"The Force Unleashed requires a dual core processor with a Radeon HD 2900 or GeForce 8600 or better. Please check system requirements before purchasing."
I know dual and quad core CPUs are faster in a lot of things but this is the first time I have noticed a game that "requires a dual core processor". I'm in the middle of fixing my kids' PC that has a 2.66GHz AMD FX-55. For most games it is still fine; it will play all the cool FPS games but it is 5 years old! It's good to see games taking advantage of multi core processors and not holding us back because people want to still use PCs that are 5 years old! Time to upgrade kids! When this game first came out on the PS3 I was pissed off because it was another game us PC gamers missed out on. Now don't get me wrong, I have a PS3 and I love it, it's just that I cannot stand playing FPS style games on it. FPS is still far superior on the PC than any console. Give me a mouse and keyboard any day! The Force Unleashed was the first Star Wars game that I have never bothered to finish (apart from that Rebellion game years ago-did anyone play that?) and this game was about the Rebel logo I have tattooed on my right arm! Now it's on PC, I know I'll finish it and I wont have to fight with a dumb interface on a bad controller that is fine for racing games and arcade games, but SUX for FPS!
So I just got home from taking my kids to the movies to see the new James Cameron movie, Avatar. It's not often you get to experience the cinematic brilliance that I had the pleasure of enjoying this afternoon. Cameron definitely shows us what can be done with CG. Gone are the restrictions that we once had. With the technology used in this film, the only limitation we now have is our imagination. I don't want to give away any plot lines what so ever, apart from telling you that this is the best movie I have seen in ten years - plus. This is a must see for anybody who likes adventure, action, romance, or just breathtaking scenery. It has a very strong moral message as well. Although locally it was classified as rated M, I'd have no problems taking any aged child to see it. This movie is a must see.
So we're coming to the end of the first week of the new patch. I've had a lot of time to play around with the dungeon system and see all the new Boss that are available in Ice Crown. Unfortunately, the first week of a patch is always chaotic. People are having lag issues, unable to get their mods working, and the servers are constantly being retsrated. We were only able to get tow uninterupted days this past week where we could actually raid. Due to the fact that we're working on totally news bosses, by the time you get through explanations of the fights to 25 people and everybody knows that they're doing, you really don't have a lot of time to kill stuff!
The guild I'm in was able to kill the first boss on 25 man and didn't get an uninterrupted chance on the second boss all week. What we ended up having to do was to run a 10 man a little bit later after Blizzard had solved their server crashing issues. Out 10 man group was able to easily kill 3 of the 4 bosses in Ice Crown and I must say, the gunship battle is brilliant.
The pug system in this patch, with the cross server looking for group, seems to be working really well. I've managed to at least get one dungeon in a day to ensure that I get my two emblems of frost. You get a strange mix of people in this cross server looking group. Some people just don't say a word, they just jump straight into killing stuff. It's kind of an eerie atmosphere to be in. My hunter has crazy dps and is able to pull most undergeared pugs through things really quick. I ended up pet tanking most of VH today due to the tank having full blues and no chance in holding threat off me, even just auto-shotting. If you're not using the looking for group pug system, you should be. Yes, you will get a couple of idiots in there and yes, there is some fine tuning to be done, but it's a great way to get your alts or even mains, geared up with 245 gear thanks to the emblems of triumph that drop off every boss.
Leatrix Latency Fix will reduce your World of Warcraft latency significantly by increasing the frequency of TCP acknowledgements sent to the game server. For the technically minded, this is a script which will modify TCPAckFrequency.
You will also see reduced latency in other online games such as Aion, Warhammer and Lord of the Rings. The average reduction in latency (based on feedback from comments) is 66%. Click the Change Log tab above to see a summary of player feedback.
System Requirements
Leatrix Latency Fix is supported on these operating systems only.
Windows XP (SP2 or higher)
Windows Vista (SP1 or higher)
Windows 7
Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows are supported.
Macintosh users should read the relevant section in the FAQ below.
After playing WoW for a few years, you get to realize that you can't have grand plans on patch day, especially when it comes to raids. People become reliant on mods and patch day always seems to be a lot more laggy than any other day. Not to mention the bugs you have to overcome.
One of the first things I did in game was to check out the new 5 man dungeon. I didn't even bother with normal mode and went straight to heroic. The new 5 man drops 232 loot in heroic and 219 in normal mode. But heroic is not for the feint of heart. If you're a fresh 80 you're not going in there on heroic mode any time soon. I was surprised and pleased at the same time at the difficulty of heroic mode of this dungeon. It provided a challenge, even to players in 245 gear. Something I hadn't seen in a 5 man in a long time.
This place is big. To overcome the size and the time it takes, Blizzard separated it into 3 different wings, so you don't need to spend hours clearing the whole place out, you can just choose a wing and go for it, although you will need to unlock every wing initially. When it came to raiding Ice Crown last night, I was not surprised to find several of our main raiders having problems logging in or having add-on issues. With all the issues last night, we only managed to get 2 tries in on the first boss and called the raid for some 5 man fun to allow people to sort out the issues they were having.
I was happy to log right in this morning when I got up. I went and got my new ring Runed Band of the Kirin Tor. I then went and got 4 Portable Hole's from Haris Pilton. The extra slots will help a lot and I ran out of stuff to spend gold on months ago.
Since I had all my new swag I thought I would give the random hero a go. It took about 4 minutes to get a full group and the ready check popped up. I was ported into Hero Violet Halls, whoot! Violet Halls is one of the easiest and quickest heroes out there. The pug blasted through it. We all had a lot of 245 gear so it was super easy! We got our 2 badges of frost and zoned out. I noticed that I didn't have my add-ons turned on and I wanted to get right into the new 5 man and check it out! So I logged out, checked all my add-ons were up to date and I logged back in ...
