Totem Talk: Hi, I'm a Shaman. Take me to your instance.

Totem Talk is the column for Shaman players. Matthew Rossi plays a Shaman. It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup except with less peanut butter and chocolate and more talking about Shaman issues. According to WoWwiki, the correct plural of Shaman is Shamans. This seems weird to me, but I guess they should know, they're a Wiki.

Well, we could spend a lot of time messing about, but this week we have already seen that Shamans have issues. The comment thread this generated is very long and very rancorous. To be honest, that's the way the Shaman forums gets sometimes, too. Being the proud papa of two shammies, a level 70 resto on the Horde side and a level 44 enhancement on Alliance, I feel like I should say that I really love the class. It's fun and engaging. I leveled as Elemental to 50, Enhancement from 50 to 70, and specced Restoration for my guild, which of course means that the only mail that drops is Enhancement or Elemental. My healing kit? Way too many Elemental pieces I've socketed to try and make up the difference. But ultimately, I love my Shamans and I love playing them.

And yes, the angry Shaman players are right. There are problems with the Shaman.

Part of the problem is scalability. We all remember back before The Burning Crusade launched when a properly geared and specced Enhancement shaman could rip people's faces off. Hell, I used to take my warrior into BG's and get Windfury-laden Sulfuras shots that would annihilate me. I remember the resentment folks Alliance side felt about Shamans.

That time is long past. Between 60 and 70, shaman don't scale as well as the other classes. Gear can make up some of this difference... I defy you to fight an Elemental shaman in full T5 and say he doesn't do significant damage... but especially for the Enhancement tree, the DPS you can put out just doesn't scale with the stamina on items out there. A properly geared shaman with a good set of weapons (most seem to like slow main hands, trying to get around the hidden three second cooldown on Windfury) can still do really nice burst damage, but it's hardly as overwhelming as it once seemed. When I was enhance I preferred a 2h, to be honest, as it's much easier to find a 2h weapon that will be slow enough to avoid the 3 second cooldown and its damage draining effect. But dual wield is still most likely superior for enhance DPS.

Elemental is still the best sustained damage tree for a shaman, but it is also the most likely to run out of mana, especially with recent changes to Elemental Focus. I understand that people were using Rank 1 lightning bolts to proc their clearcasting state and then popping out their biggest damage spells while they were free... but to be honest, I don't get why that was a problem. Still, much less likely to happen now.

In the end you have two trees that aren't as desirable and take more skill and gear to perform well and one tree that gets instance invites. I'm sure there are Enhancement and Elemental shamans out there who are getting into PuG's, or being brought on runs by smart guildies who enjoy the combination of shaman abilities and the powerful buffs of their totems. In PvP, a resto shaman can make him or herself practically unkillable by certain players with the right totems and studious application of Earth Shield. I've personally killed warriors by just dropping Searing Totem, Healing Stream and throwing Earth Shield on myself over and over again, but it's a long, slow grind and it counts on him not getting any help, not getting a few good crits in a row with Mortal Strike to cut my healing in half, and most of all not killing my totems over and over again with area effect attacks like Whirlwind. (He would have to target the totem, hit WW and then switch back to me, but that's not especially hard to do.) Elemental might well be the best PvP spec for shamans, I wouldn't know because I haven't had the gear to really try it out, but Enhancement is definitely not. So what does that leave the typical Enhancement shaman to do?

Instances. Enhancement shamans are trying to get an instance run, basically, and they're trying to do it by convincing groups that their buffing ability via totems is as good or better than bringing another DPSer who can sap, sheep, seduce, banish or trap, and who will probably be capable of significantly outdamaging the shaman without pulling aggro. (Rogues, Mages, Warlocks and Hunters all have aggro control far superior to a shaman, as well. Granted, warlock aggro control consists of having a specific pet out and managing Curse of Recklessness, Curse of Agony and Fear.) These are all problems Elemental shamans will face as well. A DPS class without aggro control and without crowd control needs something to counterbalance those deficits, and in the case of shamans the attraction is supposed to be buffs.

Why, then, doesn't it seem to be working? Why are shamans the least played class overall, less popular than paladins on Horde side, and by far the least played Alliance class? It's understandable to some extent on Alliance side, as only one race can play them there, but three out of five Horde races can play shamans and yet only druids, who are only playable by one race, are less represented there. And both shaman and druid are playable by one race in the Alliance, so that doesn't even hold true there. Is it just that it's a new class to them? If that were all, wouldn't paladins be as rare Horde side? This is clearly not the case.

To my mind, the real issue is totems. Totems provide the best buffs in the game, and four of them can be down at once, buffing strength, agility, healing or mana regen, granting windfury, flametongue, an AoE fire totem... totems are versatile and the hallmark of the class. But as so many have point out, totems are on the global cooldown, meaning that it takes valuable seconds to cast them. Totems are mana intensive, meaning that a shaman may have to stop and drink after dropping them. Totems are short duration, lasting at the most two minutes for the most part, and have no timer to tell the shaman when they will expire. Unless you keep an egg timer or a stopwatch handy, the first you'll know your mana spring totem is expiring is when it expires. Totems don't move, meaning that they have to be dropped within range of the players you intend to buff with them. Some of these factors are essential for shamans to retain their unique flavor... I don't think I'd want totems to float around me... but some are ridiculous holdovers from an earlier time that have been superseded by changes in the game. The duration of totems and their lack of timers? These need fixing. The inability to drop your totems quickly? Their ridiculously low health? How many other buffs can be purged off of an entire party with one well placed wand-shot? (This is, admittedly, more of a PvP issue.) At least the 20 minute cooldown elemental guardian totems have a little health.

To sum it up, shamans are not perfect, immortal gods who can one shot other players with impunity and who can wander through instances in full DPS gear while still slapping massive chain heals around left and right. I personally think that restoration spec is pretty darn good right now, and both Elemental and Enhancement, especially Enhance, need some love. We know some is coming, and it's welcome. To my mind, the shaman might well be the most interestingly diverse class in the game, and these problems aren't enough to justify people's aversion to it. With their buffing ability and versatility a few fixes should be all it takes to help make them a popular and viable hybrid.

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WotLK zone list

Games for Windows magazine has revealed a surprising amount of info on WoW over the past year or so. Now, a subscriber has written in and claims that this month's GFW (not on newsstands yet) contains, among other things, a full zone list for Northrend. Obviously this should be taken as unconfirmed, since we don't have any scans or anything to go on, but I'm inclined to believe it:

• Howling Fjord (68-72)
• Borean Tundra (68-72)
• The Dragonblight (71-75)
• Zul'Drak (73-76)
• Grizzly Hills (74-76)
• Azjol-Nerub (74-78)
• Sholazar Basin (75-78)
• The Storm Peaks (77-80)
• Icecrown Glacier (77-80)
• Lake Wintergrasp (Outdoor PvP)

Also note that WotLK is still in a fairly early stage of development, and so this is all subject to change. And finally, here's a couple other tidbits, ostensibly from GFW:

The Nexus is the instance hub in the west (Borean Tundra), and "a giant Horde citadel--the largest in Northrend" is also in Borean Tundra, but currently without a name. Also, the final raid wing of The Nexus will likely end with a fight with "half-mad Malygos himself".

Sounds interesting enough, although they seem to be sticking uncomfortably close to the Burning Crusade model. But we'll see. Does anyone else have a copy of this issue of GFW and can confirm this information?

[thanks, Neil]

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Town guards: Horde vs. Alliance

Players from way back in the early days of WoW will remember that before there were battlegrounds, there was only the Hillsbrad Foothills. If you played on a PvP server, you were almost certainly killed (sometimes repeatedly) at some point by a much higher level player character from an enemy faction. Due to the close proximity of Horde and Alliance towns, the area between Tarren Mill and Southshore was a war zone and was very popular with the world PvP crowd. Since the introduction of battlegrounds and all the new expansion content, Hillsbrad has become much more quiet, but many players (including myself) still have fond memories of intense battles in that zone.

One thing that always struck me as odd was the disparity between the level of the Horde guards in Tarren Mill (level 60-ish elites) and the Alliance guards in Southshore (level 40-ish non-elites). Stealthy Horde players could slip into Southshore, kill NPCs and lower level players with little regard to the guards. However, any Alliance player attempting to do the same in Tarren Mill would be in for a rude awakening if he or she was spotted by the guards.

More recently I've found yet another difference between Horde guards and Alliance guards. I'd been testing characters on the PTR, and stopped by Stonebreaker Hold in Terokkar Forest with my undead rogue. When I dropped into stealth, I noticed that many of the NPCs, guards, and peons were able to see through stealth (they had that stealth detection icon floating above their heads). I remember being in Allerian Stronghold with my own human rogue and not seeing anyone that could see through stealth. I decided to sneak in (if I could) to see if the Alliance had trained their guards to detect stealth, and to my surprise, they hadn't!

The argument about whether or not Blizzard favors the Horde over the Alliance popped into my head for a moment -- I know it's old hat, and players from both sides have slung accusations and "proof" that Blizzard favors one faction over another, but I've never seen anything definitive.

I'm not looking to start up that old argument, but I am wondering -- has anyone else has noticed a situation like this, where the Horde's town guards are clearly superior to the Alliance's guards?

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Fear and how to fix it

Draele just started a blog about being a Warlock called Rantings of the Afflicted, and today he's got a post up about that most heinous of Warlock abilites: yes, none other than fear. A touchy subject (to say the least), but he offers three different suggestions on how to make fear fun for everyone.

At its base, fear is actually Blizzard's way of trying to come up with another game mechanic. If you're a veteran MMORPG player, you know there are three archetype classes-- healer, DPS, and tank. All three of them are centered around damage-- either getting rid of it, doing it, or tanking it. Fear, however, plays with none of those rules-- it's a complete damage negator. The reason Warlocks have fear is so they can wear cloth and yet stay alive for a long time against one target-- long enough for their DoTs to come in.

The problem with fear, however, as even the developers have admitted, is that it's not fun for the person being feared-- getting feared leaves you with almost no option but to sit there and do nothing. It removes control from your character, and that's never fun.

So how can we fix it?

Draele offers three suggestions, none of which are "remove fear from the game." The first involved turning fear into more or less a damage spell: have it break after a certain percentage of damage is done, which leaves it up to the Warlock to do that damage in the short time that fear is going down. Dimishing returns would keep the lock from just fearing over and over, every damage round, until the target was dead.

The other two suggestions are basically the same, and these seem more like what Blizzard is aiming to make fear: Turn it into purely a CC spell, and have it break on damage. A lot of tweaking would have to be done (probably to both Warlock and other class abilities) to make sure that Locks could still hold their own in 1v1 with someone bearing down on them, but that seems the best option.

And even if Blizzard doesn't change Fear (to break on damage), they're definitely heading towards less and less fear anyway-- Draele doesn't mention it, but Fear Ward is getting spread around in the next expansion, if not sooner, and so Fear is going to lose a lot of ground as a mechanic in PvP, if not in PvE. Don't be scared, Warlocks-- Blizzard obviously isn't going to leave you out there on your own (Pardo's daughter plays one, remember?). But fear's days are definitely numbered.

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Why aren't solo instances coming to WoW?

Eldiron of the Silvermane server thought he heard a rumor that the dev team was considering implementing solo instances. Many players chimed in with their wish list for what could be accomplished in that: traps for rogues to detect and disarm; loot tailored to your class; making the instances accessible once daily. Other players pointed out that many classes can already solo old world instances like Blackrock Depths.

Finally, Community Manager Nathaera chimed in that there were no current plans for implementing solo instances in Warcraft. They consider instances as they place for group content and leave the solo content for the outdoor areas. Another blue explained in an earlier thread why designing this kind of content isn't a good use of developer time.

But what if they did consider this idea? What would you like to see in a solo instance?

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The story of your first epic

The first time you experience an event in World of Warcraft is something you never forget. The first time you saw one of the enormous player cities. The first time you saw a player on a mount. The first time you got a random tell from a gold spammer.

Amadeais of the Nazjatar server remembers his first purple, the Underworld Band. He created a thread on the official forums and many have chimed in with their own first epics. From the hard-won PvP purples to the surprise gift from a generous guildmate.

What about you? What was the first purple drop you remember receiving? Was it a world drop, boss loot or did you save up your coppers and bought it off the Auction House? Do you still keep it in your bank? Tell us your story.

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Grim Batol: Past and future

Tabot asks about Grim Batol, and he's right-- there is a bit of rumbling going around about that place. It started at BlizzCon, in the dungeons and raids panel, where Jeff Kaplan mentioned that Grim Batol, the huge fortress in the Wetlands currently surrounded by the Red Dragonflight, is one of the locations they're looking at adding content.

To find the past of Grim Batol, you've got to read Day of the Dragon, the novel by Richard A. Knaak. Basically, the Dragonmaw Orc clan had captured Alexstrasza in Grim Batol, and was using her to make their own dragons. Rhonin (who will be the leader of the Kirin Tor in WotLK) was able to break her out and free her. And that didn't make Deathwing (Onyxia and Nefarian's father, and the big bad black dragon aspect of Azeroth) very happy, because he was trying to steal Alex's eggs to make his own dragonflight. Rhonin eventually defeated Deathwing, and there DotD ends.

Cut to now. No player has ever been inside Grim Batol, and the only place it's ever been used in the game is as the spawn point for a dragon in the Horde's Onyxia key quest. Meanwhile Deathwing is MIA, or maybe even kept prisoner in Grim Batol (rumors say the Red Dragonflight may have taken him prisoner in there to get revenge).

However, things (as usual) are not always as they seem. Lately, there have been murmurs (in Outland of all places) that Deathwing is back. Grim Batol may not be a simple fortress-- it may consist of the whole coastline on the eastern side of the Wetlands. And if Deathwing is free, I've heard rumors that he, like Rhonin, may be found up north-- Northrend's Dragonblight is a place where dragons go to die, and Deathwing is supposedly headed up there, claiming that all he wants is to end his life in peace.

Of course, he's not to be believed. And the Red Dragonflight is doing something in Grim Batol, even if it's not keeping Deathwing prisoner. Only time will tell what Blizzard plans to do with the big fortress overlooking the Wetlands.

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Haste and the need for speed

There's been a lot of talk lately about the recent change to haste rating on the PTR. Melee classes are upset because the effects of melee haste rating has been nerfed by about a third, while caster classes are enjoying a buff to their spell haste rating.

Many players are arguing that the haste nerf for melee classes is unnecessary -- and while I tend to agree, it's hard to argue when rogues like Furi (who completed his legendary sword set earlier this month), or a Fury Warrior like Svag are cracking 3000 DPS in some fights all on their own. These players are specced and geared to take full advantage of haste rating

I'm in a modest guild that's raiding Kara, and our total DPS output is usually around 2200-2500. When one player can crank out more damage than a 10 man raid (even if they're geared out and buffed), something seems to be wrong. Maybe this haste change is for the best -- but it's pretty devastating to any melee class that depends on white damage for DPS.

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Are you tired of reskinned items yet?

Reading this post from the general forums, I was reminded of my own experiences in trying to collect the reskinned version of Wrath for both my human and my tauren. Personally, I have always been among the minority that loved Wrath as a set for its looks... I mean, come on, that looks pretty badass on a tauren. While I personally enjoyed being able to go back and get the looks of a set I didn't manage to complete (damn you, Nefarian, why wouldn't you drop that breastplate) I can understand people wanting to get away from some sets... there are how many shoulders out there now that look like Dragonstalker, again?

What sets are you glad to see back? What sets should they have retired the graphics forever? (I know a lot of you will say Wrath. You're mean.) Would anyone want to see a high-end blue or purple level 70 reskin of Dreadnaught or Plagueheart? It does make me wonder what, exactly, they'll have the bosses in a re-tuned Naxxramas in the expansion.

Are you tired of the old skins or happy to see old friends?

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Around Azeroth: Olympic Gnome racing

Sure, you've seen Tauren racing, but it's just not quite the same as seeing an equal number of adorably tiny cotton-candy-hair Gnomes racing. This shot, sent in by reader Svenn of Aggramar (EU) shows a crowd of the charming beasts preparing for the Gnome race portion of the Laughing Skull Olympics, held on Laughing Skull (EU) at the end of July. And if this screenshot is to be taken as evidence, I'd venture a guess that the event was a blast for everyone involved!

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Beyond Patch 2.2: Schwick's compilation of verified info

Patch 2.2, currently in testing on the PTR, has some great improvements like voice chat and reporting AFK'ers in Battlegrounds. What it doesn't have is any new, big, sexy chunk of playable content. So when are we going to see the post-Karazhan 10-main raid zone, Zul'Aman? New Heroic Badge rewards? Guild banks? Oh, we already know that last one.

Forum MVP Schwick on the WoW European forums has compiled a list of known updates in Patch 2.3 and beyond. He often provide reference links to his sources form many of his future patch notes, which makes him an information god in my book.

He also goes on to list all the verified information about the WotLK expansion. I thought I had read all the info that was out already, but on Schwick's list I found items I didn't know, like the fact that Blizzard has a plan to deal with the fact that the Horde doesn't have a fear ward. Or that Naxxramas, the last raid zone introduced before TBC launched, will be repurposed in the new expansion. Or that new shaders will be introduced for shinier graphics. Mmm, sparkles.

Check out Schwick's post if you want to get a look ahead about what's known for future patches.

Screenshot of Zul'Aman boss models courtesy of MMO-Champion.com.

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Trust me, everything is under control

Marilyn has an interesting point over at WoW Ladies: if you see her grinding Consortium rep and taking on three mobs at a time in Netherstorm, leave her alone-- it's all under control. I sometimes have this same problem as a resto Shaman-- onlookers don't always realize that even though my health is low and I'm almost out of mana, redemption for me is just a huge heal and a Mana Tide totem away. Things may look bad, but really, don't worry about it-- my Earth Shield just got refreshed, and I'm good to go for two more mobs, so no, I don't need saving.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I really want to discourage people to help in this game-- I'd much rather have them help me fight than really be in trouble and have them /laugh as I die. So I'm not sure I'd tell everyone to lay off.

Rather, the problem here is that when I pull a group of mobs, I don't want someone else stepping in and tagging them away from me in the name of help. So there are plenty of ways to help that don't include stealing my XP-- drop a DoT on something that's been tagged (I do this all the time on my Shadow Priest), or throw me a heal (always appreciated, even if my Mana Tide totem is off cooldown). And just paying attention is nice, too-- nothing burns me more as a Rogue than taking the time to sneak up on a mob, only to have them charged by an overzealous warrior who claims afterwards that they didn't see my Distract go off.

If it's legitimate kill-stealing, the best option is just to ignore and move on to a less populated area-- there's no dealing with those people. But if you do see someone fighting a bunch of mobs solo, there are better ways to help than grabbing one of their kills, and chances are they'll be more than happy to help you the next time around.

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Mythic founder: WoW "will be in its decline" in a few years

You could probably fill a library with the number of stupid things game developers say about their competitors, but here's one more. In an interview with Shacknews, former Mythic co-founder Matt Firor, charged with putting together a brand-new MMO, says this about World of Warcraft:

... Any MMO starting development today isn't going to have to worry too much about competing with WoW--it'll be in its decline by the time any new game launches.

Think so? From what we've heard from Blizzard, they don't. Even if Blizz only goes two more expansions (and Everquest, the most popular MMO until WoW, went for fourteen), WoW is sticking around for five or six years. And yes, there are those folks who are done now, but Azeroth's population hasn't stopped going up yet-- does Firor really think they won't be a competitor in just a few years?

That doesn't mean Blizzard is unbeatable, but it does mean that they're competition. As Firor's former employer says (EA Mythic is now working on Warhammer Online, which some say is WoW's biggest threat in the MMO market), you have to play a different game.

WoW is The Beatles, who changed music forever. You can't be the Beatles; they already exist. You can't copy them. If you try, you become The Monkees. You've got no chance. We're not The Beatles. We're Led Zeppelin.

Staking your new game on WoW's decline is a bad idea, and predicting that decline to be just a few years off is a worse one. WoW won't last forever, but Blizzard's monster MMO isn't done yet.

[ via WorldofWar ]

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Harry Plotter and the Ninja of the Phoenix

Long, long ago, when dinosaurs roamed Azeroth and barely anyone I knew had their epic mount, we used to argue about what would happen if the tiger mount dropped in ZG. This was back when the epic mounts themselves were the expensive part, not the training. There were two different schools of thought on the subject. There were some who thought that people without an epic mount should get first dibs, as it would essentially be only a cosmetic upgrade for people who had their epics. The other people thought that epic mount-holders shouldn't be prevented from rolling on a rare, awesome thing just because they had taken the time to farm for their epic. This argument largely died when the cost of mount training became the expensive thing. Or did it?

Recently, a guild on my server killed Kael'thas and received the Ashes of Al'ar, also known as the phoenix mount. The guild leader/master looter linked all the loot, said that they would discuss the phoenix mount later ... and after the rest of the loot was handed out, proceeded to masterloot it to himself. A few officers of the guild defended his actions by saying that some officers had encouraged him to take it, which somewhat neglects the fact that this guild runs on DKP instead of officer loot, and that running a guild is a tough job that deserves some extra recognition.

This has prompted a spirited discussion about what to do when ultra-rare mounts drop. There seems to be five options here: masterlooting it to yourself, having everyone roll, having everyone with 300 skill roll, bidding DKP, or having everyone with 300 skill bid DKP. Most people I've talked to seem to think that masterlooting it to yourself is a cheap option, but are undecided as to whether you should have to have 300 riding skill to roll.

Personally, I think that this would be an excellent opportunity to use a bidding DKP system, even if you have fixed DKP values (like my guild does) because it's hard to assign worth to a cosmetic upgrade. That way, people who really, really want a phoenix mount can blow all their DKP to get it. What do you think guilds should do about rare mount drops? Is it really a ninja if the masterlooter takes something? Should guild/raid leaders get some sort of bonus when it comes to loot distribution?

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Real friends vs. virtual friends

A few weeks ago, I had some trouble with my real life friends-- they were organizing an impromptu run to the movies, but I had committed to a Gruul's raid, and had to decline, to their consternation. And yesterday, the exact opposite happened-- I went on a raid with my guild for the first time in a few weeks (because different real life issues had kept me from raiding for a while), and they gave me a little ribbing about being so behind.

It just doesn't seem fair. I'm getting trouble from both my real life and my internet friends for choosing to hang out with one over the other. Of course, both groups aren't really angry at me for doing what I choose to do-- my guild isn't really bothered by my absence of late (although I don't exactly get first choice at loot rolling any more, understandably), and my real-life friends can't blame me for staying in sometimes and playing videogames (although they worry about me if I do it more often than not).

As ippy says, there are really two camps on this-- either you think that real life is always more important than virtual interaction, or that both are equally worthwhile. In the past, I've been closer to the first option-- that I should always go hang out with people in real life rather than stay at home playing WoW or Bioshock (which I will be tomorrow, no matter what my friends are doing). But lately, as my relationships in WoW grow stronger, I'm feeling more of a pull to give that priority sometimes, at least when it doesn't affect my other relationships.

Is that bad? This seems like a topic for our Azeroth Interrupted column (featured today, by the way, on the front page of the BBC's tech site-- cheers, Robin!), but I'd like to hear what you all think as well. Does real life get priority always, or is it more nuanced than that?

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Forum Thread of the Day: Quest text that makes you laugh

Relyndrel sets us off on a hilarious ride through Blizzard's real genius: turning something as straightforward as playing a videogame into a rich, entertaining, and sometimes even meta experience. He starts off a collection of the best quest text in the game, including the various letters, yells, and whispers that float around while doing said quests. All the best stuff is here:

• Fruit vendor, do you not value your life?!
• Rend Blackhand's note to a stupid orc: "Destroy this letter, idiot!"
• Blizzard's sly reply to AV whiners
• And the terrific Digging Through Bones dialogue

I don't see my favorite mentioned in the first few pages-- as I've said before, my favorite quest in the whole game is probably the Absent Minded Prospector, in which a dwarf leisurely browses through a dig while you're left to fight off all kinds of huge golems.

Really, this game is just all about clicking buttons-- you click a button to start a quest, you click some buttons to kill things (or do some thing), and then you click another button to end a quest. But it's the flavor that Blizzard adds-- all of these weird characters, strange stories, and references to everything else we know-- that really make the experience what it is, and show off just how good Blizzard is at making clicking buttons interesting and fun.

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Patch 2.2 on the PTR: New Violet Eye Recipes

New recipes have appeared on the test server with our Karazhan-related friends, the Archmages of Kirin Tor sect known as The Violet Eye. Some of these recipes are very nice indeed, including a high-end crafted leather chest for rogues and feral druids, a +20 agility enchant to weapons, a Flask recipe granting +35 to all resists & +18 to all stats and another high end leatherworking recipe, this time a cloak with a boatload of strength and melee crit stats.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Violet Eye faction, reputation is gained through the key quest for Karazhan as well as a quest within Karazhan and killing mobs in the 10-man raid zone. Reputation rewards they currently provide include the Violet Signet Rings (through a reputation gaining quest), the Iceguard frost-resist, plate recipes for blacksmiths, a crafted frost-resist ring and an Inscription granting +7 to all resists on a shoulder item.

Read on for exact details on the new recipes.

Recipe: Flask of Chromatic Wonder - 4g
Requires Alchemy (375)
Requires The Violet Eye - Honored
Use: Teaches you how to make a Flask of Chromatic Wonder

Flask of Chromatic Wonder
Requires Level 65
Use: Increases resistance to all schools of magic by 35 and all stats by 18 for 2 hrs. Counts as both a Battle and Guardian elixir. This effect persists through death.

Requires Dreaming Glory (7), Netherbloom (3), Fel Lotus, Imbued Vial


Pattern: Shadowprowler's Chestguard - 24g
Binds when picked up
Requires Leatherworking (365)
Requires The Violet Eye - Revered
Use: Teaches you how to make Shadowprowler's Chestguard

Shadowprowler's Chestguard
Binds when equipped
Chest - Leather
333 Armor
+32 Strength
+40 Agility
+12 Stamina
[ ] Red Socket
[ ] Blue Socket
[ ] Yellow Socket
Socket Bonus: +4 Agility
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves hit rating by 8.

Requires Heavy Knothide Leather (10), Bolt of Soulcloth (16), Primal Earth (12), Primal Shadow (12), Primal Nether (2)


Formula: Enchant Weapon - Greater Agility - 3g
Binds when picked up
Requires Enchanting (350)
Requires The Violet Eye - Exalted
Use: Teaches how to permanently enchant a weapon to grant 20 Agility.


Pattern: Cloak of Darkness - 5g
Binds when picked up
Requires Leatherworking (360)
Requires The Violet Eye - Exalted
Use: Teaches you how to craft a Cloak of Darkness

Cloak of Darkness
Binds when equipped
Back
101 Armor
+23 Strength
+25 Stamina
[ ] Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +2 Critical Strike Rating
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves melee critical strike rating by 24

Requires Heavy Knothide Leather (8), Bolt of Soulcloth (12), Primal Shadow (12), Primal Nether (4)

These all appear on Apprentice Darius who stands in front of the Karazhan entrance in Deadwind Pass. If you are interested in these recipes, make sure to check if the stats/effects are the same when the patch goes live.

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Are instance drops really random?

There are so many angles you can spin this blog entry from Coralie from that it took me half an hour (and three quarters of a can of Four Cheese Pringles) to choose one. I think I've made the choice that is least likely to involve her purchasing a server transfer to Zangarmarsh and hunting me down.

Coralie is a rogue on the Sentinels realm who, like most rogues, is trying to keep her head above water in a series of instances that are not known to be overly rogue-friendly. As a fellow rogue, and a subtlety rogue no less (who in my opinion have it much worse) I feel her pain. Instance slots are sometimes hard to come by for those of us who practice the art of subterfuge, and let's not even talk about raids.

Coralie's problem doesn't appear to be getting groups though. Apparently the Stormwraiths are good to her. Coralie's issue is with the boss loot tables. She doesn't go as far as to imply that anything is rigged against her, but her post is pretty compelling. Apparently the paladins in her guild have taken to bringing her along on instance runs because they find her to be a good luck charm for plate drops and other paladin items. If I'm reading this right, she's even taken to distributing "personally blessed" Lucky Charms to paladins who need to make runs when she isn't available to go herself. (As a side note, if she has enough of them to have multiple stacks, she certainly doesn't lack perseverance.)

Those of us who frequent database sites such as Thottbot or Wowhead know the numbers game that's involved. Each piece that a boss drops has a percentage drop rate attached to it. But is it really purely a numbers game? We've all been on runs with either a paladin or shaman healer and no cloth wearers when nothing drops except cloth and wands. Do you have a guildmate with ridiculously bad luck like Coralie? Or do you think perhaps there might be more to drop rates than pure math? As ridiculous as it sounds, Coralie sure makes a compelling (albeit exceptionally amusing) argument.

In all seriousness, I would never accuse Blizzard of any wrongdoing. Posts like Coralie's definitely make you think though.

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Reader UI of the Week: Justo

This week's Reader UI of the Week submission is from Justo, level 70 Dwarven Hunter from the guild on the Aerie Peak PVE server. As he told me in his note to me (short and sweet, but full of the important information) he likes to call this setup "controlled clutter" because he just likes to have lots of information on-screen at all times.

For those who are curious to see this UI in action, as well as Justo's listing of the mods he uses and what their different purposes are, check out the run-down he sent me after the jump!
My UI is set up at a 1680x1050 resolution on a 20 inch wide-screen LCD Sceptre monitor. The theme for my UI is what I like to call "controlled clutter." I like simplicity, but at the same time I LOVE information and availability. This UI allows [me to have] everything I have hot keyed and/or clickable to be out in the open. [That way] It is available for quick use while still leaving plenty of screen room to see everything.

My list of add-ons

• AG Unitframes - Very nice looking unit frame add-on. I like its designability and I LOVE the 3-D portraits.
  
• Bongos2 - This allows for the movement and creation of all your bars. You can create pretty much as many bars as you want, in any length that you want. You can also scale the bars to make them as big or small as you want.
• Item rack - This mod lets you switch between gear sets with the click of whatever hot key you assign it.
• Fubar - Yeah, I have like 9 thousand plug-ins for Fubar so I'm not gonna name them all. Lots of little tidbits of information there.
• Tracker dial - As a hunter this mod is gold. Just mouse over the tracking icon on the mini-map and it shows everything you are capable of tracking. After you select something, it hides itself again.
• CT Raid Assist - I only use it for main tank windows in raids.
• Deadly Boss Mods - A really good boss mod, but I only use it for the BG timer bars that it has.
• Big Wigs Boss Mods - Yet another boss mods that I personally like better than Deadly. This is my main boss mod.
• Atlas/Atlasloot enhanced - This is an absolute no-brainer. Wanna know what boss drops what loot? Click and explore....
• CT Mod - Just an assortment of most of the mods CT offers on their main site. Too many to name.
• Omnicc - The best cool-down counter I have ever seen. It shows numerical cool-downs on any bar you have. When something cools down, it flashes brightly so you are sure to not miss it.
• Improved Error Frame - This mod shows any error messages you get in a clickable mini-map button instead of blowing up your screen in the middle of something important.
• Answering machine plus - When you go /afk this records any whispers and auction house messages you received.
• Auctioneer - I only use it for the tool tip pricing, but this allows you to post on the AH a little easier.
• Bank Items - This mod shows your bank and equipped items on any character you have on any realm, FROM any character on any realm. Ever been on an alt and someone asked if you had something they needed on your main? No more switching over to find out.
• Advanced Trade-skill Window - Allows you to customize what you can make with your professions. I have all mine alphabetized.
• Hunter range - Shows how far away from your target you are.
• Improved Buff Timers - Shows minutes and seconds on the blizzard default buff icons.
• KHunterTimers - Timer bars for everything hunter.
• Rating Buster - This mod compares stats and percentages form linked/viewed items with what you currently have equipped. VERY helpful in gear selection.
• Sct/Sctd - Scrolling combat text and scrolling combat text damage. Puts all damage and combat info above your head.
• KTM Threatmeter - Shows a bar graph of threat levels. No more "wtf Justo you pulled aggro, GAWD!" :)
  
• Meuhmeuh Feign Death Resist Bell - This mod plays an obnoxious bell sound when your FD gets resisted. Patch 2.0 broke it and the developer never fixed it, so i took it upon myself back then to fix it and post it up on Curse.

While I love having lots of information myself, I have to admit, having that much on screen for me would probably be overload. There again, my main is a Rogue, so I don't have to juggle nearly as much as a good Hunter most likely does. (Between pets, traps, kiting, etc.) Of course, I have to admit, I'm digging the idea of the Bank Items mod, and may very well have to run off and check that one out for myself.

If you'd like to show off your UI, feel free to send it in with either a long description, or a short and sweet breakdown of mods and a quick note about you and why you designed your UI like you did. I look forward to hearing from you!

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PTR VOIP on PPC is GTG

Just a note for you running WoW on the older Macs out there-- PowerPC Macs were the last to run WoW's built in voice chat system on the PTR, and as of build 7125 (the latest, I believe), voice chat now works.

If you're running one of those fancy shmancy new MacBook Pros with the Intel processors, you don't care, and if you're running WoW in Windows, well I'm sorry (did I mention that I'm also writing for our blogosphere cousin TUAW now?). But for those of you running PowerPC Macs, feel free to load up the PTR and do some voice chatting.

Was the headline too confusing? "Public Test Realm Voice-over-Internet-Protocol on PowerPC is good to go."

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