Future Updates, What Would You Like to See in an Expansion?, Top 10 Wanted Features, Community Commentary: Gearing up Your Follower

A Little Patience Scenario Video
Today we are taking a look at another one of the new scenarios in Patch 5.1, A Little Patience. This is an Alliance only scenario that consists of you helping to build defenses before reclaiming the Temple of the Red Crane.



WoWProgress Video Listings
WoWProgress recently added a nice feature that lets you add boss kill videos to your guild's page. You can see one of the videos Vodka added below, with a very close wipe at the start!





Battle.net World Championship this Weekend!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The Battle.net World Championship kicks off at 6:00 p.m. PST this Friday, November 16, and you can catch all the action live, FREE, and in HD over at http://www.battle.net/bwc. Tune in to watch the epic finale of the StarCraft II World Championship Series and the World of Warcraft Arena Global Finals, as some of the world’s best pro gamers battle it out for glory, cash prizes, and the coveted title of world champion.

You’ll also be able to catch the action when guilds Stars and Supreme Quicksand take to the stage to compete head to head in Challenge Mode dungeons and in the Live Raid. See the schedule below for all of the World of Warcraft events.

Friday, November 16

Stream: WOW Main
  • 06:00 p.m. PST - Opening Ceremony
  • 07:00 p.m. PST - Dungeon Challenge with Stars and Supreme Quicksand
  • 08:15 p.m. PST - Team ROCCAT SYI vs. Team Old Boy
  • 09:30 p.m. PST - I’m just being honest vs. Bring It
  • 10:45 p.m. PST - Team Old Boy vs. Yaspresents
  • 12:00 a.m. PST - Delirium Termans vs. Team ROCCAT SYI
  • 01:15 a.m. PST - Evil Geniuses vs. DoubleG
  • 02:30 a.m. PST - AHQ eSports Club vs. Bring It
  • 03:45 a.m. PST - LG-IM vs. Double G

Stream: WOW 02
  • 06:00 p.m. PST - Opening Ceremony
  • 07:00 p.m. PST - Team ROCCAT SYI vs. LG-IM
  • 08:15 p.m. PST - I’m just being honest vs. Evil Geniuses
  • 09:30 p.m. PST - LG-IM vs. Evil Geniuses
  • 10:45 p.m. PST - DoubleG vs. Delirium Termans
  • 12:00 a.m. PST - AHQ eSports Club vs. I’m just being honest
  • 01:15 a.m. PST - Team Old Boy vs. I’m just being honest
  • 02:30 a.m. PST - Delirium Termans vs. Yaspresents
  • 03:45 a.m. PST - Yaspresents vs. Bring It

Saturday, November 17

Stream: WOW Main
  • 05:30 p.m. PST - Live Raid with Stars and Supreme Quicksand
  • 06:45 p.m. PST - Team Old Boy vs. DoubleG
  • 08:00 p.m. PST - WB Semi Final 1
  • 09:30 p.m. PST - WB Final
  • 11:00 p.m. PST - LB Round 2
  • 12:30 a.m. PST - Grand Finals
  • 02:30 a.m. PST - WoW Award Ceremony

Stream: WOW 02
  • 05:30 p.m. PST - Evil Geniuses vs. Yaspresents
  • 06:45 p.m. PST - Evil Geniuses vs. Bring It
  • 08:00 p.m. PST - WB Semi Final 2
  • 09:30 p.m. PST - LB Round 1
  • 02:30 a.m. PST - WoW Award Ceremony

Visit the event site for the complete schedule and don’t forget to join us for the opening ceremony at 6:00p.m. PST Friday night! Read more about the Battle.net World Championship Series in our Press Release.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Heart of Fear Raid Finder Loot Issue Hotfixed
I have an update for characters that experienced this issue. Those characters have been given two Elder Charms of Good Fortune. Those charms will be added the next time those characters login. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Cross-Realm Zones Feedback
It was a feature developed to save money on server costs, but spun to the playerbase as being a positive feature to make the world feel "alive" again
You're just not correct, and you have no basis for comparison to even begin to understand any financial motivations behind the implementation of CRZ.

