Archive for August, 2008
Enhancement is generally viewed as the solo Power leveling tree as it offers you the most continuous play time without stopping to drink or eat. Once you go far enough into the tree you gain many options that can make you viable in PvE, PvP and Power leveling Raid situations for DPS.
This Enhancement talent guide goes over each of the talents in the Shaman’s enhancement talent tree. The enhancement talent tree is for Shaman that spend most of their time in melee combat. The tree offers abilities that allow you to do more damage and survive longer in melee combat.Nature’s Guardian: this talent is a passive one that provides up to a 50% chance to heal 10% of your total health anytime you are damaged from an attack that takes you below 30% health.
Some players are confused by this at first as it doesn’t seem to be that good by the exact definition. In actual fact it works any time you take damage that takes you below 30% even if you are already below 30%. You could be at 15%, take a hit and get healed to 25%. Then after the 5 second cool down still be at 25% and take another hit and get healed to 35%.
Easier said than done, of course, but the comp with the simplest strategies often also have the simplest solution. This is why Mages have a decent chance against Cleave, because the combination of Frost Armor, Blink, and Frost Nova are bad news for them. Ice Block even buys the Mage some time. The goal is to kite, heal, and control throughout the match. Accomplish this long enough and even the all-powerful Cleave train will run out of steam.
Allows 10/20/30% of your mana regen to continue while casting. Every druid, no matter spec, should consider this talent (it has bonuses for ferals as well) as it is remarkably powerful. This talent reduces the mana cost of Tranquility and Healing Touch by 2/4/6/8/10%. This may not be worth taking, however, if you are not a 0/0/61 or 1/0/60 raid spec, as Healing Touch and Tranquility are highly situational.
Increases your total Spirit by 5/10/15%. Since Spirit is connected with mana regeneration, this is another helping hand on the way to keeping your mana pool available to you. Though this form limits what healing spells you can cast, their cost is reduced by 20%. This form should be used wherever mobility isn’t an issue, due to the 20% movement speed decrease.Since Tank Talk began, we’ve gotten a few questions from people about raid fights that require tanks to use resist gear. With all of Burning Crusade’s raid attunements now removed, and with lots of World of Warcraft Gold guilds testing the waters in Tier 5 and Tier 6 before Wrath hits, I figure now’s as good a time as any to discuss what resist sets you’re going to want if your guild is intent on progression. The resist gear issue is nowhere near as dire as it was in vanilla WoW (Molten Core, anyone?) and in general the raid as a whole rarely needs to worry.
With the help of the new Fishing daily quest (which added some much-needed fun to the profession) I hit 375 in all of my secondary skills last week. That’s right, I even have Cooking maxed (which is easy to do, especially when you’re fishing a lot). Of course, I DON’T have my weapon skills maxed yet. I’ve been using almost nothing but a dagger since I hit Outland, and since I’m Elemental, I don’t even use THAT very often. Usually just to deliver Flametongue for the last 5% of a creature’s health, so I don’t waste mana. In fact, my 2-handed Axes and Maces skills are only at 1 right now. I felt a need to train those talents, even though I’ve never used them. Hey, it was only 20 silver.
This is a great LOTRO Gold ability, the only issue is that this far into the restoration tree, you are not likely to be attacked directly that often. It should be amazing in the enhancement tree, but here, its only a good talent. In PvP it’s great as it makes you hard to kill, however in PvP most group healing is done by Paladins with plate, or Priests with shields and fear.
Another vacation! There are multiple nontraditional “tanks” on the High King Maulgar fight — ranged DPS typically “tanks” Kiggler the Crazed, a high-stamina mage Spellsteals Krosh Firehand’s damage-reduction buff and tanks him, and warlocks enslave Olm the Summoner’s felhound adds and use those to tank him. The two or three real tanks on the fight will be occupied with tanking Blindeye the Seer (who hits like a wet noodle), “tanking” Olm just to keep him distracted while warlocks enslave new felhounds, and — the big one — tanking the High King himself. If you’re the High King tank, you’ll want a high-mitigation/high-avoidance gear set for EQ2 Gold as he hits fairly hard for a Kara-geared tank.Stat balancing-in the Burning Crusade tanking as Paladin involves a lot of balancing and juggling of stats. These consist of all the normal tanking stats like stamina, defense, block, dodge, etc. However as a Paladin you also rely heavily on spell damage for threat. This means aiming for and collecting +spell damage gear, primarily a high +spell damage weapon (see next point). In the expansion this changes drastically for a few reasons, but primarily that your stamina now converts to +spell damage through a talent. This change will drastically change how you gear your Paladin for WoW Gold, since stacking stamina is now almost always the answer.
Though this is only helpful for restoration druids, it decreases on use your healing spellcast costs by 22. Now, this may not look like a lot, but with five casts of Lifebloom within this 15 second timer, you have already saved mana equivalent to one free Lifebloom. And with its nice bonus to healing, this is an all-around good trinket.
Most people are raiding at least into Kara these days, so I don’t see this as too high a goal to consider unreasonable (drops from Shade, one of my favorite boss fights). This pretty trinket, though having no “equip” effect, on use will return you 21 mp5 per mana-costing spellcast for its 20 second duration. Of course, you have to remember that as soon as the 20 seconds are up, all that mp5 disappears, so your spell cast speed should still slowdown a bit to take advantage of this FFXI Gold ability. As it only has a two minute cooldown, it is good to use this trinket whenever it is available. And since this operates on mp5 and not on spirit, pairing it with your innervate will give no special bonuses.
The players are busy in gettting ready to the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft. Many go along in that they have always and expect things to continue as they have in the past. That is what made going into the beta. The class change by leaps and bounds that it was almost all new. Just how much does one class change?
Here we go. Tier 5 is where you’ll really have to start worrying about building different resist sets. Hydross the Unstable is the big one. It’s not that unusual for WoW Powerleveling guilds to skip him (if you stay to the extreme left of his platform and keep going, he won’t aggro) and head straight to the easier Lurker Below. This used to give guilds and tanks a little more time to get their Hydross resist sets together — or at least that’s what everyone used to do before it was possible to clear trash all the way to Vashj. Hydross requires at least 3 to 4 tanks, one of whom must be capped (365) frost-resist, and one of whom must be capped (365) nature-resist. The other one or two tanks will be tanking the four adds that Hydross spawns each time he changes form, and they can use either a mixture of nature and frost resist gear or simply use high-stamina gear (after experimenting with the former, I found that a high-stam set was ultimately more useful).
A word of warning; the amount of time, money, and sheer hassle that goes into making a full frost- or nature-resist set for a tank is exorbitant. The fight was basically a pacing mechanism, as you couldn’t do Vashj without killing Hydross. Now that that’s no longer true, you may wish to skip Hydross entirely because he doesn’t drop anything particularly compelling (badge gear is generally better) and you will not need Guild Wars Gold frost or nature-resist set for any other BC raid. Also, if your guild is heavily reliant on Druid tanks, you’re out of luck; there is no epic frost or nature-resist leather in BC. You can put together usable Druid tanking sets if you get lucky with green or blue resist gear on the AH, but the stats are rarely as good as the ones on the epic plate resist gear available. In general, plan on using warriors or paladins as main tanks on the fight with your druids as off-tanks.
Weapon Choices-Previously we were all forced to look for what is essentially a caster weapon, with high spell damage on it so that we could get enough spell damage to tank. With the new talents and converting stamina to spell power, we will not need as much as previous. Tie that in with the great new ability Hammer of the Righteous that hits 4 enemies with holy damage equal to your weapon damage and you will more than likely start looking for a big slow one handed weapon instead. For pure AOE tanking you’ll probably want to keep a spell damage weapon around, but when tanking 4 or less mobs, the big damage weapon is going to be far superior.
Phaelia over at Resto4Life wrote an in-depth article describing how best to use this to buy WoW Gold particular trinket. Its on-use ability increases the wearer’s spirit. This works well with innervate, which increases your spirit-based mana regen by 400%, and 100% while casting. Couple with a high-spirit weapon to switch out and your mana will boost rapidly. Its equip ability is handy as well when it procs.
