Project Lore

As of tonight, Patch 3.3 has gone live on the Public Test Realm. Earlier today, we caught our first glimpse at the latest PTR patch notes, signifying that we knew it would be coming soon. But here it is, just a few hours later, and it's already here! Happy day! The long fight against the Lich King has been arduous, and the final battle has been a long time coming. It seems that we'll all soon get our shot at Arthas. But first - to test out the fights and ensure that they're in good enough condition to release to all. I would expect there will probably be at least 6 to 8 weeks of beta testing before the patch is passed on to everyone, and perhaps there will be drastic changes by then, since nothing on the PTR is ever guaranteed to appear in-game. This is just pure speculation on my part, but perhaps we could see the finalized Patch 3.3 out sometime in January. It seems appropriate, somehow, for the final battle to be played out in the winter (at least for us Northern Hemisphere dwellers). Personally, I can't wait to hear and see more about the new 10- and 25-man raids, and especially the 5-man dungeon at Icecrown Citadel, since I've been having a great time with the 5-man content as of late. And now that I've got a level 80 character, I'm debating whether or not to download the PTR myself... but I'd hate to get attached to any content (or loot!), not to mention Rogue vanish fixes that may never end up on the final version. Oh, decisions. Well, for any of you who are looking into beta testing, here's what Blue Poster Aratil gave as advice on the forums:

Patch 3.3.0 is available for testing on the PTR. We would like to encourage everyone to take time to test this patch and provide feedback on the Test Realm forums. For more information on the PTR, please visit the following threads- Introduction, Installing.

The forums already have jumped alive with excitement, and apparently some at grief that the patch is more than 1.3 GB in size. Hopefully that's an indication that there's LOTS of new content for us to discuss in the coming days and weeks. So, how many of you are going to foray into the PTR?

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Last week, iTZKooPA touched on the information overload we're seeing with patch 3.2, which now is live on the Public Test Realm. One area that I thought it'd be fun to expand a bit on is the new experience changes related to battlegrounds. Patch notes for the PTR informed us that players now will gain experience for actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds. Pretty neat idea. But here's the kicker: players who don't want to gain XP now will be able to turn it off - both for within battlegrounds and for any other means available in the game. This is a huge change for anyone who enjoys the practice of twinking. In some ways, the practice will become much easier to do. You won't have to rely on your higher level character to provide you with all the best gear available at level 19 (or your preferred twink level) - you also will be able to seek out rare drops and quest rewards without worrying about the XP gains. You'll essentially be able to get all the best gear possible and never level up and out of your battleground bracket. Blizzard comically makes light of this - the NPCs who you pay 10 gold to in order to turn on or off XP gains are named Behsten and Slahtz (Best-in-slots). But it's a give-and-take situation. Players who choose to turn off their XP gains and compete in battlegrounds will only face off against other players who also have turned off their XP. Now, some people will be happy for this change - twinks facing off against other twinks would probably make for a more interesting fight. And non-twinks will no longer be battling against twinked out toons with double the stats. I'm certain there also are those twinks out there who are ticked off that they'll never get to beat down on the other unsuspecting battleground fighters. Perhaps those players will move on to world-wide PvP gankage. A lot of people would argue this change effectively nerfs twinks. And it also might drive up the prices for twink gear. I wonder how many players will exploit the changes by turning off XP just barely into their preferred twink level, then getting all the best gear and turning on the XP again for a limited number of glorious battles against weaklings. Meanwhile, a lot of non-twinks out there are rejoicing. The prospect of entering a battleground may be a lot less intimidating if you are more confident that you'll face off against others in similar gear. Then again, I cringe to think of what this change might do to already-long battleground queues. Another unrelated way in which turning off XP may change the game: Classic raiding and role-playing. Blizzard blue poster Nethaera pointed out that many players may have a purpose for turning off XP entirely separate from twinking. If you cap at level 60 or 70, you can raid to your heart's content in that Vanilla WoW or BC content you love. Or, you could turn off XP until a friend you'd like to play with reaches your level. Or, you may just wish to role-play a character at a particular level. Oh, the possibilities. What does everyone else think that these changes will mean for the twink population? Will you keep your twinks after 3.2? Anyone think you're more likely to create a twink? If I had to guess, I'd predict that the twink population may decrease a bit after these changes. But like many things in life, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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Playing on the public test realm isn't for everyone. Of course, we love to keep track of Project Lore posts so we know about exciting upcoming features such as Ulduar, dual spec and tons of new achievements. But we may not be as keen about suffering through significant bugs while knowing that any progress we make in-game ultimately will be lost. I, for one, prefer to keep tabs on progress of the PTR through WoW's official test realm forum. There are plenty of players who are quite willing, for any number of reasons, to play on the PTR despite its drawbacks. And their reports back to Blizzard through the forum provide us with a glimpse of how things are coming along. Bugs, no matter how insignificant, can be frustrating for the players. But my favorite posts are the ones reporting bug hilarity. Such as this one:

