Oct 23 Hotfixes, US and EU Connected Realms, Blue Posts, Blizzcon Teams, Blizzard Art

Classes

• Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  • General
    
    • Reduced Death Strike's healing by 50% for Blood Death Knights in Arenas.
      

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

• Siege of Orgrimmar
  
  • Garrosh Hellscream
    
    • [Requires a realm restart.] Kor'kron Reapers now deal less damage on Raid Finder difficulty.
      
    • [Requires a realm restart.] Minion of Y'Shaarj's Empowering Corruption now heals for 15% of health (down from 30%) and increases damage dealt by 20% (down from 50%) on Raid Finder difficulty.
      
    • [Requires a realm restart.] Harbinger of Y'Shaarj's Y'Shaarj Touched now heals for 2% of health per second (down from 5%) and increases damage dealt by 20% (down from 50%) on Raid Finder difficulty.
      

We will performing maintenance on the realms listed below on Thursday, October 24 from 6:00 a.m. PDT until approximately 11:00 a.m. PDT. Once these are available again, these connections will be complete. We will provide additional updates as needed.

Next Realm Connections:

• Dethecus and Detheroc
• Auchindoun and Laughing Skull
• Hakkar and Aegwynn / Gurubashi
• Rivendare and Firetree
• Dunemaul and Bloodscalp/ Maiev/Boulderfist

We’re kicking off the Connected Realms implementation here in Europe, and below you can see a list of the first realms to be connected. We don’t yet have a specific date for when these connections will occur, but we’ll provide another update once we do.

Realm Connections:

• Hakkar and Emeriss
• Taerar and Echsenkessel
• Burning Steppes and Kor’gall
• Theradras and Dethecus

We’ll provide updates on the next batch of realm connections as they're available. For more information on Connected Realms, please read the preview blog post here.

Repair Costs
On face value the existence of repair costs may seem questionable, however as others have pointed out it does serve a purpose.

Without loss or the potential of losing something, the feeling of success diminishes. Some of the most punishing games can also be the most rewarding, which can be important for players. To state that repair costs are only an artificial gold sink is not quite accurate, they should deter players from dying within the game and indirectly act as an incentive for success.

The initial point about having meaningful gold sinks in the game is valid and it's something we've worked towards with a number of features, such as the Void Storage. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Dampening and Necrotic Strike
We’re paying very close attention to Dampening, we understand that sparing Necrotic Strike seems like a controversial decision but we don’t really think it should be considered so; Necrotic Strike's mechanics are also very often misunderstood, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Like I said, we’re monitoring this very closely, and even though we’re confident in the outcome of this latest change, things might still change. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The World of Warcraft Global Invitational is set to rock BlizzCon 2013 and we have just the teams to do the job. Eight top 3v3 Arena teams from around the globe have been invited to compete in the World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational, taking place November 8 and 9 at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California.

The teams battling it out in each group has been chosen as follows:

Group A

• MiR (EU)
• Skill-Capped (NA)
• Flash Wolves (TW)
• The Last Battle (CN)

Group B

• Bleached Bones (EU)
• PvP-Live (NA)
• LG-IM (KR)
• LKD (CN)

To help you figure out which team to root for, we’ve put together a quick overview of who’s made it to the big dance.

North America
Skill-Capped

• Alex 'Sodah' Ringe
• Rodney 'Talbadar' Pare
• Adam 'Chanimals' Chan

Sodah and Talbadar are no strangers to the WoW Arena scene, but they’ve never carried the same flag until now. The two have built a strong respect for each other over years of rivalry, and this year they hope to combine their skills with Chanimals’ Warlock experience to defeat anyone the world can throw at them. The trio will represent Skill-Capped, a site dedicated to improving and growing the community’s understanding of WoW PvP.

