24
21:29
Steam Sale
I know...this isn't WoW related, but many of us play other games as well. Valve is having a sale on several games, with the list changing daily.
WoW: Lawsuit
Gamespot reports that an avid San Jose gamer named Erik Estavillo is suing game-developer Activision Blizzard, claiming that playing the game has contributed to his sense of alienation and social awkwardness. Estavillo also claims the game’s subscription costs (a meager $14.99 a month) and other such fees are way too high. Estavillo has reportedly called both Gore and actress Winona Ryder to testify about the feeling of alienation and loneliness.
via LimeWire
Pandaren Figure
The first pandaren collectible ever! Capturing the elusive (and world-celebrated) Chen Stormstout for the first time in 3D, the Pandaren Brewmaster Deluxe Action Figure is a limited edition, one-of-a-kind Blizzard online store exclusive! This premium-sculpted piece stands at a colossal 8", features Chen's signature bamboo Bo staff and Brewmaster's keg and comes packaged in a 4-color, spot UV collectors window box.
Blizzard Store
Blue Posts
The World of Warcraft Official Magazine should be coming hot off the presses in December. We hope to have them shipped out shortly thereafter. We'll be sending an email out to all subscribers in the near future with additional details.
From what I've seen, the artwork and articles are incredible. :)
From what I've seen, the artwork and articles are incredible. :)
If you are informed ahead of time when the raid is being formed that certain items are reserved by those who took the time to organise the raid, I personally don't see a problem with that. As many players here are pointing out, you are always free to choose not to attend the raid, or to lead your own raid in hopes of getting the item you want.
Speaking as someone who has both lead and attended many "open" raids, there are a multitude of loot rules that I have seen in place that also seem fair. For example, the "last piece" rule where players with 7/8 pieces of an item set would get priority on their last piece, etc.
Anyhow, that's what I think ;) You are of course free to disagree!
Speaking as someone who has both lead and attended many "open" raids, there are a multitude of loot rules that I have seen in place that also seem fair. For example, the "last piece" rule where players with 7/8 pieces of an item set would get priority on their last piece, etc.
Anyhow, that's what I think ;) You are of course free to disagree!
In Cataclysm, we plan to make the old PvP titles available for purchase based on your performance in our upcoming rated Battleground system, similar to the current Arena titles which are based on your performance in the Arenas. Keep in mind, however, that Cataclysm is still relatively early in the development stages and this information is subject to change. We'll have more on the rated Battleground system and associated rewards in the months ahead.
The current plan is still for rated Battlegrounds to grant Arena points, though some rewards will require a certain rating from this system just as with the current Arena system.
We feel they're going to fit well with the new rated Battleground system. The titles were previously earned through a very cumbersome experience that didn't necessarily measure a player's PvP skill. With a new system for measuring performance in the Battlegrounds, we feel it's a good fit to award the honor titles to those who excel. We do not intend for the top titles to be earned in a trivial manner. It's going to be quite hard to get High Warlord or Grand Marshal; and not because it's going to require that someone plays in the Battlegrounds more than everyone else on their realm each week, but because it's going to require a very impressive win/loss ratio.
The current plan is still for rated Battlegrounds to grant Arena points, though some rewards will require a certain rating from this system just as with the current Arena system.
We feel they're going to fit well with the new rated Battleground system. The titles were previously earned through a very cumbersome experience that didn't necessarily measure a player's PvP skill. With a new system for measuring performance in the Battlegrounds, we feel it's a good fit to award the honor titles to those who excel. We do not intend for the top titles to be earned in a trivial manner. It's going to be quite hard to get High Warlord or Grand Marshal; and not because it's going to require that someone plays in the Battlegrounds more than everyone else on their realm each week, but because it's going to require a very impressive win/loss ratio.
Our intent was not to nerf Balance druid dps with this change. Our intent was to make a macro or addon that was quickly becoming mandatory at competitive levels not mandatory. It would be one thing if cancelling Eclipse auras was a fun or interesting choice, but since everything was so automated, the only thing I can really imagine anyone getting upset about was the dps loss, which we plan on offsetting.
We're not going to apologize at all for nerfing an old set bonus. Upgrading your gear is a -- if not the -- major motivation for most players to raid. We typically don't nerf set bonuses that turn out to be overly generous while they are still the highest available tier, but once new content is available it is time to make sure they don't remain overly attractive. There will always be some players who ask "Why can't you just buff the new stuff instead of nerfing the old stuff?" They would probably also ask why they couldn't have a 3000 dps increase from their T10 set bonus in order to make them upgrade from a T9 set bonus granted 2500 dps. :) When the increased stats alone aren't enough to encourage you want to upgrade, then the older bonuses are probably too good.
On the topic of Eclipse, we still consider it to be a major linchpin of the Balance talent tree and we have no intention of getting rid of it. Swapping from Wrath to Starfire is something we want to encourage and in a greater sense, fits the theme of the spec (finding a balance) really well. We're more sympathetic to the argument that it might provide too much of a dps increase relative to other talents, but at the same time given what I said above, we aren't really trying to promote an Eclipse-less Balance spec.
Back when I started playing WoW, there was a lot of theorycrafting for how players could overcome or even minimize the impact of random numbers on their gameplay, which totally makes sense. Over the years though that has sort of morphed into: all RNG is bad, and any mechanic that has an RNG element is also bad. We don't think Balance is saddled with an over dependence on RNG more so than other specs, and if you feel that way, you might want to talk to some Fire mage friends. :) Adapting to changing environments is one of the major ways players have to demonstrate mastery of the game. We don't think WoW was more enjoyable when all Balance druids just spammed Starfire (or Wrath if that happened to do more damage). Likewise, we don't think it was good for warlocks to just use Shadowbolt or mages to just use Fireball. Furthermore, we don't think a 1,2,3,4 rotation is a whole lot better. If your class mechanics invite you to be able to macro everything you do, then you as a player aren't really making decisions; you aren't playing a character so much as babysitting a bot. That's not what we're going for. (I wouldn't recommend turning this thread into "My Arcane mage / Ret paladin / Subtlety rogue doesn't have enough doing on.)
P.S. There's an awful lot of QQ in this thread. There are some Balance druids bringing up some really good points. Don't make them wade through so much junk in order to have a conversation.
