Wrath Release Date

Matt Graham beat me to it so I'll just post what I was going to post in the first place. (I've been kinda dead this week so there won't be anymore posts this week).

'Nuff said.

New Titles In Wrath

The following was posted by Blizzard this past week:

Achievements Titles

• Arena Master - Complete the arena achievements
  
• Salty - Complete the fishing achievements
  
• The Diplomat - Raise your reputation level from unfriendly to exalted with Timbermaw Hold, Sporeggar and the Kurenai / The Mag'har.
  
• The Hallowed - Complete the Hallow's End achievements
  
• The Seeker - Complete 3000 quests.
  
  

Feats of Strength

• Twilight Vanquisher - Participated in the realm first Sartharion the Onyx Guardian kill (25 player).
  
• The Supreme - First player on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Assassin - First rogue on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Warbringer - First warrior on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Archmage - First mage on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of The Ebon Blade - First death knight on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Stalker - First hunter on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Malefic - First warlock on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Prophet - First priest on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Crusader - First paladin on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Arch Druid - First druid on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of the Ten Storms - First shaman on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Magic Seeker - Participated in the realm first Malygos kill (25 player).
  
• Conqueror of Naxxramas - Participated in the realm first Kel'Thuzad kill (25 player).
  
• Of Gnomeregan - First gnome on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of Quel'thalas - First blood elf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of Argus - First draenei on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of Khaz Modan - First dwarf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Lion Hearted - First human on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Champion of Elune - First night elf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Hero of Orgrimmar - First orc on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Plainsrunner - First tauren on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Of the Darkspear - First troll on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• The Forsaken - First forsaken on the realm to achieve level 80.
  
• Grand Master Blacksmith - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in blacksmithing.
  
• Grand Master Alchemist - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in alchemy.
  
• Iron Chef - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in cooking.
  
• Grand Master Enchanter - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in enchanting.
  
• Grand Master Engineer - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in engineering.
  
• Doctor - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in first aid.
  
• Grand Master Angler - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in fishing.
  
• Grand Master Herbalist - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in herbalism.
  
• Grand Master Scribe - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in inscription.
  
• Grand Master Jewelcrafter - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in jewelcrafting.
  
• Grand Master Leatherworker - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in leatherworking.
  
• Grand Master Miner - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in mining.
  
• Grand Master Skinner - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in skinning.
  
• Grand Master Tailor - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in tailoring.
  
• Hero of Northrend - First player on the realm to gain exalted reputation with the Argent Crusade, Wyrmrest Accord, Kirin Tor and Knights of the Ebon Blade.

The Doctor title and Iron Chief are pretty awesome. I also like The Diplomat. Hurry and get your titles first!

Arthas In Soul Calibur 4?

For those who don't already know, Wrath is confirmed for October-December 2008. But onto other epic things. I came across this Joystiq post which showed a video of Soul Calibur 4 with 24 customizable characters from video games and movies. What really caught my eye though, was Paladin Arthas and Death Knight Arthas! I was freaking out from the awesomeness; seriously.

The Paladin Arthas was using Astaroth's hammer and Death Knight Arthas was using Soul Calibur. For those who have Soul Calibur 4 (AND YOU SHOULD!), you can create these guys by using the Paladin Armor (white and black), long blonde and white hair, Astaroth's fighting style and Siegfried's fighting style. I'm going to try and make my own Arthas too... in fact, right now.

Here's the link to the video! It's about 14-15 minutes until you see Arthas.

*UPDATE*

I was fooling around with the Soul Calibur editor this morning and was able to make an ok Joker and an amazing looking Harley Quinn! There's no suit for the Joker and the faces given are horrible. I had to give him normal pants (which look good) and a stupid looking jacket. Oh well.

Harley Quinn on the other hand is amazing! I unlocked the Jester Costume and changed the colors around as best as I could to fit her suit (ex: With her boots, I was not able to make one boot Red and the other Black. I had to choose one color). She came out great though. Here's some pics from my cell phone. Not the best quality but it's the best I got:

More Changes

You can blame the lack of updates on me. I've been busy and when I'm not busy, I'm lazy and tired. Here's some more Paladin changes on the way:

Paladin
Holy

• The amount of health point healed by Holy Shock has been increased by 66%. (eg. Rank 7 now heals for 2401-2599 instead of 1431-1549)
• Infusion of Light now reduces the cast time of your next Holy Light spell by 1.3/2.5 secs instead of 1.25/2.5 secs.

