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<title>World of Warcraft forum - dslreports.com community</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/wowetc</link>
<description>World of Warcraft forum current topics</description>
<language>en</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2007, dslreports.com</copyright>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:39 EDT</pubDate>
<lastBuildDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:39 EDT</lastBuildDate>

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<item>
<title>4-year-old playing World of WorldCrap</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26868307</link>
<description><![CDATA[So we let my four year old play video games for an hour or so each night.  He used to play Mario, Transformers or SpongeBob, but as decided to take a break and play &#147;World of WorldCrap&#148; (yes he can&#146;t pronounce it right).  

I sit at the computer with him when he plays (I&#146;m glad he can&#146;t log in on his own) and it&#146;s really hard to resist the urge not to take over the controls.  He likes to go for boat rides, sleep in fountains, ride the IF to SW tram, kill cows 30 levels lower than him, do the Darkmoon fair cannon shoot and tank games, likes to swim with his mounts, likes to dance on mailboxes, he sits on every chair he can click on and lays in every bed he finds, in LFD&#146;s he often stops helping the group and instead runs around to go jump in puddles not carrying about agro,  in WSG he likes to stand near the house and wait for the green health/mana boost to spawn and run around with the spell effect showing, likes to steal the fast boots and run, etc.  In other words, he plays like much of the rest of the Alliance.

The point of my post is I&#146;m wondering if any of the rest of you have kids that you let play who are obviously way too young to play, but you let them anyway?   I&#146;m sure he is pissing off people in BG&#146;s and LFD&#146;s, does that make me a dick (not that I really care)?  Any suggestions on other things in game that would appeal to a four year old?]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26868307</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-08 10:27:10</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Your first title</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26863157</link>
<description><![CDATA[Just curious.  I started playing Wow at the tail end of Vanilla so I missed out on the original PvP titles.  

To answer the question, for me it was Champion of the Naaru.  I can't wait until these go battle.net wide so my main paladin can sport it :)  ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26863157</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-07 08:05:23</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>How do you control your WoW toon?</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26827982</link>
<description><![CDATA[Which is the easiest way if you use keybinds?

WASD? Or Hold down mouse button etc?

Thanks]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26827982</guid>
<pubDate>2012-01-29 15:53:00</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>WoW Loses 100k Subscribers, Subscriber Decline Slows</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26874608</link>
<description><![CDATA[From WoWHeadNews:
The Activision Blizzard quarterly call was today and it seems like the subscription drops have slowed down for the time being. World of Warcraft is only down 100,000 subscribers this past quarter unlike the past three quarters where World of Warcraft lost 600k, 300k, and finally 800k subscribers last November. Of course, this isn't surprising, given 4.3 dropped during this time along with the yearly subscription promotion where players got a free copy of Diablo III in exchange for committing to a year of World of Warcraft game time.

Keep in mind, however, this is still a disappointing result. Many people were anticipating a momentary increase in subscribers, but it was still a minor decline despite a large patch and many new features.

Other points of note:

    *There are approximately 50 million monthly active users across Battle.net
    *World of Warcraft has around 10.2 million subscribers

Keep in mind, this could change, as Morhaime has not spoken yet--but this is from the opening slides. We will update this post with more things if the call proves to reveal further about Mists of Pandaria or further numbers.I'm not worried at all, and still love the game. Just thought some of you might like a good read before heading home from work.

edit:grammar is tough.
--
Immergruen (resto/kitty) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
"You never truly know someone... until you fight them"
]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26874608</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-09 17:02:06</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>[Theory] Dev Watercooler with GC - the Role of role</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26873370</link>
<description><![CDATA[I pulled this from Icy-Veins
Blizzard Official WoW Blog
Dev Watercooler -- The Role of Role
The Deluge

A monsoon is coming. We will soon inundate you with Mists of Pandaria information, starting with the upcoming media event and everything that follows. It's going to be a very exciting time for World of Warcraft, and we are all super impatient for it to happen.

But... we're not quite there yet. I want to make that clear upfront, because this blog isn't directly Mists of Pandaria related. You won't find any announcements here, just a philosophical discussion that you may or may not find interesting. If you're looking for thrilling announcements, you know what I'm going to say: Soon&#153;.
Multiple DPS Roles

I said this blog isn't directly relevant though, because I want to discuss a topic that we did struggle with a lot during Mists development, and indeed through most of World of Warcraft. We have classes with multiple DPS specs, and for mage, warlock, hunter, rogue, warrior and death knight, there isn't even a melee vs. ranged distinction between those DPS specs. The question comes up all the time: "what is the role of these roles?" I don't think there is a right answer here, and we've even changed the design a few times over the last several years. Again, I'm not couching this in terms of an imminent announcement or anything. This is fundamentally one of those designs that could go in a lot of different directions. It's something we discuss a lot, and we figured given the strong opinions of our forum-posting community, many of you probably do as well.

A paladin can choose from among specs that let her be a tank, melee DPS or healer, and can shift around which role she fills in a raid or BG team from week to week. Through the Dual Spec feature, she can even do so within a single evening. If her group doesn't need another healer, or if she needs a break from tanking, she can become a DPS spec fairly easily without having to swap to a different character. A warlock doesn't have that luxury. Yet, the warlock still has three specs. Is the idea, then, that you are supposed to swap from Destruction to Demonology and back depending on the situation? Is the idea that you play Affliction if you like dots and Destruction if you like nukes? Or do you just switch to whatever theoretically does 1% more DPS for the next fight?

Players are sometimes cavalier about throwing around the claim that there's a "lack of design direction" when they want their character buffed. Of course, classes always have a design direction; players just sometimes disagree with it. My point is that just because we debate whether the current design is the best possible one doesn't mean there isn't a design at all. That distinction is important. And of course, we do have a directive for which DPS spec you should play: whichever one you enjoy the most. But that doesn't mean that is the best model or that it can't ever change. There are other models we could try.
Model One &#150; Everyone is equal all the time

If your DPS and utility are the same across specs, then you just play whichever one you prefer. Maybe you like the kit of the Frost mage, or maybe you like the rotation of the Fury warrior, so you play them. As I said above, this has been the model we have used for a while now, with mixed success. The challenge is that "all the time" caveat. We can get all of the DPS specs pretty close together on target dummies, and indeed they actually are very close on target dummies today. Our encounters aren't target dummies though. Having some adds increases the damage of dot-specs. Having lots of adds increases the damage of strong AE specs. Having to move on a fight, and how often and far you have to move, can cause DPS to go up or down differently. Even if DPS is only off by a few percentage points, many players will respec to the one with the highest DPS (even if it's theoretical, even if for them they will do lower personal DPS than if they had stuck with a more familiar spec). A mage who just loves Fire might be frustrated if he ever has to go Arcane, while another player might be happy that he gets to try different specs for different fights.

The class stacking we've seen on the Spine of Deathwing encounter relates to the need for massive burst damage in a specific window, such that the difference between a one minute DPS cooldown and a two minute DPS cooldown matters. Even if we could make sure every spec had the same AE vs. single target damage, do we now need to also ensure every spec can do the same DPS in burst windows of various lengths? Is that even mathematically possible? Or do we just test every spec for every raid encounter of the current tier and tweak class mechanics around for whatever is the current status quo? That implies a high rate of change, and I wonder if we'd lose a little bit of the fun of experimentation and theorycrafting if it was basically accepted that you could take any spec to any fight and do about the same damage. It's more balanced, yes, but does it lack depth or flavor? Is it fun?
Model Two &#150; Everyone has specialties and you match the spec to the situation

Under this model, we would establish spec specialties. For example, Arcane could be good for single-target fights while Fire is great at AE fights. Some of that design already exists in the game, but we try not to overdo it. If you really like playing one mage spec, or really detest constant spec swapping, then this model isn't going to be to your liking. Furthermore, we don't want to overstrain our boss design by having to meet a certain quota of AE vs. single target fights and movement vs. stationary fights and burn phase vs. longevity fights or whatever. It is also really hard to engineer these situations in Arenas or Battlegrounds (for example, both mobility and burst are extremely desirable in PvP), so in those scenarios there still may just be one acceptable spec.
Model Three &#150; You swap specs to gain specific utility

If we used this model, then you might switch out to a different spec to gain a specific spell. Again, we have some of this today. A DK might want Unholy's Anti-Magic Zone for a certain fight. Hunters might go Beastmaster to pick up a missing raid buff. Mages might go Fire for situations where Combustion shines. Druids might go Balance when they need the knockback from Typhoon. A little of this sort of thing goes a long way though. As in Model One, not every player wants to have to swap specs. If you just like Survival, you might resent having to go BM to just to buff someone. If knockbacks are too potent, then it really constrains your raid composition and makes even casual guilds feel like they need to keep a stable of alts or benched players for every fight. If, for example, there wasn't a boss in the current raid tier for which warrior abilities really shine, then warriors start to feel like a third wheel, yet trying to make sure every boss in a tier has a moment for every spec to shine is a pretty daunting task.

The extreme case of this is the "utility" spec who does middling DPS, but brings a lot of synergy and utility that improves all of the other specs. This was the Burning Crusade model, where classes like shaman and Shadow priests were brought to raids just to make the pure classes (and warriors, who were always treated as pure classes back then for some reason) do better DPS. In Lich King, we changed the design to make different raid buffs and abilities more widespread and give groups much more flexibility in their raid (and to some extent dungeon) comps. We heard from Shadow priests that they wanted to do competitive damage, not just be there to make everyone else more awesome. But even today we get a lot of requests to improve the utility of someone's spec so that they are more likely to get invited to a group.
Model Four &#150; There is just a best spec for PvP and PvE

This was the model of vanilla World of Warcraft, and we understand some players wouldn't mind it returning. In this model Arms and Frost and Subtlety (and other specs) were designed to be good for PvP, while others, Fury and Fire and Combat perhaps, were designed to be good for PvE. The PvP specs might have better mobility or survivability or burst damage, while the PvE specs have better sustained damage over the course of a 6-10 minute boss fight. A lot has changed since vanilla. We don't make many raid or dungeon encounters these days where DPS specs can just stand in one place and burn down a boss. Mobility, survivability, and burst damage can all be really useful on particular encounters, sometimes trumping the higher DPS offered by a competing spec. (There's that old adage that dead do zero DPS.) In addition, if there is a PvP spec and a PvE spec, then for pure classes that implies that your third spec lacks much of a role. (The good leveling spec? Is that exciting?) Furthermore, our Mists of Pandaria talent tree design explicitly takes away some of the tools from the traditional PvP specs and makes them available to other specs in the class. If this works out, then you can take your Frost mage raiding, or have an Arcane mage for PvP who uses some of what traditionally were Frost's control and escape tools. That's great if you PvP and love Arcane, or PvE and love Frost. It's less cool if you were the kind of player who was totally comfortable with the simpler (and possibly easier to balance) design of having dedicated PvP vs. PvE specs.
Model Five &#150; Don't have multiple DPS roles

This is the most controversial model and the one that would require the most change, meaning we are almost certainly never going to do it. For sake of completeness though, you can argue that classes never should have been designed with multiple specs that fill the same role. In this model, either Arms or Fury goes away and gets replaced with something. (Archery? Healing?) Warlocks and other pure classes would need a massive redo to end up with say a melee and tanking warlock. Everyone becomes a hybrid. The hardest decisions becomes whether you want to be the ranged or melee DPS version of your class (like druids or shaman). This idea is elegant from a design perspective because it un-asks all of those questions about how much more damage pure classes should do than hybrids to justify their narrower utility. But, perhaps counter-intuitively, elegant designs often aren't the strongest ones (I could write a whole blog on that topic alone). Model Five is the kind of rhetorical question you could go back in time and ask before WoW launched, but not the kind of thing we could change today without taking an enormous amount of effort, to say nothing of the irate players who would feel bamboozled that we were so dramatically changing their character out from under them. I try to never say never, but this model isn't the kind of change you make in a mature game. It's here only for completeness and because I suspect some of you will bring it up.
But Which is the Best Model?

Hell if I know! I fundamentally believe that none of these models is, without question, the obvious right one. All of them have advantages and disadvantages, and there are probably other models you could come up with that are variants on these five, or perhaps even something new. Like I said, we're not announcing a philosophy change yet. If we get enough feedback for one model or another, we might eventually change our minds. Also for this blog we're going to lock the comments and ask that you post your replies in this forum thread. Just remember that even we don't believe that there is one correct answer, so please keep that in mind when you're composing your feedback.

Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street is the lead systems designer for World of Warcraft and holds the world record Wild Strike crit... at least until beta starts.
--
Immergruen (resto/kitty) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
"You never truly know someone... until you fight them"
]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26873370</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-09 12:36:29</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>[Cataclysm] Arcane mage 4 piece</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26868113</link>
<description><![CDATA[Hey guys. My guild needed a mage so I just switched over to playing my mage again to try to help the guild. I  just recently got my 4 piece and I am a little confused as to how I should alter my rotation now. Arcane mages are hard right? No but rly does anyone know how I should work in my arcane power now? Do I juse spam arcane blast for the duration of arcane power during my mini burn? Or do I use arcane power on CD and just continue my reg conserve phase? Thanks]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26868113</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-08 09:29:26</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>[Panda Thing] Panderan DKs</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26868282</link>
<description><![CDATA[i assume that they can be but anyone know for sure that they will be allowed to be, because it really will not fit the timeline of the lore for them to be one, just curious.
--
Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau!
I've lost the bleeps, I've lost the creeps and I've lost the sweeps.]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26868282</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-08 10:21:44</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Switcher</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26852333</link>
<description><![CDATA[So after 6 years of playing Horde full time, I am moving to alliance... but only on 1 toon; to play with Immer more often.  I think of it as a gateway drug. So long Sanctitie.  Just wondering what ya'lls  past experiences are when switching sides?
--
For Rogues, by Rogues, to be used at the Rogue drive through when you order a side-order of Rogue.]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26852333</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-03 23:42:12</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>new idea for rogue help</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26864206</link>
<description><![CDATA[my other posts helped a little but then i would read the next post and it would get me confused so lets start over

i am a new rogue lvl thirty tell me EVERYTHING i need to know for pvp do not leave out any details please i want to know everything there is to know about this class and how to be the best i can]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26864206</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-07 12:21:39</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Key Binding</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26869224</link>
<description><![CDATA[I have been a long time dps clicker besides my hunter.  A long time click tanker.  Memorizing where the buttons  are, is trick for me.  I have been a long time keybinder when it comes to heals, mainly because I use 1-7 and my f keys which are reachable.

I was tanking on an alt last night and decided to try to change it up a little bit.  I usually rest my wrist/hand on my keyboard.  I decided to actually play with my hand in the air and mash keys and use  nothing but my mouse to move and turn.  I found that with some practice this could be a lot easier and would be able to place more binds on the keyboard when I run out of my numbers.  I am trying to get away from clicking all together.

edit, I have a;so never used assist macros when it comes to dps. What's the best way to do this?

Also having my wrist/bottom of my palm resting on my laptop creates a mean callous and can get painful after a few hours of playing.  Anyone else have similar problems or play with their hand not resting on something??]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26869224</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-08 13:27:58</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>my rogue needs ur help</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26849549</link>
<description><![CDATA[ok i have a rogue that is lvl 24 and i am using bgs to level him and get him pvp gear im not good at taking down hunters mages or palidens or warriors and i would like you to tell me how and what spec and spells to use and put on my action bar i use the numbers 1-8 on it ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26849549</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-03 12:07:27</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>iPad WoW Themes</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26862777</link>
<description><![CDATA[Hi All,

I'm looking for an iPad wow theme but can't seem to find one, is there anyone who knows how to get one or anyone how could make one?

Thanks in advnaced.]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26862777</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-07 00:57:58</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Salty updates?</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26860538</link>
<description><![CDATA[I was wondering if there have been any updates on strategy or any nerfs to the "Salty" acheiv lately?  I still need only "the one that got away", but have had zero luck with it and am really getting sick of fishing pools in Howling Fjord.  Does the rare fish drop in Cata pools so at least I could be making money while I fish?  Or do I have to do pools at all?

I assume the fishing bots people used to use are still against the ToS, too bad :(

I'd go to El's Extreme Angling to check but its websensed for me.  Thanks for any tips or thoughts.]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26860538</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-06 15:58:57</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>[Raiding] LFR asshattery</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26783193</link>
<description><![CDATA[So LFR has been out for about 6 weeks now, and to be honest its a very good system. However the amount of asshattery that i have witness over those said weeks from a some raiders has been mind numbing.

Loot Hording : Dudes with equal or higher level gear needing on tier tokens/gear so they can either :

Trade it.
Vendor it so others wont have it.

(This seems to be a growing trend)

-
Guild Stacking : Bringing 10+ members of your guild so you can control the loot via Kicks and mass needing

(my guild does this twice a week with 20+ people each time)

-
Oh shoot, am dead again: Getting killed in the first few seconds of an encounter so you can AFK and still roll on loots.

-
Deathwing!! Do a barrel roll! : Spinning DW to cause a wipe on spine.

-
Anti Hentai Movement : Killing all the tenacles on spine.

-
Dude look! its Green : Attacking the wrong ooze.

-
Deeps Derping Out : DPS that will NOT switch to adds in any of the boss fights (last claw/DW head in Madness, adds in unsleeping, every other fight)

-
Button?!?! : Players ignoring the ultraxion mechanic expecting heals to just keep them up (via Immergruen)

-
I think if i stare at it long enough.... : Players Holding up loot by keeping the chest open. (via cigtyme)

-
RAGE!!!!! : Kicking players for out healing/DPS'ing you and your guildmates (via Beardsley)

Has anyone else seen this and is there an way to counter it (By the Player and/or blizzard)?

It is somewhat annoying to lose a souldrinker to a fury warrior or a tier token to a druid so he can start on his offset.
--
"There is no good. No Evil. No Light. There is only PIE"]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26783193</guid>
<pubDate>2012-01-18 11:19:57</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>World Event</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26856637</link>
<description><![CDATA[So, I have never done a world event completely.  The Valentines one is here and I thought I might try it out after the Super Bowl.  Is it a pain in the ass grind one, where you have to go every where to get it done? ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26856637</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-05 13:44:15</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>[Raiding] DragonSoul Raid Progression Thread (4.3)</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26603513</link>
<description><![CDATA[Keep out the BS.... go!]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26603513</guid>
<pubDate>2011-11-30 10:19:52</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>[Raiding] Opinion needed</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26858904</link>
<description><![CDATA[Background info:

I left my current raiding guild due to differences with GM. Basically I was told my job as the raid leader is just to lead during the instance and outside of that , they were going to do things they way they wanted this included:

1. Deciding who went to the raid.
2. Deciding when breaks where taken (which meant a 7 minute break for almost every 40 minutes of raiding)
3. Deciding what we raided.

This was a guild that was 1/8 in FL before I came in as raid lead and I took the raid team  to 7/8 FL and then 5/8 DS before the nerf.  At this point we raided 2 nites a week / 2 hours a nite.

I said no thanks and left.  Between that time and now , someone transferred their dead guild over , a lvl 17 , and we (the wife and me) , agreed to help recruit and build a raid team.  He made us officers and off we went.  The downside is the GM here is only on during the weekends and does not want to raid due to latency as he is working away from home.  This has gone on for about 2 months now.

Current situation is I found a guild with an old ingame friend that needs a raid lead.  I moved my main toon over to that guild and starting leading the raids and the first nite we went 4/4 in DS where before they were barely getting 2/4.  I have been given free rein as far as raid nites / who goes to the raids and what we raid.  Both myself and the wife are officers in the guild. This guild is level 19 almost 20.

My problem is do I owe anything to the other guy who transferred over his guild or should I just concentrate on helping out the current guild since it is more established , has more members and they are more committed to raiding.

What do you guys think?]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26858904</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-06 09:12:38</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Personal and main pics</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26753578</link>
<description><![CDATA[As promised, here are pics of me. And for the sake of forum topic I included one of my main in SW.]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26753578</guid>
<pubDate>2012-01-10 22:02:09</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Blue Posts / News for 7 FEB. Mages, Achievements now Account</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26863102</link>
<description><![CDATA[From 
said by MMO champion :Blue Posts
-
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment 
Mages and Arenas
Just off the top of my head, this is how diminishing returns works for mages:

Deep Freeze is on the stun diminishing returns. 
Ring of Frost and Polymorph are on the disorient DR. 
The mage Frost Nova and the Water Elemental's Freeze are both on the root DR. 
Improved Cone of Cold and Shattered Barrier are on the random root DR. 
There are also several snares which are not affected by DR, such as Frostbolt 

The random root DR mentioned is actually a separate category to normal roots. We reserve this only for effects that are procs, instead of those that are the general effect of a spell. This is a very subtle and subjective classification that often comes down to simply what feels right. 

Currently, we think that Frost mages have too much control in PvP. This is just something that has grown over time because we always felt that these "chilling" and "freezing" effects should naturally slow you down. Part of the design that we are implementing with the Mists of Pandaria talent changes are to move some of that control Frost mages have to the talent tree. This means it will be possible for a Frost mage to choose these options, but they come at the expense of others, Arcane and Fire mages also have the opportunity to get those control choices as well! :O

The overall effect of this is that Arcane and Fire should stay about neutral in regards to their control, but frost will lose some of it. On the other hand though, it is possible for a Frost's damage to go up and be competitive with that of the other mages if they do not go for the control talents. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums) 

-

Inscription and Glyph Discovery
Back in May of 2010, we began tossing around ideas about how to improve Inscription. But at that time, Mists of Pandaria was still in the early stages of character talent development. As that was hashed out, it directly affected how we were then able to approach potential Inscription and glyph changes. As a matter of fact, at one point during the discussions, glyphs were going to be removed altogether. That then evolved into the idea of Prime glyphs being removed, Major glyphs being adjusted such that their added bonuses did not affect talents, and Minor glyphs being revamped so they felt more interesting.

Have no fear, I have been assured that Inscription and glyph discovery are being actively discussed in preparation for upcoming changes with Mists of Pandaria. This comes with one albeit relieving caveat: Glyphs that are now learned solely through the Book of Glyph Mastery are planned to be available through the Northrend and Minor research dailies. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

-

Account-wide Achievements
With Mists of Pandaria, account-wide achievements will indeed become available at the Battle.net account level, and many achievements will be shared among characters. A wide array of achievements will certainly be covered, including achievements that relate to everything from raiding and PvP to maxing out professions and assorted fun challenges. We really love the idea that players will at last be able to proudly display proof of the full scope of their adventures around Azeroth, regardless of which character they choose to play on any given day.

While we are still working out the details regarding how various specific achievements will interact with the new system, once we have a bit more information to share with you, we&#146;ll certainly let you know. 

-

Why Mists of Pandaria?
First, for some context, we showed a lot of pandaren at BlizzCon because that was the art we had completed at the time (and obviously it's the new playable race). Are there pandaren all over the new continent? Of course. There are also some really unique cultures and new races, including some very diabolical villains in the form of the mogu, the mantid, and the sha.

As a few posters have pointed out, Pandaria starts out relatively unspoiled. (spoiler!) That isn&#146;t going to last. The Horde versus Alliance conflict is going to continue to ratchet up in a way we've often talked about, but never really delivered before now. It gives the story more depth (we hope!) when you get to see the &#147;before&#148; before the &#147;after.&#148;

The new continent has a heavy Asian vibe, but it&#146;s still a fantasy game and there are some very fantastic and original landscapes as well. The last few zones in particular are what we like to call "high concept." You won&#146;t find anything like them in the real world.

With all that said, you might still be asking, "why MoP?"

We think, more than seven years into World of Warcraft's life cycle, it's time to start some new stories. Previous expansions relied heavily on heroes and villains established in the Warcraft RTS games. We aren&#146;t content to rest on our laurels though. We want to introduce some new characters to get to know. We want to have some new enemies to fight. Perhaps, most importantly, we want to start sowing the seeds for future stories. Nothing is lamer than finding out that the boss you're supposed to kill is someone you've never heard of. It&#146;s a lot more fun when you get to know the bad guys, get a reason to hate them, and feel like you're thwarting their diabolical plans and not just killing them for loot.

We've focused a lot on the lighter side of Mists of Pandaria as a contrast to the world-ending vibe of Cataclysm. It&#146;s not all unicorns and butterflies however. There are dark secrets lurking beneath the new continent, and in some ways they're even more insidious, because you get to experience the beautiful new landscapes before they become threatened and sometimes even destroyed.

To summarize, we provided you all with a very basic framework for the next expansion at BlizzCon. By the time the press tour ends in March, expect to get a lot more information on the real meat of this expansion. It won't be correctly summarized by a portrait of a smiling panda chewing on bamboo. 

Phasing is one of the most powerful tools in the designer toolkit. But like many powerful tools, it can cause great damage if used incorrectly. We definitely have overdone it in the past.

There is some phasing in Mists, but we try to take care not to separate friends, create ghosted mining nodes, and similarly disrupt your gameplay. What we were really referring to by the &#147;dark secrets&#148; is the way the story unfolds. The story in Cataclysm was something players knew from the outset -- Deathwing is back. The players were still heroes trying to undo some of the damage he caused, but they also still largely reacted to the things Deathwing and his minions had already done. In Mists we're attempting to take that one step further and have the world react to the players, and not just have the players react to the world. It gives the game a dynamic, &#147;alive&#148; feeling which is very much needed in a persistent-world game.

Some of the changes we&#146;re talking about aren't going to happen right away, but we&#146;ll build toward them in subsequent patches. While you can&#146;t truly keep story secrets in this business, we're trying not to spoil the surprises too early. In retrospect, we&#146;ve taken a little bit of flak for this approach, because the misconception among some players is that the new continent has no conflict. There is plenty of conflict, but a lot of it begins when you arrive (rather than in Cataclysm, where great cracks in Azeroth appeared before your adventuring began). 

 
--
"There is no good. No Evil. No Light. There is only PIE"]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26863102</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-07 07:18:58</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>[Cataclysm] LUA for dummies</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26860953</link>
<description><![CDATA[Many of us here are quite proficient with using/critiquing Addons. I currently get all of mine through Curse.com, and I use their client to manage my addons.

My question to the forum is, "Are any of you proficient in reading/scripting/configuring the actual addons?"

If no one is, then this should be an astoundingly short thread. I'm looking to get better at troubleshooting (and anticipating) crashes and errors... but I could really use a primer of sorts.

anyhoo... thanks in advance.
--
Immergruen (resto/kitty) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
"You never truly know someone... until you fight them"
]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,26860953</guid>
<pubDate>2012-02-06 17:16:19</pubDate>
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