Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Gavelier Sees the Return to Graveyard Button in Elwynn

401_Dead

Just for kicks, here’s the new Return to Graveyard button on the PTR. Why is Gav seeing it in Elwynn Forest of all places? The Horde.

I was on the PTR the other night and was just milling about after completing the first string of pre-Cataclysm events and noticed the Horde stalking around south of Goldshire in PvP mode. A number of us went forth and killed them, at which point they respawned and got killed again. And again.

So how did I die? Well, at one point we had them on the run, scattered and seemingly rattled. I opted to jump one I had cornered and – I thought – alone, but now I realize that I couldn’t have possibly telegraphed my attack any more then I did. I hopped off of my mount early, ran for a short to close the distance, judged and then cast my stun. It was at this point that every freaking Horde in the area came down on me. Once in one small area they were easily killed again, but I didn’t live. Dammit.

Oh well. I got a few kills, saved some people, was doing ok and then pulled a dumb-ass move to get killed. Typical Gav.

PTR Pre-Cataclysm Events Continue

More pre-Cata spoilers, so therefore another split post. Read on to see what else Gav has seen in the events that will lead up to the Cataclysm.

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PTR Showcases Pre-Cataclysm Events

cata-prerelease

The PTR is now host to the first pre-Cataclysm event right now, and I sent Gav to check them out and report back what he found.

This post, no bones about  it, includes spoilers from the Cataclysm pre-release events. If you are averse to spoilers, don’t read the full article. If you don’t mind, click through to hear what I saw.

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Odd Update

At 6:05 EDT, the World of Warcraft launcher gave me this:

OddUpdate

I don’t know what it is yet, but I wager – due to it’s art – that it has something to do with the upcoming Cataclysm update (which I will expand upon in a future post). I’ll keep you updated if anything comes of this.

Wake Up, Pig! Boars Rest in 4.0.1

The latest PTR patch includes a rest ability for boars and bears. This ability increases your pet’s happiness some, but also makes them inactive for 15 seconds. I was aware that bears had this power, but when I took Lug out on the new PTR and Pig refused to attack – opting to take naps instead – I researched the ability to find out that boars share it as well. Why? I know not. It was also set to auto cast, which was what brought on Pig’s sleepy demeanor.

So hunters, take note. Boars and bears are lazy, and you need to tell them they can’t take naps mid-battle. Lesson learned.

Liquid Stats and Liquid States

401_NuWater

The new PTR patch is live on the PTR server now, and I’ve logged an hour or so on it to see what’s changed. For one, the new water art is there, and it’s a looker. Everyone was in consensus: it actually looks like water now. People were chiming in over local chat constantly to rave about the new water art. I guess it was a success, Blizzard.

401_Reforging

Also up is reforging. In it, you can change a percentage of secondary stats on your gear (i.e. not strength, stamina or the like) to a new, more useful stat, like hit rating, crit, or haste. You can see here me reforging my Teldrassil Protector (my crummy prot-PvP axe) to have a higher crit rating in lieu of parry. I also reforged my leg armor to take advantage of the new Mastery stat. I really like this feature as it means that if you find gear that’s good but not quite what you need, you can tweak it to fit you better.

That’s all I’ve seen new so far in the ‘new, improved’ 4.0.1 PTR. I’ll come back and post more if the situation calls for it.

PTR Patch Available

The new PTR patch is on the download now. I just wish I could tell you what was in it! The PTR downloader is showing everyone the beta patch notes which aren’t the same as the PTR patch notes.  I’ll try and get the real PTR notes for you when I can.

No True Worgen Racial Mounts

Blizzard has announced officially that Worgen will not get racial mounts, and instead will have Running Wild as their mount substitute. 

[bluepost] Running Wild is indeed the new racial "mount" for worgen. Functionally the ability works exactly like a mount. This does mean the worgen are not bringing faction mounts to the table which other Alliance races can access. This is also of course very different from the original Plainsrunning implemented for taurens. We have no plans to try and bring that ability back in any form.

Ultimately, we feel Running Wild fits very well with the nature of the worgen race. Rather than getting a physical mount, they get down and sprint on all fours. When you’re playing a worgen, it just feels awesome. 🙂 (source) [/bluepost]

This is fine, except that now Alliance players are short mounts for mount-based achievements, giving Horde players an advantage there. For example, Leading the Cavalry will be harder for Alliance players. We’ll see how this pans out.

New PTR Patch En Route

According to Zarhym, it looks like there will be a huge new patch on the PTR in the near future. What will it contain? No one knows just yet.

[bluepost]We plan to apply a new build to the 4.0.1 public test realms soon. In order to accomplish our development goals while pushing this next patch, testers will be required to re-patch and re-download all of the PTR client data. This should happen automatically and you can verify this by checking the Launcher when it begins downloading new data. The progress bar should be empty and in the red (Setup) section. (source) [/bluepost]

Paladin DPS on PTR 4.0.1

I finally got a DPS meter onto the PTR to check Gav’s damage dealing capabilities, and the results were surprising. I had the exact same gear on both Gavs, and both had their main damage seals up (Seal of Command on live, Seal of Righteousness on the PTR) and Blessing of Kings on.  One difference is that on live BoK gives 10% stat boosts, but on PTR it’s 8%. Slight difference. The testing procedure was simply rampaging around the Cult of the Damned camp above the Argent Tournament grounds. Here’s what I found out.

It seems that the downtime on PTR spent waiting for holy power to gather so you can cast Templar’s Verdict or Divine Storm does hurt your DPS. You need to wait for Crusader’s Strike’s cooldown to end twice before you can get to your bread-and-butter attacks. Sure, you judge as well (which is helpful for ret pallys to close gaps), and ret pallys can occasionally mix in an exorcism but it still takes a while to gather full holy power, all the while the mob is pounding on you. You also need to judge when to use said holy power to heal. It’s an interesting dynamic, but it does hurt your DPS – but by how much?

Personally, in the above scenario, it hurt me to the tune of 8%. Eight percent less damage per second on the PTR. That hurts allot. I don’t know if other classes are suffering the same fate, but if they aren’t paladins are going to fall by the wayside as viable DPS.

I do want to point out that Blessing of Kings was buffing my strength and agility by 2% less the usual, so that accounts for some of it. Also, Seal of Righteousness just feels weaker then Seal of Command to me. It may just be me, but I’m worried. Despite any excuses, paladin DPS is down, and I don’t see an immediate cure.

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