World of Warcraft

WoW Dev Interview: The Heart and Souls of Icecrown Citadel

2009-11-21T00:06:34Z

It looks like World of Raids wasn't the only one interviewing Greg Street and Cory Stockton this week! Blizzard's community team sat down with them and grilled them on Icecrown Citadel, including their philosophies behind the dungeon and more. Check it out below!

Quote from: Zarhym (Source)

To shed some light into the chilly gloom of Icecrown Citadel, we sat down to talk about the decision-making process behind Wrath of the Lich King's ultimate dungeon, the World of Warcraft team's design philosophy, and the dangers that lurk in the heart of Arthas's stronghold.

Check out the resulting interview to learn more: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/icecrown-interview.xml

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

With the final battle against the Lich King just on the horizon, Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton and Lead Systems Designer Greg Street discuss what awaits players inside Icecrown Citadel and offer a glimpse at the design process behind Wrath of the Lich King's ultimate raid and dungeon encounters.

What were you looking forward to most about developing Icecrown Citadel?

Cory: I think the most exciting thing about developing Icecrown Citadel was just knowing that we were working on the final chapter of the Northrend expansion, and that we'd really be able to give players that ultimate sense of completion of the storyline. Arthas is a huge character in Warcraft lore, so we took a lot of pride in making this the best experience we possibly could.

Icecrown and the Frozen Throne are important parts of the world of Azeroth and have quite a bit of history, especially for longtime Warcraft players. How do you convey the significance of these places and the events that took place there in design?

Cory: History was a large factor in the design of Icecrown Citadel from the very beginning. When we first sat down to discuss the layout of the raid itself, we immediately went back to Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne to think about how the spire from the ending cinematic could be translated into World of Warcraft. We decided to actually build Icecrown Citadel around the original spire to pull players even more into the storyline. This kind of thinking carried on throughout the entire design process.

Greg: We want Icecrown to be an epic experience from top to bottom, and that includes the loot you get. We're not going to shower players in items -- well, more than we already do -- but we do want to make sure the items are sufficiently powerful so that they're upgrades for all of our players.

Is there an existing model in World of Warcraft for Icecrown Citadel's itemization or style of play? What lessons that you'd learned from earlier projects wound up being applied to Icecrown Citadel?

Greg: The nice thing about Icecrown Citadel from an itemization perspective is that we have lots of bosses. That's something of a relief coming from the Crusaders' Coliseum, where we had only five bosses. For Icecrown, we can afford to have multiple options for a particular slot -- say a healing leather bracer or a melee trinket -- and even itemize some of the more unusual pieces. We have a pretty effective system for figuring out who is going to drop what to make sure that an individual boss will be interesting to a variety of players in terms of loot. Most of our lessons learned are in the realm of what differences there should be between 10- and 25-player itemization, the role of tradeskill recipes, and what kinds of items to place with badge vendors.

Cory: I think we learn lessons from every raid that we do. We didn't model Icecrown specifically after any of our previous raids, but you can definitely see influences. For example, we have a winged structure in Icecrown that players will remember from Naxxramas. Another example of an influence would be the teleporters from Ulduar. We know that players really loved that concept, so we brought it back in Icecrown.

Can you talk a little about how artists and designers on the team collaborated on the creation of Icecrown Citadel?

Cory: The design and art teams worked extremely closely throughout the entire development process. The biggest single influence on the look and the layout of the dungeon comes from our concept art, and there was no shortage of that for Icecrown Citadel. Once we locked down the layout, we were able to get to work on the final art extremely quickly thanks to the existing style we'd developed for the Icecrown zone. We really wanted the players to feel connected to the environment, but we wanted to make sure it still had an amazing look. Oftentimes, these two things are hard to mix, but in this case, I think we've been able to pull off an amazing dungeon from both the art and design standpoint.

What sorts of new loot and item abilities will we see in Icecrown?

Greg: There are three main sources of loot for Icecrown: the bosses themselves, the Emblem of Frost badge vendors, and a new faction, the Ashen Verdict, that will provide suitable rewards as well, particularly at the Exalted level.

As far as the items themselves go, we want them to feel epic. In addition to having favorable optimization, we also want to try a lot of experiments to make the items feel cool and unique. We are going to try to do a lot of weapon procs, for instance, which is something we haven't done much since the original World of Warcraft.

When you set out to itemize "sister" areas -- like the Icecrown Citadel dungeon and raid, or Halls of Stone, Halls of Lightning, and Ulduar -- do you take any steps to make loot from these places feel similar?

Greg: Absolutely. We approach that on two fronts: the art and the names. When we did the Halls of Stone and Lightning, we hadn't completed the Ulduar raid yet, so the items there didn't necessarily have Titan-influenced art models for us to use. We are doing the Icecrown dungeon at the same time as the raid, and it's a style we already know pretty well, from Naxxramas and even the Warcraft RTS games.

Naming is something we've had a lot of fun with. There's a ton of lore to draw from for Icecrown loot and it has a very strong "kit." World of Warcraft players know to associate the Scourge with spiders, bats, and cultists along with more traditional forms of undead, like skeletons and liches.

Do you itemize Icecrown's "trash" -- the enemies between bosses -- differently from elites elsewhere in the world elsewhere?

Greg: We make sure there is epic trash loot -- specific items that only drop from trash. It helps keep players interested between bosses. However, we aren't doing Heroic trash, just Heroic bosses, so there won't be unique trash loot for Heroic versions of the 10- and 25-player versions of the raid. We try to construct the trash in such a way that it isn't trivial to go farm the first pull or whatever in hopes that an epic drops. We make our raids more accessible now in general, so I'm not sure the motivation is there to try stunts like that the way it once was. We want players who have raided so far in Wrath of the Lich King to be able to actually fight the Lich King, so chances are a lot of raiders will have plenty of opportunities to gear up. Now, the Heroics are another story -- those will be as challenging as they were in Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader, and the items will likewise be even better.

What have you done to make the tier-10 sets feel like a meaningful advancement from tier 8 and tier 9? How do they visually represent Icecrown's lore and history?

Greg: Not only do we want them to be a meaningful advancement, but we want them to feel really awesome. This is Arthas loot you're talking about. We started by spending a lot of time on the concept art to make sure it tied into the type of creatures you'll encounter and the whole Icecrown art "kit" in general. For example, the rogue tier-10 set has a strong geist look to it, while the hunter set has strong Nerubian elements, and the mage set looks a lot like the Blood Princes. You can see the Icecrown look and feel in a lot of pieces, which itself drew strongly from the Lich King's original helmet. Look for lots of blue, ice, skulls, and spikes.

