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World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies
by
Published on 2011-07-27 02:42 AM
Update - Paragon released their video of the Ragnaros 25-Man Heroic World First Kill. But I'll probably embed it tomorrow because people never read those updates anyway.
Patch 4.2 Hotfixes - July 26
Blizzard posted the list of the hotfixes deployed yesterday, including the nerfs to Firelands raid bosses and a couple of classes changes.
Patch 4.2 Hotfixes - July 26
Blizzard posted the list of the hotfixes deployed yesterday, including the nerfs to Firelands raid bosses and a couple of classes changes.
July 26
General
Classes
Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Shaman (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Dungeons & Raids
Firelands
The Occulus
Items
Professions
PvP
Battlegrounds
Quests & Creatures
Eastern Plaguelands
Hyjal Regrowth & Molten Front
General
- Characters should no longer receive errors or potential disconnects when using Levitate, Slow Fall, or the Parachute Cloak while falling.
- All combat and vanity pets should now respawn normally after players use any flight path.
Classes
Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)- Combustion should no longer ignore damage modifiers on a target. As an example, Smoldering Elemental packs in the Firelands should no longer take full damage from Impact’s spread of Combustion, despite these creatures having damage reduction modifiers.
Shaman (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)- Shamanism (Elemental passive) now causes Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst spells to gain an additional 32% benefit from the shaman’s spell power, up from 20%.
Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)- Deep Wounds should no longer ignore damage modifiers on a target. As an example, Smoldering Elementals in the Firelands should no longer take full damage from Deep Wounds, despite these creatures having damage reduction modifiers.
Dungeons & Raids
- Players who die and release before a boss is killed should now receive Valor and Justice points. However, players that release at the moment the boss dies and are currently at the loading screen will become locked to the dungeon, but will not receive any currency for the kill. We’re working to address this in a future update.
Firelands
- Alysrazor
- Alysrazor cannot dodge or parry attacks from players.
- Alysrazor’s melee evasion angle has been adjusted so that players have a larger area to use abilities which require that they be behind their target.
- Blazing Talon Clawshapers will now properly aggro a new target when threat is dropped.
- On Heroic difficulty, Brushfires will despawn once Firestorm is cast, and since the Initiates shield themselves during firestorm, none are cast again until it ends.
- Molten Feather is removed once Alysrazor ignites at 50 energy, as opposed to when she burns out.
- Baleroc
- On 25-player Heroic difficulty, Torment now grants a stack of Vital Spark per 5 applications, up from 3. To compensate, Baleroc’s health has been reduced on 25-player Heroic difficulty.
- Beth’tilac
- Attacking the Fire Hawk flock along the way to Beth'tilac will not cause the Hell Hound pack to aggro as well.
- Majordomo Fandral Staghelm
- Fandral’s health has been reduced on 25-player Heroic difficulty.
- Damage suffered from a shaman's Spirit Link totem will no longer break player Concentration.
- Player pets should now benefit from their master's Concentration.
- Fandral now gains energy when his Flame Scythe hits fewer than 7 targets. The amount gained increases as fewer targets are hit.
The Occulus
- Wiping to Mage-Lord Urom in any phase of the encounter no longer causes players to be unable to use their Dragon Essences to mount drakes.
Items
- The Moonwell Chalice is now on a shared cooldown with other on-use trinkets.
- The Moonwell Phial is now on a shared cooldown with other on-use trinkets.
Professions
- Crafted Bloodthirsty bind-on-equip relics and cloaks are no longer unique, allowing players to craft and hold more than one of the same item type in their inventories.
PvP
Battlegrounds
- Eye of the Storm has been temporarily removed from the Rated Battlegrounds options.
Quests & Creatures
Eastern Plaguelands
- Beezil Linkspanner's gossip option should now always be available if players have completed the quest Onward to Light's Hope Chapel, allowing players who have not already done so the ability to complete the achievement Full Caravan.
Hyjal Regrowth & Molten Front
- Players should now be able to accept the quest Unlocking the Secrets Within from Rabine Saturna after turning in A Smoke-Stained Locket.
- Players who are Hated or Hostile with the Steamwheedle Cartel faction can still turn in the quest Well Armed to Ricket.
- The creature abilities Smoldering Roots and Blazing Stomp no longer affect pets (the unexpected launch of player pets no longer occurs).
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Published on 2011-07-27 01:50 AM
Firelands 25-Man Heroic Mode Stealth Nerf
A couple of unanounced changes were deployed on live realms and nerfed Firelands raid bosses apparently.
