Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it’s mostly horror… Anyways, if you’re a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. In the spirit of pigeons, the picture to the right reminded me of the old adage “It’s more efficient to rez you.”
There are 9 classes that can dps, but only 4 that can heal. Warrior bandage sets don’t count, sorry! While the raid damage doers are all about “providing massive quantities of steady and sustained DPS“, you can often go it alone for the most part, assuming you know your place on the threat meter. Healers, on the other hand, have to work together as a team from the first pull to the last. Why? Because dps’s damage stacks, while healing can cancel each other out. Gone are the days of Mana Conserve. /sniff sniff
Compounding the issue is most healers have only played their class into end game content. If you were crazy like me and rerolled a second healer when your guild was already on Morogrim, more power to you! But if you say anything that starts with “Back when my other healer ran <insert Pre-BC raid>…” then you prolly got my Mana Conserve reference, but your actual raiding experience of the current class design is low at best. Instead you’re stuck reading the EJ forums and other references for classes you don’t play. See Anonymous39857? That’s me trying to read up on Resto Shamans.
So what does that all mean? You have 7 people with 4 different classes that have to work together while only ever played one class at their current content level. They might have the book smarts of what’s going on around them, but no shoes that can be walked in. (Swapping chars is baaad for you and the raid, plus you’ll go to Blizz jail.) Lots of commenters for my previous posts have offered their opinions on which class should be doing what and on whom. With all the interest in this particular subject, I wanted to put together something concise.
Australian GAME stores are running a scratch-off promotion (just like lottery tickets, but better!) where with every Xbox 360 that’s purchased, customers get a chance to scratch and win all kinds of gaming prizes. Prizes including a custom crafted and super manly Xbox 360 chopper that’s still being produced. You can hop on over to their “See the Bike!” page to watch the eventual evolution of the bike, because right now, it’s looking kind of naked and non-360 themed. But we’re sure it’ll be 360′ized soon enough if the chopper’s guages are any indication of things to come. Buy a 360 from GAME and (possibly) go vroom, vroom!
A list of the current known issues since patch 2.3 arrived has just been posted on the forums by Hortus. It should definitely be read through before you post any “new” issues, although do note that the list does not include issues that are still being researched. Also, if you are bemoaning the plight of your class, just give this list a read-through; compared to the warp chasers, you’re doing pretty well. In addition, it looks like it is not just hunter pets that are having pathing issues.
General
Dwarven racial Find Treasure is deactivated on death.
Undead Males main hand weapon is appearing larger than previous builds.
Equipping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will cause animation issues.
Environment
Inappropriate tooltip is displaying when a player hovers over Shartuul’s Transporter on a flying mount.
Relogging on the flight path from Southshore, Hillsbrad Foothills to Ironforge, Dun Morogh in the entrance to Ironforge causes players to fly through a wall.
The flight path from Stormwind to Rebel Camp, Stranglethorn Vale clips through a tree outside of Stormwind.
Alliance flight path between Booty Bay and Stormwind goes through a tree.
There is a Feralfen Idol that is sunk into the floor in Feralfen Village, Zangarmarsh.
There is a tin vein in Hillsbrad Foothills that is unreachable.
There is a section of water that is clipping oddly into one of the waterfalls in Hatchet Hills outside of Zul’Aman.
The message “Zul’Aman Exterior InvisMan gains Cosmetic - Flame Patch X.X” appears in the combat log whenever a troll hut is burning in Hatchet Hills. This is one of my favorites!
There is a leanto in Agama’gor, The Barrens that has no tooltip appearing but will be highlighted when moused over it.
Players can wall jump a portion of the hallway to Gruul in Gruul’s Lair to reach a overhanging log beam where they can evade the mobs.
Quests
There is a typo in the Quest Description Text of the Dustwallow Marsh quest “Thresher Oil”.
There is a punctuation error in the acceptance text for the quest “Inspecting the Ruins” .
The quest description of “Super Hot Stew” does not state exactly how many ingredients are needed to create a Demon Broiled Surprise .
Splintertree Raiders do not respawn with Toerk if Duriel Moonfire and her guards are killed while the Raiders are still alive.
The quest description text for “The Corpulent One” refers to it being a group quest.
The quest “Bark For Drohn’s Distillery” is unattainable if the player has certain quests in his/her quest log.
Quest Items are not lootable from chest objects when their tap list is issued on creation, and the object is summoned in via a pet.
NPCs
Hammer of Justice from Gathios the Shatterer is able to be reflected.
Commander Springvale in Shadowfang Keep does not always drop superior quality loot.
Nazan will melee players while in the air.
It is possible for Zul’jin to perform Claw Rage improperly.
When mousing over Darnall a hearthstone icon appears instead of a coin bag.
Boulderfist Warrior is displaying inconsistent combat animations.
Learning certain spells via a class trainer will cause the yellow spell effect to appear on the trainer rather than the player.
The buff Phasing Invisibility on the Warp Stalker does not have a tooltip.
Anchorite Ayuri has a male draenei voiceset.
Goreclaw the Ravenous cannot be skinned.
Cursed Lost One has an inappropriate buff for the zone in which it is located.
There is an error in Sky-Captain Bomblast’s dialogue text on the Orgrimmar to Grom’gol zeppelin.
Shattered Hand Heathen ability Bloodthirst has no tooltip description.
Ogri’la Peacekeeper’s weapons are scaled too small.
Exarch Orelis and Anchorite Karja can be attacked in Area 52.
There is a warp chaser stuck in a pinnacle located at the vortex fields, Netherstorm.
There is a Tortured Earth Spirit that can path onto a bone fence doodad and get stuck in Nagrand.
A Xavian Hellcaller in Ashenvale is pathing right over nearby doodads.
A Shadethicket Bark Ripper in northern Ashenvale is pathing through broken pieces of temple.
There is a Razorfang Hatchling that has popped up onto it’s thorn branch.
A warp chaser in Netherstorm is stuck in a building.
There is a Stegodon in Terror Run, UnGoro Crater that paths too close to a stone pillar and clips into it.
At least two Bonechewer Evokers are no longer pathing and are now stuck on an object.
Several Stonewing Slayers in Windrunner Village, Ghostlands are experiencing collision problems with a building.
There are elementals that have broken water pathing animations.
Flying units are sometimes not pathing in formation.
There is a Cliff Stormer that paths directly up, down and across a hill in Grimtotem Post, Stonetalon Mountains.
When a Tauren Hunter melees at a range above 5 yards their bow/gun abilities on the action bar are not turning red indicating to the Hunter that he is to close to use them.
The Netherscale Ammo Pouch is a Unique item, this is inconsistent with other ammo pouches.
The quest item Battered Steam Tonk Controller procs the warrior talent Second Wind when controlled out of range.
Thornspike has stats inconsistent with items within the same level range.
Mobs gain health during the stun effect from the Goblin Rocket Launcher.
Gift of Arthas only stacks to 5.
The Druid Gladiator PVP Helmet is not using the right texture for the set .
Baelog’s Shortbow is a common quality item.
Snakeskin Bag is a common quality item.
Vengeful Gladiator’s Rifle is using a inconsistent sound.
After you use Field Repair Bot 110G you cannot use it again. Considering this is supposed to have 5 charges, I’d definitely suggest waiting until this has been fixed.
There is a typo in Plans: Adamantite Weapon Chain.
Trading or linking an unlocked lockbox to another player shows the box as locked.
Vengeful Gladiator’s Mooncloth Hood and Vengeful Gladiator’s Satin Hood do not display Troll Tusks.
There is a typo in the tooltip of item “Amani Charm of the Medicine Man”.
Tradeskills
The Icy Chill enchant is causing the debuffed target to attack faster, and is not snaring the target.
In the cooking UI, Hot Apple Cider appears in an incorrect section.
The Formula: Large Prismatic Shard has a inconsistent icon.
Just a few days after we lavished praise upon a new series of PS3 ads, we see this recently released European PS3 ad, and all of that is wiped from our mind — as was whatever shreds of sanity we still clung to after the start of the “This is Living” campaign. Seriously, around the 25 second mark we were fairly sure we were locked inside a prison constructed of our own nightmares.
“OK, here is my pitch. We blend Cirque du Soleil with A.I. then we take that concoction and dip it in glitter, using the tears of five-year-old orphans as adhesive. Then, we set the whole thing on fire. That … is your ad.”
