Creative teaser: to be continued

Creative Labs have a teaser on their Sound Blaster page which pictures a glowing Horde logo in a metal looking ring. The background music is taken out of Lament of the Highbourne. More specifically, it's from the Black Temple. So this is BC content background music. So I severely doubt that Creative are doing this in relation to anything new coming from Blizzard. To me, it looks like Creative are about to release some new sexy WoW themed speakers and this is not a teaser for any new Blizzard game. There is no way that Blizzard would re-hash this old music to promote new content is there?

Felicia Day music video

Felicia Day, the hot red head from the epic web series The Guild has just launched her first single "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar". The pop song is a sexy and corny taunt at all of us MMO gamers, using funny lyrics that may only be picked up by MMO gamers. It's bound for stardom in the geek realm! Felicia Day first appeared as a potential Slayer in the 7th season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and has since become a cult icon to MMO gamers in The Guild.

Game world vs real world: or should they merge?

Haddock over at the Core Worlds blog has been wondering about what sort of social networking SWTOR will have? Xbox has done a great job integrating Windows Live. He ends his short discussion with the comment:

"Would you like to see a meta-system integration so you can join friends, earn achievements and get information about the game world from the real one?"

Mmmmm ... interesting. At the moment in the MMO world there is a haphazard collection of ways to interact outside the game. There are blogs, with comments; forums; and a few sort of community portals. Some bloggers use Twitter and some guilds make use of Facebook. But there's no smooth way of interacting with your ingame concerns in the cyberspace social networking world. I'd argue that the question is do we want the information about the game connected with the other online world, not the real world!! Although, so many of us live in the online world so much these days that it's certainly "real" enough. Some day a game company will have a smooth integration with social networking and the game. Will SWTOR be that game?

Ripping a Hunters heart out

Finding a Spirit beast can be real hard. With Loque’nahak I spent over 40 in game hours looking for it and I must say that finding it was the best thing ingame I have ever got. Better than any Epic loot mount, etc.

Last night I got a report from a guild member that npc scan went off for Skoll on his way to TOC. I was not far behind and then it happend: I got the message too! It was him! He was there! I had him targeted 45m away and then he goes gray... I get to him and a Blood Elf Pally is on him. I drop a trap and used Distracting shot but the Pally hits him again and... kills him! It ripped my heart out. I was shaking but there was nothing I could do. I was 2 or 3 seconds too late and the BE Pally gave me some awlful greif ...

About 14 months until SWTOR?

The rumor mill is rife with reports that a Lucas Arts insider told a French website that they're aiming for an October 2010 release for SWTOR. Who knows how true this is. There would be at least six months of beta testing before release and we're aiming on being on that list and reporting on the testing. [Source: Starwarsmmo.net]

Crusaders' Coliseum week two: Lord Jaraxxus

Week two in patch 3.2 brings us our 2nd fight in the Crusaders' Coliseum. If you missed our video of the first fight, Northrend Beasts, you can see it on YouTube here. There is a full guide to the fight in the Info tab on YouTube.

Lord Jaraxxus is summoned by Grand Warlock Wilfred Fizzlebang when the gnome attempts to summon a doomguard for the next challenge.

From WoW-Wiki: "Lord Jaraxxus is a fight with relatively simple mechanics, but a lot of damage. Jaraxxus himself should be tanked in the center of the room, and dps should spread out as if for Kel'Thuzad. This is to avoid the chain lightning as much as possible, as this will hit for as much as 15k and arc to 3 people on 10 man regular. Jaraxxus will also periodically cast fireball on the tank, which will hit for 15k, and tick for 6k every second for the next 5 seconds, so this should be dispelled as quickly as possible.

Jaraxxus will periodically spawn portals and volcanoes. Portals will spawn a Mistress of Pain, which must be tanked and burned down as fast as possible, as she will choose a random raid member, apply a Spinning Pain Spike debuff, pick them up and do 10 to 15k physical damage.

Volcanoes will spawn 3-4 infernals, which should be tanked away from Jaraxxus. The infernals have an interruptable AoE which will hit everyone in about a 5 yard radius for 5k. The infernals will also sometimes turn into a floating orb, hover over to a random raid member, and exploding dealing aoe damage in a small radius. Tanks need to pick the infernal up again quickly, or it will start killing raid-members.
Jaraxxus also has a number of debuffs. The most important is Incinerate Flesh, which will be put on a random raid member (possibly an offtank) and which will absorb all healing on that target, till a certain amount of healing has been done, 70k on 10 man regular. This is not too much of a problem, as long as healers react quickly. If the debuff wears off without being healed through, the target will explode, dealing damage in a very large aoe, much like Vezax's flames.

The next debuff is Legion Flames, which will continuously spawn flames under it's target. There are two strategies for dealing with this, either the target can use damage reduction cooldowns and remain stationary, or they can run directly outwards. The idea with not moving is to not spawn as many flames all over the room.

A fire resist aura should be used at all times during Juraxxus, and any amount of passive healing or damage reduction that dps can provide will make the fight go much smoother."

You can look at the Loot Table Abilities and Achievements on MMo Champion.

And here's a video of from the PTR. It's in Germna. I haven't found an English one yet.

Patch not quite all there

Well as we all know by now, patch 3.2.0 went live. Blizzard had no choice but to get the patch out now, one reason being Blizzcon is coming up in two weeks time. If the patch wasn't out at Blizzcon, it would have interfered with what they wanted to talk about. The last thing they would want in their panels would have been questions about a patch. Instead they want to talk about what's coming up next year, not next week. So what they had to do to release the patch this week was to remove features that were on the test server.

One of these features was the in-game quest helper type thing which provided map logos which indicated where quest objectives were, as you can see from the below image.

The new raid instance also only has the first boss available at the moment. There will be five in the long run.

I went out and played around with all the new dailies. I then got roped into a couple of runs in the new 5 man, Trial of the Champion. The two different flavors of Trial of the Champion, heroic and normal, provide epic loot for all drops. The normal mode drops 200 level loot and the heroic mode drops 219 level loot. This is going to provide a brilliant way for characters to geer up. I will be attempting to run these instances on my alt as often as possible.

After some guild activities last night we also took the guild into the Vault of Archavon. We were all excited about seeing the new boss. Unfortunately, the new boss was out of town! Although the new section of the dungeon is there, it's completely empty! Apparently this guy will not be made available until season 7 of Arena ends.

We then headed off to face the first challenge in Trial of the Crusader. After three attempts, the Northrend beasts went down. We then went on to do the same thing in ten man mode and now we're left with the hard versions of both 10 and 25 man.

Add-ons and patch clashes

Since I started playing WoW, it's always been the same ... every time there's a patch the days following are filled with people complaining about this not working, or that not working. Blizzard and/or other companies do make sure that everything they produce is working as planned before a patch is released. Where the problem lies is in add-ons that may or may not improve the gaming experience for the player.

WoW is plagued with add-ons, some of them good, some of them just outright silly. I personally use three or four add-ons. I try to keep it to a minimum as I've experienced many issues, especially around the time of a patch, anything from extremely poor game performance, to constant errors popping up.

The other major issue from add-ons is how to get them ... safely. There is a marketing war on out there about how add-ons should be supplied to customers. wowmatrix is an add-on tool that automatically scans your add-ons, checks their versions and downloads the latest one directly for you. Sites that were providing the downloads got upset with this and started blocking wowmatrix, forcing customers to go to their site.

Now, I wouldn't have a problem with going to sites of other add-ons, if it wasn't for the risk of key-loggers. If I had one gold for every time I heard reports about cursed.com, a popular add-on supplier, having key-loggers on their site, I'd be gold-capped. There are all sorts of warnings popping up on blogs even today, about not going there and advice about how to get around the key-loggers. I'm not too sure whether it's the site itself that has the key-loggers or is it the advertising banners? Unlike a lot of other sites they don't have the security of Google advertising but a lot of their advertising does look legit. But you seriously cannot ignore all the reports.

I still try and use wowmatrix where ever possible. Unfortunately there are one or two add-ons which are blocked.

Should it be the responsibility of the game manufacturer to provide a secure path for add-ons to be downloaded to the community? Blizzard can take any one of these add-ons at any time and turn it into something that is built into their game. In-game calendar for instance was around for a long time before Blizzard implemented it. Needless to say, I would highly advise keeping your add-ons to a minimum and I would also advise extreme caution, no matter where you're downloading your add-ons from.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.2.0 is Live!

Here are the official patch notes for Call of the Crusade! :

- World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.2.0

Call of the Crusade

- Since the opening of the Argent Tournament in northeastern Icecrown,

adventurers have journeyed from across Azeroth and beyond to prove

their worth in the heart of the Lich King's domain. Under thundering

skies the tournament's participants hone the arts of war and face

off in bone-shattering jousting matches to earn the right to be

called champions. Yet these heroes have yet to face the greatest

challenge of all: the Crusaders' Coliseum. Formidable Horde and

Alliance champions, ferocious beasts, and Scourge lieutenants are

just some of the opponents awaiting adventurers in this gladiatorial

arena. Few will survive the coliseum's perils, but the Argent

Crusade is confident that the worthy heroes who do emerge victorious

will be ready to join the offensive against Icecrown Citadel and end

the Lich King's reign of terror.

Isle of Conquest

- Off the coast of Northrend, Horde and Alliance forces are locked in

an epic struggle for a tiny island rich in resources. Known as the

Isle of Conquest, this rocky battleground's proximity to Icecrown

makes it a highly prized base in the war against the Lich King. Both

factions have deployed devastating weapons to drive each other from

this strategic location. Day and night the ground trembles under

lumbering siege vehicles while monstrous airships pummel enemy

positions with fiery cannons. The bloody conflict spreads to every

corner of the island as new heroes arrive to aid their factions. It

remains to be seen whose banner will wave triumphantly over the Isle

of Conquest and at what cost victory will be achieved.

General

- Construction of the Crusaders’ Coliseum is complete. New raid normal

and Heroic modes for the Crusaders’ Coliseum can be toggled using

the Dungeon Difficulty setting. This applies to 10 and 25-player

versions. 10-player (normal), 25-player (normal), 10-player (Heroic)

and 25-player (Heroic) all share separate raid lockout timers.

- Trial of the Champion

5-player (normal and Heroic mode) dungeon.

Daily quest added to the Heroic daily dungeon quest giver.

- Trial of the Crusader

10 and 25-player (normal mode) raid dungeon.

- Trial of the Grand Crusader

10 and 25-player (Heroic mode) raid dungeon.

Crusaders’ Tribute: Active on Heroic difficulty only, the tribute

system will limit players on the number of attempts the raid is

allotted each week. Additional rewards can be earned depending on

the number of attempts left in the tribute run each week when the

final boss is defeated.

- Head to the new 40 vs. 40-player siege-style Battleground, the Isle

of Conquest, to vie for control of a strategic location with a host

of resources sought by the Horde and Alliance.

- Two level brackets are available: 71-79 and 80.

- Defend the walls of your keep and protect your general by killing

enemy players and destroying their siege vehicles.

- Capture the Docks, Gunship Hangar, or Siege Workshop for access to

destructive siege vehicles or strategic attacks on your enemy’s

base.

- Capture the Refinery or Quarry for their resources to garner

reinforcements, a steady flow of bonus honor and a 15% increase to

siege vehicle damage for each of these capture points your team

controls.

- To claim victory, bust through the enemy’s keep walls (or find other

ways to get inside) and kill their general, or obliterate your

opponents until their reinforcements are depleted.

- The Argent Tournament Expands

- All new Argent Crusader daily quests and rewards have been added for

players with the Crusader title. Rewards include a new Argent

Crusader banner and tabard (which can port players to the tournament

grounds), a mounted squire (can periodically run bank, mail or

vendor errands for the player), a paladin-exclusive Argent Crusader

Charger mount and new heirloom items.

- All new Silver Covenant and Sunreaver daily quests and rewards have

been added for players exalted with these factions. Rewards include

tabards, new ground and flying mounts and a new pet.

- Just when you thought you had seen the last of the Black Knight, he

makes his astonishing return to the tournament. Wait, didn’t you

kill him?

- New Dungeon Loot Feature

Players will now be able to trade soulbound items with other raid or

group members that were eligible for the loot. This system will work

like the Item Buy Back system and allow 2 hours for players to trade

an item after it has been looted. Players who choose to enchant or

add gems to the item will get one last confirmation before losing

the ability to trade the item.

- New druid art for Cat Form and Bear Form has been added. There are

now five unique color schemes for each form and faction. Changing

hair color (night elves) or skin tone (tauren) via the barbershop

will change the look of one’s cat and bear forms.

PvP

- Arenas

- Beginning with season 7, players will no longer have access to the

newest season’s weapons or shoulder armor and will not qualify for

the Gladiator title/rewards with ratings from the 2v2 bracket alone.

Ratings obtained through 3v3 and 5v5 game play will be required for

these rewards, while the rest of the newest season’s items will

remain available to players in all brackets (standard rating

restrictions still apply).

- Dalaran Sewers

The entire Arena has increased in size by 25%.

Mounts can now be used in this Arena.

The position and collision of the crates on the central platform has

been modified.

- Ring of Valor

The flame wall has been removed.

- Ruins of Lordaeron

Alcoves have been removed from the starting chambers.

The collision around the central tomb has been smoothed out to

prevent players from becoming stuck on the terrain as often.

- Battlegrounds

- Battleground experience has arrived!

Players will now be awarded experience for completing objectives and

actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds (honorable kills not

included).

Players who do not wish to gain experience through PvP can visit

Behsten in Stormwind or Slahtz in Orgrimmar – both located near the

Battlemasters in either city – and turn off all experience

accumulation for the cost of 10 gold.

Disabling experience gains will prevent a player from gaining

experience through any means available in the game.

Players with experience gains turned off who compete in

Battlegrounds will face off only against other players with

experience gains turned off.

Behsten and Slahtz can reinstate experience gains for players, for a

10 gold fee of course. Any experience that would’ve been accumulated

if experience gains were enabled cannot be recovered.

- Battlemasters in major cities affiliated with specific Battlegrounds

have been replaced with a Battlemaster for each faction that will

allow players to queue for any Battleground. Battlemasters for

specific Battlegrounds will still be seen around the cities during

corresponding Battleground holiday weekends.

- When standing at a capture point that you control, you will gain a

buff called Honorable Defender. This buff grants +50% honor gained

from kills. This currently affects Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm

and Isle of Conquest.

- Arathi Basin

The time it requires to capture a base has been reduced to 8

seconds, down from 10 seconds.

The game now ends when one team reaches 1600 victory points, down

from 2000.

- Eye of the Storm

The time it requires to capture the center flag has been reduced to

8 seconds, down from 10 seconds

The game now ends when one team reaches 1600 victory points, down

from 2000.

- Strand of the Ancients

The faction starting on attack/defense will now be randomized at the

start of each match.

- Warsong Gulch

There is a now a 20-minute timer on this Battleground. After that

time, the team with the most flag captures wins. If this would

result in a tie, the team that captured the first flag wins. If

neither side has captured a flag, then the game ends in a tie.

- Wintergrasp

- Against the Odds: This achievement has been removed and converted to

a Feat of Strength.

- Industrial Warfare: This achievement has been removed.

- To provide players with a more transparent notification of when

Wintergrasp battles occur, as well as better control zone population

and stability, several changes have been made.

Players now have the option to queue for Wintergrasp from a

Wintergrasp Battlemaster in any capital city or by simply entering

the Wintergrasp zone.

Queuing will begin 15 minutes before each battle. If chosen, you

will automatically be teleported to the zone. Any players in the

zone who have not been chosen from the queue will be teleported out

when the battle begins.

The queue system remains active for the entire battle. As soon as a

player leaves, a new one will be chosen from the queue.

Trying to enter Wintergrasp during an active battle for which you

have not been chosen will teleport you out. Please note that, as you

are now able to fly over Wintergrasp, you will only be teleported

out if you try to land and join the battle.

