Quintessential - WowStead

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Welcome

Welcome to The Quintessential guild website.

Founded on 05/05/05, Quintessential is one of the longest lasting and most stable guilds on the Dragonblight server. Yes, we like the number 5.

Our primary focus is to promote effective group dynamics and enhance complimentary group skills. This includes strategy, ingenuity, camaraderie, respect, and fun. We believe that while decent groups of less than five players can be effective, groups of five players can be quintessential.

More information about us linked here, and also in our Quintessential Guide Book.

On November 11, 2009, all current World of Warcraft players will be required to merge their World of Warcraft accounts with a Battle.net account in order to log in to the game.

Merging your account is easy and safe. Follow the link below that is appropriate for you, it should only take a few minutes. If you have any questions please contact any Officer.

Americas & Oceanic http://us.battle.net/ // Europe http://eu.battle.net/ // Korea http://kr.battle.net/

Armored Frostwyrm

Posted by SagenNovember 6, 2009 at 12:24 pm

Quote from MMO-Champion Armored Frostwyrm Mount Models
A new Armored Frostwyrm Mount model has been added to the game ...

Blizzard Pet Store

Posted by SagenNovember 5, 2009 at 11:17 am

Sagen's Mini Editorial: I'm going to withhold my opinion on this... *cough*money grubbing Activi$ion Blizzard*cough* ...OK the 50% donation to the Make A Wish Foundation is admirable but it still...why not 90%? You already make *counts on toes and fingers* over 195 million USD per month in revenue, just from WoW.

Quote from Blizzard staff Today we’re pleased to introduce the Pet Store for World of Warcraft, a new way for players to obtain in-game pets to join them on their adventures in Azeroth. Two brand-new companions are now available for purchase exclusively at the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store: Lil’ K.T. and the Pandaren Monk.

Make a Difference: Pandaren Monk Charity Pet
Enter the Pandaren Monk, ( http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000763 ) a martial-arts expert who’s here to help celebrate the upcoming fifth anniversary of World of Warcraft. He may be cute, but he’s proof that even the softest of critters can overcome the hardest of circumstances. For every Pandaren Monk that finds its way to a player’s side between now and the end of the year (December 31, 2009 at 11:59 PDT), we’ll donate 50 percent of the $10 purchasing price to the Make-a-Wish Foundation in an effort to brew up a little hope, strength, and joy in a child’s life.

Lil’ K.T., the Littlest Lich
Lil’ K.T. is a miniature lich who bears a striking resemblance to the legendary lord of Naxxramas, Kel’Thuzad. But don’t let his diminutive stature fool you: Lil’ K.T. has a diabolical laugh and wields true power at his bony fingertips, randomly wreaking icy havoc on critters who dare to cross his path. You can now buy this new pet for $10 on the Blizzard Store. (http://us.blizzard.com/store/ )

In order to receive a purchased pet, you’ll need to merge your World of Warcraft account with a Battle.net account. For more information on Battle.net, please visit the FAQ. ( https://us.battle.net/faq/index.html ) For more information on the new Pet Store, visit the Pet Store FAQ. ( http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=29845 )

Quote from MMO-Champion A few more details ...

You will get a code after purchasing your pet, you can either use it for your own account or give it to a friend.
If your Battle.net account is linked to multiple accounts you can only give it to ONE of your account.
At this time you can already redeem them for both EU and US Battle.net accounts
Pets are account bound

However, 50% to the Make-a-Wish Foundation sounds good enough to buy the Pandaren Monk.

Quote from Blizzard staff Why are you introducing this service?
The Pet Store provides a new way for players to obtain unique companion pets outside of the game, which is something that has been requested by many players who enjoy World of Warcraft's non-combat companions.

Will more companions be available for purchase in the future?
We plan to add more pets to the Pet Store in the near future. Keep an eye on the official World of Warcraft website and the online Blizzard Store for details.

