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.Ghostcrawler 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 ESTRetribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunderhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/retribution-cheat-sheet-for-the-throne-of-thunder/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/retribution-cheat-sheet-for-the-throne-of-thunder/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/retribution-cheat-sheet-for-the-throne-of-thunder/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Throne of Thunder has been out for a good long while now, and many of us have been raiding its depths every week. Personally, though, I took a short break from raiding at the launch of patch 5.2, and had only seen many of these fights on LFR. It wasn't until recently that I picked the raiding game back up and joined a new group, though with them working on their second heroic boss I was a tad behind in terms of progression. So I did a bit of research and, through trial and error each week, have crafted a short list of notes for each boss, including talents, glyphs, and special abilities to look out for.

Usually my "default" talent build is something like 221223, with Mass Exorcism, Double Jeopardy, and Templar's Verdict glyphed. In my summaries below I will try to emphasize the usefulness of certain talents and glyphs, whether they deviate from this core build or not.

Also, these tips are primarily for normal mode encounters in Throne of Thunder, though some of them may be applicable to LFR and parts of heroic.

Continue reading Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder

WoW InsiderRetribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguide-to-paladinsguide-to-palliesguide-to-pallyspaladin-guidepaladin-infopaladin-talentspally-guidepally-infopally-talentsret cheat sheet throneret-paladin-glyphsret-paladin-talentsretcheatsheetthroneretribution cheat sheet throneretribution-paladin-the-light-and-how-to-swing-itretributioncheatsheetthronethrone of thunderthrone-of-thunder-raid-guidethroneofthunderwow-paladinwow-paladin-infowow-paladinswow-pallywow-pally-infoDan DesmondTue, 14 May 2013 13:00:00 ESTThe useful distinction between casual and hardcorehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/11/the-useful-distinction-between-casual-and-hardcore/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/11/the-useful-distinction-between-casual-and-hardcore/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/11/the-useful-distinction-between-casual-and-hardcore/#commentsFiled under: ,

The useful distinction between casual and hardcore
Earlier this week, WoW Insider's Matthew Rossi argued that there is no point in distinguishing between hardcore and casual players, and that doing so actually detracts from the game. I, however, don't agree and will be presenting a counterpoint in this article. So, if you haven't read Rossi's side yet, be sure to check it out first.

Now before I explain why I think the distinction between hardcore and casual is useful, I think it's necessary that we all be on the same page as far as what hardcore and casual actually are. I found Rossi's argument against the usage of these words particularly flawed because he was working around an assumed and rigid definition of what a hardcore player and a casual player are. Toward the end of his article he pointed out that the casual/hardcore metric doesn't work when you consider the various ways in which some players are engaging with the game. Not every player raids, he explained, but that doesn't mean they can't be hardcore.

Now, I agree with that for the most part, but I disagree with his understanding of hardcore and casual. You see, hardcore and casual are not and have never been part of any metric. It's actually impossible for them to have ever been since the definition of casual and hardcore is subjective. Ask any two people what kind of behavior distinguishes a casual player from a hardcore player and the answer will be different in some way ... And if the definition of something varies from person to person, it can't logically be used as a standard of measurement.

Continue reading The useful distinction between casual and hardcore

WoW InsiderThe useful distinction between casual and hardcore originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 11 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>casual-playerscasual-raidinghardcorehardcore-casualhardcore-raidinghardcore-vs-casualraidingDawn MooreSat, 11 May 2013 14:00:00 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 ESTThe best fight from classic WoWhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/01/the-best-fight-from-classic-wow/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/01/the-best-fight-from-classic-wow/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/01/the-best-fight-from-classic-wow/#commentsFiled under: ,

Vaelastrasz
This is a topic I know will get me into trouble. Classic WoW is known as "classic" for a reason, after all. Being the opening foray into the MMO that has since become the standard for the entire industry, WoW's first incarnation is filled with memorable encounters. The raid bosses we battled back then are the yardsticks by which we have judged pretty much everything that has followed.

