Archive for May, 2010


In World of Warcraft Cataclysm beta testing: Choosing to opt out

Filed Under: fast wow gold, lord of the ring jewelry, World of Warcraft by admin — Leave a comment
2010/05/24

Burning with desire to slip into the Cataclysm beta test, grab a goblin or worgen and run wild? Not these players. We asked readers to tell us why they do or do not want to participate in Cataclysm beta testing — and while plenty affirmed their beta aspirations with desperately ardent pleas, we found ourselves more intrigued by the reasoning of those who said they weren’t interested. Why would they pass up this opportunity of a gaming lifetime? What could they possibly hope to be doing for fun, instead? Read on to hear the opinions of three players on why, when it comes to Cataclysm beta testing, they will be opting out.

Using beta to create buzz

Beta tests are like a shiny, seductive piece of candy left in a painfully conspicuous place. Once we become aware that it exists, our desire for it almost overwhelms our good senses. We run in circles trying to find someone with a spare beta key, an easily winnable contest, or if we’re truly desperate, we hit eBay. Beta tests, like that piece of candy, are so tempting that we fail to ask important questions like “Why does this exist?” or “Why is there a box with a string attached over this?”

Why it’s there is simple enough. Blizzard, like many video game developers, seems to have realized the utility and liability inherent in beta testing. If they provide their beta testers with a noticeably glitchy or broken build, word will get out that the new expansion is terrible, broken, unplayable or worse. Small problems become magnified in the buzz, and one bad beta test can potentially sink an otherwise promising release. However, if the developers give their testers a well designed, fully functioning build of the game, then what’s being tested? That’s where the strings come in.

In the twenty-first century, a video game beta test is less an actual test than an interactive publicity stunt. Remember the Wrath beta and the fantastic stories you heard from the first of your friends to get in? And how near the end it felt like everyone but you had a key? What modern beta testers see is a mostly complete version of the final build. These testers aren’t so much testing as they are marveling, oohing and aahing and providing fuel for gamer gossip and the gaming media.

The only real testing beta testers do comes towards the end of the beta cycle: the dreaded stress test phase. This is when beta invites start going out en masse, seeming to blacken the skies of the internet with their multitudes. For a tester who thus far has been nothing but wowed and intrigued by the polished product they’ve been experiencing, stress tests are nothing but a teeth-clenching nightmare. Imagine the launch night of a major expansion, only worse. You’ll disconnect. NPCs will behave erratically. You’ll enter the very instance you’re trying to stress test, only to find yourself somewhere under the Stonetalon Mountains with no way back to the raid. These tests generate some of the most important data for developers but are nothing short of torturous for testers who have no bugs to report that aren’t already being reported by the 6,000 other players experiencing them simultaneously.

Of course, it does get worse. After all your fun of running around in new content and then the agony of stress tests, the game launches, your beta character gets deleted and you no longer possess any mystical new knowledge of the expansion that anyone who reads WoW.com and has access to Wowhead doesn’t already have.

Still, that candy does look enticing, doesn’t it? — G. Chad Peters

Devouring the facts, savoring the experience

My name is Casey Monroe, but some of you may recognize me as Malgayne from Wowhead.com. When WoW.com sent out their call to arms for submissions on the topic of beta participation a few days back, I jumped at the chance — after all, it was a topic that I had been hoping to post about on our own blog for some time.

I’m in sort of a unique position to answer this question, because in fact I’ve been in every beta since The Burning Crusade — whether I wanted to be or not. I’m lucky enough to have managing the content on Wowhead as my full-time job, which means that even if I didn’t love WoW, I’d still be in there, learning as much as I could about the new material.

But if I had to choose … now that’s a good question.

I’m at best a casual raider. I was head of a guild in BC that raided Karazhan, and that was about it. We eventually dissolved into a larger guild, which enabled me to see SSC a few times. In Wrath, my performance was even more shameful — I’ve been in Naxx and ToC, but that’s about all. I have a ton of alts, and I flit between too many different games at a time to really perfect a single character; I suppose I just have a short attention span. I’m by no means a hardcore WoW player, so the appeal of beta testing cutting-edge, new content has always been lost on me. So that’s out.

But the other aspect of all this is the fact that I’m an authoritarian. I like to play by the rules. And when I’m experiencing the content that the Blizzard team has laid out for me, I like to experience the content in the manner they intended.

With a game like WoW, this is remarkably difficult. There’s no clear, single path through the game, after all. If you skip a quest, you might be breaking an important chain … but if you don’t skip any quests, then you’re going to be over-leveled for the content, which also alters the experience. Sometimes I would find myself saving up XP and then skipping entire zones — and that doesn’t even get into the issue of trying to fit instancing in there (a topic which I talked about some time ago in another editorial).

