Patch 4.3.2, on the PTR…Cross-Realm Raids/Class Changes

Well there is a new patch coming out soon, it is already on the PTR.  I found this on MMO-Champion. 

I was happy to see this because there are times when I would like to raid with my friends who are on other realms.  Sadly this isn’t going to apply to Dragon Soul.

Coming in Patch 4.3.2 – Cross-Realm Raids

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

We previously introduced the ability to form cross-realm parties with Real ID friends, and now with Patch 4.3.2, we’re adding the ability for players to use that same functionality to form raids to run older normal or heroic raids, or participate in Battlegrounds!

This will allow you to join up with your Real ID friendsfrom other realms and:

• Form a cross-realm raid and use Raid Finder
• Jump in to any classic dungeon or raid and be automatically placed in the same instance
• Join forces and dominate the Battlegrounds

Please note, you will not yet be able to run normal or Heroic Dragon Soul with cross-realm Real ID raids.

Classes: General

• Vengeance is no longer triggered by receiving damage from other players.

Druid

• The Tier 13 Balance Druid 4-piece bonus now also increases the damage of Starsurge by 10%, in addition to its current effect.

Hunter

• Aspect of the Hawk now grants roughly 35% more attack power.
• Deterrence now also reduces damage taken by 30% while active.
• Black Arrow now ticks every 2 seconds for 20 seconds, as opposed to every 3 seconds for 15 seconds. The total damage dealt by the ability is unchanged.
• Lock and Load no longer benefits Arcane Shot, nor is it consumed by Arcane Shot.

Mage

• Fireball damage has been reduced by roughly 6%.
• Pyroblast damage has been reduced by roughly 6%.

Paladin

• Holy Radiance now costs 40% of base mana, up from 35%.

  Priest

• Mass Dispel should again prefer dispelling targets that have magic effects that can be dispelled.

Neytiri

A guest post…WoW vs. SWTOR

Here is a post from a friend of mine, a former Wow player and his opinion on Wow vs SWTOR.

Neytiri

So, what is the big differences between these two games?  The story and the way it is presented, SWTOR has WoW beat hands down.  The fact that most quests have a cinematic scene along with dialogue choices depending if it is the light or dark side.   It is pretty cool being able to kill said person or let them live and see a trail. WoW does have a better UI only because the ability to use add ons, Bioware says in time they most likely will allow them. I think once Bioware allows them SWTOR will have the advantage over WoW. Crafting is so much easier in SWTOR because you do not have to spend countless hours in front of a anvil making the same item over and over again.  In SWTOR you send one of your many companions out to do your bidding. I currently am lvl 47 and I have six companions and four can be deployed on crafting missions.  Which means I can have one with me while questing and than constantly have four out making my things and gathering crafting materials, no down time what so ever. 

WoW I would say right now has better PvP system with arena and rated battlegrounds. Also Blizzard has had seven years to fine tune that system which they have no doubt done. SWTOR system is a little buggy and didn’t really change much in the PvP game. I will say Huttball is a capture the flag with a twist and could have a lot of potential if Bioware handles it correctly. I will say SWTOR does have WoW beat on the world PvP scale with planets dedicated to nothing but world PvP, as of now there is Ilum, with more planned on being added in upcoming patches.

Overall, I have to say SWTOR is a better game, mainly because it is new and someting different. It did take a lot of what WoW did and just made it better. The flow of leveling does not really feel like a grind because the story sucks you in so bad. I do not think this game will be the “WoW Killer” people claim it to be. I do think it will help chip away at Blizzards subs.  The only thing that will kill WoW is PANDAS!!!!  So come on over to SWTOR kill some jedis or siths and engulf yourself in the best MMO on the market right now. Also check out my SWTOR blog at http://swtorhealer.wordpress.com/, 

Happy New Year!!!!

Why do you like to raid?

Have you ever wondered what is it about raiding that keeps you coming back night after night, week after week?  We spend months progressing, then farming those bosses for their epic loots.  You would think we would get bored of it. 

So, what is it that keeps us going back?  What is it that you do not like about raiding, but yet not so bad that it makes you want to stop doing it?  I asked my guild these same questions sadly I did not get very many responses.

For most it is the progression of content, the downing of bosses, which then can improve your gear and raiding with a great group of people.  We use to spend weeks/months working on bosses in BC(Burning Crusade).  When we would finally get them down it was a huge celebration, lots of cheering and high-fives and yes epic loots.

Ones bosses loot table.

We get addicted to the things we can obtain from killing these bosses.  The boss will have a list of loot items called a “loot table”, which may consist of maybe 10 or or more pieces of gear, but they only drop a few pieces each time they are killed.  You may have to wait weeks before you get that piece of gear.  Then you have to hope no one else wants it too.  Loot drops can cause lots of drama for guilds if the loot is not handled properly that guild can quickly lose their members.

I didn’t start raiding until the 2nd expansion BC (Burning Crusade) and it is what I enjoy most in the game.  Out of all the expansions out so far, I had the most fun raiding during BC.

