World of Warcraft Blog

Welcome to another edition of Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that would like to assert the following:

• Fact: Mages are the sparkliest class in the game.
• Fact: Sparkles are awesome.
• Fact: Warlocks have poor personal hygiene and generally smell funny.

None of these assertions can be disputed.

Hey, mages! Let’s have an argument.

Well… maybe not so much an argument per se, because no matter how you slice it, an equally geared frost mage is going to do less overall DPS than a fire or arcane mage… but we’ll definitely be having a discussion.

Here’s a general format for how this discussion will take place:

1. I will present my reasons why raiding as a frost mage is viable.
2. You will then tell me why I am wrong.

You may be asking yourself: Christian, what has provoked this sudden defense of frost magery? You play an arcane mage! Also, where are your pants?

To your first question, I would say, “yes, you’re right. But in preparation for writing my forthcoming Frost 101 column, I have been toying with a secondary frost spec, and finding it a great deal of fun.” To your second question, about the whereabouts of my trousers, I would say stop watching my webcam. Really, you knew what you were getting into when you clicked that link.

For the first time in a very long time, recent patches have brought significant upgrades to the raiding viability of the frost mage. Since the first raid breached the door of Karazhan way back in early 2007, frost mages have found themselves overshadowed by other specs in terms of damage output, and each successive raid, patch, and expansion found them falling farther and farther behind their mage brethren. It wasn’t long before frost became known as the PvP tree, and rightly so, because frost mages were best at that aspect of the game, but simply could not compete on the PvE side of things.

This is still, for all intents and purposes, the case. For over three years, bringing a frost mage into progressive raid content was a fairly taboo prospect. But things are changing:

• Water elementals became permanent with the application of a glyph.
• Deep Freeze was given a massive damage component versus raid bosses.

And forthcoming patches continue the trend:

• Frostbolt’s spellpower scaling is being increased.
• Brain Freeze will trigger a Frostfire Bolt as well.

Clearly Blizzard is making an effort here, but though frost is closer than it has been in a very long time to the other specs in terms of raw DPS numbers, it’s going to lag behind. In raid content, where DPS is king, what incentive is there to bring a spec that does less damage than another spec?

And thus the argument will always go. Spec A does (x) DPS. Spec B does (x-1) DPS. Take spec A.

So why bring a frost mage when you can bring an arcane or fire mage? (And my apologies to frostfire mages. Blizzard stopped supporting that spec pretty much the moment they introduced it.)

Reason the first: The DPS gap is closing.

It’s still there, certainly, but it’s much, much smaller than it has been. The above-mentioned changes have made the gap small enough that now the choice to bring a frost mage no longer hampers your raid’s DPS. Arcane and fire still rank higher, but frost is now, for the first time since the end of vanilla WoW, in the mix. The most recent PTR changes promise to make the situation even better.

A straight-up damage buff to frost’s primary nuke, Frostbolt, is a fantastic place to start. And by incorporating the occasional Brain Freeze-triggered Frostfire Bolt into the rotation (a vast improvement over Fireball for frost mages), the situation becomes even better. Now if only we could find a way to get Ice Lance involved somehow…

I realize that saying frost isn’t as bad it used to be isn’t much of an argument, but I’ve never been a big fan of the whole min-max mentality. From a hard numbers perspective, arcane is currently the DPS king. Frost is not. This is true. But we’re at the point now, where frost has drawn close enough that the choice is simply no longer black-and-white. The bottom line is this: Given the choice between a decent arcane mage and an excellent frost mage, I’d now take the excellent frost mage without hesitation. Previously, the conversation had to go something like this:

Raid organizer #1: Well, we have a mage spot open. We can bring Jim, or Dave.

Raid organizer #2: Let’s see…Jim has threat management problems. He tends to stand in things that kill him. Also, he’s a racist.

Raid organizer #1: Yeah, but Dave’s a frost mage!

Now, you take Dave. It isn’t even a question. The gap is too small to worry over numbers. There are a lot of quality frost mages out there. They know their class. They understand their roles. And now, your guild can use them. You can bring the best mages you have, not just the ones who went to Elitist Jerks and copy-pasted whatever the “optimal” spec happened to be that day.

Reason the second: Survivability

The very thing that makes frost such an attractive PvP choice is also of underrated value in a raiding environment. Frost’s ability to throw up a quick Ice Barrier in between themselves and a massive incoming blast of splash damage often spells the difference between a live DPS and a dead one. Or how about the ability to throw up two consecutive Ice Blocks, removing debuffs and avoiding death twice in a short amount of time? Which would you rather have in your raid group? The arcane mage who bites it 20 seconds into an encounter, or the frost mage who has the tools to survive?

There are a great number of encounters where the simple ability to keep the DPS alive for a few more seconds can spell the difference between a wipe and victory. It’s always a good thing when your DPS can find ways to keep themselves alive. It takes a bit of pressure off your healers, and allows your DPS to stay higher, longer.

Reason the third: AOE

It isn’t going to be useful in every encounter, but an AOE snare is going to be fairly awesome in some of them. Frost mages have excellent AOE capabilities, making them fantastic to have around for trash pulls, and the CC/AOE potential of Improved Blizzard could prove very, very valuable in certain boss encounters.

Reason the fourth: Kiting

Frost mages might be the best dedicated kiters in the game, pound for pound (with Glyph of Frostbolt removed, of course). Put a frost mage on Darnavan during the Lady Deathwhisper encounter and watch him complete the quest for you. Any melee class that’s ever been led around by the nose in PvP by a frost mage can attest to the fact that when it comes to kiting, frost is unparalleled. Any encounter that calls for a dedicated kiter is made tremendously easier when a skilled frost mage is involved.

Reason the fifth: Threat management

Frost mages have low threat for one reason: a significant percentage of their threat is being generated by their pet. Their ability to manage threat is significantly better than that of fire or arcane mages, who must rely upon talents to lower all-around threat. This means more time spent putting out DPS, and less spent doing things like casting Invisibility or Ice Block.

Reason the sixth: Shut up.

Seriously, I’ll bring my frost mage because I like my frost mage, so cram it. How’s that for having a discussion?

Frost is fun, pure and simple. And with the DPS gap closing so swiftly, it’s just not absolute anymore that an arcane mage will be better. If I’m a frost mage, and I’m good at my class, you want me in your raid.

Also, no mage is better at killing warlocks than those of the frosty variety. That counts for something.

So, Frost mages, are you finding spots in your guild’s progression raids? Or are they still taking Jim and his racism?

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Every week Arcane Brilliance teleports you inside the wonderful world of mages and then hurls a Fireball in your face. Check out our recent look at how much I hate damage meters, or our lengthy series of mage leveling guides. Until next week, keep the Mage-train a-rollin’.

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Editor’s Note: There was a scheduling error that originally published this post at 2pm EST Friday March 5th, 2010. We’ve corrected the error and re-published this edition of Arcane Brilliance at it’s usual Saturday time. It’s all the fault of those Warlocks, true story.

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Every week, we broadcast live from several places worldwide (several rooms, anyway) to present you with the WoW Insider Show podcast — an hour’s worth of WoW community discussion, covering everything from the week’s top stories here on WoW.com to emails from our readers to what’s been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Along with your hosts, WoW.com editor Michael Sacco and contributing editor Matthew Rossi, we also feature rotating guest hosts, whether regular WoW.com contributors or personalities from other sites.

Today’s WoW Insider Show features:

• Guest host: UI/addon columnist Mat McCurley
• Stat and mechanic changes for Cataclysm
• New stuff in the Patch 3.3.3 PTR files
• Reader emails
• And more!

Want to participate? Join in the conversation in the chat channel on our Ustream site while the show’s broadcasting! Want to have your question read on the air? Drop us a line any time at theshow@wow.com!

Just want to listen? Follow the jump.

Live TV by Ustream

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Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers’ Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader’s Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press.

The “A Team” — in WoW, it’s not a bunch of guys in a van who help people by . . . shooting other people. Rather, it’s your best players grouped together to the exclusion of other guild members. Most guilds don’t have the numbers to fill two 25-player teams, so this issue usually relates to 10-player runs. The forming of a 10-player A team can be riddled with drama. This week’s e-mail asks whether allowing an A team is the right choice.

I enjoy reading your perspective on guild leadership. I’m hoping you can give us some ideas on balancing progression versus inclusion.

We are an established raiding guild that works on the top tier of content. While we are not a guild that makes server first kills, we steadily progress through the content and see hard/heroic modes on 25 man difficulty. Our raiding core is pretty solid, although there are levels of skill, from very high to adequate. We typically complete the ten man content, and use the ten mans as a base to gain experience on the twenty five mans.

Our problem mainly rests on the makeup of our ten man groups. One school wants to have the maximum number of people get in the ten man groups. This school spreads our best players among multiple groups. All of the groups have some success, but because there are weaker players included, these groups usually hit a wall on harder fights (Heroic Anub or the Wing Bosses of ICC). There is a lot of frustration on the part of our best players when this happens.

The second school likes to condense our best players into one ten man group. This group can progress farther and faster, and has the best shot at successfully completing heroic modes. The problem with this is that it regularly excludes fifteen to twenty other players who participate in our twenty five man raids. The group that is excluded feels slighted because they are not chosen for the condensed group. They are also less willing to go in with a makeshift group that will have less chance of success beyond easily farmed bosses.

The question is, how do you balance these schools? We are consider the twenty five man content to be the most important thing, thus I worry constantly about how the excluded players feel since they are a necessary part of our guilds work. At the same time, the best players are the ones that push our guilds success, so I worry about them not being happy with hitting the wall on harder content.

Is there a good way to balance these things out?

Thanks for your advice.

M

Hi, M. Your problem is a very tricky one and, like most tricky problems, no solution is perfect. What you have to ask yourself is this: What’s the worst-case scenario for either option?

Say you choose to form A and B teams, putting your best players in A. The A team will, in all likelihood, do alright even in a worst-case scenario. ICC10 normal mode, particularly after the 5% buff, is not terribly difficult for highly motivated and knowledgeable players. I’d give your A team a week or two to get to the Lich King if they run it two nights per week, even if your progress is slow in ICC25. Arthas may give you some problems — it’s a complex and unforgiving fight — but your best players will beat him eventually.

Meanwhile, your B team struggles mightily. They are jealous of the A team players. They don’t understand why they have been excluded. Some of them quit the guild in a fury, accusing the officers of favoritism or worse. Your 25-player runs stall as a result, and you have to fill holes with some PUG players while you recruit to replace those who quit.

In the other scenario, two balanced teams hit up ICC10, with your exceptional and average players mixed together. The problem with teams like this is that it really magnifies the difference between the two types of players. When beating the encounter means you need to kill that ooze inexorably making its way toward your rooted healer, or you need four players to bite four other assigned players in a 15-second window, personal responsibility becomes a major concern.

