Patch 3.3 - PTR Notes Update 11/05
The official notes have been updated to reflect changes from today's build. Also included an update from 2 days ago that I never had the time to report.
Quote from Blizzard staffPvP
Arenas

• All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.


[Expand 6 Lists]

Okay, how did we miss this?

We've been wondering about the level of change in each old-world zone for Cataclysm for months now, and the answer has actually been under our noses since BlizzCon. During the Art Panel, the above planning map was shown, along with some information to either side of it. We can't make out everything in it, but there's a lot of information if you know what you're looking at.

[View Remaining 6 Paragraphs]

New patch notes have been release for the patch 3.3 PTR. The changes present in this iteration of the notes will be active when the PTR comes up this evening after the latest patch is applied to your client. While there are a handful of changes to a few classes, there are two major areas which everyone will be talking about for a few days.

[View Remaining 3 Paragraphs]

Blizzard poster Rishgur has announced emergency downtime for select realms, starting at 3:00 a.m. PDT / 6:00 a.m. EST Friday morning and lasting approximately four hours until 7:00 a.m. PST / 10:00 a.m. EST.

[View Remaining 2 Paragraphs]

Welcome back to the Scattered Shots, the weekly World of Warcraft Hunter class column. This week we continue our "So you want to be a hunter" leveling series as we look at Levels 60-70 and see why I really feel they're the best class in the game. So join me, Eddie Carrington, Brigwyn from The Hunting Lodge blog and podcast, as we explore what's in store for us hunters.

Maybe one day hunters being able to tame duids as their very own pet. Wouldn't that be awesome? I want to thank Dwarffinator and Lissana of Restokin.com for making this picture and sending it in for me to use.

[Expand 12 Paragraphs]

Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.

We've let reader votes seed the battles for the next bracket of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves, which leads straight away to this epic pairing: Keristrasza (The Nexus) versus Ley-Guardian Eregos (The Oculus). To get these two into the Two Bosses Thunderdome, we're going to stage a jailbreak. The two dragons will meet in the swirling skies above The Nexus. We'll remove the drake-riding mechanic from the encounter - there's enough draconic blood here already, don't you think?

[Expand 2 Paragraphs]

The most recent patch notes answered something I've been wondering about the "summon-from-anywhere" LFG system since I first heard about it: what happens if you get summoned into an instance and then you leave? The answer, apparently, is that you go not to the instance's entry portal, but instead you get sent right back out from whence you came. That's a bummer and a benefit -- unfortunately, you won't be able to use the feature to do any cross-world teleporting (leaving Violet Hold, for example, won't work as an extra hearthstone to Dalaran), but on the other hand, you won't have to stop what you're doing wherever you are.

[View Remaining 1 Paragraphs]

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about leveling a rogue from level 51 to level 70.

If you've ever leveled a rogue (or really any class) to 80 before, you know that there's certain spots in the leveling curve that can get downright boring. We play like a "dual wielding warrior" far too often, preferring to simply walk up to enemies and Slice and Dice our way to a kill. Rogues have a variety of skills, but it seems like Sinister Strike is really the only one worth pushing. Where's the fun in spamming one ability mindlessly until the enemy falls over from boredom?

[Expand 5 Paragraphs]

Tier-10 Armor Sneak Preview: Paladin & Priest
Hurray, the paladin set is now pretty much confirmed and the priests got a hood on their set.

[View Remaining 2 Paragraphs]

We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• Restokin answers a popular set of healing questions floating around the intertubes.
• WoW Relief has a good point about the new microtransaction pets and Blizzard's history with Make-a-Wish.
• Altadin: 25 divided by 10.
• Stormstrike sits down with an interview of the developer behind Gear Score.


[View Remaining 1 Lists]

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today's edition of The Queue is gifted to you by my horrifying toothache that has kept me awake at ridiculous times of the day for the past week. You can thank the toothache for this article, because otherwise I may have done something healthy instead, such as sleep.

[Expand 5 Paragraphs]

Those vicious and despicable malware authors are targeting gamers, according to BBC.

I know, big whoop, right?

[View Remaining 3 Paragraphs]

Because those guys at Blizzard have a wonderful sense of humor as well as an unerring knack of dangling the right carrots in front of players' proverbial horses, they've come up with the most adorable little pet to entice everyone to try out the new dungeon system to be implemented in patch 3.3. Called the Perky Pug, this elusive and adorable little fellow is rewarded to players who group with other random players using the new dungeon system. According to the patch notes, "the more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained."

That means the process can actually be pretty painful. It's kind of like playing Russian Roulette, except that instead of one bullet, you can possibly have four. And instead of bullets you have inept, or badly geared, or socially abrasive (or combinations of all three) players. And instead of your head, it's your... well, okay, it's still your head that can get pretty messed up.

[View Remaining 3 Paragraphs]

Blizzard has been a little slow with their drip of Tier 10 previews -- those who visit MMO-Champion, for example, have known what the Patch 3.3 priest and paladin sets look like for a week or more -- but it's still nice that they're trying. With that in mind, the official Tier 10 preview page was updated today, adding the priest and paladin sets. Well, the priest set, anyway -- it looks like the paladin one is actually next season's paladin PVP set -- so you paladins'll have to wait a little longer to see the official pictures of your Texas oilman/Spanish conquistador set. But at least you guys have something to look at, unlike shamans, who'll undoubtedly have to wait until the end of the PTR cycle to see what combination of exploding rocks and chains we've got for our shoulders this time.

[View Remaining 1 Paragraphs]

Origano is back with the third installment of The Achiever. This episode features similar Achievement-fetching exploits as the first two, but it's definitely starting to come up a notch. As a nice bit of continuity, the new installment is voice-acted by Farinar, who you might recall from Dr. McNab Destroys Halloween yesterday. The Achiever 3 - Going Down! also enjoys a guest appearance by Whowho, one of the bloggers over at the Myndflame site.

I think Origano is getting better and better. He's resolved the challenges he had with a muddled soundtrack, and all the dialogue is crisp, clear, and easily understood. I also think the humor is stronger than before, especially now that he's grown the plot with a rival gameshow.

[View Remaining 3 Paragraphs]

Well Blizzard has finally done it. After charging only for out-of-game services like faction changes and character customization, with the release of in-game pets on the Blizzard store, they've finally moved on to selling virtual items for real money. And there's a word, dirty in the mouths of some, that's floating around that some of you may not have heard or understood before: microtransactions. We wouldn't blame you -- some of our own staff didn't even know what they were just a little while ago. But with the decision to sell in-game items for straight cash, Blizzard has entered the fascinating and treacherous world of microtransactions. And if you're going to follow them off into this world, you might as well at least know what they're all about.

And so, we're here to help. Whether you've never heard of microtransactions before, you're convinced that they're the devil and that Blizzard has grown too greedy for their own good, or you can't wait to open up your wallet and get a Pandaren Monk to follow you around, let's take a second and look at the history of the microtransaction model, what it means that Blizzard made this decision, and what might happen to the game in the future.

[Expand 2 Paragraphs]

If you're a resident of the United States, Canada, or New Zealand, kindly whack yourself on the head as a show of solidarity for other players who don't qualify for the World of Warcraft Five Year Anniversary Sweepstakes. If you are a resident of the aforementioned countries or are some Asian or European or Other-Unqualified-Country-an willing to subject themselves to a little geek envy, then read on. Our favorite game turns five this November 23, 2009, and to celebrate, Blizzard is giving away a whole bunch of swag every week for the next four weeks.

Essentially, as long as you're a player whose account is active when they pull your name out of a kodo-skin hat and hasn't gotten into trouble for breaking the EULA, you're automatically entered in the sweepstakes. Players qualify for certain prizes depending on how long they've been playing the game. Check out the list of prizes and player eligibility after the jump.

[View Remaining 6 Paragraphs]

Everyone needs a binky sometimes, even miniature Scourge leaders. We've been getting a lot of pictures featuring Blizzard's new pay-per-pets, including this submission from Loz of Terenas-EU. "Kel'Thuzad's reputation has had an effect on Lil K.T, and he's finding it hard to make friends," Loz writes. "I decided to make him a doll as he keeps freezing and killing all of the other animals he finds ... but I don't think the doll likes him either."

[View Remaining 2 Paragraphs]

Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.

Your favorites are back! Readers voted this past week to bring back three combatants who hadn't made it through the second bracket in this season of Two Bosses Enter. Earning fresh berths as the battles continue are:

Loken (Halls of Lightning), 401 votes

King Dred (Drak'tharon Keep), 380 votes

Ley-Guardian Eregos (The Oculus), 167 votes

Fans of Eck the Ferocious landed just short of earning the little gorloc another bid, bounding in with 162 votes. Join us after the break for a complete list of fourth-bracket matches in this season of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves.

[Expand 2 Paragraphs]

In-case you missed it, which really is only possible if you were living under a rock or had something else going on, yesterday's news was some of the largest out of WoW this year. Blizzard is now allowing you to purchase in-game pets for real life money through the Blizzard store. There are two pets, pictured about, available for sale now. The Pandaren Monk and Lil K'T'. Both pets cost $10, and the Pandaren Monk will see 50% of its sale price go towards the Make-a-Wish foundation (for the remainder of the year).

This firmly brings WoW into the arena of microtransactions -- purchasing in-game items for real life money. Some games, not WoW, allow you purchase items which make you stronger in the game. Other games, like WoW, allow the purchase of vanity items, such as these pets, which do nothing other than look cool or count towards vanity achievements. Some people really don't like this model of gaming, others are indifferent, and others are in love with it.

[View Remaining 3 Paragraphs]