Anyways, for those that care, I was actually at the Blizzard Wrath of the Lich King launch signing at the Fry’s Electronics in Anaheim on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

I have to say that this was the largest showing of Blizzard developers for a signing I seen, and I have been to a lot, maybe it’s due to the fact that they did not do an event at the Fry’s in Fountain Valley that they do since I can remember. I remember when they use to do the signing at Gamestop with like 4-5 developers at the Irvine Spectrum.

With that said, I think there were over 100 Blizzard employees, including Chris Metzen, that night, which was cool and a pain… It was a pain because the line to the signing tables was extremely slow. I’m sure tons of people left the line and just went to pay for the game and get out cause at least 10 people ahead of me gave up.

But, I feel bad for the Blizzard developers because I know their hands will be hurting the next morning, haha. There were at least 2000-3000 people there that night. I was about number 500 in line and I walked out of Fry’s at 3am PST. I don’t even want to know how long Blizzard stayed that night. I admire their dedication to their fans…then again, Blizzard is making BANK on this game.

I’ll try to upload some picture I took with my phone later but I don’t know what’s the quality of those pictures are like. Anyways, enjoy your new World of Warcraft expansion for those playing…lucky bastards, haha.

I got the chance to finish the entire beta Death Knight quest line. I say beta because they are still adding more and tweaking current quests. I must say, I’m quite impress with the Death Knight quests so far. Blizzard is obviously trying to make the Death Knight’s quest line quite drama and memorable. They added many new fun and interesting quest elements into the game like progessive quest driven map changes that is tailored to anyone on that phase (NPCs move location, environmental changes, etc), new controllable “bombing” quests, and end game quality scripted events. As of today, Blizzard added one more quest in the Death Knight line and I’m sure more are coming.

I would like to try out Northrend quests later tonight and test out the talents changes for the Warlock, Warrior, Hunter, and Druid (Moonkin). The Exotic Pet talent for the Hunter sounds quite interesting.

So far, I’m really liking what Blizzard is trying to do with this expansion by making more interesting quests and letting more players experience the storyline that only top raiders got to experience before. Plus, I was more into the Scourge storyline than the Outlands storyline. Hey, I made an undead character for a reason…

Anyways, I’ll continue to post more about the beta in the coming days, weeks, or months. I’ll try to take some screenshots and post them.

I have to say that I’m on the fence on this game now. I probably buy the game when it releases on Sept. 18 just because I would like to see the retail version of the game and because I’m bored. I’m not saying that the game was bad or anything. I’m just saying that the game currently has issues that should not be there when the game launches…which is like 3 weeks…

Cons:
Let’s start of the bad stuff to get that out of the way. I stated it before and can confirm it now that Warhammer Online seems rushed. I’m sure big bad EA is cracking the whips overtime on Mythic as Wraith of the Lich King is nearly completion, big if here. I understand from a financial standpoint that EA has to get this game out of the door soon and begin getting a player base before WotLK seduces the weary WoW players of the last few years, which includes me. Once the players pay for and get started with WotLK, they might not even glance back at Warhammer Online for months, if ever again.

That said, I felt the game feels very sluggish and unresponsive compare to the smooth and fluid combat of World of Warcraft. Then add this to that fact that mobs seems to have path issues getting to the player as time when engaged at ranged seems ripe for exploits make combat not too exciting. Heck, one of my buddies could not get pass the sluggish combat for 10 minutes before deciding to stop playing and return to WoW. Of course, I know that a minor part of the problem has to do with the fact that my computer is old…and probably dying…but some friends with decent computers mention the same thing. This needs to be fix ASAP!!! Mythic needs to seriously refine their code. No MMO launches perfectly and finished, but they have to at least make the first few months fun and playable.

Second concern is about server populations. We choose a low population server, about 1,500 during peak hours, for Preview Weekend because the original server we chose had queue, it was set at 2,100 players. Since Warhammer Online stresses Realm vs Realm, or RvR, server population is very important. I not too sure what they will set the final population cap per server when Warhammer launches but not finding enough players, on both sides, to do public quests, world RvR, and scenario RvR is a major problem. Many of the public quests were empty in Dwarf lands, in fact I barely saw anyone in Dwarf lands. Tier 2 RvR was no where in sight on my server. Would be nice to enjoy the local content without having to charter a flight to a popular area.