Your exceptional players are, more often than not, willing to forgive these mistakes in a 25-player run. They realize that very few guilds are composed of 25 incredible players. Those guilds are the ones going for world and server firsts. As long as some progress is made, your players are generally content.

A 10s group, on the other hand, can stall out completely due to one player who doesn’t react fast enough or one player whose DPS is too low. In this scenario, your A team players, running with B team players in both 10- and 25-player runs, get burned out by the lack of progress. They want a run where they don’t have to watch what other people are doing all the time. They want a run to go smoothly all the way through without holding anyone’s hand, and they never get it. So a number of them stop playing. Now you’re in big trouble.

What’s the difference here? In the first scenario, the players quitting were average players. Replacement PUGs, while often less capable than your own members, don’t have very big shoes to fill. They just have to be average. Meanwhile, you have to find merely average players, at worst, to replace the players you lost.

In the second scenario, you’ve lost some of your best players. PUGs are such a huge step down that your 25-player raids become a cruel joke. Now you have to try to recruit exceptional players while your current raids are struggling — not an easy task!

The sad fact is this: Your best players are what keeps your guild afloat. They are the people who make it possible for the other players in your guild to run 25-player content. As officers, we have to be realistic about certain things, and one of them is this: Our best players allow our guilds to raid.

That’s why, for a guild like M’s — a guild like most guilds that has both great and average players — I do recommend allowing an A team to exist. Your average players may grumble. They may even quit. Even so, you’ll be better off than if you allow your best players to walk away.

Now, the difference between an A team player and a B team player isn’t black and white. There will be players who could make the A team that you don’t always have slots for and other players who are right on the cusp of excellence that you may want to encourage. If you can, I recommend rotating competent players in and out of your A team from time to time. That will give more players a taste of these elite runs. Just make sure the players you rotate in aren’t the type who will hold up the group’s progress.

That also allows the players you rotate out to run with a B team. They just won’t have to do it every single week. They can apply their experience to help the B team progress.

Not only that, but if your A team players have seen more of the encounters in 10s than you’ve seen in 25s, they can apply that experience to help the entire guild. If you have two mixed teams struggling to progress, you’ll miss out on the insights that seeing a fight in 10s can provide.

The other issue is hard modes. Realistically, a team composed of anything less than your best isn’t going to stand a chance at some of ICC’s tougher hard modes — at least not until that 5% buff creeps higher, and even then perhaps it won’t be enough. So your choice of team composition may also become a choice between running hard modes or not. If your best players want to try them, you should let them try.

Another benefit to having an A team is that it gives your other players something to aspire to, a motivation for them to improve. In a 25-player run for an average guild, you’re going to take most of your available members. Maybe you’ll have a few on standby, but for the most part you’re going to take the players who are ready to go and hope they’re good enough. There’s no motivation in this scenario for an average player to improve. They’re going to get a slot, and they’re going to get loot, as long as their performance doesn’t dip too far below average.

However, if there’s a team of players that they don’t qualify for, it can give them that motivation. Some players aren’t interested, but others will want very badly to be on that team someday, and they will work hard to master their class, make use of keybinds and macros to optimize their reaction speeds, play around with add-ons to give them better information in combat, etc. In short, they’ll try to become exceptional players. And your A team members can help them to do so by pointing them in the right direction for good information, helping them with DPS rotations, and so on.

If I haven’t made my case yet, there’s one final benefit. In my experience, when your A team conquers content, it improves morale for the entire guild. When our A team got our drakes from Ulduar 10 during 3.2, it was a substantial morale boost, even for the players who weren’t actively participating in those runs. They took pride in the fact that our guild had accomplished that goal and that we had players of that caliber.

No player is completely irreplaceable, and you shouldn’t let your clutch members get their way just because they threaten to quit. Boundaries must be drawn by your own policies. But I do believe, overall, that allowing an A team is better for guilds with a mix of player abilities. Whether it’s right for your own guild is something you’ll have to decide, but that’s my take on it!

/salute

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Send Scott your guild-related questions, conundrums, ideas, and suggestions at scott@wow.com. You may find your question the subject of next week’s Officers’ Quarters!

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Each week Dominic Hobbs brings you Blood Pact. “Alert! You are marked for extermination! Calculating force parameters… Alternative measure commencing…” ~ Void Reaver

Having been a raid leader for a long time now, I’m very keen for everyone in my raids to be aware of the strategy we plan to execute. I get pretty frustrated when people deviate from it. I’m also interested in the theory and maths involved in maximizing gear choices and spell selections. When changes to warlock spell mechanics come along I always try and calculate the impact this would have on my gameplay — and then do some research to find out what I missed or miscalculated. I believe that entering a boss fight with these things prepared is the foundation of good raiding.

You can’t live on foundations though, you need a house. Being able to execute a perfect, DPS-maximizing spell rotation on a target dummy doesn’t fully prepare you for dealing with a more chaotic situation. Knowing the strategy for a fight can still leave you floundering when something forces a change to your expectations. Today I want to have a look at how to prepare for the unscripted, how to be a raider and not just a robot.

When I use the word ‘robot’ here I don’t mean to suggest that anyone is using programmed code to control their toon. I mean that it is all too easy to become rigid in our thinking and formulaic in our methods. As regular readers will know I’m a fan of theorycrafting and certainly advocate knowing strategies; as I say, these are the foundations. We need the foundations but we need more than that. We need an understanding of why we are doing things so that we can adapt to change. I also should make it clear that although I pitch this piece at raiders (and indeed, warlocks) this concept has a broader application.

As well as knowing the strategy for a fight I feel it is important to know the mechanics of the boss’ abilities. This may sound obvious, but often I find people are only aware of the boss mechanics in so much as they were mentioned in the strategy. As an example, the Swarming Shadows effect on the Blood-Queen Lana’thel fight. This is listed in the strategies as being very similar to Legion Flame from Jaraxxus and that you need to move in order to drop the pools of shadow in a line, often giving suggested ways in which to run. This is quite right and accurate; however, there is a distinct difference in the two abilities. They both have two parts to the mechanic, a DoT that hurts the affected player and a ’stuff on the floor’ element that hurts players stood in it. Both of these elements hurt and in both fights do equivalent damage, however, the damage taken from standing in Swarming Shadows is mostly resistible. This means that while standing in either is bad, standing in Swarming Shadows is nowhere near as bad as standing in Legion Flame.

What does that tell us? Well, when presented with the option of standing in a splat of Swarming Shadows that someone left behind, or moving closer to someone and risking splash damage from Twilight Bloodbolt, it might well be worth staying put. The damage you are likely to take is less than an affliction lock passively heals themselves for. It’s by understanding how these things work that we can ‘break the rules’ — and standing in ’stuff on the floor’ is one of those basic rules we try never to break.

I’m certainly not about to give a shopping list of abilities that have some deeper mechanic than strats normally place on them — that would go completely against the spirit of this article. The idea is to show that free thought and greater understanding can lead to unexpected means of improving performance. It’s this free thinking that separates us from a scripted bot.

Much the same is true of spell rotations. Now, as locks we have long been aware of the concept of ’spell priority’ rather than rotation — “if this condition is met then this, otherwise that“. These priorities typically inform us what spell to cast when cooldowns are up. Do we cast Haunt or Shadow Bolt? Immolate or Conflagrate? We can stand in front of a target dummy all day to get this right. In a real fight we come across more varied situations. What is best cast if we’re moving? What about if the target won’t live long such as Nether Portals or Blazing Skeletons? If we are threat capped?

Another situation that may call for an unusual spell choice is when raid members die. If that boomkin just got roasted do you think about whether you have a spare, or an unholy DK? If you don’t you might want to swap over to Curse of Elements — though that will depend on how long the fight has left and how many caster DPS are still standing.

If a loose mob starts making a beeline for your healer (something that can happen in any group situation) do you consider halting their progress with abilities like Death Coil, Shadowfury or Intercept? Do you look at every boss room and consider where to place your circle? It may not help execute the strategy but can it help if something went wrong?

Communication is another valuable tool that sets a good raider apart from someone just following a script. Waffling over the voice channel is a sure way to annoy everyone (typically) but a quick “swapping to elements” lets the leader know what is going on (and that you’re awake).

I could go on all day but I already said I wouldn’t. No doubt you have any number of examples of breaking the mould and saving the day (and I look forward to this week’s comments) but think about the little things as well. We all do it but can we do it more?

A final note: I think warlocks are prone to creative thinking and wanting to use pets and abilities that they don’t normally use. This is a great thing and should be encouraged, but only in the right place. You need to put these things on top of the foundations. If you just enter a fight looking to do the unusual without knowing the strategy or how to get the most out of your spec, then you ‘re not a robot, but then nor are you a raider.

Ooh! A final, final note. If you do pull aggro and have the boss come over to you, try and shatter while stood next to a mage. It may not help prevent a wipe but nobody will really mind as the hilarity will make it all worthwhile.

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Blood Pact is a weekly column detailing DoTs, demons, and all the dastardly deeds done by Warlocks. If you’re curious about what’s new with Locks since the last patch, check out WoW.com’s guide to patch 3.3 or find out what’s upcoming in Cataclysm from the BlizzCon 2009: Class Discussion Panel.

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The WoW Insider Show podcast broadcast this Saturday, and your hosts Sacco and Rossi welcomed UI/addon columnist Mat McCurley on the show to talk about Cataclysm’s big stat overhaul and the latest authenticator attacks, as well as answer some reader emails and talk about chest hair.

Get the podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

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Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

Reader Frank recently wrote me and asked for a bit of help with the “staple” products for each profession. Frank said, “Back in the days of Burning Crusade, I had a pretty good grip on the two or three raw materials that went across each of the professions. Are there equivalents to that kind of thing now in Wrath?” I assume that Frank was probably asking specifically about the crafting professions (like Blacksmithing or Tailoring), and not quite so much the gathering professions. A little surprisingly, he’s not the only person to ask me about that this month.

It’s a little late in the expansion to do a basic guide to Wrath of the Lich King materials, but Cataclysm is going to mean one thing for certain. Everyone will rush to get their professions to a relatively max level, so that they can immediately roll over into Cataclysm recipes as early as possible. Put that together with Frank’s request and the inbound patch 3.3.3, and I figured a quick tour of each profession’s most sought after raw materials might give us a little boost.

Let’s take a quick tour of the crafting professions’ common end-game materials.Alchemy

Alchemy is actually a little bit of an odd critter in terms of understanding their end-game crafting materials. That’s because Alchemists not only create important final products for raiding, but also because they transmute gems for Jewelcrafting

The Transmutes are incredibly valuable, since Alchemists will be able to upgrade blue-quality gems into the sought after epic-quality gems like the Cardinal Ruby. For this reason, most Alchemists will be consistently buying up (or creating, if they can) the blue gems used for those transmutes. The elemental pieces like Eternal Life also go into this transmute process, so you’ll often see Alchemist farming those from Revenants.

