WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com prods@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Producers) (Weblogs, Inc. Web Support) en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Children's Week 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/25/the-overachiever-guide-to-childrens-week-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/25/the-overachiever-guide-to-childrens-week-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/25/the-overachiever-guide-to-childrens-week-2013/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the children are our future, and oh, how we hate them.

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 2013 runs from April 29 to May 6, 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 The OverAchiever: Guide to Children's Week 2013

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Children's Week 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidechildrens-weekchildrens-week-2013childrens-week-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-childrens-weekguide-to-childrens-week-2013how-to-do-childrens-weekhow-to-do-childrens-week-achievementsworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-childrens-weekwow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[9 years later, a venerable trinket finally dies]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/06/9-years-later-a-venerable-trinket-finally-dies/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/06/9-years-later-a-venerable-trinket-finally-dies/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/06/9-years-later-a-venerable-trinket-finally-dies/#comments 9 years later, a venerable trinket finally dies There are very few items in World of Warcraft that have much of a shelf life beyond the games in which they debut. No matter how powerful and prestigious they are, they get nerfed, or their level range is restricted, or -- most commonly -- they're simply outclassed by bigger and better gear. Thunderfury lasted through early Magtheridon kills in The Burning Crusade before Blizzard nerfed its threat. The Luffa was resurrected for a few shining weeks to help guilds kill Moroes before the developers squashed its use for anyone past level 60. Even the most hotly contested BC trinket and Wrath trinkets, the Dragonspine Trophy and Deathbringer's Will, were eventually scuttled by DPS, no matter how much intra-guild bloodletting they'd inspired before.

However, the Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon somehow managed to fly under the radar for years. While it was never the best trinket in any tier outside of classic, it was still a pretty solid regen piece (albeit more so before in-combat regeneration was improved during Wrath). I got mine after Aertimus at Hotstree noted in early Wrath that it was still shockingly good almost five years after it appeared in the game, and I knew legions of healers who pulled theirs out of mothballs or went to hunt the Beasts deck themselves as a result. You never know, we all said, when it'll pop up in the middle of a sea of "better" trinkets and still be one of your best options for regen.

No more. As Blizzard announced during a hotfix late on April 4 for the recent patch 5.2, the Blue Dragon "now has a reduced chance to activate its effect for characters that are level 61-69 and its effect no longer activates for characters above level 69." I guess it'll be in the bank for good now, because I just don't have the heart to get rid of a workhorse trinket that performed its job faithfully for so long.

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9 years later, a venerable trinket finally dies originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blue-dragondarkmoon-carddarkmoon-card-blue-dragondarkmoon-card-blue-dragon-nerfdarkmoon-cardsdarkmoon-deckdarkmoon-decksdeathbringers-willdmc-blue-dragonDragonspine-Trophydstluffamagtheridonpatch-5.2patch-5.2-hotfixesthunderfury (Allison Robert) Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Time zones, battle pets, and an achievement you probably don't know about]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/04/the-overachiever-time-zones-battle-pets-and-an-achievement-yo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/04/the-overachiever-time-zones-battle-pets-and-an-achievement-yo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/04/the-overachiever-time-zones-battle-pets-and-an-achievement-yo/#comments Courtesy of Wowhead. Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, Allison desperately wishes to return to the days of "server time."

Confession: This article was originally going to be about achievements you could get from unexpected places, because I thought it would be cool to run a column on the areas you pass by a lot without necessarily realizing there are points there for the taking. I'd worked all the way up to Wanderers, Dreamers, and You, which I've been meaning to do for a while but never got around to ... and then I hit a giant road block.

Why? This achievement was one of those unintentionally affected by changes in patch 5.1 that altered event times for a lot of servers. Most players will probably remember when the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza disappeared for a few months while Blizzard tried to figure out a way to square it with Cross-Realm Zones. The Fishing Extravaganza returned alongside a new system that standardized most event times across servers in an effort to simplify what was happening and when. The Wanderer's Festival was one of the affected events.

After spending hours trying to track down and confirm the event time schedule for servers across the European, North American, and Oceanic servers, I decided it probably merits an article all to itself because the Wowhead thread is a giant rat's nest of conflicting and outdated information. Also, it's not enough to be there while the festival is actually happening, and if you don't get there early, you probably won't have a shot at a battle pet you can't get anywhere else.

I am not too proud to admit I need help with this one.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Time zones, battle pets, and an achievement you probably don't know about

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The OverAchiever: Time zones, battle pets, and an achievement you probably don't know about originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidecross-realm-zonescrzevent-timefeaturedguidewanderers-dreamers-and-youworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Why aren't more healers queueing for the Raid Finder?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/why-arent-more-healers-queueing-for-the-raid-finder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/why-arent-more-healers-queueing-for-the-raid-finder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/why-arent-more-healers-queueing-for-the-raid-finder/#comments Why don't healers queue for the Raid Finder While writing the Azeroth Ethicist article on whether it's ethical to "cheat" the Raid Finder's loot distribution system, I linked a post from The Grumpy Elf about the lack of healers in the LFR queue and the effect it's having on queue times. There was an observation there about how LFR healing may actually be more stressful than its normal counterpart:

No matter what, you name it, everything in the LFR when done wrong screams "the healers will fix it". Dropping the bad where it should not be, no worries, the healers will fix it. Not using your defensive cooldowns, no worries, the healers will fix it ... even in the LFR if you do not follow mechanics it hurts and puts all the pressure on the healers.

There are a lot of reasons why the LFR queue is so long these days for the average player -- ilevel requirements (though Blizzard's made it easier to get gear from older raids to address this), the sheer popularity of new content, and, as Ghostcrawler pointed out, tanks and healers who queue with their guildies -- but I think Grumpy Elf has a point.

While I've mostly tanked in Mists of Pandaria, I healed my way through the Raid Finder in Dragon Soul, and the number of players who took unnecessary or avoidable damage was depressingly high. You expect that with anyone who might be new to the instance, but it wasn't fun seeing a raid with lots of people in normal or even heroic tier 13 ignoring, say, the players trapped in Hagara's Ice Tombs.

So for the healers out there, here's a question: Are you queuing for Raid Finder raids? If you are, is the job noticeably more difficult or stressful than it is with your guildies? If you aren't queuing, why not?

