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[Shifting Perspectives: Building a better Insect Swarm for Mists]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/shifting-perspectives-building-a-better-insect-swarm-for-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/shifting-perspectives-building-a-better-insect-swarm-for-mists/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/shifting-perspectives-building-a-better-insect-swarm-for-mists/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or @murmursofadruid.

Greetings, druids. Last week we talked about the new changes that had been made to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator, which held a few good changes for us. This week I want to focus in on two criticisms that I've had growing for a very long time. It's no shock to anyone that reads my column or follows me on Twitter that I abhor the new direction of Insect Swarm.

I've talked about this topic before, but I want to discuss it further.

Looking into the why

In the essence of fairness, I feel that I should go into why it is that I believe Blizzard is tweaking Insect Swarm the way that they are. To start with, Insect Swarm has been an extremely problematic spell ever since it was created. In TBC, it didn't deal enough damage in order to be worth using, the same was even true at the start of WotLK, and it nearly fell off the map again late in the expansion as well. It hasn't been until Cataclysm that Insect Swarm has finally become a sold piece of our rotation, and even now it's still the weaker of the two DoTs.

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Shifting Perspectives: Building a better Insect Swarm for Mists originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsMistMists-of-Pandaira-Talent-Calculatormists-of-pandariaMists-of-pandaria-druidmists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-gui (Tyler Caraway) Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[How encounter design plays into game balance]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/how-encounter-design-plays-into-game-balance/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/how-encounter-design-plays-into-game-balance/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/how-encounter-design-plays-into-game-balance/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Game balance is a very frequent topic when it comes to WoW. With every nerf or buff, there comes a vast explanation from the player base as to why it was and was not justified. Perhaps one of the most common lamentations regarding a nerf that we see is when Blizzard "nerfs PvE for the sake of PvP." While Blizzard does make PvP damage adjustments from time to time, there are far more damage changes that are made due to PvE concerns than there ever has been for PvP. It's an easy fallback to take up; blaming the aspect of the game which you don't actively take part in, yet it would be far more accurate for PvP players to complain about PvE.

There's another trap that's easy to fall into: that PvE balance is easy to do. To be fair, balancing against Patchwerk encounters isn't that difficult, although you'll still never get it perfect, but WoW has only had a single Patchwerk encounter, and that was Patchwerk. For all the damage juggling that Blizzard does, the largest factor in game balance is always going to be the encounters themselves. Each fight has unique mechanics which mingles with the way specs operate and it is that which determines how a spec fairs just as much as any damage balancing on Blizzard's part.

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How encounter design plays into game balance originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: A ray of hope for druid shifting and talents in Mists of Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/shifting-perspectives-a-ray-of-hope-for-druid-shifting-and-tale/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/shifting-perspectives-a-ray-of-hope-for-druid-shifting-and-tale/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/shifting-perspectives-a-ray-of-hope-for-druid-shifting-and-tale/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or @murmursofadruid.

There's nothing I like more than news, especially when it's about upcoming content. Each bite of information that is released offers a new insight into the design direction that Blizzard is taking, which is an extremely touchy subject at the moment. On the horizon is a new expansion, and with it comes the generalized revamping of class design that Blizzard tracks on to each time one of these comes around. With Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard really wants to push druids back to their roots, the roots of shifting that is.

Blizzard wants for druids to shift more. It wants us utilizing our various animal forms, talents, and skills instead of the current model where we have a singular form and stick to it -- or at least, that is what Blizzard had originally intended when it first set out designing MoP. Many of the druid community have been rather skeptical of Blizzard's intent, myself included. For us, it seems that this latest batch of updates holds quite the shining ray of hope.

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Shifting Perspectives: A ray of hope for druid shifting and talents in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsMists-of-Pandaira-Talent-Calculatormists-of-pandariaMists-of-pandaria-druidmists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: The loss of itemization in Cataclysm]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/ready-check-the-loss-of-itemization-in-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/ready-check-the-loss-of-itemization-in-cataclysm/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/ready-check-the-loss-of-itemization-in-cataclysm/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Like it or not, there's one constant about raiding. No matter what your reason for raiding is, and no matter what joy you happen to get from it, there's only one thing that matters at the end of the day. Obviously, I'm talking about loot. Loot is the one thing that makes the raiding world go 'round. Sure, we raid for story, we raid for friends, we raid for challenges. All of that is well and good and makes for a nice, lovely, non-selfish story that we can tell the world. Who knows? It might even be true -- but there's no avoiding that loot is the result.

Maybe that's why raiding has popularity issues. Maybe it isn't the experience so much as it is the reward. I suppose we'll never know -- at least, not from this Ready Check. No, no, instead there's there one part of loot issues that I really want to get into, the problem that has been plaguing Blizzard for this entire expansion: the lack of loot.

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Ready Check: The loss of itemization in Cataclysm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingitemizationleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Are druid abilities getting a trim in Mists of Pandaria?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/shifting-perspectives-are-druid-abilities-getting-a-trim-in-mis/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/shifting-perspectives-are-druid-abilities-getting-a-trim-in-mis/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/shifting-perspectives-are-druid-abilities-getting-a-trim-in-mis/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or @murmursofadruid.

Stop the presses, guys! There's eventually at some point in the distant future going to be a new expansion on the horizon for WoW, and in it, Blizzard is going to completely redesign the ability system again. We saw it happen for The Burning Crusade, and then it happened again for Wrath and once more for Cataclysm. Now, it's going to happen again for MoP.

Every expansion has come with some amount of trimming of useless abilities (hello, Sentry Totem) and even more so, the addition of new abilities to fill in the missing gaps that classes still have. What about optimizing the abilities that we already have first?

