This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Classic Theme
Thottbot Theme
News
Live
Talk Azeroth w/Olivia - Ep 08 - Timeless Isle Kills Dailies, Mists Endgame Madness
This week Olivia wants to hold your hand as she takes you on a journey through the
Timeless Isle
, running merrily through the new zone, murdering rares, stealing their stuff, and generally making with the stabby.
She then opens the table for discussion of the shifting end-game content styles in Mists. We really have run the gamut in this expansion, from factions and factions of dailies, through weeklies, and now, with patch 5.4, the arrival of the
daily-quest-free timeless isle
.
And Olivia then rattles through your responses to last week's request for feedback, and is relieved that the majority seemed to agree with her, before answering some viewer questions, and berating herself for doing another too-long show!
Live
5.4 PTR Patch Notes: Updated July 24th
Blizzard updated their 5.4 PTR Patch Notes with class and glyph changes-when looking at the
datamined information from earlier
, see if it's listed here officially! Here's the additions from today:
Druid
:
now defaults to generating Lunar energy towards a Lunar Eclipse when used after being resurrected or zoning into a new area (used to default to generating Solar energy).
Hunter
:
A Murder of Crows
now deals 40% more damage.
Charred Glyph
: Reduces the range of
by 7 yards.
Charred Glyph
:
also reduces spell damage taken by 10%
Mage
:
Mastery: Frostburn has been replaced by
Mastery: Icicles
. When the Mage damages an enemy with their
Frostbolt
, and
Flurry
, (14% + 1.75% per Mastery) of the damage done is stored as an Icicle for 15 seconds.
Mastery: Icicles
also increases the Water Elemental’s Water Bolt damage by (14% + 1.75% per Mastery). Up to 5 Icicles can be stored at once. Casting
Ice Lance
launches all stored Icicles at the target.
Frostbolt
no longer increases the d
Live
5.4 PTR: Build 17227--Spell Changes, Vanity Items, Siege of Orgrimmar Mounts
A new 5.4 PTR build is on its way. There's tons of new vanity items like
Rime of the Time-Lost Mariner
, new mounts, and battle pets.
As Community Manager Lore noted on a PTR thread copied below, there are some changes in this PTR build that may be reverted in the build after next--so take datamined spell changes with a grain of salt.
Check out the latest additions!
Patch Highlights
New Proving Grounds achievement:
You're Doing it Wrong (Level 90)
. Complete Silver mode in the "wrong" spec!
Tons of vanity items, possibly tied to Timeless Isle rares:
Sunset Stone
: Place a Sunset Stone that will change the time of day to sunset in the surrounding area for 10 min. (1 Hour Cooldown)
Rime of the Time-Lost Mariner
: Sing the haunting melody of the crew lost on the Dread Ship Vazuvius. (2 Hrs Cooldown)
Rain Stone
: Place a Rain Stone that will summon a rain storm in the surrounding area for 10 min. (1 Hour Cooldown)
Odd Polished Stone
: Become infused with stone, granting a chance upon killing an opponent to encase them in stone. (1 Hour Cooldown)
Falling Flame
: Launches the user far into the distance as a blazing met
PTR
5.4 PTR: New Rare Spawns, Pirates and Events
The Timeless Isle is teeming with rare spawns--over 20 the last time we checked! Some are pirate-themed, while others spawn as part of rare events. The best part is that rare elites are complete shared tags--they are not limited by faction or by party.
For more posts on 5.4 PTR rare spawn coverage, check out
Lore
's
Rare Elites of Pandaria Guide
,
WoW Rare Spawns: Timeless Isle Preview
, and
Cymre Jones: Timeless Isle Rares
.
Pirates
Unsurprisingly, shipwrecks are a common theme on the
Timeless Isle
. The following events, objects, and npcs are tied to these achievements:
Where There's Pirates, There's Booty
,
Going To Need A Bigger Bag
, and
Timeless Champion
.
The ruined Dread Ship Vazuvius lies to the south of Pi'jiu Village. It's overrun by
Cursed Hozen Swabby
, who are guarding a treasure chest that contains
Cursed Swabby Helmet
. They drop the
Barnacle Encrusted Key
which is needed to open the
Live
News Roundup: Flex Raiding, Proving Grounds, Siege of Orgrimmar Gear
Today's news roundup is pretty heavy on gear discussions: Blizzard clarified the item levels of raid epics in Patch 5.4, talked about
Siege of Orgrimmar
's gear design, and talked about the different paths to PvE and PvP gearing.
