12
15:57
Blizzard at GDC
There is a summary of Blizzards talk at GDC on Gamespot. Pardo talks about what made WoW a great game, such as amusing tricks as changing the system to cutting your XP in a half after you have been playing for too long to the current rested XP system. The numbers were the same in the end, but people saw rested as a bonus instead.
Blue Posts
Stamina is always going to be valuable for tanks, so I'm not sure a strategy of trying to force tanks to gem / enchant other stats is ever going to feel good. That said, tanks used to worry more about being the mana sponge. The way to alleviate being the mana sponge is to take less damage and a great way to take less damage is to dodge more.
The relative value of dodge vs. parry is something we'll have to play with. My gut reaction is that parry needs to be cheaper since avoiding 100% of one hit is more valuable than avoiding 50% of two hits, but I'm not sure how much cheaper. Avoiding spikiness (which dodge will contribute to) also has value, and if the second hit after a parry is dodged instead (such that you lose the parry "charge") that plays into the cost as well.
The passive talent tree bonuses for tanks will probably be something like 1) reduces damage taken, 2) increases damage done, 3) reduces damage taken in a way unique to your tree.
If tanking gear had thousands and thousands of Stam, tanks would still socket Stamina because it's reliable. If your health is low, then even if your avoidance is 99% that means sometimes you're just going to die and no healer can save you. Now, if healers can generally heal you through damage but then eventually gas out, then avoidance becomes more attractive because it lets healers heal you longer. Does that mean you gem it? Not sure, but at least a trinket with all avoidance might be pretty exciting.
We also think we figured out a budgeting scheme to let tank gear have the same basic Stamina as dps gear. It's not a huge balance concern either way, but it does look weird when dps plate has more.
As for parry vs. dodge, there are just going to be a lot of debates both within our office and on all of the boards about how it should ideally work and the relative value of each. Those conversations are going to go on a long time and not the kind of thing that can easily be summed up in a pithy GC post.
The relative value of dodge vs. parry is something we'll have to play with. My gut reaction is that parry needs to be cheaper since avoiding 100% of one hit is more valuable than avoiding 50% of two hits, but I'm not sure how much cheaper. Avoiding spikiness (which dodge will contribute to) also has value, and if the second hit after a parry is dodged instead (such that you lose the parry "charge") that plays into the cost as well.
The passive talent tree bonuses for tanks will probably be something like 1) reduces damage taken, 2) increases damage done, 3) reduces damage taken in a way unique to your tree.
If tanking gear had thousands and thousands of Stam, tanks would still socket Stamina because it's reliable. If your health is low, then even if your avoidance is 99% that means sometimes you're just going to die and no healer can save you. Now, if healers can generally heal you through damage but then eventually gas out, then avoidance becomes more attractive because it lets healers heal you longer. Does that mean you gem it? Not sure, but at least a trinket with all avoidance might be pretty exciting.
We also think we figured out a budgeting scheme to let tank gear have the same basic Stamina as dps gear. It's not a huge balance concern either way, but it does look weird when dps plate has more.
As for parry vs. dodge, there are just going to be a lot of debates both within our office and on all of the boards about how it should ideally work and the relative value of each. Those conversations are going to go on a long time and not the kind of thing that can easily be summed up in a pithy GC post.
Mods would be able to get around it. As long as players can see how much they healed for, they'll be able to record total healing done. Ultimately, it's just information and the problem is not in the information itself as in how players interpret that information.
I think the real answer is just to keep telling players they are being short-sighted when they try and equate total healing done with best healer. Now, I will point out that when mana is more of a concern that the meters will better reflect healing done over the course of the fight and not how quickly I can spam my largest heal.
I think the real answer is just to keep telling players they are being short-sighted when they try and equate total healing done with best healer. Now, I will point out that when mana is more of a concern that the meters will better reflect healing done over the course of the fight and not how quickly I can spam my largest heal.
A forum has been made available for those who wish to discuss the World of Warcraft Trading Game. To begin discussing the TCG with others please follow the link below.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=26146637
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=26146637
No, you won't be able to exchange Frozen Orbs for Emblems of Frost.
Yeah it just takes one person to press Need after everyone's pressed Greed on the Frozen Orbs and you miss out. But the good news is that in patch 3.3.3 this won't be the case anymore -- the roll for Frozen Orbs will be an automatic Greed roll. Rejoice!
Yeah it just takes one person to press Need after everyone's pressed Greed on the Frozen Orbs and you miss out. But the good news is that in patch 3.3.3 this won't be the case anymore -- the roll for Frozen Orbs will be an automatic Greed roll. Rejoice!
09
04:37
Last week, we gave you an early look at the changes we’re making to the stat system in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and explained how these changes will ultimately provide players with more interesting gear choices and make stats easier to understand. Today we’d like to go into more detail about a brand-new feature that’s an integral part of this overhaul: the Mastery system, a set of new game mechanics designed to allow players to become better at what makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. With this system, we want to accomplish three things: give players more freedom in how they allocate talent points, simplify some of the “kitchen sinky” talents that try to do too much at once, and add a new stat to high-level gear that makes you better at your chosen role.
Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage, healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree. The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that tree -- meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear.
One of our primary goals with Mastery is to give players more flexibility to choose fun or utility-oriented talents rather than make them feel obligated to pick up “mandatory” but uninteresting talents, such as passive damage or healing. (For examples of the kinds of powerful but boring talents we’re talking about, take a look at the talent tier just above the 51-point talent in many of the existing trees.) In a sense, Mastery makes it so every talent in (just for example) a rogue tree essentially has an invisible additional bullet point that says “…and increases your damage by X%.” This way, if you choose a talent like Elusiveness (which reduces your chance to be detected while stealthed) or Fleet Footed (which affects movement), you won’t feel like you’re giving up damage in exchange for utility.
There will still be talents that boost damage, of course, but those talents will also affect the way you play. For example, you can still expect to see talents like Improved Frostbolt, which reduces the cast time of the Frostbolt spell; it increases DPS, but it also affects the mage’s rotation. Piercing Ice, however, is just “6% more damage” and is the kind of talent we’re trying to eliminate by implementing the Mastery system.
As we get closer to Cataclysm’s release, we’ll go into more detail about the changes coming for each class, including individual talent-tree adjustments and how Mastery will affect them. In the meantime, here are a few examples to demonstrate the three kinds of passive bonuses we described above. Please keep in mind that we're still working on this system, and the handful of examples we're providing here are, of course, subject to change.
Holy Priest
For each talent point spent in the Holy tree, the priest also gets:
Healing – Improves your healing by X%.
Meditation – Improves your mana regeneration from Spirit in combat. This would likely replace the existing Meditation talent from the Discipline tree, which many Holy priests consider to be a “must-have.” Regeneration will also probably be determined by whether you are in or out of combat, and not the “five-second rule.
Radiance – Adds a heal-over-time effect to direct heals, such as Flash Heal. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.
Discipline Priest
For each talent point spent in the Discipline tree, the priest also gets:
Healing – Improves your healing by X%.
Meditation – Improves your mana regeneration from Spirit in combat. This would likely replace the existing Meditation talent.
Absorption – Improves the amount of damage absorbed by spells such as Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.
Frost Death Knight
For each talent point spent in the Frost tree, the death knight also gets:
Damage – Improves your melee and spell damage by X%.
Haste – Improves your melee Haste by Y%. This might allow us to remove some of the Haste in the Icy Talons line of talents.
Runic Power – Improves the rate of runic power generated by abilities. While all death knights want runic power, Frost death knights would generally have more runic power than Blood or Unholy death knights (who would receive a different benefit from their respective trees). An Unholy death knight who sub-specs into Frost would still be able to benefit from this bonus, though because they’re investing fewer talent points, they’d benefit to a smaller degree. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.
A couple other things to note: Currently, we’re not planning to retrofit the Mastery stat onto current level-80 gear when we roll out the stat-system changes prior to Cataclysm’s release. However, Mastery will begin appearing on select quest and dungeon items. You will also gain a small amount of Mastery by wearing gear of your intended armor type (such as plate for paladins). For players with dual specs, when you change between your two chosen specs, the Mastery bonuses and the benefit you receive from the Mastery stat on gear will adjust automatically based on your new spec.
Here’s how the system works: As you spend points in a given talent tree, you’ll receive three different passive bonuses specific to that tree. The first bonus will increase your damage, healing, or survivability, depending on the intended role of the tree. The second bonus will be related to a stat commonly found on gear desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit. The third bonus will be the most interesting, as it will provide an effect completely unique to that tree -- meaning there will be 30 different bonuses of this nature in the game. This third bonus is the one that will benefit from the Mastery rating found on high-level (level 80 to 85) gear.
One of our primary goals with Mastery is to give players more flexibility to choose fun or utility-oriented talents rather than make them feel obligated to pick up “mandatory” but uninteresting talents, such as passive damage or healing. (For examples of the kinds of powerful but boring talents we’re talking about, take a look at the talent tier just above the 51-point talent in many of the existing trees.) In a sense, Mastery makes it so every talent in (just for example) a rogue tree essentially has an invisible additional bullet point that says “…and increases your damage by X%.” This way, if you choose a talent like Elusiveness (which reduces your chance to be detected while stealthed) or Fleet Footed (which affects movement), you won’t feel like you’re giving up damage in exchange for utility.
There will still be talents that boost damage, of course, but those talents will also affect the way you play. For example, you can still expect to see talents like Improved Frostbolt, which reduces the cast time of the Frostbolt spell; it increases DPS, but it also affects the mage’s rotation. Piercing Ice, however, is just “6% more damage” and is the kind of talent we’re trying to eliminate by implementing the Mastery system.
As we get closer to Cataclysm’s release, we’ll go into more detail about the changes coming for each class, including individual talent-tree adjustments and how Mastery will affect them. In the meantime, here are a few examples to demonstrate the three kinds of passive bonuses we described above. Please keep in mind that we're still working on this system, and the handful of examples we're providing here are, of course, subject to change.
Holy Priest
For each talent point spent in the Holy tree, the priest also gets:
Healing – Improves your healing by X%.
Meditation – Improves your mana regeneration from Spirit in combat. This would likely replace the existing Meditation talent from the Discipline tree, which many Holy priests consider to be a “must-have.” Regeneration will also probably be determined by whether you are in or out of combat, and not the “five-second rule.
Radiance – Adds a heal-over-time effect to direct heals, such as Flash Heal. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.
Discipline Priest
For each talent point spent in the Discipline tree, the priest also gets:
Healing – Improves your healing by X%.
Meditation – Improves your mana regeneration from Spirit in combat. This would likely replace the existing Meditation talent.
Absorption – Improves the amount of damage absorbed by spells such as Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.
Frost Death Knight
For each talent point spent in the Frost tree, the death knight also gets:
Damage – Improves your melee and spell damage by X%.
Haste – Improves your melee Haste by Y%. This might allow us to remove some of the Haste in the Icy Talons line of talents.
Runic Power – Improves the rate of runic power generated by abilities. While all death knights want runic power, Frost death knights would generally have more runic power than Blood or Unholy death knights (who would receive a different benefit from their respective trees). An Unholy death knight who sub-specs into Frost would still be able to benefit from this bonus, though because they’re investing fewer talent points, they’d benefit to a smaller degree. Mastery on gear would boost this bonus, and no other talent tree would grant it.
A couple other things to note: Currently, we’re not planning to retrofit the Mastery stat onto current level-80 gear when we roll out the stat-system changes prior to Cataclysm’s release. However, Mastery will begin appearing on select quest and dungeon items. You will also gain a small amount of Mastery by wearing gear of your intended armor type (such as plate for paladins). For players with dual specs, when you change between your two chosen specs, the Mastery bonuses and the benefit you receive from the Mastery stat on gear will adjust automatically based on your new spec.
08
23:00
Phone Apps
We would like to remind you that we have phone apps for both iPhones and Android phones. You can get the iPhone version here and the Android version from here
PTR Notes
Misc Changes
- Item - Coliseum 25 Normal Healer Trinket - Now works for all spells, not just healing.
- Item - Coliseum 25 Heroic Healer Trinket - Now works for all spells, not just healing.
06
22:39
Just a reminder, keep your graphics drivers up to date. This is especially important for owners of the new 5XXX series ATI cards, as performance is increasing each update. You can find the current ATI drivers here
Read more (0 comments)You've got half of the puzzle there. Here's the other half:
Imagine you have 3 heals: normal, big and fast. The big heal is expensive and the fast heal isn't very efficient.
In your 1st tier, healers use their normal heal. The others are reserved for emergencies. In subsequent tiers, their regen is such that they can afford to branch out more into the expensive big heal and the inefficient fast heal. But while that is happening, the encounters are stepping up too. You'll need the fast heal sometimes because the damage is coming in too fast. You'll need the big heal more because sometimes you have to get someone back from the brink in a single GCD. Fortunately, as you approach the final tier, your mana regen is such that you can handle not casting your base heal as often.
The problem currently is that efficiency is a pretty low concern given that if you don't land a heal right this second, someone may die, and your chance of running out of mana is pretty low in the first place. There is every reason to just use the inefficient flash heal. Likewise, health is too low (relative to damage) so the big heal is just overhealing. And someone can probably flash your target up before you finish that long cast.
Imagine you have 3 heals: normal, big and fast. The big heal is expensive and the fast heal isn't very efficient.
In your 1st tier, healers use their normal heal. The others are reserved for emergencies. In subsequent tiers, their regen is such that they can afford to branch out more into the expensive big heal and the inefficient fast heal. But while that is happening, the encounters are stepping up too. You'll need the fast heal sometimes because the damage is coming in too fast. You'll need the big heal more because sometimes you have to get someone back from the brink in a single GCD. Fortunately, as you approach the final tier, your mana regen is such that you can handle not casting your base heal as often.
The problem currently is that efficiency is a pretty low concern given that if you don't land a heal right this second, someone may die, and your chance of running out of mana is pretty low in the first place. There is every reason to just use the inefficient flash heal. Likewise, health is too low (relative to damage) so the big heal is just overhealing. And someone can probably flash your target up before you finish that long cast.
06
04:54
As I've said, it doesn't really work that way though. Say you need 300 hit (using arbitrary numbers here) and your tier set provides 250 hit and you get the rest from gems and jewelry. Everything's cool. Now a new patch comes out and your tier set has 230 hit. No problem. You get rid of some of the gems and jewelry. Now a new patch comes out and your tier set has 240 hit. Now you curse Blizzard every time an item drops with hit on it.
In short, later gear has more of the same stat on it. When the stats are easily capped, the larger pools become hard to work around. I compared it today to playing Tetris with really large pieces. It's hard to make the puzzle work.
In short, later gear has more of the same stat on it. When the stats are easily capped, the larger pools become hard to work around. I compared it today to playing Tetris with really large pieces. It's hard to make the puzzle work.
We've always held to the premise that the game should be easy to learn and difficult to master. And the intention is that when you start the game, you have all of the information you need to get on the road to that mastery. As you've probably seen, to that end we've changed some of the starting player experience to be a bit more clear and directed as well have updated the in-game tooltips and tutorial. (If you haven't tried leveling a new character in a while, try it and turn on the tutorial.)
You'll also be able to take a look at the new Stat Changes post that we released for information on what we're working toward for Cataclysm. We want stats to mean something, but we also want it to be understandable at the same time.
We're doing what we can to continue to make the in-game experience better for everyone while still giving the challenges that many are looking for.
More advanced players who dig into the higher level stat finessing aren't likely to fit into the definition of "new player" by the time they get up into the end-game experience so getting into the higher-end theorycrafting etc, on our end gets into dangerous territory. We want players to experience the game as intended, but we don't want to dictate to anyone how to play all at the same time. This is a balancing act on a high-wire, with a bear on a unicycle while juggling an apple, banana, and a small coconut while a fiddler dances on the other end. (No swallows were involved in transporting said coconut.)
We have many more things that we would like to do both in game and out of game to help players get into the game from the start and make the entire experience from there to end-game the type of experience we all want to have as gamers too.
You'll also be able to take a look at the new Stat Changes post that we released for information on what we're working toward for Cataclysm. We want stats to mean something, but we also want it to be understandable at the same time.
We're doing what we can to continue to make the in-game experience better for everyone while still giving the challenges that many are looking for.
More advanced players who dig into the higher level stat finessing aren't likely to fit into the definition of "new player" by the time they get up into the end-game experience so getting into the higher-end theorycrafting etc, on our end gets into dangerous territory. We want players to experience the game as intended, but we don't want to dictate to anyone how to play all at the same time. This is a balancing act on a high-wire, with a bear on a unicycle while juggling an apple, banana, and a small coconut while a fiddler dances on the other end. (No swallows were involved in transporting said coconut.)
We have many more things that we would like to do both in game and out of game to help players get into the game from the start and make the entire experience from there to end-game the type of experience we all want to have as gamers too.
I don't think warriors need more sustained AE threat. You have Incite + Deep Wounds for Thunderclap and also Shockwave. Maintaining threat is supposed to take some effort. I don't think tanking would be any more fun if you hit Tclap and never had to hit a button again.
The actual problem, in our minds, is threat scaling. Warriors (and all tanks) could AE tank just fine in Naxxramas.* It only became a problem over time when the dps of the dps classes grew so much more quickly than the tanks, largely because the dps classes have so many dps stats on their gear while plate tanks have Strength. Tank damage was pretty close to 50% of dps damage in the first tier of content, which was our goal, but has slipped to 25 to 30% of dps (your mileage may vary) in Icecrown.
We need a system that keeps tank damage scaling at the same rate as dps damage. However, that system can't be dependent on gear stats (unless you're willing to see tank gear go away) and can't be as ridiculous as deep talents that say "You get 5 AP per point of Strength."
I think you just notice threat issues more on AE pulls because things like Tricks and Misdirect mask any problems on single target pulls. Separate problem.
And yes Paladin tank AE damage and threat generation is still too high, largely because of Seals and HoR, but long-term we're going to nerf that instead of making all tanks able to trivially maintain threat in all situations. Referencing the other thread on threat a little, why as a tank would you even care what buttons you push if maintaining threat is a foregone conclusion?
* - AE tanking was fine in Naxxramas. AE damage was, and has remained, over the top. We prefer a model where the risk of tanking too many mobs is that the tank dies, not that you can't maintain threat on them all (within reasonable limits of course). We also prefer a model where the dps do AE damage on some pulls and switch to single target dps on others.
Yes, you're balanced around it. Yes, I can read the tooltip on the talents. I'm saying the solution, in our minds, is not "I hit Thunderclap and it autocrits, applies Rend to everyone and then ticks for 10,000 K for the next 30 minutes." We might as well just remove the cooldown from Challenging Shout if that's how Tclap is going to play.
Dude pulled aggro does not represent a failure of class design any more than you sometimes dying represents a failure of class design. Both are going to happen sometimes unless you're absolutely at the top of your game. That's part of the challenge of playing your role. For our part, we'll make sure you have the tools to do your job, and for the most part you do. I don't think the tools are the issue, as I said above.
I'm talking philosophy here, because I assume that's usually more interesting to a wider audience. Philosophically, tank threat generation is working correctly (i.e. as we intend) with perhaps 4-5 exceptions that we would like to fix:
1) Paladins can do a little too much AE tanking "splash" damage, often without even setting out to do so.
2) Tricks and MD take too much of a burden off of the tank / hide issue #3.
3) Damage and therefore threat generation aren't scaling well at very high levels of gear. <-- this is the big one.
4) There is too much incentive to AE every pull, which puts a burden on the tank to AE tank every pull.
5) You could probably add that bears need a button to hit besides Swipe.
The actual problem, in our minds, is threat scaling. Warriors (and all tanks) could AE tank just fine in Naxxramas.* It only became a problem over time when the dps of the dps classes grew so much more quickly than the tanks, largely because the dps classes have so many dps stats on their gear while plate tanks have Strength. Tank damage was pretty close to 50% of dps damage in the first tier of content, which was our goal, but has slipped to 25 to 30% of dps (your mileage may vary) in Icecrown.
We need a system that keeps tank damage scaling at the same rate as dps damage. However, that system can't be dependent on gear stats (unless you're willing to see tank gear go away) and can't be as ridiculous as deep talents that say "You get 5 AP per point of Strength."
I think you just notice threat issues more on AE pulls because things like Tricks and Misdirect mask any problems on single target pulls. Separate problem.
And yes Paladin tank AE damage and threat generation is still too high, largely because of Seals and HoR, but long-term we're going to nerf that instead of making all tanks able to trivially maintain threat in all situations. Referencing the other thread on threat a little, why as a tank would you even care what buttons you push if maintaining threat is a foregone conclusion?
* - AE tanking was fine in Naxxramas. AE damage was, and has remained, over the top. We prefer a model where the risk of tanking too many mobs is that the tank dies, not that you can't maintain threat on them all (within reasonable limits of course). We also prefer a model where the dps do AE damage on some pulls and switch to single target dps on others.
Yes, you're balanced around it. Yes, I can read the tooltip on the talents. I'm saying the solution, in our minds, is not "I hit Thunderclap and it autocrits, applies Rend to everyone and then ticks for 10,000 K for the next 30 minutes." We might as well just remove the cooldown from Challenging Shout if that's how Tclap is going to play.
Dude pulled aggro does not represent a failure of class design any more than you sometimes dying represents a failure of class design. Both are going to happen sometimes unless you're absolutely at the top of your game. That's part of the challenge of playing your role. For our part, we'll make sure you have the tools to do your job, and for the most part you do. I don't think the tools are the issue, as I said above.
I'm talking philosophy here, because I assume that's usually more interesting to a wider audience. Philosophically, tank threat generation is working correctly (i.e. as we intend) with perhaps 4-5 exceptions that we would like to fix:
1) Paladins can do a little too much AE tanking "splash" damage, often without even setting out to do so.
2) Tricks and MD take too much of a burden off of the tank / hide issue #3.
3) Damage and therefore threat generation aren't scaling well at very high levels of gear. <-- this is the big one.
4) There is too much incentive to AE every pull, which puts a burden on the tank to AE tank every pull.
5) You could probably add that bears need a button to hit besides Swipe.
04
02:10
An interesting note on the Activision annual report, "Newer technological advances in online game software may also render products such as World of Warcraft obsolete."
Read more (0 comments)Thanks to the combined effort of Warcraft players from around the world, we have reached twenty thousand submissions, and the final piece of the World of Warcraft BattleCry Mosaic has been revealed. Head over to the World of Warcraft anniversary site now and check out the complete mosaic, which can only be described by one word: epic.
You can now look at the complete mosaic using the site's mosaic viewer, download the original artwork wallpaper, and of course view the legendary-sized mosaic wallpaper. And while you’re there, make sure to also check out all the previously unlocked content.
Thank you to everyone who sent in their pictures to help us create a little piece of Warcraft history, and thank you to all our players around the world for your continued support. Lok'tar!
Check out the BattleCry page now, as well as our our updated special Battlecry Gallery (11 new):
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wowanniversary/battlecry/
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/battlecry-gallery.html
You can now look at the complete mosaic using the site's mosaic viewer, download the original artwork wallpaper, and of course view the legendary-sized mosaic wallpaper. And while you’re there, make sure to also check out all the previously unlocked content.
Thank you to everyone who sent in their pictures to help us create a little piece of Warcraft history, and thank you to all our players around the world for your continued support. Lok'tar!
Check out the BattleCry page now, as well as our our updated special Battlecry Gallery (11 new):
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wowanniversary/battlecry/
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/battlecry-gallery.html
In this interview, World of Warcraft Game Director Tom Chilton talks about the hectic final months leading up to the game’s launch, crafting an MMORPG for a wide range of play styles, and the ongoing effort to improve the game through expansions and content updates.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wowanniversary/interview/tomchilton.xml
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wowanniversary/interview/tomchilton.xml
01
19:34
WoW Trojan
There is a trojan going around that drops emcore.dll in your Temp folder, crash WoW when you login and sends your auth code that you just typed in to the hackers. Watch out for fake Wowmatrix and other size that tell you to download ZIP files. The exe in the zip appears clean itself, and downloads the bad files into your temp folder when you run it.
WoW China
In August 2007, Founder Technology Group sued Blizzard Entertainment and The9 for copyright infringement, claiming that Blizzard used five of Founder's registered fonts for the Chinese characters in the Chinese version of its MMORPG World of Warcraft. The Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court has ordered Blizzard Entertainment, The9 and other two parties to pay compensation of RMB 1.45 million to Chinese PC maker Founder Technology Group for copyright infringement
via IncGamers
We don't like melee strikes hitting for straight magical damage. We went through a lot of similar balance issues when Ret hit for so much Holy damage and to a lesser extent with Frost DKs.
I agree we have some confusing tooltips, but I don't agree that Scourge Strike is one of them. It's a weapon attack that hits for physical damage. If there are diseases on the target, it adds some Shadow damage too. Doesn't seem that complicated.
I was reading the posts in this thread. Two of them above said essentially "it's not as cool when it doesn't hit for Shadow damage" and "the tooltip is complicated." I was responding to those points.
To respond to some of the others:
We're happy with how much damage DKs can do in PvP. They were too susceptible to dispels, and we have now implemented a fix to help with that.
Class abilities are different. Envenom is not Scourge Strike. Rogues still do a lot of physical damage. Frost Strike still hits for 100% magic damage, but it's a more controlled ability. The DK in PvP hitting for huge Scourge Strikes over and over again is not something we're going to go back to. It may have been fun, but I assert it was fun because it was overpowered not because Shadow damage is somehow more entertaining.
Players using armor pen to hit for physical damage do not hit for magical damage. The closest argument could make is that bleeds act similar to magic damage.
Obliterate is a different ability. Unholy has talents that play off of both Scourge Strike and Shadow damage. If we see Unholy DKs literally going to Obliterate and skipping those relevant talents (which some PvE DKs were doing before), then we would make changes, but they don't seem to be doing that now. We're certainly not going to make Scourge Strike HIT REAL HARD in order to distinguish it, so make sure you're asking for what you really want and not try to sneakily ask for a damage buff.
In general, I find arguments to be generally weak that say "This class does X so I should be able to as well." If you have specific problems in PvP, mention those. If you think your damage is too low to exert pressure, that's a fine conversation to have. I would try to do it without the "But X ability hits hard, so mine should too" talking points.
Finally, this dead horse feels a little dead to me. You might want to check out some of our (numerous) comments on the intent for Scourge Strike before you hit that Post button again.
I agree we have some confusing tooltips, but I don't agree that Scourge Strike is one of them. It's a weapon attack that hits for physical damage. If there are diseases on the target, it adds some Shadow damage too. Doesn't seem that complicated.
I was reading the posts in this thread. Two of them above said essentially "it's not as cool when it doesn't hit for Shadow damage" and "the tooltip is complicated." I was responding to those points.
To respond to some of the others:
We're happy with how much damage DKs can do in PvP. They were too susceptible to dispels, and we have now implemented a fix to help with that.
Class abilities are different. Envenom is not Scourge Strike. Rogues still do a lot of physical damage. Frost Strike still hits for 100% magic damage, but it's a more controlled ability. The DK in PvP hitting for huge Scourge Strikes over and over again is not something we're going to go back to. It may have been fun, but I assert it was fun because it was overpowered not because Shadow damage is somehow more entertaining.
Players using armor pen to hit for physical damage do not hit for magical damage. The closest argument could make is that bleeds act similar to magic damage.
Obliterate is a different ability. Unholy has talents that play off of both Scourge Strike and Shadow damage. If we see Unholy DKs literally going to Obliterate and skipping those relevant talents (which some PvE DKs were doing before), then we would make changes, but they don't seem to be doing that now. We're certainly not going to make Scourge Strike HIT REAL HARD in order to distinguish it, so make sure you're asking for what you really want and not try to sneakily ask for a damage buff.
In general, I find arguments to be generally weak that say "This class does X so I should be able to as well." If you have specific problems in PvP, mention those. If you think your damage is too low to exert pressure, that's a fine conversation to have. I would try to do it without the "But X ability hits hard, so mine should too" talking points.
Finally, this dead horse feels a little dead to me. You might want to check out some of our (numerous) comments on the intent for Scourge Strike before you hit that Post button again.
When threat doesn't matter as a tank, then maximizing your rotation doesn't matter much either. To use the warrior example, you could skip Devastate, Revenge and Shield Slam and just autoattack and use defensive cooldowns. Is that fun?
On the other hand, many of the requests we see are for harder hitting attacks, especially on the AE front, so that in essence it's less work to tank multiple mobs at once. Is this really what you want?
I would assert in the current game that threat is almost never an issue. It might be an issue in the first few seconds of a fight (including when new adds join the party) or when the dps severely outgear the tank (such as in a Dungeon Finder situation). Especially in a world with Misdirect, Tricks of the Trade, and Tauntable bosses, tanks on single-target raid fights get so far ahead of the dps and healers, that catching them would be almost impossible. We could definitely tone this down a little such that tanks needed to fight for threat a little more than they do now. Some players would welcome that change and some would say that Blizzard hates tanks and makes them work too hard.
Discuss.
On the other hand, many of the requests we see are for harder hitting attacks, especially on the AE front, so that in essence it's less work to tank multiple mobs at once. Is this really what you want?
I would assert in the current game that threat is almost never an issue. It might be an issue in the first few seconds of a fight (including when new adds join the party) or when the dps severely outgear the tank (such as in a Dungeon Finder situation). Especially in a world with Misdirect, Tricks of the Trade, and Tauntable bosses, tanks on single-target raid fights get so far ahead of the dps and healers, that catching them would be almost impossible. We could definitely tone this down a little such that tanks needed to fight for threat a little more than they do now. Some players would welcome that change and some would say that Blizzard hates tanks and makes them work too hard.
Discuss.
As many of you know from panels at last year’s BlizzCon and posts here on the forums since then, Cataclysm will bring about major changes to familiar character stats such as Intellect, Attack Power, Expertise, and many others. As these changes will have a significant impact on how stats work and relate to one another, today we wanted to offer you a closer look at exactly what’s in store and explain the rationale behind these changes before Cataclysm arrives.
The most obvious question these changes raise is "Why are stats being changed, and why now?" As the game has matured, we've run into increasingly complex issues with the current stat system. Many stats are inherently confusing, and the way they interrelate can feel convoluted. Attack Power, for example, currently translates to damage, but so does Armor Penetration. Defense provides five different statistical benefits of varying utility. Mana regeneration involves understanding multiple stats and rules and often ends up being irrelevant anyway. In addition, the difference between a "good stat" for a class and a "bad stat" can be extreme. Some casters want Haste but not Crit; hunters want Armor Penetration but not Haste. There are other overarching issues, as well, such as Intellect not being very exciting for casters despite it being a core stat -- and these are just a few examples.
Our ultimate goal is make gear a more interesting (and less confusing) choice by making each stat valuable to more players. While the reasoning behind some of the following changes may seem clear, we understand that you may have questions about some of the less obvious alterations, and we'll do our best answer any questions you may have here on the forums.
Planned Stat and System Changes
Attack Power - This stat will no longer be present on most items as a flat value, though it will still show up on some procs. Strength and Agility, which will be present on items, will grant the appropriate amount of Attack Power (generally 2 Attack Power per point of Strength or Agility) depending upon which stat a particular class favors. Agility may provide less Crit than it currently does.
Spell Power - Spell Power is another stat that you'll no longer see present on most items. Instead, Intellect will grant Spell Power. Intellect will also provide less mana than it currently does. One exception is that caster weapons will still have Spell Power. This allows us to make weapons proportionately more powerful for casters in the same way they are for melee classes.
Haste - Haste will become more attractive for melee classes by allowing them to recover resources such as energy and runes more quickly. Our intention for Haste to let you "do stuff" more often.
Stamina - Because of the way we will be assigning Strength, Agility, and Intellect, non-plate wearers will end up with more Stamina than before. Health pools will be much closer between plate-wearers and other classes.
MP5 - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Holy paladins and Restoration shaman will be redesigned to benefit from Spirit.
Spirit - Come Cataclysm, this stat should only be found on healing gear. Non-healing casters will have other systems in place to regenerate mana, and we are designing special solutions for Elemental shaman and Balance druids who often share gear with healers (more on this below). Raid buffs that currently boost Spirit (such as Blessing of Kings) will only boost the primary stats of Stamina, Strength, Agility, and Intellect. We are also likely changing the five-second rule and other quirks of the current regen system.
Defense - Defense is being removed from the game entirely. Tanking classes should expect to become uncrittable versus creatures just by shifting into Defensive Stance, Frost Presence, Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.
Block Rating - Block is being redesigned to scale better. Blocked attacks will simply hit for 30% less damage. Block rating will improve your chance to block, though overall block chances will be lower than they are today.
Shield Block Value – This stat will no longer be present on items, since the amount blocked is always proportional to the amount of damage done. Talents and other effects might still modify the damage-reduction percentage from 30%, however.
Parry – Parry no longer provides 100% avoidance and no longer speeds up attacks. Instead, when you parry an attack, it and the next attack will each hit for 50% damage (assuming they hit at all). In other words, Dodge is a chance to avoid 100% of the damage from one attack, Parry is a chance to avoid 50% of the damage from two attacks, and Block is a chance to avoid 30% of the damage from one attack.
Mastery - This is a new stat that will allow players to become better at whatever makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. It's directly tied to talents, so what you gain from improving this stat is entirely dependent upon your class and the talent specialization you choose. We’ll talk more about specific Mastery benefits in the future.
Spell Ranks - Spell ranks will cease to exist. All spells will have one rank and will scale appropriately with level. The levels at which you can learn certain spells are being changed in order to fill in some of the gaps, and we will be introducing some new spells to learn along the way as well.
Weapon Skill - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Classes will start with all the weapon skills they need to know and will not need to improve them.
Armor Penetration - This stat will no longer be present on items. Armor Penetration will still exist in talents and abilities.
Armor - The way Armor mitigates damage is not changing, but the Armor stat has been rebalanced to mirror changes to the Armor curve in Cataclysm. As a result, bonus Armor will go down slightly overall. We are also changing the mitigation difference among armor types so that plate doesn’t offer so much more protection than mail, leather, and cloth.
Resilience – This will only affect damage done by players and critical damage done by players. It will not impact crit chance, mana drains, or other such effects.
Combat ratings -- All ratings will be much harder to "cap out" at maximum gear levels. Ratings will be steeper in Cataclysm, and creatures in later tiers of content will be harder to hit or crit, similar to how level-83 mobs are harder to hit or crit than level-80 mobs.
Reforging – While these changes will go a long way to making a wider variety of stats more attractive, we understand that sometimes you simply don’t want more Hit on your gear or you’d rather have more Haste than more Crit. In Cataclysm, we are going to give players a way to replace stats on gear as part of the existing profession system. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll be able to convert one stat to 50% of another stat. While some conversions (like converting Stamina to Strength) won’t be permitted, the goal is to let you customize your gear more.
Gems – We are changing the gem colors of a few stats as a result of these adjustments. For example, Hit is likely to be blue instead of yellow. We'll have more details on this in the future.
Changes to Existing Gear
As with previous expansions, we plan to roll out these changes and modify all existing gear shortly before Cataclysm launches, though it’s still too early to say exactly when. For the most part, the gear you have will still be good for you, though there will be exceptions, such as warriors using leather and mail armor.
If you are a tank (druids excepted), expect to see:
* No more Defense on gear. Existing Defense becomes Dodge, Parry, or Block.
* No more Block Value on gear. Existing Block Value becomes Block Rating.
* You’ll have as much Stamina as you’re used to, though you may notice you have less Stamina than a comparable piece of DPS plate, since we tend to take the gem budget out of your most attractive stat.
* Bonus Armor on gear will go down slightly.
If you are a melee DPS class, druid tank, or hunter, expect to see:
* A lot more Stamina. Bear form Stamina scaling will be lowered as a result.
* Strength if you wear plate. Agility if you wear mail or leather.
* Existing Attack Power becomes Agility and Stamina.
* Armor Penetration becomes Haste or Crit.
* No Intellect on melee gear. Hunters won’t need Intellect since they will no longer use mana. Shaman and Retribution paladins will get mana and spell damage in other ways.
If you are a DPS caster, expect to see:
* A lot more Stamina.
* All of your Spell Power converted to Intellect and Stamina.
* No Spirit. You won’t miss Spirit, though, because you won’t need it for DPS or mana regen.
If you are a healer, expect to see:
* A lot more Stamina.
* All of your Spell Power converted to Intellect and Stamina.
* Spirit instead of MP5. You’ll probably be happy with Spirit, though, because mana regen is going to matter more than it does currently. Healing paladins and shaman will benefit more from Spirit than they do currently.
If you are a Balance druid or Elemental shaman:
* You will still share gear with Restoration druids and shaman.
* Your gear will have Spirit on it. It won’t have Hit on it.
* You will have a talent that converts Spirit to Hit. We will adjust talents accordingly so that you want about as much Spirit as, say, a warlock wants Hit.
* Hit on rings and other such gear will still benefit you.
* Raid buffs will no longer boost Spirit, so you shouldn’t find yourself unexpectedly over the Hit cap because of buffs.
Many lower-level items with nonsensical combinations of stats, such as Agility and Spirit, will be changed. We're also updating quest rewards, trade skills, and loot drops to support better itemization for class builds that weren't widely available or used prior to The Burning Crusade (such as Balance druids).
We're aware this is a lot of information to take in, but this is still only a piece of the larger picture, and many of these changes rely on integration with other systems we haven't yet discussed in detail. In the weeks and months ahead, we'll continue to tell you more about these changes, along with all of the new and exciting features we have planned for Cataclysm.
The most obvious question these changes raise is "Why are stats being changed, and why now?" As the game has matured, we've run into increasingly complex issues with the current stat system. Many stats are inherently confusing, and the way they interrelate can feel convoluted. Attack Power, for example, currently translates to damage, but so does Armor Penetration. Defense provides five different statistical benefits of varying utility. Mana regeneration involves understanding multiple stats and rules and often ends up being irrelevant anyway. In addition, the difference between a "good stat" for a class and a "bad stat" can be extreme. Some casters want Haste but not Crit; hunters want Armor Penetration but not Haste. There are other overarching issues, as well, such as Intellect not being very exciting for casters despite it being a core stat -- and these are just a few examples.
Our ultimate goal is make gear a more interesting (and less confusing) choice by making each stat valuable to more players. While the reasoning behind some of the following changes may seem clear, we understand that you may have questions about some of the less obvious alterations, and we'll do our best answer any questions you may have here on the forums.
Planned Stat and System Changes
Attack Power - This stat will no longer be present on most items as a flat value, though it will still show up on some procs. Strength and Agility, which will be present on items, will grant the appropriate amount of Attack Power (generally 2 Attack Power per point of Strength or Agility) depending upon which stat a particular class favors. Agility may provide less Crit than it currently does.
Spell Power - Spell Power is another stat that you'll no longer see present on most items. Instead, Intellect will grant Spell Power. Intellect will also provide less mana than it currently does. One exception is that caster weapons will still have Spell Power. This allows us to make weapons proportionately more powerful for casters in the same way they are for melee classes.
Haste - Haste will become more attractive for melee classes by allowing them to recover resources such as energy and runes more quickly. Our intention for Haste to let you "do stuff" more often.
Stamina - Because of the way we will be assigning Strength, Agility, and Intellect, non-plate wearers will end up with more Stamina than before. Health pools will be much closer between plate-wearers and other classes.
MP5 - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Holy paladins and Restoration shaman will be redesigned to benefit from Spirit.
Spirit - Come Cataclysm, this stat should only be found on healing gear. Non-healing casters will have other systems in place to regenerate mana, and we are designing special solutions for Elemental shaman and Balance druids who often share gear with healers (more on this below). Raid buffs that currently boost Spirit (such as Blessing of Kings) will only boost the primary stats of Stamina, Strength, Agility, and Intellect. We are also likely changing the five-second rule and other quirks of the current regen system.
Defense - Defense is being removed from the game entirely. Tanking classes should expect to become uncrittable versus creatures just by shifting into Defensive Stance, Frost Presence, Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.
Block Rating - Block is being redesigned to scale better. Blocked attacks will simply hit for 30% less damage. Block rating will improve your chance to block, though overall block chances will be lower than they are today.
Shield Block Value – This stat will no longer be present on items, since the amount blocked is always proportional to the amount of damage done. Talents and other effects might still modify the damage-reduction percentage from 30%, however.
Parry – Parry no longer provides 100% avoidance and no longer speeds up attacks. Instead, when you parry an attack, it and the next attack will each hit for 50% damage (assuming they hit at all). In other words, Dodge is a chance to avoid 100% of the damage from one attack, Parry is a chance to avoid 50% of the damage from two attacks, and Block is a chance to avoid 30% of the damage from one attack.
Mastery - This is a new stat that will allow players to become better at whatever makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique. It's directly tied to talents, so what you gain from improving this stat is entirely dependent upon your class and the talent specialization you choose. We’ll talk more about specific Mastery benefits in the future.
Spell Ranks - Spell ranks will cease to exist. All spells will have one rank and will scale appropriately with level. The levels at which you can learn certain spells are being changed in order to fill in some of the gaps, and we will be introducing some new spells to learn along the way as well.
Weapon Skill - This stat will be removed from the game completely. Classes will start with all the weapon skills they need to know and will not need to improve them.
Armor Penetration - This stat will no longer be present on items. Armor Penetration will still exist in talents and abilities.
Armor - The way Armor mitigates damage is not changing, but the Armor stat has been rebalanced to mirror changes to the Armor curve in Cataclysm. As a result, bonus Armor will go down slightly overall. We are also changing the mitigation difference among armor types so that plate doesn’t offer so much more protection than mail, leather, and cloth.
Resilience – This will only affect damage done by players and critical damage done by players. It will not impact crit chance, mana drains, or other such effects.
Combat ratings -- All ratings will be much harder to "cap out" at maximum gear levels. Ratings will be steeper in Cataclysm, and creatures in later tiers of content will be harder to hit or crit, similar to how level-83 mobs are harder to hit or crit than level-80 mobs.
Reforging – While these changes will go a long way to making a wider variety of stats more attractive, we understand that sometimes you simply don’t want more Hit on your gear or you’d rather have more Haste than more Crit. In Cataclysm, we are going to give players a way to replace stats on gear as part of the existing profession system. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll be able to convert one stat to 50% of another stat. While some conversions (like converting Stamina to Strength) won’t be permitted, the goal is to let you customize your gear more.
Gems – We are changing the gem colors of a few stats as a result of these adjustments. For example, Hit is likely to be blue instead of yellow. We'll have more details on this in the future.
Changes to Existing Gear
As with previous expansions, we plan to roll out these changes and modify all existing gear shortly before Cataclysm launches, though it’s still too early to say exactly when. For the most part, the gear you have will still be good for you, though there will be exceptions, such as warriors using leather and mail armor.
If you are a tank (druids excepted), expect to see:
* No more Defense on gear. Existing Defense becomes Dodge, Parry, or Block.
* No more Block Value on gear. Existing Block Value becomes Block Rating.
* You’ll have as much Stamina as you’re used to, though you may notice you have less Stamina than a comparable piece of DPS plate, since we tend to take the gem budget out of your most attractive stat.
* Bonus Armor on gear will go down slightly.
If you are a melee DPS class, druid tank, or hunter, expect to see:
* A lot more Stamina. Bear form Stamina scaling will be lowered as a result.
* Strength if you wear plate. Agility if you wear mail or leather.
* Existing Attack Power becomes Agility and Stamina.
* Armor Penetration becomes Haste or Crit.
* No Intellect on melee gear. Hunters won’t need Intellect since they will no longer use mana. Shaman and Retribution paladins will get mana and spell damage in other ways.
If you are a DPS caster, expect to see:
* A lot more Stamina.
* All of your Spell Power converted to Intellect and Stamina.
* No Spirit. You won’t miss Spirit, though, because you won’t need it for DPS or mana regen.
If you are a healer, expect to see:
* A lot more Stamina.
* All of your Spell Power converted to Intellect and Stamina.
* Spirit instead of MP5. You’ll probably be happy with Spirit, though, because mana regen is going to matter more than it does currently. Healing paladins and shaman will benefit more from Spirit than they do currently.
If you are a Balance druid or Elemental shaman:
* You will still share gear with Restoration druids and shaman.
* Your gear will have Spirit on it. It won’t have Hit on it.
* You will have a talent that converts Spirit to Hit. We will adjust talents accordingly so that you want about as much Spirit as, say, a warlock wants Hit.
* Hit on rings and other such gear will still benefit you.
* Raid buffs will no longer boost Spirit, so you shouldn’t find yourself unexpectedly over the Hit cap because of buffs.
Many lower-level items with nonsensical combinations of stats, such as Agility and Spirit, will be changed. We're also updating quest rewards, trade skills, and loot drops to support better itemization for class builds that weren't widely available or used prior to The Burning Crusade (such as Balance druids).
We're aware this is a lot of information to take in, but this is still only a piece of the larger picture, and many of these changes rely on integration with other systems we haven't yet discussed in detail. In the weeks and months ahead, we'll continue to tell you more about these changes, along with all of the new and exciting features we have planned for Cataclysm.
27
23:32
AutoGreed
I just wanted to mention a very simple addon today, AutoGreed. AutoGreed will automatically roll disenchant - or greed if you cannot disenchant - on green items that are bind on equip.
Blue Posts
This is a long post, please click the title to read it.
Ignore posts 4,5, and 6. They're trolling, wrong, or both. There is a change going into patch 3.3.3 that will double the amount of Honor gained for completing objectives in Battlegrounds. Because experience gains directly correlate to the amount of Honor gained for completing such objectives, the change would double the amount of experience gained. While we do want to double the Honor gained to make obtaining PvP gear through Battlegrounds more on par with the rate at which players can obtain PvE gear via the Dungeon Finder, we are happy with the current experience gain rate and do not want it to change. For this reason we're decreasing the experience awarded by 50%. The net result is the same.
As an example, here are some made up numbers for completing a Battleground objective:
Current - 300 Honor, 500 experience
Increase Honor gains by 100% in 3.3.3 - 600 Honor, 1000 experience
Decrease experience gains by 50% in 3.3.3 - 600 Honor, 500 experience
First, I didn't do the math or the programming. I do, however, know how the system works. I tried to keep it as simple as possible in this thread, but it's actually even more complicated than I explained. Since you accuse me of having no mathematical skills, I'll explain how exactly things are changing just for kicks at this point.
We are increasing the amount of Honor received from Honorable Kills by 100%. Any time Honor is awarded for completing an objective in Battlegrounds or Wintergrasp, it's actually based on a converted, fixed number of Honorable Kills. Likewise, any time you are awarded experience in a Battleground for completing objectives, it's based on a converted, fixed amount of Honor awarded.
So I'll give another example of the actual change, again using fake numbers. Let's say in this example that you are level 50 and are awarded Honor and experience for capturing a flag in Warsong Gulch (remember, while the numbers are completely made up, the math is not):
Current: 1 flag capture = 5 Honorable Kills = 100 Honor = 500 experience
Increase Honor awarded for Honorable Kills by 100% in 3.3.3: 1 flag capture = 5 Honorable Kills = 200 Honor = 1,000 experience
Decrease experience awarded for completing Battleground objectives by 50% in 3.3.3: 1 flag capture = 5 Honorable Kills = 200 Honor = 500 experience.
In patch 3.3.3 you will get twice as much Honor for Honorable Kills and completing BattlegroundWintergrasp objectives, but will see no change in the amount of experience you are awarded.
As an example, here are some made up numbers for completing a Battleground objective:
Current - 300 Honor, 500 experience
Increase Honor gains by 100% in 3.3.3 - 600 Honor, 1000 experience
Decrease experience gains by 50% in 3.3.3 - 600 Honor, 500 experience
First, I didn't do the math or the programming. I do, however, know how the system works. I tried to keep it as simple as possible in this thread, but it's actually even more complicated than I explained. Since you accuse me of having no mathematical skills, I'll explain how exactly things are changing just for kicks at this point.
We are increasing the amount of Honor received from Honorable Kills by 100%. Any time Honor is awarded for completing an objective in Battlegrounds or Wintergrasp, it's actually based on a converted, fixed number of Honorable Kills. Likewise, any time you are awarded experience in a Battleground for completing objectives, it's based on a converted, fixed amount of Honor awarded.
So I'll give another example of the actual change, again using fake numbers. Let's say in this example that you are level 50 and are awarded Honor and experience for capturing a flag in Warsong Gulch (remember, while the numbers are completely made up, the math is not):
Current: 1 flag capture = 5 Honorable Kills = 100 Honor = 500 experience
Increase Honor awarded for Honorable Kills by 100% in 3.3.3: 1 flag capture = 5 Honorable Kills = 200 Honor = 1,000 experience
Decrease experience awarded for completing Battleground objectives by 50% in 3.3.3: 1 flag capture = 5 Honorable Kills = 200 Honor = 500 experience.
In patch 3.3.3 you will get twice as much Honor for Honorable Kills and completing BattlegroundWintergrasp objectives, but will see no change in the amount of experience you are awarded.
This is a long post, please click the title to read it.
26
01:58
We will be holding our next Developer Chat on Twitter on Friday, February 26, at 5:00 p.m. PST with World of Warcraft's lead content designer and lead systems designer. This chat session will focus on Icecrown Citadel and other Fall of the Lich King content.
Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/signup and follow account @Warcraft in order to participate!
To submit a question for the Developer Chat, please tweet using the #BlizzChat hashtag between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. PST on February 26. Due to the character limitation on responses within Twitter, all answers will be posted on the World of Warcraft forums in a dedicated thread.
Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/signup and follow account @Warcraft in order to participate!
To submit a question for the Developer Chat, please tweet using the #BlizzChat hashtag between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. PST on February 26. Due to the character limitation on responses within Twitter, all answers will be posted on the World of Warcraft forums in a dedicated thread.
Videos
- Stars vs Anub'arak
by chaud | 6 months ago - Goblin Gameplay (Starting Area)
by Marla | 6 months ago - Worgen Gameplay (Starting Area II)
by Marla | 6 months ago - Worgen Gameplay (Starting Area)
by Marla | 6 months ago - Worgen Gameplay (Transformation)
by Marla | 6 months ago
Blue tracker
- Mobile Authenticator Warning Message
by Bashiok in General | 1 hour ago - Do CMs and developers use GearScore?
by Eyonix in General | 1 hour ago - In every wish and dream
by Bashiok in General | 2 hours ago - Someone told me go AV from 79-80???????
by Bashiok in General | 2 hours ago - There are no Gnome forums =(
by Nethaera in General | 2 hours ago
Albums
- Goblins
4 photos by chaud | 6 months ago - SoundBlaster
2 photos by chaud | 6 months ago - test
11 photos by chaud | 7 months ago