Cataclysm Models - Twilight Ascendants
I think this is the last model added in the latest beta build, it took a little more time than usual to get everything fixed because the new streaming client hates me but I think we should be ok. Actually, the next few days will probably be interesting.

The Twilight Ascendant (Air) model has been added to the game, I also added the Fire model from last week to the screenshot.


There is also a short video of some of the new models from TotalBiscuit, who seems to do most of the work for me lately.



Deathwing vs. Alextrasza Fight Sound Files/Transcript Spoilers!
Most of the sound files of the fight between Alextrasza and Deathwing are up now. Cataclysm is going to be fun, oh, so fun. Thanks to Ralth for all the work he did on the transcripts, more to come.

OBVIOUS SPOILERS! COVER YOUR EYES AND YOUR EARS AND PUSH YOUR PAGE DOWN BUTTON! (I have no idea how you're going to do that with 2 hands)

Alexstrasza and Deathwing Fight Dialogue
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event01.ogg "Mortal, I want you to bear witness to this, but for your own safety, Stay back! Calen, you too"
VO_QE_Calen_Event01.ogg "I will not leave your side."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event02.ogg "Your life isn't yours to throw away Calen, should I fail, the fate of this world may rest on your shoulders."
VO_QE_Calen_Event02.ogg "Yes mother."

*Alexstrasza goes to Deathwing*
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event01.wav "Lifebinder. Do you presume that I am at your beck and call? I have a world to unmake."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event03.ogg "It pains me Neltharion, but I must end you, as i have ended Malygos!"
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event02.wav "Ha ha ha ha. End? Me? Lifebinder. You think life is yours to take away? Life is weak. Mortal. Fleeting. Fragile. Death is final. Death is eternal. Death is my realm. Look upon me, and you see death incarnate. The unmaker... of worlds."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event04.ogg "I see the hallow metal shell of a once great ally and the precious gift of the titans wasted."
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event03.wav "Then witness my new gifts! Bestowed by this worlds TRUE MASTERS."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event05.ogg "Neltharion, look at yourself, misshapen, twisted, you are coming apart."
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event04.wav "Just as all life ends in death, all order must end in chaos! Come! Embrace the inevitable... as I have!

*Alexstrasza and Deathwing fight*
VO_QE_Calen_Event03.ogg "Don't let them out of sight, quickly, come with me!"
VO_QE_Calen_Event04.ogg "There, they've fallen."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event06.ogg "The earth-warder.. he is dead.."
VO_QE_Calen_Event05.ogg "Mother, stay still, your wounds are great."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event07.ogg "The Black Aspect's blood is cursed, wherever it was shed, nothing will grow for 10000 years *groan*, but is it over, we can work now to bottle up the horrors he has unleashed."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event08.ogg "Impossible!"
VO_QE_Calen_Event06.ogg "Deathwing, he lives...... Deathwing.... he lives?"
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event05.wav "The sun has set on this mortal world. Make peace with your end, for the hour of twilight falls!"
VO_QE_Calen_Event07.ogg "Mortal, take the dragon queen, take her to safety, carry het to safety, now, run, get her away from here."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event09.ogg "Calen, NO!"
VO_QE_Deathwing_Event06.wav "Argh. You think to entrap me?
VO_QE_Calen_Event08.ogg "I will delay the aspect of death, take her to safety."
VO_QE_TH_Alexstrasza_Event10.ogg "NOOOOO!"



Password Security Information
Seriously, listen to the guy. Getting your WoW account stolen and restored within a few days is one thing, losing your hotmail account, your MSN contacts, and fighting with the tech support to get your password back is another. Yes, you can replace "hotmail" with anything else, you can even replace it with "puppies" because, yes, they will steal your puppies too, that's how evil keyloggers are.
Originally Posted by Bornakk (Blue Tracker)
We have been helping players deal with account theft for years now, and unfortunately, roughly a third of players make a very basic security mistake: using the same password for all of their security needs.

If you are serious about protecting your account and your personal security, your Battle.net password should be different from your email account password -- or other personal passwords for that matter!

No one wants account thieves rooting around in their personal email, address book, and contact lists. Too often we see thieves breaking in to this information because their target has used the same password across multiple types of accounts. Not only can this give thieves access to your account, it can lead to compromises far outside of Battle.net as well.

It’s immensely important that everyone use separate passwords for separate applications, including games. Secure passwords have both numeric and alphabetical values, and are usually at least 10 characters in length.

For more information on password security, please click here: http://us.blizzard.com/support/artic...rticleId=20574
For more information on account security, click here: http://us.battle.net/en/security/

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Ysera open eyes
As I've said before, her eyes are very intentionally open. This is, in fact, part of the fiction and will be explained in one of our upcoming novels as well as a future event in game.

If it suits you, feel free to RP going CRAZY INSANE after looking into her eyes in Hyjal. (Source)

Bloat vs. Choice
I think the word "bloat" has become like the word "clunky" in these forums. It's so often used as a synonym for "I would have designed this differently" that it has lost a lot of specific meaning.

