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@Celestalon Is this the Class changing push? or is this not yet the right build?
2 days ago by @MrMaelzo
@MrMaelzo These patch notes contain the aforementioned changes. They're ahead of the current PTR build.
2 days ago by Celestalon, Technical Game Designer
I wish you all the best of luck in acquiring the "Angelic" music track.
2 days ago by Jeremy Feasel, Senior Game Designer
@holinka @WarcraftDevs In 6.1, will you allow guild raid groups of 40 to queue into Ashran with the new changes?
3 days ago by @tempest3461
@tempest3461 Yes. If a member of your raid queues for Ashran, all other members of that raid will queue up for the same Ashran.
3 days ago by WarcraftDevs, Official
@WarcraftDevs Concerning: Class Xmog sets from Salvage. Why bother adding them to the game at all if some parts can't be xmogged? (Esp monk)
4 days ago by @load2326
@load2326 The items are invisible and we don’t allow transmog to invisible items at this time. We included them for completeness.
3 days ago by WarcraftDevs, Official

Blackrock Foundry Strategy Guides

6.1 PTR Patch Notes

Selfie Toy and Jukebox Music

New Blood Elf Models

Method's Mythic Brackenspore Guide

News Round Up: Patch 4.3.4 Live, Hotfixes and Customer Support Changes

posted 2012/04/17 at 3:21 PM by perculia

Kaivax

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm patch 4.3.4 is now available on all realms. Below you'll find the official patch notes.

Notes for all World of Warcraft patches can be found here.

Ticket Submission UI Improvements

A new Submit Bug button has been added. Clicking this option will open a report dialog box, along with basic instructions on what to include in your bug report.
A new Submit Suggestion button has been added. Clicking this option will open a text dialog box, along with a description of what to include in your suggestion.
The Report Lag button has been removed.
The Report Abuse button is now called Report Player.

The Report Player function offers four categories: Spamming, Language, Name, and Cheating.
Reporting a player for Cheating now opens a text window in which a description of the occurrence can be written.
Reporting a Name opens a window with three categories: Player Name, Guild Name, and Arena Team Name. There is also a text field for optional information.
Report Player now includes text and visual instructions for how to submit a report.

Right-clicking a character’s portrait now offers additional reporting options.

4/17 Hotfixes

Kaivax

Classes
Warlock
Destruction
Havoc no longer persists when the warlock changes to a spec that does not include the talent.

Items
Fras Siabi's Barely Bigger Beer is a now bit less big, and its effect no longer stacks.

UI
Inactive guild leader replacement now requires 90 days of absence, up from 30 days. Ascent to the rank of guild leader is now only available to guild members at Rank 2, 3, or 4.

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Mists of Pandaria: Jade Forest Quest Preview

posted 2012/03/31 at 9:46 PM by perculia

The Jade ForestTemple of the Jade SerpentOrder of the Cloud SerpentBarricade-Breaker CudgelJade Forest Quest ChainsThe White PawnWayward LandingHozenJinyuAnduin WrynnhereThe Jade SerpentDawn's BlossomThe Arboretum: Cloud SerpentsChun Tian MonasteryRuins of Gan ShiNectarbreeze OrchidBlizzard Q&A with Helen Cheng

Blizzard

Q. Could you name three places you feel players shouldn’t miss on their first trip through the zone?
A. There’s a lot to see in Pandaria but one of the most significant locations is the Serpent’s Heart. This is an enormous statue in the middle of the zone in which pandaren stonemasons have toiled at building for nearly a hundred years. However, they are running out of jade, and the mines to the north are overwhelmed by monsters. Trouble is definitely afoot.

On the coast to the east lies the Temple of the Jade Serpent. This is the home to Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent, who is one of the celestial guardians of Pandaria. She’s the spirit of wisdom, but also represents spring, youth, growth, and nurturing. Players will get a chance to meet her in person.

Jade Forest is also the zone where the Alliance and Horde first make landfall on Pandaria. The Alliance will land in the southwest and will begin a search for Prince Anduin Wrynn, who has gone missing in a recent naval battle. Meanwhile, the Horde arrives on the northern shores. In both cases, the conflict in the rest of the world spills into Pandaria, and they’ll be fighting from the moment boots touch the ground. The tension between trying to explore a new land while simultaneously fighting a war drives a lot of the action in Jade Forest.

Q. So, from a story perspective, Jade Forest is a pretty important zone?
A. Absolutely! All this deep-seated tension and animosity is unleashed on the shores of what has been a relatively peaceful land for a long time. The consequences of the battle in Jade Forest reverberate across the entire continent.

Pandaria’s first dungeon is here: the Temple of the Jade Serpent that I mentioned earlier. If you play through the whole zone, you’ll get to visit the dungeon and interact with the inhabitants when things are peaceful. Once everything goes bad, you’ll have to go back in and try to undo a lot of the damage the fighting between the Alliance and Horde has caused. You’ll learn a lot about the Pandaren people and hopefully gain wisdom from the Jade Serpent herself.

Q. What factions or races will we be able to interact with?
A. Pandaria is host to several races that the Horde and Alliance have never encountered before. There are the forest hozen: semi-intelligent monkeys with a penchant for violence. They aren’t a very mature group and are in fact quite rowdy and crude. They eventually ally with the Horde. (Other tribes of hozen exist in other zones, but they aren’t the friendly sort and won’t ally with anyone.)

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the jinyu who are a wise and proud race of amphibious creatures. They have refinement and culture. Their “waterspeakers” can listen to the waters to foretell events of the future, although this is a rare occurrence. A subset of this race will end up allying with the Alliance.

Players will also encounter the mogu for the first time. This fearsome, brutish race is pillaging and destroying a few areas of the forest, giving us a hint as to their nature. But they’re really just a foreshadowing of what’s to come – the mogu play a huge part in pandaren history, and they’ll play a big role in this expansion as well.

Of course, the pandaren will be there as well for people to get to know. Imagine their surprise when the Horde and Alliance show up and turn things upside down.

As far as factions go, the Order of the Cloud Serpent is a faction and a daily hub that players can access at level 90. Members of The Order are sent out into the wild to find a cloud serpent egg, and then raise their serpent hatchling to adulthood. Serpent riders train and nurture their cloud serpents, then ride them into war. Players will also be able to choose their own egg and raise their own serpent, watch it grow to adulthood, and eventually keep their cloud serpent as their own flying mount. Exalted status with this faction also awards Cloud Serpent Riding, which is a tier of flying skill required to ride any cloud serpent mount from Pandaria.

There’s a lot more to be seen in this zone, but hopefully this will give you a taste of what’s to come in your adventures ahead.

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Mists of Pandaria: Temple of the Jade Serpent Preview

posted 2012/03/30 at 12:09 AM by perculia

Wise Mari
Library Event
Liu Flameheart
Sha of Doubt
Video Preview
Temple of the Jade SerpentChestguard of DespairTemple of the Jade SerpentWise Mari

Corrupted Living Water elementals scatter the hallway by the Fountain of the Overseeing, along with dead Jinyu. When they die, they leave a harmful pool with Sha Residue and spawn Corrupted Droplets.

Sadly, Wise Mari has become corrupted. The fight is in two phases:
Phase 1: Wise Mari is encased in a Water Bubble and cannot be attacked. The boss periodically casts Hydrolance which churns up the corrupted waters, and Call Water summons Living Water Elementals. After four have died, the fight moves onto phase 2.

Phase 2: Bubble Burst is cast on the transition, knocking all players away. Phase 2 cannot be tanked, as the boss keeps rotating with Wash Away, similar to The Lurker Below's Geyser.

Throughout the fight, standing in the water is bad: you'll suffer from Corrupted Waters.

Upon defeat, Wise Mari is purified, returning to its original form with its treasured staff.

Library Event

Lorewalker Stonestep's sacred library has been taken over by the Sha, who are destroying the lore of the Pandaren.

The trash is named after references to Chinese New Year folktales--The Twin Jugglers, The Talking Fish, etc.

A Corrupted Scroll has been infested by the Sha in the center of the library. Upon killing it, you have a chance to get one of two scenarios, Zao Sunseeker or the Yaungol. The Zao Sunseeker one is as follows: "According to the legend, long ago, there were five suns that burned brightly in the sky. When the winds blew, their intense heat caused great wildfires. Crops wilted, villages burned, and families wandered endlessly to seek refuge from the flames..."

Unfortunately, this brings the story to life as well as the protagonist, Zao Sunseeker, and your party must defeat the five suns, which then turn into Sha and corrupt Zao. Lorewalker Stonestep begs you to fight him with dignity.
Phase 1: The Suns will cast Sunfire Rays, and when killed, will Extract Sha.

Phase 2: When all Suns and Haunted Sha have been defeated, Zao Sunseeker will become corrupted and quickly continually fire Hellfire Arrows.

YaungolAgonyIntensityDissipationLiu Flameheart

Either path you take will bring you back to the central courtyard, which has three groups of trash: a Minion of Doubt which casts and Shattered Resolve, surrounded by spawns and friendly Serpent Warriors fighting them.

Liu Flameheart is a 3 phase fight, transitioning at 70% and 30%:
Dragon Dance: Serpent Strike, , Serpent Wave.

Jade Dragon Dance: Jade Serpent Strike, , Jade Serpent Wave.

The Jade Serpent: In the last phase, she gains Jade Essence, which turns her into a serpent that casts Jade Fire.

Sha of Doubt

The Sha of Doubt periodically casts Wither Will and Touch of Nothingness on random enemies.

Every 30 sec or so, the Sha casts Figment of Doubt on the party. This summons shadowy apparitions that must be killed before Gathering Doubt completely infuses.

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Mists of Pandaria: Jade Forest Preview and News Round Up

posted 2012/03/26 at 8:15 PM by perculia

Press Eventupdated our talent calculatorScholomanceScarlet MonasteryRagefire ChasmAlliance Cutscene
"We have swept the wreckage for days, Your Majesty. There is no sign of Admiral Taylor or his ships."

"Five hundred ships at my disposal, yet the one that holds the key to the kingdom is missing. How can this be?"

"...west of the planned rendezvous...Horde airfleet......casualties! ...Thick fog bank to provide cover...retreat...uncharted land...hostile creatures. But the White Pawn is accounted for. Repeat: the White Pawn is safe."

"Did you hear? They're safe somewhere!"

"......immediate danger! Reuqesting rescue, requesting - "

"Sir, we can have the entirety of the seventh fleet on the scene within the month--"

"No time! We'll send a small team immediately. An elite force. Rescue the survivors, AND their precious cargo! You, meet up with Commander Nightwind at the harbor, immediately. Once the White Pawn is recovered, the full might of our navy can engage the Horde. On OUR terms."Alliance Quest HubHorde Quest HubTemple of the Jade SerpentBlue Posts

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105

Mists of Pandaria Day One: Inscription, Guild Perks, Achievements, and More

posted 2012/03/22 at 5:36 AM by Ashelia

our Mists of Pandaria database is livego through the items in the MoP database Thousands of new items and spells--day one of datamining, including dozens of profession items.Druid Visual Spell ChangesSpell Visuals VideoSpell Visuals Video

Glyph of Stars: Your Moonkin Form ability is replaced with Astral Form, conferring all the same benefits, but now appearing as an astrally enhanced version of your normal humanoid form.

Ursol's Vortex: Conjures a vortex of wind at the Druid's location that pulls all enemies within 0 yards toward it.

Glyph of the Stag: Your Travel Form now appears as a Stag and can be used as a mount by party members.

Glyph of the Orca: Your Aquatic Form now appears as an Orca.

Hurricane: Creates a violent storm in the target area causing 0 Nature damage to enemies every 5 sec. Lasts 10 sec. Druid must channel to maintain the spell.

Frenzied Regeneration: Converts up to X Rage per second into health for 6 sec, at the rate of Y% max health gained per Z Rage consumed.

Incarnation: Son of Ursoc: Shapeshift into Son of Ursoc Form, reducing the cooldown on melee damage abilities and Growl to 1.5 sec.

Faerie Swarm: Grants an improved version of Faerie Fire that also reduces the target's movement speed by X% for 15 sec. This talent replaces Faerie Fire.

Glyph of Guided Stars: You can now cast Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, and Tranquility without canceling Moonkin Form.

Glyph of the Treant: Allows you to shapeshift into Treant Form. // The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of movement slowing effects.

ProfessionsInscription

Rain Poppy Staff

Inscribed Fan

Inscribed Crane Staff

Inscribed Serpent Staff

Inscribed Jade Fan

Inscribed Red Fan

Inscribed Tiger Staff

Ghost Iron Staff

New GlyphsDeath Knight

Charred Glyph: You retain 50% of your Runic Power when switching Presences.

Charred Glyph: Immediately finishes the cooldown of your Death Grip upon dealing a killing blow to a target that grants experience or honor.

Glyph of Enduring Infection: Your diseases are undispellable, but their damage dealt is reduced by 30%.

Glyph of Tranquil Grip: Your Death Grip spell no longer taunts the target.

Glyph of Mind Freeze: Increases the interrupt duration of your Mind Freeze ability by 1 sec, but also raises its cost by 20 Runic Power.

Glyph of Death Coil: Your Death Coil spell is now usable on all allies. When cast on a non-undead ally, Death Coil shrouds them with a protective barrier that absorbs up to 16 damage. Old: Increases the damage or healing done by Death Coil by 15%.

Charred Glyph: Your Death and Decay also reduces the movement speed of enemies within its radius by 50%. Old: Increases the duration of your Death and Decay spell by 50%.

Glyph of Icy Touch: Your Icy Touch also dispels one helpful Magic effect from the target. Old: Your Frost Fever disease deals 20% additional damage.

Glyph of Anti-Magic Shell: Causes your Anti-Magic Shell to absorb all incoming magical damage, up to the absorption limit. Old: Increases the duration of your Anti-Magic Shell by 2 sec.

Glyph of Dancing Rune Weapon: Increases your threat generation by 100% while your Dancing Rune Weapon is active, but reduces the parry chance gained by 5%. Old: Increases your threat generation by 50% while your Dancing Rune Weapon is active.

Druid

Glyph of Grace: Feline Grace reduces falling damage even while not in Cat Form.

Glyph of the Stag: Your Travel Form now appears as a Stag and can be used as a mount by party members.

Glyph of Guided Stars: You can now cast Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, and Tranquility without canceling Moonkin Form.

Glyph of the Orca: Your Aquatic Form now appears as an Orca.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the cooldown of Nature's Grasp.

Charred Glyph: Increases healing done to you by 20% while in Cat Form.

Charred Glyph: Your Claw and Mangle (Cat) attacks reduce the movement speed of the target by 50 for 12 sec.

Glyph of Stars: Your Moonkin Form ability is replaced with Astral Form, conferring all the same benefits, but now appearing as an astrally enhanced version of your normal humanoid form.

Glyph of Cyclone: Increases the range of your Cyclone spell by 4 yards.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the movement penalty of Prowl by 100%.

Glyph of the Predator: Your Track Humanoids ability now also tracks beasts.

zzOLD Glyph of the Chameleon: Each time you shapeshift into Cat Form or Bear Form, your shapeshifted form will have a random hair color.

Charred Glyph: While Berserk or Tiger's Fury is active, Shred and Ravage have no positional requirement.

Charred Glyph: Faerie Fire used in Bear Form also silences the target for 3 sec, but triggers a 15 sec cooldown.

Glyph of Skull Bash: Increases the duration of your Skull Bash interrupt by 4 sec, but increases the cooldown by 10 sec.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifts by 90%.

Glyph of the Treant: Allows you to shapeshift into Treant Form. // The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of movement slowing effects.

Glyph of Survival Instincts: Reduces the cooldown of Survival Instincts by 60 sec, but reduces its duration by 50%.

Charred Glyph: You can now cast Stampeding Roar without being in Bear or Cat Form.

Charred Glyph: Increases the health gain from Might of Ursoc by 20%, but increases the cooldown by 2 min.

Glyph of Stampeding Roar: Increases the radius of Stampeding Roar by 30 yards.

Glyph of Barkskin: Reduces the chance you'll be critically hit by 25% while Barkskin is active.

Glyph of Regrowth: Increases the critical strike chance of your Regrowth by 40%, but removes the periodic component of the spell. Old: Your Regrowth heal-over-time will automatically refresh its duration on targets at or below 50% health.

Charred Glyph: When you cast Healing Touch, the cooldown on your Swiftmend is reduced by 1 sec. Old: When you cast Healing Touch, the cooldown on your Nature's Swiftness is reduced by 10 sec.

Charred Glyph: While Frenzied Regeneration is active healing effects on you are 40% more powerful, but causes your Frenzied Regeneration to cost 60 Rage initially and no longer convert rage into health. Old: While Frenzied Regeneration is active, healing effects on you are 30% more powerful but causes your Frenzied Regeneration to no longer convert rage into health.

Charred Glyph: While not in Tree of Life Form, casting Lifebloom on a new target grants that target as many applications as the old target had. Old: Increases the critical effect chance of your Lifebloom by 10%.

Hunter

Glyph of Lesser Proportion: Slightly reduces the size of your pet.

Charred Glyph: While your pet is active, all healing done to you and your pet is increased by 10%.

Glyph of Tame Beast: Reduces the time required to complete Tame Beast by 4 sec.

Glyph of No Escape: Increases the ranged critical strike chance of all of your attacks on targets affected by your Ice Trap and Freezing Trap by 6.

Glyph of Aspect of the Cheetah: Your Aspect of the Cheetah no longer causes you to be dazed when struck. Instead, the effect is cancelled and all your Aspects are placed on a 4 sec cooldown.

Charred Glyph: Your Arcane Shot, Chimera Shot, Kill Command, and Explosive Shot abilities automatically apply Hunter's Mark.

Glyph of Solace: Your Freezing Trap also removes all damage over time effects from the target.

Charred Glyph: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 8%, and increases your speed while mounted by 10%. The mounted movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.

Glyph of Endless Wrath: While Bestial Wrath is active, your pet cannot be killed, but can still be damaged.

Glyph of Explosive Trap: Your Explosive Trap also knocks enemies back from the trap when it explodes.

Glyph of Tranquilizing Shot: Your Tranquilizing Shot no longer costs Focus, but has a 10 sec cooldown.

Glyph of Aspects: If used while your Camouflage is active, your Aimed Shot ability also reduces the target's movement speed by 50% for 6 sec. Old: When you critically hit with Aimed Shot, you instantly gain 5 Focus.

Glyph of Camouflage: Your Camouflage ability now provides stealth even while moving, but your movement speed while Camouflage is active is reduced by 50%.
Charred Glyph: Increases the healing you receive from Chimera Shot by an additional 5% of your maximum health. Old: Reduces the cooldown of Chimera Shot by 1 sec.

Glyph of DisengageL Increases the distance you travel when you Disengage. Old: Decreases the cooldown of Disengage by 5 sec.

Charred Glyph: Your Steady Shot now reduces the target's movement speed by 50% for 6 sec if used on a target within 8 yards. Old: Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10%.

: When attacked, the cast time of your Healing Sphere is reduced by 50%. Stacks up to 2 times.

Glyph of Expel Harm: Your Expel Harm can now be cast on any friendly target.

: While channeling Fists of Fury, your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks is increased by X%.

Glyph of Zen Meditation: You can now channel Meditation while moving.
Glyph of Surging Mist: Increases the duration of your Healing Sphere's by X sec.

Mage

Glyph of Arcane Explosion: Increases the radius of your Arcane Explosion by 5 yards.

Charred Glyph: Increases the health of your Water Elemental by 40%, and allows it to cast while moving.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the cast time of your Frost Armor, Mage Armor, and Molten Armor spells by 1.5 sec, and increases the defensive effect of each Armor by an additional 10%.

Glyph of Spellsteal: Spellsteal now also heals you for 10% of your maximum health when it successfully steals a spell.

Glyph of Counterspell: Your Counterspell can now be cast while casting or channeling other spells, but its cooldown is increased by 4 sec.

Glyph of Remove Curse: Increases the damage you deal by 10% for 10 sec after you successfully remove a curse.

Glyph of Splitting Ice: Your Ice Lance now hits 1 additional target for 50% damage.

Glyph of Rapid Teleportation: After casting a Mage teleport spell, or entering a Mage Portal, your movement speed is increased by 70% for 1 min.

Glyph of Momentum: Your Blink spell teleports you in the direction you are moving instead of the direction you are facing.

Glyph of Cone of Cold: Increases the damage done by Cone of Cold by 200%.

Glyph of Crittermorph: When cast on critters, your Polymorph spells now last 1 day and can be cast on multiple targets.

: Your Fingers of Frost can build up to 3 charges.

Glyph of Inferno Blast: Your Fire Blast and Inferno Blast spells can now also spread Living Bomb.

: Your Mana Gem now restores mana over 6 sec, rather than instantly.

: Your Conjure Mana Gem spell now creates a Brilliant Mana Gem, which holds up to 10 charges.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the cooldown of Frost Nova by 5 sec. Your Frost Nova targets can take an additional 20% damage before the Frost Nova effect automatically breaks.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the cast time of Frostfire Bolt by .5 sec. Increases the damage done by your Frostfire Bolt by 15% and your Frostfire Bolt now deals 3% additional damage over 12 sec, stacking up to 3 times, but no longer reduces the victim's movement speed.

Glyph of Deep Freeze: Your Deep Freeze spell no longer has a global cooldown. Your Deep Freeze deals 20% additional damage.

Charred Glyph: Your Evocation ability also causes you to regain 60% of your health over its duration. With the Invocation talent, this healing is reduced to 30% of your health. With the Rune of Power talent, you gain 1% of your health per second while standing in your Rune of Power. Your Evocation ability also causes you to regain 40% of your health over its duration.

Glyph of Ice Block: When Ice Block terminates, it triggers an instant free Frost Nova and makes you immune to all spells for $d. Your Frost Nova cooldown is now reset every time you use Ice Block.

Glyph of Icy Veins: Reduces the cooldown and duration of Icy Veins by 50%. Your Icy Veins ability also removes all movement slowing and cast time slowing effects.

Paladin

Glyph of the Righteous Retreat: During Divine Shield, you can invoke your Hearthstone 50% faster.

Glyph of the Falling Avenger: You slow fall during Avenging Wrath.

Glyph of Focused Wrath: Holy Wrath only affects one target.

Glyph of Bladed Judgment: Your Judgment spell depicts an axe or sword instead of a hammer, if you have an axe or sword equipped.

Charred Glyph: You are healed for 2% of your maximum health every 4 sec.

Glyph of the Battle Healer: Using melee attacks while using Seal of Insight heals a nearby injured friendly target, excluding the Paladin, within X yards for X percent of damage dealt.

Glyph of Contemplation: Reduces the mana cost of Blessing of Kings and Blessing of Might by 50%.

Charred Glyph: Judging a target increases the damage of your next Judgment by 20%, but only if used on a second target.

Charred Glyph: Increases your Holy damage by 20% for 6 sec after you Denounce.

Glyph of the Luminous Charger: Your paladin class mounts glow with Holy Light.

Glyph of Blessed Life: While Seal of Insight is active, you have a 50% chance to gain a charge of Holy Power whenever you take direct damage or are affected by a Stun, Fear or Immobilize effect. This effect cannot occur more than once every 20 sec.

Charred Glyph: Increases the damage of Shield of the Righteous by 50% but reduces the amount it blocks by 20%.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the damage bonus of Inquisition by 10% but increases its duration by 100%.

Glyph of Fire From the Heavens: Your Judgment and Hammer of Wrath criticals call down fire from the sky.

Glyph of the Mounted King: Mounting a paladin mount automatically casts Blessing of Kings on you.

Charred Glyph: Your Blinding Light now knocks down targets for 3 sec instead of Blinding them.

Charred Glyph: Your Divine Storm also heals you for 1% of your total health.

Charred Glyph: When you Flash of Light a target, it increases your next heal done to that target within 4 sec by 30%.

Glyph of Immediate Truth: Increases the instant damage done by Seal of Truth by 20%, but decreases the damage done by Censure by 50%.

Glyph of Winged Vengeance: You grow larger during Avenging Wrath.

Charred Glyph: Your Holy Shock criticals grant 1% mana return, but Meditation returns 10% less mana.

Glyph of Protector of the Innocent: When you use Word of Glory to heal another target, it also heals you for 20% of the amount.

Glyph of Beacon of Light: Removes the global cooldown on Beacon of Light. Old: Your Beacon of Light costs no mana.

Charred Glyph: Your Cleanse will remove one movement impairing effect if cast on yourself. Old: Reduces the mana cost of your Cleanse by 20%.

Glyph of Consecration: You can now target Consecration anywhere within 25 yards. Old: Increases the duration and cooldown of Consecration by 20%.

Charred Glyph: Divine Plea now has a 5 sec cast time, but you receive 12% of your total mana instantly and your healing is not reduced. Old: Your Divine Plea provides an additional 6% of your total mana.

Glyph of Divinity: Increases the cooldown of your Lay on Hands by 2.0 min but causes it to give you 10% of your maximum mana. Old: When you use Lay on Hands, you also gain 10% of your maximum mana.

Charred Glyph: The physical damage reduction caused by Hammer of the Righteous now lasts 50% longer. Old: Increases the damage of both the physical and Holy components of Hammer of the Righteous by 10%.

Charred Glyph: You take 10% less damage for 10 sec after using Hammer of Wrath. Old: Reduces the mana cost of Hammer of Wrath by 100%.

Charred Glyph: Decreases the healing of Holy Shock by 50% but increases its damage by 100%. Old: Increases the critical effect chance of Holy Shock by 5%.

Charred Glyph: Increases your damage by 10% for 6 sec after you cast Word of Glory. Old: Increases the healing done by Word of Glory by 10%.

Priest

Glyph of Purify: Your Purify spell also heals your target for 3% of maximum health when you successfully dispel a magical effect or disease.

Charred Glyph: Spell damage taken is reduced by 6% while within Inner Fire, and the movement speed bonus of your Inner Will is increased by 6%.

Glyph of Weakened Soul: When you cast Inner Focus you become immune to Silence, Interrupt and Dispel effects for 5 sec.

Charred Glyph: Your Holy Fire spell is now instant.

Glyph of Leap of Faith: Your Leap of Faith spell now also clears all movement impairing effects from your target.

Charred Glyph: When you critically hit with your Mind Blast, you cause the target to be unable to move for 4 sec.

Charred Glyph: Causes 45% of the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield to reflect back at the attacker. This damage causes no threat.

Glyph of Mind Spike: When you deal damage with Mind Spike, the cast time of your next Mind Blast is reduced by 50% lasting 6 sec. Mind Melt can stack up to 2 times.

Glyph of Spirit of Redemption: Increases the duration of Spirit of Redemption by 10 sec.

Glyph of Circle of Healing: Your Circle of Healing spell heals 1 additional target, but its mana cost is increased by 35%. Old: Your Circle of Healing spell heals 1 additional target, but its mana cost is increased by 20%.

Glyph of Dispel Magic: Your Dispel Magic spell also damages your target for 1,387 Holy damage when you successfully dispel a magical effect. Old: Your Dispel Magic spell also heals your target for 3% of maximum health when you successfully dispel a magical effect.

Glyph of Borrowed Time: Reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Fortitude spell by 90%. Old: Reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Fortitude spell by 50%.

Glyph of Deep Wells: Increases the total amount of charges of your Lightwell by 2. Old: Increases the total amount of charges of your Lightwell by 5.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the mana cost of Penance by 20%, but increases the cooldown by 2 sec. Old: Reduces the cooldown of Penance by 2 sec.

Charred Glyph: Your Renew heals for 33% more each time it heals, but its duration is reduced by 3 sec. Old: Increases the amount healed by your Renew by an additional 10%.

Rogue

Glyph of Recovery: Your Eviscerate and Envenom abilities also reduce the target's movement speed by 50% for 6 sec.

Charred Glyph: Increases the healing of your Recuperate ability by an additional 0.5% of your maximum health.

Glyph of Smoke Bomb: Increases the duration of your Smoke Bomb by 2 sec.

Charred Glyph: Your Shadow Walk ability also increases your stealth detection while active.

Glyph of Blade Flurry: Your attacks have a 30% higher chance of applying Non-Lethal poisons while Blade Flurry is active. Reduces the penalty to Energy generation while Blade Flurry is active by 50%.

Charred Glyph: Your Expose Armor ability causes three applications of Weakened Armor. Old: Increases the duration of Expose Armor by 12 sec.

Glyph of Feint: Increases the duration of Feint by 2 sec. Old: Reduces the Energy cost of Feint by 20.

Glyph of Killing Spree: Your Killing Spree returns you to your starting location when the effect ends. Increases the bonus to your damage while Killing Spree is active by an additional 10%.

Shaman

Glyph of Capacitor Totem (formerly Shocking): Reduces the charging time of your Capacitor Totem by 2 sec.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the damage dealt by your Lightning Bolt spell by 30%, but causes it to restore mana equal to 50% of damage dealt.

Glyph of Wind Shear (formerly Flametongue Weapon): Increases the school lockout duration of Wind Shear by 1 sec, but also increases the cooldown by 3 sec.

Glyph of Totemic Vigor (formerly Stoneclaw Totem): Increases the health of your totems by 10% of your maximum health.

Glyph of Purge (formerly Earthliving Weapon): Your Purge dispels 1 additional Magic effect.

Glyph of Chaining (formerly Elemental Mastery): Doubles the jump distance of your Chain Heal spell, but reduces its healing done by 15%.

Charred Glyph: Each application of Maelstrom Weapon also increases your healing done by 20%.

Charred Glyph (formerly Stormstrike): Increases the duration of your Spiritwalker's Grace by 5 sec.

Glyph of Cleansing Waters (formerly Windfury Weapon): When you dispel a harmful Magic or Curse effect from an ally, you also heal the target for 4% of your maximum health.

Glyph of Deluge: Your Earth Shield charges are no longer depleted when taking damage, but Earth Shield's duration is reduced to 45 sec. Old: Increases the amount healed by your Earth Shield by 20%.

Glyph of Feral Spirit: Increases the healing done by your Feral Spirits' Spirit Hunt by 40%. Old: Your spirit wolves gain an additional 30% of your attack power.

Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem: Reduces the cooldown and duration of your Fire Elemental Totem by 40%. Old: Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental Totem by 5 min.

Charred Glyph: Increases the duration of your Flame Shock by 25%, but reduces the initial damage dealt by 25%. Old: Increases the duration of your Flame Shock by 50%.

Glyph of Ghost Wolf: While in Ghost Wolf form, you are less hindered by effects that would reduce movement speed. Old: Your Ghost Wolf form grants an additional 5% movement speed.

Glyph of Healing Stream Totem: When your Healing Stream Totem heals an ally, it also reduces their Fire, Frost, and Nature damage taken by 10% for 6 sec. Old: Your Healing Stream Totem also increases the Fire, Frost, and Nature resistance of party and raid members within 30 yards by (cond($lte(level, 70), level, cond($lte(level, 80), level + (level) * 5, level + (level) * 5 + (level) * 7))).

Glyph of Spirit Walk: Your Lava Burst spell will always be a critical strike regardless of the presence of Flame Shock on the target, but it deals 5% less damage. Old: Your Lava Burst spell deals 10% more damage.

Glyph of Lava Lash: Your Lava Lash ability no longer spreads Flame Shock to nearby targets. Old: Increases the damage dealt by your Lava Lash ability by 20%.

Glyph of Riptide: Your Riptide no longer has a cooldown, but also no longer instantly heals the targeted ally. Old: Increases the duration of Riptide by 40%.

Charred Glyph: Your Lightning Bolt takes 5% longer to cast, but may be cast while moving. Old: Allows Lightning Bolt to be cast while moving.

Glyph of Water Shield: Increases the passive mana generation of your Water Shield by 10%, but Water Shield no longer activates when you receive damage. Old: Increases the passive mana regeneration of your Water Shield spell by 50%.

Glyph of Totemic Encirclement: When you cast a totem spell, you also place unempowered totems for any elements that are not currently active. These totems have 5 health and produce no other effects.

Warlock

Faded Glyph

Glyph of Eye of Kilrogg: Your Eye of Kilrogg is no longer stealthed and can now place your Demonic Circle. In addition, the movement speed of your Eye of Kilrogg is increased by 50% and allows it to fly in areas where flying mounts are enabled.

Glyph of Ember Tap: Increases your maximum Burning Embers by 1.

: Your Carrion Swarm no longer knocks targets back.

Glyph of Conflagrate: Reduces the movement speed reduction of Conflagrate to 30% and increases the duration by 100%. Old: Reduces the cooldown of your Conflagrate by 2 sec.

Charred Glyph: Curse of Exhaustion now reduces the targets movement speed by 70%, lasts half as long and has a 20 second cooldown. Old: Increases the range of your Curse of Exhaustion spell by 5 yards.

: Demonic Fury now reduces damage taken instead of increasing damage dealt. In addition, while using Metamorphosis, Soulshatter taunts your target, Twilight Ward will absorb all schools of damage and Demonic Slash is shorter range and generates fury.

Glyph of Demon Training: Improves your demon's special abilities: Reduces your Imp's Firebolt cast time by 50%. Increases your Voidwalker's total health by 20%. Your Succubus's Seduction ability also removes all damage over time effects from the target. When your Felhunter uses Devour Magic, you will also be healed for that amount. Increases the number of targets hit by your Felguard's Legion Strike by 1.

Glyph of Felguard: Your Felguard will equip a random two-handed axe, sword or polearm from your backpack.
Glyph of Health Funnel: Your health funnel instantly restores 15% of your demon's health, but has a 10 sec. cooldown. Old: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while channeling your Health Funnel spell by 100%.

Glyph of Healthstone: You receive 100% more healing from using a healthstone, but the health is restored over 10 sec. Old: You receive 30% more healing from using a healthstone.

Glyph of Nightmares: Your Felsteed and Dreadsteed can cross water while running and leave a trail of flames.

Glyph of Unending Resolve: Your Shadowflame also applies a 70% movement speed slow to its victims, but Metamorphosis no longer reduces the duration of Stuns or Snares. Old: Your Shadowflame also applies a 70% movement speed slow to its victims.

Glyph of Drain Life: Increases your maximum Soul Shards by 1.
Glyph of Unstable Affliction: When Unstable Affliction is removed, it instantly deals critical damage to both the target and the dispeller, but no longer silences. : Decreases the casting time of your Unstable Affliction by 0.2 sec.

Warrior

Glyph of Crow Feast: Your Execute critical strikes summon a flock of carrion birds.

Glyph of Burning Anger: You get so angry when Enraged that you catch on fire.

Charred Glyph: Reduces the cooldown and rage generation of your Battle Shout and Commanding Shout by 50%.

Glyph of Mystic Shout: Increases the duration by 2 min of Battle Shout and Commanding Shout.

Glyph of Blitz: Your Charge stuns an additional 2 nearby targets.

Glyph of Wind and Thunder: Increases the cooldown by 50% and damage by 50% of Whirlwind.

Glyph of Thunder Strike: Your Thunder Clap visual includes a lightning strike.

Glyph of Bloodcurdling Shout: Your Battle Shout and Commanding Shout terrify small animals.

Glyph of Gushing Wound: Your Bloodthirst critical strikes are even bloodier than normal.

Charred Glyph: Increases the duration of your Charge stun by 0 sec.

Charred Glyph: Using Hamstring reduces the cost of your next Hamstring by 100%.

Charred Glyph: Improves the damage of your next Revenge by 50% following a successful parry.

Charred Glyph: While your Shield Block is active, your Shield Slam hits for an additional 50% damage.

Glyph of Raging Wind: Your Raging Blow hits increase the damage of your next Whirlwind by 10%.

Glyph of Rude Interruption: Succesfully interrupting a spell with Pummel increases your damage by 5% for 30 sec.

Glyph of Recklessness: Recklessness no longer increases damage taken.

Glyph of Death From Above: Reduces the cooldown on Heroic Leap by 15 sec.

Charred Glyph: While Enraged, you move 20% faster.

Charred Glyph: Your Pummel, Heroic Throw and Storm Bolt hits silence the target for 3 sec.

Charred Glyph: Increases the healing of Bloodthirst by 100%. Old: Increases the damage of Bloodthirst by 10%.

Glyph of Bloody Healing: Increases the healing you receive from bandages by 20% while your Deep Wounds is active. Old: Increases the healing you receive from Bloodthirst by 40%.

Glyph of Hindering Strikes: Increases the number of targets your Cleave hits by 1, or 3 when Enraged. Old: Increases the number of targets your Cleave hits by 1.

Glyph of Mighty Victory: Increases the window of opportunity in which you can use Victory Rush or Impending Victory by 5 sec. Old: Increases the window of opportunity in which you can use Victory Rush by 5 sec.

Glyph of Mortal Strike: When your Mortal Strike is affecting a target, healing effects on you are increased by 10%. Old: Increases the damage of Mortal Strike by 10%.

Glyph of Die by the Sword: Cleave hits increases the damage of your next Overpower by 10%. Old: Increases the damage of Overpower by 10%.

Glyph of Resonating Power: Reduces the damage by 20% and increases the duration by 20% of your Thunder Clap. Old: Reduces the rage cost of your Thunder Clap ability by 5.

Glyph of Shield Slam: Your Shield Slam now dispels 1 magical effect. Old: Shield Wall now reduces damage taken by an additional 20%, but its cooldown is increased by 2 min.

Glyph of Spell Reflection: Reduces the cooldown on Spell Reflection and Mass Spell Reflection by 5 sec. Old: Reduces the cooldown on Spell Reflection by 5 sec.

AlchemyStrange Spherical StoneAlchemist's FlaskSilver Filigree FlaskElixirs

Flasks

Flask of Spring Blossoms

Flask of the Warm Sun

Flask of Falling Leaves

Flask of the Earth

Flask of Winter's Bite

Potions

Virmen's Bite

Potion of the Mountains

Greater Potion of Luck

Potion of Focus

Potion of the Jade Serpent

Alchemist's Rejuvenation

Potion of Mogu Power

Darkwater Potion

Master Mana Potion

Master Healing Potion

CookingPandaren BanquetLing-Ting's Favorite TeaRecipes

Steamed Crab Surprise (Recipe: Steamed Crab Surprise)

Mogu Fish Stew (Recipe: Mogu Fish Stew)

Black Pepper Ribs and Shrimp (Recipe: Black Pepper Ribs and Shrimp)

Chun Tian Spring Rolls (Recipe: Chun Tian Spring Rolls)

Sea Mist Rice Noodles (Recipe: Sea Mist Rice Noodles)

Fire Spirit Salmon (Recipe: Fire Spirit Salmon)

Valley Stir Fry (Recipe: Valley Stir Fry)

Eternal Blossom Fish (Recipe: Eternal Blossom Fish)

Braised Turtle (Recipe: Braised Turtle)

Twin Fish Platter (Recipe: Twin Fish Platter

Swirling Mist Soup (Recipe: Swirling Mist Soup)

Wildfowl Roast (Recipe: Wildfowl Roast)

Sauteed Carrots (Recipe: Sauteed Carrots)

Shrimp Dumplings (Recipe: Shrimp Dumplings)

Charbroiled Tiger Steak (Recipe: Charbroiled Tiger Steak)

Great Pandaren Banquet (Recipe: Great Pandaren Banquet)

Fish Cake (Recipe: Spicy Vegetable Chips)

Pandaren Banquet (Recipe: Pandaren Banquet)

Golden Carp Consomme (Recipe: Spicy Salmon

EngineeringSparkling Tinker's GearDeadly Retinal Armor

Mirror Scope

Lord Blastington's Scope of Doom

Long-Range Trillium Sniper

Big Game Hunter

Dead Fire SpiritGhost Iron DragonlingGeneral Crafting MatsHerbs

Inscription Reagents

Blacksmithing/Mining

DEPRECATED Manticyte Bar

First Aid

Heavy Windwool Bandage

Elemental/Volatiles

Skinning/Leatherworking

JewelcraftingGems & Metas

Alexandrite, also used to make Alexandrite Ring

Pandarian Garnet

Sunstone, also used to make Sunstone Necklace

Roguestone

Lapis Lazuli

EnchantingMats

Ethereal Shard

Greater Mysterious Essence

Sha Crystal

Spirit Dust

Rare Enchants

Enchant Weapon - Colossus

Enchant Weapon - River's Song

Enchant Weapon - Windsong

Enchant Weapon - Jade Spirit

Enchant Weapon - Elemental Force

Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel

Common Enchants

Enchant Off-Hand - Major Intellect

Enchant Gloves - Superior Mastery

Enchant Gloves - Super Strength

Enchant Gloves - Superior Haste

Enchant Gloves - Greater Haste

Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step

Enchant Boots - Blurred Speed

Enchant Boots - Greater Precision

Enchant Boots - Greater Haste

Enchant Cloak - Superior Critical Strike

Enchant Cloak - Superior Intellect

Enchant Cloak - Greater Protection

Enchant Cloak - Accuracy

Enchant Chest - Superior Stamina

Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats

Enchant Chest - Mighty Spirit

Enchant Chest - Super Resilience

Enchant Bracer - Greater Agility

Enchant Bracer - Exceptional Strength

Enchant Bracer - Super Intellect

Enchant Bracer - Major Dodge

Enchant Bracer - Mastery

ArchaeologyNew Keystones

Pandaren Pottery Shard

Archaeology Solves

Cracked Mogu Runestone

Edicts of the Thunder King

Empty Keg of Brewfather Xin Wo Yin

Gold-Inlaid Porcelain Funerary Figurine

Iron Amulet

Manacles of Rebellion

Thunder King Insignia

Twin Stein Set of Brewfather Quan Tou Kuo

Umbrella of Chi-Ji

Walking Cane of Brewfather Ren Yun

Warlord's Branding Iron

Worn Monument Ledger

General ChangesGuild Perks

For Great Justice

Otherworldly Discounts

Darkmoon FaireCards

Achievements

That Rabbit's Dynamite!

Vanity Items

Darkmoon Rabbit

Gear iLevel

Gear from Heroics: ilvl 463. Example: Meteoric Greathelm

Gear from Dungeons/rares in the 85-90 range: ilvl 425-450. Example: Fallout Filter.

Gear from quest rewards: ilvl 372-429.

Mounts

Reins of the Green Dragon Turtle, Pandaren Kite String, and Reins of the Jade Cloud Serpent all sell for , so they're probably expensive and from a reputation vendor.

Reins of the Azure Water Strider has a cool ability--it can walk on water!

Jeweled Onyx Panther is an Alliance-only mount--perhaps from a faction-specific vendor or PvP, as all the other honor-bought mounts are black.

Food and Drink

Mad Brewer's Breakfast

Small Sugarcane Stalk

Battered Carp

Crispy Dojani Eel

AchievementsDungeons

Respect: Bow to the Shadowpan Initiates when they bow to you after being defeated, but before they fully heal during the Master Snowdrift event.

Bomberman: Trigger 15 explosions within 15 seconds during the Saboteur Kip'tilak encounter on Heroic Difficulty.

Cleaning Up: Defeat the Sha of Doubt in Temple of the Jade Serpent while under the effects of Purified Water.

Conscriptinator: Gain three stacks of Resin Residue by defeating Mantid Conscripts.

Glintrok N' Roll: Defeat Gekkan and his Glintrok entourage in Mogu'shan Palace on Heroic difficulty within 5 minutes of being spotted by the Glintrok Scout.

Hate Leads to Suffering: Defeat Taran Zhu while every party member is at maximum hatred in Shado-pan Monastery on Heroic Difficulty.

Heroic: Shado-Pan Monastery: Defeat Taran-Zhu in Shado-pan Monastery on Heroic Difficulty.

Heroic: Stormstout Brewery: Defeat Yan-Zhu the Uncasked in Stormstout Brewery on Heroic Difficulty.

How Did He Get Up There?: Find a way to get the Hozen Clinger to let go in Stormstout Brewery on any difficulty.

Hopocalypse Now!: Smash 100 vermen with a single hammer swing in Stormstout Brewery on Heroic Difficulty.

Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin': Kill Ook-Ook after assaulting him with 20 Rolling Brew Barrels in Stormstout Brewery on Heroic Difficulty.

Ling-Ting's Herbal Journey: Collect all 30 Golden Hoplings hidden around the Stormstout Brewery on any difficulty.

Mosh Pit: Get a combination of 8 players and Scarlet Defenders caught up in Armsmaster Harlan's Blades of Light on Heroic Difficulty.

Hydrophobia: Defeat Wise Maru without touching Corrupted Water in Temple of the Jade Serpent on any difficulty.

Rattle No More: Defeat Rattlegore without allowing him to gain more than 5 stacks of Rusting in Scholomance on Heroic Difficulty.

Return to Sender: Defeat Mantid General while he has 20 stacks of Detonate in the Siege of Niuzao Temple on Heroic Difficulty.

Sanguinarian: Defeat a Krastinovian Carver that has 99 stacks of Boiling Bloodthirst in Scholomance on Heroic Difficulty.

Shado-Pan Monastery: Defeat Taran-Zhu in Shado-pan Monastery.

Show Me Your Moves!: Defeat the Terracotta Army in Mogu'shan Vaults on Normal or Heroic difficulty without any member of the raid being hit by Devastating Arc, Stomp or Energizing Smash.

: Defeat Lilian Voss without allowing Lilian's Soul to reach 24% health in Scholomance on Heroic Difficulty.

Stormstout Brewery: Defeat Yan-Zhu the Uncasked in Stormstout Brewery.

The Obvious Solution: Eliminate the remaining Sha imprisoned in the Sealed Chambers and then defeat the Sha of Violence in Shado-pan Monastery on Heroic Difficulty.

: Take a ride with Armsmaster Harlan's Blades of Light for at least 10 seconds and live to tell the tale on Heroic Difficulty.

Challenge Modes

Challenge Conqueror: Bronze: Achieve a Bronze Challenge in every Mists of Pandaria dungeon. Title: The Challenged

Challenge Conqueror: Silver: Achieve a Silver Challenge in every Mists of Pandaria dungeon.

Challenge Conqueror: Gold: Achieve a Gold Challenge in every Mists of Pandaria dungeon. Reward: Sweet Mount

Raids

Guardians of Mogu'shan: Defeat the bosses in Mogu'shan Vaults.
Quilin Guard

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Trollwerk

Four Kings

Celestial Serpent

Terracotta Army

Ossirian kills (Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj)Settle Down, BroGeneral

Level 90: Reach level 90.

: Equip an epic item in every slot with a minimum item level of 359.

Mystically Epic: Equip an epic item in every slot with a minimum item level of 476.

Mystically Superior: Equip a superior item in every slot with a minimum item level of 463.

: Equip a superior item in every slot with a minimum item level of 333.

To All the Squirrels I Once Caressed?: There are even more critters in Pandaria. They also need /love.

Quests

Upjade Complete: Complete the following storylines in the Jade Forest.

Rally the Valley: Complete the following storylines in the Valley of the Four Winds.

Exploration

Explore Jade Forest: Explore Jade Forest, revealing the covered areas of the world map.

: Visit each of the 10,000 waterfalls of Pandaria.

Professions

: Obtain 525 skill points in cooking.

Zen Master Cook: Obtain 600 skill points in cooking.

Reputation

Shado-Pan: Earn exalted status with the Shadowpan because they are the most awesome faction EVER.

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Mists of Pandaria Interviews and News Round Up

posted 2012/03/20 at 11:24 AM by perculia

Blue Posts

Female Pandaren: There will be many more options for her hairstyle, face, and features. There will also be options to have a long tail, or a more traditional pandaren stub tail.

Archaeology: Can teleport to dig sites after finding an artifact, and can dig more times at a single digsite.

Inscription: Players can level by making staves and wands now.

Factions: Craftsman tokens from new faction currencies allow you to buy items like fun toys or pets.

Elder Tokens: Allow players to purchase new items, convert to Valor, or buy Charms of Good Fortune--allowing players to buy another go at a boss' loot table

Proving Grounds: A solo instance that allows players to try out their new rotations while getting achievements.

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Interviews with Greg Street, Cory Stockton, Tom Chilton, and J Allen Brack

posted 2012/03/19 at 2:00 AM by perculia

Tankspot that Make sure you also read our huge guide and the Mists of Pandaria official FAQ for even more information!

Cory StocktonQuestion: I noticed that Prime Glyphs were removed while playing today, and there were some new fun glyphs--like the one that turned druids into a ridable stag. What's the direction for Inscription in MoP--and can we plan on seeing more fun cosmetic glyphs?

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Mists of Pandaria 2012 Press Event Official FAQ

posted 2012/03/19 at 2:00 AM by Ashelia

Our massive Mists of Pandaria blog postour exclusive interviews with Blizzard

Blizzard

World of Warcraft®: Mists of Pandaria™
March 2012 Media Event FAQ

Q: What is World of Warcraft®: Mists of Pandaria™?

Escalating tensions between the Alliance and Horde have broken out into open warfare. The roar of cannons blacken the sky while naval engagements around the globe fill the seas with blood. As the clash of mortal armies spins the world into chaos, a continent -- once shielded by impenetrable mists -- suddenly manifests itself in the southern oceans. There’s no question that this resource-rich new land will be at the center of a global conflict. Will the Mists of Pandaria part to reveal Azeroth’s salvation? Or will this new battlefield become the flashpoint that pushes the Alliance and Horde over the brink into total annihilation?

Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion set to Blizzard Entertainment’s critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. The new expansion opens up an exotic new land for heroes to explore and provides a wide variety of exciting new features and content that will give players even more ways to enjoy the game.

For info on the story and lore of Mists of Pandaria, including background on the pandaren race, key characters and factions, and the history of Pandaria, see the Lore & Story section later in this FAQ.

MISTS OF PANDARIA GAMEPLAY

Q: What are the features of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria?

The new expansion introduces a wide variety of new features and systems, including a new continent, new race, new class, and more:

New Playable Race -- Pandaren: Decide whether to side with the Alliance or the Horde as World of Warcraft’s first neutral playable race, and explore their unique starting zone: the Wandering Isle.
New Playable Class -- Monk: Unlock the secrets of pandaren martial arts and do battle as a damage dealer, healer, or tank.
New Continent: Explore the lush Jade Forest, treacherous Kun-Lai Summit, and other exotic new zones of Pandaria designed for high-level characters.
Scenarios: Join up with some friends to achieve a common goal, such as mounting a defense against invading monsters, in a flexible new type of PvE challenge.
Dungeon “Challenge” Modes: Master the ultimate 5-player time trial and earn prestige rewards in a new dungeon mode that will put your resolve and coordination to the test.
Pet Battles: Challenge other players’ companion pets with your own collection in a new tactical mini-game. Level up your companions and discover pets in the wild to round out your roster.
Level Cap Increased to 90: Learn potent new spells and abilities while exploring uncharted zones and taking on challenging new content.

Q: What is the monk class? How does it differ from other classes in the game?

The monk is a martial arts expert who excels in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, and can fill the role of a tank (Brewmaster), damage-dealer (Windwalker), or healer (Mistweaver), depending on a player’s chosen specialization. Monks build up energy through a combination of punches, kicks, and other basic martial arts moves, and then expend it to unleash powerful special moves, such as finishers or potent heals. As with most classes in the game with the exception of death knights, monks begin their journey at level 1.

Q: Which races can be a monk?

Since coming into contact with members of the Horde and the Alliance, several of Pandaria’s masters have begun to teach their new allies the secrets of their ancient martial arts. Currently, every race except goblin and worgen can learn the ways of the monk.

Q: At what point do pandaren characters choose which faction to side with?

Pandaren who strike out to explore the world outside their homeland begin their journey on the Wandering Isle (a new starting zone for pandaren characters level 1 to 10), where they face a number of trials -- and meet with a number of characters from both the Alliance and the Horde -- before arriving in Kalimdor or the Eastern Kingdoms. Pandaren remain neutral through most of their Wandering Isle quests, but before they leave, players will need to make a crucial decision whether to permanently side with the Alliance or the Horde. After that decision is made, the character will be treated just like any other member of their chosen faction in cities, on quests, and in character interactions. Choose wisely, because once your decision is made, it’s irreversible (except through the Faction Change service).

Q: Which classes are available to pandaren players?

Currently, pandaren can choose to be hunters, mages, priests, rogues, shaman, warriors, and -- of course -- monks. Pandaren are not able to become death knights, druids, paladins, or warlocks.

Q: What end-game content will be available for players at level 90?

One of our primary design goals for Mists of Pandaria is to give players a wider variety of content and different types of gameplay to enjoy once they reach maximum level, in addition to the Heroic dungeons, raids, and daily quests that they’re used to. To that end, we are introducing three major new features in the new expansion -- scenarios, challenge modes for 5-player dungeons, and companion pet battles -- and focusing on improving the end-game experience you’re familiar with.

Here’s just some of the content we’re working on for players to enjoy once they reach level 90:

A huge variety of daily quests to choose from, with dynamic stories that change and progress as you complete quest content over time
Multiple group-based scenarios that players can run in addition to dungeons to earn Valor Points and gear
9 dungeons, including six brand-new Pandaria dungeons with normal and Heroic modes, and three new Heroics based on the classic Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance dungeons
Challenge modes for the six new dungeons designed for players looking for the ultimate test of their dungeon-delving skills, complete with suitably epic transmogrifiable rewards
A variety of new factions to join forces with, offering unique gameplay mechanics and rewards
2 new Battlegrounds offering different styles of PvP gameplay and objectives, along with a new Arena
3 raids featuring epic encounters with sinister new villains, each with Raid Finder, normal, and Heroic modes
And more… Our goal is to deliver a huge variety of content for level-90 players to enjoy, at launch and beyond

Q: What are Scenarios?

Scenarios are a new type of PvE challenge designed for groups of as few as 3 or as many as 25 players, depending on what is appropriate for the content. Scenarios require players to band together to complete a specific goal. For example, you might be asked to help a pandaren brewmaster complete her masterwork brew in the midst of a lightning storm, and then escort her to a nearby temple against a howling rain and persistent assault. Once there, you’ll use the powers of her new brew to help defeat a boss and his minions.

Although there are no specific class requirements, players will need to work together to accomplish each scenario’s unique objectives. Scenarios will be instanced, and we’re designing them to take about 10 to 30 minutes each to complete. We’re also planning a “Scenario Finder” similar to the Dungeon Finder and Raid Finder that will make it easy for players to quickly find a group.

Q: What are Challenge Modes for 5-player dungeons?

Challenge mode is a new, advanced mode for 5-player dungeons designed for players looking for the ultimate test of coordination and skill. In challenge modes, players are tasked with trying to complete an existing 5-player dungeon as quickly and skillfully as possible. Depending on how well the group does, players will receive recognizable prestige rewards such as mounts, pets, titles, achievements, or special armor artwork that can be used with transmogrification to customize a character’s appearance. The inspiration for challenge modes comes from events such as the 45-minute Baron Rivendare runs in the original Stratholme dungeon, or the timed Zul’Aman dungeon run for the Amani War Bear.

We want challenge modes to be a test of player skill and not of player gear, and so the stats on all players’ armor and equipment will be normalized to a set level upon beginning a challenge. As a result, players will have the same chance at victory whether they are wearing quest rewards or Heroic-raid-level epic items. Regardless of equipment, challenge modes will remain just as challenging at the end of the expansion as they were at the beginning.

Q: What are companion pet battles?

In Mists of Pandaria, we’re adding a new tactical mini-game that allow players to pit their roster of companion pets against other players’ pets (or against special creatures you come across in the wild) in strategic, turn-based combat. Pets will level up as they earn combat experience, and each companion will have its own set of stats, such as attack and defense rating. As pets level up, players will be able to choose which abilities their pets will learn, each with its own tactical merits. During a pet battle, players will be able to swap companions out strategically depending on which pet they’re facing or what abilities might come in handy against a given foe.

Players will be able to hunt for approximately 100 wild pets across all of Azeroth, each with randomized stats and levels. Players can further customize their pets by giving them names. We’re also planning a number of other features, including a Pet Journal showing where and how to capture wild pets, pet-battle-specific achievements and stats, and a way to queue for PvP battles.

Pet battles are meant to be completely independent from your character’s main progression, and the rewards won’t offer additional advantages in regular PvP or PvE situations such as Battlegrounds or raids -- though they should help pass the time while you’re waiting for your group to recoup from a particularly nasty wipe.

Q: What’s in store for dungeons and raids?

Every raid in Mists of Pandaria will include three difficulty levels: normal (10- and 25-player), Heroic (10- and 25-player), and a specially tuned third mode accessible via the Raid Finder (25-player only) designed with pick-up groups in mind. We’re very happy with how many players have been able to experience the Dragon Soul (patch 4.3) raid content -- especially the climactic boss encounter with Deathwing -- following the release of the Raid Finder, and we’ll continue to provide higher difficulty levels for players looking for the most epic challenges and rewards.

At launch, we’re planning to have six brand-new dungeons (with normal and Heroic modes) as well as three new Heroic modes for classic dungeons, including two based on Scarlet Monastery and one based on Scholomance. We’re also planning three raids at launch featuring a host of sinister new villains and epic encounters with ancient evils that have been hiding in the mists for millennia.

Q: What are the new zones?

