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Ulduar Loot Updates - Strength DPS Items
A number of the physical DPS items that provide strength bonuses were updated in build 9733, including a lot of the DPS plate and miscellaneous items. The tweaks were mostly boosts to strength and less stamina; click through to see new stats since they aren't updated on Wowhead yet.
| Item | Type | Slot | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belt of Colossal Rage | Plate DPS | Waist | Assembly of Iron (Hard Mode 25) |
| Bladebearer's Signet | Strength DPS | Fingers | Trash Drop (25) |
| Boots of the Underweller | Plate DPS | Feet | General Vezax (25) |
| Chestplate of Viscious Potency | Plate DPS | Chest | XT-002 Deconstructor (10) |
| Clockwork Legplates | Plate DPS | Legs | XT-002 Deconstructor (25) |
| Crazed Construct Ring | Strength DPS | Fingers | XT-002 Deconstructor (25) |
| Dragonsteel Faceplate | Plate DPS | Head | Razorscale (10) |
| Drape of the Drakerider | Strength DPS | Back | Razorscale (25) |
| Girdle of Embers | Plate DPS | Waist | Ignis the Furnace Master (25) |
| Greaves of Iron Intensity | Plate DPS | Feet | Assembly of Iron (10) |
| Insurmountable Fervor | Strength DPS | Neck | Assembly of Iron (25) |
| Iron Riveted War Helm | Plate DPS | Head | Flame Leviathan (25) |
| Might of the Leviathan | Strength DPS | Neck | Flame Leviathan (10) |
| Plated Leggings of Ruination | Plate DPS | Legs | Flame Leviathan (Hard Mode 25) |
| Shoulderplates of the Eternal | Plate DPS | Shoulders | Auriaya (25) |
| Sif's Promise | Strength DPS | Fingers | Thorim (25) |
| Steelbreaker's Embrace | Plate DPS | Chest | Assembly of Iron (25) |
| Strength of the Automaton | Strength DPS | Fingers | Flame Leviathan (25) |
| Stylish Power Cape | Strength DPS | Back | Mimiron (10) |
Argent Tournament - Weapon Reward Models
All of the weapon models are now done for the Argent Tournament rewards as of build 9733.
| Alliance | Horde | Type | Cost | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blunderbuss of Khaz Modan | Sen'jin Beakblade Longrifle | DPS Gun | 25  | ||
| Claymore of the Prophet | Greatsword of the Sin'dorei | 2h Phys. DPS Sword | 25 | ||
| Dagger of Lunar Purity | Scalpel of the Royal Apothecary | 1h Spell Dagger | 25 | ||
| Dagger of the Rising Moon | Spinal Destroyer | Phys. DPS Dagger | 25 | ||
| Gnomeregan Bonechopper | Blade of the Keening Banshee | 1h Spell Sword | 25 | ||
| Ironforge Smasher | Grimhorn Crusher | 1h Phys. DPS Mace | 25 | ||
| Silvery Sylvan Stave | Staff of Feral Furies | Phys. DPS Staff | 25 | ||
| Teldrassil Protector | Axe of the Sen'jin Protector | 1h Tank Axe | 25 | ||
Account Security Awareness
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)
We have recently seen an increase in the number of “spoof” emails players are receiving that are attempting to steal account information. These types of emails may often appear authentic and usually request both your login name, security question/answer, AND password. Please keep in mind that official Blizzard emails will always come from a blizzard.com email address and will never ask for your password.
For more security tips and ways to identify these emails, please visit our World of Warcraft Account Security page (http://u
If you are seeking an additional layer of security, consider purchasing the optional Blizzard Authenticator when available at the online Blizzard Store (http://w
Blizzard Shop Talk - On Arenas
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)
In this edition of Shop Talk, we’ve rounded up some of the latest Arena-related discussions and news, including the ongoing 2009 Arena Tournament, the impending end of season 5, and the beginning of a new contest for would-be eSports commentators.
Phase 3 of the Arena Tournament Has Begun
Registration for the 2009 Arena Tournament has closed, and phase 3 of the competition has officially begun. Teams are now locked down and battling for a shot at the regional finals. Read more (http://f
http://f
Arena Season 5 Set to Say Goodbye
As the next major content patch draws near, we remind everyone that Arena season 5 is coming to a close. Don’t forget to spend your Arena points, as they’ll be reset once the new season begins. Read on!
http://f
Arena Season 6 is Coming
We’ve provided some detailed information about how team ratings will be calculated beginning in Arena season 6, so don’t miss out!
http://f
Calling All Aspiring eSports Commentators
Looking for a chance to prove your play-by-play prowess? Don’t miss your opportunity to take part in our first-ever Arena Shoutcasting Contest.
http://f
Check Your Arena Records in the Armory
By popular demand, players now have the ability to check detailed Arena statistics via the Armory, including match and opponent history. Check it out here:
http://w
Blue Posts
General
Glyphs and Lexicon of Power (Source)
The Lexicon is dead as a feature. You can swap glyphs whenever you want once 3.1 ships through dual-spec or just by applying a new glyph.
What the PTR is great for in Blizzard's eyes (Source)
We use the PTR as a reality check on our internal numbers. Take a raid boss fight for example. Once someone here has beaten Hodir twenty times, the value of their feedback, particularly for balance, diminishes. Players have different mods installed than we do. People have different lag. Casting a wide net is useful in testing. Do not assume that you know everything that goes on here just because we occasionally give you glimpses. :)
Raids & Dungeons
Glory of the Ulduar Raider: Is the achievement final? (Source)
Changes are still happening on achievements. I would say nothing is final until the patch launches and even then there might be some things that get changed in future patches/hotfixes if needed.
10-player Ulduar for 25-player guilds (Source)
If you are in a guild organized around 25-player raiding, then you may not get as much value out of also doing 10-player Ulduar. But it depends. If you can do 10-player hard modes, that gear is an upgrade to 25-player normal. Doing 10 hard might help you gear up for 25 hard, though you could also do the same thing just by running 25 normal a lot. Ultimately, though, the intent is that you pick 10 or 25 and focus on that. We don't prevent you from doing both if are interested in it.
The "Sunwell Problem" and hybrids (Source)
I think it's totally understandable to be worried about being kicked from a raid because you don't bring enough.
However, the Sunwell probem we are trying to avoid was pretty consistent and widespread. There was some variation in raid composition, but not much. I think it's far too early to declare that any LK class is headed in that direction. All we are currently seeing is a lot of "My GM said we won't bring dps warriors anymore," or "My GM says Resto shamans are terrible now."
If any of this turns into an actual trend, we'll all know it and it will be pretty obvious to everyone. DKs (of at least some specs) being too good at tanking, dps or PvP was pretty obvious to everyone except maybe a few DKs. (I know, everyone like to poke fun at the new guy.)
I understand some of you are just trying to catch a problem before it blossoms out of control. Nothing wrong with that. But we're always going to be pretty cautious on acting based on early predictions that don't have a lot of evidence (even theoretical evidence) to back them up.
Naxxramas being "puggable" (Source)
Naxx being puggable is fine and really inevitable. The problem was that Naxx 25 was so easy compared to 10, that 10 felt like a pointless exercise. Ulduar 25 will not be as pug friendly as Naxx. I suspect it will be pugged at some point, but it may take longer. Don't forget that many guilds already knew the Naxx encounters very well when LK shipped.
Gearing up is currently easier in PvE than PvP (Source)
I'm not sure exactly what you're asking here. A lot of players are doing Naxx 25 because it is quite easy compared to the challenge of getting Arena gear. Ideally say item level 226 gear should take the same level of skill to earn in PvP or PvE. When the PvE content is more challenging, as it will be in Ulduar, some players will naturally shift back to PvP as their progression path towards gear.
Why are so many single-tank fights designed? (Source)
Because we think they are fun. :)
If we could make fights with 1 healer or 1 dps fun, we would be doing it. The possibility of a fight that requires no healing and is just a dps check might be interesting.
Dual Spec's effect on raiding (Source)
Yes. I'll hit this point again below, but it just depends on the encounter. Sometimes you can switch roles mid fight and sometimes the adds hit so hard that you need to dps as a tank until they appear.
Yes, this is definitely the kind of thing that falls under my general prediction of "This feature is going to play the game in ways that none of us may be anticipating now." Some guilds charge DKP but offer a discount for off-spec pieces. That gets much more complicated now.
Encounter adds come in varying degrees of difficulty (Source)
It just depends on the adds. Some require a tank-spec’d tank in tank gear. Others might require you to swap out a few pieces of gear. Others can be tanked by any plate weare. Others can just be zerged down without being tanked at all. If your dps or healing are really high you can often slide closer to the right side of that continuum.
Take Lurker Below as an example. On your earlier attempts you probably have multiple tanks doing crappy dps or just standing around waiting for the naga adds. Once you're geared up, you might be able to have some dps warriors or paladins handle the adds. When you out-gear the instance you can probably just dps it all down with a single tank on the boss.
Were the Naxx/Sarth/Malygos 10-player raids overtuned? (Source)
Many would argue that the 25-player modes were undertuned. Sarth 3D was intended to be something that guilds worked on for weeks. At first it looked like that was going to be the case, but after groups got geared up, most guilds that seriously tried it seemed to be able to manage before too long.
We don't think that will be the case with Ulduar. It should keep you busy. But we'll see. You players are a clever lot. :)
Wrath's first tier of raiding content being easy (Source)
That wasn't a mistake and we don't consider it a failure. We think it's great to have so many people able to raid (again assuming they want to raid, and not that they are in a raid or die mentality).
Where we did err was is that some of the 10-player content more difficult than the 25-player content, which was not the intent. That sets a weird mindset in the community that 25-player runs are pugs, and 10-player runs aren't worth it.
Ulduar will be more challenging, and we think the 10 vs. 25 difficulty will be tighter. With some of the hard modes, I fully expect to be on these forums in a couple of months dealing with lots of "Has Blizz lost their minds?" posts. :)
Consequently, some players still start looking at Arenas again as an alternative or even superior way to improve their gear. That coupled with higher resilience numbers, better understanding and tuning of the new rating system, and better class balance overall should lead to a stronger next season.
http://worldofraids.com/forums/iPhorum/statusicon/forum_old_10.jpg Player versus Player
Next Arena Tournament Phase (Source)
The next phase is currently scheduled to begin on April 14th.
Organizing an Arena team versus organizing a 25-player raid (Source)
In your example, there is a pretty big logistical difference between trying to organize a 5-player Arena team vs. trying to organize a 25-player raid. The Arena doesn't require consumables, doesn't have the same matrix of buffs or debuffs, doesn't take the same amount of consecutive time, and just isn't on the same scale -- even the smaller raid is twice as many players. (I am not talking at all about choosing players, which is a challenge for both situations, and I'm not at all comparing the difficulty of the actual combat experience).
Furthermore, the 2 and 3 player Arena matches are also more popular than the 5-player ones, which sort of supports my point (that loot efficiency is a powerful motivator, perhaps the most powerful.)
We don't feel we are artificially keeping 25-player raiding alive. By contrast, we hear all the time from raiding guilds that they just like the larger raids. They feel epic. They like the added complexity and power gained from having more players. Their guilds were organized around the larger groups (and many already had to painfully shrink once).
We just think 10-player vs. 25-player comes down to player preference. Maybe 3 vs. 5 does too. Perhaps in Ulduar you will see more 10-player pugs. We'll see.
We would LOVE to offer good gear through BGs, don't get me wrong. It's clear from this thread alone how many players enjoy BGs. In the case of "BG epics" it isn't a philosophical opposition to having better rewards. We just haven't figured out a great way to do it yet. YET. The usual pitches tend to come down to:
1) Just give everyone epics. Despite S1 and Naxx 25, this really isn't the goal. :)
2) Make it very random, like you have a small chance to get an epic. /wrist
3) Reward number of BGs won, which feels very grindy because the number would have to be large or you have situation 1 again. One of the things we like about both Arenas and raids is the gear rewards are gradual because of the lockout. You can't play 24/7 and gear yourself overnight.
4) Have organized BG teams. Yet, if you think the logistics (and queues) are painful for a 5-player Arena team or a raid....
5) Reward skill. This is the answer we like the best, but is also the hardest to institute. If you played many games, we could eventually get a sense for whether your presence helps determine whether your side wins or loses. But there are a lot of other factors at play -- how coordinated your side is, whether the other guys are AFK, is someone just honor farming, is someone griefing, etc.
http://www.worldofraids.com/2008/class/small_hunter.gif Hunter
T.N.T. Patch Notes error (Source)
The patch notes are in error.
TnT gives % damage to Explosive Shot, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap and that’s it. It does NOT refresh the duration of anything.
Sorry for the confusion. The patch notes are like 20 pages long and we've gone back and forth on a few things.
http://www.worldofraids.com/2008/class/small_warrior.gif Warrior
Better DPS for off-tanks (Source)
This is the official Blizzard sta... oh dang, you beat me to it. :-p
We have been looking a bit into increasing warrior-off tank dps a bit, but I can't say there will be any vast changes in 3.1 on that end of things.
Some others brought up that switching out the character is what they would do instead of having a warrior switch to dps, this is an option of course, in my guild we would only do this on fights where dps is very crucial. Once we start getting things down the warrior will pick up whatever dps pieces he can and will do okay on dps if needed, it won't hurt things too much and they will do more damage than a not-getting hit in prot warrior, heh.
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