'Rift' takes on 'World of 'Warcraft'

(CNN) -- In the world of massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG), "World of Warcraft" is the gold standard with more than 12 million subscribers as of October 2010.

With their most recent expansion release, it seems Blizzard's hold on the market would grow even tighter.

However, another game company is armoring up and entering the MMORPG arena.

And it comes with a dig at the online gaming giant, calling out its fictional home planet in ads: "We're not in Azeroth anymore."

"Rift" (Trion) is set on Telera, a world that apparently is a nexus of sorts for different planes of existence. These other worlds invade Telera through physical rifts and allow monsters to attack important cities and people. As a player, your job is to stop it from happening.

Players get to choose from two factions, Guardians and Defiants. Each has their own races and tactics to employ during the game and both can choose from four classes (warrior, mage, rogue, and cleric).

The two factions aren't necessarily battling each other, but are trying to show which way is the best to save the world.

Skills are built up using "souls," which unlock powers and allow gamers to customize their characters as they match their style of play.

A character can have multiple soul systems so they can change their abilities as needed.

Executive producer Scott Hartsman said the initial idea was not to create a new MMORPG, but to create a new gaming technology that would allow Trion to build games in different ways.

"There were visions for some slightly less-formed ideas for what the game would eventually be," Hartsman said.

"It was all about ... 'Think of all the cool stuff we could build if we had technology that would let us do 500 players in one place, 1,000 players in one place, big events that start up and shut down on their own. A world that is truly alive.' "

Hartsman said the technology had to be created first before they could figure out what to do with it. Trion was looking for something that was social, dynamic and fun that would utilize their design to the fullest.

The ability to track online players' locations and keep tabs on their actions led the team to develop a fantasy MMORPG. Trion CEO Lars Butler said choosing the fantasy genre ultimately was an obvious decision.

"Because of the technology (we built), we wanted to take on the most established online gaming category first," Butler said.

"We felt we had what it takes to substantially address some of the shortcomings that this genre still has."

Trion servers are broken down by function, unlike other games in which servers are devoted to particular locations in the game. For example, they use a set of servers to handle non-player character functions in the world, a different set of servers to handle encounters with "bosses," and another set that handles functions directly involving the players' characters.

read more http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/04/08/rift.trion.online/

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Canadian ISP Rogers Throttling 'World of Warcraft'

Canadian ISP Rogers Communications last week admitted that it is throttling activity on Blizzard's "World of Warcraft" gaming platform due to a "problem" with its traffic management.

A fix for the problem, however, is not due until June. Until then, Rogers has suggested that users switch off all peer-to-peer connections while gaming on "World of Warcraft."

"Our tests have determined that there is a problem with our traffic management equipment that can interfere with World of Warcraft," Rogers wrote in a March 22 noteto the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). "We have been in contact with the game manufacturer and we have been working with our equipment supplier to overcome this problem."

The note was posted online by OpenMedia.ca, a non-profit, pro-open Internet group in Canada.

Rogers said it made a change to its software to fix the problem, but a recent change to the game "created new problems" and a second software modification is necessary. That, Rogers said, "will not be ready until June."

Rogers said that it has determined that the problem only occurs when consumers are using P2P file-sharing apps while running WoW. "Therefore we recommend turning off the peer-to-peer setting in the World of Warcraft game and ensuring that no peer-to-peer applications are running on any connected computer," Rogers said.

The admission from Rogers came after the CRTC wrote to the company in late February about complaints it had received from WoW users. CRTC noted that ISP activities "that result in a noticeable degradation of time sensitive audio or video traffic require prior Commission approval."

Canada has open Internet regulations that prohibit ISPs from blocking specific applications. An ISP could slow down all of its traffic during peak times, for example, but could not discriminate against specific services or apps like World of Warcraft.

U.S. net neutrality rules got started in a similar manner when Comcast was accused of blocking access to P2P sites like BitTorrent during peak hours. Comcast said it delayed traffic during peak times, but denied blocking.

In one complaint received by the CRTC, customer Teresa Murphy said she had experienced slow downs since at least November, and was not connected to a P2P network while gaming.

"I've been affected by this (along with MANY other Rogers users) because Rogers' filters are picking up several very low bandwidth-intensive games incorrectly as P2P activity," Murphy wrote. "I don't use P2P at ALL, and yet I'm still affected by this issue because Rogers sees my gaming traffic incorrectly as P2P."

OpenMedia.ca has teamed up with the SaveOurNet Coalition to push the CRTC to conduct regular audits of ISPs.

"The rules are as follows: ISPs cannot slow down (throttle), speed up, or block Internet traffic specific to any content or application. However, the onus to ensure ISPs' compliance with these rules has been placed solely on Canadian consumers," OpenMedia wrote in a blog post last week. "Rather than taking comfort in the fact that Canada has some of the world's strongest Internet openness rules, Internet users like the World of Warcraft gamers must constantly be on guard to protect their online activity from the threat of discriminatory practices."

source : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2382720,00.asp

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Posted in: news

Easy Ways to Make Gold in World of Warcraft

There are so many different guides that all lay claim to teach you how to make gold in World of Warcraft and each of them has a completely different take on the subject. After years of play it seems like there are several ways to go about making gold, based on your character and of course your chosen professions. One thing that seems to remain a constant is that raw materials always command decent prices in the Auction House and with an expansion out these raw materials are in high demand. 

The secret to making gold in World of Warcraft lies in using both your professions and the Auction House wisely. One of the best ways I have seen to make gold quickly is to have one toon that is both an herbalist and a miner. Once you have access to the top ores and herbs, you will find that one or two hours of farming can be turned into hundreds of gold selling them in the AH. With so many players trying to level their professions, the ores and herbs are commanding ridiculous prices and are likely to stay that way for a while.

Wait, you say that prices aren't that good in your AH because there is plenty of Titanium or Frost Lotus. This is the time to put your best Auction House strategy to work for you and buy out everything at lower prices and then relist some of it at the price you want to sell it for. When there is nothing in there but what you have for sale, players are going to pay your prices. This is a rinse and repeat operation and will hold the prices up where you can maximize your income. 

During the early stages of any expansion the stuff you have been crafting and selling is not going to sell very well as everyone is more interested in levelling both their characters and their professions. This is the time to take advantage of the situation. Farm for all the herbs and ore you can and sell it all in the Auction House, you can worry about leveling you other professions later as the demand and the price of the materials starts to go down.

