WoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gifWoW Insiderhttp://wow.joystiq.comen-usCopyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/WoW Insider ShowEvery week, the WoW Insider Show brings you news and views from the World of Warcraft and the site that covers it all, WoW Insider. We introduce a panel of rotating guests, including bloggers from WoW Insider and other WoW blogs, and many popular personalities from around the WoW community. From the live listener chat and polls during the show, to the emails direct from listeners (reach us at theshow@wow.com), right on to the "meat" of the show -- in-depth discussion of the most popular news and posts on WoW Insider -- the WoW Insider Show is a terrific source of news and entertainment about what's going on with Blizzard and their World of Warcraft. Listen live every Saturday at 3:30 pm Eastern on our Ustream page (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wow-insider-show) or subscribe to the feed and let us know what you think by reviewing the show right here in iTunes.Patch 5.3 PTR: Battle on the High Seas overviewhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/19/patch-5-3-ptr-battle-on-the-high-seas-overview/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/19/patch-5-3-ptr-battle-on-the-high-seas-overview/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/19/patch-5-3-ptr-battle-on-the-high-seas-overview/#commentsFiled under: ,

Patch 53 PTR Battle on the High Seas overview
One of my favorite scenarios to this day is Unga Ingoo. It's not because it has any major lore significance, some major story reveal that was shocking or inspired. It's not because it had any kind of meaningful impact on what we're doing right now, or on the leveling experience itself. No, the reason I love Unga Ingoo is because ships, ropes, and beating up pirates are all ridiculously fun things. Even more so when the pirates are monkey pirates.

In patch 5.3, we're getting four new scenarios -- three of which are interesting from a lore perspective, and one of which, Battle on the High Seas, is just a rollicking good time. There aren't any lore reveals. There's nothing in the scenario to further the story of patch 5.3, or lead into patch 5.4. The only thing Battle on the High Seas offers is the opportunity to smack the heck out of the opposite fashion in true swashbuckling style ... and honestly, that's more than enough reason to do it as far as I'm concerned!

Please note that this is being written from the Horde perspective of the scenario. I'm assuming that the Alliance side is much the same, just with a role-reversal involved.

Please note: This post contains spoilers for patch 5.3 content.

Continue reading Patch 5.3 PTR: Battle on the High Seas overview

WoW InsiderPatch 5.3 PTR: Battle on the High Seas overview originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 19 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>achievementsalliancebattle-on-the-high-seashordemists-of-pandariaMists-of-pandaria-scenariospatch-5.3patch-5.3-heroic-scenariospatch-5.3-ptrpatch-5.3-scenariospiratesscenario-achievementsworld-of-warcraftAnne StickneySun, 19 May 2013 16:00:00 ESTThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Warrior representationhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/18/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-warrior-representation/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/18/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-warrior-representation/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/18/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-warrior-representation/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The Care and Feeding of Warriors Warrior representation SatSun
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host.

I find myself wondering about protection warriors as tanks. Clearly, we're neither the most nor least popular tanks, holding steady in the middle of the pack - both blood DK's and protection paladins absolutely own tank representation. Blood is at 4.2% and prot pallies at 4.1% of total class/spec representation in Throne of Thunder, with prot warriors at 2.7% and guardian druids in about the same spot as brewmaster monks, 2% for guardians and 1.8% for brewmasters.

It's fairly clear that fury warriors, despite being a relatively smaller fraction of total class representation, are by far the most popular warriors in current raiding. Protection is not only second, but a distant second, and arms (despite being a solid 3% of the total player base overall) is vanishingly under-represented in raiding. We'll worry about arms in raids later. For now let's ask why protection warriors aren't being seen in raids. It's not based on class popularity by itself - based on looking over Realmpop for a couple of hours I'd argue that warriors are holding pretty steady at about 9.6% of the total population. (It's a slight drop from the 10.14% we saw last December) World of Wargraphs puts the number at about 9.5%, so either way, there are a lot of warriors. But looking at the Wargraphs data, two things come to mind.

Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Warrior representation

WoW InsiderThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Warrior representation originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 18 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>arms-warrior-the-care-and-feeding-of-warriorsfeaturedfury-warrior-the-care-and-feeding-of-warriorsguide-to-warriorsprotection-warrior-the-care-and-feeding-of-warriorswarrior-guidewarrior-infowarrior-talentswow-warriorwow-warrior-infowow-warriorsMatthew RossiSat, 18 May 2013 14:00:00 ESTPatch 5.3 PTR: The Secrets of Ragefire overviewhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/18/patch-5-3-ptr-the-secrets-of-ragefire-overview/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/18/patch-5-3-ptr-the-secrets-of-ragefire-overview/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/18/patch-5-3-ptr-the-secrets-of-ragefire-overview/#commentsFiled under: ,

Patch 53 PTR The Secrets of Ragefire overview
I remember Ragefire Chasm in vanilla, but only vaguely. It was usually completed once, at a very low level, and then never looked at again -- it never had any really compelling loot, and the story was only so-so. It has since received an update to both loot and story, and in a profound kind of way. In fact, if you haven't done the updated Ragefire Chasm, I suggest this would be an excellent time to do so. What happens down there is just the tip of the iceberg, it seems.

In patch 5.3, we're going to get a look at a section of Ragefire Chasm we haven't seen before, in one of four new scenarios introduced with the patch. It turns out not everything is as it seems in Orgrimmar ... and Garrosh's plans have never looked quite this grim. You'll be accompanying the Gob Squad on a mission to figure out just what kind of secrets Ragefire holds, and what the Horde can expect from their Warchief.

Please note: This post contains spoilers for patch 5.3 content.

Continue reading Patch 5.3 PTR: The Secrets of Ragefire overview

WoW InsiderPatch 5.3 PTR: The Secrets of Ragefire overview originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 18 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>dark-shamangarrosh-hellscreamgob-squadmists-of-pandariaMists-of-pandaria-scenariospatch-5.3patch-5.3-heroic-scenariospatch-5.3-ptrpatch-5.3-scenariosragefire-chasmsecrets-of-ragefireworld-of-warcraftAnne StickneySat, 18 May 2013 12:00:00 ESTPatch 5.3: Latest PTR build is a release candidatehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/patch-5-3-latest-ptr-build-is-a-release-candidate/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/patch-5-3-latest-ptr-build-is-a-release-candidate/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/patch-5-3-latest-ptr-build-is-a-release-candidate/#commentsFiled under:

Patch 51 Latest build is a release candidate
Yesterday, we asked you what your best guess was for the arrival date of patch 5.3, and at the time the article was written, the PTR build was still a test. Since then, it has been updated, as many commenters mentioned, and is now a release candidate.
Patch 53 Latest PTR build is a test candidate
What does this mean for a potential release date? Looking back at patch 5.1, WoW Insider reported that a release candidate was live on November 13th, and the patch released on November 27th, a fortnight after the first release candidate went up. Patch 5.2 went to a PTR release candidate on the PTR on February 26th, and the patch dropped on March 5th, just one week later. We can't really discuss earlier patches, thanks to Blizzard's new, improved patch cycle, but these two indicate that the patch may well drop within the next fortnight, so May 21st or 28th, perhaps the first week in June at the latest.

Of course, this is just estimation, we're doing research and gathering clues, but it's not a firm confirmation. While you're waiting, you can check out all our patch 5.3 coverage.

