Tag Archives: 2.4

Game Info

Nethers as BoE Drops

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Primal Nethers and Nether Vortexes are currently Bind on Equip on the PTR, instead of BoP (confirmation here), and this has sparked quite a lot of discussion; I just watched a debate scroll past in guildchat while in an instance.

To be honest, I like the change; it’s something I’ve been hoping for for a while. It puts the onus to get the nether on the person who wants something crafted. I realise it may affect people who’ve made a lot of money from crafting and charging a premium for their nethers, but there are other ways of making money.

Two things I’ve found problematic about nethers being BoP:

  1. guild crafters are expected to provide nethers for guildmembers who want things crafted, regardless of whether the nether (which has usually been ‘earnt’ on a guild run) is going to a cause that benefits the guild or not.
  2. it becomes hard to allocate BoP crafting patterns if they’re for recipes that require nethers; you have to try and assign the patterns to people who are reliably going to have access to nethers, without offending the crafters who don’t make the effort to do heroics.

This change cuts through all that: you provide the mats, the crafter makes it for you. If you don’t put the work in to get the nether, you don’t get the item made. The crafter is under no pressure to provide a nether, either. And, finally, if you want nether-requiring gear on your alts you can now go and instance for the nethers on your main, without having to take a badly-geared alt into a heroic and drag the group down.

Game Info

Buff: Holy Shock

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And another great healadin change from the 2.4 PTR! WoWInsider is reporting that Holy Shock has had a buff to its effects

Holy Shock
Old version: Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 530 to 574 Holy damage to an enemy, or 530 to 574 healing to an ally.
New version: Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 721 to 779 Holy damage to an enemy, or 931 to 987 healing to an ally.

In my current healing set (with 1930 +heal) my Holy Shock currently heals for ~1370; after the patch it’s going to be around 1770 healing, which is better than my Flash of Light. Flash of Light takes 1.5 seconds; Holy Shock is instant but triggers the GCD. Flash of Light has no cooldown, Holy Shock has a 15 second cooldown. Flash of Light costs 180 mana, Holy Shock costs 435 mana.

Looking at the two spells, the obvious conclusion is that Flash of Light is still better overall; it’s a far better heal per mana output, and not far behind on pure healing output (and has no cooldown). However, Holy Shock is going to be decently viable as an instant “save someone from dying now” spell, which paladins have so far lacked, and the buff is going to make it a valuable – but not overpowered – part of the healadin arsenal. I won’t be weaving HSes in whenever the cooldown is up, but I will be using it to save lives.

Thumbs up.

Game Info

Sneaky Gear Buffs in 2.4

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With thanks to Big Bear Butt for pointing this out: WoWhead has a nice list of items that have been changed in patch 2.4. There’s been so much attention on all the new content in 2.4 that this hasn’t got much mention yet.

Well, check this out, happy healadins:

[Libram of Mending]
Old version: Your Holy Light spell grants 22 mana per 5 sec. for 10 sec.
New version: Your Holy Light spell grants 22 mana per 5 sec. for 30 sec.

For 20 Badges of Justice, you can permanently up your mp5 by 22, just by casting a Holy Light – downranked or otherwise – every 30 seconds. I found my Libram of Mending useful enough before this change; after 2.4 it’s just going to be magic. I heartily endorse this event or product.

(A note on how to use it: you can switch relics in combat, so I start casting my Holy Light spell and then equip this libram while the HL is casting – equipping an item will trigger the GCD, but your Holy Light cast time is longer than 1.5 seconds so it ‘absorbs’ the GCD. Then I cast the next spell and flip back to my previous libram while that next spell is casting.

I do this with a fairly clunky macro, but you can do it just by putting the librams into actionbar slots if you prefer. I recommend swapping between this and a [Libram of Souls Redeemed] if you’re healing a target buffed with Blessing of Light, or a libram that boosts Flash of Light or Holy Light if not.)

And wow, all of a sudden the Libram from Lurker Below becomes awesome:

[Libram of Absolute Truth]
Old version: Reduces the mana cost of Holy Light by 27.
New version: Reduces the mana cost of Holy Light by 84.

I need to check some WWS parses to confirm, but my rough estimation tells me I probably cast about 8 Holy Lights per minute. This would be a mana saving of 672 mana per minute, or an equivalent of 56 mp5 that I wouldn’t need to have.

Wow. This thing’s going up to the top of my wishlist, that’s fer shure. Switch between that and the [Libram of Mending], and that’s a really nice boost to mp5 come 2.4.