We have also spent a lot longer on the set bonuses than we usually do. It's important that they feel awesome for every class and spec. Going back to the Crusaders' Coliseum, part of the challenge we made for ourselves was to create an instance that didn't require as much time or resources as Ulduar to develop, yet was still cool. We had set bonuses for the tier-9 gear, but they were often simple -- more crit on a common ability was a typical one. For tier 10, we're really going for set bonuses that change your game up a little. At the very least, you should want to change your rotation a little, though this is easier with some classes than others.

If you had something like a mission statement or a slogan for itemizing Icecrown, what would it be?

Greg: Epic. Cool things. Proc'y stuff.

Seriously, that's our mission statement. One of the risks of itemization is making things feel too formulaic. We know that when we step outside the bounds too much, players can have a bad reaction to it, like, "Why does my gear for this tier suck?" It's easy to fall into the trap of making the new gear feel just like the last gear with 20 more stat points. That is the exact design approach we use for the PvP gear, and left unchecked, it would be easy to go the same direction with the PvE gear as well. We're trying not to do that. We think we owe it to Icecrown for the gear to be memorable, but that means we're going to take a few chances.

Can you talk about any of the new mechanics we'll see in the raid?

Cory: One of the coolest new things we're doing in Icecrown is the gunship air battle. Players will be able to board their respective faction's gunship and then take to the air for a battle to the top of the citadel. They'll be fighting on the decks as well as using vehicles' cannon emplacements. If you're really daring, you can put on a goblin rocket pack and propel yourself back and forth between the two battling gunships. Needless to say, this will be a type of encounter that our players have never experienced before.

Icecrown Citadel's structure is extremely vertical -- what challenges does that present from a layout perspective?

Cory: Well, we knew from the start that the layout was going to be vertical, just due to the nature of the original spire. There are a number of things that we're doing to help players get around and not get lost. We're using elevators, teleporters, and even gunships to get players where they need to go in the dungeon. We are also going to have an in-game map with full support for all floors -- that should help too.

Icecrown is the last major raid and dungeon before the release of Cataclysm -- how has that affected the design?

Greg: The major challenge from an itemization perspective is that the items have to last basically until Cataclysm. That means we can't afford to give them away too quickly, but they also need to feel powerful enough that players are motivated to keep trying for them. On the other hand, the really fun thing about doing a final raid tier is how it unties your hands. We can afford to make these items great because nothing needs to follow on their heels. It's cool to be able to optimize the items very well, because it's okay if players don't want to replace these items for a long time.

Cory: We are really pushing as hard as we can to deliver the most epic experience possible. We know that our players have been waiting for this for a long time, and we plan to deliver. Everyone should expect to see this sort of storytelling and attention to detail in Cataclysm as well. I think we are always striving to pull the people who play our game into the storyline and really give them an explanation for why they're there. It won't be too long before they'll get a chance to bring the pain to Deathwing!

Thanks, both of you - we're looking forward to playing through Icecrown Citadel after patch 3.3 is released!

Icecrown Citadel Raid Access Progression

2009-11-19T01:49:58Z

This doesn't come as a huge surprise since Ghostcrawler let slip of it in our interview with him, but check out the planned progression for raid access in Icecrown Citadel below.

Quote from: Daelo (Source)

Icecrown Citadel testing has been progressing very well over the last few weeks, and this has been a huge help to the encounter design team. I want to thank everyone who has logged onto the PTR and tried the encounters there.

As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, I wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point I can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.

The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.

There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.

The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.

The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana'thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.

There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).

In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell's effect if they so wish.

Legendary Weapon Preview: Shadowmourne

2009-11-17T21:26:00Z

This looks like it will shape up to be the most interesting legendary quest ever added to the game. It should be a lot of fun for players to take part in when 3.3 goes live! Here's the official preview of Shadowmourne, the next legendary weapon being added to World of Warcraft:

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

Before beginning his reign as the Lich King, Prince Arthas Menethil was first a servant, ruled by a sword he believed was the key to saving his people - the runeblade Frostmourne. Finding and claiming the blade among the frozen wastes of Northrend was an odyssey unto itself, and the search cost the prince his mentor, his relationship with his subjects, and his humanity. It cost the living of Azeroth far more.

With a tight grip on the blade that he traded his life for, Arthas ravaged the kingdom of Lordaeron and broke free from the control of the Burning Legion. By the time the former prince ascended as the leader of the Scourge, Frostmourne was already glutted with the souls of the numberless dead who dared to oppose him.

Now, Arthas has become so inseparable from his weapon that the sword's likeness has even found its way into the architecture of his fortress, Icecrown Citadel. Its hilt is never far from his hands; its ghostly whispers constantly ring in his ears. Frostmourne, as much as the Lich King, is the ruler of Northrend.

To challenge that rule, mighty heroes will need to follow more closely in Arthas's path than ever before.

In a relentless quest to arm the forces of the living against the Scourge, Darion Mograine has formed the Ashen Verdict, a union between the most skilled craftsmen of the Argent Crusade and the Ebon Blade. Though the peerless paladins of the Crusade wield the power of the Light, and their leader clutches Ashbringer, a few of Mograine's dark warriors have begun to question their hopes for victory.

These death knights insist that the Ashbringer and the skills of the Argent Crusaders, though potent, aren't enough to best Frostmourne alone. They swear that Darion Mograine has long been quietly aware of another legendary blade - one that could be the key to defeating the Lich King and cleansing Northrend... But it doesn't exist yet.

For the moment, the weapon is a formless idea, with no more killing power than an angry thought. When it is spoken of, it is spoken of quietly, and the Highlord has a habit of silencing those who discuss it in public.

But the hope of an artifact to rival Frostmourne is strong within the minds of the Ebon Blade. Just its name inspires the furnaces to burn late into the night, the bellows to pump air, and the darker half of the Verdict's smiths to swing their hammers until their fingers fail. While other craftsmen crafters lean over whetstones and gather pitted blades by the hundreds, these few dream of a single weapon to end the war for Northrend.

Shadowmourne... A great two-handed axe fit for a giant, born of sacred and corrupt powers, host of a thousand dead souls and able to be wielded only by the most stalwart armsmasters of Azeroth. Its creation seems nearly impossible; and yet, the rumors do not cease.

Some smiths claim that Shadowmourne must be nothing more than an ordinary axe, honed to unparalleled perfection, while others would shape it from a weapon of immense import in the world. Mograine, when he can be convinced to speak of it at all, is said to believe that only the hammer of Arthas himself will provide a worthy model - but such absurd ambition is just the beginning of Shadowmourne's creation.

To contain the energies that dance across its cold edges, Shadowmourne must be hewn from piles of impure Saronite: the hardened blood of the Old God, Yogg-Saron, treated only by master metal-shapers.

