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Last week, WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-warrior-changes-in-build-12984/”>I said that we’d see changes to protection. This week, we’re seeing them. It’s build 13033, also known (to those of us who care) as the protection warrior pass. Last week firmly started balancing fury’s DPS, but this week is definitely protection’s turn. Today, in fact, just hours before this patch went to the beta servers, I got done writing a long post talking about protection in the beta, what I saw as its strong points and its weak points.

Every single one of the weak points was addressed in this build. Every single one. This is what you call serendipity. It also means I have to completely rewrite my column with not a lot of time to spare, so as you may understand, I am at once pleased to see things improved and irritated that I spent all that time writing a column that will never see the light of day. It should be noted that these changes are on the PTR, not live on the beta as yet. It’s a little odd to see the PTR get updated first, but I’d expect the beta servers will see a new build soon as well.

Having been 85 for a week, as well as having transferred over two level 85 premades, I’ve been running around testing out various alternate specs and taking them into instances. Why did I do this? Because, as we have already established, I am certifiably insane. Even before this patch, protection stood out as the strongest of the warrior leveling specs, and now it should see increased power as a tanking class. WoWhead.com/spell=93098″>Vengeance is amazing for a leveling protection warrior. It takes the greatest strength of the tanking classes — the ability to soak up damage — and turns it into offensive power.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-heroics-protection-spec-and-b/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Heroics, protection spec and build 13033

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/warrior/” rel=”tag”>Warrior, WoW.joystiq.com/category/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors/” rel=”tag”>(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-heroics-protection-spec-and-b/”>The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Heroics, protection spec and build 13033 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the better kept secrets of vanilla WoW is a zone called WoWwiki.com/Quel%27Thalas”>Quel’thalas. (Be careful not to confuse this with the zone WoWwiki.com/Isle_of_Quel%27Danas”>Isle of Quel’danas.) If you’re not a lore buff, Quel’thalas is the kingdom of the WoWwiki.com/High_elf”>Quel’dorei, or blood elves, as they’re now known. (Check out WoW.joystiq.com/2010/05/04/know-your-lore-elven-evolution/”>Elven Evolution and WoW.joystiq.com/2010/04/03/know-your-lore-current-horde-politics-the-blood-elves/”>Current Horde Politics: the Blood Elves for the full story.) The blood elf zones we know in WoW as WoWwiki.com/Silvermoon_City”>Silvermoon City, WoWwiki.com/Eversong_Woods”>Eversong Woods and WoWwiki.com/Ghostlands”>Ghostlands are all considered part of Quel’thalas — but those are not the zones I’m talking about today.

The Quel’thalas I’m referring to is a tiny peninsula northeast of WoWwiki.com/Tirisfal_Glades”>Tirisfal Glades. It isn’t accessible by road or flight path, only water, and when you arrive you’ll be greeted by … nothing. There aren’t any NPCs, enterable buildings or quest legs — just an empty, unexplained mystery. Take a look.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/cataclysm-beta-last-call-for-quelthalas/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: Last call for Quel’thalas

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/cataclysm-beta-last-call-for-quelthalas/”>Cataclysm Beta: Last call for Quel’thalas originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/cataclysm-beta-worgen-female-models/”>Cataclysm Beta: Worgen female models originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interested in seeing what the Horde mount is? It is the Kron’Kar Annihilator (a scorpion), and you can see a video of it after the jump!

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/cataclysm-beta-horde-and-alliance-guild-mounts/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm beta: Horde and Alliance guild mounts

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/cataclysm-beta-horde-and-alliance-guild-mounts/”>Cataclysm beta: Horde and Alliance guild mounts originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 01:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/cataclysm-beta-warlock-evilness-goodness-in-build-12984/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: Warlock evilness (goodness) in build 12984

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/warlock/” rel=”tag”>Warlock, WoW.joystiq.com/category/analysis-opinion/” rel=”tag”>Analysis / Opinion, WoW.joystiq.com/category/news-items/” rel=”tag”>News items, WoW.joystiq.com/category/blood-pact/” rel=”tag”>(Warlock) Blood Pact, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/cataclysm-beta-warlock-evilness-goodness-in-build-12984/”>Cataclysm Beta: Warlock evilness (goodness) in build 12984 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the wee hours of the morning, an (as yet unimplemented) beta build found its way out onto the internet for dissection by the usual datamining suspects. As has become a happy habit with the past few builds, there are death knight changes to be had. Now, these changes don’t solve all of our problems. In fact, some of them exacerbate a few of them. However, a couple of the changes are amazingly good, and I’d call this patch, overall, another step in the right direction. Let’s take a look at what changed and what it means for the death knight playstyle. As a warning, this patch has not yet been placed on the beta as of this writing, so things may still change from what’s here.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-build-12984-death-knight-changes/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: Build 12984 death knight changes

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/analysis-opinion/” rel=”tag”>Analysis / Opinion, WoW.joystiq.com/category/death-knight/” rel=”tag”>Death Knight, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-build-12984-death-knight-changes/”>Cataclysm Beta: Build 12984 death knight changes originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-restoration-shaman-changes-in-build-12984/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: Restoration shaman changes in Build 12984

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/shaman/” rel=”tag”>Shaman, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-restoration-shaman-changes-in-build-12984/”>Cataclysm Beta: Restoration shaman changes in Build 12984 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the middle of the night, a new build for the PTR and beta got pushed to the patch servers, but it hasn’t been marked as ready for download at the time of this writing (it might be at the time of this reading, though). Several classes have received major changes (including six new talents scattered across druid specs), while others simply got a collection of damage tweaks. Paladins appear to be somewhere in between those.

Most of our changes are small tweaks and talent reorganizations, but a few are obvious balancing passes. While there is a new talent for holy, it’s just another of the spirit-to-hit conversion talents that other classes have seen. This could, however, mean a possible comeback of the shockadin — but I’ll leave that for WoW.joystiq.com/about/#chase-christian”>Chase to speculate on tomorrow when he covers the holy changes in more depth.

Some quick excerpts from the patch notes, with everything after the break:

• The holy tree gets a spirit-to-hit conversion talent.
• Holy Light’s healing has decreased by 25% and mana cost has increased to 9%.
• Divine Purpose proc rate has lowered to 20%.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-paladins-in-build-12984/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm beta: Paladins in build 12984

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/paladin/” rel=”tag”>Paladin, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-paladins-in-build-12984/”>Cataclysm beta: Paladins in build 12984 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: Zarhym has confirmed Running Wild as the worgen “mount” in Cataclysm.

There have been a lot of people anxiously awaiting the arrival of worgen mounts on the beta. Goblins have had their WoW.joystiq.com/2010/04/21/the-queue-goblins-and-worgen/”>mounts for a little while now, and most people are still curious what the worgen mounts will even look like. With some of the information mined out of the most recent beta build, it looks like a worgen mount will end up being the worgen themselves.

A new racial ability called Running Wild has been added for worgen, with a 1.5-second cast time that adds the “mounted” aura to the player. The description says, “Drop to all fours to run as fast as a wild animal.” However, worgen already have their own version of WoWhead.com/spell=2983″>Sprint called WoWhead.com/spell=68992/darkflight”>Darkflight, which gives them a temporary speed boost, but this new racial implies mounted speeds.

If this is true, then it will mean different things for different groups. For worgen druids, you never have a reason to buy a mount of any type now. For those Alliance players out there, this might mean a lack of worgen racial mounts, which will probably be compensated elsewhere to keep the number of mounts equal between Horde and Alliance. For tauren players, yes, someone else appears to be getting WoWwiki.com/Plainsrunning”>Plainsrunning before you.

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/druid/” rel=”tag”>Druid, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm, WoW.joystiq.com/category/worgen/” rel=”tag”>Worgen

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-worgen-are-their-own-mounts/”>Cataclysm Beta: Worgen are their own mounts? [Update: Confirmed!] originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thanks to MMO-Champion, we’ve got a fresh new build from the Cataclysm beta on our hands as of last night. As you might expect, shaman have received a few notable changes; what you might not expect is that the editors of WoW Insider gave me permission to write about them. This isn’t the first time in the last month that WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/09/totem-talk-the-myth-of-the-well-itemized-elemental-shaman-shiel/”>a priest has ventured in totem territory, so I’m going to guess the shaman community has been slipping something into the drinking water at Team Priest headquarters. What are you guys up to, exactly?

Anyway, right off, you’ll notice some huge buffs to shaman weapon imbues, but they’re not actually buffs. The increases in attack power, healing and damage are just adjustments to bring the values up to Cataclysm levels. Other major highlights include tweaking to the enhancement tree and restoration abilities, which we’ll discuss after the jump. There are cookies.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-shaman-changes-in-build-12984/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: Shaman changes in Build 12984

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/shaman/” rel=”tag”>Shaman, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-shaman-changes-in-build-12984/”>Cataclysm Beta: Shaman changes in Build 12984 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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