Two of my characters I use regularly on the PTR are now pantless on the character selection screen. Both are Death Knights, one is a level 58 gnome female on the PvP server, the other is an 80 tauren female on the PvE server. It doesn't seem to matter if I take my pants off in the game or not, my character selection shows 'em half naked.

And, to my surprise, Blizzard poster Dresorull responded:

Completely intended! Not actually... this is currently being investigated as a bug. Thanks for the report.

Glad they're on that one! Also in the realm of toon vanity, I've also seen mention of the character selection screen not displaying weapons, of minions freezing mid-animation when a player goes AFK and of emote sounds not timing correctly with the animation. Again, not game-breaking errors, but annoying nonetheless. And I'm sure Blizzard appreciates being told of bugs large and small. That's what the PTR is for. Even Blizzard has posted a non-comprehensive list of 15 known bugs. Now on to the more significant reported bugs. Issues range from clams not opening and pets disappearing to the deletion of glyphs. And that's once you get on the PTR. Many complaints stem from issues with logging on, such as new passwords not working, patching errors or locked-out characters. Granted, I never accept a post at face-value because some of these issues may not actually be bugs. But I'd like to think most PTR players know what they're doing. Even on the regular servers, new bugs are constantly being discovered, and oftentimes exploited. Regardless, from what I've seen, it looks to me like Blizzard still has a lot of work ahead of them on the PTR. In my opinion, it's probably about the same as previous PTRs, because you have to start somewhere. But what do you guys think? Is this, as one poster ranted, the "worst ptr EVER?"

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Whether or not you find it productive to spend time on the Public Test Realm, it is usually pretty interesting to at least hear about what Blizzard has in store for the future of World of Warcraft. MMO-Champion once again delivers on that front by looking at the latest build of Patch 3.1 on the PTR. With their all-seeing eyes, they've discovered some significant (and not so significant) class and profession changes, new mounts including a turtle, and a plethora of Ulduar Achievements. While the list of class changes is somewhat short, there are some very interesting ones. Paladins have had a few talents rearranged, Death Knights have a slew of changes, and other classes get some minor tweaks, but the the most interesting to me are for Shamans, especially elemental ones which are mostly aimed at PvP. Check them all out on MMO-Champion. The new mounts mentioned sound fun, but I mostly just want the turtle:

• Blue Skeletal Warhorse - Summons and dismisses a rideable Blue Skeletal Warhorse. This is a very fast mount.
• White Kodo - Summons and dismisses a rideable White Kodo.
• Venomhide Ravasaur - Summons and dismisses a rideable Venomhide Ravasaur. This is a very fast mount.
• Coralshell Turtle - Summons and dismisses a rideable Coralshell Turtle. This is a very fast mount, both on land and in water.

Lastly, more and more new achievements are being implemented. With Ulduar being a huge instance with 14 bosses and 11 "hard modes," there were bound to be a ton of them, and the list doesn't even look to be comprehensive as there are no Heroic mode achievements included. Keep in mind that many of the numbers are placeholders and will likely be changed before 3.1 goes live. ***Also beware that the achievement details may spoil some content!***

• The Siege of Ulduar (Defeat the bosses of The Siege area of Ulduar on Normal Difficulty.)
• The Antechamber of Ulduar (Defeat the bosses of The Antechamber area of Ulduar on Normal Difficulty.)
• The Keepers of Ulduar (Defeat the Keeper bosses of Ulduar on Normal Difficulty.)
• The Descent into Madness (Defeat the bosses of The Descent into Madness area of Ulduar on Normal Difficulty.)
• The Secrets of Ulduar (Defeat every boss in Ulduar on Normal Difficulty.)
• Unbroken (Defeat Flame Leviathan on the first try without anyone repairing their vehicle on Normal Difficulty.)
• Three Car Garage (Defeat Flame Leviathan while in each of the following vehicles on Normal Difficulty.)
• Take Out Those Turrets (Destroy a Flame Leviathan Defense Turret on Normal Difficulty.)
• Shutout (Defeat Flame Leviathan without causing a System Shutdown on Normal Difficulty.)
• Orbital Bombardment (Defeat Flame Leviathan with 1 Orbital Defense System active on Normal Difficulty.)
• Orbital Devastation (Defeat Flame Leviathan with 2 Orbital Defense Systems active on Normal Difficulty.)
• Nuked from Orbit (Defeat Flame Leviathan with 3 Orbital Defense Systems active on Normal Difficulty.)
• Orbit-uary (Defeat Flame Leviathan with 4 Orbital Defense Systems active on Normal Difficulty.)
• A Quick Shave (Defeat Razorscale without allowing her to fly into the air more than once on Normal Difficulty.)
• Minimal Casualties (Defeat Razorscale without any friendly NPCs dying during the fight on Normal Difficulty.)
• Iron Dwarf, Medium Rare (Defeat 1000 Iron Dwarves with Razorscale's Flame Breath within 2 seconds on Normal Difficulty.)
• Shattered (Defeat Ignis the Furnace Master while shattering 77 Iron Constructs within 5 seconds on Normal Difficulty.)
• Hot Pocket (Survive being thrown into Ignis the Furnace Master's crucible on Normal Difficulty.)
• Stokin' the Furnace (Defeat Ignis the Furnace Master in 2 seconds on Normal Difficulty.)
• Nerf Engineering (Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor without him recovering any health from XS-013 Scrapbots on Normal Difficulty.)
• Nerf Scrapbots (Defeat 1000 XS-013 Scrapbots within 12 seconds using XE-321 Boombots on Normal Difficulty.)
• Nerf Dark Bombs (Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor without any raid member dying from a Dark Bomb on Normal Difficulty.)
• Must Deconstruct Faster (Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor in 20.5 seconds on Normal Difficulty.)
• Heartbreaker (Defeat XT-002 Deconstructor after destroying his heart on Normal Difficulty.)
• I Choose You, Runemaster Molgeim (Defeat the Iron Council with Runemaster Molgeim as the last member alive on Normal Difficulty.)
• I Choose You, Stormcaller Brundir (Defeat the Iron Council with Stormcaller Brundir as the last member alive on Normal Difficulty.)
• I Choose You, Steelbreaker (Defeat the Iron Council with Steelbreaker as the last member alive on Normal Difficulty.)
• But I'm on Your Side (Defeat the Iron Council while under the effect of a Steel Boot Flask on Normal Difficulty.)
• Can't Do That While Stunned (Defeat the Iron Council without allowing Stormcaller Brundir to cast Chain Lightning or Lightning Whirl on Normal Difficulty.)
• Overload Overlord (Defeat the Iron Council without any raid member being struck by Overload on Normal Difficulty.)
• With Open Arms (Defeat Kologarn without destroying either of his arms on Normal Difficulty.)
• Disarmed (Destroy both of Kologarn's arms within 12 seconds and then defeat Kologarn on Normal Difficulty.)
• If Looks Could Kill (Defeat Kologarn without any raid member being hit by Focused Eye Beams on Normal Difficulty.)
• Rubble and Roll (Defeat Kologarn with 6000 Rubble creatures alive on Normal Difficulty.)
• Cheese the Freeze (Defeat Hodir without any raid member being hit by Flash Freeze on Normal Difficulty.)
• I Have the Coolest Friends (Defeat Hodir without any friendly NPC dying on Normal Difficulty.)
• Getting Cold in Here (Defeat Hodir without any raid member having more than 3 stacks of Biting Cold on Normal Difficulty.)
• Staying Buffed All Winter (Possess the effects of Toasty Fire, Storm Power and Starlight at the same time on Normal Difficulty.)
• Don't Stand in the Lightning (Defeat Thorim without being affected by Lightning Charge on Normal Difficulty.)
• I'll Take You All On (Defeat Thorim, the Ancient Rune Giant and the Rune Colossus on Normal Difficulty.)
• Who Needs Bloodlust? (Defeat Thorim while under the effect of Aura of Celerity on Normal Difficulty.)
• Siffed (Force Thorim to enter the arena and defeat him while Sif is present on Normal Difficulty.)
• Lumberjacked (Defeat Elder Brightleaf, Elder Ironbranch and Elder Stonebark within 2 seconds of each other on Normal Difficulty.)
• Con-speed-atory (Defeat Freya within 2 minutes of engaging a creature in the Conservatory of Life on Normal Difficulty.)
• Deforestation (Defeat 2 Ancient Water Spirits, 2 Storm Lashers and 2 Snaplashers within 120 seconds on Normal Difficulty.)
• Getting Back to Nature (Defeat Freya while she is affected by Attuned to Nature on Normal Difficulty.)
• Mind the Mines (Defeat Mimiron without anyone in the raid triggering a Proximity Mine on Normal Difficulty.)
• Strike Out (Defeat Mimiron without anyone in the raid being hit by a Rocket Strike on Normal Difficulty.)
• A-bomb-inable (Defeat Mimiron without anyone in the raid being hit by a Bomb Bot on Normal Difficulty.)
• Set Up Us the Bomb (Complete the following Mimiron achievements on Normal Difficulty.)
• I'll Form the Head! (Force Mimiron to combine the parts of his greatest creation within 20 minutes on Normal Difficulty.)
• Shadowdodger (Defeat General Vezax without any raid member being hit by Shadow Crash on Normal Difficulty.)
• I Love the Smell of Saronite in the Morning (Defeat General Vezax without being affected by Saronite Vapors on Normal Difficulty.)
• Never Stand Near the Faceless Dude (Defeat General Vezax without allowing him to regain health from Mark of the Faceless on Normal Difficulty.)
• Crazy Cat Lady (Defeat Auriaya while doing something cool on Normal Difficulty.)
• Supermassive (Defeat Algalon the Observer while destroying 4 Black Holes within 10 seconds on Normal Difficulty.)
• Observed (Defeat Algalon the Observer on Normal Difficulty.)
• He Feeds On Your Tears (Defeat Algalon the Observer without any raid member dying on Normal Difficulty.)
• She's Not Bad for an Old God (/Kiss Sara in Ulduar on Normal Difficulty.)
• Drive Me Crazy (Defeat Yogg-Saron without any raid member going insane on Normal Difficulty.)
• He's Not Getting Any Older (Defeat Yogg-Saron within 22 minutes on Normal Difficulty.)
• They're Coming Out of the Walls (Defeat 200 Guardians of Yogg-Saron within 12 seconds on Normal Difficulty.)
• In His House He Waits Dreaming (Experience all 5 visions of Yogg-Saron's mind on Normal Difficulty.)
• The Undying, Part Two (Within one raid lockout period, defeat every boss in Ulduar on Normal Difficulty without allowing any raid member to die during any of the boss encounters.)

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There has been tons of talk about 3.1, Ulduar, and the public test realms lately. So for the first time ever I have transferred my character over the PTR to look around. While I know that test realms are intended to, well, test the upcoming content, we all know that is not people's primarily motivation for going over there. The reason many players go is to get a leg up on the competition when it comes to raiding, research new abilities, and make sure they know exactly what changes they are going to make to their character when the patch hits the live realms. I have enjoyed being able to see the dual spec mechanic in person, am liking the built in outfitter functionality, and being the first to see things like the Argent Tournament has certainly been interesting. One thing I noticed is that there are certain people who seem to spend A LOT of time on the PTR. I have never been able to relate to this. Perhaps it's the same reason I have never been super excited about being a beta tester. For me there is a feeling that the time you spend is all for not. There is a certain impending doom knowing that as soon as Blizzard decides that their testing is finished everything will go away in the blink of an eye. So what is the point in investing the time? Any gear that drops from those Ulduar bosses is not yours to keep, any money you make from crafting new profession recipes is as good as gone, and any achievements you earn won't mean much when the server is cleared. Of course, the very hardcore raiding guilds are busy mastering boss strats so that they can knock out the world firsts, and there may be a few generous souls who want to help report every bug they see, but for the rest of you - what is the motivation? Isn't your time better spent on something you can keep (virtually)? I applaud you who are there to help Blizzard work out bugs, but for the rest of you, are you having fun?

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