To fuel its power to kill, it is vital that Shadowmourne be drenched in the souls of the most potent servants of the Scourge as they are slain, one by one, with the unfinished blade.

To help break through the Lich King's armor, Shadowmourne is to be adorned with fragments of the Frozen Throne, originally crafted by Kil'Jaeden out of ice from the Twisting Nether.

Only with these mighty components, it's said, can Shadowmourne be finished. And, yet, even if the axe could be completed, questions and fears remain. Is forging the souls of the deceased into a weapon treated withblood and the essence of the Twisting Nether truly any different from the crafting of the Scourge's runeblades?

Who is to say that the Lich King wouldn't simply annihilate - or control - the maker for their impudence in mimicking his most treasured possession? If Arthas, one of the most dedicated knights of his age, lost his humanity to the whispers of Frostmourne, might Shadowmourne bring the same doom and misery tothe living as its sister blade?

Without knowing the answers to these questions, who would be bold enough to try and wield it?

Mr. T's Night Elf Mohawk Returns

2009-11-17T00:11:41Z

Here's the latest World of Warcraft commercial featuring Mr. T: the mohawk grenade. The cool thing about this is you can get the mohawk grenade in-game and use it on other players -- placing a "night elf mohawk" head on their character!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Quote from: Nethaera (Source)

"You gotta choice, Jack. You can watch Mr. T's new TV commercial…or you can HURT." Mr. T, outraged that any fools would doubt his hacking skills, has returned to World of Warcraft to show off his latest invention in a series of nationally televised ads. Watch them here first at Blizzard's YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/worldofwarcraft) or click to Learn more ( http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/mohawkgrenade.xml ) about the mohawk grenade and how you can claim your own in-game.

Mohawk Grenade (Source)

These should be available to get in game now and we'll be posting more information on it all soon, in the meantime you can get it at any of the Night Elf Mohawk NPCs camped outside every starting zone.

Mohawk Grenade FAQ

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

Q. What is the Mohawk Grenade?

A. The Mohawk Grenade is Mr. T's latest invention: an in-game item that, when hurled at another character, gives everyone within the blast radius an instant T-riffic haircut. Don't worry, you and your friends will look gooooood.

Q. Where do I get it?

A. Quit your jibber-jabber and claim your Mohawk Grenades from any of the Night Elf Mohawk NPCs camped outside every starting zone.

Q. What regions are eligible to claim the Mohawk Grenade?

A. North America, Europe and Korea.

Q. Is this a permanent item?

A. Each Mohawk Grenade has five charges before exhausting its power, and you're welcome to claim another once the charges are gone.

Q. How long will the Mohawk Grenade be available in-game?

A. Claim Mohawk Grenades starting November 16th in North America and November 24th in Europe and Korea. They'll be available until... well, until the Night Elf Mohawk decides his work is done.

Q. Where can I see the Mr. T commercials?

A. The commercials will be airing on major TV networks throughout North America beginning on November 16th and in Europe starting on November 27th. You can also view the ads on the official World of Warcraft YouTube channel here.

Blizzard Preview Of New Quest Tracking System In WoW!

2009-11-15T17:43:56Z

The folks at WorldofWarcraft.com have sent us an update about the all-new Quest Tracking feature which is planned to release in content update 3.3. Here's a little information from the preview that should give you insight into the new World of Warcraft questing experience, and how that will be vastly improved in content update 3.3 for characters of all levels!

Here's some information on the new quest tracking feature form the folks at Blizzard:

We're making several improvements to the user interface for tracking quest objectives in our 3.3 content update. These new features will serve to improve the questing experience for players through a multitude of new tracking options.

Quest Log

We've added a new "Show Map" button on the Quest Log. The "Show Map" feature highlights any quest in the log and will pull up the map for the zone in which the corresponding quest objectives are located.

Map

When viewing the large zone map ('M' key), players will notice that all quests they have for that zone will be automatically tracked. In addition, this large map is now separated into four separate interface panes.

To the right of the map, all active quests for that zone will be listed by name and be represented with a number. These numbers will be placed on the map highlighting areas of interest for each quest.

To learn more about the new quest tracking features visit WorldofWarcraft.com!

World of Warcraft U.S. and EU Weekly Community Update!

2009-11-12T19:23:54Z

The community folks over at World of Warcraft have sent us a recent update about all the hot topics on the WoW EU and U.S. forums for the past week! There are also several important developer posts this week!

Here's a look at the latest updates:

EU Forums:

Here are some of the most recent blue-posts made on the EU forums:

· Poll: What's most interesting about the Quel'Delar?

· Poll: Onyxia, we come for your treasure!

· Tools Patch Issues: Please Read

· Tier 10 Sneak Preview Update!

· Quel'Delar: The Sister Blade

· Icecrown Raid Difficulty Functionality

· MLG World of Warcraft 3v3 Tournament

· Blizzard Pet Store Now Regional

· Population Issue

· PTR Footage

Other noteworthy threads:

· New Wallpaper From WildStorm!

· New Fan Art: Night Elf!

· 10/11 - Forum Watch

· 06/11 Community News

· 05/11 Community Events

· 04/11 - Realms and Migration

US Forums:

· The Vault, Tol Barad and tokens

· Argent daily, get kraken!

· What achievements do you enjoy the most?

· Why to convert to battle.net account

· Just One Screenshot

· Favourite ways to make a healer cry

· Triumph badges becoming heroic badges

· Shop Talk: Patch 3.3 Fun for Everyone

· Internships at Blizzard

· Blizzard Pet Store Now Regional

· Removal from food and water from starting characters

· Tier-10 Armor Sneak Preview: Paladin & Priest

Developer Posts:

· Why doesn't spell power = +% damage?

· On warlock threat

· On badge gear with block value

· Toravon the Ice Watcher available for Testing

· Halls of Reflection - Feedback

· Lord Marrowgar - Feedback (Nov 11)

· Festergut - Feedback (Nov 11)

· Infernal cooldown lol

· Why do the devs …

· Regarding Doomguard as Guardian

· First ability balanced around 1 v 1?

· Rogue weapon swapping isn't a big deal

· Tranquility: Nerf?

· Paladin vs. Warrior - Why even use a Warrior?

· Devs really have me confused with the new LFG

· Hunters with Focus, will it really matter?

· @ divine intervention change

· Valithria Dreamwalker - Feedback (11/06)

· Icecrown Gunship Battle - Feedback (Nov 7)

· Randomly queueing to a saved dungeon

· New abilities in Cataclysm

· LoH and forbearance some more

· Tank advantages

· More on warlocks and pets

· Icecrown Citadel Testing - November 6-7

· DK tanking

· Pets and petbars

· Mocking Blow

· Clarification on Infusion of Light

World of Warcraft Battle.net Reminder!

