Patch 3.3.3 - Jepetto's new toys!
Jepettoy Joybuzz in Dalaran will sell 3 more items in 3.3.3! Your favorite toymaker added the following to his inventory:

• Blue Clockwork Rocket Bot 50 (Companion Pet)
• Blue Crashin' Trashin' Racer Controller 40
• Tiny Blue Ragdoll 10

Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffAlterac Valley imbalance
We have discussed this numerous times. Based on the data we've collected over the years after all of the changes that have been made to Alterac Valley, we simply do not agree that there are any glaring imbalances in the map favoring one side over the other enough to easily sway a match one way or the other. (Source)

Masteries Cap
It's possible you will only get the benefit of the tree in which you've spent the most points, or will only get the benefit from say 50 points maximum with the bonus chosen from the tree with the most points in it. We'll have to see when the talent trees are more finalized and we start to figure out build strategies.

Overall, the goal is to spend points as you want, and not feel penalized for spending into another tree or feel like you have to game things by spending more points than you want in your tree. Remember these passive bonuses are designed to give you flexibility, not lock you into anything. (Source)

[...] Imagine you spend 55 points in Retribution, so you get the maximum passive talent tree bonuses from that tree. Your remaining points you can spend where you want, in Retribution, Protection or Holy. It does discourage some kind of true hybrid build where you go partway down multiple trees, but we aren't really trying to support those, and they aren't very popular today.

The flexibility comes (hopefully) in having more discretionary points that you can spend on talents you like, rather than sacrificing raw damage, healing or tanking to do so. (Source)

Mastery/Talent system and new players
It's designed partially with new players in mind. It will be much harder to have a truly terrible talent spec because you won't be able to help but be reasonably good at your chosen role.

The mastery stat itself won't show up until high level, and even when it does, you should have more confidence that it's a stat you want instead of say trying to figure out the percent of your damage that is physical damage to calculate if armor pen is good for you or not.

I admit that adding passive bonuses at all to talent trees complicates the talent feature slightly. We hope to make up for that by there being less paranoia about picking "the wrong" spec. The wrong spec might only be a slight loss instead of a tragic loss. As a point of comparison, dual-spec complicates talents a little, but overall we think it was good for the game. (Source)

Mastery bonus distribution
To answer your question -- and this applies to all classes. the first two mastery stats are gained by placing points into a given talent tree (and wearing the gear intended for your class, e.g. leather for druids). This will allow us to remove many of the talents that always felt mandatory, especially at the min-max level, and allow room for customization.

When we begin revealing specific class information, (such as new spells and abilities, and the talent tree revamp) -- the posts we've made thus far, will make much more sense. I feel, players should look at the stat/system changes, as well as this mastery post as a "piece of a puzzle" -- and ask questions, provide feedback, but understand that until more information is released, it's not possible to see the whole of the picture. (Source)

Masteries Q&A
# 1. 28/28/20 spec. Does mastery on gear affect both highest trees or give no benefit at all?
Mastery on gear gives you one bonus. That bonus is the third passive (the unique one) in the tree in which you’ve spent the most points. In the examples we gave, those are Absorption, Radiance and Runic Power generation.

# 2. How are ferals and Dks as tanks working with mastery system in place? Are they to care about it for threat or do they have separate bonuses.
Ferals will have passive bonuses that say Cat: melee damage done, Bear: damage reduction. For death knights we have a different plan in mind that we’re not quite ready to discuss. DKs are undergoing some slight changes so they aren’t so GCD constrained and are less limited by rune cooldowns.

# 3. How are the non-pure classes going to be balanced against those with a full 76 point passive benefit? Balance, enhancement(not so much), shadow, feral, ele, resto, holy and Ret all have this issue.
Assume you only get the passive bonuses for the tree in which you’ve spent the most points, and there is a ceiling per tree (which could be something like 51-55 talent points). If you spend more points than that in a tree you still get the benefits of the talent. If you spend points in another tree, you are benefiting from those talents instead. Unless you try to make say a 40 / 36 / 0 build, you shouldn’t be losing passive bonuses.

If you turn level 10 and spend 1 point in Discipline, you are now a Disc priest. You receive the Disc talent tree passive bonuses and mastery rating on gear benefits your Disc passive bonus (Absorption). If you reach level 85 and have 70 points in Disc and 6 in Holy, you are still a Disc priest and the same rules apply. If you change your build to 51 Disc / 20 Holy / 5 Shadow, you are still a Disc priest.

# 4. Hybrids who use spells not improved by their spec on occasion such as heals or the extra lava burst are feeling that their non-specced spells are going to be extremely weak as compared to now.
They are weak now and the intent is to keep them that way. We aren’t trying to nerf them any more than they are today. If we want to make sure Resto shaman can do big Lava Bursts, we’ll give them a talent or something to make that happen. We don’t want Resto shaman to Lava Burst anywhere on the scale of an Elemental shaman. Again, how they perform today is pretty much the target for where we want to end up.

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Runic Power boost through Frost masteries
I know it's hard to get a feel for the design when you can't see the complete picture, but talent trees are changing for Cataclysm. As Eyonix referenced above, we are changing the DK rune mechanic a little so that you aren't so GCD constrained. This in turn will give us a chance to rebalance how much runic power Frost gets. Remember that in many cases we are pulling talents out of the trees and giving them to you as passive bonuses. In general if you see a passive talent tree bonus and think to yourself "Hmm, that doesn't sound very good for me," then it's probably because we haven't revealed the changes that lead to that being attractive to you. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Shockwave vs. Thunder Clap
Shockwave is technically a ranged attack, like a hunter shot. This means it's treated like an attack (and not a spell) for purposes of what you want but can't be dodged or parried. (I believe ranged attacks can be blocked, but I can't honestly remember off the top of my head.) The Shockwave treatment might be the right way to go for Thunder Clap. Thunder Clap is currently a spell that hits for physical damage and can't be dispelled. The distinction among spell, melee and ranged attack (or persistent auras like Consecrate) is a largely technical one that doesn't always encompass unusual abilities well.  (Source)

Thunder Clap in 3.3.3
I think we're likely to make Thunder Clap a ranged attack (like Shockwave) for 3.3.3. This will let it get 20...

Update - The first part of Patch 3.3.3 is now available on the background downloader. As a reminder, the patch will NOT be deployed on live servers this week, this is just the background downloader.


Mastery System Preview
Quote from: Eyonix (Source)Last week, we gave you an early look at the changes we’re making to the stat system in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and explained how these changes will ultimately provide players with more interesting gear choices and make stats easier to understand. Today we’d like to go into more detail about a brand-new feature that’s an integral part of this overhaul: the Mastery system, a set of new game mechanics designed to allow players to become better at what makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. With this system, we want to accomplish three things: give players more freedom in how they allocate talent points, simplify some of the “kitchen sinky” talents that try to do too much at once, and add a new stat to high-level gear that makes you better at your chosen role.

Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage, healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree. The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that tree -- meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear.

One of our primary goals with Mastery is to give players more flexibility to choose fun or utility-oriented talents rather than make them feel obligated to pick up “mandatory” but uninteresting talents, such as passive damage or healing. (For examples of the kinds of powerful but boring talents we’re talking about, take a look at the talent tier just above the 51-point talent in many of the existing trees.) In a sense, Mastery makes it so every talent in (just for example) a rogue tree essentially has an invisible additional bullet point that says “???and increases your damage by X%.” This way, if you choose a talent like Elusiveness (which reduces your chance to be detected while stealthed) or Fleet Footed (which affects movement), you won’t feel like you’re giving up damage in exchange for utility.

There will still be talents that boost damage, of course, but those talents will also affect the way you play. For example, you can still expect to see talents like Improved Frostbolt, which reduces the cast time of the Frostbolt spell; it increases DPS, but it also affects the mage’s rotation. Piercing Ice, however, is just “6% more damage” and is the kind of talent we’re trying to eliminate by implementing the Mastery system.

As we get closer to Cataclysm’s release, we’ll go into more detail about the changes coming for each class, including individual talent-tree adjustments and how Mastery will affect them. In the meantime, here are a few examples to demonstrate the three kinds of passive bonuses we described above. Please keep in mind that we're still working on this system, and the handful of examples we're providing here are, of course, subject to change.

Holy Priest
For each talent point spent in the Holy tree, the priest also gets:

• Healing – Improves your healing by X%.
• Meditation – Improves your mana regeneration from Spirit in combat. This would likely replace the existing Meditation talent from the Discipline tree, which many Holy priests consider to be a “must-have.” Regeneration will also probably be determined by whether you are in or out of combat, and not the “five-second rule.
• Radiance – Adds a heal-over-time effect to direct heals, such as Flash Heal. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.

Discipline Priest
For each talent point spent in the Discipline tree, the priest also gets:

• Healing – Improves your healing by X%.
• Meditation – Improves your mana regeneration from Spirit in combat. This would likely replace the existing Meditation talent.
• Absorption – Improves the amount of damage absorbed by spells such as Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.

Frost Death Knight
For each talent point spent in the Frost tree, the death knight also gets:

• Damage – Improves your melee and spell damage by X%.
• Haste – Improves your melee Haste by Y%. This might allow us to remove some of the Haste in the Icy Talons line of talents.
• Runic Power – Improves the rate of runic power generated by abilities. While all death knights want runic power, Frost death knights would generally have more runic power than Blood or Unholy death knights (who would receive a different benefit from their respective trees). An Unholy death knight who sub-specs into Frost would still be able to benefit from this bonus, though because they’re investing fewer talent points, they’d benefit to a smaller degree. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.

A couple other things to note: Currently, we’re not planning to retrofit the Mastery stat onto current level-80 gear when we roll out the stat-system changes prior to Cataclysm’s release. However, Mastery will begin appearing on select quest and dungeon items. You will also gain a small amount of Mastery by wearing gear of your intended armor type (such as plate for paladins). For players with dual specs, when you change between your two chosen specs, the Mastery bonuses and the benefit you receive from the Mastery stat on gear will adjust automatically based on your new spec.

We’ll have more details to share about these and other changes we’re making in Cataclysm in the future, and we’ll do our best to answer your questions about the Mastery system here on the forums. For information on many of the stat changes being made in Cataclysm, please check out our earlier update at -

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23425636414&sid=1

Patch 3.3.3 - PTR Build 11643
A new build has been deployed on test realms. So far it doesn't look like there are a lot of changes out there but stay tuned, test realms can be full of surprises!

Pets / Mounts
Lil' XT finally got its own model, the name is VERY similar to Lil' K.T. and it wouldn't be surprising to see this pet appear on the Blizzard Store at some point.


On a sidenote, both Celestial Steed and X-53 Touring Rocket got their own spell and are confirmed to be 310% flying mount.

• Celestial Steed Video
• X-53 Touring Rocket Screenshot

Spell Comparison
These changes are generated by comparing the data available in the client, keep in mind that they could be temporary (or just wrong) if they are not in the official notes.
Quote from Blizzard staffItems

• Item - Coliseum 25 Normal Healer Trinket - Now affects all spells instead of just helpful spells.
• Item - Coliseum 25 Heroic Healer Trinket - Now affects all spells instead of just helpful spells.

Icecrown Citadel

• Strength of Wrynn and Hellscream's Warsong now also boost the effect of damage absorption spells.

