Archive for October, 2009
October 31st, 2009
If you’ve ever wanted a close-up look at the game’s healing zeitgeist, Miss Medicina has it — she recently started up a survey/meme of healers around the WoW blogosphere, and the answers are now in and posted on her site. They make for some interesting weekend reading, especially if you’re interested in healing and what healers think of it. I’m sure there’s lots of conclusions that could be drawn out of this (I’ll let you all come up with some in the comments as well), but just reading through them on my own, it seems like there’s a few threads between them. The majority of healing seems to be done in 10-mans, which probably isn’t too surprising, given that’s where most of the endgame players are right now as well. There’s no clear winner on class or spec (all four healing classes are represented pretty evenly, though I didn’t really crunch the numbers), though there are quite a few priests, and of those, things seem to be split between holy and disc.
In terms of a favorite spell, there’s almost no crossover at all — people are all over the place, from Beacon to Penance to Circle of Healing. To hear these guys tell it, healers have all kinds of fun spells to play with. In terms of a weakness to healing, two main answers appear: mana regeneration (always an issue with mana-heavy classes like healers) and mobility. Shamans and druids have problems with big burst healing, and paladins say they need more group healing strength, but almost everyone mentions either mana or movement. There’s a lot more to look through, too, in terms of how healers evaluate their performance and addon recommendations from everyone. As a look inside the healer “scene,” there is a ton of information in there about what healers are up to out on the realms.
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Classes, Buffs
Healer survey contains a wealth of information about healing originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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October 31st, 2009
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Icecrown Citadel.
Blizzard did PTR testing for Valithria Dreamwalker today. It looks like a hilariously awesome fight. Here is MMO-Champion’s post discussing her.
Valithria is a friendly green dragon captured by the Scourge. She starts at 50% and must be healed to 100%. Meanwhile, waves of Scourge are attacking, and must be held off by the rest of the raid.
This sounds like quite an interesting fight, and I am greatly looking forward to it.
It will be interesting to see what classes evolve to be the chosen healers for it. The easy assumption is to say Paladins, but there is a Druid build which can pump out more single-target HPS (single-target only, Beacon doesn’t work with Valithria). Even Priests and Shamans can do large amounts of single-target HPS if they put their minds to it.
October 31st, 2009
I have never been more excited about a boss in my life — especially from a healer perspective! I do believe this is the first time an encounter has been introduced where DPS doesn’t play a primary role in beating an encounter. The spotlight is on the healers! I’ll elaborate more after the break as the mechanics for this are very interesting and are of high relevance for healers.
Gallery: Icecrown Citadel
Continue reading Patch 3.3 PTR: Valithria Dreamwalker impressions
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Raiding
Patch 3.3 PTR: Valithria Dreamwalker impressions originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
October 30th, 2009
Ready Check is a column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses.
One of the most difficult tasks any raid leader is going to face will be one of communication. Communication is a complex, ugly issue. It can be one of your strongest assets, but it can equally be your biggest downfall. This is because communication operates on two levels.
First, there’s the obvious data-based communication. Things like “The next boss is named Anub’arak” are data-based. It’s fact, unassailable, and fairly meaningful. Almost everyone’s going to agree with quantifiable information. You’re not going to round the corner of the instance, and find something that’s not Anub’arak.
Second, however, is “shadow” communication. This is a level of communication that can be a great deal more complicated. In the absence of quantifiable information, the recipient will “read into” your words a whole series of meanings and concepts that you may not have intended. For example, “This next boss is Anub’arak, so you should get ready” can be interpreted as “Get ready because we’re going right now” or “get ready by reading up on the boss strategies.” Now, that’s a fairly hyperbolized example, but it’s a true one none-the-less. We’ve all had experience with “I didn’t mean it like that” in our lives.
One of the oldest business cliches is that “Workers don’t leave companies, they leave supervisors.” While a raid leader isn’t a supervisor in the same way as a business manager, some of the viable tips from the corporate world can still apply to raiding life. Let’s take a look after the jump at some simple tips to enhance communication.
Continue reading Ready Check: Communication for raid leaders
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, (Raiding) Ready Check
Ready Check: Communication for raid leaders originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
October 30th, 2009
Torchlight is Diablo. With a dog.
Now, Diablo was a great game, so there’s nothing wrong with that. And the dog is pretty crazy. He can carry loot back to town and sell it for you, making him more useful than 99% of all videogame AI henchmen.
I’m not really sure what else to say. Torchlight is fun and polished, with nice cartoon-ish graphics. There are three classes, and each class has three trees, allowing each class to be played in a different manner. For example, the Inquisitor can be ranged weapons, assassin-style melee, or traps. The trees aren’t formal trees, as you don’t have to put points in lower tiers to get higher talents. You just need to be the correct level and you can cherry-pick talents as you wish.
There are some nice updates, like a stash you can share between characters. Recovering from death is interesting, as you can either: pay xp/fame and respawn at point of death; pay 10% of your gold and respawn at the start of the level; or pay nothing and respawn back in town. Finally, there’s a second track other than experience. Defeating named enemies earns you Fame. As your Fame level rises you get additional talent points. That is a nice addition.
Also note that Torchlight is single-player only, no multiplayer.
But it’s pretty much Diablo with some tweaks. If you liked Diablo, you’ll like Torchlight. If you didn’t like Diablo, you probably won’t like Torchlight.
October 30th, 2009
Zach takes you on a tour of the Battlegrounds and world PvP. Think of it as the casual player’s guide to World of Warcraft PvP. This will consist mostly of hopping around from place to place hitting things, spouting all manner of asshattery, and playing heavy metal music. Ok, that’s not entirely true. Zach doesn’t play heavy metal music when he PvPs. He plays Mika. Because fewer things are more embarrassing than getting pwned by a player who listens to Love Today while PvPing.
This post is for noobs. Now don’t get your knickers up in a bunch. It’s alright. We were all noobs once. I remember the first time I entered Warsong Gulch and had no idea what to do with the flag after picking it up, eventually dropping it at the flag spawn area it thinking that was the way to capture it. Naturally, the enemy returned it and promptly capped, resulting in a torrent of insults and less savory emotes throughout that game. Ah, the good old days.
Of course, if I’d let the experience intimidate me, I probably wouldn’t have entered another Battleground again. But I’m nothing if not stubborn, so I eventually slogged my way through Warsong Gulch (it was the only Battleground back then) and got the hang of things. These days, Battlegrounds are considered to be a “casual” form of PvP, which is easily enjoyed by solo players as well as groups. Since we’ve gotten more than a few questions regarding how to start playing the Battlegrounds lately — it turns out that despite having 11 million players pick up the game, a lot of people are only just starting to play World of Warcraft — so for today we’ll take an absolute beginner’s look at the Battlegrounds.
Continue reading The Art of War(craft): Absolute beginners’ guide to the Battlegrounds
The Art of War(craft): Absolute beginners’ guide to the Battlegrounds originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
October 29th, 2009
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com’s daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.
I initially wrote an entirely different Queue for today, and then I came across Tim’s question:
The two expansions have fleshed out stories that I understand to some extent, especially WotLK. This has led me to ask myself, what is the story of vanilla WoW?
That is an amazing question, and has lead me down a path to an answer I did not expect. While my answer took a good three hours to write last night, it was probably the most fun I’ve had writing in quite a while. So thanks, Tim.
My full answer is after the break.
Continue reading The Queue: The story of vanilla WoW
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, The Queue
The Queue: The story of vanilla WoW originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
October 29th, 2009
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players — and just as we don’t want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We’re taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com.
Pictured above is just some of the torture devices on the prison ship Success. The writer of our first letter is not looking to send a guild “criminal” on a tortuous journey across the globe to a penal colony, but he is looking to exact a harsher punishment than the one already meted out. Our second petitioner is tortured about being considered weird for playing the opposite gender. We won’t torture you with any further delays before letting you at the drama.
Continue reading Drama Mamas: Of crime and crossdressing
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Features, Drama Mamas
Drama Mamas: Of crime and crossdressing originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
October 29th, 2009
The latest patch notes have the following:
- Sacred Shield: The damage absorption effect from this ability now triggers only once every 30 seconds.
- Infusion of Light: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the effect of Sacred Shield by 12/24 seconds.
This is Blizzard saying that Sacred Shield really should have been a deep Holy talent, not something available to all paladins. However, they probably don’t want to mess with the structure of the trees when Cataclysm is going to change them anyways. So the change effectively makes Sacred Shield a Holy-only spell.
I think the real, underlying strain on paladin design is Touched By the Light and Sheath of Light. I confess that I really liked these talents, as they were an attempt to retain some of the fluid hybrid nature of the original paladin.
But perhaps that goal just isn’t worth the problems it causes. If Touched by the Light and Sheath of Light did not exist, maybe paladin design would be stronger. Prot and Holy would still have access to heals and Sacred Shield, but they would be much weaker, only using the base values for those spells. Blizzard wouldn’t have to be doing these shenanigans to keep these hybrid specs in check.
If those two talents were gone, AP and SP coefficients would also be de-linked, and could be tweaked independently of each other, so Holy could be strengthened or weakened independently. Of course, it’s too much to do now for 3.3 as you’d have to tweak almost all AP coefficients.
Perhaps the best way to retain “hybridity” for paladins would be to be specific, rather than general. For example, supposed Art of War gave you an instant Holy Light instead of Flash of Light. Sounds overpowered, but without Sheath of Light a Ret paladin would have zero spellpower, so that HL would only hit for the base heal.
This way the hybrid nature can be carefully controlled, and specific instances can be changed. A general solution only seems to result in general nerfs.
October 28th, 2009
Enchanting is probably the number one most complained about thing in patch 3.3 (or at least was until last night’s nerf bat got the undead and paladins in an uproar). But hopefully this is all going to cool down a bit with what Bornaak just posted a short while ago.
His full statement is after the break. But the key line from the release:
To maintain the importance of the profession itself, the disenchanting UI option will only be available for groups that have a character with the necessary level of Enchanting to disenchant the items that are obtained.
More after the break.
Continue reading Disenchanting in dungeons in patch 3.3
Filed under: Enchanting, Patches, News items, Enchants
Disenchanting in dungeons in patch 3.3 originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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