2009-11-11T18:58:37Z

A general reminder today about the new WoW Battle.net system:

World of Warcraft is now a part of the new Battle.net! In preparation for the rollout of Battle.net's upcoming communication and community features, as of today, all World of Warcraft accounts must be merged with a free Battle.net account in order to log in to the game.

To upgrade to a Battle.net account, please visit http://us.battle.net. For more info, check out the Battle.net site or read the FAQ: http://us.battle.net/faq/index.html

Account conversion: http://us.battle.net
FAQ: http://us.battle.net/faq/index.html

Battle.net Reminder, Tools Patch Issue, Pug With The Blues - Take Two

2009-11-10T17:59:42Z

Quick comment before getting into the news. Patch 3.3 is not going live this week. Some of you asked in IRC and on the forums, and I've seen a lot of general confusion. Yesterday's launcher update was just that -- a patch for the launcher and other Blizzard tools related to World of Warcraft; it wasn't anything immediately related to 3.3. Beyond that, there's still more testing to be done this week specifically, and you'll also see a substantial pre-patch download before this goes live since it will be larger than 1gb.

Reminder: Mandatory Battle.net Merge

This is just a reminder (I'm sure most of you have already done it though to get your Mr. Chilly) that as of tomorrow, November 11th, merging your WoW account with a Battle.net account will become mandatory for World of Warcraft players. After this date you'll no longer be able to play until you've merged your account.

Helpful Links

Battle.net (US, EU, KR)
Battle.net FAQ (US, EU, KR)

Tools Patch Issues: Please Read

Quote from: Eyonix (Source)

We are aware that since the latest tools patch, some players are receiving the error, "unable to validate game version" when attempting to login to the game. In order to resolve this issue, you most allow the launcher to run so the appropriate update can be applied. Another issue that we've identified is preventing players from running the launcher while wow.exe is open. This is preventing players from running multiple iterations of World of Warcraft. As a temporary work-around, until this issue is resolved, simply run the second game instance by opening wow.exe directly from your World of Warcraft folder.

If your download fails, please wait a few moments and try again. We hope to have these issues corrected shortly, and appreciate your understanding.

PUG with the Blues - Take Two!

Zarhym should probably say "if you play horde" since there were very few Blizzard people playing alliance during the first test!

Quote from: Zarhym (Source)

Since our first test went so well, we’d like to invite everyone out again for round 2! Come join the fun on the PTR; and instead of looting the PUG blues, you could end up with a PUG blue (see what we did there?). Members of the Development Team (including the encounter designers themselves), the QA team, and the Community Team will be on the PTRs to test out the new dungeon system and want you to come join in the fun.

To have a chance to group up with one of us, just queue up for a random Heroic through the Dungeon tool. We will be playing both Alliance and Horde, and since the Dungeon tool allows players to group cross-server, it doesn’t matter which of the two PTR realms you join from.

Join us Wednesday 11/11/09 at 4:00pm PST. We'll see you then! :)

Blue Posts

Vanity Pets with stats (Source)

We enjoy adding things into the game that just add flavor and aren't part of any min-maxing discussions. The non-combat pets are one of these things and so are things like titles. As soon as we put some stats on them the purpose changes entirely and anything without the ideal stats becomes "worthless". Imagine if the cockroaches had the best stats and you see 25 of them in a raid... kinda weird.

Tank DPS (Source)

We wanted to boost tank dps even when tanking and wanted tanks to care a little more about dps stats. That was more important in earlier tiers than now -- as the dps keep stacking damage and the tanks keep stacking stamina it's understandable if the gap grows wider.

We still want tanks to care more about dps stats as secondary stats, but we're not sure making threat difficult to manage is a good way to do it and we're not sure making the tank dps critical for beating enrage timers is a good way to do it either.

Does the new Dungeons tool actually help the problem of finding groups? (Source)

Just a couple of observations from our point of view:

1) Players who don't pug dramatically underestimate the number of people who do.
2) Players often assume every realm has the same dynamics that their realm has.

Pugging is something an awful lot of players do and our (frankly inadequate) tool didn't facilitate that experience very well. The new tool is pretty fast and simple. If you enjoy pugging (or don't enjoy it but do it anyway :) ) the new tool should let you spend less time organizing and more time killing (or wiping :( ).

If pugging isn't your thing, that's cool. We're not trying to push you into it... unless you really like pugs (by which I mean the pooch). The tool will also benefit premades.

3.3 Oculus Changes (Source)

As is evidenced in this thread, players have strong opinions on Oculus in contrast to the majority of the other Wrath of the Lich King dungeons. With the implementation of the new Dungeon system and Random Dungeon option in patch 3.3, many players were asking for the ability to black list at least one dungeon from the selection pool. If a large number of players want to black list Oculus because they don't find it enjoyable -- and it can often times be a pick-up group killer -- we view that as a problem. We do not, however, see a viable solution in giving players the ability to simply remove any dungeon they want from the Random Dungeon rotation. That takes away from the idea of randomness. In addition, we feel the benefits afforded players when running random Heroic dungeons (extra emblems, the chance to run a specific Heroic instance more than once a day, etc.) are too good to let them narrow down the list as they see fit.

As a compromise, we've made the standard fights in Oculus a bit easier, and increased the benefits of item-based vehicle scaling to make the drake combat less cumbersome. We hope these changes deter players from deserting a random dungeon when it happens to be Oculus.

Is the Emblem of Frost random dungeon the same all day? (Source)

I don't think we'd want to go that far, but it is worth noting that the Random Dungeon option will not take into account dungeons players have deserted or completed when repeatedly selecting this option. Those in this thread claiming they will still refuse to run the dungeon and desert it whenever it is selected at random run the risk of killing a lot of time with the Deserter debuff should Oculus be randomly selected often, as it has just as much chance of being randomly chosen as any other dungeon. If, say, it is randomly selected four times in a row, that is a total 1 hour of time wasted with a Deserter debuff in addition to the time it takes to put together each group. Whether or not one equally enjoys all Wrath of the Lich King dungeons, that's a weird price to pay for what will be a relatively easy and quick dungeon run in patch 3.3.

Hunter

Will Focus as a resource really make a difference? (Source)

If you ignore combo points (which we aren't planning on adding to hunters), then the biggest decision energy-users face is whether to use a single 60 energy attack or two 30 energy attacks. The answer depends on a lot of variables, including which does more damage, what is on cooldown, the synergy between the abilities, etc.

