If ever I need a pick-me-up to make me feel like the in-game badass that I know I can be, I know where to turn.
The World of Warcraft PTR is a magical wonderland for seeing the potential that your character possesses. Well, not your character, EXACTLY, but pretty much. The process is simple:
First, of course, download and install the WoW PTR.
Transfer a pre-made character of your preferred class (don’t worry about race or gender just yet) and wait for him/her to show up on your designated server.
Re-personalize your character to the race/gender/look that you desire. For added affect, give them a badass version of your original toon’s name.
???
PROFIT
Upon logging in, you will be delighted to own all the best pieces of both PvE and PvP sets currently available. Your bags will be filled with just about everything needed to upgrade that equipment further with gems and enchants (that you can make yourself with level-capped skills in both professions), and increase your survivability with included potions and goodies.
Blizzard wants to make it easy for PTR testers to log in and (who’d have thought) actually test the encounters and other features that are on the test server. But beyond that, it’s also amazingly fun just to be able to run around as the badass that you always knew you could be. Continue Reading
You know he’s the end boss of the upcomingWorld of Warcraft Firelands raid releasing with Patch 4.2. You know that his very name strikes a combination of fear and nostalgia in old school raiders. You probably know his catch phrase, even if it’s been permanently fixated in your brain as an utterance of his mini-me.
But there’s much more to Ragnaros, and plenty of lore to refresh in your memory before heading to extinguish his flame in the upcoming patch.
Ragnaros the Firelord has been influencing Azeroth as the master of all fire elementals into antiquity in Azeroth. He once served the Old Gods and fought against the Titans in hopes of dominating the world. But the Titans won, and banished Ragnaros to the Elemental Plane. There, he had been ruling over his kingdom, Sulfuron Keep, and harboring a grudge against all of Azeroth for millenia –up until a fortunate accident brought on by the Dark Iron Dwarves during the War of the Three Hammers 300 years ago.
After launching an unsuccessful attack on Ironforge, the Dark Iron Clan leader Sorcerer-thane Thaurissan sought to call upon a supernatural minion in a last-ditch effort to defeat the Bronzebeard Clan. He summoned a great power that lay at rest beneath the surface of Azeroth — but got more than he bargained for and paid the ultimate price for awakening Ragnaros once again. Continue Reading
It’s been a long-standing wish of mine to be able to customize the look of my characters’ outer garments in World of Warcraft. And it’s certainly a viable pursuit, as long as you keep a few outfits handy and saved in your Equipment Manager, and are willing to switch into your “real” gear when needed.
But what about something more? Clothing dyes, the option to save the look of one piece of gear that the character has earned in combination with the stats of another — they’re options that other MMOs have offered, but something that WoW has stayed away from.
One would think this line of thinking would continue, nearly seven years into the game. But a couple of interesting tidbits have me thinking that this philosophy may be changing, if even slightly. Perhaps rising pressure from other games that offer such options (Rift, anyone), and also a shrinking subscriber base can be a powerful motivator.
Let’s look at the supporting evidence:
First and foremost, there’s the newest tidbit datamined from the PTR, and that’s the existence of a new tabard that can change appearance. Take a look. Continue Reading
Character personalization is a big deal on many an MMO, and I’m always happy to see new options added for players to try on their toons. World of Warcraft‘s PTR for Patch 4.2 has added in a bunch of new hairstyles for characters to choose from at the barbershop. Some are fanciful, others somewhat plain, but all are a welcome addition from my point of view.
While not all race/gender combinations are included as of the current PTR build, this video shows a look at what is currently available, and hopefully will be added once the patch hits the live servers. There still may be more to come on this front, as suggested by some datamined hairstyles that aren’t yet available. Hopefully we’ll see all the races represented — although it looks like Goblins and Worgens don’t have anything new just yet.
The PTR was being finnicky and not allowing my blood elf female to take a seat at the barbershop — but thanks to Pjammiez on the MMO Champion forums, I can at least share a screenshot (above).
Enjoy the video and personalizing your character! What else would you like to see from the PTR? Let me know and I’ll try to make it happen.
It’s an incredibly simple feature and one that, arguably should have been implemented long ago. But regardless, the ability to rearrange characters on the login screen — currently being tested on World of Warcraft‘s Patch 4.2 Public Test Realm — is one that many players are eagerly awaiting. Here’s a quick look at how it works on the PTR. Stay tuned for more of our coverage of the 4.2 PTR.
The Dungeon Journal (currently labeled ‘Encounter Journal’ in-game) is one quite handy dandy feature currently being tested on WoW’s Public Test Realm for Patch 4.2. A cheat sheet of sorts, this new tab can be accessed via the bottom, right-hand menu of buttons in-game, right next to the dungeon finder. It gives all sorts of useful information about Cataclysm dungeons and raids, including a basic synopsis of lore, boss character models and detailed lists of abilities with which bosses will attempt to pummel you in an encounter.
While the feature doesn’t specifically give tactics, an experienced player should be able to take hints from the boss’s listed abilities and decide how to perform. I’m guessing that the addition of this feature and making this information easily accessible without a trip to WoWhead, TankSpot or other website of choice may make players pretty harsh against anyone who goes into an encounter without at least some information.
Want to do a random dungeon but worried about getting put in one you don’t yet know? This will help cancel those worries. Plus, it will ease strain on players who simply cannot alt-tab out without facing dire consequences. Heard enough? Take a look at the video below to get a feel for how it works.
With the first version of Patch 4.2 hitting the Public Test Realm less than 24 hours ago, the floodgates have opened on tons and tons of new content to feast upon. We hope to take a more detailed look at the items that most interest us, but for now let’s do a quick rundown of what’s available — both via official announcement and via datamining efforts at WoWhead– for players to enjoy:
First of all, for an early look at what the big upcoming content patch will bring, take a look at the official Patch Notes. They have yet to be updated since the opening of the PTR, but keep an eye out for inevitable changes that will come about as testing gets underway. Some of the big items that are getting early attention include: the ability to reorganize characters on the Selection screen, changes to many crown control abilities, and the usual back-and-forth on class balance.
WoWhead has put up a set of fun new models from the PTR, complete with four new mounts and four new pets (I’m especially loving the kittens in witch hats, the whelpling and the Horde war wolf). Also included are models for bosses, NPCs and a few select objects. And for those items that still lack a model, you also can browse through the WoWhead listings of more than 800 items added in the last day alone. Icons and maps are covered in a separate post. That’s a lot of cool new stuff!
Perhaps even more awesome than the Tier 12 armor previews that Kershocker covered earlier this week is the fact that we now know that each set has multiple color variations. We’re not sure exactly how or why yet, but the variations are significantly more apparent than slight color changes for higher-iLevel pieces that we’ve seen lately. I am really digging this option, as I’ve always loved the idea of a higher degree of armor personalization. Now we just need to wait to find out if the color changes by spec, by iLevel, PvE versus PvP — or maybe just player choice. But probably not.
Also regarding the Tier 12 armor sets, WoW Insider rounded up the set bonuses for each class. And given the theme of the Firelands, I must say the bonuses do not disappoint. I love how most of the bonuses have something to do with adding fire damage or some kind of fire-related ability. FIRE!
So much to go see! Out of all this information, the armor color variations are probably my most anticipated. I can’t wait to get more information on what this change entails. What are you excited to see in-game?
This is more or less a heads-up for people who haven’t checked their client or tried to log on today, but Patch 4.1 has indeed gone live! The files for the update round out to about 325 MBs, so it shouldn’t take long to download at all. If you’d like a more comprehensive look at everything this content patch has to offer, you can either click here or just scroll down the page a bit.
To those who have been living under a rock or just re-entered society from their decades-long hermitage and are still getting the hang of this whole “internet” business, Patch 4.1 does not include a new raid instance, PvP season, or tier of gear. While this is atypical for what we’ve come to expect from a content patch, we should see Patch 4.2 much sooner after this one than normal, and it should contain all of these things. In fact, I’d expect to see it in testing on the PTR within the next week or two.
For the time being, let’s all do our best to enjoy both “new,” arguably more challenging 5-man Level 85 Heroics, and handy UI features. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to log in and make sure that my guild still exists. And if it doesn’t, it looks like I’ll be giving an extensive report on just how well the Guild Finder works!
[Update 1] Patch day blues. Anecdotally, I experienced a lot of problems trying to enter one of the new instances through the Dungeon Finder and I know some friends had similar troubles. Officially, the first round of hotfixes has been applied. They certainly won’t resolve all current issues, but you can find the list of changes here.
Upon logging in, you will be delighted to own all the best pieces of both PvE and PvP sets currently available. Your bags will be filled with just about everything needed to upgrade that equipment further with gems and enchants (that you can make yourself with level-capped skills in both professions), and increase your survivability with included potions and goodies.