So with all these things in mind, well, no … I don’t think I would choose to be in the beta if I didn’t have to be. I like to understand all about the new systems in advance, to be sure — what the stats mean, what the new abilities do, how the new emblems are going to work. But the quests, the story, the flavor … all these are things I want to experience, not as a sneak peek or a leak or a preview but as a game. — Casey Monroe

What I’ll be doing instead

I will not be playing the beta. In my four years of World of Warcraft addiction, I have never once felt the impulse to set my virtual foot inside any beta content, and I have still managed to level and raid and navigate new zones perfectly fine without it. Granted, I am aware that I owe my ease of discovery to the convenience of Wow.com and other informative websites, and thus indirectly to the hard work and diligent reporting of thousands of beta testers worldwide. To those tireless folk: I salute you. Thank you for your willingness to report bugs, endure unfinished landscapes and sacrifice months of work on a ‘toon, only to start again at launch with the rest of us.

However, if you think that just because I didn’t opt in for beta I’ll be lounging on a beach with a mojito until Cataclysm is released, you’re wrong. In fact, I will be spending my limited hours in WoW working very hard — and the gain to my character will be permanent. Here is what I will be doing during the beta period:

* Saying goodbye to four years of memories in the old world zones. Flying over Stranglethorn Vale for the first time in the zeppelin, seeing unexpected lushness … Standing as a ghost in Silithus, in awe of the gates of AQ opening event … Ganking and being ganked at the docks of Auberdine … Even as the expansions sent me farther away from Azeroth, I knew I could always come back for the strong feelings of nostalgia I knew I could get when I entered Ashenvale or Eastern Plaguelands. Alas, these places will never be the same.

* Finishing up endangered achievements and grinding endangered items. Though we have no official confirmation of which ones will be removed or sent to Feat-of-Strength Land, I am not going to take a chance on missing out on achievements and items I’ve been meaning to get for so long. I will be finishing Loremaster and trying to get Baron Rivendare’s mount, the ZG mounts, the Ravasaur pets and the epic recipe for Dirge’s Kickin’ Chimeric Chops.

* Saving gold. If two expansions have taught me anything, it’s that it really helps to have a gold buffer. (Knowing Blizzard, they’ll charge us a bundle to be able to fly in Azeroth.)

* Working on my PVP gear set. With the advent of rated battlegrounds awarding arena points, I might actually be able to buy gear that’s competitive in both battlegrounds and casual arena. I’m really looking forward to the new PvP system.

* Warning players of the cataclysm to come. I’ll be the one with the REPENT, THE END IS NEAR sandwich board in a city near you.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Warlock advice and stories In World of Warcraft

Filed Under: fast wow gold, runescape gold, World of Warcraft by admin — Leave a comment
2010/05/20

The fellowing article is the introduce of warlock advice and stories,through this chapter,you will get the general informations about Warlock advice and stores that you need.I hope this chapter will take more interesting to you.Now enjoy your spare time and read it.

Advice

Advice for all three warlocks by Dominic Hobbs, Blood Pact

So we have an unholy trinity of ‘locks and one of each flavor — a Neapolitan warlock block. I’ve put together a level 20 build for each and tried to focus, at this stage, on distinguishing between them. The talent points I selected are far from the only options, but I feel they bring out the essence of the spec and so best embody the readers’ votes.

Yakkowakko For Yakkowakko’s destruction build, I have gone for making the most of those Shadow Bolts. You’ll be able to get those bolts out faster and they’ll hit harder than the other ‘locks, which will give you some fast kills and be very effective on dungeon trash. Mana will probably be an issue, so I suggested the Shadow Bolt glyph (cheaper than three points in Cataclysm). I went with Shadowburn over Ruin, as you will have things running towards you and it’s nice to detonate them just before they get there. Remember to pack food, drink and bandages to keep those resources up. Pack an imp for extra firepower; the void will only be good for keeping other mobs at bay, and the imp can do that too.

Sahko Sahko’s demonology build was tough; the spec doesn’t really come into its own until later levels. What I’ve aimed for is an uber-tank voidwalker. You should be able to throw this guy up against most things and he’ll be ok. You can also take a hit as well with a stamina boost and Soul Link. Mostly this will mean grabbing as many mobs as the void can handle and then throwing DoTs and bolts around the lot. Health Funnel is there to make sure he can survive the tougher pulls and your deep health pool will help you avoid OOM (remember bandages). This isn’t going to be much use in groups except to help a struggling tank on trash.