If you consider the cat druid (because it's slightly simpler) and ignore finishing moves, then the druid rotation would look something like getting up a +bleed attack, applying a bleed dot, getting up a +damage buff, and then doing the actual damage. You could imagine something similar like that for hunters. I don't mean hunters are going to be a +bleed class, but more that the choice of what attack to push next should have some decision behind it. It won't just be Serpent Sting x 1, Chimera Shot x 1000. Repeat.

Also most of the answers quoted above were from Blizzcon. These answers fall into three basic categories: things we know we're going to do, things we'd like to do, and things we hadn't really thought about before someone asked a question (e.g. taming mounts).

Also, Enhancement shamans will almost certainly stay as mana-users but still share (non Int) gear with hunters. This likely means some kind of attack power to mana regen mechanic like Ret paladins have currently. However development on stuff like this is still early.

Hunter rotations in Cataclysm (Source)

I said ignore the finishers, so that removes Rip and FB. You are left with a bleed (Rake), a bleed buffer (Mangle), a damage buff (SR) and then the actual attack, Shred. Someone unfamiliar with kitties might say "Oh I'll just use all my energy on Shred, because it does the most dps" the way someone unfamiliar with focus-based hunters might say "Oh I'll just use all my focus on Chimera / Explosive once they aren't on cooldowns." Our plan is to make the rotation have more depth than that. It won't be at the Feral level of complexity without cps and finishers and because hunters have other things to manage, like Fluffy.

Cooldowns on Chimera Shot / Explosive Shot (Source)

Sorry, I meant if we remove the cooldown from those shots then someone might jump to the conclusion that hunters will just spam them. I don't know if we will be able to remove the cooldown or not. Shred does not have a cooldown yet Ferals use many other abilities. That is one way to go. Another is to keep a small cooldown, but in general we think focus will let us take cooldowns off a lot of hunter abilities since the income rate of focus will help us balance the costs.

In general (and with many exceptions) you can't balance mana-using spells around cost since casters have nearly unlimited mana at any point in time and certainly early on in a fight. Energy (and focus, and rage to a much lesser extent to where it's actually a problem) are limited at any given moment but come back pretty quickly. Mana-spells have to be balanced around cast times and cooldowns instead. Hunters generally lack cast times, so most abilities have cooldowns which lead to annoying collisions and a lot of timer-watching. Focus should help improve that. We hope!

Rogue

Rogue Weapon Swapping (Source)

As some players are pointing out, it's not the existence of an add-on that's the issue. It's what this means for playing a rogue. We don't want to see the "How to play a rogue FAQ" that starts "Step One. Download the weapon swapping add-on."

It's one thing if it's a niche deal that generates a marginal dps increase. It's another if rogues feel like they have to play with the add-on.

We're still not convinced this will become super mainstream, but we'll see. I said before it's a concern and it's still a concern.

Warlock

Regarding Doomguards (Source)

Singling out the Doomguard for just a moment...

Are you saying you don't mind giving up your Imp or Felhound for the Doomguard? Are you talking like on a long cooldown or not? Because really with shorter cooldowns now my concern would be that every boss attempt you'd have the Doomguard out. In which case who would use the Felhound?

With guardians as a short-term guardian that doesn't replace your current demon it's easier to carve off a niche. Once they replace the Imp, Felhound, Felguard, Voidwalker, Succubus, then it's tricker to make work.

Patch 3.3: PTR Patch Notes Update - November 9th, 2009

2009-11-09T23:10:26Z

The 3.3 PTR patch notes were updated once again today, although this looks like notes related to the last build since today's maintenance was just that: server maintenance. The bug fixes section has a lot of new updates as of today.

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

Dungeons & Raids

Oculus

Many bosses and creatures have had their total health reduced.

Several bosses and creatures have had cooldowns on specific abilities increased, effect durations reduced, and damage on some of these abilities reduced.

Ring-Lord Conjurers and Sorceresses now hang out in packs of 4 instead of packs of 5.

Vehicle scaling on the drakes based on the rider’s item level has been increased to make them more powerful.

Paladin

Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion and Sated from the target. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others.

Items

Haris Pilton now sells a new 24-slot bag! She has stubbornly decided to remain in Shattrath City, so those interested should seek her out there.

Bug Fixes

Items

Ancient Pickled Egg: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap.

Brutal Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it).

Costumes: Various costumes from holidays, items, and quests that previously were cancelled by getting on a mount will now cause an error message when the player attempts to mount instead of cancelling the costume.

Carapace of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Crystalforged Trinket: Can now be refunded at its vendor.

Dragonslayer Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.

Drums of the Forgotten Kings: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.

Drums of the Wild: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.

Eating and Drinking: Eating and drinking are now cancelled and prevented while in a vehicle as a passenger.

Figurine: Emerald Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.

Figurine: Talasite Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.

Fire Hardened Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it).

Giantstalker Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%.

Gul’dan’s Regalia Set: Tooltip corrected to indicate increased damage for all pet attacks, not just abilities.

Husk of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Idol of Flaring Growth: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip.

Idol of Lunar Fury: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.

Idol of The Corruptor: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.

Insignia of the Alliance: Item level changed to 60.

Insignia of the Horde: Item level changed to 60.

Level 58 PvP Items: A variety of PvP items with a minimum level of 58 were not being translated properly when a player used the Paid Faction Change service. That has been corrected. Paladin- and shaman-specific items still will not be translated, as there is no opposite version to translate them into.

Liadrin’s Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield.

Lightning Capacitor: Combat log tooltip for Electrical Charge updated to include more detailed information.

Nightsong Regalia Set: The bonus to Rejuvenation from this set will now work properly with the Idol of Rejuvenation equipped. In addition, the instant heal provided now has a correct combat log tooltip.

Noggenfogger Elixir: Players shrunk while under the effects of this item will now be able to mount.

Quel’dorei Channeling Rod: Spelling error corrected.

Quel’dorei Sash: Spelling error corrected.

Quel’dorei Guard: Spelling error corrected.

Qiraji Bindings of Command: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Qiraji Bindings of Dominance: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Reclaimed Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reclaimed Thunderstrike.

Reinforced Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reinforced Thunderstrike.

Reins of the Swift Frostsaber: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown.

Runescroll of Fortitude: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.

Seaspray Albatross: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.

Sigil of Virulence: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip.

Solace of the Defeated: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0.

Solace of the Fallen: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0.

Spirit of Eskhandar Set: This set no longer requires Eskhandar’s Collar to complete (that item can no longer be acquired).

Swift Horde Wolf: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown.

The Egg of Mortal Essence: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap.

Tier 2 Helmets: Looting these items from Nefarion in Blackwing Lair will no longer trigger the Onyxia’s Lair (level 60) Feat of Strength achievement.

Totem of Quaking Earth: This totem will no longer sometimes grant unintended bonus healing.

Turalyon’s Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield.

Veklor’;s Diadem: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Warmth of Forgiveness: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.