Level 80 players get higher priority in the queue than lower level

players. In addition, a random selection of queued players will be

taken from both the Battlemasters and the zone itself.

The queue will accept up to 120 players from each faction, resulting

in a maximum battle of 240 players at a time.

- Wintergrasp factories can no longer be damaged or destroyed.

Dungeons and Raids

- Dungeon and Raid ID Extensions

In order to allow for parties and raids to progress through

instances at their own pace, players can now extend an instance ID

on an individual basis.

Existing or recently expired IDs can be extended via the Social tab

under Raid by clicking on Raid Info.

The ID of any instance to which a player is saved can be extended.

Doing so will extend the instance lock period by the same amount of

time as the original lock (i.e. extending an Ulduar instance ID will

add 7 days, a Heroic: Halls of Lightning instance ID will add 24

hours, and a Zul’Gurub instance ID will add 3 days to the instance

lock time).

An ID can be extended more than once.

An extension can be reversed on an individual basis provided the

player does not do anything in the instance during the extended

instance lock period that would save that player to the instance.

- Emblem System Changes

Both the 10 and 25-player instances of the Crusaders’ Coliseum drop

a new Emblem of Triumph.

Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor,

such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of

Conquest instead. Emblems of Conquest can still be converted to

Valor or Heroism.

The Heroic dungeon daily quest will now reward 2 Emblems of Triumph

and the normal daily dungeon quest will reward 1 Emblem of Conquest.

New achievements have been added to collect various amounts of any

combination of emblems.

- 25-player raids will no longer be referred to as Heroic versions of

a raid, as there is a new distinction between normal and Heroic

modes for both 10 and 25 player versions of the Crusaders’ Coliseum.

- The Nexus: The Oculus & The Eye of Eternity

Drakes used by players in these instances will now scale in health

and damage according to the rider's average item level.

- Ulduar

Players can now use Blink, Shadowstep, and Demonic Teleport while

participating in the illusion events in the Yogg-Saron encounter.

- Ominous Clouds in the Yogg-Saron encounter are now more vocal about

touching players and should no longer sometimes appear to be in the

wrong place for certain players.

- An Immortal Guardian targeted for Empowering Shadows in the

Yogg-Saron encounter will now become a 'Marked Immortal Guardian'

while targeted.

- Crusher Tentacles in the Yogg-Saron encounter spawn a little slower

in 25-player mode allowing a bit more time for players to clear out

the Illusion room.

- Empowering Shadows in the Yogg-Saron encounter now targets a maximum

of three Immortal Guardians in 25-player mode.

- Yogg-Saron's health has been reduced by 20% in the final stage of

his 25-player mode.

- Winter Jormungars will no longer put everyone in the zone in combat

when they emerge from a Snow Mound. Additionally, Snow Mounds will

now disappear when all their jormungars have emerged.

Races: General

- Axe Specialization (Orc): The weapon bonus from this effect now

applies to fist weapons in addition to axes.

- Tauren now have the option of changing skin tone by visiting the

barber shop.

Items: General

- Agility: The amount of agility required per percentage of dodge has

been increased by 15%. This change required recalibrating the amount

of dodge a player has with 0 agility by a slight amount as well, so

all players will see their dodge percentage vary a small amount.

- Block Value: The amount of bonus block value on all items has been

doubled. This does not affect the base block value on shields or

block value derived from strength.

- On-Use Block Value Items: All items and set bonuses that trigger

temporary increases to block value have been modified. Instead of

increasing their block value amount by 100% like other items, they

have all had their effect durations doubled. This applies to Glyph

of Deflection, Gnomeregan Autoblocker, Coren’s Lucky Coin,

Lavanthor’s Talisman, Libram of Obstruction, Tome of the

Lightbringer, Libram of the Sacred Shield, the tier-8 paladin Shield

of Righteousness bonus, the tier-5 paladin Holy Shield bonus, and

the tier-5 warrior Shield Block bonus.

- Dodge Rating: The amount of dodge rating required per percentage of

dodge has been increased by 15%. This is before diminishing returns.

Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry

rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply.

- Item Buy Back Feature Revised

The Item Buy Back time will now expire if the player enchants or

sockets an item. Players will see a confirmation dialog box now when

they attempt to enchant or add gems to an item giving them a last

chance to reconsider.

- Items with Triggered Effects: These items generally have cooldowns

on how often they can be triggered. Those cooldowns are now

triggered each time the item is equipped (example: A trinket has a

45-second cooldown on an effect triggered by player attacks; when a

player equips that item, the effect will be unable to be triggered

for the first 45 seconds it is worn).

- Mounts

The cast time for summoning any ground mount is now 1.5 seconds,

down from 3 seconds.

Apprentice Riding (Skill 75): Can now be learned at level 20 for 4

gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 20 directing them

to the riding trainer.

Journeyman Riding (Skill 150): Can now be learned at level 40 for 50

gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 40 directing them

back to the riding trainer.

Expert Riding (Skill 225): Can now be learned at level 60 for 600

gold from trainers in Honor Hold or Thrallmar. Faction discounts now

apply (Honor Hold for Alliance; Thrallmar for Horde). Flight speed

at this skill level has been increased to 150% of run speed, up from

60%.

Artisan Riding (Skill 300): Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold

or Valiance Expedition for Alliance; Thrallmar or Warsong Offensive

for Horde).

In order to further equalize the number of purchasable mounts

available to each race, a new 60% speed ground mount has been added

for night elves, and a new 100% speed ground mount has been added

for the undead.

Flying over Dalaran and Wintergrasp is now possible so long as

players keep a healthy distance above the ground.

- Mana Regeneration: All items that provide “X mana per five seconds”

have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by

approximately 25%.

- Parry Rating: The amount of parry rating required per percentage of

parry has been reduced by 8%. This is before diminishing returns.

Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry

rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply. Parry still

diminishes more quickly than dodge.

- Resilience: No longer reduces the amount of damage done by

damage-over-time spells, but instead reduces the amount of all

damage done by players by the same proportion. In addition, the

amount of resilience needed to reduce critical strike chance,

critical strike damage and overall damage has been increased by 15%.

Classes: General

- All pets now receive 40% of their master’s resilience and 100% of

their master’s spell penetration. In addition, if a player is at

their appropriate spell hit chance or hit chance maximum, their pet

will be at the maximum for spell hit chance, hit chance, and

expertise. If they are below the maximum, their pet will be

proportionately below those maximums.

- Replenishment: This buff now grants 1% of the target’s maximum mana

over 5 seconds instead of 0.25% per second. This applies to all 5

sources of Replenishment (Vampiric Touch, Judgements of the Wise,

Hunting Party, Enduring Winter Frostbolts and Soul Leech).

- Silence, Strangulate, Silencing Shot, and Arcane Torrent: These

abilities will also apply a 3-second Interrupt effect against

non-player controlled targets, making them more versatile against

creatures immune to silencing effects.

Death Knights

- Due to significant talent changes, all death knight talents will be

reset for players.

- Blood Plague: Damage done increased by 15%.

- Chains of Ice: Now reduces movement by 95% instead of 100%. The main

effect of this change will be that targets of Chains of Ice will not

have to re-issue a movement command to continue moving.

- Frost Fever: Damage done increased by 15%.

- Frost Presence: 10% bonus health reduced to 6% bonus stamina.

- Frost Strike: This ability can now be dodged, parried, or blocked.

Weapon damage bonus reduced to 55%, down from 60%.

- Icebound Fortitude: Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.

- Talents

- Blood

Bloody Strikes: This talent now provides 5/10/15% increased damage

to Blood Strike instead of 15/30/45%.

Dancing Rune Weapon: This ability now has a fixed duration of 12

seconds (which can still be modified by its glyph) and a fixed cost

of 60 runic power.

- Veteran of the Third War: Stamina bonus reduced to 1/2/3%.

- Frost

Blood of the North: Reduced to a 3-point talent. Increases Blood

Strike and Frost Strike damage by 3/6/10%. There is now a

33/66/100% chance whenever you hit with Blood Strike or Pestilence

that the Blood Rune will become a Death Rune when it activates.

Lichborne: Duration reduced to 10 seconds, and cooldown reduced to

2 minutes.

Threat of Thassarian: New 3-point talent. When dual-wielding, your

Death Strikes, Obliterates, Plague Strikes, Blood Strikes and Frost

Strikes have a 30/60/100% chance to also deal damage with your

off-hand weapon. Off-hand strikes are roughly one half the effect of

the original strike.

Toughness: This talent now grants 2/4/6/8/10% armor instead of

3/6/9/12/15%, placing it in line with similar abilities of other

classes.

- Unholy

Desecration: This talent has been reduced to 2 points for 25/50%

snare and no longer increases damage done by the death knight. It

has also been moved one tier earlier in the tree and its spell

effect has been made more transparent.

Desolation: New talent. This talent is in the position formerly

occupied by Desecration. It causes Blood Strikes to increase all

damage the death knight deals by 1/2/3/4/5% for 12 seconds.

Scourge Strike: Weapon damage bonus reduced to 40%, down from 45%.

Damage increased by 10% per disease on the target, down from 11%.

Summon Gargoyle: The gargoyle now flies lower to the ground, making

it susceptible to melee attacks. This ability now has a fixed

duration of 30 seconds and a fixed cost of 60 runic power.

Unholy Blight: This talent has been redesigned. It no longer deals

damage to nearby targets. Instead, when you deal damage with Death

Coil, the target will take periodic damage for 10 seconds equal to

20% of the damage done by Death Coil. This damage accumulates in the

same way as Ignite and Deep Wounds.

Druids

- Enrage: This Bear Form ability now generates 20 rage initially, and

10 rage over the next 10 seconds. The armor penalty is unchanged.

- Flight Form: Can now be learned at level 60. Flight speed increased

to 150%.

- Flight Form and Swift Flight Form: Now benefit from a paladin’s

Crusader Aura.

- Innervate: Duration reduced to 10 seconds, and cooldown reduced to 3

minutes. This means each use of Innervate will give half as much

mana as before, but it will be available twice as often.

- Lifebloom: The final heal that occurs when this spell blooms has

been reduced by 20% on the base and on the spell power coefficient.

- Mangle: Ranks 4 and 5 base points reduced by about 11%. Scaling from

attack power unchanged.

- Rake: Ranks 6 and 7 base points on initial and periodic damage

reduced by about 7%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.

- Rip: Ranks 8 and 9 base points and points per combo point reduced by

about 6%. Scaling from attack power unchanged.

- Savage Defense: The animation for gaining this buff will no longer

make the bear stand upright.

- Shred: Ranks 8 and 9 base points reduced by about 10%. Scaling from

attack power unchanged.

- Swift Flight Form: Druids who have acquired a mount able to go 310%

flight speed will now also go that speed while in this form.

- Swipe (Cat): Percent of weapon damage done reduced from 260% to

250%.

- Travel Form: Can now be learned at level 16.

- Talents

- Balance

Balance of Power: Now reduces all spell damage taken by 3/6%, rather

than reducing the chance to be hit by spells by 2/4%.

Eclipse: The Starfire and Wrath buffs from this talent are now on

separate 30-second cooldowns. In addition, it is not possible to

have both buffs active simultaneously.

Owlkin Frenzy: Now also restores 2% base mana every 2 seconds for

the duration (10 seconds) in addition to its current effects.

- Feral Combat

King of the Jungle: This talent now reduces the mana cost of Bear

Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form by 20/40/60%.

Primal Tenacity: This talent no longer reduces the mana cost of Bear

Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.

- Restoration

Empowered Touch: Now also increases the amount of bonus healing

effects for Nourish by 10/20%.

Improved Barkskin: No longer provides dispel resistance to all

effects on the druid, but now reduces the chance your Barkskin is

dispelled by an additional 35/70%.

Hunters

- Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.

- Deterrence: This ability now allows the hunter to parry spells and

attacks from behind as well as in front. Now has a new visual spell

effect.

- Frost Trap: Will no longer “fizzle” on targets immune to snare

effects, however Lock and Load will not succeed when using Frost

Trap if the target is immune to snare effects.

- Snake Trap: The Mind-numbing Poison effect has been reduced to a 30%

increase in casting time, down from 50% to match similar effects.

- The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has

been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.

- Traps now have separate 30-second cooldown categories: Fire

(Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing

Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one

trap of each category placed at one time.

- Talents

- Beast Mastery

Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command

ability by 10/20/30 seconds.

- Survival

Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or

Explosive Trap.

Lock and Load: Now has a 22-second cooldown. The Lock and Load

effect cannot be obtained on targets immune to snare effects when

Frost Trap is used.

- Pets

Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any

friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but

the hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly

target. Cooldown is now 1 minute, up from 30 seconds.

Mages

- Arcane Blast: Mana cost reduced by 12%.

- Frost Bolt, Cone of Cold, Frost Ward, Ice Armor, Frost Armor, Frost

Nova, Ice Lance, and Ice Barrier: The mana cost on these spells has

been reduced by approximately 15%.

- Invisibility: Can no longer be interrupted by a hostile action or

damage done during the 3-second Fade time, however an invisible mage

is still vulnerable to Stun and Silence effects.

- Mirror Image: Images will no longer trigger the death sound when

their time expires.

- Talents

- Fire

Empowered Fire: In addition to its existing effects, this talent now

also grants a 33/67/100% chance to regain 2% of base mana each time

the Ignite talent deals damage.

- Frost

Empowered Frostbolt: Instead of increasing critical strike chance by

2/4%, this talent now reduces the cast time of Frostbolt by 0.1/0.2

seconds.

Permafrost: In addition to its existing effects, this talent now

also causes the mage’s Chill effects to reduce healing received by

the victim by 7/13/20%.

Paladins

- Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now also increases stamina by

10%. This effect is not cumulative with Blessing of Kings.

- Charger: Can now be learned at level 40.

- Crusader Aura: This ability now also grants its flying speed

increase to a druid’s Flight Form and Swift Flight Form.

- Exorcism: Now has a 1.5 second cast time, but can once again be used

on players.

- Hand of Reckoning: Redesigned. Now does damage only when the target

does not currently have the caster targeted, but damage done

increased to 50% of attack power, occurring after the taunt effect

is applied.

- Judgements: Some of these attacks were considered ranged and some

melee. They are all now considered melee attacks that can’t be

dodged, parried or blocked.

- Judgement of Light: Now heals for 2% of the attacker’s maximum

health instead of a variable amount based on the spell power and

attack power of the judging paladin.

- Lay on Hands: The buff from this ability now reduces the physical

damage taken by the target by 10/20% instead of increasing the

target’s armor.

- Righteous Fury: No longer has a duration, remaining until cancelled

or death. Also cancelled when a Paladin activates a different talent

specialization.

- Sacred Shield: When a paladin casts Flash of Light on a target with

this buff, they also now place a heal-over-time effect on the

target, healing that target for 100% of the Flash of Light amount

over 12 seconds.

- Seal of Blood: This ability has been removed.

- Seal of the Martyr: This ability has been removed.

- Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption: These seals have been

redesigned to deal substantially more damage. Now, once a paladin

has 5 copies of the debuff from these seals on his or her target, on

each swing the paladin will deal 33% weapon damage as Holy, with

critical strikes dealing double damage. In addition, the

damage-over-time effect is now considered a melee attack instead of

a spell attack and the effects from these seals can only be

triggered by auto-attacks and Hammer of the Righteous.

- Shield of Righteousness: Now deals 100% of shield block value as

damage instead of 130%. In addition, the benefit from additional

block value this ability gains is now subject to diminishing

returns. Diminishing returns occur once block value exceeds 30 times

the player’s level and caps the maximum damage benefit from shield

block value at 34.5 times the player’s level.

- Warhorse: Can now be learned at level 20.

- Talents

- Holy

Beacon of Light: The healing amount on the Beacon of Light target is

now based on the total healing done (including over-healing) instead

of the effective healing done. Radius increased to 60 yards.

Multiple Paladins can now have this active on the same target. Buff

indicating a player is within range of the Beacon target is no

longer displayed.

Divine Intellect: This talent now gives 2/4/6/8/10% increased

intellect instead of 3/6/9/12/15%.

Illumination: This talent now returns 30% of the mana cost of the

spell instead of 60%.

- Protection

Ardent Defender: Redesigned. Any damage that takes the paladin below

35% health is reduced. This reduction applies only to the portion

that pushes the paladin below 35% health (example: a paladin at 50%

health takes a 40% hit; the first 15% hits as normal while the next

25% is reduced). In addition, once every 2 minutes an attack that

would have killed the paladin will fail to kill, and instead heal

the paladin for up to 10/20/30% of maximum health depending on the

paladin’s defense rating (example: a paladin with defense equal to

only 5 times his or her level will receive no healing from the

talent, while a paladin who is immune to critical strikes from boss

creatures through defense will receive the maximum amount).

- Guarded by the Light: This talent will no longer cause Divine Plea’s

duration to be refreshed by using Judgement of Wisdom, Judgement of

Justice, or Judgement of Light.

- Retribution

Art of War: Now only applies to melee critical hits, but will make

your next Flash of Light or Exorcism instant. In addition, this

talent now provides notification in the floating combat text when it

activates.

Crusader Strike: Damage reduced to 75% weapon damage to match the

new 4-second cooldown. Mana cost reduced to 5% of base mana.

Seal of Command: Redesigned. This seal now deals 36% weapon damage

on every swing, and deals substantially less judgement damage.

Vindication: Redesigned. Now lowers target attack power, is

consistent and does not stack with Demoralizing Shout.

Priests

- Prayer of Healing: The percentage of spell power this spell gains in

healing (per target) has been reduced from 80.7% to 52.6%.

- Psychic Horror: This spell no longer has an invisible missile, so

there is no travel time before the spell takes effect.

- Talents

- Discipline

Penance: Cooldown increased to 12 seconds, up from 10 seconds.

- Holy

Inspiration: The buff from this ability now reduces the physical

damage taken by the target by 3/7/10% instead of increasing the

target’s armor.

- Shadow

Dispersion: Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3 minutes.

Improved Mind Blast: Redesigned. Now, in addition to reducing the

cooldown of your Mind Blast spell by .5/1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds, while

in Shadowform your Mind Blast also has a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to

reduce all healing done to the target by 20% for 10 seconds.

Vampiric Touch: The amount of damage done when this spell is

dispelled has been doubled.

Rogues

- After much quiet contemplation, rogues now possess the ability to

learn how to use one-handed axes.

- Talents

- Combat

Sword Specialization: This talent is now called Hack and Slash and

applies to axes as well as swords.

- Subtlety

Shadow Dance: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute. Now lasts 6 seconds,

down from 10 seconds.

Shamans

- A customizable totem bar will now be available for shamans allowing

the storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the

ground at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of

all 4 totems.

- All Shocks now have a default range of 25 yards, up from 20 yards.

- Base health increased by approximately 7% to correct for shamans

having lower health than other classes.

- Chain Heal: Jump distance increased by 25% to 12.5 yards. In

addition, the amount of healing now decreases by 40% as it jumps to

each new target, instead of 50%.

- Earth Shock: Redesigned. This spell no longer interrupts spell

casting, but rather reduces melee attack speed by 10% for 8 seconds

(exclusive with similar effects such as Thunder Clap).

- Ghost Wolf: Can now be learned at level 16. While in this form,

snaring effects may not bring the shaman below base normal run

speed.

- Wind Shock: Has been renamed Wind Shear and no longer shares a

cooldown with Flame, Frost or Earth Shock.

- Talents

- Enhancement

Maelstrom Weapon: Now also has a chance to reduce the cast time of

Hex.

Shamanistic Rage: Cooldown is now 1 minute, down from 2 minutes.

Successful melee attacks now have a chance to generate mana equal to

15% of the shaman’s attack power, down from 30%.

- Restoration

Cure Poison and Cure Disease: Combined into a single spell, Cure

Toxins.

Earth Shield: Dispel effects will now remove charges of Earth Shield

rather than the entire aura.

Ancestral Healing: The buff from this ability now reduces the

physical damage taken by the target by 3/7/10% instead ofincreasing

the target’s armor.

Healing Way: Redesigned. Rather than providing a chance of

increasing Healing Wave spells on a friendly target, this talent now

innately increases the effectiveness of the shaman’s Healing Wave by

8/16/25%.

Mana Tide Totem: Totem health now equal to 10% of the shaman’s

health.

Nature’s Guardian: Redesigned. Now has a fixed 100% proc rate, has a

30-second internal cooldown and increases the shaman’s maximum

health by 3/6/9/12/15% for 10 seconds.

Nature’s Swiftness: Cooldown is now 2 minutes, down from 3 minutes.

Tidal Waves: No longer reduces the cast time of Lesser Healing Wave

by 30%. It instead now provides +25% critical strike chance to

Lesser Healing Wave, along with the previous 30% cast time benefit

to Healing Wave.

Improved Water Shield: This talent now has a 10/20/30% chance to be

triggered by Chain Heal, and the charges of Water Shield are no\

longer consumed by this talent.

Warlocks

- Banish: Effect will now be cancelled if Banish is recast on a

banished target.

- Dreadsteed: Can now be learned at level 40.

- Felsteed: Can now be learned at level 20.

- Shadowflame: The angle of the cone effect on this ability was

inadvertently very small, making it difficult to use. Its cone is

now the same size as similar spells, such as Cone of Cold.

- Soulshatter cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes

- Talents

- Affliction

Pandemic: Now also increases the critical damage bonus of Haunt by

100%.

- Demonology

Fel Domination cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 15 minutes.

- Destruction

Empowered Imp: The warlock’s critical hit chance is increased to

100%, up from 20% for the next spell cast after the Imp critically

hits a target.

Fire and Brimstone: Reduced to 2/4/6/8/10% increased damage from

Incinerate and Chaos Bolt on targets afflicted with Immolate, down

from 3/6/9/12/15%.

Warriors

- Battle Shout: Radius increased to 30 yards.

- Bloodrage: This ability now generates 20 rage initially, and 10 rage

over the next 10 seconds. The health cost is unchanged.

- Commanding Shout: Radius increased to 30 yards.

- Execute: This ability now never costs more than a total of 30 rage.

The tooltip for Sudden Death has been revised to remove reference to

that maximum, since the ability now behaves that way even when

untalented.

- Shield Slam: The benefit from additional block value this ability

gains is now subject to diminishing returns. Diminishing returns

occur once block value exceeds 30 times the player’s level and caps

the maximum damage benefit from shield block value at 34.5 times the

player’s level.

- Talents

- Fury

Armored to the Teeth: This talent now provides 1/2/3 attack power

per 108 armor, up from per 180 armor.

Bloodsurge: Notification that Slam has become instant now appears in

floating combat text.

- Protection

Devastate: Weapon damage and bonus per Sunder Armor on the target

increased by 100%. This ability now requires a shield to be

equipped.

Shield Specialization: Now provides 5 rage on a block, dodge or

parry instead of 2 rage on a block.

User Interface

- The quest log is now double-paned for more easily viewing quest

information. The list of all quests a player has will show in one

pane, while the quest details of any highlighted quest will display

in the next.

- Character name auto-completion for the chat frame, pop-ups, and mail

interface is now active.

- Character names can now be colorized according to class in the chat

frame. This feature can be enabled through the chat settings by

right-clicking on a chat window.

- Casting bars under the target frame, focus frame and nameplates will

now display as shielded if the cast cannot be interrupted.

- Druids will now be able to see their mana bars when shape-shifted.

- Item Comparisons: Holding the shift key while hovering over an item

will now display the stat differences with the item currently

equipped in the relevant slot.

- Item Level: A new option has been added under Display in the

Interface Options to show the item level on item tooltips.

- Macros and scripts will no longer be able to target totems by name.

- New Feature Icons: Options recently added to any of the options

menus will now display a yellow exclamation point next to them to

indicate that they are new features.

- Vendor prices will now be listed on items whether or not players are

at a vendor.

- For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI &

Macros Forum:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114

Graphics

- The frame rate for those with Shadow Effects enabled under the Ultra

Video settings has been improved.

World Environment

- Wolvar and Gorloc orphans have arrived in Dalaran and need your

help! Players can find out more by visiting the Eventide District

(completing the quests being offered for this event will not count

toward any Children’s Week achievements). Players have a limited

amount of time to care for these orphans before they take their

leave. They will then return again for the regularly-scheduled

Children’s Week next year.

- Portal areas in all major cities now offer a portal to the Blasted

Lands near the Dark Portal.

- Once crossing through the Dark Portal, players can access a flight

path directly from the Stair of Destiny to Shattrath.

- A new zeppelin docking ramp has been added to Thunder Bluff allowing

Horde players easier transport to and from Orgrimmar.

- The local Postal Service has grown tired of walking so far each day

to collect mail and has decided to install a large number of new

mailboxes in Stormwind, Undercity, Darnassus and Orgrimmar.

- Mathiel in Darnassus has finally earned himself enough money from

your repair bills that he was able to buy himself an anvil.

Quests

- The ravasaur trainer Mor’vek has returned to Un’Goro and will offer

to help Horde players raise and train a Venomhide Ravasaur as a

mount… if they can survive the creature’s deadly poison.

Achievements

- A Brew-FAST Mount: A new Feat of Strength achievement for acquiring

any epic Brewfest mount.

- Have Keg, Will Travel: Now requires either a Brewfest mount or using

Brewfest Hops to transform yours into one.

Professions

- Alchemy

- All stackable potions now stack to 20.

- Added a new pattern for Flask of the North, usable by players with a

high alchemy skill. The recipe is purchased from Northrend trainers.

- Flask of the North increases your spell power, attack power or

strength for 1 hour and is usable in Arenas. It is not consumed when

used.

- Endless Healing Potion and Endless Mana Potion no longer usable in

arenas. Amount of health and mana has been increased, and the

cooldown reduced.

- Five new epic gem transmute recipes are available from the Northrend

trainer. The recipe for transmuting a Cardinal Ruby can be learned

from a quest, given by Linzy Blackbolt in Dalaran.

- The Mixology benefits from Northrend elixirs and flasks have been

increased.

- Rage potions can now be used by druids.

- Cooking

- Chef’s Hat is now superior quality and allows the chef to cook

faster.

- Blackened Dragonfin Recipe: Now only requires 1 Dragonfin Angelfish.

- Increased the drop rate for recipes from the Outland Daily Cooking

quests.

- Increased the chance to get a bonus Dalaran Cooking Token from the

Spice Bag.

- The recipe for Captain Rumsey's Lager can now be randomly found in

the quest reward Crate, Barrel, or Spice Bag from the cooking

dailies.

- Enchanting

- Values on Northrend ring enchants increased.

- Engineering

- Added a new Mind Amplification Dish attachment for helmets, allowing

engineers to control other humanoid targets. Some restrictions

apply: does not work in Arenas, dish sometimes reverses targets,

unable to stack with other stat-improving head enchantments and

makes your helmet look... stylish? This attachment provides a

passive bonus of 45 stamina.

- Added a schematic for a Goblin Welding Beam that can heal friendly

mechanical or vehicle units.

- Alarm-o-Bot functionality changed. Materials required reduced.

- Box of Bombs no longer requires an anvil.

- The Cobalt Frag Bomb now incapacitates enemies within a 3-yard

radius. A short cast time was added, but they are usable while

moving. This change applies to any Cobalt Frag Bombs already

created. The existing recipe now makes 3 at a time.

- Engineers can now learn to create a portable Wormhole Generator for

Northrend. The Wormhole allows them to travel to different locations

in Northrend, although the locations are sometimes in dangerous

places.

- Flying Machine: The level requirement needed to learn how to build

and use this machine has been reduced to level 60, down from level

70, and the engineering skill level reduced to 300, down from 350.

Material costs reduced.

- Gnomish Engineers and Goblin Engineers can now switch profession

specializations for a fee.

- Increased benefits from Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-Mounted Pyro

Rocket and Reticulated Armor Webbing glove modifications.

- Increased the passive bonuses provided by Springy Arachnoweave,

Flexweave Underlay and Nitro Boosts.

- Mote Extractor now has innate tracking for gas clouds while it is in

your inventory. Tracking of gas clouds has been removed from

goggles.

- A new repair bot has been added, and his name is Jeeves. He is the

ultimate gentleman robot butler, able to perform all the mundane

tasks of repairing, selling and buying junk for your entire raid.

Additionally, he can open bank boxes for skilled engineers (350+).

Jeeves is not destroyed when used, but due to pressing engagements,

can only be summoned once an hour. The schematic for this handsome

robot was said to be hidden within the parts of another robot –

hoping to be found by an engineer one day.

- Nitro Boosts: Now have a 5-second duration.

- Potion Injectors now increase the amount gained by 25% when used by

engineers. Quantity produced by recipes for Runic Healing and Mana

Injectors has been increased.

- Reduced the materials needed to create all engineering Dragonlings,

and reduced their cooldowns, although they still cannot be used in

Arenas.

- Significantly reduced the cooldown on MOLL-E.

- The Spynocular belt attachment has been changed to a Frag Belt. The

Frag Belt periodically produces a Cobalt Frag Bomb that can be used

from the belt every 6 minutes (never runs out!).

- A Steam-Powered Auctioneer has been added to the Dalaran Like

Clockwork engineering shop, allowing access to one's faction Auction

House. The Steam-Powered Auctioneer was programmed with a

superiority chip, and will only interact with Grand Master

engineers.

- Transporter devices are no longer classified as trinkets and can be

used directly from your inventory.

- The Ultrasafe Bullet Machine and Saronite Arrow Maker schematics

have been simplified to create a full stack of the appropriate

ammunition. No longer requires an anvil. Reduced the materials

required to make this ammunition.

- World Enlarger: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour.

- Fishing

- Players with 300 or higher cooking have a chance to find a

Waterlogged Recipe in the Bag of Fishing Treasures awarded by the

Northrend fishing dailies. This item can be traded to other players

and rewards several Dalaran Cooking Rewards when turned in.

- Herbalism

- Increased healing from Lifeblood (Rank 6).

- Lifeblood now scales slightly with maximum health. No longer

affected by global cooldown.

- Inscription

- Added a new Glyph of Claw for young feral druids who haven't yet

obtained Mangle. Scribes can learn this glyph from the trainer.

- Master's Inscriptions increased.

- Jewelcrafting

- Dragon's Eye gems stat bonuses increased. In addition, these gems

are no longer prismatic and must be matched to the appropriate

colored socket to activate an item's socket bonus.

- New recipes have been added for cutting epic gems and can be

purchased using Dalaran Jewelcrafter’s tokens.

- Icy Prism now has a chance of yielding an epic gem.

- Raw epic gems can be obtained via the following means:

Prospecting Titanium Ore

Alchemy transmutations

Purchased with honor

Purchased with Emblems of Heroism

- Leatherworking

- Added recipe for Heavy Knothide Leather to leatherworking trainers

(rather than a vendor recipe). Changed several recipes to use Heavy

Knothide Leather instead of regular Leather.

- Fur Lining values increased.

- Mining

- Toughness (Rank 6) provides more stamina.

- Skinning

- Master of Anatomy (Rank 6) provides more critical strike rating.

- Tailoring

- Embroideries improved.

Items

- Feral Druid PvP Gloves (seasons 3 and 4): Maim bonus changed from

the Interrupt bonus used in The Burning Crusade Arena seasons to the

cost reduction used in Wrath of the Lich King Arena seasons.

- Glyphs

- Death Knights

Glyph of Unholy Blight: Changed to increase damage done by the

updated Unholy Blight talent by 40%.

- Druids

Glyph of Innervate: Duration reduced to 10 seconds.

- Paladins

Glyph of Righteous Defense: Now also increases the chance for Hand

of Reckoning to hit.

Glyph of Seal of Command: Redesigned to cause the Paladin to gain 8%

of base mana each time the paladin judges Command.

Glyph of Seal of Blood: Changed to Glyph of Holy Wrath, which

reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds.

- Rogues

Glyph of Shadow Dance: Now increases the duration of Shadow Dance by

2 seconds, down from 4 seconds.

Glyph of Tricks of the Trade: Now increases the duration of the

damage bonus effect instead of increasing the damage bonus.

- Shamans

Glyph of Healing Wave: The amount of healing the shaman receives is

now based on the entire healing amount, including over-healing.

- Warlocks

Glyph of Lifetap: Duration of the buff from this glyph increased to

40 seconds.

- Idol of the Corruptor: The agility buff from this idol is now

exclusive with the agility buff from Idol of Terror.

- Mage Tier-7 2-Piece Bonus: Now grants 25% additional mana from mana

gems, down from 40%.

- Non-Combat Pets: 8 new pets have been added (not including Argent

Tournament rewards). Raptor Hatchlings can be found on rare and

elite raptors throughout the game world. In addition, an Obsidian

Raptor Hatchling can be purchased from Breanni in Dalaran.

- Tome of Cold Weather Flight: New heirloom item. Players who have

reached level 80 can now purchase this book for 1,000 gold from Hira

Snowdawn, the Cold Weather Flying Trainer in Dalaran. Similar to

other heirloom items, this item can be mailed to other characters of

the same realm, account and faction. The book is consumed when read

training the character in Cold Weather Flying. Requires level 68.

- Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings: This item’s stats and level have

been increased to match the power level of healer weapons coming

from the Coliseum 25-person normal difficulty instance. In addition,

each time Val’anyr is equipped, Blessing of Ancient Kings will be

placed on a 45-second cooldown before it can occur.

Bug Fixes

- Death Knights

- Anti-Magic Shell: The tooltip for this ability will now reflect

modifications from the Magic Suppression talent.

- Blood-Caked Blade: The damage from this talent is no longer

normalized to weapon speed.

- Chilblains: Icy Clutch can no longer miss when Frost Fever hits,

however, when Frost Fever is dispelled Icy Clutch will also be

dispelled.

- Dancing Rune Weapon: The rune weapon will no longer cast Corpse

Explosion.

- Desecration: No longer causes unnecessary combat logging.

- Horn of Winter: Learning rank 2 of this ability caused players to

unlearn rank 1, such that it no longer appears in their spellbook.

It is now possible to relearn that rank, and death knights will no

longer “forget” rank 1 when they learn rank 2.

- Lichborne: The buff from this ability can now be cancelled.

- Raise Ally: Using the Gnaw ability while under the effects of this

spell will now initiate auto-attack. In addition, the damage done

has been changed from a flat value to a percentage of weapon damage.

- Raise Dead: This spell will no longer give two errors when the

casting player lacks the reagent to cast it.

- Rune of Razorice: Each death knight can now have his or her own copy

of this debuff on the target.

- Rune of Spellbreaking: Tooltip now indicates the effect from this

enchantment does not stack with other effects which reduce the

duration of Silence effects (including not stacking with a second

copy of this enchantment). In addition, now reduces damage from Holy

spells.

- Rune of Spellshattering: Now reduces damage from Holy spells.

- Summon Gargoyle: Corrected the inaccurate tooltip which claimed a

Gargoyle could last up to 40 seconds, when in fact 30 seconds has

always been the maximum.

- Rune of Razorice: Corrected a bug where this applied to frost damage

done by others.

- Druids

- Bash: Tooltip now specifies that the Interrupt effect only occurs on

non-player targets.

- Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form: Mana energizes that occur

while in these forms will now appear in the combat log and floating

combat text.

- Cyclone: Victims of Cyclone can no longer receive healing from

health drain effects such as Devouring Plague while they are

affected by Cyclone.

- Dash: Druids who have not learned Track Humanoids will now retain

the benefit of Dash while shifting out of and back into Cat Form.

- Druids should no longer be removed from a form after using any

engineered bombs.

- Maim: Tooltip now specifies that the Interrupt effect only occurs on

non-player targets.

- Natural Perfection: Now properly triggered by periodic critical

strikes.

- Nature’s Grasp: This talent will no longer be triggered spuriously

by some ranged abilities such as Heroic Throw.

- Hunters

- All ranks of Sonic Blast now properly have an 80 Focus cost.

- Black Arrow Ranks 5 and 6 training costs have been lowered

significantly.

- Furious Howl: Ranks 1-5 will no longer give slightly more attack

power than is listed in their tooltips.

- Lock and Load: The tooltip for this talent has been updated to

indicate that it also works with Explosive Trap.

- Roar of Sacrifice: Damage transferred to pet is now considered

Nature damage.

- The tooltip for Improved Tracking has been slightly re-written to

indicate that it only works on the hunter, and works on melee damage

as well.

- T.N.T. (Rank 3): Now indicates that the talent works with Black

Arrow.

- Mages

- Arcane Instability: Tooltip reworded to clarify design intent.

- Burning Determination: Some Silence and Interrupt effects that did

not trigger this talent will now trigger it properly, including

Shield of the Templar, Garrote and Gag Order.

- Combustion: Fire spell misses will no longer trigger this talent.

- Conjure Refreshment: Rank 1 food will no longer overwrite the drink

buff from rank 2 food.

- Fireball: Periodic damage from this spell can no longer trigger

Combustion.

- Living Bomb: Periodic critical strikes from this ability can now

trigger Ignite and Hot Streak.

- Mirror Image: The mirror images will no longer complete casts of

Frostbolt on targets which are Polymorphed at the time their

Frostbolt channel finishes.

- Molten Armor: Critical strikes from the effect on this armor will

no longer trigger Ignite.

- Paladins

- Auras: Any paladin aura active at the time of the paladin’s death

now automatically reactivates when the paladin returns to life.

- Beacon of Light: Multiple paladins can now have this buff active on

the same target. In addition, the beacon target will no longer lose

the buff while under the effects of Cyclone or Banish.

- Blessing of Sanctuary: This talent and Vigilance will now both be

able to be cast on the same target without sometimes overwriting

each other.

- Exorcism: Now properly has a 100% chance to be a critical strike

when cast on death knights using Lichborne.

- Eye for an Eye: Now properly triggered by periodic critical strikes.

In addition, the tooltip incorrectly stated that 20% damage is

reflected, when it is actually 10%. Tooltip fixed.

- Hammer of Justice: Tooltip now specifies that the Interrupt effect

only occurs on non-player targets.

- Hand of Sacrifice: Casting this spell on a target with Divine

Sacrifice active will now generate an error message instead of

wasting the cooldown.

- Heart of the Crusader: The effect from this talent will no longer be

removed if a paladin without this talent overwrites the judgement

placed by a paladin who does have the talent.

- Holy Shield: It is no longer possible to have two ranks of this

ability active at the same time.

- Judgements: All paladin judgements are now properly considered as

melee attacks that cannot be dodged, blocked or parried. Previously

Seal of Light, Seal of Wisdom, Seal of Justice and Seal of

Righteousness would cause the judgement to be considered a ranged attack.

- Judgement of the Just: The effect from this talent will no longer be

removed if a paladin without this talent overwrites the judgement

placed by a paladin who does have the talent.

- Judgement of Vengeance: Inaccurate combat log tooltip corrected.

- Judgement of Corruption: Inaccurate combat log tooltip corrected.

- Pursuit of Justice: This talent will no longer sometimes be

deactivated when leaving a battleground.

- Sacred Shield: This buff will no longer have any effect if the

target is another player engaged in a duel. In addition, the heal

from this buff will no longer cause the paladin to stand, and it is

no longer possible for two paladins to both have the spell active on

one target.

- Priests

- Blessed Resilience: Now properly triggered by periodic critical

strikes.

- Divine Aegis: This talent will now work properly if the priest moves

out of range of his or her target as the effect is resolving.

- Divine Hymn: This spell now works correctly with the trinket

Illustration of the Dragon Soul. Mana Burn: Fixed a bug where Mana

Burn did not cause fear effects to break when the fear victim had an

absorb shield on.

