WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogobig.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2015 AOL, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. View our terms of service here: http://legal.aol.com/terms-of-service/full-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[Guide to Hallow's End 2014]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/10/18/guide-to-hallows-end-2014/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/10/18/guide-to-hallows-end-2014/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/10/18/guide-to-hallows-end-2014/#comments Headless Horseman comic. Hallow's End 2014 begins on Saturday, Oct. 18 and runs through Saturday, Nov. 1 this year. As with most of the game's holidays, Hallow's End is required for the yearlong meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been that grants the Violet Proto-Drake. Completing the required Hallow's End achievements will also award the title the Hallowed.

In 2011, Blizzard added some major updates and improvements to the holiday, changing Tricky Treats from edible confection into a form of currency that players can use to buy pets, masks, and wands. This year has some new loot available -- three costumes for your pug pals, and a new costume for players as well, the Exquisite Costume Set: "The Lich King." And for all you pet collectors out there, this year you'll find the usual Creepy Crate, Sinister Squashling and Feline Familiar as well as Widget the Departed and Cursed Birman, two new ghostly kitties to add to your collection. Toy collectors will want to make note of the Little Wickerman and add him to your Toybox if you haven't already.

As with most of our holiday guides, I've arranged the achievements in the rough order they should be completed, noting which achievements are required for the meta and which aren't.

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Guide to Hallow's End 2014 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Oct 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guide-to-hallows-endguide-to-hallows-end-2014guide-to-hallows-end-achievementshallows-endhallows-end-2014hallows-end-achievementshallows-end-guidehallows-end-guide-2014headless-horsemanheadless-horseman-achievementshow-to-do-hallows-endhow-to-do-hallows-end-achievements (Allison Robert) Sat, 18 Oct 2014 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Guide to Brewfest 2014 achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/09/20/guide-to-brewfest-2014-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/09/20/guide-to-brewfest-2014-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/09/20/guide-to-brewfest-2014-achievements/#comments Brewfest is back, as is Coren Direbrew, his cronies, and some of the easiest trinkets you'll ever farm for from the holiday boss. Now, you can get better gear for yourself and approximately 37,000 alts off the Timeless Isle if you've a mind to grind, but killing Coren can get you some quick and easy ilvl 470 trinkets without having to suffer endless "Is Huolon up?" spam in general chat.

That might be worth it. It's up to you.

Anyway, right now there's no indication that Blizzard has changed the holiday in any substantive manner, and although some new items have been found on the PTR and beta, they are not on live servers, which means the run of achievements is pretty much the same. This year, Brewfest runs from Saturday, Sept. 20 to Monday, Oct. 6. As always, check your in-game calendar for your server's exact start and end times, as they'll differ slightly by time zone. The Brewfest meta Brewmaster is required for the year-long What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so you'll want to get this done if you're working toward a Violet Proto-Drake.

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Guide to Brewfest 2014 achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 20 Sep 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> brewfestbrewfest-2014brewfest-achievementsbrewfest-holidaybrewmasterhow-to-do-brewfesthow-to-do-brewfest-achievementswhat-a-long-strange-trip-its-beenwow-brewfestwow-brewfest-2014wow-brewfest-achievementswow-brewfest-guide (Allison Robert) Sat, 20 Sep 2014 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Challenge modes 101: The beginning, the middle, and the end]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/20/challenge-modes-101-the-beginning-the-middle-and-the-end/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/20/challenge-modes-101-the-beginning-the-middle-and-the-end/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/20/challenge-modes-101-the-beginning-the-middle-and-the-end/#comments This is the sixth in a series on getting challenge modes done before the Warlords of Draenor content patch. You will find all the articles in the series here.

Challenge modes can't be queued for like normal or heroic dungeons; you must travel to the instances and start them yourself (at least until you start getting golds and can teleport to them). Doing so will illuminate why so few people enjoyed having to do this in the age before the Dungeon Finder.

Right-click your character portrait, scroll down to instance difficulty, and click the Challenge Mode option. The instance portal will change to the hourglass graphic above. Enter and you'll find the path forward blocked by a yellow mist with a sundial in front and a list of the dungeon's requirements on your right. Clicking the sundial will give you the option to start the challenge. Once you accept, you'll get a countdown from 5, and then you're off to the races. Be sure to pre-pot!

Continue reading Challenge modes 101: The beginning, the middle, and the end

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Challenge modes 101: The beginning, the middle, and the end originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> challenge-modechallenge-mode-dungeonschallenge-mode-guidechallenge-modeschallenge-modes-101starting-challenge-modeswow-challenge-modes (Allison Robert) Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[You ask the impossible: Finding classic world-drop recipes]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/you-ask-the-impossible-finding-classic-world-drop-recipes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/you-ask-the-impossible-finding-classic-world-drop-recipes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/you-ask-the-impossible-finding-classic-world-drop-recipes/#comments I've been running a Challenge Modes 101 series recently to help players who are scrambling to get their transmog sets, mounts, and titles before the axe falls, and our commenter Drewbob pointed something out that I hadn't considered. The use of Invisibility Potions is a key part of the strategy for gold timers, but the recipe is a world drop in classic Azeroth. If you weren't lucky enough to get a drop while leveling, or buy it when it was more commonly available on the auction house, you may find it very difficult to get these days. You can't really farm for it, and on smaller servers, you've got to wonder if it's ever available at all. I bought my Invisibility Potion recipe back during Burning Crusade, and now that Drewbob's mentioned the sheer difficulty of finding it these days, I'm so grateful that I was always too lazy to switch professions.

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You ask the impossible: Finding classic world-drop recipes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Aug 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> auction-housechallenge-modesfarminginvisibility-potioninvisibility-potion-recipeworld-dropworld-drop-recipesworld-drops (Allison Robert) Tue, 19 Aug 2014 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Challenge modes 101: Ranking the dungeons by difficulty]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/challenge-modes-101-ranking-the-dungeons-by-difficulty/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/challenge-modes-101-ranking-the-dungeons-by-difficulty/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/challenge-modes-101-ranking-the-dungeons-by-difficulty/#comments This is the fifth in a series on getting challenge modes done before the Warlords of Draenor content patch. You will find all the articles in the series here.

There's no universal agreement on which dungeon is the easiest or most difficult; groups with different CC and cooldown options don't experience dungeons in the same way. However, there's some consensus on which dungeons demand the most effort:
  • Easy: Gate, Scholomance, and Scarlet Halls
  • Intermediate: Temple, Shado-Pan Monastery, and Scarlet Monastery
  • Hard: Mogu'Shan, Siege, and Stormstout
I prefer to classify them somewhat differently.

Continue reading Challenge modes 101: Ranking the dungeons by difficulty

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Challenge modes 101: Ranking the dungeons by difficulty originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> challenge-modechallenge-mode-difficultyChallenge-mode-dungeonschallenge-mode-guidechallenge-modeschallenge-modes-101how-difficult-are-challenge-modesranking-challenge-modes-by-difficultywow-challenge-modes (Allison Robert) Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Challenge modes 101: Pull McNasty]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/18/challenge-modes-101-pull-mcnasty/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/18/challenge-modes-101-pull-mcnasty/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/18/challenge-modes-101-pull-mcnasty/#comments This is the fourth in a series on getting challenge modes done before the Warlords of Draenor content patch. You will find all the articles in the series here.

Pull McNasty (noun: 'púl mik-'NAS-tē): The worst and most difficult pull in a challenge mode dungeon, and most common point of failure for a group attempting to beat the gold timer.

Learning how to survive "Pull McNasty" is an essential challenge mode skill. Once your group knows how to coordinate its cooldowns, stuns, and interrupts, each successive McNasty will simply be a matter of tailoring that rotation to each dungeon's context so you're not pulling faster than your cooldown timers can support.

I've assembled a list of the various Pull McNasties past the cut.

Continue reading Challenge modes 101: Pull McNasty

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Challenge modes 101: Pull McNasty originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 18 Aug 2014 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> challenge-modechallenge-mode-dungeonschallenge-mode-guidechallenge-modeschallenge-modes-101wow-challenge-modes (Allison Robert) Mon, 18 Aug 2014 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Challenge modes 101: Farming invis pots and how to use them]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/15/challenge-modes-101-farming-invis-pots-and-how-to-use-them/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/15/challenge-modes-101-farming-invis-pots-and-how-to-use-them/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/15/challenge-modes-101-farming-invis-pots-and-how-to-use-them/#comments This is the third in a series on getting challenge modes done before the Warlords of Draenor content patch. You will find all the articles in the series here.

For non-mages and groups without access to the rogue's Shroud of Concealment, plan on using a lot of Invisibility Potions for challenge modes. If you're not on a big server, the odds of finding them on the auction house are low, but farming them in quantity is easy. Ghost Mushrooms grow and respawn very quickly in the Fungal Rock cave in northeastern Un'Goro, and you can get more Sungrass than you'll ever use with a few circuits around the edge of Thousand Needles. Get a potion-specced alchemist to make the pots for you.

Continue reading Challenge modes 101: Farming invis pots and how to use them

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Challenge modes 101: Farming invis pots and how to use them originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 15 Aug 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> challenge-modeChallenge-mode-dungeonschallenge-mode-guidechallenge-modeschallenge-modes-101invisibilityinvisibility-potionshroud-of-concealmentwow-challenge-modes (Allison Robert) Fri, 15 Aug 2014 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Challenge modes 101: Shopping list]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/14/challenge-modes-101-shopping-list/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/14/challenge-modes-101-shopping-list/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/14/challenge-modes-101-shopping-list/#comments
This is the second in a series on getting challenge modes done before the Warlords of Draenor content patch. You will find all the articles in the series here.

Gear in challenge modes is scaled down to ilevel 463, so it's crucial to bring buffs to maximize your group's performance. You will need:
  • Extra helm if needed Legendary meta gems do not work in CMs. If your regular helm has one equipped, pick up an ilevel 463+ helm somewhere and equip it with an ordinary meta gem.
  • Restorative Amber Healers may find this useful as it will regenerate mana substantially faster than ordinary drinking. On the down side, it requires honored with the Klaxxi to buy and it's expensive. I don't use it while healing, but many do.
  • Invisibility Potions: Plan on using one of these in every dungeon with the exception of Gate, Stormstout, and possibly Mogu'shan and Siege. Rogues can eliminate the group's need for these altogether with Shroud of Concealment. Mages can use Invisibility instead and continue to use their potion cooldowns for DPS. You can also use Lesser Invisibility Potions, but I find the 18-second version easier to farm. We'll talk more about these tomorrow.

Continue reading Challenge modes 101: Shopping list

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Challenge modes 101: Shopping list originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 14 Aug 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> challenge-modechallenge-mode-buffschallenge-mode-dungeonschallenge-mode-guidechallenge-modeschallenge-modes-101challenge-modes-shopping-listwow-challenge-modes (Allison Robert) Thu, 14 Aug 2014 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Challenge modes 101: Finding a group before it's too late]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/13/challenge-modes-101-finding-a-group-before-its-too-late/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/13/challenge-modes-101-finding-a-group-before-its-too-late/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/13/challenge-modes-101-finding-a-group-before-its-too-late/#comments This is the first in a series on getting challenge modes done before the Warlords of Draenor content patch. You will find all the articles in the series here.

