Racial ability changes
September 8th, 2008 by Dinak
Source: Kalgan
Changes that should be in the next beta push. Bear in mind that some of these may change somewhat or entirely, and there may also be other changes coming in subsequent pushes:

Orc
- Hardiness now reduces the duration of stun effects by 15%

Troll
- Racial Passive “The Voodoo Shuffle”: Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%. Trolls be flippin’ out mon!

- Berserking: no longer has an activation cost of energy/rage/etc

Draenei
- Gift of the Naaru: The amount healed is increased based on the caster’s Spell Power or Attack Power, whichever is higher. This ability does not lose casting time from taking damage.

- Shadow Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Shadow spells by 2%

Dwarf 
- Frost Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Frost spells by 2%

- Racial Passive “Mace Specialization”: Expertise with Maces and Two-Handed Maces increased by 5. 

Undead 
- Shadow Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Shadow spells by 1% (yes, this is lower than the other resistance racials) 

- Will of the Forsaken: removes any fear, sleep, or charm effect (no longer has a lasting immunity). 

Night Elf 
- Quickness: reduces the chance to be hit by melee or ranged attacks by 2% 

- Nature Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Nature spells by 3% 

Tauren 
- Endurance: now scales based on base health, to be tuned to approximately a 5% heath increase if the player were wearing green quality gear 

- Nature Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Nature spells by 2% 

Gnome 
- Escape Artist: the freeing effect can no longer be resisted 

- Arcane Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Arcane spells by 2% 

Blood Elf 
- Mana Tap: ability removed (partially integrated into Arcane Torrent) 

- Arcane Torrent: restores 15 energy, 15 runic power, or 6% of mana to the Blood Elf (along with the current 2s silence effect) 

- Magic Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by spells by 2% 

Human 
- Perception: changed to a passive, now grants one character level of passive stealth detection 

- Racial “The Fall of Humanity”: Feign death which may trick enemies into ignoring you. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect. 5min cooldown 

- Racial Passive “Human Supremacy”: The dominance of Humanity is evidenced by having one more racial bonus than normal. Actually, make that two counting this one. (just a tooltip, no actual functionality) 

- The Human Spirit: spirit bonus lowered to 5% 

Note: this is a list of changes/additions, not an exhaustive list of all abilities. Racial abilities not mentioned here haven’t changed (or are ones I forgot to put on this list).

Posted in Patch Changes, PvE Commentary, PvP Commentary, Wrath Commentary | No Comments »
A couple blue tidbits today
September 8th, 2008 by Dinak

Concerning the undocumented change to Thunderstorm (knock back changed from 15yards to 5yards):

Source: Koraa
Not exactly intended. It’s still supposed to have relatively the same knock back distance, just we toned down the knock “up” effect. Should be fixed in the next build.

Concerning Shamans having so many abilities to use in PVP and being limited by the Global Cooldown (GCD) - someone complained about the new Wind Shock skill being on the GCD, to which we have this reply:

Source: Koraa
It will be off the GCD.
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Some blue posts from the last few days
August 26th, 2008 by Dinak

New content patch before WotLK

Source: Eyeonix
With the release of Wrath of the Lich King approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information. In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly before The Burning Crusade’s release, this content patch is designed to bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain some exciting changes and additions.

We have outlined some of the larger features scheduled to release with the patch below:

New class spells and talents
Stormwind Harbor
Barbershops in capital cities
Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
Guild calendar
Hunter pet skill revamp
New profession: Inscription

As mentioned above, this is not a comprehensive list, just some of the major highlights. Weâ??ll post the full patch notes as soon as theyâ??re available. Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the other professions beyond 375.

Concerning Totem of Wrath stacking in Wrath

Source: Koraa
Bug. Probably will also get another re-design too.

Ancestral Awakening not working properly in Wrath

Source: Koraa


Q u o t e:
I’m pretty sure it’s bugged right now. I think the devs are aware.

We are.

Posted in PvE Commentary, Wrath Commentary | No Comments »
Essential Leveling Addon - Tourguide
August 25th, 2008 by Dinak

For those of you who are leveling a shaman (or really, any class), this addon is probably one of those that you should go ahead and download. Why is that, you ask? Well, it’s basically a free leveling guide placed into the game as an addon. Yeah, I have some banners on this site for leveling guides - but honestly - I haven’t made a penny off the advertising, and only have it up there to help pay for the domain name itself. Anyhow, if you have the money to burn - buy one of the guides. If not, or if you would just rather not spend $40+ on a leveling guide, I suggest you read on!

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A couple quick blue comments on Shaman
July 24th, 2008 by Dinak

Saw these linked over at MMO Champion today, they all pertain to Wrath of the Lich King

Source: Koraa
Static Shock causing Lightning Shield charges to all fire off at once (no cooldown on LS) is a bug

Source: Koraa
Maelstrom Weapon is causing casted spells that had become instant cast (due to the talent) to reset the swing timer. They plan to fix this.

Source: Koraa
Flametoungue weapon is not giving spell damage like it is supposed to.

Koraa states:
We’ll be doing a polish pass of the Shaman soon. But yes, we do want Flametongue Weapon to be the “Elemental Shaman” weapon. Not sure yet if that is through passive spell damage or a different mechanic.

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Playing with a new interface
July 10th, 2008 by Dinak

I have long been accused of having one of those interfaces that always draws the comments of “dude wtf. how the hell can you play with that much shit on the screen?!”. Well, my last interface wasn’t bad, but it was just too many addons to keep track of. And it was using 40-50MB of memory. Not good at all.

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Desolace. Oh and Dazed!
July 8th, 2008 by Dinak

Ok, so maybe I have had a few too many Irish Car Bombs with my fiancee tonight, and yeah maybe my coordination is off just a tad. But come on. Desolace. Blizzard, what the hell were you thinking? I never leveled up through this zone with Dinak, but good lord. My little level 35 tentacle-shaman, Adoros (yes, his spec sucks right now, I was testing Anticipation!), is having a hell of a time dodging the clusterf*ck of mobs you decided to drop in the middle of the zone. Oh look I aggroed a scorpion while in Ghost Wolf form. Oh wait, now I’m dazed because he caught up to me from 15 yards away. OH shat! 3 buzzards inc! Dazed! Confused! OMGWTFISGOINGONHERE?! This zone is to WoW as New Jersey is to the USA. The armpit of the nation. Everyone wishes it would fall off the map. Seriously. This is probably the single most horrendous, worst thought out, ill quested, pathetic zone in the game. Please, fire the developer.

NO? Well, if you can at least send him or her my displeasure, that would be wonderful. thanks!

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Leveling a new shaman?
July 8th, 2008 by Dinak

My best friend, Crops (among other *crops named characters) of Alleria mentioned to me today at work that he was leveling a new Enhancement Shaman. For PvP no less. Yes, I cringed. But, I also remembered all the nice things we are getting come Wrath, so it might not be too bad for him ;) So I was thinking, maybe I should write a little post on a talent build order while leveling. This is only one recommendation, and there is bound to be somebody out there wanting to pick it apart. Hey, go for it!

I was trying to go for a build that would support the solo shaman until around level 61/62 when you will probably start grouping for some instances in Outlands. From then on it tries to incorporate some group enhancements as well.

Also, leveling as Enhancement is not the only way to level a shaman. However, it is generally touted as the fastest for leveling. Elemental leveling can be very fun, and leveling as Resto is great for the masochists out there! *grin*

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Determining your DPS against a boss
July 7th, 2008 by Dinak

Aside from the obvious way of fighting the boss and running either a damage meter, or checking out a WWS report afterwards - there is another way to determine what your expected DPS should be against a boss. I have found the site, Max DPS, to be fairly accurate in determining what my dps output should be against a given boss, provided I bring my “A” game and perform my dps rotation properly. The combination of this site and WWS reports help show when I am slacking off, and possibly what I am doing wrong.

I have not evaluated this website closely with an Elemental build, but for my current enhancement setup, it’s proving to be a nice barometer of where I should be. I am still currently gearing up my enhancement set, and as such I still have a few lackluster pieces (like my green wrist slot, and the fact I have no melee trinkets whatsoever!). Even so, when my DPS rotation is on point, I am pulling DPS above and beyond what your average player will pull in the equivalent gear. For the curious, I am currently playing with a SS->ES->FS->SS rotation

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Using Bloodlust near a wall
March 14th, 2008 by Dinak

Billee of Bloodscalp made a post reporting what he thought was a bug with Bloodlust/heroism:

“Bloodlust still gets removed if you use it when you are too close to a wall and cannot have your body made bigger by the buff. Im not sure if it removes it for the whole group if the caster is too close but i do know that it is removed if you are too close to a wall.

Im sure this is an unintended bug but it can be fairly game breaking to lose 750 mana on something that goes right away.”

To which Hortus replied

Source: Hortus
This is not a bug, it is intended functionality to prevent a bug (players getting stuck in geometry when they grow).

So it looks like when you pop Bloodlust/Heroism, make sure you and your groupmates are not standing right next to a wall. Kind of a dumb way to solve the problem, imo.

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