New Druid Forms: Color Charts

We have some further detail on which hair/skin colors will result in which forms for the druids in the upcoming patch. With the possible exception of the change to shaman totems, this is really the 3.2 change that I am most looking forward to. This change is completely full of win on an epic scale.

The source of this information is EpicWins.com. You can check the link there for information on where to find your nearest barbers to getting the job done.

Also, here are some links to the image charts you can use to determine which changes you need to make for the form that best suits your taste. Clicking the image will direct you back to EpicWins’s website.

[EDIT: Alright, EpicWins.com took down their pictures and deleted the post that they were in as well as everything else Warcraft related. As such, I’ve looked for some other pictures to use here instead. These I’m borrowing from MMO-Champion instead. The small images here I host in my photo-bucket account, but clicking them will link you to MMO Champ instead.]

Tauren




Night Elf

 

New BoA Chests: Stats and Costs

Alright, there is a lot of buzz going on right now about BoA Chest pieces coming out in 3.2. As such, I went and did a little research to find the information for you.

I see no reason to waste time with further chatter, so on with the details!

Does Bonus Exp From BoA Chests Stack With BoA Shoulders?
Yes.

It has been confirmed that the 10% experience bonuses offered by the new BoA Chests do stack with the BoA Shoulders.

There you have it, +20% experience when wearing these two pieces together. If you use the Recruit A Friend bonus, then you get 320% experience total. If you do not use RAF, but you do have Rested Experience saved up, then you get +120% experience.

But no, RAF and Rested do not stack themselves, so as of 3.2 you can either do 320% bonus exp with RAF plus both Heirloom pieces, or 120% if you have both pieces and are rested but are not using RAF.

[Update: Apparently the cost plan fell through or something got changed. The cost of all BoA Chests is currently 40 Emblems of Heroism. No information released yet on whether this was an error, intentional, plans to be changed, etc.]

Show Me The Goods!
Without further delay, here are the new Heirloom Chest pieces:

NAME	TYPE	VENDOR LOC	COST	NAMESAKE
Tattered Dreadmist Robe	Cloth	Icecrown	60 cs*	Dreadmist Robe
STATS: +16 Stamina, +16 Intellect, +21 Spirit, +25 Spell Power
Preened Ironfeather Breastplate	Spell Leather	Icecrown	60 cs*	Ironfeather Breastplate
STATS: +16 Stamina, +16 Intellect, +21 Spirit, +25 Spell Power
Stained Shadowcraft Tunic	Leather	Icecrown	60 cs*	Shadowcraft Tunic
STATS: +32 Stamina, +21 Hit Rating, +43 Attack Power
Mystical Vest of Elements	Spell Mail	Icecrown	60 cs*	Vest of Elements
STATS: +16 Stamina, +16 Intellect, 10 MP5, +25 Spell Power
Champion’s Deathdealer Breastplate	Mail	Icecrown	60 cs*	Deathdealer Breastplate
STATS: +21 Agility, +21 Stamina, +14 Intellect, +43 Attack Power
Polished Breastplate of Valor	Plate	Icecrown	60 cs*	Breastplate of Valor
STATS: +24 Strength, +24 Stamina, +21 Critical Strike Rating

cs*: Champion’s Seal



All of the new chest pieces will be found in Icecrown, and all of them will cost 60 Champion’s Seals. The link above will give you information on the seals themselves. [Update: People on the PTR say the cost is currently 40 rather than 60, and that the cost is in existing emblems rather than Champion Seals. Right now who knows what’s right? I will keep this updated as more information is presented to me.]

All of these chest pieces have Equip: Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%. (Just thought I would throw that in there before the question was asked.)

Item Level Calculations
You can follow this link to find a calculator to help you find the stats at various levels. I do not know how accurate it is, but this is the best I could find.

The site gives you two drop down boxes and two buttons to click. The first drop down and its associated button will look at whatever item you have selected and tell you what type of item it is at various levels. For instance, if there is a Leather Chest that becomes Mail at level 40, then it will tell you at which levels those changes are made.

The second drop down and it’s associated button will look for all heirloom items for whatever level you selected from the drop down list.

The one issue I have with the site is that it will not let you look for a single item of a single level to get all of the stats from just that item. You either see only what type of armor it is and at which levels it changes its type, or you will see every heirloom item in the game for the level that you picked. It’s not a bad site, and it does work fairly well, it just has not been optimized at this time.

Sources
All of the information you see here was gathered from either WoWWiki or WoWHead.

 

Patch 3.2: Full Notes Revealed

If you would like to see the full notes, I refer you to the following pages:

Latest Patch Notes: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/
Latest Test Realm Patch Notes: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The information found in the above links will remain updated as any further changes are made.

Psynister’s Thoughts
With so many patch notes, I’m not about to comment on every single one of them. However, I will talk about some of them below that have particularly caught my eye. Some of these changes I have already discussed and you can find by reading other articles I have posted over the last week or two.

New BoA Chests
New Portals and Zeppelins
Mount Changes
New Druid Cat and Dire Bear Forms

I welcome you all to share your thoughts on the patch here as well. Feel free to comment on the specifics I point out here, or any other portion of the patch notes that I do not specifically cover.

The following points will be broken down into the same category they fall under within the patch notes.

For the individual class notes, there are many classes that I do not have enough experience playing to give an honest opinion on the changes, so I may skip over some of the specific classes. Nearly every class received at least some form of update though, so if you would like to get more details on those changes then I suggest you look at the patch notes yourself for the details.

General

The local Postal Service has grown tired of walking so far each day to collect mail and have decided to install a large number of new mailboxes to Stormwind, Undercity, Darnassus and Orgrimmar.

This is the only thing I want to point out in the General section that I have not already covered. The lack of mailboxes in many of the towns drives me crazy. Including “a large number of new mailboxes” in cities is an excellent change that I welcome with open arms. Tons of mailboxes and double bank and auction house locations are the one thing that I love about Silvermoon, and the lack thereof is the one thing I hate about everywhere else.

PvP

• Players will now be awarded experience for completing objectives and actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds (honorable kills not included).
• Players who do not wish to gain experience through PvP can visit Behsten in Stormwind or Slahtz in Orgrimmar – both located near the Battlemasters in either city – and turn off all experience accumulation for the cost of 10 gold.
• Disabling experience gains will prevent a player from gaining experience through any means available in the game.
• Players with experience gains turned off who compete in Battlegrounds will face off only against other players with experience gains turned off.
• Behsten and Slahtz can reinstate experience gains for players, for a 10 gold fee of course. Any experience that would’ve been accumulated if experience gains were not turned off cannot be recovered.

This change holds a lot of potential. Finally we see something from Blizzard aimed directly at twinks. While I’m not a hardcore twink, I do enjoy doing it. Giving players the ability to shut off their experience gain is excellent. You can now power level your twinks to the desired level, turn off their experience gains, and then go farm all the items and achievements you want without having to worry.

It’s also worth noting the 4th bullet there. If you turn off your experience gain, you will only participate in battlegrounds with other players who also have it turned off. So basically we have an opportunity have have twink vs twink and non-twink vs non-twink battlegrounds, so those of use who do like PvP but don’t like going up against players who live solely for that reason might actually stand a chance.

Now, there’s nothing stopping those twinks from turning their experience gain back on before a BG so they can face non-twinks instead, but they have to fork over 10g every time they want to make the change back and forth.

Races: General

Axe Specialization (Orc): The weapon bonus from this effect now applies to fist weapons in addition to axes.

Orcs are now able to apply their racial specialization to fist weapons. Shamans and Rogues are the only classes I ever see using fist weapons, and shamans far more than rogues. Not a big deal in my opinion, but it might bring a little more attention to the orcs.

Items: General

• Block Value: The amount of bonus block value on all items has been doubled. This does not affect the base block value on shields or block value derived from strength.
• Mana Regeneration: All items that provide “X mana per five seconds” have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%

Increased bonuses to block value is a pretty big deal. It doesn’t double from the shield itself, nor from your Strength score, but all other equipment that grants you bonus Block will be increased. My Prot Paladin readers should love this one.
After posting this the thought occurred to me to actually look at some gear out there, and after having done that I’m really not entirely sure that this is going to be that big of a deal. There aren’t all that many options for increasing your Block, and the ones that do aren’t necessarily worth taking over other pieces that don’t. For now I’m going to jump over to being neutral on this one until I’ve had a chance to do some more looking. Extra block value is always good, but the change itself might not have all that much impact.

A lot of people threw fits about Mana Regeneration nerfs in the previous patch. I don’t know that this is going to solve any of those opened wounds, but at least we’re seeing a little bit of an increase in mana regen.

Classes: General

Silence, Strangulate, Silencing Shot, and Arcane Torrent: These abilities will also apply a 3 second interrupt effect against non-player controlled targets, making them more versatile against creatures immune to silencing effects.

This change might be nothing, and it might be a life saver. Being able to use them as spell interrupts even against targets that are immune to silence can be a very welcome addition to your arsenal if you happen to play a race/class that has these abilities.

Death Knights

Due to significant talent changes, all death knight talents will be reset for players.

Death Knights are the only class mentioned as receiving all of their talent points refunded. If you have a build that you like and don’t want to forget it then I suggest you copy it down somewhere before the slates are wiped clean.

I make no claims towards being knowledgeable about Death Knights. Since I don’t know how significant the impact of these changes are going to be, I will leave it to others who know more about the subject to give details concerning them.

Mages

Invisibility: Can no longer be interrupted by a hostile action or damage done during the 3 second fade time, however an invisible mage can still be stunned or silenced.

This is the main update that interests me in the mage. There’s nothing worse than knowing that you have to flee in order to survive, popping invisibility, and then immediately finding it disrupted right in the middle from some random hit.

Paladins

• Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now also increases stamina by 10%. This effect is not cumulative with Blessing of Kings.
• Exorcism: Now has a 1.5 second cast time, but can once again be used on players.
• Hand of Reckoning: Redesigned. Now does damage only when target does not currently have the caster targeted, but damage done increased to 50% of attack power, occurring after the taunt effect is applied.
• Lay on Hands: The buff from this ability now reduces the physical damage taken by the target by 10/20% instead of increasing the target’s armor.

Paladins have the longest list of changes in this patch, and they really covered a lot of different points. All specs are going to feel the effects of this patch in one way or another.

Since I have recently devoted much of the blog to Protection Paladins I am going to discuss more of their points than others.

Blessing of Sanctuary not giving +10% Stamina is HUGE. This effect is in addition to the effect that it already has. Not only are you gaining more hit points, which is always good for a tank, but you are also increasing your spell power (assuming you’ve spent the talents points for it) which in turn will increase the amount of threat that you are able to generate.

I really don’t like the change to Exorcism. I do like that you will be able to use it on players again for when I do happen to need to PvP, but adding a cast time completely removes it as a viable option for being included in my tanking rotation or as a form of taunt to get stray mobs to turn their focus back to me. If there was anything I would be willing to do a little QQ over, it would be this. But, it’s not essential in any way, so overall I dislike it but really don’t care at the same time.

Lay on Hands provided a damage reduction buff rather than bonus armor makes this an even more effective tool for use in grinding and farming, as well as tanking in general.

Rogues

After much quiet contemplation, rogues now possess the ability to learn how to use one-handed axes.

Giving rogues more options for better weapons is sure to thrill the rogues out there. I’m not a huge fan of the class myself, but it seems like a good change to me and I’m sure most rogue players will be pleased with it.

Shamans

• A customizable totem bar will now be available for shaman allowing the storing of 4 different totems. These totems can be placed on the ground at once in one global cooldown for the combined mana cost of all 4 totems.
• Base health increased by approximately 7% to correct for shamans having lower health than other classes.

