[Update] The Buzz in WoW #3

[Glynbeard]

Hey again everyone! So I've decided to create another article which will include: information regarding upcoming events in WoW, some cool finds and a fun game that I think we should try out.

I would also like to announce that the next Section Interview will take place in the Model Editing section, so make sure to check back here sometime next week to find it!

Now, on with the article!...

[BREAK=Patch 3.3.3 Information]



- Patch 3.3.3: A Call to Arms

This next minor content update will offer a host of new features and improvements, including items like:

i) Random Battleground queue option and an improved Honor reward system
ii) Key adjustments to the Wintergrasp faction balance functionality
iii) Several user interface improvements for the Quest Tracking feature, Auction House, Dungeon Finder, and more
iv) Additional class balance changes and profession revisions



Probably the most anticipated change is the update to the inner-workings of Battlegrounds. Below is a quote from Blizzard which describes a bit more about these changes:

We have several changes planned for Battlegrounds in the next minor content patch and would like to share them with you now. This patch will be available for public testing and we encourage you to participate, queue up and provide some feedback on these changes.


1. Firstly, say goodbye to Battleground Marks of Honor. We feel this currency system is a bit outdated and are getting rid of it. Any items which require these marks as currency will have their costs adjusted appropriately to remove this requirement. The quest NPCs will still be available to award players Honor for turning in leftover marks, including individual Marks of Honor if a player has more marks from one Battleground than another, but this is only to help players clear this expired currency.
2. Next, the Battleground holiday weekend will now be denoted as "Call to Arms" in the Battleground tab and Calendar. If you prefer a specific Battleground over all others, look for those words next to its name to determine whether or not you'll receive bonus Honor. The bonus awards for Call to Arms Battlegrounds have been adjusted.
3. Winning a Call to Arms Battleground for the first time in a day will award players with 30 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency and 25 Arena points.
4. Additional Call to Arms Battleground victories after the first win for a player that day will award them with 15 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.
5. Losing a Call to Arms Battleground will award players with 5 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.
6. To bring the rate at which players obtain PvP rewards with Honor more in-line with the rate at which players obtain PvE rewards via the Dungeon Finder, we'll also be increasing the amount of Honor awarded for an Honorable Kill by 100%. In light of this, the amount of experience provided from an Honorable Kill, and the amount of Honor awarded for completing the Wintergrasp weekly quests, have been reduced by 50%.

It's important to note one thing about these 50% decreases. All Honor awarded for completing objectives in Battlegrounds and Wintergrasp is actually based on an Honorable Kill conversion rate. So if you destroy a tower in Alterac Valley for example, the Honor you're awarded is actually based on a flat number of Honorable Kills. Since Honorable Kills will now award 100% more Honor, completing such objectives will also award more Honor. This is why experience gains based on completing Battleground objectives and Honor awarded from the Wintergrasp quests are being decreased by 50%.
Now that we hopefully have your attention, we're pleased to announce the implementation of the Random Battleground system! This system will work virtually the same as the Random Dungeon option in the Dungeon Finder and will replace the Battleground daily quests. Players can queue solo, or with a group of up to five players for a Random Battleground in the Battleground tab. As with the Random Dungeon option, the Battleground chosen will not be revealed until players zone into the Battleground for which they are selected. The bonus rewards for this system are identical to the updated Call to Arms bonuses.

* Winning a Battleground using the Random Battleground option for the first time in a day will award players with 30 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency and 25 Arena points.
* Winning additional Battlegrounds using the Random Battleground option after the first random win will award players with 15 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.
* Losing a Battleground using the Random Battleground option will award players with 5 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.


When using the Random Battleground option, players will not receive additional rewards if the Battleground chosen is under the effects of the Call to Arms bonuses. In other words, the bonuses do not stack. In addition, if a player has been rewarded 30 Honorable Kills worth of bonus Honor currency and 25 Arena points from either the Random Battleground system, or the Call to Arms Battleground, he or she will be rewarded 15 Honorable Kills worth of bonus Honor currency and no Arena points that day for each additional victory. This applies whether the Random Battleground system is used, or the Call to Arms Battleground is chosen specifically, as a player cannot be rewarded the full amount of bonus Honor and the 25 Arena points more than once per day.


