AFK?

Yes... dont expect anything in the next few days !

Just started UNI, so have to focus before the storm (MoP)

New layout

Yapp !

A friend helped me fixing this, looks quite nice imo. Still some work left, but i do think it will look very good when its all done.

Will be making some lenghty posts about RAF and preparation quite soon.

RAF, RAGE & Release

Have not posted anything in a while, so here it goes.

RAF
Yes... Blizzard shat all over us speed lvlers who were aiming for the realm first FOS. I dare to say the majority of us thought Blizzard would atleast exclude those who used RAF from the race, apparently not...

We're not making any changes to the way RaF bonuses function, which means monks won't be excluded from receiving the benefits of RaF when Mists of Pandaria is released.
Will they still get realm first achievements?
Yes.
Will Scroll of Resurrection be available to instant level a monk to 80?
No. That's answered here.

It really boggles my mind as to why blizzard would fuck us over like this - what it boils down it is the fact that we now HAVE to pay around 20 Euroes/Dollars in order to have a shot at realm first. Pay2Win?... Id say it is to be honest. Why cant Blizz just take those who are RAFing and give them a "You cant recieve the realm first title" notification upon zoning?
This does not benefit "anyone": Those who were going to RAF before are still going to do it, that part has not changed - and i do think they did not expect this change of pace (I can haz realm first nows?)
While the predetermined RAFers will be happy about this, those of us who have planned for nearly two months now are getting screwed. We basically HAVE to pay up to be part of the race. And yes, i do understand the whole money arguement - Blizzard will be making cash with this, near everyone who planned on racing will now be LVL granting with RAF.

But still, is Blizzard in their right to do this? Do we really want WoW to sway in this direction? This is the first time they have decided that: If you spend money on our game, you WILL get a advantage. Hear me out on this one - Unless we, as a community, rally around the fact that allowing RAFers to achive realm first is utterly wrong, Blizzard may continiue down this path. Who knows whats next, personally i think that shop-bought lvl 90s will come. I mean, why would it not?

As for me, yes, i will LVL grant with RAF, not because i like or approve of Blizzard in this scenario, but because i really want to have a go at the realm first. /Endrant

RELEASE
Releaseday is coming, and its coming fast. 45 days to be precise. With the newly given info on RAF and FOS, we will have to re-do our checklist of items, running speed potions are no longer needed (Sell these ASAP!!), some heirlooms will be outdated, etc. In the next few days i will be working on a updated list of materials, lasting through 80-90.

 

 

Latest patch notes
Monk (Forums)

• Chi Burst damage and healing reduced by 25%.
• Chi Wave (New) You cause a wave of Chi energy to flow through friend and foe, dealing 307 damage or 384 healing. Bounces up to 7 times to the nearest targets within 20 yards. When bouncing to allies, Chi Wave will prefer those injured over full health.
• Expel Harm had a tooltip fix.

Talents

• Chi Wave now bounces 7 times, up from 5.

The increased bounce to Chi Wave is most welcome, however, it remains to be seen if it will be able to compete with Chi burst - Even thought Chi burst took a 25% nerf.

Bad ass helmet

http://www.wowdb.com/items/90844-replica-shado-pan-helmet

Yayyaaa, Blizz finally added a leather version of the Shado Pan helm-of-awesome !

Spell changes - 08.08

Monk (Forums)

• Crackling Jade Lightning now grants a 25% chance to generate 1 Chi, up from 15%.
• Expel Harm healing was increased.
• Fists of Fury damage was increased.
• Renewing Mist healing was reduced by 15%.

Talents

• Chi Burst healing was increased by 25%.
• Chi Wave healing was increased by 25%.
• Zen Sphere healing was increased by 25%.

Brewmaster

• Avert Harm now has a 3 min cooldown, up from 1 min. Duration reduced to 6 sec, down from 15 sec. Reworked: You cause 30% of all damage party and raid members within 10 yards take to be re-directed to you. The damage received through Avert Harm can be Staggered.

Mistweaver

• Renewing Mist mana cost reduced to 4.58% of Base Mana, down from 6.55%.
• Soothing Mist now has a 25% chance to generate 1 Chi, up from 20%.

Windwalker

• Fists of Fury damage increased.

Buffs all around ! Except from the RWM nerf. Decent changes !

NO RAF FOR MONKS?

Monk Leveling Speed Benefits

Any word on the faq on Scroll of Resurrection and Recruit a Friend guidelines for monks?
We're still working on gathering a few remaining details. We'll have more info for you... next week, maybe? Hopefully! (Twitter)


Time will tell...

WOW DYING?

No.

1.1M subs down last quarter does not equal WoW dying. Decline? yeah, sure, id agree to that. However, WoW still has more subs than any other MMO ever will have (Yes, i went there).
I expect Sub numbers to stabilize around 10-10.5M during early to mid MoP. After that, who knows?

MMO champion has a list of some reasons as to why we see this major decline (And some other intresting facts)

• 16.9 million Battle.net users logged in last month, up from 10 million just 3 months ago.
• 10 million D3 copies sold, with 1.2 million of those from the Annual Pass. It was the best-selling PC game for the first six months of 2012.
• Most of the WoW Subscription losses were from the East.
• Losses are from people playing Diablo 3 and leaving for other things to do until the new expansion.
• Mists of Pandaria will utilize TV and online ads leading up to the launch.
• The China launch Mists of Pandaria will launch as soon as possible, not likely in Q3.
• 4.7 million people watched the event at MLG for Heart of the Swarm.

While the Annual Pass was a huge success money-wise, i doubt many of those who signed for it will do that again. Personally i signed for it, D3 for free was quite neat. Expecting to see HoTS as the game we will get for free with the next annual pass.
If Blizzard wants to keep their sub numbers above 10M they have to release more content, three raid tiers over two years just wont cut it (As we saw in Cata) - 8 months of DS is rather lame.

Blue post - 02.08

Uplift & revival has been buffed in the latest build - and Renewing mists no longer has a target-cap.



Monk
Upcoming Windwalker Monk Changes
In an upcoming build we’re essentially doubling the healing (healing only, not damage) of Expel Harm. We’re also increasing the healing done by Chi Wave, Zen Sphere, and Chi Burst. We want the level 30 talents to be an interesting choice for all monks, but they should not become DPS rotational abilities in PvE for Windwalker monks, as it would complicate their rotations to a degree we aren’t comfortable with. Our vision for PvE Windwalkers in regards to Chi Wave, Zen Sphere, and Chi Burst is that you’ll use them rotationally or in replacement of Blackout Kick in situations where your survival is more important than DPS (say, in situations like Chimeron).

That said, Zen Sphere (and that talent tier) was never intended to be analogous to Recuperate, more so Word of Glory. Some mild to moderate self-healing is acceptable for the Windwalker in PvP, but it isn’t intended to be their forte. Their forte is intended to be their strong mobility and the fact that their damage is mostly upfront and instant, as they have very little to no periodic damage.

Monk Mistweaver Feedback
Spinning Crane Kick does not proc Eminence!
It is a bug that Zen Sphere, Chi Burst or Chi Wave don’t proc Eminence. This has been fixed internally. We also put an AOE cap on Zen Sphere’s detonate. Chi Burst not generating Mana Tea stacks has also been fixed.

We’ve also changed Eminence to be able to proc Gift of the Serpent (Mastery).



Monk (Forums)

• Healing Sphere If allies walk through it, they consume the sphere, healing themselves for (100.5% of Spell Power + 9 or 986,50.25% of AP + 9,986). 9,986 .
• Way of the Monk Brewmaster, Windwalker: The Monk attunes himself differently depending on the weapon type. Mistweaver: The Monk attunes himself differently depending on the weapon type. One-handed weapon Autoattack damage increased by 40%. Two-handed weapons Melee attack speed increased by 40%.

Mistweaver

• Renewing Mist Maximum 10 targets can have your Renewing Mist at any one time.
• Revival Instantly heals all party and raid members within vision for (5,583 + 200.0% 13,684 + 500.0% of SP), and clears them of any harmful Magical, Poison and Disease effects.
• Teachings of the Monastery Spinning Crane Kick While channeling Spinning Crane Kick, you also heal up to 5 nearby injured allies for 4,013 every 1 sec for 3 sec.
• Uplift Heals all targets with your Renewing Mist active for (4,872 + 42.5% of SP). 7,794 + 68.0% of SP).

UI - build or download?

During my time of playing WoW, ive gone through a lot of UIs. Both self-built & pre-made.
Come MoP, i will once again change my UI.

Here is the UI ive been running on my shaman for most of DS. Its TUKui with some twists, works wonders but im getting tired of it.
Under is a experimental UI - WIP, far from finished.

It looks sloppy, unpolished at the moment, borders and unit frames need improvement.



A UI im really excited for once its update for MoP, is Affinitiis UI -You can download it from http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info18667-AffinityUI.html

Someone updated the UI for Beta - with mistweaver modifications !

Holy, 50% + XP !

The latest build introduced some new Monk class quests - with a monktastic reward. 50% more XP from quests and kills for a whole hour ! The best thing about them? They are dailies, meaning once you hit lvl 20 you get two full hours of 50% + xp.
You can get them @ Peak of Serenity - Use the teleport to get there.

lvl 20: Begin your training: Master Cheng
lvl 30: Continue your training: Master Woo
lvl 40: Continue your training: Master Kistane
lvl 50: Continue your training: Master Yoon
lvl 60: Continue your training: Master Cheng (Not the same Cheng as the first one)
lvl 70: Continue your training: Master Tsang
lvl 80: Continue your training: Master Hsu
lvl 90: Complete your training: The final test (Awards a lvl 90 Blue staff)
The daily: Practice makes perfect: Master Cheng (I figure the daily will swap betwen all of the "masters")

You can use Touch of Death on all of the minibosses, making the quests really quick. The rewards is gear whom is mostly for cosmetic use imo, the belts look amazing.


Do note though: The buff (Duration) only stacks to 2 Hours, meaning if you do a third (Quest) when you already have a 2h buff, it will be wasted. Also, the XP % increase itself does not stack - Only the duration !

You will ONLY GET ONE DAILY quest ! Its not one daily per quest, but one daily overall. If we sum this up we will have:
7xClass QUESTS
1xDaily
= 8 Hours of 50% + XP !!

Now comes the figuring out wheter its worth to do them as soon as they are available, or wait untill lvl 80+.