Raiding flasks are the other big produce you get from Alchemists, and they all use either Lichbloom or Icethorn alongside some Frost Lotus. All three of these herbs, obviously, have sold for large sums on the Auction House. Nowadays, however, Frost Lotus isn’t quite as rare as it used to be, so you should find these herbs a little more accessible.

Blacksmithing

The basic ores of Blacksmithing are Cobalt and Saronite, of course, but the real end-game material is Titansteel. Titansteel is created from three Titanium bars, an Eternal Fire, an Eternal Earth, and an Eternal Shadow. For most of the expansion, you could only create one Titansteel each day. In upcoming patch 3.3.3, however, that cooldown is being removed. Titansteel can only be created by character with the Mining profession, since Smelt Titansteel is an ability granted by Mining.

Blacksmithing, like most of the crafting professions, can blow through an immense number of Eternals. Fire, Earth, and Shadow are probably the most common Blacksmithing elements, especially given the profession’s high reliance on Titansteel.

Enchanting

Enchanting is one of the few professions that is not only a crafting profession, but also its own gathering profession. However, it’s also the only gathering profession whose produce gets automatically rolled on by the entire party, thanks to the Dungeon Finder tool.

The four most important materials for Enchanting are Greater Cosmic Essences, Abyss Crystals, Dream Shards, and Infinite Dust. Abyss Crystals and Dream Shards are fairly easy to come by, though. Even if every one in your group does roll on these disenchanted items, it’s easy enough to queue up for another Dungeon until you eventually have enough. Infinite Dust tends to be a little harder to get together, because it seems like so many end game recipes use so darn much of it.

Engineering

As is the case for so many professions discussions, Engineering is totally an odd duck. Since most of its creations only need constructed once, the most commonly created Engineering items are the Icecrown arrows and bullets. These only use two Crystallized Shadow or Crystallized Earth, allowing the engineer to make plenty of the ammunition in their free time.

Inscription

Inscription’s unique snowflake reagent system actually boils down to herbs. The scribe buys herbs, which they then grind into various inks. Ethereal Ink, from Nether Pigment, can originate from just about any Outland herb. It’s a little random what pigments Inscription master receive. For this reason, you’ll find scribes buying up huge quantities of low-priced herbs from the Auction House, milling it all out, and then creating their produce from whatever they happen to score. Mostly, those who practice Inscription like herbs. All herbs. (Except Frost Lotus, which doesn’t directly produce anything.)

Jewelcrafting

Jewelcrafters are the chief consumers and creators of gems. However, there’s not really “one or two” gems in particular used by the profession. The only real factor in deciding the most popular gem is “what gets purchased the most on the Auction House.” Some folks swear that the Cardinal Ruby moves better than any other gem, but I’ve had the most success mixing up which gems I offer.

Jewelcrafters, however, will crave the raw titanium ore, which they can Prospect into high-quality gems.

Leatherworking

Leatherworking is almost never taken without its sister-profession Skinning. For that reason, most leatherworkers who need materials can be found out in the field, farming animals for their flesh. However, Nerubian Chitin, Jormungar Scales, and Icy Dragonscales are particular leather types that must be farmed from specific mobs. For that reason, you’ll sometimes see leatherworkers cruising auctions or the Trade channel to fill a specific need.

Leatherworkers used to care a lot about the rare-drop Arctic Fur, but it can now easily be purchased in Dalaran for a mere ten Heavy Borean Leather.

Tailoring

Tailoring is getting some cooldown changes in the next patch, which is going to radically shift their economy. Whereas specific tailoring specialty items like Moonshroud were at a very high premium, these items will vastly drop in scarcity when the creation cooldown is removed. That makes skilling up Tailoring through the final levels much, much easier. It will also, mean, however, that tailoring will return to caring about raw Frostweave, which can be upgraded to the final Moonshroud materials. (Or, other specialty material.)

Good luck, good profit.

(Edited to avoid some confusion, as I had used a bit of slang that would probably mislead newer players.)

Each week, Insider Trader takes you behind the scenes of the bustling sub-culture of professional craftsmen, examining the profitable, the tragically lacking, and the methods behind the madness.

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Wowcrendor’s back with another installment of his satirical How-to series. This episode is focused on the wide world of crafters and gatherers, with How To Win At WoW Professions. Don’t worry — it’s really hard to actually win at professions, so you can think of this videos as something more like “how to get the most out of it.”

My favorite bits of this video actually highlights one of my personal issues with crafting. At the opening of an expansion, crafted items are really quite important. They help you bootstrap yourself into the new raiding content and give you a little bit of a leg up. Late in the expansions, however, crafted gear is rendered almost irrelevant to progression. (Or, at least, only mildly relevant, and even then they rely on getting raiding reputations to even make the better gear.)

While I understand there are balance concerns around making profession gear as good as raiding gear, I’d still like to see more crafting items released as professions move on. Wrath was okay for that; here’s hoping Cataclysm is even better.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.

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As thousands of screaming Alliance and thundering Horde storm the very gates of Icecrown Citadel, the Ashen Verdict is working hard to supply us all the only logical weapons and armor to fight Arthas. That is to say, they’re taking the very essence of an Old God, his very bile and blood, and turning it into weapons and armor. There’s absolutely nothing that could go wrong with that plan. So, charging nobly forward, let’s take a look at the Icecrown recipes, how you get them, and how good they are. However, more importantly, whether it’s worth your time and money to make the items, or simply sell the materials.

All of the recipes from Icecrown Citadel are learned by turning in Primordial Saronite. As has been mentioned before all over the site, you pick up Primordial Saronite for the cheap-at-twice-the-price cost of 23 Emblems of Frost, or by having the Primordial Saronite drop from the 25-man Icecrown bosses. You have to complete 12 random dailies in order to buy them through the Dungeon Finder, though doing the weekly raid quest will cut that time down significantly. Each recipe costs 1 Primordial Saronite. However, in addition to the Primordial Saronite, you also need to have a certain reputation with the Ashen Verdict.

The real advantage to all these patterns is that they provide item level 264 gear without having to do the 25-man raid content. That’s going to make these Icecrown craftables highly valuable to exclusively 10-man raiders, but the gear will still be somewhat attractive to the 25-man raider who’s trying to get caught up to a gear curve.

The limiting factor for most of the recipes is the same currency that you used to buy the patterns in the first place: Primordial Saronite. While a few recipes don’t require any Primordial Saronite, like the Iceblade Arrows, most of the Icecrown recipes require either 5 or 8 Primordial Saronite per creation.

Okay, so let’s break that down. Without any raid drops bolstering your supply, it’s going to take at least two weeks to get each Saronite. You can pick up 19 Emblems of Frost a week. (That’s by using all of your Emblems of Frost in this fashion, we should note, as well as your weekly raid quest Emblems.) In a month, then, you’ll be able to pick up 3 Primordial Saronite. That’s enough to make absolutely nothing.

For this reason, level 80 alts have stormed the Dungeon Finder tool. I don’t have the insight to know whether this was a purposeful dynamic by Blizzard to help keep PUGs full of people. If it were a purposeful action, though, it was a pretty clever one. I don’t know anyone who isn’t doing their best to pick up as many Emblems of Frost as possible, and then turning surplus Emblems into Primordial Saronite.

Very few Auction Houses have much (if any) Primordial Saronite available. I did a quick survey of 30 servers to get an idea of how much Saronite might be out there. Of them, only 1 server had more than one Primordial Saronite on the Auction House at the time of my snapshot. About half the servers had one Primordial Saronite available. The average price for Primordial Saronite was about 5,000 gold across these 30 servers. The highest was 15,000 gold. And, what’s more, I’m pretty sure it sold — I watched the Saronite disappear from the Auction House while doing the survey.

(Edit: As a note, since the time of the original writing, this price has come down significantly, with many servers reporting between 2k and 5k.)

I suspect many 25-man guilds will be using the rare material to fund guild banks, providing their raiders guild repairs and similar perks from selling the drops. However, like I said, the quality of these Icecrown craftables will make many 10-man or 5-man players quite willing to part with cash to get them.

Being an old tank fan, I’ll evaluate the general idea of the new gear by looking at the plate tanking pieces. Like all the other “types” of gear available as Icecrown craftables, the plate tank items are for feet and legs. (Apparantly, Tirion’s drawing the line at turning the blood of an old god into any gear worn above the waist.) The two magic items here are the Boots of Kingly Upheaval and the Pillars of Might.

Both items are made with Titansteel, Eternal Earth, and Primordial Saronite. If you’re picking up both items for your plate tank, you’ll be spending a total of 20 Titansteel bars, 32 Eternal Earth, and 13 Primordial Saronite. Farming up the Eternal Earth is pretty much a breeze, and many players have stacks of Titansteel sitting around anyway. But 13 Primordial Saronite is one heck of a task (representing 16 weeks of dailies and weekly raids.) What do you get for this kind of investment?

Both the Boots of Kingly Upheaval and the Pillars of Might are item level 264, which is the equivalent of gear drops from 25-man Icecrown Citadel. (Eventually, you’ll be able to do Heroic 10 mans which also drop item level 264, but you’ll have to have killed Arthas at least once before then.)

Comparing the Pillars to the Legguards of Lost Hope, which drop from Lord Marrowgar, we can see both leg items carry similar stats. While the Legguards sport quite a bit of defense and hit, the Pillars are much more streamlined in their interest toward Dodge and Parry. Now, everyone’s going to be looking to make their own gear choices, but I think this shows that the Icecrown craftables are going to be worthwhile to everyone — at least until they start seeing 25-man gear dropping.

What does all this mean for the enterprising crafter? In summary, it means that the craftable gear is pretty nice, but it’s not going to long-term replace 25-man gear drops. This gear is (like I’ve said) mostly going to be useful to people who never go into 25-man Icecrown raids.

With Primordial Saronite being such a premium item, I can’t see it making much sense (from a profit perspective) in burning even a single Saronite to learn the recipes. Instead, once you do have Primordial Saronite, I’d turn around and sell it to the people who actually want to use it. At 5 Primordial Saronite for the “cheap” craftables, that could easily be 15,000 to 50,000 gold in your pocket.

My final advice, then, would be to fire up your level 80 alts through the Dungeon tool, and get the Saronite out on the market. Later in the patch, when the prices have dropped and stabilized after 25-man raiders no longer are finding the patterns remotely attractive, you might want to re-evaluate whether the final, crafted items are going to be worthwhile.

