Thursday, December 3, 2009

When's the ***ing Patch Coming Out?

Every Tuesday, it's the same story. You double-click your desktop icon, and your heart begins to beat in double-time. Holding your breath, you wait...and then you sigh. The patch isn't here yet. How many more Tuesdays of this sad story must you suffer through?

WoW Insider thinks you've already seen the last of your patch disappointment. The current rumor is - this sounds familiar - that Patch 3.3 will be available for download this coming Tuesday.

World of Warcraft: Become a Fan

Blizzard's a little late to the party, but no big deal. It's official: you can now become a fan of Warcraft on Facebook. Bliz took so long to get this going, the name World of Warcraft was already taken - so make sure you search for just Warcraft instead of the entire game title.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Calculate Your Talents

Do you really need Natural Reaction? Is Sharpened Claws going to do you any good? You could spend hours re-specing your character, or you could calculate your talents ahead of time.

The Druid Wiki is offering a very handy online calculator that helps you break down your base stats and the bonuses you get from various talent points. Play around with it as much as you like to find the perfect balance of mitigation and damage - it won't cost you any in-game gold to try.

Tank LFG: Are You Ready for that Raid?

Are you ready for that raid? You may want the gear. You may be able to find a group. But you may fail if your stats aren't where they need to be. Check yourself before you make the attempt - and avoid getting lambasted in vent.

To see stats for tanking Naxx, EoE and Uld, refer to Are You Ready to Tank That Yet? For all other Wrath instances, keep reading:

Crusaders' Coliseum, located in the northeast area of Icecrown, can be found at the center of the Argent Tournament Grounds. Tier 9 items drop here.
Trial of the Crusader (ToC): Five encounters playable on 10- and 25-man versions. To tank this, you'll want to see yourself sitting at 36k health at least (unbuffed). Many groups use 3-4 healers for this raid, so survivability is key here. Be sparing with your healing potions and spells and hold out as long as you can to succeed. A high dodge rating (35%+) can help bears avoid some of those blows.
Trial of the Grand Crusader: Hard mode. To successfully tank this, you'll want to have a great understanding of the fights and something very close to 40k health.

Onyxia's Lair is in Dustwallow Marsh, a single-boss fight that was upgraded in a Wrath of the Lich King patch. This instance is playable on 10- and 25-man settings. If you can tank ToC, you should have no problems in Onyxia's Lair.

Upcoming in next patch:

Icecrown Citadel will be found in Icecrown when it's finally released. This will be the end-game Wrath raid and the place where every tank wants to go. Though this raid is still a bit unknown, it's safe to assume that bears will want to get as close to 40/40 (40k HP, 40% dodge) as possible to tank it successfully - anything in excess of this amount will only help.

Bear Tanking Visual Aids: ToC



The bear faces its opponent head-on, using AoE to defeat extra mobs as they pop out, doing everything it needs to do to survive and defeat the enemy. At least...that's what bear tanks do in ToC. Watch the video above to get a better idea of how to tank Trial of the Champion.