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Why aren't more healers queueing for the Raid Finder? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dragon-soulhealerhealershealinglfrlooking-for-raidpatch-5.2raid-finderthe-grumpy-elf (Allison Robert) Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The Azeroth Ethicist: Is it cheating to trick the LFR loot system?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/the-azeroth-ethicist-is-it-cheating-to-trick-the-lfr-loot-syste/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/the-azeroth-ethicist-is-it-cheating-to-trick-the-lfr-loot-syste/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/the-azeroth-ethicist-is-it-cheating-to-trick-the-lfr-loot-syste/#comments The Azeroth Ethicist Is gaming the LFR loot system cheating Before I write anything else here, the issue to be discussed in this article will no longer exist in patch 5.3 if the changes announced in the PTR patch notes from May 22 survive. For the record, I think this is one of the best changes to come along in a while, as it should reduce queue times for the Raid Finder significantly, while also being a great quality-of-life bonus for anyone trying to gear an offspec. However, it's still a problem at the moment.

After reaching level 90, I ran heroic after heroic obsessively in order to scrape the ilevel needed to enter the Raid Finder. After a few drops and the generosity of a guild leatherworker, I cheerfully queued as a tank for Vaults, and then went off to do dailies, figuring that the wait might be a little longer than normal given the popularity of new raid content, but it probably wouldn't be too bad.

30 minutes later, I shrugged and thought to myself, "Well, everybody's running LFR now."

52 minutes later, it occurred to me while yanking pink turnips out of the ground that I had been a little overoptimistic about wait times. Oh well. The farm wasn't going to tend itself.

An hour and 20 minutes later, I tabbed out of the game to check the forums, wondering if others were complaining about queue times, or if I'd just had a stroke of really bad luck.

Nope. Wait times for tanks through LFR, as a legion of enraged forum posters screamed, were through the roof at the beginning of the expansion. Right now, it seems like DPS players are getting the lion's share of agony. Rather than wait it out, many -- perhaps most -- tank players chose to exploit a loophole that allowed them to get a raid more quickly on a less easily-filled role.

Continue reading The Azeroth Ethicist: Is it cheating to trick the LFR loot system?

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The Azeroth Ethicist: Is it cheating to trick the LFR loot system? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> azeroth-ethicistcheatcheatingethicslfrlooking-for-raidmogu-shan-vaultsMogushan-Vaultsmoralraid-finder (Allison Robert) Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Noblegarden 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-overachiever-guide-to-noblegarden-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-overachiever-guide-to-noblegarden-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/the-overachiever-guide-to-noblegarden-2013/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, bunnies take over the world.

Time to get sick on candy again, folks! That seems to be a running theme with WoW holidays.

Noblegarden will run this year from Monday, April 1 until Monday, April 8. As always, check your server's in-game calendar for the exact start and stop times. If you've never done Noblegarden before, or only done its pre-2009 version, be aware that Noble Gardener (the holiday's meta) is part of the year-long What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been achievement.

Last year, the Swift Springstrider was added to holiday vendors at the fairly steep cost of 500 Noblegarden chocolate. This year, we haven't seen anything new datamined, but Noblegarden did hit the patch 5.2 PTR in mid-February, so you never know.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Noblegarden 2013

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Noblegarden 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-noblegardenguide-to-noblegarden-2013guide-to-noblegarden-achievementsnoblegardennoblegarden-2013noblegarden-2013-guidenoblegarden-achievementsnoblegarden-guidenoblegarden-guide-2013world-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-noblegardenwow-noblegarden-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The 15 nastiest trash clears of WoW]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/the-15-nastiest-trash-clears-of-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/the-15-nastiest-trash-clears-of-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/the-15-nastiest-trash-clears-of-wow/#comments The 15 nastiest trash clears of WoW ANY I was reading through some links while writing a follow-up to Robert's Not-So-Original WoW Miscellany when I happened across some discussions concerning the game's most agonizing trash. This is a popular subject for players, not least because complaining is a lot of fun, but I don't think anyone's going to argue that there haven't been some legitimately unpleasant trash clears in WoW.

Fortunately, most of the really bad trash clears are a distant memory, but there was at least one recent one that almost everyone who raided Dragon Soul could agree on. I'm going to include both dungeons and raids here, mostly because Shattered Halls was among the first things to go on this list. After including that, I knew there were other, equally nightmarish 5-mans that had to be included in the interest of fairness.

Continue reading The 15 nastiest trash clears of WoW

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The 15 nastiest trash clears of WoW originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 15-nastiest-trash-clears-in-wowaq-40aq40battle-for-mount-hyjalblackwing-laircuratorgnomereganhalls-of-reflectionhydrosshydross-the-unstablekarazhanlurkermana-tombsmolten-coremount-hyjalserpentshrine-cavernshade-of-aranshadow-labshadow-labyrinthshattered-hallssscstonecoresuppression-roomtempest-keepTemple-of-AhnQirajthe-lurker-belowtier-5trashtrash-clearstrash-mobsultraxionvortex-pinnacleworld-of-warcraft-trash-mobswow-trash (Allison Robert) Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Resto druids vs. the world 2: War harder]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/resto-druids-vs-the-world-2-war-harder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/resto-druids-vs-the-world-2-war-harder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/resto-druids-vs-the-world-2-war-harder/#comments
Resto druids vs the world, round two War harder TUE
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, we may hate numbers, but oh, they add so much to our lives.

Story time!

I first got a lesson on how to read healing meters while raiding Serpentshrine Cavern. One of our healers, an otherwise very competent holy priest, consistently ran OOM early on Morogrim Tidewalker and was next to useless during the final phase of the fight. The head of the heal team took an hour to look over the logs, and decided to give me a lesson on how to read them while doing so. It quickly became apparent that the priest was unwittingly covering for a resto shaman, who not only wasn't pulling his weight, but also seemed to take an unusual amount of damage.

"Why aren't you doing anything during the add phases?" asked the head, a paladin.

"Because our off-tank can't hold aggro for s$#t and I'm tired of dying to murlocs."

This was actually true. Our head healer pondered for a moment. "Can't you just Chain Heal after he's already gotten all the murlocs?"

"No, I die that way too. And we have to save BoP for the clothies who have to AOE the murlocs." Also true.

Continue reading Resto druids vs. the world 2: War harder

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Resto druids vs. the world 2: War harder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> disc-priestdiscipline-priestdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguide-to-druidshealer-balancehealer-balance-in-tier-14healer-balance-in-tier-15holy-paladinholy-priestmistweaver-monkraidbotsresto-druidresto-shamanrestoration-druidrestoration-druid-shifting-perspectivesrestoration-shamantier-15world-of-logswow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druids (Allison Robert) Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA["Crash Bandicoot" creator comments on Cataclysm's problems and the evolution of WoW]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/22/crash-bandicoot-creator-comments-on-cataclysms-problems-and-t/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/22/crash-bandicoot-creator-comments-on-cataclysms-problems-and-t/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/22/crash-bandicoot-creator-comments-on-cataclysms-problems-and-t/#comments 'Crash Bandicoot' creator comments on Cataclysm's problems and the evolution of WoW I didn't see this until recently, but I'm really glad I did. Andy Gavin, the co-creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter, ran a series between the end of November and mid-January examining WoW, its four expansions, and how each of them succeeded or failed through both personal and professional eyes. His particular focus is the endgame in each and how it worked to attract and retain players -- or, in some cases, didn't.