I know it's tempting to say something like Ragnaros or Onyxia or C'Thun, because those are the big bad end boss fights that remain etched in WoW players' collective consciousness. I've always tried to stay away from the obvious answers, though, because, well, they're obvious. I don't think there's anything particularly interesting I could write about Ragnaros or Onyxia that hasn't already be said better by someone else. When I sat down to brainstorm about this topic, I ran through many of the classic bosses, testing my memories of them, and after a while I hit upon what I knew would be my personal answer to this question: Vaelastrasz the Corrupt.

Continue reading The best fight from classic WoW

WoW InsiderThe best fight from classic WoW originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 01 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>classic-wowclassic-wow-bossesclassic-wow-raidingmemorable-raid-bossesraid-bossesvaelVaelastraszSarah PineWed, 01 May 2013 19:00:00 ESTThrone of Thunder: Pinnacle of Storms Raid Finder bosses in 5 secondshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/18/throne-of-thunder-pinnacle-of-storms-raid-finder-bosses-in-5-se/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/18/throne-of-thunder-pinnacle-of-storms-raid-finder-bosses-in-5-se/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/18/throne-of-thunder-pinnacle-of-storms-raid-finder-bosses-in-5-se/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Throne of Thunder Pinnacle of Storms Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds
Huzzah! Pinnacle of Storms, the final wing of Throne of Thunder Raid Finder, is open this week, and that means you're almost done. If you're just venturing into ToT Raid Finder, we recommend you head over to our 5-second guides for the first, second, and third wings. This wing is mostly downhill in terms of difficulty, especially after the Durumu pre-nerfed maze business, but can still prove to be a challenge to Raid Finder champions clueless on strategy. And just for you, we've put together a quick guide for the final wing. We accept cookies and high fives. (Thanks Zhonya for the help!)

Iron Qon

Tank swap at two stacks of Impale. Stay off of fire, ice, or lightning lines on the ground throughout the fight, reposition the boss as needed. During the lightning phase, move out of and away from tornadoes once sucked in. Move the boss to the back of the room. Stay spread out during lightning phase. During ice phase, move to hit the boss on his unshielded sides. Stack in his final phase for healing.

Continue reading Throne of Thunder: Pinnacle of Storms Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds

WoW InsiderThrone of Thunder: Pinnacle of Storms Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>in-5-secondsiron-qoniron-qon-guideLei-Shenlei-shen-guidelfrpatch-5.2pinnacle-of-stormsraid-finderthrone-of-thunderthrone-of-thunder-raid-guidetwin-consortstwin-consorts-guideKristin MarshallThu, 18 Apr 2013 12:00:00 ESTNavigating the loothttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/17/navigating-the-loot/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/17/navigating-the-loot/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/17/navigating-the-loot/#commentsFiled under: ,

Horridon
While perusing Wowhead's blue tracker the other day I stumbled across this thread on the EU forums about the LFR loot system, its frustrations, and potential alternatives. Community manager Draztal is pretty active in the thread, which is nice to see -- there is plenty of back-and-forth and, despite player accusations of just parroting Blizzard policy, Draztal has a lot of good points to make about the nature of effort and reward.

The truth is that WoW has never consistently rewarded players for running dungeons or raids. I still get a little involuntary curl to my lip anytime I think about Burning Crusade-era heroics, particularly Magister's Terrace, and how often I ran them trying to get some piece of gear, and how often my groups wiped and nothing I needed dropped anyway (and all those useless PvP gems).

I agree it's frustrating to run LFR and only get gold, though I did have to sit down and think about why, in particular. After all, I killed Saurfang in Icecrown for probably upwards of three months before I finally got the Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff. During all that time it never occurred to me that my failure to receive loot was an indication that the entire system needed an overhaul. After a couple minutes ruminating, though, I think the answer is pretty obvious: loot is the only real reason to run LFR (with the exception of just experiencing content, for those who may not have the opportunity to raid otherwise).