Where can I go to purchase these pets?
You can purchase these in-game companions by visiting this link or heading to the online Blizzard Store, where you'll find the Pet Store pets under the Collectibles tab.

Will I be able to acquire these Pet Store pets by questing, through holidays, on in-game vendors, or by any other in-game methods?
No. Pets purchasable through the Pet Store will not be obtainable through quests or other in-game means -- they're only available through the online Blizzard Store.

How do I redeem a Pet Store pet once it's been purchased from the Blizzard Store?
After you purchase the pet, you'll receive a code that can then be redeemed on any World of Warcraft account via Battle.net Account Management. You don't need to redeem the code on the same Battle.net account that made the initial purchase – feel free to send the code to a friend as a gift.

Will these pets count toward pet-related achievements?
These Pet Store pets will count toward the total number of pets a character has for achievements like Plethora of Pets or Lil' Game Hunter.

Will these pets help me in combat?
No, these pets are strictly cosmetic. They have some fun animations and sound effects, but they will not help you in PvP or PvE.

What characters will receive the Pet Store pet that I purchase?
Once you redeem your code on an individual World of Warcraft account, every character on the account will receive the pet in their in-game mailbox (including any characters you create in the future). If you wish to purchase the pet for multiple different World of Warcraft accounts merged with the same Battle.net account, you will need to buy a separate pet for each World of Warcraft account individually.

**Please Note** If a character transfers off of the account where the pet is bound the pet will be lost.**

How long will these Pet Store pets be available?
We do not currently have any plans to remove these pets from the Pet Store. The Blizzard Store purchasing page will provide information on any changes to availability.

In what regions are these pets available?
The Pet Store pets are available only to players on realms located in North America, Europe, and Korea. A Battle.net account is required in order to redeem the pet.

Charity Pet
What charity will I be supporting when I purchase the Pandaren Monk pet?
Donations from every sale of the Pandaren Monk pet through December 31, 2009, will be given to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. To find out more about this charity, please visit www.wish.org.

How much of every Pandaren Monk pet sale will go to charity?
For each Pandaren Monk sale, we'll donate 50% of the $10 purchase price to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For more information on this charity, visit www.wish.org.

How long will you be making this donation?
We will continue to make a donation for each Pandaren Monk pet purchased until December 31, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Will the pet still be available for purchase after the donation period is over?
Yes, you will still be able to purchase the pet after December 31, and we do not currently have any plans to remove this pet from the Pet Store. The Blizzard Store purchasing page will provide information on any changes to availability.

Does this mean you'll be introducing more services like this in the future? Will you be introducing the ability to buy epic weapons/etc. in the future, for example?
As with the pets, mounts, and other items players can obtain through Loot cards from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, Pet Store pets are purely cosmetic and just for fun. Like other paid services we offer, such as Paid Name Changes, Race Changes, and Character Re-Customizations, the Pet Store service is entirely optional and intended to provide players another means to enjoy World of Warcraft in a way that isn't detrimental to the game and that doesn't detract from the gameplay experience for players who choose not to use the service.

Patch 3.3 - PTR Build 10747

Posted by SagenNovember 4, 2009 at 12:15 pm

Love rocket anyone? No? Ok... How about a winged horse?

Quote from MMO-Champion A new build has been deployed on PTRs, it looks like there are a ocuple of interesting changes here (but no Tier 10 set for Shamans ^^). Stay tuned!

Icecrown Soundfiles Transcript
In the following post you will find the transcript of all the sound files added to the game with this patch, some of them will reveal a few parts of the storyline and you shouldn't click it if you do not want to see spoilers.

Companion Pets Models
Perky Pug is the pet reward for running random dungeons through the new Dungeon System.

Perky Pug Video on Youtube

Boss Models
One more boss model in this build. This is an updated model for Lord Marrowgar.

Mount Models
We can assume that they are the models of the mounts introduced with this build ...

Invincible - Summons and dismisses the flying undead horse Invincible. This mount changes depending on your Riding skill and location.
Big Love Rocket - Summons and dismisses a rideable Big Love Rocket. This mount changes depending on your Riding skill and location.

The Love Rocket will most likely be a rare drop from the Valentine's Day event and Invincible was Arthas' Mount before and after he became a Death Knight. The grave of his horse was in Balnir Farmstead in Tirisfal Glades. Last year during the Zombie Invasion world event, the grave was dug up randomly. (Thanks to War from Haomarush-US for the tip, you can also check the article on WoWWiki )

Tier 10 Model Updates

Posted by SagenNovember 3, 2009 at 11:31 am

I'm back. Luckily there wasn't much in the way of news while I was busy being Undead with what was probably piggy flu. I hope none of you have to experience it. What I have for you today is the latest on the Tier 10 Models as dug up by MMO-Champion.

Quote from MMO-Champion

Death Knight - I'm still trying to fix a bug with the set appearance on some races, you'll have to wait a little to get a multi-race preview with helms. You can also check the Tier 10 Death Knight - Updated Video
Paladin - Your helm is most likely bugged, and we don't know yet if your set is a robe or not. Once again we'll have to wait before I do multi-race or even female screenshots.
Shaman - The only thing I can give you for the moment is a great big hug while you cry on my shoulder.

Male

Female

LFG/LFR, Group Loot Updates

Posted by SagenOctober 29, 2009 at 12:18 pm

With these huge changes coming in the next patch we also end up with huge news posts on our webpage; there's just so much to talk about! Here's more on the new LFG/LFR system and the new Disenchant option for Group Loot. I've also posted the Dungeon System Q&A from Blizzard. Anti-PUG persons BEWARE, your belief system is about to get turned upside down!

New Dungeon System

Quote from Blizzard staff

In the upcoming content patch there are many new additions and improvements. Perhaps one of the largest changes is the introduction of the new dungeon system. This new system will be available for all dungeons. A “Dungeons” button will replace the Looking For Group feature currently available in-game, and provides additional benefits to those who use it.

System Highlights:

Join as a Group or Solo
Cross-Realm Instances/Grouping
Instance Teleporting
Smarter Group Matching
Daily Random Dungeons
Repeat Random Dungeons
Choose Multiple Dungeons
Vote Kick system
Lovin’ the PUG Bonuses
Looking For Raid
Need Before Greed Updated
Group Disenchanting

Join as a Group or Solo
Much like the current Looking For Group system, players will be able to join the dungeon system and choose the role they would like to fill within groups: Healing, DPS, or Tank. In addition, once roles have been identified, they will be applied to all dungeons chosen. Players will now be able to choose multiple dungeons and will no longer be limited to three. The system has also improved group creation and matchmaking capabilities and will create more balanced groups when assessing the selected roles of players.

The LFG channel has been disconnected from the dungeon tool and can be used by anyone in a major city, much like the trade channel currently available.

Cross Realm Instances
When joining the dungeon system as a solo player or with a partial group, additional random players can be found within the same Battlegroup via cross-realm instancing.

While the new system offers the ability to group with player from other realms within your Battlegroup, you won’t be able to use this to manually invite specific players to groups.

Instance Teleporting
When you use the dungeon tool to find a dungeon, you’ll get ported to the inside of the dungeon, much like the current Battleground system. When you leave the instance, you will be returned to your previous location. If you need to leave temporarily, such as for repairs or to purchase reagents, you can teleport back to the dungeon again. This feature can be used both by groups looking for other players and by premade groups of five who use the dungeon tool.

Smarter Group Matching
The new system will now work to match at least one experienced player for the assigned dungeon with less experienced players in the group. It will more carefully match class types, and will more consistently match players of equal levels for the dungeon chosen. The interface will also allow players to see how many players are looking for groups as well as the average wait time of groups that the tool has formed.

