Posts with tag tier-13-preview

You know what they say about leaving the best for last? Well, Blizzard waited until the bitter end to give us a preview of what hunter and priest tier 13 will look like. And by "wait until the bitter end to give us a preview," I mean "not give us a preview at all before the patch 4.3 PTR goes live and the art gets datamined at MMO-Champion." Whoops!

In any case, the new tier is here, and it's certainly interesting. Priest tier 13, Dying Light, is loaded with some pretty unusual masks that invoke memories of the creepy-cool tier 6. After looking at it for the last few minutes, I can confirm that I will have terrible nightmares tonight involving that mask. Soulless and terrifying. Which, I guess, means they got the design just right.

Hunters are getting Wyrmstalker, a cool-looking, Frostwyrm-inspired set. Remember that scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Luke crawls into the dead Blue Dragon for warmth? And remember how he stayed in there way too long, until it decayed into naught but bone? And then how he wore the dragon's corpse when he went off to fight Deathwing? Remember that? That's what you get, hunters.

The full preview of hunter and priest tier 13 is available just after the break or over on MMO-Champion.

Paladins, all of your griping about how paladin armor "doesn't look like paladin armor" appears to have made a distinct impression with Blizzard artists, who designed patch 4.3's Battleplate of Radiant Glory just for you. This is the latest in Blizzard's tier 13 set previews and definitely one of the best (no cloth to be seen here). Here's what the artist in charge of the set had to say about its inspirations:

Design requested a set to 'key off the Guardian of Ancient Kings summon,' and I thought the concept of 'feathered' plate mail, rendered in silver and gold, would create an aggressive, yet sweeping and powerful silhouette. The previous paladin raid set had a good deal of cloth, but we wanted this set to be entirely platemail.

The key to a strong paladin tier is hitting a balance between martial prowess and elegant grace -- tapping into that classic Arthurian knight archetype.

Check out the full preview, along with the requisite transmogrification retrospective, over at Blizzard's community site.

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Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!

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