Diablo 3 Expansion Will Have a Beta, Patch 1.0.7 Notes (Updated 1/22), Black Weapons Staying The Same, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Cinematic

Ghostcrawler Hints at Unannounced Feature
Another interesting tweet from Ghostcrawler today! You can join in on the speculation on the forums.



Patch 5.2 - Elder Charms for 5.0 Content Only
It seems that the Mogu Charm of Fate will be replacing the current Elder Charm of Good Fortune in Patch 5.2, with the Elder Charm of Good Fortune being used for the Patch 5.0 raids only. The Mogu Charm of Fate will still be acquired from turning in Lesser Charm of Good Fortune though.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Just for clarity's sake, once patch 5.2 is live, Elder Charms of Good Fortune will only apply to Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, Terrace of Endless Spring, the Sha of Anger, and Salyis' Warband (Galleon). There will also be a brand new Elder Charm equivalent currently called the Mogu Charm of Fate. MRFs will be used in the new content being released in 5.2 including Throne of Thunder, Nalak the Storm Lord, and Oondasta (ooh, say it again!). They'll still be "purchased" with lesser charms of good fortune though, exactly how the current Lesser Charm to Elder Charm conversion works.

We'll be sure to let you guys know how various currencies (including Conquest and Valor) will work before the release of the patch, so you have some time to plan.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Opening Cinematic
Blizzard released the Heart of the Swarm Trailer this morning!



Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Content Difficulty Feedback
Because facerolling through a videogame is fun. No it is not.
For some people it is. Some people only want some mindless fun. Something they can do to relax rather than having to set their mind on overcoming a virtual challenge. That's one of the many reasons why invoking majorities in online discussions just doesn't work.

We all have our own reason to do what we do. Some want to test themselves and improve their skill, some just want to relax and have some fun time with their friends. Some don't even know what the concept of hardcore and casual gaming mean, let alone "skill" or "competitiveness" in something they may not even consider a hobby.

If you just want to relieve some stress there is plenty other things to do. If you just want to relieve some stress then why do you go do something ingame that is too hard for you? WHY DON'T YOU JUST STICK TO LFR and let others enjoy the game?
You can't really asky others to not enjoy the game so you can enjoy your own vision of the game. Neither option is right. Sure, there are areas of the game specifically tailored to a particular group of players (Heroic Raids are better fit for the hardcore crowd), but that shouldn't stop you from trying something different and find out if it's fun or not for you.

And YES it are the unskilled losers who ask for nerfs. Deal with it.

This game is not stressfull, it's not rocketscience, it's piss easy. But for the 'majority' it is stressfull to do heroic raids or challenge modes or even normal mode? I wonder what is challenging in your real life if WoW is already too hard for you.

There you go, the "unskilled losers" ask for nerfs. That's a not very nice way of putting an etiquette over a group of players that may have difficulties overcoming a challenge in the game. There's no real reason why you should go out of your way to also say that then real life for those players must be incredibly difficult. We get it, you consider yourself a very skilled player in World of Warcraft, that's great.

But in a game with as many players as World of Warcraft has, you have to realize that people come from very different backgrounds, some have been playing games for years, some are just starting to discover this world... Therefore, they have different expectations of how they would like to enjoy the content.

Of course, it may look selfish to ask for nerfs if you can overcome the content at its current difficulty, but, isn't it equally selfish to deny others content just because they don't have your skill?

That's what LFR was for. It's what Blizzard has said LFR was for right from the start, yet now you still see a need to make normal modes easier.
Since you mention normal difficulty, I think it's a good opportunity to mention this blog article by Watcher where he explains how developers tune the raid encounters: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/706...er_-17_01_2013

I may be wrong but I find it incredibly hard to imagine that there is a boss in the game that is absolutely insurmountable to even a casual player.
If you give that person an infinite amount of time (and will) they'll probably overcome the encounter at some point, sure. But what actually happens is that, rather than keep at it, most players stop trying at some point out of frustration.

The will to persevere and continue battling a foe that feels like an unavoidable obstacle is actually not as common as you may think among gamers (otherwise, why would we even have difficulty settings in most games anyways?)

Then why bother with a game based on progression and challenge? Surely you'd be more at home playing Second Life.
There are several scales of challenge (and progression). On this game you can even progress solely on PVP or PVE if you so wish. So, this is not really an argument. Everyone knows at which pace they want to play the game, and if they don't know, they'll eventually find out as they encounter things that annoy them and things that don't.

