It's in The Trees...

3.3 is coming. The Kate Bush track is, as per usual, simply an excuse.

Even if The People In the Know are wrong and it isn't this week, it's going to be the week after. There is no escaping the fact that it's BIG. The question is, are you ready for it?

There are those of you, I know from painful Guild experience, who think that it's someone else's job to read the patch notes for them. Major sites offer the service; wow.com being especially good at digesting the months worth of information that drip-feeds its way out of the PTR's into lovely bite-sized chunks. However convenient this may look, I maintain it's no substitute for doing it yourself.

At this point we do not have the final set of notes, but it's a pretty good bet they will look an awful lot like this:

3.3.0 Patch NOTES

Take fifteen minutes to sit down and read them. My husband did it today, with a bacon roll and a cup of tea, and was amazed by the changes to AoE and Threat. He didn't fully grasp that ALL level restrictions will be removed from Meeting Stones (despite us having a conversation about it at least a week ago) and he was pleased to see when you emote /welcome you will say hello. That's just the first couple of paragraphs: then there's Arena points from BG's, no more slogging through Naxx to access the final two bosses, the HUGE number of class changes, the metamorphosis of the Map window, the new Dungeon Finder... and then there's the new Emblems and the Weekly Raid Quest. Seriously, you've seen big patches before, but they're just peanuts compared to 3.3. The next time something this major happens, it'll be time to get out the REM video...

My Server this weekend has been eerily silent. It is very much the calm before the storm. Alt levelling is everywhere, as the major guilds gird their collective loins in anticipation of what is to come. We all have to run the 10 mans together, no exceptions, this time around. You can't do 25 man Icecrown without it, after all...

Things are going to get pretty crazy come Wednesday.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatch!

from http://cloudappreciationsociety.org

Ah, if only my patch was this fluffy... *sigh*

It took the best part of a day for the US servers to be operational. It's taken 10 minutes for the patch data to download write into what I already had on the PC.


Right then, off out with the kids...

Girl Guide's Girly Girl Guide to Preparing for 3.1.

The Second Stormwind Guides before their weekly Polearm Skills lesson.
(from http://www.easington.gov.uk)

In life, there is a great deal to be said for being prepared. Of course, it's impossible to cover every eventuality, but on most days you can accurately predict what to take with you, what the weather will be like, and what you'll need to make your day run smoother. The same is of course true in game. With 3.1 possibly only a few weeks away, it's becoming increasingly simple to guess what you're going to need to make sure you're ready for Ulduar, and for the awesomeness that is Dual Speccing.

Bearing this in mind, I have put together this shoddily-constructed and impromptu guide. Enjoy!

5 Things every Girl Guide (or Tauren or Gnome) should do to prepare for 3.1

1. Read the bloody Patch Notes, you Nublet.

I cannot reiterate this enough times. Well I could, and then I'd guaranteed there'd STILL be someone who didn't RTFPN. This is a MAJOR content patch. It introduces a dungeon, an entire new questing area, debuts a new Arena season plus literally dozens of class, profession and world changes. It will forever change the way the vast majority of people play their characters. It affects YOU.

It's also available right now for you to look at. Yes, it is likely to change several times between now and release but really that's not an excuse to pretend it doesn't exist. If you want to be properly prepared for 3.1, go take a look. It will tell you what mats you'll need to collect to make new items, what new glyphs you can look out for to improve your character, what changes you'll be getting in your Talents and will mean that clams finally stack correctly. \o/

2. 5 Minutes Planning will save Hours on Patch Day.

Take a screenie of your current talents. They're going reset on Patch Day so it will be vital you have a copy somewhere, even if you don't do anything about it now. What you ought to do before the patch hits is pop over to one of the many Talent Calculators updated with the latest PTR spell builds and look at what has changed. As things are still being tested it's early days to work out where you'll be placing those points, but if you wanna be raiding or 5 manning come the night 3.1 arrives you need to have an idea of what to expect. Plus if you plan to be Dual Speccing this is a good opportunity to go look at your second spec and work out exactly what spells you'll need to be taking. Don't be afraid to steal someone else's current spec either, just remember it'll all change come the actual patch.

Don't worry either about messing up your spells on the day and having to spend gold when you misplace a point on your talent tree either. Blizzard have this covered, with their new feature which will allow you to preview your talents before you spend any gold. They think of everything!


3. Make your Money and Items for Dual Spec NOW.

Dual Spec will cost you 1000g. This not an impossible amount to make. I've just done it in five days. This will not involve you spending every waking hour at your computer either. If you have an 80 toon and you've not yet completed all your quests, then the simple act of spending some time doing those and selling your rewards (or if you're a DE-er selling the dust and shards that your rewards can become) will net a lot of cash. Go do dailies. Yes I KNOW you hate them but really it's the best way. Hey, you can do Wintergrasp and make money as well if it's all too much, or failing that spend an hour clearing out your bank and stick some stuff on the AH.

I guarantee you'll have trouble making 1000g the night before 3.1 hits. That's why you need to do it NOW.

You'd also be well advised to decide which Glyphs you'll be using for your second spec and finding a friendly Inscriber to make them. AH prices will be even more ridiculous than they already are come Patch Day: yes there will be new glyphs but for now you really don't want to be wandering around with nothing in your spellbook. Again, a bit of research will pay dividends.

If you're PuG-ging the phrase 'I'm needing that for Dual Spec' really should not be coming as a surprise to you. Of course if it's a Tank needing leather you should be ready to bitchslap them into next patch: if you're playing with friends or your Guild it might be a good idea to introduce a 'DS Rule' about now. Don't DE it, look at it and see if it has benefit. Yes, even if it is a L78 item. Start thinking about what you should be searching for.

Maybe if you have enough Elbows, it's time to actually buy some epic DS items as well.


4. Nobody Loves you if you Don't Augment.

You may be lucky enough, if you sort everything above out before Patch Day, to get to go into Ulduar for a first play at the new content. If you do, it might be an idea to make sure you have the materials you will need to upgrade any weapon or piece of armour you might snag to keep yourself in prime fighting condition. Currently there's some absolute bargains on the AH on the Enchanting Scrolls front (and there are because people like me are selling them in anticipation of the patch :P). You could go farm some content for greens and get them DE'd in preparation. I'd certainly make sure you have the cash to go buy a Sons of OhDear Shoulder enchant, and maybe a head enchant from your rep vendor of choice. You could even buy them now and stick them in the bank you sensibly cleared out in order to make the cash for your Dual Spec...

(Of course, if you also want to make a fast buck on patch day, you could start stockpiling all the stuff above to sell to the nublets players who were foolish enough not to prepare themselves beforehand.)


5. Be Ready for ANYTHING!

Now is the time to check your computer is in fighting shape. Now is the time to download the latest video drivers. Now is the time to start checking your favourite add-on sites and see if the developers are going to have a 3.1 Mod ready for you to pick up before the patch. With Blizz' new policy on addons some of these may change or stop being updated altogether. If the site's not been updated for a while it's time to find a replacement. If you're having to do all this on the day you're going to suffer delays, and frustration. Trust me, I know.


Follow these simple steps, and you will soon have your 'Ready for 3.1' badge to hastily sew onto your Swagdog Guild t-shirt. So what are you waiting for? Don't just sit here reading this mediocre blog, off you go and get ready!!!

All Change!

So, the 3.1 PTR Notes are available, and BOY are there some major changes. And we mean MAJOR.

1. Class Spells

• Stoneform (Dwarf Racial): No longer makes you immune to poison, disease and bleed effects for 8 seconds. Instead, using Stoneform will clear those effects when cast. Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes from 3 minutes.

I'd kinda hoped the'd go back on this, but no, it's there now. Those 8 seconds used to be REALLY useful, especially in PvP. *sigh*

• Faerie Fire and Faerie Fire (Feral): Now decreases armor of your target by 5%. Has a 5-minute duration, and a 40-second PvP duration.

This however makes me smile immensely. 5 MINUTES! Hooray for new and faster rotations, and hooray for not having to think as much in high-pressure situations. They take it with one hand, but they give it back with another... ^^

• Innervate: This spell no longer costs mana.

Or maybe they don't... This is a pretty significant boost. 4% of base mana saved. Nice!

• Celestial Focus redesigned: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Starfire, Hibernate and Hurricane by 23/46/70% and increases your total spell haste by 1/2/3%.
  

This is also not too shabby. 3% spell haste. I need to start looking at my talents as a matter of some urgency.

2. Professions

• You can now sometimes find Alchemist's Caches from bosses in Ulduar. Only players with an Alchemy skill of 425 or higher can loot these secret caches.

OooOOoooh special sekrit stuffs! A genuine excuse to level W the Lock to 80 at last... :D

• A new recipe has been added to cooking trainers for making Black Jelly, using several Borean Man 'O War as ingredients. While it looks disgusting, it restores more health and mana than the highest level food.

And this mere DAYS after I cleared the stacks of it out of my bank because I thought Blizz wouldn't use it...*headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk* Note to Self: Blizzard are fiendish gits.

• Players no longer need to complete the Clamlette Surprise quest to gain Artisan cooking. The quest now offers the unique recipe, Clamlette Magnifique. If you already completed the quest, you can visit Dirge Quickcleave in Gadgetzan to learn this recipe (for free).
• Several Northrend recipes were given greater skill up ranges to make it easier to reach 450 cooking skill.
• You no longer need to learn cooking from books. The trainers have finally done their reading and are able to teach you the same thing.

So these couple are fairly significant. They've removed the 'you need a book/quest' part of Fishing as well (I can only hope they'll do the same to First Aid in time) and streamlined the entire process at the lower end. They've also removed the need for flint and tinder in fires so this will make cooking on the go a significantly easier part of any person's routine. You won't need stuff like apples or spices either for the low level quests, one assumes it will just be multiples of the meat. I'll log in M later and take a look at her recipes. Basically, as they have with the questing, they've made the levelling process a great deal easier.

• A new (and very rare) special mount can now be caught from Northrend fishing pools.

Like I didn't have competition enough already ^^

• You can now fish anywhere, regardless of skill. Every catch has the potential for fishing skill gains, but you are likely to catch worthless junk in areas that are too difficult for your skill.

Blimey :o So, it is now impossible not to catch anything, eh? I will believe it when I see it. As they've reduced the fishing cast time AGAIN, as well as the time it takes to mine and herb (wut no skinning reduction?) I will have an increased number of opportunities to try this out. Plus, as you can now fish in WG... now there's summat to do on the PTR when I get a chance...

• Added a recipe to trainers for creating a level 70 superior-quality off-hand item.
• Added a recipe for creating a different level 70 superior-quality off-hand item. Scribes will find the recipe is dropped from residents of Silverbrook.
• Added around 50 new glyph recipes. These new recipes can be obtained from Books of Glyph Mastery found as world drops on Northrend monsters. Reading a Book of Glyph Mastery randomly discovers one of the newly-added recipes.
• Glyph icons have been updated so it is easy to distinguish between classes.
• Players will now learn 3 recipes the very first time they perform Northrend Inscription Research. This does not apply to players who have already discovered recipes from Northrend Inscription Research (sorry).
  
  

So, all of these are really rather yaysome. Having glyphs that distinguish by class will be a HUGE bonus (we have a bank slot full of them and frankly it's impossible to work out which is which) The item drops from mobs thing is a logical progression as well, which brings the skill in line with all the other classes. One wonders if the books are BoE, if they are then there's a new huge bestseller on the AH. Oh yeah, and that's worth reproducing for the sorry at the end. *sigh*

It also seems a fair number of recipes across the board in the crafting professions have been rebalanced to become more appropriate. Thank Loken for That.

3. General Gubbins.

• Badges and Emblems looted off of any dungeon bosses by a member of the party or raid will automatically be given to all eligible party or raid members. Party or raid members must still be inside the instance to receive Badges or Emblems.

This is HUGE, it is AWESOME! and frankly is the most sensible bit of coding change I've seen for a LONG time. So, all you need to make sure of in 5 man is that at least one preson is awake after a boss kill... actually, thinking about it, maybe that's not such a great thing...

• Loot from clams now stacks correctly!

... and all is now well with the World.