Posts with tag patch-3.3.3-ptr

So one of the new changes coming in Patch 3.3.3 is that one will be able queue up using the dungeon finder in order to fight world event bosses such as the Crown Chemical Trio or the Headless Horseman. However, the actual extent of the changes is a bit more involved, as Zarhym clarified in a recent forums post. Here's the rundown:

Matt's covered the basic profession changes in patch 3.3.3, but I wanted to spend some more time with those changes. At face value, they may not seem like a very big deal. However, the ramifications of the changes run a little deeper than many people would necessarily realize. The changes affect a lot about the way we habitually perform our trades, and will definitely affect how we sell items in trade chat and on the auction house.

The most startling change for professions in patch 3.3.3 is probably the new NPC. Frozo the Reknowned takes your Frozen Orbs and turns them into more useful materials. (There was a time I thought I'd never get enough Orbs, but I guess times change.)

Let's take a look behind the jump and do a little more trade-based analysis of these patch 3.3.3 changes, and what it means to the future of professions in Wrath of the Lich King. While it seems that the changes will make a great deal more convenient in the new patch, it does seem like the auction house prices for items are likely to go down.

If you read the patch notes for the latest public test realm build, you might have noticed there is an odd change being applied to priests of the bubbling nature.

Renewed Hope: now has a 60-second duration, up from 20 seconds, but a 20-second cooldown.

Seems a bit strange, doesn't it? Is it a buff, a nerf? What would be the point of adding a cooldown to an ability that has a duration exceeding the cooldown? Well, after kicking the Blizzard downloader all night and day, I've finally tested it for myself and as it currently functions on PTR it appears to have no negative impact on discipline priests. That said, I do not believe it is currently working entirely as Blizzard intends it to. For more information on what I observed, hit the jump.

There are a number of profession changes being introduced in patch 3.3.3. Most of these changes revolve around the speeding up process of crafting. For example, the cooldown and location requirements for Tailoring items like Moonshroud, Spellweave and Ebonweave? Gone!

Some craftable items have had their costs reduced.

More changes after the break!

Patch 3.3.3 hit the PTR last night, and if you weren't following WoW.com throughout the night, it's very likely you've missed a lot of patch news that has scrolled off of our front page already. For your convenience, below is a roundup of all of our Patch 3.3.3 coverage from the last day or so. Enjoy!

• Patch 3.3.3 PTR patch notes
• Cull Stratholme faster than ever before
• Early Cataclysm models/doodads
• Other new models and mounts
• Major changes to the auction house and game economy
• Patch 3.3.3's raid buff changes
• The patch's new achievements
• User Interface updates
• Trade Frozo the Renowned your Frozen Orbs for crafting items
• Death knight class changes
• Shaman class changes
• Warrior class changes

As the patch progresses, there will be plenty more where that came from. We'll be sure to keep you updated and if you've seen something that we haven't, don't be a stranger! Let us know via our tip line.

So just when it looked like things might be getting quiet in the wake of Patch 3.3, Blizzard stirred things up again last night with a release of PTR Patch 3.3.3. There's some pretty big changes coming our way. In addition to various class changes, we've got some other cool stuff too, including an abolishment of battleground marks, a way to get rid of all those annoying Frozen Orbs clogging our banks, new auction house functionality, and a lot more.

There's only two, but they're reasonably important.

• Revenge: Damage done by this ability (base and scaling) increased by 50%.
  
• Rampage: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc from critical strikes.

We talked about Revenge this week, and while this change is fairly unexciting, it's still a sizable buff. 50% more base and scaling damage to the ability will definitely make it attractive to use again. I may even change my spec back to take Improved Revenge again. Then again, since I used to spend 2 talent points to get 20% more damage on Revenge and now I'll get 50% without spending them it may still be better to put those points somewhere else. The stun isn't terribly useful for boss tanking in most cases, although when it does work it's nice.

The Rampage change, on the other hand, is what the ability always should have been. While a talented Leader of the Pack will still be better with its healing benefit, Rampage is now exactly as good as the baseline ability. I never understood making Rampage, an ability you have to spend quite a few talent points to get, inferior to one 10 points cheaper. Sure, it's nothing that's going to make or break the spec and it really should have been what we always had, but at least it's finally here.