PvP Live

• Kyle 'Novoz' McKitrick
• David 'DannyCarey' Cook
• Michael 'Thugonomics' Negley

Novoz and Thugonomics have been competing together for several seasons now, but haven’t yet been able to claim a spot on top of the pedestal. For this year’s BlizzCon, destiny helped round out their roster and brought DannyCarey’s monk to try to weave victory from the mists for Thugonomics and Novoz.

Europe
MiR

• Jonathan 'Minpojke' Andersson
• Mathias 'Zunniyaki' Esterlechner
• Youness 'Nóliferqt' Dorqoch

The members of MiR met each other about two months after the start of Arena Season 13 in May 2013. They then focused their skills predominantly on playing a Shadow Priest, Frost Mage, and Restoration Druid, a combination that allowed the trio to remain the highest European team throughout the entire season.

Bleached Bones

• Jamie 'Blukstack' Garcia Acebal
• Simon 'Boetar' Heinks
• Rene 'Swapxy' Pinkera

Bleached Bones has participated in several tournaments, such as the 2011 and 2012 European Regionals, 2012 Battle.net World Championship (BWC) in Shanghai, and the recent Bleached Bones and MiR Gaming online tournaments. Bleached Bones has been playing together as a team for over a year now, and thanks in part to their success in tournaments and on the European ladder, the team has gained the synergy and team dynamics required to beat the best of the best. Since last year’s BWC, Bleached Bones has been getting in as much practice as possible, playing hours and hours every day to prepare for BlizzCon 2013 and to show their skill and experience as a team.

China
The Last Battle

• [TBD] Yang 'Bqsslol' Wenbin
• [TBD] Li 'Holylolz' Yang
• [TBD] Yeung 'Feelfear' Wing Yu

Yang Li and Wenbin Yang played on the team DoubleG at the 2012 Battle.net World Championship. This year, they’re playing under the name “The Last Battle” to acknowledge that they’re getting older, and that they believe this is the last year they’ll be able to make it to the global stage at BlizzCon—an opportunity they’d like to cherish as much as possible.

LKD

• [TBD] Yang 'Yunainai' Huajun
• [TBD] Zhang 'Badcat' Wenfeng
• [TBD] Niu 'Hanaichuan' Muzhi

BadCat previously competed against his current teammates in the Chinese Battle.net World Championship 2012 qualifiers, but their mutual enjoyment of the challenge and variety of play the Arena affords them has brought these former rivals together to strive for victory in the World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational at BlizzCon this year.

Korea
LG-IM

• Jinhyung 'Avenger' Park
• Jongmun 'Shotky' Shin
• Seungmin 'Nooker' Ok

LGIM competed at BlizzCon as 'Kimchi Man' in 2011 and at the 2012 Battle.net World Championship as LGIM, and this is their third consecutive time participating in the World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational. Warlock player Adouken, who led the group for the past 2 years, has left, but a new member 'Nooker' has joined—and their lineup has never been so formidable. LGIM has been throwing in everything they have to honing their skills and teamwork, and their performance is something to look forward to.

Taiwan
Flash Wolves

• Wei-Yi 'PrankCat' Chen
• Kwok 'Nightrain' Yuk-Nam
• Che-Yuan 'Shunsha' Chang

Flash Wolves was formerly known as TEAM ROCCAT, and Prankcat is a veteran of global tournaments play. Due to the team’s outstanding score in the 2013 World of Warcraft World Championship Series Taiwan Finals, they gained sponsorship and are able to represent Taiwan for the second time—and they’re determined to win the World of Warcraft Arena Global Invitational!

You can catch all of the action shoutcast by Jared 'vhell' Coulston, Adam 'Hoodrych' Brown, Isaac 'Azael' Cummings-Bentley, and Blizzard Community Manager Josh 'Lore' Allen for FREE via the official BlizzCon 2013 live stream, available at www.blizzcon.com. The coverage starts Friday at 11:45 a.m. Pacific time following an introductory pre-show. Make sure to take a look at the complete Friday and Saturday schedule so you don't miss a moment.