Entries in heirloom (3)
Patch 3.2.2 Live
Heartbourne on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - 12 Comments Tags: Death Knight, Patch, Rogue, heirloom, onyxia, patch 3.2, patch 3.2.2, shadowfang keep  |
| OMG Patch Today! |
- Onyxia has been scaled to offer new challenges to level 80 players and is now available for testing in 10- and 25-player modes.
- Adjusted for modern raiding, but with the fundamental experience of fighting the Brood Mother still in effect, including the horrors of her Deep Breaths!
- Onyxia will now drop level 80 item versions of some classic loot items from the level 60 encounter.
- Brood of Onyxia, a very rare 310%-speed mount modeled after Onyxia herself will be available for the luckiest of challengers
- Armor Penetration Rating: The amount of armor penetration gained per point of this rating has been reduced by 12%.
- Players level 11 and higher will now always see a daily Battleground quest, as the quest giver will only offer daily quests for a Battleground in which a player is eligible to participate according to level bracket (i.e. players levels 11-20 will always be offered a Warsong Gulch daily quest, while players levels 11-50 will be offered either an Arathi Basin or a Warsong Gulch daily quest, etc.).
- Pets - Gnaw: This death knight ghoul ability now has a 1-minute cooldown.
- Heart Strike: Secondary targets of Heart Strike now take half as much damage.
- Subversion: Now also increases the critical strike chance of Scourge Strike by 3/6/9%.
- Vampiric Blood: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute and duration reduced to 10 seconds.
- Threat of Thassarian now also causes Rune Strike to use both weapons when dual-wielding.
- Unbreakable Armor: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute and changed back to granting 25% additional armor while active instead of flat damage reduction based on armor. The amount of strength granted has been reduced to 10%.
- Frost Presence: The damage reduction granted by this ability has been increased from 5% to 8%.
- Bone Shield: This ability now has 3 charges instead of 4. Cooldown reduced to 1 minute.
- Dirge: This talent no longer grants additional runic power from using Obliterate.
- Moonkin Form: This form now also reduces the damage the druid takes while stunned by 15%.
- Typhoon: The daze duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
- Infected Wounds: The debuff generated by this talent no longer stacks and instead causes the full effect with a single application.
- Predatory Strikes: This talent now also causes the druid's finishing moves to provide a 7/13/20% chance per combo point to make the next Nature spell with a cast time below 10 seconds instant cast.
- The Beast Within: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds. In addition, hunters with this talent will do 10% additional damage at all times.
- Bestial Wrath: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds.
- Arcane Blast: The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
- Arcane Missiles: Casting this spell while both Missile Barrage and Clearcasting are active will cause only Missile Barrage to be consumed.
- Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it. This talent no longer has a chance to be triggered when spells miss.
- Combustion: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of Fire spells by 50% while it is active. In addition, Living Bomb periodic ticks will no longer interact with the count or the charges on the talent.
- Righteous Fury: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.
- Ardent Defender: This talent now reduces damage taken below 35% health by 7/13/20% instead of 10/20/30%.
- Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now grants 10% strength in addition to its current effects. Also, the strength and stamina bonuses from this blessing will no longer be lost when Blessing of Kings is removed.
- Judgements of the Just: The reduction in cooldown to Hammer of Justice provided by this talent has been reduced to 5/10 seconds instead of 10/20 seconds.
- Touched by the Light: This talent now provides 20/40/60% of the paladin's strength as spell power instead of 10/20/30% of the paladin's stamina.
- Seal of Command: This ability now chains to strike up to 2 additional targets when it is triggered by an attack that can only strike a single target.
- Seal of Corruption and Seal of Vengeance: These seals will now only use the debuff stacks generated by the attacking paladin to determine the damage done by the seal and by the judgement.
- Improved Spirit Tap: Mind Flay periodic critical strikes now have a 50% chance to trigger this talent.
- Twisted Faith now grants spell power equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of spirit, up from 2/4/6/8/10%.
- Envenom's scaling has been increased from 7% to 9% of attack power per combo point.
- Fan of Knives: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%.
- Master Poisoner: No longer increases the Deadly Poison application rate following a successful Envenom and instead now provides a 33/66/100% chance of preventing Envenom from consuming Deadly Poison.
- Throwing Specialization: This talent no longer causes Fan of Knives to interrupt spellcasting.
- Honor Among Thieves: A 1-second cooldown is now enforced on how often a rogue can gain combo points from his party via this talent.
- Cleansing Totem: No longer pulses instantly when dropped.
- Flame Shock: The duration of all ranks has been increased by 6 seconds.
- Lava Burst: This ability no longer ever consumes a Flame Shock debuff off of the target.
- Shamanism: Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells gain an additional 3/6/9/12/15% and your Lava Burst gains an additional 4/8/12/16/20% of your bonus damage effects.
- Earthen Power: No longer causes Earthbind to pulse a persistent snare immunity aura. It does still remove snares from allies as an instant pulse, but there is no lingering immunity. Earthen Power now also brings Earth Shock's melee attack speed reduction up to -15%/-20% (with 1 or 2 points in it, respectively).
- Sword Specialization: Now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to proc an extra attack, up from 1/2/3/4/5%.
- Critical Block: This talent now grants a 20/40/60% chance to block double the normal amount instead of 10/20/30%.
- Wailing Guardsman: Screams of the Past will no longer have multiple applications on a target. Recast time has been increased.
- Increased the cooldown on Immortal Guardians' Drain Life ability in the Yogg-Saron encounter.
- The Achievement "Iron, Dwarf Medium Rare (25 player)" now requires 25 kills, down from 50.
- The Frostwolf Howler and Stormpike Battle Charger Achievements will now be awarded when a player learns the respective mount spells.
- The blacksmiths of Orgrimmar grew tired of running to the rear of the city to craft items and have installed a new anvil & forge at the General Store in the Valley of Strength.
- The Mind Amplification Dish no longer changes the appearance of your helmet.
- Added a recipe for Runescroll of Fortitude. This item grants a stamina buff equal to the highest rank of Power Word: Fortitude (untalented) to all players in the raid. The effect of this runescroll is exclusive with other stamina scrolls and Power Word: Fortitude.
- Added a recipe for Drums of Forgotten Kings. These drums increase all stats by 8% for all players in a raid. The effect of these drums is exclusive with Blessing of Kings.
- Added a recipe for Drums of the Wild. These drums grant a buff equal to the highest rank of Mark of the Wild (untalented) to all players in a raid. The effect of these drums is exclusive with Mark of the Wild.
- The Black Heart: This item's animation has been changed and no longer resembles Hand of Protection.
- Death Knight Tier-9 Tanking 4-Piece Set Bonus: Now decreases the cooldown on Vampiric Blood, Unbreakable Armor, and Bone Shield by 10 seconds instead of 20.
- Druid Tier-8 Healer 4-Piece Set Bonus: The amount of healing this set bonus grants on the initial cast of Rejuvenation has been reduced by 50%. In addition, this set bonus no longer has strange interactions with Harold's Rejuvenating Broach.
- Libram of Obstruction: The buff to block value from this relic is now exclusive with the buff to block value from Libram of the Sacred Shield; it is impossible to have both buffs at once.
- Libram of the Sacred Shield: The block value buff from this relic has been increased to match its item level.
- Relics: All buffs provided by relics (idols, librams, totems and sigils) now share an exclusive category such that gaining a buff from one of these items will remove all other buffs gained from items in this category.
- Totem of Quaking Earth: Attack power value increased to 400.
- Glyph of Bone Shield: This glyph now grants 1 additional charge instead of 2.
- Glyph of Flame Shock: Redesigned. This glyph now makes Flame Shock periodic damage able to be critical strikes.
- Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph no longer reduces the magnitude of the movement reduction on the Mind Flay victim.
- Glyph of Scourge Strike: Redesigned. This glyph now causes Scourge Strike to extend the duration of Frost Fever and Blood Plague by 3 seconds each time Scourge Strike is used on a target, up to a maximum of 9 seconds.
- Glyph of Typhoon: This glyph now increases the range on Typhoon by 10 yards in addition to its current effects.
- Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Now increases the armor gained from Unbreakable Armor by 20%.
- Glyph of Vampiric Blood: The glyph now increases the duration of Vampiric Blood by 5 seconds instead of 10.
- Players may now only queue for no more than two Battlegrounds at a time.
- The dialog box for entering a Battleground match has been changed to reflect the following options: "Enter Battle," "Leave Queue," and "Minimize."
- The time a player has to enter a battle when selected has been reduced to 40 seconds when not already in a Battleground and 20 seconds when in a Battleground.
- Players already in a Battleground can now choose "Enter Battle" for a new Battleground under any circumstance (i.e. while dead, in combat, falling, etc.).
- A new Battleground will not launch until the maximum number of players on each side are in the queue (i.e. 40 players per side for Alterac Valley).
- The size of the Focus Frame can now be adjusted via the Interface Options menu.
- The inline auto-complete feature for the mail system has been added back into the game. The mail system will now have both the pre- and post-3.2.0 auto-complete features available.
- Added a label to notify players that the Tab key will allow players to navigate through the character names listed via the auto-complete feature.
- Coliseum Trinkets: Some spells that should have triggered these trinkets will now trigger them (such as Holy Nova and Fel Armor).
- Death Knight Tier-9 DPS 4-Piece Set Bonus: Now grants the correct chance for disease damage ticks to be critical strikes.
- Hunter Tier-9 2-Piece Set Bonus: Critical damage from Serpent Sting will now work properly with the Mortal Shots and Expose Weakness talents.
- Lightweave Embroidery: This tailoring item enhancement will no longer trigger from the periodic healing granted by the warlock spell Fel Armor.
- Mote of Flame: Corrected a typo in the tooltip.
- Paladin Tier-9 DPS 2-Piece Set Bonus: Now grants the correct chance for Righteous Vengeance ticks to be critical strikes.
- Shard of Flame: Corrected a typo in the tooltip.
- Val'anyr, Hammer of The Ancient Kings: Healing from Prayer of Mending now triggers the shield from this item. In addition, a bug was corrected which would cause the shield points to be overwritten rather than stack up as intended.
- Rune of Razorice: The frost vulnerability granted by this enchantment will now increase the damage done by Frost Fever as intended.
- Balance of Power: Misleading tooltip reworded. The tooltip previously reported an incorrect value for the increased chance to hit with spells. The actual benefit of the talent is unchanged.
- Master's Call: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Infected Wounds, Frostfire Bolt, and Slow.
- Trap Mastery's (Survival) tooltip now states the correct amount of snakes summoned.
- Arcane Missiles: Ranks 12 and 13 will now properly cause players to enter combat.
- Hand of Freedom: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Infected Wounds and Frostfire Bolt.
- Divine Aegis: Ranks 1 and 2 will now work with Holy Nova.
- Glyph of Power Word: Shield now correctly uses the Priest's spell critical chance instead of the target's.
- Vanish: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Frostfire Bolt.
- Honor Among Thieves: This talent will now work properly again if two rogues with different ranks of the talent are in the same party.
- Grounding Totem will now properly protect against the Death Grip spell.
- Lava Burst can no longer deal critical damage to targets who are immune to critical strikes (due to, e.g. Roar of Sacrifice, Blessed Resilience).
- Lightning Shield: This spell will no longer set off some trinkets when it is cast.
- Stoneclaw Totem's pulses will no longer break stealth on nearby hostile units.
- Thunderstorm and Shamanistic Rage can no longer be used while Frozen, Cycloned, Sapped, or Incapacitated.
- Demonic Circle: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Frostfire Bolt.
- Fel Armor: This spell was unable to set off trinkets and other effects. That has been corrected.
- When using Shadowbolt or Incinerate while having Backlash and Backdraft active, only Backlash will now be properly consumed.
The Argent Tournament Expands
Amatera on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 16 Comments Tags: Achievements, argent crusade, argent tournament, black knight, cult of the damned, dailies, heirloom, mounts, patch 3.2, quests, rewards, seals, silver covenant, sunreavers, tabards, titles 
This former Tuskarr-inhabited island has been turned into a staging ground by the Vrykul.
With so many new details about Patch 3.2 trickling out of Blizzard lately, it surely won't be too long before we see it pop up on the PTR! This time, they're letting us know a little bit more about what to expect from the expanded Argent Tournament. There's plenty to get excited about for those that have worn themselves out on the existing dailies, Paladin players, and even fans of the Black Knight.
Two entirely new quest hubs have been added to the event. One lies within a Cult of the Damned camp that's just been set up to spy on the Crusade's activities (does this mean you'll be able to work for the bad guys in some capacity?), and the other takes place on a sizable island just off the coast that Sea Vrykul have claimed as their own. Remember those guys in Borean Tundra who made everything so misty? Well, they're back to pester you again and they're apparently attacking the Sunreavers' ships, which occupy the waters between the coast and the island.
More quests will be available for those that have already achieved notoriety in the Tournament, itself. Those who are exalted with the Silver Covenant or Sunreavers will gain access to three new (randomized) dailies through which they will be able to earn more seals. New rewards have, of course, been added for you to spend your hard-earned seals on including tabards and two new mounts (one flying and one ground) representative of either faction, and a vanity pet called the Shimmering Wyrmling which will be available to players of both sides.
For the true Argent Tournament Obsessives, the ones who have achieved the Crusader title already, even more quests and rewards will open up. Yet another new line of dailies will appear (at least two will reward seals), but the things you can purchase are even more exciting! There will be new heirloom goodies to send to your alts, an Argent Crusade Banner and Tabard (the latter of which has the ability to transport you directly to the Tournament from anywhere), and an upgraded squire who comes with his own summonable mount. It has a reported eight-hour cooldown, but the upgraded squire can serve as either a bank, vendor, or mailbox!
Likewise, Paladins who are tired of their old Charger can trade it in for a fresh, new Argent Crusade-themed one.
Blizzard also reports that the terrible Black Knight will make his triumphant return. What, you thought you killed him?
Is this the true face of the Black Knight?!
Pfft! That was only a flesh wound!
For those that have run themselves ragged on the Argent Tournament, it seems like there is a whole lot of new stuff to look forward to. With so many dailies, there's no doubt it'll become the "go-to" place for anyone looking to earn some extra gold to foot the repair bills they get from the included instances! And for those that haven't bothered with it yet, there's no sign of them getting rid of any of the old quests (aside, perhaps, from the coliseum-building ones offered by the goblins out front) any time soon.
Full notes can be be perused at your leisure here.
Chime in below, readers. What do you think of all the new additions to the Argent Tournament? Does the amount of dailies make your head spin, like it does mine?
Damn It Feels Good to be An Alt!
Heartbourne on Monday, March 2, 2009 - 15 Comments Tags: Addons, Addons, Alt, Mount, addons, fubar, heirloom, legacy, leveling, refer-a-friend 
Many people, including us at Project Lore, find monotony in playing at level 80. Without the overall goal of leveling up, you can feel misguided. Many people decide to create alts so they can again have that purple (or blue) experience bar on their screens.
You may find that it is much easier to level than before! With a recent patch, more than 60 new graveyards now scatter Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. There have been a few new flightpaths added over the past few months (Un'goro, Ratchet, Mudsprocket), ghosts move faster as of 3.0.8, and the amount of experience required to level has been slashed repeatedly. The XP required for 10-60 is less than half of its original value, and 60-70 has been slashed by just as much since the release of Wrath.
In the case that you have high level friends on other servers, you can now make a new level 55 death knight on their server (provided you have a level 55 on your "home" realm). I've already taken advantage of this and now have death knights running around a half dozen realms.
If you have an active level 80, you may want to consider getting a few Heirloom items if you plan on leveling any alts. These items are "bind to account" and can be mailed between your characters. Their stats scale with the level of their owner, and even their armor type in limited instances. Perhaps most importantly, the shoulder pieces give you an additional 10% experience gain from killing monsters. This means you have to do about 10% less stuff for every level from 1 to 80. That's like requiring only 90% of the normal experience required level (provided all your experience comes from killing monsters). Not to mention, shoulder pieces don't really start appearing until the mid 20s, so its a good extra boost in power by putting something in that otherwise empty slot. You can pick up a pair of these shoulders in many flavors for whatever spec of whatever class you want for either 200 Stone Keeper's Shards (for pieces with resilience) or 40 badges of heroism (for pieces with more PvE stats). I'd use the Shards personally since most people will have many more of them than badges, but if you are swimming in badges and already have tier 7.5 gear, you might want to use some of those badges on heirloom gear.
There are a couple cool trinkets too. They can be bought for 50 emblems of heroism and give you 2% of your health or mana back when you kill something. Additionally, they offer some stats. The Swift Hand of Justice gives you 2% health when you kill something and haste, while the Discerning Eye of the Beast gives you 2% mana when you kill something and spell power. These can greatly reduce your downtime while leveling. I'd personally pick the Swift Hand of Justice first since anyone can use haste and gives you flexibility to change your mind with which alt you want to level.
In addition to these pieces, you can find every flavor of weapon, off-hand, and ranged weapon. The stats scale well with level, and it keeps your alts well-geared without having to worry about tracking down every last piece to keep them powerful.
If you can convince your friend to start playing WoW with you, you can use the refer-a-friend program and get 3x the normal experience when you play together (provided you are both under level 60 on the characters you are leveling and are within 5 levels of each other) along with many other nice benefits, like the fancy zhevra mount. They don't even have to pay until after either 10 days or if they want to level past 20.
Lastly, you may want some addons to help you track the rest experience status of all your characters. If you use FuBar, check out RestFu, which shows you the rest status of all your characters, time to fully rest, and more.
What tricks and addons do you all use to enhance your alt experience?