WOTLK Info

I'm reposting here because this information is just too awesome to pass by...
WOTLK Wiki Thing Of Coolness

It's updated with slight regularity. My anticipation, let me show you it.

Lots of changes afoot here, goodies for all classes!

Rogues will no longer need Thieves Tools to pick locks or Flash Powder to Vanish. They will be able to sap pretty much anything with a skull (Dragonkin, Humanoids, Beasts, Giants, etc). Hello CC viability!

Warriors are being made viable tanks no matter what the spec - Defensive stance buffs threat 45% (from 30%). Shield Slam, your main threat generation skill, is given to you on a platter. Almost everything is going to scale with AP. So now if you wanna tank, really all you need is the proper gearing. Prot will still rule the end-game needs though, I'm sure.

Just a few of many little gems tossed our direction! Read on and check back with that site to keep abreast!

Calm down, O' Bouncing Bull. Remember, none of these changes are set in stone and others like the changes that will require Warlocks to stack Spirit will actually work against certain builds (Demo for instance).

I know this fully, I've been keeping an eye on the various iterations. Already they're doing some major changes to how Warriors and Shamans work from the last version.

Some people aren't interested in the developmental process. As a programmer I find this sort of thing rather fascinating.

I keep raining on Bolsh's parade, considering I could give a crap less about more ability to freaking SAP.

A ROGUE DOES MORE THAN SAP, DAMNIT. Stop thinking that's the ONLY viability we have for a raid!

...K....I think I'm better, people drive me crazy with that..

... I also keep telling him I don't wanna know til WOTLK comes out ^.^ He's gonna bust something if he can't say something about it.

I know, I know. Coulda used you today when we were tearing LBRS up. Rogues can make very good offtanks if they draw agg and the DPS is always good.

70 Holy Paladin tanking and holding agg on up to 10 mobs at once. Kind of hairy without some good DPS. 60 Ret Paladin (offtank, offheal) and 69 SPriest. The 10-mob battle? End of the hallway near Halcyon (the momma Worg). Killing the last guard group fine but the Ret runs up to help and draws Halcyon and all the pups and then Poppa comes in to play... *sigh* Why the heck did I survive that?

'Cause we'se good!

(1 wipe on the Ogre. No mana potions to keep me up.)

WOOHOO!!!

Blue post at official forums-

Quote :

We’re pleased to announce a convenient upgrade to the way that mounts and vanity pets are handled in Wrath of the Lich King.

Players will be able to “learn” a mount or non-combat pet much like learning a spell, recipe, or new ability, and these creatures will then show up on a new Pet tab within the Character Info section of the interface. Players will be able to access and preview their learned mounts and vanity pets through this tab.

Once learned, the pet icon or mount icon will no longer appear in bag spaces or bank spaces. This inventory space will be made available once again for other adventuring needs. Pets can still be set to hotkeys by dragging them to the hotkey bar, much like any other spell or ability.

From mmo-champion - New Caverns of Time Instance - STRATHOLME.

Quote :

The Culling of Stratholme, taken from the campaign of Warcraft III will be the Caverns of Time's 4th instance wing and is set to be for characters level 80, and will require a 5man party.

Set within the City of Stratholme players will battle alongside Prince Arthas as he sets out to "Cull" the city of its denizens, ensuring they do not spread the deadly undead plague any further.

The purging of Stratholme is one of the first acts in Arthas' descent into madness and evil, eventually becoming one of the Lich King's greatest death knights and later the Lich King himself.

I shouldn't be looking at this, but a 5 man! YAY!

And anybody notice how many "kill-others" are achievements here?

Achievements

It will be *SO* exciting if your old stuff counts. Kilshy will get all kinds of points, yo! At least all that won't be useless finally!

I mean, it has to, An'Quraji opening...It simply has to!

*bounce*

I didn't notice...but then again, I wasn't worried for all that, I checked out quests and exploration and such. YAY FOR BEING A ROGUE WITH TOO MUCH CURIOUSITY!

All Previous mounts to be taken out of Bag space or just new ones
curious minds want to know

I Agree with Kils about the rogues and curiousity
hehe
Kaylind has explored more than any of my other
girls and one guy
It is so much fun to explore and open maps hehe

Yes, stuff like Ahn'Qiraj falls under Feats of Strength. Server firsts of all kinds plus various now-removed items, mounts and stuff will be recognized here.

All mounts, all pets (I would guess you still have to have them). If you sold or destroyed them I would guess you are out of luck until you re-acquire them.

