Beta (Important!) - New Cataclysm Launcher Coming Soon

Uldum - Screenshots, Tol'vir, and Video
TotalBiscuit released a video of Uldum during the week-end, keep in mind that this zone isn't finished yet and this is just a preview.



It's a pretty good opportunity for me to throw tons of screenshots of Uldum in a news post, the zone definitely had a couple of updates since the last time I posted it and you should discover a couple of interesting things there.




Last but not least, the models of the Tol'virs (Stone-like cat people created by the titans) and the Ramkahens (Descendant of the Tol'vir who lost their "stone" form) are now fully implemented.


Tons of variations exists for these models and you will probably see a lot of them around Uldum.



Arena Tournament Realm Online
Originally Posted by Zarhym (Blue Tracker)
The 2010 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament’s online portion has come to a close, but fear not! The Arena Tournament Realm is coming back online for everyone that participated in the 2010 event! Skirmish mode will be disabled during this time, but players will still be able to create new characters and teams in addition to being able to participate in “rated” matches. Please keep in mind that the online portion of the 2010 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament has come to a close, and that all matches played on the Arena Tournament Realm are not counted toward tournament standings or any prizes.

Enjoy!

The 2010 EU Warcraft Invitational: Activities
Originally Posted by Slorkuz (Blue Tracker)
The 2010 European Warcraft Invitational is drawing near, and while you’ll have the chance to watch some of the top players on stage, you might also want to take an occasional break from the thrill of the games and prove yourself in one of our fun activities:

  • Play against fellow goblins to prove you are worthy of becoming a member of the Kezan Trading Company.
  • All your gold are belong to us! Collect as much gold as you can to win the gold rush challenge.
  • You’ve played StarCraft II and think you can take on the universe? Prove it in the StarCraft II tournaments and competitions.

Best of all, the winners will be receiving some great World of Warcraft and StarCraft loot, including mouse pads, posters, t-shirts and WoW: Cataclysm Beta keys.

More information about the 2010 European Warcraft Invitational can be found here: http://www.wow-europe.com/rf10/

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Guild wipe last week on beta servers
We had to wipe guilds on the beta server in regards to a number of bugs that were introduced with the new guild advancement system. The wipe also helps us get the most accurate testing we can with the new system.

Sorry for the late notice on this, we will do our best to give warning if we need to do it again. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Protection Paladin (Source)
Here is how Prot paladins are working in our current beta build. You might not see these changes in the next beta build, but in the one after that. Things are still in a high degree of flux however.

Shield of the Righteous -- Now consumes Holy Power to cause damage.

Holy Shield -- Now a passive ability that causes your Shield of the Righteous to provide 5% block per stack of Holy Power consumed. In other words, you never click Holy Shield. You just click Shield of the Righteous and buff yourself.

Hammer of the Righteous -- Now generates Holy Power but shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike. Almost all talents that affect one or the other will affect both. The intention is you use Crusader Strike -> Shield of the Righteous for single target and Hammer of the Righteous -> Shield of the Righteous for multitarget.

Avenger's Shield -- No real change, but it still hits pretty hard. Both CS and HotR can proc Grand Crusader to lower the Avenger's Shield cooldown.

Vindication -- can be caused only by Crusader Strike or Hammer of the Righteous.

Holy Wrath -- With the above changes, we think Prot paladins have enough rotational buttons to hit, so we are downplaying Holy Wrath. Holy Wrath is really intended as a Ret filler spell (for when other attacks are on cooldown). Prot could technically use Holy Wrath, but we aren't providing any talent hooks.

Consecration -- Now on a 10 sec duration with a 30 sec cooldown. The Hallowed Ground talent makes it cheaper and hit harder -- it does not affect duration. Use Consecration when you need it, but you can't spam it. This is consistent with the AE changes we are making to all tanks.

With these changes in mind, Prot will be thinking about buttons such as these:

Single Target: Judgement, Crusader Strike, Shield of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield.
Multi-target: Judgement, Consecration, Hammer of the Righteous, Shield of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield, possibly Exorcism.

None of this includes things like Seals, Inquisition, defensive cooldowns, Word of Glory, etc.

So with Vindication off of Holy Wrath, is it intended that Prot Paladins are the only tank without an AoE Physical Damage debuff, or will similar changes be made to the Warrior/Druid/DK mechanics?
Hammer of the Righteous will be AoE enough. It hits many targets. It may not be as widespread as Demo Shout on a pull like a jillion Onyxia Whelps, but we don't really expect you to debuff pulls of that size.

Let me just clarify something - Hammer of the Righteous will generate 1 Holy Power per cast, or 1 Holy Power per target hit?

One per cast. Otherwise we think paladins might want to always be hitting multiple targets, like "Let me tank the boss and one of the adds or my Holy Power generation will be low."

Is Holy Wrath going to have the same model it currently has? As a split damage ability?
Yeah, we like the split damage because it lets Ret (and Prot if needed) use it in most situations.

