PTR 4.0.3a - Build 13316, Tol Barad Preview, 6th Anniversary, Blue Posts

Racials

• Blood Fury now increases attack power by 1170 at level 85. Up from 342.
• Blood Fury now increases spell power by 585 at level 85. Up from 173.

Death Knight (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Blood

• Death Strike now heals you for 25% (down from 30%) of the damage sustained during the preceding 5 sec, minimum of at least 7% (down from 10%) of your maximum health.
• Rune Tap now heals you for 10% of your maximum health, down from 15%.

Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Retribution

• Divine Storm now causes 80% weapon damage, up from 60%.

Holy

• Holy Shock base healing reduced by 33%, from [ 3943 - 4272 ] to [ 2628 - 2847 ]

Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Holy

• Binding Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 3960 - 5091 ] to [ 4752 - 6110 ]
• Greater Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 6968 - 8098 ] to [ 8361 - 9717 ]
• Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 2613 - 3037 ] to [ 3136 - 3644 ]
• Flash Heal base healing value increased by 20%, from [ 5227 - 6074 ] to [ 6272 - 7289 ]

Shaman (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Restoration

• Healing Rain base healing has been increased by 100%, from [ 345 - 410 ] to [ 690 - 820 ].

An island off the coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, Tol Barad is a historic land now sought-after by the leaders of the Horde and the Alliance. Its strategic, isolated location makes it an ideal stronghold from which to conduct military strikes. In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, a battle will be waged to seize control of this prized territory. Should you triumph, unique rewards await you. Read more about this all-new world PvP and questing zone here.

The Fight for Tol Barad
Similar to Wintergrasp, Tol Barad will serve as an open world PvP zone, although there is also a hub on Tol Barad Peninsula for both factions to complete daily quests. Reachable by portals in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, or via a level-85 mage teleport or portal, Tol Barad will accept up to 80 players per faction to engage in brutal combat across the island's surface. Unlike Wintergrasp, Tol Barad will not have Tenacity buffs. Instead, the queue system will attempt to match each side at a 1-to-1 ratio. Battles will take place every two hours and thirty minutes, giving the offensive faction a chance to claim territory.

Tol Barad will feature capture-point gameplay. There are three keeps and three towers for the defending side to hold. When destroyed by the attackers, each tower will add five minutes to the standard fifteen-minute battle timer. In order to win, though, all three keeps must be captured and controlled by the attackers. If these keeps cannot be taken by the attacking forces, the defending faction will claim victory in Tol Barad. Similar to Eye of the Storm, Tol Barad determines whether a keep has been captured by the number of players from each side in the immediate area. There is, however, a new twist: each time a member of your faction is killed in the immediate vicinity of a keep, a slider bar will move slightly in favor of the opposing faction. So not only does the size of each force in the area determine who controls each keep, but losing allies during the contesting process determines control as well.

In order to destroy the defenders' towers, attackers will have access to an all-new type of war machine: Abandoned Siege Engines. Six of these Siege Engines will be placed around the map, and these vehicles can be used to bombard the towers. In contrast to the Siege Engines of Wintergrasp, these machines cannot attack players or buildings while the vehicles are being driven. Instead, players must drive them within range of a tower and jump out, allowing the vehicle to transform into an automated cannon that can lay siege to the tower. The Abandoned Siege Engine will continue to damage the closest tower in range until the machine is destroyed by opposing forces.

To the Victor Go the Spoils
Players who win the battle for Tol Barad will be awarded honor points in addition to Tol Barad commendations. These commendations can be used along with new reputations as currency with special vendors who sell rare and epic items, mounts, and more. In addition, the controlling faction will have unique access to extra daily quests. Similar to the Vault of Archavon, Tol Barad gives those who control it the chance to form a raid and best foul beasts locked within Baradin Hold for precious rewards.

Questing for a Living
Aside from the battle to control Tol Barad, there are many quests available to both factions just off of the main island on Tol Barad Peninsula. Members of the Horde will assist Hellscream's Reach, an all-new faction vying for control of Tol Barad. At odds with the Horde are Baradin's Wardens, an Alliance faction also seeking to command the territory. Six unique quests, randomly determined from a larger pool of missions, will be offered daily. This will allow for diversity in completing quest objectives as you explore Tol Barad Peninsula over time. The faction that controls Tol Barad will also have sole access to six additional daily quests. Completing each of these exclusive quests will award experience, gold, and Tol Barad commendations. By accomplishing these tasks, players will learn of the perilous inmates held within the prison on Tol Barad, as well as why this isolated land is of great importance to Hellscream's Reach and Baradin's Wardens. In addition, increasing reputation with these new factions will grant access to incredible rewards.

With so much at stake in the wake of the Cataclysm, Tol Barad will be fiercely sought-after by the Horde and the Alliance, but it's up to you to help determine which side makes this island the next great military port of the Eastern Kingdoms.

World of Warcraft turns six on November 23rd, 2010! It’s been a truly incredible six years, and we’d like to thank you all for joining us on this momentous occasion. To celebrate, players that log into the game between the dates of November 30th and December 14th will receive a feat of strength added to their Achievements. We look forward to another great year ahead and many more to come!

Official forums going read-only
We're still hammering out some last minute issues, so the new forums aren't quite ready for prime time use just yet. We're working day to day to see when we can transition to the new site, so putting these forums as read-only could happen any time between tomorrow and early next week.

Consider it a standing warning that these forums will go read-only soon™. (Source)

Class changes and Blue Posts on official forums
We don't want the expectation to be that the reason you come to the forums is to get a blue post.

I tend to confine my posting to the three role forums. I read the PvP one, professions, dungeons and raids, UI, achievements, bug reports and a few others every day or two, and even if I don't regularly read a forum, rest assured that many folks at Blizzard do. Consider for example that I don't read forums posted in languages other than English (you'd think with the number of years I spent in school that I could have picked up something as practical as a second language), yet somehow that feedback still gets back to us.

While forum communication has advantages, such as quick turn around and the ability to have a fairly intimate conversation with developers, it has disadvantages too. We often lose the context of a conversation when folks read only the blue response, then jump in to a thread without reading it all. Many times the blue post detracts from an excellent conversation already taking place. Blue posts are famous for derailing conversations. Smart players in parts of Europe, Asia or Latin America get to participate in the conversations only indirectly. It drives me nuts that players sometimes assume only the threads (or forums!) with blue responses are the ones that get read. Finally, I think knowing that there is a small chance that a forum will get a dev response spurs some players into saying ridiculous things in the hopes of "winning the lottery."

We think these forums work best when they are 99% defined by players communicating with other players. With the new community site going live, it gives us an opportunity to try some things differently. I still plan on communicating with players as much as I can -- it is very important to me personally and I think it's a critical part of my job to get feedback on World of Warcraft's design. However, we're going to try some different avenues for communication in addition or perhaps in place of frequent developer forum posts.

We'll see how it works out. Blizzard is nothing if not iterative on design, so if we're not happy with the results, we promise to try different things. (Source)