Honor Gain Reduction by 30% announced

Players brought up the question, if honor rewards would be going up in prices because they seem to be ridiculously easy to obtain in comparison to what it used to mean to gain Rank 14.

2 Days ago Drysc replied to this matter:

"More than likely the prices will be adjusted for the current honor rewards sometime after the expansion releases to reflect their 'value' more appropriately when compared to expansion items.

That would mean the prices would be going down though, not up." – Drysc

This is the reason most players are somewhat startled to hear that the total Honor Gain has been reduced to 30%. Nethaera has posted some information on this matter. 

"Now that the Before the Storm content patch has been live for the past week, we’ve had a better opportunity to track the rate at which players are accumulating honor, and subsequently how easy it's been to obtain honor rewards. In gauging these elements, we've determined that the effort required to obtain honor rewards is more trivial than we had intended. As a result, during today's maintenance we’ve applied a hotfix that reduced the amount of honor gained by approximately 30%. This change allows the honor rewards to be obtained at rate that better reflects the item’s in-game value.

The reason that we decided to reduce the rate of honor gain rather than simply raise the honor cost of each item, is to ensure that everyone’s time and effort participating in PvP since the patch is not diminished. As this change will only affect future honor accumulation." – Nethaera

If You ask me its not that bad of a change, since the Rank 14 are still much easier to obtain than before the introduction of the new honor system. Good Luck with your farming.

The coming Rogue Changes in 2.0

As listed in the official patch notes and on the World of Raids Forum these are the documented and undocumented changes that will come to the Rogue Class.

  • Rogues will no longer aggro targeted mobs that have not been attacked when their "Stealth" cooldown expires.
  • "Anesthetic Poison" is now properly available at level 68 at the rogue trainers.
  • Stunning an NPC will no longer cause the message "You must be behind your target" when rogues properly try to use abilities behind a target.
  • The talent, "Dagger Specialization", will now use the appropriate crit chance.
  • Unofficial: Improved Backstab moved to tier 2 Assassination.
  • Unofficial: Improved Slice and Dice moved to tier 2 Combat.
  • Unofficial: Surprise Attacks changed to "Your finishing moves can no longer be dodged, and the damage dealt by your Backstab, Gouge, Shiv, and Sinister Strike abilities is increased by 8%".
  • Unofficial: Improved Sap and Elusiveness have swapped tiers.
  • Unofficial: Improved Sap now 2 ranks, 50%/100%.
  • Unofficial: Preparation changed to "When activated, this ability instantly refreshes the cooldown on your Evasion, Sprint, Vanish, Cold Blood, Adrenaline Rush, and Premeditation abilities." Goodbye double Cloak of Shadows/Blind in arenas.
  • Unofficial: Cloak of Shadows is now 1 minute cooldown instead of 2.
  • Unofficial: Evasion ranged attack avoidance reduced from 50% to 25%.
  • Unofficial: Blind changed to 3 minute cooldown from 5 minutes(is this new? never noticed it before).
  • Unofficial: Wound Poison (all ranks) has been changed. Now has a 30% chance to instantly deal damage(increases with poison rank), and reduce healing effects used on target by 10% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.

The latest changes with the reduction of the effect of +weaponskill gave us Mace Rogues already a 20% reduction of DPS in raids. On a short explanation +5 weaponskill reduced the damage reduction from glancing blows and increased the crit chance by 0,04%. Now the crit chance will be 0,1% and no effect on glancing blows. So we will drop 20% in raid damage and get a meager 0,06% increased crit chance.

Especially races like Humans with +weaponskill to swords / maces are affected since it was their only real good racial. Also talents which give +weaponskill are now worthless since they were balanced with their old effects. For us mace rogues that means we get 5% chance to stun mobs (which are immune in instances anyhow) and also 5 Skill = 0,5% crit chance versus monsters that are higher level than us for 5 talent points.

As a quick reminder: Here is the damage reduction table at the WoWWiki.

Now the next change comes. Our decent 41 Point combat talent "Surprise Attacks" has been significantly changed:

Old: "Your Backstab, Gouge, Shiv, and Sinister Strike can no longer be dodged, and the damage dealt by your Backstab, Gouge, Shiv, and Sinister Strike abilities is increased by 8%".

New: "Your finishing moves can no longer be dodged, and the damage dealt by your Backstab, Gouge, Shiv, and Sinister Strike abilities is increased by 8%".

If You read this You have to wonder if Blizzard ever played a combat Rogue. Combat Rogues do not really have burst damage and rely on constant damage which means that combat rogues finisher is mostly Slice and Dice and that one cannot be dodged at all. So where is the sugar for us in Surprise Attacks?

As I understand it the 41 point talents make You sacrifice talents from other trees in order to be able to get the crown-talent of Your tree, which should fully fit in there. But surprise attacks is totally off.

Its not like we do not already have the most useless tree of all, but with removal of +weaponskill and an obviously totally misdesigned 41 point talent what does it mean for our future?

Patch 1.13 coming on December 5th

As confirmed by blue the new Patch 1.13 "Before the Storm" will come online at December 5th. If You are still trying to gain Rank it will be too late now. Next reset Your gained Rank will no longer grant You access to the PvP Items due to the changes to the honor system. In my eyes Alterac rewards will be much harder to get now with the new requirements, but we will see. I suppose for us Europeans it will mean that we get the patch 1 day after.

The coming patch will include the new talents, the new honor system and many more features of the Burning Crusade Expansion. 

"The next World of Warcraft content update, “Before the Storm,” will include the new PvP Honor System, as well as other new features that will prepare us for The Burning Crusade expansion. We are currently planning to release this content update next Tuesday, December 5. Please note that the patch date is still subject to change, and we will keep you informed of any changes to the plan as they happen.

If the patch goes live as planned, this will be the last week that new PvP ranks under the old Honor System can be earned, as the patch will immediately introduce the new Honor System. We will run one final honor calculation on December 5 and update everyone’s ranking accordingly on that date so that players who achieve a new rank for that week have the opportunity to display that title on their character. Please note, however, that no new PvP rewards will be unlocked for purchase with this final “old Honor System” calculation, regardless of any increase in rank.

For those who have been seeking high-rank PvP armor and weapons, note that the new Honor System will still include these item rewards, and it will actually be easier to earn these items under the new Honor System than under the old Honor System. Those who wish to see how their PvP abilities measure up against other players will still be able to do so under the new Arena System." – Drysc

WoW 2.0 Macro Changes – Examples

In the World of Warcraft Forum there is a very nice post about the coming changes to Macros in World of Warcraft 2.0 Patch. If You are using Macros You really need to look into this. Due to the nature of the WoW Forums that seem to drop Postings after a while I have attached a Text file as download.

There are changes that make it easy to either cast Ambush or Backstab dependant on Stealth in a simple macro. You can also set a /castsequence for spells, that will cast the spells one after the other each click. The handling of stances, buttons and targets equipped items are much more convenient.

Examples:

Cast Ambush if stealthed else Backstab:
/cast [stealth] Ambush; Backstab

Mount if You are not mounted and outdoors:
/use [nomounted,outdoors] Black War Steed Bridle

Warlock:
/castsequence Corruption, Immolate, Curse of Agony

Cast Greater Heal on a friendly target, or Smite if the player is in combat, or Mind Flay if the player is not in combat:
/cast [help] Greater Heal; [harm, combat] Smite; [harm, nocombat] Mind Flay

Macros in WoW 2.0 & Macros in WoW 2.0 (PDF)

Patch 2.0.1 partial download.

The Blizzard downloader is already starting a partial download of the new patch 2.0.1. The coming patch will include the new talents, the new honor system and many more features of the Burning Crusade Expansion.

Do not get Your hopes up, since it is only a partial download in advance as confirmed by blue.

In my eyes the new talents will just make my poor Rogue feel incomplete since the new builds with 41 point talents will basically require Level 70 and thus will always miss some important Talents. Then also the nerf to the weaponskills which will make it quite useless.
Other changes are simply great, especially no dishonorable kills, and no more honor decay.

Patch 2.0.1 hits the Test Realms (patch notes included)

The Patch 2.0 with the new honor system, 41 point talents and many more changes has been uploaded to the public test realms. Since these are feature that will most likely go live I have added the patch notes for Your convenience.

There are many changes I really like, while I completely detest others. For example, why did they change the +skill from weapons? It was the main reason I rerolled a human rogue. But now for +0,5% increased crit chance on higher level mobs its hardly worth it anymore. Big human nerf in my eyes :-/

——————————————————————————–
– World of Warcraft Test Patch 2.0.1
——————————————————————————–

General

  • All players will have talent points reimbursed and will have access to new talents throughout their trees; this includes the 41-point talents. Several new abilities have also been added for all classes.
  • All pets now receive a percentage of their master’s armor, spell damage, spell resistances, attack power, and stamina.
  • Low-level spells cast by high-level players will receive smaller bonuses from +healing and +spell damage.
  • HoTs, DoTs, and channeled spells have been re balanced to receive a more appropriate (higher) percentage of +spell damage and +healing.
  • HoTs from different sources will now stack (i.e. multiple druids can cast the Rejuvenation spell on 1 target).
  • New item property „Resilience“ has been introduced. Resilience reduces your chance to be the victim of a critical strike, and reduces the amount of damage critical strikes do to you.
  • Weapon Skill now does the following:
  • Weapon skill will no longer reduce the percentage damage lost due to glancing.
  • The player will gain 0.1% to their critical strike rating per weapon
  • skill against monsters above their level.
  • When casting a buff on a low level target, the appropriate rank of the buff will be automatically be applied.
  • Crowd Control effects in PvP will last no longer than 12 seconds instead of the full duration, with a chance of a heartbeat resist.
  • Players will no longer lose faction when under the influence of „Mind Control“ or the Gnomish Mind Control Cap.

PvP

  • Honor System Revamp
  • Current honor totals have been reset.
  • Players may display their highest lifetime rank title (accessible from character sheet).
  • Honor points earned each day may now be spent as a form of currency.
  • Check the PvP tab of your character sheet to see your honor information.
  • PvP rewards are no longer unique.
  • Marks of Honor earned from battlegrounds are no longer turned in for reputation or honor. They are now used in addition to honor points in order to purchase rewards.
  • Two New Arenas are now available in three different modes.
  • 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 matches Players may queue up at Goblin NPC’s in Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Undercity, and Gadgetzan

Druids

  • The talent „Swiftmend“ will now include bonus healing from the talents „Improved Rejuvenation“ and „Empowered Rejuvenation“.

Hunters

  • Traps can be set while in combat, but require a 2 second arming time.
  • Auto shot will be automatically enabled if the Hunter steps out of melee range while in combat with target.
  • 1 agility will now grant 1 ranged attack power.
  • Auto shot is now reset when casting Aimed Shot.

Shaman

  • Shaman with the appropriate talent spec are now able to dual-wield.
  • Both main and off-hand weapons can be affected by self-weapon buffs such as Windfury.
  • Rockbiter’s weapon functionality has been changed. It is now a damage proc instead of a flat attack power bonus.
  • Windfury Weapon and Rockbiter Weapon enchantments will only benefit the weapon with the enchantment on it.

Warlocks

  • Range of „Drain Life“ and „Drain Mana“ spells have been increased.

Warriors

  • Rage generation from dealing damage has been normalized.
  • All Rage awards are averaged with our expected rage per swing (adjusted for weapon speed).

Items

  • The „Far Sight“ effect has changed so that the camera now zooms in to a distant location, rather than instantly showing the distant view. This also affects the items: Ultra-Spectropic Vision Goggles, the Ornate Spyglass, and the Hunter ability „Eagle Eye.“
  • Spells can now require either a totem item or a totem category item to cast a spell. This means that the Enchanting Rods now count as all of the lower level enchanting rods as well, so you only need a single enchanting rod instead of all six. This also means that „Finkel’s Skinner“ now counts as a Skinning Knife. Several weapons
  • that are picks have been flagged as counting as a Mining pick as well.
  • Items that give bonuses, such as + to crit, have been modified to adhere to a combat rating system.
  • All current items will provide the exact same benefit from ratings at level 60 as they provided before the ratings system.
  • Thrown weapon items no longer stack, but use durability instead. One unit of durability is lost per throw, and these items can be repaired.
  • The tool tip for the Great Staff of the Guardian now shows the proper increase of 28 to the party spell critical rating.
  • Items that are useable from player inventory with a cooldown will now update the cooldown in real-time.
  • Players will no longer be able to sell the „Blue Skeletal Horse“ to vendors.
  • The damage Proc from the item „Misplaced Servo Arm“ will no longer break the Rogue ability „Gouge“.
  • The „Skull of Impending Doom“ has been changed and will now increase run speed by 60% for 10 seconds, but deals damage equal to 60% of your maximum health and drains 60% of your maximum mana for over 10 seconds.
  • The Backfire effect on the „Net-O-Matic“ will no longer break on damage.

Professions

  • All of the profession-made items that have been created up to now have been given proper stats based on the current expansion item level progression table.
  • Most of the items made by Tailoring/Leatherworking/Blacksmithing
  • have had their creation time reduced. Now the cap on time required to make an item in those professions is based on quality and level.
  • New Max times required.
  • Level 31+ Green Items at least 8 sec
  • Level 31+ Blue Items at least 15 sec
  • Level 31+ Purple Items at least 25 sec
  • Skill level now determines what items you can disenchant. Skill 1= Level 1-20; Skill 25= Level 20-25; Skill 50= Level 25-30; Skill 75= Level 30-35; Skill 100= Level 35-40; Skill 125= Level 40-45; Skill 150= Level 45-50; Skill 175= Level 50-55; Skill 200= Level 55-60; Skill 225= Level 60-65
  • Players will no longer lose an item when attempting to disenchant on a boat when the loading screen appears.

User Interface

  • Meeting Stone gossip options have been removed from Innkeepers in preparation for the new LFG system.
  • LFG/LFM UI
  • Tips have been added to Loading Screen tips and new player tips Meeting Stones now function similar to a Warlock Summon spell.
  • Player’s select party member to be summoned and right click the stone.
  • A second party member then clicks the portal to summon.
  • Enchanting UI has been vastly improved.
  • Raid UI now supports frame for Main Tank.
  • Spell Alert (Enemy Cast bar)
  • Defaults to off Enabled through Interface Options
  • Displays targeted enemy’s cast bar when they are casting.
  • May also be displayed with „V“ key functionality.
  • Auto-loot may be enabled with just one click in the Interface Options.
  • Character sheet UI now displays more precise melee, ranged, and
  • spell stats.
  • Players can now cast item targetable spells on items that are in your action bar. For instance you can cast feed pet and have the food you want the pet to be fed in one of your action bars.
  • Semi-charged items can no longer be placed in the Auction House.
  • A knowledge base has been added to the in-game UI.
  • Searchable database of FAQ’s and common support issues.
  • Keyrings have been expanded to hold more key-type items and will now size dynamically for the number of keys in possession.
  • The Hunter ability, „Mend Pet,“ will now turn red when a pet is out of range.
  • Players will now be able to disable ability messages in the floating combat text.
  • Players will now be able to scroll down their ignore list if it extends beyond one page.
  • The tooltips for the Show Dispellable Debuffs and Show Castable Buffs options will now specify they only apply to raid pullout groups.
  • Significant changes have been made to User Interface customization.

Bugs

  • The Rend Blackhand arena event in Upper Blackrock Spire will now properly reset after a wipe.
  • Players will no longer resurrect with low mana and health if they died and released on a Zeppelin or Ship.
  • Fixed an issue where effects with 100% chance to be applied were being resisted.
  • Fixed an issue where high level players were not being properly credited the right amount of faction reputation.
  • Party members will now be properly credited for completing the „Dead Man’s Plea“ quest when a totem or pet gets the killing blow on Baron Rivendare.
  • Slowing abilities and spells will no longer decrease the speed of a player when traveling by Gryphon.
  • Fixed an issue where players were re-taining talent based abilities even after re-training.
  • Fixed an issue where the Warlock spell „Shadowburn“ was improperly consuming two Soul Shards.
  • Fixed an issue where players were unable to click on anything if they had any add-ons installed.
  • Fixed an issue where players were able to use „Mana Burn“ on mobs and players without mana.
  • Fixed an issue where spells that proc while a player was standing would not proc if they were sitting or lying down.
  • Fixed many interface overlapping graphic issues.
  • Fixed an issue where Seal of Justice (Rank 2) will now refresh with melee strikes.
  • Blood Elf in Azshara will now have the correct model.
  • Fixed an issue where a spell with two procs would be reflected and one of the procs would still hit the player that reflected the spell.
  • Fixed an issue that was putting Hunters back into combat when they
  • have the „Spirit Bond“ Talent or have the Cryptstalker set bonus.
  • Fixed an issue where players were being awarded the wrong item when double looting a corpse under the master loot option.
  • Fixed an issue where players interrupted while casting would have a longer cast time than normal.
  • Fixed an issue where players could not see enchants when inspecting another player.
  • Fixed an issue where extra attacks from „Windfury Weapon“ would not proc „Flurry“ when they crit.
  • Fixed an issue where players that were killed in freezing traps would be stuck there until releasing.
  • Fixed an issue where Warlocks were able to despawn a pet to gain a free „Soul Shard“in the Battlegrounds.
  • Warrior „Shield Slam“ and „Shield Bash“ will no longer trigger a proc from an equipped weapon.
  • Fixed an issue where players were able to consume a Mana Emerald at full mana.
  • The totem, „Wrath of Air,“ will no longer be useable in „Ghost Wolf“ form.
  • Fixed an issue where Warrior „Battle Shout“ was causing too much threat.
  • Fixed an issue where computers with ATi video cards were sometimes having problems when displaying a certain texture.
  • Fixed an issue where the Warlock spell „Death Coil“ gained double the benefit from the talent „Shadow Mastery“.
  • Player pets will no longer attack CC’ed targets while in Passive mode.
  • „Prayer of Spirit“ will no longer cast on the user if there is no other target selected.
  • „Lightning Shield“ will now have the appropriate cool-down time between uses.
  • Fixed an issue where materials were being consumed if a player logged out before an enchantment had finished being applied.
  • The Hunter, „Auto Shot,“ ability will no longer activate on resurrection.
  • Fixed a bug where „Inner Focus“ was not being consumed when using „Mind Soothe.“
  • Fixed a bug where Rogues were able to use the ability
  • „Ghostly Strike“ when not facing their target.
  • Warlock pet dismiss sounds will now play properly.
  • Fixed an issue where Fist weapons were sheathing improperly.
  • Bags will no longer overlap the Bank UI when the game window is resized.
  • Players will no longer be able to whisper to enemy players in Battlegrounds.
  • The Skeletal Gryphon ride for the Eastern Plaguelands PvP event will now fly at its correct speed.
  • Players will no longer be able to whisper to enemy players in Battlegrounds.
  • Players will no longer be able to jump onto the top of the Dun Baldur Fortress in Alterac Valley and get behind the terrain to attack other players.
  • Shapeshifting will now break „Nogginfogger Elixir“ effect.
  • You will no longer die when Feign Death is finished channeling.
  • „Scatter Shot“ will now properly do damage even if the target is immune to the confuse effect.
  • „Aspect of the Cheetah“ will now properly trigger with absorbed damage.
  • Casting a lower rank polymorph on a target that is already under the effect of a higher rank will cause an error message and not consume mana.
  • The talent, „Master of Elements,“ will now properly proc off of totems.
  • Players will no longer be attacked by same faction guards when using mind control on an enemy player to attack.
  • „Vanish“ will now properly un-target the Rogue from the attacker when the attacker is in the same party.
  • The talent, „Improved Chain Heal,“ will now properly add to the base healing done.
  • „Healing Wave“ Ranks 11 and 12 will now benefit from the Shaman talent, „Healing Way.“
  • „Improved Curse of Agony“ will now properly increase the base and spell power.
  • Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they take a flight path.
  • Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they are dead at the end of a Battleground match.
  • Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they enter an Arena.
  • Casting „Dark Pact“ after exiting combat will no longer put you back in combat.
  • The tool tip for the „Great Staff of the Guardian“ now shows the proper increase of 28 to the party spell critical rating.
  • Several Chest spawns in Dustwallow Marsh will now properly spawn above ground.
  • Items that can give +Stamina/Intellect from random suffixes will now properly apply while dead.
  • „Beastmaster’s Gloves“ will now give the proper 2% crit chance for Hunter pets.
  • Various graphical errors will be noticeable while viewing maps.

Burning Crusade: Updated Maces

In the latest Beta Patch Blizzard buffed the crafteable Bind on Pickup Weapons. They look really nice now, especially for Hammersmiths or Macerogues. Dragonstrike, Dragonmaw and Drakefist Hammer are important Weapons:
Dragonstrike, 95 DPS Main Hand Mace 334 Max Damage. Dragonmaw, 88.1 DPS Main Hand Mace, 310 DamageDrakefist Hammer, 81.1 DPS Main Hand Mace, 285 Max Damage

With Release of Patch 1.13 Honor will be reset and the new Talents introduced

Due to the delay of the Burning Crusade Expansion Blizzard will introduce a new patch. Patch 1.13 will include some parts of the Expansion. While ther will not be Bloodelfs, Draenei or Level 61+ content Blizzard will give us the new talents and the New Honor System. For that reason the Old Honro System will be completely wiped, and the only thing that will remain is the Rank, which you can show or hide above Your head.

At the World of Raid Forum there is a nice thread with additional information and items (also checkout our screenshot section).

Burning Crusade Beta: Patch Notes

Here are the latest Burning Crusade Beta patch notes, taken from the Beta Forum.

World of Warcraft Beta Patch 5991 to 6022 | 24/10/2006 16:26:59 UTC

General

  • Added a Horde Graveyard to southern Hellfire Peninsula
  • Added a new flight path to Swamprat Post in Zangarmarsh.
  • Added meeting stones to the new dungeons.
  • Added a new Alliance base and flight path to Hellfire Peninsula.
  • Non-expansion guards now give directions to expansion Shaman and Paladin trainers.
  • The Giants in Outland are now properly itemized.
  • Various Exodar NPCs have been properly flagged for PvP.
  • Draenei shaman totems have been updated.

PvP

Battlegrounds

  • Added new quests in Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch for level 60+
  • characters.
  • The mini map will no longer switch off and on when events occur in
  • the battlegrounds.

Arenas

  • Arena games will no longer end as soon as they start.

User Interface

    • Players will now receive a timeout message when a group leader switches their instance preference.
    • Corrected some graphical errors with the LFG system menus.
    • Players on your ignore list will no longer be automatically added to a group when using the LFG system.
    • The Hunter ability Mend Pet icon will now turn red when you are out of range of your pet.
    • The Burning Crusade background art when selecting a realm will no longer glow as brightly with the full-screen glow effect on.

      Bugs

      • Fixed several creatures and NPCs that were falling through the ground.
      • Undercity is no longer missing the doors on the elevators.
      • Fixed several building mouse-over tooltips.
      • Captain Bok’ar’s Furious Rage will now stun himself rather than his target.
      • Fixed a n issue that caused temporary enchants to not work with
      • macros.
      • Fixed an issue that cause Draenei mailboxes to be useable by the Horde.
      • Fixed several quest rewards that were unable to be disenchanted or sold to vendors.
      • Fixed a problem that caused players to get disconnected from the server upon accepting certain quests.
      • Fixed an issue that caused the breath bar to sometimes remain on screen after resurrection.
      • Fixed an issue where players leaving a group that was created by the LFG matchmaking system or leaving the group queue were unable to use the LFG system again.
      • Fixed an issue that caused the LFG icon to not display correctly.