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Totem Talk: Ruby Sanctum loot for enhancement

by Rich Maloy on Jul 3rd 2010 (2 hours ago)

Rich Maloy subsists solely on enhancement air. He experiences shortness of breath when offered spellpower gear and is easily confused by spirit and MP5. You can ask him anything about enhance at the Totem Recall roundtable or watch his WoW reality series, Big Crits.

In case you missed it in all the news about the Cataclysm beta, Ruby Sanctum was released into the wild on Tuesday. With a new instance out everyone is asking, "What's in it for me?" But my question is, "What's in it for enhancement?"

The short answer is ArP. For a stat that's going away in a few months, we're seeing a lot of it in Ruby Sanctum gear from both the 10- and 25-man versions of the raid. Armor penetration (ArP) is not the ideal stat for enhancement. Not ideal, but definitely usable. There are some definite winners among the RS loot -- on both 10 and 25.

I've created a new enhance gear spreadsheet on Google Docs including the new loot. It's read-only, so either make a copy to your Google Docs file or save a copy to your desktop as an Excel file. I've also included some sample EP values for different levels of play, including EP values derived from the latest Elitist Jerks BiS gear, setup and rotation.

Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk

Know Your Lore: Current Alliance politics -- the humans, part four

by Anne Stickney on Jul 3rd 2010 (3 hours ago)

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

All right, you guys have read through almost everything there is to see with regards to the current political situation of the human race. The first three articles covered the history of the Alliance -- both old and new -- and the struggles of Varian Wrynn and his life as the "leader," so to speak, of the human race. The word leader is used in quotation marks because, to be perfectly honest, Varian wasn't much of a leader; he was brooding, depressed, not really willing to see anything that was going on around him, and the Council of Nobles was pretty much running the show.

The only "real" leader available to Alliance humans at the outset of World of Warcraft was Jaina Proudmoore, the leader of Theramore, who wasn't really much of a leader either. This was largely due to her somewhat unpopular beliefs that orcs were capable of peace and her attempts to work towards some sort of peaceful agreement between the orcs and humans of Kalimdor. So here we have the human race, largely left to its own devices -- but they seemed to be doing, if not amazingly well, at least OK for the most part. It's Varian's return and the events of Wrath that directly affect what's going on headed into Cataclysm.

Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

Arcane Brilliance: Cataclysm beta highlights for mages

by Christian Belt on Jul 3rd 2010 (5 hours ago)

It's time again for Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that hasn't gotten a beta invite, despite an ongoing salvo of increasingly pathetic groveling at the feet of Blizzard's customer service department. Oh, the things that Arcane Brilliance would do ... It's shameful, really.

So I want you guys to know that it's been difficult. I don't want you to assume it's been easy for me, this last run-up to the beta. There have been so very many things I've wanted to tell you but couldn't. I've wrestled with myself. There has been a hefty amount of soul-searching, an activity that -- for me -- requires spelunking gear and a machine gun that doubles as a flamethrower.

But now the beta has dropped, the NDA has been lifted and it's open season on all the awesome changes in store for the mage class. In the coming weeks, we'll be going over everything in ridiculous detail, picking through every new build with a fine-toothed comb and just generally having a total nerdgasm on a weekly basis. There's so very much to discuss. In the interest of getting started, though, I figured that today I'll stick to what I see as the most significant changes. There are plenty of other places where you can get a full list of new stuff. That information's readily available. In the end, we'll get to everything, but I figure when you come here, it's for three things: analysis, opinion and warlock jokes. I hereby promise to deliver at least some of all three.

Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance, Cataclysm

World of WarCrafts: Cook up a Well Fed Buff

by Lisa Poisso on Jul 3rd 2010 (7 hours ago)

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

The Fourth of July. Fireworks. Barbecued Buzzard Wings and Ogri'la Chicken Fingers, Oronok Tubers, Rock-Salted Pretzels and some Delicious Chocolate Cake. Or maybe Mok'Nathal Shortribs, instead, and a cold beer. Or something even frostier to drink, like a tall glass of Essence Mango. Oh, and chocolate: freshly dipped Tauren Toenails, or maybe some Maiev's Grudge.

If you're not hungry for this holiday weekend to arrive, we have no idea why. We couldn't even manage to hold this installment of World of WarCrafts until its usual Monday slot -- it's time to celebrate, and we demand to be Hugely Well Fed! Join the party with recipes from the archives of World of WarCrafts and the retired Well Fed Buff (now a part of the World of WarCrafts column). It's festive and fun to share good food with friends -- and it's even more special when the recipes offer WoW-inspired strats all their own.

Enjoy -- we'll see you all next week!

Gallery: World of WarCrafts: The Well Fed Buff

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by emailing lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

Filed under: World of WarCrafts

Cataclysm Beta: New level up UI video

by Mathew McCurley on Jul 3rd 2010 (9 hours ago)

One of my favorite user interface changes in Cataclysm are the new level up features. A huge complaint over WoW's lifetime has been that players must go back to a trainer to see if they had learned any new skills or ranks of skills, or check a website such as WoWhead to find out their skills. Not anymore!

We previously gave you a peek at the new changes to the level up notifications. The new level up interface announces bold and clear your level, and then gives a list above your character of the new skills, talent points and other relevant information. Since skill ranks are gone, you won't have to worry about training those over your leveling experience, and new abilities will come more spaced out.

Take a look at the video we have captured for you guys, and marvel at how a nice, neat, new UI change can make all the difference in the leveling game. Notice how the game now alerts you to your new level, abilities gained at that level, features unlocked like battlegrounds and your new talent points. Cataclysm is really shaping up to be an awesome expansion, and adding even more polish to an already smooth experience.

If you're looking for more content like the video above, WoW.com has an ever-growing YouTube channel with lots of great content from Cataclysm and more! Subscribe for all of the latest videos. It's getting exciting around here with tons of information about the new expansion all over the place, and we don't want you to miss a minute of it!

Filed under: Cataclysm

Guest Post: Top 10 opportunities to go AFK in raids

by Shane McCracken on Jul 3rd 2010 (11 hours ago)

This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

Throughout my time raiding in WoW, I've noticed that a lot of things factor into the success or failure of a raid. Coordination, cooldown timing, proper raid composition and end-game gear can only go so far if your raid is physically or (more likely) mentally exhausted. Playing as both a raid leader and a rank-and-file member has allowed me to find the best times to take a breather and recharge my gaming battery during a raid environment. Here are some of the best times as a raid leader to call a break and some convenient times for raid members to sneak a quick breather that will minimize the effect on the raid as a whole.

10. The Prescheduled Break The prescheduled break is just that: prescheduled. Your raiders know exactly when they will be able to leave their keyboards for that much-needed bio break or to change out the laundry. I've been in guilds that called five-minute breaks on the top of the hour, and I've been in guilds that decided that the two-hour mark was the key to success. Whatever your time, your raiders will know when they are not needed, allowing them the flexibility to plan according to the set schedule.

9. The Flask Break The flask break is similar to the prescheduled break; the break occurs as soon as flasks expire. I find that this system works remarkably well, as raiders spend time, gold and resources obtaining flasks and have a vested interest in how the time is spent using it. I've seen faster and more efficient trash pulls and a bit more boss awareness when using this method, as it's a race against the clock in order to prevent using another flask to obtain the objective.

Filed under: Raiding, Guest Posts

WRUP: The mystery weekend event

by Michael Gray on Jul 3rd 2010 (13 hours ago)

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW.com staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as: WRUP!) Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game -- and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!

There's a definite, unmistakeable theme to this weekend's activities. I'd normally belabor it, but let's see if you can't just notice the pattern yourselves. Here's your hint: it involves explosions.

Okay. Yeah, you caught us. It's the beta.

Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) : This weekend I won't be playing anything. I'm going down to Minneapolis and finally making it to a Twins game at the new Target Field. Katie and I will be 11 rows up right behind the first base line. Can't wait! My favorite thing about the beta dropping has to be our live stream. Nothing is more fun than hanging out with thousands of you as we explore Azeroth all over again.
Alex Ziebart (@alexziebart): Beta
Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey): Playing the beta until my eyes bleed. No raiding since it's a holiday weekend, so more than likely I'll be working on an entry for the Blizzard writing contest. Favorite Cataclysm beta thing...is that...bacon? Does anyone smell - HEY GUYS DO YOU SMELL BACON?
Amy Schley (@wowlawbringer): Saturday is my last day of WoW before my subscription runs out, (I know better than to have an active sub during my last month of bar prep. I am NOT taking this thing twice!) so I'll be cleaning out my mailboxes and bags, collecting gold from auctions and sharding the greens that haven't sold. I'll also be pushing my shaman as close to 80 as I can get before signing off satisfied with her jump from neglected level 25 to well equipped healer at ~75 in only two months. My favorite part of Cataclysm? Just ogling all the changes so I know what to preserve in my screenshot folder while I still can.

Around Azeroth: Stuck in the middle with you

by Elizabeth Wachowski on Jul 3rd 2010 (15 hours ago)

Attention! We still need some righteous beta screenshot submissions for next week! Send 'em in. Anyway, Elithia of <Murloc Ate My Buff> on Runetotem (EU-A) sent in this Thunderfall pic with the following explanation/sales pitch: "Being attacked by a ferocious polar bear while trying not to be bashed on the head by a rather annoyed frost giant, all because you killed his favorite worg for a quick wolf steak? Worry no more! Just freeze and run! No wonder frost mages are known for their survivability."

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as emailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word "Azeroth" in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use Alt Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val'kyr on mounts or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

Gallery: Around Azeroth

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Breakfast Topic: Are you in or out

by Anne Stickney on Jul 3rd 2010 (17 hours ago)

For those that have been absent the past few days -- the Cataclysm beta is now running, and invites are going out. Expect the number of kooky emails telling you that you've gotten in and that you need to log in and give your account information to a strange website to go way, way up. But how do you tell what's a real beta invite and what isn't? Having been through the process myself, there is a really, really easy way to find out.

Don't check your email. Instead, go to Battle.net and log in to your account. If you don't want to go through the Battle.net site, you can also go to the official World of Warcraft website and click on "Manage Account" to log in there. Once you're on your account page, click "Home" in the upper left of your screen to go to your home page. You'll see a section labeled "Manage My Games" there for your perusal. Do you see an icon with the Cataclysm logo? Congratulations, you're in the beta! If not, you aren't in the beta yet -- keep checking back every now and again to see if the status changes.

If you receive an email from Blizzard, no matter how convincing that email may look, don't click the links in the email. Instead log in using one of the two methods above to verify whether or not the client is there first. As scammers and keyloggers get more and more clever, it's necessary to take a few extra steps to verify what's actually going on. So did you make the beta? Are you in, or still waiting? I have a few friends that have no interest in even seeing what the beta has to offer -- they'd rather wait till release and experience everything fresh and new as a surprise. Do you fit under that category? And most importantly -- goblin or worgen?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

The Daily Quest: Trickier than a dragon

by Anne Stickney on Jul 2nd 2010 (1 day ago)

Here at WoW.com, we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow! Take a look at the links below, and be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.

Dear, dear Bolvar Fordragon. You may be caught off guard in the image above, but you can still handle yourself around a bunch of dragons. Player versus dragon may be easy for you, but player versus player is often a little more surprising than even a small fleet of dragons suddenly appearing in the throne room of Stormwind. While the advice is no longer timely for Bolvar, lets take a look around the blogosphere for PvP tips for those of us not currently occupied with ... other chilly activities.

Spicytuna has some words of advice for frost mages regarding gearing for PvP.
The Hunter's Mark talks about PvP specs for -- what else -- hunters!
World of Matticus discusses leaping into PvP the correct way.
Cynwise's Battlefield Manual fills us in on rated battlegrounds and how to prepare for them.

Filed under: The Daily Quest

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