World of Warcraft

[ozvillafan]

Be interested to see what they do with the shammy resto and enhancement trees, as they badly need an overhaul. Enhancement (ie melee) shammies get precisely no gear whatsoever (ie plus str and agi gear). My agi is exactly the same as it was the day I first popped up in Valley of Trials, and my strength isn't much higher either! My +int and +sta are pretty insane though.

Meh.

If you are a pure enhancement shammy you should have become a warrior.

At the very least you will need this set which massively ups your attack power.

Being halvies myself (elem, enhance) I refuse to respec to resto for anybody. Shammies are not good healers, period - they are supliments to a priest or druid at best. And the manatide, as you suggest, is overratted and I can compensate with this goody and your usual mana spring totems.

Shammies are suppliments to the rest of the party, not a specialist at anything.

[Risso]

Yeah I know we're hybrids Oz! Which mostly means picking two out of elemental, enhancement and resto. There just isn't much in the way of high end enhancement gear though, that's all I'm saying.

I'm 30/0/21 which is easily the best spec I've had (and I've tried most!). Nature's Swiftness is such a brilliant talent, I couldn't do without it at all.

Improved lesser healing wave is great as well, it means you can cast virtually uninterruptable LHW's, and the +5& crit chance for lightning bolts is nice as well, so there are some decent talents in the resto tree. It's just that to get to Mana Tide you have to waste 10 talent points on absolute shite. When I did this I lost the 100% crit damage bonus from the elemental tree, and that's a huge, huge price to pay, so I specced back.

[The_Rev]

Talent Review for those lighweight Warlocks who die every 10 minutes:

Current Info

(Mage talent calc, unofficial: http://www.wowhead.com/talent/)

# Due to significant talent changes, Mages will have all talent points refunded and can be respent. Training costs for all talent spell replacements have been significantly reduced.

# Arcane Explosion is now instant cast and will no longer remove the Presence of Mind effect when used.

# Evocation - Is now available to all mages (via trainer), starting at level 20.

# Conjure Food now has a new rank (Rank 7) available in Stratholme.

# Frost Ward now has a new rank (Rank 5) available as item loot in dungeons.

# Mana Shield - Damage taken will now be absorbed by other absorb spells (e.g. Ice Barrier, PW: Shield) before being absorbed by Mana Shield.

# Dampen Magic - Damage and healing reduction increased on ranks 3 through 5.

# Amplify Magic - Damage and healing bonus increased on ranks 2 through 4.

Arcane Talents

Tier 1

Arcane Subtlety

Reduces your target's resistance to all your spells by 4/7/10, and all of your spell criticals cause 17/34/50% less threat.

Note: Functionality has been significantly altered.

Arcane Focus

Reduces the chance that the opponent can resist your Arcane spells by 2/4/6/8/10%.

Improved Arcane Missiles

Gives you a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles.

Tier 2 (No changes)

Wand Specialization

Increases your damage with Wands by 5/10/15/20/25%.

Arcane Concentration

Gives you a 2/4/6/8/10% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage.

Tier 3

Magic Attunement

Increases the effect of your Amplify Magic and Dampen Magic spells by 25/50%.

Note: This talent previously only affected Dampen Magic.

Improved Arcane Explosion

Increases the critical strike chance of your Arcane Explosion spell by an additional 1/2/3/4/5%.

Note: AE is now an instant cast spell, so this talent has been altered to add +crit instead of casting time reduction.

Arcane Resilience

Increases your armor by an amount equal to 50% of your Intellect.

Note: Evocation, previously in this location and now a trainer spell, has been traded for one that also gives mages an armor boost.

Tier 4

Improved Mana Shield

Decreases the mana lost per point of damage taken when Mana Shield is active by 10/20%.

Improved Counterspell

Gives Counterspell a 50/100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.

Arcane Meditation

Allows 5/10/15% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.

Note: Previously five increments of 3%, freeing up two talent points to spend elsewhere.

Tier 5 (No changes)

Presence of Mind

When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 sec becomes an instant cast spell.

Arcane Mind

Increases your maximum Mana by 2/4/6/8/10%.

Tier 6

Arcane Instability

Increases your spell damage and critical strike chance by 1/2/3%.

Tier 7

Arcane Power

When activated, your spells deal 30% more damage while costing 30% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 seconds.

Note: Damage and mana cost have been reduced by 5%.

Fire Talents

Tier 1 (No changes)

Improved Fireball

Reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by 0.1/.2/.3/.4/.5 seconds.

Impact

Gives your Fire spells a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds

Tier 2

Ignite

Your critical strikes from Fire damage spells cause the target to burn for an additional 8/16/24/32/40% of your spells damage over 4 seconds

Flame Throwing

Increases the range of your fire spells by 3/6 yards.

Improved Fire Blast

Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Blast spell by 0.5/1/1.5 seconds.

Note: Previously in five increments; two skill points freed up.

Tier 3

Incinerate

Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast and Scorch spells by 2/4%.

Improved Flamestrike

Increases the critical strike chance of your Flamestrike spell by 5/10/15%.

Pyroblast

Hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes 148 to 195 Fire damage and an additional 56 Fire damage over 12 seconds.