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Glyphs

• Glyph of Icebound Fortitude now always grants at least 40% damage reduction.

Priest (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Glyphs

• Glyph of Scourge Imprisonment now reduces the cast time of your Shackle Undead by 1 sec. (Up from 0.5 sec)

Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Glyphs

• Glyph of Feint now reduces the energy cost of Feint by 20. (Up from 10)
• Glyph of Expose Armor now increases the duration of Expose Armor by 12 sec. (Up from 10 sec)
• Glyph of Deadly Throw now increases the slowing effect on Deadly Throw by 20%. (Up from 10%)

Warlock

• Dark Pact now has a 100 yards range (up from 30 yards) and ignores the line of sight.

Official Notes Update
The Patch 3.3.3 PTR Notes have been updated to reflect the changes made in this build.
Quote from: Blizzards (Source) Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Dark Pact: This ability no longer requires line-of-sight with the summoned demon, and the range has been increased from 30 yards to 100 yards.

Technical

• Frame Rate: A maximum capacity of 200 frames per second has been added. To disable the frame rate limit, the following line should be added to the Config.wtf file: SET maxFPS "0".

The weeks starts slowly because it's pretty hard to connect to the PTR these days, hopefully we will see a new PTR build very soon to fix the current issues.

Is Patch 3.3.3 going live this week?
Not a chance. The last 2 ptr builds were fairly unstable and Blizzard would never risk pushing it live this week, especially with some of the developers and lead developers attending the GDC in San Francisco this week.

Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffHealing and Mana Efficiency in Cataclysm
If you use your efficient heal 100% of the time, then sometimes people will die for want of a quick or big heal. If you use your quick or big heal 100% of the time, then sometimes you will run out of mana. If you use the right heal for the job, you will be awesome and get fat purps.

[...] We want the choice that downranking provided (don't use a big heal when a small one will do) without all the problems of gaming the coefficients of the lower level spells.

[...] Prior to LK, healers wouldn't use their quick / big heal every GCD. They would even stop heals to avoid wasting mana. We're not really trying to bring back cancel macros in a big way, but we would like for the best healers to be the ones who know when to use the right spell at the right time. (Source)

Tanking Threat
I would be very curious to see those numbers. You're making a jump from "Sometimes AE pull off of me" to "AE will always pull off of me," and that's just not what we're seeing. I totally buy that a warrior may work harder to generate as much, or less, AE threat as a paladin. We've acknowledged that is a problem. But that is the comparison I would make, not the comparison between "Sometimes I have to do stuff to maintain threat" and "Under no circumstances should I ever have threat problems."

It isn't the goal that dps can never pull off of you under any situation. If that was the goal, we're wasting an awful lot of the game space on all of these +threat and -threat talents and abilities, when we could just institute a rule that mobs will never retarget off of their initial target (which would hopefully be the tank). I don't think that would make tanking more fun, though it would definitely make it easier.

The threat-related goals still remain:

1) All -- Get threat to scale better at higher dps levels.
2) Paladin -- Nerf the threat capacity of HoR and SoC.
3) Druid -- Something to do on AE packs besides Swipe.
4) DK -- More burst threat, which the Icy Touch change should accomplish.
5) Warrior -- As I've said, we're pretty happy with, minus points 1 and 2 above.
6) I'll add that if taunts retain the ability to miss at all, it should be something you can gear your way out of. It's also possible we'll just make them always hit. (Source)
The MMO Report
It's monday and the MMO Report is always a nice way to start the week!


Comics
Dark Legacy Comic #228 and Teh Gladiators #116 are out.

Ruby Sanctum - Info Compilation / Preview [Spoiler]
Most of the Ruby Sanctum have been pushed in this patch and it looks like I have enough data in my hands for a small preview. As usual keep in mind that:

• This is only a preview based on game files, I could be wrong on a few things.
• Ruby Sanctum isn't even scheduled for release for Patch 3.3.3, it will be added with Patch 3.3.5 and a LOT of things can change in so much time.

Official Description
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)As we prepare for the public testing phase of minor content patch 3.3.3, some players might come across information regarding upcoming content that isn't yet available. To avoid any confusion, we'd like to tell you about an exciting new raid dungeon we are working on for content patch 3.3.5.

The Ruby Sanctum

A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights.

The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion's servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm.

The Ruby Sanctum will feature 10- and 25-player content, Heroic difficulties and all-new rewards! Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to its release.

More Details on the instance / Loot Table by Zarhym
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)

• Number 2. The lieutenants are sub-bosses which will each drop an Emblem of Frost. Halion is the main boss. While the activation of Heroic difficulty is different from the Obsidian Sanctum, the overall raid format for the Ruby Sanctum is very comparable.
• You're likely to find some random pieces of armor on par with Lich King loot, similar to the items Onyxia dropped while Trial of the Crusader was the top-tier raid. You can also expect to see some more trinkets and things of that nature.
• This raid will not only provide a bit of additional content to pair with the current content of patch 3.3, it will be the beginning of an advancement in the storyline for Cataclysm.
• The plan is to have a normal mode and a heroic mode just like Icecrown Citadel, so far there is no plan for a Sartharion +1/+2/+3-like encounter.

Instance Screenshots (Non Official)



Boss Screenshots



World Map and Loading Screen


Ruby Sanctum Loot
Apparently, these spells will be used on trinkets dropped in the instance. They are only the proc and you should keep in mind that they will have additional stats just like any other trinket.

• Item - Chamber of Aspects 25 Melee Trinket - When you deal damage you have a chance to gain 1304 attack power for 15 sec. (Piercing Twilight)
• Item - Chamber of Aspects 25 Heroic Melee Trinket - When you deal damage you have a chance to gain 1472 attack power for 15 sec. (Piercing Twilight)
• Item - Chamber of Aspects 25 Nuker Trinket - Your damaging spells have a chance to grant 763 spell power for 15 sec. (Twilight Flames)
• Item - Chamber of Aspects 25 Heroic Nuker Trinket - Your damaging spells have a chance to grant 861 spell power for 15 sec. (Twilight Flames)
• Item - Chamber of Aspects 25 Tank Trinket - Melee attacks which reduce you below 35% health cause you to gain 4401 health for 10 sec.  Cannot occur more than once every 30 sec. (Scaly Fortitude)
• Item - Chamber of Aspects 25 Heroic Tank Trinket - Melee attacks which reduce you below 35% health cause you to gain 4968 health for 10 sec.  Cannot occur more than once every 30 sec. (Scaly Fortitude)
• Eyes of Twilight - Each time your direct healing spells heal a target you cause the target of your heal to heal themselves and friends within 10 yards for 356 each sec for 6 sec. (Twilight Renewal)
• Eyes of Twilight - Each time your direct healing spells heal a target you cause the target of your heal to heal themselves and friends within 10 yards for 402 each sec for 6 sec. (Twilight Renewal)

Halion Supposed Skills
These abilities are probably used by Halion. There isn't any way to confirm that before Patch 3.3.5 is deployed on live or PTR servers but they seem to be the only skills with hard mode versions. Assuming that you won't be able to activate the heroic mode on the mini-bosses, these skills are most likely used by Halion.

Keep in mind that this is only a theory based on the game files.

[html]         Halion                        Meteor Strike   Deals...

Recent In-Game Fixes - March 2010 - 3/4
Some of these changes have been around for a while apparently, during the latest PTR update I saw Blood Nova getting a 16 sec cooldown and the duration of Emerald Vigor was increased from 35 to 40 seconds. Instability's duration has been reduced from 8 to 5 seconds.
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)Listed below are recent fixes we have applied to the game. Keep in mind that some of these changes may not be active until after the realm has been restarted.

To review previous in-game fixes, please visit:

3/4

• In the Lord Marrowgar encounters, the boss will no longer reset threat after a bone storm and will now wait a small amount of time before attacking at the end of a bone storm.
• In the Deathbringer Saurfang encounters, the boss is now less likely to cast Blood Nova on targets affected by Mark of the Fallen Champion.
• In both normal and heroic versions of the 10 player Rotface encounter, the mutated infection ability will not be cast as quickly while the fight progresses.
• In the 10- and 25-player heroic Festergut encounters, the malleable goo ability should no longer target pets.
• In the Valithria Dreamwalker encounters, the duration of Emerald Vigor and Twisted Nightmares were slightly increased.
• In the Sindragosa encounters, the duration of the instability debuff was slightly reduced.

Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffTank Threat Generation
I'm talking philosophy here, because I assume that's usually more interesting to a wider audience. Philosophically, tank threat generation is working correctly (i.e. as we intend) with perhaps 4-5 exceptions that we would like to fix:

1) Paladins can do a little too much AE tanking "splash" damage, often without even setting out to do so.
2) Tricks and MD take too much of a burden off of the tank / hide issue #3.
3) Damage and therefore threat generation aren't scaling well at very high levels of gear. <-- this is the big one.
4) There is too much incentive to AE every pull, which puts a burden on the tank to AE tank every pull.
5) You could probably add that bears need a button to hit besides Swipe. (Source)

Overgearing instances
Yeah, overgearing the content is fine. Being able to zerg an instance is one of the fun parts of overgearing. We're not worried about that. But on content at appropriate level, it wouldn't be so bad if *some* of the pulls required more crowd control and single-target damage. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Warriors AE Threat
I don't think warriors need more sustained AE threat. You have Incite + Deep Wounds for Thunderclap and also Shockwave. Maintaining threat is supposed to take some effort. I don't think tanking would be any more fun if you hit Tclap and never had to hit a button again.

The actual problem, in our minds, is threat scaling. Warriors (and all tanks) could AE tank just fine in Naxxramas.* It only became a problem over time when the dps of the dps classes grew so much more quickly than the tanks, largely because the dps classes have so many dps stats on their gear while plate tanks have Strength. Tank damage was pretty close to 50% of dps damage in the first tier of content, which was our goal, but has slipped to 25 to 30% of dps (your mileage may vary) in Icecrown.

We need a system that keeps tank damage scaling at the same rate as dps damage. However, that system can't be dependent on gear stats (unless you're willing to see tank gear go away) and can't be as ridiculous as deep talents that say "You get 5 AP per point of Strength."

I think you just notice threat issues more on AE pulls because things like Tricks and Misdirect mask any problems on single target pulls. Separate problem.

And yes Paladin tank AE damage and threat generation is still too high, largely because of Seals and HoR, but long-term we're going to nerf that instead of making all tanks able to trivially maintain threat in all situations. Referencing the other thread on threat a little, why as a tank would you even care what buttons you push if maintaining threat is a foregone conclusion?

* - AE tanking was fine in Naxxramas. AE damage was, and has remained, over the top. We prefer a model where the risk of tanking too many mobs is that the tank dies, not that you can't maintain threat on them all (within reasonable limits of course). We also prefer a model where the dps do AE damage on some pulls and switch to single target dps on others. (Source)
Low FPS - NVIDIA 196.75 drivers
Quote from: Datth (Source)We're getting reports where users are getting intermittent low FPS after installing these drivers. It seems that it is related to the fan control included in these drivers not working correctly and is causing the video card to overheat on 3D applications. This will affect Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2 Beta. Please uninstall the drivers and revert back to the older ones.

Windows XP: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_196.21_whql.html
Windows XP 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 32-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_32bit_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_64bit_196.21_whql.html

More information can be found on threads such as these:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161503

Patch 3.3.3 Mounts
Patch 3.3.3 introduced a couple of new mounts and I think it's time for a recap!

Celestial Steed
The Celestial Steed is probably the most impressive mount of his patch, it looks like a mix of Invincible and Algalon. I'm not really sure where this mount will drop for the moment but considering how cool it looks, I wouldn't expect it to be widely available.

Blazing Hippogryph and Wooly White Rhino
Both mounts are supposed to be TCG Rewards but as you probably know, Blizzard and Upper Deck Entertainment won't be working together anymore in 2010 and the future of the WoW TCG game is unclear. The Blazing Hippogryph was supposed to be a reward of the Wrathgate TCG expansion (UDI stated that Wrathgate Booster won't go into production) and the Wooly White Rhino is currently a reward of the "Icecrown" TCG expansion.

Even if we can't know what will happen with the TCG, it's pretty obvious that Blizzard has a plan and developers aren't adding more TCG rewards to the game just for fun. Just sit tight and wait for the official announcement.



Crimson Deathcharger / Azure Deathcharger
I'm starting to hate these mounts. A couple of days ago I pointed out that they were most likely a reward of the new Icecrown Citadel Quests but I slightly changed my mind since then. If you go through the list of new mounts in the database you will notice that the Crimson Deathcharger is actually a "summon", this property only applies to class mounts and it could be the sign that Blizzard just decided to be nice to Death Knights and wants to give them faction-specific mounts like Paladins. Once again, we will probably have to wait until the patch is live to figure it out.



Frosty Flying Carpet (Tailoring Only)
The Pattern: Frosty Flying Carpet is sold by Frozo the Renowned in Dalaran for Frozen Orbs x 6. (The DB will be updated when we can actually log in Dalaran on the PTRs)



Tom Chilton, Game Director- 5 Year Interview
Quote from: Nethaera (Source)In this interview, World of Warcraft Game Director Tom Chilton talks about the hectic final months leading up to the game’s launch, crafting an MMORPG for a wide range of play styles, and the ongoing effort to improve the game through expansions and content updates.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wowanniversary/interview/tomchilton.xml

World of Warcraft BattleCry Mosaic Complete
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)Thanks to the combined effort of Warcraft players from around the world, we have reached twenty thousand submissions, and the final piece of the World of Warcraft BattleCry Mosaic has been revealed. Head over to the World of Warcraft anniversary site now and check out the complete mosaic, which can only be described by one word: epic.

You can now look at the complete mosaic using the site's mosaic viewer, download the original artwork wallpaper, and of course view the legendary-sized mosaic wallpaper. And while you’re there, make sure to also check out all the previously unlocked content.

Thank you to everyone who sent in their pictures to help us create a little piece of Warcraft history, and thank you to all our players around the world for your continued support. Lok'tar!

Check out the BattleCry page now, as well as our our updated special Battlecry Gallery (11 new):

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wowanniversary/battlecry/
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/battlecry-gallery.html
The wallpaper is probably one of the best ever released by Blizzard, it includes 4:3, widescreen, and even dual-screen versions!



Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffBlizzard Voice Chat
The Blizzard Voice chat is actually pretty cool, and has improved greatly since it was released. We do see it as a success. We're completely fine with players using third party voice chat programs. It was simply important to us that an option was available for those who didn't want to rely on a 3rd party voice chat program -- no matter their reasons.

Additionally, there are a great deal more players who use it than you probably realize. (Source)

Dual-Wield DPS itemization in Cataclysm
 We will be making one-handed weapons with Strength on them. (Source)

Hit in Cataclysm
As I've said, it doesn't really work that way though. Say you need 300 hit (using arbitrary numbers here) and your tier set provides 250 hit and you get the rest from gems and jewelry. Everything's cool. Now a new patch comes out and your tier set has 230 hit. No problem. You get rid of some of the gems and jewelry. Now a new patch comes out and your tier set has 240 hit. Now you curse Blizzard every time an item drops with hit on it.

In short, later gear has more of the same stat on it. When the stats are easily capped, the larger pools become hard to work around. I compared it today to playing Tetris with really large pieces. It's hard to make the puzzle work. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Unstable Affliction "nerf" in the latest PTR Build
Tooltip clarification. Move along. [...]  I will say that Unstable Affliction backlash being unaffected by resilience really feels like a bug. I don't see how it's a necessary warlock perk. (Source)

Death Knight - The change to Death Grip was "an unintended change as a result of a bug trying to fix something else. Death Grip won't change between 3.3.2 and 3.3.3."

Note about the Celestial Steed - A few people reported that on the official site, Algalon is the last boss of the Vault of Archavon and assume that he will be available in this instance in a later patch. I would say that this is very unlikely, the official dungeons pages are greatly outdated (Ulduar is still shown as an "unknown" raid instance without any information) and this is most likely a very old error.

Update - Updated the PTR Build info.

Patch 3.3.3 - PTR Build 11623
A new build has been deployed on test realms, a couple of things have changed! As usual, these changes are from client data comparison and shouldn't be considered as final until they hit the official patch notes. Make sure you check the latest Patch 3.3.3 Notes Update.
Quote from Blizzard staffAchievements

• All You Can Eat (10 player) - Defeat Sindragosa in 10-player mode without any member of your raid receiving more than 5 stacks of Mystic Buffet. (Up from 4 stacks)
• All You Can Eat (25 player) - Defeat Sindragosa in 25-player mode without any member of your raid receiving more than 5 stacks of Mystic Buffet. (Up from 4 stacks)

Companion Pets

• Lil' XT - Right Click to set down or pick up your Lil' XT action figure.

Items

• You can now exchange any Battleground Mark for a Commendation of Service (185 Honor).

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Death Grip now has a 8 yards minimum range. (Unintended - see this post)

Glyphs

• Glyph of Disease now refreshes disease durations and secondary effects of diseases. (= The Icy Talon refresh bug)

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Feral

• Mangle now increases the damage of bleed effects for 1 min. (Up from 12 sec)
• Mangle (Bear) now increases the damage of bleed effects for 1 min. (Up from 12 sec)
• Mangle (Cat) now increases the damage of bleed effects for 1 min. (Up from 12 sec)

Hunter (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Beast Mastery

• Ferocious Inspiration now also increases the damage of Steady Shot by 9%.

Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Fire

• Empowered Fire now affects Pyroblast as well.
• Torment the Weak now affects Pyroblast as well.

Priest (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Items

• Item - Priest T10 Healer 4P Bonus - Increases the effect of your Renew and Power Word: Shield spells by 5%. (Old - Your Circle of Healing and Penance spells have a 20% chance to cause your next Flash Heal cast within 6 sec to reset the cooldown on your Circle of Healing and Penance spells.)

Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Slaughter from the Shadows now reduces the energy cost of your Backstab and Ambush abilities by 4/8/12/16/20. (Up from 3/6/9/12/15)
• Serrated Blades now causes your attack to ignore up to 3/6/9% of your target's Armor.

Shaman (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Items

• Item - Shaman T8 Elemental 2P Bonus - Increases periodic damage done by your Flame Shock ability by 20%. (Old - The periodic damage dealt by your Flame Shock can now be critical strikes.)
• Item - Shaman T10 Elemental 4P Bonus - Your Lava Burst spell causes your Flame Shock effect on the target to deal at least two additional periodic damage ticks before expiring. (Old -     Your Lava Burst spell increases the duration of your Flame Shock effect on the target by 6 sec.)

Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Affliction

• Unstable Affliction - Only one Unstable Affliction or Immolate per Warlock can be active on any one target.
• Life Tap - Now converts [ 150% of Spirit + 1490 ] health into [1490 + Spell Power * 0.5 ] mana.  (Old - [300% of Spirit + 1490] health into [1490 + Spirit * 3 Mana]

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Protection

• Revenge damage has been slightly lowered, it now deals [ 31% of AP + 1636 ] to [ 31% of AP + 1998 ] damage at max rank. Down from  [ 31% of AP + 2181 ] to [ 31% of AP + 2665 ] damage. (That's still much higher than the live version)
• Improved Revenge now Increases damage of your Revenge ability by 30/60% (up from 10/20%) and causes Revenge to strike an additional target for 50% damage.
• Vitality now increases your total Strength by 2/4/6%, Stamina by 3/6/9% and your Expertise by 2/4/6.

Arms

• Trauma now lasts 1 min, up from 15 sec.

The Celestial Steed mount added in 3.3.3 got its own model and looks like an Algalon version of Invincible ... At this point I have no idea where the mount drops.


The Celestial Dragon had its model updated with a couple of new effects and looks very nice as well.


The Blazing Hippogryph (TCG reward for the moment, could change) has been updated with a couple of new effect and the model used for Tiger bosses in Zul'gurub got a new texture, most ilkely used in the Echo Isles during the Cataclysm prologue event.

[img]http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/201...

World First Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25) by Exorsus
The russian guild Экзорсус (EU-Ревущий фьорд) is back and was the first guild in the world to complete Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25 player) a few hours ago (and before the zone-wide buff was activated in Europe, if you're wondering), they were rewarded with a brand new Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher. They also got the World First Glory of the Icecrown Raider (10) 2 weeks ago. Congratulations to them!



Icecrown Citadel Raid Buffs Active
The zone-wide buff is now official.
Quote from: Zarhym (Source) As many of you may have noticed, the Icecrown Citadel raid buffs have been activated. These buffs increase total health, healing done and damage dealt by 5% for all raid members. In addition, the number of attempts on the final bosses of each wing and the Lich King allotted raid groups on Heroic difficulty has been increased to 35. These buffs -- referred to as Strength of Wrynn for the Alliance and Hellscream’s Warsong for the Horde -- can be deactivated by speaking to your faction’s leader at Light’s Hammer.
Patch 3.3.3 Notes Update
The Patch 3.3.3 Notes have been updated with a couple of extra class changes and clarifications.
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)PvP

• The amount of Honor awarded for an Honorable Kill has been increased by 100% for characters of all levels. This change will effectively double the amount of Honor received from Honorable Kills, or for completing Battleground and Wintergrasp objectives; however, the amount of experience gained from completing Battleground objectives and the amount of Honor rewarded for completing each Wintergrasp quest remain unchanged.

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Mangle: The debuff from this talent now lasts 60 seconds, up from 12 seconds.

Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Empowered Fire: This talent now also applies to Pyroblast damage.
• Torment the Weak: This talent now also applies to Pyroblast damage.

Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Serrated Blades: This talent now allows the rogue to ignore up to 3/6/9% of the target's armor, rather than a fixed amount of armor ignored per level of the rogue.

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Improved Revenge: This talent can no longer trigger a stun, and instead causes Revenge to strike an additional target for 50/100% of Revenge's damage.

Arms

• Trauma: The debuff from this talent now lasts 60 seconds, up from 15 seconds.

Glyphs
Druid

• Glyph of Mangle: This glyph now provides 10% increased damage done by Mangle instead of increasing the duration of the debuff.

Items

• Priest Tier-10 4-Piece Healing Set Bonus: Redesigned. This bonus now increases the effectiveness of the caster's Power Word: Shield and Renew spells by 5%.
• Shaman Tier-10 4-Piece Elemental set Bonus: This bonus has been slightly adjusted to account for the fact that haste now modifies Flame Shock's periodic damage ticks. The bonus now makes the shaman's Lava Burst cause Flame Shock to tick at least two additional times before expiring.

Technical

• Frame Rate: A maximum capacity of 200 frames per second has been added.

Icecrown Citadel Zone-Buff is here
The optional zone buff in the Icecrown Citadel is now available and will make the instance easier for whoever wants to use it. The buff currently increases total health, healing done and damage dealt by 5% but higher versions are in-game and will probably be activated later.

• Strength of Wrynn (5%) / Hellscream's Warsong (5%)
• Strength of Wrynn (10%) / Hellscream's Warsong (10%)
• Strength of Wrynn (15%) / Hellscream's Warsong (15%)
• Strength of Wrynn (20%) / Hellscream's Warsong (20%)
• Strength of Wrynn (25%) / Hellscream's Warsong (25%)
• Strength of Wrynn (30%) / Hellscream's Warsong (30%)

On a sidenote, the amount of limited attempts for end-wing bosses has been increased to 35. (Thanks to Alveia for the tip and the screenshot!)


Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffCataclysm Stats - General
Cataclysm stats recap
DPS cloth: Int, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (mage, warlock, Shadow priest)
Healing cloth: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Holy and Disc priest)

Melee leather: Agi, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (rogue, Feral druid)
Spellpower leather: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Resto, Balance druid)

Physical mail: Agi, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (hunter, Enhancement shaman)
Spellpower mail: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Resto, Elemental shaman)

DPS Plate: Str, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (Fury, Arms, Retribution, dps DKs)
Tanking plate: Str, Sta, Hit, Armor, Dodge, Block, Parry, Mastery, Expertise (Prot, Prot and tanking DKs)
Healing plate: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Holy paladins)

There will be exceptions. There might be some spellpower cloth with no hit or Spirit that healers and nukers may want. There will likely be Elemental tier sets with no Spirit. Jewelry and cloaks will be more class agnostic than actual armor pieces.

I wrote that quickly, so hopefully I didn't mangle anything. EDIT: You get a small mastery bonus for wearing the highest-armor gear capable for your class. Hunters in mail get a bonus. Hunters in leather do not.

Mastery bonus and armor type
There is a small Mastery bonus for wearing "your" gear. So a Balance druid who takes cloth will be essentially giving up free stats. Sometimes that may be worth it to them (just as sometimes it's worth it for a Resto druid to take that piece of +hit gear), but often times it won't be worth it especially if it's an upgrade for you. (Source)

Reforging
Think of reforging like enchants. It's not that you take a piece of gear and turn it into whatever you want. You pick up specific scrolls with specific conversions. We haven't decided on them all yet, but I imagine crit -> parry is not something you're likely to see. Maybe we'd do hit -> dodge for the tank who is full on or doesn't want hit. Maybe we'd do block -> parry to help DKs benefit from more plate.

Rest assured that we're not going to promote a system where Prot paladins want dps plate for tanking more than tanking plate. Part of all of these changes are to discourage behavior like that. We don't want to recreate it immediately in a different form. (Source)

Haste in Cataclysm
Haste will basically remain the same for casters. It is changing for melee classes, however. Haste will also allow melee classes to recover their resources more quickly, effectively letting them hit their buttons more often. (Source)

Gem sockets and item budget
We take gem budgets out of the most attractive stat on a piece of gear, in order to avoid anything with sockets always trumping similar gear without sockets. As such, socketed tanking plate has less base stamina but with gems, you’ll almost certainly end up with more health than dps classes. (Source)

Mastery Bonus
You get a mastery bonus (i.e. free stats) for wearing your gear. If shaman or druids wear cloth, they will do so at a slight stat loss. Sometimes that may still be worth it. (Source)

Spirit
Spirit is currently on a lot of cloth gear because it is considered a healing AND dps stat. We are changing it to just be a healing stat. There will still be a lot of it on leather though, just not every piece. Both Spirit and hit are the kind of thing you want enough of and no more than that. Since there won't be any buffs that boost hit or Spirit, you shouldn't often find yourself in excess. (Source)

[...] If we solve the Spirit -> hit conversion through a talent, it will be tacked on to an existing talent so that you aren't really paying for it. We like the talent approach more than a passive ability because the talents let you tell the game "I'm trying to be a caster, not a healer now."

I've read several players say that they like to reach their hit cap and then be done with it. But that doesn't really happen because every tier there is more and more hit on gear, forcing you to either swap out some of your excess hit or avoid the new stuff completely. The new model is more that all that extra hit on higher ilevel gear will have a use.

Plate / Cloth Armor differences
Plate will still possess much more armor than cloth, the difference just wont be as significant as it is now. (Source)

[...]  posted something similar in the Cataclysm forum, but let's look at actual numbers. A level 80 Prot warrior in Icecrown gear unbuffed has like 45,000 health and 30,000 armor. A level 80 mage in Icecrown gear unbuffed might have 20,000 health and 2000 armor. Yes, 2000 armor. We have a lot of room to narrow the gap a little. It's a big gap. (Source)

[...] Someone (Angua?) had a post awhile back that explained this using numbers. Cloth won't have as much armor as plate. But maybe it will have half as much armor as plate instead of one fifth as much armor as plate (or whatever the ratios end up being at higher levels).

Really, cloth isn't the issue, since cloth wearers have spells to buff their mitigation. Leather wearers are the ones who end up the most fragile. Mail would be bad too except that shaman can use shields when needed and hunters typically don't get hit by melee much. We just want to bring things a little closer to each other. It's easier to establish a baseline for how hard a particular attack should hit for when one dps spec isn't literally four times as survivable as another. (Source)

Tanking
Is threat fun?
When threat doesn't matter as a tank, then maximizing your rotation doesn't matter much either. To use the warrior example, you could skip Devastate, Revenge and Shield Slam and just autoattack and use defensive cooldowns. Is that fun? On the other hand, many of the requests we see are for harder hitting attacks, especially on the AE front, so that in essence it's less work to tank multiple mobs at once. Is this really what you want?

I would assert in the current game that threat is almost never an issue. It might be an issue in the first few seconds of a fight (including when new adds join the party) or when the dps severely outgear the tank (such as in a Dungeon Finder situation). Especially in a world with Misdirect, Tricks of the Trade, and Tauntable bosses, tanks on single-target raid fights get so far ahead of the dps and healers, that catching them would be almost impossible. We could definitely tone this down a little such that tanks needed to fight for threat a little more than they do now. Some players would welcome that change and some would say that Blizzard hates tanks and makes them work too hard. (Source)

Tank specs in Cataclysm
Tanks will still be required to tank raids and I expect most heroics. You're not in any danger of being ...

Cataclysm Stat & System Changes
Quote from: Eyonix (Source)As many of you know from panels at last year’s BlizzCon and posts here on the forums since then, Cataclysm will bring about major changes to familiar character stats such as Intellect, Armor Penetration, Defense, and others, ultimately designed to make the effects of stats more easily understandable and make gear choices more interesting. As these changes will have a significant impact on how stats work and relate to one another, today we wanted to offer you a closer look at exactly what’s in store and explain some of the rationale before Cataclysm arrives.

The most obvious question these changes raise is "Why are stats being changed, and why now?" As the game has matured, we've run into increasingly complex issues with the current stat system. Many stats are inherently confusing, and the way they interrelate can feel convoluted. Attack Power, for example, currently translates to damage, but so does Armor Penetration. Defense provides five different statistical benefits of varying utility. Mana regeneration involves understanding multiple stats and rules and often ends up being irrelevant anyway. In addition, the difference between a "good stat" for a class and a "bad stat" can be extreme. Some casters want Haste but not Crit; hunters want Armor Penetration but not Haste. There are other overarching issues, as well, such as Intellect not being very exciting for casters despite it being a core stat -- and these are just a few examples.

Our ultimate goal is make gear a more interesting (and less confusing) choice by making each stat valuable to more players. While the reasoning behind some of the following changes may be clear, we understand that you may have questions about some of the less obvious alterations, and we'll do our best to answer any questions you may have here on the forums.


What You’ll See on Gear

Stamina - Because of the way we will be assigning Strength, Agility, and Intellect, non-plate wearers will end up with more Stamina than before. Health pools will be much closer between plate-wearers and other classes.

Spirit - Come Cataclysm, this stat should only be found on healing gear. Non-healing casters will have other systems in place to regenerate mana, and we are designing special solutions for Elemental shaman and Balance druids who often share gear with healers (more on this below). Raid buffs that currently boost Spirit (such as Blessing of Kings) will only boost the primary stats of Stamina, Strength, Agility, and Intellect. We are also likely changing the five-second rule and other quirks of the current regen system.

Intellect - Intellect will now grant Spell Power (more on this below). Intellect will also provide less mana than it currently does.

Haste - Haste will become more attractive for melee classes by allowing them to recover resources such as energy and runes more quickly. Our intention is for Haste to let you "do stuff" more often.

Block Rating - Block is being redesigned to scale better. Blocked attacks will simply hit for 30% less damage. Block rating will improve your chance to block, though overall block chances will be lower than they are today.

Parry - Parry no longer provides 100% avoidance and no longer speeds up attacks. Instead, when you parry an attack, it and the next attack will each hit for 50% damage (assuming they hit at all). In other words, Dodge is a chance to avoid 100% of the damage from one attack, Parry is a chance to avoid 50% of the damage from two attacks, and Block is a chance to avoid 30% of the damage from one attack.

Mastery - This is a new stat that will allow players to become better at whatever makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. It's directly tied to talents, so what you gain from improving this stat is entirely dependent upon your class and the talent specialization you choose. We’ll talk more about specific Mastery benefits in the future.

Armor - The way Armor mitigates damage is not changing, but the Armor stat has been rebalanced to mirror changes to the armor curve in Cataclysm. As a result, bonus Armor will go down slightly overall. We are also changing the mitigation difference among armor types so that plate doesn’t offer so much more protection than mail, leather, and cloth.

Resilience - This will only affect damage done by players and critical damage done by players. It will not impact crit chance, mana drains, or other such effects.

Strength, Agility, Hit Rating, Expertise, and Critical Strike Rating - These will all still appear on gear as well. Aside from situations mentioned elsewhere in this list, in general these will function similarly to how they do now, though the details -- such as how much Hit Rating you might need to effectively combat high-level creatures (more on this below) -- are likely to change.


Being Removed from Items

Attack Power - This stat will no longer be present on most items as a flat value, though it will still show up on some process. Strength and Agility, which will be present on items, will grant the appropriate amount of Attack Power (generally 2 Attack Power per point of Strength or Agility) depending upon which stat a particular class favors. Agility may provide less Crit than it currently does.

Spell Power - Spell Power is another stat that you'll no longer see present on most items. Instead, as mentioned above, Intellect will grant Spell Power. One exception is that caster weapons will still have Spell Power. This allows us to make weapons proportionately more powerful for casters in the same way they are for melee classes.

Armor Penetration - This stat will no longer be present on items. Armor Penetration will still exist in talents and abilities.

Shield Block Value - This stat will no longer be present on items, since the amount blocked is always proportional to the amount of damage done. Talents and other effects might still modify the damage-reduction percentage from 30%, however.


Going Away Completely

MP5 - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Holy paladins and Restoration shaman will be redesigned to benefit from Spirit.

Defense - Defense is being removed from the game entirely. Tanking classes should expect to become uncrittable versus creatures just by shifting into Defensive Stance, Frost Presence, Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.

Spell Ranks - Spell ranks will cease to exist. All spells will have one rank and will scale appropriately with level. The levels at which you can learn certain spells are being changed in order to fill in some of the gaps, and we will be introducing some new spells to learn along the way as well.

Weapon Skill - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Classes will start with all the weapon skills they need to know and will not need to improve them.


What Else You Should Know

Combat ratings - All ratings will be much harder to "cap out" at maximum gear levels. Ratings will be steeper in Cataclysm, and creatures in later tiers of content will be harder to hit or crit, similar to how level-83 mobs are harder to hit or crit than level-80 mobs.

Reforging - While these changes will go a long way to making a wider variety of stats more attractive, we understand that sometimes you simply don’t want more Hit Rating on your gear or you’d rather have more Haste than more Crit. In Cataclysm, we are going to give players a way to replace stats on gear as part of the existing profession system. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll be able to convert one stat to 50% of another stat. While some conversions (like converting Stamina to Strength) won’t be permitted, the goal is to let you customize your gear more.

Gems - We are changing the gem colors of a few stats as a result of these adjustments. For example, Hit is likely to be blue instead of yellow. We'll have more details on this in the future.

Changes to Existing Gear

As with previous expansions, we plan to roll out these changes and modify all existing gear shortly before Cataclysm launches, though it’s still too early to say exactly when. For the most part, the gear you have will still be good for you, though there will be exceptions, such as warriors using leather and mail armor.

If you are a tank (druids excepted), expect to see:

• No more Defense on gear. Existing Defense becomes Dodge, Parry, or Block Rating.
• No more Block Value on gear. Existing Block Value becomes Block Rating.
• You’ll have as much Stamina as you’re used to, though you may notice your tanking plate has a bit less Stamina than a comparable piece of DPS plate, since we tend to take the gem budget out of your most attractive stat.
• Bonus Armor on gear will go down slightly.

If you are a melee DPS class, druid tank, or hunter, expect to see:

• A lot more Stamina. Bear-form Stamina scaling will be lowered as a result.
• Strength if you wear plate. Agility if you wear mail or leather.
• Existing Attack Power becomes Agility and Stamina.Armor Penetration becomes Haste or Crit.
• No Intellect on melee gear. Hunters won’t need Intellect since they will no longer use mana. Shaman and Retribution paladins will get mana and spell damage in other ways.

If you are a DPS caster, expect to see:

• A lot more Stamina.
• All of your Spell Power converted to Intellect and Stamina.
• No Spirit. You won’t miss Spirit, though, because you won’t need it for DPS or mana regen.

If you are a healer, expect to see:

• A lot more Stamina.
• All of your Spell Power converted to Intellect and Stamina.
• Spirit instead of MP...

Trojan succesfully hacks Authenticator Protected Accounts
A new virus spawned on the internet a few days ago and seems to be the first trojan capable of hacking a WoW account protected by an Authenticator. It was confirmed by Blizzard a few hours ago.
Quote from: Kropacius (Source)After looking into this, it has been escalated, but it is a Man in the Middle attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack

This is still perpetrated by key loggers, and no method is always 100% secure.
Basically, what the virus does is fairly simple after you're infected :

• The next time you log in World of Warcraft, the game asks for your Authenticator code.
• The virus intercepts it, send it to another server, and sends a wrong one to Blizzard = You get an error.
• The people behind the virus now have a few seconds/minutes to use the "real" code while it's valid to change your password / empty your account / guild bank.

How to check if you're infected
Just search for a file named "emcor.dll" on your computer, it is most likely located in "C:\Users\(Your user name)\AppData\Temp" but I suggest that you check everything just to be sure. If you do find the file, delete it and make sure you update your anti-virus to prevent any further problem.

To be honest, if you found this file your account is probably already compromised.

What does it mean exactly?

• Yes, you can get hacked even if you have an authenticator, the chances are MUCH lower but you're not invulnerable.
• It definitely isn't an excuse to not have an authenticator. We're talking about a single virus here and the authenticator will save your ass 99% of the time.
• Get a decent anti-virus, buy an authenticator, you'll be safe.

New Icecrown Citadel Quests in Patch 3.3.3 [SPOILER]
Patch 3.3.3 added even more quests to the Icecrown Citadel! They all seem to be part of the same questline and according to the descriptions we can assume it will start from Item #51315, most likely dropped by the Lich King.

• Quests descriptions aren't available yet, the description text for each quest is a transcript of the sound files.
• We can't know for sure how it will drop, the 3 possibilities are: A drop from the Lich King in 25-Man Heroic Mode, drop from the Lich King in 10-Man Heroic Mode, Shadowmourne extra quest rewards.

Thanks to Tyrsenus and the wonderful users who did most of the work in this forum thread.

Quest - Quest: Personal Property
Reward - Item #51316 (Maybe the loot bag for the other items?)
Description
Bring the Sealed Chest to Highlord Darion Mograine in Icecrown Citadel.

You can detect no hinges or openings on this box. Were it not for the shifting of items inside, it could easily be mistaken for solid metal. If anyone could know the method of its opening, it would be Highlord Mograine.

Presumably, opening the box will contain five items, which the player will then return to their respective owners:

Quest - Jaina's Locket
Reward - Item #52251 - Might be tied to Portal: Dalaran. (1 min cooldown)
Description
What's this?  He... he kept it.. all this time he kept it! <Cries> I knew! <Cries> I sensed a part of him still alive... trapped... struggling. Oh Arthas! Perhaps he might someday remember from what he once was... By the Light may he at last find rest, free from the icy grip of that terrible blade!

Quest - Muradin's Lament
Reward - Item #52251 - Possibly a flavor item to transform into a Frostborn - Frostborn Illusion - Screenshot
Description
Oh lad, how I missed those endless days in Lordaeron, sharpening your skill with this dull blade. Forging you into a weapon meant to withstand the demands of a great destiny. Heh… You sure put them skills to use, didn't you lad? If only I'd been able to stop you that day, how different things migha' been. If only I'da never discovered that accursed blade. Farewell, Arthas, my brother.

Quest - Sylvanas' Vengeance
Reward - Item #52253 - Possibly another flavor item, probably tied to the Lament of the Highborne spell.
Description
So, it is done. I had not dared to trust my senses. Too many times has the Lich King made me to be a fool. Finally, he has been made to pay for the atrocities he imposed upon my people. May Azeroth never fail to remember the horrible price we paid for our weakness, for our pride. But what now, Hero? What of those freed from his grasp but still shackled to their mortal coils? Leave me. I have much to ponder.

Quest - The Lightbringer's Redemption
Reward - Item #52252 - Tabard of the Lightbringer - Screenshot.
Description
Arthas... Alas, hero of Azeroth. You give me a greater gift than you know. Long have I struggled to forgive the prince for his terrible transgressions. My soul has been wracked with unbearable anxiety, dark thoughts, distancing me from the light. I recall clearly... the gleam of pride in his eye as he stood before me, eager to defeat the enemies of the light... eager to defend his people, no matter the cost. It is this memory of Arthas that I choose to keep in my heart. I shall always be in your debt, friend. Thank you.

Quest - Mograine's Reunion
Reward - Item #52200 (Mount!)
Description
Alexandros: Darion, my son. At last I am able to lay my eyes upon you again. The Lich King tormented me without end, Darion. Endlessly he sought to break my will, to force me to serve him, to bind me to his blade. Finally, when events demanded his full attention, he left me. The one memory I clung to Darion, the one thought that kept me from giving in, it was your sacrifice, my son. That again saved me from eternal peril.

Darion: Father, father, I… I feared for your sanity, father, for you, I would give my life a thousand times.

The reward of this quest is most likely the Crimson Deathcharger mount spell added to the game in 3.3.3.

There is only one mount spell, but there are actually two new deathchargers creatures Azure Deathcharger and Crimson Deathcharger, we can assume that the color will change depending on the player's faction.

#BlizzChat Developer Chat on Twitter 2/26
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)That's it for this Developer Chat. If any questions were answered twice, keep in mind we had two developers independently working to jump on as many questions as possible.

We'd like to thank both of our developers for coming, and thank you all for joining us!

General
Q. Are there any plans for more weekly quests (not raid but general) for the weekend only players?
A. I like weekly quests, because they get you to come back to WoW without making you feel like you have to log in every single night. Sometimes Ghostcrawler likes to go to the bar instead.

Q. What happened to the advertised Dance Studio for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion?
A. It's still on the list! We always start an expansion with more than we can realistically do and then shuffle things up and down. WoW is one of those games you just never finish, which is overall a fun thing about working on it.

Q. What is the one thing you're the most proud of in regards to how the Wrath of the Lich King expansion went?
A. Questing in Northrend took on a whole new meaning. I can’t wait for people to see what we have in store for Cataclysm!
A#2. It had a really strong theme with the frozen north and you knew from the beginning that a final showdown with you-know-who was coming at the end. One of the challenges of Cataclysm is not having that really focused theme (cold undead) but Cataclysm still has a great story mind you.

Q. Is there any chance that tabards will eventually get their own tab on the character screen (a la pets/mounts)?
A. Tabard storage is something we have been looking into for the last couple weeks. Hopefully we will be able to get this done for Cataclysm. No promises though.

Q. Will you give us more bag/bank slots and make us able to carry more bags at a time if i say please?
A. We will have larger bags in Cataclysm for sure. The real question is will you buy them from Haris Pilton?

Q. Are there any plans to implement cross-faction/cross-realm mail(for BoA gear and such)?
A. We have cross-faction mail for BoA items now; cross-realm is a work in progress, but we hope to have it done “soon."

Q. Are we ever going to be able to get Frostmourne?
A. Not in game, but you can order a real one!

Classes
Q. Does Blizzard have any plans to give healers "fun" procs and on-use effects, like DPS have been getting lately?
A. Yes. Healer procs are trickier to design though to make sure they aren't wasted. Damage is rarely wasted so it's a bit easier to design.

Death Knight
Q. Two-handed (2H) frost death knights was a really fun playstyle that died when dual-wielding (DW) was introduced. Are there any plans to make using two-handed weapons more appealing?
A. We can't make every death knight tree PvP, PvE and tanking viable and also offer both 2H and DW options for all three of those. We are currently designing Frost as a DW-only tree.

Druid
Q. Is there any ETA on tree / moonkin form graphical update?
A. Moonkin is hard because Moonkin players are so in love with that form. It's tough to change it at all. We currently hope to do a new tree form for Cataclysm, but no promises.

Q. Has there been any thought of changing Eclipse to charges so that Moonkin dps doesn't suffer so much from moving?
A. Yes. Expect a major overhaul in Cataclysm that keeps the same basic idea (alternating from Arcane to Nature) but in a way that is more core to the class. Like everything though, there is the risk that we may decide this idea sucks once we see it in action.

Hunter
Q. The Hunter class has many odd and situational abilities such as Mongoose Bite and Aspect of the Beast - are there any plans for changes to these types of abilities?
A. Mongoose Bite is most likely a goner. Let us weep. We think Aspect of the Beast could have some cool uses for Beastmaster hunters.

Q. Are hunters likely to see more stable slots for their pets in the future? With the current variety of pets, the amount they have right now seems too small.
A. Arm-waving here, but a model I would love to see is dramatically expanded slots (so you can store all those Spirit Beasts) but have a smaller number of "active" pets, like 3. You could summon an active pet from anywhere in the world, when outside of combat. You would swap a pet from active to the stable at the Stable Masters.

Paladin
Q. Is there any info you can share on future plans for holy paladins?
A. I hear they need more healing spells.

Priest
Q. Will there be any upcoming changes to shadow priest anytime soon?
A. We're pretty happy with them currently in Icecrown and PvP. Long term they have some things we want to address, such as having long ramp-up time even on easy mobs when leveling or handling large groups. They also get really punished from school lockout.

Warlock
Q. Are there any updates on the changes for Warlock soul shard mechanics?
A. We've implemented much of what we've discussed at Blizzcon: shards are a UI element instead of an item. You use them frequently, but for great effect. They are all for damage. Summoning and pets just cost mana. I think you'll finally like shards.

Raids & Dungeons
Q. Is the Valithria Dreamwalker encounter a deliberate move towards making WoW more “fun & interesting” for healers? Will we see more encounters like this?
A. We want to make healing more fun, yes. Part of that is letting healers use their whole repetoire instead of just their best spells. Part of it is trying to get healers to look at the battlefield a little more and unit frames a little less, that of course means a little more time in between spamming heals so you can do stuff like that.

Q. What have you learned from this expansion’s emblem system?
A. Having that many different kind of emblems is overwhelming. In hindsight, we wish we had done maybe 2 emblems: the current tier and the previous tier (Frost and Triumph at the moment). They also felt a tad too grindy when 3.3 first came out before all of the sources of emblems were available.

Q. With Illidan you removed attunement to give players more accessibility to the instance, so why have you limited pre-Ulduar geared players from using the Dungeon Finder to enter the new 5-player dungeons that were released in patch 3.3?
A. We feel like players using Dungeon Finder need some reasonable guarantee that the other players they get grouped with are going to be able to pull their weight. We don't yet have a robust system for tracking that other than gear. Gear obviously has its problems though, so we'll be looking at smarter ways to do it in the future.

A#2. Gear requirements are a way for us to help players have an experience that is more in line with their skill level. We would much rather you not be able to get into the instance than to have you get in there with a group and find out that you can’t even tank the first boss. Gear requirements are not locked in stone either -- we are updating these as we see fit.

Q. You talk a lot about changing how we heal tanks, but will aggro ever come back as a challenging part of the game?
A. Not sure. This is something we discuss a lot. I even had a meeting on it this week! On the one hand, some tanks really felt like the way to distinguish themselves was to generate maximum threat per second. On the other hand, threat is a pretty invisibile part of the game (it's limited to the UI at best), and I know when I tank that I always feel pretty emasculated when someone actually pulls off of me. It's challenging, but is it really fun? This is the kind of thing we'd love to get more feedback on.

Please include your feedback on large banners to be shown in the background during the Olympics. Failing that, the forums would work too.

Q. How do you feel about the limited attempts mechanic that has been use in Trial of the Crusader and Icecrown Citadel?
A. We're not crazy about how they worked out. They were designed in essence to save players from themselves. In the past, some people would make 400+ attempts on new bosses. That's not healthy and at some point you're not measuring skill but tenacity. Yet, that's not what happened. Guilds just made alts to get around the limitations, and things like disconnects and accidents make losing an attempt really frustrating. We like gating because if nothing else it lets the community focus on more than just the final boss in the zone. If we do limited attempts again it would probably be limited to optional bosses like Algalon.

Q. Are there any plans to allow cross-realm raiding?
A. If we can solve the problems with it, we might give it a try. One of the problems is getting the group back together, especially on the longer instances. Loot drama and stuff like that is always a problem. There is also the ongoing concern about the concept of your realm having le...

BlizzCast #13
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)In our thirteenth BlizzCast episode, we focus on the recent start of the StarCraft II beta! An interview with the StarCraft II's production director and game director discusses what beta testers and the overall StarCraft community can expect in the latest multiplayer version of the game. The developers also provide some insight into other topics such as the single player campaign, eSports, and macro mechanics. In our second segment, World of Warcraft and Diablo community managers take you through a Q&A segment sharing exciting information about how the future of those series are shaping up.

Check out BlizzCast 13 now: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/community/blizzcast/archive/episode13.html?rhtml=y
PvP a Blizzard Employee
Quote from: Ujumqin (Source)Hey all,

Ever wanted to Pwn a Blizzard employee in WoW PvP? Now's your chance because tomorrow from 4:00PM to 6:30PM (PST) a few of us will be queuing up for BGs via the new Random Battleground Finder on the US realms! Bring your main/alt/premade and show us what you got!

What: Random Battleground Finder
Who: Blizzard Community Team and Blizzard QA
Place: US Servers Broxigar and Anasterian
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 PST
Date: 2-26-2010

(Note: Time/Event is subject to change.)
Blizzard Loves You
Quote from: Bashiok (Source)A photo from us to you. The Blizzard Community Team - http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt243/bashiok/CMTeam.jpg (Mirror)

Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffEasy gear in TBC Arenas
We definitely make mistakes, but you are mischaracterizing how we feel about Arena. The problem was that the initial BC Arena gear was so easy to obtain, that it attracted many players to Arenas who really had no business being in there or in fact didn't even enjoy it. They just went where the loot was. In LK, we offered the same or better loot through raiding and lots of people went raiding.

We like Arena. It isn't going anywhere. We just want to reserve it for people who actually like it, not for those who feel like they have to do it. (Source)

AE Healing
True, but many of those spells require targeting. Even PoH requires targeting. I'm not a big fan of the way Wild Growth has turned out either, but at least its hot prevents it from being the "nobody dies from AE" spell. Again, they are good spells, and they have their place. I wish there was more of a decision of when to use them instead of always on cooldown. I realize part of that is encounter design. Part of it may be that they are still too good. (But we aren't nerfing them anytime soon.) (Source)

Mana management and encounters difficulty
Fights are designed to be hard (to a degree). If you have a proposal for how they can be hard in a different vector, please share. Running OOM is a tool that we lost and want to regain, but I suspect that will lead to a lot of "Healing isn't fun anymore" responses. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Rake Bug
Right. It's possible that there is server - client disagreement (because of lag) about what's going on, so that you think you can reapply Rake (because it has fallen off) but get the "more powerful aura" error instead.

We did have a similar problem with Immolate at some point, but we fixed it by letting you clip that last tick. I don't think you would want that with Rake because it would be a dps loss when that happened. (Source)

Nature's Grasp in 3.3.3
That's a bug. You can only cast one Entangling Roots. You can proc the roots on 3 targets with Nature's Grasp. [...] They are two different spells that just look alike.

There is a small ICD to keep a rogue from blowing through all 3 charges quickly. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Lightwell
Lightwell isn't okay either. We don't want to turn it into a totem, because the class already has plenty of spells that require little interaction. We're not entirely sure what we'll do yet, but we still like the basic idea (creating something and it does the healing) so we aren't going to just scrap it. (Source)

Developer Chat on Twitter -- 2/26/10
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)We will be holding our next Developer Chat on Twitter on Friday, February 26, at 5:00 p.m. PST with World of Warcraft's lead content designer and lead systems designer. This chat session will focus on Icecrown Citadel and other Fall of the Lich King content.

Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/signup and follow account @Warcraft in order to participate!

To submit a question for the Developer Chat, please tweet using the #BlizzChat hashtag between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. PST on February 26. Due to the character limitation on responses within Twitter, all answers will be posted on the World of Warcraft forums in a dedicated thread.

Link to the last Developer Chat: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=22418868790&sid=1

Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffPeople with multiple Battle.net accounts cannot log on this PTR Build
There is currently a bug in the build that the PTR is being updated to that is causing this issue. This issue should be resolved in the next PTR build, but for the time being there is no work around available. If you have multiple Wow game accounts attached to a single Battle.net account, you will not be able to log into the PTR until the next PTR update.

We're aware that this temporarily blocks some people from accessing the PTR. Please understand that we're working on getting this resolved in an upcoming PTR patch. (Source)

Top guilds and raid encounters difficulty
Players try to play that card a lot, that skill isn't a big deal because the mechanics are all pretty easy to understand, and therefore it's the class mechanics that are to blame, not the player. I don't buy it. I've seen the world first, or even server first kills of difficult bosses. Those players aren't just good, they are exceptionally good. They are probably ten times better than the guilds who get those kills a month or two later, and that's really no exaggeration. In fact, skill plays such a gigantic role that we have trouble balancing harder encounters. The skilled players can beat them without new gear while the second tier of players can never beat them. Now you can try to argue that all tanks are of about the same skill and it's the dps or healers that really make up the difference, but I don't buy that either. I've seen what the best tanks in the world do. They are really good. Don't dismiss them as being just lucky or dedicated. (Source)

Healers coordination
Now in general I wish there was a little more coordination among healers, but the current damage model we have just doesn't really allow it. I remember when tanking Molten Core, that the priest would say over vent "Big heal coming on the OT!" as he powered up a Greater Heal. You don't have that luxury these days. One of our designers was watching an old Illidan video recently and remarked how everyone was at 50% for so much of the fight. Now days someone is at 100%, will hit 100% in the next couple of GCDs, or will be dead. In that environment, you'd get "Big --" out of your mouth before it would be too late. Players need more health and heals have to be a little more expensive. (Source)

Tanking homogenization
There are extremes. One is just giving everyone say block and parry and Last Stand and Demo Shout because heck those are useful, and no doubt some players would be thrilled by that. The other extreme is to be so stubborn and so scared of homogenization that we never make a change. It doesn't surprise me at all that when a player finds his dude wanting, then looks around and sees a sexy ability or mechanic on another class that that grass can look awfully green. I'm just pointing out that homogenization is often our very last solution when all else has failed.

A great deal of WoW's depth is because of the differences among the classes and among the various talent trees. We think it contributes to players not getting bored. We think it contributes to rerolling, perhaps trying another class when you get burned out instead of walking away from the game. It was cool for me the first time I healed a Feral druid in UBRS (if you're still playing, you rocked by the way) because she tanked things differently and I had to heal her differently. I felt like I was discovering something new in the game. I would have been sad if someone had pointed out, Ghost, dude, that was just bear art. Mechanically, she was blocking and Sundering (this was pre Devastate) and basically being a warrior.

Resisting homogenization may not be important to you, but it is very important to us. Understand the huge mountain you have to climb whenever you're asking us to put those concerns aside. You're thinking about how to make your character a better tank. We're thinking about how to keep this game popular for five more years, or even longer. (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Icy Talons changes clarifications
You put 5 points in Icy Talons. While fighting (and applying Frost Fever), you swing 20% faster. If you have talented Windfury Totem on you, you swing a total of 40% faster.

You now put a 6th point in Improved Icy Talons as well. You have a passive personal 25% haste at all times. When you engage in combat and apply Frost Fever, you now have 45% melee haste. If you have Windfury also, you still only have 45% haste since Windfury and Improved Icy Talons are exclusive.

This is basically a 20% haste buff to any DK who has Icy Talons and Improved Icy Talons. (Source)

Will of the Necropolis Buff
As I've said several times now, the Will of the Necropolis change wasn't an "OMG DKs are vanishing - let's buff" decision. A couple of designers looked at the cooldown, evaluated how often it really mattered, concluded not often, and thought the ability would be simpler to understand, less frustrating, and perhaps a small DK buff without the cooldown. The paladin and warrior health adjustments were a result of seeing progression on hard mode encounters, where bosses tend to melee for a lot all the time so health might trump cooldowns. Neither of them were huge changes and you can make the argument that things might have been fine without the changes at all. We thought a small adjustment was appropriate. I concede that these things are often subjective and others might have made a different call than we made. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Starfall Buff
The Starfall change is difficult to patch note because of the nature of the spell, but I'll share the numbers so that the theorycrafters among you can plug them in. It's a significant boost to the spell's damage.

Initially, we had designed the spell to be more AE focused, but that hasn't been super useful for a class that also has Hurricane. Rather than adding another nuke we thought it made more sense to make the 51 pointer something that really delivers on damage. Yes it can be countered. PvP is designed with the intent that things can be countered.

Main shot
Base points 432 -> 562
Coefficient 0.21 -> 0.37

Splash damage
Base points 77 -> 100
Coefficient 0.12 -> 0.13 (Source)

[...] I think I figured out how you all are calculating the coefficient, so maybe this will make more sense. Again, I'm not 100% sure we're speaking the same language here. If I have time, maybe I will just log in with a moonkin and compare the before and after and post numbers.

Main star
Old coefficient: 4.8%
New coefficient: 37%

Splash damage
Old coefficient: 1.2%
New coefficient: 13%

As I said, these numbers are very generous. If Balance druids melt the world we may have to back off of them. (Source)

Nature's Grasp Buff
Nature's Grasp is a self buff that causes things that hit you to become rooted. That effect now has 3 charges. There is a small internal cooldown in between roots to keep say a rogue who hits you twice very quickly from wasting two charges. In your example, both the DK and pet should get rooted. If the DK breaks the roots and gets on you again, they will get rooted again (subject to the 45 sec duration).

The intent of this spell was to be a defensive tool for druids. Since it hasn't quite kept up, we wanted to try to get it to be more useful (i.e. do its job) rather than come up with an entirely new mechanic.

[...]  The DR hasn't changed. I would suggest go trying it out if you aren't sure how it works. ([url=http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/23425763051-n...

Update - Added official notes update at the bottom of the post. Some of these changes aren't on PTR yet as far as I know and aren't included in the spell comparison below. Make sure you check both.


Patch 3.3.3 - PTR Build 11599
A new PTR build has been deployed on test realms. Stay tuned for changes!
Quote from Blizzard staffMisc

• Gnomeregan Pride - Transform into Gnomeregan Infantry.
• Darkspear Pride - Transform into a Darkspear Warrior.

Achievements

• Zalazane's Fall - You assisted Vol'jin in the final defeat of Zalazane, recapturing the Echo Isles for the Darkspear trolls.

Tracking Stats (These stats will most likely be used internally to identify "bad" players)

• Kicked in LFG (follower) (hidden) - Number of times the player kicked someone in LFG, voting, but not initiating
• Kicked in LFG (target) (hidden) - Number of times the player has been kicked by someone in LFG
• Kicked in LFG (initiator) (hidden) - Number of times the player kicked someone in LFG, initiating the kick
• Abandoned LFG (hidden) - Number of times the player abandoned an LFG dungeon
• Completed LFG (hidden) - Number of times the player completed an LFG dungeon

Companion Pets

• Celestial Dragon - Summons or dismisses a Celestial Dragon. (Screenshot)

Mounts

• Celestial Steed - Summons and dismisses a Celestial Steed.  This mount changes depending on your Riding skill and location. (Note: I don't think the model is in the patch file yet)
• Frosty Flying Carpet - Summons and dismisses a Frosty Flying Carpet.  This is a very fast rug.  Can only be used in Outland and Northrend.  Requires 425 skill in tailoring to ride.

Interface

• CHAR_LOGIN_LOCKED_BY_MOBILE_AH = "You cannot log in while using the mobile or web auction house.";

Jewelcrafting

• Icy Prism now requires Frozen Orb, Chalcedony x 1 (Down from 3), Shadow Crystal x 1 (Down from 3), Dark Jade x 1 (Down from 3)
• Intricate Bone Figurine (Daily Quest) - Craft an Intricate Bone Figurine by combining the Proto Dragon Bone with a Sun Crystal and a Dark Jade. (Old - Chalcedony + Dark Jade)

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Frost

• Chains of Ice now infects the target with Frost Fever.

Unholy

• Unholy Blight now prevents any diseases on the victim from being dispelled.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Chains of Ice - Your Chains of Ice also causes 144 to 156 Frost damage, increased by your attack power.

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Balance

• Typhoon mana cost has been reduced from 32% of base mana to 25% of base mana.
• Starfall damage has been increased. Now causes 563 to 653 Arcane damage (Up from 433 to 503) and 101 Arcane damage (Up from 78) to all other enemies within 5 yards.

Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Fire

• Combustion cooldown has been reduced from 3 min to 2 min.
• Burning Soul now reduces the threat caused by Fire spells by 10/20%. (Up from 5/10%)

Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Subtlety

• Slaughter from the Shadows now also increases all damage done by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Filthy Tricks now reduces the cooldown by 5/10 sec and energy cost by 5/10 of your Tricks of the Trade, Distract and Shadowstep abilities and reduces the cooldown of Preparation by 3 min. /
• Waylay now affects your Ambush and Backstab hits (Old - Only Ambush critical hits). Movement speed bonus reduced from 70% to 50%.
• Hemorrhage now deals 160% of weapon damage if a dagger is equipped.
• Ghostly Strike now deals 180% of weapon damage if a dagger is equipped.

Tier 8

• Item - Rogue T8 4P Bonus - Increases the damage done by your Rupture by 20%. (Old - The damage dealt by your Rupture can now be critical strikes.)

Shaman (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Glyphs

• Glyph of Flame Shock - Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Flame Shock periodic damage by 60%.

Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Demonology

• Demonic Pact's effect now has a 20 sec cooldown.

Official Notes Update
The official patch notes have been updated with more changes. Only the new changes are listed below.
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)Dungeons & Raids
Holiday bosses (such as Ahune for the Fire Festival) will now be accessible through the Dungeon Finder.

• Players must use the Dungeon Finder or speak to special holiday NPCs in the world to queue up and access these bosses.
• Upon accepting a queue for any holiday boss, the party will be ported directly to the necessary area for confronting that boss.
• The previous summoning criteria for these bosses have been removed. Players can queue up for and fight each World Event boss as many times as they want for any standard loot that they may drop.
• All rare holiday items (such as The Horseman's Reins) will have a chance of being found in holiday-themed loot troves which will drop once for each player in the party no more than once per day, in the same manner that doing the Random Dungeon daily quest will provide a specific reward the first time it is completed in a day.

Companion Pets

• The Pet Bombling and Lil' Smoky non-combat pets are no longer Bind-on-Pickup.

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Chains of Ice: The ability now innately applies Frost Fever to a target.

Frost

• Icy Talons: The personal haste benefit provided by this talent is no longer exclusive with other sources of melee haste. This will allow de...

Heroic Professor Putricide US First Kill by Exodus
A few hours ago, Exodus (US-Ysondre) took down Professor Putricide in heroic mode and became the first guild to reach the Lich King in heroic mode on US servers. Congratulations to them!


So far, only 5 guilds went that far in Icecrown Citadel :

• Paragon (EU-Lightning's Blade)
• For The Horde (EU-Nazjatar)
• Ensidia (EU-Tarren Mill)
• Wraith (EU-Sargeras)
• Exodus (US-Ysondre)

Also, Paragon released a video of the fight against Putricide in Heroic Mode, check it out for more details!

More PTR 3.3.3 Classes changes announced "soon"
Quote from: Blizzard (Source)Death knights, druids, hunters, mages, rogues, warlocks, warriors, oh my! For those participating in our public testing of the upcoming minor content patch 3.3.3, look out this week for a host of fascinating new adjustments to these classes. Chains of Ice innately does what? Nature's Grasp has how many charges? Vitalit...y boosts stamina by how much? Stay tuned to find out the answer to these and more questions!

Anniversary Interviews: Players' Perspective
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)In our continuing expansion of the World of Warcraft five-year anniversary site, we now bring to you an ongoing series of player interviews. We begin today with an intimate look at a unique role-play guild, Shadowclan, which has carved its own niche within the Warcraft universe. Read how World of Warcraft has shaped this guild's gameplay experience in different ways over the years on our anniversary page.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wowanniversary/interview/

Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staff3.3.3 World Event Bosses and Dungeon Finder
Just to clarify some misconceptions about this new functionality, the summoning of holiday bosses is going away. Players can queue for these bosses via the Dungeon Finder or special holiday NPCs found in the world. Once the party is finalized, the group will be ported directly to the area where the holiday boss resides. Players can kill the holiday bosses as often as they want for standard loot (epic rings, trinkets, etc.), however, they will only drop one holiday-themed loot trove per player per day. These loot troves will have a chance of containing rare holiday items such as The Horseman's Reins.

Why? I have nothing more to add except to ask the question because there has to be some good reason for this. Otherwise it should just be dropped because it's unnecessary...
The way players were grandfathering in alt characters, scamming others by not having a summon available, and continually soft-resetting dungeons -- creating a major load on instance capacity -- was never intended.

The change has some positive and some negative consequences, however, we feel it's the best way to make this a better system and more in-line with our original plans for World Event bosses. (Source)

Cataclysm Item Changes
We're working on a large forum post to go step by step with how some of the existing gear will be changing.

Overall, we want everyone's damage, healing and tanking to stay about the same, but given that talent trees are changing at the same time as gear, it's going to take some adjustment. (Source)

Separating the new Plushies from the In-Game Pets (They are now available on the Blizzard Store by the way)
There are no plans to separate the two at this time. It's funny because there were a number of complaints when the first two pets came out that felt it would make more sense if it came with something tangible.

As far as the quality of the physical pets, they are very well made and our previous ones (like the Lurky) got a lot of good reviews from people I talked to so they will be along those lines as well. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Intent of Immolate change
The intent of the Immolate buff was to buff Destro. This is one of those situations where you can't just say that Immolate is used by Demo so it buffs Demo too. It does. But it buffs Destro a lot more because Destro gets so much more benefit from Fire spells.

If you think this is not the case, please provide us some evidence using math, simulations, target dummy parses or whatever. (Source)

Cataclysm Prologue - Gnomeregan and the Echo Isles
Patch 3.3.3 introduced a lot of data for the prologue, or at least a part of it. If you checked the site when the patch was first release you already know that players will be able to recapture Gnomeregan (Alliance) and the Echo Isles (Horde).

Achievements and Overcloaks
This is where it all started, the new achievements were discovered instantly on the Item Database Latest Additions.

• Gnomecoming King - You assisted High Tinker Mekkatorque and the Gnomeregan Exiles in the recapture of Gnomeregan's surface.
• Gnomecoming Queen - You assisted High Tinker Mekkatorque and the Gnomeregan Exiles in the recapture of Gnomeregan's surface.

There isn't any Horde achievement for the moment and they will probably be added to the game in a later PTR build.

After digging a little more in the game files it also looks like players will be rewarded with "cosmetic cloaks" at some point. Apparently, Blizzard introduced an Overcloak mechanism that allows you to change the appearance of your cloak without having to unequip your regular super-epic cloak.

• Gnomeregan Overcloak - Right Click to don a cosmetic cloak. Will cover the appearance but not the effect of any existing cloak.
• Orgrimmar Overcloak - Right Click to don a cosmetic cloak. Will cover the appearance but not the effect of any existing cloak.

More spells should be introduced later according to the models I found in the game files. (Personal message to Blizzard: Guild Tabards overcloaks, please!)



Flight Paths
More flight paths have been added to the game. First, you have to understand that everytime you use a vehicle following an automated path, most of the coordinates it uses are stored in your client and aren't received from the server. Knowing that, we can reproduce the paths on a world map (yes, we can do that) and check where the various Cataclysm missions will bring us.

• CC Prologue - GT - Quest - Vent Horizon - Start (#392)
• CC Prologue - GT - Quest - Vent Horizon - End (#393)
• CC Prologue - GT - Battle Flight - Start (#394)
• CC Prologue - GT - Battle Flight - End (#395)
• Durotar - ET - CC Prologue Spy Frog Start (#404)
• Durotar - ET - CC Prologue Spy Frog End (#405)
• Durotar - ET - CC Prologue Troll Taxi Bat Start (#438)
• Durotar - ET - CC Prologue Troll Recruit End (#439)
• Durotar - ET - CC Prologue - Troll Battle End (#440)

Quest Lines
A lot of quests have been added to the game for this event. Keep in mind that this is only a small part of the entire event but it will give you a good idea of how players will recapture Gnomeregan and the Echo Isles.

There is also a third questline involving the Twilight's Cult, the end of the world is near and they really want you to know about it!

Alliance - Recapturing Gnomeregan
Quest - A Few Good GnomesR
Objective - Recruit Gnome Citizens from Tinker Town using the Motivate-a-Tron and lead them to Captain Tread Sparknozzle at Steelgrill's Depot.
Description
Our engineers have been working on getting our battle machines ready for our assault on Gnomeregan, but we're out of pilots! We've developed a device called the Motivate-a-Tron, which prevents distraction from other sources and gives the gnome the courage to enlist. After motivating a few Gnome Citizens, lead them out to Captain Tread Sparknozzle out at Steelgrill's Depot, just south of Ironforge. Oh, and be careful. The device is still a little experimental.

Quest - Basic Orders
Objective - Follow Drill Sergeant Steamcrank's cues and then report back to Captain Tread Sparknozzle.
Description
Hey! You look like you could give us a hand! If you're willing to help our cause, we have to get you through training. Gnome training is brutal and rigorous, so I hope you're ready. Head over to Drill Sergeant Steamcrank and he'll walk you through what you need to know. Make sure you follow his orders when he gives them, or else you'll never make it I'm warning you though, it's tough over there. Come back to see me, if you make it.

Quest - Vent Horizon
Objective - Use Pilot Muzzlesprock's flying machine to toss Radiageigatrons at the vents surrounding Gnomeregan.
Description
We thought that we could wait for the radiation to subside around Gnomeregan, but it doesn't appear to be getting better. If we want to take back our city, we need to make sure it's safe for our troops to enter. Take these Radiageigatrons, hop in 'Thunderflash' here, and toss them at the ventilation shafts outside of Gnomeregan. They'll report the radiation levels directly to me.

Quest - Prepping the Speech
Objective - Use the Gnomish Playback Device in front of Ozzie Togglevolt west of Kharanos, Milli Featherwhistle at Steelgrill Depot and Tog Rustsprocket outside the Kharanos Inn. Return to Toby Zieggear when all the speeches have been given.
Description
High Tinker Mekkatorque asked me to write a speech that he could give before the battle starts, but I can't tell which draft is good and which ones just stink. Could you try some of them out on some of the local gnome residents? This device creates an image of Mekkatorque saying a few lines from each of my speech drafts. Let me know which one works, okay?

Quest - Words for Delivery
Objective - Give the speech to Captain Tread Sparknozzle at Steelgrill Depot.
Description
Here we go. This is the speech, <name>! It has everything to be a great battle starter: It's inspirational, has eloquent language and speaks directly to gnomes. Never has a finer speech been written! Turn this in to Captain Tread Sparknozzle and get some transportation to High Tinker Mekkatorque!

Quest - Words for Delivery
Objective - Ride 'Thunderflash' from Steelgrill Depot to High Tinker Mekkatorque and deliver Toby's speech.
Description
All right, soldier. Time to prove your worth! Take the speech and board the flying machine "Thunderflash". It's the fastest ship to High Tinker Mekkatorque and this speech is the only thing he's waiting on before starting Operation: Gnomeregan. Go! Now!

Quest - Operation: Gnomeregan
Objective - [PH]Help King Mekkatorque take back Gnomeregan.
Additional Note - Rewards Gnomeregan Overcloak and Gnomecoming King / Gnomecoming Queen. (And if you're wondering, [PH] just means PlaceHolder)
Description
[PH] Help Mekkatorque take back Gnomeregan.

Alliance - Mechano-Tanks Tutorial?
Quest - In and Out
Objective - Test out the ejection system in the Ejector Mechano-Tank.
Description
We've gotta get these new mechano-tanks ready for the assault. You ready to help test these bad boys out?! Of course you are! First, we need to make sure that once you're in, you can get out. In battle, if you think your tank is going to explode, get out! I've seen many a gnome stay in 'til the bitter end... the tank blows up, and them along with it. Well, I've upgraded this tank with an ejection seat. Try it out for me, will ya?

Quest - One Step Forward...
Objective - Test the the Scuttling Mechano-Tank's maneuverability.
Description
With the ejection system working, I think we're ready to test out movement. This tank has an extra special feature: Automatic Evasive Maneuvers! I want you to check out the servos on the left leg, the right leg and the Automatic Evasive Maneuver system. This is easy stuff, so it shouldn't take too long.

Quest - Press Fire
Objective - Test out the Shooting Mechano-Tank weapon systems on the nearby targets.
Description
Safety systems, online! Motor functions, functioning! Now all we need is to make sure that the guns will fire. This shouldn't be too hard, <name>. The mechano-tank on the hill behind us has been loaded with harmless pellets. Just fire off a couple rounds at the nea...

Let's start the week slowly with cute and funny things!

Plush Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling Revealed
Apparently, the new Plush Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling were sent to a few selected gaming websites and a few pictures (and even a video) are now available! They should be for sale in the Blizzard Store shortly. You can find more pictures on GameInformer.com.


Comics
It's monday! Dark Legacy Comic #226 and Teh Gladiators #114 are out! Also included this week is a comic from Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Patch 3.3.3 Professions Changes
Patch 3.3.3 will introduce a couple of VERY interesting changes to professions. The first part of the change is obviously the removal of most of the transmutation cooldowns, it will affect most tiers of crafted items and it wouldn't be surprising to see items like Breastplate of the White Knight drop from 4000 to 2000G at the AH.

The 2nd part is also very interesting if you're looking for cheap epic gear to start running instances with your alts, all the crafted recipes from Ulduar had their reagents cost considerably lowered and you can expect to find these items for less than 1000G.

Reminder

• Frozo the Renowned will let you trade Frozen Orbs for a lot of rare reagents, including Crusader/Runed Orbs and Eternal elements.

Quote from Blizzard staffCooldowns

• Ebonweave, Moonshroud and Spellweave no longer have a transmutation cooldown.
• Smelt Titansteel no longer has a transmutation cooldown.
• Glacial Bag now has a 7 days cooldown.

Blacksmithing

• Battlelord's Plate Boots - Titansteel Bar x 5, Runed Orb x 6.
• Belt of the Titans - Titansteel Bar x 5, Runed Orb x 6.
• Indestructible Plate Girdle - Titansteel Bar x 5, Runed Orb x 6
• Plate Girdle of Righteousness - Titansteel Bar x 5, Runed Orb x 6
• Spiked Deathdealers - Titansteel Bar x 5, Runed Orb x 6
• Treads of Destiny - Titansteel Bar x 5, Runed Orb x 6

Enchanting

• Enchant Weapon - Executioner addition has been updated with "Only one instance of this effect can be active at a time."

Leatherworking

• Belt of Arctic Life - Heavy Borean Leather x 4, Arctic Fur x 3, Runed Orb x 6
• Belt of Dragons - Arctic Fur x 3, Icy Dragonscale x 20, Runed Orb x 6
• Blue Belt of Chaos - Arctic Fur x 3, Nerubian Chitin x 20, Runed Orb x 6
• Boots of Living Scale - Arctic Fur x 3, Jormungar Scale x 20, Runed Orb x 6
• Boots of Wintry Endurance - Arctic Fur x 3, Icy Dragonscale x 20, Runed Orb x 6
• Death-warmed Belt - Arctic Fur x 3, Eternal Shadow x 4, Runed Orb x 6
• Footpads of Silence - Arctic Fur x 3, Eternal Shadow x 2, Runed Orb x 6
• Lightning Grounded Boots - Arctic Fur x 3, Icy Dragonscale x 20, Runed Orb x 6

Tailoring

• Cord of the White Dawn - Moonshroud x 8, Runed Orb x 6
• Sash of Ancient Power - Spellweave x 4, Ebonweave x 4, Runed Orb x 6
• Savior's Slippers - Moonshroud x 8, Runed Orb x 6
• Spellslinger's Slippers - Spellweave x 4, Ebonweave x 4, Runed Orb x 6

Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffRandom dungeon 15 minute vote kick limit gone in 3.3.3
It's not mentioned in the notes, but the Vote Kick option no longer has a 15-minute cooldown. Enjoy. (Source)

Vote kick reason in 3.3.3
This might not answer your question -- which may or may not have been rhetorical anyway -- but we did find that a lot people were clicking "Yes" on the Vote Kick alert, then later asking, "why did we kick that guy?" The idea is to make the person who wants to kick someone from the group give everyone else a reason. If the reason is silly or defamatory, a surprising number of people could very well reject it.

While many people are quick to take into account all of the worst possible scenarios with any presented changes to the game, we find that those cases are typically the minor fringe cases once the changes are put in action. The patch notes are out and the speculation is brimming, but let's see how things turn out before clenching our crystal balls, shall we? (Source)

Seasonal bosses only accessible through the Dungeon Finder in 3.3.3
Yes, the Dungeon Finder must be used. The interface will have a separate selection for special World Event bosses in dungeons. If players zone into the dungeon without using the Dungeon Finder, the bosses will not be there. (Source)

On-Proc Talents changed to Auras in 3.3.3
We made those changes for a few reasons.

Basically, they are balanced around more-or-less 100% uptime now. We think talents of the variety when X crits, now you can do Y are cool, but these auras really weren't in that category anymore. They were just cute ways of getting a passive buff up. Nobody tended to think Leader of the Pack was boring because it was just on all the time.

Removing the constant application and removal of these buffs (through both the passive aura and the range increase) might improve performance a tiny bit, will clean out your combat logs (which actually improves performance too), and reduce the UI and in some cases spell effect spam, which might make combat a little more easier to understand.

There are some auras where location on the battlefield is supposed to matter, such as totems, the imp, shouts, and paladin auras. Those didn't change. ([url=http://blue.mmo-champio...