Selfloathius Selfloathius is also going to have a hard time on dungeon trash, as most of it will be dead before his specialty does its thing, but bosses should be fine. What we have is a build that is based around a “never stop” grinding ethos. Essentially, you are looking to grab mobs with the void, DoT them up without ever taking aggro and then move on even before they die. You recover some mana by applying Drain Soul to the one that’s about to get snuffed next and Life Tap as required. Feel free to throw in some Shadow Bolts if you like, but not if there are DoTs to cast. Bandage if you need to, but while there are mobs about, you should never need to break combat; simply send the void to another target and start again while the previous mobs slowly die a horrible death. I felt this was the closest embodiment of a warlock playstyle in that it was DoT-heavy, required high pet and resource management, and basically used as many buttons as possible. If you can keep moving, barely have time to loot and the mob breaks from the void just in time for you to Drain Soul and die at your feet, then you have it right.

Stories

Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton

Progress report: I was laboring under a mistaken idea. I assumed mages were subtle manipulators of arcane energy, clever, intelligent, precise. This was a huge, huge mistake. At least at the levels I’m playing at now, mages are crazed lunatics whose approach to every problem is “How much magic can I pour on this until it is dead?” and who have the personal courage of whatever those bugs are that scurry the second you turn on a light. Adjusting my tactics accordingly, I managed to gain some levels.

Upon reaching the Barrens, I discovered that yet, all the quests still involve either collecting random body parts (beakless Plainstriders, headless Raptors, hoofless Zhevra — I’ve seen it all in the horrible post-mutation nightmare land of the Barrens) or killing a pile of something, be it quillboars, raptors or centaurs. Luckily, as a mage, my tried and true “kill everything with as much magic as you can and stop to drink constantly when not killing everything” approach to life suits these ravaged lands. … These huge, wide-open, nothing-for-miles, desolate, blasted, horrific nightmare lands that we fight to keep for the Horde. Seriously, why do we even want this place? There’s nothing here but animals lacking vital body parts and angry pig men.

Well, okay, there are pretty gazelles. Attached is a picture of me running next to one on my way to wipe out yet another pocket of quillboar culture. I’m like the Black Death and Great Fire rolled into one when it comes to these things. Everywhere I go, the smell of simultaneously burned and frozen bacon assaults my nostrils. On the upside, I got Arcane Explosion. So I can jump up and down while exploding, then freeze a lot of them in place. It’s fun, if you like that kind of thing.

Christian Belt as Selfloathius, the blood elf warlock

Selfloathius had always been … troubled.

He was born with severe bruising about his head. It baffled the midwife. “It’s as if … as if he’s been punching himself in the face while in the womb!” she whispered wonderingly at the new mother.

At 5, he began drinking heavily and listening to a lot of Morrissey.

By the time he was 12, he had broken every bone in his body at least once and had gotten himself expelled from magic school for bullying … himself. He had been taking his own lunch money for weeks, giving himself atomic wedgies and had once played a self-inflicted game of “stop hitting yourself” for a full hour.

His parents, a pair of successful mages, were at a loss. “The boy hates himself,” his mother said. “The boy’s an idiot,” replied his father.

When he turned 18, he dyed his hair, began wearing lots of makeup and dark clothing, changed his name to “Selfloathius,” and announced that he was becoming a warlock. “I’m moving to Sunstrider Isle,” he said sulkily. “Give me a ride in the minivan, Mom.”

People from all around came to see the train wreck. When Selfloathius arrived on Sunstrider Isle, he found a crowd waiting for him, cheering him on. It was the most entertaining mess they’d seen since the last episode of Celebrity Rehab.

Selfloathius did some quests. He killed a few cats and some trees with his favorite spell, Shadowbolt. It looked like a Frostbolt, only uglier. He learned how to summon an imp named Gelnip. Selfloathius liked Gelnip, because Gelnip hated Selfloathius almost as much as Selfloathius hated Selfloathius. Also, the imp’s voice was so annoying it made Selfloathius’s ears bleed, which was a sensation the warlock actually quite enjoyed.

When it came time for Selfloathius to complete a quest to slay an elf on top of a massive structure called Falthrien Academy, he saw his chance. He killed the elf, then announced to the gathered onlookers, “It’s time I threw myself from someplace tall.” If there was anything Selfloathius liked better than hurting himself, it was hurting himself in front of an audience. A hunter named Imber announced that she would jump with him. They counted to three, then Selfloathius leapt.

Cataclysm Imber, however, did not.

He heard her laughing as he plummeted. He failed to see the humor in it. He landed with a splat, warlockian blood spreading in a pool below him. “Don’t worry,” he gurgled, “the ramp broke my fall.”

