Update Patch 4.2 - Official Trailer
Blizzard released the new trailer for Patch 4.2 as I was finishing up this news post apparently.



Patch 4.2 - PTR Build 14299
A new build has been deployed on test realms last night. There wasn't really any important change in this build but it's starting to look like the patch won't be deployed on live realms on June 21st, I don't think Blizzard is crazy enough to push a patch live with a build that is less than a week old on PTRs.

That would make the patch more likely to be released on June 28th, I'm not sure if it will have any impact on the starting date of the Arena Season at this point.


Patch 4.2 - Opening Map / Mails Animation
The feature was shortly implemented on Patch 4.1 test realms and then removed, it's back in patch 4.2! Your character now has an animation whenever you check the world map or open your mail at the mailbox.





Leaders of the Horde and Alliance - Gelbin Mekkatorque
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
After long years of patiently enduring and biding their time under the hospitality of their dwarven allies, the gnomes have rallied for one final, valiant attempt to reclaim their rightful home. They now face a battle against the twisted genius of a betrayer, one who is maniacally obsessed with ruling over the gnomish race… or destroying it entirely. With their allies hard-pressed to survive in the aftermath of the Cataclysm, the gnomes must rely upon cunning, cleverness, and courage to take back what is theirs.

Leading this desperate charge is High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque, the brilliant and resourceful inventor who has guided the gnomes through their darkest hours. Now he stands on the razor's edge between personal vengeance and true leadership -- to face a test that none of his calculations could have ever prepared him for.

Gelbin took a step forward and scanned the room. Maybe if he could get to the other side of the study quick enough, there would be a stool that could become a makeshift weapon. If he could keep the trogg at bay, perhaps he would be able to escape through the opening it had just come through. It would be risky, but it was the best—

Two more troggs shambled into the light. The first one grunted guttural commands to the other two, and they moved to either side of their prey with a feral swiftness that belied their bulk.

The wall lowered behind them with a foreboding clang, and Gelbin felt a sad clarity: he was going to die here.

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to present the latest entry in the Leaders of Azeroth short story series:

"Cut Short"!


Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Quest Design
I'm reading that as you want quests to be interesting but easy and fast to get people to endgame.
Yes and no. When designing quests, it's important for us to keep in mind all the different kinds of players that'll play through them and what their interests might be. For example, some World of Warcraft players just want to get to max level as quickly as they can. That's a totally valid style of play, so we try to make sure that quests don't arbitrarily complicate or impede the leveling process.

That's just one thing we consider, though. We know that there are a lot of players who absolutely love questing -- quest chains, daily quests, low level quests, all of it. (Loremasters, represent! \o/) And we absolutely want to appeal to that group of players, too. With respect to the OP's suggestions, our concern is that, if we implement quests that are too challenging or too similar to dungeon content, then we risk forcing players into roles and types of gameplay that they may not appreciate. Not everyone likes running dungeons or feeling pressured by having to learn encounter mechanics, so overloading quest content with those kind of scenarios may not be the best course of action.

Could we do more to vary up the kinds of quests you play through, though? Sure. We feel that we can still provide a streamlined, straightforward questing experience without always relying on the simple "collect this," "kill that," "okay, now kill that again, and then be a good sport and collect a variety of gross things from their corpses" objectives that everyone has come to love. Those kinds of quests certainly have their place and will likely remain a staple in World of Warcraft, but we're trying some new things with the 4.2 daily areas that we hope players will enjoy, and want to continue that trend with future content, as well. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Ask the Devs
I'm not going to bother getting into the specifics of what was answered or why or any fansite articles bashing the process; it's been covered many times before.

But, at the core, I think we agree it's not working. While we could (and do) lament over the reasons why a scheduled Q&A based on question popularity doesn't sit well with people, the bottom line is it can't go on as it is.

We don't expect people will ever be completely happy with any Q&A. Regardless of how they're conducted we'll never get to every question, so there are always going to be complaints that we didn't answer the right ones. But Ask the Devs is different. While there are certainly arguments that answers didn't say the right things, or didn't give a firm answer on how a problem would be resolved, the process just doesn't work because of the format.

We've spent a lot of time discussing why it doesn't work, and while that's interesting to us, the bottom line is that once we've finished the role Q&A's with healers, we will be ending the Ask the Dev series.

Our goal with Ask the Devs was always to increase interaction with the developers, to provide a direct conduit to their thoughts and process. We're in the planning stages for a new Q&A process that will replace Ask the Devs, and while we're absolutely certain people will continue to be upset we didn't answer every question, we think it will overall be a far more successful approach. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Tanking and Survavibility
DKs have a lot of control over their survivability. While the other tank classes spend a lot of button clicks on generating threat, DKs can regularly hit Death Strike, which heals them. This puts a very powerful tool in the hands of the player. Played well, you can mitigate a lot of incoming damage and even choose when it is important to mitigate that damage. But you also have the possibility of playing poorly. It probably isn’t the kind of play style that is going to appeal to everyone.

You can look at the recent discussion about the paladin Holy Shield as a microcosm of this debate. Some players wanted more control over their survivability, and the new Holy Shield provides that. But it is more work to control an active button and there is a larger penalty for doing it badly. Death Strike is like Holy Shield on steroids in this regard. There are good and bad times to use Holy Shield. There are definitely good and bad times to use Death Strike. We see some DKs attempting to hit Death Strike as much as they possibly can, and then getting frustrated when they can’t squeeze more Death Strikes into the rotation. What they are perhaps missing is that the timing of when they Death Strike is very important. Used optimally, it’s a powerful reactive tool.

One thing we have discussed is giving players more control over whether they make this decision (trading higher risk for higher return) or not. In many driving games for example you have the choice of an automatic or manual transmission. Many players choose the automatic, suspecting that they are probably not going to be as fast as a player who is awesome at managing their clutch, but it means they never have to mess with the clutch and can still win plenty of races. On the other hand, imagine that the player who plays the manual perfectly is performing at 100% and the player who performs the manual poorly is performing at 25%. Choosing an automatic transmission for 75% performance may be perfectly acceptable. You give up a little theoretical performance in return for having less going on. Tanking can often have a lot going on. Maybe there is a talent choice that lets DKs have a more powerful Death Strike in return for weaker passive mitigation. Some players would take that talent, and some might only take it for some encounters.

Related, we understand that some DKs don’t like having to make the decision about whether to Death Strike or whether to apply tanking debuffs. That’s really the tension that’s supposed to be at the heart of any resource system -- I have a limited allotment of X, so at this moment do I want to use X on this one ability or on a separate ability? Again, a possible solution is to put the choice of which play style to use in the hands of the player. We could offer a talent or glyph (or something) that lowers the cooldown of Outbreak for instance, without turning Blood DKs into a spec that can play optimally by pushing nothing but Death Strike. It’s something we’ll consider.

(Assuming Blood is the manual transmission, and the other three classes are automatic)

Amazing DKs aren't 25% better than Amazing Paladins/Warriors/Druids, so what is the point of a system that is incredibly punishing and only slightly rewarding?


The 25%, 75% and 100% percentiles weren’t meant to be taken literally. If a DK feels like he or she has to work much harder than other tanks to achieve about the same amount of survivability, then that feels bad (and to be fair, we had this exact problem with paladin tanks being too easy to play well in the previous expansion). On the other hand, if a DK played well completely trumps all other tanks, then the very best guilds for whom the skill cap isn’t an issue, will just use DK tanks. We see a pretty good spread of DK tanks among both great raiding guilds and all raiding guilds for that matter, so we don’t think the numbers are so far off that groups are either flocking to or avoiding DK tanks. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

New Warcraft Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with four new pieces of fan artwork set within the Warcraft universe.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 4.2 - PTR Build 14299, Opening Map Animation, Blue Posts, Fan Art started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 243 Comments
  1. Rizendragon's Avatar
    now that was a patch trailer ^.^ gotta be one of the best yet =)
  1. mmoc6cf4b9154f's Avatar
    Weak patch trailer, comparing to Gods of Zul'Aman, Secrets of Ulduar, or even Fall of the Lich King
  1. tusker's Avatar
    WTF how can Blizzard use all their resources to implement this stupid map animation thing, delaying 4.2 launch. That clearly means they don't care about [insert class name here]!!!!!!!!!!11111

    /sarcasm
  1. The Last DJ's Avatar
    *Kermit the Frog flaily arms* Aiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee Aggraaaaaaaaa~ She and her voice are so beautiful. (I just wish they had animated her brows a little bit more when she speaks, although it does give her an ethereal permanently-peaceful look.) I think it's sweet how she stubbornly calls him by his proper name despite his insistence that he go by Thrall, as a representation of what he is. "Greeeatmotherrrrr, Aggra keeps calling me Go'elllllllll~. Go'el's a dorky name. D:" I'm glad to see a true love story in WoW that's not rooted in speculation or angst or is brushed off and glossed over like Tyrande and Malfurion - although their love story which spans thousands of years seems ... kinda slap-dash and rushed compared to the dynamic between Aggra and Thrall.