Invoking an unquantitive "some" doesn't make your argument any more valid than his. The problem with you guys at Blizzard nowadays is that rather than having a philosophy / image of a direction you want to take the game in, you buckle in when 20 people throw up a moany post on the forums. You can't develop a game based on the whims of a few, as you said, but it's what you do.
The developers get their information from plenty of sources, it's certainly not just becase "20 people throw up a moany post on the forums". Otherwise, based just on the posts you can find on this forum, you'd see game design change from one extreme to the other with every single patch, which is not really the case (even when the developers change the direction on which they're taking the game).

why nerf (not to be mixed with tweaks and hotfixes) harder content that people enter to seek challenges and when they hit wall they do normal modes to gain better gear and experience.
As I mentioned on my previous post, the blog post I linked explains the reasoning the developers use to adjust certain fights.

But you can huh? Or where you trolling when you said this? :

"You have two talent specializations. Why not have one for DPS? Even if it's a different healing spec, do you really need it at every single moment of the day? It's your choice to go with two healing specs, and that obviously comes with a downside (just as a tank that decides to go with two different tanking specs and argues his DPS is low on that content).

Proceeding to argue that because you run with a dual healing spec there's no content you can do is not going to get you very far because the answer is simple: use a DPS spec for that content."

There's quite a difference between not being able to do (defeat) something and refusing to use the tools the game offers to do a certain piece of content. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
Maybe it's time for more than two specs? (Source)
Why have trispec? Wouldn't it be a lot better to be able to save keybind/action bar layouts and remove dual spec.
Aren't those two models pretty much the same thing? (Source)

Healthstones too need an alternative. Maybe Mage? Health biscuits?
We want different classes to have some unique abilities. We don't think many raids get cancelled for want of healthstones. (Source)

I have 100 spell power. +10% SP procs > 110SP now. A different +10%SP procs. Now I have 120 or 121?
Depends entirely on how the spells are built. Some are designed to only look at unbuffed stats. (Source)

you don't think halo might be slightly unfair to a stealth class? make it not do dmg to stealth. lol 30 yrd radiu
Yes, we actually do. That wasn't the intent of Halo. The question is where do you cut off AE stealth breaking? (Source)

Do devs consider using spec-specific talent tree differences for tough balance tiers e.g. Shockwave 40 sec Arms, 20 sec Prot
Yeah we do that. Warlock, priest and druid have a lot. (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Any reason DKs are the only class without a damaging level 90 talent option?
When they provided DPS, they became all about using that ability on CD, not the benefits the talents were designed to impart. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
If you want mages to play the spec they want. Why have the devs made fire mage so poor on single target dps? any changes inc?
All the raiding mages were Fire BC Fire was best in every situation. Now we see more Frost and Arcane, but still lots of Fire. (Source)

When have you ever told us the design intent of Arcane? We've been begging you to tell us for expansions now.
Feel like we've discussed it a lot. Try to use AB without running OOM. It's a nuker that uses a healer resource model. (Source)
and how exactly is scorch weaving circumventing THAT stated design concept?!
Scorch was free in 5.1 so it felt mandatory and allowed more AB stacks, which made Arcane damage too high. (Source)

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Combo Breaker on the PTR feels a little low at 12%. Is this number set in stone? Or is this low to compensate for new Mastery?
It's not set in stone. There are a lot of monk changes to try out and iterate on. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Discs are the only healer with a scaling mana return - why?
Isn't Meditation a scaling mana return? (Source)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Will you compensate the loss from Blade Flurry (Combat rogues) somehow? There are still people who prefer combat over sub
We buffed Combat single target to make them more competitive with Assassination. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Sac for Destro is all about Havoc. For single target, talents compete fine.
We agree Havoc plays a big part of it. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
as projected, in pvp, second wind is ticking at 2,000 health a second.LOL want warrs in pvp you say? then you fail, hard.
Warrior success in PvP shouldn't hinge on a single mandatory talent. (Source)
you may have caused 1 warrior out there to actually try the other 2 talents on that tier in MOP. quit ur job.
What you are saying then is that Second Wind is still too powerful compared to the others? (Source)
Good luck with Second Wind. My prediction: By the end of 2013, it will still be picked by either 100% or 0%.
We think we can get it to a place where the passive benefit is balanced between the active healing of the other two. (Source)
Subtractive balancing is bad imo. You should be buffing the other two options not giving us 3 shitty ones.
Buffing is generally preferable. But keep in mind part of the problem is players feel they can't counter warrior healing. (Source)

PvE
also is it possible that challenge modes flopped because rewards for anything but gold are bad?
Why do you conclude they flopped? We're pretty happy with them... (Source)

Is game design more focused on ranged dps? PVP arena starts and Raid mechanics tend to favor RDPS over melee dps. Intended?
There are raid mechanics that favor range and those that favor melee. Any recent examples? (Source)

Strongly prefer 7x/wk. Can't play weekdays much, like to grind on weekends. Its was fun for me in cata
You can still do that. The runs after the first still give valor. It's not the most efficient way possible, but totally works. (Source)
Look at it this way. I got few hours per week to play & not every day. 7x/wk means I get full valor. Other not.
I can appreciate that. The current model is intended to be a compromise between folks who want long sessions vs. many sessions. (Source)
7 per week allows you both to do them on one day or on 7 days. The current implementation doesnt (without dr on vp)
But the current one lets you do 20 a week if you really want to. (Source)
you traded the one efficient way in cata for the one efficient way here. Don't pretend you're more diverse.
Disagree. The big difference in the previous two systems is after X you got *no* valor. Very hard to play other ways. (Source)

Do you honestly think players want to do 20 per week? RT But the current one lets you do 20 a week if you really wa
How many should you do a week? (As an aside, more did 1/day than 7/ week.) (Source)

it's something only HC raiders (a minority of the raiders) would say, or someone with more time than skill.
HC raiders tend to do content anyway. It's more casual raiders who drop out if rewards and prestige are lacking. (Source)
so am i right in asumming you are designing content for a slim minority and saying screw the rest of yall?
How did you get that from what I said? I said we tend to see players give up when their accomplishments are too easily outdated. (Source)
You seriously want players to have to grind 5.0 content before running 5.2?
Is it fair to players who played in 5.0 if they aren't ahead of those who did not? (I don't think we ever said "grind.") (Source)

I'd like to see the numbers/proof of this "the less hardcore raiders quit when we provide catch up stuff" crap.
You don't see it all the time? Think about those players who get lazy when a tier is near done. It's like that but more so. (Source)

PvP
Justify why there are no nerfs on hunters & shadow priests in 5.2 please?
Assuming you mean PvP, we're not hearing much on hunters since Stampede fix. Shadow is a concern. Worried they're under the radar. (Source)

You mentioned trivialising accomplishments in PvP before, but the players accomplishments are rating not gear surely?
We think it's a problem in PvP too. Players with big accomplishments should be able to show them off. That's part of the reward. (Source)

I agree with that statement but THIS game killed skill requirements. Gear > Skill. In Vanilla, 2 lvl 50s >1 lvl 60.
The same is true of PvP. The best players can swap mains and still achieve gladiator. That's skill. (Source)
Disagree. Look how quickly the best guilds can clear content. Other guilds can't do it with full gear and huge bonuses. (Source)

I remember someone saying wanted to remove the barrier for pve gear to get into pvp. pve gear now only good for instance stuff
PvE gear has higher ilevels than PvP gear. It just lacks two important stats. It's fine for getting you into PvP. (Source)

dislike attitude but I like the discussion. What do you balance arena on? High, low, or average players?
We try to balance for all. Different problems occur at lower brackets. Things that require skill to counter become OP. (Source)

The Elder Scrolls Online Trailer
Starcraft II wasn't the only game to release a trailer today. The new Elder Scrolls MMO also released one to go with their open beta signup.

Be sure to check out our TESO Wiki for all known information on the races and places of Tamriel and take a look at our Megathread for more information on the game.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Unannounced MoP Feature, Elder Charms for 5.0 Raids Only, HotS Cinematic, Blue Posts started by chaud View original post
Comments 80 Comments
  1. Kavoo's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Croga View Post
    Elder charms..... Because different tokens for different tiers was dropped after TBC we now reintroduce them but with a different name?......
    you have no idea what youre talking about, do you ?
  1. MysticalOS's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Narshe View Post
    My money is on a upgraded voice chat feature.. Will be used in randoms, works like Steam, using WoW launcher. Maybe even a game-wide launcher that works with SC, WoW and Diablo.
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    ^That's actually no secret anymore. 've already updated two mods to support recognizing it.