I'm still trying to track down the changes but if you noticed something else, please post a comment in this news post or in the existing threads of the Raids & Dungeons Forums! (Picture below shamelessly stolen from Sinfonia's post)
Hopefully Blizzard will eventually tell us what the changes exactly are.
Ragnaros 25-Man Heroic World 2nd Kill by Method
A few hours ago, Method became the second guild in the world to defeat Ragnaros in 25-Man Heroic mode! Congratulations to them! It also means that we'll eventually get a nice video from Paragon in a few hours.
Blue Posts
TCG Art Gallery Update
The Trading Card Game art gallery has been updated with 10 new pieces.
A couple of unanounced changes were deployed on live realms and nerfed Firelands raid bosses apparently.
- Baleroc's health was changed from 217M to 195.6M in 25-Man Heroic Mode.
- Majordomo Staghelm's health was also reduced by about 10% in 25-Man Heroic Mode.
I'm still trying to track down the changes but if you noticed something else, please post a comment in this news post or in the existing threads of the Raids & Dungeons Forums! (Picture below shamelessly stolen from Sinfonia's post)
Hopefully Blizzard will eventually tell us what the changes exactly are.
Ragnaros 25-Man Heroic World 2nd Kill by Method
A few hours ago, Method became the second guild in the world to defeat Ragnaros in 25-Man Heroic mode! Congratulations to them! It also means that we'll eventually get a nice video from Paragon in a few hours.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
TCG Art Gallery Update
The Trading Card Game art gallery has been updated with 10 new pieces.
by
Published on 2011-07-26 05:07 AM
Firelands Raid 10 vs 25 Comparison
DREAM Paragon posted an interesting comparison of the Firelands Raid 10 and 25-Man fights on their site. This is probably a good read for guilds wondering if it's time to switch to 10-man because things are feeling harder, and all the 10-man raids out there can most likely steal their setup if they feel like they're struggling on something.
Raid Setups @ http://raidcomp.mmo-champion.com/
DREAM Paragon's conclusion on differences between 10-man and 25-Man
It's immediately obvious that there's a much greater degree of clarity and control in the 10-mans. Thinking logically, this should help quite a lot with the learning curve and avoiding mistakes, but that's not really something we could say our little skirmish 'proved' in practice. We already knew what the encounters were about and what the flame to avoid looked like -- relearning to accommodate differences is very different than learning from scratch.
A theme of more significance that you can clearly see in the three harder bosses for this tier is that the dps requirement is much too lenient in 10-man. This means that you don't really have to cut the amount of healers, which ensures relaxed gameplay for the healers while about half of their 25-man brethren are taking beta blockers just to be able to see clearly. The other half is naturally on the bench, sitting out for the extra dps. Perhaps this is a backlash from what we've been hearing about T11, but it really doesn't work as it is.
Proper tuning has repercussions though, since class balance has a huge impact when you're forced into two-heal and solo heal situations. And that's not even a stretch -- don't be surprised if you see a druid solo healing Ragnaros 10 hc before this tier is over. Might or might not happen, but at least it seemed plausible enough. Try doing that with a shaman.
This leads us to the fact that the gap between an optimal setup and the wrong setup seems to be quite a bit larger in 10-man than in 25s. If the encounters are really hard, you'll need a proper setup. Guilds shooting for a world first should always be expected to come up with one, but those below, the ones without alt raids, will be left hanging. If the encounters are tuned for the 'average' setup, guilds who can afford the optimal one will steamroll through them.
If we were really playing 10-man, we *would* have a close to optimal setup. Even right now, scaled down from 25 to 10, we would have about 14 players and 30-ish fully raid-capable characters. The difficulty and tuning we're concerned about is for that scenario, not for the level where you're simply enjoying the game with the hand you've been dealt.
For more information and comparison of 10/25-Man modes for all the bosses, check out the full article on DREAM Paragon's website.
New BlizzCon Site Now Open
The Info-Packed Website for the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational is Now Live!
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects -- Excerpt Three
Comics
Dark Legacy Comics #298 and Teh Gladiators #256 + #257 are out!
DREAM Paragon posted an interesting comparison of the Firelands Raid 10 and 25-Man fights on their site. This is probably a good read for guilds wondering if it's time to switch to 10-man because things are feeling harder, and all the 10-man raids out there can most likely steal their setup if they feel like they're struggling on something.
