Holyssa

I am going to take a few weeks off of raiding-just need to take a break at this point and see how it goes...which is a bit better than where I was at Thursday with a complete resignation from the run. Time to think and all that I guess...

Great. Now who's gonna do the "BLUE SH*T! BLUE SH*T!" mantra for us?! We're all doomed Happy Birthday!

Seriously though, enjoy the break & hope to see you again!

Happy birthday mama-moo!!

Hmph. According to this: http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/icecrow...uff-blue-posts/

The zone-wide ICC buff is auto-active. It's de-activated by talking to your faction leader at the start of the raid (in Horde's case, Garrosh). Not sure what causes it to scale, but it can go as high as 30% (ie - you sneeze, you win loot). It doesn't seem to affect loot or achievements.

TOO SOON, BLIZZARD. YOU HAVE BUFFED US TOO S...oh screw it.

EDIT: minor clarification on how to turn off the buff....not that we'd be mad enough to do it

Happy birthday!!

There's a whole bunch of WG changes coming too. Check out the 3.3.3 PTR notes!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...&pageNo=1#1

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.3.3

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/...patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

General

* Copied Test Realm characters are not copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.

PvP

* The amount of Honor awarded for an Honorable Kill has been increased by 100% for characters of all levels. Given that all avenues in the game which award players with Honor do so with a calculated conversion from a specific amount of Honorable Kills, this change means that all Honor players can obtain through various means will be increased by 100%. To offset against this in two key areas, experience gains in Battlegrounds have been reduced by 50% and Honor awarded for completing each Wintergrasp weekly quest has been reduced by 50%. When pairing the Honor rewarded from Honorable Kills being increased by 100% with the 50% Honor reduction from Wintergrasp weekly quests, and 50% experience-gain reduction from completing objectives in Battlegrounds, players will notice no change in the net amount of Honor or experience awarded in either case.

Battlegrounds

* The Random Battleground system has been added! Similar to the Random Dungeon system in the Dungeon Finder, players can now queue for a random Battleground.

o The Random Battleground option can be found in the Battleground tab of the PvP frame and is only available for level 80 characters at this time.

o If this option is selected, players may not queue for specific Battlegrounds and a random Battleground simultaneously.

o Similar to the Random Dungeon system, players will not know for which Battleground they are chosen when selected from the queue until they zone into the Battleground.

o The Random Battleground option will only allow a group size of 5 players to queue together.

o Bonus rewards will be offered for choosing the Random Battleground option.[ul]

o Winning a Battleground using the Random Battleground option for the first time in a day will award players with 30 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency and 25 Arena points.

o Winning additional Battlegrounds using the Random Battleground option after the first random win will award players with 15 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.

o Losing a Battleground using the Random Battleground option will award players with 5 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.

* Daily Battleground quests have been removed in place of the Random Battleground option.

* Battlegrounds will no longer award Marks of Honor.

o Players with existing Marks of Honor can still turn them in to their respective faction's quest givers, including individual marks for those who may have more marks for one Battleground than another.

o Items which previously required Marks of Honor will have their costs adjusted to remove these requirements.

* Whenever a Battleground has the holiday bonus active, it will now be referred to as "Call to Arms" in the Battleground tab and Calendar. In addition, Call to Arms Battleground Honor rewards have been changed.

o Choosing a specific Battleground with the Call to Arms bonus active will yield the exact same rewards as when choosing the Random Battleground option.

+ Winning a Call to Arms Battleground for the first time in a day will award players with 30 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency and 25 Arena points.

+ Additional Call to Arms Battleground victories after the first win for a player that day will award them with 15 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.

+ Losing a Call to Arms Battleground will award players with 5 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.

+ When using the Random Battleground option, players will not receive additional rewards if the Battleground chosen is under the Call to Arms bonuses. In addition, the rewards for the first victory of the day cannot be earned more than once, regardless of whether or not it is obtained from the Random Battleground system or the Call to Arms Battleground.