Because challenge modes for Mists of Pandaria dungeons are set to disappear in the Warlords of Draenor content patch, I thought it might be helpful to run a series on how to get your golds squared away before that happens.

I would advise everyone to read Adam Koebel's article from January on getting started with challenge modes. I won't repeat the excellent advice given there, but will try to expand on it for the benefit of players who are trying to get all 9 golds done quickly. Take heart: My character is living proof that no one is too dumb or incompetent to do these things.

Continue reading Challenge modes 101: Finding a group before it's too late

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Challenge modes 101: Finding a group before it's too late originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> challenge-modechallenge-mode-dungeonschallenge-mode-group-compositionchallenge-mode-guidechallenge-modeschallenge-modes-101finding-a-challenge-mode-groupwow-challenge-modes (Allison Robert) Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Do certain roles encourage bad behavior?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/12/do-certain-roles-encourage-bad-behavior/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/12/do-certain-roles-encourage-bad-behavior/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/12/do-certain-roles-encourage-bad-behavior/#comments
I still like tanking and healing more than anything else in the game, but they have their deficiencies while you're trying to smash Hexos into a well-deserved stain on the floor. In order to finish off Brawler's Guild achievements, I went DPS for the first time in 6 years and then thought, "This is actually kind of fun. Let's try some LFR and see what this puppy does in a raid."

In a matter of days, I and my hapless raid-mates encountered the following:
  • A tank who RP-walked to everything. (Spoils took forever.)
  • A tank who posted the meters after each trash pull and boss to make fun of the least well-geared DPS.
  • Tanks who couldn't be persuaded to kill the blademasters in Gates of Retributon, trapping the entire raid in perma-combat.
  • Tanks who kept taunting Thok back and forth to alternately breathe on or tail-swipe the raid.
Notice a pattern?

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Do certain roles encourage bad behavior? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 12 Aug 2014 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-rolesDPSLFRlooking-for-raidplayer-behaviorraid-findertanktankingtanks (Allison Robert) Tue, 12 Aug 2014 11:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[5 ways to get rich off an agonizing grind]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/09/5-ways-to-get-rich-off-an-agonizing-grind/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/09/5-ways-to-get-rich-off-an-agonizing-grind/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/08/09/5-ways-to-get-rich-off-an-agonizing-grind/#comments Skyshards are a bit like leprechauns: Some people never see them, and some -- usually the heavily inebriated souls awake at 2 am -- see them all the time. You need 10 for a Sky Crystal which brings Alani crashing out of her route around the Vale. Because that's the only way to get the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent, and because some of us are working on Mount Parade and will barf the next time we see the Argent Tournament, sometimes you just have to resign yourself to a long and boring grind. However, if you've got to kill thousands of mobs anyway, you might as well make the most out of it and improve your hourly genocidal "wages" with a few things:
  • Helpful Wikky's Whistle A rare drop off Major Nanners. While definitely the least helpful item on this list, the Whistle isn't expensive to use and doesn't use a trinket slot. Blow it, and a tiny hozen will appear. Talk to him, and he'll run off to forage for you while you kill mobs. Once you get to around 50, Wikky will reappear with a Bag of Helpful Things. Warning: He vanishes fairly quickly if you don't talk to him, so keep an eye on the emotes in your chat screen. He'll always announce his presence.
More past the cut!

Continue reading 5 ways to get rich off an agonizing grind

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5 ways to get rich off an agonizing grind originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Aug 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> alaniancient-guo-lai-cachegoldgolden-fleecegolden-mossgrindgrindingmajor-nannersmaking-goldmount-paradepandaria-rare-spawnspotion-of-luckraid-buffssky-crystalskyshardsspirit-of-harmonythundering-ruby-cloud-serpenttreasures-of-the-valevale-of-eternal-blossoms (Allison Robert) Sat, 09 Aug 2014 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Guide to the Midsummer Fire Festival 2014]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/06/21/guide-to-the-midsummer-fire-festival-2014/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/06/21/guide-to-the-midsummer-fire-festival-2014/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/06/21/guide-to-the-midsummer-fire-festival-2014/#comments
The Midsummer Fire Festival will run from Saturday, June 21 to Saturday, July 5 this year. As always, check your ingame calendar to determine the exact start and stop times for your server. While there aren't actually a lot of achievements associated with the Festival (the meta consists of only six), three of them require serious travel time, and one also requires a set of dangerous trips to enemy capitals. For the trouble, Alliance players are awarded the Flame Warden title, and Horde players Flame Keeper.

If you're starting from scratch, this is definitely one of the more work-intensive holidays necessary for the completion of What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. However, even a fresh character can afford to get all the rewards from holiday vendors if you're diligent about hitting all the holiday's fires, quests, and dailies.

The basics of the holiday involve "honoring" or "desecrating" a series of fires across Azeroth and Outland. For convenience, we've listed all of the fires on each continent in a specific direction so you can reach them as efficiently as possible.

