What Is It

Chill of the Throne is a buff, similar to Sunwell Radiance in BC, that allows all enemy mobs in Icecrown Citadel (coming in 3.3, currently on the PTR) ignore 20% of their targets dodge. Essentially, if you are tanking IC, you can subtract 20% from your total avoidance; however, boss hits will be adjusted to compensate. Let’s continue the disussion.

Why Is It Here?

A couple people from WoW’s development team explain why they are implementing this spell, and Ghostcrawler discusses it a bit more. To summarize, tank avoidance is too high. This is primary because the team that planned out Wrath’s gear did not count on having hardmodes with higher item level gear–in the end, the gear people have is better than the gear the development team thought it would be. This means that, in order to offer any chance of a challenge to a raid, the hits that do actually hit the tank (ie, the ones that are not avoided) have to hit really hard in order to have any chance of killing the tank. What you end up with is healers having to time their big heals to land right after a bit hit (or else spam their biggest heals) and tanks that are unable to reactively use cooldowns.

Ideally (and Ghostcrawler has stated multiple times that this is the aim for Cataclysm), damage from a raid boss should be lower but more consistant (”smoother”), and the challenge in keeping tanks alive should be healers having to worry about running out of mana (i.e., not overhealing) and tanks having to use cooldowns more retroactively.

So, to try to push things that direction for the last raid of this expansion, Blizzard is nerfing avoidance artificially and also nerfing the amount of damage the bosses do (resulting, basically, in lower avoidance but higher mitigation, albeit mitigation via less damage), hoping to smooth out all these giant spikey hits while still creating a risk that the tank will die.

What It Is Not

This is not a worse nerf for druids than other tanks. Let me repeat myself: druids will not suffer worse from this nerf than other tanks. “But druids can only dodge!” you might say. Well, let’s take a look here.

Theoretical (i.e. made up) Avoidance Outside Icecrown

Adjusted with 20% Less Dodge

It’s easy to see that both tanks end up with the same amount of total avoidance. Now, you could go and make arguments about dodge being better than parry for certain tanks, etc. etc. but the main point is that other tanks are being hit just as hard as druids.

Another Note on Gear and Item Level

Guys, just because new gear has a higher item level does not always mean it is better. Ghostcrawler has said time and time again that it’s not designed that way–gear should be a choice, you shouldn’t be able to train a monkey to buy all the newer, higher item level gear and be a better tank/healer/DPS than you were. (This is part of my issue with gear scores in general.)

This public service announcement provided to you by The Altoholic.

Related posts:

1. Two Runes Enter: Stoneskin Gargoyle vs. Swordshattering
2. Role Consolidation, or “Great, Now I’m Useless”
3. PTR 3.0.8 Live
4. So, You Wanna Play a Death Knight: Gear
5. So, You Wanna Play a Death Knight: Tanking

I’ve been playing my new healer like crazy, as I’m really getting into the vibe of the spec and healing in general–it’s been a lot of fun. In my opinion, Trial of the Crusader is a really run raid, but I’m just getting into Ulduar for my first few times so that’s been exciting as well.

Be sure to check in for Blizzcon, as I’m sure I’ll have news–or at least commentary–on what’s announced.

PS: Here’s hoping for a Diablo III beta key! NO you can’t have it! >.<

Related posts:

1. I Can Haz BlizzCon!
2. BlizzCon, Here We Come!
3. Under Development: Ulduar
4. Blizzcon 2009: Day 1
5. BlizzCon: Day 0

On a non related sidenote, I would also like to point out that the old Emerald Dream maps that have been in the game files for years have been slightly updated throughout the 3.2, and in the Build 10072 of the PTRs the Map.dbc file with some of the settings for each zone was updated to make it a 40 Players max zone.

Take it for what it’s worth, folks.

Related posts:

1. News and Such
2. WWI News
3. Patch 3.0.2 Today
4. Blizzcon, Cataclysm, and Stuff
5. Early Spring Cleaning

BLIZZCON^®2009 TICKETS ON SALE MAY 16

Exclusive coverage of Blizzard Entertainment^®’s gaming convention available through DIRECTV^®satellite TV service and Internet stream

IRVINE, Calif. – May 5, 2009 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that tickets for its fourth BlizzCon^®gaming convention will go on sale May 16. Live coverage of the event will be available as a DIRECTV^®Pay Per View event and, for the first time, as an Internet stream. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment^®’s Warcraft^®, Diablo^®, and StarCraft^®game universes. The event will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on August 21 and 22.

“BlizzCon always offers us a great chance to meet players and celebrate our shared passion for gaming,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to delivering another entertaining and memorable experience to all attendees and to those joining us from home.”

