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Live
Mists of Pandaria: Developer Chat Hosted by Best Buy
Best Buy is holding a developer chat with Lead Systems Designer Greg Street, Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas, Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton, and Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak starting at
6 pm CST
! Community Managers Zarhym and Crithto will be moderating.
If you'd like to join in the conversation and have a question that didn't get answered at the Reddit AMA, you can join the Best Buy chat
here
.
Classes in MoP
What was the idea with Monk healing? What mix of elements inspired it and defined it?
Greg Street: Mostly we wanted it to feel different from existing healers, so there is an emphasis on a channeled spell as the main heal. We also wanted to emphasize movement and damage-dealing to heal, because those were core to the monk class.
Were Orges ever thought of as a playalbe race, at one time?
GhostCrawler: Yep. We considered them for Cataclysm instead of goblins. Figuring out the females and the two-headed mages would be (fun!) challenges. Maybe someda
Live
Mists of Pandaria Launch Times
The official Mists of Pandaria launch times are as follows:
North and Latin American realms - 12:00 a.m. PDT, September 25
European realms - 12:00 a.m. CEST, September 25
Korean/Taiwan realms - 12:00 a.m. KST, September 27
With this expansion, we’re using a new bit of tech that will unlock the expansion content, make the intro quest magically pop up in your quest log, and allow you to begin playing the expansion immediately without the need to log out and back in. If everything goes as planned this will be a smooth transition to the adventures that await you in the new continent.
See you in-game!
Live
Theramore's Fall: Scenario Preview and Interview with Christie Golden
Theramore's Fall
is now live on US servers! It will run from September 17th to the 24th for level 85s. We've got previews of the scenario for each faction, all rewards, and an interview with Christie Golden, author of
Tides of War
, who worked with the quest team to design this scenario!
This post is pretty spoiler-heavy, so turn back now if you don't want to learn the outcome.
Overview
From
September 17-24 only
, players can queue up at 85 for
Theramore's Fall
, a new scenario. The scenario can be later completed by level 90 players in Mists of Pandaria.
Theramore will eventually be changed permanently to its post-battle state in a future patch--but you'll only see it now if you've completed the sceanrio.
Jaina has a new in-game model after the attack on Theramore: the harmful magic from Garrosh's bomb on Theramore turns her hair permanently white. Check out the
before
and
after
images.
Theramore will still be a zone players can quest in. However, the former inter
Live
Theramore's Fall Unlocked Today, September 17th
Edit: The scenario is now live on US servers and our
preview
is up!
Kaivax and Bashiok just updated the forums that Theramore's Fall, the MoP Pre-release scenario, is hitting US servers today
instead
of tomorrow, as originally planned.
It is now live in Europe
and will be on US servers starting at
6 pm EST
.
Bashiok
For US servers it will be unlocked today in the afternoon.
Based on Bashiok's twitter, it seems that EU will get the scenario slightly earlier than the US!
It's tied to relative timezones and giving each region the same amount of time with it. EU will unlock first.
When it goes live, we'll have a preview of the scenario with screenshots and a video! Here's what we know so far from forum posts and datamining.
Overview
From
September 17-24 only
, players can queue up at 85 for
Theramore's Fall
, a new scenario. The scenario can be later completed by level 90 players in Mists of Pandaria. Scenarios are not
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Challenge Modes
For the current Challenge Mode guide as of Patch 5.1,
click here
!
When
asked on Reddit
what their most exciting feature was for Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard responded with
Challenge Modes
. This feature has a lot of cool things in store: rewards include mounts and vanity armor, it's content you can't outgear, and it's a great way for skilled players on a limited schedule to access challenging content.
Challenge Mode Overview
Challenge Modes are timed heroic instance runs, done in low ilvl gear. Any gear worn above ilvl 463 will be scaled down. This ensures that running these instances will be challenging even in later tiers--you can't outgear it. In addition, the pulls will be more complex than on Heroic mode.
All nine Mists of Pandaria dungeons will come with Challenge Modes.
Durability will not be affected by running Challenge Modes, since you won't be getting items
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Priest Class Preview
Today's class preview takes a look at
Priest
s in Mists of Pandaria. Armor sets have undergone many revisions since we first previewed them, with the Priest Challenge Mode set being completely new! We also have a look at all the new abilities, lists of talents, and screenshots as usual.
Check out our past class previews:
Death Knight Class Preview
Druid Class Preview
Hunter Class Preview
Mage Class Preview
Paladin Class Preview
Rogue Class Preview
Sham
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Paladin Class Preview
Today's Mists of Pandaria class preview covers
Paladin
s. We have all the new tier gear and level 90 abilities listed, as well as cool graphics--like a talent that gives you the Ashbringer!
Check out our past class previews:
Death Knight Class Preview
Druid Class Preview
Hunter Class Preview
Mage Class Preview
Rogue Class Preview
Shaman Class Preview
Warlock Class Preview
[url=
http://www.cuckhead.com/news=205761/mists-of-pandaria-warrior-c
Live
Former Players Eligible for Free Week of WoW
<div class="detail"><p>If you or your friends have taken a break from World of Warcraft, you may be interested to hear that for the next few weeks former players can come back to try the latest patch for a week free! To find out if you’re eligible just click here and <a href="
https://eu.battle.net/account/management/wow/claim-promotion.html"
target="_blank">claim your time.</a></p></br>
<p>If you’ve got a friend who hasn’t had a chance to try out WoW yet, don’t forget about our Recruit-A-Friend program. You can earn an epic flying mount – the swift and sleek Obsidian Nightwing – along with 30 days of game time, and your friend will get perks (including bonus XP and bonus levels) designed to make it easier for the two of you to adventure together. Visit <a href="
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/services/recruit-a-friend/"
target="_blank">
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/services/recruit-a-friend/</a>
to learn more.</p></br>
<p>You can also read our <a href="
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/5739421/Patch_504_Survival_Guide-29_08_2012"
target="_blank">5.0.4 Survival Guide.</a></p></br>
<p>Learn more about the upcoming expansion to World of Warcraft:
Live
Ask Blizzard Anything: Blizzard's Reddit Q&A
Blizzard is following the trend of many gaming companies tonight by taking to Reddit to do their interaction with the community! Tonight Blizzard developers and community team members are going to be hosting a Q&A session through the popular website.
The Q&A is now done and we feel like this was a tremendous one. Blizzard really outdid themselves with transparency, talking extensively about issues they'd previously avoided. The PvE section is especially illuminating. Thanks Blizzard!
Lore
Given what Sylvanas and the Forsaken have been up to regarding the Plague, isn't it inevitable that her desire to "procreate" the undead will bring the Forsaken into direct conflict with all the living factions?
Well, first she'd have to run out of corpses, so from that perspective, the war is REALLY helping the Forsaken out... ;)
This is a good question, because the nature of the Forsaken makes them a really unstable ally. That leads to some great stories. At the moment, Sylvanas is fort
Live
Patch 5.0.5 Notes, Jade Forest Preview
Today's a busy day for Blizzard! They're having a WoW Developer Reddit AMA at 5:30 PM PDT today, and they also just posted Patch 5.0.5 notes (mainly tooltip and bug fixes) and a preview of The Jade Forest, including screenshots and music samples!
<div class="post-detail">
It’s been two weeks since <a href="
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/7045643/504_Survival_Guide-8_24_2012"
class="bml-link-url2">patch 5.0.4</a> was released and, with only two weeks to go until Mists of Pandaria takes the world by storm, we feel that this is the perfect time to give you access to the World of Warcraft development team. Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 11 beginning at 5:30 p.m. PDT, we’ll be conducting a live developer “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on <a href="
http://www.reddit.com/r/wow/"
class="bml-link-url2">/r/WoW</a>. I’ll be on-hand to host the chat and will have Lead Systems Designer Greg Street, Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak, Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas, and Game Director Tom Chilton available to field your questions. <br/><br/>We’ll spend at least an hour working to answer everything possible.
Live
Mists of Pandaria Rare Spawns: Lost and Found Preview
We covered the
rare spawns of Pandaria
a few weeks ago, and thought it was cool how they dropped a bunch of unique vanity items like
Mr. Smite's Brass Compass
. We thought Blizzard really outdid themselves by returning to some of the detailed insanity of vanilla with quirky rare spawns.
Well, there's more.
For the
Lost and Found
Exploration achievement series, you'll loot rare items that are just
lying around
Pandaria--pulling them out of trees, opening boxes, exploring caves. It's like hunting for a rare spawns' loot, except the NPC step has been cut out! As for what you'll find:
BoA rare weapons--some with unique models for transmog.
Fun recipes including
Four Senses Brew
that gives the illusion that your character is wearing a red
Cursed Vision of Sargeras
(casters rejoice!)
Vendor trash like
Ancient Pandaren Woodcutter
with joking flavor text.
Useful profession perks like
Ancient Pandaren Fishing Lure
.
BoP rares, usually looted from a chest.
Items are still being added--there were several in the most recent patch--so right now not every object listed
Live
Mists of Pandaria: New Titles, News Round Up
Mists of Pandaria has new titles, rewards from everything from completing raid achievements to collecting pets! We've listed all the new titles below and their sources Don't forget, with account-wide titles now, many if not all of these will be account-wide in Mists!
<Name>, The Beloved
: Raise 70 reputations to Exalted. Ghostcrawler clarified on Twitter that friendship bars, such as
Nat Pagle
, count as factions as well--making this a bit easier.
<Name>, Delver of the Vaults
: Complete
Heroic: Will of the Emperor
.
Farmer <Name>
: Exalted with the Tillers.
<Name> the Fearless
: Complete
Heroic: Sha of Fear
in Terrace of Endless Spring.
<Name>, Master of the Ways
: Raise your cooking to 600 and complete
Master of Pandaren Cooking
.
<Name> the Relic Hunter
: From
Is Another Man's Treasure
. In addition to rare spawns bringing quirky flavor to MoP, there are rare objects hi
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Druid Class Preview
Today's preview covers the
Druid
class! We've got a ton of things to share in this preview, including
3D models for all specs and fur colors, and screenshots of all the vanity glyphs. We also have the usual breakdown of changed class abilities, a visual preview of the new PvE and PvP tier sets, and an updated table for all the
ability swaps. For those wondering what
, the new level 87 ability actually does--the Druid casts it on a fellow player, and based on the class and spec, the Druid and player each get a new ability!
Armor Sets
LFR
Normal
Heroic
Challenge Mode
[model itemset=6,109154,8,115271
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Warrior Class Preview
Today's Mists of Pandaria class feature covers
Warrior
s. We have previews of all the new armor sets as well as screenshots of vanity glyphs and a list of ability changes! New abilities include
, and level 90 talents are
Avatar
,
, and
Storm Bolt
.
Also, if you like reading up on class changes,
Ghostcrawler joined twitter yesterday
. So far, nothing new, but his feed is quickly turning into another Beta Class Analysis thread with clarifications on achievements and abilities.
Armor Sets
LFR
Normal
Heroic
Challenge Mode
[model itemset=9,11
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Rogue Class Preview and Build 16048 Spell Changes
We continue our Mists of Pandaria class previews with a look at
Rogue
s today. Blizzard has stated in the past that they are quite happy with Rogue core mechanics, resources, and niche specialties, but there are still some interesting changes. Most notably, poisons have been extensively reworked and rogues bring more raid buffs than in the past.
There was a very minor beta patch today, so we've put the spell changes under the cut!
Armor Sets
LFR
Normal
Heroic
Challenge Mode
Spaulders of the Thousandfold Blades
[it
Live
Q&A with Blizzard's Creative Development Team
We're used to hearing answers about class balance in beta from Blizzard developers, but today we have some details about WoW's lore moving forward from the Creative Development team!
<div class="post-detail">
The heroes of Azeroth have faced down many foes; blazing Elemental Lords freed from titanic prisons, mighty demons from beyond the stars, armies of shambling corpses and even eldritch gods who defy explanation. And yet, there exist only a chosen few equipped to deal with the powerful beast that is . . . Ask CDev. Through the heroic efforts of our brave loremasters here at CDev Publishing, we proudly present to you the answers to Ask CDev #3! We even managed to get them out before our stated deadline of “when the Andromeda galaxy collides with our own.”<br/><br/><strong><span class="underline">Here, there be dragons and magical beasts</span></strong><br/><br/><strong>Q:</strong> Wrathion constantly claims that he is the last black dragon, but what of Sabellian and the other black dragons in Outland (and even the Netherwing)? Did Wrathion somehow have them killed, or is he ignorant of their existe
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Hunter Preview and New Tames
Today's class preview covers
Hunter
s in Mists of Pandaria. Besides new abilities and talents, we'll take a look at the new pet classes Hunters can tame. In addition, Hunter Challenge Mode and PvP gear looks completely different since the first time we previewed it.
Armor Sets
LFR
Normal
Heroic
Challenge Mode
Yaungol Slayer's Spaulders
Yaungol Slayer's Legguards
Yaungol Slayer's Headguard
Yaungol Slayer's Gloves
Yaungol Slayer's Tunic
Yaungol Slayer's Spaulders
Yaungol Slayer's Legguards
Yaungol Slayer's Headguard
Live
News Round Up: Shorter Raid Cooldowns, Darkmoon Rabbit, 5.0.4 Class Mechanics
Now that 5.0.4 is live and players have had time to try out the new abilities, there's been many blue posts over the long weekend clarifying class mechanics and procs for abilities, weapons, and trinkets. You may also have noticed that some long cooldowns in 5.0.4 reset between raid encounters like
Rebirth
: there are plans to have even more 5+ minute cooldowns function this same way.
Also of particular note:
The Darkmoon Faire is back in town and brings with it
Darkmoon Rabbit
. This ferocious rabbit requires a large raid to take down and drops
Darkmoon Rabbit
one lucky player can win. Everyone in the raid is awarded
That Rabbit's Dynamite!
.
Raid Cooldowns
Most long-term cooldowns are not reset when a raid encounter ends. The ones we specifically wanted to hit were the battle rezes and the big, raid-wide cooldowns like
Bloodlust
and
Alter Time
. The question we asked ourselves was: would a reasonable, progression-oriented but not world-first guild delay their next pull by several minutes to wait for X to come off of cooldo
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Raid Weapon Models Preview
We're finishing up our Mists of Pandaria weapon previews with a look at 3D models from raids. In addition to the Sha-Touched weapons we previewed recently, all other weapons from LFR, Normal, and Heroic difficulty have unique colors and intricate models. There's also an unexpected bonus--we found that some Tier 9 raid models made their way to Pandaria, even some that are unobtainable since the removal of attempt-based Tribute Chests.
For past model previews, check out our weapons posts on
PvP
,
Questing and Dungeons
, and
Crafting
.
Tier 14 Raid Weapons
Raid Finder
Normal
Heroic
[model item=116927 slot=13 img=
http://wow.zamimg
.
Live
Mists of Pandaria: Mage Class Preview and Build 16030 Spell Changes
There's a beta patch today for MIsts of Pandaria, but it's a small patch so we're going to post our mage class preview as well!
Hit the break to see the spell differences, and read today's class preview first! For today's class preview, we'll look at
Mage
s. Each of the three iconic playstyles has undergone changes, opening up signature abilities to all specs. There's also a bunch of quirky minor glyphs, including one that summons elemental pets.
Armor Sets
LFR
Normal
Heroic
Challenge Mode
[ite
1
2
3
4
5
6
13