The continent of Pandaria will consist of seven enormous zones for players level 85 and above, and new pandaren players will begin their adventures in a unique starting zone separate from the pandaren homeland. Since our original unveiling of Mists of Pandaria at BlizzCon, we’ve added two additional zones for players to explore -- Krasarang Wilds and the Dread Wastes -- substantially increasing the continent’s size (we didn’t simply split up existing zones) and expanding the diversity of Pandaria’s already wild and varied landscape. Here’s the breakdown of the zones, along with their current working names:

The Jade Forest: High-level adventurers will make landfall in the lush Jade Forest, where they’ll meet some of Pandaria’s indigenous races, such as the fish-like jinyu and monkey-like hozen.
Valley of the Four Winds: Featuring rolling green hills and lush pandaren farmland, the Valley of the Four Winds is where travelers will find the legendary Stormstout Brewery.
Kun-Lai Summit: Amid this treacherous, icy mountain terrain, players will encounter the Shado-Pan, a clandestine sect charged with keeping one of Pandaria’s darkest secrets.
Townlong Steppes: Here, a tremendous wall separates Pandaria’s verdant forests and plains from the desolate wasteland left in the wake of the ravenous, all-consuming mantid.
Krasarang Wilds: A dense strand of jungle occupying Pandaria’s southernmost shore, the Krasarang Wilds are home to lost ruins and a chain of dangerous islands.
Dread Wastes: The mantid homeland, now overrun by the Sha of Fear, has been corrupted into a horrifying wasteland of swamps and scorched earth. Players will have to fight their way into the lair of the mantid queen herself to rout out the source of the corruption.
Vale of Eternal Blossoms: This lush valley in the center of Pandaria hosts a secret power dating back to the time of the Titans. The city complex at its heart will be players’ home away from home, but max-level players will need to defend it against constantly changing daily threats.
The Wandering Isle: Pandaren adventurers looking to explore the world outside Pandaria begin their journey here, on a mysterious island that never seems to settle in the same place for too long.

Q: What changes are being made to the talent system?

We are making a couple of major changes to how class specializations and talents work in Mists of Pandaria. First, your specialization is now completely independent from your talent choices. When you reach level 10, you will still choose one of three specs (e.g. Discipline, Holy, or Shadow priest) to determine your role, play style, and which signature abilities your character has access to. In addition, you’ll receive more of your spec’s defining abilities as you level up.

Secondly, the talent system has been redesigned completely. At regular level intervals (at level 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90), players will now be able to choose between one of three very powerful talents. All three specializations will have access to the same three talent options, and our goal is to make sure that these talent choices are appealing to all three specializations with no obvious “must-have” options for any of them. For example, level-15 warriors will be able to choose one of three movement-related talents: Juggernaut, which permanently lowers the cooldown of Charge; Double Time, which lets the warrior Charge twice before incurring a cooldown; or Warbringer, which knocks the target to the ground and stuns it following a Charge. Once you choose a talent in a specific tier, the other two talents are locked out from your talent build, even when you reach the next talent tier. We want players to be able to change their talent build independently of their specialization, and without visiting a class trainer. This new system is designed to provide players with hundreds of distinct and meaningful options for tailoring their character’s gameplay to their specific desires and situation.

If you want to get a feel for how the system will work, check out the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator on the official World of Warcraft website. There you can create a talent spec using the latest in-development talent trees for your favorite class.

Q: Why is the talent system going through an overhaul?

As with the talent-system redesign in Cataclysm, our goal is ultimately to give players more meaningful character-customization options and to eliminate “cookie-cutter” talent builds. We were only partially successful in realizing that goal in Cataclysm, as many talents still felt mandatory to a given specialization, and some talent choices in the trees were still not particularly interesting or exciting. By giving the benefits of the previously “mandatory” talents to players automatically as part of their specialization choice, and allowing any specialization to choose any given talent, we hope to be able to give players much more significant and interesting decisions to make about their character.

Q: Will players be allowed to fly in Pandaria?

Upon arrival in Pandaria, players will be restricted from flying until they reach a certain point in their quest progression. While the ability to fly is a great convenience for players once they have completed content, we can provide a much more enjoyable, rewarding, and varied questing experience if players are (mostly) grounded while the story of Pandaria unfolds.

MISTS OF PANDARIA LORE & STORY

Q: How will the story of Mists of Pandaria unfold?

Offering a unique change of pace from the globe-trotting chaos of Cataclysm, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria focuses on the exploration and potential colonization of a single, massive new continent. The adventure will unfold over a number of stages:

Mists of Pandaria: The “out of the box” expansion experience focuses on the discovery and exploration of Pandaria. Both Horde and Alliance players will have to try to swing the locals to their side of the conflict… but their actions will bring unforeseen and disastrous consequences. Devastating “Sha” energy, a physical manifestation of negative emotions that has been locked away for thousands of years, is brought to the surface once war comes to Pandaria’s shores. The battle to win over the hearts and minds of the pandaren takes on a new urgency as the darkness of the Sha plunges the land into chaos. Among other things, Sha energy infects the ferocious mantid, triggering a horrific swarm. Meanwhile, Mogu warlords reconnect with their ancient Zandalari allies in an attempt to recapture their former imperial glory. Far from Alliance and Horde resupply, players must solve these local problems while learning about the enigmatic pandaren race… and a little about their own nature in the process.

The Pandaria Campaign: Beginning shortly after the release of Mists of Pandaria, a series of content updates will advance the story of the Alliance and Horde campaign on the new continent. The campaign will kick off when the fleets arrive and claim Pandaria’s southern shores, permanently altering the area. As King Varian Wrynn struggles to unite the Alliance for a meaningful counter-attack, Garrosh Hellscream will battle to turn the disparate parts of the Horde into a frenzied killing machine. Telling a complete story arc, the Pandaren Campaign will climax in a raid that will reset the balance of power in the world of Azeroth.

Q: Who are the pandaren?

The pandaren are an ancient, intelligent race who have been cut off from the world at large since the time of the great sundering that split apart the continents of Azeroth.

If a single trait could sum up the pandaren culture, it’s that they live in the moment. They embrace life with gusto. A pandaren does everything with vigor, focus, and intensity. Every meal is an event. Every moment with the family is cherished. Every project or work of art demands their full attention. Every nap is treated as if it will be the last! The pandaren work hard, play hard, fight like animals, love with all their soul, tell impossibly tall tales, drink like they mean it, and sleep like the dead.

On the whole, pandaren are slow to anger and prefer measured solutions to problems. But underneath all of that practiced civility, there is a bear to contend with. When a pandaren focuses on combat, each blow rings with the weight of his or her entire body. Living “in the moment” also means getting lost in the fury of combat; a pandaren monk in the midst of battle has fists like wrecking balls and a roar that can be heard from horizon to horizon.

However, it takes a great deal to get a pandaren wound up. On mainland Pandaria, negative emotions such as fear, anger, or despair can literally take on a physical form and stir up trouble. For this reason, pandaren emphasize and cultivate a quiet life of inner harmony and focus. Conflicts, no matter how bitter, are quickly forgotten over cold drinks once the matter is resolved. The pandaren sense of inner peace and love of life is infectious. Spend any significant time with a pandaren and you, too, can’t help but get lost in the moment.

Q: Why has Pandaria been hidden this whole time?

A veil of impenetrable mists has cloaked Pandaria since the time of the Sundering and the reign of the last pandaren emperor. Previously, ships entering the mists have lost their bearings and spun about aimlessly before returning to the open ocean. As for the pandaren, they looked out toward the mist-veiled seas and many presumed that the rest of the world had perished in the Sundering.

Sometime in the wake of the Cataclysm, the mists abruptly vanished. Alliance and Horde naval fleets, engaged in skirmishes around the world thanks to the new Warchief’s aggression, suddenly found a new continent where once charts showed open seas. With both factions escalating their feud into a global conflict, the war for Azeroth shifts in a new direction.

Why did the mists collapse at this crucial moment in world history? The answers revolve around the will of the last emperor, and lie at the heart of this strange new continent….

Q: What is the pandaren starting zone, the Wandering Isle?

Many generations ago, a particularly bold pandaren named Liu Lang set out to see what was beyond the mists by setting sail upon the back of a giant sea turtle. As the turtle grew, so did Liu Lang’s desire to explore the world. Others joined him, until eventually a whole colony of pandaren explorers travelled the ocean, living atop the expansive “Wandering Isle.” Although the Wandering Isle hasn’t made landfall in many years, those who live there are still ignited by the spirit of adventure.
Chen Stormstout is a native of the Wandering Isle, as are any players who choose to create pandaren characters. They are a rare breed, on the whole far more adventurous than their land-locked and long-lost relatives on mainland Pandaria.

Q: Will all of the pandaren join the Horde or the Alliance?

Just as it’s comparatively rare for a pandaren to be struck with an urge to wander the world, it’s rarer still that one would feel compelled to align oneself with a faction such as the Horde or Alliance. Only those who are convinced these factions are the key to healing Azeroth would even consider pledging their allegiance to one faction or the other.

The decision to join a faction comes at great personal cost, as any fellow pandaren who join the opposite faction -- including friends or relatives -- will likely never be heard from again. Pandaren who choose to align themselves with the Alliance or Horde do so because of shared values and personal beliefs regarding their overall worldview and the best way to move forward after the Cataclysm.

Guiding the decision to join a faction are two competing pandaren disciplines that are prominent on the Wandering Isle. Those who follow the path of the Houjin are impulsive, quick to action, and practical. Houjin disciples feel that the ends can justify the means, and they may find like-minded compatriots in the Horde. In opposition, followers of the path of the Tushui are more contemplative, focused on abstract ideals of justice and morality. Students of Tushui believe that a principled life is the only one worth living, and may find that the stalwart Alliance aligns more closely with their beliefs.

Every pandaren player will need to make this difficult decision early on in their adventure. The vast majority of the pandaren population, however, will continue to follow the traditional path of isolationism and neutrality.

Q: Who are the pandaren leaders or figureheads for the Horde and Alliance?

After the climactic events on the Wandering Isle, two pandaren monks will travel with players to the rest of the world to spread the wisdom of the pandaren.

Aysa Cloudsinger is a follower of the path of Tushui. She believes in living a venerable life through meditation, rigorous training, and moral conviction. Described as graceful and poised, Aysa has attained impeccable form and a refined intellect through diligent practice. To Aysa, to follow the way of Tushui is to defend what is right above all else. She believes that success in any endeavor never justifies dishonorable deeds. While the Alliance contains a diverse mix of cultures, Aysa is attracted to the high ideals and values that cement the Alliance together.

Ji Firepaw, a follower of the more direct Houjin philosophy, is adamant that inaction is the greatest injustice. Ji holds that it’s honorable to defend home and family no matter the cost. Outgoing, passionate, and not one for deep thought, he is always the first into the fray. Ji finds himself attracted to the scrappy practicality that defines the Horde. Although it will cost him dearly, he will decide to carry the Horde banner when he leaves the Wandering Isle.

Q: Do the pandaren have a history of interaction with the Horde and Alliance?

Pandaren wanderers are very rare, but the deeds of a few are recorded in recent times. One brave soul that spirited his way into the annals of Azerothian history was the brewmaster Chen Stormstout. Warcraft III players may recall his chance meeting with Rexxar in the game’s bonus missions, where he worked together with Thrall to found the new orcish homeland in Durotar. Later, he accompanied heroes such as Vol’jin and Jaina Proudmoore to liberate Theramore and protect the fledgling Horde from annihilation. Never one to stay put for long, Chen moved on, always seeking new ingredients for the perfect brew. Players will be able to catch up with him as he resumes his adventures on the pandaren mainland.

Q: What’s the story behind the pandaren monks?

Nearly 12,000 years ago, the empire now known as Pandaria was ruled by a monstrous race of warlords known as the Mogu (see below). Mogu taskmasters forbade their slaves to carry weapons. During these dark times, pandaren monks tried to lift the spirits of their beleaguered brothers and sisters. They were the storytellers, the brewmasters, and the healers who helped knit their oppressed society together in the midst of darkness.

As the Mogu empire began to fray, the pandaren saw an opportunity for a revolution. Because they had no weapons, they trained common people to fight with their unarmed fists and feet. They mastered the use of positive energy -- or chi -- to empower themselves. The revolution itself was a bloody affair that shattered an empire and left a terrible toll among combatant and civilian alike, but ultimately the Mogu were overthrown and a new empire was founded.

