class guides

[Skippyninja]

I'm so sad... All the shiny 277 stuff I have is going to be trashed I'm totally going to save it for memories and hopefully blizz will allow apperance slots for gear.

[antacus]

LoL

It wont be trashed automagically, simply that items you get from running a solo level 82 quest will be equal to or better then your 25 man heroic Lich King stuff. At least that is what my guildies are saying who are on the beta. I'll find out once it goes live

[Skippyninja]

LoL

It wont be trashed automagically, simply that items you get from running a solo level 82 quest will be equal to or better then your 25 man heroic Lich King stuff. At least that is what my guildies are saying who are on the beta. I'll find out once it goes live

I'm ok with upgrading, but I still love my stuff since it took so long to get.

[mzanker]

So NO, leveling is not boring.

Endgame, on the other hand, is exceedingly boring, when you have nothing but ICC left. I'm sick of running ICC!!!!! I'm sick of running raids with primadonnas and whiners and complainers and rude people.

Totally agree. I love levelling more than anything else in the game. I usually start a new toon when I reach 80 as I can't do with the "gear grind" - same instances over and over again - now that is boring

The only 80 I've geared and done some raiding with is my troll priest, but I soon got bored with the same bosses over and over again. I only do AT dailies with him now to earn seals for BoA gear for my next toon

So, no, I don't think the game does begin at 80 - it begins when you start playing it the way you want to...

[Kamchak]

I think I know what the OP was talking about.
I think you were looking at the new setup Silver was putting together for the talents.
Take a peak and let us know if this is what you saw.

http://www.zygorguides.com/forum/sho...3595#post33595

[chaos5061]

Note about emblems.
http://www.wow.com/2010/09/14/major-...ges/#continued

[antacus]

Interesting. So maybe I need to stockpile a bunch of EoTs since EoF and EoT will be equals with Cata.

[Kamchak]

Can somone do me a favor and copy/paste that in here?
I'm at work atm, and cant get onto those sites.
Ill forget to check when I get home tonight; I have 2 GDKP's going b2b.

Thank you to whomever helps me.

[chaos5061]

Here you go Kamchak

Blizzard just announced some quite major currency changes that will be happening with the release of Patch 4.0.1. The major points are as follows:

* Emblems of Triumph and Emblems of Frost become Justice Points.
* All other emblems and badges are converted into gold, including BC-level badges.
* All PvP currencies (current Honor Points, Arena Points, Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper's Shards, etc.) will become the new Honor Points.
* While there is a cap on new currencies in Cataclysm, that cap is being ignored for the purpose of the initial conversion. You just won't be able to earn anything beyond the cap if you're over it initially. This will then change shortly before Cataclysm is released, cutting off all currencies to the hard cap, with excess points being converted to gold.

Remember that the new Cataclysm currencies are:

* Justice Points Low-tier, easy-to-get PvE points that will buy gear (like Emblems of Triumph are now)
* Valor Points High-tier, harder-to-get PvE points that will buy gear (like Emblems of Frost are now)
* Honor Points Low-tier, easy-to-get PvP points that will buy PvP gear (like normal Honor Points are now)
* Conquest Points High-tier, harder-to-get PvP points that will buy PvP gear (like Arena Points are now)

The exact math for the conversion rates will be posted tomorrow afternoon. We'll let you know as soon as that information is available.

After the break, the full Blizzard statement on the upcoming Cataclysm currency changes.


Bashiok -- Cataclysm Currency Changes Explained
As we discussed in our previous announcement (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...Id=24401796793), we're refining the currency systems used for purchasing PvE and PvP items in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and the transition to this new system will take place in two stages. Today, we're going into more detail on how these changes will be rolled out, so if you haven't yet, make sure to check out the prior article to get up to speed on the currency names.

One change of note since that original announcement is that we've changed the name of the low-tier PvE currency from Hero Points to Justice Points. The original announcement post has been updated to reflect this.

Out With the Old

In the upcoming 4.0 patch we'll begin the first stage of the conversion to the new currencies. Emblems of Triumph and Emblems of Frost will be converted into Justice Points. For this initial conversion there will be a soft cap of points you can have, with a hard cap enforced later as detailed below. All PvE emblems and badges below Frost and Triumph will be converted into gold. This even includes legacy badges, like Badges of Justice. If any of these older currencies are converted into gold, the player will receive it through an in-game letter.

At this time any bosses a player defeats that are level-appropriate to them (and previously awarded badges or emblems upon defeat) will award them with the new Justice Points. Similarly, any items that previously cost emblems or badges of any type will now cost Justice Points instead.

On the PvP side, Season 8 will end with the release of patch 4.0, and all Arena Points, Honor Points, any leftover Battleground Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper's Shards, Venture Coins, and Spirit Shards will be converted into the new Honor Points. The new Honor Point pool will also have a soft cap for these conversions, but a hard cap will be enforced later. At the time of conversion, items that previously cost Honor or Arena Points will be sold in exchange for the new Honor Points. Rated Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds won't be available again until Season 9 (shortly after the release of Cataclysm), when they can be entered to win the higher-tier PvP Conquest Points.

In addition, purchasing any item with these secondary currencies (Honor Points and Justice Points) will now require that the purchaser meet the item's minimum level requirement.

It's important to note that these conversions are not 1:1, but are indicative of the level and relative worth of each before the conversion to the new point systems. For example, Stone Keeper's Shards will convert into more Honor Points than Spirit Shards.

Tip of the Cap

While we previously announced that there's a limit to the amount of these new currencies you can stockpile, we're providing a grace period in the form of a soft cap. This soft cap will allow the initial conversion to push the amount owned over the cap, but will not allow any further points to be earned (or returned through item refunds) until enough points are spent to put you below the hard cap.

For instance, a player has 3000 Emblems of Triumph, and 1200 Emblems of Frost; at the time of conversion they'll be given 4200 Justice Points. The hard cap for Justice Points is 4000, so that player won't be able to earn any more Justice Points until he or she spends enough points to reduce the total to under 4000. This also applies to the new PvP Honor Points, which also have a cap of 4000.

Shortly before Cataclysm is released, another patch will enforce the hard cap, marking the second stage of the currency conversion. Any Justice or Honor Points above the hard cap will be converted to gold, and just like in the first stage of the conversion, the player will receive an in-game letter explaining that some of their currencies were converted into gold as well as delivering the gold itself.

Here's even more on it.

Blizzard has released the currency conversion rates for the upcoming Cataclysm changes. Remember that these conversions will take place when patch 4.0.1 is released. There will be a "soft cap" at the conversion, so all your work won't just disappear, but there will eventually be a hard cap. Check out the original post for a detailed explanation.

The Cataclysm currency conversion rates in brief are:

To gold:

* Emblem of Heroism = 5.5 gold each
* Emblem of Valor = 5.5 gold each
* Emblem of Conquest = 5.5 gold each
* Badge of Justice = 1.833 gold each

To honor:

* Old Honor * 0.024
* Old Arena Points * 0.85
* Battleground Mark of Honor * 2.976
* Wintergrasp Mark of Honor * 19.08
* Stone Keeper Shard * 1.6
* Venture Coin * 3
* Spirit Shard * 1

To justice points:

* (Emblems of Triumph + Emblems of Frost ) * 2.75

The full Blizzard announcement after the break. Check out MMO-Champion for a quick and easy calculator.


Blizzard
Here's some information on how each of the currencies will be converted in the next content patch. Keep in mind these values may change, and they can get a bit math heavy. Just know that our intent is to appropriately value each mark and provide a conversion we feel is fair.

The following items are immediately converted to gold:

* Emblem of Heroism = 5.5 gold each
* Emblem of Valor = 5.5 gold each
* Emblem of Conquest = 5.5 gold each
* Badge of Justice = 1.833 gold each


Your New Honor Points total will be the sum of the following amounts:

* Old Honor * 0.024
* Old Arena Points * 0.85
* Battleground Mark of Honor * 2.976
* Wintergrasp Mark of Honor * 19.08
* Stone Keeper Shard * 1.6
* Venture Coin * 3
* Spirit Shard * 1


Your Justice Points total will be equal to (Emblems of Triumph + Emblems of Frost ) * 2.75

Again, the softcap for both Honor and Justice conversions is 4000 points. This means that if a character converts to above 4,000 points, it will not be possible for them to earn more until they fall below the 4,000 cap.

A hardcap will be implemented in a following patch before Cataclysm's release. At that time, any excess points above 4,000 will be converted as follows:

* Honor points above 4,000 are converted to gold at a rate of 35 silver per point of Honor.
* Justice points above 4,000 are converted to gold at a rate of 2 gold per point of Justice

[Kamchak]

First, thank you Chaos....

Second..... anyone know if there is an intended 4.0 release date yet?
All I could see there was "In the upcoming 4.0 patch we'll begin the first stage of the conversion" and "On the PvP side, Season 8 will end with the release of patch 4.0..." I dont do arena, so when is this taking place?

Or is this the aka Cata?

[chaos5061]

Your welcome Kamchak

Everything I read about the patch 4.0.1 is that it will be released sometime in October. Lot of people think it will be the same day as the patch 3.0 was released before WOTLK. Which would put it somewhere around the second week of October. Then there will be another patch released before Cata that will have all the Old World changes of in it. But no new races no flying or any thing else like that unless you buy Cata.

The only changes it is supposed to bring are as follows:


World of Warcraft PTR Patch 4.0.1

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/
The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patch...atchnotes.html

General

Cataclysm Launcher Update

The new Cataclysm Launcher allows you to stream game data while you play. This will reduce the time you spend downloading, installing, and patching World of Warcraft. We'd like to get your feedback on the toolset and gameplay experience. Please head to the forums here for additional information: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...Id=26726066731

Reforging

Players can now visit special Reforging NPCs in capital cities located near Enchanting trainers. 40% of any one secondary stat on an item can be can be allocated to add a new secondary stat to the item. The stat being added cannot already exist on the item. An item cannot have more than one reforged stat at a time, though the Reforging of an item can be undone and changed.

Copied Test Realm characters are not copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.

Classes: General

Many class talents, spells, and abilities have been overhauled, added, or removed.
All spell and ability tooltips will now display damage averages rather than minimum and maximum damage potential. This feature is on by default but can be changed via the Display settings under User Interface options.
Ammo has been removed from the game.
The character levels at which classes gain new spells and abilities have changed.
Many item and class stats have been changed or removed.
Mastery rating has been added as a new stat which provides unique benefits for characters based on class and talent specialization. Mastery rating does not currently exist on items in the game, however, Reforging can be used to add Mastery rating as a secondary stat to existing items.
Rage has been normalized.
Spells and abilities no longer have multiple ranks and now scale with character level.
Talent trees have been altered. All player talent specializations have been reset, allowing for free re-specialization.

Each specialization has been reduced to a 31-point talent tree.
Players will now get a total of 41 talent points to spend.
Players will be asked to choose a specialization at level 10. Doing so will result in the unlocking of a spell or ability unique to that specialization, as well as one or more passive bonuses.
Once a talent specialization has been chosen, players may only place points in the primary tree until at least 31 points have been spent there.
The initial announcement regarding these talent tree changes can be found on our Cataclysm forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...26290449&sid=1

Death Knights

A dedicated tanking tree (Blood) has been implemented.
The effects of Blood Presence and Frost Presence have been exchanged.
The way in which runes recharge has changed.

Druids

A new Eclipse mechanic has been added for druids.

Hunters

Five pets can now be stored with the hunter at all times. Any one of these five pets can be summoned via the Call Pet ability.
Focus has replaced mana as a new resource.
Hunters now start with a pet at level 1.
The Stable will now store 20 pets. If a pet is moved into the Stable, its talents are wiped.

Mages

There is now a new spell fly-out UI feature for mage portals. Clicking on the Teleport or Portal buttons will expand the list of choices available.

Paladins

Paladins now have a new resource bar.

Warlocks

There is now a new spell fly-out UI feature for warlock pets. Clicking on this single button will open up the list of available pets to summon.
Soul Shards have been removed from the game as items. Instead, they now exist as a resource system necessary for using, or altering the mechanics of certain spells.

Items

Resilience no longer reduces the chance a player will be critically hit by an opponent.
Durability: cloth, leather, and mail now have as many points of durability as plate, making the repair cost on death much closer to equal for all classes.

Professions

The glyph system has been updated to now feature three different types of glyphs. Many class glyphs have been added, altered, or moved to different glyph types.

User Interface

Spell Alerts have been added to notify players when procs on select spells and abilities occur. A visual notification will display around the character and the activated ability will be highlighted on the action bar.
The Arena Teams pane has been improved.
The Character pane has been redesigned. Character stats can now be shown or hidden via the Show All Details/Hide All Details button on the bottom left. When shown, all character stats will be visible in a window to the right of the pane. Stat sections can be reorganized by clicking and dragging them up or down the pane.
The Professions panes now have more filtering and search functionality, as well as buttons to easily link recipes in the chat frame.
A Professions screen has been added to the Spellbook to better display the details of a character’s primary and secondary professions.
Many of the yellow System Messages that would display in the chat frame when leveling up have been removed.
New text animations now alert players as they level up, also providing information on when new talents, spells and abilities are available.
Professions and Class Trainers windows have been altered to more clearly display available and upcoming purchases.
New Raid frames are now. They can also be used in place of the standard 5-player party interface via the User Interface options.
The Spellbook interface has been improved for greater ease-of-use and visual appeal.

[antacus]

So after thinking on this a little more I wonder. With the conversions is it really good to stockpile? Maybe after Cata is released the new justice points will be easy to get. 2.75:1 seems to indicate the current badges are harder to get. Same for marks. WG marks are 19.x:1 ... wow.

[Kamchak]

So after thinking on this a little more I wonder. With the conversions is it really good to stockpile? Maybe after Cata is released the new justice points will be easy to get. 2.75:1 seems to indicate the current badges are harder to get. Same for marks. WG marks are 19.x:1 ... wow.

Im curious to know if the translation of the emblems (EoF and EoT) will be a 1:1 basis. Also, what running a random dungeon will give you on completion; IE: First run of the day gives you 2 EoF, and then each subsequent run gives you 2 EoT.
Perhaps each run you complete will give 1 of the new 'emblems' or how this will work.
With that said, items like "Crusader Orb" may go down in value, much like primordial saronite did in patch 3.0.

[antacus]

One of the links I got off of here linked to the value of conversions. The emblems were "(EoT + EoF) * 2.75 == new badge". It was not 2.75 but remember it was right in that ballpark. I was a little confused by the phased approach. I almost read that as we will start seeing currency and reward changes at the next patch. Sooo... guess we will be getting a teaser soon.

[Kamchak]

See thats just is.... on a random run we get 2, either EoF or EoT. Now, per the conversion factors given we are now going to get a x.75 badge?
Just trying to sort out the math in my head.