Windrunner Set: The set bonus which grants Greatness to the hunter’s pet will no longer spuriously show the hunter also gaining that buff.

Worldbreaker Garb Set: The Electrified effect caused by this set now has detailed combat log tooltips.

Racial Abilities

Arcane Torrent: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.

Every Man for Himself: Disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger this ability.

Classes

Death Knights

Bloody Strikes: Now properly increases the damage displayed in the tooltips of Blood Strike and Heart Strike.

Bone Shield: Tooltip corrected to indicate the player has the correct number of bones.

Chains of Ice: This ability will no longer appear to land on targets which are immune.

Desecration: The debuff from this ability will no longer sometimes appear as if it were cast by someone else. In addition, the visual and snare from this ability will now both dissipate at the same time. Further, this talent will now respect snare immunities, and no longer sometimes snare immune targets.

Frost Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.

Glyph of Bone Shield: Now updates the number of charges in the Bone Shield tooltip.

Glyph of Dark Death: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil. In addition, its own tooltip has been clarified to indicate it also applies to healing from Death Coil.

Glyph of Death’s Embrace: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil to indicate runic power is refunded.

Glyph of Heart Strike: Now updates the tooltip on Heart Strike to indicate Heart Strike applies a movement snare.

Glyph of Icebound Fortitude: Now updates the tooltip on Icebound Fortitude to show increased damage reduction.

Glyph of Plague Strike: Now updates the damage shown in Plague Strike’s tooltip.

Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Now updates the tooltip on Unbreakable Armor. Tooltip on glyph modified to make its effect more clear as well.

Master of Ghouls: Tooltip typo corrected.

Night of the Dead: Tooltip typo corrected.

Obliterate: This ability will no longer sometimes fail to do additional damage based on diseases on the target.

Raise Ally: While this spell is active on a target, they will not be sent to the graveyard, prematurely ending the spell.

Strangulate: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.

Taste of Blood: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.

Unholy Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.

Druids

Glyph of Hurricane: Now modifies the spell tooltip on Hurricane to indicate the spell also applies a movement slowing effect.

Hurricane: When cast from Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form, this spell will now channel properly instead of stopping the channel as soon as the shapeshift is cancelled.

Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation. Tooltip error corrected.

Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.

Swipe (Bear): Tooltip corrected to display 8 yard range.

Hunters

Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects.

Explosive Trap: The damage from this trap will now scale properly with the hunter’s attack power.

Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. In addition, this glyph will now modify the tooltip of Immolation Trap correctly.

Glyph of Mending: This glyph will now modify the amount healed in the tooltip on Mend Pet.

Point of No Escape: This ability no longer stacks and now only functions for the hunter.

Roar of Sacrifice: Corrected tooltip error.

Silencing Shot: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.

Volley: The tooltip for this ability will now update properly from haste.

Mages

Arcane Concentration: The interaction of this talent with Arcane Missiles has been restructured. Instead of an Arcane Missiles cast triggering the talent, each missile has an independent (but reduced) chance to trigger this talent. In addition, the talent will no longer sometimes be triggered from misses by Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast, and Blizzard.

Blast Wave: Tooltip typo corrected.

Blizzard: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Also fixed a bug where some trinkets were not triggered by this spell.

Cone of Cold: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Dalaran Intellect: Mages will now be properly blocked from casting this spell when the target has a more powerful version of the buff.

Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time.

Frost Nova: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Frostbolt: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Glyph of Mirror Image: Now updates the tooltip on Mirror Image to show 4 images are summoned.

Ignite: Now correctly benefits from the dispel resistance granted by the Arcane Subtlety talent.

Ice Lance: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Improved Scorch: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

Mirror Image: The mirror images summoned will no longer sometimes appear as shades before taking on the appearance of the casting mage.

Prismatic Cloak: Rank three of this talent will now properly modify the tooltip on Invisibility to indicate the effect is instant.

Slow Fall: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell.

Winter’;s Chill: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

Paladins

Aura Mastery: The animation for this ability will no longer be extra bright when used with Concentration Aura active.

Beacon of Light: The effect of this ability will no longer sometimes continue past the duration of its buff. In addition, the duration when used with the Glyph of Beacon of light will now correctly be 1.5 minutes. Finally, the tooltip was corrected to indicate benefitting targets must be in the paladin’s party or raid.

Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell.

Blessing of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.

Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength.

Devotion Aura: When in a party with another paladin using a different rank of this ability, it is no longer possible to see two different Devotion Aura icons displayed as buffs.

Divine Sacrifice: This ability now properly counts all damage transferred against its limit, instead of not counting some damage.

Greater Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell.

Greater Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength.

Guardian’s Favor: Corrected a tooltip error in rank 1 of this ability.

Hand of Freedom: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the druid spell Cyclone. In addition, disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger casting this on oneself.

Hand of Reckoning: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability.

Hand of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.

Heart of the Crusader: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff.

Judgements of the Just: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff.

Judgement of Righteousness: The damage from this ability will no longer sometimes increase when the paladin’s agility increases (only occurred with low strength and high agility).

Judgement of Wisdom: Corrected incorrect information in the combat log tooltip.

Seal of Corruption: Tooltip corrected to list the actual amount of damage done instead of a higher number.

Priests

Glyph of Power Word: Shield: The heal caused by this glyph will now correctly use the casting priest’s critical strike chance instead of the target’s.

Inspiration: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it also functions with Prayer of Mending.

Levitate: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell.

Mind Flay: The rank 1 tooltip has been corrected to indicate the accurate damage and snare effect. In addition, this ability will now work correctly with [target=focus] and [target=mouseover] macros.

Prayer of Mending: Inspiration and Divine Aegis can no longer be incorrectly triggered by this spell for priests who do not have those talents.

Silence: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.

Spirit Tap: This talent can no longer be triggered by the death of the priest’s Jewelcrafter Stone Statues.

Rogues

Ambush: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Backstab: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Deadly Poison: Another rogue using a higher rank of this poison will no longer prevent the lower rank Deadly Poison from being applied to the target.

Eviscerate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Glyph of Rupture: Now updates the duration on Rupture’s tooltip.

Killing Spree: Entering a vehicle will now cause this ability to halt, and attempting to use it while on a vehicle will result in an error message.

Mutilate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. In addition, the damage from this ability can now be blocked.

Sinister Strike: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Slice and Dice: Improved Slice and Dice and Glyph of Slice and Dice now update the duration of this ability.

Throwing Specialization: Deadly Throw will no longer cause multiple spell interruption combat log entries when used with this talent.

Shamans

Glyph of Earthliving Weapon: Now updates the tooltip for Earthliving Weapon.

