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

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86	The King's Command		98	Find Grand Admiral Jes-Tereth in the war room at Stormwind Keep in Stormwind City.
86	The Mission		9 80	Report to Admiral Rogers on The Skyfire.
86	Unleash Hell		9 80	Use a Skyfire Gyrocopter to slay 60 of the Garrosh'ar troops and destroy 8 Garrosh'ar Shredders, and then sink the Bladefist Reaper and Stygian Scar.
86	Touching Ground	Dynamic Rewards	9 80	Use a Skyfire Parachute to touch ground in Garrosh'ar Point, then speak to Sully "The Pickle" McLeary.
86	No Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy		9 80	Kill 6 Garrosh'ar Grunts and 6 Garrosh'ar Gear-Greasers.
86	Welcome Wagons		9 80	Use Sully's Flaregun to destroy 5 Horde War Wagons.
86	The Right Tool For The Job	Dynamic Rewards	9 80	Use Sully's Flaregun to clear out the barricades and confront Ga'trul at the end of the dock.
86	Envoy of the Alliance		9 80	Find and meet with the leader of Paw'don Village.
86	The Cost of War		9 80	Slay 15 Sha Haunts and 5 Sha Harbingers in Garrosh'ar Point.
86	Pillaging Peons		9 80	Kill 22 Twinspire Taskmasters or Twinspire Peons.
86	Priorities		9 80	Collect 6 Applebloom Cider.
86	Koukou's Rampage		9 80	Kill Koukou.
86	Twinspire Keep		9 80	Slay 15 Horde troops in Twinspire Keep.
86	Fractured Forces		9 80	Slay Dalgan and Bellandra Felstorm.
86	Smoke Before Fire		9 80	Use the Alliance Flare to call in an airstrike on the Pile of Munitions, the Twinspire Demolishers, the Wild Imps, and Xhu'daggab.
86	Unfair Trade		9 80	Free 8 Captive Pandaren Cubs from Twinspire Keep by slaying the demonic eyeballs that watch over them.

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Elite and Heroic Elite Items
The latest patch added a few items that were higher item level than the normal items for that difficulty and tagged as Elite. Now we know that they come from doing the Protectors of the Endless encounter in a harder way. You can see the full listing of the Elite items on the Protectors of the Endless page.

These items are obtained by defeating Protector Kaolan last on the Protectors of the Endless encounter.

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We’ve been keeping a very close eye on the feedback players have shared for both Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria raiding. We saw a lot of evidence and heard a lot of feedback which indicated that raid content was a little overwhelming at the beginning of Cataclysm. Our goal is to smooth that out a bit in Mists of Pandaria. Keep in mind, Mogu’shan Vaults opens up one week after Mists of Pandaria launches. And with its Heroic mode even the most seasoned raiders should be pretty busy. Once the raid dungeon has been cleared by a group on normal mode they’ll unlock Heroic mode, a definite ramp up in challenge. Also note, similar to Dragon Soul, Raid Finder mode for Mogu’shan Vaults will be available about one week after the normal raid has been opened.

Rather than putting a lot of pressure on players by opening up sixteen raid bosses in three separate difficulties upon release of the expansion, we hope you’ll have a chance to really dig into the lore, the gorgeous new continent, the amazing new quests, and all of the other goodies that are far too numerable to mention. Our intention here is not to artificially extend the life of the 5.0 content, but rather to pace it better than we have in previous releases. This is why we noted that a few weeks after Mogu’shan Vaults opens, raid instances Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring will become available. These dungeons will still very much be hot on the heels of Mogu’shan Vaults, particularly for the large majority of players progressing through Pandaria.

Here’s a basic breakdown of the pattern we’d like to follow for all upcoming raids: Dungeon opens on normal difficulty —> Heroic mode is unlocked once normal mode is completed —> the Raid Finder version becomes available about one week after the raid’s initial opening. To review all of the latest Mists raid release details, everyone is encouraged to check out our latest blog, Blizzard Insider #45 – Mists of Pandaria – Raid Preview, which has a wealth of exciting new information.

On a final note, thank you to everyone who has been testing the new content, sharing your feedback, and helping us bring you the most epic game possible! It cannot be said enough, but we genuinely appreciate it.

Just curious, why is raid finder being released a week after normal version?
This is a matter of striking a balance between preserving the feeling of guild progression and making the content accessible to players outside of organized guilds. We definitely want to see everyone have a chance to experience Mists of Pandaria raid content, so holding Raid Finder mode for a week feels like a reasonable window of time to accommodate players of all stripes.

For everything that thinks this is a good idea: Get ready to wait months for the second set of raids.
We thought our intent was made pretty clear in the Blizzard Insider article, as well as in my original post. But, if it’ll ease your concern, I’ll be more specific!

Raid dungeons Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring are scheduled to be released on normal difficulty four weeks after Mogu'shan Vaults has been opened.

So to be clear, the full schedule for US realms is:

September 25: MoP launches
October 2: Mogu'shan Vaults (normal) opens
October 7: Mogu'shan Vaults (LFR) opens, those who cleared normal Vaults can access heroic mode
October 30: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (normal) open, with Terrace only accessible by clearing Heart
November 6: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (LFR) open; queuing for Terrace requires clearing Heart. Those who cleared normal Heart can access heroic Heart, same for Terrace.

Yup, this is the plan! Barring there aren't any 1s where there should be a 0, you've done your math well.

The reality? The raids won't be completed for September 25th, and they're giving themselves an extra month to actually finish them.
This is 100% untrue. All 16 bosses are on the beta right now and have been tested. To be absolutely clear about why what you said has no basis in reality, once Mists is released we won’t need to apply a patch to the game before we can activate Heart of Fear and Terrace. This means we won’t have an extra month to continue working on these raids, as you’ve suggested.

[chaos5061]

Upcoming Damage Reductions
You are soon going to see damage go down for several classes and specs in cases where we overshot our targets or fixed bugs that required adjustments. Hunters are likely among these.

I am mentioning this because what inevitably happens is a host of posts across the Internet saying that x is now gutted, won't get a raid slot, needs to reroof, was middle of the pack at best, and so on. It is most helpful to us if you want to argue that your DPS is too low (or high if you are being unusually honest) that you are specific about what situations you are talking about, against who you are comparing numbers and what those numbers are. If the Windwalker is doing 300,000 DPS in your challenge run, chances are that is not our new target.

(As I told my team recently, had I better access to a PC at the moment (I'm a long way from home as you can probably guess by the posting times), I would make a new version of the Ned Stark brace yourself meme image.)

Content Difficulty and Consumption Speed
They are adding a FoS for killing heroic bosses in MoP without the nerf. One can only hope that this FoS will disappear once the next tier comes out, otherwise it's a pretty pointless feat of strength.
Yes, those feats of strentgh you mention are the "Cutting Edge" achievements that you may have seen already in some fansites. The idea the developers have right now is that these won't be available once a new raid tier is introduced.

And currently the intention of the developers is to stick with these for future raid tiers.

I have always wondered why on earth blizzard releases % based nerfs that lower the difficulty of a fight through a buff or debuff. I mean by the time the nerfs are released ppl are hardly even geared in normal gear. Wouldn’t a better way to nerf content be to up the drop chance of items in the normal version? After all items are just another way of giving players a buff. Items are supposed to be the hidden in game nerfing that happens all the time jet it seems to hold no weight anymore.

When the time comes where blizzard says ok we have to nerf a raid zone now, they could increase the drop chance of loot in normal to maybe double of what usually drops(or more) then you will gear people faster and they will then be able to enter heroics. This way you are not making normal mode irrelevant to players, your actually making it more relevant.

You buffs/nerfs will be player/guild based and more importantly it will not feel like blizzard is stepping in and dumbing down the fights for you. You still killed the fight unnerfed just like the best guilds, it just took a bit longer.
The decision to implement the debuff is driven by the data the devs have access to. They can see participation and progression and how the numbers change every week in regards to completion rate.

And that data showed them that a large number of raiders was stuck at some point in their progression for multiple weeks and participation was declining.

The developers are aware that not everyone will agree with them (which is something I'll touch a bit later on this reply), but it's important to point out that they're making informed decisions based on comprehensive stats. And those stats tend to validate their reasoning for implementing the debuff/increasing it.

As I've mentioned on this thread in the past, the most advanced raiders that either rarely encounter something they can consider a true block in their progression or can work on them for weeks perceive the debuff as a nerf to content that is already doable (which it certainly is, for them), but it's not reasonable to ask the same from the majority of casual raiding guilds that would like to progress. Those players can't really wipe for weeks or months on a given boss without eventually giving up.

The developers feel it's better, overall, to make those goals in your progression feel more attainable over time before that discouragement to keep raiding comes into play.

Simple answer is of course that they don't know. All that stuff about devs and data is nothing but smoke and mirrors. The planned debuffs are well proclaimed months in advance for one reason only. To keep the majority of the player base subscribed through yet another carrot on a stick.

Boss too hard? "Don't worry lads and lasses it gets nerfed in two weeks time". Ah thats alright then, back to faceroll.
You ask for answers, you get them. And since you don't like them, you just conclude that it's a diversion and that you know what's truly going on. I wonder, why are you replying to the thread, then? I mean, I have the feeling that then, no matter what we say, it's a lost argument unless we say what you want to read. It certainly feels that way.

1.Will there be an achievement or are they planning an achievement for clearing all bosses of the raid on heroic without nerfs? (Cutting the Edge Heroic: for example).

2. Will the be any title rewards from these FoS achievements or are there any plans?
Both questions have the same answer, there're no plans right now.

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Attunements and Daily Quest Cap
Did I miss something? The daily cap is being increased from 25 to at least 48? Is that just the pandaria quests, or does that also include the non-pandaria dailies?
Not increased, removed. And the "around 48 quests available on any given day" means just for Pandaria dailies. Basically, in MoP you decide how many dailies you want to do, it's totally up to you.

How about the attunements for SSC and TK that became Guild wide? Why not implement such attunements?
The developers don't have any plans at this point to bring attunements back.

What Purpose Does LFR Have?
Raiders complain they have to raid LFR to get the improvements.
They don't, really. The set bonuses are there in normal and heroic as well, and the item level is even higher.

Actually, in Mists of Pandaria, each new LFR tier will have an increased minimum ilevel requirement, so there'll be a natural progression path as the expansion goes on. This means that players will start running Heroic dungeons in order to gear up to hit the minimum ilevel for the first tier of LFR, then get gear from this first LFR tier to access the second, and so on.

However, it won't be mandatory to go through the LFR system if you're raiding normal or Heroic raids.

And since you'll probably ask, I'll answer pre-emptively, at this moment the developers are not ready to talk about possible 5-man Heroic dungeons with higher requirements that might come in future Mists of Pandaria patches.

Mana Bandages
I'd have to agree with the earlier observation that mana is simply a resource, whereas health is essential, and the existing bandages can be a last minute life-saver.

A few questions that popped into my mind: Why should mana users get another way to regenerate their resource on top of all the regen abilities and potions they already have available? Isn't the ability to conserve mana and use it wisely part of the challenge of the game? Wouldn't it give mana users an unfair advantage over the classes that don't use mana? Are you suggesting all classes have a bandage-esque way to regenerate their resource? What about classes that regenerate their resource differently, wouldn't this new method be either practically useless or very overpowered?

Beta Class Balance Analysis
it's[healer dps] ignored for the sake of game balancing.
It's not ignored. It's just not as big a priority. We know that if choosing e.g. a Resto shaman instead of a Resto druid increases group dps on fights where grasping for every point of damage is relevant, then it could be a stacking issue. You just have to keep these things in perspective. There haven't been historically many fights where stacking healers for their DPS benefit was relevant, and even if we're talking about 10k DPS you might get the same benefit by having your actual DPS characters step up their game by a teeny bit.

Now the original post about whether Enhance has a no-brainer talent tier is of more concern. It's less of a concern if Resto's spell damage is comparable to Enhancement's spell damage, given that the latter has a lot more going on.

[chaos5061]

Shaman
As an Enhancement Shaman, I'm much more concerned about whether Windfury is supposed to activate off special attacks or not (far as I can tell we haven't gotten an answer about that yet).
We’ve just fixed it for the next build to proc off Primal Strike, Stormstrike, and Lava Lash.

Is it intended that stormblast isn't included in that list? Please tell me it was simply an oversight.
Stormblast is included; it should trigger everything that Stormstrike does.

Telluric Currents
As I said in the other thread, the intent of Telluric Currents is for free Lightning Bolts. If the trivial amount of mana gain interests you, that doesn't offend us. We don't believe or intend for it to be a mandatory glyph.

To clear up th history of the mechanic, it was originally intended to be a way for Resto shaman to feel like they could contribute DPS when they didn't need to heal. It wasn't intended as a mana regen mechanic. It absolutely became one when mana pools became high. We try not to make changes just because the design ends up being something not originally intended, as long as we think the gameplay is acceptable. It was reasonably acceptable in say 4.2 and got to the point where we didn't like it in 4.3, but still not worth chnging -- we try to reserve changes for expansions and not patches unless we think they are important. In 5.0 it is time to return the mechanic back to an optional way to contribute some damage for Resto. A glyph isn't the right way to deliver active mana return for a healer. It's not fair to shaman to have to take the glyph or to other healers who don't have that option.

Monk
Upcoming Windwalker Monk Changes
In an upcoming build we’re essentially doubling the healing (healing only, not damage) of Expel Harm. We’re also increasing the healing done by Chi Wave, Zen Sphere, and Chi Burst. We want the level 30 talents to be an interesting choice for all monks, but they should not become DPS rotational abilities in PvE for Windwalker monks, as it would complicate their rotations to a degree we aren’t comfortable with. Our vision for PvE Windwalkers in regards to Chi Wave, Zen Sphere, and Chi Burst is that you’ll use them rotationally or in replacement of Blackout Kick in situations where your survival is more important than DPS (say, in situations like Chimeron).

That said, Zen Sphere (and that talent tier) was never intended to be analogous to Recuperate, more so Word of Glory. Some mild to moderate self-healing is acceptable for the Windwalker in PvP, but it isn’t intended to be their forte. Their forte is intended to be their strong mobility and the fact that their damage is mostly upfront and instant, as they have very little to no periodic damage.

Monk Mistweaver Feedback
Spinning Crane Kick does not proc Eminence!
It is a bug that Zen Sphere, Chi Burst or Chi Wave don’t proc Eminence. This has been fixed internally. We also put an AOE cap on Zen Sphere’s detonate. Chi Burst not generating Mana Tea stacks has also been fixed.

We’ve also changed Eminence to be able to proc Gift of the Serpent (Mastery).

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Cutting Edge Achievements
One of the blue posts tonight mentioned the new Cutting Edge achievements, which are awarded from doing an encounter without a debuff similar to the on active in Dragon Soul. These will be unavailable after a new tier of raids is introduced, and new achievements for the new raid tier will be added.

Cutting Edge: Grand Empress Shek'zeer Defeat Grand Empress Shek'zeer in Heart of Fear on Heroic difficulty, with Klaxxi Resonance inactive or disabled.	Feats of Strength
Cutting Edge: Sha of Fear Defeat the Sha of Fear in Terrace of Endless Spring on Heroic difficulty, with the Ritual of Purification inactive or disabled.	Feats of Strength
Cutting Edge: Will of the Emperor Defeat the Will of the Emperor in Mogu'shan Vaults on Heroic difficulty, with the Dampening Field inactive or disabled.	Feats of Strength

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WoW Loses 1.1M Subscribers, Down to 9.1M
Activision Blizzard latest earning call revealed that World of Warcraft lost another 1,100,000 subscribers last quarter, bringing us down to 9.1 million players. Some things they made note of on the call are below.

Notes

• 16.9 million Battle.net users logged in last month, up from 10 million just 3 months ago.
• 10 million D3 copies sold, with 1.2 million of those from the Annual Pass. It was the best-selling PC game for the first six months of 2012.
• Most of the WoW Subscription losses were from the East.
• Losses are from people playing Diablo 3 and leaving for other things to do until the new expansion.
• Mists of Pandaria will utilize TV and online ads leading up to the launch.
• The China launch Mists of Pandaria will launch as soon as possible, not likely in Q3.
• 4.7 million people watched the event at MLG for Heart of the Swarm.

Slides

Previous Subscription Losses

• Q1 2011 - 600,000 subscribers lost
• Q2 2011 - 300,000 subscribers lost
• Q3 2011 - 800,000 subscribers lost
• Q4 2011 - 100,000 subscribers lost.
• Q1 2012 - 0 subscribers lost.
• Q2 2012 - 1,100,000 subscribers lost.

[chaos5061]

At June 30, 2012, the worldwide subscriber base for World of Warcraft was 9.1 million, compared to a subscriber base of 10.2 million at March 31, 2012, and 11.1 million at June 30, 2011, with a greater loss of subscribers in the East than in the West for both the 3-month and 12-month periods (in which the “East” includes China, Taiwan, and Korea, and the “West” includes the regions of North America and Europe).

Contributing factors to the lower subscribers were likely the launch of Diablo III in the quarter, which provided consumers with an alternative gaming experience to World of Warcraft (although Diablo III has not yet launched in China), as well as the lack of new content patches in all geographies resulting in less overall game play. Looking forward, Blizzard Entertainment expects to release World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria™ on September 25, 2012, which will deliver new game content in all regions that is expected to further appeal to the gaming community (with availability in mainland China to be announced at a later date).

[chaos5061]

Mists of Pandaria Beta - Build 15929
A new beta build will be deployed on beta realms soon. We will be updating these notes frequently, so keep checking back!

New Models

New Loading Screens

[chaos5061]

Achievement Changes

Feats of Strength

• Brutal Nether Drake is no longer Account Wide.
• Cataclysmic Gladiator's Twilight Drake is no longer Account Wide.
• Deadly Gladiator's Frost Wyrm is no longer Account Wide.
• Furious Gladiator's Frost Wyrm is no longer Account Wide.
• Merciless Nether Drake is no longer Account Wide.
• Relentless Gladiator's Frost Wyrm is no longer Account Wide.
• Ruthless Gladiator's Twilight Drake is no longer Account Wide.
• Swift Nether Drake is no longer Account Wide.
• Vengeful Nether Drake is no longer Account Wide.
• Vicious Gladiator's Twilight Drake is no longer Account Wide.
• Wrathful Gladiator's Frost Wyrm is no longer Account Wide.

Fishing
Professions

• Learning from the Best (New) Reach exalted status with Nat Pagle.

Professions
Guild

• Making History now requires unique Archaeology research projects.

Scenarios

• Beat the Heat now requires your whole group to avoid Flame Wall.

World Events

• What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been no longer rewards Master Riding.

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Set Bonus Changes

Druid (Forums)

• Item - Druid T14 Balance 4P Bonus - Increases the duration of your Moonfire and Sunfire spells by 4 sec, up from 3 sec.
• Item - Druid T14 Guardian 4P Bonus Increases the healing received from your Frenzied Regeneration by 10% (was 20%) and increases the dodge granted by your Savage Defense by 10%.

Paladin (Forums)

• Item - Paladin T14 Protection 2P Bonus Reduces the cooldown of your Ardent Defender ability by 60 sec, up from 30 sec.

Priest (Forums)

• Item - Priest T14 Shadow 2P Bonus Increases the critical strike chance of your Shadow Word: Pain spell by 10%. Changed from Mind Flay.

Warrior (Forums)

• Item - Warrior T14 Protection 2P Bonus Reduces the cooldown of your Last Stand ability by 60 sec, up from 30 sec.

Spell Changes

Mounts
Flying

• Ashen Pandaren Phoenix (New) Summons and dismisses a rideable Ashen Pandaren Phoenix. This is a flying mount. Account wide. 1.5 sec cast.
• Emerald Pandaren Phoenix (New) Summons and dismisses a rideable Emerald Pandaren Phoenix. This is a flying mount. Account wide. 1.5 sec cast.
• Violet Pandaren Phoenix (New) Summons and dismisses a rideable Violet Pandaren Phoenix. This is a flying mount. Account wide. 1.5 sec cast.

Companions

• Macabre Marionette is no longer a Battle Pet.

Guild Perks

• The Quick and the Dead no longer requires a guild member to resurrect you to get this benefit.

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Death Knight
Blood Boil damage increased by 11%

Druid

• Ravage! now costs 45 Energy, down from 50.
• Treant Form no longer frees the caster of movement impairing effects.

Talents

• Dream of Cenarius now works with instant casts. Now increases the damage done by your next 2 Moonfire or Sunfire casts by 100% or by your next 2 melee abilities by 30%, rather than your next damaging spell by 70% or by your next melee ability by 30%.
• Nature's Swiftness (New) When activated, your next Cyclone, Entangling Roots, Healing Touch, Hibernate, Nourish, Rebirth, or Regrowth becomes instant, free, and castable in all forms. The healing and duration of the spell is increased by 50%. Requires Level 30. Instant. 60 sec cooldown.
• Soul of the Forest now grants 3 Energy per combo point for Feral, up from 2.

Hunter

• Arcane Shot damage reduced by 50%.
• Aspect of the Fox has a new restriction reminder: Only one Aspect can be active at a time.

Talents

• A Murder of Crows now requires Level 75.
• Thrill of the Hunt now has a 20% proc chance, up from 15%.

Marksmanship

• Mastery: Wild Quiver now has a 16% proc chance, down from 32%. Additional ranged shot now deals 100% weapon damage, up from 50%.

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Mage

• Frost Bomb damage increased by 7%.
• Ice Lance base damage reduced by 20% and SP scaling reduced by 6%.

Talents

• Frost Bomb damage increased by 7%.

Arcane

• Arcane Barrage damage increased by 10%. Arcane Barrage's damage is increased by 20% per Arcane Charge, down from 25%.
• Arcane Blast's damage is increased by 20% per Arcane Charge, down from 25%.
• Arcane Charge now only grants 20% additional damage per charge, down from 25%.
• Arcane Missiles' damage is increased by 20% per Arcane Charge, down from 25%.

Fire

• Inferno Blast now spreads any Pyroblast, Ignite, and Combustion effects to up to 2 nearby enemy targets, down from 5.
• Pyromaniac (New) Your Nether Tempest, Living Bomb, and Frost Bomb spells now also apply the Pyromaniac effect. Pyromaniac Increases the damage done by your Fireball, Pyroblast, Inferno Blast, and Frostfire Bolt on the target by 10%. Lasts 12 sec. Mage - Fire Spec.

Monk

• Healing Sphere had the tooltip corrected, and now heals for 9,986.
• Healing Sphere had the tooltip corrected, and now heals for 9,986 with 25% AP scaling.

Mistweaver

• Renewing Mist had the 10 targets cap removed from the tooltip.
• Revival base healing increased by 145% and SP scaling increased by 150%.
• Teachings of the Monastery no longer has a up to 5 limitation for Spinning Crane Kick healing listed in the tooltip.
• Uplift healing increased by 60%.

Paladin
Retribution & Protection

• Hammer of the Righteous now does 30% Holy weapon damage rather than 1,050 Holy damage.

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Priest
Holy Nova (New) Causes an explosion of holy light around the caster, causing 0 Holy damage to all enemy targets within 0 yards and healing up to 5 targets within 10 yards for (2,564 + 24.7% of SP). Healing is divided among the number of targets healed. These effects cause no threat. 2.6% of Base Mana. Instant.

Shaman
Elemental

• Spiritual Insight now also reduces the cooldown of your Earth Shock and Flame Shock spells by 1 sec.

Restoration

• Earthliving Weapon now is triggered on targets below 35% of maximum health by single-target direct heals and not any heal.

Warlock

• Corruption damage changed to 1,926 + 20.0% of SP, rather than (214 + 20% of Spell Power) * 8.
• Summon Doomguard damage reduced by 50%.

Talents

• Harvest Life now generates 10 Demonic Fury per second plus 3 Demonic Fury per second on secondary targets for Demonology.

Affliction

• Drain Soul now also deals 100% additional damage when the target is at or below 20% health.
• Malefic Grasp base damage and duration increased by 33%.
• Unstable Affliction damage changed to 1,498 + 20.0% of SP, rather than (214 + 20% of Spell Power) * 7.

Warrior
Talents

• Dragon Roar now ignores all armor on the target.