Grandmaster's Training Dummies

Target Dummies fulfill the same role, but are a little more universally accessible. (Melee had problems with Dr. Boom, since they could find themselves getting blown up by adds.) They also have benefit of not being out in the field. While safe and protected in your capital city, you can fire away until you feel confident in the data you're seeing.


There's a caveat to the dummies, however. Some spells (like Siphon Life) don't seem to give accurate results. Also, since the dummies aren't the specific bosses you'll be fighting, you're not going to get the exact same numbers as you would against the real cheap wow gold. They're intended, after all, characters to practice on, not simulate the actual fights.


If you've been exploring your capital city, you may have noticed something new. Grandmaster's Training Dummies now hang out in the cities, casually waiting for enterprising player characters to come and beat them. (I don't judge their lifestyles, I'm just reporting the facts.) If you're looking at the picture on the right, you're correct in your keen observation -the clever training dummies even carry the flag of your opposing faction.




The dummies are level 80, obviously in preparation for Wrath's release on November 13th. We were fortunate enough to get them in the content patch, but it does lead to a few questions. What are these masochistic constructions for? What is their purpose? Do they give you anything?


Dr. Boom in Netherstorm was a staple of Hunters', Warlocks' and Mages' theorycrafting. The analysts of the communities would park themselves on a crate, and fire away at the goblin. Using AddOns likes Recount, or combat log parsers like WWS, they'd leverage the information to draw conclusions about which damage rotations and talents yielded the best results.

Finding popular builds with TalentChic

As far as the information displayed goes, it seems reasonable to me. I'm a little surprised that Combat is still so dominant with Rogues, given that I've heard Mutilate got significantly buffed. And I'm very surprised that 0/61/0 is the most popular Holy Priest build; I haven't seen people talk about that one very much, and I certainly wouldn't want to be without Meditation. It does drop to only second most popular if I look at raiding Holy Priests. Are your own talent builds popular? Does TalentChic give you any ideas on how to spec cheap wow gold?


Since the patch hit, we've been flooded with requests for cookie-cutter builds for various classes, specs, and roles. We're working on it, but our bloggers only have so many hours in the day (if only haste rating worked in real life). However, I do have a new site to tell you about that might help with these types of questions. TalentChic is a web site that aims to determine what the most popular talent builds are for all nine classes, and it's very well made, in my opinion.


The site makes use of Armory data, so it stays relatively up-to-date. Builds are organized by class and by primary tree, and you can also filter for playstyle (Raid/PvP for instance). Playstyle is determined by what kind of gear the player was raiding when their data was cached, so it's not foolproof (a raider could have been wearing their PvP gear and thus counted as PvP), but it's about as good as can be done with Armory data.

The new Hallow's End title

This, however, is going to be the first holiday after patch 3.02 hits with the Achievement system firmly in place, so you'll be able to track Achievements ingame for the first time (by the way, "Y" is the default hotkey for pulling up your Achievement screen).


Even if you're not interested in the Achievement, you have another reason to participate, at least for the Headless Horseman kills: we're pretty sure his loot table's been updated and expanded, and you'll have a chance at a permanent mount drop.


A lot of folks found the article on planning for the Brewmaster title helpful, so we thought we'd put one together for the upcoming Hallow's End holiday as well. Getting all of the sub-Achievements for the Hallowed Be Thy Name Achievement will reward the title "The Hallowed," but frankly I think this one is going to be a little tougher than the Brewfest one. As with Brewfest, part of the Achievement is going to depend on getting very lucky with a drop, but it's also going to depend on getting lucky with a few other things.




Tags: Hallow

EQ2 Announce the Raising the Banner

advancements

EQII now can run better with more than one CPU and can automatically defeats it.

You can now pay upkeep on your house or guild hall up to 12 weeks in advance.Wall-placed house items now use a different method to stick to the wall that should keep them from disappearing into the world geometry.The payments tab has been renamed to "History" and will now display payments and credits to the escrow account.The deposits tab will only display contributions to the escrow account from players.


GUILD HALLS

Construction of the Guild Halls has been completed. Guilds of qualifying levels can now purchase halls in a variety of locations. Smaller halls can be found in North Qeynos, South Freeport, Kelethin, Neriak, and Gorowyn. Medium halls are found in South Qeynos and North Freeport, and large halls are found off the shores of Antonica and Commonlands. Click on the corresponding doors, or mariner bells on the docks, to access these new structures.

With the work completed on the coastal fortresses in Antonica and Commonlands the involved parties have retired to their cities and the guards have been recalled to the barracks.


MENTORING

Mentoring other players now grants greater achievement reward for the mentor.


0-5 level difference: 0% bonus


6-10 level difference: 50% bonus


11-20 level difference: 100% bonus


21-30 level difference: 150% bonus


31-50 level difference: 200% bonus


51+ level difference: 300% bonus


This bonus is only applied to achievement experience gained through combat or loot items, not through quests or exploration.Mentors will now receive experience when their apprentice has disabled combat experience.

Bruiser

Divide and Conquer should now properly apply hate to the entire encounter.

Fury

Natural Mask should now gray out when casted.

Ranger

Thorny trap should now work properly for evil rangers on pvp servers.

PVP

Illusionists on their epic quest should no longer take lose faction with Freeport when using the Lucan illusion and then removing it.

The additional experience multiplier for PvP kills has been reduced slightly.


ITEMS

Most house items can now be scaled in size, by using shift + mousewheel while moving or placing them. Picking them up again will reset the size to default. Shift and the + and - keys on the numpad also work.You can no longer turn auto consume on while using a griffon or sokokar. Bayle's Amulet and the Trinket of the Venerated Fanatic can now be mounted and used as a house item.


SPELLS

Spells which do not expire have been made uninterruptable. There are some exceptions which include spells which summon pets or have limited uses.


Introduction: A team of dedicated excavators and researchers have begun to uncover a remarkable find in the dunes of Sinking Sands. They have numerous tasks for any recruits willing to help defend the site, excavate relics, maintain their assisting clockworks and provide crafted supplies for the team. They cannot fathom how important this project is and how it is fated to reshape the world of Norrath for years to come!




Tags: EQ2

Fourteen Day Free Trial Announced for the FFXI

Available for download exclusively through File Planet, the new release features the award-winning FINAL FANTASY XI, along with 3 content IDs with which to create characters, that is free to play for 14 days without the need of a credit card! This is the perfect opportunity to get your friends and family to test the waters of Vana'diel alongside you!Final fantasy XI have announced the launch of the "FINAL FANTASY XI 14-Day Free Trial"!




Tags: Final fantasy XI

Level 21-30 Review in Warhammer Online

At around level 22-23 is kind of boring, Leveling in Warhammer is a major grind. The exp bar keeps getting longer and longer but the quest rewards, for the most part, stay about the same. Thankfully, last week Mythic speed up the way the queues in the battleground scenarios work so you can get the lion's share of your experience by killing players, rather than monsters. The Tier 3 scenarios are a lot of fun. The only problem is that only one of them is widely played (at least on my server). Tor Anroc is set inside of an active volcano and the goal is to kill as many players you can while your side controls the "bauble" which ticks off points as long as you control it. The only downside is that as it ticks off points, it also pulsates increasing amounts of damage into the person holding it. Controlling the bauble isn't required to win, but it makes things a little easier. Each kill counts for 10 points, and the bauble is worth a point every few seconds. The first squad to 500 wins. The only thing you need to worry about now is finding better gear.


Mount Gunbad, WAR's lowest level [full-fledged] dungeon, is an ideal place to go to deck yourself out in level 20-30 blue and grape con drops. Pretty much all of the mobs are either champion or hero caliber, so you need at least a full group to take on the more interesting challenges inside. There are a bunch of higher-than-normal exp quests for Gunbad as well, so as long as your healers aren't busy picking mushrooms when they should be keeping people alive, it's a great place to take a break from the everyday grind. The dungeon looting system is the same as public quests, so it's in your best interest to do your best if you want a bigger roll modifier (and a better chance to win something tasty from the golden chest at the end of each stage). Another little twist is that Mt. Gunbad is open to all of the realms, so besides encountering harder than usual monsters, you might run across better built groups of enemy characters also.


Players more or less found that that game is just the same as other MMOs, questing, joining  team and grinding. But after getting some experinence, we can see something exciting, lets take a look at what levels 21-30 had to offer...





Tags: Warhammer Online

Warhammer Online:The new Caledor

Long ago, the tall spires of Caledor were ablaze. Fiery volcanoes dominated the skyline, spewing great plumes of ash-grey smoke high into the air. The skies of ancient Caledor were filled with mighty dragons, and it is these magnificent and terrifying beasts that made Caledor the powerful kingdom that it once was.

When the High Elves of old marched to war, the Dragon Princes of Caledor were among their deadliest instruments. The proud warrior-nobles swooped into the fray astride the backs of their great dragons, laying waste to all in their path. Though few in number, the Dragon Princes wrought terrible destruction on the enemies of Ulthuan.

The origins of the Dragon Princes and their unique bond with the great winged beasts of their homeland lie even further in the past. It was the legendary High Elf Mage Caledor Dragontamer who, using his arcane craft to enchant harnesses forged in the heart of nearby Vaul's Anvil, brought the majestic beasts to heel. Indeed, the province derives its name from this figure of legend.

The Dark Elves have many reasons to despise Caledor. They have suffered the fiery wrath of the dragons in battle, and known defeat at the hands of more than one of the province's heirs. The Witch King greatly desires to see Caledor crushed and its defenders slain to the last. To carry out this task, he has appointed the merciless Beastlord Rakarth, greatest among the Beastmasters of the Druchii.

With an army of fearsome manticores, hydras and black dragons at his command, Rakarth launches a ferocious assault on Caledor, his mind bent on bloody vengeance and conquest.

Elsewhere, battles rage around the Shrines of the Phoenix Kings, great monuments erected long ago to honor those rulers of antiquity who hailed from Caledor. The spiteful Witch King has ordered these statues wrecked to the ground, for these Phoenix Kings of old slew many Dark Elves in ancient wars that neither side has forgotten. For the High Elves, it a point of great honor to protect the shrines and the legacy that they represent.

The din of battle now echoes from every high mountain peak and in every shadow-filled crag in Caledor. The war has come perilously close to the High Elves' capital city of Lothern, and the fighting has intensified on both sides. Though their glory is now long past and their dragons lay in slumber beneath the long-dormant mountains, the warriors of Caledor are still a force to be reckoned with. Under the command of Prince Imrik, leader of the Dragon Princes, the High Elves have marshaled their strength at the fortress of Tor Sethai. The Dark Elves have set their sights on the ancient citadel, and a great battle looms for control of this vital stronghold.




Tags: Warhammer Online