Diablo 3 - Today we have Beta 6 Screenshots and a Blue Post on Monster Affixes! I will be newsing D3 news regularly in one short line since more than half of the readers bought the annual pass anyway.

PTR Back to Release Build
Another Release flagged PTR build (15005) was pushed recently with no significant changes. Don't forget that Season 10 is ending on November 29, just around the time that 4.3 should go live.



Statistics: Class Balance and Dragonwrath
One of the more popular requests for a Statistics post has been a class balance type of post. For the first graph we simply took the class balance for characters that have earned more than 5k Valor points, resulting in a sample size of roughly 1.8 million characters from the US and EU. This helps to remove the massive amount of alts we saw last time. Nothing too unexpected here, warlocks and rogues are still coming in last place.

The second graph shows you how many new Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest were created each week. The slight decrease in the last displayed week may be due to the frequency of our data updates, so regard it with some skepticism.

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Blizzard Art Gallery Update
The World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Art gallery has been updated with five pieces representing the Warcraft universe.




The Daily Blink - When Skyrim Meets WoW
The Daily Blink hopped on the Skyrim bandwagon this week!

This article was originally published in forum thread: PTR Release Build, Class Balance and Dragonwrath, Fan Art, The Daily Blink started by chaud View original post
Comments 157 Comments
  1. Alayea's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by thunderdragon2 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Venteus View Post
    Is there any chance of the patch dropping next week or do we really need to wait for the stupid PvP season to end?
    good point i want a answer to this
    Historically, a patch goes live when a PvP season ends. So patch 4.3 is expected to be released the same day that the PvP season has been tentatively scheduled to end, which is November 29.

    Do not expect to do a new VoA/BH-style boss the first week, though -- Blizzard has to determine the winners first.
  1. thelubbe24's Avatar
    Daily Blink was funny/accurate.
  1. Bound4Earth's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by SvetlanaSvetlana View Post
    Jokes are funny, beauty. This isn't funny, so it is clearly not a joke.
    I love your "unfair and unreasonable" (and I'll personally add in uneducated) logic. I'll help you crawl out of that ignorant uneducated hole your stuck in. This type of logic is called a Fallacy. It's generalized by incorrect arguments used to make a misconception or presumption. Your example being this isn't funny to me, therefor it isn't a joke. Just because you have no sense of humor when people make fun of a game you love, doesn't mean others can't laugh when the joke is hilarious.

    TLDR: Read the first line of the Daily Brink over a few dozen times til it sets in, then read it a few more to be sure.
  1. Blockbuster's Avatar
    So, seems pretty sure that we will have 4 acts again in D3...

    http://media.diablofans.com/images/n...a6_profile.jpg
  1. Mnevis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    I could do it by class, but if you already have the numbers it wouldn't be very interesting. Doing it by spec is harder, as everyone has two specs.

    Understood, but most people I know, and (I'd think) most people I'd be trying to sample, log out in their primary spec. You'd probably get a few Resto Shaman logged in their dailies spec, and a few Ele Shaman logged in their PvP spec. There's no way to make it perfect, but it would be close. As far as the raw numbers, yeah I think I have a pretty good idea what it'd look like, but I wouldn't mind seeing a graph on your front page showing exactly how (im)balanced the ranged casters were in this legendary cycle.
  1. Jaitee's Avatar
    oh hey look another unfunny daily blinkand hopefully next patch we will see more rogues!
  1. thunderdragon2's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alayea View Post
    Historically, a patch goes live when a PvP season ends. So patch 4.3 is expected to be released the same day that the PvP season has been tentatively scheduled to end, which is November 29.

    Do not expect to do a new VoA/BH-style boss the first week, though -- Blizzard has to determine the winners first.
    im gona call this clear proof that blizz cares for pvp since wed have a patch when its redy if it wasnt fro the stupid pvp season
  1. mmoc7168d263de's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by SvetlanaSvetlana View Post
    The Daily Blink really needs to stop making stuff. They clearly have lost any of the wit and humor they 'used' to have. All I get from that comic is that "LOLZ SKYRIM IS BTRRER TAN WIW" Justify it all you want, but even if it's an "unfair and unreasonable" (and I'll personally add in uneducated) comparison, they could have at least tried to make wow sound better than they did
    .-At level 4 in wow, you can single-handedly curb a rebellion (Undead), take on a legion of Worgen, be the largest business tycoon in the area (Goblin), and much more.
    -Warrior Shouts can send people running for their lives, disorient people to the point that their movement is impaired, cause enemies to use less force with their attacks, and even rally allies, giving them more vitality
    .-Exploration gives you achievements, tabards, as well as knowledge of locations that would be relevant for later (WELL, I'll give you that it isn't much, but it's still more than 'fatigue')

    I have nothing against Skyrim, but the Daily Blink is really peeving me lately.
    Are you fcking serious? You take this comic seriously, just because your beloved game is being made fun of? I am a WoW palyer, never played Skyrim, not going to, but you sir, are far too stupid to distinguish between fun and seriousness.
  1. Prothall's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by SvetlanaSvetlana View Post
    The Daily Blink really needs to stop making stuff. They clearly have lost any of the wit and humor they 'used' to have. All I get from that comic is that "LOLZ SKYRIM IS BTRRER TAN WIW" Justify it all you want, but even if it's an "unfair and unreasonable" (and I'll personally add in uneducated) comparison, they could have at least tried to make wow sound better than they did
    .-At level 4 in wow, you can single-handedly curb a rebellion (Undead), take on a legion of Worgen, be the largest business tycoon in the area (Goblin), and much more.
    -Warrior Shouts can send people running for their lives, disorient people to the point that their movement is impaired, cause enemies to use less force with their attacks, and even rally allies, giving them more vitality
    .-Exploration gives you achievements, tabards, as well as knowledge of locations that would be relevant for later (WELL, I'll give you that it isn't much, but it's still more than 'fatigue')

    I have nothing against Skyrim, but the Daily Blink is really peeving me lately.
    Wow, somebody got up on the wrong side of the clue bus this morning...
  1. DrakeWurrum's Avatar
    This graph actually doesn't mean very much, since the highest represented specs also happen to be the specs with the most available roles. There will be some variance because of things like how many people enjoy the theme of a class, or how powerful the class currently is, but most of it will have to do with how many roles that class can be. It's why Rogue and Warlock is so low. Mage and Hunter are only slightly below 2-role classes, though. We all know that Mage is crazy high because of how strong it is (and, let's face it, it's the Mage class. A lot of people in the MMORPG community are obsessed with playing THE mage, in any game). Hunter? Let's face it, people want to be elven archers.
  1. warlocked's Avatar
    I find that as a lock most of the time you are at the bottom of list

    tanks are almost always in demand for pugs but not for guilds

    Healers all always being recruited and pugged

    Non hybrid dps such as

    Rogue- No needed abilitys

    Warlock- no needed abilitys

    Mage- can be important for boss buffs

    Hunters- Essential for enrages and slows

    As a result rogues and locks are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of raid nessesity
  1. Sidone's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by warlocked View Post
    I find that as a lock most of the time you are at the bottom of list

    tanks are almost always in demand for pugs but not for guilds
    Healers all always being recruited and pugged
    Non hybrid dps such as
    Rogue- No needed abilitys
    Warlock- no needed abilitys
    Mage- can be important for boss buffs
    Hunters- Essential for enrages and slows
    As a result rogues and locks are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of raid nessesity
    Thats more funny then the daily blink.
  1. Phuongvi's Avatar
    The joke about skyrim, is it suppose to be funny?
  1. Morsker's Avatar
    The "slight decrease in the last displayed week" is probably real. There was a little bubble when 10-man guilds completed their first staff, but we're past it now.

    The unpopularity of warlocks and rogues is mostly unrelated to balance. These classes have always been unpopular because the playstyles are unusual, and don't have the natural appeal of more generic classes. Someone who wants pets or spells is likely to pick hunter or mage, not warlock. Someone who wants melee isn't going to pick rogue unless the whole "stealth and cooldowns" thing is exactly what they want; they'll pick warrior or DK or some hybrid instead. There are some balance issues too, but they aren't the reason the classes are unpopular.

    There's nothing wrong with a class being unpopular. Many types of music are unpopular, but that doesn't mean they're bad, only that fewer people like them.
  1. mmoc9f3c8526e6's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Morsker View Post
    The "slight decrease in the last displayed week" is probably real. There was a little bubble when 10-man guilds completed their first staff, but we're past it now.

    The unpopularity of warlocks and rogues is mostly unrelated to balance. These classes have always been unpopular because the playstyles are unusual, and don't have the natural appeal of more generic classes. Someone who wants pets or spells is likely to pick hunter or mage, not warlock. Someone who wants melee isn't going to pick rogue unless the whole "stealth and cooldowns" thing is exactly what they want; they'll pick warrior or DK or some hybrid instead. There are some balance issues too, but they aren't the reason the classes are unpopular.

    There's nothing wrong with a class being unpopular. Many types of music are unpopular, but that doesn't mean they're bad, only that fewer people like them.
    Do you understand the graph? It shows the number of characters that have the staff in total with the x axis being a time line. How can the number of staffs decrease?
  1. Zulunia's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ariadne View Post
    Do you understand the graph? It shows the number of characters that have the staff in total with the x axis being a time line. How can the number of staffs decrease?
    To clarify the graph is representing staffs per week, not an accumulated total.

    He's suggesting the dip on the final week data point on the 8th of Nov (1062) from the previous and highest on the 1st of Nov (1121) is due to a burst from all the 10man guilds finally able to finish the quest, frankly I agree. I predict there will be a similar behaviour in 7-8 weeks from then when they complete their 2nd.
  1. Firebert's Avatar

    That's the current set of obtainable legendaries multiplied by each class and spec's class distribution. The introduction of the new Fangs of the Father legendaries will put Rogue to 8% and shove everyone else down 2/17ths of a percent. Tanking legendaries now?
  1. Beyz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by batman13cr View Post
    i just want to point out that the 4 highest classes in the graph are capable of being healers....with paladins and druids at the top being tanks as well so maybe it should also reflect the most frequently played spec as well... then we could tell which classes are overplayed as far as healers specifically or just dps....i think we would be able to compare rogues and warlocks a little more accurately when compared to paladin dps specs played or kitty/chicken druids played
    Are you implying that a single specc is as important as an entire class?
  1. mmoc9aa38bccdb's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Phuongvi View Post
    The joke about skyrim, is it suppose to be funny?
    It is funny. You just lack a sense of humor
  1. Mnevis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Firebert View Post
    That's the current set of obtainable legendaries multiplied by each class and spec's class distribution. The introduction of the new Fangs of the Father legendaries will put Rogue to 8% and shove everyone else down 2/17ths of a percent. Tanking legendaries now?
    I have no idea what your logic there is. Cat and Bear are at 6%, but Prot Warrior and 1h Fury are at 0%?
    How in Thrall's name does Thunderfury not count for Prot Warrior (That's how I was introduced to it, and I'm sure many many many more: as a tanking weapon), but Sulfuras counts for Feral? Hunters are the second highest? If you're actually counting Thunderfury for Hunters and not shield tanks, I tip my hat to you sir, that graph took some serious balls...because that's the most ludicrous bald-faced lie I think I've ever seen presented in graph form.

    Oh, and 1h Warriors/Death Knights: Ever heard of Warglaives of Azzinoth?

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