The latest build on the Patch 3.1 PTR has introduced a lot of Fishing love to Northrend. The first Fishing-related addition that I noticed personally is the brand new set of daily quests in Dalaran, similar to what we had in Outland. When I bopped around trying to find out what random items you could get as quest rewards this time around, I discovered there's a lot more fishing love than just some quests! El's Extreme Anglin' is always the place to go for Fishing information, and you can bet your patoot that I ended up there in my search. Not only are there new quests, but there's a whole bunch of fun new items to accompany them. Pets, new fishing poles, new lures, new just-for-fun items. Pretty much everything that people love about Fishing in WoW has been cranked up a notch. Artisan fishermen will find that Nat Pagle has a fishing pole for them, too.
Each week Arcane Brilliance Blinks behind you and hurls a Fireball full of Mage content up your tailpipe. It stings, yes, but the burning sensation is only temporary. Just wait until you see what the Warlock gave you. It's nasty, and trust me when I say that it won't be going away anytime soon. I've been neglecting Fire Mages, I'll admit it. Before you wind up a Pyroblast and point it my way, hear me out. There's a reason. Since we Mages stepped our flimsy, cloth-clad feet onto the shores of Northrend those several months ago, we've gone through a decent amount of changes. Unfortunately, very few of those changes were to the Fire tree. The news-making specs have been everyone's favorite love-it/love-to-hate-it spec, Arcane, Frostfire, and to a lesser extent, Frost. With so much to report on regarding the other specs, Fire has sort of been put on the back burner (yes, you can expect more bad puns as we proceed--you have been warned). It still blows stuff up like it always has, but does so in as quiet and workmanlike a fashion as a spec that conjures enormous explosions can. Fire Mages are still out there, Fireballing away in relative obscurity while the next Mage over throws his flashy Arcane Barrages or Frostfire Bolts, but there aren't as many as there once was.
Raid Rx has returned from retirement! Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. This week we're going to cover assignment-less healing: When to get away with it and when you can't! Assignment-less healing. It often has unpredictable results. Sometimes your raid group will be lucky and emerge unscathed. I'm a control freak. I like to have a plan A, a plan B and even a plan for when things go wrong. I've joined my share of pickup groups in the past few months. I usually play on my alt Shaman. I'm more of the Shatner type that hurls bolts of lightning. I've experienced mixed success. On bosses like Archavon, Anub'Rekhan and Sartharion with no drakes active, I notice not a whole lot of organized healing is done. Either that or it was organized behind the scenes via whispers.
Patch 3.1 is starting to reveal loot from Ulduar bosses as well as items that can be purchased for the new Emblems of Conquest. Thanks to MMO-Champion, we can look at these items and each class will be looking at these items differently. For instance, the new 2h weapons available from 10 and 25 man Ulduar have stats that will be more or less popular for various classes. For warriors, these new weapons may herald the return of Armor Penetration, especially with incoming changes to Deep Wounds and Battle Stance as well as upcoming buffs to armor pen itself. "Armor Penetration Rating: All classes now receive 25% more benefit from Armor Penetration Rating." With all of this in mind, we're looking at a situation where a warrior could pretty easily reduce armor by 10 to 15% depending on spec and stance. (An arms warrior in battle stance would gain 10% actual armor reduction from his tance and around 5% actual armor reduction from his weapon, while a fury warrior dual wielding these weapons could easily reduce armor by 10-11% just from the weapons.) Mix in the effect of a trinket like Grim Toll, and you're looking at nearly 50 to 55% armor reduction during a proc. That's pretty substantial, and it's not even counting the effect of other armor pen on gear.
We've been discussing the whole 'bring the player, not the class' idea, playfully dubbed by Eliah as BTPNTC, and in raids this boils down to a few core abilities or effects that Blizzard feels are mandatory. It was such a powerful statement that it got Eliah's mind doing all sorts of math about it. That said, the same doesn't quite apply to PvP. In Arenas, particularly, some compositions are simply more viable and synergistic than others. Take the incredible cohesion of Rogue-Mage-Priest, which continues to be a powerful comp even in Level 80 Arena play (as seen in the current ESL tournament). When asked the question of whether BTPNTC applies to PvP, as well, Ghostcrawler had a succinct answer: "we're not sure." He explains that the immediate concern is to make all specs equally viable in PvP (read: Arenas), with particular focus on the class specs that have historically been underrepresented. I can tell you right off that that they probably overcompensated with Survival Hunters. With such limited numbers -- twos, threes, and fives -- it's quite unreasonable to think that just any combination of classes and specs will work the same way they do in PvE.
Choose a sidekick from a long list of Spider-Man's powerful allies and swap between the web-slinger and the chosen sidekicks at any time during gameplay. Each sidekick, good or evil, features their own unique attributes that will assist Spider-Man throughout the game's challenges.
Fight against movie Super Villains and then, using an innovative combat system, face off against and defeat some of the Spider-Man movies' most notorious Super Villains such as Doc Ock, Sandman and Green Goblin, and then convert them to join Spidey's list of potential sidekicks.
A unique co-op mode lets friends join the game at any time and take control of Spider-Man's sidekick. Playing in two-player co-op mode allows gamers to discover new ways to overcome obstacles and enemies.
As players progress through the game, battle arenas are unlocked where raw one-on-one brawling with any Super Hero or Villain can take place at any time.
Replay the game or experience Versus mode with a different sidekick and eventually play as Black-Suited Spider-Man (Spidey's darker, more aggressive persona) with different powers and abilities. On different worlds, a host of secret areas containing special tokens can be discovered in the first play through, which players can go back and explore at any time.
Control your Monkey Ball through a variety of mazes, using the touch screen and stylus
Race against the other monkeys in hundreds of unique, tiled obstacle courses
All kinds of great minigames you'll have to see to believe - Monkey Fight, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Race and Monkey Mini-golf, each with their own touch-screen controls
You can even compete against other monkeys in pie and banana throwing fights
Choose from 3 game modes - Action packed Story Mode, relaxing Freeplay experience and a strategic Duel
Beautifully sung cut-scenes presenting a captivating story -- over 22 power-ups and special features
MouseParty enabled multi-player duel mode
Attain the rank of Master of Magic with high scores
Earn bonus rounds and spell upgrades
Cabela's Trophy Bucks Wii
Compelling single-player campaign featuring a contemporary narrative based in Panama.
Authentic, reality-based combat, where tactics determine the outcome of each encounter.
Guide your team of four through nine non-linear missions
Enhanced enemy intelligence and behavior through sophisticated AI and the ability to communicate with each other.
Improvement through replay is rewarded with command equity, allowing players to upgrade skills, weapons and equipment.