Mana Tide Totem: The tooltip on this spell will now be modified properly by the Glyph of Mana Tide Totem.

Thunderstorm: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the Druid spell Cyclone.

Warlocks

Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.

Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.

Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target.

Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly.

Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed.

Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat.

Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.

Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.

Warriors

Blood Frenzy: This debuff is no longer considered a Bleed effect that can be removed separately from the actual Bleed effect which caused it.

Bloodrage: Tooltip now adjusts to show effect of Anger Management on this ability.

Glyph of Cleaving: Now updates the tooltip of Cleave to show that more targets are struck by the ability.

Glyph of Hamstring: Now updates the tooltip of Hamstring to indicate it has a chance to immobilize.

Glyph of Vigilance: Now updates the tooltip on Vigilance to show that more threat is transferred.

Mocking Blow: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability.

Rampage: Rampage now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.

Recklessness: Heroic Throw and Shattering Throw will now benefit from this ability and consume charges of this ability. In addition, Recklessness now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.

Sudden Death: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.

Sweeping Strikes: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.

Vigilance: The threat transfer granted by this ability will now reactivate when Tricks of the Trade or Misdirection cast by the Vigilance target expires.

Warbringer: Tooltip typo corrected.

Game Systems

Target Effects: When this UI feature is activated, Fear, Silence, Frostbolt, and Hamstring will all now display text over the target’s head indicating what type of effect has been applied.

Patch 3.3 - Shaman Tier-10 Sneak Peek

2009-11-09T18:36:48Z

The shaman set is finally available on the official tier-10 page! Check it out below:

The Week In WoW - October 31st to November 6th

2009-11-08T01:40:52Z

Welcome to the first edition of "The Week In WoW" here on Curse -- your weekly recap of everything that happened related to World of Warcraft. We'll go through the recap in order, starting with Saturday, October 31st and finally capping things off with Friday, November 6th.

Saturday, October 31st

World of Raids Player Spotlight, Kripparrian of Exodus

World of Raids chats with Kripparrian, a hunter in Exodus -- one of the top guilds in the world -- about his life in and out of World of Warcraft.

Sunday, November 1st

Quel'Delar Quest Preview Update

World of Raids provides a hands-on preview of the Quel'Delar quest, a new epic quest series being added in patch 3.3.

World First - Tribute to Immortality by Ensidia

Ensidia becomes the first in the world to complete Tribute to Immortality, the final noteworthy achievement in Trial of the Grand Crusader.

Monday, November 2nd

WoW Intel Extreme Masters Opening Night

Arena Junkies provides coverage for the Intel Extreme Masters as it kicked off this week. Head over to join in the discussion.

G4 - WoW 5-Year Anniversary Retrospective

A look back at 5 years of World of Warcraft as G4TV interviews key members of the development team during that time: Tom Chilton, Alex Afrasiabi and Jeffrey Kaplan.

Patch 3.3 - Professor Putricide Preview

World of Raids provides an in-depth encounter preview of Professor Putricide, a raid encounter being introduced in Icecrown Citadel with patch 3.3.

Tuesday, November 3rd

Patch 3.3 PTR - Build 10747

Blizzard updated the 3.3 PTR to build 10747 and World of Raids gathered all of the new information available for the patch. Check out all of the changes and additions, including an incredibly adorable non-combat pet!

Wednesday, November 4th

Icecrown Raid Difficulty, WoW 5th Anniversary Sweepstakes, and More!

Blizzard explains how the raid difficulty feature will work for Icecrown Citadel, announces the 5th anniversary sweepstakes, and even opens up free realm transfers for select US PvP realms.

The Pet Store: Buy In-Game Pets for Real Money

Blizzard shocks the gaming world by opening up the "virtual pet store" section of the Blizzard Store, allowing players to purchase in-game non-combat pets for real money.

Thursday, November 5th

Patch 3.3 - Paladin and Priest Tier-10 Sneak Peek

The paladin and priest tier-10 sets were officially unveiled by Blizzard on this day, and it kicked off with an "oops" moment. The oops? Blizzard also revealed the season 8 armor set for paladins due to accidentally publishing its screenshot initially instead of tier-10. Check them out!

Patch 3.3 PTR - Build 10772

Blizzard updated the 3.3 PTR to build 10772 on this day and World of Raids gathered all of the new information available for the patch. A new armored flying mount, tier-10 set names, and much more. Check out the additions!

Friday, November 6th

Patch 3.3 PTR - Lady Deathwhisper Testing

The EU public test realms were treated to raid testing on this day, with the Lady Deathwhisper encounter activated. Learn more about this new boss being added in Icecrown Citadel with patch 3.3.

Patch 3.3 PTR - Valithria Dreamwalker Testing

The US public test realms were treated to raid testing on this day as well, but players would find a different boss activated: Valithria Dreamwalker. Find out everything about this very unique encounter, which is being introduced in Icecrown Citadel with patch 3.3.

MLG Anaheim Kicks Off

Major League Gaming's Anaheim tournament kicks off, and Arena Junkies has your coverage. Join in the discussion with other arena fans as the tournament progresses!

3.3 PTR Patch Notes Update - November 5th

2009-11-06T03:04:30Z

The patch notes were updated again today to reflect today's build. They were also updated late on the 3rd and I've included those as well.

PvP

Arenas

All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.

Dungeons and Raids

Naxxramas

Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron's lair.

Death Knight

Talents

Unholy

Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other

Druid

Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Mage

Talents

Frost

Deep Freeze: This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. In addition, when this ability deals damage it will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost for those mages with the Shatter talent.

Paladin

Talents

Holy

Sanctified Light: This talent now also has a 33/66/100% chance to prevent Lay on Hands from causing Forbearance when Lay on Hands is used on others.

Retribution

Repentance: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by Righteous Vengeance.

Priest

Divine Hymn: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Rogue

Talents

Subtlety

Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.

Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

User Interface

Quest Tracking Feature

Players can now track quest objectives on the map (‘M’ key).

Quest Log

A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player’s Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.

Map

The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).

All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.

Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.

Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character’s current location.

This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.

Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.

Objectives Tracking

This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.

The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 12 quests for a zone.

Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.

If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.

The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.

Quest Difficulty Tracking

This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).

Updated: Patch 3.3 - Paladin / Priest Tier-10 Sneak Peek

2009-11-05T19:19:41Z

Update: Nevermind. Blizzard messed up and posted the season 8 paladin set instead of tier-10. It's now been fixed.

The official tier-10 sneak peek page has been updated with the paladin and priest sets. Check out the images below.

What do you think of the tier-10 paladin armor?

