Wrath of the Lich King Wrap Up Post
November 12, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
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
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
Patch Information
Achievements
- Achievement System Details
- PvP Achievements - Part 1
- PvP Achievements - Part 2
Videos
PvE
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 PvP Changes and Blue Posts
October 3, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
There’s been loads of changes in the past few days for WotLK, specifically related to PvP. Take a look at a few of the most recent blue posts and updates regarding pvp in the last 48 hours.
WotLK PvP Recap from Zug Gaming
- Berserker Rage Change
- Season 4 End Date
- Arena Match Making System Change
- Build 9014 Class Changes
- Honor Points will NOT Reset for WOTLK
- New Honor Items for Patch 3.0.2
PvP Developer Q & A
Why is it so hard to measure skill in a battleground and have rated BGs ?
I wish it were that simple. However, for a rating system to reasonably zero in on the skill of a single player in a game with teammates it takes a number of games approximately equal to ten times the number of players participating on that player’s team.So for example, for a rating system to have all the information it needs to know to figure out how “good” of a battleground player you are in Alterac Valley, it needs to take about 400 games to do it (10 times the number of players on your team). Unfortunately, that’s without the additional complexities of being able to queue solo versus queueing as a group, etc.
It would be kind of annoying to have to play about 400 games of AV before the system could decide what items you’re eligible for. So, there are some complexities in creating a system to work around that problem (among others).
Archavon changes (Lake Wintergrasp Boss)
We don’t plan to change Archavon, as he needs to have compelling loot that isn’t something you can’t possibly get another way. However, I think it’s important to note that Archavon does not drop the helm or shoulder slots (or weapons), which are the hardest to obtain both in pve and pvp.
Why is PvP gear available for purchase for PvE tokens with no rating requirement ?
To put it simply, you can’t endlessly wipe on raid bosses and get these tokens. At some point, you have to succeed. Even then, the pvp gear you get from these tokens is 1 tier behind their pve value (ie: the ilevel 213 pve tokens from Nax 25 only get you “Hateful Gladiator” gear which is ilevel 200). It’s not possible to get the “best” pvp set items through pve.
Are there any plans of allowing us to attain PvE gear through honor/arena points?
For the most part (lack of tanking gear aside), if you have the highest-end pvp gear, you can do fairly well in a “tier behind” raid (ie: 10-man nax). So, for the most part that dynamic already exists.
WotLK Battlegrounds Changes
No Honor Points Increases for WotLK
Battlegrounds wins/losses and honorable kills will not award experience after the next patch, nor upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King. It could always happen somewhere down the road as we work to improve PvP progression, but there are no plans for changing this in the immediate future.
Battlegrounds Discussion with Tigole
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.
WotLK Arena Gear from PvE?!
September 15, 2008 by Donjo · 4 Comments
Fans of World PvP have been waiting long enough for their favorite place to do battle to have some purpose, and that is just what Blizzard has in store for Lake Wintergrasp in Wrath of the Lich King. Level 80s who belong to the faction currently controlling Lake Wintergrasp may attempt the new boss, Archavon the Stone Watcher. The best news of course, other than the fact that it is a single boss instance with no trash mobs, is that he drops Season 5 arena gear!
If you are looking into slaying the 3.4 million HP beast, here is what you may have in store for you:
10 Man Loot drops
25 Man Loot drops
Naxxramas in Wrath of the Lich King
September 5, 2008 by Zuggy · 12 Comments
For those of you who have been around for a while you may remember the Naxxaramas of the past. It was the most difficult and uniquely designed dungeon in the Burning Crusade, so difficult in fact that it’s estimated that less 5% of the WoW population ever killed more than 1 boss.
For hardcore raiders (including myself at the time) it was a dream come true. It was jammed packed with a host of interesting encounters, graphical beauty, and of course...kick ass items. And now, for better or worse, this dream instance is coming back for Wrath of the Lich King.
Naxx will be tuned for both 10 and 25 man groups. Thus allowing for players of all time constraints the opportunity to see Blizzard’s finest piece of dungeon mastery. A blue post confirmed the approaching wotlk beta update.
The trash has indeed been adjusted. Highlights include:
- Longer trash sections between bosses (to Patchwerk, to Razuvious, to Faerlina) have been toned down.
- Heigan gauntlet is no longer a gauntlet, now there’s a very small one AFTER Heigan.