WoW InsiderPatch 5.3: Latest PTR build is a release candidate originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>breakingpatch-5.3patch-5.3-ptrpatch-5.3-release-dateOlivia GraceFri, 17 May 2013 14:00:00 ESTGhostcrawler on Vengeance and patch 5.4http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/ghostcrawler-on-vengeance-and-patch-5-4/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/ghostcrawler-on-vengeance-and-patch-5-4/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/ghostcrawler-on-vengeance-and-patch-5-4/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Ghostcrawler on Vengeance and patch 54
Yes, patch 5.3 isn't even out yet, and we're already looking towards patch 5.4. Thanks to Ghostcrawler, we have this to think about for the future, namely that Vengeance is getting capped at a significantly lower threshold in raids in the future. If you remember back at August of last year, Vengeance saw some significant changes that increased how fast it could ramp up in raids and also gave it a far larger maximum potential. It's been adjusted over time, but in general what GC said back last August has held true -- tank DPS in raiding really did go up. To the point where on some pulls it's not unusual to see tanks leading the DPS, sometimes by extremely large numbers.

Since this is a big change that will drastically lower tank damage output (25-man tanks with their 600,000 or more health buffed will lose roughly 300,000 AP on fights where Vengeance was capping at 100% of their health) I'm not surprise it won't be coming in 5.3 -- I am a little surprised it's happening at all, because we all knew Vengeance and tank damage would do exactly what it has done when it was changed. Still, I wait to observe if it has much practical difference since aside from AoE tanking where a multitude of hits can roll in a short window of time (that 20 second ramp up period) and the tanks can make effective use of all that AP I'm not sure it will matter. 5-mans and scenarios were not mentioned, so for now I'm assuming this is only for the raids mentioned.

WoW InsiderGhostcrawler on Vengeance and patch 5.4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>10-man-raiding25-man-raidingDeath-KnightdruidGhostcrawlerMonkpaladinpatch-5.4raidingraidstankingVengeancewarriorMatthew RossiFri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 ESTTom Chilton chats about what's coming in patch 5.3http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/tom-chilton-chats-about-whats-coming-in-patch-5-3/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/tom-chilton-chats-about-whats-coming-in-patch-5-3/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/17/tom-chilton-chats-about-whats-coming-in-patch-5-3/#commentsFiled under: , ,

blizz tom chilton interview wip
We know Blizzard has a lot planned for patch 5.3, which could go live any time now. But to keep us busy while we wait for the next batch of new WoW content, Blizzard Insider has posted an interview with Game Director Tom Chilton. Though the interview mostly summarizes what we already know about the upcoming patch, it provides a great overview of what's coming with a bit of added insight Blizzard's development thought process. Covered in the interview are how the devs felt patch 5.2 performed, the storyline of patch 5.3, PvP changes and the new battleground, new scenarios (and heroic scenarios), gear and the ability to choose which spec you'd like gear for, and visible pet battles.

The patches are certainly coming our way quickly. Are you looking forward to patch 5.3 or still working on patch 5.2?

WoW InsiderTom Chilton chats about what's coming in patch 5.3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 17 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>5.35.3-escalationchiltoninterviewpatch-5.3patch-5.3-escalationtom-chiltontom-chilton-interviewwow-5.3wow-escalationwow-patchwow-patch-5.3wow-patch-5.3-escalationElizabeth HarperFri, 17 May 2013 09:00:00 ESTConvert to Raid interviews Ion Hazzikostashttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/16/convert-to-raid-interviews-ion-hazzikostas/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/16/convert-to-raid-interviews-ion-hazzikostas/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/16/convert-to-raid-interviews-ion-hazzikostas/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Convert to Raid, the podcast for raiders in the World of Warcraft, recently interviewed Blizzard's Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas. You can listen to the full interview over on their site, and in the video above, but we've plucked some of the best bits out for your convenience.

Pat started off by asking Ion how he felt the raid tier, Throne of Thunder, had worked out, what he was happy with, what could possibly be improved for future tiers and so on. Ion responded that they were very happy with the tier, the structure and feel of the dungeon, and particularly the progression of the World First race. He spoke about the Lei Shen encounter really delivering on what a heroic end-boss should be, in terms of difficulty and fight construction. However, when Pat asked about learning points, Ion had plenty to say.

