Thursday, December 31, 2009

and anything else that pops in my mind...

Happy New Years Eve! Hooray! I want everyone to be safe tonight and wake up the next day alive and not in jail for drunk driving or any other crazyness. Seriously, have a designated driver.

The police make more then enough money on New Years Eve night to pay for the first quarter of the year expensives. So don't risk it.

fuckers...

But we need them to protect us from idiots and the insane people in this country. So cheers to that eh?

and anything else that pops in my mind...

You see, here at WTF, I like the balance between real life stories and gaming to be about a 5/95 split. Five percent real life ramblings, 95% WoW or gaming related nonsense. However, if you look at my header of my blog it clearly states...

Random thoughts and interesting stories about the world....of warcraft and anything else that pops in my mind.

This is one of those times where this post isn't going to be mostly about WoW or gaming. So you have been warned.

But lets me real...if you follow my blog for informative post only...you would only read my blog a handful of times a month lol! You read my blog to be entertained or you like my writing style....or both. So let me do mah thang and entertain you mmmk?

So lets get on with it shall we?

I was thinking about writing up a few things the past couple of days. A post about my blog (favorite posts, comments, memes, readers, ect) and all the bloggers I seen come and go.

Eh...too overdone in the blogmosphere this year for me. I did it last year for a New Year's post and it was somewhat cool...but that was 2008.

This is the last day of 2009 people! The last day of the mother fucking decade! I wouldn't feel right talking about what this blog did or what I did in the past year alone.

Then I thought I would do a Resto Shaman FYI post due to all the fail I have personality seen in regards to HIGH level and RAIDING Resto Shamans. Wrong specs, strange gear choices, gemming for incorrect stats like crit and intellect. Just wrong things to do as a wise, wielder of nature and its healing powers . The sad thing about it is that they are in guilds that raid 25 mans! One of them even had a gearscore of 5450!

Total fail and being the type of person that I am, it drives me nuts. However, this isn't just a Resto Shaman blog...I have plenty of readers that play WoW and don't even have a healer. Not only that, but...

...ITS THE LAST DAY OF THE F'N DECADE PEOPLE!!!111!!11!!1

This is important. This is not just another new year.

Think back to 2002. What were you doing? Who were you doing? Are you the same person now as you were back then?

The answer to the third question can't be anything else then the word "No". I am saying that because back in 2002, you never even heard of World of Warcraft. It didn't even hit Alpha until late 2003. Hell, back in 2002 I am willing to bet you weren't even a online computer gamer. I know I wasn't. I played a few computer games online here and there, but mostly with people that I knew.

Nothing like how it is now.

I been playing WoW for half of decade. The other half was dominated by console games like Super Mario 64, Halo, Age of Empires, and sports games like Madden and FIFA. I still play my fair share of console games, but my free time that I use for video games is mostly taken up but the powerhouse, virtual drug...WoWcrack.

Switching subjects sligthly....

My main goal for the past 9 years was to have fun, be social, and meet / interact with as many people that I could. Things are changing now for me. I am getting older and I have a girlfriend that will soon be wife. The core group of friends that I have means everything to me and I have no motivation to meet other ones and be as social as I once was. I have very little doubt by this time next year I will have a kid on the way. I have an office job, a college degree, and a house.

WTF happened!?!

At the begining of the decade all the way up to 2008ish...I been all about friends and partying. My focus has changed quite a bit from that thinking and it scares me. Now that I realize that the 2000s are done and in the history books, makes you think of all the shit that has happened in the past 10 years....in your personal life and in the world.

Animals tried to kill us multiple times. First is was the mad cow disease in 2003, then the bird flu in 2007. Most recently, and their best attempt to kill us, was the Swine Flu and it was actually declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Was it really a pandemic? Working the shift that I work, I sleep through the nightly news....though...not sure if I would watch it anyway, but I didn't think it was a damn pandemic!.
------------------------

The Doomsday clock , symbolic representation of the threat of nuclear annihilation, went from 9 minutes to 7 minutes til midnight....then in 2007 it moved to 5 minutes til midnight. Midnight meaing...uh...BOOM.
------------------------

I don't think any of us, especially Americans, can forget 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. I remember Katrina very cleary. Even though it didn't effect me personally, it effected one of my current guildies. He had to stay at the metrodome and deal with all of the madness. I remember the day he logged back on, like 3 weeks after the strom hit. Everyone was freaking out because we knew he was going to be effected by it. When he told the story though....

just wow.
------------------------

What else? Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston got a divorce!

/shock

Brad then went and married crazy ass Angelina Jolie. They then went on to adopt like 10 kids from various countries.

Speaking of crazys...Brittany Spears was number 1 and could do no wrong in the early 2000s...then this happen lol.



See kids...this is why drugs are bad. I am not into nor follow celebrity nonsense, but those two stories come to mind when I think back on entertainment stuff.

Oh!!!

Who could forget the year were it was cool to wear a short mini shirt with no underwear while you have 100 people with cameras pointed at you!?! Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears...was there another one? LOL.

WTFspaghetti's 15 man Choir:

/spirit fingers

"Those bitches are NASSSSSTTTTAY!!"

------------------------

Its rather scary to think what I am, nonetheless the world, is going to be like at the end of 2019. At the begining of this decade I was a punk teenager, pothead, party animal, only concerned with being social, and hooking up with girls.

Towards the middle I was still a pothead and a party animal, but it was all downgraded slighty. I didn't party as hard, or smoke as much pot. I also got involved in a pretty serious relationship and I became addicted to World of Warcraft lol.

Later in the decade I already spoke about a little in this article. Quite a huge transitition if you ask me...but maybe that is because I am only in my mid 20s and I still have no idea what this whole life thing is I guess...I thought I did....but when I started thinking that the 2000-2009 decade is already gone. My brain was critted with a wall of shit to write down on a pad of paper, or on mah BLOG! Hooray!!

So do yourself some reflection. Think about the past 10 years and set some goals up for the upcoming decade.

Sorry if this post was boring, but my brain needed the relief lol.

Until next year, I'm WTFout!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Back to the Grind...

Title has nothing to do with WoW. It has to do with the real life grind. Winter hoilday is pretty much over unless you're off until after the New Years....

...and if you are I is jealous

I actually had a very good holiday break and for the first time in....um....I don't know, 6-7 months. I have a working Playstation 3 again!! Hooray!

That isn't the best part...no, no. I have a friend that used to be married to a woman. They got divorced and I still see the women from time to time because she is a manager at a video store by my house. I went in a few days ago and told her that I got my ps3 fixed and I am going to rent EVERYTHANG!!!

She laughed and said that if they have more then 2 ps3 version of a game, she can sell them to me for five dollars.

/shock...I'm going to say that again.

If they have more then 2 ps3 versions of a game, she can sell them to me for five dollars.

Holy shit Batman! I went to the ATM and got out 50 bucks and bought all games. It was pretty f'n sweet. So if anyone needs some ps3 games, I can get you them for 15 dollars...let me know!

what? think I am going to be the middle man for nothing? PFT, I'm a HUSTLA BABAY!!

WoWzors....

Speaking of making money, I made a bunch of gold this weekend in WoW. Being an alt-holic that I am, I am always in need of gold. I have 3 level 80s...Shaman, Mage, Warlock. I have a 70 pally and a 60 druid. I highly doubt that I will ever level my paladin, but sooner or later I am going to make the push and level my kitty.

This means MONIES people. Lots of monies for enchants, gems, gear, flying skill, sexual favors, dual spec, leveling professions, ect...you get the point.

I have been making a few hundred here and there, but nothing major and my combined gold went from about 9k gold to 5k gold after leveling blacksmithing and on my Shaman and gearing my Warlock.

I decided that I was going to use the frost badges that I get on my two max level toons, to buy the new "orbs" of the patch, primordial saronite. It costs x23 badges and sells on my server for 2k-3k gold.

I bought two of them, one with lock, one with mage. I sold them both for 2.5k gold and went to Silvermoon's Gentlemens Club and made it rain on those elfs. After that I had about 4.5k gold profit!

My thinking was my alts are in fact....just alts. I enjoy playing them and upgrading there stats, but its all good if it takes awhile for me to get there. Who knows how long the prices of primordial saronite will be this high.

Economics tells us that the less availability of the product, the more that it is worth if there is a demand. Well, there should always be a demand, they are the major materials for the legendary 2 hander and several best in slot pieces for cloth, leather, mail, and plate. However, no raider worth anything is going to give up their hard to get frost badges to sell them for gold. Not when several best in slot pieces, including the new tier 10 pieces, cost 60-95 badges each.

As more and more people get everything they need from the frost badge gear the price is going to drop hardcore. Not only that, but now people are realizing that they can run the daily heroic for 2 frost badges a day on their alts and make that kind of bank off of it. Already I have seen the price drop from 4.5k two weeks ago, to 2k gold now. I think after the new VoA boss gets released and becomes farmed the price will drop down to about 1k gold and stay in that range for awhile until the Lich King dies. Around that time I bet there are going to be alot of people that are going to say fuck it, I'm going to need gold for the upcoming expansion

Speaking of Frost Badges...

Over the break, I got enough frost badges to buy some uber stuff. [Drape of the Violet Tower](cape), [Waistband of Despair] (belt), or the hottness that is [Purified Lunar Dust] (trinket). Or I could you know....save for tier gear.

This decision took me seriously two hours! Two f'n hours. I bought the trinket and tested it out by just casting RT > LHW > HW > CH. It didn't proc enough for me, but when it did proc...we are talking about 1100 mp5 for ~10 seconds with my gear. It was what I like to call "reDONKEYous".

I got invited to a ICC25 man rep run. I returned the trinket and re-bought it to reset the 2 hour return timer. I was pretty impressed by the trinket. It proc'd enough and really helped my throughput as well as making my mana last longer. Which means I can heal more, but...eh...I don't know...lets do some quick thinking...

The current trinket that it would have replaced has +128 intellect.

10 int = ~5.5 mp5 / 1.8 spell power / 3.3 crit
With my ghetto math that equals to be 70mp5 / ~20 spell power / 42 crit rating.

----------------------------

With the [Purified Lunar Dust] the proc is ~76-101 mp5 and has 153 spell power. Definitely an upgrade, but not worth spending the badges on before the tier 10 bonuses.

So I returned it.../sad panda.

The cape was a huge upgrade, but again...not worth spending the badges before the tier 10 bonuses.

So now we have [Waistband of Despair] or save for the tier gear. First of all, holy shit that belt is retarded. Two yellow sockets standard?!? Plus a ton of int, sp, haste, and crit? No mp5 means that it is perfect for my off spec, elemental as well? The upgrade in HEPs from what I had was plain silly and worth it alone, 260 to 401. Not to meantion it 70+ more haste then my current belt plus a spinkle more crit. Being the haste freak that I am, I had to get it. Just too big of an upgrade overall. I am going to try really hard not to spend any more frost badges and save up for the tier 10. Mostly due to the sexyness of the bonuses.

Rest of the Weekend?

Only thing else that I did in warcraft was get my rep ring to honored. I must say...this damn thing is crazy good. I also like how Blizzard kept in mind duel specs and gives you the option to switch rings at a cost of 200g

Other then that I been playing Madden 2010 and Little Big Planet with my girlfriend. Its rather surprising that I can beat most of my friends in Madden on a consitent basis, but I am 1 in 4 win it comes to beating my g/f in Madden.

I think she has cheats....or distracts me with her female-ness.

CURSES!!!

BTW, Little Big Planet is a very fun game. It reminds of Donkey Kong, but on acid. I think its neat that two players can play at the same time and how they have side objectives for 2 player mode.

Until next time, I'm WTFout!!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

/gkick


Merry f'n x'mas eve blog lovers!!

I am working. It sucks, but its only a 7 hour shift and so far I am 2 hours in...not too bad so far. Got alot of family stuff planned over the weekend...aka lots of crown + coke drinkage...so I am going to try to update my blog to entertain the masses if they are stuck at work or just plain super bored over the holidays. I also am going to talk about a little bit about resto shaman theory crafting and healing meters. Also some raiding stories towards the end. So get comfy and relax. Let WTF waste 10 mins of your life entertain you for the next 5-10 minutes.

So lets get it poppin then shall we?

/gkick

Oh yes, I know you guys love some guild drama...so I am going to tell my story about the first time in my 5 years playing this game that I got /gkick'd.

I have a some very good WoW friends and a few real life friends that are GMs and officers of a guild that they made after our last guild broke up. They been trying to get me to join, but after I was spoiled by my previous guild's 25 man raid runs...I decided that I couldn't go back to just 10 mans.

So I joined a 25 man raiding guild that has been on the server since Vanilla WoW. I was with them for a pretty decent amount of time, roughly 3-4 months.

The good things about this guild was that it was an awesome environment filled with very cool and chillen people. It had a good mix of raiders, socials, and pvpers. They also were able to clear all of the current normal 25 man raids besides Yogg in Ulduar (curses!!).

The bad things about this guild in my opinion was their loot distribution method, loot council. I love loot council, but this wasn't a council...the majority of the time it was one person. At best it was two people, a married couple. I never tripped or caused any drama over any loot decisions and for the most part, I agreed with the decision. I just never thought it was a good idea and there were a few times, one particular, that they were dead wrong imo...but that is the kind of stuff that happens when you only have 1 or 2 people in your "council".

Also, there was very few times that we actually had a full 25 man raid with geared and skilled people. Towards the end we were barely getting 15-18 people online during raid times, including socials.

The GM and his wife ran the guild. The GM works in retail and its a busy time of the year for him, which we understood. But after 2 full weeks of no 25 man ICC raid, I started to worry. It wouldn't of been so bad if I was able to get into their one 10 man ICC raid, but I didn't make the cut to heal or dps...which was understandable, but still had me feeling like "F THAT" =P.

I decided to offer to make a new guild website that would be easier for possible recruits to navigate and also build up guild moral while we were not logged in. I made it and the GM updated it with guild information...rules, application, ect.

5-6 days passes...still no mention of the guild website in the MOTD or the guild information. So no guildies knew about it besides the two people I mentioned. I talked to one of them to see if there is anything I can do to try and help the situation out...I was told that they were going to rebuild and to just show up and be a good guildie...fair enough.

I wanted to talk to the main GM, but he wasn't on for 4 days in a row besides once. I tried to talk to him during that time and didn't get a response. It was at this time that I started looking for another guild to join that would have a raid spot for me.

Lastly, I spoke with a long time member (1+ year in guild) and a fellow raider. Even though his ranking was just a raider, I considered him an officer. We had about a 20-30 minute conversation about the guild and where its heading.

He went through the roster and told me that if things don't change 75% will probably leave to find another home. He also stated that the current leaders of the guild have checked out and will probably won't put too much effort into getting the guild back into the 25 man raids. During this conversation he also stated that he would be HIGHLY surprised if the guild raids any progression 25 man raids until the next expansion comes out.

Wow...next expansion?

I thanked him for his honesty with me and debated these two things.

A. Take the bull by the horns and really push progression and recruiting. Try to find a smaller guild to merge with and take on more responsibility in the guild.

B. Look else where.

WWBLD

W.W.B.L.D. = What Would Blog Lovers Do? lol

Seriously though, what would you do in this situation? I thought about it for a little bit. I weighed the ups and downs. I looked at a few guild's websites...

hold up!

One of the guild websites that I was browsing had one of our GM's alt as an applicant!

I checked the guild log and sure as shit....the alt left the guild about a week or so ago.

Now my mind is made up. If one of the two leaders of the guild is applying for one of the tops guilds (same raids times as ours btw) on our server on an alt, then I am not going to choose option A and try to push the guild forward.

I applyed to a top end 25 man raiding guild, but I miss read there raids times and couldn't make them due to my job. So I was forced to withdrawn my application. It was pretty upsetting really, I already passed the written and vent interview and was going to get a trial invite.

There were 3 other guilds that I was interested in. I applied to my second choice and they replied to me stating that my application was great and I am geared enough, but that they are going to talk with my current guild for a possible recommendation.

lol! Smiley

Now, they said this during the afternoon while I was asleep. I log in the game to see my current guild's raid has been cancelled again. I didn't make the cut to join up with the one 10 man raid again...

...and there were no officers on. Well shit, I just don't want to /gquit without telling them my reason why and talking to them. Right before I was about to log to go to work, they both log on.

Figures. Now I don't have the time to talk to them, I got to get ready for work.

I get to work, load up my gmail, and I get a chat message from a WoW friend that I brought into the guild...

"Dude, they /gkick'd you"

LOL. Guess they found out uh? Ya, my friend said they were pissed off that I didn't try and talk to them about it.

Whatever. No hard feelings. I gave ownership of the website that I made to one of the GMs and took my admin rights away. Told them that if they need any help with the site to contact me. No bad feelings or anything.

I've been Nerfed!

Thats right, I said the "N" word. I have been Nerfed. However, this time its a good thing.

How can this be?

Nerfed is the name of my new guild. What interested me about them is that they are 3/4 in ICC 25 man, 4/4 ICC 10 (2 groups) and on their website, I have never seen so much detail put into the guild information / rules section.

They broke it down people. There is no possible way that you didn't know what you were signing up for if you read the entire guild information / rules section. They didn't leave anything to the imagination and its not like the rules of the guild were far fetched. I thought they were fantastic and it was very satisfying that they were so organized.

I got invited as a recruit. Status last for 2 weeks and after that you are either /gkicked or promoted to raider.

I got invited to their 25 man ICC run this week. It was refreshing to see 30+ people online 15 minutes before the raid time and with 1 minute to the schedule raid time we had a full raid group and 22 out of 25 people in the instance.

Then they decided to take another dps and roll with 5 healers instead of 6. They were very polite and understanding of my feelings. To which I said, No biggie, go pwn some faces. Let me know if you need me.

I think that really went far with the officers of the group from their reaction and their PSTs to me appreciating my attitude towards the situation.

They got Saurfang down to 2% twice before wiping!!! They also don't have consistent resto shaman raider. Both of these statements make me very excited about being apart of this guild.

First raid with new guild...

Yea...its go time. I logged into today and got a raid spot. They decided to faceroll ToC25 for the weekly raid quest. I knew all the fights and cleared that place out on my shaman many of times, so I had to show them that I was indeed a player to keep around and get a raid spot.

Before the first pull, I noticed that every one's gearscore is FANTASTIC, including all of the healers.

I was getting a little nervous that I was going to get embarrassed, but all that flew out the window after I looked at the healing meters after the first boss encounter, Northrend Beasts. I had the most effective healing by 3% and the second to lowest overhealing.

As the raid went on, I continued to pew, pew, bolts of nature and heal the shit out of everyone. I made a post yesterday about how I regemmed to gain +50 haste at the cost of 50mp5. It really boosted my HPS and my effective healing. In fact, I never really had any mp5 issues the whole raid. Makes me want to regem all of my blue sockets to straight +20 haste instead of +10 haste / 5mp5. I think I'll wait until the next gate opens up in ICC25 to make that decision. I have an OCD issue when it comes to running low on mana.

So if you read the elitist jerks shaman thread, which you should if you haven't, I am telling you that there is a reason that haste is our numbero uno stat....It has been confirmed by WTFspaghetti lol.

Here is the overall healing meters and overhealing meters. Note that the priests listed were holy, not disc.


I also upgraded my shield! I now have one of the best in slot items for caster shamans, Bastion of Purity. I don't like how little it is, but it doesn't look too bad on my troll. Plus with that upgrade I gained almost 85 HEP points. Pretty tight imo.

ICC10

After we kill anub, we broke off into two 10 man groups. only 2 healers per group! Now, I know what you are thinking...

Dude, its easily done with 2 healers. That may be true, but I have only pugged ICC 10 and that time was with 3 healers and we failed miserably. I know that the first boss, Lord Marrowgar, puts alot alot of damage, so I was kinda freaking out.

The other healer, holy paladin, was very welled geared...so that made me feel alot better.

One dps died on the first boss, but it wasn't terrible healing it with 2 well geared healers. Looking at the meters for the fight we were 50% each. So hooray...I didn't fail.

Second boss we two shotted because the RL made the mistake of having 2 dps on the boss at all times. The remaining 4 dps couldn't take down the adds fast enough due to ranged dps (on the boss) wouldn't switch fast enough to kill the ranged only reanimators.

2nd time through we pwned em.

Gunship battle is rated an A+ by me. I just think it was an awesome encounter. We wiped once because the opposing ship's tank healer couldn't keep him up. We switched roles and we cleared it no problem.

Poor Deathbringer Saurfangor. Listening to the npcs talk to each other, I couldn't help but to feel sorry for his family who is trying to collect his body for burial.

DAMN THE LICH KING!!!

Anyway, the holy pally tells me to heal the tanks and he has the raid. Urm...ok. That is different don't you think? I switched out two pieces of haste / mp5 gear for some crit / mp5 gear and away we went.

Boss is just a gear / dps check IMO. Not as simple like the gear / dps check Patchwerk in Naxx...but nontheless...a gear / dps check. We wiped once because our hunter that is suppose to be kiting with traps and misdirects decides she wanted ALL the aggro and made the sky rain arrows...

Silly hunter

Second try went much smoother. In the words of the great Samuel A Jackson...

"I was a tank healing mother fucker, MOTHER FUCKER!!!"

I was actually surprised on how well I actually did with tank healing duty. I had to drop my mana tide totem, but we ended the fight and I still had 60% mana left. Our dps was pretty good though, we only had one person get the "Mark of Complete Pwnage". We also got the achievement without even knowing there was an achievement.

Cool. 10 points is fun.

After the raid the two officers in the guild messaged me saying how good of a job I did healing. Which was pretty crazy for a guild that I think is pretty elite. Maybe they know the first rule of sucessfully managing people...Recognition and Appreciation.

maybe that is two rules...

Eh...whateverz!

I hope you guys have a safe and fun holiday. If you don't celebrate any holiday around this time, then enjoy the time off from work. If your not off work like me, hopefully I helped pass the time.

Until next time, I'm WTFout!!

CHEERS!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

this is a Shaman blog right?


Its true. I know that my blog is more of a general WoW-personal experiences-misc-nonsense blog, but I do like to give some good information about my beloved Shaman class.

Patch 3.3 has been out for a few weeks now. We just entered the third full week of the patch and I have had my time to collect my thoughts about all the changes and what they mean for us.

Fire Nova!

Holy crap this fun to play around with. If is very effective now that we have actual trash mobs in the new raid instance, ICC. Not to menation all of the heroic badge farming with the new LFG tool....shamans need to add this to their rotatoin right away. We now have a legit AoE spell.

Noticed how I said "shamans", meaning all specs. Yes, even resto can move up on the dps chart lol.

It has a 30 yard range which means you have to have line of sight of the totem and be at a maximum 30 yards away for the spell to work. You also don't have to drop the totem right by the mobs in order for the spell to hit the baddie. I don't know the exact yardage because I am at work and most sites are block, but from playing around with it I would say the totem itself has a 10 yard radius. Just plop that sucka down, hit the button, and watch the pretty numbers fly.

Pretty simple right? So how good is it and is it worth your dps lost to run up and place the totem in range?

It is very situational. You should not be overly concerned with it in regards to your dps rotation. However, if you are proactive and not just hanging out in the back of the raid/group, you should be able place the totem in range with minimum lost of "dps time".

Another important aspect of this new ability is that you shouldn't be using it unless you are AoE'n things. I am going to have to check on the math, but if there less then 3 mobs, I highly doubt it would be worth using for a dps spec'd shaman. It isn't going to be worth the dps drop from using the Fire Nova spell and losing a GCD while you could have casted a CL, LB, or LvB.

Resto shamans though....feel free to use it as much as you can! There is no reason that you shouldn't be using this on every pull in a 5 man heroic and most trash pulls in raids....just be careful about cleaves and you know...actually healing =P. Now, I am not saying that you should focus on dps'n and using the spell more then keeping people alive...but if you are just chillen and everyones health is good, use that sucka!

It is some pretty sweet dmg even for a Resto shaman, 2k+ dmg to everything. Spell hit and power does factor into if you hit and how hard, so keep that in mind.

I did 25 man Ony yesterday and I placed my totem in the middle of the floor where the whelps would be collected. I hit the spell and BAM! 1.600 dmg to 25+ whelps lol. It was pretty sweet.

What about you guys? How do you feel about the new ability of our fire totems.

Updated 3.3 Resto Shaman stats / gemming / haircuts / medical operations, ect...

Haste anyone? Because haste has overtaken the Shaman community in regards to the restoration spec. I have been reading that some shaman in heroic 25 man guilds are getting close to the haste softcap.

Ya...the haste softcap. What is the haste softcap? Well, there isn't such a thing as the softcap per se...but I hear it mentioned alot, which is confusing to me. Nonetheless, you can not benefit from more then 50% haste. That would bring your GCD to 1 second. Even if you had 50% and then used Bloodlust/Heroism, you wouldn't be affected by the buff at all.

Going back on resto shamans in heroic 25 man guilds....they are approaching 1100-1300 haste!!! Good f'n lord. That is damn close to 40% haste and equals a very, very, fast heal.

What does it mean!!!

So am I telling you to gem the hell out of haste and screw everything else? No. What I am telling you is that once you get your average item level is around 232...you should really gem for haste, it will help your performance, especially in 25 mans.

Red socket - Reckless Ametrine (12 sp 10 haste - 27 HEPs)
Yellow socket - Quick King's Amber (20 haste - 30 HEPs)
Blue socket - Energized Eye of Zul* (10mp5 10 haste)

*Note, in regard to blue sockets. You need 1 to meet the requirement for our meta gem, so only socket one blue socket with Energized Eye of Zul. The rest of your blue sockets should be Quick King's Amber to maximize your HEP (Healing Equivalency Points).

With that being the case, if you notice that you are running out of mana too quickly, definitely roll with the Energized Eye of Zul for your blue sockets. However, its not always a good thing to end a raid boss encounter with a bunch of mana. What that means is that you have too much and you are not maximizing your other stats....to a point. I would go more indepth about it, but I think you know what I am trying to say.

Break it down...

Haste > Spell Power =/= Mp5 > Crit > Intellect

Consider yourself broken down. For a resto shaman, that is our stats ranked in order to maximize your performance. What? Need more information? Slightly confused?

Again, I am going to use HEP. The point is to get your HEP number is high as possible while maintaining a good mana level and throughput. With that said...

Haste - 1.5
Spell Power - 1.0
mp5 - 1.0
Crit - 0.8
Intel - 0.6

Even if you are confused on how HEPs work, just look at the numbers for each stat and gear appropriately. Quite a change from a few patches ago when spell power and intellect was king.

Changes to my Shaman

Since my gear is not quite up to the level or stacking haste like a mad man...I decided to get my shaman for 28% crit, 575 mp5, 2850 spell power, with a whopping 786 haste self buffed.

I went ahead and regemmed for a little more haste at the expense of losing alot of mp5. I dropped about 50mp5 and gained 50 haste. I have only been in one VoA 25 man raid, but so far its pretty nice. My HPS is much more consistent and although I have noticed the difference from the 50mp5 that I used to have, its not making me go out of mana.

Which you know...is a good thing.

I also got a wild stick up my ass and decided I was tried of being a fat cow. It was rather annoying that I didn't fit through 75% of doorways while mounted and going off of racial that would be beneficial for raiding...Tauren shaman don't have anything.

So I could have choose an Orc or a Troll. Orc has +pet dmg and a free spell power trinket. Trolls have better regeneration and a free 20% faster casting trinket.

I choose the troll of the faster casting racial and regen....and because I can have DREADLOCKS!

/headbang

Its funny when you do a race change. Its like your playing a completely new character. I kept looking at my name and thinking...this is Tek...who da F is dis troll mon....

/gasp

I am already talking like a troll now!

I haven't regretted it at all and it has renewed alot of the fun I used to have with my shaman. Not to say I didn't enjoy him before, but it started to feel like a grind almost.

Change is a good thing my friends and with that, I'm WTFout!!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

birth control and what can happen if you don't use it.


What can happen? You can make one of these little bastards. Or worst, you can have a kid that turns out to be a special type of person.

Yeah. you know the type of people that I speak of. Those special people that you just don't understand what is going on in their heads. It is like they are playing a completely different game then us, yet we are commonly connected and grouped as "level 80 insert class here".

Arioch knows what the hell I am talking about...

"I imagine their UI has 3 or 4 buttons that do damage and half the screen is taken up by their Recount.”

Darraxus stated that he is going to post something about these type of people later on in the week. From following his blog, I know he knows what the hell I am talking about.

I even read that some have went so far as mailing these people items to improve their characters and help them not look so....

RETARDED

/gasp

Yeah, I said it. You heard correctly. I went there, came back, and I like it.

But seriously, its true!

Also, before you start telling me that everyone plays the game for different reasons and not everyone cares about improving their toons...blah, blah, blah...

I know and I am well aware of those people.

I am not talking about those people. I am talking about the people who just plain fail at the game due to basic understanding and lazyness.

If you don't want me to freak out about your sub 1000 dps in my daily heroic group. Then don't join my daily heroic group. Don't even queue up. Nope. I refuse to hear any excuses that you may think justify you being in the same group as me in a heroic.

If I was in a regular instance, no problem. You wouldn't hear anything out of me. Want to know why? Because that is exactly where someone of your skill / gear / gaming experience belongs. It looks the same as the heroic version, so you can't use the excuse that you want to see what it looks like ok?

/deep breathe

Then my head blew up...

That is correct. My head blew up like I was on the receiving end of a fatality in Mortal Kombat. This particular sub-1000k dps hunter had "the Patient" title. That means that he has used the LFG tool to group with 50 random people.

My head didn't blow up immediately. Maybe he used the tool to group with people in the regular instances. I asked him how did you get that title?

He replied..."from doing random heroics dumbass. You know maybe if you read the patch notes you would know that lol =P"

I am not going to lie. My head started hurting after his statement. I just rolled with it and didn't reply to him.

Now, I got to thinking. This hunter must be f'n with me. He must be doing that level 75 dps to play a trick on me. So I start laughing to myself and I go and inspect him.

Average item level was 160.
He had 2 epics, both of them crafted item level 200.
His ranged weapon was a green level 78 crossbow.

Then I thought to myself....

Average heroic badge per instance = 3
Random daily heroic bonus = 2
50 random people divided by 4 = 12.5 instance runs. I'm going to round up, so 13 instance runs.
-------------------------------------
13 runs multiplied by a minimum of 5 badges per run = 65 triumph badges.

So WTF is this guy doing? He has a bare minimum of 65 triumph badges to mess around with and he doesn't have one piece of gear that is above item level 200?

(boom)
Blog Updates


  • I changed a few things around the site if you didn't notice already. Added a new banner to spice things up and keep it fresh. Not sure if I like it or not, time will tell.

  • I went ahead and took "P's" characters off the site since he hasn't written an article in over 7 months..../sniffle.

  • Changed my Shout out of the Week.

  • Updated my blog roll with a few very cool blogs that I just recently found, Blueberry Totem and Life in Group 5. Both are Shaman blogs that are very informational from raiders.

  • Updated a few links to make them more up to date.

Poll Results

Holy crap. I really can't believe prositute whoring, drug addicted, Blood Elfs won the WTF's favorite race poll. I mean...its wild to me. My favorite class, the dwarfs, came in damn near last with only 7% of the vote. Atleast my cowmen came in second with 14% of the vote otherwise my head may start to steam and blow up again.

Lord knows that I am still recovering from the massive headache that the fail huntard gave me eariler today.

Until next time, I'm WTFout!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I Survived...

Hola blog lovers!

I know everyone was worried and interested to know if I survived the three day roadtrip bachelor party. Well, I am sorry to tell you that I did in fact make it home alive and I will still be updating my blog lol.

Fun, fun, times were had. This isn't the place to talk about them however, for this is a WoW blog and lets get into that shall we?

ICC 25 Raiding

Last Tuesday, patch day, our guild went into ICC 25 for the very first time and it was a blast. It was very refreshing to have new content to explore and new bosses ready to kick our asses. Trash pulls went pretty much to plan. We wiped once from being silly and not being used to trash that can actually kill us.

When then rolled up on the first boss....the Gate Keeper, aka Lich King's biatch, aka Lord Marrowgar. We wiped about 2 times before we all understood what needs to happen. It was very clear that half of our raid did not look up the fight before hand and had no idea what to expect.

It was also very clear that some of our raiders forgot / never knew how to raid in the first place. ICC so far in my eyes is a raider's raid. When I say that I mean that it is challenging, requires lots of teamwork and coordination, and needs a good raid leader.

Ya, remember raid leaders? You didn't really need them Naxx, but they did re-emerge with 3.1 dropped and Ulduar came out. Then the need for them dropped off for 6 months while everyone, including the majority of pugs, steamed rolled the Tournament. Well, now they are needed again and I am happy to announce that I am not leading the raid. The responsibility of the raids success does not weigh on me. Hooray!

We wiped two times before I completely understood my role and what I needed to do. It took about 10 other people, mostly melee dps, about 3 additional wipes =(. However, the attempt that we killed him was ezmode, even with only 22 people in the raid. It's amazing what happens when DPS spreads out and actually kills the people who are spiked /shock.

The loot that drops in 25 man ICC is no joke. Straight sexyness! Two 2hander Axes dropped and went to our top two melee dps. (More on this a little later)

Lady Deathwhisper

Yes, this ho was no joke. It seemed to me that this fight was Blizzard's way of saying

"Hey, in order to continue to get phat loot and experience bosses in ICC, you have to have very good dps and excellent coordination."

Fair enough Blizzard. In fact, I really like it that you took a stand. Hopefully you will stick to your guns and won't nerf it too much before we kill her. Noticed how I stated "before we kill her"? Yeah, that is because she whooped our ass. Like I said, alot of coordination and dps to kill her and we lacked a little of both. The closest we got her is to about 5% left before phase 2. Pretty good for only 22 raiders right? Eh..not really, but it was still fun.

Healing is pretty intense for her. If a melee dps pulls add aggro from AoE'n or being stupid, they will die. Not to mention that the left side reanimated mobs can 1 shot your tank if they aren't quick enough to run away while ranged dps kills him. On our best attempt, we got to 5% left on the mana shield (1st phase) and our 54k hp druid tank wasn't quick enough to see the mob coming and got 1 shotted.

Yes...one shotted. It isn't like you have a whole bunch of time to see them coming either. You have about 2-3 seconds from what I could tell. All you hear on vent was "Ranged switch to....nevermind...I just got ass-punched for 58k.

Deadly

We would have gotten more attempts on him, but our top two melee dps had other plans...

ICC will change things...

I stated a few months ago in one of the random articles about patch 3.3 will change alot of things. One of the things I mentioned was that a new raid will cause many guilds to disband and break up.

Now, my current guild has been around since Vanilla WoW and has alot of the same people still in the guild. I never would have ever thought that ICC would destroy them and so far I am right, but we have taken a mighty fine blow.

Our top two melee dps (6.5-7.5k DPS), DK and Ret Pally, which were also our best geared tanks (45k unbuffed HP in plate), decided to leave and apply for the top guild on the server.

Bah!

Worst thing for a guild to hear...EVER. Both of these guys had the top gear score in our guild and there was a reason for it. They got first pick at everything. They been in the guild and been on every raiding night (give or take a few) for over a year. They earned the right to get pimped out with gear by our guild. I am not saying that, but I am saying is that no one saw it coming and it did alot of damage.

The only thing that would have been worst was if our 3 main healers decided to bounce. Even then it wouldn't be such a huge deal....we have lots of healers in the guild that can step up in my opinion. It would suck to lose them, but I am saying that losing the Paladin and the DK was worst.

I'm not mad at them for leaving or trying to get into a more hardcore pve guild. I am pissed that they took the two level 268 2handers that dropped off of Lord Marrowgar 12 hours before they left.

/rawr

We were already in a rebuild process because we can't seem to get 25 geared people on at the same time. Now this? I am trying to stay positive, but when we only had 16 people online yesterday for ICC 25 and couldn't even break into 2 10 mans....

Outlook is looking gloomy. I swear to god I am a guild killer. Hopefully this guild will change that and make it through this rough patch.

Warlockin Mage Style - I make this look good!

My Lock has no surpass my Mage in gear thanks to the LFG Tool and the triumph badges falling from the sky.

I can now successfully rock out 4.2 dps in a 25 man and I love it. I was rocking a staff for awhile from the last boss in one of the new 5 man heroics, Pit of Saron. However, I got my hands on the sexy Polished Mage Blade from 25 man Onyixa.

Figures that the toon that I have raided Onyixa the least on, got the first 621 sp weapon. Damn RNG. Not that I am complaining! I really only need a few trinkets, one ring, and the off-hand from Heroic Halls of Reflection and I will be rocking damn near the best stuff besides drops in ToC 25 and above.

Exciting to say the least.

Now, if I can only get myself a Battered Hilt to drop....

Blogroll

I was out of the blogging world for 7 days and spent the good portion of my work day so far catching up on everyones stories on patch 3.3 and how super dope boy fresh bling bling w/ bbq tangy sauce the new LFG tool is.

I am glad that it is going over so well and I love it that Blizzard finally came up with something like this for the live servers.

I have been trying to find some good new blogs to put on my blogroll, but haven't found that many.

Darraxus's sister started blogging again and this time its about WoW! Come to find out, she is a good writer and very entertaining. Check her out if you have not yet.

Also, for all my Shaman lovers out there, make sure to check out Drug's last few articles on Shamans in regards to patch 3.3.

I should have a post on Friday that deals with all the elemental shaman changes out there with 3.3. So if you interested in that, make sure to stop back.

I now leave you with random .gifs that I find entertaining. Peace out!



Thursday, December 10, 2009

Tagged - 2009 WoWage in Review

Thursday already?

Good lord this week is flying by....and I LOVE IT!

Our good friend over at Lincoln Freed the Slaves and retired WoW blogger, P. Is having his bachelor party this weekend.

Ahhhhh yea son. We decided to roll 8 deep (a few people flew....noobs imo) in two cars and head out to Indianapolis to watch the Colts vs Bronocs NFL game. P is an admitted Peyton Manning fanboy and I am still in the closet about my man-love for him.

Plus, there will be drugs and strippers!!

Can I get a hell yeah!?!

WTFspaghetti's 15 man Choir

/attitude

"OH HELL YEAAAAAH!!"
-------------------------------------

That is what I am talking about people!

Now for the WoW talk...but first....

WTFspaghetti does not recommend doing drugs or partying with strippers. Drug is a very general word that could mean anything from medicine to alcohol. We are not responsible for how you interrupt the word. In fact, it is defined as...

any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or other animals

Now, the partying with strippers on the other hand is fun, but highly un-economical.

Ok, now that we got that little announcement out of the way...

Tagged - WoW meme

I love getting tagged. Makes you feel all warm in fuzzy. Its like the opposite feeling of getting picked last in elementary school for a game of pick up dodge ball. Which by the way is total bullshit, they knew I was way better then that bowlegged, smart girl Joyce...She couldn't even run to 1st base without take a 3-4 minute break with her inhaler!!

...damn kids...

right...back to subject

So "D" tagged myself in this particular meme and if you haven't checked out that blog, you really need to. There isn't too many blogs that I make sure to catch up on all of their articles when I go through them, but D's is definitely on that list.

Onward!!

What did you do in the World of Warcraft in 2009 that you'd never done before?

The thing that stands out the most is make a raiding guild with a few of my friends. We made it serious but very laid back and it was awesome. In my opinion, we actually succeeded way more then I thought we were going to. We had an awesome core group of people that I really like to raid with, but sadly...I couldn't take it the stress anymore of leading a large guild like Explicit was...

However, definitely the best time I have ever had in WoW and that is saying alot when you think I have been playing since 2004.

What was your favorite new place that you visited?

Yikes...there are so many!

I absolutely loved what Blizzard did with the WotLK expansion. The artwork overall is an A+ in my book. However, Northrend was released in 2008 and I leveled pretty quickly. So it wouldn't be any of the questing areas because the first time I visisted them was still 2008.

/ponder

Has to be Ulduar. First section wasn't that mind blowing, but after you kill Kologarn. You can stand on his head and see the cat lady boss walking around The Keeper's cirle and down to Yogg. Also, the hallway to General V?

Oh yea, I was impressed.

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

I don't really think I lacked anything this year in regards to WoW. If anything, I think I over-achieved and played too much lol...but this is expected.

WoW is digital crack and I haven't been able to or really wanted to shake the habit for 4.5 years.

What was your biggest achievement of the year? What was your biggest failure?

Interesting question. My biggest achievement this year was creating and being apart of a successful raiding guild. My biggest failure was how it fell apart. I not upset that it did fall apart, but thinking back on it, I wish I would have done it differently. I know alot of people were not happy with me due to the way I did it.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?

I was pretty f'nn excited about patch 3.1 lol. When my guild went in there the first week and pwned shit...my guild was the number 3 in progression out of the 10 man guilds.

It was just overall exciting experience for me as a raid leader.