Also will 3 stacks of holy power when using shield of the righteousness roughly equal the amount of threat it did before it got removed or is it changed?
It will be a hard-hitting button, especially with 3 stacks. I'd guess your highest damage ability.

World of Warcraft Calendar Wallpapers
The official World of Warcraft Wallpapers section has been updated with 2 new wallpapers.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Uldum, Tol'vir and Ramkahen, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 121 Comments
  1. makak's Avatar
    To continue playing in the Cataclysm beta after the next patch, you will need to do the following:


    * Uninstall your current Cataclysm beta client
    * Download the latest version of the Cataclysm beta client

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    fu.. i was instaling thos sh.. for over 6h ><
  1. Scionni's Avatar
    I just found out I won the Guild Contest, so I guess I get to see Uldum for myself very soon :3
  1. Zerbe's Avatar
    Awesome news on the pally changes, the HP to HS was annoying. I like the passive HS with ShoR using HP now. Got a source for it? I'd like to do some more reading on it.
  1. mmocc0da7240b2's Avatar
    On TotalBiscuit's ventures into Uldum...

    There was searched high and low, but no weapons of mass destruction were found.
  1. Zerbe's Avatar
    I found the source for the pally changes.

    forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=26262867468&postId=262601889881&sid=2000#163
  1. Daez's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by EntropyWarrior View Post
    30 second cooldown on consecration? Wow that is a stupid idea. It will be like warrior aoe tanking in wrath right now, except they have cleave, TC, shockwave and we will have HotR and consecration.
    If it hasn't been obvious all along, it really should be now, Blizzard is hell bent on destroying aoe tanking on the paladin. They want them to truly suffer for their sins of being the best tank through out two expansions. They have also poured out wrath on the druids because of their sins as the best group healer for two expansions. Welcome to the true meaning of Cataclysm.

    ---------- Post added 2010-08-03 at 02:32 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Blur4stuff View Post
    they want shield toss to get a cd reset somewhat frequently so i imagine they intend for it to be used more frequently than now for aoe aggro
    Tanking 3 mobs in a pack of 20 is NOT aoe tanking.

    ---------- Post added 2010-08-03 at 02:33 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Acolon View Post
    Uldum malways keeps reminding me of Dark Age of Camelot : Trials of Atlantis, where you are in zones that look so egypt style aswell.

    Ah, good old times ...
    Yeah, the only difference is that even though that game was more relevant 5 years ago, the character models still look 100% better (with more customization) than the ones in WoW.

    ---------- Post added 2010-08-03 at 02:35 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Lightfist View Post
    At least they're fixing us. We're apparently 'broken' in wrath.
    Fixing ya right into respeccing or rerolling ftw!

    ---------- Post added 2010-08-03 at 02:49 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by scaredandbaked View Post
    Finally they are evening the playing field for all tanks. It used to drive me nuts that paladins could excel in everything but RDPS. While warriors only really had two options to go with. Ive always felt warriors/dk's should be BETTER tanks by far then paladins and bear tanks due to they are hybrids. But ill take this. I bet there is going to be alot of pissed of pally tanks. Other then that new zone looks sweet.
    Seriously, then why bother to have paladin tanks or bear tanks at all if that is the case? Isn't it enough that warriors and dks can face roll their way to the top of the dps charts in almost every fight? There has never been anything wrong with warrior tanking. The only thing about warrior tanking is that if you are newb/casual you can't do it because it requires actual skill.
  1. Jonin's Avatar
    Uldum is shaping up to be really nice.
  1. Daez's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaedalmael View Post
    Why are so many idiots automatically equating worgen with furries, or with twilight? I wasn't here for vanilla, so I don't know, but did they do the same thing with Tauren, ie, complain that all Tauren players were going to be yiffers and furries? I'm going to play a worgen because werewolves are just about one of the most bad-ass horror icons there is, and I just happen to be a big fan of classic horror.
    For starters, there are way to many newbs going on about how they want to make Jacob or TeamJacob in this game with their Worgen and role play Twilight. That in and of itself is just sad. Also, this game is a fantasy game not a horror game. If you want to play a horror creature in a MMO then demand that someone make a horror MMO (unless one already exists that I don't know of). Keep your horror and your Twilight out of my fantasy. I can't be the only player getting pissed about this. Oh, and Tauren are very loosely based on NA lore and cattle. They aren't a generic copy from somewhere else.
  1. Lightfist's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by scaredandbaked View Post
    Finally they are evening the playing field for all tanks. It used to drive me nuts that paladins could excel in everything but RDPS. While warriors only really had two options to go with. Ive always felt warriors/dk's should be BETTER tanks by far then paladins and bear tanks due to they are hybrids. But ill take this. I bet there is going to be alot of pissed of pally tanks. Other then that new zone looks sweet.
    The fields were pretty even in Cataclysm.

    My guild's other main tank is a warrior tank. He is disgusted with people like you. He's damn near embarrassed to play a Warrior now because all their buffs have made them pants-on-head retarded easy (not that any tank rotation is hard). Now, I wouldn't mind this so much, except that I still see people complaining about it!