An obvious exception to this rule is the arrows and bullets. Since you don’t use Primordial Saronite to make those final items, I think that those patterns will still be a solid investment. At only a couple Crystallized elements per stack, you can churn those out very quickly. Even if you only make 5 gold a stack, you’ll make up the cost of a single Primordial Saronite over time.

Each week, Insider Trader takes you behind the scenes of the bustling sub-culture of professional craftsmen, examining the profitable, the tragically lacking, and the methods behind the madness.

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With the number of mounts, vanity pets and summonable creatures in WoW, it’s surprising that we don’t see more incidents like this one. Aéro of <Vendetta> on Fizzcrank is having trouble keeping her newly acquired wolf mount from devouring her phoenix pet. She’s not just looking out for the safety of the bird — those phoenixes can cause a heck of a case of heartburn if they ignite on the way through the wolf’s esophagus.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val’kyr on mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

Gallery: Around Azeroth

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Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com’s daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

If you understand what those numbers mean… then, well… it’s time for a drink — no matter what time of day it is.

Zaak asked…

“How do you think the new Cataclysm mobs while leveling to 85 will be affected by all the people who are getting geared through ICC? I mean there gonna have to make it a little easy for the new people hitting 80 once it hits, because they won’t be wearing 264 pieces instead most of it under 200.”

If I was designing the mob strength in Cataclysm, I’d make it so a level 80 in quest greens wouldn’t have too hard of a time taking them down. Blizzard has not tuned mob difficulty for the top tier of content in the previous expansions, but instead tunes difficulty (in my opinion) somewhere around dungeons blues or the first tier of raiding. That makes it slightly more challenging for people in quest greens, but not ungodly difficult, while still allowing people who have worked for gear to feel like they have a leg up with the level curve.

When Wrath hit I had a warrior tank in T6.5 gear and a mix of T6/6.5 DPS gear — I absolutely plowed through all the content; it was a joke. I’ve since leveled toons through Wrath that have had outland greens through T5 — all haven’t been overly challenging, but it wasn’t a wash either.

Blizzard could implement internal mob strength variables that overtuend the mob’s difficulty at Cataclysm’s release, and then backed the difficulty down after a while — but I doubt they’d do that. They want people to level their alts, and I know that as soon as my paladin (or hunter, haven’t decided which I’ll level first) hits 85 I’ll begin immediately leveling other toons.

I also think that 251/264 gear will probably be enough for the first tier of raid content. My tier 6/6.5 gear let me go into Naxx without any trouble, and I would expect the same thing in Cataclysm. Blizzard said a BlizzCon 2009 that Icecrown Citadel gear will keep you happy through the initial level 85 content; to me that means the first raiding tier at 85.

Deweymaverick asked…

“I know, based on the articles posted over the past few weeks that soon PvP currencies are going away. But do Stone Keeper Shards count as a PvP currency? Have they been removed on the PTR, or is it just the Marks of Honor that are being eliminated?”

Stone Keeper Shards are still around. I doubt Blizzard will be removing them given that you can buy heirloom items with them, and they’ll still be relatively easily obtainable in Cataclysm through the weekly PvE-like quests in Wintergrasp.

Chris asked…

“Since the 4.0 patch will likely contain all the data that we need for Cataclysm do you think Blizzard will give people the option of not buying a disk and buying just the activation code? I would certainly prefer to have an email sent to me at 12:01 AM on the day Cataclysm comes out with an activation code than to stand in line for hours waiting for the physical game.”

I wish they would do this. They won’t be, however. The press that Blizzard gets for having millions of nerds stand outside in lines at midnight around the country is something they won’t let go of.

Make me eat my words though, please. I’ll even make a promise. If they let Cataclysm be purchased, downloaded, and activated entirely online at release in addition to or in replace of all the midnight store pickups, I’ll give away something cool on the site. Maybe a pizza or something fun like that, so you can eat it while you sit in front of the computer on release night.

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Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW.com crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer ‘em!

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by e-mailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

If your ticket to a heart-pumping raid soundtrack is MrVoletron’s WoW-flavored remixes, then you’ll undoubtedly be a fan of Vedrim as well. (In point of fact, MrVoletron’s a fan, too.) Vedrim’s “Bound by Bone” (above) weaves an irresistible combination of original music with Marrowgar’s booming in-game commands. You’ll never again fight Marrowgar without this song in your head. Follow our interview with Vedrim through the break, where we’ll also show you his newest track, “The Maker’s Fire.”

World of WarCrafts: We understand that “Bound by Bone” is in fact your very first remix effort. Bravo! What’s your musical background?

Vedrim: Music has always been a part of my life. I was surrounded by it from a very early age. My mother’s side of the family has a strong musical history. She always played her own compositions on our piano throughout my childhood, and her father, Robert Harris, actually wrote the original theme music for the Spiderman TV show to go along with Paul Webster’s lyrics.

As for myself, I took piano lessons for a few years when I was younger but was primarily a percussionist from about the fourth grade all the way through my senior year in high school. I began writing my own compositions when I was 13 with my first MIDI-enabled electric piano, a Casio my parents had given me for my birthday. One of my compositions actually made it to the finals of the state level of the nation-wide Reflections competition, a showcase for students to put their works on display regardless of the medium.

I’ve only really been composing music electronically for about the past eight years or so, trying my hand at a few of the many software-based production suites out there through both what was available at my high school and those that I was able to pick up on my own.

So have you done much mixing work before now, or is this truly a virgin effort?

Well, this was the first time I’ve ever really tried to integrate audio clips rhythmically with an underlying musical composition to create a finished product, but it was certainly not my first foray into the world of electronic music composition. A few of my older pieces of work can be found on the Newgrounds Audio Portal, an arm of the infamous flash portal Newgrounds.com, where musicians can submit their work for flash artists to use in their animations royalty-free.

I’ve messed around with trying it in the past, but this is the first time I ever really bucked down and forced myself to begin learning how to do it properly. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but based on the positive feedback I’ve received so far, it looks like I will definitely have an outlet to continue practicing with!

Who are your musical influences?

A very tough question, as my influences vary depending on what type of music I’m currently writing, since I also do orchestral-style compositions in addition to electronic remixes such as “Bound by Bone.” I’d have to say my primary influences when doing D&B mixes would be Pendulum and the Bomfunk MC’s, with Tiesto and some of Darude’s work providing a lot of the influence behind any dance or trance tracks that I might do. I’m also a huge fan of Eirik Blodøks Hafskjold of SkyMarshallArts.com and Jermain Blume (aka ParagonX9) of Newgrounds Audio Portal fame.

Tell us a little about the technical side of producing your mix.

Everything for “Bound by Bone” was done entirely in FLStudio 9 Producer Edition by Image-Line. While I’m sure there are still people out there who wouldn’t even give Fruity Loops the time of day, the truth of the matter is that it’s an incredibly powerful piece of software which has evolved considerably from its humble beginnings as what many would call an “amateur beat-maker.” I’ve been a fan of it for years and would highly recommend it to both beginning and advanced users. The ease of use and functionality you get for $199 is just awesome, and completely worth every penny in my book. You can download a free demo on their website, too.

Even though “Bound by Bone” was *produced* entirely in FL Studio, I did use a few third-party VST plug-ins and sample libraries. Essentially, VST plug-ins are virtual instruments which provide you with extra sounds and effects to use in your productions. Looking at the raw files now, the only two VSTs that I used in “Bound by Bone” that did not come with the software are the KORG Legacy Collection (available at www.korg.com) and YMCK’s Magical 8-Bit Plugin, available free. The drum loops and samples were taken from AMG’s 160db and 260db Drum&Bass libraries.

As far as the business of actually producing the song goes, some elements of the production process for this song in particular were completely new to me, such as adjusting the tempo of Marrowgar’s audio clips to match that of the song without altering the pitch. The toughest part, though, was definitely the mastering, which didn’t really turn out how I’d have liked it to. I feel it’s definitely my weakest attribute musically, and it’s something I hope to improve on in the future through practice.

How long did “Bound by Bone” take to produce, from start to finish?

The entire process of actually producing the song took between two and three days, having worked on the project each day for approximately four to five hours each.

Any outlook on making machinima using your remixes?

While I’m not quite as skilled in the video department myself, I’d have no problem if anyone wanted to use any of my mixes in their own work! I’m a huge fan of WoW machinima and the music subculture that goes along with it and would love to have a chance to work with machinima producers someday. The beyond legendary Baron Soosdon, Olibith, Oxhorn and the guys at Myndflame are four of my personal favorites when it comes to machinima. I’ve also been a Cranius fanboi since “Big Blue Dress,” with his version of “The Lament of Captain Placeholder” probably being my favorite of his works. My pipe dream is to have the chance to work with some of them one day!

What’s coming up next? Are you working on any new mixes right now?

My main project right now is a trance mix of the theme from “O Thanagor,” also known as “Arthas, My Son” from the Wrath of the Lich King opening cinematic. It’s actually almost finished, but I want it to be as close to perfect as possible before I release it, so there’s a good chance it’ll take another week before it’s ready. After that, I have no idea what my next project will be; any suggestions?

We’re sure readers will pound the comments with suggestions, Vedrim! One last question for our WoW-loving readers: Who’s your main?

I’ve always been a pretty hardcore raider, having been playing the game since the open beta. My current main is a retribution paladin named Vedalken over on the US Duskwood server, where I serve as one of the four officers of the raiding guild <Dinosaurchestra>. We’re sort of a mix between casual and hardcore raiding — “casual” in the sense that we raid only three nights a week, but “hardcore” in the sense that we are a progression-oriented guild and expect the same mindset of our members. Currently, we’ve cleared everything up to Arthas on 25-man, and we’ve begun working on the 10-man hard modes after having downed the Lich King two weeks ago.

We’re looking forward to hearing your newest beats soon right here on World of WarCrafts. Thanks, Vedrim.

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by e-mailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit WoW-inspired creations.

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One of the good and bad aspects of an MMO is that it is a form of storytelling that does not really end in the same way that a consistent narrative does. A novel, a movie, even a single player RPG can have a climax in a way that a MMO like World of Warcraft simply cannot. Killing the Lich King isn’t the end of the story, it’s merely a chapter coming to a close in a saga that just keeps rolling along. Given enough time and the momentum of such a thing becomes its own literary device, effectively, as you know you’ll be facing something new before the body of your current antagonist has a chance to cool down. (Of course, since you’ll be rifling through his or her pants for some loot, how cool was it really going to get?)

We talk a lot about expansion gear resets, greens replacing epics to be replaced by blues we then replace with epics and so on. Frankly, I’ve come to see this as the great strength of an MMO and not something that holds you back. No matter how awesome your gear is now, no matter how epic the fights, no matter the towering evil you’re defeating, tomorrow will bring new gear, new enemies, and new stories. Yes, it can be seen as a treadmill and us as hamsters running it, but it can also be seen as a ladder always going somewhere new.