What do you wish you'd done less of?

Playing WoW in general. I don't play a ton compared to alot of people....but then again I haven't killed another human being like a ton of people have too.

See where I am going?

I think I play just a tad too much and sometimes it gets in the way of getting important, real life shit done.

That being said...I don't regret playing at all lol.

I am a happy addict =P

What was your favorite WoW blog or podcast?

I listen to a bunch of podcasts since I got my iphone, but I only listen to one WoW podcast every now and then. Rawrcast is by far the best one that I have found.

I don't have a favorite WoW blog. I check my blogroll daily, but I find myself reading Critical QQ's blog alot. I love his writing style and he is highly entertaining.

I also can't help but to stalk Darraxus and Clearcasting. Drug is by far my favorite non-american / shaman blogger and if you don't read Larisa over at the Pink Pigtail Inn, then you should start ASAP.

Everyone else on my blog roll I love to read, but I don't want to list them all for this answer.

Also, I got to give some love to Matticus and Lodur over at World of Matticus....very well ran blog that is highly informational.

Tell us a valuable WoW lesson you learned in 2009.

Leading a raiding guild, especially a 25 man raiding guild is super stressful. You meet and make alot of friends, but you also lose alot friends that you had in the process.

---------------------------------------

If I linked your blog, you have been tagged! Don't be a wiener and not continue the meme. Mucho love to all of you.

Until next time, I'm WTFout!!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

3.3 and You - Need to read guide during patch day downtime.


(I started writing this post last Sunday, but didn't get to finish it due to being busy at work. Patch 3.3 has been confirmed for today, Tuesday 12/8/09. This is a massive post filled with the full patch notes, general updates, changes, PvE - new 5 mans and raids, lore, phat loot, new epic quest chains, and other misc goodness along with my thoughts on and a few suggestions that 3.3 has to offer us. I am almost 100% positive that there is going to be ALOT of extended downtime. So sit back and enjoy the off time. I hope you enjoy my post and the rest of my blog)

Oh ya, that is right blog lovers.

I know that patch 3.3 has not been confirmed, but the sneaky ninjas over at WoW Insider stated that unless Blizzard thinks that adding the new patch would cause severe server issues, its going live.

I took that statement as this...

Patch is dropping on Tuesday. Severe server lag comes with any new game changing patch that is over 1.1 gigs.

Oh, you didn't know?

Yes, the new patch is just about 1.1 gigabytes big. With my super sweet 3.0 download speed internet, I should have the patch download sometime around Wednesday.

but, but, Blizzard has already started the download for the past several weeks after you close out of WoW...

Ya, mine hasn't. I have tried to start the download by closing WoW. I waited and waited...

...and waited. Nothing. Checked the processes running in Windows via the task manager, nothing.

I also tried to check some third party sites to see if they had a mirror so I can start the process.

Again, nada. So I am a little upset about how large the file is going to be and knowing that there is really no way that I will be able to download it on Tuesday. With my connection and about 10 million players downloading it at the same time...its just not feasible.

Have no fear though. I have a WoW blog and I can waste my time by writing up an article and catch up of missed episodes of Community and Lie to Me. I can also read more juicy stuff about what to do in the world now that we have broken through the doors of Icecrown.

Getting you in the mood.../rawr

You are going to watch this video. I don't care if you don't like spoilers and you want to experience it for yourself. I want to experience it for myself too, but this video only makes me want to experience ALOT MORE. It gets you what the kids are saying these days..."Hyphee".

but seriously...I watched it and there really isn't spoilers. It is basically a short, four minute video on what you will see in the three new 5 man instances when 3.3 drops. There are some cut scenes, but seriously, its not a big spoiler video unless you are a huge lore fan.

If you don't want to see ANYTHING about the new three 5 man instances, then don't watch it either. Its dope though, you will be missing out.





I know right? If you are like me you thought the following...

That is alot of cut scene footage. No wonder why the damn patch is 1.1 gigs. I have never been a lore nerd, but I must say...

I have never been so excited to kill the boss before. That SOB must die my hand. Even though I am a healer, you better be damn sure that I am going to FROSTSHOCK that bitch when he has less then 1% health to get the killing blow.

FROST.
SHOCK.
/solider boy

I don't know what it is, I have killed damn near every boss in the game and it was never about lore. It was about loot or the challenge it presented me. Up until this expansion, the second boss in BWL, Vael, was by leaps and bounds my favorite boss encounter of all time.

That includes ALL game. I know it was a blast kill Browser for the first time in Super Mario 3 on SNES, but serious...that fight...during that time...was truly epic. It is also what planted the raiding seed in me and why I will always be a raider...casual, medium-core, hard-core. Whatever you want to call it, it was the shit.

However, I have paid alot of attention to the lore in the WotLK. Mostly due to me being bored, but that is besides the point. This Lich King is a whiny bitch and has caused me much frustrating since he decided he wanted to make the whole world undead.

Do you not remember last November when he released zombies on the world? Ya...everyone was a fucking zombie and it was funny, but annoying as hell. What about throughout the leveling process and in some of the end game instances were this fool in so many words called my friends and myself a bunch of no good scrub asshats?

Yes, I will enjoy killing this fool and you know I will teabag his sorry ass when I do.

So, now what?

You download and install the patch. You log in and you can feel it. Change is in the air...there is new shit to kill and purplez to nerd rage over. But, where do you begin?

If you are an alt-o-holic like "D" and myself, then you need to set up a plan. Which toon(s) are you going to setup as your heroic famers for triumph badges and which toon(s) are you going to set aside for the new weekly raiding quest?

Wait, wait...weekly raiding quest?

Yes people. There isn't going to be any more daily heroic quests. Instead, Blizzard is going to use their new LFG tool to make you do a random heroic for the "new daily heroic" if I understood the patch notes correctly.

For the weekly raiding quest you have to kill a raid boss from the following...

Taking directly from another bloggers post, I hope they dont mind =D.

The Obsidian Sanctum/Eye of the Eternity: Sartharion and Malygos
Naxxramas: Anub’rekhan, Noth the Plaguebringer, Instructor Razuvious and Patchwork.
Ulduar: Flame Leviathan,Ignis the Furnace Master,Razorscale,and XT-002 Deconstructor
Crusaders’ Coliseum/Trial of the Crusader: Lord Jaraxxus
Icecrown Citadel: Lord Marrowgar

One of those bosses will get picked a week and the reward for killing them is 5 Frost Emblems and 5 Triumph badges. Pretty sweet. I am one of the very few people that actually liked Maylogs fight. I never got it done on 25 man, but hopefully that is going to change now with these weekly raiding quests. I also like this because this means that there is a good possibility that I can get the "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" on my alts.

Which I think is just kewl...

Ok, so moving on...back to what do to first.

So, now what? continued

My Lock is going to be my primary alt for farming heroics. I don't need anything on my Shaman from the triumph badges anymore. Though I guess I should permanently buy my totems instead of buying them for the raid and then returning them to get the badges back after I am done raiding lol.

I have not forgot about my Mage either. He will get into some heroics and keep up with the times, but as of now. I am really liking my wanna-be Mage, destro Lock.

However, as we can see from the above video I posted. There are 3 new 5 man instances that I want to explore on my Shaman first. However, if you are going to new 5 mans, then you need to make yourself aware of this quest line.

The quest chain is called simply, Quel'Delar. It is an 11 part quest chain that at the end gives you a very SEXY item level 251 weapon. Reading through different quests on the chain it seems pretty f'n dope. You actually end back to one of my favorite TBC world pvp spots, Isle of Quel'Danas.

Oh yea, the Sunwell actually plays a pretty big part in the chain. I can't wait to go do it and I suggest that everyone should start on this quest chain once 3.3 goes live.

But, but, How? Where Does it START!?!

The whole thing starts from a drop that you can get in the three new dungeons, Battered Hilt. On the PTR, you could buy it from the Inscription shop in Dalaran...but I highly doubt you would be able tomorrow when the 3.3 goes live.

I would prefer it to still be being sold by the vendor in Dalaran, but I would be ok if it is just a drop. As long as the drop rate isn't mind-numbing low. In fact, I take that back. I would be a little upset if this item is even considered a low drop rate. I don't think it is going to be though. The way Blizzard's thought process is currently...you know, let the majority of people (casuals) experience end game.

Doesn't make too much sense to have this epic 5 man group quest chain that runs you through all three new 5 mans and ends with a VERY good weapon to be a low drop rate. The majority of people only play for a 3-6 hours a week, so for them to get a low drop rate from a 5 man that has a lock out period (heroic instances)...it just seems unlikely to me.

Unless it can drop in all versions of all three instances, reg and heroic. Then I would be ok with it being a low drop rate. People can just farm the regular instances until they got it. Annoying, yes. Not a big deal though.

You want to see the weapons don't you?

You are at work and you want to see some stats to make your inner child start doing jumping jacks. I know the feeling...however, my inner child doesn't do jumping jacks because he is quite tubby. It just claps his hands like the Nutty Professor's Mama while he breathes through his mouth.

Spell Mace


Notice how it says heroic on it? I couldn't find a difference between the heroic and the non heroic version. Also, they are changing the Mace's stats to be more attractive to dps casters like Boomkin and Spriest by taking out the mp5 and replacing it with 60 haste.

Fine by me! I love haste and currently I have been replacing my items with mp5 on them for items with haste on them. So this works out for Resto and Elemental Shamans atleast. I am not too sure how happy Priests or Druids are because I am not too sure on how their stats work.

The look of the mace is ok. Nothing fancy, but nothing outrageously badass about it either. From a resto shaman that has been rocking the ToC 10 man healing mace for the past 2-3 months...I don't care if this mace looked like a rainbow unicorn, I would stood rock it. The stats are too good.

Spell blade


First off, YES. Thank you Blizzard. This is what a caster sword should look like. Big, loud, and screaming "no mister, don't DO IT!!"

or somthing along those lines.

...

Either way, it looks cool and has fantastic stats. Win, win in my opinion and lets face it. If you a reader of my blog, my opinion has to mean shit something to you right?

Misc Goodies...

Again, if you are getting this information from my site. There is about a 85% chance that you are at work. So the rest of the information is being brought to you because I care!

Full patch notes? Got em.

Shaman talk? You know it.

Legendary 2 hander that everyone will be able to get???

No, you will not be able to get the legendary melee 2h'er until months after the release of 3.3. Not only that, but the grind and the amount of money and mats that you will have to get is just epic. Even if you are at the gold cap and you could buy all of the mats within the first couple weeks of 3.3. You still need 30 rare drop items from 25 man IC. Similar to the legendary healing mace that was released in 3.2.

So heads up, if you see anyone of the opposite faction with this weapon EVER. You might as well figure out the best way to run awhile with your life because this dude isn't only going to have the axe...but they are going to be geared to all hell.

Run fast, very fast.

------------------------------------------

Intriguing Shaman Changes...

* Orc and Troll shamans now have their own unique totem art

It is about time that the other shaman races got their own totem design. I kinda wish that Tauren got redesigned too, but its cool that we have something to our own I guess.

* Fire and Earth Elemental Totem - The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

What is not to like?

* Fire Nova Totem - This totem has been replaced with a new spell, Fire Nova, which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.

I couldn't get the PTR to allow me to log in. So I couldn't mess with this change. I know it is going to be a hassle for enhancement shaman to fit in there rotation, but I am sure they will get used to it. More on this change to come in the future.

* Reincarnation - The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 60 minutes down to 30 minutes.

* Improved Reincarnation - This talent now reduces the cooldown of Reincarnation by 7/15 minutes, down from 10/20 minutes. Reincarnation cannot be used in Arenas.

* Elemental Mastery (Elemental Talent) - This talent now increases spell haste by 15% instead of critical strike chance while active.

Wow, I love it! Crit is nice and all, but it is all about spell power and haste. The crit will come on its own without worrying too much about it.

Shaman Teir 10 Armor



Just to remind you what it looks like. Don't forget that our shoulders have an animation on them. Check out the below video to see the animation

Shaman Teir 10 - shoulder effect @ 39 second mark.




World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.3.0

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

General

* Icecrown Citadel
o All three wings of the 5-player dungeon are currently available for testing.
o Select encounters in the 10- and 25-player raid dungeon are available for limited testing.
o Additional Icecrown Citadel raid content will be made available in future test builds. For more information and testing schedules please visit our Test Realm forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11572&sid=1

* Quel’Delar Quest Chain: The Battered Hilt, the item needed to start this quest line, can now be purchased from all glyph vendors on the public test realms.
* Character Creation: The descriptions for races, classes, and race/class combinations have been improved to provide new players with a better idea of the roles and advantages of each class and race.
* Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.
* Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying.
* The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says “hello”), while the new /yw is for saying "you're welcome."
* Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players’ pets.
* Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory.
* Attack is now called Auto Attack. The tooltip has been changed to reflect that the player will continue automatically attacking a target.
* Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character’s minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone.
* Copied Test Realm characters will no longer be copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.


Classes: General

* Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We’ve redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example.
* Attack: Level 1 druids, mages, priests, and warlocks will no longer start with the Attack button placed on their action bars by default.
* Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.
* Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes.
* Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player’s level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.
* Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master’s resilience.
* Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.
* Taunt Diminishing Returns: We’ve revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.


Races: General

* Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art.
* Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.
* Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.


PvP

* Arenas
o All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.

* Battlegrounds
o Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.
o All level 71-80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards.

* Wintergrasp
o You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:
+ Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults.
+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers.
+ Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.


Dungeons & Raids

* Naxxramas
o Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron's lair.

* Oculus
o Azure Ring Guardians agro distance changed from 50 to 40 yards.
o Many bosses and creatures have had their total health reduced.
o Several bosses and creatures have had cooldowns on specific abilities increased, effect durations reduced, and damage on some of these abilities reduced.
o Ring-Lord Conjurers and Sorceresses now hang out in packs of 4 instead of packs of 5.
o Vehicle scaling on the drakes based on the rider’s item level has been increased to make them more powerful.


Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
* Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.
* Talents
o Unholy
+ Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. In addition, this talent now reduces the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 2/4 minutes, down from 5/10 minutes.
+ Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.
+ Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.


Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%.
* Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.
* Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
* Talents
o Balance
+ Eclipse: This effect will not activate again within 15 seconds of either type of Eclipse effect firing, in addition to the existing 30-second cooldown for each type of Eclipse.
+ Force of Nature: Health on the treants has been increased.

o Feral Combat
+ Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.

o Restoration
+ Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects.

* Pets
o Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.


Hunter (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect.
* Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.
* Talents
o Beast Mastery
+ Intimidation: If the hunter’s pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet’s next swing or attack.

* Pets
o Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
o Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet’s movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20.
o Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack.
o Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes.
o Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%.
o Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%.
o Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.
o Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.
o Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet’s attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.


Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Talents
o Arcane
+ Arcane Empowerment: This talent now also grants 1/2/3% increased damage done by the mage’s party or raid for 10 seconds after the mage gets a critical strike with Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, or Arcane Blast. This effect is exclusive with Ferocious Inspiration and Sanctified Retribution.

o Fire
+ Blast Wave: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.
+ Burning Determination: The duration of interrupt immunity granted by this talent is now 20 seconds.
+ Dragon's Breath: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.
+ Firestarter: When this talent is triggered, it makes the next Flamestrike cost no mana in addition to being instant.
+ Improved Scorch: The debuff from this talent no longer stacks, and instead can apply the full effect from a single cast of Scorch.

o Frost
+ Deep Freeze: This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. In addition, when this ability deals damage it will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost for those mages with the Shatter talent.
+ Fingers of Frost: This talent now triggers immediately on casting a spell rather than being delayed until the spell strikes the target.
+ Frozen Core: This talent now also causes Ice Lance critical strikes to reduce the cast time of the mage’s next Frostbolt or Frostfire Bolt by 0.4/0.7/1 seconds.

* Pets
o Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
o Mirror Image: Health on the mirror images has been increased.
o Water Elemental: Waterbolt mana cost reduced by 80%.


Paladin (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion or Sated from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Flash of Light: This spell no longer causes a heal-over-time effect unless the player has the Infusion of Light talent.
* Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others.
* Talents
o Holy
+ Aura Mastery: This effect of this talent has been reduced in duration to 6 seconds.
+ Infusion of Light: This talent now causes the paladin’s Flash of Light spells to heal the target for 50/100% of the Flash of Light healing amount over 12 seconds.

o Protection
+ Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.
+ Divine Sacrifice: Redesigned. The effect of Divine Sacrifice is now party-only and the maximum damage which can be transferred is now limited to 40% of the paladin’s health multiplied by the number of party members. In addition, the bug which allowed Divine Sacrifice to sometimes persist despite reaching its maximum damage has been fixed. Divine Sacrifice will now cancel as soon as its maximum damage value is exceeded in all cases. Finally, Damage which reduces the paladin’s health below 20% now cancels the effect early.

o Retribution
+ Repentance: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by Righteous Vengeance.


Priest (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Divine Hymn: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
* Power Word: Shield: This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.
* Talents
o Shadow
+ Improved Devouring Plague: This spell now deals 10/20/30% of its total periodic effect instantly, up from 5/10/15%.
+ Mind Flay: The range of this ability has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.
+ Shadowform: This talent also now causes Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch to benefit from haste. Both the period length and the duration of these spells will be reduced by haste. In addition, the mana cost has been reduced from 32% to 13% of base mana.
+ Vampiric Embrace: This ability is now provides a 30-minute buff that cannot be dispelled, instead of a target debuff and only generates healing for single-target shadow damage spells.

* Pet
o Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.


Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.
* Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.
* Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.
* Talents
o Assassination
+ Improved Poisons: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.
+ Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.

o Subtlety
+ Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
+ Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.


Shaman (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Earth Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Fire Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Fire Nova Totem: This totem has been replaced with a new spell, Fire Nova, which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.
* Reincarnation: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 60 minutes down to 30 minutes.
* Talents
o Elemental Combat
+ Elemental Mastery: This talent now increases spell haste by 15% instead of critical strike chance while active.
+ Improved Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Improved Fire Nova. This talent now provides an additional 10/20% damage to the spell and reduces the cooldown by 2/4 seconds.

o Enhancement
+ Earth’s Grasp: This talent now also reduces the cooldown of the Stoneclaw and Earthbind totems by 15/30%.

o Restoration
+ Improved Reincarnation: This talent now reduces the cooldown of Reincarnation by 7/15 minutes, down from 10/20 minutes. Reincarnation cannot be used in Arenas.


Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Talents
o Affliction
+ Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
+ Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds.
+ Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%.

o Demonology
+ Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.
+ Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.
+ Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect.

o Destruction
+ Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.
+ Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
+ Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp’s Firebolt spell by 100%.

* Pets
o Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
o Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.
o Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
o Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock’s damage-over-time effects on the target.
o Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.


Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Victory Rush: This ability is now trainable at level 6.
* Talents
o Protection
+ Damage Shield: This ability will no longer trigger any chance-on-hit effects from the warrior or the opponent it damages.


User Interface

* Many of the default Interface Options settings have been changed for greater ease of use by new players. Existing players who create new characters may want to review the Interface Options in the event that the default settings feel different.
* Quest Tracking Feature
o Players can now track quest objectives on the map (‘M’ key).
o Quest Log
+ A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player’s Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.

o Map
+ The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).
+ All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.
+ Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.
+ Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character’s current location.
+ This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.
+ Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.

o Objectives Tracking
+ This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.
+ The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 10 quests for a zone.
+ Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.
+ If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.
+ The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.

o Quest Difficulty Tracking
+ This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).

* Dungeon Finder
o This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
+ Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
+ Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
+ Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
# The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
# The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
# Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
# Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the “Quests” section for details).
# Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
# Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
# Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player’s inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon Finder.

+ Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
+ Pick-Up Groups
# Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
# As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
# Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
# A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
# Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon Finder for 15 minutes.
# If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon Finder queue.
# A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
# Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon Finder will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
# The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.
* Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
* Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player’s current level.

* Looking For Raid
o There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing “/LFR.”
+ Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
+ While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
+ Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader’s name, the raid information (number of people in the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.

* The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon Finder interface.
* Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
* Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.
* Buffs and Debuffs: This is a new section added to Interface Options.
o New option - Castable Debuffs: Enabling this will cause only debuffs you have cast on an enemy target to appear.
o New option - Consolidate Buffs: Enabling this adds a buff consolidation box near the mini-map. Very short term buffs (e.g. Replenishment) and very long term buffs (e.g. Prayer of Fortitude) are filtered into the buff box. The icons are stacked here, but they can still be seen by moving the mouse cursor over the buff box. Long term buffs will move out of the box when they are about to expire. Buffs such as important procs (e.g. Art of War, Maelstrom Weapon), cooldowns (e.g. Bloodlust / Heroism, Combustion) or limited in range (e.g. totems and paladin auras) are always displayed.