Pets are currently broken as well. Pathing issues…

Pros:
I think Warhammer Online has great potential to be a great game that can make some splashes to WoW’s MMO domination. I like how creative Warhammer Online is with handling quests. I thought the cannon quests at the early game really showed the player how creative this game can be. Mythic is able to add some first person shooter to a traditional MMO is quite refreshing. Of course, this first person perspective sets up siege weapons quite nicely in the world RvR and fort/castle sieges, which I never got to experience but I can imagine it would be a blast getting behind a siege weapon to hold off invaders.

One of the most creative quest in Warhammer Online has to be the Public Quests where anyone in the area can come join at any stage and work together to complete the group quest. Some of the Public Quests were well scripted and exciting to take part of. And if you successfully completed a Public Quest, everyone gets to roll for various bags containing loot. The system is created where the more you contributed overall, the more +bonus added to your rolls, thus giving you a higher chance of winning a bag. Of course, anyone has a chance to win a bag even if they just joined in on the quest but that’s what’s fun about it. Everyone has a chance to win something.

Another thing that I thought was great was the you can choose how you want to level your character. You can just grind as there are Kill Bounty NPCs that award you EXP for each specific mob you kill, simply quest, do Public Quests, and RvR. Warhammer Online is not the question of where to level but how to level, as you have so much choice to choose from.

I generally like the whole world PvP that was messing in World of Warcraft. I would like to help position a ram at a fort’s gates and pound it open while the enemy is pouring death around us, trying to drive us away. I got to experienced a limited version of this in the Tier 1 world RvR but I want to experience the fort and castle sieges. I was able to see the Tier 2 world RvR and it looks promising. I hope to experience this in the Open Beta coming Sept. 7.

Anyways, this is pretty much all I can think of right now. I just waiting the days till Open Beta starts and hopefully see improvements to the game. Open beta will probably be the version that they are mass producing and shipping out to stores. Of course, they will use the data collected from Open Beta to patch the game up when we actually install the retail in. But…all we can do is see how Mythic is able and quickly refine and fix things because this will the the bar they set for themselves in the minds of players for many months. I really hope Warhammer Online successes…if not…there’s always Diablo 3, I guess…hahaha.

Till then…I need a new computer. Time to do some component research to construct a $1000 computer for the time being. I don’t feel that shelling out $3000 for a computer like I used to do for the state of the art computer as it is worth it anymore, especially with the speed of computer evolution.

I haven’t have that much time looking through the new level 80 talents but, as a main Warlock, I can see that they nerfed Soul Link for Warlocks. They removed the 5% increased to damage and reduced the damage reduction to 15%, reduced from 20% currently. However, Blizzard downgrade Soul Link to a level 3 talent, which means that pretty much any spec will be able to obtain Soul Link. Pros and Cons, I guess.

Full Affliction/Demonology builds will probably to be “the” PvP survival built, over the currently Siphon Life/Soul Link built, as Haunt/Siphon Life/Soul Link/Life Drain will an interesting combo, heck, you even get Dark Pact now will the downgrade of Soul Link. Plus, Improved Fear, talent tier 3 and , and Improved Howl of Terror will be annoying for opposites and nice addition for Warlock’s limited escape abilities.

I’ll take a look at the other classes that I have later when I have more time.

WotLK Beta Talent Calculators

I’m actually looking forward to trying out Warhammer Online myself and see if it actually deserves all those E3 awards. I’m not saying Mythic has a bad track record, far from it, as I have played Dark Age of Camelot and liked the whole Realm Vs Realm with seige weapons, but I admitt that I was not even close to reaching the end game. I jumped game when Asheron’s Call 2 came out and we all know how that game turned out. Hey, I had a soft spot for Asheron’s Call since that was my first MMO game.

I’m just praying that Warhammer Online is polished when it launches next month. To be honest, I’m a little worried that Mythic is being rushed to push this product out the door. Age of Conan, despite having a decent launch, was launched without some end game stuff that was adveristed which got pretty boring for many quick players.

The fact that Mythic is releasing Warhammer Online next month with missing classes from a few races, like the Dark Elves, Empire, Dwarfs, and Greenskins, makes me a little nervous about the condition of the game. I know they will add them in later, but there will be balancing issues when those classes do get introducted that will take months to years to solve.

Mythic also changed the RvR end game battlefronts recently as well. Orignially, each pair of race was even a battlefront with sacking the other race’s city as the goal. In short, there was 6 capital cities in the game to fight over. However, Mythic recently changed it to just one huge end game battlefront with the Empire’s and Chaos’ capital city as the only two cities that players attack and defend against. However, the 3 racial fronts are replaced with fortresses and these fortresses must be controlled in order to attack the main city.

I understand this was done to get your allies to care more about what was happening to your side of the front as their city was all no risk of danger as long as it was happening over there type of thing and to funnel the players together for epic battles. But…I would like to be able to sack the High Elves’ capital city as a Dark Elf, for example, as that is what Dark Elves truly care about. The Empire’s city is not as satisfying to a Dark Elf.

Whatever, I will not say more till I actually try out the game and play it retail for a few months or so. There’s always Wraith of the Lich King if Warhammer Online fails me…

General
-Dispel effects will no longer attempt to remove effects that have 100% dispel resistance.
-Apprentice Riding and mounts are now available at level 30. Training costs 35 gold. (Now they add this in…[sigh])
-Haris Pilton now has new bags and jewelry. She’s located in the World’s End Tavern. “Gigantique” Bag for 1200g.
-When a stun wears off, the creature that was stunned will prefer the last target with the highest threat, versus the current target.

Hunters
-Growl: Pets will no longer generate additional threat from this ability based on attack power buffs cast on them. Attack power buffs on their master will still indirectly increase the threat generated by the pet’s Growl.
-Using an instant ability after Steady Shot will no longer lock out auto shot.

Mages
-Frost Armor, Ice Armor, Mage Armor, and Molten Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.

Paladins
-Summon Warhorse is now available at level 30.

Priests
-Mind Vision: This effect will now be cancelled immediately on targets who use an Invisibility Potion or Gnomish Cloaking Device.
-Spiritual Healing: Ranks 2-5 of this talent will no longer prevent refreshing Prayer of Mending.

Rogues
-Cheat Death: This talent has been rebalanced significantly. Killing blows are no longer 100% absorbed. If the Rogue is below 10% health, the killing blow is still completely absorbed; if the Rogue is over 10% health, enough damage will be absorbed to reduce the Rogue’s health down to 10%. For the following 3 seconds, damage is not always reduced by 90%; it is now reduced by a maximum of 90%, depending on how much resilience the Rogue has. The damage reduction will be four times the damage reduction resilience causes against critical strikes. (Nerf?)
-Sinister Calling now increases damage to Backstab and Hemorrhage by 1/2/3/4/5% (down from 2/4/6/8/10%).

Shaman
-Lightning Overload: This talent will no longer do excessive damage when used with Lightning Bolt Ranks 2-10.

Warlocks
-Curse of Shadows: This spell has been removed.
-Curse of Elements: This spell now applies to Arcane and Shadow damage, as well as Frost and Fire. (Yay!)
-Demon Skin, Demon Armor, and Fel Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.
-Health Funnel: This ability will now cancel channeling when the target pet is Banished.
-Summon Felsteed is now available at level 30.

PVP
-Rocket Boots Xtreme and Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite can no longer be used in the arena. These no longer have a failure chance.
-The new Arena gems are NOT Unique-Equipped.

Profession
-Philosopher’s Stone now requires 200 Alchemy.
-Activated beneficial effects from jewelcrafting trinkets can no longer be dispelled.
-Mycah of Sporeggar has the pattern for a 28 slot herb bags.
-New Tailoring patterns are available from Haughty Modiste in Steamwheedle Port, Tanaris: Haliscan Jacket and Haliscan Pantaloons.

