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[VaLiancY]

I felt the same about the holidays, if it didn't have a cool looking mount, I didn't bother with it. Titles and items aren't my cup of tea either, the only holidays I celebrate in WoW are the Battlegrounds! >

 

[Chris R]

So, what glyphs do you 57/3/11 Arcane Mages use? What is your spell rotation? I'm thinking of switching. Fire is a bit boring now after 80+ levels of it.

What spec of fire are you? FFB? If so, try TTW/FB as it's the best spec at the moment, and plays differently than fire.

 

[Jewbacca]

Anyone know a Fatbear on Stormscale?

 

[gottalovetheglove]

EDIT: Nevermind.

 

[VAIL]

I ran my ass into SMC solo to go get the flame, that was fun


It's funny, when it comes to achievements, on the console side, I could care less...but in WoW I get the urge to get them all.

I got my Titansteel Bonecrusher any suggestions for something for the offhand?

I also got Greed from a CoS run, it's pretty damn sweet.


CoS has got to be one of the best runs I have done, it's nice and quick...and it's a peek into the past, which I thought was awesome...hopefully I can finish a timed run sometime soon, we missed it the other night by seconds.

 

[Quake1028]

We 1 shotted XT-002 in Uld10 last night. Fun fight. Damn, some of the trash is harder than XT or FL, at least on 10 man easy mode. We got 2 tries in on Kologarn before we had to quit for the night. First try was awful, people running eye beams through the raid, etc. We only got him to 85%. Second try was much better, we had 9 people alive at 45% but everyone was dead by 31%. We'll give it another shot this week.

 

[TomServo]

We 1 shotted XT-002 in Uld10 last night. Fun fight. Damn, some of the trash is harder than XT or FL, at least on 10 man easy mode. We got 2 tries in on Kologarn before we had to quit for the night. First try was awful, people running eye beams through the raid, etc. We only got him to 85%. Second try was much better, we had 9 people alive at 45% but everyone was dead by 31%. We'll give it another shot this week.

Assuming they were running for the door, it's up to people not targeted to get the hell out of the way.

We've got a few healers that think they shouldn't have to move for anything short of a void zone, and they got put in their place after they bitched about getting hit with eye beams while standing at the door on top of the warlocks' demonic circles. Gee, I wonder where the eye beam is going?

 

[Flib]

XT was pretty great before the nerfs, when he actually acted like a gear check. Now it's pretty much a faceroll fight.

 

[firex]

So how tough would it be to do the outland flame keeper stuff at level 60/61? Just wondering because I'd like to do it for free xp on my hunter/mage, and then for cash on my shaman/paladin, even if I don't do the whole meta (will probably only do that on my paladin).

 

[Quake1028]

Assuming they were running for the door, it's up to people not targeted to get the hell out of the way.

We've got a few healers that think they shouldn't have to move for anything short of a void zone, and they got put in their place after they bitched about getting hit with eye beams while standing at the door on top of the warlocks' demonic circles. Gee, I wonder where the eye beam is going?

The person we were with who knows the fights told us to run them along the back right and left edges of the room we were in. If you are supposed to run out the door when you are targeted, that might be part of the problem we were having.

 

[Quake1028]

XT was pretty great before the nerfs, when he actually acted like a gear check. Now it's pretty much a faceroll fight.

It seems like most of the early bosses had to have been nerfed. We've wiped on FL and Razor the first try on them, but that was mainly due to the fact that we didn't have the fight mechanics down, not so much an indication of their toughness. Of course, this is 10 man easy mode we are talking about, so maybe it wasn't that hard to begin with. I don't know.

 

[TomServo]

The person we were with who knows the fights told us to run them along the back right and left edges of the room we were in. If you are supposed to run out the door when you are targeted, that might be part of the problem we were having.

We run for the door on 25 man, where there's a lot less room. I suppose as long as you're running and not getting hit it doesn't matter. The problem we had early on was idiots not realizing that just because you're not targeted directly doesn't mean you don't have to move yourself.

It seems like most of the early bosses had to have been nerfed. We've wiped on FL and Razor the first try on them, but that was mainly due to the fact that we didn't have the fight mechanics down, not so much an indication of their toughness. Of course, this is 10 man easy mode we are talking about, so maybe it wasn't that hard to begin with. I don't know.

I think XT and Ignis are the only ones that have been truly nerfed, and Ignis was seriosly bugged when 3.2 went live - hitting people he had slag-potted and the buffs from the constructs not falling off when the construct was shattered.

XT was a decent gear check though, and yeah, he's a faceroll now.

 

[GDJustin]

...You signed back up for WoW due to a shitty holiday thing? All of the holidays a boring as hell now. The only reason people do them now is for the achievements, I hardly find any holiday, maybe expect Hallows Eve or whatever fun. And thats mainly because they atleast update The Horseman's loot.

I liked most of the holidays. Yeah doing EVERYTHING involved with them for the meta achievement is pretty grindy, but I just like that they're something *new*. I've been playing WoW for a while now, so it isn't too often that a brand-new experience is come across. So transforming wands, BRD brewmaster runs, opening gifts in the capital... I enjoy going through it.

But Midsummer is just kind of a mess. Even on my server, where would PVP is dead. It's gotta be awful on an active PVP server.

 

[TomServo]

6/22/09

We are in the process of applying an in-game fix that will restart all of the quests associated with the Midsummer Fire Festival event and allow players to complete them once again. If you are in the process of completing an achievement such as Extinguishing Kalimdor, this fix will reset your progress and you will need start over. This fix will require realms to be restarted.

I cannot imagine the epic QQ going on over at the official forums right now.

But Midsummer is just kind of a mess. Even on my server, where would PVP is dead. It's gotta be awful on an active PVP server.

I feel bad for the lowbies. I must've ganked a couple dozen last night while wrapping up Eastern Kingdoms. The best is when they've got enough HP to survive the initial immolate hit, so you get to see them burn for a second until the DoT starts.

 

[StormyTheRabbit]

I liked most of the holidays. Yeah doing EVERYTHING involved with them for the meta achievement is pretty grindy, but I just like that they're something *new*. I've been playing WoW for a while now, so it isn't too often that a brand-new experience is come across. So transforming wands, BRD brewmaster runs, opening gifts in the capital... I enjoy going through it.

But Midsummer is just kind of a mess. Even on my server, where would PVP is dead. It's gotta be awful on an active PVP server.

You'd think that, but I'm on Burning Blade. A launch server that is notorious for being full of assholes and idiots. But every mostly left each other alone, we all just wanted to do our achievement and be left alone...doesn't mean I didn't gank people when I had the chance.

 

[funkmastergeneral]

Man I am absolutely loving leveling up my shaman. Got him up to 72 and am completely burning through mobs, and thanks to my spirit wolves can solo 2 or 3 person group quests easily.

 

[TheExodu5]

I liked most of the holidays. Yeah doing EVERYTHING involved with them for the meta achievement is pretty grindy, but I just like that they're something *new*. I've been playing WoW for a while now, so it isn't too often that a brand-new experience is come across. So transforming wands, BRD brewmaster runs, opening gifts in the capital... I enjoy going through it.

But Midsummer is just kind of a mess. Even on my server, where would PVP is dead. It's gotta be awful on an active PVP server.

I'm on a low pop PvP server, and it's just about perfect. I don't run into too many enemies at most campfires....going through Outlands and EK I've run into maybe a dozen (at very most) Horde.

Haven't tried getting into Ogrimmar yet though...that's going to be interesting. Thankfully, I'm a Rogue.

Also, I'm loving this holiday stuff. This is the first holiday I've been 80 for, and am having a blast. I'm also making a ridiculous amount of gold from it. Achievements are perfect for the holidays as well...they tell me exactly what to shoot for. I can't wait to do the other stuff.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I cannot imagine the epic QQ going on over at the official forums right now.



I feel bad for the lowbies. I must've ganked a couple dozen last night while wrapping up Eastern Kingdoms. The best is when they've got enough HP to survive the initial immolate hit, so you get to see them burn for a second until the DoT starts.

OMFuckingGOD

I just went through all of Eastern Kingdoms EXCEPT for Hinterlands cause I didn't have time before bed. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

You get the point.

 

[Flib]

I think XT and Ignis are the only ones that have been truly nerfed, and Ignis was seriosly bugged when 3.2 went live - hitting people he had slag-potted and the buffs from the constructs not falling off when the construct was shattered.

XT was a decent gear check though, and yeah, he's a faceroll now.

Razorscale was nerfed as well, they fixed the fact that to even beat her you had to get the Quick Shave achievement (get her to phase 2 before she flies up for the second time). They also changed the adds so they spawn in one place so you don't have to split the group, and decreased the damage of the blue fires.

 

[Alex]

:lol I feel sorry for anyone who is on that Retaliation battlegroup. Every time I go to check my blue tracker it's always under going some urgent maintenance. The hardware for that group is seriously fucked.