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Shifting Perspectives: Are druid abilities getting a trim in Mists of Pandaria? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Tiered raid progression vs. raid accessibility]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/ready-check-tiered-raid-progression-vs-raid-accessibility/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/ready-check-tiered-raid-progression-vs-raid-accessibility/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/10/ready-check-tiered-raid-progression-vs-raid-accessibility/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Let's do a little bit of polling in my head, shall we? How many of you raided during vanilla? Not all that many, I'm sure, and not purely because not that many folks from that time are still around but also because a horridly low number of people who were around back then did raid. But let's say you did raid. How many actually got to clear through the original Naxx? Now, that's a small number of hands; after all, even Blizzard said that less than 1% of the player base so much as downed a single boss in the that instance. Moving on to The Burning Crusade, how many raided there? More hands that previously, I'm sure. Now how many of you progressed past Karazhan? How many cleared through Black Temple? Sunwell?

Let's keep getting more current, though. How many say Naxx in Wrath? Now how many saw ICC? OK, how many say any T11 content? How many of those saw Dragon Soul? Interesting! The number of hands gets progressively smaller as the raids within vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade progress, yet it stays relatively the same throughout Wrath and Cataclysm. That's because in Wrath, Blizzard drastically changed its view on raiding -- far beyond merely making it easier.

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Ready Check: Tiered raid progression vs. raid accessibility originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[6 ways to increase your warlock's DPS]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/23/6-ways-to-increase-your-warlocks-dps/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/23/6-ways-to-increase-your-warlocks-dps/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/23/6-ways-to-increase-your-warlocks-dps/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

As a warlock, I can name no fewer than six methods that the amateur demonologist can use in order to up his worth to a raid. Oh, while I could easily write out an entire Homer-esque adventure exclusively on what fledgling casters can do for their damage, brevity is oft the soul of wit -- so I will merely keep to the upped ante of six, to demonstrate that warlocks shall not have themselves outdone by trite magelings. After all, a mage really is useful for nothing more than a light snack and easy travel.

1. Know your spec. Unlike those wretched creatures that shall not be named, warlocks are blessed with multiple viable specs that they can use for raiding. I know that this is a topic I have blathered on about time and time again, but for a pure DPS class, it's rather important. Unlike my counterpart balance druid, there is no rigidity in spec choice. A balance druid will always be a balance druid, regardless of how strong their spec is in relation to feral or other DPS classes in the game. Warlocks and other pures are given that luxury.

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6 ways to increase your warlock's DPS originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blood-pactclass-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Why we need difficult raid encounters]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/why-we-need-difficult-raid-encounters/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/why-we-need-difficult-raid-encounters/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/why-we-need-difficult-raid-encounters/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Welcome back again, raiders. Last session, we discussed those things that make a raid fun. Fun, as with many subjects, is a highly personal experience, and the simple matter is that not everyone finds even the concept of raiding itself very fun. This week, I want to continue with that discussion but in a different topic of course. Fun is merely a single part of raiding; another side of it is difficulty.

Difficulty comes in many shapes and sizes, not all of which are exclusive to one another. Further, difficulty often gets a rather tough rap in terms of how it influences a player's experience. Often, when we hear the word difficulty, we think of bosses that are just downright annoyingly hard. We envision these impossible encounters that act as roadblocks toward progression that end up only frustrating raiders. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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Why we need difficult raid encounters originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: How Mists of Pandaria will fix warlock PvP]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/16/blood-pact-how-mists-of-pandaria-will-fix-warlock-pvp/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/16/blood-pact-how-mists-of-pandaria-will-fix-warlock-pvp/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/16/blood-pact-how-mists-of-pandaria-will-fix-warlock-pvp/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

Greetings, warlocks. I know that I have generally focused heavily on PvE instead of PvP, but this is more so due to the fact that PvP is a difficult subject to generalize. Strategies are specific to the composition that you run and what you're up against, and they are exceptionally difficult to define in rote patterns. That's the draw that PvP has over PvE -- it's always changing, always different, always unpredictable, at least in the good cases. Yet there is one thing I can say about PvP: Affliction is the spec of choice.

Then again, when are the few times where that hasn't been true? There might be small pockets here and there when demonology or destruction has some meager viability in the PvP world, but they've normally been rather short-lived. Affliction has generally been our default PvP spec, much as mages have relied on frost. No more! I know people are tied of hearing it, but Mists of Pandaria will fix it.

Continue reading Blood Pact: How Mists of Pandaria will fix warlock PvP

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Blood Pact: How Mists of Pandaria will fix warlock PvP originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> affliction-warlock-blood-pactclass-helpdemonology-warlock-blood-pactdestruction-warlock-blood-pactfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-affliction-blood-pactwarlock-demonology-blood-pactwarlock-destruction-blood-pactwarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: What balance druid design can take from SWTOR]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/shifting-perspectives-what-balance-druid-design-can-take-from-s/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/shifting-perspectives-what-balance-druid-design-can-take-from-s/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/shifting-perspectives-what-balance-druid-design-can-take-from-s/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or @murmursofadruid.

Welcome to a new year, balance druids. It's been a flurry of a holiday season for many folks, although things have been rather quiet on the Blizzard front. In terms of any new information being released, all that we've seen thus far is a minor patch announcement that does hold some good news: Our four-piece tier bonus is getting 10% Starsurge damage tacked on. While this isn't monumental in the sense that it suddenly turns the bonus into a must-have, it's a good boost that was sorely needed.

Instead, the major release of the holiday season was the highly anticipated release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, which I myself have been glad to officially have my hands on. WoW-killer, front-runner MMO of the new year, or potential flop, it's far too soon to tell -- but what is telling is how new game designers approach the MMO genre and what Blizzard can learn as other companies look to emulate its success stories. What then could SWTOR possibly have for balance druids? Quite a bit.

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Shifting Perspectives: What balance druid design can take from SWTOR originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsmoonkinmoonkin-guidemoonkin-shifting-perspectivestalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: What makes raiding fun?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/ready-check-what-makes-raiding-fun/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/ready-check-what-makes-raiding-fun/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/ready-check-what-makes-raiding-fun/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Ahh, it is a new year, and as is common during this time, we put aside a spot of our days in order to reflect upon the previous year. We do this to see where we went wrong, where we went right, what aspects we think we need to improve upon.