The Pet Store: Buy In-Game WoW Pets For Real Money

2009-11-04T22:13:48Z

This could be both controversial, or welcomed, depending on how you look at it. On one hand, Blizzard is giving 50% of the proceeds for the Pandaren Monk to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. On the other hand, it's only until the end of this year (which even so could be a substantial amount of money), and it's only for one of the two pets, so keep that in mind if you're planning to purchase these for charity purposes.

Regardless of that, today Blizzard took a step closer to fully adopting microtransactions by introducing the World of Warcraft Pet Store, a way for players to purchase companion pets with real money and have them automatically delivered to their in-game mail box. Check out the details below.

Quote from: Nethaera (Source)

Today we’re pleased to introduce the Pet Store for World of Warcraft, a new way for players to obtain in-game pets to join them on their adventures in Azeroth. Two brand-new companions are now available for purchase exclusively at the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store: Lil’ K.T. and the Pandaren Monk.

Make a Difference: Pandaren Monk Charity Pet

Enter the Pandaren Monk, ( http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000763 ) a martial-arts expert who’s here to help celebrate the upcoming fifth anniversary of World of Warcraft. He may be cute, but he’s proof that even the softest of critters can overcome the hardest of circumstances. For every Pandaren Monk that finds its way to a player’s side between now and the end of the year (December 31, 2009 at 11:59 PDT), we’ll donate 50 percent of the $10 purchasing price to the Make-a-Wish Foundation in an effort to brew up a little hope, strength, and joy in a child’s life.

Lil’ K.T., the Littlest Lich

Lil’ K.T. is a miniature lich who bears a striking resemblance to the legendary lord of Naxxramas, Kel’Thuzad. But don’t let his diminutive stature fool you: Lil’ K.T. has a diabolical laugh and wields true power at his bony fingertips, randomly wreaking icy havoc on critters who dare to cross his path. You can now buy this new pet for $10 on the Blizzard Store. (http://us.blizzard.com/store/ )

In order to receive a purchased pet, you’ll need to merge your World of Warcraft account with a Battle.net account. For more information on Battle.net, please visit the FAQ. ( https://us.battle.net/faq/index.html ) For more information on the new Pet Store, visit the Pet Store FAQ. ( http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=29845 )

Pet Store FAQ

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

Why are you introducing this service?

The Pet Store provides a new way for players to obtain unique companion pets outside of the game, which is something that has been requested by many players who enjoy World of Warcraft's non-combat companions.

Will more companions be available for purchase in the future?

We plan to add more pets to the Pet Store in the near future. Keep an eye on the official World of Warcraft website and the online Blizzard Store for details.

Where can I go to purchase these pets?

You can purchase these in-game companions by visiting this link or heading to the online Blizzard Store, where you'll find the Pet Store pets under the Collectibles tab.

Will I be able to acquire these Pet Store pets by questing, through holidays, on in-game vendors, or by any other in-game methods?

No. Pets purchasable through the Pet Store will not be obtainable through quests or other in-game means -- they're only available through the online Blizzard Store.

How do I redeem a Pet Store pet once it's been purchased from the Blizzard Store?

After you purchase the pet, you'll receive a code that can then be redeemed on any World of Warcraft account via Battle.net Account Management. You don't need to redeem the code on the same Battle.net account that made the initial purchase – feel free to send the code to a friend as a gift.

Will these pets count toward pet-related achievements?

These Pet Store pets will count toward the total number of pets a character has for achievements like Plethora of Pets or Lil' Game Hunter.

Will these pets help me in combat?

No, these pets are strictly cosmetic. They have some fun animations and sound effects, but they will not help you in PvP or PvE.

What characters will receive the Pet Store pet that I purchase?

Once you redeem your code on an individual World of Warcraft account, every character on the account will receive the pet in their in-game mailbox (including any characters you create in the future). If you wish to purchase the pet for multiple different World of Warcraft accounts merged with the same Battle.net account, you will need to buy a separate pet for each World of Warcraft account individually.

**Please Note** If a character transfers off of the account where the pet is bound the pet will be lost.**

How long will these Pet Store pets be available?

We do not currently have any plans to remove these pets from the Pet Store. The Blizzard Store purchasing page will provide information on any changes to availability.

In what regions are these pets available?

The Pet Store pets are available only to players on realms located in North America, Europe, and Korea. A Battle.net account is required in order to redeem the pet.

Charity Pet

What charity will I be supporting when I purchase the Pandaren Monk pet?

Donations from every sale of the Pandaren Monk pet through December 31, 2009, will be given to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. To find out more about this charity, please visit www.wish.org.

How much of every Pandaren Monk pet sale will go to charity?

For each Pandaren Monk sale, we'll donate 50% of the $10 purchase price to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For more information on this charity, visit www.wish.org.

How long will you be making this donation?

We will continue to make a donation for each Pandaren Monk pet purchased until December 31, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Will the pet still be available for purchase after the donation period is over?

Yes, you will still be able to purchase the pet after December 31, and we do not currently have any plans to remove this pet from the Pet Store. The Blizzard Store purchasing page will provide information on any changes to availability.

Does this mean you'll be introducing more services like this in the future? Will you be introducing the ability to buy epic weapons/etc. in the future, for example?
As with the pets, mounts, and other items players can obtain through Loot cards from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, Pet Store pets are purely cosmetic and just for fun. Like other paid services we offer, such as Paid Name Changes, Race Changes, and Character Re-Customizations, the Pet Store service is entirely optional and intended to provide players another means to enjoy World of Warcraft in a way that isn't detrimental to the game and that doesn't detract from the gameplay experience for players who choose not to use the service.

Icecrown Raid Difficulty Functionality

2009-11-04T19:12:44Z

Blizzard is once again tweaking the way raid difficulties work, first trying through achievement mechanics, then through entirely separate zones, and now a third experiment with Icecrown Citadel: a difficulty setting you can change on the fly through the user interface. Check out the details below, provided by Bornakk!

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

In the upcoming patch we are adding a new feature to the Icecrown raid instance that allows the raid leader to change the instance's difficulty setting on a boss per boss basis. The way the raid leader chooses to switch is the same as now, by right-clicking on the character portrait. The difficulty settings can be changed from inside Icecrown Citadel, with some restrictions. For example, you cannot change the difficulty in combat or during certain events specified by our design team. To enable the ability to change the raid difficulty to heroic, you must first defeat the Lich King on normal mode, as doing so unlocks the heroic version of this raid instance. There is no heroic version of trash; meaning changing the difficulty will only affect boss difficulty.

We chose this particular functionality because we didn't want to use the Trial of the Crusader method, and have four versions on a raid of this size. We felt the Ulduar method of having to know a certain trick to do on the boss was difficult to communicate and tied too heavily to achievements. We might eventually convert Trial of the Crusader over to this new system but Ulduar and Naxxramas will likely never change.