December 23

• Dungeons and Raids
  • Dragon Soul
    • Morchok - Morchok has been working out, now moves faster in all phases of the fight, and can no longer be kited.
    • Hagara - Players can no longer use Spiritwalker�s Grace to avoid the Watery Entrenchment debuff.
    • Ultraxion - Fading Light should now always appear in raid frames when a player is affected by it.

December 20

General

• Algaefin Rockfish no longer swim in schools, and schools of Deepsea Sagefish have taken their place along many coastlines.

Classes

• Hunters
  • Multi-Shot, modified by the talent Serpent Spread, should now properly spread Serpent Sting to other targets that are within range when a nearby player is affected by Serpent Sting.
• Paladins
  • Horde Paladins should find that Judgement of Truth now properly triggers item procs that it is intended to trigger.

Dungeons and Raids

• Deadmines
  • Helix Gearbreaker's Stickybomb should no longer break Stealth.
  • Vanessa VanCleef's Vigorous VanCleef Vindicator achievement should no longer break Stealth.
• Vortex Pinnacle
  • Minister of Air
    • The knockback for Lightning Nova has been reduced from roughly 12 yards to 8 yards on normal difficulty, and from18 yards to 12 yards on Heroic difficulty.
• Well of Eternity
  • Mannoroth
    • Felhounds, Doomguard Devestators, and Felguards are no longer capable of dealing critical hits.
• Zul'Aman
  • Amani'shi Warbringer's damage has been reduced by 12%.
  • Amani'shi Medicine Man's summoned Protective Ward health has been reduced by 60%.
  • When an Amani'shi Scout is alerted, he now idles for 1 second before running to summon reinforcement.
  • Amani'shi Reinforcement's damage has been reduced by 15%.
  • Amani'shi Flame Casters' Fireball Volley now inflicts less damage.
  • Jana'lai's Flame Breath ability now inflicts less persistent fire damage.
  • In Dragonhawk form, Daakara's Flame Whirl spell increases fire damage taken by a lesser amount.
  • Daakara's Creeping Paralysis now inflicts less damage.
• Zul'Gurub
  • Berserking Boulder Roller's Boulders now inflict less damage.
  • Bloodlord Mandokir's Decapitate cooldown has been increased by 5 seconds.
  • Gurubashi Shadow Hunters are now immune to Disarm.
  • Gurubashi Shadow Hunter's Shadowed Shot ability now inflicts less damage.
  • Gurubashi Blood Drinker's Blood Leech ability now inflicts less damage.
  • Lesser Priest of Bethekk's Shadowflame ability now inflicts less periodic damage.
  • High Priestess Kilnara's Wave of Agony now deals less damage.
  • Jin'do's Twisted Spirit health has been reduced.
  • Jin'do's Twisted Spirit damage has been reduced.
  • Jin'do's Shadows of Hakkar now inflicts less damage.
• Dragon Soul
  • Morchok
    • Double Stomp damage should now only come down on the heads of the two players closest to the boss.
  • Hagara
    • Ice Waves will not spawn until Hagara finishes casting Frozen Tempest.
    • Spell immunity mechanics such as Ice Block and Divine Shield should now temporarily block damage from Watery Entrenchment, but should not remove the debuff.
    • Ice Tomb can no longer be avoided by a raid of players all standing within a smokebomb.
• Yor'sahj the Unsleeping
  • Yor'sahj now deals triple melee damage to player-controlled pets and targets them with Void Bolt.
  • The Firebloom heal triggered by the Druid tier-12 should no longer cause Deep Corruption.
  • Yor'sahj's damage has been reduced by up to 10% on 25-player Heroic difficulty, bringing the difficulty of the encounter closer to that of 10-player Heroic difficulty.
• Spine of Deathwing
  • A Safe Fall aura has been added to the start of the encounter, preventing players from taking falling damage, should their parachutes end early.
  • Corrupted Bloods now use Burst regardless of crowd control conditions, including silence.
• Madness of Deathwing
  • Deathwing should no longer fire two Elementium Meteors when a limb tentacle is destroyed at the same time that Deathwing is casting Elementium Meteor.

Items

• Timepiece of the Bronze Flight now has a red socket.

Quests

• Players on the quest Patricide can no longer receive the Fragment of Deathwing's Jaw while in a Raid Finder group.
• Graham Van Talen should no longer incorrectly offer Gnome Engineering and Goblin Engineering once the player has sufficient Engineering skill level.
• Pelturas Whitemoon should now be quite willing to complete the quest Orendil's Cure for multiple players.
• Players are now able to complete the quest Trial of the Naaru: Mercy by beating the 55-minute timer.

Presents! There's now a presence of presents under the tree near Greatfather Winter in Orgrimmar for Horde, and Ironforge for Alliance. Be sure to stop by and pick up this year's exclusive gift before the event ends on January 2.

Over the last third of a century no new fiction has engaged the popular imagination and become as thoroughly essential an element of mass culture as �Star Wars.� There can�t be many people anywhere who wouldn�t at least recognize a lightsaber or Darth Vader.

Over the last decade no video game has engaged a broader global community than World of Warcraft. The first online game to enjoy planetwide popularity, World of Warcraft had more than 12 million paid subscribers last fall. Yet it has lost around two million players over the past year, and now the original evil empire is at the door.

On Tuesday, Electronic Arts will release Star Wars: The Old Republic, a sprawling multiplayer online adventure that is the first legitimate competition that World of Warcraft has faced for the hearts, minds, hours and dollars of millions of players. �Star Wars� games have been around for decades, but the Old Republic provides the most extensive opportunity to become your own Jedi warrior, Sith assassin, snarky smuggler or powerful sage.

A lot of attention has been paid this holiday season to the competition between the year�s two big combat games: Battlefield 3, also from Electronic Arts, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 from Activision Blizzard, which also produces World of Warcraft. The attention is warranted because top shooter games are largely played on living-room consoles and sell millions of copies in just a few weeks.

But an online downloadable computer game like World of Warcraft or the Old Republic entices players to commit their time and emotion to a virtual character over years and generally to pay around $15 a month for the privilege. Most important, these persistent games populated by thousands of simultaneous players � they are called massively multiplayer online games � generate real-life relationships and communities.

And so over the next few years the competition between World of Warcraft and the Old Republic may have much more far-reaching consequences, both for players and the companies behind them, than any shooter showdown.

In the last couple of months I have spent at least 125 hours in beta tests for the Old Republic and have played another 30 hours or so since last week, when the retail servers opened to people who ordered the game months ago. You don�t play a game that much (or at least I don�t) unless you�re enjoying yourself. I�m in a guild of cool people, and my Sith sorcerer is uncovering more mysteries of the dark side every day.

I�ve also returned to World of Warcraft, the siren of my youth (or at least five years ago), which I hadn�t played seriously since early 2007. I was inspired to jump back in after visiting the BlizzCon convention in October. I have been playing World of Warcraft 20 to 30 hours a week since then, have reconnected with online buddies and have had a great time.

Having steeped myself in both games recently, I can say that any notion that the Old Republic will be a WOW killer is absurd. World of Warcraft boasts a variety, breadth and level of handcrafted content that no other game is close to matching. That said, the Old Republic is by far the best, most exciting online game since the original World of Warcraft. It should be a Star Wars fan�s dream and deserves to attract in excess of two million paying players in the three languages � English, French and German � available at release.

Blizzard Entertainment, which makes World of Warcraft, and BioWare, the Electronic Arts division that makes the Old Republic, enjoy deep respect and adoration among millions of players. Blizzard was a pioneer of Internet gaming; its central franchises (Diablo, Warcraft and StarCraft) are built around the online experience of playing in a community.

BioWare, by contrast, has been known for single-player entertainment. In its greatest efforts, like Baldur�s Gate, Knights of the Old Republic (an earlier �Star Wars� title), Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect, the focus outside combat is on storytelling and characterization. BioWare, along with Rockstar (makers of Grand Theft Auto), has been a leader in driving extensive, believable voice acting into games.

The Old Republic moves beyond World of Warcraft by including full voice-over for every computer-controlled character. Almost none of the characters in Warcraft speak; instead you read the text of what they are �saying.� The effect in the Old Republic is to draw players into an emotional connection with the story of their characters that is much more personal than the tales in World of Warcraft.

It appears, based on discussions with industry executives and financial analysts, that BioWare and Electronic Arts have spent somewhere between $125 million and $200 million making the Old Republic. That would make it the most expensive game ever. Fortunately for the makers, it shows.

Blizzard, for its part, has zero interest in creating purely single-player games, as BioWare traditionally has. So the new online Star Wars game represents BioWare�s entry into Blizzard�s wheelhouse. While you will see Electronic Arts and Activision executives jawing over the Battlefield-versus-Call of Duty competition, you never see Blizzard and BioWare doing the same. Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard, and Ray Muzyka, BioWare�s chief, are personally cordial. (They are also among the best poker players in the video game industry, verified more than once at an annual industry trade event in Las Vegas.) Greg Zeschuk, Mr. Muzyka�s BioWare co-founder, has led development of the Old Republic. The two companies enjoy mutual respect.

Yet Blizzard is clearly managing and designing World of Warcraft in a manner meant to slow or stop the game�s erosion of players. The company announced that it would give away a copy of its next new game, Diablo III, as a bonus to players who make a full-year subscription commitment to World of Warcraft. In terms of the game�s design, the overall tone and difficulty have become much more accessible to casual players. The sorts of high-level demons and dragons that traditionally would have been conquerable only by people who played dozens of hours a week can now be felled by pickup groups of moderately skilled players.

�What we�re trying to do now is figure out what our current audience wants,� Tom Chilton, World of Warcraft�s game director, told me by phone last week. �It became clear that it wasn�t realistic to try to get the audience back to being more hard core, as it had been in the past.�

As someone returning to World of Warcraft after a long absence, I find the current direction of the game eminently engaging. As Mr. Chilton said, �We hear from a lot people who used to play a lot that they�re just not at that point in their life anymore, and they want to play, and they want to see the content. But they can�t make the same time commitment they used to.�

At the end of the day World of Warcraft is still about swords and spells, elves and orcs. For a player ready to trade those in for lasers, spaceships and, of course, lightsabers, Star Wars: The Old Republic beckons brightly.

"When you're waiting in queue for dungeons or BGs you can work on your guild's critter killer achievements. Since Cataclysm, lots of pockets of critters can be found in and around the world, including major cities. Check out the house above the waterfall above Stormwind Keep to see what I mean. But when you're aoeing that particular group, make sure your back isn't to the cliff..."

Submitted by: Rill

In general, how well do you think Patch 4.3 went?
We are pretty happy with it, as it was a huge patch for us. Large patches like this always come with a risk that we will screw something up, but it was a pretty smooth launch for as much content as we had in there.

Are you happy with the difficulty of the Dragon Soul heroic encounters, or do you think the bosses are dying too fast?
We are pretty happy with the current difficulty, the first boss is designed to be pretty easy, and the next tier of hardcore raiders are at the second or third boss, which is pretty much where we want them to be. The top tier guilds are going through it quickly, as they always do, but they make hundreds of attempts on each boss. Everyone is about where they should be right now.

Recently you made it so that casters with shields can no longer roll on offhand items, but in previous tiers those items have been very competitive for those specs. Why was this changed?
That's only in Raid Finder, and we made the change to restrict certain items to certain classes to prevent things like hunters needing on strength swords. We debated the offhand change a lot and we knew that some of the shaman might be unhappy with the fact that we are making them use the shield when they might want to use an offhand, but we also thought the mages, priests, and druids would be upset that the shaman got to roll on the offhand and the shield when they could only roll on the offhand. It could have gone either way and we understand that some players are upset at the way it went. Once players progress to normal mode, they can still use the offhands, so it is only a Raid Finder issue.

You can easily max out Justice and Valor points right now, so do you plan on adding anything like pets, mounts, or vanity gear to provide some use for the points?
We talked about it in the past, but we like the way it works now where players hit the cap quickly by doing whatever content they want. We don't want players to feel like they have to log in every night to earn as many Valor points as possible.

Some guilds are doing up to 20 LFR runs in a week to maximize the amount of gear they can get...
Yeah, fortunately that isn't very widespread. It is hard to discourage, and if they are enjoying it and it doesn't hurt game balance, we are okay with that.

Is LFR going to remain a current raid only tool, or will we be able to use it from Dragon Soul onwards?
Nope, we want to use it from Dragon Soul onwards. We would have loved to turn on LFR for all of the old content in the game, but Raid Finder was actually going to be a Patch 5.0+ feature. Fairly late we thought that it would be great to get into Patch 4.3, but up until the very end it wasn't clear if it would be ready for Patch 4.3. However, we were able to finish it in time with Dragon Soul functionality. If there is time in the future, we would like to go back and get at least some of the older content into it.

Will there be another patch before Mists of Pandaria?
We said that we are not going to do another tier of raiding content and PvP season, but we will do the normal pre expansion launch patch. This would include things like the new talents and the other big mechanics changes coming in the expansion, along with the launch event that deals with the Horde vs Alliance story and the introduction of the new continent. The launch event will be similar in magnitude to what we did for Wrath of the Lich King and Burning Crusade.

Cataclysm brought us guild perks to make raiding easier like Mass Resurrection, Mass Summoning, and lower durability reduction on death. How high do you think the guild level is going to increase to in Mists of Pandaria and what kind of new guild perks do you think we will see?
We aren't going to double the number of guild levels or anything like that. We had to make up for the lack of it in previous expansions this time around. Players can expect a few more levels, nothing like thirty or forty more. We haven't talked much about the perks guilds will receive yet, but they will be similar to the existing perks. One idea was cheaper transmogrification, which could be fun for players.

Has there been any progress made on making items account bound and not server bound since you last commented on it?
We would still love to do it, it isn't a design problem as much as a technical one. We are doing a lot of work to get achievements to be account wide, and it is possible that some of the work we do there will let us do the same thing for items. We can't promise anything though, because it could be the case that the first 90% of the work is really easy, and the last 10% is more difficult. Catching all of the exploits and bugs are part of what makes this something that is hard to do.

Will the under construction parts of the Darkmoon Faire get filled out before Mists of Pandaria, or is this something that won't be done until later?
We have vague plans, along the lines of "Hey, we could add a haunted house here", but nothing solid. I would be surprised if it was expanded upon anytime soon, we might add something for the launch event. This depends on the players' reactions to the current one, if they feel like they are running out of things to do, or if there is a lot of love for certain minigames or parts of the Faire, we might be able to add something else. It is hard to provide enough content so that people never run out of things to do, so we are pacing ourselves with the Faire, expanding on it over time.

Items from Archaeology have low item levels compared to the new and easy to access gear added in Patch 4.3, Are there any plans to scale or add new Archaeology items that will be relevant to the current content?
We will likely add new items, we didn't want to compete with heirlooms and give alt characters more gear than they could possibly use, allowing them to level without caring at all about loot gained while leveling. We like the idea of artifacts remaining something that you can trade between characters on your account. If you get a healer trinket that you can't use right now because you don't have a healer, it could be something you use one day, rather than solving your healer trinket problems forever.

With the advent of LFR, casual players can see all of the content, while Heroic raids seem to be harder now. Is this type of difficulty something you want to move forward doing?
The advantage of having three difficulty levels is that we can tailor each one to the audience. Before LFR we could target Normal difficulty raids at organized guilds, which left nothing for PuGs to do, or we could target them at PuGs, making them too easy for organized guilds. This would leave normal guilds only Heroic difficulty for a challenging encounter, leaving nothing for the more hardcore guilds to do. The three difficulty levels let us tailor each difficulty so that everyone has something to do.

Are there any plans to promote Voice Chat use?
The Voice Chat we included is not a good feature. We tried, we made some mistakes, and we accept that it isn't something used by a lot of players. It is on the wishlist of things we would eventually like to improve. A big thing it is missing now that we would like to fix is the ability to communicate with people before you get into the game, having to be logged in to use it makes it less useful than something like Ventrilo or Mumble.

Are you planning on adding chat channels for healing, DPS, and tanking in LFR?
We haven't thought about it, but it wouldn't be hard to do. We would just add people to the channel based on their role.

Okay, great. Thank you so much for your time!

We're pleased to introduce BattleTags, a new way for players to identify themselves and communicate on Battle.net� -- and you can get a first taste of what�s in store in the Diablo� III beta test.
A BattleTag is a unified, player-chosen nickname that will identify you across all of Battle.net -- in Blizzard Entertainment games, on our official websites, and in our community forums. Similar to the Real ID system, BattleTags will ultimately give players on Battle.net a new way to manage public profiles, find and chat with friends they've met while playing, form groups, and stay connected across multiple Blizzard games.
While most of these features are coming soon, players who wish to pick a BattleTag now can do so via Battle.net Account Management. Note that BattleTags are not unique, meaning multiple players can choose the same BattleTag. For now, we�ll be testing some basic in-game functionality (including in-game chat and friends list support) in the next patch for the Diablo III beta test. Players are also now able to use a BattleTag when posting on the Diablo III community websites.
In the future, BattleTags will be integrated into other Blizzard games and services such as World of Warcraft� and StarCraft� II (and their related forums and websites), and we look forward to sharing more about all of the ways they�ll help you connect and play in the months ahead. Stay tuned to Blizzard's official community sites for further details.
To learn more about BattleTags, check out the official FAQ below -- or head to the Battle.net website to create yours today.
(Note for Diablo III beta testers: If you have a Diablo III beta license, you�ll be required to create a BattleTag before you can log in to the beta test servers following the release of beta patch 8.)
Battle.net� BattleTag FAQ
What is a Battle.net� BattleTag?

A BattleTag is a unified, player-chosen nickname that will identify you across all of Battle.net � in Blizzard Entertainment games, on our websites, and in our community forums. Similar to Real ID, BattleTags will give players on Battle.net a new way to find and chat with friends they�ve met in-game, form friendships, form groups, and stay connected across multiple Blizzard Entertainment games. BattleTags will also provide a new option for displaying public profiles.
When will BattleTags go live?

We will soon begin limited testing of some features and functionality of BattleTags in the Diablo� III beta test, and the feature will be available to Diablo III players at launch. BattleTags will be integrated into other Blizzard games and services such as World of Warcraft� and StarCraft� II at some point in the future, but we don�t have exact rollout plans to share just yet.
Will my BattleTag be unique?

A player�s BattleTag is not unique, so you won�t need to worry about whether your preferred name is available. You can use any name you wish, as long as it adheres to the BattleTag Naming Policy. Only one BattleTag can be associated with each Battle.net account.
If my BattleTag isn�t unique, what makes me uniquely identifiable? How will I know I�m adding the right friend to my friends list?

Each BattleTag is automatically assigned a 4-digit BattleTag code, which combines with your chosen name to create a unique identifier (e.g. AwesomeGnome#3592). Your BattleTag and code are viewable when you log in to the Battle.net website and within the Diablo III beta client, and can be shared with other players who want to add you to their friends list manually. You will also be able to add BattleTags to your friends list within the context of a game (by clicking a person�s BattleTag when he or she sends you a message, for example) without knowing their BattleTag code.
I�m not in the Diablo III beta � can I choose a BattleTag now anyway?

Sure! You can pick your BattleTag now through Battle.net Account Management, regardless of whether you�re participating in the Diablo III beta test. Simply visit the BattleTag creation page to get started. Make sure to choose a handle you will be happy with in the long term and that abides by our Naming Policy, as you will be unable to change your BattleTag once you�ve selected it. We plan to provide a way for players to change their BattleTags in the future, but we don�t have any further details to share just yet.
Where will my BattleTag be seen?

During the Diablo III beta test, your BattleTag will be seen in the Diablo III client (on friends lists and in chat), on the Diablo III forums, and in Battle.net Account Management. In the future, expect it to be displayed in other Blizzard games like StarCraft II and World of Warcraft on friends lists, in chat, or when making posts on their associated forums. We�ll have further details on how and where your BattleTag will be displayed in the future.
When will World of Warcraft and StarCraft II support BattleTags?

Our plan is for all current and future Blizzard games to support BattleTags eventually. However, we don�t have any announcements to make regarding when BattleTags will be integrated into World of Warcraft or StarCraft II at this time.
Do I need to choose my BattleTag now?

You will only be required to create a BattleTag now if you�d like to log in to the Diablo III beta client (beginning with an upcoming patch) or to use a Diablo III-related identity on the Diablo III forums. You will still be able to post on these forums using a World of Warcraft or StarCraft II character name if you wish.
Will I still be able to display my character on my profile or Armory page?

Armory profiles will be unaffected by the introduction of BattleTags. We�ll have more information on how BattleTags will be integrated into existing games in the future.
How will this affect World of Warcraft?

BattleTags will add a new way for you to make friendships and communicate in World of Warcraft. For example, you�ll be able to create cross-game, cross-realm friendships with your BattleTag, similar to the way Real ID works now. We�ll have more details to share closer to the feature�s launch.
Will this affect my existing Real ID friendships?

No. Your Real ID friendships will continue to exist, and all of the features and benefits of Real ID will remain available to you. BattleTags will simply give players another way to connect and communicate across Blizzard games. For example, if two players aren�t Real ID friends but want to stay in touch across Battle.net, they�ll be able to establish a BattleTag-based friendship; in the future, BattleTag friends will have access to many of the communication benefits (such as cross-game chat) currently available to Real ID friends.
Do BattleTags replace Real ID? Can I create new Real ID friendships?

BattleTags are a new feature separate from Real ID. Real ID will continue to work as it always has, and you can continue to create Real ID friendships with people you know in real life.
Will this affect my World of Warcraft or StarCraft II character names in any way?

Your World of Warcraft character names will continue to exist and work as they currently do. We�re still in the process of determining how we will handle StarCraft II character names once BattleTags are integrated into the game.
How does my BattleTag work in the Diablo III beta?

Only some BattleTag features will be available during the Diablo III beta test. At first, players will be able to add friends to their friends list using their BattleTags, though new or different features may be available at different times during testing process. We�ll have more information on all of the features of BattleTags in Diablo III with the launch of the game next year.



To add a friend via their BattleTag manually in the Diablo III beta client, simply type their BattleTag and code (e.g. DemonStomper#1537) into the Add a Friend field in the Add Friend interface. This will send the player a BattleTag friend request; if the other player accepts your request, your BattleTags will appear on each other�s friends lists.

As a part of the on-going evaluation of Looking For Raid and the loot system, we have recently implemented a change to the Looking For Raid Need Plus system. Weapons, trinkets, rings, neck pieces, shields, offhand items, and the Robe of Glowing Stone are now class-restricted to their intended users. With the speed at which a Raid Finder group moves through a zone, we�ve found that it makes it challenging for players to evaluate loot decisions � by class restricting these items, we hope that the natural behavior will have a more positive set of results for everyone involved. This change will not apply to normal or heroic raid or dungeon loot rules.

Raid Finder and Need Plus are both very new systems, and we�re working to iterate on these systems rapidly to ensure that everyone has the best possible experience as we learn more about how players are using the system. Please keep in mind that this system is not considered complete and we have further plans to improve upon it within Mists of Pandaria.

If you looted an item from Looking for Raid which replaced another and you need Game Master assistance to recover your old item, please place a petition with the new item name, that you can no longer use it - and the old item name you need restored. For more information on the affected items, please visit the Customer Support forums here- http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3729953854#1

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Some items were recently reclassified. You may find yourself in possession of one of these items and are no longer able to use it.

If this item replaced another and you need Game Master assistance to recover your old item, please place a petition with the new item name, that you can no longer use it - and the old item name you need restored.

The following are the items that have changed with new/changed class restrictions (LFR Versions).

Weapons

• Razor Saronite Chip - Rogue
• Electrowing Dagger - Rogue
• Finger of Zon'ozz - Mage, Priest, Warlock
• Vishanka, Jaws of the Earth - Hunter
• No'Kaled - Shaman, Rogue
• Kiril - Druid, Hunter
• Blade of the Unmaker - Rogue
• Rathrak - Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
• Maw of the Dragonlord - Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman
• Titahk - Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
• Gurthalak - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior
• Souldrinker- Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior

Trinkets

• Indomitable Pride - Death Knight, Druid, Paladin, Warrior
• Bone-Link Fetish - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior
• Windward Heart - Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman
• Cunning of the Cruel - Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
• Vial of Shadows - Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Rogue
• Resolve of Undying - Death Knight, Druid, Paladin, Warrior
• Eye of Unmaking - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior
• Heart of Unliving - Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman
• Will of Unbinding - Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
• Wrath of Unchaining - Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Rogue
• Starcatcher Compass - Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Rogue
• Crech of the Final Dragon - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior
• Insignia of the Corrupted Mind - Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
• Soulshifter Vortex - Death Knight, Druid, Paladin, Warrior
• Seal of the Seven Signs - Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman

Shields

• Timepiece of the Bronze Flight - Paladin, Shaman
• Blackhorn's Mighty Bulwark - Paladin, Warrior

Rings

• Hardheart Ring - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior
• Breathstealer Band - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior
• Signet of Suturing - Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman
• Infinite Loop - Druid, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
• Seal of Primordial Shadow - Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Rogue
• Curled Twilight Claw - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior
• Ring of the Riven - Druid, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
• Signet of Grasping Mouths - Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Rogue

Offhand

• Ledger of Revolting Rituals - Druid, Priest

Neck

• Petrified Fungal Heart - Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman

Chest

• Robe of Glowing Stone - Priest

Dungeons & Raids

• Hour of Twilight
  • Archbishop Benedictus - Thrall should no longer despawn when no players are near him after the gauntlet has been completed.
• Throne of the Four Winds
  • Al'Akir - Wind Burst should no longer knock players back too far.
• Dragon Soul
  • Morchok
    • Earthen Soldiers, Ancient Water Lords and Earthen Destroyers now move faster.
    • Morchok's Resonating Crystals should now always target the closest players when they explode.
  • Yor'sahj the Unsleeping
    • Damage done by Forgotten Ones, Void Bolt AOE, and Searing Blood has been reduced on 25-person, Heroic difficulty.
    • Yor'sahj's health has been reduced by 10% on 25-person, Heroic difficulty.
  • Hagara the Stormbinder
    • Hagara�s Frost Shield can no longer be broken by Shattering Throw to avoid her Frozen Tempest phase.
  • Warlord Zon'ozz
    • Disrupting Shadows no longer deals AoE damage or knockbacks when the duration is reduced with Mage Armor on Heroic raid difficulties.
  • Warmaster Blackhorn
    • Shockwave can now be broken by trinkets and other effects that cancel stuns.
    • Blackhorn's Vengeance now accrues at a rate of 1% per 2% of missiong HP on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • After Warmaster Blackhorn is killed, the deck fire on upper decks is no longer present on Heroic difficulty.
    • Warmaster Blackhorn, the Twilight Elite Slayers, and the Twilight Elite Dreadblades are no longer able to attack players while mounted.
  • Spine of Deathwing
    • Blood Corruption: Earth will no longer morph into Blood Corruption: Death when dispelled.
    • Blood Corruption: Earth now applies two stacks of Blood of Neltharion when it expires on 25-player heroic difficulty.
    • The health pools for Burning Tendon, Corrupted Blood, Corruption, and Hideous Amalgamation have been reduced by 6 to 11% for 25-person raids on both normal and Heroic difficulty.
    • Hideous Amalgamations with the Superheated buff no longer pulse their AE damage after being thrown from Deathwing's back.
  • Madness of Deathwing
    • Damage done by Elementium Blast, Corrupted Blood, and Blistering Heat have been lowered on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • This encounter should now complete when all players die after Deathwing has been defeated.

Items

• Darkmoon Zeppelin should no longer be converted to a Horde Balloon during an Alliance to Horde faction change.

Classes

• Druid
  • Pounce should now apply its Bleed to targets beyond its normal range when used with the Glyph of Pounce.
  • The Mass Regeneration effect from the Druid Tier 13 bonus now heals 25% of the healing received by the Druid from Frenzied Regeneration, down from 50%. The tooltip will be updated in a later patch.
• Paladin
  • Holy Radiance should now stack properly with Holy Radiance, with all valid targets nearby being properly healed.
• Warrior
  • Bladestorm will now properly apply its immunities to spell effects that are in flight when Bladestorm is activated.

"Twink Enchants are almost always in demand. People want to get that extra stam and damage. And rare enchants will go for hundreds of gold. So if you're an enchanter looking for something you can sell be sure to check your market for twink chants."

Submitted by: Agamemnon

The Cenarion Circle's victory in the Firelands offers Azeroth a brief reprieve. With the elemental armies of Deathwing the Destroyer broken and the Twilight's Hammer still reeling from its loss in the Bastion of Twilight, the tide has finally turned in favor of Azeroth's defenders.

Emboldened by these triumphs, the Earthen Ring, the Cenarion Circle, and the remaining Dragon Aspects have completed the ritual to heal the World Tree Nordrassil. Now, the three groups shift their attention and energies toward using Nordrassil to mend their shattered world.

Their efforts may well be in vain, however, for they will soon see that they cannot afford to waste any more time before they deal with the true threat to Azeroth: Deathwing.

---

I have murdered one of my own.

The thought hit Nozdormu the Timeless One the instant he saw the desiccated bronze dragon. Zirion had shriveled into a husk half his original size. Lesions covered his body from head to tail. Instead of blood, golden sand cascaded out of the wounds in unending streams upon which shimmered ghostly images of his life that had not yet come to pass. His future was bleeding out of him.

Nozdormu strode across one of the isolated peaks of Mount Hyjal to stand by Zirion's side, every moment of history rippling over the Timeless One's sun-colored scales. As he loomed over the dying dragon, a wave of helplessness flooded through him. An impenetrable veil had descended on the timeways, one that not even he, the Aspect of the bronze dragonflight and the Guardian of Time, could pierce. The past and future�things he had once seen with clarity�had become muddled.

---

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to present the latest entry in the Expanded Universe short story series, "Charge of the Aspects"!
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/lore/short-story/charge-aspects/1

Soon, we�ll be introducing a new feature called Battle.net Balance that will give players an alternate way to purchase Blizzard products and services directly through their Battle.net account. Players will be able to �charge up� their Battle.net Balance using a variety of payment methods, and then use their Battle.net Balance to buy services like World of Warcraft character transfers, digital products like pets and mounts, and more. Players will also be able to use their Battle.net Account Balance to buy items and store their earnings from Diablo III�s currency-based auction house once the game is released.

We�ll be rolling out the new Battle.net Balance feature in the weeks ahead -- but in the meantime, check out our Battle.net Balance FAQ to find out more about how it�s going to work.

We�ve gotten a lot of feedback on our crazy, exciting, and scary talent overhaul, for which we are enormously appreciative. For real and for true. We *want* your feedback on the new talents. That is why we are presenting so much detail so early. While we will continue to iterate on talent specifics, your feedback is an important part of that process. Don�t abstain because you�re convinced that things will change without you. Your input is one of our most important tools for improving the game.

We have seen a few consistent responses from players concerned or dismissive about the model, so we thought we�d take the opportunity to explain the philosophy behind some of our decisions, to provide a better framework upon which you can continue giving us feedback.

We trust you�ve all had ample time to plug away on the Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator. You may have even found a few mind-bottling class changes in the works (you know, when things are so crazy it gets your thoughts all trapped, like in a bottle?).

To that end, we�re pleased to announce we�ve just released an update to the calculator! In addition to bug fixes, we've made some changes as a result of your feedback.

Keep in mind this is still a very early preview of the Mists of Pandaria talent system, which will likely continue to evolve during development of the expansion. We also don�t plan on making further updates to the calculator until we get much closer to our testing phase, but rest assured we�ll still be considering your feedback throughout the development process.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists-of-pandaria/feature/talent-calculator

General

• Transmogrified items should always lose their transmogrification when mailed.
• The Darkmoon Firework no longer has a duration, is now holiday-bound, and requires Darkmoon Faire to be active.
• Darkmoon Faire revelers who enter an off-limits area in ghost form should now be properly ported out.
• Entangling Roots, Freeze, and Frost Nova should now properly break when the affected player takes damage while a damage absorption effect is also active.

Hunter

• Kill Command should now always consume the Resistance is Futile! buff, regardless of whether the target has Hunter's Mark or not.
• Reverted a bug fix that caused Bombardment to be consumed by the next Multi-Shot. Fixing this bug proved to be a significant dps loss, so Bombardment once again lasts for its full 6 second duration regardless of the number of Multi-Shot casts. The tooltip will be updated in a future patch to reflect that this change is intended.

Paladin

• Divine Aegis, Ancestral Awakening, Ancestral Vigor, Holy Priest Mastery, Holy Paladin Mastery, and Living Seed now trigger properly based on pre-absorb healing, even if the triggering heal is fully absorbed.

Warrior

• Deep Wounds should now be correctly activated by critical hits from Opportunity Strike, Raging Blow, Heroic Leap, and Intercept.
• Using Pummel, modified by Gag Order, will now Silence the target for 3 seconds in addition to locking out the spell school for 4 seconds.

Dungeons & Raids

• End Time
  • The trash preceeding Echo of Baine should now hit for less Fire damage.
• Hour of Twilight
  • Flailing Tentacles now despawn shortly after they appear, and can no longer be attacked.
  • Well of Eternity
    • Players should no longer lose the Shadowcloak buff when a group member leaves, joins, or zones in or out of the instance.
    • Mannoroth - Magistrike Arc should no longer be activated by pet attacks, and now has a 100% chance of being activated after a 3 second cooldown.
    • Mannoroth - Rogue Stealth and mage Invisibility are no longer broken when Doomguard Devastators land and become valid targets, or when other Demons spawn from the Nether Tear portal.
• Dragon Soul
  • Accepting a Warlock summon while riding a drake taxi in Dragon Soul should now cancel the drake ride and port the player to the location of the summon.
  • Fall of Deathwing is now available via Raid Finder once you have completed Siege of Wyrmrest.
  • Players who have killed the final boss in one of the wings of Dragon soul via Raid Finder will be more likely to enter fresh instances on subsequent Raid Finder instances that week. This should make it easier to kill earlier bosses that they might have missed.
  • Yor'sahj the Unsleeping
    • The Aggro Radius has been properly adjusted for all difficulties of this encounter.
    • Slimes, Mana Voids, and Forgotten Ones have had their HP reduced by 20% on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • Pets cannot be summoned during the decent into this encounter.
  • Warlord Zon'ozz
    • Ball damage should now be splitting its total damage amongst all players nearby on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • Pets cannot be summoned during the decent into this encounter.
  • Ultraxion
    • Players should no longer find themselves in the Twilight Realm after Ultraxion has been defeated.
    • Essence of Dreams should strain CPUs less in 25-player raids. This buff will now activate once per second for each healer who has the buff, and the healing done by the effect will equal the amount of health healed by the healer within that one second window.
  • Spine of Deathwing
    • Corruption, Hideous Amalgamation, and Burning Tendons are now level 88, up from 87, and have had their health slightly increased.
  • Madness of Deathwing
    • Priests under the effect of Spirit of Redemption will now receive credit for defeating Deathwing as long as they were part of the encounter.
• Temple of Ahn'Qiraj
  • The Prophet Skeram, the Illusions of The Prophet Skeram, Princess Yauj, Lord Kri, and Vem no longer grant reputation when killed.
• Throne of the Tides
  • Lady Naz'jar - All of the creatures in the Lady Naz'jar gauntlet are now immune to mind control mechanics.
• Zul'Gurub
  • High Priest Venoxis has been convinced to clean up after himself when his encounter is reset, and his venom puddles should disappear.

Items

• Bracers of Flowing Serenity now have a +20 Intellect socket bonus that is properly applied when the gem requirement is met.
• Foul Gift of the Demon Lord and Varo'then's Brooch should no longer be usable by players under the effects of crowd control spells.
• All three Heart of Unliving trinkets now additionally provide a passive intellect bonus.
• Mana Tide Totem now benefits from Heart of Unliving.
• Pit Fighter and Master Pit Fighter now have more stamina.
• The Moonwell Phial trinket buff shold no longer be disabled when the player enters combat.
• The paladin tier-13 four-piece set bonus should now increase healing done by Holy Radiance by 5%, down from 20%.
• The priest tier-13 two-piece set bonus should again trigger a 23-second Temporal Boon for Discipline priests, up from 20 seconds.

Quests and Creatures

• While on the quest "Archival Purposes", players should now be able to open Elementium Gem Clusters.