Disconnected from server...
And I logged back in...
Disconected from server...
And I logged back in...
Disconnected from server...
And I logged back in...
Disconnected from server...
And I logged back in...
Disconnected from server...
And I logged back in...
Disconnected from server...
So I checked the WoW forums only find 1000s having the same problem. Seems I got lucky the first time I logged in.
It's 2 hours later, the servers are still offline, the official WoW site is going up and down and there is no sign of when the servers will be back. Let's hope they get it fixed soon. We know they are doing what they can so just hang in there people!
Looming over the stark wastes of Northrend, Icecrown Citadel awaits those who would see the Lich King and his Scourge brought low and the threat they pose wiped from the face of Azeroth. The heroes who venture within will face some of the greatest horrors yet seen. But before you burst into the front gate of the citadel, an alternate means of entry beckons. Journey through three separate wings of the new five-player dungeon, Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls, and follow Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas Windrunner into the Lich King's domain.
Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Throne
All across Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and the Horde first reached these frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward -- and Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an accord with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. This coalition's strongest combatants, along with the champions of the Alliance and the Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel. In the new Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon, Azeroth's mightiest will face terrifying challenges before ascending to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver the heroes to their deaths....
Cross-Realm Dungeon Finder
The Dungeon Finder is now available, providing players with quick and easy access to five-player parties. This feature connects all realms within a battlegroup using an advanced matchmaking system, making it easier for players of all levels to find a dungeon group. In addition, players can reap additional rewards through the Dungeon Finder by choosing the Random option, which is available to both pick-up and pre-formed groups. Check out the User Interface section for more details.
It’s coming up to Christmas. A lots of kids in Australia will be getting new video games under their Christmas tree. But some mums and dads are going to be in for a real shock when they see what their kids have to do in the games they got their innocent little ones for Christmas!
As a father of three I use ratings to judge what is ok and what is not, and if it's rated M 15+ I would expect it to be ok or just on the “mature” side for a 14/15 year old and no problem at all for a 16 year old, right? Wrong !!!
Let’s look at the ratings in Australia:
Advisory The classifications below are advisory in nature—they do not impose any legal restrictions on access or distribution of material. E (Exempt from Classification) - These films may be sold without a specific classification. The assessment of exemption may be made by the distributor or exhibitor (self-assessed) without needing to submit the product for certifying by the Classification Board. Only very specific types of material (including educational material and straight records of artistic performances) can be exempted from classification, and the material cannot contain anything that might lead to an M rating or higher [1]Self-assessed exempt films cannot use the official marking, although it is advised that films and computer games that are exempt display “This film/computer game is exempt from classification”. G (General) — These films and computer games are for general viewing. However, G does not necessarily designate a children’s film or game as many of these productions contain content that would be of no interest to children. The content is very mild in impact. PG (Parental guidance recommended) — These films and computer games contain material that may confuse or upset younger viewers under 15. Before the 2005 coloured rating scheme was brought in, the original description was "Parental Guidance is recommended for those under the age of 15." This description may be found on older DVDs and video tapes. The content is mild in impact. M (Recommended for mature audiences) — These films and computer games contain material that requires a mature perspective, but is still not enough to be deemed too extreme for younger players. This classification was formerly known as M15+, but was changed to simply M to distinguish it from the higher (and restricted) rating of MA15+. The description originally had "Recommended for Mature audiences 15 years and over", though like the above PG rating, the description dropped the 15. This description may be still founded on older DVDs and video tapes. This is the highest unrestricted rating. The content is moderate in impact.
By contrast, the classifications below are legally restricted—i.e., it is illegal to sell or exhibit materials so classified to a person younger than the respective age limit. MA15+ (Mature Accompanied) - The content is considered unsuitable for exhibition by persons under the age of 15. Persons under 15 may only legally purchase or exhibit MA15+ rated content under the supervision of an adult guardian. This is a legally restricted category. , , , and are the current game ratings. Games cannot be given the adult ratings or , instead they will be Refused Classification (Banned) and cannot be sold. Refused Classification games may be edited and resubmitted by their developers to garner an MA15+ classification. People under 15 are not permitted to purchase or rent films or video games classified MA15+ unless they are accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. The content is strong in impact. R18+ (Restricted) - People under 18 may not buy, rent or exhibit these films. The content is high in impact. X18+ (Restricted) - People under 18 may not buy, rent or exhibit these films. This rating applies to sexual content. Films rated X18+ are currently legally available for purchase in only the ACT and the Northern Territory. However these films may be legally purchased from interstate via mail-order. Enforcement is relaxed and most adult shops carry extensive stock of X18+ material. RC (Refused Classification) Films which are very high in impact and/or contain any type of violence in conjunction with real sexual intercourse are rated Refused Classification by the OFLC. Films which may be Refused Classification include content that:
Depict, express or otherwise deals with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.
Depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult a minor who is, or who appears to be, under 16 (whether or not engaged in sexual activity).
Promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence.
Classification is mandatory, and films that are rated Refused Classification by the OFLC are banned for sale, hire or public exhibition, carrying a maximum fine of $275,000 and/or 10 years jail. It is legal to possess Refused Classification material, unless it has been rated Refused Classification due to illegal content (e.g. child pornography). It is illegal for residents of Western Australia to possess Refused Classification Video Games ever since the Liberal Party came into power in WA in 2008, where the breach of this law incurs either a hefty fine or imprisonment.
The PC and console games industry, one of the biggest adult entertainment money makers, has no adult classification. The highest you get is M15 +. WTF?!
