Auction House Maintenance, Patch 1.0.8 Feedback and Suggestions, Clarifications on Monster Power and Infernal Machine, Humans In Diablo Lore

Patch 5.3 - PTR Build 16825

In-game Browser and Support Tools in 5.3
Keep in mind that the browser is limited to the Battle.net support site only. You can't use it to visit the official forums or other websites.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We’re adding a feature-limited web browser to World of Warcraft that will replace the in-game support system with a direct portal to the Battle.net Support site. Our aim is to give players in-game easy access to the site’s robust knowledge base and support contact system.

We’ve gone to great lengths to improve our website support systems and we want to offer access to all of its robust features in-game. The new browser will make it it easier to find information to help you resolve issues you’re experiencing or contact our representatives if you need a little extra help.

We will test this new feature in the 5.3 public test realm (PTR), and we’d like your assistance. Adding a web browser in-game is a new venture for us, and we need you to test it by searching through the support knowledge base and pages to make sure that it holds up in various hardware and network situations. It’s important to note that while we will be testing the functionality of this feature within the PTR, we are unable to process support ticket submissions.

To help test and provide feedback, copy your character and download the PTR client.

We’d appreciate you keeping your feedback to this thread. We’ll be combing through it for your feedback and reports of any errors or issues you’re seeing.


Durumu Maze Improvements
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Late in the 5.2 PTR cycle we found that the Durumu smoke effects during the maze phase were causing debilitating performance issues for some users’ computer hardware configurations. We made a fairly last-minute change to the cloud effect that wasn’t quite what we had first planned on using, and as you’re likely aware, made traversing the maze more difficult than we had intended.

Last night we released a fast patch (you can read more on these small client patches here) in addition to a standard hotfix, which both work to improve the readability of the maze visual, as well as make the way the maze appears a bit more intuitive. These changes will be noted in a future hotfix blog update.

It being Tuesday and all, we’re eager to hear how these improvements impact your runs tonight and/or later this week. Let us know in the comments below!

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: April 9
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Classes

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
  • Throne of Thunder
    • Durumu the Forgotten
      • Safe spots in the maze of Eye Sores now appear earlier, before the Disintegration Beam starts moving.
      • Adjustments were made to visual effects for Eye Sores to make it easier to see the maze.
    • Primordius
      • Mutated Abomination effect once again reduces his damage taken from non-Fully Mutated players by 75% on 10-player and 25-player Heroic difficulty only.

Bug Fixes
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when Gnomes or Taurens log into the game while riding a mount over water.

Incomplete LFR Runs
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I've suggested the same thing the OP mentioned several times. "Prefer full run." It would serve no other function other than letting the queue system know who are 'wildcards' that are fine with fewer than all the bosses and who are not. That way, if there are two people right there back to back in the queue where one wants all the bosses and the other simply wants to be put further into the instance (like a valor farmer)... it knows the difference.
One thing to keep in mind is that the matchmaking system is already quite complex. It's already checking a lot of conditions, and prioritizing those conditions to get people into dungeons as quickly as possible.

The more you start to separate people by preference in the queue, even if the system is told to ignore the preference after X amount of time has been spent without being able to adequately fill (or backfill) a group, the more you dramatically inflate queue times for everyone. I totally agree that it can be annoying to often be placed in an in-progress dungeon, but the cons of many of the changes we've seen proposed by players would almost certainly outweigh that inconvenience.

We've also put in several measures to ease the burden a bit, without having to further complicate the matchmaking system and impact queue times. One thing I can appreciate about joining a raid in-progress is that I'm more likely to get the VP reward much more quickly. In situations where I care about the points more than the loot, I benefit from getting to the last boss sooner. And, if I do want loot and need the points, I can queue again and almost definitely get a fresh instance, kill the bosses I didn't yet, use bonus rolls for extra shots at the bosses I did kill (which will be even more effective in 5.3), and finish the dungeon for an extra VP bonus. If I decide I don't want to kill the same bosses again, someone else will have to suffer this same fate.

Keep in mind, too, that the need to backfill raids spikes with the release of each new Throne of Thunder wing. Success rates in the new content aren't as high (it's new!), and so you're seeing more people give up on groups, perpetuating the need to backfill raids. What we've tried to do is still make it worth the average person's time to finish the dungeon, while ensuring the matchmaking system tries much harder to give you a fresh instance if you requeue after not getting one the first time.

It's really about striking that balance between being accommodating, and being efficient. If a condition was set which allowed players to control whether they receive a fresh instance or not, wait times for everyone would be unacceptable, and potentially indefinite at odd hours of the day.

But for those of us that may be limited on time and need the loot that can drop our raid time is used for the convenience of the others in that group that needed a backfill and we have no shot at the things WE needed it for. Some of us do NOT have the time for double queues.

At least before it showed us if it was in progress and we could choose not to enter if we did not want to deal with that.

That was changed specifically because of the negative cascading effect it had. Not only was that a clunky, frustrating way of trying to force the queue to give you what you wanted (a fresh instance), it caused many raids to simply fall apart. Once people started leaving, and others refused to join, those left in the dungeon were out of luck. And you could say "sucks for them," but the ripple effect will just come back around to you. We saw it in action prior to patch 5.1, and it had a debilitating effect on the entire matchmaking system.