He made his lonely way back to his corpse, wallowing in self-pity. After resurrecting, he realized he actually didn’t feel bad. He felt good! A sullen smile spread across his pale face. He knew this would be the first of many corpse runs, and the thought filled him with a black sense of glee.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Tyrannus joins ToC faction champs in season finale In World of Warcraft

Filed Under: fast wow gold, PVP Basics, runescape gold, World of Warcraft by admin — Leave a comment
2010/05/19

It was a close match, but Scourgelord Tyrannus foiled Argent Confessor Paletress’ attempt to snatch away a Thunderdome victory and get into the season’s finals. It will be the Scourgelord who steps foot into the cage this week to face off against the Trial of the Champion PvP faction champs in the season finals of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves.

Now, it’s time to clear the field and let the finalists square off: Scourgelord Tyrannus and his mount, Rimefang, versus all five of the Trial of the Champions PvP faction champions. For the final time in this season of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls … Dyin’ time’s here.

In Corner One: Scourgelord Tyrannus

Alas, brave, brave adventurers, your meddling has reached its end. Do you hear the clatter of bone and steel coming up the tunnel behind you? That is the sound of your impending demise.

He is encountered in the Pit of Saron, the second wing of the Frozen Halls. His abilities include Forceful Smash, Overlord’s Brand and Unholy Power. His mount, Rimefang, can Mark of Rimefang, Hoarfrost, Icy Blast and Icy Blast.

Learn more about Tyrannus and Rimefang’s tactics.

In Corner Two: ToC PvP Faction Champions

As in previous Thunderdome matches, we’re going to pull out all five of the Trial of the Champions grand champions at once. (Players face only three of the champs during a given encounter.) There are no Argent Warhorse or lances here; the champions will be on foot for the duration of the match.

* Lana Stouthammer/Deathstalker Visceri Eviscerate, Fan of Knives, Poison Bottle
* Colosos/Runok Wildmane Chain Lightning, Earth Shield, Healing Wave, Hex of Mending
* Marshal Jacob Alerius/Mokra the Skullcrusher Bladestorm, Intercept, Mortal Strike, Rolling Throw, Whirlwind
* Jaelyne Evensong/Zul’tore Disengage, Lightning Arrows, Multi-Shot, Shoot
* Ambrose Boltspark/Eressea Dawnsinger Blast Wave, Fireball, Haste, Polymorph

Read more about the Grand Champions encounter.

The judges make their calls

Judge Michael Gray
Victory: Scourgelord Tyrannus

Tyrannus. I mean, the ToC faction guys were fun. And their PvP nature totally warms the cockles of my honor-kill-loving heart. But they’re just not fun. Maybe that’s because they’re hard to write about; you have to remember each member’s name and try and find some personality among each person. But really, that’s not going to happen. They’re a nameless, faceless horde. And not even all of the players have seen all the faction champs — the champs are different for the Horde and Alliance.

Tyrannus is a unifying presence in this series. Let us celebrate our new Scourgelord master and his stalwart mount, Rimefang.

Reader-Judge John Zakour
Victory: ToC PvP Faction Champions

Okay, here it is: the finals. The big showdown. I hate to be boring, but I have to go with the ToC Champs. They are a group of well geared champions, like any number of parties that have downed Tyrannus — except with lots more hit points. They got heals, they got good DPS and a warrior who can double as a tank in a pinch. This is a tank and spank. The warrior takes the beating and gets in his licks (when the mark isn’t on him) while the others down Tyrannus. It’s the ToC Champs in a pretty easy fight. We don’t call them the champs for nothing.

Reader-Judge Sky Paladin
Victory: ToC Faction Champions

I give this one to the Faction Champions. There are just too many of them. Tyrannus hits like a truck but won’t be able to get enough heals back from Runok’s weak healing to mitigate the amount of incoming nastiness. I think he’d be able to drag down one or two of them with him, though — but in the immortal words of Ace Ventura http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109040/, “Fourrrrr darrrrts is toooooo muuuuuuuuch.”

Judge Matthew Rossi
Victory: Scourgelord Tyrannus

Basically, my fevered forebrain believes that the ToC faction champs are essentially a group of adventurers. As a result of this belief, I usually give almost any of these matchups to them because I know a group of adventurers is suited to accomplishing the fights. But frankly, the ToC faction champs are a bad group of adventurers. The tanking is sub par, the healing abysmal — in short, Tyrannus will crush them just like he does every PUG where the tank won’t use cooldowns or the rogue keeps stabbing despite the damage sharing. Tyrannus. In a walk.

The laws of the Thunderdome

* The Two Bosses Thunderdome is considered neutral territory, where both combatants are able to access their usual encounter mechanics and abilities. If you can’t visualize it inside the Thunderdome, visualize it someplace else — but you must take into consideration all of each bosses’ abilities and mechanics.
* Assume that each opponent is intelligent and capable of strategic thinking.
* All of the competitors’ abilities work on their opponents, including crowd control and other effects to which bosses are usually immune (with apologies to considerations of lore on this point).
* Assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output.
* Don’t get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter.
* Don’t neglect style, story and scale. Everything is a factor; seeking balance is your goal as a spectator and judge.
The 5-man Bosses of Icecrown Citadel and Trial of the Champion

Round One
Match 1: Bronjahm vs. The Black Knight
Match 2: Devourer of Souls vs. Forgemaster Garfrost
Match 3: Krick and Ick vs. Scourgelord Tyrannus
Match 4: Falric vs. Argent Confessor Paletress
Match 5: Marwyn vs. ToC PvP champions
Match 6: Eadric the Pure vs. The Lich King

Quarterfinals
Match 1: Scourgelord Tyrannus vs. Lich King (5-man, HoR version)
Match 2: ToC PvP champions vs. Devourer of Souls
Match 3: The Black Knight vs. Argent Confessor Paletress
Match 4: Vote back your favorite defeated gladiator

Semifinals
Match 1: ToC PvP Champions vs. Lich King (Halls of Reflection version)
Match 2: Scourgelord Tyrannus vs. Argent Confessor Paletress

In Cataclysm,this also could happen.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

In World of Warcraft:New details about Twin Peaks battleground, Dragonmaws backed by the Horde?

Filed Under: fast wow gold, lord of the ring jewelry, World of Warcraft by admin — Leave a comment
2010/05/15

Zarhym – Re: Captured Gronns in Grim Batol!
Grim Batol was founded by the Wildhammers. The Wildhammers abandoned their new home after the war with the Dark Irons left the place tainted. The Dragonmaw clan later moved in and attempted to harvest the eggs of Alextrasza for sinister purposes, though they failed to fully satisfy Deathwing. With the four Dragon Aspects confronting both Deathwing and the Dragonmaws, Grim Batol was abandoned. Members of the Red Dragonflight stayed behind to guard its corridors in the Twilight Highlands. …

That I can’t say, but there will be a Twilight Highlands Battleground called Twin Peaks. The Alliance will be working with the Wildhammers in a struggle for land against the Dragonmaws backed by the Horde.

source

The reason this goes into “Did you just say what I think you just said?” territory is apparent to anyone who did the Netherwing dailies in BC or read the novel Day of the Dragon (or our KYL feature on the Red Dragonflight). The Dragonmaw Clan are bad news. As Golluck Rockfist, the Horde Ambassador to the Wyrmrest Accord, so clearly put it, “In years past, the warlock Nekros Skullcrusher abused a powerful artifact to enslave Alexstrasza and much of the red dragonflight. Zuluhed and Nekros are dead, but the debt we owe to the reds is far from repaid.”

Zuluhed and Nekros? Dragonmaw. The orcs hanging around in the Wetlands attacking people randomly? Dragonmaw. The toothy fellow above? An adventurer disguised as one of the Dragonmaw in the service of Illidan Stormrage himself. The same Dragonmaw clan that made a deal with Deathwing’s consort thinking it was Deathwing himself they were working for, mind you. The news that the Dragonmaw are now pledging their allegiance to Garrosh’s Horde is very, very interesting, to say the least.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Paradigm shift In The Art of War(craft)

Filed Under: fast wow gold, PVP Basics, World of Warcraft by admin — Leave a comment
2010/05/14

The wind of change is blowing through the World of Warcraft. Whether we like it or not, PvP’s focus in the expansion will shift from arenas to the battlegrounds. Blizzard has announced that they’ll be shipping Cataclysm with at least one new battleground, the Battle for Gilneas City, and the promise of much more throughout the course of the expansion. MMO-Champion’s datamined screenshots from the alpha — before Blizzard ordered everything taken offline — revealed a zone speculated to be a battleground, situated in the Twilight Highlands where the Dragonmaw clan of orcs and the Wildhammer clan of dwarves are locked in deadly combat. From all indications, this battleground will be ready by the time Cataclysm ships. That’s exciting and is indicative of Blizzard’s commitment to the new directive. Maybe we’ll even see more than two battlegrounds on ship.

On top of that, wouldn’t it be fantastic if the old-school battlegrounds such as Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley got some cosmetic changes to reflect the geographical upheaval that Deathwing wreaks upon Azeroth? It only makes sense, after all. Blizzard wouldn’t need to adjust gameplay mechanics, just reshape the landscape a little bit. It would go a long way towards making the old battlegrounds feel new again and could even provide an opportunity for Blizzard to make Alterac Valley slightly more symmetrical. Charred earth, dilapidated structures — these should serve to remind players that it’s a broken world out there instead of feeling a blast from the past every time they zone in. Blizzard has gone all-out for Cataclysm and has confirmed that old instances will be getting some tweaks, so while I’m not holding my breath, it just might happen.

As much as the change seems to favor the casual player, the truth is that the battlegrounds can potentially become a very hostile environment for them. While Blizzard has mentioned that the best PvP gear can be obtained without ever stepping into the arenas, it should be pointed out that players need to perform well in rated battlegrounds in order to do so. Rated battlegrounds, or RBGs as people are calling them, will be an extremely different environment from the casual PUG battlegrounds most players are accustomed to. They will be harsh. In fact, for most players who’d never set foot in the competitive environment of arenas, they’ll make their world spin.

Some players have already gotten a taste of this in the form of premade groups going against PUGs — often with the aid of the Preform AV Enabler addon. In the battlegrounds, an opposing team comprised mostly if not completely of players from one realm almost always indicates a premade and almost always results in an ugly loss for the rag-tag team. The best premades demolish PUGs who operate with no clear direction or leadership, and although matches are over pretty quickly, it can be very demoralizing for opponents who typically don’t expect such competition.

When Cataclysm hits, premades will be commonplace, even in unrated Battlegrounds. Teams will use the unrated battlegrounds to practice or grind honor points in a fast and efficient fashion. To the casual player, this can be a ruinous experience, especially to those trying out the battlegrounds for the first time. Although matchmaking systems are in place to ensure that premades encounter other premades, it’s easy enough to game the system by coordinating queues over Vent or even automate the process through an addon. Blizzard doesn’t normally allow that sort of thing, but there have been ways to circumvent that.

Players need to be prepared for this. The battlegrounds are going to change in a big way, and competition will elevate considerably compared to relatively relaxed pace of today. This can potentially make the environment inhospitable to casual players who take to the battlegrounds to unwind and might not be conducive to those who queue solo. Even those who have experience in premades will have to ramp up their games, since most premades today actually avoid any real competition by going up against PUGs. Premade vs. premade battles last considerably longer and are counterproductive to the honor grind. Rated battlegrounds will be a completely different experience altogether.

While battlegrounds will allow for greater flexibility in group composition than arenas, some classes and specs will be desired for abilities that work in the battleground environment. Blizzard is giving everyone new and exciting abilities in Cataclysm, some of which seem designed specifically with battlegrounds play in mind. As I’d mentioned in a previous column, some classes will seem like perfect fits in certain situations — for example, druids will be even more desirable in Warsong Gulch because of Stampeding Roar, an ability that gives the druid and his allies a 40% increase in movement speed for eight seconds.

Blizzard described the mage’s Wall of Fog ability in such a way that hinted at their vision for Cataclysm, mentioning how the ability could be used to protect flags in a battleground. The rogue ability Smoke Bomb also has obvious PvP applications. Clearly, the developers are designing with competitive battleground play in mind — they have a chance to redesign the PvP game from the ground up now instead of retrofitting it the way arenas were shoehorned into the game during Burning Crusade. This time around, Blizzard is designing class abilities while considering the PvP environment instead of merely having several PvE abilities that also happen to have PvP applications.

It will be exciting to see the entire list of abilities and talents that classes will be getting in the expansion and the strategies that arise from them. This is another reason why the battlegrounds will become extremely different come Cataclysm — for the first time in the history of the game, I think, the developers are designing class abilities for the battlegrounds in much the same way they design raid encounters with specific class synergies in mind. Players will be utilizing abilities that affect large-scale PvP in ways like never before. The closest thing we have to those new abilities are AoE damage spells or Bloodlust/Heroism. While arena teams timed their use of Bloodlust/Heroism, these new abilities also require positional consideration. It’s huge. It’s exciting.

When Cataclysm rolls around, we’ll need to rethink our way of approaching battlegrounds PvP. Because the changes are so overwhelming, this is true for the rest of the game as well, but the difference here is that for once, PvP and the battlegrounds aren’t an afterthought. They’re baked into the whole thing from the very beginning. Blizzard wants us to use Wall of Fog in Arathi Basin. They want us to huddle and rush with the flag in Warsong Gulch under the effects of a Stampeding Roar. They want us to field our rogues and obscure key objectives with Smoke Bombs. They want us to have fun with all these new toys they’ve designed for use in large-scale PvP, and man, we’ve only glimpsed a few of them.

Not only that, Blizzard appears committed to designing a lot of new battlegrounds, as well. They’ve taken some great ideas from other battleground-centric MMOs and applied them to the game over the course of Wrath, such as the ability to queue from anywhere and leveling in the battlegrounds. Maybe there’s a chance we’ll see additional maps using the same mechanics as other battlegrounds just to spice things up. It doesn’t have to be a completely new battleground with new rule sets every time.

Pretty much everything about Cataclysm is reason to be excited … Blizzard is remaking the world, and everything will feel new again. They had an opportunity to essentially reboot the game, and this time around, battlegrounds are part of the plan — not just adjunct to the game but as a core part of the experience. You can still opt to avoid PvP entirely, of course, but given the richness of the battleground content in the expansion, you’d be missing out on a whole lot. I always say that anytime is a good time to start hitting the battlegrounds, but I think I’m revising that statement. Cataclysm will be the best damn time to enjoy battleground PvP.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Ghostly aspects of our shadowy hatepower In World of Warcraft

Filed Under: fast wow gold, lord of the ring jewelry, World of Warcraft by admin — Leave a comment
2010/05/13

My not-so-gentle Spiritual Guidance readers, I have a confession to make. I’m filled with hate.

I hate cats. I hate Hummel figurines. I hate trifling gnome Wilfred Fizzlebang. I hate the taste of whatever brand ketchup they use at McDonalds. Lots and lots of hate. Oh, if only there were a way to channel this magnificent … shadowy hatepower.

Ask and ye shall receive, my brethren! Not from me, mind you — from Blizzard. (I mostly just give out shadow priesting knowledge with the occasional nod to pop culture.) This week, Spiritual Guidance is tackling the changes to the shadow priest spec that currently exist within the Cataclysm alpha. If you’re adamant on being surprised and don’t want anything spoiled, I recommend you stop reading now and instead invest your time in the following YouTube video. I feel it provides a respectable alternative.

But if you want to take your loathing for the formulaic CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men and channel it into a spiritual agent of death, and you just can’t wait until later this year to find out how … follow me past the break.

A ghostly aspect of our shadowy hatepower

For all the bitching and moaning that we do sometimes, shadow priest damage is actually pretty respectable right now. I definitely want that damage-dealing ability to keep pace in Cataclysm. But besides that, the main thing I want is a new ability or talent that makes me sit up and take notice. We don’t know if it’ll last through past the alpha or beta stages, but I think we finally have one: Shadowy Apparition. It takes the place of Misery on our talent tree.

Shadowy Apparition

While moving or dealing damage with Shadow Word: Pain, you will sometimes summon a Shadow version of yourself which will slowly move towards a target which is afflicted by your Shadow Word: Pain. Once reaching that target, it will instantly deal damage equal to 15/30/45% of your Mind Blasts’ damage.

Commenter Hollow Leviathan describes the talent as “a ghostly aspect of your shadowy hatepower” that “consume(s) the life energy of your opponents.” In other words: awesome.

Aside from the visual appeal, the talent would insert a few new variables into the game for shadow priests. First, it appears that the damage we do would now be (at least slightly) contingent on how far we are from our target. This is something new for us — our current spells don’t require travel time the way a shaman’s Lightning Bolt does, for example.

Also interesting is the “while moving” part of the tooltip. How movement will factor into the talent, I’m not so sure, but if it provides a net benefit on a movement-heavy fight, I’m all for it. It also puts a little bit more power and interest behind Shadow Word: Pain, which became a somewhat forgettable and weak background DoT in Wrath.

I wasn’t entirely thrilled that Misery was being removed from the Shadow tree, but they exceeded expectations with this one. I hope it makes it to the live servers. Even if it’s not some kind of massive damage meter-breaking ability, it’d be nice to have another Fox Van Allen around the house, even if he doesn’t do much aside from blowing people up.

The ever-changing hit rating and hope for the off-spec

We already know that major changes are coming to hit ratings in Cataclysm. In March, we learned about Blizzard’s plans to let shaman convert spirit to hit as a deep-tree talent. This past week we learned that, if the new tooltip for Twisted Faith is any indication, shadow priests are getting the same treatment.

Twisted Faith

Increases your spell power by 20% of your total Spirit, and Your damage done by your Mind Flay and Mind Blast is increased by 2/4/6/8/10% if your target is afflicted by your Shadow Word: Pain, and increases your spell hit rating by an additional amount equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of your Spirit.

First off, this should be great news for those lost souls who wander aimlessly in the light — their conversion to the dark side is that much easier. Healing gear doesn’t have hit on it? No problem — your shadow tree has you (at least partially) covered.

Another piece of good news: So long as that talent remains in place, those of us who still have spirit in our gear can breathe easy when Cataclysm hits. Ideally, we’ll be going into our first level 85 raid with gear from the new expansion, but we won’t be helpless if we quest and run dungeons in old Wrath gear that’s itemized for healers.

Here’s where things get a bit sketchy, though: Spirit Tap and Improved Spirit Tap still exist in the shadow tree unchanged. This means there are two possible scenarios: (1) Blizzard is setting the hit cap high enough that they don’t expect us to reach it through gear alone, making the concept of a hit rating that fluctuates with time acceptable, or (2) the Spirit Tap talents are in line for a makeover.

Frankly, the second scenario strikes me as the most likely. When the changes for Cataclysm were first announced, I hypothesized that Spirit Tap would be changed to a straight mana regen talent, and I still think that will be preferred by designers over a wildly fluctuating hit rating for shadow priests. Still, you can’t quite rule out a new approach to hit. We’re already used to spellpower, crit and haste fluctuating with time, so perhaps it’s not unreasonable to expect hit rating to fluctuate too.

More about Shadow Orbs and mastery

There’s a little shuffling going on in the talent tree, and Shadow Focus was a casualty, as expected. To make up for its absence, you can get Shadow Weaving sooner (now level 15). I like that change, because it gives Shadow even more of an early boost over the holy tree as far as dealing damage is concerned. (Don’t tell anyone — especially Dawn — but as a low-level, Wrath-era leveling priest, I’d be sorely tempted to grab Searing Light and Divine Fury.)

So, we need to put a new talent in our tree to make up the gap. Here’s what we’re getting:

Empowered Shadow Orbs

Increases the damage done by your shadow orbs by 2/4/6% and you have an h% chance to gain a Shadow Orb when critically hit by any attack.

Alright, that’s not very exciting. We knew we were getting Shadow Orbs. But a quick look at the tooltip hints that we’ve finally got a “first draft” of what these new spheres of doom will do — flat damage. Digging deeper, a datamined tooltip sheds some more light on the darkness, so to speak:

Shadow Orb

The priest is surrounded by Shadow Orbs, stacking up to 0 times. When the priest casts Mind Blast or Mind Spike, all Shadow Orbs are consumed, each increasing the spell damage done.

What does this tell us? While I doubt Blizzard is done playing around with the concept of Shadow Orbs (and further, the zero is obviously a placeholder), they’ve at least settled on an initial mechanism of what looks to be burst-type damage. That’s no surprise — burst damage seems to be a priority in the Cataclysm design of the shadow priest class. Don’t like it? Blame PvPers.

There’s one last tidbit of information about our new mastery mechanic that’s now known — where these orbs come from. The unearthed the shadow priest mastery tooltip reads:

Increases all spell damage done by a percentage.

Increases your spell critical strike chance by a percentage.

Gives a chance for your Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Flay spells to grant you a Shadow Orb each time they deal damage. Also increases the damage bonus to Mind Flay and Mind Spike granted by Shadow Orbs by a percentage.

The important stuff is at the end, of course. In the alpha build, we generate Shadow Orbs through our normal DPS activities — SW:P and Mind Flay. There’s something a little boring about that. It’s not really a neat new mechanic so much as it is something we won’t even notice. Orbs get generated during our normal rotation. Orbs get consumed during our normal rotation. Nothing changes except for a small boost of damage here and there. Maybe we’ll have to duel before raid bosses to build up orbs the way warlocks duel to build up Soul Shards.

A small boost of damage that’s going to be balanced and put on even level with the damage output of all the other hybrid classes. Yawn.

Mind Spike: A terrible threat

Finally, let’s take a look at what mysteries have been uncovered in our new offensive spell, Mind Spike.

Mind Spike

Blasts the target for 992 to 1048 Shadowfrost damage, and causes 31% of the damage up to 2182 to be frozen in the target’s mind for 12 sec. Mind Blast on the target will trigger any frozen damage instantly. The trigger effect causes a high amount of threat.

At first, I had figured that Mind Spike would be unspammable due to a high mana cost, though that’s not necessarily the case — its cost is “only” 17% of your base mana. Instead, we’ll be prevented from spamming Mind Spike via the threat meters. That’s fine in theory, but we’d be prevented from using burst damage on newly spawned adds in instances and raids, which may limit its usefulness. We’ll have to see how this one works on the live servers.

That sick spike in damage when that subsequent Mind Blast hits, unleashing the frozen damage and consuming a shadow orb … that’s going to be awesome. I love big, five-digit numbers.

Overall, the alpha has a definite hit in Shadowy Apparition (so far as I’m concerned) and a miss when it comes to Shadow Orbs. That’s fine — we’re looking at the first draft here, so to speak. Still, I’m getting more and more excited for what’s coming down the road. So bring it on, Two and a Half Men — we could all use that extra hatepower for Cataclysm.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment