World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Patchwerk (25) Solo Kill by a Rogue
Jider from Impervious (US-Stormreaver) had a lot of time and a lot of (very) smart ideas to kill Patchwerk (25) alone. It took him quite some time but it's definitely a smart use of game mechanics, see the description below.


Description from the Youtube video
Soloing Patchwerk 25-man version was something I had been meaning to do for a while. The main reason I did not attempt it sooner was because of all the trash leading up to him. I had no idea how to handle trash re-spawning or if any of my ideas would even work. I spent a great deal of time thinking about how I would handle every aspect of the fight but I had to resolve numerous issues during the thought process and had to overcome various things which I thought would make the fight impossible. Eventually, I came up with 2 and in most cases 3 ways of handling every problem Patchwerk could throw at me. However, I also came into this fight with a technique I figured out elsewhere, a Shadowstep technique I dub Jiderstep. This technique involves an Unconscious Dig Rat which is considered a critter and it is just like any other rat/critter in game except for the fact you can drop it where you like and it stays put and lasts until it is killed or the server is restarted. You can shadowstep to it just like any other critter. Due to the significant increase in his health pool I tested my methods successfully on live servers in 10-man before moving on to kill it on 25-man live server.

The fight takes places in two positions, one in the tunnel past Grobbulus, the other on the floor along Patchwerk's patrol path. The setup begins by Shadowstepping to Grobbulus on the platform he tosses his slimes from. I then go into the poison tunnel that leads to Gluth to drop an Unconscious Dig Rat at a key location inside the tunnel where there is a hole that leads back to Patchwerk's room. This position and the floor position are important as they are beyond the leash points for Grobbulus and they allow me to Shadowstep up and drop down whenever I need to. Once the Unconscious Dig Rat is in the right position I jump down and buff and get ready to pull Patchwerk. I execute the pull by pre-potting and launching a Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket. The use of a ranged attack to pull is important as it will require him to path all the way to that point to reset/full heal after a Vanish or Shadowmeld.

After that, the fight basically becomes a repetition involving a few key ideas. Firstly, I never engage Patchwerk without Evasion. Anytime I am attacking and Evasion is about to wear off, I either Shadowstep up to the tunnel or drop down to the floor. This forces him to spend a great deal of time pathing which enables me to wait for the Evasion cooldown and to heal myself. Another key point is using Vanish and Shadowmeld appropriately. On the initial aggro of Patchwerk, his trash is also put into combat which requires me to Vanish it off but I also use it during the fight to reset his enrage timer which eliminates the need to deal with the increased damage and slime bolts. To do this, I wait for Preparation to come back up, and then I wait until Patchwerk reaches the poison tunnel position. I jump off and immediately Shadowmeld which gets me out of combat and gives me time to eat and/or rebuff as needed. My potion timer also resets. Since I am no longer in combat Patchwerk is in evade mode and begins his pathing back from the tunnel through Grobbulus' room. This is where the pull positioning comes in to play as I am already waiting to intercept him well before his final reset point which would heal him to full. When I engage him his trash aggros again which forces me to Vanish. I watch carefully and if that Vanish fails to reset the trash I burn Preparation and Vanish again. This cycle is repeated until the boss is dead which resulted in a fight lasting 4 hours 45 minutes on my kill.

Buffs: Drums of Forgotten Kings, Drums of the Wild, Runescroll of Fortitude, Scroll of Agility VIII, Flask of Endless Rage, Blackened Dragonfin. Jewel-crafting and Engineering professions. Gear used can be viewed here. Both weapons are enchanted with mongoose and Instant poison main-hand and Deadly poison off-hand. The reason behind using Purified Shard of the Flame was to counter the significant nature damage from the tunnel (ticks added up to ~2 million damage) and provide extra healing. Other methods of healing included eating, bandages, and Dense Stone Statues. The talent spec used was 0/18/53 and glyphs were Hemo/evasion/ghostly strike. Besides Shadowstep, many of the talents chosen are very useful for this encounter by providing extra survivability (Enveloping Shadows, Cheat Death), increased damage (Dirty Deeds, Setup), or both (Sinister Calling, Lightning Reflexes, Endurance).

Song #1 Velvetine Safe [Wherever You Are] (Rank 1 Remix)
Song #2 Delerium Truly (Signum Club Mix)

-Jider
www.impervious-guild.com


Blue posts

Ruby Sanctum PTR - Halion Kill Video
EF BIE EI (EU - Dalvengyr) released a video of their kill of Halion on the PTRs. Don't forget that US PTR testing is tonight!



Cataclysm Screenshot of the Day
A new screenshot has been added to the Screenshot of the Day Gallery.



Blue posts

Update - Added PTR Schedule at the end of the post

Female Worgen Preview Pictures
Blizzard just released a couple of screenshots of the ... female worgen! That's not really what I asked for my birthday (yes, it is!) but I guess that works.

Important - These models are a work in progress and they might not reflect the final appearance of female worgens in game.


US PTR Testing Schedule
The US PTR is testing again tomorrow.
[blizzquote author=Daelo source=http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?sid=1&topicId=24702035046]Now that the 3.3.5 patch is available for PTR testing, we wanted to have a round of focus testing for Ruby Sanctum. Only normal mode will be available, with Heroic testing to occur at a later date.

Everything related to this zone is implemented for this test, please note any issues with the trash creatures and sub-bosses, loot, achievements, and quests.

US Testing Schedule:
Thursday, May 20 starting at 19:00 EDT.

We plan to allow testing for an extended period. However since this is the Test Realm, unforeseen issues could delay or cancel testing at any time.[/blizzquote]

Cataclysm Professions Preview
[blizzquote author=Wryxian source=http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/13200229268/cataclysm-professions-preview/]While the Cataclysm updates to many of the professions are still deep in development, we wanted to share some of the work that's been going on, as well as a high-level look at any lessons learned or changes to their underlying philosophies during the design process. Please be aware that not all professions have the same extent of information available right now, but each is receiving the same love and attention as the next.

Take heed of these teasers as you look forward to your new rank of Illustrious Grand Master!

Please enjoy!

General

• Perks will continue to exist across all professions, and will upgraded appropriately.

Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, and Tailoring

• Many of the green (and possibly some blue) items made during the process of leveling these professions will contain random stats. In most examples, two stats on these items will be set, and two will be random. The idea with these items is to mix up the skill leveling items so you're not just, for example, creating 10 pairs of boots that are all exactly the same.
• Superior-quality items that require more materials than other recipes in the same skill range provide multiple skill-ups. For example, if a recipe takes three times the reagents, it will give you three skill-ups.
• We didn't feel like we were getting much flexibility from specializations, so they have been removed for all three of these professions. The intent was to help people diversify their profession to feel different from that of other players, but through other professions we've found systems that work better to this end, such as simply making recipes available that you can earn over time.
• To follow up the previous change, all items that required a specialization are now useable by anyone.
• Tailoring the high-end Cataclysm items will center around a single cloth type that can be crafted through five different recipes -- each with their own material components and a long cooldown.
• All three professions will create their starter sets of PVP gear, which will be upgraded with new recipes every season. In general, these are meant to keep pace as an entry-level PvP set below whatever the current Hero Point set is.

Alchemy

• New elixirs will be about 75% as strong as flasks. So you can get more total stat points with two elixirs, but flasks will still be the best at giving you a single offensive or defensive stat.
• New unique material used by nearly all high-level recipes will be created by alchemists on a one-day cooldown.
• New Mysterious Potion created with common materials restores health and mana in a massively random range, as well as sometimes granting the benefit of another potion. The health and mana range is from 1-20,000 and is able to crit. The minimum amount restored, however, is scaled upwards by the Alchemy skill, making it a great choice for alchemists to keep for themselves.
• All potions and elixirs now use the same basic vial type. Flasks still use a fancy vial.
• New Alchemist Stone.

Enchanting
In general, material component costs for most recipes are more moderate in how much they require, while the highest-end recipes will still require large quantities. The goal of this change is to make the leveling recipes more consistent and not create unintended roadblocks in getting to the higher skill levels.
An enchanter vanity pet is being added.

New Cataclysm weapon enchantment preview:

• Avalanche -- Chance to deal Nature damage on melee hit/spell hit.
• Elemental Slayer -- As expected, this enchantment helps players deal devastating damage to elemental creatures.
• Hurricane -- A stacking haste proc.
• Heartsong -- Mana regeneration through increased Spirit when chain-casting spells.
• Many more maximum-level enchantments are still in progress.

Engineering

• Engineering is still being designed, but expect new unpredictable gadgets to use on yourself or enemies. Toys, explosives, and even a new vanity pet or two. Oh, and powerful mechanical bows and crossbows in addition to guns.
• In general, we want Engineering to remain a tradeskill mainly focused on creating fun or useful gadgets for the engineer, but we are exploring options for items that can be sold to other players for profit.

Inscription

• With the large number of class changes coming with Cataclysm, many existing glyphs will see new functionality.
• Minor glyphs are woefully uneven from one class to the next right now, so they're a focus for us to clean them up and try to ensure that everyone has minor glyphs they're excited about.
• New Darkmoon Cards will be added, with hopes they'll all be as awesome as the Greatness card.
• We'll be adding more major glyphs as well, but in the hopes of making them as balanced as possible, we'll likely wait until after the expansion ships to add any for the new abilities in Cataclysm.
• New and more desirable off-hand and relic recipes will be added.

Jewelcrafting

• Some gem colors have changed! Hit is now blue. Mastery and Dodge are yellow. Intellect is now red. These simple changes have created a much more diverse matrix of gem cuts.
• New Jewelcrafting dailies will be introduced.
• Many cuts are being added to support the new Mastery stat.
• Some new Cataclysm jewelry recipes have completely random properties, and can sometimes create superior and epic versions.
• Jewelcrafters will have some fun new (and potentially lucrative) vanity items, including fist weapons, rhinestone sunglasses, monocles, and stardust (sprinkle on players for entertainment).

Herbalism, Skinning, and Mining

• All Cataclysm herbs have the chance of containing Volatile Life.
• There won't be a new Lotus equivalent in Cataclysm. Alchemists will use the more reliably-found Volatile Life to create the new high level flasks.

Herb Example:

• "Heartblossom -- Named for its deep red color, this delicate flower grows close to the ground, and always in pairs. If one blossom is taken, the other flower begins to wilt immediately and dies soon after. It is considered very unlucky to disturb a Heartblossom without blessing it first."
• Savage Leather, the basic Cataclysm leather, can be gathered from most creatures found in the expansion areas and can be converted to Heavy Savage Leather at a 6:1 rate.
• Pristine Hide, the rare Cataclysm hide, can be found when skinning creatures in the expansion areas, or be converted from Heavy Savage Leather.
• Obsidian is the new common mineral found when mining in Cataclysm, and can contain gems, Volatile Fire, and Volatile Shadow.
• Elementium is the new uncommon mineral found when mining in Cataclysm, and can contain gems, Volatile Fire, Volatile Water, or Volatile Earth.
• Pyrite is the new rare mineral found when mining in Cataclysm, and can contain gems and Volatile Fire.
• Previous Elementium Ore and Bar used for classic quests will be renamed to Elementium Ingot and Hardened Elementium Bar.
• We like the gathering perks as they are; not a game-changing bonus but something themed and fun. But as all tradeskills are in the design stages these are still being discussed to a degree.

Cooking

• Cooking is still in the early stages, but we plan on continuing with daily quests, feasts, and some fun new recipes.
• We liked the cooking dailies that had players picking up items that spawned in the world near the quest giver, so most if not all new cooking dailies will work similarly.

First Aid

• Bandages will have a short cast time and put a heal over time effect on the target for 8 seconds. This effect is broken by damage.
• Three new bandages! That's right: THREE!

Bandage preview:

• "Dense Embersilk Bandage" Heals for 34,800 over 8 seconds. Requires 3 Embersilk to create.

Fishing

• Lots of new fish and other fun items to catch! Fish are still used to make premium food.
• New fishing dailies.

[/blizzquote]