Holyssa

Don't worry, I have a new flask button!

I knew it. You DO raid with a Whack-A-Mole stylus!

Some little tips to remember for Yogg.

P1

- Adds spawn slowly, but increase in speed gradually as the phase drags out. According to Bosskillers, it's roughly 30 seconds between spawns, rapidly increasing to perhaps 10 seconds, until you transition to phase 2.

- Use this Yogg Saron P1 Cloud Test prior to entering the room. Touching clouds = bad, as they can force a Guardian to spawn early.

- Tanks must interrupt the 35-yard Shadowbolt Volley. MC can't be avoided, as it is instant (but can trinket/bubble/block/WotF out of it)

- It takes 8 or 9 Guardians to blow up Sara. Melee must be careful, as the Guardians explode upon death, easily killing any non-tank for around 25k Shadow damage.

P2

- Players with Grid/Decursive (or any debuff management tools) should be ready to dispel debuffs on-the-go as they whittle down adds.

- Concerning Crusher Tentacles: These spawn every minute. The stackable buff they get can be dispelled by doing no damage for one second. This does not include DoTs ticking.

- For a list of spells which reduce Sanity, click here. Battle rezes do NOT work on Insane players, nor do Soulstones or pally bubbles. Zero Sanity is still zero, even if you somehow come back to life.

P3

- As soon as phase 3 begins, Yogg-Saron stops spawning any new tentacles. However, any remaining tentacles from phase 2 will persist into phase 3.

- Thorim kills any Immortal Guardians reduced to 1% life. When they are low on health, Yogg will try to heal them if they are within 20 yards of the boss. Yogg can heal multiple Guardians at any time.

For pictures of the general boss room as well as Cloud pathing, Bosskillers has some good imagery and strat ideas.

Skip Ignis next week?

Yes?

No?

Maybe?

NOES! /bullinchinashop

From the look of the Optional Boss Loot list, a lot of people still need stuff from him (not just myself). If we do kill him, can we try the fast-burn/4 minute kill?

We do this in 10-man by tanking him so he's facing the pool. That way Scorches immediately despawn via the water, and people don't have to run amok avoiding the flame patches/catching up to Holy. DPS can flip out on him while his back is turned as he remains still (except for when he grabs crotch pot people), resulting in a very fast kill with minimal movement.

The downside is that we'll need a strong OT to grab every add, which makes it a DPS race. I can normally hold Iggy + 5 or 6 adds on 10-man fine, but on Heroic things scale much differently.

Good job last night all! We sent Vezax back to Red Lobster where he belongs. But we're far from done!

http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=33288

Above is Yogg Saron's entry. Ignore the comments, as most of it is Lore-related stuff and not a lot of strategy. It's 3 phases of madness, and a LOT of abilities to study. If you thought C'thun was confusing, think again!

http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/49663-...yogg-saron.html

This Tankspot link contains many videos, as well as tips from StratFu. Please review them so you have a general idea as to what is going to happen during the madness.

The surge is 10 secs-any way to have another tank range taunt the boss and run (similar to the freya add)? 10 secs burns fast, especially if hes slowed...

Vezax is immune to taunt. This is to prevent ping-ponging him during the Surge to begin with (Buck Flizzard!!).

We did try Chains of Ice on him last 10-man attempt with Christra, and it DID affect him. Not sure how much of a difference it made (I couldn't pay attention while running for dear life), as he seemed to keep bugging out and ignoring the run speed penalty.

All I can think of is to have hope that my spec modification will give me the survival boost I need. But remember folks: if Holy happens to eat a Mark during kiting, it's important that melee watch out and stay back till it's safe. Remember: the debuff is only problematic if too many people get close to the affected individual!

I'm reading up on Vezax strategies...

What are the pros and cons of having Tyrandius tanking Vezax instead of Holy?

Could we avoid the kiting through Icebound Fortitude? Would our healers be able to keep up?

Is this a viable strategy that could benefit us?

IBF is on the same cooldown as the Surge, which is a plus. Obviously CoW will still need 100% uptime to reduce Zoidberg's damage and relieve healer stress, and there is zero room for error with regards to interrupts (duh). I personally do not mind spending the extra moolah to maximize my Ret offset (which consists of Uld10/Naxx25 hand-me-downs). And it's not the first time we've done a main-tank swap before for one specific encounter (Leotheras anyone?).

I personally would not mind giving it a try! But it's up to Tyr and the healers.

A little in-a-nutshell post for jewelcrafters and our amazing friends who want in on the new epic gems coming with Patch 3.2 and don't know where to look. Bear in mind that some of this stuff is subject to change until said patch goes live.

Jewelcrafting / Prospecting

You can find epic gems by prospecting Titanium Ore, it's probably not the best way to get it because Titanium is already fairly expensive but if you need as many gems as possible and don't want to wait, go for it. Prospecting Titanium will give you an epic gem 25~30% of the time, the droprate for rare gems seems to be the same, and you will always get an uncommon gem. If you're lucky enough you can even get 2 epics on the same prospect.

Note: You will also get Titanium Powder 60% of the time, you can exchange 10 of them for a Dalaran Jewelcrafter's Token and get your new recipes even faster.

Alchemy

New transmutations are available for these gems. (20 Hours cooldown)

* Transmute: Ametrine

* Transmute: Cardinal Ruby

* Transmute: Dreadstone

* Transmute: Eye of Zul

* Transmute: King's Amber

* Transmute: Majestic Zircon

PvE - Emblems of Heroism

You can buy any of the epic gems for Emblem of Heroism. These emblems do not drop anymore in 3.2 and are replaced by Emblems of Conquest in heroic instances / raids dungeons but you can still exchange higher tier emblems. (Emblem of Conquest -> Emblem of Valor > Emblem of Heroism.

* Cardinal Ruby, Majestic Zircon, King's Amber can be bought for Emblem of Heroism x 20.

* Ametrine, Dreadstone, Eye of Zul can be bought for Emblem of Heroism x 10.

PvP - Honor

Last but not least, you can buy any of the epic gem for 10,000 Honor Points.

TLDR: Stock up on Titanium Ore, Eternals, badges, or honor.

Holy's 2 copper regarding last night with all the changes / Zu's pep talk:

~ Flame Leviathan +2 was awesome. Once people grow used to their new roles, I feel this is going to get even simpler, and we can get to work on +3 in no time. Grats all!

~ Less trash deaths FTW! Though people still need to learn about the more dangerous stuff like the Hardened Iron Golems along Kologarn's path. If Holy's backing away, it's probably for a VERY good reason!

~ Curse of Weakness worked like magic! On fights like Kologarn (where Holy usually takes a spike damage nosedive), I noticed it shaved a massive chunk of damage off whoever we applied it to, and the plethora of debuffs I'm usually plagued with didn't seem so scary. *gives Draegloth a waffle*

~ I still think we should stick to Hodir -> Freya -> Mimiron -> Thorim for Keeper kill order. Yes, we have to kill each pair of those stupid giants. But Mimi has given us far less of a hassle in the past, whereas Thorim is much more chaotic given that each player has more responsibility (besides tank & spank roles, like on Mimi adds).

~ Read up on Hard Mode Freya here: http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=3179#comments. This is with all 3 Elders up (yes, I know we're working on +1) and refers to the 10-man edition, but it's the only link I could find which lists the specific spells the sexy tree lady gets from each Elder. Healers will need to eat their Wheaties for next time!

~ Remember to enchant/gem your stuff!

Thank you Zu

Two things before tonight:

- Would it be worth assigning a warlock to perma-Curse of Weakness duty for specific encounters (Hard Mode XT, Kologarn, Steelbreaker, Giant Enemy Crab, err, Vezax)? Last night we had Evila do this, and while we lost a smudge of DPS, the damage reduction was rather surprising, shaving off about 4k - 7k damage per swing. Not sure if it interfered with Faerie Fire or other debuffs, and I can't find logs from the Sunday Vezax battle...but it's an idea. :\

- Mini FYI for folks. I'm going to make a permanent modification to my build after thinking about the results of Sunday's 10-man:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sZA0xA0uMusIufdts0hbc

For those that don't speak Paladin: I took 2 points out of Conviction and tossed them into Pursuit of Justice. Hopefully this will help out with Vezax kiting and monster-catching in general.

TLDR: Holy is 15% faster. Please keep up with your vertically-challenged tank!

Holyssa -- Missing cloak enchant

Whoops! I've been meaning to fix that. I forgot the cloak I had was brand new, and didn't think of re-enchanting it. I think I got Titanweave mats laying about.

If I have to find us a new pally tank that keeps aggro

Uh...what? *gives soul-searching Kurinnaxx stare*

I wouldn't mind trying hard modes, as long as the normal progression is not significantly affected

What Waldy, Uncle Ug, and K said. Two or three attempts, and we move on. If we succeed? Rawr. If not? It gives us a chance to look among our team and analyze what the problem is. These are the fights that push a raid to it's limits, and will be ample opportunity to see where peoples' strengths and weaknesses lie.

XT is a good boss for setting this standard: attentiveness (sparks/gravity bombs), damage control, and he's a mandatory kill to move onto the rest of the dungeon. I'd like to see just what the raid can REALLY do to this guy after having a few cracks at his Hard Mode on the 10-man.

The Raid Groupings thing is something I'm glad to see return! This will be a good show of who reads this thread and follows the advice within.

I also agree with cutting out VoA, at least till 3.2 hits (or if people pop on early as Zu suggests, but everyone's time varies...not sure how this will work). The time we cut from people waiting for the WG victory timer, running in, tipping over metal fat people, and flying back can be used to get some practice in on said Hard Mode/progression stuff. And we've killed 4/5 of said bosses which drop these pieces anyway (Yogg being #5), which to me is much better than playing roulette with a chance at getting more PvP/offspec stuff from Emmy that won't give people the stat push they need.

Go back to gearing healers and tanks first. Save our last attempt on vezax (which is understandable), i cant remember where dps was an issue.

I'm not saying this to be biased (duh, tank here), but once again K has a point: DPS from a gear standpoint is the least of our worries. It's when people die, DPS drops. THEN we got problems. If DPS in general was the root of our problem, we'd still be stuck on Hodir's enrage. Then again, the RNG is mocking us (read: f*ck you, Ignis!), and will make this gearing strategy rather troublesome to stay consistent with.

I was going to add a post here about last night but I don't think I hit the "Add Reply" button hard enough....

Well, my 2 copper:

Thorim

P1 was pwnsauce once we shook the cobwebs out from last week, but the transition to P2 seems to be a little crazy. Any adds left from the gauntlet must be dealt with immediately! Healers must also be ready to save bubbles/mitigation spells for the tank who is about to get eaten by Unbalancing Strikes (which aren't really on a predictable timer). Around the 6-8 stack mark, those strikes can be very hard to shrug off with his crazy attack speed. Overall, a much better kill compared to previous nights

Rock Lobster General Vezax

For our first look at him, we did pretty good! But things to keep in mind for next time:

~ Take advantage of Shadow Crash goop. Yes, it's difficult to see among the fog, but you're looking at a fight where you need to pay 100% attention anyways. Even if we survived our best attempt last night to the fullest, the tight enrage timer would have eaten our faces, and it is one more danger to be concerned about if we plan to kill this guy. There WILL be times when a ranged person will get Mark of the Faceless when standing in said black goop, so beware!

~ Healing Priests: I discussed this with Tizzy, but a little tip on Power Word: Shield usage - a rotation of sorts may need to be set up while everyone else grows used to the spike damage. Tizzy seems to be the only one with the Body and Soul talent, which gives me a nice speed boost upon being bubbled. If any other priest bubbles me during that time, Zoidberg is just going to one-shot me through the barrier while Weakened Soul occurs. My knowledge of how priest cooldowns work is rusty, but maybe you guys can form a plan to prevent little Holy from being lobster chow

Thorim is all that stands between us and battling General Vezax, aka the Zoidberg Boss! I'll explain the fight when we get to him, but save Zu and I the headache by PLEASE skimming through his spell list:

http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=33271#comments

The general idea behind this fight is to spend your mana wisely while roasting this big green lobster ASAP. Some additional tips from the comments:

~ The siphon range on Mark of the Faceless (his life drain) is 15 yards. He will not cast this on players within 15 yards of him. However, if there are not at least 9 people outside of 15 yards he will start casting it on players inside 15 yards melee and tank included.

~ He will not use Shadow Crash on players within 15 yards of him. During the kiting portion (Surge of Darkness), he's been known to lob Crashes at melee if people run too far away.

~ Here's a list of how much damage/mana refunded the Vapors will do per tick. Healers in particular may want to study this, and use their better judgement as to how many ticks they can survive before the damage becomes scary:

1 stack - 100 mana restored - 200 damage to you

2 stack - 200 mana restored - 400 damage to you

3 stack - 400 mana restored - 800 damage to you

4 stack - 800 mana restored - 1,600 damage to you

5 stack - 1600 mana restored - 3,200 damage to you

6 stack - 3200 mana restored - 6,400 damage to you

7 stack - 6400 mana restored - 12,800 damage to you

8 stack - 12800 mana restored - 25,600 damage to you

To my knowledge, this damage is the same on 10-man. DKs CAN grip the Vapors.

~ Warlocks can use Shadow Ward to soak the Vapor damage and still get mana refunded.

~ Dark Runes/Demonic Runes (those things from Scholo) do work here. However, they share a long cooldown with mage gems and warlock cookies. Hunters/Ret Pallies may wish to consider Fel Mana Potions, which restore mana over time at the cost of 25 SpellPower. Use at your own risk!

~ Life Tap doesn't work. Nor does Innervate. The regen effects from Lifebloom, Thrill of the Hunt (survival), Invigoration (BM) work ok. Leader of the Pack also works, but only for the druid supplying the buff. For all you resto druids: punch him until Omen of Clarity procs between healing, and voila: mana-mana!

EDIT: Looks like Vezax and other endgame got a nerf-paddle to the a$$:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...81949&sid=1

* Curse of Weakness no longer stacks with Demoralizing Shout or Demoralizing Roar.

* The following Ulduar bosses have had their melee damage slightly reduced in both normal and heroic versions: Algalon, Thorim, General Vezax, and Steelbreaker.

Not very surprising given the impending arrival of the Colosseum (lol Two Worms).

*drum roll* ...Sam Raimi.

http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/090721.html

Raimi, acclaimed director of the blockbuster Spider-Man series, will bring the forces of the Horde and the Alliance to life in epic live-action film. Charles Roven's Atlas Entertainment will produce alongside Raimi's Stars Road Entertaiment.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – July 22, 2009 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the eagerly-anticipated major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment®’s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Raimi has, in the course of his career, clearly demonstrated a genius for developing and adapting existing fictional universes for mainstream audiences while staying true to the spirit of the original content.

Raimi directed the Spider-Man trilogy, which has broken box-office records around the world and garnered five Academy Award® nominations. Known for his imaginative filmmaking style, richly drawn characters and offbeat humor, Raimi wrote and directed the cult classic, The Evil Dead and produced 30 Days Of Night. He most recently wrote and directed the supernatural thriller, Drag Me To Hell.

"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen."

Charles Roven’s producing talents were recently seen with last summer’s blockbuster The Dark Knight, which grossed in excess of $1 billion, was nominated for eight Academy Awards® and won two. His body of work also includes the widely acclaimed Batman Begins and the sci-fi classic 12 Monkeys. Roven, with Atlas producing partner Alex Gartner, will be producing with Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, Legendary’s Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni, Raimi and Raimi’s producing partner Joshua Donen. Raimi’s partner, Robert Tapert, will be an Executive Producer and Blizzard Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Creative Development, Chris Metzen, a Co-Producer.

"Partnering with Sam Raimi exemplifies Legendary's mandate of marrying the highest quality intellectual property to world-class filmmakers" said Legendary’s Tull. "Sam's passion for 'Warcraft' is undeniable and we know that he will create an incredible film worthy of Blizzard's phenomenal franchise. We look forward to collaborating with our partners at Warner Bros. and continuing our successful relationship with Chuck in bringing this rich new world to the screen."

"Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have a shared vision for this film and we searched at length to find the very best director to bring that vision to life," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice. Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time. We're looking forward to working with him to achieve that here."

"Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft has become a second home for millions of players and Sam’s experience and talent make him the perfect director for this remarkable and action-packed world," said Atlas’ Roven. "Alex and I are proud to be working with Sam and re-teaming with our friends at Legendary and Warner Bros."

The film will fall under Legendary Pictures’ co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. "Warcraft is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which our studio is best known. We have enjoyed great success with our partners at Legendary, and this is an incredible opportunity for us to work with Sam on a project that is so eagerly anticipated by so many," said Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

Place your bets: who's gonna play Saurfang? >.>

I'm starting to use WoW Meter Online for the combat logs (less buggy than WWS).

I'm with Karrock on this. Much easier on the eyes than WWS is, but I'm sure some still prefer WWS. Next raid, can we vote on using it as the standard from now on?

On Flasks: this was discussed last night, but as a friendly reminder: please bring and use them as much as you can.

~ If you're having trouble getting your hands on some? Ask raiders/guildies. If anything, people will bite your head off for NOT asking for help. AH prices can be intimidating, but I'm sure there's plenty of our crack-lab scientists alchemists who would be happy to brew a bundle to help you survive the week.

~ Do dailies. Shouldn't even have to mention this. The money can at LEAST help with buying the more difficult herbs needed to create the drinks.

~ Flasking makes things die faster with the boost they provide. Even on 'farm' content (Archavon/Flame Leviathan aside), it never hurts. More flasking = moar stats = MOAR CARNAGE (for the enemy)! RAWR~! /bullinchinashop

~ I shouldn't even have to link this either, but here's a list of the flavors of Froot Loops...err, flasks commonly seen at end game, so you can see what herbs are needed:

- Flask of Endless Rage (aka "Oh-Mah-Gawd Orange")

- Flask of Pure Mojo ("Lawl-icious Lime")

- Flask of Stoneblood ("Put-yer-face-in-it Purple" or "Godammit Grape")

- Flask of the Frostwyrm ("Sonnova-BEEEECH Blueberry")

Remember, don't stand in the fire on your birthday! Nothing spoils a celebration more than a dead healer... ;p

Happy Birthday to our Volcano/Fire/Void Zone/Meteor Lady! *big hugs*

With regards to Evokers, grabbing aggro from them was an utter pain in the @$$. Barriers made threat buildup nigh impossible unless it was the initial hit, and even then it didn't last all that long without ignoring other targets.

I know you have Ana listed as having Silencing Shot duty, but can he weave in Tranq Shot somewhere in there? The Runic Shield they use is supposed to be dispellable and Spell-stolen too (if there's too many), and may make burning them down a lot less annoying.

Seems very chaotic to micro-manage enemy buffs among the mosh pit, but I like the ideas presented so far, and anything to help push us forward at this point is good. Like waffles.

As if WoW account ninjas weren't bad enough? Now a new scam has popped up related to Blizzard's patent on the name "Cataclysm". Click the red text for info. As for the scam itself? Found it on Worldofraids:

http://www.worldofraids.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24260

There's a new scam doing the works and I thought I'd alert people about it - it's really official-looking and almost fooled me (thank god for the world's most ferocious anti-virus and noscript ^^)

Here is a screencap of the email I received

There are several things that really concerned me about this email:

1) The email address is almost entirely indistinguishable from that of blizzard's own. In fact, hotmail picked up on this saying "you are subscribed to this person's mailing list" or something.

2) The scammers have gone to the care of mocking up a fairly convincing logo for this "expansion". Only a gamer with a good knowledge of current blizz goings on would a) realise that cataclysm is a misty subject for blizz at the moment and b) that the art is reused from strathlome (I think...)

3) The wording in the email is near perfect. I haven't spent a long time reading it but it seems absolutely unforced and similar to Blizzard's expression.

How you can tell it's a fake:

1) Random people who are not related to Blizzard do not get Alpha invites So don't think you're that lucky!

2) All of the links go to a site that is NOT BLIZZARD OR WOW RELATED. You can see this if you hover over the links. On going to the link, you are prompted to download a .rar file called "Cataclysm Updater". DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS FILE WHATEVER YOU DO, AND CERTAINLY DO NOT, NEVER, EVER EVER EVER BY JOVE, EXECUTE IT OR UNPACK IT. It is certainly a malignant piece of software, either a virus or a keylogger or something equally nasty.

3) The "Alpha" email links are in fact old beta email links.

4) There is no information concerning cataclysm, especially the content which this email alludes to (hero classes, maelstrom continent, etc).

So PLEASE PLEASE everyone keep an eye out! If you get this email please DO NOT DO ANYTHING BUT DELETE IT. Alert Blizzard if you fear the safety of your account at all, they are lovely people and will be happy to help I'm sure (especially if you phone them up -great support there).

Hope this helped you out,

Postulio

Even if you got an Authenticator, keep your eyes peeled. That's one clever looking scam to the naked eye!

Very pointless boo-boo/factoid:

On the DKP site, you have Rune Edge awarded to Anamarie, yet it links to the green axe from a time long ago when such weapons were cool. Scary, I know!

This link is the correct/epic version, which has been correctly re-named on PTR to Stormrune Edge.

Silly Blizzard and their copy-pasta tricks!

http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=72361.0

A new build is out. I won't go over the specific class/glyph changes, but here's a few highlights:

Mounts

* All 310% speed flying mounts now have "extremely fast mount" in their description instead of "very fast mount".

* Sea Turtle now has - Due to her calm and steady nature, swim speed is not affected by effects that increase or decrease mount speed.

* Crusader's Black Warhorse (New) - Summons and dismisses a rideable Crusader's Black Warhorse. This is a very fast mount.

* Crusader's White Warhorse (New) - Summons and dismisses a rideable Crusader's White Warhorse. This is a very fast mount.

PvP

Lake Wintergrasp

* Wintergrasp factories can no longer be damaged or destroyed.

Dungeons and Raids

Dungeon and Raid ID Extensions

* In order to allow for parties and raids to progress through instances at their own pace, players can now extend a dungeon or raid ID on an individual basis.

* Existing or recently expired IDs can be extended via the Social tab under Raid by clicking on Raid Info.

* The ID of any instance to which a player is saved can be extended. Doing so will extend the lockout period by the same amount of time as the original lockout (i.e. extending an Ulduar raid ID will add 7 days, a Heroic: Halls of Lightning dungeon ID will add 24 hours, and a Zul'Gurub raid ID will add 3 days to the lockout time).

* An ID can be extended more than once.

* An extension can be reversed on an individual basis provided the player does not do anything in the instance during the extended lockout period that would save that player to the instance.

Items: General

* Agility: The amount of agility required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%. This change required recalibrating the amount of dodge a player has with 0 agility by a slight amount as well, so all players will see their dodge percentage vary a small amount.

*Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply.

* Parry Rating: The amount of parry rating required per percentage of parry has been reduced by 8%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply. Parry still diminishes more quickly than dodge.

Professions

Engineering

* Added a new Mind Amplification Dish attachment for helmets, allowing engineers to control other humanoid targets. Some restrictions apply: does not work in Arenas, dish sometimes reverses targets, unable to stack with other stat-improving head enchantments and makes your helmet look... stylish? This attachment provides a passive bonus of 45 stamina.

* Gnomish Engineers and Goblin Engineers can now switch profession specializations for a fee.

* The Spynocular belt attachment has been changed to a Frag Belt. The Frag Belt periodically produces a Cobalt Frag Bomb that can be used from the belt every 6 minutes (never runs out!).

Oh, there's a new Heirloom: sick of pissing off mages on an alt for a port to Dalaran? Spend 1000g, and voila. You get to fly nine levels earlier.

More fun ways to make alt grinding less of a...well, grind.

And while I don't know where this mount comes from, it just screams "Zuworty".

To Holy: Yes I want you to pull faster, but don't kill our healers

What? No Heart-Attack Modes? Godammit.

It also means we need to start considering which bosses we can skip. I want everyone to look closely at the loot they need. If we find spots where we can cut corners than that would be great! (i.e Ignis, Razorscale, Iron Council, etc.)

Shall we put together a list of stuff we need from these guys? We did something like this for TK/SSC before moving on to Hyjal, and it seemed to work out okay. (Damn you Ignis, drop that trinket!)

Ok, so we haven't really been looking in doing achievements. I think achievements is a great way to spark some interest in the more boring/farmed encounters. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone wants to attempt a specific feat, let me know. =)

Some I had in mind:

Flame Leviathan + 2: We had SOME experience with this in Kailand's run. It just requires constant movement if you leave up Hodir & Thorim's pillars like we did.

XT-002: Hard mode seems do-able for this. He wasn't that hard to tank in 10-man, but it took some getting used to when it came to the new adds, and we had a lot of mana issues near the end. Except mama moo. She saved my life here. lol

Iggy:

Stokin' the Furnace: We did this on 10-man by tanking Iggy so the Scorches despawned in the water pools, and just pig-piling adds on me. Healers flipped out on MT, and we nuked. Should be even easier with multiple offtanks, and will make the fight less tedious, as it becomes a DPS race and less about add-killing/running amok.

Iron Council:

I Choose You, Runemaster Molgeim!: This was a pain in the a$$ on 10-man due to a lack of AoE. Might be able to pull this off with our increased numbers, but all it gives is the Algalon quest and extra badges. Extra loot only comes if you kill the fat one last.

Kologarn:

With Open Arms: A DPS race, sacrificing people to the "squeeze" debuff, although it involves a bit of luck because he grabs three people on 25-man. If important folks get gripped (tank healers, etc), then DPS on the arms needs to be very careful and not blow them up.

If Looks Could Kill: This affects pets according to Wowhead. Just run from the him when he

Auraya:

Nine Lives: Kill the Defender 9 times. Will probably require extra trash clearing to make kiting room, but it doesn't sound all that bad.

More Heirlooms incoming!

Now you don't have to farm Majordomo or some rare mob for the coolest mace model in the game! And yea, it's currently bugged.

A slow weapon for enhancement shammies? Neat!

The Blue People hath spoken....sorta. Some Q&A is now on the above sticky:

Updated 7/1

Due to the many questions that have come up with the announcement of this new service, we wanted to take the time to answer the ones we can at this point in time.

Q. Will we be able to switch between the races on our own faction?

A. No. Players will only be able to switch to a race of the opposite faction.

Q. Will I be able to choose the race on the opposite faction that I want to change to?

A. Yes, but you will only be able to switch to a race that has your class type available to it. So if you play a human paladin, you’d only be able to change to a blood elf paladin.

Q. How much will it cost?

A. We do not have further information on this at this point in time.

Q. Will I be able to switch back to my original faction but a different race?

A. No. You will only be able to switch back to your originally chosen race.

Q. How will the switch between reputation, gear, mounts, etc be handled?

A. We’ll have more details for you at a later point in time, though we plan to keep these as close to a reflection of the other faction as much as possible.

Q. How often can you change your faction?

A. We do not have any information to share on this at this point in time, however we will have restrictions on the frequency by which players can change their faction.

Q. How will this affect the balance of Horde and Alliance on the realms?

A. We are taking great care in how we implement this new service in order to maintain balance between the factions on the realms but do not have any further details to share.

I'm hoping if this mucks with item transitions, mounts will follow the same model as the Orb of Deception does..although people may not always get the color they like (unless you have every vendor-mount already, in which case it won't even matter then):

Humans (Horse) <-> Orcs (Wolf)

Trolls (Raptor) <-> Dwarves (Ram)

Undead (Warhorse) <-> Night Elves (Saber)

Gnomes (Mechano-strider) <-> Tauren (Kodo)

Draenei (Elekk) <-> Blood Elves (Hawkstrider)

For PvP trinkets, they should just remove the race listings entirely and rename them to be non race-specific (see this Arena Trinket), considering vendors already sell trinkets with no race listing, yet the same stun-removal function (like the Titan-Forged trinkets from WG tokens).

Quest items COULD follow the same model, I suppose. One example is the old Warrior mail quests: same item, different name and side of the faction fence: http://www.wowhead.com/?compare=7133;6972.

I'd like to see how they handle things like Loremaster achievement progress. Hopefully their code monkeys don't bite off more than they can chew. But then again, it's Blizzard!

*Dr. Weird voice*

BULLSH*T! ...just kidding. It's real, but may not be around for a LONG time if it's as complex as Blizzard claims.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...79410&sid=1

We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.

As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

Huh...a "roughly equivalent" character? I suspect the kinks mean they won't copy everything, like faction-specific quests/progress (the Barov Family quests for Scholo come to mind almost immediately). But if this works the way I think it does, I can finally convert my ancient mage and scrub the Alliance germs off of it.

http://blizzcon.rayv.com/Pages/en/FAQ.aspx

Blizzard is taking pre-orders for the Blizzcon Live Stream. I figure I'd post this because I know our guild (and it's amazing friends) has some die-hard pet collectors out there. $40 doesn't sound bad, considering how horrendous Ebay prices tend to be for these things...

For footage of Grunty, go here: http://www.wowtcgloot.com/gruntys_rifle.htm

FAQ

What is BlizzCon?

BlizzCon is a celebration of the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises and the communities that surround them. This two-day event will contain Q&A panels featuring Blizzard Entertainment developers, social events for players and developers to meet one another, and hands-on gameplay featuring your favorite Blizzard Entertainment games.

BlizzCon 2009 pay per view Internet stream

Through a partnership with DIRECTV, BlizzCon 2009 will for the first time be streamed live via the Internet, letting Blizzard Entertainment enthusiasts from around the world who are unable to attend the convention in person experience it from home. The Internet stream will deliver a minimum of eight hours of coverage from the show floor on each day of BlizzCon, including the opening ceremony, main-stage presentations, exclusive interviews, demos, tournament coverage, and more.

I am not a DIRECTV customer; can I order the Pay Per View Internet stream?

Yes, a DIRECTV subscription is NOT necessary to order the Pay Per View Internet stream. It is available for a purchase price of $39.95 USD (international pricing and availability may vary) and includes both days of the event.

If I order the BlizzCon 2009 Pay Per View Internet stream, will I receive the BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft in-game pet?

Yes, if you purchase the Pay Per View Internet stream, you will receive the BlizzCon 2009 exclusive pet, Grunty the Murloc Marine. An email containing a code for the pet and redemption instructions will be sent 6 to 8 weeks after the event.

Please note that the BlizzCon 2009 World of Warcraft in-game pet is not available in all regions. Only players on World of Warcraft realms in North America (including those serving players in Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand), Europe, and Korea, are eligible to receive the pet. Pet redemption will require a World of Warcraft account to be merged with Battle.net account.

When can I order the BlizzCon Pay Per View Internet stream?

You can order the Internet stream starting on June 23, and it will be available for purchase through August 22.

What information do I need to provide to order the Internet stream?

You will need to provide a valid email address, payment information, and billing information.

Can I purchase the Pay Per View Internet stream if I live outside of the United States?

The BlizzCon Pay Per View Internet stream will be available for purchase in multiple regions around the world. Pricing and availability may vary, so please check back for more information as the ordering date gets closer.

Do I need to download anything to view the live stream?

You can either download a high-quality RayV Video Player from the Internet stream site or watch the Internet stream in your browser using RayV's Flash player. Supported browsers currently include: Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 and above, Safari 3 and above, and Firefox 2 and above.

What are the system requirements to view the live stream?

PC Requirements:

* Intel® Pentium® 4 2.4GHz or Intel Core 1.6GHz (SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems) or higher

* Microsoft Windows® XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Windows Vista

* 512MB of RAM

* Graphics card with 28MB of RAM.

* 50MB of available hard-disk space for installation

* Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card and display adapter

Mac Requirements:

* Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher

* Safari 3 or Firefox 3 browser or higher

* Any Mac with Intel CPU

* 512MB ir RAM (recommended but not required)

* Flash Player 9.0.28.0 or higher

What are the minimum bandwidth requirements for the viewer?

You will need a broadband connection such as DSL or cable with at least 1Mbps download bandwidth.

How many computers can I watch the live stream on?

The Internet stream can only be viewed on one computer at a time, per order.

I purchased the BlizzCon 2009 Pay Per View event on DIRECTV; do I have to pay for the Pay Per View Internet stream?

No, the Internet stream is included for free in your DIRECTV Pay Per View event purchase. You will need to provide your DIRECTV account number and credit card when you attempt to view the Internet stream to verify your eligibility. Free Internet stream viewing is limited to one stream per account.

http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=33350

The Wowhead entry for this weirdo has a very detailed list of his spells and tricks. Like Zu said, please read it. It's a LOT better than explaining it, which is probably gonna take forever ala Reliquary of Souls due to all the crap we will be fighting off at once.

EDIT: Blizzard has weird timing. Mimi got nerfed, but it's Hard Mode (aka "Push the Big Red Button" mode), so it doesn't really apply to us just yet:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...14070&sid=1

The hard mode of the Mimiron encounter has received the following changes: the damage of the flames has been reduced, the damage/health gained from the Emergency Buff has been slightly reduced, the range of the Emergency Fire Bot’s Deafening Siren ability has been reduced in heroic difficulty and this ability is no longer cast in normal difficulty, the damage of Heat Wave in phase 2 has been reduced, and the damage from Plasma Blast in phase 1 has been reduced.