WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogobig.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2015 AOL, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. View our terms of service here: http://legal.aol.com/terms-of-service/full-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[Patch 5.1: New Naxxramas battle pets terrorize their way onto your team]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/patch-5-1-new-naxxramas-pets-terrorize-their-way-onto-your-team/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/patch-5-1-new-naxxramas-pets-terrorize-their-way-onto-your-team/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/patch-5-1-new-naxxramas-pets-terrorize-their-way-onto-your-team/#comments Loatheb, a larger version of the Fungal Abomination pet. Of all the 5.1 news that's been released so far, some of our favorite changes and additions involve battle pets. The first is the introduction of new rarity stones that will make your poorly statted yet hard-to-find pets better. Even cooler than that, Blizzard is introducing an entire new set of battle pets into the game as rewards for killing old world bosses.

Today we'll focus our attention on the three ghoulish gifts that drop off bosses in Naxxramas. These creepy undead come with a variety of suitably spooky abilities, and all promise to fit well into many competitive battle pet teams. Undead are one of the best types in pet battling, due to their powerful passive self-resurrection ability and that they're super-effected by critters, one of the worst types in the game. I'm hoping that this trio of terrible terrors might cause us to start seeing something other than Lil' K.T. and Landro's Lichling in PVP pet battles.

How to consume friends and alienate people

Stitched Pupling drops off Gluth, the third boss of Naxxramas' abomination quarter. Despite his terrifying visage, this pup is more of guard dog. While we don't know his approximate stats yet, we do have an idea of his moveset (though no knowledge of which column the abilities fall into). He has two self-heals in Plagued Blood and Consume Corpse. Plagued Blood also gives him some nice utility for your next pet to switch in on, and Consume Corpse's large heal combined with this pup's undead nature guarantee a prolonged war of attrition will be needed to take him down.

Continue reading Patch 5.1: New Naxxramas battle pets terrorize their way onto your team

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Patch 5.1: New Naxxramas battle pets terrorize their way onto your team originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> battle-petsfungal-abominationgiant-bone-spiderpatch-5.1patch-5.1-ptrpet-battlesstitched-puplingwow-patch-5.1 (Josh Myers) Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Leveling your shaman in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/29/totem-talk-leveling-your-shaman-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/29/totem-talk-leveling-your-shaman-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/29/totem-talk-leveling-your-shaman-in-mists-of-pandaria/#comments Totem Talk Leveling your shaman in Mists of Pandaria Look up in the sky! Is it a bird-form druid? An engineer in a flying machine? No, it's a wild Josh Myers, returned from summer adventures and bursting with knowledge about DPS shaman in his bi-weekly Totem Talk, which focuses on issues for enhancement and elemental shaman.

After one near-sleepless night, two ten hour leveling binges, and too many caffeinated beverages to count, Elamism's ascent to level 90 has successfully ended. You're going to be seeing a lot of words and phrases like "grueling" or "arduous" or "I had more fun passing a gallstone" going around the internet this week to describe the leveling process. From my experiences, I'd be inclined to agree...but I'd be wrong to.

The only reason this leveling was arduous was because a bunch of half-manic masochists with dreams of server first raid kills (a group I belong to myself) decided to try condensing a two-three week long leveling process into a 24-36 hour period. We skipped quest text, raged at NPC dialogue, wasting and spent entirely too much time ghost-running to our bodies because our sleep-deprived brains didn't realize the mountain under our feet had ended until it was too late to Parachute Cloak.

The one thing I did not rage at once in my 20.5 hour voyage to level 90 was my class. Shaman are a class that almost seem designed to rock at solo play. We have a strong utility toolbox, self-healing, and reasonable AOE ability. My leveling speed strongly depended on me maximizing smart usage of all of these abilities, as well as good decision making with my talents and glyphs.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Leveling your shaman in Mists of Pandaria

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Totem Talk: Leveling your shaman in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 85-90ancestral-guidanceaoe-levelingcapacitor-totemelemental-levelingelemental-shaman-mopelemental-shaman-totem-talkenhancement-levelingEnhancement-Shaman-mopenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamansleveling-in-mopleveling-shaman-to-90leveling-to-90shaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-leveling-glyphsshaman-leveling-talentsshaman-talentsstone-bulwark-totemwow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Surviving playing elemental in 5.0.4]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/01/totem-talk-surviving-playing-elemental-in-5-0-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/01/totem-talk-surviving-playing-elemental-in-5-0-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/09/01/totem-talk-surviving-playing-elemental-in-5-0-4/#comments Totem Talk Surviving playing elemental in 504 SAT Look up in the sky! Is it a bird-form druid? An engineer in a flying machine? No, it's a wild Josh Myers, returned from summer adventures and bursting with knowledge about DPS shaman in his weekly Totem Talk. This week's article will focus on how to play elemental after 5.0.4.

My fellow elemental shaman: Our class is no longer complete. And no, I'm not talking about the recent changes to totems that seems to have everyone up in arms despite being a really good change for the class. I'm referring to the fact that we our class is no longer balanced around level 85. The level 85 game is effectively over. Think of this game as election, and the post 5.0.4 period is the period of time between November 5th January 20th: We're a lame duck class. We're nerfed. And that's fine, because Cataclysm content no longer matters, and exists only to help you relearn your spec before Mists of Pandaria drops.

Our beloved spec has been retooled to be balanced at level 90, where we'll have access to the incredibly powerful Ascendance and the level 90 tier of DPS talents. These will be potent additions to our arsenal, and our current spells have been balanced around the idea that we will have access to them. That doesn't mean everything at 85 is all bad -- we did receive a few nice quality of life changes that you'll notice when you log-in.
  • Lava Surge makes Lava Burst instant, which makes it a mobile DPS ability.
  • Elemental Fury makes us the only class/spec to crit for more than 200% damage.
  • Lava Burst's damage was nerfed, but Lightning Bolt's was slightly buffed to compensate.
  • Fire Elemental now lasts one minute, but also only has a five minute cooldown. (Meaning it will be up every attempt!)
  • Lightning Shield starts at one stack and stacks to seven, rather than starting at three and going to nine. You no longer lose charges from taking damage.
  • Glyphed Flame Shock now lasts 30 seconds, up from 27.
  • Stormlash Totem. Hello again, four guaranteed raid spots for shaman. We've missed you so much.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Surviving playing elemental in 5.0.4

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Totem Talk: Surviving playing elemental in 5.0.4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> elemenetal-shaman-priorityelemental-5.0.4.elemental-shamanelemental-shaman-after-5.0.4elemental-shaman-dpselemental-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamansshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 01 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: What to expect when you're enhancing (in 5.0.4)]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/25/totem-talk-what-to-expect-when-youre-enhancing-in-5-0-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/25/totem-talk-what-to-expect-when-youre-enhancing-in-5-0-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/25/totem-talk-what-to-expect-when-youre-enhancing-in-5-0-4/#comments Enhancement shaman casts elemental blast Look up in the sky! Is it a bird-form druid? An engineer in a flying machine? No, it's a wild Josh Myers, returned from summer adventures and bursting with knowledge about DPS shaman in his weekly Totem Talk. This week will focus on enhancement shaman for brevity, but I haven't forgotten my elemental brethren. Next week, you'll have all my attention to yourselves.

Hello again, Totem Talk! I apologize for my disappearing act the last few months, but I started a new job as a summer camp director six weeks before camp began, which requires a phenomenal time investment during the summer. Also, my boyfriend got diagnosed with MS and my mom with uterine cancer, so my life has turned into a frost giant's stress ball. And, because I'm a masochist, I decided to start personal training, because I didn't have enough stresses on my schedule or my body.

But I'm back! Summer is winding down, and with its slumber comes a slightly less hectic work schedule for me, which should mean more time playing and writing about WoW. This is convenient, seeing as patch 5.0.4 releases this Tuesday, and I've left my league of adoring fans, frenemies, and people bored enough to read my articles without any enhancement or elemental guidance for far too long.

A lot of the changes coming in patch 5.0.4 are the very generic ones that we've covered in the past, such as the total overhaul of the talent/glyph systems for every class in the game. For those overarching game changes, you'll want to check out the most recent patch notes we've posted, as well as Anne's 5.0.4 primer. This post will deal more with the actual nitty-gritty of what's changing for enhancement specifically. This post is aimed toward maximizing your level 85 shaman during the month in between 5.0.4 and Mist of Pandaria's actual release, so that you can spend that month learning how to play before release.

Continue reading Totem Talk: What to expect when you're enhancing (in 5.0.4)

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Totem Talk: What to expect when you're enhancing (in 5.0.4) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> echo-of-the-elementsenhance-5.0.4enhancementenhancement-in-5.0.4Enhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-mopenhancement-shaman-primerenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamanshaste-vs-masteryhow-do-i-5.0.4how-do-i-play-an-enhancement-shamanhow-to-play-enhance-moppatch-5.0.4patch-5.0.4-primershaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentswhere-did-my-totems-gowow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: The confused state of level 90 enhancement shaman]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/09/totem-talk-the-confused-state-of-level-90-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/09/totem-talk-the-confused-state-of-level-90-enhancement-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/09/totem-talk-the-confused-state-of-level-90-enhancement-shaman/#comments Totem Talk The confused state of level 90 enhancement Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids using all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

I'd like to preface this post with an apology. I'm sorry, shaman. I didn't mean to disappear for the past month, but I started a new job this month, and the ensuing chaos left me neglecting my monster-slaying duties. On the plus side, I didn't leave you guys for Diablo!

Luckily, not much has changed for enhancement on beta since I slipped into solitude. And by "not much," I mean that there's been a single solitary patch note with class changes since I last posted. Flurry has been reduced to a 20% haste increase on crit, and you also gain a 50% additional benefit from haste on items.