Players were also keen to talk about Proving Grounds--they first discussed how they sound great for demonstrating raid capability for new players looking to find a raid, and then moved into more specific questions about the individual learning environment and overall difficulty level.
The
Siege of Orgrimmar
gear post by Watcher is especially worth reading, as it goes over the reasoning behind each's raid gear's strength and talks about how raiders shouldn't feel obligated to run all difficulties at once:
Siege of Orgrimmar
LFR loot is
ilvl 528
. It is intended to feel like a meaningful upgrade over gear from the last tier, and there's already
ilvl 522 Valor gear
and
ilvl 516 Heroic Scenario gear
which many LFR players have equipped.
Siege of Orgrimmar
Normal loot is [u
Live
Blizzard Store and TCG Vanity Loot Guide
With the recent addition of
cosmetic items to the Blizzard Store
, it's the perfect time to update our guide to TCG and Blizzard Store Items!
Our new Blizzard Store section covers all the mounts, pets, and cosmetic items like
Jewel of the Firelord
, as well as how to purchase them from the store.
The TCG section covers the mounts, pets, and vanity items from the popular game, tips on how to acquire them, pictures, and cheap equivalent in-game items. We've also got battle pet information on these collectible pets!
We've also highlighted items from past BlizzCons and Collector Editions like
Big Blizzard Bear
--these items are not available on the Blizzard Store but can be purchased from places like
WoW TCG Loot
.
Click the cut to read the guide!
Live
5.4 PTR Patch Notes: Updated July 18th
The 5.4 PTR Patch Notes were just updated by Blizzard. Here's the highlights:
The Timeless Isle is now open for testing, and we just
put up a preview
of everthing in the zone!
Highlights of Class Changes
Druid
:
Bear Form
now increases Stamina contribution from cloth and leather items by 40% (up from 20%).
Monk
: Rushing Jade Wind replaces
Spinning Crane Kick
. The Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind lasts twice as long as
Spinning Crane Kick
, is instant, and not channeled.
Mage
: Mastery: Frostburn has been replaced by
Mastery: Icicles
. When the Mage damages an enemy with their
Frostbolt
,
Flurry
, and the Water Elemental's
Waterbolt
, (12% + 1.5% per Mastery) of the damage done is stored as an Icicle for 15 seconds. Up to 5 Icicles can be stored at once. Casting
Ice Lance
launches all stored Icicles at the target.
Paladin
:
Sacred Shield
for Holy Paladins can now be active on more than one target at a time, but the talent now costs mana, and h
Live
5.4 PTR: Timeless Isle Zone Preview, BoA Epic Loot, Pets, and World Bosses
The
Timeless Isle
is finally open for testing on the 5.4 PTR! It's a mysterious island to the east of the Jade Forest, where in a refreshing change of pace, players can acquire vanity items and gear
without
doing dailies.
There's a new pet tournament on the
Timeless Isle
, as well as mini-Celestial battle pets to acquire.
Epic ilvl 496 Timeless Gear can be acquired by looting rare chests, killing mobs, and turning in
Timeless Coin
. These items, like
Amaranthine Robe
, have random stats, and the armor token that creates them,
Timeless Cloth Robes
, is BoA, meaning you can send these to your alts for gearing up! There are also ilvl 535 versions, tagged as Timeless, of these same items--perhaps
Burden of Eternity
will be involved.
There's hardly any daily quests, just one--
A Timeless Question
--in which you answer questions about Azeroth's lore.
In addition to selling gear tokens, there's vendors that have rare-spawn nameplates that sell
"Dapper Gentleman" Costume
and despawn after a period of time.
Tons of rare elites to kill, as well as chests to loot.
The
Timeless Isle
is also home to Celestial world bosses, needed for Wrathion's questli
Live
Talk Azeroth with Olivia - Episode 7: Cosmetic Hats and Proving Grounds
This week on Talk Azeroth, it's the
appearance of some new hats
on the
battle.net store
that's caught Olivia's attention! These three new hats are for transmogrification purposes only, and have no stats at all. Olivia shelled out £10 of her hard earned cash to check out various aspects of these hats, and has some pretty strong opinions about the price point that Blizzard has set!
Onto happier news, and Olivia dives into the
Proving Grounds
, the latest feature to arrive on the Patch 5.4 PTR. These new solo scenarios are designed as training grounds for tanks, healers and DPS, and Olivia
put together a video
summing up the technical side for Wowhead yesterday, so check that out if you're interested. Olivia talks through her experience in proving grounds, and the pros and cons of Blizzard's current implementation.
Last up, it's two viewer questions! If you would like
Live
5.4 PTR: Build 17205, New Glyphs, Battle Pets, and More
Busy week for 5.4 PTR patches, we've got another today after
Monday's that had new titles and legendary procs
. Today's PTR build includes new battle pets from dungeons and raids, glyphs, and some more vanity items.
Check out the latest additions!
Patch Highlights
Elixir of Wandering Spirits
: Take on the form of a Golden Lotus hero.
Xal'atoh, Desecrated Image of Gorehowl
: new version of Gorehowl
Qian-Ying, Fortitude of Niuzao
now has expertise instead of dodge.
Tons of new battle pets:
Ashleaft Spriteling
,
Ashwing Moth
,
Azure Crane Chick
,
Blackfuse Bombling
,
Ruby Droplet
,
Dandelion Frolicker
,
Death Adder Hatchling
,
Droplet of Y'Shaarj
,
Flamering Moth
,
Gooey Sha-ling
,
Jademist Dancer
,
Kovok
,
Ominous Flame
,
Skunky Alemental
,
Skywisp Moth
,
Spineclaw Crab
,
Gulp Froglet
Many new potential glyph spells were datamined recently, and a few of them now have item versions, implying they can be crafted and/or tested on the PTR, like
Glyph of Inspired Hymns
.
Death Knight
:
Charred Glyph
,
Glyph of the Skeleton
Druid
:
Charred Glyph
,
Charred Glyph
[/l
Live
Cosmetic Armor Pieces -- Now Available on Blizzard Store
Cosmetic helms, which can be transmogrified onto any helm, are now on sale for
12 Euros each from the EU Blizzard Store
and
15 USD from the US Blizzard Store
.
Crown of Eternal Winter
is a spooky frosty helm, that periodically glows ice-blue and covers your face with a skull!
Store Link
Jewel of the Firelord
is a fiery helm with blazing horns.
Store Link
Hood of Hungering Darkness
is a red and black hood that plunges your face into darkness and leaves a plume of red smoke.
Store Link
These items are sent to all of your Battle.net characters and can be mailed just like heirlooms. So, if you're worried about bag space, you can mog the helm
Live
5.4 PTR: Proving Grounds Now Testable
The Proving Grounds are now testable on the 5.4 PTR! As we
covered yesterday
, Proving Grounds are solo challenges that both allow new players to learn a new role in a comfortable setting, or seasoned players to try something difficult and competitive.
Proving Grounds allow users to select Tank, Healer, or DPS challenges. You can queue up from class trainers, or
Trial Master Rotun
who is by Flaskataur or Temple of the White Tiger.
Proving Grounds does have some similarities to Brawler's Guild in that they're solo challenges, but Proving Grounds lets you privately learn a role without people watching you fail on the sidelines, plus there are challenges for all specs. In addition, gear plays much less of a role in Proving Grounds success--all gear is scaled down to ilvl 463, like it is in Challenge Modes.
Once inside Proving Grounds, there are vendors that offer various amenities:
Miss Jadepaw
for Jewelcrafting supplies,
Nadaga Soulweaver
has Healthstones,
Mystic Quillstar
is a reforger, and
Furnisher Echoroot
sells basic food.
Video Preview
Olivia tested out the Proving Grounds on the PTR--che
Live
5.4 PTR: Proving Grounds Preview
Blizzard just posted a blog introducing an exciting feature coming in Patch 5.4--Proving Grounds. In Proving Grounds, players can try out new roles in a safe environment (no PuGs being angry you failed at something new), or push their limits on high-difficulty settings.
Your gear will be scaled down so it's purely about skill, and depending on the role you choose, you'll be faced with combat mechanics similar to what's in a dungeon, with both friendly NPCs assisting you as well as vendors, soulwells, reforgers, and more inside! You don't even have to worry about durability when dying.
