Mists of Pandaria Battlegrounds

Posted on March 23, 2012 by admin

There’s no question that Mists of Pandaria is the biggest thing on
the WoW horizon right now and a lot of interested readers have been
asking me about the new Battlegrounds that will be included in
Mists.

Find out how you can steamroll the opposition in the BG’s and
Arenas (Click)

Truth be told, at the moment of writing, the new arena included in
Mists of Pandaria is still being kept under close wraps by
Blizzard, known to be named Tol’vir Proving Grounds and is found in
Uldum, but the two battlegrounds are almost finished (or entirely
finished) and considerable information is now available about them.

Silvershard Mine is a 10 versus 10 battleground located in an
abandoned Venture Company mine in Stranglethorn Vale.

In this battle, your team attempts to control three mine cars at the point
when they reach a depot at the edge of the battleground. This is a
highly tactical battleground which is meant to avoid the depressing
“foregone conclusions” that often plague Arathi Basin and the
Battle for Gilneas, in which it is usually impossible to reverse a
defeat once it has begun.

The other battleground is Temple of Kotmogu, another 10 versus 10
battleground whose setting is in the kung-fu panda-inhabited island
of Pandaria – specifically, in a zone named the Vale of Eternal
Flowers. This battleground is based on the infamous “Murderball”
PvP model, in which a lethal artifact must be held in order to keep
adding up victory points. The WoW variant adds the twist that more
points are earned based on how exposed to danger the carrier of the
deadly artifact is.

The complexities of Silvershard Mine

Silvershard Mine looks like an exciting choice for tactically
minded PvP players, since simply flailing about wildly, even if it
is with great strength, might well result in a loss to a team that
is more cunning. The battleground map includes a central location
from which mine cars spawn and move outwards along rail lines that
run outwards to depots around the edge of the map. At the start of
the game, three mine cars spawn and begin rolling in opposite
directions, along the tracks that lead to the depots.

A number of other tracks crisscross the battleground, all leading
ultimately to depots but taking longer and more complex routes.
Switches can be thrown at various points along the tracks to divert
the mine car onto one of the longer tracks (or, presumably, back to
the shorter routes if the switching is handled dexterously). This,
then, is the basic tactical material with which your team needs to
work.

Victory is achieved by earning three points. One victory point is
gained each time a mine car reaches a depot while under the control
of your team. Control of a mine car is gained in much the same way
as control of a base in Eye of the Storm – each mine car has a
control slider which is moved towards the Alliance or Horde side
according to the number of characters near it, though in this case
the “base” is a constantly moving object.

The ability to switch mine cars to different, longer tracks is
what adds tactical complexity to the battleground. Either side can
switch a mine car if they hold the switch lever. Accordingly, your
team will need to accomplish the following tasks, with better
timing than the enemy displays while achieving the same goals, in
order to win:

• Gain control of a total of three mine cars during the course of
the battle, or at least take control immediately before they reach
a depot.

• Keep control of mine cars that you have, and attempt to wrest
away control of those the enemy has if you need more to win or if
you are trying to prevent them from capturing three sooner than you
do.

• Delay the enemy team from capturing mine cars by switching them
over onto longer tracks.

• Keep the enemy team from delaying your mine cars by preventing
them from throwing the switch lever that will divert the cars onto
long, meandering tracks.

There are a number of factors to balance in order to achieve
victory, and given the nature of the battlefield, a stroke of
tactical brilliance or well-timed heroism (throwing the switch,
preventing the switch from being thrown, etc.) should be sufficient
to snatch last minute victory from the jaws of defeat, thus
providing both a robust challenge to experienced PvPers and a
fortunate freedom from the abominable “foredoomed conclusion” of
Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm, and the Battle for Gilneas.

**Pwn your adversaries in the Battlegrounds using these closely
guarded secrets, revealed publicly for the first time!**

Watch the video while it’s still up (Click)

“Murderball” in the Temple of Kotmogu

The Temple of Kotmogu is a battleground which takes place in a
temple or monastery in Pandaren territory. This is a “murderball”
contest in which victory points are earned by holding an “ancient
Mogu artifact” that begins the game at the center of the
battleground. Once this item is picked up, it increases the size of
the character bearing it, as well as his or her fighting prowess
and vulnerability to attacks. The artifact will also slowly kill
the character carrying it.

The temple is divided into different Point Zones, with varying
rates of victory point accumulation in each zone. In the central
courtyard – where the character with the artifact is most exposed
to the enemy team – 5 victory points are earned per unit of time.
The temple buildings on your side of the battleground are a Point
Zone where 3 victory points are earned per unit of time, while the
temple grounds, nearest to your spawn point, earn only 1 victory
point per unit of time.

Thus, tactics center around deciding where your artifact-bearer
can survive longest. The central courtyard offers the juiciest
victory point accumulation, but is a very vulnerable position.
Positioning the bearer near your spawn point is much safer, but
victory point accumulation will be very slow.

The third battleground

Azshara Crater is a battleground which has been partly in
existence since 2005, but has been repeatedly set back despite its
map existing in the game. Originally, there was talk that Azshara
Crater would be a third battleground in Mists of Pandaria, but the
luckless battleground has apparently been scrapped again, or at
least put on hold until a post-release patch.

However, Silvershard Mine and Temple of Kotmogu offer plenty of
exciting PvP action with a very different flavor from existing
World of Warcraft battlegrounds, and there will be plenty for PvP
enthusiasts to do in the months following Mists’ release.

Found this information interesting and helpful?

**Check out this shocking video to discover how to pull ahead
of the competition by applying these shockingly simple strategies.**

Watch it here (Click)

Rooting For You

Tony “T Dub” Sanders

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Cashing In When Mists Of Pandaria Launches

Posted on March 17, 2012 by admin

I know it’s kind of early, but I’m pretty excited about the next
expansion coming out this year. I’m ready to roll up a Pandaren
monk right now, actually, but one thing I’d like to do is make a
lot of gold when the expansion comes out, too.

Click Here To Get A Jumpstart On The Competition

It is most definitely not too early to ask about making a large
amount of WoW gold when Mists of Pandaria launches (probably in
time for Christmas this year). Nobody knows what crafting,
professions, and resources (herbs, minerals, etc.) are going to
look like between 525 and 600 skill level yet, but there are many
steps you can take now to prepare for a profitable future, using no
more than the professions that your characters have at this moment.

Just bear in mind that things can change rapidly and unexpectedly
when a new expansion hits the shelves. However, it is also one of
the moments in the game when a savvy virtual entrepreneur can make
a killing in the Auction House, whether or not they happen have a
goblin character!

Here are some of the best tips that I can offer at the moment.
Prepare for soaring demand for bags
Following an expansion, a large number of new characters are
always rolled up as millions of players try out the fresh, exciting
races that have become available to them. Draenei, blood elves,
worgen, goblins – all generated a lot of demand for “new character
gear”, and one of the most universally desired and purchased items
are large bags for new alts.

This means that tailors can expect to see a temporary but massive
demand for Embersilk Bags to outfit the several million new
Pandaren characters who will be rolled up across the world in the
week or two following the expansion’s retail release. Stockpile the
materials needed to make these 22-slotters now, so that you will
not need to purchase Embersilk and Hypnotic Dust at inflated prices
during the release period.

Those who are not tailors can get in on the “bag craze” by
stockpiling Hypnotic Dust and Embersilk as well, but in this case,
to sell it as raw materials to tailors rather than to use it
directly. There will be plenty of tailors who will see a bit late
which way the market is turning, and will be willing to pay high
prices on materials in order to capture a slice of the profits for
themselves.

Find out more here. (Click)

Sell to those who cannot afford “Mists” prices

Mists of Pandaria will be introducing plenty of new level
90/profession level 600 items, including inscriptions,
enchantments, gems, and other enhancements for character equipment.
Obviously, you cannot arrange to make these in advance, prior to
the retail release, and fighting your way to 600 in your
character’s professions will take too long to take full advantage
of the new expansion purchases.

Therefore, a good plan is to prepare to make desirable Cataclysm
enhancements. Older enchantments, after all, offer the same
benefits as the latest cutting edge enchantments, just at a toned
down level. Perhaps the latest enchantment offers +300 strength –
but at an immense price. There will be many people who will be
willing to pay a moderate amount to get +100 strength instead.
True, the enchantment is not as good as the latest equivalent, but
many people do not have tens of thousands of gold to spend on a few
enchantments. They are still a good market, however, since they do
have moderate amounts of gold and still want to enchant characters’
gear to help in dealing with the tough new content that Mists of
Pandaria will feature.

You can make a hefty profit and fill your coffers with virtual WoW
gold by aiming at these “middle of the road” sales with the best
Cataclysm items enhancements. Keep your materials raw at this point
until you can form an accurate judgment of the specific
enhancements in demand.

Maximize as many professions as possible

Though there are limits on which characters are eligible to “max
out” their professions, those who are high enough level to reach
525 in their professions should be taken there as quickly as
possible if you want to make large amounts of gold after the
expansion goes live. This will put you in a position to exploit
whichever markets happen to be profitable in the wake of Mists.
Stockpiling raw materials is an excellent plan too – at worst, you
can recoup your investment by selling these to other people whose
characters are leveling up their professions.

Getting a leveling jump on the competition

The sooner your character reaches endgame, the sooner you can
start acquiring exotic materials and recipes for your professions.
One way to get a boost in leveling after the expansion’s launch is
to complete 25 daily quests now, but do not turn them in yet. Wait
until after the expansion is installed and your character’s
experience points have been turned on again – then turn them in to
jumpstart your rush to the endgame with 25 quests’ worth of
experience.

If you’d like to position yourself to capitalize on breakthrough methods that will
rake in the big bucks once MoP rolls out the shelves, make sure to check out
the video below!

Secure your spot now (Click)

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Races and Talent Trees In Mists of Pandaria

Posted on February 22, 2012 by admin

Question from Christine Hia.

Hi Tony,

One thing I haven’t noticed in your newsletters is anything about
the new expansion that’s probably coming out later this year, Mists
of Pandaria. Do you have information about the new race, the
Pandaren? What about the big changes to the talent trees that I
hear Blizzard is planning?

Good afternoon, Christine,

Yes, Mists of Pandaria is one of the major upcoming news items
about World of Warcraft’s near future, and you’re perfectly right
that it’s time I wrote a newsletter about it. There are plenty of
things to be excited about – the addition of new levels, so that
maximum character level will now be 90; a whole new region of
Azeroth, Pandaria, to explore; and a new class, the Monk, to be
added to the roster, though the details about this class are still
sketchy and seem to indicate no more than that it has hints of
unarmed combat about it, and has DPS, healing, and tanking
specializations, making it a true hybrid class.

People are always most interested in the new races and the changes
to the talent trees when a new expansion is coming out, however, so
your questions are probably shared by many other members of our
readership.

Pandaren are among the most contentious races ever to be announced
for a World of Warcraft expansion, with many people expressing
outrage over adding them to the game as a “joke race” and others
defending the choice. At this point, though, the black and white
creatures look like they’re here to stay, so we should take a look
at the interesting things they have to offer.

Whether you plan to play one, or just want to know what to expect
when you square off against one in the battlegrounds, check out the
link below to learn more!

Gain an advantage in Mists of Pandaria and beyond (Click)

Pandaren and inner peace

Pandaren are unique among the World of Warcraft races thus far
introduced to the game in that they begin the game neutral, and the
player chooses which faction to join only when the character
completes the quests in the starting zones. Thus, there will be
both Alliance and Horde Pandaren, and members of the same race
will, for the first time, go head to head in the battlegrounds.

From a PvE perspective, Pandaren will likely make decent tanks,
since their Epicurean racial trait gives them double the normal
effect from stat boosting food. This means that they can gain
significantly more health from Stamina foods than other tanks,
giving them a slight but definite statistical edge in
survivability. The Gourmand racial trait, adding 15 to Cooking
skill, will probably ensure there are many Pandaren cooks.
PvP Pandaren will benefit from Quaking Palm, a 3 second “sleep”
effect (that is, a stun which is broken by damage). This will be
useful for interrupts, slowing flag carriers, and so on. The racial
trait Bouncy, which halves falling damage, will give Pandaren in
Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm a bit more survivability when
blown off a cliff by knockback effects.

Finally, Inner Peace (which also sinks any hopes that players
might have that the Kung Fu Panda cartoons will not be frequently
invoked in the game depiction of Pandaren) gives twice the normal
length of rested experience, meaning Pandaren characters will
probably achieve the level 90 realm first achievement in record
time.

Talent tree changes in Mists of Pandaria

Changes to the talent trees always cause alarm among long term
players who have grown accustomed to their play style, and there is
no denying that Mists of Pandaria includes another strong change to
the way talents are handled. However, this time, your overall
playstyle will be little affected, and there may even be slightly
more flexibility in the new system.

You will still pick one of three talent specializations to pursue,
with each offering unique abilities and a focus on one or another
roles or approaches to a role. These remain the familiar roles that
we are used to. For example, Holy Paladins are still good at
healing, Protection Paladins are AoE tanks, and Retribution
Paladins are melee DPS.

However, the talent trees are largely gone. Most of the talented
abilities have now been folded into the spell lists for each talent
spec, and are learned from the trainer at the appropriate level
rather than being talented. The talent trees were already so
limited that practically everyone was forced to take these talents,
anyway, following the Cataclysm changes, so the effect is basically
the same. Your Subtlety Rogue will still gain the same abilities at
roughly the same level, just that now they are bought from the
trainer rather than with talent points.

The spell lists for each class therefore have some spells which
are trainable for any talent spec, and some that are only trainable
for those who have chosen a specific specialization. Each class now
has 18 Talents, arranged into 6 Tiers of 3 Talents each. These
Tiers are unlocked at levels 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90
respectively. You can choose one talent from each tier, regardless
of your character’s overall specialization.

These talents are some of the choicest talents from the current
talent trees, with the addition of some new talents as well. For
example, Presence of Mind is now a first tier talent equally
available to frost, fire, and arcane mages. By contrast, Sickly
Polymorph (reduces health regeneration of the polymorphed target to
10% of normal), Heavy Polymorph (causes the target to be stunned
for 3 seconds when damaged), and Double Polymorph (a ¾ length
polymorph that affects two targets), are examples of the new
talents added for the expansion.

This change still does not provide you with much customization,
but there will be more than the complete cookie-cutter effect
currently used for talents in the game, which is a welcome change
for those who want to develop their own individual play style to
some extent at least – yet another exciting detail offered to those
who venture into the mysterious Mists of Pandaria.

Rooting For You

Tony ‘T-Dub’ Sanders

Gain an advantage in Mists of Pandaria and beyond (Click)

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Mists of Pandaria Gold Making Speculation

Posted on December 3, 2011 by admin

One of the biggest challenges Blizzard faces as Warcraft continues to expand in scope is giving players choices, but maintaining balance amid those choices. Every expansion brings change to the World of Warcraft. By looking at those changes, we can see trends that point to further development into the future. Some of the major trends we’ve seen so far:

  • Deep But Simple
    Talents have undergone changes with every expansion. What abilities do, how hard they hit, how many you get for “free” for choosing a spec, how you modify them have all been overhauled. The goal was to make talents easier to understand while bringing more depth to the game.
  • Accessibility
    Classic WoW was noted for it’s grind-y nature. You had to put in hours and hours of time to get anywhere and progress your character. New raids often required completing old ones to be able to access them. But over time, things like price reductions (mounts, training of skills), alternate progression (badges, more crafted gear) and new/changed features (Dungeon/Raid Finder, weekly valor caps, daily quest hubs, reduced XP for old content) all aim to remove the barrier of entry for people new to the game. Increasingly, it’s easier for new players to catch up to long-time players.
  • Balance and “Fairness”
    While Blizzard can never make all things equal, they strive as much as possible to do so. DPS numbers, class cooldowns, mobility and utility all need to be balanced. It’s the reason Druids lost their position as the sole battle res, why tank abilities were brought into line to provide similar tools, damage reducing cooldowns and raid survivability. Profession bonuses are all about equal so people don’t feel they have to take a certain combo to maximize their effectiveness in game.

These are just a few broad trends, but they have informed (and will continue to inform) the development of this game we love to play. What are their implications for gold-making in Mists of Pandaria? Some predictions for you:

Glyphs are not done being overhauled. 

Cataclysm changed glyphs from commodities to “skills” you learn. No longer did people need multiple copies of a glyph if they wanted to switch out glyphs. Instead, learn it once and change them whenever you want for the lost cost of about 9g by purchasing a reagent from the glyph vendors. Most classes, however, don’t have much choice in their glyphs. There are certain popular (read: mandatory) glyphs, so while there is an illusion of choice, in reality there isn’t much.

A quick look through the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator shows that many of the unpopular glyphs are being included as part of the base spell. Blizzard has even stated that they are considering removing prime glyphs in their current state because they are so uninteresting from a choice perspective. The entire system isn’t going away, however, so something is going to have to fill the gap to make glyphs an interesting/meaningful choice going forward. At a minimum, this could mean many new glyphs. But it could also mean a completely different concept for glyphs and what they do. Maybe there is a set of glyphs for your companion pets that ties into the new pet battle system.

All professions will have daily/weekly quests.

All of them. Cooking, Fishing, Jewelcrafting and Inscription already have them. The new Darkmoon Faire added profession skill-up quests to help ease the leveling of professions. It’s not hard to imagine all of the professions getting some sort of quest in MoP. I think a combination of weekly skill increases (+5 each week) coupled with a daily token system like Jewelcrafting would help people max their profession, while still allowing the dedicated trader to get a leg up by doing dailies.

Primary professions will have a weekly/daily craft cooldown.

Alchemy (Transmutes) and tailoring (Dream Cloth) have one already. Other professions will get one as a way to artificially limit supply. It will help casual auctioneers make more money off other players (an important point in the ongoing battle against hyper-inflation in Warcraft) rather than generating more money from NPCs (like the obsidium shuffle and 9g vendor gems). Too much gold coming into the economy from “created” sources (in other words, new money is created and given to the players from mobs, quests, vendor sales) leads to higher prices, making it harder for the average player to keep up with the “haves”.

Gathering professions will be buffed.

The end-game benefits of gathering professions lag too far behind the crafting professions. Blizzard is looking for ways to get people out into the world more and away from the capital cities. Buffing the benefits to gathering professions will help a bit. There’s talk that archeology could get random encounters at digsites with mummies or similar archeology-themed mobs. Killing the mob would result in more artifacts. Why can’t mining/herbing/skinning have a similar function added to make them more interesting? Maybe killing the mob gives a unique material (like a chaos orb) that gives some added value to the gathering professions. Skin enough mobs in an area and DEHTAmight show up to attack you. Fight them off and you get a buff to attack power against creatures to kill skinnable mobs faster.

I can also see the relationship of gathering/crafting professions becoming more closely linked, much like Mining/Blacksmithing. Smiths require a miner to smelt ore into bars. Why don’t other profession pairs have this relationship? It would encourage people to keep the gathering professions while making pairings on the same character more useful. A system like this could add some depth too, where some recipes required you have both the crafting and gathering profession on the same character through the use of some bind-on-pickup item.

Click Here To Get the Jump on Patch 4.3!

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Mists of Pandaria

Posted on October 22, 2011 by admin

Today, on Blizzcon, the developers finally revealed the next expansion. It is called Mists of Pandaria. They gave quite a lot of information about it, and this post will highlight the most exciting features. Also, I will go into a little theorycrafting on moneymaking in MoP (yes, that really is the correct abbreviation, WoW: MoP).

Features

  • Level cap increased to 90
  • New race: Pandaren: They look like pandas, and they will be available to both factions. Pandarens will start as neutral and they have to select a faction at level 10.
  • New class: Monk: Focused on martial arts, themed around chinese-japanese martial arts culture. Yes, they are a bit like Kung-fu Panda. They will have a tank, melee healer(evidently), and melee DPS spec. They will have a specific resource: chi. They will be able to wear only cloth and leather armor.
  • New continent: Pandaria: 5 zones, flying will only be available on level 90. There will be an AH and a bank on the new continent.
  • Pet battle system: You will be able to fight battles with your vanity pets. They will now gain xp, level up, and get abilities. The battle system will go somewhat like an arena for you pets. There might be item slots for you pets in the future, but it is uncertain.
  • Revised talent system: Talent trees are changed drastically. Instead of having to spend talent points every second level, every 15 level you will be able to choose from 3 different abilities. The specialization system will stay in place.
  • Stat changes: Resilience will be a primary stat.
  • Spells will be automatically learned, not from the trainer.
  • The spell book will be cleaned up, they’re getting rid of the abilities that are rarely used, and giving the players new ones.
  • Account achievements.
  • Raid finder for all raids.
  • Three raid difficulties.

PVE

The expansion will start with 9 5-man dungeons and 3 raids. HC Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery is coming.
There will be two new types of PVE activity called scenarios and challanges. Scenarios are like short instances where you will be given tasks such as slay 25 goblin, and then the boss, or get x amount of loot, etc. It is a bit like group questing. There will be new UI elements to facilitate this feature, and from what we’ve seen from the presentation, it will be quite amusing. The other new PVE activity is called challange. It is about completing a dungeon in x minutes. You will earn a bronze/silver/gold medal depending on how fast you did the instance. For every medal there will be different loot. Gear levels will be normalized to even out the challange. There will be a whole new UI for this feature too.

PVP

There will be one or more new battleground(s). They have three concepts layed out, none of which is final. The first one is a payload style map called the Stranglethorn Diamond Mines. The name says it all about the theme. The second one is the Valley of Power which will be located in one of the new zones. It is a murderball style battleground. The third one is called Azshara Crater. They didn’t give much information about this one.
There will be a new arena located in Uldum, called the Tol’Vir Proving Grounds. The layout will be pretty simple, much like in Nagrand Arena. There will be 4 LoS blockers.

Theorycraft

As someone who plays the game for making gold, a few things caught my attention.

  • First of all the possibility of having item slots for vanity pets. If this comes out, there is a good chances that items for pets will be acquired (among many other way) via crafting. In that case, it will be a great opportunity to make money, especially at the beginning of the expansion when all of this is new, and everyone will need these items.
  • The fact that they are making such changes in the talent system might suggest a change in the glyph system too. They did not say anything about this, but at least in my mind talents and glyphs go hand in hand. In that case we might be looking at anohter glyph rush.
  • Expanding the raid finder, and setting three difficulty levels for the raids means that a lot more people will get into raids. Many people who are now not raiding at all, might start either with PuGs, or with a guild at an easier level. This could mean a huge rise in demand for enchants, gems, armor kits, etc.

This is just a preliminary dissection, as only the first day of Blizzcon is over. I’m sure that there are more information coming, especially in the Q&A sessions. I’m hoping for more information about the professions and such, which could effect the future of “the business.”

Subscribe now and get the jump on Patch 4.3!

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