The new World of Warcraft expansion has officially been announced today at Gamescon. Titled World of Warcraft: Legion, players head to The Broken Isles after Gul’dan brings back Illidan and delves into the Tomb of Sargeras. With the level cap raised to 110, players can expect several changes to World of Warcraft including a new class and a new honor system. Continue reading
I figure I know a good thing or three about paladins, having spent the last seven years playing one, so I’m taking the time to write down my thoughts on the new talent tree. Exact numbers haven’t been released yet, but the general gist of the abilities has been out for a while now and beta testers have been screwing around with most of the abilities. I’m still not sure how much I like the new system, but if it really does make balancing easier than I’ll be all for it. Anything to make the days of “Fuck class X and their OP shit, I quit” over and done with.
Tier 1
The first tier opens at level 15 and is a choice between three different speed buffs. Speed of Light is the fastest, a 70% increase for eight seconds on a one minute cool down. Long Arm of the Law is next with a 45% increase for 3 seconds upon a successful Judgement strike. The last is Pursuit of Justice and is similar to the current talent in the Retribution tree, giving a solid 10% movement speed buff at all times and an extra 10% per charge of Holy Power.
Speed of Light looks like it will have the most benefit in PvE situations for Retribution and Holy Paladins. This will get them from point A to point B, maximizing their DPS when changing targets or allowing them to get to dying comrades faster. I can see Protection Paladins also finding this talent selection useful for the same reasons, but the flat 10% movement speed buff at all times will always be the best bet for tanks for positioning during boss fights. Long Arm of the Law will be the choice for Ret and Prot in PvE, allowing incremental speed buffs instead of relying on the one minute cool down to catch up to kiting classes. Holy Paladins should take a closer look at Continue reading
The Krasarang Wilds is one of the two new zones added between the Mists press event and Blizzcon 2011. Originally part of the Valley of the Four Winds, it has been vastly expanded so that it is now an entire zone of its own. As can be seen in the video, it is a large jungle, but dark and mysterious as opposed to the bright jungles like Sholazar Basin and Stranglethorn that we’re used to.
A level 86-88 questing zone, the Wilds will also contain one of the new raids (The Terrace of the Endless Spring) and will be the staging ground for future patches. Supposedly over the course of this expansion, the zone will change to reflect the fighting between the Horde and Alliance. At the moment, Blizzard describes it thus:
The Krasarang Wilds along Pandaria’s southern coast conceal many ancient secrets of a lost dynasty that have drawn the attention of prophecy-seekers among the Alliance and Horde. The Wilds are also home to the vicious, domineering Mogu, and a more insidious danger still: the Sha of Despair is believed to have escaped from its bindings in the Temple of the Red Crane, and stifling gloom has begun to blanket the land in its path
Krasarang Wilds in-game map
Oh, yeah, I said it – Warlock tanking. I was let into the Mists of Pandaria Beta this last Saturday and picked my warlock as the first class I wanted to explore. Picking the Demonology tree first as I wanted to see the new demons in action, I discovered the tanking glyph. It’s not even a talent that lets you tank, but a glyph.
Alright, I thought, let’s try this out and see how it works. Filling out my talents, gems, enchants and glyphs with everything else that would assist me the best when tanking, I ran around the Jade Forest and killed stuff, hoping I’d run into an elite mob and could test how well I really was doing as a tank. I found shit. Apparently there are few elite mobs in the first part of the starting zone.
Really needing an accurate test, I hopped into an instance and talked the tank and healer into letting me be be the tank. For whatever reason they agreed and we took on Jade Serpent Temple together. Even though I wasn’t entirely sure what the hell I was doing, I was a successful tank. Not the best tank, since I couldn’t get my hands on how best to fill my fury bar and work AoE tanking down until the end, but I did my job and the only people who died stood in shit they shouldn’t have. Fire’s bad, mmkay? (and so is water now)
Coming out of the instance I was psyched! I ran around kicking random mob ass and telling everyone I could how great warlock tanking was. There was only one thing left to do: tell all of you about it too. Continue reading
The second zone in my Zone Wrap Up is the Valley of the Four Winds. It is located on the southern edge of the new Pandaren continent and seems to be just a questing zone. The Tillers farm will be located here along with at least one Brewmaster scenario and the new Stormstout Brewery dungeon. Unfortunately, the only screen captures so far are from the video above, so I’ll leave you with just the video.
Blizzard has described it as:
A tranquil plain of lush farmland, bordered by dense mysterious jungles along the south and impassible mountains to the north. The valley is considered the “breadbasket” of Pandaria, but the year’s harvest is in jeopardy and a terrible malaise has overcome the Pandaren that live along the coast. The valley is also the home of the legendary Stormstout Brewery, where Chen Stormstout and his niece Li Li hope to journey to discover the whereabouts of their long-lost ancestors.
Unlike the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, this Valley looks exactly like I wanted the entire zone to look. Green, flowers, animals, growing things; I am more than pleased. This zone appears to be a cross between the Wetlands with water, cliffs and trees and Nagrand with its bright colors, multitude of animals, and plenty of growing things. I am loving it. Continue reading
Screen shot from the Vale of Eternal Blossoms
To help keep things simple, I’m going to try to dilute the information coming out of the Beta and Press Release for the new content by tackling each zone on its own, including the instances and raids that are (as of the time of writing) going to be there.
Vale of Eternal Blossoms World Map
To start off, we’re going to learn about the Vale of Eternal Blossoms because the Alliance and Horde hubs will be located here. It is located in the central part of Pandaria along with the Mogu’Shan Vaults raid, two dungeons, Mogu’Shan Palace and the Gate of the Setting Sun, and the Temple of Power battleground. It is a level 90 zone that Blizzard describes as:
The ancient seat of the pandaren empire has been hidden for generations, shrouded in mists and walled-off by impassible mountains. The waters of the Vale are believed to have mystical powers… which has attracted the attention of ancient enemies as well as power-hungry factions within the Alliance and Horde. What secrets lie buried below this mystical font of power?
I’m really hoping this legendary Valley isn’t going to be as brown as the Barrens like the map makes it look. Not to mention the screen shots. I demand color, Blizzard! Pink, purple, blue! Where are the FLOWERS?! Ahem, moving on… Continue reading
Spec into Misdirect 