Continue reading Navigating the loot

WoW InsiderNavigating the loot originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>gearlfrlfr-gearlooking-for-raidlootraidingrngrnglandSarah PineWed, 17 Apr 2013 14:00:00 ESTLegendary Meta Gem restrictions for upgraded itemshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/17/legendary-meta-gem-restrictions-for-upgraded-items/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/17/legendary-meta-gem-restrictions-for-upgraded-items/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/17/legendary-meta-gem-restrictions-for-upgraded-items/#commentsFiled under:

Legendary Meta Gem restrictions for upgraded items
The Legendary meta gems, added in patch 5.2, as the reward from the latest part of Wrathion's quest chain are getting quite the reputation. Amongst others, top EU guild Method asserted that these items were key to their World First Ra-den kill, as the buff they provide to gear, particularly the proc, is so substantial.

But there's some confusion around regarding their usage. A cursory glance at the tooltip indicates that they can be socketed in any item with an ilvl of more than 504. A poster on the EU forums has asked today for explanation on why his ilvl 496 helm, which he had upgraded to ilvl 504, is still considered too low-level for the gem. Blizzard Community Manager Draztal responds as follows:

Draztal
Quote:

Is it intended that you aren't able to socket upgraded gear prior to 5.2 with the legendary Meta? I have a 496 helm upgraded to 504 but it still denies that it is high enough to be socketed. Some dev feedback be appreciated.

Yes, it is intended that you can't put the legendary meta gem on an upgraded 496 helm, but the developers are currently discussing how upgraded items may behave down the road.

No promises or any specifics we can share at this time, though.

What's your take on this? I suspect that it's potentially born of an issue with the way upgrades are designed. It seems odd that, while the item has the required ilvl, an error is still generated. Perhaps it's an effort on the developers' part to ensure the Legendary meta can only be equipped in gear obtained from Throne of Thunder normal mode, or last tier's heroic gear.

Ghostcrawler tweeted the following, which seems slightly contradictory to Draztal's post, but does clarify Blizzard's intent:


Given that we've had reports of the gem working in last tier's Heroic items, it seems a little odd that upgraded gear should be excluded. Nonetheless, forewarned is forearmed, so we thought we should inform you!

WoW InsiderLegendary Meta Gem restrictions for upgraded items originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>breakingilvl-for-legendary-metaitem-upgradeslegendarylegendary-metalegendary-meta-gemlegendary-meta-upgraded-itemsupgradeupgraded-itemOlivia GraceWed, 17 Apr 2013 13:00:00 ESTDepths of Uldaman: Why we should go backhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/12/depths-of-uldaman-why-we-should-go-back/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/12/depths-of-uldaman-why-we-should-go-back/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/12/depths-of-uldaman-why-we-should-go-back/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Depths of Uldaman Why we should go back
I wrote a KYL this week talking about Uldaman, and one thing became clear to me very quickly - there's a ton of things we haven't done in Uldaman yet. We barely explore the place at all, really - the Map Room we find during the dungeon clearly shows many, many more buildings than the few we actually explore, and it's telling that the Reliquary dig and the Explorer's League digsite are half the length of the Badlands away from each other. Furthermore, the long Wrathion quest chain makes it clear that there was a lot going on in Uldaman - the Eye of the Watchers used to purify Wrathion's egg comes from Uldaman.

Uldaman is often referred to as one of three Titan cities along with Uldum and Ulduar, but unlike those two it has barely been explored due to its position buried beneath the Badlands. It's possible that the original Uldaman complex reaches as far as Khaz Modan (both Gnomeregan and Ironforge are settled by beings that would have traced their descent to Uldaman, and the troggs flooding into Gnomeregan are escaping from Titan vaults that are part of the Uldaman complex) which would mean that its size rivals the Storm Peaks Titan complexes that were part of the Forge of Wills inside Ulduar or the vast Uldum ruins.