That's my biggest problem with a lot of the negative feedback I see on hot issues like CRZ: Not that it's negative, but that people usually need to explain the unknown by formulating what I'd define as straight-up conspiracy theories. And they spread like wildfire. We are probably in part to blame for it, but sometimes all the insights and behind-the-scenes facts just can't be shared in a meaningful way with the public. There's just not a lot to be accomplished by engaging with people who say such changes are financially driven (i.e. cost efficiency > gameplay or customer concerns), or that they provide the path of least resistance for us in terms of our production pipeline.

We come off looking very defensive purely by nature of responding to a fallacious, hyperbolic, or incredibly presumptive argument. And, yet, that somehow tends to validate a conspiracy on the forums. This is an extreme example, but I'll use it since it was posted in this very thread:

Not gonna read your propaganda, you own wowinsider and they never criticize you when you do a crappy job. Your platitudinous tripe is just orwellian speak. There is no point to feedback, you don't respect anyone's opinion on this forum, and you never acknowledge your faults. There's also no point to public test realms, you ignore all feedback given to you in those as well, their only point is to flesh out bugs, not to criticize your game design. You guys are just terrible at your jobs, and too proud to admit it
Most people probably (hopefully!) understand that this is a major leap into the deep end of connecting dots simply because those dots exist in the same space and time. And the people who truly believe this type of stuff are going to feel validated if we A) defend ourselves purely on the basis of liking things like truth and facts (even you used the term "spin" to describe this); or B) remain silent because the endless tug of war that could result is a colossal waste of organic material.

Anyway, don't get me wrong. Your criticisms are well founded. I'll keep them in mind as I continue discussing the larger points of contention in the community with our developers and executives. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Off-Spec Healing
they already said they are nerfing it.
Indeed we did. We completely agree that it is very frustrating for dedicated healers to find that off-spec healing is actually quite competitive with their own. Off-spec healers such as Shadow, Elemental, Paladin and Laser Turkey are meant to be able to output some healing - which is one of their benefits - but they shouldn't be able to replace a dedicated healer. The plan we have right now is to make PvP power only enhance either your damage or healing depending on the spec that you have chosen.

Check out the blog by Ghostcrawler on Mists of Pandaria PvP here: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/6415071

So, all Paladins are off spec healers no?

Guess it does not matter, Ret was made with one defensive mechanism, healing, after that gets nerfed (And lol, Ret healing is nerf worthy?) not a single person will play Ret, so I would like to congratulate u for destroying Ret.

I was referring to Retribution Paladins in my post specifically and as they have the ability to assist their entire team with healing on-demand through the use of their abilities, they are able to off-heal. I will edit my first post to specify Retribution Paladins for you.

It is also not entirely true that healing is the only defensive ability that you have, Paladins also have as I am sure your aware, Divine Shield, Divine Protection, Hand of Protection, Lay on hands and also while weaker if this change occurs, heals. There are other abilities in the Pally arsenal that can be used defensively as well, so stating that heals is the only way a Paladin has to protect themselves and others is not entirely true. Do remember that you would still have your heals, while weaker they could still help in keeping both you and your team alive.

Understand that this is also not a definite change, it is simply something that we are considering to deal with the high healing numbers that are seen from some off-spec healers. We greatly welcome your feedback and thoughts on this, so please continue to provide it.

I hope this is just a bad joke. Divine Protection, 20% less damage on a 60sec cooldon can hardly be called a defensive mechanism. Divine shield is a good ability, but 5 min cooldown? c'mon. You can't use Lay on Hands in the arena, nor can you use Hand of protection if you used Divine Shield.

So basically you say that we have a nice array of defensive spells in the arena: 8 sec immunity on 5 min CD (instantly removable by Priests, Druids, Warriors), and 20% less damage on an 1 min CD. WoW. You are a PvP hero.

I am not commenting on how great, useful or even terrible certain defensive abilities are, I am simply stating that there are additional defensive abilities available other than healing. Lay on Hands was more referring to the array of defensive abilities that are available, not that it is usable in arena specifically. I did also state that there are abilities that I have not yet mentioned, such as defensive CC as well as escape abilities that can help you get away, like Hand of Freedom and the first tier talent.

