Posts with tag patch-5.2-ptr

Nakatoir has posted today regarding the impending advancement of the Thunder King on the patch 5.2 PTR, laying out the unlock schedule of the unlockable isle.

Nakatoir

World of Warcraft Patch 5.2: The Thunder King is almost here. The Kirin-Tor Offensive, led by Jaina Proudmoore, and the Sunreaver Onslaught, championed by Lor'themar Theron, are converging on the Isle of the Thunder King to topple the first emperor before he can wreak havoc across Pandaria. Their campaign will march slowly across the island, unlocking new content over time.

We're ready to test the full breadth of the island, and that's where you come in: Players who participate on the Public Test Realm can enjoy an accelerated unlock schedule, blasting from the beach to the shores and into the Thunder King's inner citadel in a matter of a few short weeks. By participating, you'll be a great asset to Jaina and Lor'themar. More importantly, you'll help us knock out any nasty problems with the island and its progression before we go live.

Transfer over a character and report to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms for instructions!

source

So, if you want to be among the first to witness the new storylines, the new lore, zones and quests, copy a character or create a pre-made! The full unlock schedule is after the break, so you can understand how the island will progress. Please do note that this is a testing schedule only, not a prediction of a release date.

Spoiler Alert! Minor spoilers after the break.

Fishing has seen a few changes in patch 5.2, including a new fishing event that has been added on the PTR. El from El's Extreme Anglin' has all the details, as well as an NPC in game as a nod to the fishing expert. But those that were dreading the thought of another tournament can breathe a sigh of relief, as there doesn't seem to be any contest involved with the new fishing event -- just a whole lot of fishing.

Dubbed "pool migrations" by El, the new fishing event spawns multiple pools in one of eight different areas across Pandaria. Seven of these locations are marked on the minimap by a red x, shown on the map above. Each spot has a multitude of rapid-spawning pools that contain the same fish as usual, but occasionally you'll encounter one very, very large pool, home to Krakkanon, a giant sea monster that can be engaged and defeated for rare rewards and a multitude of fish.

When we last visited Sunsong Ranch in patch 5.2, it was to news of several improvements of the farming content. This included some changes to the Master Plow, some changes to the way seeds were planted, and to top it all off, the option to purchase your farm and make it your very own. This meant that the farm would turn into a rest point and an area where one could immediately log out of the game -- something that players had been requesting ever since they began helping Yoon and planting their own crops on his farm.

While we knew that the option would eventually be added, it was not available with patch 5.2's first iteration on the PTR. So we had no news on how much it would cost, what kind of reputation you would need to have, or what exactly would happen to Farmer Yoon after you purchased his property. The latest build to hit the PTR has now unlocked the feature, and players can now test out the content to their heart's content.

But uh ... you can't purchase the farm.

The patch notes keep on updating. Rygarius just tweeted an update, and while there's not a ton of changes, some of them are pretty interesting.

Dark Animus is the ninth boss in the Throne of Thunder, followed by Iron Qon, Twin Consorts, and Lei Shen. It's preceded by some fairly stern trash, and on entering the room players are greeted by the image seen above. It's all a tad confusing to the uninitiated, but what you're essentially fighting against is that red, gloopy substance. The story goes as follows:

This fight is definitely one of the most interesting ones I've attended on the PTR. Again, I was privileged to join Lore from TankSpot and his guild Months Behind for testing on my restoration shaman.

The fight begins with the spherical blob you see in the center of the room. It will not aggro onto nearby players until struck, but when aggroed, it will explode, activating a number of the smallest robots visible above by powering them with Anima.

For a brief moment in time, it looked as though the Krasarang Wilds in patch 5.1 were going to be a return, albeit a slightly tweaked one, to the days of Halaa in Burning Crusade. This ended up very much not being the case, but the area still acted somewhat like a fond reminder of the days of open-world PvP. However, patch 5.2 seems to be bringing back yet more of that Burning Crusade nostalgia with the Isle of Thunder -- an island that contains elements that will be unlocked over time.

Sounds suspiciously like the Isle of Quel'Danas, doesn't it? Well, there are a few notable changes to the dynamic. Because the Horde and Alliance are working separately this time, instead of united under the banner of the Shattered Sun Offensive, each faction gets their own progress bar towards unlocking goals. You can see a glimpse of the progress bar above. As players complete daily quests and objectives, the bar will fill up. Once it's full, another section of the Isle will unlock for players to explore.

Blizzard recently released an Under Development guide to patch 5.2 that clarifies this concept a little further.

Archaeology has always been one of those professions that you either love or hate, with little room in between. While the profession as a whole was fairly klonky in Cataclysm, improvements introduced in Mists of Pandaria helped to streamline the process a little for players. The biggest improvement by far was the ability to turn in crated relics from Pandaria in exchange for fragments from any dig site type on Azeroth -- which meant that players no longer had to dig endlessly on Kalimdor, hoping for a Tol'vir dig site to pop up.

However, the new treatment of the Archaeology profession apparently doesn't stop there. Patch 5.2 noted that a new section of Archaeology would be added for the mantid, giving players with a penchant for procuring priceless pieces something new to dig for. But as far as we knew, this meant a return to the days of endlessly digging a continent, hoping for one particular variety of dig site to pop up -- which really wasn't an ideal situation at all.

It looks like the Lorewalkers have thought ahead with a solution for this already. Wowhead dug up a new item in the 5.2 files called the Mantid Artifact Sonic Locator. This item will let you convert any Pandaria dig site into a mantid site, allowing those that have completed the other sections of Pandaria archaeology to simply get straight to the mantid stuff.

The item requires exalted reputation with the Lorewalkers, and stacks to 20, which leads one to believe it disappears upon use. While we don't know the cost of the item, it's likely you're either going to have to pay gold, or more crated artifacts from Pandaria to purchase. Regardless, it's nice to see that the devs are still thinking about both Archaeology and the Lorewalkers as the expansion moves on.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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Several new pets have already been datamined from the 5.2 PTR, but Wowhead has dug up another trio to add to the pile. The Zandalari Anklerender, Zandalari Footslasher, and Zandalari Toenibbler have all been added to the latest list of items to hit the PTR. Although no models appear to be available for the critters just yet, the names suggest that they'll bear a resemblance to the Zandalari Kneebiter datamined just after the PTR files were discovered.

Despite not really knowing where the little guys are going to come from, how much they're going to cost, or how exactly they'll hold up in Pet Battles, I want them. I want them all. How can you not love the idea of having a legion of tiny little anklebiters at your beck and call? Honestly, the only thing I'm wondering is how they manage to keep their head held high when they're essentially wearing an eensy little brick as a helmet.

For more fun toys, pets, and other datamined items, check out the latest news post over on Wowhead.

Edit: The intrepid users over at Wowhead have not only dug up screenshots of the little guys, but more information on where to get them! You can find all four pets on the Isle of Giants, as a random drop from mobs.

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