This change is obviously intended to address our incredibly lackluster scaling from haste. It's very reminiscent of the change in patch 3.1 that gave all melee classes an additional 30% haste from items. Prior to 3.1, haste was a lackluster stat for enhancement. By the end of Wrath of the Lich King, we were gemming straight haste rating. When Cataclysm hit, shaman were changed significantly to do less passive damage. The 30% haste rating benefit we enjoyed for over a year were reverted, and our benefit from haste rating plummeted.

Continue reading Totem Talk: The confused state of level 90 enhancement shaman

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Totem Talk: The confused state of level 90 enhancement shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 Jun 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> elemental-blastenhancement-confusingenhancement-hasteenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedflurryflurry-buffguide-to-shamansis-enhance-good-in-moplevel-90-shamanshaman-guideshaman-in-betashaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-mopshaman-talentswill-haste-be-good-for-enhance-in-mopwow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 09 Jun 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Skill Mastery: Ascendance takes shaman to new heights]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/skill-mastery-ascendance-takes-shaman-to-new-heights/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/skill-mastery-ascendance-takes-shaman-to-new-heights/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/skill-mastery-ascendance-takes-shaman-to-new-heights/#comments Image Ascendance is a new ability coming to level 87 shaman of all specs in Mists of Pandaria. For 15 seconds every 3 minutes, you'll transform yourself into an Ascended elemental form that looks very much like the trash mobs in Grim Batol or Bastion of Twilight. The actual Ascendant's appearance and the function of the form vary based on your current specialization.

For enhancement, you take on the form of an air Ascendant, making your melee auto-attacks and Stormstrike become ranged attacks that are able to be used at up to 30 yards away. They also deal pure nature damage, which means they're benefited by Enhanced Elements and ignore armor. From a PvP standpoint, melee attacks from a 30-yard range that ignore armor will be frustrating for escaping clothies and plate-wearers that you're trying to keep your distance from.

Elemental morphs into a fire Ascendant. In this form, your Chain Lightning morphs into Lava Beam. Lava Beam is similar to Chain Lightning but hits a total of five targets and doesn't reduce its damage when it jumps, which is potent AoE. For single targets, your fire Ascendancy makes your Lava Burst have no cooldown during its duration, which means back to back critical hits for 15 seconds.

The last Ascendant form is restoration's water form, which functions very similarly to the Essence of Dreams in Ultraxion. For 15 seconds, every heal you cast duplicates its healing done and splits that secondary healing amount among all nearby targets. If you cast a 100k Greater Healing Wave on your tank, she'll be healed for 100,000 and another 100,000 healing will be split among allies near her. It's very potent.

If you want more in depth views of Ascendance and the benefits and cons, Joe Perez and I recently wrote Totem Talks covering Ascendance for DPS and resto shaman.
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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Skill Mastery: Ascendance takes shaman to new heights originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> ascendancefeaturedguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-abilitiesmists-of-pandaria-betamop-shamannot-diabloshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsskill-masteryskill-mastery-mopwow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weapon]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/totem-talk-solving-the-problem-of-maelstrom-weapon/#comments The default Blizzard power aura for Maelstrom Weapon Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids using all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

When I try to think of what enhancement's most iconic ability is, a few come to mind. Windfury Weapon is a definite contender, and three or four years ago it would have been my default response. Seriously, though, what is Windfury other than a glorified auto-attack with an attack power bonus and a lower chance to miss? Likewise, Stormstrike could be iconic, but it's essentially a melee attack with both weapons with an electric graphic and a debuff. It's enhancement's Mutilate or Obliterate.

To me, Maelstrom Weapon is the answer. If there's one ability that encapsulates what enhancement is -- a brutal melee class that weaves instant spellcasts between their weapon strikes to harm their opponent or heal themselves -- I believe it's Maelstrom Weapon. It's enhancement's Death Strike, Arcane Blast, Chakra, or Raging Blow -- abilities that, at a glance, offer an insight into what makes the spec different from other specs in their role.

There's a problem here, though. If Maelstrom Weapon is enhancement's iconic ability, why is it currently so awful?

Continue reading Totem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weapon

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Totem Talk: Solving the problem of Maelstrom Weapon originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 05 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> elemental-blastenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamansideas-for-a-better-maelstrom-weaponmaelstrom-weaponshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstotem-talk-enhancementtotem-talk-enhancement-shamanwhy-maelstrom-weapon-needs-helpwow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 05 May 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Arcane Brilliance: How to solo Magtheridon for fun and transmog]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/arcane-brilliance-how-to-solo-magtheridon-for-fun-and-transmog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/arcane-brilliance-how-to-solo-magtheridon-for-fun-and-transmog/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/05/05/arcane-brilliance-how-to-solo-magtheridon-for-fun-and-transmog/#comments Magtheridon gets mad Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. In good news, the most esteemed archmage Christian Belt has escaped from the alternate timeline where he was forced to perpetually watch reruns of Fox Van Allen's appearance on The Price is Right. The bad news is that this means this is Josh Myers' last mage article for a while, but he had fun while it lasted!

My mage wasn't level-capped when Magtheridon was relevant content. I was a resto shaman, content to spam my one PUG raid night a week spamming four ranks of Chain Heal on other people. I still remember those days fondly, as they were my first exposure to "real" raiding. Also, Magtheridon's Lair was considerably easier than tier 4's other 25-man raid, Gruul's Lair, and the only way to get access to your tier four chestpiece.

I first learned Magtheridon's Lair was soloable at level 85 by managing to do it on my hunter, because pet classes are overpowered (though the ones with self-healing are even more so -- I'm looking at you, Megan O'Neill!). Speaking of potent self-healing, I followed with my blood death knight, and then conquered the pit lord with my enhance shaman. The natural next choice would have been to take a warlock or maybe a feral druid, but I wanted a challenge. Also, Magelam was craving a Crystalheart Pulse-Staff, so he was my fourth choice. I ended up spending about two hours last November perfecting my strategy and have since been able to down him consistently whenever I want a quick 50 gold and some level 70 epics to sell.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: How to solo Magtheridon for fun and transmog

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Arcane Brilliance: How to solo Magtheridon for fun and transmog originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 05 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguide-to-mageshellfire-channelershow-to-magtheridonmage-guidemage-infomage-solos-magtheridonmage-talentsmagtheridonmagtheridons-lairsoloing-as-a-magesoloing-magesoloing-magtheridonsoloing-tier-fourwow-magewow-mage-infowow-mageswow-magtheridon (Josh Myers) Sat, 05 May 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Arcane Brilliance: 5 abilities that keep me playing my mage]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/arcane-brilliance-5-abilities-that-keep-me-playing-my-mage/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/arcane-brilliance-5-abilities-that-keep-me-playing-my-mage/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/28/arcane-brilliance-5-abilities-that-keep-me-playing-my-mage/#comments A female human mage standing with her Mirror Images Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. Christian Belt is the normal archmage, but rumor has it that he's currently trapped in one of many hell dimensions. The Simbul has gone to investigate, leaving Senior Understudy and Last Surviving Student Josh Myers to cover this week's article.

I am a gigantic nerd. I love math, and science, and testing. So when a new beta comes out and there's testing and theorycrafting and video game science to do, that's my focus. I go, "Hey, look at this shiny new spell, and what are the rotational ramifications of its existence?" And then I forget that I have work in the morning and am up till four in the morning running around Jade Forest trying to get the perfect screenshot of Nether Tempest.

I'm on vacation visiting my parents in Michigan this week, and I promised myself that part of that vacation would be to eschew plying beta for the week, since we've been pretty inseparable for the past month. Also, I'm using my significant other's laptop, and I'm not sure even my rep level would support downloading another massive file onto it. As a result, I've been playing a lot on live, and I've taken some time to remember why it is that I love playing the mage class.

There are a lot of reasons (none of them are the fire spec in PVE at the moment, but that's another post entirely), but the main one is the repertoire. Mages have a ton of abilities, and a lot of them are chock-full of flavor and awesomeness. I had to narrow this list down to my five absolute favorites, but everything from Mirror Image to Invisibility to Cone of Cold are eligible contestants too. The abilities I chose are my favorites, ones that fit the classic mage archetype while having mechanics that make sense in WoW. Also, they're shiny.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: 5 abilities that keep me playing my mage

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Arcane Brilliance: 5 abilities that keep me playing my mage originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Arcane-Brillianceblinkcool-mage-abilitiesfeaturedfive-mage-abilitiesfrostfire-boltguide-to-magesmage-abilitiesmage-guidemage-infomage-talentsmages-in-wowpolymorphpyroblastshatterwhy-should-i-play-a-magewow-magewow-mage-infowow-mages (Josh Myers) Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: The highs and lows of Ascendance for DPS shaman]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/totem-talk-the-highs-and-lows-of-ascendance-for-dps-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/totem-talk-the-highs-and-lows-of-ascendance-for-dps-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/totem-talk-the-highs-and-lows-of-ascendance-for-dps-shaman/#comments
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids using all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

Elamism didn't hit level 87 on the beta this week. It wasn't for lack of trying, but something more akin to lack of time. Despite grabbing two heroic No'kaleds from our first heroic Madness kill two weeks ago, I still had guild raiding to do this week (I ended up picking up a heroic Rathrak for my elemental spec, so I can't complain too much), and I had to make preparations for my trip to Michigan next week. Coupled with the fact that I had to dedicate a night to testing my arcane mage as well, I wasn't able to dedicate enough alone time with my shaman to hit level 87.

