Project Lore

There certainly is a lot of activity on WoW after the latest patch. Everyone has new talents, abilities, and mechanics. After a bit of a rough start, especially for the Executus server with intermittent problems over a day after the patch, I managed to log on long enough to pick up my newest mount, the Big Blizzard Bear. Other than doing that, I was completely lost. No addons, no talents, missing spells, what was I to do? As enhancement, before 3.0, I pretty much knew what to do. I had all of my addons perfectly setup to make me the most efficient ass kicking machine ever. All of that is now in the past. One of the first things I needed to do after patching to do was set up Dominos, a replacement for my previous favorite action bar addon, Bongos. Then I went through to figure out where to put talents. My spec could probably use a little work after playing for a little bit. Next, I had to figure out what to actually do in order to kick ass post 3.0.2. I have a few new spells and talents that I needed to prioritize. Stormstrike for me is still the best instant available, since it does a bunch of damage and can proc a bunch of other things, including Windfury, Maelstrom Weapon, Flurry, among the other crazy trinkets and procs that I have. Lava Lash seems to make Flametongue a viable offhand imbue, but according to my uncontrolled test environment (I really should spend some more time at the training dummies in Ironforge, near the Military Ward), I still prefer dual WF. Now that hit and spell hit are a single stat, I am extremely close to the spell hit cap, and I can pretty much use Earth Shock without fear of a resist and it gets crit chance from some of my gear. In order of priority, Stormstrike, Earth Shock, and Lava Lash are my bread and butter instant casts. If Maelstrom Weapon is stacked to 5, I'll use it for Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or a Healing Wave (I can't wait to setup Clique to optimize off-healing). So, I pretty much set up a macro to optimize my DPS. Improved Stormstrike has an 8 second cooldown. Earth Shock untalented has a 6 second cooldown, Lava Lash also has a 6 second cooldown, and the max global cooldown is 1.5 seconds. So, the macro goes like this: /castsequence reset=8 Stormstrike, Earth Shock, Lava Lash Hammering this macro between other spells will make me miss an Earth Shock cooldown every once in a while, but makes things super simple while I am still trying to figure out Maelstrom Weapon along with my new favorite friends, Feral Spirit. I'll talk about them later, because they are so much fun.

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So as many of you know, the patching process didn't exactly go smoothly for Blizzard. There were delays, installation issues, server issues, add-on issues, and for the fortunate few (like myself) you lost all your vanity pets and mounts. Yes... I know to look in the character screen, those babies are gone. Apparently it's a "display issue" That's not what I want to talk about, however. Once I plowed through all the speed bumps, things were actually pretty fun! I logged on with tons of new stuff to do and things to get excited about. While learning new mechanics has been a bit of a process, man, is it fun to see what my characters can do! My Paladin is pumping out more damage than I ever thought possible, and I have to say Hammer of Righteousness is about the coolest thing I have cast in a long time. Not only is it a great AoE, but I just love that sound it makes! (I know,  but you have to appreciate the small things). There were a few unexpected surprises as well. Once I got all trained up and got my hair cut, I started on a project I hadn't even considered before the patch dropped. I hit the AH and started buying up some glyphs to buff up my spellbook. Once I figured out where the Lexicon of Power was, I had a bunch of little enhancements to play with! Finally, I have to say, I just love the new achievements and titles. Allow myself to introduce you to Bastosa Jenkins (or is it Steve Marcus Bastosa Jenkins now?). On a serious note,  it has been a great excuse to check out some old content, and explore some of the secluded places in Azeroth I have never made it to. While I didn't get credit for everything I have done thus far, I think I am really going to enjoy going back and crossing all those old bosses off the achievement list. If this is a taste of what Wrath is going to be like, I am even more excited. Blizzard has done away with boredom of the downtime, and has given us all something fun to experience. Now if I could only get my epic flyer back...

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Oh sweet jumping Jesus.  Patch 3.0.2 is apparently creeping up on us sooner than I expected.  Blizzard Poster Zarhym announces that the bridging patch is going to be a large one.  Not that we expected anything less, considering the size of the pre-TBC “Before the Storm” patch.  I already touched on some changes that were announced when the patch was first revealed but the news of the impending download calls for an update. For starters, Zarhym warns us that this patch will be big.  So big that the flying skull wants all users to activate their Background Downloader to prepare to download the data that has been finalized.  It is also mentioned that the downloader should be downloading faster in general now.  Seems that they tweaked their torrent system a bit. The process should be enabled shortly. Even though we received the warning, Blizzard has still not added any patch notes to their site.  It's likely we will see some patch notes this week to elaborate on all the known changes. We also have some anecdotal evidence to hint at how soon the patch may be coming.  First off, the PTR forums have been wiped, which usually occurs before a patch heads to them.  I should mention that much of the new stuff has been tested on the beta realms extensively, meaning a PTR session could theoretically be skipped.  Secondly, the Launcher is now displaying a Wrath of the Lich King splashscreen.  Nothing groundbreaking or concrete, but evidence nonetheless. Here is some of the stuff we already know is coming with the new patch:

• Massive alterations to the way raid buffs/debuffs work
• A built in Guild Calendar
• New class spells and talents
• Stormwind Harbor
• Barbershops
• Two new Arenas
• Inscription profession
• Hunter pet changes and additions
• Zul'Aman bears no longer awarded

Get to work on those bear mounts guys.  I will be content with waiting for a Polar Bear though.

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Some more details have been coming out about the pre-Wrath of the Lich King content patch. As you know, the upcoming patch will act as a “bridging” patch. What this means is that Blizzard will use patch 3.0.2 to introduce a chunk of the Wrath changes, before Wrath is launched. This is the same thing Blizzard did with patch 2.0.1, introducing some aspects of The Burning Crusade into vanilla World of Warcraft. That addition came just a little over a month before TBC's release. Eyonix mentioned as part of patch 3.0.2's announcement that the notes would be coming shortly. However they still have not been posted. Nevertheless, Blizzard has posted additional information through alternative means. First we have a promise from Bornakk that the game won't be broken by the patch. I still remember the horror of “Assault on Blackwing Lair” or patch 1.6.0. I never wanted to use add-ons again after how long it took for all of my add-ons to be repaired, and then the time it took to go find them.  One by one.  Thankfully, we have tools like BLASC now. Bornakk also mentions that the patch should arrive “in the coming weeks”. To back up that statement the PTR forums have been wiped. An act that always happens shortly before a new patch is tested. Zarhym brought us the first list of detailed changes yesterday, the long promised changes to raid buffs/debuffs and stacking. The changes are drastic and the post is long, so it is worth the read for the hardcore PvE players out there. The Summation:

• Most buffs/debuffs will be raid-wide (ie Warrior shouts, Shaman totems).
• All buffs are categorized in one or more of 30 categories. Most categories have only a few buffs in them.
• Buffs from the same categories will not stack, with the most powerful buff taking precedence
• Mana regeneration buffs to be assigned to 10 players with the least mana
• Numerous existing buffs and debuffs have been reworked for the new system

Blizzard hopes that the changes will allow raiders to bring whomever is available to a raid – within reason - instead of requiring a concrete template be filled. Zarhym noted that Blizzard will be fine tuning the system and changes as needed based on internal testing and community feedback. So start the feedback process.

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During the late afternoon yesterday it came out that we World of Warcrafters would be receiving one more content patch before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. This isn't that unexpected as Blizzard Entertainment did the same thing shortly before the launch of The Burning Crusade. Blizzard Poster Eyonix updated us with information on the patch that is meant to bridge the upcoming content changes. Here are the highlights:

• New class spells and talents
• Stormwind Harbor
• Barbershops in capital cities
• Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
• Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
• Guild calendar
• New profession: Inscription
• Hunter pet skill revamp

Eyonix was quick to point out that the above list is simply highlights, nothing more. The flapping dragon mentions that the patch notes will be out as soon as they are available. Also of interest to some will be the addition of the Inscription profession. Blizzard will not be limiting the new profession to just purchasers of Wrath. Any owner of The Burning Crusade will be able to select Inscription as one of their professions with a max training level of 375. Those with Wrath installed will be able to train Inscription, and other professions, beyond 375. Inscription doesn't have me that excited to be honest.  But that is because I simply do not want to train another profession.  I will likely just remain as a consumer of the new profession rather than a producer.  What does have me excited is the changes to Stormwind.  I hope that Blizzard makes the changes slowly, progressing the addition as Wrath approaches.  If done correctly, the process should make the city feel more alive. Last but not least, Arenas with environmental hazards and obstacles?  Awesome.  What has you guys hot and bothered?

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