New site is up and running!

RetributionPaladins.com

Make sure to bookmark it, favorite it, whatever you do to remember the site change!

From this point on, I will be 100% posting on the new site. This site will remain to redirect anyone who stumbles here. Every single post and bit of information has been transferred to the new site. So for all your World of Warcraft PvE and PvP information (especially about Ret Paladins), come check me out!

Sorry I haven't posted anything new this last week. Even the patch notes were all skewed and I didn't have time to fix them.

I am working on an upgraded .com website/blog for retribution paladins and all aspects of world of warcraft casual and raiding game play.

Since I have a ton more content to put out, I needed something that let me have a bit more control than blogspot does. While this platform is free, the new site gives me much more control. Hopefully it will be easier for you guys to find something of use as well.

From Khor

My intention for this new site is the same as what I have done for this one...I want to bring a personal, first hand connection to everyone about all aspects of WoW gameplay. There are a ton of great WoW sites out there, full of news...but most tend to focus on end game raiding, and hardcore aspects, as well as a steady stream of current wow happenings.

I love these sites, and I visit them frequently. But what I feel is lacking is a more personal connection, as well as a focus on things outside of raiding. So my continued focus will be just that. No new posts will be up here because I am so close to the other site being ready. I will announce the Shadowsong Games week 3 winner, but that could be the last post.

See you guys on the flip side, and I'll be posting the new site soon!

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.3.0 - As of 10/20/09

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

General
Icecrown Citadel

• The Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron in the 5-player dungeon are currently available for testing.


• Additional Icecrown Citadel dungeon and raid content will be made available in future test builds. For more information and testing schedules please visit our Test Realm forum.


• Quel'Delar Quest Chain: The Battered Hilt, the item needed to start this quest line, can now be purchased from all glyph vendors on the public test realms.


• Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.


• The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says "hello"), while the new /yw is for saying "you're welcome."


• Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players' pets.


• Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory.


• Attack is now called Auto Attack. The tooltip has been changed to reflect that the player will continue automatically attacking a target.


• Copied Test Realm characters will no longer be copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.
  

Classes: General

• Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We've redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example.


• Attack: Level 1 druids, mages, priests, and warlocks will no longer start with the Attack button placed on their action bars by default.



• Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.


• Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes.


• Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player's level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.


• Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master's resilience.


• Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.


• Taunt Diminishing Returns: We've revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.

Races: General

• Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art.


• Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.

PvP

• Battlegrounds


• Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.


• The achievements to get exalted with the Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley factions have been removed from their respective Master of meta-achievements. Special titles will be offered to those who reach exalted with these factions.


• Wintergrasp


• You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:


• Rank 1: Build/pilot Catapults.


• Rank 2: Build/pilot Demolishers.


• Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.

Death Knights

• Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.


• Talents


• Unholy


• Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.


• Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.


• Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.

Druids

• Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%.


• Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.


• Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.


• Talents


• Restoration


• Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effect.


• Pets


• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Hunters

• Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.


• Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect.


• Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.


• Talents


• Beast Mastery


• Intimidation: If the hunter's pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet's next swing or attack.


• Pets


• Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.


• Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet's movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20.


• Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack.


• Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes.


• Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%.


• Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%.


• Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.


• Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.


• Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet's attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.

Mages

• Talents


• Arcane


• Arcane Empowerment: This talent now also grants 1/2/3% increased damage done by the mage's party or raid for 10 seconds after the mage gets a critical strike with Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, or Arcane Blast. This effect is exclusive with Ferocious Inspiration and Sanctified Retribution.


• Fire


• Blast Wave: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.


• Burning Determination: The duration of interrupt immunity granted by this talent is now 20 seconds.


• Dragon's Breath: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.


• Firestarter: When this talent is triggered, it makes the next Flamestrike cost no mana in addition to being instant.


• Improved Scorch: The debuff from this talent no longer stacks, and instead can apply the full effect from a single cast of Scorch.
  
• Frost


• Deep Freeze: This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns.


• Frozen Core: This talent now also causes Ice Lance critical strikes to reduce the cast time of the mage's next Frostbolt or Frostfire Bolt by 0.4/0.7/1 seconds.


• Pets


• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.


• Water Elemental: Waterbolt mana cost reduced by 80%.

Paladins

• Talents


• Protection


• Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active.


• Divine Sacrifice: Redesigned. The effect of Divine Sacrifice is now party-only and the maximum damage which can be transferred is now limited to 40% of the paladin's health multiplied by the number of party members. In addition, the damage transferred to the paladin is now reduced by 50% before being applied to the paladin. Finally, the bug which allowed Divine Sacrifice to sometimes persist despite reaching its maximum damage has been fixed. Divine Sacrifice will now cancel as soon as its maximum damage value is exceeded in all cases.

Priests

• Power Word: Shield: This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.


• Talents
  
• Shadow


• Improved Devouring Plague: This spell now deals 10/20/30% of its total periodic effect instantly, up from 5/10/15%.


• Mind Flay: The range of this ability has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.


• Shadowform: This talent also now causes Devouring Plague, Shadow Word: Pain, and Vampiric Touch to benefit from haste. Both the period length and the duration of these spells will be reduced by haste. In addition, the mana cost has been reduced from 32% to 13% of base mana.


• Vampiric Embrace: This talent now provides a 30-minute buff that cannot be dispelled, instead of a target debuff and only generates healing for single-target shadow damage spells.


• Pet


• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Rogues

• Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.


• Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.


• Vanish: For the first half second after this ability is used, neither Vanish nor Stealth can be broken by taking damage or being the victim of a hostile spell or ability.

Shamans

• Fire Nova Totem: This totem has been replaced with a new spell, Fire Nova, which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.


• Reincarnation: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 60 minutes down to 30 minutes.


• Talents


• Elemental Combat


• Improved Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Improved Fire Nova. This talent now provides an additional 10/20% damage to the spell and reduces the cooldown by 2/4 seconds.


• Enhancement


• Earth's Grasp: This talent now also reduces the cooldown of the Stoneclaw and Earthbind totems by 15/30%.


• Restoration


• Improved Reincarnation: This talent now reduces the cooldown of Reincarnation by 7/15 minutes, down from 10/20 minutes. Reincarnation cannot be used in Arenas.

Warlocks

• Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.


• Talents


• Affliction


• Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds.


• Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter's Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%.


• Demonology


• Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.


• Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.


• Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%).


• Destruction


• Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.


• Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp's Firebolt spell by 100%.


• Pets


• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.


• Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.


• Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock's damage-over-time effects on the target.


• Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.

Warriors

• Victory Rush: This ability is now trainable at level 6.


• Talents


• Protection


• Damage Shield: This ability will no longer trigger any chance-on-hit effects from the warrior or the opponent it damages.

User Interface

• Quest Tracking Feature


• This system is currently under development and is not fully functional.


• Looking For Group System


• This feature is undergoing several improvements and is not available for testing at this time.


• Unit Nameplates


• The range at which players can see unit nameplates has been increased by 40 yards.


• Unit nameplates are now subject to line-of-sightlimitations in certain situations (this does not pertain to objects like Arena pillars or bridges).


• Players can now adjust select unit nameplate display settings listed below under Interface Options via the "Names" tab.


• Friendly/enemy pet nameplates can be toggled.


• Enemy totem nameplates can be toggled (friendly totem nameplates are never displayed).


• Players can choose whether or not unit nameplates overlap.


• Unit nameplates for critters are never displayed.


• Non spell-based tracking now persists through logout.


• Any party member may mark targets (this does not apply to raid groups).


• Users will be warned when their talents are reset due to a new patch.


• "/Settitle" command has been added.


• Instant quest text is on by default.


• Tentative" status added for calendar responses.


• Players below level 10 may not join raids.


• Ignore list expanded to 50 to match the friends list.


• Unit frames added for special encounters.


• Interface element added next to the mini-map to show what dungeon you are in (ex: 10- and 25-player Heroic dungeons marked with a skull).


• Experience earned for a quest will display in the Quest Rewards section.


• Confirmation box added when buying stable slots.


• Macro Changes


• Symbol "@" added as a synonym for "target=". For example: "/cast [@focus] Flash Heal".


• New macro conditionals: "vehicleui" (if the player has a vehicle UI) and "unithasvehicleui" (if the target of the macro has a vehicle UI).


• Addon Author Changes


• "registerForClicks" added to XML buttons.


• "MouseIsOver" has been converted to a "C" function for increased efficiency (e.g. /dump PlayerFrame:IsMouseOver() ).


• When an addon file is loaded, the addon name and an addon table are passed to the file through '...'. The same addon table is passed to every file loaded by a particular TOC file (example at the top of a Lua file: "local addonName, addonTable = ...;".


• "motionScriptsWhileDisabled" attribute added to buttons. This allows "OnEnter" and "OnLeave" to fire while the button is disabled.


• "GetFileHeight()" and "GetFileWidth()" added to Texture objects. 0 is returned if no texture file is associated with the texture.


• You can now query for a list of completed quests with "QueryQuestsCompleted()" then wait for the "QUEST_QUERY_COMPLETE" event, and call "etQuestsCompleted(<luatable>)".


• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Graphics

• A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). This is currently enabled by default on the public test realms. For more information please visit our Test Realm forum.

Professions

• Enchanting


• Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster's target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell.


• Enchant Weapon - Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.


• First Aid


• The training costs for most bandages have been reduced.


• Mining


• Enchanted Thorium: This ability now uses the Mining skill and is learned from trainers at a skill level of 250

Quests

• Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan'dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.


• For the various Icecrown Bomber quests at Aldur'thar: The Desolation Gate, players can now choose to eject from their bomber seats mid-run. If you do so, a rescue vehicle will transport your character back to the safety of your infra-green platform.


• Azure Drakes and Dragons will now attack back when attacked by characters not riding Wyrmrest Defenders.


• Brittle Revenants, quest creatures fought for the Sons of Hodir daily quest "Hot and Cold," no longer cast Shield Slam.

Reputation

• Gaining reputation with the Ashen Verdict in Icecrown Citadel will grant players access to upgradeable rings from Ormus the Penitent. Players can switch between the type of ring (melee/caster/tank/healer) at any point in the upgrade path for 200g.


• The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:


• Argent Crusade


• Alliance Vanguard


• Horde Expedition


• Kirin Tor


• Knights of the Ebon Blade


• Sons of Hodir


• Wyrmrest Accord


• Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.


• Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased (they still require the appropriate faction level to purchase).


• Reputation commendations can now be purchased for 1 Emblem of Triumph each.
  

Items

• Death Knight Tier-9 4-Piece Bonus: This set bonus no longer grants Frost Fever a chance to be a critical strike. It still grants that possibility to Blood Plague.


• Glyphs


• Death Knights


• Glyph of Icy Touch: Instead of granting additional runic power, this glyph now causes Frost Fever to deal 20% additional damage.


• Druids


• Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation: This glyph allows for the druid's haste to reduce the time between the periodic healing effects of Rejuvenation.


• Mages


• Glyph of Improved Scorch: Renamed Glyph of Scorch. This glyph now increases the damage of Scorch by 20%.


• Glyph of Eternal Water: This glyph allows for a summoned Water Elemental to last indefinitely, but it can no longer cast Freeze.


• Priests


• Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph now increases the damage done by Mind Flay by 10% when the target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.


• Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain: The periodic damage ticks of Shadow Word: Pain now restore 1% of the priest's base mana with this glyph.


• Glyph of Shadow: While in Shadowform, this glyph causes non-periodic spell critical strikes to increase spell power by 30%, up from 10%, of the priest's total spirit for 10 seconds.
  
• Shamans


• Glyph of Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Glyph of Fire Nova. This glyph now reduces the cooldown of Fire Nova by 3 seconds.


• Warlocks


• Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.


• Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock's haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.


• Warriors


• Glyph of Victory Rush: This glyph now increases the critical strike chance of Victory Rush by 70%, regardless of the percentage of the target's remaining health.
  
• Hatchlings: Leaping, Darting, Razormaw, and Ravasaur Hatchlings no longer drop from their associated rare creatures. Instead, there are now rare nests that spawn which contain these hatchlings. For example, the Leaping Hatchling can now be found in Takk's Nest rather than as a drop from Takk the Leaper.

Bug Fixes

• Items


• Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%.
  
• Classes


• Druids


• Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation.


• Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.


• Hunters
  
• Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects.


• Point of No Escape: This ability no longer stacks and now only functions for the hunter.


• Mages


• Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time.


• Priests


• Inspiration: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it also functions with Prayer of Mending.


• Mind Flay: The rank 1 tooltip has been corrected to indicate the accurate damage and snare effect.


• Warlocks


• Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.


• Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.


• Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.

For the last two weeks, I have been running a poll to see what new class everyone will be rolling when World of Warcraft: Cataclysm launches. I'll be honest I'm surprised at a few of the results.

For the Alliance, by far, it seems we will have a ton of new Worgen. Over 63% of the votes were for a Worgen. Human Hunter was next, followed by Dwarf Shaman and Night Elf Mage, who had only 1 vote separating the two. The wee Gnome Priest was second to last (I thought there would be a lot more votes for this one), and the Dwarf Mage got a frigid zero votes. No Dwarf Mages out there, huh?

So, it's safe to say that none of the existing races and their new classes are luring people away from making a Worgen when Cataclysm launches.

Here we have the Alliance votes:
Now, let's take a look at the Horde votes. Making a Goblin and Tauren Paladin were almost neck and neck for the entire duration of the poll. Only at the end did the Goblins pull away. It looks like there will be a strong influx of Tauren Paladins to balance out the still somewhat of a shortage on the Horde side.

Not trying to knock on Blood Elf Paladins, but a rugged, massive Tauren in plate armor wreaking havoc in PvP and raids is going to be awesome.

The Goblins will have a healthy amount of new characters too, but unlike the Worgen on the Alliance side, the allure is somewhat dimmed by the popularity of the Tauren Paladin.

I was surprised to see Blood Elf Warriors come in at number 3. I honestly thought they'd be last. Undead Hunters were 4th, followed closely by Troll Druids and Tauren Priests. I also thought Tauren Priests would be much higher on the list. Lastly, with one meager vote, was the Orc Mage.

Overall, the Horde Cataclysm classes seem to be much more balanced than the Alliance side in terms of players trying new classes out. Whether that will have any effect in the long run remains to be seen.

Here we have the Horde votes:

Alright, week 3 for my Games and Quests for the US Shadowsong server. Remember, anyone can play. Horde and Alliance both. If you are not on Shadowsong, but would like to be, or would like to participate, you will have to have a toon on the server. If you're looking to get a fresh start on a new server, here's a great chance to get a nice kick start.

As I prepare for a bigger prize for Thanksgiving, I will continue to dish out at least 500g a week. This week, I have a task involved, so good luck for those that want to participate.