* Tutorial System: The tutorial pop-ups are now larger, contain images, and better try to direct players to the relevant locations or user interface elements on the screen. In addition, several new tips have been added, while some existing tips will now appear at more appropriate times for new players.
* Dungeon & Raid Difficult Display: A group’s dungeon or raid difficulty setting will now be displayed via an icon off of the mini-map.
* Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling Need or Greed on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted if an enchanter of the appropriate skill level is in the group. Disenchant works exactly like Greed except if a player wins the Greed roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose Need will always win the item and will always beat those that choose Greed or Disenchant.
* Lag Reports: Players can now report high latency or lag by accessing the Help Request menu.
* Unit Nameplates
o The range at which players can see unit nameplates has been increased by 40 yards.
o Unit nameplates are now subject to line-of-sight limitations in certain situations (this does not pertain to objects like Arena pillars or bridges).
o Players can now adjust select unit nameplate display settings listed below under Interface Options via the Names tab.
+ Friendly/enemy pet nameplates can be toggled.
+ Enemy totem nameplates can be toggled (friendly totem nameplates are never displayed).
+ Players can choose whether or not unit nameplates overlap.

o Unit nameplates for critters are never displayed.

* Non spell-based tracking now persists through logout.
* Any party member may mark targets (this does not apply to raid groups).
* Players will be warned when their talents are reset due to a new patch.
* “/Settitle” command has been added.
* Instant quest text is on by default.
* Tentative status added for calendar responses.
* Players below level 10 may not join raids.
* Ignore list expanded to 50 to match the friends list.
* Unit frames added for special encounters.
* Interface element added next to the mini-map to show what dungeon you are in (ex: 10- and 25-player Heroic dungeons marked with a skull).
* Experience earned for a quest will display in the Quest Rewards section.
* Confirmation box added when buying stable slots.
* Macro Changes
o Symbol “@” added as a synonym for “target=”;. For example, “/cast [@focus] Flash Heal”.
o New macro conditionals: “vehicleui” (if the player has a vehicle UI) and “unithasvehicleui” (if the target of the macro has a vehicle UI).

* Addon Author Changes
o “registerForClicks” added to xml buttons.
o “MouseIsOver” has been converted to a “C” function for increased efficiency (e.g. /dump PlayerFrame:IsMouseOver() ).
o When an addon file is loaded, the addon name and an addon table are passed to the file through ‘…’. The same addon table is passed to every file loaded by a particular TOC file (example at the top of a Lua file: “local addonName, addonTable = …;”.
o “motionScriptsWhileDisabled” attribute added to buttons. This allows “OnEnter”; and “OnLeave”; to fire while the button is disabled.
o “GetFileHeight()” and “GetFileWidth()” added to Texture objects. 0 is returned if no texture file is associated with the texture.
o You can now query for a list of completed quests with “QueryQuestsCompleted()” then wait for the “QUEST_QUERY_COMPLETE” event, and call “GetQuestsCompleted()”.

* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114


Graphics

* A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). If you are experiencing random crashes related to file read errors or out of memory, this new backend may help. To enable the new backend, add the following line to your Config.WTF file: SET gxApi "d3d9ex". For more information please visit our Test Realm forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11572&sid=1


Professions

* Enchanting
o Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster’s target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell.
Enchant Weapon - Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.

* First Aid
o The training costs for most bandages have been reduced.

* Fishing
o The all-new Kalu’ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck, has come to Northrend! Every Wednesday beginning at 8 PM players can try to catch the elusive Blacktip Shark. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him this shark. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for returning with the first catch. Those who aren’t able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave. It is said that these sharks’ favorite meal are the bite-sized Pygmy Suckerfish. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick.

* Mining
o Enchanted Thorium: This ability now uses the Mining skill and is learned from trainers at a skill level of 250.


Quests

* Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan'dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.
* For the various Icecrown Bomber quests at Aldur'thar: The Desolation Gate, players can now choose to eject from their bomber seats mid-run. If you do so, a rescue vehicle will transport your character back to the safety of your infra-green platform.
* Azure Drakes and Dragons will now attack back when attacked by characters not riding Wyrmrest Defenders.
* Brittle Revenants, quest creatures fought for the Sons of Hodir daily quest “Hot and Cold,” no longer cast Shield Slam.


Achievements

* The Achievements to get exalted with the Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley factions have been removed from their respective “Master of” Meta-Achievements. Special titles will be offered to those who reach exalted with these factions.
* “The Party’s Over” has been removed from Achievements and is no longer a part of the “Glory of the Hero” Meta-Achievement.
* “Master Angler of Stranglethorn” has been changed to “Master Angler of Azeroth” and can be achieved by winning either the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby or the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.


Reputation

* Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran. Each badge costs 1 Emblem of Triumph.
* Gaining reputation with the Ashen Verdict in Icecrown Citadel will grant players access to upgradeable rings from Ormus the Penitent. Players can switch between the type of ring (melee/caster/tank/healer) at any point in the upgrade path for 200g.
* The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:
o Argent Crusade
o Alliance Vanguard
o Horde Expedition
o Kirin Tor
o Knights of the Ebon Blade
o Sons of Hodir
o Wyrmrest Accord

* Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.
* Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased (they still require the appropriate faction level to purchase).


Items

* Arena Set Bonuses: The two-piece set bonus for all Wrath of the Lich King Arena sets now provides 100 resilience and 29 spell power or 50 attack power. The current four-piece bonus will remain, however it also now provides 88 spell power or 150 attack power.
* Death Knight Tier-9 4-Piece Bonus (Damage-Dealing): This set bonus no longer grants Frost Fever a chance to be a critical strike. It still grants that possibility to Blood Plague.
* Glyphs
o Death Knights
+ Glyph of Icy Touch: Instead of granting additional runic power, this glyph now causes Frost Fever to deal 20% additional damage.

o Druids
+ Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation: This glyph allows for the druid’s haste to reduce the time between the periodic healing effects of Rejuvenation.

o Mages
+ Glyph of Improved Scorch: Renamed Glyph of Scorch. This glyph now increases the damage of Scorch by 20%.
+ Glyph of Eternal Water: This glyph allows for a summoned Water Elemental to last indefinitely, but it can no longer cast Freeze.

o Priests
+ Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph now increases the damage done by Mind Flay by 10% when the target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.
+ Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain: The periodic damage ticks of Shadow Word: Pain now restore 1% of the priest’s base mana with this glyph.
+ Glyph of Shadow: While in Shadowform, this glyph causes non-periodic spell critical strikes to increase spell power by 30%, up from 10%, of the priest’s total spirit for 10 seconds.

o Shamans
+ Glyph of Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Glyph of Fire Nova. This glyph now reduces the cooldown of Fire Nova by 3 seconds.

o Warlocks
+ Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.
+ Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock’s haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.

o Warriors
+ Glyph of Victory Rush: This glyph now increases the critical strike chance of Victory Rush by 30%, regardless of the percentage of the target’s remaining health.

* Haris Pilton now sells a new 24-slot bag! She has stubbornly decided to remain in Shattrath City, so those interested should seek her out there.
* Hatchlings: Leaping, Darting, Razormaw, and Ravasaur Hatchlings no longer drop from their associated rare creatures. Instead, there are now rare nests that spawn which contain these hatchlings. For example, the Leaping Hatchling can now be found in Takk’s Nest rather than as a drop from Takk the Leaper.
* Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.
* Shaman Tier-9 4-Piece Set Bonus (Elemental): This set bonus now does an additional 10% of Lava Burst’s initial damage over time instead of increasing the size of the Lava Burst.


Bug Fixes

* Items
o Ancient Pickled Egg: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap.
o Brutal Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it).
o Costumes: Various costumes from holidays, items, and quests that previously were cancelled by getting on a mount will now cause an error message when the player attempts to mount instead of cancelling the costume.
o Carapace of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
o Crystalforged Trinket: Can now be refunded at its vendor.
o Dragonslayer Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.
o Drums of the Forgotten Kings: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.
o Drums of the Wild: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.
o Eating and Drinking: Eating and drinking are now cancelled and prevented while in a vehicle as a passenger.
o Figurine: Emerald Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
o Figurine: Talasite Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
o Fire Hardened Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it).
o Giantstalker Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%.
o Gul’dan’s Regalia Set: Tooltip corrected to indicate increased damage for all pet attacks, not just abilities.
o Husk of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
o Idol of Flaring Growth: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip.
o Idol of Lunar Fury: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.
o Idol of The Corruptor: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.
o Insignia of the Alliance: Item level changed to 60.
o Insignia of the Horde: Item level changed to 60.
o Level 58 PvP Items: A variety of PvP items with a minimum level of 58 were not being translated properly when a player used the Paid Faction Change service. That has been corrected. Paladin- and shaman-specific items still will not be translated, as there is no opposite version to translate them into.
o Liadrin’s Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield.
o Lightning Capacitor: Combat log tooltip for Electrical Charge updated to include more detailed information.
o Nightsong Regalia Set: The bonus to Rejuvenation from this set will now work properly with the Idol of Rejuvenation equipped. In addition, the instant heal provided now has a correct combat log tooltip.
o Noggenfogger Elixir: Players shrunk while under the effects of this item will now be able to mount.
o Quel’dorei Channeling Rod: Spelling error corrected.
o Quel’dorei Sash: Spelling error corrected.
o Quel’dorei Guard: Spelling error corrected.
o Qiraji Bindings of Command: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
o Qiraji Bindings of Dominance: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
o Reclaimed Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reclaimed Thunderstrike.
o Reinforced Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reinforced Thunderstrike.
o Reins of the Swift Frostsaber: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown.
o Runescroll of Fortitude: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.
o Seaspray Albatross: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
o Sigil of Virulence: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip.
o Solace of the Defeated: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0.
o Solace of the Fallen: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0.
o Spirit of Eskhandar Set: This set no longer requires Eskhandar’s Collar to complete (that item can no longer be acquired).
o Swift Horde Wolf: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown.
o The Egg of Mortal Essence: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap.
o Tier 2 Helmets: Looting these items from Nefarion in Blackwing Lair will no longer trigger the Onyxia’s Lair (level 60) Feat of Strength achievement.
o Totem of Quaking Earth: This totem will no longer sometimes grant unintended bonus healing.
o Turalyon’s Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield.
o Veklor’;s Diadem: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.
o Warmth of Forgiveness: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form.
o Windrunner Set: The set bonus which grants Greatness to the hunter’s pet will no longer spuriously show the hunter also gaining that buff.
o Worldbreaker Garb Set: The Electrified effect caused by this set now has detailed combat log tooltips.

* Racial Abilities
o Arcane Torrent: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. In addition, this ability will now be properly noted and displayed as an interrupt in the cast bar UI.
o Every Man for Himself: Disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger this ability.

* Classes
o Death Knights
+ Bloody Strikes: Now properly increases the damage displayed in the tooltips of Blood Strike and Heart Strike.
+ Bone Shield: Tooltip corrected to indicate the player has the correct number of bones.
+ Chains of Ice: This ability will no longer appear to land on targets which are immune.
+ Desecration: The debuff from this ability will no longer sometimes appear as if it were cast by someone else. In addition, the visual and snare from this ability will now both dissipate at the same time. Further, this talent will now respect snare immunities, and no longer sometimes snare immune targets.
+ Frost Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.
+ Glyph of Bone Shield: Now updates the number of charges in the Bone Shield tooltip.
+ Glyph of Dark Death: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil. In addition, its own tooltip has been clarified to indicate it also applies to healing from Death Coil.
+ Glyph of Death’s Embrace: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil to indicate runic power is refunded.
+ Glyph of Heart Strike: Now updates the tooltip on Heart Strike to indicate Heart Strike applies a movement snare.
+ Glyph of Icebound Fortitude: Now updates the tooltip on Icebound Fortitude to show increased damage reduction.
+ Glyph of Plague Strike: Now updates the damage shown in Plague Strike’s tooltip.
+ Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Now updates the tooltip on Unbreakable Armor. Tooltip on glyph modified to make its effect more clear as well.
+ Master of Ghouls: Tooltip typo corrected.
+ Night of the Dead: Tooltip typo corrected.
+ Obliterate: This ability will no longer sometimes fail to do additional damage based on diseases on the target.
+ Raise Ally: While this spell is active on a target, they will not be sent to the graveyard, prematurely ending the spell.
+ Raise Dead: It is no longer possible under some circumstances to use a Risen Ghoul to cause neutral guards to attack opposite faction players.
+ Strangulate: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
+ Taste of Blood: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
+ Unholy Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.

o Druids
+ Glyph of Hurricane: Now modifies the spell tooltip on Hurricane to indicate the spell also applies a movement slowing effect.
+ Hurricane: When cast from Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form, this spell will now channel properly instead of stopping the channel as soon as the shapeshift is cancelled.
+ Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation. Tooltip error corrected.
+ Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.
+ Swipe (Bear): Tooltip corrected to display 8 yard range.
+ Rejuvenation: Druids will no longer get a more powerful spell error message when attempting to overwrite a Rejuvenation they cast.

o Hunters
+ Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects.
+ Explosive Trap: The damage from this trap will now scale properly with the hunter’s attack power.
+ Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. In addition, this glyph will now modify the tooltip of Immolation Trap correctly.
+ Glyph of Mending: This glyph will now modify the amount healed in the tooltip on Mend Pet.
+ Point of No Escape: It is no longer possible to gain benefit from this talent multiple times by having a target affected by multiple of the same hunter’s traps. In addition, Freezing Arrow will no longer incorrectly provide a critical strike bonus to players beyond the hunter with this talent.
+ Roar of Sacrifice: Corrected tooltip error.
+ Silencing Shot: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
+ Volley: The tooltip for this ability will now update properly from haste.

o Mages
+ Arcane Concentration: The interaction of this talent with Arcane Missiles has been restructured. Instead of an Arcane Missiles cast triggering the talent, each missile has an independent (but reduced) chance to trigger this talent. In addition, the talent will no longer sometimes be triggered from misses by Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast, and Blizzard.
+ Blast Wave: Tooltip typo corrected.
+ Blizzard: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Also fixed a bug where some trinkets were not triggered by this spell.
+ Cone of Cold: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Dalaran Intellect: Mages will now be properly blocked from casting this spell when the target has a more powerful version of the buff.
+ Deep Freeze: This spell will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost when it misses its target.
+ Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time.
+ Frost Nova: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Frostbolt: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Glyph of Mirror Image: Now updates the tooltip on Mirror Image to show 4 images are summoned.
+ Ignite: Now correctly benefits from the dispel resistance granted by the Arcane Subtlety talent. In addition, this talent will now properly include in its damage calculation any damage of the initial fire critical strike that was absorbed.
+ Ice Lance: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Improved Scorch: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.
+ Mirror Image: The mirror images summoned will no longer sometimes appear as shades before taking on the appearance of the casting mage.
+ Prismatic Cloak: Rank three of this talent will now properly modify the tooltip on Invisibility to indicate the effect is instant.
+ Slow Fall: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell.
+ Winter’;s Chill: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

o Paladins
+ Aura Mastery: The animation for this ability will no longer be extra bright when used with Concentration Aura active.
+ Beacon of Light: The effect of this ability will no longer sometimes continue past the duration of its buff. In addition, the duration when used with the Glyph of Beacon of light will now correctly be 1.5 minutes. Finally, the tooltip was corrected to indicate benefitting targets must be in the paladin’s party or raid.
+ Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell.
+ Blessing of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
+ Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength.
+ Devotion Aura: When in a party with another paladin using a different rank of this ability, it is no longer possible to see two different Devotion Aura icons displayed as buffs.
+ Divine Sacrifice: This ability now properly counts all damage transferred against its limit, instead of not counting some damage.
+ Greater Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell.
+ Greater Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength.
+ Guardian’s Favor: Corrected a tooltip error in rank 1 of this ability.
+ Hand of Freedom: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the druid spell Cyclone. In addition, disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger casting this on oneself.
+ Hand of Reckoning: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability.
+ Hand of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
+ Heart of the Crusader: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff.
+ Judgements of the Just: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff.
+ Judgement of Righteousness: The damage from this ability will no longer sometimes increase when the paladin’s agility increases (only occurred with low strength and high agility).
+ Judgement of Wisdom: Corrected incorrect information in the combat log tooltip.
+ Retribution Aura: It is no longer possible under some circumstances for the UI to display buffs from two different ranks of this ability.
+ Seal of Corruption: Tooltip corrected to list the actual amount of damage done instead of a higher number.

o Priests
+ Glyph of Power Word: Shield: The heal caused by this glyph will now correctly use the casting priest’s critical strike chance instead of the target’s.
+ Inspiration: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it also functions with Prayer of Mending.
+ Levitate: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell.
+ Mass Dispel: Some trinkets which were not triggered properly by this spell will now work correctly when Mass Dispel is cast.
+ Mind Flay: The rank 1 tooltip has been corrected to indicate the accurate damage and snare effect. In addition, this ability will now work correctly with [target=focus] and [target=mouseover] macros.
+ Prayer of Mending: Inspiration and Divine Aegis can no longer be incorrectly triggered by this spell for priests who do not have those talents.
+ Silence: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.
+ Spirit Tap: This talent can no longer be triggered by the death of the priest’s Jewelcrafter Stone Statues.

o Rogues
+ Ambush: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Backstab: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Deadly Poison: Another rogue using a higher rank of this poison will no longer prevent the lower rank Deadly Poison from being applied to the target.
+ Eviscerate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Glyph of Rupture: Now updates the duration on Rupture’s tooltip.
+ Killing Spree: Entering a vehicle will now cause this ability to halt, and attempting to use it while on a vehicle will result in an error message.
+ Mutilate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. In addition, the damage from this ability can now be blocked.
+ Sinister Strike: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage.
+ Slice and Dice: Improved Slice and Dice and Glyph of Slice and Dice now update the duration of this ability.
+ Throwing Specialization: Deadly Throw will no longer cause multiple spell interruption combat log entries when used with this talent.

o Shamans
+ Glyph of Earthliving Weapon: Now updates the tooltip for Earthliving Weapon.
+ Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave: Tooltip and functionality corrected to ensure this glyph will cause extra healing from Lesser Healing Wave regardless of which shaman cast Earth Shield on the target.
+ Hex: Players are no longer able to use Battlemaster trinkets while under the effects of this spell.
+ Mana Tide Totem: The tooltip on this spell will now be modified properly by the Glyph of Mana Tide Totem.
+ Thunderstorm: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the Druid spell Cyclone.

o Warlocks
+ Conflagrate: This spell will no longer benefit inconsistently from the talents Emberstorm and Improved Immolate, as well as the Glyph of Immolate and Tier 9 set bonus. Just as for Immolate, all stacking percentage increases will be applied additively instead of multiplicatively (+10% and +20% make +30% instead of +32%). In addition, Conflagrate used with Shadowflame will now scale properly from spell power.
+ Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.
+ Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.
+ Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target.
+ Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly.
+ Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed.
+ Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat.
+ Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.
+ Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.
+ Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.

o Warriors
+ Blood Frenzy: This debuff is no longer considered a Bleed effect that can be removed separately from the actual Bleed effect which caused it.
+ Bloodrage: Tooltip now adjusts to show effect of Anger Management on this ability.
+ Glyph of Cleaving: Now updates the tooltip of Cleave to show that more targets are struck by the ability.
+ Glyph of Hamstring: Now updates the tooltip of Hamstring to indicate it has a chance to immobilize.
+ Glyph of Vigilance: Now updates the tooltip on Vigilance to show that more threat is transferred.
+ Mocking Blow: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability.
+ Rampage: Rampage now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.
+ Recklessness: Heroic Throw and Shattering Throw will now benefit from this ability and consume charges of this ability. In addition, Recklessness now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability.
+ Sudden Death: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
+ Sweeping Strikes: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip.
+ Vigilance: The threat transfer granted by this ability will now reactivate when Tricks of the Trade or Misdirection cast by the Vigilance target expires.
+ Warbringer: Tooltip typo corrected.

* Game Systems
o Target Effects: When this UI feature is activated, Fear, Silence, Frostbolt, and Hamstring will all now display text over the target’s head indicating what type of effect has been applied.

* Battlegrounds
o Strand of the Ancients
+ The “Let the Battle for the Strand of the Ancients” message should no longer appear twice in round 2. It also now appears correctly at the beginning of round 1.
+ Storm the Beach should now be correctly granted to the Horde when they start round 1 on offense.
+ The east Antipersonnel Cannon at the Amethyst gate should no longer be able to shell the graveyard flag.
+ Fixed an order of operations issue where players would sometimes not be resurrected or clear their Inactive debuff at the end of the 1st round.