5.4 Heirloom Raid Weapons, 5.4 Notes Update, SoO Raid Testing, Blue Tweets, HS Update

[chaud]

Round Table Meetings at Gamescom 2013, Blue Posts, What Creature of Sanctuary Would You Want As a Pet?

In-Game Real Money Beta Purchase Reward Clarifications, Buffs After Silence, Server Regions

Patch 5.4 - Heirloom Raid Weapons
Along with all of the other Siege of Orgrimmar loot, Patch 5.4 adds some Heirloom weapons that drop from Garrosh. These items do not drop in Raid Finder difficulty, only Flex, Normal, and Heroic. Keep in mind that nothing on the PTR is final until it goes live.

Patch 5.4 PTR Notes Update - August 7

Classes

• Vengeance has received several changes.
  
  • So as not to affect Challenge Mode leader boards, the above Vengeance changes will not apply there. For Challenge Modes, Vengeance will continue to work as it did in patch 5.3.
    

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• General
  
  • Wild Mushroom for Restoration Druids now summons a single mushroom at the friendly target’s location. If the mushroom is recast, the mushroom moves to the new location and retains its accumulated bonus healing.
    
    • The amount of healing stored on a Wild Mushroom is now reduced by Battle Fatigue.
      
• Talents
  
  • Dream of Cenarius has been completely redesigned to reduce complexity and increase usability, but maintain the spirit of the effects. Benefits now vary by specialization.
    
    • Guardian: Increases the amount healed by Healing Touch by 20%. Increases the critical strike chance of Mangle (Bear) by 10% and critical strikes of Mangle (Bear) have a 40% chance to make the next Healing Touch or Rebirth instant, free, and castable in all forms. Instant cast version of Healing Touch now benefits from Attack Power instead of Spell Power.
      

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Talents
  
  • Rushing Jade Wind has been redesigned and replaces Spinning Crane Kick.
    
    • Rushing Jade Wind: The Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind has the same costs, Chi generation, and periodic rate as Spinning CRake Kick, but, deals 60% of the periodic damage or healing, lasts 6 seconds, is instant, and not channeled.
      

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Holy
  
  • Holy Insight now increases the effectiveness of Eternal Flame, Light of Dawn, and Word of Glory by 50%. Effectiveness of other heals are still increased by 25%.
• Talents
  
  • Sacred Shield
    
    • Holy: Sacred Shield now applies its damage absorption shield immediately, can be active on more than one target at a time, but the talent now costs mana and has 3 charges with a 10-second recharge.
      
    • Protection and Retribution: Sacred Shield is 30% less effective.
      

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• General
  
  • Shadow Word: Death damage is now increased by 80% when used on enemies that have less than 20% health, but the cooldown is no longer reset if the target does not die.
• Discipline
  
  • Grace can no longer be dispelled.
• Class Armor
  
  • Discipline/Holy PvP 2-piece set bonus' (4-piece set bonus pre-Season 12) Holy Spark effect can no longer be dispelled.
    
  • Shadow PvP 4-piece set bonus is no longer an area-of-effect and only affects the character that dispels Vampiric Touch.

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Affliction
  
  • Nightfall now gives Corruption a 10% increased chance to generate a Soul Shard on the most recently applied Corruption.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Arms
  
  • Slam now deals 50% more damage, but the Rage cost has been increased by 50% as well. While Sweeping Strikes is active, Slam will deal 35% of damage dealt against the primary target to all other enemies within 2 yards, and targets affected by Colossus Smash receives 10% more damage.

Quests

• Wrathion's Legendary Questline
  
  • The first eight bosses in Siege of Orgrimmar have a chance to drop a Sigil of Power, Sigil of Wisdom, Secrets of the Empire, or Titan Runestone in addition to their normal loot for players on the appropriate step in the legendary questline.
    

Professions
Archaeology

• Mantid Artifact Sonic Locator no longer randomizes digsites when acquired, and is more difficult to obtain. They can now only be purchased as part of a Mantid Artifact Hunter’s Kit, which includes a Lorewalker’s Map.