Now all I need is the Libram. C’mooooon Lurker…

Game Info

The Plot Thickens

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On the PTR right now, M’uru the Naaru is missing from Silvermoon City, and Lady Liadrin – the leader of the blood elf paladins – has gone on an important errand. And now I see where she went. This conversation is currently playing in Shattrath every now and then:

General Tiras’Alan: Why do you suffer the presence of this despicable Lady Liadrin? She and her followers distort the Light and make a mockery of all we stand for!
A’dal: Patience, general. The Light embraces all who enter Shattrath in good faith.
A’dal: You are welcome in Shattrath, Lady Liadrin. We have long awaited your arrival.
Lady Liadrin: Thankyou for allowing me to speak, A’dal. I know many of your followers despise me and my knights for our treatment of M’uru.
Liadrin: When he was given to us by ‘Prince’ Kael’thas, we believed his power would help us lead our people into a new age.
Liadrin: I’ve come to realize our path was a false one. We were betrayed by the man we called our prince. In his lust for power, he sent the felblood to attack us, and spirit M’uru away to the Sunwell.
A’dal: Both our peoples have suffered greatly at the hands of Kael’thas and his agents, Lady Liadrin. Your people were not the authors of their own fate, but they will die if they do not change.
A’dal: M’uru accepted his role in this long ago, knowing full well what would happen to him. Will you accept your own?
Liadrin: I… I don’t understand. You– and M’uru– knew all along that this would occur?
A’dal: It wasn’t I who foretold it, but Velen of the Draenei:
A’dal: ‘Silvery moon, washed in blood,’
A’dal: ‘Led astray into the night, armed with sword of broken Light.’
A’dal: ‘Broken, then betrayed by one, standing there bestride the sun.’
A’dal: ‘At darkest hour, redemption comes, in knightly lady sworn to blood.’
Liadrin: I see it clearly now. I renounce my loyalties to House Sunstrider and its false prince.
Liadrin: I pledge the blades of my Blood Knights to the defeat of Kil’jaeden and the restoration of Silvermoon.
Liadrin: We will fight beside you, A’dal.
A’dal: The Shattered Sun Offensive will surely benefit from the addition of your knights, Lady Liadrin.
A’dal: The battle for the Sunwell is but the first step on your new path, Lady Liadrin. Shattrath is open to you and all who follow you.

This is really interesting, not just for the lore aspects of the conversation, but the changes in the metaplot it represents. I don’t think the game world has ever changed so much in WoW; content has often been added (the Cenarion hub fighting against the Silithids; the Argent Dawn quest hub fighting against Naxxramas, etc) but this change is much more of an alteration to existing content that we’ve seen before.

I’m really enjoying the plotline of 2.4: the Shattered Sun Offensive draws together previously-warring people – the draenei and blood elves – and acknowledges that they have common enemies in the Burning Legion and in Kael’thas. It’s unusual to have a significant chunk of new content that opens for a short time and then closes – the AQ40 and Naxxramas openings are the only past events that qualify, and the amount of closed content was relatively limited. This time around there are plenty of dailies that are only available while your server is working through the reclamation of the Isle of Quel’danas, and each phase of target-specific dailies closes and becomes unavailable once that target has been achieved. It’s a new step for WoW, and I have to say I like it. The world feels a lot more interesting and dynamic this way.

Playstyle

Best. Change. Ever.

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So, here’s something awesome that I’ve been hoping for in WoW.

A quest link in trade channel

That is, indeed, a chat channel link to a quest. Just shift-click a quest in your log and it’ll link it into any channel where you can share an item link – so, trade, whisper, /say, and probably guild/party/raidchat too (though I haven’t tried linking them there yet).

This inspired me to check:

A spell link in whisper

You can also shift-click a spell or ability in your spellbook to link it into the same channels.

I really hope this makes it into Live and it’s not just a weird PTR bug. Everquest 2 allowed this from launch – back in late 2004 – and I’ve missed it on WoW on a regular basis ever since then.

I’m sure you can all see how useful it’d be…

Game Info

2.4: Sunwell Dailies stage 2: the Sanctum

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See my complete guide to the Sunwell dailies here.

So, once your realm has collectively done enough of the first Quel’Danas dailies to retake the Sun’s Reach Sanctum, it becomes a ‘friendly’ building with SSO NPCs inside, and you can go there to find two new daily quests. These are quests that contribute to opening up the Sun’s Reach Armory.

The Bombing Run
This quest is called Distraction at the Dead Scar. You speak to Ayren Cloudbreaker (the flightmaster at your original landing-point), and he sends you off on a bombing run – you fly through the village, down the eastern side of the Isle, then you do a couple of circuits of the Dead Scar, then back up the other side to home base again. The part at the Dead Scar is the relevant bit; you’re given Arcane Charges, and you have to use those to kill demons in the Dead Scar: 2 Pit Overlords (big green guys with tails, like Magtheridon), 3 Eredar Sorcerors and 10 Wrath Enforcers. It’s just like the original bombing dailies in Hellfire Peninsula, really; you fly on an auto-controlled dragonhawk rather than your own mount.