So what about you? Do you like the limitless nature of the cycle, or do you want an endpoint? And what would you want it to be?

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

It’s only been six months since MrVoletron burst onto the YouTube scene with his exuberantly earworm-ish “XT-002: Bad Toys Remix” remix. Already, he’s built a fan base of WoW-playing fans clamoring for the next mix — and he just keeps on producing. His latest release (posted just three days ago) is “Invincible” (above), a spin on the three-minute piece of the same name released by Blizzard last month. We’ve got “XT-002: Bad Toys Remix,” the hilarious classic “Onyxia Wipe Remix,” a sampler of the full-length “Music for Spaceports” (inspired by EVE Online), and an interview with MrVoletron himself, after the break.

World of WarCrafts: Who the heck are you and where is your spawn point?!? Seriously, you’re obviously experienced at what you do. What’s your music and mixing background?

MrVoletron: I’ve done some formal training and study of music theory at the college level, from 1998 to 2000. From 1998 to 2004, I was a techno DJ in Canada and did some amateur music productions. In 2006, I participated in the Red Bull Music Academy program in Melbourne, and in 2008 I released an album of electronic music tracks on a Berlin-based netlabel called Yuki Yaki. That’s essentially the relevant extent of my music background, unless you want to count the endless hours spent messing around in my bedroom on music gear!

What about your WoW side?

I’ve been playing WoW since June 2007. I rolled a hunter, and he’s still my main. I’m a relatively hardcore raider. My guild is usually in the top 1,000 on WowProgress — or was, actually. My raid team is disbanding! Our GMs came to us, completely exhausted, just a couple of days ago and decided to pull the plug on our raid team. Guildmates are going every which way; some are staying, some are transferring, some are quitting WoW entirely. Our raid leader — he was a really great one — applied to a top 10 guild Monday afternoon and was raiding with them on Sindragosa HM that night! As for myself, I’ve applied to a couple of guilds in hopes of finding my own new raiding home.

So when you’re AFK (from either WoW or the mixer), what do you do?

Thankfully unemployed at the moment, haha. Well, this kind of situation is probably not good news for most, but for me it was a very fortunate circumstance because it’s allowed me so much time for creative endeavors. I’ve been able to make the WoW remixes, the “Music for Spaceports” album and create a portfolio web site (which will be going up in a few weeks). I’m hoping to turn my music endeavors into a profession, over time. In the meantime, I expect I’ll need to find a day job soon.

(Note: The video below is Not Safe For Work.)

(Note: The video above is Not Safe For Work.)

Tell us a little about the technical process of creating your tracks.

In my video “Bronjahm’s Jam + WoW Remix Tips,” I share some knowledge about my tools and work process.

To elaborate a bit, the process starts with the inspiration I feel from hearing the voice work done in the game. That’s really the most vital part. From there, I go through the process of figuring out what kind of style I’m going to do and make more detailed choices about the form, like the tempo, the musical character, the length, the sounds I’ll use and how I’ll treat the source audio. That’s the start of the arranging.

From there, I’ll make different parts. I’ll add, remove and edit elements — things like music and voice samples, instrumentation and effects — and basically just play around with parts, looking for fun and making changes I think will positively engage listeners. All the while, I’m fitting all different parts together and trying to make a listenable piece of music.

It’s a rather haphazard process, in truth. My description of the process is far neater than the reality, though there are a couple of ground rules I follow: Showcase the source audio (the WoW voices, for example); don’t add unnecessary elements (my music teacher used to advice us on the KISS rule: Keep It Simple, Stupid); and keep it fun — make it mean something to the audience. That’s very important.

I’d like to suggest that people download the MP3s, which are linked in my YouTube info, because uploading to YouTube actually degrades the audio quality somewhat. There’s a significant improvement in the sound of my work if people listen to the MP3.

How long does it take for a typical track to come together, from concept to completion?

Exactly 45 minutes, including tea time.

I’m kidding. I worked very quickly on “You FACE Jaraxxus” and had it uploaded the same day I conceived it. That was about eight hours. Algalon took me about three weeks to make, due in part to learning how to use a vocoder, which I’d never done before. Mimiron was a three-month process, because I finished it only in part and stopped work on it for some time because I went dry on inspiration. Then out of the blue some two months later, I got the juice to finish it. if I didn’t take such a break, it probably would have been about a two-week process — there was a lot of micro-editing in it and demanded more time than the others. Host of Souls was quick and took two days. XT-002 was about a week-long process. Bronjahm’s Jam, Thorim and Onyxia Wipe each took about five days.

I actually started “Invincible” last night after supper, worked on it until 6 a.m., went to bed and uploaded it when I got up. Pretty quick piece of work.

Have you received any inquiries to use your tracks in machinima?

There’s been some interest. Baron Soosdon approached me several months ago wanting to make a music video for the XT-002 remix. I’ve seen a 30-second clip of it, which I thought was amazing. But I haven’t heard from him about it for some time. /sad. I hope he finishes it!

Otherwise, I haven’t thought about having machinima made for my songs. I certainly can’t do it myself, because my video production skills are very limited. I would not pass my own quality testing, haha. Actually, that’s not true. I could learn to do it, I’m sure. I think the truth is I’m unwilling to take the time. I have other things I would rather do. Though I often get requests from players asking to use my tracks in their FRAPS videos, which is always cool by me. If machinima producers wanted to make machinima for my songs, that would be fine by me, too.

You just put out a album-length release, “Music for Spaceports.” What’s that project all about?

“Music for Spaceports” is a new album featuring nine tracks of original music inspired by EVE Online, which I also play. The album is essentially an exploration of the question, “If I were to make music for EVE, how would it sound?” So no remixes of EVE music here, but rather my own original compositions. I made this album because I wanted to explore more ethereal styles of music and broaden my portfolio. My hope is to make new connections in the game industry through my portfolio which will lead to me producing music for video games. So this album was made as a fan project, as well as a move towards making music a career. Though I certainly believe music fans can enjoy the album of its own accord. One of my guildmates was listening to it during a night of Lich King wipes last week and told me it was a relaxing balance to the stress of learning the fight. I thought that was nice of him to say.

Inquiring MrVoletron fans want to know: What mixes are coming up next?

Murlocs. Lots and lots of murlocs. Hahaha … I’m kidding. Well, it could happen. Who knows?

In all seriousness, I have an idea for what I think is a funny Lord Marrowgar track. Something a little bit … different. Kind of a tongue-in-cheek poke at all the Bonestorm requests I’ve been getting, as though a devil in me is saying, “You want Bonestorm? I’ll give you Bonestorm!” … I’ve done some work on it the last few days, and I’m still laughing over it, so unless things go horribly off track with it, I’ll expect it’ll go up within the next couple of weeks. Otherwise, I have a few remix ideas floating around in my head for other bosses, including more from ICC as well as some BC and vanilla content. Fans can expect more WoW music from me for some time, I think.

I also have a sort of MrVoletron dream project, which is to play a live set of MrVoletron WoW mixes at BlizzCon — though not just the tracks that people have heard on YouTube, but a full, hour-long showcase of new tunes, familiar tunes and WoW bosses, characters and WoW audio interspersed in some of my favorite techno, house and drum n bass tracks. I think it would be an amazingly fun experience for WoW fans, and I really want to do it.

We’d be dancing in the aisles, most definitely. Thanks, MrVoletron, for helping us get our groove on!

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by contacting our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts); not-for-profit work only, please.

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Several people have told us via our feedback page that they have received theirWorld of Warcraft Official Magazine in the mail. Last month, we got to see the preview and now many subscribers already have them in hand.

The WoW Magazine is a quarterly publication that is available via subscription only. U.S. subscriptions begin at $39.95 for a year and subscriptions are available to other countries at different rates. Our tipsters have described the magazine as having a graphic novel feel to them.

Did you subscribe to the magazine? If so, have you received your copy? We would love to read your reviews in the comments if you have.

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Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler’s latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we’ll keep you informed.

Today’s a Friday and there are only a few Blue posts (including “LOL I PWNED GC!”), but there’s also some good StarCraft, Diablo, and other Blizzard news for all of you who are itching for that information.

Table of Contents

• Ghostcrawler
• Other
• StarCraft II / Diablo III / Blizzard News

Ghostcrawler

Ghostcrawler — More Warrior AoE Tanking Discussion

But hey, if the cook thinks he’s putting out some bad food, I guess it’s ok as long as they are planning on fixing it sometime down the road. Who cares if it tastes bad now.

We have three options to approach issues like this, really. We can lie and tell you we don’t think it’s a problem. We can say nothing. Or we can tell you that we think it’s a problem and eventually want to fix it. This is the road I try to take as much as I can. The fourth option, fix it immediately, isn’t on the table as much as you might really, really want it to be, or we would have already done so.

I highly doubt we will see GC post on this thread again, he tends to not come back to threads where he has spouted ignorance and in turn been roflstomped for it.

I think you are mistaking “I disagree” for “LOL I PWNED GC!”

If Warriors are balanced around Rend, why is it not in the Protection tree? Or at least at a lower tier in the arms tree? That’s kinda like saying Paladins are balanced around Imp Lays of Hands -and- Heart of the Crusader at the same time.

As someone above pointed out, Deflection is not in the Protection tree either. We’re not really trying to encourage the 0/0/71 talent spec.

At the same time, going for dps talents as a tank can be an interesting choice. If it’s a fight with a lot of quickly spawning adds, having more damage can be useful in picking them up. If it’s a dungeon without a big risk of you dying, then going for dps can speed things along. Yet when you run into a situation where keeping you alive may be hard, then you can consider dumping those talents in lieu of something to keep you alive. I understand that given a choice between threat and mitigation that most tanks will choose the latter every time. Still, some of the most fun gear decisions I have had tanking were deciding when I could afford to sacrifice survival for threat and vice versa.

A couple of designers looked at the cooldown, evaluated how often it really mattered, concluded not often, and thought the ability would be simpler to understand, less frustrating, and perhaps a small DK buff without the cooldown.

There’s no metric. There’s no philosophy. There’s just a subjective decision being made. They give DKs a massive survivability buff because they think it makes tooltips read cleaner.

I can’t believe I’m letting myself get sucked into this, but these two statements [above] are at odds with each other.

Before I had my yacht, gin and pony, this is what we would call science. Make a hypothesis (“looked”), tested the hypothesis (“evaluated”) and decided whether the hypothesis could be rejected or not (“concluded”).

The community (or rather a subset of) looks at the cooldown being removed from Will of the Necropolis, perhaps notices for the first time what the talent really does, perhaps disagrees with that course of action and leaps to the conclusion that the inmates must be running the asylum. Short of publishing a peer-reviewed paper that demonstrates our decision was made for sound reasons, we’re not going to be able to walk those nay-sayers through all of our logic, nor would they be likely to be swayed by actual evidence anyway, nor do we want to get into a position where we have to ask the community’s permission to make a change we think is right for our game.

None of that is to argue that some of these decisions aren’t very subjective. They are. You can’t turn a system as complex as WoW into some kind of mega equation that accurately predicts every outcome in the game. And really, who would want to? It’s a game with a lot of math. It’s not just math.

Really, though, we’re off topic (again). This is why I am often reluctant to post. A thread trying to understand our philosophy on aspects of tanking became another stage for “If I was a WoW designer, I would have avoided all these foolish mistakes!”
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Ghostcrawler — Blizzard is not done balancing

This seems to be at odds with putting all the pet classes (and even temporary pet classes) at a DPS disadvantage with a buff. Either the Devs are done with balance or they’re not. If they’re not done, this is a valid concern. If they are done, they should say so. Everyone cares where they are on the meters in comparison to the rest of their raid. Saying “it doesn’t matter” when you play a class unaffected by the discrepancy dilutes the value of your opinion.

We’re not done. Did not make a change this instant != done.
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Other Blues

Ancilorn — Rearranging Character Lists

It’s something we would like to do at some point in the future, but we must admit it’s not on top of the list of ‘crucial things to do’. We do realize it would be a nice feature though, so watch this space!

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Nethaera — New Player Philosophy

We’ve always held to the premise that the game should be easy to learn and difficult to master. And the intention is that when you start the game, you have all of the information you need to get on the road to that mastery. As you’ve probably seen, to that end we’ve changed some of the starting player experience to be a bit more clear and directed as well have updated the in-game tooltips and tutorial. (If you haven’t tried leveling a new character in a while, try it and turn on the tutorial.)

You’ll also be able to take a look at the new Stat Changes post that we released for information on what we’re working toward for Cataclysm. We want stats to mean something, but we also want it to be understandable at the same time.

We’re doing what we can to continue to make the in-game experience better for everyone while still giving the challenges that many are looking for.

More advanced players who dig into the higher level stat finessing aren’t likely to fit into the definition of “new player” by the time they get up into the end-game experience so getting into the higher-end theorycrafting etc, on our end gets into dangerous territory. We want players to experience the game as intended, but we don’t want to dictate to anyone how to play all at the same time. This is a balancing act on a high-wire, with a bear on a unicycle while juggling an apple, banana, and a small coconut while a fiddler dances on the other end. (No swallows were involved in transporting said coconut.)

We have many more things that we would like to do both in game and out of game to help players get into the game from the start and make the entire experience from there to end-game the type of experience we all want to have as gamers too.

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Vaneras — EU Community News

Community News
Vaneras, Slorkuz, Wryxian & Ancilorn 05/03/2010

Fansites:

WoW.gaming.dk have started a new initiative on their site, which is to live stream raids that the fansite members participate in. This service is here for all to enjoy, but it is specially aimed for those who are interested in raiding, but haven’t got the feel of it quite yet.
- http://wow.gaming.dk/1621
This site have also posted a nice best-in-slot guide for Moonkins.
- http://wow.gaming.dk/1613

Wow.battlenet.pl are working hard to translate the most important WoW related news into Polish, and this week you can find translations of the 13th BlizzCast, The Developer Chat on Twitter and of the stat system in Cataclysm.
- http://wow.battlenet.pl/portal/wow/1/643/BlizzCast_13_i_Developer_Chat.html
- http://wow.battlenet.pl/portal/wow/1/644/Tlumaczenie_Developer_Chata.html
- http://wow.battlenet.pl/portal/wow/1/645/Statystyki_w_Cataclysm.html
Additionally they can inform us that their Guild List system is a growing success, which now has more than 130 Polish guilds registered.
- http://wow.battlenet.pl/portal/wow/1/640/Spis_polskich_gildii.html

WoW Nederland are also working on a Guild List system, where Dutch guilds can register and find members.
http://www.wow-nl.com/guilds/new.php
There are many other updates as well on this site, and amongst them you can find information about the Ruby Sanctum and the Stats changes in Cataclysm.
- http://www.wow-nl.com/nieuws.php?call=247
- http://www.wow-nl.com/nieuws.php?call=260
You can also read about the world’s first 10 man heroic Lich King kill, and of course the world’s first Glory of the Raider (25 man) achievement.
- http://www.wow-nl.com/nieuws.php?call=262
- http://www.wow-nl.com/nieuws.php?call=261

WoWJuju have updated their site with a poll where you can vote on the best WoW fanart of 2009.
- http://www.wowjuju.com/gfx-and-comics/the-best-2009-wow-fanart-poll/
Another update on this site should be of extra interest to everybody, as it tells you how to protect your WoW account.
- http://www.wowjuju.com/guides/how-to-protect-your-world-of-warcraft-account/

WorldofWar.net have an interesting update about the Blasted Lands, which digs into the history of the zone as well as known future plans.
- http://wow.incgamers.com/blog/comments/cataclysm-the-new-blasted-lands/
On this site you can also find an interview with Julian Rignall, who is the editorial director of the World Of WarCraft: Official Magazine
- http://wow.incgamers.com/blog/comments/world-of-warcraft-official-magazine-editorial-director-interview/

Plenty more news and updates can be found on the official World of Warcraft fansites in different languages, so give them visit if you do not wish to miss out on anything.
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/links/fansites.html

World of ComicCraft:

When a king looks silly, do you tell him that he looks silly?
http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/336

It is the Gnome Druids who keep the Humans from wiping the Orcs off the face of the world!
http://www.tehgladiators.com/?p=115

Anyone who dies as a part of a story line is dead for good, a fact which may be exploited???
http://www.darklegacycomics.com/227.html

She killed him in self defence! He can’t hurt anyone any more!
http://beyondthetree.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/180-a-matter-of-guilt/

Failure to Bring gifts for both tribes means pain!
http://woweh.com/?p=708

“If you bail out now, I’ll sit on you.” When those words come from a Tauren, you better listen!
http://www.arena-inside.com/?p=513

WoW apps are cool and all, but let’s just hope that some WoW apps won’t come to fruition.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/2/5/

Other Stuff:

The Friday Thread has been posted – this week it contains a bunch a cool links as well as the usual opportunity to share and discuss weekend plans
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12829732958&sid=1

The Dalaran Inn, an Australian WoW fansite, has managed to score an exclusive interview with Wowhead.com, which is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) WoW database sites. This is interesting stuff, so don’t miss it.
http://www.thedalaraninn.com/2010/03/an-interview-with-the-notorious-wowhead-com/

We all know the story of Arthas Menethil and how he became the Lich King, or at least so we think??? Here is the story of Arthas Menethil, seen from another point of view!
http://warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=140957

And last but not least; the second episode of the Wish upon a Gnome series (WuaG), entitled “The Purple Pixel Plan” have been released. The WuaG series revolves around Jimmy, an overly ambitious gnome who’s sole purpose in life is to gain honour and glory. Not to mention escaping his mad mother…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyQwB5s074I

Have a glorious weekend everybody.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

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Zarhym — Zarhym approves of this!

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9598/wowscrnshot030510062148.jpg

I approve of this.

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StarCraft II / Diablo III / Blizzard

• Activision/Infinity Ward court documents detail ex-studio heads’ many, many complaints
• Activision ‘disappointed’ by Zampella and West’s lawsuit, calls it ‘meritless’
• StarCraft II Beta Patch 3 Build version 0.5.0.14219B deployed
• Ghost Messenger Bag Comes to Blizzard Store
• New SC2 Story: Broken Wide
• Activision Blizzard slips plans for more Diablo games

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We see a fair amount of pining for “the way things used to be” in this community — rose-colored hindsight that is, by all accounts, horribly wrong. Maybe you enjoyed the sense of wonder upon going through the game the first time. That’s completely understandable. But no one really enjoyed running Molten Core. Or the old honor system. Or the horrible class balance and several patently useless talent trees at launch.

Speaking of, I wonder if there’s anybody that could shed some light on that last bit. Maybe Tom Chilton, the lead Game Director could, in his latest interview on the five-year anniversary mini-site.

As it turns out, Chilton was brought in in early 2004 to work on the PvP portion of the game, but ended up handling a lot more when the honor system was put on hold to handle more pressing concerns, like making gameplay interesting.

“From April until the game shipped, the vast majority of my time was spent working on the design for the auction house, the mail system, and implementing the talent trees for every class. I was the only person available to do that — our other class designer, Kevin Jordan, was mainly focused on ensuring that all of the classes had spells and abilities up to level 60, and managing the flow of when you’d get which ability. Kevin and I, and Rob Pardo, and Mike Heiberg from the StarCraft team, all worked on that part of the game. It was exciting, but it was weird — my experience with some of the classes was making a character of that class on an internal server, playing it up to level 10 to get a feel for how the class played, and starting to make 60 levels worth of talents. A lot of my early experience was trying to get familiar with every class.”

Kind of explains a lot, doesn’t it? Like Lacerate, for example. People who complain about balance nowadays really have no idea how bad it used to be, or how much Blizzard’s process for fixing it has improved. Chilton goes into more detail about WoW’s early development in his full interview on the Battlecry site.

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So you hopped into the Blizzard Store and ordered yourself a plushie or two. Or maybe you picked up one from BlizzCon. Regardless, there you are, with at least one official Blizzard stuffed toy. Whether you collect them for yourself or have a child for whom you say that you bought them, you have one or more in your home… but now what? Does he sit on your desk? Does he sit on your lap? Is he used to recreate famous in-game battles? And the most important question of all: have you taken pictures of it?

We here at WoW.com want to see your best plushie photos. There will be two categories: Plushies in The Wild and Plushies in Captivity. We will narrow down the best of both categories and offer them up to the readers for voting. The top three of each category will receive loot codes, provided by WoWTCGLoot.com.

Details are after the break.

Plushies in the Wild
Readers will choose the best three photos depicting a plushie out in nature.

• First Prize: Disco Inferno
• Second Prize: Tiny
• Third Prize: Slashdance

Plushies in Captivity
Readers will choose the best three photos depicting a plushie in captivity or otherwise domesticated.

• First Prize: Paper Airplane
• Second Prize: Tiny
• Third Prize: Slashdance

Here are the nitty and the gritty for entering the Plushie Photo Contest:

• This contest is open to all readers, regardless of where in the world you live.
• The photo must be of the official Blizzard plushies: The Murlocs, the Gryphon or the Wind Rider.
• Send your photo to contests@wow.com with the subject line of Plushies in The Wild or Plushies in Captivity.
• Send only one entry per category.
• Resize your photos to be exactly 1024 pixels wide and no more than 800 pixels tall to make it easier for inclusion in our galleries.
• Submit your entries before midnight, March 10th in order to be included in the contest.
• Any pictures submitted after that time may be put in our galleries, but will not be eligible for the prizes.

