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Patch 5.3: Hotfixes for May 22

Patch 53 Hotfixes for May 22
Another day, another set of hotfixes. Patch 5.3 has not been without its hiccups, with a reasonable list of known issues appearing from Blizzard earlier today. But the developers are fixing the issues as quickly as they appear, with changes already in place to work out the problems encountered in the seat of knowledge, where the lack of a graveyard meant that players were unable to retrieve their corpses. A hotfix has been made which allows players who have died in the Seat of Knowledge to fly back to their bodies with a Spectral Gryphon (Wisp for Night Elves) or a Spectral Wyvern.

Is this the first step towards Blizzard allowing corpse flying in Pandaria? Check out all the hotfixes after the break.

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Filed under: Hotfixes

Random Battleground healer balance system temporarily disabled

Battleground healer balance system temporarily disabled
Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka tweeted just a short while ago about the temporary removal of one of patch 5.3's shiny new systems: the one that balances healer numbers in opposing random battleground teams.
Holinka later confirmed that this issue was the one that was causing some players to experience very long queue times for random battlegrounds, an issue that had cropped up in several places on the official forums. His tweet said that players, both healers and DPS, were becoming "stuck" in the queue.

As a result, the system has now been temporarily disabled. This means that teams with unequal healer numbers will reappear, so don't be surprised that the system is not working. Bugs do happen, and as I'm always going on about, PvP is a rare thing on the PTR. So it's no surprise that, when big new features like this go live, they might not withstand the strain. If you want to stop these problems, don't QQ, get on the next PTR and make with the stabby. You'll be doing yourself a favor! And while you're waiting, WoW Insider has a guide on helping the healers you do have in random battlegrounds.

Filed under: PvP

Blizzard soliciting feedback for pet battle changes

Blizzard soliciting feedback for pet battle changes
Community Manager Crithto took to the forums, asking for feedback about changes to the mechanical and elemental pet battle families. As of right now, elemental attacks have both an offensive and defensive advantage over mechanical, making it imbalanced compared to the other families. Blizzard proposes to change which families both types of pets have an advantage against:

One set of changes proposes:
  • Critters would replace elementals in taking less damage from mechanical attacks
  • Dragonkin would replace critters in taking less damage from elemental attacks
  • Elementals would replace dragonkin in taking less damage from flying attacks
and the other:
  • Elementals would replace aquatic pets in taking less damage from undead attacks
  • Aquatic pets would replace elementals in taking less damage from mechanical attacks
The second set of suggested changes would require less alteration to the current system and therefore has my vote. Do you have an opinion? If so, take advantage of Blizzard's request for player input and cast your vote in the forums.

The full text of Crithto's post is after the break.

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Filed under: News items

WoW Moviewatch: Guards 3

Work Warning: Lots of cursing and vaguely adult themes. A touch on the adult side.

Ian Beckman is a man who delivers. Whether it's a surprising range of comedic voice acting or solid graphics that deliver the funny, his machinima always serves up more than a few laughs. Guards 3 continues to lampoon COPS in this wild World of Warcraft.

I like how the small vignette turns into a larger story, and I'll admit the final bit was my favorite. Whether that's because I harbor my own angst about the king, or just because it was the most straightforward joke, the utter defeat of the villain serves as warning to anyone who gets a name wrong.
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.


Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

Poll: Are you enjoying patch 5.3?


So now that we've had a bit of time to play with Patch 5.3: Escalation on the live realms, what do you think of it? Worried about how nerfs or changes are affecting your game? Annoyed by bugs that made it live? Love -- or hate -- the new scenarios, battleground, or arena? Still getting used to the PvP changes? Into the story -- or frustrated that the alliance is just coming to the horde's rescue? Let us know how you really feel in the poll and comments.

What do you think of patch 5.3?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

The best -- or the worst -- of the WoW clones

The best  or the worst  of the WoW clones
You've probably heard the term "WoW clone" applied to nearly every MMO out there, because as WoW borrowed ideas from older games like EverQuest, so newer games borrow from WoW. And any game with WoW-like features -- by which we mean nearly any MMO -- might get branded with the label "clone," no matter how good it is. However, some of these myriad WoW clones strike us as particularly... well, let's call it familiar.