In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer an array of activities, including discussion panels, hands-on playtime with upcoming games, tournaments, contests, and more.

Tickets to the convention will be priced at $125 USD each and will be available for purchase from the official BlizzCon website at www.blizzcon.com beginning May 16. For those unable to purchase tickets on that date, a second block of tickets will go on sale May 30.

To streamline the ticket-purchase process this year, the company has made upgrades to the Blizzard Store, including a first-come, first-served queue system and a fixed time limit for completing purchases. Also, those interested in attending BlizzCon can simplify the purchase process by registering a Battle.net account at www.battle.net before ticket sales begin.

Due to its popularity last year, the DIRECTV^® BlizzCon Pay Per View event will return in 2009, available to existing DIRECTV customers for $39.95 USD. The event will again deliver a minimum of eight hours of live HD coverage from the show floor on each day of the convention, including exclusive interviews, demos, and more. In addition, gamers around the world who are unable to attend BlizzCon will for the first time be able to purchase the Pay Per View event as an Internet stream, also priced at $39.95 USD (pricing may vary by region). DIRECTV customers who order the televised event will receive this Internet stream at no extra charge, allowing them to watch in the format of their choice. Anyone who orders the event will also receive this year’s BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft^® in-game item — to be revealed at a later date.

In addition, in the weeks ahead DIRECTV will offer a BlizzCon promotion for those interested in signing up for the DIRECTV television service. New subscribers through this promotion will receive the DIRECTV BlizzCon Pay Per View event, the Internet stream, and the BlizzCon 2009 World of Warcraft in-game item for the price of becoming a new DIRECTV customer.

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs.

As BlizzCon draws closer, further details about the show, including ordering and programming information for the DIRECTV BlizzCon Pay Per View event and Internet stream, will be announced at www.blizzcon.com.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft^® and the Warcraft^®, StarCraft^®, and Diablo^® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net^®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Blizzard Entertainment generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming,” and similar expressions to help identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales of Blizzard Entertainment’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Blizzard Entertainment’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms (including next-generation hardware), declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Blizzard Entertainment’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware and related software, industry competition, rapid changes in technology and industry standards, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Blizzard Entertainment, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, vendors and third-party developers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates, integration of recent acquisitions and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, Activision Blizzard’s success in integrating the operations of Activision Publishing and Vivendi Games in a timely manner, or at all, and the combined company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of the transaction to the extent, or in the timeframe, anticipated. Other such factors include additional risk factors identified in Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

Related posts:

1. Blizzcon 2009: Day 1
2. BlizzCon: Day 0
3. Blizzcon, Cataclysm, and Stuff
4. BlizzCon, Here We Come!
5. World Event for WotLK

Now that’s what I’m talking about! A way to know that you’re going to be saved to a raid or heroic before it actually happens–and you even get a “Leave Instance” button so you don’t have to make a mad dash for the exit! This is quite possibly my favorite 3.1 change so far.

Related posts:

1. Changes to Debuffs, Buffs, and Raid Stacking
2. These are the People in your Raid
3. 2.4.3
4. What Can a Discipline Priest Bring to Your Raid
5. Weekly WoW Bash: Sounds Like a Raid to Me

Related posts:

1. Blizzcon, Cataclysm, and Stuff
2. WotLK Information Released
3. New Theme. Again.
4. Greetings
5. New WoW Model Viewer Works with 3.x

Related posts:

1. Interesting News Regarding the Next Expansion
2. Machinima Feature: Wrought by Legs, Cranius, and Peratus
3. News and Such
4. New GM Chat Interface
5. PTR 3.0.8 Live

Related posts:

1. Model Viewer + Free Time = New Signature
2. What to Do with the Banner?
3. New GM Chat Interface
4. New Life Tap Getting Another Look?
5. Under Development: Ulduar

The two-handed Blacksmithing tanking weapons are not going to be implemented.

Indeed, we did not want to stick DKs with these weapons forever, nor did we want to start itemizing 2H tanking weapons forever. DKs were designed to tank with 2H dps weapons.

The new sigil and runeforge enchant should help players with low defense.

I don’t think it will be a huge problem, but I am sad to see these weapons go. Now I have to go and edit my death knight article before they post!

Related posts:

1. PTR 3.0.8 Live
2. Pets Walking into Combat
3. So, You Wanna Play a Death Knight: Tanking
4. World Event for WotLK
5. Tanking as an Unholy Death Knight

Related posts:

1. WotLK Information Released
2. WotLK in Closed Alpha, or So They Say
3. My Fun Day at Work
4. Dual Specs Not Dead Yet
5. Greetings

In patch 3.0.8, a new interface will be used to chat with game masters. Check out the post on MMO Champion for the details!