Continue reading Depths of Uldaman: Why we should go back

WoW InsiderDepths of Uldaman: Why we should go back originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Black-DragonflightLoreOld-GodsRaidRaidingReliquaryTitansTroggsUldamanUntapped-PotentialWrathionMatthew RossiFri, 12 Apr 2013 13:00:00 ESTMethod takes down Ra-Den for world firsthttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/11/method-takes-down-ra-den-for-world-first/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/11/method-takes-down-ra-den-for-world-first/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/11/method-takes-down-ra-den-for-world-first/#commentsFiled under:

Method take World First RaDen
The world first race is now genuinely over, Method have killed Ra-Den on 25-man, with no bugs or glitches, and a full 25-man raid's worth of health. Method Raider Blatty says on his facebook page:
It's over. We'd predicted that we would get him this week, and after two pulls it was done. We are now the only people in the world to have killed the last boss of tier 15.
After the previously reported issues experienced by Asia's 七 煌, who apparently switched to 10-man and managed to get Ra-Den to bug out, there was a hotfix implemented to prevent the issue where Ra-Den was apparently able to be kept from gaining many of his abilities.

Many people thought it might be the case that the limited attempts would therefor be removed, or at least that the race would carry on for a while longer. Now that he's down, we can look forward to Method's videos showing off the fight and kill, and see what all the fuss has been about. Method have taken this last boss down ahead of Paragon, who have led the race all along, albeit in the 10-man size, and ahead of Blood Legion, Russia's Eksorsus, the EU's Sanitas and Envy, as well as the US guild, Midwinter, all of whom were on 12/13.

Congratulations to Method!

WoW InsiderMethod takes down Ra-Den for world first originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>breakingmethodra-denradenworld-firstOlivia GraceThu, 11 Apr 2013 17:00:00 ESTGuide to gearing up alts in MoPhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/guide-to-gearing-up-alts-in-mop/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/guide-to-gearing-up-alts-in-mop/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/10/guide-to-gearing-up-alts-in-mop/#commentsFiled under: ,

Guide to gearing up alts in MoP
We all know that Mists of Pandaria is far from being as friendly to alts as players have been used to in recent times, but there are ways, particularly with the arrival of patch 5.2, to get geared a little more easily on your back-up characters than at the start of the expansion.

So, you're a freshly dinged level 90. What are your first steps? The first thing you ought to do before setting foot in a dungeon is head over to the Thunder Isle and introduce yourself to the Shado-Pan Assault. They will sell you an ilvl 522 neck at neutral, and as we'll get to, they're where you want to try to spend your Valor Points. You'll also want to make sure you meet the Kirin Tor Offensive or the Sunreavers, as you can earn bonus reputation for them.


Getting to item Level 435

This is the first major hurdle that players need to reach, in order to get into heroic dungeons. It was lowered from 440 to make the item level more attainable very early on in the expansion, and there are a few ways of getting to it.

The first, but perhaps not the most efficient, way is by questing. If you're patient enough to finish questlines like the Klaxxi one, you can get your hands on a 489 ring, and other items in between, but that's only a few pieces per questline, and it's not going to help you much if you're wearing all 377 gear apart from that.

While this definitely wasn't the case early in the expansion, it's now possible to lay your hands on quite a bit of crafted gear that's item level 450, and on the auction house on the servers I play on for around 200-400 gold per item. This is a great start, but can be less useful if there's no much of the gear you need on the Auction House. If that doesn't push you over the 435 item level for heroic dungeons, your next stop is Adventurer's Gear. This is sold by several NPCs around Pandaria, but Supplier Xin and Len At Arms are the two who sell 408 gear.

Continue reading Guide to gearing up alts in MoP

WoW InsiderGuide to gearing up alts in MoP originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Olivia GraceWed, 10 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST"World First" Ra-den?http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/08/world-first-ra-den/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/08/world-first-ra-den/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/08/world-first-ra-den/#commentsFiled under: ,

World First Raden
Manaflask, ardent follower of the World First race, has reported that the final bonus boss of this tier has been defeated by a Chinese guild named 七 煌. So why the question mark? Manaflask has looked deeper into the kill, and it appears that there's something fishy afoot.

