For those who don’t know how this works, basically set number of attempts are given to the raid and when this number ran out it’s basically over for those bosses for the week. When the wings were still coming out, every time a new wing was released this number increased. But since this number is shared with all the main bosses, the attempts had to be used wisely.

Lead Encounter Designer Daelo made an interesting announcement just recently about how this limited attempt system would only apply to the hard modes, giving raiders running the normal mode as many chances to down these main bosses for the week as they need. he said that this change will apply after this week’s maintenance.

This change makes Icecrown Citadel more similar to the Trail of the Crusader raid, where only the trail of the Grand Crusader had limited attempts.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

I have a very small issue about the collection of these charms, but I have to say before hand that it’s not a big deal. Those who’ve read my rants before would probably know that I like bringing up a few things and pointing out things about them even if they’re not big deals at all. The collection of these charms is already easy enough for everyone since you can just farm them off mobs your level. Spend some time doing this everyday and you get a nice way to get those Love Tokens. My small issue came up from doing dungeons as a healer and seeing my friends get the charms while I wasn’t. The thing about collecting these charms is that you have to kill them yourself, so healers don’t get them. The reason why it’s just a small issue is because you can always farm them outside of dungeons and since they’re not soul bound you can even farm them on other characters and send them to whoever needs it. It’s just that seeing those other guys get them while you aren’t makes it feel like something’s wrong even if it’s not that big a deal.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

Unlike the other bosses related to World Events, there’s actually a decently long quest chain that you have to do. The basic thing is that there’s a new group that muscled into the turf of the Steamwheedle Cartel during this season of love and as you know the Cartel has been providing for all the needs for this event for the past several years. The Cartel sent someone to investigate. This investigation ends with a boss encounter in the Shadowfang Keep, who drops a set of item level 226 neck pieces and a few extra stuff like a pet and the Big Love Rocket mount!

I’d have to say that I’m quite pleased with this event this year because it was something I didn’t really participate in before. The addition of quest chain and the boss encounter gives me something interesting to do. You see I’m not really the type of guy who used to do all the stuff that this event offered in years past and in fact I’m not really looking to do some of the stuff this year. The fact that I even tried to do some of the dailies earlier says something about how much easier and more interesting this event is now.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

Paladin tanks are getting a slight nerf as the Sacred Duty talent will provide just a 2%/4% increase to stamina, down from 4%/8%. On the other hand, Death Knights will be getting a few buffs. Frost Presence will now increase stamina by 8%, up from 6% and Icebound Fortitude will provide 40% base damage reduction, up from 20%. Crygil said that this translates to 50% damage reduction for geared tanks with high defense, up from 40%.

The Death Knight changes will also slightly increase in their survivability in PvP, which was actually intended and were also made with that in mind.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

When Blizzard announced this PvP healing debuff they mentioned that all shield effects would not be affected. Well they’re turning that stance around now with a change that seems to already have been hotfixed in. According to CM Zarhym, the PvP healing debuff will also reduce the effects of the paladin spell Sacred Shield and the Priest spell Power Word: Shield by 10% for Wintergrasp, Battlegrounds and Arenas. As always they will be monitoring the effects of this latest change.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

The thing about how the Armory works now is that it accesses data from the game so basically it’s just “read only” functionality. CM Bornakk has given us the heads up of a new feature that they are currently working on that could change that to some extent. They are working on a feature that will integrate the Auction House with the Armory. When I first read this, I thought that the feature would be another “read only” thing where we can only browse the items and their prices. Now that’s a pretty awesome thing to have already. But when Bornakk mentioned that they want to offer auction house functionality similar to what’s in the game, I believe he means even buying and selling of items.

If you think about it, we can already access some items in the game to some extent. The fact that we can log in to our accounts via the Armory and see what’s in the guild bank means that we can do the same thing for the items in our bags and in our personal banks. But seeing the items is different from being able to involve them in auction house transactions is a really big step that if done correctly could lead into several possibilities. I’m just thinking out loud here but breaking the “read only” functionality that the Armory currently has could possibly lead to things like being able to mail items to other players while away from the game and accessing said mail. The Armory already sees the progress of our professions and one day we might see the Armory have a feature where we can not only see our crafting “recipes” but also craft things and seel them in the auction house, all while away from the game.

As you can see there are many possibilities but the question we must ask ourselves is “how much of the game do you really want to be able to interact with while away from the game?”

Post from: WOW Obsessed

battlegrounds battlemasters

Patch 3.3.2 saw the implementation of this PvP healing debuff, which will affect all players in Wintergrasp, Battlegrounds and Arenas. The debuff will decrease all healing by 10% including healing from potions and Healthstones. This debuff will not affect auras or defensive shields. As this is something new and therefore quite experimental, Blizzard said that they will be monitoring how these changes play out for the three areas mentioned. Considering that the latest season of the Arena Tournament just started, it really is quite a concern to monitor.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

I have decided not to post the video here directly because of the spoiler nature of its content. Posting it here would probably make it too tempting even for people who don’t want to be spoiled. I would rather post a link to the video so that the people who really want to see it can click on it and play it while those who don’t won’t get tempted by an embed video staring them at the face.

There has been some information that surfaced in the past about a possible scenario for when the Lich King finally falls. I’d rather not confirm nor deny it because of its spoiler nature. If you really want to know then just watch the video or wait until you see it for yourself when you defeat the Lich King!

To see this end cinematic video, click here.

UPDATE: Changed the link because the original one was removed.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

Patch 3.3.2 is going to usher in the new arena season as well as a bunch of changes to 5 man dungeons to make runs faster. The patch will also see a few changes to certain classes like a nerf to rogues and a buff to warlocks, among others. Raiders of Icecrown Citadel will finally also be able to pick up a set of Strength based melee dps rings, one for every reputation level of the Ashen Verdict. If it’s indeed coming out today, the timing is also pretty good with the new Icecrown Citadel wing Frostwing Halls getting unveiled this week too. The Frostwing Halls is where players will face boss encounters like Valithria Dreamwalker the captured Green Dragon and the mother of all Frostwyms Sindragosa. If I’m not mistaken this also means the Lich King encounter will also be available this week.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

talent interface

The Cataclysm expansion is a strange one not only because the level cap is only getting bumped up 5 levels but also because the talent trees aren’t getting any deeper. We are getting 5 more talent points to spend though. But don’t think that just because the trees aren’t getting deeper, it isn’t going to be interesting. Remember that Blizzard is going to implement the Mastery system, which will pretty much overhaul all the talent trees for all the classes.

The idea of the Mastery system is to take those boring but necessary talents away from the trees and make them bonuses for investing points in the tree, giving more room for “fun” talents. So while we aren’t getting deeper trees, we’re still going to get cool new talents that will make spec building more and more interesting. Ghostcrawler even said that, as a result of this, he wants to see more and more cookie cutter build guides say ’spend the last 5-10 points where you want)

Post from: WOW Obsessed