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Razzashi Hatchling to remain as an in-game drop in Cataclysm

by Fox Van Allen on Nov 11th 2010 (7 hours ago)

For obsessive pet collectors, the final days of Wrath of the Lich King constitute a nervous race against time. Few people are sure which pets are staying and which pets are disappearing forever. For a long time, the Razzashi Hatchling remained a major question mark -- currently, it's only available in the soon-to-be-disappearing Zul'Gurub raid.

Well, for those lamenting the low drop rate, Community Manager Lylirra brings some good news:

Is the Razzashi Hatchling item to be removed?

If you currently have the Razzashi Hatchling item in your inventory, you'll still be able to learn the pet spell at a later point in time. It's not like the pet is disappearing completely; it's just no longer dropping from its usual home in Zul'Gurub.

In fact, I can confirm that the Razzashi Hatchling, being a clever and resilient little reptile, has already found a new home, and will be migrating there shortly after the shattering. ;)

source

Note that the comment above applies only to the adorably collectible Razzashi pet and not the savagely awesome Razzashi mount. As far as we all know, the Swift Razzashi Raptor will still be going extinct with the impending Cataclysm.

Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

WoW Insider Show Episode 167: Law and Azeroth

by Adam Holisky on Nov 11th 2010 (8 hours ago)

Every week, join us as we present you with the WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW Insider, to emails from our readers, to what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Want to have your question answered on the air? Email theshow@wow.com!

Get the podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
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Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Podcasts, WoW Insider Show

Recruit-a-Friend benefits will apply to goblins and worgen

by Matthew Rossi on Nov 11th 2010 (9 hours ago)

Yet another frabjous day for those of you who are planning to get your goblin or worgen to level 85 as fast as a bullet train with a rocket strapped to the back and a wormhole generator up front. "That's very fast," you might be saying. Well, so will your goblin or worgen, once he gets hold of all that sweet, sweet Recruit-A-Friend candy. Calloo and callay both, man.

Lylirra - Will RAF work with worgen/goblins?

New goblin and worgen characters will indeed be eligible for Recruit-A-Friend benefits including increased experience gain and grantable levels. As we've no current plans to modify the Recruit-A-Friend program at this time or increase the level range for which the benefits apply, goblin and worgen characters (as with all other characters) will only be able to receive the in-game bonuses up to level 60.

source

This excites me because I'm trying to lure back a few old friends for Cataclysm, and I'm pretty sure some RAF action could smooth that process along. Lylirra points out that this is all contingent on said goblins or worgen qualifying for the process, that there's no plan to advance the benefits past level 60, and that there will be no realm-first goblin or worgen (or indeed any race) to 85 achievements any longer. So level your worgen friends with alacrity, as fast as Running Wild after a sugar rush.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Cataclysm, Worgen, Goblin

Ghostcrawler: Vengeance not a fun toy for PvP

by Matthew Rossi on Nov 11th 2010 (10 hours ago)

A lot of people seem somewhat terrified of the new Vengeance mechanic and how it might play in PvP. People are always leery of tanking specs in PvP, due to the general tendency of people playing in arenas and BGs to want to, you know, kill the other guys. Tanks are generally designed to be harder to kill, which tends to make people nervous, especially when tanking specs saw increased damage output in Wrath of the Lich King and went from "Hey, guys, look, it's a free kill!" to "Wait, you mean trying to burn down the dude specced and geared to not die is a bad idea?"

The forums seem to be rampant with terror that Vengeance will rule them all. I personally don't see the concern. Vengeance doesn't stack up terribly fast and it falls off fairly quickly; you'd need to focus fire a tank for significant levels of damage while he was being focus healed (and you'd need to completely ignore his or her healers) in order for Vengeance to really be a concern.

But don't take my word for it -- just ask Ghostcrawler. Not only do the developers not think Vengeance will be an issue in PvP, if it turns out to be, they'll just turn it off.

Ghostcrawler - Re: So Vengeance... am I doing this wrong?

Q u o t e:

In group PvP, there is an answer to vengeance. Don't attack the tank. Vengeance is a really good idea imo. If you are sitting on a tank and stacking that buff up, why shouldn't they do comparable damage? And from my experience, even with a max stacked vengeance, the coils between blood and unholy are relatively the same. Also, there is more to DPS between the two specs than Deathcoil. Even if someone is sitting on my blood DK I can assuredly say Unholy and Frost do more overall DPS, in pvp.

If a couple of people are beating on a tank, Vengeance isn't likely to stack very high. You need to take damage that is a big chunk of your whole health pool, which typically only bosses are available to provide.

Now if you have several folks beating on a tank flag carrier, then Vengeance may stack up, but once you have several people, you almost certainly have a way to dispel the Vengeance or just CC the tank.

If Vengeance ever gets to be a problem in PvP, we'll just remove it, plain and simple. The mechanic is only there to help with raid gear scaling, not to give tanks a fun toy for PvP.

source

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Death Knight, Cataclysm

Cataclysm's best leveling improvement: no more clown suits

by Michael Sacco on Nov 11th 2010 (11 hours ago)

One of the many nice things that Cataclysm is doing for the low-level quester is finally getting rid of the level 1 to 60 "clown suit." Every 10-level range has its own specific set of matching quest rewards, giving you a unique look every handful of zones. And they don't look half bad! In fact, some of the sets look pretty darn cool. Speaking from experience, leveling from 1 to 60 in the beta was a lot more exciting, not just due to the new quests and mechanics, but also because I couldn't wait to see what my new gear would look like when I hit a new leveling milestone.

Check out the full picture with all of Cataclysm's low-level armor sets, courtesy of reader Frez, after the break.

The Art of War(craft): Must-have PvP talents for paladins in 4.0.1

by Zach Yonzon on Nov 11th 2010 (12 hours ago)

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Art of War(craft), covering battlegrounds and world PvP, and Blood Sport, with the inside line for arena enthusiasts. Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? Battlemaster Zach Yonzon, old-world PvP grinder and casual battleground habitué, rambles on about anything and everything PvP.

I have to confess that I couldn't wait to write this part of the series, if for nothing other than I just love the paladin class. Paladins get a brand new resource on top of mana in 4.0.1, the exciting holy power that is bound to see a little more tweaking throughout Cataclysm. A few changes are going to happen from here until the expansion, such as a critical change to Divine Storm that will no longer require its dependence on holy power. Little tweaks like these will find their way to the game, which will make gameplay better for players everywhere (and we can finally use Divine Storm again, yay!). It should be clear that things are slightly different now than how they'll be in the expansion.

For now, we'll take a look at all the talents that should prepare us for Cataclysm PvP. I might sound like a broken record every time I say this, but paladin PvP really gets more interesting this time around. The new mechanic brings in a new flavor to the game experience, and the new talents are just a lot of fun. Let's dive right into it.

Filed under: Paladin, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, The Art of War(craft) (PvP)

Addon Spotlight: Best. Addons. Ever.

by Mathew McCurley on Nov 11th 2010 (13 hours ago)

Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same.

As Cataclysm draws near, some addons have begun to bubble to the top of the awesome pile, especially for the new leveling experience soon to be upon us. You've probably stressed over your user interface, getting ready for the new expansion in ... wow ... less than a month. Time sure flies, huh? Anyway, how about you hit the ground running in Cataclysm with the BEST. ADDONS. EVER.

Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight

Gold Capped: Auctionator addon helps you buy, sell and profit

by Basil Berntsen on Nov 11th 2010 (14 hours ago)

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house, and Insider Trader, which is all about professions. For Gold Capped's inside line on crafting for disenchanting, transmutation, cross-faction arbitrage and more, check in here every Thursday, and email Basil with your comments, questions or hate mail! This week's gold blogosphere post is Kaliope's Cataclysm jewelcrafting coverage.

Auctionator is a simple, lightweight addon that allows you to do some pretty basic stuff very efficiently. I've said before that there are some serious problems with the auction house interface, and even though the last design pass left it in a better situation than it was before, it's still pretty bad for a few reasons:

You can't see the price of your competition when you are listing your auctions.
The default suggested price is absolute nonsense and doesn't contain a buyout.
You can't see the unit price for auctions when you buy.
You can't sort by anything useful when you buy.
You can't save searches to avoid retyping each time.

None of these are game-breaking, but they're the reason every single person with over 100,000g uses addons. I am still an Auctioneer user, but while its dev team was sitting on a nonfunctional development build when patch 4.0.1 broke the addon, I had to go elsewhere to avoid being tormented by the almost functional default interface. I discovered that of all the addons I played with, Auctionator is the one that will remain part of my toolbox going forward, simply because it has a few killer features that I find easier to use for some tasks.

Filed under: Economy, Add-Ons, Gold Capped

WoW Moviewatch: Mister Evil Runs for Office

by Michael Gray on Nov 11th 2010 (15 hours ago)

Mister Evil Runs for Office is a new short machinima by Oxhorn. The story, quickly told, is about Professor Evil and his decision to run for president of Evil University. An opposing candidate is also running for the same office and the two must conduct an evil campaign to win as many votes as possible.

I wasn't quite sure what the message of Mister Evil Runs for Office might be, so I decided to skip that level of analysis and just enjoy the movie. I feel like Oxhorn has really improved his artistic skills and many of the shots and visuals in this video are superlative. That kind of improvement can be impressive when you consider that Oxhorn is already a seasoned, experienced machinima maker.

If you want some of the visuals as wallpaper, by the way, Oxhorn has made some available on his wallpaper page.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at machinima@wow.com.

Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

The Queue: Archimonde mountain

by Adam Holisky on Nov 11th 2010 (16 hours ago)

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky, senior editor at WoW Insider and webmaster of a new quick-and-dirty MMO news site, will be your host today.

Herp derp Queue time.

Cenrs asked:

Is using walls in dungeons to position mobs considered exploiting the game environment?

Filed under: The Queue

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