Related posts:

1. 2.4.3
2. Dual Specs Not Dead Yet
3. Heroic/Raid Saves in 3.1
4. Patch 3.0.8 Notes Updated – Highlights
5. Mods for 2.4 Coming Around

General Changes

• Players may now create death knights on any realm once they reach level 55.
• Tapping: All player spells which cause a creature to become aggressive to you will now also immediately cause the creature to be tapped.
• The Darkmoon Faire vendors have new items now that trade routes into Northrend have been better established.

Death Knight

• Raise Dead has now been split into two spells:
  • Raise Dead now raises a ghoul or pet ghoul (if talented). Requires corpse dust if no humanoid corpse is nearby.
  • Raise Ally now raises a fallen party member as a ghoul and has no reagent. Available at level 72. This should now last for 4 minutes.

Alchemy

• All flasks no longer require an alchemy lab to create.
• The Cooldown on Transmute: Titanium has been reduced to 1 day, and the materials required have been simplified.
• Reduced the cooldown on Northrend Alchemy Research from 7 days to 3 days.

Mining

• Mining veins and deposits no longer require multiple hits to receive all the ore. Players will receive around the same amount of ore, stone, and gems they would have received from multiple hits.

Quests

• The daily quest, “Shoot ‘Em Up” now only requires 15 Jotunheim Proto-Drakes to be shot down, down from 20. As well, the harpoon now only costs 5 energy to shoot, (down from 10.)

User Interface

• Chat frames can now be made “Noninteractive”. When in this state, they will ignore all clicks.
• Various filters can now be applied to Achievements.
• A special UI for chatting with GMs has been added.

Related posts:

1. Patch 2.4
2. PTR 3.0.8 Live
3. So, You Wanna Play a Death Knight: DPS
4. Patch 3.0.2 Today
5. Patch 2.4: People are Far Too Optimistic

General

• Racial restrictions on mounts have now been lifted. Night elves on mechanostrider? Tauren on raptor? You’re not seeing things.
• Tapping: All player spells which cause a creature to become aggressive to you will now also immediately cause the creature to be tapped.

Druids

• Feral Attack Power: All weapons now have the potential to grant feral attack power based on their dps (as compared to the best superior-quality weapons available at level 60).  Players will see their existing feral weapons grant roughly the same attack power as they did before (+/- 2 or so), but many new weapons will be options for the feral druid.  Some feral weapons have had strength converted to attack power to be more appealing to other classes able to equip them.  All druids will see the amount of feral attack power granted by an item in the item tooltip, if it grants any, but other players will not see that information.

Warlock

• Ritual of Summoning: Will now create a summoning portal object which can be re-used for multiple summons for 5 minutes.

Warrior

• Fury: Titan’s Grip: The hit chance penalty has been removed.

These are just a few of a large number of enhancements, bug fixes, and other additions (including new achievements and associated rewards). MMO Champion has the full scoop.

Related posts:

1. Patch 3.0.8 Notes Updated – Highlights
2. Patch 2.4
3. Two-Hand Tanking Weapons will Not be Implemented
4. The Death of the Epic Mount Quests
5. Greetings

Character Re-Customization

Welcome to the Character Re-Customization page. This service lets you customize your character’s appearance, and includes an optional name change. Please note that each customization costs $15.00 USD per character customized. If you plan on changing the character’s name during the customization, please familiarize yourself with the World of Warcraft Naming Policy.

Things to know before you start!

• This service lets you change your character’s gender, face, hair and skin color, hairstyle, name, and other cosmetic features determined by their race and gender combination. You cannot, however, change your character’s race or class.
• Each Character Re-Customization costs $15.00 USD (not including applicable taxes). This covers a single customization for a single character.
• A character may only be customized once every 30 days.
• If you change the character’s name during this process, the name you choose must be available on the character’s realm, and must be within the World of Warcraft Naming Policy.
• A Character Re-Customization cannot be reversed once completed, except by a second customization operation (subject to the above costs and limitations).
• If you change the character’s name during this process, then once the name change is completed, your character’s old name will be locked from use on the realm for 90 days. After that time, the old name becomes available again and can be claimed by anyone on its realm on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Please review the Character Re-Customization FAQ for answers to common questions about this service.

Clicking continue takes you to a screen where you can select your realm and character:

Select a character to customize by clicking “Customize.” You are then asked to enter either credit card information, or a “Character Re-Customization gift card Redemption Code,” which sounds like an interesting idea.

After you have paid up, there will be a new button when you log in that lets you customize your character. It can be done at your convenience–you don’t have to do it right away.