What is happening in Australia is that games that are 18+ in other countries like the UK, US and New Zealand get pushed through as 15+ in Australia. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the perfect example of this. It’s 18+ in the UK, New Zealand and other countries and M15+ in Australia. Call of Duty: is a massive title world wide and to ban it would cause uproar so it’s easier to give it a 15+ and deceive parents into thinking its ok for their kids for Christmas. Don’t take my word for it, judge for yourself. Warning, this video may be disturbing to some people.
What happens when they ban a game? Most of the time all banning a game will do is drive people to Warez, hacker and pirate sites and with a game like COD MW2, hackers will end up with thousands of unsuspecting Aussies willing to download their key logger and viruses just to get the game the rest of the world can pick up in any shop. And when looking for the hacked game they will also find other games or movies that they may have happily paid for if they where not driven to the hackers’ site in the first place.
The only logical solution is to have an adult 18+ rating. Banning or outlawing something just drives it underground and puts money in the hands of hackers and pirates and drives consumers to untrustworthy sites.
Only having a 15+ rating is not helping parents to choose suitable games for their kids.
Parents look at M15 and compare it to movies. I’ve seen a mum buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) for her 12 year old, commenting to the sales rep that her son watches 15+ movies all the time. There is no way in hell GTA should be played by a 12 year old! The Australian government is putting disturbing content in the hands of miners. Content that was never made for them and is classified 18+ in other countries.
http://www.growupaustralia.com/ has a petition for Australia to get an 18+ classification. So if you’re a parent who does not want your child playing games that where clearly designed for adults and not kids, or if you’re an adult that wants the freedom to play games that where designed for adults without having them butchered to a shell of what they were just so a 13 year old can play a game that was never designed for them them, please head over there and singe it. Or contact:
South Australian Attorney-General, Hon. Michael Atkinson MP
GPO Box 464
ADELAIDE SA 5001
Phone: (08) 8207 1723
Fax: (08) 8207 1736
Email: attorney-general@agd.sa.gov.au
Listen up Razer fans! If you love Razer as much as we do then come and tell us all about it Here
Razer’s line of peripherals has been developed by gamers, for gamers. From programmable keyboards and mice, to the most advanced headphones and speaker systems, both MMO and FPS gamers are catered for.
Proudly sponsored by Razer’s Australian distributor Audion, Razer Gamer is the ONLY place online where you can find out the latest news relating to Razer products in Australia.
To kick things off we are giving away a great Razer gaming pack to one lucky winner. All you have to do is sign up to our forum, and come up with a uniquely Australian slogan for our blog and post it in our forums. The slogan can be no longer than 10 words and must be relevant to Razer.
The person who is judged to have come up with the best slogan will win a Razer prize pack consisting of Razer DeathAdder (RAZ014), Razer Lyocsa Backlit Keyboard (RAZ081), Razer Moray Plus (RAZ098) and the ExactMat Bundle Pack (RAZ101).
The competition will run from December 1st 2009 to January 31st 2010, and the winner will be notified via email. All terms and conditions can be found at razergamer.com
So if you want to keep up to date with all the latest on Razer in Australia, including where to buy, events, reviews, videos, special promotions and competitions, come and join all the Razer addicts at http://www.razergamer.com
About Razer Gamer
Razer Gamer is a blog and community portal for users of Razer products in Australia. The guys at Razer Gamer love Razer products and want to share their enthusiasm with the Australian community and also provide the latest information and deals on the products available in Australia.
Audion Innovision was incorporated in Victoria, Australia in 1987. The company is a master distributor of consumer and IT audio, video and multimedia products to conventional channel distributors, dealers and major retail chain stores nationwide. Audio is a distributor of Razer products in Australia.
More information: http://www.audion-mm.com/
OK, now I feel old! I remember Warcraft 1 and II like it was yesterday and my wife can still hum the music from Warcraft II even though she never played the game.
We didn't have a lot but we did have a PC. Fiona, my wife, needed it for her studies and I used it for entertainment from time to time. Back then I spent a lot of time down at my local Archery club and my coach had a 16 year old son, Aaron, that never moved from his PC. We got talking and he showed me this cool game, Warcraft. I could not get how he could spend so much time at his PC when he could be shooting arrows. I got a copy of the game so I could check it out. I was messing around with my 486 SX. I had to upgrade it to a 486 DX just so I could play Warcraft ... then it started.... I was hooked!
And I was about to drive my new wife mad with the music:
From Blizzard:
Over the past 15 years, a lot has changed in Azeroth. Valiant heroes have travelled the length and breadth of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, taken wing in Outland to free the Black Temple from Illidan's clutches, and set sail for Northrend to battle the mighty Lich King. Whether you've been part of the adventure from the beginning or are just getting started now, we're glad to have you with us for the five-year anniversary of World of Warcraft and the 15-year anniversary of the Warcraft series.
I can see this driving me nuts in no time. Thank god I'm not spending a lot of time in game right now... I'm dreading trying to do anything on my Auction house alt.....But damn Mr T looks good for his age!
Q. What is the Mohawk Grenade? A. The Mohawk Grenade is Mr. T's latest invention: an in-game item that, when hurled at another character, gives everyone within the blast radius an instant T-riffic haircut. Don't worry, you and your friends will look gooooood.
Q. Where do I get it? A. Quit your jibber-jabber and claim your Mohawk Grenades from any of the Night Elf Mohawk NPCs camped outside every starting zone.
Q. What regions are eligible to claim the Mohawk Grenade? A. North America, Europe and Korea.
Q. Is this a permanent item? A. Each Mohawk Grenade has five charges before exhausting its power, and you're welcome to claim another once the charges are gone.
Q. How long will the Mohawk Grenade be available in-game? A. Claim Mohawk Grenades starting November 16th in North America and November 24th in Europe and Korea. They'll be available until... well, until the Night Elf Mohawk decides his work is done.
