Good News for Druids, Consumables and Weaponprocs may come back

Vaneras has some good news for Druids. Blizzard is evaluating what kind of consumables and weapon procs could be back to the Game. While the implementation was a originally a bug, the devs like the idea of implementing this. Read here yourself.

Vaneras:

The fact that Druids in the beta test could use consumables and items while being shapeshifted was a bug. It was an unforeseen side effect of the original intent, which was to allow for Druids to interact with NPC's while being shapeshifted.
However, the developers do like the idea of consumables being used while in Druid forms, but the above mentioned bug prevented a proper implementation of this ability, which would otherwise allow shapeshifted Druids to use certain consumables such as Rage and Healing Potions, Thistle Tea and Healthstones. The developers are currently evaluating which items they want Druids to be able to use while in forms, and as soon as all issues are resolved, it will be reintroduced into the game.

Epic Netherdrake Mount as reward for Top Arena Team!

AtomicPC reports that the Epic Netherdrake Mount is going to be the reward for the quarterly Top Arena Teams. This is seems to be for sure a very nice reward! You can read the whole Article here or just read the excerpt about the Arena below.

The Arena:

Not everyone wants to raid, but everyone wants top items. Previously raids and quests were the only way to get top items. To give players something cool to do to get those items without the ‘grind’, Blizzard is introducing the Arena system.

Tom Chilton explains the workings: ‘With BC the Arena system gives rewards on par with the best you’ll find in the rest of the game. Any time we start new raids, we’ll start a new Arena season that gives us the opportunity to add a new set of Arena rewards to keep up with that. Each season lasts three months, and at the end of that, based on your position on the ladder, each person in the top team is going to receive an Epic armored Netherdrake mount.’

WoW 2.0 Macro Changes – Examples

In the World of Warcraft Forum there is a very nice post about the coming changes to Macros in World of Warcraft 2.0 Patch. If You are using Macros You really need to look into this. Due to the nature of the WoW Forums that seem to drop Postings after a while I have attached a Text file as download.

There are changes that make it easy to either cast Ambush or Backstab dependant on Stealth in a simple macro. You can also set a /castsequence for spells, that will cast the spells one after the other each click. The handling of stances, buttons and targets equipped items are much more convenient.

Examples:

Cast Ambush if stealthed else Backstab:
/cast [stealth] Ambush; Backstab

Mount if You are not mounted and outdoors:
/use [nomounted,outdoors] Black War Steed Bridle

Warlock:
/castsequence Corruption, Immolate, Curse of Agony

Cast Greater Heal on a friendly target, or Smite if the player is in combat, or Mind Flay if the player is not in combat:
/cast [help] Greater Heal; [harm, combat] Smite; [harm, nocombat] Mind Flay

Macros in WoW 2.0 & Macros in WoW 2.0 (PDF)

Patch 2.0.1 partial download.

The Blizzard downloader is already starting a partial download of the new patch 2.0.1. The coming patch will include the new talents, the new honor system and many more features of the Burning Crusade Expansion.

Do not get Your hopes up, since it is only a partial download in advance as confirmed by blue.

In my eyes the new talents will just make my poor Rogue feel incomplete since the new builds with 41 point talents will basically require Level 70 and thus will always miss some important Talents. Then also the nerf to the weaponskills which will make it quite useless.
Other changes are simply great, especially no dishonorable kills, and no more honor decay.

Burning Crusade Beta: Karazhan Preview, Loot and Movie

On World of Raids a brave Group of Adventurers has posted some very nice Screenshots from the Burning Crusade Level 70 Instance Karazhan. They also have a nice movie and a lot of loot. From what I can see the Instance looks truly amazing be sure to check it out here.

Interesting for Rogues is the Elemental Ripper with a Max Damage of 176, 1.8 Speed 81DPS and the Shade of Aran Melee Cloak with 22 Agility, 18 Stamina, 30 Attack Power + 1% Hit.

Be sure to check out the whole thread on World of Raids.

Burning Crusade: Rogues transform into Skeletor with Tier V

With the change of the Epic Night Elf Mounts to look more like He-Man’s cat Rogues will be able to look like Skeletor in Full Tier V. WoW Guru published pictures of the most ugly set I have ever seen. Check it out yourself.
Tier V Rogue set pictures.

and now compare this with the original Skeletor (hehe – I picked one with Thunderfury):

new.jpg

I really hope this Tier V is just a joke to screw dataminers, because its so damn ugly ugly ugly.

TV-Series: Lost, Prison Break, Heroes, Supernatural

Its 03:25 am now and I have just finished watching another episode of Heroes. At first I had a lot of prejudiced against this series – I mean marvel kind of super heroes, new evolution to mankind, people developing their powers. It simply sounded so *yawn*
Everywhere you hear that the series is so good, which is usually another sign that Something is so mainstream that I do not like it. So I refused to even look at the series, but last week I was so bored that I finally started to watch the first episodes and I am really utterly impressed. I often find myself saying, damn its the best series I have ever seen.
Its the perfect mix of genres. How the characters are slowly drawn together, becoming aware of their strengths and the problems associated with it are well weaved into the more intense and thrilling story.

I also liked the first season of Lost, but when the season ended without some kind of solution or insight about the happenings on the island I was a little disappointed. I think at every end of an individual season should have some kind of ending, instead of having the main characters blown up while you have to wait 6 months to see who survived.
Also the second season did not have any major new informtion on what the island is all about. For me the story starved on the way through season 2 in annoying flashbacks. There are episodes in season 3 that I did not even bother to watch because it does not lead anywhere.

The first Season of prisonbreak was very thrilling as well, apart from a few unnecessary plots. But season 2 just seems to be artifically drawn to length. There must be a better way of advancing the story, than all the back and forth they are doing now.

A series that I totally love is Supernatural. Those 2 Winchester guys are so funny and cool. Especially Dean is a source for absolutely hilarious, cool statements. That combined with his affection to old cars and music form the 80’s make him my hero 😉
While the story is not as epic as other series I like that most episodes have a finish and develop the background story piece by piece.

Anyway I am so excited how Heroes will continue. I hope that Hiro, whom I find to be totally unique and funny, will be back soon.

Patch 2.0.1 hits the Test Realms (patch notes included)

The Patch 2.0 with the new honor system, 41 point talents and many more changes has been uploaded to the public test realms. Since these are feature that will most likely go live I have added the patch notes for Your convenience.

There are many changes I really like, while I completely detest others. For example, why did they change the +skill from weapons? It was the main reason I rerolled a human rogue. But now for +0,5% increased crit chance on higher level mobs its hardly worth it anymore. Big human nerf in my eyes :-/

——————————————————————————–
– World of Warcraft Test Patch 2.0.1
——————————————————————————–

General

  • All players will have talent points reimbursed and will have access to new talents throughout their trees; this includes the 41-point talents. Several new abilities have also been added for all classes.
  • All pets now receive a percentage of their master’s armor, spell damage, spell resistances, attack power, and stamina.
  • Low-level spells cast by high-level players will receive smaller bonuses from +healing and +spell damage.
  • HoTs, DoTs, and channeled spells have been re balanced to receive a more appropriate (higher) percentage of +spell damage and +healing.
  • HoTs from different sources will now stack (i.e. multiple druids can cast the Rejuvenation spell on 1 target).
  • New item property „Resilience“ has been introduced. Resilience reduces your chance to be the victim of a critical strike, and reduces the amount of damage critical strikes do to you.
  • Weapon Skill now does the following:
  • Weapon skill will no longer reduce the percentage damage lost due to glancing.
  • The player will gain 0.1% to their critical strike rating per weapon
  • skill against monsters above their level.
  • When casting a buff on a low level target, the appropriate rank of the buff will be automatically be applied.
  • Crowd Control effects in PvP will last no longer than 12 seconds instead of the full duration, with a chance of a heartbeat resist.
  • Players will no longer lose faction when under the influence of „Mind Control“ or the Gnomish Mind Control Cap.

PvP

  • Honor System Revamp
  • Current honor totals have been reset.
  • Players may display their highest lifetime rank title (accessible from character sheet).
  • Honor points earned each day may now be spent as a form of currency.
  • Check the PvP tab of your character sheet to see your honor information.
  • PvP rewards are no longer unique.
  • Marks of Honor earned from battlegrounds are no longer turned in for reputation or honor. They are now used in addition to honor points in order to purchase rewards.
  • Two New Arenas are now available in three different modes.
  • 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 matches Players may queue up at Goblin NPC’s in Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Undercity, and Gadgetzan

Druids

  • The talent „Swiftmend“ will now include bonus healing from the talents „Improved Rejuvenation“ and „Empowered Rejuvenation“.

Hunters

  • Traps can be set while in combat, but require a 2 second arming time.
  • Auto shot will be automatically enabled if the Hunter steps out of melee range while in combat with target.
  • 1 agility will now grant 1 ranged attack power.
  • Auto shot is now reset when casting Aimed Shot.

Shaman

  • Shaman with the appropriate talent spec are now able to dual-wield.
  • Both main and off-hand weapons can be affected by self-weapon buffs such as Windfury.
  • Rockbiter’s weapon functionality has been changed. It is now a damage proc instead of a flat attack power bonus.
  • Windfury Weapon and Rockbiter Weapon enchantments will only benefit the weapon with the enchantment on it.

Warlocks

  • Range of „Drain Life“ and „Drain Mana“ spells have been increased.

Warriors

  • Rage generation from dealing damage has been normalized.
  • All Rage awards are averaged with our expected rage per swing (adjusted for weapon speed).

Items

  • The „Far Sight“ effect has changed so that the camera now zooms in to a distant location, rather than instantly showing the distant view. This also affects the items: Ultra-Spectropic Vision Goggles, the Ornate Spyglass, and the Hunter ability „Eagle Eye.“
  • Spells can now require either a totem item or a totem category item to cast a spell. This means that the Enchanting Rods now count as all of the lower level enchanting rods as well, so you only need a single enchanting rod instead of all six. This also means that „Finkel’s Skinner“ now counts as a Skinning Knife. Several weapons
  • that are picks have been flagged as counting as a Mining pick as well.
  • Items that give bonuses, such as + to crit, have been modified to adhere to a combat rating system.
  • All current items will provide the exact same benefit from ratings at level 60 as they provided before the ratings system.
  • Thrown weapon items no longer stack, but use durability instead. One unit of durability is lost per throw, and these items can be repaired.
  • The tool tip for the Great Staff of the Guardian now shows the proper increase of 28 to the party spell critical rating.
  • Items that are useable from player inventory with a cooldown will now update the cooldown in real-time.
  • Players will no longer be able to sell the „Blue Skeletal Horse“ to vendors.
  • The damage Proc from the item „Misplaced Servo Arm“ will no longer break the Rogue ability „Gouge“.
  • The „Skull of Impending Doom“ has been changed and will now increase run speed by 60% for 10 seconds, but deals damage equal to 60% of your maximum health and drains 60% of your maximum mana for over 10 seconds.
  • The Backfire effect on the „Net-O-Matic“ will no longer break on damage.

Professions

  • All of the profession-made items that have been created up to now have been given proper stats based on the current expansion item level progression table.
  • Most of the items made by Tailoring/Leatherworking/Blacksmithing
  • have had their creation time reduced. Now the cap on time required to make an item in those professions is based on quality and level.
  • New Max times required.
  • Level 31+ Green Items at least 8 sec
  • Level 31+ Blue Items at least 15 sec
  • Level 31+ Purple Items at least 25 sec
  • Skill level now determines what items you can disenchant. Skill 1= Level 1-20; Skill 25= Level 20-25; Skill 50= Level 25-30; Skill 75= Level 30-35; Skill 100= Level 35-40; Skill 125= Level 40-45; Skill 150= Level 45-50; Skill 175= Level 50-55; Skill 200= Level 55-60; Skill 225= Level 60-65
  • Players will no longer lose an item when attempting to disenchant on a boat when the loading screen appears.

User Interface

  • Meeting Stone gossip options have been removed from Innkeepers in preparation for the new LFG system.
  • LFG/LFM UI
  • Tips have been added to Loading Screen tips and new player tips Meeting Stones now function similar to a Warlock Summon spell.
  • Player’s select party member to be summoned and right click the stone.
  • A second party member then clicks the portal to summon.
  • Enchanting UI has been vastly improved.
  • Raid UI now supports frame for Main Tank.
  • Spell Alert (Enemy Cast bar)
  • Defaults to off Enabled through Interface Options
  • Displays targeted enemy’s cast bar when they are casting.
  • May also be displayed with „V“ key functionality.
  • Auto-loot may be enabled with just one click in the Interface Options.
  • Character sheet UI now displays more precise melee, ranged, and
  • spell stats.
  • Players can now cast item targetable spells on items that are in your action bar. For instance you can cast feed pet and have the food you want the pet to be fed in one of your action bars.
  • Semi-charged items can no longer be placed in the Auction House.
  • A knowledge base has been added to the in-game UI.
  • Searchable database of FAQ’s and common support issues.
  • Keyrings have been expanded to hold more key-type items and will now size dynamically for the number of keys in possession.
  • The Hunter ability, „Mend Pet,“ will now turn red when a pet is out of range.
  • Players will now be able to disable ability messages in the floating combat text.
  • Players will now be able to scroll down their ignore list if it extends beyond one page.
  • The tooltips for the Show Dispellable Debuffs and Show Castable Buffs options will now specify they only apply to raid pullout groups.
  • Significant changes have been made to User Interface customization.

Bugs

  • The Rend Blackhand arena event in Upper Blackrock Spire will now properly reset after a wipe.
  • Players will no longer resurrect with low mana and health if they died and released on a Zeppelin or Ship.
  • Fixed an issue where effects with 100% chance to be applied were being resisted.
  • Fixed an issue where high level players were not being properly credited the right amount of faction reputation.
  • Party members will now be properly credited for completing the „Dead Man’s Plea“ quest when a totem or pet gets the killing blow on Baron Rivendare.
  • Slowing abilities and spells will no longer decrease the speed of a player when traveling by Gryphon.
  • Fixed an issue where players were re-taining talent based abilities even after re-training.
  • Fixed an issue where the Warlock spell „Shadowburn“ was improperly consuming two Soul Shards.
  • Fixed an issue where players were unable to click on anything if they had any add-ons installed.
  • Fixed an issue where players were able to use „Mana Burn“ on mobs and players without mana.
  • Fixed an issue where spells that proc while a player was standing would not proc if they were sitting or lying down.
  • Fixed many interface overlapping graphic issues.
  • Fixed an issue where Seal of Justice (Rank 2) will now refresh with melee strikes.
  • Blood Elf in Azshara will now have the correct model.
  • Fixed an issue where a spell with two procs would be reflected and one of the procs would still hit the player that reflected the spell.
  • Fixed an issue that was putting Hunters back into combat when they
  • have the „Spirit Bond“ Talent or have the Cryptstalker set bonus.
  • Fixed an issue where players were being awarded the wrong item when double looting a corpse under the master loot option.
  • Fixed an issue where players interrupted while casting would have a longer cast time than normal.
  • Fixed an issue where players could not see enchants when inspecting another player.
  • Fixed an issue where extra attacks from „Windfury Weapon“ would not proc „Flurry“ when they crit.
  • Fixed an issue where players that were killed in freezing traps would be stuck there until releasing.
  • Fixed an issue where Warlocks were able to despawn a pet to gain a free „Soul Shard“in the Battlegrounds.
  • Warrior „Shield Slam“ and „Shield Bash“ will no longer trigger a proc from an equipped weapon.
  • Fixed an issue where players were able to consume a Mana Emerald at full mana.
  • The totem, „Wrath of Air,“ will no longer be useable in „Ghost Wolf“ form.
  • Fixed an issue where Warrior „Battle Shout“ was causing too much threat.
  • Fixed an issue where computers with ATi video cards were sometimes having problems when displaying a certain texture.
  • Fixed an issue where the Warlock spell „Death Coil“ gained double the benefit from the talent „Shadow Mastery“.
  • Player pets will no longer attack CC’ed targets while in Passive mode.
  • „Prayer of Spirit“ will no longer cast on the user if there is no other target selected.
  • „Lightning Shield“ will now have the appropriate cool-down time between uses.
  • Fixed an issue where materials were being consumed if a player logged out before an enchantment had finished being applied.
  • The Hunter, „Auto Shot,“ ability will no longer activate on resurrection.
  • Fixed a bug where „Inner Focus“ was not being consumed when using „Mind Soothe.“
  • Fixed a bug where Rogues were able to use the ability
  • „Ghostly Strike“ when not facing their target.
  • Warlock pet dismiss sounds will now play properly.
  • Fixed an issue where Fist weapons were sheathing improperly.
  • Bags will no longer overlap the Bank UI when the game window is resized.
  • Players will no longer be able to whisper to enemy players in Battlegrounds.
  • The Skeletal Gryphon ride for the Eastern Plaguelands PvP event will now fly at its correct speed.
  • Players will no longer be able to whisper to enemy players in Battlegrounds.
  • Players will no longer be able to jump onto the top of the Dun Baldur Fortress in Alterac Valley and get behind the terrain to attack other players.
  • Shapeshifting will now break „Nogginfogger Elixir“ effect.
  • You will no longer die when Feign Death is finished channeling.
  • „Scatter Shot“ will now properly do damage even if the target is immune to the confuse effect.
  • „Aspect of the Cheetah“ will now properly trigger with absorbed damage.
  • Casting a lower rank polymorph on a target that is already under the effect of a higher rank will cause an error message and not consume mana.
  • The talent, „Master of Elements,“ will now properly proc off of totems.
  • Players will no longer be attacked by same faction guards when using mind control on an enemy player to attack.
  • „Vanish“ will now properly un-target the Rogue from the attacker when the attacker is in the same party.
  • The talent, „Improved Chain Heal,“ will now properly add to the base healing done.
  • „Healing Wave“ Ranks 11 and 12 will now benefit from the Shaman talent, „Healing Way.“
  • „Improved Curse of Agony“ will now properly increase the base and spell power.
  • Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they take a flight path.
  • Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they are dead at the end of a Battleground match.
  • Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they enter an Arena.
  • Casting „Dark Pact“ after exiting combat will no longer put you back in combat.
  • The tool tip for the „Great Staff of the Guardian“ now shows the proper increase of 28 to the party spell critical rating.
  • Several Chest spawns in Dustwallow Marsh will now properly spawn above ground.
  • Items that can give +Stamina/Intellect from random suffixes will now properly apply while dead.
  • „Beastmaster’s Gloves“ will now give the proper 2% crit chance for Hunter pets.
  • Various graphical errors will be noticeable while viewing maps.

Burning Crusade: Haris Pilton & Tinkerbell

One has got to admit, that Blizzard Dev’s have humour. There are so many Easter Eggs in World of Warcraft already and Burning Crusade Expansion will introduce even more. So You will be able to meet a stylish Haris Pilton and Tinkerbell in the Expansion, as well as Engineer Mack Diver.

Haris Pilton Tinkerbell

Isn’t it strange that a person like Paris Hilton becomes extra attraction in a game like that , maybe its the true path to immortality 😉

Those pictures are taken from World of Raids. Be sure to check out more of them in this thread.