to see it disappear in the way we know it forever.

WoW InsiderBlizzard opens up old instances to soloers, changes quest items originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday, December 5, 2008

Mana Tide - To-do List for the Level 80 Resto Shaman.



 
 

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via World of Matticus by Matticus on 12/5/08

This is a guest post written by Devon.

guest-post Prologue

Click the link above fellow totemites, let the rejoicing begin. This position of power ensures Shaman buffs in the future (and hopefully a college football playoff); not even Blizzard can tell this guy "no". Damn government just can't keep its hands off, but in this case I'll keep my trap zipped.

In preparation for the shaman revolution and my PvE aspirations I've compiled a quick gear list and to-do list for the chain healer in all of us. This can, and should, be started at late level 77 and 78. The goal is not to make heroics manageable, but to make you one of the best resto shamans in your guild regardless of your time in Naxx.

Print it out, tack it to your wall, and let it do the thinking for you. You know you want to.

*Steps 0-0.5 are preliminary. The rest should be completed every day until your desired epeen loot level is achieved.

Step 0:

Get your freak spec on.

Before respeccing I suggest getting your Icecrown quest achievement. It will get you the Cannoneer's Morale trinket, Knights of the Ebon Blade rep, and Argent Crusade rep. Searing totem just doesn't kill as fast as ye ol' Stormstrike.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=hZ0xxIZxMezVxogkrIRt is my recommendation.

The 16 points in Enhancement are very solid. The following build has the restoration tree must-haves, everything else is just gravy (or filler you pessimists):

Must have talents click here.

Head over to the AH and grab your Glyph of Chain Heal, Water Mastery, Earth Living Weapon, and Water Shield. You should have already had the latter Boudreaux.

This oh-@#^& macro free of charge from elitistjerks.com:

#showtooltip Nature's Swiftness

/stopcasting

/use 13

/use 14

/cast Nature's Swiftness

/Cast Tidal Force

/cast Healing Wave

With this and rip-tide I've had no heroic troubles. This has the over-zealous rogue seal of approval.

Step 0.5

Where the little guy gets his totem.

Grizzly D. Adams will give you Totem of the Bay.

Dis one, it's da best. Get 30 of these.

Step 1

What's with the fat guard standing on the quest giver? Go do your Wyrmrest Dailies everyday until you are Exalted for the Grips of Fierce Pronouncements.

- Drake Hunt at the Nexus. Raelastrasz 33, 34 coords. The harpoon has ridiclous range. If you don't have your flying mount I recommend the western platform.

- Defending Wyrmrest Temple at Wyrmrest Temple. The quest-giver is on the MIDDLE level of the temple. As with all dailies practice makes perfect, but I recommend renew and the sprint (press 4) every time they are up. For those going for time note that it only takes one dot and one flame breath to kill the drakes, pwn and move on. Happy hunting.

- Aces High. See comments here.

Step 2

Knights of the Ebon Blade make me think of emo kids at my high school.

Ebon Blade Dailies everyday until you are Exalted for your Kilt of Dark Mercy.

Icecrown dailies:

Repeatable Quest:

Step 3

Troll Pa'troll everyday until Exalted with Argent Dawn for your Signet of Hopeful Light.

The Troll Patrol quest is given in the Argent Stand of Zul'Drak. 3 of them are very easy, the quest form Alchemist Finklestein WOULD be difficult if you didn't have this mod: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/easyserum.aspx

You get a bonus for doing Troll Pa'troll in less than 20 minutes, there should be time to spare using this mod.

Step 4

No moar dailies, so sayeth my sanity.

All in all I spend about 1.5 hours doing dailies. I try to keep my play time at less than three hours a day for personal reasons so another 0.5 - 1.5 hours lets me run an instance or two (good riddance UBRS). In addition to the loot list below I recommend doing the daily regular or daily heroic instances for the reputation and emblems of heroism. Much of the gear you get in this step each day will be a place holder for crafted epics listed in Step 5. Start with the Wyrmrest Tabard since those dailies require longer flights between quests.

Step 5

Ok, I can haz gold now.