Raid Setups @ http://raidcomp.mmo-champion.com/
DREAM Paragon's conclusion on differences between 10-man and 25-Man
It's immediately obvious that there's a much greater degree of clarity and control in the 10-mans. Thinking logically, this should help quite a lot with the learning curve and avoiding mistakes, but that's not really something we could say our little skirmish 'proved' in practice. We already knew what the encounters were about and what the flame to avoid looked like -- relearning to accommodate differences is very different than learning from scratch.
A theme of more significance that you can clearly see in the three harder bosses for this tier is that the dps requirement is much too lenient in 10-man. This means that you don't really have to cut the amount of healers, which ensures relaxed gameplay for the healers while about half of their 25-man brethren are taking beta blockers just to be able to see clearly. The other half is naturally on the bench, sitting out for the extra dps. Perhaps this is a backlash from what we've been hearing about T11, but it really doesn't work as it is.
Proper tuning has repercussions though, since class balance has a huge impact when you're forced into two-heal and solo heal situations. And that's not even a stretch -- don't be surprised if you see a druid solo healing Ragnaros 10 hc before this tier is over. Might or might not happen, but at least it seemed plausible enough. Try doing that with a shaman.
This leads us to the fact that the gap between an optimal setup and the wrong setup seems to be quite a bit larger in 10-man than in 25s. If the encounters are really hard, you'll need a proper setup. Guilds shooting for a world first should always be expected to come up with one, but those below, the ones without alt raids, will be left hanging. If the encounters are tuned for the 'average' setup, guilds who can afford the optimal one will steamroll through them.
If we were really playing 10-man, we *would* have a close to optimal setup. Even right now, scaled down from 25 to 10, we would have about 14 players and 30-ish fully raid-capable characters. The difficulty and tuning we're concerned about is for that scenario, not for the level where you're simply enjoying the game with the hand you've been dealt.
For more information and comparison of 10/25-Man modes for all the bosses, check out the full article on DREAM Paragon's website.
New BlizzCon Site Now Open
The Info-Packed Website for the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational is Now Live!
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects -- Excerpt Three
Comics
Dark Legacy Comics #298 and Teh Gladiators #256 + #257 are out!
by
Published on 2011-07-24 10:43 PM
Diablo 3 Beta coming "soon"
Every now and then I have people asking me about a potential ETA for the beta of Diablo 3. This is a pretty hard question to answer but we can guess that it will be available very soon.
1. Activision Earning Call - During the latest conference call, Activision announced that the beta would start during Q3 2011, that's between July 1st and September 30th.
2. Press Tour - A Diablo 3 press tour is scheduled for Diablo fansites on August 1st, this is pretty much what happened with Cataclysm with the Press Tour happening 2 weeks before the start of beta.
3. Box Art - Last but not least, the Diablo 3 beta box art has been uploaded on the european battle.net last week, Blizzard seems to be getting ready for a launch "soon" - https://eu.battle.net/account/local-...-gb/d3-big.png (Thanks to Fisker for finding that one)
I'm not saying that it will happen omg omg omg super soon, because beta get postponed easily but things are definitely moving forward and I wouldn't be surprised to see something happen a few days after the press event.
For more information on Diablo 3 and a coverage of the press tour, your best bet is to keep an eye on Diablofans.com
Addon Review - PassLoot (by chaud)
PassLoot is another great addon for lazy efficient players who don't want to continue to do the mindless loot rolls necessary in groups. It allows very complex or very simple filter settings that will take over looting for you. You can filter by item level, name, quality, type, slot, class, spec, group status, uniqueness, and much more. It even allows for removal of the confirmation popups for BoP and DE actions.
After installing PassLoot, open the menu in game with "/passloot menu". This is where the filter magic happens. First Add a filter, then click on the Temp Description to change the name in the box below. Press enter after you change the name to something useful. Some of the easier filters to setup are for green quality items.
To DE or Greed green quality items in 5 man dungeons, first add the Confirm DE option from the list on the left if you want to skip confirmation. Then add Group / Raid and set it to either Group or Any depending on if you want the filter to be active in raids as well. Next is Item Level filters, generally it is safe to DE anything from 100 to 319 as there are some holiday and other items that have a level less than 100. Finally add a filter for Quality and set it to Uncommon. This means that the addon will only roll on Green items. Other handy filters are Usable, Zone Type, and Equip Slot. Below are two example filters I have used in the past to get you going.