Asia's guilds are already considered to be on a separate racecourse, so to speak, to the EU and NA guilds we habitually report on, thanks to their increased item levels and higher HP bosses, but this is far beyond that. Manaflask reports the following:
Apparently 七 煌 switched to 10 man after downing Lei Shen in 25 and that made all of Ra-Den's abilities work as it if were 10 man (except they had 25 people there fighting him) [...] The guild supposedly reported the issue to Blizzard so there isn't any actual exploiting going on, just a bug due to the different way in which 10s and 25s are handled in Asia (different lockout etc).
What's more, and this is unconfirmed so should be treated as such, theories have surfaced that there is a bug with the boss. The guild's raid leader is quoted as having said that they also "met something usual in the encounter". We assume they mean unusual, and Manaflask also has theories that, by preventing Ra-Den from reaching his adds, he is prevented from gaining any of his abilities. They also mentioned that Ra-Den turns friendly at 5.5%, which seems likely to be an intentional feature, given what we've heard already in sound files and the like.

The guild have, as mentioned above, reported this to Blizzard, and are convinced that, given all the aforementioned, their kill shouldn't be considered valid. Ion Hazzikostas previously asserted that if he was badly bugged the limited attempts would be lifted, but that seems unlikely at this late stage. We will wait and see, but for now, he's down.

WoW Insider"World First" Ra-den? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>breakingra-denthrone-of-thunderworld-firstOlivia GraceMon, 08 Apr 2013 16:00:00 ESTThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Theoretical limits and the DPS warriorhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/06/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-theoretical-limits-and-the-dps/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/06/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-theoretical-limits-and-the-dps/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/06/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-theoretical-limits-and-the-dps/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

The Care and Feeding of Warriors The life of a DPS warrior
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 always agonize over breaking set bonuses. You can sim it out all you like, you can run dummy tests, you can hit up LFR to test it out, but at the end there's always that brief period of self doubt over abandoning a set bonus for overall higher stats. My current raid had something like four warriors, four hunters, and a fair amount of shamans and monks so I'm not even trying for tier right now, instead focusing on overall upgrades. So last night, after getting a nice DPS ring and breastplate, I decided to break my Tier 14 4 piece set bonus.

To be honest, my performance seems to have improved, and I find myself wondering if it's because I raid as arms, since we don't get the double-crit on Mortal Strike that fury gets on Bloodthirst. I did do some LFR after the raid as fury, but my weapons are significantly below my arms weapon (since I can't use a polearm with Titan's Grip and I haven't gotten squat for SMF in two tiers of raiding) so in the end it felt like a wash. Heck, in order to even test TG I had to do an item restore on my upgraded Starshatter.

One of the issues facing us as DPS warriors is the idea of maximum DPS by spec. A lot of people will use sites like Noxxic, look up what the maximum DPS is for their class by spec, and just spec that. It doesn't work, and they get frustrated. Based on a conversation I had in LFR last night, I'm doing everything imaginable wrong by speccing arms as a DPS warrior, and I found myself forced to defend my spec choice even while outperforming everyone else. In fact, it seemed to irritate said person that I was doing what he said couldn't be done. Now, let me be clear that this isn't Noxxic's fault - it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools, and it's a worse craftsman who tries to use a power drill as a belt sander. But let's talk a bit about the difference between your DPS in a perfect vacuum vs. your DPS in an actual raid situation.

Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Theoretical limits and the DPS warrior

WoW InsiderThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Theoretical limits and the DPS warrior originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 06 Apr 2013 20:00:00 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-warriorswarrior-guidewarrior-infowarrior-talentswow-warriorwow-warrior-infowow-warriorsMatthew RossiSat, 06 Apr 2013 20:00:00 ESTThrone of Thunder: Halls of Flesh-Shaping Raid Finder bosses in 5 secondshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/throne-of-thunder-halls-of-flesh-shaping-raid-finder-bosses-in/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/throne-of-thunder-halls-of-flesh-shaping-raid-finder-bosses-in/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/throne-of-thunder-halls-of-flesh-shaping-raid-finder-bosses-in/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Throne of Thunder Halls of FleshShaping Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds
The third wing of Throne of Thunder Raid Finder was unlocked this week after a short break from the last one. After our previous 5-second guides to the first and second wings, how could we abandon you now? You've almost made it through. If you thought the beasts in the Forgotten Depths were rough, just wait until you meet your new friends in the Halls of Flesh-Shaping. Here's a quick rundown to quickly share with your Raid Finder buddies (thanks for the help Lucid guildies!).