Daily Random Dungeons
Players or groups can choose specific dungeons or they can instead take their chances with a random Heroic or random normal dungeon. Picking randomly conveys some additional benefits. If you defeat the final boss in a dungeon, you receive 2 Emblems of Frost for Heroic dungeons and 2 Emblems of Triumph for normal dungeons. In addition, after players have received 2 Emblems of Frost for the first Heroic dungeon they do in a day, they will earn 2 Emblems of Triumph for each additional random Heroic dungeons in that day. These random rewards replace the current daily dungeon and daily Heroic dungeon quests. The current NPCs who offer those quests will offer weekly repeatable raid quests instead. You can also earn level-appropriate rewards for running random pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons while you are leveling up.

Lovin’ the PUG
Players who take part in groups with one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the dungeon system will receive extra rewards, including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players you group with, the faster you could get your new pet!

Vote Kick
Players who use the system to find additional random members for their party will be afforded a couple of extra conveniences to help them perform well. The loot option is fixed to the updated Need Before Greed option (and unalterable by any member) and players can vote to remove another party member from the group. It will take four votes in order to remove someone, however, so consider this newfound power carefully.

Looking for Raid
There will be a new option available to players that can be accessed via the raid information screen in the interface or by typing /lfr. Players will also be able to take part in raid-specific weekly quests and will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.

Need Before Greed Updated
Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spellpower items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (for example, plate for paladins). All items will still be available via greed rolls should no member be able to use the item as well as the new disenchant option will be available for all parties.

Group Disenchanting
Players in a group with an enchanter will now have the option to automatically disenchant any items that are not claimed by a player from within the loot window. Players will have this option available to them in both premade groups and in randomly matched groups. This option is available in any loot system, even if players don’t use the new dungeon tool.

Disenchanting in Dungeons in Patch 3.3

Quote from Blizzard staff As we mentioned in the recent post explaining the new Dungeon System, disenchanting will work a little differently in all 5 player and raid dungeons when patch 3.3 is released. We have seen a consistent pattern where players eventually need very few items from dungeons and they result to disenchanting as much of the loot as possible since those materials that can be obtained continue to have a lot of worth.

When the new Dungeon System is launched, the default user interface will give players the option to automatically disenchant items that they obtain in 5 player and raid dungeons. This option will avoid the hassle of having items picked up by an enchanter first to redistributed later and overall will make the process much smoother.

Also, with the inclusion of cross-realm-instancing in the dungeon system, there will be restrictions on trading items similar to the restrictions that are currently active in Battlegrounds. If the Dungeon System is used to complete a group for a dungeon then non-temporary items will not be able to be traded in the instance. This makes it so items like enchanting materials will not be able to be traded in the dungeon and using the new user interface option will be the only way to distribute disenchants. There will be some exceptions to this restriction though as Bind-on-Pickup items will continue to be trade-able to those present for the kill for a short duration and completely pre-formed groups that don’t use the Dungeon System to form the group will still allow trades.

To maintain the importance of the profession itself, the disenchanting UI option will only be available for groups that have a character with the necessary level of Enchanting to disenchant the items that are obtained.

We are very excited about the upcoming improvements in the new Dungeon System and don’t forget to check out the full preview here for all the details: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=20677771774&sid=1

Blue posts

Quote from Blizzard staff Emblems in 3.3
The Daily Random Heroic will award two Emblems of Frost upon completion (can be done once a day). The Daily Random normal dungeon will award two Emblems of Triumph upon completion (can be done once a day). If players continue to select "Random" via the Dungeon System when running Heroic dungeons after the Daily Random Heroic dungeon has been completed, they will receive two additional Emblems of Triumph for each random Heroic dungeon completed.

