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New Ghostcrawler Blog: Mists of Pandaria Looting Explained
Well, we knew after the bombshells Blizzard dropped both at the press event and later that week about LFR and looting, Ghostcrawler would have to explain it for us. And here it is.
Hey, how about that landslide of Mists of Pandaria information? It has taken a few days, and will probably take a few more, for the nuance of everything to really sink in. One of the topics we've been getting lots of questions about is the crazy new loot model we're introducing in Mists. We've answered several related questions in the forums, but thought it might be prudent to just put all the information in one place.I should clarify that the systems we're introducing are actually pretty simple in practice. I'm only going into a fair amount of detail because those are the kinds of questions we are getting. You don't have to understand all the particulars to participate, and we're certain that it will just all make sense once you are experiencing it in-game instead of hearing it described (that whole "show, don't tell" thing). Let's begin:
Personal Loot
Here is how looting works in today's Raid F
Live
Mists of Pandaria Preview: New Scholomance and Monk Talent Calculator Updates
Content manager Krelumian managed to get footage of my paladin doing Scholomance and turn it into a video, so we figured we'd post it here for everyone to see as a new post!
Additionally,
our talent calculator now has abilities and specializations live for the monk
!
A lot of you requested it yesterday and Aryu worked hard last night to make sure it was up on a weekend.
Be sure to check out our other two previews of redesigned dungeons:
Scarlet Monastery
becomes the Scarlet Halls & Cathedral, where many new things are happening.
Ragefire Chasm
has a new evil lurking underneath Orgrimmar.
Scholomance
Overview
Familiar faces like
Janice Barov
and
Rattlegore
are back with updated mechanics, but some other bosses like Ras Frostwhisper[/b
Live
Mists of Pandaria Preview: The Scarlet Halls and Cathedral Redesigns
We got to check out two wings of
Scarlet Monastery
--
formerly four instances, SM is now reduced down to two
. This instance has been entirely retooled: bosses are redesigned and renamed, large areas are removed, sides commonly known as the Library and the Armory were merged to become
the Scarlet Halls
while the Graveyard and Cathedral became
the Scarlet Cathedral
.
In short, a lot of HUGE changes! We've also updated this post because our instance was bugged last time.
Watch the video for our complete run through--my character with Krelumian narrating--or click the tabs to see a detailed breakdown on what the changes are.
Video
The Scarlet Crusade is having a war and they're losing it pretty badly in the remnants of what many players referred to as
the Graveyard side
. Undead pour in and corpses burn in large, decaying piles throughout the somber scene. The area has also been pruned of
Interrogator Vishas
and his torture scene as well as trash mobs.
This is now part of Scarlet Cathedral
. It transitions seamlessly into where the Cathedral area was.
High Inquisitor Whitemane
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Mists of Pandaria 2012 Press Event: Full Monk Talents Revealed and More!
The NDA is lifted! We can now talk about the Mists of Pandaria press event we were invited to last week. From building your own farms to talents and specializations for Monks, we've got it all and we're ready to share.
Check out our exclusive interviews with Blizzard
and
the Mists of Pandaria official FAQ
for even
more
information.
Here's some of the bigger points of interest:
Garrosh will be this expansion's final boss
.
Female pandaren were revealed
.
Eleven character slots
will let everyone try out a monk.
A new faction lets player have their own farms in-game
. They will be able to manage livestock and more all the while gaining reputation. Other factions will offer other activities, from raising a serpent to become your mount to defending outposts for dailies.
Cooking will have four specializations
allowing for customized food.
Prime glyphs ha
Live
Interviews with Greg Street, Cory Stockton, Tom Chilton, and J Allen Brack
We had a chance to sit down with Cory Stockton and Tom Chilton for exclusive interviews about Mists of Pandaria. Lore from
Tankspot
got to sit down with Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) and J Allen Brack. Their answers are great and we've transcribed all of them down below.
However, in case you just aren't
that
into reading, we've also uploaded videos of all four interviews as well!
Make sure you also read our huge guide
and
the Mists of Pandaria official FAQ
for even more information!
Cory Stockton
Tom Chilton
J. Allen Brack
[url=
http://www.wowheadnew
Live
News Round Up: Stat Changes and Scroll of Resurrection
With the recent
Post Mortem
on Dungeons and Raids, as well as the blog on
stat changes
, there's been a lot of discussion on all the changes--the blue responses today cover a lot of controversial decisions on these topics.
