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@nite_moogle @WarcraftDevs Concerned the new Piccolo is going to be another annoying item that interrupts eating/drinking, confirm it won't?
1 day ago by @lifetotem
@lifetotem @nite_moogle We've changed the way the item works specifically to avoid that. It will not interrupt eating or drinking.
1 day ago by WarcraftDevs, Official
.@WarcraftDevs Have y’all made any official announcement about raid finder testing this weekend? Specifically timeframe/available encounters
1 day ago by @Accomp
@Accomp "...we will open up the Slagworks wing in Raid Finder over the weekend." us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/t…
1 day ago by Watcher, Lead Game Designer
@WarcraftDevs I'm a raid leader, and I built a Mage Tower to help my raid team get to raid. Did I just waste my gold? They can't use it?
1 day ago by @angerguild
@angerguild Your friends will be able to use your Mage Tower / Spirit Lodge portals in patch 6.1!
1 day ago by WarcraftDevs, Official
Coming in Patch 6.1: Elemental Runes collected for the 'Might of the Elemental Lords' quest will stack to 999.
2 days ago by WarcraftDevs, Official

Follower Tracking and Mission Suggestions

6.1 PTR: Build 19551

News Roundup: Zone Updates, Realm Connections On Hold, Talk Azeroth, Significant Tweets

posted 2014/05/09 at 11:07 AM by oliviadgrace

Database Zone UpdatesZone entriesScreenshots of the DayFrostfire RidgeThis channelClick here to see the Warlords of Draenor zones in the database!

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News Roundup: More Warlords of Draenor Flying Information, Talk Azeroth, Molten Core Spotlight

posted 2014/04/27 at 2:00 PM by oliviadgrace

Bashiok Provides More Information On Flying in Warlords

Flight paths will be far quicker and more efficient than they currently are.

Draenor is having max-level content zones, not just to level through but to quest through. The devs feel it's important that this content is enjoyed as it's meant to be by players, and that means from the ground.

They not intending to slow anyone down, and we’re going to make sure that players can get where they want to go efficiently through more direct flight points, and potentially alternate travel methods

Expand the box below for Bashiok's full post!

Bashiok

This probably should have been kept to the original thread, but caution to thee, wind, I say! (I say that.)

So everyone has seen various posts and comments around the World Wide Web about flying not being allowed in Draenor, why, and what that means. It’d probably be helpful to try to sum up some of those things, and potentially help build a foundation for anyone’s discussions on the topic going forward. If everyone has the same info then it just helps conversations glide along, as you can expect everyone else knows what you know! Knowledge Parity! (Knarity?)

Anyway, it’s important to first dissuade concerns that we’re looking to slow down the game (I’ve recently posted about this in another thread, but it bears repeating). We’re going to be making sure flight paths and other forms of travel are quick and efficient, with a goal of getting you to the places you want to go. The flight paths in Draenor are not going to be loop-de-loop sightseeing tours, and we’re going to be looking to our beta testers to let us know if any are less than tip-top.

Our goal is not to make travel time consuming or painful, and with players on ground mounts we know we'll have to do more to try to ensure people can get to where they want to go quickly… BUT being able to lift off and fly over content compromises many of our goals in how the game world is approached, how it's played, how it's consumed, and how the content is designed to account for those factors.

As an example, let us consider a quest to assassinate an enemy leader. From the ground you approach a fort with guards at the gate. You charge and are able to dispatch them and sneak in a side hallway. You methodically take out packs of roaming sentries, and some of them shout at you as they run toward you. You notice they’re in the middle of practicing dark and forbidden magics, and you take a moment to disrupt their ritual. Dashing into the main courtyard you spot your target, sneaking and fighting your way to him--and with a forceful slash--the fort’s captain is vanquished, and as guards are alerted you fight your way out, glorious and triumphant in your success.

Alternatively, from a flying mount, you fly over the gate, see some guy whose name is highlighted, land on top of him, kill him, and then fly away.

Being efficient is great, being clever is great, and using your cleverness to be efficient is great, but how many of us have done the Tillers dailies up on the cliffside where the Hozen are, and waited for packs to pass by before setting down right where you’re supposed to, use whatever thingamabob you’re supposed to, and then lift off ASAP hoping-hoping-hoping nothing aggros? How many of us have become furious when we actually have to fight something!? Is that clever gameplay? Is that being good at playing the game, or is it using a mechanic to avoid having to play it? Is that what the game should be, and what our expectations should be as gamers playing it?

I hope everyone can agree, regardless of personal opinion toward flight vs. non-flight, that flying fundamentally alters how content is approached in a world where the gameplay exists wholly on the ground.

In Draenor we’re designing max-level content, portions of zones or zones in their entirety that will be dedicated to max-level gameplay—and not just the top of a cliffside, or some dailies in the Vale. There’s a harsh change in how the game plays between leveling, and when you hit max level. Hitting 100 and instantly switching everything you do to raiding or Arenas is pretty abrupt, and we want to try to keep that questing experience available at max level with something more robust than daily quests. We don’t think having all of that content inside buildings, or constantly challenged by sky cannons, or with magical no-flying smoke, or within some kind of dismount bubble is the most straightforward or best solution to the ultimate issue in that World of Warcraft is not a flight sim, and that's just not what the content of the game is about. Even at level 100 there will be no small portions of the game world intended to provide relevant content even to max-level players. These zones may even unlock over the course of the expansion, or the content in them will progress in story and scope throughout content patches. Content has to be designed with the expectation that there either is or is not flight, and approaching ground-level content from the ground offers more compelling gameplay. Raids, dungeons, and PvP continue to disallow flying for this same reason.

It's also important to think about not just what the content is, but how it's experienced. Not everyone that plays the game cares how quests and outdoor content are experienced, of course. Some may find it unnecessary; they don't feel it adds anything to their experience. Others play through it fairly quickly, enjoy it, but don’t particularly want to put much thought into why. Some may begrudgingly trudge through the content just so they can get to the part of the game they do want to play, and any other number of situations and preferences.

I’m sure some of you see the fortress example with the flying mount and see nothing wrong, if that’s how someone wants to play the game they should be allowed to. But a game is largely defined by its limitations, and the rules within which you must find or create a solution. We’re not trying to create a slow and laborious game (hopefully people actually enjoy the content!), or expect people will be yelling “YIIIPPPEEEEE!” while fighting a mob that aggroed when they tried to pick an herb, but there’s a big difference between a slow and laborious game and the expectation of instant gratification—not to mention the somewhat nebulous intention of creating and maintaining an engaging and immersive game world. World of Warcraft is a persistent online roleplaying game, and as much as we let players choose how they improve their characters within the world; leveling through dungeons, or PvP, or questing; choosing to do Arenas, or raids, or both; we’re still always wanting to create a holistic experience that supports all of these things. That doesn’t mean we think it’s a good idea to force people to read all their quest text, or stare at and appreciate the pretty new models, or anything like that, but it’s not unreasonable to see that combat and content exist on the ground, understand that, embrace that, and make decisions to support it.

In summary: It’s important to us that we integrate max-level questing into the expansion more thoroughly than designated daily locations on mountain tops, or only have the option of releasing new max level content in magically appearing islands where flight has different rules because reasons. We also know that being able to approach content that’s on the ground from up in the air compromises much of what creates the game world, how it's played, and how it's consumed. The game experience is fundamentally altered when you can lift off and set down wherever you want. And lastly, that we’re not intending to slow anyone down, and we’re going to make sure that players can get where they want to go efficiently through more direct flight points, and potentially alternate travel methods.

None of this is new philosophy; it's something we've maintained since Burning Crusade when flight was introduced, but it has evolved over the years, and I expect it to continue to be—like everything we do—an iterative process. And hopefully this has been at least marginally informative.

Talk Azeroth - Tanking WarlordsClick the cut for more news!

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News Roundup: Blue Tweets, Recent Hotfixes, Talk Azeroth ep29

posted 2014/03/06 at 3:49 PM by oliviadgrace

my work over at WoW Insiderjoined ZAMBlue Tweet TrackerWowhead added this weekRecent Hotfixes

Blizzard

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

Siege of Orgrimmar

Paragons of the Klaxxi

Kil'ruk the Wind-Reaver's Reave should now cancel properly if he's defeated while channeling the ability.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

Twin Peaks and Warsong Gulch

Focused Assault debuff is now applied to flag carriers once both team's flags have been picked up starting at the 1-minute mark (down from 3 minutes).

Click the cut to read more!

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News Roundup: Recent Hotfixes, Battleground Honor Adjustments, Talk Azeroth Episode 28

posted 2014/02/28 at 8:14 PM by perculia

Recent Hotfixes

Rygarius

Classes

Death Knight

Blood

Dancing Rune Weapon's summoned rune weapon should no longer incorrectly cause NPC guards to attack the target instead of the Death Knight that summoned it.

Monk

General

Zen Pilgrimage: Return is no longer automatically removed from Monks that leave the Peak of Serenity.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

Resolved a pathing issue with Intervene for Warriors with Glyph of the Watchful Eye equipped while in the Temple of Kotmogu.
Resolved a situation where players were able to retain the Readiness effect from trinkets without equipping them while in a Battleground.

Bug Fixes

Resolved a crash in the client that affected users running Windows XP: Service Pack 3.
Resolved a crash that could occur while loading into an area or instance.

February 26 Classes

Death Knight

Talents

Resolved an issue where overlapping Anti-Magic Zones were causing the effect to expire more quickly than intended.

Hunter

Hunter Pets

Resolved an issue where Hunter pets were able to incorrectly retain the Lightning Charge debuff from Servants of Siamat from the Lost City of the Tol'vir.

Mage

Frost

Resolved an issue where Icicles stored by Frost Mage's Mastery: Icicles was dealing more damage than intended when used against party or raid members that are under a Mind Control or Charm effect from NPCs in PvE.

Priest

Holy

Lightwell should no longer incorrectly consume an extra charge while healing players other than the casting Priest.

Shaman

General

Resolved an issue where the duplicated healing done by the Restoration version of Ascendance was incorrectly factoring in Battle Fatigue and healing reduction effects on allied targets a second time.

Warlock

Talents

Resolved an issue where players that are under a stealth effect can use up a Blood Horror charge without triggering the effect.

Talk Azeroth Episode 28last week's newspostUpcoming Battleground Honor Adjustments

Lore

We've recently taken another look at the rate of Honor gains in various Battlegrounds, and have concluded that current Honor gains in several Battlegrounds are too low. To that end, we'll be making several changes to the way that Honor bonuses are rewarded in those battlegrounds, as follows:

In Arathi Basin, Battle for Gilneas, and Eye of the Storm, we'll be increasing the frequency at which you'll be rewarded bonus Honor based on the points your team has earned. Currently, you earn bonus Honor every 260 points (or 200 if that battleground is the current Call to Arms) in these battlegrounds. As a part of this adjustment, we're going to lower the number to 130 (or 100 during Call to Arms).

We're also making a similar change to Silvershard Mines. Currently bonus Honor is earned for every 265 points (or every 160 if Silvershard is the current Call to Arms). After the change, you'll earn bonus Honor every 200 points (or 130 during Call to Arms).

Warsong Gulch and Twin Peaks are getting a slightly different treatment. Because these matches tend to take longer than the above Battlegrounds (which directly affects the rate at which you earn Honor from playing them) we wanted to make some changes to speed them up a bit. To do this we're going to apply the Focused Assault debuff 1 minute after both flags have been picked up, which is 2 minutes earlier than it does currently. Once it's begun to apply, it will continue to increase at the current rate of 1 stack every minute. On top of that, we're adding a new bonus at the end of the match: For every flag you prevent the opposing team from capturing (so, every flag under 3), you'll earn 18 extra Honor.

Lastly, in Strand of the Ancients, we're doubling the bonus a team earns for destroying a gate (or preventing it from being destroyed).

These hotfixes are currently in production, and will be applied as soon as they are ready. We'll have an update in the official Hotfix blog once they're active. We look forward to seeing you on the fields of battle!

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News Roundup: Proving Grounds Silver Required for WoD Heroics, Talk Azeroth Episode 27

posted 2014/02/22 at 12:33 PM by perculia

Patch 5.4 interview with Tom Chiltonguide to Proving Grounds with maps and strategies

Watcher

To at least get everyone on the same page in terms of information, since a summary of a translated version of a translation of a few sentences in a single interview may not be the best foundation for a 24-page discussion, here's an overview of our current thinking:

We will have Normal and Heroic versions of our max-level dungeons. (Note that we did not have Normal level 90 dungeons in Mists.)
There will be no special requirement other than basic level/ilvl requirements on queuing for Normal dungeons or LFR.
Level-up quest gear will get you into Normal dungeons/scenarios, and Normal dungeon/scenario gear will get you into LFR.
Heroic dungeons will be more challenging than the Normal version (not brutally difficult, mind you -- just somewhat more demanding).
You will need a Silver Proving Grounds medal in a given role in order to queue for random matchmaking for a Heroic Warlords dungeon. If you form a premade group, you can zone in regardless and no such requirement applies.

In the past, challenging content and random matchmaking have often not gone so well together. Relying on item level does nothing to prevent a random group from getting, for example, a tank who may literally have never tanked before. Everyone has to learn somewhere, but we'd rather not have that learning come at other players' expense. One option would be to require a full premade group to do Heroic Dungeons, as we do with Heroic Scenarios, but that would present a very high barrier to entry (finding 4 other people with rigid role requirements is much harder than finding 2 other people with no role requirements). This solution represents a compromise in order to allow the content to see a broader reach via matchmaking, while minimizing frustration.

And yes, we realize that by formally using Proving Grounds as a qualification, it will be incumbent upon us to further refine their balance and mechanics. We'll be updating them for Warlords, and we're confident that we can make them a fair test of baseline ability within a given role.

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Talk Azeroth Episode 25, Blue Tweets on Garrisons

posted 2014/02/10 at 11:04 AM by perculia

Talk AzerothBlue Tweets on Garrisons For our complete set of Garrison resources and guides; from basics to buildings, followers to missions, and much more, check out our Garrison Hub!Cory Stockton

Mumper

Some pretty cool building specs are coming in. “City Portals” is a Mage Tower spec that opens ports to every major city. Source

We should be clear that garrisons is not about decorating and placing furniture. Gameplay is our focus. Source

Buildings need to be unlocked and upgraded to get specs. Mage Tower is no different. Source

We do have Monuments that you can place from achievements. Source

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Talk Azeroth Episode 24, Recent 5.4.2 Hotfixes

posted 2014/01/30 at 12:53 PM by perculia

Talk AzerothPatch 5.4.2 Hotfixes for January 29th

Rygarius

Creatures

Resolved an issue that could cause Ordos to be stuck in evade. For targets that Ordos cannot reach, he will now summon them to him.

Quests

Family Tree: Resolved an issue where Pandaren characters were unable to see their ancestors after lighting the Incense Bundle.

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Talk Azeroth Episode 23, Recent 5.4.2 Hotfixes

posted 2014/01/24 at 11:37 AM by perculia

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Talk Azeroth Episode 22: WoD Release Date? Fair Price for a 90?

posted 2014/01/09 at 11:57 AM by perculia

announcement of the new PvP season

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Reaper of Souls Release Date is March 25, 2014, Talk Azeroth Episode 21, New Hotfixes

posted 2013/12/19 at 10:48 AM by perculia

Reaper of Souls Release Date AnnouncedReaper of SoulsEdit: since publishing this, Blizzard has added an official blog on the release date and deluxe perks, which we've included at the end of this article.Treasure GoblinDecember 19th Hotfixes

Rygarius

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

Siege of Orgrimmar
- Paragons of the Klaxxi
  - Ka'roz the Locust's Hurl Amber ability will now form a pool of Caustic Amber at the target's feet 3 seconds after targeting them. The timing was less predictable previously and varied based on the targeted player's distance from Ka'roz.
  - [Requires a realm restart.] Effects transforming a player's appearance should no longer prevent them from being able to interact with a defeated Paragon.

Talk AzerothMoonkin Hatchling Giveawaynew sounds databaseClick the cut for the full Reaper of Souls announcement!

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