I generally feel rather lame for just grabbing a news post from elsewhere, chewing on it for a few minutes and then posting a general summary, but I'm going to be lazy today. Tough ^.^
MMOC posted another update on new 3.1 info. As it's on the official PTR now, ya know? And hey, it so happens there's a LOT of new things in that patch. Already warned you a few days back, but yep.. it's actually here now. Wirebrain has a good and pretty fast mirror available if you want to go and dive straight in without reading the highlights. Or simply start downloading while you read, the patch is about 900MB after all, so it's bound to take you a while.
Worry not, I'll keep it short so you can go straight back to watching the progress bar on your download filling slooowwwwwly.
Legends
A new "item" : Fragments of Val'anyr. The pieces are legendary, and have the subtext "on use" to combine 40 of them into a Shattered Fragments of Val'anyr. (Funny enough the item says unique(30), so you'll never be able to) The quest is "probably" a mace, and most likely a one handed one at that due to the class restrictions: Priest, Paladin, Druid, Shaman. 40 Shards to collect, much like splinters back in the old Naxx-lvl 60 days. Much drama will ensue, but I'd still rather see a Paladin or Shaman using the item as they're using a shield. While priests and druids can, and often do, use staves.
Glyphs
whole bunch of new Glyphs found on thott's test collection. Plenty for all classes, but as this is (at heart) still mostly a rogue blog I'll just post those here and direct you to here for the remainder, as there's a LOT of glyph changes.
Keep in mind this is PTR data, so they can (and probably will) still change.
Glyph Changes:
* Glyph of Adrenaline Rush -- Increases the duration of Adrenaline Rush by 5 sec. (Old: Decreases the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush by 60 sec.)
* Glyph of Crippling Poison -- Increases the chance to inflict your target with Crippling Poison by an additional 20%. (Old: 10%)
* Glyph of Deadly Throw -- Increases the slowing effect on Deadly Throw by 10%. (Old: Increases the range on Deadly Throw by 5 yards.)
* Glyph of Pick Lock -- Reduces the cast time of your Pick Lock ability by 100%. (Old: 75)
* Glyph of Sap -- Increases the duration of Sap by 20 sec. (Old: 10 sec.)
* Glyph of Sprint -- Increases the movement speed of your Sprint ability by an additional 30%. (Old: also reduced the duration by 5%)
New Glyphs:
* Glyph of Cloak of Shadows -- While Cloak of Shadows is active, you take 40% less physical damage.
* Glyph of Fan of Knives -- Increases the damage done by Fan of Knives by 20%.
* Glyph of Hunger For Blood -- Increases the bonus damage from Hunger For Blood by 1% per application.
* Glyph of Killing Spree -- Reduces the cooldown on Killing Spree by 45 sec.
* Glyph of Mutilate -- Reduces the cost of Mutilate by 5 energy.
* Glyph of Shadow Dance -- Increases the duration of Shadow Dance by 4 sec.
* Glyph of Tricks of the Trade -- Your Tricks of the Trade grants an additional 10% bonus damage to your target.
Classes
Many a page worth of class changes, like the glyphs too much to list here so limiting it to the rogue class only. Rest assured you won't like many of the changes to your own class, and think the buffs to the other classes are overpowered. (Just like every patch)
Assassination - Skills
* Envenom now gives an additional 15% chance to apply Deadly Poison and a 75% increased frequency of applying Instant Poison for 1 sec plus an additional 1 sec per combo point. (Previously gave a 15% chance to apply both deadly and instant poison)
* Expose Armor now reduces armor by 20%, lasting longer per combo point.
Assassination - Talents
* Hunger For Blood (Tier 11) changed to: Enrages you, increasing all damage caused by 15%. Requires a bleed effect to be active on the target. Lasts 30 sec. (Previously increased damage by 5%)
* Improved Poisons (Tier 4) changed to increases the chance to apply Deadly Poison to your target by 2/4/6/8/10% and the frequency of applying Instant Poison to your target by 10/20/30/40/50%. (Previously increased chance to apply Deadly and Instant poison by 2/4/6/8/10%)
Combat - Talents
* Savage Combat (Tier 9) now increases damage caused against poison enemies by 4%. (Previously increased damage by 1%)
* Adrenaline Rush (Tier 7) cooldown reduced from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
* Lightning Reflexes (Tier 4) is now a 3 point talent and Increases your Dodge chance by 2/4/6% and gives you 4/7/10% melee haste. (Previously just increased dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%)
Still, Those are some pretty spiffy buffs for the combat tree. +10% haste at the cost of 3 filler talent points (+4% stam, improved spring, improved throwing, whatever).
