Where as a young monk in training we endeavored to rescue the island our people lived on, which also happened to be a turtle, here we begin a fight against a malevolent force known as the Sha, essentially evil spirits which both feed off of and generate negative emotions. Perhaps most prominent of these emotions is hatred, something which also happens to be in no short supply among the Horde and Alliance fighting over who will possess the new found land making me curious to see if this factors into the story at some point in the future.

Our battle is not solely against the Sha themselves however, but also those controlled by the Sha such as the Yaungol (Basically Tauren) and Saurok (Lizard People) in addition to the conflict between Horde and Alliance as well as their allies and with others such as the Hozen and Virmen. Finally, given the prominent martial arts aspects of the expansion what with the inclusion of the new Monk class, a number of quests also involve challenging yourself to become stronger with the expected amusing parodies of the genre.

As with the Pandaren starting area, the new regions are quite beautiful to look at with a number of forests, plains and mountainous regions. As far as the actual leveling experience I particularly enjoyed the humorous tone which the vast majority of the quests take on, although this does make it a bit hard to take the actual story behind the expansion very seriously given that at least 90% or more of the dialogue and content is poking fun at itself rather than truly emphasizing the seriousness of the enemy. Of course none of this is new to World of Waracraft, but I would say that this expansion feels particularly this way.

In addition to the prominent humor, MOP gives us a few new quest types such as one in which you play the role of sniper, supporting an ally dwarf as he makes his way through enemy territory by taking out the approaching enemies from afar. MOP also brings a welcome new feature in the form of bosses which provide quest credit to any player who hits it before it dies rather than solely the first player or team to tap the mob, making it much easier to get quests done in crowded zones and encouraging a measure of cooperation even across factions as every player stands to gain.

Despite the fact that the beta is missing a considerable amount of content which is still under development including key features such as the pet battle system, I would say that I’m already rather optimistic about what Pandaria has to offer.

As I mentioned above, Diablo 3 has incredibly high expectations to fulfill given the success of its predecessor, expectations which it fulfills to varying degrees. As far as the gameplay goes, it’s very much a Diablo game in spite of some changes that seem distinctly similar to World of Waracraft such as the inclusion of ‘Fury’ for Barbarians which is charged, as you might expect, by dealing damage and is used to fuel a number of abilities most of which are carried over from Diablo 2 in one form or another.

Diablo 3 is a more streamlined experience than its predecessor, disallowing some of the character customization offered in D2 in favor of allowing you access to all abilities although you are only allowed to ‘equip’ a limited number at any one time. Whichever abilities you choose can be freely swapped out for alternatives at any time. What this does is make each character more versatile and prevent you from accidentally destroying your character by misplacing skill points in the wrong ability, but also somewhat diminishes individual creativity and decision making.

Ultimately I would consider it a net positive, and the addition of Skill Runes to each ability which augment the effect in various ways from adding damage or stun effects to changing the creature summoned by a spell allow you to distinguish yourself from others of the same class.

While every class aside from the Barbarian is technically new, you can easily see the influence of now removed classes in their design as each of the new classes seems to be something of a mixture of the older ones, the Demon Hunter’s abilities resembling those of the Amazon and Assassin for example.

The actual launch of the game has unfortunately been marred by a number of server issues which, due to the design of the game making it mandatory to be online even for the single player, is more troubling that it might have been otherwise. However these issues are quickly clearing up and I think that the gameplay more than makes up for a few launch day problems, most of which are a result of the massive number of people seeking to log on and play the game.

Diablo 3 has some new features worth noting such as a crafting system, a welcome addition, and a region wide Auction House with the real money auction house scheduled to open soon. The mercenaries of the old game return as the Templar, Scoundrel, and Enchantress, now thankfully reviving themselves rather than costing you a potential fortune each time they die, which can be fairly often as I’m sure veterans of Diablo 2 will remember.

I should note that they are designed solely for the single player experience as the companions are unavailable when one or more players join your game, something I find unfortunate as even if his actual effectiveness is much lower than that of a player character I rather enjoy the banter the scoundrel provides. You can have one companion at a time and each companion wears different forms of equipment, which you’re able to customize along with their abilities.

All in all I think that Diablo 3 will be a satisfying experience for players experienced wtih Diablo 2 as well as for people looking to try a Diablo game for the first time and I would recommend taking a look at the game if you haven’t already.

The new regions introduced in Mists of Pandaria, both the Pandaren starting area atop what you find out is a massive, moving turtle, and the new continent for everyone level 85-90, have a refreshing visual design to them. The obvious Chinese influence in the architecture and terrain of the new continent and starting area help breathe new life into the game, providing a welcome change from what we’ve become used to in Azeroth, Outland, and Deepholm.

While admittedly not everything about the leveling experience was fluid given that a number of quest areas simply end without further guidance in addition to some quests being outright broken, I found that the humor and innovation Blizzard employed in the quests was enough to make even someone like myself with over seven years time to grow bored of leveling grind enjoy himself immensely.

I’ll comment further on some of the new types of quests when I go over the my experiences from level 85-89 in depth, but to put it simply I had fun and that’s exactly what I wasn’t expecting going into the beta, being rather cynical about the concept of the Pandaren as a whole as well as having long extinguished my interest in reaching the new level cap brought with each expansion.

To come to the point, the Pandaren starting area is basically a low level version of what you’ll be doing on the level 85-90 continent in that it involves Pandas, rodents with strange attachments to vegetables, and alcohol. Also fun.

As I mentioned above the entire starting area is in fact a gigantic moving turtle, and the primary quest chain you’ll be completing relates to your quest to rescue this turtle from death after it suffers a mysterious injury. Eventually you’ll discover that this injury is the product of a massive Alliance airship crashing into the side of the turtle, bringing with them the faction politics of the Horde and Alliance that we’ve come to know and love.

After completing a series of quests where you help both Horde and Alliance survivors before healing the Turtle of its injury to ensure the safety of your people, you’re allowed to choose which faction you wish to join. While playing the beta I was unable to use my favorite leveling guide, but once the game is fully released you’ll be able to benefit from its guidance in navigating the new content in Pandaria.

The talent system is being completely revised, more so than when Cataclysm hit. All those 41 points spent (at 85) wil go poof, though some will be retained as spec specific abilities. Of course, everything might change between now and launch, but that’s where the fun is, right?

Subtlety Rogues, for example, will have ten unique talents and all Rogues will share some talents that were previously reserved for the particular specs. As to their primary abilities… Sub Rogues will get Backstab, Hemo, Find Weakness, and Shadowdance.

Will they still be the PvP machines that they were in Cataclysm? That remains to be seen, but some of the abilities do look well designed for ganking. The talents can be picked by any spec of Rogue, so some Assassination Rogues will be able to Shadowstep and some Sub Rogues won’t. (You can play with a Mists talent calculator here.)

Time will tell…

The Subtlety Rogue Spec

Each spec of each class has a set of four abilities specific to their specialization, which you’ll see in the talent panel. They also get several spec specific talents that are added into the abilities list. These are in addition to the group of abilities that all rogues will share and also in addition to the pool of talents that any spec can pick from.

It looks like each spec will have ten unique abilities. Since this is from early Mists Beta these talents may well change. Also note that there are no points to spend within any one abilitity or talent. Honor Among Thieves, for example, is no just like any other ability, you have it or you don’t. This means that you will have…

• The usual “all Rogues have these” abilities
• About ten abilities specific to your spec
• 6 total talent points to spend, at level 90.

It looks like each spec will have ten unique abilities. Since this is from early Mists Beta be aware that these talents may well change. Also note that there are no points to spend within any one abilitity or talent. Honor Among Thieves, for example, is just like any other ability, you have it or you don’t. The above talents are:

• Backstab: Works as before, must be behind the opponent and must have a dagger in the main hand. Note that this means that Combat and Assassination Rogues will not have access to Backstab
• Hemorrhage: Basic Sub strike, adds a bleed effect.
• Find Weakness:  Bypass 70% of armor when attacking with Abbush, Cheap Shot, or Garrote. Lasts for 10 seconds.
• Shadowdance : Use Ambush and other “attack when stealthed” abilities out of stealth for 8 seconds. Ambush energy cost of reduced.

 Other Sub Rogue specific abilities (not talents) are:

• Eviscerate - Fishing strike, uses your CPs to whack the opponent.
• Premeditation - adds two CPs to your target
• Energetic Recovery - while your Slice and Dice is active you gain 8 Energy every 2 seconds.
• Honor Among Thieves - Crits done by party members add a CP to your target.
• Sanguinary Vein - Your attacks do more damage to a target that has a bleed effect already on it.
• Sinister Calling - Increases total agility by 30%
• Mastery: Executioner

The Subtlety Rogue Talents

All Rogues get to pick one talent, from three choices, at each of levels 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90.

This means that you will have 6 talent picks and only six talent points, down from 41 in Cataclysm and 71 in Wrath of the Lich King. This will make it simpler for us and it makes the programming work a lot easier for Blizzard. No longer will you be able to spend varying amounts of points in any given talent. Now you will either have the whole thing or not have it. Simple.

Subtlety Rogues have traditionally been about PvP, though they do well in Cataclysm PvE. So let’s grab some talents for my 85 Rogue.

• Nightstalker, for the faster movement while stealthed. Faster movement is always good.
• Subterfuge allows your stealth to break 3 seconds after attack, rather than instantly.
• Shadowfocus allows abilities to use no energy while stealthed.
• Nerve Strike - After Kidney Shot or Cheap Shot fades the victim will still do 50% less damage for 6 seconds.
• Deadly Throw would also be a good choice for the slow and the silence effect, but the latter requires 5 CPs on your target to use.
• Combat Readiness lets you take less damage during the fight.
• Cheat Death for the survivability
• Leeching Poison - With LP each of your weapons strikes will heal you for a small amount.
• Elusiveness - Your Feint ability reduces all damage for 5 seconds
• Burst of Speed - I picked this for its ability to remove “movement impairing effects.”
• Shadowstep would be a pretty good choice, too, but escapes are nice. Step is now just a short range teleport, it does nothing to increase damage.
• Preparation finishes several cooldowns.
• Dirty Tricks reduces the energy cost of Blind and Gouge to zero AND those two effects no longer break from your bleed or poison damage.
• Deadly Brew applies Crippling Poison when any of your non-lethal poisons are applied.
• Paralytic Poison stuns your opponent (for four seconds) once 5 stacks are applied.
• Anticipation? Not sure here, basically it keep you from generating too many CPs before you use your finisher. It takes the extra CPs and applies them to the target after your 5pt finisher.
• Shuriken toss throws a Shuriken for damage and a combo point.
• Versatility removes the cooldown from your Redirect ability.

Subtlety Rogue Glyphs in MoP

Naturally there will be a lot of changes to specific glyphs. When Cata went live a few glyphs were burned (charred paper in your bags) and others changes name and effect. I expect the same thing will happen here.

So for a PvP Sub. Rogue, I’ll pick…

• Major Glyphs
  1. Garrote, for the longer silence
  2. Vanish - adds two seconds to the Vanish effect, which is “harder to detect” and “Doesn’t break from attacks.”
  3. Shadowwalk - this ability greatly improves your stealth for 6 seconds, the glyph adds improved stealth detection to that ability. Just the thing when you just know that there’s a feral skulking about.
• Minor Glyphs
  1. Decoy - Vanishing leaves behind an illusion of you for a brief time.
  2. Safe Fall - Fall extra distance without damage
  3. Blurred Speed - Walk on water while Sprint is active

New Rogue Abilities for Mists of Pandaria

…the “general layout” for number five is already in place.

“They’re [the] lore creators. They’re the ones who drive what the world looks like today and what it’ll be like tomorrow and beyond,” said Sims. “I think the future of World of Warcraft continues to be bright and I think Mists of Pandaria is going to breathe huge life into what I believe is the best MMO out there.”

From: Blizzard is Already Working on the Next “WoW” Expansion

So, in some mystical universe, Blizzard puts you in charge of whatever comes after MoP. What’s gonna be in it? New race(s?) New Class(es?) New evils to stomp out?

This is for the brand new player, not the one with multiple 85s.

Video game fiends new to WoW, but experienced with other games (including other MMOs,) will find things easier than someone coming to WoW with zero game experience.This post is for those new to the game without a lot of video game experience.

Some classes are just easier for the new player (or anyone) and some are a bit more challenging. It helps to pick a class and race most likely to give you enjoyable and successful gameplay.

Classes

There are nine classes available for the new player (Death Knights aren’t available, since you have to be level 55 with one character before you can play one.) I’ll break them down into Melee (hand to hand combat,) Bolt lobber (ranged combat with spell or arrow,) and Healer. Some classes do two, some do all three:

• Druid – Melee, bolt lobber, healer
• Hunter – bolt lobber with melee pet
• Mage – bolt lobber only, Frost mages have a bolt lobbing pet.
• Paladin – Melee or healer.
• Priest – Bolt lobber or healer
• Rogue – Melee only
• Shaman – Melee, bolt lobber, healer
• Warlock – bolt lobber with melee or bolt lobbing pet
• Warrior – Melee only

While all the classes are fun, I would advise against Priests and Mages if you are just getting started.

Priests are the most difficult class to level up efficiently when you first start them up, as they just don’t do much damage at the lower levels. Mages are also difficult for the new player because, in spite of their ability to inflict substantial damage, they are fragile and easily killed. Tactics are extremely important with Mages, and good tactics may be difficult to work out when you are just trying to learn how to play the game for the first time. For both of these classes teaming with others can help.

If you can team up with an experienced player then any class you pick will have a much easier time of it, but if you will be doing any solo play these are difficult classes to start off with.

For classes with multiple roles, such as the Druid, it’s easiest to stick with one role until you’re comfortable with how the game works. This means that you won’t be casting spells and healing and melee fighting. Druids are the only class in the game that can do pretty much anything, but that flexibility makes them tougher for new players.

Generally, my suggestion is to stick to melee types unless you’re playing with friends who can help you out (which is a pretty good idea for any skill level of player.)

Probably the easiest of classes to play is the Hunter. Even the in-game character creation screen says they excel at leveling and soloing (playing by yourself.) Hunters also have the ability to capture, train, and use a pet to attack their targets. Your pet will keep the opposition at a safe distance while you fill them with arrows or bullets. They aren’t particularly dependent on fancy gear or special abilities.

Warriors are more dependent on good gear and require a bit more skill since you won’t have the pet helping out. They do a lot of damage and have solid defenses and are also a decent choice.

Rogues take a bit more skill and nice gear really helps. They have nice stealth abilities and do plenty of damage. A pretty decent class to start with if you’re willing to learn a few skills.

I don’t recommend any healing class unless you’re with friends. You won’t do enough damage to take down the opposition efficiently, though with some practice you’ll be hard to kill.

Bolt Lobbers tend to be squishy. They can do plenty of damage, but they can’t take it very well and can’t escape it very well. At low levels, anyway. Warlocks, on the other hand, have pets to help them out and some of those pets will keep the opposition away from you, much like a Hunter’s pets.

The Races

For this section I’ll use a Hunter as the example, though the racials are the same regardless of class. All of the Horde and Alliance races can be Hunters, except Gnomes. Why? Ummm, well, er… just because.

Horde or Alliance is really up to you and is determined  by the race you pick. All of the various races have certain special abilities which lend that race some color, but none of them are mighty enough to outshine other racial abilities. Basically, pick whichever race looks and feels right to you, or that your friends will let you play.

Alliance

• The Night Elf racial ability most useful to Hunters is that they are slightly more difficult to hit. Their Shadowmeld ability allow them to fade into the shadows (while staying still) which has occasional use.
• Draenei may heal themselves or others over time and they have a slightly better chance to hit their target.
• The only useful racial trait for the Human Hunter is Every Man For Himself, which removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character, such as stuns, fears, traps, etc. While this is of most use against other players, it does have use at other times. Melee characters might find the Human’s “Expertise” with mace and sword to be of some small use.
• Worgen don’t have any Hunter specific abilites, but do have generally useful abilities:  periodically move quickly, an increase in their chance for critical hits, reduced duration of the effects from curses and diseases, and increased skill and speed in skinning. The increased chance for critical hits is probably the most beneficial ability for Hunters.
• Dwarves have Gun Specialization, a racial ability that gives them increased chance to critically hit with guns, good weapons for Hunters. Dwarves can also take on Stoneform, which removes all poison, disease and bleed effects and increases armor by 10% for 8 seconds. This benefit may not come into play that often, though, as Hunters are ranged fighters who tend to stay a careful distance from their targets.

Horde

• The Orc’s Axe Specialization and Blood Fury are better suited to melee combat than to the Hunter’s ranged combat style. They are somewhat resistant to stun effects and the damage done by their pet is slightly increased.
• The Tauren have the racial ability War Stomp, which stuns nearby opponents, which may help the Tauren to escape from melee combat. The Tauren also has increased maximum health, which is always nice.
• Goblins have a 30-yard Rocket Barrage attack that’s probably useless to a Hunter.  They also have a short distance leap forward ability called Rocket Leap, which is a nice escape move.  Their Haste is also increased. (A generally useful Goblin ability is that every 30 minutes they have one minute of access to their Bank, no matter where they are.  This can be quite helpful when you are out in the wilderness with no room for more loot in your bags.)
• The Undead have many useful abilities, but none that are specifically useful to Hunters. They have racial abilities that can remove fear, sleep, and charm effects. They can consume corpses (yuck!) to regain health and mana. Their underwater breathing is increased, and they have a slight resistance to shadow damage. On top of all that, they look really … dead.
• As for Blood Elves … well, they look really, really good. Their arcane Torrent ability can restore some mana, rage, or energy, but Hunters use “focus.” It also silences nearby spellcasters for two seconds, which is generally more useful to melee types than Hunters.
• Trolls have multiple beneficial racial traits as Hunters. They have Bow Specialization which gives them an increased chance to critically hit with bows, the Troll Hunter’s weapon of choice. They also have Beast Slayer which gives them increased damage against beasts, one of the Hunter’s most common targets.  Trolls have Berserking, which increases their attack speed, Regeneration that speeds healing by a tiny amount, and Da Voodoo Shuffle which decreases movement-reducing effects caused by stun, frost traps, etc. (Add in that they get Raptors as their level 20 mount, and what’s not to like? Trolls be flippin’ out mon!)

Summing up

Naturally, you will want to pick the class and race that appeals to you the most. If you really want to play a Druid or other “more difficult” class then go for it. Try to get into a nice guild (“nice” being one that you like) and feel free to ask lots of questions.There really are some pretty helpful people out there, though sometimes it doesn’t seem like that’s really the case.


Also, if you decide that you don’t like your current class/race/look you are allowed to have ten characters on each server and 50 total. Experiment a bit and you get the right combination to take to level 85 (and beyond, when Mist of Pandaria launches.)

Lastly, if you really like your character but want to be on the other side of things (eg: Horde to Alliance) you can also change your race and/or your faction by paying Blizzard a few IRL (In Real Life) dollars. You can even transfer to a new server.

Now get out there and enjoy the game!

• Spell Resistance and Spell Penetration are going away
• Hit and Spell Hit are being merged
• Hit and Expertise are being tweaked
• Block has been tweaked and Block values will have diminishing returns
• All spells and abilities will crit for 2x damage, baseline.
• Resilience is being changed into “Defense” and players will have a base value, in PvP.
• PvP gear will also have a “Power” stat that will increase damage done to other players. Defense and Power may have name changes between now and release.

Here’s the whole post

Our recent talent calculator changes led to some players asking questions about how character and item stats were changing, because some spell and talent tooltips suggest that changes are coming. We compiled this list to attempt to explain more of what’s coming in Mists of Pandaria. First of all, please note that we actually aren’t making many stat changes compared to the ones we made in Cataclysm (“armor penetration — gone!”). Second, the stuff below can get a little technical. If you’re not into the subtle nuance of gear itemization, then don’t worry about it — you don’t need to be to enjoy the expansion — but we know there are plenty of you who enjoy some nuts and bolts talk, so here we go.

Spell Resistance

• Spell resistance is gone. There are no buffs that improve it and there shouldn’t be much, if any, spell resist gear left. We always thought the system was hard to understand and we weren’t getting much gameplay out of it. Now taking a step back, we can imagine how to develop a game where you’d want various forms of resist gear for certain situations and opponents. Resist gear could potentially be interesting, but it isn’t currently in World of Warcraft — the game has just been moving away from that sort of thing for years.
• In the absence of spell resistance, there is no need for spell penetration on gear, so we’ll remove it as well.

Hit and Expertise

• We still think having stats that can be capped is a good game design. Rather than focusing solely on stacking your best stat, you have to decide how valuable it is to hit your target before you go back to stacking your best stat. However, we are making some changes.
• Hit and spell hit will no longer be separate stats. The hit stat negates melee miss and spell miss.
• Expertise will negate dodge and spell miss, then parry.
• Expertise will be listed as a percentage, just like hit, instead of having an intermediary stat.
• We are normalizing hit with expertise, so that 1% of each stat will require the same amount of rating.
• We are normalizing melee and spell hit, so that spell hit is equal to miss plus dodge.
  • Against an equal level creature: 6% spell miss, 3% melee miss, 3% dodge, 3% parry (from the front only), 3% block (from the front only).
  • Against a +1 level creature: 9% spell miss, 4.5% melee miss, 4.5% dodge, 4.5% parry (from the front only), 4.5% Block (from the front only).
  • Against a +2 level creature: 12% spell miss, 6% melee miss, 6% dodge, 6% parry (from the front only), 6% Block (from the front only).
  • Against a +3/boss level creature: 15% spell miss, 7.5% melee miss, 7.5% dodge, 7.5% parry (from the front only), 7.5% block (from the front only).
  • Ranged attacks will be able to be dodged. Hunters will benefit from expertise and will have it on their gear, which will also allow hunters and Enhancement shaman to share gear more easily.

Block

•  The chance to block will be handled by a separate combat roll for each attack that is not avoided. In other words, we first determine if an attack misses, or is dodged or parried. If it is not, then the attack has a chance to be blocked.
• This gives block a consistent value, regardless of avoidance. Currently block becomes more valuable the more you have.
• Block will also have diminishing returns, much like dodge and parry. This doesn’t mean that the value of block will go down as you get more block. It means that it won’t go up by as much when you get more block.
• We don’t expect Protection warriors or paladins to get “block capped” other than during temporary effects, such as mastery procs on trinkets. Block tanks will be balanced around this change. Our intent is to make playing block tanks more fun, not to nerf them.
• Also notice how Shield Block and Shield of the Righteous have changed in Mists.

Criticals

• All spells and abilities will crit for double damage, baseline. There are a few exceptions where crits can get larger, but the default is x 2.0 for everyone.
• This means that Enhancement shaman spells and rogue poisons will crit for double damage. Rogue poisons will also use the melee hit chance.

Resilience

•  We are renaming this stat to “Defense (PvP)” or possibly “PvP Defense.” All players will have 30% base Defense, the same way all characters have some base Stamina.
• PvP gear will have Defense on it, as well as a new stat, “Power (PvP).” Power increases the damage you do to other players as well as the healing you do to other players in PvP situations.
•  If you have a lot of Power, you’ll do more damage to other players, but they likely have Defense as well. If you fight players in lots of PvE gear, they’ll take more damage. Likewise, a player in PvE gear won’t have enough Power to effectively penetrate your Defense.
• The names PvP Power and PvP Defense may not be final, but we’re leaning towards going with stat names that are obviously PvP-related, rather than “fluffier” names that might not be as easy to grasp. We want it to be clear to players that neither Power nor Defense have any relevance when fighting creatures, such as in dungeons or raids.
• PvP gear will be lower in item level than PvE gear of an equivalent tier, however the Power and Defense stats will make sure that PvP gear is more powerful in PvP (both offensively and defensively) than PvE gear. In our budgeting system, the PvP stats will be free rather than causing other stats, such as Strength or haste, to be smaller as a result of including Power or Defense.
• The goal of this change is to make it easier for a PvP player to participate in PvE, or for a PvE player to get started in PvP. Currently, we feel it is too large a barrier to go from one to the other, and the result has been that we see more and more players choosing to focus exclusively on only PvP or PvE. In earlier expansions, it was more feasible to use PvE gear in Arenas or Battlegrounds until you acquired the more useful PvP gear. The same was true of being able to use your PvP gear in a dungeon or raid until you acquired something better. In Cataclysm, stepping into PvP with no PvP gear would result in a player being so ineffective that it was difficult to even make progress towards acquiring PvP gear.
• For the higher-end of PvP or PvE (say Gladiators or heroic raiders), we believe those players will still gravitate towards the dedicated PvP or PvE gear. It is the players who are working towards those two end games that will benefit more from some cross over.

That’s a lot of information, and it probably sounds more set-in-stone than it really is. We’ll continue to iterate as players poke holes in our ideas, tell us what is working out and what isn’t, and finally get to experience it first hand in beta.

Original post

Tip #1: Choose the right kind of server for the most enjoyable experience

Before you even make up a character you should first consider what kind of server you want to play on.

What’s the Server Population?

For the best gaming experience select a server with a high population. On high population servers there are more items available on the AH (Auction House) and you will encounter more people in your travels, which makes the world seem more energized and lively. While the server population doesn’t matter much in certain areas, it does matter if you like company and if you want to eventually try your hand at raiding.

When you make a character you have to choose a server, so look at the population level indicator. Unfortunately, the terms High, Medium, and Low are rather vague, and this does not let you know if the population is well balanced between Horde and Alliance. You should be aware that some servers may have a High population level, but very unbalanced ratios between the Horde and Alliance factions

• WoW’s server listing is here. It’ll give you basic info on general population levels and which type of server (PvP, PvE, etc.)
• WoWrealms has a better chart with Horde/Alliance ratios. You can download an addon (you don’t need to) which will allow you to take a census of your server at any given time. Their data is dependent on people actually doing this on some regular basis. So while the numbers may not be perfectly correct, they’re still the best game in town since Blizzard doesn’t give out the real numbers.
• Notice, for example, that the Alleria server is PvE and has a ratio of 80/20 Alliance to Horde.
• Amun’thul is much closer to 50/50 and has more people overall.
• Illidan has a very large population, is almost all Horde, and is a PvP server. I expect that Stormwind and Ironforge are frequently raided on that server.

Note that If you put a lot of time and effort into leveling up your character only to find that you are dissatisfied with your server, you can transfer to another server, or even to the other faction on the same or another server … in exchange for some Real Life dollars to Blizzard. (As of Nov 2010 it costs $25 to transfer to another server, or to change to the opposite faction on the same server or another server.)

PvP, PvE, RP

Servers can be PvP (Player versus Player,)   PvE (Player versus Environment,) with RP (Role Playing) versions of both PvP and PvE. You can make characters on multiple servers, so don’t worry that you have limited your choices when you select one over the other. You can also make characters of both factions on all servers. For reasons I explain below, I recommend a PvE server (RP or not as you prefer,) for first-timers.

During your gaming and questing you will encounter monsters (referred to as mobs) that make up the Environment part of the PvE servers. The beasties and NPCs (non-player characters) with names in green or yellow are not a problem when you walk by them, but those with names in red will attack you on sight when you get too close.

Do you want to fight other players? On all servers you play against the Environment and you can also participate in Duels and organized PvP contests in specific arenas and locations. However, on PvP servers you are also fair game to players of the other faction, once you get out of the starting areas. Horde can attack Alliance and Alliance can attack Horde.  PvP servers do lend an added dimension to the gameplay danger that is enjoyable … if you have a high-level character and excel at Player v Player fighting. However, this can be difficult and frustrating for new players.

It is unfortunate, but on PvP servers, high-level players enjoy visiting low-level areas of the opposite faction and slaughtering the unfortunate lower level players who cannot possibly survive their onslaught (a level 85 player might as well be the God of Death to players just a few levels lower, much less those who are a lot lower level .)  Sometimes they lie in wait for the player (new or otherwise) to return to his corpse and kill him again after he resurrects, often multiple times. This can wreak havoc with leveling and make gameplay somewhat less than enjoyable. Sometimes a character of about the same level attacks. This is much more interesting if you’re quick enough on the draw to respond properly.

On PvP servers there is no way to opt out of PvP fighting. You are only safe from PvP fighting inside instances and in friendly territories, such as the starting areas and capital cities (unless you attack an opposing faction player first, or type /PvP.)  For this reason, if you are brand new to gaming or WoW, and particularly if you have never done PvP gaming before, I highly recommend a PvE server for your first experience.

RP (Role Playing) servers allow people the opportunity to really live the game, especially if they come from a table top game, such as Dungeons and Dragons. Some people love to really get into the whole experience and role play their characters to the hilt. Generally you’ll find them congregating in towns or inns, but not everyone stays “in character.”  You do not have to role play even if you are on an RP server, so do not be put off by the designation. However, you are expected to respect the rights of those who wish to role play by avoiding chat or character names that destroy the role-playing ambiance. Naturally there are those who ignore these “rules,” but it RP is your game then this is your server.

… One thing that might be of help, especially to players like myself that play casually but still want to get good geared avatars would be a guide to the numbers and caps. Wowwiki has helped me a lot, but the notion of caps, how to know when they have been hit, how to reach them and how to avoid wasting enchantments and buffs unnecessarily would be great. I’m sure I’m not the only one with this gap in my knowledge.

So What Are These Caps?

the Hit Cap

Note: While the discussion below is aimed at level 85s it also applies to lower level characters, though you won’t have as many options for stat tweaking and won’t really have to be concerned with caps. (If you need to get to 85 ASAP talk to Dugi.)

See below for the caps and stats table

The easiest way to think of a cap is this: What point does it become ineffective to get more of a stat? Take Hit rating, we’ll want to know what our Hit caps (not to be confused with Hip Cats) are in order to be most efficient with our reforging, gemming, etc.

(Ratings are shown in two ways, as a percentage and as points. As an example, you need about 120 rating points for +1% Hit rating, 600 points for 5%. I’ll use percentages. See the chart below for the other stats.)

When swinging your one or two-handed weapon or using your special strikes (not spells or Dual Wielding) the basic chance to hit an opponent of even level is 95%. If you have 5% Hit Rating then you will never miss an opponent of the same level (though the strikes can still be blocked, parried, etc.)

Opponents that are higher level than you are harder to hit, those lower are easier. Raid bosses are considered to be level 88 so you need 8% to avoid missing with those weapons.

In level 85 PvP opponents are all the same level, so your basic melee Hit is 5%. Night Elves have a 2% dodge, so you need 7% for them.

A soft cap is the point at which additional rating has lesser value, though still some. A hard cap is the point at which you get zero additional value from that stat.

For example: A rogue’s Sinister Strike requires 8% Hit rating to never miss a raid boss (ignoring debuffs.) Additional Hit will still help with poisons and melee strikes (your “white damage,”) but has zero value for your Sinister Strike. This means that there is an 8% soft cap for your Hit rating.

Against a raid boss:

• One or two-hand strikes and Special strikes (eg: Mortal Strike, Sinister Strike) require 8%
• Poisons( and spells) require 17%
• Damage dealt via Dual Weilding requires 27%

This means that you have a soft cap at 8 and 17%, and a hard cap at 27%.

Spells (poisons) are a bit different. The base chance to hit an even level opponent is 96%, not 95, but the miss chance grows larger faster than for melee. For a level 88 raid boss the miss chance is 17%. This means that your Hit cap for spells is 17%. You get no value from Hit rating greater than that (unless you’re under some kind of debuff.) That means that there is a hard cap of 17% for your spells, you get no benefit from additional Hit.

Your Hit rating effects your Melee, Ranged, and Spell hit. One stat fits all. It used to be that Spell Hit was a separate stat, but no longer.

This screen is from a level 85 Protection Paladin. Prot Pallies get a bonus to Spell Hit,  hence the 14.6% Spell hit on this one. (You can see this screen on your character by clicking the arrow in the red circled area.)

For a Prot Pally, the Melee Hit Cap is 8% and spell is 17% (for a raid boss.) Above those levels there is zero value to additional Hit. Anyone Dual Wielding (Fury Warrior, Frost DK, etc.) would still get some benefit from Hit up to 27%. It might not be their best stat at that point, but it would still be of some use.

If this character was a Mage (or other caster) then an optimal Spell Hit would be that same 17%.

Healers don’t need Hit to heal, but they do for interrupts and anything else they cast on the opposition.

For level 85 PvP, since the opposition is even level, the Melee Hit cap is 5% and Spell Hit is 4%. 2% higher if you’re trying to fry that Nelf. Remember that it all comes from one Hit Rating stat.

The Other Caps

The other stats work the same way. A soft cap is the point where you get less value from a stat and the hard cap is where you get no more value from that stat.

Getting to the Cap

A few classes have talents available that provide Hit or other stats, such as the Fury Warrior’s Precision or the Elemental Shaman’s Elemental Precision.

The whole point of reaching the caps is, of course, to be as efficient as possible. If you have no wasted points then, everything else being equal, you’ll be more effective at what you do.

The easiest way to reach any given cap  is through your gear and talents, but in most cases you’re going to have too much of one stat and not enough of another. This is one reason that Reforging was introduced. This allows you to move some of one stat into another. You can only change one stat per piece of gear. Generally you should reforge in order to tweak your stats, rather than Gem or Enchant.

Here’s how to work it out. Assume you have whatever set of gear and you need to shift a few things around. . As an example, let’s say that your stats priority is something like this (for a PvE Cbt. Rogue:)

8% Melee Hit > 26 Expertise > Haste > Hit over 8% > Mastery > Hit  over  17% >  Critical

Your best stats are Hit (to 8%,) Expertise to 26, and Haste. Crit, excess Hit, and Mastery aren’t so hot.

• For any item that has Crit, reforge it into better stats.
• If the Item doesn’t have Crit, but has Mastery then do the same.
• If your Hit is, for some odd reason, over 17% then do the same for items that do have Hit and don’t have Crit or Mastery.
• If your Hit is less than 8% then reforge the weak stat to Hit.
• If Hit is 8% then you’re good there and you reforge that Crit (or other weak stat) to Expertise.
• If Hit and Expertise are good, then all other reforging goes to Haste.
• Basically you’re moving weaker stats to better ones.

Gems and Enchants:

By the time you’re looking at gemming and enchanting you will already have your talents figured out and should have already reforged your gear and you will probably be pretty good on your most important stats.

Your gems and enchants are then gravy that provide extra effectiveness.

As an example, here’s a PvP Shadowpriest. The important stats would be:

• Hit (to 4%) and then Haste.
• After talents and reforging away Crit, Mastery, and excess Hit we’re left with a Hit rating of 4.5% and Haste is about 16.5%.
• Gems are all Int, with the exception of the Meta and two others which are there just to hit 5k Resilience.
• Note that all of the Enchants add Int and Haste.

 The Cap Table

Some of these stats came from Wiki, others from ElitistJerks. Stats junkies will find all kinds of numbers on the EJ page.

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This does not apply to Dragon Soul raids or, I assume, Rated Battlegrounds. I’m sure that I will be corrected soon enough if that last is wrong.

The patch notes for 4.32 live aren’t up as of this writing, but you can find them on the PTR (Public Test Realm) page. More complete notes will likely make it to the live page soon.

Here are some of the tweaks.

Complete PTR patch notes can be found here:

Tanks: Vengeance is no longer triggered by receiving damage from other players. This is quite the PvP nerf. My Blood DK is crying.

Hunters: They got a bit of love with this patch

• Aspect of the Hawk now grants roughly 35% more attack power.
• Deterrence now also reduces damage taken by 30% while active.
• Black Arrow now ticks every 2 seconds for 20 seconds, as opposed to every 3 seconds for 15 seconds. The total damage dealt by the ability is unchanged.
• Lock and Load no longer benefits Arcane Shot, nor is it consumed by Arcane Shot.

Mages: Guess Bliz thought Fire Mages were too hot…

• Fireball damage has been reduced by roughly 6%.
• Pyroblast damage has been reduced by roughly 6%.

Paladins

• Holy Radiance now costs 40% of base mana, up from 35%.

Priests:

• Mass Dispel should again prefer dispelling targets that have magic effects that can be dispelled.

Rogues

• Adrenaline Rush no longer triggers a global cooldown.

Dungeons & Raids

• You can now form same-faction raids with Real ID friends, allowing you to enter Raid Finder in groups larger than 5, run older normal or heroic raids, or participate in Battlegrounds. You will not yet be able to run normal or heroic Dragon Soul with cross-realm raids of Real ID friends.
• Several typo fixes and clarified descriptions have been added to the Dungeon Journal entries for Dragon Soul.
• Players can no longer win multiple copies of the same item on a single Raid Finder boss kill. For example, a player who chooses Need on two set piece tokens or two weapons and wins the first, will not be eligible for the second on that particular boss.