Totem talk: What you restoration shaman in 4.0.1 patch expected

by Joe Perez Sep 21st 2010 at 8:00PM

Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration will show you how, brought to you by Joe Perez, otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and host of the BDTU: Lore edition podcast.

Last week, we talked about the first impressions of healing with Spiritwalker's Grace and how it fits in with our spells and or ability to heal. After that, we had some breaking news for beta build 12942 and then build 12984. The first patches where we really started to see some changes to the restoration shaman spells and abilities beyond the first set of talent swaps.

With all the news about the various changes coming in Cataclysm, it is easy to overlook the PTR and the ever-imminent Patch 4.0.1. Truth is, this is a point of concern for quite a large number of people. Like previous pre-expansion patches, it is an exciting yet terrifying time for most players. Some remain optimistic that the changes to our classes will make us stronger and pack even more fun. Others believe that in the case of the upcoming patch, the sky is falling and that we are all doomed. The official forums and the various sites out there are filled with both sides of the debate, and often you can find a very heated discussion about these changes.

So what changes are in store for restoration shaman once this patch goes live? Let's take a look.

First and most importantly, there is one thing to keep in mind throughout all of this. DON'T PANIC! While change is always a little bit scary, it's best to take a look at it from a rational view point. As far as actual changes, there are quite a bit heading our way with the 4.0.1 patch.

General Changes

There are lists of all the changes that are floating around for every class and every specialization. That said, I thought it would be good to go over what exactly those changes are once again for restoration shaman.

What 4.0.1 will change:

What 4.0.1 won't bring: As you can see, we are getting some of our new toys right away, so we can start to play with some of the new mechanics and abilities. We will be getting free respecs as a result of the talent trees' being completely revamped. We won't be able to play with any of the new zones, but we'll be getting to play with our new talents and a couple of new spells in the current level 80 Wrath of the Lich King content.

What about balance?

One of the more frequent questions about this upcoming patch: How will we be balanced after the patch goes live? Well, just like the pre-Burning Crusade patch and pre-Wrath patch, there's only one answer available. We won't be balanced. Blizzard has already told us that everything we are getting, all of the new shinny toys, are balanced around being level 85. Since we will not get the chance to level until Cataclysm is actually released, balance is not something we should worry too much about. Honestly, the developers aren't quite concerned with balancing the new talents and abilities around the content of Wrath come patch 4.0.1, so for now, don't sweat it.

That said, it isn't a terrible thing we aren't balanced at this time. Honestly, this patch doesn't really change anything for us that is really earth-shattering. We will still be able to heal through Icecrown Citadel and Ruby Sanctum, as well as any heroics, just fine.

To give you an idea of what our stats are going to look like once we make the switch over to the new patch, I've gathered up the pertinent stats from Lodur on the live game and on the patch 4.0.1 PTR.

Live server stats: Int 1,612Healing bonus 3,259Crit 39.19%Haste 39%MP5 out of combat 279MP5 in combat 175Mana pool 28,296
Patch 4.0.1 stats:
Int 2,203Healing bonus 3,189Crit 34.52%Haste 39%MP5 out of combat 431MP5 in combatMana pool 37,161As you can see, not a whole lot changes in the stat department for us, except for the fact that we get a little more regen through the spirit conversion and Meditation. Slightly more intellect helps with the mana pool, but we lose a little bit of healing power. Crit only drops a few percent due to the removal of Tidal Mastery, so there's not too much of a loss there. Overall, there's not much to worry about.

Healing in 4.0.1

I'll be honest, at first I was a little scared about healing at the current level with the new patch. I dove into it, though, and healed through a PUG ICC-25 run. My first impression of healing in the new patch was not favorable. Marrowgar demanded more than the normal amount of healers to get through, but looking back at it, this was probably symptomatic of everyone's getting used to their new talents in a raiding environment. After pushing back into the citadel, running numerous heroics and just spending time with the new talents in general, I was able to fall back quite comfortably into healing. After returning back into ICC on the PTR, healing went much more smoothly, and honestly, it was quite enjoyable. Still, it took me a while to get used to not being able to Cleanse Spirit poisons or diseases, but wasn't that bad after the first week.

Overall, we will be in a good place when patch 4.0.1 drops. We will get to play around with some of the new mechanics and stats long enough to get used to them before Cataclysm is released, without disrupting our playstyle too much. So the moral of the story is: DON'T PANIC. There is nothing special you need to worry about, and things should be just fine to continue life in Azeroth as normal. That is, until Deathwing decides to crash the joint.
Show your totemic mastery by reading Totem Talk. Whether it's Sarah Nichol's elemental edition, Joe Perez's coverage of restoration or Rich Maloy's enhancement edition, WoW Insider's shaman experts have you covered. Tags: class-help, featured, guide, guide-to-shamans, healing, healing-shaman, ptr, ptr-4.0.1, restoration, restoration-shaman, shaman, shaman-guide, shaman-healing, shaman-info, shaman-talents, shamans, talent, talents, world-of-warcraft-class-guide, world-of-warcraft-guide, wow-class-guide, wow-class-help, wow-guide, wow-shaman, wow-shaman-info, wow-talent-guide

Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk

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World of WarCrafts: sweet start to the week

by Anne Stickney Sep 20th 2010 at 4: 00 pm
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more.