While these are not the only ways to make gold in World of Warcraft, they have proven to be very effective in each of the expansions and are continuing to do so at the moment. Take advantage of the early days and you will make more gold than you know what to do with.

Dan spends at least three or four hours every weekend farming the reaches of Northrend looking for the top new farming spots for herbs, ore and more. Learn how he does it without wasting his entire evening by visiting www.WarcraftBlueprint.com.

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Posted in: warcraft blueprint,World of Warcraft

A Few Tips for Hunter PvP Strategy

If you want to be a successful Hunter in a PvP environment, you need to behave in much the same way as a real hunter would in the real world. You have to be able to identify your targets, understand how it is likely to behave, and anticipate what your target is likely to do. At the same time you have to know your own capabilities, be comfortable with using them and have the right gear to protect you from taking too much damage. 

Knowing all of this, you need to be capable of moving yourself into a good enough position to take on your target and eliminate it without ending up as a target yourself. This sounds just like any other role that the Hunter is likely to take on including any type of PvE combat. You are equipped with traps and nowhere is that more important than in the PvP arena, including battlegrounds. By using your traps as crowd control you can put enough distance between you and your enemy to use your DPS abilities to do as much damage as possible.

Your best Hunter PvP strategy is to study the PvP strategy of the other classes and the tactics needed to kill them. This will allow you to stay one step ahead of them, which can be very important as they are trying to kill you at the same time. If you want to develop a good PvP strategy, the best way to do so is spend as much time as you can in the battlegrounds and the Arenas. You are going to spend a lot of time dying as you learn, but over time you will find that you will learn the tactics of all the other toons.

One thing you need to make sure of is that you have the best gear you can get and upgrade every chance you get. Getting your PvP gear has never been easy and in between seasons it is even harder. The one last tip is to choose your pet carefully; there are no wrong or right pets. Choose the one that suits your style of play and make good use of it. This does not mean letting it run loose. Rather, use your pet to protect yourself and add damage when you are under attack. If used properly, your pet can hold the aggro while you gain a little range and finish the enemy off.

Taking any class into PvP is not easy. In fact, it can be downright challenging at times. So, instead of stumbling through PvP with your Hunter, learn how to do it right with the ultimate PvP guide – visit www.PvPBible.com for more details.

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Posted in: PvP Strategy,World of Warcraft

Facebook: Not Just A Social Network, Also A Venue For Playing Games

I bet you know that Facebook is the number one in terms of popularity among the social networking sites available in the internet. Yes, millions of people worldwide using the Internet service and of course, its wide array of popular past time competitions are being linked and staying connected by Facebook. These Facebook games have really made a significant contribution in keeping distant families together. Families, friends, and other people far apart from each other now adore the wonderful service that Facebook does by bringing them closer together, every second of the day.

Socializing Is Not Merely Talking: Playing Is Another

The social networking site Facebook is not merely a venue for meeting up with your old friends or family members. As a matter of fact, you can even socialize with your friends and relatives; however distant they may be. There are just countless Facebook games you can play online. And what is more, these applications are totally enjoyable and all for free! Here are just a few examples of the various games you could possibly expect playing in the social gaming offered by Facebook.

Flixster Game

With about 6 million people all over the world playing this game about what’s hot and what’s passé in movies, it has become the leading movie sharing networking community online. If you are the type who is always curious about the clothes Hollywood actors and actresses wear during Awards Nights, then this game is the one for you. Or answer trivia questions as to how a particular lead character died in one particular movie? Some piece of advice though, if you do not have much time to spend for playing, do not dare try this game. Otherwise, you might have a hard time balancing and prioritizing which things you first have to do while online.

Ant City Game

This is a fascinating and humorous game, actually. Imagine using a magnifying glass as your equipment to hunt for some victims; after which, you are compelled to hold down the left mouse button to put the victims on fire. Would you ever really want to try doing that, burning people through the use of a magnifying glass?

It may sound like it’s a crazy game, but you would be surprised to find out that there are just millions of people playing this Facebook game regularly while doing their social networking at the same time. Imagine seeing the victims vaporize into thin smoke after being set ablaze and eventually falling as ashes into the ground. Talk about viciousness, eh?

GeoChallenge Game

This Facebook game is quite interesting because it sets apart from other social games available in the various networking sites. You may ask, in what sense? Well, let me tell you. This GeoChallenge game involves facilitating a Pop Quiz asking significant questions related to the planet we live in. Questions such as; “Where in the world can you exactly see the Mediterranean Sea?”.  Or if I plan to go to Afghanistan, how will I reach it?”

Also, there are games related to identifying flags of various countries such as asking you to match the flag of a particular country and identifying each location of countries as well as the cities. Surely, all these Facebook games are a way of entertaining people online No wonder so many users have not only been passionate in playing but have gotten addicted already to this totally new and yet favorite concept of social gaming.

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Posted in: facebook games

FarmVille Secrets Review

As much as I love Farmville, I’ve always had something against buying game guides. I’ve been playing games for a long time, but I’ve never yet spent money on a guide to one. Until now.

You see, while I was out on the internet, looking for Farmville help to get past the latest obstacle that had been frustrating me, I stumbled onto Farmville Secrets. Since I needed Farmville help, I was torn! Should I pay the money, and get the guide, or should I try to find Farmville help elsewhere? In the end, desperation won out, and I bought the guide – and here’s what I discovered.

Farmville Secrets Is the Ultimate Farmville Help Source

Once I’d bought the Farmville Secrets guide, read it, and used it to improve my gameplay exponentially, I wanted to kick myself. Not because I’d bought it, but because I’d spent all those years struggling to play games without help guides!

As far as a Farmville help guide goes, that doesn’t even begin to explain what this is. It’s a complete roadmap to success in the game, right from level one up to level one hundred and beyond.

This Farmville help guide is up to date, in depth, and yet still written in an easy to follow style, with lots of graphics to make using it simple.

What I Now Know About Farmville Guides

Of course, discovering that the Farmville Secrets guide blows all the other Farmville help that I’ve been getting on the web right out of the water comes with mixed emotions. I couldn’t be happier with the Farmville help that I’m getting from Farmville Secrets, but I can’t help but wonder if I wouldn’t have been farther along in the game if I had bought it sooner.

If you’re looking for Farmville help, and wondering whether you should buy Farmville Secrets, I say go for it! It’s a fantastic guide, and I haven’t been sorry that I invested in it once.

Want to know what all the best Farmville players know? To get the best tips and techniques, you need to take a look at Farmville Secrets! Order your copy by clicking here: : http://www.farmvillesecrets.com

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Posted in: farmville guide,farmville secrets

Farmville Secrets: The Best Farmville Help Guide Around?

Over the past few months, I’ve found myself drawn into Farmville. It started as an idle pass time – something to do while I waited for something better to happen. These days, however, I find that I really do care what happens to my crops. I want to ribbons – bad, and I can tell you which crops to plant when, and why.

Most of that is hard won, hard earned knowledge, but I have to admit that I’ve looked at a few Farmville help guides since I started to really get into the game. In the interests of helping new players to choose the best Farmville help guide around, I’ve taken a look at several, and so far, I have to say that Farmville Secrets is the most comprehensive, and the best one I’ve found. Here’s why.

An Up to Date Guide

Since I started playing Farmville, I’ve looked at several Farmville help guides. The problem I’ve found with many is that they haven’t been kept up to date. New features, crops and animals don’t feature in them, and if you’re new to the game, it’s really confusing to figure out what’s really going on. Farmville Secrets is an up to date Farmville help guide, so it makes it easy for even the newest of newbies to figure out what the best strategy is.

Easy to Follow

Another critical factor that I believe makes Farmville Secrets one of the best Farmville help guides out there is that it’s easy to follow. Not only is it written in easy to understand language, but there are screenshots and graphics to help you understand what you need to do. It’s user friendly, and that’s important – after all – a guide that takes a degree to figure out isn’t much good to anyone!

It’s Written By an Actual Player

Too often, Farmville help guides seem to be written by someone who understands the theory behind the game, but has no practical experience of how it works. I found that because Farmville Secrets is written by someone who really plays the game, it’s easy to understand what is going on. You get the feeling that this is a Farmville help guide that’s based on practical experience, rather than official documents, and it’s like having a personal tutor, more than having a dry, technical guide.

For Serious Players

Some people I know who play Farmville do it purely for the fun of it. Others are serious players, who want to challenge themselves to be the best – or at least to see how near they can get.

The first type of player probably won’t find a Farmville help guide like Farmville Secrets necessary. But if you, like me, fall into the second category, and like to win, then it’s definitely something you should consider. Without this guide I would have been stuck in the lower levels of the game for a lot longer than I was, and I can honestly say that any success I have achieved in the game (and I’m pretty darn good if I do say so myself) is largely attributable to this Farmville help guide.

 Want to know what all the best Farmville players know? To get the best tips and techniques, you need to take a look at Farmville Secrets! Order your copy by clicking here: 

www.farmvillesecrets.com .

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Posted in: farmville guide,farmville secrets,farmville strategy

Farmville Guide to Buildings

Farmville may seem simple at first glance, but once you get into the game properly, you start to realise that strategy, knowledge and planning are essential to success. Familiarise yourself with this Farmville guide to buildings, so that you know what the important ones do and which ones you really need to invest in.

Use this Farmville guide to buildings to choose the right buildings for your farm. It is pointless spending money on a building that isn't put to good use. If you are concentrating on building up XP by planting crops, then you shouldn't spend money on livestock structures. Each Farmville building is made with a specific purpose in mind. For instance, the Chicken Coop is great for breeding poultry, since it can hold up to 20 chickens at once. Besides maximizing your space efficiency, having your chickens in a proper coop, allows for Mystery Eggs to be laid. These cannot be laid outside of a coop.

Buildings can earn you ribbons, rewards and XP bonuses, just by purchasing them. If you are playing the game with fun in mind, consider the aesthetic appeal of the buildings you choose to buy and erect. Some buildings have regional themes, allowing you to create matching themes all through your farm, or create stark contrasts by juxtaposing different architectural styles in one setting. Man of the buildings are just there for decoration and serve no actual purpose as of yet. Bear in mind that Zynga could roll out game updates that make those seemingly useless buildings have an actual function. If you are planning on maximizing your coin efficiency, you can always buy these decorative buildings purely for their XP yield, then sell them to recuperate some of the money spent. This save space on your farm and helps you level up quickly.

The Toolshed and Barn are storage buildings and are used to keep your unused tools in. These are tools that you don't want to sell as of yet. The Garden Shed is great for storing freshly cut flowers. Flowers make a great gift for your Farmville neighbors and earn you XP when gifted. You can store up to 25 bunches of flowers at once in the Garden Shed.

The Farmville guide to buildings is completed with Animal Buildings. The first animal building in Farmville was the Dairy Barn, which holds a maximum of 20 cows at a time. Cows are housed, fed and milked in this barn, making it a great money earner, since milking gives you a quicker income than just trading on livestock for meat. Having this building greatly reduces the milking time for cows, since they can all be milked in one turn. Any special cows you have earned can be safely kept in the Dairy Barn. The newest animal structure is the chicken coop and it has some surprise features: if you keep all your unique chicken in there, you increase your chances of hatching more special chickens from mystery eggs.

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Posted in: farmville guide,farmville tips

New Changes for Warrior Tanking in Cataclysm

Cataclysm has brought a lot of major changes to warrior tanking that are designed to help restore tanks as the best at generating agro and holding it in the game, just as they were in the beginning. As all tanks know, warriors have suffered at the hands of the Nerf God starting with Burning Crusade and carrying on through Wrath of the Lich King. Thanks to new Rage Normalization system along with a slew of new or redesigned abilities, skills and talents, Protection Tanks are finally able to do their jobs. 

Up until the release of Cataclysm every other type of tank has been able to do the same job as a Protection Tank, only better. There has been something wrong with this picture and Blizzard has finally decided that warrior tanking should return to where it belongs, firmly in the hands of the Protection warrior. Depending on how well you play your warrior this can be a blessing or a curse. For those who have relied heavily on their gear to carry them through a fight, you may not like what has happened.

On the other hand, for those who have spent their time in the trenches, like we all did in Vanilla WoW, the changes are going to give you the chance to show how good you really are. Everyone got stamina increase in their gear to increase their health and keep the healers happy, for the tank this means a longer lifespan especially as the health levels of the NPCs have been modified to suit the changes making the warrior tank a valuable asset in any raid once again. 

One big change that is proving to help with warrior tanking is how their block rating has been modified. Up until now your gear has had its own Block Rating, as you may have noticed this is one of the biggest changes to gear as most of the gear buffs are gone for all classes. Instead you have a standard block rating that gives you 30% block against damage done, so the more damage you take the more you can block. 

So far there have been no signs that Blizzard has any intentions of nerfing the tanking warrior, however we will have to wait and see how long it takes before everyone else starts to complain. The whole idea was to give the job of main tank back to the warrior where it belongs and the changes in Cataclysm have done just that.

With any new expansion comes a ton of new tips and strategies for the top classes. Don’t be out in the cold with Cataclysm – check out www.CataclysmSecrets.com and get the most out of your Warrior.

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Posted in: cataclysm,Catalysm Secrets,World of Warcraft

Warlock PVP Strategy in Cataclysm

As a Warlock, your role in PVP is twofold, first and foremost you should be dealing mass amounts of damage every chance you get. Overall the warlock PvP strategy has not changed, when you are not busy killing everyone in sight, you need to be handling crowd control. This means judicious use of your Fear spells followed by your DoTs. The big thing to remember is that your real strength lies in the ability to stack Spell Penetration.

One thing that Cataclysm has done for Warlocks that is going to come in handy in both PvP and PvE is that you no longer have to load up on Soul Shards. Instead of carrying a ton of them around with you in your inventory they are now a resource. You can able to see them on a bar under your health and mana bars. Even more importantly, you only have one spell that even uses them anymore and that is your Soul Burn. You use this as to change the way in which many of your spells function. 

As with many of the other classes there are some races that are better suited for a particular task than others. Part of the best Warlock PvP strategy is a matter of pick the right race for the job. If you are an Alliance player you will find that choosing a Human will be to your advantage as their "Every Man for Himself" talent is the perfect ability for the battlegrounds.

On the Horde side, you can't go wrong with an Orc, as they get the extra pet damage that has a 163 Spellpower cooldown buff. Orcs also have a natural resistance to stuns that helps them and makes them the best overall choice for PvP as a Warlock in either Horde or Alliance. If you really want to gank your enemies fast and hard, you need to pay close attention to which pet you choose. 

Since you are a ranged damage dealer first and foremost, your pet should reflect this, the most commonly used pet for PvP is the Felhunter as it can silence casters. At the same time the Felhunter can do a fair amount of melee damage when necessary. Take advantage of all that a full Affliction build has to offer including the ability to drain life and do your DPS damage on the move and be ready to take home a few victory trophies every time you go out.

With Cataclysm hot off the presses, millions of players are eagerly trying to figure out how to master their class in PvP. See how Dan and his guild mates are doing it by visiting www.CataclysmSecrets.com.  

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Posted in: Catalysm Secrets,PvP Strategy,World of Warcraft

A Good Solid Rogue PvP Strategy

There is no doubt that the Rogue can be one of the most fun classes to play in World of Warcraft, especially in PvP.  Fighting against other players in the Battlegrounds is truly the one place that playing a Rogue gives you a distinct advantage. Each player is going to develop his own Rogue PvP strategy over time, but a few extra tips can help you to dominate the BGs or the Arena on your Rogue instead of surviving by sheer luck.

One of the biggest problems I have seen with many Rogues in PvP is that for some reason they seem to think that they are tanks. You see them all the time rushing into a fight like a warrior only to get wasted in seconds. This kind of Rogue PvP strategy just doesn't make any sense; as one of the least armored classes why would anyone want to do that. As a Rogue you have one advantage that no other class has; stealth. Not only can you stand still and not be seen; you can sneak up behind your enemy.

This is your biggest strength and one that you should use to your advantage whenever you are involved in PvP combat. Keep in mind that even though you are stealthed, there are those who understand your tactics and can still find you. Be aware of this and keep your eyes peeled so that you see them first. This will always give you the advantage and allow you to stun your opponent and get the first strike advantage.

Herein lies another situation that far too many Rogues fail to drive their class advantages home and score their honorable kills. The Rogue has Sap and Kick, both of which are designed to stun an opponent stopping them in their tracks, this means no spell casting, no melee attacks and even more importantly, no bandaging or healing of any kind including using potions. Instead of hitting your opponent until they are low on health that and then giving them a chance to heal, keep kicking them.

This takes away any chance they have to heal and gives your Rogue the opening he needs to finish the job in style and comfort. The best Rogue PvP strategy is using a strong offense to keep your opponent off guard giving you the chance to take them down at your own pace and score the victory instead of getting yourself killed.  

For Rogues, Dan has always had a very special place in his character roster. Learn how Dan approaches arena and battleground fights alike with his Rogue by visiting www.WarcraftPros.com.

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Posted in: World of Warcraft

Alliance Leveling Tips

When you get tired of grinding your way slowly through the levels and grow sick of watching other zooming right along, you start to wonder what it is that they know and you don't. There are many ways to level a toon from 1-80 and now to 85, everyone seems to have the basic concepts down, but there are a few Alliance leveling tips that can help you to level up much more quickly without having to spend a fortune on repairs. 

Going from 1-10 is something that should take less than a couple of hours and can be accomplished by completing the quests in your beginner's area. The only real tip is to try and do groups of quests together and then turn them in. Thanks to the new map in WoW, you can see where all of your quests are in the world. This will stop you wasting time running back and forth to the quest giver and then back out when you realize that you could have killed the mobs just once and completed several quests at the same time if you had simply thought to pick them all up in the first place.

Be aware of the mobs you are killing, just because an area has mobs everywhere doesn’t mean that you should go on a widespread killing spree. The only mobs you should be killing are the ones that you have to kill in order to complete your quest objective. Sure they all give you XP, but if you want to level quickly you need to learn that you earn far more XP per hour turning more quests in than you will just for killing mobs.

If you are leveling by yourself, stick to quests that are at or one level below yours. These will still give you plenty of XP, but you will be able to complete them at a much faster paced. The net result is more quest completions per hour and fast leveling. On the other hand if you are with a partner or a group, you should have no problem taking on higher level quests and between these and the higher level mobs, your XP will increase very quickly.

One little trick that can help is to put your spell, shot or strike rotations together into macros. This will allow you to use one or two keys to execute perfectly sequenced moves every time you take on a mob. While considered essential in PvP, very few people seem to realize how much of an advantage macros can give you in PvE and help you to speed level your next toon. By following these very simple tips you are going to be surprised at the difference in how fast you level compared to the way your XP bar was moving before.

Dan has leveled through World of Warcraft more times than he can count, both with the Alliance and the Horde. Learn more about WoW leveling at www.WarcraftBlueprint.com.

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Posted in: warcraft blueprint,World of Warcraft

Arcane and Fire Mage PvP Talents in Cataclysm

If you prefer to spend your time in PvP with your Mage then you are going to love the changes to the talent tree in Cataclysm. The best Mage PvP talents in Cataclysm are the ones you use as an Arcane Mage as they have been devised to provide you with plenty of fire power to take out your opponents and keep your Mana levels high. 

Among these talents are Arcane Power, Arcane Concentration, Improved Mana Shield and Presence of Mind. These may not be the most Mana efficient spells that you have, but they are designed to provide maximum nuking power. A new talent called Slow does exactly what its name says and slows your opponent down so that you can keep your distance and use your spells to take them down at your leisure. 

Since you are rolling an all Arcane Mage, or at least you should be if you are serious about PvP and want to win, you need to add Improved and Empowered Arcane Explosion as well as Arcane Missiles. The new Arcane Missiles proc rather than being a straight button activated spell. Because it is a proc, the amount of damage they do has been increased significantly. Adding all of this together will make the Arcane Mage all but unstoppable in both the arenas and the battlegrounds. 

If on the other hand Arcane is not going to be your main spec, then you need to put enough points in Arcane to get Arcane Power so that you can still take advantage of those hard hitting arcane spells that are so powerful in PvP. If you want to avoid being an Arcane Mage, then the next most popular build is the Fire Mage. Until recently the Fire Mage has been a hugely popular build with mass amounts of damage, Arcane has replaced Fire as the hardest hitting. 

Fire offers some very hard hitting spells including the new Fire Orb that tracks the target down and does almost 500 DPS for up to 15 seconds. When you combine this with your Arcane Missiles, your enemies are not likely to last very long. With both of these builds the one thing that you are going to have remember to keep a close eye on your Mana levels as both are very heavy Mana users.

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Posted in: cataclysm,World of Warcraft

A Few Changes to Hunters in Cataclysm

There has been a great deal of change made to all of the different classes with the coming of Cataclysm. Hunters are seeing more than their fair share of them including 3 new abilities that are intended to make them a lot more effective in any situation. Hunters have always gotten the short end of the stick and unless the powers that be nerf what they have done, they may become a very viable part of any raid or in the PvP run you get involved in.

First the new abilities, starting with Cobra Shot that you get at level 81.This shot causes Nature damage instead of pure Physical damage and when combined with the talents in the Beast Mastery tree could easily become the go to shot in any situation, especially when going up against heavily armored targets. It will share a cool down with steady shot.

At level 83 Hunters will get Trap Launcher, this will allow you to shoot any one of your traps up to 40 yards away in a similar fashion to the Freezing Arrow Trap which will be removed. Finally at level 85, Hunters will be given Camouflage, which effectively hides them and stops them from taking any ranged damage.

These are the new abilities, but only a small part of a much bigger picture. Now instead of using mana, Hunters have Focus which builds up like Rage instead of running out with use. In order to use abilities such as Steady or Cobra Shot, Aimed Shot and many more you will need to have enough focus built up. This completely changes the dynamics of playing a Hunter and will take some getting used to.

Every Hunter has had to carry his ammunition with him no matter where he goes, at first they had to carry a quiver or an ammo pouch. This was followed by taking these away and letting the Hunter carry his ammo in a regular bag. It meant being able to carry far more ammunition than ever before. In Cataclysm Hunters will no longer need any type of ammunition as all bows, crossbows and guns will do damage without them.

All Hunters will start with a level one pet and will now be able to carry up to three pets with them at all times. While they have three pets that you can swap out any time, they can still only have one pet out at a time as long as they are not actively involved in combat. Should a Hunter wish to swap out any of the pets he is carrying, he will still have to visit a Stable Master. These are just a few things that have been made to help the Hunter recover much of they lost in WotLK.

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Posted in: World of Warcraft

Best Farming Spots in Azeroth and How to Bank Gold

With so many changes coming to the Old World due to the Cataclysm it is going to take a while to figure out where the best farming spots in Azeroth are likely to be. One thing that you can always count on is that lowbie materials are going to sell well for the two new races. This means you are still going to make good gold on all of the cloth you can gather, along with ore and herbs. 

While so many people honestly still think that farming for high level herbs and ore is the only way to earn the gold they seek, this simply isn't so. Even after the Cataclysm the best places to farm for gold are going to be the low to mid-level dungeons in the old world as they drop tons of cloth and blues you can vendor off. This still is not going to really make you rich by any means, but it will put money in your bank. 

For the first few weeks and maybe months you are going to find that places like Sholazar Basin and Ice Crown will continue to dominate in the old zones for farming as the number of people who suddenly find the need to level up their professions always increases exponentially after an expansion. I remember when Wrath of the Lich King came out and Khorium ore sold for several hundred gold per stack faster than you could put in the auction house. 

With all of the new ores and herbs that are being farmed all over the new zones, and from what I have seen so far they are scattered fairly well throughout the new zones, these are selling for premiums in the Auction House. However, during the first few weeks you will find the best farming spots in all of the zones are still going to be in Nothrend where you will be able to farm for Frostweave in the Borean Tundra, Saronite and Titanium in Sholazar Basin and herbs in Ice Crown and Storm Peaks. 

I realize that these areas are not strictly in Azeroth, but if you want to bank gold in the first few weeks, you will find that these raw materials are going to be selling at unheard of prices. One final superb farming spot is the Auction House itself. As you watch the prices you can buy out certain materials at lower prices and then turn around and relist them at higher prices making a fast turnaround profit.

Not sure you’re a farming kind of player? Learn how Dan makes gold with farming and the auction house to boost his gold count to astronomical levels – visit www.HitGoldCap.com for  more details.

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Posted in: cataclysm,Hit Gold Cap,World of Warcraft

Druid PvP Tips

It goes without saying that the Druid is the one class in World of Warcraft that has a wide variety of styles of play that can keep you thoroughly enjoying the game. Being able to switch back and forth at will, this ability is a great strength for a Druid and at the same time is its biggest failing. The Druid can be a Tank, a Healer and a Ranged DPS player no matter where they are in the game. In general Druids have been considered one of the least successful characters in the PvP arena.

If you are going to play a Druid successfully, you are going to need to learn how to play each of these roles with equal skill. If you want to be successful these Druid PvP tips might help you to be a part of the winning team no matter which battleground or arena you are fighting in and find yourself more welcome than ever before.

If you are planning on spending your time in the arenas, you will find that Restoration Druids are very popular because of their Heal over Time spells. These spells continue healing even when the recipient is in combat, thus they are being continuously healed by powerful spells that can mean the difference between life and death, victory or death in the Arena environment. Make sure you have taken the time to gear up and you will be virtually indestructible by healing yourself and using mana regeneration spells. 

On the other hand Feral Druids, when geared properly, can be very popular with PvP, especially in battlegrounds as their DPS runs high when specced for it or make really strong tanks. Ranged DPS is far more popular as the high levels of DPS let you take out targets very quickly from far enough away that you can stay out of harm's way and switch forms as needed to finish the job or run away. 

As a Druid you are one of the most agile characters in the game, you need to take advantage of this and stay out of sight until the last second, then you can decide which type of attack you are going to use and pick the right form. At this point you will find that you can more than hold your own in one on one combat. 

Putting all of your talents to good use in building your Druid and learning to make the most of your abilities is far more important than gear, although good gear is very important as well. PvP is a very mobile environment and when played properly the Druid is ideally suited to this type of combat.

Druids in PvP can be a rough road if you don’t know your role. Visit www.PvPBible.com for more information about how to get started right.

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Posted in: PvP Strategy,World of Warcraft

Druid Tanking Strategy Changes in Cataclysm

Cataclysm has brought a complete change to the entire talent tree system for every class in the game. No one has escaped the sweeping changes. Some have made things better, while the jury is still out on the rest. If you want to get the most out of your Rogue here are 5 hot talents for Rogues in Cataclysm that you need to take advantage of if you want to maximize the amount of damage you do and become an invaluable part of any raid or PvP battle. 

1. Bandit's Guile: This is a combat talent that gives you a 15% damage bonus for a short period of time. One it wears off you will need to attack another mob or opponent to reset it. This will keep you very busy switching from one target to another if you want to maximize this talent's potential.
2. Murderous Intent: This one is in your Assassination talent tree and is intended to help you finish off your target. Every time you use Backstab after your target goes below 35% health you will get 30 Energy back. This means that at this point you can Backstab your enemy far more times before you run out of Energy. With a few crits thrown in, you are going to gain enough combo points to do some major damage.
3. Overkill: Another Assassination talent that increases your energy regeneration over 20 seconds by 30% once you break stealth. If you use it in combination with Murderous Intent, you can quickly finish off any opponent that is about to die. Even more importantly, you can use Vanish when your opponent is near death and then unstealth, fire off Overkill and make that killing blow.
4. Vendetta: Yet another Assassination talent that increases your damage to an enemy for 20 seconds. You should always use it in combination with Overkill for the Energy regen and the 20% damage bonus.
5. Vitality: This one is in your Combat talent tree and will increase your energy regen by 25%, when you combine it with Combat Potency, you will have more energy than you know what to do with.

These are the hot new talents for Rogues in Cataclysm, there are a couple in the Subtlety tree, but these are the ones that will net you a guaranteed kill when your opponent is below 35% of his health every time as long as you use them in the right rotation.

Rogues are one of the hottest classes in World of Warcraft for a very good reason. Don’t be the guy who gets destroyed because he can’t quite figure out his rotation – visit www.WarcraftPros.com for more information.

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Posted in: cataclysm,Warcraft Pros,World of Warcraft

Big Changes for Warriors in PVP

For those who stuck with their warrior in through Wrath of the Lich King even though they started out with some pretty hot abilities only to see them completely nerfed or eliminated by Blizzard because no one could stand up to them in PvP combat, there is good news. In Cataclysm there are some major changes being made that will give warriors in PvP back much of what they lost. In fact most warriors are going to find that of all the classes they are making out far better with the new talent trees.

Unless the powers that be nerf everything again, Arms is still going to be the best spec for warriors in PvP thanks to Mortal Strike which is being described as the most effective wound strike of any class. When combined with gushing wound that stacks if the victim moves (and let's face it, who is going to want to stand still for 9 seconds), this will put warriors back at the top of the damage meters and give them back so much of what they lost in WotLK. 

With several new abilities coming in Cataclysm, such as Colossus Smash that will allow warriors to actually penetrate their opponents' armor for a full 6 seconds, getting in close will prove deadly for even the best geared death knights and paladins. The new Heroic Leap will let you jump into the fray from afar and has its own cool down instead of being tied in with charge. With 3 different ways to get up close and personal with your opponents, you should have no problem smashing anyone in plate let alone chain.

The whole idea of playing a warrior in PvP is to deal out as much damage as possible with every hit you make. To this end the talent trees have been changed in favor of making the Arms warrior the only spec to build for PvP.  New talents likes Lambs to the Slaughter kick in after you use Mortal strike so that when you use Execute, Overpower or another Mortal Strike they will do 10/20/30 more damage depending on how many points you have in this talent. 

As long as Blizzard leaves the latest changes in tact that warriors have been given without going to town nerfing them as they did in Wrath, the newly revamped Arms Warriors will continue to rule in all of the Battlegrounds and Arena fights. Finally warriors are back on top of the damage meters where they belong.

How successful have you been with your Warrior in PvP during Wrath? Are you ready to make a change? Learn how to do it right with the ultimate PvP resource at www.PvPBible.com.

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Posted in: cataclysm,PvP Strategy,World of Warcraft

Cataclysm Battleground Changes

From the first time Blizzard introduced battlegrounds for PvP action to the game; they have brought a new and fun dimension to the game. For many, the PvE side of the game is only there to level up with and reach the new battlegrounds, and make the gold needed to pay for new gear while waiting to earn the badges needed to buy the latest Tier gear. As with each previous expansion pack, there have been a few battleground changes in Cataclysm intended specifically to keep the fun rolling.

For those of us that have been around since the early days, we remember how hard we had to work to earn our PvP ranks. It took many hours of ganking the other guys to go from Private to one of the many Officer ranks and only a few managed to reach Field Marshal. Then came Wrath and away went the PvP ranks we worked so hard to earn. Fortunately one of the Cataclysm battleground changes is the return of the BG Title system. Finally we will once again be able to show everyone just how hard we have been working in the battlegrounds. 

By far the biggest change that is being made to the battlegrounds in Cataclysm is the introduction of Ranked Battlegrounds. You will be able to form raid groups before entering the BG and your group will be matched against an opposing team that has a similar rating. Every week the format for the battlegrounds is going to change, one week will be 10 man, then 15 followed by 25 man. You will be awarded Conquest Points for wins which can be traded in for gear. 

There are two new battlegrounds in Cataclysm, Twin Peaks and Gilneas at the moment, and more to come. As with every season there will be special rewards for the teams including Honor titles. Those teams that reach the equivalent of "Gladiator" status are also going to be rewarded with special epic ground mounts that you will be able to show off especially when you ride out into your first BG when the next season starts. 

One final change to battlegrounds in Cataclysm is in the way that they are clustered. Now instead of being limited to servers in a particular battlegroup the way they were in Wrath, those who you are fighting against players from anywhere in your region. In other words, if you are in North America, you will be queuing up with others from anywhere on the North American continent. This applies to all regions and should reduce your wait times.

Not sure you’re ready to jump into the battlegrounds and play each of them with the kind of dedication needed to be a serious PvPer in World of Warcraft? Visit www.PvPBible.com for details on how to make the leap.

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Posted in: PvP Strategy,World of Warcraft

Cataclysm Leveling Strategies

As with each of the previous expansion packs there are different leveling strategies in Cataclysm. One of the most popular strategies is to pay very close attention to the way the different groups of quests are put together; you will find that you can accept several quests that are all done in a particular area. Rather than going out and completing one or two at a time which is a very slow way to go about leveling, complete as many as you can in a given area and then go turn them in. 

You may have to make a couple of side trips along the way to grab the next stage quests, but Blizzard has conveniently placed many of the quest chains on top of each other to make it much faster and easier to level up without having to run all over the place. You should complete all of the quests in one zone before moving on. Be aware that as you level you may have to go back to an area that you were working in earlier. If a particular quest takes you way out of your way, leave it for later as you will probably be going out there to complete more quests as you go through the different quest chains.

If this sounds like too much work, you can always sit in one area and farm mobs that are at or just above your level. Known as grinding, this has always worked in each of the expansion packs and is one of the different Cataclysm leveling strategies. It is however a much slower way to level, the one thing you will get is plenty of drops that you can sell for gold along the way. 

A good blend of questing and running the new dungeons such as Blackrock Caverns is considered to be the fastest way to level your character. Dungeons reward you with much higher XP rewards and taking out the bosses not only rewards you with maximum XP, but you will be able to start gearing up and earning the gold you are going to need when you go visit your trainers.

One last tip, you need to use your map for questing. Blizzard took Quest Helper's good idea and built it in several patches ago, now you can see where each of your quests is located allowing you to group them together for faster completion. You might be surprised at how fast your XP bar is going to move when you turn in a dozen or more quests at a time.

Leveling is not a quick process. It takes time and care to the little things. Learn how Dan has taken advantage of hot changes in Blizzard’s interface and dozens of little tweaks to reach the cap at record speed – visit www.WarcraftBlueprint.com for more details.

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Posted in: warcraft blueprint,World of Warcraft

Discipline Priest PvP in Cataclysm

As the changes for Cataclysm have already taken place you have by now respeced your Discipline Priest using the new talent trees and noticed that you have lost some abilities such as Power Infusion and gained others. The big question is whether or not your Discipline Priest is going to still hold his own in PvP. Unless you have already had a chance to do some serious PvP; the answers may still need to be decided when you get a chance to get into battle. 

If you look at the abilities you are used to having for offensive firepower like Borrowed Time and Pain Suppression, you will see that they are still here. Most of your offensive firepower is intact, but you will find that you no longer have the variety of defensive PvP talents you have gotten used to. Instead of the big variety you are now down to one self defense talent called Focused Will for use in PvP. Your options as a Priest tank are gone and in their place heal buffs that while they don't do any damage might keep you alive if you keep casting them on yourself. 

The Discipline PvP Priest in Cataclysm has taken yet another major hit as Renewed Hope has been removed in favor of a single target buff that is similar to Grace and will only work on the targets you cast heals on.  To add insult to injury they have changed Rapture and now a Discipline Priest will no longer be able to channel energy to their party member who have been shielded once Power Word: Shield breaks. 

None of these changes have helped the Discipline Priest in any way when it comes to PvP. You can't help but wonder if Blizzard has decided that all Priests should be happy to be healers. Most of the changes in the talent trees and new abilities have been designed to improve overall healing and so many of the damage and defense abilities that used to carry the Disc Priest well in PvP are gone or completely nerfed. 

The future of the Discipline Priest may look bleak at the moment, but it is early days yet and we all know that everything is subject to change as more players begin to see that specing in Discipline is not going o top win them any favors when it comes to getting into PvP action.

No matter what type of character you enjoy playing, PvP has been flipped on is head yet again in Cataclysm. Learn how and what you can do to conquer the changes at www.PvPBible.com.

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Posted in: PvP Strategy,World of Warcraft

3 Popular Mind-Enhancing Facebook Games

Facebook games have become the avenue of most people to break free from the strenuous jobs they have to face daily whether in the office, at home, and even when doing nothing. Breaks are necessary, to clear mind and be prepared for the next challenges one has to face for the rest of the day or night. It is a good thing that Facebook has all these kinds of games that can help users to achieve stress relief, physically and mentally.

The best thing about Facebook games is that they are no nonsense online games. With the variety the social networking site has to offer, you can find one that is so entertaining and keeping you alert and another that is far from being mindless entertainment. Most of the games provided by the site require exercising your brain to beat high scores, while the others require your good analyzing skills so to keep with the requirements of the game play.

The games that particularly call to use and train your mental skills, such as your intelligence, reaction time, and memory, are some of the most popular because from this obvious characteristic they do provide players with lots of fun. Three of these popular mind games are the following:

Who Has The Biggest Brain

This is one of the Facebook games that assess how much intelligent the player has or how smart he is for the particular field. In this game, there are a few facets that test your knowledge – spatial recognition, number ordering, and math are just some of the levels you are to deal with. In each area, it is necessary to combine correctness and speed, so to acquire highest score possible. This is a good way to challenge friends as well by inviting them to find out if they are smarter than you or vice versa. At the end of the game, this “Who Has The Biggest Brain” game allows you to find out which learning aspect you get the highest score or which type you are best with.

Geo Challenge

“Geo Challenge” is similar to the “Who Has The Biggest Brains” except that it only includes one facet of learning skill to deal with – your ability to match the geographical markers as speedily as you can. For instance, the first round presents a country name with several different flags to find the right one that matches it with; the second level shows country shape with different country names to choose the right one from; and so on, and so forth. In this game, it is obvious that you are being challenged with your intelligence about the geography. Not only that, because what is more important is you are being trained with your reaction time and memory skills.  

Word Challenge

In this game, the player is provided with six shuffled letters. The challenge for you is to think of many words as you can get from out of those letters. For each word you typed, there is a corresponding time awarded to your clock based on how much letters you produced it or how long that it was.

Once you came up with a six-letter word, the letters can be replaced with a new set. You finish the game once your time on the clock says you have no more to continue playing. The fun part here is you can challenge your friends to compete with you by targeting the highest score in each week, month, or better yet, an all-time high score.

Word Challenge is one of the most popular word Facebook games and is particularly created to boost the players' vocabulary skills. But more than this, you are challenged with your capability to do the right decisions, whether by forming small or bigger words. Forming small words can earn points but risks more time. Creating longer words, on the other hand, provides high points but risks time as well as needs you to exert more time in figuring out what are they.

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Posted in: facebook games

Paladin Strategies and Tips for PvP

Far too many players see the Paladin as a weaker warrior and don’t feel like it is really a good class for use in PvP. All they see is players using Ret Spec Paladins spending too much time in melee and fail to see how much more a well played Pally can do in both the Arenas and the battlegrounds. Whether you are speced Holy or Retribution, as long as you have the right gear and can follow a few simple strategies and tips, you will do very well in World of Warcraft PvP.

First let's talk about a few useful tips that apply no matter where you are fighting or what zone you are in including the new BGs in Cataclysm. Get your fingers off the movement keys on your keyboard. If you insist on using your keyboard, you are going to spend a lot of time at the Spirit Healer. Instead you should be using the two buttons on your mouse. This will allow you to move far faster and more fluidly than using the keyboard. 

This way you can dodge melee class opponents and avoid the vast majority of their attempts to snare you. Set up macros to switch out your weapons, keep a fast 1 handed weapon and shield on your macro and a heavy cutting 2 hander on another macro. You can use the 2 handed weapon to do the heavy damage and then switch out when your opponent is waiting on his cooldowns to pop. This way you can get inside and finish him off in a hurry using your shield to block his feeble attempts to hit you. 

This is not to say that you should not plan to spend a lot of time wielding that massive 2 handed weapon and doing some serious melee damage. Keep those Judgements up at all times and, with the changes in Mana uses and Talents in Cataclysm, you will be able to use your Judgements far more frequently. Since you are going to be taking a fair amount of damage during a fight, make sure you don’t forget to use your heals when you need them. Even a Ret Pally has heals and if you don't remember to use them, you are going to die far too frequently.

One last tip, if at all possible in a melee situation, try and keep your back against a wall or a tree. If you don’t have to worry about who’s got your back or trying to stab you in the back, you can concentrate on killing the guy in front of you.

Dan has dabbled in a bit of everything in World of Warcraft, pushing his way through dozens of different leveling zones with Paladins and beyond. Learn how he prepares for PvP with his Paladin at www.WarcraftPros.com.

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Posted in: PvP Strategy,Warcraft Pros,World of Warcraft

New Changes for Death Knights in PvP

With Cataclysm as we have all seen there have been some major changes all the way around and the Death Knight like all classes has definitely been worked over. Not only has their talent tree been completely revamped, but there have been changes to the way that their runes regenerate. In order to be successful DK players are going to have to take a little time to become familiar with the changes including the new procs that are now a part of Runic Empowerment.  Since runes now refresh as a proc, none of your old rotations are of any use.

Bearing this in mind, Death Knights in PvP have a distinct advantage as it is much easier to keep a rune handy for that key ability compared to PvE where your main concern is maximizing every point of DPS you can get your hands on. One thing that has become evident in all classes and particularly in the Death Knight is that with the new talent trees each of the three trees is an entity on its own instead of a slight hybrid of the others. 

For Death Knights in PvP, Unholy has long been considered the only way to spec and by rights it is still the better choice, but with the new changes you can play all three with a high level of success. With a range of talents such as Shadow Infusion and Dark Transformation, you can dump plenty of runic power into your Death Coil and let your pet run amok with Dark Transformation for 30 seconds with massively boosted abilities. 

Unholy Blight is also going to be a major player as it keeps your diseases from being dispelled while you are keeping your Death Coil powered up. Adding the Glyph of Death Coil to the mix makes you that much more potent and the dirge of the Battlefield. Choose your  talents very carefully as you cannot pick all of the DPS increasing ones, be prepared to give up a little of your DPS to gain extra versatility and you will be surprised at how well you are going to do out on the battlefield. One more thing that these changes are going to accomplish is that you will see tons of Death Knights in PvP playing their own game instead of copying each other; this should make for a lot more unpredictable fun than we have seen for a long time.

It’s no secret – PvP is tough. So, when Dan gets ready to take a new class into the arena or load up on attack strategies, he turns to the PvP Bible – learn more at www.PvPBible.com

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Posted in: cataclysm,PvP Strategy,World of Warcraft

Resto Shamans in Cataclysm

An expansion just wouldn't be right if all casters didn't get new spells and there are several new spells for Shamans in Cataclysm. To start with the Shaman has been given three dispels just like all the other healing classes. In particular, the Shammy can dispel both offensive and defensive magic and cures, at the same time they had to give up their dispel for diseases and poisons.  This is just the beginning of the changes for this long time favorite class.

No matter what changes are made to the Shamans in Cataclysm, they are still one of the most versatile characters in the game. With the new healing spell Healing Rains they can heal a targeted group as it’s a Heal over Time that comes at level 83. Healing wave has also been changed to a Greater Healing Wave that is a much stronger direct heal than it has been in the past. Resto Shammys are going to be able to heal toe to toe with Priests in many situations. 

This has been coupled with Unleashed Weapons that work in a similar fashion to the Paladin's Judgment. You get to choose from one of three different weapons, Windfury that throws a virtual copy of your weapon at the target, does 50% of your weapon's damage and gives you more haste over your next 5 swings. Flametoungue that hits your opponent instantly with Fire damage and increases the damage of your next Fire Spell by 20% and Earthliving that is used to heal your target  and give your next healing spell a 20% buff. 

These new healing buffs are a great addition to the Restoration Shaman's arsenal and will certainly add to his versatility. One thing to keep in mind is that Healing Rains is subject to diminished returns. The more people in the party you cast it on, the less healing effect each will receive.  To sweeten the pot just a little more we have Spiritwalker's Grace which allows you to keep moving or take damage and still keep casting your spells. 

Some of the changes have been good, but the one thing you need to know about any Mana using class in Cataclysm is that you are going to have keep a much closer eye on your Mana level as it will go down at a faster rate than you are used from Wrath of the Lich King.

Not sure you’re getting the most out of your Shaman? Check out the guides that make playing any class in World of Warcraft easier – visit www.WarcraftPros.com for more details.

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Posted in: cataclysm,Warcraft Pros,World of Warcraft