violet hold

Of course, as I was saying earlier the Dungeon Finder will make PuG’s easier to find because a lot of people probably won’t mind going on PuG’s just to get those random heroics done. Then there’s the Perky Pug non combat pet that Blizzard is giving out as a reward for players who have done enough PuG’s. Until now the specifics of “exactly enough PuG’s” was not known.

MMO Champion reveals an Achievement from the patch 3.3 PTR called Looking for Multitudes. This Achievement is the the one that gives the Perky Pug as a reward. Below is the exact tooltip of the Achievement:

Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 100 random players total.

If I’m right, this means that it won’t take too many random heroics to get this done. There are 5 players in the group so every run there’s at most 4 players who could count towards this Achievement. Assuming you do nothing but PuG’s then you just need 25 runs. if you insist on taking some friends or guildies then this will take a bit longer. But with the potential of limitless number of random heroics you can do using the Dungeon Finder, don’t be surprised to see players with the Perky Pug soon after the patch goes live!

Post from: WOW Obsessed

icecrown citadel

The Quel’delar is a blade much like the Quel’serrar and there are four of them. The preview mentioned that classes who can’t wield blades would still be able to finish the epic quest chain and get something in return. Oddly enough, as much as a tanking weapon would fit nicely here there doesn’t seem to be a single one. Some specs are arguably overlooked but can be filled in to some extend by one of the weapons. For example elemental shamans, balance druids, resto druid and holy priests could use the mp5 mace even if it might not be the most perfect group ofstats for them

The many Quel’delars (all swords)

Quel’Delar, Cunning of the Shadows One hand, Physical DPS
Quel’Delar, Lens of the Mind Main hand, spell
Quel’Delar, Might of the Faithful Two hand, Melee DPS (Strength)
Quel’Delar, Ferocity of the Scorned Two hand, Physical DPS (Agility)

Other weapons from the chain (all maces)

Cudgel of Furious Justice One hand, melee DPS
Hammer of Purified Flame Main hand spell mp5
Lightborn Spire Two hand Melee DPS

Emblem Of Frost Gear

As you know all the heroic dungeon bosses will be dropping Emblems of Triumph when the patch comes out. This is to give way to the new highest tier of Emblems, the emblem of Frost. You can get these from killing bosses in the Icecrown Citadel Raid, Weekly Raid quests and the first random heroic dungeon you do using the new LFG system.

All these items are item level 264 and will include gear for Waist, Hands and Chest for the various armor types and class specs. You’ll also be able to get various cloaks, relics and trinkets and even a throwing weapon. To see the full list of items you can see them from this list provided by MMO Champion.

Icecrown Citadel Loot

As you know, the Icecrown Citadel will have both a raid and a 5 man, similar to how Ulduar is really split into the raid dungeon itself and the 5 mans Halls of Lightning and Halls of Stone. The 5 man dungeon will be called the Frozen Halls and will be divided into 3 separate wings with their own individual lockout timers. The Icecrown raid will of course be the place where you will fight and defeatl the Lich King.

Frozen Halls

You can find the loot from Frozen Halls for both normal and heroic mode here. The loot from normal mode are item level 219 and the loot from heroic mode are item level 232. I’d have to say that generally speaking, the loot from Frozen Halls is pretty encompassing. I could be wrong but it seems like between both the normal and heroic mode, you could actually get gear for all your item slots except the relic slots.

Icecrown raid

Loot from both the 10 man and 25 man versions of the Icecrown raid can be found here. That link also has gear stats for some of the T10 class sets. One mildly surprising piece of info is that the raid dungeon is lifting a page from Karazhan in that you’ll be able to get rings that you can turn in and upgrade as you advance in rep with the Ashen Verdict just like the rings from the Violet Eye. Below are the rings at friendly rep.

Ashen Band of Courage Tank
Ashen Band of Vengeance Physical DPS
Ashen Band of Destruction Spell Hit
Ashen Band of Wisdom Spell mp5

Post from: WOW Obsessed

MMO Champion reports that Breanni the Dalaran pet supplies vendor, who mailed us Mr. Chilly, will be selling two new pets in patch 3.3 aside from the current Obsidian Hatchling. Breanni will also be selling the Calico Cat and the Albino Snake for 50 gold each (without rep discounts). At least for me, they really aren’t anything mind blowing but these two pets would be nice if you’re one of those pet collectors and going for those pet achievements. So if you’re looking to add to your cat and snake collection then these two pets are definitely for you!

Post from: WOW Obsessed

I can see more reason for players to do PuG’s because of this. To give more rewards to those players who do PuG’s often, Blizzard is also coming out with a non-combat pet called the Perky Pug. Basically you have to run enough Pugs to get this pet and we don’t know how many is “enough” just yet.

I’ve always found Pugs to be pretty cute especially since I’ve taken quite a liking to dogs that have short snouts like Pugs, Bulldogs and even Boston Terriers. I have a Boston Terrier and he’s really lovely but Pugs look awesome too. When you see the Perky Pug that Blizzard is giving out, you’ll find him so cute too. Thanks to MMO Champion, we can see a preview of the Perky Pug! The video is below but you can also click here for the image from MMO Champion.

The image above was taken from Sxc.hu

Post from: WOW Obsessed

MMO Champion was able to uncover a new character model called the Lava Man which can be seen by following this link. It looks like a stony looking character wearing some pieces of plate armor and is partially on fire just like he’s made of molten rock or lava that’s cooled a bit.

Right now we don’t know the significance of this Lava Man but guesses point to something cool if it were actually true. Seeing as the final major content patch is already on the way and already is in the PTR, it doesn’t make sense to add something trivial to the story. It’s then safe to assume the Lava Man’s purpose should be pretty important.

It’s been several patches since the fate of both Saurfang the Younger and Bolvar Fordragon has become unknown after the events at the Wrathgate and this patch should reveal what their fate really has become. The Icecrown Citadel preview spoke of the most powerful Death Knight of the Lich King and it could very well be Saurfang the Younger. If this is true, Bolvar Fordragon’s exact fate is still up in the air… or is it?

A bug that allowed players to understand Draconic revealed that the Dragon Queen Alexstasza has big plans for the Bolvar. The Lava Man fits well with something that the Red Dragons have something to do with since fire is their element, as shown by how they set fire to the meatwagons of the Putress and the other traitorous Forsaken in the Wrathgate cinematic. If this is true, this also answers how the Dragon Queen could somehow lend a helping hand in the Lich King’s defeat.

For now all we can do is wait and see what will happen and also see at how cool the Lava Man looks.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

Patch 3.3 is going to see changes in the totem art so that each race will have a different one. MMO Champion has a video which I posted below which shows the totem art for Orcs, Trolls and Dwarves. Of course Dwarves aren’t allowed to be shamans until the Cataclysm expansion. I guess Taurens still get the art that they currently are using while Trolls and Orcs have their changed to fit their theme a bit more. We already know what the Draenei totems look like so no need to show that. The only one missing then is Goblin who can also play the shaman class in the expansion. But since they are also a new race, maybe they don’t want to give anything away about the goblin totem art just yet. Maybe it will have a mechanical or bomb-like theme to it? Hehe.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

map of Azeroth

Now I’m going to write about some changes or events that I find deserve some real attention about the supposed next expansion posted in MMO Champion. I caution the readers that what you will see are potential spoilers. Granted that this isn’t official news and could just all be a bunch of baloney but it’s best to be safe anyway. Also considering that the guys behind MMO Champion seem to be a bit sensitive about the credibility of this information, all I’m saying is that if you are going to read the info posted by them, at least don’t assume this is written in stone.

SPOILER ALERT

The plan according to the information is that this supposed expansion will bump the level cap to level 85, making room for more expansions before level 100 hits. I’m not much of a purist of MMO’s so I’m not really sure what the problem of going past 100 is but I guess bumping the cap just 5 levels means players will reach the end game sooner.

The most striking pieces of information for me is all the supposed changes they have planned for Azeroth. According to the info, instead of making a new continent like Northrend or Outland they well be revamping several things about Azeroth and I have a bit of a problem about that, making this piece of news cool but awkward. Below is a shortened list of the changes they have planned, according the info from MMO Champion.

# Aszhara will be a level 10-20 zone.
# Gnomeregan could be retaken by the gnomes
# Durotar is wrecked and Orgrimmar destroyed. New Orc city to be built elsewhere
# New version of Blackrock Mountain will emerge. Return of Ragnaros?
# Wailing Caverns will be a tropical paradise
# Queen Aszhara and Deathwing/Nelthalion could be involved in this expansion and could be responsible for possibly summoning a more powerful being that causes the Cataclysm.
# The new new Horde – Thralls turns over the Warchief title to Garrosh Hellscream while Thrall coordinates the efforts of the Horde and Alliance against the new threat. Hellscream declares open war against the Alliance. Cairne Bloodhoof is seen as a traitor and is murdered by Hellscream. Baine Bloodhoof rises as the new Tauren leader.

Now you may be reading all this and could be thinking exactly what I’m thinking. First of all, revamping all of Azeroth is going to take so much work. I’m guessing a heck lot more work than it took to make TBC and WoTLK. Also, changing Azeroth as it is now is going to feel strange especially for the old timers. imagine leveling a toon up from scratch and the landscape is nothing like what it was. Imagine leveling an Orc from scratch and seeing Durotar and Orgrimmar in ruins. I can see them keeping Azeroth the way it is now and then creating a phased version of Azeroth for the high level players who are leveling past 80 but not changing the way Azeroth is now.

On the other hand, while all this is hard work for the game designers, I can totally see that kind of storyline unfolding. From a lore perspective, it seems that everything mentioned above could happen. I mean the Garrosh thing alone, that’s so him! And considering that we’re dealing with a Cataclysm here, that kind of ruin looks about right if it were to happen. The idea of a being more powerful than Deathwing and Queen Azshara sounds about right. I mean it would be a downer if the end game of this expansion is less of a threat than the Lich King is.

So there. there slightly more info that I didn’t write down but you can check it out here. Now that you’ve seen the leaked information about the supposed next expansion, it’s up to you to decide if you want to believe this or not. Hopefully, with Blizzcon coming up really soon we could get this thing cleared up!

Post from: WOW Obsessed

class character creation

Right now I want to focus our attention on a specific set of information that supposedly will come in the next expansion. The leaked information from MMO Champion states that aside from the supposed new races Worgen and Goblin, new class combination for existing races should be available. This is what they could be offering instead of releasing a new class. Blizzard did this in TBC when they allowed Draenei Shamans and Blood Elf Paladins so at least that part of this news is plausible. The supposed new class/race combinations listed in MMO Champion are as follows:

Alliance: Dwarf Shaman, Gnome Priest, Dwarf Mage, Night Elf Mage, Human Hunter

Horde: Undead Hunter, Troll Druid, Tauren Paladin, Tauren Priest, Orc Mage, Blood Elf Warrior

There are quests that suggest that at least some of these combinations will be really be possible. In fact one of them is already in the game. That odd quest that starts by the Horde Dalaran portals and takes you to Thunderbluff to deliver a wounded soldier’s shield has you listen to a conversation about a Druid philosophizing about following the Sun aside from the Moon to achieve true balance. This could lead to following the Light and making Tauren Paladins and Priests possible. In the 3.2.2 PTR, there’s a quest that starts Darnassus where a Highborne mage offers his services to Tyrande Whisperwind, which could lead to the Night Elf Mages.

On the other hand some of these class combinations just sound absurd. For example, there’s really no lore behind allowing Dwarves to be Shamans and even worse, Trolls to be Druids. A Troll Druid would be sacrilege! Dwarf Mages and Blood Elf Warriors are a bit plausible because they really did exist in the beta stages (beta of TBC for the BE warrior) before they were taken out. Human and Undead Hunters just sound silly and so do Gnome Priests, even if it really would be cool if Gnomes finally had a healer class. If Undead hunters could tame undead animals then that would make the idea fit a bit but that’s still pushing it.

That’s this piece of news for you. It’s so crazy, you don’t really know if it’s true or not! Wait til you read the rest of the stuff that was leaked out in MMO Champion. That’s for another post though.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

argent tournament grounds

This move is quite creative in my opinion because it gives players a certain element that the Sunwell badge gear gave players back in TBC but not giving the whole thing outright. As we know, the Sunwell badge gear did give players a way to bridge the gap between the lower content and the higher content but it also was a bit too much since players could just farm the dungeons for gear as good as the raiders who worked so hard to get theirs. The new idea with Emblem of Triumph gives players a chance to bridge the content gap but at a harder climb and a slower pace. This also allows 5 man dungeon content to become more relevant again. I’m guessing that this is what CM Zarhym was talking about when he announced that new things were in store for the emblem system .

MMO Champion gives us some info from the PTR about more of these new things. According to them, instead of having several tokens corresponding to a certain gear slot, the tier 9 gear system (item level 245) is going to be a one token for any gear slot system. According to them, item level 232 and 245 tier 9 emblem gear can be bought with Emblems of Triumph.

Post from: WOW Obsessed

Kologarn raid extension

As we all know, raids currently have a lockout period of one week where the raid timer resets every Tuesday. This means that every Tuesday, players can get fresh runs for their raids. But this also means that if you’ve been working on some raid progression during the week, it will reset every Tuesday whether you like it or not. At least that’s how it is and by patch 3.2 that will change. Imagine the frustration of a guild working to get to Yogg-Saron for a whole week and by the time you get to him, the raid is tired and sleepy and forced to call it a night but the next day the timer resets!

We still don’t know the details about this feature but all we know is that the option to extend the lockout period is there for us by patch 3.2. We still don’t know how this will affect the members of the raid when the lockout gets extended. Imagine the chaos if the raid leader wants to extend but others want a fresh run. imagine a PuG group leader extending the lockout and thus saving the other members for another week unnecessarily. If I had to guess, to prevent situations like this members of a raid will have their timers reset as usual and if they want to join an extended run they’ll have to get saved all over again.

We’ll just have to find out later on exactly how this works but it’s already safe to say that it’s nice that this option will be available to us in the next content patch.

Post from: WOW Obsessed