Inscription Glyph Implementation
Glyphs are the product of a trade skill so we want to slowly release more over time.

Balance…70 vs. 80
L80 is our first priority, but we’ll respond to anything that we think needs attention at L70 over the next few weeks. No need to fill up the rest of this thread with what *you* think needs attention.

Experience Rewards for Battlegrounds?
No answers available. These are features we would like to implement in the future. Queuing from anywhere would likely be the first to come, though I could not say when at this point.

Paid Character Transfer News
The paid character transfer and name change services have been temporarily taken offline to relieve database stress. We hope to reactivate them in the next few hours.

Brewfest Achievement – Binary Brew
It will remain a part of the meta-achievement for Brewfest. As I said, some achievements take time to complete. This is one of them.

Heroic Violet Hold Fixes
The issue where Xevozz would hit the party for huge amounts of arcane damage has been resolved. We also added a behind the scenes spell that will give the tank of Ichoron some additional threat to keep the healer from pulling aggro quite so easily.

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.

Being in the right place at the right time isn’t an accident, in many ways it’s the only true strategy in arena. Knowing the type of strategy your opponents are going to attempt will allow you to develop a strategy to appropriately counter your opponents.

This is the very essence of arena position strategies, but believe me, learning how to do this is no easy task. It takes a lot of experience and practice, but by simply being aware you’ll have a keen eye for areas where you can exploit your opponents position and quickly take advantage of their mistakes.

I say all of this in preparation for the very first Zug Gaming audio strategy discussion. A few weeks ago I had a brief conversion (relatively speaking!) with a member of the Zug Gaming community. He had a some questions regarding different strategic aspects of rogue / priest as well as overall positional awareness factors in arena.

The following recording includes:

• Priest / Rogue strategy discussion
• Positional strategy points
• Healer / DPS movement factors of arena
• Among other points

Rogue / Priest Strategy: Audio Discussion

I’ll try to get an actual player up later this evening.

Spellpower = +Healing * 0.532

The .532 value for this formula was derived using an average of the top 10 +healing items in the game. Fellow WoW blogger Phaelia from resto4life.com included this table in his recent post on the druid implications of these spell power changes.

As you can see, the spellpower changes will completely revamp the way healing and damage are calculated. In order to compensate for the spellpower changes healing coefficients will be adjusted to make up for the difference. You shouldn’t notice any reduction in your effective healing.

However, it’s happy days for caster DPS! Currently it does not look like blizzard has any plans to change damage coefficients for +damage spells…meaning all casters should receive a 60% damage increase.

Though don’t get to excited, I would expect the inflated damage values to level out by the time everyone hits level 80. This change should make healer hybrid’s lives much easier as all your gear will be centered around a single stat.

That said, learning to effectively use line sight in combination with proper positioning is no easy task. It requires a lot of practice and a bit of know how, which we’re going to discuss below.

Mastering The Pillar Kite

The first and most important factor in Nagrand Arena is going to be mastering the pillar kite. As you can see on the map to the right there are 4 pillars in Nagrand arena. Which we’re going to use both as LoS positions and kiting locations (aka “pillar humping”).

If you’re a healer this is where you live in arena. Sticking near the pillar allows you to quickly move in and out of line of sight and run circles around the pillar to avoid damage. The green squares represent your prime locations for maintaining healing LoS on the arena floor.

You will need to continually change your position around these pillars so that you can…

1. Adjust your position so you can maintain healing / dispel LoS on your partners
2. Kite opposing DPS in a circular manner around the pillar. If things are really bad you could have your team mates help you by snaring / crowd controlling the DPS that’s chasing you. Giving you additional time to catch up heals.

DPS Positioning

Most of the time people associate kiting and line of sight purely with healing, but even DPS, both ranged and melee can do their part to take advantage of line of sight positions. First off we need to consider the effect that these positions are going to have on our healer’s position.

• Your healer will always want to be LoS’ing around / behind a pillar.
• Knowing this we want to position so we can still do damage, but also allow the healer to avoid taking damage / being crowd controlled.

