Cataclysm Release Date

It is now official. After all of the guessing and wondering, Blizzard has finally announced the release date of Cataclysm.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT^®: CATACLYSM^™ IN STORES STARTING DECEMBER 7

IRVINE, Calif. -- October 4, 2010 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft^®: Cataclysm^™, the highly anticipated third expansion for the world's most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game*, will be released starting on December 7, 2010. The expansion will be available on DVD-ROM for Windows^® XP/Windows Vista^®/Windows^® 7 and Macintosh^® at a suggested retail price of $39.99 and will also be offered as a digital download from the Blizzard Store. A special Collector’s Edition packed with bonus items will be available exclusively in retail stores for a suggested retail price of $79.99.

"Cataclysm includes the best content we've ever created for World of Warcraft. It’s not just an expansion, but a re-creation of much of the original Azeroth, complete with epic new high-level adventures for current players and a redesigned leveling experience for those just starting out," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "With the help of our beta testers, we're putting on the final polish, and we look forward to welcoming gamers around the world to enjoy it in just a couple of months."

The first two World of Warcraft expansions, The Burning Crusade^® and Wrath of the Lich King^®, each shattered PC game sales records upon their release.* In Cataclysm, the face of Azeroth will be forever altered by the return of the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing. Players will explore once-familiar areas of the world that have now been reshaped by the devastation and filled with new adventures. In an effort to survive the planet-shattering cataclysm, two new playable races -- worgen and goblins -- will join the struggle between the Alliance and the Horde. As players journey to the new level cap of 85, they'll discover newly revealed locations, acquire new levels of power, and come face to face with Deathwing in a battle to determine the fate of the world.

The beta test for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is currently underway. Visit the official Battle.net® website at http://www.battle.net to set up a Battle.net account and sign up for a chance to participate. To learn more about World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, visit http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm.

 (source)

That is right, the release date for Cataclysm has been set for December 7th, 2010. So go there and be sure to pre order your copy of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and be the first to experience the new content!

Land of Orcs has Twitter!

Hi Everyone, I decided to get twitter for Land of Orcs. You can follow me here. Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will get some answers as soon as I can. I will also try and post some updates on up and coming articles, so be on the look out for that. Also feel free to leave comments. You don't need a Google account to comment.

Pet FAQ 4.0.1

I have noticed a lot of people asking questions about pets and what pet they should begin using in 4.0.1 and for leveling up in Cataclysm. I'm going to take the time and try and write out an FAQ to help with some of these questions.


What is the best pet in 4.0.1?
Frankly, there isn't one. It mostly depends on your preference. You will probably always choose a different pet whether you are soloing, raiding, pvping, etc...

What pet should I bring to a raid?
It depends on your raid composition. Check out Malazee's Pet Charts from Petopia. This will be extremely useful to determine what pet you should bring.

What is the best PVP pet in 4.0.1?
It all depends on what you and your teammates can provide. If you need a root or stun then you can bring a Silithid, Spider, or Wasp. If you need interrupts you can bring a Gorilla or Moth. If you need a healing debuff you can bring a Devilsaur. It just all depends on what you have and what you will need when deciding on a pet for pvp.

Will pets have their new special abilities in 4.0.1?
As I understand it yes they will. You can find a list of them here.


What are the difference between Cunning, Ferocity, and Tenacity pets?
Cunning: Cunning pets, like spiders, have a mix of offensive and defensive abilities and are particularly useful in Battlegrounds and Arenas.

Ferocity: Ferocious pets, like cats, can dish out damage but can't take it as well.

Tenacity: Tenacious pets, like turtles, are more defensive and can occupy an enemy's attention while you stay at range.

What is the best tanking pet?
It comes down to preference. You should definitely be using a tenacity pet as they have high stam and armor. Other than that it's pretty much take your pick. Each pet provides a unique ability that can benefit you one way or anything., such as a knock back from a Rhino, or interrupt from a Gorilla.

What is the best soloing pet?
Again it depends on you and your situation. The exotic Spirit Beasts can bring you some heals while soloing. Tenacity pets can tank for you. Pets can bring you different buffs or debuffs.

The pet I'm trying to tame is level 12 and I'm level 60. Will it stay at level 12?
No, when you tame a pet that is greater than 5 levels lower than you it will automatically level to be 5 levels below you. So your level 12 pet once you tame it will become level 55.

What is the best way to level a pet?
Simply by taking it anywhere that gives you experience. So taking pets to instances or questing is usually the best way to level a pet.

I'm sure there are many more questions out there that need to be answered so if you have any other pet questions please leave me a comment or email me at Landoforcs@gmail.com

Focus Cost List

This is going to be a very simple, basic list of all the focus costs for hunters. While we are getting used to focus and their costs this list will be beneficial to see all the abilities together to try and get a better feel for the new rotations or priorities.

Focus Costs
General:
Arcane Shot - 25 focus
Camouflage - 20 focus

Serpent Sting - 25 focus
Kill Command - 40 focus
Multi-Shot - 40 focus
Trap Launcher - 30 focus
Tranquilizing Shot - 35 focus
Widow Venom - 15 focus

Revive Pet - 35% of base focus
Scare Beast - 25 focus

Beast Mastery:
No spec specific focus requirements

Marksmanship:
Aimed Shot - 50 focus
Chimera Shot - 50 focus

Survival:
Black Arrow - 35 focus
Explosive Shot - 50 focus
Wyvern Sting - 35 focus

Steady Shot and Cobra Shot do not cost focus but instant give back 9 focus.

Right now I can understand why BM is winning the dps race. It has no talent specific focus costs and it seems to have a really good damage per focus ratio. It uses the lowest costing shots and abilities of all the specs. It's other abilities in the tree that provide extra boost to BM is stuff like Focus Fire, Bestial Wrath, and Intimidation all don't have any associated focus costs.

It's easy to understand why SV can because focus starved. If Cobra Shot can't keep Serpent Sting up then they have to reapply Serpent Sting which is an extra 25 focus on top of applying Black Arrow whenever it comes off cooldown and also using Explosive Shot. Now, I read Explosive Shots damage hasn't been all that great and that it's best to use Arcane Shot as a focus dump and only use Explosive Shot during LnL procs.

With the reduction in damage to both Aimed Shot and Chimera Shot it's easy to see why it is lagging so far behind. With 50 focus costs for each of the main attacks and 40 if Kill Command is used, it seems MM will either not have much time to focus dump and will constantly be waiting for 50 focus to shoot Chimera, or else the bulk of the damage will come from Steady Shot.

Pet of the Week 9/29

This weeks winner was chosen by my good friend Harpuia. It is, the white gorilla.

There is currently only 1 white gorilla that is tamable and that is Uhk'loc a rare spawn in Un'Goro Crater.

Gorilla are excellent tanking pets with high health and defense. It also provides an interrupt/silence spell called pummel which can be very useful in pvp.

Go out there and catch this rare creature and start soloing some instances today!

Hope you enjoyed this weeks pet and check back next week for a new winner.