And we have 20-25k healings after the patch goes live.
Woah ...wait, what? This is in what patch notes now?
As I already said, this is a change we are considering and is not in any way definite or final. So continue to give your feedback on off-spec healers and possible changes, we are listening to it. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Battle.net World Championship – Raid Challenge
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Day Two of the Battle.net World Championship starts with a bang as two of China’s top raiding guilds, Stars and Supreme Quicksand face off in an exhibition live raid to clear Mogu’shan Vaults with the fastest time. Tune in to the live stream on November 18 at 02:30 CET to witness the competition.

This challenge is sure to test both guilds’ skill and coordination. The competing players will need to plumb the depths of the Mogu'shan Vaults, choosing a raid composition and strategy that strikes a precarious balance between speed and safety. Do they attempt the run with fewer healers than the norm, to edge out their competitors and eke out precious seconds on the clock, but risking a catastrophic wipe? Or do they go with a tried and true strategy, secure in the belief that steady (but not slow!) wins the race?

Each battle presents its own unique challenges, but there are a few that could make or break each guild’s attempt. The Spirit Kings encounter is perhaps the most taxing fight in the Vaults and is sure to be a pivotal moment. We can expect to see both groups play it safe here, because all it may take to secure victory might be succeeding on the first attempt while the other group falters. It’s notable that they will be facing a special version of The Spirit Kings where each foe attacks in the same order, to ensure that the competition remains on an even footing.

Meanwhile, both the Gara'jal the Spiritbinder and the Will of the Emperor encounters will require the groups to divide their damage between their main target and lesser minions. If they devote too little to the boss they risk falling behind on the clock, but if they devote too little to minions they risk becoming overwhelmed and suffering a wipe that could cost them time on the clock… and victory.

Meet the Raiders
Our colleagues in China recently had a chance to talk with guild leaders Bluewind of Stars, and Crayon Xiaobu of Supreme Quicksand, who will each lead their incredibly talented teams against one another in the Dungeon Challenge and live raid competitions. We’ve translated the interviews into English for your reading pleasure. You’ll find that, while these leaders hold each other in high esteem, both are prepared to fight for victory this weekend in Shanghai.

Interview with Bluewind of Stars

Q. To start, let’s talk about your progress through Mogu’Shan Vaults. Are you satisfied with the results? How are you approaching Heart of Fear and future Mists of Pandaria raid content?
A. Actually, we’re not satisfied with the progress we’ve had in Mogu’Shan Vaults, and made a postmortem for this “failure” after we cleared it. It’s a really tough time for us now. Our raid team is composed of veterans and new recruits, as some of the once-hardcore members have become casual. Our team is in the middle of a training period, while their skill level is comparable with that of the veterans, new recruits need more experience. We didn’t consider this as a big issue, while we found out in the end that it really was. This is perhaps why we didn’t achieve the goal we had set for ourselves. Nevertheless, we are working hard for the live raid preparation -- been practicing a lot of Mogu’Shan runs and gave everyone quite some pressure. The new bloods are improving, and our gear is now good enough to meet the new challenge: Heart of Fear. After all, I would say I’m very confident for the next two raid dungeons.

Q. Can you share with us the Stars procedure of learning new boss encounters?
A. We always play hard when we confront a new boss, about 8-10 hours a day, which might be a bit shorter than other top guilds, but what we do more is that we sum-up and ponder over.
Generally speaking, we’ll always take a quick trial of new bosses on PTR, having a brief impression of the boss. But it’s hard to do well on PTR, so we still need to make a plan that we try to cover everything that could happen in the encounter. This always takes us 2-3 days. Once the boss goes on the live realm, we’ll check our plan at the first moment in the live environment and make some adjustments. We always spend much time discussing, but we always enjoy the procedure.

Q. BWC is at hand! Are you prepared?
A. We have done some preparations for the speed runs -- took much time in learning or practicing the encounters. It’s hard to say whether we’re prepared, or whether we can defeat our opponent. As you know, Supreme Quicksand is a top guild that only spent 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 59 seconds finishing 25H Dragon Soul. They are very strong and powerful, but we will do our best to give everyone a wonderful competition.

Q. Are there any effects the BWC competitions will have on your raid progress? Are you looking forward to BWC?
A. There are, of course. The BWC event takes place when the Terrace of Endless Spring opens, so there will be some influences. But the BWC invitation is definitely a great honor. It has always been a dream for me, and for other guild members as well, to communicate with the game developers. So we’ll do anything we can to work with Blizzard for the event. I’m really looking forward to BWC. To compete against great opponents, to attend the convention, it will be an amazing experience for all of us.

Interview with Crayon Xiaobu of Supreme Quicksand

Q: Can you give us a brief introduction for your guild? When and how it was built?
A: Our guild was called SEED, and was reformed into Supreme Quicksand in December 2005. Some of the former guild mates followed me; together with some new blood we established Supreme Quicksand as it is today. Our goal is to play WoW together without a negative impact on our work and everyday life, so here we are.

Q: In a recent live raid event, you beat out five of the top Chinese guilds in Heroic 25-player Dragon Soul with a clear time of 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 59 seconds, and now you make your way to BWC to face Stars. Do you like to participating in competitions like this?
A: Of course we like it. It is really a good chance to show our guild to others, and also to learn from others.

Q: Did you watch Athene’s Dragon Soul Challenge that took place on May 12, where Stars came out the victor? What do you think about your BWC opponent?
A: Yes, I have watched that one. Stars has always been a great opponent, and a coach to China guilds as well. We have been watching them since Patch 1.9, and we learned much from their videos. Their strategies have provided helpful information for our learning of the encounters. After the Dragon Soul Challenge, we watched the Stars live raid video again and again, and we practiced about ten times. But even with better gear we didn’t make it to break Stars’ record. So for the Live Raid at BWC, we know we don’t have enough chance to win, but we’ll do our best to bring a wonderful competition to the audience.

Q: In addition to the live raid, the Dungeon Challenge is awaiting you. Are you ready for it?
A: When we tried the challenge mode right after hitting level 90, we wiped again and again. It is really challenging like the name suggests, but also fun. After some practice, we did our best to find all the possible ways to shorten the time. Now that more raid dungeons are unlocked, we usually focus on the raid part. But we did some homework both on raids and challenge mode. We practiced and made plans for them.

Guild Wars 2 - The Lost Shores
The Lost Shores update is coming to GW2 starting tonight. It brings a new dungeon, new Beta PvP map, Ascended items and Infusions, a weekend event, and more. GW2DB has been updated as well!



MMO-Report
The MMO Report is back with SWTOR, Elder Scrolls Online, and a final Uncle Casey's Mailbag.

This article was originally published in forum thread: A Little Patience Video, Battle.net Championship, Blue Posts, GW2 Update, MMO Report started by chaud View original post
Comments 31 Comments
  1. Killage's Avatar
    Not the paladins again /cry
  1. woopytywoop's Avatar
    So no update of PTR changes (release candidate) where totems are spells now and AS is 1.5min cd?
  1. mmoc77b12e8d71's Avatar
    That person saying I won't read your propaganda anymore... Made me laugh so hard what an idiot
  1. Kobomino's Avatar
    'Laser Turkey'

