Patch 3.1 Proto-Drake Mounts, Blue Posts

[Boubouille]

It looks like we'll see a new PTR Build today, hopefully this one will finally include models for Ulduar loot, harder bosses, and tier 8 sets to give us a more complete view of what to expect from this patch on live servers. Stay tuned?

Patch 3.1 - Proto-Drake Mounts
As mentioned in previous posts, a lot of mounts are being added to the game with Patch 3.1. Two of them are Proto-Drakes, the Ironbound Proto-Drake and the Rusted Proto-Drake. They're both 310% speed mounts, if you add this info to the few official posts we got in the past days, we can assume that they will be here to replace the Plagued Proto-Drake and Black Proto-Drake "removed" in Patch 3.1 (see this post).
[blizzquote="Bornakk;http://blue.mmo-champion.com/20/15671118888-glory-of-the-raider-and-friends.html]We don't feel like it needs a 280% mount reward after 3.1 comes out, we are adding new 310% mounts as Ulduar achievements for players to shoot for. If you just want a 280% mount, there are others out there to purchase (red drake) and earn (red protodrake). [/blizzquote"]
Again, this is just speculation, nothing was confirmed by Blizzard for the moment.

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Blue posts

Engineering changes in Patch 3.1
Here are some of the 3.1 changes for engineering so far:

• Added a new Reticulated Armor Webbing engineering enchant that increases the armor on plate gloves.
• Added a new Springy Arachnoweave engineering enchant that grants passive spell power in addition to turning your cloak into a parachute.
• Flexweave Underlay now grants passive agility in addition to its normal effect.
• Nitro Boosts now grant passive critical strike rating in addition to their speed boost.

The list may not be conclusive and is subject to change over the course of the public testing process. (Source)

Noblegarden (April 12 to April 18) achievements and Patch 3.1 release date
The current plan is to delay Noblegarden should the testing process run long. You should be able to get your week of egg-hunting in. And for those of you not looking forward to the egg-hunting of Noblegarden... I think you'll find it a wee bit different this year. (Source)

Replacing the Riding Crop in WotLK
We don't have any immediate plans for trinkets to be used to increase mount speed past 70. It is something that we are discussing and we will have more information about this at a later date. (Source)

Theorycrafting vs. PTR Testing
We put a lot more faith in actual numbers generated on the PTR. We have no way of knowing what assumptions or errors third party tools may make, and we can't really spend our development time debugging someone else's project. Usually the player base itself eventually knocks the bugs out of those things and they become accepted over time as reasonable or rejected. So until a lot of you start to say that a given tool accurately represents the numbers you can generate on the PTR or live, we take them with a grain of salt. You probably should too. (Source)

11/03 Realms and migration
Recommended realms
Normal/PvE: Blade's Edge, Saurfang, Terokkar
PvP: Auchindoun, Mazrigos, Vek'nilash
RP: Steamwheedle Cartel
RP PvP: Scarshield Legion

Saurfang (normal/PvE), Battlegroup Misery, opened January 31 as a fresh realm (no migration to the realm for 90 days).

Free Character Migration (FCM)
Please note that any migration may be closed at any time should a destination realm's population rise too high.

To improve the faction ratio on Magtheridon, the following migrations are available from March 11th to 17th:

From Magtheridon (Horde only) to Balnazzar, Burning Blade, Chromaggus, Dragonmaw, Executus, Genjuros, Hakkar, Haomarush, Neptulon, Sunstrider, Tarren Mill, Trollbane, Zenedar, and Silvermoon (PvE)
To Magtheridon (Alliance only) from all PvE realms except Chamber of Aspects and Saurfang

No other FCM will be open this week for English realms.

Death Knight (Skills List / Talent + Glyph Calc.)
Scent of Blood and Rune Strike
Scent of Blood would be a good replacement for Bo Sanc if it had better numbers. It's high enough in the tree, and just below a mandatory tanking talent, that most DKs should have access to it. I will correct one misconception though. On-next-swing attacks do count as melee swings, so Rune Strike actually will generate runic power with the Scent of Blood aura on you (though Blood Strike will not).

As clarified by a poster above, Rune Strike will also proc the Necrosis damage. (Source)

Tanking Threat
Expertise and hit are great +threat stats. That is especially true of DKs who suffer a lot when one of their rotational abilities fails to land. My point about DKs just starting out is that the content just starting out is very forgiving of gear. The 5-player content is designed to be tanked by an Arms warrior. (Source)

Druid (Skills List / Talent + Glyph Calc.)
Tree of Life in PvP
We like the tree in PvP. We changed mechanics in LK such as the self-snare to make the tree more reasonable, but we don't think it's quite there yet. We imagined two different defensive styles -- the traditional hot and run approach or going into (or staying as) Tree of Life for a more stand-there-and-take-it tactic. The problem, we think, is that the tree isn't survivable enough now and the cost of shifting in and out of tree is a little high. (Source)

[Morpheuspt]

What do you mean by harder bosses? We've only experienced less than half of the total amount of bosses in ulduar, and some are harder than others, we should wait and see, it's Ulduar, not Icecrown :P

Still, let's hope for the new build, looking forward to it =)

[redfly]

i'll laugh my ass off when those protos will be no longer obtainable once tier 9 raiding instances are released. because ulduar achivements are "too easy" to do in tier 9 gear.

[felix8024]

yea yea yea mounts are nice.
Engineering changes disappointed me. I think blizz is still without serious idea where the engineering should follow. Or other ideas are to timeconsuming and that is not the best time to take care of it.

[Deleted]

im getting sick of these wotlk drakes and wotlk proto drakes, seriously it feels like theres only 2 types if flying mounts ingame :-\

[bbr]

Engineering changes in Patch 3.1
Here are some of the 3.1 changes for engineering so far:
Added a new Reticulated Armor Webbing engineering enchant that increases the armor on plate gloves.
Added a new Springy Arachnoweave engineering enchant that grants passive spell power in addition to turning your cloak into a parachute.
Flexweave Underlay now grants passive agility in addition to its normal effect.
Nitro Boosts now grant passive critical strike rating in addition to their speed boost.
The list may not be conclusive and is subject to change over the course of the public testing process. (Source)

This "would" be good news.... if not for the fact that the added bonusses are PATHETICALLY low....
Seriously, why do they bother. Either make it better or equal to existing enchants, or whatever. Engineers still have nothing over other professions.

[Elektrik]

i'll laugh my ass off when those protos will be no longer obtainable once tier 9 raiding instances are released. because ulduar achivements are "too easy" to do in tier 9 gear.

Why would you laugh your ass off? They will be too easy in tier 9 gear.

[Deleted]

I think some hardcore guilds will start selling sarth 3d mounts once they get t8 gear : (Gief Black Drake)

and those new proto drakes look AWESOME :-*

[Elektrik]

They will absolutely be sold. Doesn't require t8 gear, just a lot of weeks before 25 people and their alts all get one.

[MuTe]

When is the patch gonne get released? Will it be weeks, months? Im seriously worried i dont have enough time to farm the arena points for my weapons and shoulders before the reset. Mainly cause i got no clue how far they are with the PTR testing, and how much still has to be tested. Anyone enlighten me?

[Jukaï]

When is the patch gonne get released? Will it be weeks, months? Im seriously worried i dont have enough time to farm the arena points for my weapons and shoulders before the reset. Mainly cause i got no clue how far they are with the PTR testing, and how much still has to be tested. Anyone enlighten me?

If Noblegarden (Easter) is on the 12th of april and they currently are making serious plans to delay Noblegarden ingame due to achievements, one might assume we're looking at at least 4 more weeks of PTR testing.

[Newor]

This "would" be good news.... if not for the fact that the added bonusses are PATHETICALLY low....
Seriously, why do they bother. Either make it better or equal to existing enchants, or whatever. Engineers still have nothing over other professions.

Except for some of the Goggles and a few "eng enchants", Engineering isn't that bad.

[LavaDuck]

Gogo new build!

[Lôgös]

I think some hardcore guilds will start selling sarth 3d mounts once they get t8 gear

well..they are already selling sarth 3d drake mount+title on my realm...they started selling them a while ago for like 15k

[MuTe]

If Noblegarden (Easter) is on the 12th of april and they currently are making serious plans to delay Noblegarden ingame due to achievements, one might assume we're looking at at least 4 more weeks of PTR testing.

Thx, hope your right

[ninjasuperspy]

This "would" be good news.... if not for the fact that the added bonusses are PATHETICALLY low....
Seriously, why do they bother. Either make it better or equal to existing enchants, or whatever. Engineers still have nothing over other professions.

According to WoWHead, Nitros are 12 crit which is the same as Icewalker. The cloak thing is a letdown because it is only 10 agi; 12 less than Major. It doesn't require level 60 or better items, but you still have to be 380 engineering. So no twinking. Well, overall they are a wash. Boots acceptable, Cloak bad.

Now if they add some passive crit to the haste glove tinker then I'll forgive them. Also some Hit to the rocket gloves. I won't hold my breath for any stats to the belt enchants because then we would have an actual edge on other professions, and we can't have that. I'll refrain from making Death Eyes at all the JC's with their Dragon Eyes and fancy daily quests. Or Blacksmiths with their glove and Bracer sockets.

[Netm]

Still no rogue buffs :-\

[Glomp]

I wonder if they'll ever give up on trying to fix Magtheridon EU, for the last few months there have been free transfers

[Mahtamori]

According to WoWHead, Nitros are 12 crit which is the same as Icewalker. The cloak thing is a letdown because it is only 10 agi; 12 less than Major. It doesn't require level 60 or better items, but you still have to be 380 engineering. So no twinking. Well, overall they are a wash. Boots acceptable, Cloak bad.

Now if they add some passive crit to the haste glove tinker then I'll forgive them. Also some Hit to the rocket gloves. I won't hold my breath for any stats to the belt enchants because then we would have an actual edge on other professions, and we can't have that. I'll refrain from making Death Eyes at all the JC's with their Dragon Eyes and fancy daily quests. Or Blacksmiths with their glove and Bracer sockets.

The crit on boots need to be in the order of 30 rating above what is offered as the same slot for them to actually make the profession worthwhile. Same for the cloak enchant.
The thing is, Engineering doesn't really offer anything (mailbox still has a cumbersome cooldown and there's a repair vendor outside every instance, not to mention that the engineering-only consumables aren't worth their material cost). And to a previous poster, no the goggles aren't very good - they're just more accessible for people who do not regularly kill Kel'Thuzad on either difficulty.

[MuTe]

They should put a boss in there that requires 10 tanks because he 1 shots one every minute, and after 10 minutes begins to pick up random raid members and start to chew on them slowly untill death, and after another 15 minutes begins to evade all dmg when hes at ~1% and resets. Doing is /yawn animation.

That would keep those guilds busy untill next content patch.