As money permits purchase the following items or their respective mats as they show up on the AH:

Revenant's Breastplate (Leatherworking): 12 Heavy Borean Leather, 12 Eternal Water, 1 Frozen Orb

Revenant's Treads (Leatherworking): 10 Heavy Borean Leather, 10 Eternal Water, 1 Frozen Orb

Titansteel Guardian (Blacksmithing) - 6 Saronite Bars, 6 Titansteel Bars, 2 Frozen Orb

I haven't gotten my guardian yet because I'm scurd of handing a stranger that many mats. Guild blacksmith has a wifey, no chance for me there. The two revenant's pieces cost me about 1000 gold, which you should have after all that questing you did RIGHT? Quick aside: Lesser Healing Wave and its associated glyph rocks my healing socks.

Regards,

Devon

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Guest Post: Mana Tide - To-do List for the Level 80 Resto Shaman.


 
 

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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Ten Things: Wintergrasp



 
 

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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Wrath 101: The Sons of Hodir (Shoulder enchants)



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Alex Ziebart on 12/2/08

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The Sons of Hodir is arguably one of the most important reputations in Wrath of the Lich King due to the items they offer. They're the only faction in Northrend that offers shoulder enchantments for PvE, in rare and epic flavors. Casters? Melee? Healers? Tanks? The Sons of Hodir have all of your shoulder enchants.

The quest chain to completely open up the Sons of Hodir rep grind is long. Really, really long. It's long in the good way, though. It's epic, and part of the chain is quite possibly one of the most fun quests in Wrath, and is as close to God of War as you're going to get in WoW. 'God of War in WoW!?' is what you're probably thinking. My answer to that? Yes. It's freaking awesome.

Continue reading Wrath 101: The Sons of Hodir

WoW InsiderWrath 101: The Sons of Hodir originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Badge err… Emblem of Heroism Pick Order from Tanktips



 
 

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via TankingTips.com by admin on 11/28/08

Well before we go all crazy with saying who's more important than who, let's take a look at our line up from most to least expensive to purchase with Emblems of Heroism. (These are attainable from Heroics, Daily Heroic Quests and the current 10 man raids)

1. The Chain

Chained Military Gorget gets the nod as the number 1 pick not only because it's the cheapest, but also because it simply has inadequate competition. Even though there's a number of similar level epic items, none are quite as well itemized for early progression as this one. If you already have made Titanium Earthguard Chain then you may consider pushing this one down on the list, but it is still better, so you'll want to pick up the Gorget regardless. I should also note that you'll still want to grab Medallion of the Disgraced when it crosses your path for a Block Value set. It's not better nor worse than the Emblem neckpiece, just different.

2. The Chest

We jump from the cheapest emblem item to the most expensive with our 2nd choice being Chestguard of the Lost Protector with turns into this. There's only one other similar level epic chestpiece and it's just not as good. (nor as accessible by a long shot) Obviously since this item is attainable via raiding if your guild is within striking distance of Gluth you may consider holding off on picking up this item at all and instead choose to acquire it that way.

3. The Grips

Still at the hefty mark of 60 emblems, Gloves of the Lost Protector ala Heroes' Dreadnaught Handguards get the nod for the 3rd spot even with a lot of other epic quality gloves to choose from. They get this spot because they're simply a whole lot better than the rest and completing the 2 piece T7 set bonus is definitely nothing to scoff at. That being said, these puppies can be acquired via killing Sartharion in 10 man mode and as a result, may move down the list on your priorities if your guild is already consistently killing him. (which with zero drakes up, is fairly easy)

4. The Tube

Coming in at 4th place not because it's especially bad, but simply because it's predecessors are better. Waistguard of Living Iron is an excellent belt with really no other like piece. (You'll still want to get Waistguard of the Tutor down the road though for your Block Value set) While you're making your way down the list though, I implore you to acquire Ancient Aligned Girdle from Anub'arak in Azjol-Nerub until you've got the Emblems to pick up the superior piece.

5. The Toy

The 5th and final (yes, final) piece I'll be recommending you snag is Valor Medal of the First War otherwise known as the big brother of the ubiquitous pocketwatch that we all loved at 70. Due to a more challenging Defense level required to reach uncrittable (540), you won't necessarily be able to use this immediately which is part of the reason it's so far down on the list. Nonetheless, it's a very nice trinket that you should pick up and will certainly utilize once your Defense allows.

The Shield…

Time for the potentially controversial part…

Don't pick up the Shield. Why?

The Shield has two relatively easy to obtain competitors that are nearly identical.

Now certainly, if your luck is bad in Stratholme, you can't afford the Shield Wall and you've made it this far down the list by all means take it, but between you and me… let's just hope that's not the case.

…and that's a wrap! Look for the Emblem of Valor pick order in the near future too!


 
 

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Friday, November 28, 2008

Scattered Shots: Reputation rewards for Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Daniel Whitcomb on 11/27/08

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! You didn't think Scattered Shots was taking the day off, did you? Hopefully, there's enough of you who aren't completely zonked out on turkey, ham, or beef to read this.

So by now, I figure most of you are well on your way to 80, and are probably starting to ask yourself: Which reputation should I grind first? There's tons of ways to choose, be it roleplaying who your character would align themselves with or choosing the one that's easiest to grind. One of the most popular and most effective though, is pretty simple: Asking yourself which one has the best loot. Today's Scattered Shots will center around that last one.

If you're still not sure how to grind reputation in Northrend, or forgot where the quartermasters are, be sure to check out our Wrath 101 post on reputations, as well as our post on the Wolvar and Oracles of Sholozar Basin. Once you've done that, or if you remember the basics, read on!

Continue reading Scattered Shots: Reputation rewards for Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King

WoW InsiderScattered Shots: Reputation rewards for Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Four year anniversary pet and feat of strength achievement



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Adam Holisky on 11/22/08

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Those of us waking up today and tomorrow will log into Azeroth and find in our mailboxes a little Baby Blizzard Bear non-combat pet. This pet will also give you a feat of strength achievement celebrating World of Warcraft's four years online.

This is a nice little way for Blizzard to thank all of us for spending years in the game. With over 11 million people playing WoW, and Wrath becoming a hit overnight, there's definitely a lot of celebrating to do over at Blizzard HQ.

The little bear that you get looks a like a small version of the BlizzCon Polar Bear Mount those of us lucky enough to attend BlizzCon this year got. It's a perfect traveling companion for you as you adventure around Northrend.

Edit: The pet is active on US, EU, and Oceanic servers.

Thanks to Mangowire for sending us the pics you see below.

WoW InsiderFour year anniversary pet and feat of strength achievement originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Death Knight creation bug solution



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Adam Holisky on 11/12/08

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There is a bug currently affecting the creation of Death Knights after you have installed Wrath of the Lich King.

If you get an error when creating the Death Knight, and you have met the requirements of having a level 55 character on the server in which you're creating the Death Knight, just make a new level 1 character first.

After that character is created, you can then create your Death Knight without any more problems.

I have to wonder how the bug came to be, and why they weren't able to fix it. We probably won't know either of those answers. But at least we have a quick and dirty fix.

Happy Northrending!

WoW InsiderDeath Knight creation bug solution originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Molten Core now available for download



 
 

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via WoW Insider by Michael Gray on 10/25/08

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You may remember Blizzard's April Fool's joke this year, a trailer promising the release of a console version of the Molten Core. It was a concept that did so well in the polls, we expected to see it turned into some kind of official mini-game.

An enterprising fan, however, beat them to the punch. The Molten Core ATARI-style game is now available, as posted in the forums. You can download it from Box.net or from Filefront. Design inspiration is credited to Blizzard, of course, but its graphics, programming, and game play are courtesy of Derek Gallant.

With this morning's server restarts, I took the opportunity to fire up this 1 or 2 player raid instance. And, while it probably won't be peeling me away from the zombie invasion, I didn't stop laughing the entire time. Derek's creation allows you to play each of WoW's staple classes, and everything is, indeed, fairly reminiscent of Molten Core. (If you know what you're looking at.)

Good luck!

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Guild calendars implemented in the WoW Armory



 
 

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via WOW Insider by Alex Ziebart on 10/20/08

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You all know about the new in-game calendar feature that came with patch 3.0.2, right? Right! The calendar has just been integrated into the Armory as well, and it's really quite cool. By logging into the Armory and clicking on the Guild tab, you can check out all of the events your guild has listed on the calendar via the interwebs. You can Accept and Decline event invitations right from the Armory, but I haven't seen an option to create new ones from there. That's something you'll still need to do in-game.

When I saw this on the official WoW website, I sort of rolled my eyes because the Armory hasn't updated my Shadow Priest's gear or spec in months. How can it possibly keep up with the calendar? I did a little poking around with it, and I was pleasantly surprised. I created a new event in-game on our guild calendar, and it showed up on the Armory about ten minutes later. I accepted the event on my alt on the Armory, and that showed up in-game almost instantly. If the features keeps that kind of stability long term, I will definitely appreciate having it. Little conveniences like this really help the community feel of guilds.

Now to bug people about integrating this into Facebook and the like.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Blizzard Answers Your Questions, From Blizzcon from slashdot



 
 

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via Slashdot by ScuttleMonkey on 10/15/08

Last week we asked you to submit questions for several Blizzard employees on a wide range of issues. Since we undertook the pilgrimage to Blizzcon in person this year, we decided to use the question ideas as a guide rather than an absolute, so that it could be a little more conversational in tone. Below we have included the responses from Chris Sigaty, lead producer on StarCraft II; Jeffrey Kaplan (aka Tigole), game director for World of Warcraft; Leonard Boyarsky, lead world designer on Diablo III; and Paul Sams, Blizzard's COO. One interesting point: Paul Sams indicated in his interview that, with enough interest, Blizzard would be willing to entertain the idea of open sourcing some of their older games. He suggested that if you are interested in this to contact them directly (please be at least semi-coherent and polite). Update 19:00 by SM: Bob Colayco from Blizzard just contacted us to mention that if users wish to leave feedback about open sourcing games, support for Linux, or anything else you would like to express to them, you should do so in the comments section of this story. They plan on perusing the comments below for user feedback and interest, so don't be shy.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


 
 

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Patch 3.0.2 mirrored at Big Download



 
 

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via WOW Insider by Eliah Hecht on 10/15/08

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Many readers are still reporting problems downloading patch 3.0.2, possibly the largest patch WoW has ever received (in terms of both file size and number of changes). The Blizzard Downloader is a clever adaptation of BitTorrent, and while it does a good job of lightening the load on Blizz's servers and distributing the patch files to those of us who are able to forward ports and open firewalls, not everyone is in that position. Some people really just want a straight HTTP download of the patch files.

Fortunately, our sister site Big Download is here to help. They're hosting all the patch files, for both Mac and Windows, BC players and classic. Part of the confusion here is that there were actually two patches yesterday, 3.0.1 and 3.0.2. They must be applied in that order, and then you'll be ready to play. All the instructions are over at Big Download; they'll have you up and running in short order.

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Q&A: 'World of Warcraft' Lead Producer J. Allen Brack



 
 

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via Wired Top Stories by Earnest Cavalli on 10/12/08

During Blizzcon Wired chats with with J. Allen Brack, Wow's lead producer, to discuss the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, where the game goes from here, and the title's Deathknight class, an addition many fans see as the latest example in Blizzard's new-found desire to homogenize their once unimpeachable games.

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Friday, October 10, 2008

Speedy Scribe: Power level your Inscription in patch 3.0



 
 

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via WoW Economist by Kevin on 10/10/08

The inscription powerleveling guide I've been working on is finally complete! Naturally, there may be a few mistakes, so I urge you to try the guide on the PTR or once 3.0 goes live. If you find something wrong or you have a better route for a certain portion of the guide, feel free to leave a comment and let me know!

At the moment, it's pretty pointless to level inscription past 350 as there are no new recipes for 355 and beyond. The only way to learn new recipes after 350 (and the only way to learn minor glyphs) is through Minor Inscription Research, which has a 20 hour cooldown. Below are the materials required to get to 350 inscription. The pigments come from different sets of herbs, which you can see on Wowhead by clicking each pigment's name.