Video games, particularly MMOs, are not so different from people, and MMO players too must undergo this same reflection. In WoW especially, one thing stands out above all the rest: Raiding continues to be a failure.

Now, now, I am not apart of the camp which decries the dumbing down of content. In fact, I still laud the quality of WoW's raids that Blizzard is putting out, even if I think they are becoming a bit light on the size factor. I am instead speaking in terms of sheer numbers. Raiding has never been an aspect of WoW that a majority of the community participated in, despite its being where the largest amount of new content is seen throughout expansions. Even though raiding has grown more and more accessible over this past year, there are still more people who don't raid than do.

Continue reading Ready Check: What makes raiding fun?

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Ready Check: What makes raiding fun? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid guide to Dragon Soul, part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/26/shifting-perspectives-balance-druid-guide-to-dragon-soul-part/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/26/shifting-perspectives-balance-druid-guide-to-dragon-soul-part/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/26/shifting-perspectives-balance-druid-guide-to-dragon-soul-part/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or @murmursofadruid.

And we're back once more! In our last edition, we went into some of the tricks that you can use in order to boost your DPS in the first four encounters of Dragon Soul. This time around, we'll be rounding out the rest of the encounters from the instance. Overall, the second half is a bit more challenging than the first half, both in terms of DPS requirements and raid coordination. This is where you're going to have to push yourself the most, so be prepared to pull out all the stops.

Ultraxion
  • You'll need two tanks for Ultraxion, which will taunt off each other as they get Fading Light.
  • There have to be three players who stay out for every Hour of Twilight. These players will have to use heavy damage reduction cooldowns or immunities, or they will die.
  • There are three different crystals that spawn for healers, each that have their own unique buffs to help the raid survive. Let them fight over who gets what.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid guide to Dragon Soul, part 2

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Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid guide to Dragon Soul, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidspatch-4.3talenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid guide to Dragon Soul, part 1]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/shifting-perspectives-balance-druid-guide-to-dragon-soul-part/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/shifting-perspectives-balance-druid-guide-to-dragon-soul-part/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/21/shifting-perspectives-balance-druid-guide-to-dragon-soul-part/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or @murmursofadruid.

Overall, the first four bosses of Dragon Soul are a fun lot that focus more on your ability to raid overall and less on your specific capabilities. There is a solid chunk of movement in them, so you should be prepare to deal with that. Practicing how to drop Mushrooms while on the move is a huge asset in this raiding tier. Styling this week's advice after McCurley's 5-second strats, I'll briefly detail the encounter and any tricks that you should know about heading into the game. Keep it simple, after all.

Morchok
  • Morchok should be tanked relatively where he stands. After each Blood phase, the tank can just pick him up where ever he happens to end up. No real positioning is needed unless you start to wander too far to the sides.
  • The raid team should all be grouped up within 25 yards of the boss as often as possible.
  • A dedicated group of ranged DPS should run out to every crystal that spawns. You need seven players for this in 25-man.
  • Run and head behind spikes once they've spawned, positioning yourself either between two spikes or just at the side of one so that you can continue to DPS.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid guide to Dragon Soul, part 1

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Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid guide to Dragon Soul, part 1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidspatch-4.3talenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Dark Intent update and T13 gearing]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/19/warlock-t13-gearing/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/19/warlock-t13-gearing/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/19/warlock-t13-gearing/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

Greeting again, darklings. It's that time of the week once more for us to talk about all that drives our purpose: bringing horrible pain to our enemies. There are multiple cogs in our wheel of destruction, but this week I want to focus in on two of those. To start, there's the small matter of the ever-constant debate on weaponry and trinkets, something that comes up with every new tier. Second, there's the issue of Dark Intent. While it's been relatively established on the priority of the buff, there are a few kinks to work out, as always. The prior settlements that were made were based upon data that was relevant back in tier 11. Although there isn't too much that has changed since this, Blizzard's adjustments and gearing does merit bringing up the issue once more.

There can be little doubt that shadow priests are the best recipients for Dark Intent. A significantly large portion of their damage come from DoTs; furthermore, Mind Flay has a unique interaction with the ability as well that results in an even higher return. As shadow priests gain gear, more of their damage does actually shift toward Mind Blast, plus their tier 13 increases more of their non-DoT based damage. Again, none of this changes that they are still the best target for Dark Intent, but it does slightly reduce the disparity between shadow priests and non-shadow priests when getting it.

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Blood Pact: Dark Intent update and T13 gearing originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blood-pactclass-helpdark-intentdragon-soulfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-dragon-soulwarlock-gearingwarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WoW Insider's guide to Yor'sahj the Unsleeping]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/wow-insiders-guide-to-yorsahj-the-unsleeping/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/wow-insiders-guide-to-yorsahj-the-unsleeping/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/wow-insiders-guide-to-yorsahj-the-unsleeping/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Welcome back to another exciting WoW Insider strategy guide. This guide will detail how to take down Yor'sahj, the Unsleeping in the Dragon Soul raid. Previously, we have gone over how to kill Morchok and Warlord Zon'ozz as well; marking this the third encounter within the raid.

Yor'sahj is an amazingly fun fight, in fact it's my favorite encounter in the whole zone. That's because it's never quite the same fight twice, there's always something a little different about it that makes you think on your feet and adjust to the situation. I only wish my bosses gained random ability combinations instead of always going through the same ability list on a set pattern. Oh well, dreamers can dream I guess.

Continue reading WoW Insider's guide to Yor'sahj the Unsleeping

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WoW Insider's guide to Yor'sahj the Unsleeping originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> patch-4.3world-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-news (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Cataclysm-era leveling guide for warlocks]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/cataclysm-warlock-leveling-guide/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/cataclysm-warlock-leveling-guide/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/cataclysm-warlock-leveling-guide/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

Of all the things that I am, for all of the multitude of alts that I have, one things that I've never been all that good at is writing leveling guides. I have a hard enough time as it is following said guides; writing out my chaotic leveling process is a chore and a half. That all being said, the one thing I do have enormous amounts of experience in leveling. I've nearly reached the full limit on the amount of characters that I'm allowed to have. Allow me, then, to impart some of what I know about bringing your fledgling warlock up to speed into the endgame. After all, while the journey might be half the fun, the destination is all so glorious. We do need someone to stomp on those pesky mages.