Durumu the Forgotten

There will be a tank swap, taunt at around 4 stacks of Serious Wound. Step into Life Drain to intercept. During phase two, the raid should split itself between the yellow, red, and blue cones. Move each cone around until the three fog adds are revealed, and kill them. Move out of Force of Will and pools on the ground. During the third phase, be patient and navigate the purple maze while keeping ahead of the death beam. In the maze, stuff on the ground hurts, so stick to the cleared melee or ranged path. Tip: Point your camera downward to better view the cleared maze pathing.

Primordius

Kite the boss to prevent him from picking up too many Living Fluids, and kill them. Tank swap at around seven Malformed Blood stacks and avoid dragging him over the purple Volatile Pools. Only tanks should stand in front of the boss. Collect the red Mutagenic Pools on the ground dropped by Living Fluids to become mutated, DPS the boss. Avoid the red pools when you are mutated.

Continue reading Throne of Thunder: Halls of Flesh-Shaping Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds

WoW InsiderThrone of Thunder: Halls of Flesh-Shaping Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>dark-animusdark-animus-guidedurumuDurumu-the-Forgottendurumu-the-forgotten-guidehalls-of-flesh-shapingin-5-secondslfrpatch-5.2primordiusprimordius-guideraid-finderthrone-of-thunderthrone-of-thunder-raid-guideKristin MarshallWed, 03 Apr 2013 20:00:00 ESTThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Patch 5.2 and warrior gear part 3http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-patch-5-2-and-warrior-gear-par/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-patch-5-2-and-warrior-gear-par/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/30/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-patch-5-2-and-warrior-gear-par/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The Care and Feeding of Warriors Patch 52 and warrior gear part 3
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.

This has been something of a wild month for me. I started it playing a tauren warrior, and I'm ending it as a worgen. I've spent the month raiding Throne of Thunder and thinking about warrior gear I need to pick up as we progress through the place. The weird thing about gear is, it's really just a means to an end. You get gear to get better to progress through harder content, that's pretty much all there is to the gearing cycle. Each new patch, each new raid opens up new angles for progression, but it's really always heading towards that brass ring of "Beat X boss, get Y gear to beat Z boss." Until the expansion ends, anyway.

As one of the largest raids we've seen in a while, Throne of Thunder has a lot of gear. We covered six bosses last time, taking us to the mid point of the raid. Now we get to look at the remaining bosses. The Halls of Flesh Shaping and Pinnacle of Storms await. As before, I'm just going to list the 522 gear that drops in normal 10/25 - thunderforged variants are 6 ilevels higher, and thus are usually the best option in normal raids.

Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Patch 5.2 and warrior gear part 3

WoW InsiderThe Care and Feeding of Warriors: Patch 5.2 and warrior gear part 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredgeargear-guideguide-to-warriorsthrone-of-thunderthrone-of-thunder-gearThrone-of-thunder-gear-listwarrior-guidewarrior-infowarrior-talentswow-warriorwow-warrior-infowow-warriorsMatthew RossiSat, 30 Mar 2013 16:00:00 ESTDREAM Paragon take world first Heroic Lei Shenhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/25/dream-paragon-take-world-first-heroic-lei-shen/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/25/dream-paragon-take-world-first-heroic-lei-shen/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/25/dream-paragon-take-world-first-heroic-lei-shen/#commentsFiled under: ,

DREAM Paragon take world first Heroic Lei Shen
All-Finnish guild DREAM Paragon have done it again, taking down Heroic Lei Shen late last night in EU time, before their 10- and 25-man rivals, to add yet another world first to their long list.

It's taken almost two weeks for Paragon to get this far, with Method and Blood Legion hot on their heels, along with Eksorsus and Moonz, the only other 10-man guild in the top ten, although they skipped Dark Animus the first time around.

Paragon have been leading the pack throughout the race, with the 25-man versions of both Dark Animus and Twin Consorts needing either "tuning" or flat out nerfs for the 25-man guilds to get past them. Paragon took down the Twin Consorts on March 17th, three days before either Method or Blood Legion, so it's taken Paragon a full week to get Lei Shen dispatched. Blizzard has said all along that Lei Shen was a very difficult fight, and we're just now seeing the extent of that. It'll be interesting to see if the 25m version of Lei Shen remains unchanged through the upcoming raid reset.

