Tuesday Morning Post: The Headless Horseman burned down my server
Happy Hallow's End, everyone! So it's been one week since the Echoes of Doom patch hit live servers. It's been a lot of fun playing around with all the news toys, if you can actually log on. Servers have been unstable across the world, and even those that allow people on have been having tons of problems. My own server has been hitting the instance limit, disallowing the creation of new dungeons, thus preventing people from holding raids. Some people are unable to log on to certain characters on their account. It's a bit of a mess in some quarters. With the downtime from 5 AM - 11 AM PDT this morning, we can hope that a solution is forthcoming. It's not quite enough to apply a new patch, but hopefully Blizzard is using this downtime as an opportunity to kick start the servers a little bit.
Still, once you get past the server problems, this patch has been pretty enjoyable for the most part, although some people are starting to think it may be a bit too easy. If you're still getting into the swing of the patch, this is the perfect time to browse WoW Insider and check out all of our guides and information about the new features in the 3.0.2 patch. Here's some highlights of the past week's news from the patch and beyond:
The Basics of 3.0.2
- Still trying to get your addons up to date for 3.0.2? Check our guide to find some of the most essential ones.
- If you're still not completely sure about the new stat consolidation, check out our primer on unified spellpower.
- If you're still not completely sure what exactly glyphs are for or how to use them, check out our quick guide to glyphs.
- If you're wondering where something went in game, it may have been taken out in 3.0.2.
- Are you a casual player? We discuss what the patch means to you, too.
- If you still have questions after all this, try our 3.0.2 FAQ.
- And just because BlizzCon is and always will be awesome, let's bid it one final fond farewell.
- While this isn't directly 3.0.2 related, you might also remember, as mentioned earlier, that it's Hallow's End time. We have guides to getting the most out of the holiday, including getting the new achievement-based "The Hallowed" title.
3.0.2 Class guides
- Feral Druids, here's your guide.
- Restoration Druids, we have some tips for you too.
- Yeah, we even found someone to play a Moonkin long enough to figure out what it is they're good for. I kid, I kid. Love you, battlechicken dudes.
- We have a guide for Shadow Priests, as well as a talent build to try out.
- If you're more into priestly healing, we have a few builds for you to try out as well.
- For Warlocks, we have guides to all three talent trees.
- Holy Paladins, we give you tips on how to heal in 3.0.2. Tanking Paladins also have some nice new toys for us to discuss.
- Despite that whole "To the ground, baby" thing, Ret Paladins still have a lot to celebrate in 3.0.2.
- For Hunters, we have the new Beast Mastery pet series, as well as a guide on getting started as a Beastmastery Hunter, a guide on capturing and using exotic pets, and a guide to catching a moth as a lowbie Horde Hunter. Oh, and we have some nice buffs incoming from Wrath, too.
- For Shamans, we have a review of the new Enhancement tree, as well as some discussion on the Elemental tree.
- If you don't see your class or spec here, don't despair. Check your class category or the Echoes of Doom permapage. Chances are it was written last week or will be written soon.
3.0.2 Achievement and Miscellaneous Guides
- Looking to start your achievement gaining quick and easy-like? See if you've gained all of these easy goals yet.
- If you're an in-game angler, there's a few easy achievements you can start on today, as soon as the servers come up, if they're stable.
- Even if you haven't fished too much, you can still go after Old Ironjaw.
- Check out some of the other tradeskill-based achievements as well.
- If you're more into the PvP side of achievements, check out our guide to getting some quick Warsong Gulch achievements.
- If you're a gatherer, you may have something extra to show for all that skinning or digging around in the dirt.
- If you're looking to start up Inscription, let's discuss the basics.
- With Wrath raising the bar on hardware, will your computer be ready?
Odds and Ends
- Paid Character Customization could be on the horizon for WoW.
- What's coming in the next few patches? We have a few ideas.
- The BlizzCon bear also showed up game in patch 3.0.2.
- Here's a fun bug if you were cool enough to play a Gnome Rogue: Gnome Rogues on the Shadow Council spontaneously gained the ability to speak Draconic.
- Retribution Paladins are getting quite a few small tweaks. Unfortunately, not all of them are awesome.
- Are you planning to play a Death Knight right out the gate in Wrath? We look at if it's worth it to stop and grind the reputations along the way.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Wrath of the Lich King






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
heal Oct 21st 2008 7:37AM
Retribution Hunters?
Do we really need another ret tree?
Especially for a HUNTER? ~_^
Osi Oct 21st 2008 12:02PM
You responded to the wrong story? Ret Hunter? Where? lol
Nightshifter Oct 21st 2008 7:54AM
Went into SM Library to snag my key, prowled all the way back to Doan, killed him real quick and before I could loot the box, he respawned. lolwtf I killed him again, and again and again, until I filled my bags. Stopped at the houndmaster on the way out, except he respawned before I could kill him and his dogs, so I had to keep pulling the fight out the door so I could go back in a loot. Bizarre. Oh and sadly all those blues were worth very little, maybe made 2g.
Nightshifter Oct 21st 2008 7:56AM
*to loot - I'm going to bed.
Zaor Oct 21st 2008 8:02AM
Retribution Hunters? Why didn't I see that tree when I re-specced last! Definitely would have tried it out.
Ricardo Oct 21st 2008 8:03AM
Yeah, aside from the problems with the Realms the patch's been a blast so far. However, Blizz needs to double-check the Achievement system badly, not only due to the problems with the so-called "retroactive" achievements, but the date record system seems to be messed up too, and somehow my Level 21 Warrior character seems to have dealt a 1111 dmg maximum hit, which is complete bull***t, my highest crit so far has been 189 white with the Taskmaster's Axe.
Hope this maintenance addresses some of those issues.
Nextweek Oct 21st 2008 8:29AM
Maybe the patch is Ok but what we are seeing is a return of lost players coming to look at what has improved?
I have seen population levels fall and now they are the highest I can remember.
Its surely just server overload, they need to spread people out again.
Azri Oct 21st 2008 8:17AM
Yesterday Nathrezim crashed and deleted everyone's auctions. It was AWESOME. *sigh*
Please let this maintenance fix this crap...
Unmei Oct 21st 2008 1:22PM
::cries with her fellow Nathrezim'er:: I know your pain well. :P I'm still gunna heckle the GM about the money loss that occured I got out bidded at the last minute..... oh well at least I know that scrub lost more money then I did.
Axolotl Oct 21st 2008 8:21AM
And once more, a weenie like Arugal will see my level 70 paladin storming towards him, just for the achievement.
Might aswell look for a group of lowbies to boost, as long as I don't have to keep them alive.
(OK to tag along, but I wont save ya)
Gnosh Oct 21st 2008 8:23AM
Durotan (US) was bumping up against its server limit as well, at about 7-8 PST. We almost called off an Ony run, thankfully someone got inside. Got my head!
Justin Nolan Oct 21st 2008 8:30AM
People need to stop QQing about everything being too easy now. For many, this is a chance to get to see additional content before the expansion hits. My guild is a new guild of first time 70s. We are getting to try out new content we were previously undergeared for. If you are QQing about this, I expect you've gone 6/6 in Sunwell. And in that case, stop being such elitists and let the rest of us who havent been playing for 4 years get to enjoy that content. It's not a matter of only being able to do it on easy-mode. It's a matter of there not being enough time between now and the expansion. And if we waited till level 80, that would have REALLY been easy mode.
Lesley G Oct 21st 2008 10:20AM
This. Yes. Thank you.
I mean, really, people are having to create derogatory words for "started playing after I did" or "leveled more slowly"
dengar Oct 21st 2008 8:34AM
I really haaaate the decision Blizz made about there not being a Honor reset. The reset was plain and simply fair but now those players who have been 70 for a long time and haven't spent their honor have an unfair advantage when wotlk ships agenst players who just hit 70 recently or are about to. And they honestly want to balance the honor reset by raising the prices of honor gear to such an amount that makes that min 20k honor like one tenth of the actual amount? Well that reaaaaly fixes the issue here, and what about the new players who will give wow a shot after the expansion hits? The honor doesn't really matter if you just want to have some fun with PvP but buying wotlk pvp gear with honor gear when you are not 70 when the expansion hits will really be a pain in the @ss in my opinion =/
superfrank Oct 21st 2008 9:23AM
I think the deal is - the gear costs more honour but you earn more in battlegrounds. So the people who've saved honour haven't saved up as much as you might think.
dengar Oct 21st 2008 8:37AM
lol why the hell did my comment pop up in the wrong article? T_T
Mackenzie Oct 21st 2008 8:56AM
I'm pretty sure it's the achievements/statistics on constant update rather than the horseman.
Last year, things were fine.
Mackenzie Oct 21st 2008 8:52AM
Could solve most of the problems just removing the statistics aspect of it.
Does Blizzard or ANYONE (including myself) really need to know how many times I /lol 'ed?
CorishMG Oct 21st 2008 8:51AM
As much fun as it has been to overpower stuff that used to require thought, tactics, and paying attention to small details... I hope they fix it and make it more difficult again - at least for the level 65-70 instances and raids.
Otherwise, it's going to get really boring and I think a lot of people will end up going elsewhere for a challenge. It doesn't need to be insanely difficult for most of us to be happy, but we want to feel like it's at least a challenge.
Rob Oct 21st 2008 9:26AM
This. My BT guild downed illidan for the first time, and one-shotted every other boss. This was a month after the guild nearly disbanded, so we weren't at our best needless to say. I went through Kara with a bunch of scrubs, Curator didn't last past the first 'turn blue' phase (whatever you call it). Raids have been nerfed into the ground. I imagine a fresh group of 70s in greens/blues can now handle Kara/ZA and SSC/TK. It's just insane. I also hope the tuning at 80 actually works. It used to be hardish before. Now its no challenge at all.