Results tagged “Top 5” from From the Abbey to Outlands

Wrath is coming. We have 49 days until it arrives. I found out recently that there are many erroneous, outdated, or simply misinformed opinions about what Wrath will bring, and what will be required. I thought I would give you a Top 5 on what I have seen.

1. Death Knight - Death Knight will not require unlocking. They will start at 55. You can make one, with some limitations on new servers, if you have a level 55 on any realm in WoW. You can have one Death Knight per realm. If you are on a PvE, or normal RP server, you can make one of any faction. If you are on PvP, you can only make one on the same faction you have already, following the PvP realm guidelines. With the current state of the Death Knight, you should be at or nearly at 58 by the time you leave the Starting Experience. Lastly, you will need a free character slot on the account you want to make one on.
2. Inscription - Patch 3.0.2, currently on the Public Test Realms, will be debuting the Inscription profession from 1-375. This will not require a Wrath preorder, Wrath confirmation or anything. Anyone can level the profession from 1 to 375, dependent on the normal level per rank requirements of a primary profession. Inscription will require herbs and parchment for the most part, though vials and other sundry items may be needed. The most recent beta build brought in the need to use a Lexicon of Power, found near Inscription trainers, in order to apply glyphs.
3. Flight - You will not be able to fly as soon as you enter Northrend. I know, I know, you paid 1k-5k or more to fly your pretty birds, but Blizzard, as proven when Burning Crusade released, does not want to see all this content they are working their collective asses on to be flushed down the toilet as everyone flies over all the content they spent time crafting meticulously. Blizzard has alternated between a quest, or paying roughly 1,000 gold to enable Cold Weather Flying, but it does not seem finalized on what they will choose as of yet. You cannot fly until level 77.
4. Gear - Many are afraid of one, or both, of the following two things: Gear Reset, where all your old gear is wiped out within a level or two of entering expansion content, and Gear Appearance, where you end up going from looking like a well dressed agent of slaughter, to something more akin a rodeo clown gone bad. Blizzard has taken great pains to make sure these do not happen. Know what stats you want and you will be just fine. Medros, my first played toon in Beta, is currently halfway through 75 and still has most of his Kara level gear, only replacing most of it with awesome quest blues. I think only one piece was replaced by a green, and that was crafter at high level Blacksmithing.
5. Achievements - this is one of the neatest things in the expansion for me, who doesn't Raid or PvP much. There are hundreds of achievements, from the mundane of dinging 10, 20, 30, and so on, to killing 15 Fjord Turkey's in 3 minutes. The 'first on realm' leveling achievements are still there, but the rewards of titles are not in order to stop people bypassing content just to get them. Achievement points, like similar points on other gaming systems, have no value, though some achievements do come with rewards of titles or physical items. Examples are Leading the Calvary(currently 50 mounts and gets you an Albino Drake) and Shop Smart, Shop Pet... Smart(50 vanity pets, rewards a Reeking Pet Carrier). Look for a post or two in the near future about achievements.
   

There you have it. If you have any other Wrath rumors or features you want the facts on, feel free to post them in the comments. The beta is fun, the expansion will be more so. See you there!

I figured that since there is so much yummy goodness in the beta, I would start a small series of top 5s, just to give you short roundups from my beta testing experiences. The first one I want to tackle, of course, it the top 5 Paladin spells I have learned so far in the beta.

Divine Storm - An instant weapon attack that causes Holy damage to up to 4 enemies within 8 yards.  The Divine Storm heals up to 3 party or raid members totaling 20% of the damage caused.
This spell right now is #2 in my rotation on the beta, right after Crusader Strike. While the DPS of this ability can be sweet, especially when it procs, the soloing bonus of that 20% can be amazing to see. I now almost always pull 2 - 3 mobs in order to maximize the benefits.

Judgement of the Wise - Your Judgement spells have a 100% chance to grant the Replenishment effect to up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of their maximum mana per second, and to immediately grant you 20% of your maximum mana.
This is commonly known among the paladins I talk to as a mana battery. Every 10 seconds, as long as I have a Seal up, I can replenish, at level 75, about 1500 mana using Judgement of Wisdom. With Global Cooldown and the other spells in my rotation, it is rare that I am not at least 85% mana as long as I do not forget to judge. In fact, I more often find myself low on health than low on mana. I am considering testing this with Judgement of Light, just to get a small heal in here and there.

Repentance - Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 1 min.  Any damage caused will awaken the target.  Usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.
This ability is what I usually use for the 4th mob I pull. If I know my Divine Storm won't hit everyone, being limited to 3 an all, I will usually repentance one of the enemies, and pull the other 3 far enough away. Often by the time the 1 minute is up, I am done with his friends and ready to take him on. Long overdue improvement to this spell.

Art of War - Increases the critical strike damage of your Judgement, Crusader Strike and Divine Storm abilities by 20% and when these abilities critically hit your next Flash of Light spell becomes instant cast.
This ability was already pretty sweet with the recent improvements to the Flash of Light component. I have not yet tried the Flash of Light side, due to repeated crashes from the beta client, but I will be deliberately watching for the buff and seeing if it is as useful as I suspect.

Divine Plea - You gain 25% of your total mana over 10 sec, but the amount healed by your spells is reduced by 50%.
This is one of the many in a new class of spell I call a MoT(Mana over Time) spells that have crept into the game in the Wrath of the Lich King. This is one of those 'Oh crap, I have no mana' spells, since judgements cost mana, and while it feels like the regen of mana takes forever, in no time you have at least enough for Holy Shield or a last hoorah spell to try to eek out victory.


While these are merely the best I found, there was at least another 5 I could find in the changed spells list of the Wrath beta. Yes, most of these are Retribution, but that's what I play. If you are Holy or Protection specced and want to give me your top 5, let me know in the comments and I will be happy to post them as a guest entry on this blog, or even link to your own. Keep reading for the next in the list of Top 5s from the beta and live game!