So, show us your plushies!

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world of warcraft articles by admin

Welcome to another edition of Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that would like to assert the following:

• Fact: Mages are the sparkliest class in the game.
• Fact: Sparkles are awesome.
• Fact: Warlocks have poor personal hygiene and generally smell funny.

None of these assertions can be disputed.

Hey, mages! Let’s have an argument.

Well… maybe not so much an argument per se, because no matter how you slice it, an equally geared frost mage is going to do less overall DPS than a fire or arcane mage… but we’ll definitely be having a discussion.

Here’s a general format for how this discussion will take place:

1. I will present my reasons why raiding as a frost mage is viable.
2. You will then tell me why I am wrong.

You may be asking yourself: Christian, what has provoked this sudden defense of frost magery? You play an arcane mage! Also, where are your pants?

To your first question, I would say, “yes, you’re right. But in preparation for writing my forthcoming Frost 101 column, I have been toying with a secondary frost spec, and finding it a great deal of fun.” To your second question, about the whereabouts of my trousers, I would say stop watching my webcam. Really, you knew what you were getting into when you clicked that link.

For the first time in a very long time, recent patches have brought significant upgrades to the raiding viability of the frost mage. Since the first raid breached the door of Karazhan way back in early 2007, frost mages have found themselves overshadowed by other specs in terms of damage output, and each successive raid, patch, and expansion found them falling farther and farther behind their mage brethren. It wasn’t long before frost became known as the PvP tree, and rightly so, because frost mages were best at that aspect of the game, but simply could not compete on the PvE side of things.

This is still, for all intents and purposes, the case. For over three years, bringing a frost mage into progressive raid content was a fairly taboo prospect. But things are changing:

• Water elementals became permanent with the application of a glyph.
• Deep Freeze was given a massive damage component versus raid bosses.

And forthcoming patches continue the trend:

• Frostbolt’s spellpower scaling is being increased.
• Brain Freeze will trigger a Frostfire Bolt as well.

Clearly Blizzard is making an effort here, but though frost is closer than it has been in a very long time to the other specs in terms of raw DPS numbers, it’s going to lag behind. In raid content, where DPS is king, what incentive is there to bring a spec that does less damage than another spec?

And thus the argument will always go. Spec A does (x) DPS. Spec B does (x-1) DPS. Take spec A.

So why bring a frost mage when you can bring an arcane or fire mage? (And my apologies to frostfire mages. Blizzard stopped supporting that spec pretty much the moment they introduced it.)

Reason the first: The DPS gap is closing.

It’s still there, certainly, but it’s much, much smaller than it has been. The above-mentioned changes have made the gap small enough that now the choice to bring a frost mage no longer hampers your raid’s DPS. Arcane and fire still rank higher, but frost is now, for the first time since the end of vanilla WoW, in the mix. The most recent PTR changes promise to make the situation even better.

A straight-up damage buff to frost’s primary nuke, Frostbolt, is a fantastic place to start. And by incorporating the occasional Brain Freeze-triggered Frostfire Bolt into the rotation (a vast improvement over Fireball for frost mages), the situation becomes even better. Now if only we could find a way to get Ice Lance involved somehow…

I realize that saying frost isn’t as bad it used to be isn’t much of an argument, but I’ve never been a big fan of the whole min-max mentality. From a hard numbers perspective, arcane is currently the DPS king. Frost is not. This is true. But we’re at the point now, where frost has drawn close enough that the choice is simply no longer black-and-white. The bottom line is this: Given the choice between a decent arcane mage and an excellent frost mage, I’d now take the excellent frost mage without hesitation. Previously, the conversation had to go something like this:

Raid organizer #1: Well, we have a mage spot open. We can bring Jim, or Dave.

Raid organizer #2: Let’s see…Jim has threat management problems. He tends to stand in things that kill him. Also, he’s a racist.

Raid organizer #1: Yeah, but Dave’s a frost mage!

Now, you take Dave. It isn’t even a question. The gap is too small to worry over numbers. There are a lot of quality frost mages out there. They know their class. They understand their roles. And now, your guild can use them. You can bring the best mages you have, not just the ones who went to Elitist Jerks and copy-pasted whatever the “optimal” spec happened to be that day.

Reason the second: Survivability

The very thing that makes frost such an attractive PvP choice is also of underrated value in a raiding environment. Frost’s ability to throw up a quick Ice Barrier in between themselves and a massive incoming blast of splash damage often spells the difference between a live DPS and a dead one. Or how about the ability to throw up two consecutive Ice Blocks, removing debuffs and avoiding death twice in a short amount of time? Which would you rather have in your raid group? The arcane mage who bites it 20 seconds into an encounter, or the frost mage who has the tools to survive?

There are a great number of encounters where the simple ability to keep the DPS alive for a few more seconds can spell the difference between a wipe and victory. It’s always a good thing when your DPS can find ways to keep themselves alive. It takes a bit of pressure off your healers, and allows your DPS to stay higher, longer.

Reason the third: AOE

It isn’t going to be useful in every encounter, but an AOE snare is going to be fairly awesome in some of them. Frost mages have excellent AOE capabilities, making them fantastic to have around for trash pulls, and the CC/AOE potential of Improved Blizzard could prove very, very valuable in certain boss encounters.

Reason the fourth: Kiting

Frost mages might be the best dedicated kiters in the game, pound for pound (with Glyph of Frostbolt removed, of course). Put a frost mage on Darnavan during the Lady Deathwhisper encounter and watch him complete the quest for you. Any melee class that’s ever been led around by the nose in PvP by a frost mage can attest to the fact that when it comes to kiting, frost is unparalleled. Any encounter that calls for a dedicated kiter is made tremendously easier when a skilled frost mage is involved.

Reason the fifth: Threat management

Frost mages have low threat for one reason: a significant percentage of their threat is being generated by their pet. Their ability to manage threat is significantly better than that of fire or arcane mages, who must rely upon talents to lower all-around threat. This means more time spent putting out DPS, and less spent doing things like casting Invisibility or Ice Block.

Reason the sixth: Shut up.

Seriously, I’ll bring my frost mage because I like my frost mage, so cram it. How’s that for having a discussion?

Frost is fun, pure and simple. And with the DPS gap closing so swiftly, it’s just not absolute anymore that an arcane mage will be better. If I’m a frost mage, and I’m good at my class, you want me in your raid.

Also, no mage is better at killing warlocks than those of the frosty variety. That counts for something.

So, Frost mages, are you finding spots in your guild’s progression raids? Or are they still taking Jim and his racism?

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Every week Arcane Brilliance teleports you inside the wonderful world of mages and then hurls a Fireball in your face. Check out our recent look at how much I hate damage meters, or our lengthy series of mage leveling guides. Until next week, keep the Mage-train a-rollin’.

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Uh-oh. Rogues. Those sneaky little bastards could be anywhere. Out of all the classes in the game, there is perhaps no class no more feared for their PvP prowess than rogues. Rogues gain a fearsome reputation by virtue of the nature of the class alone — they can Stealth. Because of rogues, everyone has to literally watch their backs. No place is safe because a rogue can be lying in lurking in some dark corner waiting to strike at the proper time. Through years of leveling in a PvP server, there is no sound in the game more unsettling than the low humming whoosh of a nearby stealthed rogue. In fact, rogue (and by extension, feral druid) stealth is the single biggest reason why I don’t PvP with music on.

And for rogues, it’s all about timing. In the Battlegrounds, it isn’t uncommon to find rogues preying on the weak, those low on life, the defenseless players eating or drinking. They can’t help it. It’s in their nature. The class encourages foul play through Stealth and a wonderful repertoire of attacks from behind. Rogues are at their best when catching their opponents off guard and are extremely capable of doing so. After the jump, we’ll take a closer look at the basic things to expect when fighting a rogue regardless of their spec.

Stealth

As mentioned, Stealth is a rogue’s defining ability. Learned at Level 1, every rogue learns to sneak around and pounce on an opponent. It’s their single biggest trump card, the ability to remain unseen. In Arena play, it’s critical for the rogue to get the opener, as some of her most powerful attacks require her to be stealthed. Taking a rogue out of stealth removes the element of surprise so it’s important to be on your toes. If you see a rogue from a distance entering stealth, always be on the ready. While it is practically impossible to get the jump on a very good rogue, the good news is that there are quite a lot of mediocre rogues who get too close to an opponent assuming their stealth will keep them undetected.

It will help to keep your game sounds on, and any music, whether in-game or maybe iTunes, low to be able to hear the distinctive sound of stealth. Hearing this sound indicates that you will be able to target them, so keep the Tab key handy. If you detect them, you have a very small opening in which to attack or cast a spell. The best abilities to use are those that don’t require you to be facing the target — a quick DoT or AoE should do the trick. These should work fastest and prevent error message delays.

A rogue’s first few sequences are predicated on the premise that they get the opener, so taking that away from them breaks their rhythm and forces them to change their battle plan. Rogues hate starting a fight out of stealth, so if you manage to break their stealth at the start of a fight, you’ve already got a mental edge. Of course, if you can catch them before they even enter stealth, then all the better. Applying a Hunter’s Mark or Faerie Fire should help here, or even a DoT if they’re within range. Hunter’s Mark has a 100 yard range, so it’s easy to keep a rogue in check from across the battlefield.

Stuns and incapacitate effects

Another reason why rogues are so fearsome in PvP is because of their vaunted stuns. They can keep an opponent stun-locked or incapacitated in a number of ways so as to effectively neutralize a threat if not kill them outright. This control is why rogues have so much synergy with priests and mages in the Arena. Rogues can stun as an opener from stealth with Cheap Shot, which they’ll use mostly against other melee classes. If you can manage it, don’t use a cc-break on this because they can easily follow it up with a Kidney Shot as Cheap Shot already awards 2 combo points from the get go.

Basically, expect a rogue to be able to stun you right out from stealth as well as during combat. For the most bang for the buck, rogues will land a few strikes to generate combo points and will wait for one stun to wear off or nearly wear off before applying another one. Because they can apply so much cc, it becomes discretionary when to use your trinket or other stun prevention or removal ability.

In addition to their stuns, rogues also have a pair of incapacitate effects, Sap and Gouge, which take an opponent out of play for a while. Because Sap can only be used on targets that are not in combat and doesn’t break their stealth, they can use this to incapacitate one opponent and attack another. Quite often, rogues Sap their opponents to unsettle them and is a very common occurence in world PvP even as a prank when rogues don’t necessarily intend to battle their opponents. Sap is a common tool used in the Battlegrounds particularly for capturing the flag against a lone defender. In these cases, it’s usually a good idea to break the Sap with a trinket or, in the case of warriors against clueless rogues, Berserker Rage.

