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There were an awful lot of changes to the Cataclysm shadow priest build over the past week. A few were good, a few were “OK,” and one nearly led to the shadow priest world’s being reduced to a pile of smoking rubble. Follow us after the break for more Cataclysm shadow priesting information. And for those of you who feel ignorance is bliss and don’t want to be spoiled … we now return you to Knight Rider, already in progress.

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In addition to Death Grip, which we discussed last week, there’s another major death knight signature skill that requires a bit of a subtle hand to use correctly, and that has cause much angst and hatred on the part of non-death knights over improper or misunderstood usage. This spell is, of course, Army of the Dead. Army of the Dead is another one of those spells that is unique enough that it really doesn’t have much of a place in a common rotation, but is powerful enough that it’s worth learning to use well. This week, we’ll take a look at the mechanics and proper usage of Army of the Dead

Army of the Dead 101
The basics of Army of the Dead are as follows: You will spend a few seconds summoning a bunch of ghouls. While channeling, you will have damage absorption equal to your dodge and parry chances. Once summoned, the ghouls will be around for approximately 40 seconds or until they get killed, whichever is first. They will attack or taunt the nearest engaged enemies until that time. It’s a pretty straightforward skill in theory, but in practice, using it at the wrong time can wipe you.

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There is a plethora (and yes, I look for places to use plethora) of interesting information about how raids and raid lockouts will be designed in Cataclysm and how they’ve learned from what worked and didn’t work in Wrath in this forum thread. Ghostcrawler exposits:

The developers believe that current raid design (separate 10/25 man lockouts) effectively asks raiders to raid twice as much if they want to maximize their emblem gain, which helps cause player burnout and boredom.
The ability to kill a boss in separate 10/25 man lockouts is ‘nothing sacred’ in terms of changing the design, since before Wrath it wasn’t even possible.

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Suffer, mortals, as your pathetic mod betrays you! Come patch 3.3.5, Blizzard is disabling the functionality of the ultra-useful Augmented Virtual Reality (AVR) addon. The popular mod allows three-dimensional images to be shared between party members in real time to aid in raid strategy and positioning. It is perhaps best known for making the Sindragosa encounter a snap during the ice blocking phase (and, of course, for sharing crudely drawn pictures of genitalia).

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Wowhead is hosting the World of Warcraft Official Magazine forums. This is now the place to go to ask questions about the quarterly, subscription-only, no-ad magazine. Skaarjonic aka Andy Salisbury, one of the magazine’s editors, makes clear in the intro post that they are not Blizzard and will not be revealing any insider info that is under NDA.

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The First United Presbylutheran Church of New Hearthglen is open for business. Assuming you can make it past all the armed guards, there’s a potluck dinner on Wednesday! Now, admittedly, I’m more of the sleeping-in-on-the-weekends type, but even if I wasn’t, I think this picture would scare me away from edifices of organized religion for a while. (Thanks to Quinne of on Dreadmaul for the pic!)

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

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Steelseries and J!NX have teamed up to give away some loot over the next three weeks — hardware from Steelseries and some outer wear from J!NX, as well as other pretty cool stuff. The contest is open to Facebook users, who will be eligible to win one of six loot packs to be given away. Two loot packs will be given away each week, and each pack consists of the following:
1 SteelSeries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse 1 SteelSeries March of the Scourge QcK Mouse Pad 1 SteelSeries Zboard Wrath of the Lich King Gaming Keyboard 1 J!NX Talking Murloc Plush Toy 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Hoodie 1 J!NX Frost Resistance Hoodie 1 J!NX Green Linen Shirt 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Shirt 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Wallet 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Cut out Sticker 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Keychain The first week simply asks Facebook users to ‘like’ or become fans on both the Steelseries and J!NX Facebook pages, with two winners to be determined randomly on May 5, 2010. The second week will require Facebook users to flex their social networking muscles a little bit as contestants are asked to post a screenshot of their favorite person, place, or activity in Azeroth on the J!NX Facebook page and garner as many “likes” for their entry until May 12. The screenshot with the most “likes” will win one loot pack, while a panel of judges from J!NX and Steelseries will determine who wins the second pack.

The third week is a similar exercise in social network popularity, but contestants are asked to submit a video of an in-game dance party on the Steelseries fan page. As with the week before it, the video that ends up with the most “likes” at the end of the period, May 19, will win one loot pack. J!NX and Steelseries will select the winner of the second loot bag. If you’re not averse to the whole social network experience, this promotion seems like a relatively painless way to try and score some cool swag.

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So, some big news out of the Electronic Arts/BioWare camp today — it’s going to take one million subscribers to break even on Star Wars: The Old Republic, and EA is shooting for two million subscribers on the game. Those are some pretty intense numbers for a game, but when you’re sinking as much money into a project as they’re sinking into SWTOR, those are the numbers you need.

But, are they realistic numbers? This isn’t the first time EA poured their heart and soul into a MMO, only to find that the subscriptions weren’t to their liking. Then again, when you’re dealing with a well known IP and an already successful RPG developer who knows how to handle said IP, you might just have the recipe for a subscriber explosion.

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Yes, yes, it’s my second Los Lobos reference in as many days, but they’re a good band and “That Train Don’t Stop Here” is pretty tight. Anyway, Karli sent in this screenshot of her character using the Rituals of the New Moon to give her lupine friend some companionship. I’d be somewhat concerned that when she changes back in two minutes she’ll be the other wolf’s dinner, but even if it wasn’t domesticated, WoW wolves of this particular fur color tend to be under level 10.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

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In this installment of WoW.com’s guest writer program, we welcome a handful of authors to share their thoughts on what is a rumored BlizzCon 2010 this October.

BlizzCon has become one of the premier gaming events each year, attracting folks of every different walk of life from every corner of the globe. In 2009 Chris Metzen stood on stage and to thunderous fire announced World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The expectations set for future BlizzCon are nothing less than spectacular; reading some of the well thought out opinions, you can see what your fellow WoWers want to see at BlizzCon 2010…

Darcy Zalewski (Better known to some as Syrana)

I went to BlizzCon in 2009 for the first time and saw a lot of great stuff. Since I’ve experienced it once, now I have some things I’d like to request — nay, demand — to see this year. I want to see someone in a Pandaren Monk costume and I want them to go all out with it. I also want to see some updates regarding the Warcraft movie. Then there’s the next-gen MMO Blizzard is working on. I hope they’ll show some concept art and maybe a demo of this. Lastly, I want Mountain Dew in the vending machines. The only Dew available was at the end of a long concession line (the machines gave Pepsi no matter what button you pushed!). The developer panels taunted me with their untouched bottles of sweet nectar.

Scott Carson

What I would really like to see at BlizzCon 2010 is a dungeons and raids panel dealing with the design philosophy of the dungeons of Cataclysm or of the design teams “favorite” dungeons of all time (dependant on the timing of BlizzCon and the release of Cataclysm). We got a look at the “how” of dungeon and raid design in 2009, but a panel going into the “why” would be interesting. It could be run with a panel of designers showing a fly-through, giving commentary and pointing out features and elements that make the individual dungeons stand out from the pack. To one-up this, they could have some of the team play through a dungeon, live, while the panel delivers a “director’s commentary,” perhaps with Ghostcrawler playing a retribution paladin.

William Gray

With Blizzard requiring all players to ‘upgrade’ their accounts to Battle.net they have provided themselves with an excellent tool in the tricky task of herding WoW players to whatever their next MMO project is. When they make their next project public, which may very well be at BlizzCon 2010, I’m interested in seeing what their strategy is for making the transition between WoW and the future of Blizzard’s financial success. Will they be able to stay atop the MMO market or will they lose their audience to a rival company?

T.J. Luckman

Two words. New MMO. Is MMO a word? It’s actually an acronym, so maybe I should say it’s four words, but that’s less dramatic. Regardless, I’m really hoping we get some news on the new project they’ve got in the works at Blizzard. It’s not related to any of their other properties, so I’m dying to know more about it. Is it something that could draw me away from WoW? Is it something more serious or more light than Warcraft is? Will there be ponies? We’ve already got a lot to look forward to with Starcraft II and Cataclysm in 2010, and Diablo III in the not too distant future, but we know almost nothing about this new MMO. Blizzard needs to drop some information on this and get us all salivating over their next big thing.

El-ad David Amir

What do I want? More of the same. Let’s be honest here. Blizzard’s main strength is polish. They take the acceptable, the tested, the mundane, and upgrade it to the next level, thus creating a brand new industry standard for others to aspire to. Since 2005, BlizzCon has more or less followed an exact formula: New game announcement; public play of upcoming titles; tough Q&As, answering some difficult questions from players regarding the world’s most popular titles; and, of course, the goody bag. No tricks, no shenanigans, just high quality sessions that form a dialog between the company and us, the fans. The formula works, and I want the formula to stay.

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There’s a new notice up on Warcraft’s Facebook site with some intriguing new information:

Official Warcraft FacebookDeath knights, druids, hunters, mages, rogues, warlocks, warriors, oh my! For those participating in our public testing of the upcoming minor content patch 3.3.3, look out this week for a host of fascinating new adjustments to these classes. Chains of Ice innately does what? Nature’s Grasp has how many charges? Vitality boosts stamina by how much? Stay tuned to find out the answer to these and more questions!

source

What does this mean? No idea, but it appears as though the various class changes and tweaks that were announced for patch 3.3.3 aren’t set in stone just yet, which is what Ghostcrawler said late last week. This fluidity should be expected, after all, as it is a public test realm. Players on the PTR may want to keep an eye out for the changes, and possibly expect some sort of minor patch this week. When an announcement is made about the changes, we’ll let you know!

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Lineage I players who think they’ve done everything there is to do in the game, hold that thought, because Episode U goes live tomorrow and you won’t be bored for a very long time.

The patch notes encompass a very long list of new content as well as updates to old content. There are new zones, bosses, and quests, as well as some new mini-games such as pet racing. The content isn’t limited to gameplay, however. Take a look at the new mail system, the many new furniture items, and the new alliance system as well.

The patch has been in testing, and there are still some bugs to be worked out. The patch announcement states “We are still committed to fixing more bugs, but we do not wish to delay the patch any longer,” and notes that none of the current bugs are game-breaking.

Take a look at the full patch notes here, and enjoy Episode U!

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I discovered that many of the regular players in It came from the Blog, WoW.com’s event guild, are using it as a getaway guild. Some of them lead or are regular raiders in progression guilds on other servers, but come to Zangarmarsh to get away from it all.

In a getaway guild, you can level a character without having to deal with your home guild’s drama, responsibilities and requests. Sure, you want to be there for your guild and you don’t mind helping out your friends, but sometimes it’s nice to just play the game without all of the extra baggage that comes along with an ambitious guild. Of course, you can solo incognito or on another realm, but in a getaway guild, you have the social interaction without the expectations.

Do you belong to a getaway guild? Or is all your WoW playtime in one guild and you just stay out of Azeroth when you need a break?

Note: If you like the idea of a getaway guild, but aren’t in one, you are welcome to join It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh, U.S. Please see our FAQ for any questions.

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Patch 3.3.2, the next minor content patch, will include the much requested strength-based rings for melee DPS from the Ashen Verdict reputation. This should make warriors, paladins, and death knights quite happy. This afternoon Zarhym has released the stats for the different reputation levels (friendly, exalted, etc…), which we have for you after the break.

The minor content patch will also bring with it an influx of other small changes, as well as arena season 8. You can check out all the changes in the translated version of the patch notes that were discovered last night.

The rings after the break.
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Every Sunday Spiritual Guidance offers Holy and Discipline priests advice on how to wield the holy light and groove to the disco night. Your hostess Dawn Moore will provide the music.

I decided to take a break from gems this week to discuss a style of priest healing that is becoming popular among raiders: discipline raid healing. Though the concepts behind it are extremely simple to understand and execute, this style of play seems to have slipped under the radar of many players despite its amazing potential. Tag along with me after the jump and I’ll fill you in on the basics and benefits of disc raid healing. Holy priests, I’m talking to you, too.

Unfortunately for the average discipline priest, there were quick and inappropriate assessments made early in Wrath of the Lich King which tagged discipline as a “tank healing” spec. While I do agree that discipline’s burst response and damage mitigation lend themselves extremely well to healing a tank, there is a great deal of potential that will go untapped if a discipline priest never ventures outside of a little bit of cross healing. Take note – discipline priest are single target healers, not tank healers!
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