Massively: Star Trek Online preview a solid overview of the game

Massively has been following along with the development of Cryptic Studios‘ upcoming Star Trek Online, and we’re seeing that more previews are being written about the game in recent weeks. The latest preview is from Eurogamer’s Keza MacDonald, who recently spent some time checking out Star Trek Online. It’s a nicely worded look at the game as it exists today, an MMO title where “Cryptic is creating a flexible yet faithful interpretation of the Star Trek universe that stands a good chance of living up to even the unrealistic expectations of the faithful,” writes MacDonald.
The Eurogamer preview hits upon the balance between ship combat and away missions, the importance of tactics in space combat, and the kind of experiences players can look forward to on planet surfaces. There are no revelations of new features here, but what Keza MacDonald has put together is an excellent overview of the game, and worth a read for fans of Star Trek Online.
Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Previews, PvE, Star Trek Online
Massively: Star Wars: The Old Republic lead writer Daniel Erickson on scope of the project

If you’ve been following along with our coverage of Star Wars: The Old Republic you’ll know that BioWare has placed incredible emphasis on writing for SWTOR. As the game is fully voiced, the complete script is roughly 40 novels in length. G4tv’s The Feed has a GamesCom 2009 video interview with SWTOR Lead Writer Daniel Erickson that explains more about what a huge undertaking the game has been from a writing perspective.
Erickson explains that BioWare’s challenges aren’t necessarily about having the ability to pull this off, it’s more a matter of scale, particularly with the French and German localizations. He tells G4, “We think we’ve got the biggest voice over project in entertainment history.”
Continue reading Star Wars: The Old Republic lead writer Daniel Erickson on scope of the project
Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Events, real-world, Interviews, Lore, MMO industry, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic lead writer Daniel Erickson on scope of the project
Massively: Details emerge on Karos Online’s Fletta system
Karos Online’s first closed beta event took place a bit over a week ago, and in a recent press release NHN stated that it was a success and that further closed beta dates will be announced soon. They also said that they are ready and willing to adapt the game based on tester’s opinions. The main reason for the press release, however, was to provide details on one of the game’s central features: the Fletta system. Fletta isn’t the stuff you crumble into your Greek salad — it is “the magical energy which underpins the world of Asmara”, and it’s going to have a variety of uses for players of Karos Online.
Fletta Points are accumulated by killing monsters, but they aren’t the same as experience points. You can use them to raise some character attributes, or hang on to a certain amount of them to provide an experience bonus while leveling. They can be traded to NPCs in different regions in return for special local items and bonuses, and at high levels, the points can even be used to cast particularly potent spells. There are also Fletta Gem items (both weapons and armor) that grow in stats and appearance with the player. They are crafted out of Fletta Gem Shards that come from mines that player guilds will battle to control. Sounds like a recipe for some heated competition.
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, New titles, Free-to-play
Massively: Join us at Champions Online’s launch
How would you like to play Champions Online with the Massively team on launch day? As we mentioned on Friday, we’re going to have an in-game event to celebrate the launch of Champions Online. A few of our writers will be in-game to run through some quests, and we want you to join us!
This will take place all day tomorrow, at various times throughout the day. Instead of meeting up in the initial tutorial though, we’ve decided it would be best to meet people at each crisis zone, which is just after the initial tutorial. This basically means around level 5, which is not hard to reach. Simply send an in-game message to the following account names for a group invite:
Shawn Schuster - @MassiveShawn (in the Desert crisis zone)
Kyle Horner - @General-Kraken (in the Desert crisis zone)
Colin Brennan - @Octal_Black (in the Canada crisis zone)
Since Champions is set up in instanced shards, we’ll get groups together as we can in each crisis zone. As a general rule, we’ll try to meet up in instance #5 of each zone. Later this week, we’ll put up a small gallery of images from the event and hopefully do this more often for new game launches. Hope to see you all there!
Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Launches, New titles, Grouping, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on, Champions Online
Massively: Bill Roper explains teams and SuperGroups in new Champions trailer
While Champions Online is designed to allow players to live out their fantasy of being a lone superhero badass taking on all-comers solo, if that’s what they’re after, there’s also content and features aimed at groups of players. A new video hosted at GameTrailers and featuring Bill Roper is focused on the things that await people who are interested in getting together with others to tackle crime and evil. The title of the video leads you to believe that it is all about SuperGroups (Champions Online’s guilds), but most of Roper’s comments are related to grouping in general.
The reinforcement system, lairs/headquarters, group events, multiple-group content and different roles in groups all come up during the featurette. Head past the break to see how you can help save the world with a little help from your friends.
Continue reading Bill Roper explains teams and SuperGroups in new Champions trailer
Filed under: Super-hero, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, Guilds, Raiding, Grouping, Champions Online
Bill Roper explains teams and SuperGroups in new Champions trailer
Mickey Mouse, Marvel and You.

Burbank, California – Today The Walt Disney Company surprises the world as well as Wall Street by announcing their $4 Billion deal for comic book giant Marvel Entertainment Group.
I am greatly impressed by this combination of two powerful entertainment companies and look forward to future content released by the new “Walt Disneyized” Marvel Superhero brand. Although many may shrug it off as and move on to bigger and better things, as I am reading more reports I can already tell their will be many changes going forward. How will this affect the average person? In many ways and this is how it looks from my point of view.
The stockholders.
Best seat in the house in my opinion. If you are an owner of Marvel shares (MVL) then you enjoyed a 25% increase in value today, which adds up to a nice $9 premium. That means, for every 100 shares you made 900 bucks. Good for you. As this deal closes, which can take months and still needs to be approved by shareholders and the FTC, as it stands, shareholders will receive $30 in cash and ¾ of a share of Disney (DIS) for every 1 share of Marvel they hold. Your options are to ride it till the end, collect your cash and hopefully Disney is trading around where it is now or higher, you will get roughly a $20 value and some cash in hand. Or…sell now, take the money and run. I am a long term perspective type of guy so I would ride it out.
Video Game Companies.
This deal was mostly about integrating the Marvel brand names into the Disney machine. As reported on Kotaku.com, Disney has already stated that they will be reviewing their video game contracts as they expire. If I was Sega and THQ I would worry, for their contracts rely heavily on video games created from movies made by Marvel that will now be made by Disney.
Good luck with that.
Gazillion: With the new Marvel MMORPG in the works they are now dealing with a whole new creature. Walt Disney has always been very strict on wholesome content and their focus on children’s entertainment. This means it is going to have to be squeaky clean to get past Disney. I have seen my share of adult humor and thongs in MMO’s. Psylocke (left) has always been my favorite super-booty in Marvel comics, expect less thongs and more full bodysuits if that. Marvel has always portrayed their female heroes as super-sexah and very top heavy. Expect to have the 7 dwarves looking over your shoulder every chance they get and going over your contract with a fine tooth comb. Disney has been famous for their strict code-enforcement and totalitarian tactics.
Moviegoers.
Marvel’s move towards creating their own movie studio has been very successful and profitable for them. Disney has a long line of successful (and not so successful) movies. Expect to see more X-men and more characters coming to fore with their own animated or live action films. Expect to see Spiderman 8, 9, and 10. One thing I would recommend: Do the Secret Wars films and get the story of Spiderman’s black suit right finally, thank you.
Theme park patrons.
Expect to be on more Marvel Superhero rides. Expect your small child to have the Bejuses scared out of him by a life-sized Wolverine. Expect to pay through the nose for that Captain America shield designed plate at the souvenir shop and expect to slap your husband/boyfriend/fiancée for flirting with the life-sized costumed version of Storm. And no h0ney, that is not Halle Berry.
Gamers.
Wait it out. That’s all I can say. Disney Interactive studios haven’t exactly tore up this end of the spectrum with their entertainment business. Bolt??? Cars??? Kim Possible??? No thank you! And as of last month their games have slumped down 20% in sales. Well, for one reason is we really don’t like to play games after Disney movies. We like the rough stuff unless you’re a small young child and in that case you will play anything your parents put in front of you. But if you can make a game where I can Hulk-smash Hannah Montana I might consider it. Expect to see Wolverine in the next Kingdom Hearts game. Not that the KH series are bad games at all, I played one a little and it was actually fun.
Don’t judge me.
MMO Gamers that are waiting for the Marvel MMO.
This could go either way. Gazillion and the new Disney/Marvel mash up might be able to play nice and get along. Or Disney might find some loopholes in the contract and make their lives so miserable they might scrap the whole thing. Either way expect the Marvel MMO to be either totally gimped or don’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen at all. This is one of the reasons why I think Dis had a real interest in Marvel; this plants them into the mmorpg market firmly. How that will play out long term, only time will tell.
Overall I feel that this is a positive move for both parties. Heck, I didn’t know that Marvel was even worth 4 billion smackaroos and I am sure that this was someone’s big payday. As for the public we get to be inundated by even more whitewashed and smarmy Disney entertainment, which now will come in assorted superhero flavors.
Play safe,
Frank
Mickey Mouse, Marvel and You.

Burbank, California – Today The Walt Disney Company surprises the world as well as Wall Street by announcing their $4 Billion deal for comic book giant Marvel Entertainment Group.
I am greatly impressed by this combination of two powerful entertainment companies and look forward to future content released by the new “Walt Disneyized” Marvel Superhero brand. Although many may shrug it off as and move on to bigger and better things, as I am reading more reports I can already tell their will be many changes going forward. How will this affect the average person? In many ways and this is how it looks from my point of view.
The stockholders.
Best seat in the house in my opinion. If you are an owner of Marvel shares (MVL) then you enjoyed a 25% increase in value today, which adds up to a nice $9 premium. That means, for every 100 shares you made 900 bucks. Good for you. As this deal closes, which can take months and still needs to be approved by shareholders and the FTC, as it stands, shareholders will receive $30 in cash and ¾ of a share of Disney (DIS) for every 1 share of Marvel they hold. Your options are to ride it till the end, collect your cash and hopefully Disney is trading around where it is now or higher, you will get roughly a $20 value and some cash in hand. Or…sell now, take the money and run. I am a long term perspective type of guy so I would ride it out.
Video Game Companies.
This deal was mostly about integrating the Marvel brand names into the Disney machine. As reported on Kotaku.com, Disney has already stated that they will be reviewing their video game contracts as they expire. If I was Sega and THQ I would worry, for their contracts rely heavily on video games created from movies made by Marvel that will now be made by Disney.
Good luck with that.
Gazillion: With the new Marvel MMORPG in the works they are now dealing with a whole new creature. Walt Disney has always been very strict on wholesome content and their focus on children’s entertainment. This means it is going to have to be squeaky clean to get past Disney. I have seen my share of adult humor and thongs in MMO’s. Psylocke (left) has always been my favorite super-booty in Marvel comics, expect less thongs and more full bodysuits if that. Marvel has always portrayed their female heroes as super-sexah and very top heavy. Expect to have the 7 dwarves looking over your shoulder every chance they get and going over your contract with a fine tooth comb. Disney has been famous for their strict code-enforcement and totalitarian tactics.
Moviegoers.
Marvel’s move towards creating their own movie studio has been very successful and profitable for them. Disney has a long line of successful (and not so successful) movies. Expect to see more X-men and more characters coming to fore with their own animated or live action films. Expect to see Spiderman 8, 9, and 10. One thing I would recommend: Do the Secret Wars films and get the story of Spiderman’s black suit right finally, thank you.
Theme park patrons.
Expect to be on more Marvel Superhero rides. Expect your small child to have the Bejuses scared out of him by a life-sized Wolverine. Expect to pay through the nose for that Captain America shield designed plate at the souvenir shop and expect to slap your husband/boyfriend/fiancée for flirting with the life-sized costumed version of Storm. And no h0ney, that is not Halle Berry.
Gamers.
Wait it out. That’s all I can say. Disney Interactive studios haven’t exactly tore up this end of the spectrum with their entertainment business. Bolt??? Cars??? Kim Possible??? No thank you! And as of last month their games have slumped down 20% in sales. Well, for one reason is we really don’t like to play games after Disney movies. We like the rough stuff unless you’re a small young child and in that case you will play anything your parents put in front of you. But if you can make a game where I can Hulk-smash Hannah Montana I might consider it. Expect to see Wolverine in the next Kingdom Hearts game. Not that the KH series are bad games at all, I played one a little and it was actually fun.
Don’t judge me.
MMO Gamers that are waiting for the Marvel MMO.
This could go either way. Gazillion and the new Disney/Marvel mash up might be able to play nice and get along. Or Disney might find some loopholes in the contract and make their lives so miserable they might scrap the whole thing. Either way expect the Marvel MMO to be either totally gimped or don’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen at all. This is one of the reasons why I think Dis had a real interest in Marvel; this plants them into the mmorpg market firmly. How that will play out long term, only time will tell.
Overall I feel that this is a positive move for both parties. Heck, I didn’t know that Marvel was even worth 4 billion smackaroos and I am sure that this was someone’s big payday. As for the public we get to be inundated by even more whitewashed and smarmy Disney entertainment, which now will come in assorted superhero flavors.
Play safe,
Frank
istar’s Game Life, by istar
[Updating..]
There are lots of things we need to know when we are designing a game, that means we should really understand what a game is all about. These words below which I collected from books and internet may be of inspirational values for us. Let’s enjoy them:)
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Only very hard-core gamers are interested in technology. The vast majority of your audience isn’t. And technology does not sell games or make them fun. (Daniel Snchez-Crespo Dalmau)
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Having a “smart” AI but not a “human” AI can sometimes yield poor gameplay. (Daniel Snchez-Crespo Dalmau)
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Games are an integral part of all known human cultures. Digital games, in all their various formats and genres, are just a new expression of this ancient method of social interaction. Creating a good game, as noted in the Jung quote above, is a challenging task, one that requires a playful approach but a systematic solution. Part engineer, part entertainer, part mathematician, and part social director, the role of the game designer is to craft a set of rules within which there are means and motivation to play. Whether we are talking about folk games, board games, arcade games, or massively multiplayer online games, the art of game design has always been to create that elusive combination of challenge, competition, and interaction that players just call “fun.”(Tracy Fullerton)
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It’s important to remember that what has made games such a long-lasting form of human entertainment is not intrinsic to any technology or medium but to the experience of the players. (Tracy Fullerton)
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It’s far too easy to get caught up in a game’s graphics, story line, or new features and forget that what makes a game great is solid gameplay. (Tracy Fullerton)
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Games are everywhere, from how we manage our money to how we form relationships. (Tracy Fullerton)
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Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.” (-Benjamin Disraeli)
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WOW Upcoming patch 3.2
Cataclysm is still some time away, in the meantime we have patch 3.2 to look forward to. One of the big changes in the patch is upgrading Onyxia to a 10 and 25 man dungeon. This comes with new loot, which will have stats for level 80 players but will have the art work of the original loot. Many players love the old style, so this will allow them to keep that old style yet have good stats.
Onyxia will also drop a 310% speed flying mount based on her model. Here are the patch notes of everything on PTR right now, of course subject to change, from Blizzard (Patch Notes) ;
General
- The Brood Mother Returns
- After years of lurking in her lair battling the many brave adventurers who travelled from afar to challenge her, Onyxia returns to commemorate World of Warcraft’s five-year anniversary.
- Onyxia has been scaled to offer new challenges to level 80 players and is now available for testing in 10- and 25- player modes.
- Adjustments have been made to the encounter to keep it fit for modern raiding, but the fundamental experience of fighting the Brood Mother will remain, as will the horror of the Deep Breaths!
- Some classic items Onyxia offered level 60 players will have their stats adjusted appropriately for level 80 players.
- Brood of Onyxia, a very rare 310%-speed mount modeled after Onyxia herself will be available for the luckiest of challengers.
- After years of lurking in her lair battling the many brave adventurers who travelled from afar to challenge her, Onyxia returns to commemorate World of Warcraft’s five-year anniversary.
- Copied Test Realm characters will no longer be copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.
PvP
- Battlegrounds
- Players level 11 and higher will always see a daily Battleground quest, as the quest giver will only offer daily quests for a Battleground in which a player is eligible to participate according to level bracket (i.e. players levels 11-20 will always be offered a Warsong Gulch daily quest, while players levels 11-50 will be offered either an Arathi Basin or a Warsong Gulch daily quest, etc.).
Death Knights
- Pets
- Gnaw: This death knight ghoul ability now has a 1-minute cooldown.
Druids
- Talents
- Balance
- Moonkin Form: This form now also reduces the damage the druid takes while stunned by 15%.
- Typhoon: The knockback distance from this spell has been increased to match Thunderstorm and the range of the ability has been reduced to 10 yards.
- Feral Combat
- Predatory Strikes: This talent now also causes the druid’s finishing moves to provide a 7/13/20% chance per combo point to make the next Nature spell with a cast time below 10 seconds instant cast.
- Balance
Mages
- Arcane Blast: The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
- Talents
- Arcane
- Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it.
- Arcane
Paladins
- Righteous Fury: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.
- Talents
- Protection
- Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now grants 10% strength in addition to its current effects. Also, the strength and stamina bonuses from this blessing will no longer be lost when Blessing of Kings is removed.
- Judgements of the Just: The reduction in cooldown to Hammer of Justice provided by this talent has been reduced to 5/10 seconds instead of 10/20 seconds.
- Touched by the Light: This talent now provides 20/40/60% of the paladin’s strength as spell power instead of 10/20/30% of the paladin’s stamina.
- Retribution
- Seal of Command: This ability now chains to strike up to 2 additional targets when it is triggered by an attack that can only strike a single target.
- Protection
Rogues
- Envenom’s scaling has been increased from 7% to 9% of attack power per combo point.
- Fan of Knives: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%.
- Talents
- Assassination
- Master Poisoner: Now also provides a 33/66/100% chance of preventing Envenom from consuming Deadly Poison.
- Combat
- Throwing Specialization: This talent no longer causes Fan of Knives to interrupt spellcasting.
- Subtlety
- Honor Among Thieves: A 1-second cooldown is now enforced on how often a rogue can gain combo points from his party via this talent.
- Assassination
Warriors
- Talents
- Arms
- Sword Specialization: Now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to proc an extra attack, up from 1/2/3/4/5%.
- Arms
Dungeons & Raids
- Shadowfang Keep
- Wailing Guardsman: Screams of the Past will no longer have multiple applications on a target. Recast time has been increased.
Items
- Druid Tier-8 Healer 4-Piece Set Bonus: The amount of healing this set bonus grants on the initial cast of Rejuvenation has been reduced by 50%. In addition, this set bonus no longer has strange interactions with Harold’s Rejuvenating Broach.
- Glyphs
- Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph no longer reduces the magnitude of the movement reduction on the Mind Flay victim.
- Glyph of Typhoon: This glyph now increases the range on Typhoon by 20 yards in addition to its current effects.
- Libram of Obstruction: The buff to block value from this relic is now exclusive with the buff to block value from Libram of the Sacred Shield; it is impossible to have both buffs at once.
- Libram of the Sacred Shield: The block value buff from this relic has been increased to match its item level.
User Interface
- The size of the Focus Frame can now be adjusted via the Interface Options menu.
- For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.
Bug Fixes
- Arcane Missiles: Ranks 12 and 13 will now properly cause players to enter combat.
- Balance of Power: Misleading tooltip reworded. The tooltip previously reported an incorrect value for the increased chance to hit with spells. The actual benefit of the talent is unchanged.
- Demonic Circle: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Frostfire Bolt.
- Divine Aegis: Ranks 1 and 2 now work with Holy Nova.
- Hand of Freedom: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Infected Wounds and Frostfire Bolt.
- Hunter Tier-9 2-Piece Bonus: Critical damage from Serpent Sting will now work properly with the Mortal Shots and Expose Weakness talents.
- Master’s Call: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Infected Wounds, Frostfire Bolt, and Slow.
- Mote of Flame: Corrected typo in tooltip.
- Shard of Flame: Corrected typo in tooltip.
- Trap Mastery: Tooltip now states the correct amount of snakes summoned.
- Val’anyr, Hammer of The Ancient Kings: This item’s special bonus now works properly with Prayer of Mending and the heal-over-time effect triggered by Flash of Light cast on Sacred Shield targets.
- Vanish: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Frostfire Bolt.
WOW Upcoming patch 3.2
Cataclysm is still some time away, in the meantime we have patch 3.2 to look forward to. One of the big changes in the patch is upgrading Onyxia to a 10 and 25 man dungeon. This comes with new loot, which will have stats for level 80 players but will have the art work of the original loot. Many players love the old style, so this will allow them to keep that old style yet have good stats.
Onyxia will also drop a 310% speed flying mount based on her model. Here are the patch notes of everything on PTR right now, of course subject to change, from Blizzard (Patch Notes) ;
General
- The Brood Mother Returns
- After years of lurking in her lair battling the many brave adventurers who travelled from afar to challenge her, Onyxia returns to commemorate World of Warcraft’s five-year anniversary.
- Onyxia has been scaled to offer new challenges to level 80 players and is now available for testing in 10- and 25- player modes.
- Adjustments have been made to the encounter to keep it fit for modern raiding, but the fundamental experience of fighting the Brood Mother will remain, as will the horror of the Deep Breaths!
- Some classic items Onyxia offered level 60 players will have their stats adjusted appropriately for level 80 players.
- Brood of Onyxia, a very rare 310%-speed mount modeled after Onyxia herself will be available for the luckiest of challengers.
- After years of lurking in her lair battling the many brave adventurers who travelled from afar to challenge her, Onyxia returns to commemorate World of Warcraft’s five-year anniversary.
- Copied Test Realm characters will no longer be copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.
PvP
- Battlegrounds
- Players level 11 and higher will always see a daily Battleground quest, as the quest giver will only offer daily quests for a Battleground in which a player is eligible to participate according to level bracket (i.e. players levels 11-20 will always be offered a Warsong Gulch daily quest, while players levels 11-50 will be offered either an Arathi Basin or a Warsong Gulch daily quest, etc.).
Death Knights
- Pets
- Gnaw: This death knight ghoul ability now has a 1-minute cooldown.
Druids
- Talents
- Balance
- Moonkin Form: This form now also reduces the damage the druid takes while stunned by 15%.
- Typhoon: The knockback distance from this spell has been increased to match Thunderstorm and the range of the ability has been reduced to 10 yards.
- Feral Combat
- Predatory Strikes: This talent now also causes the druid’s finishing moves to provide a 7/13/20% chance per combo point to make the next Nature spell with a cast time below 10 seconds instant cast.
- Balance
Mages
- Arcane Blast: The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
- Talents
- Arcane
- Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it.
- Arcane
Paladins
- Righteous Fury: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.
- Talents
- Protection
- Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now grants 10% strength in addition to its current effects. Also, the strength and stamina bonuses from this blessing will no longer be lost when Blessing of Kings is removed.
- Judgements of the Just: The reduction in cooldown to Hammer of Justice provided by this talent has been reduced to 5/10 seconds instead of 10/20 seconds.
- Touched by the Light: This talent now provides 20/40/60% of the paladin’s strength as spell power instead of 10/20/30% of the paladin’s stamina.
- Retribution
- Seal of Command: This ability now chains to strike up to 2 additional targets when it is triggered by an attack that can only strike a single target.
- Protection
Rogues
- Envenom’s scaling has been increased from 7% to 9% of attack power per combo point.
- Fan of Knives: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%.
- Talents
- Assassination
- Master Poisoner: Now also provides a 33/66/100% chance of preventing Envenom from consuming Deadly Poison.
- Combat
- Throwing Specialization: This talent no longer causes Fan of Knives to interrupt spellcasting.
- Subtlety
- Honor Among Thieves: A 1-second cooldown is now enforced on how often a rogue can gain combo points from his party via this talent.
- Assassination
Warriors
- Talents
- Arms
- Sword Specialization: Now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to proc an extra attack, up from 1/2/3/4/5%.
- Arms
Dungeons & Raids
- Shadowfang Keep
- Wailing Guardsman: Screams of the Past will no longer have multiple applications on a target. Recast time has been increased.
Items
- Druid Tier-8 Healer 4-Piece Set Bonus: The amount of healing this set bonus grants on the initial cast of Rejuvenation has been reduced by 50%. In addition, this set bonus no longer has strange interactions with Harold’s Rejuvenating Broach.
- Glyphs
- Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph no longer reduces the magnitude of the movement reduction on the Mind Flay victim.
- Glyph of Typhoon: This glyph now increases the range on Typhoon by 20 yards in addition to its current effects.
- Libram of Obstruction: The buff to block value from this relic is now exclusive with the buff to block value from Libram of the Sacred Shield; it is impossible to have both buffs at once.
- Libram of the Sacred Shield: The block value buff from this relic has been increased to match its item level.
User Interface
- The size of the Focus Frame can now be adjusted via the Interface Options menu.
- For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.
Bug Fixes
- Arcane Missiles: Ranks 12 and 13 will now properly cause players to enter combat.
- Balance of Power: Misleading tooltip reworded. The tooltip previously reported an incorrect value for the increased chance to hit with spells. The actual benefit of the talent is unchanged.
- Demonic Circle: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Frostfire Bolt.
- Divine Aegis: Ranks 1 and 2 now work with Holy Nova.
- Hand of Freedom: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Infected Wounds and Frostfire Bolt.
- Hunter Tier-9 2-Piece Bonus: Critical damage from Serpent Sting will now work properly with the Mortal Shots and Expose Weakness talents.
- Master’s Call: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Infected Wounds, Frostfire Bolt, and Slow.
- Mote of Flame: Corrected typo in tooltip.
- Shard of Flame: Corrected typo in tooltip.
- Trap Mastery: Tooltip now states the correct amount of snakes summoned.
- Val’anyr, Hammer of The Ancient Kings: This item’s special bonus now works properly with Prayer of Mending and the heal-over-time effect triggered by Flash of Light cast on Sacred Shield targets.
- Vanish: This ability now correctly removes the snaring component of Frostfire Bolt.



