In World of Warcraft:It’s all intellect’s fault, againDivine Plea scales with our maximum mana, and so it was nerfed into the ground. Seal of Insight previously scaled with our maximum mana, but no longer does. Illumination’s mana returns previously scaled with critical strike chance, and now we’re certain that the talent is gone completely. Are you seeing a trend? Holy paladins have been stacking intellect for years while abusing Holy Light’s massive throughput. That paradigm needs to go, and Blizzard is ensuring that it’s DOA by Cataclysm’s launch.With intellect and critical strike chance no longer pouring mana into our blue bars, what are our options? Spirit. If all of our “maximum mana” returns remained in place, intellect would be the same runaway stat it is today, except that it would also be increasing our throughput. In order to truly create a separation between throughput and longevity, Blizzard needed to destroy any regeneration based on intellect. I think that they’ve accomplished that goal, as we’re basically down to a gutted Divine Plea and Seal of Insight for mana regeneration abilities. Spirit is going to be necessary for us, and there’s no way around it.Rather than have holy paladins spend the first few months of Cataclysm try to find a way to extend the reign of Wrath’s healing dynamics, Blizzard simply executed every ability that supported that playstyle. We’re moving into brand new territory, and we’ve got to be willing to accept that we need to actually pick up
Urban Legends of Warcraft: The key, the essence and the shipEveryone seems to be talking about Cataclysm these days — and that’s not a bad thing, after all the expansion is completely overhauling everything we knew and were familiar with. A lot of the Cataclysm hype surrounds the thought of “finishing” the original game as completely as possible, because many of those beloved quest chains and moments from vanilla will be gone without a trace when the expansion launches. Yet even as these chains are recommended, players forget some of the earliest quests in the game — mysteries that were never fully explained.There has been a long-running idea since the days of vanilla that there are still quests out there in vanilla that have not been completed. Despite the addition of the Loremaster achievement, there still isn’t a single player in this game who has finished “every quest,” because some quests have never been completed or even discovered. The thought of undiscovered quests sets people on a flurry of activity, speculation and forum threads that often provided more entertainment than whatever quest they were seeking answers for. One of the biggest mysteries in vanilla WoW didn’t involve dragons or legendary swords or epic moments at all — instead, it all began with a simple, unassuming box located in a quiet glade.The Key to Salem’s ChestThe box in question looked like any other lootable item in game — a lockbox similar to those used for enterprising rogues that were leveling their lockpicking skill
I played World of Warcraft as a Human Alliance Rogue, ready to sneak and backstab throughout the game, paying the hefty $15 a month fee just to take part in this online realm. Set in the fantasy land of Azeroth in the Warcraft Universe, World of Warcraft, sometimes known as WoW for short, has many players joining the game every single day, all throughout the world. For some of these beginning players, the wide array of options may frustrate or even turn them off to the game of World of Warcraft. However, a few simple pointers and hints may help make this beginning experience smooth and pleasant.Now, while World of Warcraft is an online, persistent, world, it still is a computer game. There are tips and tricks that help make some players who may spend just as much time as you on the game into a better gamer with a stronger character. Many of these things are called ‘builds’, or popular combinations of skills a player trains his character in that helps him become a better character than someone who just trains his character all willy-nilly and all over the place in different things. Knowing that there are still tricks and patterns to follow in World of Warcraft, and that basic gaming concepts still apply, will help you become a better player in the land of Azeroth. Read the forums, and talk with other players of World of Warcraft, both online and offline, to find out what a popular ‘build’ is for your character, and how you can get your character on the best pathway in skill advancement.
Attack RangeYou must be in range of your targeted enemy to begin attacking it. If you are out of range, you will see an error message on your screen when you select a melee attack. For melee classes, the auto-attack will always be in close proximity to the enemy, and most melee abilities (such as Sinister Strike, Heroic Strike, and Shield Bash) have a maximum range of five yards. Certain abilities (such as Blind and Intercept) are usable outside of the standard 5 yard attack range. For ranged attacks, such as with a gun or bow, the standard range to shoot is from 8-30 yards. Hunters can fire their ranged weapon up to 35 yards away, and even farther with certain talents. For spells, every spell has its own maximum range which is displayed on the spell’s tooltip.Cooldown on Attacks, Spells, and AbilitiesWhile World of Warcraft has a real-time combat system, weapon users must wait their turn to swing again based on the delay or speed of their weapon. Likewise, casters must wait for the length of the spell’s cooldown until they can cast a spell again. Many abilities have such cooldowns, and the length of any cooldowns are displayed on the ability’s tooltip. However, many abilities with no listed cooldown are still subject to a 1.5 second cooldown that affects all of a character’s abilities. This is known as the global cooldown. You will see this effect on your spell and skill icons as they simultaneously display the global cooldown after using an ability.HealthHealth points represent how much damage a character can take in combat before dying. Your