- A few new creatures have been added in a couple places.
- Newer models for many of the creatures.
- Some of the trash encounters have different numbers of creatures for 10 and 25 player modes.
One other thing…
Naxxramas should be available for beta testing soon in both 10 and 25 player flavors, including loot!
The new Naxx is something I have mixed feelings about. Prior to the Burning Crusade’s release I raided as a part of one of the top raiding guilds in the world. Personally I have this built of image of what the new Naxx should be like, and I only hope they don’t disappoint.
WotLK Weapons vs. Burning Crusade Weapons
In any expansion there is always going to be a distinct shift in what gear is actually worth anything. This was certainly the case when the Burning Crusade was released. Even the very best T3 items from Naxxaramas were quickly replaced during the 60 to 70 leveling process.
Even with very few level 71-80 weapons known it already appears this type of dramatic gear drop off will occur again when Wrath of the Lich King is released this fall. A part of me misses the hardcore raiding scene, but when we get to this point in the expansion and you see all that you’ve worked for has amounted to a better than average piece of leveling gear…well, it hurts.
It’s just nuts to see the very best pieces of Sunwell loot already matched (or close to it) while you’re still leveling.
Also, sorry to all you healers out there. I was unable to locate any healer items, but I’ll keep an eye out.
Top Tier Level 70 Melee Weapons
Crux of the Apocalypse - (sunwell loot, compare this to the dagger below! crazy!)
Brutal Gladiator’s Bonecracker - (season 4 mace)
Apolyon, the Soul Render - (sunwell loot, also…compare this to the 2h sword below)
Level 75-80 Blue Melee Weapons
Unrelenting Blade (dagger - level 78)
Dragonjaw Mauler (mace - level 76)
Summoner’s Stone Gavel (mace - level 75)
Troll Butcherer (2 hand sword - level 75)
Top Tier Level 70 Ranged Weapons
Golden Bow of Quel’Thalas - (Sunwell loot)
Level 75-80 Blue Ranged Weapons
Roc-Feather Longbow - (bow - level 75)
Top Tier Level 70 Caster Weapons
Sunflare - (Sunwell loot, damage dagger)
Golden Staff of the Sin’Dorei - (Sunwell loot, damage staff)
Level 75-80 Blue Caster Weapons
Malina’s Magnificent Scepter (damage mace - level 75)
Zabra’s Misplaced Staff (damage staff - level 77)
Bloodwood Greatstaff (feral staff - level 75)
Zul’Aman Bear Boss Strategy
July 13, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
Nalorakk is the first boss of Zul’Aman and is known as the bear avatar of the dungeon. While it is the first encounter it is by no means an easy fight. More than anything is encounter requires both very attentive tanks and healers with quick reaction.
Bear Boss Strategy
Nalorakk has two forms, troll and bear. These two forms will alternate throughout the fight and require a separate tank for each stage. For simplicity purposes let’s go through all of the attacks you’ll be dealing with in each stage.
Troll Form
Brutal Swipe - This is a physical damage attack that deals 28,500-31,500 in a 180 degree cone in front of the boss. Now obviously this would be too much damage for even the best geared tanks, so it’s of utmost importance that both tanks stand on top of each other. This will split the damage between the tanks, making it a manageable amount for your healers to handle
Surge - The bear boss will charge a target, knocking them back and doing 3,700 to 4,300 damage. Nalorakk periodically will use this ability, typically on the ranged classes standing furthest away from him. For this reason it’s important healers stand between tanks and ranged DPS, so they can continue to heal without interruption.
Mangle - Causes all bleed effects to do 100% damage for 60 seconds. Only a factor between transitions, not much you can do it avoid this. If a tank gets mangled they should make certain to call it out in raid chat or on your voice communication server. This way healers can increase healing on that target in the event he gets hit by a lacerating slash or rend flesh.
Bear Form
Lacerating Slash - Causes the target to bleed for 1735 damage, ticks ever 2 seconds for a duration of 18 seconds.
Rend Flesh - Deals 5,525 to 7,475 physical damage and also applies a 2335 damage bleed, the bleed ticks every 1 second for 5 seconds. As I mentioned above, you need to be very aware of both of these bleed attacks. If you take a mangle and a bleed immediately after you’re going to be feeling it. Informing your healers immediately of these debuffs is crucial.
Deafening Roar - This ability will deal 1235 to 1365 to all members of your raid. Additionally, it also casts a 2 second silence on your raid. This is the major make or break point for the healers in your raid. Granted, 2 seconds is quite short, if a tank isn’t properly HoT’d up and is taking large amounts of damage they could easily die. The bear boss will roar twice during his bear phase, be aware of this and plan ahead.
Bear Boss Tanking Strategy
In order to properly tank the bear boss you will need two tanks, one of each of Nalorakk’s two phases. While any tanking class is capable of doing either phase it is preferential not to have a protection paladin tank the bear phase. This is due to the deafening roar ability, which will silence the paladin, preventing him from using his most potent threat producing abilities.
The most important aspect of this encounter revolves around the tanks maintaining proper positioning. If both tanks are not standing in front of the bear boss during a brutal swipe then the damage will not be split, likely killing the tank in one shot.
General Bear Boss Mechanics
The only other major point you’ll want to be aware of is the engage timer. Nalorakk will enrage after 10 minutes, that said, the only way you’d hit this timer is if your damage dealers were severely lacking. Just maintain the raid’s focus, settle in, and get done what has to be done.
Now, enough boring mechanics…onto the loot!
Bear Boss Loot
Badge of Justice (Drops 100% of the time, everyone in the raid gets one)
Fury
Fury of the Ursine
Bladeangel’s Money belt
Jungle stompers
Robes of Heavenly Purpose
Pauldrons of Primal Fury
Mask of Introspection
Formula: Enchant Weapon - Executioner
Aldor vs. Scryer Comparison Guide
June 30, 2008 by Zuggy · 3 Comments
One of the first major decisions you’ll have to make after entering the Outlands is your choice of the Aldor or Scryer faction. The various items, enchantments, quests, and other rewards will play a huge factor in your choice. And believe me, it’s important you choose correctly the first time.
So let’s get right down to it. There are many rewards available from each faction, for this comparison I am going to detail all of the big hitters from each faction.
Aldor Shoulder Enchants:
Greater Inscription of Warding
Greater Inscription of Vengeance
Greater Inscription of Faith
Greater Inscription of Discipline
Scryer Shoulder Enchants:
Greater Inscription of the Blade
Greater Inscription of the Knight
Greater Inscription of the Oracle
Greater Inscription of the Orb
Now, statistically speaking the shoulder enchants provide the same benefit. For this one it really comes down to personal preference. In all honesty I think most players make a much bigger deal about the shoulder enchant differences than can really be made.
Shattered Sun Offensive Rewards:
Shattered Sun Pendant of Acumen
Shattered Sun Pendant of Might
Shattered Sun Pendant of Resolve
Shattered Sun Pendant of Restoration
While all of these necklaces are better than many blue rewards, the big hitters are for healers, specifically aldor. The proc on restoration neck provides a direct heal on your current target for just over 600…good, yes, but for aldor it gives a +220 healing buff for 10 seconds. From a PvE perspective this is simply amazing, and I’d argue it’s the best neck outside of Sunwell loot.
If you’re a healer this neck is reason enough to choose Aldor, and generally speaking the Aldor procs are superior to the Scryers. As all of the aldor procs provide buffs (the scyrer provide instant procs), meaning the aldor procs scale much better with gear.
Scryer Tailoring Pattern Rewards:
Mystical Spellthread
Runic Spellthread
Aldor Tailoring Pattern Rewards:
Silver Spellthread
Golden Spellthread
This may or may not be a deal breaker for you. As aldor you’ve got the better healing leg enchants, as scryer you’ve got the superior damage. Once again, I wouldn’t determine your reputation choice based on tailoring patterns alone, but they will play a factor in your decision.
Aldor vs. Scryer Reputation Rewards Comparison:
Obviously I haven’t listed off every single item available from each of these respective factions. The above items I have listed are the ones that I consider to the biggest factors in your decision. While many of the other rewards and items will have short term influence on your decision the above items will be long lasting.
If you’re looking for additional information on the items available from each reputation or how to most efficiently level each faction check out these other helpful guides.
Scryer Reputation Guide
Aldor Reputation Guide
PvE Boss Strategy and Etiquette
June 21, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
Hey guys i would like to talk about Etiquette and knowing what to do in PVE…especially Karazhan.
1. Research Bosses and Encounters
There nothing more annoying then someone who’s knew to a particular instance such as Karazhan going and doing everything wrong. Now i can use one such example as “Shade of Aran”, he has a variety of ability’s that can turn an awesome fight into a bloodbath.
Researching bosses is vital in pve, not knowing what to do when example Shade of Aran uses Flame Wreath or Arcane explosion can cause your group to fail miserably and leave them with a nasty repair bill. Make sure you know what to do… also if the leader is talking to you and telling you what to do talk back; there is nothing more annoying then telling someone a whole 5 minutes of information when they just run out and die again. This leads me to the point of feedback, when a leader tells you that this boss does this recap what he says e.g. “Shade of Aran will use Flame Wreath when this happens DON’T MOVE”… respond to this by saying “Ok i wont move when he uses Flame Wreath”, it just makes the leaders life easier knowing that you know what to do.
2. Loot Etiquette
There isn’t anything more frustrating then doing a 3 hour raid and then someone out rolling you on a piece of gear, with this comes etiquette. If a player that has green bracer’s rolls on a epic bracer’s and you do to but your bracer’s are far better then him “Pass” if you win the roll and let him take them, they are a far bigger upgrade to him then to you, not only will this earn you respect with that fellow player but it will also maximize your raids efficiency.
“Main set before off set” this is a neat little rule to describe before you enter the heart of an instance, it saves time and trouble over certain loots. Only if that peice of gear is better then yours and you need them the most, and it is for your main set then yes, you can have a fair chance on rolling for that epic, but it is really annoying to fellow players that a “Enhance shammy” gets those awesome healing legs off “X” boss when there is a “Resto Shammy” that needs them. If there is no one in the raid that needs them for their main set then its anyones chance to grab an offset piece, but please if you are rolling for that certain offpiece be sure that you will actually use it in future.
“Cloth,Leather,Mail,Plate” all of these different types of amour are made for different classes, if a epic leather piece of gear drops it should be automatically made that first priority is given to Druids and Rogues, if no one can use that or no one in the leather class needs them, then the next priority should be Shamans and Hunters and so on up to warriors and pallies.
“Congratulations” a simple “Congratz” or “Gratz” can be quite effective by earning another players respect, using this phrase after someone in your party/raid receives a piece of loot is a nice way of saying “good on you”. Also if you are out rolled by someone on a certain peice of gear that you both need don’t rage and start shouting about how you’ve been trying to get that for “X” amount of time, simply say “Gratz” and move on, there is many more chances in later instances/raids that you will get that piece.
3. The Blame Game
No one likes being blamed wrongly, or even blamed at all for an incident that has happened, it shows your bad side if you instantly start blaming someone for that certain “pull” or “wipe”. If you see that someone has accidentally pulled an “extra mob” or died during a “boss encounter” do not scream at them about how they “Epic Fail”, simply show your kind side and offer them tips for next time on what to do to minimize the risk of it happening again.
If you know you caused your party/raid to wipe own up, don’t stand there like a stunned mullet and keep defending that it wasn’t you and it was someone else, simply say “Sorry that was my fault for that then” or “It was my fault it won’t happen again”, many times this will work and instead of being kicked from the party for having a big argument on who’s fault it was they will recognize that you owned up for it and they will try again. This has worked many times during my “Oops i pulled Curator, omg aggro radius” times or my “What??? I pulled threat off tank”, just generally being nice in raids will help you achieve more and have more fun, it will also speed up the time your party/raid completes the instance/raid.
4. The End
When a party/raid has finished, dont just leave vent and quit party, say “Thankyou for the Run” and then leave once you have said your goodbyes. In many other cases you might want to talk to the raid leader and organise a second party/raid or organise for the next weeks party/raid, this is an easy way to make friends and have guaranteed spots for party’s/raids.
Hopefully this guide has helped you a bit with common everyday WoW play.
Strategy courtesy of Electrocow
Patch 2.4 New Badge Items
June 19, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment
All the badge items have finally hit the PTR! Checkout some of the new items you’ll be able to get in the upcoming patch 2.4. (this thread will be updated as new items come in)
Prices Per Item:
Chest: 100 badges
Legs: 100 badges
Gloves: 75 badges
Belt: 75 badges
Rings: 60 badges
Two-Hand Weapons: 150 badges
One-Hand Weapons: 105 badges
Off-Hands: 45 badges
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