Dragon Soul Encounters, Class Balance Follow Up, Poll, Setup of the Month

Diablo 3 - Even more info on bosses after yesterday's preview, and a blue post to explain the new Auction House stackable items buying/selling (And it would probably be awesome to see that on WoW) - Diablo 3 Boss Artwork Information Update, Stackable Items at the Auction House

Patch 4.3: Dragon Soul Encounters
Start getting ready for the new raids now by brushing up with our encounter pages! All values are from Heroic 25 Man mode.





Statistics: Class Balance Follow Up
You asked for it, so here is the class balance at each of the different Valor Points achievement levels. Keep in mind that the higher we raise the bar, the smaller and nosier the sample becomes. The data from 50,000 Valor Points is unlikely to provide any statistically useful insight. Let me know if there are other things you would like to see in the future.

Sample Sizes
  • Any: 6,200,000
  • 5k: 1,800,000
  • 25k: 254,000
  • 50k: 1,200

Don't see a chart? Enable javascript!




Poll: How many Valor Points have you earned?
Speaking of Valor Points, how many have you earned on your main character?




Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!

Check back later this week for a list of Black Friday sales!

If you have been looking to purchase a new hard drive recently, you might have noticed that prices have tripled from what they were just a month or two ago. This is due to the recent floods in Thailand, which affected all of the major hard drive manufacturers and their suppliers. It is going to be 6-12 months before prices come back down closer to their previous levels, as some of the factories still have several feet of water inside.

Now is a good time to buy a SSD, as the next generation is a good while away and the current prices are fairly flat. AMD's Bulldozer arrived to universally negative reviews, citing excessive power usage and heat output and very poor single threaded performance. They are working on another stepping which may help the problem slightly, but don't expect any significantly improvements on the design until the middle of 2012 with the arrival of Piledriver. New AMD GPUs are rumored to be coming in Q1 2012 if you are thinking about upgrading.

Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.

Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions!

Peripherals/Monitors
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
MonitorASUS VW224U 22-Inch Widescreen - $150ASUS VW246H 24-Inch Widescreen - $200
KeyboardMicrosoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 - $20Cyborg V.5 - $47
MouseLogitech G400 - $35Logitech G500 - $61
SpeakersLogitech S220 2.1 Speaker System - $23Logitech Z313 Speaker System - $40
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
MonitorASUS VE276Q 27-Inch - $314HP ZR24w 24-inch (IPS Panel) - $398
KeyboardLogitech G110 - $73Razer BlackWidow (Backlit)- $72 ($123)
MouseRazer Deathadder - $45Razer Naga (Buttons on the Side) - $68
SpeakersCreative Inspire T3130 2.1 Speaker System - $45Logitech Speaker System Z523 - $70


Puppy and Dolphin
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
CaseNZXT GAMMA Classic - $36NZXT GAMMA Classic - $36
Power SupplyCorsair CX500 V2 - $48Corsair CX600 V2 - $60
CPUAMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - $112Intel i3-2100 - $122
HeatsinkCorsair Air Series A70 - $22Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $26
MotherboardASUS M5A97 AM3+ 970 - $100Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 - $114
Memory4GB PNY Optima DDR3 10600 - $274GB G.Skill Ripjaws F3 4GB 12800 DDR3 - $47
Graphics CardXFX 6770 - $90MSI 6850 or EVGA GTX 560 - $168 / $195
Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar Black 750GB - $125Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB - $125
DVDAsus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20
Total$580$718 / $745


Narwhal and Unicorn
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
CaseCooler Master HAF 912 - $60Cooler Master HAF932 - $150
Power SupplyCorsair 650TX V2 - $90Corsair 750HX (7 Year Warranty) - $134
CPUIntel i5-2500k - $225Intel i7-2600k - $315
HeatsinkThermaltake Frio - $60Noctua 6 NH-D14 - $85
MotherboardGigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - $160ASUS Z68 P8Z68-V PRO - $210
Memory4GB G.Skill Ripjaws F3 4GB 12800 DDR3 - $478GB G.Skill DDR3 12800 - $69
Graphics CardXFX 6950 1GB OR EVGA GTX 560 Ti- $200 / $250XFX 6970 2GB OR EVGA GTX 570 - $330 / $370
Hard DriveWestern Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $162Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $162
SSDCrucial 128 GB m4 (Review) - $210
OR
Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB - $195 		Intel 510 Series 120 GB (Review) - $280
OR
OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 (Review) - $190
DVDAsus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20
Total$1024 - $1234$1665 - $1795
This article was originally published in forum thread: Dragon Soul Encounters, Class Balance Follow Up, Poll, Setup of the Month started by chaud View original post
Published on 2011-11-22 06:02 AM
161 Comments
Comments 161 Comments
  1. Parius's Avatar
    It is not possible for there to be more druids with 50K valor points than druids with any valor points. By deffintion the players with 50K fit both catagories, the 50K and the any amount. If your intent is to seperate, so the players with less than 5K valor points fit their own catagory, you should say that.
  1. kilj's Avatar
    well all the classes are even besides druids and paladis. But I play a rogue and personally us being the lowest doesnt bother me one bit ^.~
  1. mmoc9a48be24dc's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Irishman View Post
    Pretty much this; TBC has both quality and quantity when it came to the raids. With Cata, you'd think they'd at least have quality, if not quantity; but alas, we've seen neither. Bring on MoP I say; if only to forget this expansion ever happened.
    Give it some more years and you will pay for DLC that contains a Raid, a Dungeon, some Quests and some minor bs.
  1. Jiggles's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by caa View Post
    Reused models have been going on for years and some of us have grown use to it. Morchok's skin is fine. I like it a lot. Zon, Yor, and Hagara need a model update from what they are. They need to be slightly unique for a raid like this. Ultra looks okay, but better up close. Blackhorn is good. Not feeling Deathwing 1.0, but excited to see how everything turns out in 2.0.
    Yeah, its not the reuse of models per se that annoys me. It's when it looks like the new boss took almost no effort (relatively speaking) to derive from the old model. That, and when the new boss just doesn't look very good, e.g. Morchok.

    I know these bosses are supposed to be monstrous, but that doesn't mean "bad".
  1. Tython's Avatar
    Wow look at these totally unoriginal boss models. Makes you wonder where all the subscribers money goes...
  1. Shmazard's Avatar
    I cant stand the faceless models, they are very boring models, blizz pick it up, you have a billion dollars backing your ass up, hire some more people to do art and shit.
  1. Araella's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Meteor12 View Post
    Can someone please tell me wtf the graph is comparing? It only says percent but not the percentage is representative of.
    It basically says that 1200 people have no life whatsoever (ie, 1200 people have played enough to earn 50K valor points on a character), and that of these 1200, approximately 253 are paladins (21.2% of 1200).
  1. Saack's Avatar
    They have updated the world of warcraft site with everything else on 4.3 have a look us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3964559/Patch_43_Hour_of_Twilight-11_22_2011
  1. Rude Hero's Avatar
    Important question! How do I look up how many valor points i've earned total? I can't seem to find it anywhere on my armory...
  1. Zn's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Araella View Post
    It basically says that 1200 people have no life whatsoever (ie, 1200 people have played enough to earn 50K valor points on a character), and that of these 1200, approximately 253 are paladins (21.2% of 1200).
    Exactly. What in the world would anyone spend 50k valor points on?? I have 23k and ran out of things to spend my VP on a long, long, long time ago. And I'm a druid so 3 specs. The differences between druids/pallies and the other classes is somewhat explained by the fact that those 2 classes can have 3 specs, but even so, there's literally no reason anyone would ever need that many VP.

    If it's only for the achievement, damn Blizzard has done a good job of brainwashing sheep into doing completely useless tasks over and over for little or no reward.
  1. Agonous's Avatar
    Only Deathwings final model is a unique boss model. That just backs up why I cancelled my subscription.
  1. mmoc3738f0415a's Avatar
    can anyone tell me how much fps can run? and wich stance it can play(for exemple good, ultra etc)
  1. mmoc8e00e4fba2's Avatar
    Important question! How do I look up how many valor points i've earned total? I can't seem to find it anywhere on my armory...
    You can look it up. Look at the valor points earned achievement.
    It can be found under the 'dungeons and raids' tab. Select the next uncompleted 'Earn <X> valor points' achievement and it'll show.
  1. twelvedogs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tython View Post
    Wow look at these totally unoriginal boss models. Makes you wonder where all the subscribers money goes...
    to be fair a lot of the work goes into the mechanics, not the models, that said i find it really weird how long it takes blizz to crank out models of any sort (bosses, mounts etc etc etc)
  1. mmoce6c60113d7's Avatar
    I guess Stonecore and Grim Batol were merely setbacks!
  1. lilbuddhaman's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by twelvedogs View Post
    to be fair a lot of the work goes into the mechanics, not the models, that said i find it really weird how long it takes blizz to crank out models of any sort (bosses, mounts etc etc etc)
    yeah those mechanics on Deadwing are just mind boggling. Dps tentacles, dps adds, dps boss ! Crazy !
  1. Dagdä's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zn View Post
    The differences between druids/pallies and the other classes is somewhat explained by the fact that those 2 classes can have 3 specs, but even so, there's literally no reason anyone would ever need that many VP.
    I suppose that the graph mostly says that.... classes that can switch to either tank or heal are the best choices to farm valor points in random dungeons, and therefore to farm the 378 bracers (for selling purpose) or the bag with mounts&pets (so that their main can get the few they still don't have).
  1. chezwickcheese's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by foulplay2 View Post
    Did they seriously just recommend builds without sandybridge-e processors in November?

    Here is your new Puppy build:
    Case Thermaltake Level 10 VL30001N1Z - $850
    Power Supply SILVERSTONE ST1500 - $350
    CPU Intel Core i7-3960X - $1050
    Heatsink Intel BXRTS2011LC High Performance Liquid Cooler - $100
    Motherboard ASUS P9X79 PRO LGA 2011 Intel X79 $330
    Memory G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB - $1200
    Graphics Card 3 x EVGA 015-P3-1589-AR GeForce GTX 580 $2100
    Hard Drive Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW600G3B5 600GB - $1130
    DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20

    There, a good entry level gaming rig.

    You're joking right?

    3 x SLI?
    64GB Memory?
    600GB SSD?
    Intel Core i7-3960X for gaming? The i5 2500K is more than enough for gaming. Hell even the i7 2600K is a tad overkill for gaming, especially MMO's.

    Your bridge is ------------------> troll.
  1. mmoc1b650995f3's Avatar
    Many Paladin !
  1. Ottius's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zn View Post
    Exactly. What in the world would anyone spend 50k valor points on?? I have 23k and ran out of things to spend my VP on a long, long, long time ago. And I'm a druid so 3 specs. The differences between druids/pallies and the other classes is somewhat explained by the fact that those 2 classes can have 3 specs, but even so, there's literally no reason anyone would ever need that many VP.
    Buying BoE and selling it on the AH?
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