Burning Soul

Gives your fire spells a 35/70% chance to not lose casting time when you take damage.

Note: Previously three increments -- 25/50/65%. One talent point freed up.

Tier 4

Improved Scorch

Your Scorch spells have a 33/66/100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Fire damage. This vulnerability increase the Fire damage dealt to your target by 2% and lasts 15 seconds Stacks up to 5 times.

Note: Previously five increments of 20%. Two more talent points freed.

Improved Fire Ward

Causes your Fire Ward to have a 10/20% chance to reflect Fire spells while active.

Note: Was previously 20/35%.

Master of Elements

Your Fire and Frost spell criticals will refund 10/20/30% of their base mana cost.

Note: This is a new ability and, interestingly, affects more than one talent tree.

Tier 5 (No changes)

Critical Mass

Increases the critical strike chance of your fire spells by 2/4/6%.

Blast Wave

A wave of flame radiates outward from the caster, damaging all enemies caught within the blast for 160 to 192 Fire damage, and dazing them for 6 seconds.

Tier 6 (No changes)

Fire Power

Increases the damage done by your fire spells by 2/4/6/8/10%.

Tier 7

Combustion

When activated, this spell causes each Fire damage spell you cast to increase your critical strike chance with Fire damage spells by 10%. This effect lasts until you have caused 3 critical strikes with Fire spells.

Note: Significant functionality change. This used to grant a 100% chance to crit with your next fire spell. The cooldown is not listed

Frost Talents

Tier 1

Improved Frost Nova

Reduces the cooldown of your Frost Nova spell by 2/4 seconds.

Improved Frostbolt

Reduces the casting time of your Frostbolt spell by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.

Permafrost

Increases the duration of your Chill effects by 1 second and reduces the target's speed by an additional 4%/7%/10%.

Note: Additional speed reduction is new.

Tier 2

Note: Improved Frost Nova has been removed.

Ice Shards

Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by 20/40/60/80/100%.

Frost Warding

Increases the armor and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor spells by 15/30%. In addition, gives your Frost Ward a 10% chance to reflect Frost spells and effects while active.

Frostbite

Gives your Chill effects a 5/10/15% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.

Note: Previously a Rank 6 item. Was also previously five increments of 3%. Two more skill points freed up. Winter's Chill moved to Rank 6, with adjusted functionality.

Tier 3

Piercing Ice

Increases the damage done by your Frost spells by 2/4/6%.

Cold Snap

Instant, 10-minute cooldown

When activated, this spell finishes the cooldown on all of your Frost spells.

Improved Blizzard

Adds a chill effect to your Blizzard spell. This effect lowers the target's movement speed by 40/60/75%. Lasts 4.50 seconds.

Note: Movement speed reduced by an additional 5%. Effect duration tripled.

Tier 4

Note: Improved Frost Ward has been removed.

Arctic Reach

Increases the range of your Frostbolt and Blizzard spells and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by 10%/20%.

Frost Channeling

Reduces the mana cost of your frost spells by 5/10/15%.

Shatter

Requires 3 points in Frostbite

Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 10%.

5 ranks of 10% increments

Tier 5 (No changes)

Ice Block

You become encased in a block of ice, protecting you from all physical attacks and spells for 10 sec, but during that time you cannot attack, move, or cast spells.

Improved Cone of Cold

Increases the damage dealt by your Cone of Cold spell by 15%/25%/35%.

Tier 6

Winter's Chill

Gived your Frost damage spells a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to apply the Winter's Chill effect, which increases the chance a Frost spell will critically hit the target by 1% for 15 seconds Stacks up to 5 times.

Note: Previously added three increments of 4% speed reduction to Chill effects. Was a Rank 2 item.

Tier 7 (No changes)

Ice Barrier

Instant cast, 30-second cool down

Instantly shields you, absorbing 454 damage. Lasts 1 minute. While the shield holds, spells will not be interrupted.

1. Easing mages' downtime between fights and making a Fire/Frost build a more viable combination than it is right now.

[qoute]

Q u o t e:

Well, right now we're in the process of working on the talent review for the mage. Some of the aspects we're looking to improve include easing a mage's downtime between fights a bit and making a Fire/Frost build a more viable combination than it is right now. (Currently most magi feel that having anywhere between 11 to 21 points in the Arcane is a "must").

To accomplish this, it's likely that we'll take a few of the "must have" abilities from Arcane, and make them available to all magi. (Some likely candidates are the talents Evocation and Improved Arcane Explosion.) From there, we'll also look at ways for players to be able to create interesting combos between the Fire and Frost trees. Hopefully, these changes will further polish the general play experience of magi while also opening some new, interesting talent builds.

[Risso]

Never mind those clothie bastards, what about us?!

At the BAREST minimum, I want plate, fear and stealth! Haven't read an "over powered" whine post for ages now!

[limpid]

So nothing to help me against you or Sam.

No point in the arcane tree at all now. PoM at tier 5 is the only thing I'd want and it's just not worth that many points.

All mages will be Elemental. There are some nice changes - especially in the fire tree.

[Risso]

OK, so what's the best real world PvP spot then?