- Mass Dispel: This spell now triggers some types of trinkets it did

not trigger before (such as Flow of Knowledge).

- Pain Suppression: No longer can be cast while under the effects of

Incapacitate or Cyclone.

- Rogues

- Honor Among Thieves: Periodic critical strikes now grant combo

points for rogues with this talent.

- Killing Spree: Error message when no targets are in range has been

changed to “Out of Range”.

- Master of Subtlety: Being under the effects of Cyclone when the buff

from this talent is about to expire will no longer make it last

indefinitely.

- Overkill: Being under the effects of Cyclone when the buff from this

talent is about to expire will no longer make it last indefinitely.

- Shiv: Deadly Poison will now apply properly when Shiv is the attack

used to break a Gouge.

- Tricks of the Trade: Using this ability on a target affected by

Cyclone or Banish will no longer place the ability on permanent

cooldown and will instead give an error message.

- Turn the Tables: Rank 2 of this talent will now work properly with

raid members, and not just party members.

- Shamans

- Elemental Devastation: Tooltip revised to indicate it does not work

with critical strikes from periodic damage.

- Elemental Focus: Tooltip revised to indicate it does not work with

critical strikes from periodic damage.

- Elemental Oath: Tooltip revised to indicate it does not work with

critical strikes from periodic damage.

- Flametongue Weapon: Fixed tooltip error.

- Frostbrand Weapon: Fixed a bug where rank 9 was not scaling properly

with a shaman’s spell power.

- Warlocks

- Demonic Circle: The visual for this spell should now despawn when

the warlock dies or when the warlock otherwise loses the aura that

allows transport to the circle.

- Immolate and Unstable Affliction: All ranks of these two spells will

now overwrite each other.

- Improved Imp: Each time an Imp is summoned it will recast Blood Pact

(if autocast is on), forcing it to benefit from this talent, even if

the Imp was not summoned at the time the talent was learned.

- Improved Shadow Bolt: Redesigned slightly. Instead of a 100% chance

to apply a 1/2/3/4/5% critical strike increase on the target, it now

has a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to apply a 5% critical strike

increase.

- Warriors

- Berserker Rage: Tooltip clarified to indicate this ability breaks

existing Fear, Sap, and Incapacitate effects.

- Bladestorm: Now properly removes the Snare effect of Desecration in

all cases.

- Blood Craze: Now properly triggered by periodic critical strikes.

- Execute: Focused Rage and the Dreadnaught Battlegear set bonus will

now properly reduce the cost of Execute.

- Slam: The combat log tooltip will no longer list which rank of Slam

was used. Previously it incorrectly listed rank 8 for all ranks of

Slam.

- Vigilance: This talent and Blessing of Sanctuary will now both be

able to be cast on the same target without sometimes overwriting

each other.

- Items

- Adamantite Scope: Attaching this scope to an item will now cause it

to become soulbound as intended.

- Badge of the Swarmguard: Will no longer cause a weapon swing

animation when it triggers.

- Cenarion Set: No longer reduces the (nonexistent) cooldown on

Hurricane. Instead, the set bonus increases the damage done by

Hurricane by 15%.

- Commendation of Bravery: No longer useable when player is already at

the maximum honor allowed.

- Deadly Gladiator’s Dreadplate: The set bonus will now trigger

properly from Crippling Poison.

- Death Knight PvP Glove Bonus: The runic power gain no longer appears

in the combat log.

- Death Knight Tier-7 Set: Fingers of the Damned now has a detailed

combat log tooltip.

- Frostweave Net: Using this item no longer causes the user to break

shapeshifts.

- Glyphs

Glyph of Beacon of Light: This glyph will no longer grant its

duration increase twice when Beacon of Light is cast on self.

Glyph of Corpse Explosion: This glyph will no longer cause the model

on target dummies to change.

Glyph of Death Strike: Tooltip typo corrected.

Glyph of Disease: Blood Plague will now last its correct full

duration when refreshed by this glyph.

Glyph of Freezing Trap: The effect from this glyph will now log

properly.

Glyph of Healing Wave: The heal from this glyph will no longer

benefit twice from the Purification talent.

Glyph of Overpower: Fixed a bug where sometimes parries would not

trigger the glyph. In addition, this glyph will now only make

Overpower available for 6 seconds after a parry, instead of

indefinitely.

Glyph of Power Word: Shield: The heal from this glyph can now cause

Divine Aegis.

Glyph of Shadow: This glyph can now be triggered by critical strikes

from periodic damage.

Glyph of Shocking: Fixed tooltip error on Macintosh game client.

Glyph of Shadowflame: The effect from this glyph will now work

properly when multiple Warlocks use Shadowflame on the target.

- Gnomish Mind Control Cap: Paladins who break the harmful effect from

this item by using Divine Shield will now properly gain the

Forbearance debuff.

- Goblin Dragon Gun: This item will no longer spam the combat log with

cast messages.

- Heavy Netherweave Net: Using this item no longer causes the user to

break shapeshifts.

- Major Arcane Protection Potion: Vendor price lowered to match other

similar potions.

- Nightsong Battlegear: The 2-piece set bonus will no longer sometimes

be triggered by other periodic damage other than those listed in the

tooltip.

- Pandora’s Plea: Corrected a tooltip issue.

- Randomly generated uncommon (green) and rare (blue) quality items in

Wrath of the Lich King had stat values that were lower than

intended. All Wrath of the Lich King uncommon and rare items with

random suffixes (“of the Bear”) have had their stat values increased

significantly.

- Reins of the Icemaw Matriarch: This vehicle will now leave bear

footprints instead of barefoot footprints.

- Reticulated Armor Webbing: Tooltip corrected to no longer claim that

this item only works on plate items.

- Saronite Bomb: This item will no longer cause threat against nearby

targets just outside the targeting circle.

- Scrolls: Scrolls which grant agility, intellect, spirit, strength,

or stamina will now report an error message and no longer consume

and waste the scroll when the target has a more powerful buff to

that stat.

- Sif’s Remembrance: Sound and animation added to trinket effect.

- Sigil of Arthritic Binding: The bonus damage from this relic is now

added after diseases have increased damage by a percentage, instead

of before.

- Trinkets: Various trinkets which did not work properly with

channeled area-of-effect spells will now work with those spells.

This includes (but is not limited to) Illustration of the Dragon

Soul, Darkmoon Card: Greatness, and Egg of Mortal Essence.

- Warrior PvP Glove Bonus: Tooltip reworded slightly.

- Wintergrasp Commendation: No longer useable when player is already

at the maximum honor allowed.

- Professions

- Enchant Weapon – Black Magic: This enchantment can now be triggered

by some spells it did not previously work with, including Curse of

Agony, Blizzard, and Typhoon.

- Guardian Gloves: Now correctly marked as uncommon quality.

- Events

- Hallow’s End: Putting out fires for this event will no longer

trigger effects from items, talents and set bonuses.

- Noblegarden: Loot windows will no longer periodically close while

the looting player is transformed into a rabbit.

- Technical

- There is a known UI rendering issue with the Intel 965 Mobile

Express chipset drivers on Windows Vista prior to version

7.15.10.1559 (December 2008). Please contact your laptop

manufacturer for an updated driver if you are experiencing

difficulties. In case of continued problems, add the following

lines to the Config.wtf file as a workaround: SET fixedFunction "1".

Come and receive your blessing - blog of the week

Blessing of Kings is a blog kept regularly up to date by level 80 Palladin player, Coriel. It's a mixture of commentary on WoW and Palladin discussions on official and non-official WoW sites, and opinions and observations from the blogger's actual experience. Like this one:

"Crowd Control--by which I mean effects that cause a player to temporarily lose control of her character--is an important part of PvP. It adds a second layer of strategy over just inflicting and healing damage. To make an analogy, Crowd Control is like executing a pin in chess. You prevent a piece from being used, without actually needing to capture it."

Rohan goes on to suggest what the true role of Crowd Control should be in WoW PvP. Other posts, as I mentioned, continue with discussions started on other sites. It's pretty clear this blogger does a lot of reading as well as playing.