It's no surprise that Magtheridon, a boss in the World of Warcraft, is a pain. But while a recent bug fix has (finally) made this nearly un-killable boss hunt a little more tolerable, Blizzard is announcing the possible schedule for their adjustments to help further balance out Magtheridon, along with the equally notorious Gruul, another boss. As Blizzard spokesman Crezax stated (over at the official WoW Europe forums), you can expect these changes in patch 2.1.0:

Right now, the changes are planned for 2.1.0. We'd like to see the changes on the PTR (Public Test Release) before pushing them live.

As Crezax says, players will have to wait until PTR ends before Blizzard gives the new boss adjustments a "go" signal in the normal realms. Patch 2.1.0 is TBA (to be announced) at the moment, although WoW Europe's forum members are looking at a waiting period anywhere between 3 weeks to 2 months.

For the guys who have the fortune of not running into these two bosses, Magtheridon was considered un-killable due to the Channeler's Dark Mending spell bug which healed Magtheridon more than expected (the bug has recently been fixed). Gruul on the other hand, was made infamous for its ability to kill most party's tanks as soon as its buff stacks maxed out.

 

Blizzard has always been clear about account sharing and security issues (read: outsourcing). Well, here we go again for another round of this discussion.

Mystica from the WoW Europe forums asked whether she can sell her Warrior character - not for real money - but for in-game gold. She's disappointed with the character and wants to get a little reward for leveling the said character to 70. Her fellow forumers - nearly all of them, answered no. Blizzard forum mod Crezax answered with a resounding, "No one else except you can play your character under any circumstances."

It is as the Terms of Use says, as shown above. It's not a crime, you can lend your character at your own risk. Remember boys and girls that as for the moment (we never know - they might decide to create their own RMT), character/account transfers aren't allowed by Blizzard - right along with the sale of in-game characters and items for real money. Just a reminder. It happens yes, and Blizzard has taken action against those who do it.

Basic rule of thumb: if you're not sure, don't.

We cross nerf threads about every other minute but this one started by Douge at the WoW Europe Forums just takes the cake. Douge wants to know why a Felguard gets to have a pet Gnome. He continues by saying that he wants a Gnome pet for himself and asks Blizzard to a future update on it so he can exchange it for his Voidwalker.

Well, how many times have we seen a nerf thread this entertaining? And it's unique for another reason, it doesn't want to nerf a class (as Douge is a warlock himself) - but to nerf a race? The Gnome race in particular came under fire but as far as we can tell it was good natured banter among warlocks (who obviously are tired of all the other classes screaming NERF 'LOCKS!). Blizzard poster Crezax joined in the fray and said that it will be looked at and he'll see that they "can balance" it and "make gnomes available as pets for everyone".

What do you think? So far, we've heard of a Gnome Revolution and someone looking to buy a pink haired gnome over at the forums. Anyway, no Gnome March talks so far - or so we hope.

 

WoW EU Forums poster Nathalia takes time in her post to inquire about the idea behind the concept of Weapon skills. Nathalia opts to take an endgame perspective and notes that Weapons Skill is useless at level 70, with the crit bonuses being so low that it's close to nothing.

Nathalia suggests that it should be replaced with at least something useful, or be changed back to the way it was so that it would be helpful. Blizzard Poster Crezax has responded to the inquiry by saying:

I wouldn't say it's useless.

Let's say you increase your weapon skill by 4.

Against a mob 3 levels higher than you, you get: 0.8% lower chance to miss, 0,4% lower chance to get dodged, 2,4% to be parried, and a 0,8% higher chance to crit. That means a 4.8% net increase.

Crezax  has a point here, less useful does not equate to useless. Still, compared to what weapon skill used to do... sigh.

Blizzard poster Crezax has just posted an update saying that yesterday's World of Warcraft patch not only implemented several content updates and bug fixes, it also "implemented some background tweaks to specifically improve stability across all realms and especially instances."

Apparently, the WoW devs are closely monitoring (as they should) stability issues in some realms since yesterday's patch. Crezax reports that they have already seen "an increase in performance." Of course, an "increase" is not enough, so the devs will continue monitoring all the realms in order to ensure that players get a more stable and pleasurable gaming experience.

On World of Warcraft's official forum site for Europe, one user named Borodin posted this:

Shield Mastery helps to make Block a stronger source of overall damage mitigation but don't overlook the benefit to Shield Slam damage and threat: with current endgame Tanking gear being loaded with +Block Value, if you have Shield Slam you really should also take 3/3 Shield Mastery.

Now, why did Borodin did this? Just for fun? Hell no! It seems to him the Warriors are so busy asking Blizzard for tweaks and upgrades that they haven't even mastered their current skills. Borodin pointed out Shield Mastery specifically and listed some of its key features. Blizzard's Crezax gave it a thumbs up and then blue tagged the post.

Shield Mastery

• Your total Shield Block Value is the Block Value of your Shield + all items or abilities which "increases the Block Value of your Shield by n" + Strength/20 (will edit if I can be shown it's Strength/21or22). This is the amount of Physical damage you absorb on a successful Block, not a change in the Shield’s Armour.
• If you take Shield Mastery you then gain 10/20/30 % increase to that total value. This therefore includes all items with a +Block Value component not just the value inherent to your Shield. In essence all sources and terms are combined into one simple value: Block Value and Shield Mastery increases that final value.
• Your total Shield Block Value does apply fully to Shield Slam damage. Note that Shield Slam gains your total shield block value as damage not just a proportion of it for being an "instant cast spell". Frankly I think Shield Slam should be reworded to make it clear that you get your total Shield Block Value as a modifier and it should even dynamically display that damage as Bloodthirst does.