The first order of business is to know your spec going into the game. While all warlocks focus on damage (so we don't have quite the same complications as hybrid classes), which spec you choose to go with is still important. Affliction has long been touted as the prime warlock leveling spec, and that is still somewhat true. Affliction offers the best multi-target, fast-paced farming that can't be matched by any of the others. The downside to this is that mob farming has fallen the way of the dinosaurs in WoW leveling; instead, questing and running dungeons is far more efficient, and affliction doesn't have its strength there.

Continue reading Blood Pact: Cataclysm-era leveling guide for warlocks

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Blood Pact: Cataclysm-era leveling guide for warlocks originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blood-pactblood-pact-levelingblood-pact-leveling-guideclass-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-blood-pactwarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-levelingwarlock-leveling-guidewarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Lunar Shower update and Celestial Alignment]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/10/shifting-perspectives-lunar-shower-update-and-celestial-alignme/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/10/shifting-perspectives-lunar-shower-update-and-celestial-alignme/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/10/shifting-perspectives-lunar-shower-update-and-celestial-alignme/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or @murmursofadruid.

Balance druids everywhere are currently rejoicing. Why, might you ask? Well, you see, the Eclipse energy portion of Lunar Shower has finally been removed from the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator. That it took this long is something else entirely, but that isn't even really the point.

First, I wish to express a slight personal issue with this revelation. When the Pandaria talent calculators were originally released, it was stated directly that Lunar Shower would be "working differently in the future." While I suppose accurate on the most technical levels, reverting a broken talent to the slightly less broken state that it was already in before it was made worse is not working differently.

A bit harsh? To say that Lunar Shower is a broken talent, to suggest that it was always a broken talent? Well, I would apologize or choose better language -- however, this is the case. Lunar Shower has never truly fulfilled the function it was intended to serve, to offer balance druids a mobile DPS option. In defense that the current Lunar Shower on the live servers now is broken, I don't really think I need to put forth much evidence. After all, no one specs into it. Every single guide tells players to avoid it. And there's at least a thread a week complaining about it on the official forums. The issue speaks for itself.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Lunar Shower update and Celestial Alignment

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Shifting Perspectives: Lunar Shower update and Celestial Alignment originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsmoonkinmoonkin-gearmoonkin-guidemoonkin-shifting-persptalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WoW Insider's guide to Warlord Zon'ozz]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/09/wow-insiders-guide-to-warlord-zonozz/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/09/wow-insiders-guide-to-warlord-zonozz/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/09/wow-insiders-guide-to-warlord-zonozz/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Unlike the other encounters in Dragon Soul, Warlord Zon'ozz only requires a single tank. For cooldown purposes, it is possible to bring in a second tank; however, there isn't too much of a need to do so. Per usual, you will want to have around five to six healers. Switch your off tank for an additional healer if you feel that would help. Your DPS should be a solid mix of both ranged and melee; there does need to be a solid balance of both. Healers should be split among the DPS, with tank healers staying with the melee.

Abilities

Zon'ozz doesn't have all that many abilities, but he's still a hands-on encounter. Most of your time will be spent watching the Void of Unmaking and bouncing it back and forth. Healers will focus more on clearing away Disrupting Shadows. For once, tanks probably have the easiest time on this encounter, only really having to watch out for a single ability that occurs about once per phase or so.

Continue reading WoW Insider's guide to Warlord Zon'ozz

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WoW Insider's guide to Warlord Zon'ozz originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dragon-souldragon-soul-guidedragon-soul-raidfeaturedguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershippatch-4.3raid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswarlord-zonozzwarlord-zonozz-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raidszonozzzonozz-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Initial impressions of 4.3 raiding as a warlock]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/05/initial-impressions-of-4-3-raiding-as-a-warlock/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/05/initial-impressions-of-4-3-raiding-as-a-warlock/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/05/initial-impressions-of-4-3-raiding-as-a-warlock/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

The first week of raiding after the release of patch 4.3 has more or less come and gone by this point, and while raiding isn't everything, it is the primary focus on this tier. Not only do we finally get to tackle with Deathwing himself, but Blizzard also introduced the Raid Finder tool in order to bring more players into the raiding game. Another part of this patch was an effort to bring destruction's damage up to par with that of our other two specs.

While there is still much more time needed in order to tell how exactly things are going to play out, for now it is time to lay down the initial impressions that raiding within this recent patch has left in my mouth. Some are good, some are bad, but the common denominator is that, hey -- at least we aren't mages.

Continue reading Blood Pact: Initial impressions of 4.3 raiding as a warlock

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Blood Pact: Initial impressions of 4.3 raiding as a warlock originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blood-pactclass-helpdemonologydemonology-blood-pactdemonology-warlock-blood-pactdestructiondestruction-warlock-blood-pactfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentspatch-4.3talenttalentswarlock-demonology-blood-pactwarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Patch 4.3 gear list for balance druids]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/patch-4-3-gear-list-for-balance-druids/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/patch-4-3-gear-list-for-balance-druids/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/patch-4-3-gear-list-for-balance-druids/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Hail, druids, and welcome to the wondrous world of a new patch! This patch didn't hold much for us in the ways of personal meat. We got a wicked-awesome new Hurricane animation and a neat new Wrath one as well, but otherwise, things trudge along as normal with our lot. That's perfectly dandy in my book. We're still going along strong as a solid DPS choice, and things are good.

