Archives for Patch Notes category
Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, News, Patch Notes |
6
Aug
Reforging, which we mentioned two weeks ago here, is finally active in the beta. It is a rather simple process, Alliance side you will need to visit Ithurian Whitespire in Stormwind near the Stockades, ask a guard for the nearest Thaumaturge. The Horde equivalent is Enchanter Farendin in Orgrimmar’s Cleft of Shadows. When you speak to the NPC it asks you to drag and drop the item you want reforged. After dropping the item in the slot it asks which stat you would like to reduce and what you would like to increase.
An example which is in the screenshots is taking 32 Haste Rating from Lasherweave Cover and adding 32 Mastery Rating to it. After clicking Reforge it will make the changes and bringing any reforged item back and clicking restore will turn the item back to its original form. As this example is a Tier piece which cannot be vendored it only costs 1 gold while any other pieces will cost their vendor price.
Source: Wowhead.com
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Tags: Alliance, beta, catacl, cataclysm, Cataclysm Beta, Farendin, From, gold, guard for the nearest Thaumaturge, Haste, horde, Lasherweave, Mastery, Reforge, Reforging, Stockades, Stormwind, Thaumaturge, Tier
Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, Patch Notes |
6
Aug
We’re doing our Cataclysm preview on the death knight changes later this week, but we knew one change risked overshadowing all the others, so we figured we’d go ahead and drop the proverbial Blood bomb today.
In Cataclysm, death knights will have a dedicated tanking tree, much like the other three tank classes. That tree will be Blood.
We’ll go into more detail in the upcoming preview, but we wanted to take the opportunity to explain the reasoning for such a big change.
Why the about face? We actually thought the “tri tank” experiment worked out okay. We suspected there would always be a “best” tanking tree, because that’s the way these things shake out, but we hoped it would be close enough that many players could tank with their favorite tree. When we tried out this design for Wrath of the Lich King, we were using it as a test case to see if we wanted to do similar things with the warrior and paladin talent trees.
A lot has happened since that time. We introduced the dual-spec feature, allowing players to have a tanking spec and dps spec that they could switch between. We introduced Dungeon Finder, which makes it easier to find players who want to tank, and even let players level up using a dedicated tank spec. In Cataclysm, we are introducing the concept of passive talent tree bonuses and we think that feature is a lot stronger when the talent tree has a particular focus (such as damage, tanking or healing). For example, it’s safer to give more passive damage to a tanking tree than we can a dps tree. Above all, we were just spending a lot of effort trying to balance three trees (though it was really six trees, since each tree was trying to do two things).
It started to feel unfair to the other tank classes that we had to spend so much effort tweaking three types of DK tanks, and it even started to feel unfair to the DK that we couldn’t focus their tanking experience. One bit of feedback that really struck home was the DK players who said, essentially, “I look at the Protection tree and I’m jealous of all of the cool tools they have to help their tanking. As a DK, I have to pick and choose tanking talents from within a sea of dps talents.” Rather than have a strong focus, the trees felt a little watered down because they were trying to do so much. With Frost as a dual-wield, spell and runic power focused tree, Unholy as a disease and minion focused tree, and Blood as a self-healing, defensive cooldown, tanking tree, we think the focus of each tree is a lot clearer and cooler.
In Cataclysm, Blood will be the death knight version of a Protection tree. It will have passive talent tree bonuses that reflect tanking. It will have tools, such as a Demo Shout equivalent, necessary for tanking. Several of the more fun tanking talents from Frost and Unholy will be moved into Blood. We will be able to revise (or even remove) clunky mechanics like Rune Strike and focus on letting DKs generate threat with their normal Blood tanking rotation.
This is major change, and we understand it will be met with some disappointment from players who really liked the flexibility, those who appreciated the unorthodox talent tree design, or those few of you who really liked Blood dps. Nevertheless, we are convinced that this is the right change for the game.
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Tags: About, Blood, catacl, cataclysm, Concept, Death, death knight, death knights, DPS, dungeon, Dungeon Finder, Focus, From, Frost, Lich, paladin, paladin talent, Protection, Rune Strike, Strike, talent tree, Talents, tank, tanking, tanks, Threat, warrior, world of warcraft, wrath, wrath of the lich
Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, Patch Notes |
6
Aug
In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we’ll be making lots of changes and additions to class talents and abilities across the board. In this preview, you’ll get an early look at some of the changes in store for the shaman class, including a rundown of some of the new spells, abilities, and talents, and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the different talent specs.
New Shaman Spells
Primal Strike (available at level 3): Primal Strike is a new weapon-based attack that every shaman will learn very early in the game. Our goal with this ability is to make leveling as Enhancement rather than as Elemental more viable, since many key Enhancement talents become available at fairly high levels.
Healing Wave (level 4): While the shaman already has an ability called Healing Wave, we’re adding another spell to the class’s direct-healing arsenal and giving it a familiar name. The current Healing Wave will be renamed Greater Healing Wave, and the intent is for the ‘new” Healing Wave to be the shaman’s go-to heal. Lesser Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave will be used on a more situational basis.
Unleash Weapon (level 81): Unleashes the power of your weapon enchants for additional effects (see below). A dual-wielding Enhancement shaman will activate the effects of both of their weapon enchants. Instant cast. 30-yard range. 15-second cooldown. Undispellable.
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Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, Patch Notes |
28
Jul
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (or Cata for short) is the upcoming third expansion for World of Warcraft and was officially announced on August 21, 2009 at BlizzCon 2009. The majority of the expansion content takes place in drastically reforged Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.
It is to include the playable races of the worgen for the Alliance and the goblins for the Horde. Flying mounts will finally be usable in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. Deathwing will make his return into Azeroth from Deepholm, causing a new Sundering.
Lore
From the official site:
An ancient evil lies dormant within Deepholm, the domain of earth in the Elemental Plane.
Hidden away in a secluded sanctuary, the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing has waited, recovering from the wounds of his last battle against Azeroth and biding his time until he can reforge the world in molten fire.
Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents. As the Horde and Alliance race to the epicenter of the cataclysm, the kingdoms of Azeroth will witness seismic shifts in power, the kindling of a war of the elements, and the emergence of unlikely heroes who will rise up to protect their scarred and broken world from utter devastation.
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Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, Patch Notes |
14
Jul
We are going to take the opportunity in Cataclysm to try and fix some of the problems with the Rage mechanic for both warriors and druids. Some of these problems include:
- Warriors/druids in the lowest levels of gear can be Rage-starved.
- Warriors/druids in the highest levels of gear no longer have to manage their Rage when it becomes infinite.
- Warrior/druid tanks lose Rage income as they improve their gear and take less damage.
- The gameplay of warrior and druid tanks loses a lot of depth when massive boss hits means never having to manage Rage.
- Heroic Strike and Maul are effective, but tedious abilities for using up extra Rage.
- In general, warriors and druids don’t have enough control over their Rage.
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Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, Patch Notes |
14
Jul
The Twilight Highlands have a perilous history. This region is home to the vicious black dragonflight, the cursed fortress of Grim Batol, and dangerous elemental disturbances.
Now, the land will play host to a new danger. The Twilight’s Hammer cult has claimed the highlands as its new seat of power — and all of Azeroth will be shaken by the change.
Visit this page to learn more about the history, rivalries, and factions of the Twilight Highlands, a new high-level zone to explore in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Azeroth’s inhabitants endure a lifetime of struggle and conflict. They’re subject to violence from neighboring enemies and rampaging beasts at an early age, and must learn to take up arms to defend themselves against predators. Regularly forced to cope with the deaths of friends, family, and members of their tribes, clans, cities, and guilds, these scarred survivors become stronger by reinforcing their walls, banding together with new allies, and raising sharp, careful, resilient children. They adapt. They change.
Few places on Azeroth exemplify this ever-changing dynamic more than the Twilight Highlands of the Eastern Kingdoms.
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Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, Patch Notes |
14
Jul
We’re continuing to refine the badge/emblem and PvP point systems in Cataclysm and we’d like to share some of those changes with you today. Please enjoy!
Our primary goal when approaching badges in Cataclysm is to address a lot of the confusion that comes with these currency systems. To that end we’re changing badges to a more straightforward point system, similar to the ones we’ve used for a while for Arenas and Battlegrounds. There will be a total of four types of points you can earn in Cataclysm (two for PvE and two for PvP), and these will remain the same even as we introduce new content.
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Tags: Arena, Arena Points, arenas, Armor, badges, Battleground, Battlegrounds, Begin, catacl, cataclysm, Conquest Points, dungeon, Dungeon Finder, Emblem, Focus, From, gear, Hero, hero points, Heroic, Honor Points, PVP, PvP player, raid, Released, Tier, triumph, Valor, Valor Points, Weapons, world of warcraft
Posted on 2010 under Cataclysm, Patch Notes |
14
Jul
Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test! Patch notes listed here are not comprehensive and will be changed throughout the testing process.
General
- The Alliance starting experience for worgen is available. Venture through the cursed lands of Gilneas to discover your true path! Currently the female worgen character is not available for testing.
- The Horde starting experience for goblins is available. Beginning on the Isle of Kezan in a goblin paradise, players will face a treacherous road ahead!
- The level cap for all characters is 83.
- Players may use our Character Copy feature for copying existing characters to beta realms, or may choose from high-level pre-made template characters.
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Posted on 2010 under Guides, Lore, Patch Notes, Raids |
25
Jun
Baltharus the Warborn is a member of the Black dragonflight mini boss. He will appear in World of Warcraft as one of the three sub-bosses in the Ruby Sanctum encounter, which will be implemented in patch 3.3.5.
In order to shatter the Wyrmrest Accord and to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth, a powerful war party of the Black dragonflight; led by the fearsome twilight dragon Halion and his lieutenants Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn and General Zarithrian; has launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple.
Strategy
Baltharus has two main abilities; a blast wave-type ability which will knock back melee, and an occasional split. The blast wave isn’t a very big deal, and can be easily healed through. The split, though, requires some extra strategy. You will need two or three tanks to tank Baltharus’ doubles, and the main Baltharus should be marked with a skull, so as not to be confused with the doubles. When Baltharus dies, his copies will too.
Baltharus the Warborn is located on the cliff to the left; the way to him is blocked by a few Charscale wyrms.
Two (25-player: 3) tanks are needed for this fight. At 50% (25-player: 75%, 50%, and 25%) Baltharus will summon a clone of himself. During the split, nearby players will suffer damage and be knocked away and stunned, so move just before his health reaches any of the aforementioned percentages.
The second tank (and third) should pick up the split copies as fast as possible to prevent the healers from getting threat. DPS should focus on the original Baltharus, as the other clones will de-spawn once he is dead.
During the fight, Baltharus will occasionally perform a whirlwind-move; DPS and nearby players must move away immediately.
Quick Facts
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Classification: Elite
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React: A H
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Added in patch 3.3.5
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Last seen in patch 3.3.5
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Posted on 2010 under News, Patch Notes |
24
Jun
After rumors spread throughout Kharanos and Ironforge about Mekgineer Thermaplugg preparing his irradiated soldiers to meet the growing gnomish clamoring for the reclamation of their once-great city, High Tinker Mekkatorque today exclaimed Operation: Gnomeregan to be imminent, describing his former ally Thermaplugg’s irradiation of the beloved city as “a date which will live in a proportionate rate of increase in impropriety!” Speaking to a small conglomerate of various Alliance representatives, Mekkatorque pointed out that the time to strike is now. After all, Thermaplugg has eluded death for years to keep his reign over Gnomeregan; and with the fall of the Lich King, the last great threat to the citizens of Azeroth, the chance of any cataclysmic event taking place in the foreseeable future is “less than 12.7%,” Mekkatorque’s leading combat medical advisor Doc Cogspin purported.
With confirmation of the impending attack upon Gnomeregan comes your chance to get involved. Victory begins in Tinker Town! As great citizens of Azeroth and proud members of the Alliance, High Tinker Mekkatorque shall call upon you to serve his gnomes in exile. After all, the best offense is a good… offense! Whether you’re a hero of your people and slayer of the most dreadful Burning Legion and Scourge creatures, or an up-and-coming adventurer, you can start by motivating your gnome brethren to unite behind the Gnomeregan banner. All it takes is a bit of finesse with the Motivate-a-Tron to call gnomes to action. The device works flawlessly! After all, what good would it be if such a powerful invention ended up turning Tinker Town citizens into little critters? Almost no good!
With fresh new recruits at your side, Mekkatorque will send you to Steelgrill’s Depot, the staging grounds for the Gnomeregan offensive, where you’ll meet Captain Sparknozzle. Do as he commands by completing Drill Sergeant Steamcrank’s training and testing the operative capabilities of the brand new Mechano-Tanks before they’re shipped to the front lines. Seizing Gnomeregan is more important than your fear of heights, which will be put to the test as you’re summoned by Pilot Muzzlesprock to neutralize the irradiation vents bruising the Gnomeregan horizon in a critical Radiageigatron bombing run.
Every man, woman, and child is called to serve! Even if you’re just barely getting your bearings on the art of combat in places like Kharanos or Elwynn Forest, you can do your part by helping fuel the war effort. A few dead boars leads to a few more comfortable siege pilot seats, and surely you can handle such a crucial step in the preparation for facing Thermaplugg’s poisoned followers. You can even help master wordsmith Toby Zeigear in writing High Tinker Mekkatorque’s battle cry. The road to success will be paved by you, and you’ll be rewarded as such with a commendation of Gnomeregan Pride, allowing you to temporarily don the uniform of the elite Gnomeregan Infantry.
Thermaplugg is no trifling gnome, though his arrogance will be his undoing! Even still, he is undoubtedly preparing never-before-seen forces to meet this assault. Only the most battle-hardened heroes of the Alliance (levels 75-80) will be called to serve during Operation: Gnomeregan. When Mekkatorque determines the operation is ready to get underway, you must speak with him on the front lines before following him on a full assault of the enemy air field, surface command post, and into the tunnels of lower Gnomeregan. It is said that Thermaplugg has employed the use of so-called “Brag”-bots to spread his propaganda and hubris. Be not afraid of his words, fellow members of the Alliance. Stick with Mekkatorque and Doc Cogspin to ensure your safety. After all, you wouldn’t want to lose the grace of Cogspin’s Surgeon General’s Warding. Gnomeregan must be cleansed of irradiation and the troggs it was intended to repel. It is time to reclaim this modern marvel and earn your very own Gnomeregan Overcloak, a testament to your historic bravery in the face of madness!
Operation: Gnomeregan is coming, and the Gnomeregan Exiles want YOU!
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