Thankfully, other people have had the opportunity to play more than I did (special thanks to Ashunera, who graciously allowed me to use this Ascendance video here). It's thanks to Ashunera that we've gotten our first taste of Ascendance, the new class ability coming to shaman in Mists of Pandaria. Spoiler alert: It's totally and completely awesome.

Continue reading Totem Talk: The highs and lows of Ascendance for DPS shaman

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Totem Talk: The highs and lows of Ascendance for DPS shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> ascendanceascendance-mopfeaturedguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamopshaman-ascendanceshaman-ascendance-betashaman-ascendance-mopshaman-betashaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-mopshaman-talentstotem-talktotem-talk-elemental-shamantotem-talk-enhancement-shamantotem-talk-shaman-elementaltotem-talk-shaman-enhancementwow-mop-betawow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Arcane Brilliance: First impressions of arcane in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/arcane-brilliance-first-impressions-of-arcane-in-mists-of-panda/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/arcane-brilliance-first-impressions-of-arcane-in-mists-of-panda/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/21/arcane-brilliance-first-impressions-of-arcane-in-mists-of-panda/#comments Nether Tempest after kiting for a while. Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. Christian Belt is the normal archmage, but rumor has it that he's currently trapped in one of many hell dimensions. The Simbul has gone to investigate, leaving Senior Understudy and Last Surviving Student Josh Myers to cover this week's article.

I've had a love/hate relationship with arcane. As I mentioned last week, when I first started my mage I had every intention of playing arcane ... but that was back in The Burning Crusade, when phrases like class balance and raid-viable didn't make sense to me. When my mage started growing in levels and I found out the best raiding spec for mages was destruction warlock, I jumped ship.

My mage hit level cap during the height of arcane's PvE dominance in Wrath of the Lich King, and I decided it wasn't the spec for me. When my mage capped again in Cataclysm and started preparing to raid, frost was enjoying its brief period as a semi-viable spec, and I had a secondary fire spec for Alysrazor. I haven't had much cause to go arcane lately, beyond Spine of Deathwing when we were progressing, and up until now I was pretty glad for that fact.

That is, until I hit beta. After writing my first impressions of both frost and fire and totally dropping the ball on my original arcane speculations for MoP (pro tip: Arcane Missiles is still a proc), I thought it was my duty to try out arcane. I told myself that for the sake of science and fairness, I'd give arcane a shot. After a night of streaming dungeon runs, dummy testing, and some Jade Forest leveling, I almost feel like I owe arcane a huge apology -- because in MoP, it's a legitimately fun spec.

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Arcane Brilliance: First impressions of arcane in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> arcane-barragearcane-blastArcane-Brilliancearcane-chargesarcane-in-betaarcane-in-moparcane-mage-arcane-brilliancearcane-missilesarcane-specarcane-spec-mopfeaturedguide-to-magesmage-guidemage-infomage-talentsmages-in-betamages-in-mopmists-of-pandariamopmop-magespandariawow-magewow-mage-infowow-mageswow-mopwow-mop-beta (Josh Myers) Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Arcane Brilliance: A look at frost PvE in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/14/arcane-brilliance-a-look-at-frost-pve-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/14/arcane-brilliance-a-look-at-frost-pve-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/14/arcane-brilliance-a-look-at-frost-pve-in-mists-of-pandaria/#comments Mage using Frozen Orb Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. Christian Belt is usually at the helm, but rumor has it Saruman has trapped him on the tower of Orthanc and he's awaiting rescue by a large, intelligent bird. Senior Understudy and Last Surviving Student Josh Myers has been charged with delivering the ring to the fires of Mount Doom and writing an article about mages in Mists of Pandaria. Chances are he'll only succeed at the latter.

I started my mage back in The Burning Crusade with the intent of playing arcane. Arcane wasn't really a feasible leveling spec back then, though, and I ended up switching to frost around the time I hit Thousand Needles. The moment I got my first real Shattered Frostbolt off, though, I was hooked. When my mage hit 85 in Cataclysm, all I wanted to do was stay frost. Thankfully, we were into patch 4.2 by this point, and frost was moderately PvE-viable at the time.

When it came time to test the beta version of frost out this week, I had high hopes. Despite my mage being fire for most of DS, frost still feels the most familiar to me, and I was able to slip back into it fairly easily. A lot of the core feeling of the spec remains unchanged, with Frostbolt, Fingers of Frosted Ice Lances, and instant Frostfire Bolts comprising much of your core rotation. There are some real noticeable changes, however, and a lot of them are for the better.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: A look at frost PvE in Mists of Pandaria

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Arcane Brilliance: A look at frost PvE in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> betabeta-mopbrain-freezedeep-freezefeaturedfingers-of-frostfrost-in-betafrost-magefrost-mage-arcane-brilliancefrost-mage-mists-of-pandariafrost-mage-mopfrost-mage-pvefrozen-bombfrozen-orbguide-to-magesmage-guidemage-infomage-talentsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betawow-magewow-mage-infowow-mages (Josh Myers) Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[5 monk abilities that should have you excited for Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/5-monk-abilities-that-should-have-you-excited-for-mists-of-panda/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/5-monk-abilities-that-should-have-you-excited-for-mists-of-panda/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/5-monk-abilities-that-should-have-you-excited-for-mists-of-panda/#comments A human monk using Flying Serpent Kick When I was younger, Easter was a time of good food and great gaming. While my parents and relatives discussed boring adult stuff in my aunt's living room, my brothers and I would flee with our cousin to their basement, where we'd play Mortal Kombat II on SNES all night. I was always Liu Kang, my younger brother was normally Reptile, and I'd always win the first few matches by backing him into a corner and repeatedly bicycle kicking him until he died. Or blocked. Once he became a preteen, it was usually the latter, and I haven't beaten him in a fighting game since.

The long-distance flying Martial Arts kick has been a staple in video games ever since video games became a Thing, and I'm particularly pleased to announce that Blizzard has done it due justice in Mists of Pandaria with Flying Serpent Kick. It won't allow you to abuse dated wall mechanics or give you a false sense of pride, but it's one of a number of awesome monk abilities that fit in well with the monk archetype in gaming in general while staying true to WoW's form. Hopefully, these five monk abilities will have you excited for WoW's next expansion.

1. Expel Harm Normally, heals aren't something that I typically call exciting or cool, unless they're the total awesomeness that is Healing Rain. This is especially true given the relative homogenization of healer classes in Cataclysm and the existence of the healing holy trinity. Expel Harm isn't your normal heal. Instead, what Expel Harm does is heal you (or, if glyphed, your target) for a small amount, and then it does 100% of the healing done to the closest enemy target as damage.

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5 monk abilities that should have you excited for Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> betabreath-of-firechi-wavedizzying-hazeexpel-harmfive-fun-monk-abilitiesflying-serpent-kickmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamonkmonk-abilitiesmonk-betamonk-classmoptouch-of-deathWorld-of-Warcraftworldofwarcraftwowwow-mop (Josh Myers) Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Mists of Pandaria Beta: First impressions of monk leveling]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/08/mists-of-pandaria-beta-first-impressions-of-monk-leveling/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/08/mists-of-pandaria-beta-first-impressions-of-monk-leveling/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/08/mists-of-pandaria-beta-first-impressions-of-monk-leveling/#comments Pandaren monk in a tornado for a starting zone quest The first monk I leveled to 15 in the Mists of Pandaria beta was a tauren, and I'm still having nightmares about it. I thought it would be a grand idea, allowing me to focus entirely on the monk experience and not allowing myself to get distracted by the shininess of the new pandaren starting zone. Going with something I've already done tons of times in the past seemed to make sense, and the fact that tauren are still my favorite race in WoW was just icing on the cake. For this same reason, I eschewed heirlooms; I wanted to give myself a holistic monk leveling experience.

I had the best intentions, but the actual experience was pretty bad. Most of this can be chalked up to the beta test being a beta test; I'm fairly certain the monk isn't a fully developed class yet. One of the biggest issues was ability progression. You start off with your basic chi-building attack, Jab, at level 1. After that, you get the awesome and always-useful Roll ability at level 2. I have no complaints about Roll, even though the animation hadn't been implemented on tauren models yet.

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Mists of Pandaria Beta: First impressions of monk leveling originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 08 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blackout-kickChicombo-breakerfeaturedguide-to-monkis-playing-a-monk-funjableveling-a-monkmists-of-pandariamonkmonk-1-20monk-chimonk-classmonk-dpsmonk-dps-theorycraftingmonk-energy-regenmonk-first-impressionsmonk-guidemonk-infomonk-levelingmonk-starting-abilitiesmonk-talentsmonks-in-mopmop-betapandaren-starting-zonetiger-palmwow-monkwow-monk-abilitieswow-monk-infowow-mopwow-mop-beta (Josh Myers) Sun, 08 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Arcane Brilliance: A first look at fire mages in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/07/arcane-brilliance-a-first-look-at-fire-mages-in-mists-of-pandar/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/07/arcane-brilliance-a-first-look-at-fire-mages-in-mists-of-pandar/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/07/arcane-brilliance-a-first-look-at-fire-mages-in-mists-of-pandar/#comments Pyroblasting the third boss of Temple of the Jade Serpent
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This column is usually brought to you Christian Belt, rumored to be the actual chief sorcerer of King Arthur's court. Unfortunately, Morgan Le Fay seems to have cursed him with her most powerful spell: a full-time job. Resultingly, Senior Understudy and Last Surviving Student Josh Myers is covering his class this week. Arm your spitballs.

I've been a busy bee in the past day I've had Mists of Pandaria beta access. Beyond getting some testing in on the windwalker monk, playing my elemental shaman so I could write this week's Totem Talk, and getting Savior of Azeroth on my main, I spent a hefty amount of the day today playing Magelam on the beta Gilneas server. I've had a love/hate relationship with the fire spec since DS launched, as RNG and I have never been good friends. If we were members of the Dawson's Creek cast, I'd be Pacey Witter and RNG would be every female character he ever encounters. We don't get along. Don't be ashamed if you understood this metaphor; be ashamed of me for writing it.