Wintergrasp ((Click below for the new WG changes))

* The internal balance system now only changes when a faction achieves 2 consecutive defenses after an initial capture of Wintergrasp, up from 1. You can find additional details here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23329393344

Dungeons & Raids

Culling of Stratholme

* Players may now skip the initial introduction dialog to this dungeon once they have completed it at least once. ((You still gotta endure Arthas being a blabbermouth, I guess))

Classes: General

* Several raid buffs have had their ranges increased to 100 yards, up from 45 yards, to prevent select buffs from repeatedly getting applied and removed during highly mobile encounters. Some buffs, such as paladin auras, totems, shouts and Blood Pact are intentionally meant to have shorter ranges and remain unchanged.

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Icy Touch: This ability now causes a very high amount of threat while the death knight is in Frost Presence.

* Rune of Razorice: Now stacks 5 stacks of 2% Frost Vulnerability instead of 10 stacks of 1% Frost Vulnerability. Proc chance changed to 100%.

Blood

* Abomination's Might: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc on certain strikes. Rank 1 is 5% attack power and Rank 2 is 10% attack power. The self strength buff remains unchanged.

* Will of the Necropolis: There is no longer a cooldown on the frequency at which this talent can be activated. In addition, this ability can now also be triggered by damage which deals less than 5% of your health.

Frost

* Endless Winter: No longer causes Frost Fever to be applied by Chains of Ice, but instead grants 2/4% strength. The previous functionality of this talent can now be attained via the Glyph of Chains of Ice.

* Improved Icy Talons: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc. The self haste buff remains unchanged.

* Nerves of Cold Steel: Now increases off-hand damage by 8/16/25%, up from 5/10/15%.

* Unbreakable Armor: The amount of strength granted is now 20%, up from 10%.

Unholy

* Scourge Strike: Now deals 70% weapon damage, plus 12% of physical damage done as shadow damage for each of the death knight's diseases on the target. The net result should be larger strikes with no diseases present, while maximum damage with all diseases applied to the target should stay the same.

Hunter (Forums / Talent Calculator)

Beast Mastery

* Ferocious Inspiration: This ability is now an aura and provides 1/2/3% damage to all party or raid members within 100 yards.

Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Frostbolt: Spell power scaling on this spell has been increased by approximately 5%.

Arcane

* Arcane Empowerment: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc off of critical strikes. The self damage buff remains unchanged.

* Incanter's Absorption: This talent now only grants additional spell power when damage is absorbed by Mana Shield, Frost Ward, Fire Ward, or Ice Barrier. The limit of 5% of the mage's health on the spell power buff has been removed.

Fire

* Burning Soul: Threat reduction is now 10/20%, up from 5/10%.

Frost

* Brain Freeze: This talent now allows your next Fireball or Frostfire Bolt to be instant and cost no mana. There is a small internal cooldown to keep the Frostfire Bolt from immediately triggering Brain Freeze again.

Priest (Forums / Talent Calculator)

Discipline

* Renewed Hope: now has a 60-second duration, up from 20 seconds, but a 20-second cooldown.

Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Rupture: The damage-over-time component of this ability can now produce critical strikes.

Subtlety

* Filthy Tricks: Now Reduces the cooldown by 5/10 seconds and energy cost by 5/10 of Tricks of the Trade, Distract and Shadowstep abilities, and reduces the cooldown of Preparation by 1.5/3 minutes.

* Ghostly Strike: If the rogue has a dagger equipped, this ability now deals 180% weapon damage instead of 125%.

* Hemorrhage: If the rogue has a dagger equipped, this ability now deals 160% weapon damage instead of 110%.

* Slaughter from the Shadows: Now adds 1/2/3/4/5% damage to all attacks in addition to its current effects.

* Waylay: The debuff from this talent can now be caused by Backstab in addition to Ambush.

Shaman (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Flame Shock: The damage-over-time component of this ability can now produce critical strikes and is affected by spell haste.

Elemental Combat

* Elemental Oath: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.

Enhancement

* Unleashed Rage: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.

Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Immolate: The damage-over-time component of this spell can now produce critical strikes.

Demonology

* Demonic Pact: This effect now has a 45-second duration, up from 12 seconds, and a 20-second internal cooldown.

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)

* Revenge: Damage done by this ability (base and scaling) increased by 50%.

Fury

* Rampage: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc from critical strikes.

Items

* Frozo the Renowned has moved into the Dalaran Magus Commerce Exchange and will be trading your Frozen Orbs for various other trade goods.

* Mechanostriders: Summoning any of these mounts is now perfectly mechanical-sounding!

Glyphs

Death Knight

* Glyph of Chains of Ice: Now causes Chains of Ice to apply Frost Fever instead of dealing damage.

* Glyph of Disease: When this glyph causes Frost Fever to be refreshed, it will now also trigger a refresh of Icy Talons.

Mage

* Glyph of Fireball: No longer increases critical strike chance of Fireball. Instead, it now reduces the cast time of Fireball by 0.15 seconds.

Professions

* Runed Orbs: Recipes which require this item have had their material requirements significantly reduced.

Fishing

* The "Monsterbelly Appetite" daily fishing quest has changed so it now takes place outside the Violet Hold in Dalaran. The quest still requires a Severed Arm and has been renamed to "Disarmed!"

Inscription

* Most recipes that required 2 inks now only require 1.

Mining

Titansteel Bar: Creating this item no longer results in a cooldown. ((YES, THERE IS A GOD!))

Tailoring

* Glacial Bag: Creating this item now invokes a 7-day cooldown. ((Uh, whut?))

* The cooldown and location requirements have been removed from creating Moonshroud, Spellweave and Ebonweave.

Quests

* Many quests which require vehicles have had their vehicle mechanics updated and improved in the interest of fun.

User Interface

* All Alert pop-ups now have new and fresh Alert icons.

* Authenticator Frame: If a player has a Battle.net Authenticator attached to his or her account and selects Remember Account Name at the login screen, the next time that player logs into World of Warcraft, a field to input the Authenticator code will be displayed below the password field.

* The World Map will now provide an option to display different levels of a multi-layered dungeon, zone, or city (i.e. players can view the map of the Dalaran Sewers without having to be in that location).

* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.ht...p;forumId=11114

Auction House

* If the Auction House on a realm is unavailable for any reason, an alert will pop up informing players who attempt to access it.

* Players can now Right-Click to place an item in the Auction frame.

* Entire stacks of a specific item type can be placed in the Auction frame and several options have been added for choosing how to list auctions.

o Stack Size: If a stack of items has been added to the Auction frame, players can select the size of the stack they wish to sell. If an invalid stack size is entered (i.e. a stack of 21 Saronite Ore), the Create Auction button will be grayed out.

o Number of Stacks: In addition to selecting the size of a stack, players can select how many stacks of an item they wish to sell (i.e. if a player has a total of 43 Saronite Ore in the Auction frame, they can choose to list 2 stacks of 20, 4 stacks of 10, 8 stacks of 5, 43 stacks of 1, etc. If the number and amount of stacks listed results in a remainder, the left-over items will be placed back in the player's bags automatically).

o Stack Size and Number of Stacks are linked mathematically so that altering the variables of one may automatically calculate the amount of the other (i.e. if a player puts 20 in the Stack Size field and 43 Saronite Ore are in the Auction frame, the Number of Stacks field will change to 2 by default. If a player only wishes to sell one stack of 20 Saronite Ore, the Number of Stacks field can be manually changed to 1).

o Price: Players can now choose to input the price of an item Per Stack or Per Item by selecting either option from a pull-down. If Per Item is selected and a player is selling a stack of that item, the Auction House will multiply the selected Per Item price by the amount of that item in the stack. If Per Stack is selected, the player can enter the total price he or she wishes to charge for each stack of that item being listed.

o Auction Post Completion Bar: If multiple items or stacks of items are being listed at once by a player, a Posting completion bar will appear showing the total progress of each individual auction being listed once the Create Auction button is selected. The greater the number of individual listings being made in a single press of the Create Auction button, the longer this process will take. Players can still browse the Auction House while the Posting completion bar is in progress, but moving around will interrupt the progress, similar to moving while attempting to create multiple bandages with First Aid. Just as with creating bandages, auctions that were completed prior to the character moving or otherwise canceling the actions will successfully be listed.

Dungeon Finder

* The Deserter debuff given to players who leave a dungeon prematurely when queuing via the Random Dungeon option has been increased to 30 minutes, up from 15 minutes. The cooldown for using the Random Dungeon option remains 15 minutes. ((Take THAT, dungeon-dropping tanks!))

* The Random Dungeon cooldown is no longer displayed as a debuff. Instead, players will see the cooldown time remaining displayed in the Dungeon Finder window when Random Dungeon or Random Heroic Dungeon is selected from the pull-down.

* If a player in your party has the Deserter debuff, or is on cooldown from the Random Dungeon option, his or her character name will be displayed in the Dungeon Finder window listed as "On Cooldown," preventing the group from queuing.

* Anyone in a dungeon party can now re-queue their group for a dungeon, as players will still be prompted whether or not to accept their chosen role.

* Players who use the Vote Kick option will now be prompted to provide a reason for kicking a party member. This reason will be presented to everyone in the party except for the person voted to be kicked.

* When joining as a group, more generous level requirements will be used instead of Random Dungeon level requirements so that players of different levels joining together will be eligible for a greater number of dungeons.

* World Event bosses (such as Ahune for the Fire Festival) will now be accessible through the Dungeon Finder. Players must use the Dungeon Finder to access these bosses.

* Parties randomly created via the Dungeon Finder will always be arranged in the party interface from top to bottom in the following order: tank, healer, damage, damage, damage.

* If a random party is created via the Dungeon Finder and a player cannot roll Need on an item, a reason will now be provided.

Quest Tracking Feature

* The Quest Tracking Objectives Frame can now be widened via the Interface Options menu.

* The short description for a tracked quest is now displayed on the Map in the quest pane.

* Quest items in a player's inventory which begin quests now each have an exclamation point overlaid on their icons to make them more easily identifiable.

* If a players selects Track Low Level Quests, the quest objectives will no longer appear dim on the Map, nor will the exclamation points appear dim over NPC heads or on the Mini-Map.

* Objectives Frame

o The Objectives Frame will now list the number of quests displayed at the top. In addition, players can now click on the word "Objectives" at the top of the Objectives Frame for a list of sorting and filtering options which will determine how quests are ordered. Any quests or achievements filtered or sorted out of the Objectives Frame are still being tracked and are simply hidden in this frame.

o Sorting

+ Sort by most difficult quests.

+ Sort by least difficult quests.

+ Sort by quests closest in proximity to the player (this will automatically update as players travel around).

+ Manual sorting: This allows players to Right-Click on each quest name in the Objectives Frame and determine in what order they should be placed.

o Filtering

+ Toggle achievement tracking.

+ Toggle completed quest tracking.

+ Toggle tracking quest objectives in other zones.

* Players can now Shift + Click on a quest objective or check the Track Quest box on the Map to track a quest in the Objectives Frame.

Bug Fixes

* When speaking to an NPC for which a player has 2 or more quests and not all of them are complete, the incomplete quests will now correctly show as a gray question marks in the dialog box. In addition, repeatable quests will be properly colored as blue exclamation points or question marks in the dialog box for NPCs with multiple quests available, or for which the player has multiple quests in progress or completed.

This movie is made of pwnsauce. I love the voice work that went behind it.

Good news everyone! Blizzard has officially turned on the Infinite Lives cheat code for end-wing ICC bosses:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...95833&sid=1

After each region's maintenance this week, raids will no longer lose attempts on wipes in Normal mode for Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. There will still be limited attempts in Heroic mode.

We will continue to monitor developments in Icecrown Citadel in the future, especially since the Heroic difficulty has been unlocked by a significant number of raids.

-

Update Follow up time!

Q: If you extend your raid lockout this week, will you still lose attempts on Normal after the hotfix?

A: No.

Q: If you run completely out of attempts on Heroic, will the wing bosses and Lich King no longer respawn, even if the difficulty is switched to Normal?

A: YES. So leave an attempt left if you wish to kill them on Normal. I'll try and correct this in a future update.

Q: Why is the counter still visible in Normal?

A: The hotfix being applied just stops the counter decrementing, and nothing more.

Some of these spots are painfully obvious, but here's a few locations anyone can travel to and rack up dozens of those bracelets for Blizzard's V-Day farmfest. Hurry before Blizzard nerfs/hotfixes these!

~ Kartak's Hold

In the southwest of Sholozar Basin is a camp full of those puppy-men...err, Frenzyheart NPCs. They die fast, respawn quickly, and there's a circular platform in the northern half of the camp that screams "AOE ME!"

~ Icecrown Citadel steps

This should be easy if you've done the Tournament jousting. You get a charm for each of the mobs you steamroll before the Citadel, in particularly the Boneguard Footmen. But be careful not to aggro the other mobs! This is by far the more death-prone method of farming, but it's nice to do alongside Tourney dailies.

~ Icecrown Dailies

See Riding the Wavelength & Total Ohmage. Another death/kill-steal proof method of farming, and you can make decent coin too.

The Ebon Blade daily Shoot Em Up also lets you earn charms by shooting Vrykul down, but you must be on the daily to use the harpoon guns.

~ Ulduar

Yup. You read correctly. Grab a buddy and form a fresh Ulduar-10 run (Flame Leviathan must be alive for this to work), then mount up a siege engine. Find a corner near one of the towers, then steamroll the little ######s into extinction. If an iron giant appears, just zone out quickly, then re-enter.

Happy farming, and try not to get TOO bored doing these.

New weekly quests have appeared within ICC! These quests give a Sack of Frosty Treasures, which contain 20g, 5x Emblems of Frost, and a chance at a cool ICC BoE.

Here's a list of the quests. They can appear randomly, one at a time, any time during your raid. So keep your eyes peeled!

---

Blood Quickening - Rescue Infiltrator Minchar before he is executed.

"These Scourge bloodsuckers -- San'layn they call themselves - give me the creeps. We've had one of our best men keeping an eye on them. But this morning he got sloppy and got himself taken prisoner. He's being interrogated by the Queen herself right now, and his cries echo through the Crimson Halls. Please, save him before it's too late!"

((Kill Blood Queen Lana'thel...within 20 minutes of the first Crimson Halls pull. Hoo boy...))

Deprogramming - Defeat Lady Deathwhisper while ensuring that Darnavan survives.

"We had hoped to place a man on the inside of the Cult of the Damned, to give us an inside angle on the Lich King's machinations, but we... underestimated the persuasive powers of Arthas and his dark minister, Lady Deathwhisper. Our man, Darnavan, is one of them now.

If you plan on fighting your way through the Oratory ahead, please keep your eyes peeled for Darnavan. If you can bring him back to us alive, we can attempt to reverse the Cult's brainwashing."

((To do this quest, Darnavan must be offtanked while the raid kills Deathwhisper, and he must live to get credit. Apparently this guy is fragile, and has just as much HP as one of her adds. Bring a spare tank if need be!))

Residue Rendezvous - Return to Alchemist Adrianna while infected with Orange and Green Blight.

"Professor Putricide has been holed up in his foul laboratory, experimenting and refining increasingly lethal strains of blight to be used against us. If only we could obtain pure samples of the toxins, our researchers could concoct an antidote that would save countless lives.

If you happen to come across live specimens, please return here immediately so that we can harvest them for study."

((To do this, someone must have debuffs from both bosses, and survive long enough to make it to the quest NPC. Click the quest text for some tips on how to attempt this.))

Respite for a Tormented Soul - Use the Life Crystals to preserve Sindragosa's Essence.

"Take this Life Crystal, and have your companions take one as well. It contains potent energies from the verdant Dragonshrine in Dragonblight, and it was my own secret to resisting the dark magics of this place for so long.

When you face Sindragosa, battle her until she is weakened, and then have your companions use these Crystals to coax out the essence that is dormant within her. If you then defeat her, you should be able to recover it and return it to Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight."

((Hm. Not much clarification on how this is properly done, though I suspect you will probably need to channel the quest item during her final phase. Ouch.))

Securing the Ramparts - Slay the Rotting Frost Giant.

"As if this place weren't enough of a madhouse to begin with, we're fighting a war on two fronts up here, with the Scourge on one side and those blasted Alliance dogs on our other flank!

We are here to clear a safe landing for our vessels, but a behemoth of a giant on the other side of the Ramparts is hurling debris at anything that comes close and keeping our smaller ships at bay.

I'll be honest -- he's a bit much for us to handle, but you and your companions look up to the task. "

((To kill the Frost Giant, you need to play Hot Potato with the debuff he passes to random raiders, or you go boom. If need be, set up a rotation of "debuff buddies", and make sure there's plenty of room when the mini-boss is engaged.))

The months of attempts were brutal, and the Old God's insane mumblings pushed the Crushers' patience for the final time. As a result? We finally defeated Yogg-Saron with only the aid of one keeper, and earned our Rusted Proto-Drakes!

Good job CS and friends!!

The next season of arena is fast approaching. While not many care for the PvP-in-a-box scene, there's still one other reason to get giddy: a new WG boss!

I'm plopping this here so people outside our own 25-man raid runs can look at this and get a little educated on how to kill Frosty's evil twin.

From Wowwiki:

Attacks and Abilities:

* Frozen Mallet - "Attacks have a chance to apply Frostbite" buff on the boss. Each time he attacks the tanks, it has a chance to apply stacking dot that does frost damage every 2 seconds. Lasts 10 seconds.

* Frozen Orb - Every 30 seconds, he summons one Frozen Orb(3 on 25man) which first appears as a blue circle before actually spawning the orb. In 10man, it does 2438~2562 frost damage to targets within 8 yards radius.

* Whiteout - Every 45 seconds he casts Whiteout and puts stacking debuff to the entire raid. Each stack increase frost damage taken by 20%. It works as a soft enrage timer.

Strategies:

Tanks switch whenever the Frostbite debuff is off. At the start, tanks can handle some number of stacks but as the raid gets more Whiteout debuff, it makes harder for healers to keep tanks alive.

Raid position is not an issue here. all dps and healers have to watch is Frozen Orb. Whenever a blue circle appears near you, just move away and range dps kill any orb that spawns.

Healing will get more difficult as raid gets more stacks of Whiteout. Healers focus more on the tanks as the fight lasts longer. Watch out when you see Frozen Orb heading towards the tanks.

YouTube Tutorial: http://wowvideotutorial.altervista.org/wow...he-ice-watcher/

Q: Holy, I see no giant. What're you smoking?

A: Toravon will not spawn till Season 8, which is estimated to begin on/around January 26th. So read up!

Moar guides & movies. This time for the new wing opening tomorrow - The Crimson Halls:

Blood Prince Council

Abilities: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=891

Strat: http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f128/61725-...-encounter.html

A 3-tank encounter with oodles of chaos mixed in. I hope one of our warlocks has a stamina-set saved up!

Queen Lana'thel

Abilities: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=895

Strat: http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f128/61736-...-encounter.html

Brain links, biting your fellow raiders (yes, you read correctly), another DPS rat-race, and *drum rolls* ...PURPLE FIRE! Dunno if we'll try the new wing out, but here's the information to help bypass this mess.

If you've been living under a rock, the Armory got a nice face lift recently: a new 3D model viewer & character feed which lets you view even more juicy details about where characters have been. Plus (dunno about others) it seems to load a little faster even with the model viewer present.

And now the fun part: Let's see YOUR Armory Pose! To make one, just log into the Armory & use the controls to pose your character. Then save it and it'll be your default pose every time someone looks at your profile. It could use some more pose choices. Why no /cower, /sleep, or /sit? Grr.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.x...&cn=Holyssa

*feels the love*

*hands holyssa a cane to help keep those damn kids off of his lawn*

Ooh, this'll keep Orcala away from the leftover cake!

Making a new post in light of the...discoveries made in Kailand's 10-man: Precious & Stinky! And WTF @ moshpit-sized trash pulls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKe2N7wKxKs

These two mini-bosses are Gluth clones which roam the halls in the Plagueworks. Both use a rapidly stacking Mortal Wound debuff and Decimate.

We handled the zombie adds on Precious (which don't heal him, unlike Gluth) by kiting them (and Precious) around the stairwell, since they stack a debuff on anyone they touch which increases physical damage taken. Popping Army of the Dead helped soak up initial Mortal Wound debuffs, and bought both tanks some much-needed survival time for cleaning up the remaining adds. Our 25-man methods may vary of course, and we could probably go by the vid & toast them.