For completing various challenges, you'll be awarded achievements on Bronze, Silver, and Gold difficulty. An Endless Wave difficulty setting is in place for those who want competitive scores (like
Proving Yourself: Endless Tank (Wave 30) (Level 90)
).
Proving Grounds are now testable on the PTR! Simply go to the Temple of the White Tiger to queue up.
Click the cut to read Blizzard's preview!
Live
5.4 PTR: Build 17191 - Legendary Procs, New Titles, Tier 16 Armor, Glyphs
A new PTR build is coming soon! There's details on the Blizzard Store, some changed set bonuses, titles for killing Garrosh, as well as tons of shaman vanity glyphs like
. Legendary cape procs were also tweaked:
Spirit of Chi-Ji
now redistributes overhealing, and
Endurance of Niuzao
doesn't function if you're not tank-specced.
For the latest official patch notes, check our
5.4 PTR Patch Notes: Updated July 12
.
Check out the latest additions!
Patch Highlights
New mount:
Stormcrow
More Timeless Isle items:
Timeless Plate Armor Cache
,
Timeless Mail Armor Cache
,
Timeless Leather Armor Cache
,
Timeless Cloth Armor Cache
,
Pouch of Timeless Coins
New trinkets, categorized as "Timeless:"
Alacrity of Xuen
,
Yu'lon's Bite
,
Discipline of Xuen
,
Resolve of Niuzao
,
Contemplation of Chi-Ji
Cursed Swabby Helmet
: Transform into a Cursed Hozen Swabby, able to breath under water and swim 200% faster.
Achievements and titles are in place for killing Garrosh on Normal difficulty. Horde gets
Liberator of Orgrimmar
and the Liberator of Orgrimmar title, Alliance gets
Conqueror of Orgrimmar
and the Conquero
Live
Transportation Guide: Maps, Portals, Flight Paths, and More!
Getting around Azeroth quickly is important--especially with holidays requiring lots of travel like the Lunar Festival and Love is in the Air. Basic flight paths can take you anywhere, but they're slow and easily up to 15 minutes across a continent. And which boat goes where from Stormwind anyway?
This is a newspost from 2013 which is now outdated. Please refer to the
Transportation Guide
in our guide section for updates.
There are numerous items, teleports, and portals that can shave minutes off your travel experience--even breadcrumb quests that you can hold onto which will provide useful ports!
With this guide, you'll learn about all the travel options on each continent, complete with maps. We've also added details on flight paths, mage portals, and Hearthstones.
Live
Transmoggable and New Vanity Items Coming to Blizzard Store
Cosmetic items are coming to the Blizzard Store--BoA gear that you can transmog, regardless of your armor type! They'll work just like
Griftah's Authentic Troll Shoes
in being transmoggable over any cloth, leather, mail, or plate item for that slot.
The items coming to the Blizzard Store do
not
give players any meaningful stat boosts--it's just for fashion. In addition, the Blizzard Store items have unique looks, so you won't be able to finish up any existing
transmog sets
from the store.
Click on the images below to view the new helms and their special effects in our 3D modelviewer!
Crown of Eternal Winter
is a spooky frosty helm, that periodically glows ice-blue and covers your face with a skull!
Jewel of the Firelord
is a fiery helm with blazing horns.
Hood of Hungering Darkness
is a red and black hood that plunges your face into darkness and leaves a plume of red smoke.
In addition, new vanity items are being added!
Darkmoon Seesaw
and
Iron Hitching Post (UNUSED)
are on their way!
[quote="Blizzard" blizzard=true url=
http://us.battle.net/wow/en
Live
5.4 PTR Patch Notes: Updated July 12th
The 5.4 PTR Patch Notes have been updated once again with class and battle pet ability changes. Here's the highlights:
All fear and horrify effects can no longer cause targets under the effects of a movement speed buff to move faster than normal run speed.
Druid
:
Charred Glyph
will now cause
to interrupt when used on targets that are immune to silence effects.
Hunter
:
Stampede
damage dealt by pets when the ability is used outside of an Arena or Battleground is no longer reduced by 75%
Hunter
:
has been removed.
Monk
:
Increases damage by 6% per stack, (up from 1% per stack) but is no longer increased by Mastery.