    The map animation is cute. I predict lots of Screenshots of the Day with characters dressed in an explorer/adventurer getup (like the Canvas Vest/Russet Hat) with their map open standing next to Harrison Jones somewhere in Uldum.
  1. Argroth's Avatar
    People who don't know Go'el= Thrall then overreact because of thier ignorance are idiots. If you have ever read anything about Thrall since Burning Crusade they typically mention Go'el is his birth name, not to mention the times it is mentioned in game by a couple npcs in Nagrand and anytime Agrra has ever talked (if you don't know about Agrra then you are beyond help). I guess Alliance players are just as ignorant and arrogant as the faction they play.

    It dosn't take research to know Thralls name, or even any devotion, it's come up several times. It's probably just as well known if not moreso then Wrynn being called Lo'gosh sometimes.
  1. Paranitis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Argroth View Post
    People who don't know Go'el= Thrall then overreact because of thier ignorance are idiots. If you have ever read anything about Thrall since Burning Crusade they typically mention Go'el is his birth name, not to mention the times it is mentioned in game by a couple npcs in Nagrand and anytime Agrra has ever talked (if you don't know about Agrra then you are beyond help). I guess Alliance players are just as ignorant and arrogant as the faction they play.

    It dosn't take research to know Thralls name, or even any devotion, it's come up several times. It's probably just as well known if not moreso then Wrynn being called Lo'gosh sometimes.
    Horde not knowing Go'el = Thrall, are idiots. (Since they have the quests dealing with it)
    Alliance not knowing Go'el = Thrall, are ignorant. (Since they don't have those same quests)

    Ignorance isn't bad though, and I am a bit annoyed that people keep treating it as such.

    Ignorance is not knowing a stove is hot until you put your hand on it.
    Idiocy is not knowing a stove is hot even though every time you put your hand on it, you get burned.
  1. Moog's Avatar
    Don't know if anyone else has mentioned this but on thralls belt in the patch 4.2 cinematic the horde symbol is upside down compared to the one he used to wear and the one he wears on the promotional posters for cata .... Any thoughts?
  1. Argroth's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Paranitis View Post
    Horde not knowing Go'el = Thrall, are idiots. (Since they have the quests dealing with it)
    Alliance not knowing Go'el = Thrall, are ignorant. (Since they don't have those same quests)

    Ignorance isn't bad though, and I am a bit annoyed that people keep treating it as such.

    Ignorance is not knowing a stove is hot until you put your hand on it.
    Idiocy is not knowing a stove is hot even though every time you put your hand on it, you get burned.
    No, ignorance is bad.

    Ignorance is touching a hot stove despite an indicator light you didn't bother to check or 5 people standing around talking about how the stove is hot but you choose to ignore them/ don't consider to ask them. Ignorance is making uninformed decisions despite evidence and proof to the contrary is readily available then typically standing by your decision to make such an uninformed notion.

    I would like to go on about how the whole invasion of Iraq (for WMDs) was full of ignorance and arrogance but then people will take it out of context then steer the point in an unrelated blind pride direction, so the stove metaphor will have to do.
  1. chrisisvacant's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Argroth View Post
    No ignorance is bad.

    Ignorance is touching a hot stove despite an indicator light you didn't bother to check or 5 people standing around talking about how the stove is hot but you choose to ignore them/consider to ask them. Ignorance is making uninformed decisions despite evidence and proof to the contrary is readily available then typically standing by your decision to make such an uninformed notion.

    I would like to go on about how the whole invasion of Iraq (for WMDs) was full of ignorance and arrogance but then people will take it out of context then steer the point in an unrelated blind pride direction, so the stove metaphor will have to do.
    Thank you.

    "Ignorance isn't bad".... What? Seems ignorant about ignorance.
  1. Jitters's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by The Last DJ View Post
    *Kermit the Frog flaily arms* Aiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee Aggraaaaaaaaa~ She and her voice are so beautiful. (I just wish they had animated her brows a little bit more when she speaks, although it does give her an ethereal permanently-peaceful look.) I think it's sweet how she stubbornly calls him by his proper name despite his insistence that he go by Thrall, as a representation of what he is. "Greeeatmotherrrrr, Aggra keeps calling me Go'elllllllll~. Go'el's a dorky name. D:" I'm glad to see a true love story in WoW that's not rooted in speculation or angst or is brushed off and glossed over like Tyrande and Malfurion - although their love story which spans thousands of years seems ... kinda slap-dash and rushed compared to the dynamic between Aggra and Thrall.

    The map animation is cute. I predict lots of Screenshots of the Day with characters dressed in an explorer/adventurer getup (like the Canvas Vest/Russet Hat) with their map open standing next to Harrison Jones somewhere in Uldum.
    I have to say Tyrande and Malfurion is fine. I mean after a thousands of years you expect it to be calm. All the story and drama about them happened mostly when Illidan was still night elf and before he went to outlands.
  1. Wolfie of Medivh's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by orcshaman24 View Post
    Same here sometimes. The story is fine, the development of the characters is fine. Its the negative crap of a worn out community griping at the smallest of details.

    I mean god sake people asking 'Who's Go'el?' Didn't any of you pay any attention to any of the lore in previous expansions, Thrall IS Go'el, its his birth name. But then I guess lore's overrated to tards only playing to grind the same marks and points on a daily basis ¬.¬
    To be fair, if you're an Alliance player, you never would have heard the name, save if you read The Shattering book. It's never mentioned in an Alliance quest in game.
  1. Blazeskies's Avatar
    Whoop-dee-fuckin-doo.....MC 2.0 is on its way! Thrall becomes an aspect and dies and the hand of Deathwing while fighting him (speculated for 4.3 or 4.4), and Blizz shows the cinematic of the fate of the world that was supposed to be reserved for the legendary questline. Yup, def. not worth re-upping my acct. for the meh feeling it will provide, the raid and new daily zone looks amazing don't get me wrong....but I don't pay $15/month to put up with pixelated retards abusing their anonymity all day long.
  1. Ooldoong's Avatar
    I hope they let me not do the map animation. As silly as it sounds, I see people using this as a means to know when to attack someone in PvP.

    Rogue: Lost little buddy? Here, let me help you find yourself at the graveyard.
  1. Blazeskies's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ooldoong View Post
    I hope they let me not do the map animation. As silly as it sounds, I see people using this as a means to know when to attack someone in PvP.

    Rogue: Lost little buddy? Here, let me help you find yourself at the graveyard.
    Or you can always press Shift+M to prevent that from happening in the first place....but why would you be looking at your map long enough in pvp for someone to completely kill you?

    Oh, and since like 3.0 or something the map screen has glared red around the edges if you ever entered combat while looking at it.

    Observation skillz ftl.

    EDIT: Also, Lol@ all the ppl wanting it to be released early and having it rushed....and you wonder why the game has lost its essence.
    SWTOR is going to blow this out of the water (hopefully) simply because they don't listen to the noobs wanting them to rush the most invested MMO so far this century.

    ---------- Post added 2011-06-16 at 08:02 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Moog View Post
    Don't know if anyone else has mentioned this but on thralls belt in the patch 4.2 cinematic the horde symbol is upside down compared to the one he used to wear and the one he wears on the promotional posters for cata .... Any thoughts?
    Hah, sure enough. After you mentioned it I had to check it out for myself. Good catch there.
  1. Spaceshaman's Avatar
    So now it's official, WOW is dieing. lol Thrall: This world is dieing.
  1. turlyonlost to tirion wtf's Avatar
    Should be called "Fury of funlands"
  1. Freese's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Blazeskies View Post
    Whoop-dee-fuckin-doo.....MC 2.0 is on its way! Thrall becomes an aspect and dies and the hand of Deathwing while fighting him (speculated for 4.3 or 4.4), and Blizz shows the cinematic of the fate of the world that was supposed to be reserved for the legendary questline. Yup, def. not worth re-upping my acct. for the meh feeling it will provide, the raid and new daily zone looks amazing don't get me wrong....but I don't pay $15/month to put up with pixelated retards abusing their anonymity all day long.
    Minus the fire similarities, there is nothing in Firelands that looks like MC. I don't see 938247598347543 trash mobs that all look the same, nor do I see bosses that look like trash mobs.
  1. Venteus's Avatar
    I cbf to read that wall of nonsense on Dks. Are they getting nerfed or what? I'm tired of them outhealing healing classes.
  1. Solidusbr's Avatar
    Lol. A fucking 10 men raid facing Ragnaros in the trailler. NOT EPIC.
  1. Venteus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Solidusbr View Post
    Lol. A fucking 10 men raid facing Ragnaros in the trailler. NOT EPIC.
    Since the entire community knows 25 mans are infinitely easier, it can't get much more epic :\.

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