With that in mind, I went in to test fire out on the PTR. I joined some friends from and a few puggers to try and run the Temple of the Jade Serpent, which we actually streamed from a mistweaver monk's point of view. (Note that the actual temple stream starts at about 43 minutes into the stream, so start there if you want to check it out). We managed to defeat it all, despite what seemed to be a very painful bug that made one boss fight last nearly 15 minutes -- but it gave me some excellent testing time with the fire spec.

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Arcane Brilliance: A first look at fire mages in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> beta-mage-first-impressionbeta-mopfeaturedfire-in-mists-of-pandariafire-magefire-mage-betafire-mage-first-impressionfirst-impression-mages-betaguide-to-magesmage-guidemage-infomage-mopmage-talentsmages-in-betamages-in-mopmists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-magemop-betawow-fire-magewow-fire-mage-betawow-magewow-mage-infowow-mages (Josh Myers) Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Jeweled Panther mounts datamined on the Mists of Pandaria beta]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/jeweled-panther-mounts-datamined-on-the-mists-of-pandaria-beta/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/jeweled-panther-mounts-datamined-on-the-mists-of-pandaria-beta/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/jeweled-panther-mounts-datamined-on-the-mists-of-pandaria-beta/#comments Last night, MMO-Champion datamined a new beta build, complete with a plethora of new class changes and profession updates. One of the coolest changes is what looks to be four new mounts, craftable through jewelcrafting. The Emerald, Dawnstone, Sapphire, and Ruby Panther mounts do not seem to have any restrictions on them, making them more similar to the engineering Mechano-Hog than the Turbo-Charged Flying Machine.

We have no word yet on what the actual cost will be to make one of these beauties, but chances are a mount made from jewels torn from the earth itself will most likely be very expensive. And MMO-Champion's datamining seems to confirm that idea, as the recipe currently calls for five placeholder items called Something Expensive. These expensive somethings cost a pretty 25,000 gold apiece, but we don't know if that will be the end price. In case it is, I suggest reading up on your Gold Capped and possibly becoming best friends with Basil Berntsen and Fox Van Allen, as a full set will set you back 500,000 gold.
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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Jeweled Panther mounts datamined on the Mists of Pandaria beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> betadawnstone-pantheremerald-panthergemmed-panther-mountsgemmed-panthersgold-sinkjewelcrafting-designsjewelcrafting-mountnew-buildpanther-tankruby-panthersapphire-panthersomething-expensivewow-mopwow-mop-beta (Josh Myers) Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: First impressions of elemental shaman in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-elemental-shaman-in-mists-of-pa/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-elemental-shaman-in-mists-of-pa/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/totem-talk-first-impressions-of-elemental-shaman-in-mists-of-pa/#comments Outlandish's guild screencap of their victory over heroic madness
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

"Elamism, Savior of Azeroth" has a nice ring to it. For the first time in my time raiding, I'm officially done with a tier of raiding before the next has been released, and I'm pretty psyched about that. (The fact that I picked up two heroic No'Kaleds for my enhancement spec has me grinning ear to ear.) With Dragon Soul behind me, I can start focusing on the future, which makes it very timely that my invite to the Mists of Pandaria beta came last night.

Before my raid tonight, I got to spend some time playing elemental on the beta, and I have some good news and some bad news to report. The bad news? Not much has changed from live for beta elemental shaman. The good news? Not much has changed from live for beta elemental shaman.

Part of this is a level cap issue. Pandaria is only open for leveling up to level 86 at the moment, which means that you don't yet have access to any of the real game-changers being introduced in Mists of Pandaria. Ascendence, our new DPS cooldown and all-around coolest spell in the game, will be our prize for hitting level 87, and the tier of talents that includes Elemental Blast, Unleashed Fury, and Primal Elementalist isn't available until level 90. Since those talents are all complex and will all drastically effect your DPS, there's a lot to look forward to.

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Totem Talk: First impressions of elemental shaman in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> astral-shiftbeta-mists-of-pandariabeta-mopelemental-betaelemental-first-impressionselemental-mists-of-pandariaelemental-mopelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamanshealing-stream-totemhealing-tide-totemshaman-guideshaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-talentsshaman-totemsshaman-totems-redesignedstone-bulwark-totemwow-elemental-shamanwow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blizzard is sending out another 250,000 beta invites]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/04/blizzard-is-sending-out-another-250-000-beta-invites/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/04/blizzard-is-sending-out-another-250-000-beta-invites/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/04/blizzard-is-sending-out-another-250-000-beta-invites/#comments Image That's right: 250,000 beta invites. According to a new post by our friend Community Manager Bashiok, Blizzard is sending out another 250,000 Mists of Pandaria beta invites to players tonight, just in time for the three- or four-day holiday weekend in the United States.

Bashiok
That's right -- we're in the process of sending 250,000 additional beta-test invites to Annual Pass holders. Keep an eye on your email and Battle.net account for an invitation to come test Mists of Pandaria with us.

As with previous waves, it's going to take a while for the invites to process, so we recommend checking your games list in Battle.net Account Management to see whether yours has arrived yet. Once it does, you'll see the Mists of Pandaria beta client available for download from there. We expect this entire wave to take a day or so to complete.

We appreciate the enthusiasm of everyone who signed up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass, and we're working hard to get you into the beta. We know you're excited to explore Pandaria and test the new content, and we'll keep you posted here in the forums when we're ready to send out another wave.


As normal, remember to check your Battle.net Account Management page to see if you got beta access, as the email notifications tend to take significantly longer to get out.
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 is sending out another 250,000 beta invites originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bashiokbeta-invite-wavemists-betamists-beta-invitemists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamopmop-betamop-beta-invite (Josh Myers) Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blizzard blog explains how to send or receive a Scroll of Resurrection]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/blizzard-blog-explains-how-to-send-or-receive-a-scroll-of-resurr/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/blizzard-blog-explains-how-to-send-or-receive-a-scroll-of-resurr/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/blizzard-blog-explains-how-to-send-or-receive-a-scroll-of-resurr/#comments Image Since the Scroll of Resurrection was revamped and brought back, it's been a system that has generated a lot of interest in the playerbase. Due to some of the amazing rewards such as a spectral mount for the SoR sender and a boosted level 80 character and a free copy of Cataclysm for the receiver, a lot of players have spent the past month trying to navigate through the confusing system to send a SoR.

As an answer to their confusion, Blizzard released two detailed Scroll of Resurrection videos in a blog post yesterday, which thankfully answer some of the common concerns brought up in our post last week.

Our updated Scroll of Resurrection campaign is well underway, and many players are taking advantage of this opportunity to bring friends and former guildmates back to the game. We've noticed that many of you have questions about how the program works. We're here to provide answers, and one of the ways that we're doing so is with this pair of quick tutorial videos. The first is for those of you who are sending Scrolls of Resurrection, and the second is for those receiving them.

One video shows you everything you need to do to send a SoR to a friend whose time has lapsed, including instructions for claiming your mount. The other is a guide to accepting a Scroll of Resurrection, showing you how to get back into the game quickly and efficiently. As an added bonus, the voice of the second video has an excellent British accent.
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 blog explains how to send or receive a Scroll of Resurrection originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzard-blogblizzard-q-and-ablizzard-supportscroll-of-resurrectionscroll-of-resurrection-confusingscroll-of-resurrection-how-toscroll-of-resurrection-rewards (Josh Myers) Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Why is Blizzard still OK with gender inequality in World of Warcraft?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/why-is-blizzard-still-ok-with-gender-inequality-in-world-of-warc/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/why-is-blizzard-still-ok-with-gender-inequality-in-world-of-warc/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/04/03/why-is-blizzard-still-ok-with-gender-inequality-in-world-of-warc/#comments Editor's Note: Comments on this post have now been disabled. It's getting late and we'd like to let our comment moderators get some sleep tonight.

In most games I play, from World of Warcraft to Star Wars: The Old Republic, I make an effort to play mainly female characters. Unlike other males who play female characters, this isn't for cosmetic reasons; I'm not one of those dudes who can't bear to stare at his male character's butt for multiple hours a day. (How this is ever an argument that makes sense to people, I don't know.) This was a conscious decision on my part a few years ago, when I started to become aware of the discrimination faced by female characters.

See, when you make the decision to make a female character, you're intentionally and unintentionally signing up for a number of things. First, you are intentionally signing up to play a female character. This could be because you identify as female, because you prefer the look of female characters, or any number of other reasons (including the butt one). What you're unintentionally signing up for goes further.

You're unintentionally signing up for jokes made at your expense in a raid, like when my priest hit 85 and did BH in leveling gear, and my low HPS was mocked because I was a girl playing WoW. You're unintentionally signing up for harassment, for the catcalls and people begging you to talk in Vent, like you're a rare species of bird they'll only be able to hear once. You're unintentionally signing up to be victimized by other players because you dared roll something other than male at level 1, and you didn't know there'd be consequences for that choice.

Continue reading Why is Blizzard still OK with gender inequality in World of Warcraft?