It's got to the stage in World of Warcraft where I'm not really doing a lot outside of raiding. I've got three level 80 characters. Two i just really created for the sake of it. I had to play a Death Knight to 80 just to see the story line. My Druid was created purely because my guild needed a tank at the time. I never really got attached to either of them.
My Hunter is my main character. He's a guild leader of a fairly successful raiding guild and he's now at the stage where he needs one single item from 25 main TOC. Due to the week long lockouts it doesn't leave me with much to do for the other six days a week.
This week, for instance, my guild cleared TOC 25 man and 10 man and Onyixa 10 and 25 man in two nights. Each night we spent approximately 2-3 hours raiding. That's not a lot of time when you consider that you've got nothing else to do for the rest of the week in game.
On Sunday night I jumped online and got suckered into doing an OS25 with 3 drakes. The funny thing was, I was still buffed from my Thursday night raid. The raid ends, I log out and don't log back in until the next scheduled raid.
I am exulted with all the appropriate factions. I have all the gold I could possibly want. The only new content Blizzard have added to the game in the last month are vanity pets you have to purchase off the Blizzard store for $10. I really hope Blizzard get their ass into gear and get this patch out really soon.
The PTR is looking good and I'm predicting that they'll release it on their fifth anniversary - 23rd November or very close to that date. Every week that goes by without Blizzard releasing more content leaves me hearing more and more about people getting attached to their Aion characters.
It's been quite some time since I've experienced a game that not only provided me with great gameplay but also a compelling story line to match. Over the last week I've been playing Dragon Age Origins and it's like that book you just can't put down. Not because I want to kill the next monster but because I want to hear what happens in the next part of the story. If you take the time to speak to your comrades in your camp, the story truly expands itself into an amazing book. I'm quite sure that you could play the game right through without touching the depth of the story line but if you take the time to actually talk to all your party members and be patient and listen to what they have to say, you'll find that not only does the story unfold, you'll get extra rewards and quest lines. I would highly recommend Dragon Age Origins to anyone who appreciates a good fantasy story - with a little bit of romance thrown in.
Bioware seem to have spared no expense with the development of there newest game Dragon Age that will be out on the 4th of November or in 1 1/2 days away if your getting it off steam. One of the many cool things in this game is the tool set for all you moders out there. And this tool set will be very cool for machinima.
Episode 11 is live and if you have not read anything online for the last 3 months from Blizzard it might not be a waste of time.
"In our eleventh episode of BlizzCast, we have a roundtable discussion with members of the community team to recap the major happenings, announcements, and other highlights of this year’s BlizzCon. Join our discussion as we relive some of our favorite moments from the show. "
Rob Simpson from the eSports Team voice gives the podcast a football match feel that is just right for a geek gaming podcast ... NOT!
This has to be one of the best PTR videos I have ever seen. It shows the fight using the default UI so you know what is going on. You get full vent audio and the raid leader is unreal! I wish I had him running my raids. Alpha do a great job together. Kudos to you guys! Looks like a fun fight!
OMG I hate html! I got my hands on the domain www.gamingface.com so I thought it was a good time to re-work all of Gaming Faces. What I have done is move all blogs to here and sorted all the Game and WOW class pages to 1) look the same and 2) load a lot faster and 3) at the same time (I hope) look better!
Just as I got it all looking good I noticed an error with the posting box in the back end of the site. I cannot edit it at this time so I'm stuck with it the way it is ... all thanks to the new blogger Read more feature ...
I still have more work to do on the site but I hope you like it!
With the introduction of TOC, Blizzard gave us a new level of loot - 245. Even the 10 man loot is 232 and most of it is better than the stuff that drops in Ulduar. Now that we've been at TOC for what, 10 weeks? ... we're finding less and less people are needing anything from other raids. Last week, in under 3 hours, on Wednesday night, we cleared TOC, Onyixa and VOA 25. That's all the possible 245 content in ONE night!
Now we've had a few attempts at hard mode TOC but we don't even seem to be able to scratch the surface. being based in Australia on an Oceanic server makes hard mode TOC a bit harder for some, due to lag issues. Rather than the bosses just having more help and doing damage to the tank, they require the riad to move faster. The first boss for instance puts fire on the floor that gives people less than 2 seconds to move out of before they're dead. Considering most of our raid is running at a 350 ping at best, the first second of that fire de-buff is applied before the player even knows it's there. Blizzard really need to keep latency issues in mind when developing hard modes.
So what does a raid group do now that they can clear all new content in one night? Maybe raid just one night a week? The second night we take two groups in for 10 man. Standard 10 man takes less than 45 minutes but it still leaves 5 of our core raiders sitting out. Hard mode 10 man does provide us with a little bit more 245 content but we're finding that it's hit and miss with what bosses you get in faction champions. The last two weeks have not been a problem but this week we had a healing team of Shaman and Druid and for the life of us we could not kill them. Let's hope Ice Crown Cathedral keeps us busy enough that we're not getting bored so quick.
One of the toughest things about progressing in any good MMO game is finding the right group of people to get involved with, ie. what guild to get involved with. In WoW, all the cool content with the best loot requires 25 players. You're dealing with people sitting at a computer in all sorts of places, with different circumstances and various personalities. In my guild we have IT professionals, truck drivers, movie directors, housewives, plumbers, students - all sorts. Trying to keep the peace amongst the group is probably one of the hardest things about playing WoW as a guild leader. I find everybody wants power and no on wants responsibility. But a lot of people expect professionally run organisations when it comes to guilds - but they're not willing to put in the work themselves. So where do you draw the line? I know there are professionally run guilds int he US which even have wages for their officers. Our officers get nothing extra - no extra effort points, no gear perks - nothing that a normal raider doesn't get as we try to avoid favoritism. People who raid the most get the most. If we attempt to favor or provide benefits to officers who do extra work, people complain about unfair advantages. If you're thinking about running a guild - don't do it unless you have a good team behind you. And be prepared to be spat on, spammed at, and hated when you don't do things people want. My advice to people who don't like the way a guild is run is to make one yourself and do it your way.