While there's certainly been no shortage of player commentary on how WoW's developed, Gavin's experience as a game developer who's not involved with Blizzard is a pretty unique perspective. I found his article on Cataclysm to be particularly adept at putting into words a lot of things I felt but had difficulty articulating. Most of the expansion's developmental time had to go into a revamped leveling process that few people saw unless they wanted to level a new alt. The content at 85 that greeted more casual players got bottlenecked in a series of difficult heroics that frustrated players dropped constantly.

Personally, I still consider Cataclysm to have been a necessary expansion -- it did a lot of stuff that Blizzard had to do for the game even if it wasn't as eye-catching as what BC and Wrath did -- but I think Gavin's assessment is accurate and measured. (And many of Blizzard's own observations aren't all that different.) Funnily enough, with lots of people leveling new monks in Mists of Pandaria, more people might be seeing Cataclysm content now than they did during the expansion that was actually dedicated to it.

I've linked Gavin's full series here. While it's long, it's an incredibly interesting and detailed read:

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"Crash Bandicoot" creator comments on Cataclysm's problems and the evolution of WoW originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 5-man5-mansandy-gavincommentarycrash-bandicooteditorialendgameendgame-contentinstancejak-and-daxteropinionworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-endgamewow-endgame (Allison Robert) Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: The game's 13 vanished titles]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/21/the-overachiever-the-games-13-vanished-titles/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/21/the-overachiever-the-games-13-vanished-titles/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/21/the-overachiever-the-games-13-vanished-titles/#comments The OverAchiever The game's vanished titles THURSDAY Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we rue the lack of High Poobah among the game's honorifics.

An interesting question in the Tanking forum about a month back spurred an article for readers here about which title they find most reassuring on a fellow player. The discussion that ensued was a reminder that you can't get some of the more popular picks anymore, and just why they meant -- and continue to mean -- something in the first place.

Sad to say, these titles are no longer accessible, unless you manage to find some far-flung server at the end of the universe where no one's bothered to kill Sartharion at all.

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The OverAchiever: The game's 13 vanished titles originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guideargent-defenderCelestial-Defenderchampion-of-the-naaruchampion-of-ulduarconqueror-of-naxxramasconqueror-of-ulduarDeaths-Demisedungeon-and-raid-titlesfeaturedgrand-crusaderguidehand-of-adalimmortalmagic-seekerobsidian-slayerscarab-lordthe-immortalthe-magic-seekerthe-undyingtitletitlesundyingvanished-titlesworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementsworld-of-warcraft-vanished-titleswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-pointswows-vanished-titles (Allison Robert) Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Spring cleaning]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/shifting-perspectives-spring-cleaning/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/shifting-perspectives-spring-cleaning/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/20/shifting-perspectives-spring-cleaning/#comments Shifting Perspectives The sound and the furry Every week (sort of), WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, the bookmarks folder gets the root cellar treatment.

I've been away from the game since the holidays due to what I will politely refer to as technical difficulties. (I have a variety of impolite terms for it too, but this is a family blog.) During that time, I've watched the game from the sidelines and have grown bored enough to do some maintenance on stuff that usually gets ignored until I'm rooting through it in a hurry. Add-ons were updated, dead blog links were sent to their folder, interesting ones were added, and then I turned to my collection of bookmarks in order to prune there as well.

I have a pretty sizable cache of druid or druid-related links that's grown over the years, and a lot of them are still pretty interesting. In the absence of the ability to talk about what's actually happening in the game with any fluency, I thought it might make a decent stopgap Shifting. This is a selection that's kept me absorbed for many an hour on a snowy weekend, and it ranges from comparisons between druid and warrior tanks in the classic game to where you fall on a healer's priority list when you're a jackass.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Spring cleaning

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Shifting Perspectives: Spring cleaning originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achtung-panzercowbearcatblogatellebookmarksesportesportsguardian-druid-shifting-perspectiveshealing-triageiccicecrown-citadellinklinksmiirkatmust-tovarestoration-druid-shifting-perspectivesrole-playRolePlayingsunniers-art-of-warthe-wayward-initiativetree-dpstree-druidtree-slap-dpsvalithriavalithria-dreamwalkervalithria-strategywarcraftsues (Allison Robert) Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The most reassuring title to see on a player]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/18/the-most-reassuring-title-to-see-on-a-player/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/18/the-most-reassuring-title-to-see-on-a-player/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/03/18/the-most-reassuring-title-to-see-on-a-player/#comments The most reassuring title to see on a player Whether we like to admit it or not, we tend to give other players the once-over whenever we zone into a Raid Finder or dungeon PUG, particularly if you've had a run of bad experiences while getting valor-capped for the week. A recent thread on the Tanking forums about the best title for a tank to sport is both a sideways acknowledgment of this and a question as to which title best suits your role in the game. For healers, one could argue that Undying or Immortal means you probably had job security for the length of Wrath, but that kind of ignores everyone else's responsibility to not screw up in Naxx. Possibly Herald of the Titans/Conqueror of Ulduar would have been the equivalent for DPS players, although a raid had to fire on all cylinders for those achievements too.

Before achievements were account-wide, and leaving aside obvious ringers like Light of Dawn/Bane of the Fallen King before Mists, I would have nominated Loremaster or Seeker as the most reassuring titles to see on a player regardless of gear quality. I can't say exactly what link exists between the persistence needed to get these titles and overall competence, but I have yet to see a Loremaster or Seeker player do something screw-the-pooch crazy in a PUG. These days, it's tougher to guarantee that a player sporting a title is doing so on the character that originally got it, so maybe The Undaunted is probably the single best outward indicator of competence.

Having written all this, I've also had the pleasure of knowing a world-class hunter who never bothered using titles, and we have to acknowledge that a generic, funny (e.g., "Chef Boyardee"), or absent title means nothing at all. But if you had to pick one that said, "I will not get you killed in this PUG," which would it be?

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The most reassuring title to see on a player originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievementsbane-of-the-fallen-kingchallenge-modechallenge-modesConqueror-of-Ulduarherald-of-the-titansimmortallight-of-dawnloremastermost-reassuring-titlepugpuggingseekerthe-immortalthe-undauntedthe-undyingtitletitlesundyingwows-best-titles (Allison Robert) Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Guide to Love is in the Air 2013]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/09/guide-to-love-is-in-the-air-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/09/guide-to-love-is-in-the-air-2013/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/09/guide-to-love-is-in-the-air-2013/#comments Love is in the Air returns this year from Sunday, Feb. 10 through Saturday, Feb. 23. As always, check your game calendar for your server's specific start and end times. After many tweaks over the years, the holiday's become one of the less annoying and RNG-riddled outings from the What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been meta. However, last year's version added a pretty grind-intensive mount to the holiday rewards, so if you're starting fresh and want the meta and the mount, be prepared for a lot of work.