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Why is Blizzard still OK with gender inequality in World of Warcraft? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzard-gender-inequalityfeminismfeminism issuesFeminismIssuesgender-inequalityji-firepawsexismwomen-in-gamingWorld-of-Warcraftwowwow-armorwow-female-armorwow-gender-problemswow-sexism (Josh Myers) Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Arcane Brilliance: What the MoP beta means for arcane mages]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/31/arcane-brilliance-what-the-mop-beta-means-for-arcane-mages/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/31/arcane-brilliance-what-the-mop-beta-means-for-arcane-mages/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/31/arcane-brilliance-what-the-mop-beta-means-for-arcane-mages/#comments Mage casting something very arcane-looking
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This column is usually brought to you by archmage and former Hogwarts headmaster Christian Belt, but rumor has it he's still stuck in an alternate dimension where playing World of Warcraft is state-mandated but only offers you 10 different classes of warlocks to play. Senior Understudy and Last Surviving Student Josh Myers is covering his class this week. Arm your spitballs.

Throughout Cataclysm, the arcane spec has been a strange beast. At the beginning of the expansion, it was solidly the worst mage spec due to the absurdly high cost of Arcane Blast. After some quick patch 4.1 fixes, it became our top-performing spec, especially if we had access to Shard of Woe. From that point on, arcane was a source of potent damage. While fire has become the vogue spec for Dragon Soul, arcane still is a very viable and desirable spec. Going forward into Mists of Pandaria, that all could change ... or the spec could be made even better.

Part of the source of arcane's potency this expansion has been due to how incredibly well the spec scales with intellect. While intellect provides the same spellpower to arcane mages that it does to every other caster, arcane mages' Mana Adept mastery makes the mana increase from intellect critical. Arcane Blast, the pivotal spell in arcane's rotation, has a static mana cost that is only based on mage base mana and not their mana after gear. Because of this, the more intellect you have means the more Arcane Blasts you can fit in at higher mana levels, meaning more damage through mastery.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: What the MoP beta means for arcane mages

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Arcane Brilliance: What the MoP beta means for arcane mages originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> arcanearcane-chargesarcane-magearcane-mage-arcane-brilliancearcane-mage-mopfeaturedguide-to-magesmage-betamage-guidemage-infomage-mopmage-talentsmanamana-attunementmists-of-pandariamopmop-betamop-changesmop-mage-changesmop-mage-spellsMoP-mage-talentsmop-talentsnether-attunementwow-magewow-mage-infowow-mages (Josh Myers) Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Mists of Pandaria Beta: New archaeology items]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/mists-of-pandaria-beta-new-archaeology-items/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/mists-of-pandaria-beta-new-archaeology-items/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/mists-of-pandaria-beta-new-archaeology-items/#comments Players with the archaeology profession will get to experience some joy come Mists of Pandaria, according to a new post at MMO-Champion. All of the datamined items are directly related to Pandaria itself and allow us to start piecing together the history of the continent. Pandaria currently is such a new land to all of us that Matt Rossi and Anne Stickney have managed to condense all of the lore we currently know about it into a single post, which is truly an epic feat. The new items introduced through archaeology will help us paint more of a picture of what Pandaria's history was and who the major players were.

Items such as the Manacles of Rebellion, Cracked Mogu Runestone, and Petrified Bone Whip are relics of the depraved Mogu Empire, focusing on their love of torture and slavery. The Spear of Xuen and the Standard of Nuzao show us that the pandaren aren't the naive, comic race that some people are assuming; they've fought in and won their own wars. And in classic pandaren fashion, the Empty Keg of Bewmaster Xin Wo Yin and the Twin Steins of Brewfather Quan Tou Kuo highlight the race's love of beer.

As it's still beta; things are still subject to change. For one, I'm hoping Blizzard adds in more pandaren lore items. Beyond that, I'd like to see some new on-use vanity items like the Last Relic of Argus, as these datamined items all lack any on-use effects. Finally, I think Blizzard may want to revisit the rarity of some items; the Edicts of the Thunder King make very little sense as a common item when you realize they're essentially the same as finding the stone that holds Hammurabi's Code or the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
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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Mists of Pandaria Beta: New archaeology items originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> archaeologybeta-archaeologymists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-archaeologymists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-professionsmogu-empirenew-archaeology-itemspandaren-archaeologypandaren-lorewowwow-betawow-mopwow-professions (Josh Myers) Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Warlocks may cast green fire spells in MoP]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/warlocks-may-cast-green-fire-spells-in-mop/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/warlocks-may-cast-green-fire-spells-in-mop/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/warlocks-may-cast-green-fire-spells-in-mop/#comments Warlock firing a Chaos Bolt at a ghost Warlocks, think of the one thing you most want in the World of Warcraft. If you answered "the total destruction and removal of the mage class, and green fire," you're in luck -- there's a good chance that half of that statement will come true in Mists of Pandaria! Luckily for Christian Belt, it's the latter.

According to EU CM Wryxian, Blizzard developers are looking into hopefully adding a quest line that will allow warlocks to use green fire in Mists of Pandaria.

Wryxian
Green "fel" fire for warlocks, like they've been asking for since... forever?

It is our hope to introduce a quest which will allow warlocks to unlock the use of green fire. :)


Remember that the key word here is "hope." Even the slightest possibility of green fire in MoP should have most warlocks salivating. This is especially true since Chaos Bolt, which is one of only two green fire spells currently in the game, has been removed from MoP talent calculators. Given that green fire has been one of the most requested features of the class for years and that MoP is an expansion bringing to us loads of vanity choices in glyphs and challenge mode sets, this seems an obvious way to go.

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Warlocks may cast green fire spells in MoP originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingfel-firegreen-firemists-of-pandariamopmop-green-firewarlockwarlock-newswarlockswarlocks-in-mopwryxian (Josh Myers) Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Level 90 talents for enhancement shaman in MoP]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/totem-talk-level-90-talents-for-enhancement-shaman-in-mop/#comments Screenshot of MoP's new Ascendance ability
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

It's here!

As I'm writing this, it's past midnight Thursday night on the east coast, which means I could be referring to two things. If you're a preteen or, like me, you have a very odd and indescribable man crush on Josh Hutcherson, I'm probably referring to the Hunger Games movie. More likely, though, I'm referring to the Mists of Pandaria beta, which was released in the middle of the night on Wednesday. Probably.

MoP beta brings with it a lot of things, and chief among them is our long-awaited level 90 tier of talents. If you remember correctly, the first incarnation of this tier was awful, and everyone hated them. Fortunately, Blizzard listened to feedback and scrapped those, but new talents weren't included in the updated talent calculator a month ago, and we've been living in a state of suspense since then.

These new talents are all game-changers. The cool thing about them is that every one of them is going to impact your rotation in a new and interesting way, and I can see uses for all three of them. Those are the sort of talent choices that have me jumping for joy, and I'm very excited to see how this all plays out.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Level 90 talents for enhancement shaman in MoP

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Totem Talk: Level 90 talents for enhancement shaman in MoP originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> elemental-blastenhancement-in-mopenhancement-mopEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-level-90enhancement-shaman-talentsenhancement-shaman-talents-mopenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguide-to-shamanslevel-90-shaman-talentsprimal-elementalistshaman-guideshaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-mopshaman-talentstalents-in-mopunleashed-furywow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Arcane Brilliance: Mage glyphs in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/arcane-brilliance-mage-glyphs-in-mists-of-pandaria-sat-i-thin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/arcane-brilliance-mage-glyphs-in-mists-of-pandaria-sat-i-thin/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/arcane-brilliance-mage-glyphs-in-mists-of-pandaria-sat-i-thin/#comments Female mages of various races dancing in front of talent panes
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages -- unless, of course, Christian Belt is sucked into an timeway and is currently stuck fleeing from pterosaurs in the late Mesozoic era, allowing Josh Myers to claim his column. I won't say that's what happened this week, but don't rule it out.

The last time someone who wasn't the most Illustrious Archmage Christian Belt wrote an Arcane Brilliance, things didn't go over well. Part of that might be because it was written by that shady Tyler Caraway character, and part of it was because he secretly was a warlock disguised as a mage. I'm a DPS shaman posing as a mage, but I've got two things on my side: I raided progression as a mage through the latter half of tier 12 and the first half of tier 13, and I'm not a warlock. I'm not going to pretend I'm Archmage Pants, but I'm no squib either. Maybe Senior Understudy or Last Surviving Apprentice Josh Myers?

In totally exciting news, Mists of Pandaria's beta has opened up, much to the chagrin of my social life and my exercise routine. On Wednesday night, Boubouille from MMO-Champion set out to datamine as much information as he could glean from the install files, and thanks to his work, we were able to get our hands on a nice list of the updated glyphs currently in the beta. Spoiler alert: They're pretty awesome.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Mage glyphs in Mists of Pandaria

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Arcane Brilliance: Mage glyphs in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredglyph-of-crittermorphguide-to-magesmage-glyphsmage-glyphs-mopmage-guidemage-infomage-mists-of-pandariamage-mopmage-talentsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamop-betamop-beta-speculationwow-magewow-mage-infowow-mages (Josh Myers) Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Beta Testing 101: What to, and what not to, expect from the MoP beta]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/beta-testing-101-what-to-and-what-not-to-expect-from-the-mop/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/beta-testing-101-what-to-and-what-not-to-expect-from-the-mop/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/beta-testing-101-what-to-and-what-not-to-expect-from-the-mop/#comments Blizzcon cinematic announces pandaren In the most exciting World of Warcraft news of 2012, the beta for Mists of Pandaria opened up this week. Like millions of other players, I was not one of the lucky few chosen for the first round of beta invites. However, there are a number of diligent players currently hard at work testing some of the changes coming in MoP, as well as datamining glyphs and leveling monks.

If you're one of the lucky players who got in this week or if you manage to get in in the next few weeks, there are some important facts you should know before you play the beta. For seasoned veterans of beta testing, these will be self evident. For the others for whom this will be the first beta ever, these are things you should read and consider. If you don't, you could turn into one of the disappointing trade chat trolls who rages about their warrior suddenly having a mana bar (and other fun beta mishaps).

Oh yes, there will be bugs

Above all else, the thing you can most expect from the beta of any video game ever is that there will be bugs. Bugs are one of the main reasons games go into beta; they're a way of allowing scores of players to scour every inch of the game world for bugs by doing everything possible that could possibly cause an issue. By doing this, Blizzard can isolate and treat bugs before they ever make it to live servers, allowing players on live a smooth playing experience.

Continue reading Beta Testing 101: What to, and what not to, expect from the MoP beta

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Beta Testing 101: What to, and what not to, expect from the MoP beta originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> betabeta-bugsbeta-testingbeta-testing-101Massively multiplayer online role-playing gamemists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-beta-testingmopmop-betamop-beta-testingpandariaSci/Techwhat-to-expect-when-beta-testingWorld of Warcraftwow-betaWow-mop (Josh Myers) Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Hit rating, expertise, and enhancement in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/17/totem-talk-hit-rating-expertise-and-enhancement-in-mists-of-p/#comments Raid group takes on the Madness of Deathwing encounter
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

A long time ago, in a Mulgore far, far away, I was a young tauren shaman who was attempting to gear up as enhancement after hitting level 70 for the first time. Enhancement shaman who have only started playing within the last two years won't remember the confusing beast that was enhancement gearing of yesteryear, but it was an adventure.

First off, we gemmed strength exclusively. Yes, strength. Despite sharing gear with hunters, we got more (read: any) attack power from strength than we did from agility. More importantly, and this is where Mists of Pandaria changes will come into play, the enhancement shaman of The Burning Crusade didn't try for hit rating on their gear. In fact, we avoided it like a bear tank gemming agility avoids sunders on Warmaster Blackhorn. We did like expertise, which made the few items it existed on like Shard of Contempt best in slot, but it was almost never included on items, and there were no expertise gems. As a result, the majority of enhancement shaman ran with nearly zero hit rating and zero expertise.

If you're reading this today, your jaw might have hit the floor. Never, you'll say, while pulling up your character sheet and crying over the whopping 2,284 secondary stat points we need to put into hit rating and expertise. Yes, you read that correctly. We spend 2,284 stat points simply making sure we can actually hit the boss.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Hit rating, expertise, and enhancement in Mists of Pandaria

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Totem Talk: Hit rating, expertise, and enhancement in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> enhancementEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-mists-of-pandariaEnhancement-Shaman-mopenhancement-shaman-totem-talkexpertiseexpertise-in-mopexpertise-ratingfeaturedguide-to-shamansmelee-hitshaman-guideshaman-in-mopshaman-infoshaman-talentsspell-hitstats-in-mopwow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Enhancement buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/10/totem-talk-enhancement-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/10/totem-talk-enhancement-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/10/totem-talk-enhancement-buffs-and-debuffs-in-mists-of-pandaria/#comments A crab holding a sword with a wizard's hat and flavor text. Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once a lonely tauren shaman in a bad Scarlet Crusade-themed transmog set, Josh Myers
is now a female dwarf shaman with pigtails who raids as all three specs on a regular basis. He kept the same transmog set, though.

I'm doing my best not to be excited for Mists of Pandaria yet. This is partly because we've not even seen a hint of the beta starting yet and thus have a few more months of patch 4.3 to play before MoP comes out. This is also partly due to the fact that my new guild just started heroic Spine of Deathwing attempts, and I'm not sure I'm ever going to look forward to anything ever again. Ever.

Even though I'll never be excited for anything ever again, Blizzard has released some juicy new MoP information over the past two weeks, and a good chunk of it pertains to enhancement shaman. If you still have the ability to be excited for things, this something you want to read. If you're also progressing on heroic Spine of Deathwing, you probably still want to read this ... if only to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Enhancement buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria

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Totem Talk: Enhancement buffs and debuffs in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> buff-debuff-designbuffsdebuffsenhanceenhancementenhancement-in-mopEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-buff-debuff-designmists-of-pandaria-speculationmopshaman-dpsshaman-dps-mopunleashed-rageunleashed-rage-qq (Josh Myers) Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Loot to maximize your elemental shaman's mastery]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/03/totem-talk-loot-to-maximize-your-elemental-shamans-mastery/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/03/totem-talk-loot-to-maximize-your-elemental-shamans-mastery/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/03/totem-talk-loot-to-maximize-your-elemental-shamans-mastery/#comments Elam, the recently-dwarvenized shaman.
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Mastery is my favorite stat in World of Warcraft because it's the only stat that actually changes function from class to class. Haste might speed up rune regeneration for death knights, or fire mages might view a huge critical strike chance more happily than an affliction warlock, but those stats do largely the same thing across classes. On the other hand, the mastery of an elemental shaman is incredibly different than a holy paladin, which is a big change from a protection warrior.

Lucky for me, this patch gave rise to mastery as elemental's key secondary stat after hitting the spell hit cap. It's been a good stat all expansion but sat solidly behind haste through all of Firelands and much of tier 11. With Dragon Soul out and most ele shaman who have been playing the past few months now wearing their tier 13 sets, it's mastery's turn to shine.

The reason for mastery's newfound glory is the Spiritwalker's Regalia four-piece bonus, which gives you 250 haste rating every time your Elemental Overload procs, stacking up to three times and lasting four seconds. At a full stack, this is effectively 750 free haste rating that you get just for gearing for mastery. However, this stack falls off quickly, and chances are you'll only get one or two spellcasts off before it drops. As a result, you want a lot of mastery, to give the two casts you do get a fair chance at keeping the buff up.

Continue reading Totem Talk: Loot to maximize your elemental shaman's mastery

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Totem Talk: Loot to maximize your elemental shaman's mastery originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> ele-shaman-masteryele-shaman-tier-13elemental-shamanelemental-shaman-gear-guideelemental-shaman-hasteelemental-shaman-totem-talkFair Warninghaste-vs-masteryJosh MyersJoystiqLightning Boltmastery-gear-for-elemental (Josh Myers) Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[If WoW is social media, what function do guilds serve?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/27/if-wow-is-social-media-what-function-do-guilds-serve/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/27/if-wow-is-social-media-what-function-do-guilds-serve/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/27/if-wow-is-social-media-what-function-do-guilds-serve/#comments Wil Wheaton and the rest of the Axis of Anarchy from The Guild
In my time playing WoW, I've been in a lot of guilds. I've played in guilds that were fighting for the realm-first heroic progression spot and others that were content at realm 15th. I've been a part of the Reddit guild families, which are so large that they need a chat mod to link the multiple guilds for all their members. I've also been in guilds like my current one that have a grand total of 15 people as members.

The World of Warcraft guild experience is as wide and varied as the players who play this game. I'm an unabashed guild-hopper who wants very specific things from a guild and is willing to leave if they don't happen. Other players are loyalists, who find one guild and form lasting bonds that keep them playing with the same group of friends for their entire WoW experience.

Is WoW social media?

Cynwise at Cynwise's Battlefield Manual wrote a post last month about the fact that World of Warcraft is a form of social media. There's no denying that fact: The entire MMORPG genre is based on the idea that you are playing a game with other human beings, not just facing off against the computer as in the genre's predecessors. In fact, I'd go even further and suggest that in many ways, WoW has potential to be an ideal form of social media.

Continue reading If WoW is social media, what function do guilds serve?

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If WoW is social media, what function do guilds serve? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cross-server-guildscynwisecynwises-battlefield-manualEntertainmentFacebookFarmVilleFoursquaregaming-as-social-mediaGoogle+guildsguilds-as-social-mediaguilds-in-Cataclysmis-wow-social-mediaMassively multiplayer online role-playing gameredditreddit-guildSci/TechSocial-mediaStonewall-guildTaintthe-evolution-of-wowwhat-is-social-mediaWorld of Warcraftwowwow-as-social-mediawow-blog-discussions (Josh Myers) Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: 3 reasons enhancement shaman should be excited for Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/totem-talk-3-reasons-enhance-shaman-should-be-excited-for-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/totem-talk-3-reasons-enhance-shaman-should-be-excited-for-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/totem-talk-3-reasons-enhance-shaman-should-be-excited-for-mists/#comments Pandaren kicking a fireball
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I'm going to be honest: I still love Cataclysm. I know that it has a lot of problems, but I think a lot of the issues people have with Cataclym are that it isn't Burning Crusade (or vanilla, for that matter), and I'm very much an enemy of nostalgia. Especially in comparison to its immediate predecessor, Cataclysm has a lot of things going for it. Class balance is in a better place across the board than it was in Wrath. Even though Firelands was a giant explosion of red and orange visual vomit, it still doesn't compare to Trial of the Crusader's single room. And, even though we've not been amazing at all during any of Cataclysm, enhancement shaman haven't actually sucked during any patch, much less the entire last year of the expansion.

That said, I'm terribly excited for Mists of Pandaria. Part of the excitement is that for once in my life I'll have a horde race to play that isn't tauren as I hate all the other choices, and The Amazing Panda Adventure was possibly my favorite movie from 1995. Another part of the excitement is that Mists of Pandaria is new and shiny and it's only human to love things that are new and shiny. I love some of the new ideas Blizzard has cooked up for level 90 players, from PVE scenarios to companion pet battles. Yes, I was young enough to play Pokemon when it was relevant, but I'm also old enough to not be ashamed of wanting to play it again.

Most importantly, though, I'm most excited for the potentials changes coming to enhancement in MoP. Enhancement has had some pretty glaring issues for a good part of this expansion, even if we regularly remained competitive. Thankfully, some of the changes that came in last week's updated talent calculator look like they'll be on the road to solving these issues when Mists drops.