Blacksmithing

• New Raid and PvP blacksmithing plans have been added. These new plans can be researched by crafting Balanced Trillium Ingot, allowing the blacksmith to learn a random new plan.
  
• Plans for Balanced Trillium Ingot could be found as a drop from creatures in Pandaria.

Cooking

• A number of new cooking recipes have been added, including new foods that give +300 to a primary stat and noodle carts. Some of these new recipes can be learned from drops in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, others from quests.

Enchanting

• Items formerly obtained with Valor Points that now cost Justice Points as well as gear crafted from new PvP recipes or plans will now disenchant into Sha Crystal Fragments.
  
• Multiple Sha Crystal Fragments can be combined into a Sha Crystal.

Engineering

• Engineers that are able to acquire Chief Engineer Jard’s Journal can learn to craft Jard's Peculiar Energy Source; a new material used in a number of new engineering schematics. The journal can be obtained as a drop from creatures in Pandaria.
  
• Blingtron 4000 Gift Package now has a chance to contain Lil’ Bling, a companion pet.

Fishing

• With the lakes and rivers in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms drained of water, the Cloud Serpents carried little buckets of Jewel Danio and relocated them to the Timeless Isle so they can thrive once more.

Inscription

• Many new glyph techniques have been added, and some existing glyphs have been changed. Some of the new techniques can be obtained from creatures anywhere in Pandaria, while others can only be found on powerful creatures that reside on the Timeless Isle.
  
• A new technique to create Crafted Malevolent Gladiator’s Medallion of Tenacity can be found as a world drop

Leatherworking

• New Raid and PvP leatherworking patterns have been added. These new patterns can be researched by crafting Hardened Magnificent Hide, allowing the leatherworker to learn a random new pattern.
  
• Patterns for Hardened Magnificent Hide could be found as a drop from creatures in Pandaria.
  
• Leatherworkers can find a pattern to craft Drums of Rage as a drop from creatures in Pandaria. The drums can be used by anyone to give their raid a minor bloodlust-like effect.

Tailoring

• New Raid and PvP tailoring patterns have been added. These new patterns can be researched by crafting Celestial Cloth, allowing the tailor to learn a random new pattern.
  
• Patterns for Celestial Cloth could be found as a drop from creatures in Pandaria.

Items

• Trinket, enchant, set bonus, and legendary meta-gem effects whose triggered effect benefits from haste no longer also have their chance to trigger the benefit from haste. Activation chances and internal cooldowns for those effects and other trinket effects have been adjusted to compensate and will now be displayed on their tooltip.

Raid Testing Schedule - August 8-9

On Thursday, August 8, and Friday, August 9, we will continue testing raid encounters in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid. We're moving on to 10-player Heroic testing at this time, and then 25-player mode as the PTR cycle progresses.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Public Test Realms.

Thursday, August 8
Immerseus - 10 Player Heroic - 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)
Norushen - 10 Player Heroic - 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST)

Friday, August 9
Spoils of Pandaria - 10 Player Heroic - 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)
Paragons of the Klaxxi - 10 Player Heroic - 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST)

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Blue Tweets

Lore
Instead you did the exact opposite and went to a complete standstill. Main heroes mostly do nothing at all.
Characters like Garrosh and Jaina have a lot of presence in the 5.0 story. Now, you may not like them or wish we had included more. (Source)

Wotlk had the highest integration of players to the story. Cata and mop had arguably none or really week.
We also heard criticism that Arthas turned up every time you opened a closet. Risked making him feel more annoying than frightening. (Source)

Real question, what is the intrinsic value of content? Story/Aesthetic difficulty matters less.
Seeing content and seeing story are both rewards. In WoW, gear just tends to be a more motivating reward for many. (Source)

I have a feeling that y'shaarj is the true baddie in this expansion amirite?
He is dead. (Source)
How can Old Gods die if "They're outside the cycle"?
"What is dead may never die?" (Source)

stop saying u lose a leveling zone when u can phase for hight levels like u do on Theramor
Okay, so you're asking for Ashenvale to be phased at higher level to reinforce Alliance winning back some land? (Source)

Just trying to understand how the ongoing story makes sense after changes such as this - esp for lower level toons
We often have a problem with the lower level time flow. Arthas is dead 1-60 then alive 61-80 then dead again 80-90. (Source)
Why not turn TBC & WotLK into optional content that can be played in scenarios / cavern of times?
It's a neat idea. It just takes designer time away from other ideas (which doesn't mean it's off the table). (Source)

World
Can we get a list of to-be-joined servers in 5.4 so we can start matching guilds/arena teams up? Thanks!
There are no Arena teams any longer. We'll provide lists of connected realms when we have resolved which ones are affected. (Source)

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Hearthstone - State of the Game
There was a new Hearthstone blog post today that talks about the current state of the game. It revealed that beta is finally feature complete and still planned for the summer, but it won't be ready this week.

Players who purchase a pack of cards during the beta will receive a golden Gelbin Mekkatorque card. This card will not be disenchantable and only obtainable as a beta reward. Be sure to read the full blog post on Hearthpwn.

The Burdens of Shaohao
If you can't get enough of Lorewalker Cho's storytelling, this should be a fun week for you. Blizzard is releasing a six part series that looks at Emperor Shaohao as he progresses toward discovering the truth about his future.

[moveth]

It would be AWESOME to keep my weapon through next xpacs leveling. omg.

[Somebody]

Level cap is going to be 100. Called it.

[Harranus]

Wooo I wasn't sure if they were going to go to level 100 looks now it's confirmed!

[vass23]

hmmmm level 90 to 100.... 2 xpacs?.... or 1 with 10 levels!

[hawtlol]

Oh but I thought this was impossible! This is such a great idea, love it. Love that the level cap will be 100.

[Twilight Cultist]

Looks like we are going to level 100 in the next xpac.

[Berraant]

I just got done linking all of the items throughout the difficulties together on WoWHead. It was busy work, but I got it done. I'm "Beranis" on WoWHead.

[Glaziola]

This is going to suck for realm first race if heroic raiders get to keep their heroic scaling weapon, especially warriors and dks who scale very heavy with weapons.

[Dezminion]

Intresting, heirloom weapons are to lvl range 90-100

[Shuji V2]

If they are really going for 10 levels again, I'm gonna be really happy! =D

[furydeath]

ANd they are from heoric it would seem?

[Foto]

Discussion has some how gone to ERMAGHERD LEVEL 100 when it really should be, what the actual fuck BoA BiS raiding gear, what da fuck

[The Kao]

Well at least it's more plausible to assume next x-pac goes to 100 than assuming they'd give us weapons that last for the next two x-pacs.

[Deleted]

Discussion has some how gone to ERMAGHERD LEVEL 100 when it really should be, what the actual fuck BoA BiS raiding gear, what da fuck

what he said.

[Deleted]

heirlooms with higher ilvl than best epic raid drop? Did i see that one right?
Also; in the burdens video nr.3 anyone else seeing an implication for the next expansion?

[Zhaine]

There's a typo on the monk section

Rushing Jade Wind: The Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind has the same costs, Chi generation, and periodic rate as Spinning CRake Kick, but, deals 60% of the periodic damage or healing, lasts 6 seconds, is instant, and not channeled.

[Bane-Thunder-God]

Discussion has some how gone to ERMAGHERD LEVEL 100 when it really should be, what the actual fuck BoA BiS raiding gear, what da fuck

Yeah... like we don't have enough whining already on forums to any changes made by Blizz. People like you is whats wrong with the community rather than stating what could be the possible issues of this change, you whine and moan and cuss Blizzard for it.

[merex760]

Discussion has some how gone to ERMAGHERD LEVEL 100 when it really should be, what the actual fuck BoA BiS raiding gear, what da fuck

Cause clearly they aren't smart enough to make the weapon the equivalent of a blue from 90-100 once the expansion launches. Nope.

[Blur4stuff]

With the lakes and rivers in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms drained of water, the Cloud Serpents carried little buckets of Jewel Danio and relocated them to the Timeless Isle so they can thrive once more.

best part of notes