This week I'm dedicating to gearing ourselves up in all of that lovely new content that has just been released. Whether you're a dungeoneer or a hardcore raider, there's tons of new loot to look at, and that's exactly that we're going to do. As a side note, I do have to say that I am super-excited about having patch 4.3. The content so far has been gloriously fun, and though I'm sure I'll change my mind once I've done enough of these heroics to last a lifetime (as with the troll versions of last patch), I'm content to make do with what we have. Let's get to work, shall we?

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Patch 4.3 gear list for balance druids

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Shifting Perspectives: Patch 4.3 gear list for balance druids originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-gearingbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-gearclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsmoonkinmoonkin-gearmoonkin-guidemoonkin-shifting-perspectivespatch-4.3shifting-perspectivesshifting-perspectives-druidtalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WoW Insider's guide to Morchok]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/wow-insiders-guide-to-morchok/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/wow-insiders-guide-to-morchok/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/12/02/wow-insiders-guide-to-morchok/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Greetings raiders, and welcome to WoW Insider's raid boss strategy guides! With the release of 4.3 and the new Dragon Soul raid, we're finally onto the last bastion of evil in this expansion. Finally we are given the chance to face down Deathwing himself and end his destructive madness. Before we can reach this cataclysmic destroyer, though, we'll first have to break the siege upon Wyrmrest Temple and battle our way through the most powerful minions the Destroyer has in his arsenal.

The first of this is Morchok, a giant earth elemental that is assaulting the front gates, as it were, of the Temple itself. Although not challenging for the first encounter of the raid, this pile of rocks isn't going down without a fight. Are you prepared to break yourselves upon his body? (Oh, wait ... that's a different encounter, isn't it?)

Continue reading WoW Insider's guide to Morchok

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WoW Insider's guide to Morchok originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Dragon-soul-guideDragon-Soul-Morchokdragon-soul-raidfeaturedguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipMorchokMorchok-guidepatch-4.3raid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidsworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[The return of raid stacking?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/29/ready-check-the-return-of-raid-stacking/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/29/ready-check-the-return-of-raid-stacking/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/29/ready-check-the-return-of-raid-stacking/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Many people are currently all in a tizzy over the recently released ability lists and talent trees for all of the classes in the next expansion. I suppose I too am no different in this respect. Yet while all others are in their throes of joy (or desperately pleading for changes), I am struck with a thought, a concern if you will, that leaves me slightly worried for the future of raiding. At some point in time, a great wise man once said that we are doomed to repeat history and all that jazz often if we fail to remember it. Sometimes I feel that he is only half right.

Much like Know Your Lore, this week is something of a tinfoil-hat deal, meaning that it's all speculation on my part. I could be wrong -- in fact, this time around I beg to be incorrect -- but I am merely reporting what it is that I see trending. Take it all with a grain of salt.

Continue reading The return of raid stacking?

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The return of raid stacking? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Dungeon gearing for warlocks in patch 4.3]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/29/dungeon-gearing-for-warlocks-in-patch-4-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/29/dungeon-gearing-for-warlocks-in-patch-4-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/29/dungeon-gearing-for-warlocks-in-patch-4-3/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

If I did not know any better, warlocks, I would think that the world was conspiring against me. Last week I had promised that I would be doing a gear list from the newest 5-mans to be released with patch 4.3, but I was deterred by not having access to Wowhead's marvelous PTR site. This week, it's Blizzard itself attempting to knock this train off the tracks by releasing the ability list and talent calculators for Mists of Pandaria. While the talents are important in their own right, nothing from said ability list was really all that shocking; indeed, a majority of it I had predicted rather well in last week's issue.

Therefore, despite all attempts to get me to focus otherwise, I will actually be keeping up my promise and providing you with a cleanly laid-out gearing list for the next patch (which should be coming out tomorrow, truth be told). To prevent you from wasting your days farming for an item that you might replace, valor point items will also be listed given that you can earn the currency through 5-man content. Let's be on with the show!

Continue reading Blood Pact: Dungeon gearing for warlocks in patch 4.3

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Blood Pact: Dungeon gearing for warlocks in patch 4.3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentspatch-4.3talenttalentswarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guideworld-of-warcraft-patch-4.3wow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-patchwow-patch-4.3wow-patch-4.3-newswow-patch-newswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: The matter of Mists talents and abilities]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/25/balance-druid-mists-of-pandaria-talent-analysis-preview/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/25/balance-druid-mists-of-pandaria-talent-analysis-preview/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/25/balance-druid-mists-of-pandaria-talent-analysis-preview/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Druids, friends, brothers and sisters, we need to have a right good talk. Earlier in the week, Blizzard released the ability list and talent calculator for every class and spec in the next expansion. As we all knew, there were many significant changes that were made in terms of what abilities each spec received and, in some cases, how these abilities worked. Oddly enough, this seemed to cause something of an uproar within the druid community over several choice changes. It's strange to me that a community preaching patience quickly froths at the mouth, but fret not, nothing is nearly as bad as it seems.

The changes are massive -- of that there is no doubt -- but at the core, everything that we've known is still there. The majority of the balance druid spec as it exists today is virtually intact; as far as changes could go, this is close to the best that we could have hoped for. There are still tweaks that should be made, but those shall come in time. For now, allow me assuage your fears.

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Shifting Perspectives: The matter of Mists talents and abilities originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-mists-of-pandariabalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesbalance-druid-talentsclass-helpdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentsmoonkinmoonkin-shifting-perspectivestalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: The cost of talent consolidation in Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/21/warlock-mists-of-pandaria-talent-preview-discussion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/21/warlock-mists-of-pandaria-talent-preview-discussion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/21/warlock-mists-of-pandaria-talent-preview-discussion/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

Greetings, warlocks. It's that time of the week once again when we talk about all those dark arts and such that we do so love to practice. My original intention this week was to talk about many of the sweet items that you can pull out of the new dungeons coming out in 4.3. All of them are on the same ilevel as what you can get from regular Firelands, making them ideal for non-raiders or players who haven't gotten every drop that they've been looking for -- and in some cases, a few items are even better that what you could find from raiding. Alas, at the time of this writing, Wowhead's PTR servers aren't working for me and seem to be down -- a shame, but there's always next week!