Continue reading Totem Talk: 3 reasons enhancement shaman should be excited for Mists of Pandaria

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Totem Talk: 3 reasons enhancement shaman should be excited for Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> ascendanceenhanceenhance-shamanenhancement-cooldownenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-mists-of-pandariaenhancement-shaman-mopenhancement-shaman-totem-talkguide-to-shamansMists-of-Pandaira-Talent-Calculatormists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-speculationshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentswow-shamanwow-shaman-info (Josh Myers) Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Hi, Doris from HR, I write about dragons on the internet]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/hi-doris-from-hr-i-write-about-dragons-on-the-internet/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/hi-doris-from-hr-i-write-about-dragons-on-the-internet/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/hi-doris-from-hr-i-write-about-dragons-on-the-internet/#comments Garrosh Hellscream, HR director for the Horde. A little over a week ago, Anne Stickney wrote a post about her experiences trying to explain her life in World of Warcraft to her father, a nearly 83-year-old veteran who has had more real-life adventures than we have had fake ones. Striking a balance between that life we live in the online World of Warcraft and our real lives in the non-virtual world is something that every WoW player has to do, but the degree of our involvement in the game often dictates how hard it is to find that balance.

In the gay community, we very commonly describe coming out as a process that you don't only do once. During my day-to-day life, I might meet a new person, have someone from work ask if I'm dating anyone, friend someone from high school on Facebook, or write an article about coming out as a gamer for WoW Insider. Regardless of which situation fits you best, all of these are fairly regular situations that result in needing to come out again.

Being gay and being a gamer -- not as different as you'd think

I think the experiences of coming out as a gamer and coming out as gay have a few very important similarities. In both cases, they're secrets we tend to guard that aren't outwardly visual. Despite stereotypes, you can't actually know whether someone is gay unless they tell you. Likewise, you can't tell that the woman you just bumped into on the side of the road is actually a three-time Gladiator warrior unless you get into a conversation about it.

Continue reading Hi, Doris from HR, I write about dragons on the internet

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Hi, Doris from HR, I write about dragons on the internet originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> coming-out-as-a-gamerdoris-from-hrgamergamer-as-stereotypegamer-in-a-professional-settinggamer-in-real-lifegaminggaygay-and-gaminghomosexuality-and-gamingi-write-about-dragons-on-the-internetprofessionalWorld-of-Warcraftworld-of-warcraft-professional (Josh Myers) Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: What MoP talent updates mean for DPS shaman]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/18/totem-talk-what-mop-talent-updates-mean-for-dps-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/18/totem-talk-what-mop-talent-updates-mean-for-dps-shaman/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/18/totem-talk-what-mop-talent-updates-mean-for-dps-shaman/#comments
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

When the Mists of Pandaria talent trees first debuted, I wasn't the most pleased DPS shaman on the block. I wasn't exactly displeased, either; my emotional involvement was most summed up by the word "meh." Stone Bulwark Totem looked interesting; Healing Tide Totem had me super psyched; and Echo of the Elements looked insanely powerful, stacked with elemental's mastery. On the flipside, the entire third tier of talents looked super boring, and the top tier of level 90 talents was so underwhelming that I almost wrote off the new talent system as a lost cause.

Thankfully, we're not in even the closed friends-and-family beta yet, and so I knew changes would definitely be implemented in time. I've been looking forward to Wednesday's talent calculator update for nearly three months now, and I'm glad to see that I wasn't terribly let down. While there still are some definite issues with the tree as it stands, Blizzard's already said that we were one of the two classes that it's currently focusing on, which is why our level 90 tier of talents is still empty. As long as the original talents don't come back, I can only get happier. To top it all off, the new talent tree reveal also showed us our level 87 spell, which is looking to be one of the coolest in our arsenal.

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Totem Talk: What MoP talent updates mean for DPS shaman originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> air-ascendanceascendanceclass-helpelementalelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-totem-talkelemental-talents-mists-of-pandariaenhanceenhance-mists-of-pandariaenhance-talents-mists-of-pandariaenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedflame-ascendanceguideguide-to-shamansmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentsshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Josh Myers) Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/04/totem-talk-maximize-your-fire-elemental-dps-on-ultraxion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/04/totem-talk-maximize-your-fire-elemental-dps-on-ultraxion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/04/totem-talk-maximize-your-fire-elemental-dps-on-ultraxion/#comments Ultraxion flying in Dragon Soul
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Of all the fights in Dragon Soul, Ultraxion on heroic mode is the ultimate DPS check. Heroic Spine of Deathwing definitely tests your raid group's ability to do a large amount of damage in a miniscule amount of time, but Ultraxion forces your group to maximize its sustained DPS. As a result, it's very commonly the first real wall most heroic progression guilds hit, at least until they can get the gear to make it a cakewalk. If you're working on heroic-mode Ultraxion or are having trouble killing him on normal, there are a few things you can do to maximize your elemental shaman's DPS on this specific fight.

Gear, glyphs, and talents

First off, the easiest way to help your DPS on Ultraxion is to check your glyphs. Most elemental shaman nowadays run with Glyph of Unleashed Lightning as one of their prime glyphs. This makes sense for nearly every other fight in Dragon Soul, as they all require some amount of movement. Ultraxion, however, is a straight up stand-there-and-shoot-lightning-and-lava-until-your-fingers-fall-off-or-he-dies fight, and Glyph of Unleashed Lightning gives absolutely zero DPS if you're not moving. Switching this out for Glyph of Lightning Bolt will give you a slight boost in numbers. Your three glyph choices should be Lightning Bolt, Flame Shock, and Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem; more on the FET glyph choice in a second.

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Totem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> buffing-fire-elemental-totemclass-helpelementalelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-dpselemental-single-targetfeaturedfire-elemental-totemguideguide-to-shamansintellect-procs-elementalpower-auraspre-pottingshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentstalenttalentsultraxionultraxion-elementalworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Josh Myers) Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Has the early Cataclysm gearing model failed?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/breakfast-topic-has-the-early-cataclysm-gearing-model-failed/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/breakfast-topic-has-the-early-cataclysm-gearing-model-failed/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/breakfast-topic-has-the-early-cataclysm-gearing-model-failed/#comments
Near the end of Wrath of the Lich King, there was a real feeling that gearing had gotten out of control, between unintentionally heightened ilevels (due to the introduction of heroic modes early in the expansion), a raid-wide buff that made the penultimate raid of the expansion easily puggable (until Arthas), and ridiculously simple heroic 5-mans and Emblems of Triumph that allowed you to gear out your freshly leveled alt in high-ilevel epics.

When Cataclysm launched, part of the intent between the fairly difficult heroic 5-mans and the fact that they dropped ilevel 346 blue items was that Blizzard wanted to slow down gearing. This worked; the roadblock created by early Cataclysm heroics for casual players did serve to slow down gearing. For the first time in years, full epic-geared characters were seen as more of a rare occurrence than a staple of your average AFKer in Orgrimmar.

Fast forward to last Saturday, where I decided to transfer my blue-geared death knight (who hit 85 and was subsequently forgotten in March) to my main's server to make use of her professions. On a whim, I decided to see how long it could take to gear her. By Sunday night, she had tanked Madness of Deathwing in Raid Finder, was in three-piece tier 13, and was one item away from being in full 378 or higher epics.

It seems clear to me now that the original Cataclysm model for gearing has failed, and the roadblocks originally put in place to prevent quickly gearing alts are no longer in place. That said, I don't mind it, and I don't think Blizzard minds it. Getting gear is fun, even on an alt that's only supposed to be used for running around Tol Barad picking flowers and mining ore. I like having four characters at 380+ ilevel, and it served me well when my guild recently needed me to main-change from my mage back to my shaman to heal. So yes, the original gearing model for Cataclysm does seem to have failed -- but is that really such a bad thing?

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Breakfast Topic: Has the early Cataclysm gearing model failed? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> alternate-characterscataclysmcataclysm-gearingfacebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussiongeargearingheroic-dungeonsheroics-are-hardworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (Josh Myers) Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[4 steps for dealing with Raid Finder harassment]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/30/4-steps-for-dealing-with-raid-finder-harassment/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/30/4-steps-for-dealing-with-raid-finder-harassment/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/30/4-steps-for-dealing-with-raid-finder-harassment/#comments I'm a reformed bully. A few years back, I was the kid in the PUG raid calling everyone else bad and acting like I was the Light's gift to raiding. I've since worked to distance myself from that attitude. While I still get annoyed from time to time when I see poor play in Raid Finder and generally have a sour taste in my mouth while pugging raids, I've become a lot more aware of how painful and harmful my words can be, and I keep them to myself. With my past experience being a bully, it made sense that when our editors wanted someone to write up a survival guide to using the Raid Finder, the most dreadful hive of scum and villianry since Mos Eisley, I would take the challenge on.

The three main types of WoW bullies

In my real life, I work with kids. I've spent the past third of my 24-year life working with kids. As a result, I've been exposed to a lot of bullies, both online and on the playground. There are a few staple things to remember about people who are also bullies, particularly when it comes to the Raid Finder. Here's who you'll find there.

1. The Covering for His Own Inadequacies Bully This is your archetypical bully cliché, but it's grounded in reality. These bullies are horrifically self-conscious, and they're just lashing out at whoever's handy because they're afraid that if they don't, they're going to be the one picked out and picked on. We've all been here; it's called high school (also Congress, but I repeat myself).

These bullies are fairly common in your average Raid Finder run. Just yesterday, I ran a RF with Shelam, my blood death knight. Now, Shelam has an average ilevel of 378 and has tanked all of RF before, but he was called out and almost vote-kicked by three players: another blood DK who was trying to tank while dual-wielding Souldrinkers (a big no-no), his friend and guildmate the last-on-meters fire mage, and an unholy death knight who was fully gemmed for stamina despite being a DPS class. They all called me out for being undergeared, most likely because I was the easiest target in the raid due to my lone remaining blue item, an ilevel 346 helm. Had they not gone after me, it would have been easy for them to have been the recipients of some harsh (if accurate) words, so they chose to go on the attack instead. That let them redirect the blame and their insecurity onto me while feeling empowered because they were making accusations instead of fielding them.