Emblems of Frost will drop in the 10- and 25-player Icecrown Citadel raid... and perhaps if another boss stumbles into the Vault he'll drop them as well. Wink

[...] If you complete the Daily Random Heroic dungeon for the day to earn two Emblems of Frost in addition to the Emblems of Triumph which drop off of each Heroic boss, you can continue to select the "Random" option for Heroics in the Dungeon System. Doing so will award you with two Emblems of Triumph upon completion of each dungeon in addition to the Emblems of Triumph which drop off of each Heroic boss.

Healing
Healing has always been challenging and to some extent thankless in WoW. I don't think LK fundamentally changed that.

When I heal, I like to be challenged. Just buffing healing overall, or taking some of the challenge away from the healers, I don't think makes the game more fun for them. It might be fun for a week as everyone thanks you for doing such an amazing job all the time, but playing any game in godmode typically gets old after the initial rush.

What I mean is that one of the most boring experiences I can have in the game is to be a healer for a milk run in which a wipe is unlikely and nobody is going to take much damage. By contrast, you can still have fun in that situation as a DPS spec. You can see how fast the boss dies. You can see how much damage you can do. It can even be fun as a tank, because you can usually afford to drop some of your defenses in order to improve your dps and try and make the fight shorter. At the very least, you can try and see how much damage you can mitigate. It's possible to do some pulls and even weaker bosses with almost no incoming damage. All a healer can really do is try to heal as little or efficiently as possible, which really just means you're standing around a lot. Maybe you're tossing the occasional Wrath or SW:Pain or something, but that dps contribution is pretty trivial even compared to the trying-to-DPS-a-little tank.

Where I will agree we need to improve healing in WoW is in relationship to how much damage the tank is taking (or even a teammate in PvP). Damage to health is too high in almost all scenarios, such that only the really big, really fast, or really broad (group-based) heals count for much. Things that are fun for a healer, such as trying to be mana-efficient or matching the right heal to the right damaged character go away when you're just spamming like mad. None of this should come as news to readers of this forum, because it's the kind of thing we've said before.

What I would like to see in Cataclysm is higher health pools but also lower heals (and tank avoidance) overall. Hopefully everyone won't be on the verge of almost dying, yet the risk of overhealing will be more real such that you can't just madly spam all of the time if you want to make it to the end of the encounter.

A similar thing is true for PvP. If health pools are larger, but heals smaller, then you see folks with health in between 100% and 0% more often.

Designing Raid encounters around heals
While that sounds good on "paper," my fear is that you would see groups just swapping all their healers out for paladins on boss 1 and then for shaman on boss 2. If you look at all of the mechanics of an encounter, you'll notice that the designers spend a lot of attention on trying not to prop up any single class or role too much. For example, there are not many LK encounters that scream "replace all your casters with melee" or "drop all of our melee for three more tanks."

To be honest, I'd much rather it go the opposite direction and players stop approaching raid invites as "They'll want me because my class is so awesome," and instead "They'll want me because I'm good."

Dungeon System
Need Before Greed and caster items
We knew this change was going to be controversial, and we totally understand that e.g. cloth can be an upgrade for a Balance druid or leather can be an upgrade for a shaman.

Looting to some extent is always going to have a heavily social component. There's only so much we can do (or should do) to try and "solve" that problem for players. On the other hand, the new LFG system also removes some of the social checks and balances (not that those are huge to begin with) by potentially grouping you with folks you may never see again. On my server, perennial ninjas and jerks earn a reputation. That's going to be harder when you're talking about a battle group. Overall we expect players to just pug a lot more often, because the new system really is that good. So overall the drama over who gets the healing shoulders might arise more often. Sad

Ultimately, our logic went like this: If a Holy paladin loses a great non-plate upgrade to another player, one out of five players might feel bad. If a Holy paladin rolls Need on every type of armor that drops, then four out of five players might have a bad experience. The jerk potential seemed worse than the lost-an-upgrade potential as far as whether or not players buy into using the new dungeon tool.

You can still Greed a potential upgrade item. You can still talk to your group and explain that X is an awesome item for you and would they mind passing on it or even trading it? (You can trade BoP items for a short period of time following the same rules that apply today.)

[...] Yes. I'm not sure if everyone realizes that. Need Before Greed is forced when you add random players to a 5-player group. You can use whatever loot system you choose when you use /invite to form the group.

To try and improve the pug experience (at least pugs formed through the tool) we wanted to try and minimize jerkish behavior, and that includes not giving the leader a whole lot of power. I'm not talking about a player who thinks it's funny to pull the entire instance and wipe you. I'm talking about players who legitimately want to run the dungeon but have very non-conventional ideas about leadership or loot distribution. We are trying to impose a little bit of convention on these groups so that everyone has a better pug experience.

[...] Need before Greed is changed everywhere. From our research, very few groups use this loot system. (I'm sure some do, and you don't need to post to tell us that it's your favorite loot system.) Most groups use some variant of Group Loot (the current default) or Master Looter. If you use Group Loot, you can still Need on anything you want. You just can't use Group Loot on a pug formed with the Dungeon tool.

LFG Channel in Patch 3.3
The Looking For Group channel will return in patch 3.3. If you wish to run dungeons with players on your realm, you can use the Looking For Group channel in any major city to create the party. [...] It works exactly like the Trade channel currently does.

Daily Random Heroic Dungeon with people from your realm
That's not true by the way. You can form a group of five players, have the party leader open the Dungeon System and select the Random Heroic option. The pre-made group will be able to port to the selected instance, not be bound by any of the cross-realm restrictions (such as mandatory Need Before Greed, trade restrictions, Vote Kick, etc.), and will receive the daily reward for completing the dungeon. Your pre-made group could continue to select the Random Heroic option again and again to continue running any Heroic that pops up each time -- even if a Heroic dungeon pops up that you've already done -- and you will continue to get loot and Emblems of Triumph from each boss, plus two additional Emblems of Triumph for completing the random Heroic instance.

Dungeon System and Ignore List
And hey, the Ignore list is being expanded! You can also ignore players on other realms if you have a bad group experience with them. The Dungeon System will not place you in a group with any character on your Ignore list.

Random Dungeon Group creation speed
If you jump into the new Dungeon System tool, you likely won't have time to do much before finding a group. Groups will be created quite rapidly in most cases, particularly if the Random Dungeon option is chosen. If you don't want to use this system because you might have to play with people not on your realm, you're only restricting yourself.

Ninjas in random groups
As far as ninjas go, the default loot system will be Need Before Greed and cannot be changed if the group is cross-realm. The Need Before Greed system will be more intuitive as well so a player can't just roll Need on everything to try and ninja items by luck.

Ultimately, if someone's being a huge jerk in the party, Vote Kick them. Ignore them. You won't play with them again.

Looking for Raid System
The Looking For Raid system is entirely separate from the Dungeon System and is only for your realm. Players are not automatically grouped with this tool and it can be accessed from anywhere.

Cross-Realms Raid
It's something that has been discussed and is not out of the question, however we have no plans for allowing cross-realm raids in patch 3.3.

More on Patch 3.3

Posted by SagenOctober 28, 2009 at 11:29 am

There are huge changes coming to the user interface in Patch 3.3. I'd like to recommend everyone take an early look at the PTR Patch notes now. Remember that they are subject to change but an early look will better prepare you for what is to come.

Excerpt from PTR Patch Notes

Quote from Blizzard staff User Interface
Dungeon System

This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
- Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
- Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
- Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
  - The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
  - The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
  - Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
  - Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the "Quests" section for details).
  - Level-approp riate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
  - Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
  - Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player's inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon System.
Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
Pick-Up Groups
- Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
- As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
- Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
- A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
- Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon System tool for 15 minutes.
- If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon System queue.
- A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
- Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon System will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
- The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon System and has been updated.
  - Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
  - Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.