Continue reading Convert to Raid interviews Ion Hazzikostas

WoW InsiderConvert to Raid interviews Ion Hazzikostas originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 16 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>ion-hazzikostaspatch-5.3patch-5.4throne-of-thunderOlivia GraceThu, 16 May 2013 18:00:00 ESTCatching up with the lore for patch 5.3http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/catching-up-with-the-lore-for-patch-5-3/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/catching-up-with-the-lore-for-patch-5-3/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/catching-up-with-the-lore-for-patch-5-3/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Okay, so let's assume for the moment you're interested in the advancing storyline for the Mists of Pandaria expansion as we head into patch 5.3, but are wondering if you missed anything or have just started leveling to 90 and want to make sure you get caught up with what's happening. Why is the Horde in such a tizzy? What's the Alliance planning to do? Who are the major players, and why are they doing what they're doing? Don't worry. We here at WoW Insider have been covering this all expansion, and we can help you get up to speed.

Continue reading Catching up with the lore for patch 5.3

WoW InsiderCatching up with the lore for patch 5.3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 15 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>catching-uplorepatch-5.3Patch-5.3-lorestorystory-so-farMatthew RossiWed, 15 May 2013 15:00:00 ESTGold Capped: Never scan the Auction House againhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/gold-capped-never-scan-the-auction-house-again/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/gold-capped-never-scan-the-auction-house-again/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/15/gold-capped-never-scan-the-auction-house-again/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Gold Capped Never scan the Auction House again DNP
WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make gold on the Auction House. Check out Basil's gold making podcast, Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail!

Have you ever scanned the Auction House with TradeSkillMaster (the best auction management addon, well worth the trouble of learning) and not gotten a complete scan? Maybe you see an error message and your crafting window starts displaying unknown materials prices, even though you can see the prices right front of you when you search? This is a bug that affects anyone on a realm with a lot of auctions (more than 42554, according to the TSM error message). In essence, the GetAll scan that's used to grab a dump of the AH in a few seconds can be incomplete if there are a lot of auctions.

As far as I know, the traditional scans are immune to this, but they take a lot more time; like 20 minutes instead of 20 seconds. Even if the scans work perfectly on your realm, scanning is still an extra step that you have to do every time you want to update the prices before you queue up your crafting list. Luckily, there's a way you can get up to date price information without ever having to scan the AH again.

Continue reading Gold Capped: Never scan the Auction House again

WoW InsiderGold Capped: Never scan the Auction House again originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>42554-auctionsahauction-housecraftingdealfindinggetall-scangetall-scan-brokengoldgold-makingprofessionsscanscan-ahtradeskillmastertradeskillmaster-applicationtsmtsm-apptsm-bugBasil BerntsenWed, 15 May 2013 14:00:00 ESTPatch 5.3: Mining and herbalism able to be leveled exclusively in Pandariahttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/patch-5-3-mining-and-herbalism-able-to-be-leveled-exclusively-i/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/patch-5-3-mining-and-herbalism-able-to-be-leveled-exclusively-i/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/patch-5-3-mining-and-herbalism-able-to-be-leveled-exclusively-i/#commentsFiled under:

Patch 53 Changes to mining and herbalism allow them to be leveled exclusively in Pandaria
A fair while back, Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg " Ghostcrawler" Street tweeted that the development team would be looking to implement catch-up mechanics, similar to those in place for cooking, to other professions. Blacksmithing had its changes, and now Mining and Herbalism are next on the agenda. MMO-Champion reported today on some changes on the patch 5.3 PTR, that make the grind to level these professions a whole lot easier.

I went onto the PTR, with a pre-made level 90, and learned apprentice herbalism and mining, then went and found some nodes. The tooltip shows the nodes as orange and they can be mined by characters who have only just learned the profession, with a skill level of 1, as can be seen from the image after the break.

Continue reading Patch 5.3: Mining and herbalism able to be leveled exclusively in Pandaria

WoW InsiderPatch 5.3: Mining and herbalism able to be leveled exclusively in Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 14 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>herbalismlevel-herbalismlevel-miningminingpatch-5.3patch-5.3-professionspatch-5.3-ptrOlivia GraceTue, 14 May 2013 19:00:00 ESTPatch 5.3 PTR Patch Notes for May 14http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/patch-5-3-ptr-patch-notes-for-may-14/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/patch-5-3-ptr-patch-notes-for-may-14/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/patch-5-3-ptr-patch-notes-for-may-14/#commentsFiled under:

Patch 53 PTR Patch Notes for May 14
The latest sets of PTR patch notes materialized a few hours ago, mostly featuring a multitude of class changes.
  • Some reasonable nerfs to hunter pet CC, several abilities have had their cooldowns doubled.
  • Some changes to the interaction of Tricks of the Trade with Blood DK abilities
  • A buff to Necrotic Strike's attack power scaling
  • A PvP-related change to Incanter's Ward, halving the effect but doubling the duration, as has been recently discussed the devs think this might be a part of their burst issues in PvP.
And lastly, Eye of the Black Prince can now be used to apply a prismatic socket on Reborn weapons. Hit the break for the full notes.

Continue reading Patch 5.3 PTR Patch Notes for May 14

WoW InsiderPatch 5.3 PTR Patch Notes for May 14 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 14 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>breakingpatch-5.3patch-5.3-notespatch-5.3-patch-notespatch-5.3-ptrpatch-5.3-ptr-patch-notesOlivia GraceTue, 14 May 2013 17:00:00 ESTNo Patch 5.3 this weekhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/no-patch-5-3-this-week/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/no-patch-5-3-this-week/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/no-patch-5-3-this-week/#commentsFiled under: ,

No Patch 53 this week
We've been quietly downloading patch 5.3 on the background service for a little while now. Needless to say, the major question on everyone's minds today has been whether or not we'll see the new patch hit tomorrow. Wonder no longer: It's been confirmed both by blue posters and on the official Warcraft Twitter account.


It looks like those of you waiting patiently for valor point upgrades, new scenarios and more will have to wait at least another week. On the one hand, I'd really like to see all the 5.3 content on live servers -- on the other, I'm glad I don't have to worry about a new set of quests and story content to obsessively run through just yet. Whether or not we'll see it next week is up in the air, but given the active state of the background downloader, we can expect patch 5.3 ... soon[TM].

WoW InsiderNo Patch 5.3 this week originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 13 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>patch-5.3patch-5.3-currencypatch-5.3-ptrpatch-5.3-pvppatch-5.3-pvp-changespatch-5.3-scenariospatch-5.3-upgradespatch-5.3-valorAnne StickneyMon, 13 May 2013 19:00:00 ESTThings that were harder beforehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/things-that-were-harder-before/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/things-that-were-harder-before/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/things-that-were-harder-before/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Things that were harder before
I did a post this week about raiding in previous expansions and in vanilla WoW, and how people often say those raids were harder and my opinion that it is easily demonstrable that current raids are if anything more complicated than they have ever been. I frankly believe there is almost no room for comparison between the game at 60 and today in terms of raid complexity and difficulty. Part of this stems from the many different variations on what the word hard means in this context. Something can be harder because it is conceptually or executionally more complex (the difficulty can stem from how much is required to successfully complete its mechanics) or it can be hard because it is laborious and/or time consuming. Was raiding with 40 people in classic WoW more laborious? Absolutely it was. It wasn't mechanically harder, but it was more time consuming and took a great deal of effort to organize and plan. It's the difference between working out a complex multi-stage math problem and carrying five thousand pounds of rocks from point A to point B.

But there were some points worth addressing. It absolutely has never been easier to level, even without heirlooms, than it is right now. Vanilla leveling to 60 took more time and effort than leveling to 90 does today. Even without heirlooms, one can easily and without much stress reach level 20 in a few hours, level 40 in less than two days, and be level 60 within a day of that, and this isn't spending all day staring at the screen either. This is a fairly casual leveling pace. I leveled a blood elf warrior to 35 in two days of rather casual play, an hour on followed by a half hour reading websites or having a snack or even going for a long walk.

It's also far easier to do the following things:
  1. Get a dungeon group. You can queue for dungeons at level 15, and from that point on, all you ever have to do to run a dungeon is hit that queue. If you're playing in the tank or healing role you can effectively chain dungeons all day, and even leveling as DPS there are stretches where you don't even need to quest or do anything but dungeon.
  2. Run a battleground. While you could argue that doing well at BG running as you level up and at max level takes some time and effort, if you want to risk queueing in whatever gear you have, it's simplicity itself.
  3. Getting ready to raid at max level. The game now has catchup mechanisms in place for players who start later. If you just got your alt to 90 and are switching to it for raiding, deciding to give raiding a try for the first time, or what have you it's not the case that your raid group is compelled to run you through previous raids for attunements and keys, much less gearing you through older raids to get ready for the current content.
  4. Find something to do. You could even argue that there's too much to do, or that it feels too mandatory. But you can't argue you don't have options - if you don't want to run dungeons, raid, or PvP there are pet battles, daily quests and scenarios you can do.
So the question then becomes this: is it better or worse for the game that these things are easier? For that matter, are they easy enough?

Continue reading Things that were harder before

WoW InsiderThings that were harder before originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 13 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>alt-levelingaltscatch-up-90difficultydungeonsgearinglevelingLFDLFRmists-of-pandariaraidingMatthew RossiMon, 13 May 2013 15:00:00 ESTThe ongoing mystery of the Unborn Val'kyrhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/the-ongoing-mystery-of-the-unborn-valkyr/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/the-ongoing-mystery-of-the-unborn-valkyr/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/the-ongoing-mystery-of-the-unborn-valkyr/#commentsFiled under: ,

The ongoing mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
Earlier in patch 5.3's PTR cycle, developer Cory "Mumper" Stockton revealed the Unborn Val'kyr, a new wild pet coming to Northrend. That very night, players began scouring the PTR for any trace of it -- to no avail. A few days later, Stockton asked users on Twitter whether or not they'd found it yet. They hadn't, but as it turns out, at the time of those tweets, the pet had not yet been activated on the PTR at all. Whoops!

However, it has been active for quite some time now, and the community at large is still not entirely sure how it works. According to the information we've been given, the Unborn Val'kyr is not a pet that is randomly spawned, but rather only spawns under specific, unique conditions. The pet has now been found and caught, but the conditions under which it spawns to begin with are still unknown.

Continue reading The ongoing mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr

WoW InsiderThe ongoing mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>cory-stocktonmumperpatch-5.3patch-5.3-ptrperculiaunborn-valkyrwarcraftpetsAlex ZiebartMon, 13 May 2013 13:00:00 ESTBlood Pact: Buffs and debuffs for warlocks and logshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/blood-pact-buffs-and-debuffs-for-warlocks-and-logs/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/blood-pact-buffs-and-debuffs-for-warlocks-and-logs/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/13/blood-pact-buffs-and-debuffs-for-warlocks-and-logs/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Blood Pact Buffs and debuffs for warlocks and logs MON
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill is almost free for summer. Almost.

The last two weeks have been on simple topics like glancing at a raid parse on World of Logs (WoL) or looking at the various graphs WoL has. Before we dive into the actual combat log itself with the expression editor, I'm going to take a stop at what buffs and debuffs are going on in the fight. This information is still broad in scope and can apply to almost anyone, but it's still important foundation knowledge for warlocks and logs.

Continue reading Blood Pact: Buffs and debuffs for warlocks and logs

WoW InsiderBlood Pact: Buffs and debuffs for warlocks and logs originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 13 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>buffscritdebuffsfeaturedguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockshasteintellectlock-guidelock-infolock-talentsmagic-vulnerabilitymasteryprocsspellpowertrinketuptimewarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-logswow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocksMegan O'NeillMon, 13 May 2013 09:00:00 ESTThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Talent switching, conditional use and gearhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/11/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-talent-switching-conditional/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/11/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-talent-switching-conditional/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/11/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-talent-switching-conditional/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The Care and Feeding of Warriors Talent switching and conditional use
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host.

I switch around my talents pretty consistently when raiding Throne of Thunder. I know some people will tell you it's always a DPS decrease to use Bladestorm, but on Tortos Bladestorm is an absolute treasure if your tank is rounding up the bats and bringing them to melee. When I say it is a treasure, I mean that it is an idol and I think you should have to engage in a whip based economy for it. (I don't use Shockwave much as DPS due to the positioning needed.) But like a lot of you, I drop it on fights with a minimal AoE component for Dragon Roar, because DR always crits and does a pretty healthy amount of damage even on single target. Here's a question I hadn't asked myself until this week, however: do I really need to be doing this?

I use Second Wind as a raiding talent for two reasons:
  1. I don't have to think about it at all. If I go below 35%, I get some healing. That's it. It's not better than Enraged Regeneration, but it doesn't require me to do anything. Similarly, it's not that Impending Victory isn't good, but it's another attack and I don't need another attack right now. Both my arms and fury rotations are plenty busy (arms in particular does not have a lot of slack time when I'm not doing anything) and putting in another attack doesn't really benefit me.
  2. It's never unavailable. With Enraged Regeneration and Impending Victory, there are times I can't use them because I have recently used them. Second Wind will always proc once I drop below 35%. It's always there. It does nothing for me if I never drop that low, and it won't save me if I get gibbed for huge damage and die, but if I drop below 35% and don't immediately die, there it is, plugging away some healing for me.
This is what got me thinking about talent switching while raiding. There are some talents I just never switch out of, and then there's the big three of Bladestorm, Dragon Roar and Shockwave. These see a lot of switching, to the point where I carry about 40 tomes per raid because I know I'll use at least five and I want to make sure I don't run out. But am I obsessing over nothing? Does it really matter if I don't switch between Bladestorm and Dragon Roar depending on the fight?

Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Talent switching, conditional use and gear

WoW InsiderThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Talent switching, conditional use and gear originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 11 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredfury-warrior-the-care-and-feeding-of-warriorsguide-to-warriorswarrior-guidewarrior-infowarrior-talentswow-warriorwow-warrior-infowow-warriorsMatthew RossiSat, 11 May 2013 16:00:00 ESTThe false memory of WoW's difficult pasthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/the-false-memory-of-wows-difficult-past/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/the-false-memory-of-wows-difficult-past/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/the-false-memory-of-wows-difficult-past/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

The false memory of WoW past
Vanilla raiding was not mechanically more difficult than current raiding. In fact, in terms of encounter difficulty, raiding in World of Warcraft has never been as challenging to remember and execute as it is right now. Fights like Lei Shen, Twin Consorts, Iron Qon, and Durumu ask players to learn mechanics and execute awareness at a level rivaled only by fights like Mimiron's Firefighter mode. And I'm not even talking heroic difficulty for those fights. Yes, it was often harder to get 40 people together, I'm not disputing that. But that's not design difficulty, that's social difficulty. The argument that WoW was objectively harder back then is beyond absurd.

I was there for all of those raids. I've raided in vanilla, in BC, in Wrath, and in Cataclysm. I've done hard modes and heroic modes since they were introduced. I'm neither the cutting edge progression raider nor someone who raids occasionally for fun -- I've been everywhere from a raider pushing for realm firsts to one leading a semi-casual 10-man while tanking. One thing I can and will say with absolute certainty is this: every single expansion to World of Warcraft has increased the complexity of the raid design.

