With Patch 3.1 looming ever closer (there's a good bet it comes out this Tuesday or the next, but I won't promise to eat a hat it if it doesn't), it's time to examine just how the content will affect our favorite class. The patch is huge, with new features and a massive raid dungeon that should keep us all busy for at least a few months before everyone starts whining about having nothing to do. Except those freaks in Ensidia, maybe, who'll be paid to finish all the content in -- oh -- 27 minutes or something.

For the rest of us, it'll be a brave new world and a time to relearn a few things. First off, we'll all be getting free respecs, which is good because the talent trees have changed considerably, particularly Protection and a bit of Retribution. Holy didn't get shaken up too much, but it did get a solid nerfing, so some Holy Paladins might want to ditch the tree for something else. Or not. Patch 3.1 will also introduce Dual Specs, which will allow players to have two different, toggleable talent trees for the special price of 1,000 Gold. So yeah, Holy Paladins can grumpily keep being Holy with the option to switch to another spec like a Transformer. I suppose the best way to go about this is to look at what's in store for Paladins per spec, so let's get right to it.

HOLY
Blizzard swung the nerf bat hard, and Holy unfortunately got whacked. This is in no small part due to the fact that Holy Paladins dominated Arenas in Season 5, with half a second Holy Lights healing for a gajillion points forcing everyone to rock back and forth in a fetal position sucking their thumbs. Healing Paladins will have to adjust to this change quite a bit, with some baseline talents adjusted, as well.

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So, you're a roleplayer. You may be a deep immersionist, an escapist, or a light roleplayer. But, for whatever reason, you've decided now is your time to go that extra mile. You're not only enjoying what roleplay has to offer but you now want to gather up a group of roleplayers to interact all at once. And you don't just mean in the same Guild. You want to gather them in a single in-game location, at a single in-game time, and all play together. You want to host your own roleplay event.

A lot of the best roleplay events happen spontaneously. The best roleplay event I've recently intended was entirely accidental. Three or four folks were squatting in front of the Eventide bank in Dalaran, chillin' on their riding bears while waiting for the next instance. I thought it was funny, and parked my own white riding bear next to them. And then someone else did. And someone else. Within a few moments, there was a horde of forty or so bears walking through Dalaran. Someone asked "WTF are you guys doing?" Thinking fast, the leader of the procession said "This is an in-character mourning parade, in honor of the fallen Alliance hero." I can't say the name of that hero for fear of spoilers, but I'm sure the readers of ATWAS get the idea. It was awesome, and spontaneous. But that's not usually how events happen.

Usually, someone has to invest time, effort, and even money into formulating the idea, building the event and agenda, and then executing the whole shebang. And don't think that a successful roleplay event doesn't take a lot of time. You'll get out of your event what you put into it. So, let's take a moment this week and talk about what you can do to build your own successful roleplay event.

1. Start with a theme. This may seem like a no-brainer, but if you're going to gather up more than a handful of players, you probably want a reason for them to gather. It doesn't have to be an elaborate, complicated storyline, but you should have a nominal excuse for so many characters to get together.

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World of Raids (WoR) released today quite an Easter treat for all WoW crafters- a comprehensive list of all the new crafting recipes available in the game with the implementation of patch 3.1. Granted, this information can be found elsewhere, but no other site or list gives such a complete overview of all the coming changes at a glance. The list is collapsible and sorted by profession and includes mouse over capabilities for more in-depth information on each recipe. If you are a crafter, or even a WoWenomic speculator, we highly encourage you to take a look at this fantastic resource and plan accordingly.

From a WoWenomics standpoint, we love the ability to quickly see all of required materials for every recipe. Opportunity abounds for the savvy WoW trader. Just looking over the list we can see all the materials that will be in demand when the new patterns start dropping from Ulduar. A few initial observations:

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I worked at Blizzard for close to three years. During my time there I saw a lot of big things happen: the closing of the Console Division and shelfing of Starcraft Ghost, the launch of the first (and second!) World of Warcraft expansion ... and one that some people say is the biggest event in Blizzard's history, Vivendi Games' merger with Activision.

The merger was, of course, a controversial move; and, like any corporate maneuver, it's generated a lot of misunderstandings, misreporting, misinformation ... in general, it's been a flurry of mis-es. It's upsetting and frustrating to see so many people not understand what the merger means and, in turn, form stubborn opinions.

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With Ulduar due to hit in the near future, Tales of a Priest addressed a pretty timely subject for 25-man raiders yesterday with a blog post on Val'anyr and how you're going to assign it. As it's a constructed Legendary like Atiesh rather than being a dropped item like the Warglaives and Thori'dal (sudden thought: why do the caster Legendaries have to be assembled, whereas the melee/ranged Legendaries just drop?), you're going to have to put some time and thought into which one of your healers is going to get this baby first.

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Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win.

Jason writes in about leveling gear for the playtime-challenged:

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Raid Rx has returned from retirement! 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 new WoW blog for all things UI, macro, and addon related. Ulduar is almost here! Are you prepared?

The patch for Ulduar is imminent. There's no release date yet. Personally I believe it will land sometime this month. Healing assignments has just gotten more complicated. Incoming damage is more than what's currently in the game. To cap it all off, mana regen's been slightly nerfed.

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Funny Money is a weekly column published at the end of the week with the intent to have a little fun with the world of finance. Every weekend we’ll bring you a financial quote, a song relating to money, something interesting from the real world of business and a quick WoW gold making tip. Read on and have some fun…

Money Quote

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I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend! I have a nice list to help you kick-start your day. Unfortunately, it seems that Cru the Dwarf will not be updating this week, due to technical difficulties. The featured photo is not of his computer, but it seems he will need a new one before the comic can resume. In the meantime, you can donate, or express your overwhelming sorrow!

Dark Legacy Comics: Common Descent.

Experience Points: Murlocs vs. Fries.

Extra Life: It's all made of ones and zeros.

Flintlocke vs the Horde: War Party part 2.

Shakes and Fidget: Practice Makes Perfect.

Check out the latest from LFG.

Wolfslatoxx from NoObz. I love that little robotic dude.

NPC: Purple Death Puddles.

Teh Gladiators: Double Trouble.

The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf: Standing Out.

World of Warcraft, eh? It's like, totally In the Nick of Time.

A Chip Off the Ulduar Block is the counterpart to Jack Me Some Lumber, which we talked about a couple of days ago. This time around we need to gather up some stone to be used in building the coliseum. It's another Goblin quest, so naturally this stone must come from the most morally questionable location possible. This time around we're plundering Titan ruins.

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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@wowinsider.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, double-mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

Gallery: Around Azeroth

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Patch 3.1 - New Profession Recipes

The page for all of the new profession recipes in 3.1 is now available in the guide section.

Sarharion +3 Drakes Speed Kill - 59 Seconds

This is quite likely a new record for Sartharion +3 Drakes speed kills.  E V O of EU-Shattered Hand killed the 10-player version of Sartharion with all 3 drakes up in 59 seconds.  And for those curious, it's something Blizzard would normally fix.

E V O Sartharion +3 Drakes Speed Kill

WWS Report - 56279 Raid DPS

Player Spec DPS Player Spec DPS

Volvic	Fury	8863	Laozuzong	Subtlety	6337
Iceblué	Blood	7357	Onlyn	Blood	5988
Nonohoshi	Blood	6687	Hyesung	Enhancement	5218
Tmdhot	Fury	6388	Windmvn	Blood	5040
Tank: Crazydd			Healer:  Laoz

Blue Posts

Balancing the game in a "fishbowl" (Source)

I'm not sure I follow why you call that a fishbowl. Usually when I hear that term, it is in reference to something that takes place very publicly. If we balanced in a fishbowl, you might be able to see all of the changes as we made them and why we made them. Many players ask for more transparency in the process, which suggests the fishbowl comparison isn't widely shared... unless I misunderstood your metaphor.

We don't balance around best in slot items, though my impression is the community cares much more about that. Most of our PvE balance is concerned about whether the group can beat the boss, and whether some members are contributing too much or not enough to that experience. Very, very few raids have all best in slot items (otherwise you kind of wonder why they are still raiding). We need to know the maximum theoretical dps (in this case), and how characters will scale with better gear, but we also need to know what classes will do with introductory levels of gear too.

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I won't mention the actual story so as to avoid spoiling fellow current or future fans, but in a certain non-Warcraft related story I am reading, a character seems to have died in the latest chapter I've read. It happens, but this character was easily my favorite in the series, so I'm sort of bummed more than usual at seeing a fictional character die. I've queued up my melancholy song playlist on Winamp and everything.

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You know that little warning window that pops up when you attempt to buyout an item in the auction house? The one that says “Buyout auction for:” and the amount of gold you’re about to spend? Have you noticed that you don’t see this warning when bidding on, and not buying out, an item? Well others notice the warning too. In fact, the mere existence of such an alert is bound to turn off some buyers. The warning gives them a last chance to second guess their purchase and use that final moment to change their minds. Now, obviously not everyone will change his or her mind. It goes without saying that many of us are pretty sure that when we attempt to buyout an item we mean to do just that and purchase it outright- no second guessing required. But here’s the thing, it does stop some people, some times, from buying out an item. Every time this happens it is another lost sale. Why give your buyers a chance to change their minds? Why encourage buyer’s remorse?

It can be summed up with this simple, WoWenomics philosophy: sell items for an amount that is both reasonable (i.e. a price at which you can expect it to sell) and profitable (the means of attaining the item were cheaper than the price you wish to sell for). If the price is both reasonable and profitable, set it at that price. Setting a bid lower than the price you actually wish to sell it for is self-defeating in that it can, and often will, result in selling an item for a low price.

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