Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsOlivia Grace
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Patch 5.3 is pending, but when will it drop?
by
Olivia Grace
on May 16th 2013 (6 days ago)
Now, don't pretend you're not already guessing. There have been several official Blizzard blogs, on the new scenarios we're expecting, as well as a general guide to how you can best prepare for patch 5.3, and what's more the devs have begun their latest round of interviews. The official World of Warcraft twitter account even went as far as tweeting to confirm that the patch wasn't landing on Tuesday May 14. So, all this being said, what's your prediction for the launch date? Where's the smart money?
What do we have in the way of additional clues? Well, there's the PTR build information, which previously has flipped from "Test" to "Release" when a patch has crept closer It still says test, as you can see to the side. Also, the patch 5.3 PvP information has previously talked about a conquest catch-up of 15,000, and it'd be 11,000 right now. But of course, these are just clues. So what's your bet? And why?
What do we have in the way of additional clues? Well, there's the PTR build information, which previously has flipped from "Test" to "Release" when a patch has crept closer It still says test, as you can see to the side. Also, the patch 5.3 PvP information has previously talked about a conquest catch-up of 15,000, and it'd be 11,000 right now. But of course, these are just clues. So what's your bet? And why?| May 21st | |
|---|---|
| May 28th | |
| June 4th | |
| June 11th | |
| June 18th or later | |
| Soon (TM) |
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor
Free WoW graphic novel previews for a limited time
by
Olivia Grace
on May 16th 2013 (6 days ago)
WoW's twitter announced last night that, for a limited time only, previews of three of the latest World of Warcraft graphic novels are available for free on both Kindle and iTunes. The three comics avaialble for preview in this book are Pearl of Pandaria, Dark Riders and Bloodsworn. Pearl of Pandaria was released last year, but Dark Riders has only been out for just over a week, and Bloodsworn is currently only available for pre-order in anticipation of its upcoming release on August 13, 2013. So this free preview is a great chance to whet your appetite for the full works. What's more, did we mention it's free?
To get your hands on these previews, it seems like you'll currently need to be a US resident, but you can get hold of them via iTunes or Amazon, simply by following the links. If the previews are sufficiently exciting for you to consider dropping some actual cash into the writers' coffers, then you can obtain all three titles from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble via the links provided on the Blizzard blog post. Naturally, as mentioned, Bloodsworn is currently only available for pre-order.
What do you think of these graphic novels? Is this your preferred format for absorbing World of Warcraft lore? You can also check out WoW Insider's reviews of Pearl of Pandaria and Dark Riders.
To get your hands on these previews, it seems like you'll currently need to be a US resident, but you can get hold of them via iTunes or Amazon, simply by following the links. If the previews are sufficiently exciting for you to consider dropping some actual cash into the writers' coffers, then you can obtain all three titles from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble via the links provided on the Blizzard blog post. Naturally, as mentioned, Bloodsworn is currently only available for pre-order.
What do you think of these graphic novels? Is this your preferred format for absorbing World of Warcraft lore? You can also check out WoW Insider's reviews of Pearl of Pandaria and Dark Riders.
Filed under: Comics
Your PvP Questions: Spell announcers, MMR and patch 5.3
by
Olivia Grace
on May 15th 2013 (7 days ago)
It's been a little while since I last did a PvP mailbag, and the emails have been piling up! So, if you have PvP questions, do drop me a line, I will do my best to respond to them, possibly in columns such as this one, or if I can fire off a quick email I will. Do note that I'm far from a PvP specialist in all the classes in WoW, and PvP questions which are class-specific would probably be better directed to the relevant class columnist.
Janrana wrote:
Hi Olivia, since reading about it a while back in one of your columns I've been a big fan of SpellAlerter, but it doesn't seem to have had any updates in a long while and is a bit broken for me. It doesn't seem to have all the spells any more and it also causes some errors to appear when it's on. Do you know of any alternative?
As it happens, I do! First and foremost SpellAlerter is alive and well... ish. It was updated for patch 5.1, but hasn't had any further updates since then. It still works at least fairly well, but I wouldn't rely on it completely. At least, it still allows you to set up custom alerts, so if there are spells it's missing you can add them in.