Protection

• Holy Shield will now give you 6 charges instead of 4.
• Avenger's Shield mana cost reduced by 70%, damage has been reduced. (eg. Rank 3 now deals 494-602 damage for 780 mana instead of 705-861 for 1745 mana)
• Guarded by the Light now reduces the mana cost of your Consecration, Holy Wrath and Avenger's Shield by 15/30% (Old version : Whenever your parry or dodge an attack you have a 10% chance to reduce the mana cost of your next Consecration, Holy Wrath, or Avenger's Shield spell by 25%/50%)

Retribution

• Improved Blessing of Might now increases the attack power bonus of your Blessing of Might by 10/20/30/40/50% instead of 4/8/12/16/20%
• Vindication now has a chance to reduce the target's attributes by 10/20% for 15 seconds. (Old version : 5/10% reduction)
• Pursuit of Justice is now a 2 rank talents (was 3), reducing the change to be hit by spells by 1/2% and mounted movement speed by 9/15% (Old version : 1/2/3% hit and 5/10/15% mounted speed)
• Repentance now costs 395 mana instead of 9% of base mana.

I like the Holy Shock buff :-).

Crazy Paladin Changes When We Go North

The Wrath Betal is here! And boy, Blizzard wasn't kidding when they said they were taking a second look at how the Paladin works. Our talents were finally put in the right places. The Holy Tree looks amazing! This will most likely be my talent build for L80. This would be my normal Spellwarrior / Healing build. Might not be for everybody but I like the solo healing stuff. You can also reset the build and make your own build too.

Due to the LARGE changes and that I really do not have time to devour it all, I'll let my favorite WoW Insider writer, Zach Yonzon, explain it all to you.

Paladin patch notes from the Wrath Beta:

• All Auras now affect all party and raid members within the area of effect.
• Anticipation (Protection) moved to tier 1, now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Avenger's Shield (Protection) cast time reduced to .5 seconds, duration increased to 10 seconds.
• Avenging Wrath no longer causes Forebearance, damage increase reduced to 20%, now increases healing done by 20%.
• Blessing of Freedom renamed Hand of Freedom. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
• Blessing of Light and Greater Blessing of Light removed. Their effects have been folded into all relevant abilities.
• Blessing of Protection renamed Hand of Protection. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. All ranks now cost 6% of base mana.
• Blessing of Sacrifice renamed Hand of Sacrifice, is now only 1 rank and transfers 20% of the damage taken to the caster, duration reduced to 12 seconds, cooldown increased to 2 minutes. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
• Blessing of Salvation renamed Hand of Salvation, now reduces total threat on the target by 2% per second for 10 seconds while also reducing all damage and healing done by 10%. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.
• Conviction (Retribution) now increases critical chance with all spells and melee attacks.
• Divine Intellect (Holy) moved to tier 2, increases total Intellect by 3/6/9/12/15%.
• Divine Intervention cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
• Divine Protection and Divine Shield now cost 3% of base mana.
• Divine Purpose (Retribution) now reduces chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 1/2/3%.
• Divine Strength (Holy) moved to tier 1 in the Protection tree.
• Greater Blessing of Salvation removed.
• Hammer of Justice now costs 3% of base mana.
• Hammer of Wrath is now considered a Retribution spell, moved from Holy, mana cost reduced, missile speed increased, now usable on targets below 35% health.
• Healing Light (Holy) moved to tier 2.
• Holy Shield (Protection) cooldown reduced to 8 seconds.
• Holy Shock (Holy) range changed to 20/40 yards when used on enemies/friends respectively, cooldown reduced to 6 seconds.
• Holy Wrath is now instant cast, causes a 3 second stun, cooldown reduced to 30 seconds, radius reduced to 10 yards.
• Illumination (Holy) moved to tier 3.
• Improved Concentration Aura (Protection) moved to the Holy tree.
• Improved Concentration Aura moved from the Protection tree to tier 4 in the Holy tree.
• Improved Devotion Aura (Protection) moved to tier 4, reduced to 3 ranks, now increases armor of Devotion Aura by 17/34/50% and increases all healing done to units affected by Devotion Aura by 1/2/3%.
• Improved Hammer of Justice (Protection) now reduces cooldwon by 10/20/30 secs.
• Improved Righteous Fury (Protection) threat bonus folded into base spell, talent still reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
• Improved Sanctity Aura (Retribution) renamed Sanctified Retribution, now causes all units affected by Retribution Aura to cause 2% more damage.
• Improved Seal of Righteousness (Holy) moved to tier 1, renamed XXX, now affects Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Vengeance and Seal of Corruption.
• Improved Seal of the Crusader (Retribution) renamed Heart of the Crusader and the effects now apply to all Judgement spells.
• Judgement of Justice will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
• Lay on Hands no longer drains all mana, cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.
• Pure of Heart (Holy) reduced to 2 ranks, now reduces duration of Curse and Disease effects by 25/50%.
• Redoubt (Protection) moved to tier 2.
• Repentance (Retribution) mana cost changed to 9% of base, duration increased to 1 minute (10 second PvP duration), now usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.
• Retribution Aura damage increased and now gains damage based on Holy spell power.
• Righteous Fury now increases threat caused by Holy damage by 90%.
• Sanctified Light (Holy) now also increases the critical chance of Holy Shock.
• Sanctity Aura (Retribution) removed.
• Seal of Justice/Judgement reduced to 1 rank with all the effects of the previous rank 2, the Judgement effect no longer prevents Fear.
• Seal of the Crusader has been removed. The effects of Judgement of the Crusader have been folded into all relevant abilities.
• Seal of Vengeance damage over time effect duration increased to 18 seconds.
• Spiritual Focus (Holy) moved to tier 1.
• Stoicism (Protection) moved to tier 2, now reduces duration of Stun effects by 10/20/30% and reduces chance your spells will be resisted by 10/20/30%.
• Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3.
• Turn Undead (ranks 1 and 2) removed. Turn Evil now granted at level 24, mana cost changed to 9% of base.
• Unyielding Faith (Holy) moved to tier 2.

From the WotLK Information Wiki:

• Seal of Corruption - Fills the Paladin with holy power, granting each melee attack additional Holy damage over $53742d. This effect can stack up to $53742u times. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts $d.
• Blessed Hands (Requires 20 points in Holy) - Reduces the mana cost and increases the resistance to Dispel effects of all Hand spells by 15/30%
• Infusion of Light (Requires 35 points in Holy) - Your Holy Shock critical hits reduce the cast time of your next Holy Light spell by 1.25/2.5 secs.
• Sacred Cleansing (Requires 40 points in Holy) - Your Cleanse spell has a 10/20/30% chance to increase the target's resistance to Disease, Magic and Poison by 30% for 10 sec.
• Enlightened Judgements (Requires 40 points in Holy) - Increases the range of your Judgement spells by 10/20 yards.
• Judgements of the Pure (Requires 45 points in Holy) - Your Judgement spells increase your casting and melee haste by 2/4/6/8/10% for 30 secs.
• Beacon of Light (Requires 50 points in Holy) - The target becomes a Beacon of Light, healing all party or raid members within 10 yards for 2000 over 15 sec. (Rank 5, Level 80, 2330 mana, 1.5 sec Cast)
• Divine Guardian (Requires 15 points in Protection) - While Divine Shield is active 15/30% of all damage taken by party or raid members within 30 yards is redirected to the Paladin.
• Touched by the Light (Requires 40 points in Protection) - Increases your spell power by an amount equal to 10/20/30% of your Stamina and increases the amount healed by your critical heals by 10/20/30%.
• Guarded by the Light (Requires 40 points in Protection) - Whenever you parry or dodge an attack you have a 10/20% chance to reduce the mana cost of your next Consecration, Holy Wrath or Avenger's Shield spell by 25/50%.
• Shield of the Templar (Requires 45 points in Protection) - Increases the damage and reduces the mana cost of your Holy Shield, Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness spells by 5/10/15%.
• Judgements of the Just (Requires 45 points in Protection) - Your Judgement spells also reduce the melee attack speed of the target by 10/20%.
• Hammer of the Righteous (Requires 50 points in Protection) - Hammer the current target and up to 2 additional nearby targets, causing $s1% of weapon damage as Holy damage. This ability causes high threat.
• Heart of the Crusader (Requires 5 points in Retribution) - In addition to the normal effect, your Judgement spells will also increase the critical strike chance of all attacks made against that target by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Sanctified Retribution (Requires 20 points in Retribution) - Damage caused by targets affected by Retribution Aura is increased by 2%.
• Sheath of Light (Requires 20 points in Retribution) - Increases your spell power by an amount equal to 10/20/30% of your attack power and your critical healing spells heal the target for 20/40/60% of the healed amount over 12 seconds.
• Sanctified Wrath (Requires 35 points in Retribution) - Increases the critical strike chance of Hammer of Wrath by 25/50%, reduces the cooldown of Avenging Wrath by 30/60 secs and while affected by Avenging Wrath 25/50% of all damage caused bypasses damage reduction effects.
• Swift Retribution (Requires 40 points in Retribution) - Your Retribution Aura also increases casting, ranged and melee attack speeds by 1/2/3%.
• The Art of War (Requires 40 points in Retribution) - Your damaging Crusader Strikes have a 5/10/15% chance to cause your next Judgement spell to cause double damage.
• Righteous Vengeance (Requires 40 points in Retribution) - Increases critical damage bonus of all attacks by 3/6/9/12/15%
• Divine Storm (Requires 50 points in Retribution) - An instant weapon attack that causes Holy damage to up to ${$i-1} enemies within $a1 yards. The Divine Storm heals up to 3 party or raid members totalling $s2% of the damage caused.

Yeah... that's a lot. I'll have my opinions on Thursday (unless something else comes up more interesting before then).

Changin' For The Better

Zach Yonzon of WoWInsider is reporting that, 'Yes. Paladin changes are coming.'

I don't need to repeat the article here so I'll be brief. We do not know much about what exactly is going to happen but we do know that change in coming. As we all know, the Paladin isn't the easiest class to balance. As with all hybrid classes, there are a lot of aspects to mold. From what the article is saying, it seems like Blizzard is looking at the Paladin class with the Death Knight mindset. What I mean is: the DK can tank and DPS with one spec. Almost like the Paladin's Spellwarrior build of 40/11/10. Hopefully, they'll give us the gear now to build on more of a DPS and a touch of healing or even DPS via tanking.

They also confirmed they wanted to make the Paladin tank for viable in 5 mans and even full raids. The reason we don't have much info yet about spells and talents is because they're still looking at how they want the future Paladins to work. We'll see what happens but expect major changes in the coming months.

Outline For The Week // Paladin Wrath Updates

What I'll do in the next week is take pieces of the Diablo 3 Website and explain what's there and (as always) add my opinions - be it good, bad, or in the middle. I'll try to get to all of these in this week (one per day).

1. Story / Deckard Cain's Journal

2. Gameplay / 20 Minute Gameplay Video

3. New Character Classes

4. Screenshots & Artwork.

5. Tyrael

The Tyrael topic should be a fun one. Best for last, you know? :-). Hopefully I'll get all that in by Thursday.

Onto other topics from today's WWI, there is very little Paladin news on the Wrath front. For you Retadins: You are going to be getting Warrior/DK gear. I could only imagine that's all +Str, +Stam, and +Attack Power. You will also be able to become more viable in groups. Yeah... they said that last time they tried to boost up Ret. Don't get your hopes up, in my opinion.

Holy Paladins will be getting a new healing spell called "Hand of Purity". This spell is supposed to work like a big Holy Crap button. I would imagine (and this is speculation now) that it'll give a player a big heal; just enough so you could get a Flash or Holy Light off. Definitely an improvement.

There was also some talk about changing Blessing of Protection and Blessing of Freedom so that they will NOT override your other Blessing (ie: Kings, Might etc).

So, stay tuned Sunday night or Monday for the next Diablo 3 update!

Meet The Jormungar // Solo Dungeons?

I hope this creature is scaled to size like the picture cause I would be in my glory. To stand toe to toe with this thing would be epic. This is called a Jormungar. It's a new creature we'll be facing in Northrend.

"The fiercely aggressive Jormungar are a marvel of evolution, possessing rows of chisel-like teeth capable of boring through solid rock, as well as muscular, flattened bodies well adapted to rapid underground navigation.

Legends tell of the nerubians' using the jormungar as creatures of labor, forcing them to carve massive tunnels through Northrend's subterranean ice and lay the groundwork for the nerubians' ancient civilization. With the fall of the nerubian empire, swarms of rogue jormungar ran amok, drilling through the region's permafrost, attacking surface dwellers, and devouring everything in their path."

Serves those Nerubians' right... Silly spiders, Jormungars are for Pallys :-D.

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Another post which caught my eye on MMO-Champion is a thread on the WoW Forums asking for Solo Raid Content. The poster makes valid points:

"First I just want to say thank you Blizz for making such awesome games. I love to play WoW. However, I also love to solo. Unfortunately when it comes to endgame the two don’t mesh.

I understand that RAID = WORK and as such raiders should receive better rewards for working harder. I do not understand however why this reward should be seeing content. Isn’t better gear enough? How about titles? Shiny glowing auras to prove you’re better than everyone else?

I personally play for FUN not WORK. This along with the fact that I cannot schedule time to play a game (Well I could… but I would need to get a divorce first) is why I do not raid.

I think Blizzard is taking a step in the right direction with the upcoming xpac making all raids being able to be done with 10 or 25 person groups. I’d like to see this taken one step further. Make instances and raids have a solo setting and have the gear be one step lower. For example in WotLK if in 25 man mode the raid would drop Tier 9 gear then in 10 man it will drop Tier 8 gear and in Solo mode it should drop Tier 7 gear. This would serve two purposes.

1. It would give people that don’t like to group (like myself and many others) a chance to see all the content and enjoy this extremely well crafted story and game Blizzard has put together.

2. It would give new subscribers who do want to group a chance to catch up to their guilds and help raid without putting as much strain on guildmates to come back and help them with as much low content to get their new friend up to being raid capable. You do the raids on solo to get your T7 gear. You get 9 guildmates to give you a hand and do the raid again on 10 man and get your T8 gear. Then you are up to doing the 25 mans to start actually helping your guild progress.

I’m not asking to be handed anything easy. I would really like as much challenge as I can get. However I don’t want that challenge to come in the form of trying to get people together to do an instance/raid and dealing with all the crap that comes along with that (Idiots wiping the group, people having to leave in the middle of a session, loot ninjas, etc.)

I apologize for the wall of text, you may now proceed to flame."

Bornakk responded in a typical Blizzard. In short, 'Sorry we're not doing things that you like but, tough luck.'

"I understand your desire for this, but grouping up is an important part of the game, our goal with the 10 person raids is to making the raiding content feel a little less exclusive to players, but if you want to see everything then you would need to take on the challenges of every aspect of the game.

When the new expansions come out everybody has to level their characters up and at some point find new gear. This is a great opportunity for new players to get involved in their guilds if they are looking to take on a bigger roll in progression.

We do have a lot of solo-content available in the game as it is. You can level up to the max level, go through every zone, complete the vast majority of quests, enter battlegrounds and continually do a number of daily quests without ever grouping up with other players - but adding more variety to the game is important to a lot of people and that is where the 5 person and then 10/25 person raid dungeons come into play. These aspects are more challenging and so the story arcs they involve build up accordingly.

In short, we don't currently have any plans to add solo play to every aspect of World of Warcraft."

I feel Tremallyn's pain. I would love to go toe to toe with Illidan, but for someone who only gets to play 1-2 nights a week (for only an hour or two each time), it makes me miss out on the story. One way Blizzard can do this is to set up a Solo Instance for all dungeons. You will get to choose whether to solo it or raid it. If you choose solo, and beat the boss, you will never be able to go back in. The gates will be shut - the boss will be dead. Award honor instead of badges (because most solo players either do dailies or PVP at L70). Lets say, 25,000 honor for Grull, 50,000 honor for Illidan, etc etc. And maybe some dungeon marks which can be used as any of the battleground marks. Honor shouldn't be just for PVP. We're fighting in a war and you should get honor points for achieving a big goal in the storyline.

Paladins Kinda Cut Out of Tuesday's Wrath Leak

I've read over http://wotlk.wikidot.com/ (which has all sorts of Wrath Alpha info) and I was very disappointed to find that there was only one spell leak for the Paladin. *Spoiler***Highlight the following text** The spell is called Martyr: Redirect all harmful spells directed at friendly targets to yourself for X time.***

So, where it's something, I would have liked to have seen more spells. There have been 5 classes already who have some spells and talents leaked but just the one from the Paladin. I wanna see the new changes to Protection (like Blizzard has said).

The new Mage spells and talents are really something wicked. Especially the Frost tree. Stun anyone? Mwhahaha. Warlocks will finally get Metamorphosis! I loved the spell in Warcraft 3 and now it is in WoW. They have screenshots too! And how about that picture at the top of the page? I would bet that might be the non-combat pet we'll get for the collector's edition.

On a Mage update, my Mage is currently 68. We're working really hard on to get him to 70 and at least into the battlegrounds for some epics. The time has come to settle down, save your money, and build up for the expansion.

Also, congratz to David Cook for winning the American Idol competition! And rightfully so. It wasn't even close. He won by 12 million votes! Amazing! I can't wait for his second album.

Wrath Alpha

So, I don't have much to talk about and it has been a very non-eventful weekend in WoW. However, MMO-Champion has the Blizzard Wrath Alpha patch notes (SPOILERS):

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- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King: Friends and Family Alpha
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Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Friends and Family Alpha. The list below contains information on the current available content available for testing and general information. This information is subject to change.
General
- The continent of Northrend is now available! To travel there, visit one of four transportation masters in either Orgrimmar, Undercity, Theramore,or Menethil Harbor.
- Transportation between Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra can be found at the Tuskarr villages in those zones.
- NPC Transportation Locations
Horde:
Undercity to Vengeance Landing (Howling Fjord)
Orgrimmar to Warsong Hold (Borean Tundra)
Alliance:
Menethil Harbor to Valgarde (Holwing Fjord)
Theramore Valiance Keep (Borean Tundra)

World Environment Zones
- The following zones are available for testing: Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills
Dungeons
- The following dungeons are available for testing:
Howling Fjord: Utgarde Keep (70-72)
Howling Fjord: Utgarde Pinnacle (80)
Borean Tundra: The Nexus (70-72)
Grizzly Hills: Drak’Tharon Keep (74-76)

Classes
- All Classes are available for play. Spells and talents will be available for testing past 70 for the following classes: Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
- The Death Knight Hero class is now available for play.
Creating a new Death Knight will start you at level 55 in Eastern Plaguelands.
No starting quests are implemented though Death Knight abilities will be available for testing.
Several Death Knight talents, although they will appear on the talent pane, are not yet implemented.

Tradeskills
- The following tradeskills are available to train up to 450: First Aid, Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning.

Vivendi's First Quarter Report

Some of you might not even care but Vivendi had a press release summarizing their first quarter financial status. There is however a little something about Wrath in here (bolded so you don't have to read the whole report. You're welcome :D ).

Vivendi Games · Vivendi Games continues to make strong headway with Blizzard Entertainment, inc and World of Warcraft ®, adding 2 million incremental subscribers compared to end of March 2007; After reaching the 10-million-subscriber milestone at the end of 2007, World of Warcraft's subscriber base grew to more than 10.7 million by the end of the first quarter of 2008.

A comparison of the first quarters of 2007 and 2008 performances is not representative because the first quarter of 2007 included the hugely successful release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Blizzard Entertainment's second expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2008. Consequently, Vivendi Games' revenues for the first quarter of 2008 are 24.1% lower (-18.2% on a constant currency basis) when compared to the same period last year. Vivendi Games' revenues was 221 million.

Blizzard Entertainment's revenues was 192 million. Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile revenues were slightly higher than their performance for the same period last year; in the face of unfavorable currency exchange movements on all business segments.

· Vivendi Games' EBITA amounted to 50 million. Excluding the allocation of Group overheads, Blizzard Entertainment's EBITA was 99 million.

Sierra Entertainment's EBITA of -34 million (excluding the allocation of Group overheads) was effected by higher costs related to increased investment in Sierra product development and accelerated royalties expense for released products.

Vivendi Games' EBITA also includes continued start up expenses for the Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile divisions. Comments on Vivendi's First Quarter 2008 Financial Indicators Revenues amounted to 5,280 million compared to 5,020 million for the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 260 million (+5.2%, representing +6.9% at constant currency). EBITA totaled 1,203 million compared to 1,274 million in the first quarter of 2007, a decrease of 71 million (-5.6% or -3.9% at constant currency) which was mainly driven by the favorable settlement of a tax litigation (+73 million) in the first quarter of 2007 and Vivendi Games (-57 million), with the impact of the exceptionally successful release of the first expansion pack, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, also in the first quarter of 2007. In addition, in the first quarter of 2008, EBITA included a net reduction in the provision for stock options and other share-based compensation plans (+38 million) and Canal+'s two extra Ligue 1 soccer match days compared to the first quarter of 2007 (-32 million).

Income from equity affiliates totaled 85 million compared to 82 million for the first quarter of 2007. Our share of income from NBC Universal represented 53 million for the first quarter of 2008 compared to 65 million for the first quarter of 2007, a decrease driven by the decline of th U.S. dollar and NBC Universal's performance. SFR's share of income from Neuf Cegetel represented 33 million compared to 18 million for the first quarter of 2007.

Adjusted net income amounted to 697 million with 0.60 per share, compared to 771 million with 0.67 per share for the first quarter of 2007, a decrease of 74 million (-9.6%). Earnings attributable to equity holders of the parent amounted to 555 million with 0.48 per share, compared to 932 million with 0.81 per share for the first quarter of 2007, a decrease of 377 million (-40.5%), which was primarily due to the dilution profit on the sale of a 10.18% equit interest in Canal+ France to Lagardère (+239 million) in the first quarter of 2007.

So, it seems like Vivendi is holding up fairly well.

BTW: My Mage is now currently 66 and climbing. We hope to have him to 70 by next weekend - if not sooner!

This just in: Morgan Webb hates the Horde. You rock Morgan! :-D

Death Knight Information Unleased!

After months of waiting, information is finally here! Welcome: The Death Knight. This is the information taken from MMO-Champion (cause I'm lazy and don't feel like summarizing :P):
Death Knights

• All players with a level 55 character will be able to create one Death Knight per realm, per account. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Blizzard's designers decided to start the class with a full complement of abilities right off the bat, figuring that any player that has advanced a character to level 55 would be able to learn to handle the new class with minimal difficulty. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Death Knights will have a summonable Skeletal Deatcharger Mount. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Death Knights aren't using Mana or Energy, the runes are their primary source of power and are slotted into their "blade," which lies underneath their health bar as a visual indicator of what resources are available to the player at any given moment. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Spent runes automatically refresh after a set period of time, much like a Rogue's energy bar. (Gamespy.com)
  
• There are six slots in the blade, and the player is free to fill those slots with any given number of Blood, Unholy or Frost runes. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Death Knights also have a secondary resource called Runic Power generated by using your rune abilities. It will use the same mechanics as rage and increase when you deal damage, or slowly decrease if you're not using it. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Death Knights will have a lot of abilities that cost all available Runic Power with varying levels of effectiveness based on total Runic Power spent. (Same mechanics as Execute for warriors, or finishing moves for Rogues) (Gamespy.com)
  
• Death Knights will have spells equivalent to auras called "Presence", providing them with powerful self-buffs depending on their role in the group. (One for tanking, one for damage dealing, etc ...) (Gamespy.com)
  
• An instant lifedrain spell (described as death coil without the fear component) will be available. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Death Knights will be the first class to use diseases as a source of damage, with abilities that become strong depending on how many diseases are already applied to the target. (Gamespy.com)
  
• "Army of the Dead" will spawn numerous undead minions to attack nearby hostiles targets. (Gamespy.com)
  
• Death Knights will also revive an enemy (or ally) as a ghoul to use it as a pet with its own special abilities like a disease-inflicting strike and a stun. (Gamespy.com)
  
• When an ally is risen as a ghoul, a pop-up will appear and this ally will have the choice to control the ghoul if he wants to. (Gamespy.com)
  
• The Death Knight's particular niche will be in tanking magic-damage-dealing bosses. They will have an ability much like a banshee's anti-magic shell, greatly diminishing the amount of incoming magic damage they'll receive in combat (Gamespy.com)
  
  

Death Knight Skills

• Death Coil -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing 600 damage to a non-Undead target, or healing 900 damage on a friendly target. (Curse.com)
  
• Death Grip -- This is the Death Knight's "taunt" ability. It also pulls the target to the Death Knight, forcing them to attack the Death Knight for a short amount of time. Yes, I said pulls the target; Blizzard is going to allow players to move mobs in the expansion both with Death Grip, and other knockback/pull abilities. This works on players too, so PvP balance ahoy! (Curse.com)
  
• Chains of Ice -- Roots the target in place. When the spell fades, it places a snare on the target that reduces in potency as the duration runs out. (Curse.com)
  
• Death Pact -- Sacrifices the raised ghouls to heal the Death Knight. (Curse.com)
  
• Death and Decay -- Targeted, AoE Damage-over-time which pulses similar to the Paladin spell Consecration. Anyone affected by Death and Decay has a chance to be feared. (Curse.com)
  
• Frost Presence -- Increases Armor by 45% and allows the Death Knight to generate 25% more threat. Only one presence can be active at any time. (Curse.com)
  
• Unholy Presence -- Increases Attack Speed and Movement speed by 15%. Only one presence can be active at any time. This was described by Tom Chilton as the "PvP" presence. (Curse.com)
  
• Anti-magic Shield -- Reduces the damage of the next magical spell cast on the Death Knight by 75%. It also converts the damage reduced into Runic Power. (Curse.com)
  
• Strangulate -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing minor damage and silencing the target for up to 5 seconds. (Curse.com)
  
• Summon Deathcharger -- Allows the Death Knight to summon a Deathcharger mount. This mount is acquired through quests, similar to the Paladin and Warlock land mounts. (Curse.com)
  
• Raise Dead -- Raises a nearby corpse to fight for the Death Knight for 2 minutes. If used on a player corpse, the player has the option to play as the ghoul for the duration -- gaining access to the ghoul's abilities. (Curse.com)
  The ghoul has the ability to do the following:
  Leap to the target
  Rend for decent damage-over-time
  Stun target, and of course more

Looks epic to me! A bit of a Warrior-Rouge-Evil Pally crossover. I know I'll be playing one. I'm not sure about the Rune System though. I'm still a bit confused on how it's going to work. Then again, it seems like something you need to experience. It does look like a hard class to play. I bet this isn't going to be a walk in the park. If they do a good job in the first training missions, then they will succeed in teaching us how to play the class.

BTW, it looks like they're going to mute the Necromancer class fanatics with the spells Army Of The Dead and Raise Dead (see above). The spells do seem to the fit the demographic. I've always wanted a tanking class with the powers of the Undead. Probably the same way I wanted a Paladin because of the Spellwarrior class-aspects. Same with the DK. We Paladins should feel right at home :-D.

(I wrote this article on Friday. There have been so much Wrath information released over the last 4 days. There's just too much for me to summarize. WoWInsider and MMO-Champion have all the information that has been leaked.)

Wrath Alpha Screenshots Leaked

Matt from World Of Blogcraft posted some leaked pictures of the Wrath Alpha. These are not screenshots because Blizzard is smart and disabled the button. However, this guy took these pictures from his digital camera. The quality isn't that good but you can make it out.

Now, could these be fake? Of course. The maps seem real - not the dwarf hairstyles.

The one that makes me ponder is the picture of the Undead Death Knight. If it is fake, kudos to the person who made it. However, if it is real, I looks like there will be more Hero Classes. Personally, I believe there's more to the Hero Classes than Blizzard is letting us know. I think they will make a whole set of Hero Classes and not just the one DK.

The picture shows the Death Knight slot under a Hero Class tab. There are also 5 other boxes with grey keys in them. This could mean that there are more classes on release or it could mean they are locked out until a later date. I know we need to do a quest to unlock the Death Knight. I'm guessing that at the completion of this quest, we will get a key that matches the grey keys in the picture.

This is all speculation of course but it's fun to throw ideas out there.

**EDIT** - 12:34AM

After a closer look at the DK picture, it seems like a fake. The Axe is overlapping the character select frame and the left foot of the Undead male is overlapping the name box. Plus, it might be my eyes but it seems like the name box is smaller than normal. Also, the DK info box looks fishy... it's all blocky.

**EDIT 2** - 11:12am Monday

The website has taken down the Undead Death Knight picture.

Blogbraft has a flicker of the original here.

Gear Reset Not As Bad As Burning Crusade

**UPDATE**
Aticus hit Exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive. (Click the picture to get a very nice detailed screenshot)

Yesterday, Bornakk, a Community Manager on the Warcraft forums confirmed that the gear reset which took place in the Burning Crusade will be different when Wrath comes out. He stated...

"Players and items will have an increase in their stats/items that goes along with leveling to 80, it will just be a little more consistent when compared to The Burning Crusade. What I mean by this is the way items are working right now will be closer to the new items you get in Wrath of the Lich King and it isn't like you will see an item with double the usual amount of stamina from your first quest."

In other words, if you have a chest piece with 50 stamina and 25 intellect, it won't double to 100 stamina and 50 intellect right at 71. It will progress slower all the way to 80. This is also nice because now your epic gear from BC arenas, battlegrounds, and raids will still be viable. Now, I had the level 60 GM PVP set from old world and that lasted me until level 68-70 (in which Season 1 replaced it). Hopefully, everyone with Season 1 now will be able to keep that gear until level 78-80. If I had to guess, it should stay like that.

Also, going back to Bornakk's statement, if this is true then your new raid gear won't necessarily be instantly replaced. A suggestion: If you have full season 1, don't bother setting season 2 gear once it drops to the battlegrounds. It'll just be a waste of marks and honor. Save it up for level 80 gear.

A Mage Update: Because both of our servers are really close to Phase 4, we've decided to put off the Mage leveling until next week or the week after. I know I want my title... like... really bad! And he wants just to hit Exalted (I'm only 2 rounds of dailies to go before Exalted). Lore-wise, I think the Shattered Sun is perfect for Aticus to join because he doesn't feel the need for the faction wars anymore. The Shattered Sun broke down the lines of factions between the Aldor and Scryers. So, I really want to be "Aticus Of The Shattered Sun."

An Update on Aticus

Two big news topics: Wrath is in Alpha testing. Rejoice! Secondly, Curt Schilling was on The Instance. I just happened to turn on ustream and I heard his voice and just freaked out! The episode isn't for download yet but once it is up, download it. He's one of the greatest.

Now, Aticus has been very busy over the last week and a half. Things have slowed down (work wise) and I've been able to play in the world of Azeroth for many more hours than I'm used to. I've purchased The Blade Of Wizardry for Aticus because it is a sword made up of pure fire. Was it an upgrade? Not really. My healing went down but my spell damage rose. For solo play, spell damage is a major key to the puzzle. 1200 gold for it on the AH and that did set me back. But, I had the extra cash and I couldn't pass it up. The good news is, after doing dailies for The Shattered Sun, I've gained it all back and more.

I've leveled up my professions up a lot more than they used to. 375 Cooking, 300 Fishing, 290 Skinning, and 246 Mining. I've been talking about doing this for a while and it's a good way to spend my free time after I've done my share of dailies.

Earthen Ring is around 50% done with Phase 3. Pretty sweet. This means, that by the time we hit Phase 4, I will be exalted with The Shattered Sun Offensive! I really want that title "Aticus Of The Shattered Sun" and the tabard. Yeah, I'm a Shattered Sun fanboy. You know, breaking down factions and all that stuff. I'm about 3500-3700 into Revered. Getting about 2500-3000 per day.

By the by, get the food from the vendor there on Quel'Danas. Somewhere around 7500 health and mana in the same food item. Just like the mage's food table but in your backpack. Only 50 silver for 5.

I've also given up on the Naga killing daily on Quel'Danas. The drop rate is too low, the spawn rate is slow, and the siren frostbolting wenches are just annoying. It's not worth my time for just 12 gold.

Oh well. Have a good weekend folks! Be back Monday.