Misc
-Clockwork Robot Bots fight amongst themselves again!!
-Tauren Chieftains Band (LV70ETC) now play a Live Show within the World’s End Tavern. Not sure what the time difference is for ever show but its always at the top of the hour as usual. (Undocumented)

Anyways, you can view the Patch Notes 2.4.3 yourself. Enjoy the new

Additionally, Arena Season 2 items will now be able to be purchase with honor points. Arena Season 3 item requirements will be reduced by 50 points, 1950 for the shoulders and 1800 for the weapon.

Of course, the new Arena Season 4 will also bring new additional changes to the arena system. The new Arena Season 4 items will have higher personal and team arena rating requirements:

Shoulders: 2200 (ouchie)
Weapon: 2050
Head: 1700
Chest: 1600
Legs: 1550

New this season will be the addition of personal and team arena rating requirement for Arena Season 4 honor items:

Boots: 1700
Ring: 1650
Bracers: 1575

Now players have to work for welfare gear as many raiders have complained in the past about PvP items being too easy to obtain while they spend weeks to months getting the same quality items.

Some of the new rules, mainly there to stop team selling and trading, implemented in Arena Season 4 will be:

• If a character’s personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating.
• If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team’s rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating.

Armor Sets

Druid: Feral - Restoration - Balance
Hunter: Brutal Gladiator’s Pursuit
Mage: Brutal Gladiator’s Regalia
Paladin: Holy - Retribution - Spell Damage
Priest: Holy - Shadow
Rogue: Brutal Gladiator’s Vestments
Shaman: Enhancement - Elemental - Restoration
Warlock: Dreadweave - Felweave
Warrior: Brutal Gladiator’s Battlegear

Arena Season 4 Items:

Axe
• Brutal Gladiator’s Chopper
• Brutal Gladiator’s Hacker
• Brutal Gladiator’s Hatchet (Hunter)
• Brutal Gladiator’s Waraxe (Hunter)
• Brutal Gladiator’s Cleaver
• Brutal Gladiator’s Decapitator (2h)

Bow
• Brutal Gladiator’s Longbow

Gun
• Brutal Gladiator’s Rifle

Crossbow
• Brutal Gladiator’s Heavy Crossbow

Dagger
• Brutal Gladiator’s Mutilator
• Brutal Gladiator’s Shiv
• Brutal Gladiator’s Shanker
• Brutal Gladiator’s Spellblade (Caster)
• Brutal Gladiator’s Blade of Alacrity (Caster)

Fist Weapon
• Brutal Gladiator’s Left Render
• Brutal Gladiator’s Left Ripper
• Brutal Gladiator’s Right Ripper

Idol
• Brutal Gladiator’s Idol of Resolve
• Brutal Gladiator’s Idol of Steadfastness
• Brutal Gladiator’s Idol of Tenacity

Libram
• Brutal Gladiator’s Libram of Fortitude
• Brutal Gladiator’s Libram of Justice
• Brutal Gladiator’s Libram of Vengeance

Mace
• Brutal Gladiator’s Bonecracker
• Brutal Gladiator’s Bonegrinder (2h)
• Brutal Gladiator’s Gavel
• Brutal Gladiator’s Salvation (Healer)
• Brutal Gladiator’s Pummeler
• Brutal Gladiator’s Swift Judgement

Off-hand
• Brutal Gladiator’s Endgame
• Brutal Gladiator’s Grimoire
• Brutal Gladiator’s Reprieve

Polearm
• Brutal Gladiator’s Painsaw

Shield
• Brutal Gladiator’s Barrier
• Brutal Gladiator’s Redoubt
• Brutal Gladiator’s Shield Wall

Staff
• Brutal Gladiator’s Battle Staff
• Brutal Gladiator’s Staff
• Brutal Gladiator’s War Staff

Sword
• Brutal Gladiator’s Greatsword (2h)
• Brutal Gladiator’s Quickblade
• Brutal Gladiator’s Slicer

Thrown
• Brutal Gladiator’s War Edge

Totem
• Brutal Gladiator’s Totem of Indomatibility
• Brutal Gladiator’s Totem of Survival
• Brutal Gladiator’s Totem of the Third Wind

Wand
• Brutal Gladiator’s Baton of Light
• Brutal Gladiator’s Piercing Touch
• Brutal Gladiator’s Touch of Defeat

Good luck with Arena Season 4 and congrats to those who obtain their Arena Season 3 Armored Nether Drake.