No where did I say 'full run only.' I said 'prefer full run.' There wouldn't be any 'only' about it. You don't get to make the choice. You simply let the system know what you would prefer. Nothing else would change. It would affect nothing other than letting the queue system know the difference between 'only wanting valor' and 'trying to do them all the first time.'
The point I was making in my first post was that this isn't going to yield the results you want. If you're simply asking for the queue to acknowledge your preference, it's probably not going to cater to it (if it doesn't now, why would it just because you checked a box?). But if you want the queue to separate players into pools based on a selected preference, every bit of calculation it makes before deciding when each individual has waited too long for their preference is going to inflate wait times exponentially for everyone.

Going to be simple with you Zarhym, The LFR finder system blows. The loot system is awful. My brother COMPLETED 5, that's right FIVE, unfinished LFRs for the SAME ONE. Only on his 6th try did he finally get a fresh run.

Waiting 30 mins AT BEST to an average of 60 mins a few times a week just to be able to down 1 boss is a joke and many people don't have time for sitting around. You said that people had priority for a "fresh run" after completing an unfinished one. So? where is that?

Like I said, the system tries to strike a balance between being accommodating, and being efficient. If you've completed an in-progress dungeon and requeue, the matchmaking system will prioritize you for a fresh run. This was happening very normally in LFR after being introduced in patch 5.1. That said, if the rate at which people are abandoning in-progress instances hits a high enough threshold, the matchmaking system isn't going to be able to both backfill raids AND create fresh ones in a reasonable timeframe. This is what you're seeing in the new dungeon wings as more groups struggle with less familiar content.

Patch 5.3 - Gamon
Everyone has a role to play in the upcoming war, even Gamon! He got a few upgrades in Patch 5.3, as he is now a level 90 Rare Elite with 39 million health.

This article was originally published in forum thread: In-Game Support Browser, Durumu Maze Changes, April 9 Hotfixes, LFR Groups, Gamon started by chaud View original post
Comments 88 Comments
  1. Vargur's Avatar
    Primordius
    Mutated Abomination effect once again reduces his damage taken from non-Fully Mutated players by 75% on 10-player and 25-player Heroic difficulty only.

    I don't understand that change. How was it before?
  1. sociald1077's Avatar
    I know its anecdotal, but I have never had an issue with the LFR system. If I get in with 1 or 2 bosses down, I stay to the end, re-queue and only once or twice have I been put into another group with a boss down, and it has only been on times where I only killed the 3rd boss and re-queued and then I got in on the 2nd boss.

    Maybe its just me, but I think people put way to much into the idea of "must get done asap!! Need to work on other alts!!"

    Just me though.
  1. Nuvuk's Avatar
    Gamon FTW. I cant wait to see how Gamon will mess up the Kor Kron. Thats what happens when you take away a big mofo's alcohol.
  1. Absintheminded's Avatar
    Gamon... for... Warchief?!
  1. mmoce9bb5a16ac's Avatar
    Gamon is going to kick ass..
    I cant wait to see him get his revenge for real now.. He is proberly going to have some part in the overtaking of Orgrimmar
  1. Ausr's Avatar
    The people whining about LFR... jesus christ, people. Just deal with it.
  1. jahasafrat's Avatar
    No longer will Gamon be kicked around!
  1. mmocf51f9d58e4's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Myzou View Post
    ...Why are we killing Gamon if he's clearly fighting the Kor'kron?
    This is what I also find very baffling.
  1. mmoc26966749d9's Avatar
    So that's why there is Kor'kron presence in the Barrens. Gamon does War Stomp and they land there.
  1. Wayne25uk's Avatar
    I've always wondered why Gamon is hunched over,as if looking for something? Maybe he dropped a contact lense and cant see? So when you attack him his rage at being unable to find said contact lens projects onto the player. Would be funny if he was warchief though,the only warchief we could attack for lewts when we are bored.
  1. Niku's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by RecklessMil View Post
    This is what I also find very baffling.
    Do we need a reason, except meat, for attacking delicious cows?
  1. mmocb54112e783's Avatar
    Gamon is going to be so honed and power-veteran after his bullying from npc's and players he won't just be Warchief he will become a God of war and survival.
  1. Yunru's Avatar
    Hm thats kinda weird. Here is his story:

    (how he got in OG and why he is killeable)

    (how he got lvls)

    Now the question is....why did he rebel against garrosh?
  1. aeir's Avatar
    Think this settles the new warchief questions... GAAAMON!
  1. MaxFax's Avatar
    In-game Browser - should let access wowhead and world of logs at least from in-game browser. Also would be nice to be able to use facebook, youtube, redtube
  1. Draxz's Avatar
    Gamon is a nobody and originally only for rogue quest line for pick pocketing.... this is a long drawn out dumb joke.
  1. Skulldouggery's Avatar
    From that screenshot, looks like the Gamon fight will largely be about controlling the Spiny Lizard and Dung Beetle adds.
  1. SturdyGamer's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Draxz View Post
    Gamon is a nobody and originally only for rogue quest line for pick pocketing.... this is a long drawn out dumb joke.
    Agreed. It's sad that he's gotten more attention over the years than some of the playable races and major lore characters. I suppose that shows just how dire things have become.
  1. Hijiri's Avatar
    Gamon left the inn and he can take on 5 Kor'kron Overseers?
    Don't mess with Gamon.
  1. CaptnCharisma's Avatar
    Love the people who are complaining about something that takes a Dev 5 mins to do. You really think they spend that much man power on making one NPC a max lvl rare elite. Come on people. You can't be that dumb can you?

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