Although pandaren monks have since incorporated weapons into their attacks, they remain focused on chi as a source of power and are still devastating when fighting with open hands. In the wake of events on the Wandering Isle, pandaren monks will travel to key places throughout Azeroth to share their wisdom with young Alliance and Horde trainees.

Q: What sorts of local threats will adventurers face on Pandaria?

Just because Pandaria is isolated doesn’t mean the continent is at all peaceful. Looming dangers, new and old, threaten to overwhelm the empire as players arrive.

The Mogu are an ancient race of monstrous warlords who founded the first empire through conquest and oppression. They enslaved nearby indigenous races and used their labor to build structures of awe-inspiring majesty, some of which still stand. Masters of flesh-shaping magic, they assured their dominance through cruel experimentation. Only by mastering unarmed combat were the ancient pandaren able to overthrow this terrible regime. After the mists collapse, the remaining Mogu get together with old allies and attempt to retake the empire that their ancestors founded.

The Mantid are an intelligent and highly evolved race of insect-like creatures who have menaced the people of Pandaria since prehistoric times. While their society has a queen, they don’t operate as a hive mind. Mantid act with individual cunning, making them formidable in single combat and unstoppable when their numbers converge. Every mantid generation, the young hatch in incredible numbers and then swarm toward the rest of Pandaria, devouring anything in their path. Only the strongest return. Although the ancient mogu managed to protect their lands by building a gigantic wall between themselves and the mantid, the generational swarms require an all-hands defense of the wall or the very heart of Pandaria will be lost.

Finally, Sha is a dark energy unique to Pandaria, a legacy left behind by the last pandaren emperor. Fear, doubt, despair, anger, violence, and hatred are all emotions associated with the Sha -- emotions that can manifest themselves physically if left unchecked. Unwary mortals can become possessed by negative Sha energy, becoming embodiments of pure anger or fear. When the Alliance and Horde bring their war to the shores of Pandaria, these negative emotions threaten to engulf the continent.

Q: What other new races will emerge from Pandaria?

After millennia of isolation from the rest of Azeroth, several unique indigenous races have developed alongside the pandaren on the ancient continent.

Ferocious and impetuous, the hozen are a short-lived race. They have their own uniquely filthy language and a determination to always improve their station, no matter how inept their efforts. While the pandaren respect their tenacious hunger for life they’re also wary of the chaos created by such recklessness. The ever-expanding hozen are often the bane of the nearby jinyu, and it’s up to the pandaren to play the role of reluctant peacekeeper.

The industrious and amphibious jinyu dam the rivers in order to create lakes around which they make their home. The jinyu live under a rigid caste system, with warriors and priests chosen at a young age. Many of the jinyu elders are Waterspeakers. Placing a staff into the river, these sages listen to the knowledge of the island as it flows downstream. Any events that touch the rivers will make their way down to the jinyu, giving the Waterspeakers a connection to the future. While the pandaren balk at the overly rigid structure of jinyu life, they hold in great reverence this power to gain insight into what’s to come.

The cloud serpents are an intelligent race of dragon-like beings inhabiting the island. They exist in a wide array of shimmering colors. Some may be the bright green of the treetops through which they fly, while others may be the sparkling blue of the stream or the shocking crimson of flame -- their beauty always complementing their beloved land. Pandaren will often raise the playful creatures from hatchling to adulthood, as their cleverness and speed make them excellent mounts. While a handful have become corrupt or dangerous, the vast majority coexist happily with the other inhabitants of the island.

Other unique races include the dangerous lizard-like saurok, the superstitious diminutive grummles, the obnoxious scavenging virmen, or the ferocious nomadic yaungol tribes.

Q: What new factions await adventurers in Pandaria?

The Shado-Pan: The bravest and most disciplined of pandaren fighters, the Shado-Pan were established by the last Pandaren emperor to act as guardians against the negative Sha energy that permeates the continent. Part of their duties also involves manning the mighty wall that protects the pandaren homeland from the dangerous mantid race. They welcome the assistance of any who have the bravery and skill to aid them in their sacred charge.
The August Celestials: Four powerful ancestor spirits have always watched over the lands of the pandaren: Yu’lon the Jade Serpent, Xuen the White Tiger, Chi Ji the Red Crane, and Niuzao the Black Ox. Each of their four temples will call on the service of bold adventurers.
The Golden Lotus: Nestled in the center of Pandaria is the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, an ancient place of great power that’s been around since the time of the Titans. The Vale and its magical waters were once used as a weapon by the Mogu, and after their overthrow it was decided to seal off the vale from any intruders. The Golden Lotus is an order of pandaren priests and fighters who defend and maintain this sacred land. Members are specifically chosen at a young age by one of the four August Celestials.
The Klaxxi: Keepers of the mantid culture, these stoic mantid lords have determined that their own queen has been corrupted and must be destroyed. Although wary of outsiders, it may be possible to earn the trust of the Klaxxi, gaining access to their unique arms and armor.
Order of the Cloud Serpent: This order of flying warriors was founded long ago, during the Zandalari wars. Gain their favor, and they’ll reveal the secrets of training a cloud serpent to become a loyal mount.
The Lorewalkers: This peaceful faction has been charged with safeguarding pandaren history and culture. Intrepid explorers can win their favor by collecting historical artifacts from around the world.
Artisans: Many Brewmasters have wandered the world in search of exotic ingredients to expand their craft, while the Tillers and Anglers are simple farmer and fisher folk, respectively. These three factions are the backbone of civilian life on Pandaria, and offering assistance to these artisans will reap great rewards.

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Cataclysm Post Mortem -- Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street

posted 2012/03/07 at 11:16 AM by perculia

Blizzard

As part of our World of Warcraft: Cataclysm post mortem series, we sat down with World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street to talk about his thoughts on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Q. What were your main goals going into Cataclysm?

A: Westfall was a seven-year-old zone with seven-year-old trees and seven-year-old quests. It naturally felt old. It felt tired for players going back to level up an alt, and it wasn’t inspiring for new players coming to the game. We just felt like it was time to give all of those old 1-60 zones some attention again. Beyond that though, we wanted to update the classes at low level as well. The spell flow, by which we mean the level you get certain spells, just hadn’t aged well. You would get some very group-focused buffs at low level and some powerful leveling tools at high level, which would have made more sense reversed. There were some specs that just weren’t functional at low level before because they lacked the damage abilities or tools to effectively solo. Similarly, we took a look at all of the quest rewards at 1-60 because some specs just didn’t have adequate itemization to support them.

A second goal, from the systems design point of view, was to improve the class talent trees. We thought the trees had become bloated with filler instead of legitimately interesting talents. We also embraced the notion of class specialization to a much greater degree, by letting you choose your spec formally at level 10.

We also knew we needed to provide more content to players focused on maximum level, which meant we couldn’t just re-do 1-60, but we had to provide questing zones, class mechanics, and new PvP and PvE content for players who would be at level 85 too.

Finally, we wanted to deliver all of this content more aggressively. We know players can only wait so long for something new to do before they start to get bored. This has been a goal for some time, but it has been a challenging one for us. When you compare the graphic fidelity of a raid like Firelands to an older raid like Molten Core, you can imagine how it takes both more time and more people to make a raid these days. That’s exactly the opposite of what we want to be doing though, which is providing players content at faster rates.

Q. What do you think worked best in Cataclysm?

A. We’re really happy with the 1-60 revamp. Each zone looks amazing, we improved their quest flow, and they all have a story that has a (hopefully) meaningful climax, often with a blue item reward. Zones that didn’t have much going on before have an actual plot now, many of which are related to Deathwing’s return. We also did a better job of integrating the dungeons in a zone into the questing experience for that zone, so you feel like you have a good reason to explore them.

We really like how having players choose a spec at level 10 worked out. I’d say nearly every single design decision we make ends up being at least somewhat controversial in that some players agree with them and some players disagree with them -- that’s just the reality of having such a large and diverse player base. But choosing a spec at level 10 was as close to universally acclaimed by players as anything we’ve ever done. It just works. You get a meaningful choice early on, and powerful, useful, and fun abilities to go along with it. It leads to each spec having a stronger sense of identity, even at higher level.

We’re pretty happy with the level 80-85 content that we offered. The zones looked great and the stories were good. We offered several new dungeons, raids, and Battlegrounds. Late in the cycle of Cataclysm, we introduced Raid Finder, which provided a new type of content to players who historically weren’t raiders. We’re at the part of the lifespan of the game where some original features no longer have the cachet they used to -- you can only roll up so many alts, and by this point you might very well be done with achievements or convinced yourself that that type of gameplay isn’t for you. When we can offer a whole new way to play the game -- in this case provide raids to non-raiders -- it’s a big win.

Transmogrification is another one of those features -- it opened up an entirely new avenue of gameplay. One of the great things it’s done, aside from giving players more tools to personalize their characters of course, is make a lot of old content relevant again. Now players are doing old raids and dungeons looking for Transmogrification pieces, and that’s really cool.

I could name a few smaller features we thought worked out as well. The Justice / Honor badge system in Cataclysm cleaned up the crazy system from Lich King. All things considered, we’re happy with the healing model. We encountered issues with mana being in short supply at lower gear levels and conversely too abundant at the higher levels, eliminating much of the challenge for healers when the content is supposed to be the most difficult, but overall the model did what we wanted, and we’ll be refining it in Mists.

Q. What didn’t work out as planned?
Everything else! Seriously though, we tend to be our own harshest critics, so it’s actually easy for us to point out things that didn’t work out as expected.

While zones like Uldum and Deepholm look fantastic, they didn’t fit together as well as we’d have liked. In the planning phases, we didn’t think that having scattered end game zones would be a big deal. It turned out to feel a lot weirder than expected. Players ended up teleporting to nearly every destination, and it gave Cataclysm a disjointed feeling, detracting from that feeling of exploration and discovery. We learned that giving players a land to explore, a sense of place, is valuable. Ultimately, the scattered zones and the portals both served to kind of shrink the world, when we want to make the world a place you want to go out and be in. We’re definitely looking forward to getting back to a continent in Mists. We underestimated how important that was.

In addition, while we liked that each zone has a story, questing ended up being too linear. It didn’t feel like you could fly into a zone, find some quest givers, and explore. Instead, you kind of had to start at the beginning and follow all the quests to the end, and if you didn’t like a quest, well, you had to stick with it to get to the next one. We want zones to have an identity, flavor and a story, but we don’t want to railroad players through a zone either.

The difficulty at which we pegged our heroic dungeons and raids was controversial. They were designed to be about as tough as the dungeons were back in Burning Crusade, but the game has changed since then. Coming out of Lich King, we’d gotten the message loud and clear from players that they wanted tougher challenges. They liked the convenience of Dungeon Finder, but they missed using their crowd control and survival abilities and having to strategize about how to beat a given encounter. We designed the Cataclysm heroics with that in mind, and the players who wanted challenging content were thrilled.

The problem was that we had this whole group of players who felt like they couldn’t make any progress on their characters. Even if they wanted to end up raiding with their friends, they couldn’t earn the gear they needed to get into those raids (especially in the absence of Raid Finder). I don’t believe that the instances were too hard; it’s obvious there are players who enjoy that content. I believe the problem was that there were no alternatives. With such a diverse community, the goal is to have experiences that players from all over the spectrum can enjoy. We don’t want to shut anyone out. So, we’re addressing that with Challenge Modes in Mists. You’ll have normal and heroic mode dungeons, and then Challenge Modes, for players who are looking to prove their mettle. Likewise, you’ll have normal and heroic raids, and Raid Finder for players who don’t enjoy wiping on a boss week after week until they can master it.

While choosing a spec at level 10 felt great, we weren’t very happy with the rest of the talent tree overhaul. We definitely pruned some dead wood from the trees and got rid of some talents that weren’t a lot of fun, but players felt like they weren’t getting anything out of the bargain. Having simpler trees is a good goal, but it would have felt better if players felt like they got something cool in return for losing some boring fluff. Unfortunately, as is the case with many compromises, this one didn’t fully solve the original problems it was intended to solve, while it created new ones.

Fundamentally, taking into account what we’ve learned about talent trees over the years, we’ve come to the conclusion that the talent tree model where you pick up tiny performance increases here and there (and where there’s, mathematically, nearly always a ‘right’ answer and a ‘wrong’ answer) is not a great model. The Mists talent design is a major revamp that should fix this problem once and for all. Talents should be meaningful game-changers. At absolute worst a given talent may be the right one only situationally, and at best, players will have a lot more customization to make their play-style stand out. Furthermore, the fact that you’ll have more flexibility to change your talents should help keep gameplay fresh, even with that character that you play most often.

I feel like I should mention Abyssal Maw again. As with many cancelled features, it somehow took on a life of its own in the minds of players. Believe me, though -- you just don’t cancel things that you think are going to be awesome. It was three bosses inside Nespirah, with no unique art. The reason it was originally appealing to us was because we had so many Vashj’ir assets that we could use. But by the time it was time to do the work, we felt like we (and many players) had Vashj’ir fatigue. Now don’t get me wrong -- I loved Vashj’ir. I was an oceanographer, remember? Vashj’ir delivered on the promise of an underwater zone, but we feel like most players were ready to be done with it by the time they had quested through that. (Individuals will feel differently -- it’s that diverse player base thing again.) Firelands received a lot of new art, from bosses to environments, and we just didn’t feel like Abyssal Maw was going to compete. Who knows, though! We haven’t totally given up on the idea of cool underwater experiences, so maybe there’s potential we’d visit it again someday. (For my money, the zone I am personally saddest about cancelling is not Abyssal Maw; it was the Azjol-Nerub quest zone in Wrath of the Lich King.)

Speaking of raids, we also weren’t particularly happy with how accessible legendary items became in Cataclysm. Multiple characters in a single raiding guild were getting, and worse, expecting a legendary weapon. Legendaries are supposed to be rare and exciting, not a bar you fill up like some reputation grind, and certainly not something you feel entitled to get because it’s “your turn.” Dragonwrath in particular was usable by a large variety of class specs, which coupled with the guarantee to completion, just made them too ubiquitous. In the future, legendaries will be more legendary, perhaps so much so that not every raiding guild will have one. In that model, there might be those who almost, but not quite, complete one, but there will also be those who finish one and feel truly honored.

I have mixed feelings about Archaeology. I feel like it’s a good addition to professions and offers more, and more varied, gameplay than our existing professions. Still, it’s clear that some players wanted more. We wanted Archaeology to be hard to complete. We didn’t want it to be one of those professions you can max out by buying up mats at the Auction House. But random reward systems whose long-term goals are more interesting than the short term ones can feel grindy. Archaeology had too much travel time. It could be punishingly random, especially for players who imagined that it would be a guaranteed delivery mechanism for Zin’rokh (which was never the intention). Players missed a lot of the lore, which was delivered in the Archaeology journal and not as part of the survey or digging experience. We think the Mists of Pandaria expansion will be really good for Archaeology. Players will be focused on a couple of new races on a single continent, so travel and randomness will be reduced automatically, and leveling Archaeology should be a bit more convenient since there will be more opportunities to dig at a single site. We have other tricks up our sleeve too.

Q. What lessons have you learned and what are some of your top goals for Mists of Pandaria?

There are four big goals for Mists:

1. Get players out into the world. We don’t want to totally eliminate convenience, so it’s fine to queue for some features from capital cities, but we also want players to see other players out in the world, questing, trying world bosses, engaging in PvP, and just travelling from place to place.
2. Give players plenty to do. It’s a sad feeling, and a real failure on our part, whenever someone says “I want to play WoW this evening, but I just don’t have anything to do.” Like I said above, achievements and alts were great in their time, and we’ll continue to support them, but we understand the need for new ways to play as well. The new expansion will have entirely new systems, like scenarios and challenge modes. We are designing the initial zones to have features similar to the Molten Front daily area, so you don’t feel like questing is something you finish at level 90 (and so you don’t feel like daily quests are synonymous with ‘boring’ or ‘grind’). We want to make the Pandaria factions interesting. We want Exalted to be something you earn for bragging rights, not something every player has. We are adding a lot of mounts that will be hard to get, and awesome-looking armor that you’ll want just for transmogrification. We’re considering ways to let you increase the number of Conquest points you can earn per week or a way to translate questing into bonus loot from instances. We want to hide lots of cool little things all over Pandaria. Some will offer your character more power and some won’t. And if you really like achievements and alts, well hopefully we’ve got you covered there too, with account-level achievements and a new race and class.
3. Appeal to a broad audience. I’m always surprised by the number of players who want the game to be easier and the equal number who want the game to be harder (and can’t understand why anyone would disagree with them!) We approach the issue in a different way -- we think that what all of those players are really saying is that they want content for them. Message received. We’ll be offering Raid Finder versions of all of our raids going forward. We’ll be offering brutally difficult challenge modes of dungeons for players who thought the Cataclysm heroics were too easy. We’re experimenting with some tricky boss encounters for players who loved the hard-mode Ulduar achievements. We want to provide more cross-over between PvE and PvP, for those who are interested, so that it doesn’t feel like you have to play two different games to progress your character. We want to continually add new Battlegrounds, so those players have fresh experiences to look forward to. We’ll provide players with ways to upgrade their gear incrementally, while reserving tier sets for actual boss kills.
Get great content out faster. Enough said.

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this entry in the Cataclysm post mortem series and that this has proven to be an enlightening opportunity to take in our perspective on what worked, what didn’t, and some of what’s coming. If you missed the chance, you can join us in looking back at Cataclysm by checking out the other entries in the post mortem series with Lead Encounter Designer Scott Mercer and Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak.

Now it’s time to look forward, since we have more to share about World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria coming on March 19. Stay tuned!

Discuss the latest Cataclysm Post Mortem here.

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Cataclysm Post Mortem -- Dungeons and Raids with Scott “Daelo” Mercer

posted 2012/03/05 at 9:25 PM by perculia

Soon we fly together again...Cataclysm Post Mortem: Dungeons and Raids

As a part of our post mortem series on Cataclysm, we sat down with World of Warcraft Lead Encounter Designer Scott “Daelo” Mercer to hear his thoughts on Cataclysm dungeons and raids.

Q. What were your main goals going into Cataclysm?
We really wanted to make sure we were creating new challenges, strong mechanics, and cool creatures while staying true to the expansion and the themes we wanted to carry out. The three raid dungeons came out well and we had a lot of fun bringing the story of Nefarian and the Twilight’s Hammer to life. We were also able to add some dynamic mechanics in Throne of the Four Winds, which featured players moving across multiple platforms.

How did this evolve over the various content patches?
Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman were entertaining raids with diverse mechanics, and they translated well when we converted them into Heroic dungeons for patch 4.1. Interesting mechanics and features that once were restricted to raids are now finding their way into our five-player dungeons.

Adding the Dungeon Journal in patch 4.2 was also a major step forward. We wanted to be able to share more information in the game so that players wouldn’t feel the need to go look everything up on external websites. While those sites are great at what they do, we felt like we needed to try to alleviate the need to go out of the game to find the information players wanted to see.

The addition of Raid Finder in patch 4.3 also opened up more opportunities for players to be able to experience our raid content. The feature has proven to be extremely popular, and not just with people who had given up on raiding. Many players use Raid Finder to gear up their secondary characters, gain Valor for the week, or just because it’s fun.

Q. What do you think worked best?
We’ve been reasonably successful with our tuning across all four raid difficulty modes. There were a few warts here and there, but we delivered on the idea that 10-player and 25-player raids could exist at a similar difficulty. We also had some memorable dungeons and cinematic moments in Cataclysm. I’m particularly fond of the interactive bombing run in Grim Batol involving the red drakes. Players really got a sense of the epic scale of Grim Batol, and how well they performed in the event could make clearing the rest of the dungeon much easier.

With our improved tools and the experience we’ve gained over the years, we’ve become better at finding ways to explain the mechanics of our encounters. Our bosses do a better job of warning players of incoming threats. In Dragon Soul we also began to better inform players of mechanics that caused them to die. Providing a better understanding of the encounters to players is an important goal. We feel that losing to a boss and not understanding why is frustrating, just as beating a boss and not understanding why you won is not as satisfying.

Q. What didn’t work out as planned or expected? Initially, we started off the Heroic dungeons at too high of a difficulty. The difficulty level rather abruptly changed when compared to the Heroics players experienced at the end of Wrath of the Lich King. This major change caught many players off guard, and frustrated some of them. The difficulty also increased the effective amount of time required to complete a dungeon to a longer experience than we wanted. With the release of patch 4.3 we’re now in a much better place. We’ve always talked about being able to complete a dungeon over lunch, and the Hour of Twilight dungeons get us back to that goal. End Time, Well of Eternity, and Hour of Twilight all provide epic play experiences to our players, but at the real sweet spot of difficulty, complexity, and time commitment.

Q. Was there anything that surprised you about how players reacted to a particular encounter?
Not particularly. Something we’ve learned over the years is to expect the unexpected. The community is very creative and intelligent. The most important thing for us is that players are having fun. They often find interesting ways of approaching things that maybe we didn’t expect, but as long the creative solution is still fun for everyone, we usually don’t have a problem with it.

Q. What have you learned from Cataclysm and what are some of your top goals for Mists of Pandaria?
We learned we could create a crazy encounter like the Spine of Deathwing. It took a lot of hard work from the whole team and it was a difficult design challenge to tackle. How do you orchestrate a fight on the back of a gigantic flying dragon without inducing nausea? How do we make sure you feel like you’re on Deathwing? Delivering that experience was really important and everyone wanted the opportunity to work on it. What was really great was that we launched the story of Cataclysm with the cinematic that showed Deathwing having his elementium plates being put on, then we end the expansion with those very same plates being torn off. It gives some real closure to storyline.

Mists of Pandaria, we will continue to provide new dungeons and raids while also presenting interesting new types of content in the form of challenge modes and scenarios. Players will also be introduced to new enemies in the Sha, Mogu, and Mantids. Making those creatures come to life will be a lot of fun.

Q. Do you have a favorite dungeon or encounter from Cataclysm?
There are so many. The Conclave of Wind was a great one. Working out interesting mechanics that allowed players to go from platform to platform was a lot of fun and the environment felt really epic. A fight like that was a goal of the encounter team for a very long time.

Blackwing Descent was another favorite and working out the mechanics for the Atramedes fight gave us a lot to think about. How do you create an encounter with a blind dragon that fights? So we gave him sonar and showed the interaction with a sound meter on the player’s UI.

In Bastion of Twilight, we really got to sell the corruption angle on Cho’gall which made for another really interesting fight.

Q. Is there a certain mechanic that you always wanted to do but couldn’t do prior to Cataclysm?
Not really. There are so many cool ideas to work with that I never feel held back. It’s easy to be creatively inspired by the people around you and their energy. It’s never a problem of coming up with ideas. It’s usually deciding which ones we want to go with next, but the possibilities are endless.

Q. Do you have a “dream” dungeon or encounter that you’d like to create if you had the opportunity?
I’ve never felt that I haven’t been able to do the things I want to do. Everyone on the team is completely dedicated to giving us unlimited opportunities to make epic and awesome experiences. But, if I have to mention something, it would be huge giant death robots. We had Mimiron in Ulduar, but you just can’t have too many death robots.

Q. Thank you for your time, Scott.
You’re welcome.

Discuss the latest Cataclysm Post Mortem here.

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