WoW Icecrown Citadel introduction quests

It's not technically an attunement, but there is a series of quests that guide you through the introductory 5 Player Dungeons surrounding Icecrown Citadel. You don't have to do these dungeons to get into the normal versions of Icecrown, but it sure brings a lot to the experience. I guess, in a sense, you can think of it as a simplified attunement.

Additionally, the gear that drops from these first three instances will go a long way towards catching up people to the ICC raid. In my raid, we call this "bootstrapping." There's a bunch of reasons you might need to bootstrap folks: a tank rotation, new people, meteor crashing into the planet, what have you.

As you do the quest, you'll enter (and do battle in):

The Forge of Souls

The Pit of Saron, and

The Halls of Reflection


So, let's take a look at these three instances and how to blur through them.

(Note: I'll be mostly talking about the Horde version of the quest chain. However, there's an Alliance version as well, and I'll try and point it out along the way. Yes, I know - I'm horribly Horde biased, after an entire couple months being a Belf, compared to my four years of being a Human.)

You can pick up the breadcrumb quest in Dalaran, which instructs you to rush to Icecrown Citadel. This first quest is for The Forge of Souls, and sends you to meet Sylvanas or Jaina. You can either get there by manually hoofing it to the Citadel, or you can use the handy-dandy Dungeon Finder tools to teleport you there. I've not been in a group yet who doesn't use the teleport.

Once you've spoken to your faction-appropriate person, your first job will be to take down Bronjahm.


The Forge of Souls

The Forge of Souls looks like it's going to be a complicated maze, but most of that is just backdrop. If you stick to the path, it's pretty tough to get lost. You'll have a small variety of trash along the way, but nothing too troublesome. Keep to the main rule: Kill the one in the dress first. Most of the trash should just be handled by killing casters first, then melee mobs.

Bronjahm

Bronjahm is the "Godfather of Souls." (His name is a mangled "James Brown" in reverse. Get it?) He's a caster-type boss with two distinct phases.

In the first phase, Bronjahm will create Corrupted Soul Fragments. They spawn on top of a random player. (What's happening here is that he's separating soul fragments from your character. As if you didn't have enough reasons to kill him.) Keep those soul fragments from reaching Bronjahm -- if they do, they'll heal him.

In the second phase, the boss will stat using Soulstorm. If you're on the edges of the platform, you'll take significant damage and be slowed. The way to avoid this effect is to move very close to the boss. (Hunters will need to keep a minimum range to attack, but they'll be safe at that minimum distance.)

Devourer of Souls

The Devourer of Souls is the second and last boss in the Forge. He has three tricks for which you should be prepared. First, he'll use Mirrored Soul. While linked with a player, damage taken by the Devourer will be shared to the targeted player. It's best to back off DPS during this time, and let the effect fade.

Second, the Devourer will Unleash Souls. A handful of ghosts will appear around the platform. While their damage isn't individually meaningful, if you have several of the critters pile up on you -- move. After this second phase, the Devourer will move on to Wailing Souls. It's basically an energy blast that sweeps around 90 degrees -- again, try not to stand in it.

Once you've downed the Devourer, you'll see Sylvanas (or Jaina) again, who will ask you to go into the Pit of Saron. There's a portal right behind where you killed the Devourer, and you can step through it into the Pit.

Part2

WOW Patch 3.3 and the Arena

There have been no immediate changes to the Arena directly due to patch 3.3. Okay, well, that's not entirely true, but the changes to the Arena are mostly change by implication. Nonetheless, there's enough little things that will affect the gladiators that it's worth spending a little time examining.

Probably the biggest change we've been hearing about is that you can now pick up Arena points from doing your daily battleground quest. At 25 Arena points per daily, It's not a huge amount of points. If you're already a very highly rated arena team, then you're probably not going to get a large amount of use from an extra 175 points a week. What the extra arena points do successfully, however, is promote a reason for battleground-players to try out the Arena.

While they could use the Arena point to pick up extra Honor points, it's not like those have ever been hard to come by. Instead, these new Arena points will hopefully tantalize those who haven't tried the Arena in Wrath of the Lich King. If that does happen, it will lead to some amount of inflation in Arena ratings. That would provide some relief to teams who are struggling to get a little higher, as well as introduce new players to our favorite e-sport.

Take a look behind the cut to see what else might be changing.

Icecrown Citadel

One of the easily overlooked effects of patch 3.3 is the introduction of the Icecrown Citadel. While the 5-man dungeons and raid do not directly provide any Resilience gear, the new source of advancement will certainly be seen in the Arena. Some of the super-sweet trinkets will definitely make their way into the Arena, and non-raiding gladiators are already concerned about having to face down Shadowmourne.

More importantly, however, is that PvPers who have an Arena Rating less than 1800 will finally have the opportunity to upgrade their weapons. Since the 5-man dungeons offer sweet weapons, like the Tyrannical Beheader, we're finally going to see retribution paladins and death knights sporting something other than the Edge of Ruin.

And though it's subtle, hunters finally have new ammunition with which to pewpew in PvP. While there's a little bit of argument about these new projectiles, you're certain to see hunters using them in the Arena.

AMG, pets get resilience!

C. Christian Moore covered this best, but it's worth mentioning again that pets finally get resilience. That probably won't make the strategy of "zerg down the ghoul" any less common in the Arena than it is now, but it will certainly help out those hunters and warlocks who rely on their pets for significant abilities.

Again, pets won't become unstoppable juggernauts, single-handedly cleaving through your team like an angry, angry kitty hurricane. This change will, however, mean that opponents need to take a little more time in deciding to waste their GCDs on a pet.

Arena Set Bonuses

The 2-piece bonus of all the Arena sets has been changed to provide 100 resilience as well as either 29 spell power or 50 attack power. The 4-piece bonus is remaining exactly the same, although it will now also provide an additional 88 spell or 100 attack power.

I'm not quite sure what spurred this bonus, although I certainly appreciate it in much the same fashion I would appreciate any buff. I suspect that it is somewhat meant to make PvP gear slightly more viable in PvE. While PvP gear isn't likely to return to the age of Season 2's "welfare epics," PvP gear is still some of the most "soloable" gear in the game. However, until now, it's had absolutely no application in the PvE game.

The 4-piece bonus, especially, will help provide a reason for rarely-tunneled classes to stick to their four-piece sets. Classes like retribution paladins, for example, might wear almost entirely PvE gear into the Arena. Why not? Because of their innate survivability and their iconic bubble, many 3v3 teams will leave the Ret to be killed last. However, with the little extra attack juice fueling their attacks now, that Ret might choose to stick for their 4-piece PvP set.

Mages

With the addition of Glyph of Eternal Water, you're going to see a lot more mage pets cruising in the Arena. They'd already been a significant anchor in the Mage's Arena toolbox, but this additional glyphs means they're going to be out all the time. In a sense, the glyph truly means that there are four pet classes available to rock the Arena world. (The other three, of course, are Death Knights, Hunters, and Warlocks, in alphabetical order.)

The Glyph does strip the Water Elemental of their Freeze ability. The jury's still out on whether or not that ability loss is going to be sufficient to convince Arena mages not to go for the permanent pet. I guess the decision will come down to whether the mage wants the pet to consistently be adding to DPS, or if the mage wants the pet to put out a little extra crowd control.

Class Changes

There's obviously been an entire bevy of class changes and balances. For discussion of most of those, I'd recommend checking out C. Christian Moore's breakdown of the patch 3.3 class changes.

Death Knights and Druids should check out part 1 of Blood Sport: Patch 3.3. Hunters, Mages, and and Paladins should read part 2. Warlocks and Preists are talked about in part 3.

The season isn't over

The last, big news about patch 3.3's effect on the Arena is a subtle one. It's an issue of omission. This is to say that the Arena season isn't over. There was no reset simply because patch 3.3 did not end the current Arena season.

That means that all of the changes -- new PvE gear, class changers, Arena points -- are all going to have an effect on the current ranks of gladiators. The season that they end will not be the same season that they started. It's too early to say whether the new weapons and gear will really changes things all that much, but there's going to at least be some mix up.

It would be a stretch to say that Blizzard wanted to let these changes affect the Arena directly because they were meant to provide some kind of fix. But I do rejoice for those battleground players who felt the Arena was out of their reach without honor weapons. With weapons coming from the Icecrown Citadel being fairly equal to 1800 level weapons, this gives them an opportunity to get into the Arena and get their hands dirty.

Good luck out, there, folks.

Patch 3.3 Icecrown Citadel raid boss information and resources

Patch 3.3 is out! With the release of Icecrown, WoW.com aims to help prepare you with the long journey through the Frozen Throne. In this post, you'll find general information about the various bosses along with the strategies to take them down.

There are 13 bosses in Icecrown. The first four bosses in the Lower Spire will be accessible the moment the patch goes live. The rest of the instance will gradually open up later on. Certain encounters will have limited attempts, but you won't have to worry about them later on.

Lastly, attunements are not required to enter Icecrown Citadel on normal mode.
Here's the full list of bosses that will be within Icecrown. Not all of them will be immediately available. Keep reading for a quick encounter breakdown along with links to additional resources.

