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What's changing for feral and balance druids in patch 5.4, part 2

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:15:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we talk trinkets.

In the last part of this column, we discussed all of the changes in the patch notes, and what that might portend for your feral or balance druid. This week, we'll look at the "other stuff" that might affect your play: set bonuses, trinkets, and the legendary cloak.

Set bonuses

Feral T16 2-piece: Omen of Clarity increases damage of Shred, Mangle, and Ravage by 50% for 6 sec.
Feral T16 4-piece: After using Tiger's Fury, your next finishing move will restore 5 combo points on your current target after being used.

The 2-piece bonus is somewhat boring, but reasonably powerful for single-target fights. It's tied to Omen, which means you'll always get at least one buffed Shred/Mangle out, even if you're low on energy when it procs. The downside? Less than 20% of a feral's damage comes from Shred/Mangle, and frequently less than 15%, which means that this isn't all that special. It's miles better than the dull T15 2P bonus, however, and likely comparable in strength to the T15 4P, meaning you should upgrade ASAP. I'm interested to see if it finds a home in PvP; the significant burst this gives makes much more of a difference there.

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What's changing for feral and balance druids in patch 5.4, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A look at what's changing for feral and balance druids in patch 5.4

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 16:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we await breaking news.

The PTR has returned with patch 5.4 goodies, and I'm back to discuss what this means for your feral or balance druid. Remember, numbers at this point are completely unbalanced, so focus on the substantive changes!

First, the nerfs

Cyclone no longer has a 20-second cooldown for Feral Druids.
Predatory Swiftness no longer has a chance to make Cyclone instant, free, and castable in all forms.

Let's face it: some things are too good to last, and one of those things was instant Cyclones from Predatory Swiftness for ferals. Pre-5.2, a feral could go on full offense and reliably keep a second target locked down with Cyclones. The developers attempted to fix this with a tweak in 5.3 that gave feral, and only feral, a 20 second cooldown on Cyclone. However, it was quickly apparent that this wasn't a long-term solution, so now they've taken the somewhat drastic step of removing insta-clone entirely. While this is a large nerf (and one made worse by the removal of Nature's Swiftness, discussed below), I understand the rationale, and hopefully this portends the further removal of other instant CC from the game.

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A look at what's changing for feral and balance druids in patch 5.4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 05 Jul 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Whatever happened to healing assignments?

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:30:00 EST

A few nights ago, I was casually playing my mistweaver monk when I saw a pick-up group forming for Mogushan Vaults. He wasn't really that well geared, but I figured "why not?" and jumped in. Since this was my first time joining a raid on this character, I tried to be prepared; I ate my spirit food, drank a flask, and asked the raid leader for healing assignments. His response? Well, parts of it are unprintable, but the gist is that "assignments are lame" and "nobody uses them anymore."

I admit, I'm not the best at paying attention to what my healers are doing, other than thanking them when they repeatedly cover for my slow reaction times, or lighting our tree druid on fire. (Ulla, if you're reading this, it was the warlock. Really!) Thinking back, though, the last time I remember healing assignments really being a "thing" was Chimaeron, and nothing since then.

Understandably, heroic raiders still have assignments as they have to keep people from dying every second, but what about the rest of us? It seems like assignments have died out: do you think this is a bad thing or a good thing?

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Getting your super-cloak: How to complete Celestial Blessings as a tank or melee DPS

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:00:00 EST

With the recent buff to Titan Runestone drop rates, many players are finally getting over that hump in the legendary quest chain and moving on to the next hurdle, Celestial Blessings. This quest requires you to visit the four Celestials and receive their blessing. However, each celestial also offers a different single-player challenge that corresponds to an in-game role, which must be completed in order to finish the quest. The challenges:

Healer: Offered by Chi-Ji, the Red Crane, at his temple in Krasarang Wilds.
Ranged DPS: Offered by Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent, at her temple in Jade Forest.
Melee DPS: Offered by Xuen, the White Tiger, at his temple in Kun-Lai Summit.
Tank: Offered by Niuzao, the Black Ox, at his temple in Townlong Steppes.

You can do any challenge you want, as long as you are in the matching spec, but you only need to complete one to move on. Your reward is also independent of the challenge you choose to do, so don't feel locked into doing the a certain challenge if you want that cloak. I can't comment on the healer/ranged challenges, but I did both the melee and tank challenges. In my opinion, the tank challenge was MUCH easier to complete, so I'd recommend that route if you can. For both fights, remember that your target is stunnable (which gives you a periodic breather) and the Celestial Offering from August Celestials rep will give you a 10% buff. Like any difficult encounter, buffs, flasks, and food are recommended. Thankfully, you don't have to worry about running back, as the Spirit will auto-rez you if you die.

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Shifting Perspectives: Spending feral VP in 5.3

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Tue, 28 May 2013 13:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we spend our Valor Points at the corner store.

Patch 5.3 is here, the item upgrade vendors have returned, and it's time to talk about everybody's favorite things; gear. What are the pixels I can pick to push my kitty to the top of the heap? Let's take a look.

Weapons and trinkets first

As a feral, getting a good weapon is your highest priority. It's the jelly to your peanut butter, the ketchup to your french fries...okay, I may be hungry, but you get the point, it's a necessary complement to ensuring you can be an effective damage dealer. You have four choices for weapons; three drops from Throne of Thunder (Shan-Dun, Breaker of Hope, Jalak's Maelstrom Staff, or the Darkwood Spiritstaff) and the weapon with a legendary socket from 5.0, Gao-Rei. The differences in the ToT weapons are fairly minor, so just get the best you can, and upgrade it ASAP. If you can't get into ToT yet, the +500 agility from the legendary gem on Gao-Rei makes it a worthwhile fill-in. Oh, and if you've completed Chapter II of the legendary quest and received an Eye of the Black Prince, don't forget to buy another one when you get a weapon upgrade.

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Shifting Perspectives: Spending feral VP in 5.3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 28 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Patch 5.3's pet battle changes

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:00 EST

If you haven't caught the pet battle fever yet, now's a great time to start. New rewards make pet battles a great way to help earn some of your raiding currency, such as Valor Points or Lesser Charms, and mechanics changes make the whole system more transparent and less frustrating.

New rewards

Tired of killing daily quest mobs for VP? Why not pet battle for it? All of the master tamers in Pandaria, as well as the Spirits and Beasts of Fable, now offer daily quests for their defeat that offer the standard XP, 5 VP and 2 Lesser Charms per turn-in. The Beasts of Fable quest has been split into three parts, giving you a total of 14 pet battles you can do daily for VP, charms, and a chance at a battle-stone.

Those battle-stones should be more common as well, with "bad luck protection" added to the game. Every bag without a battle-stone increases the chances of the next bag containing one. If you're using pet battles to level alts, all the pet battle daily quests now award XP as well. All of these quests now show up on the map, so you can find them easily.

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Patch 5.3's pet battle changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shifting Perspectives: Mastering the Rune of Re-Origination for ferals

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we forge ahead. No, literally. Go reforge.

Welcome back to Shifting Perspectives! I've been dealing with some serious family issues, so I haven't written for a while. Happily, things are settling down, I'm raiding successfully, and it's time to get back to the keyboard. I've got quite a backlog of topics to cover, so let's get right to it by talking about the most commonly requested topic: what, exactly, am I supposed to do with all this new stuff I've been getting? The addition of Rune of Re-Origination and the Capacitive Diamond have changed gearing priorities significantly, so if you've been sticking with the pure mastery build, you may be missing out.

Mastery or haste, a question of RPPM

Ever since it was introduced, mastery has generally been our most favored secondary stat. (Yes, even over hit and expertise, from a simulation's point of view. That said, hit/expertise capping is the best idea for most folks, because we can't instantly recognize that an ability has missed and change strategy like the simulators can.) The rationale is simple. Most of our damage comes from bleeds; mastery increases our bleed damage ... obvious strategy is obvious. Well, the changes in 5.2 have adjusted that calculus a little bit.

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The return of the firecat

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:00:00 EST

Apparently, Blizzard has quite the love affair with setting druids on fire. Responding to a player's lament about Fandral's Flamescythe, Crithto noted that an item was created in 5.2 to allows Druids to gain the firecat appearance without needing the old weapon. Of course, he didn't give any hints, simply saying "They're difficult to find..." A massive search of the Firelands ensued, and the items, Burning Seeds, were discovered near Majordomo Staghelm. Only lootable by druids, each seed allows for 60 minutes of the flame kitty form, which persists through shapeshifting and death. You will need some friends to help you clear up through Baleroc, but after that, you can extend the raid as many times as you need to stockpile more seeds.

As for me, I'm curious as to what form will be next on the self-immolation list. We can already ignite treants and cats...how about some roast turkey? Pilgrim's Bounty isn't too far away! Anyway, feel free to head over to Wowhead for more details and pictures.

Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

The return of the firecat originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 02 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A true World of Warcraft: 3 things to know when playing on the road

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:00:00 EST

When the boss says "I need you overseas next week," replying "but I've got a raid!" isn't really an option. I've just completed a two-week whirlwind trip, and I've discovered that with some mild preparation, it's quite easy to get in your regular WoW time. Dailies, raiding, pet battles PvP; whatever your choice of fun, don't let geography keep you down.

Choose your weapon

"Honey, why can't you take my old laptop on your trip?" "Because it only gets 10 FPS in Val...erm, because I want one that can Skype with you well without any slowdowns!"

First, you're going to need a machine to play on. If buying a new laptop isn't an option, it's not the end of the world; WoW can run on some positively ancient hardware, if you're comfortable with playing on lower graphics-quality settings. After installing it on a few laptops during my last trip overseas, I can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that any dual-core system should be able to at least run the game well enough to login, chat, and browse the Auction House. (In chronological terms, that means any system since about 2010 or so, and some higher-end 2008-2009 systems.) Of course, if you want to do anything more vigorous than posting auctions and talking in guild chat, you'll want a better hunk of plastic. Raiding and battlegrounds, in particular, will heavily tax your system, so try it out on your machine BEFORE you go. Trust me; learning Alysrazor tornadoes was challenging by itself, learning them while playing as a healer moving at 5 FPS was even worse.

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An early look at patch 5.2 for monks, part 2

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:00:00 EST

Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time!

In my last column, I explored how monks (well, windwalkers and mistweavers) are dramatically changing in terms of PvP. This week, we'll take a spec-by-spec look at what you can expect to change for PvE content, and draw some tentative conclusions as to what abilities and stats you'll be using and not using. Keep in mind that this is still PTR content, so things change on a day-by-day basis; a hotfix tomorrow might invalidate every conclusion I make today.

Changes for all specs

When you first log in for patch 5.2, take a look at your healing talents. All of them have been redesigned from the "uses chi and no-cooldown" model to "free with cooldown" model, so the only cost to using your self-heals now is one global cooldown. The actual strength of the heals are still being tweaked, but given this new model, I expect Brewmasters to continue to go for Chi Wave; Chi Burst to be decent for Mistweavers needing to raid heal; and Windwalkers to go "meh," since they'll want the GCD's for damaging abilities. Zen Sphere is interesting, but it took a massive nerf (62%) which makes it not very desirable at first glance.

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An early look at patch 5.2 for monks, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An early look at patch 5.2 for monks, part 1

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:00:00 EST

Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time!

Greetings! I've been bitten by the real-life bug for the last few weeks, but I'm back and ready to break down the changes occurring in patch 5.2. As a new class, Monks have a ton of changes and new abilities coming, so let's buckle down and take a look! This week, we'll look at the major mechanics changes from a PvP perspective; next week, we'll take a look at PvE and speculate how your rotations and weighting might be affected.

PvP woes

Let's face it: Monks were pretty weak for PvP. Windwalkers were reasonably good at generating sustained damage but had trouble putting out good burst (getting a kill typically required having a high Tigereye Brew stack, full chi, and a damage trinket effect active). Unfortunately, they frequently didn't have time to generate the brew stacks they needed due to having weak passive defense. Once your trinket was down, a Shockwave or Deep Freeze usually meant you were done. Touch of Karma helped, but required skill to use pre-emptively. Add to this diffficult-to-use CC making it hard for Monks to help land lockdown chains on healers, and windwalkers were, well, terrible.

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Shifting Perspectives: An early look at 5.2 for druids

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we discuss the future.

Happy New Year!

Hmm. I guess I'm a little late for that. Anyway, my no-notice household move is mostly complete, and I've finally had a chance to start breaking down the new changes for druids in 5.2. With the exception of Feral PvP, things look pretty positive across the board, so let's dive in!

Cyclone a-no-no

Cyclone is the crowd-control effect that everyone loves to hate. Unlike the vast majority of other CC effects in the game, Cyclone does not share a diminishing return category with other effects, meaning you could couple it with another CC from a teammate to lock down an enemy target for a long period of time. By itself, this wasn't the end of the world. While a "clone" was powerful, it had a short range and a cast time, making it difficult to land in the first place.

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Shifting Perspectives: An early look at 5.2 for druids originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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From ding to spring: Fully clearing Mists of Pandaria's endgame raids in 3 weeks or less

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:00:00 EST

In case you missed the big news, the Thunder King will be upon us in Patch 5.2, coming to you (live!) sometime in the next couple months. Unfortunately, many of you are just now receiving Mists of Pandaria under the tree, or are getting back into the game after reaching level 90, and are overwhelmed with all the endgame options available to you. Don't worry about it! By following this guide, we'll get you from a fresh level 90 character to a full clear of all 5.0 raids in three weeks or less, with no expensive outlays of time or cash. Plenty of time to prepare for dinomancers!

Prerequisites

First, you need to have a level 90 character. If you don't have one yet, it's okay: the experience required to level from 1-85 was significantly reduced when Mists of Pandaria was released, so you'll be able to catch up quickly. Once you reach 85, hop over to Pandaria and enjoy the new quests. You'll gain a level for each zone you clear, more or less. You can also run some normal mode 5-man dungeons if you'd like, though go easy; you'll be running the heroic versions quite frequently at 90.

Second, you'll want a DPS spec and a good set of starter gear for it. Completing the Dread Wastes or Townlong Steppes quests will get you outfitted; if you don't have DPS gear laying around to actually complete the quests, Len of Arms will happily sell you a set of 408's to get going. You can also search the auction house; many blue BoE's in the ilvl 430-450 range are listed frequently, for pretty reasonable prices.

Continue reading From ding to spring: Fully clearing Mists of Pandaria's endgame raids in 3 weeks or less

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A closer look at the Ascension talent for monks

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:00:00 EST

Ascension: Passive talent. Increases your maximum Chi by 1, your maximum mana by 15%, and your energy regen by 15%.

In patch 5.1, Blizzard quietly reworked Ascension to make it a more useful talent. (I say quietly, because the change wasn't listed in the official patch notes, which was likely an oversight.) Previously, the talent had only increased maximum chi by 1, which made the talent useless for most players. Sure, in theory, you could use it to save up an extra chi for burst-type situations, but Chi Brew and its instant four chi was a much better choice for those anyway.

After finding out about the changes, my initial reaction (after a bit of napkin math) was that the talent was significantly improved to the level where it was a reasonable choice, but probably still not ideal over Power Strikes or Chi Brew. After I posted that in last week's column, a few commenters asked me to take a closer look, so I'll go spec-by-spec and take a closer look at the talent.

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World of Warcraft Monopoly now on major sale

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Winter Veil, or something else, you're probably looking to give that special someone something around this time of year. Amazon.com has just unveiled a major sale (65% off!) on the World of Warcraft Monopoly board game, dropping the price down to a cool $14 for U.S. customers. If you want some more info, we previously covered the currency (gold! Pass Go, collect 200g!) and the spaces on the board. Our parent site Joystiq also has a full set of unboxing pics.

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World of Warcraft Monopoly now on major sale originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monk changes in patch 5.1

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:00:00 EST

While I've taken a brief hiatus from writing recently, the many, many changes to monks in the 5.1 patch and the immediately following hotfixes have lit the ol' theorycrafter spark. I'll go spec by spec and list the changes, along with some analysis.

Spoiler alert: Mistweavers aren't gonna be happy.

General changes

Stance of the Fierce Tiger now increases the Monk's movement speed by 10% in addition to its other effects. This movement speed increase stacks with other effects.
The energy costs of Legacy of the Emperor, and Legacy of the White Tiger have been reduced to 20, down from 50.

This is nice, though it's not something that I particularly thought was necessary. With proper use of Roll (and Flying Serpent Kick for windwalkers), movement generally wasn't much of a problem for monks. The energy reduction for the buffs is nice for a quick rebuff after dying.

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Patch 5.1: Treant Form now combustible

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:00:00 EST

Apparently, we haven't seen the last of self-immolating lumber. Back in Firelands, the Moonkin 2-piece bonus allowed you to summon Burning Treants to attack your foes. Blizzard wasn't content with that, however, and took the next step: As of patch 5.1, treant form can now catch on fire. Yes, fire.

As discovered by Sunfyre of Sunfyre's Nest, simply activate Treant Form and gain the Cozy Fire buff from a basic campfire to see the theatrics. Have fun igniting your druids! (Sadly, paladins remain incombustible.) And, above all else, remember this: we didn't start the fire.

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3 advanced monk tactics you might not be using

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EST

Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time!

In the previous weeks, I've covered the basics for brewmasters, mistweavers, and windwalkers. Now that we've had a month to get used to the new specializations, it's time to try some advanced tactics. Stick with me as we roll through one ability for each specialization that'll help propel you to the top of the charts, be they healing, damage, or your healer's Christmas card list.

Windwalker: Touch of Karma

All damage you take is redirected to the enemy target over 6 sec instead of you. Damage cannot exceed your total health. Lasts for 10 sec. 90 second cooldown.

Touch of Karma is amazing. First, this is one of the best defensive skills for a DPS'er in the game, as it essentially gives you a 350k HP shield which works against everything. It won't save you from insta-kill void zones, but for damage you know is coming, it's much better than a druid's Barkskin or a paladin's Divine Protection. In a raid setting, it's worth telling your healers to add Touch of Karma to their raid frames so they don't waste heals on you for the duration.

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Shifting Perspectives: Feral druid macros of power

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we automate (legally!)

So, you might have seen references to macros, macro-ing, or other mac-type things (the non-cheesy variety) in my latest column, and wanted to know just what I'm on about. I've combed through my personal setup, the macro discussion threads over at Fluid Druid, and the excellent tips at Macro WoW to lay down some (automated) beats.

Before we begin, though, a quick introduction/refresher. Macros are an in-game method of grouping up commands or actions so they can be used in a more efficient way. To create a macro, you open the macro UI pane (/macro), type or cut-and-paste the macro text into the field. pick an icon if necessary, and save it. This saves the macro text to an icon that can be dragged to an actionbar, just like one of your regular spells. Macros have two main limitations; they can only be 255 characters or less, and they can only execute one ability on the global cooldown per click. Other than that, go wild! (Just don't miss the litter box.)

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Shifting Perspectives: Feral druid macros of power originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kissed by the Mist: The mistweaver 101 guide

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST

Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time!

With Mists of Pandaria now released, I've been actively engaged in playing my monk, and having a blast doing it. I've received several polite notes from readers about how I haven't written a mistweaver guide yet, so this week: mistweavers!

Mistweaver is the healing specialization for the monk class. Any race, except Worgen and Goblin, can be a monk. Mistweaver monks have two resources that power their healing abilities: mana and chi.

Resource Management

Unlike the other two specializations, Mistweavers use mana instead of energy as their primary resource. This powers the majority of their heals. Mistweavers can regain mana through the same ways as other healers (in-combat Spirit regeneration via Mana Meditation, mana potions, etc.). However, Mistweavers also generate Mana Tea stacks by using chi; one stack is generated for every 4 chi consumed (Brewing: Mana Tea). To regain mana, you channel the Mana Tea ability, which regenerates 4% mana/sec/stack. An alternative solution is to glyph Mana Tea which removes the channeling behavior and causes it to simply use two stacks (8% mana) instantly, on a 10 second cooldown.

As a supplement to mana, chi is a static 4-point pool, similar to a paladin's holy power, that decays when out of combat. Maximizing your chi generation is vital for maximizing your healing output; while you can heal without chi at all, most of your strongest HPS abilities require chi to use.

Overall, of all the healing classes, Mistweavers likely require the most thought when it comes to resource management. All the other healers get large mana regeneration cooldowns (Mana Tide Totem, Innervate, Hymn of Hope) that they can typically fire and forget; Mistweavers require more constant attention to mana and chi levels in order to maximize their performance.

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Shifting Perspectives: Druid leveling and talents in Pandaria

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we grind.

Okay, I know this column is a little behind the Mists of Pandaria power curve. That said, if you happened to fall in love with another class (coughMonkcough) for leveling this time around, and you've just now leveling to 90...here's some tips. And yes, that's a moonkin on a mechanostrider by a fish. Why? Isn't it obvious?

Before your arrival in Pandaria

Well, that depends on what level your gear is at. If you didn't play significantly at endgame in Cataclysm, you'll find that the enemies get a lot stronger as soon as you hit ground in Jade Forest. You'll get pieces of 378 green gear as you proceed through the early quests, but if you're still rocking Mount Hyjal greens like some of my alts, you may want to look at picking up some Misthide crafted leather items from the auction house. If none are available, you can also ride to Dawn's Blossom and visit the gear vendor there for some starter pieces. You can skip this if you choose, but in that case expect the initial quests to be fairly difficult, and you won't have the item level to queue for dungeons right away.

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A guide to monk talents for all specializations

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EST

Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time!

Due to an unfortunate family situation, I had to take a break from writing and playing right around the time of release. Now, though, I'm back and ready to talk monk! I've leveled a monk to 90, and in the process, have learned quite a bit more about all three specializations. Build some chi and follow me as we talk turkey about talents.

Keep it rolling

I'd originally felt that Momentum and Celerity were pretty equal choices. Now, though, Momentum has my heart. Why? Well, two reasons.

First, Roll is great, but save for the interposition of a solid object, there's no way to do a half-roll. That means if the object you are trying to get to is not some multiple of 20, Roll doesn't get you "right" there, which can be a problem. (Canny PvP opponents are already discussing how to stay 10 yards away from windwalkers to ensure rolls go right past them.) Momentum doesn't fix this, but it makes closing the remaining distance much less painful.

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Shifting Perspectives: The Heart of the Wild and Symbiosis hotfixes

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:00:00 EST

I knew this was going to happen. I tweeted about it back in August, suggesting that Heart of the Wild was far too powerful for both balance and feral druids; when combined with a weapon swap, the damage potential was significant. Several others warned about it on release, but to no avail, Bosses fell, DPS meters were topped, and all the non-druids complained bitterly. The cry of "Nerf druids!" was heard throughout the land, though most of us were too busy playing PandaFarm to notice.

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Shifting Perspectives: Mists of Pandaria feral druid 101 guide

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we put four on the floor.

Feral (also known colloquially as cat or kitty) is the melee DPS specialization for the druid class. It's styled similarly to a rogue, but instead of sneaking around and using poisons, you just make things bleed. Copiously.

A feral druid's primary resource is energy. It is a 100-point pool that regenerates at 10 energy/sec, in and out of combat, though this rate can be increased with haste, and is used to power your basic attacks. This energy is used to power a variety of attacks, many of which build combo points (abbreviated cp's). Combo points are stored on a target and can stack up to 5; if you change targets and use another cp-generating attack, the stored points are lost. These points are used for powerful finishing moves.

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Stagger like Jagger: The brewmaster monk 101 guide

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EST

Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time!

With Mists of Pandaria nearing release, the monk class is rounding into its final form. While a few things may still be tweaked, the design and abilities have now stabilized enough that I feel comfortable presenting you with a series of guides for each specialization. This week: brewmasters!

Brewmaster is the tanking specialization for the monk class. Themed after the classic Drunken Master, your job is to keep the enemies busy trying to hit you while your compatriots take them out. Any race, except for worgen and goblin, can play a monk. Like all monks, they have two resources that must be managed; energy and chi.

Energy functions identically to rogues and feral druids, as a 100-point pool that regenerates at a constant rate, in and out of combat. This energy regeneration can be increased with haste, and is used to power your basic attacks. These abilities don't do much on their own, but they build up the brewmaster's second resource: chi. Chi is a static 4-point pool, similar to a rogue's combo points, that decays when out of combat. Once you've built up a few points of chi, it can be used to power stronger abilities that do significant damage, provide self-healing, or make you more resilient.

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Walking on Air: The windwalker monk 101 guide

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST

With Mists of Pandaria nearing release, the monk class is rounding into its final form. While a few things may still be tweaked, the design and abilities have now stabilized enough that I feel comfortable presenting you with a series of guides for each specialization. This week: windwalkers!

Windwalkers are the melee DPS specialization for the monk class. Themed after martial artists, your job as a windwalker is to punch and kick things repeatedly until they stop moving. Any race, except for worgen and goblin, can play a monk. Like all monks, they have two resources that must be managed; energy and chi.

Energy functions identically to rogues and feral druids, as a 100-point pool that regenerates at 10 points per second, in and out of combat. This energy regeneration can be increased with haste, and is used to power a monk's basic attacks. These abilities aren't very damaging, but they build the monk's second resource: chi. Chi is a static 4-point pool, similar to a rogue's combo points, that decays when out of combat. After the windwalker generates chi, he uses it to power his more iconic abilities, that generate the bulk of the windwalker's damage. One key difference between chi and combo points, however, is that all chi-consuming abilities have a fixed cost and damage, compared to the others where the effect scales based on the amount of combo points consumed.

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Shifting Perspectives: 5.0.4 changes for feral and balance druids

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST

The patch is coming! The patch is coming! Run around screaming wildly! Right. Anyway, if you're just coming back to WoW, here's everything new you'll need to know to get your feral or balance druid up to speed. First I'll hit some of the overall druid changes before drilling down into the spec-specific stuff.

Changes for druids

Feral is no longer a tank/DPS specialization. Yes, bearcatting is officially dead for those who practiced it, though it lives on somewhat in one of our new talents. Feral is now solely melee DPS, and a new spec has been added for bear tanks, guardian.

All the old talent trees are gone. You still pick a specialization at level 10, but instead of a 31-point tree, you now have six tiers of talent choices, with one choice out of three options every 15 levels. With the talent tree deletion came an ability shuffle; many druid abilities that were spec-specific, such as Force of Nature or Feral Charge, have been made into talents that can be used by any spec. For more, read my column on talent tiers 1 through 3 or tiers 4 through 6.

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Shifting Perspectives: Exploring the Dream of Cenarius playstyle for ferals

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST

As beta patches came and went, a few long-time feral players quietly began grumbling to me about the new changes coming in Mists. "We didn't get anything new," one murmured. "I don't have to make tough decisions anymore," said another. Meanwhile, the wheels of balance continued turning. Moonkin were attracting the lion's share of the attention with their high-flying damage numbers utilizing Dream of Cenarius, but then feral theorycrafters started calculating how to put it to use ...

The evolution of a talent

Dream of Cenarius, in its first incarnation, was relatively useless to ferals. The "30% damage to next melee ability" buff was only granted for non-instant casts of Healing Touch, which wasn't likely to occur in any typical scenario. Most of the discussion revolved around whether the passive bonuses from Heart of the Wild would outpace the burst damage from Nature's Vigil, given that NV could be stacked with Berserk.

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Leveling a monk in Mists of Pandaria, part 2

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST

Two weeks ago, I covered the stuff you'll want to level, and last week, I covered the abilities your new monk will gain from levels 1 to 30. This week, we'll finish out the list.

Read: Leveling a monk in Mists of Pandaria, part 1

Levels 31 to 45

For this set of levels, there's not too much going on for windwalkers. You've already received the majority of your core moveset, so now you'll be picking up a bit of utility. (I neglected to mention last week that you unlock your first glyph slot at level 25. I recommend picking up the Glyph of Afterlife for leveling, to help minimize your downtime.) At 32, you'll get Spear Hand Strike, which is a standard interrupt with a nice all-schools lockout bonus for PvP. Following that, you'll get Energizing Brew at level 36.

EBrew (as I call it) is deceptively powerful. It'll seem kind of useless while out questing, as most of your fights are pretty short-duration in nature. Jump into a group scenario, however, and you'll soon run into situations where you have no chi left to use on finishers and no energy for Jab. In that case, popping this will effective give you a little kickstart. It's not an instant kick like a feral druid's Tiger's Fury or an assassination rogue's Cold Blood, but in the end, more energy means more chi means more damage. After Energizing Brew, you won't get anything new for a little while, but make sure to grab Journeyman Riding at 40.

Continuing on the utility theme, at level 44 you'll receive Paralysis. This is your crowd control ability and functions similarly to a retribution paladin's Repentance. It's limited to melee range, though, which will make using it in a coordinated fashion somewhat problematic. (Later, you do unlock a talent that gives it a limited ranged capability.) It does have a shorter cooldown than duration, so you can refresh it as long as necessary; try to use it from behind, though, to get the full effect.

Finally, level 45 unlocks your third choice of talents, which all relate to chi in some fashion. I don't find Ascension particularly useful, so I'd recommend picking up either Power Strikes or Chi Brew. Personally, I prefer Power Strikes since I don't have to think about using it, plus it generally allows me to Jab once and go straight into Fists of Fury or a Touch of Death.

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A Monk's Refuge: Exploring the Peak of Serenity in Mists of Pandaria

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:00:00 EST

Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time!

After reading the wonderful travelogues posted by SinisterWyvern and Disargeria, I knew it was time for me to go check out the Peak of Serenity. While the spell to teleport there has been present in the beta for some time, that Peak of Serenity was completely devoid of life. It was definitely serene -- but somewhat boring. Now, though, there are loads of nifty things there for new and experienced monks to do.

There and back again

Reaching the Peak of Serenity is quite simple. Once your monk reaches level 20, you receive the spell Zen Pilgrimage, which works just like a druid's Teleport: Moonglade or a death knight's Death Gate, instantly teleporting you to the Shrine of the Ox on the Peak of Serenity. Unlike those spells, however, once you arrive, it becomes Zen Pilgrimage: Return, which will whisk you back to your original location.

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Shifting Perspectives: A Mists talent analysis for cats and moonkin, part 2

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST

Last week, I talked about talent tiers 1 through 3; this week, we'll pick up the bottom half. Once again, I apologize in advance for the terrible puns in the subheaders. (They're unbearable, I know.)

Tier 4: Soul of the Force of Nature Incarnate

This tier is both the most interesting tier and the least interesting tier in the list. It's the most interesting, because, well, this one directly affects your DPS, unlike all those other "silly" healing talents. Unfortunately, that also makes it the least interesting, because that means theorycrafters will just figure out what works the best, and everybody picks that one. The best-case scenario is that all the talents end up reasonably balanced, so I'm going to approach this discussion with that in mind.

First up is Soul of the Forest, which is a fairly bland passive talent. For easily distracted people like me, though, passive is good. Passive means "I don't have to do anything special to get a DPS increase out of this thing." Joking aside, it'll probably end up (once the balancing is complete) as narrowly the highest-DPS talent for feral and balance, but only if you get to stay attacking the boss 100% of the time. Any off-DPS time starts to cut into its value significantly.

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Leveling a monk in Mists of Pandaria, part 1

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST

In less than two months, Mists of Pandaria comes out. If you followed my guide from last week, you'll have all the stuff you need to level -- but that still leaves you with a brand new class with a bunch of buttons that you don't recognize. Yay.

Don't worry, I'm here to help. This week and next, I'll give you the leveling lowdown so you know exactly what abilities you'll need and what you won't. After that, I'll bring you a series of 101 articles on how to play your chosen specialization of monk at level 90. Excited? Good. Bow, and let's begin.

First Steps: Levels 1 to 10

Like all classes, you don't start out with much. Your only usable ability will be Jab, which is your basic attack that generates chi. Your basic auto-attacks will likely do a lot more damage than Jab at first; don't fret. You'll also have Stance of the Fierce Tiger, which will cause your Jab to generate extra chi, which you won't have any use for at first. Finally, you'll have several passive abilities, the most noticeable being Tiger Strikes. This proc gives you (essentially) +50% melee attack speed and +100% melee damage for your next four swings, which means whatever you're fighting will die very quickly.

So jab, jab, and jab some more until you hit level 3, when you will learn Tiger Palm. (You don't have to visit trainers to learn abilities anymore; they just pop right into your spellbook. Hooray for progress!) This is your first chi-consuming ability, hitting about twice as hard as Jab for 1 chi. This sets up your first rotation: Jab, Tiger Palm, Tiger Palm, repeat. The armor penetration buff you gain from Tiger Palm is helpful but not overly significant, so don't worry about it too much. Keep punching away, until you get to level 5 and learn Roll. (Whee!)

You'll likely be using Roll a lot, so stick it somewhere easy to hit. This tosses you forward about 20 yards in the direction you're moving (or facing, if standing still) and has two charges, so it can be used twice in succession. It's good for travel from point A to point B or as a quick escape from a bad situation.

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Scroll of Resurrection rewards not allowed for monks, new pandaren

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST

Last week, I wrote an article discussing some way you could prepare now for your new monk. One of the open questions at the end of that article was whether the Scroll of Resurrection's free 80 bonus would be applicable to new monks, as that could significantly impact the race for realm firsts.

Today, a Blizzard blog post clarified the situation, and the results are in: No free level 80 monk for you.

Blizzard Entertainment

With the upcoming release of Mists of Pandaria, the Scroll of Resurrection system will be updated to accommodate the new talent specialization system, monk class, and pandaren race. The following changes will be made in an upcoming patch prior to the expansion's release:

The Scroll of Resurrection leveling system will be updated to work with Mists of Pandaria's new specialization and talent system.
Resurrected characters will no longer have their talents preselected for them; however, a specialization will still available to be selected prior to entering the game.
Players who receive a Scroll of Resurrection will not be able to apply rewards (e.g. boost to level 80) to monk characters.
Players who send or receive a Scroll of Resurrection will not be able to apply rewards (e.g. in-game mount, boost to level 80) to pandaren characters that have not yet chosen a faction.

To learn more about the Scroll of Resurrection, read the FAQ.

source

While this still leaves open the question of whether Recruit-A-Friend's level-granting bonuses will work for new monks, at least now the playing field is balanced for all who will be competing. While my intuition tells me that Recruit-A-Friend bonuses will probably be allowed for monks, you may want to start acquiring some heirlooms, just in case. (EDIT: Yes, RaF is allowed for monks.)

It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Blizzard security breach, no evidence that financial data was compromised

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:40:00 EST

Mike Morhaime, the president of Blizzard Entertainment, reported today in a blog post posted on the official Blizzard website that a list of email addresses for Battle.net users, answers to security questions, and information relating to the Mobile and Dial-in Authenticator program were illegally accessed by outsiders. The security hole has been closed, but Blizzard is officially recommending that all Battle.net users change their passwords immediately. In the coming days, players will be prompted to automatically change their security questions and update their mobile authenticator software. A FAQ is available here.

The full post is below.

Mike Morhaime

Players and Friends,

Even when you are in the business of fun, not every week ends up being fun. This week, our security team found an unauthorized and illegal access into our internal network here at Blizzard. We quickly took steps to close off this access and began working with law enforcement and security experts to investigate what happened.

At this time, we've found no evidence that financial information such as credit cards, billing addresses, or real names were compromised. Our investigation is ongoing, but so far nothing suggests that these pieces of information have been accessed.

Some data was illegally accessed, including a list of email addresses for global Battle.net users, outside of China. For players on North American servers (which generally includes players from North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia) the answer to the personal security question, and information relating to Mobile and Dial-In Authenticators were also accessed. Based on what we currently know, this information alone is NOT enough for anyone to gain access to Battle.net accounts.

We also know that cryptographically scrambled versions of Battle.net passwords (not actual passwords) for players on North American servers were taken. We use Secure Remote Password protocol (SRP) to protect these passwords, which is designed to make it extremely difficult to extract the actual password, and also means that each password would have to be deciphered individually. As a precaution, however, we recommend that players on North American servers change their password. Please click this link to change your password. Moreover, if you have used the same or similar passwords for other purposes, you may want to consider changing those passwords as well.

In the coming days, we'll be prompting players on North American servers to change their secret questions and answers through an automated process. Additionally, we'll prompt mobile authenticator users to update their authenticator software. As a reminder, phishing emails will ask you for password or login information. Blizzard Entertainment emails will never ask for your password. We deeply regret the inconvenience to all of you and understand you may have questions. Please find additional information here.

We take the security of your personal information very seriously, and we are truly sorry that this has happened.

Sincerely,

Mike Morhaime

source

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What is your favorite Mists of Pandaria beta zone?

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 16:00:00 EST

Over on the US Mists of Pandaria beta forums, Crithto has posted a poll asking which new zone is users' favorite and why. As of this writing, Kun-Lai Summit has taken a narrow lead over Jade Forest and Valley of the Four Winds. That doesn't really surprise me; all of those zones have some really cool elements that I'm looking forward to playing through in the live game.

What's a little more interesting, though, is that very few people seem to like Krasarang Wilds or Townlong Steppes. Those have only reached 4% in the poll. I didn't find either of those zones too terrible, though I confess they didn't seem very memorable either (which might be the point).

The poll remains open until the 15th, if you'd like to vote! Full post below.

Crithto

You've tested, you've explored, and you've done a great job sharing feedback. Now let's sit back, take a breather for a moment, and chat about the beautiful zones in Pandaria. There are seven primary new locations to adventure in, and we want to know which one has been your favorite and why.

source

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How should classes be balanced?

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST

If you've visited the official beta forums lately, there've been lots of complaints about how powerful monk (and paladin, to a lesser extent) healing currently is in the Mists of Pandaria beta. A good blog post from Beruthiel, an expert druid healer, indicated that she was never able to beat a monk or paladin healer, no matter how hard she tried.

On Sunday, one player went so far to began discussing what specs his raiding guild was planning to "bench" for Mists of Pandaria, which triggered a response from Ghostcrawler last night.

Ghostcrawler

Quote:

When I'm being outhealed by a factor of two by any Joe Schmoe paladin or monk who happens to wander into a raid...I'm sorry, but skill is simply not going to overcome that.

It's probably not possible to overcome that much of a difference. Fortunately, you don't have to, because paladins and monks both had some egregious bugs that inflated their healing. We actually hotfixed those bugs but then a new build broke them again. Until you get a new build or we hotfix the issues again, you are probably better off comparing druid, priest and shaman healing. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Overall, I would recommend not deciding who you're going to bench based on beta testing until we are very close to ship. It's not a great strategy to try to get your character buffed either. :)

source

This is an absolutely key thing to remember -- enough so that it's worth a reminder. For those who haven't been around for an expansion launch before, there will likely be heaps of balancing hotfixes that go out at the same time patch 5.0 is released. I distinctly remember my feral druid topping DPS meters in ICC, hitting rock bottom as soon as 4.0.6 was released, then coming back up to mid-pack after a slew of hotfixes a few days later. The developers are still prioritizing testing mechanics, not balancing numbers; if you're in the beta, you should be doing the same.

From there, the discussion took a turn from raid balancing to raid stacking, in reference to Paragon's bringing 11 druids to their world-first heroic Nefarian kill.

Ghostcrawler

Quote:

Also one thing to consider is that benching and stacking of classes in the top guilds has less to do with SimCraft numbers and more of certain mechanics being very powerful on certain fights.

Case in point: Paragon's 11 Druids on their first Heroic Nefarian kill.

Agreed. Remember guilds in those world first situations are doing content very undergeared compared to what we expect because they are skipping the weeks of farming. In those situations players have to resort to some unusual strategies to make up the difference. In general (though not always depending on what they feel like they have to do) those type of machinations are fun for the guilds in questions and very few players are affected overall.

When we see widespread stacking, that crosses the line. In retrospect, the dependence on quick burst for a fight like Spine might cross the line. Overall, we didn't see a ton of stacking or sitting for the Cataclysm raids and we'll try to do even better for the new content.

source

In situations like this, it's important to consider the game developers' perspective. They have to ensure content is balanced for all levels of skill, not just those on the top end, while still creating encounters that are varied and entertaining. For the most part, I think they do a pretty good job, and it's always refreshing to see when they admit mistakes in their design.

What's your take on the matter? Should Blizzard balance classes based around their theoretical maximum performance, or should they balance around what the average class member can typically accomplish?

Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

How should classes be balanced? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vengeance no longer capped for tanks

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 19:00:00 EST

As the Mists of Pandaria beta has progressed, the developers have actively attempted to balance the new active mitigation model for tanks. One of the significant problems that they've run into is how to handle defensive abilities that scale with attack power/Vengeance, since the amount of damage taken (and Vengeance gained) by tanks at different levels of content can vary widely.

Happily, the developers have arrived at what seems to be a fairly elegant solution. They've removed the Vengeance cap entirely and significantly toned down Vengeance decay. Now, your Vengeance will simply be computed as a rolling value, based on the damage you've taken over the last 20 seconds. This should allow for 10-man and 25-man tanks to be much better balanced and fix the annoying side effect of leveling tanks also topping damage meters. Overall, I'm a big fan of this change.

Here's the full post from Ghostcrawler, after the break.

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Filed under: News items

Vengeance no longer capped for tanks originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shifting Perspectives: A Mists talent analysis for cats and moonkin

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST

So. New talents! Awesome, right? This week, I'm going to take a closer look at the tiers and make recommendations on which talent you'll want to pick up for your Mists of Pandaria adventures. (Yes, I've looked at the new talents before, but we've had several months' worth of discussion and changes since then.) I apologize in advance for the terrible puns in the subheaders.

Tier 1: We like to charge it, charge it

No way around it: Displacer Beast is flat-out terrible. In theory, the ability serves as a way to escape from enemies; in practice, it completely fails at this because it lacks the threat-dropping capabilities of Feign Death or the temporary damage absorption of Vanish. DoTs will still immediately snap you out of stealth, as will spells in the air (sometimes). Non-players will keep all their threat and keep attacking you. I could maybe sorta kinda see it being used offensively in PvP for feral (open from Prowl, dump some energy, DB out and reopen), but that's pushing things. At this point, I don't think the talent is fixable, and I'm hoping they scrap it and replace it with something that buffs Dash and/or Stampeding Roar.

Luckily, we have two other talents that are much better. Feline Swiftness's passive movement speed increase is boring but very helpful in any situation. Unfortunately, it has one key downside: It does not stack with boot enchants, which makes them an integral part of the decision. Feral will almost certainly be using the Blurred Speed enchant anyway for the agility bonus, so it's really more like a 7% bonus for them. Balance has a little more choice here; they can choose between move speed + 140 mastery or 175 haste, which will likely be a superior DPS option.

Wild Charge, in contrast, has a wealth of situational uses, especially in PvP. The cooldown being so short means you can use it pretty much every time you need it, which is great. Of course, that means you have to use it to gain any benefit from the talent. If you'd rather focus on your rotation, just go with Feline Swiftness. Basically, it's a pretty close call. I probably prefer Wild Charge for feral and Feline Swiftness for balance, but it can go either way.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: A Mists talent analysis for cats and moonkin

Filed under: Druid, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives

Shifting Perspectives: A Mists talent analysis for cats and moonkin originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Preparing for your new monk

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST

So the release date's been officially announced, and you've decided you want to roll a monk. Good for you! Now, though, you've got more than 100 million experience points to get through between 1 and 90. Ouch. Here are some ideas for things you'll want to have saved for your new character, whether you're gunning for the realm-first level 90 monk or just want a stress-free experience.

Gear mastery

First up, getting some heirloom items is the obvious starting point. Each heirloom armor piece will give you an XP bonus, and heirloom weapons contribute significantly to your damage output, which gets you through things faster. You've got two choices, agility leather for aspiring brewmasters and windwalkers or intellect leather for potential mistweavers. As it stands now, though, I'd highly recommend sticking with agility leather, at least for leveling purposes, because the offensive spell selection for mistweavers is limited and isn't available until late.

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Preparing for your new monk originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brewfest start date postponed after concerns raised

(Chase Hasbrouck) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:00:00 EST

A few days ago, we told you about Brewfest being updated for Mists of Pandaria. At the time, the decision had been made to keep Brewfest on the same schedule as last year, which generated significant controversy. As it stood, Brewfest would start Sept. 20, which meant players would have five days of the event in which they could not challenge Coren Direbrew, and then they'd be forced to level as quickly as possible to reach the new level requirement for facing him before the event ended on Oct. 5.

Happily, that decision has been rethought. In a blue post on the EU forums, Vaneras confirmed that the event has been pushed forward by over a week. (While the exact dates haven't been announced, it will likely now be Sept. 28 to Oct. 13, give or take a day.)

This change is highly welcomed; personally, even though I'd planned to level fairly casually, the knowledge that I'd be missing out on a trinket or two had irked me. Now, I'm much more likely to complete my leveling a few days before Brewfest ends and get a few shots at it.

Vaneras

Hey guys,

We are aware that many of you are concerned about not having enough time to level up and such, which is a concern we fully acknowledge, as we know that many of you would like to enjoy and experience the new areas and content at your own pace, and not feel like you have to rush through things and level up as fast as possible just to have a go at the Brewfest dungeon boss.

Therefore, In order to make sure you guys have some more time to prepare for this year's Brewfest, we have pushed the whole event forward by just over a week, stopping short of overlapping with the Hallow's End event.

source

Filed under: News items

Brewfest start date postponed after concerns raised originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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