News and Opinion

General news and opinion about WoW.

Mythic Raider’s To-Do List for the Midnight Beta

by

The Midnight beta just dropped, and you know what that means. It’s that time again to get hands-on with everything coming in the next expansion cycle. As a CE raider, this is the testing phase that matters to me. I get to mess with the raid environment, UI changes, and system redesigns, which are going to reshape how we play, and the sooner I start adapting, the less I need to do later on live. There is a huge overhaul here especially with the loss of combat addons and Weak Auras.

And obviously, there’s housing!

Here’s what I’m planning to focus on over the upcoming beta period.

Rebuilding My UI Without Addons

With WeakAuras and other combat-related addons disabled, we’re stepping into a new age of personal accountability. Blizzard’s new Cooldown Manager is meant to fill some of that gap, but it’s far from perfect.

I’ll be using beta time to completely rework my healing UI from the ground up using the game’s default tools. My main goals:

  • Make sure major cooldowns (Divine Hymn, Symbol of Hope, etc.) are easy to track.
  • Ensure that raid utility abilities (Mass Dispel, external CDs) remain visible.

There’s already one notable issue: the pixel spacing between icons in the cooldown manager can’t be set to zero (the minimum is 2). For players who prefer compact layouts (like me), that isn’t pleasant.

Temporary Fix

You can work around it with Domino’s or another bar addon:

  • Set one bar with your actual keybinds (Optional: Hide this row from displaying).
  • Create a second bar mirroring those same abilities (no binds).
  • Use that duplicate as a visual cooldown tracker for spacing precision.

It’s not elegant, but it works.

Class Tuning and Talent Experiments

The Holy Priest rework is live on beta, and this is the perfect time to experiment before tuning stabilizes. Many spells have been removed including Renew, Heal, Lightwell, and Premonition. But more on this later. Same thing with Shadow. I want to try out this new tentacle slam.

Raid Testing and Combat Practice

UI layouts always look perfect on paper — until you enter combat and realize your cooldowns are in the wrong corner.

That’s why I’ll be jumping into as many raid tests as possible:

  • Validate if the new Cooldown Manager is actually readable under heavy effects.
  • Check if the default raid frames are reliable for split-second triage.
  • Assess performance to see how it handles if there are 20 people dropping visual vomit everywhere.

Early raid testing gives me a baseline for pacing and spell visibility, which will directly shape how I approach Mythic raids.

Dungeon Testing and Healing Model Preview

Before the raid even opens, Mythic+ dungeons are the best way to feel out the new healing rhythm.

I’ll be using beta keys to:

  • See if healing feels reactive or proactive.
  • Test triage patterns to see if I need to pre-heal, or hold for burst recovery?
  • Get a read on how visual telegraphs perform without addon cues.

Blizzard has hinted at more deliberate encounter pacing, so this is the chance to feel out how much cognitive load healers are expected to handle natively.

Keybind and Input Responsiveness

Without third-party UI mods like ElvUI, responsiveness becomes a top priority.

During testing, I’ll be focusing on:

  • Mouseover healing macros with native frames — checking for input lag.
  • Spell queueing reliability under high latency.
  • Interrupt timing precision without WeakAuras calling it out for me (especially on my Shaman).

If Blizzard wants the default UI to stand on its own, it needs to feel responsive.

Checking Out Player Housing

I’m stoked!

I plan to dive into the new player housing system and see how customizable it actually is. During beta, I’ll be experimenting with layouts, furniture placement, and seeing how far I can personalize the space.

I already have a few goals:

  • Create a Priest study or “light-infused chapel” vibe.
  • Showcase raid trophies (if Blizzard lets us).
  • Maybe set up a casino lounge.

This is the downtime side of the game that I’ve been missing. Of course, I’m a dysfunctional mess in my actual home so we’ll see how much of this holds.

Questing and Story Exploration

Even though my endgame goal is progression, I still enjoy exploring the campaign once per expansion.

During beta, I’ll be:

  • Speed-mapping quest routes to plan my launch-week leveling.
  • Identifying endgame unlocks and reputation hubs.
  • Noting down skippable story segments for future alts.

That way, I can focus entirely on raid prep during live launch instead of fumbling through story gates.

Feedback and Reporting

If you’re in beta, use it for more than sightseeing.

Blizzard has historically taken feedback seriously. This is especially true from healers, tanks, and raid leaders who can articulate how changes affect team coordination.

I’ll be reporting:

  • UI readability problems (like icon spacing or cooldown visibility).
  • Performance bugs during large-scale testing.
  • Any encounter mechanics that feel unintuitive without addon support.
  • Random typos in quest dialog.