The Lower Spire

Lord Marrowgar Lady Deathwhisper Icecrown Gunship Battle Deathbringer Saurfang

Plagueworks

Rotface* Festergut* Professor Putricide* Crimson Hall

Blood Princes* Blood-Queen Lana'thel* Frostwing Halls

Valithria Dreamwalker* Sindragosa* The Frozen Throne

Lich king* * = Not Available



Lord Marrowgar
After wading through various skeletons of all sizes, you'll come across this giant cacophony of floating bones. This introductory boss will set the tone for the rest of the instance. Yeah he's the first boss and all that, but don't take him lightly.

Breakdown: Marrowgar is a two phase encounter. Consider it a tank and spank fight. You'll need 3 tanks to equally distribute his Saber Lash. Watch out for the Coldflames and Bone Spike Graveyards! Coldflames will have to be dodged as the lines streak toward players. Players who are hit with a Bone Spike will need to be broken out of by other players as they will be unable to move (and the impaled player loses 10% of their health every second). On the second phase of Marrowgar, turn tail and run like a mad man to avoid Bone Storm! If you get drilled, you'll be bleeding out for the next 15 seconds. Once the Bone Storm phase is over, it's back to phase 1 and avoiding Coldflames.

Pro tip: Melee players can avoid fires if they stand within his hit box.

Additional information

WoW.com impressions Stratfu: Videos and detailed strategy WoWWiki MMO Champion: Known Marrowgar 25 man and 10 man loot


Lady Deathwhisper
You'll approach Lady Deathwhisper in a chamber behind where your raid took down Lord Marrowgar. All I can say is she looks kind of Lich-y. For the lore junkies, Lady Deathwhisper is also the Supreme Overseer of the Cult of the Damned.

Breakdown: Veterans of the game will remember Mu'ru and that's what the fight will be like in a nutshell.

Phase 1: Lady Deathwhisper starts the fight as immobile with a Mana Shield surrounding her. Your goal is to break open her Mana Shield. At this time, various mobs will spawn on both sides of the room and start attacking the raid. Cult Adherents are immune to magical damage (so assign melee onto them) but they can be Shackled. The rest of the adds will need to be grabbed by tanks and AoE'd down. If there is no trash to worry about, focus back on Lady Deathwhisper and break her shield down.

Other abilities by Deathwhisper include Death and Decay (it's bright green) and Mind Control (Polymorph them).

Phase 2: This phase begins when her Mana Shield is broken. At this point, Lady Deathwhisper is now free and can be picked up by a tank. Be careful as the tank is going to get blasted by an extremely powerful Frostbolt which can be interrupted. Other tanks will need to be careful and be prepared to switch as Touch of Insignificance will drop the current tank's threat.

Watch out for Vengeful Spirits that will spawn and chase random players around. If they catch up to them, they will explode and deal potentially lethal damage.

Pro tip: Ranged players can interrupt Frostbolt if there's a Death and Decay on top of Lady Deathwhisper.

Additional information

Stratfu: Videos and detailed strategy WoWWiki: Overview MMO Champion: Known Deathwhisper 25 man and 10 man loot


Icecrown Gunship Battle
Of all the encounters available, this is by far a personal favourite of mine. Vehicular mechanics come into play here again except players won't exactly be driving or flying anything. Some of your raiders will need to man the guns. The objective here is to shoot down the opposing gunship from the sky as you break for the upper levels of Icecrown Citadel.

Breakdown: The Skybreaker and Orgrim's Hammer will be squaring off in an aerial dual. Your gunship will have several deck guns that can be controlled by a few members of your raid. The gunners need to open fire on the opposing gunship.

At the same time, the opposing faction will have their own mages that will encase your guns in blocks of ice rendering them unable to fire. It's up to you to send a strike team over with equippable jet packs (they're shirts) to shut down the mages. Take out their Rocketeers as they're the ones that will be returning fire with their own rockets on to your gunship.

Not only that, your ship will be boarded by opposing faction forces and they have to be cleared out by the group of players that are holding down the fort.

Pro tip: The guys that board your ship do a Bladestorm. Keep some ranged close by and make sure these guys get tanked away as they can demolish a raid pretty quickly.

Additional information

WoW.com impressions Stratfu: Videos and detailed strategy WoWWiki MMO Champion: Known Gunship 25 man and 10 man loot


Deathbringer Saurfang
Once you've shot down the other faction's gunship, the doors to the upper levels will open and Deathbringer Saurfang will emerge. He has been reincarnated as one of Arthas' servants and stands between your raid and the rest of the instance. All those legends and myths you've heard about him?

They're true.

Breakdown: Jokes aside, contrary to popular legend, he is defeatable.

The Deathbringer will gain something called Blood Power through a number of mechanics. Ranged players need to spread out due to an AoE he does called Blood Nova. Saurfang gains 2 Blood Power per person affected by it.

Your tanks will need to taunt off each other the moment the current one gains Rune of Blood. Otherwise, Saurfang will continue gaining Blood Power per melee hit on the player affected by Rune of Blood.

He summons Blood Beasts and every melee hit they perform results in a gain of 3 Blood Power. This is every melee hit per Blood Beast. These guys need to be kited and DPS'd. Your job is to destroy them before they can hit the player who has threat on them. Use whatever you can to freeze them in place or slow them down. Knock back effects like Thunderstorm or Typhoon will do the job.

Additional information

WoW.com impressions Stratfu: Videos and detailed strategy WoWWiki MMO Champion: Known Saurfang 25 man and 10 man loot More bosses will be added as they become released for players to experience.

http://www.wow.com/2009/12/08/patch-3-3-icecrown-citadel-raid-boss-informaiton-and-resources/#continued

Corehound Pups in the mail with patch 3.3 [Updated]

My level 23 Gnome Warrior, whom I have not logged onto in years, got a Corehound Pup in the mail after the servers came back up. He is as adorable as a corehound pup could possibly be. But why did I get him? What's he for?

It appears that several other staff members have gotten the pups in the mail. Some characters have them, some don't. There doesn't seem to by any rhyme or reason behind which characters get them.

We are researching this further, of course, and will keep you up to date. No word from Blizzard yet about this, however.

Did you get a Corehound Pup, too?

Video Update 5:25pm: Video above and screenshot is after the break.
Update 4:39pm: Blizzard confirmed that the Corehound Pup pet is for Authenticator users.
Updated: He (they?) throws a bone in the air and catches it, rolls over and digs a hole in the ground.

WoW Patch 3.3 known issues

WoW Patch 3.3 obviously is having its share of bugs, some more severe than others. People are reporting inability to zone into instances, often times met either with the dreaded "Additional instances cannot be launched" error or just flat out lagging out so long that they're ported back to Dalaran or wherever the system decides to drop them, entirely unable to enter the instance.

Some of the issues have been addressed, some haven't.

Blizzard has released the first part of the list of known issues with patch 3.3. It will be expanding in the future, so don't get too upset when you don't see a bug on it. Remember that it typically takes a couple days for a patch to get all its kinks worked out. Just hang tight, enjoy some some lore and trailer action, and things will be fixed before you know it.

The full list of known issues after the break.

Known issues from Eyonix:

General Issues

Logging out inside a battleground and logging back in after the BG is completed will cause characters to be unable to queue using the Looking for Dungeon System.

Spamming the Auto Attack button causes the character to play the attack animation even though no actual attack is done.

Dungeons & Raids

Escape from Durnhold - At the end of the Escape from Durnholde instance Erozion teleports you back to Caverns of Time rather than where you entered the instance from.

Halls of Reflection - Player will get disconnected when running up the ramp to the ship.

Quests
Horde players do not receive a parachute when the Kor'kron Troop Transport is destroyed during the quest, "Assault by Air".

Classes

Druid
While swimming in Cat form or Travel form players nameplates are clipping through their model.

Mage
Mage Summon Water Elemental does not fully function as a permanent pet when glyphed with Glyph of Eternal Water.

Paladin
Avenging Wrath and self cast Lay on Hands cannot be used within 30 seconds of each other.

UI

The dungeon finder visual UI will sometimes display inaccurate class archetype counts.

The group "guide" is called "Party Leader" in chat.

Second wing of Icecrown Citadel to open in 28 days

Already, a number of guilds have cleared out the first bosses in the lower areas of Icecrown Citadel.
http://www.wow.com/2009/12/08/patch-3-3-icecrown-citadel-raid-boss-informaiton-and-resources/

After taking down the Deathbringer, talking to your friendly faction hero yields some information as to when the doors will open. In Trial of the Crusader, one new boss opened every week. In Icecrown Citadel, it seems like they're increasing the time between gates. The next area will open in 28 days (which is expected to be the Plagueworks containing Festergut, Rotface, and Professor Putricide).

January 5th is the target date for the next set of bosses.

At the rate we're going (28 days between gates), we won't see Arthas until April.

WoW Patch 3.3 priest gear and changes

With wow patch 3.3 very close on the horizon, I figured now might be a good time to go over the few changes priests will be seeing. I'm also going to provide a list of possible juicy items for you to look forward to from the Icecrown Citadel raid, the Icecrown dungeons and the Emblem of Frost vendor. After all, you can't look to take down Arthas without sporting some new threads, right?

Let's start off with the class priest changes.

Divine Hymn: Cooldown reduced to 8 minutes (currently at 10 minutes). This was largely done to help ensure that certain cooldowns would become available faster when working on encounters with limited attempts. In other words, it sucked that Trial of the Grand Crusader attempts would last for about 3 minutes or so before a wipe was called. Another 7 minutes would be needed before the cooldowns were free again. This will help reduce the down time.

