Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPTR Patch 3.3: Patch notes updated
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 27th 2009 at 7:53PM
Some major highlights (although you should really read everything after the break, all of it is very important):
- Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon System will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
- Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
- The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon System and has been updated.
- Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
- Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.
- LFG channel has returned to being a realm-wide channel accessible in any city!
General
- Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.
- Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.
- Sacred Shield: The damage absorption effect from this ability now triggers only once every 30 seconds.
- Infusion of Light: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the effect of Sacred Shield by 12/24 seconds.
- Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.
- This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
- Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
- Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
- Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
- The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
- The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
- Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
- Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the "Quests" section for details).
- Level-approp
riate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons. - Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
- Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player's inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon System.
- Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
- Pick-Up Groups
- Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
- As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
- Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
- A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
- Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon System tool for 15 minutes.
- If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon System queue.
- A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
- Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon System will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
- The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon System and has been updated.
- Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
- Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.
There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing "/LFR."
- Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
- While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
- Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader's name, the raid information (number of people the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.
- The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon system interface.
- Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
- Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.
- Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran.
- Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Patches, News items
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 10)
bluerobin427 Oct 27th 2009 9:45PM
The way they worded trading, though, it looks like you won't be able to trade the disenchanted components after you DE them unless they somehow tag them, which seems needlessly complicated.
bluerobin427 Oct 27th 2009 9:47PM
bah... just noticed the post above me that said what I said in an easier to understand way.
Bloomindraal Oct 29th 2009 2:25AM
I'm an enchanter to and I dont have an issue with this system, in fact the more I think about it the more I like this system. I'm always going to roll greed or DE on an item. If I win a greed roll and then then DE its my business.
What this change does do it stops those enchanters who at the beginning of the run say to everyone to pass so they can DE and then hearth out without ever sharing the DE mats, and from an enchanter's perspective I hate sitting at the end of the run DE'ing stuff and distributing the shards.
Good change IMO and I'm looking forward to running a few PuG's after the change.
Sinthar Oct 30th 2009 4:22AM
@Fierna
I quite agree, if enchanters HAVE to DE for pugs, then any cloth gained from being a tailor, skins, ore mined, or herbs gathered should ALSO be up for grabs. It makes no sense for one of the harder and more expensive profs to level should have to then give away the gains that you have earnt (ie the ability to gain mats), whilst the skinners miners and herbers all get to keep what they gather through their skill
Sir7 Nov 5th 2009 7:48AM
This is huge! Man I feel like leveling an alt right now...
Servetus Oct 27th 2009 8:38PM
Sacred Shield triggers only once every 30 seconds? Absorb 600 damage, twice a minute? Whee! Clearly it's the paladin's turn in the barrel again.
Death knights, we feel your pain.
Taladan Oct 27th 2009 9:47PM
There is a hidden scaling with spell power in Sacred Shield. SSes from Holy Paladins are stronger and absorb more damage than, say, prot paladins.
Hidden values are not new, though. Righteous Fury tooltip says that holy damage creates more threat, but RF also gives melee attacks more threat (about 40%, it seems.)
MazokuRanma Oct 28th 2009 3:41AM
Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it seems to me that the following line about changing Infusion of Light to lower the cooldown on the -effect- of Sacred Shield means that it can trigger every 6 seconds (Reduced by 24) if it was cast by a Holy paladin with said talent. It seems to me that it's basically nerfing the ability for Retribution and Protection paladins, and turning the spell into basically a Holy talent.
Did anyone else see it this way or is it just me?
jbodar Oct 28th 2009 5:42AM
@MazokuRanma
You're exactly right. Prot and Ret are getting the beatdown. They should just make SS a 11-pt Holy talent already and get it over with.
Hasjarl Oct 27th 2009 8:38PM
lol @ people complaining about WotF getting nerfed.
All I have to say is this:
You can't tell me WotF isn't OP as crap compared to, oh I dunno, dwarf racials?
Rollo Oct 27th 2009 10:35PM
Troll racials are the most OP. Blizzard keep nerfing them, but they always grow back!
Big Shoe Oct 28th 2009 1:24PM
You mean those great dwarven racials like Treasure Finding, which leaves you with one "ability" that does absolutely nothing except let you find cheese in Azeroth, now that treasure chests have been patched out of Outlands and Northrend?
Over the years, numerous Horde players have cried foul over my OP human racial that gives me 10% gains to reputation. This translates to a day or two less rep grinding before I hit Exalted and the racial does nothing for me. I point instead to the Tauren 5% health bonus which just keeps getting better with every piece of stam gear the Tauren picks up.