Gouge is an interesting ability. It is a quick way for rogues to escape combat and is employed cleverly as an interrupt in a pinch. It is a 4 second incapacitate effect and is usually not worth breaking because it breaks on damage, anyway. Because it requires that their opponent be facing them, rogues often also use this to maneuver behind their opponent. It has a fairly short, 10-second cooldown, making it an extremely potent tool in controlling the fight. The good news is that it is extremely expensive at 45 Energy, so rogues won’t always be able to use it even when it’s available.

Kick

The reason rogues are a caster’s bane is because they have so many tools at their disposal to prevent spellcasting. Kick doesn’t just interrupt, it also locks casters out of the school for 5 seconds. For a caster, that’s about an eternity. You need to remember two things as a caster — Kick is on a short, 10-second cooldown and it costs 25 Energy. Because of the short cooldown, you should always assume they can use it at any time and it won’t matter too much to track it through AddOns. Keep the Energy cost in mind and always assume that a rogue with about a quarter of her Energy left can use it.

The best way to deal with a Kick is to bait it out of the rogue. This means you’ll need to keep juking your spells. A /stopcasting macro before every spell allows you to keep canceling spells that are currently being cast instead of stacking it. This should also remove the need to move to break a cast, which is less efficient. One trick is to keep juking with a spell from another, less-important school of magic so that if the rogue bites and uses Kick, you’re free to cast spells from another school. Healers have a tougher time here mostly because smart rogues will use Kick on Holy or Nature school spells only.

If a rogue manages to Kick you and you’re locked out of your primary (or in the case of paladins, your only) school, you can go two ways — act as defensively as possible or go all out on offense. When a rogue has locked you out of casting spells, especially heals, they will go all out on damage without even bothering with a stun knowing that you have few options. Fortunately for priests, Psychic Scream is from the Shadow school, so getting Kicked in the middle of a heal means it’s probably a good time to cast it. It’s also a good idea to go on the offensive by accessing attacks from other schools during this time.

Next >>

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Reader comments — ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

I saw you in heroic Halls of Lightning last week. I was healing, wearing a Velen’s Cowl of Conquest. You came in wearing full tier 1 with the banana shoulders. You tanked with skill and made the whole group smile. After the last boss, you headed back to Khadgar. Coffee, heroics and healing some time?

It was a “love” connection for two players from the Stormstrike battlegroup’s Dungeon Finder last week — and they reconnected right here in the comments of The Classifieds!

Hephaestus: … Keleili, I very much appreciated your post and comments. Getting recognition for being a good pally tank (as well as a sharp-dressed one) was the furthest thing from my mind, but it sure made for a great birthday present! If only you were healing me on the eve of the BC expansion when I was getting the best of both worlds. I’ll gladly run with you as my healer anytime; you, too, are a skilled player and a bacon saver! — Hephaestus of Khadgar

Jennifer: *LOL* You are very welcome. It made my day. I had only just started to think about raiding on my then-60 when BC came out, so I never got to actually see the vanilla raid content. (If I remember correctly, I was always doomed to have 7/8 of the tier .5 set.) So, you are totally awesome in my mind. — Keleili

All together now: Awww … Join us for more reader-to-reader connections, after the break.

Why Blizzard can’t and won’t sell gold

The conversation in this thread about the potential of Blizzard’s selling gold inspired one reader to send in the link on our tips line, just to make sure that [1.Local] noticed the discussion.

Wild Colors: I agree that Blizz shouldn’t create gold out of thin air. However, I’m in favor of Blizz creating a legitimate market for players to exchange gold with other players in return for real money (or rather, game time). EVE has been doing this and the economy hasn’t exploded. You simply pay real money to but an in-game item that, when used, adds a month of game time to your account. You then put this item up on the auction house and let the server’s market decide how much gold it’s worth. No gold is created or destroyed …

This would allow people with limited time to pay for gold that already exists in the economy, if they so desire. It wouldn’t destroy the economy by flooding it and creating massive inflationary pressure. It would allow people with lots of time to essentially play for free. Everyone wins, in my ever humble opinion.

That said, Blizz is completely against it, and the only reason I can think of is the tax issues.

Jafari: Could also work for in-game pets like the Lil’ K.T., etc. The real-life money goes to Bizzard, so it’s not attractive to real-life gold sellers. The gold is already on the server, so inflation probably will not result.

Wavemancali: I completely agree with this concept. Still a closed system economy, easy to set up so that there is no exchange of account info and therefore no hacking. People who are going to buy gold are already doing it. It’s why gold farmers exist. Gold farmers would not farm for game time, there is no profit in it when you can’t sell the game time. Hacking would be reduced by 80% the first day they implemented it, I would bet.

jair: You are correct in stating that the gold in-game does currently “come out of thin air”; however, there is a time-consuming process that precludes this gold appearing. It is limited to some degree by the number of dailies that can be done in a day, etc., etc. If there were unlimited dailies, inflation would increase dramatically.

Having said all this, it is the natural trend that inflation would exist because of this, and hence, why “gold sinks” destroy some amount of the gold. Gold sinks reduce the inflation that would naturally occur to a level that wouldn’t destroy the game. I imagine on some level, Blizz has a rough idea of just how much gold is floating around on servers and makes decisions (like creating gold sinks) on how to keep this from growing out of control. It is not in their interest to have the game ruined by inflation.

Selling gold would dramatically increase gold in the game, and they would have to make even more gold sinks to control this. At that point, most everyone would have to buy the gold, to enjoy the same gold sinks that gold buyers would have access to, some of which could effect game play dramatically. Wouldn’t it just be easier to do something crazy, like sell in-game pets for real money, rather than risk damaging the entire game by selling gold, which would result in the same thing?

wizeguy: You forget one other point related to inflation … Gold sellers get their gold mainly by hacking and stealing it from players. Although gold may be redistributed within the server, now new gold is introduced to the economy. If Blizzard sold gold, do you really think they would steal it from players? Of course not. They would make their own gold, which would be injected into the server economy, causing inflationary imbalance.

Stop by the thread for many more thoughtful ideas and opinions on the topic.

What won’t you do?

Matt Rossi won’t kill critters. “It’s a bit of a superstition that I developed after a beloved pet (a rabbit) died in real life shortly after I’d killed a rabbit in game,” he writes in this Breakfast Topic. “It’s simply not something I want to do ever since it happened.”

Kayri: You’re all missing something here people. Matthew Rossi, the manliest man on wow.com, had a bunny! And he was really sad when it died. Matt deserves a /brofist.

Matthew Rossi (via internal WoW.com e-mail): I really loved that rabbit.

/gulp. Perhaps this isn’t the moment to bring up the new mage I started this week whose only melee hits are against … umm … critters.


What Cataclysm might mean for guild alliances

Will Cataclysm shove smaller guilds into bigger guilds, if they want all the benefits of guild leveling rewards? The details aren’t yet clear, but some players in smaller guilds are apprehensive.

Ura Hero: This is pretty lousy for all of the friends and family guilds out there. I have a small guild for friends and family because I don’t want to have to deal with tab privileges and storage. We all have access to everything. If someone wants something they can take it. If we want to raid, we hook up with a larger group and raid.

Now I am being told that if we don’t drop anchor and sail to a larger guild that raids, we are going to get left in the dust. To me, that just shows a total lack of regard for smaller guilds who focus on helping each other rather than on trying to do all of the endgame content.

While I as a GM would like to have a guild that does all endgame content, it just isn’t going to happen. I have better things to do with my limited spare time than sitting in SW, broadcasting in trade to try to keep my guild full of active players.

So what will happen? Obviously we are going to be penalized for wanting a small tight knit guild of folks who enjoy playing together. Yet another example of how Blizzard tends to ignore the folks who don’t have the time for end game content raiding on a daily/weekly basis.

Mr. Crow: But the problem is what guilds lose by collapsing under one guild name. Aesthetic matters like what the guild name is or what the tabard looks like are going to be more or less important to some people, but one guild gets 7 tabs, while X guilds gets x * 7 tabs. From a sheer logistics perspective, an group of aligned guilds are being asked to other have bank alt guilds (which may lost out on important perks because all they have are level 1 bank alts, not actual players) or lose out on the functionality and investment of an entire guild bank.

Being in an F&F guild that has to PUG 1-2 players every week just for 10-man raiding, I’m really interested in hearing what kind of options smaller guilds are going to have. I’m not worried about guild leveling (we’re already achievement whores, we’ll figure it out), but I AM worried if the design is going to enforce a certain standard of how many people MUST be in a guild in order to get guild achievements.

From the introduction of the guild leveling system, it doesn’t appear like Blizzard is going to create a standard like that, but we won’t know until it gets implemented in the beta.

From the Department of Strange News Tips

Bizarre news tips are usually fodder for a good mid-day tangent in the WoW.com team e-mail loop.

From: [redacted]
Subject: The pet Wolpertinger and DEXTER

This is so frustrating but maybe you can help shed some light on it.

I’ve asked people on my server where the pet Wolpertinger originated from and nobody could answer it. Now, I myself did not know about it until recently. I was watching season 1 of DEXTER and half way into the season (I don’t want to spoil season 1 for you) there was a certain person who had a certain item that was 100% identical to the Wolpertinger. I jumped out of my seat when I saw it.

Now, am I the first person to discover this? and also, how come a majority of WOW players aren’t watching DEXTER? It’s the best show since X-Files.

If you don’t believe me, please do your research of season 1 and please write an article about it.
PLEASE!!!!

Elizabeth Harper: I … I … what?

Anne Stickney: …okay, I gotta know what episode this was from.

Daniel Whitcomb: It was a legit ep. Some freaky dude they thought was the main baddie of the 1st season, but turned out to be some weird dude who did rogue taxidermy and chopped up animal bodies to make hybrid taxidermy stuff … and killed his mom and buried her in his backyard and collected her Social Security checks.

But yeah. Wolpertinger predates that.

Dexter is a cool show, BTW.

Zach Yonzon: Isn’t the wolpertinger an actual fictional animal? I mean, fictional outside of WoW like the jackalope?

Alex Ziebart: Yeah, it’s a Bavarian legend/folk tale/whatever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger.

Rich Maloy: Yes. Wolpertinger is the German version of the Jackalope. Or maybe the Jackalope is the American version of the Wolpertinger?

Joe Perez: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger.

Very similar, minus the wings. I think the jackalope has a better press agent, though. Between Pixar and America’s Funniest Home Videos, I think he’s a bit better known. LOL

Until next week … Keep it [1.Local]!

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