Stinky is similar, but he doesn't spawn adds. He instead has a gas cloud which damages anyone close by. The tricky part is juggling the Mortal Wound while being mindful of gas ticks during Decimate, which means HEUGE raid-healing.

Recent hotfix to Lady Deathwhisper (before people say "zomg why is da mana slurpin' so fast?!" tonight, lol):

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=22418851790&sid=1

# The Lady Deathwhisper encounter has seen the following changes in the 25 player normal version: mana pool has been reduced, the health on all adds has been reduced, and Adherents will wait a little longer after spawning before they start casting.

# Interrupting a fireball being cast by the Ymirjar Flamebearers in normal and heroic Pit of Saron will no longer make them instantly cast Hellfire.

# The ghost waves at the beginning of both normal and heroic Halls of Reflection have undergone several changes that should make them easier to defeat such as preventing 2 mages or 2 mercenaries from spawning in the 5 mob pulls, a shorter duration of the spectral footman’s shield bash, and the spectral mage’s flamestrike having a longer cast time, shorter duration, and (in heroic) doing less damage.

# The Oculus loot improvements posted here have been made: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...o=1&sid=1#0

Good news everyone! A new wing of Icecrown is about to open with three more bosses. So if you have nothing to do during downtime tomorrow, please visit these links and read up on what is to come, courtesy of TankSpot's Pre-Release guides.

- Festergut:

Strat: http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f128/58754-...-encounter.html (Long read!)

Abilities: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=892

- Rotface:

Strat: http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f128/58649-...-encounter.html (Again, long read! Grab a cold one/possibly some Asprin before you click.)

Abilities: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=899

- Professor Putricide:

Abilities: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=898

Strat:

This fight apparently was a buggy mess on the test realms, and very few successful (if any, lol) tries went underway for this guy. Aside from a few crappy YouTube streams, there isn't much out there that's actually HELPFUL info aside from the same ol' ability list. Here's what one website (Downfallguild.org) suggests:

This fight was never really tested on PTR so there's a lot of unknowns. Well it was tested for 1 day, but massively bugged so this is all the info people got out of it...

Mutated Transformation is gained from drinking a potion on the table. They turn you into an abomination, and the raid will take 4.5K damage per 2 sec. But in turn they will aid the fight with...

* Eat Ooze, which consumes the various slime pools that are dropped

* Regurgitate Ooze, which will slow targets by 50%, will be key to kiting things

* Mutated Slash, which increases physical damage taken by 4% for 20 sec stacks to 5

That's what they have to do, basically in that order.

There will be Gas Clouds that chase random targeted player, who would have a 10 stack of Gaseous Bloat on them. Every 2 seconds, it'll do the damage and drop off a stack. When the Gas Cloud catches up, you explode, the more stacks you still have the higher the damage. So, one, run the ###### away and try to drop off the stacks. Two, the Abomination should try to slow the Gas Cloud down. Three, Ranged DPS try burn the Gas Cloud down before he can even reach the target.

There will be Volatile Oozes that target a random player, roots them in place and slowly goes to him. When he reaches the target, it will explode for 40K, but split among all hit within 10 yards. So one, Abomination slow this one down. Two, group up around the target if convenient to split the damage. Three, melee dps should try to burn it down, if failed, they're at least all near the target by the time it reaches so they can all split the damage. Ranged dps can help out too if they finish off their Gas Clouds. Also if failed to burn it down, the ooze will randomly select a new target so regroup.

Once all that is taken care of, you can play with Putricide. Or maybe it's more of a split raid thing, like M'uru/Deathwhisper, with some on boss, some kill adds, etc.

But anyways, Putricide himself mostly does things that you just have to run away from. Choking Gas, don't stand in them. Expanding Ooze, what the abominations must eat up, don't stand in them. Malleable Goo, another Shadow Crash thing, so don't stand under the area they're gonna hit.

Might be all there is to it, maybe more, maybe less. We'll have to see when it goes live. Remember, you start off with 10 attempts. Good luck!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...6&sid=1#116

There is a known bug that was introduced in 3.3 that can cause tanked mobs to move around in unpredictable and frustrating ways. A fix is incoming.

Yay, no more polka-dancing with trash mobs (soon).