The better the feedback, the more likely we’ll get functional systems by launch.

The Bigger Picture

This beta isn’t about chasing perfect parses. It’s about learning where the tougher points are before the first real pull of the tier.

By the time Midnight officially launches, I want to have:

  • A fully functional, addon-free UI ready for raiding.
  • Refined keybinds and reaction muscle memory for default combat visibility.
  • An early understanding of new healing design pacing.
  • A player house layout ready.

Every hour spent in beta now will save ten hours in progression later.

Housing Tokens Explained: Why Virtual Currency Works Better Than Cash

by

Quite the buzz over the new premium housing currency that was announced last week. It’s called Hearthsteel which can be purchased with real money in your Battle.net balance and can only be used to buy the cosmetic Housing items from the in-game shop. Whenever a new premium system gets added to a game (especially one like World of Warcraft), the conversation immediately turns toward monetization.

The reaction was… less than kind.

“Why can’t we just buy the item directly?”
“Why do we need another layer between our wallet and Gnome Depot?”
“Just let me pay $5 for the damn chair!”

I completely get it. It feels redundant. Blizzard’s inventing a virtual middleman to take a cut of your gold coins. I chatted with a few game dev friends and business analysts about it to try to get some perspective from the company side. I can see several compelling reasons why virtual currencies exist, and why they’re often beneficial for both the game and the player experience in the long run.

But let’s not kid ourselves, there’s also a psychological element involved.

It’s About Reducing Friction, Not Adding It

Spending $10 feels real. Spending 1,000 Hearthsteel doesn’t.

That’s intentional, and it’s not as nefarious as it sounds. The “middle currency” approach helps reduce what psychologists call the pain of paying. It’s easier to part with a few hundred tokens than to see $4.99 on your screen every time you want to buy a flower pot. I only used 125 gold stars for my latte from Starbucks, for instance (even those stars were indirectly purchased).

It creates a mental buffer between real money and in-game enjoyment. Once you’ve already converted cash into tokens, the purchase decision becomes about what you want instead of what you’re spending.

It Keeps the Economy Cleaner

By placing housing behind its own currency, Blizzard can fine-tune prices and rewards without disrupting the rest of the game.

Imagine if every cosmetic chair or painting had to be priced directly in dollars. You’d end up with weird inconsistencies, awkward decimal values, and headaches every time global currencies fluctuate. Hearthsteel allow Blizzard to:

  • Adjust in-game item costs without changing real-world prices.
  • Offer regional parity (no need to rebalance for CAD vs USD vs EUR).
  • Run housing sales or event bonuses without cheapening item value.

It’s modular economy design! It’s a clean, contained system that doesn’t impact mounts, pets, or other premium goods (especially character services).

It Encourages Ongoing Engagement

Tokens enable flexibility that simple dollar pricing can’t.

Maybe there’s a future event that rewards a small handful of Tokens for participating. Or Blizzard could bundle them into achievements, trading post milestones, or promotional packs. You can’t hand out “$2.50 USD” as an in-game reward, but you can give players 100 Tokens.

That makes the housing ecosystem feel more alive, and something you can earn toward, not just buy into. Though I doubt we’d see much of something like this being implemented for Hearthsteel specifically.

It Fits the Fantasy

Let’s be honest: “purchasing 1,000 Hearthsteel” sounds a lot more immersive than “entering your Mastercard details for a ping pong table.”

Themed currencies reinforce the illusion that you’re still in the world. Whether it’s Galleon Marks, Architect’s Tokens, or Housing Credits, the idea of trading specialized materials to craft or purchase décor fits neatly into Warcraft’s existing economy and lore logic. It’s a softer landing into monetization that feels diegetically consistent.

It’s a Win-Win for Flexibility

On Blizzard’s end, a virtual currency is easier to manage from a business and technical standpoint. On our end, it provides flexibility. You can stock up once and buy items later without pulling out your credit card each time.

You can also gift tokens, bundle them, or save up over multiple seasons. That convenience might not feel flashy, but it’s player-friendly in its own way.

Regulatory and Accounting Reasons

This one’s not as important from the player standpoint. I had to have an accountant friend break it down to me. What can I say? I only managed a C+ in Accounting in my first year.

When you buy a virtual currency — say, 2,000 Housing Tokens for $20 — you’ve technically given Blizzard money without yet receiving a specific product or service in return.
You’re holding a claim on the ecosystem, not a finished transaction.

From an accounting standpoint, that $20 cannot be immediately recognized as revenue because Blizzard still owes you something: the ability to redeem those Tokens for in-game goods.

That’s where the concept of deferred revenue (also called unearned revenue) comes in.

What “Deferred Revenue” Means

  • Deferred revenue is money a company has collected but not yet “earned.”
  • It stays on the company’s balance sheet as a liability until the player spends the virtual currency.
  • Once you use those Tokens to buy a cosmetic or furniture item, the company can then move that portion of the money into earned revenue on their financial statements.

This matters because:

  • It allows the company to smooth out revenue reporting over time rather than taking a sharp spike every time a sale happens.
  • It’s financially safer: If players never redeem their Tokens (so-called breakage), Blizzard can recognize that as profit only after a certain accounting threshold (e.g., after a period of inactivity).
  • It gives regulators and auditors a clear, consistent framework to track digital transactions in compliance with consumer protection and financial reporting laws.

Global Legal Compliance

The virtual currency model also simplifies things from a regulatory and taxation perspective:

  • Regional pricing and taxes: Each country (and sometimes province or state) has different tax rates and digital goods laws. By selling a virtual currency through a single storefront (like Battle.net), Blizzard can handle tax once (at the currency purchase level) instead of per individual item sale.
  • Refunds and consumer protection: Regulators often treat digital items as “consumed goods” once purchased. But if you buy Tokens, Blizzard can manage refund policies at the wallet level (i.e., refund the Tokens before they’re spent) rather than having to issue refunds for individual virtual items.

Why Companies Like This System

From a corporate finance and operations perspective:

  • It creates a predictable revenue pipeline since analysts can see how much “stored value” exists in unspent Tokens, giving insight into future earnings potential.
  • It builds long-term engagement incentives because players with unused balance are more likely to return, spend, and keep participating.
  • It also reduces transaction processing overhead since fewer credit card microtransactions means fewer fees per purchase. Those Visa merchant fees can be a killer.

The Bottom Line

Is a dedicated housing currency absolutely necessary?

No. But it’s practical and flexible. When done correctly, it can be much less intrusive than constantly asking players to swipe their cards for individual items.

It turns what could be a nickel-and-dime shopping cart into a smoother, more cohesive system that players can dip into at their own pace.

Now, maybe you’re not thrilled about Blizzard adding another premium currency to track. But if it means the team can keep building a richer housing experience without tying up the rest of the game’s economy or flooding the shop with microtransactions, it’s a trade-off worth considering. You don’t necessarily have to agree with the logic. You may not even care at all about their intentions, however good they may appear to be, especially if you’re unaffected.

Wowhead recently discovered that out of the 2,208 pieces of decor, only 19 are currently shop exclusive. It does seem like a considerable majority of the various housing items will still be accessible in-game. I’d buy a Pandaren-sized jacuzzi, though.

Bottom line

Virtual currency isn’t there to make your wallet lighter. It’s there to make the system feel lighter. The more frictionless the process, the more accessible housing becomes for everyone who actually wants to engage with it.

Anyway, back to Midnight! I’m still trying to figure out what look I want for the Fortress of Mattitude.

Manaforge Omega Raid Preview: First Look at the First 7 Bosses (PTR Testing)

by

Spoilers ahead on the new raid.

Patch 11.2 is almost here, and I got a chance to jump into the Manaforge raid on Normal difficulty during PTR testing this weekend with my new guild, Death Testers. We previewed 7 of the 8 bosses (Dimensius was not available for testing), and I’ve compiled my thoughts, early impressions, and videos for each. Use this as a scouting report as you prepare your raid team or just want a peek at what’s ahead.

1. Plexus Sentinel

Thoughts & Impressions:

  • Introductory level boss. We start off in a confined room without a lot of space to work with, and the raid will need to progress from chamber to chamber.
  • There are circles (with red player arrows above) that need to be taken to the outside. These drop a puddle that seemingly eventually despawns. I expect these to stay longer or even permanently in harder difficulties. Important: Don’t drop them by the entry wall.
  • Big group soak mechanic: Eradicating Salvo, we just grouped under the boss for it.
  • About 60 seconds in, Protocol: Purge starts with a knockback. Dodge giant bubbles and rotating lines before reaching a slowly moving wall that you’ll need to use your Reshii Wraps through using the Extra Action Button (seems to be an 8-yard blink, 8s cooldown).
  • Phase ends after blowing up the shield, then rinse and repeat.

2. Loom’ithar

Thoughts & Impressions:

  • Big fuzzy spider vibes.
  • Kill an add to break through a shrinking wall early in the fight. Place a marker or designate a spider right away.
  • Lots of dodging with circles and movement-heavy mechanics.
  • Frontal cone needs to be soaked, and you may need to split players into two groups.
  • At 30%, Loom’ithar becomes mobile. Movement and positioning become critical from here on based on how much of the room has been covered.

3. Soulbinder Naazindhri

Thoughts & Impressions:

  • Adds are locked in prisons, and you’ll need to aim beams to break them out. If the prisoners are not broken out in time, then the ads will eventually break out on their own. Encounter seems to be about ad management and deciding which ones to break out to defeat over the course of the fight.
  • Edge-of-platform fight: easy to get knocked off. No guard rails
  • Remember Kyveza lines? They’re back, but these orbs move slower.
  • You cannot use the prisons as cover, so plan knockbacks accordingly.

4. Forgeweaver Araz

Thoughts & Impressions:

  • More adds! You’ll be splitting your raid for soak mechanics that spawn enemies.
  • Collector Pylons emit orbs, and dodging becomes important here.
  • Random players spawn adds that should be spawned under the boss to cleave.
  • At 50%, we switch to a new phase focused on the pylons, before reverting again.
  • At 25%, a giant black hole pulls the raid while damage ramps up heavily. Use a Warlock gate near the back of the room to help stabilize movement or as an emergency to port back to the front and buy time.

5. The Soul Hunters (Optional Boss)

Thoughts & Impressions:

  • Fight against 3 Demon Hunters (cool design twist!)
  • You can skip this one, oddly enough.
  • DPS them evenly, or you’ll fall behind.
  • Each has its own toolkit and expect lots of individual responsibility.
  • Magic debuffs remove puddles, and dispelling the debuff jumps the effect to a nearby player. The afflicted player just needs to walk into a puddle to remove it.

6. Fractillus

Thoughts & Impressions:

  • Tetris-meets-WoW. Favorite fight of the test.
  • Arena is split into six zones. Players spawn walls by running to their zone.
  • Shortly after, another group breaks those walls by standing in front of them. We gave tanks their own zone.
  • The challenge is managing space. Poor wall coordination means it’s game over.
  • Fast, punchy encounter with lots of movement and communication required.

7. Nexus-King Salhadaar

Thoughts & Impressions:

  • Multi-phase fight, includes mounted phase with a dragon.
  • Reminiscent of Sarkareth—players start with debuffs and must cleanse them through mechanics.
  • Wraps are critical for jumping to side platforms to kill adds, then porting back.
  • Once the mount gets low, Salhadaar sacrifices it and gains HP back based on the mount’s remaining health.
  • Final phase: Meteor mechanics pull the raid toward them (again, Kyveza-style). You’ll need equal positioning to survive.

All in all, this looks like a fun raid to close out The War Within. Did end up playing Shadow and changed up specs a few times (you’ll notice I completely forgot about Void Form somewhere and I had to scramble to find it in my spellbook to rebind it — oops!)

One Button to Rule Them All

by

Blizzard recently announced a new feature that’s got the community riled up. A one-button rotation option will be introduced that automates the next optimal spell cast. On paper, it sounds like a dream come true for players who struggle with complex rotations or for those who want a more relaxed gameplay experience.

But there’s a catch.

The one-button option comes with a longer global cooldown (the gcd), meaning that while you gain simplicity, you lose speed. Blizzard says the intent is to provide an alternative for players who use addons like Hekili to guide their rotations. The idea is to give players a built-in option rather than relying on third-party solutions.

But is it really going to change the game? Let’s break it down.

Why It Won’t Matter at the Mythic Level

At the Mythic raiding level, this one-button option is not going to see much use. The problem is that gcd penalty. When you’re pushing hard content, every millisecond counts. Adding even a slight delay between abilities can make the difference between a kill and a wipe.

Mythic raiders are already primed to think on their feet. They’re analyzing cooldown windows, juggling procs, and reacting to boss mechanics while weaving in their DPS sequence. This one-button system can’t keep up with the speed and precision required at this level.

One potential use that I could see, though, is the highlighter feature that comes with it. Even for skilled players, having a quick visual cue as a reminder could be handy. Think of it as a built-in priority helper. You’re still pressing your own keys, but the highlighter points out your next best option.

That said, I can’t see anyone who is seriously aiming for Cutting Edge relying on the full one-button rotation setup. It’s just too clunky for high-end content. Not saying that it’s impossible, because I suspect there will be a group that manages to do so but it’ll be towards the end of the tier with massive nerfs to the raid and equally large buffs to the characters.

Who Will Actually Use This Feature?

I see this being most useful for newer players or those picking up a new class or spec. If you’re learning how to be a Shadow Priest after maining a Warrior, you’re probably overwhelmed by the number of spells. I’ve been a Priest main forever, and I still get overwhelmed. The one-button option lets you get your feet wet without feeling like you’re drowning in keybinds.

Start off pressing one button, get a feel for what abilities trigger when, and eventually transition to pressing individual keys as you get more comfortable. It’s a teaching tool, not a crutch, and that distinction matters.

Another group that might benefit is the casual players who aren’t pushing Mythic+ or raiding at a high level. For them, the convenience might outweigh the GCD penalty. The same goes for players with accessibility challenges who might find a one-button rotation genuinely helpful for maintaining steady performance.

The Real Impact: A Wake-Up Call?

There’s one aspect of this feature that might catch some players off guard: the reality check.

If you’ve been using addons like Hekili for a long time and suddenly find that your damage drops when using Blizzard’s built-in version, it might make you question just how much of your rotation was actually instinct versus following visual cues.

I’m not saying everyone who uses rotation guides is a bad player, but there’s a difference between knowing why you’re pressing a button and just pressing it because it lit up. This new system might be a bit of a rude awakening for some players who thought they were more skilled than they actually are.

Ultimately, this feature is less about helping high-end players and more about making the game approachable for those who struggle with complex rotations. As long as it’s framed as a stepping stone rather than a solution, it’s not inherently bad.

The real key will be community perception. If players start using it as a crutch rather than a training tool, it could lead to some awkward encounters where one-button users find themselves vastly underperforming compared to their peers.

As always, the key to mastering your class is understanding why you’re making certain choices, not just following an automated sequence. If this feature helps players transition from basic to advanced play, great. But if it becomes a band-aid for bad habits, then it will end up being another unused option in the settings.

Thoughts on the Upcoming Raid Renown

by

With the next raid, Blizzard is building upon the finery buff that was added in the first season. Raiders would receive a gradually increasing buff over time as they worked their way through the raid, and this week is the final amount where it will cap at an 18% bonus. The Gallagio Loyalty Rewards club aims to build upon this with additional rewards and features while raid teams progress their way through the raid. There are 20 Renown tracks which means there will be at least 20 weeks of raid because you can only progress one Renown level per week. We can easily acquire Renown just by participating in the raid by defeating bosses or knocking out various Lieutenants throughout the raid. If you happen to fall behind, there are catchup mechanics where more reputation will be earned on kills until you get closer to parity.

The big prize that stands out is the return of the bullion currency (Puzzling Cartel Chip) which can be used for a player to redeem to a vendor for any weapon, trinket, or special item from the Undermine raid. Like what we had back in Season 4 of Dragonflight, these are items on their own upgrade track (a maximum of rank 14).

Unfortunately, the two Puzzling Cartel Chips drop at Renown 17 and Renown 19.

I would much rather see the Cartel Chip moved up earlier. For it to be released at week 17 and week 19 is fairly useless because it equates to being at a similar point to where we are right now in Nerub-ar Palace. Seriously, we would get new toys 4 months after the raid releases. I’d prefer to see one come out at week 12 (after 3 months) and the next one at week 16 (after 4 months). It gives us time to enjoy where it might impact progression, especially for any mid to late mythic progression teams.

In terms of other rewards, I would also advocate for another catalyst charge or two in some of the earlier Renown tracks just to help with gear flexibility and bad luck protection, especially for teams who are just unfortunate or who have a slightly imbalanced roster for tier sets.

It’s also odd to me that Enchanted Crests aren’t anywhere to be found in the reward track here, as they were offered in the other Renown reputation tracks outside of the raid. I would add consider adding an Enchanted Heroic Crest somewhere around Renown 10 and then an Enchanted Gilded Crest around Renown 14 just to further help players (and their alts) with crafting pieces as those will continue to maintain relevancy for alts and help out players who are behind on their gear (whether it’s due to playtime or as bad luck protection).

After testing the PTR the previous weekend when it was available for normal bosses, I appreciate the lobby area, which has all of the profession tables, vendors, and craft orders. I can see them coming in handy in the future and it’ll save raid groups time if they need to grab something.

Renown 18 comes with increased movement speed and an Auctioneer, but since we can mount around inside anyway, I feel like this particular reward isn’t as necessary. I suspect many raid teams will have at least one character with some kind of Brutosaur.

The Augment Rune vendor is a great touch, even if it comes in at Renown 14. It might be a potential money machine for those with an army of alts to simply pop in the raid, grab the rune from the dispenser, then resell it (assuming they’re tradeable, to begin with).

I like the innovation going on here with the Renown feature and can’t wait for it to go live in the next patch! But please consider changing the order of that Cartel Chip reward!