Tuesday Morning Post: Daniel mostly talks about patch 4.0.6 and maybe a little bit of RIFT
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Feb 8th 2011 at 5:00AM
That said, I'm not too bummed that the beta is over (for now), since we got plenty of juicy new stuff coming after today's extended downtime. Patch 4.0.6 should be dropping today, and you should definitely read over the patch notes. There are long-requested (or unrequested) buffs and dreaded nerfs a-plenty.
In other news, Love is the Air on the live servers as well, along with quite a few bugs related to said holiday. Luckily, most of those bugs should be fixed in this patch, and we'll be able to stop obsessing over Cairne and Magni's deaths again. We also got a surprisingly early announcement for BlizzCon 2011. All these stories and more await you below. With today's extended downtime of 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, you should have plenty of time to read it all.
Hot news and features
- BlizzCon 2011 has been announced for Oct. 21 and 22.
- Luck of the Draw will be getting a lot luckier in patch 4.0.6.
- Blizzard has announced that all future rated battlegrounds will be 10v10.
- You still have one more day to enter our guild of the month contest!
- CM Nethaera has a guide for using the official forums.
- Nethaera also answered some questions about the CM process.
- Blizzard's also put out a guide to PvP conquest points.
- Mathew McCurley has a few things he wants to see Blizzard crib from other MMOs.
- Scattered Shots covers DPS dancing and what other classes should know about hunters.
- Blood Pact begins Bastion of Twilight for warlocks.
- Lichborne looks at professions for level 85 death knights.
- Totem Talk looks at Vortex Pinnacle for restoration shaman and Blackwing Descent for enhancement shaman.
- Shifting Perspectives looks back at 2010 for druids. We also have a guide to patch 4.0.6 feral changes, a guide to gearing your feral cat, and a balance guide to Throne of the Four Winds.
- Encrypted Text looks at haste and energy regeneration for rogues.
- Spiritual Guidance looks at professions for shadow priests and a guide to healing Bastion of Twilight's early stages.
- The Light And How To Swing It looks at retribution in patch 4.0.6.
- Arcane Brilliance has a mage survival guide.
- The Care And Feeding of Warriors opines on fury talents.
- Raid Rx looks at the art of healer feedback.
- Gold Capped discusses the ins and outs of selling enchanting scrolls and how to farm Maelstrom Crystals.
- Blood Sport talks about successful PvP attitudes.
- Addon Spotlight discusses a little of this and a little of that this week.
- WoW Rookie gives you a basic rundown on spell interrupts.
- Ready Check helps you get your raid off the ground.
- Josh Myers believes in gear simulations.
- Check out the latest installment of Safe Passage.
- Know Your lore looks at Mathias Shaw and discusses the reason the Titans haven't returned.
- Jane McGonigal thinks you're awesome.
- J!NX and Blizzard are holding a T-shirt design contest.
- The Lawbringer looks at hacking and virtual currency.
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Bigred_ore Feb 8th 2011 5:07AM
Please Stop it with the RIFT stuff period. I come here to read articles by professional writers on the topic of World of Warcraft. This RIFT business on a WoW Site is getting old. If I wished to hear about RIFT I would check out Massively.
SR Feb 8th 2011 5:22AM
Meh, agreed.
Why aren't we talking about Sacco's fabulous hair, instead, huh?
Mr. Tastix Feb 8th 2011 6:02AM
The irony in this is that people over on the Rift forums want people to shut up about WoW.
Tondef Feb 8th 2011 6:49AM
And well, Blizzard kind of sat on it's collective butt for the last 3 weeks piddling around with 4.0.6 and going to Vegas. So the only game news was Rift, unless you wanted to see an ongoing tally of the thousands of forum posts on the problems with WoW that were pretty much ignored until this patch.