Breanni the little gnome in the pet shop in Dalaran has 2 new pets for us when patch 3.3 hits nothing great but will help people get there pet count up!
The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/
The Forge of Souls, the first wing of the 5-player dungeon, is currently available for testing.
Additional Icecrown Citadel dungeon and raid content will be made available in future test builds.
Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.
Copied Test Realm characters will no longer be copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.
Classes: General
Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.
Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes.
Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player's level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.
Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.
Icecrown Citadel will feature a massive five-player dungeon sprawling across three wings of the citadel's foundation. While the Lich King's attention is focused on the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade ripping through the front gates, players will be tested as they assist Jaina Proudmoore (Alliance) and Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde) in infiltrating the citadel through an alternate entrance.
An epic quest line will present adventurers with the task of weakening Icecrown Citadel's forces, requiring that players defeat the challenges in each dungeon wing before venturing into the next one. Normal and Heroic versions of the dungeon will be accessible to players, although each wing will be considered a separate instance; therefore, on Heroic difficulty, each wing will have its own separate lockout timer. All-new rewards -- including item level 219 (normal) and level 232 (Heroic) loot -- will be offered to those who destroy some of the Lich King's most formidable allies.
"We are excited to announce that we are now collecting information for those interested in applying for the opportunity to test Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Our goal is to get feedback to help us make the best game that we can.
We will be selecting testers from the Star Wars: The Old Republic community based on various requirements such as systems specifications, age, and region. Because the testing program requires feedback from within the community, you must have an active Star Wars: The Old Republic (“TOR”) community account to participate (no banned accounts). The testing is limited to members who are 18 years of age or older and requires the acceptance of the Game Testing Agreement included in the TOR community sign-up process. Users that meet the requirements of the test and are selected for inclusion in the test program will be contacted via email (so make sure your email address is up to date!).
Game testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic will be rolled out in several phases over an extended period of time. These test phases will begin with smaller, tightly focused test groups, and later tests will expand.
Want to get your name on the list of potential testers? First, make sure you are a registered member of the Star Wars: The Old Republic community. If you’re not already a member, click here to become one today! Be sure to check the box to indicate you are interested in becoming a tester. If you’re already a member, go to the Game Testing Portal to begin the sign up process.
Please keep in mind that there are no guarantees that you will be selected once you have completed the sign up process. For more information about testing Star Wars: The Old Republic, take time to read the Game Testing FAQ.
We look forward to your help in making Star Wars: The Old Republic a success!"
Well boys and girls, Onyxia is back and she is giving away nice lvl 80 245 loot!
You will find her in her old home in Onyxia's Lair, Dustwallow Marsh. There have been no real major changes to her on the test server and it looks like it went live the way she was on the test server.
The only difference from the level 60 Onyixa is that she no longer drops threat and is no longer immune to fire effects and abilities. Deep Breath's cast time has been increased. Onyxian Lair Guards now spawn in phase and Melee can no longer hit Onyxia in Phase 2.
With that said, let's go over the strategy.
Onyxia is still a very easy fight that you can do in about 20 min.
Phase 1: The tank should back her up to the back wall. Healers obviously heal the tank and DPS should stay away from the tail. Phase 2 starts when she gets down to 65% health.
Phase 2: Raiders should group up, get a tank to gather up the whelps and then AoE them down. Once the whelps are down, DPS should get back on to Onyxia who will be moving around the room. Whenever Onyxia spawns a Lair Guard it is advisable to have ranged DPS kill it immediately. The Lair Guards are squishy but they hit melee hard!
When Onyxia emotes for Deep Breath, move away from the front of her to ensure that you are not hit. Often, simply running for the sides of the room will save you! Her flame breath is a cone effect from her mouth.
If you get another wave of whelps, gather and AoE as before. When Onyxia hits 40% she will land for good. She will cast Bellowing Roar immediately upon landing. Finish off whatever adds remain while the tank positions Onyxia (who has wiped threat from phase 1. It's advisable to have a fear ward or a fear break on the tank initially).
Phase 3 is not much different from phase 1 aside from fears, some raid damage from eruption and occasional whelp spawns, which are not too dangerous. She does nothing else special and will die upon reaching 0% HP.
I've been doing a bit of playing around with spreadsheets and DPS calculators in an attempt to optimize not only my personal raid performance but also the benefits I bring to a raid. These benefits will change from fight to fight and as your gear increases or changes you will find different stats may provide very different results than you expect.
Last night in TOC ten man we had Fordragon Blades drop off Anub'arak. It’s a nice two-hand pole arm but I have Stormrune Edge already, so at first I said, pass, as they're both level 232 items. No one wanted it and it was going to go to an off spec or vender loot. The others players in the raid were telling me that I should take it. They argued that it has more haste and armor penetration and that it was better than Stormrune Edge. Looking at the stats I could see how it might just be better and the hast for Marksman might help too.
Fordragon Blades gave me a 19.9 DPS loss in BM and a 53.07 DPS loss in MM. 53 DPS is a massive loss for a single item!
The Heroic Fordragon Blades (lvl 245) will take my MM DPS to 5866.30, a bonus of 1 dps DPS. Hmm ... not a lot for an upgrade but it looks cool, right?!
As your gear changes so do your requirements. For my hunter, the extra crit on the Stormrune Edge helped my dps a lot more than the haste or armor penetration. When you get in to high end gear you've got to pay attention to diminishing returns and also set bonuses, and what your trinkets proc on. If you use trinkets that have a chance to proc on crit, higher crit may increase the amount of times it procs during the fight. If your 2 set armor bonus lets a special ability crit then that also will get a boost from extra crit. Things are always changing in the game but the devs always seem to want you to balance your stats.
