Gaming Blog

Filed under: Herbalism, Alchemy, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Expansions, Raiding, Making money, Wrath of the Lich King, WoW TCG

It was perhaps one of the most unexpected and controversial changes to hit Wrath Beta: Potion Sickness, the debuff that spelled the end of chain-chugging by allowing only one potion to be quaffed per combat and no more. Some people loved, since it would cut down on pre-raid farming and perhaps allow for bosses to be balanced more around classes and roles and less around Haste, Ironshield, and Destruction potions. Some saw it as a major nerf to Alchemists and to casters who were used to chaining mana pots to stay in the blue.

Continue reading Profession News: Potion Sickness gone, Herbalists get new ability

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Filed under: News items, Expansions, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King

It’s been said that Death Knights are supposed to be a specifically recognizable class, part of their heroic bearing coming in that distinctness. We’ve already seen some of it with the inclusion of glowing eyes, and now there’s more implemented with these beta builds.

All Death Knight Races have the option of taking on a selection of darker skins and gaunt, undead, or angry looking faces. In addition, the Death Knight’s glowing eyes now look more more integrated and natural on almost every race, in my opinion. The changes look better on some races. Humans, especially, look very much changed, to the point where Human females can look a lot like Forsaken females without the hunchback or protuding bones.

You can see some of the new looks in the Gallery below, courtesy of tipster Damir.

Death Knights also got another small cosmetic change in the form of new runes. The new runes are a bit bigger and more distinct, and I personally find them easier to keep track of. I’m glad to see the change. You can see the runes here (thanks to tipster chaud and wotlkwiki for that picture).

EDIT: There are no Forsaken pictures in the gallery because there do not seem to be any new looks for Forsaken Death Knights. This is understandable — They’re already dead, after all. You can check our older Death Knight gallery for Forsaken shots, if you wish.

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Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Wrath of the Lich King

The latest Beta Build has hit the test servers, and there’s a lot to report for Hunters. In particular, many of the announced changes we discussed in the last Scattered Shots went through. Aspect of the Beast now grants a melee AP buff, and Mongoose Bite is unlinked from dodge. Tranquilizing Shot now dispels magic effects, and Arcane Shot does not.

Most of the big notable changes however, center around pets, and specifically Beast Mastery. The 51 point talent is now implemented, and 5 extra talent points work. Chimeras and Devilsaurs are now exotic only. In addition, two new exotic pet families have been found: Worms and Silithids.

You can tame both the Dredge Striker and Dredge Crusher type worms in Silithus and the Jormungar worms in Northrend. For Silithids, only one “warrior” skin seems tamable, while the worker, wasp, and heavy tank type silithids are not tamable. The worms are Tenacity pets who feed on bread, cheese, and fungus and have a family skill called Acid Spit that does nature damage and reduces, while the silithid is a Cunning pet who feeds on meat and fungus and have an ability called Venom Web Spray that roots the target for 4 seconds and does nature damage.

I’ve added some screenshots of the new pets and their abilities to the gallery above. Also, if you’re not impressed with any of the new exotic pet families so far, take heart. We’ve been told they’re still working on the pets themselves.

Unfortunately, the rest of the pet-related news is less than amazing.

Continue reading Hunter Pet News: New exotic pet families added, Kill Command changed

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Filed under: Expansions, Screenshots, Galleries, Wrath of the Lich King

While Northrend is a distant and strange land, there are a few friendly and familiar faces in Wrath to ease our pain. These range from joke appearances to lighten the mood, or more serious storylines being continued from WoW Classic and the Burning Crusade.

These familiar faces are spread all throughout Northrend, and we’ve collected a lot of them in a gallery for you to look through. A few of the returning characters are missing from the gallery for various reasons (like turning in an unfinished quest despawning all NPCs in the area) but we’ll get those when we can, too. There’s plenty of spoilers in this gallery, though not many of them are massive plot points. Still, if you want everything to remain a secret, I’d be careful.

Oh, before all of you spam the comments about it, no I did not forget ‘the Scourge.’ I thought that was a little obvious. Also, there are two massive zones and numerous dungeons not yet implemented. There are probably way, way more to come. We haven’t seen Sylvanas yet.

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Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Features, Classes, Talents, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance, Wrath of the Lich King

Arcane Brilliance is a weekly column about Mages. It contains text. We promise the word “Mage” will appear with moderate frequency within the body of said text, possibly near such modifiers as “awesome” or “god-like.” The word “Warlock” may also appear once or twice, sometimes in close proximity to such phrases as “ridiculously overpowered” or “I hate Warlocks.” That’s really the extent of what we promise, here at Arcane Brilliance: text, Mages, and Warlock-hating.

Indulge me for a moment before we get to the Frost tree:

I’m beginning to recognize a pattern forming. Each week, as Blizzard tweaks the talent setup in the Wrath beta, I’m becoming less and less inclined to complain. I know…I know. I’m a Mage. You poke a Mage with a stick, and QQ comes pouring out. We’re all angry emo virgins, sitting at home blogging furiously with keyboards made completely out of tears about how the colors are too bright in Diablo III and writing free-verse epic poems about how Living Bomb caused our parents to divorce.

That’s just it, though: lately, I’ve found I’m all out of QQ. I’ve put my mascara-stained Sephiroth pillow back on my bed and stopped mailing locks of my greasy dyed-black hair to Kalgan, and have instead started to feel something very close to optimism. It’s been building since I hit rock bottom after the WWI to the point where now I feel pretty good about the direction we’re heading as a class. As you may recall, It wasn’t that long ago that I felt far differently.

Join me after the jump for more positive thinking followed by enough Frosty goodness to give you brain-freeze.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Forecasting Frost

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Filed under: Machinima, Humor, WoW Moviewatch

The other day, I came across a project so epic that I recorded my part on the spot. When you think of all the past projects that were huge successes, such as Tales of the Past 3 and I’m So Sick, none can compare to Little Teapot. It stars newcomer, Marri, as the lead character, with voiceover work by Caruu, as well as a duet by Drewbie and myself.

When asked to comment about his blockbuster machinima, Eagleshadow, clad in a red velvet smoking jacket, stroked his chin and revealed, “Marri was a vision meant to be captured on screen for all to see. #Machinima is where I find my Eagleshadow superstars. You really would not get this from any other guy …”

[Via Warcraftmovies.com & #machinima on Quakenet IRC]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch …

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Big Red Kitty, Wrath of the Lich King

Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.

You’ve seen pics, maybe even a small movie or two, but have you seen a devilsaur up close and personal?

Well, except when they stomped and chomped you silly in Un’goro? /shudder

Here ya go, then! We tamed one and let it loose in Shattrath City and Nagrand, using all its abilities and letting it rip stuff up.

You are most welcome to download the presented YouTube version (212MB) movie by right-clicking here.

And if you’re feeling particularly frisky and want to see this movie in its native format and in stereo, download the full-sized version (324MB) by right-clicking here.

Devilsaur-stompin’ is best heard LOUD! We jacked up every sound option, including reverb, so you’ll get the full Devilsaur Experience.

/shudder

And remember that the Monstrous Bite spell triggers the Monstrous Strength effect. Don’t try to “learn” Monstrous Strength from a trainer or find it in the talent trees; it only comes with Monstrous Bite.

Another great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time!

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Filed under: Wrath of the Lich King

I can’t say enough good things about Dalaran. It’s the most beautiful place in the game — the architecture and textures in the area are more detailed than any we’ve ever seen. If it weren’t for the invisible holes in the ground that send you plummeting to the Crystalsong Forest below, I’d probably never leave! Now that I think of it, that’s probably why we don’t have more flying cities: health hazards. (Yes, at present, visitors to Dalaran may fall through the city to the ground below without warning.) However, it has its own fruit vendor, so it can’t be all bad, can it? But on to your questions!

Boowat asked….

How do you actually get to Dalaran. It’s really high up… can you only fly there?

Earlier in the beta, anyone could reach Dalaran by visiting the Crystalsong Forest and using a crystal below the city to teleport up. However, more recently, transport has been further restricted. To visit Dalaran one must be level 74 and complete a quest. (As I’m not yet level 74, I can’t give you details on the quest, I’ve only been told it exists.) Commentor Ktok also notes that Mages get a self-only port to Dalaran at level 71.

The level 74 thing does seem a bit odd (can you imagine Shattrath with a level-restriction?), but we’ll see if the restriction sticks around and makes it live.

Continue reading Ask a Beta Tester: Do you not value your life fruit vendor edition

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