In lieu of that, I'll take this opportunity to discuss a different matter that's be on my mind of late dealing with the changes coming in 5.0. Talents are undergoing a major overhaul, and we know that many of the current talents are going to be baked into the base class. While this works well for other classes, it's a bit awkward when it comes to warlocks. Join me as I show you and toss in a bit of speculation for affliction.

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Blood Pact: The cost of talent consolidation in Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> afflictionaffliction-blood-pactaffliction-warlockaffliction-warlock-blood-pactclass-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Cleaning up issues with Raid Finder]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/18/ready-check-cleaning-up-issues-with-raid-finder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/18/ready-check-cleaning-up-issues-with-raid-finder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/18/ready-check-cleaning-up-issues-with-raid-finder/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Last week, we talked about a few of the issues that are currently speculated for Blizzard's new Raid Finder tool that is being released within the next patch. Specifically, that discussion was about raid size and raid leadership; however, these are not the only concerns that people have. The Raid Finder is a rather charged topic within the community, for a wide variety of reasons, all depending on whom you ask.

This week, we will be wrapping up the discussion as best can be done as I attempt to address the remaining issues that people have put forward. Before we begin, let me say that, until this all goes live, we cannot accurately judge the success or failure of the tool. The Dungeon Finder, similarly, had a significant amount of backlash and down talk before it was released, yet most people now wouldn't play without it -- just to put everything in perspective.

Continue reading Ready Check: Cleaning up issues with Raid Finder

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Ready Check: Cleaning up issues with Raid Finder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-finderraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraid-sizeraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Retaining key talents in Pandaria]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/18/druids-retaining-key-talents-in-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/18/druids-retaining-key-talents-in-pandaria/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/18/druids-retaining-key-talents-in-pandaria/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Welcome back to another week, my favorite space turkeys. This week is one of those that I happen to detest and often wish that we could find a way to remove the from the calendar; alas, I've been told that this isn't possible. Next week is a holiday, and the next patch is expected the week thereafter, leaving this week simmering in nothing but anticipation. As anyone will tell you, I'm not a patient person.

Still, that doesn't mean that we're all dead in the water. True to form, I'll be putting a spot of my predictive powers to work. It'll be the last topic about Pandaria for a while, I promise you that, but this one is important to lay some groundwork. All of our talents are going away -- a great idea in theory. However, the problem comes in that some talents are important to keeping the spec engaging. Merely shuttling them off to the nether isn't an option; some will have to be baked into the class as a whole. But which? Let's speculate!

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Shifting Perspectives: Retaining key talents in Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesclass-helpdruid-balancedruid-balance-shifting-perspectivesdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Looking at the developer's Q&A]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/13/blood-pact-looking-at-the-developers-qanda/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/13/blood-pact-looking-at-the-developers-qanda/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/13/blood-pact-looking-at-the-developers-qanda/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

All right, this past Wednesday, there was an extremely awesome Live Developer Q&A about class and system design that pretty much rocked house any way you look at it. While there were some good questions fielded about the next patch, a majority of it focused in on things to come in the next expansion; with the changes that we'll be seeing, this isn't surprising. In perfect form, Xelnath handled everything warlock like a beast. Respects, hats tipped, and similar jazz of the sort out to Blizzard.

Without wanting to waste much time, let's jump right into all of what we have learned from the chat. It's certainly worth waiting for.

Continue reading Blood Pact: Looking at the developer's Q&A

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Blood Pact: Looking at the developer's Q&A originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Why active shifting isn't the solution for druids]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/druid-active-shifting-solution-review/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/druid-active-shifting-solution-review/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/druid-active-shifting-solution-review/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

So on Wednesday, there was this small little thing that you may have heard about called a little live Q&A with the devs about classes and systems in WoW. While there were a few mentionings of things in the near future, most of the night's focus rested on the next expansion rising over the horizon. Highly understandable. There are a wide variety of changes coming in the next expansion for all of the classes, and I don't think that druids can claim to have a monopoly on the biggest ones.

The latest direction that Blizzard wants to steer druids, however, is certainly an odd one, and it may not be all that it's cut out for. After BlizzCon, I spent some time talking about the released talents and the design considerations that came along with it. I also spent a spot of time guesting (is guest a verb now?) on Team Waffle Cast along with Arielle and Lissanna, when we talked about the druidic future. In the live chat, I fear that my suspicions were confirmed. Join me for a trip to the future that will never be.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Why active shifting isn't the solution for druids

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Shifting Perspectives: Why active shifting isn't the solution for druids originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> Ask-the-DevsAsk-the-Devs-QAbalance-druidbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesclass-helpdruid-balancedruid-balance-shifting-perspectivesdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsmists-of-pandariatalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: The human element of the Raid Finder]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/ready-check-the-human-element-of-the-raid-finder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/ready-check-the-human-element-of-the-raid-finder/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/ready-check-the-human-element-of-the-raid-finder/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

These past few weeks have been quite the doozy here for Ready Check as we've discussed the future of raiding in Pandaria followed by the more current notion of raid accessibility, two seemingly different topics that are heavy intertwined. This week, we'll be brushing into another similar topic as we delve into the newest tool that Blizzard is releasing in order to increase raid accessibility across the board: the new Raid Finder.

Currently on the PTR, the Raid Finder has been running rather hit or miss with some of the playerbase at the moment. A few are avid PTR-goers, while others have only just now popped into the process. For either group, they certainly don't have a lack of being vocal on the forums. Despite what problems some players have been raising, I feel and have experienced that the Raid Finder tool will go over amazingly well. A lot of the complaints that we hear now are the exact same ones that were given for the Dungeon Finder when it was being released, and while not everything from 5-man content transitions to raids, both will have the same success.

Join me as I defend the single tool that I will probably never use in this game.