Paragon now move on to Ra-Den, they'll be the first players in the world to see this top-secret boss in action, but we wouldn't expect them to be free and easy with the details until he's down. They've only got 30 tries to get past him, but they're in a good position, given that they've taken out Lei Shen just before a reset. Unless the other guilds can catch up today/tomorrow (raids reset on a Tuesday night in the EU), they'll have a full week with only 30 attempts on Ra-Den to play with.

WoW InsiderDREAM Paragon take world first Heroic Lei Shen originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>10m-lei-shendream-paragonlei-shenparagonworld-firstworld-first-lei-shenOlivia GraceMon, 25 Mar 2013 12:00:00 ESTPatch 5.3: Item upgrades to return for PvE, not for PvPhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/22/patch-5-3-item-upgrades-to-return-for-pve-not-for-pvp/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/22/patch-5-3-item-upgrades-to-return-for-pve-not-for-pvp/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/22/patch-5-3-item-upgrades-to-return-for-pve-not-for-pvp/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The future of Item Upgrades Returning for PvE, but not for PvP
Blizzard posted a blog today on the much-discussed return of the item upgrades to the game in patch 5.3. Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street had commented in recent interviews that the system would be very unlikely to return for PvP, so there's no great surprise in that statement. There will still be upgrades available in patch 5.3 for season 12 gear, which was always upgradeable, at its original cost, so 750 Conquest for four item levels, useable twice. As the blog states, "no other PvP items are upgradable, and no new PvP items for the foreseeable future will use the upgrade system."

This is a good thing. There are already potential issues emerging thanks to the item levels of the new gear, where the gaps in between the lower tiers and the upper tiers look to be too great, and adding item upgrades into the mix would only cause more problems.

For PvE, as expected, the item upgrade system will be reappearing in patch 5.3. However, some changes have been made that iron out some issues the Blizzard team was unhappy with.

Continue reading Patch 5.3: Item upgrades to return for PvE, not for PvP

WoW InsiderPatch 5.3: Item upgrades to return for PvE, not for PvP originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>item-upgradeitem-upgrade-systemitem-upgradesitem-upgrades-gonepatch-5.3upgrade-gearupgrade-itemsOlivia GraceFri, 22 Mar 2013 13:00:00 ESTThrone of Thunder: Forgotten Depths Raid Finder bosses in 5 secondshttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/21/throne-of-thunder-forgotten-depths-raid-finder-bosses-in-5-seco/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/21/throne-of-thunder-forgotten-depths-raid-finder-bosses-in-5-seco/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/21/throne-of-thunder-forgotten-depths-raid-finder-bosses-in-5-seco/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Throne of Thunder Forgotten Depths Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds
The second wing of Throne of Thunder Raid Finder was just unlocked this week, so get ready to queue. After our last 5-second guide to the first wing, we couldn't just leave you hanging without a second! After being thrown down to the Forgotten Depths, you'll be introduced to a few beastly bosses -- be prepared. Here's a quick rundown perfect for sharing with your Raid Finder comrades (thanks for the help Thugmuffins!).

Tortos

One tank on Tortos, the other on Vampiric Cave Bat duty. Don't stand in Rockfall. Healers be ready to top the raid after Quake Stomp. Kill priority is bats, Whirl Turtles, then boss. Be sure to kick one of the turtles into Tortos to interrupt his Furious Stone Breath. Although you can mostly survive the breath on Raid Finder difficulty, make your healer's life easier by interrupting.

Megaera

Note: You will have to kill the three Eternal Guardians around the cave and ring their bells to spawn the boss.

Tank the two active heads facing away from the center, and don't tank the same head twice in a row to avoid debuffs stacking too high. The raid should stack in the center during Rampage for AoE heals. Kite the beam out of the raid if you're targeted with Torrent of Ice. Run out of the raid for a Cinders dispel. Run away from the Acid Rain. Kill order of the heads in this difficulty isn't too important, just rotate -- green, red, blue will work fine.

