Cataclysm Models - Twilight Ascendants
I think this is the last model added in the latest beta build, it took a little more time than usual to get everything fixed because the new streaming client hates me but I think we should be ok. Actually, the next few days will probably be interesting.

The Twilight Ascendant (Air) model has been added to the game, I also added the Fire model from last week to the screenshot.


There is also a short video of some of the new models from TotalBiscuit, who seems to do most of the work for me lately.



Deathwing vs. Alextrasza Fight Sound Files/Transcript Spoilers!
Most of the sound files of the fight between Alextrasza and Deathwing are up now. Cataclysm is going to be fun, oh, so fun. Thanks to Ralth for all the work he did on the transcripts, more to come.

OBVIOUS SPOILERS! COVER YOUR EYES AND YOUR EARS AND PUSH YOUR PAGE DOWN BUTTON! (I have no idea how you're going to do that with 2 hands)

Alexstrasza and Deathwing Fight Dialogue
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event01.ogg "Mortal, I want you to bear witness to this, but for your own safety, Stay back! Calen, you too"
VO_QE_Calen_Event01.ogg "I will not leave your side."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event02.ogg "Your life isn't yours to throw away Calen, should I fail, the fate of this world may rest on your shoulders."
VO_QE_Calen_Event02.ogg "Yes mother."

*Alexstrasza goes to Deathwing*
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event01.wav "Lifebinder. Do you presume that I am at your beck and call? I have a world to unmake."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event03.ogg "It pains me Neltharion, but I must end you, as i have ended Malygos!"
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event02.wav "Ha ha ha ha. End? Me? Lifebinder. You think life is yours to take away? Life is weak. Mortal. Fleeting. Fragile. Death is final. Death is eternal. Death is my realm. Look upon me, and you see death incarnate. The unmaker... of worlds."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event04.ogg "I see the hallow metal shell of a once great ally and the precious gift of the titans wasted."
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event03.wav "Then witness my new gifts! Bestowed by this worlds TRUE MASTERS."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event05.ogg "Neltharion, look at yourself, misshapen, twisted, you are coming apart."
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event04.wav "Just as all life ends in death, all order must end in chaos! Come! Embrace the inevitable... as I have!

*Alexstrasza and Deathwing fight*
VO_QE_Calen_Event03.ogg "Don't let them out of sight, quickly, come with me!"
VO_QE_Calen_Event04.ogg "There, they've fallen."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event06.ogg "The earth-warder.. he is dead.."
VO_QE_Calen_Event05.ogg "Mother, stay still, your wounds are great."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event07.ogg "The Black Aspect's blood is cursed, wherever it was shed, nothing will grow for 10000 years *groan*, but is it over, we can work now to bottle up the horrors he has unleashed."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event08.ogg "Impossible!"
VO_QE_Calen_Event06.ogg "Deathwing, he lives...... Deathwing.... he lives?"
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event05.wav "The sun has set on this mortal world. Make peace with your end, for the hour of twilight falls!"
VO_QE_Calen_Event07.ogg "Mortal, take the dragon queen, take her to safety, carry het to safety, now, run, get her away from here."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event09.ogg "Calen, NO!"
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event06.wav "Argh. You think to entrap me?
VO_QE_Calen_Event08.ogg "I will delay the aspect of death, take her to safety."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event10.ogg "NOOOOO!"



Password Security Information
Seriously, listen to the guy. Getting your WoW account stolen and restored within a few days is one thing, losing your hotmail account, your MSN contacts, and fighting with the tech support to get your password back is another. Yes, you can replace "hotmail" with anything else, you can even replace it with "puppies" because, yes, they will steal your puppies too, that's how evil keyloggers are.
Originally Posted by Bornakk (Blue Tracker)
We have been helping players deal with account theft for years now, and unfortunately, roughly a third of players make a very basic security mistake: using the same password for all of their security needs.

If you are serious about protecting your account and your personal security, your Battle.net password should be different from your email account password -- or other personal passwords for that matter!

No one wants account thieves rooting around in their personal email, address book, and contact lists. Too often we see thieves breaking in to this information because their target has used the same password across multiple types of accounts. Not only can this give thieves access to your account, it can lead to compromises far outside of Battle.net as well.

It’s immensely important that everyone use separate passwords for separate applications, including games. Secure passwords have both numeric and alphabetical values, and are usually at least 10 characters in length.

For more information on password security, please click here: http://us.blizzard.com/support/artic...rticleId=20574
For more information on account security, click here: http://us.battle.net/en/security/

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Ysera open eyes
As I've said before, her eyes are very intentionally open. This is, in fact, part of the fiction and will be explained in one of our upcoming novels as well as a future event in game.

If it suits you, feel free to RP going CRAZY INSANE after looking into her eyes in Hyjal. (Source)

Bloat vs. Choice
I think the word "bloat" has become like the word "clunky" in these forums. It's so often used as a synonym for "I would have designed this differently" that it has lost a lot of specific meaning.

I think in the end one of the things we've really learned about what players are looking for in a talent tree is that they are often looking for different things. Some players are perfectly happy spending every point on say damage. Damage is what they do, so any point not related to damage feels wasted. Some players want every possible talent build to be legit. They don't want there to be any wrong answers such that they could almost assign points at random and have something that was functional and diverse. Some players, and this surprised us a little, like to have the ability to make bad choices and are perfectly happy making wrong choices -- to them the freedom to choose trumps the desire for power. Some players just want every point and agonize about having to leave anything out. Some get really bent out of shape at the thought of spending even 1 talent point on a talent that they may not use say once every 30 min or so. They would rather respec into a situational ability when that situation comes up rather than have it just in case. Some are mostly interested in just seeing something different. They are less interested in the perfect talent tree than they are in having them change over time. Even powerful abilities feel like old hat and they want the new hotness. You see this a lot for the classes whose talent trees changed earliest in Cataclysm, who are now wondering when "their overhaul" is coming. Opposing them are the nostalgia buffs who can't stand the thought of any talent or ability going away because it's iconic for their class.

I'm really not building towards any kind of conclusion with any of that. It has just been interesting to see the feedback. I guess I can offer that you might want to be careful about who you think you are speaking for when you say "we feel this" or "we don't want that." Players, even the microcosm of the forum community, want different things. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Holy Shield / 15% block
Yeah, as some of the other posters said the issue is not really whether 4.5% or 8% (which is pretty liberal) is the amount of damage reduced. You're comparing full uptime to no uptime. If a paladin refuses to use their mitigation talents (i.e. stubbornly or sloppily choose not to use Holy Shield ever) then they are going to take more damage and suffer the consequences.

The issue is how catastrophic is it if you are sloppy and let Holy Shield slip off for a short time or choose to use Word of Glory instead. The answer is probably: not very.

Fifteen percent block is rarely going to make the difference between you being alive or dead. It will make a difference over the course of a fight in how much damage you take and therefore how much mana your healers need to invest. For that reason it's an excellent idea to keep Holy Shield up a lot. But if you let it fall down every now and then, you probably won't explode. (And let's remember there are several emergency buttons if you are on the verge of explodination that will mitigate a lot more damage than a block.)

The reason I keep comparing it to 15% damage reduction, is because damage reduction affects every hit you take. Block is a chance to take less damage on every swing. Integrated over the course of an entire fight, you will probably block 15% more with Holy Shield up. But if you let it drop for a few boss swings, you are going to take far less than 15% more damage. In fact, you may take no extra damage at all (i.e. you would have blocked anyway). In fact, you may take no damage at all (i.e. you dodged or parried). (Source)

Holy Shield uptime
I would say we are actually giving you control over your ability to survive. Today paladin tanking is very automated. Today the control isn't in your hands. We need to change that.

Look, nothing on normal mode is going to be tuned to the point where a paladin tank who lets Holy Shield fall down wipes the group. On heroic mode, yes, you will probably be asked to play to the best of your ability. That's the purpose of those challenges. (Source)

Why is Holy Shield duration so short?
The reason we haven't done that is we're concerned that once you have any Holy Power left for extra things, that you then assume you'd be balanced around those extra things. So for example, the model goes from paladins having to keep 15% block up to having to keep 15% block up *and* heal themselves every rotation. That's still a model we might consider though.

We're happy with the bones of the design. The details and tuning aren't quite right yet, but we have many ideas left to try. (Source)

Priest (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Shadow Power
Shadow Power is now called "Blackout" and is a passive talent tree bonus for picking the tree. It provides 200% crits to Shadow spells. (Source)

Archangel and Evangelism
Archangel and Evangelism don't stack. The intent is that Dark Archangel is used when burst matters more than sustained damage (Dark Evangelism = Sustained, Dark Archangel = Burst), and not really something you'd do rotationally. In PvE you might do it if the target is going to die soon (when sustained dps really doesn't really matter), for target swapping, right before Bloodlust etc. (Source)

Mind Spike redesign
There are some additional Shadow changes that are upcoming, including a slight re-design for Mind Spike. The role for Mind Spike is still something you can do when you don't have the opportunity for your full blown rotation, but we also don't want you to feel like you have to work it into your normal rotation. (Source)

Mind Flay
Mind Flay is going back to a 3 sec cast time. As sometimes happens in beta, the data were pulled right while we were changing the spell, resulting in it being bugged. Sorry. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Twilight Ascendant Models, Alextrasza vs. Deathwing, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 133 Comments
  1. Frozenbeef's Avatar
    i like the ascendants model...but the helm just looks really silly to me... kinda reminds me of

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Jvp-cEoo4W...er_knish01.jpg >.<

    ---------- Post added 2010-08-07 at 12:45 PM ----------

    or http://www.theumbrellahat.com/images/purple.jpg :P

    ---------- Post added 2010-08-07 at 12:46 PM ----------

    or if you put your head in http://www.stellabrella.com.au/image...rim%20side.jpg :P
  1. Jindujun's Avatar
    is it just me or does many of those lines sound completely devoid of any emotions?
  1. Noldi's Avatar
    Alexstrasza has an orgasm at 2:20?