    Not tank rotation is hard. Haven't been for quite some time. Warriors aren't different. You aren't special snowflakes. You aren't a unique and irreplaceable gem of a class.

    But, whatever. You keep on laying out 14k revenge crits in ICC and telling yourself that you're the victim of the mean ol' OP Paladin tanks.
  1. mmocf0f3c13ce7's Avatar
    Yes, tauren are "very loosely" based on native Americans... Also, how are the worgen a "generic copy" of anything, more than the tauren or the dwarves, for example?
  1. Lightfist's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Daez View Post
    For starters, there are way to many newbs going on about how they want to make Jacob or TeamJacob in this game with their Worgen and role play Twilight. That in and of itself is just sad. Also, this game is a fantasy game not a horror game. If you want to play a horror creature in a MMO then demand that someone make a horror MMO (unless one already exists that I don't know of). Keep your horror and your Twilight out of my fantasy. I can't be the only player getting pissed about this. Oh, and Tauren are very loosely based on NA lore and cattle. They aren't a generic copy from somewhere else.
    Werewolves were around before 'furries'. Around before Twilight.

    And what do you mean generic copy? Werewolves are very strictly based on European folklore. How is that different? Because Stephenie Meyer didn't make a book involving cow-people?
  1. xap's Avatar
    The Tol'Vir look amazing!

    I frickin love cats and egypty zones, so i am quite delighted!
  1. mmocf0f3c13ce7's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lightfist View Post
    Werewolves were around before 'furries'. Around before Twilight.

    And what do you mean generic copy? Werewolves are very strictly based on European folklore. How is that different? Because Stephenie Meyer didn't make a book involving cow-people?
    Don't give her ideas!
  1. pallyson's Avatar
    the changes to pallys look bullshit... playing a pally tank now... i like the way the have it. there's no need to change everything. i mean what r they making us a rogue/warrior tank? combo points and holy power? the only reason people roll pallys is because they use mana and their specific rotation while using mana. Also the concentration change is also a bullshit change. people bring pallys to their raids because they can keep a constant aoe on the ground. now were the same with a warrior and who will people bring to their raid? the warrior. sounds like blizzard is screwing with stuff that doesn't need changing. That saying if it aint broke don't fix it? They just keep messing with a rotation that wasn't OP or under powered. just right.

    bravo blizzard you've actually made me pissed off over a game.
  1. Golden Yak's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Daez View Post
    For starters, there are way to many newbs going on about how they want to make Jacob or TeamJacob in this game with their Worgen and role play Twilight.
    And 99% of them are just saying that to get people riled up. Congrats, you've fallen for it. Anyone who actually does it isn't going to be any more noticeable than the legions of morons who do dumb crap in game already.

    Quote Originally Posted by Daez View Post
    Also, this game is a fantasy game not a horror game. If you want to play a horror creature in a MMO then demand that someone make a horror MMO (unless one already exists that I don't know of). Keep your horror and your Twilight out of my fantasy. I can't be the only player getting pissed about this.
    You know what? I guarantee that you are, in fact, the only WoW player who is angry that traditional horror monsters are in your fantasy game. I guarantee it.

    This has to be the dumbest thing ever. You don't want horror monsters in the game? I guess you skipped Wrath then, since it was mostly zombie, vampires, and Frankenstein monsters.
  1. ShiroRX's Avatar
    My question is how are they just discovering Uldum now, from a lore perspective. It's not like the zone is hidden, its in the open right there next to tanaris. They have flying mounts, helicopters, etc. They trying to say not only brann, but the entire world never noticed that area before?

    gilneas and kezan are different stories. their presence was acknowledged but just never visited. uldum literally popped up between three known zones, unbeknown to anyone.
  1. Rogge's Avatar
    80% paladin, 15% warrior, 5% the rest combined.

    Is it because paladins need everything explained to them ten times? Just wondering!
  1. ShiroRX's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rogge View Post
    80% paladin, 15% warrior, 5% the rest combined.

    Is it because paladins need everything explained to them ten times? Just wondering!
    to be fair, paladins are getting changed probably more than anyone except hunters.
  1. thegamer's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ShiroRX View Post
    My question is how are they just discovering Uldum now, from a lore perspective. It's not like the zone is hidden, its in the open right there next to tanaris. They have flying mounts, helicopters, etc. They trying to say not only brann, but the entire world never noticed that area before?
    The side from Tanaris was locked behind a gate and guarded by giants. Everyone presumed it was an underground complex like Uldaman, so no reason to go poking around from the air. Also, there is a crashed gnomish airplane on the southern beaches of Tanaris, so perhaps there is an anti-air system in place. The cloaking made it look like mountains, beach, and sea until Cataclysm.
  1. Khirra's Avatar
    A nice mixture of AQ, Mayan ruins, and a Columbian drug lord's residence =]
    Absolutely amazing indeed.

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