Also interesting to note, is that Instant poison will no longer have a "chance" to proc, but is now working on a Procs Per Minute (PPM) mechanic.
More new and hot stuff
* New achievements, several for noble garden, and a completely new event which probably involves mounted combat - jousting perhaps.
* Dual spec - costing 1000g
* Dungeons now have maps!
* Some new "low level" crafting recipes.
* Kirin Tor rings got an upgrade, at the cost of 1000g + your old ring. (Obviously, getting both doesn't allow you to use the HS function twice)
* Lots of pictures of Ulduar, and several monsters / bosses. Also a hinting at what many players believe to be a reference to power rangers etc,,,... (cough) a giant multi-part robot. Hopefully player controlled, but doubtful since his "head" is a possible drop (or reward) as a 310% speed mount.
* Mounts can SWIM! Or rather, land mounts can.
* All the Tier 8 models / suits. No bonuses yet though.
Read more here
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
3.1 in the news
I generally feel rather lame for just grabbing a news post from elsewhere, chewing on it for a few minutes and then posting a general summary, but I'm going to be lazy today. Tough ^.^
MMOC posted another update on new 3.1 info. As it's on the official PTR now, ya know? And hey, it so happens there's a LOT of new things in that patch. Already warned you a few days back, but yep.. it's actually here now. Wirebrain has a good and pretty fast mirror available if you want to go and dive straight in without reading the highlights. Or simply start downloading while you read, the patch is about 900MB after all, so it's bound to take you a while.
Worry not, I'll keep it short so you can go straight back to watching the progress bar on your download filling slooowwwwwly.
Legends
A new "item" : Fragments of Val'anyr. The pieces are legendary, and have the subtext "on use" to combine 40 of them into a Shattered Fragments of Val'anyr. (Funny enough the item says unique(30), so you'll never be able to) The quest is "probably" a mace, and most likely a one handed one at that due to the class restrictions: Priest, Paladin, Druid, Shaman. 40 Shards to collect, much like splinters back in the old Naxx-lvl 60 days. Much drama will ensue, but I'd still rather see a Paladin or Shaman using the item as they're using a shield. While priests and druids can, and often do, use staves.
Glyphs
whole bunch of new Glyphs found on thott's test collection. Plenty for all classes, but as this is (at heart) still mostly a rogue blog I'll just post those here and direct you to here for the remainder, as there's a LOT of glyph changes.
Keep in mind this is PTR data, so they can (and probably will) still change.
Glyph Changes:
* Glyph of Adrenaline Rush -- Increases the duration of Adrenaline Rush by 5 sec. (Old: Decreases the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush by 60 sec.)
* Glyph of Crippling Poison -- Increases the chance to inflict your target with Crippling Poison by an additional 20%. (Old: 10%)
* Glyph of Deadly Throw -- Increases the slowing effect on Deadly Throw by 10%. (Old: Increases the range on Deadly Throw by 5 yards.)
* Glyph of Pick Lock -- Reduces the cast time of your Pick Lock ability by 100%. (Old: 75)
* Glyph of Sap -- Increases the duration of Sap by 20 sec. (Old: 10 sec.)
* Glyph of Sprint -- Increases the movement speed of your Sprint ability by an additional 30%. (Old: also reduced the duration by 5%)
New Glyphs:
* Glyph of Cloak of Shadows -- While Cloak of Shadows is active, you take 40% less physical damage.
* Glyph of Fan of Knives -- Increases the damage done by Fan of Knives by 20%.
* Glyph of Hunger For Blood -- Increases the bonus damage from Hunger For Blood by 1% per application.
* Glyph of Killing Spree -- Reduces the cooldown on Killing Spree by 45 sec.