    Did not like her voice at all. Deathwing's voice was awesome, though.
  1. Tviksas's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Combine View Post
    I love you TotalBiscuit.
    we all do.
    we all...
  1. crsh1976's Avatar
    Alexstrasza taking credit for downing Malygos? That wench!
  1. Azahel's Avatar
    It's cool to see how Deathwing is capable of yelling and sounding totally crazy. That's just how I imagined him on The War of the Ancients trilogy and it's much more interesting than arthas' monotone voice.
  1. Antenorra's Avatar
    I think this is Calen:

    http://www.wowwiki.com/Caelestrasz

    He's the only one that's Alex's kid that can probably be called it.
  1. Unspecified's Avatar
    god deathwing sounds a lot like the lich king
  1. Snorri's Avatar
    As Deathwing says something about receiving gifts from the true masters of this world, he obviously means the Old Gods. That means he is still in service to them.
  1. Malleus's Avatar
    "Look upon me, and you see death incarnate. The unmaker... of worlds."

    Nice to see someone at Blizzard has read the Bhagavad Gita ... or at least the Wiki article on the Manhattan Project.
  1. dietx's Avatar
    It is just me or does Alexstraza's voice sound terrible? I always pictured to life binder to have a sort-of alluring voice, not the voice of a 60 year old woman. But then again maybe its just me and im comparing the sources and sounds to the wrong thing lol. I even think the Deathwing voice sounds a little out there but then again when you gain so much respect and imagination from the lore itself you begin to make up the voices of these heroes/villains in your head and i think thats what happened to me.
  1. drukai's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Malleus View Post
    "Look upon me, and you see death incarnate. The unmaker... of worlds."

    Nice to see someone at Blizzard has read the Bhagavad Gita ... or at least the Wiki article on the Manhattan Project.
    Doesn't seem like thats where thats coming from. "I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."" ~ Oppenheimer. I definitely see the similarities, but I think in this specific case, I think we just have a simulacrum.
  1. Lucofthewind's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dietx View Post
    It is just me or does Alexstraza's voice sound terrible? I always pictured to life binder to have a sort-of alluring voice, not the voice of a 60 year old woman. But then again maybe its just me and im comparing the sources and sounds to the wrong thing lol. I even think the Deathwing voice sounds a little out there but then again when you gain so much respect and imagination from the lore itself you begin to make up the voices of these heroes/villains in your head and i think thats what happened to me.
    I find it very fitting. Alexstaza is the lifebinder, and guardian of all life. She kinda has that granny feel to her.
  1. wildi's Avatar
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    Bloat vs. Choice
    Players, want different things.
    No shit. Just keep dodging the questions and concerns until november, time will tell how that works out.
  1. Renard117's Avatar
    Deathwing sounds like Garrosh yelling through an echoey cave.
  1. Marlamin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ralth View Post
    Sorry for the messup with that one Deathwing line, I never transcribed those, fixed now in the video and Bibi will fix it once he gets online I presume (Blame Marlamin, he made the Deathwing transcriptions)
    Shouldn't have copied paste them from the wrong place then!
  1. Belize's Avatar
    OH GOD NOT THE PUPPIES! I'll kill every keylogger I see to save the puppies!
  1. Eldar45's Avatar
    Who else thinks Liv Tyler needs to do the voice of Alexstrasza?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlEhEw52kBg

    Perfect example. She can sound strong, and she can sound caring, while sounding mythical at the same time.
  1. Suggs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by JohnnyTKF View Post
    The voice of Alextrasza... So weird, she sounds like a 50 y/o woman, although she IS pretty old, but Malygos sounded younger... Oh well. Also, pallies are the most played class, so 16% of wow's pop did give a crap about em :P
    i made a mistake with what i first posted here but ill rephrase it for those that may of saw what i put, i got alex a little mixed up with some of ysera lore wise etc etc anyway what i think is this old woman voice is perfect for alex, take this bit copied from wowiki;
    "Alexstrasza would be known as the Life-Binder, working to safeguard all living creatures of Azeroth. Due to her supreme wisdom and limitless compassion for all living things, Alexstrasza was crowned the Dragonqueen and given dominion over her kind."

    Now take what wowiki says about ysera being the mother of cenarius (or adoptive mother)etc etc , to not portray these 2 as being older wiser caring motherly pair of sisters , you know the one you look up to watches over you protects you etc etc etc , it would be crazy to put a young voice on them it just would not fit there roles. Im crap at explaing things when i have just woke up but im sure you know where im coming from when you think about it. Pefect choice on blizzards behalf to make her sound old imo

    edit , just to add i havnt cant remember hearing a voice for ysera lol wether they have done one of i just cant remember it i dont know ive just woke up but yea alex sounds older...perfect and so should ysera imo for the above reasons in my post.
  1. pitchan's Avatar
    the air twilight ascendant was really ugly..

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