Final 3.0.2 News and Blue Posts

October 13, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment

Death Knight Development and Balance

We are spending a little less time on death knights right now because they aren’t going live until the Licj King release date, while the other classes are going to have some time at level 70 first.

Honor Gear Prices for Patch 3.02

The prices of all items currently available for purchase with honor will not change after the next patch.

However, you should take a look at the updated honor prices for the honor gear in WotLK, it definitely came as a surprise to me.

Free Respec for the Patch?

Everybody will have their talents automatically reset when the upcoming patch is launched.

How long will the server’s be down?

The servers are going down at 2 a.m. PST and are scheduled to come back up at 2 p.m. PST. This of course can be increased if issues arise with implementation of this patch 3.0.2 build.

Additional Patch 3.0.2 Important Notes

A few final notes regarding the arena roll over as well. When the servers go down tonight arena season 4’s ladder session will officially come to a close. At this point all current rankings and ratings will be recorded. These will be used later to determine end of season rewards.

That said, you may still continue to play arena, gain rating and get points, though your accomplishments beyond this evening (10/13/08) will not be used to calculate end of season titles or mounts.

Also, make sure you check out the complete patch 3.0.2 super post, detailing all the major changes that are going to be introduced in tomorrow’s patch.

Patch 3.0.2 Discussions!

Stop by the ZugGaming forums and talk about the patch or other WoW news!

Filed Under: News
Tagged: blizzard, end of season, patch 3.0, patch 3.0.2, PTR, season 4, wotlk, WoW, wrath of the lich king

Arena Season 4

June 29, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment

As I write this we are ETA 90 minutes from launch of season 4, and with it comes a whole new season of exciting arena combat, pvp videos, new teams, specs, gear, team setups and much much more!

I’m not going to lie, I haven’t been this excited for an arena season launch since season 1, and I’m sure there are plenty who are sharing in my excitement.

That said, if you’re reading this then you’ve come searching information, and ZugGaming.com has got you covered. Below I’ve listed all my recent articles, news, and guides relating to season 4.

Hopefully they’ll be just what you’re looking for.

New Season 4 Items
Season 4 Arena Weapons
Season 4 Arena Armor
Season 4 Honor Items

Other Season 4 Resources
Season 4 Rating Requirements
Arena Season 4 Check List

Patch Information
Patch 2.4.3 - Won’t launch with season 4, but should be released 2-4 weeks from today.

Complete Arena Guides
Ready to start a new arena team? ZugGaming has got you covered!
Rogue / Priest 2v2 Arena Guide - By Zuggy
Shadow Priest / Rogue 2v2 Arena Guide - By S-Scythe
Druid / Warrior 2v2 Arena Guide - By Neurotik
Rogue / Warlock 2v2 Arena Strategy - By Zuggy
Rogue / Druid 2v2 Arena Strategy - By Zuggy
Rogue / Mage / Priest 3v3 Arena Strategy - By Zuggy
Rogue / Warrior / Druid 3v3 Arena Strategy - By Zuggy

Happy season 4 and let the games begin!

Filed Under: News
Tagged: Arena, armor, eta, honor gear, information, information patch, s4 items, season 4, season 4 items, weapons, WoW

Season 4 Arena Gear

June 21, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment

This post is in response to a question I received regarding season 4 arena gear. It has been posted here to assist other players who may have similar questions in the future.

Arena Gear Question…
When the season 4 gear bcomes available will there be new replacements for the vindicator belt, boots, bracers and neck? With alot of honor points stored up, I wouldn’t want to waste them on vindicator.

Arena Gear Answer…
When season 4 comes out all the current honor gear will be replaced with the new season’s item, I believe the new sets are called “Brutal Gladiator’s…”.

I wouldn’t worry too much about honor points, with as easy as honor is to farm now without diminishing returns and season 4 still probably 6-8 weeks out, we got some time.

Filed Under: Guides
Tagged: Arena, boots, Gear, gladiator, honor points, questions, replacements, season 4, time season

2.4.3 Patch Notes

June 21, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment

A lot of very interesting changes here. Most notable…

You can now ride mounts at 30
Cheat Death has been completely reworked
Curse of Shadows and Curse of Elements have been combined

Don’t expect this patch to be availble for the season 4 launch though,

Season 4 will most likely be available on the retail realms well before 2.4.3 goes live - Eyonix