* Glyph of Mutilate -- Reduces the cost of Mutilate by 5 energy.
* Glyph of Shadow Dance -- Increases the duration of Shadow Dance by 4 sec.
* Glyph of Tricks of the Trade -- Your Tricks of the Trade grants an additional 10% bonus damage to your target.
Classes
Many a page worth of class changes, like the glyphs too much to list here so limiting it to the rogue class only. Rest assured you won't like many of the changes to your own class, and think the buffs to the other classes are overpowered. (Just like every patch)
Assassination - Skills
* Envenom now gives an additional 15% chance to apply Deadly Poison and a 75% increased frequency of applying Instant Poison for 1 sec plus an additional 1 sec per combo point. (Previously gave a 15% chance to apply both deadly and instant poison)
* Expose Armor now reduces armor by 20%, lasting longer per combo point.
Assassination - Talents
* Hunger For Blood (Tier 11) changed to: Enrages you, increasing all damage caused by 15%. Requires a bleed effect to be active on the target. Lasts 30 sec. (Previously increased damage by 5%)
* Improved Poisons (Tier 4) changed to increases the chance to apply Deadly Poison to your target by 2/4/6/8/10% and the frequency of applying Instant Poison to your target by 10/20/30/40/50%. (Previously increased chance to apply Deadly and Instant poison by 2/4/6/8/10%)
Combat - Talents
* Savage Combat (Tier 9) now increases damage caused against poison enemies by 4%. (Previously increased damage by 1%)
* Adrenaline Rush (Tier 7) cooldown reduced from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
* Lightning Reflexes (Tier 4) is now a 3 point talent and Increases your Dodge chance by 2/4/6% and gives you 4/7/10% melee haste. (Previously just increased dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%)
Still, Those are some pretty spiffy buffs for the combat tree. +10% haste at the cost of 3 filler talent points (+4% stam, improved spring, improved throwing, whatever).
Also interesting to note, is that Instant poison will no longer have a "chance" to proc, but is now working on a Procs Per Minute (PPM) mechanic.
More new and hot stuff
* New achievements, several for noble garden, and a completely new event which probably involves mounted combat - jousting perhaps.
* Dual spec - costing 1000g
* Dungeons now have maps!
* Some new "low level" crafting recipes.
* Kirin Tor rings got an upgrade, at the cost of 1000g + your old ring. (Obviously, getting both doesn't allow you to use the HS function twice)
* Lots of pictures of Ulduar, and several monsters / bosses. Also a hinting at what many players believe to be a reference to power rangers etc,,,... (cough) a giant multi-part robot. Hopefully player controlled, but doubtful since his "head" is a possible drop (or reward) as a 310% speed mount.
* Mounts can SWIM! Or rather, land mounts can.
* All the Tier 8 models / suits. No bonuses yet though.
Read more here
Friday, February 20, 2009
Linkage
Cookies!
/nom
Chocolate even. Of course, I can't really show them but heck it's the thought that counts. I got cookies here and you don't. Just imagine me sitting here nibbling away while talking with my mouth full as you sit there wanting to eat my cookies. Aha!
So I was thinking, I'm not so much into the "blogging" loop anymore. Never really been to begin with but still I've managed to pick up some interesting reads along the way. I haven't really had time to really explore all the new or old blogs that could be interesting however. So, perhaps there are a few blogs that you've run into in the last few months that you'd like to see linked here in the next (or, one of the next) posts. Perhaps you even own one yourself? Just leave a comment and I'll have a look when there's time.
I haz bare
No not a bare butt. A Bear. RAWR!
Or a cat. Prrr. Whichever. Druids are pretty versatile. Healer died? Jump to caster form and help out keeping the tank up. Tank down? Go bearform and taunt. Then pray you get heals.... heh.
I never really got the point of that "durid spaek", it's a misshaped form of lolcat I guess...
Anyway, I got him to level 80 sometime this week. 16 / feb even. And he's been flying about mining and collecting herbs since. Even one messy Naxx for a few bosses. Which showed he was still pretty fresh and wet from the recent paint job. More on that later anyway, he needs gear, and I need to figure out what a good druid (cat) DPS rotation is.
The rogue is still my main though, no worries.
News?
Ulduar on the PTR soon(ish), but you knew this already. If not, what stone have you been under? Check out the "official" preview later I guess.
There will be 14 bosses, 11 of which feature a "hard" mode much like Sartharion - the black dragon in Obsidian Sanctum. Hard mode bosses will give you extra challenges and loot if defeated in that manner.
Keep an eye on it, there's also going to be a good lot of class changes and above all Dual spec being added!
Dual spec allows players who are level 80 to train two sets of talents. Your glyphs and button bars will also be saved as you switch. Switching itself requires a Scribe to summon a book which you can then click and use to switch. Basically this means you: A) Need to be out of combat. B) Need a minimum of 2 other players with you to make use of it. So, no soloing and switching specs while grinding.
Hardware
Yeah, those headphones work just fine, except.... the microphone. Whether it's the piece of crap we know as vista, or just bad drivers I'm not sure yet... But it's certainly pissing me off!
Poll end
Poll results, what are your thoughts on Wintergrasp?
Omgwtf lag! - 51 (28%)
It's ok - 42 (23%)
Love it! - 40 (22%)
Never been there - 29 (16%)
It's crap - 9 (5%)
Don't like it - 6 (3%)
The lag, yeah it's the biggest issue of the event really. When the opposing team comes at you with a swarm of red nametags you just know it'll be at least a few seconds before your cast even starts, let alone finish. Stop a tank? Stop a clicker? Not gonna happen. Those who've been there generally enjoy a good battle, no question there. You get to ride tanks after all!
Also
It seems Shin Goji from Neo Monster Island (nsfw) is also playing that BvS game I linked a few weeks back. So hey, /waves. I wonder whether there's any others around that I've visited before. Ya never know! If you haven't tried it yet... do it now. Keeps the mind busy in between raid /afk readychecks.
More links!
* Aikida is still updating! I think that's a record for Josh ;) Check it out though, it's an interesting comic.
* Speaking of interesting comics, Shadowgirls is coming up with some awesome pages lately.
* Neo Earth is another you should read, or at least have a look at, and is one of a handful of comics that sticks to his weekly update without fail.
* Something I haven't linked before (I think) is You Damn Kid, who will be showing you a video series of Barnyard Pete starting this very soon to be upcoming MONDAY the 23rd of februari 2009! Be sure to check the preview / prologue. You know it's funny, coz I just linked it here.
* Undertow has started updating again recently. It's amazingly well drawn, and a nice story. Just have a look as I'm still at a loss for words at the good news myself!
* On the subject of sudden updates, Orneryboy got a quick update this week as well. /gasp
* And, after "nearly a year" of silence... Life on Forbez posted two quick updates sometime in januari. But seems to have gone silent again... Sigh..
* Pawn (NSFW!) Has still not "really" updated, and is taking his sweet time getting chapter 6 underway. It's a cute comic mostly done in black and white, but definitely worth checking out. But, as stated it is absolutely NOT safe for work. You've been warned.
* Grim Tales is spinning it's current story arc to a dramatic conclusion (updates weekly), great art, good story. If the above links weren't enough to keep you busy, the snafu site surely should be.
/nom
Chocolate even. Of course, I can't really show them but heck it's the thought that counts. I got cookies here and you don't. Just imagine me sitting here nibbling away while talking with my mouth full as you sit there wanting to eat my cookies. Aha!So I was thinking, I'm not so much into the "blogging" loop anymore. Never really been to begin with but still I've managed to pick up some interesting reads along the way. I haven't really had time to really explore all the new or old blogs that could be interesting however. So, perhaps there are a few blogs that you've run into in the last few months that you'd like to see linked here in the next (or, one of the next) posts. Perhaps you even own one yourself? Just leave a comment and I'll have a look when there's time.
I haz bare
No not a bare butt. A Bear. RAWR!
Or a cat. Prrr. Whichever. Druids are pretty versatile. Healer died? Jump to caster form and help out keeping the tank up. Tank down? Go bearform and taunt. Then pray you get heals.... heh.
I never really got the point of that "durid spaek", it's a misshaped form of lolcat I guess...
Anyway, I got him to level 80 sometime this week. 16 / feb even. And he's been flying about mining and collecting herbs since. Even one messy Naxx for a few bosses. Which showed he was still pretty fresh and wet from the recent paint job. More on that later anyway, he needs gear, and I need to figure out what a good druid (cat) DPS rotation is.
The rogue is still my main though, no worries.
News?
Ulduar on the PTR soon(ish), but you knew this already. If not, what stone have you been under? Check out the "official" preview later I guess.
There will be 14 bosses, 11 of which feature a "hard" mode much like Sartharion - the black dragon in Obsidian Sanctum. Hard mode bosses will give you extra challenges and loot if defeated in that manner.
Keep an eye on it, there's also going to be a good lot of class changes and above all Dual spec being added!
Dual spec allows players who are level 80 to train two sets of talents. Your glyphs and button bars will also be saved as you switch. Switching itself requires a Scribe to summon a book which you can then click and use to switch. Basically this means you: A) Need to be out of combat. B) Need a minimum of 2 other players with you to make use of it. So, no soloing and switching specs while grinding.
Hardware
Yeah, those headphones work just fine, except.... the microphone. Whether it's the piece of crap we know as vista, or just bad drivers I'm not sure yet... But it's certainly pissing me off!
Poll end
Poll results, what are your thoughts on Wintergrasp?
The lag, yeah it's the biggest issue of the event really. When the opposing team comes at you with a swarm of red nametags you just know it'll be at least a few seconds before your cast even starts, let alone finish. Stop a tank? Stop a clicker? Not gonna happen. Those who've been there generally enjoy a good battle, no question there. You get to ride tanks after all!
Also
It seems Shin Goji from Neo Monster Island (nsfw) is also playing that BvS game I linked a few weeks back. So hey, /waves. I wonder whether there's any others around that I've visited before. Ya never know! If you haven't tried it yet... do it now. Keeps the mind busy in between raid /afk readychecks.More links!
* Aikida is still updating! I think that's a record for Josh ;) Check it out though, it's an interesting comic.
* Speaking of interesting comics, Shadowgirls is coming up with some awesome pages lately.
* Neo Earth is another you should read, or at least have a look at, and is one of a handful of comics that sticks to his weekly update without fail.
* Something I haven't linked before (I think) is You Damn Kid, who will be showing you a video series of Barnyard Pete starting this very soon to be upcoming MONDAY the 23rd of februari 2009! Be sure to check the preview / prologue. You know it's funny, coz I just linked it here.
* Undertow has started updating again recently. It's amazingly well drawn, and a nice story. Just have a look as I'm still at a loss for words at the good news myself!
* On the subject of sudden updates, Orneryboy got a quick update this week as well. /gasp
* And, after "nearly a year" of silence... Life on Forbez posted two quick updates sometime in januari. But seems to have gone silent again... Sigh..
* Pawn (NSFW!) Has still not "really" updated, and is taking his sweet time getting chapter 6 underway. It's a cute comic mostly done in black and white, but definitely worth checking out. But, as stated it is absolutely NOT safe for work. You've been warned.
* Grim Tales is spinning it's current story arc to a dramatic conclusion (updates weekly), great art, good story. If the above links weren't enough to keep you busy, the snafu site surely should be.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Surprise 3.0.9
Somewhat unexpected, we're getting a patch this tuesday/wednesday 10/11.
No PTR no nothing, just a quick patch.
Druid
* Ferocious Bite: This ability now only uses up to 30 energy in addition to its base cost.
Hunter
* Kindred Spirits (Beast Mastery): This talent now grants 20% pet damage at max rank.
* Serpent’s Swiftness (Beast Mastery): This talent now grants 20% pet attack speed at max rank.
Pets
* Lava Breath now reduces the target's casting speed by 25%, down from 50%.
* Poison Spit now reduces the target's casting speed by 25%, down from 50%.
Mage
* Arcane Power now increases damage and mana cost by 10%, cooldown reduced to 1 minute. (Note: The spell is actually different in game and increases damage and mana costs by 20% with a 2 minutes cooldown. However it would probably be better to wait until servers are online to confirm that.)
* Arcane Power and Presence of Mind now share a category cooldown. Arcane Power causes a 15 second cooldown. Presence of Mind, once consumed, causes a 1.5 second cooldown.
* Arcane Flows now reduces the cooldown of Presence of Mind, Arcane Power and Invisibility by 15/30%.
* Presence of Mind: The cooldown has been reduced to 2 minutes, (down from 3.)
* Slow (Arcane): now increases cast time by 30%, down from 60%.
Glyphs
* Glyph of Arcane Missiles -- Increases the critical strike damage bonus of Arcane Missiles by 25%. (Old - Increases the range of Arcane Missiles by 5 yards.)
* Glyph of Mana Gem -- Increases the mana recieved from using a mana gem by 40%. (Up from 10%)
* Glyph of Arcane Blast -- Increases the damage from your Arcane Blast buff by 3%. (Down from 5%)
Paladin
* The duration on all Seals has been increased to 30 minutes and can no longer dispelled.
* Divine Plea: The amount healed by your spells is reduced by 50% (up from 20%) but the effect can no longer be dispelled.
* Sanctified Seals: This talent no longer affects dispel resistance, but continues to affect crit chance.
Glyphs
* Glyph of Holy Light -- Your Holy Light grants 10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 8 yards of the initial target. (Down from 20 yards, Tooltip text fix, was already hotfixed to 8 yards in game)
* Glyph of Seal of Righteousness -- Increases the damage done by Seal of Righteousness by 10%. (Old - Reduces the cost of your Judgement spells by 10% while Seal of Righteousness is active.)
Priest
* Inner Fire duration has been increased to 30 minutes and can no longer dispelled.
Rogue
Some awesome buffs for rogues, on top of the ones we can expect for 3.1 !!
* Hunger for Blood (Assassination): Now increases damage 5% per stack, (up from 3%.)
* Mind Numbing Poison now reduces cast time by 30%, down from 60%.
* Mutilate damage will now do 20% increased damage against poisoned targets, down from 50%.
* Slice and Dice: This ability now increases melee attack speed by 40%, up from 30%.
Shaman - glyphs
* Glyph of Windfury Weapon -- Increases the chance per swing for Windfury Weapon to trigger by 2%. (Down from 5%)
Warlock
* Curse of Tongues: Now increases the casting time of all spells by 25% (Rank 1) and 30% (Rank 2), down from 50% and 60%.
Dungeons and Raids - The Obsidian Sanctum
Changed the color of the fissure in the Obsidian Sanctum to be more visually distinct. (About time!)
User Interface
* The “GM wishes to speak with you” alert/button, at the top of the screen, has been changed so that addons do not obscure it.
* A clickable chat message has been added that duplicates the GM alert/button.
* When a GM wishes to speak with you the Help Request minibar button will glow.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum .
Bug Fixes
* Fixed an issue where players using nVidia 3D glasses were unable to see spell cooldowns.
* Fixed a software mouse cursor bug that was causing the mouse curser to disappear from view when over certain UI elements.
* Fixed a player movement error in which other players were appearing to move erratically when traveling beside them.
Full details here.
Friday, February 06, 2009
On with the show
Alright so, last week's patch notes were deemed fake by most sources. If you really pay attention to the details I guess it should be obvious. Still, it's a fairly well done list.
MMOC has posted some slightly more authentic class highlights for 3.1 so be sure to have a look 'n see. For the rogues among us, there's a DPS buff promised. The actual difference in damage remains to be see, but at least it's a buff and not another nerf.
I was going to post a big list with about 10 or 20 different headsets that I'm needing to pick one from. (As the current one's left ear and microphone are broken due to a snag in the cable) But it's taking too much time :P
So, I simply ordered a Plantronics 770. The price was a bit more than I paid for the old model (45 euros vs 29), but it's still a mile cheaper than the Sennheisser Pc-350, Razer megalodon, or Logitech G35 which is not even released yet. The Steelseries 5h v2 was a close runner up on my list, which was only slightly more expensive than the Plantronics one. What sort of headset do you guys use then?
And check this puppy out. No I don't have one, I'm quite happy with the G5 from logitech. But seriously, that's a pretty expensive mouse right there.
Poll End
The results of the old one: How much do you raid?