Before you ask -- yep, it's required if you're still on the warpath for your Violet Proto-Drake. The finished holiday meta will also reward the title the Love Fool.

If you're completely new to Love Is In the Air, you'll probably want to read our FAQ on the holiday. Otherwise, we'll be dealing with the holiday achievements here. There are only two optional ones if you're going for the meta, so I've listed all the ones you'll need first.

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Guide to Love is in the Air 2013 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-love-is-in-the-airguide-to-love-is-in-the-air-achievementslove-is-in-the-airlove-is-in-the-air-2013love-is-in-the-air-2013-guidelove-is-in-the-air-achievement-guidelove-is-in-the-air-achievementslove-is-in-the-air-guidelove-is-in-the-air-wowworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Sat, 09 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2013 achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/24/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2013-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/24/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2013-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/24/the-overachiever-guide-to-lunar-festival-2013-achievements/#comments The OverAchiever Guide to Lunar Festival 2013 achievements Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the Fed-Ex quest from hell.

This year, the Lunar Festival runs from Sunday, Jan. 27 to Saturday, Feb. 9. (As always, check your game calendar for specific start and stop times for your server.) On a very important note, this year cuts the length of the holiday from three to two weeks, so if you're a new player or you're starting a fresh character, you won't have as much time as you usually do to get everything done. I think Blizzard limited it so as not to clash with Love Is In the Air, which begins Sunday, Feb. 10.

If you're new to the Lunar Festival, the holiday mostly revolves around involve talking to a number of elders in order to honor them, receiving Coins of Ancestry in return, and then using the coins to purchase holiday items, including clothing and pets. The To Honor One's Elders meta-achievement is also a requirement for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so if you're still after a Violet Proto-Drake, make sure you get this done.

The Lunar Festival is definitely not one of Azeroth's more difficult holidays, but it's time-consuming if you need all the NPCs. However, it's also a good time to do other travel-intensive achievements like World Explorer.

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2013 achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guideelders-of-pandariaelders-of-the-allianceelders-of-the-hordefeaturedguideguide-to-lunar-festivalguide-to-lunar-festival-2013how-to-do-lunar-festivalhow-to-do-lunar-festival-achievementslunar-festivallunar-festival-achievementslunar-festival-elderslunar-festival-guidelunar-festival-guide-2013lunar-festival-world-of-warcraftlunar-festival-wowlunar-festival-wow-guide-2013lunarfestival2013world-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Holiday replayability and the Fed-Ex quests from hell]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/03/holiday-replayability-and-the-fed-ex-quests-from-hell/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/03/holiday-replayability-and-the-fed-ex-quests-from-hell/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/01/03/holiday-replayability-and-the-fed-ex-quests-from-hell/#comments Holiday replayability and the FedEx quests from hell THU Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, get off our lawn.

One of the things I think about while revising and updating the holiday guides is that the audience for them is doomed to get smaller over time. It's reasonable to expect that, because people don't need the guides after they finish doing the events on characters they care about, and there's generally a few years between Blizzard's major updates. However, with the introduction of account-wide achievements, pets, and mounts, the replayability of holidays has probably suffered a bit. That doesn't mean that the content's not enjoyable, just that each successive character derives less reward from it.

This is a particularly acute problem with the approaching Lunar Festival and how one element gets a lot more onerous as the game continues to expand.

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Holiday replayability and the Fed-Ex quests from hell originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guideeldersfeaturedguideholiday-achievementslunar-festivallunar-festival-elderslunar-festival-wowworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: December 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/31/the-best-of-wow-insider-december-2012/#comments Around Azeroth Yay for winter! THURSDAY

Zaronis: Doesn't anyone else have a problem with enslaving a sentient creature to fight to the death for your own amusement?
MarioLanza: Nope.
Zapwidget: I only fight till they pass out.

Ah, December. Tons of holiday-related silliness, and (for some reason) a lot of point-counterpoint articles and patch 5.2 news. This has been a fun month.

To everyone who's been reading WoW Insider this year, whether you're new to us or a longtime fan, thank you! Happy New Year, all! Stay safe today, and let's have a good 2013!

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The best of WoW Insider: December 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-insiderfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: November 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/30/the-best-of-wow-insider-november-2012/#comments Around Azeroth Dragon envy SATURDAY
AiunTanks: I spent all my time in Pandaria looking for a way to murder Anduin Wrynn.
Kennyj116: He becomes "more powerful than you could ever imagine."
AiunTanks: And run the risk of him becoming as useful as Obi-wan was in the movies? I think I'll take that chance.

November was possibly the most introspective month of a very introspective year. We'd had enough experience in Mists of Pandaria to sit back, take stock of what was working and what didn't seem to be, and start digging into the latter. Primarily, that meant LFR and the nigh-endless series of dailies.

But that didn't mean people weren't enjoying the expansion. Judging from the explosion of blog posts, commentary, and machinima hitting the airwaves in November, they were enjoying it a lot.

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The best of WoW Insider: November 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 30 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-insiderfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sun, 30 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: October 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/29/the-best-of-wow-insider-october-2012/#comments

dngreene: Man, when Blizzard wants to get players out into the world, they get players out into the world ... or else.
atanae: Meanwhile, four stalwart players who have no lives are killing boars ...
shrikesnest: Yes, WoW got hacked, and that sucks. I wish it didn't happen. But I can at least take some consolation in the fact that this is the funniest comment thread on WoW Insider in a long time.
PhilDGiles: Does anybody think "SPARE US GOD" might fall into that same list of infamous WoW quotes as "LEEEEEROY JENKINS" now?

In this month, everybody died. Then they rezzed and kept playing. October 2012 was pretty lockstep with the pattern we've already seen in major patch or expansion releases, which is that staffers largely abandon whatever editorials they were working on in favor of, uh, playing the game.

As you might expect, lots of great news this month, and an unbroken string of comments and pokes at the wonderful random stuff that kept popping out of Pandaria.

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The best of WoW Insider: October 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-insiderfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: September 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/28/the-best-of-wow-insider-september-2012/#comments The best of WoW Insider September 2012 Mists of Pandaria was released on the 25th, and everything about September is just an embarrassment of riches. Once again, opinions and editorials suffered a little bit as we turned our attention to other stuff, but this is easily among the most action-packed months I've ever had to summarize.

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The best of WoW Insider: September 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-insiderfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: August 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/27/the-best-of-wow-insider-august-2012/#comments The best of WoW Insider August 2012

MusedMoose: I stood in fire. / Everyone stood in fire. / It's an achievement.
TristanLeonard: No one remembers / Yor'sahj's name in my guild. / We call him "Skittles."
JeffLaBowski: Thank you, Olivia. / Now I'm counting all my words. / I ran out of beer.
metaphyzxx: I'm glad to be done / With this stupid expansion. / Bring on the pandas.
Docteurmi: Less QQ, more haiku.

Our staffers and columnists went into overdrive preparing for patch 5.0.4 and the eventual release of Mists, so opinion/editorial work took a backseat to class preparation. However, we did find time for haikus, Tides of War, the MoP cinematic, and a little shopping.

Also, NASA finished Dragon Soul landed an SUV-sized rover on Mars.

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The best of WoW Insider: August 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: July 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/26/the-best-of-wow-insider-july-2012/#comments Around Azeroth The servant of Ysera SATURDAY

Nathanyel Warcraft: Moon Guard. Would rake in way more cash than that other Warcraft-inspired movie ...

Beta. Beta. Beta. And, weirdly enough, a lot of really good observational pieces on a very diverse set of subjects.

Also, Olivia largely spent this month giving us no excuse whatsoever for ingame poverty.

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The best of WoW Insider: July 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: June 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/25/the-best-of-wow-insider-june-2012/#comments Image
bengeibe: As a fan of metal, I can't fathom what could possibly be offputting about the imagery in this video. All I see is pure awesome.
AleisterHyde: As not a fan of metal, my ears hurt.
Another busy, busy month. June 2012 was equal parts restrospective work on what Cataclysm had brought to the table, and looking ahead to Mists of Pandaria to see what would change.

This was also a period when real-life concerns intruded on the game world in a fairly unpleasant manner. You'll see what I mean past the cut.

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The best of WoW Insider: June 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 25 Dec 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-insiderfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Tue, 25 Dec 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: May 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/24/the-best-of-wow-insider-may-2012/#comments May saw Diablo 3's release on the 15th, the Avengers, a sudden exodus of staffers from their posts, and another avalanche of Mists of Pandaria beta news as the editors dragged people back with a slew of threats and bribes.

The female pandaren dance was also revealed to be the Caramelldansen. Alex posted this. The video in that article's been taken down, so I've helpfully embedded an alternative above.

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The best of WoW Insider: May 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-insiderfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: April 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/23/the-best-of-wow-insider-april-2012/#comments The best of WoW Insider April 2012

bim.shield.spec Cross-faction romance! They are star-crossed lovers, for certain ... Oh wait, never mind. Method is faction-changing to Horde.

Beta, beta, and more beta ... and for some reason, an awful lot of completely random stuff this month. Seriously, there's no rhyme or reason to the array of one-off articles we wrote in April.

Also, we got a new comment system. We thought that was pretty cool.

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The best of WoW Insider: April 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 23 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sun, 23 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: March 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/22/the-best-of-wow-insider-march-2012/#comments The best of WoW Insider March 2012

Ellyndia: Whenever I need to do something that might be scary or a little intimidating, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and say to myself: "Time's up, let's do this." I have gotten a job using this method.
jazz.panther: My success with that method is only about 33.33% ... repeating of course.

Mass Effect 3 was released on the 6th, which was just enough time for people to finish it and be really pissed off in time for the Mists of Pandaria beta, which hit on the 21st. Not surprisingly, beta coverage absolutely dominated everything else we did in this month. Rather than overload readers with an endless parade of it, I've tried to centralize our MoP coverage in our omnibus guide.

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The best of WoW Insider: March 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-insideryear-in-review (Allison Robert) Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: February 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/21/the-best-of-wow-insider-february-2012/#comments The best of WoW Insider February 2012

Matt Rossi: I'm starting to think Neltharion was the tank for the dragon aspects' regular 5-man group.

After a few times around the block, the general "feel" of months like February 2012 becomes pretty familiar. The combination of aging raid content, an approaching expansion, and a lot of stuff going on with the business end of WoW combined for several weeks' worth of commentary on the meta-game and what was going on with Blizzard HQ. This was a month with a lot of interesting news, and it also turned out to be a fabulous time for Moviewatch and the arts scene.

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The best of WoW Insider: February 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewfeaturedyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The best of WoW Insider: January 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/20/the-best-of-wow-insider-january-2012/#comments The best of WoW Insider January 2012

Marthazon: World of Warcraft is sort of like the French Foreign Legion of games when it comes to age. As long as you can do your part, it's rare for someone to ask "How old are you?"

For anyone out there who's new to the site, at the end of every year we run a retrospective series examining the last 12 months and the articles that best captured the zeitgeist of the player community. You'll find one of these published every day through the end of 2012, assuming we don't all vanish into the nether on Dec. 21 (which I am inclined to doubt, as bills are due and nobody's that lucky).

2012 felt like a very introspective year for the game. Between the lack of a 2012 BlizzCon, Cataclysm's winding down, and the 9-month wait for Mists of Pandaria, players used the extra time to argue and probe into systems that most needed improvement. January was no exception, and this was a very chatty month for our staffers.

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The best of WoW Insider: January 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 2012-wow-insider-best-stories2012-year-in-reviewbest-of-wow-combest-of-wow-insiderbest-of-wow.comfeaturedwow-insider-2012-best-storieswow-insider-year-in-reviewyear-in-review (Allison Robert) Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Winter Veil 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/the-overachiever-guide-to-winter-veil-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/the-overachiever-guide-to-winter-veil-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/the-overachiever-guide-to-winter-veil-2012/#comments 'Tis the season! Winter Veil 2012 runs from Saturday, Dec. 15 through Tuesday, Jan. 2 this year. As with most of the WoW holidays, the Merrymaker meta is required for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. Those of you who are still on the lookout for your Violet Proto-Drakes will want to keep an eye out for any achievements you still need.

Even if you don't want or don't need any achievements, Winter Veil also gives you the opportunity to turn your mount into a reindeer, become a snowman with a unique dance animation, and get noncombat pets and unique holiday items. This is also the only time of year where pets like Father Winter's Helper won't disappear with an excuse over how busy they are making toys, so if you want to run around for an extended time with gnomes dressed in Santa outfits, seize the day.

As always, I'll be up as the holiday goes live to make necessary additions or corrections to the guide, but we're not anticipating any major changes to Winter Veil this year.