Blizzard's pretense at "balance" in WoW is laughable at best.
Eyhk Oct 27th 2009 8:38PM
Will you be able to ignore peeps cross-realm? if not, the LFG system will still pair you up with people cross-realm who've you had bad experiences with in the past. It will be up to you (or your mod) to remember which realm/character you'd rather not group with, not to mention the 15 minute deserter buff or the hassle of voting to kick out.
Also, pure melee can't roll on spellpower, but what about the other way around?
I'm pretty sure rogues will be pissed when mages and locks roll on a pure melee dagger.
Noscy Oct 27th 2009 8:56PM
"Also, pure melee can't roll on spellpower, but what about the other way around?
I'm pretty sure rogues will be pissed when mages and locks roll on a pure melee dagger."
This is what we call an example, use your powers of deduction.
Example: Something that serves to illustrate or explain a rule. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/example)
Fear not StabbyMcStabbins, your daggers won't be able to be taken from you.
Eyhk Oct 27th 2009 9:20PM
@Noscy, I appreciate that you so highly value my powers of deduction. I hate to break it out to you this way but I'm sorry to say my powers of deduction have no weight on what actually gets implemented in-game by Blizzard.
The patch note specifically says "pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items" and ends the clause. Nowhere does it say "pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items for example" or "and vice-versa" or "and pure casters will be unable to roll on melee items".
So, unless Blizzard has made a mistake in the wording, the rules are quite clear.
Also, my only rogue is a classic lvl 19 twink so I wasn't really worrying about myself, just pointing out something that can easily be misunderstood ;-)
Noscy Oct 27th 2009 9:56PM
Lets take it further then,
"Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item"
This sentence basically covers it, which is then followed by the example "pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type ..."
Now there is nothing stopping a rogue who so happens to have a Spell Power ring in his/hers inventory and equipping it... correct? Whilst you don't stand to benefit from it, but you can equip it. This obviously goes for melee daggers for mages/lock/priests as well.
The problem with the kind of clarification that you desire from Bliz is over the top.
ie.
Warriors can't roll on spell power items (rings, Necklaces, trinkets, staves, daggars, maces, swords, plate spell power)
Repeat this 10 more times and it starts to get a little long winded.
jurandr Oct 27th 2009 10:13PM
You'll be able to friend people cross-realm and faction providing you know their battlenet handle. I'd assume you can also ignore them.
Eyhk Oct 27th 2009 11:12PM
@Noscy Nope I'm sorry but you are just wrong. Let me spell it out for you.
Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in "three ways"
"three ways" as in three separate rules.
These rules are for NEED rolls. Anybody can Greed any item.
1. You must be able to equip the item.
Example) 2 pure classes, one pure melee, one pure spellpower.
* Rogues: all leather armor, cloth armor, necklaces, rings, cloaks, shirts, tabards, trinkets, and all weapons except 2-handers and wands.
* Mages: all cloth armor, necklaces, rings, cloaks, shirts, tabards, trinkets, and weapons only including staves, wands, daggers and one-hand swords.
* class-bound items are an exception I won't bother including.
2. Pure melee will unable to roll on spell power items.
This further limits the choices but ONLY for the Rogue in my "example".
* Rogues: all leather armor, cloth armor, necklaces, rings, cloaks, shirts, tabards, trinkets, and all weapons except 2-handers, wands AND ANYTHING WITH SPELLPOWER.
* Mages: Same as rule 1.
3. Classes are limited to their dominant armor type.
This further limits the choices but ONLY for the Rogue in my example.
* Rogues: all leather armor ONLY, cloth armor, necklaces, rings, cloaks, shirts, tabards, trinkets, and all weapons except 2-handers, wands AND ANYTHING WITH SPELLPOWER.
* Mages: Same as rule 1.
With these rules in place, Rogues are unable to roll on any weapons with spell-power, but still Mages can roll on pure-melee daggers, feral druid staves, and pure-melee one-hand swords.
Hope this clarifies my clarification more clearly.
Eyhk Oct 27th 2009 11:14PM
Edit: remove cloth armor from Rule 3 for Rogues. Copy-paste FTL
Noscy Oct 27th 2009 11:33PM
Might have to agree to disagree, I'll eat humble pie if your prediction is right. But I cannot see the logic in Need system giving an unfair advantage to Mages and Co because it wasn't explicitly stated.
Greed system seems to be more universal, if a rogue wants something and greed rolls for it he runs the risk of a mage nabbing it AND VICE-VERSA.