25v25 Rated BG Bracket gone, Raid Markers, Gamon, Blue Posts

[Boubouille]

25 vs 25 Bracket in Rated Battlegrounds Removed

After much though and deliberation, we have decided to remove the 25 v 25 bracket from rated battlegrounds. We felt that overall, it created too many logistical issues for players and that in the long run, most players would just skip that week in the rotation.

Thanks for all the feedback on this issue, we are listening.

Cataclysm Raid Markers
One of the latest beta build upgraded the raid markers to improve them visually, below is a small preview.

Orgrimmar - Gamon Updated!
Gamon received a considerable upgrade in the latest beta build, he is now a level 85 elite and will kick your ass if you try to attack him! It's about time!

Cataclysm Models - Al'akir and Druid Worgen Flight Form
Apparently I forgot to post these models a while back and I couldn't miss an occasion to prove that complaining works!. Below is the in-game model of Al'akir and the flight form of worgen druids.

All raids open for testing on Beta Servers

I've opened up access to all the Cataclysm raid content on each of the four beta servers again.

Both normal and heroic difficulties are available.

Blue Posts

Player vs. Player
Hitting Higher Level Players
Actually, it's already substantially easier to hit a higher level player in PvP than it is to hit an NPC of the equivalent level; though perhaps not to the extent you had in mind. On the same token, PvP is only really intended to be a reasonable challenge between characters that are within a few levels of each other.

Gaining levels should confer power, and it's not at all untoward for a higher level character to have a significant advantage over a much lower level character. If one wants to beat a higher level player in PvP, then it's in their best interest to gear up, study up, and deliver a satisfying beat down once they catch up. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Zealotry
Zealotry (in Cataclysm) does not consume Holy Power and is not on the GCD.

This seems to be a common misperception, probably because this is a change from how it works on live, so I wanted to clear it up and maybe nudge the theorycrafting towards some more accurate numbers. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Recent Discipline changes on Beta
The intent was that with the new PW:Barrier and a very strong Prayer of Healing, Disc would be good at group healing, and buffing Grace would make sure they can deliver the throughput on a single target, since they can't layer as many multiple spells on the same target the way a druid can.

We're still looking at priest base heals though (Heal, Flash Heal, Greater Heal) because we're concerned neither Disc nor Holy is using them enough. If we end up buffing those then both Disc and Holy will be even stronger on single targets. (Source)

Blizzard Art Gallery Update
The Blizzard Art gallery has been updated with five pieces representing the Warcraft universe.

New Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with 4 new pictures.

[Sh1ntu]

Didn't expect Gamon to get that big of a buff.

[Rycul]

Awesome raid markers. Okay flight form (although this kinda makes me feel like the Troll bats got little attention).

Oh and this artwork and this artwork are just plain awesome too.

[Blonk]

inb4 lame gamon memes

[Deleted]

Gamon, I AM SO FRICKEN SORRY FOR I KILLED YOU YESTERDAY, NO HARD FEELINGS, MMMKAY?

[Eixel]

Awesome raid markers.

^^ Agreed

[Deleted]

Gamon buff is the best, finally my buddy can stop getting killed all the time!

[Deleted]

Man... Gamon's been hitting the gym...

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I'm still gonna kill Gamon every time I'm in Org, I just might need to call a friend or 2 to join in on our favorite Orgimmar past time.

[Naoto]

lol Gamon, gonna be funny seeing people attack him though, so this now means you can get a group together and pwn him in org?

[Deleted]

He's soooo going to get revenge on all of us, isn't he?

[Deleted]

Haha, damn no more killing him, even tro now you can kite him without having him killed all the time The other day i managed to get him outside orgrimmar gates and almost away from the dueling ppl outside lol on my mage.

[dasyan]

sry maybe for the stupid question but... I just logged back in the beta and still have the old markers sooo.... anyone an idea what i have to do to actually see the new ones?

[manos1234]

I can already imagine people finding ways to make others agro Gammon

[Hulari]

Gamon buff is the best, finally my buddy can stop getting killed all the time!

Agreed.

It'd be nice to see how the new raid markers work on targets too, as a tank it's always annoying to have to tell people which target to kill even though there's a skull above their head. Now we can say 'OMG CANT YOU SEE THAT HUGE GLOWY BOUNCING SKULL!?' instead.

---------- Post added 2010-11-12 at 09:09 AM ----------

sry maybe for the stupid question but... I just logged back in the beta and still have the old markers sooo.... anyone an idea what i have to do to actually see the new ones?

It's just a build afaik, hasn't been deployed on the servers yet?
I might be mistaken though.

[mezmir]

Make my rogue t11 look more like al-akir and ill complain less, his shoulders remind me of a glowy bloodfang.

[Caldrumr]

LOL, 101281 overkill... That definitely sounds like a buff!

[Toriankel]

Gamon as become Ganon. Beware, his Wrath will be terrible !

[Evilution]

Hoping for a new "For the Alliance/Horde!" achievement, could include Gamon (for the Alliance that is).
And maybe a new superstrong Gnome poking about somewhere that he horde need slap?

And yay, even better than flares, time to play 3D Tic-tac-toe in raids!

[Deleted]

Omg! Amazing raid marks!!