Secondly, let’s talk about the defensive role of using the pillars as a DPS. Just like your healer uses the pillars to dodge cc and damage you should be doing the same. Granted, you aren’t going to be pillar humping as excessively as your healer may be it is still important to take advantage of this strategy. This will save your healer mana and buy you one very important thing…time. Time to drink, time cast, and time to catch up on heals. Sometimes even just a few short seconds is enough for your team to gain a mana edge and ultimately come away with the win.

General Nagrand Position Strategy

Of all the arena maps Nagrand is certainly the most simplistic. What ever way you look at it you’re going to be using pillars in your position strategy. As a healer most of your role with LoS is centered around using them to avoid damage and CC, while also turreting up to well positioned heals in the locations I’ve listed above.

As a DPS class you need to focus on always understanding where your healer is, thus allowing them an easier time to heal you. Additionally, using the pillars to LoS behind to prevent damage and / or kite melee classes will allow your healer additional time they may need during high burst damage periods.

For more position strategies check out the full guide on Line of Sight Strategy and Positioning!

The strategy for the rogue is pretty basic here. If at all possible you want to sap the priest. This will allow you to get a solid start on the warlock and in many cases fill him outright. If you must use shadowstep to pull off the sap, it’s crucial you get it off quickly and cleanly.

Once you’re on the lock you need to be very watchful for fears. The mage cannot afford to burn his CS on the lock, so it’s up to you to kick / kidney shot any single target fear or howl of terror. Additionally, be ready to use your blind on the priest to assist the mage in his crowd control rotation.

I highly suggest using a focus blind macro to make this cc transition as seamless as possible. In an ideal game your rotation might look something like this. Sap –> Sheep –> Trinkets the sheep. Blind –> Sap –> CS — Sheep. While this always isn’t going to work out perfectly like this knowing your CC rotation from the beginning will be a huge aid to your success.

Mage Arena Tactics

While the mage is certainly going to be adding damage your primary role is still to crowd control the healer. Most mages are very confident in their own sheep / CS rotation, but don’t forget the fact you have a rogue. It will be very important for you and your rogue to successfully communicate through the match to maximize your collective crowd control.

Just like with the rogue’s blind, using focus sheep or focus CS macros can be very helpful. Not only do they allow you to quickly pull off your various forms of CS, but many times they can catch your opponents off guard. Many players watch for you as the mage to target them, often this is a dead give away to an incoming sheep or blind. Using focus macros you never actually have to target them, so they have zero idea what’s coming!

Looking for more strategies? Check out the complete rogue / mage 2v2 arena strategy guide!

Rogue

Get a sap on the warrior and open on the paladin going full out dps to force his bubble. Once he bubbles reset the fight via vanish. If you and your partner are having trouble CC’ing the warrior while forcing the paladin to bubble pop Evasion and Ghostly Strike as needed to avoid unwanted bleed effect when resetting the fight. Kill the paladin, and get away from the warrior if you have to.

Mage

Crowd control the warrior as best as possible with sheeps, frost novas, Rank 1 Frost Bolts(to Frost Bite snare him). These are all able to be cleansed by the pally, so tell your rogue to dodge it up if you’re having trouble controlling the warrior. Assist dps, and once the pally bubbles hit iceblock to reset the fight and wait it out. You decide when you want your rogue to blind, but I recommend while going for a kill on the pally or after killing the pally one of you has to get away.

Looking for more strategies? Check out the complete rogue / mage 2v2 arena strategy guide!

For the purpose of this guide I’ll be referring to all position references from a healer’s point of view, and the ideal locations team’s should attempt to position both DPS and healer positions in order to maintain LoS for heals, but avoid being relentlessly attacked.

To the right I’ve detailed a small map of Blade’s Edge arena with various positioning options you have available.

• Red lines – these are short range positions that take advantage of the pole extensions on the 4 corners of the bridge. Ideally the DPS would be centered in the bridge while you heal from the top ramp positions.
• Purple lines – these are long range heal positions where you’re simply trying to take advantage of healing range over the range of other casters. Same thing as above, heal from the ramp, fight in the middle.
• Position swaps – the green dots represent a few of the possible positions you could choose to stand at. None of these are set in stone. A healer or a DPS could stand in either one of them since the line of sight continues regardless.
• Ground level pillars – I’ve indicated them with red circles, you can use these just as you would use a pillar in Nagrand arena. In addition, while I have not indicated it on the map you can also use the pillar posts that hold up the bridge in the same manner. This can be a disadvantage though (discussed in next point).
• Plane of Interaction – there are 2 planes of interaction in blade’s edge, one on the ground level and another on bridge level. Generally speaking the bridge level plane is superior in every way. You have both position and distance LoS easily at your disposal, and you can quickly reposition to heal teammates on the bottom. For this reason choosing to fight on the ground level may not be an option. If your opposition sticks their healer or a ranged character up top you could be in a lot of trouble. At this point the advantage is 100% into their favor, especially if you are unable to completely avoid being attacked by the players on the ground you’re attempting to kite.
• Bridge Overhangs – there is one other location that can be particularly devastating from a LoS perspective if used correctly (and with the right classes). It’s positioned directly underneath the bridge right as the ramp part begins the bridge. There are small obstructions that jut out here, allowing a healer or DPS class (typically hunters) the ability to stick themselves in there and avoid most LoS. This is because it’s so difficult to find continued LoS to attack them, since you can move to either the left or right side of these small obstructions in these locations.

The overall strategy we’re going for with these positions is the development of a fluid and constantly moving line of sight technique. As a healer not moving is just not an option. You need to continue the constant position change in order to effectively heal, regain mana, and avoid damage. If you can successfully accomplish this then you’re well on your way to becoming a top tier arena team.

For more position strategies check out the full guide on Line of Sight Strategy and Positioning!

Also, if you’re interested in druid focus macros, make sure you check out my other guide here.

Restoration Druid Macros

Nature’s Swiftness Heal
/cast Nature’s Swiftness
/stopcasting
/cast Healing Touch

Mouseover Healing Macros
/cast [target=mouseover] Healing Touch

/cast [target=mouseover] Rejuvenation

/cast [target=mouseover] Lifebloom

Simply adjust the spell and you’re good to go. These macros are simply amazing and I’ve used them on my shaman as a raid healer to incredible effectiveness. This allows you to simply hover over frames and pop heals off as fast as your mouse can move to the next raid frame (as opposed to having to click the frame).

This method of raid healing really gets awesome when you take advantage of another user interface mod for raids called grid. Grid is pretty simplistic, but that’s even better for us. It’s simple, it’s easy…simply hover and start dropping heals and HoTs across the raid. Checkout the full Grid user interface guide.

In addition, you could also handle other spells, buffs, etc. in this same manner.

Innervate Protection Macro

/castsequence reset=30 [target=player] Innervate, Thorns(Rank 1), Mark of the Wild(Rank 1), Rejuvenation(Rank 1)

Feral Druid Macros

Taunt + Auto Attack Macro
/startattack
/cast Growl

Mangle + Auto Attack Macro
/startattack
/cast Mangle

This type of macro helps druid’s to overcome one of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen while raiding…failure to quickly engage auto attack. Simply putting a one line /startattack line before each of your primary attack abilities will do a world of good…not only for feral DPS, but for feral tanking. Many player’s view these as “unnecessary”, and believe me, those are the players who aren’t topping the DPS charts and are letting other player’s in the raid die due to their tanking failures.

Take Potions in Bear Form Macro
#show Super Healing Potion
/use Master Healthstone
/use Super Healing Potion
/cast !Dire Bear Form

I really like this macro simply because it’s so damn fast. Even if you are tanking this is a nice macro to have for those panic situations. Simply take a step away from the boss, spam this macro and you’ll be healed to full in a snap.

Replace the master health stone / super healing potion with what ever potions you’d like to consume, or add additional consumables in there. Since the first /use macro will pull you out of bear and take the pot, you consolidate several steps together, making this macro nearly instantaneous.

Mangle Trinket Macro
/startattack
/use Moroes’ Lucky Pocket Watch
/cast Mangle

Just replace Moroes’ Lucky Pocket Watch for your current tanking trinket(s). Also, for cat druids check out the macro below.

Feral DPS Trinket Macro
/startattack
/use Bloodlust Brooch
/cast Claw

Same as the above macro, change the trinket name / attack name to those of your choosing. The same will apply to any spec. These are great macros to help put several button combinations together.

General Druid Macros

Totem Sniping Macro
/targetexact Wrath of Air Totem
/targetexact Mana Spring Totem
/targetexact Poison Cleansing Totem
/targetexact Windfury Totem V
/targetexact Mana Tide Totem
/targetexact Grounding Totem
/cast Moonfire(Rank 1)

Hilarious macro to really piss off shamans. Spam this while you’re kiting in PvP situations to really punish a shaman’s totem forest.

Self Druid Buffing Macros
/castsequence [target=player] reset=10 Thorns, Omen of Clarity, Mark of the Wild

Simple Druid Buffs
/castsequence reset=target Mark of the Wild, Thorns

Balance Druid Macros

Trinket + Starfire Bomb
/use Hex Shrunken Head
/cast Starfire

Just change the name of the trinket to your own spell damage trinket.

Needless to say, it’s a rough life for priests. However, a few well placed macros can change all of that and give you an immediate edge on your opponents.

Raid Healing Priest Macros
/stopcasting
/cast Greater Heal

/stopcasting
/cast Renew

/stopcasting
/cast Flash Heal

/stopcasting
/cast Circle of Healing

I think of all the macros, this is probably the most simplistic and effective. It drives me crazy watching healer’s jump or move in order to cancel a heal. This is incredibly inefficient as you lose large amounts of overall healing time throughout the fight. Getting used to a system of stopcasting macros will allow you to turret up and let the heals fly, maximizing your available time to cast heals.

Power Word Shield Macro
/cast [target=player] Power Word: Shield

Pretty simple, just cast a PWS on your self without ever having to drop target. Nice in the heat of an arena match or a raid encounter.

Dispel Macros
/target (name of your teammate)
/cast Dispel Magic

Generic quick target defensive dispel on your teammate.

/assist (name of your teammate)
/cast Dispel Magic

Generic quick target offensive dispel, great for assisting your DPS classes to clear shields, buffs, etc.

Note: The above dispel macros were pulled from the more complete guide here, discipline priest arena strategy.

Mouse Over Healing Macros
/cast [target=mouseover] Flash Heal

/cast [target=mouseover] Greater Heal

/cast [target=mouseover] Renew

/cast [target=mouseover] Circle of Healing

Now, this method of healing may or may not work for you. For my shaman I found it ideal to manage raid healing, by using these macros in combination with a raid unit frame mod called grid (to the left is a screenshot of grid). This basically allowed me to mouse over any frame within the grid unit frame and fire on chain heals on my shaman. You could achieve the same result using the clique mod, but I prefer the macros

Rebuffing Macro
/castsequence Inner Fire, Power Word: Fortitude, Shadow Protection

Requires multiple clicks, but will allow you to put all your buffing spells onto one bar. You can simply add any additional buffs you have based on race / talent spec (divine spirit for example) at the end of the macro, each requiring an additional click.

Trinket + Inner Fire + Devouring Plague Macro
#showtooltip Devouring Plague
/use NameofYourDamageTrinket
/cast Inner Focus
/stopcasting
/cast Devouring Plague

Nice macro that further consolidates clicks and action bar use

Trinket + Healing Macro
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Greater Heal

For reference purposes 13 is top trinket, 14 is bottom trinket. These type of macros are a staple for every class and spec. Now, the trinket may determine weather or not you use this macro. Some trinkets shouldn’t be used until a given point (IE…spirit based regen trinkets shouldn’t be used the moment the fight begins). Conversely you could create a +healing trinket and circle of healing for raid spamming, since you’ll want it up as often as it can be used.

Silence / Arcane Torrent Macro
/castsequence reset=45 Silence, Arcane Torrent

A good friend of mine used this a ton when I played with him season 3. Once again, it won’t make or break you, but it’s certainly a nice way to free up some action bar space.

The DoT Bomb
/cast Inner Fire
/stopcasting
/cast Devouring Plague / Star Shards (if you have it either)
/stopcasting
/cast Shadow Word Pain

Smart Shadowfiend
#showtooltip Shadowfiend
/cast [harm,nodead][target=targettarget,harm,nodead] Shadowfiend

This macro will send your shadowfiend to attack your target if it’s hostile. If you do not have a hostile target currently targeted then it will send it after your target’s target if it is hostile.

If you’re looking for shadow priest specific macros, check out this guide, shadow priest macros.