So speculate how long until MOP? June, August, October, December or ?

[chaos5061]

From Blizzard:
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 long 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

[chaos5061]

Hotfixes 12-13-11

From Blizzard:
Paladins
Judgement no longer automatically targets a nearby enemy when the player attempts to activate it without a hostile target selected.

Battlegrounds
The Eye of the Storm is now a rockier place, and is once again a part of the rated battleground rotation.

[daeymien]

From Blizzard:
Paladins
Judgement no longer automatically targets a nearby enemy when the player attempts to activate it without a hostile target selected.

Boooooooo. Now I actually have to tab-target

[chaos5061]

Would you play?

From Daily Blink:

[chaos5061]

Battle.net BattleTag FAQ

From Blizzard:
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 send you a friend request manually. You will also be able to send BattleTag friend requests 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. In either case, each player must mutually agree to become BattleTag friends.

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 (http://www.battle.net/account/manage...ag-create.html) to get started. Make sure to choose a handle you will be happy with in the long term and that abides by our BattleTag 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 the 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.

[chaos5061]

I'm happy about the BattleTag system. The only thing I didn't like about RealID is that the people you wanted to be friends with would get your email address. My email address is a game only email address and will never be given out to anyone.

[chaos5061]

From Blizzard:
We are about to run emergency #Maintenance on authentication - you will be unable to login for the next 30 mins or so. ((so don't log out)).

[chaos5061]

MMO Champion's Interview with Greg Gostcrawler Street

From MMO Champion:
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!

[chaos5061]

From MMO Champion:
Spine of Deathwing Heroic World First Kill by KIN Raiders
The korean guild KIN Raiders (즐거운공격대) from KR-Kargath was the first guild in the world to defeat the first part of the Deathwing encounter in the Heroic version of the Dragon Soul raid instance, congratulations to them!

[chaos5061]

Hotfixes 12-20-11

From Blizzard:
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 health and damage have 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 has been given an additional 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.

[chaos5061]

Possible Virus in Curse Client:
If you're using the Curse Client be aware that there's a virus possibly spreading through it the virus try to get you to buy something called Vista/Win 7 security '12 http://foreveranoob.wordpress.com/20...-client-virus/

[cabby]

Nah, my son had that. It's picked up thru various websites and won't be from the Curse client. All depends on how you have your browser security settings.

[chaos5061]

Hotfixes 12-23-11

From Blizzard:
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.

[chaos5061]

From The Daily Blink:

[chaos5061]

Unofficial 4.3.2 Patch Notes

From MMO Champion:
Patch 4.3.2 on Test Realms
A new Patch 4.3.2 is being deployed on test realms as we speak, this is a "minor bug fix patch." according to the official notes but we do not have more details for the moment.

World of Warcraft Optimization
The launcher now optimizes your game folder and tries to improve game performance/reduce the size of the install on your hard drive.



64 Bit Game Client
The 64 bit client might appear in this patch, the current test build is tagged as "test x86", which implies that a 64 bit version is available somewhere.



Client Strings Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

ERR_PARENTAL_CONTROLS_DISCONNECT_WARNING = "You will be disconnected due to parental controls in %d |4minute:minutes;.";
ERR_PARENTAL_CONTROLS_DISCONNECT_WARNING_SOON = "You will be disconnected due to parental controls in less than 1 minute.";
TIME_PLAYED_ALERT = "You have been playing for %s. Excessive gameplay can cause inconvenience in your daily life.";

Achievements Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Dungeons & Raids

Glory of the Dragon Soul Raider now properly shows the Reins of the Twilight Harbinger as a reward.


Feats of Strength

Ruthless Gladiator's Twilight Drake Obtain the Ruthless Gladiator's Twilight Drake from Arena Season 10 of Cataclysm.


Spell Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Mounts

Feldrake Summons and dismisses a rideable feldrake. This is a flying mount. 1.5 sec cast


Companion Pets

Eye of the Legion Right Click to summon and dismiss an Eye of the Legion. Instant


Druid
Tier 13

Item - Druid T13 Balance 4P Bonus (Starsurge) now also increases Starsurge damage by 10%


Hunter
Survival

Lock and Load no longer affects Arcane Shots.


Marksmanship

Bombardment now lasts 5 secs instead of affecting your next multi shot only.


Paladin
Tier 13

Item - Paladin T13 Holy 4P Bonus (Holy Radiance) now increases healing done by Holy Radiance by 5%, down from 20%.