Developer Reddit Q&A, Paragon 10 Man, Blue Posts, Pandaren Monk Pet, SWTOR Patch 1.4

Diablo III Blog on Class Changes Coming, PTR Download Button Active On Launcher, Blue Posts, Curse Weekly Roundup

Developer Reddit Q&A
Several WoW developers answered questions on Reddit tonight. A short summary can be found below, but it is well worth it to read the entire thing!

Misc
  • Player model updates are a high priority and will come with new animations.
  • Once you complete the legendary gem quest line, you will be able to purchase more gems as needed.
  • Activision has no effect on the game's direction.
  • Observer modes are still on the todo list, but require development time and technical improvements before they can be done.
  • Proving Grounds are still on the todo list and will hopefully make it into one of the Mists of Pandaria patches.
  • "More developers" is often proposed as a solution to various problems and Blizzard is actively hiring. It is hard to find people that fit within the Blizzard culture and it would be a mistake to hire too many people too quickly.
  • Combat racials will be improved for classes that lack them.

PvE
  • The plan is still for more content to be released faster than before to keep players engaged with relevant content and not bored. They are also committed to reducing the time between the last major content patch and the next expansion.
  • Blizzard is not satisfied with the current status of 25-player raids and are still actively seeking a solution.
  • Raid Finder and scenarios will hopefully one day make it down to lower level content.
  • Upon being asked about another raid like Ulduar: "In fact, our next raid zone after these may be right up your alley...."
  • Ulduar like hardmode toggles will be added as appropriate.

PvP
  • Blizzard would like to make queuing for random bgs better by ensuring some semblance of healer balance between Alliance/Horde.
  • There are a variety of improvements planed for both rated and unrated BGs.

World
  • There are some bugs with cross-realm zones, as well as some tweaks that need to be made.
  • There wasn't time to fix the damage from Deathwing in Stormwind for Mists of Pandaria.
  • Pandaria has the best in-game storytelling there has ever been in an expansion and there will be more Wrathgate level cinematics, some larger events, and a more interactive and involved story without as much phasing.



Paragon Switching to 10 Man Raiding for Mists of Pandaria
Today Paragon announced that they will be moving to 10 man raids for Mists of Pandaria. For the new full roster, see their site.

After Dragon Soul progression many of our players decided to quit the game, some of them were already showing lack of interest during the DS progress raids. In total 34 players took part in DS progress, 14 of which are no longer playing WoW at all. Most of them were longtime core players. On top of that some of our current players can't put in the time anymore as they used to do.

We were able to get some quality recruits to replace the ones whom had quit, but not enough. So far we had recruited 12 players. It has always been hard for us to recruit new players and we pretty much had the same core of 20+ from late Ulduar to Dragon Soul which played a big part in our success.

During the beta it became obvious that the current roster will not cut it in MoP unless we get couple of more quality recruits. So far we haven't been able to get the roster we needed and have decided it's better to continue as a 10man guild from now on than to hope for something miraculous to happen in the upcoming weeks. This also leaves time for our players to find a new guild before MoP if they so desire..



Raid Testing Schedule - September 13
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Raid testing will resume this Thursday, September 13.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Beta Test Realms, regardless of suggested geographical region.

Gara'jal (Mogu'shan Vaults) - 25 Player Heroic
10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)

Blade Lord Ta'yak (Heart of Fear) - 25 Player Heroic
16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST)

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session or cancel it entirely, due to bugs, builds, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Mists of Pandaria Experience to Level
We have definitely been tuning XP in Pandaria, and trying to hit a pace where a character with no rest, no heirlooms, and no guild is leveling comfortably.

There was a significant decrease in the XP required to level from 87-90 applied a couple of weeks ago, and there was a similar adjustment for level 86 prior to that.

Completed Kun-Lai Summit today, they lower the req. XP a few patches back so I was able to ding lvl88 by the Summit quests alone finally. It's still tight though, by doing every single quest in the zone I have dinged a few quests before Shado-Pan area (my last questhub) ends. I completed the zone with no rested XP at all and unguilded.
This is pretty much what we're aiming for. We may still need to make a small tweak here or there.

Do we know the current total XPs required for each level from 85-90? Is this posted somewhere?

Currently
  • 86 13000000
  • 87 15080000
  • 88 18980000
  • 89 22880000
  • 90 27560000

The fact is -- most people are in guilds, or do gathering along the way, or run dungeons, or use heirlooms, or build up some rest. Some people only quest in groups (and are therefore able to kill many more enemies per hour). Some only ever play solo.

The values above may get changed a little bit in the next two weeks, but only if it can be demonstrated that they are still too high.
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Brewfest Boss Level and Brewfest Dates
Word is, Coren Direbrew has been working out with bigger kegs and he will indeed be a level 90 dungeon boss and his loot has been adjusted accordingly. Pace was something we considered, so we pushed the actual event by just over a week from when it normally happens (which you should be able to see on your in-game calendars now) to give players a bit more time to reach level 89, the minimum level required to queue for the encounter. Oh, we also added a couple more surprises but you’ll have to wait and see. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Challenge Modes Differences
Challenge modes are more than just a timed run. On a basic level, every single creature in Challenge Mode dungeons is significantly stronger than the Heroic version (typically by a larger proportion than you see going from Normal to Heroic raiding, for what that's worth), and where appropriate, additional enemies or new mechanics are added to make sure that the threat of defeat is always present. For many players, simply successfully completing a challenge run is going to be, well, a challenge. That's why we award excellent Valor gains for doing so. Aiming for Silver, let alone Gold, will be something for experienced players to do once they've mastered the content.

Players who tested the Scarlet Halls challenge mode when that one was open, to name one example, can probably attest that the Armory section of that dungeon is every bit as brutal as anything in Heroic Shattered Halls was in Burning Crusade. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Account Wide Professions
Vanilla was a time of experimentation and 90%+ of the population playing with 1 main. Now it's a chore to level First Aid for alts hence it's difficult to see it seriously in design.
Well, if you look at it like that, why not make levelling and loot account wide too? Shouldn't new characters actually be new? (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Class Quests
I personally loved Anathema’s quest line, it was one of the most fun quests I have ever completed, I suppose that's mostly because of the sense of accomplishment it yielded in the end and also because of its higher than usual difficulty level.
That being said, we will have some really nice Monk quests, but for now, although we would love to do more class quests, we are focusing a bit more on faction specific quests. We have 11 classes, that means we would have to use a ton of resources to implement those quests and we just can’t spare them at this moment.

Storyline and faction-specific quests on the other hand are getting some love; we’re focusing quite a lot on the Alliance VS Horde conflict for Mists of Pandaria, we will use plenty of other ways to help bring that conflict to another level, including for example the usage of scenarios.
We’re really excited about bringing this old and original conflict back into Warcraft again.

Be prepared for some epic legendary quests though as the expansion progresses! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Pandaren Monk Pet Lore?
Yeah, of all the bizarre pets out there to collect, I have to say I think the little Pandaren is one of the least strange ones, lore-wise — I have a tiny Archangel of Justice following me around most of the time!

I'm sure each of them can be explained in some way though. Magical error, inter-dimensional rifts, alchemy accident... (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Pandaren Monk Pet 50% OFF -- This Week Only
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Save big and prepare for Pandaria with a new sidekick. This week only, you can get the World of Warcraft Pandaren Monk companion pet for just $5 (EU - 5€ / 4.5£). That’s 50% off the regular price, making this a great time to round out your pet collection before the imminent arrival of the Pet Battle System.

Hurry, this offer ends September 17, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.



SWTOR Patch 1.4
Patch 1.4 is live on the PTS and the patch notes are here! Darth Hater has some previews of the Dread Guard Armor, Moods System, Elite War Hero Weapons, Terror From Beyond, and New Daily Relics.

Originally Posted by SWTOR
Highlights
  • Terror from Beyond, a new Operation, is now available! Travel to the remote planet of Asation, where the Dread Masters have commandeered an ancient Gree Hypergate in order to unleash untold horrors upon the galaxy. Terror from Beyond features 5 powerful new boss encounters that can be challenged in 8- and 16- player Story or Hard Mode, offering some of the most challenging group content yet!
  • A new set of PvE gear is available! Dread Guard gear is now the most powerful PvE equipment in the galaxy. It can be acquired from deep within Terror from Beyond (Hard Mode).
  • Significant changes have been made to crowd control to address the amount of control a player can be subject to at once. See the Classes and Combat section for details.

Full notes...



This article was originally published in forum thread: Developer Reddit Q&A, Paragon 10 Man, Blue Posts, Pandaren Monk Pet, SWTOR Patch 1.4 started by chaud View original post
Published on 2012-09-12 07:05 AM
74 Comments
Comments 74 Comments
  1. dokilar's Avatar
    i feel like i need to post this here

    mikeb aka darnell

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni83nRbOpU4
  1. McNeil's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    [*]Player model updates are a high priority and will come with new animations.
    Now this is interesting news. New animations are welcome

    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    [*]Activision has no effect on the game's direction.
    Glad we can finally let this topic die once and for all. Activision never f*cked up Blizzard's games, Blizzard f*cked them up theirselves
  1. mmoce1ee34efc0's Avatar
    You cant compare Paragon to some other normal guild out there. They are a Finnish speaking guild which means they only recruit people who know how to speak and understand Finnish, therefore Finnish people since Finnish is not popular like English, Chinese, or Spanish. The only reason they went 10m is because they couldn't get a real top 25+ Finnish speaking players, not because they want to go 10m or 25m is worse and dying and 10m is better, this part is quite obvious from what they've posted. If they are an international guild like Blood legion or vodka, they're not going to have this problem. Sure you can say 25m is dying, but you can't really say Paragon case is like a nail in the coffin since they're different.

    This is a big news for highend raiding scene and deserve a place on the front page. It's like sports, you only play football and a sport website posting some news about volleyball and can some of you people really said "oh volleyball news is not deserve to be there"? How stupid is that seriously... This website is not dedicated to casual players or pvp players only. It's about WoW and mmo games in all aspect.
  1. Rioo's Avatar
    I didn't know anyone still cared about Paragon. I guess they'll still have an insane amount of players and characters so they can raid stack and cheese the shit out of every encounter they do, just like they've always done.
  1. mmoc994488aac4's Avatar
    I haven't played the game for a while now, but it's the same old answers from Blizzard. They would love to get content out faster.... but you can bet your bottom dollar it won't happen. Blizzard doesn't keep promises when it comes to WoW. WoW players have to wait a disgusting amount of time for new content and Blizzard repeatedly do nothing to change that. Actions Blizzard. Stop talking because no one will take anything you say seriously now. Act. Release content more regularly. Give players some value for their subscription.

    But again, it won't happen because Blizzard gains nothing out of doing that. They just feed the community lines to keep hopes up and people lap it up time and again.
  1. mmocb704ebc634's Avatar
    I haven't played the game for a while now, but it's the same old answers from Blizzard. They would love to get content out faster.... but you can bet your bottom dollar it won't happen.
    That's a strange thing to say right before we get an entire new continent.
  1. mmocbb5d9da6ab's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MacHaggis View Post
    That's a strange thing to say right before we get an entire new continent.
    Yea, after playing DS for what, 10 months? You're fcking dumb
  1. Granyala's Avatar
    Im part of the single remaining 25man progression guild on our server and we will survive into MOP, but many others haven't. They are dying and its sad
    Yeah. Me too. It sucks. I just hope we don't just survive into Mop but entire Mop.

    Player model updates are a high priority and will come with new animations.
    I have an uneasy feeling deep down in my stomach when I read this. I love my Draenei just the way she is.
  1. mmoc6af618f320's Avatar
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    The plan is still for more content to be released faster than before to keep players engaged with relevant content and not bored. They are also committed to reducing the time between the last major content patch and the next expansion.
    Ladies and gentlemen this has been "the plan" since the Blizzcon where Cataclysm was announced. The problem is that nobody actually follows the plan...
  1. Solidusbr's Avatar
    Paragon is going casual!
  1. mmoc59b5827c7e's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by reve View Post
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    The plan is still for more content to be released faster than before to keep players engaged with relevant content and not bored. They are also committed to reducing the time between the last major content patch and the next expansion.
    Ladies and gentlemen this has been "the plan" since the Blizzcon where Cataclysm was announced. The problem is that nobody actually follows the plan...
    This was the plan since they announced WotLK or even before. They announce this every damn patch and nothing happens.
  1. Criix's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kasere View Post
    I haven't played the game for a while now, but it's the same old answers from Blizzard. They would love to get content out faster.... but you can bet your bottom dollar it won't happen. Blizzard doesn't keep promises when it comes to WoW. WoW players have to wait a disgusting amount of time for new content and Blizzard repeatedly do nothing to change that. Actions Blizzard. Stop talking because no one will take anything you say seriously now. Act. Release content more regularly. Give players some value for their subscription.

    But again, it won't happen because Blizzard gains nothing out of doing that. They just feed the community lines to keep hopes up and people lap it up time and again.

    The thing is that more people need to man up and end their subscribtions. Thats the only way the game will change over time.. , if more people DECIDED that "NO i wont accept this anymore, and NO i wont play the game until the game is back to how i want it to be". If the game dont change to the thing you want, put your spare time on something else or another game.

    And yes btw im agreeing with everything you stated above.
  1. mmoc994488aac4's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Criix View Post
    The thing is that more people need to man up and end their subscribtions. Thats the only way the game will change over time.. , if more people DECIDED that "NO i wont accept this anymore, and NO i wont play the game until the game is back to how i want it to be". If the game dont change to the thing you want, put your spare time on something else or another game.

    And yes btw im agreeing with everything you stated above.
    Yep. Hundreds of thousands of subs lost each quarter should be telling them something. But yeah. I enjoyed my time playing WoW, but looking at the real picture of what you get for what you pay, it's mad. Constant broken promises from developers is icing on the cake.
  1. Nadja's Avatar
    I find it surprising that new player models is high priority now - i could have sworn they had a different reaction it not that long ago? Could not be remembering correctly, but first time I've seen it mentioned as high priority
  1. Azrile's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eadoin View Post
    I would say a top 5 world guild essentially falling apart is pretty significant news.
    What they failed to mention is the guild requires you to speak Finnish. Yeah, it must be hard finding people who are prepared to have 5 alts in BIS gear and willing to change professions every 2 days..... who speak Finnish.
  1. Collected's Avatar
    Nothing excites me about this game anymore. "New Models a Priority" .. they've been saying that for years. Cataclysm was the perfect time for them, MoP should have been the time for them.. we continue to wait. An observer mode is difficult to implement? Really Blizzard? They're not happy with 25 man raiding.. oo just what you want to read before an expansion drops. Raid finder 'one day' for lower level content. I'm not holding my breath. Again.. Blizzard make straight forward features sound like they require a years worth of development.

    I just can't escape that feeling I get that WoW is 'ticking over' with a team of people who are polishing what we already have an adding some new features here and there.. but ultimately the drive to make the game the best it can be is else where with Titan.
  1. Auxora's Avatar
    Hoping Blizzard is paying attention to the Paragon news. On my realm which is one of the largest population ones, the top guild on the server fell apart about 5 months ago. It was a very well-known top 10 world raiding guild that had been very strong since vanilla. Regardless of sub counts, if Blizzard is swapping hardcore subs that have played for many years for casuals that will easily come and go to other games that doesn't seem like a great strategy.
  1. Azrile's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kasere View Post
    Yep. Hundreds of thousands of subs lost each quarter should be telling them something. But yeah. I enjoyed my time playing WoW, but looking at the real picture of what you get for what you pay, it's mad. Constant broken promises from developers is icing on the cake.
    I´ve had this debate on other sites. The thing is that even with times like the last 4 months of DS or WOTLK... the game is still significantly better than anything else out there. While the raids suck at that point, I still have other fun things to do. A part of it is just the value of my time. I would rather pay to play a quality game rather than play a subpar Free2Play game. Really, my favorite f2p game is DDO, but I have to get very bored in WOW before I will unsubscribe and play DDO. In the next expansion, I think pet battles will end DDO. I probably won´t do pet battles for the first few months, but I have tried them on beta and know how good they are and how addicting they will be.... it is the perfect thing to switch over to when we get long into a raid.

    But I do think the devs learned their lesson this time. I think they have said it in the past, but players just kept subscribing. This time is the first time we have seen a huge drop in subs. The beancounters actually noticed it this time, and it probably gives the devs a little backing when they say they need to create more raids more frequently.
  1. Kathranis's Avatar
    People assuming everything Blizzard mentions is a "promise" is one of the most annoying thing about this community.

    When does Blizzard ever "promise" anything? Hell, just the other day I saw a player complaining that Blizzard hasn't implemented some feature or another that they "promised" to implement, and it wasn't even something Blizzard had ever mentioned. It was an idea that a player had suggested at some point on a forum, and in this idiot's mind, it got warped and twisted around into a promise from Blizzard.

    Here's the facts:

    World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was announced on August 21, 2009.
    Fall of the Lich King (Patch 3.3.0) was released in December 8, 2009.
    Cataclysm (Patch 4.0.3a) came out December 7, 2010.
    That's 12 months of Icecrown Citadel, and 15 months from expansion announcement to release.

    World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria was announced on October 21, 2011.
    Hour of Twilight (Patch 4.3.0) was released on November 29, 2011.
    Mists of Pandaria will be released on September 25, 2012.
    That's 10 months of Dragon Soul, and 11 months from expansion announcement to release.

    They still have a ways to go, but it's undeniable that they're getting quicker at releasing content with Mists of Pandaria, at least so far.

    ---------- Post added 2012-09-12 at 01:36 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Collected View Post
    "New Models a Priority" .. they've been saying that for years.
    An excellent example of how crappy player memory is.

    They've never said they were a priority until the Press Event in March. For the last six years they've said the opposite: that upgraded models are something they'd like to do, but not a priority.


    Blizzard is now actively working on them. They were working on dwarves back in March, saying they'd be done around the time Mists of Pandara was ready to launch, and that orcs and humans would come next. At Gamescom, they said they were now working on orcs and humans.
  1. fangless's Avatar
    Paragon can't find people to raid in their raids?

    I find that somewhat hilarious. There are how many successful 25m guilds out there doing their thing? Our misc guild on a misc server gets plenty of applications all the time. So you may not be able to maintain a top 10 standing in Mists, who cares?

    What a cop out.




    Also, who the hell cares about character models? My character wears armor, I don't see it anyhow. Such a silly request, and large waste of resources.
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