Wrath of the Lich King Wrap Up Post

The time has finally come, we are now just a few short hours away from the greatest expansion World of Warcraft has ever seen. I know I can’t hit all the changes in this wrap up, but I’ll do my best to hit all the major additions, changes, and other note worthy points regarding the WotLK.

WotLK Preparations

• What should I do get ready?
• Make the Most Gold in WotLK

General

• WotLK Mounts
• Flying Mounts in Northrend
• Profession Bonuses and Perks
• Dual Specs Feature
• New WotLK Enchants
• Updated Horde and Alliance Racials
• WotLK Titles
• Profession Daily Quests Token System
• WotLK Spellpower Change

Classes

• Death Knight abilities
• Death Knight FAQ

Patch Information

• Patch 3.0.3 Info
• Upcoming WotLK Patches

Achievements

• Achievement System Details
• PvP Achievements – Part 1
• PvP Achievements – Part 2

Videos

• WotLK Cinematic Intro
• Engineering Motorcycle Mount Video
• WotLK Exploration Video

PvE

• Heroic Dungeon Loot List

PvP

• WotLK Honor Gear Prices
• WotLK PvP Changes
• Wintergrasp Boss Drops
• Season 5 Honor Gear
• Season 5 Arena Armor

Guides

• Knights of the Ebon Blade Reputation Guide
• Jewelcrafting: Gem Perfection
• WotLK Enchanting Guide
• WotLK Enchanting Scrolls
• WotLK Alchemy Items
• Inscription Shoulder Enchants
• Inscription: Glyphs Compiled

note: more to come later

WoTLK Honor Gear Prices

For those that have been waiting to hear the dreaded honor point costs of gear ever since Zuggy first talked about it, I logged on the beta realms today to get the scoop.

There are two different sets of honor gear in Wrath of the Lich King for level 80′s to try out.  The first set is called the Hateful Gladiator set and that will include pieces that have no arena rating requirement and are accessible to all players who saved up some points as soon as they hit level 80.

• Hateful Gladiator Belt - 49600 Honor
• Hateful Gladiator Bracer – 31600 Honor
• Hateful Gladiator Boots - 49600 Honor
• Hateful Gladiator Neck – 38000 Honor
• Hateful Gladiator Cloak – 38000 Honor
• Hateful Gladiator Ring – 38000 Honor
• Medallion of the Horde - 49600 Honor (This has 84 Resiliance)

For the more experienced Gladiator, you can buy Deadly Gladiator gear with the following amount of honor and credentials:

• Deadly Gladiator Belt – 62000 Honor and 1630 Personal Rating
• Deadly Gladiator Bracer - 39400 Honor and 1660 Personal Rating
• Deadly Gladiator Boots - 62000 Honor and 1720 Personal Rating
• Deadly Gladiator Neck – 47400 Honor and 1600 Personal Rating
• Deadly Gladiator Cloak - 47400 Honor and 1750 Personal Rating
• Deadly Gladiator Ring – 47400 Honor and 1690 Personal Rating
• Battlemaster’s Trinket – 62000 Honor and 1800 Personal Rating

World of WarHammer?

Taking queues from the recent success of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, Tigole has posted about some upcoming ideas for the future of WoW PvP, many of which mirror the PvP style that Warhammer has implemented.  Source

Actually, we have been discussing new battlegrounds quite a bit lately. Wrath of the Lich King will feature Strand of the Ancients (attack/defend) as well as Wintergrasp (non-instanced, world PvP).

But past that, we are exploring ideas that would involve expanding our Battleground content in future patches and beyond. We believe we have some strong ideas for improving Battlegrounds and PvP as a whole in the game and we’re definitely going to focus on improvements in the future. Now, it’s very early to be talking about some of this stuff but I think it’s important for the community to know that it’s on our minds.

Our general thought is that we could provide more BG content over time. The BG content that we could provide could be of higher quality with a higher degree of accessibility. Overall, we’d like to have more content and variety. We also want the gameplay experience in the BGs to be better directed. We’re also exploring the concept of a complimentary “competitive” bg system as well. Over time, we’d like the focus of PvP to shift back to being more BG-centric and more focused on Horde versus Alliance — the core of our game.

We’re also planning on improving some Battleground and PvP features in general. For example, we want to give you the ability to queue for Battlegrounds from anywhere in the world. We’re also going to explore EXP gain through the PvP system as well as low level itemization to support that.

Please don’t take this post as a promise. This won’t be an overnight process. Not all of these things are set in stone and guaranteed to happen. It would take us a while to shift in this direction. But these are some of the current thoughts on the development team. I think it’s important for you guys to know some of our thought process in regards to PvP.

In my opinion, everybody wins here.  Even though I didn’t enjoy my time in the Warhammer beta, I always root for its success.  If Warhammer stays successful, fans of WoW will be getting content sooner rather than later and the same goes for Warhammer players.  As Borat would say, “Great Success”.

ZA Bear Mount Removed

This change has been expected for some time now, but it looks like Blizzard has made it official. The Zul’Aman Amani War Bear mount will be removed when patch 3.0.2 goes live. This change is being made so that the mount will maintain it’s integrity, as getting it at level 80 would take away any significance the mount previously had.

We have no released a date for when the patch that is in testing on the PTR will go live. But I agree with some of the people above in that there isn’t a lot of time left since the expansion launches on November 13.
The current plan is to make it unobtainable with the upcoming patch. We are still doing some testing on this but this is how it should go.

But don’t worry too much, this isn’t your last chance to ever get a bear mount. There are already at least 2 new bear mounts planned for the wrath of the lich king. First, we have the Reins of the Armored Brown Bear. You’ll be able to purchase this epic 100% mount for 712g and 50s.

In addition to the armored brown bear mount there will also be another bear mount available from completing one of the new achievements, For the Horde! or For the Alliance!. These achievements require you to kill all 4 faction leaders of the opposing faction, once completed you’ll get the black war bear.

Note, the achievement used to award the title “of the Horde” / “of the Alliance”, though this was swapped for the reward from the achievement to acquire 100,000 honor kills. The 100K honor kills now awards the “of the Horde” / “of the alliance” title.

Death Knight Racial Guide

The new death knight hero class is the only class which can be created with any race. This will lend itself to a wide range of variablity in the class, particularly based upon your unique racial abilities and traits. So what is the best knight death race? Well, it’s a very difficult question. There are many factors must go into answering this question based upon what you want to do with your death knight.

Do you want to focus on PvE and raiding? PvP and Arena? or a combination of the two? Knowing what you want to do with your DK will help you make the most informed decision for your death knight’s race. Let’s start with the horde races.

Best Race for Death Knight?

note: non-combat abilities such as +profession skills, underwater breathing, etc. were not considered for this analysis. Also, make sure you check out the alliance and horde racial abilities and traits guide for the updated list of racials.

Best Horde Death Knight Race

Orc Racials:

1. Blood Fury – Excellent ability for both PvP and PvE death knights.
2. Hardiness – A solid ability for PvP, fairly useless in PvE. Not quite as good as it once was, but still worth the mention.
3. Command - Another bonus for the class, which benefits from it’s undead summoning. Will have great value in both PvP and most PvE encounters.
4. Axe Specialization – Great if you’re using axes, so long as there are high end 2 handed axes available this will be another bonus to the class.

All in all orc receives solid bonuses which help augment the death knight’s natural abilities. A very solid choice for PvP and PvE.

Tauren Racials:

1. War Stomp – A very nice ability, personally I think this is more for healers than death knights though. That said, it’s still a solid ability and will be beneficial for both PvP and PvE.
2. Endurance – It’s yet to be determined exactly how this will be scaling, but on what I’ve seen and read it will be a nice HP boost, but not as crucial as it once was.
3. Cultivation - Fairly pointless, no real application in both PvP or PvE. Don’t choose your death knight because of cultivation.
4. Nature Resistance – Solid 2% nature resist, good for both PvP and PvE.

Overall just not that impressive. Hardcore tank death knights may opt for Tauren anyway as endurance does have the potential be significant. We won’t really know for sure until we see how it scales at level 80. The other racials are decent at best.

Troll Racials:

1. Berserking - Will be a huge benefit for PvE death knights, particularly those who are tanking. Since you’ll always have life spiking up and down you can get a full 30% attack speed increase.
2. Regeneration - Since death knight’s won’t have much health regeneration to begin with this racial is fairly useless.
3. Beast Slaying – Is amazing for dungeons that have lots of beasts, namely bosses that are beasts. Also nice for PvP vs. hunter pets and druids in animal forms. This talent is very underestimated.
4. Throwing Specialization – Pointless as death knights cannot wield throwing weapons.
5. Bow Specialization – Pointless as death knights cannot wield bows.
6. The VooDoo Shuffle – Great for PvP due to the importance of snare application and breaking, also should be beneficial to some degree in PvE. Will be dependent on the encounter.

I really like the idea of the berserking as a tank death knight, and of course it’s going to be great in PvP. Certainly in the running for best PvE tank. When you add beast slaying, berserking, voodoo shuffle on top of amazingly good hair cuts it’s not hard not to choose them!

Undead Racials:

1. Will of the Forsaken – Always crucial for PvP, not so much in PvE.
2. Cannibalize - A very solid ability, but more of a grinding / utility type of racial as opposed to an actual combat racial. Once again, more of a PvP ability.
3. Undeadwater Breathing – No real combat application, don’t choose your death knight based on this.
4. Shadow Resistance – A nice addition, but very minor, especially as it’s only 1% compared to the other resistances which are all 2%.

Overall I feel undead will be better suited to PvP players who are very concerned about being fear. Traditionally, undead racials have been the end all be all for PvP, but after the wotf nerf in addition to the other “meh” racial abilities, I don’t think undead are all that great.

Blood Elf Racials:

1. Mana Tap – Solid PvP talent, minimal PvE application.
2. Arcane Torrent – Great racial ability for both PvP and PvE.
3. Arcane Affinity – Non-combat talent, don’t choose your death knight based on +10 enchanting skill. It’s just not worth it.
4. Magic Resistance – 2% for all spells is pretty big, certainly makes up for arcane affinity.

Overall pretty solid here as well, a nice mix of PvP and PvE utility.

Best Death Knight Race for Horde Conclusions

• PvP Pick: Orc / Undead
• PvE Pick: Troll / Tauren (tank)
• All Around Pick: Orc
• My Preference: Troll

Perhaps I’m a little biased since I play a troll, but just based on the talent changes…well, trolls are looking pretty damn amazing. If we just compare troll / orc to the other races there’s not really much to mention. All tauren really have is the war stomp, as endurance is quite negligable after the change.

If we look at undead all we’re really considering is will of the forsaken, which is still great for PvP, but the other racials just don’t cut it for me. Blood elves are in a similar boat. Overall I feel orc is the best overall package. All 4 racials are work to directly increase damage / survivability, where as the other racials are mixed / indirrect / non-combat at best.

Personally I’d still opt for the troll, due to my natural affinity for the race in addition to their recent racial improvements and multi-faceted PvP and PvE application.

Best Alliance Death Knight Race

Dwarf Racials:

1. Stoneform – More of a PvP talent, but also very nice during raids and other PvE encounters.
2. Gun Specialization – irrelevant, death knights cannot use guns.
3. Frost Resistance – A nice 2% resistance, solid for both PvP and PvE.
4. Find Treasure - pretty pointless as it’s a non-combat talent, do not choose your death knight based on this.
5. Mace Specialization – like any specialization, it’s great if you’re using the weapons for which you have bonus expertise for. Solid for both PvP and PvE purposes.

Quite frankly not all that great. If you have a 2h mace and do nothing but PvP against frost mages you might could make a case, but I’m not impressed by the racials here.

Gnome Racials:

1. Escape Artist - amazing for PvP, especially now that it can no longer be resisted. Solid for many PvE encounters as well.
2. Expansive Mind – pointless as death knights gain nothing from intellect
3. Arcane Resistance – Like any of the resistances, this will be a solid trait for both PvP and PvE.
4. Engineering Specialist - non-combat trait, don’t choose your race based on this.

Much like dwarves, pretty bad. With the exception of escape artist every racial ability is either “meh” or not used at all.

Human Racials:

1. Perception - Some PvP application, not nearly as good as the old perception.
2. The Human Spirit - death knight’s have no real spirit application.
3. Diplomacy - non-combat, do not base your racial choice on this ability.
4. Sword Specialization – Great if you are using swords, worthless if not.
5. Mace Specialization – Great if you are using maces, worthless if not.
6. Every man for himself - Awesome for PvP as it allows you to use another trinket, also solid for many PvE encounters.

So far the best of any alliance race. Having the double weapon specialization at least gives you some leeway as to your weapon selection. Once again nothing all that stellar though.

Night Elf Racials:

1. Shadowmeld - Not crucial, very minor PvP application for death knights. Some PvE application for DPS death knights.
2. Quickness - Solid for PvP and PvE.
3. Wisp Spirit – Pointless, do not choose your race based on this.
4. Nature Resistance – Solid for PvP and PvE.

No useable racials, quite frankly pretty bad. Quickness and Nature resistance are nice additions, but considering they are really more situational uses at best…these are pretty bad.

Draenei Racials:

1. Gift of the Naaru – Excellent ability for PvP and solid for PvE as well, especially now that it scales with AP / spell power.
2. Heroic Presence – Solid 1%, nothing major but certainly a nice addition.
3. Gemcutting – non-combat, do not choose your race based on this.
4. Shadow Resistance – Of all the resistances shadow is the one to have, especially since it’s a 2% compared to the undead’s 1%.

Overall, draenie is pretty solid. The gift of the naaru is pretty huge in my opinion, you toss some nice passive resistance and +hit on top of that you’ve got a pretty solid package.

Best Death Knight Race for Alliance Conclusions

• PvP Pick: Human
• PvE Pick: Human / Draenei
• All Around Pick: Human
• My Preference: Human

Looking at the alliance racials for the death knight…well quite frankly they all just suck. Besides escape artist, stoneform, and gift of the naaru there really isn’t much worth mentioning. The other racial abilities are cenetered around passive or non-combat traits which aren’t going to really make or break your character. I strongly feel humans will make the best all around death knight.

You’ve got weapon specialization on both maces and swords, the novelty of diplomacy, perception…and to top it all off you’ve got the real clencher for me, every man for himself. This is huge, particuarlly for PvP. For PvE it’s not as big of a deal, hence why I’ve listed draenei as another option. Heroic pressence and gift are very nice, but when compared to the human’s weapon specs and free trinket I think the 2 races come up pretty even.

New WotLK Titles

With the new patch 3.0.2 build on the PTR we are getting a more comprehensive look at all the new titles. You should note that all of these titles are associated with some achievement. After you complete the objectives of the achievement you’ll receive the new title.

When I first heard about the achievements system I was fairly indifferent towards them. However, I really like the idea of providing additional novelty rewards for these achievements. It’s a minor point, and maybe it’s just me…but having these achievements gives the feeling that your character is worth more than just gear.

What do you think about new achievement system? Waste of time? Fun side accomplishment?

World Event Titles

• Elder - complete all lunar festival achievements (February)
• The Love Fool – complete all love is in the air achievements (valentines day event)
• Fame Warden / Flame Keeper - complete all midsummer fire festival achievements (last 2 weeks of June)
• Merrymaker – complete all winter veil festival achievements (December)
• Brewmaster - complete all brewfest achievements (September)
• The Hallowed - complete all hallows end achievements (October)
• Matron -complete the orphan event (female)
• Patron – complete the orphan event (male)

General Achievement Titles

• Champion of the Frozen Wastes – Kill all 12 final bosses on heroic mode in addition to the 3 raid bosses in 10 / 25 man instances.
• Seeker - Complete 3000 quests (for reference, I’ve been playing 4 years and I only have completed around 1500 quests)
• Loremaster - Alliance must complete 740 quests in Eastern Kingdoms, 765 in Kalimdor, 568 in Outlands and 760 in Northrend. Horde must complete 580 quests in Eastern Kingdoms, 715 quests in Kalimdor, 685 in Outlands, and 835 in Northrend.
• The Explorer - Explore 100% of all 3 continents.

Faction Achievement Titles

• Ambassador - reach exalted with all 5 capitals of your respective faction.
• The Exalted – reach exalted with 40 factions. There will be a grand total of 65 factions when WotLK is released (…holy money sink!)
• The Diplomat – reach exalted with Timbermaw Hold, the Sporeggar and the Kurenai / the Mag’har.
• Argent Champion – reach exalted with the argent down and the argent crusade.
  
• Guardian of Cenarius – reach exalted with Cenario Circle and Cenarion Expedition.
• Bloodsail Admiral - reach friendly with the Bloodsail Buccaneers and complete the pirate hat quest.

Profession Achievement Titles

• Chef - complete all cooking related achievements. Would it have hurt too think of something more original than chef, maybe like “Expediter.
• Salty - complete all fishing related achievements.

PvP Achievement Titles

• The Flawless Victor – win 10 arena matches in a row above 2000 rating.
• Of the Horde – 100,000 PvP HKs.
• Of the Alliance – 100,000 PvP HKs.
• Arena Master – complete all arena related achievements.
• Battlemaster - complete all PvP related achievements (includes arena achievements)

WotLK Changes – Recent Blue Posts

Quite a few blue posts in the past couple of days with a lot of changes. Check out what’s been hot on the WoW forums lately.

Brewfest 2008 Changes

apologize, but we’re keeping in the implementation as it stands: Horde will receive Kodos and Alliance will get Rams. I realize fully that this is disappointing to many of you, but the decision was made not to homogenize the racial mounts further among factions at this point.

I hope despite this you’ll enjoy the festivities of Brewfest, as the Dark Iron attack is back and there’s new content to explore.

Happy Pirate Day

Yarrrr matey, it be Pirates’ Day! Commoners wearing pirate garb have appeared in all the world’s cities with the news that the Dread Captain DeMeza and her crew have landed in Booty Bay and declared it Pirates’ Day! If you are brave enough to share a drink with her, you may have what it takes to become an honorary crew member for the day. To learn more about this event, check out our new Pirate’s Day page!

Updated Interactive Northrend Map

We’ve just added an interactive map of Northrend to the Wrath of the Lich King website. This map includes information about Northrend’s dungeons, Alliance and Horde settlements, faction bases and neutral cities as well as individual zone maps and screenshots of each region.

Check out the interactive map of Northrend now!

Note on Druid Forms

It’s not going to be in for Lich King. Sorry. Doing an entire animal texture takes a lot more art than a hair change.

But we all agree it’s high time for new druid form art. It’s a high priority after Lich King.

WotLK PvP Achievements: Part 2

In Part 2 of the multi-part series, I will be taking a look at some more of the PvP Achievements you can gain once the 3.0 patch hits live servers.  Don’t forget to check out Part 1 if you missed it!

Today I will be taking a look at two classic battlegrounds, Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch.

Arathi Basin

Arathi Basin All-Star – 20 Points

Assault and Defend 2 bases in a single Arathi Basin match.

Arathi Basin Assassin – 20 Points

Get five honorable kills at each of the bases in a single Arathi Basin battle.

Arathi Basin Perfection – 20 Points

Win Arathi Basin with a score of 2000 to 0.

Arathi Basin Veteran – 10 Points

Complete 100 victories in Arathi Basin

Arathi Basin Victory – 10 Points

Win Arathi Basin.

Disgracin’ The Basin – 10 Points.

Assault 3 bases in a single Arathi Basin battle.

Knight of Arathor – 10 Points *Horde equivelent is The Defiler

Gain exalted reputation with The League of Arathor.

Let’s Get This Done – 10 Points

Win Arathi Basin in 6 minutes.

Me and the Cappin’ Makin’ it Happen – 10 Points

Take 50 flags in Arathi Basin.

Overly Defensive – 10 Points

Defend 3 bases in a single Arathi Basin battle.

Resilient Victory – 10 Points

Overcome a 500 resource disadvantage in a match of Arathi Basin and claim victory.

Territorial Dominance – 10 Points

Win 10 Arathi Basin matches while controlling all 5 flags.

To the Rescue! – 10 Points

Come to the defense of a base in Arathi Basin 50 times by recapping the flag.

We Had It All Along *cough* – 10 Points

Win Arathi Basin by 10 points (2000 to 1990)

Master of Arathi Basin – 25 Points

Complete all of the Arathi Basin Achievements.

Warsong Gulch

Capture the Flag – 10 Points

Personally carry and capture the flag in W

arsong Gulch

Frenzied Defender – 10 Points

Return 5 flags in a single Warsong Gulch battle.

Ironman - 10 Points

In a single Warsong Gulch battle, carry and capture the flag 3 times without dying.

Not In My House – 10 Points

In a single Warsong Gulch battle, kill 10 flag carriers before they leave the Flag Room

Not So Fast – 10 Points

In Warsong Gulch, kill a player who is under the effects of the speed power-up.

Persistent Defender – 10 Points

Return 50 flags as a defender in Warsong Gulch.

Quick Cap – 10 Points

Grab the flag and capture it in under 75 seconds

Save the Day – 10 Points

Kill the enemy who is carrying your flag in the opposing team’s flag room while the opposing team’s flag is at their base, within their control.

Silverwing Sentinel – 10 Points *Horde Equivelent is Warsong Outrider

Gain exalted reputation with the Silverwing Sentinels.

Supreme Defender – 10 Points

Kill 100 flag carriers in Warsong Gulch.

Warsong Expedience – 10 Points

Win a Warsong Gulch in under 7 minutes.

Warsong Gulch Perfection – 10 Points

Win Warsong Gulch with a score of 3 to 0.

Warsong Gulch Veteran – 10 Points

Complete 10 victories in Warsong Gulch.

Warsong Gulch Victory – 10 Points

Win Warsong Gulch.

Master of Warsong Gulch – 25 Points

Complete all of the Warsong Gulch Achievements.

WotLK PvP Achievements: Part 1

Now that most of the PvP achievements are out in the open, I’m gonna take a minute to go over all the things you will need to do in your journey to a Battlemaster title.

(Note: Some of these are Alliance Only, the Horde have equivalent achievements based on the bosses on the Alliance side of the map.)

Alterac Valley

Everything Counts – 10 Points

Win Alterac Valley while your team controls both mines.

Hero of the Stormpike Guard – 10 Points

Gain exalted reputation with the Stormpike Guard.

Loyal Defender – 10 Points

In Alterac Valley, kill 50 enemy players in the Hall of the Stormpike.

Stormpike Battle Charger – 10 Points

Obtain a Stormpike Battle Charger.

Stormpike Perfection – 20 Points

Win Alterac Valley without losing a tower or captain. You must also control all of the Horde’s towers.

Alterac Grave Robber – 10 Points

Take 50 graveyards in Alterac Valley.

Alterac Valley All-Star – 20 Points

In a single Alterac Valley battle, assault a graveyard, defend a graveyard, assault a tower, defend a tower, and slay someone in the Field of Strife.

Alterac Valley Veteran – 10 Points

Complete 100 victories in Alterac Valley.

Alterac Valley Victory – 10 Points

Win Alterac Valley.

The Alterac Blitz – 20 Points

Win Alterac Valley in 6 minutes.

The Sickly Gazelle – 10 Points

In Alterac Valley, kill and enemy in the Field of Strife before they dismount.

To the Looter Go the Spoils – 10 Points

Loot the Autographed Picture of Foror & Tigule in Alterac Valley.

Tower Defense – 10 Points

Defend 50 towers in Alterac Valley.

Master of the Alterac Valley – 25 Points

Complete all Alterac Valley achievements.

Arena

Brutally Dedicated – 10 Points

Win 300 ranked arena matches at level 80

Death Touch – 10 Points

Kill someone within 15 seconds of the start of an arena match at level 80.

High Five: 1550 – 10 Points

Earn a 1550 personal rating in the 5v5 bracket of the arena at level 80.

High Five: 1750 – 10 Points

Earn a 1750 personal rating in the 5v5 bracket of the arena at level 80.

High Five: 2000 – 10 Points

Earn a 2000 personal rating in the 5v5 bracket of the arena at level 80.

High Five: 2200 – 10 Points

Earn a 2200 personal rating in the 5v5 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Hot Hot Hot Streak – 30 Points

Win ten ranked matches in a row with a rating above 2000 at level 80.

Hot Streak – 10 Points

Win ten ranked matches in a row at level 80.

Hotter Streak – 10 Points

Win ten ranked matches in a row with a rating above 1800 at level 80.

Just the Two of Us: 1550 – 10 Points

Earn a 1550 personal rating in the 2v2 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Just the Two of Us: 1750 – 10 Points

Earn a 1750 personal rating in the 2v2 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Just the Two of Us: 2000 – 10 Points

Earn a 2000 personal rating in the 2v2 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Just the Two of Us: 2200 – 10 Points

Earn a 2200 personal rating in the 2v2 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Last Man Standing – 10 Points

Be the sole survivor at the end of a ranked 5v5 match at level 80.

Mercilessly Dedicated – 10 Points

Win 100 ranked arena matches at level 80.

Steamroller – 10 Points

Win a 5v5 ranked arena match in 45 seconds or less at level 80.

Step Into the Arena – 10 Points

Win a ranked arena match at level 80.

Three’s Company: 1550 – 10 Points

Earn a 1550 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Three’s Company: 1750 – 10 Points

Earn a 1750 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Three’s Company: 2000 – 10 Points

Earn a 2000 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Three’s Company: 2200 – 10 Points

Earn a 2200 personal rating in the 3v3 bracket of the arena at level 80.

Vengefully Dedicated – 10 Points

Win 100 ranked arena matches at level 80.

World Wide Winner – 10 Points

Win a ranked arena match in Blade’s Edge, Nagrand, The ring of Valor, Dalaran Sewers, and the Ruins of Lordaeron at level 80.

The Arena Master – 50 Points

Complete all Arena Achievements.

Rogue Poison Guide

This rogue poison guide will aim to explain the different scenarios where a particular poison should be used as a rogue. A rogues poisons are just as important as your weapons or armor. So it’s of the utmost importance we get the poison selection correct.

Rogue Poisons – PvP

First, let’s start with the PvP application for rogue poisons. Generally speaking, we want to have wound poison on the main hand and crippling poison on the off hand for pvp and arena. This will maximum the wound poison to be applied to the target, while not hindering our ability to continually snare the enemy with shiv.

In some scenarios you may choose to swap this poison combination, going crippling poison on the main hand, and wound poison on the off hand. The only situations where this is typically a valid strategy is when your opponent is going to be spam dispelling your poisons (typically, only very good druids). This will allow you to shiv 5 stacks of wound poison up, which in turn increases the chance of your crippling poison staying up, since there will be a total of 6 potential poisons that must be dispelled.

The only real exception around this rule is the case of some warrrior + rogue or rogue + rogue teams. Either way, in a pvp situation someone has to take care of the healing debuff. In these cases it may be viable for you to main hand deadly poison and off hand crippling poison, allowing you to drop some envenom bombs.

Rogue Poisons Quest

The rogue poison quest is the first major step in taking your rogue to the next level. Both factions can attain this quest at level 20 from their rogue trainer, though to solo the quest you’ll typically wan to be between levels 24 and 26 (or get help from some friends).

For horde, the tower where the quest takes place is located in north central barrens, for alliance it’s located in south eastern Westfall. Both these quests are lengthy chains and will take some time to complete. If you’re level 24+ the quest is very easy. Simply follow the instructions, head to your faction’s tower.

Once there you quite literally kill your way up the tower. Loot the head off the boss at the top as well as the chest and head back to your rogue trainer.

Rogue Poisons – PvE

Rogue poisons for PvE are quite different from those in PvE. Unlike with PvP, there really is no “end all be all” poison combination. The type of encounter will determine what type of poisons you should use. As a general rule of thumb you should always carry a stack of every poison, so you are prepared should anything come up.

For DPS purposes we’re going to go with instant poison on the main hand and deadly poison on the off hand. We use instant poison on the main hand simply because of deadly poisons high proc chance. if we hav deadly on the main hand it’d quickly reach 5 stacks, at which point we are no longer gaining additional benefit with each additional proc (expect continued DoT damage).

For this reason it’s better to use instant on your main hand so you gain increases benefit as your weapon speed is increasing. In addition, having deadly poison on the off hand allows us to use a slice and dice + envenom finisher rotation.

Rogue Poison Macro

Some of you may be thinking, “what the hell” poison macro!? Well, why they certainly are not common amongst most players I still find them quite effective in the right situation. Generally speaking that situation is going to be a PvP scenario, but there is also some application for PvE as well.

To use this strategy we’ll need 2 macros, I’ve listed them both below. (for more rogue macros check out this, rogue macro guide)

Macro #1
/equipslot 17 Vengeful Gladiator’s Bonecracker
/cast shiv

Macro #2
/equipslot 17 Merciless Gladiator’s Shanker
/cast shiv

What this allows us to do is have 2 separate buttons for shiv. In this way you can have, let’s say crippling poison on your bonecracker weapon and mind numbing poison on your shanker. Using this type of dual macro shiv strategy we can easily apply 3 separate poisons to a target.

To use these macros simply exchange the name of the weapons I’ve listed above for your own off hand weapons, then you’re good to go!