Janrana wrote:
Hi Olivia, since reading about it a while back in one of your columns I've been a big fan of SpellAlerter, but it doesn't seem to have had any updates in a long while and is a bit broken for me. It doesn't seem to have all the spells any more and it also causes some errors to appear when it's on. Do you know of any alternative?
As it happens, I do! First and foremost SpellAlerter is alive and well... ish. It was updated for patch 5.1, but hasn't had any further updates since then. It still works at least fairly well, but I wouldn't rely on it completely. At least, it still allows you to set up custom alerts, so if there are spells it's missing you can add them in.
Filed under: PvP, Blood Sport (Arena PvP)
Celebrate Diablo's anniversary with demons rather than cake
by
Olivia Grace
on May 15th 2013 (7 days ago)
It's flown by, but believe it or not, Diablo III is a year old today! Blizzard Community Manager Lylirra has put together a special message on the Diablo forums about the special buff you can get in return for simply logging in to defend Sanctuary.
Lylirra
This is somewhat similar to the buffs players can receive when it's WoW's birthday, so Diablo III fans can probably expect it to return every year. Happy birthday, Diablo!
LylirraOne year ago today, the gates of the Burning Hells opened and Diablo III was unleashed onto the world. Since then, millions of heroes have been created, billions of hours have been spent in games, and trillions of demons have been slaughtered without mercy. We've grown and improved a lot since release, both as a game team and as a community, and thanks to your feedback, passion, and unquenchable bloodlust, we expect the next year to be even more epic.
To celebrate this milestone and the community that made it possible, we're giving away free buffs! (Who doesn't like free buffs?) Players who log in to defend Sanctuary between May 15 and May 21 will receive a 25% boost to their Magic Find and +EXP stats. The buff is only available while logged in to the game, but it will apply to all characters as well as stack with other similar bonuses -- the +EXP bonus will stack multiplicatively and the Magic Find bonus will stack above the 300% cap!
To celebrate this milestone and the community that made it possible, we're giving away free buffs! (Who doesn't like free buffs?) Players who log in to defend Sanctuary between May 15 and May 21 will receive a 25% boost to their Magic Find and +EXP stats. The buff is only available while logged in to the game, but it will apply to all characters as well as stack with other similar bonuses -- the +EXP bonus will stack multiplicatively and the Magic Find bonus will stack above the 300% cap!
This is somewhat similar to the buffs players can receive when it's WoW's birthday, so Diablo III fans can probably expect it to return every year. Happy birthday, Diablo!
Filed under: Blizzard
Why raiders and multiboxers are overestimated
by
Olivia Grace
on May 15th 2013 (7 days ago)
Recently, Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street tweeted the following:
Two things that the forum posting / tweeting community tend to overestimate: number of multiboxers, number of players interested in raiding.
- Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) May 11, 2013
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is a cognitive science term, that describes a human tendency to search for, remember or interpret information in such a way that it confirms one's own preconceptions. A fine example of this is the "everybody thinks X" idea, which crops up a lot. If you believe that, for example, frost mages don't have enough burst, you might seek out other opinions that support your own, and partly ignore the clamoring crowd who assert that frost mage burst is out of control. Confirmation bias is particularly prevalent on the internet, where it's almost always possible to find another opinion that supports your own.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion
Reader UI of the Week: We've come a long way, baby
by
Olivia Grace
on May 14th 2013 (8 days ago)
A little while back, I put out the call for UIs with a bit of history, a bit of evolution to them. I love seeing how my UI has evolved over the years, starting off with the basic Blizzard UI, until I realised that I could tinker with the overall scale, and then began adding unit frame addons, then action bar addons, castbar addons, and the whole thing got completely out of hand and escalated to the point where I started writing addon and UI columns for WoW Insider! And it's always interesting to see how others' UIs have developed, too.
Today, we're delving into the past and present of Alphabot's UI. He's sent over several pictures, of both his current UI and his UIs past. So here, in chronological order, are UI shots one, two, three, four and five, and his current UI out of combat, in combat, and with everything on -- in test mode, so to speak. Let's move into Alphabot's email.