 

[StormyTheRabbit]

OMFuckingGOD

I just went through all of Eastern Kingdoms EXCEPT for Hinterlands cause I didn't have time before bed. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

You get the point.

Don't complain. You get to keep all the gold you made, so stfu and make even MORE gold .

I'd do it again if I kept the gold I already got and could double it.

Such easy money. Made like 1k after getting my title.

 

[Xabora]

Downloading PTR 3.2 now... and its just over 1 gig.

 

[TheExodu5]

OMFuckingGOD

I just went through all of Eastern Kingdoms EXCEPT for Hinterlands cause I didn't have time before bed. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

You get the point.

I'm kind of disappointed that I finished EK, and especially Outlands yesterday. It means I don't get more super-easy gold.

 

[PatzCU]

I did the "Stealing the Flame" stuff in the Capital cities last night for Midsummer. It was soooo much fun! I rolled into Stormwind with a Holy Priest; we managed to make it to the flame and get back out safely, all the while leaving a complete trail of destruction in our path. I was pushing lowbies over left and right, it was so much fun.

Ironforge was a different story....

 

[Angry Grimace]

Downloading PTR 3.2 now... and its just over 1 gig.

Actually, my DK finally has a shot to get into Ulduar 10 with my guild and I'm interested to know what kind of 1H weapons I'm supposed to be picking up for Threat of Thassaurian.

The EJ forums are arguing about it; they're guessing slow/slow, but I doubt that because Frost Strike, Obliterate and Blood Strike are normalized last I heard.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Not only is PTR getting closer; it has Premades this time for once :lol

Good going too, so I can mess with a priest while mine's just a shade under the level cap.

 

[Alex]

I'm amazed they'd add premades, usually they only add them for anemic patches that wont spur enough attention through features alone.

Just seems like a waste for 3.2

 

[Angry Grimace]

I'm amazed they'd add premades, usually they only add them for anemic patches that wont spur enough attention through features alone.

Just seems like a waste for 3.2

It's fair enough for Death Knights though, because the big change to the spec requires an entirely new set of weapons in order to function that virtually 0% of the people playing the class have (at least not on par with 2handers DK's currently have).

Relatively surprised they are already going through with this. Seems like Ulduar just came out. Granted I've been leveling the whole time so perhaps you guys are all sick of it :lol

 

[Flib]

No, it's been a really fast turnaround, only 2 months. Ulduar still feels fresh to me.

 

[Angry Grimace]

No, it's been a really fast turnaround, only 2 months. Ulduar still feels fresh to me.

Well it's not really looking like CC took all that long to design. It appears to literally be one room.

There's still a huge hubbub about how Warrior tanks suck because Blocking sucks. When I used to tank on my warrior, that was certainly true, but I still can't fathom why Blizzard is convinced that Blocking as a stat is completely broken. It simply needs to be less shitty of a mitigation stat. Block "value" should just be removed and just make blocks mitigate a more significant amount of damage.

 

[Flib]

our main tank warrior (guild leader) is now our OT/arms dps because block is so fucked. Why raid with him when you can throw a DK in there who just won't die?

 

[Bisnic]

Stop saying warriors sucks at tanking or else im gonna regret gearing mine who already have more than half his gear in epics.

 

[Alex]

It doesn't suck at all, we use a Warrior MT for every fight in the game, including Ulduar hard modes and it works out perfectly.

Death Knights just have a leg up at the moment but that leg will be getting chopped off shortly.

 

[firex]

I like block on my paladin, but it's more dps/threat and much cheaper to stack compared to dodge or parry, and the tradeoff is you don't get total avoidance. If they want to buff it, they should just make strength give 2 block and watch every paladin/warrior's mitigation go way up. Or if they want to go insane, block could reduce incoming damage by some large % and/or it could also apply to spells in pve.

 

[Angry Grimace]

our main tank warrior (guild leader) is now our OT/arms dps because block is so fucked. Why raid with him when you can throw a DK in there who just won't die?

Ghostcrawler is right though. http://blue.mmo-champion.com/26/17899683851-warrior-community-let-down.html The kind of people that that think that 5% health disparity or extra cooldown is "reroll time" are impossible to balance for because they are too hardcore.

What he's saying is that Warriors are fine tanks. Most established guilds are still using them, and they have data to bear that out; it's not that Warriors are inherently better or worse, it's that the most skilled tanks have been Warriors for a long time and will probably tank encounters regardless.

I have to say I agree. There's always going to be disparities between classes. The fact is, if good guilds can MT hard mode Mimiron with Warriors, why do they need a buff for bad guilds to do the same thing?

See, that's my issue with people who complain about tanking mechanics: it's generally people that just want it to be easy. Not every class can be as loleasy as Moonkin.

 

[Flib]

I know I came off as harsh with that, they still work as tanks but they are definitely not the strongest tanks currently. You notice it especially on encounters such as Hodir (frozen blows specifically).

We've just gone from using one as our MT to using one as our OT.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I know I came off as harsh with that, they still work as tanks but they are definitely not the strongest tanks currently. You notice it especially on encounters such as Hodir (frozen blows specifically).


We've just gone from using one as our MT to using one as our OT.

It's true, but it's also not as relevant as some holdover Vanilla/TBC hardcores beleieve because a Warrior CAN do it without needing extreme gear levels or raid stacking. The fact that it's harder or they are not the "Best" at Encounter X isn't necessarily a reason to rebalance the entire tanking class.

I agree that block is not a compelling mechanic or stat to stack for Warriors. I'd prefer to see block chances lowered with a significantly higher mitigation percentage. The reason why it's such a poor stat is because Block mitigates a relatively small fixed amount of damage. It's significantly more useful on mobs that hit faster and lighter than Ulduar style bosses that hit hard and slow.

Using a Warrior as an OT is the one area I agree with the criticism. The fact that Warriors generate almost no real damage while OTing because they generate no rage is not really fair. A DK Tank, Bear Form tank or Paladin tank still at least can generate significant damage.

 

[Flib]

I'm just irritated because the "band-aid" they are adding for 3.2 (increasing the block values) just is such an inadequate way of dealing with the issue. It's good to hear that some of the coliseum fights will favor different styles though, as opposed to the hard and slow style of many ulduar bosses.

 

[Lain]

I was scared I'd lose my achievements, but I didn't. Now I just gained the chance to get enough blossoms to get both the pet and the dancing flames. Perfect!

 

[Flib]

PTR is up, it's already been datamined:

The first patch 3.2 PTR client is now available for download, which means it's available for datamining. The ever-resourceful people at wirebrain have done just this to all the achievements found in the client, and have unearthed some interesting new details. We are unable to verify this information right now, but here's what they've found.

Read on after the cut for:

A new holiday.
The names of the bosses in the new raid and 5-man dungeon, and their related achievements.
A new Vault of Archavon boss.
To be clear, there will be spoilers.


The new holiday is going to be called Pilgrim's Bounty, and is clearly modeled after Thanksgiving. The achievements most revolve around food, and if you do them all, you get a "Pilgrim" title and a turkey pet.

It seems that there is a Bountiful Table at each capitol, with a variety of dishes to enjoy. There are also a number of new recipes to cook, and various side achievements. See the Wirebrain list for more. Finally, there will be daily quests, like many recent holidays have. I'm not seeing any mention of a special boss.

As for the new 5-man dungeon, Trial of the Champion, it looks like it will have a different set of bosses for Horde and Alliance, with each faction apparently fighting the Grand Champions of the other faction.

Ambrose Boltspark
Colosos
Lana Stouthammer
Marshal Jacob Alerius
Jaelyne Evensong
Argent Confessor Paletress
Eadric the Pure
The Black Knight
And here's the other:

Deathstalker Visceri
Eressea Dawnsinger
Mokra the Skullcrusher
Runok Wildmane
Zul'tore
Argent Confessor Paletress
Eadric the Pure
The Black Knight
It looks like the first set are Alliance NPCs that the Horde fight, and the second set is the reverse. After the faction-specific bosses, there are two Argent-aligned bosses, followed by the Black Knight. All I have to say is I hope there is no jousting in this instance, because that is the most boring combat there is in WoW.

As for the raid instance that we are all looking forward to so much, I see the following bosses listed on the achievement list:

Gormok the Impaler
Acidmaw
Dreadscale
Icehowl
Lord Jaraxxus
Edyis Darkbane
Fjola Lightbane
Final Boss
One of those names looks like a placeholder to me, though I can't put my finger on why exactly. This contradicts the "5 bosses" figure we were given for the raid; maybe some of these bosses are randomly selected, like the bosses in Violet Hall.

There is also a reference in the achievements to "twin valkyr," so the Darkbane and Lightbane bosses are probably part of the same encounter. That still leaves us with 7 bosses, though. If Acidmaw, Dreadscale, and Icehowl are part of the same encounter, either all at once, randomly chosen, or as a sort of gauntlet (like the second boss in Utgarde Pinnacle), that would leave us with the proper 5.

