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[Cipherr]

What's the deal with fire mages?? I was browsing WoW Meters, and judging by these DPS rankings they are absolutely slaughtering arcane... Maybe it's time to dual spec :lol

Yep, its all scaling. The mage class has done well for itself PvE wise this expansion. As arcane began to fall behind fire has proven to scale with gear so insanely well. More than anyone could have predicted IMO.

 

[vilmer_]

This is my current setup as arcane, would you say the gear is high enough for fire spec to pull ahead of arcane? Or will I need basically all 251+ gear?

 

[Swag]

Is there going to be a Hub city similar to Dalaran in Cataclysm, or are we going to be chilling in the revamped cities?

 

[firex]

They haven't shown anything like that yet.

 

[J-Rzez]

Is there going to be a Hub city similar to Dalaran in Cataclysm, or are we going to be chilling in the revamped cities?

No new hub. They want people to hang out in the main cities with the bank alts and ah players. Though I suspect many will still hang out in Dalaran, so it'll be more of the same. Dal and Org, with some in UC. I don't know which is the main ally city, as I never rolled a single ally toon before.

 

[davepoobond]

ironforge or stormwind.

 

[Yasser]

No new hub. They want people to hang out in the main cities with the bank alts and ah players. Though I suspect many will still hang out in Dalaran, so it'll be more of the same. Dal and Org, with some in UC. I don't know which is the main ally city, as I never rolled a single ally toon before.

what would make you hang out in dalaran once cata hits? people don't chill in shattrath anymore

 

[Flib]

bear druid doesn't seem like it gets a lot of new stuff, but cat druid and resto/balance druid do.

a new interrupt, a silencing charge, a new attack based on lacerate stacks, an aoe bleed and a cooldown ability which increases the raid's movement speed?

That's a lot compared to say, resto druids, who get no new abilities.

 

[Evlar]

what would make you hang out in dalaran once cata hits? people don't chill in shattrath anymore

I guess the ports to all the major cities is a draw... but the (probable) lack of top-tier trainers and daily quest givers will counter that. SW, Ironforge, Og, etc. will have that AND the auction house AND the ability to fly or port directly to the level 85 zones will make them the populated gathering-places in Cataclysm. Also, I will be very surprised if they don't place ports to Northrend in each major city, so getting to Dal without a hearthstone won't be such a pain in the neck.

 

[Calantus]

what would make you hang out in dalaran once cata hits? people don't chill in shattrath anymore

Portals, maybe?

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Huge news! Okay maybe not but sucks for us who downloaded the beta and waiting for a key!

They're pretty much bringing back a revamped version of the streaming client they brought out briefly during TBC.

The new Cataclysm Launcher allows you to stream game data while you play. This will reduce the time you spend downloading, installing, and patching World of Warcraft. We will be releasing this new Launcher into the Cataclysm beta soon, and we’d like to get your feedback on the toolset and gameplay experience.

To continue playing in the Cataclysm beta after the next patch, you will need to do the following:

Uninstall your current Cataclysm beta client

Windows

From your Start Menu, click Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs

Mac

Select your “World of Warcraft Beta” folder and drag it to the Trash icon on the dock
Right-click on the Trash icon and select “Empty Trash”

Download the latest version of the Cataclysm beta client

Visit http://battle.net/
Login to your Battle.net account
Select “Account” at the top of the page, and then select “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Beta” from the Game Accounts list.
From the Download Game Client box, select Windows or Mac to begin downloading the installer.


What’s changed:


Launcher

We've redesigned the Launcher to explain your installation progress. You will see a new progress bar with sections (Red, Yellow, Green) that represent the amount of data you currently have installed.

There are three stages of download progress:

- SETUP (RED): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.

- AVAILABLE (YELLOW): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.

- PLAYABLE (GREEN): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few game issues with playing at this stage.


Updater and Downloader

The Updater and Downloader have been integrated closely into the Launcher, resulting in less application switching when patching and installing.


Notes:

All World of Warcraft data will continue to download and apply whether you wait in the Launcher or are playing in-game. If you find the play experience undesirable, you may exit the game and allow the Launcher to continue the download. This may improve the play experience for users with low bandwidth.

Let us know about your experience with the new Launcher. When sending feedback, let us know what your connection speed is and what stage (Red/Yellow/Green) your progress bar is showing. This will help us optimize the Launcher and get you in the game faster.

 

[Yasser]

Portals, maybe?

you can easily bounce between if and sw with the tram, and no one goes to darnassus. i may be wrong but i think dalaran will be a ghost town in cata

 

[Infinitemadness]

So I'm leveling a shaman now and am going enhance because I have hand me down heirlooms from my Hunter. Holy crap this guy is a beast. I feel my survivability is insane.

I'm thinking of going Elemental when I start doing heroics though, as my main is a Rogue. But goddamn if I don't love to tear shit up melee.

Also, I went 39 levels not knowing there was a trainer in IF or SW...all that time wasted traveling to Exodar! Shows how I take no interest in other classes than the ones I play. :lol

 

[Perspicacity]

Portals, maybe?

This, and I'm an engineer so AH access isn't a problem.
Unless ports are put up in between the major cities, if that's the case then Echo Isles will be my new home.

 

[Tamanon]

you can easily bounce between if and sw with the tram, and no one goes to darnassus. i may be wrong but i think dalaran will be a ghost town in cata

There's also a portal to Tanaris(uldum) in Dalaran, plus just the ease of being right near access to all cities is why I'll stay there.

 

[notworksafe]

Huge news! Okay maybe not but sucks for us who downloaded the beta and waiting for a key!

They're pretty much bringing back a revamped version of the streaming client they brought out briefly during TBC.

Ooh neat! I played WAR with a client like this for the Tier 1 trial and it was really cool. I was ready to play in about 15 mins. From what I understand the new 14-day trial client for WoW works the same way.

There's also a portal to Tanaris(uldum) in Dalaran, plus just the ease of being right near access to all cities is why I'll stay there.

Yeah, CoT port makes Dal still quite awesome in Cata. I mostly hang out in Shattrath myself. Less lag and I still have the CoT port because I'm exalted with those guys. Horde does have it easier than Alliance, though. Horde cities are all connected through zeppelins and portals. Much faster than the boat rides for Alliance.

 

[Sciz]

So I'm leveling a shaman now and am going enhance because I have hand me down heirlooms from my Hunter. Holy crap this guy is a beast. I feel my survivability is insane.

I'm thinking of going Elemental when I start doing heroics though, as my main is a Rogue. But goddamn if I don't love to tear shit up melee.

Also, I went 39 levels not knowing there was a trainer in IF or SW...all that time wasted traveling to Exodar! Shows how I take no interest in other classes than the ones I play. :lol

I just run dual spec elemental/enhance and switch between them depending on situation and mood. Gearing's a bit of a hassle, but bouncing between two completely different dps specs at a moment's notice feels great.

 

[J-Rzez]

I'd love for the old cities to be major players again (I'd like to see Silvermoon redone too actually, to be useful instead of being a ghost town). I'd rather that there would be portals to each city and some zones, but I don't think that's happening.

Perhaps those here in the beta can tell us what the case is right now so we'd have a better idea. I never really liked dalaran too much, nor really shatt, but they were convenient with the portals.

 

[markot]

I dont get why the portals to the new zones are only in Stormwind and Orgimaar >.<

Just means those 2 cities will get more packed... Why dont they at least try to even them out so people actually visit Exodar once in a blue moon...

 

[Swag]

Read the responses and did a little research, wasn't it mentioned in one of the Cata videos that their may be an underwater city?

 

[notworksafe]

Hmm...if Kezan gets destroyed in the cataclysm do the Goblins just hang out in Orgrimmar?

 

[Weenerz]

They hang out in the Orgrimmar slums with the Trolls and Tauren.

 

[Retro]

Hmm...if Kezan gets destroyed in the cataclysm do the Goblins just hang out in Orgrimmar?

From what I've seen in screenshots, they've taken over the Valley of Honor, which now connects directly to Azshera. Which has been taken over by Goblins to the point where there's now awkward-looking highways, golf courses, monuments and such all over the place.

 

[Stuggernaut]

What's the deal with fire mages?? I was browsing WoW Meters, and judging by these DPS rankings they are absolutely slaughtering arcane... Maybe it's time to dual spec :lol

Fire is the new Arcane

Seriously though...Arcane is still very strong, they just buffed Fire the last couple of patches and more people are learning to play it.

I have been fire for years. Never liked Arcane, and even when Arcane was king, I dominated in Fire. The problem was that Arcane required certain gear to be good, and when they used the same gear to play Fire they sucked. Just like with my current gear setup, I suck if I try arcane.

I used to carry around my Arcane gear but eventually just ditched Arcane all together. Fire is WAY more fun.

I was a crit heavy fire mage (50% unbuffed crit with fire) and always did well. Recently I started switching a lot of gems to haste to find a good balance so am down to about 46%.

Another big factor for Fire is you need a lot of hit for the best spec (446 needed).

I have converted many an Arcane mage to fire by grouping with them...and them wondering how I did good DPS.

Bottom line, fire rules.

 

[markot]

What happened to that Worgen area of Stormwind they spoke about >.<?

It seems like the King is next to the King but thats it >.>

Also, whyd they have to go and ruin Danaths statue, poor guy!

 

[firex]

a new interrupt, a silencing charge, a new attack based on lacerate stacks, an aoe bleed and a cooldown ability which increases the raid's movement speed?

That's a lot compared to say, resto druids, who get no new abilities.

I haven't even seen that new cooldown speed ability yet, so the only bear-exclusive new stuff is the lacerate/aoe bleed stuff.

and resto is getting almost totally redesigned, so even if they don't get new spells, it's going to play a lot differently.

edit: well, I see now that they finally put it in, but made it also work in cat form. It just seems like they still aren't putting as much into feral as they are into balance/resto, although part of that is more or less reworking resto spells so they perform differently from now (i.e. no more spamming rejuvs on everyone, lifebloom limited to one target so it becomes more of a tank heal) and in particular thrash seems really weak as a new bear ability when all the other good stuff is shared with cat.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Is there anyway to upgrade to Wrath of Lich King without buying a retail copy? I can't seem to find a place that offers a digital version.

Edit: Just saw you can upgrade directly through WoW management page. Question, do you get a CD-Key and is WOTLK added to your Battlenet 2.0 account if you just upgrade rather than buy it retail?

 

[notworksafe]

Is there anyway to upgrade to Wrath of Lich King without buying a retail copy? I can't seem to find a place that offers a digital version.

Edit: Just saw you can upgrade directly through WoW management page. Question, do you get a CD-Key and is WOTLK added to your Battlenet 2.0 account if you just upgrade rather than buy it retail?

Yep. Once you upgrade your whole account is upgraded so you can download Wrath anywhere at anytime, both Mac and PC. Not sure if you get a CD-Key but you just use those to add Wrath to your account. After that, your account info is your key.

 

[shintoki]

Fire is the new Arcane

Seriously though...Arcane is still very strong, they just buffed Fire the last couple of patches and more people are learning to play it.

I have been fire for years. Never liked Arcane, and even when Arcane was king, I dominated in Fire. The problem was that Arcane required certain gear to be good, and when they used the same gear to play Fire they sucked. Just like with my current gear setup, I suck if I try arcane.

I used to carry around my Arcane gear but eventually just ditched Arcane all together. Fire is WAY more fun.

I was a crit heavy fire mage (50% unbuffed crit with fire) and always did well. Recently I started switching a lot of gems to haste to find a good balance so am down to about 46%.

Another big factor for Fire is you need a lot of hit for the best spec (446 needed).

I have converted many an Arcane mage to fire by grouping with them...and them wondering how I did good DPS.

Bottom line, fire rules.

Remember when Frost was king? Fire immune mobs and no standard Arcane spell to use.

Good times.:lol

 

[AdventureRacing]

So I'm leveling a shaman now and am going enhance because I have hand me down heirlooms from my Hunter. Holy crap this guy is a beast. I feel my survivability is insane.

I'm thinking of going Elemental when I start doing heroics though, as my main is a Rogue. But goddamn if I don't love to tear shit up melee.

Also, I went 39 levels not knowing there was a trainer in IF or SW...all that time wasted traveling to Exodar! Shows how I take no interest in other classes than the ones I play. :lol

I have an 80 enhance and it is pretty damn awesome. I know a lot of people think it's underpowered (and thats probably true) but i have done well for myself. I managed to get close to 2000 in 2v2 and 3v3 arenas so im happy. I have a great time in PvE as well.

 

[CassSept]

What happened to that Worgen area of Stormwind they spoke about >.<?

It seems like the King is next to the King but thats it >.>

Also, whyd they have to go and ruin Danaths statue, poor guy!

I believe the area itself has been moved to Darnassus. Why Greymane is still next to Varian remains a mystery. Maybe he is there to help them against the Hogger threat?

 

[Tamanon]

Remember when Frost was king? Fire immune mobs and no standard Arcane spell to use.

Good times.:lol

You mean for Ragnaros and that's it?

 

[Alcoori]

During the event with the big ass water elemental, it was really shitty being a DK Frost tank. Absolutely useless

I've found more mobs immune to water/frost based attacks in Northrend than not (which makes sense).

 

[PhoenixDark]

BTW, how can you tank with a warrior with sooo many buttons? WTF I used like 5 of them but there was too many abilities that I didn't know when to use or how.

The amount of buttons can be daunting initially but you'll quickly learn that you really only need a few. Devastate is the bread and butter attack, and of course spam Heroic Strike when depending on how the threat is looking. Most of the other attacks are situation based: if you're tanking multiple mobs you'll want Thunder Clap, Shockwave, and Cleave at all times. The Revenge buff also makes it a great tool for multiple mob tanking. Concussive Blow isn't that important anymore, but you can use it to stun a fool while you focus on the others.

Ah damn, now I feel like playing again lol

 

[Tamanon]

During the event with the big ass water elemental, it was really shitty being a DK Frost tank. Absolutely useless

I've found more mobs immune to water/frost based attacks in Northrend than not (which makes sense).

Try leveling as an elemental shaman in Nagrand

 

[Bisnic]

The amount of buttons can be daunting initially but you'll quickly learn that you really only need a few. Devastate is the bread and butter attack, and of course spam Heroic Strike when depending on how the threat is looking. Most of the other attacks are situation based: if you're tanking multiple mobs you'll want Thunder Clap, Shockwave, and Cleave at all times. The Revenge buff also makes it a great tool for multiple mob tanking. Concussive Blow isn't that important anymore, but you can use it to stun a fool while you focus on the others.

Ah damn, now I feel like playing again lol

I've seen my own Revenge crit for over 10k sometimes... with tank gear! Revenge is sooo good, it's my most used attack. Hitting 2 targets is just icing on the cake.

I can't believe how many prot warriors i've seen that are barely or not using Revenge at all. They don't even have the Improved Revenge talent and instead have some shit like +2% crit in Fury or Improved Spell Reflection.
(Most of) their aggro issues would be fixed with that.

 

[Flib]

I haven't even seen that new cooldown speed ability yet, so the only bear-exclusive new stuff is the lacerate/aoe bleed stuff.

and resto is getting almost totally redesigned, so even if they don't get new spells, it's going to play a lot differently.

edit: well, I see now that they finally put it in, but made it also work in cat form. It just seems like they still aren't putting as much into feral as they are into balance/resto, although part of that is more or less reworking resto spells so they perform differently from now (i.e. no more spamming rejuvs on everyone, lifebloom limited to one target so it becomes more of a tank heal) and in particular thrash seems really weak as a new bear ability when all the other good stuff is shared with cat.

Don't forget pulverize. I don't mind sharing stuff with cats, personally. Bears are in pretty good shape, the main thing they were missing was a ranged silence, which skull bash is partially taking care of. I mean, they could use a larger toolbox, but they're in good shape in general.

 

[close to the edge]

I just need to vent a little here. Just tried doing the weekly raid quest (Malygos), 10 man with a pug. We wiped three times during phase 3 and then everybody left. This instance has been out since WotLK was released and it's not that it's a terribly complicated encounter, in fact we had no trouble during phase 1 and 2. Must be the combination of an old encounter that people don't do a lot anymore and the fact that equipment doesn't really play a role during the last phase.. blergh.

edit: yeah, I also don't have a guild to do stuff like this with.

 

[Tamanon]

I've seen my own Revenge crit for over 10k sometimes... with tank gear! Revenge is sooo good, it's my most used attack. Hitting 2 targets is just icing on the cake.

I can't believe how many prot warriors i've seen that are barely or not using Revenge at all. They don't even have the Improved Revenge talent and instead have some shit like +2% crit in Fury or Improved Spell Reflection.
(Most of) their aggro issues would be fixed with that.

You can usually tell who uses Revenge by those who level prot. Leveling as a prot warrior makes you LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Revenge. It does a shit-ton of damage when out and about.

 

[Evlar]

You can usually tell who uses Revenge by those who level prot. Leveling as a prot warrior makes you LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Revenge. It does a shit-ton of damage when out and about.

This is truth.

 

[Alcoori]

Is revenge the "reactive" ability of the warrior? Like you can use it after you parry/evade/block?

If so DKs have a similar one who also does lots of damage. I crit'd at 8k once

 

[vilmer_]

Fire is the new Arcane

Seriously though...Arcane is still very strong, they just buffed Fire the last couple of patches and more people are learning to play it.

I have been fire for years. Never liked Arcane, and even when Arcane was king, I dominated in Fire. The problem was that Arcane required certain gear to be good, and when they used the same gear to play Fire they sucked. Just like with my current gear setup, I suck if I try arcane.

I used to carry around my Arcane gear but eventually just ditched Arcane all together. Fire is WAY more fun.

I was a crit heavy fire mage (50% unbuffed crit with fire) and always did well. Recently I started switching a lot of gems to haste to find a good balance so am down to about 46%.

Another big factor for Fire is you need a lot of hit for the best spec (446 needed).

I have converted many an Arcane mage to fire by grouping with them...and them wondering how I did good DPS.

Bottom line, fire rules.

I've been trying fire out, but my dps has taken a massive hit :/ I don't think I have high enough gear (264/277) for it to be effective yet. I will have to re-gear specifically for fire because the arcane gear isn't cutting it at all as you mentioned. I need to crank up my hit rating as well, which I'm sure will help. I can hardly reach 3k on the test dummy with my current gear and I can hit upwards of 8k with arcane

*Edit - Can I see your armory Pockets, so I can get an idea

 

[Evlar]

Is revenge the "reactive" ability of the warrior? Like you can use it after you parry/evade/block?

If so DKs have a similar one who also does lots of damage. I crit'd at 8k once

Yes.

 

[Bisnic]

You can usually tell who uses Revenge by those who level prot. Leveling as a prot warrior makes you LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Revenge. It does a shit-ton of damage when out and about.

It's true.. i'm lvling a horde warrior right now(i like them this much!, after my alliance warrior lvl 80, i wanted to try tanking low lvl instances), and you know how Recount looks like ALL the time for me since lvl 20(im now 50)?

----------------------- 46% Damage Me
-------------24% BOA geared DPS
---------- 20% BOA geared DPS
----- 9% classic geared DPS
- 1% healer

And that's with all the rage issues a low lvl warrior have... imagine if i had as much rage as a lvl 80! And all i do is spamming Revenge, Cleave(glyphed) & Thunderclap who are both far behind Revenge. Revenge alone makes you both a tank & a monster in DPS.

 

[Fularu]

It's true.. i'm lvling a horde warrior right now(i like them this much!, after my alliance warrior lvl 80, i wanted to try tanking low lvl instances), and you know how Recount looks like ALL the time for me since lvl 20(im now 50)?

----------------------- 46% Damage Me
-------------24% BOA geared DPS
---------- 20% BOA geared DPS
----- 9% classic geared DPS
- 1% healer

And that's with all the rage issues a low lvl warrior have... imagine if i had as much rage as a lvl 80! And all i do is spamming Revenge, Cleave(glyphed) & Thunderclap who are both far behind Revenge. Revenge alone makes you both a tank & a monster in DPS.

Recount looks like that for me all the time, and I'm 80. Well no, usually I do 60+% of the total damage /shrug.

On the other hand, if my guildmates make a 5 man with me, I'm at a pathetic 20%, if that!

 

[Mainline]

Fire really has pulled far ahead of Arcane in T10, and to be honest it's a lot more fun to play.

Living Bomb > Hotstreak Pyro > Fireball is the basic rotation. I only raid as fire now, here's my armory for anyone who wants to take a look at spec/gems etc

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Malygos&cn=Fault

 

[Macattk15]

Damn. I need to get into the beta, how are all of you so lucky!!!!!!!!!

 

[notworksafe]

Hmm...been talking to the Mage in my raid about switching to Fire and I had a few questions.

So essentially it's just HS proc fishing, right? So he should just keep Scorch debuff up and use LB and Combustion at every CD, then just spam FB til he gets an HS proc and use Pyroblast?

Also a lot of specs I see recommend taking Flame Throwing over the two extra points in Student of the Mind. Do you have any range problems at all with your spec?

 

[Eric WK]

Hmm...been talking to the Mage in my raid about switching to Fire and I had a few questions.

So essentially it's just HS proc fishing, right? So he should just keep Scorch debuff up and use LB and Combustion at every CD, then just spam FB til he gets an HS proc and use Pyroblast?

Also a lot of specs I see recommend taking Flame Throwing over the two extra points in Student of the Mind. Do you have any range problems at all with your spec?

Yeah, that's basically it. Have him take Flame Throwing.

 

[Rapstah]

Woah at the top DPS fire mage having 70% crit on his Fire Bolts. :lol That's ridicously high! Can you actually go that high consistently with raid buffs, talents and gear or do you have to be very lucky too?