Today, we're delving into the past and present of Alphabot's UI. He's sent over several pictures, of both his current UI and his UIs past. So here, in chronological order, are UI shots one, two, three, four and five, and his current UI out of combat, in combat, and with everything on -- in test mode, so to speak. Let's move into Alphabot's email.
Filed under: Reader UI of the Week
Patch 5.3: Mining and herbalism able to be leveled exclusively in Pandaria
by
Olivia Grace
on May 14th 2013 (8 days ago)
A fair while back, Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg " Ghostcrawler" Street tweeted that the development team would be looking to implement catch-up mechanics, similar to those in place for cooking, to other professions. Blacksmithing had its changes, and now Mining and Herbalism are next on the agenda. MMO-Champion reported today on some changes on the patch 5.3 PTR, that make the grind to level these professions a whole lot easier.
I went onto the PTR, with a pre-made level 90, and learned apprentice herbalism and mining, then went and found some nodes. The tooltip shows the nodes as orange and they can be mined by characters who have only just learned the profession, with a skill level of 1, as can be seen from the image after the break.
I went onto the PTR, with a pre-made level 90, and learned apprentice herbalism and mining, then went and found some nodes. The tooltip shows the nodes as orange and they can be mined by characters who have only just learned the profession, with a skill level of 1, as can be seen from the image after the break.
Filed under: Mists of Pandaria
Patch 5.3 PTR Patch Notes for May 14
by
Olivia Grace
on May 14th 2013 (8 days ago)
The latest sets of PTR patch notes materialized a few hours ago, mostly featuring a multitude of class changes.
- Some reasonable nerfs to hunter pet CC, several abilities have had their cooldowns doubled.
- Some changes to the interaction of Tricks of the Trade with Blood DK abilities
- A buff to Necrotic Strike's attack power scaling
- A PvP-related change to Incanter's Ward, halving the effect but doubling the duration, as has been recently discussed the devs think this might be a part of their burst issues in PvP.
Filed under: Mists of Pandaria
Readers' ideas for WoW improvements
by
Olivia Grace
on May 13th 2013 (9 days ago)
A little ago WoW Insider posted an article asking our readers to suggest things they'd like to add to WoW to make the game better. We were really excited to hear your responses, and you didn't let us down. Several commenters had what we considered were actually some great ideas, and we thought we'd pull them out for some further discussion.
This is, in my opinion, a fantastic idea. Many's the time, when leveling a DPS character, that I've been conflicted between wanting to round off the storyline of an area, and wanting to progress with my leveling. With the speed of leveling in WoW at the moment with the buffs gained from heirlooms, guild perks and the like, it's really easy to out-level zones before you're done with the story. Now, of course, the option exists to simply ignore the gray mobs and the gray quests and the fact that you're being far less efficient than you would be if you moved on to another zone, but why should players have to make that choice?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion
Patch 5.3: Battlefield Barrens Preview
by
Olivia Grace
on May 9th 2013 (13 days ago)
Warning: this post may contain spoilers for patch 5.3, particularly content relating to the Battlefield: Barrens quests! If you don't want to read spoilers, don't read the section of this post that happens after the break!
Blizzard Community Manager Nethaera has posted a blog providing both back-up information and useful clues about the events taking place in the areas surrounding Orgrimmar, giving players the heads up on the various new elements being introduced to those zones, how they are used and the stories behind them. As the devs commented in the recent live Q&A, this is a new angle on maximum level questing for WoW, and it's pretty fun. Again, beware spoilers, but you can also check out WoW Insider's initial look at the goings on in the area.
Final spoiler warning! They lurk ominously after the break. Watching. Waiting.
Blizzard Community Manager Nethaera has posted a blog providing both back-up information and useful clues about the events taking place in the areas surrounding Orgrimmar, giving players the heads up on the various new elements being introduced to those zones, how they are used and the stories behind them. As the devs commented in the recent live Q&A, this is a new angle on maximum level questing for WoW, and it's pretty fun. Again, beware spoilers, but you can also check out WoW Insider's initial look at the goings on in the area.
Final spoiler warning! They lurk ominously after the break. Watching. Waiting.
Filed under: Mists of Pandaria
