Sunday, February 10, 2013

2013 Love is in the Air (February 10 - February 23) Guide

Original Link: http://www.wowhead.com/news=210480/2013-love-is-in-the-air-february-10-february-23-guide

2013 Love is in the Air (February 10 - February 23) Guide

posted 6 hr 58 min ago by perculia

Ah, love is in the air in the World of Warcraft: sweet flowers, perfume, and sharing gifts with loved ones! But, what's this? A sinister plot is afoot involving some shady goblin newcomers to the seasonal market--the Crown Chemical Company! It's up to us to help save Azeroth from their chemically altered goods all while spreading love and appreciation to our faction leaders and fellow players!
Love is in the Air starts on February 10 at 12:01 AM and ends on February 23 at 11:59 PM. This holiday can be celebrated by the Horde in Orgrimmar and the Alliance in Stormwind City. Seasonal decorations such as wreaths, candles and ribbons can be found in all major cities and at most zone inns. Players will also find Lovely Merchants, who sell seasonal gifts and goodies.

This year, there are updated ilvl 480 epic amulets for defeating Apothecary Hummel, as well as battle pet abilities for Peddlefeet and Toxic Wasteling.

Click the cut to read the full guide!

Table of Contents

Quests

As many of you may remember, the Love is in the Air event was completely redone in 2010, and there are now quests (including daily quests) players can complete to obtain  Love Token used to purchase holiday items. Unfortunately as far as 2013 goes, there is nothing new for the questlines.

Main Questline

A main questline of the Love is in the Air event involves the Steamwheedle Cartel and this strange company known as the Crown Chemical Company. The Steamwheedle Cartel suspects there's something shady about these goblin newcomers, and investigators have been hired to get to the bottom of things. The final quest of this chain leads directly into the quest unlocking the daily quest to fight Apothecary Hummel.

Random Daily Quests

The Crown Chemical Company would like for you to share their new products with the denizens of Azeroth to help establish their role as a new provider of quality holiday goods. One of these daily quests will be randomly available each day of the event. Those hearts you're seeing everywhere are the result of players who have sampled one of the Chemical Company's products--therefore, any quest item used on a player with a heart (and Sample Satisfaction debuff) will not grant quest credit.

Daily: Crushing the Crown

The Steamwheedle Cartel need all the help they can get in eradicating the Crown Chemical Co. and their sinister plot. Players level 5 and higher can obtain a daily quest pitting them against mobs their level. The quest you get is dependent on your current level, and your faction. For this daily, you must kill five of the Crown NPCs in the designated zone and use  Snagglebolt's Khorium Bomb to destroy a nearby chemical wagon.
Start & End: Detective Snap Snagglebolt

Daily: Gifts to Faction Leaders

In 2012, the complicated Gift Collections being gathered and presented to the respective faction leaders received a complete overhaul. Players will instead be asked to create and turn in  Lovely Charm Bracelets. These bracelets can be created by obtaining a  Lovely Charm Collector's Kit, which you can get from Kwee Q. Peddlefeet located near the Crown Chemical Co.'s camp, found outside of auction houses in each of the major cities.

Once you have obtained this item, you will then be able to gather  Lovely Charms from "worthwhile enemies"--any enemy you kill that is "honorable" (green or higher difficulty) has a chance to create a  Lovely Charm. At this time, you must land the killing blow on the enemy in order to gain a charm. Combining 10  Lovely Charms will create a single Lovely Charm Bracelet, which, upon accepting a daily quest, can be turned in to the faction leader of your choice. You can turn in each of the four faction leader daily quests once per day.
Start: Kwee Q. Peddlefeet
End: Faction leader of your choice (depends on quest)

Boss: Apothecary Hummel

Once again, players will be able to access the event-only boss located inShadowfang Keep--Apothecary Hummel!
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Players can queue up for the encounter by speaking to Steamwheedle Shyster, located inStormwind City or in Orgrimmar.
As usual for this holiday, players will be able to engage in a 5-man fight for the safety of Azeroth from this conniving trio of chemists! There are now ilvl 480 necks as rewards, as well as tons of rare goodies such as the elusive  Big Love Rocket!

Seasonal Goodies

Most of the items required for seasonal achievements can be purchased from seasonal vendors, using  Love Token. This currency can be acquired through completion of Love is in the Air daily quests.

Be sure to do your dailies this year if you're a collector!  Swift Lovebird costs tons of tokens. So save up and buy your bird before love is no longer in the air. Players have reported that if you're on the Darkmoon quest  Test Your Strength, you might not be able to collect the  Lovely Charm concurrently. As of 2013, farming the Hoppers after the first boss in Normal-Mode Stormstout Brewery seems to be the place to go if you're level 90.

In addition, Peddlefeet and Toxic Wasteling are now battle pets with holiday-themed abilities.
Lovely Merchants can be found in every capital city selling seasonal goodies:
ItemCostItemCost
 Love Token15x  Love Rocket5
5x  "Bravado" Cologne (+75 attack power)15x  Silver Shafted Arrow5
5x  "STALWART" Cologne (+20 dodge rating)1 Romantic Picnic Basket10
5x  "Wizardry" Cologne (+45 spellpower)1 Box of Chocolates10
5x  "Enchantress" Perfume (+45 spellpower)1 Love Fool10
5x  "Forever" Perfume (+20 dodge rating)1 Dinner Suit Box20
5x  "VICTORY" Perfume (+75 attack power)1 Lovely Dress Box20
 Bag of Heart Candies2 Truesilver Shafted Arrow40
5x  Handful of Rose Petals2 Swift Lovebird270
5x  Lovely Rose5

Achievements

With each event comes seasonal achievements! For Love in the Air, there are 12 different challenges for players and a player title granted to those who can achieve them all--the Love Fool! Thankfully, many of these achievements are easy to get!
Posted by at 9:17 AM 0 comments

Friday, February 1, 2013

5.2 PTR: Reputation Changes, Lei Shen Raid Video, Gear Clarifications

Oringinal Link: http://www.wowhead.com/news=210217/5-2-ptr-reputation-changes-lei-shen-raid-video-gear-clarifications


5.2 PTR: Reputation Changes, Lei Shen Raid Video, Gear Clarifications

posted 4 days ago by perculia

Today's PTR news covers some ways to make reputation easier in 5.2, as well as an exciting video preview of Lei Shen by Lore fromTankSpot! Click on the "Dungeon Journal" tab to see all the details and spells for the encounter.

We also have a few posts answering some questions about 5.2 gear--how strong the PvP gear is, why 5.2 raid gear has such a high ilvl, and that  5.2 Raid - Normal - Throne of Thunder - Boss 12 Loot 1 - Str Melee Axe2H is unsurprisingly a placeholder item that isn't making it to live in its current form.

Raid Preview: Lei Shen

Reputation in 5.2

Two new ways to speed up Mists of Pandaria faction grinds were added in last week's new PTR build.

Random dungeons and scenarios now have a "*Bonus Reputation:" line and a button that opens up your reputation panel. Draztal posted that the rep bonuses are "750 for your first heroic and 325 for your first scenario."

Sunsong Ranch also has a new way to improve reputation with factions of your choice--Work Orders.

A pillar has been added to your farm, by Farmer Yoon. This pillar has quests for all of the major Mists of Pandaria factions (The August Celestials, Shado-Pan, Golden Lotus, The Klaxxi, Operation: Shieldwall, Dominance Offensive), but you must have unlocked that faction's dailies in order to access the Work Orders. These initial quests (such as  Work Order: Golden Lotus I) ask you to plant 8 specific seeds on your farm and do not grant reputation.

Draztal also clarifies: "In order to use the Work Orders in Sunsong Ranch, you need to be exalted with The Tiillers and all plots unlocked, but it's not required to own Sunsong. Work orders will be available for most 5.0/5.1 factions, but it will most likely not include Black Prince."

Once that work order has been completed, you are then told to harvest eight specific crops the next day and turn in 40 vegetables (such as  Work Order: Golden Lotus II). This then rewards you with +300 reputation before bonuses. A pile of crates and food has been added to a corner of your farm, which completes the quest.

You can pick up all "Work Orders I" quests at once, but can only really proceed with two of them if you have a maxed farm, since each quest takes up eight out of sixteen farm plots.

To learn more about 5.2 reputation changes, check out PTR reputation coverage at WoW Insider and El's Extreme Anglin'.

    


Also, don't forget that Zandalari Warbringer currently on the PTR can drop  Stolen Celestial Insignia,  Stolen Golden Lotus Insignia,  Stolen Klaxxi Insignia,  Stolen Shado-Pan Insignia for additional reputation!
Click the cut to read Blizzard's gear clarifications!

Raiding Gear in 5.2

Originally posted by Blizzard (Official Post | Blue Tracker)Collapse

Daxxarri

Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas saw this thread, and wanted share his thoughts on some of the issues you guys have raised:

We think it’s worth noting that many players began their Mists of Pandaria raiding experience with an average item level in the low 460s. Over the course of the past four months, Heroic raiders have seen their average item level climb by as much as 50, while normal mode raid groups that are just getting to Sha of Fear for the first time likely have an average item level that compares to what the cutting-edge guilds had when conquering Heroic Heart of Fear. Getting raid loot along the way has likely felt like a meaningful progression, and the overall damage and healing output of a raid group grows measurably from week to week with each piece of gear looted from a defeated boss. We like that, and we want Throne of Thunder to give players a similar sense of progression.

We could have taken an alternative, more conservative approach, where Throne of Thunder Raid Finder awarded ilvl 496 items and Normal awarded 509 items. A guild that has only done the current normal mode raids, but no Heroics, might then walk intoThrone of Thunder with an average item level near 500 (lots of 496 items from Heart of Fear and Terrace, some of them upgraded to 504 with Valor). That doesn’t leave much room to grow – it means that players would only be a few percent stronger when facing Lei Shen at the end of the instance than they were facing Jin’rokh at the start. It also means that when raiders run into a roadblock halfway through the raid, there wouldn’t be much hope that a bit more gear from the next clear would have a significant impact.

Ultimately, we think that raid progression works better, and is more compelling, when there are meaningful increases in power from gear. The effort of downing a boss for the first time is properly rewarded with loot that is attractive to all members of the raid, and the steady increase in player power over the course of progressing through an instance allows us to scale the challenge accordingly. For example, we can now design Lei Shen around the expectation that the average raid group that reaches him will have an item level of nearly 520. The cutting-edge groups that tear through the zone in the first week or two will be comparatively undergeared when they reach him. Without any other changes on our end, item progression means that the same encounter can pose a stern test to a top guild when 5.2 comes out, while still being doable by the groups that only reach the same encounter a couple of months down the line. For example, Heroic Gara'jal the Spiritbinder was a brutal test of DPS for raiders who faced him last October, but now he feels like part of a smooth progression for groups that are just graduating from normal modes and beginning Heroics.

We’re confident that our planned item levels are not going to skew class balance or degenerate gameplay, and we’re monitoring the performance of all classes and specs in the new gear that will be available in 5.2 and going forward. Stat “inflation” was probably most out of control during the Wrath of the Lich King, but that was an issue with how powerful the gear was that was available as the expansion began perhaps more than any other factor. As a point of comparison, the item level 213 warrior set breastplate that was available in Naxxramas gave a level 80 player 2% critical strike chance; the item level 496 warrior set breastplate available in Heart of Fear gives 1.32% critical strike chance. We’ve learned from the past and carefully left ourselves a lot more room to grow this time around.
It's our expectation that Heroic raiders should have no interest in 5.2 Raid Finder gear. If you have item level 509+ gear from 5.0/5.1 Heroics, then the question is, why would you want item level 502 gear from the Raid Finder? Players wearing normal mode gear might find some slight upgrades in the Raid Finder in the first few weeks, but it's a safe bet that any gear that was upgraded with Valor Points will probably beat anything found in the Throne of Thunder Raid Finder.

No New Sha-Touched Weapons

Originally posted by Blizzard (Official Post | Blue Tracker)Collapse

Watcher

You're really best off sticking to information actually contained in our patch notes or other official channels of communication if you're looking to avoid confusion.

There are no more Sha-Touched weapons forthcoming. If you've been diligent about helping Wrathion and continue to do so, your reward in 5.2 is going to be a legendary meta-gem that can go in any helmet.

PvP Gear in 5.2

Originally posted by Blizzard (Official Post | Blue Tracker)Collapse

Daxxarri

I don't think it's that cut and dry. If I'm understanding the numbers, 5.1 Malevolent will only be better than 5.2 Malevolent if it's carrying 2/2 item level upgrades (though it will have more stamina).

Currently, the PvP Power and stats on each tier of gear are tuned to ensure that they're the best choice for PvP compared with a PvE equivalent:

Malevolent > LFR gear for PVP.
Tyrannical > normal mode raid gear for PvP.
Elite Tyrannical > Heroic mode raid gear for PvP.
Posted by at 10:48 AM 0 comments
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