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Hi there, and welcome back to Ask a Beta Tester after its little Sunday break! If you're new to the column, then just 'welcome' instead of 'welcome back' and if that's the case allow me to explain! Have a question about the Wrath beta? We have an answer! Probably. Just ask in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer you in a future episode. Now, let's get started!
CactusHam asked...
I noticed on the Description of the Shaman's Maelstrom Weapon (and maybe its in other places as well, but this is where I saw it) that in addition to requiring axes, maces, staves and daggers it also requires "One handed Exotics, Two Handed Exotics" as well as "miscellaneous". I'm curious about what seems to be a new weapon type? Is this a new weapon type? If so, what classes can use "exotics"? And what exactly is an "exotic?"
Exotic weapons are unique NPC items. If you've ever used something like WoW Modelviewer, the Exotic category contains things such as Maiev's huge chakram thingy or whatever it is. It's not something players will ever get their hands on. It's sort of like the armor sets you see on Wowhead and Thottbot that have the listing of which races can wear it, and races such as Fel Orc and Naga are listed. That doesn't mean we'll get playable Fel Orcs and Naga, it means if they're putting together an NPC that uses those racial models they can use that armor to play dress up with. Fel Orc did technically come into play at the Netherwing Ledge, but meh. Yeah, that's right. Meh.
The Rumpus Machine is the latest offering from Oblivious Films, of The Grind fame. It's the story of what happens when an easily-frightened dwarf and his friends stumble upon a "metal pig" which seems to grant their every wish. It's not a follow-up to The Grind storyline, but rather a new, self-contained story. It's kinda like what O. Henry would have written if he'd only lightened up a bit. The moviemaking here is top notch and the storytelling is quite funny with everything from sexy dancing girls to throwback dungeons. Make sure you stick around throughout the entire credits roll for some final jokes at the end.
Drew "Drewbie" Syring from Oblivious tells Moviewatch that Macheath made this film for the BlizzCon machinima contest and, for you Diablo III fans, "yes, that is really the real Deckard Cain who was kind enough to lend his voice talents to our production." How'd they manage it? Just watch it, you'll see.
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.
We're all busy people, so let's jump right in here. Sorano asked...
Has Gelbin Mekkatorque ever done something to contribute to the world around him? Poor little guy seems to do nothing nowadays. I'm sure as leader of the Gnomes, he could do a lot to help the people of Azeroth.
He does things, but they're not portrayed in WoW very well. It's mostly things you will find in the RPG books. Mekkatorque helps design the various siege weaponry the Alliance uses (steam tanks, etc), and works heavily on figuring out ways to take back Gnomeregan from the ferocious level 30 elites and, more importantly, clean up the radiation.
Hey! Don't look at me like that. I'm not a piece of decaying, greenish meat. I'm the Queen of the Forsaken! I can hit your heart with my arrows from a mile away, or send my undead minions to devour your flesh. Your ... soft, warm, living flesh, with the muscles and the hair and ... hmm. Well, now that I think about it, I should be more welcoming to visitors. And it's been a while since anyone looked at me like that. How would you like a guided tour of the Apothecarium? I think there's an empty cage down there we can ... chat in.
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.
We've seen the Age of the Scorpid, but Crabs have always been a bit of a rarity. They're Tenacity pets in Wrath of the Lich King, and you may find their Pin spell to your liking.
Cats? Nobody uses cats, do they? Nah. But just for historical purposes, we'll show you Cats in WotLK too.
Do you think you could use a hunter-pet that permanently reduces a caster's cast-time by 50%? Look at Serpents, their Poison Spit, and dare to dream.
You are invited to download the YouTube version (81MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (120MB) here.
As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time!
Brewfest had many things going for it and was still fun this year, but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed when I compare it to last year's event. Yeah, the boss was cool. Sure, it was nice that the Dark Iron Dwarves worked this year. But I missed the Pink Elekk quest (though they were still visible if you were in the right place with the right amount of inebriation) and the Wolpertinger quest (buying it just isn't the same).
After the first couple of days, I was completely unable to complete the Dark Iron Dwarf quest, even at peak times on my server. I don't know if fewer people were participating due to the mounts not being purchaseable by tokens or the non-intuitive way you fight those evil brew thieves, but there were never enough people chugging and chucking along with me to defeat them. Still, that wasn't my least favorite part.
I would have to say that the part of this year's Brewfest that sucked my fun, frustrated the heck out of me and made me only earn enough to join the Brew of the Month Club was the same thing I disliked most last year. It's that apple barrel that is near the guy with the kegs outside of Orgrimmar. No matter how diligent I was doing the Keg Run, no matter how carefully I timed my rein-clicking and no matter how much I jumped on, stomped on or ran around that barrel, it only refreshed my mount about 70 percent of the time. Riding an exhausted ram is so not fun.
What was your least favorite part of this year's Brewfest?
After a short hiatus, your weekend Colosseum interviews are back with an interview with Drwhy, an Arena Priest on Burning Legion. Working in 2v2 with Nostalgia, a Blood Elf Rogue, Drwhy is currently striving to excel at the end of Season 4.
Drwhy talked to us not only about how he's been doing in the Arena to date, but also about what he expects to see with the approaching end of season, and Wrath's future release.
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. This week Matticus offers his opinion and experience on raid healing at level 80. Find out about how Matt manages his mana, his take on whether Priests really are "useless", skills needed to thrive, and just how hard it is to heal tanks.
When I write blog posts about Priests, I don't like to rely on speculation. I am certain there are many Priests (other healers even) who want to know what the next age of Wrath healing will look like. I am not a Shaman, a Paladin, or a Druid; therefore, I cannot speak from their perspectives but I have seen them in action. I am not a theorycrafter. I can't break everything down into numbers for you. There have been a few blue postsasking for healer feedback and maybe this post can offer some insight.
That being said, this post is drawn from my experiences as a healer in both normal (10 man) and heroic (25 man) versions of Naxxramas and Obsidian Sanctum. I won't tell you what I think should get nerfed or buffed; I will, however, tell you how I coped with the challenges that the expansion brought forth.
Of course, we still won't know exactly how much until the next build hits the Beta servers, but it seems like it's got to be good news if it's anything of a significant cost reduction. Of course, some Mages are still hoping for a more active mana regeneration mechanic such as the Warlock's Life Tap, but in the meantime, hopefully this reduction is enough to make a difference.
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the eighth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.
The draenei are one of Warcraft's more unique contributions to the realm of fantasy fiction, the one player race without no real precedent in earlier fantasy worlds. These are not your typical elves, orcs and dwarves borrowed from Tolkien or Dungeons and Dragons; the draenei are tall, with hooves, tails, horns and even face-tendrils -- but they are noble and spiritual people, the last remnants of an ancient civilization of magic and beauty.
To begin thinking about what it must be like to live as a draenei, imagine how the human race might be many thousands of years into the future, maybe a quarter of a million years from now. Whatever technology those people might have would probably seem like magic to us. Our descendants might unravel the mysteries of biology to such a degree that they can halt the aging process and live as long as they want to. They may be able to tap on sources of power we haven't even imagined, and act with motivations and purposes we could scarcely understand.
The draenei as a people were once like this, 25,000 years before the setting of World of Warcraft. Even at that time, they were already ancient in their history and advanced far beyond what you and I might understand. Their world, called Argus, was a prosperous society full of great achievements and magical wonders, quite unlike anything we see today. They had a different name then, however -- they were called, the "eredar" -- a name which now upsets the draenei as a painful reminder of everything they have lost, the corruption, the betrayal and the near extermination of everything they have ever known and loved.
Familiar faces from the former Duelists Going For Gladiator -- Celex, Emolol, and Ely with a sub, Kesher -- who now compete under the new banner of Gravitas Gaming, faced off against the defending championsFnatic Orz trio of Glick, Rhaegyn, and Hafu in the Finals of MLG-Dallas earlier today. Gravitas Gaming came into the Finals with a 3-1 lead carried over from their earlier matchup during the elimination rounds, needing only three wins to dethrone the MLG-Orlando Champs.
Fnatic played their strongest comp of Warlock (Glick), Warrior (Rhaegyn), and Druid (Hafu) while Gravitas Gaming countered with a Warrior (Kesher), Mage (Celex), and Priest (Ely) instead of their usual RMP. Some viewers wrote Fnatic Orz off considering their uphill climb to win five games against Gravitas' three, but the defending Champions showed exactly what they were made of by winning three straight matches after falling behind 5-2, evening out the competition at 5-5. The Grand Finals all rested on a single, do-or-die match -- played in Nagrand Arena -- a nailbiter that exemplified the best of professional Arena play. In what was one of the best comebacks I've seen in an Arena tournament, Fnatic Orz pulled off four straight wins to win back-to-back MLG Championships and cement their place in pro circuit history.
It was the second time the two teams met in the Grand Finals, with Gravitas still under the Frag Dominant banner. The games were broadcast streaming through GotFrag TV, with excellent, spot-on commentating and incredible camera work that made it relatively easy to follow the extremely fast-paced matches, although the last match's stream was plagued with hiccups. The winners walked away with $12,000 and three HP Blackbird 002, while the runners-up won $6,000. Pro circuit mainstays Team Pandemic took third place with $3,000 after losing to Fnatic Orz in the Semi-Finals.
Fnatic Orz' storied rise from being dropped by MoB Gaming, winning MLG-Orlando without a sponsor, and being picked up by Fnatic and winning a spot at the World Championships at BlizzCon just before this fantastic win today makes them one of the most exciting and favored teams to watch in the pro Arena tournament scene. It will be a treat to see them compete against the world's best at the World Championships next weekend... except that you'll need a DirectTV subscription for that.
Like it or not, Arenas are here to stay. I think we should all learn to live with that. A couple of days ago, Kalgan showed up on the Beta forums and put up a lengthy, illuminating post about Blizzard's philosophy when it comes to PvP itemization. He talked about and mostly defended Arenas and the existence of Arena ratings for obtaining PvP gear. It goes a long way towards explaining the new tiered itemization -- an impressive three tiers that appear to be concurrently available -- within the PvP system.
One poster's contention was that there was no access to PvP gear before engaging in Arenas was countered with Kalgan mentioning their efforts to include craftable PvP gear. This was an omission in The Burning Crusade that became apparent as the seasons progressed, with newer players or Level 70s struggling to break into the Arena format faced against opponents who had gathered gear through several Arena seasons. This was addressed philosophically with the introduction of Outlands reputation PvP gear, which were identical to the rare PvP sets obtainable through Honor. I say philosophically because by the time these item sets became available to players, it was too late. Starting Arenas at that point would find players matched up against other players wearing epic gear from the past seasons. In fact, wearing such dated gear only served to mark the player as easy targets.
Welcome to the first Sunday in October! Brewfest just ended, the Darkmoon Faire comes to Thunder Bluff tomorrow, and your funnies are being delivered in something called the 'afternoon.' Just call me a lousy over-sleeper and get on with the list.
Humor
From Dark Legacy Comics comes Alts. This is one of my favorites this week, which is partially attributed to my love of Voidwalkers.
You know, our characters take a lot of punishment on a day to day basis. We may get roasted in hellfire, sliced nearly in two, buried alive, or disemboweled in the course of a regular game day. Yet through it all, our characters just keep coming back for more.
Haven't you sort of wondered how our characters must feel at the end of a long day of punishment like that? Haven't you ever wanted to feel just for a moment, what they go through?
Okay, neither have I. In fact, I'd have to say that I'm allergic to pain. But just in case we ever get the bug, here comes the next evolution of the good old rumble pack: The TN games 3rd Space Vest which uses a system of 8 pneumatic cells to deliver blows with varying levels of force based on action in game.
Before you make plans to see how it feels to forget to activate your Tears of the Goddess though, be warned: It currently only sells in the UK. Of course, if they're demoing it at E3, maybe they'll get us a version out here sooner or later.
Ach, if I'd've known tha' Arator was so sensitive 'bout bein' called Elfie McOrphan, I would 'ave kept me mouth shut a' the Inn. Still, restroom guard duty is far too harsh o' a punishment. Lookit what happened to th' last guy! He lost tha keys, an' then died from sepsis after his bladder burst. 'S no way for a dwarf ta go. If only he'd bin able to get th' top off tha' bottle, he coulda hid behind tha' bush, taken care of business, and I'd still be drinkin' with Father Malgor instead of walkin' th' same ten steps over and over agin all day and all night. (Thanks to Tom for the submission!)
Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!
Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards.
After a short hiatus, your weekend 
So Mages. Do you think you spend way too much mana to cast your spells? If you answered yes, here's some good news: 
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