Blizzard added a wonderful new reputation system for guilds. This now allows me to reward privileges based on time and effort members put in. I always hated that someone could join Ni & within a week get same rank as 75% of KWSN regulars. A new year is the best time to adjust policies so... Ni Ranking policy Changes are as follows:
Guild Master
Patsy - Officers
Huge Tracts o' Land - Bank
Black Knights - Core Progression Raid Team
Holy hand grenades - Farm Raid Team
Sir Galahad - Members Exalted with Ni
Sir Lancelot - Members Revered with Ni
Sir Bedevere - Members Honored with Ni
Sir Robin - Members Friendly with Ni
The French - Trial / Probation / Inactives
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
High level Deadmines in 1 week!
To celebrate the renovation of Deadmines I thought we'd remember how fun it is now.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I'm Sorry Overachievers =(
It's Official:
Valnoth - Re: On rested exp issue again. Rested experience will be reset at launch. You will start at 0 rested.
Valnoth - Re: On rested exp issue again.& I feel Fine
Just as we've predicted, Deathwing has risen! Here's latest notes! I particularly love the Alchemy Flask comment lol
World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.0.3a
The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.wow-europe.com/en/patchnotes/
The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/un...testrealm.html
The Shattering of Azeroth
In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth's defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King's fall, Azeroth's native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.
Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, erupted from the stone heart of Deepholm, the domain of earth within the Elemental Plane. Jagged fissures were torn across the earth, and monstrous waves pummeled coastal regions. From Thousand Needles to the Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth was reforged through violent upheavals. Now, the Horde and the Alliance must defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, burdened by the unsettling fact that the world as they know it has changed... forever.
Azeroth Shattered
Deathwing's return has had an immeasurable impact throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will notice drastically altered terrain, thousands of new quests from levels 1-55, and updated level ranges for some zones to improve the questing flow.
New Race/Class Combinations
In the wake of a world on the brink of destruction, members of the Horde and Alliance have taken to new cultures and studies, mastering crafts previously foreign to them. Many existing playable races now have new class combinations. Check the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website for a breakdown of the new combinations.
General
Classes: General
Death Knight
Druid
Hunter
Mage
Paladin
Priest
Rogue
Shaman
Warlock
Warrior
Achievements
Items
Professions
Bug Fixes
Known Issues
World of Warcraft Client Patch 4.0.3a
The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.wow-europe.com/en/patchnotes/
The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/un...testrealm.html
The Shattering of Azeroth
In the frigid wastes of Northrend, the final battle against the merciless Lich King ended in victory for Azeroth's defenders. Upon returning home, veterans of the unforgiving conflict against the Scourge were showered with praise for their valiant sacrifices, while the honorable dead were mourned. Yet as hope flared anew in the wake of the Lich King's fall, Azeroth's native elemental spirits grew confused and erratic, setting off a series of deadly natural disasters. Horde and Alliance leaders scrambled for clues about the troubling state of the world, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.
Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, erupted from the stone heart of Deepholm, the domain of earth within the Elemental Plane. Jagged fissures were torn across the earth, and monstrous waves pummeled coastal regions. From Thousand Needles to the Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth was reforged through violent upheavals. Now, the Horde and the Alliance must defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, burdened by the unsettling fact that the world as they know it has changed... forever.
Azeroth Shattered
Deathwing's return has had an immeasurable impact throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will notice drastically altered terrain, thousands of new quests from levels 1-55, and updated level ranges for some zones to improve the questing flow.
New Race/Class Combinations
In the wake of a world on the brink of destruction, members of the Horde and Alliance have taken to new cultures and studies, mastering crafts previously foreign to them. Many existing playable races now have new class combinations. Check the official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website for a breakdown of the new combinations.
General
- The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematic trailer and login screen have been added to the game.
- Experience required to gain levels 71 through 80 has been reduced by 20%, which increases leveling rate by 25%.
Classes: General
- Due to several talent revisions for select classes, druids, paladins, priests, and shaman have had their talent trees reset.
- The damage and healing done by players from levels 1-79 has been retuned, with the base points of almost all spells and abilities reduced. This was done to bring combat times at low levels to a more reasonable length. For most abilities that deal weapon damage, the weapon damage percent now rises per level until level 80, and starts at a lower percent.
- Healing Rain, Efflorescence, Holy Radiance, Holy Word: Sanctuary now have a diminished effect when healing more than 6 players at once.
- Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks, Wound Poison, Widow Venom, Permafrost, Improved Mind Blast, Monstrous Bite, and Legion Strike now reduce healing by 10%, down from 25%.
- Effects which are broken from taking too much damage (Fear, Frost Nova, Entangling Roots, etc.) now break automatically from about half as much damage taken as before.
Death Knight
- Death Pact now heals for 25% of maximum health, down from 40%.
- Death Strike now heals for 25% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, down from 30%, and will heal for a minimum of 7% of maximum health, down from 10%. The tooltip may not yet be updated to reflect this change.
- Icebound Fortitude now provides 20% damage reduction, down from 30% (now 50%, down from 60% when talented), and has a 3-minute cooldown, up from 2 minutes.
Blood- Rune Tap now heals for 10% of maximum health, down from 15%. The tooltip may not yet be updated to reflect this change.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Rune Tap now heals for 5% of maximum health, down from 10%.
Bug Fixes
- Frost Fever critical strikes now apply the correct amount of bonus damage.
Druid
- Bear Form now provides 10% bonus health, down from 20%.
- Nourish no longer consumes Omen of Clarity.
- Rejuvenation has had its mana cost increased by 30%.
- Soothe now has a 1.5-second cast time.
- Swipe (Cat Form) can now be used even if the druid does not have a primary target selected.
- Thorns: beginner tooltip revised to no longer imply the spell could be kept up at all times. In addition, Thorns damage has been reduced by 60%.
Balance- PvP set bonus redesigned. While not in an Eclipse state, critical attacks against the druid restore 5 Solar or 7 Lunar energy, whichever is more beneficial. This effect can only occur once every 6 seconds.
Feral
- Brutal Impact now increases the mana cost of spells on the victim by 5/10% for 10 seconds, down from 15/30%.
- Leader of the Pack now heals for 4%, down from 8%.
- Survival Instincts now provides 50% damage reduction, down from 60%, and its cooldown has been lowered from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
- Swipe (Bear Form) damage has been reduced by 20%.
- Vengeance is no longer cleared on exiting Bear Form, and instead is cleared upon entering Cat Form.
Restoration
- Empowered Touch now procs from Healing Touch as well as Nourish.
Heart of the Wild: the Bear Form Stamina bonus from this talent is now 2/4/6%, down from 3/7/10%. - Malfurion's Gift no longer has Fury of Stormrage as a prerequisite talent.
- Natural Shapeshifter now also increases Tree of Life duration by 5/10 seconds.
- Revitalize is now a 2-point talent, down from 3. It provides a 20% chance to return 1/2% of the druid's total mana on periodic heals from Lifebloom or Rejuvenation. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12 seconds.
- Swift Rejuvenation is now a 1-point talent, down from 2. The global cooldown reduction this talent provides to Rejuvenation remains 0.5 seconds.
- Symbiosis: heal-over-time spells (Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom) can no longer benefit from this Mastery merely by refreshing themselves. A different heal-over-time spell must be present.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Healing Touch now reduces the cooldown on Nature's Swiftness by 10 seconds after using Healing Touch, up from 5 seconds.
- Glyph of the Treant (new) allows druids to keep the original treant Tree of Life look... if they must. Must they?
Bug Fixes
- Blood in the Water now refreshes Rip to the correct value.
- Flight Form now properly appears in the trainer window before Expert Riding is learned.
Hunter
- All special attacks based on weapon damage (except Scattershot) are now normalized.
- Scare Beast is now available at level 36, up from level 14, and has had its training cost updated.
- Deterrence is now available at level 78, up from level 36, and has had its training cost updated.
- Disengage is now available at level 14, down from level 78, and has had its training cost updated.
Glyphs- The level requirements for glyphs that affect Scare Beast, Deterrence, and Disengage have been altered to correspond with the level changes of these abilities.
Bug Fixes- The Core Hound pet ability Ancient Hysteria now places its own unique debuff on affected players that has the same effect as Sated and Exhaustion.
- Certain pets should no longer forget how to Dash.
Mage
- Arcane Blast now increases damage of the next Arcane Blast by 10% per stack, down from 20%, reduces cast time by 0.1 seconds per stack, and increases the mana cost by 150%, down from 175%. In addition, the base cast time of Arcane Blast has been lowered to 2.35 seconds.
- Arcane Explosion now costs 15% of base mana, down from 18%.
- Arcane Missiles damage has been increased by 5%.
- PvP set 4-piece bonus changed to increase damage by 5% instead of providing 5% Haste.
Arcane- Arcane Barrage damage has been increased by 5% and its cooldown is now 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds.
- Arcane Concentration: Now has a much higher chance (13/27/40%) of entering a Clearcasting state. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds. The tooltip still states that there is a 3/6/10% chance, as it averages out to approximately the same chance with the internal cooldown applied.
- Arcane Specialization again increases arcane damage by 25%.
Fire- Blazing Speed no longer dispels movement slowing effects (it still dispels effects that totally stop movement).
- Fire Specialization again increases periodic fire damage effects by 25%.
- Molten Shields now also causes Blazing Speed to dispel movement slowing effects in addition to its current functionality.
- Pyroblast base mana cost is now 17%, down from 22%.
Frost- Deep Freeze: the cooldown on this ability is no longer reduced by Haste.
- Early Frost now reduces Frostbolt cast time by 0.3/0.6 seconds, down from 0.35/0.70 seconds.
- Fingers of Frost proc chance is now 7/14/20%, down from 10/20/30%.
- Frost Specialization again increases all damage against frozen target by 25%.
- Reactive Barrier is now triggered by any damage which causes the mage's health to be below 50%, even if the mage was already below 50%.
- Shatter now also increases Frostbolt damage by 10/20% against frozen targets.
- Shattered Barrier duration is now 2/4 seconds, down from 3/6 seconds.
- Glyph of Evocation now heals for 40%, down from 60%.
- Glyph of Deep Freeze now increases damage done by Deep Freeze by 20% (no longer increases Frostbolt damage against Deep Frozen targets).
Bug Fixes
- Improved Polymorph now correctly shares diminishing returns with controlled stuns.
Paladin
- Exorcism damage has been increased by approximately 50%.
- Holy Radiance now has reduced effectiveness on targets over 8 yards away from the paladin.
- Seal of Truth: periodic damage from Censure reduced by 25%.
Holy- Beacon of Light now lasts 5 minutes, up from 60 seconds.
- Blessed Life: the effects of this talent cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds, up from every 2 seconds.
- Illuminated Healing absorb shield now absorbs 10% of the total amount healed, up from 8%. Each point of Mastery increases the effect by an additional 1.25%, up from 1%.
- Light of dawn has been redesigned. It no longer has an enforced cooldown, now costs Holy Power instead of mana, and scale in direct proportion to the amount of Holy Power used. In addition it now heals the 5 most injured group targets (including self) in a 30-yard frontal cone.
- Protector of the Innocent no longer triggers from self-heals.
Protection
- Divine Bulwark now grants 2.25% less block chance per point of Mastery, up from 2%.
- Holy shield no longer increases chance to block. Instead, it increases the amount blocked by an additional 10%, for a total of 40% damage blocked.
- Shield of the Righteous: Contribution of attack power halved (now 60% with full Holy Power) and base damage brought up so that a level 85 paladin in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no Vengeance, but Vengeance has less impact.
- Shield of the Templar now reduces the cooldown of Guardian of Ancient Kings by 40/80/120 seconds, down from 1/2/3 minutes.
- Wrath of the Lightbringer now increases Crusader Strike and Judgement damage by 50/100%, up from 30/60%.
Retribution
- Crusade now also has a proc on kill to increase the healing done by the paladin's next Holy Light by 100/200/300% for 15 seconds, in addition to its current effects.
- Divine Storm: This ability has been redesigned. It no longer consumes Holy Power and instead costs 5% of base mana. It shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike and hits all nearby enemies for 60% weapon damage.
- Pursuit of Justice now has an 8-second internal cooldown, shared with Blessed Life.
- Rebuke no longer initiates Auto Attack.
- Sanctity of Battle now also causes Divine Storm's cooldown to be reduced by Haste effects.
- Zealotry no longer consumes 3 Holy Power, but still requires 3 Holy Power to use.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Beacon of Light now makes Beacon of Light free, instead of increasing the duration by 30 seconds.
- Glyph of Divinity has been redesigned. It now grants the paladin 10% of maximum mana upon use.
- Glyph of Light of Dawn now increases the total number of most injured targets healed by 1.
Priest
- Binding Heal now provides roughly double the amount of healing.
- Prayer of Healing has had its mana cost reduced by nearly 30% and its base points and Spell Power coefficient increased by 20%.
Discipline- Divine Aegis is now always triggered by Prayer of Healing in addition to critical heals from all other spells.
- Grace has been increased to 4/8% stacking 3 times, up from 2/4% stacking.
- Inner Focus now works with Binding Heal, but no longer works with Heal.
- Power Word: Barrier has been redesigned. It no longer acts as a shared absorb shield. Instead, all affected friendly targets take 30% reduced damage for the duration of the shield, which is now 10 seconds, down from 25 seconds.
Shadow
- Shadow Orbs: redesigned slightly. The Shadow Orbs continue to increase damage done by Mind Blast and Mind Spike and stack up to 3 times, but now when the priest casts Mind Blast or Mind Spike (consuming the orbs), the priest gains a 15-second duration buff (Empowered Shadow), which increases the damage done by all Shadow periodic spells. Empowered Shadow does not stack. Mastery increases the damage bonus of Shadow Orbs and Empowered Shadow by the same amount, 10% with the base 8 Mastery, and an additional 1.25% per Mastery.
- Vampiric Embrace healing to the caster has been reduced to 6%, down from 12% (there was a tooltip error which stated that the self-healing amount was 15%). Party members still receive 3% healing.
Bug Fixes
- Dark Archangel now correctly increases the damage done of certain abilities by 4%.
Rogue
- Deadly Poison base damage and attack power coefficient have been increased by 30%.
- Recuperate now restores 2% of maximum health, down from 3%.
- Venomous Wounds base damage and attack power coefficient have been increased by 30%.
Combat
- Aggression now increases damage of Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Eviscerate by 7/14/20%, up from 5/10/15%.
- Bandit's Guile now gives 10/20/30% increased damage as the rogue gains greater insight, up from 5/10/15%.
Subtlety
- Executioner no longer affects Recuperate.
Bug Fixes
- Bandit's Guile now applies more consistently to all of the abilities it's supposed to modify.
- Player guardians and temporary pets now stop attacking when a rogue uses Vanish, but city guards will not.
Shaman
- Chain Heal mana cost increased from 17% to 20% of base mana.
- Earthliving Weapon now only has 25% of its full chance to proc from a single hop of Chain Heal.
Elemental
- Elemental Reach now also increases Searing Totem range by 7/15 yards.
- Fulmination now has a Spell Alert visual associated with it, which appears when the shaman gets to 9 Lightning Shield charges.
Warlock
- Bane of Agony damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Bane of Doom damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Corruption damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Death Coil damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Drain Life damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Drain Soul damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Immolate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Incinerate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Rain of Fire damage has been increased to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
- Searing Pain damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Seed of Corruption damage has been reduced to be more comparable to other area-of-effect abilities.
- Shadowbolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Soul Fire damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Demonology- Hand of Gul'dan damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Destruction
- Chaos Bolt damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Conflagrate damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
- Shadowburn damage has been reduced by approximately 12%.
Bug Fixes- Drain Life: The Soulburn version of this was charging 17% of base mana instead of 12% like the normal version. This has been corrected.
Warrior
- Cleave damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
- Execute damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
- Heroic Strike damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
- Overpower now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
- Rend base damage has been reduced by approximately 17% and percent of weapon damage per tick lowered to 25%, from 30%.
- Shield Block now only increases block chance by 25%, but excess block that pushes avoidance plus block to over 100% is now converted to critical block chance.
- Slam now costs 15 rage, down from 20, and now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
- Victory Rush damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
- Whirlwind now does 65% weapon damage, down from 75%.
Arms
- Mortal Strike now does 150% weapon damage, down from 185%.
- Second Wind now heals for 2/5% of total health, down from 5/10%.
- Strikes of Opportunity now does 100% weapon damage, down from 115%.
Fury
- Blood Craze now heals for 1/2/3% of total health, down from 2.5/5/7.5%.
- Bloodthirst damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
- Raging Blow now does 110% weapon damage, down from 150%.
- Unshackled Fury now gains approximately 50% more benefit per point of Mastery.
Protection
- Critical Block now grants an equal amount of block chance and critical block chance (1.5% each per point of Mastery).
- Devastate no longer provides bonus threat.
- Shield Slam: Contribution of attack power reduced to 60%, down from 75%, and base damage brought up so that a level 85 warrior in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no Vengeance, but Vengeance has less impact. In addition, Shield Slam no longer generates 30% bonus threat from its damage.
- Vigilance no longer provides 3% damage reduction, but still refreshes Taunt and provides Vengeance.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Bloody Healing increases the healing received from Bloodthirst by 40%, down from 100%.
- Glyph of Intimidating Shout no longer causes targets to flee slowly, but roots them instead.
- Glyph of Shield Wall increases damage reduction to 60%, but increases the cooldown from 2 minutes to 4 minutes (talented).
Bug Fixes
- Taste for Blood should once again proc on every other tick of Rend.
Achievements
- The Gladiator reward mounts now award Master Riding.
- What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been now awards Master Riding.
Items
- Mysterious Egg now takes only 3 days to turn into a Cracked Egg and has a slightly greater chance of awarding the Reins of the Green Proto-Drake.
- PvP set bonuses now provide 70 of stats such as Agility, Intellect, and Strength (down from 100) at 2 pieces, and 180 of these stats (down from 300) at 4 pieces.
Professions
- Perfect Gem Cutting and Mixology have been removed as trainable skills and are instead passives profession abilities. When players reach the appropriate skill levels, they will start getting bonuses from Mixology (they must know the recipe to gain the benefit) and/or cutting perfect gems (depending on their profession, of course).
Alchemy
- Alchemy recipes now require Crystal Vials. Deathwing broke all the others because he's mean (or because he didn't want alchemists to carry 5 different vials around with them).
Engineering
- The Engineering Tinkering enchants will no longer provide their bonus stats, but the activated effects will stack with other enchants. In 4.0.1 the stats were there (but hidden) and are now removed.
Bug Fixes
- Several epic gem transmutes that were missing from the trainer have been added back.
Bug Fixes
- Certain area-of-effect abilities are no longer ignoring the area-of-effect damage cap.
- Mobs and NPCs should no longer appear to randomly gain or lose health during combat.
- Re-summoning pets in Battlegrounds should no longer count towards a player's total healing done.
Known Issues
- Some tooltips may not reflect the most recent changes to certain abilities.
- Worgen hunters are currently unable to learn Dual Wield.
- The achievement Explore Tol Barad will not be possible to complete upon release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Dear Kingslayers
Being a guild leader isn't always an easy task. There's almost always some kind of Drama going on, it can be expensive, and it's very time consuming. Guild leaders are councilors, parents, teachers, judges, law enforcers, book keepers, negotiators, bankers, jugglers, and coordinators. We go in with the job of leading our troops to complete major objectives knowing it's going to be an uphill battle everyday. We have to keep "the good of the guild" above everything which means we make hard decisions that WILL make people mad... sometimes those people being friends. When things go bad, people look to you... when people don't get their way, people blame you...
For all these downsides there are huge payoffs. You meet incredible people who become friends and family. They give you atleast 2 nights a week to fight to accomplish the goal you give them. They schedule real life to accommodate when you need them whenever they can. They put in long hours and late nights. Then in the end, after you and them have put in blood, sweat & tears... bickered and grumbled at each other... you all get paid.
Thank you all who have worked so hard this year, not just the Lich King kill, but every boss along the way. You have definitely made the good outweigh the bad!
For all these downsides there are huge payoffs. You meet incredible people who become friends and family. They give you atleast 2 nights a week to fight to accomplish the goal you give them. They schedule real life to accommodate when you need them whenever they can. They put in long hours and late nights. Then in the end, after you and them have put in blood, sweat & tears... bickered and grumbled at each other... you all get paid.
Thank you all who have worked so hard this year, not just the Lich King kill, but every boss along the way. You have definitely made the good outweigh the bad!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
6th Anniversary of Warcraft soon!
World of Warcraft is celebrating it's 6th anniversary on November 23rd, 2010! Any player logging in between November 30th and December 14th will receive the WoW's 6th Anniversary Feat of Strength. Be sure to grab it on all your toons!
Blizzard said: World of Warcraft turns six on November 23rd, 2010! It’s been a truly incredible six years, and we’d like to thank you all for joining us on this momentous occasion. To celebrate, players that log into the game between the dates of November 30th and December 14th will receive a feat of strength added to their Achievements. We look forward to another great year ahead and many more to come!
Unfortunately, it does not seem yet as though there will be any other rewards for this event, such as the Onyxian Whelpling and Baby Blizzard Bear offered in previous years.Daxxarri said: There isn't a pet planned for this year, no. We plan to reserve this sort of celebratory bonus for the most notable milestones or events in the future.
Oh well, maybe something interesting will still happen... like the end of the world? ;)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Happy Veterans Day
A big thanks goes out to all our Ni Veterans! I know alot of Ni have/are serving in the military. Ragna representing Marines, Wisky representing Army, and many more covering Navy, Airforce, National Guard have all passed through Ni. Our current most represented branch is the Coast Guard. Pirtuk, Toomey & Aislyn all are/have served. So remember hug a Ni Veteran today!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Blizzcon Broken Leg
Here's video of the kid breaking his leg during the dance competition. The poor guy actually broke a ligament & required surgery!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Download without Pre-Order!
From WoW Insider:
NOTE: Blizzard has approved use of this method. It is not against the ToS, EULA, or any other acronym.
Pre-orders for the Cataclysm digital upgrade are officially open, and you can start downloading the remainder of the expansion's data the moment your purchase goes through. But what if you're awaiting a Collector's Edition or you don't have the money to upgrade online right now? You don't want to be left waiting for Cataclysm to download and install on launch night.
Thankfully, we've got you covered. There's an easy way to preload all the data you'll need to play Cataclysm the moment it goes live on midnight Dec. 7. Just follow these easy steps:
Remember: This will only give you the necessary files to play Cataclysm. It will not upgrade your account and you will not be able to access Cataclysm features. You still need to buy the game if you want to play on launch day.
NOTE: Blizzard has approved use of this method. It is not against the ToS, EULA, or any other acronym.
Pre-orders for the Cataclysm digital upgrade are officially open, and you can start downloading the remainder of the expansion's data the moment your purchase goes through. But what if you're awaiting a Collector's Edition or you don't have the money to upgrade online right now? You don't want to be left waiting for Cataclysm to download and install on launch night.
Thankfully, we've got you covered. There's an easy way to preload all the data you'll need to play Cataclysm the moment it goes live on midnight Dec. 7. Just follow these easy steps:
- Make sure World of Warcraft and/or the launcher and background downloader are completely closed.
- Open up your World of Warcraft folder.
- Open Launcher.wtf in Notepad and change the "accountType" line from LK to CT.
- Open Config.wtf in Notepad and change the "accountType" line from LK to CT.
Remember: This will only give you the necessary files to play Cataclysm. It will not upgrade your account and you will not be able to access Cataclysm features. You still need to buy the game if you want to play on launch day.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Good News Hunters!
Original article here
Beta build 13221 went live on beta servers last night, pushing through many much-requested buffs to the hunter class as well as many bug fixes. Most classes received a slew of numbers tweaks in the latest build, and hunters were no exception. But in addition to the coefficient changes, hunters saw some significant pet changes that could have an impact on endgame gameplay.
The highlights of hunter changes include:
Beast Mastery
Blizzard made a change to the healing reduction debuff across the board in this beta build, reducing it down to 10 percent from all sources of the debuff. So while hunter healing reduction through Widow Venom and Monstrous Bite is decreasing, the same debuff from all other classes is also going down. This is no doubt due to the same reason Blizzard reduced it from 50 percent to 25 percent at the beginning of the beta: to make PvP a bit more flexible. This way, the devs don't have to design abilities assuming that the healing debuff will be on every target, and PvP teams don't feel they "have" to have a Mortal Strike class.
Another not-nerf -- and I cannot stress this enough: Steady Shot is not changing at all. This is only a tooltip update. Steady Shot has been hovering right around that 2.1percent coefficient for at least the last couple of months, and that is exactly the coefficient that went live with patch 4.0.1. Again, this is just Blizzard's finally updating the clientside tooltip to reflect reality. Steady Shot damage is not going down.
Crit immunity for tenacity pets
The change to Grace of the Mantis is a minor one for the vast majority of gameplay but a huge one for extreme soloing or pet tanking. Raid bosses have a 5.6 percent chance to crit their target, and Grace of the Mantis only reduced crit chance by a maximum of 4 percent. In Wrath, hunters managed the extra 1.6 percent crit reduction for their pets by stacking resilience gear. With the changes to resilience in Cataclysm, that is no longer an option.
Now, however, hunter pets will once again be able to attain raid boss crit immunity. This leaves the door open for extreme pet tanking in Cataclysm.
Worm is the BM AOE
The change to the worm pet's Burrow ability is a pretty huge one. The worm now does very respectable AoE DPS -- far more than Multi-Shot does. Previously, BM really suffered in the AoE department as the only hunter spec with no talents or abilities that bolstered their AoE abilities. BM hunters can now AoE far more effectively, and very appropriately, they do it through their pet.
Other functionality changes to Burrow seem to be that the pet will now continue its single-target attack while burrowed; however, the pet is not on the aggro tabled while burrowed. This means that if the worm pet is tanking, it will lose all aggro while underground. Despite being a tenacity pet, it seems the worm is not a tanking pet.
Beta build 13221 went live on beta servers last night, pushing through many much-requested buffs to the hunter class as well as many bug fixes. Most classes received a slew of numbers tweaks in the latest build, and hunters were no exception. But in addition to the coefficient changes, hunters saw some significant pet changes that could have an impact on endgame gameplay.
The highlights of hunter changes include:
- damage increased for all hunter signature shots (Kill Command, Chimera Shot and Explosive Shot)
- hunter pets now capable of becoming boss crit-immune
- BM worm pet AoE buffed to a powerful level
Beast Mastery
- Widow Venom now reduces healing by 10%, down from 25%.
- Kill Command now deals 43% of RAP + 848 damage, up from 35% of RAP + 772.
- Steady Shot tooltip updated to reflect scaling of 2.1% of RAP, rather than 10%.
- Chimera Shot now deals 28.8% of RAP + 973, up from 24% of RAP + 401.
- Explosive Shot now scales from 22% of RAP, up from 18%.
- Demoralizing Screech (Carrion Bird) no longer deals damage or reduces attack power. Instead, it reduces the physical damage dealt by all enemies within 8 yards by 10% for 10 seconds.
- Froststorm Breath (Chimera) base damage reduced from 244 to 41.
- Monstrous Bite (Devilsaur) now reduces healing by 10%, down from 25%.
- Burrow Attack (Worm) now scales from 76.8% of RAP + 1432 damage, up from 9.6% RAP + 257.
- Grace of the Mantis now reduces chance to be hit by 3/6%, up from 2/4%.
- Bug where hunter pet raid debuffs would not auto-cast to refresh while the debuff was up has been fixed.
Blizzard made a change to the healing reduction debuff across the board in this beta build, reducing it down to 10 percent from all sources of the debuff. So while hunter healing reduction through Widow Venom and Monstrous Bite is decreasing, the same debuff from all other classes is also going down. This is no doubt due to the same reason Blizzard reduced it from 50 percent to 25 percent at the beginning of the beta: to make PvP a bit more flexible. This way, the devs don't have to design abilities assuming that the healing debuff will be on every target, and PvP teams don't feel they "have" to have a Mortal Strike class.
Another not-nerf -- and I cannot stress this enough: Steady Shot is not changing at all. This is only a tooltip update. Steady Shot has been hovering right around that 2.1percent coefficient for at least the last couple of months, and that is exactly the coefficient that went live with patch 4.0.1. Again, this is just Blizzard's finally updating the clientside tooltip to reflect reality. Steady Shot damage is not going down.
Crit immunity for tenacity pets
The change to Grace of the Mantis is a minor one for the vast majority of gameplay but a huge one for extreme soloing or pet tanking. Raid bosses have a 5.6 percent chance to crit their target, and Grace of the Mantis only reduced crit chance by a maximum of 4 percent. In Wrath, hunters managed the extra 1.6 percent crit reduction for their pets by stacking resilience gear. With the changes to resilience in Cataclysm, that is no longer an option.
Now, however, hunter pets will once again be able to attain raid boss crit immunity. This leaves the door open for extreme pet tanking in Cataclysm.
Worm is the BM AOE
The change to the worm pet's Burrow ability is a pretty huge one. The worm now does very respectable AoE DPS -- far more than Multi-Shot does. Previously, BM really suffered in the AoE department as the only hunter spec with no talents or abilities that bolstered their AoE abilities. BM hunters can now AoE far more effectively, and very appropriately, they do it through their pet.
Other functionality changes to Burrow seem to be that the pet will now continue its single-target attack while burrowed; however, the pet is not on the aggro tabled while burrowed. This means that if the worm pet is tanking, it will lose all aggro while underground. Despite being a tenacity pet, it seems the worm is not a tanking pet.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Orgrimmar Night
Saturday night was an amazing PVP night for Ni. The Alliance forces took over and held control of Orgrimmar for 2 hours resulting in a city wide disconnect. Not only do I personally thank each Ni who participated in helping represent Ni and the Alliance in this battle, we also got a thank you from the big man himself!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Blizzcon 2010!
Diablo Fans of Ni, an announcement was made during opening ceremonies about Diablo! The newest playable class will be Demon Hunters! Also there will be Arena style PVP!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Horseman Rise!
Hallows End has begun! A few guides are out that can help explain things a bit if you're a first timer.
Wowhead's Guide
wow.joystiq.com's guide
Also BEWARE! Just like the mage tables, there's currently a 50% chance of being disconnected if you click any Summoning/Portal Gear Icon. To summon the Headless Horseman you have to use one! It's been suggested to get a DPS to summon him to avoid Tank D/C'ing. Good Luck and Happy Hallows Eve!
Wowhead's Guide
wow.joystiq.com's guide
Also BEWARE! Just like the mage tables, there's currently a 50% chance of being disconnected if you click any Summoning/Portal Gear Icon. To summon the Headless Horseman you have to use one! It's been suggested to get a DPS to summon him to avoid Tank D/C'ing. Good Luck and Happy Hallows Eve!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Check for Updates to Add-ons
Lots of updates are continuing to roll in every few hours so keep your eye out before you log. Known updates include recount, clique, bartender, mage nuggets, decursive & digits!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Lich King Strat Video
While waiting on patchlysm to finally work, take time to rewatch Strategy video for Big Daddy Arthas. Learn the fight without the repair bill!
Extended Maintenance
As we all expected all servers have had maintenance extended until 4pm Server time. Any new information I'll post as I get. Patch installation is taking a very long time, followed by an additional patch. As it looks, This weeks weekly will be rescheduled and I'll see you all on vent. =P
Stat Changes
Another Official Blue Post on Stat changes:
We've previously unveiled some of the stat changes that are coming with Cataclysm ( http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12730425011 ), including stat alterations, stat removals, or changes to how they're obtained. This is an update to that preview intended to explain the actual changes and to detail what everyone will be seeing on their characters.
Stat Changes
Stamina - Due to the assigning of Strength, Agility, and Intellect, non-plate wearers have more Stamina than before. Health pools are now much closer between plate-wearers and other classes.
Spirit - This stat should only be found on healing gear. Non-healing casters have other systems in place to regenerate mana.
Intellect - Intellect now grants Spell Power and increases your Critical Strike chance with spells.
Haste - Haste should now be more attractive for melee classes by allowing them to recover resources such as rage, energy, and runes more quickly. Our intention is for Haste to let you "do stuff" more often.
Parry - Parry provides the same avoidance as Dodge, and you'll receive a percentage of your strength as Parry Rating.
Mastery - This is a new stat that will allow players to become better at whatever makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. It's directly tied to talents, so what you gain from improving this stat is entirely dependent upon your class and the talent specialization you choose. We’ll talk more about specific Mastery benefits in the future.
Armor - The amount of bonus Armor received per stat point on items has been drastically reduced, and Armor is no longer given by Agility. In addition, Armor now better mitigates differences among Armor types so that protection from mail, leather, and cloth is much closer to that of plate.
Resilience - This now only affects damage done by players and their pets. It will not impact crit chance, crit damage, mana drains, or other such effects.
Removed From Items
Attack Power - This stat is rarely present on items, although it is derived from other stats. Strength and Agility, which are present on items, grant the appropriate amount of Attack Power (generally 2 Attack Power per point of Strength or Agility) depending upon which stat a particular class favors.
