Supporting Wow Blogger:
Blizz have just posted about arena points reset on the 13th November, when WOTLK hits.
We have created this new thread to reflect some updates we have made to the way in which arena points and seasons will be handled as we transition into Wrath of the Lich King.
We wanted to remind everyone that Arena season 4 is coming to a close. During next Tuesday’s maintenance on November 11th, all arena teams, as well as ratings, will be wiped and arena charter NPCs disabled. However, arena points will persist until the beginning of the next arena season, or until a player reaches level 71. Thus, Arena points will be rewarded for rated games played this week and players will be able to purchase Arena items that do not require a team or personal rating. Upon the close of Arena season 4, players at level 70 will continue to be able to play skirmish Arena matches against other level 70 opponents even after Wrath of the Lich King launches.
Arena season 5 is currently scheduled to begin on December 16th, and once that happens players who have reached level 80 will be able to compete in rated arena matches where they can gain arena points which can be used to purchase level 80 arena gear, as well as compete for end-of-season rewards. Players who remain at level 70 after Season 5 begins will only have access to play skirmish arena matches against other level 70 players. However, two new skirmish brackets will be made available (71-75, 76-80) for players who wish to hone their arena skills while leveling in Northrend.
Zarhym - (Source)
Not getting points this week sucks slightly but I am glad that they are resetting the arena points as this will ensure a fair start to season 5 when everyone hits level 80 and the new arena season starts on December 16th.
I have found an excellent free death knight levelling guide. Normally I do not bother posting about all of the small guides on Wow that I found from day to day but this is something special. It was posted about on Worldofraids.com and that in itself is quite some feat. The fact that is is free is also quite extraordinary. The content is miles better than most of the wow levelling guides on the net that cost upwards of $20.
You can find the author’s post about the death knight levelling guide on the official wow forums here or alternatively go straight to her Death Knight Shopping List here. The guide is not quite finished. At the time of posting she has only completed up to level 76 but promises that it will be finished within a couple of weeks of WOTLK’s release.
The shopping list in itself is really useful as it shows what gear you should aim for whilst you are levelling to achieve the fastest level 55-80 time on your Death Knight. It also reveals what items you can purchase now and then send to your newly created DK when WOTLK hits in a weeks time!
As you have probably gathered I have been busy the past week and I apologise for the distinct absense of posts. I have been on Wow, however, and have been competing in arena in a bid to secure 2050 rating so that I can spend my points on the Brutal Gladiator’s Spellblade. Unfortunately, as is always the case when you want an item, you almost get it but not quite. We reached 2045 in both my 2v2 and 3v3 teams but then lost in each case. It is very frustrating to miss out by one win but the week is just started and so we still have a good chance of making it. The weapon is not a big upgrade from my Vengeful Gladiator’s Staff but it would be nice to have, for ePeen value if nothing else!
I am still set on playing my mage in the expansion and am not even worried about the incoming arcane nerfs as I prefer frost and believes it requires more skill in arena. I will pvp mostly but want to clear at least 10 man naxx as I have never been there *cower*.
So there you have a mixed post. Bit of everything… bit like sushi.
mmmmmmmmmmm sushi… and free death knight levelling guide.
I absolutely love the zombie event. It is without a doubt the best world event that Blizzard have ever introduced. The past few days have been so fun ingame. I have lead raids in both horde and alliance cities, I have travelled all over with my guild to kill the undead at the summoning circles and annoyed countless people on trade chat by killing the auctioneers.
Unfortunately it has just been posted that the plague will be cured by tomorrow. However, Tigole has stated that the event is not over and that there will be a lot more to come before WOTLK hits.
I received a few emails last week from the creator of http://www.pathofahero.com/ asking me to check out his site. I thought it was another spam email but then checked out the site and was pleasantly surprised. The site combines both a blog and a new idea. It is effectively like the wow armoury but with a few nice twists. It gives a gear score based on the quality of your epax and also allows you to post journal entries. It also allows you to take screenshots of your char at various points in time and then lets you scroll through them, so you can see how your appearance has changed over time. Check it out at http://www.pathofahero.com/
That’s right! I thought that with Fable 2 and Far Cry 2 both coming out tomorrow it was suitable to write about games that are’nt the subject of this blog. Far Cry looks pretty awesome I have to say. The game teaser reads:
Caught between two rival factions in war-torn Africa, you are sent to take out “The Jackal,” a mysterious character who has rekindled the conflict between the warlords, jeopardizing thousands of lives. In order to fulfil your mission you will have to play the factions against each other, identify and exploit your their weaknesses, and neutralize their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and, of course, brute force. Real-time story telling, systemic auto-healing, minimal in-game interface are just few of the features that make you feel the tension of being alone against barbarous warlords that threaten thousands of innocent lives. Choose from a wide range of weapons to make your way to your primary target. Meet the fight head-on with your machine-gun, go berserk with your machete or make stealth kills as a Sniper. If you feel that the atmosphere is not warm enough, light up your flamethrower and let your enemies and everything around them feel the heat. [Ubisoft]
With a review score of 94 from PCGamer, this game looks set to keep me occupied at least until WOTLK. Other Xbox 360 Games look decent too, including Fable 2. To be honest I never got into or understood the first one. Maybe I will give the new version a go.
Lately I have been thinking about getting a Nintendo. Some Nintendo Wii Games look very entertaining and needless to say I have a craving for Wii golf. The Nintendo DS Games look vaguely fun and seem to be on a par with the psp.
So there you have it. A non-WOW related post! Don’t say I’m narrow minded 
If you are interested in buying any games I recommend http://www.smartshopping.co.uk/ as it seems to be cheaper on quite a few of the new titles and compare sources.
This patch has got it all wrong. Ok well maybe not quite everything, but at least a good deal of it. To begin with I will naturally focus on pvp. Now I love a lot of the changes that they have made to classes. For example making feral druids and prot warriors tangeable in arena is great. However, ret pallies are off of the charts at the moment. Today I got defeated in a duel in less than 3 seconds on my mage and bear in mind that he is almost full brutal. The damage is insane and although Blizzard have promised that they are looking at it, I doubt that it will change dramatically since retri damage on the WOTLK beta servers is also crazily high.
Patch 3.0 also seems to have implemented a lot more instant casts into pvp. This is extremely evident on my mage as I can now spam ice lance with random RNG procs. I believe this takes a lot of the skill out of pvp, i.e the setting up of a window of time in which to cast spells to kill your enemy.
In other areas the patch has triumphed. The Stormwind Harbour looks awesome and I absolutely love the achievements system. I just bagged myself the “Jenkins” title! I am sporting a new haircut on my mage which I must say makes me look like a blood elf…
The nerf to raid bosses is fairly ridiculous in my opinion. Last night I pugged Mount Hyjal on my resto shaman and we got Rage Wintergrasp down to 9%. This was with over 15 people who did not know the tactics and over half the raid in kara or gladiator gear. It is too much in my opinion. I can understand the wishes of players to see all of TBC content before WOTLK hits but making it this trivial takes away the achievement and also the prestige of many of the hardcore raid guilds that killed these bosses ages ago.
All in all this patch has been a mixed bag. I love some aspects but believe the pvp changes especially were too drastic and not well thought out. We shall have to wait and see what the inevitable tweaking patches will change in the next couple of weeks.
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