The quest tells you that some demons require more than one hit with the charge, and it’s not kidding. Hitting a pit lord a couple of times, only to have someone else finish him and get the credit is a pain in the ass; depending on crowding, it may take several runs to get the quest completed. (It took me 4, but then the PTR’s packed out.)

Reward is 9g and 150 rep.

The Battle for Sun’s Reach Armory
I haven’t done this one, but it asks you to slay demons in Dawning Square and the Sun’s Reach Armory until the Emissary of Hate appears, kill him, and use the provided Shattered Sun Banner to impale the corpse.

Reward is 10g and presumably 150 rep.

Intercepting the Mana Cells
This quest comes during stage 2, and provides progress towards opening a portal from Quel’Danas to Shattrath. The original quest comes from an NPC in the Sanctum, but the daily questgiver is in the Terrace of Light in Shattrath. He asks you to go to Blade’s Edge and gather 10 Smuggled Mana Cells from the ethereals at Bashir’s Landing – but the mana cells are hidden out of phase. You have to kill ethereals to get phase devices to see the mana cells, defeat the phase wyrms guarding the mana cells, and gather 10 cells. Bring them back to Shattrath, and you’re doing your part to get the portal open.

Reward is 10g, a Shattered Sun Supplies package and presumably 150 or 250 rep.

Game Info

2.4: Fishing Daily – the World’s Biggest Mudfish

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Today’s daily fishing quest on the PTR:

The One That Got Away

“Figluster’s mudfish is a surprisingly quick bottom feeder found in the waters of Nagrand. They grow their entire lives and are well known as fighters.

Years ago, I caught what I’m certain was the world’s biggest mudfish… until it snapped my line and escaped.

A fisherman of your caliber doesn’t need to be told what to do– your destiny awaits in the lakes of Nagrand.”

The quest asks you to catch “the World’s Biggest Mudfish” and bring it to Old Man Barlo. No details yet on what that actually involves, as the PTR went down for maintenance before I could give it a whirl. I’ll update this post when I know more.

The reward is a Bag of Fishing Treasures.

Edit: Okay, this one’s relatively simple. Just go to Nagrand and fish until you get the quest drop. It took me 25 casts in various lakes; according to /1 chat, Sunspring Lake gives the best results. I caught it first try as soon as I got to Sunspring Lake.

Game Info

2.4: More PvP Dailies

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I forgot to look into the selection of dailies for world PvP. Here’s what I’ve found so far: (note: all are Alliance quests; I assume there are Horde equivalents)

Terokkar Forest
Exorcist Sullivan in Allerian Stronghold (on the edge near the Bone Wastes) gives a quest to help take a tower in the Bone Wastes. Reward is 12g and 209 honor.

Nagrand
Lakoor in Telaar (in the SE of town, look for the blue !) gives a quest to defeat 10 enemy players in Halaa. Reward is 12g and 209 honor.

Game Info

2.4: Two More Sunwell Dailies

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Two more Sunwell dailies! See my complete guide to the Sunwell dailies here.

First up, you have to complete the Missing Magistrix quest, where you search fruitlessly around Quel’Danas until you finally find the teleporter you need in a hidden corner. Use the scroll at the teleporter and you’ll be teleported to the Throne of Kil’Jaeden in Hellfire Peninsula, where you complete Missing Magistrix and she gives you two more dailies to do. (Oh, and there’s no portal back to Quel’Danas from there, so plan your questing carefully.)

The two new dailies are both completed at the Throne of Kil’Jaeden; be careful not to agro Kazzak if he’s up.

Blood for Blood
Kill 4 Wrath Heralds for their blood, which seems to be a 100% droprate, and this blood empowers the quest item you were given, the Fel Siphon. You use the Siphon on elite Felblood Initiates to turn them into Emaciated Felbloods, who you then kill. 4 Emaciated Felblood kills, and you’re done. This quest gives 5 Marks of Sargeras or Sunfury Signets, plus 12g, plus 250 SSO rep. The big problem is that the Felblood Initiates are few and far between (unless Blizzard tweaks the spawn rate) so you will be waiting a long time for your four kills unless people on your server are smart about grouping up.

Blast the Gateway
You’re given a Sizzling Ember quest item, which you use to summon a Living Flare minion that follows you around. Kill Incandescent Fel Sparks (fel fire elementals, basically) to empower your Living Flare; once your flare becomes an Unstable Living Flare (about 6 Spark kills, i think), run it back to the teleporter to blow it up. This quest gives 10g, a Shattered Sun Supplies package, and 250 SSO rep. The trick to this quest is: your flare can be empowered by being near any Incandescent Fel Spark when it dies, regardless of whether it’s tagged by you or someone else. I suspect that grouping would make this quest trivial; otherwise, try and stay near other people when you’re all killing your own Sparks, even if you’re not grouped, and you’ll still get the shared benefit.