Posts with tag featured

Know Your Lore: The Burning Legion

by Matthew Rossi May 16th 2012 at 3:00PM

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

They burn worlds to ash. They render the verdant uninhabitable. Theirs is not the evil of mad chaos, leaping to corrupt for amusement or decadence. They are the means by which the mad Titan seeks to unmake everything. They are the Burning Legion, and it is their purpose to end existence. Nothing less will satisfy Sargeras.

Yet even within the seemingly monolithic forces of the Legion, there's room for political intrigue of a sort. While Sargeras has seemingly caused his own exile from the seat of power, his former lieutenant Kil'Jaeden now leads the Legion, a position he seemingly aspires to hold indefinitely. And Azeroth is directly in his crosshairs.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Burning Crusade, Lore, Know your Lore

How I learned to love tanking again

by Matthew Rossi May 16th 2012 at 2:00PM

So yeah, I'm tanking again. There are a few reasons for this. Reason #1 is my experiences testing prot in the Mists of Pandaria beta. Quite frankly, I think it's going to be much easier to level to 90 as a tanking warrior, what with the spec working quite well on the beta at the moment. Since I expect us to be doing so by August at the latest, I wanted to get a jump on things.

Another reason is simple necessity. We needed a tank; I happen to be capable of doing the job and doing it well. Even back when threat was harder than it is now, I always knew I was a respectable tank. I pay attention to my positioning, I know how to use my cooldowns, and I've got a lot of experience with the role. When my guild found itself short a tank, it seemed like the right thing to do. It's just plain easier to recruit a DPSer and have someone established doing the tanking.

I've asked before if it's time to kill tanking. Almost a year down the road from that question, here I am tanking again. I think what I'm learning is that, at present, it's fairly easy to tank decently and not very hard to tank well, but tanking itself is now split into two halves, and one of them is actually more difficult than it has ever been. It's easier to learn but not easier to master.

Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria

Spiritual Guidance: The new shadow priest trend of backtracking

by Fox Van Allen May 16th 2012 at 1:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On alternate Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen comes from out of the shadows to bask in your loving adoration.

I spent a long time trying to come up with the perfect word for what's happening to shadow priests on the beta right now. At first I thought up déjà vu, but that didn't seem quite right (and shut up, I know that's a phrase, not a word). Then I got bored and played Civilization 5 for a while. Then I made a sandwich.

I don't know where I'm going with any of that, but I did eventually settle on a word: backtracking. That's what happening with shadow priests -- Blizzard is revising the class and hastily making a retreat on just about every unpopular decision it's made over the last few months in the beta. Two weeks ago, Blizz did it by backing down on its decision to axe Devouring Plague. This week, it's backtracking again, giving us back yet another thing it had axed going into MoP.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? In a sense, both. But we'll get into that shortly.

Filed under: Priest, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance

Encrypted Text: Rogues can actually tank

by Chase Christian May 16th 2012 at 12:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here.

In the original WoW beta, rogues were designed to be off tanks. Complete with a high dodge coefficient from agility and a buckler, rogues could survive quite a beating. Evasion was a tanking cooldown, and Vanish was a useful tank-swapping ability. Hunters worked similarly, also sporting bucklers and using Feign Death to lose aggro. Obviously, the developers scrapped both of these ideas before launch.

During The Burning Crusade, Gaeowyn broke the combat table by achieving unhittable status with 102.63% avoidance and using it to successfully slay Illidan. After that, the crew slew Gruul with just five people while it was still relevant content. In Wrath, Jider abused Shadowstep and our amazing damage output to solo several Naxxramas bosses. The upcoming Mists expansion looks to again revitalize rogue tanking, with the advent of the druid ability Symbiosis and our bonus ability, Growl.

Filed under: Rogue, (Rogue) Encrypted Text

The Queue: Blind panic

by Alex Ziebart May 16th 2012 at 11:00AM

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Oh, crap. The Queue is due to be published in 30 minutes and I haven't even started it. Thanks a lot, Diablo! You're ruining everything!

AbabakarOctopuce asked:

I have two level 80 toons with vanilla gear (they got to 80 through free RaF levels). I use them mostly for professions, but if I were to ever level them up, where would I find the appropriate gear to send them into Cata zones?

Filed under: The Queue

Around Azeroth: Winner by default

by Elizabeth Wachowski May 16th 2012 at 10:00AM

"Gunis was a typical dwarf in that she loved brew, and she felt the best things in life could either be aimed, built or formed in a forge," writes submitter Strawder of Ma and Pa Save The World on Garrosh (US-A). "Keen as she was, she'd sometimes go overboard, and this time was no different. The first Stormwind Fishing Tournament was also the last for a while, due mainly to her deployment of the Dwarven Fishing Pole throughout the city's canals."

Gallery: Around Azeroth 3

Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Breakfast Topic: What sort of zone would you create for WoW?

by Olivia Grace May 16th 2012 at 8:00AM

I recently wrote a Breakfast Topic about your WoW Zone, where I asked you about your playing space. As I keep saying, I read all the comments on Breakfast Topics I write, and this time, one caught my eye in my eternal search for more Breakfast Topics.

Commenter Mix had assumed from that BT's title that it would be about what WoW zone you would craft in the game if you had a free rein to do whatever you liked. What a great question! Mix reckoned a zone that would be "an addition to the Goblin Starting Area or the Darkmoon Faire ... a rickety run down amusement park taken over by Gnolls or Troggs or Undead ..."

This sounds fantastic. I love the dark, eerie feel of the Darkmoon Faire -- in fact, I find myself far more drawn to shady, spooky zones than to happy, sunny ones like the plains of Mulgore. After massive overexposure to Firelands, I'm really not down with fiery zones, and I find forested zones a bit dull. The creeping blackness of the Sha in the Mists beta looks great, though; I like its incongruity in the lush world of Pandaria.

I also love snowy zones -- I like how your tracks remain in the snow -- so I reckon I'd want to create something like Darkshire but in a snowy area, with dark, greenish-blue tones and ghostly figures in a frozen world. It would be like Narnia might look if the Ice Queen had her wicked way!

What about you? If you could create a WoW zone from scratch, what would you make? The sky's the limit, and it definitely doesn't have to be inspired by existing zones. Go wild!

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Diablo Moviewatch: Diablo III: Wrath

by Michael Gray May 15th 2012 at 6:00PM

Work warning: Pretty violent video.

Well, if I didn't know that Diablo III released today, the empty halls of the WoW Insider headquarters would certainly tell me. It's like a ghost town around here. I've not been able to play yet, but that's OK. I've got this incredibly awesome animated short feature to get me by.

Diablo III: Wrath was revealed for the community about a week ago. If you're just now getting your hands on the Diablo universe for the first time, this video gives you a great sense of the mythos. The animation is fantastic and gorgeous. I could almost wish for this to be an ongoing series.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

Lichborne: Death knights remain in holding pattern in Mists of Pandaria beta

by Daniel Whitcomb May 15th 2012 at 2:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done.

When one takes a two-week vacation, one generally looks forward to things having changed, even slightly, when one returns. This is especially sure when speaking of the Mists of Pandaria beta test. Strangely, that hasn't been exactly the case for death knights. There have been changes, certainly, but not as drastic as we might have hoped -- and not as well-explained, either.

Today, we'll take a look at a few of the more important changes and what they imply for our class. In addition, we'll see what Ghostcrawler did and didn't say about death knights in a recent post.

Plague Leech and disease issues

There've been a few changes to death knights, but the most interesting one comes with Plague Leech. This first-tier talent, which replaces Vile Spew, will allow you to generate a death rune by canceling the diseases from your target.

The nice thing about this skill is that it gives us another much-needed Blood Tap replacement now that Blood Tap itself has been turned into a somewhat more restricted talent. The bad thing about this skill is that it's probably going to become mandatory for min-maxing DPS death knights. If your diseases are about to expire anyway and you can eat them for an extra death rune, it's hard to see how that won't become a DPS increase. Once we all reach level 90 and the math has been sufficiently mathed, it seems relatively obvious that Plague Leech will be considered mandatory by the hardcore PvE community, for better or for worse.

Filed under: Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne, Mists of Pandaria

Two Bosses Enter: Season 4 preview

by Mathew McCurley May 15th 2012 at 1:00PM

In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, bosses, leaders, and powerful figures of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title.

Two Bosses Enter's season finale was a big win for dungeon boss design, with End Time's Murozond beating out the rest of the Hour of Twilight 5-man instance bosses and even some of the Dragon Soul raid bosses, thanks to the Raid Finder. The WoW Insider community connected with an all-around fun fight that wasn't as punishing as some of the other fights in the 5-man heroic tier but made for epic moments and an important climactic battle. Murozond and his unique mechanic will have a lot to say going forward with encounter design, I would imagine, as this whole set of 5-mans has been remarkably successful, for the most part. Sorry, Arcurion.

Now that we've got season 3 tucked away, it's time to ponder the future, looking forward toward a brighter and more peaceful tomorrow. Sadly, that tomorrow isn't looking so bright or peaceful, with the Horde and the Alliance preparing to descend upon the lost continent of Pandaria, bitter rivalries and hatreds newly reignited. With war comes heroes from every faction, giving us plenty of cannon fodder for Two Bosses Enter.

Filed under: Two Bosses Enter, Mists of Pandaria

The Queue: AFK evil

by Adam Holisky May 15th 2012 at 11:00AM

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

I'm going to be raiding tonight, but during the rest of the day (after my work is done, of course), I'll finally be enjoying Diablo 3.

Pretty much AFK, evil.

And if you're looking for something not evil, go check out WoW Insider Editor-in-Chief Alex Ziebart's AMAA (Ask Me Almost Anything) on /r/wow today.

Kikiswingset asked:

My raid leader demands that if you want to raid, you must have played a healer up to lvl 60 and show him that you understand how tirage priority works, but also to foster an appreciation forthe difficulty of healing "fire squatters". If you had to pick, which role/class/spec should everyone play before they start raiding?

Welp, "fire squatter" is now my favorite term, ever.

Filed under: The Queue

Around Azeroth: A ship in a bubble

by Elizabeth Wachowski May 15th 2012 at 10:00AM

Submitter Shamryu of I N F I N I T Y on Frostmourne (US-H) writes, "We were doing 25-man Dragon Soul, and while we were sitting on the boat waiting to fill a couple of spots, I noticed I could cast Far Sight of the side of the bow. This is what I saw. It's like a ship in a bottle, with a storm in it too ... and 22 very bored Hordies. I don't think Blizzard ever expected someone to try targeting this spell off the side of the ship."

Gallery: Around Azeroth 3

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Breakfast Topic: Meet Windrider Traffic Commander Joruk Stonejaw

by Mathew McCurley May 15th 2012 at 8:00AM

Many of you don't know about Windrider Traffic Commander Joruk Stonejaw, one of the vital members of the Orgrimmar Flight and Safety Administration. No, you can't look him up on Wowhead. I mean, you could try, but you won't find him. I made him up.

Born in Orgrimmar and working in his father's salvage shop, Joruk dreamed of the sky every spare moment he had. When the Horde went to Northrend, Joruk went with it. When he returned from battle, Garrosh Hellscream commanded Horde soldiers from the front to transition back into a state of readiness. Joruk, proven on the battlefield, was tasked with overseeing the wyvern operations and highway high above The Drag.

Eventually, Joruk made himself indispensible. Soon, every wyvern and windrider schedule was passing past his desk. Five headaches and three delegations later, Joruk's new position of Windrider Traffic Commander was instated. If you've ever flown out of Orgrimmar, be it by airship, zeppelin, windrider, or flying machine, Joruk Stonejaw has seen your name on paperwork.

Make up your own WoW character. Go.

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Weekly Podcast Roundup: May 7-13, 2012

by Anne Stickney May 14th 2012 at 7:00PM

Every Monday evening, WoW Insider brings you a long list of WoW podcasts that were published the week and weekend before. If you don't see your favorite World of Warcraft podcast listed, just let us know in the comments. Be sure to leave a link to it, and we'll pick it up next week.

All podcasts and content belong to their owners. WoW Insider is not responsible for what you hear, and some of the content may not be safe for work.

All Things Azeroth Viewing Vanilla through Rose Colored lenses
BlizzPlanet The Week of Warcraft Episode 4
Hunting Party Podcast Episode 127
The Instance 10.2 and Stable
Legendary Serverless Warcraft

Filed under: Podcasting, Weekly Podcast Roundup

Diablo Moviewatch: Gigolo Witch Test

by Michael Gray May 14th 2012 at 6:00PM

As we all sit around our Basic Campfires, caught rapt by breathless anticipation, let's take a moment and celebrate the upcoming release of Diablo III with a funny machinima.

Olibith created the Gigolo Witch Test using the the first custom machinima tool made for the game. While that might not sound like a big deal, that makes this Gigolo Witch Test the first full-blown, tooled machinima for Diablo III. (That's why we featured it on WoW Moviewatch back in the day.)

So here's hoping we won't be so sad and lonely for much longer, and we all get to enjoy the silky-smooth launch of Diablo III.

Evil has returned! 1.2 million WoW players are getting Diablo 3 for free thanks to the Annual Pass. You can get prepared for the evil with WoW Insider's launch coverage. From the lore of Diablo, to the important blue posts and the basics of Diablo gameplay, we'll get you on the inside track for the return of evil.

Filed under: WoW Moviewatch, Diablo 3

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