All of these features and changes will be available in the next minor patch which should be hitting the public test realms in the near future. Please help us out by testing this system and providing your feedback so we can make some fine-tuning adjustments before the patch's release.

Blizzard also commented on the updates they are initializing in Wintergrasp. The quote below touches on those ideas:

In the next minor content patch, we will be making some minor alterations to the way in which the internal balance system for Wintergrasp works in an attempt to better support realms with greater variations in the level of participation between the Alliance and Horde. Since we have never gone into much detail about how this hidden system currently works, we’d like to explain exactly how it will work in the next patch. Keep in mind that, although this information may feel very new to you, the actual changes being made in the patch to the current system are relatively minor. You can view the Patch 3.3.3 Public Test Realm Notes here: World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> PTR Patch 3.3.3 Notes

Here are the key systems in place behind the hidden Wintergrasp advantages and how they will function in the upcoming patch:


* There is an internal tug-of-war scale not visible by players which will shift under specific conditions.
* The scale starts at 0 (neutral) and can move up to 700 points in either direction favoring the Alliance at one end, and Horde at the other.
* This scale is persistent and does not reset to 0 whenever control of Wintergrasp shifts.
* If an attacking force captures Wintergrasp Fortress while under the effects of any of the advantages listed below (400-700 points in their favor), the scale tips 100 points in favor of the opposing faction.
* If a defending force successfully defends Wintergrasp Fortress two battles in a row, the scale tips 100 points in favor of the opposing faction.
* Each consecutive successful defense after a faction’s first two consecutive defenses will further tip the scale 100 points in favor of the opposing faction.

o As a quick example, if the scale is at 0 and the Alliance capture Wintergrasp fortress while attacking, the scale will not move. If the Alliance defend Wintergrasp twice in a row after this, the scale will move 100 points in favor of the Horde. Each consecutive defense by the Alliance after this will move the scale 100 points further in favor of the Horde each time, bringing the Horde to 400 points in their favor after one unsuccessful defense and five unsuccessful attacks, a total of six Horde losses in a row.

o As another example, if the scale is at 400 in favor of the Horde and they capture Wintergrasp fortress while attacking, the scale will move 100 points in favor of the Alliance. If the Horde defend Wintergrasp twice in a row after this, the scale will move 100 points in favor of the Alliance. Each consecutive defense by the Horde after this will move the scale 100 points further in favor of the Alliance each time, bringing the Alliance to 100 points in their favor after one unsuccessful defense and five unsuccessful attacks, a total of six Alliance losses in a row.

* The following advantages are provided at the beginning of the battle for Wintergrasp whenever these corresponding ranges on the scale have been reached:

o 0-300: No advantages granted.
o 400: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring Factory under their control.
o 500: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring and Broken Temple Factories under their control.
o 600: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring and Broken Temple Factories under their control and gains access to Catapults after earning 1 kill in battle.
o 700: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring and Broken Temple Factories under their control and gains access to Catapults, Siege Engines, and Demolishers after earning 1 kill in battle.

For full patch notes, check out the following link.

[BREAK=Patch 3.3.5 Information]



- Patch 3.3.5: Defending the Ruby Sanctum

The Ruby Sanctum is attacked by a surprise strike force of Deathwing's fierce allies and must be defended. Do you have what it takes to defeat Halion the Twilight Destroyer and his three destructive lieutenants, or will the Ruby Sanctum be forever lost?



Patch Features:

i) The Ruby Sanctum, a 10- and 25-player raid offering both normal and Heroic challenges, will feature all-new encounters and rewards.



Sweet, a new raid! But wait a second... wtf is the Ruby Sanctum? Well, here is some lore to help build a better picture in your mind:

A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights.

The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion's servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm.



A quote from the Blizzard employee Zarhym explains a couple extra details:

The lieutenants are sub-bosses which will each drop an Emblem of Frost. Halion is the main boss. While the activation of Heroic difficulty is different from the Obsidian Sanctum, the overall raid format for the Ruby Sanctum is very comparable.
You're likely to find some random pieces of armor on par with Lich King loot, similar to the items Onyxia dropped while Trial of the Crusader was the top-tier raid. You can also expect to see some more trinkets and things of that nature.
This raid will not only provide a bit of additional content to pair with the current content of patch 3.3, it will be the beginning of an advancement in the storyline for Cataclysm.
The plan is to have a normal mode and a heroic mode just like Icecrown Citadel, so far there is no plan for a Sartharion +1/+2/+3-like encounter.

Currently there is not a whole lot of information other than that to go off of, so I'd suggest checking back in a couple weeks when Blizzard has had time to finalize and release more details.

[BREAK=Misc Information]



This page is dedicated to a couple neat tidbits of information I found around the web about future plans in WoW (mostly related to Cataclysm).

To start off... It seems that Gnomeregan will be retaken before Cataclysm is released.

Achievements like:

Gnomecoming King - You assisted High Tinker Mekkatorque and the Gnomeregan Exiles in the recapture of Gnomeregan's surface.

Gnomecoming Queen - You assisted High Tinker Mekkatorque and the Gnomeregan Exiles in the recapture of Gnomeregan's surface.

Seem to be pretty strong indicators that something is going to happen soon.

Also, it is still a little unsure of what will happen with the Horde, but information has been circling suggesting Trolls will have a big impact on the event.

Troll & Gnome leader appearance updates are other examples of strong indicators that this change is happening very quickly:

Vol'jin:



Mekkatorque:



[BREAK=Gaming MMOments]



I was wondering to myself the other day on how I would go about making these articles not only informative but also a bit more fun for those members who are reading them week after week... Then I remembered how the World of Warcraft community site posts screenshots of characters in-game doing who knows what and I thought "Why not do that here, except for any MMO you play?".

So basically, I'll post a picture here for this week because it is the first one, but after this I will allow users to Private Message me screenshots of their toons and I'll pick one to post in next weeks edition of The Buzz in WoW.

So here it is!

Week #1:

[BREAK=Conclusion]



Well guys, that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed the little update and make sure to check back again for the next installment of this series!

Also, don't forget to submit your screenshots for next time!

Sources:
website 1
website 2
website 3
website 4

Glynbeard

[JD]

Great article mate

[Ground Zero]

Really nice article qhanfag.

[Reflection]

Very nice

[Zantas]

Isn't it patch 3.3.4?

[ßetray]

Isn't it patch 3.3.4?

This.

Also I was thinking of suggesting a SSotD [Screenshot of the Day] sort of thing as well, but looks like you'll be doing SSotW[eek].

[Glynbeard]

I don't play WoW anymore so I no longer have any client on my computer to tell me what rev we are currently on and all my sources told me 3.3.3 and 3.3.5. main source.

[Reflection]

It's 3.3.3. Nothing said about 3.3.4 yet, only 3.3.5.

[Zeroi9]

Hmm, 3.3.5? Didnt Blizzard say Lich King was the last boss before Cataclysm? (I dont want Cata, lol.) Ruby sanctum will be cool.

[Don'tTazeMeBro]

Hmm, 3.3.5? Didnt Blizzard say Lich King was the last boss before Cataclysm? (I dont want Cata, lol.) Ruby sanctum will be cool.

They said he'd be the last WOTLK storyline raid boss.

[Errage]

Source site #2 got censored lul.

[Glynbeard]

Source site #2 got censored lul.

Knew it would, but can't say I didn't try!

[Dr. Cheasterfield]

Great Article, as always.
I think that the real Wow is going to die, such a lot of shits since TLK...