Block Rating - Block has been redesigned to scale better. Blocked attacks will simply hit for 30% less damage. Block Rating is no longer given out directly as a stat. Instead, Mastery for Protection paladins and Protection warriors increases the chance to block.
Spell Power - Spell Power is no longer present on most items. Instead, as mentioned above, Intellect now grants Spell Power. One exception is that caster weapons still have Spell Power. This allows us to make weapons proportionately more powerful for casters in the same way they are for melee classes.
Armor Penetration - This stat is no longer present on items. Armor Penetration still exists in talents and abilities.
Shield Block Value - There are some effects that increase the Block value by a percentage, but this does not exist as a stat.
Removed From the Game
MP5 - This stat no longer exists in the game. Holy paladins and Restoration shaman have been redesigned to benefit from Spirit.
Defense - Defense is now removed from the game. Tanking classes will become uncrittable versus creatures by shifting into Defensive Stance, Blood Presence, or Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.
Spell Ranks - Spell ranks now cease to exist. All spells have one rank and will scale appropriately by caster level. The levels at which you can learn certain spells have been changed in order to fill in some of the gaps, and there are many new spells to learn along the way as well.
Weapon Skill - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Classes will start with all the weapon skills they need to know and will not need to improve them.
What Else You Should Know
Combat ratings - Ratings are much harder to "cap out" at maximum gear levels. Ratings are steeper in Cataclysm, and creatures in later tiers of content will be harder to hit or crit, similar to how level-83 mobs are harder to hit or crit than level-80 mobs.
Reforging - This new itemization customization feature allows you to partially change the stats on an item. You can reduce the value of an existing stat on an item, and add an equivalent amount of another stat that was not already present on the item. This makes it far easier to reach important thresholds like the Hit Rating and Expertise Rating caps.
[ Post edited by Vaneras ]
We've previously unveiled some of the stat changes that are coming with Cataclysm ( http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12730425011 ), including stat alterations, stat removals, or changes to how they're obtained. This is an update to that preview intended to explain the actual changes and to detail what everyone will be seeing on their characters.
Stat Changes
Stamina - Due to the assigning of Strength, Agility, and Intellect, non-plate wearers have more Stamina than before. Health pools are now much closer between plate-wearers and other classes.
Spirit - This stat should only be found on healing gear. Non-healing casters have other systems in place to regenerate mana.
Intellect - Intellect now grants Spell Power and increases your Critical Strike chance with spells.
Haste - Haste should now be more attractive for melee classes by allowing them to recover resources such as rage, energy, and runes more quickly. Our intention is for Haste to let you "do stuff" more often.
Parry - Parry provides the same avoidance as Dodge, and you'll receive a percentage of your strength as Parry Rating.
Mastery - This is a new stat that will allow players to become better at whatever makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. It's directly tied to talents, so what you gain from improving this stat is entirely dependent upon your class and the talent specialization you choose. We’ll talk more about specific Mastery benefits in the future.
Armor - The amount of bonus Armor received per stat point on items has been drastically reduced, and Armor is no longer given by Agility. In addition, Armor now better mitigates differences among Armor types so that protection from mail, leather, and cloth is much closer to that of plate.
Resilience - This now only affects damage done by players and their pets. It will not impact crit chance, crit damage, mana drains, or other such effects.
Removed From Items
Attack Power - This stat is rarely present on items, although it is derived from other stats. Strength and Agility, which are present on items, grant the appropriate amount of Attack Power (generally 2 Attack Power per point of Strength or Agility) depending upon which stat a particular class favors.
Block Rating - Block has been redesigned to scale better. Blocked attacks will simply hit for 30% less damage. Block Rating is no longer given out directly as a stat. Instead, Mastery for Protection paladins and Protection warriors increases the chance to block.
Spell Power - Spell Power is no longer present on most items. Instead, as mentioned above, Intellect now grants Spell Power. One exception is that caster weapons still have Spell Power. This allows us to make weapons proportionately more powerful for casters in the same way they are for melee classes.
Armor Penetration - This stat is no longer present on items. Armor Penetration still exists in talents and abilities.
Shield Block Value - There are some effects that increase the Block value by a percentage, but this does not exist as a stat.
Removed From the Game
MP5 - This stat no longer exists in the game. Holy paladins and Restoration shaman have been redesigned to benefit from Spirit.
Defense - Defense is now removed from the game. Tanking classes will become uncrittable versus creatures by shifting into Defensive Stance, Blood Presence, or Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.
Spell Ranks - Spell ranks now cease to exist. All spells have one rank and will scale appropriately by caster level. The levels at which you can learn certain spells have been changed in order to fill in some of the gaps, and there are many new spells to learn along the way as well.
Weapon Skill - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Classes will start with all the weapon skills they need to know and will not need to improve them.
What Else You Should Know
Combat ratings - Ratings are much harder to "cap out" at maximum gear levels. Ratings are steeper in Cataclysm, and creatures in later tiers of content will be harder to hit or crit, similar to how level-83 mobs are harder to hit or crit than level-80 mobs.
Reforging - This new itemization customization feature allows you to partially change the stats on an item. You can reduce the value of an existing stat on an item, and add an equivalent amount of another stat that was not already present on the item. This makes it far easier to reach important thresholds like the Hit Rating and Expertise Rating caps.
[ Post edited by Vaneras ]
Guild UI Changes
From Official Blue post:
Guilds are a pillar of the World of Warcraft community. Whether you’re a dedicated raider or part of an easy-going leveling guild, we’ve made a number of changes to improve your guild experience. In patch 4.0.1, players will find that guilds are no longer part of the Social window, but instead have been given their own dedicated user interface (default: J). This interface has been completely redesigned to increase efficiency, aesthetic appeal, and ease of navigation for all guild members.
For this post, we'll be examining three core features: the professions roster, guild news and upcoming events, and improved guild controls. While the new interface contains a wealth of awesome improvements, we feel these features in particular deserve to be highlighted. This also gives us a chance to provide a bit of additional clarification.
Profession Roster
Under the "Roster" tab in the new Guild window, players will now be able to view the professions of all guild members.
All primary professions will be listed in the professions roster alphabetically and guild members with at least one active primary profession will be placed within the roster according to their current professions. Members of the guild will be able to search for guild recipes, patterns, blueprints, and schematics in two ways (for the purpose of the post, going forward all professions' spells will be referred to as "recipes"):
* By player. When a profession's section in the roster is expanded, all guild members with the profession will be listed along with their skill level and current zone. Clicking on the guild member's name will open up a separate window listing all their known recipes. Players will be able to filter this list by slot (head, shoulder, etc), sub-class (item enhancement, modification, weapon type, etc), materials, and whether or not the recipe will provide a skill-up.
* By recipe. Players will also be able to search all guild recipes by clicking on the "View All" option next to the profession name in the roster. This will open up a separate window that will list all known recipes for that profession in the guild. Once the particular recipe is found, the player will simply need to click on "View Crafters" to see who in the guild can craft that particular item. If any of the eligible guild crafters are online, the player will be able to send that crafter a message by clicking on the guild member's name.
As with searching by player, the same filter options will be available.
Guild News and Upcoming Events
We’ve also made it easier than ever to plan guild events and keep up with the latest happenings in your guild organisation.
* Guild news. Guild news will include guild achievements, member achievements, raid encounters, epic items crafted, looted or purchased, and guild levels. These news items will appear in reverse chronological order, organized by date, in the Guild News window and can be filtered according to news type to fit a player's preference. The Guild Message of the Day will also display in the Guild News tab at the top of the window.
* Upcoming events. Guild members with the appropriate permissions will now be able to create guild-specific events and announcements. Guild events and announcements will function similarly to normal events and can be scheduled through the in-game calendar or guild window. Unlike normal events, however, these events and announcements will be viewable by all guild members, displaying both in the default "Guild" tab under "Guild News and Events" and in the "Info" tab under "Events." This feature will help ensure that all guild members are aware of scheduled activities and important information.
New and Improved Guild Controls
Last but not least, we'll be adding more functionality to guild management.
* Streamlined guild rank controls. Guild Masters will now be able to add, remove, raise, or lower guild ranks, as well as rename them on the fly.
* Improved permissions interface. Guild ranks, rank permissions, and bank tab permissions will now be managed in separate windows. We've also added new permission options and better organisation, allowing Guild Masters greater control over a rank's access to certain guild and bank features.
* A new Battle.net Authenticator permission. Security-conscious Guild Masters will now be able to add a permission to certain guild ranks that will require all members in that rank to have an authenticator associated with their Battle.net account.
With respect to the new Battle.net Authenticator permission, there are certain restrictions Guild Masters should keep in mind.
* You will be unable to promote or demote players to ranks that require an Authenticator if they do not have one associated with their Battle.net account. If you attempt to promote/demote a player without an Authenticator to a rank that features this permission restriction, you'll be given the option to either move the player to the next eligible rank or cancel. (Please note that it may take a few days for a new Authenticator to be recognised by the guild controls.)
* If a player is in a guild rank that requires an Authenticator, but then removes the Authenticator from their Battle.net account, they will be automatically demoted to the next eligible rank.
* The Authenticator requirement cannot be assigned to the lowest (Initiate) and highest (Guild Master) guild ranks or to a rank that is currently in use.
A Look to the Future
Keep in mind that this is only a taste of what's to come and additional features (like guild rewards) will be available once Cataclysm launches. We'll also be revealing more information about guild leveling and reputation as 4.0.3 draws closer, so stay tuned!
Community Team - English
Guilds are a pillar of the World of Warcraft community. Whether you’re a dedicated raider or part of an easy-going leveling guild, we’ve made a number of changes to improve your guild experience. In patch 4.0.1, players will find that guilds are no longer part of the Social window, but instead have been given their own dedicated user interface (default: J). This interface has been completely redesigned to increase efficiency, aesthetic appeal, and ease of navigation for all guild members.
For this post, we'll be examining three core features: the professions roster, guild news and upcoming events, and improved guild controls. While the new interface contains a wealth of awesome improvements, we feel these features in particular deserve to be highlighted. This also gives us a chance to provide a bit of additional clarification.
Profession Roster
Under the "Roster" tab in the new Guild window, players will now be able to view the professions of all guild members.
All primary professions will be listed in the professions roster alphabetically and guild members with at least one active primary profession will be placed within the roster according to their current professions. Members of the guild will be able to search for guild recipes, patterns, blueprints, and schematics in two ways (for the purpose of the post, going forward all professions' spells will be referred to as "recipes"):
* By player. When a profession's section in the roster is expanded, all guild members with the profession will be listed along with their skill level and current zone. Clicking on the guild member's name will open up a separate window listing all their known recipes. Players will be able to filter this list by slot (head, shoulder, etc), sub-class (item enhancement, modification, weapon type, etc), materials, and whether or not the recipe will provide a skill-up.
* By recipe. Players will also be able to search all guild recipes by clicking on the "View All" option next to the profession name in the roster. This will open up a separate window that will list all known recipes for that profession in the guild. Once the particular recipe is found, the player will simply need to click on "View Crafters" to see who in the guild can craft that particular item. If any of the eligible guild crafters are online, the player will be able to send that crafter a message by clicking on the guild member's name.
As with searching by player, the same filter options will be available.
Guild News and Upcoming Events
We’ve also made it easier than ever to plan guild events and keep up with the latest happenings in your guild organisation.
