It's been over a month since the release of WoW MoP Classic Phase 2 on September 23rd. Due to the limited content of Phase 2, players have been bored, and many have left.

The player community is impatient for Phase 3, Throne of Thunder, with many urging for its release. Recently, the official announcement of Throne of Thunder PTR was released, potentially indicating that Phase 3 is imminent.

Announcement Content And Phase 3 Release Date Prediction

In the recently released announcement, the official team announced that Throne of Thunder Raids will be tested during the following periods:

• Raid test 1 – November 4-6
• Raid test 2 – November 14-17

Meanwhile, according to a leak from the well-known source Algalon the Observer on X, World of Warcraft Classic PTR server has just been updated with a new version.

The version number has been updated from 5.5.1 (the prequel to Siege of Orgrimmar, usually referring to the Battle of Pandaria) to 5.5.2. Version 5.5.2 corresponds to the major content patch Throne of Thunder, part of 5.2.0 (the 2013 patch).

Similar minor PTR updates (from 5.5.1 to 5.5.2) appeared before the official release of WoW MoP Classic Phase 2 Landfall patch, suggesting that Throne of Thunder might be coming soon!

Release Date Prediction

Since the PTR testing lasts approximately two weeks, and a release during Thanksgiving week (the third week of November) is highly unlikely, the predicted release dates for Phase 3 PTR are as follows:

• November 18th: A slightly accelerated but possible date.
• December 2nd or 4th: A date more in line with the regular release cycle.

The first phase was a pretty good start, but the second phase was relatively dull in comparison, which is why players are so eager for the third phase. Throne of Thunder is one of the most acclaimed raids in World of Warcraft history, but it's also extremely difficult. Many of the first raiders to clear it have vivid memories of it; almost every boss in the raid has a very interesting mechanic.

To successfully complete this raid, your gear needs to be at least BiS (or near-BiS) level for the current version. You'll also need to prepare potions, elixirs, and some first-aid items to boost your stats.

If you want to earn some WoW MoP Classic gold before the start of the third phase, you can craft these items in advance, and their value will definitely increase after the third phase begins.

How To Unlock Throne Of Thunder Raid?

In the original game, players contributed progress by completing quest chains and daily quests on the Isle of Thunder to unlock the raid. This process will be very fast on the current highly centralized servers, as Sunwell only takes two days to unlock on a mega server.

While the specific unlocking method is still unclear, and a server-wide cooperative unlocking mechanism is no longer unusual, retaining this mechanism is a cool experience. Furthermore, since the servers are now integrated, there won't be any issues with smaller servers being unable to complete the process.

Aspects For Improvement In Phase 3

Thunderforged

However, Phase 3 includes a controversial system, Thunderforged, which is the precursor to the later Warforge and Titanforge systems. It's a rare quality item dropped in Throne of Thunder raid, with an item level 6 levels higher than its regular counterpart.

However, players don't really like it, mainly because this disparity can lead to conflict and hostility among hardcore players and raid groups. This is especially true for efficiency-driven guilds, causing unnecessary competition and dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the already complex loot pool from each boss makes each item essentially two versions.

Retaining this system intact might negatively impact the game. If the developers decide to modify it, they could choose to remove it entirely, eliminate randomness and allow all drops to directly upgrade, or allow players to use Justice Points or Valor Points for consistent upgrades.

Flex Raiding

Given the high difficulty of Throne of Thunder, introducing a flexible raid system might be better, allowing raids to be limited to a certain number of players, such as 20-30. Raid difficulty will be dynamically adjusted based on the actual number of players, rather than randomly matching you with another player.

This is because anyone who has experienced high-difficulty raids in MMOs knows that these raids contain many instant-death attacks, requiring players to cooperate and follow commands to successfully navigate the most difficult mechanics of each phase. If any player cannot communicate, it could be a wipe, and forcing it might just be a waste of consumables and WoW MoP Classic gold.

If raid difficulty is dynamically adjusted based on the number of players, the difficulty of forming a group will be significantly reduced.

The above is a general overview of the third phase of Mists of Pandaria Classic and Throne of Thunder. The third phase may be coming soon, but it's likely still a month away from official release, so prepare your best weapons and armor and wait patiently.

While Season 10 introduced the new Hero Trait, Bing 2 Creative Genius, it doesn't mean you can only play him to become a DPS king this season. With the right skills, any classic Hero Trait can be used.

Of course, since each Torchlight Infinite season has its own unique mechanics, the strategies for maximizing damage output will need to be adjusted depending on the hero you're playing.

Based on this, we'll use Rosa 2, Rosa's second Hero Trait, Unsullied Blade, as an example to show you how to increase this character's DPS by stacking mana.

Unsullied Blade Introduction

This Hero Trait is still relatively new, as it was introduced in the recently concluded Season 9. Unsullied Blade's main damage output comes from dealing elemental damage to enemies in Realm of Mercury after gaining sufficient mana.

Realm of Mercury is one of the core mechanics of Unsullied Blade. First, you need to attack enemies with non-channeled skills to gain Mystic Mercury points. Once you have the maximum points, you can enter the realm.

In Realm of Mercury, all your attacks will receive spell damage and spell damage bonuses. While this consumes mana, mana will also slowly regenerate over time.

Regardless of the phase, to maximize damage output as a Rosa 2 player, you must always ensure you have enough mana, especially since mana doesn't regenerate automatically in Mystic Mercury phase.

The Main Strategy For Stacking More Mana

To craft a Rosa 2 build focused on mana stacking, you first need to reach 100% of your relevant attributes. Until then, it's best to prioritize builds focused on energy shields as a transition.

A large portion of your attribute points should come from your classes and talent trees. Then, you need to acquire suitable and powerful gear to supplement your mana - approximately two to three pieces of gear.

Prioritize unlocking the following talent tree nodes:

• Goddess of Hunting: Increases your damage, attack damage, and cast speed.
• Assassin: Provides additional lightning damage, attack speed, and survivability.
• Steel Vanguard: Increases your health, energy shield, attack speed, cast speed, and damage.
• Lich: Maximizes your consumed mana and provides additional defensive effects.

It's worth noting that high damage output when playing Unsullied Blade primarily comes from glove-type gear. However, if you have high attack speed and high mana, gloves can actually limit your critical strike chance.

To avoid this effect, you need to keep your maximum mana and attack speed cap within a suitable range and ratio. Therefore, all your fixed damage should ideally come from shields.

Gear And Affixes

For Rosa 2 mana stacking, most general affixes are already reliable when adding affixes, as you already have sufficient attack speed from your base stats. You should focus on maximizing your critical strike chance to reach the cap.

Therefore, you can look for rings with physical enhancements or curse effects, which can grant immunity to certain enemy debuffs and provide a percentage increase in mana or even double damage suffixes.

As your gear improves, your resistance will continue to increase. If you want to further enhance this aspect, you can try obtaining Lone Walker's Boots, which increase your gear evade, provide a 50% increase in movement speed, and other damage-boosting effects.

Since belts must be enchanted to function in mana-stacking builds, but enchanting requires a large amount of Flame Elementium, unless you have a very good belt, such as Compensatory Life, this is not recommended.

This belt will grant you a 3%-4% increase in mana and a 3%-6% increase in spell damage for every 100 mana consumed, in addition to a 48%-50% increase in mana regeneration, allowing you to finish battles faster.

If you take significant damage in combat and your health becomes low, this belt provides a 25-30 level mana boost, allowing you to try and turn the tide by dealing additional spell damage.

How To Add Divinity Slates?

In Torchlight Infinite, Divinity Slates are a powerful talent that can be equipped on Statue of the New God. The latter looks like a special panel; the more Divinity Slates you acquire, the more complete the panel becomes, unlocking more talent nodes.

To utilize this mechanic, you first need to ensure you've unlocked Statue of the New God by progressing through the main story. Then you can start obtaining slates through combat drops or directly from the trading system.

To gain more mana stacks, you need to acquire slates that increase critical strike chance and fixed damage multipliers to significantly boost your damage output.

Skill Selection

All Unsullied Blade skills are based on core mechanics such as Realm of Mercury or Mystic Mercury. There are currently six available skills. Besides the indispensable Unsullied Blade, the others suitable for mana stacking are as follows:

• Baptism of Purity: Increases maximum mana by an additional 20%.
• Boundless Sanctuary: For every 150/130/110/100/90 points of maximum mana you have, Realm of Mercury range increases by 10%. Damage taken by enemies in the realm and Mystic Mercury points gained also increase.

While the other skills have good overall effects, they all prioritize or accelerate mana consumption, making them unsuitable for Rosa 2 combat style we're discussing. However, you can try combining them into new Rosa 2 playstyles.

In fact, mana stacking is just one build that best showcases and leverages the advantages of Rosa 2. If you're interested in this Hero Trait, you can explore more styles. Torchlight Infinite is a game with a high degree of freedom!