It's Monday, but don't worry!Monday Blues can not the sheer deliciousness this latest enlargement Warcraft inspired cake standhalten.Diese week was my birthday, so I have birthday cake the brain - and we have a handful of WoW-themed birthday cakes, the me hungry you sind.Lassen us begin the week on a sweet note for frosting, shall we?

Come with us after the break to hear more about the latest additions to our cake Gallery.

Appetizing Azeroth

First up: Watch the breathtaking map shown above of Azeroth.The best part? the whole is edible homemade fondant and creative painting.Vahnya on pitched at Sisters of Elune (U.S.-H) her sister-in-law to help the cake for your little brother's birthday. "The cake was white cake mix-made out of the box!"Vahnya says. "The fondant was a homemade fondant made from melted marshmallows and sugar powder, hand mixed until it was no longer sticky."

"" We painted the sea - part of the cake with food dye - mixed with a little water that much as painting with watercolors,"continues you."We have printed a picture of the map Azeroth and cut the continents, as our guide to cutting we used that another piece of the rolled fondant an earth tones color colored. "After all continents on the cake placed we she painted with a little washing of food dye then brownish red in the mountains and maelstrom and a darker blue for the banks and rivers went back with a dark paint."

Impressive job-- and even more impressive as Vahnya admitted that this was the first time or your sister-in-law had worked with fondant!"Your little brother was quite surprised when he saw that it", says Vahnya."My brother in law asked and we are convinced that he knows (something sad) the geography of Azeroth better than our own planet!"

For the Horde

Our next delicious number is this Horde-themed cake, submitted by Charlotte.Ich love the details icon; the small silver dragees (Yes, you have a name!) the icon outline are a nice touch and the springs at the bottom look too real to frosting to! This is the last of her friend, cake not decorate exploits. "My friend the next destination is a blood elf!"Charlotte sagt.Achten to send out, even in the next edible artwork Charlotte!

Treated hunting on birthday

Far from me, bias against Horde show while talking about cake.Further up, have we an Alliance-themed cake just to balance things out.Speaking of balance, this cake is a spectacle of balanced layers and unusual shapes, complete with hand-painted art on all sides!

"Emrldsky of Kul Tiras (U.S. A) decided, together at their own birthday cake, a tribute to put your night elf Hunter." "My main is a night elf Hunter, and I wanted my birthday cake, accordingly" Emrldsky explains."I wanted a structure that was a bit different than what people usually see.""As a whole probably 14 hours, including the time it took to make the structure together to took this cake."

"" Only one animal is fake (second from bottom); the rest is all cake, "adds you.""Each animal is covered with fondant, and most of the tiers with gel food colors with vodka diluted ink gemalt-- which alcohol evaporates, leaving behind a non-sticky painted surface."Emrldsky has some cakes that you together is put more pictures of their Hunter-themed birthday cake on Flickr, as well as some other beautiful non-WoW.

An edible battle cry

"Svartalfar from the Drakkari server in the last cake of a replica the battlecry mosaic from five year WoW anniversary features gesendet.Der cake was collected by Svartalfar's girlfriend.""" The cake was a surprise and all your idea,"he says.""The image of the battlecry mosaic took-as my wallpaper I use - and this cake with the basic idea of an old book about loved the cake; all my friends es.Ich at the party were to play wow with me and did not cut the cake... but in the end, we ate AV. - and it was delicious!"
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including arts and crafts, fan art, WoW-themed recipes, comics, cosplay, music and Fan Fiction.Zeigen you us, how you express yourself, by you e-Mail anne@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.Tags:Featured birthday cake, cakes, crafts, crafts, fondant, game craft, world of Wacraft craft, Wow art, Wow artwork, Wow craft, Wow fan, Wow fan art, Wow fan made, Wow fan made art, Wow fan made artwork, wow fans

Filed under: world of WarCrafts

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The lamps and how: it swing: guardian of ancient kings for Prot and ret

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by Gregg Reece Sep 22nd 2010 at 11:00AM

With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge -- and soon, an entire flight of black dragons. Please send screenshots as well as any comments to gregg@wow.com.

I've been holding off on talking about Guardian of Ancient Kings (which I'll abbreviate "GK" and pronounce "goak" because, frankly, why not?) for a few different reasons. One, it wasn't implemented, and two, even if it were implemented, we couldn't level to 85 to use it. Both of those have changed in the past couple builds.

So, we've got a warrior of the light who will stand by our side and do ... what was it again? Oh, right. Something completely different depending on what spec you are. If you're holy, it helps heal; prot, it helps you tank; and ret, it helps do damage. This is intended to be a major cooldown for whichever spec you've chosen and will adapt appropriately. It is the Batman of abilities, with something in its utility belt for everyone.

Guardian of Ancient Kings for holy spec

Summons a Guardian of Ancient Kings to protect you for 30 sec.

While active, your next 5 heals will cause the Guardian to heal the same target for the amount healed by your heal, and friendly targets within 10 yards of the target for 10% of the amount healed.

Apologies to holy paladins -- I can give you the ability text, but I haven't gotten to play with your version of the ability yet due to a lack of healing gear. As much as I would absolutely love to get into the minutia of this ability's interaction with all of those wonderful new holy spells, I just haven't had time to keep up with everything new in the holy tree for Cataclysm. I would inevitably mess up the holy information, and then you'd all post nasty things about my dog (which is strange, because I don't even have a dog), or I'd forget about Light of Dawn or Holy Radiance and how those AoE heals would be considered in the "5 next heals" part of the text. I have no idea what those interactions would be, but I'm sure Chase does -- and I'm sure he'd love to answer your holy paladin questions, if you ask him nicely.

I love you guys. You're wonderful, but I don't want to mess up talking about your version of a cool, new skill. Please don't kill me.

Guardian of Ancient Kings for prot pallies

If you've been following the tanking changes in Cataclysm, then you know that a lot of the various tanking cooldowns have been adjusted to match up with the new healing/health model. This means our old friend Divine Protection got reduced from 50 percent down to 20 percent damage reduction. Ardent Defender is now an ability instead of a passive talent, but it also affords a 20 percent damage reduction in addition to its ability to let you cheat death. Let's look at what GK does for us:

Summons a Guardian of Ancient Kings to protect you for 12 sec.

While the Guardian is active, all incoming damage is reduced by 60%.

With all of the survivability revamps for all tanks, it's nice to have some big tanking cooldowns to rely on. Every 5 minutes, you can toss out a 60 percent damage reduction for yourself. Putting three talent points into Shield of the Templar will reduce the cooldown down to 2 minutes. This gives you four tanking cooldowns that you can use: Divine Protection, Lay on Hands, Ardent Defender and Guardian of Ancient Kings.

I really wish I could say more about it. However, GK for prot is just a really simple but extremely powerful damage reduction buff.

GK for retribution paladins

We've got a lot of things to manage now. You've got to watch your holy power, keep Inquisition up, hit Zealotry when it's up for a damage rich rotation, and take care of Art of War procs and Avenging Wrath. With all of that extra depth to the class, there are times when you just want: "Step 1: Hit stuff. Step 2: ???. Step 3: Profit." That's what you're getting with GK.

Summons a Guardian of Ancient Kings to attack your current target for 12 sec. While active, your and your Guardians attacks cause you to be infused with Ancient Power, increasing your strength by 20 per application.

After 12 sec or when your Guardian is killed, you will release Ancient Fury, causing 102 damage plus 102 per application of Ancient Power, divided among all targets within 10 yards.

Summon your guardian and just blow all of your other cooldowns to maximize your damage.

Ta-da! Profit!

...

OK, it's a little more complex than that. Let's look at the first part. GK summons a guardian to attack your current target. So, you'll be doing additional damage based on that. There hasn't been a real numbers pass on abilities, so I'm going to wait until closer to release to talk about that part (especially since that "numbers pass" might include changes to stat conversions).

Second, every time you or your guardian hit your opponent, you'll be accumulating a stacking strength buff. OK, the obvious answer to this is get as much melee haste as possible to stack up that buff as high as you can. This is actually a decent theory. The problem with that is, as I said earlier, is that we aren't finished with numbers passes yet. I wouldn't necessarily stack just haste on gear, because mastery, hit, expertise and crit are always good as well. What I would do is take advantage of Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp. If you're in a raid or even a dungeon, someone is going to have this from time to time, and a good group usually chooses which fights they're going to use it on. Of course, this is newbie damage-dealing: Blow your cooldowns during Bloodlust. Let's see what else we've got.

Third, we've got the finale of the act. Either at the end of the guardian's duration or whenever someone kills it (yes, ret's is the only version that can die), the guardian will blow all of that wonderful strength buff stack as damage. This is going to be dished out among everything you can attack within 10 yards. If you're standing next to a crowd-controlled target? Broken. If you're standing next to a killable but non-aggressive mob of some sort? Consider it attacked. Bugs? Attacked (although your Holy Wrath should have killed all of them).

Your stacking strength buff is gone and you end up with a lovely damage spike on the meters.

I've said a couple of times that you really don't need to worry about numbers right now. The devs will balance things as they see fit, and we'll probably have hotfixes nerfing one thing and buffing another. That's how the start of expansions work, especially with as many class changes as we've seen to everyone. Just be sure to give truthful feedback on how everything works together.

The Light and How to Swing It tries to help paladins cope with the dark times coming in Cataclysm. See the upcoming paladin changes the expansion will bring. Wrath is coming to a close and the final showdown with the Lich King is here. With Cataclysm soon heating things up, will you be ready? Tags: cat-beta, cata-beta, cataclysm-beta, class-help, featured, guardian-of-ancient-kings, guide, guide-to-paladins, guide-to-pallies, guide-to-pallys, paladin-guide, paladin-info, paladin-talents, pally-guide, pally-info, pally-talents, talent, talents, world-of-warcraft-beta, world-of-warcraft-cataclysm, world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-beta, world-of-warcraft-class-guide, world-of-warcraft-guide, wow-beta, wow-cataclysm-beta, wow-class-guide, wow-class-help, wow-expansion-beta, wow-guide, wow-paladin, wow-paladin-info, wow-paladins, wow-pally, wow-pally-info, wow-talent-guide

Filed under: Paladin, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It, Cataclysm

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The queue: Road dog

by Michael Sacco Sep 19th 2010 at 9: 00 A.m. welcome back in the queue, WoW Insider's daily Q & A column, your questions about world of Warcraft answered the WoW Insider team where. Mike Sacco will be your host.

Not ask how this Worgen got his hands on a Goblin Trike. Just Don ' t. Because it isn't very interesting. ... Fine. He got it by chance, thanks to Blizzard's messing around with Worgen mount things of this beta patch. There. Are you happy now?Away, to the magic to ruinieren.Ihre mother and I are very disappointed in you.

RIN asked:

What search players health levels as in cataclysm?I would assume, you get to this point quite lächerlich.Ich saw a video with a wizard with 80,000 health...

My level 83 rogue has 55 k HP.Ein tank level 85 transmission with buff has around 100 k.

Charon asked:

Know with we, how many new groups Rep to win in cataclysm? I need seven more for that awesome.

Now, we know the following:
TherazaneRamkahenGuardians HyjalEarthen ring Wildhammer clan Dragonmaw clan bar vs. of guardian Hellscream's ReachSo be one shortly.Sorry, guy!

Skurfer48 asked:

I have a question about control. I wonder what I've heard it beta, but I pretty well implemented, where about one thing in the besonderen.Wenn me remember correctly, first determine Blizzard be something control, the people have a reason to wear your best kind of armor.(i.e. gear warriors and hunters with leather because it was up to the statistics that had it and what you wanted for your spec.)So I wonder if this involved still from the Championship, somehow?From what I have heard it is only a stat like any other that would lead me to believe will sometimes take it not anything about people lower class armor change; if anything it could it further because someone may want a lower class or armor and their control bonus ist.Fehle because it has more control really nice I something or scrap you kind of, the idea of the Championship which bear the best class or armor you can?

Your extremely long question can be answered thusly: receive a 5% bonus on your most important stat (agility, strength, intellect, and so on) for wearing your proper armor class in all available Steckplätzen.Beherrschung the stat, has nothing to do with this bonus.

Levx3 asked:

Because Worgen go to being their own mounts, we are our Plainstriding Tauren again? I remember the problems which had it in early WoW, but you seem to have fixed.

No.
Have questions about the world of Warcraft? the WoW Insider crew is here with the queue, your questions in the comments and we will do our best to our daily Q & A-Spalte.Lassen, to ' to answer 'em!Tags:Cat beta, CATA beta, cataclysm beta Facebookfeed, featured, guide, call and response, world of Warcraft Beta, world of Warcraft disaster, world of Warcraft cataclysm beta, Wow answers, Wow beta, Wow cataclysm beta, Wow daily responses, Wow daily questions, Wow expansion beta, Wow Guide, QA, WOW players questions, Wow-Q and a, Wow questions

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"Back to graveyard" button is the latest cataclysm beta build

by Fox Van Allen Sep 19th 2010 at 4: 30 pm picture this: you are an innocent, exploring Goblin, the ruins of Gilneas in cataclysm, wide-eyed. You are guard your own business when suddenly, ugly jaggedly Polygonned female Worgen jumps out of the bushes and reaches you! Fight bravely, aber-- QQ! -Your chosen class after generft ground in beta patch cruel beta patch! Coupling your chest Ghostcrawler with your last breath to curse. You are a naughty body down fall little green.

"No problem", you think. "I'll run to my body back!" And so you try. But... You can find it. I think it's there somewhere, but you're on the wrong side of a moat, and... well, you've never been here before. Wait I sees this not familiar at all... my, it sorta looks familiar but... it's different. Think you've seen that tree, previously but... No, wait, it looks exactly like all other trees here nearby. And... damn your mind only fell into this deep ditch. Crap.Are nowhere close to your body or you want the spirit Heiler.Wie from hell to get?

The answer: the brand new back to graveyard key. It is a new feature in the latest beta build, and it does exactly what you think, it does.

It's a simple convenience, Yes, but this simple amenities are turning into the best parts about cataclysm. The ability to track multiple things on your minimap.The ability to fly anywhere.Is said when a new skill, is available on your trainer (and what it is). The back button is just another in a long graveyard and growing list of features that you smack your forehead and think "we played this game for six years damn without this?" World of Warcraft: cataclysm will destroy Azeroth, as we know it; nothing the be same! WoW find insider's Guide to cataclysm everything worth knowing about WoW's third expansion to new breeds of revamped quests and Zonen.Besuchen you our cataclysm news category for the latest posts with the cataclysm expansion to do.Tags:Cataclysm Guide, cataclysm news, expansion, cataclysm game, expansion-three, ghost, further Xpac, patch 4.0.1, Res, back to the cemetery, ReturnToGraveyard, spirit, SpiritHealer, Wow disaster, Wow expansion, Wow Guide, third expansion, world of Warcraft disaster, Wow 4.0, Wow 4.0.2, Wow third expansion

Filed under: cataclysm

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Tuesday morning post: Brewfest begins output

by Daniel Whitcomb Sep 21st 2010 7: 00 p.m. happy Tuesday morning, everyone, and welcome to the new WoW Insider! It is time again for everyone's favorite WoW holiday brewfest. Yes, everyone's favorite holiday. If you think it is not yours, are wrong. It has beer, Kodos, and if you see everyone as a hot Lady Orc horde, the ability. You not can the above.

In addition at the beginning of the Brewfest we have seen some interesting news drop, including information on main currency changes with patch 4.0.1, new background download data for patch 4.0.1 and come a new beta build. The biggest news from the latest beta build seems the fact that Worgen to get their own mounts to be, but there are tons of other amazing things.We have a list, and all other WoW news after Pause.Keine concern, have time to read because we have the usual 5-11 pm Pacific downtime today.
Hot news and features

News and guides items, dungeons, professions, PvP and other odds and ends class world of Warcraft: cataclysm will destroy Azeroth, as we know it; nothing the be same! WoW find insider's Guide to cataclysm everything worth knowing about WoW's third expansion to new breeds of revamped quests and Zonen.Besuchen you our cataclysm news category for the latest posts with the cataclysm expansion to do.Tags:Downtime, maintenance, realm downtime, realm maintenance, Roundup, server downtime, server maintenance, server status, Tuesday, Tuesday maintenance, Tuesday morning, Tuesday morning postFiled under: realm status, news items

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WoW Insider's swag Giveaway Winner

by Alex Ziebart Sep 20th 2010 at 9: 00 A.m. as promised early last week, we are ready to announce the winners of the swag giveaway to celebrate our return after the WoW Insider name. All winners were chosen at random. You are:
We will respond to accept your prices kontaktieren.Wenn of the winner to the e-Mail address within a week the winner within the next 24 hours by e-Mail, lose their prices, and we get new winners in their place.

Again thanks to WoWTCGLoot.com.Ohne these giveaways would you not be possible.Tags:Contest, giveaway, prey codes, Wowtcgloot wowtcgloot.com

Filed under: contests, WoW TCG

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WoW Gets Mobile Armory, 3D model viewer activity feeds and many more

by Mathew McCurley Sep 22nd 2010 5: 00 p.m. the newest version of world of Warcraft mobile Armory released was on iTunes, with a 3D Model Viewer for all characters, activity feeds similar to those on the Web version of the Armory and optimizations for Apple's iOS 4.0.

A cool feature is included in the update screenshot mode, so cool pics of your characters to many scenes, the breed called capitals einschließlich.Der screenshot mode are all UI even from the phone gives you a clean shot away.

This update was the Foundation for the newly revealed mobile guild chat service available by the Armory app potentially unlocked in the near future for subscribers to Blizzard's remote auction house service set.I hope to bring more light on this functionality in the near future werden.Bekommen update, it until then, because these new features are pretty neat to use used to bookmark of the Armory's I RSS-feed for my characters and open in Safari on the iPhone, but with the new activity feeds directly in the Armory app built things clunky have gotten much less.

Tags: Android app Apple, Armory, ios4, iPhone, Mobile Armory, Remote auction house, updating, Wow Armory, Wow Armory iPhone, Wow Armory update, Wow mobile Armory filed under: News items

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WoW Insider of Brewfest FAQ

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by Allison Robert Sep 19th 2010 at 6:00PM

Within 24 hours, Brewfest will have begun on all servers regardless of location, and if you're new to the holiday or just need some extra information, we hope this FAQ will be helpful!

Help! Where do I go to get started? There will be special holiday-related NPCs parked around most major cities to direct you to the festival, but if you want to skip directly to the main event, head to Ironforge (if you're Alliance) or Orgrimmar (if you're Horde). The festival areas are located outside the main gates of each.

I'm starting from scratch and want the Brewmaster title. How do I get that? You'll want to read our OverAchiever on how to do all of the holiday-related achievements. Keep in mind that only six are required for the Brewmaster title and meta (which is itself required for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, if you're working toward a Violet Proto-Drake).

How do I get the holiday items I need for achievements? Many can be purchased for regular old copper or silver from Brewfest vendors, but others will require Brewfest Prize Tokens, a special currency awarded only during the holiday.

How do I get Brewfest Prize Tokens? There are lots of different ways. Prize Tokens are awarded for several quests (some non-repeatable, some daily), and you can also get a bunch for delivering kegs every 18 hours or so.

Non-repeatable quests:

Daily quests: Bark for (brewery)! In the central festival area outside Ironforge/Orgrimmar, you'll find several breweries eager to have you advertise their wares. Every day, they'll give you a rental ram and the chance to earn 15 tokens by racing it around the city to several locations. Unfortunately, you can only advertise for one brewery per day.This One Time, When I Was Drunk (Alliance) or This One Time, When I Was Drunk (Horde) Every 30 minutes, Dark Iron dwarves will attack the festival areas. Fight them off, and they'll drop a large cog awarding this daily quest, redeemable for 10 Brewfest Prize Tokens.Ram Racing If you complete There and Back Again (see above), the Ram Racing Master will offer you the chance to run kegs every 18 hours. The number of tokens you'll get from this will vary depending on skill.Help! I suck at ram racing! The rams can only gallop for a limited amount of time before they become exhausted and slow to a crawl. If you're running kegs, proximity to an apple bucket will refresh them; if you're barking for a brewery, you're on your own. The trick to good ram racing is to hotkey the Ram Racing Reins somewhere convenient on your bars (you may want to leave it there for the duration of the holiday so you don't waste time putting it back after you're mounted) and know in advance how much speed you can afford at any given leg of your journey. That really only comes with experience, but you'll find some good advice on WoWWiki's Brewfest page.

Every player out there has had the supremely frustrating experience of having a ram move at the pace of a Virginia Woolf novel at the worst possible time, so hang in there. You'll get better with practice.

Why is there so much conflicting information on these quests and dailies? Blizzard's tinkered with Brewfest a lot, and quest availability, cooldowns and rewards have changed each year. The "ram racing" cooldown was 18 hours (not 12, as you'll commonly hear) as of 2009. The Pink Elekk and wolpertinger quests weren't available on the EU realms last year. Mounts (see below) were once buyable if you'd saved 600 Brewfest Prize Tokens.

UPDATE: As with last year, European realms had the wolpertinger and pink elekk quests available for only a short time before they were yanked down.

Are any noncombat pets available? Two. Do the quest Catch the Wild Wolpertinger (Alliance) or Catch the Wild Wolpertinger (Horde) and you'll be rewarded with Wolpertinger's Tankard. This is also one of the achievements required for the Brewmaster title. The wolpertinger is a small rabbit with wings, antlers and big teeth. If other players have theirs out, you'll only be able to see them if your character is drunk or grouped with them.

The other pet is the Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm, sold by Brewfest Token Redeemers for 100 Brewfest Prize Tokens.

Are any mounts available? The holiday boss, Coren Direbrew, has a chance to drop two mounts: the Swift Brewfest Ram and the Great Brewfest Kodo. Because these are considered special drops, you'll only have a shot at them from a special loot bag once per day.

How do I get to Coren Direbrew? As of this year, Blizzard has changed the way you reach holiday bosses. Open your dungeon finder tool (the default hotkey for this is the I key). Under the dropdown menu (the one you use to select specific dungeons) will be an option allowing you to queue for special holiday bosses like Coren. Choose this and you can queue for a group.

What else does Coren Direbrew drop? His 2010 loot bag remains the same as its 2009 incarnation, below:

Trinkets Most of these are copies of the ilevel 200 vendor trinkets available for Emblems of Heroism (and they stack with their "parent" trinket), but the Bitter Balebrew Charm and Bubbling Brightbrew Charm are unique stamina trinkets that many tanks find useful to boost their health. Weapons Of note here is that the Tankard O'Terror, which is a BoE piece and can thus be sold. You will almost certainly see them on the auction house if you're not lucky enough to get a drop. Other Direbrew's Remote This is an interesting little item that, once used, will summon a Dark Iron mole machine to carry you and any party/raid members directly to the Grim Guzzler. This is useful to any class who wants to reach the Eastern Kingdoms continent relatively quickly, although it'll take you a little bit to exit BRD and reach a flight path in the Searing Gorge or Burning Steppes. In Cataclysm, this is significantly faster, as you can fly within the Blackrock Mountain complex. Additionally, you can get a special TAFKAL80ETC performance if you use your Remote to get to the Grim Guzzler; just talk to the goblin roadies in the bar.Wait a minute. Why are the Brewfest Ram and Swift Brewfest Ram being sold by the Ram Racing Apprentice? If you're seeing these for sale, your character must have been around in 2007 to do the mount-related quest, which was how you got the Rams in those days. The quest is no longer available.

Anything else I should know? The special colored tankards available each year from the holiday (e.g. the Yellow Brewfest Stein from 2007, Blue Brewfest Stein from 2008 and Green Brewfest Stein from 2009) are unavailable after Brewfest ends. Each has turned into a Feat of Strength. For 2010, the Green Brewfest Stein is still in the game; it doesn't look like they've done a special color for this year. Go grab yourself an easy Feat of Strength!
Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! We cover everything from Glory of the Hero and Insane in the Membrane to Master of Alterac Valley and Lil' Game Hunter, and you can count on us to guide you through Azeroth's holidays and special events. Tags: brewfest, brewfest-2010, brewfest-faq, brewfest-frequently-asked-questions, frequently-asked-questions-brewfest, guide-to-brewfest, how-do-i-do-brewfest, how-to-brewfest, wow-brewfest-2010, wow-brewfest-guide, wow-holiday, wow-holiday-guide, wow-holidays

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WoW Insider's weekly webcomic: safe passage

by Kelly Aaron Sep 21st 2010 at 11: 00 am
Welcome to another edition of the WoW-Insider's weekly comic, safe passage! this comic takes place post cataclysm , there is little spoiler!

We have now two of the main character, ash 'gor ORC veteran and MiG' ai, companions Darkspear shaman please eingeführt.Auch here politely, you just wait and see what develops over the next few weeks.The Alliance are not all bad, after all.

Check out the full version here and tune in next Tuesday morning for a new page zu.Sie can see all previous pages in the gallery below.Tags:Alliance, Byron, featured, Horde ORC rogue, safe passage, shaman, Tauren, trolls, Warrior, world of Warcraft Comic, world of Warcraft comics, world of Warcraft Funnies, Wow comic, Wow comics, Wow Funnies, Wow rogue comic, Wow Tauren, Wow Tauren comic, Wow weekly comic

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World of the Warcraft Horde Redwin recruited a friend leveling Guide

This is a guide for World of Warcraft designed to take advantage of Blizzard recruit a friend program. Shows it step-by-step how to level 1-60 bass a day! The guide includes maps and links and shows you exactly what to do quick level!

Check it out!

15 Minutes of Fame: If WoW meets real world religion

request From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame.

Gaming plus religion or politics is a potentially volatile conversational destination -- and this week, we're going there. Meet the Rev. Jonathan Fisk, pastor of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Springfield, Pa. Over the years, 15 Minutes of Fame has been through more than a couple of aborted conversations with pastors about the intersection of real-world religion and the World of Warcraft. Whether the questions get a little too pointed, or the potential for reaction from the pews gets a little too hot ... Whatever the case, the interviews don't make it through to print.

Until now. Hats off to Fisk for what's turned out to be a tour de force of an interview examining one man and one denomination's insights on the convergence of gaming, pop culture and WoW. One note before we get started: While we welcome your comments on this obviously sensitive subject, please remember that personal attacks and name-calling, anti-religion tirades and other trollish asshattery in the comments will not be tolerated. Keep your comments constructive and pertinent to the interview, please, or we'll be obliged to remove them.

Main character Peccator, troll restoration shaman
Guild
Server Sentinels (US)

15 Minutes of Fame: Let's start out with some context for our conversation here. Tell us a little bit about your congregation and denomination.

The Rev. Fisk: My congregation is a member of the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod, the second-largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, and the one known for being conservative about theology. We still believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, and we require a "quia" or total commitment to the historic teachings of Christianity for all pastors.

Many people think Lutherans just follow Martin Luther. Luther was a brilliant and helpful man, and he was a catalyst for the conservative Reformation of the medieval catholic Church, but if Lutheranism is about a man, it about Jesus of Nazareth. The Reformation succeeded because by Scripture alone we can know that salvation is by grace alone received through faith alone because of the work of Jesus Christ alone. There's a lot to unpack there, but that's a good summary. My parish is a very small one -- the kind of little church America used to be famous for.

Are other players surprised to learn you're a pastor? If so, why do you think that is? What seems to provoke the most cognitive dissonance?

My raid team has three pastors in it. There is a little cognitive dissonance there, I guess, especially when it's one of us who says something earthy and witty in Vent. The media only tends to show that edge of conservative Christianity that is very legalistic. There's a vast number of Protestant traditions that we Lutherans used to call "radicals." Their theology is very about about "yourself" and how good or holy you are. They say they believe the Bible, but they think it's a rulebook for life rather than the Revelation of who God is in Jesus.

It's funny, because for all their talk about not sinning, it's what the Bible says about sin that they don't really believe. Sin is not firstly something you do. It's a corruption of our hearts, our nature. It's that corruption that is the reason we die, the reason there is war and hate and disease and suffering. But that "radical" edge of Christianity that gets all the press thinks it can overcome this sin just by following the right rules and trying really hard. But that kind of spirituality is always falling short of itself. It tries to get you to be good for inherently selfish reasons, and then you end up just looking like a hypocrite. That's the "fundamentalism" that makes the news as "Christianity," so that's what most people think Christianity is.

When that's all you've ever seen, running into a confessional Lutheran is a bit like landing at the start of Portal. You're like, "Huh? This guy seems real, has a sense of humor, doesn't take himself to seriously, seems pretty authentic, but is 32, married 8 years with three kids, is ordained and raids on WoW? It doesn't add up. How is he getting holy and saving the world by playing WoW?" But that's this cognitive dissonance that is really about what Christianity actually is. Sadly, the ones most to blame for this misrepresentation are the radical Christians.

What sort of questions do other players commonly ask you about playing WoW as a Christian pastor?

Our guild is pretty mellow, but we raid, and we're all there for the game. We all know we live in a diverse age. You know the old saying about "religion and politics." That's sort of been the guild's unspoken rule. We don't talk about Obama and we don't talk about God. But sometimes it happens.

There was this amazing conversation we had one night on Vent when someone made an offhand remark about "zombie Jesus" or something like that. And I laughed and said something like, "No, Jesus isn't undead. Jesus is risen." It was fun. Everyone was honest, asking questions and not getting all quiet and offended like happens so often.

But it's kind of sad, really. Our age of tolerance is a two-edged sword. Everyone is so afraid of offending everyone else (because everyone is always so offended) that it's almost like there's this giant lid on meaningful conversations. We can talk about the weather or loot, but we keep a tight seal on the deeper things of life.

But knowing that that's our culture, and really caring about my guildies, I try to respect that. I know the image of Christianity is that of a bunch of hypocritical, self-righteous jerks. So I try not to be that. But I don't think commandeering Vent conversations will get me very far. The Bible teaches that life is full of vocations, places you stand in order to do the right thing. When I play WoW, my vocation is friend and WoW player, not preacher. Christianity teaches me to do what's before me to the best of my abilities, to honestly care about my guildmates, respect them and hold them up. If and when those relationships grow, and if and when they find themselves needing to reckon with the implications of their lives, their wrongdoings and death, they'll know where to find me. I'll be more than happy to "preach." :)

There seems to be a belief in some circles that Christians shouldn't play or read or watch anything in the fantasy genre. Can you give us your own theological perspective?

Yeah. That grows out of the "radicalism" I was telling you about. It has this hyper-drive way of reading the Bible, picking out details but ignoring other details, and how they together make a whole. It's kind of like picking an ingredient off five differing pages in a 1,000-page cookbook, and then cooking it according to the instructions on page 15. It tends to drive very arbitrary wedges into life. During the Reformation, 500 years ago, the radicals were saying you couldn't be a solider or a court judge or own property. Today, they say you can't read a book about elves. Kind of tame by comparison, I suppose.

But it's true that, Scripturally speaking, mediation, divination and trying to speak with "spirits" in RL is a foolish thing to do. The only ones you'll ever be able to contact will be demonic in their origin. That's all wrapped up in what sin is and how we humans broke the world. But I'm talking about real life when I say that. I'm not talking about the Burning Legion or Azeroth. The Burning Legion doesn't exist. Azeroth is fake. But enthusiasm as a movement was never grounded in a full view of anything.

Radicalism has never been able to draw a line between reality and imagination. So yeah, some circles of Christianity have a hard time telling fact from fiction, and I would maintain that this is largely because they don't know their own Bible's actual words half so well as they suppose.

How much do the game world and lore impact and inform your gaming experience? Do you roleplay and enjoy the lore and story of WoW, or do you play the game on a more superficial level?

I adore the Azeroth lore, in part because it borrows from classic mythological figures, which themselves are shells and shadows of Christian revelation. All great story if forced to beg, borrow and steal from the Greatest Story Ever Told. So, for example, when M'uru is suspended cruciform over the creatures which in their evil passion are seeking to displace him and take his power, and then later find out that M'uru has done this voluntarily as a sacrifice for their redemption, I'm like, "Rock on!" Or when the dead-but-transfigured-and-alive Bolvar takes the evil of the Lich King's armor for the sake of the world, and then buries it forever with himself, I'm like, "Dude ..."

But don't get me wrong. I love the lore for its own sake, too. Blizzard has done a phenomenal job orchestrating a vibrant ethos. My only complaint is that there haven't been enough books to capitalize on the breadth of the mythology. Reading WoWWiki shouldn't be more compelling than reading the novelizations. But for me, it is.

As for roleplay, I haven't done a lot it. A little here and there. I guess Peccator is the shamanistic silent type, an outcast troll who doesn't talk much but is always there when you need a heal. It fits.

Are there storylines and other aspects of WoW that you don't engage in, based on your beliefs?

Christianity isn't firstly about what you can and can't do, although I know a lot of Christians act as if it is. Christianity does teach there are things that are good an things that are evil -- right and wrong. But there is nothing that happens in the standard gameplay of WoW that should keep a Christian away. As long as I don't have to lie, cheat, steal or commit fornication with other players, then WoW is best seen as one big storybook/puzzle. I think there's a few quests where you are less than honest with NPCs, and there's certainly some "killing" in WoW. But if any story that had lies and killing in it couldn't be read, we'd have to throw the Bible away right quick!

It's all about worldview. When Pec returned to Orgrim's Hammer and told Korm Blackscar about Broken Front, I wasn't exactly thrilled with his response. But Christianity is not about avoiding evil by closing your eyes and plugging your ears. It's about a different kind of righteousness than that. If you went away to a desert island cave in order to avoid sinning, you'd find that you brought the greatest evil there with you, right in your own chest. What you need is not the right rules. What you need is forgiveness.

So, no. I play WoW for what it is. I learn from it. I enjoy it. I mourn. I rejoice. I let it be the great story that it is. Then I turn it off. Does it inform my worldview? Yes. But only in an ancillary way. If Scripture is the lamp for my feet, I'm not sure how Pec stealing gimblglot from a gnome's gnapsack is really a threat.

Are your faction and race choices affected by your beliefs?

Sort of. I picked a shaman because "shaman often act as spiritual leaders in their tribal communities," or so the character creation page says. But when I rolled Pec, I didn't know a lick about talent pools, classes or builds. I just picked him. Now, I love the shaman class and can't envision having any other toon as my main. I love the versatility. But that's not a spiritual issue. That's just coolness.

But that's one of the cool twists Lutheranism has at its core. Because we place such a premium on Scripture and theology, we don't have to hyper-spiritualize the normal stuff in life in some vain attempt to pretend it's about God. God is about God. When I play WoW, I play WoW. I guess in that sense, all my gameplay is hugely affected by my beliefs. But unlike more legalistic forms of religion, I'm freed to just play it without having to justify it or make a religious pretext out of it.

How does your faith inspire your choices and behavior while playing WoW?

This is kind of like the last question. I'd like to say I'm a healer because I'm a pastor, a "seelsorger" as we used to say, a "cure for souls." Of course, it would be lie. I rolled elemental and pretty much stuck with it till the only way to break into my guild's raid structure was to heal. But now I don't think I'll ever go back. Healing fits.

But I would say that Christianity influences my behavior in WoW the same way it influences me in real life. There is right and wrong, good and evil, and a lot of that is wrapped up in who your neighbor is and how you treat him or her. In WoW, I try to be a good neighbor. That means showing up on time to guild raids, being cordial to strangers, helping weaker or newer players. Stuff like that. But this is where the core of Christianity so completely irrelevant to WoW gamely. A man dying on a cross in world history, and then rising from the dead just like he said he would, in order to conquer death for the whole human race doesn't have much to do with loot order. But He does show us that God's way of working is through mercy, charity and gift. So yeah, I try to be merciful as I help ROFLstomp Alliance in Wintergrasp. :)

Tags: christianity, facebookfeed, featured, Lutheran, pastor, religion, reverend, world-of-warcraft-interviews, wow-community, wow-interviews, wow-people

Filed under: Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

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