Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guides, (BG PvP) The Art of War(craft), Battlegrounds, Achievements

If you’ve been paying close attention to the Wrath of the Lich King Beta — and let’s be honest, how could you not? We’ve been covering it like crazy over here are WoW Insider — then you might have noticed that Blizzard will be implementing a nifty little feature called Achievements. Of course, the first thing that jumped out at me (and probably you, too, since you’re reading this column) were the PvP Achievements.

I didn’t plan to pursue Achievements actively. Not before I heard about the PvP Achievements, anyway. Now, it’s one of the things I can’t stop thinking about… more accurately, I can’t stop thinking of how to complete them. There are quite a bunch of PvP Achievements to pursue, and most of them will only be tracked once the expansion goes live. But there are also some achievements that you can start working on right now because they’ll be tracked retroactively (as far as I can tell). Let’s take a look at those Achievements so you can get them out of the way before Wrath.

One word of caution: all these Achievements are in beta and can change at any time before (and possibly after) the Wrath launch. So proceed at your own risk.

Continue reading The Art of War(craft): A guide to obtainable PvP Achievements before Wrath

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Filed under: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Expansions, Classes, Buffs, Wrath of the Lich King

A change went in with the last Wrath Beta patch that’s deceptively simple, but may have far reaching ramifications for many of the classes in game: Both energy and mana regenerate on a per second basis, rather than the previous ticks. Instead of a chunk of mana or energy every few seconds, you’ll now see a steady trickle reappearing constantly at your bar (outside of the 5 second rule for casters, of course). As a friend put it, “Woah. It feels like I am playing Diablo II now.”

You can see an example of the change in action in the video above from Youtube user koblec.

The energy change should be especially helpful for Rogues and Feral Druids in that they won’t have to obsessively time their attacks to the rhythm of the energy tick system, and should be able to use extra energy from talents in an easier and more fluid manner. Likewise, mana and energy users alike won’t be waiting for that one last tick to cast a crucial spell or ability, but can cast as soon as they have the mana.

Plus, it’s honestly sort of empowering to see the mana bar running up like it does. Technically, I’m not regenerating mana any faster, but watching that blue bar go up so quickly makes it feel like I am, and makes it much easier to tell when I’m stuck in the 5 second rule, besides.

Of course, as with all changes, this is Beta, so things can change, and Koraa is asking for focused feedback and bug reports on the concept, but it’s something I’m certainly hoping makes it live.

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Filed under: Undead, Expansions, Lore, Leveling, Wrath of the Lich King

Dalaran, which is more or less the Shattrath of Wrath, has been getting a lot of love in the last couple of beta patches. It seems development on that particular bit of Northrend is going at full steam. It’s still far from complete, with a whole legion of NPCs missing, the inside of some buildings still lack textures, and entire parts of the city still walled off. It really is coming together little by little though, and the city is more or less presentable now, not to mention beautiful — it’s like cotton candy for your eyeballs.

We’ve put together a little gallery of Dalaran for you to sift through if you’re interested, and as the beta patches go by we’ll probably update it with more of the finished product. Not yet pictured is the Dalaran Sewers, but I hope to fix that soon. What are the Dalaran sewers, you might be wondering? It’s a small hidden town beneath Dalaran, within the pipelines that were torn up when the relocation took place. It’s full of all sorts of unsavory stuff. Awesome? Yes. Yes it is.

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Filed under: Rogue, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, PvP, (Rogue) Encrypted Text, Battlegrounds, Macro Anatomy

Every Wednesday, Encrypted Text explores issues affecting Rogues and those who group with them. This week Jason Harper, the new Rogue feature blogger, discusses battleground PvP, useful macros and techniques that strive to keep you alive longer.

My last Encrypted Text post generated a lot of terrific feedback, and when you smoosh it all up and blend it I think you’ll find that saying Rogues are a controversial class is a bit of an understatement. No more especially so than on the PvP side of things. In a future column I’ll dig deeper into specific PvE instances, both raid and heroic, as well as give you some commentary on the new skills that come with the Wrath expansion. In the column this week we’re talking about PvP and how to get the most out of it with your Rogue. I hope to make this a semi-regular topic, updating as we go, focusing on one or two PvP related items each time.

If you could distill the feelings of the majority of non-Rogues out there, at least the most vocal ones, you’d come up with a collective “over-powered” when it comes to PvP. Designed to counter most (but not all) casting classes, especially those *not* geared or spec’d to prevent spell push-back, our goal is to get our target into melee range and keep them there. Keeping this in mind, my first bit of PvP advice for you is avoid fair fights at all costs.

Continue reading Encrypted Text: A Rogue’s guide to battleground PvP

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Filed under: Machinima, WoW Moviewatch

When we sought constructive feedback for WoWBeef, Episode 1, for Mindblade Studios, we weren’t sure what reaction to expect. The machinima missed the mark in most ways. However, it looks like he took the criticism and worked on what was lacking.

His latest trailer, for his upcoming series, The Night Watchmen, seems to advertise the movie without giving everything away. While it does follow the typical storyline of spousal murder and revenge, we’re hoping that he attempts to keep things interesting within the format. Given that this is an episodic adventure, they’re constantly on the lookout for voice actors. If you would like to participate, send an email to jljeremiah AT gmail DOT com!

[Via Warcraftmovies.com]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch …

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