Continue reading The false memory of WoW's difficult past

WoW InsiderThe false memory of WoW's difficult past originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 10 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>BCBurning-CrusadeCataclysmdumbing-down-is-a-dumb-claimeasierFight-complexitymolten-corenaxxramasraidraidingraidsvanilla-WoWWrathWrath-of-the-Lich-KingMatthew RossiFri, 10 May 2013 19:00:00 ESTHow to check the Black Market Auction house without going therehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/how-to-check-the-black-market-auction-house-without-going-there/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/how-to-check-the-black-market-auction-house-without-going-there/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/how-to-check-the-black-market-auction-house-without-going-there/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Check the Black Market Auction House on The Undermine Journal
The Black Market Auction House is a special AH that allows you to buy items that are rare and sometimes unobtainable with gold otherwise. It's an extremely effective gold sink, but it's tucked away in the middle of nowhere, and you can't see what's for sale on your realm from the remote AH. Unfortunately, since Blizzard doesn't make the BMAH accessible through the same API as the regular Auction Houses, you are expected to log in and travel to the Veiled Stair in order to see whether there was anything there for you.

The Undermine Journal is a website that collects, organizes, and displays information about the Auction House of every realm: Horde, Alliance, and Neutral. Additionally, starting in January, they launched a (still beta) feature that shows us the contents of the BMAH. Assuming you're not on a PvP realm, you can avoid the flight to the Veiled Stair to check whether there's something worth buying by simply checking the Undermine Journal.

Continue reading How to check the Black Market Auction house without going there

WoW InsiderHow to check the Black Market Auction house without going there originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 10 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>black-market-auction-housebmahgoldthe-undermine-journalBasil BerntsenFri, 10 May 2013 16:00:00 ESTNo talent overhaul likelyhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/no-talent-overhaul-likely/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/no-talent-overhaul-likely/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/10/no-talent-overhaul-likely/#commentsFiled under: ,

Mage talents
If you're interested in WoW design and discussion, but don't yet follow twitter, you might want to reconsider. A lot of the developers are regularly active there. For example, yesterday our own Adam Holisky had a nice little chat with Ghostcrawler, Bashiok, and some other folks about WoW's talent design, and wondering if there was another big overhaul being considered for the next major expansion. The answer, bluntly, is no. Blizzard seems content with the current system.

Player Mihaly Ducz replied that three choices every fifteen levels feels kind of thin, but I have to admit that I kind of agree with Bashiok's response on that one: there are already plenty of spells and abilities in the game; I am perfectly content to have fewer of them, or at least more passive options so I don't have to agonize over how to redo my bars again. How about you? Are you content with the current talent system? What might you like to see changed or modified in the future?

WoW InsiderNo talent overhaul likely originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 10 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>discussionGame-MechanicsGhostcrawlertalent-tree-revamptalent-treestalentstwitterwow-developerswow-twitterSarah PineFri, 10 May 2013 14:00:00 ESTWhat's on the horizon for monks in patch 5.3http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/09/whats-on-the-horizon-for-monks-in-patch-5-3/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/09/whats-on-the-horizon-for-monks-in-patch-5-3/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/09/whats-on-the-horizon-for-monks-in-patch-5-3/#commentsFiled under: ,

What's on the horizon for monks in patch 53
There's a lot of cool stuff coming our way in patch 5.3, including a new battleground, new scenarios, new quests, and a host of PvP changes. But while these splashy changes have been getting all the attention, monks haven't been left out of the action. Be aware that patch 5.3 is still on the PTR which means we may still see changes before anything his the live servers, but working from Blizzard's official patch notes, we can get a pretty good idea of what's coming. Let's take a look!

Help for healers
First up, there's a change to all healing spells that pick their own targets -- which includes things like Renewing Mist and Chi Wave. These abilities will now pick their targets a bit more intelligently. Says Blizzard, "Targets with lower % health will be preferred, and players are weighted more heavily than pets." It's hard to say how much this will impact gameplay in practice, but it's a definitely a buff.

Mistweavers are also getting a buff to Revival, whose healing cap is now 15 raid members (instead of 6) when used in a 25-player raid.

Continue reading What's on the horizon for monks in patch 5.3

WoW InsiderWhat's on the horizon for monks in patch 5.3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 09 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>5.3monkmonk-changesmonkspatch-5.3patch-5.3-monk-changespatch-5.3-monkswow-monkwow-monkswow-patch-5.3wow-patch-5.3-monksElizabeth HarperThu, 09 May 2013 20:00:00 EST