    That made me laugh out loud.
  1. Rupture91's Avatar
    I'm so happy that we get to see this event for free. You would think anything connected to blizz would end up costing us money, so this is a welcomed sight lol
  1. Bound4Earth's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rupture91 View Post
    I'm so happy that we get to see this event for free. You would think anything connected to blizz would end up costing us money, so this is a welcomed sight lol
    They already got their money off all of the people joining the contest. Too bad they charge so much and always have such paltry prizes overall. It's probably the reason why it gets so little fanfare. I mean it's kinda sad to see Starcraft suffering so much, all because they want all the control and will not let someone host a real tournament with any real money involved. Also charging people to watch is a surefire way to get no one to watch a tournament, very counterproductive when you want more people watching.
  1. kouby's Avatar
    Have those fu**ers at G4TV really fired Casey? Sadest day in the interwebz of history ='(
  1. Granyala's Avatar
    The whiners in the forums get more ridiculous every day.
  1. Queen of Hamsters's Avatar
    ...what...Casey is going??...-_-
  1. Eugoogolizer's Avatar
    I'd really like to go post my feedback on how much I dislike what CRZ has done to worsen an already bad system, however it seems the wow forums refuse to let me on. My regular account login is perfectly fine.
    I really don't feel like they do respond well to feedback when it comes to CRZ. Just in my browsing of the forums over the past couple months, I've seen an overwhelmingly negative opinion of it. Almost any time you see a blue post on the subject they just say it was what they wanted to do and getting people out in the world, etc etc. Or they skirt the issue completely and attack the poster for not organizing their opinions in a more civil way. That one I've seen a couple times now.

    Mostly I'm not in favor of CRZ because of other factors. I'm an achievement hunter. Have been since the announcement of achievements. I enjoy accomplishing goals (largely arbitrary ones in this game, but goals nonetheless). The reasons for my dislike of it stems from the fact that old (Northrend/Outland) rare mobs have ludicrous spawn times, even for pre-CRZ zone populations. An amount which has been increased exponentially because of CRZ. 12+ hours for a regular mob in a now largely unused zone is way too high. Provided you'd even get the same CRZ where you had previously tracked it. That brings up another issue. It's completely plausible that with the shifting of people over the course of days or weeks, they could possibly never even have the opportunity to have even SEEN a certain enemy mob. Also for the battle pet issue. Same thing. Scourged Whelplings. Not only are there none on the CRZ I was moved to, but now I get to hang out with 6 other people from different servers waiting for the respawn of a battle pet that basically never occurs outside of when a server comes back up, if then. I've spent weeks flying around that little area they are supposed to spawn and nothing to show for it but a sore ass. It's also really obnoxious to fly over the area 20 seconds beforehand and see 15 of them, ripe for the picking and then the CRZ shifts to the one with none. It's a tease. Just move us on entering the zone period, not this lame lagging garbage when we land. Or the time zone shifts. Those aren't fun sometimes.

    The PvP server implications are even worse, but since I left my pvp server (partially because of CRZ, mostly because I just hate pvp in general) I don't have to worry about those anymore. It was so much fun being camped by the level 90's from KJ while I was in the 50's, cruising around Blasted Lands or some such place. Definitely improved my leveling experience, blizz... Then their response to such claims is something along the lines of "Well your fellow guild members or faction can help you with that!" Bullshirt. Pure, unadulterated BS. You think some cat is gonna cruise to Winterspring just to go fight someone for you unless they're a really good friend? In the zone and need help from someone there? Maybe there are no 90's, maybe the 90's there couldn't give a damn, maybe they're undergeared and would die too. Leaving the defense of leveling characters in the hands of other players is not a winning strategy. Sure stopping CRZ won't stop the issue of lowbies being killed by high levels, but you could at least stop feeding them from 6 other servers and in turn also stop feeding us to griefers from 6 other servers as well. Someone had a solid post on the CRZ feedback thread that I feel really illustrates the lack of sense in the system's current setup;

    by Retrimution

    so why not have a cross crz for people specifically within the level range of the particular zone. and then everyone else will get their regular servers and not have to deal with it.

    how does 10 level 90s in searing gorge improve anyones leveling experience?
    Obviously I don't have a concrete solution. I'm too busy doing my job and school work to do theirs too. It needs work, but Blizz doesn't seem to be very vocal on several of the primary concerns people have, so we're forced to think they don't give a damn when they make posts on CRZ feedback, but don't actually acknowledge issues.
  1. zshikara's Avatar
    I feel sorry for the people at Blizzard. Seriously, if I had to put up with the level of badmouthing, openly spewing hatred towards Blizzard in every post they reply to on the official forums I'd threaten to shut down the game. Seriously, people need to respect the people that make this game. They are doing the best they can, and would be far happier if people would provide constructive critizism instead of "lol u r bad and you hate the playrz"

    I seriously hate the wow community sometimes. Then I log on and realize why I still play. <3 the people I play with.
  1. Canbie's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by zshikara View Post
    I feel sorry for the people at Blizzard. Seriously, if I had to put up with the level of badmouthing, openly spewing hatred towards Blizzard in every post they reply to on the official forums I'd threaten to shut down the game. Seriously, people need to respect the people that make this game. They are doing the best they can, and would be far happier if people would provide constructive critizism instead of "lol u r bad and you hate the playrz"

    I seriously hate the wow community sometimes. Then I log on and realize why I still play. <3 the people I play with.
    You realize most of the people doing the "badmouthing" do it because they love the game right? You need to consider both perspectives. Don't just believe everything one side has to say.
  1. Ferrouswheel's Avatar
    That blue got owned. Notice how he completely ignored the statement about them saving money on hardware with crz and ignoring feedback because of it? Just went off on a rant, these guys should run for office.
  1. Woa's Avatar
    "It was a feature developed to save money on server costs, but spun to the playerbase as being a positive feature to make the world feel "alive" again"

    I like the "alive" feeling it brings. Those who complain about it are usually bad scrubby players who have no idea how to pvp/hide/get away from anyone. Sorry for you, be a better gamer. Yes even if you're 50 levels lower you can hug a tree,shadow meld,/golfclap or whatever it takes to get that prick to move along. If you don't like it, queue for a dungeon.
  1. Hengril's Avatar
    Why is there only US Guild Video Kills on mmo-c ? Curse doesn't like Method ?
  1. crsh1976's Avatar
    Blizz' response on the CRZ issue is the classic example of bad PR trying to patch up piss-poor PR.

    A particularly iffy gem : "We come off looking very defensive purely by nature of responding to a fallacious, hyperbolic, or incredibly presumptive argument."

    Way to reinforce the appearance of defensiveness while trashing your customer base, no matter how irritating some people are.
  1. taheen74's Avatar
    This whole mess with the LFR bug isn't resolved. A lot of us that got saved to the bosses by continuous wiping still haven't been compensated in some way since we're currently unable to loot the boss if we do down it and CS is basically blowing us off. If you're in the same boat, my suggestion- keep bugging CS until they actually do something.
  1. Ferrouswheel's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by taheen74 View Post
    This whole mess with the LFR bug isn't resolved. A lot of us that got saved to the bosses by continuous wiping still haven't been compensated in some way since we're currently unable to loot the boss if we do down it and CS is basically blowing us off. If you're in the same boat, my suggestion- keep bugging CS until they actually do something.
    Keep fighting for that 28 gold. Never give up and never surrender!
  1. Togaman5000's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eugoogolizer View Post
    (Stuff)
    Of course you'll only see or hear negative feedback. Those with the strongest opinions are the loudest, and especially those with the strongest opinions against the standard, it's a simple fact of life and statistics. Best get used to it now. On top of that you have your own negative bias, so you're specifically focusing in on the opinions that agree with your own - another fact of life and something we all do.

    Now to move on to the problems you have against it, it seems that your issue stems from the fact that you dislike competition and thus dislike the added difficulties CRZ presents to you? That's whining. Same with the PVP complaints - more whining. It doesn't take much thought to realize that, in a MMO, if you're seeing nobody while flying around, the MM part loses its meaning. Competition happens. Snagging a rare mount or pet or spawn really isn't that impressive if you're the one person in the zone gunning for it.

    ---------- Post added 2012-11-16 at 10:18 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrouswheel View Post
    That blue got owned. Notice how he completely ignored the statement about them saving money on hardware with crz and ignoring feedback because of it? Just went off on a rant, these guys should run for office.
    He did answer it when he said that they don't explain all the technical background to us. Plus, it isn't hard to do a quick search online and find out that servers aren't so cut and dry with regards to their tasking - I'm willing to bet that the same servers that run the individual continents also run CRZ alongside them, saving zero dollars as the hardware has changed not at all.
  1. Theholypally's Avatar
    I didnt get shit for the loot screw up on amber shaper. When are they giving out the Elder Coins to make up for being locked to the fight without having downed it?

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