Paladin
:
no longer reduces the amount of healing done, and now restores mana based on the Paladin’s Spirit.
Paladin
:
(Holy version) now deals additional healing based on any heal cast by the Paladin for the 15 seconds for the duration of the spell. The Paladin also has 10% additional haste for the duration that the ability is active.
Paladin
:
now increases the effectiveness of Eternal Flame, Light of Dawn, and Word of Glory by 35%. Ef
Live
Talk Azeroth with Olivia - Episode 6: In-Game Store
This week on Talk Azeroth, Olivia tackles the hottest topic of the moment: in-game microtransactions. But first, she gives the viewer a very short French lesson -- the translation is directly after the intro -- and it's on with the show.
Olivia starts off by looking at the datamined item itself: the
Enduring Elixir of Wisdom
. Looking at
Bashiok's forum post
, she wonders whether it's really something that would qualify as pay-to-win, and considers that there are already similar items available within the game. She then takes a look at the mechanical side of an in-game store itself, and points out how it might affect players' immersion and in-game experience, as well as pointing out ways in which it might be made to work.
Then it's on to the meat of the problem: what is suitable for a cash shop and what isn't. Olivia would love your input on just exactly what you think is OK and what's not. She looks briefly at the psychology of it before hypothesizing about just what might come of the store in the future, and how the player base might react.
Last up, it's two viewer questions! If yo
Live
5.4 PTR: Tier 16 Armor Models, New Cooking Recipes
New Cooking Recipes
Hate all the materials required for +300 stat food? There are potential new recipes for +300 stat food, whose reagents can currently be acquired in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms on the 5.4 PTR.
Mango Ice
: 300 Mastery food.
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
, 5x
Fresh Mangos
.
Farmer's Delight
: 300 Spirit food.
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
,
Fresh Strawberries
, 2x
Fresh Shao-Tien Rice
.
Fluffy Silkfeather Omelet
: 300 Strength food.
Aged Mogu'shan Cheese
, 5x
Fresh Silkfeather Hawk Eggs
.
Stuffed Lushrooms
: 450 Stamina food.
Aged Mogu'shan Cheese
, 5x
Fresh Lushroom
.
Spiced Blossom Soup
: 300 Intellect food.
Ancient Pandaren Spices
, 5x
Delicate Blossom Petals
.
Seasoned Pomfruit Slices
: 300 Agility food.
Ancient Pandaren Spices
, 5x
Fresh Pomfruit
.
The
Aged Mogu'shan Cheese
,
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
, and
Ancient Pandaren Spices
drop from rares required for
One Many Army
. The other reagents are confirmed to be looted around Vale of Eternal Blossoms and have a 2 hour duration. Some of these reagents were old quest items, such as
Fresh Pomfruit
for
Pomfruit Pickup
.
Also in this recent PTR build, datamined noodle cart recipes like
Grand Noodle Cart Kit
were given quest sources. These quests are tied to deciphering the mysterious ingredients behind the Lin family's secret soup. Each of the following recipes makes 5
Live
5.4 PTR: Build 17169, Spell Changes, Audio Spoilers, New Glyphs, Icons
A new PTR build is coming soon! Many of the datamined spell changes below were confirmed in yesterday's
5.4 PTR Patch Notes
, which include many Affliction changes and a few Shaman buffs.
Check out the latest additions!
Build Highlights
Possible Winter Veil revamp?
Lucky Box of Greatness
,
Lucky Path of Cenarius
,
Lucky Satchel
,
Lucky Riding Turtle
Qian-Le, Courage of Niuzao
has some stat changes--it's now Crit/Exp/Mastery, instead of having Dodge.
New Shaman talent:
Rushing Streams
. Your Healing Stream Totem now heals two targets at once for 15% additional healing.
Counter Shot
is now a baseline Hunter ability.
New items tied to the Timeless Isle, a mysterious island off the Jade Forest filled with dynamic events, treasure chests, and world bosses:
Mask of Doubt
: "Provides quick access to the Ordon Sanctuary."
Mask of Hatred
: "Permanently increases mounted movement speed by 25% while on the Timeless Isle."
Mask of Violence
: "Reduces Fire damage taken by 50% while on the Timeless Isle and provides immunity to the atmosphe
1
334
335
336
337
338
364