Continue reading Ready Check: The human element of the Raid Finder

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Ready Check: The human element of the Raid Finder originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipLFRlooking-for-raidlooking-for-raid-toolraid-finderraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Distinguishing destruction from fire]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/07/warlock-destruction-vs-mage-fire/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/07/warlock-destruction-vs-mage-fire/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/07/warlock-destruction-vs-mage-fire/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid.

I like to think that I've been a solid supporter of the warlocks in their struggles against the devil mages. I know that I do have some split loyalties with the druids, but let's be fair in saying that a druid is wicked awesome in comparison to a mage. With that in mind, know that it brings me no joy to say that I'm worried. We talked about the new talents coming in the next expansion last week, and while I love what talents warlocks had and I think the new system has some great potential, there's one facet about it that concerns me.

Destruction and fire are very closely linked in playstyle. Both are heavy nuking specs that also utilize DOT effects to boost their damage. They both make use of an otherwise unwieldy long spell, albeit in different methods, but one cannot deny that the two specs are fairly similar. One of the key differences right now to set destruction apart from fire is Conflagration and Backdraft -- destruction has a form of focus on speed that fire doesn't. With traditional specs going out the window, one has to worry about how Blizzard intends to distinguish destruction from fire.

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Blood Pact: Distinguishing destruction from fire originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blood-pactclass-helpdestructiondestruction-blood-pactdestruction-warlock-blood-pactfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Looking at raid accessibility]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/ready-check-looking-at-raid-accessibility/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/ready-check-looking-at-raid-accessibility/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/ready-check-looking-at-raid-accessibility/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Questions, comments, or something you would like to see? Email me at tyler@wowinsider or message me on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Last week, we brushed upon the topic of what the next expansion might hold for raiding. Specifically, the talk centered around the concept that raiding cannot be Blizzard's sole focus any more. As much effort as has been put into raiding, not every player is capable of getting involved with it. The argument was that Blizzard needed to focus on other content for max-level players aside from raiding and questioned what impact that would have on raiding overall.

First, at little bit of information. The blog Player vs. Auction House went off the norm and provided a little bit of numbers gleamed from WowProgress about T11 raiding before 4.2. While there is some interesting data as it relates to last week's topic, that isn't the focus I want to bring up. An argument was put forth that Cataclysm raiding is less accessible today than it previously was. I feel this is a great topic to delve right into this week.

Continue reading Ready Check: Looking at raid accessibility

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Ready Check: Looking at raid accessibility originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Eclipse, AOE, and energy gains]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/druid-eclipse-aoe-energy-gains/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/druid-eclipse-aoe-energy-gains/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/druid-eclipse-aoe-energy-gains/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or on Twitter @murmursofadruid.

Last week, we talked about the oncoming change to the talent system and what the previewed talents mean for balance druids. Understanding that everything we see now is very much in the pre-alpha stages and bound to change, talents are still but one aspect of the class that is going to need to see some changes in the next expansion. As we all know by now, Eclipse too needs to change. I'm sure that this is one topic that people are about tired of talking or hearing about, but it's simply unavoidable. Eclipse is the core of our DPS; it is everything to us. If it fails, we fail, pure and simple.

Unlike the past, we won't particularly be discussing the same old boring flaws that we have with Eclipse today. Many of those are known factors, and we already know that Blizzard is looking at addressing them. Instead, we'll be discussing some of the things that balance druids have known for a long time that Blizzard has not, as of yet, mentioned. We'll also be looking into the way in which the system does need to change in order to survive into the next expansion.

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Shifting Perspectives: Eclipse, AOE, and energy gains originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesclass-helpdruid-balancedruid-balance-shifting-perspectivesdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-speculat (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Looking at new warlock talents]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/31/blood-pact-looking-at-new-warlock-talents/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/31/blood-pact-looking-at-new-warlock-talents/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/31/blood-pact-looking-at-new-warlock-talents/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you.

Welcome back, warlocks! I know that this is technically the second post-BlizzCon article that you'll be reading, but with how scheduling has to be done, for me at least, it's actually the first. I know that it can get a little aggravating to have to wait this long for your roundup of new information, but let me assure you that it is well worth the wait.

Unlike the rest of the writers around this place, I'm not suffering from an incurable plague ... guess it's just a warlock thing. Shadow priest writer Fox Van Allen might joke that he's getting 15% of the damage done by the BlizzCon Flu back as health, but clearly I'm just sitting there channeling Drain Life with no one to care about interrupting me. Speaking of Drain Life, the talents for the next expansion seem extremely promising. Why don't we take a look at them? (You like that leap of topics, don't you?)

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Blood Pact: Looking at new warlock talents originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-helpfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentstalenttalentswarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-mists-of-pandaria-talentswarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: Looking at new warlock talents, page 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/31/blood-pact-looking-at-new-warlock-talents-page-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/31/blood-pact-looking-at-new-warlock-talents-page-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/31/blood-pact-looking-at-new-warlock-talents-page-2/#comments Continue reading Blood Pact: Looking at new warlock talents, page 2

Blood Pact: Looking at new warlock talents, page 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Looking into the future of raiding]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/28/ready-check-looking-into-the-future-of-raiding/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/28/ready-check-looking-into-the-future-of-raiding/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/28/ready-check-looking-into-the-future-of-raiding/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop.

BlizzCon 2011 was a great source of new information for a lot of players. One of the things that Blizzard didn't really speak about, however, was the future of raiding in the next expansion and beyond. Since The Burning Crusade, Blizzard has made enormous strides in changing the face of endgame content. It started with the reduction from 40-man raiding to 25-man raiding along with the introduction of 10-man raiding. In Wrath, we saw an even larger change, with every raid having a 10-man option that allowed even greater access to the raiding scene than ever before. Now, 10-man and 25-man are, to Blizzard at least, considered to be on equal footing.

With each expansion has come a drastic change to the raiding scene, yet nothing was announced for the next game. This leaves us rather up in the air as to where Blizzard intends to take the raiding scene. WoW is becoming a game of accessibility, where the end goal is to make the largest amount of content available to the widest audience. In light of this, it is time that we don our tin foil hats in taking a look at what the future might hold for raiding players of WoW.