I think in the end one of the things we've really learned about what players are looking for in a talent tree is that they are often looking for different things. Some players are perfectly happy spending every point on say damage. Damage is what they do, so any point not related to damage feels wasted. Some players want every possible talent build to be legit. They don't want there to be any wrong answers such that they could almost assign points at random and have something that was functional and diverse. Some players, and this surprised us a little, like to have the ability to make bad choices and are perfectly happy making wrong choices -- to them the freedom to choose trumps the desire for power. Some players just want every point and agonize about having to leave anything out. Some get really bent out of shape at the thought of spending even 1 talent point on a talent that they may not use say once every 30 min or so. They would rather respec into a situational ability when that situation comes up rather than have it just in case. Some are mostly interested in just seeing something different. They are less interested in the perfect talent tree than they are in having them change over time. Even powerful abilities feel like old hat and they want the new hotness. You see this a lot for the classes whose talent trees changed earliest in Cataclysm, who are now wondering when "their overhaul" is coming. Opposing them are the nostalgia buffs who can't stand the thought of any talent or ability going away because it's iconic for their class.

I'm really not building towards any kind of conclusion with any of that. It has just been interesting to see the feedback. I guess I can offer that you might want to be careful about who you think you are speaking for when you say "we feel this" or "we don't want that." Players, even the microcosm of the forum community, want different things. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Holy Shield / 15% block
Yeah, as some of the other posters said the issue is not really whether 4.5% or 8% (which is pretty liberal) is the amount of damage reduced. You're comparing full uptime to no uptime. If a paladin refuses to use their mitigation talents (i.e. stubbornly or sloppily choose not to use Holy Shield ever) then they are going to take more damage and suffer the consequences.

The issue is how catastrophic is it if you are sloppy and let Holy Shield slip off for a short time or choose to use Word of Glory instead. The answer is probably: not very.

Fifteen percent block is rarely going to make the difference between you being alive or dead. It will make a difference over the course of a fight in how much damage you take and therefore how much mana your healers need to invest. For that reason it's an excellent idea to keep Holy Shield up a lot. But if you let it fall down every now and then, you probably won't explode. (And let's remember there are several emergency buttons if you are on the verge of explodination that will mitigate a lot more damage than a block.)

The reason I keep comparing it to 15% damage reduction, is because damage reduction affects every hit you take. Block is a chance to take less damage on every swing. Integrated over the course of an entire fight, you will probably block 15% more with Holy Shield up. But if you let it drop for a few boss swings, you are going to take far less than 15% more damage. In fact, you may take no extra damage at all (i.e. you would have blocked anyway). In fact, you may take no damage at all (i.e. you dodged or parried). (Source)

Holy Shield uptime
I would say we are actually giving you control over your ability to survive. Today paladin tanking is very automated. Today the control isn't in your hands. We need to change that.

Look, nothing on normal mode is going to be tuned to the point where a paladin tank who lets Holy Shield fall down wipes the group. On heroic mode, yes, you will probably be asked to play to the best of your ability. That's the purpose of those challenges. (Source)

Why is Holy Shield duration so short?
The reason we haven't done that is we're concerned that once you have any Holy Power left for extra things, that you then assume you'd be balanced around those extra things. So for example, the model goes from paladins having to keep 15% block up to having to keep 15% block up *and* heal themselves every rotation. That's still a model we might consider though.

We're happy with the bones of the design. The details and tuning aren't quite right yet, but we have many ideas left to try. (Source)

Priest (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Shadow Power
Shadow Power is now called "Blackout" and is a passive talent tree bonus for picking the tree. It provides 200% crits to Shadow spells. (Source)

Archangel and Evangelism
Archangel and Evangelism don't stack. The intent is that Dark Archangel is used when burst matters more than sustained damage (Dark Evangelism = Sustained, Dark Archangel = Burst), and not really something you'd do rotationally. In PvE you might do it if the target is going to die soon (when sustained dps really doesn't really matter), for target swapping, right before Bloodlust etc. (Source)

Mind Spike redesign
There are some additional Shadow changes that are upcoming, including a slight re-design for Mind Spike. The role for Mind Spike is still something you can do when you don't have the opportunity for your full blown rotation, but we also don't want you to feel like you have to work it into your normal rotation. (Source)

Mind Flay
Mind Flay is going back to a 3 sec cast time. As sometimes happens in beta, the data were pulled right while we were changing the spell, resulting in it being bugged. Sorry. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Twilight Ascendant Models, Alextrasza vs. Deathwing, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 133 Comments
  1. Jackalrat's Avatar
    Not to be rude, but are prot paladins horrendously retarded?

    Every update is more explanation of very simple abilities. Over. And over. And over. I think I've read the explanation of the benefit of 15% block, but how it isn't essential and lacks measurable results 6 or 7 times, now. Do you prot pallies really not understand that? >_>

    I guess as long as 1/5th of all players main paladins (That number is sadly pretty accurate...) Blizzard is gonna hold their hands every day 'til their servers die. By which I'm not claiming pallies are OP, but I'd like to hear about some other classes. (Warlock, for instance, hasn't been mentioned in like 10 updates...)
  1. Somarlane's Avatar
    I am really not liking the new Cataclysm elementals' models. They are wearing avant garde baby bonnets, and I just can't take them seriously.
  1. LittleMissSwift's Avatar
    A Ysera model, does this mean that the Emerald Dream is gonna be part of this X-Pak?
  1. Parsee The Magical Prot's Avatar
    Is the fire elemental boss going to be Bolvar The Lich King? He looks like a combination between Bolvar and a jack-o-lantern.
  1. mmocfe5357fbe3's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Aliok View Post
    I am really not liking the new Cataclysm elementals' models. They are wearing avant garde baby bonnets, and I just can't take them seriously.
    Totally agree. I don't know with whom does Blizzard make these new models. Deathwing's head is like a box iron and now the elementals look totally ridicolous.
  1. mmoc5011fe1361's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Maleboligia View Post
    I don'tn just want Blizzard to restore my gear, I want them to tell me how they did it. Because I am very suspicious of any program that I use a totally unique password for, one I have never written down or said to anyone that mysteriously gets "hacked".
    You were quite likely keylogged. You have written your password down hundreds of times, when logging into WoW...
  1. virtus24's Avatar
    VO_QE_Calen_Event07.ogg "Mortal, take the dragon queen, take her to safety, carry het to safety, now, run, get her away from here."


    Type-o. carry het
  1. mmocf0f3c13ce7's Avatar
    Alexstrasza's voice doesn't quite fit with her humanoid form... Of course, she's probably just messing with our heads, that manipulative dragon queen.

    And I enjoy the Total Biscuit videos, by the way. Both informative and funny.

    EDIT: And about the Twilight Ascendant models (who are NOT the regular elementals), I think the fire one looks really cool. As for the air one, not so much (it might look better in action, though).
  1. Second's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jackalrat View Post
    Not to be rude, but are prot paladins horrendously retarded?

    Every update is more explanation of very simple abilities. Over. And over. And over. I think I've read the explanation of the benefit of 15% block, but how it isn't essential and lacks measurable results 6 or 7 times, now. Do you prot pallies really not understand that? >_>

    I guess as long as 1/5th of all players main paladins (That number is sadly pretty accurate...) Blizzard is gonna hold their hands every day 'til their servers die. By which I'm not claiming pallies are OP, but I'd like to hear about some other classes. (Warlock, for instance, hasn't been mentioned in like 10 updates...)
    If there was some +1 button, this guy would get it from me. I get that paladins are changed a lot every patch now, but seriously, this is so true it hurts.
  1. Elennoko's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by LittleMissSwift View Post
    A Ysera model, does this mean that the Emerald Dream is gonna be part of this X-Pak?
    Nope. Well, not that I've heard. Ysera is in Hyjal, helping Malfurion with defending it from Ragnaros.
  1. Girlyman's Avatar
    OBVIOUS SPOILERS! COVER YOUR EYES AND YOUR EARS AND PUSH YOUR PAGE DOWN BUTTON! (I have no idea how you're going to do that with 2 hands)
    HAHA that reminds me when I was a child and didn't want to see some scene in a movie:
    I put my hands over my eyes, but I could still hear, so I put my hands over my ears, but I could still see, and again my hands were over my eyes, I did that like 3 times 'till I discovered that I could just close my eyes.
  1. bluspacecow's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Skulver View Post
    The system they were using (account names) was more secure than the new system (email address). Security is not an absolute, there is just more secure and less secure and changing over to using email addresses as your logon made the system less secure. What did blizzard gain by doing this? Nothing as far as I can tell therefore they not only wasted time and effort in the changeover, they also made the system less secure in the process. It is the kind of idea that should have been shot down the moment it was proposed.
    You're missing the fact here that you can now change your login name.

    You do it simply by changing your battle.net email address and you can do it in minutes. Click a couple of confirm links in a few emails and it's done. I was able to do this several times over about an hour once. If you have a mail server you can change it even easier.

    Change it to something really obscure that only you can remember and do not use it anywhere other then battle.net

    You could not do this with the old system - if a hacker had your login name he effectively had half of your login information forever.

    Now you can change it at the drop of a hat EG I needed a friend to test something on the PTR. I gave him my account info then changed it to a new email and new password immediately after he told me his test was sucessful.
  1. mmocced9c7d33d's Avatar
    Aspect of death!? Well, really!!

    Lich King - Jailor of the dead
    Yogg-Saron - God of death
    Deathwing - Aspect of death

    Kinda CROWDED on death's throne don't u think?

    Aw hell, next there will be a Grimlocks, Gnome ruler of the deathgnomes

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