Patch 3.3

[Ratadm]

I kind of liked aq40 although I know C'thun wrecked 3 or so 2nd tier guilds on my sever. The only bad parts were the trash (pre emps and pre cthun)  and farming nature resist gear (lol go run mara 40 times to get trinkets and other random crap).  C'thun was a really well done fight I thought and I laugh that pugs still have trouble on Twin emps.

[SurfD]

I kind of liked aq40 although I know C'thun wrecked 3 or so 2nd tier guilds on my sever. The only bad parts were the trash (pre emps and pre cthun)  and farming nature resist gear (lol go run mara 40 times to get trinkets and other random crap).  C'thun was a really well done fight I thought and I laugh that pugs still have trouble on Twin emps.

I have been in a few 20 man AQ 40 pugs, with pretty much 90% of the people in the raid at level 77 or higher, and somehow they STILL manage to fuck up Twin Emps enough times that the pug falls apart.  Usually they do the 2 tanks strat (being you only have 2 tanks, and let the bosses teleport and then run back to their old positions) and it is amazing how difficult is it for people to understand the two simple concepts: Don't fucking chase the boss when it ports, let it run back to it's tank; and If you grab aggro, don't fucking stand there like an idiot, run it away from the other Boss.   It's not really THAT hard of a fight, but appearently the VAST majority of modern raid noobs have no concept of how to deal with mobs that periodically wipe all threat.

[SurfD]

Combine that with "farm MC and Ony for months to get materials to make Onyxia Scale Cloak to even stand a chance in the next progression of the raid (BWL)" and you have a recipe for fail.  Luckily the Shadowbreath doesn't exist anymore.  I did BWL the other night and can only imagine how painful it would have been coordinating 40 people through that at 60.  Some of the mobs and bosses had hit points similar to Naxx-25 bosses and mobs.

Actually, BWL was kind of entertaining at 60.  And don't forget, things were a LOT easier to coordinate, simply because there was a lot less "role spreading" going on among the classes.  There was really 1 viable tank class Warrior, with Feral Druids / Prot paladins tied for Dead last as a second option.  Paladins, priests, Druids, and Shaman usually stuck to healing, with the odd Feral Druid or Ele shaman in there.  Everyone else was plain old DPS, and i think Ret DPS, Enhance DPS or Moonkin DPS were about as rare as baron rivendare's mount.

  About the only thing i never liked about that place was the Suppression room, which always came across as a poorly contrived excuse to provide something for your rogues to do.  The rest of it had some pretty nice theme and interesting encounters.

Fun part now is running BWL at 80, where everything is rediculously easy, and then getting to Neff and watching nearly an entire 20 man raid of full 80's die to Shadowflame because the Paladin Tank couldn't stance dance to avoid fear (It was awesome, we ended up 3 manning neff from about 60% with only my Enhance Shaman (who was wearing her old Ony Cloak) the Prot Pally tank, and a Resto shaman left alive.  Fucking Forrest of Hostile totems by the end of the fight, stupid shaman class calls.

[Merusk]

I kind of liked aq40 although I know C'thun wrecked 3 or so 2nd tier guilds on my sever. The only bad parts were the trash (pre emps and pre cthun)  and farming nature resist gear (lol go run mara 40 times to get trinkets and other random crap).  C'thun was a really well done fight I thought and I laugh that pugs still have trouble on Twin emps.

I have been in a few 20 man AQ 40 pugs, with pretty much 90% of the people in the raid at level 77 or higher, and somehow they STILL manage to fuck up Twin Emps enough times that the pug falls apart.  Usually they do the 2 tanks strat (being you only have 2 tanks, and let the bosses teleport and then run back to their old positions) and it is amazing how difficult is it for people to understand the two simple concepts: Don't fucking chase the boss when it ports, let it run back to it's tank; and If you grab aggro, don't fucking stand there like an idiot, run it away from the other Boss.   It's not really THAT hard of a fight, but appearently the VAST majority of modern raid noobs have no concept of how to deal with mobs that periodically wipe all threat.

Your experience mirrors mine exactly.  I only got it done a month ago because a group of about 7 competent raiders from another mid-pack guild decided they wanted the achieve and I happened to be on.   After pounding this strat into the 4 other people's heads, the 12 of us were able to finish it up fairly easily. 

I understand this to have been the issue when AQ was original content as well, so I'm not surprised people still don't get it.   We nearly gave up on C'Thun because a few continued to not understand the whole "Run in as a group so we don't Die, dummy" thing.   Hell, the only reason we actually killed him was because C'Thun ate 2 people who knew to attack the thing in his stomach, not just run out.

[apocrypha]

Have you tried pugs with voice comms? I know that sounds like a terrifying prospect, but my one and only visit to Naxx was a pug and it was going realy badly until someone said "why don't we put the voice comms on?".

Sure, it took 15 mins to get those with mics on and volumes sorted etc, but from that point on it was a walk in the park. We didn't finish it because of time constraints but it was sooo much easier with someone saying "don't stand in that thing" etc.

[Thrawn]

I was in a Naxx 25 pug last night that had great dps, great tanks, great healers.  We breezed through spider wing, then wiped 3 times to the slimes in early part of abom wing before the pug broke apart. 

I'm never gonna get my Naxxramus achievements. 

[Morat20]

Everyone else was plain old DPS, and i think Ret DPS, Enhance DPS or Moonkin DPS were about as rare as baron rivendare's mount.

Speaking of, I'm seeing a surprising number of people riding that mount. Is undead Strat soloable for 70s and 80s?

[Lakov_Sanite]

Everyone else was plain old DPS, and i think Ret DPS, Enhance DPS or Moonkin DPS were about as rare as baron rivendare's mount.

Speaking of, I'm seeing a surprising number of people riding that mount. Is undead Strat soloable for 70s and 80s?

They recently upped the droprate on the mount to around %5 and yes, very soloable at 80 by most classes.

[Rasix]

The 10 minute long diseases (especially the one that prevents all health regen) can make it incredibly annoying for certain classes.  Still isn't difficult.

[Shrike]

Don't forget the mana burn on the dead side. It's still there and surprisingly brutal on classes like protection pallies. Mine got a very rude awakening because of it. Interestingly, it doesn't bother my shaman particularly, but then she pretty much one shots everything she runs across. Heck, the magma totem alone about does that.

On my warrior, however, it's like an evil, violent trip through fantasyland. As either arms or protection it's a giggle-worthy outing. Money isn't bad, either.

Most entertaining is taking a friend along and getting mind controlled by the baroness and then beating said friend down. It doesn't get much better than that.

[Simond]

Running Strat is hilariously awesome on a DK:
"Skeletons? Skeletons?! That's not an army of the dead"
pres butan
A couple of dozen ghouls claw their way out of the ground.
"That's an army of the dead! Bloody amateur" 

[Nebu]

I'm running around on my shaman last night and come across this level 69 DK fighting two level 68 mobs.  As I run by, he yells for my help.

I'm no WoW expert, but this seemed like a whole new level of bad to me.  



EDIT: I just realized that maybe he/she was a little kid.  I can excuse that. 

[Morat20]

Everyone else was plain old DPS, and i think Ret DPS, Enhance DPS or Moonkin DPS were about as rare as baron rivendare's mount.

Speaking of, I'm seeing a surprising number of people riding that mount. Is undead Strat soloable for 70s and 80s?

They recently upped the droprate on the mount to around %5 and yes, very soloable at 80 by most classes.

Would be difficult on my hunter, I would think. I've found that I'm surprisingly squishy if I gain aggro, and I have a hard time dealing with multiple mobs. Of course, I'm level 71 and still gearing up to Northend stuff.

I suspect going back to Undead strat at 80, with the gear and HP and such -- might be easier than I thought. I always wanted that mount....although it'd fit my DK better. :)

Nebu: Really? That's fucking awful. My 58 DK is playing around in Outland and can take multiple even level mobs, even though she's still geared with the crap you get for finishing the DK opening. Of course, mostly I let my perma-ghoul handle it.

[Shatter]

Goddamit!  I used to farm Strat by 2 boxing my level 60 rogue and druid, musta killed that asshole 100+ times, quit the game a year + ago and after I left they up the drop rate...sonsofbitches.  Im almost inclined to resub just for that mount...meh nm. 

[Delmania]

Those diseases are nasty plain and simple.  I can't take the warlock there because I go through health pots and bandages too quickly. As for the mount, meh, she's a Forsaken warlock.  The warhorse or the dreadsteed look just as cool.  Especially because I got my dreadsteed the old way.

[Nebu]

Would be difficult on my hunter, I would think. I've found that I'm surprisingly squishy if I gain aggro, and I have a hard time dealing with multiple mobs. Of course, I'm level 71 and still gearing up to Northend stuff.

Get a bear pet.  The swipe combined with the thunderstomp will take care of the aggro problem.  Also, I think there's a minor glyph that reduces the cooldown on feign.  I love that glyph for pve.  Pulling with misdirection or sending the bear into a crowd also helps. 

[Morat20]

Get a bear pet.  The swipe combined with the thunderstomp will take care of the aggro problem.  Also, I think there's a minor glyph that reduces the cooldown on feign.  I love that glyph for pve.  Pulling with misdirection or sending the bear into a crowd also helps. 

I have that glyph. Frankly, finding minor glyphs on the AH is a pain in the ass.

Warlock soul bags and herb bags are just as big a PITA, unless you want the absolute top-end, god-knows-how-many-hundreds-of-gold ones.

Currently my tanking pet is Mister Turtle, but I still have a slot open. I could always get rid of the Raptor. He looks cool, but that's about the only reason I have him.

[K9]

Warlock soul bags and herb bags are just as big a PITA, unless you want the absolute top-end, god-knows-how-many-hundreds-of-gold ones.

The reason for herb bags being so expensive is that the only ones that offer more space than standard bags are rep rewards and require large quantities of expensive mats. That said, Mycah's Botanical Bag isn't too expensive mats-wise, it's just from a fairly obscure rep.

[Soulflame]

The current top end herb bag is expensive because it requires 4 cooldowns on a 4 day timer to make one.  I've never understood why Blizzard was so hellbent on introducing days long cooldowns on materials required for tailoring.  No other tradeskill has such an enormous cockblock.  So far as I am aware, of course.

[Ingmar]

The current top end herb bag is expensive because it requires 4 cooldowns on a 4 day timer to make one.  I've never understood why Blizzard was so hellbent on introducing days long cooldowns on materials required for tailoring.  No other tradeskill has such an enormous cockblock.  So far as I am aware, of course.

Blacksmithing does (titansteel) as does jewelcrafting (main source of dragon's eyes is a daily quest.) Although the timer in those cases is 1 day not 4 (assuming I'm reading you right.)

[Morat20]

Warlock soul bags and herb bags are just as big a PITA, unless you want the absolute top-end, god-knows-how-many-hundreds-of-gold ones.

The reason for herb bags being so expensive is that the only ones that offer more space than standard bags are rep rewards and require large quantities of expensive mats. That said, Mycah's Botanical Bag isn't too expensive mats-wise, it's just from a fairly obscure rep.

Hell, my wife just wants a soul bag so her shards go there automatically. Don't herbs do the same thing? 20 slot is more than enough for her at the moment, and the auto-sort thing is tops.

I'm not even sure WHY soul shards don't stack.

[K9]

If you want a 20-slot bag you might as well just get a Frostweave Bag

[Gobbeldygook]

I wouldn't be completely surprised if they changed all heroics to start dropping triumph badges in 3.3.

The current plan is to make Emblems of Triumph the "base" of emblems so everything that drops Emblems of Conquest would be changed to Triumph and then the new raid content would drop the new highest emblem along with things like the heroic daily and such.

New patch notes up.  Nothing too exciting, divine guardian was nerfed TO THE GROUND, just lots of quality of life improvements for everyone (like destro burst getting smacked on the nose with a newspaper).

[Merusk]

The 10 minute long diseases (especially the one that prevents all health regen) can make it incredibly annoying for certain classes.  Still isn't difficult.

Go to STV, kill Medicine Men for their potions, problem solved.  Still, if I'm in there for 10 mins on my DK it's a long run.  I imagine most DPS classes it's the same story.

[Ingmar]

Or just be a dwarf.

[Merusk]

I'm not even sure WHY soul shards don't stack.

At this point they should.  They're going away in 4.0, may as well let them stack right now for convenience's sake.

[WindupAtheist]

I used to solo Stratholme at 70. In PVP blues and quest greens. Pally FTW.  

Also, the horse dropped on my 2nd kill. I don't even ride it. Mahahahaha.

[Mattemeo]

# Item - Priest T10 Shadow 2P Bonus - The critical strike chance of your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells is increased by 5%.
# Item - Priest T10 Shadow 4P Bonus - Reduces the channel duration and period of your Mind Flay spell by 51%

I'll just be over here.

Giggling insanely.

(Well, at least until the gear preview shows up, and with any indication of how hideous the current T10 previews are, then I'll alternate giggling with weeping)

[K9]

A lot of them are placeholder values. I get it's really something crap like 5%

I'm trying to figure out if the Priest healer set boni are good or not. I am happy that they are a bit imaginative for a change if nothing else,

[Mattemeo]

After appraising the current T10 previews (DK, Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Warrior) I am not as repulsed as I was initially. Since 99.9% of the time, I play with helm /off, the worst offending pieces won't ever really affect me. Some are just plain wrong, though.

I appreciate that geists are cool in that creepy gimp manner of theirs, but now the... er... 'eyehole' is glowing on the Rogue T10, it looks... well. I'll let others draw their own conclusions on that, I doubt I'm the only one who can't unsee.

At first, I looked at the Druid set and thought 'oh well, Druids got by far, far the best looking T9 set, guess they drew the short straw this time', but now I get a different vibe - did anyone ever read Sláine? The druids in Sláine were dark, scary motherfuckers dressed in heavy skins, features completely covered, heads adorned with thorns and horns. That's what I get from the T10 set now. Arguably the first Druid set in a while that isn't feminine in any way whatsoever. Don't think it'll be met with a lot of love overall, and I still think it's ugly, but at least I think I get the idea behind it now.

DK set is kind of uninspiring but at least it's vaguely in-keeping, sort of like Arthas' pyjamas. The Tron-lines on the Warrior T10 are odd, but the orange/black set looks ok. Don't like the pig-face shoulders at all, though.

I've heard some complaints about the Hunter T10, specifically the helmet, which oddly I don't mind so much - you've torn off the head carapace of a Crypt Lord and stuck it on your own head! That's pretty hardcore. I actually think the overall design of the Hunter set is probably the nicest of what's been revealed so far.

[AutomaticZen]

The current top end herb bag is expensive because it requires 4 cooldowns on a 4 day timer to make one.  I've never understood why Blizzard was so hellbent on introducing days long cooldowns on materials required for tailoring.  No other tradeskill has such an enormous cockblock.  So far as I am aware, of course.

Trying to get all the patterns in Jewelcrafting is an enormous cockblock, or a vicious moneysink.  Take your pick.

Item - Paladin T10 Protection 2P Bonus - Your Hammer of the Righteous ability deals 20% increased damage.
Item - Paladin T10 Protection 4P Bonus - When you activate Divine Plea, you gain 12% dodge for 10 sec.

Yeah, that won't make it to live.  Or it will, but tied to the most horrendous armor design ever.

[Lakov_Sanite]

# Item - Priest T10 Shadow 2P Bonus - The critical strike chance of your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch spells is increased by 5%.
# Item - Priest T10 Shadow 4P Bonus - Reduces the channel duration and period of your Mind Flay spell by 51%

I'll just be over here.

Giggling insanely.

(Well, at least until the gear preview shows up, and with any indication of how hideous the current T10 previews are, then I'll alternate giggling with weeping)

Shadow priest High five?  Also mindflay now a base 30yds....thank god.

[Soulflame]

Hooray for more terrible holy paladin tier bonuses.  Makes it that much easier to ignore them.

[Thrawn]

Hooray for more terrible holy paladin tier bonuses.  Makes it that much easier to ignore them.

Hurray for patch notes making me even happier I shelved my paladin to play something else for a while.

[Sheepherder]

We are trying to make haste a slightly more attractive stat for classes that utilize a lot of damage or healing over time spells, specifically Shadow priests, warlocks (though especially Affliction) and Resto druids. We realize other classes use hots and dots too, but I think we can all agree that it's a bigger problem for the ones I mentioned.

I'm going to share with you an idea that the class and item designers came up with for 3.3. This is a work in progress so it's possible we'll end up going a different way after we see how it plays. However I also wanted to explain our logic here in case it wasn't obvious.

We have new tech that will allow specific hots and dots to tick faster -- the time between ticks would decrease. This means more damage or healing per time but also having to refresh those spells more often. Since there is a trade-off, we're not sure the change is a no-brainer, especially in the healing case.

Because of this, we are planning on introducing the concept through glyphs. Glyphs represent a great test bed for new ideas because they are easier to change (and easier on the players when we do change them) compared to core spell functions or even talents. If we like the way it feels and players like the way it feels and the glyphs prove popular or fun, then this may be the kind of thing that shifts from glyphs over time -- not unlike the way some favorite set bonuses eventually become talents.

For 3.3 we are talking about introducing three new glyphs for Shadow Word: Pain, Corruption and Rejuvenation that would allow these spells to tick faster with the more haste you have. There are glyphs of Corruption and Rejuv already, and we're not sure how we're going to resolve those yet. For Shadow Word: Pain, we are likely to rename the current glyph to Glyph of Mind Flay, remove the old Glyph of Mind Flay, and increase Mind Flay by 10 yards in the base spell.

Again, these are not promises (nor ponies). For a variety of reasons, you may see these changes on the PTR or you may not. If you do see any or all of the three glyphs implemented however, we wanted you to have some idea of what we were trying to do. Feedback is certainly appreciated, especially if you get to try them out.