General

* Dispel effects will no longer attempt to remove effects that have 100% dispel resistance.
* Parry Rating, Defense Rating, and Block Rating: Low-level players will now convert these ratings into their corresponding defensive stats at the same rate as level 34 players.
* Haris Pilton has launched a new line of bags and jewelry. Check her out in the World’s End Tavern!
* Mounts at 30?! Yes, it’s true: Apprentice Riding and mounts are now available at level 30. Training costs 35 gold.
* Blood Elf flightmasters outside of Silvermoon City and Tranquillien have traded in their bats for glorious fire-breathing dragonhawks.
* Alcohol cooldowns have been rolled into Drinks: All 10-second cooldowns have been removed and replaced with the 1-second Drink cooldown.
* Numerous flying non-combat pets have had their flight height modified to no longer skim along the ground: captured firefly, dragonhawk hatchlings, moths, owls, parrots, phoenix hatchling, spirit of summer, sprite darter, and tiny sporebat.
* Nether Ray Fry (a non-combat pet) is now available from the Skyguard Quartermaster. This requires an Exalted reputation with Sha’tari Skyguard.
* Equipping an item will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress.
* Placing an item in your bank will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress if the spell was cast by that item.
* You can no longer move backwards to stop racing rams.
* When a stun wears off, the creature that was stunned will prefer the last target with the highest threat, versus the current target.

Druids

* Barkskin: The cost of this spell is now reduced by Tree of Life Form.

Hunters

* Growl: Pets will no longer generate additional threat from this ability based on attack power buffs cast on them. Attack power buffs on their master will still indirectly increase the threat generated by the pet’s Growl.
* Pet Aggro: Pets will no longer generate threat immediately from being summoned.
* Scare Beast: This spell will now be limited correctly to one target.

Paladins

* Greater Blessing of Light Rank 1: This spell will no longer overwrite Greater Blessing of Light Rank 2.
* Summon Warhorse is now available at level 30.

Priests

* Mind Vision: This effect will now be cancelled immediately on targets who use an Invisibility Potion or Gnomish Cloaking Device.
* Spiritual Healing: Ranks 2-5 of this talent will no longer prevent refreshing Prayer of Mending.

Rogues

* Cheat Death: This talent has been rebalanced significantly. Killing blows are no longer 100% absorbed. If the Rogue is below 10% health, the killing blow is still completely absorbed; if the Rogue is over 10% health, enough damage will be absorbed to reduce the Rogue’s health down to 10%. For the following 3 seconds, damage is not always reduced by 90%; it is now reduced by a maximum of 90%, depending on how much resilience the Rogue has. The damage reduction will be four times the damage reduction resilience causes against critical strikes.

Shaman

* Earth Elemental: This pet will now leash back to its totem when pulled beyond 50 yards away.
* Lightning Overload: This talent will no longer do excessive damage when used with Lightning Bolt Ranks 2-10.

Warlocks

* Curse of Shadows: This spell has been removed.
* Curse of Elements: This spell now applies to Arcane and Shadow damage, as well as Frost and Fire.
* Demonic Sacrifice: This ability will now interact correctly with the Spirit Guide resurrection system in battlegrounds. A sacrificed pet will not be resummoned on death, and will not prevent keeping a record of the most recently created pet.
* Health Funnel: This ability will now cancel channeling when the target pet is Banished.
* Ritual of Summoning: The mana cost of this spell will now be properly deducted when cast.
* Summon Felsteed is now available at level 30.

Warrior

* Revenge: Ranks 1-5 of this ability now have damage ranges instead of fixed damage values (like ranks 6-8.)

PvP

* The Warsong Gulch flag can no longer be picked up at the same time as a flag is capped.

Professions

* Alchemy
o Philosopher’s Stone now requires 200 Alchemy.
* Cooking
o Juicy Bear Burgers now correctly increase healing as well as spell damage.
* Jewelcrafting
o Activated beneficial effects from jewelcrafting trinkets can no longer be dispelled.
* Mining
o Green quality gems can be found in mining nodes again. The drop rate of blue gems from mining nodes remains unchanged.
* Tailoring
o Removed the cooldown from regular Mooncloth.
o Herb bags can now hold Un’goro Soil and Evergreen Pouches.
o Mycah of Sporeggar has discovered how to create 28 slot herb bags.
o New Tailoring patterns are available from Haughty Modiste in Steamwheedle Port, Tanaris: Haliscan Jacket and Haliscan Pantaloons.

Quests

* Bhag’thera now spawns at a normal quest spawn rate.
* For the quests, Intercepting the Mana Cells and Maintaining the Sunwell Portal, phased characters will not be able to see non-phased character AoE effects and vice-versa.
* For the quests, Intercepting the Mana Cells and Maintaining the Sunwell Portal, pets gaining/losing phase status will now properly break off combat from unphased/phased opponents.

Dungeons and Raids

* Players can now be summoned to raid instances from heroic dungeons.
* Magister’s Terrace
o The Stun component to the Sunblade Mage Guard Glaive Throw has been removed and the Bounce range reduced.
o Vexallus and Kael’thas are now tauntable in Heroic mode.
o Vexallus’ damage caused by Pure Energy has been decreased.
o Kael’thas’ Arcane Sphere has had its visual size increased. His Arcane Sphere attack has had its range decreased and the damage/second of Phase two on Normal mode has been decreased. (Heroic mode remains unchanged.)
o Sunblade Warlocks have had their damage reduced slightly.
o Fel Crystals in the Selin Fireheart encounter have had their health reduced slightly.
o Warlord Salaris and Kagani Nightstrike have had their damage output reduced slightly.
* Sunwell Plateau
o Creatures in the area around Grand Warlock Alythess and Lady Sacrolash will no longer spawn while the twins are in combat.
o Nether Protection will now correctly trigger from Kil’jaeden’s Shield Orb Shadow Bolts.
o Vanish now correctly wipes threat on Kil’jaeden.

Items

* Bow of the Verdant Keeper’s Aim: This item’s triggered effect no longer breaks the effect of Scatter Shot.
* Brutal Gladiator’s Pummeler has had its Stamina value increased to the appropriate value.
* Clockwork Robot Bots fight amongst themselves again…without attacking people in the arena. Well… they’ll blow up other Bots in the arena, but you know what we mean.
* The Eredar Twins will now award the same items regardless of which order they are killed in.
* Invisibility Potions: These potions now are on the same cooldown as other combat consumable potions (such as mana potions.)
* Pendant of the Violet Eye: This item will again work correctly with Holy Light and Flash of Light.
* Shattered Sun Pendant of Acumen: The triggered effect from this Item can now occur on periodic damage ticks.
* Thori’dal, the Star’s Fury is now Unique as intended.
* Vengeful Gladiator’s Baton of Light: This item now appears in the correct position on the vendor list.

User Interface

* The help interface has been simplified dramatically. Players will no longer be required to select a category when opening a GM ticket. In addition, players can use the “Talk to a GM” button to fill out a ticket that requires a GM response or the “Report Issue” button to fill out a ticket that does not require a GM response.
* Target buff/debuff timers that appear when you cast a spell are now more visible.
* Time Management features have been implemented! These features include an alarm clock, stopwatch, and viewing your computer’s local time.
* The new stopwatch feature can be accessed via the /stopwatch, /sw, or /timer slash commands. Inputting a time into the slash command will make the stopwatch count down. For example, /stopwatch 1:0:0 will make the stopwatch count down from an hour, /stopwatch 1:30 will make it count down from 1 minute, 30 seconds, and /stopwatch 30 will make it count down from 30 seconds.
* Added the following macro commands: /targetenemyplayer, /targetfriendplayer.
* Added key bindings for tab targeting players.
* Ctrl-Tab and other target nearest friend functions will no longer target you.
* Targeting using /target will prefer live targets over dead ones.
* You can no longer click the minimap to cast ground targeted spells.
* Invisible players with Hunter’s Mark can see the hunter that put the mark on them.
* Vendor items now show their Duration in Inventory.
* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum.

World Environment

* Winterspring Ice Thistle Matriarchs and Patriarchs may now drop Thick Yeti Fur.
* Skinning any Winterspring Ice Thistle yetis may now result in Thick Yeti Fur.
* Increased the drop rate of Pristine Yeti Horns from Winterspring Ice Thistle Matriarchs and Patriarchs.
* Goblin Weather Machine- Prototype 01-B weather changes will no longer force the affected character to stand.
* Collector’s Edition Pet Redemption NPCs/items/quests have been relocated/modified to/for towns with mailboxes (Goldshire, Razor Hill, etc.).
* Young Sporebats and Greater Sporebats in Zangarmarsh now drop Sporebat Eyes for the quest Gathering the Reagents.
* Blacksmithing Supplies vendor and repairer, Blazzle, in Area 52 is now next to the forge and anvil outside the inn.
* Banker Meeda, in Area 52 is now in the…well…the bank, along with a guild vault and guards. The other three Area 52 bankers are still located in the auction-house-turned-bank.
* Wastewander Bandits and Rogues should be more plentiful in the northern parts of Tanaris.

Bug Fixes

* The mage spell, Counterspell now shows in the combat log.
* Gan’arg Analyzers will no longer occasionally become friendly to players.
* Talented abilities that cost a percentage of base mana will no longer display an incorrect mana cost when inspected by a player of a different class or level.
* Guild leaders should now be able to properly promote a new guild leader regardless of their range.
* Druids: Mangle will no longer incorrectly indicate a 100-yard range on the tooltip.
* Hunters: Using an instant ability after Steady Shot will no longer lock out auto shot.
* Hunter Snake Trap will no longer break players out of stealth if the snakes pass near the stealthed character.
* Hunters: Concussive shot will now properly have a chance to proc Bow of Searing Arrows.
* Rogues: The talent Heightened Senses, Rank 1 and Rank 2 will now affect attacks from wands.
* Using Jewelcrafting figurines will no longer cause scrolling combat text to appear twice.
* Fixed an issue in which shadows were not appearing properly for users with GF4 video chipsets in Open GL mode.
* Corrected an issue in which users with Creative X-FI sound cards would sometimes hear a slight popping noise when running.
* Players will now correctly receive a Battleground Mark message for the marks that are received at the end of a battle.
* Corrected an issue where the initial trigger or activation sounds for Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap could not be heard by some players.
* Smelt Hardened Khorium will now properly require a forge instead of an anvil and hammer.
* Corrected a typo in the tooltip for the Druid spell Rip (Rank 4).
* Looting a Nightmare Vine will now properly no longer apply poison when the node is looted.
* The Figurine- Seaspray Albatross ability will now properly restore the correct amount of mana.
* First Aid bandages can no longer be applied to a player with the Recently Bandaged debuff. An error message of, “Could not activate more than one bandage” will be displayed.
* Corrected the tooltips to read properly for the flight paths from The Stormspire, Toshley’s Station, Blade’s Edge, and Area 52.
* Greater Elementals summoned by a shaman will now properly have a combat log entry.
* Players will no longer become stuck on the Nimboya’s Laden Pike when driving it into the ground.
* The quest, “Going Going, Guano!” will now have a more consistent level requirement for the dungeon.
* The quest, “Into The Scarlet Monastery” is now available to players of the appropriate level for the instance.
* Blueleaf Tubers can now be properly looted.
* The quest turn-ins for the Ahn’Qiraj war effort now give the appropriate amount of credit for each successful quest turn-in.
* Cloak of Shadows will now properly remove Shrink.
* Nightbane will no longer become unresponsive and unkillable during his air phase.
* Several items sold by the Consortium reputation vendor Paulsta’ats are now bind on pick-up: Formula: Enchant Weapon- Major Striking, Design: Delicate Blood Garnet, Design: Shifting Shadow Draenite, Design: Lustrous Azure Moonstone, Design:Thick Golden Draenite.
* It is no longer possible to delete a character that is an arena team captain without first promoting another player to captain.
* Taunts will now properly stick when a target is stunned while being taunted.

Filed Under: News
Tagged: 2.4, 2.4.3, cheat death, interesting changes, patch, Patch note, patch notes, PTR, quartermaster, season 4, silvermoon city, skyguard

Arena Season 4 Check List

June 21, 2008 by Zuggy · Leave a Comment

season 4 changes Well, with season 3 rapidly approaching it’s end it’s time to start preparing for season 4’s launch on June 24th. From gems to enchants, and honor to arena points, it may take you some time to get everything in order.

Honor / Arena Points
75,000 Honor Points
5,000 Arena Points

Of course, in addition to the points you should already have purchased the new pvp trinket. The extra resilience just makes it that much better, allowing you to get additional offensive stats in other gear slots.

As far as arena gear is concerned, you’ll have to weigh your individual situation. The new rating requirements may make you think twice about what S3 pieces you’d like to purchase prior to S4 starting.

Arena Gems
The gem choices you make are certainly going to depend on your class and spec choices, but generally speaking there are a few definite decisions you can make.

Honor Gems:
Bold Ornate Ruby
Gleaming Ornate Dawnstone
Inscribed Ornate Dawnstone
Potent Ornate Topaz
Runed Ornate Ruby
Smooth Ornate Dawnstone

So if you’re a healer you’re pretty much SOL for these gems, but for everyone else they are a great choice. Don’t forget, they are unique-equip so you can use them in multiple sets of gear instead of having to acquire the gems by other means.

Badge Gems:
Crimson Spinel
Empyrean Sapphire
Lionseye
Pyrestone
Seasrpay Emerald
Shadowsong Amethyst

Well, in case you’ve been living under a rock and didn’t hear…you can now get BT / Hyjal quality gems for just 15 badges per gem. This may seem a bit high, but when you’re trying to build the perfect set of gear I think it’s worth the price.

PvP Enchants
No question, the biggest money sink of any prep work you’ll have to do for season 4. Furthermore, if you know how to play auction house right, you can really make a killing of this increase in demand. When season 3 began I made 4800 gold in 12 hours, if you want to see numbers like this for yourself when S4 begins make sure to check out my next article.

Back to the enchants though…I strongly STRONGLY encourage you to purchase your materials prior to S4 starting. This will save you vast amounts of time and gold.

Filed Under: Features, News
Tagged: Arena, arena point, badge, badges, Gear, gem choices, gems, june 24, pvp, resilience, season 3, season 4

Season 4 Start Date Announced

June 21, 2008 by Zuggy · 1 Comment

If this season seemed like it’s been going on for an eternity, well that’s because it has. But at long last Blizzard has finally given us the 2 week warning.

We’re currently planning to end the third Arena season and begin Arena Season 4 on June 24, 2008. This exciting Arena season will introduce the Brutal Gladiator set, and will also allow players to purchase Arena Season 2 items using the honor system. Please note that we will be resetting all Arena team and personal ratings. Players will still retain their Arena points and teams with this reset. The team and personal rating will simply be reset to the default 1500, allowing all teams to once again compete for top honors with a fresh start.

Also, with the end of the third season, players on the top teams from each battlegroup will receive their end-of-season rewards. These include Arena-specific titles that they can display proudly until the end of the new season, and, for the best of the best, an Armored Nether Drake. Please also be aware that with the end of the current season, all previous end-of-season titles will be removed.

In addition, in case you missed out on any of the changes headed our way for season 4 I’ve got them all listed below.

Season 4 Arena Weapons
Season 4 Arena Armor
Season 4 Honor Items

Also, don’t forget that rating requirements are being implemented on all of these pieces.

]Season 4 Arena Item’s with rating requirements:
Shoulders: 2200
Weapon: 2050
Head: 1700
Chest: 1600
Legs: 1550
Gloves: none
Off-hand: none

Season 4 Honor Items with rating requirements:
Boots: 1700
Ring: 1650
Bracers: 1575
Belt: none
Necklace: none
Trinket: none

Season 3 Arena Items with rating requirements: (keep in mind these values don’t go in effect until S4 begins)
Shoulders: 1950
Weapon: 1800

Filed Under: News
Tagged: Arena, arena point, arena team, battlegroup, gladiator, honor system, items, june 24, S4, season 3, season 4, season titles, weapon

Season 4 / Patch 2.4.2 Information (Compiled)

June 21, 2008 by Zuggy · 4 Comments

season 4 information With patch 2.4.2 well on its way we’ve finally started to see some real substance start to come off the PTR. Earlier today a load of new arena and honor items hit the test server, which leads me to believe it might be a little sooner than we all though. Stay tuned for continual updates.

New Items
Season 4 Arena Weapons
Season 4 Arena Armor
Season 4 Honor Items
Note: All arena point prices will remain the same

Patch Information
Season 4 Rating Requirements for arena and honor armor

Additional Information
Season 4 Start Date?
Currently, Blizzard has not released any start date for the season. All they have said is “we’ll give you a 2 week notice”. My personal estimation would be early to mid June.

What happens to old items and prices?
What season 4 begins the following happens:

Season 1 honor set: Removed

Season 2 arena set: Moved to honor, no rating requirement

Season 3 non-set honor items: Staying
Season 3 arena set: Arena rating and cost requirements lowered

Season 4 non-set honor items: Added with rating requirement
Season 4 arena set: Added to Arena with increased rating requirement

Why are these new rating requirements in place?
Official Blue response…

The non-set items are there to fill out the arena sets, they’re essentially placed there specifically so that arena players have a reason to participate in other aspects of the game. We want to see their faces around, we don’t want them just standing on top of the battlemasters all day.

So, with them being arena items intended to fill out the current top-end arena set, and our increase to rating requirements all around, it’s actually very logical.

Filed Under: News
Tagged: 2.4, Arena, arena players, arena point, blizzard, continual updates, game, information patch, items, official, patch, PTR, season 4, weapon

Season 4 Arena Weapons

June 21, 2008 by Zuggy · 4 Comments

Below is a list of all the new weapon items that will be available when season 4 begins. However, you should note that though these items will be included in patch 2.4.2, season 4 will not begin until sometime after the patch has been released.

Looking for more season 4 items?
Season 4 Honor Items
Season 4 Arena Armor

Weapons, Shields, Librams, Etc.
Ranged Weapons
Brutal Gladiator’s Longbow
Brutal Gladiator’s Heavy Crossbow
Brutal Gladiator’s Rifle
Brutal Gladiator’s War Edge
Brutal Gladiator’s Baton of Light
Brutal Gladiator’s Piercing Touch
Brutal Gladiator’s Touch of Defeat