The following uncommon pigments have a chance to be milled from each set of herbs. With the volume of herbs required for the pigments above, you should have no problem getting these uncommon pigments.

And finally, the parchment below can be bought from the inscription supplies vendors near every inscription trainer.

  • 60x Light Parchment
  • 121x Common Parchment
  • 155x Heavy Parchment
  • 30x Resilient Parchment

Now that you've stuffed your inventory full of materials, let's plow through this guide. I started out at the Ironforge trainer until 300 Inscription, then moved to Honor Hold to finish up. You'll need to make a few trips to and from the bank to mill the herbs and use the pigment, but make sure you mill enough Nether Pigment to bring with you to the Outland to get from 300 to 350 inscription.

18x Ivory Ink to 18 Inscription

  • 18x Alabaster Pigment

18x Scroll of Stamina to 36 Inscription

  • 18x Ivory Ink
  • 18x Light Parchment

21x Moonglow Ink to 55 Inscription

  • 42x Alabaster Pigment

20x Armor Vellum to 75 Inscription

  • 20x Moonglow Ink
  • 20x Light Parchment

20x Midnight Ink to 80 Inscription

  • 40x Dusty Pigment

10x Glyph of Hunter's Mark to 90 Inscription

  • 10x Midnight Ink
  • 10x Light Parchment

10x Glyph of Serpent Sting to 100 Inscription

  • 10x Midnight Ink
  • 10x Light Parchment

67x Lion's Ink to 105 Inscription

  • 134x Golden Pigment

1x Minor Inscription Research to 106 Inscription

  • 1x Moonglow Ink
  • 2x Light Parchment

4x Glyph of Fade to 110 Inscription

  • 4x Lion's Ink
  • 4x Common Parchment

5x Glyph of Health Funnel to 115 Inscription

  • 5x Lion's Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

7x Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey to 122 Inscription

  • 7x Lion's Ink
  • 7x Common Parchment

3x Glyph of Expose Armor to 125 Inscription

  • 6x Lion's Ink
  • 3x Common Parchment

10x Dawnstar Ink to 128 Inscription

  • 10x Burnt Pigment

2x Glyph of Hamstring to 130 Inscription

  • 4x Lion's Ink
  • 2x Common Parchment

5x Glyph of Immolation Trap to 135 Inscription

  • 10x Lion's Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

5x Glyph of Inner Fire to 140 Inscription

  • 10x Lion's Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

5x Glyph of Sunder Armor to 145 Inscription

  • 10x Lion's Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

5x Strange Tarot to 150 Inscription

  • 10x Dawnstar Ink
  • 5x Lion's Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

59x Jadefire Ink to 155 Inscription

  • 118x Emerald Pigment

5x Scroll of Stamina III to 160 Inscription

  • 5x Jadefire Ink
  • 10x Common Parchment

5x Scroll of Spirit III to 165 Inscription

  • 5x Jadefire Ink
  • 10x Common Parchment

5x Scroll of Intellect III to 170 Inscription

  • 5x Jadefire Ink
  • 10x Common Parchment

5x Scroll of Strength III to 175 Inscription

  • 5x Jadefire Ink
  • 10x Common Parchment

10x Royal Ink to 176 Inscription

  • 10x Indigo Pigment

4x Scroll of Agility III to 180 Inscription

  • 4x Jadefire Ink
  • 8x Common Parchment

5x Glyph of Cleansing to 185 Inscription

  • 10x Jadefire Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

5x Glyph of Sap to 190 Inscription

  • 10x Jadefire Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

5x Glyph of Revenge to 195 Inscription

  • 10x Jadefire Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

5x Arcane Tarot to 200 Inscription

  • 10x Royal Ink
  • 5x Jadefire Ink
  • 5x Common Parchment

57x Celestial Ink to 202 Inscription

  • 114x Violet Pigment

12x Scroll of Recall II to 215 Inscription

  • 12x Celestial Ink
  • 12x Common Parchment

5x Scroll of Intellect IV to 220 Inscription

  • 5x Celestial Ink
  • 10x Heavy Parchment

5x Scroll of Strength IV to 225 Inscription

  • 5x Celestial Ink
  • 10x Heavy Parchment

5x Scroll of Agility IV to 230 Inscription

  • 5x Celestial Ink
  • 10x Heavy Parchment

5x Glyph of Dispel Magic to 235 Inscription

  • 5x Celestial Ink
  • 5x Heavy Parchment

5x Glyph of Slice and Dice to 240 Inscription

  • 10x Celestial Ink
  • 5x Heavy Parchment

5x Glyph of Soulstone to 245 Inscription

  • 10x Celestial Ink
  • 5x Heavy Parchment

5x Fiery Ink

  • 5x Ruby Pigment

5x Weapon Vellum II to 250 Inscription

  • 5x Celestial Ink
  • 5x Fiery Ink
  • 5x Heavy Parchment

55x Shimmering Ink to 255 Inscription

  • 110x Silvery Pigment

5x Scroll of Spirit V to 260 Inscription

  • 5x Shimmering Ink
  • 10x Heavy Parchment

5x Scroll of Intellect V to 265 Inscription

  • 5x Shimmering Ink
  • 10x Heavy Parchment

5x Scroll of Strength V to 270 Inscription

  • 5x Shimmering Ink
  • 10x Heavy Parchment

5x Scroll of Agility V to 275 Inscription

  • 5x Shimmering Ink
  • 10x Heavy Parchment

5x Glyph of Shadowburn to 280 Inscription

  • 5x Shimmering Ink
  • 5x Heavy Parchment

5x Glyph of Icy Touch to 285 Inscription

  • 5x Shimmering Ink
  • 5x Heavy Parchment

25x Glyph of Sprint to 300 Inscription

  • 25x Shimmering Ink
  • 25x Heavy Parchment

65x Ethereal Ink to 305 Inscription

  • 130x Nether Pigment

15x Scroll of Agility VI to 320 Inscription

  • 15x Ethereal Ink
  • 30x Heavy Parchment

5x Glyph of Sweeping Strikes to 325 Inscription

  • 5x Ethereal Ink
  • 5x Resilient Parchment

5x Glyph of Succubus to 330 Inscription

  • 10x Ethereal Ink
  • 5x Resilient Parchment

5x Glyph of Windfury Weapon to 335

  • 10x Ethereal Ink
  • 5x Resilient Parchment

5x Glyph of Arcane Power to 340 Inscription

  • 10x Ethereal Ink
  • 5x Resilient Parchment

5x Glyph of Ambush to 345 Inscription

  • 10x Ethereal Ink
  • 5x Resilient Parchment

5x Glyph of Whirlwind to 350 Inscription

  • 5x Ethereal Ink
  • 5x Resilient Parchment

 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Two Tools For Raid Stacking



 
 

Sent to you by Julian via Google Reader:

 
 

via A Dwarf Priest by MK on 10/7/08


The criteria we use to balance classes and specs for raids will be changing in patch 3.0.2 (I wrote a prior post about it here). The number of things to take into consideration makes putting together a raid feel like one of those wacky logic puzzle things.

Here are two tools to aid raid leaders in the complex process of stacking their raid for optimal raid buffs/debuffs.

1. RaidComp

MMO Champion is hosting a browser-based tool where you can drag raid around various classes/specs into raid groups. It looks great for raid planning.

It will let you save compositions to go back to later, too. It's like a talent calculator, but for making raid groups.  It's a lot of fun to play around with.

You can check it out here. Instructions about how to use it and a discussion thread about it can be found here.

2. In the Buff

This is an add-on that will actually scan the talents of your raid members and tell you what buff/debuff areas are covered.  Just because that disc priest could be specced for Improved Divine Spirit doesn't mean he actually is.

Screenshot courtesy of WowInterface

InTheBuff uses colors to denote if you have the best buffs for a given category.  Green is the best.  Yellow means that you have a buff affecting that category, but not the best one.  Red means that you do not have anything for that category.

This isn't as useful for pre-raid planning, but helpful when actually putting it together as a check that you have the buff/debuff categories covered that you wanted. It will be great for pugs!

You can read more about it or download it here.

      

 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 
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