*blinks* The instances haven't even opened yet and there are loot tables?

The loot is data-mined from people testing the available dungeons on PTR. For a list of the goodies (and it's very big, hehe), go here:

Icecrown Raid & Badge Loot

Icecrown's New 5-mans

New Ashen Verdict Faction stuff (throwing this out there so people can check it out)

PS what the heck are those? Chinese rabbits??

I'm grateful for having Orcala...both as the woman I love, and the dipstick who provides many lols where ever her druid roams.

A user named itcrystal has been posting spam in old threads. These are embedded links leading to various Swagvault gold buying services (big no-no!), but could pose other nasty surprises.

So far I found these:

http://www.thehonorempire.org/forums/index...ost&p=69205

http://www.thehonorempire.org/forums/index...ost&p=69202

http://www.thehonorempire.org/forums/index...ost&p=69203

Not sure when a mod can get around to snuffing out this pest, but until then: don't click the links and give in to curiosity!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...75733&sid=1

Today we’re pleased to introduce the Pet Store for World of Warcraft, a new way for players to obtain in-game pets to join them on their adventures in Azeroth. Two brand-new companions are now available for purchase exclusively at the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store: Lil’ K.T. and the Pandaren Monk.

Make a Difference: Pandaren Monk Charity Pet

Enter the Pandaren Monk, ( http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000763 ) a martial-arts expert who’s here to help celebrate the upcoming fifth anniversary of World of Warcraft. He may be cute, but he’s proof that even the softest of critters can overcome the hardest of circumstances. For every Pandaren Monk that finds its way to a player’s side between now and the end of the year (December 31, 2009 at 11:59 PDT), we’ll donate 50 percent of the $10 purchasing price to the Make-a-Wish Foundation in an effort to brew up a little hope, strength, and joy in a child’s life.

Lil’ K.T., the Littlest Lich

Lil’ K.T. is a miniature lich who bears a striking resemblance to the legendary lord of Naxxramas, Kel’Thuzad. But don’t let his diminutive stature fool you: Lil’ K.T. has a diabolical laugh and wields true power at his bony fingertips, randomly wreaking icy havoc on critters who dare to cross his path. You can now buy this new pet for $10 on the Blizzard Store. (http://us.blizzard.com/store/ )

In order to receive a purchased pet, you’ll need to merge your World of Warcraft account with a Battle.net account. For more information on Battle.net, please visit the FAQ. ( https://us.battle.net/faq/index.html ) For more information on the new Pet Store, visit the Pet Store FAQ. ( http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml...articleId=29845 )

Rather generous of them to donate a chunk of the profits to MaWF. I wonder if the elusive Core Hound Pup will go the same route.

Spoiler (zomg): The Kel'thuzad midget in action:

From MMO-Champion: How to score ten points with this holiday tribute to the departed, and get an incredibly awesome (though depressingly temporary) pet:

November 1-2 - Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead is a new mini world event added to the game with Wrath of the Lich King. Let's just say it's the Pirate's Day with a few more things, including a temporary companion pet : Macabre Marionette.

But first, you will most likely want to complete Dead Man's Party.

* Go to any graveyard, preferably the one of your faction's capital city.

* Dance with Catrina.

* That's it!

Now let's get you a Macabre Marionette.

* Buy the Recipe: Bread of the Dead from Chapman next to Catrina and learn it.

* Buy the Simple Flour from any cooking supplies NPC (just take the one next to the trainer if you don't know where they are) and Ice Cold Milk from most Innkeeper and Food/Drink vendors.

* Go to the graveyard of your faction's capital city and go to the Ghostly Cooking Fire next to Catrina.

* Create a Bread of the Dead.

* Buy an Orange Marigold or a Bouquet of Orange Marigolds from Chapman (the NPC who sells the recipe) and use it. Ghosts will appear in the graveyard.

* One of the ghosts will offer the following quest : The Grateful Dead.

* Give the bread to the ghost to receive your Macabre Marionette!

Blargh. What a kickass pet. Why, Blizzard, why?! ;_;

Admiral Ackbar says: Why, oh why did I just click that link?

Happy Halloween all - don't fill up on leftover candy!