Posts with tag beta

Ever since Eadric the Pure first made players spin around to avoid being blinded by his Radiance -- the bane of keyboard turners everywhere -- many paladins were enamored with the idea of firing off a flash of light and similarly dazzling those around them into incoherence. And we almost had it too, in the Cataclysm beta, when Blinding Light first debuted as a player ability. However, the spell was removed early on, only (it seems) to be put on the back burner.

Now, Blinding Light returns in Mists for a second try at making it into the paladin spellbook. This time around, it looks like it is here to stay. If you're in the beta, you can try it out yourself as soon as you hit 87.

The spell itself is pretty straightforward. On a 3-minute cooldown, you can fire off a burst of light that will cause all enemies around you to wander confusedly for 6 seconds. As a tank, I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this in AoE situations, when I need a breather from a pack of enemies that are punching me in the face.

Ret and holy paladins will find similar use for it, whether out in the wilds of Pandaria or deep in PvP. Basically, any time you need to get a large number of enemies to leave you alone for a few seconds, this spell is there for you.

Admittedly, it doesn't have the same flash or zing as some other level 87 spells, but it can very much shine in the right situations.

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

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One of the sharpest double-edged swords in Blizzard's arsenal is the constant iteration to class and play design that comes with each World of Warcraft expansion. On the one hand, players like innovation and new mechanics and spells to keep their favorite class fresh. On the other hand, players could reject the changes as too severe or too different from the class they originally set out to play, as was the case with Alex Ziebart and myself with paladins in Cataclysm. It's a risky move to change up the core mechanics of a class, and the introduction of the "What's New" window helps streamline this occasionally daunting issue.

New and old players alike will benefit greatly from the "What has changed?" tab. Simply open up your spellbook and click on the last tab at the bottom. You'll be greeted with a new screen giving you the run down on some of the biggest changes to your class coming in Mists of Pandaria.

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Totemic Projection, obtainable at level 45, gives you the ability to launch your currently placed totems to any location around you within 40 yards. Fairly straightforward, really easy to use. Those of you who like setting up macros may want to start planning a little about creative uses with your totems and Totemic Projection.

• Capacitor Totem Drop this totem and count to three, then Totemically Project it toward your target. Voilà! Instant stun!
• Earthbind Totem Perhaps best used in PvP, you can setup Earthbind to root and slow down players as they're busy running away from you, allowing you to close the gap and Chain Lightning their faces.

Those are just some of the ideas I had off the top of my head. The other talents add extra functionality to your totems. Call of the Elements lets you finish off any totem cooldowns that are active, allowing you to use them again. The catch is that the cooldown of the totem needs to be shorter than 5 minutes. Sadly, this means you cannot use your Fire Elemental Totem, Earth Elemental Totem, or Stormlash Totem back-to-back. Totem Restoration is a passive ability that lets totems respawn if they keep getting destroyed. I'd say that's useful in PvP, more than anything else.

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

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New loot frames! No more having to stare at your chat frames and scroll up and down to see which player won what item. Loot rolls are now condensed into a loot roll frame that appears in your screen. It lists the results of all the items that went up for grabs in the instance and who won them.

If you look at the screenshot above, you can see the roll numbers next to each player and what roll types were used. The player who won the item is listed at the top. You can expand or collapse the menu to see the list of players who rolled and what roll type they used, such as need or greed.

The only downside to this new feature is that I couldn't find a way to move the frame around. But hey, I'll take these new loot roll frames any day. What about you?

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

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Two interesting new client strings were unearthed early this morning on MMO-Champion related to the elusive item upgrade system that Blizzard has yet to completely flesh out for players. Valor points are changing their focus in Mists of Pandaria, to be used as a way to upgrade existing gear rather than being used to buy all-new pieces. This new system has yet be comprehensively explained, and these new client strings are our first hint at the system's actual implementation.

The basic understanding of the item upgrade system is that justice points will be used to purchase the first pieces of gear from vendors, and valor points will be used to turn that gear into better gear. What this hopefully means is that rather than having two vendors selling the same items with different stats, we can have a justice vendor who sells you items and then upgrades them via some interface dealie with valor points. Hopefully, the number of vendors decreases, because right now it's sort of a pain.

ITEM

• ITEM_UPGRADE - Item Upgrade

ITEM_UPGRADE

• ITEM_UPGRADE_DESCRIPTION - Use your valor points to upgrade a weapon or piece of armor that is level 375 or higher.

Honestly, I've been under the impression that Blizzard itself still had the system in flux, so anything being said about just wasn't set in stone. Now, with new client strings and references to upgrading your raid items, it looks like the system is closer to completion.

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

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Previously we reported that all Annual Passholders had been sent their Mists of Pandaria beta invites. But many players have been complaining that they still hadn't received theirs. Blizzard responded to that today. Those who have purchased the pass after April 18 will get their invites in a future wave. There were also errors when sending the invites to some accounts, and Blizzard is attempting to resolve them.

Annual Pass Invite Beta Update

We want to confirm that, at this time, all World of Warcraft Annual Pass subscribers have been invited to the Mists of Pandaria beta test, with two groups of exceptions. One exception group are those who purchased an Annual Pass on or after April 18, and will receive their invite in a future wave. The second exception is a small list of remaining accounts from previous waves that encountered an error, and will be properly flagged for beta access as soon as we can resolve the issue.

If you haven't yet purchased an Annual Pass, you still have time to guarantee your spot in the beta by signing up for a year agreement (link) before the offer expires on April 30. Those taking advantage of the Annual Pass receive Diablo III for free, access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, and the exclusive Tyrael's Charger flying mount for your World of Warcraft characters.

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So if you haven't received your beta invite yet, you will Soon™. No dates have been released for when the remaining invites will go out. In the meantime, you can read up on all of the MoP beta info here on WoW Insider. (No, it's not the same as being able to play the beta, but I'm just saying ...)

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

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Pet Battles are now available after the most recent patch update to the Mists of Pandaria beta. We've seen a few pet additions lately. Let's dive in, shall we?

The pet pane has been updated. Selecting the different pets shows you aspects like types and different abilities. Many of your pets won't have a full list of abilities yet. Naturally, your pets will start off at level 1, and as you enter engagements, they'll gain levels and gain access to stronger abilities. It's important to use the creature type that will give you an advantage over your opponent.

Read on for more!

The latest Mists of Pandaria beta build has revealed over 100 new achievements, including about 60 (yes, 60!) related to Pet Battles. If you like your points, I hope you like your pets. There's also mention of a platinum level for challenge modes.

Some of the more interesting achievements:

• Realm First! Pandaren Ambassador This is the first guild realm-first achievement that involves reputation (non-guild), I believe.
• Guild Hardware - Platinum This one's new to me. Looks like Blizzard's adding a new tier for challenge modes above the gold tier that was previously announced. It's unknown if the rewards previously mentioned for gold will move to platinum or there are new shinies we haven't seen yet.
• Grand Master Pet Battler / Grand Master Pet Brawler If you were planning on cheesing -- erm, helping your friends with every Pet Battle achievement, might want to think again.
• Master Pet Hunter Collect all the things!
• Raise 75 pets to level 25 Once you've collected all the things, fill all the bars!

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

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The latest beta patch includes quite a few changes, including five new companion pets.

• Fishy The spell says it will summon Bubbles, but the actual pet says Fishy. I hope Bubbles is the name that makes it into live.
• Gilnean Raven Sounds sinister.
• Red Cricket Seems like this would make good Snake food.
• Shore Crab Will this pet differ much from the Strand Crawler?
• Terrible Turnip Do want, just on the name alone. It probably comes from the Tillers faction.

No information is available yet as to how most of these pets are obtained or what they look like. I'm dying to know how the Terrible Turnip looks and behaves in battle. When it is injured, does it bleed? And how will Fishy fight? Perhaps it will be in a fishbowl and blow poisonous bubbles at its foe. I can't wait to find out!

Note: Pet Battles are not in the beta yet, unfortunately.

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

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Blizzard has posted a reminder that the WoW Annual Pass, which grants you a copy of Diablo III, access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, and a Tyrael horse in WoW, is closing up shop on Monday, April 30. You have until Monday, April 30 to sign up for the pass, and the deal will be retired. We have no word yet as of the future of the program or if it will be repeated, but from the numbers, 1.2 million people is a pretty great subscriber grab. I'd expect to see something like this again soon, potentially annually.

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill finally dives into beta and found that she was having more fun flinging fire than draining souls.

I got into the beta a week ago (and with the last Annual Pass wave, a lot of the rest of you should be, too). So I went marching around Jade Forest and found myself continuously crashing to affliction spells triggering a fun little error. I'd heard things about moonkin and fire mages also having troubles, primarily when DoTs or debuffs were being cast. But errors are odd things, and I found I could cast Immolate all day long on my destruction spec.

So I did destro for a day of questing and flinging fire at the training dummy. Here are a few of the first thoughts I had.

If you're having a little trouble with the Mists of Pandaria beta for one reason or another, Blizzard has just announced a hotfix for your issues: the Diablo III open beta weekend is happening from Friday, April 20 to Monday, April 23, closing things up at 10 a.m. PDT. Anyone with an active Battle.net account can sign up, download the client, and make their BattleTag. This open beta weekend looks like a big testing ground for the BattleTags system as well as Diablo III's architecture on a large scale.