The shaman is also receiving quite a few changes in this patch, so I would suggest you go take a look at the full notes if you happen to play one.

The new totem bar options are going to be a huge benefit to shamans everywhere. Being able to drop all four totems at once, on a single cooldown is huge. You have three customizable options for each spec, thus dual spec players can have up to 6, so you can get different groups of totems set up for different occasions.

The increase in base hit points for shamans is something that is definitely overdue. In articles read prior to full patch notes being released an interview revealed that nobody on the current team remembers why shamans had the lowest health pools in the game and that they would fix it in 3.2.

User Interface

• Character name auto-completion for the chat frame, pop-ups, and mail interface can be enabled through an interface option in the Development settings.
• Character names can now be colorized according to class in the chat frame through an interface option in the Development settings.
• Casting bars under a target’s portrait will now indicate whether or not the cast can be interrupted.
• Druids will now be able to see their mana bars when shape-shifted.
• Item Comparisons: Holding the shift key while hovering over an item will now display the stat differences with the item currently equipped in the relevant slot.
• Macros and scripts will no longer be able to target totems by name.
• Quest creatures and objects will now show on the player’s world map.
• The quest log is now double-paned for more easily viewing quest information.
• Vendor prices will now be listed on items whether or not players are at a vendor.

I think the most profound impact form this patch is going to be right here in the user interface. Many of these changes are going to do away with the need for existing addons.

The first four items on the list probably hold the least impact, but there are existing mods that provide this same functionality.

Being able to see whether or not it is possible to interrupt a spell will save some players the hassle of wasting their interrupts, or perhaps it might prompt them to use them more frequently depending on the situation.

The Item Comparisons may very well take the place of the RatingsBuster addon as it performs nearly the exact functionality. The one benefit that RB still holds over this is that it does it for you automatically where the new option requires you to hold the Shift key in order to see the information.

Macros/Scripts not being able to target totems is going to make pvp against shamans a bit more of a struggle, which is actually a very good thing for those of us who like playing shamans. Macros that do this completely defeat one of the prime resources that shamans have to offer.

Quest Creatures/Objects showing up on maps, along with the changes to quests in the previous patch almost completely defeats the need for addons such as QuestHelper and Carbonite. Whether the new changes will work as well as these addons still remains to be seen, but there is potential now to see these addons sent to their graves.

Vendor prices listed on items will help you select your quest rewards if you wish only to sell the item instead of using or disenchanting it. I use an addon for this very purpose right now. I don’t remember the name of the one I use right off the top of my head, but it’s another addon being replaced by new in-game options.

Quests

The ravasaur trainer Mor’vek has returned to Un’Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount… if they can survive the creature’s deadly poison.

Since this is mentioned as a “return” I will assume that this is something that was available before I started playing the game as I do not remember ever hearing his name even mentioned. But the addition of another mount, and a horde-only one at that (For the Horde!) is good news in my book.

Professions
There is quite a list of profession changes. I only have a firm grasp on the workings of a few professions, and those happen to be the ones receiving the fewest number of updates.

I will leave the details of these changes for someone else to go over since I know that my own knowledge is lacking. From what I can tell, Jewelcrafting is going to receive the biggest change from this update.

Items

Non-Combat Pets: 8 new pets have been added (not including Argent Tournament rewards). Raptor Hatchlings can be found on rare and elite raptors throughout the game world. In addition, an Obsidian Raptor Hatchling can be purchased from Breanni in Dalaran.

For those pet lovers out there, and you all know who you are, there are now eight more for you to rush out and collect. While I do get a few pets on all of my characters, I’m not really into collecting things that have no real impact on the game itself, so I’m certainly not a pet collector myself.

Similar to professions, there are quite a few updates in the item category, so I suggest you take a look at the information at the actual patch notes if you are interested.

