Hoping to better empathize with her new Horde brethren, submitter Klarisse of Tauren Brute Squad on Argent Dawn (US-H) purchased a Whole-Body Shrinka' to bring herself down to the level of a goblin. But Klarisse, so used to underwhelming vanity item effects, was surprised to find that the Shrinka' actually made her much smaller than she intended. She hearthed back to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to try to find a healer, but ended up being squashed by Jorunga Stonehoof. So basically, never try to see anything from another person's perspective, or you will end up as a smear below the hoof of a giant bull. Truly a lesson for the ages.

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Filed under: Around Azeroth

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Earlier last week we got our first glimpse of the 5.4 PTR as Wowhead and MMO-Champion mined a massive amount of data from the latest update to the test realms. With new features like virtual realms, proving grounds, and flex raids, it's easy to be overwhelmed. As for myself, the first thing I did was hit Ctrl+F and searched for "Paladin" to see what, if any, changes we were due. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting a whole lot of changes for retribution -- we seem to be in a nice place, comfortably in the middle of the pack for DPS with heaps of utility to boot. Boy, was I mistaken.

Before we get into the discussion, do remember that none of these proposed changes are finalized. The "test realms" aren't named that by chance; the developers want to see how things like this play out on a large scale, larger than their internal testing can accommodate, and sift through player feedback from the community. So while we shouldn't get too worked up over one thing or another on the PTR, it's always beneficial to react to changes, at least in a civilized and logical manner.

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Filed under: Paladin, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It, Mists of Pandaria

Sometimes you just need a WoW break, whether it's a day, a week, a month, or even longer. And though stepping away from your gaming friends can be tough, coming back can be even tougher. Have you missed a patch? Several patches? An entire expansion? The game world around you may have changed, your class may have changed, your friends may have advanced past you, your guild may have disbanded. You may find yourself starting anew, and while sometimes that's just what you need to keep the game fresh, sometimes it's just a hassle you don't want. (Trust me, I'm speaking from experience as someone who took a couple of years off.)

So tell us, have you ever taken a WoW vacation? For how long? And how did you deal with getting back into the game when you returned?

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics

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Filed under: Blizzard

Every week, join us as we present you with The WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW Insider to emails from our readers and what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Want to have your question answered on the air? Email theshow@wowinsider.com! And don't forget to join us for the live show again next Monday at 8:00 p.m. PDT!

Get the podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
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Listen here on the page:

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Filed under: Podcasts, WoW Insider Show

I'm not sure I've ever encountered a comparison of The History of WoW to an on-stage production about cooking meatloaf. So, in terms of that, this video is a new one on me. As soon as you enter that kind of metaphor territory, though, you risk bordering on coming across as bitter and resentful. I think Nervous Orca mostly avoids that issue but I did wonder how long it'd be before the rage came blistering through.

The video is full of decent jokes and good moments. But the jokes do drag on a tiny bit too long, especially with the relatively rough animation. Still, that constructive criticism shouldn't hold Orca back because this is a pretty good video. It could have used a strong final punchline, but the whole thing moved in a good direction.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

If you're just getting started with WoW -- or even if you aren't -- picking the perfect class to play can be a challenge. But the number of class options doesn't mean you need to close your eyes and see where your cursor lands in order to pick the class you're going to play. With a bit of research, you can make an informed decision on which class best fits how you like to game -- and we're here to help. Today, we're talking about priests, spiritual devotees who unleash the powers of light and shadow to heal or harm.

Priests are unique in their talent specializations: while specializations for most classes mean multiple ways to do damage or fill different class roles, priests are the only class with two healing-focused specializations: holy and discipline. These two specs offer very different ways to heal, which can make priests very versatile healers... if you're into that kind of thing. But even if you aren't, don't count priests out as on offensive class: their shadow specialization gives them access to a powerful arsenal of damage spells, which could make priest the class for you even if you never want to cast a healing spell.

But does that mean you should be playing a priest? Read on and we'll discuss just what priests can do.

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Filed under: Priest, WoW Rookie

Today I present you with the best cloth transmog item ever: Exiled Dabbler's Gloves. What makes these gloves so special? Well, it's that they don't really look like gloves at all. They display more like a pair of bracers, so when paired with many cloth chest pieces they appear as though your character isn't wearing any gloves at all. See why they're so awesome? Few would dispute the universal appeal of having no gloves as an option.

So far the Exiled Dabbler's Gloves appear to work best with any cloth chest that have a bell sleeve. Sleeveless, short sleeve, and fitted sleeve chest pieces don't seem to hide the gauntlet of the glove. Fortunately the gauntlet is quite simple in design, displaying as a black bracer with some silver detail. Coincidentally, they're a pretty close match to the ever popular Black Mageweave Leggings.

According to Wowhead, these gloves are a random uncommon quality drop from the Isle of Thunder and Throne of Thunder. So if needed more incentive to keep doing dailies on the Isle of Thunder, now you have one.

What do you think? Will you be chasing these down on the auction house or the Isle of Thunder? Personally I think it would be interesting to combine them with Griftah's Authentic Troll Shoes, so my character can go gloveless and shoeless.

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Filed under: Transmogrification

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Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk

Warlocks around the world have been weeping at the Patch 5.4 PTR intended nerf to Kil'jaeden's Cunning and Mannoroth's Fury. Blizzard Community Manager Lore had already posted an explanation for the tier 6 talent nerfs and some unseen PTR mechanics that were not in the patch notes to help aid warlocks in recovering DPS lost to movement.

CM Lore is back tonight with another post of spell changes in the next build for warlocks in the continuing discussion of the Kil'jaeden's Cunning and Mannoroth's Fury talent nerfs. After the break, you may read about a minor note about Rain of Fire generating less embers (specifics currently unknown), so that the developers can further discourage use of the spell in single-target situations.

Fel Flame is being reworked entirely: it will no longer extended DoTs and it has a 1.5 second cast time instead of being instant-cast. In return, Fel Flame will be castable while moving and has received a small damage buff. Haunt, in return, will go back to being interrupted by movement. Affliction is being further compensated for the loss of Malefic Grasp while moving by expectedly moving the damage done power back into Haunt and the three DoTs.

Finally, Kil'jaeden's Cunning and Mannoroth's Fury are both on a 1 minute cooldown (down from 1.5 minutes) but also a lowered duration of 10 seconds (down from 15 seconds). Mannoroth's Fury applies to only the main AoEs but it provides a 100% damage increase to the specific AoE spells as well as the expanded area.

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Filed under: Warlock, Mists of Pandaria