Karazhan 10 Man Raid

My first raid was Karazhan I had no idea what to expect this was my first time in a raid.  The guild I was in was very understanding of my noobness and I made many mistakes.  I just tried to not make a complete ass out of myself and do something stupid and kill everyone.

Kara was coolest raid it takes place in a big old building.  You start in the stables and work your way up.  In each room there are different bosses to kill, for my first raid I thought it was awesome place!! 

When I first started playing this game I had no idea how involved I would get into raiding.  I eventually became an officer of a raiding guild and it was almost like having a second job and I loved it!  Being an officer in a raiding guild has its challenges, its highs and lows. 

Progressing and completing a raid instance is very rewarding, but when you guild starts to struggle and not progress well it gets harder.  People start to get frustrated at the lack of progress and they will leave your guild and move on to another guild that is progressing.  Which usually puts the guild in a bind because you have to always keep recruiting to keep a raid full every raid night. You have to depend and rely on our guild mates to be there every raid night otherwise no raid will happen.  Usually there is always “Real Life” issues that come up that cause someone to not show up.

Near the end of Wrath(3rd expansion Wrath of the Lich King) I decided I had had enough of the drama and egos.  I was tired of being an officer, the game was no longer fun for me and I just wanted to enjoy the game again.  So, I changed servers and found a good raiding guild “Fatal”(my current guild).  There are no egos, hardly any drama over loot (at least none that I know of but for the officers I am sure there is).  Loot is handled fairly which makes for less drama.  I enjoy raiding again.  I like the social aspect of it and raiding with the same core people that you know you can depend on.

Blizzard has made this expansion easy for people to do more raiding, players can now see the end boss of the Cataclysm expansion, Deathwing.  In BC the percentage of players that got to see the final end game bosses was less than 5%.  I hope some of you have been able to get a Deathwing kill before the new expansion comes out. 

Have a great raiding week, we start hard modes on Tuesday!!

Neytiri

Favorite WoW Videos: Character Dances (where they came from)

Well I hope everyone had a great holiday(Christmas, New Years, etc).  Sorry I am late in getting this weeks “Favorite WoW Video” post out, the last 2 weeks were just insane, moving over Christmas, unpacking = ugh!! 

Well I think this will be my last Favorite WoW Video post for now (unless I can think of another category of videos to post about).  The other subjects I could do posts on is about “guides” i.e. leveling guides, gold farming, class specific guides, etc.  and “how to kill raid bosses”. I just dont think most of my readers would find them interesting enough.  If I do find a hunter specific guild that I find worth posting then I will post it.  You can basically find anything you want to learn about on YouTube.

One of the fun things toons can do in the game is dance.  When you type in /dance your character will start dancing. There are alot of other “emotes” as they are called which can have your toon do certain movements, but dancing is usually the most popular.  Each race and gender have their own dance, this first video shows where Blizzard got the idea for those dances.  We have been hoping for years that Blizzard will give the toons the ability to do more than just the one dance, but no such luck.  WoWWiki has a list showing where they come from as well.

Here is all the dances and some of the songs that inspired the dance, it is a bit long because there are lots of toons to cover.

I like this one because it shows the female goblin dancing with Beyonce.

The guy that created this video and dance to LMFAOs song Party Rock Anthem, also know as “Everyday I am shufflin'”  this one keeps repeating the Shufflin’ dance over and over for 5 minutes. (I found the same one that went on for 10 hours!!)  LOL  I totaly agree with someones comment that Blizzard should make it possible when you type in /shufflin your toon starts doing this dance.

There were loads of other ones to show, but most were just not very entertaining and long showing the same dance over and over.

Neytiri

Favorite WoW Videos, Music

One thing that I love about this game is the many great videos that people have made using in-game characters.  It just amazes me how people can edit these and make them look so cool.   There are music videos, remakes of movies, guild raiding videos, how-to guides on practically everything you can do in this game, etc.  

I have decided to pick a few of my favorite videos each week from a different genre.  To start this week off, my favorite music videos.  This was a tough one, there were so many good ones to choose from, I couldn’t pick just one.  Here are my three favorite music videos.

First one is “The Lonely Island, Boombox”.  This was the second music video I ever saw, I was not familiar with The Lonely Island guys.  When a friend IM’d me and said, “you have to watch this video”, it instantly become one of my favorites.

Second one is a video of  ‘Weird Al ‘ Yankovic’s, Amish Paradise, a parody of Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise.  I have always liked the parody “Weird Al” does of this song and when I saw that someone had made a video to it, it also became one of my favorites.

Ok, this next one I couldn’t resist.  I came across this video when I was watching some of the episodes of the online show called “The Guild”, I like the song but didn’t care for the video they did for it.  “Do you want to date my Avatar”  was in human form. I found this video the best one using in-game characters.

If you want to go see more of what is out there just pop over to YouTube.com and search WoW music videos.  They will keep you entertained for hours.  I know, I am so easily entertained.  LOL

Enjoy!

Neytiri