Saturday, September 30, 2006

Preliminary Harvest Festival Data

Sometime last night Blizzard released information about a "new" event. Here's the Official Harvest Festival page. It says the event will run from October 3 through 9.

I've been doing some research and was surprised to see how much information was available for something that hasn't happened yet. This comment on thottbot seemed to explain a lot.

...it was Primarily intended for the Korean players, but that it was made active Globally.

So given some of the changing information available, I'd like to be clear that all of this is preliminary data only.

Foods Available At the Harvest
These seem to be available for lower level characters - they would be right outside of Orgrimmar and Iron Forge:
Harvest Boar
Harvest Nectar
Harvest Fruit
Harvest Fish

Higher Level Quests
For higher level characters there are quests to honor specific heroes:
FactionHonorsLocationRewards
Alliance
Quest
Uther Lightbringer Western Plaguelands
52,83
For the Light!*
Horde
Quest
Grom Hellscream Demon Fall Canyon,
Ashenvale
83,78
Horde's Hellscream*


* The books appear to have no use other than as a tribute.

The Quests

  • Pick up the quest outside of IF or Orgrimmar. Travel to the monument/tomb.
  • Around the monument and tomb are level 29-30 ish mobs.
  • Place the tribute (received from the quest giver) at the tomb.

Expect 6,600 xp for the quests and 200 faction honor. A few days later in the mail you will also receive Bread and/or Water with 2%/25 seconds health/mana restoration. (But they are conjured so may disappear.)

More Links:
Wowwiki Harvest Festival Page

Friday, September 29, 2006

Topper McNabb

It seems things keep getting worse and worse for Topper McNabb. I caught this sight of him and the corpses of many rats in the alleys of Stormwind. Say it isn't so Topper...



How many innocent rats have to die before someone gives this man a hamburger?

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Giant Clams and Treasure

I'm swimming from point A to point B. I'm doing a mission in water. I'm picking up some Stranglekelp (actually most of the time it's that one). For whatever purpose I'm in the water, I love finding the undersea version of a treasure chest.... the Giant Clam:



It's not exactly treasure inside, just some clam meat, although there is the occasional pearl. This WoWWiki Link shows in an easy format which areas drop which kinds of pearls.

You may know about the Dwarf racial talent to find treasure. Well, it identifies not only treasure chests, but also clams.

Here's a photo montage of my adventure trying to establish that my dwarf's treasure finding skill will indeed find the clams:



Oh yeah, don't forget about the reef sharks. The picture above is from Westfall. An elite level 22 (very high end for Westfall) patrols the edge of the reef. How's that for a deadly surprise? And here I thought doing my duty in Westfall was killing those roaming elementals.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Guild History

To me, afkgamer is like Guild TV. It's a funny (and colorful) blog where the author often describes the Guild Drama he sees in his WoW guild.

One thing I learned from reading Foton (the author) is that a guild leader should consider keeping track of player guild applications to other guilds.

One thing I learned from my brother last weekend, is that anyone can look up what guilds players used to be in.

Check out this link: http://www.warcraftrealms.com/charhistory.php

You can learn:

  • What Guilds a Player used to be in
  • If a player name is already taken on your server
  • If a guild name is already taken on your server
  • How fascinated players are with Harry Potter


  • Harry Potter?

    Yup. Run a few searches on SiriusBlack, Order of the Phoenix, Hogwarts, etc... and see what you think.

    Tuesday, September 26, 2006

    I'm Expecting! (So are you)

    Baby Draenei and Baby Blood Elf
    I know that once the Burning Crusade comes out, I'll be playing it. Chances are that you will too.

    What preparations are you making in anticipation of your new baby Draenei or Blood Elf?