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Ready Check: Looking into the future of raiding originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Upcoming talent changes for balance]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/28/shifting-perspectives-upcoming-talent-changes-for-balance/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/28/shifting-perspectives-upcoming-talent-changes-for-balance/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/28/shifting-perspectives-upcoming-talent-changes-for-balance/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com.

We are back for the first article post-BlizzCon, and as with many of the other writers for WoW Insider, it's time to talk about what the next expansion holds for balance druids. Mists of Pandaria looks to hold many exciting new features for the game on top of an entirely redesigned talent and specialization system. While how everything will pan out is still nothing but speculation, there are a few things in particular which are worth exploring, especially for druids.

I'm no stranger to hand-waving, crackpot theories; today's article is no exception to that. No one knows precisely what the next expansion is going to hold for WoW, not even the people working on it, but I can give you my observations from the outside looking in. Keep that in mind, however, this article is merely how things seem from the glimpse of the future that BlizzCon provided. Everything is subject to change, rebalancing, and various other changes. That over and done with, let's get started.

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Shifting Perspectives: Upcoming talent changes for balance originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesclass-helpdruid-balancedruid-balance-shifting-perspectivesdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidsmists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-speculationmists-of-pandaria-talent-changesmists-of-pandaria-talentstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guidworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Blood Pact: A warlock history]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/24/blood-pact-a-warlock-history/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/24/blood-pact-a-warlock-history/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/24/blood-pact-a-warlock-history/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you.

BlizzCon has since come and passed, and I am quite sure that epic adventures were had by all who attended. Despite the event's being done and gone, I am in the unfortunate position of needing to write this nearly a week in advance, which can be killer when there's so much juicy news floating around there now. At the moment, I'm probably hovering somewhere over the midwest, or I've finally gotten home and have crashed into my long-missed bed. But don't worry -- not even death would prevent my ego from finding a way to get my self-important words to your screen.

If you happen to also follow my Shifting Perspectives column and read this past week's, then you would have gotten a nice brush of moonkin history. While I'm not generally the type to mix my colors with whites (at least, not after that bout of horrible pink underwear), I thought that the topic was rather appropriate, given the circumstances. I've spent much of the these past few weeks talking about the future of warlocks; it's only right that we now return to those things that have gotten us to where we are today.

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Blood Pact: A warlock history originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> affliction-warlock-blood-pactclass-helpdemonology-warlock-blood-pactdestruction-warlock-blood-pactfeaturedguideguide-to-locksguide-to-warlockslock-guidelock-infolock-talentstalenttalentswarlock-guidewarlock-infowarlock-talentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-guidewow-lockwow-lock-infowow-lockswow-talent-guidewow-warlockwow-warlock-infowow-warlocks (Tyler Caraway) Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: How legendaries destroy PVE]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/23/ready-check-how-legendaries-destroy-pve/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/23/ready-check-how-legendaries-destroy-pve/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/23/ready-check-how-legendaries-destroy-pve/#comments Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop.

By now, everyone is familiar with the bitter arguments that follow the release of any legendary weapon. There are always the petty squabbles over who should get it first, which class or spec gains the most benefit from it, even down so much as to who should be allowed to get the item at all. Beyond those things, there is always the riled-up PVP crowd. PVP doesn't offer itemization or choices to mirror or match legendary items by any means, and every legendary item has long been a must-have for any serious PVPer.

Basically, you have a legendary, you rock face without even questioning it; without one, well, you just better pray you end up matched on equal footing. Every legendary has done this, and each one has created a new controversy, yet no one ever gives any consideration to the opposing side of the game. Yes, legendaries come from PVE, and any raider can technically get one with dedication, but they have just as of an unbalancing impact on the raiding scene as they do the PVP-verse. This week, we'll be looking into those negative reactions.

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Ready Check: How legendaries destroy PVE originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dragonwrathdragonwrath-tarecgosas-restfeaturedguideguide-to-raid-leadingleadershipraid-guideraid-leaderraid-leader-guideraiding-guideraidswow-guidewow-guide-to-raid-leadingwow-raid-leaderwow-raidingwow-raids (Tyler Caraway) Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Shifting Perspectives: Balance history in review]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/22/shifting-perspectives-balance-history-in-review/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/22/shifting-perspectives-balance-history-in-review/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/10/22/shifting-perspectives-balance-history-in-review/#comments Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com.

Greetings from the slums of BlizzCon! Although I sit at home in eager anticipation as I write this, by the time you read it, things have likely already spirialed far beyond control. The build-up, the thrill, all of it finally releasing on this day -- and look, I get this poor little column fighting against all of the headline news. How special I must be. While at the time of your reading, there is undoubtedly a barrage of new information to sort through, I want to take a slightly different turn, to change the relative pace of the day, if you will.

Many, many months ago, back when I first joined the WoW Insider staff, I wrote at length on the history of balance druids, how we had changed as the face of WoW itself developed beyond anything that we could have possibly imagined back in the days of Molten Core. I would like once again to reflect upon our past, the trials and tribulations that led to what we are today. It has not always been easy to be a balance druid, and certainly we have much to be thankful for. In tune of celebrating all things Blizzard, I want to take joy in the strides that have been taken in making balance the respectable spec that it is today.

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Shifting Perspectives: Balance history in review originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> balance-druidbalance-druid-guidebalance-druid-shifting-perspectivesclass-helpdruid-balancedruid-balance-shifting-perspectivesdruid-guidedruid-infodruid-talentsfeaturedguideguide-to-druidstalenttalentsworld-of-warcraft-class-guidworld-of-warcraft-class-guideworld-of-warcraft-guidewow-class-guidewow-class-helpwow-druidwow-druid-infowow-druidswow-guidewow-talent-guide (Tyler Caraway) Sat, 22 Oct 2011 23:00:00 EST WoW Insider