We're not going to apologize at all for nerfing an old set bonus. Upgrading your gear is a -- if not the -- major motivation for most players to raid. We typically don't nerf set bonuses that turn out to be overly generous while they are still the highest available tier, but once new content is available it is time to make sure they don't remain overly attractive. There will always be some players who ask "Why can't you just buff the new stuff instead of nerfing the old stuff?" They would probably also ask why they couldn't have a 3000 dps increase from their T10 set bonus in order to make them upgrade from a T9 set bonus granted 2500 dps. :) When the increased stats alone aren't enough to encourage you want to upgrade, then the older bonuses are probably too good.
On the topic of Eclipse, we still consider it to be a major linchpin of the Balance talent tree and we have no intention of getting rid of it. Swapping from Wrath to Starfire is something we want to encourage and in a greater sense, fits the theme of the spec (finding a balance) really well. We're more sympathetic to the argument that it might provide too much of a dps increase relative to other talents, but at the same time given what I said above, we aren't really trying to promote an Eclipse-less Balance spec.
Back when I started playing WoW, there was a lot of theorycrafting for how players could overcome or even minimize the impact of random numbers on their gameplay, which totally makes sense. Over the years though that has sort of morphed into: all RNG is bad, and any mechanic that has an RNG element is also bad. We don't think Balance is saddled with an over dependence on RNG more so than other specs, and if you feel that way, you might want to talk to some Fire mage friends. :) Adapting to changing environments is one of the major ways players have to demonstrate mastery of the game. We don't think WoW was more enjoyable when all Balance druids just spammed Starfire (or Wrath if that happened to do more damage). Likewise, we don't think it was good for warlocks to just use Shadowbolt or mages to just use Fireball. Furthermore, we don't think a 1,2,3,4 rotation is a whole lot better. If your class mechanics invite you to be able to macro everything you do, then you as a player aren't really making decisions; you aren't playing a character so much as babysitting a bot. That's not what we're going for. (I wouldn't recommend turning this thread into "My Arcane mage / Ret paladin / Subtlety rogue doesn't have enough doing on.)
P.S. There's an awful lot of QQ in this thread. There are some Balance druids bringing up some really good points. Don't make them wade through so much junk in order to have a conversation.
In our continuing celebration of World of Warcraft’s five-year anniversary, we’re in the mood to give away some fantastic prizes to a lucky selection of those following us on Twitter. Our offices are brimming with spare World of Warcraft loot codes and we feel it’s time to give back to those who have made this gaming community so great. Are you a pet collector who has yet to get your hands on a Robotic Homing Chicken, Baby Hippogryph, Ethereal Plunderer, or Baby Monkey pet? Have you ever wanted to cruise Northrend on an Area 51 Rocket, a Riding Turtle, Spectral Tiger, or Rooster mount? Well here’s your chance to win these and other extremely rare loot codes!
All you have to do is join the tens of thousands of people already following us at www.twitter.com/warcraft; and hey, if you’re already a follower, you may already have a chance to win. Between November 30 and December 11, 2009 we’ll be selecting random winners daily from our growing list of followers, so start following our feed today!
Official Warcraft Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/warcraft
Official contest rules coming soon
All you have to do is join the tens of thousands of people already following us at www.twitter.com/warcraft; and hey, if you’re already a follower, you may already have a chance to win. Between November 30 and December 11, 2009 we’ll be selecting random winners daily from our growing list of followers, so start following our feed today!
Official Warcraft Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/warcraft
Official contest rules coming soon
24
02:17
WoW Study
THE ways in which ordinary people play popular online computer game World Of Warcraft (WoW) - and go on in-game missions called "quests" - can be used to study how real-life terrorists operate, a recent groundbreaking study reveals.
The United States military and law-enforcement arms have taken an active interest in the findings, with a view towards developing better understanding of how terrorist groups form, operate and adapt to challenges.
The American study, published in June in the science journal Physical Review E, found that the way in which social groups of WoW gamers - known online as "guilds" - form can be described by a mathematical model that can also be applied to an unrelated group of people: street gangs in Los Angeles.
Dr Neil Johnson, the lead researcher of the study, told my paper that the model shows how gamer guilds and street gangs form in a similar fashion despite differing demographics. It is therefore possible to use the same model to study other competitive social groups anywhere in the world. This includes terrorist groups, said the British physics professor, who teaches at the University of Miami.
via Asiaone
Authenticator
A notice for anyone who is currently using the Desktop Authenticator, do not leave it open when you are not using it, it appears to use a lot of CPU when generating codes.
We are also able to let you start testing the Android phone Authenticator, it should work just as well as the regular phone Authenticator, but we need a few testers.
If you are interested in testing a Desktop Authenticator, drop us an email.
Blue Posts
The World of Warcraft five-year anniversary celebration is now officially underway! To mark this special occasion, any character that logs into the game between now and Sunday, December 6 at 11:59 p.m. (realm time) will receive their very own Onyxian Whelpling non-combat pet, along with a special message from the development team. We have more World of Warcraft 5-year and Warcraft 15-year anniversary festivities coming soon, so be sure to keep your eye on the official website. Thanks for being part of the adventure, and we look forward to many more whelps and great memories in the years ahead.
It’s Coming - 11/25
24
02:17
Talent Calculators updated.
Achievements updated.
Shaman
Druid
Shaman Changes
Read more (0 comments)Achievements updated.
Glyphs/Items
Shaman
- Item - Shaman T9 Elemental 4P Bonus (Lava Burst) - Your Lava Burst spell causes your target to burn for an additonal 10% of your spell's damage over 6 sec. Down from 20%.
Druid
- Item - Druid T10 Balance 4P Bonus - Your critical strikes from Starfire and Wrath cause the target languish for an additional 7% of your spell's damage over 4 sec. Up from 5%.
- Item - Druid T8 Balance 2P Bonus - Increases the bonus granted by Eclipse for Starfire and Wrath by 7%. Down from 15%.
Class Changes
Shaman Changes
Elemental
- Elemental Mastery - When activated, your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Lava Burst spell becomes an instant cast spell. In addition, you gain 15% spell haste for 15 sec. Elemental Mastery shares a cooldown with Nature's Swiftness.
23
05:05
Five Years of WoW
There are a few interesting stories up now, talking about WoW over the years. This story talks about how people came from across the country to get their copy of WoW signed, 3500 copies sold at the midnight launch at just one store, and more. Click on the picture below to see a gallery from the 5 year party.
Black Friday
This Friday is known as Black Friday in the US, a shopping holiday. Gamestop will have the WoW Battle Chest for $20, the original game for $5, and Best Buy will have the original game for $5 as well.
Mr. T Commercial
Yet another commercial was posted with Mr. T.
Blue Posts
To shed some light into the chilly gloom of Icecrown Citadel, we sat down to talk about the decision-making process behind Wrath of the Lich King’s ultimate dungeon, the World of Warcraft team’s design philosophy, and the dangers that lurk in the heart of Arthas’s stronghold.
Check out the resulting interview to learn more: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/icecrown-interview.xml
Check out the resulting interview to learn more: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/icecrown-interview.xml
We will be conducting rolling restarts across all US Realms at 05:00AM PDT on Monday, November 23rd to resolve an in-game issue. Additionally, rolling restarts on Oceanic Realms will begin at 12:00 PM PDT. We anticipate the downtime to be minimal and thank you in advance for your patience.
20
15:07
IgroMir
Blizzard attended IgroMir recently, and finally put up an official recap.
- Rated battlegrounds will be an alternative way to get Arena points. Each week, there will be a featured battleground, helping concentrate queues and keeping the rated battleground experience exciting and different from week to week.
- If you win a game in a rated battleground you will gain rating, however your mileage may vary depending on the BG. Each victory in a rated BG will also give you Arena points.
- Among the possible rewards, the most exciting will be the return of the classic honor titles like Grand Marshal or Knight Lieutenant. Players will also be able to earn epic ground mounts and vanity items such as tabards and pets in addition to helping their guild acquire levels and achievements.
- The faction that wins the battle in Tol Barad will not only get Tol Barad marks of honor, but also will get access to bonus daily quests and special bosses.
- Players earn guild experience in a variety of ways, for instance by gaining levels, reputation ranks, boss kills, rated battleground or Arena wins, or profession ranks.
- To give fair opportunities to both big and small guilds, only the top 20 earners per day in each guild will contribute to guild experience points.
- Guild experience will be converted into a special guild currency, which can be used to buy a variety of rewards such as profession plans, recipes and reagents; vanity items (mounts, tabards, etc.), and guild talent respecs.
- Guild items require less reagents, which can be bought with guild currency.
- To do so, at least 75% of guild members (for the moment) will need to complete an achievement to make it appear in the guild achievement tab.
- Guild banks will receive a percentage of gold looted from a boss when guild members make boss kills.
- Also, it will be possible to invite other guilds to various events such as weekly battlegrounds.
Blue Posts
I think gear might get really boring if you didn't have set bonuses (and perhaps trinkets) to look forward to.
Somewhat boring gear is okay... to a point... in PvP, where you need to strike a balance between skill and gear. Players want to enter PvP thinking they have a relatively level playing field, but we still use the gear reward as an incentive to participate.
PvE gear is already relatively inflexible on primary stats. If anything I wish there was more variability from tier to tier. Players have become pretty intolerant though of gear that doesn't feel like an unambiguous upgrade. That's not intended as an insult to anyone. It's just the state of a five year old game. :)
Somewhat boring gear is okay... to a point... in PvP, where you need to strike a balance between skill and gear. Players want to enter PvP thinking they have a relatively level playing field, but we still use the gear reward as an incentive to participate.
PvE gear is already relatively inflexible on primary stats. If anything I wish there was more variability from tier to tier. Players have become pretty intolerant though of gear that doesn't feel like an unambiguous upgrade. That's not intended as an insult to anyone. It's just the state of a five year old game. :)
They're just numbers. We don't think it starts getting scary until the human mind literally has trouble processing the digits. If your new staff has 152,420 spell power, well, yeah that's a mouthful. But if your new staff has 4000 spell power, the only thing that can really be freaking you out is that 4000 is just a really big number compared to the 100 spell power you might be used to. Automobiles used to cost hundreds of dollars instead of tens of thousands of dollars too.... :)
When players say we had scaling problems in Lich King, what they mean (or at least what they *should* mean) is that we picked the end numbers we wanted for percentages such as crit and dodge and then picked ratings that would get us there. When we inflated the item levels to account for hard modes (with a little help from things like glyphs too) then the percentages ended up higher than we intended. That doesn't mean that exponential scaling on gear is bad. It just means that we misjudged our endpoints.
Gear inflation is just part of MMOs, or at least the kind of MMO that we make. Players are going to freak when they see the Cataclysm gear (because believe me, we did), but it's also exciting too. :)
When players say we had scaling problems in Lich King, what they mean (or at least what they *should* mean) is that we picked the end numbers we wanted for percentages such as crit and dodge and then picked ratings that would get us there. When we inflated the item levels to account for hard modes (with a little help from things like glyphs too) then the percentages ended up higher than we intended. That doesn't mean that exponential scaling on gear is bad. It just means that we misjudged our endpoints.
Gear inflation is just part of MMOs, or at least the kind of MMO that we make. Players are going to freak when they see the Cataclysm gear (because believe me, we did), but it's also exciting too. :)
There is still a lot of gear from Trial of the Crusade that cannot be obtained with Emblems of Triumph alone. Heroic gear and set pieces purchased with Trophies of the Crusade will still separate players conquering the biggest challenges Trial of the Crusade has to offer from those who will be farming emblems after patch 3.3. In addition, there will be scores of new items available in the Icecrown Citadel raid. The average raider will need to gear up a good deal while progressing through this raid dungeon if they wish to eventually defeat the Lich King.
Wrath of the Lich King really advances one of the most popular story lines in the Warcraft universe like never before. Players have been watching the saga unfold since Warcraft III and are not far off from finally attempting to end the Lich King's reign. We want as many players taking part in this adventure as possible, and 3.3 will provide smaller or less-experienced guilds the opportunity to gear up and advance through Icecrown Citadel. We've been putting a ton of work into this final dungeon and want players enthused about taking their shot at killing one of the most infamous characters in Warcraft history. Make no mistake though, this raid will be very hard. If you think that, by allowing players to farm Emblems of Triumph, we're completely nullifying any gear gap and giving the average player an easy stab at clearing Icecrown Citadel and besting the Lich King, you misunderstand the evolution of this game and make too many assumptions about how the 3.3 changes will affect it.
Clout, if you're going to be one of the first players at the Frozen Throne ready to tank the Lich King when the opportunity comes, I trust he'll show you how he feels about you saying this game is being "dumbed down." So sure, everyone go farm for ilevel 245, non-set gear after the 3.3 content update. Go prepare yourselves as best as possible to enter Icecrown Citadel. Just know that it's not a park, and you ain't just walkin' through it. ;)
Wrath of the Lich King really advances one of the most popular story lines in the Warcraft universe like never before. Players have been watching the saga unfold since Warcraft III and are not far off from finally attempting to end the Lich King's reign. We want as many players taking part in this adventure as possible, and 3.3 will provide smaller or less-experienced guilds the opportunity to gear up and advance through Icecrown Citadel. We've been putting a ton of work into this final dungeon and want players enthused about taking their shot at killing one of the most infamous characters in Warcraft history. Make no mistake though, this raid will be very hard. If you think that, by allowing players to farm Emblems of Triumph, we're completely nullifying any gear gap and giving the average player an easy stab at clearing Icecrown Citadel and besting the Lich King, you misunderstand the evolution of this game and make too many assumptions about how the 3.3 changes will affect it.
Clout, if you're going to be one of the first players at the Frozen Throne ready to tank the Lich King when the opportunity comes, I trust he'll show you how he feels about you saying this game is being "dumbed down." So sure, everyone go farm for ilevel 245, non-set gear after the 3.3 content update. Go prepare yourselves as best as possible to enter Icecrown Citadel. Just know that it's not a park, and you ain't just walkin' through it. ;)
I can't answer Q&As like this all the time or even very often. I probably won't be able to keep coming back to this thread to answer follow up questions. Understand that when I do answer some questions and it drives expectations that everyone is entitled to have *their* questions answers, things get complicated. Sorry for all of the caveats, but I've kind of learned what to expect.
Cataclysm.
You mean like Demonic Circle? :)
Sure. We don't have a lot of details we can share yet.
They won't. Some of them may change though. Perhaps the un-enhanced version will be weaker than the current shard version. Stuff like summoning (people and demons) just won't cost shards.
No, there are no plans.
As I opined recently, IN-FER-NO probably just needs a different mechanic. The trade-off for getting the demon can just be the cooldown.
Yes to the general question, no to the specific example.
Probably not. We'd rather tone down the potency of dispels in general, not require everyone to stack more defenses for them.
We haven't talked about it.
This isn't really a soul shard question is it? That is more of a technical limitation and not a design goal. The answer has more to do with prioritization than intent.
Don't know yet.
Don't know yet. One idea is an emergency backup system for long fights or situations where you screw up. Ideally we don't need this though so we haven't resolved it.
If you're talking about warlocks stealing each other's demons, I'm not sure that will lead to those demons getting more use. It might make you giggle when you steal one though.
Yes. The example we used at Blizzcon was some kind of duration-limited or "your next spell" limitation. We haven't set this in stone yet.
It won't require a shard. It might require a shard to make it something you want to cast though (imagine a PoM - Pyro).
No idea yet. The talent trees aren't done. One thing we threw out at Blizzcon was maybe Demo gets an extra shard, but that's just hand-waving at this point.
Q u o t e:
1. Will it be implemented in Cataclsysm or faded in through patches considering the seemingly huge gap in content?
Cataclysm.
Q u o t e:
2. Even with the new system will warlocks be given a secondary defense to fall back on, on a long CD should fear become useless?
You mean like Demonic Circle? :)
Q u o t e:
3. Are there plans to link the system to a warlock pet? I know fel domination is one of them, but popping soul shards for more power for the pet are being considered? Example- Refreshing CD's?
Sure. We don't have a lot of details we can share yet.
Q u o t e:
4. What is going to happen to those spells that required soul shards?
They won't. Some of them may change though. Perhaps the un-enhanced version will be weaker than the current shard version. Stuff like summoning (people and demons) just won't cost shards.
Q u o t e:
5. Are there plans to change hellfire to an AoE knockback snare like a secondary defense warlocks can fall back on or will it be outright removed?
No, there are no plans.
Q u o t e:
6. Are there plans to extend Inferno's duration similar to before where we have to enslave him, but with no capping prohibitions?
As I opined recently, IN-FER-NO probably just needs a different mechanic. The trade-off for getting the demon can just be the cooldown.
Q u o t e:
7. Are there plans to reduce slot problems with curses? Like CoT and CoEx being merged?
Yes to the general question, no to the specific example.
Q u o t e:
8. Are there plans to add dispel resistance to curses through talents?
Probably not. We'd rather tone down the potency of dispels in general, not require everyone to stack more defenses for them.
Q u o t e:
9. Will CoD be modified to be castable on players? If so will you modify the damage/duration/CD on it or will it remain the same?
We haven't talked about it.
Q u o t e:
10. Do you plan on fixing the debuff problems to pets. The fact the duration on debuffs remain the same until the pet is out on the field while buffs continue their duration course regardless of the pet being summoned or not?
This isn't really a soul shard question is it? That is more of a technical limitation and not a design goal. The answer has more to do with prioritization than intent.
Q u o t e:
11. Will soul link be removed from the demon should it despawn/dimiss?
Don't know yet.
Q u o t e:
12. What are the plans for drain soul in the new shard system?
Don't know yet. One idea is an emergency backup system for long fights or situations where you screw up. Ideally we don't need this though so we haven't resolved it.
Q u o t e:
13. Are there plans to make enslave demon a little more viable for PvP and example is the doomguard and inferno?
If you're talking about warlocks stealing each other's demons, I'm not sure that will lead to those demons getting more use. It might make you giggle when you steal one though.
Q u o t e:
11) Will the soul shard system allow you to empower our primary nukes chaos bolt/soul fire for increased damage on a short cd?
Yes. The example we used at Blizzcon was some kind of duration-limited or "your next spell" limitation. We haven't set this in stone yet.
Q u o t e:
12) What will happen to soul fire? Will it still require a shard to use? Could it find more acceptance in our normal rotation considering its potentially our most powerful nuke
It won't require a shard. It might require a shard to make it something you want to cast though (imagine a PoM - Pyro).
Q u o t e:
13) How will the soul shard change work in regards to different trees?
No idea yet. The talent trees aren't done. One thing we threw out at Blizzcon was maybe Demo gets an extra shard, but that's just hand-waving at this point.
18
23:07
Background Downloader
The Background Downloader is now live, a mirror of the first part is up on Megaupload for enUS. It goes in C:\World of Warcraft\Updates\wow-3.2.2-to-3.3.0-enUS-Win-patch\
Blue Posts
As the Lich King continues his dark work inside the halls of Icecrown Citadel, the warriors and smiths of the Ashen Verdict scramble to forge a weapon capable of defeating the Scourge. To aid the Verdict in its cause, you'll need to follow in Arthas's footsteps, gambling with your very soul to gather the materials that will create the legendary axe Shadowmourne.
Find out more about the quest to build Shadowmourne, available in the upcoming Fall of the Lich King content update, in our new preview of the legendary weapon Shadowmourne.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/shadowmourne.xml
Find out more about the quest to build Shadowmourne, available in the upcoming Fall of the Lich King content update, in our new preview of the legendary weapon Shadowmourne.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/shadowmourne.xml
We talked about druids in bear form also getting AP from strength. Strength won't appear on leather and no piece should have Str and Agi together, so it's not like they would really double dip. That lets us still have tanking necks, rings and cloaks with strength on them that are attractive to all 4 tanking classes.
Almost all the items in the game are going to have to change. In many cases this is just a sweeping pass we can make on all gear, such as replacing the Agi + AP on leather with just Agi. So don't worry too much about what happens with old gear and talents mixed with the new stat system. The gear and talents in many cases must change.
Almost all the items in the game are going to have to change. In many cases this is just a sweeping pass we can make on all gear, such as replacing the Agi + AP on leather with just Agi. So don't worry too much about what happens with old gear and talents mixed with the new stat system. The gear and talents in many cases must change.
There will be a Frostwyrms up for grabs for Icecrown raiders, achievable in a similar way to previous rewards such as the Ulduar proto-drake.
Icecrown Citadel testing has been progressing very well over the last few weeks, and this has been a huge help to the encounter design team. We want to thank everyone who has logged onto the PTR and tried the encounters there.
As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, we wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point we can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.
The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.
There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.
The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.
The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana'thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.
There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).
In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell's effect if they so wish.
As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, we wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point we can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.
The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.
There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.
The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.
The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana'thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.
There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).
In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell's effect if they so wish.
We don't want players to stick with older tier sets when new pieces become available. (It's one thing if it's a really good trinket -- it's another if it's your entire set..)
We balance some things around absolute values (we're shooting for a target) and other things around relative values (how X looks compared to Y). A lot of shaman were saying they weren't going to upgrade to tier 10 despite the, frankly, gratuitous stats on the new gear. We concluded that was because the T9 set bonus was too good and the T10 set bonus was too weak. We suspected the T9 was too good for some time, but didn't want to nerf it while the T9 was all that was available. We did the same thing with a few other sets (or relics).
We try to pick interesting set bonuses, but that means that they will sometimes end up being over or under-budget once players figure out the best ways to optimize their play style around the bonuses. A little of that is okay -- it's interesting when a new set changes your spell rotation a little bit. But when an older set is so good that players feel like upgrading is a bad thing (ignoring the pain of having to get new enchants and gems or whatever) then we think we have a problem.
From a player point of view, I can understand why the attractive answer is always just to buff the new stuff. But continually buffing an outlier instead of bringing the outlier back into the pack is a good way to lead to power inflation on gear.
We balance some things around absolute values (we're shooting for a target) and other things around relative values (how X looks compared to Y). A lot of shaman were saying they weren't going to upgrade to tier 10 despite the, frankly, gratuitous stats on the new gear. We concluded that was because the T9 set bonus was too good and the T10 set bonus was too weak. We suspected the T9 was too good for some time, but didn't want to nerf it while the T9 was all that was available. We did the same thing with a few other sets (or relics).
We try to pick interesting set bonuses, but that means that they will sometimes end up being over or under-budget once players figure out the best ways to optimize their play style around the bonuses. A little of that is okay -- it's interesting when a new set changes your spell rotation a little bit. But when an older set is so good that players feel like upgrading is a bad thing (ignoring the pain of having to get new enchants and gems or whatever) then we think we have a problem.
From a player point of view, I can understand why the attractive answer is always just to buff the new stuff. But continually buffing an outlier instead of bringing the outlier back into the pack is a good way to lead to power inflation on gear.
The Fingers of Frost issue is really challenging to solve. It it procs on hit then the procs don't get eaten but you may have to interrupt a Frostbolt. If it procs on cast, the procs can get eaten. Those are really the only ways it can proc though. Mixing travel-time spells and instant spells can muddy things up. Things also get more complicated when you have silly amounts of haste, which through no fault of their own, many mages do.
Fingers of Frost seems to work fine so long as you have Frostbite, but due to some technical limitations, the two talents don't play well apart. A long-term solution might be to make Frostbite a prereq for FoF or just merge the two talents together.
Letting Fingers of Frost display its charges is a good idea. We might not be able to get that in for 3.3 but we'll put it on "the list."
Our thanks to Lhivera and others among you who have explored these issues so throughly.
Fingers of Frost seems to work fine so long as you have Frostbite, but due to some technical limitations, the two talents don't play well apart. A long-term solution might be to make Frostbite a prereq for FoF or just merge the two talents together.
Letting Fingers of Frost display its charges is a good idea. We might not be able to get that in for 3.3 but we'll put it on "the list."
Our thanks to Lhivera and others among you who have explored these issues so throughly.
18
00:32
Talent Calculators updated.
Achievements updated.
Hunter Changes
Read more (0 comments)Achievements updated.
Achievements
- Don't Look Up - Clear the hallway before Scourgelord Tyrannus in The Pit of Saron on Heroic Difficulty without anyone taking icicle damage on the first try. Now requires it on the first try.
- Looking For Multitudes - Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 100 random players total. Reward: Perky Pug. Now rewards the pet.
Class Changes
Hunter Changes
MarksmanshipPaladin Changes
- Concussive Barrage - Your successful Chimera Shot and Multi-Shot attacks have a chance to Daze the target for 4 sec. Changed from Auto Shot and Volley attacks.
Protection
- Divine Intervention - No longer clears the effect of Exhaustion and Sated on the target.
Rogue Changes
AssassinationWarlock Changes
- Deadly Poison IX - Once stacked to 5 times, each application of Deadly Poison also causes the poison on the Rogue's other weapon to apply.
- Improved Poisons - Now increases the chance to apply Deadly Poison to your target by 4/8/12/16/20%. Up from 2/4/6/8/10%.
Affliction
- Improved Drain Soul - In addition, your Affliction spells generate 10/20% less threat. Up from 5/10%.
Destruction
- Destructive Reach - Now reduces threat caused by Destruction spells by 10/20%. Up from 5/10%.
Misc Changes
- Item - Shadowmourne Legendary - Your weapon swings have a chance to drain a Soul Fragment granting you 40 strength. When you have acquired 10 Soul Fragments you will unleash Chaos Bane, dealing 1900 to 2100 shadow damage split between all enemies within 8 yards.
- Item - Icecrown 25 Heroic Caster Trinket 2 - Each time one of your spells deals periodic damage, you have a chance to gain 1032 spell power for 20 sec. Up from 10 seconds.
- Item - Icecrown 25 Normal Caster Trinket 2 - Each time one of your spells deals periodic damage, you have a chance to gain 918 spell power for 20 sec. Up from 10 seconds.
- Item - Icecrown Dungeon Melee Trinket - Chance on melee or ranged critical strike to increase your armor penetration rating by 678 for 10 sec. Up from 452.
- CHAT_MSG_PARTY_LEADER = "Party Leader";
- ERR_LFG_CANT_USE_BATTLEGROUND = "You cannot queue for a battleground or arena while using the dungeon system.";
- ERR_LFG_CANT_USE_DUNGEONS = "You cannot queue for a dungeon while using battlegrounds or arenas.";
- ERR_LFG_PROPOSAL_DECLINED_PARTY = "You have been removed from the Dungeon queue because someone in your party did not accept the invitation.";
- ERR_LFG_PROPOSAL_DECLINED_SELF = "You have been removed from the Dungeon queue because you did not accept the invitation.";
- ERR_LFG_ROLE_CHECK_ABORTED = "Your group leader has cancelled the Role Check.";
- SLASH_DUNGEONS6 = "/df";
17
18:56
WoW Interview
Another Five Years of Warcraft interview, this time from WarCry.
- We wanted WoW to be a Blizzard quality game, with the Blizzard polish, and the Blizzard experience. We wanted to get away from the psychology in the gamer world, which was "Oh, it's an MMO, it's always gonna be buggy and problematic for a while."
- We gave very simple choices, and there wasn't any of this "Is my guy five pounds overweight? Are his eyes sea blue or sky blue?" Don't get me wrong, that sort of thing is cool, but we made a very simple UI and character creator, and that's one of the main things that helped people gravitate to the game.
- Where I think the worry is, is people who are wondering if we're talking about "Hey, do you want to buy the level 80 epic sword for $5?" We're absolutely not talking about doing that.
- We all like to play console games, and would like to play a Blizzard console game someday, but we haven't been able to do that right. StarCraft: Ghost was kind of the latest console attempt that Blizzard made, and it didn't feel like the game was where it needed to be.
- Even though things would be better with new (character) models, we'd probably spark a lot of player outrage. So we've talked about giving players a choice between the classic models or the new ones, but it might not be something we want to take on at the same time as we remake Azeroth.
- So we're not talking about it in terms of WoW 2, but the WoW we always wished we had.
via WarCry
Blue Posts
On Sartharion +3, cutting-edge guilds who normally tank with a warrior would (perhaps somewhat begrudgingly) use a DK to tank instead because the benefit was so massive. The same thing happened on Vezax where good guilds replaced their warrior tanks with DKs. Death knights were overpowered at the time.
We are not seeing the kind of massive swapping one class of tank for another in ToC or the preliminary Icecrown testing. It's just not happening. If paladins or druids are too good or warriors or death knights aren't good enough, we're just not seeing them getting used for those fights to anywhere near the extent that DKs replaced other tanks on the encounters mentioned above.
As just one example (and I wouldn't put too much weight behind this), the number of paladin tanks used to test Icecrown on the PTR has been almost imperceptibly low. It's possible there were actually none this weekend, or else the numbers were so small that we missed them. Sure these are not the hard mode encounters generally being tested, and you can come up with your own explanations for differences between how players might approach PTR and "real" raiding. But these are the kind of lopsided datasets we have to deal with when we're looking at who is using what tank and how that relates to success.
I'm not talking about balancing around representation, as players often mistakenly claim. I am asking the question that I have asked before: if one or two of the tank classes have such a superior and unequivocal advantage in making a fight easier, why aren't more guilds using them, especially given the evidence that they have swapped tanks on previous encounters? I understand individuals of you may state it has happened to your guild. That's fine, but understand you are in a small minority. Overall, it's just not happening.
One conclusion you can draw (though certainly not the only one) is that whatever differences in survivability there appear to be "on paper," just don't make a significant difference in the actual fights, or at least not enough of a difference that guilds feel compelled to switch or are held back by not switching.
As an aside: there are some specific fights where the specific mechanics lead guilds to tend to use one tank over another, say a druid to tank Thorim hard or a shield-using tank on adds for Anub hard. Most players aren't as concerned about these one-off encounters because it feels like such an encounter-specific problem and doesn't feel like anyone's job as guild main tank is in jeopardy. (Individuals of you may feel differently of course.)
I know there are lot of threads on this topic right now. I avoided many of the ones that are doing a good job discussing numbers because I didn't want to derail them.
No, I totally agree that the distinction may be subtle or even subjective. The way I would describe it is that druids are good on Thorim because of Unbalancing Strike, and not just because "druids are better tanks." If every, or even many, bosses had Thorim's attacks, then druids might be perceived as too good overall. (And they may be, but not because of their lack of reliance on defense.)
To use a contrived example, if there was a boss that could be beaten by anyone but more easily defeated by Spell Reflect, you might see a lot of grumbling about how good warriors were tanking that particular fight, but you wouldn't I expect see a lot of folks arguing that warriors were too good across the board. That case has less to do with say EH or cooldowns and more to do with a specific mechanic of that fight. But as I said, it's subjective. If the druid was so good on Thorim that you felt gimped without a druid and felt like you had to recruit one, then it would cross the line and doubtless that line would be at different positions for different folks.
I can accept that the challenge of finding and gearing new tanks can affect individual guilds. Overall I am suspicious that it accounts for the fact that very few guilds use paladin or druid MTs on progression attempts. It is arguing that guilds might desperately want druid or paladin tanks because everyone knows they make the fight easier, but they just can't find any. Yet when DKs made the fights easier everyone managed to find those. I have a hunch that if we made a fight in which stacking Blacksmithing BM hunters with Nether Ray pets conveyed a significant advantage that we would see Nether Rays coming out of the woodwork. Players typically find a way when it matters.
We totally get that many long-term guilds still use warrior tanks because they always have. We did see many of those guilds switch to DKs for certain fights though. They by and large are not doing that now. Why not?
Most bosses are tanked by warriors. Most hard mode bosses are tanked by warriors. Nearly all server first boss kills are done with warrior main tanks. Paladin tanks are so rare that it sometimes doesn't even feel fair to compare the data.
However, we do know that sometimes those warriors will step aside because another class conveys enough of an advantage that they must feel it's worth it. This was true of say Sartharion and Vezax. It is not true in ToC on anything remotely of that scale. We don't think it will be true of Icecrown based on testing so far. If it becomes a problem -- if we think that raid groups with warrior or DK tanks (or even druid or paladins) are struggling more than other groups -- then we'll do something about it.
Honestly, the only thing I want to know is why the DK cool downs still have resource costs. For the life of me, I can't figure it out.
Slightly off topic, but you contribute a lot to these boards so I'll answer it. The original intent was that DKs press different buttons when tanking than when doing dps. Warriors definitely do that -- few Arms or Fury warriors incorporate Revenge or Shield Slam and then Shockwave and Devastate are talented. We needed abilities for a DK to use that sacrificed dps for survivability. (The alternative is you don't need a tank spec at all and can do as much dps while tanking as when not tanking, modulo gear.)
Given the realities of tapping for runes and the like, I don't think the reality ended up where we wanted it. It would be closer to the design if DKs dropped say one Blood Strike for a defensive cooldown while dps DKs did not. That would be a tough change to implement at this stage with all sorts of negative ramifications. However just taking the costs off with the intent of putting them on again in the future would be unpopular with players. We'll make unpopular calls when we think they are worth it. I'm not sure this is.
I agree that Anub is a difficult fight to discuss because of its mechanics, but if you try hard enough you can find justification for why every boss (other than Patchwerk maybe) is a gimmick and shouldn't count. However let me also throw out that a lot of guilds recognize that the hard part of the Anub fight isn't Anub at all, but managing the adds. They choose to send the player who is either their best-skilled or best-geared or just their traditional MT to do the hard job. That player is most often a warrior.
I agree that druids are very common to tank Anub himself. However so far it is not the case that the druid just ends up as the new MT for the guild. Most often the druid just takes that one fight, just as druids often take hard mode Thorim. Yogg 0 is a popular paladin fight, probably because a million things spawn quickly to beat on the tank at once, requiring both strong threat generation and survival against multiple adds. However once again, this trend (if it's even that) has not led to the paladin tanking the rest of Ulduar hard modes.
I might even concede that every fight if you break it down enough might slightly favor one class over another. As long as it isn't always the same tank and as long as it doesn't lead to guilds who "picked the wrong MT" being roadblocked, we don't think it's a problem. We have no evidence that picking a warrior MT puts you in that category, while we have a lot of evidence that correlates warriors tanking with success.
We are not seeing the kind of massive swapping one class of tank for another in ToC or the preliminary Icecrown testing. It's just not happening. If paladins or druids are too good or warriors or death knights aren't good enough, we're just not seeing them getting used for those fights to anywhere near the extent that DKs replaced other tanks on the encounters mentioned above.
As just one example (and I wouldn't put too much weight behind this), the number of paladin tanks used to test Icecrown on the PTR has been almost imperceptibly low. It's possible there were actually none this weekend, or else the numbers were so small that we missed them. Sure these are not the hard mode encounters generally being tested, and you can come up with your own explanations for differences between how players might approach PTR and "real" raiding. But these are the kind of lopsided datasets we have to deal with when we're looking at who is using what tank and how that relates to success.
I'm not talking about balancing around representation, as players often mistakenly claim. I am asking the question that I have asked before: if one or two of the tank classes have such a superior and unequivocal advantage in making a fight easier, why aren't more guilds using them, especially given the evidence that they have swapped tanks on previous encounters? I understand individuals of you may state it has happened to your guild. That's fine, but understand you are in a small minority. Overall, it's just not happening.
One conclusion you can draw (though certainly not the only one) is that whatever differences in survivability there appear to be "on paper," just don't make a significant difference in the actual fights, or at least not enough of a difference that guilds feel compelled to switch or are held back by not switching.
As an aside: there are some specific fights where the specific mechanics lead guilds to tend to use one tank over another, say a druid to tank Thorim hard or a shield-using tank on adds for Anub hard. Most players aren't as concerned about these one-off encounters because it feels like such an encounter-specific problem and doesn't feel like anyone's job as guild main tank is in jeopardy. (Individuals of you may feel differently of course.)
I know there are lot of threads on this topic right now. I avoided many of the ones that are doing a good job discussing numbers because I didn't want to derail them.
No, I totally agree that the distinction may be subtle or even subjective. The way I would describe it is that druids are good on Thorim because of Unbalancing Strike, and not just because "druids are better tanks." If every, or even many, bosses had Thorim's attacks, then druids might be perceived as too good overall. (And they may be, but not because of their lack of reliance on defense.)
To use a contrived example, if there was a boss that could be beaten by anyone but more easily defeated by Spell Reflect, you might see a lot of grumbling about how good warriors were tanking that particular fight, but you wouldn't I expect see a lot of folks arguing that warriors were too good across the board. That case has less to do with say EH or cooldowns and more to do with a specific mechanic of that fight. But as I said, it's subjective. If the druid was so good on Thorim that you felt gimped without a druid and felt like you had to recruit one, then it would cross the line and doubtless that line would be at different positions for different folks.
I can accept that the challenge of finding and gearing new tanks can affect individual guilds. Overall I am suspicious that it accounts for the fact that very few guilds use paladin or druid MTs on progression attempts. It is arguing that guilds might desperately want druid or paladin tanks because everyone knows they make the fight easier, but they just can't find any. Yet when DKs made the fights easier everyone managed to find those. I have a hunch that if we made a fight in which stacking Blacksmithing BM hunters with Nether Ray pets conveyed a significant advantage that we would see Nether Rays coming out of the woodwork. Players typically find a way when it matters.
We totally get that many long-term guilds still use warrior tanks because they always have. We did see many of those guilds switch to DKs for certain fights though. They by and large are not doing that now. Why not?
Most bosses are tanked by warriors. Most hard mode bosses are tanked by warriors. Nearly all server first boss kills are done with warrior main tanks. Paladin tanks are so rare that it sometimes doesn't even feel fair to compare the data.
However, we do know that sometimes those warriors will step aside because another class conveys enough of an advantage that they must feel it's worth it. This was true of say Sartharion and Vezax. It is not true in ToC on anything remotely of that scale. We don't think it will be true of Icecrown based on testing so far. If it becomes a problem -- if we think that raid groups with warrior or DK tanks (or even druid or paladins) are struggling more than other groups -- then we'll do something about it.
Honestly, the only thing I want to know is why the DK cool downs still have resource costs. For the life of me, I can't figure it out.
Slightly off topic, but you contribute a lot to these boards so I'll answer it. The original intent was that DKs press different buttons when tanking than when doing dps. Warriors definitely do that -- few Arms or Fury warriors incorporate Revenge or Shield Slam and then Shockwave and Devastate are talented. We needed abilities for a DK to use that sacrificed dps for survivability. (The alternative is you don't need a tank spec at all and can do as much dps while tanking as when not tanking, modulo gear.)
Given the realities of tapping for runes and the like, I don't think the reality ended up where we wanted it. It would be closer to the design if DKs dropped say one Blood Strike for a defensive cooldown while dps DKs did not. That would be a tough change to implement at this stage with all sorts of negative ramifications. However just taking the costs off with the intent of putting them on again in the future would be unpopular with players. We'll make unpopular calls when we think they are worth it. I'm not sure this is.
I agree that Anub is a difficult fight to discuss because of its mechanics, but if you try hard enough you can find justification for why every boss (other than Patchwerk maybe) is a gimmick and shouldn't count. However let me also throw out that a lot of guilds recognize that the hard part of the Anub fight isn't Anub at all, but managing the adds. They choose to send the player who is either their best-skilled or best-geared or just their traditional MT to do the hard job. That player is most often a warrior.
I agree that druids are very common to tank Anub himself. However so far it is not the case that the druid just ends up as the new MT for the guild. Most often the druid just takes that one fight, just as druids often take hard mode Thorim. Yogg 0 is a popular paladin fight, probably because a million things spawn quickly to beat on the tank at once, requiring both strong threat generation and survival against multiple adds. However once again, this trend (if it's even that) has not led to the paladin tanking the rest of Ulduar hard modes.
I might even concede that every fight if you break it down enough might slightly favor one class over another. As long as it isn't always the same tank and as long as it doesn't lead to guilds who "picked the wrong MT" being roadblocked, we don't think it's a problem. We have no evidence that picking a warrior MT puts you in that category, while we have a lot of evidence that correlates warriors tanking with success.
Refunding talents generally isn't something we do as a courtesy. Meaning, if we had our way, we would never refund talents. We only do it when the data would get seriously jacked up by not doing so. For example, you may still have points in a talent that no longer exists or something similar.
As to why we don't like to refund talents, part of it is avoiding the expectation that regular talent refunds are something that happens often. Another part is that while it may be exciting for very active players to get a talent refund, it can actually be a major bummer for the alt you play seldomly or even the player who only logs on every few weeks. Now you feel like you have to do a lot of research and action bar management before you can even jump in and start playing again.
It's quite likely everyone will get a talent refund when the Cataclysm data changes go in (which if history holds, will actually occur before the Cataclysm box is available at retail). I wouldn't expect any before then.
As to why we don't like to refund talents, part of it is avoiding the expectation that regular talent refunds are something that happens often. Another part is that while it may be exciting for very active players to get a talent refund, it can actually be a major bummer for the alt you play seldomly or even the player who only logs on every few weeks. Now you feel like you have to do a lot of research and action bar management before you can even jump in and start playing again.
It's quite likely everyone will get a talent refund when the Cataclysm data changes go in (which if history holds, will actually occur before the Cataclysm box is available at retail). I wouldn't expect any before then.
Since our first two tests went so well, we’d like to invite everyone out again for round 3! Come join the fun on the PTR and instead of getting the PUG blues, you could end up grouped with a blue. Members of the Development Team (including the encounter designers themselves), the QA team, and the Community Team will be on the PTR to test out the new dungeon system and want you to come join in the fun.
To have a chance to group up with one of us, just queue up for a random heroic through the Dungeon tool. We will be playing both Alliance and Horde and since the Dungeon tool allows players to group cross-server, it doesn’t matter which of the two PTR realms you join from.
Join us Wednesday 11/18/09 at 4:00pm PST.
To have a chance to group up with one of us, just queue up for a random heroic through the Dungeon tool. We will be playing both Alliance and Horde and since the Dungeon tool allows players to group cross-server, it doesn’t matter which of the two PTR realms you join from.
Join us Wednesday 11/18/09 at 4:00pm PST.
Bosses in Naxxramas, Obsidian Sanctum, Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, and all Heroics will drop Emblems of Triumph. Bosses in the Icecrown Citadel 10- and 25-player dungeon will drop Emblems of Frost. Choosing the Random Heroic Dungeon option via the Dungeon Finder (new in content update 3.3) and completing whatever dungeon is selected for you will award you with two Emblems of Frost the first time you do it (this is in place of the daily Heroic dungeon quests which are being replaced with weekly raid dungeon quests). Continuing to use the Random Heroic Dungeon option within that same day to complete dungeons will award you with two Emblems of Triumph each time in addition to those dropped in the instances. The random option can also select Heroic dungeons to which you may already be saved, so you can technically do every Heroic dungeon more than once in a day by continuing to use this option.
Videos
- Stars vs Anub'arak
by chaud | 2 months ago - Goblin Gameplay (Starting Area)
by Marla | 3 months ago - Worgen Gameplay (Starting Area II)
by Marla | 3 months ago - Worgen Gameplay (Starting Area)
by Marla | 3 months ago - Worgen Gameplay (Transformation)
by Marla | 3 months ago
Blue tracker
- Realm Restart - Wyrmrest Accord - 11/26/09
by Ralvorinn in Service Status | 5 hours ago - World of Warcraft Twitter Sweepstakes
by Zarhym in General | 6 hours ago - Realm Restarts - 11/26/09
by Ralvorinn in Service Status | 7 hours ago - Rogues get a buff. Moonkins get a nerf?
by Ghostcrawler in Damage Dealing | 7 hours ago - Any plans for a dedicated DK tank tree?
by Ghostcrawler in Tanking | 10 hours ago
Albums
- Goblins
4 photos by chaud | 3 months ago - SoundBlaster
2 photos by chaud | 3 months ago - test
11 photos by chaud | 3 months ago