Looking For Raid

There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing /LFR.
- Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
- While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
- Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader's name, the raid information (number of people the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.
The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon system interface.
Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.

Character Race Change now Available

Quote from Blizzard staff

The Race Change service lets you change a character's race to another race within their faction. The full range of customization options offered by the Character Re-Customization service is included as well. Each race change costs $25.00 USD.

Things to know before you start:

Under normal conditions, a race change should be ready immediately after rendering payment and completing the steps in this process.
You can select a new character race only from those in the same faction that have the character's class available. You cannot change a character's class.
A character's current home city reputation level will switch values with their new home city, and their home city racial mounts will convert to those of their new race. Refer to the Race Change Translation Table for more details.
A realm transfer is not included in a race change.
A character can change races once every 3 days.
Please refer to the Character Race Change FAQ for answers to common questions about this service.

Master Angler of Azeroth

Posted by SagenOctober 27, 2009 at 11:27 am

Northrend's New Kalu'ak Fishing Derby!

Quote from Blizzard staff Coming in patch 3.3.0, the esteemed tuskarr of the Kalu'ak are proud to introduce to Northrend the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck! Every Wednesday beginning at 8 PM players can try to catch the elusive Blacktip Shark. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him the first catch of the night. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for his or her fishing expertise. Those who aren’t able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave.

It is said that these sharks’ favorite meal are the bite-sized Pygmy Suckerfish. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick. Because of the increased concentration of fish, you have an increased chance to catch a shark from fishing pools. Don't forget, in patch 3.3.0 you never catch trash from fishing pools, regardless of skill.

The derby winner will receive a substantial chunk of experience (or money at maximum level) and gain 5000 reputation with the Kalu'ak. In addition, the champion will be given a choice between two unique rewards:

Dread Pirate Ring

   Binds on Account
   Unique-Equipped
   Finger
   +34 Stamina
   Requires level 1 to 80 (80)
   Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 53.
   Equip: Improves hit rating by 29.
   Equip: Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.

Boots of the Bay
   Binds When Picked Up
   Feet
   Requires Fishing (200)
   Equip: Increased Fishing +15.
   Use: Whisks you away to the finest drinking establishment in Booty Bay. (1 Day Cooldown)

To keep it interesting, the Achievement "Master Angler of Stranglethorn" has been changed to "Master Angler of Azeroth." This can be earned by winning either the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby or the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.

Please bear in mind this feature will be undergoing testing on our Public Test Realms and is subject to change prior to the release of patch 3.3.0.

UI Improvements in 3.3

Posted by SagenOctober 26, 2009 at 12:00 pm

PTR Patch 3.3

Quote from MMO-Champion Tier 10 Priest - HD Preview
It took some time but the multi-race screenshots for the Priest set are now available. Just like all the preview, the resolution is stupidly high.

Tier 10 Paladin - Preview
Oh Paladins ... You took away so many hours of my week-end ... Time to explain a few things!

The screenshot of the Tier 10 Paladin set I posted a few days ago had pants, and a pretty pink helm. I displayed this version of the set because it was the only one where the models/textures were linked to actual in-game item (even if they aren't implemented yet). I checked the files more carefully and had to figure out a few things.

The Pink helm
The pink reflection on the helm is obviously a bug, check the blue version of the set if you want to see how the helm looks like.

Robe or not ?
A few NPCs already use the Tier 10 Paladin set .... with a robe! I decided to use this model until Blizzard reveals if the final version of the set will use a robe or not. The legs just look strange and I'll just try to forget about them for the moment.

Multi-race ?
Not gonna happen. The set is in early beta and I don't want anyone to think it's the final version, for the time being enjoy the new screenshots!

Patch 3.3 - Tutorials and Lag Report
The latest PTR Build greatly modified the tutorials on new characters. They're now much more useful and it will probably make the life of new players a little easier.

