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Warlock Focus Macros
September 30, 2008 by Zuggy · 2 Comments
Warlock’s are arguably one of the most difficult classes to play (at least at the highest levels), namely due to the incredible number of spells a warlock must master. Fortunately, there are a few warlock focus macros available that can make your life a whole lot easier and improve your game over night!
If you haven’t heard of focus macros or just want a quick refresher course then head over and check out my 101 focus macro guide. Also, if you’re just looking for regular warlock macros you can find those here, warlock macros guide.
Warlock CC Focus Macros
Focus Fear Macro
/cast [target=focus] Fear
If you don’t go any further than this, please get this macro. Using a focus fear macro is absolutely crucial for effective CC rotations in both PvP and PvE settings.
Focus Fear Macro + Modifier
/cast [mod:shift,target=focus] Fear; Fear
Does the same thing as the above fear macro, except you use shift + key to cast your focus fear, while just an unmodified key click will cast a non-focused fear on your target.
Focus Banish Macro
/cast [target=focus] Banish
Warlock Pet Focus Macros
Focus Pet Attack Macros (all)
/cast [pet:X, target=focus] Attack
note: just change “X” to the name of your pet. Felguard, Felhunter, Imp, Etc.
Focus Intercept Macros (felguard)
/cast [pet:Felguard, target=focus] Intercept
Focus Spell Lock Macro (felhunter)
/cast [pet:FelHunter, target=focus] Spell Lock
Focus Devour Magic (felhunter)
/cast [pet:Felhunter, target=focus] Devour Magic
Focus Seduction Macro (succubus)
/cast [pet:Succubus, target=focus] Seduction
Focus Macro Spells
Curse of Tongues Focus Macro
/cast [target=focus] Curse of Tongues
Shadow Bolt Focus Macro
/cast [target=focus] Shadow Bolt
Shadow Bolt Focus Macro + Modifier
/cast [mod: shift, target=focus] Shadow Bolt; Shadow Bolt
Personally I like this macro much more as it allows you seamlessly switch targets you are DPS’ing, and the opposing team / boss will never be the wiser!
DoT Focus Macro Spells
/cast [target=focus] Curse of Agony
Simply replace “Curse of Agony” for any other focus DoT / Spell macros you’d like to create. Very simple!
Mage WotLK Talents & Developer Q & A
September 30, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
Another massive Q and A post from Ghostcrawler. She has done a great job already working with many of classes and now she’s finally making it to the mage class, particularly the information regarding the new spell frostfire bolt.
Initially I really didn’t understand the purpose of such a spell, guessing that most mages would opt for a standard fire, frost or arcane build, which still may be the case. That said, these changes and their implications do make it a much more lucrative spell and spec for mages to work with. Potentially bringing it on par with the 3 primary builds.
One of the biggest issues for mages during the Burning Crusade was the complete and utter lack of mana longevity. While it doesn’t appear blizzard has a definite fix implemented yet GC did mention they are very aware of this problem and taking steps to correct it. With renewed mana longevity in addition to the many other changes coming in WotLK should really make for a much more balanced and dynamic class in the expansion.
Torment of the Weak Explained
Some talents are just harder to implement than they appear. What we think we can do with Torment of the Weak is instead let a certain number of spells (say the ones you want to use a lot) get the damage bonus. That keeps the basic idea intact in a way that we know will work.
Frostfire Bolt Creation
We created Frostfire Bolt for 3 reasons:
- An interesting new spell that would cause a lot of exploration into which talents, gear and rotations benefited the best
- A solution for those fights in which a Frost mage shows up to a Frost-immune fight
- the keystone for a new Frost + Fire “elemental” build. If you want to go respec every fight, you can still do that. But with Frostfire, you should be able to do a lot more damage than if you hadn’t respec’d at all.
WotLK Mage Q & A with Ghostcrawler
Will mages continue to have mana issues as much as they do currently, or is something planned to help?
Yes, we are working on mage mana issues. They seem to run out too fast.
Will mages be expected to be dominant AoE DPS? Or is AoE DPS also being flattened across the board?
Great AE damage isn’t a good niche in a game with so many single-target fights. Your AE will be good, but so will that of warlocks and moonkin. We won’t keep your single target dps down in order to justify high AE dps.
Will Frost be able to dps as strongly if not more strongly than Arc/Fire in PvE? Or is that still the PvP spec?
We would like to see similar dps from all 3 trees. However, if you go for a heavy PvP build (in any tree), you will probably sacrifice some dps to get there.
Will Arcane Blast be modified so it can be used as a main nuke? Or is that ship sunk?
We want Arcane Blast to be used a lot. It’s not Pyro.
Scaling plagued mages throughout BC, will this be closely examined so it doesn’t repeat in WOTLK?
Yes. We aren’t happy with what happened to mages in BT and Sunwell.
Will Evocation ever be updated? Lowered Cooldown? Made like Innervate instead of channeled?
I don’t know the answer to that yet. I think Evo is fine if mages don’t run out of mana in 5 seconds. Evo could be part of that solution or not.
Will Frostfire bolt be given a purpose, now that double dipping is gone. Is it simply an “immunity” fight fallback?
No, we want it to be the kind of spell you can use all the time. But we want to get Frost, Fire and Arcane feeling good first.
Will ignite ever be fixed (ignite “munching”)?
We are aware of the problem (of course). It’s just not easy to fix.
Will the Water Elemental get more survivability? More resist? More +hit? More scaling?
All pets should inherit the hit of the master now.
Will mages have purpose other than dps in raids so that so called “hybrid” classes won’t fill in the mage spots after the single obligatory Winters Chill/Food/Scorch mage has been invited?
Just be better / do more dps than those other classes and you’ll earn a spot. We’re not going to give you a reason other than that that someone HAS to take you.
Is the numbers pass starting soon? We’re worried that you may be running short (5 weeks) on time to properly see data regarding the dps passes.
We’ve been in the middle of it for weeks. Don’t worry about the time. We don’t. If we looked at the ship date as a deadline, then we’d get sloppy and do dumb things. The truth is that in an MMO, game balance is a process not a destination. Even after the patch goes live, we’ll have opporunities to make changes before you can head to Northrend. With all the changes we’ve made, there are going to have to be some quick patches to fix things we missed. And overall we’d like to address balance problems that do erupt in a more timely fashion – consider, before we could always say “Eh, they’ll still take the X for his Y buff even if his dps is low.” We can’t say that anymore. Now we just have to get stuff fixed.
Season 4 End Date Announced!
September 30, 2008 by Donjo · 3 Comments
This afternoon Tigole calmed the fears of many players who thought they were going to lose their Brutal Gladiator titles to triple Retribution Paladin teams by announcing that the end of Season 4 would happen on the day that the 3.0 Patch hits live servers.
We’ve reevaluated certain aspects of how the arena system and current arena season will be affected during both the next content patch, and the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. For starters, the current arena season will end in respect to the ladder upon the release of our next major patch. What this means is, we’ll be taking a snapshot of the current season’s ladder just before the realms are taken down for patch maintenance, and our normal process will commence to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards.
Teams and ratings will not be wiped at that time, and will carry forward allowing players to earn points each week (and buy gear) until the launch of the expansion on November 13th. Almost immediately before Wrath of the Lich King releases, all arena teams as well as ratings will be wiped and arena charter NPCs disabled.
So there you have it, no need to worry.
WotLK Paid Character Customization
September 30, 2008 by Zuggy · 4 Comments
I suppose it was only a matter of time, but it looks like paid character customizatoin is on the way. The guys over at worldofraids discovered a hidden image file in the current WOTLK beta build named “UI Paid Character Customization”. This is about as blatant as an upcoming change is going to get.

We already know barber shops are going to be introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, you’ll be able to get a hair cut, change your piercings, tusks, horns, and other facial and body features for a gold fee. Since the new barber shops already offer so much there’s been much speculation as to what this “paid customization” might be.
- Change your race?
- Change your sex?
- Change your faction?
What do you think the paid customization features will include?
Shadow Priest Buffs Coming
September 29, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
Unless I’m mistaken this is the first time we’ve really seen confirmation that the idea of the “utility” class is going away. Personally I say good riddance. Utility class for always just seemed like a subtle word for “bad”. More from a design perspective than actually being a waste of space during a raid.
Assuming you are a Shadow priest, the answer is you are a dps class. We’re trying to back off the whole utility class thing, which is absolutely what you were in BC. While the mana battery functionality is still something every group is going to want, there are more ways to provide it now. The tradeoff for losing that unique niche is your dps going up.
Why are shadow priests being out performed by other classes who, in terms of functionality at this point in time, fit into the same niche as shadow priests do?
Because we’re not done.
A few weeks ago Blizzard announced vampiric touch is being reduced from 5% to 2.5%. A change which at the time left me wondering just what Blizz was thinking. Though, based upon this recent post it looks like there are still some major buffs imminent for the shadow priest.
The general feeling I get from all these changes is a complete shift in what a DPS class is. More and more these changes seem to lean towards a “leveling of the playing field“, so to speak, in the way that each PvE DPS spec seems like they are all going to do around the same damage. Prior to the Burning Crusade there was this notion that rogues always had to be the highest DPS class no matter what, since they brought zero utility to the raid. This type of thought process was still present in BC, note Sunwell geared rogues doing close to 2700 DPS while equally geared shadow priests were lucky to break the 1500 mark.
Overall I think these changes are going to make for a very interesting raiding dynamic in the Wrath of the Lich King. Each class will bring a certain degree of utility, but more than that each archtype (tank, healer, DPS) should be very similar in overall effectiveness.
WotLK Rogue Talents Q and A with Devs
September 29, 2008 by Zuggy · 2 Comments
Before we get into all the rogue Q and A below, I think it’s worth giving an e-high five to the best damn blue poster there’s ever been, Ghostcrawler. GC has gone well beyond the call of duty to help answer questions and concerns for every class. She’s meticulously explained the reasoning behind changes, received feedback, and truly listened to player concerns regarding WotLK balance.
Without his fine work and dedication I don’t think we’d have a WotLK looking nearly as good as it is. That said, let’s get into these rogue changes!
Rogue Raid Utility
In terms of the big raid buffs, the ones we consider rogues bringing are Expose Armor, Wound Poison and Mind Numbing Poison. There are plenty of others more along the lines of Kick and Sap that are harder to quantify.
It’s really great to see blizzard is taking a serious look at improving raid utility for rogues. I could definitely see expose armor stacking with sunder armor in WotLK, and potentially being changed to a percentage armor reduction…a change which nearly made it into TBC.
There are lots of ways Blizzard can add raid utility to the class and I’m very excited to see how they work poisons, EA, and other rogue abilities into future lich king encounters.
With that in mind can you tell us any plans that you have to better close this PvE to PvP gap that we’re seeing with certain trees? How do you plan to make all three trees viable across the board?
Yes, this is definitely a priority. It is a lot harder with classes in which all specs are still focused mostly on dps. We understand that some specs are just going to be better for 5-mans, for PvP or for raiding. We’re trying to equalize as much as possible, but we’re also trying to be realistic about our chances.
How do you plan to deal with talents which were still considered all too needed by rogues, particularly in the case of Relentless Strikes? Is there any possibility of making Relentless Strikes a core class ability we can all train?
Mandatory talents are tricky. There are certainly plenty of them in every tree. Every warrior spec without Cruelty is pretty experimental, as is every druid spec without Omen of Clarity. Part of the problem is we keep offering new character levels along with new talents, so each expansion ends up constraining you more and more to one tree. The real red flag, for me at least, is when a spec has so many truly mandatory talents (which is a funny thing to say, since it’s still a little subjective) that they don’t have any optional talents. Instead of a cookie-cutter build being something like 20 plus your choice, they become you must get these 24 talents. If that makes sense.
I wish GC would have just answered the question here instead of beating around the bush. To me this sounds more like a cop out for…no, we aren’t making them core abilities, deal with it until we figure out what to do later in the expansion. Either way, all 3 talent trees are looking pretty damn good.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to create anything but carbon copies of abilities in each of the 3 trees and not have SOME variance. If you want the highest DPS there will ALWAYS be a max DPS…even if by 1 or 2% one spec will ALWAYS be better.
I think it is very likely there will be a theoretical max dps build. However:
- It will probably vary from boss to boss.
- It might depend a lot on the skill of the player.
- Because there are so many variables (by design) it may be really hard to “solve the equation” for which actually is the highest dps build.
- For 90% of players (maybe more) that kind of damage difference is in the noise. Very few players can do 2500 dps one night and then 2525 dps another night (a 1% difference). Usually the delta is much larger than that because of random elements including things as non-gamey as Internet lag, how tired you are and just bad luck. If taking the most optimal build can’t guarantee you dps higher than the random element in the equation, it may very well not be worth taking. Now if the dps gain is significant by taking the best build, then I agree with you.
Rogue Talent Tree Conclusions
Rogue talents are hard because the class is ultimately very mathy. Without a finite resource like mana, it’s easy to analyze every possible move for its cost efficiency and ultimate damage delivery. This is coupled with the fact that it’s really easy for a rogue to move among trees. By contrast, before the advent of Frostfire Bolt a fire mage could mostly ignore frost. A shadow priest wants almost nothing in Holy. But having an emphais on poisons or stealth in a rogue tree doesn’t make a tree unattractive to a Combat rogue. I’m not trying to make excuses, but perhaps more than any other class, I find that rogues can evaluate a talent’s utility pretty easily. It’s a cool thing about the class, but it makes talent design challenging.
I think I mentioned this in another thread, but our team has a really amazing rogue theorycrafter who stays really in touch with the community (anonymously). We have a surprising number of really good players on the team in general, but I always feel really safe about his conclusions on rogues. But that has also meant fewer blue posts than you deserve, so I’m trying to make up for that.
WotLK Tanking Change – Major AoE Buffs
September 29, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
There’s been a lot of discussion recently regarding tanking, specifically how each tank in the WotLK will be able to effectively handle AoE pulls. Druids in particular are probably the worst off in this respect, but a major change to druid’s swipe ability should help quell some of these concerns.
Swipe Limit Removed – Ghostcrawler
We are going to remove the target limit on Swipe.
Swipe should not be limited by targets. This goes for Thunderclap too.
Any LK encounter really. We know the BC encounters were not designed to be tanked by any tank.
Top 7 Kick Ass WotLK Achievements
September 29, 2008 by Zuggy · 7 Comments
7. The Explorer
Tired of the generic pick up 5 of X, kill 10 of Y? Yeah…me too, which is why I’m pretty excited for the challenge of The Explorer! Those who think they are up to the challenge will become a regular Magellan as they sail the seas and explore every zone, every nook and cranny of all 4 continents. For accomplishing this feat you’ll be awarded with a new title, The Explorer.
6. Make Love, Not Warcraft
Even blizzard has a pretty good sense of humor every once and a while. All you have to do to complete this achievement is shoot off a quick /hug on a player you’ve just killed. Personally I think this will be one of the easiest achievements I’ll have to do, especially considering all the /gloat and /spit practice I’ve got in over the years.
5. Leading the Calvary
This achievement isn’t for the casual gamer, not by any stretch. To Lead the Calvary and ride above mere mortals on your Albino Drake you’ll have to acquire a staggering 50 mounts. That’s, right…50! Don’t worry though, you can use 60% ground mounts, 100% ground mounts, 60% flying mounts, and 100% flying mounts to reach that total. If you try to complete this in patch 3.0 you’ll be in for a tough grind, there’s only around 85 total mounts available for TBC, and this includes all rare / trading card mounts / arena drakes / other things you probably won’t have.
Once the Wrath of the Lich King is released there will be a host of new ground and flying mounts, making this achievement much easier.
4. Leroy Jenkins
What would this top list by without a mention of the legendary Leroy Jenkins. The video made popular shortly after WoW’s release and launched the legend of Leroy is now its own achievement! Succeed where Leroy failed and slay 50 dragon whelps in under 15 seconds in Upper Black Rock Spire.
If you haven’t seen the video make sure you check it out! Leroy Jenkins Video
3. Grand Caravan Mammoth
Nothing too complicated here…Obtain a Grand Caravan Mammoth from Mei Francis in Dalaran. No problem right? Or so you thought! Only professional Chinese farmers and Zuggy’s Gold Mastery Guide users will have any hope of completing this achievement (if they want to still have a life that is!).
The Grand Caravan Mammoth costs a mammoth…pun intended, 15,000g! Though it’s well worth the costs, you can carry up to 3 passengers on your mount, including vendors should you choose to invite them to hop on! I love this achievement because it’s the first true money sink that says nothing more than…
HEY LOOK AT ME! Anyone else ready for Mammoth trains in Orgrimmar?
2. Avast Ye, Admiral!
At long last all us bloodsail scallywags are getting our just deserves! This achievement isn’t one to be taken lightly, and for this reason it’s making my list. To complete this achievement and gain the title of Bloodsail Admiral you must get to friendly with the Bloodsail Buccaneers. Sounds easy enough, right? Not exactly, in order to get to friendly you’ll be killing thousands of booty bay goblins to increase your reputation, in doing so you’ll not only be tanking your booty bay reputation, but all Steamweedle Cartel factions. All the way to 0/36,000 hated with every faction of the Steamweedle Cartel.
This will prevent you from doing anything associated with goblins until you get your reputation back up. So, do ye think ye are up to thy challenge, matey!?
1. For the Horde! / For the Alliance!
Whether it’s raiding, battlegrounds or arena I love anything that brings people together for the purposes for domination, and domination is what these achievements are all about. In order to complete this achievement you must kill all 4 opposing faction leaders, a feat easier said than done. Most of these faction leaders will require a raid of at least 40 members.
Those who accept and complete this daunting challenge will be rewarded with a black war bear mount.
You’ve heard my top 7 now I want to hear yours! What achievements do you think should make the list?
WotLK Heroic Dungeon Loot
Following the most recent beta build we’re getting our first complete look at the WotLK heroic dungeon loot. I’m sure there will be some revisions before everything is finalized, but expect the majority of these items to make it to the Wrath of the Lich King.
Source: mmo-champion.com
Shaman Totem Change
September 28, 2008 by Zuggy · 2 Comments
Shamans around the world can rejoice today knowing that no longer will you be forced to drag around the obligatory air, fire, earth and water totems. That’s right, the totem tools have been consolidated. Now your requirements will be fulfilled via your relic totem slot.
While it hasn’t been officially announced, it’s assumed that all totem relics will be modified to include this new totem consolidation feature. Perhaps a minor change, but having the extra 4 slots in all shaman’s bags will be a welcome and longer overdue change.
On a side note, no luck for all you lower level shamans. There are no relic totems until level 60, so until then you’ll have to suck it up and use the old school totems.