    Individual play styles will change how we all prepare for new character(s), of course. But I thought I'd offer some suggestions based on my style and readings:

    Character Slot

  • Make room on your preferred server by deleting unused alts
  • Select name(s)
  • If desired reserve a preferred name for your future character by creating a placeholder Alt with that name (which you will have to delete later of course)


  • Tools & Equipment
  • Buy Bags (preferrably Traveler's Backpack, Mooncloth Bags and/or Profession Bags)
  • Save Money for training, bank slots, flying, mounts, flying mounts, ...
  • Save up materials & recipes for Profession Leveling; perhaps ore or gems for your budding Draenei Jewelcrafter (+15 to Jewelcrafting) to raise his or her level in mining and jewelcrafting? or enchanting materials (or disenchanting fodder) for your new Blood Elf (+15 to Enchanting)
  • Buy your preferred Armor or Weaponry (for me... I bought some blue wands of course).
  • Save up those transferable Quest or Faction items like Blue Pearls or Un'Goro Soil. (Focusing on quests for levels 20+ after you leave the new Burning Crusade areas.)


  • Other
  • Decide on your Burning Crusade Spells & Talents
  • Look over the mods that might be appropriate for your first Shaman or Paladin
  • Check out your World of Warcraft Account to make sure you're in the subscription plan that makes sense for you.
  • Monday, September 25, 2006

    BC Dance Music Video

    I thought this video did a good job showing some of the Burning Crusade Dance Moves in a simple yet entertaining way.



    Although it could definitely use some clothes.

    Saturday, September 23, 2006

    Blog Name Change

    Okay, a brief bit of history.

    I started playing World of Warcraft with the friends I had gained in Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). We all came to WoW together. But we later went different ways due to different play styles.

    So I thought I could change the purpose of the blog (originally intended to be CasualWoW) to be a vehicle for us all to keep playing differently but still post about our experiences and laugh about them together. (We had done this via email previously.) So I renamed it.

    All Your Blog Are Belong To Us
    I named it All Your Blog because it reminded me of the fun times we had in SWG, where I first saw the term. We had five Imperial Bases that we defended in our guild. (Yes, I actually engaged in PVP back in the day.) When we started adding player housing someone named their house "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US." I thought it was hysterical. (I also thought it had to do with our bases. It didn't.) One of my kind friends explained it to me. (Read about the origin on Wikipedia.)

    The name seemed appropriate because:

  • I love a good snowclone
  • It reminded me of the good times I was trying to preserve (recreate?) from SWG
  • It was intended to literally be a Blog about Us


  • But alas, the idea was a bust. No interest. Yet I still clung to the name. I think, though, that after 9 months it's time to give up. I'm going back to "Casual WoW." It is more to the spirit of what the blog is about. You should be seeing the name change slowly pop up on the site, on the feed, etc...


    Old Name: ALL YOUR BLOG ARE BELONG TO US
    New Name: Casual WoW

    Bind on Pickup Recipes

    A while back (this was pre-blog) I was playing with my tailor (a rogue who was a tailor and a leatherworker) and made a Robe of Power. Well the joke was on me. It's a "Bind on Pickup" (BoP) Recipe. Which means that only the maker can wear it. Well, I know that nooooow. It turned into a very expensive skill point.

    So I spent some time on thottbot and culled out all the Bind on Pickup Recipes I could find:

    Tailoring
    Robe of Power - Tailoring 190 (Requires Level 33)
    Robe of the Void - Tailoring: 300 - Class: Warlock (Level 57)
    Truefaith Vestments - Tailoring: 300 - Class Priest (Level 57)
    Robe of the Archmage - Tailoring: 300 - Class: Mage (Level 57)



    Blacksmithing
    Dark Iron Plate - Blacksmithing: 285 - Plate (Level 54)


    Enchanting
    Smoking Heart of the Mountain - Enchanting: 265 - Trinket (Level 50)



    Updated 2/11/2008: Plus Lootables has information on BoP Recipes or Items for:

    Thursday, September 21, 2006

    Bloodpetal Sprout

    I am probably atypical, but I enjoy Gathering Quests. In Un'Goro crater there's a repeatable quest for the beast of burden Dadanga (Dadanga is Hungry!). I know the quest reward is weak, but I like it because it's always a mystery. You don't know what you'll get in his gift pack. So this is one of my favorite quests because of these features:

    • Gathering
    • Repeatable
    • Surprise Gift
    That said, have you ever looked closely at that sprout? Take a gander:



    Is it me or is that one unhappy sprout?

    Wednesday, September 20, 2006

    WoW and ADD

    Today is ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) Awareness day. So I thought I'd describe how my having ADD affects me, the blog and WoW. This is not to say that everyone with ADD or ADHD plays World of Warcraft or writes their blog with the same quirks that I do. But I thought this might be helpful (for me at least).

    Writing Posts
    Essentially I write posts in the same way that I would want to read them. Easy. I'm surprised that more ADD writers don't do the same. You will find my posts generally adhere to the following:
    DarkHoodSays

  • Relatively short in length (like I said, generally adhere).
  • No long text walls.
  • Break it up and provide structure with Tables and Bullets. (Example: Children's Week)
  • Use pictures to tell the story (Example: How To Unlearn a Profession)
  • Where possible use headers to explain what I'm writing. (Example: Patch Feedback)
  • Use colored text to highlight concepts. (Example: Patch Notes)
  • Combine all of the above to get the message across assuming that readers spend only 5 seconds reading the post. How can I help them capture the message in that time?

  • Also, the fact that I'm still blogging after 9 months is probably atypical. I guess I'm still at it because I keep finding ways to express myself differently. I enjoy it.

    Post Content

    Distractions: I wind up expressing in my blog posts all those distractions I see when I play. I don't know, do non ADD people just go right by them? I wind up pondering them.

    Examples: Notice how I got interested when I found A Cannon outside IF, Goblin Gallows, A grinning Dog, Kool Aid parties etc...

    Process Information: I also use blog posts to process information. With ADD I find information floats around in my head. But I don't really understand it until I process it and find its proper home in the larger context.

    Examples include: Priest Racial Skills, Priest End Talents, World of Warcraft Subscription Prices, Jewelcrafting Notes

    Creative Outlets: I didn't know I had it in me. But boy do I enjoy playing with photoshop and WoW.

    Examples: NPC Commercial Breaks, Comparing WoW to Real Life Sights and Sites, or my amateur comics.

    Playing the Game

    Transitions - One of my friends noticed this (when I used to play well with others). We'd all be logged on after work but I'd need time before we'd all rush out to whever we were questing. Had to check the mail; had to go to the bank and the Auction House. (Maybe it was all that time checking alts.)

    Multiple Alts, Multiple Servers - I get a brand new idea. I discover Shamans. I'm going to make all my players different races. I make a male character. I make an all unarmed character. Invariably, whatever the idea is, I come up with another one that tickles my fancy before I'm finished with the last. The result is a lot of rested bonus.

    Short Play Times - Do an instance for an hour? No thanks. Raid for several hours!?! Not for me, no way. I've been known to log on for 10 minutes. Or play for an hour and never kill a single thing. On the rare occasion I play for several hours I was probably playing and got up to go do laundry while in flight. I finally made it back and decided I wanted to play a different character. (Although loading Titan Panel and the "time to next level" mod made me want to level more.) Eventually, I wound up migrating from playing with friends to a solo play style because I wanted to be able to change what I was doing on a whim. Which is also why they all leveled to 60 and are doing raids right now and I'm writing a blog.

    Hyperfocus - On occasion I will get engrossed in the game or a project (see the wands post to see how I spent probably 8 hours on Saturday) and I keep at it for hours. If I find something interesting I can lose hours of time investigating it, pulling it apart, trying it different ways.

    Forgetful - This trait is another reason I find myself playing solo. I get too embarassed by some of my forgetfulness. One day we were in the Arathi Highlands doing a quest where you have to run around to various "Stones of Binding" and fight the different elementals. Well I had completed it very recently and knew which elementals were at which Stones. I happily led my friends here and there until I was proudly showing them where the water elementals were, only to be advised that we had already done the water elementals (only 5 minutes before). hmmm of course then I couldn't remember exactly which ones we had done already and had to ask.


    I've read some negative comments about ADD and WoW ("this kid must've had ADD or something...") and I'm not sure I've given the best impression of ADD & WoW either. So I'd like to say I think I'm not representative of other ADD'ers who play WoW. This is just how I am with it.

    If you'd like more information, I picked a few links.

    ADD Information Links:
    What's it like to have ADD?
    Hyperfocus
    Diagnosis of AD/HD in Adults

    Tuesday, September 19, 2006

    Auction House Search Mini-Reference

    I can never remember where certain items are listed on the World of Warcraft Auction House. It gets a little confusing when "Back" is listed under every type of Armor, but all the Cloak auctions are assigned to "Cloth" even if they're made of leather.

    So here's my new reference on where to search for those items one might think to search for in different categories.

    Cloaks - Armor - Cloth - Back
    Librams - Recipe - Book
    Non Armor Shirts/Dresses - Armor - Miscellaneous - Shirt or Chest
    Off Hand Items - Armor - Miscellaneous - Held In Off-hand
    Rings - Armor - Miscellaneous - Finger
    Trinkets - Armor - Miscellaneous - Trinket

    Monday, September 18, 2006

    Model Viewer


    I see a lot of references to the WoW Model Viewer, so I checked into it. You can download it here from curse-gaming. (There are other versions I haven't checked out.)

    It's a stand alone program that reads data from your World of Warcraft files. You can select almost any file from the game to view. In playing around I found this outfit which just screamed Princess Leia so I had to create this pic.

    It's a lot of fun to play with in between crashes. I guess I have one of those video cards that has a problem with it. But I just restart the program, and 3 minutes later when it finally loads, I'm back in business. Loads of fun to play with.

    Sunday, September 17, 2006

    Wands

    I don't think I mentioned how I discovered Wands recently. mmmm... wands...

    Originally I tried them out and they seemed weak. Really weak, like I was a bug mildly annoying my enemy. I think I actually saw some mobs try to shoo me. Then something made me try them again. I'm glad I did. Now, I can't seem to live without them.

    Blizzard doesn't have a page on Wands but there is a reference here:

    Item Basics
  • Wand use can be interrupted when the user takes damage. Wands can be used by all classes that possess the Wand Proficiency; fire, frost and shadow skills are not necessary. Wand damage is reduced by resistance in the appropriate school. Wand use is not prevented when silenced. It is prevented in all the same situations melee is prevented.
  • Wands - The Shoot Wand ability is a toggle. While active, it will continue attacking with the equipped wand until cancelled (e.g. moving).

  • Here's what I know about Wands:
  • They are only usable by Priests, Mages and Warlocks
  • They do not require training from a Weapon Master
  • They are a Ranged Attack (place them in your Ranged slot)
  • They Require NO Mana
  • They are Interupted by stuns (you then have to recast)
  • Although disarmed, you can keep casting your wand
  • They Auto-Cast
  • They are on a shared cooldown with other spells
  • The combination of the Auto-cast and the Shared Cooldown make it tough to cast other spells (like DoTs, Heals, etc.) You have to break the wand casting to do it.
  • There is a "Wand Specialization" talent available for Priests and Mages which can give an extra 25% to Wand Damage. For Priests, it takes 5 talent points and for Mages it takes 2.

  • and

  • Blue Wands kick butt! If I can afford one, it makes fighting MUCH easier. Actually enjoyable. (My Precious....)


  • How do you use a wand?
    Equip it by placing it into your "Ranged" slot on your Character's paper doll. Then Open your Spellbook to the general tab and drag "Shoot" to your controls. I replaced my "attack" button with my "shoot" button. If I want to Melee attack, I just right-mouse click to switch from Wand to Melee.


    Research
    So here's where the rubber hits the road. As someone who doesn't Raid or do the dungeon thing I wanted to know which wands to be on the lookout for. So I spent a lot of time on Thottbot researching the best DPS (regardless of damage school - fire, arcane, etc.) for each level that I thought I could get my hands on. The best turned out to be the Enchanted Wands and Rare (Blue) Drops (except for the Uncommon Glowstar Rod at level 52). In many cases, as I level, I anticipate not finding the Blue Wand I want on the Auction House, or being able to afford it. So I posted some Uncommon (Green) wands as alternatives. (The damage is in grey text in the table for those wands.)

    World of Warcraft Soloer's Wand List*
    (Pre-Burning Crusade)
    LevelWandDamageNotes
    5Lesser Magic Wand11.3 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Made by Enchanters.
    12Blazing Wand12.7 FireUncommon BOE
    13Greater Magic Wand17.5 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Made by Enchanters.
    16Skycaller21.6 ArcaneRare BOE: Has a Glitter Trail
    22Thunderwood27.1 NatureRare BOE
    26Lesser Mystic Wand25.4 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Made by Enchanters.
    29Starfaller32.9 ArcaneRare BOE: Has a Glitter Trail
    30Greater Mystic Wand29.0 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Made by Enchanters.
    33Earthen Rod35.6 NatureRare BOE: From Uldaman
    34Freezing Shard35.8 FrostRare BOE: From Razorfen Downs
    36Ember Wand33.7 FireUncommon BOE: Various Versions
    37Jaina's Firestarter39.4 FireRare BOE: +6 Int, +3 Spirit
    40Umbral Wand35.7 ShadowUncommon BOE: Various Versions
    44Flaming Incinerator47.2 FireRare BOE: +8 Fire Resist. From Zul'Farrak
    45Wand of Allistarj48.4 ArcaneRare BOE: +9 Arcane Resist
    46Ivory Wand42.1 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Various Versions
    48Wizard's Hand 44.4 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Various Versions
    52Glowstar Rod50.0 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Various Versions
    53Torch of Austen56.8 FireRare BOE: +10 Fire Resist
    54Wand of Arcane Potency58.4 ArcaneRare BOE: From Dire Maul. Glitter Trail.
    55Dragon Finger53.2 FireUncommon BOE: Various Versions
    59Lunar Wand56.8 ArcaneUncommon BOE: Various Versions
    60Antenna of Invigoration71.6 NatureRare BOE: +4 Intellect.
    +5 mana per 5 seconds.
    +13 Healing Spells.

    * Note this chart excludes wands that are: Quest Rewards; Specific only to Mages (example); and Wands that are Bind on Pickup. It also excludes many wands at the lower levels that deliver less damage than their Enchanted peers do.

    Links & More Info:
    wowwiki on Wands
    Something strange about wands
    Warcraft Rookie: Get a Wand ASAP

    Friday, September 15, 2006

    Thursday, September 14, 2006

    Blog Back Office

    What's Coming:
    At some point over the next few weeks I will be tweaking the blog's back office. In the end it shouldn't be much different. However, in case I break the feed or such I wanted to give readers a head's up. If you suddenly stop seeing posts, don't worry, I haven't gone AWOL.

    Here's what I'm planning (more a list for my benefit):

    • Merge all feeds (e.g. Atom) into the feedburner feed (In this attempt I am most likely to break the feed)
    • The above should also provide some stability to the pictures that I noticed aren't showing up in bloglines
    • Add a site meter
    • Contemplate a Blog Name Change
    • Turn some of the NPC Commercial Breaks into Parody Ads in the sidebars
    • Contemplate an email service (by subscription)
    • Add an icon or image to the Feedburner Feed
    • Review the Feed Flare on the Feedburner Feed

    What I've Already Done:
    Have you noticed these updates already on the Blog Homepage?

    • A link to The WorldofWarcraft Blog Store which is a collection of World of Warcraft Products available at Amazon (also pops up items from your wishlist if you have one)
    • Constantly updating News on the World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade from wowbreak.com
    In the meantime anyone who doesn't use the Feedburner Feed may wish to subscribe to it now: Subscribe. Want to know more about feeds? Check out this post.

    Thanks for being patient with me if things go haywire.

    p.s. If I see problems I'll reset everything by the beginning of October.

    ALL YOUR BLOG ARE BELONG TO US - WoW

    Wednesday, September 13, 2006

    You May Already be a Winner!


    So you may have seen the Dell Computer contest. It's unique because you don't really have to submit your name anywhere to win. You just have to complete 25 quests. And apparently it's any 25 quests (not like there's a Dell NPC somewhere waiting to give you a quest to kill 10 viruses).

    A number of posters in the forums are concerned about their information's going to Dell. I'm not too concerned about that; I've seen these kinds of things before (famous last words, I know).

    The take I have on it is Woohoo! I can do 25 quests in a weekend (sometimes a day). Of course doing it on a single character for an Alt-Aholic like me might be tough. But since I just started 2 new priests it should be easy.

    Part of me does wonder if it was designed to incent a behavior on the part of players. Maybe to start new characters (where it's easy to complete quests). To get players to level stagnant characters? To reenergize people by reminding them of the fulfillment of finishing quests?

    In the end I'm okay whatever the reason. It'll be fun to think I might win. I'm just glad it's something that I don't have to raid a dungeon for. It's something a solo-gamer can participate in.

    For reference - here's the section of the rules on how to enter:


    5. How to Enter. To qualify for the Contest, eligible entrants may: (i) complete twenty five (25) "in game" quests while playing World of Warcraft during the Contest Period; or in the alternative (ii) send a postcard including your name, address and age to the following address:

    World of Warcraft "Quest for the Ultimate PC" Contest – Mail in entry
    c/o Blizzard Entertainment
    P.O. Box 18979
    Irvine, CA 92623

    And somewhere up in section one it says that there is a limit of one entry per household.

    More Links:

  • Dell Contest Page
  • Official Rules
  • FAQ from the Forums (if you can get it to load)
  • Win a New Computer by Doing What Again? by wowinsider
  • Tuesday, September 12, 2006

    Pandaren

    I was strolling through Stormwind and came across these boys and heard this Pandaren reference:


    It got me to thinking. I wasn't a big warcraft fan so I don't really have the history of Pandarens. So I decided to do some research. (It's what I do.)

    Apparently they started as something a Blizzard Artist thought was cool. Then it was used as a joke in warcraft 3. Then a Pandaren Brewmaster was actually added to Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne.

    Fast forward to WoW. In 2005 Sony set up a command in Everquest II for players to order pizza from Pizza Hut from within the game (conveniently it was "/pizza"). It has since gone away, but it didn't mean Blizzard couldn't spoof it for April Fool's day with /panda. (As far as I know there was no actual relationship with Panda Express, an actual Chinese Food restaurant chain.)

    Check out the spoof because it's pretty funny. When I did I saw this picture:

    Pandaren Express:


    Doh! Seriously - I had never before seen this picture when I did my 2006 April Fools:

    My April Fool's Picture Copied Here:


    I'm not feeling so creative now, eh?

    More Links:

    Monday, September 11, 2006

    /Salute

    With respect to those who died on 9/11/01 and those who carry on.


    Marielle and Martel are seen here in front of one of the "Twin Colossals" in Feralas.

    Sunday, September 10, 2006

    Bernard the Mixer

    If you don't know about Bernard the Mixer (then you definitely didn't think this was funny), you haven't been to Thottbot searching for any potions lately. (I can understand why, given what I'm about to share.) Because invariably as you search for a potion there will be a weird reference to an NPC in westfall who sells it... Bernard the Mixer.



    And you check for a map location...


    ... only to fly out to Westfall and find no Bernard. No Mixer. And alas... no potions.


    The best answer I found was from a Thottbot user named Galechan who posted this a while back:
    I contacted a GM about Bernard the Mixer. He does not exist. This was an NPC early on in the game, but it became so popular, people were complaining that there was never anything there, so they took him out.

    Thottbot on Bernard the Mixer: here or here (thottbot's been weird this weekend so it might not load).

    Saturday, September 09, 2006

    Thursday, September 07, 2006

    Reading Fiction for Lore

    Someone on the forums asked what Lore book they ought to read first? Nethaera responded with suggestions including these books:

    I'd start with Day of the Dragon (Warcraft Book 1), Lord of the Clans (Warcraft Book 2) and The Last Guardian (Warcraft Book 3). Then move on to the War of the Ancients Trilogy to get more of the background on the Burning Crusade and some of the key characters.

    For more information on Lore, here are some links from this blog.

    Wednesday, September 06, 2006

    Power Word: Pain

    I kind of have this bad habit.... every time I see a new critter with one of my priests I like to put Power Word Pain (DoT) on it. I've seen Deer before, but never a Fawn. It just struck me as funny that I saw this Fawn and got giddy to effectively say "Crucio!"



    Update 8/13/2007:
    TETaa called and forced me to do a PSA:

    Tuesday, September 05, 2006

    Priest Tables

    Priests in World of Warcraft are a little different than other classes. Each priest has access to two special abilities that are unique only to their race. These are separate and apart from the racial traits available to all players.

    During patch 1.10 these were updated. Here's warcy's summary.

    The question I have right now is... what will the Burning Crusade (Draenei & Blood Elf) Priest racial abilities be?

    RacePriest Ability
    Human

    Desperate Prayer - Instant heal. 10 Minute Cooldown.
    Feedback - A spell backfires onto enemy caster.

    Racial Abilities: Stealth Detection, Spirit +5, Faction Point Gains, Sword/Mace Specialization

    Dwarf

    Desperate Prayer - Instant heal. 10 Minute Cooldown.
    Fear Ward - Prevent 1x fear. 30 second Cooldown.

    Racial Abilities: Stoneform, Guns +5, Frost Resistance +10, Treasure Finding

    Night Elf

    Starshards - Channeled damage spell.
    Elune's Grace - Reduces ranged damage taken by 21 and increases chance to dodge by 10% for 15 sec.

    Racial Abilities: Shadowmeld, Dodge +1%, Wisp (speed increase) when Dead, Nature Resistance +10%

    Draenei

    Priest Abilities: TBD - Update: Fear Ward and Symbol of Hope.

    Racial Abilities: Blessing of the Naaru (HoT), Chance to hit +1% (to party), Jewelcrafting +15, Shadow Resist +10.

    Undead

    Touch of Weakness - Melee attacker's damage is reduced.
    Devouring Plague - Disease (DOT) that heals caster.

    Racial Abilities: Fear Immunity (w/ cooldown), Cannibalize, Underwater Breathing +300%, Shadow Resist +10.

    Troll

    Hex of Weakness - Reduces targets damage & healing.
    Shadowguard - Melee attacker takes shadow damage.

    Racial Abilities: Berserking, Regeneration (passive), Beasts +5% Damage, Throwing Weapons +5, Bows +5

    Blood Elves

    Priest Abilities: TBD - Update - Touch of Weakness and Consume Magic

    Racial Abilities: Mana Tap, Silence, Enchanting +15, Magic Resist +5


    Links:
  • Wowwiki's Table of Priest Racial Spells
  • Blizzard's Priest page
  • Wowwiki's Table of Racial Talents


  • Update 10/6/06:
    We've got a tease now of what we might get in the Burning Crusade:
    Fairly soon (yeah, yeah -- you hate that term -- but seriously, not much longer now). I will say this though, just so you walk away with one new piece of knowledge -- each will get one brand new ability, and one that already exists in-game now among the existing available races for the priest class.
    Source: Eyonix Post via wowinsider.


    Update 8/7/07:
    Drysc in the Forums says:
    I think the general consensus among the designers is that ultimately priest racials were ... a poor choice to make, especially with the decisions of what each race would have. It's come down to it that they should be addressed somehow.

    I'm not sure how many remember, but priest racials were created because there was player concern over how an Undead could appropriately wield the healing powers of the light, and the racials were added to give flavor which could back up some of those player concerns. Aside from some probably poor decisions on what that flavor should be, ultimately it was a concern that players would ultimately have benefited from if we had simply ignored it.

    It could be addressed any number of ways (everyone is given everything, or it's cut down to a small pool of abilities which everyone has access to, or only specific abilities are passed to different races, etc.), and I don't believe a final decision has been made at this time.
    Quote found via wow.warcry.com.

    Saturday, September 02, 2006

    Friday, September 01, 2006

    2006-September Events

    From the Events Calendar for September:

    Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore) September 4 - September 10
    Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! September 1 - September 4
    Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! September 8 - September 11

    Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! September 15 - September 18

    Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! September 29 - October 1


    During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.


    September is a yawner, but October will be fun - Hallow's End 2006 is currently scheduled for October 14 through November 1. Here are some screenshot winners and honorable mentions (which were better than the winners imho) from last year to whet your appetite.