In World of Warcraft: The holy paladin checklist

In World of Warcraft: The holy paladin checklist Way back in the day, before any of us had the opportunity to actually play the game, Blizzard was in the process of developing the classes of WoW. Rogues were designed to be sneaky stabbers and priests were based around doing heal-y things. Shamans and paladins were created to be in direct opposition to each other. The designated shaman archetype was the offensive hybrid, giving their friends extra damage potential and eventually Bloodlust. Paladins were the antonym, created to help defend their raid and party from damage and to provide useful buffs. While much of the original intentions have been diluted via homogenization, paladins are still the ultimate defensive class. Unfortunately, in order to perform our role in the face of constantly changing opponents and venues, our toolbox of abilities has become fairly large. We’ve got a utility spell for nearly every situation, and there are a vast number of situations out there. The key to being an effective paladin is to do your homework and to come prepared. Get your buffs right While Cataclysm is halving our Blessing count from four to two, making it incredibly simple to

Cataclysm achievements FAQ

Cataclysm achievements FAQ Having polished off the 25 most evil and 25 most entertaining achievements from Wrath of the Lich King, it’s time to take a look at what awaits us in the future. Trying to suss out what’s going on with Cataclysm  beta achievements right now is a little tough because there are a lot of things that haven’t been implemented yet, but I’m going to answer as many of our most frequently asked questions as I can today. As on the PTR, characters on the beta copy over without most of their achievement history, and it’s a little weird to see yourself toting around stuff like the Loremaster achievement without actually having its prerequisites. Anyway, keep in mind that this is a snapshot of what we know in beta build 12803, and I don’t believe that Blizzard’s added most of the Cataclysm-related achievements yet. What’s happening to Loremaster? I get this more than any other question. Loremaster is still very much in the game, but Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) has confirmed that the number of quests required for it will change. Whether this will occur in the Cataclysm content patch or on release, I

World of Warcraft Raid Rx: Striving for healing parity

Raid help informations as fellow: Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Okay, so I completely blew the call last week on druids getting some extra healing spells. Whoops! Now that the paladin changes have been released this week, the healing community has had a chance to digest the new direction we’re going in. Actually, come to think of it, it appears that all healing classes are approaching the same direction. A few players quipped if the four healing classes would eventually become clones of each other in the sixth expansion of WoW. The parity is there, no doubt about it. At the same time, I still think that there are enough differences to render each healing style unique. Obviously there is going to be some overlap, but that’s mainly to help make life easy for players. Wait until you listen to this story I have … Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. You might have experienced it or have known someone who has been on the receiving end. The other day, I’m relaxing

Sam Raimi thinks a Warcraft movie has potential

The hottest topic that didn’t get discussed at BlizzCon this year was the WoW movie — last year, we had a whole panel dedicated to how it was going, but this year, all we got was a vague mention that it’s still being worked on. Still, the biggest question that hangs in the air is just who might direct it, and we’ve got our first rumor: Sam Raimi, he of Spiderman and The Evil Dead series. He’s not exactly hired yet, but he is quoted by MTV Movies as being interested in the Warcraft story and universe. He’s got my greenlight — I don’t know how good a movie it would be (Spiderman 3 is proof that Raimi, quirky as he is, can go off the rails at times), but any movie with Bruce Campbell in it works for me. And you know we’d get at least a cameo if Raimi took the helm. But at the very least, it sounds like Raimi has the right ideas to get a Warcraft movie together: “It has such great, adventurous characters in it,” he says, “and such fantastic landscapes and rules.” If you’re going to start looking for directors, you could definitely do a lot worse. At least we know Uwe Boll will never direct it.

Reminder: Bank alt submissions due

This is a reminder that submissions for the bank alt screenshot contest are due tomorrow, Wednesday January 27th by 11:59 p.m. EST. E-mail your submissions to dawn@wow.com. This is your chance to flaunt your WoW fashion to the rest of the community, and possibly win fabulous prizes in the process. Please make sure your submissions are in a .jpg, .png, or .gif format, and if your bank alt is a higher level character, make a note in your e-mail.

Night elf mohawk: Gone!

Thank goodness! Anyone else relieved that this funky device is removed from the game? I have to admit, I wasn’t a big fan of the big head look. I’ve been “pitied” many times by random players (and even those in my own guild). Dwarves and mohawks just don’t seem to mix. In any case, Crygil has confirmed that the mohawk grenade will not be around any longer. Ever since the grenade became active on servers back in November, I couldn’t walk around Dalaran without seeing large heads everywhere. Is this the last time we’ll ever see Mr. T plant these grenades in game for players to use? Somehow, I have a hunch that this won’t be the last time we’ll see mohawks in game.

WoW Moviewatch: I Kissed An Orc

Sharm’s I Kissed An Orc was stuck in my head for days after I heard it. I admittedly spammed it on Trade channel, in Wintergrasp, and even in an Icecrown Citadel. Sharm’s outstanding voice and flair for effect parody makes I Kissed An Orc a solid, outstanding WoW song. Sharm’s musical talent is absolutely amazing. The music video was created by Millinia93. The video does good things for the song, and flows very well with the tempo and lyrics. The only real complaint is that the subtitles could have used a tad more polish, since the apostraphes could be a little distracting. (I’m used to the plural nickname for Alliance being Allies instead of Ally’s, for example.) Still, a lot of that is a stylistic choice, and Millinia’s work was ultimately impressive. I’ll close with the obvious joke that this parody is likely to become Jaina Proudmoore’s theme song.

The Classifieds: WoW player/MMA fighter on the mend

The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. In news from the WoW community, guildmates of MMA grappler Haydn Clasby, aka Croc of <Defiant Hearts>, US Bloodscalp-H, are rallying in support after he suffered a broken neck in what was called a freak accident during a match in New Zealand last month. Friends and fans are publicizing a Recovery Fund to help Croc out with the medical costs of the devastating accident. Our friend Jens “Little Evil” Pulver, also an MMA fighter and inveterate WoW player (and seen in yesterday’s 15 Minutes of Fame), offered these words of support for Croc: “My heart and thoughts go out to you, brother. Make sure you keep your spirits up and tackle this with the same grit and guts you used to get in there in the first place. Take the time to heal and get well soon. Chin down, hands up and always come out fighting; don’t let this stop you. I wish you all the best.” Best wishes, Croc, for your continued recovery! Let’s open up The Classifieds

Around Azeroth: Let us prey

Attention worshippers: your god is vastly inferior to the insect god. With eight legs, it can light fires, smite unbelievers, and deliver commandments with maximum efficiency. It also has the ability to paralyze and devour competing deities, which your run-of-the-mill supreme being lacks. All bow to the insect god! (Thanks to Krem for this Old Kingdom screenshot.) Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val’kyr on mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

All the World’s a Stage: A rose by any name

It could be considered a small, fine point, but I’ve always been a stickler about naming my characters. I’ve been known to sit around for days, repeatedly rerolling and renaming the same character until something clicks just right. I just can’t bring myself to play a character if the name doesn’t line up. For better or for worse, we only have a few basic customizable options for our character, so the name tag provides the first hints about our character to other players. If the first impression about your character is delivered by the name you’ve chosen, it becomes the most customizable aspect of your character. If you use one of the many mods that let you use a surname, then you’ll even have two names to choose from. But, for the purposes of this article, let’s just stick to the single word that everyone sees. Take a look behind the jump, and let’s discuss some tips for naming your character. 1. Avoid names that draw from overplayed concepts, like “Death,” “Rose,” or “Night.” Experienced roleplayers often groan when they see a new Death Knight waltz into the local tavern rocking out the name