Alright, now time for this week's rules:

For this week, I am offering another 500g! To claim this prize, you must post up a comment of your most frustrating issue in regards to World of Warcraft. For me, it is the lag in Dalaran and Icecrown, especially at peak server hours. I just about pull my hair out every time I have to suffer through mind-numbing, wearisome minutes of load screens and empty Dalaran streets populating one character at a time.

These may seem easy right now, since I am basing everything off comments, but I am building up towards bigger prizes for special events, like Thanksgiving and Christmas...including possibly 1000g, a Tiny Crimson Whelpling, Orb of Deception, and much more...I am even toying with the idea of funding an epic flying mount training cost. And believe me, the tasks will be much harder.

Winner will be selected by the random number generator in WoW based on how many comments there are.

Rules:

1. Leave your in-game name and which faction you belong to in a comment to this post.
2. Make sure to include you most frustrating WoW issue.
   
3. Horde characters will have to put an item up in the neutral auction house for 525g that I can purchase. 25g extra to cover AH cut.
4. Game ends 10/27/09 @ 0200 AM US central time.
   

Reward:

500g

Winner:

Findros (Let me know when you put your item up inthe Neutral AH!)

Soloing Strathholme

Any level 60 dungeon from vanilla World of Warcraft should be frustratingly easy to any level 80. That is why they make perfect targets for making gold.

(See how I am repeating some of what I said from my Scholomance post? I'm cool like that.)

Number one, it's an instance, which means there is no competition for loot or mobs. Two, you can repeat it over and over if you wish (for the most part). And three, it's fast. Clearing an entire level 60 dungeon solo as a ret paladin (or any class for that matter) should take no longer than 45 minutes. An average of about 30 minutes is good for me.

Paladin Requirements

I took my level 80 Paladin alt, Brittany, who has yet to really touch anything other than herbs in Storm Peaks. The key to farming old dungeons is to do it with a character that can disenchant, and she is an enchanter. This can be done if you are not an enchanter, but it is better gold income if you are.

Bags must also be clear, as there is a ton of loot that is going to drop. I am not picky, I loot everything. You should too, even the stacks of random food items add up over time. Of course, if you run out of space, dump the food and other trash first.

Stratholme (Undead) Items I Am Looking For

Going in, I know there are certain items I will be looking for as good gold makers:

• Large Brilliant Shard
• Illusion Dust
• Greater Eternal Essence
• Runecloth
• BoE Blue (Rare) Items
• BoE Purple (Epic) Items
• Pristine Black Diamond
• Crypt Fiend Parts

The enchanting items will come from disenchanted greens and BoP blues. Anything on top of these items will be added bonuses.

The Strath Run

My run started at 1421pm and ended at 1446pm. 25 minutes. I know I have done it in 20 minutes with a full clear on Khor, so that's not bad.

My loot was as follows:

• 13g trash coinage
• 11g vendor trash
• 155x Runecloth - 26g
• 1x Pristine Black Diamond - 150g
• 2x Star Ruby - 8g
• 1x Pattern: Mooncloth Bag - 10g
• 1x Formula: Enchant Bracer - Superior Stamina - 5g
  
• 3x Essence of Undeath - 15g (was high for my server, but that's what the current price was)
  
• 40x Crypt Fiend Parts - 13.2g
• 18x Bone Fragements - 2.16g
• 11x Large Brilliant Shard - 37.5g
• 8x Illusion Dust - 10.8g
• 6x Greater Eternal Essence - 42.5g

That puts my total for this Stratholme Undead run at 345g!

Now, let's subtract the Pristine Black Diamond, since that was a lucky drop. So, 345g - 150g = 195g

Now, we are looking for a gold per hour here, so let's bust out some simple math:

195/25 = x/60

That comes out to 468g per hour! These results may vary, especially depending on the quantity of disenchanting materials you get. Clearly, disenchanting the gear is where the money is at.

No Lightforge Pants for me this run, or Baron's Mount for that matter. Maybe next time...

Soloing Scholomance

Any level 60 dungeon from vanilla World of Warcraft should be frustratingly easy to any level 80. That is why they make perfect targets for making gold.

Number one, it's an instance, which means there is no competition for loot or mobs. Two, you can repeat it over and over if you wish (for the most part). And three, it's fast. Clearing an entire level 60 dungeon solo as a ret paladin (or any class for that matter) should take no longer than 45 minutes. An average of about 30 minutes is good for me.

That said, let's get down to Scholomance. This is a great dungeon for Argent Dawn reputation, as there are many bosses concentrated in a small area. And with many bosses, comes good loot...to disenchant.

Paladin Requirements

I took my level 80 Paladin alt, Brittany, who has yet to really touch anything other than herbs in Storm Peaks. The key to farming old dungeons is to do it with a character that can disenchant, and she is an enchanter. This can be done if you are not an enchanter, but it is better gold income if you are.

Bags must also be clear, as there is a ton of loot that is going to drop. I am not picky, I loot everything. You should too, even the stacks of random food items add up over time. Of course, if you run out of space, dump the food and other trash first.

Scholomance Items I Am Looking For

Going in, I know there are certain items I will be looking for as good gold makers:

• Large Brilliant Shard
• Illusion Dust
• Greater Eternal Essence
• Runecloth
• BoE Blue (Rare) Items
• BoE Purple (Epic) Items
• Pristine Black Diamond
• Crypt Fiend Parts
• Formula: Enchant Weapon - Lifestealing

The enchanting items will come from disenchanted greens and BoP blues. Anything on top of these items will be added bonuses.

The Scholo Run

My run started at 1320pm and ended at 1358pm. 38 minutes. Not too bad, given that this is my level 80 Paladin with very beginning 80 gear. Also, I was taking time for screenshots and the like, so a better estimate would be anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes, depending on your killing methods.

My loot was as follows:

• 36g trash coinage
• 14g vendor trash
• 214x Runecloth - 33g
• 1x Pristine Black Diamond - 150g
• 1x Orb of Deception - 1000g
• 17x Crypt Fiend Parts - 7.5g
• 5x Dark Rune - 15g
• 69x Bone Fragements - 6.9g
• 8x Large Brilliant Shard - 30g
• 16x Illusion Dust - 21.6g
• 2x Greater Eternal Essence - 14.5g

That puts my total for this Scholomance run at 1329g!

Now, let's subtract the Orb of Deception (which was lucky as hell) and the Pristine Black Diamond. So, 1329g - 1150g = 179g

Now, we are looking for a gold per hour here, so let's bust out some simple math:

179/38 = x/60

That comes out to 283g per hour! These results may vary, but if you're looking for a break from WotLK content, give this a spin and see how you do!

If you get lucky, and get a nice drop (such as the Orb of Deception), you may make much, much more!

283g per hour isn't outstanding, but it's not lacking either. Personally, I loved burying my Titansteel Destroyer into Doctor Theolen Krastinov. I think he wiped us more often than Gandling did in vanilla WoW!

Oh, and by the way, the Lightforge Helm dropped off Gandling, so I kept that for a vintage gear set!

For this Paladin site, I figured I would give an overview of what you can expect to see in the near future. Be sure to check back often!

1. Going to a Dot Com website

I have been struggling with this for the past couple months, and the more content I create, the harder it is for me to make navigation easier for all you guys out there. So, sometime in the next month or so I will be switching to a new dot com website!

Retribution-paladins.blogspot.com will still be up and running, but no new content will be placed here. The new site will have all the content from this one, in addition to all future posts and content I put out.

Basically, I will be eliminating the blogspot from my address, and will have an easier navigation route to my posts.

2. How to Clean Up Your Account

Going to do some winter cleaning and get rid of unnecessary toons and alts. Not for the feint of heart, who hold onto every toon they have. Still working out the details, but some high level toons are about to head towards the chopping block. My methods of madness in regards to elimination decision making will be fully explained.

3. More planning for Cataclysm

Going to gear up my main (and yours) for Cataclysm. No stone will be unturned, we will be prepared!

4. More Gold Making

Going to shift some focus to old world content gold making. Yes, there is still plenty of gold to be made out there. Plus, it will give us one last chance to enjoy the Warcraft world before Cataclysm.

5. More Auction House Tips

With 3.3 and Cataclysm on the horizon, the AH will see some changes. Anything I sniff out as gold makers, I'll be sure to post it!

6. Focus on DPS in Endgame (but less of it)

Everything for ret paladins is basically set in stone as far as DPS. Unless we see some major change in our combat system, there's not much more to add. I will, of course, modify existing information to be updated with 3.3 and beyond.

My schedule at home has not left me with much time to raid, so my experience with raiding has been limited for the past month or so. If this trend continues, I will make an extra effort to submerge myself in paladin dps raiding resources to make sure what you read here is as up to date as can be.

7. Life Outside of WoW, Heath and Fitness

If you are one of the few people who can honestly claim they are in shape, and ultra fit and healthy...much applause to you. For everyone else, we are going to remember there is life outside of WoW!

Going to share how I keep exercise and healthy diet as part of my daily routine. Yes, I am going here! I was once a WoW zombie, online 8+ hours a day when I had free days at home, and staying up until 3am in the morning. Had to make some drastic changes to balance things out.

I am sure there is much more that my mind isn't thinking of at the moment, but there's something for us to start with!

The Paladin Tier 10 relics are up, and it looks like we have a very nice libram headed our way. Proccing off Crusader Strike, which is on a 4 second cooldown, we're getting 44 strength with each Crusader Strike hit, stackable up to 5 times.

Now given that Crusader Strike is almost 100% up all the time in our fights, we're looking at a continuous +220 strength for boss fights. I'll take that any day.

I'll keep reading other paladin forums and sites, and if there is any updated information regarding these librams, I'll be sure to update this post!


Paladin

• Item - Paladin T10 Retribution Relic (Crusader Strike) - Your Crusader Strike ability grants 44 Strength for 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.
  
  
• Item - Paladin T10 Holy Relic (Holy Shock) - Your Holy Shock spell grants 85 spell power for 15 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.
  
  
• Item - Paladin T10 Protection Relic (Shield of Righteousness) - Your Shield of Righteousness ability grants 73 dodge rating for 15 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.

Alright, week 2 for my Games and Quests for the US Shadowsong server. Remember, anyone can play. Horde and Alliance both. If you are not on Shadowsong, but would like to be, or would like to participate, you will have to have a new toon on the server. If you're looking to get a fresh start on a new server, here's a great chance to get a nice kick start.

Last week we had a total of 2 entries, so I am hoping for a little more this time around! Otherwise, 2 people are going to be very rich by the time this is all said and done!

Alright, now time for this week's rules:

For this week, I am offering another 500g! To claim this prize, all you have to do is leave a comment with your in-game name on the Shadowsong server (US) and tell me which post I have done has been the most helpful to you. That's it!

Once I start seeing more contestants, I'll start spicing the games up a bit more!

Winner will be selected by the random number generator in WoW based on how many comments there are.

Rules:

1. Leave your in-game name and which faction you belong to in a comment to this post.
2. Make sure to include which post of mine on this site has helped you the most.
   
3. Horde characters will have to put an item up in the neutral auction house for 525g that I can purchase. 25g extra to cover AH cut.
4. Game ends 10/20/09 @ 0200 AM US central time.
   

Reward:

500g

Winner:

Galamora - Make sure to contact me here or in game when you put your item up in the neutral auction house. Checked as of 1415pm and nothing there from ya.

Much, much better ret paladin tier bonuses this time around for us. The Divine Storm 40% chance really is going to be more powerful than it seems. While it doesn't help tremendously in single target fights, it's going to be juiced up for multiple mob encounters.

The 10% damage increase to judgements and seals is very nice, too. That might help close the gap on the DPS charts. Glad to see two useful bonuses!


Paladin

• 2 Pieces (Damage): (Updated) Your melee attacks have a 40% chance to reset the cooldown on your Divine Storm ability.
• 4 Pieces (Damage): (Updated) Your Seals and Judgements deal 10% additional damage.
• 2 Pieces (Heal): The cooldown on your Divine Favor talent is reduced by 60 sec.
• 4 Pieces (Heal): Your Holy Shock spell causes the next Holy Light you cast within 10 sec to have 0.3 sec reduced cast time.
• 2 Pieces (Tank): Your Hammer of the Righteous ability deals 20% increased damage.
• 4 Pieces (Tank): When you activate Divine Plea, you gain 12% dodge for 10 seconds.

A few months ago, we unveiled the Battle.net account, our new way for players to log in to World of Warcraft and future Blizzard games, sign up for upcoming beta tests, shop the online Blizzard Store, and more with just one username and password. This was just the first step in the rollout of the brand-new Battle.net; in the future, players will be able to use Battle.net to participate in cross-realm chat in World of Warcraft, create real-life friends lists, communicate across different games, and a whole lot more.

In preparation for the launch of these new features, on November 11, 2009, all current World of Warcraft players will be required to merge their World of Warcraft accounts with a Battle.net account in order to log in to the game. As our way to say “thanks” for taking a moment to go through the process, existing World of Warcraft accounts that upgrade to Battle.net (including those that have already switched over) will receive a brand-new penguin in-game pet -- check for him in your in-game mailbox later this week. Starting on November 11, all World of Warcraft players will need to log in to the game using a Battle.net username and password, and anyone who wishes to create a new World of Warcraft account will need to start with a Battle.net account.

Creating a Battle.net account is simple and free. To merge your existing account with a Battle.net account, visit http://us.battle.net . For more info, check out the Battle.net site or read the FAQ: http://us.battle.net/faq/index.html

Q: What happens if I don’t merge my World of Warcraft account with a Battle.net account?
A: After November 12, 2009, you won’t be able to log in to the game unless you merge your account with a Battle.net account. You will need to log in using your Battle.net account username (your email address) and password.

Q: How can I obtain the penguin pet?
A: Once you’ve successfully merged a World of Warcraft account with a Battle.net account, the penguin pet will be sent via in-game mail to all existing characters on the merged World of Warcraft account, along with all future characters on that World of Warcraft account. Players who merged previously will also receive the pet this way.

Q: Do I need to merge by a certain date in order to receive the penguin?
A: We plan to remove the ability to get the penguin pet at some point in the future, we haven’t determined exactly when just yet.

Q: If I create a new World of Warcraft account, will I receive the pet?
A: Only existing World of Warcraft accounts that merge with a Battle.net account are eligible to receive the penguin pet. If you create a new Battle.net account after November 11 and merge an existing World of Warcraft account with it you will still be able to receive the pet. However, please note that we plan to remove the ability to get the penguin pet at some point in the future.

With World of Warcraft: Cataclysm next on the agenda for Blizzard, it's time to start thinking about preparing for the expansion . Too early, you say? Never! It's never to early to start making plans.

With 3.3 and Icecrown and Arthas coming up, our hands will already be full, so getting a head start n preparing for Cataclysm won't be a bad idea.

I plan to do many, many posts on Cataclysm preparations, so here starts the first.

New Classes

We will have several new classes to choose from, and the most intriguing to me are the classes being added to the existing races. Please vote in my classes polls in the sidebar to the right if you have a quick moment! This will help me in regards to what posts I should focus on.

The current (always subject to change) list of new classes available are:

Alliance

• Human - Hunter
• Dwarf - Mage, Shaman
• Night Elf - Mage
• Gnome - Priest
• Draenei - None
• Worgen - Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior

Horde

• Orc - Mage
• Undead - Hunter
• Tauren - Paladin, Priest
• Troll - Druid
• Blood Elf - Warrior
• Goblin - Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior

With so many new combinations to choose from, it's going to be hard for me personally to choose. However, having never done Horde before (at least all the way to max level), I think I may try a Tauren Paladin. We'll see.

Gear Preparation

Now is the time to start looking for gear for your next Cataclysm toon. You will want to start buying now, before all the Auction House hawks (like myself) begin selling leveling gear for absurd amounts of gold.

Here are the list of key gear ranges you will want to start looking into:

• Level 1-10 starting gear
• Level 15-19 gear (especially shoulders)
  
• Level 25-29 gear (especially helms, shoulders)
• Level 37-39 gear
• Level 40 plate and mail armor for new paladins, warriors, hunters, and shaman
• Level 57-60 gear (when BC BoE gear becomes available)
• Level 67-70 gear (when WotLK gear becomes available)

Don't get caught not having gear ready when Cataclysm launches. Starting now will allow plenty of time to scan the acution house to start completing sets.

Heirloom Gear

Heirloom Gear, which for Paladins can be found in my Paladins Heirloom Gear post, should also be ready to use when Cataclysm launches. Whether you spend emblems or Champion's Seals, having at least the chest and shoulder pieces available should be top priority for a new toon. The 20% experience gain is huge.

Again, start saving now so you won't be scrambling when Cataclysm launches.

Potions & Enchants

Get a good stock of any potions, flasks, or elixirs that will help you level. No need to go over the top with stocking up, but have just enough to where you won't be lacking when the time comes around.

Also, get some enchants saved up for key pieces of gear. This includes weapon enchants, such as Crusader, and spell power.

Personally, the enchants I favor are stamina enchants, so I can take on more mobs and place myself in higher level zones. Chest (stats), boots, wrists, and pants (when available) usually all have max stamina enchants on them.

Bags

Self explanatory here, have at least 4 bags of 16 slots or more ready to go for your new toon.

Gold

Finally, you'll want your new toon to be financially sound when starting out, so set aside some gold for them. My usually starting out funds for my new toons is 500g.

This allows for training costs to be met easily, as well as any purchases you may find yourself wanting to make, without having to switch to another toon to transfer funds. After all, that can just get annoying.

Be Prepared!

Ultimately, I feel it is important to get a head start so that leveling is as fun and as easy as possible when Cataclysm launches. Don't get stuck with mediocre or no gear because you waited too long and cannot find any decently cheap gear in the auction house.

Start searching and saving now. I already have a wee toon set aside to keep all the gear I am saving for Cataclysm. Maybe some will say it's too early, and maybe they're right. Bu,t I know I'll be ready when the expansion launches!

Alright, week 1 for my Games and Quests for the US Shadowsong server. Remember, anyone can play. Horde and Alliance both. If you are not on Shadowsong, but would like to be, or would like to participate, you will have to have a new toon on the server. If you're looking to get a fresh start on a new server, here's a great chance to get a nice kick start.

Alright, now time for this week's rules:

For this first week, I am offering 500g! To claim this prize, all you have to do is leave a comment with your in-game name on the Shadowsong server (US). That's it!

Next week's will be a little more involved, but this is how I will do it for the first week.

Winner will be selected by the random number generator in WoW based on how many comments there are.

Rules:

1. Leave your in-game name and which faction you belong to in a comment to this post.
2. Horde characters will have to put an item up in the neutral auction house for 525g that I can purchase. 25g extra to cover AH cut.
3. Game ends 10/13/09 @ 0200 AM US central time.
   

Reward:

• 500g

Winner:

• Jorani - Congrats! 500g in the mail!

Welcome to Shadowsong Khor's Vault Games and Quests! Yes, I am on the US server Shadowsong, and I have decided to add a new twist to my daily World of Warcraft gaming experience.

Every week, or possible every two weeks, I will have a random quest or task that anyone can perform for either a reward of gold or maybe a high demand rare item or two. The harder the quest, the larger the reward!

Rules:

1. Only one entry per player, obviously must have a toon on Shadowsong. Don't have a toon on Shadowsong? No worries, you can still play along and win, just need to create a toon on the server! Some of the prizes will be VERY big!
2. Must leave a comment under the week's game or quest post along with your character's name. This is how you will enter!
3. Winners will be determined by a random number generator based on number of comments left.
   
4. If the quest says to bring me a stack on linen cloth, you must bring me a stack of linen cloth when we meet or I will select another random winner.
5. Since I am Alliance, Horde players that win will have to put an item up on the neutral auction house so I can purchase for the amount of gold won.
   
6. That's it! Each weekly quest or game will have it's rules explained.

Don't worry about this consuming time. Unless I am offering gobs of gold as a reward, they will be simple tasks. The idea is for me to give you gold and rewards!

Yes, all my gold is 100% legit, I am very good at bringing in WoW money, and I figured this would be a fun thing to try!

Make sure to check back often to see what the current weekly quest is!

October 2009

• Week 1 - 10/6/09 thru 10/13/09 : Click Here! (Winner: Jorani)
  
• Week 2 - 10/13/09 thru 10/20/09 : Click Here! (Winner: Galamora)
  
• Week 3 - 10/20/09 thru 10/27/09: Click Here! (Winner: Findros)
  

The Blade of Misfortune is one of the top 5 items I try and look for when buying and reselling in the Auction House? Why? Because it usually nets me at least 100g in 24 hours or less. This sword is highly sought after by many classes, and for several reasons.

First, it is an outstanding level 60 PvP weapon for Paladins, Warriors, and Death Knights. The strength and critical strike combo leaves it nearly unmatched. It is by far the best BoE 2-handed weapon you can get in the game at level 60.

Second, if not using a Bind on Account Heirloom weapon, this is top of the line for leveling when hitting 60. If avoiding dungeons while leveling, this sword will last until level 66 or 67, so well worth the investment.

Third, for people like me, it is a great money maker if you can find it at the right price. I make two auction house scans a day. One in the early morning, and one late at night. This is always the first thing I check for.

Reselling Blade of Misfortune



When buying the Blade of Misfortune to resell, I follow some very simple, but strict guidelines.

• Purchase at 300g or less
• Never sell for less than 375g
  
• Re-sell at 375g if other Blades are up for auction, so long as 375g would be the lowest buyout.
• Sell for 450g if the only Blade on the market, let run for 48 hours.
• If no buyers at 48 hours, drop price to 425g for another 48 hours.
• If no buyers still at this point, and no other Blades on the AH, sell for 400g buyout until it sells.
• Never sell for more than 500g.

Usually, depending in demand, the blade will sell within 24 hours, and I have easy money in my pocket. Because of the high demand for this weapon, it makes for a great item to buy and resell. Don't worry about losing gold on this weapon, you'll make your money back and then some.

Blade of Misfortune for 190g buyout in AH.

Bought and re-listed for 375g

Sold! Profit of 171g!

In this instance, I was simply trying to sell quickly for screenshot purposes for this post, hence the 375g buyout. Normally, I would have stuck with my methods.

Good luck, and I hope this tip helps!

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.3.0

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

General

• Icecrown Citadel
• The Forge of Souls, the first wing of the 5-player dungeon, is currently available for testing.
• Additional Icecrown Citadel dungeon and raid content will be made available in future test builds.
• Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.
• Copied Test Realm characters will no longer be copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.

Classes: General

• Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.
• Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes.
• Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player's level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.
• Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.

Races: General

• Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.

Death Knights

• Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
• Talents
• Unholy
• Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Druids

• Pets
• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Hunters

• Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.
• Talents
• Beast Mastery
• Intimidation: If the hunter's pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet's next swing or attack.
• Pets
• Avoidance: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 30/60/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Mages

• Talents
• Arcane
• Arcane Empowerment: This talent now also grants 1/2/3% increased damage done by the mage's party or raid for 10 seconds after the mage gets a critical strike with Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, or Arcane Blast. This effect is exclusive with Ferocious Inspiration and Sanctified Retribution.
• Pets
• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Priests

• Pet
• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Rogues

• Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.
• Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.
• Vanish: For the first second after this ability is used, neither Vanish nor Stealth can be broken by taking damage or being the victim of a hostile spell or ability.

Shamans

• Fire Nova Totem: This totem has been replaced with a new spell, Fire Nova, which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.
• Talents
• Elemental Combat
• Improved Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Improved Fire Nova. This talent now provides an additional 10/20% damage to the spell and reduces the cooldown by 2/4 seconds.

Warlocks

• Pets
• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
• Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.

Warriors

• Victory Rush: This ability is now trainable at level 6.
• Talents
• Protection
• Damage Shield: This ability will no longer trigger any chance-on-hit effects from the warrior or the opponent it damages.

User Interface

• Quest Tracking Feature
• This system is currently under development and is not fully functional.
• Looking For Group System
• This feature is undergoing several improvements and is not available for testing at this time.
• For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

Graphics

• A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). This is currently enabled by default on the public test realms. For more information please visit our Test Realm forum.

Professions

• Enchanting
• Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster's target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell.

Items

• Glyphs
• Death Knights
• Glyph of Icy Touch: Instead of granting additional runic power, this glyph now causes Frost Fever to deal 20% additional damage.
• Shamans
• Glyph of Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Glyph of Fire Nova. This glyph now reduces the cooldown of Fire Nova by 3 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Druids
• Rejuvenation: Rank 15 of this spell was providing a 15-second duration. It has been correctly reduced to 12 seconds.
• Mages
• Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time.