You can set up similar filters for blues or epics depending on your guild's loot rules for raids, as well as filtering by item name, type, slot, or zone. Take care to set your filters correctly to avoid DEing something you really wanted to keep as GMs will not undo your mistakes. This should help to remove most of the mindless looting from your PvE and let you focus on not standing in the fire!
Under the Output menu you can control the notifications of actions taken by the addon. It can output to many different sources, including many SCT addons or raid warnings, so that you don't miss the action it takes.
NPCScan Update
It's also a good occasion to point out that NPCScan has been updated for Patch 4.2 last week and as usual, it will make your rare elite hunting considerably easier.
Comic-Con - Blizzard Panel - WoW, Diablo, StarCraft Swag
Blizzard had a 1 hour long panel at Comic-con focused on WoW/Diablo/Starcraft merchandising, you won't really hear anything new about the game but you will probably learn a few things on what's coming for WoW TCG, comics, and other products.
Every now and then I have people asking me about a potential ETA for the beta of Diablo 3. This is a pretty hard question to answer but we can guess that it will be available very soon.
1. Activision Earning Call - During the latest conference call, Activision announced that the beta would start during Q3 2011, that's between July 1st and September 30th.
2. Press Tour - A Diablo 3 press tour is scheduled for Diablo fansites on August 1st, this is pretty much what happened with Cataclysm with the Press Tour happening 2 weeks before the start of beta.
3. Box Art - Last but not least, the Diablo 3 beta box art has been uploaded on the european battle.net last week, Blizzard seems to be getting ready for a launch "soon" - https://eu.battle.net/account/local-...-gb/d3-big.png (Thanks to Fisker for finding that one)
I'm not saying that it will happen omg omg omg super soon, because beta get postponed easily but things are definitely moving forward and I wouldn't be surprised to see something happen a few days after the press event.
For more information on Diablo 3 and a coverage of the press tour, your best bet is to keep an eye on Diablofans.com
Addon Review - PassLoot (by chaud)
PassLoot is another great addon for lazy efficient players who don't want to continue to do the mindless loot rolls necessary in groups. It allows very complex or very simple filter settings that will take over looting for you. You can filter by item level, name, quality, type, slot, class, spec, group status, uniqueness, and much more. It even allows for removal of the confirmation popups for BoP and DE actions.
After installing PassLoot, open the menu in game with "/passloot menu". This is where the filter magic happens. First Add a filter, then click on the Temp Description to change the name in the box below. Press enter after you change the name to something useful. Some of the easier filters to setup are for green quality items.
To DE or Greed green quality items in 5 man dungeons, first add the Confirm DE option from the list on the left if you want to skip confirmation. Then add Group / Raid and set it to either Group or Any depending on if you want the filter to be active in raids as well. Next is Item Level filters, generally it is safe to DE anything from 100 to 319 as there are some holiday and other items that have a level less than 100. Finally add a filter for Quality and set it to Uncommon. This means that the addon will only roll on Green items. Other handy filters are Usable, Zone Type, and Equip Slot. Below are two example filters I have used in the past to get you going.
You can set up similar filters for blues or epics depending on your guild's loot rules for raids, as well as filtering by item name, type, slot, or zone. Take care to set your filters correctly to avoid DEing something you really wanted to keep as GMs will not undo your mistakes. This should help to remove most of the mindless looting from your PvE and let you focus on not standing in the fire!
Under the Output menu you can control the notifications of actions taken by the addon. It can output to many different sources, including many SCT addons or raid warnings, so that you don't miss the action it takes.
NPCScan Update
It's also a good occasion to point out that NPCScan has been updated for Patch 4.2 last week and as usual, it will make your rare elite hunting considerably easier.
Comic-Con - Blizzard Panel - WoW, Diablo, StarCraft Swag
Blizzard had a 1 hour long panel at Comic-con focused on WoW/Diablo/Starcraft merchandising, you won't really hear anything new about the game but you will probably learn a few things on what's coming for WoW TCG, comics, and other products.
Check out Gamespot.com for the HD Version
by
Published on 2011-07-23 05:16 AM
DREAM Paragon kills Heroic Ragnaros in 10-Man
Since DREAM Paragon still holds the only recorded kill of Ragnaros in heroic mode, it is probably worth reporting that they also killed the 10-Man version as well. Congratulations to them, see their statement below!
