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

PTR 4.0.3a - Build 13316
The shattering happened on PTR 4.0.3, the login screen is the one shipped with Cataclysm and the world is changed forever!


This build is already tagged as (Release), if there isn't any major bug you can totally expect patch 4.0.3a on live servers next week.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
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

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 ].

Cataclysm Preview: Tol Barad
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
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’s 6th Anniversary!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
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!

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

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)

Fan Wallpaper
A new fan wallpaper has been added to the official site.

This article was originally published in forum thread: PTR 4.0.3a - Build 13316, Tol Barad Preview, 6th Anniversary, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Published on 2010-11-17 08:02 AM
172 Comments
Comments 172 Comments
  1. The Master's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by fangless View Post
    Let me go hop in my time machine.
    I used my time machine to go into the past and keep you from building yours. We'll never know what happens.... until it happens.
  1. KnickKnack's Avatar
    You know why there is no pet this year??

    One word: Kotick.
  1. Auloria's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Therec View Post
    That I can understand, it's the misinformation started by griefers and lack of reading skills that seem to plague these forums that I can't understand. At this point the reputation grinds do not matter, because unless you're close to exalted with the faction already, it will be near impossible to reach exalted with Zandalar or Shen'dralar within one week.
    Shen'dralar okay, but Zandalar is one of the fastest reps to grind. You can definitely still get that done even starting from nothing.
  1. Lemons's Avatar
    No pet, just a feat of strength? Bleh. They couldn't come up with one new pet? Ridiculous! They're spending too much time making the cost-money variety, so I guess they can't be bothered to make a pet that they'd just give away for free.
  1. Zaios's Avatar
    Did Blizzard not say that they wanted to "slowly" implement the world changes, and they did not want to have the changes occur overnight? Ie, you log online on patch day and everything has changed. If I remember correctly, Blizzard said they wanted some kind of phasing to be involved; however, I've heard nothing of how the shattering is going to occur other than what we've seen from the Cata cinematic. Maybe next week will apply the patch and "begin" the shattering? If someone could clarify this, it would be great. Thanks in advance.
  1. huhwhathuh's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nillah View Post
    So the 4th and 5th anniversaries were both major, but the 6th isn't? Wat.
    Note he says, "We plan to reserve..." From the word "plan" it sounds like it is their philosophy going forward. So from here on out, pets will probably be reserved for important milestones.

    I have read the post that you linked from beginning to end twice. *Nowhere* in that post does it state that there *won't*...
    I think it is pretty obvious from the Blue thread. You can bet that Blizzard knows (and has committed to) exactly what will happen for the 6 year anniversary. Regardless of talent level, pets take a bit of work and planning, especially if they add new animations and such. Deathy is a perfect example... and his associated bugs.

    Still unconvinced? See old forums, general discussion, World of Warcraft’s 6th Anniversary!

    "There isn't a pet planned for this year, no. We plan to reserve this sort of celebratory bonus for the most notable milestones or events in the future." - Daxx
  1. KCguy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nillah View Post
    So the 4th and 5th anniversaries were both major, but the 6th isn't? Wat.
    They are going to give everyone a free pet down the road in Cata at least that's what was mentioned in the blue post. (Apparently there is a more important event then the 6th anniv). It is a shame that we get no pet, but if we get it eventually then it won't really matter I guess.
  1. Osseous's Avatar
    I really, really doubt it will go live next Tuesday. They won't mess with the game near Thanksgiving. Blizz employees want to see their families too.. and that weekend is such a big commercial sales weekend that most companies "freeze" everything... including a game already out... so that you dont risk impacting the waves of money you expect to collect
  1. Therec's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Auloria View Post
    Shen'dralar okay, but Zandalar is one of the fastest reps to grind. You can definitely still get that done even starting from nothing.
    True if you do it correctly. However most people only run full clears with a group in order to gain rep, and with you only getting ~5k rep (4.5k for the clear, 500-1000 rep for the shared coins and bijous) in only 2 resets, you're going to be SoL. For those who really want to push it for the feat of strength, they can always just solo farm the trash, collect the bijous and coins, go turn those in, and wait for the soft reset in a few hours. It it possible to get from neutral to exalted in 6 days if you do it that way.

    Or you could do it the way I did, farm Shen'dralar rep, save the arcanums that you get as quest rewards, and only go into ZG once, clearing it out to reach friendly, then turning in all the arcanums for exalted. I would not recommend this, I only did it this way b/c I was completing Insane in the Membrane and kept the arcanums out of convenience.
  1. Marooned's Avatar
    Can you check guild achieves tabs in 4.0.3a? Does guild tab have the new 2 tabs we had in beta?
  1. Sonneillon's Avatar
    4th and 5th anniversery were the only years with pets, somehow everyone is now entitled to yearly pets... Baby blizz bear wasnt even a new model, the baby bears been in the game since vanilla, albet without a skin.

    Further proof Blizzard, don't ever do anything for your community ever, it will just bite you in the ass, much like the pre expansion events.
  1. zarbus's Avatar
    still incredibly impressed with the tol barad raid's atmosphere.
  1. deplorable's Avatar
    They didn't update the brewstein for this year (a new colour) so no new pet for the anniversery was expected. (busy with their expansion and you know the charity pets)

    Wished they had put a feedback button, i'm finding a fair number of bugged quests (uther alliance one in western plaguelands) for example.. and some of the text is a little off an NPC up there still talks about the war effort with the cauldrons.

    not ready for release.
  1. Durtnasty's Avatar
    Great. Another stupid Wintergrasp premise where you unlock raid bosses to give to free loots. SKILLS!
  1. Kiore's Avatar
    Can someone over on PTR confirm or deny guild levelling/achievements being in the game now? Or is that not until Dec 7th also?
  1. 7itanium's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiore View Post
    Can someone over on PTR confirm or deny guild levelling/achievements being in the game now? Or is that not until Dec 7th also?
    All ACHIEVEMENTS are in-game as of 4.0.3a PTR.... THOUGH... most of the new ones are currently incapable of achieving.

    ---------- Post added 2010-11-17 at 05:39 PM ----------

    Also, Beta is down at the moment, possibly being updated to test these changes in PvE/PvP environment @ 85.
  1. Kiore's Avatar
    You sure on guild achievements? Another thread said they were NOT in. Its a seperate tab on the achievements window and is only displayed when you belong to a guild.
  1. Darkcover's Avatar
    I just "Shatt" my pants.

    c wut aye did thar?

    ---------- Post added 2010-11-17 at 05:55 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Mistral View Post
    Which reputation-factions get removed with 4.03a? Need a summary.
    I think Shen'dralar for shure, but heard rumors about Hydraxian Waterlords, Argent Dawn, Nozdormu and others.
    Hydraxian Waterlords from what I remember with the beta is still in, Argent Dawn may be in, but not obtainable, and Nozdormu I believe is gone.
  1. Spammeister's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by KnickKnack View Post
    You know why there is no pet this year??

    One word: Kotick.
    (Yelling as Kirk!)
    KOT I I I I I I I I I I I CK!

    In all seriousnessness, it's gotta be them french fruits at Vivendi wrecking our funs.
  1. Evenios's Avatar
    I really hope the invasions will NOT keep happening once the Shattering hits as it seems to be on the test server now, that would be annoying as heck. Lets hope thats just a bug and will not be in the final version!
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