Continue reading Guide to the Midsummer Fire Festival 2014

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Guide to the Midsummer Fire Festival 2014 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2014-midsummer-fire-festivalachievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-midsummer-festival-achievementsguide-to-midsummer-fire-festivalguide-to-midsummer-fire-festival-achievementshow-to-do-midsummer-fire-festivalmidsummer-fire-festivalmidsummer-fire-festival-2014midsummer-fire-festival-achievementsmidsummer-fire-festival-questsmidsummer-fire-festival-wowworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Sat, 21 Jun 2014 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Guide to Children's Week 2014]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/04/28/guide-to-childrens-week-2014/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/04/28/guide-to-childrens-week-2014/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/04/28/guide-to-childrens-week-2014/#comments In the aggregate, Children's Week is one of the most entertaining annual holidays. Dragging a small child with you around Azeroth's grand vistas and dangerous places is surprisingly fun ("I want to go to the Dark Portal." "Sure, why not?"), and it's a fairly immersive reminder that the planet's constant wars have almost certainly left a large population of orphans for each faction to rear. Also, getting a pet or the aptly-named Curmudgeon's Payoff is pretty cool too.

But.

(You knew the "but" was coming.)

Unfortunately for all of you poor sods who still don't have School of Hard Knocks, that achievement still exists. I hated it so much that it was the sole remaining achievement between me and What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been for a year. With account-wide achievements, you no longer have to do it on multiple characters (and the whole system was worth it if for no other reason than that), but you'll still need it on one. Sorry, folks.

Anyway, Children's Week 2014 runs from April 28 to May 4, and, as always, the achievements and the meta For The Children are part of the year-long What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been.

Continue reading Guide to Children's Week 2014

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Guide to Children's Week 2014 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidechildrens-weekchildrens-week-2013childrens-week-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-childrens-weekhow-to-do-childrens-weekhow-to-do-childrens-week-achievements (Allison Robert) Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Tanks, healers, and the most dangerous LFR bosses]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/14/tanks-healers-and-the-most-dangerous-lfr-bosses/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/14/tanks-healers-and-the-most-dangerous-lfr-bosses/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/14/tanks-healers-and-the-most-dangerous-lfr-bosses/#comments Recently I wrote a small article wondering whether the fabled Monday night Raid Finder festival of ugly death was just an urban legend. Opinions in the comment section were mixed, so I wanted to do a little ingame research to figure out whether the conventional wisdom was right and Mondays are an unusually deadly day for LFR runs.

While I'm nowhere close to being done with that little project, my first venture into the numbers in Siege of Orgrimmar and the Raid Finder did turn up some interesting results with my characters. The deadliest Raid Finder boss of tier 16 was not who I thought it was, the safest Raid Finder boss was really not who I thought it was, and there are some eye-raising numbers on the fights where a well-geared tank or healer was disproportionately likely to swing the odds in the raid's favor.

Also, the Gates of Retribution wing sucks. But you knew that already.

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Tanks, healers, and the most dangerous LFR bosses originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 14 Feb 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dangerous-bossesfeaturedlfrlooking-for-raidmonday-night-lfrmonday-night-raid-findermost-dangerousraid-findersiege-of-orgrimmarsiege-of-orgrimmar-lfrsoothe-lfr-project (Allison Robert) Fri, 14 Feb 2014 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The dangers of Monday night LFR]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/12/the-dangers-of-monday-night-lfr/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/12/the-dangers-of-monday-night-lfr/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/12/the-dangers-of-monday-night-lfr/#comments After my guild finished raid on Monday, we voted to do the fourth wing of Siege of Orgrimmar in flex for another shot at Garrosh's heirlooms. Before queuing for flex, people took a break to let their dogs out, get something to drink, or jump on alts to do their farming. My fellow tank hopped to his alt warrior and wondered aloud over the wisdom of doing an LFR on him later that night. "Don't do it," was the universal consensus. "Monday night LFR is just asking for trouble. The only winning move is not to play."

That got me thinking about the weirder aspects of the game's culture, in which a single day and a raid lockout divides an alleged nightmare (Raid Finder on Mondays) from a safe bet (Raid Finder on Tuesdays). The usual story is that people run their better-geared mains through Raid Finder soon after the weekly lockout finishes, but come Sunday and Monday they're running their less-geared alts, and usually on classes with which they're less familiar. There's got to be more to it than this, but it's a narrative that most players are probably aware of by now.

Out of morbid curiosity, I've occasionally taken my main or alt shaman through Sunday and Monday LFRs but can't say I've noticed a massive difference. There are definitely more times late in the week where I've zoned into a squabbling raid with a two-stack of Determination, but most runs are fairly uneventful. However, one player's experiences are rarely representative, and your own gear and experience play a role as well. A well-geared toon, especially if it's a tank or healer, is at least marginally more likely to contribute a successful raid, and vice versa.

I'm tempted to do a series of LFRs and measure overall raid DPS and number of deaths by day. I'm genuinely curious whether the conventional wisdom is right, and late-week Raid Finders are more likely to encounter trouble than their early-week counterparts.

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The dangers of Monday night LFR originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> lfrlooking-for-raidmonday-night-lfrmonday-night-raid-finderraid-findersiege-of-orgrimmarsiege-of-orgrimmar-lfrsoothe-lfr-project (Allison Robert) Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Healer representation in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/07/healer-representation-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/07/healer-representation-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/07/healer-representation-in-mists-of-pandaria/#comments
Dedralie at Healiocentric has started a series examining how the 6 healer specs fared in Mists of Pandaria, and the first installment starts with a look at representation in raids. It's a fascinating article on the rise, fall, and sometimes stagnation of class fortunes, and toward the end there's a pretty cogent prediction on what mythic raids in Warlords of Draenor are probably going to look like if current trends continue.