Kilshy still has all of hers.. I'll get that bonus for ten vanity pets right off ^.^

Mage Love and Hate in the same update:

Quote :

Mage
Arcane

* Arcane Impact is now called Spell Impact and increases the critical strike chance of Arcane Explosion, Arcane Blast, Blast Wave, Fire Blast, Ice Lance, and Cone of Cold by 2/4/6% (Old version : Was only affecting Arcane Explosion / Arcane Blast)
* New Talent - Student of the Mind (Tier 3) - Increases your total spirit by 4/8/12%
* Arcane Potency now requires 1 Point in Presence of Mind instead of 5 points in Arcane Concentration
* Potent Spirit has been removed
* New Talent - Arcane Flows (Tier 8, requires 1 point in Arcane Power) - Reduces the cooldown of your Presence of Mind, Arcane Power, and Invisibility spells by 30 secs.
* Netherwind Presence now increases your spell haste by 2/4/6% (Old version : Gives your Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Blast, Fireball, Frostbolt, and Forstfire Bolt spells a 1/2/3/4/5% chance to cause the next Arcane Blast, Fireball, Frostbolt or Frostfire Bolt to be instant.)


Frost

* Arctic Reach doesn't influence Ice Lance anymore

???

Quote :

The goal is for Arms or Fury Warrior to be able to tank nearly as well as a Prot Warrior in terms of threat generation. Where the Prot Warrior is unique is in his defensive utility and playstyle.

New Scenery!!!! Screenie

Alliance side - go to Stormwind. Check out the canals between the Park and the Cathedral. Really kinda funny AND IT WILL GO AWAY! ((Achievement?))

Edit: added SS and a speculation now - 1 NPC mentions that they are working on a gate and another road to SW Harbor. Wonder where the first road is? Might it be an instance? Like, say, the one in the Canals between Trade and Old Town? ((Yes, I know that was supposed to be the entrance to player housing but do we really see that happening?))

Edit: this one I just stumbled across so it's a player first for me.

Quote :

The goal is for Arms or Fury Warrior to be able to tank nearly as well as a Prot Warrior in terms of threat generation. Where the Prot Warrior is unique is in his defensive utility and playstyle.

These changes make it where an Arms/Fury could ostensibly tank in most situations provided their gear is up to snuff (gotta shield?). Doubtful anyone would want an Arms/Prot on major raid bosses.

You'll have Shield Slam, one of the major threat generators. They retooled Defensive stance to have Defiance rolled into it... so there's no need to go into Prot merely for threat generation.

An Arms or Fury Warrior will still be "soft" by comparison, however. A full Prot Warrior has the best damage mitigation in the game, hands down.

Damage mitigation is where the advantage in having Prot lies. Our weakness to other tanks lies in the realm of threat generation on multiple targets.

Death Knights will be great tanks versus spellcasters. Paladins are great tanks against multiple opponents (Shattered Halls or Magisters). Druids are in-betweeners: good threat on multiple targets with Swipe, good soaking capabilities with a bearbuttload of health... just no mitigation from blocking at all, so you've gotta worry about spike damage.

CrazyCelt wrote:

1 NPC mentions that they are working on a gate and another road to SW Harbor. Wonder where the first road is? Might it be an instance? Like, say, the one in the Canals between Trade and Old Town? ((Yes, I know that was supposed to be the entrance to player housing but do we really see that happening?))

It wasn't player housing. (WoW's never ever considered player housing.) It was supposed to be a "Canals" instance, for the high levels. (The teaser being the Used-To-Be-Elite croc in there, like all instances used to have Elites in front of them). And it hasn't yet happened. I'm betting it's finally happening.

Hunter news:

There are 2 additional slots in the stable.

Paladin news:

Consecration now scales with attack power and spell power.

Mage news:

Conjured mana gems no longer disappear from your backpack after being logged out for more than 15 minutes. Higher ranks of Conjure Mana Gem will recharge an existing mana gem to maximum charges.

LW news:

Drums now cause a Tinnitus effect, preventing affected targets from receiving beneficial effects from other drums for two minutes.

Kinda sad, really, having a raid with several drummers in it was quite useful to chain effects. Ah well!

Potions are being changed in a similar fashion…

Quote :

A new Debuff has been added whenever a player drinks any type of potion.

"Potion Sickness" prevents the player from drinking any other sort of potion until the player gets out of combat.

The Debuff will have an obvious impact on all aspects of the game, especially raid encounters with long boss fights. No more information on this effect is currently available.

Also, Alchemists will receive a bonus from their trade - Alchemical Blood. This will grant enhanced effects to you when imbibing your favorite potion/elixir/flask.