For BM hunters, attack power is the stat of choice up to a certain level. I seem to have hit the cap where attack power gives me more DPS and I’m now adding AGI. Just because someone in the forums says ... "OMG I do 8kDPS when I stack armor penetration, it owns all!" ... does not mean it will work for everyone. Do not be shy to do some testing for yourself and if you can find a spreadsheet or online tool like FemaleDwarf.com then use it. It will help you understand your class and mechanics of the stats you need!
Although the Twin Val'kyrs fight was the last official fight in Trial of the Crusader, there is one unofficial fight to go, Anub'arak. After defeating the Lich King's minions, the Twin Val'kyrs, the King himself gets a little upset and makes an appearance. He's so angry that he smashes the floor with Frostmourne and all the raiders drop into the Scarab's lair.
With Anub'arak, like all other fights he will not aggrountil your tanks engage him or some idiot gets too close.
Although I've briefly experienced this fight on the PTR weeks ago, please note that some of the strategies mentioned here may not be correct. The fight may have changed since the PTR. I'm taking on Anub'arak tomorrow night and I'll post again with my final recomdations after he's defeated. This is my plan on leading the riad.
To start the fight tanks and melee will run in and engage the boss. Ranged and heals will group in the center of the room. Tanks point the boss away from the raid as he has an AOE cone attack and he hits HARD! A good tank will take hits of up to 22k, so healers need to be ready!
Ranged should shoot down the frost spheres from the roof. By doing that, they fall and you get frost on the ground. The frost will slow players and enemy mobs by 80% but it will also protect players from burrowing mobs and spikes. It will also protect players from Impale but if Impale is cast at a player the frost will de-spawn and the player will have to move. if you get enough for the ground cover with the frost it will actually prevent Anub'arak from burrowing into the ground, completely preventing stage two of the fight.
Any off tanks should stay out of the frost or stay right on the edge because they'll need to pick up Anub'arak'sadds. This is the same as in Nax. When Anub'arakburrowes into the ground all DPS kill the adds that spawn during this phase (phase two). The adds have a stacking debuff you need to keep an eye on. Another way to get rid of the adds is to have the off tanks move the adds to Anub'arak's location and range can AOE both the adds and the boss at the same time.
This fight was not hard on the PTR but all players were in T8.5+. Tanks need to pick up the adds fast or you will lose your healers!
When the boss reaches 30% he'll caste Leaching Swarm. See that all adds are dead before he gets to 30% because if the adds get loose at this time in the fight they will kill all your healers.
Anub'arak will leach 10% of the current health off EVERY raid member. The way in which the leach works is that it takes 10% of the player's current health, not their total health pool and transfers it to the boss. The more health players' heave, the more health he will generate. This is where your healers will be tested! Healers keep all DPS at 50% to minimise the health Anub'arak gets from them. At this stage in the fight you need to pop hero, TrinketsEVERY thing you have and burn him so save all your cool-downs for 30%.
This week in the Trial of the Crusader we will get access to twin bosses, the Twin Val'kyrs. My guild will be tackling them tonight and I've been preparing for it.
"Only by working together will you defeat the final challenge. From the depths of Icecrown come two of the Scourge's most powerful lieutenants -- fierce val'kyr, winged harbingers of the Lich King!" —TirionFordring
I've spent quite a bit of time researching the strategy on this fight and at first look, it does look extremely complicated. It's another one of those fights where you need to split your raid into two groups and proper raid deployment is crucial. First of all, let's have a look at each of the two boss's unique abilities.
EdyisDarkbane: Abilities Empowered Darkness — Increases damage dealt to Light targets by 100% for 20 sec. Shield of Darkness — A Shield of Darkness that protects the sister from harm absorbing 250000 damage and prevents spell interruption for 15 sec. Twin's Pact — The Twin's Pact heals for 20% of their total HP. 15 sec. cast. Begins cast after Shield of Darkness has been cast. Dark Vortex — EydisDarkbane beings to cast a powerful vortex of Dark. Channels for 5 seconds inflicting 5850 to 6150 damage every 1 sec for 5 sec. 8 second cast Surge of Darkness — Pulsing a Surge of Darkness Inflicting 1500 damage every 2 sec to Light enemies. Touch of Darkness — The Val'kyr's Dark touch has affected you, inflicting 7313 to 7687 Dark damage to players under the effect of Light Essence every 1 sec. The Touch of Darkness will not harm targets with the same attributes as it. Unleashed Dark — The Concentrated Darkness releases its energies inflicting 12188 to 12812 Dark damage to enemies within 8 yards. Twin Spike — The Twin Spike inflicts 100% weapon damage and increases damage taken by 20% for 15 sec or for 10 charges.
FjolaLightbane: Abilities Empowered Light — Increases damage dealt to Dark targets by 100% for 20 sec. Shield of Lights — A shield of light that protects the sister from harm absorbing 250000 damage and prevents spell interruption for 15 sec. Twin's Pact — The Twin's Pact heals for 20% of their total HP. 15 sec. cast. Begins cast after Shield of Lights has been cast. Light Vortex — EydisDarkbane beings to cast a powerful vortex of Light. Channels for 5 seconds inflicting 5850 to 6150 damage every 1 sec for 5 sec. 8 second cast Surge of Light — Pulsing a Surge of Light Inflicting 1500 damage every 2 sec to Dark enemies. Touch of Light — The Val'kyr's Light touch has affected you, inflicting 4388 to 4612 Light damage to players under the effect of Dark Essence every 1 sec. The Touch of Light will not harm targets with the same attributes as it. Unleashed Light — The Light Ball releases its energies inflicting 12188 to 12812 Light damage to enemies within 8 yards. Twin Spike — The Twin Spike inflicts 100% weapon damage and increases damage taken by 20% for 15 sec or for 10 charges.
I've read strategy guides and watched videos from the PTR and this is my advice to tackling the Twin Val'kyrs.
Raid setup
At the start of this fight light and dark portals will appear. Each player needs to pick either light or dark by clicking on one of the portals. If you pick dark then you can fight FjolaLightbane and if you pick light then you fight EdyisDarkbane. So before you start, before you even see those portals, have your raid group split into two even groups with everyone knowing what color portal they're going to click on. Dark players do double damage to light enemies and light players do double damage to dark enemies. Players can tell what portal they are aligned with because there is a dark purple sort of aura at the feet of dark players or a white aura around the feet of light players. At almost any stage during the raid, players can and will need to switch colors by clicking on one of the portals of the color they need to change to.
The tanks' roles
There are four portals in the area. There's a dark and light on the left hand side and a dark and light on the right hand side. The light-tank's job is to pull EdyisDarkbane in between the two portals on the left. The dark-tank's job is to do the same for FjolaLightbane, but between the two portals on the right.
Gas orbs Through the fight, light and dark gas cloud looking orbs will spawn from the light and dark portals. If you're dark you can and need to intercept the dark gas orbs. The dark orbs won't damage you. When you have intercepted enough dark gas orbs you can unleash a special attack of homing missiles. But if you get too close to a light gas orb you will take damage and a de buff. The same goes for light players; light players need to intercept the light gas orbs which will do no damage and when you have intercepted enough light gas orbs you can unleash a special attack of homing missiles. But, again, if a light player gets too close to a dark gas orb they will take damage and a de buff.
Twin's Pact Every now and then one of the Val'kyrs begins a 15 sec Twin's Pact cast and shields himself or the other twin. I am not 100% clear on this yet. From what I can tell, if the light Val'kyr is the one casts the shield then all the dark players need to attack the shield and vice versa.
Vortex If one of the Val'kyr begins to channel their Vortex, everyone in the raid has to immediately change to the color of the Val'kyr so that they absorb the Vortex damage. After the Vortex has finished channelling, you can switch back.
Here's more info from www.wowwiki.com info but frankly, i found it as confusing as hell!
"Inspiration and strategy
It should be noted that battle mechanic of this boss fight is inspired from arcade game Ikaruga. In that game the player ship and enemies has either white or black polarity (and unlike this boss fight, player can change polarity at will). Only bullets of an opposite polarity can kill the player and the player will absorb enemies' bullets of the same color. Player's attack deals double damage to enemies with different polarity and when enough bullets of same polarity are absorbed the player can unleash a special attack of homing missiles. In this fight, EdyisDarkbane is considered black and FjolaLightbane is considered white and their attacks are respectively white or black. By right-clicking on one of the four portals in the room, you get the respective color of the portal, white or black. You absorb damage of the same color and deals double damage against the boss with the other color. If you are white, you absorb white damage and do double damage to EdyisDarkbane, if you are black then you absorb black damage and do double damage to FjolaLightbane. Before the pull everyone gets himself a color. The black-tank pulls EdyisDarkbane between the two left portals, the white-tank does the same for FjolaLightbane between the two right portals. Every now and then one of the Val'kyrs begins a 15 sec Twin's Pact cast and shields himself. Every damage dealer has to immediately pick up the casting ones opposite color and burn the shield making the heal interruptable. If one of the val'kyr begins to channel her Vortex, everyone in the raid has immediately to get that ones color in order to absorb the Vortex damage. After the channel, you can switch back. During the whole fight its also bullet hell time (the genre of Ikaruga): dodge the other-color balls flying around and catch your colors balls. If your shield absorbs enough damage, you get the Empowered Darkness or Empowered Light buff, giving you a 100% damage-boost against the other color for 20 sec. With the Twin Val'kyr defeated, everyone is ready to celebrate... when the floor of the coliseum collapses and drops players into the Icy Depths of Azjol-Nerub."
If you want to know what loot drops from these booses, here is a complete loot table: MMO-Champion Loot table
Gaming faces 10 and 25 man Twin Val'krys Video Raid guide
As I sit listening to Ozzie go nuts at Blizzcon, I thought I would wrap up what we have had a look at over this weekend.
The big news for us WoW gamers was Cataclysm. It was a bitter sweet announcement for me as very detailed information was leaked onto the net over a week ago. It was like someone told me what all my Christmas presents were in November. I like surprises and the sites that posted the detailed info before the actual announcement, spoiled it for me (that’s why I didn’t link it when it was posted). There’s nothing wrong with leaks but you can leak information without going into as much detail as they did.
Lots of things said at Blizzcon point to an end of year launch for Cataclysm. First, Mike Morhaime (President/CEO Blizzard) said “You will be sick of Goblin rogues by next Blizzcon”, then Ghost crawler said in an interview with direct TV “We will see the new cross server 5 man pugs in the 3.3 patch before Cataclysm.” He then went on to talk about patch 4.1 and 4.2.
So by the sounds of it we will have 1-2 patches max before Cataclysm hits. That would make up 5 to 6 months if we go by the timelines of other patches. My guess is that we will have 3.3 to take us to ice crown, then 3.4 will introduce class changes a month before we get our x-pac, but only time will tell. I just hope Blizzard can live up to their 1 expansion a year they talked about last year.
The changes to guilds and guild tools have stirred a lot of excitement in my guild. I’m the GM of a 60+ account guild with over 100 lvl 80s in it. We pay for all guild repairs and supply very cheap flasks etc. As one of the oldest guilds on our server we have seen a lot of members come and go over the years and the new tools will helps stop or massively reduce the guild hoppers. I have a great group of officers and it’s great to know we are going to be able to reward guild loyalty with tools for levelling, crafting and raiding alike.
As I level new alts, it’s been kinda sad to see once bustling zones turned into ghost towns. For a MMO it just does not have the same feel questing in an empty zone. The move to restructure and then rebuild Azaroth sounds like the prefect move by Blizzard. It will not only ad new content for old players but at the same time provide new and exciting content for new players or even new alts!
A new type of level cap
With this xpac we only get to level to 85 and there has been a lot of “WTF? Only 85?” comments going around the net. The way you need to look at it is that you have level 85+ Path of the Titans skills. It’s just a new spin on the end levels. It’s a way to keep you interested and progressing end game.
I cannot wait to get my hands on Cataclysm and we still haven’t finished WotLK. Driving content at this speed makes it easy to stay interested and excited about a game that is 5 years old, something other MMOs miss the boat on all the time.
We have covered a lot here on Gaming Faces but if you’re looking for more detailed information on a particular class, don’t forget to check out our class news feeds at the top of the site for class specific blogs and news.
This segment of the panel discussed a new and exciting feature called Mastery. With this feature, we want to make class talent trees simple throughout, but we also want to make them a lot more fun. We feel that while talent trees are pretty cool, they’re becoming larger and more complicated. We see this by the talents available, as many talents try to perform three different things and passive bonuses compete against fun or utility talents.
So while we will add some new talents for Cataclysm, we also want to prune passive and mandatory talents so that you have more points available for fun or utility talents. Our goal is to have talent trees that are simpler, less cookie-cutter and more fun. Under the new plan, you’ll get passive bonuses just for spending points in the appropriate tree. Passive bonuses are things that increase stats such as damage, healing, and tanking, as well as stat-like attributes such as haste or crit. We really want to give something unique for your spec -- and the Mastery stat incorporates this.
An example of a passive bonus for Assassination rogues would be increased poison damage the more points they spend in Assassination. Likewise, a rogue specialized in Subtlety will receive an energy cost bonus, Beastmaster hunters would receive bonuses to their pet’s damage output, and Marksmanship hunters would receive focus regeneration bonuses, as well. These are just some examples of how passive bonuses bolster each spec of every class.
Path of the Titans
Path of the Titans is another great new feature we covered that encompasses rewarding progression at max level. This new feature implements a third new type of glyph called “Ancient Glyph,” and as you can see, it is themed after the titans. These special glyphs are not associated with the Inscription tradeskill, and are also not specific to any class. You’re able to unlock a path and progress within that path as you continuously engage in different aspects of the game. As you advance, you will be able to unlock special glyph sockets for your character. You can also respec your path at any time, in case you decide to change your path. You earn these ancient glyphs by using the new Archaeology secondary profession to recover and trade in titan artifacts. Each path will have 2-3 choices per rank, and again, you can respec if you decide to go down another path.
• Path of Aman’Thul, the High Father • Path of Eonar, the Lifebinder • Path of Norgannon, the Dreamweaver • Path of Khaz’Goroth, the Shaper • Path of Aggramar, the Avenger • Path of Golganneth, the Thunderer
You can earn progress down any of these paths by doing things such as questing, raiding, PvP, trade skills, etc., with a possible weekly cap for maximum progress. Over time, you’ll be able to unlock new ancient glyphs that will greatly benefit your character. This new system will be accessible to all players at max level. Players will eventually be able to reach new ranks for ancient glyphs, encouraging them to further develop their characters. There is also a possibility that we will introduce whole new paths in future content patches."
"We continued with the presentation discussing exciting new features that will provide guilds with avenues to further advance, both on an individual basis and as a whole that culminates into a more immersive level of guild development. With these upcoming guild advancement features, guilds will be able to acquire talents and provide guild members with leveling benefits, as well as acquire guild achievements, guild professions, and other cool features.
Guild Leveling and Talents
We’ve introduced a new guild feature that will provide options for players to earn guild experience in a variety of ways. Players can earn guild experience through leveling, reputation ranks, boss kills, Battleground and Arena wins, and profession ranks. The top twenty earners from the guild per day will contribute to the guild experience total. With every acquired level, guilds will receive talent points that they can then spend towards their guild talent tree, which affects all guild members in the guild. Additionally, guild experience is converted into guild currency that can be used to purchase a wide variety of rewards, such as guild profession plans and reagents, vanity items, and talent respecs.
Guild Professions
Guilds that use guild currency to purchase profession plans will be able to share any purchased plan with the rest of the guild via a vendor and skill trainer. Guilds are also able to create guild heirlooms; these items bind to the guild so that anyone in the guild will be able to acquire them. Just like the normal heirloom items, guild heirloom items will also scale with level and will support all armor and weapons.
Guild members will also be able to take advantage of being able to create guild-specific versions of items that require fewer or different reagents. The new reagents are purchased from guild vendors via guild currency, and there will be support for all professions.
Looking for Guild
With the Looking for Guild feature, we’re making it easier for players to find a guild. We’re also looking to provide guild leaders more options to make it easier to recruit new members. The new tool will provide filters based on various requirements and will have a simple and easy-to-use interface.
Guild Achievements
Players can earn achievements as a guild, with each requiring a minimum ratio of guild members to complete. We’ve also introduced new achievements that guilds can partake in. One example is becoming Grand Master in all professions.
Features
Guilds will receive a special guild news-feed that will show them updates on happenings within the guild such as achievements, boss kills, etc. Guilds will also have access to profession info for their members and more. In addition to these features, guilds will also be able to acquire a percentage of gold looted on boss kills that will go directly to the guild bank. Additionally, guilds will be able to invite other guilds to events."
