Compilation 2.3 patch info + alterac valley + some WoTLK info

[assasingnome]

for those who havent seen / want too see wall of black text about 2.3 critting you for 1337 here it is,

New PvP trinkets in 2.3, PvP items available from heroic vendors
Kalgan posted (again) very interesting details about the new PvP rewards in 2.3.
Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
There are a few new pvp oriented trinkets for 2.3.

All versions of the trinket have a click effect to gain 1750 max health (kind of like the old lifegiving gem effect), along with a passive effect (your choice of 47 spell damage, 40 spell crit rating, 80 attack power, 40 melee crit rating, or 88 healing).

Q: Any resilience?
A: Nope, we did the clicky max health instead of resilience in this case (some players are at or nearing the resilience cap already).

They're open to all classes. The click effects share a cooldown though, so you won't be able to stack that effect.

And now the best part.
Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
Actually, they cost badges of justice, which will also be available off Kara and Zul Aman bosses.

We like to encourage players to mix it up a little to a reasonable extent. Obviously, I can't argue that you personally will have more total fun if you also do a little PvE to go along with your PvP, but we do feel that for most players it adds up to a better overall play experience.

That being said, you certainly can tank heroics in s2 gear.
We can assume that most of the 2.3 items posted a few days ago could be heroic badges rewards, and not just a few more items buyable from the Arena/Honor vendor. It seems a good time to run as many heroics instances as you can.


Death Knights Q&A on official WotLK site
A Death Knight Interview and a Death Knight Lore pages have been added to the official site. The "interview" is interesting but there isn't anything new in it.

Summary of the interview : They added Death Knights because they needed more tanks (without replacing the existing ones), they want the DK to be a "terrifyingly powerful warrior in heavy plate armor carrying around an enormous rune weapon" but even if it's a hero class it won't be more powerful than the others. They will get old abilities from Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 fueled by the new rune system.


Battlegrounds win/loss ratio
More useful stats from Kalgan, who gave away win/loss % for each battleground, and explains why AV is getting changed again in 2.3.
Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
I think it's worth pointing out that generally speaking the win/loss percentages for WSG, AB, EotS generally fall somewhere around 55% to 45% on any given day (with Alliance also represented on the higher side). For example, on North American servers yesterday Alliance won more AB battles than the Horde.

AV has gone through greater swings, with alliance winning as much as 75 to 80% of battles (NA servers again as an example) before patch 2.2 and horde winning about 60% so far after 2.2. That being said, there are a bunch of substantive AV changes going into patch 2.3 that will probably shake things up some more (more details on that sometime this week).


Legendary ranged weapon
A small post dedicated to scared hunters, don't worry, the evil warriors won't steal your shiny new legendary.
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)
We were planning to implement a Legendary ranged weapon soon, while I’m not sure what class restrictions it will have, I kind of doubt many Rogues or Warriors are going to be able to say that they need it or will use it more than Hunters. Just my crazy thoughts though.

Death Knights won't be a copy paste of paladins
It was expected since we already knew that they'll have life stealing abilities, but it's now confirmed that Death Knights are selfish and probably won't heal you at all.
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)
Q: Anyone have any Idea how Death Knights will be in PvP? Coming from a mage, I am going to absolutely love not being OOMd by healers anymore. Just curious if there gonna be like a mage warrior combined!??!?
A :I doubt that a Death Knight will excel in healing, that help. We'll have more details on this class and many other things as we get closer to launching Wrath of the Lich King.


No new riding skill tier in WotLK
Confirmed again, Blizzard won't add a new tier of riding skill in WotLK
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)
But we currently don't plan to add another tier of riding skill in Wrath of the Lich King.


Warlocks and flying mounts
There is no plan to give a flying mount to warlocks, start gathering your 2000 gold to get the cenarion expedition one if you want a shiny new mount.
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)
We do like adding additional flying mounts to the game, but it has to feel right when we do it. We didn’t want to push for a ground version for the Druid in Azeroth, but waited for the expansion and the Druid Flight Form fit in great. While we have no Warlock specific ones planned, we do plan to continue making them like the Engineering and Cenarion Expedition mounts that are coming soon.

Few more things about some items
I didn't have much time to talk about everything last week, we had already way too many things on the site.