Blizzard is mostly targeting the most abusive win-traders and giving them a 72 hour suspension, plus the removal of all Arena gears and points of the current season. To help with this, Blizzard made a few changes to the Arena system in patch 2.4.2, in addition to monitoring the Arena system.

For those who don’t know what Win-Trading, or Game Trading, is about, Win-Trading is basically two teams trading wins and loses using a loophole in the Arena system. To achieve this,  both teams of similar ratings, usually brought for hundreds of gold, try to queue for an arena game at the same timeusing a voice chat program like Ventrilo. Most of the time, the two teams will end up seeing each other if the Arena game pops at the same time for both teams. If they want, the Losing team can send in a member to check if there is anyone in the opposing team. If there is no one for 5 seconds, this makes they are in the same game and that member will give the signal for the rest of the members on both teams to enter. Method will probably change from team to team but this general idea from what I’m told and understand.

Game trading is usually done at late night or early morning where there are few teams actually playing. Since there are few teams over 2000 arena ratings, this method works best with teams in the 2000 ratings since the prized S3 shoulders can be obtained as well.

Personally, I’m glad to see Blizzard taking action on win-trading as this makes Arena completey pointless. For better or worse, I’m sure many win traders that got caught will probably quit World of Warcraft, if temporary. Heck, I would if all my S3 gear was removed and now I have to start all over. I’m sure patch 2.4.2 will also put an end to team selling as well.

Blizzard’s forum response can be found here.

Here are some of the notable changes in the upcoming 2.4.2 patch.

-Hunter: Aspect of the Viper now gives additional mana every 5 seconds equal to 35% of the Hunter’s level
-Hunter: Growl now scales with Hunter’s Attack Power, not pet’s (Yay)
-Mage: Two new Portal Spells (Stonard and Theramore)
-Mage: Improved Blink (talent) now reduces chance to be hit by 13/25%
-Mage: Mage Armor now no longer reduces the duration of buffs
-Paladin: Seal of the Crusader now increases Crusader Strike damage by 40%
-Paladin: Crusader Strike now fixed to receive damage increase from Seal of the Crusader
-Priest: Fear Ward will no longer be consumed while under the effects of Cyclone
-Priest: Power Infusion now consumes the correct amount of mana when cast on self
-Shaman: Frostbrand (rank 6) damage increased slighty

-Arena PvP: If a character’s personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating
-Arena PvP: If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team’s rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating
Note: These changes are to stop team trading

-Profession: 23 hour cooldowns reduced to 20 hour cooldowns
-Profession: 4 day cooldowns reduced to 3 day and 20 hours
-Profession: Void Shatter cooldown removed, require 375 Enchanting
-Quick Dawnstone, Reckless Noble Topaz, Forceful Talasite are now all available at the Quel’danas gem vendor

Patch 2.4.2 is out. You can check it out at World of Warcraft’s Patch Notes page.

More Undocumented Changes:
-New PvP trinket added and costs about 40k honor
-Added Purified Shadowsong Amethyst to Shattered Sun vendor
-New mount enchants: Carrot of a Stick, Crow Speed, Riding Crop, and Skybreaker Whip
-New Zebra and Headless Horseman Mounts