After watching the latest “Swingset Trailer” for Monolith’s upcoming Project Origin, we have absolutely no doubt that the Lith are experts at creating crazy, twisted and totally freaky experiences. Then again, have we ever doubted them? Go ahead, give the latest Project Origin trailer a looksy and try to tell us Alma doesn’t send a chill up your spine or that the swingset doesn’t freak you out. Yeah, we’ve been harsh on Project Origin because of its “dated” graphics, but when it comes to building tension and totally messed up story lines … well, Lith gets our seal of approval.
As expected, and later confirmed, the Xbox Live Video Marketplace just went, err, live in five more regions, which we’ll present to you here in order of density of stand-up comic talent: Canada, followed by the UK, Ireland, France, and Germany (sorry, Germans).
After what seemed like an eternity spent watching the US hoard the video marketplace’s direct-to-video horror films and forgettable sci-fi action flicks all to itself, our international friends can finally throw their Microsoft Points down on some SD and/or HD content delivered in clean, environmentally friendly zeros and ones. Coincidentally, that’s about the Metacritic average of most of the movies on the service. Experiment in Torture? Really?
If you had planned to import the sequel to everyone’s favorite monster hunting game, aptly titled Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, you’ll have to wait a short time longer. It’s not a very long time, mind you. It’s just two weeks — instead of March 13th, you’ll have your chance on the 27th. The game was cited for being delayed due to Capcom wishing to improve the quality of the game. We’re sure the Japanese fanbase is excited to hear that, if they aren’t too broken up about the delay. The smaller fanbase outside of Japan? Well, it’s probably not that big of a deal.
Coming from the zany folks over at Talismoon is a newly updated Whisper Max cooling fan system for your Xbox 360 featuring NITRO SWITCH! They claim that their “higher quality” fan can cool your 360 and prevent RROD from happening all while lighting up your console with three purdy colors. And if by chance your console would red rings after you install the Whisper Max (with NITRO SWITCH), then we guess you’d be screwed since you technically void your warranty while installing the fans. So, we’ll leave the decision up to you. Plop down $25 on the Whisper Max (with NITRO SWITCH) while voiding your 360’s warranty or use your console’s current fan system as is intended.
Top men at Codemasters are very excited about their new IP — codenamed “Project Strike Team” — but are reluctant to say much about it, except that they think it’s awesome. So there.
The “character-driven action title” is in development at Codemasters‘ new Guildford studio, and is being built using the team’s proprietary EGO game engine, which was last seen in Colin McCrae’s DiRT. The engine excels at creating large environments with impressive draw distance.
According to Develop Magazine, the team’s experience working with automobile-focused racing titles will be put to good use on “Project Strike Team,” which is tentatively due for release sometime in 2009. The project is being touted and teased by the company early in development partly for recruitment purposes. We’ll have to wait and see what kind of game “Project Strike Team” really is (our guess is that it features some kind of strike team).
World of Raids is reporting lots of small fixes in the latest PTR build of Patch 2.3, but with a few surprises as well. There’s a good amount of class changes along with some Badge of Justice loot tweaks and a new Hunter volley animation seen above.
Highlights for the class changes include: Feral Druids getting their single target and group based taunts buffed by their +hit rating; Rogues getting Hemorrhage buff as well as a redesign of Shadowstep; and Priests receiving the Focused Will buff as well as Druids getting the Natural Perfection buff even buffer than we reported on earlier.
Chest spawns in Hellfire Ramparts, Karazhan: Chess Event and The Mechanar will not be lootable by anyone absent for a significant amount of the boss fights near the chests. On the upside, Heroic Ramparts and Heroic Mechanar chests will contain a Badge of Justice for every member in the party and the Karazhan cache will contain two! I can tell what two Heroic dungeons are about to get very popular.
Finally, special Engineered goggles are no longer necessary to see the gas clouds in Netherstorm for mote extraction. However, the goggles will now allow the gas clouds to be seen on the minimap in addition to whatever other tracking the player currently has up.
With Patch 2.3 background loading this week, one can only hope Zul’Aman will be available for all of us to enjoy soon and Patch 2.4 introducing the Sunwell Plateau will be served up on the PTR right after.
Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it’s mostly horror… Anyways, if you’re a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. In the spirit of pigeons, the picture to the right reminded me of the old adage “It’s more efficient to rez you.”
A list of the current known issues since 