* Guild news. Guild news will include guild achievements, member achievements, raid encounters, epic items crafted, looted or purchased, and guild levels. These news items will appear in reverse chronological order, organized by date, in the Guild News window and can be filtered according to news type to fit a player's preference. The Guild Message of the Day will also display in the Guild News tab at the top of the window.
* Upcoming events. Guild members with the appropriate permissions will now be able to create guild-specific events and announcements. Guild events and announcements will function similarly to normal events and can be scheduled through the in-game calendar or guild window. Unlike normal events, however, these events and announcements will be viewable by all guild members, displaying both in the default "Guild" tab under "Guild News and Events" and in the "Info" tab under "Events." This feature will help ensure that all guild members are aware of scheduled activities and important information.
New and Improved Guild Controls
Last but not least, we'll be adding more functionality to guild management.
* Streamlined guild rank controls. Guild Masters will now be able to add, remove, raise, or lower guild ranks, as well as rename them on the fly.
* Improved permissions interface. Guild ranks, rank permissions, and bank tab permissions will now be managed in separate windows. We've also added new permission options and better organisation, allowing Guild Masters greater control over a rank's access to certain guild and bank features.
* A new Battle.net Authenticator permission. Security-conscious Guild Masters will now be able to add a permission to certain guild ranks that will require all members in that rank to have an authenticator associated with their Battle.net account.
With respect to the new Battle.net Authenticator permission, there are certain restrictions Guild Masters should keep in mind.
* You will be unable to promote or demote players to ranks that require an Authenticator if they do not have one associated with their Battle.net account. If you attempt to promote/demote a player without an Authenticator to a rank that features this permission restriction, you'll be given the option to either move the player to the next eligible rank or cancel. (Please note that it may take a few days for a new Authenticator to be recognised by the guild controls.)
* If a player is in a guild rank that requires an Authenticator, but then removes the Authenticator from their Battle.net account, they will be automatically demoted to the next eligible rank.
* The Authenticator requirement cannot be assigned to the lowest (Initiate) and highest (Guild Master) guild ranks or to a rank that is currently in use.
A Look to the Future
Keep in mind that this is only a taste of what's to come and additional features (like guild rewards) will be available once Cataclysm launches. We'll also be revealing more information about guild leveling and reputation as 4.0.3 draws closer, so stay tuned!
Community Team - English
BIG Patch Day!
Knights Who Say Ni hold onto your shrubberies because we have a HUGE patch install today! Wowhead's guide is a very good explanation of current & future changes from their post:
World of Warcraft Patch 4.0.1, dubbed "Cataclysm Systems," is the second to last major patch before the Cataclysm hits - and it's definitely major! In this patch, many aspects of the game are drastically changing to adopt the new systems which will be used in the Cataclysm expansion world. Bear in mind, however, that the world itself will not be changing - not yet, at least. Blizzard states that the following will be implemented/changed:
Check out the Spells, Talents and Mastery section of our Cataclysm Guide for more detailed information!
On the PvP side, Arena Season 8 will end with 4.0 — all Arena, Honor, any leftover Battleground marks, Stone Keeper's Shard and any other PvP tokens will be converted into the new version of Honor Points. Any items that were sold for any of the old PvP points/tokens will have their costs converted new Honor Points system.
Both Justice Points and Honor Points will have a soft cap — you can go over the cap on the original conversion, but at a later point in time a hard cap will be introduced in a content patch. Any excess points after the hard cap is introduced will be converted to gold, which will be received via the mail system.Emblems → Gold
Patch 4.0.1 Guide: Cataclysm Systems
Welcome to our Patch 4.0.1 guide!
If you're looking for info on Patch 4.0.1, this is the place to be. While you're here, don't forget to check out our other info sources!- Official Patch Notes
- Wowinterface's Addon Survival Guide
Blizzard said: As the Cataclysm draws ever closer, patch 4.0.1 will pave the way for the transition into the latest expansion. Players will gain access to a host of new systems features.
The next (and last) major patch before the Cataclysm expansion hits will be Patch 4.0.3, "The Shattering." This patch will include all of the world changes, including major topographical changes, new quests, and more! Archaeology will be implemented, the guild leveling system will be fully implemented and most all level 1-80 Cataclysm changes will happen. Players will not be able to create Goblin or Worgen characters, progress past level 80 or fly in Azeroth, however, until a Cataclysm key has been activated on their account.- Classes: revamped talent trees, updated hunter pet system, new druid, hunter, paladin, and warlock resources, new Mastery stat
- User Interface: improved Spellbook, new Guild display options, updated PvP interface, expanded and enhanced Professions tab
- Systems: glyph updates including all-new Prime glyphs, new Reforging ability to customize item stats, new PvP and PvE currency system
- And much more!
Blizzard said: Patch 4.0.3: The Shattering
Shortly before Cataclysm launches, Azeroth as you know it will be changed forever. Patch 4.0.3 will bring with it cataclysmic changes to the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will be able to find new and exciting sights to see and quests to do in the level 1-60 zones, all-new troll and gnome introductory experiences, redesigned capital cities, new race/class combinations, and more!
The World of Warcraft is changing drastically and we wanted to give you guys a review of everything you have to look forward to (or brace yourself for) with tomorrow's patch, Patch 4.0.1.Shortly before Cataclysm launches, Azeroth as you know it will be changed forever. Patch 4.0.3 will bring with it cataclysmic changes to the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Players will be able to find new and exciting sights to see and quests to do in the level 1-60 zones, all-new troll and gnome introductory experiences, redesigned capital cities, new race/class combinations, and more!
Table of Contents
Classes
All classes are having their skills and talents changed. Blizzard has stated that some classes may feel underpowered or may be lacking what was once a key ability until a later level. This period prior to Cataclysm is intended to allow for players to become familiar with the changes and I'm sure Blizzard will continue to make changes and adjustments to classes in the upcoming month and a half prior to Cataclysm's release in order to fine-tune the classes further.Revamped Talent Trees
- Talent trees have been drastically condensed
- Players will now have a total of 41 points at level 85 to spend (36 points at level 80)
- Each talent tree now has a corresponding specialization
- Players will learn special skills based on the specialization they have chosen
- Players will be able to train their specialization's Mastery at level 80
- The effect of a specialization's Mastery can be increased with gear boosting the new Mastery statistic
- Level 10 (first point)
- Levels 11, 13, 15, ..., 77, 79 (odd levels)
- Levels 81, 82, 83, 84, 85 (Cataclysm levels)
Check out the Spells, Talents and Mastery section of our Cataclysm Guide for more detailed information!Class Changes
Blizzard has recently released a fairly concise run-down of major class changes we can expect with Patch 4.0.1! Screenshots and links have been added for further clarification. Of course, every class has had major spell and talent changes so be sure to review the detailed Class Changes section of our Cataclysm Guide and check out our updated Talent Calculator!Blizzard said: Patch 4.0.1 will bring about major changes to all World of Warcraft classes, including sweeping talent tree revamps, altered spells, and improved abilities. We wanted to go over some of the more complex changes that are being made. If your class isn't listed here, it does not mean we didn't spend as much time on it -- the class will still receive a broad range of updates to talents, spells, and abilities -- we simply feel that these mechanics merit additional explanation.
Death Knights
Blizzard said: Runes
The way in which runes regenerate has been changed. Rather than each rune type (Blood, Frost, Unholy) regenerating simultaneously, they now fill sequentially. For example, if you use two Blood runes, then the first rune will fill up before the second one starts to fill up. You essentially have three sets of runes filling every 10 seconds instead of six individual runes filling every 10 seconds. This allows the death knight rotation to be more forgiving, so that the player can take advantage of things like ability procs or respond to movement. This system makes it a little easier to get back on track without six separate runes now "out of sync" from the standard rotation.
You're a Bloody Tank
The time has come to dedicate a death knight talent tree to tanking, and that is what is in store for the Blood tree. We felt that we could offer a more focused and polished tanking tree rather than having to scatter similar tools throughout the trees. This also allows us to really focus the other trees into more flavorful damage-dealing specializations.
Runic Empowerment
This mechanic allows for runes which were on cooldown to instantly activate, which prevents the rotation from becoming too predictable and boring.
The way in which runes regenerate has been changed. Rather than each rune type (Blood, Frost, Unholy) regenerating simultaneously, they now fill sequentially. For example, if you use two Blood runes, then the first rune will fill up before the second one starts to fill up. You essentially have three sets of runes filling every 10 seconds instead of six individual runes filling every 10 seconds. This allows the death knight rotation to be more forgiving, so that the player can take advantage of things like ability procs or respond to movement. This system makes it a little easier to get back on track without six separate runes now "out of sync" from the standard rotation.
You're a Bloody Tank
The time has come to dedicate a death knight talent tree to tanking, and that is what is in store for the Blood tree. We felt that we could offer a more focused and polished tanking tree rather than having to scatter similar tools throughout the trees. This also allows us to really focus the other trees into more flavorful damage-dealing specializations.
Runic Empowerment
This mechanic allows for runes which were on cooldown to instantly activate, which prevents the rotation from becoming too predictable and boring.
Druids
Blizzard said: Eclipse
This is a new mechanic being added for Balance druids. The resource is managed through a new bar near the health and mana bars. As the druid casts Arcane spells, the bar moves towards the sun element until the druid achieves a Solar Eclipse, which buffs Nature damage. The goal is then to cast Nature spells, until the bar moves toward the moon element, which triggers a Lunar Eclipse and buffs Arcane damage. The gameplay becomes trying to quickly move the bar from one end to the other in order to maximize each Eclipse buff.
This is a new mechanic being added for Balance druids. The resource is managed through a new bar near the health and mana bars. As the druid casts Arcane spells, the bar moves towards the sun element until the druid achieves a Solar Eclipse, which buffs Nature damage. The goal is then to cast Nature spells, until the bar moves toward the moon element, which triggers a Lunar Eclipse and buffs Arcane damage. The gameplay becomes trying to quickly move the bar from one end to the other in order to maximize each Eclipse buff.
Hunters
Blizzard said: Focus
This is a new resource which has replaced mana. Hunters never felt like they should be casting mana-based spells, and having a resource that lasted for a long time and then was painfully gone didn’t lead to compelling gameplay.
Pets
Hunters can now use Call Pet to choose from among five different pets. They can swap out any of these five pets with other pets they have tamed by visiting a Stable Master. The Stable Master now allows the hunter to store twenty pets total.
Pet families have been updated. Each family can now provide unique buffs to parties or raids, so if a class buff is needed for a raid and that class isn't represented in the group, chances are a hunter can provide a little assistance by calling out a specific pet.
Ammo
Ammo is no more. As a hunter, you're just that good now.
Any quivers or pouches used to store ammo will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
This is a new resource which has replaced mana. Hunters never felt like they should be casting mana-based spells, and having a resource that lasted for a long time and then was painfully gone didn’t lead to compelling gameplay.
Pets
Hunters can now use Call Pet to choose from among five different pets. They can swap out any of these five pets with other pets they have tamed by visiting a Stable Master. The Stable Master now allows the hunter to store twenty pets total.
Pet families have been updated. Each family can now provide unique buffs to parties or raids, so if a class buff is needed for a raid and that class isn't represented in the group, chances are a hunter can provide a little assistance by calling out a specific pet.
Ammo
Ammo is no more. As a hunter, you're just that good now.
Any quivers or pouches used to store ammo will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
Paladins
Blizzard said: Holy Power
This is a new resource which works similarly to combo points. Paladins will generally want to build up Holy Power until it shines through with a bright yellow glowing effect. Once Holy Power has been built up, it can be consumed to augment existing abilities. For example, Word of Glory can be used to cast an instant-cast free heal. This gives paladins several options for how to spend their Holy Power, depending on the scenario.
This is a new resource which works similarly to combo points. Paladins will generally want to build up Holy Power until it shines through with a bright yellow glowing effect. Once Holy Power has been built up, it can be consumed to augment existing abilities. For example, Word of Glory can be used to cast an instant-cast free heal. This gives paladins several options for how to spend their Holy Power, depending on the scenario.
Warlocks
Blizzard said: Soul Shards
As items, Soul Shards are going away entirely.
Any shard bags used to store Soul Shards will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
Soul Shards are now a new resource for warlocks. Each warlock will have a total of three. These Soul Shards can be expended using a new spell, Soul Burn, which allows the warlock to augment the next spell cast. The augmentation effect will vary depending on which spell is used, and all warlock spells which can be empowered by Soul Burn will have a tooltip listing of the effect it grants. Soul Shards will no longer be necessary for summoning demons or casting any other spell typically used when out of combat.
As items, Soul Shards are going away entirely.
Any shard bags used to store Soul Shards will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
Soul Shards are now a new resource for warlocks. Each warlock will have a total of three. These Soul Shards can be expended using a new spell, Soul Burn, which allows the warlock to augment the next spell cast. The augmentation effect will vary depending on which spell is used, and all warlock spells which can be empowered by Soul Burn will have a tooltip listing of the effect it grants. Soul Shards will no longer be necessary for summoning demons or casting any other spell typically used when out of combat.
Warriors
Blizzard said: Rage
Rage is being normalized so that its generation is no longer based on damage done by auto-attacks. Each auto-attack will provide a set amount of Rage, with off-hand weapons granting 50% of the rage main-hand weapons do. Haste will allow Rage to generate more rapidly by increasing attack speed. In addition, while taking damage, the amount of Rage generated will now be based on the warrior's health rather than the opponent's level. The essence of this change is to improve the scaling that occurs with warrior gear. With warriors balanced around the top tiers of items, we've found that the class tends to underperform more drastically than others in lower-quality items. These changes should correct that.
Rage is being normalized so that its generation is no longer based on damage done by auto-attacks. Each auto-attack will provide a set amount of Rage, with off-hand weapons granting 50% of the rage main-hand weapons do. Haste will allow Rage to generate more rapidly by increasing attack speed. In addition, while taking damage, the amount of Rage generated will now be based on the warrior's health rather than the opponent's level. The essence of this change is to improve the scaling that occurs with warrior gear. With warriors balanced around the top tiers of items, we've found that the class tends to underperform more drastically than others in lower-quality items. These changes should correct that.
Mastery
This patch brings the new statistic Mastery Rating, which can be found on high level gear. This stat increases the benefit of your chosen class specialization's Mastery. Training your specialization's Mastery requires level 80, and it can be learned from your class trainer.User Interface
Many (but not all) of the interface changes planned for Cataclysm will be implemented with this patch. The highly updated guild panel will be implemented, but guild leveling and progress will not be added until Cataclysm.Systems
New Glyphs / Glyph Interface
Blizzard said: In the upcoming 4.0.1 patch, we'll be introducing a major overhaul of the current glyph system. This update features a host of changes including the addition of a new glyph tier, the transition of glyphs from consumable items to permanent spells, and a more streamlined user interface.
In its Prime
Glyphs will now be separated into three different tiers: minor, major, and prime.
Prime - Prime glyphs will typically provide direct increases to damage or healing throughput. Examples of prime glyphs include Glyph of Howling Blast, which will cause the death knight ability Howling Blast to infect targets with Frost Fever, and Glyph of Insect Swarm, which increases the damage of druid's Insect Swarm ability by 30%.
Major - Major glyphs will typically augment spells and abilities to offer additional utility. Examples of major glyphs include Glyph of Silencing Shot, which will cause a hunter to instantly gain 10 focus when successfully silencing an enemy's spell cast, and Glyph of Ice Block, which will reset the cooldown on Frost Nova every time a mage uses Ice Block.
Minor - Minor glyphs will typically provide players with additional convenience or cosmetic changes. Examples of minor glyphs include Glyph of Righteousness which will reduce the mana cost of Seal of Righteousness for paladins by 50%, and Glyph of Levitate which will remove the reagent requirement for a priest's Levitate spell.
In total, there will be nine glyph slots: three minor, three major, and three prime. As players level, they will be able to progressively unlock "sets" of these slots in increments of three (one minor slot, one major slot, and one prime slot). The first set of glyph slots will be unlocked at level 25, the second at level 50, and the final at level 75.
Teach a Man to Glyph...
In addition to the glyph tier changes, glyphs will also be transitioning from single-use items to permanent spells that a player can learn. While the item from which a glyph will be taught will still be consumed on use, once a glyph is learned, a player will always have access to it. This functionality will feel very similar to the current mechanic that allows players to learn certain recipes and patterns from item drops.
Despite these changes, activating a glyph will more or less function as it does now. To activate a glyph, players will simply need to select the desired glyph from their list of known glyphs and then click on the appropriate tiered slot.
Dust to Dust
With the transition from single-use items to permanent spells, the process for switching activated glyphs has been slightly altered. Similar to activating a learned glyph, players will need to select the new glyph from their list of known glyphs and then "place" it on top of the old glyph. While this process will not destroy the old glyph as it does at present, it will require a new reagent, Dust of Disappearance, which can be purchased from Inscription vendors or be crafted by scribes.
As a precaution, the following dialogue will also appear before a glyph is exchanged:
Are you sure you want to inscribe this glyph? The existing glyph will be lost.
Cost: 1 Dust of Disappearance
Players will be given the opportunity to confirm the exchange or cancel out of it. Please note that the old glyph will not be permanently lost; it will simply be deactivated.
Gotta Catch'em All
To complement each of these changes, the glyph UI window has been completely redesigned. All glyphs will now be organized in the glyph panel according to their tier (minor, major, or prime) and, much like how class spells and abilities display in the trainer window, will be sortable by "Already Known," "Unavailable," and "All Glyphs" categories. Players will also be able to search for glyphs using keywords and results will populate under each corresponding collapsible tier.
To access the new glyph UI, players will need to open up the Talent pane (default: N) and then click on the "Glyphs" tab.
In its Prime
Glyphs will now be separated into three different tiers: minor, major, and prime.
Prime - Prime glyphs will typically provide direct increases to damage or healing throughput. Examples of prime glyphs include Glyph of Howling Blast, which will cause the death knight ability Howling Blast to infect targets with Frost Fever, and Glyph of Insect Swarm, which increases the damage of druid's Insect Swarm ability by 30%.
Major - Major glyphs will typically augment spells and abilities to offer additional utility. Examples of major glyphs include Glyph of Silencing Shot, which will cause a hunter to instantly gain 10 focus when successfully silencing an enemy's spell cast, and Glyph of Ice Block, which will reset the cooldown on Frost Nova every time a mage uses Ice Block.
Minor - Minor glyphs will typically provide players with additional convenience or cosmetic changes. Examples of minor glyphs include Glyph of Righteousness which will reduce the mana cost of Seal of Righteousness for paladins by 50%, and Glyph of Levitate which will remove the reagent requirement for a priest's Levitate spell.
In total, there will be nine glyph slots: three minor, three major, and three prime. As players level, they will be able to progressively unlock "sets" of these slots in increments of three (one minor slot, one major slot, and one prime slot). The first set of glyph slots will be unlocked at level 25, the second at level 50, and the final at level 75.
Teach a Man to Glyph...
In addition to the glyph tier changes, glyphs will also be transitioning from single-use items to permanent spells that a player can learn. While the item from which a glyph will be taught will still be consumed on use, once a glyph is learned, a player will always have access to it. This functionality will feel very similar to the current mechanic that allows players to learn certain recipes and patterns from item drops.
Despite these changes, activating a glyph will more or less function as it does now. To activate a glyph, players will simply need to select the desired glyph from their list of known glyphs and then click on the appropriate tiered slot.
Dust to Dust
With the transition from single-use items to permanent spells, the process for switching activated glyphs has been slightly altered. Similar to activating a learned glyph, players will need to select the new glyph from their list of known glyphs and then "place" it on top of the old glyph. While this process will not destroy the old glyph as it does at present, it will require a new reagent, Dust of Disappearance, which can be purchased from Inscription vendors or be crafted by scribes.
As a precaution, the following dialogue will also appear before a glyph is exchanged:
Are you sure you want to inscribe this glyph? The existing glyph will be lost.
Cost: 1 Dust of Disappearance
Players will be given the opportunity to confirm the exchange or cancel out of it. Please note that the old glyph will not be permanently lost; it will simply be deactivated.
Gotta Catch'em All
To complement each of these changes, the glyph UI window has been completely redesigned. All glyphs will now be organized in the glyph panel according to their tier (minor, major, or prime) and, much like how class spells and abilities display in the trainer window, will be sortable by "Already Known," "Unavailable," and "All Glyphs" categories. Players will also be able to search for glyphs using keywords and results will populate under each corresponding collapsible tier.
To access the new glyph UI, players will need to open up the Talent pane (default: N) and then click on the "Glyphs" tab.
Reforging
Reforging has been implemented, allowing players to reallocate stat points on their items! Detailed information on the process can be found here!PvP and PvE Currency System Conversions
In the upcoming 4.0.1 patch (which is currently on the PTR), all old PvE and PvP tokens will be converted to a new currency system. Badges like Emblem of Frost and Emblem of Triumph will be converted into Justice Points, and all PvE gear that had badge costs will be converted to this new Justice Points system.On the PvP side, Arena Season 8 will end with 4.0 — all Arena, Honor, any leftover Battleground marks, Stone Keeper's Shard and any other PvP tokens will be converted into the new version of Honor Points. Any items that were sold for any of the old PvP points/tokens will have their costs converted new Honor Points system.
Both Justice Points and Honor Points will have a soft cap — you can go over the cap on the original conversion, but at a later point in time a hard cap will be introduced in a content patch. Any excess points after the hard cap is introduced will be converted to gold, which will be received via the mail system.Emblems → Gold
- Emblem of Triumph → 11.58
- Emblem of Frost → 11.58
- Old Honor → 0.024
- Old Arena Points → 0.85
- Battleground Mark of Honor → 2.976
- Wintergrasp Mark of Honor → 19.08
- Stone Keeper's Shard → 1.6
- Venture Coin → 3
- Spirit Shard → 1
Additional Changes
- New pre-Cataclysm launch quest chains have been added for both Horde and Alliance players!
- In 4.0.1, guilds will be now capped at 1,000 members (1,000 characters, not accounts). Guilds above 1,000 members currently will not lose members, but they will be unable to add new members.Blizzard said: We previously announced in the Cataclysm Beta forums that we'd be enforcing a 600 guild member cap with patch 4.0.1. We've reevaluated what we believe the realms are capable of supporting and instead will be enforcing a guild member hard cap of 1,000 members. This means that guilds with more than 1,000 members will no longer be able to invite new members until they drop below the cap. For example, if a guild has 1,500 members they'll be able to continue as-is, playing and earning guild achievements for as long as they choose, through Cataclysm and beyond, but they will not be able to add new members until they fall below the 1,000 member cap. If a guild has fewer than 1,000 members, they won't be able to add members above that number.
This new guild cap is being enforced for several reasons, but they all factor into a need to control guild sizes in light of the new guild systems, including guild leveling and achievements. Previously, adding players to a guild was as simple as adding people to a chat channel. While approximately 500 members were visible in the UI, there was no real need to limit guild size. That is no longer the case. Guild leveling in Cataclysm features unified progression powered by a series of complex systems that track the contributions of all guild members. The larger the guild, the bigger the impact on these systems. We found it necessary to determine a maximum guild size to ensure continued performance now and into the future.
We want to reassure the few guilds that this does impact that they have ample time to plan and rearrange their guilds as they see fit. While this hard cap will go into effect with 4.0.1, guilds should feel safe rearranging members as necessary up to the release of Cataclysm on December 7 when the guild leveling system goes into effect. There will be no impact on guild leveling progression before then. If a guild were to disband after Cataclysm, or a group of people were to leave and start a new guild, they would lose the time and experience they previously contributed and potentially extend the amount of time it would take to regain the new guild perks.
While some players have used options including mods and custom chat channels to support large player and guild alliances that number multiple thousands, groups of that size aren't ideally suited to our design philosophy. As always, we're continually looking into adding new features to help facilitate guild management, scheduling, and player communication. - Addition of the Flexible Raid Lock system.Blizzard said: Almost six months ago we announced that Cataclysm raids were being redesigned to make both raid sizes the same difficulty, drop the same quality of loot, and exist in the same lockout. This evolution in raid philosophy is built on the belief that the size of your raiding group should be a choice based solely on what's more fun and enjoyable for you, and that you should not have to complete the same raiding content twice in a week to maximize your character's progression. These systems are the culmination of a great deal of design and player feedback from the last few years. With the release of the 4.0.1 patch, the new Flexible Raid Lock system will debut in Icecrown Citadel and The Ruby Sanctum.
With the Flexible Raid Lock system, instead of being locked to a specific raid size or raid group, each character will have the opportunity to defeat each raid encounter once a week. You could kill Lord Marrowgar and Lady Deathwhisper with a 10-player raid on Wednesday, join a 25-player raid to kill Festergut and Rotface on Thursday, and then lead a completely new 10-player raid to kill The Lich King on Friday. Every raid has a list of encounters associated with the zone. For example, Icecrown Citadel has twelve encounters. After you defeat Lord Marrowgar, you can open up your character's raid information dialog and see the list of encounters in Icecrown Citadel with Marrowgar marked as defeated. You may no longer fight Lord Marrowgar with any raid size or difficulty until the weekly raid reset for your region occurs.
Another key change is that if you join someone else's raid in progress, you are no longer locked to that raid after merely zoning in. Your raid status will only change when a boss is defeated, at which point it will be updated to reflect the state of the instance in which you are currently participating. So, let's say you have killed the first four bosses of Icecrown Citadel, and you then join a raid that has defeated the first four encounters, as well as Festergut and Rotface. The dialog that displays upon entering Icecrown Citadel will show that the raid has defeated 6 of 12 encounters. If you help them defeat Professor Putricide, then you would be marked as having defeated not only Professor Putricide for the week, but also Festergut and Rotface. If instead after joining the raid you then proceeded to wipe ten times to Professor Putricide, you could leave the raid with only the first four bosses marked as completed.
To help communicate to players which bosses are dead in the raid leader's raid, there is new functionality to link in chat a list of the encounters the raid has defeated. So before you join a raid, you can see what they've already defeated. If a raid leader advertises in chat that she needs another healer for an 8/12 Icecrown Citadel run, you can see precisely which bosses are still available to fight. If you were only looking for that one item from Queen Lana'thel that never drops for you and this raid already defeated her, you will know not to join that raid.
Let's look at another example of the Flexible Raid Lock system. A guild schedules three nights for 25-player Icecrown Citadel raiding on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Wednesday, the raid defeats Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Saurfang. On Thursday, five people cancel their raid attendance due to real life emergencies. The raid leader knows that if he cancels Thursday raiding, there's little chance they'll have enough time on Saturday to defeat the other eight bosses in Icecrown Citadel. So he splits the remaining 20 Thursday raiders into two 10-player raids. Each new raid enters Icecrown Citadel and defeats Rotface, Festergut, Blood Council, and Valithria Dreamwalker. The next Saturday with all 25 players online, they reform as a 25-player raid and enter Icecrown Citadel once more. Only Professor Putricide, Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and The Lich King remain. After a tough fight, the Lich King falls and everybody celebrates. Without the Flexible Raid Lock system the entire raid probably would have missed out on a night of raiding, and likely would not have reached the Lich King.
While players can freely move between raids of different sizes in normal difficulty, there are some additional rules for Heroic difficulty. If a 10- or 25-player raid defeats a boss on Heroic difficulty, then those players may now only raid additional Heroic encounters with that specific raid. If your Heroic 25-player raid defeats the first four bosses of Icecrown Citadel on Heroic, then they may not split up into two 10-player raids and continue to fight in Heroic difficulty. You may also not join someone else's raid if they have defeated a Heroic encounter.
But let's say you are a member of a Heroic raid in Icecrown Citadel, and after killing Lord Marrowgar on Heroic you have Internet connection issues that prevent you from raiding for two nights. During those two nights, the rest of the raid kills everything. Without the Flexible Raid Lock system, you would be done with raiding Icecrown Citadel for the week. Ouch. With the Flexible Raid Lock system, you can join someone else's raid as long as they are doing Normal difficulty. This would at least give you the opportunity to earn your Justice Points for the week. If this raid attempted to switch to Heroic difficulty for Icecrown Gunship Battle with you in the raid, the raid leader would receive an error message stating that she cannot change to Heroic, because someone in the raid (i.e., you) is already locked to a different Heroic instance.
All of the new Cataclysm raids will feature the Flexible Raid Lock and Dynamic Difficulty systems, and when the Cataclysm occurs the other Wrath of the Lich King raids will also have these features. It's important to note that this system doesn't affect Heroic dungeons, they will work as they always have. We look forward to feedback for this new system after 4.0.1 is released. As a reminder, Icecrown Citadel and The Ruby Sanctum are the only two raids that support the Flexible Raid Lock until the Cataclysm occurs.
...
One piece of clarification on questions being asked so far, although we're still compiling feedback and will work to answer some of the questions and clear up any confusion we can.
The loot system in Icecrown and Ruby Sanctum is not changing. This implementation of the new flex raid lock is only that, a new implementation of the raid lockout system we'll be using in Cataclysm. This does not change the separation of 10 and 25 in ICC, and does not change the item drops or achievements.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Patch News!
Copied from: http://www.wowhead.com/blog=170416
Blizzard said: In the upcoming 4.0.1 patch, we'll be introducing a major overhaul of the current glyph system. This update features a host of changes including the addition of a new glyph tier, the transition of glyphs from consumable items to permanent spells, and a more streamlined user interface.
In its Prime
Glyphs will now be separated into three different tiers: minor, major, and prime.
Prime - Prime glyphs will typically provide direct increases to damage or healing throughput. Examples of prime glyphs include Glyph of Howling Blast, which will cause the death knight ability Howling Blast to infect targets with Frost Fever, and Glyph of Insect Swarm, which increases the damage of druid's Insect Swarm ability by 30%.
Major - Major glyphs will typically augment spells and abilities to offer additional utility. Examples of major glyphs include Glyph of Silencing Shot, which will cause a hunter to instantly gain 10 focus when successfully silencing an enemy's spell cast, and Glyph of Ice Block, which will reset the cooldown on Frost Nova every time a mage uses Ice Block.
Minor - Minor glyphs will typically provide players with additional convenience or cosmetic changes. Examples of minor glyphs include Glyph of Righteousness which will reduce the mana cost of Seal of Righteousness for paladins by 50%, and Glyph of Levitate which will remove the reagent requirement for a priest's Levitate spell.
In total, there will be nine glyph slots: three minor, three major, and three prime. As players level, they will be able to progressively unlock "sets" of these slots in increments of three (one minor slot, one major slot, and one prime slot). The first set of glyph slots will be unlocked at level 25, the second at level 50, and the final at level 75.
Teach a Man to Glyph...
In addition to the glyph tier changes, glyphs will also be transitioning from single-use items to permanent spells that a player can learn. While the item from which a glyph will be taught will still be consumed on use, once a glyph is learned, a player will always have access to it. This functionality will feel very similar to the current mechanic that allows players to learn certain recipes and patterns from item drops.
Despite these changes, activating a glyph will more or less function as it does now. To activate a glyph, players will simply need to select the desired glyph from their list of known glyphs and then click on the appropriate tiered slot.
Dust to Dust
With the transition from single-use items to permanent spells, the process for switching activated glyphs has been slightly altered. Similar to activating a learned glyph, players will need to select the new glyph from their list of known glyphs and then "place" it on top of the old glyph. While this process will not destroy the old glyph as it does at present, it will require a new reagent, Dust of Disappearance, which can be purchased from Inscription vendors or be crafted by scribes.
As a precaution, the following dialogue will also appear before a glyph is exchanged:
Are you sure you want to inscribe this glyph? The existing glyph will be lost.
Cost: 1 Dust of Disappearance
Players will be given the opportunity to confirm the exchange or cancel out of it. Please note that the old glyph will not be permanently lost; it will simply be deactivated.
Gotta Catch'em All
To complement each of these changes, the glyph UI window has been completely redesigned. All glyphs will now be organized in the glyph panel according to their tier (minor, major, or prime) and, much like how class spells and abilities display in the trainer window, will be sortable by "Already Known," "Unavailable," and "All Glyphs" categories. Players will also be able to search for glyphs using keywords and results will populate under each corresponding collapsible tier.
To access the new glyph UI, players will need to open up the Talent pane (default: N) and then click on the "Glyphs" tab.
Blizzard said: In the upcoming 4.0.1 patch, we'll be introducing a major overhaul of the current glyph system. This update features a host of changes including the addition of a new glyph tier, the transition of glyphs from consumable items to permanent spells, and a more streamlined user interface.
In its Prime
Glyphs will now be separated into three different tiers: minor, major, and prime.
Prime - Prime glyphs will typically provide direct increases to damage or healing throughput. Examples of prime glyphs include Glyph of Howling Blast, which will cause the death knight ability Howling Blast to infect targets with Frost Fever, and Glyph of Insect Swarm, which increases the damage of druid's Insect Swarm ability by 30%.
Major - Major glyphs will typically augment spells and abilities to offer additional utility. Examples of major glyphs include Glyph of Silencing Shot, which will cause a hunter to instantly gain 10 focus when successfully silencing an enemy's spell cast, and Glyph of Ice Block, which will reset the cooldown on Frost Nova every time a mage uses Ice Block.
Minor - Minor glyphs will typically provide players with additional convenience or cosmetic changes. Examples of minor glyphs include Glyph of Righteousness which will reduce the mana cost of Seal of Righteousness for paladins by 50%, and Glyph of Levitate which will remove the reagent requirement for a priest's Levitate spell.
In total, there will be nine glyph slots: three minor, three major, and three prime. As players level, they will be able to progressively unlock "sets" of these slots in increments of three (one minor slot, one major slot, and one prime slot). The first set of glyph slots will be unlocked at level 25, the second at level 50, and the final at level 75.
Teach a Man to Glyph...
In addition to the glyph tier changes, glyphs will also be transitioning from single-use items to permanent spells that a player can learn. While the item from which a glyph will be taught will still be consumed on use, once a glyph is learned, a player will always have access to it. This functionality will feel very similar to the current mechanic that allows players to learn certain recipes and patterns from item drops.
Despite these changes, activating a glyph will more or less function as it does now. To activate a glyph, players will simply need to select the desired glyph from their list of known glyphs and then click on the appropriate tiered slot.
Dust to Dust
With the transition from single-use items to permanent spells, the process for switching activated glyphs has been slightly altered. Similar to activating a learned glyph, players will need to select the new glyph from their list of known glyphs and then "place" it on top of the old glyph. While this process will not destroy the old glyph as it does at present, it will require a new reagent, Dust of Disappearance, which can be purchased from Inscription vendors or be crafted by scribes.
As a precaution, the following dialogue will also appear before a glyph is exchanged:
Are you sure you want to inscribe this glyph? The existing glyph will be lost.
Cost: 1 Dust of Disappearance
Players will be given the opportunity to confirm the exchange or cancel out of it. Please note that the old glyph will not be permanently lost; it will simply be deactivated.
Gotta Catch'em All
To complement each of these changes, the glyph UI window has been completely redesigned. All glyphs will now be organized in the glyph panel according to their tier (minor, major, or prime) and, much like how class spells and abilities display in the trainer window, will be sortable by "Already Known," "Unavailable," and "All Glyphs" categories. Players will also be able to search for glyphs using keywords and results will populate under each corresponding collapsible tier.
To access the new glyph UI, players will need to open up the Talent pane (default: N) and then click on the "Glyphs" tab.
Blizzard said: With patch 4.0.1, we will be introducing a new World of Warcraft launcher that will allow you to stream game data while you play. This will reduce the time you spend downloading, installing, and patching World of Warcraft.
Streaming Launcher Basics
We've redesigned the launcher to provide a visual update to your installation progress. You will see a new progress bar with sections (Red, Yellow, Green) that represent the amount of data you have currently installed.
There are three stages of download progress:
Setup (Red): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.
Available (Yellow): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.
Playable (Green): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few issues with playing at this stage.
All World of Warcraft data will continue to download and apply whether you wait in the launcher or are playing in-game. If you find the play experience unsatisfactory, you may exit the game and allow the Launcher to continue the download. While the launcher should automatically adjust the download according to your bandwidth, this may improve the play experience for users with low bandwidth Internet connections.
Streaming Launcher FAQ
For more information, please refer to our FAQ: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27188059042&sid=1&pageNo=1#1
Streaming Launcher Basics
We've redesigned the launcher to provide a visual update to your installation progress. You will see a new progress bar with sections (Red, Yellow, Green) that represent the amount of data you have currently installed.
There are three stages of download progress:
Setup (Red): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.
Available (Yellow): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.
Playable (Green): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few issues with playing at this stage.
All World of Warcraft data will continue to download and apply whether you wait in the launcher or are playing in-game. If you find the play experience unsatisfactory, you may exit the game and allow the Launcher to continue the download. While the launcher should automatically adjust the download according to your bandwidth, this may improve the play experience for users with low bandwidth Internet connections.
Streaming Launcher FAQ
For more information, please refer to our FAQ: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27188059042&sid=1&pageNo=1#1
Blizzard said: Patch 4.0.1 will bring about major changes to all World of Warcraft classes, including sweeping talent tree revamps, altered spells, and improved abilities. We wanted to go over some of the more complex changes that are being made. If your class isn't listed here, it does not mean we didn't spend as much time on it -- the class will still receive a broad range of updates to talents, spells, and abilities -- we simply feel that these mechanics merit additional explanation.
The way in which runes regenerate has been changed. Rather than each rune type (Blood, Frost, Unholy) regenerating simultaneously, they now fill sequentially. For example, if you use two Blood runes, then the first rune will fill up before the second one starts to fill up. You essentially have three sets of runes filling every 10 seconds instead of six individual runes filling every 10 seconds. This allows the death knight rotation to be more forgiving, so that the player can take advantage of things like ability procs or respond to movement. This system makes it a little easier to get back on track without six separate runes now "out of sync" from the standard rotation.
You're a Bloody Tank
The time has come to dedicate a death knight talent tree to tanking, and that is what is in store for the Blood tree. We felt that we could offer a more focused and polished tanking tree rather than having to scatter similar tools throughout the trees. This also allows us to really focus the other trees into more flavorful damage-dealing specializations.
Runic Empowerment
This mechanic allows for runes which were on cooldown to instantly activate, which prevents the rotation from becoming too predictable and boring.
This is a new mechanic being added for Balance druids. The resource is managed through a new bar near the health and mana bars. As the druid casts Arcane spells, the bar moves towards the sun element until the druid achieves a Solar Eclipse, which buffs Nature damage. The goal is then to cast Nature spells, until the bar moves toward the moon element, which triggers a Lunar Eclipse and buffs Arcane damage. The gameplay becomes trying to quickly move the bar from one end to the other in order to maximize each Eclipse buff.
This is a new resource which has replaced mana. Hunters never felt like they should be casting mana-based spells, and having a resource that lasted for a long time and then was painfully gone didn’t lead to compelling gameplay.
Pets
Hunters can now use Call Pet to choose from among five different pets. They can swap out any of these five pets with other pets they have tamed by visiting a Stable Master. The Stable Master now allows the hunter to store twenty pets total.
Pet families have been updated. Each family can now provide unique buffs to parties or raids, so if a class buff is needed for a raid and that class isn't represented in the group, chances are a hunter can provide a little assistance by calling out a specific pet.
Ammo
Ammo is no more. As a hunter, you're just that good now.
Any quivers or pouches used to store ammo will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
This is a new resource which works similarly to combo points. Paladins will generally want to build up Holy Power until it shines through with a bright yellow glowing effect. Once Holy Power has been built up, it can be consumed to augment existing abilities. For example, Word of Glory can be used to cast an instant-cast free heal. This gives paladins several options for how to spend their Holy Power, depending on the scenario.
As items, Soul Shards are going away entirely.
Any shard bags used to store Soul Shards will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
Soul Shards are now a new resource for warlocks. Each warlock will have a total of three. These Soul Shards can be expended using a new spell, Soul Burn, which allows the warlock to augment the next spell cast. The augmentation effect will vary depending on which spell is used, and all warlock spells which can be empowered by Soul Burn will have a tooltip listing of the effect it grants. Soul Shards will no longer be necessary for summoning demons or casting any other spell typically used when out of combat.
Rage is being normalized so that its generation is no longer based on damage done by auto-attacks. Each auto-attack will provide a set amount of Rage, with off-hand weapons granting 50% of the rage main-hand weapons do. Haste will allow Rage to generate more rapidly by increasing attack speed. In addition, while taking damage, the amount of Rage generated will now be based on the warrior's health rather than the opponent's level. The essence of this change is to improve the scaling that occurs with warrior gear. With warriors balanced around the top tiers of items, we've found that the class tends to underperform more drastically than others in lower-quality items. These changes should correct that.
Death Knights
RunesThe way in which runes regenerate has been changed. Rather than each rune type (Blood, Frost, Unholy) regenerating simultaneously, they now fill sequentially. For example, if you use two Blood runes, then the first rune will fill up before the second one starts to fill up. You essentially have three sets of runes filling every 10 seconds instead of six individual runes filling every 10 seconds. This allows the death knight rotation to be more forgiving, so that the player can take advantage of things like ability procs or respond to movement. This system makes it a little easier to get back on track without six separate runes now "out of sync" from the standard rotation.
You're a Bloody Tank
The time has come to dedicate a death knight talent tree to tanking, and that is what is in store for the Blood tree. We felt that we could offer a more focused and polished tanking tree rather than having to scatter similar tools throughout the trees. This also allows us to really focus the other trees into more flavorful damage-dealing specializations.
Runic Empowerment
This mechanic allows for runes which were on cooldown to instantly activate, which prevents the rotation from becoming too predictable and boring.
Druids
EclipseThis is a new mechanic being added for Balance druids. The resource is managed through a new bar near the health and mana bars. As the druid casts Arcane spells, the bar moves towards the sun element until the druid achieves a Solar Eclipse, which buffs Nature damage. The goal is then to cast Nature spells, until the bar moves toward the moon element, which triggers a Lunar Eclipse and buffs Arcane damage. The gameplay becomes trying to quickly move the bar from one end to the other in order to maximize each Eclipse buff.
Hunters
FocusThis is a new resource which has replaced mana. Hunters never felt like they should be casting mana-based spells, and having a resource that lasted for a long time and then was painfully gone didn’t lead to compelling gameplay.
Pets
Hunters can now use Call Pet to choose from among five different pets. They can swap out any of these five pets with other pets they have tamed by visiting a Stable Master. The Stable Master now allows the hunter to store twenty pets total.
Pet families have been updated. Each family can now provide unique buffs to parties or raids, so if a class buff is needed for a raid and that class isn't represented in the group, chances are a hunter can provide a little assistance by calling out a specific pet.
Ammo
Ammo is no more. As a hunter, you're just that good now.
Any quivers or pouches used to store ammo will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
Paladins
Holy PowerThis is a new resource which works similarly to combo points. Paladins will generally want to build up Holy Power until it shines through with a bright yellow glowing effect. Once Holy Power has been built up, it can be consumed to augment existing abilities. For example, Word of Glory can be used to cast an instant-cast free heal. This gives paladins several options for how to spend their Holy Power, depending on the scenario.
Warlocks
Soul ShardsAs items, Soul Shards are going away entirely.
Any shard bags used to store Soul Shards will automatically be converted into a bag of roughly equal value.
Soul Shards are now a new resource for warlocks. Each warlock will have a total of three. These Soul Shards can be expended using a new spell, Soul Burn, which allows the warlock to augment the next spell cast. The augmentation effect will vary depending on which spell is used, and all warlock spells which can be empowered by Soul Burn will have a tooltip listing of the effect it grants. Soul Shards will no longer be necessary for summoning demons or casting any other spell typically used when out of combat.
Warriors
RageRage is being normalized so that its generation is no longer based on damage done by auto-attacks. Each auto-attack will provide a set amount of Rage, with off-hand weapons granting 50% of the rage main-hand weapons do. Haste will allow Rage to generate more rapidly by increasing attack speed. In addition, while taking damage, the amount of Rage generated will now be based on the warrior's health rather than the opponent's level. The essence of this change is to improve the scaling that occurs with warrior gear. With warriors balanced around the top tiers of items, we've found that the class tends to underperform more drastically than others in lower-quality items. These changes should correct that.
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