* For all the warriors still wondering where they can get [Plans: Ragesteel Shoulders]
Plans: Ragesteel Shoulders
Binds when picked up
Requires Blacksmithing (365)
Use: Teaches you how to make Ragesteel Shoulders.

Ragesteel Shoulders
Binds when equipped
ShoulderPlate
873 Armor
+32 Strength
+12 Stamina
Yellow Socket
Yellow Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 Critical Strike Rating
Durability 80 / 80
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves hit rating by 9.
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 17.

Burning Rage (0/4)
Requires Blacksmithing (350)
Ragesteel Breastplate
Ragesteel Helm
Ragesteel Gloves
Ragesteel Shoulders

Requires Fel Iron Bar (12), Primal Fire (2), Khorium Bar (Cool, Scroll of Strength V (2)


, it drops from Enraged Air Spirits, Enraged Earth Spirits, Enraged Water Spirits and Enraged Fire Spirits in Shadowmoon Valley.
* Terokk now drops [Time-Lost Figurine]
Time-Lost Figurine
Binds when picked up
Trinket
Requires Level 68
Use: Transforms caster to have the appearance of a Skettis arakkoa.


, it transforms you into an Arakkoa for 5 minutes and the best part is ... it doesn't fade when you change zone, take damage, fight, or anything like that. (but you can't mount while transformed like any other transformation)
* I forgot to one loot from the Headless Horseman (added in 2.2.2 during the halloween event, see the other loots in this post), you can get an awesome pet from him called Sinister Squashling. It's a walking pumpkin that will dig itself in the earth when you don't move. (Thanks to Beeble for the screenshots)


Season 1 gear for honor at the beginning of Season 3
If you read this site often, you know that the Season 1 arena gear will be available from honor points vendor when the season 3 starts. However I missed a blue post written before the week end with a very interesting detail. I also added this to the list of PvP changes in the 2.3 "unofficial patch notes" just below.
Update 12:00 : I should really sleep more, weapons will indeed be included, post was from 08.28 not 09.28 (not my fault, blame Wildhorn)
Quote from: Drysc (Source)
We've stated on numerous occasions that Season 1 items will be available from honor vendors, and this does include weapons.

guess what, some more text

All seasons arena sets bonuses merged
A very interesting change, you can wear parts of the gladiator sets and get the bonuses even if they're from different seasons. Obviously this also means that you won't be able to stack two +35 Resilience bonuses anymore. Old sets bonuses will be changed to new ones.
Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
As of patch 2.3 all items in the gladiator season 1, 2, and 3 sets will be part of the same set, so you can use those items interchangably and keep the set bonuses (ie: you can wear the season 2 shoulders along with the season 3 helm, chest, legs) and retain the 4 piece set bonus.

Q: You had better be changing the 4pc set bonus then, -1 second of concussive shot is absolutely horrible and no way better than +35 resilience :/
A: Many of the set bonuses have been updated (including that one). The new 4 piece set bonuses are also retroactive as a result of the above change.

2.3 PvP gear and armor penetration
For all of you who were concerned about the armor penetration everywhere on items posted yesterday, you'll get more armor than that.
Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
There's more +armor on the pvp gear than there is +armor penetration on the melee pvp gear.

The priest and warlock season 2 armor sets already have +910 bonus armor on them. As of season 3, the mage set will also have the +910 armor (all the armor pen on season 3 melee gear adds up to less than 910).

Arena rating calculator
The Arena rating calculator on the site has been updated and should perfectly work with the 2.2 version now.

Zul'aman on PTR First week of october.
Temporarily moving this to the top of the page, make sure you check the 3rd update for interesting informations about daily dungeon quests.
Quote from: Tigole (Source)
Q : ETA on when zul'aman will hit ptr for testing?
Q : hopefully, first week of october.

2.3 unofficial patch notes
4th and last update of the unofficial patch notes, hopefully we should have the 2.3 on PTR soon along with the official patch notes. Main additions are the season 3 information from today and yesterday, and a few updates on existing entries.

Quote from Blizzard staff
General

* (4) Escape Artist has now a 1:45 minutes cooldown.
* (4) All Disarm immunity effects in the game were changed to 50% disarm duration reduction (non stacking).
* (3) Auction's duration have been changed to 12, 24 or 48 hours. Also deposit prices for all duration will be the same.
* (3) You can now ctrl+click recipes to get a preview of the crafted item in the dressing room.
* (3) All items of the auction house will be sorted server side, basically it means that when you'll try to sort a particular item by price, it will sort it through all page, not only the current one.
* Healing Reduction effects now affect all Drain spells and abilities (i.e. Mortal Strike will affect Drain Life) (Source)
* Level 20-60 Quest EXP has been increased, while EXP to Level has been decreased (Source)
* Guild Banks are being added to the game. (Source)
* New relics are added to support all talent trees in patch 2.3 for Shaman, Paladins and Druids. Most of the arena-system existing Relics have been renamed to create a more consistent naming convention (Source)
* +Healing bonus will give 33% of spell damage as well (1500 Healing bonus will give you 500 Spell damage) (Source)

Raids & Dungeons

* (3) New daily quests are available in the Lower City for 5 man heroic and non-heroic dungeons (Once at a time, a bit like battlegroundw weekends, each day you will get quests for a different dungeons). The following non-heroic dungeons are concerned : Shattered Halls, Steamvault, Shadow Labyrinth, Black Morass, Botanica, Mechanar, and Arcatraz. All dungeons will get quests in Heroic mode. If you're getting the non-heroic and the heroic quest on the same day for the same dungeon, you can complete both by running it in heroic mode once. Non heroic quests will reward you with a Ethereum Prison Key (various reputation), gold, and reputation with the Consortium. Heroic quests will give you 2 Badges of Justice, gold, and reputation with the Consortium.
* (2) Mobs inside Sethekk Halls will now continue to award Lower City reputation all the way into Exalted. Previously they stopped giving reputation in non-heroic mode just before players hit revered.
* (2) The number of creatures that must be killed in the Karazhan Servants Quarters area before a miniboss spawns has been reduced.
* New Title - Champion of the Naaru: Awarded to those who complete the Tempest Keep attunement quest at level 70. (Won't be available anymore at lvl 80) (Source)
* Heroic Badges drop from Zul'aman and Karazhan bosses.
* The amount of items available from the Heroic Badges vendor has been considerably increased.
* New 10-Man Raid - Zul'Aman!


Zul'aman

* Zul'Aman will be a 10-person raid zone
* Zul'Aman will be on a quicker reset than 7 days (some might call this "casual")
* Zul'Aman will be MORE difficult than Karazhan and drop better loot (some might call this hardcore)
* Zul'Aman will feature 6 bosses and it's our goal that you can kill them all in one night -- perhaps 2-3 hour clear times (some might call this casual)
* Zul'Aman will not have a key requirement. Nor will it have an attunement quest\ (some might call this casual)
* Zul'Aman will have a VERY challenging timed quest for those who choose to participate in it. This *will be* hardcore and will be very rewarding. Players do not have to engage in the timed run (very similar to the Baron run in Stratholme)
* We're tuning the first boss in Zul'Aman to require less raid coordination than some other raid bosses. He will still hit very hard so you'll need to be geared properly but it won't take 15 minutes to explain the fight. It will be a simple yet challenging fight. The other boss fights get more complex and challenging from there. If players want a basis of comparison, imagine the tuning of ZA started around Nightbane/Prince difficulty and ramped up from there.


Factions

* (3) You can buy now buy Super Mana and Health Potions from Ogri'la quartermaster. They're usable everywhere and costs 50 Apexis Shard.
* (3) New Flying Mount added. Requires 2,000g and Exalted with Cenarion Expedition. (280% Speed) (Source)

PvP

* (4) New healing wand for Season 3 Arena.
* (4) New Melee PvP Cloak added to the game: 34 Stamina, 20 Crit, 20 Resilience, 46 Attack Power, 112 Armor Penetration.
* (4) New Caster PvP Cloak added to the game: 34 Stamina, 15 Intellect, 16 Spell Crit, 23 Resilience, +27 Spell Damage/Heal.
* (4) New Healer PvP Cloak added to the game: 34 Stamina, 15 Intellect, 6 mana/5sec, 23 resilience, +51 healing (+17 spell dmg).
* (4) Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe added to the game: 62 Stamina, 46 Crit, 33 Resilience, 15 Hit rating, 92 Attack Power, 98 Armor Penetration. Waraxe Cost: 1000 arena points (no rating requirement).
* (3) New battleground rewards are available : boots, belts, and bracers. (Source)
* (1) New daily quests for battlegrounds have been added, they're dedicated to one specific battleground each day, are available to players of all levels, and reward experience, gold, and honor (Source)
* (2) Spells now cast for free before a Battleground begins
* (2) Spells now cast for free for 5 seconds after resurrecting at a Spirit Healer in Battlegrounds
* (2) Additional Honor is rewarded upon conclusion of Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Eye of the Storm

Arena Season 3

* (4) You will need 1850 Team and Personal rating to buy weapons.
* (4) You will need 2000 Team and Personal rating to buy shoulders.
* (4) All items in the gladiator season 1, 2, and 3 sets will be part of the same set, so you can use those items interchangably and keep the set bonuses
* (4) Many of the Arena Sets bonuses have been updated.
* Season 1 arena gear will be available from honor points vendor when the season 3 starts.


Mages

* (2) Detect Magic removed. All players may now see their target's beneficial effects at all times
* (2) Frost Ward and Fire Ward now gain additional benefit from +Dmg
* (2) Frost Ward and Fire Ward (Ranks 5, 6) have had their base absorb lowered
* Damage coefficient reduction is removed from Improved Fireball/Frostbolt. (Source)
* New spell : Ritual of Refreshment. It will allow players to pick up their own stack of food/water, similar to a Soulwell. (Source)
* Evocation restores 15% of your total mana every 2 seconds instead of being a spirit-based mana regen increase. (Source)
* Arcane Meditation is being increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration. (Source)
* Ice Barrier gains additional benefit from spell damage bonuses. However, the base absorb values of ranks 5 and 6 have been reduced. (Source)

Shamans

* (2) Item - Tidefury Raiment now grants additional mana to Water Shield
* (2) Item - Totem of the Thunderhead now grants additional mana to Water Shield
* (2) New Talent - Shamanistic Focus: After landing a melee critical strike, you enter a focused state. The focused state reduces the mana cost of your next Shock spell by 60%
* New Talent replacing the 2 Handed weapons one - Elemental Focus: Puts you in a "focused state" after landing a melee critical strike, reducing the mana cost of your next Shock spell by 60% (Source)
* All shaman can equip 2-Handed Axes and 2-Handed Maces without spending talent points. (Source)
* Frost shock is no longer subject to diminishing returns. (Source)
* Shamanistic rage also reduces all damages taken by 30% for the duration of the ability (30 seconds) in addition to its current effect. (Source)
* Spirit weapons reduces melee threat by 30% instead of 15%. (Source)
* Mental Quickness adds 10/20/30% to spell damage and healing bonuses based on your total Attack Power in addition to it's current effects. (Source)
* Lightning Overload now has a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to proc (Source)
* Lightning Overload damage has been decreased by 50% (Source)
* Lightning Overload now causes 0 threat (Source)
* Lightning Mastery reduced to .1/.2/.3/.4/.5 seconds (Source)
* Mana Spring Totem now restores mana at a rate of 20 mana every 2 seconds (Source)
* Water Shield now costs 0 mana to cast, and the mana per globe has been substantially increased (Source)
* Water Shield's duration has been reduced to 1 minute, and grants mana for each globe left upon ending (Source)
* Elemental Focus will now reduce the mana cost of your next two damage spells by 40% (Source)
* Lightning Bolt casting time reduced to 2.5 seconds, and mana cost decreased (Source)
* Chain Lightning casting time reduced to 2 seconds, and mana cost decreased (Source)

Druids

* (1) Many new macro inputs as well as druid 'cancelform' becoming an instant like 'dismount'. (Source)
* Cure Poison and Abolish Poison may now be cast in Tree of Life form (Source)
* Remove Curse may now be cast in Moonkin form (Source)
* Rebirth cooldown reduced to 20 minutes (Source)
* Intensity increased to 10/20/30% mana regeneration. (Source)

Warlocks

* (2) Banish may no longer be cast on targets tapped by other players
* Ritual of Souls has had it's casting time significantly reduced. (Source)
* Healing Reduction effects now affect all Drain spells and abilities (i.e. Mortal Strike will affect Drain Life) (Source)

Warriors

* (1) Weapon Mastery has been changed to reduce the duration of Disarm effects by 25/50% (Source)
* Mace Specialization proc has been reduced (Source)
* Mace Specialization Rage increased to 7 instead of 6 (Source)
* Tactical Mastery now greatly increases threat from Mortal Strike and Bloodthirst while in Defensive Stance (Source)
* Devastate now combines the effects of Sunder Armor into it's effect, and is affected by all talents and items that affect Sunder Armor (Source)

Priests

* (4) Elune's Grace (Night Elf Priest Racial)effect changed to reduce chance to be hit by melee and ranged attacksby 20% for 15 seconds. There is now only 1 rank of the spell.
* (4) Power Word: Fortitude, Divine Spirit, Prayer of Fortitude and Prayer of Spirit will have their mana costs reduced.
* (1) New Dwarf/Draenei ability - Chastise: Causes Holy damage and incapacitates target for 2 seconds (Source)
* (1) Fear Ward will now be available to all Priests at level 20 (Source)
* (1) Fear Ward duration reduced to 3 minutes, and cooldown increased to 3 minutes (Source)
* Power Word: Shield gains additional benefit from spell damage and healing bonuses. However the base absorb values for ranks 10, 11, and 12 have been reduced. (Source)
* Pain Suppression is castable on a friendly target, it reduces the target's threat by 5% and reduce the damage it takes by 40%. (Source)
* Pain Suppression cooldown is reduced to 2 minutes. (Source)
* Meditation is increased to 10%/20%/30% Mana regeneration. (Source)
* Prayer of Healing, Circle of Healing and Holy Nova (healing effect) gain additional benefit from damage and healing bonuses. (Source)
* Circle of Healing base amount of healing is reduced, but it gets more bonus from +healing effects. If you have more than +1338 healing you will see it heal for more. (Source)

Paladins

* (2) Vindication (Retribution) frequency and duration increased and now reduces all attributes by 5/10/15%, not just Strength and Agility.
* (2) Pursuit of Justice (Retribution) is now 3 ranks and increases movement speed by 5/10/15% and also reduces the chance you'll be hit by spells by 1/2/3%.
* Exorcism's mana cost has been lowered (Source)
* Holy Wrath's mana cost has been lowered (Source)
* Hammer of Wrath's mana cost has been lowered (Source)
* Vengeance has been increased to 30 seconds (Source)
* Improved Seal of the Crusader effect added to base abilitiy (Source)
* Improved Seal of the Crusader now gives the effects of Sanctified Crusader (Source)
* New Talent - Sanctified Seals (replacing Sanctified Crusader): Increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and melee by 1/2/3%, and reduces the chance your Seals can be dispelled by 33/66/100% (Source)
* Crusader Strike cooldown is being lowered to 6 seconds. (Source)

Rogues

* (2) Poisons now enchant weapons for 1 hour
* Fleet Footed increased to 15% speed increase
* Deadly Throw traveling speed is being increased significantly, it will reach your target faster and the snare will last one second longer. (Source)
* Ruthlessness won't be triggered by Deadly Throw anymore, and Ruthlessness will be changed to only affect melee finishing moves as a whole. (Source)
* Blind no longer requires a reagent, is changed to a physical attack, will share the same diminish category as cyclone, and will diminish in PvE as well as PvP. (Source)
* Shadowstep can be used at any time (even when you're not stealthed). After the use of Shadowstep threat caused by the next Ambush, Garrote, or Backstab will be reduced by 50%. The cooldown will be increased to 40 seconds. (Source)
* Dirty Deeds increases the damage of special attacks by 10%/20% against targets that are below 35% health in addition to its current effect. (Source)

Hunters

* (2) Trueshot Aura (Marksmanship) no longer costs mana to cast and will last until cancelled.
* (2) Serpent Sting, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap now all gain additional damage based on 10% of your ranged attack power.
* (2) Wyvern Sting (Survival) is now instant cast and has a maximum duration of 10 seconds in PvP.
* (1) 20 and 24 Slots ammo pouches have been added (Source)
* Arcane Shot (Rank 6+) will now dispel 1 Magic effect in addition to damage (Source)

Engineering

* (4) Flying Mount added for Engineers. Regular and Epic version. It will not require any Nether Vortex. (Source)
* (4) New Field Repair Bot will repair, buy, sell, like a normal repair bot, but it will also sell all reagents, level 65 arrows and bullets, poison reagents, few types of vials, up to 2 super mana/healing potions, and maybe some scrolls. These are all for sale, with no rep discount, because he’s a robot. (Source)
* New Plans - Field Repair Bot: Dropped by Gan'arg Analyzers in Blade's Edge Mountains. (Source)


