01
19:49
There is a bug where the pet is not always receiving the damage bonus from the 4PT10 warlock set. We are going to fix it.
The issue of having to recast Corruption in order to benefit from the proc is a much harder problem to solve. We might be able to do something, but we can't promise a good solution there. It is just the nature of the way rolling dots work. You gain the benefit of whatever crit you on when you cast the spell, but aren't going to gain the benefit from procs that occur later on.
The issue of having to recast Corruption in order to benefit from the proc is a much harder problem to solve. We might be able to do something, but we can't promise a good solution there. It is just the nature of the way rolling dots work. You gain the benefit of whatever crit you on when you cast the spell, but aren't going to gain the benefit from procs that occur later on.
Our raid item philosophy has evolved a lot since vanilla. The tier sets were once considered a badge of honor. Someone stalking around (or mailbox afking) with their full set bonus might as well have been sporting a legendary item. These days, we virtually guarantee that any player with an interest in raiding is going to be able to complete at least the lowest level version of their set with just a minimal level of persistence. This ultimately serves as a powerful reward mechanism and is in line with our philosophy of letting more players actually see the content.
This design though also has its risks. One of the big ones is that item progression becomes very predictable and deterministic. Imagine (just as an example) a model where all bosses drop emblems and every item you want is for sale. That may sound cool for a few weeks, until you hit the point that without any kind of random element to progression that you can calculate to the day/week at which you will finish gearing up your character. The excitement of what the boss drops would be gone and we feel this would end up making the purpose of clearing new content very underwhelming.
Trinkets are really the one item (weapons are to a lesser extent) that we use to try and capture that old slot machine feel from the classic Molten Core days. Yes, completely random loot with huge loot tables can be frustrating but we are pretty far from being completely random these days. Trinkets however are still somewhat random, they can be hard to acquire, and there is often a lot of competition for them.
Trinkets are also tricky to design because we don’t want them to be just a pile of stats like other items. We generally want them to be unique by having a random proc or an on-use ability or something similar. These types of things are always trickier to balance, but this is also what makes them interesting. We also don’t necessarily want every trinket to be a guaranteed upgrade just because the item level is higher. Knowing what works or doesn’t work for your particular character and play style is one of the ways players have to demonstrate their mastery of the game.
There are some aspects of trinkets for which we think we can do better. For example, it’s annoying when a superior item is on a lower tier of content to where you feel like you have to argue with your guild to go back and farm easy bosses or run a 10 player version when everyone else wants to do 25. Many of the trinkets probably represent too big a dps (or equivalent) jump given how difficult it can be to acquire them. It’s also easy for us to fall into a rut of offering basically the same one every time (often because we know players like it) rather than experimenting with different things. We like to try new things to keep gear interesting for players as we know some have been evaluating trinkets for over five years now.
We also probably just need to drop more of them. That doesn’t mean they should be trivial to acquire, but when say a caster only has 2 good options in Ulduar and 1 requires a hard mode, then there is going to be ton of competition when they do drop. We know it’s rough when the trinket you have been wanting finally drops and you have to roll against 10 other people for it. Having more trinkets would mean more variety, which means players may want different ones and ultimately will be a little more different from their friends/guildmates.
This design though also has its risks. One of the big ones is that item progression becomes very predictable and deterministic. Imagine (just as an example) a model where all bosses drop emblems and every item you want is for sale. That may sound cool for a few weeks, until you hit the point that without any kind of random element to progression that you can calculate to the day/week at which you will finish gearing up your character. The excitement of what the boss drops would be gone and we feel this would end up making the purpose of clearing new content very underwhelming.
Trinkets are really the one item (weapons are to a lesser extent) that we use to try and capture that old slot machine feel from the classic Molten Core days. Yes, completely random loot with huge loot tables can be frustrating but we are pretty far from being completely random these days. Trinkets however are still somewhat random, they can be hard to acquire, and there is often a lot of competition for them.
Trinkets are also tricky to design because we don’t want them to be just a pile of stats like other items. We generally want them to be unique by having a random proc or an on-use ability or something similar. These types of things are always trickier to balance, but this is also what makes them interesting. We also don’t necessarily want every trinket to be a guaranteed upgrade just because the item level is higher. Knowing what works or doesn’t work for your particular character and play style is one of the ways players have to demonstrate their mastery of the game.
There are some aspects of trinkets for which we think we can do better. For example, it’s annoying when a superior item is on a lower tier of content to where you feel like you have to argue with your guild to go back and farm easy bosses or run a 10 player version when everyone else wants to do 25. Many of the trinkets probably represent too big a dps (or equivalent) jump given how difficult it can be to acquire them. It’s also easy for us to fall into a rut of offering basically the same one every time (often because we know players like it) rather than experimenting with different things. We like to try new things to keep gear interesting for players as we know some have been evaluating trinkets for over five years now.
We also probably just need to drop more of them. That doesn’t mean they should be trivial to acquire, but when say a caster only has 2 good options in Ulduar and 1 requires a hard mode, then there is going to be ton of competition when they do drop. We know it’s rough when the trinket you have been wanting finally drops and you have to roll against 10 other people for it. Having more trinkets would mean more variety, which means players may want different ones and ultimately will be a little more different from their friends/guildmates.
I think this thread is a good place to highlight a few things in regards to our plans on changing the talent trees in Cataclysm.
All talent trees will be changed in Cataclysm so that there will be less emphasis on valuable but boring talents that only provides passive increases to damage or healing. Basically we want to make the fun niche and utility talents more available and attractive by making them feel less expensive. We will most surely still see "cookie cutter" builds in cataclysm, but there should be fewer "mandatory" talents in those builds, which will allow you to spend more points elsewhere.
Some talent trees will see considerable changes, whereas others will see fewer changes, but it is not our intent to remove old favourites or completely change the focus of the trees. You will have to rethink your builds for sure, but you should still be able to easily identify the purpose of the different trees just like you can today.
We will also be looking into streamlining the trees a little more in order to avoid things like for an example Warlocks having two conflicting range increasing talents, and some trees will as a result of this get completely new abilities. These new abilities are of course in addition to the new level 81+ abilities.
We have no plans to deepen the talent trees though, so the 5 additional talent points you will get for the new levels will instead provide some interesting opportunities for previously unseen builds, such as being able to place 51 points in one talent tree and 21 points in another.
All talent trees will be changed in Cataclysm so that there will be less emphasis on valuable but boring talents that only provides passive increases to damage or healing. Basically we want to make the fun niche and utility talents more available and attractive by making them feel less expensive. We will most surely still see "cookie cutter" builds in cataclysm, but there should be fewer "mandatory" talents in those builds, which will allow you to spend more points elsewhere.
Some talent trees will see considerable changes, whereas others will see fewer changes, but it is not our intent to remove old favourites or completely change the focus of the trees. You will have to rethink your builds for sure, but you should still be able to easily identify the purpose of the different trees just like you can today.
We will also be looking into streamlining the trees a little more in order to avoid things like for an example Warlocks having two conflicting range increasing talents, and some trees will as a result of this get completely new abilities. These new abilities are of course in addition to the new level 81+ abilities.
We have no plans to deepen the talent trees though, so the 5 additional talent points you will get for the new levels will instead provide some interesting opportunities for previously unseen builds, such as being able to place 51 points in one talent tree and 21 points in another.
Videos
Since news has been so slow lately, have some videos! Two for those of you who dislike certain types of music.
Written by Michael 'chaud'
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