Cataclysm

Patch 3.2: Shaman's new Totem Bars

Although I've stop playing World of Warcraft several months ago, I've been keeping my eye on the developement of the game, with more attention on my preferred charachter, the shaman.

This is a new "how to", showing the new shaman's totem bar.

It's all about rotation - part 1

The patch has landed! Enjoy it! Says WoW Wiki, and we enyoyed it a lot. Old addons does not work, but the new interface is way better than old one, Blizzard have done a great job on it (and it explain 2 GIGAs of patch, indeed). Graphic effects have been improved and there are now tons of achievements for the farming lovers.

But what about our loved Enhancement Shamans? There are lot of changes, affecting our solo grinding and or party/raid life.

Let's begin from the minor one.

Shapeshifting will no longer cancel Water Walking.
Ok, from now I can run like a ghost wolf on the sea, nice and maybe useful when running away from bad guys ;)

Windwall Totem has been removed.
Windwall Totem? Let me think... Windwall Totem?? Never heard of it... ;)

Rockbiter ranks 5 through 9 have been removed. Windfury Weapon is intended to replace Rockbiter at level 30.
Ok, let say they've nerfed RW from the beginning and now they could erase it from scratch.

The range of all "friendly totems" has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.
Very useful in party life. No more talent point wasted on it.

Ancestral Knowledge: Now increases your Intellect by 2/4/6%, instead of increasing your total Mana by 2/4/6/8/10%.
this one made pair with
Mental Dexterity: Increases your Attack Power by 33/66/100% of your Intellect.

On a base of 100 intellect points AK give us 6 points and MD double them, raising Attack Power of 212 points.

Grace of Air Totem has been removed! Agility has been rolled over into Strength of Earth Totem, that increases the strength and agility by 155 to all party members within 30 yards.

And now the core of enhancement's Enhancement. Let the fun begin!

The first new entry... Lava Lash!!!!
You charge your off-hand weapon with lava, instantly dealing 100% off-hand Weapon damage. Damage is increased by 25% if your off-hand weapon is enchanted with Flametongue.

And this is immediately inserted in the spell rotation! 100% off hand damage, a gratis fire attack.

Maelstrom Weapon proc chance reduced to 3/6/9/12/15% on critical hit when you deal damage with a melee weapon. Now affects chain heal.
When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you have a 100% chance to reduce the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Burst, Lesser Healing Wave, Chain Heal or Healing Wave spell by 20%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec.

It is real? Every 5 hit I've an istant, a Lighting Bolt or Chain Light in most common raid situation when someone else kindly heal me, and an istant Heal when in party or grinding all alone. This is the another big change in spell rotation!

Unleashed Rage is now raid wide and increases melee and ranged attack power within 45 yards.

This one will made you loved by every melee in your party/raid group!

Last but not least we have two lovely new friends, or Feral Spirits! Two Spirit Wolves under the command of the Shaman, lasting 45 sec.
They taunt, tank the target and heal the shaman for 150% of damage done. And they are pet!! Not like the elemental things, that you use the weapon unleashing an uncontrollable fire or earth guy. You have now your little useful panel to send the wolf attack a mob or another, using the ability or not, and so on.
Try summon the wolves and the fire elemental when in the middle of the fight with a huge cup of pop corn, and enjoy the number flying!



Ok, so after these little list of the new Enhancement talents and spells it's time to talk about HOW using them to maximize DPS. But to have useful datas about this central aspect of our battle life I need more time to view Recount data and try the different possible rotation.

See you, at part 2!!!

The One With the Netherwing Drake

Well I know, the title pay a debt to the time I've recently spent re-watching the entire 10-series cycle of the best sit com of the last 100 years, Friends. Just few hours after I've viewed the last scene, with the keys left on the Monica and Chandler's empty house, I've reached the exalted level of reputation with the Outdoor's dragons faction, the Netherwing.

The first time I've tried to cap my rep level I was an healer and not so good geared, and I remember hours spent trying to fill my bags of crystals and Netherdust Pollen being killed again and again from the elite patrolling the area. So I gave up and come back there only few weeks ago, with my fist weapon loaded with windfury power and the Merciless and Vengeful mail to protect me, discovering that the dailies are easy and not so boring, now that the mobs die very very fast. Ok, the one with the orc poisoning thing was a little boring but when you first reached Honored you could do [Disrupting the Twilight Portal] and at Revered [The Deadliest Trap Ever Laid] to gain 500 rep per day, beside the other quests.

So, three weeks (more or less) and now I've my personal, onyxian, shark faced (and not so "draconic") Netherwing mount! I've do the last quest, seen the ghostly version of Illidan Stormrage, enjoyed the dragon flight up to Shattrath and talked to Onyxien the Onyx Netherwing Drake and received

• Reins of the Onyx Netherwing Drake
  
• Binds when picked up
  
• Unique
  
• Mount
  
• Requires Level 70
  
• Requires Riding (300)
  
• Use: Summons and dismisses a rideable nether drake mount. This is a very fast mount. This mount can only be summoned in Outland.
  

In those weeks, while questing again and again, I've read something about the dragon I'm going to buy & fly, just to know more about the background side of Warcraft, that is quite always well build and very interesting.
First of all those we are going to ride are Nether dragon.

Nether dragons resembles a normal dragon, except being semi-transparent and having a shark-like jaws in nether drake form. They are fully sentient intelligent beings and speak Draconic like normal dragons. They also share the ability to learn magic and take humanoid forms. [cit] (that explains the sharp face!)

And those dragons are a spawn of Deathwing the Destroyer (aka Neltharion the Earth-Warder), come to Outland from Azeroth in the Second War.

Near the end of the Second War, the black dragon Deathwing traveled through the Dark Portal to Draenor. Believing the world to be a relatively safe haven for his offspring, he secreted away a cache of black dragon eggs. Following the war, Ner’zhul recklessly opened multiple portals on Draenor, and the magical stress tore the planet apart. The energies released in this catastrophe altered Deathwing’s eggs, resulting in the nether dragons: partially corporeal and partially ethereal dragons who possess the ability to shift between the astral and physical planes. Without Deathwing’s guidance, these otherworldly nether dragons are just now finding their own way among the blasted ruins of Outland.

Finally we come to the Netherwing faction:

One faction of nether dragons, named the Netherwing, were attacked by the Dragonmaw Orcs of Shadowmoon Valley and many were enslaved by Zuluhed, including the female Karynaku, mate of Neltharaku, leader of the brood. Their son Mordenai wanders the Netherwing Fields seeking adventurers to help free his mother and eventually help the Netherwing escape enslavement.

And now some pictures of the event!



A short clip showing the event:

Wrath of the Lich King

From the official Blizzard web site:

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft® Wrath of the Lich King™, the second expansion for its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), will arrive in stores on November 13 in North America, Europe, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Russia, and November 14 in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. The expansion will be available in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18. Details regarding the launch of Wrath of the Lich King in mainland China will be announced at a later date.

More interesting is the page about the Collector's Edition. I love video game artworks so every game, every new extension, I'd buy it in the extended version.

The Collector's Edition will come in a special box that contains many exclusive extras to enhance your adventure into Northrend, including:

* World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King on DVD-ROM.
* The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, a 208-page book featuring never-before-seen images from the game.
* An exclusive in-game pet: Frosty, the baby frost wyrm.
* A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, the Wrath of the Lich King intro cinematic with director’s commentary, and more.
* The official soundtrack CD, containing 21 epic tracks from the game, along with exclusive bonus tracks.
* A mouse pad featuring a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend.
* Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game March of the Legion™ starter decks, along with two exclusive cards available only in the Collector’s Edition.

Two months only and we could travel in the Arthas kingdom...

Dalaran

I remember the first time I've seen the lost city of Dalaran. I was a young shaman, about level 20, running shapeshifted like a ghost wolf in the low level zone of Silverpine Forest, enjoying a gentle rain on my brown fur. Inspecting the undead infested forest I came in front of a giant pink semisphere, created by magic and I stared at it.
It was awesome (remember, it was two years ago, far far from things like the Core, the Plaguelands and more far from the colorful beauty of the Outlands) and really really big in size.
Some days ago, after a badge run in the ancient rooms of the Medivh's Tower, Karazhan, a quest never completed [The New Directive] send me back to the city that I've to admit, I completely forgot.

So, this is a part of the story of Dalaran, as reported by wowwiki (to read the whole story click here):

Dalaran was one of the original human cities in the Arathorian Empire. Long the center of magical learning, a conclave of mages called the Kirin Tor oversaw its mystic happenings from the Violet Citadel. Undead forces overran the city in the Third War; and Archimonde, then the Burning Legion’s commander, destroyed the city with his foul magic. The Scourge abandoned the ruins, but a group of mages reclaimed it months later. Now, an opaque violet dome of magical energy covers and protects Dalaran. No means, either magic or mundane, can determine the goings-on inside the dome. Archmages patrol its perimeter, but the dome is powerful enough to destroy creatures that venture too close. The mages are certainly working on something — but none can discover what it is.

The quest reward:

• Violet Badge
  
• Binds when picked up
  
• Trinket
  
• +36 Stamina
  +45 Arcane Resistance