Mastery System Preview
Quote from: Eyonix (Source)Last week, we gave you an early look at the changes we’re making to the stat system in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and explained how these changes will ultimately provide players with more interesting gear choices and make stats easier to understand. Today we’d like to go into more detail about a brand-new feature that’s an integral part of this overhaul: the Mastery system, a set of new game mechanics designed to allow players to become better at what makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. With this system, we want to accomplish three things: give players more freedom in how they allocate talent points, simplify some of the “kitchen sinky” talents that try to do too much at once, and add a new stat to high-level gear that makes you better at your chosen role.

Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage, healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree. The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that tree -- meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear.

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Perennial pariahs Goon Squad, Horde-side on Mal'Ganis-US, have really carved out a niche for themselves in the World of Warcraft. Well, two niches. The first is a rock-solid reputation of being the foremost trolls and griefers in the MMO market, period -- a reputation perpetuated by a community that operates mostly on word-of-mouth and lovingly crafted by the guild itself. The second is providing some of the best and most hilarious WoW videos on the internet. This one is no exception -- they managed to score a victory for the Lich King by defeating the dread paladin Fordring.

It's a rare ability, possessed by Goon Squad and a few other community figures, to be able to take the building blocks of the game experience provided by Blizzard -- strictly compartmentalized and defined by sets of incontrovertible rules -- and then cobble together something wholly new and, frankly, ridiculous out of them. You're not supposed to be able to bring together two often-'shipped faction leaders for an impromptu date. You're not supposed to be able to blow the Wintergrasp fortress wall to smithereens in a minute's time. You're certainly not supposed to be able to kill the head of the Argent Crusade who, by the way, should learn to cast Consecrate.

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After the break, the Mastery System Preview from Blizzard.

This post is currently being edited.

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Every Monday evening we'll be putting out a big long list of WoW podcasts that were published the week (and weekend) before. This is the first edition of the list, so we're probably missing a few -- although our Twitter friends were very helpful in making sure we were complete as possible!

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MMO Champion's got the goods on an upcoming build of patch 3.3.3.

Mounts and pets

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The Spawn got her Wind Rider Cub on Friday and it has since been slept with, rained on and taken for a ride with Barbie. His name is now Lionel and he has become good friends with Murky the Murloc. Together they embark on great adventures and battle the nefarious deeds of the Darth Vader Happy Meal toy. (Don't get me started on the fact that McDonalds believes that Star Wars is for boys and iCarly is for girls. Seriously.)

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Patch 3.3.3 - PTR Build 11643
A new build has been deployed on test realms. So far it doesn't look like there are a lot of changes out there but stay tuned, test realms can be full of surprises!

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Each week Dominic Hobbs brings you Blood Pact. "Alert! You are marked for extermination! Calculating force parameters... Alternative measure commencing..." ~ Void Reaver

Having been a raid leader for a long time now, I'm very keen for everyone in my raids to be aware of the strategy we plan to execute. I get pretty frustrated when people deviate from it. I'm also interested in the theory and maths involved in maximizing gear choices and spell selections. When changes to warlock spell mechanics come along I always try and calculate the impact this would have on my gameplay -- and then do some research to find out what I missed or miscalculated. I believe that entering a boss fight with these things prepared is the foundation of good raiding.

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Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press.

The "A Team" -- in WoW, it's not a bunch of guys in a van who help people by . . . shooting other people. Rather, it's your best players grouped together to the exclusion of other guild members. Most guilds don't have the numbers to fill two 25-player teams, so this issue usually relates to 10-player runs. The forming of a 10-player A team can be riddled with drama. This week's e-mail asks whether allowing an A team is the right choice.

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The WoW Insider Show podcast broadcast this Saturday, and your hosts Sacco and Rossi welcomed UI/addon columnist Mat McCurley on the show to talk about Cataclysm's big stat overhaul and the latest authenticator attacks, as well as answer some reader emails and talk about chest hair.

Get the podcast:

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Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

Reader Frank recently wrote me and asked for a bit of help with the "staple" products for each profession. Frank said, "Back in the days of Burning Crusade, I had a pretty good grip on the two or three raw materials that went across each of the professions. Are there equivalents to that kind of thing now in Wrath?" I assume that Frank was probably asking specifically about the crafting professions (like Blacksmithing or Tailoring), and not quite so much the gathering professions. A little surprisingly, he's not the only person to ask me about that this month.

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Wowcrendor's back with another installment of his satirical How-to series. This episode is focused on the wide world of crafters and gatherers, with How To Win At WoW Professions. Don't worry -- it's really hard to actually win at professions, so you can think of this videos as something more like "how to get the most out of it."

My favorite bits of this video actually highlights one of my personal issues with crafting. At the opening of an expansion, crafted items are really quite important. They help you bootstrap yourself into the new raiding content and give you a little bit of a leg up. Late in the expansions, however, crafted gear is rendered almost irrelevant to progression. (Or, at least, only mildly relevant, and even then they rely on getting raiding reputations to even make the better gear.)

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Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week Frostheim uses logic and science mixed with a few mugs of Dwarven Stout to look deep into the Hunter class.

I don't know whether it's from charity or curiosity, but I often spend time talking with the sad and dispossessed members of WoW, which is to say, other classes. In one conversation I thought we had found a common ground: the trials and troubles of choosing gear. Any kinship I may have felt, however, shattered when they started complaining about having five (or only four) different stats to compare.

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

If you understand what those numbers mean... then, well... it's time for a drink -- no matter what time of day it is.

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With the number of mounts, vanity pets and summonable creatures in WoW, it's surprising that we don't see more incidents like this one. Aéro of <Vendetta> on Fizzcrank is having trouble keeping her newly acquired wolf mount from devouring her phoenix pet. She's not just looking out for the safety of the bird -- those phoenixes can cause a heck of a case of heartburn if they ignite on the way through the wolf's esophagus.

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The weeks starts slowly because it's pretty hard to connect to the PTR these days, hopefully we will see a new PTR build very soon to fix the current issues.

Is Patch 3.3.3 going live this week?
Not a chance. The last 2 ptr builds were fairly unstable and Blizzard would never risk pushing it live this week, especially with some of the developers and lead developers attending the GDC in San Francisco this week.

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One of the good and bad aspects of an MMO is that it is a form of storytelling that does not really end in the same way that a consistent narrative does. A novel, a movie, even a single player RPG can have a climax in a way that a MMO like World of Warcraft simply cannot. Killing the Lich King isn't the end of the story, it's merely a chapter coming to a close in a saga that just keeps rolling along. Given enough time and the momentum of such a thing becomes its own literary device, effectively, as you know you'll be facing something new before the body of your current antagonist has a chance to cool down. (Of course, since you'll be rifling through his or her pants for some loot, how cool was it really going to get?)

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by e-mailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

If your ticket to a heart-pumping raid soundtrack is MrVoletron's WoW-flavored remixes, then you'll undoubtedly be a fan of Vedrim as well. (In point of fact, MrVoletron's a fan, too.) Vedrim's "Bound by Bone" (above) weaves an irresistible combination of original music with Marrowgar's booming in-game commands. You'll never again fight Marrowgar without this song in your head. Follow our interview with Vedrim through the break, where we'll also show you his newest track, "The Maker's Fire."

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Every Sunday, Chase Christian of The Light and How to Swing It invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. This week, we examine the holy paladin Tier 10 set and its bonuses.

As my guild and I have been conquering Icecrown Citadel, I find myself with a glut of Emblems of Frost. While my rogue is diligently saving up for some of the sweet rewards, my holy paladin can't even find a use for the new libram. While I did stop for a minute to consider picking up some off spec gear, I also couldn't bring myself to part with these hard-earned Emblems for a non-holy piece. What are we to do with all of the excess?

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