After a very deserving break from a tight raiding schedule that we kept for the past few weeks, we went back in to the Firelands. The goal was pretty simple: Check out the fights on 10-man heroic to gauge their relative difficulty compared to 25-mans. There's been so much discussion on various community sites about this topic, saying that 10-mans are "overtuned" and near unkillable and whatnot. Others saying it's the other way around.
After a quick clear of the filler bosses yesterday, we decided to go all out on Ragnaros today. We begun importing our 25-man tactics and had multiple very silly wipes. Once we realized we could just ditch the overly complicated tactics, we made several P4 wipes. Soon afterwards we were able to slay him and get the world first 10-man Ragnaros Heroic kill as well.
All in all, Ragnaros on the 10-man Heroic mode took 32 wipes in total with everything (such as multiple disconnects) included.
Adopt a Pet and Support Japan Earthquake Relief by July 31
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects -- Excerpt Two
Blue Posts
Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Feral performance in PvE
That said, we're happy with Feral performance in PvE overall. It we were to nerf Predatory Swiftness, it'd have a minor impact on PvE. Unheeded Warning is both a PvE and PvP problem. The particular mechanics of the trinket keep it disproportionately powerful for Feral druids. Nerfing Berserk would have PvE ramifications, but we'll take steps overall to make sure your dps doesn’t drop in PvE. We do everything we can to ensure we're considering all aspects of gameplay when approaching class balance. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Feral stealth isn't superior to Rogue's
Given that they are exactly the same mechanically, this shouldn't be the case. This has been a particularly pervasive myth that I'd like to lay to rest. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The fact that this shouldn't be the case, doesn't mean it isn't. Also, saying its a myth, or believing it must be, does not make it so.
You're correct. Merely saying something isn't so, doesn't mean a thing.
Knowing that they're the same ability used by different classes, and knowing that this exact issue has been tested, repeatedly, in response to claims otherwise, does. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Feral Instinct
This is correct, choosing the Feral spec and gaining Feral Instinct merely brings Feral spec Stealth into line with Rogue baseline stealth (whose talents have been rolled into the ability). (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Blizzard Art Gallery Update
The World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Art gallery has been updated with three pieces representing the Warcraft universe.
Since DREAM Paragon still holds the only recorded kill of Ragnaros in heroic mode, it is probably worth reporting that they also killed the 10-Man version as well. Congratulations to them, see their statement below!
After a very deserving break from a tight raiding schedule that we kept for the past few weeks, we went back in to the Firelands. The goal was pretty simple: Check out the fights on 10-man heroic to gauge their relative difficulty compared to 25-mans. There's been so much discussion on various community sites about this topic, saying that 10-mans are "overtuned" and near unkillable and whatnot. Others saying it's the other way around.
After a quick clear of the filler bosses yesterday, we decided to go all out on Ragnaros today. We begun importing our 25-man tactics and had multiple very silly wipes. Once we realized we could just ditch the overly complicated tactics, we made several P4 wipes. Soon afterwards we were able to slay him and get the world first 10-man Ragnaros Heroic kill as well.
All in all, Ragnaros on the 10-man Heroic mode took 32 wipes in total with everything (such as multiple disconnects) included.
Adopt a Pet and Support Japan Earthquake Relief by July 31
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects -- Excerpt Two
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)Feral performance in PvE
That said, we're happy with Feral performance in PvE overall. It we were to nerf Predatory Swiftness, it'd have a minor impact on PvE. Unheeded Warning is both a PvE and PvP problem. The particular mechanics of the trinket keep it disproportionately powerful for Feral druids. Nerfing Berserk would have PvE ramifications, but we'll take steps overall to make sure your dps doesn’t drop in PvE. We do everything we can to ensure we're considering all aspects of gameplay when approaching class balance. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Feral stealth isn't superior to Rogue's
Given that they are exactly the same mechanically, this shouldn't be the case. This has been a particularly pervasive myth that I'd like to lay to rest. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The fact that this shouldn't be the case, doesn't mean it isn't. Also, saying its a myth, or believing it must be, does not make it so.
You're correct. Merely saying something isn't so, doesn't mean a thing.
Knowing that they're the same ability used by different classes, and knowing that this exact issue has been tested, repeatedly, in response to claims otherwise, does. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Feral Instinct
This is correct, choosing the Feral spec and gaining Feral Instinct merely brings Feral spec Stealth into line with Rogue baseline stealth (whose talents have been rolled into the ability). (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Blizzard Art Gallery Update
The World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Art gallery has been updated with three pieces representing the Warcraft universe.
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