This allows, on a 2% chance proc, with each spellcast to gain mana regeneration while casting. This is a good trinket to have if you are strapped for mana or an anticipating a long fight. Without an equip use, however, it is slightly weaker than a trinket with straight mana regen. Natural Perfection’s Aftereight wrote a very nice article about it.
Having said that, if you’re a raid completist like me or you’re just stubborn as hell, start stockpiling materials for the sets as soon as you can. I started putting together a list of individual items needed, but frankly I can’t do it any better than Wowwiki already has. Wowwiki’s Hydross Resist Gear is basically the fight’s gearing bible and gives an excellent run-down on exactly what you’ll need in each slot. But to give you a shortcut at what you’re looking at, let’s assume for the moment that you’ll use one or two offtanks with high-stamina rather than resist gear and you’re just worried about two 365+ resist WoW Power leveling sets for your main Hydross tanks.
Consecration will gain 1 damage from 3.1 AP or spell power. Depending on your most used abilities it will determine which you should stack. With the change to 2 strength adding a block value for Paladins as well, you may start looking for some strength on your gear as well.
Holy Damage-your holy damage and your threat cam from your spell power almost exist in Burning Crusade exclusively. Though in Wrath of the Lich King, many of our spell coefficients have been changed to factor in our attack Power (AP) when figuring out damage. Just two examples of how this will equate to damage and therefore threat are: Seal of Righteousness will gain 1 AoC Gold damage per 8.3AP and 3.8 spell power.
Now that the beta has gone up, we have a few actual examples of inscriptions and what they might need, though so far we still aren’t seeing any inscriptions that add to spell effects. Inscriptions evidently require various kinds of ink, which will be made from herbs by a skill called Milling, which destroys five herbs to create ink (very like jewelcrafting’s Prospecting). Parchment will also be required to create scrolls, although the items it’s made from are not yet implemented. And what could this Mysterious Tarot be? Maybe just a high-level parchment, given that it requires the same reagents, only more of them? There’s another skill called Decipher that “allows the deciphering of tomes, books, and scrolls,” though what that might mean I”m not entirely sure.
While every class is getting new talents and spells in Wrath, there are three big, brand-new additions to the game: Death Knights, Northrend, and the new profession: Inscription. We’ve known for a little while that the general gist of Inscription would be to add effects to spells you already have, like a knockback to your fireball - basically enchantments for your skills.
Many peoplewill be curious what, exaclty, people are going to need for Inscription, so you can get started stockpiling it now and make a killing when the expansion hits (hat tip to clueless_noob). So far, all I can tell you is that Peacebloom, Silverleaf, and Earthroot appear to be used in the beginning inks; it’s a fair guess that some higher-level herbs will get used later on as well. So I’d say hold on to those low-level herbs - I know I will be, instead of vendoring them like I usually do.
We do know that people who have inscription will be able to create scrolls, such as the stat scrolls we all know and love to vendor, as well as something intriguing called Scroll of Recall. Hearthstone scroll, anyone? At least I really, really hope that’s what it is. I miss SoR from my MUDding days.
Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development
Founded: 1984 (as Nintendo Research and Development 1)
Headquarters: Kyoto, Japan
Three years ago, Nintendo EAD might not have made this list, given their waning influence. Today, the prolific studio might be as powerful as half of the others on our list, thanks to the phenomenal success of both the Wii and DS. Largly under the direction of Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo EAD and its various sub groups have created the following household names in gaming: Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Mario Kart, including several new ones like Nintendogs, Wii Sports, and Wii Fit. And they still have everyone guessing.
Epic Games
Founded: 1991
Headquarters: Cary, North Carolina
With the release of its first breakout game (Unreal Tournament), Epic Games has been hawking hard-edged, sci-fi shooters to significant fanfare for nearly a decade. The debut of Gears of War in 2006 on Xbox 360 solidified the studio as a current-gen powerhouse, not to mention their lucrative middleware engine which has been licensed by hundreds of other games. Beefy characters are here to stay, it seems.
Bungie
Founded: 1991
Headquarters: Kirkland, Washington
As the video game industry intensified in the 90s, it became increasingly difficult for developers to enjoy Super Mario 3-like sales of 18 million units sold. But if there’s one developer still capable of killer-app type launch hysteria, it’s Bungie, makers of Halo. And not only does Bungie design marketable blockbusters, it’s credited for popularizing the most dominant console genre today, first-person shooters.
Rockstar North
Founded: 1988 (as DMA Design)
Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland
It’s funny to think that the creator of the adorable Lemmings would go on to develop one of the most controversial and politically-fueled franchises of the last decade, Grand Theft Auto. But Rockstar North did more than bank on shock-value to rise to the top. As gamers know, the GTA series has become synonymous with sophisticated presentation, deft parody, “open-world” gameplay, and addicting loiterer. Plus, it lets you mow down innocent bystanders, which is always fun.
Maxis Software
Founded: 1987
Headquarters: Emeryville, California
You might not know it, but Maxis Software is the studio behind the best-selling computer game of all time, The Sims. Thanks to its feminine appeal, and excluding earlier games like SimCity, The Sims has sold more than 100 million games worldwide (!) — the third best-selling franchise of all time. It’s no wonder then that company’s next (not to mention prolonged) god game, Spore, is one of the most anticipated games of 2008.
EA Tiburon
Founded: 1994
Headquarters: Orlando, Florida
World, I’d like you to meet the king of sports video games, the sultan of simulation, the Madden-maker… EA Tiburon. It’s a funny-sounding name, but the studio’s yearly success and industry clout is no laughing matter, as Madden NFL Football is the highest grossing property in video game history. And to think the studio was started by just three Southern programmers — humble beginnings, indeed.
Sony Computer Entertainment
Founded: 1993
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Had it not been for a dissolved partnership between Nintendo and Sony in 1991, there probably wouldn’t be a PlayStation, nor the numerous and impressive games that come with it by way of Sony’s internal development studios. Roll credits, please: God of War, Gran Turismo, Hot Shots Golf, ICO/Shadow of the Colossus, Killzone, the first-party MLB and NBA franchises, Ratchet & Clank, SingStar, SOCOM, Twisted Metal, and many more — all PlayStation exclusives. Thanks, Nintendo.
Blizzard Entertainment
Founded: 1991 (as Silicon & Synapse)
Headquarters: Irvine, California
There must be something in the water in Irvine. Either that or some hidden crack-cocaine between lines of Blizzard game code, because the hard-to-put-down studio is notorious for making some of the most addicting games of all time, namely Diablo, Starcraft, and the grandaddy of them all, World of Warcraft. How else would you convince 10 million subscribing fiends to pay $15 per month? This is one developer everyone wants to be.
There will be short “Official weekly events” and “Long-term official events” held by GMs. while “Weekly system events” are the normally scheduled in game events players all enjoy. Wonderland Online updated a live event calendar for choosing event to the website. With this calendar, gamers can easily know what is going to happen in the next few days, so they can choose freely what they should attend.
Below are some of the interesting events being featured:
The Early Bird Gets the Worm
The event goal is to carry away all the items in the GM¡¯s tent.
Crazy Flea Market
Merchants from all over the world travel to Wonderland Online to find the strange and mysterious things that are on sale there. Many of them will even pay exorbitant prices for the items they want. Find out what they want and sell it to them to make some easy money.
Righteous Harter
No one knows where Harter came from. Some say outer space, some say he crawled from the swamp. One thing is known though, he will never say no to a friend; and as he always says ¡°All the players are my friends!¡± If players would like to pay Harter a small fee, he will help them to complete a difficult quest.
Search for a Super Pet
There are many different pets in Wonderland Online, a GM will guide players to search for a rare pet, such as the Unicorn, Clumsy Elephant, Pumpkin Monster.
They’ve finished the planning for the Deployment 13 build and while they don’t want to spoil the surprise, they can say that for D13 they would like to finish a new map, complete some new v2 and v3 weapons, and make some very important and highly requested UI tweaks. There are plenty more changes planned for D13, but that’s all they can say for now. ..
The folks at Tabula Rasa have published their regular Feedback Friday feature where they let players know what the team has been spending their time on.
They said The time where the Tabula Rasa Developers get to speak directly about upcoming content and address topics submitted though their Feedback Form and forum posts. Now enough with the babble, let’s get to it!