Alex Ziebart Feb 8th 2011 6:54AM
We're *probably* done now. With the exception of Mat McCurley, all of us that were in the beta have gotten the opportunity to post a picture of their character. ;)
...well, you'll still see it in MMO Roundup every week, but that's kind of why it's there.
quickshiv Feb 8th 2011 7:37AM
Please stop posting about anything outside wow. Nothing else exists and I don't want to know about it. While your at it GET OFF MY LAWN /shakefist
quickshiv Feb 8th 2011 7:56AM
Alex, I forgot to mention, thanks for the rift information. It got me to apply for the beta. I liked the game quite a bit. The PQ aspect and character development are amazing. I can't wait to see how endgame shakes out.
The only bad part of RIFT are the fools in the starting chat screaming "wow clone". The only people that would think this is a wow clone have never played an MMO that was made before wow or are such fanboys they can't stand the thought of another MMO existing. You could just as easily make the case that every new game in a genre is a clone of all the previous ones. You can also point out almost any product in the market virtual or not and find another one just like it.
Joker Feb 8th 2011 8:51AM
They are probably getting payed off to promote Rift on a WoW site since no one actually likes the game and the games races look like crap so taking a screenshot of those hideous things kinda gives it away.
It's a Joystiq site so I know they aren't above whoring themselves out for a couple of bucks (Joystiq does it for reviews, GotY, and other stuff).
New accounts created over on MMOChampion are making tons of posts hyping up Rift getting the weak minded idiots that believe what ever you tell them all excited for it.
Jorges Feb 8th 2011 9:18AM
You would be surprised how people can't stop talking about wow on the RIFT forums, both normal and beta only.
Even in game, channels 4. [1 - 9] and up are plagued with WoW talk in every beta event.
KvanCetre Feb 8th 2011 9:33AM
@Joker
Really? All I've heard is good things. A coworker and I both did the last two betas and had a blast. Its not better than wow, but its the most polished I've seen any beta.
For me, its something to play now that I'm in my burnout phase of wow.
Bapo Feb 8th 2011 12:45PM
it looks like there's a...
/sunglasses
rift in the community
YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Drakkenfyre Feb 8th 2011 5:09AM
Ok, the RIFT thing isn't funny anymore.
Razzanor Feb 8th 2011 5:14AM
Stop posting stuff about RIFT, damnit. We do not want RIFT.
WE DO NOT WANT RIFT!
Cantafrond Feb 8th 2011 5:30AM
The better RIFT turns out, the more WoW will be pressured to better itself.
And let's not forget: "No king rules forever, my son."
SR Feb 8th 2011 6:06AM
Meh... From screenshots, it's obvious that RIFT ripped the hell off of WoW. They could make knockoffs as epic as they want them to seem, but... It's still a knockoff.
However, I've never played Rift, and I know little to nothing about it. I'll keep the proper judgments if/when I decide to check it out myself.
sherekhan88 Feb 8th 2011 6:24AM
@SR: I'm liking the freedom their class system seem to provide, though they copied THAT a bit from Runes of Magic. The problems is of course, of balancing, and the inevitable Min/Maxing.
And yet I think they got it. The number of permutations is IMMENSE in Rift, and that alone might make it so NOONE is going to try to really figure out Min/Maxing.
I'm personally though, hoping for Guild of Wars 2. Rift still follows WoW's press-and-delay style of gameplay, while GoW2 seems a lot more action-oriented and with positional and through LoS requirements, and a little bit of physics.
Either way, I'm signed up for both Betas.
Mr. Tastix Feb 8th 2011 6:28AM
@SR: It's a lot like WoW but different in a few ways (many are looks and the Rifts are fun), we haven't seen end-game content so nobody but the alpha peeps (who are under an NDA) can really judge that. The class/soul system, whilst confusing at first, is really epic, too (in my opinion, naturally).
It does things a bit better than WoW does, in general. Is it like WoW? Yes, of course. WoW was a lot like EverQuest but look at how popular it is now.
VioletArrows Feb 8th 2011 5:26AM
I think I smell the April Fool's theme... :3
(*doesn't care about the RIFT talk one way or the other*)
SR Feb 8th 2011 5:35AM
Starting from February? >.>
VioletArrows Feb 8th 2011 11:02AM
Step 1: Annoy the hell out of everyone with it now.
Step 2: Lull them into a false sense of security when it does go away.
Step 3: RIFT-rolled.