Enchanting

* (2) Duration of Wizard and Mana oils has been increased

Fishing

* Fish nodes Tracking may be learned from a journal fished from crates (Source)
* New fish added near Karazhan and Zul'Aman (Source)

Cooking

* New Daily Quests (Source)
* New recipes added for fish found near Karazhan and Zul'Aman. (Source)

Interface

* (1) Mailboxes are upgraded to handle up to 12 items per mail. (Source)
* (1) Auction House scanning will receive its own API letting you scan the whole AH every 15 minutes with any addon. (Source)
* (1) Many new macro inputs as well as druid 'cancelform' becoming an instant like 'dismount'. (Source)

**********************UPDATE********************** ***********


WotLK: Dalaran, Alliance only? (Source)

Drysc: It's a bit too early to say if it's going to be like Shattrath. I wouldn't get too upset about it until it's actually designed and we can tell you what it's going to be like.

Nethaera: I think it's a bit too early to be worried or upset about what is and isn't going to be in Dalaran. When we are further along and have information on it, we'll share it with you all.
In the meantime, remember, Dalaran is filled with the world's most powerful magic users. While they work together, they are also filled with many different personalities and more importantly, have a bit of a crisis on their hands by the name of Malygos. I am going to hazard a guess that the Kirin Tor are going to be using all the available resources they can to survive the onslaught. (Source)


Patch 2.3: Druid Changes (Source)

We are currently planning to make a Feral-focused set available in season 3.

The idea is to make this set have no plus to healing on it and be focused on Feral statistics. Things could still change though.

We are still finalizing details on PvP and PvE items, so a lot of things can still change and I don't know about new Druid specific tanking gear yet.

On a related note, for items that grant attack power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear, and Moonkin forms, in general we are planning to increase the amount of attack power they give.


Patch 2.3: Warrior Changes (Source)

Not a lot is finalized right now, but we are currently planning to make Improved Berserker Stance provide threat reduction by 2/4/6/8/10% while in Berserker Stance.


Patch 2.3: Arena S3 Titles and Mount (Source)

We plan to use the same titles of Challenger, Rival, and Gladiator to give to players when season 2 completes. The players with titles from season 1 will have them removed and the titles will be redistributed to the people who win them at the completion of season 2.

Yes, it will be a different color Armored Nether Drake.


Patch 2.3: Arena S3 Weapons have new art and color (Source)

They won't be "released" until 2.3 goes up on the PTRs. No sneak peeks for you. I can however tell you that they do in fact have new art.

It's different colored raid weapons. So the weapons exist as raid weapons, but they'll have new colors.


Patch 2.3: Q/A and explanations on AV changes

Q/A on AV changes (Source)

1 - Is Blizzard thinking about to buff the elite NPCs to be powerful as they used to be? Since they are our main targets now, I think some improvement would be nice.

1. Thinking about it, sure. But, keep in mind we still need to get this patch onto the test realms and see how things go. It may or may not be necessary to make more changes to the plans we have.

2 - And any chance to get the trolls of Snowfall back to the battlefield?

2. I'm not aware of any plans for that, but can always ask.

3 - Group queue?

3. This is something that is in consideration and MAY be tested on the Test Realm. We have some concerns about what this could do to affect the Queue times to get into battle. Currently, the matching system is relatively lenient. Even though it is lenient though, we could end up with longer wait times as a Pre-Made waits to get matched up. At the same time, we are also concerned about what affect this could have on PUGs that find themselves matched up against Pre-Mades. This is another, "let's test and see" sort of thing.

Explanations on AV changes (Source)

At that point, you need to coordinate with the Raid group to send a group to go retake a graveyard.

A lot of strategies are going to change and people are going to need to decide what locations are essential keys to defeating the opponent. Sometimes you'll have to sacrifice one graveyard to protect a tower. Sometimes, you'll have to leave one target to shore up another.

While it seems like it could be overwhelming right now, I've been in AV many times before and with each change, I've seen people adjust. Those that have been around awhile go into autopilot. They know they need to get to X spot and secure it before going to Y and wiping it out etc. People will adjust to what needs to be done and coordinate or they will lose.

The same goes for losing resources. There are always those kamikaze types of players, but overall, forces will need to learn to not leave people behind, healers will need to keep on top of healing and those that want heals will need to protect their healers. It's one resource per player death currently, you lose far more though if you lose a Tower or a major NPC. Kill the General and it's a guaranteed win. So, what will you do? Just PvP the other side down hoping that you can whittle them down? Or will it be a series of strategic captures that get played out with the end result being the death of the General?

The game display will show the resources that you have so perhaps that will also dictate just how slow and cautiously the game is played or how much sacrificing can be done.


Patch 2.3: Preparation buff in BGs (Source)

First, and how will that effect when people are camping gy? As in, won't people who are attacking from around GY have an unfair advantage of not losing mana? Or does it only apply to buffs/conjured items?

I'm a bit confused about what you are asking. You will only have a very short time after being resurrected by a Spirit Guide to cast any buffs etc for free. After that, it is going to cost you. If the graveyard you are spawning at comes under attack, I guess that means you'll have a little bit of a reprieve to get back into the action. But, if you are an attacker on the graveyard it's not going to have any affect on you.


PTR: Pets in Arenas and Battlegrounds (Source)

There was an issue yesterday where incorrect pets were being summoned in arenas and battlegrounds, or pets were being summoned without skills.

This was caused by a misconfiguration in the servers which has been corrected but we would like to make sure that no one is still encountering this issue.

some new pvp items
New PvP items in 2.3
New cloaks, even if the healing wand (see below) is confirmed for the Season 3, these one are just confirmed for 2.3 and they could be released sooner. (but it's unlikely in my opinion, see the explanation below)

Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
[Melee DPS Cloak]
+34 Stamina
+20 Critical Strike rating
+20 Resilience rating
+46 Attack Power
+112 Armor Penetration

[Caster DPS Cloak]
+34 Stamina
+15 Intellect
+16 Spell Critical rating
+23 Resilience
+27 Spell Damage/Heal

Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
There's a PvP healing cloak in patch 2.3. The vital stats are...
[Healer PvP Cloak]
+34 Stamina
+15 Intellect
+6 Mana/5 Sec (was +16 Spell Critical Strike rating but got changed after a post
+23 Resilience rating
+51 Healing / +17 Spell Damage (Because of the 33% spell damage bonus)

There is also a hunter weapon revealed in the same post.
Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
[Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe]
+62 Stamina
+46 Critical Strike rating
+33 Resilience rating
+15 Hit rating
+92 Attack Power
+98 Armor Penetration

Cost: 1000 arena points (no rating requirement)

The following is pure speculation, but this weapon isn't labeled as "Merciless Gladiator", Vengeful could be the new Season 3 prefix and it would also confirm that the previous PvP cloaks are also scheduled for Season 3.

Kalgan also explains why they're adding these new items.
Quote from: Kalgan (Source)
Early on we had a philosophy that we wouldn't put tanking gear or full sets of healing gear on the pvp vendors since at the time there were concerns that players would feel like it was advantageous to pvp in order to get gear to beat raid content.

Turns out that philosophy mostly sucked (although we're holding onto the no-tanking gear part of it), so we fully itemize for healing in PvP gear now and rely on resilience to make it pvp-specific enough that it won't be considered ultimate raid gear.

New Season 3 healing wand
New wand for healers too, hurray.
Quote from: Nethaera (Source)
Would it help if I said there is a new healing wand for Season 3 Arena?

Low level item changes in 2.3
Quote from: Nethaera (Source)
Yes, we're making updates to quite a few items for both instances and quests below level 60 in patch 2.3.

Safe traveling to Zul'aman and Sunwell Plateau
It seems that there will be a relatively safe way to travel to Zul'aman (and Sunwell plateau in 2.4) for alliance players on PvP realms.
Quote from: Nethaera (Source)
We do have plans in the works to make sure that we can get Alliance players access to this area and the Sunwell Plateau as well. Unfortunately, I can't give you any more information on this since there is still some work in progress in this regard.

PvP realms will always have more activity in these hotspot areas no matter how you get there, but we will get you there just the same.

More changes coming to Alterac Valley
There are more changes scheduled, probably to fix the problem with horde/alliance win ratio.
Quote from: Nethaera (Source)
There are more changes coming for AV that we'll be talking about later. Hopefully we'll only be getting better.

Engineer flying mount
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)
We currently don't plan to require Nether Vortices or a single Nether Vortex for the new Repair Bot or the Flying Mount.

Kael'thas encounter bugged
Quote from: Daelo (Source)
We looked into this, and found a new bug. Any of the enchanted weapons that are alive at the point when Prince Kael'thas resurrects his advisors will immediately have their health increased.

We currently cannot hotfix this issue, but we hope to resolve the problem relatively soon.

Heres the new changelist and info for alterac valley, i dont know if there are any landscape changes just gameplay

Alterac Valley Changes for Patch 2.3 (Source)

As a continuing part of our improvements, we will be implementing the following changes in the next patch.

Strategy can be an important element of any battleground. We want to emphasize this in Alterac Valley more and give players additional meaning to both defending and attacking. To push the strategic element of the battleground to the next level we have changed how players maintain their reinforcements or deprive the other team of theirs.

Each team will have a starting reinforcement count. Reinforcements can be lost in significant amounts if a tower is destroyed or if Captain Galvangar or Belinda Stonehearth is killed. For each team member death, an additional reinforcement will be lost. On the death of General Drek’Thar or Vanndar Stormpike, all reinforcements are lost and the team is defeated. At any point in time, if a team is reduced to zero reinforcements, the opposing team will win the battle. Defending your own teammates, towers, and key NPCs will be an important aspect of maintaining team resources and achieving victory in Alterac Valley.

Warmasters can be the boon or the bane of any team. They are an important element for the defense of your general or the defeat of the opposing general. Warlords and their general will be more closely linked in the next patch. Pulling one is a guarantee the other will come as well. Each team begins with four Warmasters. Destroying a tower will eliminate the associated Warmaster. Unlike the current game play, however, destroying the enemy tower will not add a Warmaster to your own side.

We will be changing the pace of the battle slightly with a reduction in the time needed to control a tower or graveyard. Where it currently takes five minutes to gain control, the time will be reduced to four minutes. The honor for capturing a tower will also be increased.

Graveyards can be an important resource for getting your teammates back into the battle more quickly. Currently, players can sometimes be sent to their starting tunnels far from the battlefront. This can often be an inconvenient location to respawn and more out of the way from the action than we would like, to correct this, players will instead respawn at a team-controlled graveyard. Should the team not have a graveyard under their control, they will respawn in the starting tunnel.

Players will only be awarded bonus honor during the battle for destroying enemy towers and slaying the enemy Captain. Once the battle is concluded, bonus honor will be awarded for intact towers, a surviving Captain, and for victory in battle. The bonus honor awarded should be similar to previous totals, but will reward players for taking more active roles in Alterac Valley toward defending or attacking key locations and NPCs.

Lastly, we are changing NPC interactions within Alterac Valley. We have reduced the number of elite NPCs in Stormpike and Frostwolf holds as well as sent all Commanders and Lieutenants out of Alterac Valley. They are currently in search of other battle opportunities. This should reduce the amount of NPCs that players will have to fight and place more focus on PvP combat over key locations on the map.

Strategy is the name of the game in Alterac Valley, and these changes will bring out the need for more teamwork and coordination from both the Horde and the Alliance as they vie for domination of this battleground.


AKA blizzard is just being lazy and turning it into a battlefield 2 map

[Plisska]

*EDITED*

Quote4flood!

Also see MMO-Champion - World of Warcraft Guides and Raid Strategies

[Reedtz]

Wow. Evocation will now be FTW.

[Nessaj]

Originally Posted by Plisska

*EDITED*

Quote4flood!

Also see MMO-Champion - World of Warcraft Guides and Raid Strategies

Don't do that just to flood, it will earn you infractions, and if you "earn" enough you'll automatically be IP banned from the site.


On topic:

It could just some FORMATTING!

[Naxxramath]

I wasnt really suprised about ZA but the Sunwell Plateau, i've been reading up on that. It's supposed to be where Kael'thas goes home, and you have to fight Him, and a half-summoned Sargeras supposedly. Like i said, that's what it's supposed to be, no definites. But i cant wait! Nihilum prepare for ZA and Sunwell.

[Awake]

http://nihilum.wazap.com/en/news/98,2_3_will_be_on_the_ptr_today/