Slow Fall castable on others in 3.0.8
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 18th 2008 at 5:00PM
Christian caught this one in his last Arcane Brilliance column, but I figured the rest of us non-Mages might like to know as well: Slow Fall will be castable on others in patch 3.0.8. Very exciting -- while there are a few other Slow Fall buffs in the game (and lots of parachutes, from all the vehicles in Northrend), now all you need to jump down from a high point in the game is a friendly Mage. We expect to see a nice jump up in the number of Slow Fall videos. Which, come to think of it, we haven't seen that many of lately. Guess the whole "flying mounts" thing has made Slow Falling for long distances not so interesting.And while we're at it, before you say that you need Slow Fall to get the Going Down? achievement, you don't. First of all, it won't work, and secondly, there's a better way to do it: as you've probably heard by now, you can do it just by jumping off of the platform on the Scryers Tier in Shattrath onto the little canopy hanging over from the Lower City below. Everybody has their own place for that, of course, but that's the easiest.
Still, it'll be nice to have Slow Fall for everyone -- we can throw it on the list with Levitate as a class ability that's been spread around a bit. Is it still too limited to include in game mechanics? Could we maybe have an instance boss in the future that we fight with while falling down a long mineshaft, or on a falling platform?
Filed under: Mage, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Classes, Wrath of the Lich King, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Zephyrion Dec 18th 2008 5:05PM
All I have to say is:
(Nekkid Priest + Epic Ground Mount + Temple of Storms)*Levitate = Win.
My only regret is at the time I didn't have epix flight, so I couldn't keep up with him as he soared above, past, and beyond Dalaran on his nonstop one-way flight.
>.
Olloth Dec 18th 2008 5:05PM
Archimonde you were thrown into the air and needed to use a provided item to slowfall yourself down to prevent from dying.
It's not really a 'new' boss concept that hasn't been tried.
CursedSeishi Dec 18th 2008 5:11PM
eh, I'm a paladin so that going down achievement is easy.
Before Wrath came out, I was hearthed to the Aldor in, so I'm used to running and jumping off the edge and bubbling. It just so happens that when the achievements came out, and I did that, I got the going down achievement lol
James Dec 18th 2008 5:13PM
I used paladin BOP to get that achievment for all my toons =)
Kakistocracy Dec 18th 2008 9:47PM
Yeah, I don't get why people keep looking for places that are just high enough when using the aldor raise and a friendly paladin works just fine.
Draenors Dec 19th 2008 9:13AM
Why not just jump off the Scryer's Tier? No Paladin needed.
Shevaresh Dec 18th 2008 5:27PM
New concept entirely? Nope. But it does make raid encounters like that easier.
Maybe this time the Old God won't just teleport us to the stomach, we slowfall our way down there. Or maybe he'll blow up the ground, and we fall to our deaths unless we have slow fall.
Hell, I'm tempted to suggest to my guild that we finally go kill Archi when this hits. We still haven't; full BT/T5/T4 clears, but no Archimonde or any SWP bosses.
As for the Going Down achievement - honestly, it doesn't need to be mentioned in every post. No, really. It's not that hard of an achievement; if people are interested in it, there's dozens of places to read about it.
I would love a boss fight in a mine shaft, though I would prefer less in the way of "watch as you fall uncontrollably" and more "jump from platform to platform" like an old Nintendo game. Just don't make it Nintendo Hard.
If a Hunter on a Mammoth jumped off of a platform on Storm Peaks and had Levitate on, would he slow fall? How far could he go?
dfgreat1 Dec 18th 2008 5:18PM
Awesome. I use levitate constantly! with Glyph of Levitate. Now Everyone can stand on top of the statue pedestalby the Stormwind bank!!!
3drage Dec 18th 2008 5:24PM
Great, I'll add this to my list of things people will bug me for as a mage. Port plz? Can I hv watr plx? SLOW FALL ME OFF TO MINES! Much like portal reagents, slow fall costs resources, and people rarely compensate.
FlameFlash Dec 18th 2008 5:38PM
There's that minor glyph of slow fall. Helps clear out a bag space and IMHO is much more useful than polymorphing things into pengiuns.
Dah Dec 18th 2008 8:23PM
Well, glyph of slow fall is cheap and easily fits in with other minor glyphs since none of them are game changing anyways. However, even with this, you do realize that this is part of being a mage, right? If you wanted a pure dpser that didn't have a vendor/taxi role, then something more like a rogue probably would have been a better choice. Conjured food/water and portals are pretty much a staple of the class. If this really bothers you that much, then maybe you should re-evaluate your class selection.
3drage Dec 18th 2008 9:23PM
Being a small goods vendor is not the role of a mage. Sorry.
blkmasta55555 Dec 18th 2008 5:25PM
"And while we're at it, before you say that you need Slow Fall to get the Going Down? achievement, you don't. First of all, it won't work..."
...uh?
While I agree it's not required by any means, it most certainly does work. I got the achievement on both beta and live realms this way.
kittytrainer Dec 18th 2008 5:32PM
negative, it cant be done w/ slow fall. did it last night didnt work
darren Dec 18th 2008 5:43PM
It can be done with slow fall. You just need to have fallen the 65 yards in free fall first. So: jump -> fall -> slow fall right before the ground. As long as that center fall is 65 yards, you win!
Aeneas Dec 19th 2008 6:42AM
Actually that is incorrect.
Blizzard confirmed that for it to be validated you have to jump "from a hard surface" and land "on a hard surface" with no slow fallng effects at all.
Landing in water does not work.
Dismounting from flying mount does not work.
Slow fall, Levitate, etc do not work.
Objects like parachutes do not work.
The only reason Paladins and Mage can use certain talents is because it absorbes the damage, it does not affect the fall.
On a side note I find it just another step in the "Let's make every class the same" mentality Blizzard seem to be on.
Levitate and Slow Fall are hardly vital, just a perk...
Wyred Dec 19th 2008 6:19AM
Levitate doesn't work for the going down achievement, can't imagine slowfall is different. Tried it from a very high height, didn't work. Pally bubbles etc do work. You can get this from a flying mount, you don't need to jump
Thyago Dec 19th 2008 6:31AM
Ice Block works though, right?
Gotta test tonite :P
Kaphik Dec 18th 2008 5:30PM
Let's say you're in Arathi Basin, and a group of you are at the mill. Someone calls out a huge incoming to the Blacksmith. If you have a mage and/or a priest or two up there, and at least one death knight, you have just redefined "rapid response" in WoW.
Path of Frost, then Levitate or Slowfall on everyone, and you all jump off. Those that miss the flag will be able to run across the water due to the Path of Frost. Also works well at the mine.
I kind of can't wait to do this. :D
Salacia Dec 19th 2008 12:15AM
i'm a priest and i love love LOVE doing this, especially now that glyph of levitate means i don't have to worry about keeping stacks of light feathers on me too!