Now don't get us wrong -- these aren't bad games, and every game builds on its predecessors in an attempt to make something better. But if you're looking for something that's distinctly different from WoW, none of these are going to fit the bill. However, any of them may be an entertaining change of pace or just an amusing venture into what some of the other MMOs on the market are doing.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

Encrypted Text: Mastering Tricks of the Trade macros

tricks of the trade
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here.

Tricks of the Trade is a strange ability for rogues. Why would we sacrifice our own damage (by spending energy) to boost the damage of someone else? Aldriana and Pathal have both spoken out against TotT's misguided benevolence and its boring mechanics. Rather than being a situationally-useful ability that we pull out when the time is right, TotT has become a set-and-forget chore that we just auto-cast on the second-highest DPS in raid.

Lore issues aside, Tricks of the Trade is a pretty good ability. Used properly, it can greatly accelerate the rate that tanks pick up aggro, which makes dungeons and raids just a bit easier. While it's a DPS loss for the rogue casting TotT, it's a net gain for the raid's DPS, and that's a sacrifice that we'll have to make. It's also incredibly potent in PvP; granting an ally a 15% damage boost is a pretty big deal.

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Filed under: Rogue, (Rogue) Encrypted Text

The top ten most desolate spots in WoW

map header
A little while ago, we did a "Top ten most beautiful spots in WoW" post, and many commenters had an interesting request: a companion post of the ten most desolate places in WoW. We thought it was a great idea, so we're taking the suggestion to heart. This was an interesting topic to think about, because the desolate spots in WoW are the ones I tend to avoid. For the most part, I don't want to spend my fun WoW time in virtual wastelands! Then again, sometimes those deserted, eerie places have a haunting beauty all their own. Check out our list, and tell us your own favorite desolate places in World of Warcraft!

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore

The Queue: The Frenzy of Patch 5.3

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Matthew Rossi has upgraded his gear and is now waiting for the first night of raiding in 5.3 to discover what got broke.

I have this weird thing where, if I see a lot of people doing something (like heroic scenarios or the new Battlefront: Barrens stuff) I tend to say "Eh, I'll wait until the furor has died down a bit" before I take part as well. So yesterday, I did a fun interview, logged on to upgrade all my gear with the 3000 valor I had saved up, then ran Black Temple for a bit before logging off. I don't know if it's simple obstinacy or simply the knowledge that all of this stuff will be here for at least a couple of months and there's no hurry to see it all right now.

Anyway, on to your questions.

Thieren said:
Also, since we're not quoting the Beastie Boys tomorrow's Queue should feature the Sabotage video.

I went with Intergalactic instead.

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Filed under: The Queue, Mists of Pandaria

Patch 5.3: Known issues

Patch 53 Known issues
It's often the case that more patches means more problems, and while the majority of Patch 5.3: Escalation is running like clockwork, there are a few hiccups popping up along the way. WoW Insider reported on one late last night: the issues with the Tyrannical Conquest achievement. This achievement, awarded when a player has earned 25,000 conquest points in a season, also allows players to purchase conquest gear for honor. It was being awarded far too early, and allowing players who weren't entitled to do so to buy that Tyrannical gear for honor. A hotfix was swiftly implemented, blocking purchases from the vendor selling Tyrannical gear for honor, and a fix to the achievement is in the works.

The devs are also working hard on a fix that allows players to resurrect inside Lorewalker Cho's Seat of Knowledge room above Mogushan -- this contested territory is the base for the first run of new scenarios, so was seeing heavy traffic from both factions, and is out of reach from the normal resurrection run.

And what's more, Deepwind Gorge, the new battleground in patch 5.3, has been temporarily pulled from the rated battleground rotation, thanks to problems with base captures. Lastly, there are also reported problems with sound-generating addons such as Deadly Boss Mods, but WoW Insider has only been able to replicate this in certain situations. For the rest of the issues, hit the break!

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Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

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