    i hope that's not what that tweet is talking about though. that's a battle.net feature, not a MoP one.
  1. Velshin's Avatar
    Hmm I think the new feature will be cross realm arena + the return of Skirmish arena...well just my wishful thoughts. :P
  1. Kelln12's Avatar
    My guess for the unannounced feature is LFA: Looking for Arena
  1. Airwaves's Avatar
    oh man. That elders scrolls trailer has got be pumped! Can not wait. Going off there work on single player rpgs this might just be what it takes to pull me off wow.
  1. mmoc79582ce235's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kelln12 View Post
    My guess for the unannounced feature is LFA: Looking for Arena
    LF arena xd probably lf rated bg group which is really needed for lower pug's. Oqeue addon is not really handy with friend invites not showing up etc.
  1. mmoc3eb006e951's Avatar
    Strongly prefer 7x/wk. Can't play weekdays much, like to grind on weekends. Its was fun for me in cata
    You can still do that. The runs after the first still give valor. It's not the most efficient way possible, but totally works. (Source)
    Look at it this way. I got few hours per week to play & not every day. 7x/wk means I get full valor. Other not.
    I can appreciate that. The current model is intended to be a compromise between folks who want long sessions vs. many sessions. (Source)
    7 per week allows you both to do them on one day or on 7 days. The current implementation doesnt (without dr on vp)
    But the current one lets you do 20 a week if you really want to. (Source)
    you traded the one efficient way in cata for the one efficient way here. Don't pretend you're more diverse.
    Disagree. The big difference in the previous two systems is after X you got *no* valor. Very hard to play other ways. (Source)

    Am I missing something here or is the bluetard completely disregarding weekly valor cap? How is the old model not better in every way, and more flexible. Just let people do 7 in a day if they want and then give the smaller amount of valor after that. I mean how friggin dumb are the blues to not see this solution?
  1. Shamypriest's Avatar
    I don't think that Ghostcrawler's statement is indicative of any specific feature. I think that it was more a boast of confidence, similar to if someone said 'the next big thing'.
  1. Redblade's Avatar
    If the new feature is of the same caliber as LFD and LFR they can keep it a secret...forever.
  1. Ryme's Avatar
    I'm not sure why people are dead set on it being a "Looking for..." feature at all.
  1. mmoce994820d54's Avatar
    Very interesting I would say.
  1. morfraen's Avatar
    Why on earth would mmo-champ ever frontpage a discussion involving Draztel? That guy is worse than any player at trolling everyone. He's a disgrace to 'blue' posts and should be ignored and marginalized until they fire him or at least take away his forum posting privileges. NOTHING he writes is constructive or based on any kind of reality. Hmm, maybe he can get a job at Fox News.
  1. mmoceeceb76e25's Avatar
    The Elder Scrolls Online trailer looks awesome.
  1. KaPe's Avatar
    Seeing what's one of important parts of MoP nowadays, I'd say the super secret feature is going to be Looking for Dailies.
  1. mmoc66c44a2f62's Avatar
    Hopefully they wont reset the Lesser charms and give money like they always do. (For example; the old WSG / AV commendations)
    If you gonna need to get the New Mogu charms, I can't see any reason to reset the smal. It would be really bad, since I'm sitting on neraly 2.5k lesser atm..
  1. mmoceeceb76e25's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by KaPe View Post
    Seeing what's one of important parts of MoP nowadays, I'd say the super secret feature is going to be Looking for Dailies.
    Ho snap.

    10chars
  1. Nerraw's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Narshe View Post
    My money is on a upgraded voice chat feature.. Will be used in randoms, works like Steam, using WoW launcher. Maybe even a game-wide launcher that works with SC, WoW and Diablo.
    They did put up a job application for work on a "Battle.net Desktop App" last week or the week before. So it's definitely a qualified guess.

    ---------- Post added 2013-01-23 at 12:28 PM ----------

    Aaand chaud posted the same thing right below that. >.<

    ---------- Post added 2013-01-23 at 12:30 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by morfraen View Post
    Why on earth would mmo-champ ever frontpage a discussion involving Draztel? That guy is worse than any player at trolling everyone. He's a disgrace to 'blue' posts and should be ignored and marginalized until they fire him or at least take away his forum posting privileges. NOTHING he writes is constructive or based on any kind of reality. Hmm, maybe he can get a job at Fox News.
    He's awesome. Deal with it.

    And he's correct most of the time too. The vocal minority just doesn't like to be called out on it's bullshit.
  1. Drunkenpaw's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Korru View Post
    Good call on the charms, I don't feel like doing that much dailies to earn them for the next tier content.
    Doesn't make a difference since the Lesser Charms of Good Fortune will still be needed to get the new Mogu Charm of Fate; at the same exchange rate.
  1. mmoce290fd5aa9's Avatar
    Dat TESO trailer
  1. mmoc8242dc48f5's Avatar
    "you'd see game design change from one extreme to the other with every single patch" Or incase of the Shaman once a blue moon which results ina complete change of playstyle and missing totems given to other classes....

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