The Twilight's Hammer has already been confirmed to be working with Deathwing in Cataclysm, and since they're an elemental doomsday cult dedicated to bringing about the return of the Old Gods, busting Deathwing out of prison is right up their alley. We should probably expect to see these models in game relatively soon, and probably as part of a plot by the Twilight's Hammer to summon Deathwing back into the world -- a plot which will, of course, eventually succeed.

Stayed tuned for more coverage of Patch 3.3.3 and the Cataclysm opening event as it develops!

Frozen Orbs have been sort of a weird little problem since Patch 3.3 came out. Since they automatically drop off every heroic end boss, the dungeon finder has pretty much guaranteed that there's thousands of them created every single day. However, the Emblems of Triumph that come out of those same dungeons pretty much make most of the profession gear made with Frozen Orbs obsolete.

As a result, many of us have at least a couple stacks rotting in our banks or backpacks, and I know I personally have started outright passing on them, having nothing better to do with them. Now I sort of wish I hadn't, if only because they're finally useful as currency in Patch 3.3.3.

Patch 3.3.3 will bring some interesting changes to shamans.

• Flame Shock: The damage-over-time component of this ability can now produce critical strikes and is affected by spell haste.
• Talents:
  • Elemental Oath: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.
  • Unleashed Rage: This ability is now always on as a passive aura.

Turning the talents Elemental Oath and Unleashed Rage into passive auras is a bonus for leveling, soloing, and PvP. Instead of waiting a few GCDs or strikes for that first crit, the aura is up for you (and your team in PvP) immediately. In a raid environment these talents tend to be up continuously so the change for raiders is less significant.

The Patch 3.3.3 PTR notes are out, and with them a nice handful of death knight changes. Oddly enough, most of them are buffs. The focus this time seems to be mostly on slightly buff death knight tanking, giving frost DPS some arguably much needed buffs, and applying some general changes to specific talents in the death knight class. While we'll need to see some PTR testing to be sure, it looks like frost DPS may be out of the pit and sitting pretty indeed. Without further ado, let's take a look at the changes.

Several raid buffs have had their ranges increased to 100 yards, up from 45 yards, to prevent select buffs from repeatedly getting applied and removed during highly mobile encounters. Some buffs, such as paladin auras, totems, shouts and Blood Pact are intentionally meant to have shorter ranges and remain unchanged.

Patch 3.3.3 is going to the PTR soon, and there's a bunch of stuff that will affect those of us who play the auction house. I'm going to list them in the order I see them, and then we'll go into some analysis:

Professions

Runed Orbs: Recipes which require this item have had their material requirements significantly reduced.
Frozo the Renowned has moved into the Dalaran Magus Commerce Exchange and will be trading your Frozen Orbs for various other trade goods.

Update: Omega points out in the comments that Zarhym posted a list on the forums of what we'll be able to buy :

Crusader Orb (6)
Runed Orb (4)
Eternal Fire
Eternal Earth
Eternal Water
Eternal Air
Eternal Life
Eternal Shadow
Frost Lotus
Pattern: Frosty Flying Carpet [Tailors Only] (6)

Inscription

• Most recipes that required 2 inks now only require 1.

The dungeon finder has really changed what players get excited about the most in the World of Warcraft. It's a strange world when one of the most anticipated updates to the game is the ability to tell Arthas to shut his yap. No, we don't mean kill him in Icecrown, we really do mean telling him to shut the hell up. Just in case you missed it in the patch notes we posted a little while ago, there's this waiting for us in patch 3.3.3:

• Culling of Stratholme: Players may now skip the initial introduction dialog to this dungeon once they have completed it at least once.

The pre-Culling of Stratholme dialogue is really cool to experience the first few times, but after that it just starts to feel like a waste of time. The dungeon finder made it even worse, because as awesome as it is, it eliminated some of the social stigma of ditching a group early. Oculus and Culling of Stratholme are the two instances I can always expect some dip to drop from. Hopefully this change and the deserter debuff becoming 30 minutes will discourage that sort of behavior.

Hot on the heels of the Patch 3.3.3 PTR patch notes, Blizzard has activated character copies for this phase of testing. While the realms aren't up quite yet, and neither is the client, you can definitely copy your live characters over to Broxigar (PVE) or Anasterian (PVP) for impending testing.

A few things to bear in mind: if you're excited to try out the new Ruby Sanctum raid, that content isn't going to be in this particular patch. There might be indications of it, maybe some quests or data, but no instance itself just yet. But, since there's no raid content, this means you can also copy over premade level 80 characters -- the perfect way to test out all those new PVP changes.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go make your evil twin!