Notable Changes in Patch 2.4:
-Improved UI changes
-Resilience now affects mana drain effects (boo)
-Intellect now affects mana regeneration
-Weapon SKills are gained quicker from 1-59 (Yay, time to level my alts)
-Daily Quest increased to 25 (Blizzard’s attempt to destroy the gold selling services)
-Many class skills no longer breaks CC (ex. Avenger’s Shield, Cleave,…)
-Diminishing returns on honor for kills removed
-PvP Honor Points are calculated and available to use instantly
-Added Honor Mark turn in for honor points, 1 mark from each Battlegrounds (Finally!)
-Alterac Valley: Horde now start closer to Frostwolf Keep (let’s see how this goes)
-Warsong Gulch: Flag carriers now recieve 50% more damage after 10 minutes and 100% after 15 minutes (Die Druids!!). Additionally, flag carriers can be tracked now after 45 seconds after picking up the flag
-Changes to game physics to fix wall climbing (Undocumented)

-New 2.4 Items: Claw of Molten Fury & Fist of Molten Fury added to Hyjal loot table (Undocumented)
-Philosopher’s Stone now a trinket item (Undocumented)
-New PvP Mounts: Swift Warstrider and Black War Elekk (Undocumented - wish they added the White Warstrider a few PTR patches back to Patch 2.4)

-Druid: Cyclone reduced from 30 yards to 20 yards
-Druid: Lifebloom’s final heal effect reduced by 20% (boo, this my favorite heal)
-Druid: Regrowth mana cost reduced by 20%
-Druid: PvP set bonus changes Balance and Restoration
-Druid: Moonkin and Tree Form now auto shift out when trying to mount (Undocumented)

-Hunter: Improved Mend Pet first talent point increased from 15% to 25%, while second talent point still at 50%

-Mage: New Talent - Molten Shield - cause your Fire Ward to have a 10/20% chance to reflect Fire spells while active. In addition, your Molten Armor has a 50/100% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks
-Mage: Arcane Explosion damage cap increased by 50%
-Mage: Icy Veins no longer increase Freezing effect but now avoid pushback while casting

-Paladin: Seal of Blood no longer cause spell pushback
-Paladin: Resilience added to all Retribution PvP set items (Why didn’t Blizzard add them in before??)

-Priest: Chastise now is instant cast and roots the target for 2 seconds instead of disorients
-Priest: Mass Dispel now affects up to 10 targets instead of 5
-Priest: Power Infusion now increases spell haste by 20% and reduces the mana cost of all spells by 20% for 15 second

-Rogue: Puncturing Wounds, replaces Improved Backstab, increases your critical strike chance with Backstab by 10/20/30%, and the critical strike chance with your Mutilate ability by 5/10/15%
-Rogue: Cheat Death properly reduces damage (Undocumented - bugged reduced 90% from incoming damage then absorbs another 90% for 99% total - GOOD!! Damn, Cheat Death)

-Shaman: Shamanistic Rage is now a physical ability not a Magic spell (no more dispels)
-Shaman: Healing Grace talent now reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 10/20/30%
-Shaman: Stormstrike has a new icon (YES!!!)

-Warlock: Demonic Knowledge now increase your spell damage by an amount equal to 4/8/12%, down from 5/10/15% (Didn’t think there’s a patch without a Warlock nerf did you??)
-Warlock: Emberstorm now also reduces the cast time of your incinerate spell by 2/4/6/8/10%

-Warrior: Improved Hamstring is now affected with diminishing returns in PvP
-Warrior: Whirlwind critical strikes with the off-hand weapon can now trigger Flurry and Rampage
-Warrior: Fixed Spell Reflect sit spam bug (Undocumented)

New Faction: The Shattered Sun Offensive
Shattered Sun Offensive Reward Items
New Badge Reward Items (World of Raids) Obtainable from Smith Hauthaa after Phase 3 of the Sun’s Reach
Epic Gems are obtainable in 2.4 from Shaani with 15 Badges

Note: The Shattered Sun Offensive dailies in Outlands will yield Shattered Sun Supplies which contains a random green and, if lucky, Badge of Justice!!

New Armor Set Items!!
2.4 Tier 6 Armor Set Items
Reputation PvP Set Items(aka Welfare Gear for the New 70) (YAY!! Now I will not get 1 shot in PvP…it will take 2 shots to kill my new alt)