First off, there's some story-spoiler stuff in here, so beware.
5.3 is bringing new scenarios and some sort of new progression in the plot, though we don't exactly know what form it will take. We do know that Vol'jin is leading an open rebellion against Garrosh. Thrall is going to attempt to rally the Orcs who are not under Garrosh's thumb, but at great risk to himself. Baine's also behind Vol'jin, but is holding back until he can get his people out of Orgrimmar. Lor'themar's obviously still busy with the Thunder King while Sylvanas is probably jus sitting on the sidelines to avoid putting her own forces at risk.
But that's not all: Vol'jin is coordinating with Alliance forces. While the Alliance Navy attacks by sea, he and his people will assault from the ground. Finally, the two sides are united in their shared hatred for Garrosh. Will this bring about a lasting coalition, or is this just going to be another temporary team-up?
We also find out that Shaohao did not, actually, succeed in defeating every Sha. The Sha of Pride stayed with him, and it was Pride that created the Mists of Pandaria. It also seems that Y'shaarj is not quite as dead as we had thought. Did we manage to resurrect him by defeating all seven Sha (well, will we defeat all seven?)
We also get a bit for, of all people, Moira to do. So far, the lore of the reunification of the dwarves is a plot that hasn't really been talked about. It doesn't help that Searing Gorge and Blackrock Depths still look pretty much the same as they did, but my understanding is that, canonically, even though there are certainly some treacherous members, the Dark Irons are just as much a part of the Alliance as the Wildhammers. This was, of course, reflected with the addition of Mages and Warlocks to the Dwarf options in Cataclysm, but it bears a look.
Moira has always been the most potentially thorny problem within Alliance leadership. As the "good guy" faction (a definition I've always resented, as I think it's more fun when we've got shades of grey) the Alliance tends to get along a little better, but Moira's been kind of unpredictable ever since we "liberated" her from her loving husband in Blackrock Depths (they've already come a long way from her being a joke in a Princess Leia outfit.)
Yet the story of Mists of Pandaria is very much about the Alliance pulling together while the Horde is pulled apart, and yet we've really mostly seen those effects on the Horde. The one major plot development on the Alliance side has been Jaina's abandoning of her dearly-held neutrality. We've seen Varian prove himself to be a better strategist than Tyrande, earning her respect, but not much else.
I don't know what the Moira scenario will be exactly, other than that we're fighting the Zandalari on Shimmer Ridge, of all places. I do like that Varian is entrusting Moira with a mission of some significance, and that he refers to her as "Queen Regent," which seems like a step up from being simply the Dark Iron representative to the Council of Three Hammers (what this means for Kurdran - or is it Faldred - and Muradin is unknown.)
Anyway, I doubt we're going to see too much in the way of the Alliance dealing with a fracture, because they're about to prove their might as a united front when Orgrimmar is invaded.
Of course, the greater narrative, and the one that is the most epic in scope and important in the long run is that the Horde (well, the Free Horde, under Vol'jin) and the Alliance are ganging up together again for the first time since Burning Crusade. Yet unlike previous times, the Burning Legion isn't actively invading Azeroth. We don't know exactly what Garrosh's ultimate plans are, but I imagine they're not quite as over-the-top as destroying the world entirely. Yet both sides realize that this war needs to end, and soon. The Alliance never wanted the war (with some small exceptions) but was forced to fight it to survive. The Horde didn't really want the war either, except that Garrosh became ideologically obsessed with Horde superiority and the right of conquest. Clearly things have come a long way since Blackhand, as the Horde now recognizes a tyrannical Warchief as a threat that is just as serious as the Burning Legion.
Obviously we've got a showdown with the Legion coming, and probably soon (I'm not going to call it definitively but I think it's a strong possibility for the next expansion,) but I think the dynamics of a return to uneasy peace could be great fuel for more story. I don't know if Moira's problems are going to become more apparent or get swept under the rug, and I don't know if the question of Gilneas is going to get answered (if the Horde won Alterac Valley canonically, then can the Worgen win their homeland back, please?) We don't quite know why Sylvanas is acting so crazy lately (other than an existential crisis after Arthas' death) but there is a Death Knight who is getting tortured and brainwashed and probably needs our help.
The aftermath of Garrosh is going to be a big deal, and the Horde will need to rebuild. Meanwhile, without a strong and menacing Horde, can the Alliance transition back to a (relative) state of peace? Might we see those people who were willing to back Varian now start standing up for their own interests?
And the Exodar. Ah, the Exodar. You know that it's good to fly again? The Draenei could leave right now if they wanted. That's kind of a big deal. The question is, are they ready to take the fight to the Legion once and for all? And who are they bringing with them?
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Tri-Spec?
One of the funnier things to pop up on the 5.3 patch notes is the potential existence of a triple spec option, that would presumably work the way that Dual-Spec works now.
The implications of such an addition would, obviously, not be quite as profound as the introduction of dual-specs with 3.1 was, but they would still be quite interesting.
All classes other than the Druid have three specs, and Druids only got a fourth spec after the talent tree redesign made it impossible to make a distinction between Feral DPS and Feral Tanks. For those of you who might be very, very new players, one's specialization was once entirely based on the placement of points, originally gained every level starting at 10, into a "tree." Each class had three trees, and the way that it would work is that you would have access to 2-4 potential talents at first, but each 5 points you assigned to a particular tree (such as "Demonology" for Warlocks) would then unlock the next tier of talents. You were then free to either spend those points in the new tier of talents or continue filling out the first tier - either way, every 5 points into a tree would unlock the next tier down the tree.
It was in this way that two, say, Arms Warriors could wind up with a different load-out of abilities. One might pick up talents that improved survival and the ability to get out of crowd control while another might focus entirely on every last damage-boosting talent. This distinction was particularly important for Feral Druids and, during Wrath of the Lich King, all Death Knights, as one's choice of talents in the old system was what made a Feral or DK a tank or dps.
The point I'm getting to (slowly) is that there was a time when, for instance, Oterro had two Blood specs. This was in the early days of dual-specs (when it cost a thousand gold, up from, what? Ten silver?) but that doesn't really matter. The point was that back then, some Death Knights went for the increased Parry chance and the talents that let you use your Rune Tap more often - also Rune Tap, while others went for lots of Critical Strike and Dancing Rune Weapon, which was a dps cooldown back then.
Back then, the choice of one's spec was a gradual thing. It only evolved slowly, and anyone under level 30 or so really was pretty much just a "slightly tankier Paladin" or a "slightly burnier Mage."
Under today's system, even though it still takes a while to get all the necessary abilities and passives to truly feel like one's spec, the decision has no granularity. A Marksmanship Hunter is a Marksmanship Hunter. And with talents now divorced from specific specs and also very easy to switch out on a whim, there's really nothing separating two Elemental Shamans from one another other than gear and the skill to play the class well.
The introduction of the tri-spec is weird for this reason: A Paladin will be all Paladins. A Monk will be all Monks. Dual-spec was, I think, mostly introduced to allow tanks and healers to have a dps spec to make soloing less of a pain in the ass (and having leveled a tankadin from 1 (well, 10) to 80 without ever going Ret in that time, I can tell you it was not a picnic (it's probably not as bad now, especially with Dungeon Finder.)
Still, there is a certain degree of flavor to having chosen a spec. Even having two specs allows you to define your character by what they are not (my Warlock might consort with demons and blow things up a lot, but he's not going to start plaguing people!)
In the end, it's not the end of the world, but it does mean I imagine we'll be seeing far fewer people rolling alts of the same class. In Cataclysm, with the new races and the new race/class combos, my list of alts exploded, often to explore specs I'd never tried (my Goblin is a Survival Hunter. It's weird.)
Now, all of this said:
It's possible Blizzard is just messing with us. Just as there were sound files in the 5.1 PTR that had Jaina talking about how awful it was that Garrosh had killed Anduin, Blizz could be trolling us (though who knows? Maybe that's originally how the plot would have ended. You know, because the Alliance doesn't have a really solid reason to hate Garrosh yet...)
Am I looking forward to tri-specs? Meh, I might futz around with Holy just to see if you can do decent dps as a Shockadin (I'm guessing no) but I really won't be devastated if it's not actually happening. Don't get me wrong, I'm an enormous fan of dual-specs (even for pure dps classes) but I think we're already good on the "multiple specs" front. Besides, with the gold that's pouring in these days, it's not like changing specs is all that difficult these days. Visit your class trainers. They miss you.
The implications of such an addition would, obviously, not be quite as profound as the introduction of dual-specs with 3.1 was, but they would still be quite interesting.
All classes other than the Druid have three specs, and Druids only got a fourth spec after the talent tree redesign made it impossible to make a distinction between Feral DPS and Feral Tanks. For those of you who might be very, very new players, one's specialization was once entirely based on the placement of points, originally gained every level starting at 10, into a "tree." Each class had three trees, and the way that it would work is that you would have access to 2-4 potential talents at first, but each 5 points you assigned to a particular tree (such as "Demonology" for Warlocks) would then unlock the next tier of talents. You were then free to either spend those points in the new tier of talents or continue filling out the first tier - either way, every 5 points into a tree would unlock the next tier down the tree.
It was in this way that two, say, Arms Warriors could wind up with a different load-out of abilities. One might pick up talents that improved survival and the ability to get out of crowd control while another might focus entirely on every last damage-boosting talent. This distinction was particularly important for Feral Druids and, during Wrath of the Lich King, all Death Knights, as one's choice of talents in the old system was what made a Feral or DK a tank or dps.
The point I'm getting to (slowly) is that there was a time when, for instance, Oterro had two Blood specs. This was in the early days of dual-specs (when it cost a thousand gold, up from, what? Ten silver?) but that doesn't really matter. The point was that back then, some Death Knights went for the increased Parry chance and the talents that let you use your Rune Tap more often - also Rune Tap, while others went for lots of Critical Strike and Dancing Rune Weapon, which was a dps cooldown back then.
Back then, the choice of one's spec was a gradual thing. It only evolved slowly, and anyone under level 30 or so really was pretty much just a "slightly tankier Paladin" or a "slightly burnier Mage."
Under today's system, even though it still takes a while to get all the necessary abilities and passives to truly feel like one's spec, the decision has no granularity. A Marksmanship Hunter is a Marksmanship Hunter. And with talents now divorced from specific specs and also very easy to switch out on a whim, there's really nothing separating two Elemental Shamans from one another other than gear and the skill to play the class well.
The introduction of the tri-spec is weird for this reason: A Paladin will be all Paladins. A Monk will be all Monks. Dual-spec was, I think, mostly introduced to allow tanks and healers to have a dps spec to make soloing less of a pain in the ass (and having leveled a tankadin from 1 (well, 10) to 80 without ever going Ret in that time, I can tell you it was not a picnic (it's probably not as bad now, especially with Dungeon Finder.)
Still, there is a certain degree of flavor to having chosen a spec. Even having two specs allows you to define your character by what they are not (my Warlock might consort with demons and blow things up a lot, but he's not going to start plaguing people!)
In the end, it's not the end of the world, but it does mean I imagine we'll be seeing far fewer people rolling alts of the same class. In Cataclysm, with the new races and the new race/class combos, my list of alts exploded, often to explore specs I'd never tried (my Goblin is a Survival Hunter. It's weird.)
Now, all of this said:
It's possible Blizzard is just messing with us. Just as there were sound files in the 5.1 PTR that had Jaina talking about how awful it was that Garrosh had killed Anduin, Blizz could be trolling us (though who knows? Maybe that's originally how the plot would have ended. You know, because the Alliance doesn't have a really solid reason to hate Garrosh yet...)
Am I looking forward to tri-specs? Meh, I might futz around with Holy just to see if you can do decent dps as a Shockadin (I'm guessing no) but I really won't be devastated if it's not actually happening. Don't get me wrong, I'm an enormous fan of dual-specs (even for pure dps classes) but I think we're already good on the "multiple specs" front. Besides, with the gold that's pouring in these days, it's not like changing specs is all that difficult these days. Visit your class trainers. They miss you.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
...And Sometimes You Eat the Bear
I've probably just mangled the above half-expression (for one thing, I think that part's supposed to come first,) but in my quest for Green Fire, and the quest to acquire sufficient gear to stand a chance at it, I took Morcanis through the entirety of "upper tier 14" today, getting a whopping four pieces of gear, including tier shoulders and helmet (I actually disconnected during Sha of Fear, but was able to restart my computer and log in post-kill to both the token and a second one for my bonus roll - guess I can start gearing up his off-spec... oh wait.)
Anyway, we all usually think of the endless weeks of zero gear, over and over, but sometimes you get one of these days where your average gear level jumps half a tier. I remember the one time I took Tarbhad into ICC (this was back before LFR, but everyone was well geared in Wrath, and PuGs of ICC could actually get decently far) and walked away with about five pieces of gear, including a fist weapon.
I'm enjoying Demonology these days (always was my favorite warlock spec) but it is a little odd to go from mostly melee classes that are all about the big next strike to a class that is mostly concerned with making sure their DoTs are ticking for as much as possible. Sure, they've made it less of a pain than it used to, but Demon Form is often less about blowing targets away with gigantic spell blasts than it is about keeping Doom on the target and refreshing that Corruption you cast several minutes ago while Dark Soul was up.
One of the oddities of Demo is that in AoE situations, things are a lot simpler in your normal form than in Demon form. Multi-dotting is generally what you want to do in smaller groups, like your typical dungeon trash pull, and then you can use Void Ray in Demon form to keep those ticking, but in gigantic packs, it's basically Hellfire and your Wrathguard (or Felguard, I guess) and Felstorm. But when you use Metamorphosis, the Hellfire equivalent becomes a passive that you only need to refresh (and usually don't have enough Fury to keep going too long) but since on such large packs, applying Corruption on all those targets is not really practical, there's kind of a question of what to do. I'm sure Icy Veins has the answer, but what I've pretty much been doing is Immolation Aura, Carrion Swarm (glyphed so the tank doesn't want to kill me) and Void Ray, DoTs be damned.
I've also taken to simply hitting Hand of Gul'dan twice in a row, or with just a single Shadowbolt/Soul Fire between them. While I'm sure it's ideal to hit it right as Shadowflame is about to drop off the target, there's a little delay before the meteor hits and Shadowflame is so quick that you'll probably get more damage out of it this way as there's less risk you'll just do two single stacks of the DoT in a row. It's amazing how much of your damage comes from Shadowflame, though where it really shines is of course in AoE situations.
In terms of gearing, I haven't quite started a constant AskMrRobot check with every new piece of gear, but my general impression is that Mastery must be good for Demo because it literally just increases the damage we do, and that bonus is multiplied by three in Demon form (currently about 60% for me.)
The Warlock revamp seems to really have done the trick. I see far more locks out there than I did during Cataclysm. Frankly, the alternate resources and new gameplay mechanics make it feel a lot more like one of the newer classes than one of the old. Paladins obviously got a big revamp in Cataclysm, which I think made them a lot more engaging (as much as I hate Inquisition-type effects.) I think something like this for a class that is falling behind would not be a bad policy for Blizzard. Rogues obviously seem to be the ones most desperately in need of such a revamp.
Anyway, we all usually think of the endless weeks of zero gear, over and over, but sometimes you get one of these days where your average gear level jumps half a tier. I remember the one time I took Tarbhad into ICC (this was back before LFR, but everyone was well geared in Wrath, and PuGs of ICC could actually get decently far) and walked away with about five pieces of gear, including a fist weapon.
I'm enjoying Demonology these days (always was my favorite warlock spec) but it is a little odd to go from mostly melee classes that are all about the big next strike to a class that is mostly concerned with making sure their DoTs are ticking for as much as possible. Sure, they've made it less of a pain than it used to, but Demon Form is often less about blowing targets away with gigantic spell blasts than it is about keeping Doom on the target and refreshing that Corruption you cast several minutes ago while Dark Soul was up.
One of the oddities of Demo is that in AoE situations, things are a lot simpler in your normal form than in Demon form. Multi-dotting is generally what you want to do in smaller groups, like your typical dungeon trash pull, and then you can use Void Ray in Demon form to keep those ticking, but in gigantic packs, it's basically Hellfire and your Wrathguard (or Felguard, I guess) and Felstorm. But when you use Metamorphosis, the Hellfire equivalent becomes a passive that you only need to refresh (and usually don't have enough Fury to keep going too long) but since on such large packs, applying Corruption on all those targets is not really practical, there's kind of a question of what to do. I'm sure Icy Veins has the answer, but what I've pretty much been doing is Immolation Aura, Carrion Swarm (glyphed so the tank doesn't want to kill me) and Void Ray, DoTs be damned.
I've also taken to simply hitting Hand of Gul'dan twice in a row, or with just a single Shadowbolt/Soul Fire between them. While I'm sure it's ideal to hit it right as Shadowflame is about to drop off the target, there's a little delay before the meteor hits and Shadowflame is so quick that you'll probably get more damage out of it this way as there's less risk you'll just do two single stacks of the DoT in a row. It's amazing how much of your damage comes from Shadowflame, though where it really shines is of course in AoE situations.
In terms of gearing, I haven't quite started a constant AskMrRobot check with every new piece of gear, but my general impression is that Mastery must be good for Demo because it literally just increases the damage we do, and that bonus is multiplied by three in Demon form (currently about 60% for me.)
The Warlock revamp seems to really have done the trick. I see far more locks out there than I did during Cataclysm. Frankly, the alternate resources and new gameplay mechanics make it feel a lot more like one of the newer classes than one of the old. Paladins obviously got a big revamp in Cataclysm, which I think made them a lot more engaging (as much as I hate Inquisition-type effects.) I think something like this for a class that is falling behind would not be a bad policy for Blizzard. Rogues obviously seem to be the ones most desperately in need of such a revamp.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Quality of Life from the 5.3 Notes
Two nice things coming in 5.3 should make life a little less painful.
The first is fairly simple, and something that we sort of should have gotten from the get-go. For LFR and Quests, we can now pick the spec we want to receive loot for. That means that if, say, you've got a really kick-ass dps set, but you want to gear up your healing capabilities, you can now select that role as your loot spec and then continue running as dps, contributing your nice facemelting numbers instead of trying to heal in that collection of questing greens and dungeon blues that probably aren't really appropriate for Throne of Thunder.
This should, I think, make switching roles mid-expansion a lot easier, and also make gearing up an off-spec a simpler matter. Granted, what I've taken to doing is just running as Retribution through those raid segments where I already have all the Protection gear I need (and of course tier tokens are spec-agnostic) and I've had decent luck so far (still haven't gotten a single Ret weapon drop though. I'm using the Klaxxi sword that they said was really there primarily for transmog purposes. Ironically I have it transmogged to Ironsoul, a 2h mace from Ulduar.)
This is very much a quality of life change. The other change is more dramatic: Bonus rolls will get progressively more likely to award loot the more often you lose the roll (remember when gold was something we actually wanted?) We don't know how quickly this will stack up, but it strikes me that getting geared through LFR slightly quicker is not exactly a terrible thing. Plus, there's always that one piece you desperately want, so people may, in fact, be less likely to use their bonus rolls on other bosses for fear of consuming the bad-luck-streak prevention thing.
Before people try to go around complaining that this somehow makes things easier... well, yes, it does make things easier. But LFR is supposed to be easy! Normal modes are challenging enough and then there are heroics on top of that. If you're unsatisfied with the game's difficulty, then join a guild that does heroic raids. I'm certain that there's a sufficient challenge you simply have not explored. And if the noobs and the scrubs get geared up a little faster, just deal with it. You can still vastly out-dps a bad player by simply being good at your class and knowing an encounter (and if you're really a good player, you'll also know that on certain fights, the people who are highest on dps are the ones who are doing it wrong. *cough* Horridon, *cough.*)
I still want to know more about what kind of new zones or areas we'll be seeing. So far the main event of the patch seems to be these scenarios, and unless these are some amazing scenarios (I certainly hope they are) I feel like there needs to be some central focus.
There's not much yet, but what I like what I see.
The first is fairly simple, and something that we sort of should have gotten from the get-go. For LFR and Quests, we can now pick the spec we want to receive loot for. That means that if, say, you've got a really kick-ass dps set, but you want to gear up your healing capabilities, you can now select that role as your loot spec and then continue running as dps, contributing your nice facemelting numbers instead of trying to heal in that collection of questing greens and dungeon blues that probably aren't really appropriate for Throne of Thunder.
This should, I think, make switching roles mid-expansion a lot easier, and also make gearing up an off-spec a simpler matter. Granted, what I've taken to doing is just running as Retribution through those raid segments where I already have all the Protection gear I need (and of course tier tokens are spec-agnostic) and I've had decent luck so far (still haven't gotten a single Ret weapon drop though. I'm using the Klaxxi sword that they said was really there primarily for transmog purposes. Ironically I have it transmogged to Ironsoul, a 2h mace from Ulduar.)
This is very much a quality of life change. The other change is more dramatic: Bonus rolls will get progressively more likely to award loot the more often you lose the roll (remember when gold was something we actually wanted?) We don't know how quickly this will stack up, but it strikes me that getting geared through LFR slightly quicker is not exactly a terrible thing. Plus, there's always that one piece you desperately want, so people may, in fact, be less likely to use their bonus rolls on other bosses for fear of consuming the bad-luck-streak prevention thing.
Before people try to go around complaining that this somehow makes things easier... well, yes, it does make things easier. But LFR is supposed to be easy! Normal modes are challenging enough and then there are heroics on top of that. If you're unsatisfied with the game's difficulty, then join a guild that does heroic raids. I'm certain that there's a sufficient challenge you simply have not explored. And if the noobs and the scrubs get geared up a little faster, just deal with it. You can still vastly out-dps a bad player by simply being good at your class and knowing an encounter (and if you're really a good player, you'll also know that on certain fights, the people who are highest on dps are the ones who are doing it wrong. *cough* Horridon, *cough.*)
I still want to know more about what kind of new zones or areas we'll be seeing. So far the main event of the patch seems to be these scenarios, and unless these are some amazing scenarios (I certainly hope they are) I feel like there needs to be some central focus.
There's not much yet, but what I like what I see.
Forgotten Depths from a DPS Perspective
Last night I ran Forgotten Depths on Oterro, to see how the other half lives, I suppose (well, and get Valor with an infinitesimal chance at gear) and got a little more insight into the fights from a dps perspective.
Tortos: One thing I noticed is that when the tank was holding the bats in the center of the room, the kicked turtles would also debuff them to take extra damage. You will have moments of free time to put the burn on Tortos, but expect most of your damage to him to be of the cleave variety. Fairly simple fight.
Megaera: This is crazily simple to dps. Simply take down the head that your raid has chosen (in LFR at least, the go-to strategy seems to be alternating between Venom and Flame while ignoring frost.) Stack up for heals during Rampage (as melee, you'll be stacked already) and don't leave fire patches in the middle of the group. Also, using personal survival cooldowns during Rampage is a great idea (I got tons of Runic Power from Anti-Magic Shell.)
Ji-Kun: Ah yes, this is where things start to make a lot more sense if you're dpsing, or rather. Actually, most of the dps are going to be simply burning the boss the whole time. Using a survival cooldown on Quills is a good idea, but note that it's physical damage and not magic, which means stuff like Cloak of Shadows or AMS will not help you out.
The real interesting thing for dps is for the three people assigned to take down the hatchlings. If you're on nest duty, you actually won't dps the boss at all during the fight. You begin on the low nest to the right of where you first arrive on the platform (there's another kind of protrusion there.) Killing the hatchlings will give you little feathers which allow you to fly for ten seconds with an extra action bar. Once your nest is cleared out, another will be illuminated with red light, so you should fly there. After three lower nests are dealt with, you'll now have to go to the upper nests, which requires a brief rest on the main platform to climb all that way. Eventually you'll start seeing mature eggs, which hatch fledglings. These will fly off just as soon as they hatch, so you want to burn them very quick, otherwise they'll get away and continue to harm the raid for the fight. You might not catch all of them, but focusing them down is probably a good idea.
Anyway, Forgotten Depths is, I think, mostly a more enjoyable segment than Last Stand of the Zandalari. Not that I don't like Last Stand, but the fights here are a little easier to manage without being "simpler" exactly. Also, Ji-Kun and the sewer area leading up to her is amazing. Watch out for snails!
Tortos: One thing I noticed is that when the tank was holding the bats in the center of the room, the kicked turtles would also debuff them to take extra damage. You will have moments of free time to put the burn on Tortos, but expect most of your damage to him to be of the cleave variety. Fairly simple fight.
Megaera: This is crazily simple to dps. Simply take down the head that your raid has chosen (in LFR at least, the go-to strategy seems to be alternating between Venom and Flame while ignoring frost.) Stack up for heals during Rampage (as melee, you'll be stacked already) and don't leave fire patches in the middle of the group. Also, using personal survival cooldowns during Rampage is a great idea (I got tons of Runic Power from Anti-Magic Shell.)
Ji-Kun: Ah yes, this is where things start to make a lot more sense if you're dpsing, or rather. Actually, most of the dps are going to be simply burning the boss the whole time. Using a survival cooldown on Quills is a good idea, but note that it's physical damage and not magic, which means stuff like Cloak of Shadows or AMS will not help you out.
The real interesting thing for dps is for the three people assigned to take down the hatchlings. If you're on nest duty, you actually won't dps the boss at all during the fight. You begin on the low nest to the right of where you first arrive on the platform (there's another kind of protrusion there.) Killing the hatchlings will give you little feathers which allow you to fly for ten seconds with an extra action bar. Once your nest is cleared out, another will be illuminated with red light, so you should fly there. After three lower nests are dealt with, you'll now have to go to the upper nests, which requires a brief rest on the main platform to climb all that way. Eventually you'll start seeing mature eggs, which hatch fledglings. These will fly off just as soon as they hatch, so you want to burn them very quick, otherwise they'll get away and continue to harm the raid for the fight. You might not catch all of them, but focusing them down is probably a good idea.
Anyway, Forgotten Depths is, I think, mostly a more enjoyable segment than Last Stand of the Zandalari. Not that I don't like Last Stand, but the fights here are a little easier to manage without being "simpler" exactly. Also, Ji-Kun and the sewer area leading up to her is amazing. Watch out for snails!
Friday, March 22, 2013
5.3 Coming to the PTR
Man, they are not kidding about getting the content out at a high rate. With only half of Throne of Thunder available in LFR, Blizzard has already announced the first PTR version of 5.3, which will be the second inter-raid patch, akin to 5.1's Landfall.
So far, the new features they have announced are four new scenarios, a new arena, a new battleground, the return of item upgrades (for a whole lot cheaper, which is nice,) and heroic-difficulty scenarios with better rewards (so... scenarios are the new dungeons?)
This is literally the first we've heard about 5.3, and I expect there are other aspects of the patch that have not yet been talked about. We know that 5.3 is supposed to show us how the Pandaren Campaign has affected the Alliance and Horde, so I expect to see new daily factions with a story to work through. While the quests themselves in the Isle of Thunder are not really breaking totally new ground, the island and it's many nooks and crannies are providing some interesting novelties.
Anyway, so far the most interesting stuff we've got are the various descriptions for the Scenarios. There is a battle on the high seas, which I expect will be basically a battle on the high seas (something I've always wanted to see in WoW.) There is one that I would guess is Alliance-specific, where you and Moira Bronzebeard have to stop a Zandalari agent who is rallying the Frostmane Trolls in Dun Morogh (pretty awesome to see Moira get something to do) and another is presumably Horde-specific, where you are attempting to track down a missing person in Durotar (Vol'jin? Thrall? ...Gallywix?) Finally, there is another scenario which I thought at first might be Horde-specific, but might not be - in which you look into the excavations of a Goblin mining team that dug too deep somewhere in Pandaria. Eldritch goodies relating to Y'shaarj?
Blizzard has said that the narrative of this last stretch of Mists is seeing how the Horde begins to crumble while the Alliance pulls itself together. While the "main event" of the Horde underground rising up against Garrosh and the Kor'kron may be saved for 5.4, I expect we'll see at least the initial stages here. Meanwhile, the Alliance needs to get something to do. In truth, the Alliance does not seem to be damaged quite as much as the Horde by the Pandaria campaign. Sure, Jaina's a little more gung-ho, and the purge of Dalaran was a little shocking, but compared to the straight-up massacres the Horde has been behind, I was kind of expecting to see a little more darkness out of the Alliance (I'm a bit like Charlie Brown and the football that way.)
One of the things that they've never really gotten around to doing (other than through a battleground that's a clone of an older battleground) is letting the Alliance try to take back Gilneas. The irony is that actually, after the Horde quests in Silverpine, the Alliance is officially holding it, but it's nothing a Worgen player would see. I'd love to see a daily faction for the Alliance called the Gilneas Liberation Front. Would it fit here? Not sure, but it would provide the Alliance a way of feeling empowered without having daily quests that send us to raid Orgrimmar.
These patch notes seem really incomplete and without focus, which is why I fully expect that a real announcement (probably not too long from now) is going to show us what 5.3's main event is.
Jeez, at this rate, is the next expansion going to come out this winter?
No. No it won't. (Prove me wrong, Blizz.)
So far, the new features they have announced are four new scenarios, a new arena, a new battleground, the return of item upgrades (for a whole lot cheaper, which is nice,) and heroic-difficulty scenarios with better rewards (so... scenarios are the new dungeons?)
This is literally the first we've heard about 5.3, and I expect there are other aspects of the patch that have not yet been talked about. We know that 5.3 is supposed to show us how the Pandaren Campaign has affected the Alliance and Horde, so I expect to see new daily factions with a story to work through. While the quests themselves in the Isle of Thunder are not really breaking totally new ground, the island and it's many nooks and crannies are providing some interesting novelties.
Anyway, so far the most interesting stuff we've got are the various descriptions for the Scenarios. There is a battle on the high seas, which I expect will be basically a battle on the high seas (something I've always wanted to see in WoW.) There is one that I would guess is Alliance-specific, where you and Moira Bronzebeard have to stop a Zandalari agent who is rallying the Frostmane Trolls in Dun Morogh (pretty awesome to see Moira get something to do) and another is presumably Horde-specific, where you are attempting to track down a missing person in Durotar (Vol'jin? Thrall? ...Gallywix?) Finally, there is another scenario which I thought at first might be Horde-specific, but might not be - in which you look into the excavations of a Goblin mining team that dug too deep somewhere in Pandaria. Eldritch goodies relating to Y'shaarj?
Blizzard has said that the narrative of this last stretch of Mists is seeing how the Horde begins to crumble while the Alliance pulls itself together. While the "main event" of the Horde underground rising up against Garrosh and the Kor'kron may be saved for 5.4, I expect we'll see at least the initial stages here. Meanwhile, the Alliance needs to get something to do. In truth, the Alliance does not seem to be damaged quite as much as the Horde by the Pandaria campaign. Sure, Jaina's a little more gung-ho, and the purge of Dalaran was a little shocking, but compared to the straight-up massacres the Horde has been behind, I was kind of expecting to see a little more darkness out of the Alliance (I'm a bit like Charlie Brown and the football that way.)
One of the things that they've never really gotten around to doing (other than through a battleground that's a clone of an older battleground) is letting the Alliance try to take back Gilneas. The irony is that actually, after the Horde quests in Silverpine, the Alliance is officially holding it, but it's nothing a Worgen player would see. I'd love to see a daily faction for the Alliance called the Gilneas Liberation Front. Would it fit here? Not sure, but it would provide the Alliance a way of feeling empowered without having daily quests that send us to raid Orgrimmar.
These patch notes seem really incomplete and without focus, which is why I fully expect that a real announcement (probably not too long from now) is going to show us what 5.3's main event is.
Jeez, at this rate, is the next expansion going to come out this winter?
No. No it won't. (Prove me wrong, Blizz.)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
So, the big PAX East announcement from Blizzard has arrived, and it appears that they are coming out with a side-project based on the Warcraft universe that is a collectable card game. Much like the older members of Blizzard, I was an avid player of Magic the Gathering both when I was in elementary school and the game was still new (I came in around Fallen Empires, and played through Tempest) and later on in college through Magic Online (which I had to use a PC Emulator for) during the Kamigawa, Ravnica, and a bit of the Time Spiral blocks. (Ravnica has got to be the best block they ever did. Wonder how Return to Ravnica is.)
Anyway, even though there is already a CCG for Warcraft, Hearthstone appears to be a fully-digital version. It's free to play, operating by having people buy card packs to build their decks. It actually appears that you can earn more cards simply by playing the game.
One could argue that as a "free to play" game with "microtransactions," Blizzard is dipping their toes into a business model that we all kind of dread WoW would wind up with. On the other hand, an online CCG kind of makes the most sense as a FTP set-up.
I only ever really played Magic as my CCG, so I don't know much about other styles. However, given Blizzard's talent for polish and balance, I think this could prove to be a fun little diversion (though of course there will be some people who get super hardcore about it.)
The emphasis on this game seems to be for casual fun, as embodied by a drunken dwarf who seems to be the game's mascot. I'm sure it will find a place on my dock and see play when I don't feel like logging in to the real WoW.
Anyway, even though there is already a CCG for Warcraft, Hearthstone appears to be a fully-digital version. It's free to play, operating by having people buy card packs to build their decks. It actually appears that you can earn more cards simply by playing the game.
One could argue that as a "free to play" game with "microtransactions," Blizzard is dipping their toes into a business model that we all kind of dread WoW would wind up with. On the other hand, an online CCG kind of makes the most sense as a FTP set-up.
I only ever really played Magic as my CCG, so I don't know much about other styles. However, given Blizzard's talent for polish and balance, I think this could prove to be a fun little diversion (though of course there will be some people who get super hardcore about it.)
The emphasis on this game seems to be for casual fun, as embodied by a drunken dwarf who seems to be the game's mascot. I'm sure it will find a place on my dock and see play when I don't feel like logging in to the real WoW.
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