 

Patch 3.2: New BoA Chests

[Update 07/28/2009: For more detailed information, please look at the new post on this subject: New BoA Chests: Stats and Costs. And to save many of you some time, YES they stack.]

In my daily checks around the various WoW blogs that I visit, I stumbled onto an article that mentioned yet another change coming soon in Patch 3.2 – BoA Chests.

The new BoA Chests are going to offer a +10% Experience bonus just like the BoA Shoulders already do. The big kicker with this though, is that these two pieces of gear are going to stack. So you now have an opportunity to get +20% experience from your equipment alone. Of course you still have the option of Recruit A Friend for +300% experience, or the ever-useful +100% bonus you get from being rested. Note: As Brajana pointed out in the comments below, Rested and RAF bonuses do not stack, so +320% will be the highest bonus you can obtain.

So far we don’t have any real detail on what the chest pieces are going to offer other than the bonus experience, but I would imagine they will provide similar benefits to the other heirloom items that already exist. From what I was able to find there has been no mention of prices for them either. I would assume that you will have the same options you do now with X Stonekeeper Shards and X Emblems to purchase them, but we have no details at this time.

Where Psynister Stands
I absolutely love this idea!

I have been putting off leveling my paladin because I am having so much fun with my other characters right now, notably Belgawrath (Orc Shaman 35). But, I might go ahead and get back to leveling Lexington and getting him up to 80 so that I can work on getting some of the heirloom gear for my characters. It will mean I have to leave my fun lower level toons alone for a while, but it will also mean getting to spend more time focusing on my leveling toons later on down the road.

While I love leveling up my characters, that doesn’t mean I don’t mind speeding up the process. The faster one character levels, the sooner I can move on to another one.

Where Others Stand
I know when the shoulders were introduced I heard several people pouring out the QQ that the Recruit A Friend benefit had been cheapened by them, so I’m sure there will be plenty of that to go around again.

On the flip side of that though, there are enough people who hate the process of leveling alts that they will probably rejoice at this idea almost as much as I do. With both BoA experience boosters and Rested status, you’ll be able to run around with +120% experience gained while you do it. If you happen to participate in RAF already, then you’re looking at 420% 320% experience. [Edit: no +100% rested when using RAF.] If that’s the case, then you might as well roll a new toon and just consider yourself level 60 because you will be there in no time at all.

Original Source
Zarhym blue.mmo-champion.com

 

Patch 3.2: New Portals and Zeppelins

The 3.2 news just keeps right on coming.

The News
New Zeppelin: Orgrimmar to Thunderbluff

You mean, no more 15 minute runs through some of the most boring terrain the game has to offer? Sweet!

New Portals: Orgrimmar and Stormwind both getting portals directly to the Dark Portal

You mean, no more portals to Stonard? Sweet!

What It Means
Further proof here that Blizzard is trying to lend new players and low level characters more of a hand to help them level up their toons and get them to Northrend faster and easier.

Personally, I love the idea of being able to go wherever I want to faster and easier. I love to level, but I hate running around simply for the sake of getting from one place to another. Now, if I can farm for either drops or my professions along the way, then I don’t really mind it. But if I’m just running from Point A to Point B simply because I need one, dinky little thing from Point B then I’m not a happy player.

Let the QQ Begin!
Yes, this does “dumb down” some of the things you had to do previously, and just like with the Mount Changes Post, I’m sure there will soon be a flood of QQ flooding the Barrens as everyone throws a fit at making old game contented “too easy” and that Blizzard is “conforming to the casuals” and so forth.

The people complaining about all that are primarily people who are already running around in Northrend. And do those players care about low level play anyway? No. So why bother with the QQ?

If you were Blizzard, who would you want to “conform” towards more: the people who praise your product and love what you’re doing to help them (the ones like me who rejoice at such news), or the ones that constantly cry and complain no matter how good, or bad, the changes might be? You can never please the drama queens, but the ones having fun are the ones bringing in new business as they share the game with other people.

Look here for more details.