Pros and cons:

Chillwind: relatively busy, but annoyingly long trek from graveyard

Gadgetztan: Lots of allies, but getting **** by the guards is an expensive business.

STV: Close graveyard, normally pretty busy, easy to get to from Orgri. Can often get swamped with allies after a while though

[The_Rev]

Felwood can be good. And Winterspring. Umbongo?

[Risso]

Felwood can be good. And Winterspring. Umbongo?

Winterspring sounds like a good shout. Umbongo's just too difficult to get to.

[The_Rev]

Speaking of Felwood...

http://media.putfile.com/for-the-carebears (11mb)

i love fraps

[red5]

OK, so what's the best real world PvP spot then?

Pros and cons:

Chillwind: relatively busy, but annoyingly long trek from graveyard

Gadgetztan: Lots of allies, but getting **** by the guards is an expensive business.

STV: Close graveyard, normally pretty busy, easy to get to from Orgri. Can often get swamped with allies after a while though

Kill'em all....

:-)

[ED]

Need to farm the tavern tonight so I can get my boots once and for all, maybe kill the emperor too. Who wants in?

EDIT - Nayson, I saw Gyanny duelling last night, I asked him if he's good v Locks, he said he was, I really want to see you duel him, what a match up it would be.

Do it! and lets us all watch him pwn your ass.

[The_Rev]

He would hammer me in my current spec. Im all about dots which cant be used with seduce and i dont have the burst to take him down without spending 31 points in destruction to get conflagrate.

My point is that Destruction Warlocks have an easy time against Warriors in a duel situation for three reasons.

1] The Warrior starts the fight with little/no rage.

2] Non Undead Warriors have no way of breaking seduce at all, as their PvP trinket doesnt break charm effects.

3] Fire Locks who spend 31-36 points in the destruction tree have enough burst magic to do 4000-5000 to a seduced target before they get hit back.

Ill duel, but i predict ill get nailed by a whirlwind/execute combo in about three seconds or something!

[limpid]

Need to farm the tavern tonight so I can get my boots once and for all, maybe kill the emperor too. Who wants in?

I can play 6-8, so we could do it twice. I'd like to do incendius and the next boss after tavern too.

[red5]

Need to farm the tavern tonight so I can get my boots once and for all, maybe kill the emperor too. Who wants in?

I can play 6-8, so we could do it twice. I'd like to do incendius and the next boss after tavern too.

Can be on 6.15 ish to about 7.45...

[TRL]

The reason you should kiss my feet. Trl

[The_Rev]

The reason you should kiss my feet. Trl

Hail to the king baby!

Had this before, but it was shit, now they have updated it and its pretty cool.

Theorycraft

[The_Rev]

Loot tables again. Worth a look when you are deciding what gear to go for. Im sure Trl, Dan and Riss have seen this kind of thing before, but if Sam and Limpid are deciding where to head instance wise, its good infor.

[TRL]

Or simply go where normal people go

www.wow-loot.com

[The_Rev]

Or simply go where normal people go

www.wow-loot.com

I dont know whether youve seen this or not: (link)

Warlocks are probably one of the most unique classes in WoW being an offensive casting pet class with a nack for high HPs. They have a solid PvE roll and can be an excellent 1-on-1 PvP combatant. A warlock is quite a confusion class to play right off the bat, and even with other class play experience, they can be quite a shock to someone more accustomed to a well-defined role (such as a tanking warrior, or a damage-dealing rogue).

Though the last few patches have given warlocks gome pretty good attention, there are still the issues of limitied use end-game pets (infernal/doomguards are not commonly seen for a reason), and a still frustrating soulstone spell system. All in all though, the warlock has come around from a black-sheep class, aruegably the least well off, to a solid well-balanced class that rewards, more than most, good battle tacticts.

Warlock specs are one of the most varied for all classes. Although the generalization of destruction=damage, demology=survival/utiliy, and affliction=debuff/DoT, is pretty acurate, most warlocks don't just run with 31/20 points in to 2 trees like many other classes. Many warlocks split points in all trees and your will have to really experiement a lot in order to find your particular groove.

Although there are a ton of builds, there are really 2 major types of gear most warlocks will go after; offensive casting gear and utility gear. For offensive casting (which most destruction warlocks will probably opt for) we'll be loading up on +spellpower, +spellcrit, and +INT. While those wanting more options then just pure damage will opt for gear more laden with +STA, +INT since warlocks are unique in their ability to convert their health to mana.

Have i ever mentioned this before? :roll:

[ED]

No....never.

The whole reason I went into Engineering came to fruition tonight. A 4 man Strat Scarlet. WE had a runner, we pulled another group, we wiped. I vanished. My fellow dashers faced a lengthy run back in. But oh no, my cables ressed Bojin! The rogue saves the day!

I did a full BRD and a full strat today and made shitloads in drops. I wondered why I've been so poor recently, its because I don't do pugs anymore.

I got 2 orbs from strat, I'm gonna save them for a Crusader enchant on my next uber mainhand (though that would involve an MC run).

Also:

No, "spring" isn't a rogue ability, me and Nayson made exactly the same typo, freaky eh?