As for the other raid achievements, it's hard to derive too much from them. There is one achievement that refers to reaching the Tribute Chest with 50 attempts left in heroic mode, so I would guess that 50 is the number of attempts you start out with.

Finally, the new Vault of Archavon boss will be named Koralon the Flame Watcher.


Interesting stuff! I'm looking forward to seeing more on the PTR.

There is also a raid achievement called The Traitor King which has you killing scarabs. Isn't that what Anub'arak is referred to as?

 

[firex]

yeah, he's called the Traitor King.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Threat of Thassarian: 35 pt. talent.

Two possible builds (haven't visited EJ yet to see the theorycraft and have to upload the PTR when I get home to try 'em out; luckily Pre-mades means I can do this without being reliant the gear my own guy has)

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?dea...100000000000&glyph=000000000000&version=10026

is a build I just came up with that I think is similar in style to the old school 33/39 and 33/38 builds. It takes permaghoul (w/Night of the Dead!) in place of Tundra Stalker on the grounds that DW is going to involve a significantly higher proportion of your damage coming from white strikes which is unaffected by Tundra Stalker. It does not take Howling Blast, however, which is somewhat irrelevant in my opinion because I only used HB on multi-mob targets anyways since Sigil of Awareness made Obliterate a better choice for FU. You do however lose Merciless Combat (which is a tremendously mediocre talent anyways). You gain the permanent ghoul (a significant DPS increase on his own) AND extra RP on Obliterates and Plague Strikes.

I haven't tried it out, but it sounds too good to not get nerfed if you ask me, since Blizzard seems to frown on talent builds that don't go for the 51 pt. talent.

The alternative is to not take the permanent ghoul and get Howling Blast and Tundra Stalker. I think it's so close to the OP DW builds of old that you'll actually see ToT switch with Acclimation to compensate if ToT turns out to be strong enough. This is assuming that Blood Strikes stupid-silly buff doesn't stay in place. With BS getting a massive damage bonus, Tundra Stalker is going to be better than the ghoul. But I expect that BS damage to come down.

 

[LAUGHTREY]

Final boss = lich king confirmed

 

[Angry Grimace]

Final boss = lich king confirmed

If the Lich King somehow got captured and was the final boss of the Coleseum, it would be hilarious.

 

[Xabora]

Image this

Death Knight T9 Melee 2P Bonus (Class: Death Knight) -- Your Blood Strike and Heart Strike abilities have a chance to grant you 180 additional strength for 15 sec.

+

Death Knight T9 Melee Relic (Rune Strike) (Class: Death Knight) -- Each time you use your Obliterate or Scourge Strike ability, you have a chance to gain 200 strength for 20 sec.

+

The +90 STR Darkmoon Trinket with the Crazy Proc

+

Coliseum 25 Normal Melee Trinket -- When you deal damage you have a chance to gain Paragon, increasing your Strength or Agility by 450 for 15 sec. Your highest stat is always chosen.

sweetjesus.gif

 

[Flib]

Hunter

Hunter T9 2P Bonus (Class: Hunter) -- Reduces the focus cost of your pet's abilities by 50%.
Hunter T9 4P Bonus (Steady Shot) (Class: Hunter) -- Increases the critical strike chance of your Steady Shot ability by 5%.

Wow, now those are some garbage set bonuses.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Wow, now those are some garbage set bonuses.

And Blizzard will nerf your T8 bonuses to make them more attractive. :lol


* Artisan Riding (Skill 300): Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold or Valiance Expedition for Alliance; Thrallmar or Warsong Offensive for Horde).

The problem being that I don't think that grinding Honor Hold rep is more worth your time than grinding 1000 gold. Obviously the main effect will be a relatively static 500g decrease in the price for alts/n00bs that don't just fly (literally!) over Hellfire.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

are login servers down?

 

[Angry Grimace]

are login servers down?

Oddly enough, there was no maintenance this morning

For what, the PTR or the regular live realms?

Depending on realm, they are having a lot of problems with certain Battlegroups and they've been sporadically off and on.

As for the PTR, it's not open yet AFAIK. The client is just available and has been datamined for data.

Also, stealth addition of in-game Questhelper:

* Quest creatures and objects will now show on the player's world map.

 

[VaLiancY]

Wow, now those are some garbage set bonuses.

They aren't that bad but they aren't the greatest either. The bonus seem to have a lot of BM synergy with Cobra Strikes & frequent Focus dumps.