See Ji-Kun's quick strategy after the break!

Continue reading Throne of Thunder: Forgotten Depths Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds

WoW InsiderThrone of Thunder: Forgotten Depths Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>forgotten-depthsin-5-secondsji-kunji-kun-guidelfrmegaeramegaera-guidepatch-5.2raid-finderthrone-of-thunderthrone-of-thunder-raid-guidetortostortos-guideKristin MarshallThu, 21 Mar 2013 15:00:00 ESTChain Pulling 101: Five tips to prevent you from pulling like a pillockhttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/chain-pulling-101-five-tips-to-prevent-you-from-pulling-like-a/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/chain-pulling-101-five-tips-to-prevent-you-from-pulling-like-a/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/chain-pulling-101-five-tips-to-prevent-you-from-pulling-like-a/#commentsFiled under: ,

Chain Pulling 101
Chain pulling is one of those divisive things. It's a really fun way to put some excitement into tanking in content you know very well, to push yourself a bit harder, as well as being fairly key to taking on challenge modes. It's also something which, when done right, can earn you the respect of your peers in the few five-mans we're actually getting in this expansion. It's also, of course, the fastest way to get to that juicy valor reward at the end of the rainbow.

However, it's also a very easy way to annoy people, particularly your healer, if it's not done right. So, in order to maintain the sanity of your group-mates, let's get started with WoW Insiders five tips to stop you chain pulling like a bit of a pillock.

1. Check with your healer

Communication is the key to not pulling like a prat, and while you may be in full raiding epics, your healer might have snuck over the item level requirement with a bag full of BoAs, while wearing questing greens. Or they might have never healed on this character before, or never healed before, or never been in that dungeon before, or never been in a WoW dungeon before. Random matching means you don't know what your team-mates are capable of, and yes, you can inspect them and make assumptions, or you can ask. But an essay is not really needed. Just say that you're going to go fast, and that if it's too much, they should say so. A whisper is probably the best way to do this.

Continue reading Chain Pulling 101: Five tips to prevent you from pulling like a pillock

WoW InsiderChain Pulling 101: Five tips to prevent you from pulling like a pillock originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>featuredguidehow-to-play-wownew-to-world-of-warcraftnoob-guiderookie-guidetank-guidetanking-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-helpworld-of-warcraft-noobsworld-of-warcraft-rookieswow-guidewow-helpwow-noob-guidewow-noobswow-to-play-world-of-warcraftOlivia GraceWed, 20 Mar 2013 17:00:00 ESTThe beauty of classic WoW's Molten Corehttp://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/19/the-beauty-of-classics-molten-core/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/19/the-beauty-of-classics-molten-core/http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/19/the-beauty-of-classics-molten-core/#commentsFiled under: ,

Ragnaros
Back in the days of WoW's original release, Molten Core was, in many ways, the raid. It wasn't the only raid, and it certainly wasn't the only raid that left a lasting impression on the consciousness of WoW players. Nonetheless, if you were raiding in classic WoW, you started with Molten Core, and that experience inevitably shaped the way raiding has been perceived ever since. What was it exactly about Molten Core? Was it the sprawling, maze-like dungeon (which didn't have a map at the time)? Was it the memorable boss fights and quotes? Was it the iconic gear drops? Was it dealing with the reality of trying to organize 40 players into their different roles and individual responsibilities?

I'd say all of the above, to an extent. The first time you do anything new, be it visiting a city or raiding in a video game, there is a certain significance to the occasion that can never truly be replicated. As the first big raid most classic WoW players experienced, Molten Core has had a special place in our collective hearts for a long time now. Let's take a trip down memory lane with a look at some of the unique and fun aspects of Molten Core, many of which I miss but honestly would not want to have to deal with again.

Continue reading The beauty of classic WoW's Molten Core

WoW InsiderThe beauty of classic WoW's Molten Core originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>40-mananalysisbossesmolten-corenostalgiaold-raidsragnarosraidingtiertier-1tier-15vanilla-wowSarah PineTue, 19 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST