Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/analysis-opinion/” rel=”tag”>Analysis / Opinion, WoW.joystiq.com/category/news-items/” rel=”tag”>News items, WoW.joystiq.com/category/pvp/” rel=”tag”>PvP

Recently, players from the Emberstorm and Whirlwind groups have been noticing that they’re being grouped in the dungeon finder with each other. This isn’t a bug; the matchmaking system has been changed to allow those two battlegroups to be matched into dungeons and BGs with each other as part of the overall goal to eventually merge all battlegroups across a geographical area (think Europe or North America) and allow matchmaking across all of them.

CM Lylirra announced these changes and addressed some bugs to the process that are making it impossible to queue for BGs, which will hopefully be straightened out. Still, bugs aside, the first step of eventually allowing an entire region to be selected from for PvP and PvE seems really exciting to me and very positive overall. Finally, I’ll get to farm all the disparate old friends I have on like 20 servers! A frabjous day, all told.

WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider” style=”float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0″ />WoW.joystiq.com/2010/10/27/battlegroup-changes-in-anticipation-of-complete-merger/”>Battlegroup changes in anticipation of complete merger originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/analysis-opinion/” rel=”tag”>Analysis / Opinion, WoW.joystiq.com/category/news-items/” rel=”tag”>News items, WoW.joystiq.com/category/pvp/” rel=”tag”>PvP

Recently, players from the Emberstorm and Whirlwind groups have been noticing that they’re being grouped in the dungeon finder with each other. This isn’t a bug; the matchmaking system has been changed to allow those two battlegroups to be matched into dungeons and BGs with each other as part of the overall goal to eventually merge all battlegroups across a geographical area (think Europe or North America) and allow matchmaking across all of them.

CM Lylirra announced these changes and addressed some bugs to the process that are making it impossible to queue for BGs, which will hopefully be straightened out. Still, bugs aside, the first step of eventually allowing an entire region to be selected from for PvP and PvE seems really exciting to me and very positive overall. Finally, I’ll get to farm all the disparate old friends I have on like 20 servers! A frabjous day, all told.

WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider” style=”float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0″ />WoW.joystiq.com/2010/10/27/battlegroup-changes-in-anticipation-of-complete-merger/”>Battlegroup changes in anticipation of complete merger originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LEGO Universe is officially open for its Founders’ Release! Everyone who pre-ordered the game can now play on the live servers two weeks before everyone else! Check out the press release on LegoUni.com and watch the new official intro trailer!

The official release for LEGO Universe is set for October 26th, 2010. Be sure to top by the LEGO Shop and pick up a copy to start playing!

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This bodes poorly for the future. Beta tester Mofo and his pals on the Horde went to WoWwiki.com/Tol_Barad”>Tol Barad (the new Wintergrasp) for some outdoor PvP action, but the enemy declined to show up. Mofo attributes this to a population imbalance on the beta servers. With so many people expressing love for the goblins, and so many complaints about the worgen models, will we be facing another blood elf-esque surge in the Horde population?

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/around-azeroth/” rel=”tag”>Around Azeroth

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/10/01/around-azeroth-beta-edition-the-enemy-that-never-comes/”>Around Azeroth Beta Edition: The enemy that never comes originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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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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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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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There is a new beta build of sorts out there that certainly has the World of Warcraft community all aflutter, and for good reason. Although the build is not yet implemented on the beta servers, MMO-Champion has released loads of new information related to the next build that contains loads of new treats for all classes, particularly balance druids. There’s been no doubt over the last few weeks that balance has been in something of a poor state, with several glaring flaws floating about that players in beta and testing on the PTR have pointed out. Blizzard has been listening to those comments, and the newest build reflects that.

Let me reiterate once again that this build is not yet implemented on the beta servers; it is merely datamined information. While it’s certainly accurate and reliable information, it does not mean that everything listed will be changed as listed or that all changes are currently listed. Certain game mechanics could still be changed without being listed, and things that are listed may be reverted before being released. With all of the rhetoric out of the way, let’s get on with the show, shall we?

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-balance-druid-build-12984/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm beta: Balance druid build 12984

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/druid/” rel=”tag”>Druid, WoW.joystiq.com/category/shifting-perspectives/” rel=”tag”>(Druid) Shifting Perspectives, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-balance-druid-build-12984/”>Cataclysm beta: Balance druid build 12984 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/news-items/” rel=”tag”>News items, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/20/cataclysm-beta-cold-weather-flying-at-68/”>Cataclysm Beta: Cold Weather Flying at 68 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Within 24 hours, Brewfest will have begun on all servers regardless of location, and if you’re new to the holiday or just need some extra information, we hope this FAQ will be helpful!

Help! Where do I go to get started? There will be special holiday-related NPCs parked around most major cities to direct you to the festival, but if you want to skip directly to the main event, head to Ironforge (if you’re Alliance) or Orgrimmar (if you’re Horde). The festival areas are located outside the main gates of each.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/WoW-insiders-brewfest-faq/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading WoW Insider’s Brewfest FAQ

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/achievements/” rel=”tag”>Achievements

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/WoW-insiders-brewfest-faq/”>WoW Insider’s Brewfest FAQ originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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