Power Word: Shield: You can cast this on non-raid and party targets who are friendly. Now you can keep Varian alive a little bit longer when Horde are beating him down.

That's it for the healing changes. What about for our shadow guys? Shadow priests will be seeing some DPS increases for sure with these changes:

Improved Devouring Plague: The spell dishes out 10/20/30% of it's periodic effect damage instantly (Currently does 5/10/15%).

Mind Flay: Increases the range of Mind Flay to 30 yards (Currently at 20). The other difference is that the Glyph of Mind Flay doesn't provide the range increase since it's already included in the base spell now. Instead, the new Glyph of Mind Flay increases the damage done by Mind Flay by an additional 10% when the target has Shadow Word: Pain.

Shadowform: The talent affects Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch to see benefits from your haste rating. The period length and duration will be reduced by haste and the mana cost has been reduced from 32% to 13% of your base mana. This is a great help in case priests need to switch in and out of forms for specific reasons (like firing off a few heals during an intense part of an encounter).

Vampiric Embrace: The ability provides a 30 minute buff to the priest that cannot be dispelled (Currently is a debuff applied on targets that can be removed). The healing generated will result from single-target shadow damage spells only.

Our Shadowfiend has seen some changes.

Avoidance (passive ability) : Damage taken from area-of-effect spells and abilities are reduced by 90% but it no longer applies to AoE caused by players.

Priest upgrades from the new heroic 5 mans

Well, this is it. patch 3.3 is expected to be the last major content patch before Cataclysm comes out and there's a ton of gear for us from Icecrown.

Although none of these have any gem sockets in them, you might wish to consider Prelate's Snowshoes (Tyrannus in Pit of Saron on heroic), Braid of Salt and Fire (Ick in Pit of Saron on heroic), or Strip of Remorse (Chest from Halls of Reflection on heroic). Of the two belts, you probably want the Strip if you're Discipline. Mord'rethar Robes (Devourer of Souls in Forge of Souls on heroic) and the Suspiciously Soft Gloves (Marwyn in Halls of Reflection on heroic) do not have haste on them but have a decent amount of critical strike rating.

I wonder what makes them so suspiciously soft.

Looking for some weapons? Surgeon's Needle is a decent dagger from Forgemaster Garfrost (Pit of Saron). Pair it up with the Shriveled Heart from the chest that is offered in the Halls of Reflection.

For trinkets, there's the Ephemeral Snowflake which drops from Marwyn. The unique component of the trinket is that when you heal a target with one of your spells, you gain 11 mana. Just think about that for a sec. The 11 mana kicks in whenever a Renew ticks. It happens when your Circle of Healing heals 5 different targets. I'm not sure if it will still grant the mana if your targets are at full health. The on use effect is a hefty 464 haste rating which lasts 20 seconds. I suppose you could cycle it with Power Infusion during high stress situations.

Priest raiding loot

Even though the instance is gated, there's still some great drops from the early bosses. For instance, look at the Althor's Abacus trinket which has a chance on heal to cause another nearby friendly target to be instantly healed for 5550 - 6450. The extra 179 spellpower from it is handy. Even better? It drops from the Gunship encounter which means it'll be accessible from the start. Out of the 10 mans, there's the Sliver of Pure Ice which seems really lackluster (it's like a mana potion every 2 minutes).

Need a new neck? Bone Sentinel's Amulet is available if you get lucky with Lord Marrowgar. Holiday's Grace will have to wait until the plague wing with Festergut is opened up. For the Shadow Priests, there's always Amulet of the Silent Eulogy (off of the Gunship encounter).

There's several choices when it comes to rings. Remember that the Ashen Verdict will award you with their own reputation rings that will increase in quality based on your standing with them. Otherwise, I would pair the Ashen Band of Wisdom with either Ring of Rapid Ascent (Gunship Battle) or Marrowgar's Frigid Eye (Lord Marrowgar).

For weapons, there's a nice assortment to select from. Frozen Bonespike will be available immediately from Lord Marrowgar. Feel free to pair that up with Shadow Silk Spindle. The other option is a nifty little mace called Trauma. Every time you heal a target, there's a chance the target of your heal will heal themselves and friends within 10 yards for 217 each second for 6 seconds. From the 10 mans, start off with Midnight Sun (Gunship battle) or Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff.

Crystal Spire of Karabor version 2? I think so!

There's also the Corpse-Impaling Spike for wands (but you'll fighting with the other DPS casters for that as well).

Since we Priests like our tier sets and our haste, there's the Plague Scientist's Boots. These will come later though since the boots drop from Festergut. Incidentally enough, the Crushing Coldwraith Belt seems to have the exact same stats as the boots. Holy Priests will want to consider the Lingering Illness later on (also from Festergut). The only wrist upgrades will be Death Surgeon's Sleeves (Rotface 25) and Bracers of Dark Blessings (Lady Deathwhisper on 10s).

Among cloaks, there are two choices: Frostbinder's Shredded Cape (Valithria Dreamwalker who comes later on and won't be immediately accessible) and Greatcloak of the Turned Champion (The Deathbringer who is available).

Priest tier gear

Our tier stuff is going to be the last items we wear for the rest of the expansion.

Crimson Acolyte Gloves - 60 Emblems of Frost Crimson Acolyte Hood - 95 Emblems of Frost Crimson Acolyte Leggings - 95 Emblems of Frost Crimson Acolyte Robe - 95 Emblems of Frost Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads - 60 Emblems of Frost What about the craftable stuff?

You can make the following legs and boots with these Ashen Verdict recipes:

Pattern: Leggings of Woven Death Pattern: Deathfrost Boots Pattern: Lightweave Leggings Pattern: Sandals of Consecration Whatever you do, I wouldn't advise crafting the legs. You're most likely going to replace them with tier anyway. Go for the boots if you're unlucky with boot drops (but don't purchase the Primordial Saronite to craft it, just rely on drops and hope your guild is generous).

Not much is known about the heroic gear at this time. Some items have been discovered but you can expect them to be slightly higher up versions of the normal raiding loot.

Good luck in there!

Icecrown Citadel Raid Access Progression

This doesn't come as a huge surprise since Ghostcrawler let slip of it in our interview with him, but check out the planned progression for raid access in Icecrown Citadel below.

Icecrown Citadel testing has been progressing very well over the last few weeks, and this has been a huge help to the encounter design team. I want to thank everyone who has logged onto the PTR and tried the encounters there.

As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, I wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point I can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.

The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.

There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.

The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.

The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana'thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.

There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).

In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell's effect if they so wish.

WoW 5th Anniversary Giveaway: 3 Tiny mount loot codes

It's day three of our World of Warcraft 5th Anniversary giveaway extravaganza and we're celebrating it by giving away 3 codes to Scourgewar TCG deck loot card, Tiny. This summons a mini mount that doesn't increase your run speed, but, well, it looks damn funny. Draenei on a pony? Tauren on a raptor? 50 charges of fun in every code!

To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment in this post by Thursday, November 26th, 12pm ET (noon). That's it. Limit one entry per person and make sure you're registered with a valid email address. We'll be choosing three winners randomly from the entrants and contact them via email after the close of the contest. Note that we won't be emailing the code to the winners until mid-December when it is made available to us by the fine people at Upper Deck.

Pics of the mounts in action after the jump!

EDIT: Contest closed. Thanks so much for participating!

Pilgrim's Bounty FAQ

Around the feast areas, at least on my own server, I've seen the same questions keep popping up about the new holiday, Pilgrim's Bounty. I thought it might be helpful to try answering them here. By necessity, these are a little general; if you want a closer look at getting the holiday achievements, please read our updated guide to Pilgrim's Bounty achievements.

Help! Where do I go to get started?

Go to any of your faction's major cities and find the feasting area. For Alliance, head to Stormwind, Ironforge, or Darnassus: for Horde, head to Orgrimmar, Undercity, or Thunder Bluff. While you can start the holiday in either the Exodar or Silvermoon, it's a little faster to start in any of the "classic" cities because you don't pick up any quests in their BC counterparts.


Where are the feasting areas located?

Alliance

Ironforge: directly outside the main gates to the city.
Stormwind: directly outside the main gates to the city.
The Exodar: directly outside the main entrance to the city.
Darnassus: in the small courtyard directly west of the city gates (where the training dummies are located).

On PvE servers, Horde players will not get flagged visiting the tables at Ironforge and Stormwind for Pilgrim's Peril. You will get flagged at the Darnassus and Exodar tables.




Horde

Orgrimmar: directly outside the main entrance to the city.
Thunder Bluff: directly below the western elevators.
Silvermoon: across the road from the main entrance to the city.
Undercity: above the city in the ruins of Lordaeron courtyard.

On PvE servers, Alliance players will not get flagged visiting the tables at Silvermoon or Orgrimmar for Pilgrim's Peril. You will get flagged visiting the tables at Thunder Bluff and Undercity.

Where do I get the recipes I need to cook?

Any Pilgrim's Bounty vendor in any city will sell you the Bountiful Cookbook, a collection that contains all 5 Pilgrim's Bounty recipes you'll need.

What Cooking skill do I need?

In order to cook all 5 recipes you will need to have at least 330 280 Cooking.

Where do I get all the ingredients for these recipes?

All of the ingredients you'll need (with the exception of the Wild Turkey) are sold by Pilgrim's Bounty vendors located in the feast areas of each city.

Sweet potatoes = Darnassus (Alliance) or Thunder Bluff (Horde)
Cranberries = Ironforge (Alliance) or Orgrimmar (Horde)
Pumpkins = Stormwind (Alliance) or Undercity (Horde)
Wild Turkey = Elwynn Forest or Tirisfal Glades, a 100% drop from the Wild Turkey mobs that spawn during the holiday.
Spice Bread ingredients = any Pilgrim's Bounty or regular Cooking vendor
Honey = any Pilgrim's Bounty vendor
Autumnal Herbs = any Pilgrim's Bounty vendor

The daily quests and the non-daily questline will take you to all of these cities anyway, so you don't need to worry about making a special trip.

Where do I get the Pilgrim clothing and Turkey Shooter I need for achievements?

They're rewards from the 5 Cooking dailies you can do during the holiday. Compared to the clothing you needed to buy for the Midsummer fire festival and Brewfest, they're absurdly easy to get.

Help! The table isn't working!

We've received complaints about the Stormwind and Undercity tables bugging out, and I've observed the same issue with the Undercity tables on my realm (and Alex Ziebart's had the same problem with the Stormwind tables). I don't yet know whether there's a particular Stormwind table that works, but I found that the table directly north of the UC Pilgrim's Bounty vendor worked OK. If you've hit a table where all of the "eating" options are dark and you get an error message trying to pass a dish, it's not you -- it's bugged. Try all of the other tables.

How on earth do these tables work?

Each of the five chairs around the table is a vehicle, and specific to one of the dishes; if you mouseover them, you'll see them labeled the Turkey Chair, or the Sweet Potato Chair, etc. Sit at one, and the following options will pop up on your UI:

#1 is passing a dish, so if you're sitting at, say, the Turkey Chair, #1 will be passing the turkey. #2 is eating turkey. #3 is eating cranberries. #4 is eating stuffing. #5 is eating sweet potatoes. #6 is eating pie. All of the options you currently have available will be brightly lit (and if you're sitting in the Turkey chair, eating turkey will always be available, and so on and so forth); any option you don't have available will be grayed out. For example, in the above screenshot, I'm sitting in the Cranberry chair, so #1 allows me to pass cranberries to other players at the table. Other players seated at my table have passed me turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes, and I can eat cranberries anytime I want because that's the chair I'm in, but no one has passed me pie, so that option isn't lit. In order to get pie, I need to ask the person sitting in the Pie chair to pass me some, or get up and sit in the Pie chair when it becomes available.

For "FOOD FIGHT!", it doesn't matter which chair you pick, but you will need another player to be sitting at the table. Target the player and use the first option; instead of passing them the dish, you'll bonk them over the head with it.

For Sharing is Caring, you'll need to sit at each chair and pass each dish.

For Pilgrim's Paunch, you need to go to each capital city, sit at a table, and eat each food item 5 times. It doesn't matter whether you do this by being passed dishes or getting up and sitting at each table.

For Pilgrim's Peril, you don't need to worry about passing or eating dishes -- you just need to sit at an enemy table and that's enough.

How many turkeys do I need to kill for The Turkinator?

40. Make a /tar Wild Turkey macro and run around Elwynn or Tirisfal spamming it. The nearest mob will light up, so head over, kill it, loot, spam the macro, and keep going until you get the achievement. Each turkey kill will give you a 30-second buff called Turkey Hunter, and you can't let this drop for the achievement. So essentially each kill gives you another 30 seconds to find and kill another turkey until you've amassed 40. If there are a lot of people out hunting turkeys, try to wait for a slower period or find a slightly less popular hunting spot.

These cover the most commonly-asked questions I've seen in my own server's chat channels, but if you have any others, please drop them in the comments below and we'll try to answer them!

The sudden popularity of GDKP

We've been seeing this GDKP thing sneak up on the forums and elsewhere a lot lately, and while Scott has mentioned it (in a somewhat disparaging way, in fact), we haven't really taken a good look at it yet. So let's do so. GDKP stands for Gold DKP, which is kind of a mishmash of acronyms. DKP, or Dragon Kill Points, are a very popular way of determining loot division in a raid -- the concept dates back to earlier MMOs, and involves players earning points per boss kill that they can then spend on gear. We've talked about other DKP systems before. But rather than awarding loot based on arbitrary points, Gold DKP, as you may have guessed, instead gives loot to the player willing to pay the most gold... to the other players in the raid.

The way it works is this: You go into an instance, say Naxx, and everyone knows ahead of time that it is a "GDKP run," or a "gold run," or a "cash run." You down the first boss, and Webbed Death drops. The master looter then takes bids of gold on the item (this can be done via public chat or via an addon), and whoever bids the most gold gets the item. The person who wins then pays that amount of gold (some raids have minimum bids of, say, 100g) to "the pot," and the raid moves on. Another boss drops, another item drops -- usually all items, including recipes and mats, are auctioned off -- and another high bid goes into "the pot." Then, at the end of the raid, the pot is evenly split among all members. Everybody who joined in on the raid gets an even share of the bidded gold, including people who got no items, or the Mr. Moneybags who won them all.

Interesting, no? It helps nearly every kind of character, from the people who don't need any of the gear but will willingly run instances for gold, to the people who don't have too much gear (newly 80 alts), but have plenty of gold to spend. And generally, the concepts of main spec or off-spec are completely ignored -- the item always just goes to the highest bidder. Anytime someone outbids you for an item, it just raises the amount of gold that you'll walk away with at the end, so theoretically, everybody wins.

There are issues, of course. Generally, because this kind of payoff attracts poorly geared but rich characters, raidleaders have to balance out who's in the raid, and if someone isn't pulling their weight, people are often asked to leave (if you suck, you get kicked, and can lose your pot). And of course, anytime gold becomes the only factor in getting gear, then you get into the point where people are encouraged to cheat and buy gold, not only breaking Blizzard's terms of service, but supporting the same system that's gotten so many players hacked in the past. It's naive to assume that everyone who shows up to a gold run with gobs of cash did so with money they earned themselves, so some players don't support this DKP system just for that reason.

Still, it's a fascinating, completely player-created idea, and especially when you're running with people you can trust and who have handled these raids before (generally, you want to go on a raid with someone who knows what they're doing, and fortunately, "good" GDKP raidleaders tend to get reputations for doing it right), there's a lot of potential to either pick up some nice gear or make a lot of money/badges/etc. We'll have to keep an eye on GDKP in the future (and Blizzard will probably do the same), because it's definitely growing in popularity -- odds are that there's a regular GDKP run on your server already, if not very soon.

Blood Pact: Patch 3.3 raid build roundup

With patch 3.3 looking evermore imminent and the changes to warlock talents and spells seeming to have settled down, it's a good time to take a look at what we can expect from the next expansion. This isn't going to be a review of the fights and encounters in Icecrown -- though I'm sure we'll get to that at some point -- this is a look at how our various raiding builds have changed.

I've already reported on most of them as they hit the PTR in previous articles, so I'm not going to dwell on the changes themselves. You can read up on this detail here, here, here and here. I wouldn't say that lock talents are broken at the moment but it certainly seems as if we're left little option when it comes to raiding. You have destruction for damage and a demonology bi... err... buff spec. The overriding impression I have looking at the patch 3.3 changes is that there will be more choice to play the spec you like. Something we've not had for a very long time.

After the break I'll list the changes from the patch notes for reference and then we'll get down to how that shakes out.


Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. Affliction
Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds. Pandemic: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the felhunter's Shadow Bite spell by 100%. Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%. Demonology
Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadow Bolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards. Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%. Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect. Destruction
Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target. Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp's Firebolt spell by 100%. Pets
Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets. Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. Shadow Bite: This pet ability now provides 15% increased damage for each of the warlock's damage-over-time effects on the target. Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn. Glyphs
Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used. Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock's haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption. Bug Fixes
Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%. Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above. Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target. Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly. Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed. Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat. Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets. Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius. That's quite a bit to scroll through but there are possibly more, and more significant changes to locks than any other class. The first thing I want to do is look at how their theoretical maximum DPS values compare, before and after the patch. I've drawn heavily on the work done by the SimulationCraft guys so many thanks to them. You can read a lot of detail in the SimulationCraft Elitist Jerks forum thread for warlocks. These simulations have been run using the best gear for that spec that is currently available in the game. They have been tweaked so that the optimum rotations and buffs are used. They are also modeled on a static, Patchwerk-style fight. This brings out some very high numbers so don't be dismayed if you aren't seeing your DPS reach these values, what we really want to focus on here are the relative differences between the maximum values of each build.

So, I've grabbed the figures from the SimulationCraft output and put them all into a handy chart. This includes the ten builds simulated which accounts for the main ones used today as well as those that deliver more DPS under the patch 3.3 changes. The builds in the chart are:

Affliction

A1: 55/00/16
A2: 53/00/18 using a Doomguard
A3: 53/00/18 without the Doomguard

Destruction

D1: 00/13/58
D2: 03/13/55

Demonology

d1: 00/56/15 with 3 points in Molten Core
d2: 00/56/15 with Demonic Empowerment
d3: 03/52/16

Hybrid

H1: 00/40/31
H2: 00/41/30

Each bar on the chart has two shades -- the darker being the DPS simulation result under current live mechanics and the total bar height representing the DPS with the changes for patch 3.3.

I'm sure one of the first things people will notice is that an affliction build now has the highest DPS once again. This will bring a smile to many as I believe this is a spec dear to a lot of locks. Specifically in that you will notice that using a Doomguard is no longer worthwhile. This is primarily due to that buffs that the Felhunter has received. I know a lot of people liked to have a reason to bring the big-fella along but for me the retirement of the Doomguard is great news. Builds A2 and A3 are the old style with points in Demonic Power to buff the Succubus. Both of these can be scrapped for the new (A1) build which drops these two points into Improved Felhunter instead. Obviously to go along with all that it's the Felpuppy that should be raiding along side you. The rotation remains exactly the same but the Glyph of Curse of Agony has been swapped out for the new Glyph of Quick Decay.

Fans of Destruction builds should not be downheartened by losing the top spot, frankly the difference is negligible. If you enjoy Destro more and can play it better you will perform better with it in raids. I'm not predicting a huge migration of all end-game raiders over to Affliction as we saw with Destro. The changes to Conflag were the big news for the Destro build and it seemed that all told the spec was getting both a buff and a nerf. This seems to ring true in the simulation with just a slight increase in DPS for both builds.

Demonology has seen some significant tweaking and buffing through the patch testing. This has resulted in (to my mind) some very nice changes -- if somewhat complicated mechanics. You need an instruction manual more than a tooltip to understand how Molten Core is going to work. The upshot is primarily more damage when you cast Soul Fire. It does not make Incinerate worth casting over Shadow Bolt except for the three buffed casts when MC procs. Decimation now triggers from Soul Fire and lasts for a set time. This removes the fiddly Shadow Bolt weaving now employed during the execute phase (target below 35% health).

Demonology is still looking low on personal DPS but this is to be expected. Demonic Pact is still by far the best spell power buff out there and while it has been stated that the devs want demo locks to be taken for their own DPS and not just a buff I can't see that happening until Demonic pact is reigned in somewhat. It is nice to see that the personal damage has been increased though; it did feel like it was slipping too far behind. One thing that might prove me wrong here is the spell damage bonus Demonic Pact will receive -- if this scales well through tier ten, Demo could rise up through the charts.

We see another nail being driven into the coffin lid of warlock hybrid builds in patch 3.3. Currently in live they produce DPS figures a bit below average, the changes incoming see them slip to the bottom of the table. This coupled with the almost complete lack of raid utility (in comparison) makes them pretty useless. I don't know how to feel about that. Hybrid builds are odd beasts and while I like their oddity (and certainly enjoyed playing 00/41/30 in Naxx) it always feels a shame not to be using the juicy talents lurking at the bottom of a talent tree.

On a final note:

I don't usually read Arcane Brilliance (I hear it talks about mages a lot), but I know some people that look at it from time to time. I've been told that in the last installment, Mr Belt requested pictures of mages. It seems he is having somewhat of a hard time coming up with ideas for the title image. It occurred to me that Blood Pact readers might well have quite a collection of pictures of mages and that he might appreciate seeing them. Remember, keep UI and nameplates off and send them to arcanebrilliancepics@yahoo.com, you can also copy in bloodpactpics@googlemail.com and I'll see if we can showcase some of them.

Patch 3.3 PTR: Shadow Word: Pain not affected by haste

We heard a little while back from Ghostcrawler that haste would soon affect Heal-over-Time (HoT) and Damage-over-Time (DoT) spells, and sure enough, soon after that, Shadow Priests -- who use DoTs all the time -- saw a nice buff. But of course this is the PTR, and everything is subject to change, and so last weekend, Blizzard removed Shadow Word: Pain from that equation -- right now, it's not affected by haste at all. GC says that sure enough, Blizzard thought shadow priest DPS was too high with all of their DoTs given a boost, so SW:P got the boot (for now -- remember, this is all still on PTR).

Misery, my go-to shadow priest, has some good insight on the change, and says that sure, if shadow priest DPS was too high, it was too high. But it's too bad that Shadow Word: Pain had to take the nerf, especially since you get it so early on in the class and it's such an iconic spell for the spec. The reason these guys are so happy about the hasted DoTs is that DoTs as cast don't really scale with your gear -- they just sort of do their damage on their own. When haste got put into the equation, shadow priests became happy that they could go after more haste to increase the DoT part of the damage. They could tailor the spec and spells the way they wanted to use them.

Patch 3.3: Quel'delar caster mace hastened

Ah, Quel'delar -- the Patch 3.3 questline with rewards for everybody. Well, everybody except tanks. And elemental shamans. And shadow priests, and moonkin, and mutilate rogues, and you get the idea. While the caster sword is itemized very well for DPS casters -- and can be used by two of them -- the mace version is loaded with MP5, which is patently useless for them. A lot of healers don't even really need it on their weapon.

Well, Blizzard may not have caved to tanks or rogues, but they certainly caved to DPS casters, as Bornakk indicates that the MP5 on the Hammer of Purified Flame is being converted to haste to better match Quel'delar, Lens of the Mind. As an elemental shaman in dire need of replacing his Aesuga, I appreciate that!

Then again, this makes it even more odd that sword-and-board tanks are still left out in the cold in this questline. I suppose there's still time before the patch for Blizzard to make the change, but it looks like they're not going that route. Oh well, tanks. There's always dual-spec.

Patch 3.3: Blizzard previews new quest tracking UI

Looks like the newly-renamed Dungeon Finder isn't the only new UI feature we have to look forward to in Patch 3.3 -- Blizzard just released an official preview of its new Quest Tracking feature, and it looks great. It seems to have a number of the features that ZorbaTHut's great QuestHelper addon does, which follows Blizzard's pattern of poaching the best third-party UIs for use in the stock UI.

Our UI whiz Gregg Reece covered the feature briefly last week, based on what was active on the PTR. For those who haven't fiddled with it, new additions to the UI include:

Enhanced World Map: The large world map is now separated into four active panes. Quests are automatically tracked on the map and listed to its side. The quest log entry for the selected quest is located below the map.

Areas of Interest: Shows what area on the map your quest's points of interest can be found, represented with a blue polygon. If mobs populate a large area, the map will indicate it. If you need to find one specific doodad, that'll be on there too. If there are multiple spawn areas for a mob or doodad, the map will automatically locate the one closest to you.

Pop-out Map: Players can utilize a smaller zone map outside of the normal full-screen map to track progress and get their bearings.

Better Tracking: Tracked quests outside the map will now indicate your progress with a number for items found or mobs killed and will indicate whether you've already completed it.

And more! The main thing I notice is missing (so far) is the arrow that indicates where you should head next on the World Map, like QuestHelper or Carbonite, but who knows if that'll even make it in.

Blizzard says that the new UI will work with nearly every quest in the game, regardless of type. You can check out the official preview here. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/newquestui.xml

WoW Absolute beginners' guide to Arathi Basin

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote up a basic look at the Battlegrounds for all the new players who don't know anything about it. From the looks of it, Blizzard expects an influx of new players, too, so newbies will always be on the lookout for 'For Dummies'-type information. Because we're such awesome folks over here at WoW.com, we're ready to oblige. Last week we answered some basic questions about the game's first Battleground, Warsong Gulch. This week, we'll answer some beginner's questions about Arathi Basin, the next Battleground leveling players are eligible to enter. Hit the Read More button to, you know, read more.

ARATHI BASIN

What is Arathi Basin?
Arathi Basin is a resource accumulation Battleground with 15 players on each side. The goal is to gather 1600 resource points (2,000 points prior to Patch 3.2), with the first team to reach that number winning the match and ending the game. There are five resource nodeswhich can be controlled by capturing the associated, nearby flag -- an 8-second channel (formerly 10 seconds) action similar to opening a chest (you'll see a progress bar). Once a flag is tagged, teams must protect it for one minute until it comes under their control. The one minute window allows opposing teams to recapture a tagged flag.

The rate at which resources are gained depend on the number of resource nodes that a team controls -- the more nodes, the faster resources are accumulated. Capturing all five bases guarantee a rapid gain of resources and can be difficult or impossible to overcome if allowed to continue uncontested for a certain period of time. Players also gain honor and reputation according to the resources gained, so teams that win the match get the maximum bonus honor while teams that lose have varying levels of honor gain. It is virtually impossible to have a tied game of Arathi Basin.

The five nodes are the Farm, Blacksmith, Lumber Mill, Gold Mine, and Stables. The Farm is nearest to the Defiler's Den, the Southeastern part of the map where the Horde contingent spawns. The Stable is on the Northwestern part close to Trollbane Hall, where Alliance players start the game. The Lumber Mill is situated to the central West of the map, with the notable geographic feature of being atop a small cliff. It's always fun there. At the center of the map is an island where the Blacksmith is, and slightly Northeast to it would be the Gold Mine.

So, what's the deal with this place?
The physical entrances to Arathi Basin (not that you need them anymore) are located in Hammerfall and Refuge Pointe in the Arathi Highlands. In customarily nebulous fashion, Arathi Basin is supposedly such a resource-rich land that members of the League of Arathor and the unfairly villainous-sounding Defilers constantly clash over it. We can only assume that there's a lot of gold there, as well as some lumber, and a fair amount of livestock. And boy, do the Alliance and Horde forces need their livestock.

What's in it for me?
Unfortunately, none of the gold found inside the gold mine. Aside from honor, though, players get brownie points with the League of Arathor and the Defilers, Alliance players earning the Knight of Arathor and Horde players getting The Defiler Achievements. Either one grants another 10 Achievement points to brag about. Other Achievements can also be pursued if you get some more experience playing the Battleground. If you're not into those things, there's always those Arathi Basin Marks of Honor -- three for those on the winning team, one for those on the losing side -- which you'll need to purchase gear or turn-in in your quest for more honor. And everybody loves more honor.