But on to the really exciting news: it looks like there's a new Scroll of Resurrection program! It was accessible on live servers earlier today (via your Real ID list), but looks to be down for maintenance now. It's a pretty sweet deal to draw your friends back in--the recruited friend gets a free faction change, server transfer, and copy of Cataclysm, as well as a character instantly boosted to 80. This could explain all those ilvl 232 armor pieces and weapons we datamined back in 4.3--like the
Zealous Armor
--your fresh 80 will need some new gear.
Discuss the new Scroll of Resurrection over here as well as see the huge FAQ
!
Stat Cla
Live
News Round Up: Dragon Soul Nerfs Continue and so do MoP Talent Explanations
Dragon Soul is receiving what will be the second of its zone wide nerfs, decreasing the damage dealt and health of its enemies by 10% from 5%.
There has been some retaliation from players, but it's always good to remember that the last thing Blizzard wants is another situation like the original Naxxaramas--it is their company goal now to have the majority of its playerbase experience the encounters and this is their method of doing it. Besides, it's not like it's a surprise now, is it?
In other news, we have our recent giveaway winners to announce. We have a bunch because I went on a giveaway spree last week. I'm sorry, I won't do it again!
However, our friends at WoWInterface are holding a
raffle this week
--check it out if you like
Party G.R.E.N.A.D.E.
and
Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuit
!
Giveaway Winners
Mount Giveaway Winners
Heart of the Aspects
Mount and 4 AMPM Cups
Heart of the Aspects
Mount
soleless
Umbra000
[td align=c
Live
Patch 4.3.2 Live Today
It has taken its time, but 4.3.2 is finally hitting servers this week!
A controversial patch, this one introduces gradually scaling zone buffs to
Dragon Soul
that recall back to the ones Icecrown Citadel had--a 5% buff will be added to the instance for raids who which to take advantage of it. There are also several encounter specific nerfs that aim to allow different raid compositions for the instance's final heroic modes and several class balance tweaks.
As Blizzard has said prior
, this will be the last patch of Cataclysm before a pre-Mists of Pandaria world event, so this patch also marks the beginning of the end for this expansion!
<div xmlns="
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
class="detail"><p>During the scheduled server maintenance on the week of January 31, the Dragon Soul raid will become enveloped by the “Power of the Aspects” spell, reducing the health and damage dealt of all enemies in the raid by 5%. This spell will grow progressively stronger over time to reduce the difficulty and make
Live
Dragon Soul Difficulty Changes Coming Soon
Similar to nerfs in Firelands and Icecrown, it's time for Dragon Soul to begin having its difficulty adjusted. This time, it's via "Power of the Aspects," coming the week of January 31st, which reduces the health and damage dealt by all enemies in the raid by 5%. This spell will stack over time in normal and Heroic difficulties.
This may seem a bit sudden to players, as well as unexpected--with LFR being designed to be accessible, why make heroics easier this early on?
<div xmlns="
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
class="detail"><p>During the scheduled server maintenance on the week of January 31, the Dragon Soul raid will become enveloped by the “Power of the Aspects” spell, reducing the health and damage dealt of all enemies in the raid by 5%. This spell will grow progressively stronger over time to reduce the difficulty and make the encounters more accessible. The spell will affect both normal and Heroic difficulties, but it will not affect the Looking for Raid difficulty.</p>
<p><br />
The spell can also be disabled by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of Dragon Soul, if a r
Live
Dragon Soul: A Guide to Gearing up in 4.3
4.3 launched this week; it's time for another guide to gearing up in a new patch. As usual, this guide does not aim to provide a BiS set of heroic Dragon Soul gear for each class and spec; rather it analyzes the new loot in the context of current options for several different playstyles.
There's two notable new ways to acquire gear: Looking for Raid and expanded Valor Point loot tables.
Looking for Raid:
Players can now queue up as a group or by themselves to join a 25-man raid. These raids will not have a lockout and they will drop tier 13, although the stats will be lower than a normal or heroic 25-man. The LFR system operates much like the current dungeon finder and even minimizes the raid itself, splitting it in half, so players can only queue for half of an instance at a time. Players need a minimum ilvl of 372 to be eligible to queue.
Valor Points:
While players cannot purchase Tier 13 pieces with Valor Points, the vendors sell ilvl 397 items for practically every slot. Those that aren't covered by points are covered with new BoE craftables. The idea is to have Valor Point gearing become an alternative path to normal-mode gearing.
This guide covers the following types of loot:
[
Live
PvP Season 10 Ending Soon, And Point Sellback Conversion Policy
Arena and Rated Battleground Season 10 is scheduled to end as early as November 15. At that point we will determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards, a process that should take approximately one week. It's very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for Arena titles and/or the Vicious Gladiator’s Twilight Drake to refrain from transferring their characters to another realm or faction until after Season 10 ends. During the break between seasons, all Rated Battleground and Arena matches will be unavailable.
At the end of the season, Conquest Points will be converted to Honor Points, possibly exceeding the 4,000 point Honor cap. All Season 10 items will cost Honor Points (equivalent to their previous Conquest Point cost) when the season ends, with the exception of any items with rating requirements attached. These items will no longer be available for purchase.
Please be aware that
higher ilvl PvP items will be introduced and available for Honor points with patch 4.3
.
The next Arena and Rated Battleground season will begin for level-85 players approximately one week after the end of Season 10 and will coincide with t
Live
BlizzCon 2011 Coverage Roundup
It's been a busy week for Ashelia and myself in the wake of BlizzCon. Like our 4.3 coverage roundup a few weeks back, we wanted to organize everything related to BlizzCon in one post--because we know there's some awesome things that slipped through the cracks in your first read-through. We'll be launching a full Mists of Pandaria guide shortly (that will include even more information released outside of BlizzCon--like Thursday's Dev Q&A), but in the meantime, catch up on all the news coverage and relive the last weekend!
Oh, and while you're at it, be sure to enter our
Hallow's End WoW TCG Giveaway
--we've giving away thirty prizes, including some
Swift Shorestrider
codes. Simply comment with your favorite holiday to enter, although the judges will take a second look at creative and detailed responses!
BlizzCon 2011: Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator, Today's Panels, and More
On Saturday, we unveiled our Mists of Pandaria
talent calculator
.
Live
Raid Lockout Changes Being Tested in Taiwan and Korea, Other Regions Someday
So in Taiwan and Korea lockout timers are going to be adjusted to reset twice a week--the interesting news is that these may come to other regions at some point. This is a pretty significant change in store, though they do not have a time frame yet for US or EU regions.
The new raid lockout changes for Taiwan and Korea adjust the lockout timers for the patch 4.0 and 4.2 raids. The lockout timers for these raids will now reset twice weekly instead of once. These raid lockout changes are being made to allow players to raid more often and get more chances at epic loot drops. Players will be able to down current Cataclysm raid bosses twice a week, accelerating players’ progression.
We are testing these new raid lockout changes in Taiwan and Korea first. Our goal is to expand this change to other regions in the future, but we don’t have anything further to announce at this time with regard to North American implementation.
Live
BlizzCon 2011: Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator, Today's Panels, and More
Today was another huge day, so we have combined this post into a day two guide--nothing was quite big enough to stand out on its own.
However, we have some pretty big news here at Wowhead. All weekend, we had a huge focus on Mists of Pandaria, and our team manned up and worked overtime on a special project.
Even though the new talents are going to be changed and retooled, we have built an initial version of
a Mists of Pandaria talent calculator
! This was just a
huge
team effort, pretty much everyone worked very hard on it. Thanks everyone for putting in overtime during BlizzCon weekend just to get a visual representation of the contents.
Visit the Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator
.
Oh, and Noxy was also awesome and drew a comic about her feelings about Mists of Pandaria. She thinks you might find it similar to other games on the market...
Mists of Pandaria Talents & Talent Calculator
As we said above,
we made a Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator
! Check it o
Live
BlizzCon 2011: Mists of Pandaria and What We Know
Update: we had a huge day of panels on Saturday as well. We also have a
Mists of Pandaria talent calculator
on Wowhead!
Cheat Sheet for Mists of Pandaria
Rather than force you to sift through liveblogs and official previews, Perculia and Ashelia have broken down exactly what is coming with Mists of Pandaria. Find out what's happening, what you'll be doing, and more with this first peak cheat sheet we've included right here at the top of the post.
And, of course, Perculia got some immediate hands-on time with the starting zone. Word on the street is that she rolled around a lot and had a blast--but maybe you should read her actual preview below!
Pandarens and Pandaria
Leveling in Pandaria
Pandaria has been shrouded in a mist. The alliance and horde wash up on the shores of Pandaria during a naval battle. They immediately want it for their own for the war--so they are going to destroy the pandaren to get its resources!
I was able to test out most of the starting zone in the press room--here's my thoughts!
Live
4.3 Preview: Yor'sahj the Unsleeping and Ultraxion Dragon Soul Coverage
We have a long weekend coming; BlizzCon is finally here and our
huge party
is about to go down. But today I was able to hop on the PTR to test and kill Yor'sahj the Unsleeping and Ultraxion on 25-player mode! They are fairly easy fights, just how a normal 25-man fight should be. I imagine that Yor'sahj in particular will be incredibly tough on heroic as some of his combinations were hard even on normal.
Live
Orange: A Guide to all Legendary Weapons
With the buzz about the teaser information for
Fangs of the Father
, it's a good time to go back and look at the other legendaries Blizzard has implemented across expansions. Many of these weapons have similarly striking questlines and unique models--even if you can't transmogrify them, they're worth collecting. Whether you're trying to farm one of these for the looks or lore, or were the first person in your guild to receive one during progression, legendaries have a special place in everyone's heart.
We've also gone through the database to highlight removed, silly, and temporary legendaries for your amusement, as they've got some funny stories behind them too!
Equippable Legendaries
Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest
This staff is a must-have for any caster in Firelands--plus it turns you into a dragon (
Tarecgosa's Visage
)! Wowhead moderator Gnub has provided an in-depth guide to
acquiring this weapon
, but we'll give you a few of the highlights here. Players w
Live
4.3 Preview: Well of Eternity Overview and Dragon Soul Testing
Blizzard hit us with an unexpected testing phase this afternoon of the new raid as well as the final 5-man; unfortunately, the raid was announced right as the bosses went live, so the servers started tanking immediately while everyone rushed to log on. Only a few groups got a 10-man together--most top-end guilds fought the loading screen boss instead, getting 4-5 of their members in the instance before testing time ran out. We managed to get in and take some screenshots, but sadly, the majority of my guild was stuck at the loading bar for the entire night.
All of this is to say I doubt we'll see many good videos, as the streams were fairly disappointing due to guilds like Blood Legion only able to pull trash due to limited numbers--most videos will probably be PUG point of views.
A rocky start, but hopefully we'll have some great testing sessions before and after BlizzCon!
Here are our other 5-man related previews
:
End Time Preview
Hour of Twilight Pre
Live
4.3 Dragon Soul Raid Drops
Last night's PTR patch let us see what will drop from the new raid instance, as the dungeon journal was updated for the Dragon Soul bosses finally.
Some notes: the items themselves aren't entirely done nor is this by any means a final draft of the loot and its ilevels. We think the stats are fairly accurate; however, their names are obviously generated with the "Horrific" prefix and some of their text is erroneous, like the season 10 item or the multiple ones that require Avengers' of Hyjal reputation. Still, this serves as a great basis for what's dropping where--as well as what type of boss you'll be facing, lootwise. I mean, Spine of Deathwing is looking like a trinket boss to us!
Dragon Soul
Morchok
Pillarfoot Greaves
Robe of Glowing Stone
Petrified Fungal Heart
Vagaries of Time
Mycosynth Wristguards
Hand of Morchok
Underdweller's Spaulders
Girdle of Shattered Stone
Mosswrought Shoulderguards
Brackenshell Shoulderplates
Sporebeard Gauntlets
[li
Live
Hunter Tier 13 and Visual Retrospective
<div xmlns="
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
class="detail"><p>Adventurers will be tested like never before in 4.3 as they take on Deathwing and his minions, emerging with powerful new treasures. Please enjoy this preview of the hunter tier 13 set, as well as a visual guide to tiers 1 through 12 for <a href="
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3309048">Transmogrification</a>
purposes.<br />
</p>
<center>
<p><a class="lightbox" href="
http://us.media3.battle.net/cms/gallery/UORMHCSH8P9E1317943337115.jpg"><img
alt="" src="
http://us.media3.battle.net/cms/gallery/UORMHCSH8P9E1317943337115.jpg"
style="width: 570px; height: 356px;" /></a></p>
<p>Hunter – Wyrmstalker Battlegear</p>
</center>
<p><em>We like to tie a Hunter’s Tier armour in with an appropriate donor creature – it suggests the Hunter has actually <em>hunted</em> for the set! As there’s an awful lot of dragons in this patch, a draconic theme was the way to go. We wanted to reference but not simply reproduce the classic Dragonstalker set. To that end, we limited the use of dragon heads to the helm and chained leathery wings around the shoulders which gives the impression of a skeletal drago
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