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Winter Veil 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-winter-veilguide-to-winter-veil-2012guide-to-winter-veil-achievementshow-to-do-winter-veilhow-to-do-winter-veil-wowwinter-veilwinter-veil-2012winter-veil-achievementswinter-veil-wowworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Resto druids vs. the world: Healer balance in tier 14]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/28/resto-druids-vs-the-world-healer-balance-in-tier-14/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/28/resto-druids-vs-the-world-healer-balance-in-tier-14/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/28/resto-druids-vs-the-world-healer-balance-in-tier-14/#comments Resto druids vs the world Healer balance in tier 14
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Today, it isn't enough that mistweavers are taking our gear -- now they're taking our jobs.

The beginning of an expansion is usually a bad time to write deep, meaningful, and typically pompous posts on the "state of the class" and whither the druid and all that crap. For that matter, the beginning of Mists of Pandaria struck me as an especially bad time, because so much of what we were used to in WoW got changed and sent everyone scrambling. Toss in a brand-new hybrid class (the monk), and you've got the perfect storm of elements that make evaluating healer performance a dicey proposition at best. I poured myself a nice cocoa, kept an eye on World of Logs and Raidbots, and watched as the numbers rolled in and a legion of holy priests tore their garments and cried out in despair.

Given that patch 5.1's now live, it seems an appropriate time to swirl that cocoa, take a look at how healers did in tier 14, and ask what's likely to change. As of now, it seems apparent that:
  • Holy priests were actually right.
  • Monks kicked your dog, seduced your mom, stole your XBox, and drove off in your car.
  • Paladins are still topping the charts on certain encounters, but they're no longer dominating all of them.
  • Shaman have improved a lot from their lackluster performance in Dragon Soul.
  • Resto druids are back in same boat we were in at the beginning of Cataclysm, and it's not a very nice boat.
Just for fun, here's a Shifting I wrote almost a year ago on healer balance in Dragon Soul, if you'd like to see how classes fared in the last tier of raid content.

Continue reading Resto druids vs. the world: Healer balance in tier 14

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Resto druids vs. the world: Healer balance in tier 14 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> disc-priestdiscipline-priestdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguide-to-druidshealhealerhealer-balancehealer-balance-in-tier-14healershealingholy-paladinholy-priestmistweaver-monkraidbotsresto-druidresto-shamanrestoration-druidrestoration-druid-shifting-perspectivesrestoration-shamantier-14tier-14-healer-balanceworld-of-logswow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druids (Allison Robert) Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Sphere of Jerkitude: That's it, I'm outta here]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/16/sphere-of-jerkitude-thats-it-im-outta-here/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/16/sphere-of-jerkitude-thats-it-im-outta-here/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/16/sphere-of-jerkitude-thats-it-im-outta-here/#comments Breakfast Topic That's it, I'm outta here One of our readers, Bowzer, wrote in the other night about dropping a group instantly on seeing a homophobic slur in party chat. As he observed, running across questionable-to-cruel comments in the Dungeon Finder is certainly nothing new, but he asked, "Am I wrong for being sick of the 'It's the internet, have a tough skin and get over it argument?' Is it so wrong to be a decent person?"

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't had similar thoughts. Thankfully, running into a genuine jerk is uncommon, but each one can ruin your day. I think what bothers me most is the sure knowledge that the offending player is not only entirely unrepentant, but may also be getting a kick out of making the group uncomfortable.

Worse still, there's no surefire way to deal with it. Try to address a nasty or bigoted comment in party chat? You're just giving them the opportunity to troll you further. Kick them? You may not have the votes. (If it's a guild group, you definitely won't.) Stay silent? Drop group? Submit a ticket? Or maybe just hope that the Loot God smites the offender at some point in the near future?

Continue reading Sphere of Jerkitude: That's it, I'm outta here

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Sphere of Jerkitude: That's it, I'm outta here originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 5-manfeaturedgame-discussiongamer-discussiongroupgroupinggroupsinstancepugpuggingpugsunpleasant-playersworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Allison Robert) Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/15/the-overachiever-guide-to-pilgrims-bounty-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/15/the-overachiever-guide-to-pilgrims-bounty-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/15/the-overachiever-guide-to-pilgrims-bounty-2012/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we advise you to stay away from the bathroom scale.

While Pilgrim's Bounty isn't part of the meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, a lot of players still find it one of 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 absolutely unbeatable side benefit -- it's an incredibly fast, easy, and cheap way to level cooking to 350. Pilgrim's Bounty is tailor-made for anyone who wants to get cooking leveled on a bunch of alts, or anyone who never got around to doing it on his or her main. As with Hallow's End, there's an additional benefit for all those of us slaving away on Mists of Pandaria reputation grinds: The Spirit of Sharing from the feast tables grants an additional 10% to reputation gains.

As far as we know, the holiday hasn't changed from previous incarnations, but as always, I'll be around as it goes live to update or clarify any portion of this guide. This year, Pilgrim's Bounty runs from Sunday, Nov. 18 through Saturday, Nov. 24.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2012

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-pilgrims-bountyguide-to-pilgrims-bounty-2012how-to-do-pilgrims-bountyhow-to-do-pilgrims-bounty-wowpilgrims-bountypilgrims-bounty-2012pilgrims-bounty-2012-guidepilgrims-bounty-achievementspilgrims-bounty-faqpilgrims-bounty-guidepilgrims-bounty-holiday-wowworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Tanks, healers, and a daily problem]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/14/tanks-healers-and-a-daily-problem/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/14/tanks-healers-and-a-daily-problem/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/14/tanks-healers-and-a-daily-problem/#comments Tanks, healers, and a daily problem As someone who plays a guardian/restoration druid, I've had mixed feelings about Blizzard's move to the "dailies model." Of course, you don't need to be playing a tank or healer to feel that way -- it would appear that everyone on the planet has mixed feelings about the seemingly-endless march of Mists of Pandaria dailies -- but there's an special agony to them if you don't have a battle-ready DPS spec. Beefy mob health pools make killing anything as a healer last the approximate length of the Roman Empire, and because quest mobs rarely hit hard enough to make Vengeance a threat, tanks don't fare much better. I will grant that grinding Golden Lotus to revered did give me the opportunity to finish Gone With the Wind after all these years. (Spoiler alert: The North wins the Civil War.)

Now, dual-specs exist for just this reason -- i.e., so you don't have to quest on specs that are really designed for group play -- and I could avoid this problem if I really wanted, but here's the thing: I really like being a tank/healer. Whatever it takes to be a truly competitive DPS, I just don't have it, and I will tank or heal 5-mans and raids, happy as a clam, and hopefully contributing to a lower dungeon queue. By contrast, dailies leave me trying to collect every quest mob in sight to get enough Vengeance to AOE them down efficiently, but it feels really inconsiderate to do this while other players are trying to get the same mobs. And other players are always after them, because everyone's on the same rep grinds. Every day is like being trapped in the starting zone of a new expansion, and I honestly don't know if I have it in me to do this all over again on my alts (who are -- surprise, surprise -- tanks and healers).

