Hearthstone: Warrior vs Heroic Noth

Noth is a pain on heroic as Warrior especially since his passive hero ability summons a 5/5 minion when one of your minions die, and the fact that Warriors don't have any spells that can damage heroes aside from weapons and Noth has a pretty good counter to weapons with his Skeletal Smith card. Once I added Deathwing to this deck Noth was dead the first time I played it, and deathwing was the reason I won the game. What you need watch out for in the late game is Plague and Ice Block, because if you load up the board with your Grommash and Molten Giant and trigger Ice Block the next turn you may be S.O.L he has minions on board and you are low on health. Brawl and Deathwing are key, they are the board clear you need to avoid taking damage. Same thing as with my Maexxna deck the goal is to get a free Molten Giant with Charge. When I downed Noth I played Deathing on turn 10 to get rid of 2 5/5s after Noth casting Plague the second time on my Grommash and Molten Giant, my hand was empty and and what I drew was my charge which luckily ended up not hurting me. From there it was dancing with clearing minions with weapons if I could afford the health or Deathwing, also played Ragnaros and from there Noth was dead.

This deck takes a lot of luck of the draw but if you time your Brawl and Deathwings right you may be able to pull it off, good luck Warriors.

Unfortunately I don't have a video of my kill, however if you check out my Twitch stream you can see me get really excited because I have lethal only to be thwarted by Ice Block and die the next turn, which happened once today before I killed him.

Hearthstone: Warrior vs Heroic Maexxna

Above is the Warrior deck that I put together to defeat Heroic Maexxna, after a couple attempts of dying with my Control Warrior deck I went to the net and tried out a couple decks that still didn't have enough finishing power for me to kill her. So I made some adjustments and came up with the deck above. It builds on the same premise as other Warrior decks for heroic Maexxna by filling the enemies side of the board with 1 attack minions and using Earthen Ring Farseer, Voodoo Doctor, and Armor Up! and canceling out the damage from the minions.

Where it differs from most is by using Leeroy and Molten Giant/Charge combo, just in case you don't get your charge cards, which is actually how I was able to finish her off with a free Molten Giant and 2 Charges on it for 16 damage. Using this deck only took me 2 attempts and you need to have the dexterity to sometimes forgo the heal armor move for a turn to make sure you can do damage to her through weapons. You will be low using this deck I hovered around 8 health the attempt I killed her.

Good luck Warriors.

Potential Changes, Arms

The following was posted by Celestalon today on WoW forum thread about Fury Feedback, but in it he dropped a ton of information on "potential" Arms changes.

"So, we don't often share our thoughts on upcoming changes this early, as plans can change very rapidly. Please keep in mind that none of the following is set in stone – it hasn't even been developed yet – and there’s any number of issues that could cause us to decide to take a different approach. That said, we definitely agree that Arms feels a bit empty at the moment, and want to fill it out a bit more, and we want to add some talent choices to both Arms and Fury that provide options for more involved gameplay. Here’s what we're thinking:

Rage generation increased by 20% for Arms.

Rend returns for Arms. Costs 10 Rage, deals damage over 18sec, with a burst of bleed damage at the end. Total damage is similar to a Mortal Strike.

Thunder Clap is usable in any stance. AoE damage and snares, 6sec cooldown. 30 Rage cost for Arms, free for Protection.

We’re replace the level 45 talent row (Staggering Shout / Piercing Howl / Disrupting Shout) with:

Varies by spec:

Arms – Taste for Blood: Passive. Rend ticks grant 3 Rage.

Fury – Furious Strikes: Passive. Reduces the cost of Wild Strike by 10 Rage.

Protection – Heavy Repercussions: Passive. Shield Slam deals 50% additional damage while Shield Block or Shield Charge is active.

Sudden Death: Passive. Auto attacks have a chance to trigger Sudden Death, making your next Execute free and usable on targets above 20% health.

Varies by spec:

Arms – Slam: Active ability. Costs 10 Rage. Deals 100% weapon damage. Each consecutive use increases Slam’s damage by 50% and Rage cost by 100%, stacking up to 2 times. Benefits from Mastery.

Fury – Unquenchable Thirst: Passive. Bloodthirst has no cooldown.

Protection – Unyielding Strikes: Passive. Devastate reduces the Rage cost of Heroic Strike by 6, stacking up to 5 times. Lasts 10 sec. No longer refreshes while at 5 stacks.

Again, this is all very much in the formative stages. Any or all of the above could end up changing in any number of ways. But we are listening, and are doing our best to make Warrior gameplay awesome in Warlords.

EDIT: As mentioned, lots of iteration on these early plans. Changed the +25% Rage gen to +20%, so that 3.6speed weapon swings generate an even 30 rage. Changed Slam's max stack count to 2, since Slamming at any point higher than that is a trap.

EDIT 2: Clarified that Heavy Repercussions does count Shield Charge as well.

EDIT 3: Oh, forgot to mention, Slam benefits from Mastery."

So in the bold we have the Arms specific changes, which as I wrote about earlier show that we are in fact getting slam back. The  change to the level 45 talent row, which to me makes no sense what so ever, they should have replaced the level 75 talents with these new ones. I am not anti stance dancing we have been doing it for as long as I can remember, even to this day we can do it in Siege of Orgrimmar for added survive-ability against Garrosh, my issue with the current iteration of stance dancing is that it is going to completely neuter DPS out put. Now to the pros of this change we get an interesting choice between Taste for Blood, Sudden Death and Slam, early on Taste for Blood could be the best option, especially since white hits are so slow currently on beta which means rage generation is equally slow. However if Rage generation normalizes with the 20% increase mentioned, the real choice will be between Slam and what essentially is our T16 4 piece bonus, I have personally enjoyed the T16 bonus game play wise but Slam could also be good depending on the base rage cost which was not given.

Rend comes back which I have actually missed for awhile now and Thunder Clap is now usable in any stance which gives 2 more abilities to use in our rotation.

These potential changes were put before I code type up my initial impressions of the Beta Arms so here are some notes so far.

In T16 normal raid gear, mobs in the first 2 zones are butter, however rage gen is an issue. I am getting 2-3 white attacks in before I have rage for an ability and by that point the mob is almost dead anyway, which hey makes me feel super powerful, but is not very fun. My second issue was the lack of abilities, which Blizzard seems to be addressing. Other than that the beta is amazing I said I wouldn't quest, but that didn't last long and to tell you the truth I am enjoying every bit of the story, even if we are lacking the pre-event to explain a little bit of the stuff. And the item squish on level 90+ content isn't noticeable, but I have not tried out my favorite solo farm run Black Temple, when I find a moment I will run it and report on how it felt.

Nothing Beta...

So first wave of Beta invites went out last night and I happy to say I got in, I look forward to testing out Arms in Beta and hope I get to play around with the new Tauren model soon. I am not going to focusing too much on quests or story during my beta time, mainly just getting a feel for Arms and Gladiator.

Stay tuned for more info.

WoD Changes, Make Brian Hurt

Courtesy of MMO-Champion

Courtesy of data miners we have the following Warrior T17 set piece bonuses

 Warrior (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)

• Item - Warrior T17 Arms 2P Bonus Increases the damage of Mortal Strike by 10%. Slam critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Recklessness by 5 sec.
• Item - Warrior T17 Arms 4P Bonus Execute deals 10% more damage to targets affected by Colossus Smash. Colossus Smash has a 50% chance to grant you the Deadly Calm effect. Deadly Calm reduces the Rage cost and cooldown of your Mortal Strike by 50% for 10 sec.
• Item - Warrior T17 Fury 2P Bonus Increases the critical strike chance of Bloodthirst by 10%. Wild Strike critical strikes have a 50% chance to activate Enrage.
• Item - Warrior T17 Fury 4P Bonus Raging Blow now generates 10 Rage. When you activate Recklessness, you also gain the Rampage effect. Rampage increases your attack speed and critical strike chance by 0% every second Recklessness is active.

The old bonuses in red seemed pretty standard, the latest build in green makes them a little bit more unique. However there is one very confusing change to the Arms 2 piece bonus especially after the most recent patch notes, "Slam critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Recklessness by 5 sec," Slam in the latest patch notes was removed. Does this mean we are getting it back to make or Alpha rotation 3 buttons or are these "new" set bonuses that were data mined older ones on the live alpha client and Blizzard has newer ones that reflect the most recent patch notes better?

I cant wait to get my hand on the Alpha or Beta and give Arms a real run through, hell in even a 6.0 PTR would be nice.

Arms Ability Pruning (So Far)

Today we take a look at the newest iteration of Arms in the WoD Alpha, note that I am not currently in the alpha so this will be an analytic break down of the patch notes.

Stance Changes:

Battle Stance - will now generate 100% rage from auto-attacks, and critical strikes will now generate double the rage. 
This change should see the rage generation issue that plagues warriors in earlier tiers normalize and make rage generation more fluid throughout fights.

Defensive Stance - for Arms Warriors generates 50% of the rage from auto-attacks as in Battle Stance.
This change should help normalize rage gen for Arms when stance dancing to Defensive for the damage reduction.

Beserker Stance - gone
Really wasn't needed anymore, especially when it lost its damage bonus in MoP

Warrior stances now have their own action bars again
This will make some of the changes below easier to mange as far as abilities and setting up your bars.

Ability Changes:

Battle Shout/Commanding Shout - now lasts 1 hour and Battle Shout no longer generates rage
Moves the buffs in line with other classes buffs, no longer needs to be worked into rotation as a rage generation tool.

Blood and Thunder - Removed

• Deep Wounds - Protection only
• Thunder Clap - Damage Increased by 50%, Arms and Protection only, Defensive and Gladiator stances only

This change will be interesting it will definitely effect damage output in AoE situations but only time will tell how much.

Slam - gone

This will change the rotation.

Colossus Smash - now costs 30 rage, deals 225% increased damage, no longer causes Physical Vulnerability and no longer increases the damage of slam.

Looks like this will replace Slam in or rotation.

Enrage - no longer available to Arms.

Loss of a periodic passive 10% damage boost, not to much of big deal.

Execute - now costs 20 rage and can use up to 40 rage to cause additional damage, usable anytime.

This is now essentially Arms new rage dump, it will be interesting to see how this scales. I was wrong Celestalon clarified that execute is back to an old school execute sub 20% use only

Mortal Strike - costs 30 rage, instead of generating 10 rage. Replaces Heroic Strike for Arms

The rage generation shouldn't be an issue with the rage gen coming from auto-attacks and this really gets rid of a spell that was used solely for dumping rage.

Rallying Cry - Arms/Fury only, requires Defensive Stance
Odd change, but gives Arm and Fury raid utility and leaves tanks their own CD for personal survival.

Shield Wall - no longer available to Arms and Fury
This change will affect survival but if healing and damage taken are changed like planned it shouldn't be noticed.

Sweeping Strikes - requires Battle Stance
Shouldn't change to much.

Whirlwind - requires Battle Stance, only available to Arms and Fury
Shouldn't change to much.

Hamstring - costs 10 rage and deals 20% weapon damage in addition to reducing movement speed, usable in Battle and Gladiator stances.
Could see this being used as a mini rage dump but I would need to play with it to see what this really does to a rotation outside of PvP.

Overpower - gone
A staple for Arms Warrior is now gone, the MoP iteration was was interesting, kind of sad to see it go added some choices in the rotation.

Sudden Death - gone
With the removal of Strike of Opportunity and Overpower this spell was essentially useless.

Taunt - requires Defensive Stance
Okay

Throw - gone

Now more ranged warriors...

Unbridled Wrath - gone

If rage generation is better overall this wont be missed.

Cleave - gone
Sweeping strikes plus anything else is better than cleave and was left unused.

Heroic Throw - generates 300% extra threat, has a 6-second cooldown (down from 30 seconds), but now has a 15 yard minimum range.
The reduction to the cooldown is to try and make up for the loss of Throw, but the high threat generation may prove difficult to manage for Arms Warriors

Recklessness - increases Critical Strike chance by 15% (down from 30%) and increases Critical Strike damage by 10% (up from 0%).
This is the merging of Recklessness and Skull Banner, even if it is a nerf to our current macro.

Shattering Throw - no longer reduces the armor of the target; now does damage and breaks immunities.
The removal of reducing armor of the target is inline with similar spells. They also made it a Glyph, so you will need to make choices in glyphing.

What this does to the rotation is essentially removes everything and leaves us with MS and CS for the fight until 20%, this is alpha so we should expect them to start adding abilities to give us a more complex rotation, because I personally dont want to be the next Arcane Mage. It will be interesting to see what changes to the talents are made and if talented abilities have CD reductions to make them apart of the rotations.

Mastery:

Strikes of Opportunity - gone
Blizzard reason, wasn't in line with Arms mentality of slow precise large hits.

Weapons Master - new mastery skill, Increases the damage of Colossus Smash, Mortal Strike, and Execute abilities by 20% ( increasing with Mastery)
This is likely and attempt to replace the passive damage boost of Enrage and the the damage loss of Strikes of Opportunity. Also helps guide what 3 spells are priority.

Bonus for us Tauren:

Brawn - new racial passive ability that increases Critical Strike bonus damage and Healing done by 2%
It's not Plainstriding but it is nice to finally bring Tauren in line with other races in-terms of combat racials.

There was a Dev note in the latest patch note (6/18/14): Developer's Note: Arms is still undergoing heavy revision and additional information will be made available later. So look forward to updates and new abilities.

Next up I will look at some Talent and Stat changes.

When Blizzard Answers Your Question

SparkysShocker @SparkysShocker: In lore do Warriors have an organization/guild that they group under. Like the Argent Crusade or Ravenholdt?

CDev Response: The warriors of Warcraft lore are typically associated with the armies they have pledged their weapons to, while our warrior heroes (read: the players) are "lone wolves." Someday these fearless combatants might unite under a single banner and form the world's first warrior union, but that remains to be seen.

Source

I asked this question 13 months ago, I tweeted it @Lore on his first week on Twitter, and it got answered in the most recent Ask CDev.

The easy answer is they already do, they unite under the Horde and Alliance banners, however what I am looking for is something more. A faction specific banner for each side because lorewise Warriors wouldn't set the arms aside to meet secretly.

I am looking for something in WoW to make me feel less a like a Mercenary and more like a true Warrior of the Horde (or Alliance). When I asked the question I asked the wrong question, I asked about the neutral class groups, what I meant were the faction groups.

• Blood Knights/Sunwalkers - Silverhand
• All the various race specific Rogue groups
• Sunreavers - Silver Covenant

These are just a few I think of. The point is that after they stopped developing Class quests after I think it was level 50 and the fact that those quests are now gone there is as actually very little lore recognition of Warriors outside of key figures like Garrosh. So could the Warriors of the Horde (or Alliance) unite under a banner within their faction, or would they go the Rogue route and have groups based on their race.

The Cost of WoW

Today's topic we look at the cost of WoW . The answer is actually very easy to determine. Some of you may have seen my comment over at WoW Insider that deals with this topic in regards to the Warlords of Draenor expansion cost, it will be a lot of the same but I will discuss some other things here as well.

An annual sub if you pay monthly is $180 and on expansion years if you buy regular editions you end up spending $220 (for previous expansions)  and $230 for WoD. I will not be using either Digital Deluxe or Collectors Edition, because those are value added versions and not necessary to play the game. After the break I will figure out the per hour value of entertainment that $180 or $230 actually is.

More After The Jump!

WICBT: What is your favorite announcement for Warlords of Draener?

Personally I want to say all of them but if I had to choose one it was the announcement of Garrisons. Everything about them, be it the profession tie ins to the follower systems, or the ability to choose which zone you want yours to be in. But more than what the announced features of them were I am most excited for what they didn't announce as I said in an earlier post I am excited for the potential of them to use the followers as mannequins so that they can display your gear you have collected in a meaningful way. I am hoping that at some point in WoD we are able to use our Garrisons to wage war on a player from the opposing faction in Strand of the Ancients type battle. And I am also excited for the RP potential to having my very own Garrison and a forward base for the RP guild I recently joined.

The one thing about Garrisons that I was disappointed not to see was that they really only showed Orc and Human architecture, it would be amazing if we could choose between the iconic Faction structures and your Races structures, a Tauren styled Garrison would be pretty sweet.

Finally the ability to have the Garrison be a living breathing part of the game even when you are not logged in is going to be nice, especially in terns of earning gold for repairs if you cant play outside of your raid times in a given week.

As I stated in the beginning it is pretty hard not to be excited about all the announcements surrounding WoD.

World of Draenor Speculations and Thoughts

So first things first, WOW what a Blizzcon. Now that that is out of the way lets dive in.

Garrisons
First up Garrisons still not quite player housing as many hoped for, but it may be even better. With the discussed features like trophies it could become a way display your accomplishments. So if you're paying attention to the deep dive on Garrisons you may have briefly heard them say something about changing your followers appearance and nothing else was said. Listeners of the The Instance podcast may have heard Ghostcrawler talking about transmog and helping us free up inventory space by doing something with transmog but they don't want to say anything about it because they didn't want to get our hopes up, then the discussion turned to collections much like they are going to be doing for Heirlooms and Toys. The transmog feature I think Ghostcrawler was hinting at is actually a feature of the Garrisons and you follower where you can equip them with your armor thus freeing up some bag space and allowing you to display gear on your followers.

Now I realize they mentioned something about gear upgrades for you follower which could negate this which is why I think follower will have 10 item slots (head, shoulders, cloak, chest, hands, belt, pants, feet, weapon, and off-hand) each of these slots will have a transmog slot where you could just place an item from your inventory. So you would have a total of 20 slots. If nothing is in the transmog slot then the original art will show.

This is a lot  to hope for and may be a little off but I was hoping for The Elder Scrolls-esque mannequins which may be the thing Ghostcrawler was hinting at, although I would like to not just see mannequins but also be able to transmog our followers.

I would also like the ability with Garrisons to perform GvG or PvP Garrison battles, what I mean by this is you can queue to battle someone from the opposing faction and have your followers battle each other either on a battle field or by a SotA style battle of attack and defend, where the loser has there building put on a CD where they aren't generating resources.

Character Models
Next are the new character models, if you haven't seen them I suggest you check them out. Even though I don't put any kind of Machinima, Machinimatographers should be able to do so much more with these new models. Also as some one who has started to dabble into the RP elements of the game I think this will help me immerse more into the game especially as someone who plays a strong silent type role.

I am also very very interested in seeing not just seeing how this expansion plays out but how they handle the characters from the past that were brought to the present and if they will find out that some of these people are there kids.

Boost to 90
Now to the hot topic issue "Boost to 90", in my opinion the feature is completely fine and actually right now is the time to do it if any especially since we almost for sure won't see a stand alone WoW 2. I have a couple reasons for this 100 levels will surely turn off any new comers to the game especially if they have never played an MMORPG before and leveling 1-85 now on alt is lonely even with changes made could you imagine a new player leveling through 90 levels without the MM part of the equation.

It wont hurt the interest in the lore of the game anymore then it already is. Currently you have people who will read ever quest text and do every quest, and then you have the people that just follow leveling guides or the quest tracker (yes even new players) because they want to play with friends. The people in the first category will be the ones who take the level 90 as a new player and level to 100 and go back and play through content that they want to learn about. I did this with my paladin because in my race to to get to level 70 AoE farming an all I went back and played through all the Paladin-centric zones and quests just to explore the lore. Even now in game their are players who could care less about knowing their lore or why they are killing something, they just want their gear and to progress the character stats wise. Just because they don't like lore doesn't hurt me or you. And if you are truly into WoW for the lore RP servers may be a safe haven for you.

It in no way hurts what I have or continue to experience in WoW these people who boost to 90 wont experience defeating Archimonde pre-WotLK Nerfs/Buffs, they wont experience the joy of committing Ogre genocide in Outlands to get that one Blacksmith plan. And frankly they can't take it away from me either.

Some argue a boost to 90 now they will work in a boost to max level because they wont stop. I am fairly certain that Blizzard wont ever go back to pay to win ever again, especially after the closure of the Diablo 3 AH. and leveling to 90 when the cap is 100 is not pay to win. You will still have people who buy and can't handle the leveling process, or get to max level and don't enjoy the gear grind. People will still need to develop skill to become good enough to raid with you unless you like bringing unskilled players.And guess what all of this still happens today even without a boost to the previous expansions level cap. It is only good for the player base as whole because currently subs are on the decline and will only go down especially when the longtime lore junkies had there Warcraft 3 desires filled (Illidan and Arthas) and a potential new player may see that level 90 cap and put the box down. With this change potential new players will think oh I only have to gain 10 levels and they may actually buy the game.

WICBT: Should professions be account-wide?

Image found on MCA Network Academy Blog

This weeks Community Blog Topic hits on an issue that is actually something that I and I am sure many of you have not only thought about recently but through out you playing time in Azeroth. The easy route would be to take a page from the Diablo 3 book and have it be to have all characters have access to all professions and each one of your characters can contribute to leveling said professions at the same time, however I disagree on this route, follow be after the jump to find out my thoughts.

More After The Jump!

WICBT: How long have you been playing World of Warcraft and what life changes have you gone through?

I have been playing WoW since January 2007. My college room mate (all 4.5 years) asked me if I wanted to try it out with him since he had friends at work who played it. So we went in to the BB he worked at and picked up 2 each of Vanilla, TBC and Time Cards. Over the last almost 7 years my life has changed so much. At the time my girlfriend and room mate all lived together, That same year we found a stray dog that is still with us today. In the December of 2008 my girlfriend and I got engaged. The Summer of 2009 we bought our 2nd dog and in December all three of us graduated from Arizona State, 2 days later my fiance and I packed up all of our stuff and moved back to California. My fiance and I got married in July of 2010. Since then my wife and have bought a car, had a wonderful baby girl, bought a house, and now I am General Manager of a dealership.

I have met many great people in game, and the game has helped me with my social anxiety. Some of my favorite people that I have met in game no longer play even my room mate stopped playing at the beginning of Wrath. I would love to get my wife playing a little bit. I hope to play with my daughter, she seem interested in and loves to sit in my lap and watch me play. I think WoW and a lot of gaming in general if properly handled can be used to develop bonds with our kids and also teach them critical thinking skills.

Finally over with all the changes in my life above I have had those changes effect me in game. I no longer play 6 hours a day 6-7 days a week. Most weeks its 2 days for 3-5 hours, some weekends I get in more play time if I'm not watching football or going out with the family. Also I with the limited play time to put into improving my character every chance I get I have been dabbling in the other aspects of the game beyond Raiding. I have joined an RP server, dabbled in pet battles, leveled a 3rd alt to 90, started to random PvP more, and any of the newer features Blizzard has given us.

WICBT: What's your most and least favorite expansions?

Image Courtesy of  TheDDGuides

Favorite Expansion is a hard one I could say TBC but then again that is when I started, so it'd be like a  Vanilla vet or Wrath child saying those were their favorite expansions, because it was new and newness and and nostalgia are powerful emotions. I loved Wrath's story if not because I loved Warcraft 3's story so much. Cataclysm was good because well Arms DPS was amazing. Pandaria has been pretty awesome from game play changes and lore plots. But if I had to really sit down an pick a favortie expansion I think I would have to go with TBC the wonder that I felt along with Sunwell was amazing, I think if they hadn't (even if hastily) released Sunwell I think my answer may be different.

As far as least favorite expansion, even if Arms DPS was godlike Cataclysm earns this (dis)honor. Not wrapping up Neptulaons story, or how disappointed I was in Thrall stepping down when the Horde needed him most are just a few of the things that rubbed me the wrong way.  The fact that we killed potentially the biggest threat to Azeroth well before his time, unless Sargeras will finally not fail at coming to Azeroth in his full power and glory.

To sum it up I think all of the expansions have had their bright sports as far as game play, quality of life changes and lore.

WICBT: What do you think of persistent changes to Azeroth?

This weeks installment of WoW Insider's Community Blog Topic deals with persistent changes like the one we are witnessing currently with the destruction of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. I am going to take a slightly different direction on this one and talk about how somethings that Blizzard has decided to do (not do) greatly affects the effectiveness of persistent changes.

Warning Tangents Ahead!!!

More After The Jump!

WICBT: What is your spoiler policy?

In this weeks Community Blog Topic the WoW Insider crew takes a look at spoiler policy. My opinion has changed recently over the last couple years. Pre-LFR I would have been fine with end of content spoilers, especially knowing that I may never personally see them with my guilds slow progression (they are good people though). However with the advent of LFR I think the safe time period to discuss major lore spoilers is once the last LFR wing is released, because at that point it is safe to assume that everyone who wants to see it for themselves has.

My personal policy in avoiding trolls wanting to spoil things for me, /leave 2 and I avoid the comment sections of The Queue.

WICBT: Would you play on an expansion specific server?

Over the last few weeks the good 'ole topic of Expansion based servers has popped back up like that annoying soul stoned lock in battlegrounds. I am torn on this one, although I do think it would be awesome especially for players who never got to experience certain expansions as they were. Myself having started at the launch of the Burning Crusade would love to go back and experience the original the way it was before TBC.

However it wouldn't work. People would begin to complain about the absence of many of the quality of life changes since TBC. They would be unhappy with the lack of support and new content. I think the raid scaling if implemented will do some to curb the need for expansion based servers and I actually look forward to that feature when it does finally come.

All that being said I think when WoW is finally a finished product (i.e. no more content releases) I could see Blizzard having specific expansion servers available and sell them separate from WoW in a Pay for game but free to play type system like GW2.

WI's Community Blog Topic 8/30/13

This weeks Community Blog Topic as provided by the lovely staff over at WoW Insider is, Which race would you like to become playable?

The easy answer for me as a Tauren a heart would be the Tauren subraces Taunka and Yaungol and even those we may have yet find. However I agree with Matt Rossi that as a whole the subraces would be awesome.

Now as far as currently unplayable races the Isectoids of Azeroth are interesting but I would much rather have to separate races for Alliance and Horde and so far all 3 of the know Insectoid races would be more aligned with the Horde.

Etherals would be obvious and they could use the same neutral then faction pick system they did for the Pandarean.

Another option would be to have Horde get Ogres and Alliance Furbolgs they have been in the game since Vanilla and both races have intriguing stories.

My order for new "races" in the next expansion would be finish new character models with the sub races included, and then Etherals. And if the next expansion is The Dark Below then it kinda leaves only Naga if they do plan on adding a new race.

Bloated Warrior (Buttons)

Let me preface this by saying I could cut a lot of my button bloat by bundling abilities together in macros, however if Blizzards goal is to make the game more playable for everyone we should not need to use macros just make the game playable in a manner that doesn't require 10 inch long fingers or $150 peripherals. I personally use a shift modifier with the G keys on my Logitech G15 or my Razer Naga. Even after 3 years with the Naga I still can't ditch the G15.

For a list of all abilities check this out over at wowpedia.

For my thoughts on removing some of Warrior's button bloat, take the jump.

More After The Jump!

This Weeks Hot Topic: Gear the Good, the Bad, and the Not So Ugly

This weeks the hot topic over on WoW Insider is Gear and whether it is is an outdated mechanic for player progression in WoW.

According to WI staff gear serves 2 main purposes,

1. Form
2. Function

While you can read there arguments for and against gear as well as a suggestion on how to remove statistical elements from gear here.

I tend to be one who thinks gear is fine the way it is now agreeing that gear provides a needed slider to help players that aren't quite as skilled as those in the top 10 guilds in the world ease into content. Where as those against it could argue that the stat benefit provided by new gear is not meaningful as to progression.

Both camps for and against gear mentioned that gear provided the form factor of allowing to build your character the way you see them, especially with the advent of transmogification  Neither camp wanted to see gear go bye bye completely for this very reason.

After the break I will talk about how Gear isn't the problem it is the way gear is delivered in terms of the random number generator system.

More After The Jump!

The Hot Topic: WoWs Current Loot System

Since the release of Mists of Pandaria the Loot System in WoW has been under heavy criticism. Whether it be the gating of Valor gear behind reputation grinds that could only be doe through dailies, or the LFR system of loot.

This Expansion Blizzard decided to give us a new way to obtain loot, by giving us Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. By collecting 90 of these thing, through dailies, you could then turn them in for 3 tokens which grant a bonus roll on a boss. This system for the first tier of raiding was under scrutiny because of the frequency that you got gold from it, especially if you got gold from your normal loot roll as well. People dont see it as a bonus roll they see it as something that should guarantee them loot, as the old saying goes the only thing guaranteed in life is death and taxes, and for a WoW player that just means death and lots of time (the tax) grinding.

The last couple days there has a been a heated debate between EU forum posters and Blizzard Blue Draztal (summary found here), about the need for a better way to guarantee PvE loot to players, this case weapons, much like the PvP loot system.

After the break I will talk about my thought on the subject.

More After The Jump!