A new button was also added to the interface, it will let you report lag issues faster to the Gamemasters.

Hallow's End Achievement Issue

Quote from Blizzard staff We have recently applied a hotfix that should no longer cause certain Candy Buckets to affect a character's ability to complete the Trick or Treats of Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor and Outlands for Hallow's End. Characters are now free to get candy from any location they have not yet gathered from and can complete the achievements.

Blue posts

Quote from Blizzard staff Skipping Crowd Control in Raids
Not many people were skipping CC for Ulduar when it first launched. Now if you're overgearing content, you're overgearing content. ToC doesn't have trash, though if you are ignoring CC for heroic champs, I'd be interesting in seeing it. Yes, the CC has PvP-like DR, but that makes smart CC an even bigger component of the fight, not something to be ignored lightly. Icecrown is a traditional yet massive and epic instance. There will be trash.

Icecrown Hard Modes and Trophy System
As other players have pointed out, the "medium" difficulty comes at doing some of the easier bosses in heroic mode. ToC only has 5 encounters, so there isn't a ton of granularity. Icecrown has more (though not 31) so we can provide more granularity.

I also have a hunch that some of the bosses on normal mode are going to be more challenging than the final boss of ToC normal for the same reason.

We have a couple of tweaks to the trophy system for Icecrown that we think capture the best of both the Ulduar and ToC systems.

Icecrown "harder" than Trial of the Crusader
They are harder in an absolute sense because they hit harder and have more health. They are not harder (for the most part) in a relative sense because you probably have better gear now than when you first went into ToC. Our goal is not to let players raid all the up until Icecrown and then throw a gate in front of them that says "Must be this elite to ride this ride."

Now, if you are that elite, Arthas heroic says hi.

Death Knight
Scourge Strike
We're not going to let an attack that ignores armor do the same damage as an attack that is reduced by armor. The problem is that when armor gets reduced, a physical attack hits for more while a magical attack does not. The answer I keep reading is "Just buff Scourge Strike." No. It can't do more base damage as long as it bypasses armor.

Armor pen as a stat on gear is going away. The concept of reducing armor (through say Battle Stance or Sunder Armor) is not going away. It's entirely possible a spec or two might improve their armor pen through the Mastery feature. Even if it was going away, magical attacks still can't hit as hard as physical attacks. There would be no reason to have physical attacks.

At a very high level there are two options: Scourge Strike hits at X damage but respects armor, or Scourge Strike hits at X*0.5 and ignores armor. Talents etc. can modify this, but they all have their individual budgets too.

Druid
Feral Druid changes on PTRs
We made the change to discourage a very specific form of gameplay. Specifically, this was:

1. Get the proc, but don't use it.
2. Build up 5 more cps on the target.
3. Now Cyclone before you do another finishing move.
4. Let your energy fill to full.
5. As soon as the Cyclone ends, unleash a huge Ferocious Bite with 5 cps and full energy.

Aside from the very high damage of an almost unpreventable Ferocious Bite, this way of using the proc worked counter to what we were trying to encourage. It's often easy for melee classes to get tunnel vision and just unleash every attack on the same target rather than switching targets or otherwise responding to what is going on in the fight. We'd rather see the proc get used to Cyclone say a healer or someone chasing your teammates.

In short, the intent was to give cats more team utility, not to give them a delivery mechanism for guaranteed full Ferocious Bites. With this change it will be risky or impossible to sit on the proc for long.

Nature's Grace
I agree Nature's Grace is a big part of the problem here. We changed Gift of the Earth Mother for pretty similar reasons. However, Nature's Grace is a Really Big Deal. We honestly keep talking about changing it, but we're also paranoid about screwing it up because Balance dps is dependent on it. NG is probably an overbudget talent, but in this case if we nerfed iit, we'd have to mess with Balance in a lot of other areas to compensate. We'll almost certainly do it at some point, but I worry about messing with it for 3.3.