Continue reading 4 steps for dealing with Raid Finder harassment

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4 steps for dealing with Raid Finder harassment originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bullyingclass-columnistharassmenthaters-gonna-hatehow-to-raid-finderin-game-harassmentpatch-4.3raid-finderraid-finder-bullyingraid-finder-harassmentsurviving-raid-finderworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-news (Josh Myers) Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: 4 ways to increase your shaman DPS]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/28/totem-talk-4-ways-to-increase-your-shaman-dps/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/28/totem-talk-4-ways-to-increase-your-shaman-dps/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/28/totem-talk-4-ways-to-increase-your-shaman-dps/#comments
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Josh Myers once only tackled the hard questions about enhancement but has recently expanded his sphere of responsibility to all shaman DPS specs. (And no, two-handed enhancement is still never coming back.)

DPS is an art. It's not art in the sense that the Mona Lisa or Friday by Rebecca Black are art, but it's art. It requires practice, knowledge, and dedication to make work, and judging by the Battle.net forums, Twitter, and various other social media outlets, it's an art form that a lot of people still have trouble getting right. As a DPS shaman (really, as any class), there are a few basic rules every player should follow to enhance their DPS.

1. Use addons that make up for what the default UI lacks. I know that there's a set of players out there who totally swear by using the default UI. In reality, I can understand that sentiment. I didn't realize it until I found myself with a sprained hamstring and only able to raid my borrowing my boyfriend's laptop and downloading an addon-less WoW onto it this week, but I actually thought the default UI looked really cool.

Unfortunately, despite how cool it looks, default isn't optimal. Doing the Raid Finder as elemental, I realized a couple of things -- that of my 30-plus-addon suite, I really only missed six or seven of them, and those six or seven I missed were ridiculously important. I was lacking OmniCC for watching my cooldown timers, and I didn't have Power Auras to watch Fulmination stacks or ForteXorcist for tracking my DoT timers (important for both ele and enhance). I know that I played sloppily as a result. I missed Lava Surge procs like crazy, I Fulminationed as Flame Shock ran off, and I made other small mistakes that I would normally not make because I have addons to help me keep track of the fight.

Continue reading Totem Talk: 4 ways to increase your shaman DPS

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Totem Talk: 4 ways to increase your shaman DPS originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 4-ways-to-increase-dpsaddon-use-for-shamanclass-helpelemental-shamanelemental-shaman-dpsenhancement-shamanenhancement-shaman-dpsfeaturedguideguide-to-shamanshow-to-dps-as-shamanhow-to-maximize-your-dps-as-shamanimproving-shaman-dpsimproving-your-dpskeybindingmouseturningshaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsstaying-alivetalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guide (Josh Myers) Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Would removing legendaries be a benefit for the World of Warcraft?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/would-removing-legendaries-be-a-benefit-for-the-world-of-warcraf/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/would-removing-legendaries-be-a-benefit-for-the-world-of-warcraf/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/27/would-removing-legendaries-be-a-benefit-for-the-world-of-warcraf/#comments Tarecgosa, Dragonwrath's namesake It's very hard to imagine a Cataclysm without legendary items. Despite the fact that it wasn't introduced until six months into the game's existence, Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest has become a staple item in every progression raiding guild's repetoire. The Fangs of the Father, Golad and Tiriosh, have only recently started to actually appear in game, but every week from now on will see more and more being finished.

Coming hand in hand with these legendary items are the issues of imbalance that they cause. In PvE, terminology has started to crop up that puts legendary and non-legendary DPS into two separate categories of competitiveness. Concepts exist such as "enhancement shaman are currently one of the top non-legendary DPS specs..." -- a category that encompasses only 10 of the 22 DPS classes in the game. In PvP, concerns about burst damage have arisen, which was a big factor in the nerf to DTR that came in 4.3.

The issues with legendaries

Legendaries cause a balance problem, and that's a problem that's been exacerbated by two things in Cataclysm: a horrifically wide spread of specs that can use them, with 12 specs or five classes in total having access to legendary weapons right now, and incredible ease of access to legendaries (for the heroic raider).

Continue reading Would removing legendaries be a benefit for the World of Warcraft?

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Would removing legendaries be a benefit for the World of Warcraft? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Ateishdragonwrathdragonwrath-tarecgosas-restDTRfangs-of-fatherfangs-of-the-fathershadowmourneshould-legendaries-existSulfurasthoridalthunderfuryvalanyrvalanyr-hammer-of-the-ancient-kingswarglaiveswarglaives-of-azzinothwhy-does-wow-still-have-legendarieswow-legendary-items (Josh Myers) Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Raegwyn and friends claim first all-death-knight Firelands]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/25/raegwyn-and-friends-claim-first-all-death-knight-firelands/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/25/raegwyn-and-friends-claim-first-all-death-knight-firelands/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/25/raegwyn-and-friends-claim-first-all-death-knight-firelands/#comments Raegwyn, one of WoW Insider's favorite blood death knights (sorry, Daniel!), is at it again. The blood elf death knight of Onyxia (EU) holds a stunning array of previous solo kill achievements including The Lich King, Kael'thas Sunstrider (at level 80!), and two of the four bosses in heroic Stonecore. Now he's released a new video highlighting the ridiculously cool self-healing power of blood death knights -- except this time, rather than riding solo, Raegwyn brought along nine other blood death knight friends for an epic romp in Firelands. No healers, no DPS ... just 10 tanks.

Part 1 of their adventure has the band of blooders facing off against heroic mode Rhyolith, Alysrazor, and Baleroc. My favorite moment of the video is at 7:30, when all 10 players simultaneously pop their Army of the Dead right before the pull. Part 2 includes normal Beth'tilac, heroic Shannox, normal Majordomo Staghelm, and the fiesty firelord himself. Some of the fun moments here are watching the sole surviving death knight tank Shannox for his last few hundred thousand hit points, and marveling at the talent of these 10 players on the incredibly high-magic-damage fight that is Ragnaros.

As an enhancement shaman whose preferred form of making money is soloing old raids like Caverns of Time: Mt. Hyjal, Raegwyn's videos constantly both amaze and humble me. I get excited when I can manage to down Karazhan's chess encounter weekly, but Raegwyn is a player who constantly manages to push the boundaries of traditional playing, and I'm always excited to see what he has in store for us next. If you'd like to read more about Raegwyn's approach to soloing and what he considers to be the hardest aspects, check out Lisa Poisso's interview with him.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!

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Raegwyn and friends claim first all-death-knight Firelands originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> all-death-knight-firelandsbloodblood-death-knightdeath-knightdeath-knight-tankingextreme-soloingfirelandsheroic-firelandsoverpowered-death-knightsRaegwynraegwyn-firelandssoloing (Josh Myers) Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Totem Talk: The ups and downs of playing enhancement in Dragon Soul]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/21/totem-talk-the-ups-and-downs-of-playing-enhancement-in-dragon-s/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/21/totem-talk-the-ups-and-downs-of-playing-enhancement-in-dragon-s/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/21/totem-talk-the-ups-and-downs-of-playing-enhancement-in-dragon-s/#comments Enhancement shaman mid0Morchok fight Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Josh Myers once only tackled the hard questions about enhancement but has recently expanded his sphere of responsibility to all shaman DPS specs. (And no, two-handed enhancement is still never coming back.)

I've said in the past that enhancement is in a good place in 4.3, and that's the truth. Despite some really awful itemization and some as-yet-unresolved issues with the spec, enhancement is remaining a strong middle-of-the-pack contender. In non-cutting-edge raid groups that don't have multiple Dragonwrath-wielding casters, we're even better.

Dragon Soul is a great instance for enhancement in 4.3 because it offers a variety of fights. Some play to enhancement's strengths, some highlight its weaknesses, and some fights are Ultraxion and your DPS spec doesn't matter, provided you can push buttons and click a shiny purple dot on his screen every 45 seconds. For the purpose of brevity, I'm going to assume you're familiar with the normal-mode mechanics of these fights (and if you're not, some are conveniently covered by my frenemy Tyler Caraway in the Ready Check column) and just speak to how enhancement specifically fares on these fights.

Chopping Morchok

There's nothing particularly special about Morchok for enhancement, except if you're doing the fight on heroic. Shamanistic Rage and Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem make Morchok's Stomp damage negligible, but Stomps don't really hit hard enough on normal to worry about. However, if you have a healer in line of sight during a black phase (and you've done nothing in recent memory that would cause them to hate you), Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem and Shamanistic Rage will let you stay on the boss for most if not all of the phase. If you don't have a friendly healer, enhancement still fares better than most melee on this fight, as cast Lava Bursts and Lightning Bolts still hit hard.

Continue reading Totem Talk: The ups and downs of playing enhancement in Dragon Soul

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Totem Talk: The ups and downs of playing enhancement in Dragon Soul originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpEnhancement-Shamanenhancement-shaman-cataclysmenhancement-shaman-dpsenhancement-shaman-dragon-soulenhancement-shaman-totem-talkfeaturedguideguide-to-shamanshagara-the-stormbindermadness-of-deathwingmorchokpatch-4.3shaman-guideshaman-infoshaman-talentsspine-of-deathwingtalenttalentsultraxionwarlord-zonozzwarmaster-blackhornworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-shamanwow-shaman-infowow-talent-guideyorsahj-the-unsleeping (Josh Myers) Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider