Road to Patch 4.2 - Encounter Journal
The release date of Patch 4.2 is getting close and I will recap its major features throughout the week to end up with a nice and complete guide to Patch 4.2 for the release, hopefully on June 28th. Let's start with the highly anticipated Encounter Journal!

Road to Patch 4.2

Encounter Journal
The Encounter Journal is an in-game encylopedia listing everything you need to know on instances and raid bosses. Assuming people start using it regularly, it will probably fix a lot of issues people had in pick up groups where people were just too afraid to ask what a boss does and would rather die than look stupid and get kicked.

The encounter journal can be accessed from the bottom menu bar or by hitting CTRL + Shift + J on your keyboard.


You will then access the instance selection menu with a "Dungeons" and "Raids" tabs, allowing you to get details on any raid or dungeon encounter introduced in Cataclysm (including the Firelands raid)


Cataclysm Raids Tab

Firelands Raid Boss Selection


Encounter Journal - Boss Loot Lists
The encounter journal includes a list of items dropped by each boss with a couple of extra features:


  • The list can be filtered for 10 and 25-Man encounters. It doesn't really change anything these days but it will probably be useful if an item is only available in 25-Man at some point, or when older raids are supported.
  • The "Heroic Mode" filter is also available in the loot list and will display loot from the Heroic version.
  • A filter by class, to easily get a list of the gear relevant to your class only. (The Druid filter automatically lists all the items in the instance)
  • You can also list the loot from all the bosses in the instance by clicking the Chest icon when at the Boss selection screen.


Boss Loot Table

Class Filter

Paladin Loot!

Instance Loot Table


Boss Information and Abilities
The main objective of the Encounter Journal is to give you all the information you need to engage a boss without being clueless about what's going to happen to you and your raid. The journal provides you with:


  • A description of all the abilities used by the boss.
  • A description of all abilities used by NPC adds that might spawn during the encounter. (Hostile and Friendly)
  • The evolution of the fight over multiple stages.
  • A general idea of how mechanics work.
  • An "heroic only" filter to display abilities and variations of the fight only happening in Heroic Mode.

You might also notice a couple of icons icons next to some of the spells. Those are alerts used to bring your attention to important point of the fights, 12 Alerts are available in the current version of the Encounter Journal:


For example, this is the journal entry for Beth'tilac, one of the boss of the Firelands raid instance.


Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Beth'tilac
Matriarch of the Cinderweb Brood, Beth'tilac and her merciless offspring sate their appetites by sucking the magma and fire from the corpses of elementals. To provide her broodlings with added sustenance, Beth'tilac has woven a network of incendiary webs throughout her lair to trap unsuspecting prey.

Stage One: The Cinderweb
Beth'tilac retreats to the top of her web at the beginning of the encounter.

Fire Energy
Beth'tilac slowly loses Fire Energy over time. Cinderweb Drones also siphon some of her energy when their own energy is depleted. Whenever Beth'tilac runs out of Fire Energy, she will set herself ablaze, causing Smoldering Devastation.


  • Ember Flare - Intense heat burns enemies near Beth'tilac, inflicting 18500 Fire damage to players at the same level as Beth'tilac.
  • Meteor Burn - Meteors crash down onto the web, inflicting 37000 Fire damage to players within yards of the impact. The meteor also burns a hole in the web through which players may fall.
  • Consume - Beth'tilac consumes Cinderweb Spiderlings, healing Beth'tilac for 10% of her maximum health.
  • Smoldering Devastation - When Beth'tilac's Fire Energy fully depletes, she will set herself ablaze and inflict 380000 Fire damage on all players located at her same level.

Cinderweb Spinner
Cinderweb Spinners dangle from the web above on a filament strand. Using Taunt or a similar ability on a Spinner will cause them to drop to the ground. Once killed, their web filament remains. Players may then interact with the filament and move to the top of the web.

  • Burning Acid - The Cinderweb Spinner spits burning venom at a random player, inflicting 18850 Fire damage.
  • Fiery Web Spin - The Cinderweb Spinner channels a fiery web onto a random player, stunning them for 25 sec.

Cinderweb Drone
These large spiders climb out of caves below the Cinderweb. When their Fire Energy fully depletes, the Cinderweb Drone climbs up to Beth'tilac and siphons Fire Energy from her.

  • Consume - Cinderweb Drones consume a Cinderweb Spiderling, healing itself for 20% of its maximum life, increasing damage dealt by 20%, and increasing movement speed by 20%.
  • Boiling Spatter - The Cinderwb Drone spits burning venom in a 20 yard long 60 degree forward cone, inflicting 58967 Fire damage on any enemy within the area.
  • Burning Acid - The Cinderwb Drone spits Burning Acid at a random player, inflicting 18850 Fire damage.
  • Fixate - The Cinderweb Drone fixates on a random player, ignoring all other targets but decreasing its damage dealt by 75% for 10 sec.

Cinderweb Spiderling
These tiny spiders climb out of caves below the Cinderweb. They instinctively move towards Cinderweb Drones.

  • Seeping Venom - The Cinderweb Spiderling leaps onto a random player within 5 yards, injecting them with venom and inflicting 6936 Fire damage every 2 seconds for 10 sec.

Cinderweb Broodling
These unstable spiders fixate on a random player and cast Volatile Burst when they reach their target.

  • Volatile Burst - Cinderweb Broodlings explode when they reach a player, inflicting 41624 Fire damage to all enemies within yards.

Stage Two: The Frenzy!
After she has performed Smoldering Devastation three times, Beth'tilac enters a frenzy. She lowers herself from the safety of the top of her Cinderweb and no longer calls for aid from her brood.


  • The Widow's Kiss - Beth'tilac's deadly kiss boils the blood of her current target, reducing the healing dealt to the target by % every 2 seconds for 20 sec. The kiss also causes the target to inflict increasing Fire damage to their surrounding allies within 10 yards.
  • Ember Flare - Beth'tilac emits a blazing heat, inflicting 18500 Fire damage to enemies on the same level as Beth'tilac.
  • Consume - Beth'tilac consumes Cinderweb Spiderlings, healing Beth'tilac for 10% of her maximum health.
  • Frenzy - Beth'tilac periodically casts Frenzy, increasing her damage dealt by 5% until the end of the encounter. This effect stacks.



The MMO Report
It's time for your weekly MMO Report, with an E3 2011 special this week.



Comics
Dark Legacy Comics #292 and Teh Gladiators #244 + #245 are out. I'm one week late on comics again but if I cover my ears with my hands and close my eyes I can sing "la la la la la la" and pretend I'm not.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Encounter Journal Preview, MMO Report, Comics started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 76 Comments
  1. S@thi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Resentful View Post
    The journal is actually pretty detailed

    I'm impressed and welcome it to my game
    I'm looking forward to this feature!
  1. Humanenemy's Avatar
    Nooooo! They removed Crabby from the top left icon of the encounter journal
  1. Serenah's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Humanenemy View Post
    Nooooo! They removed Crabby from the top left icon of the encounter journal
    I also just noticed
    why would they remove him?? why? why?
  1. Findus707's Avatar
    about the MMO report: the game they are showing off at the start is a pure copy of a game called Dofus, same characters/models, world, movement system, combat system and everything O.o
  1. Psychedelicious's Avatar
    Another convenience... problem is that there's has been too many conveniences introduced over time, which make a game lame, shallow, boring. The ultimate convenience is not to play at all, then you don't need to do anything about it. Inconveniences should be praised, especially in MMORPG's, otherwise there isn't a sense of achievement, discovery, progression, surprise and overall character to the game.
  1. mmoc16363405f0's Avatar
    the journal covers all dungeons and raids of every expansion? looks like a useful feature kinda like atlass loot
  1. mtawney1313's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Spectrez View Post
    Blizz thinks people will read the journals to know fights now? The idiots who made Blizz introduce this journal into the game are 10 year olds who go into boss fights not knowing a thing and wiping the raid. Blizzard thinks 10 year olds can read?
    Most 10 year olds I know can read....Not sure where you're from though!
  1. fews's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Yisera View Post
    Im not sure if there are any addons that make the same crap as this journal. But I'm sure that if you're talking about DBM you're way off of the topic. Seriously DBM only tells you timers for activities, if you know what that activity is or not, that's up to you. And IMO whoever doesn't use DBM in raidinng is either too pro or just TOO STUPID. I'm sure it's more likely to be the second one. And like someone said, the journal won't kill the boss for you. You can be explained everything there is to be known about the fight, if you still suck and are a fail dipshit you won't get far in the fight. Simple as that. There's nothing about being elitist or not in here.
    go into your dbm options, load the module for bot, click on halfus and mouse over some of the stuff. you're in for a suprise.
  1. sulfuric's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Psychedelicious View Post
    Another convenience... problem is that there's has been too many conveniences introduced over time, which make a game lame, shallow, boring. The ultimate convenience is not to play at all, then you don't need to do anything about it. Inconveniences should be praised, especially in MMORPG's, otherwise there isn't a sense of achievement, discovery, progression, surprise and overall character to the game.
    Absofuckinglutely right on the money. Instead of exploring a dungeon you find and defeating the enemies you encounter, you get a journal telling you where to get your next bracer upgrade, the abilities the enemy will use against you, and their location.
  1. 123456lQq's Avatar
    Doorways are the bane of all Tauren
  1. mmoc6d2ecbae4c's Avatar
    DLS for pres!
  1. mmoc6cec90aaf2's Avatar
    Hm...forgive me if I haven't noticed this before if it was already implemented, but does the dungeon journal only feature guides and Loot Tables for Cataclysm raids and dungeons only, or Pre-Cata raids and dungeons also?
  1. Deployed's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by bloodwine77 View Post
    On the one hand I don't see the problem with them providing a list of tactics a boss uses during an encounter, but on the other hand I wonder if the development time would have been better spent giving us another 5-man in 4.2 or any other additional content.
    Please, don't ever ever work in the professional game industry, it'll shatter your mind. Interface designers being held accountable for event design...funny.
  1. bloodwine77's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Deployed View Post
    Please, don't ever ever work in the professional game industry, it'll shatter your mind. Interface designers being held accountable for event design...funny.
    What I meant was that they should be putting more resources behind the development teams that crank out content and not spend their WoW budget on a tool such as the Dungeon Journal right now. The biggest problem with WoW at the moment is that it is quite frankly more boring than ever and there really isn't all that much to do. I know that is my opinion, but I do not think I am alone. If Blizzard wants to make sure the goose keeps laying golden eggs until Titan is ready then they need to up their game a bit.

    ---------- Post added 2011-06-20 at 02:23 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Frostveins View Post
    Hm...forgive me if I haven't noticed this before if it was already implemented, but does the dungeon journal only feature guides and Loot Tables for Cataclysm raids and dungeons only, or Pre-Cata raids and dungeons also?
    Only Cataclysm raids and dungeons in the 4.2 Encounter Journal. They say that they will add journal entries for older dungeons in the future.
  1. Lechuk's Avatar
    Very nice Encounter Journal...time to drop atlasloot :P
  1. qbanb8582's Avatar
    I like it mainly for the loot tables, most of the people QQing are still going to play. Once it hits they'll bitch for a week or so then get over it.
  1. Gilian's Avatar
    The sad thing is even with these encounter journals people will still fail. I mean, some people actually have lives they don't have time to read encounter journals!

    ---------- Post added 2011-06-20 at 09:14 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Alceus View Post
    The Encounter Journal is a nice addition. It won't change the difficulty level of various encounters. People who say that this makes raiding easier, is wrong.

    It's like you're going on a quest and the questgiver warns you about the boss's abilities and the precious loot you can have.


    It will help you, but it won't kill the boss for you. write this down, it's a nice piece of advice.
    It won't for everyone who is not world 1-5th. But I can imagine that it was fun for guilds to find out the tactics for themselves.

    But yes it's the same as reading up on abilities on mmo-c except now it's even easier. But people will still come up with excuses for not reading it while the only reason is is that they are lazy.
  1. Freese's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by sulfuric View Post
    Absofuckinglutely right on the money. Instead of exploring a dungeon you find and defeating the enemies you encounter, you get a journal telling you where to get your next bracer upgrade, the abilities the enemy will use against you, and their location.
    I can give you all of the information that you need to make a 100% on the test, but if you don't use it correctly, then you will still fail. The same logic applies to the EJ.
  1. Gilian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Deployed View Post
    Please, don't ever ever work in the professional game industry, it'll shatter your mind. Interface designers being held accountable for event design...funny.
    Uhmm... oke... Blizzard, as a company, is still the one who decided to put resources into interface design while rehashing raids and dungeons for two expansions now. Maybe this is good for the company but users rather see new content, like dungeons, than an encounter journal which probably more then half of the users doesn't need. You push two more buttons and you have the same information on your screen.

    He actually didn't held interface designers accountable for event design. He was talking about Blizzard. I guess you just tried to be smart so you can feel a little better about yourself by insulting someone else.
  1. Xeikai's Avatar
    The argument that this makes raiding easier is ridiculous, All this does is give you a firm layout of everything the boss does, it doesnt tell you where to stand or how to defeat the boss, it just gives you a readout of what they do and what's happening with the fight. If anything it'll help people devise their own strategies and not to mention help new players in heroics figure out what's going on. This is a grand addition and I'm thankful they are adding it.

Site Navigation