Continue reading Tanks, healers, and a daily problem

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Tanks, healers, and a daily problem originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dailiesdaily-questsgolden-lotushealerhealershealingmists-of-pandaria-dailiesmists-of-pandaria-daily-questsreputationreputation-grindtanktankingtanks (Allison Robert) Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Reforging guardian druids for dummies (or better yet, crit)]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/13/shifting-perspectives-reforging-guardian-druids-for-dummies-or/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/13/shifting-perspectives-reforging-guardian-druids-for-dummies-or/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/13/shifting-perspectives-reforging-guardian-druids-for-dummies-or/#comments Shifting Perspectives Guardian druids and the great reforge debate
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, a cheerful question-and-answer session comes to a screeching halt.

The following is a partial transcript of questions I have received ingame or via email since the launch of Mists of Pandaria, accompanied by their answers:
  • What's the hit cap for bear tanks now? Versus a level 93 raid boss, it's 2,550, or 7.5%. If you're only running heroics, it's 2,040, or 6%. Thanks, Arielle!
  • What the hell is going on with resto in raids? I don't know, but I suspect it's a version of the problem that plagued resto in the early days of Cataclysm. More on this next week when I've looked at more World of Logs parses. In the meantime, don't forget that other healers' (cough, monks) being overpowered renders us underpowered only by comparison.
  • Do I need to worry about the "hard" expertise cap? Eh. It should be fairly easy to reach the soft cap (or get close to it) once you're sitting on heroic-level gear. After that, whatever expertise you get up to the hard cap is gravy, because if your rage income is enough to keep Savage Defense at maximum uptime, additional expertise won't really have a serious impact on your survivability.
  • How do you get blood out of a shirt? Hydrogen peroxide.
  • (From my raid leader) When will our scrub-ass warlock get to 90 so we can raid? I don't know, sir.
And the last:

How should I reforge my bear tank?

(Fidgets.) Uh, well ...

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Reforging guardian druids for dummies (or better yet, crit)

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Shifting Perspectives: Reforging guardian druids for dummies (or better yet, crit) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bear-druid-reforgingdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-reforgingdruid-talentsfeaturedferal-tanking-druid-shifting-perspectivesguardian-druid-reforgingguardian-druid-shifting-perspectivesguide-to-druidshow-to-reforge-a-bear-druidhow-to-reforge-a-guardian-druidrage-generationreforging-guardian-druidwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druids (Allison Robert) Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The spec and class death match]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/05/the-spec-and-class-death-match/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/05/the-spec-and-class-death-match/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/05/the-spec-and-class-death-match/#comments Breakfast Topic The spec and class death match ANY
World of Warcraft started out with 27 class and spec combinations, and with the addition of death knights, monks, and a fourth spec for druids, we're up to 34 in Mists of Pandaria. One of the things that the upcoming brawler's guild had me wondering about in an idle moment was which among the 34 would emerge the victor if the developers decided to throw a no-holds-barred, all-out battle royale.

I think we can eliminate just about every healing spec; while they'd be annoying to kill, they don't really do enough DPS on their own to be a serious threat. Tanks certainly aren't doing as much damage since the halcyon days of vengeance working in PvP, but would they do just enough to outlast an opponent? And what about DPS? The arms warrior and frost mage are storied opponents, but who really has the winning combination of damage and survivability right now?

So which spec and/or class emerges victorious if they're all tossed into a ring somewhere and left to fight it out among themselves? Or -- given the high possibility of rogues and druids simply stealthing through the majority of the fight in such a situation -- would a tournament bracket work better? Would someone who outlasts the death match not survive a series of duels, and vice versa?

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The spec and class death match originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> death-matchdeathmatchfeaturedgame-discussiongamer-discussionpvpworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Allison Robert) Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[20 best addons for Mists of Pandaria achievements]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/20-of-the-best-addons-for-mists-of-pandaria-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/20-of-the-best-addons-for-mists-of-pandaria-achievements/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/20-of-the-best-addons-for-mists-of-pandaria-achievements/#comments The OverAchiever The best addons for achievement hunters
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, no more psychotic episodes with Tillers rep.

I love Wowhead to death, but what I don't love is tabbing in and out of the game in an endless search for information on any achievements I'm working on. This is where the wonderful world of addons makes its entrance, and we're blessed with an abundant supply of good ones in the early days of Mists of Pandaria.

These addons have made a significant difference to the ease and enjoyability of our achievement hunts lately. By my count, these will help you with two Pandaria rep grinds, all of the new dungeons and raids, the endlessly fascinating Glorious!, pet battles, and some oldies but goodies. If you have any additional suggestions, drop them in the comments and I'd be happy to add them to the article.

Oh, and while this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with achievements, if you can't wait for Blizzard to add a mount search function to the default UI, download Mount Search. Congratulations, you can now stop going crazy trying to find all the new cats, serpents, cranes, and goats you trained up.

Continue reading 20 best addons for Mists of Pandaria achievements

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20 best addons for Mists of Pandaria achievements originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievement-guideachievementsachievements-guideachievment-addonsaddonsaddons-for-achievementsbest-addons-for-achievementsfeaturedguideworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Hallow's End 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/the-overachiever-guide-to-hallows-end-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/the-overachiever-guide-to-hallows-end-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/16/the-overachiever-guide-to-hallows-end-2012/#comments Headless Horseman comic. Every week, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, our yearly sugar rush.

Hallow's End 2012 begins on Thursday, Oct. 18 and runs through Wednesday, Oct. 31 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.

Last year, 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 badass non-combat pets. In essence, Tricky Treats -- once a vomit-inducing item 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, wands, and other holiday items. 2011 also introduced a new set of quests associated with Hallow's End, one of which sends you into an enemy city without the fear of ugly death.

Bottom line: If you weren't around for last year's holiday, a lot of stuff may interest you this year. If you were around for last year, you'll still be interested, as the Headless Horseman's set of dropped epics are a lot more compelling at the beginning of an expansion. Hardcore achievement hunters will also be pleased to note an additional 10 points in the form of Tricks and Treats of Pandaria.

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.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Hallow's End 2012

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Hallow's End 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> a-mask-for-all-occasionsachievement-guideachievementsachievements-guidefeaturedguideguide-to-hallows-endguide-to-hallows-end-2012hallowed-be-thy-namehallows-endhallows-end-2012hallows-end-achievementshallows-end-guideHeadless Horsemanhow-to-do-hallows-endhow-to-do-hallows-end-achievementsPvProtten-hallowThe Headless Horsemanthe-hallowedTrick or Treattricky-treatswhat-a-long-strange-trip-its-beenworld-of-warcraft-achievement-pointsworld-of-warcraft-achievementswow-achievementwow-achievement-guidewow-achievement-pointswow-achievementswow-guidewow-points (Allison Robert) Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your restoration druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/09/shifting-perspectives-gearing-your-restoration-druid-for-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/09/shifting-perspectives-gearing-your-restoration-druid-for-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/09/shifting-perspectives-gearing-your-restoration-druid-for-mists/#comments Shifting Perspectives Gearing your restoration druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, masochists eager to heal a pack of early dungeon-runners sort through gear options.

This picture's already a bit dated -- my main's been 90 for about a week now -- but you'll probably find yourself in Mogu'shan Palace for several runs trying to get some useful gear to drop. As an aside, the rush of leveling monks continues apace, and more and more of them will start appearing in your level 85+ groups. Get gear now, people!

As NocturNamos pointed out in last week's article on how to gear a guardian druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics, the ilevel requirement for heroics (or more accurately, queuing for heroics through the dungeon finder) has been lowered to ilevel 435. As such, I've included some ilevel 437 quest rewards in this guide that I didn't think were usable last week.

Again, most of this guide's advice can be condensed to the following points:
  • Quest through the Townlong Steppes and the Dread Wastes.
  • Be prepared to spend some justice points.
  • Farm normal Mogu'shan Palace.
  • If you have a good option available from professions (whether primary or secondary), don't ignore it.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your restoration druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics

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Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your restoration druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> druid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedgearing-a-resto-druidgearing-a-resto-druid-for-heroicsgearing-a-restoration-druidguide-to-druidshow-to-gear-a-resto-druidhow-to-gear-a-resto-druid-for-mists-of-pandaria-heroicshow-to-gear-a-restoration-druidresto-druid-gearresto-druid-gear-guiderestoration-druidrestoration-druid-gearrestoration-druid-gear-guiderestoration-druid-level-90restoration-druid-shifting-perspectiveswow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druids (Allison Robert) Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your guardian druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/03/shifting-perspectives-gearing-your-guardian-druid-for-mists-of/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/03/shifting-perspectives-gearing-your-guardian-druid-for-mists-of/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/03/shifting-perspectives-gearing-your-guardian-druid-for-mists-of/#comments Shifting Perspectives Gearing your guardian druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, the four normal dungeons are a fat lot of help.

The subject of today's article is, shall we say, an immediate concern. Due to the demand for tanks and healers in the new 5-mans, my main will hit 90 before she even makes it to the halfway point of questing through the Valley of Four Winds. This is good, because I get to relax and enjoy questing as an extended treat without having to worry about leveling. This is bad, because she's about 20 ilevels off from where she needs to be in order to access Mists of Pandaria heroics.

This guide assumes that you will need an average ilevel of 440 to access heroics, because that was the number Blizzard was using on the beta. (Note: This is only true via the dungeon finder. Nothing prevents you from running out to the new heroics yourself with a group, but either way, 440's a decent number to aim for if you're worried about being sufficiently geared.) There are only four normal MoP dungeons, and only one of them (Mogu'shan Palace) drops gear that will help you clear this threshold.

If I had to condense this guide's advice, it would be:
  • Quest through the Townlong Steppes and the Dread Wastes.
  • Be prepared to spend some justice points.
  • Farm normal Mogu'shan Palace.
  • If you have a good option available from professions (whether primary or secondary), don't ignore it.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your guardian druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics

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Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your guardian druid for Mists of Pandaria heroics originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> druid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedferal-tanking-druid-shifting-perspectivesguardian-druidguardian-druid-gearguardian-druid-shifting-perspectivesguide-to-druidshow-to-gear-a-bear-druidhow-to-gear-a-bear-druid-for-mop-heroicshow-to-gear-a-guardian-druid-for-mists-of-pandaria-heroicspre-heroic-gear-bear-druidpre-heroic-gear-guardian-druidpre-heroic-gear-guidepre-heroic-gearing-guidepre-heroic-guardian-druid-gearwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druids (Allison Robert) Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: The fly on the wall]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/29/breakfast-topic-the-fly-on-the-wall/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/29/breakfast-topic-the-fly-on-the-wall/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/29/breakfast-topic-the-fly-on-the-wall/#comments Breakfast Topic The fly on the wall ANYTIME Every so often, you find yourself in a PUG where a line in party chat makes you think that something pretty serious is going on behind the scenes. Not long before Mists hit, I was tanking an otherwise routine run in Well of Eternity with a guild group from another server. They were distracted during the run and were obviously paying more attention to what one of them mentioned was a lot of unhappy drama in guild chat. I felt it would be rude to pry, so when the run ended and they all vanished back to their own server, I was left there wondering what was going on and if everything was okay with a guild I had known nothing about 30 minutes previously.

That's not the first time that's happened, either: I had another memorable run with a warlock/paladin duo, with the former consoling the latter over a recent break-up with his girlfriend. It was a vivid reminder that the players you meet in a PUG are all real people, that most of the time you're nothing more than a fleeting participant in their lives, and that you may wander in at some personally meaningful or even painful moments.

Allowing for the fact that you can't trust everything you read in party chat, have you ever found yourself the proverbial fly on the wall in WoW?

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Breakfast Topic: The fly on the wall originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 5-manbreakfast-topicfeaturedgame-discussiongamer-discussionheroicinstancewell-of-eternitywoeworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Allison Robert) Sat, 29 Sep 2012 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The OverAchiever: Guide to Brewfest 2012]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/27/the-overachiever-guide-to-brewfest-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/27/the-overachiever-guide-to-brewfest-2012/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/27/the-overachiever-guide-to-brewfest-2012/#comments Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, Azeroth has acquired another race of happy drunks.

An early warning: Brewfest has definitely been updated for Mists of Pandaria. We don't have solid information on all of the changes yet, but in the hours after the holiday goes live, I'll be around to make sure that everything in the guide is updated and corrected for the new expansion.

This year, Brewfest runs from Friday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 14 (check your in-game calendar for your server's exact start and end times: Different time zones mean your Brewfest may end late on Saturday, Oct. 13). Why so late and so long this year? Because Coren Direbrew's been jacked to level 90, and you can't queue for him until level 89 at the earliest. Blizzard's planned around the awkwardness of having Brewfest go live so close to the Mists launch by bumping the holiday back by a week and extending the amount of time you'll have to get everything done if you're starting from scratch.

So don't worry about leveling at a breakneck pace! If you really want to kill Coren this year -- and I'd advise doing it, because he drops ilevel 470 stuff this year -- you've got until mid-October to reach level 89.

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.

Continue reading The OverAchiever: Guide to Brewfest 2012

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The OverAchiever: Guide to Brewfest 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingbrewfeast-guide-2012brewfestfeaturefeaturedguide-to-brewfest-2012 (Allison Robert) Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider