Raid Rx: Top healing moments of 2011

Posted on December 31, 2011 by WoW Insider

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

This was a fun year for me as a healer. Granted, I had to learn how to heal again, but I do enjoy this expansion's model of healing (although a part of me does miss The Burning Crusade a little when all I had to do was pound Circle of Healing repeatedly). There were many memorable moments that I experienced during raids, and there are others that affected many more of us.

Announcing the monk Undoubtedly the best news for healers this year is this. BlizzCon 2011 unveiled a ton of news and announcements. The biggest one for healers was that there would be a new healing class for players. You guessed it, I guessed it, and I'm pretty sure half the world guessed and hoped for a monk class. These leather-wearing bears are set to help heal in the upcoming challenges that Mists of Pandaria will be throwing our way. While we don't have a complete look on the full range of abilities that monks can do, we do know that they rely heavily on mobility to get their spells out.

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Filed under: Raid Rx (Raid Healing)

Raid Rx: Top healing moments of 2011 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Would the Raid Finder difficulty approach work for 5-man instances?

Posted on December 17, 2011 by WoW Insider

With 4.3's introduction of the Raid Finder feature, more players than ever before have the chance to see and participate in the deaths of some of Azeroth's most destructive villains. The design concept is simple: Take a raid that's fairly difficult on normal mode and ridiculously hard on heroic, and simplify it to the point that 25 random people who've never met before can emerge victorious with a little effort. Casual players who don't have the time to raid on a weekly schedule get to see endgame content, and heroic raiders can still flex their egos with higher ilevel loot and the knowledge that they were able to take on some of the toughest encounters in modern gaming and win.

Assuming this works and everyone remains happy with the Raid Finder system, is there a future for the Raid Finder model in the Dungeon Finder system? We know now that Blizzard has entirely revamped the 5-man system in Mists of Pandaria, offering new PvE encounter zones, timed instance runs, and no normal versions of level 85 heroic dungeons.

But what if Blizzard decided to follow the Raid Finder system instead and redesigned 5-mans with three tiers of difficulty? The first tier, the Dungeon Finder mode, would be designed to be easy enough that five puggers with no voice chat could queue for it and win. Normal mode would require five dedicated players working in coordination with one another but would still ultimately be easily conquerable without significant effort. Heroic modes would require hours of wiping, retuning of strats, and a dedicated group of players.

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Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

Breakfast Topic: Would the Raid Finder difficulty approach work for 5-man instances? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Arcane Brilliance: Blinking into the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator, the epic conclusion

Posted on December 10, 2011 by WoW Insider

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we finish our conversation about things that may or may not ever happen, and even if they do, they won't for a very long time. Man, I love wild speculation.

This week, because they hate me, and because I actually had something written in advance for once, Blizzard went and stealth-updated the MoP talent calculator with no warning whatsoever. I submit that from here on out, Blizzard needs to give me at least a week's notice before it makes significant changes to the game or any of its future versions. I think it's only fair, since mages are getting the ability to Alter Time, that we get just a little bit of a jump on the future. I have deadlines to meet, people! Work with me here.

The good news is that the majority of the changes appear to have been made to the part of the talent calculator we haven't discussed yet: the actual talents. If you missed them, here are the first two parts of this discussion:

And now, if you click the link below, you'll magically teleport to part three. No, I won't port you to Org. Stop asking.

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Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance, Mists of Pandaria

Arcane Brilliance: Blinking into the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator, the epic conclusion originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ghostcrawler on the philosophy behind the Mists of Pandaria talent trees

Posted on December 8, 2011 by WoW Insider

Greg Street, aka Ghostcrawler (the lead systems designer), has posted some comments today dealing with the philosophy behind the talent system changes in Mists of Pandaria. He makes note that Blizzard's been getting a lot of feedback on these changes and that it wants more. (And he's serious, too -- the devs all do listen to what the community is saying.)

Some of the more interesting points include that the new system really is giving us fewer choices overall but making sure that the choices we have actually matter. This has been a fundamental shift that Blizzard has been moving toward for the past few years, away from the cookie-cutter builds and non-choice choices. Greg even goes as far to say, "Look, we tried the talent tree model for seven years. We think it's fundamentally flawed and unfixable."

That's a pretty huge thing for Blizzard to admit; kudos to Blizzard for realizing this and talking openly about it.

The full post after the break.

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Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

Ghostcrawler on the philosophy behind the Mists of Pandaria talent trees originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mists of Pandaria talent calculator gets an update

Posted on December 7, 2011 by WoW Insider

Have you spent the last few weeks staring lovingly at the Mists of Pandaria calculator, fantasizing over dozens of different builds for that monk? (C'mon, we're all playing a monk. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it.)

On the off chance that the list of talents was starting to feel stale, Blizzard has released a brand new build of the calculator. This includes some bug fixes and other changes, many as a result of player feedback.

Because this is a preview and MoP is still a long, long time away, keep in mind that this version of the talent calculator is a preview. This is not written in stone. It's not only likely to change, it is absolutely guaranteed to change. Change is inevitable, especially in this calculator. Because it's not done. You see where I'm going with this, right? This calculator is going to change again.

Check out behind the cut see what Zarhym said, direct from his skull-like lips.

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Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

Mists of Pandaria talent calculator gets an update originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Talents in Mists of Pandaria

Posted on December 3, 2011 by WoW Insider

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host.

Last week, we talked about the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator and the class and spec abilities it reveals. This week, we'll be discussing the new talents and their general design philosophy.

One of the design changes for Mists that I've found compelling is the removal of "idiot talents." These are the talents that you simply have to take. A protection warrior without Bastion of Defense isn't really a prot warrior; at the very least, he or she is a bad prot warrior. Now, while I applaud the intent of the talent changes, that doesn't mean I love each and every one of them. However, since it's still patch 4.3 and we won't see these talents in game until patch 5.0 at the earliest, it's hardly time to panic (or applaud, for that matter).

These talents are divided into six tiers, one at each 15 levels from 15 to 90. Three talents are available at each tier, meaning that you can take any one of each three per tier for a grand total of six talents at level 90. Unlike current talent specializations, none of these talents are restricted to a role; an arms or fury warrior can take Shockwave, for instance, or a protection warrior could take Bladestorm.

Oh, come on. Tell me you've never wanted to pop Bladestorm while tanking.

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Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, (Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, Mists of Pandaria

The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Talents in Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Know Your Lore: The war begins

Posted on November 30, 2011 by WoW Insider

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Know Your Lore covers the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

It's going to get worse before it gets better.

In his Dev Watercooler about faction favoritism, Blizzard's Dave Kosak made this point, and it's a good one to make. In a World of Warcraft, the lore works to drive us forward, cresting on the waves of what's coming next. In patch 4.3, we're finally going to get to see the events of the War of the Ancients, fight alongside dragon aspects and the great heroes of the past and secure Azeroth's future. But in so doing, we find ourselves forced to deal with the aftermath of Deathwing's actions. The Azeroth we inherit is one that bears the legacy of the Wrathgate, where Horde and Alliance forever surrendered tentative attempts at peace and cooperation. The Azeroth we save is battered by years of conflict against terrible adversaries, and in this diminished, broken world, the Horde eyes the Alliance like a wolf views a sick elk.

This is where the war starts. The Fourth War, it may be called. The War for Azeroth, the battle between mortals, for mortal concerns. At last, at long last, the battle postponed by the Third War can finally happen.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Know your Lore, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria

Know Your Lore: The war begins originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The return of raid stacking?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by WoW Insider

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.

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Filed under: Raiding, Ready Check (Raiding), Mists of Pandaria

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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Lichborne: Mists of Pandaria skills for death knights

Posted on November 28, 2011 by WoW Insider

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done.

Hot on the heels of our analysis of the Pandaria talents, Blizzard has now released an entire talent calculator for the expansion that lists not only the talents, but the new passives and class skills everyone will be getting as well. Today, we will take a look at the new stuff that death knights get, the good, the bad, and what it says about the direction of our class as we head for patch 5.0. Since we've already discussed the talents, we'll focus mostly on the class and spec-specific skills.

The first thing I figured I should do is point out the new stuff. Alas, we have yet to see a new level 87 skill. However, we did receive a new level 81 skill (likely as a replacement for Outbreak) in the form of Control Undead. Much like a Warlock's Enslave Demon, this allows the death knight to make an undead mob his pet for up to 5 minutes.

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Filed under: Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne, Mists of Pandaria

Lichborne: Mists of Pandaria skills for death knights originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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