This is a quick summary, but I'll provide more details past the cut. As Dedralie writes, while we're not really talking about healer balance or throughput here, there are a few obvious trends you can track from the Mists launch in September 2012 all the way to heroic Garrosh kills in January 2014:
  • Discipline priests and holy paladins ruled the expansion.
  • The absorption effects brought by these two healers is a huge advantage in heroic content (even more so in 10-man), and it may be too valuable as a mechanic.
  • Tier 15 (Throne of Thunder) was the most balanced with respect to representation. Tier 14 saw significant gulfs between class popularity that unfortunately returned with a vengeance in Tier 16 (Siege of Orgrimmar).
  • While monks and holy priests are still struggling for representation, it's instructive to look at the fights where they were significantly more popular.
  • Mythics will probably look like the "under-healed" heroics of MoP, which will prejudice heal teams toward synergies between absorption healers and those with strong throughput-based cooldowns.

Continue reading Healer representation in Mists of Pandaria

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Healer representation in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 07 Feb 2014 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> healerhealer-balancehealer-representationhealer-representation-in-mists-of-pandariahealershealinghealiocentricmists-of-pandaria-healer-representationtier-14tier-14-healer-balancetier-15tier-16 (Allison Robert) Fri, 07 Feb 2014 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Tertiary stats and that pesky bag space problem]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/05/tertiary-stats-and-that-pesky-bag-space-problem/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/05/tertiary-stats-and-that-pesky-bag-space-problem/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/05/tertiary-stats-and-that-pesky-bag-space-problem/#comments
I think it was really nice of Blizzard to cook up a way to fix our bag space problem with the toy box and primary stat conversion. Recognizing this, I propose a way to make it even worse.

I'll start with a story. There was a brief period on the Mists of Pandaria beta where the combination of the feral 4-piece PvP bonus, the Feline Swiftness talent, and a run speed enchant resulted in the glory that was the 132% speed bear. I could run around the first boss' room in Stormstout kiting a howling pack of monkeys before the DPS even made it up the stairs, and zooming around Pandaria's countryside was equally fun. Run speed's value was obvious and it was a bummer when the PvP bonus no longer stacked with Feline Swiftness.

So now that run speed, cleave, and "multistrike" are on the table as randomly-generated tertiary stats to be found (if rarely) on gear, I'll be blunt: I want enough cleave while healing that my Rejuvenation will hit, if possible, the people in local hospitals. I want enough cleave while tanking that Thrash will run out of targets in the game, physically reach through the computer and smack the people who don't read raid chat instructions in LFR. I want enough run speed that I can cap the Warsong Gulch flag before the match even starts, triggering a singularity that will cause time to fold in on itself.

Here's the rub. Knowing that tertiary stats are going to be completely random and also rare, the only way I can stack any of them to a useful level is to hoard whatever pieces I can find and create specialized sets for them. It'll be great to free up all the bag space currently devoted to our offspec gear, but how long will those bags stay empty with the siren call of a "speed set" or a "cleave set?"

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Tertiary stats and that pesky bag space problem originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> feline-swiftnessmultistrikerun-speedtertiary-statswarlords-of-draenor-gearwarlords-of-draenor-gear-changes (Allison Robert) Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The coming tank squish?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/04/the-coming-tank-squish/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/04/the-coming-tank-squish/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/02/04/the-coming-tank-squish/#comments When Wrath launched in 2008, the last thing I ever expected to see was a decline in the number of druid tanks. We'd just come off a successful expansion of not being Innervate bots, and I thought we'd capitalize on a new set of talents and skills in Wrath to hold our own against the brand-new death knight. Not so: The population of feral (now guardian) druids went into freefall and has never really recovered, and at the time, protection paladins took a hit too.

My best guess remains that the popularity of the death knight and the protection warrior in early Wrath pushed a lot of druids and paladins out of tanking. We had more role options than they did, so respeccing to melee, heals, or ranged DPS was a better option than getting yourself or others benched. There were other things going on that probably didn't help much, but at the end of the day it was a numbers game that the bear and paladin simply lost. It was a vivid lesson that design decisions that don't necessarily have much to do with your class or role can wind up having a serious impact on them anyway.

Continue reading The coming tank squish?

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The coming tank squish? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 04 Feb 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> heroic-raidingheroic-raidsmythic-raidingmythic-raidstanktankingtanks (Allison Robert) Tue, 04 Feb 2014 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: December 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2013/#comments
And now we come to a close with the final entry in our Best of WoW Insider series. This was a slower month for editorial work in comparison to October and November, but a busier one for features and the arts scene. Thanks for hanging with us while we wrapped up the year, and we hope you'll stick around for whatever 2014 decides to bring.

Happy New Year, everyone! Stay safe out there tonight and we'll see you back in Azeroth.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: December 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: December 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-storiesbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Tue, 31 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: November 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2013/#comments
November was packed. BlizzCon is always an event big enough to blow up the site, and recapping all of it for a year-in-review piece is just an exercise in futility. Let me just direct your attention to our BlizzCon 2013 tag and I'll pick out the most high-profile stuff behind the cut.

Oh, and while this has nothing to do with WoW, I wanted to throw a shout-out to CarBot for the trailer to Heroes of the Storm at BlizzCon. If 1:22 doesn't make you burst out laughing, you have no soul.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: November 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: November 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Dec 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-storiesbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Mon, 30 Dec 2013 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: October 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2013/#comments
Another busy month! As you'd expect, more and more news related to BlizzCon picked up as October drew to a close, but this was also a heavy period for editorial work.

We also had some of the best machinima of the year in October, and I'd like to draw some particular attention to The Phantom of the Battlegrounds. What a brilliant piece.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: October 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: October 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Dec 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-storiesbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sun, 29 Dec 2013 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: September 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2013/#comments
Patch 5.4 went live on September 10th, and the month pretty much blew up from that point with an avalanche of editorials, art, predictions, and arguments. This and November were easily the busiest months of the year.

The Know Your Lore column in particular went into overdrive in September analyzing what we found in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid, but this month was an embarrassment of riches no matter where you looked.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: September 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: September 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-storiesbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sat, 28 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: August 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2013/#comments
Patch 5.4 was gearing up to go live in early September, so it's not too surprising that August was dominated by the wait for both that and BlizzCon's approach. However, this turned out to be a very news-heavy months for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with the patch.

Also, The Burdens of Shahao was released this month. More like this, Blizz!

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: August 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: August 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Fri, 27 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: July 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2013/#comments
July was a very heavy month for news on the patch 5.4 PTR, but it sparked a lot of good discussion concerning the new Proving Grounds feature and where the story would finally end in Mists of Pandaria. This was also an excellent month for the Know Your Lore column.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: July 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: July 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 26 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Thu, 26 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: June 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2013/#comments
Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate! And for everyone, stay safe out there today, particularly if you have to be out and about in bad weather.

June 2013 saw an avalanche of information off the patch 5.4 PTR, announcements of several upcoming features like connected realms and flex raiding, some class introspection over action-bar bloat, and unfortunately for Mobile Armory users, a successful hacking attempt.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: June 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: June 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 25 Dec 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Wed, 25 Dec 2013 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: May 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2013/#comments
May was all about patch 5.3 news, heroic scenarios, Battlefield: Barrens, and (strangely enough) an awful lot of debate over whether WoW was too easy or not. Where did that come from?

Oh, well. We also got crochet worgen and a lot of really nifty screenshots in Around Azeroth in May.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: May 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: May 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 24 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Tue, 24 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: April 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2013/#comments News was pretty slow in the early part of the month as everyone settled to the task of working to unlock all of the Isle of Thunder's goodies and getting to Lei Shen. Things picked up as more information rolled off the patch 5.3 PTR.

There were three pretty obvious themes in April that got a lot of play: The game's gearing model and how it could be improved, the lack of tanks and healers in the Throne of Thunder LFR, and what on earth was going on with the Alliance and its major lore figures.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: April 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: April 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 23 Dec 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Mon, 23 Dec 2013 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: March 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2013/#comments This is the fifth year that I've done the Best of WoW Insider series, and I have rarely encountered a month in which it was harder to cut so much out in pursuit of the "best." March 2013 was embarrassingly full of riches. I mean, any month in which a major patch drops is always interesting, but this one just had a tidal wave of great commentary, screenshots, art, and machinima. I apologize to everyone and everything that I had to leave out.

The end of the month did get a bit quieter. I can't tell whether that's because players settled down a little to work on the content, or if it's because Bioshock: Infinite dropped on the 26th and everyone played themselves into a state of collapse.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: March 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: March 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 22 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sun, 22 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: February 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2013/#comments February 2013 was largely consumed with PTR work in anticipation of patch 5.2, and I'd be remiss not to mention the insane amount of work that Matticus did to get us up-to-date and accurate information on what to expect in the Throne of Thunder. Apart from that, February saw a run of great raid and guild recruitment videos in Moviewatch (not all of which I was able to include here, regrettably) and a noticeable streak of class-based introspection.

Continue reading The best of WoW Insider: February 2013

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The best of WoW Insider: February 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 21 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sat, 21 Dec 2013 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Best of WoW Insider: January 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2013/#comments
Welcome back to the Best of WoW Insider series! If you're new to WoW Insider, every December we run a retrospective series on the best articles from the previous year and/or those pieces that most ably captured the zeitgeist of the WoW community. There'll be one retrospective post each day through December 31st, so keep checking back as we count down.

We start today with January 2013, which saw patch 5.2 reach the PTR for the first time. Like other months in which the current raid content is stale and we're waiting on new PTR news, it was a very busy month for opinion pieces and the art scene. The latter in particular saw one of the year's most popular videos debut at the end of the month.

For some reason, GC also popped up in the news a lot this January.

Continue reading The Best of WoW Insider: January 2013

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The Best of WoW Insider: January 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 20 Dec 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2013-wow-insider-best-stories2013-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2013-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Fri, 20 Dec 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WoW Insider's Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2013 achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/25/wow-insiders-guide-to-pilgrims-bounty-2013-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/25/wow-insiders-guide-to-pilgrims-bounty-2013-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/25/wow-insiders-guide-to-pilgrims-bounty-2013-achievements/#comments
While Pilgrim's Bounty isn't part of the meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, it's inarguably one of the most helpful yearly events. Yes, you can rack up some points with the Pilgrim meta and get a plump turkey pet, but the holiday has an unbeatable side benefit -- it's a fast, easy, and cheap way to level cooking to 350. If you've got a lot of alts around that haven't leveled the profession or never got around to doing it on your made, Pilgrim's Bounty will get that fixed as long as you're willing to put in a little elbow grease. As with Hallow's End and the recent anniversary tabard, you can also get a reputation boost from participating: The Spirit of Sharing from the feast tables grants an additional 10% to reputation gains.

Pilgrim's Bounty runs from Monday, Nov. 25 through Monday, Dec. 2nd this year. It's not one of the longer holidays, so if you'd like to get all the goodies, you'll want to start early. However, there's been no sign of an update to this year's version (we assume the developers are busy with Warlords of Draenor), so if you've done Pilgrim's Bounty previously on all the characters who needed to level cooking, you probably won't see additional benefit this year apart from a bit of fun.

Continue reading WoW Insider's Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2013 achievements

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WoW Insider's Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2013 achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> how-to-do-pilgrims-bountyhow-to-do-pilgrims-bounty-wowpilgrims-bountypilgrims-bounty-2013pilgrims-bounty-2013-guidepilgrims-bounty-achievementspilgrims-bounty-guidepilgrims-bounty-holiday-wow (Allison Robert) Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[BlizzCon 2013: Open Q&A Liveblog]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-open-qanda-liveblog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-open-qanda-liveblog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-open-qanda-liveblog/#comments
The "World of Warcraft: Q&A About Almost Everything" panel scheduled for 5:30 pm EST/2:30 pm PST is set to get started momentarily. Once again, we'll be liveblogging the full panel for you!

Having liveblogged several of these panels over the years, I would make a small request of the questioners: Please don't use this as an opportunity to complain about your class. BlizzCon tickets cost money, but you can complain about your class on the forums for free!

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BlizzCon 2013: Open Q&A Liveblog originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Nov 2013 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Allison Robert) Sat, 09 Nov 2013 17:20:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[BlizzCon 2013: Warcraft movie panel liveblog]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-warcraft-movie-panel-liveblog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-warcraft-movie-panel-liveblog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-warcraft-movie-panel-liveblog/#comments
Welcome back, folks! We'll be liveblogging the Warcraft movie panel, which is set for 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST. We're pretty curious to hear about what's been done so far, because there hasn't been a lot of solid information floating around, so this promises to be an interesting panel. Join us past the cut.

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BlizzCon 2013: Warcraft movie panel liveblog originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Nov 2013 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> BlizzconBlizzcon-2013warcraft-moviewarcraft-movie-news (Allison Robert) Sat, 09 Nov 2013 15:45:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[BlizzCon 2013: Ghostcrawler's infamous Systems Panel liveblog]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-ghostcrawlers-infamous-systems-panel-liveblog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-ghostcrawlers-infamous-systems-panel-liveblog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/09/blizzcon-2013-ghostcrawlers-infamous-systems-panel-liveblog/#comments
I refuse to take responsibility for the title. Angry letters can be sent to Adam Holisky.

Unless people like it, then I'll take all the credit for running it. Such is the way of the world.

For all those of you who are new to BlizzCon, "systems" is a catch-all term for the raids, gameplay, quests, and UI likely to be covered at this panel, which begins at 2:30 pm EST/11:30 am PST.

Continue reading BlizzCon 2013: Ghostcrawler's infamous Systems Panel liveblog

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BlizzCon 2013: Ghostcrawler's infamous Systems Panel liveblog originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Nov 2013 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzcon-2013liveblog (Allison Robert) Sat, 09 Nov 2013 14:20:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[BlizzCon 2013: The new level 100 talents for all classes and specs]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-the-new-level-100-talents-for-all-classes-and-spe/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-the-new-level-100-talents-for-all-classes-and-spe/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-the-new-level-100-talents-for-all-classes-and-spe/#comments
Players are getting some peeks at the new level 100 talents at BlizzCon, and Perculia from Wowhead and our own Olivia scrambled to write them down for us. Unfortunately, they weren't allowed to take pictures, but to the best of our knowledge these are all the level 100 talents in their present form.

As with all early glimpses at content, keep in mind that many of these will probably change by the time the beta hits, and the numbers are likely to be tinkered with as well.

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BlizzCon 2013: The new level 100 talents for all classes and specs originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 08 Nov 2013 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzcon-2013level-100level-100-talentslevel-100-talents-death-knightlevel-100-talents-druidlevel-100-talents-hunterlevel-100-talents-magelevel-100-talents-monklevel-100-talents-paladinlevel-100-talents-priestlevel-100-talents-roguelevel-100-talents-shamanlevel-100-talents-warlocklevel-100-talents-warriorwarlords-of-draenor-level-100-talentswarlords-of-draenor-talents (Allison Robert) Fri, 08 Nov 2013 22:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[BlizzCon 2013: New character models in "Warlords of Draenor"]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-new-character-models-in-warlords-of-draenor/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-new-character-models-in-warlords-of-draenor/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-new-character-models-in-warlords-of-draenor/#comments
UPDATE: A lot of new pictures and animations were featured in the "Art of World of Warcraft" panel. I've updated the gallery with lots of screenshots of the new male orc, female gnome, male gnome, male dwarf, and quick glimpses of the female dwarf and male tauren!

Blizzard also announced today that they are initially updating the character models of all the original races, and the dranei and blood elves. The worgen, goblin, and pandaren models will not be updated at the time.
One of the most hotly-anticipated features in WoW has always been new character models for reasons that are probably obvious to all those of you not playing a pandaren. Not only have new models been confirmed for Warlords of Draenor, but samples of the new male orc, dwarf, and gnome models are now available on the new expansion pack's site. There's not a lot up yet, but you'll get a glimpse of their idle animations and screenshots of some emotes, and all of them look amazing.

We've put together a gallery of pictures from the "World of Warcraft: What's Next" panel with Blizzard's own screenshots. According to Rob Pardo, the new models won't all be released at once, so it may be a while before we know what all of them will look like. However, they're also coming with a battery of new animations, and we caught a small sample of those for you too.

I'm feeling a little full-circleish, seeing as I wrote the post confirming Blizzard's work on new character models at BlizzCon 2011. I hope my female tauren can keep her green eyes.

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BlizzCon 2013: New character models in "Warlords of Draenor" originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzcon-2012new-character-modelswarlords-of-draenorwarlords-of-draenor-new-character-modelswow-new-character-models (Allison Robert) Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:41:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[BlizzCon 2013: Beta opt-in now active for "Heroes of the Storm"]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-beta-opt-in-now-active-for-heroes-of-the-storm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-beta-opt-in-now-active-for-heroes-of-the-storm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/blizzcon-2013-beta-opt-in-now-active-for-heroes-of-the-storm/#comments
Dustin Browser announced a few minutes ago during the BlizzCon 2013 Opening Ceremonies that beta sign-ups are now active for the Heroes of the Storm beta.

If you're worried about how to find it, head to your Account page on Battle.net and then the Games and Codes menu. Under that, click Beta Profiles and you'll see the new Heroes of the Storm opt-in at the top.

UPDATE: The Heroes of the Storm cinematic has now been uploaded to YouTube in glorious HD. Thanks, Stiven!

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BlizzCon 2013: Beta opt-in now active for "Heroes of the Storm" originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 08 Nov 2013 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzcon-2013heroes-of-the-stormheroes-of-the-storm-beta (Allison Robert) Fri, 08 Nov 2013 14:42:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Guide to Hallow's End 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/18/guide-to-hallows-end-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/18/guide-to-hallows-end-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/18/guide-to-hallows-end-2013/#comments Headless Horseman comic. Hallow's End 2013 begins on Friday, Oct. 18 and runs through Friday, Nov. 1 this year. As with most of the game's holidays, Hallow's End is required for the yearlong meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been that grants the Violet Proto-Drake. Completing the required Hallow's End achievements will also award the title the Hallowed.

In 2011, Blizzard added some major updates and improvements to the holiday, one of which completely eliminated the hassle behind one of WoW's most hideous RNG nightmares, and one of which left us with two very cool non-combat pets. In short, Tricky Treats -- once vomit-inducing but otherwise useless items that dropped in spades from the holiday boss, the Headless Horseman -- are now a form of currency that players can use to buy pets, masks, and wands. And for all you pet collectors out there, you'll really want to pick up a Feline Familiar, a Beast-type pet with an unusually useful moveset.

If you didn't get around to the holiday last year, please note that there's an additional 10 points available in the form of Tricks and Treats of Pandaria.

Continue reading Guide to Hallow's End 2013

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Guide to Hallow's End 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guide-to-hallows-endguide-to-hallows-end-2013guide-to-hallows-end-achievementshallows-endhallows-end-2013hallows-end-achievementshallows-end-guidehallows-end-guide-2013headless-horsemanheadless-horseman-achievementshow-to-do-hallows-endhow-to-do-hallows-end-achievements (Allison Robert) Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Does LFR impact raid design?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/04/breakfast-topic-does-lfr-impact-raid-design/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/04/breakfast-topic-does-lfr-impact-raid-design/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/04/breakfast-topic-does-lfr-impact-raid-design/#comments
A few days ago, the player Camaranth started a thread on the tank forums examining the number of tank swap mechanics in raids. While the discussion is a good one, there's a reply written by Snuzzle not far down the thread with an interesting observation. "I think the reason we are seeing so many encounters designed with tank swaps in Mists," he/she writes, "is that fights are being designed with Raid Finder in mind ... They need both tanks to have a job to do. Tank swaps are the way to do that (because) most everyone can instantly understand (them)."

LFR might not be the only reason for that, but I think Snuzzle has a point. Encounters have to be programmed with the knowledge that Raid Finder groups will always have two tanks, 6 healers, and 17 DPS, no guarantees on class composition, and the knowledge that coordination will realistically be minimal. I don't think it necessarily reflects on the skill of the players concerned so much as the inherent disorganization. Under the circumstances, it would be extremely difficult to program an encounter like, say, Kael'thas or Teron Gorefiend or High King Maulgar, and have it remain somewhat close to the normal and heroic versions.

I don't know whether LFR actually does have a serious impact on raid design, but it's certainly an interesting question. In related news, the LFR version of Siege of Orgrimmar was nerfed recently for reasons I think all of us can guess.

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Breakfast Topic: Does LFR impact raid design? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 04 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakfast-topicbreakfast-topicslfrlooking-for-raidraid-findersiege-of-orgrimmarsiege-of-orgrimmar-nerf (Allison Robert) Fri, 04 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The 9 people you need to avoid in WoW]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/09/30/the-9-people-you-need-to-avoid-in-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/09/30/the-9-people-you-need-to-avoid-in-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/09/30/the-9-people-you-need-to-avoid-in-wow/#comments
Almost five years ago, I wrote an article titled The 10 people you need to know in WoW. For some reason it never occurred to me to write a counterpart on the people you need to avoid. While I think these unpleasant folks are less important and influential than the people you actually want to have around, there's no denying that, once present, they can do a lot of damage to your ingame experience.

If you haven't had at least one supremely frustrating experience yet as a result of the douche-nugget brigade, you are fortunate indeed. For the rest of us, some of the following players will be all too familiar.

Continue reading The 9 people you need to avoid in WoW

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The 9 people you need to avoid in WoW originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bad-player-habitsbad-playersdramadrama-llamadrama-llamasfeaturedguild-dramajerksthat-guythe-9-people-you-need-to-avoid-in-wowwow-bad-playerswow-players-you-should-avoid (Allison Robert) Mon, 30 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider