PvP Sets Preview and Recap, New Maps, Blue Posts, Fan Art

[chaud]

Diablo 3 - Usefulness of Gems, Legendary Gear Balancing, Blue Posts, and Interview and Review for "The Order"

Death Knight PvP Set Preview
The new video preview should be fairly representative of the set you will see in the final version of the game!

Shaman PvP Set Preview
The new video preview should be fairly representative of the set you will see in the final version of the game!

Rogue PvP Set Preview
The new video preview should be fairly representative of the set you will see in the final version of the game!

PvP Sets Recap
Now is a good time to take a look at all of the PvP sets we have seen so far. Several of the sets have updated screenshots and some have more colors added, so be sure to take a look!

Class	Male	Female	Video
Death Knight	Male Human	Female Human	Video
Monk	Male Human	Female Human	Video
Priest	Female Pandaren	Female Human	Video
Rogue	Male Human	Female Human	Video
Shaman	Male Human	Female Human	Video
Warlock	Male Human	Female Human	Video

Beta Build 15699 New Maps
Several new maps were added in the latest beta build.

Blue Posts

Druid (Forums)
Balance Druid Concerns
If we add Insect Swarm back, it would not be just to have another dot to manage, but to give players some way to interact with solar or lunar power more. There are other ways to do that too, so it may not ultimately be Insect Swarm. The rotation is close to where we want it, but it needs just a little more to play with.

At the 5000 foot view, the point of the Eclipse mechanic to begin with was to cast X spells for a time, then switch to Y spells with the Druid having some control over when or why that occurred. We don't think killing critters to get the bar moving or gaming it so that you stayed at one side of the bar forever really delivered on the vision for Eclipse. However, those tactics did give players some control -- a way to game things so that more clever players could extract a bit more performance out of the mechanic.

We are concerned that we are too far to the other extreme now, where the game UI tells you whether to use your solar buttons or lunar buttons and you really aren't making any strategic decisions. We want to introduce some relatively simple, elegant mechanic to give you more control over how much lunar or solar power you have. Maybe that's Insect Swarm. Maybe it's something else. Try it out over the next few builds, keeping in mind that it may take a bit before we have something we are satisfied with. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Paladin (Forums)
Judgements of the Pure Removed
In our most recent tests and instance runs, Holy paladin longevity was much longer than other healers, even without Judgements of the Pure. We need to get Holy to the same level as the other healers. It may be at that point that all healer mana income is too low or that damage in dungeons is too high and well have to adjust accordingly. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Inquisition Glyph
This glyph isn't supposed to be a no-brainer for DPS. Hopefully none of the glyphs are.

At the risk of sounding more patronizing than I intend, a common mistake I see some players make is to look at maximum possible theoretical DPS and assume that is the DPS they can achieve. We have the numbers we think every class can achieve under ideal situations (meaning no movement or distractions, etc.). The best players in the world can deliver on these numbers while executing very complex boss fights. That's a little mind boggling for us, but it's true. Very few players are capable of such feats however.

For the rest of us, our hope is that it works out like this:

1) Expert player who foregoes the Glyph of Inquisition, executes Inquisition uptime perfectly, and delivers 99% of max possible DPS.

2) Intermediate player who sometimes struggles with maintaining Inquisition, takes the glyph, and delivers 75% of max possible DPS.

3) Player who thinks he is more expert than he is, skips the Glyph of Inquisition because that's what all the cool kids do, finds as a result that he struggles with Inquisition uptime, and delivers 60% of Mac possible DPS.

Don't take my percentage numbers too seriously, but you get the idea. Many classes have similar glyphs. My advice is to measure your DPS (in an actual encounter or PvP) and see whether you benefit or not. The rotations that works for the best players (of any class) may not work for everyone. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Warlock (Forums)
Warlock Mana Problems
We think the mana costs for Demonology feel pretty good and of course Destruction's mana works totally differently now. For Affliction, we agree that the mana costs are too high - possibly way too high. As some of the posters above pointed out, there is also a bug with some channeled spells, most notably Malefic Grasp, that charge an extra tick at the end. That isn't helping any.

We think Life Tap as a way of restoring mana works and has been a warlock staple for a long time. We just think Affliction locks on beta right now are spending too much of their time having to do it. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Fan Art Update
The World of Warcraft Fan Art Section has been updated with four new pieces of fan artwork.

[Apollet]

Still love that dk set.

[Grelsha]

Shammy PvP set = first PvE set from Cata?! - Just a slightly bigger bloody hat...

[Pellaeon]

The DK set looks kind of odd with the teeth on it.. makes me think the DK underneath is wincing or something :P

[Imhullu]

Uhhhh.... wtf is up with that worgen fan art.

[Karthorn]

Please, please, please! Stop using Humans for the video preview of sets! Use Pandaren or a beefy race like Tauren (No pun intended)

[Tierbook]

Uhhhh.... wtf is up with that worgen fan art.

i guess some people are into that kinda thing

[Raeion]

that dk set looks damn amazing love those blue eyes + teeth

[Zelk]

GC is just wrong when it comes to warlock mana

[Deleted]

Uhhhh.... wtf is up with that worgen fan art.

That is really disturbing... hopefully i can still sleep tonight. I mean, all that and with that outfit? God damn furries.

[Krom]

Nice furry porn :P

[Necronium]

Daaayuuum. Worgen lady, looking gooood.

I'm going to hell. I really am.

[Pasture]

That Pandaren art. <3

[Kaitline]

DKs pretty cool)) Rogues are - brrrr

[Deleted]

The dk set looks amazing :O

[Yogg-Saron, God of Death]

Man, I'm still dying to see the DK S12 Belt Buckle.

I was hoping the updated preview would show it, but sadly that's not the case.

[metalgemini]

Rogue set makes me want to cry. Hoping it looks better on orcs/trolls cuz it's going to look like trash on my dwarf! DK set is great though.

I hope when they update character models, they can make chest/legs 3d - the shaman set would be a lot better if the little claws were actually hanging off the robes and not painted on

[Bombkirby]

The "entangling roots" fan art has QUITE the debate going on in its comments. Namely because it has hints of vore in it. I've never seen a fan art piece with pages and pages of comments. O_O

[Grym]

My Shaman PvP set will once again be transmog'd

[greyghost]

Uhhhh.... wtf is up with that worgen fan art.

"Vore"

That's what's up with it.

Fucking furries.