Cool, I'm sold. What's next?
While Warsong Gulch opens up to players as early as Level 10, Arathi Basin has a slightly higher requirement. It's about perfect, too, since Level 20 is when players can get mounts. Considering players need to get from one node to another in the most expedient fashion, mounts are a good thing. The brackets for Arathi Basin are as follows:

20–29 30–39 40–49 50–59 60–69 70–79 80 As with all Battlegrounds, players would do well to be on the higher side of the level bracket in order to better appreciate the Battleground experience. That said, even lower level characters can contribute greatly by keeping their eyes open and alerting their teams to incoming enemies. The Battleground is also bigger than Warsong Gulch, so it's quite possible to avoid too much combat, particularly by keeping guard in relatively quiet nodes.

Let me at 'em! Uh... what do I do?
Easy, fella! My first suggestion would be to get a mount. You'll need one. Fortunately, players can now get mounts at Level 20 since Patch 3.2 worked it in. In the old days, players ran on foot for about twenty levels in Arathi Basin (when Level 40 was the minimum level to obtain a mount), which made the first two brackets of the Battleground rather unpleasant. Arathi Basin is a game of responsiveness, and the team able to support attacked nodes the fastest will win.

While there are many strategies to winning Arathi Basin, one of the best pieces of advice I can give to new players is to always fight near a flag. Making sure a flag is never left alone and is always protected is highly underrated, even by experienced players. Blizzard has already added an incentive to players to protect the flag with the Honorable Defender buff. This increases the honor gained from killing enemy players by 50% as long as you're within reasonable range of the flag. The only way Blizzard could make the message any clearer would be for them to have 50-foot tall neon signs pointing at the flag saying, "Fight Here!"

This means it's always ill-advised to leave a node unguarded. Resist the urge to go where the fighting is, despite the common lull that can happen when a node isn't being attacked. Sometimes a player's worst enemy in Arathi Basin can be boredom, which can strike those who nobly stay to defend the flag. One of the absolute worst things any player can do in Arathi Basin is to needlessly fight on the roads, which doesn't quite achieve anything.

It also goes without saying that having more nodes is better. While controlling three nodes is a slow and steady way to win the game, there's always the danger of losing a node and having the tide turn. As difficult as it may be to pull off, a five-cap or control of all five nodes is the best way to ensure victory, even if maintained only long enough to gain a sizable lead. For new players, simply providing warm bodies to protect flags and call out incoming enemies is key. Don't be afraid to type in the chat channel by typing /bg and keeping your team informed. Even lowbies can help immensely in this respect.

On to Alterac Valley!
Arathi Basin is a fun, fast-paced game that, if you play it right, might even end up with very little PvP at all. It's actually kind of Zen. After we take a quick look at all the other Battlegrounds (don't hold your breath, we've got four more to go...), we'll look at specific strategies every class can employ in each one. In the meantime, don't be afraid to cause some Battleground mayhem! Next week, we'll take a beginner's look at Alterac Valley.

In a short (but not necessarily sweet) announcement, Zarhym announced on the official forums that the recently opened Blizzard pet store are now regio

Much as I've done with Patch 3.2 and other major patches in the past, I'd like to examine what 3.3 will mean for officers. All major patches require some forethought and adjustment, and this one just happens to be a doozy!

Icecrown Citadel

The ultimate raid of this expansion, Icecrown Citadel is poised to be one of the most exciting raids that Blizzard has ever released. As such, I can virtually guarantee you'll have long-lost players coming out of the woodwork to get back into the raiding scene for a chance to face off with the Lich King. Make sure you review your guild's policies for inviting players to raids to make sure that slots will be awarded in a way that's as fair as possible while still giving your raid a solid chance at success.

One debate that's sure to rage among officers and raid leaders this time around is whether to extend lockouts until you beat the zone and unlock the hard mode toggle or to reset the instance each week to farm the early bosses. I'm still not sure how my guild is going to handle this. It will certainly depend on how quickly we can clear those first bosses and which bosses present more of a roadblock. If we're clearing quickly, we'll probably keep going until we hit a boss we can't beat. Then we'll reset and farm up more loot and Frost Badges.


Frost Badges and Raiding Quests

Just like with Triumph badges now, everyone will want to stock up on these come 3.3. Prepare for a new round of enthusiasm for Heroic dailies.

Remember, also, that 3.3 will introduce weekly raiding quests that reward 10 Frost Badges. The targets are Sartharion, Malygos, Noth, Razuvious, Patchwerk, Flame Leviathan, Razorscale, Ignis, XT-002, Jaraxxus, Anub'Rekhan, and Icecrown's first boss, Marrowgar.

I take issue with Marrowgar being included on this list. If you've cleared him and you don't want to reset Icecrown that week, then you can't complete the quest. The other bosses, with the exception of Anub'Rekhan, should constitute quick 10- to 15-minute clears of bosses that you wouldn't ordinarily go after. I highly recommend running the quicker quests prior to your raids. Clearing one or two easy bosses is a good warmup. Plus, doing them first-thing will encourage people to show up on time if they don't want to PUG the raid quest that week. After all, who knows what sort of shenanigans could go down in a Naxx PUG?

Looking for Group

Welcome back, LFG channel! Hopefully we raid leaders catch on and leave the overtaxed Trade channel alone. With the new LFG interface and cross-server instancing, filling those last slots for raids and Heroics should be easier than ever before. If your guild needs to recruit players, these tools should be a big help in finding people to fill out a group who might be interested in joining your guild afterward. You can even recruit players from other servers this way, if they're willing to pay for the transfer. Just remember: poaching is wrong!

The new system includes a Vote Kick feature. It will no longer be the sole realm of the raid or party leader to decide who's not cutting the mustard. I'm not sure if the leader can also be kicked this way, but please treat your raid or party members with respect and courtesy regardless.

Shorter Cooldowns

Sick of waiting for Rebirth to be available before you try hard mode Anub again? Apparently Blizzard is, too. Many class abilities frequently used in raids are getting a shorter cooldown. The list includes the aforementioned "battle rez," Tranquility, Army of the Dead, Divine Intervention, Divine Hymn, Earth and Fire Elemental Totems, Reincarnation, and Soulstone.

For hard mode fights in particular, it will be reassuring to know that almost all class abilities will be active for every attempt. That will lead to less guesswork in combat and less waiting around between attempts (especially in attempt-limited Coliseum hard modes). Thank you, Blizzard!

Another Legendary

Not much is known about how we'll obtain Shadowmourne at this point, although some associated quests have been discovered (link = spoilers!). One thing is certain, however: This item will cause drama, somehow, somewhere. Don't let your guild succumb to the allure of orange pixels. However this weapon is obtained, use common sense and fairness to decide who should receive it. Communicate your plan ahead of time so that no one is surprised when the first critical item drops. Don't let your guild become the next Vicarious.

Gearing Up Guildies

Post 3.3, gearing up your guildmates will be easier than it's ever been in the lifetime of the game. You'll have Triumph Badges dropping from every boss and Frost Badges from dailies. Then you'll have the three new Icecrown dungeons that will drop Coliseum-level gear. And, of course, Trial of the Champion isn't going anywhere, either. Its items are Ulduar-level gear, but they still beat what drops in other Heroics by a long shot. Runed Orbs and Crusader Orbs should plummet in price, making crafting those items much more affordable. Let's not forget the as-yet-unknown Quel'Delar quest line reward, too! If you're really bored, you will be able to teleport directly to Sapphiron's chamber for a few easy drops. Finally, all of Wrath's factions, especially the despised Sons of Hodir, will have faster reputation gains.

With some luck from our old friend RNG, a player will be able to go from mostly quest greens to mostly epics in a matter of days. Of course, they'll still need more loot to optimize their gear set and work their way up to Icecrown-worthy stats, but it's still way faster than it was to upgrade from greens to epics via Karazhan runs and Badges of Justice back in the day.

Odds and Ends
Gathering guild members around the world will be much easier now that meeting stones will be usable on any player over level 15. I can only assume this is a godsend for RP guilds. Players that are level 10 or below can no longer join raids. If you're planning any guild events that involve level 1 toons, you'll have to either use voice chat, create your own chat channel, or invite them all to your guild in order to communicate. The new fishing derby is Wednesday at 8 p.m. If your raids normally begin at 8, and if the derby only take a few minutes to win or lose, you might consider delaying the start for 10 minutes to allow players to participate. All in all, 3.3 gives officers some incredible new content to run with our guilds, some great new tools, and some much-needed conveniences. What are you most looking forward to?

/salute

Blizzard pet store now regional

In a short (but not necessarily sweet) announcement, Zarhym announced on the official forums that the recently opened Blizzard pet store are now regional. This means that pets purchased from, say, the European store can only be redeemed on European World of Warcraft accounts. He doesn't go into detail other than to say that pets that have already been purchased from one region and redeemed in another region are not affected by this change.

While it's a curious move on the surface, it effectively restricts players from Europe purchasing their Pandaren Monk and Lil' K.T. from the US store where the pets are cheaper at $10 compared to €10 or £10 in the EU (roughly $15). Interestingly enough, the pets are priced at ₩12,000 in the Korean version of the store, which is about the same price as in the US ($10.3). It's unclear why the European version of the pets -- along with a few other Blizzard store items -- are more expensive, a fact that makes Turpster huff and puff and blow Azerothian houses down.

Obvious business reasons aside, it also creates a minor inconvenience for people who would like to give the pets as gifts to players in other regions. However, considering that many vanity pet codes have been regional in the past, such as those given away during Blizzard special events, it's not a surprising move. Then again, this whole foray into microtransactions was a bit of a surprise, so we've learned to never underestimate those folks from Irvine.
Tags: Blizzard-Pet-Store, Economy, in-game-pets, Lil-KT, microtransaction, Microtransactions, pandaren-monk, Pet-Store, Vanity-Pets

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Europe

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Cataclysm: The exhaustive list of old-world changes (so far)

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is coming. Sometime. We're at that point now where BlizzCon has been over for a few months and Blizzard is being pretty stingy with new information in the meantime. It's a definite dry spell, but the same thing happened with Wrath -- and then the Friends and Family Alpha began, and all bets were off.

And while the F&F Alpha for Cataclysm hasn't started yet (believe me, we'd know), that doesn't mean you can't stay informed. There've been bits and pieces of new info released, in PC Gamer magazine, on Twitter, and elsewhere on the internet. And we like to keep track of that! What's come out is mostly new information on what's going to happen to Azeroth. And we just recently decoded this planning map of Cataclysm zones, which is where some information comes from.

So what this article is meant to be is a compendium of all known changes to old-world zones that'll occur in Cataclysm, sorted by continent and zone. We'll update whenever new information is released.

Hit the jump to get caught up!

Disclaimer: Some information may be outdated or incorrect by this stage in Cataclysm's development!

KALIMDOR
Ashenvale
Overhaul level: Moderate.
Levels 20-25.

Increased orc presence in Ashenvale has resulted in severe deforestation around the Warsong Lumber Camp.
Horde forces have begun to move in on Silverwind Refuge.
Astranaar is being assaulted from the air by the Horde. Azshara
Overhaul level: High.
Levels 10-20.

Goblins have claimed Azshara for the Horde and have reshaped the land into a giant Horde symbol.
The mountains have been mostly destroyed by goblin mining.
The goblins have built a city there, linked directly with Orgrimmar. The Barrens
Overhaul level: Moderate (North) to High (South).
North Barrens: 10-20; South Barrens, 30-35.

The Cataclysm has split the Barrens into two separate zones, North and South Barrens.
The two zones are divided by a huge lava fissure.
The Alliance will be moving into South Barrens, setting up camps there.
Some of the Barrens, such as the area around Wailing Caverns, will be lush and verdant due to druidic intervention.
Entryway into Mulgore has been reinforced by the tauren.
Camp Taurajo razed by the Alliance. Darkshore
Overhaul level: High.
Levels 10-20.

Auberdine has been destroyed by tidal waves.
The cataclysm has ravaged much of the zone.
The night elves have retreated to the north end of the zone.
The Horde is encroaching from the south. Desolace
Overhaul level: Moderate.
Levels 30-35.

The cataclysm has cracked a hole in the sea wall, allowing water into the zone.
Some of the zone has regrown due to the water coming back.
The covens in the zone appear to have been partially successful in summoning in Burning Legion demons. Durotar
Overhaul level: Moderate.
Levels 1-10.

Orgrimmar is reinforced with black iron a la Warsong Hold.
Some damage is done to the landscape. Dustwallow Marsh
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 35-40.

Changes unknown at this time. Felwood
Overhaul level: Moderate.
New level range unknown.

Changes unknown at this time. Feralas
Overhaul level: Moderate.
Levels 35-40.

Changes unknown at this time. Moonglade
Overhaul level: Light.
No level range.

Changes, if any, unknown at this time. Mulgore
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 10-20.

Changes unknown at this time. Silithus
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 55-60.

Changes unknown at this time. Stonetalon Mountains
Overhaul level: High.
Levels 25-30.

The goblins have nearly leveled Stonetalon in with their mining operation.
A canyon has been cut through the mountains leading to Ashenvale.
An eruption has caused the Charred Vale to spread even further. Tanaris
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 45-50.

It is now possible to travel to Uldum, the new high-level zone, via Tanaris. Thousand Needles
Overhaul level: High.
Levels 40-45.

The cataclysm has resulted in Thousand Needles completely flooding.
The planning map indicates a new instance in Thousand Needles. Un'Goro Crater
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 50-55.

Changes unknown at this time.
EASTERN KINGDOMS


Alterac Mountains
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 20-25.

Changes unknown at this time. Arathi Highlands
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 25-30.

Changes unknown at this time. Badlands
Overhaul level: High.
New level range unknown.

Heavily affected by Deathwing's emergence. Details unknown. Blasted Lands
Overhaul level: High.
New level range unknown.

Planning map indicates a large overhaul, but changes are unknown. Burning Steppes
Overhaul level: Unknown.
New level range unknown.

Changes unknown at this time. Deadwind Pass
Overhaul level: Unknown.
New level range unknown.

Changes unknown at this time. Dun Morogh
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 1-10.
Changes unknown at this time. Duskwood
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 20-25.

Changes unknown at this time. Eastern Plaguelands
Overhaul level: Moderate.
Levels 40-45, 45-50.

Changes unknown at this time; likely related to the death of Arthas. Elwynn Forest
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 1-10.

Changes unknown at this time. Eversong Woods
Overhaul level: Unknown.
Levels 1-10.

Changes, if any, unknown at this time. Ghostlands
Overhaul level: Unknown.
Levels 10-20.

Changes, if any, unknown at this time. Hillsbrad Foothills
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 20-25.

Southshore lost to tidal waves. Loch Modan
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 10-20.

Changes unknown at this time. Redridge Mountains
Overhaul level: Unknown.
Levels 20-25.

Changes unknown at this time. Searing Gorge
Overhaul level: Unknown.
Levels 45-50.

Changes unknown at this time. Silverpine Forest
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 10-20.
The Greymane Wall has been destroyed, opening the kingdom of Gilneas.
Shadowfang Keep questline getting redesigned for high-level players. Stranglethorn Vale
Overhaul level: High.
New level range unknown.

Blizzard indicated that STV would be one of the most overhauled zones. Swamp of Sorrows
Overhaul level: Moderate.
New level range unknown.

Changes unknown at this time. The Hinterlands
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 30-35.

Changes unknown at this time. Tirisfal Glades
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 1-10.
Changes unknown at this time. Western Plaguelands
Overhaul level: Light.
Levels 35-40.
Changes unknown at this time but likely related to Arthas' death. Westfall
Overhaul level: Moderate.
Levels 10-20.

Changes to Deadmines questline for high-level players. Wetlands
Overhaul level: Moderate.
Levels 20-25.

Heavy landscape changes to the zone due to the emergence of Deathwing.
Passage to Twilight Highlands to the east opened.

WoW Patch 3.3 PTR: Patch Notes updated

The PTR patch notes for Patch 3.3. have been updated. Some of the significant changes:
Oculus appears to have been significantly nerfed. Obviously, this was done to facilitate easier random PUGs using the new cross-server dungeon system. Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion and Sated from the target. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others. Bug fixes... 158 of them by my count. It appears that Blizzard isn't done with the changes to Lay on Hands, which should be particularly noteworthy to Paladins everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised to see LoH go through a few more changes before all is said and done.

The full changes after the break.

Oculus
Many bosses and creatures have had their total health reduced. Several bosses and creatures have had cooldowns on specific abilities increased, effect durations reduced, and damage on some of these abilities reduced. Ring-Lord Conjurers and Sorceresses now hang out in packs of 4 instead of packs of 5. Vehicle scaling on the drakes based on the rider's item level has been increased to make them more powerful. Paladin
Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion and Sated from the target. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others. Items

Haris Pilton now sells a new 24-slot bag! She has stubbornly decided to remain in Shattrath City, so those interested should seek her out there. Bug Fixes

Items

Ancient Pickled Egg: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap. Brutal Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it). Costumes: Various costumes from holidays, items, and quests that previously were cancelled by getting on a mount will now cause an error message when the player attempts to mount instead of cancelling the costume. Carapace of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system. Crystalforged Trinket: Can now be refunded at its vendor. Dragonslayer Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature's Ally buff. Drums of the Forgotten Kings: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations. Drums of the Wild: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations. Eating and Drinking: Eating and drinking are now cancelled and prevented while in a vehicle as a passenger. Figurine: Emerald Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form. Figurine: Talasite Owl: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form. Fire Hardened Hauberk: The tooltip on this item no longer references granting energy (as energy-based classes cannot equip it). Giantstalker Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature's Ally buff.Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. Gul'dan's Regalia Set: Tooltip corrected to indicate increased damage for all pet attacks, not just abilities. Husk of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system. Idol of Flaring Growth: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip. Idol of Lunar Fury: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip. Idol of The Corruptor: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip. Insignia of the Alliance: Item level changed to 60. Insignia of the Horde: Item level changed to 60. Level 58 PvP Items: A variety of PvP items with a minimum level of 58 were not being translated properly when a player used the Paid Faction Change service. That has been corrected. Paladin- and shaman-specific items still will not be translated, as there is no opposite version to translate them into. Liadrin's Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield. Lightning Capacitor: Combat log tooltip for Electrical Charge updated to include more detailed information. Nightsong Regalia Set: The bonus to Rejuvenation from this set will now work properly with the Idol of Rejuvenation equipped. In addition, the instant heal provided now has a correct combat log tooltip. Noggenfogger Elixir: Players shrunk while under the effects of this item will now be able to mount. Quel'dorei Channeling Rod: Spelling error corrected. Quel'dorei Sash: Spelling error corrected. Quel'dorei Guard: Spelling error corrected. Qiraji Bindings of Command: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system. Qiraji Bindings of Dominance: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system. Reclaimed Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reclaimed Thunderstrike. Reinforced Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reinforced Thunderstrike. Reins of the Swift Frostsaber: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown. Runescroll of Fortitude: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations. Seaspray Albatross: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form. Sigil of Virulence: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip. Solace of the Defeated: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0. Solace of the Fallen: Can no longer be triggered by spells with a base cost of 0. Spirit of Eskhandar Set: This set no longer requires Eskhandar's Collar to complete (that item can no longer be acquired). Swift Horde Wolf: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown. The Egg of Mortal Essence: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap. Tier 2 Helmets: Looting these items from Nefarion in Blackwing Lair will no longer trigger the Onyxia's Lair (level 60) Feat of Strength achievement. Totem of Quaking Earth: This totem will no longer sometimes grant unintended bonus healing. Turalyon's Plate Set: No longer incorrectly reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield. Veklor';s Diadem: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system. Warmth of Forgiveness: Now grants mana properly to druids in Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form. Windrunner Set: The set bonus which grants Greatness to the hunter's pet will no longer spuriously show the hunter also gaining that buff. Worldbreaker Garb Set: The Electrified effect caused by this set now has detailed combat log tooltips. Racial Abilities

Arcane Torrent: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. Every Man for Himself: Disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger this ability. Classes

Death Knights

Bloody Strikes: Now properly increases the damage displayed in the tooltips of Blood Strike and Heart Strike. Bone Shield: Tooltip corrected to indicate the player has the correct number of bones. Chains of Ice: This ability will no longer appear to land on targets which are immune. Desecration: The debuff from this ability will no longer sometimes appear as if it were cast by someone else. In addition, the visual and snare from this ability will now both dissipate at the same time. Further, this talent will now respect snare immunities, and no longer sometimes snare immune targets. Frost Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time. Glyph of Bone Shield: Now updates the number of charges in the Bone Shield tooltip. Glyph of Dark Death: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil. In addition, its own tooltip has been clarified to indicate it also applies to healing from Death Coil. Glyph of Death's Embrace: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil to indicate runic power is refunded. Glyph of Heart Strike: Now updates the tooltip on Heart Strike to indicate Heart Strike applies a movement snare. Glyph of Icebound Fortitude: Now updates the tooltip on Icebound Fortitude to show increased damage reduction. Glyph of Plague Strike: Now updates the damage shown in Plague Strike's tooltip. Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Now updates the tooltip on Unbreakable Armor. Tooltip on glyph modified to make its effect more clear as well. Master of Ghouls: Tooltip typo corrected. Night of the Dead: Tooltip typo corrected. Obliterate: This ability will no longer sometimes fail to do additional damage based on diseases on the target. Raise Ally: While this spell is active on a target, they will not be sent to the graveyard, prematurely ending the spell. Strangulate: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. Taste of Blood: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip. Unholy Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time. Druids

Glyph of Hurricane: Now modifies the spell tooltip on Hurricane to indicate the spell also applies a movement slowing effect. Hurricane: When cast from Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form, this spell will now channel properly instead of stopping the channel as soon as the shapeshift is cancelled. Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation. Tooltip error corrected. Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes. Swipe (Bear): Tooltip corrected to display 8 yard range. Hunters

Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects. Explosive Trap: The damage from this trap will now scale properly with the hunter's attack power. Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. In addition, this glyph will now modify the tooltip of Immolation Trap correctly. Glyph of Mending: This glyph will now modify the amount healed in the tooltip on Mend Pet. Point of No Escape: This ability no longer stacks and now only functions for the hunter. Roar of Sacrifice: Corrected tooltip error. Silencing Shot: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. Volley: The tooltip for this ability will now update properly from haste. Mages

Arcane Concentration: The interaction of this talent with Arcane Missiles has been restructured. Instead of an Arcane Missiles cast triggering the talent, each missile has an independent (but reduced) chance to trigger this talent. In addition, the talent will no longer sometimes be triggered from misses by Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast, and Blizzard. Blast Wave: Tooltip typo corrected. Blizzard: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Also fixed a bug where some trinkets were not triggered by this spell. Cone of Cold: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Dalaran Intellect: Mages will now be properly blocked from casting this spell when the target has a more powerful version of the buff. Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time. Frost Nova: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Frostbolt: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Glyph of Mirror Image: Now updates the tooltip on Mirror Image to show 4 images are summoned. Ignite: Now correctly benefits from the dispel resistance granted by the Arcane Subtlety talent. Ice Lance: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Improved Scorch: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets. Mirror Image: The mirror images summoned will no longer sometimes appear as shades before taking on the appearance of the casting mage. Prismatic Cloak: Rank three of this talent will now properly modify the tooltip on Invisibility to indicate the effect is instant. Slow Fall: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell. Winter';s Chill: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets. Paladins

Aura Mastery: The animation for this ability will no longer be extra bright when used with Concentration Aura active. Beacon of Light: The effect of this ability will no longer sometimes continue past the duration of its buff. In addition, the duration when used with the Glyph of Beacon of light will now correctly be 1.5 minutes. Finally, the tooltip was corrected to indicate benefitting targets must be in the paladin's party or raid. Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. Blessing of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects. Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength. Devotion Aura: When in a party with another paladin using a different rank of this ability, it is no longer possible to see two different Devotion Aura icons displayed as buffs. Divine Sacrifice: This ability now properly counts all damage transferred against its limit, instead of not counting some damage. Greater Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. Greater Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength. Guardian's Favor: Corrected a tooltip error in rank 1 of this ability. Hand of Freedom: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the druid spell Cyclone. In addition, disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger casting this on oneself. Hand of Reckoning: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability. Hand of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects. Heart of the Crusader: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff. Judgements of the Just: The effect of this talent is now always removed when the target no longer has an active Judgement debuff. Judgement of Righteousness: The damage from this ability will no longer sometimes increase when the paladin's agility increases (only occurred with low strength and high agility). Judgement of Wisdom: Corrected incorrect information in the combat log tooltip. Seal of Corruption: Tooltip corrected to list the actual amount of damage done instead of a higher number. Priests

Glyph of Power Word: Shield: The heal caused by this glyph will now correctly use the casting priest's critical strike chance instead of the target's. Inspiration: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it also functions with Prayer of Mending. Levitate: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell. Mind Flay: The rank 1 tooltip has been corrected to indicate the accurate damage and snare effect. In addition, this ability will now work correctly with [target=focus] and [target=mouseover] macros. Prayer of Mending: Inspiration and Divine Aegis can no longer be incorrectly triggered by this spell for priests who do not have those talents. Silence: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. Spirit Tap: This talent can no longer be triggered by the death of the priest's Jewelcrafter Stone Statues. Rogues

Ambush: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Backstab: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Deadly Poison: Another rogue using a higher rank of this poison will no longer prevent the lower rank Deadly Poison from being applied to the target. Eviscerate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Glyph of Rupture: Now updates the duration on Rupture's tooltip. Killing Spree: Entering a vehicle will now cause this ability to halt, and attempting to use it while on a vehicle will result in an error message. Mutilate: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. In addition, the damage from this ability can now be blocked. Sinister Strike: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Slice and Dice: Improved Slice and Dice and Glyph of Slice and Dice now update the duration of this ability. Throwing Specialization: Deadly Throw will no longer cause multiple spell interruption combat log entries when used with this talent. Shamans

Glyph of Earthliving Weapon: Now updates the tooltip for Earthliving Weapon. Mana Tide Totem: The tooltip on this spell will now be modified properly by the Glyph of Mana Tide Totem. Thunderstorm: It is no longer possible to use this ability while under the effects of the Druid spell Cyclone. Warlocks

Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%. Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above. Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target. Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly. Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed. Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat. Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets. Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects. Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius. Warriors

Blood Frenzy: This debuff is no longer considered a Bleed effect that can be removed separately from the actual Bleed effect which caused it. Bloodrage: Tooltip now adjusts to show effect of Anger Management on this ability. Glyph of Cleaving: Now updates the tooltip of Cleave to show that more targets are struck by the ability. Glyph of Hamstring: Now updates the tooltip of Hamstring to indicate it has a chance to immobilize. Glyph of Vigilance: Now updates the tooltip on Vigilance to show that more threat is transferred. Mocking Blow: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability. Rampage: Rampage now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability. Recklessness: Heroic Throw and Shattering Throw will now benefit from this ability and consume charges of this ability. In addition, Recklessness now behaves correctly as an Enrage effect when interacting with the Enraged Regeneration ability. Sudden Death: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip. Sweeping Strikes: Corrected inaccurate information in combat log tooltip. Vigilance: The threat transfer granted by this ability will now reactivate when Tricks of the Trade or Misdirection cast by the Vigilance target expires. Warbringer: Tooltip typo corrected. Game Systems

Target Effects: When this UI feature is activated, Fear, Silence, Frostbolt, and Hamstring will all now display text over the target's head indicating what type of effect has been applied.