Related posts:

1. Arena PTR Open
2. Greetings
3. New Life Tap Getting Another Look?
4. WotLK Information Released
5. Patch 2.4

It won’t be long now…

Related posts:

1. World Event for WotLK
2. Standing Room Only
3. Letter from War: A New Threat
4. Patch 3.0.2 Today
5. Can I Make It?

Druid

The Swift Flight Form is now available on the trainer at level 71, requiring 300 riding skill, and Flight Form learned.

Paladin and Warlock

The epic ground mount is now available on the trainer at level 61, requiring 150 riding skill, and the non-epic mount learned.

So, I guess this is the end of those epic mount quests. I feel a bit mixed on the topic; I’ve done both the Warlock and Druid quests, and they were a lot of fun; however, I can see how getting folks to go back and run Dire Maul and Heroic Sethekk Halls could be annoying and bothersome.

For better or worse, though, there it is.

Related posts:

1. Travel Speed: Travel Form vs. Mount
2. New Mount and Vanity Pet Storage
3. Welcome to Outland! Again.
4. WotLK Beta: Wrath Gate and the Quality of Quests
5. …And Two More Make 70

As you are probably aware, patch 3.0.2 shows up today. Don’t forget to run your launcher so you get the last few hundred megabytes of the file and it installs! See you in Azeroth.

Related posts:

1. Patch 2.4
2. Patch 3.0.8 Notes Updated – Highlights
3. Patch 2.4: People are Far Too Optimistic
4. Patch 2.3 and the Experience Curve
5. Things Grow Worse

Here’s the link! Clicky clicky!

Related posts:

1. BlizzCon: Day 1
2. BlizzCon, Here We Come!
3. BlizzCon: Day 0
4. Blizzcon, Cataclysm, and Stuff
5. Blizzcon 2009 Tickets Available Soon

• WotLK will eventually (in a patch) allow players to respec on the fly, ie "in a raid"
• Diablo 3 will have a new class called Sorceror Wizard [sorry!]
• Starcraft 2 will be released as a trilogy, with each campaign its own title and release

After all the panels, etc., there was the costume/slash-silly/dance contests. All of the contestants did a very good job, and I was amazed at the quality of some of the costumes and dances. My camera battery about halfway through the costume contest, so I didn’t get them all, and I didn’t get any from the remainder of the show. There was this girl in a mage costume complete with mage table that was my favorite costume all day, but she wasn’t in the competition and I didn’t get a picture.

At any rate, here are most of my pictures from day 1. I apologize for the blurriness of some of them, there’s not much that can be done in a place as dark as the convention center!

The Line
It was long! There was a couple in an awesome warlock/priest costume, and a paladin with engineering goggles.

The Opening Ceremony
Of course, there was a big opening ceremony. They showed the WotLK cinematic for those who hadn’t seen it. It was quite impressive on the huge screen/speakers!

And, of course, later in the Starcraft 2 panel, we got the big announcement.

The Show Floor
There was a lot to see on the floor itself. Lots of vendors set up, as well as three demo areas: one for WotLK, one for SC2, and one for Diablo 3. There were also places set up to have your picture taken with Frostmourne, etc.

There were also WoW arena and SC2 tournaments here, so there were "pro gamer" areas set up.

I wanted to take a picture of the video equipment, but I think the lady saw the little red lights the camera puts out right before a shot!

Artwork
There was a lot of great art in the Blizzard gallery, and some cool statues from FigurePrints and others.

People and Costumes
There were a bunch of people dressed up in costumes, even ones that weren’t in the contest.

One of my favorites, second to last, is Maiev Shadowsong "with Illidan" (the little trap she’s pulling on a string!)

And this year’s winner was a Draenei riding Speedy! It actually moved, and it’s mouth opened and closed!

Related posts:

1. Blizzcon 2009: Day 1
2. BlizzCon: Day 0
3. Blizzcon 2009 Tickets Available Soon
4. Patch 2.4: People are Far Too Optimistic
5. Blizzcon 2009: Day 0

World of Warcraft Class Panel.

Question and Answer session.

Last question.

"Did I hear you right? We can switch specs in raids?"

"Yes."

Big fan. The long and the short of it is they want you to be able to switch your spec on the fly without going back to a city and getting a summon back. They don’t want you to be able to do it right in the middle of a pull, or in arena, but they do want you to be able to go, "Oh, here’s Shade, let me switch to my DPS spec." Very awesome!

Related posts:

1. Dual Specs Not Dead Yet
2. Double-Specs Not Dead Yet
3. Problems with Dual Specs and Action Bars
4. World Event for WotLK
5. Blizzcon, Cataclysm, and Stuff