Reaper of Souls Highlights: New Visual Sets and Monster Affixes, DiabloFans Site Update Going Live Wednesday, PTR Might Be Coming "Soon"

Opt-In Waves Resumed, NA & EU Beta Rankings - Week 5

Death Knight Solo - Dark Animus 10 Normal
Another impressive solo this week, Raegwyn managed to kill Dark Animus 10 Normal.



Patch 5.4 Hotfixes - December 2
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Creatures
  • The Celestials (Chi-Ji, Niuzao, Xuen, and Yu'lon) have their health reduced to 25% of original health. If more than 10 players from the same faction are engaged with the Celestial, their health will scale up. The health increase will cap at 100% of their original health with 40 players.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
CC in Warlords of Draenor
We are planning to take a strong look at CC in Warlords with the intent of dialing things back a little. We do think it's important that players are rewarded for using CC intelligently (by coordinating usage, being mindful of diminishing returns, etc), but we think we can approach things in a way that allows us to tone down CC overall while still providing that gameplay. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Daze Effect
Oh man! Remember when it was based on Defense so tanks could essentially run anywhere and never get dazed but us cloth wearers would be in dazed-city? Crazy. Although they had to pay more repairs back then too. XD

Don't hear too much about it these days though, kind of a fun discussion to have again! In-general the world should be dangerous, and when you can ride through it unaffected, or have guaranteed escapes, it loses some of that danger. It's a lot of the same reasoning for non-flying in new content. Sure, you can still escape many situations, and there are still some get-out-of-jail-free cards, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to remove all of the situations which cause you to be cautious, plan travel routes, and have to play your character in this Roleplaying Game. We think the daze mechanic still serves its useful purpose. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Black Friday Sale - Save up to 75%!
Originally Posted by Blizzard
Avoid the (zerg) rush at the mall and go digital with your holiday shopping. For a limited time, you can save up to 75% on digital copies of select Blizzard games:

SAVE up to 75% on World of Warcraft

SAVE up to 50% on StarCraft II

All of these digital offers are now fully giftable in the newly revamped Battle.net Shop, making it easier than ever to hook up your friends, family, and zerglings with a new Blizzard game this holiday season.

This promotion has been extended to January 1st 2014 at 11:59 PM PST.

P.S.—Our treasure goblin scouts have also sighted a few special deals on Diablo III for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC/Mac, but only at select retail locations. Check with your local retailer for details and availability.

Connected Realms Update
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As previously announced, we’ve been working toward connecting realms to increase the number of players on low-population realms, and since then have completed several connections.

Future Connections
We do not have a date for the following realm connections, but will update this blog post when we do.

Next ​​Batch
  • Andorhal and Ursin
  • Crushridge and Anub'arak/Chromaggus/Garithos/Nathrezim/Smolderthorn
  • Icecrown and Malygos
  • Quel'dorei and Sen'jin

​Plans for these connections may change at any time, but we’ll provide additional updates on specific dates for future connections here as we can. Please note that as a part of the connection process realm times may change to match each other.

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard
Professions
Also if sockets that uncommon do you have plans to rebalance profession perks or just ignore for another expansion?
I'd like to cut them TBH. Not sure we can pull that off. (Source)

I can't remember...were professions discussed with the instant 90s?
We likely need some solution, but aren't crazy about just "choose which prof you want at max." (Source)

Lore
Why are there no female Warlords of Draenor? You couldn't have come up with a single one?
Their identities already established in the lore. We could have replaced one, but that might have felt transparent. (Source)

"Gameplay trumps lore." "We want to let you play with friends." So when can my gnome play with my RealID friend's blood elf?
Having two factions also produces good gameplay. It was a conscious decision not dictated by lore. (Source)

so we got suspended from Heroes to Soldiers again. Feels wrong! Do you think about Lore when you make such Decisions?
We are crafting the story so hopefully you feel like heroes. That is why you are asked to return to the dark portal. (Source)
That is why you command the garrison. If being heroic meant you could not be threatened, the game would be boring. (Source)

UI / Addons
This is NOT a full group finder system. These are some moderate updates to the current system that people may find useful.
Takes our crappy old raid browser and enables some cross realm functionality. Still doing a new Group Finder for 6.0. (Source)
To be fair, it needs to be a LFM and not LFG thus the need for oqueue. Hopefully blizzard realizes this
Random matchmaking and pug forming are two different and valuable features with different audiences. (Source)

Poll: Profession Perks
Taking a look at one of the more interesting tweets we saw today, Ghostcrawler suggested the removal of profession perks. What would you like to see change (if anything) with profession perks in Warlords? Share your thoughts and suggest more poll options or new profession perks in the comments.

Yesterday we revisited a poll about the best world PvE content after many people suggested that the allure of Timeless Isle would wear off in a month or two, but it looks like the results are almost the same yet again.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Dark Animus Solo, Dec 2 Hotfix, Blizzard Sale, Connected Realms, Blue Tweets, Poll started by chaud View original post
Comments 92 Comments
  1. ejpaints's Avatar
    The only reason my toons have the profs they do is b/c of the perks and how they work for the particular char that has them. Playing the AH might be the name of the game for some people, but I play to raid, and I've spent 10's of thousands of gold leveling profs on different toons to benefit me the most for that particular role. Removing them would be like a kick in the gut.
  1. Kelzam's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by gutnbrg View Post
    what is the point of even having professions if u are going to take out the perks? Not every profession is a money maker, this game is getting worse and worse everyday...
    The point of professions sans perks is to enjoy the profession you want to have, rather than leveling one to try and min/max your character and feeling obligated to. Maybe as a raider I enjoy mining on my main since I'm out in the world traveling more on him than alts, and thus see more mining nodes? But because of the profession perks I couldn't raid and not be expected to drop it for something else. Or, as an engineer I can level it because I like the idea of having the various gadgets and gizmos. They're actively making it less of a pain in the ass to keep up with modifying an item after you get it, so it makes sense that you wouldn't have to add another socket, or socket another serpent's eye, or put a new embroidery on your cloak, etc. etc. etc. What you consider as being "worse" is benefiting the majority of players by removing the barrier of expectations from other players.


    After additional reading, it would also seem that players don't understand in what context Blizzard refers to perks: These are the character-only item modifications that all tend to equal out very closely regardless of your class. Cloak Embroideries for Tailoring, Extra socket from Blacksmithing, Additional bracer enchant from Leatherworking, the additional effect from Alchemy elixirs etc., Super shoulder enchants from Inscription, the super gems from Jewelcrafting, etc.
  1. hx9's Avatar
    Gathering - You can gather materials to make money. Still slightly inferior overall. ~Personal Benefit - None
    Tailoring - Cloth, Cloaks, Rings. ~Personal Benefit - Cheaper Leg Enchant, Caster
    Leatherworking - Leather, Boots / Mail, Belts (pick one) ~Personal Benefit - Cheaper Leg Enchant, Melee
    Blacksmithing - Plate, Melee Weapons (DW Made in pairs) ~Personal Benefit - Cheaper Repair Costs
    Jewelcrafting - Gems, Rings, Amulets ~Personal Benefit - Cheaper 'Personal Jewels' (No Stat Benefit)
    Inscription - Glyphs, Shoulder Enchants, Bracers ~Personal Benefit - Cheaper Shoulder Enchant
    Enchanting - Enchants, Caster Weapons (Staves only) ~Personal Benefit - Cheaper Bracer Enchant
    Engineering - Toned Down Rocket Boot Enchants (boot enchants now removed from enchanting) ~Personal Benefit - Gadgets and Gismos
    Alchemy - Flasks / Potions ~Personal Benefit - Double Flask Duration

    - All Personal Benefits are non-combat
    - All Personal Benefits reduce costs to upgrade gear in some way
    - All Professions have a universal armor / weapon slot or enchant to make money from any character (Except enchanting, BS who have the highly sought after weapons specific to either casters or melee)
    - Engineering retains 'gadgets and gizmos' for out in the world, but loses major 'rocket boot' advantage which is toned down. Can still craft the original rocket boots with terrible stats for the 'fun speed boost'. This is the most problematic, but rocket boot enchant will be sought even by the non-minmaxiest of min-maxers.
  1. mmoc511894f75b's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by F-Minus View Post
    All I see in this and most solo videos is the need to remove self healing from non-healers. 26 mio selfehal in this video alone is out of hand, compared to the 65 mio damage he dished out.
    That would be far too much work for them especially with Dk's, they already nerfed self healing in pvp why does it matter if this enables some classes to solo old content as long as it's balanced at current level content. They need to tone down the gear scaling and this wont happen as much hopefully will be done right next expansion.
  1. mmoca123b20796's Avatar
    If perks disappear 99% of the Players won't bother levelling professions and it will be yet another game dimension down the drain.
    People having finished SOO are already bored and the other players will soon finish it.
    After that it will be months of boredom or quitting before the new expansion.
    I sure hope the new expansion won't aim to get boring from the start, although it looks that way with the removal of reforging and the oversimplification of stats probably killing theorycrafting.
  1. Malgin-THOF's Avatar
    """Poll: Profession Perks
    Taking a look at one of the more interesting tweets we saw today, Ghostcrawler suggested the removal of profession perks."" If thats true with comments like that i wish he would just hurry up and fuck off How much more can this game get dumbed down?

    People will just not bother doing anything with there professions

    Blizzard are to bust catering for players that don't give a shit and cant really be bothered to play the game (removing hit caps etc, reforging less gems and enchants on gear and no meta gems)

    "" Greg Street ‏@Ghostcrawler 2 Dec
    @EJedi42 It's not really a "choice" though when the choice is play more effectively (reforge) or less effectively (be lazy)."""

    thats just encouraging people not to give a shit. He might as well have said ""Yer dont worry about sorting your gear out its fine just turn up in what ever you want you dont need to put any effort in we will make everything face roll for you""
  1. Viin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by vradar View Post
    That would be far too much work for them especially with Dk's, they already nerfed self healing in pvp why does it matter if this enables some classes to solo old content as long as it's balanced at current level content. They need to tone down the gear scaling and this wont happen as much hopefully will be done right next expansion.
    Old content? This is in the same freaking expansion. This shouldn't be happening. I can understand soloing past expansion raids and dungeons, but soloing things in the same expansion is just wrong...
  1. SodiumChloride's Avatar
    Solo kills of current content will continue to be possible as long as tanks have DPS equal to pure DPS classes and can heal themselves as well as healers can heal them.
  1. Self Inflicted Wounds's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shudder II View Post
    "Having two factions also produces good gameplay. It was a conscious decision not dictated by lore."

    HAHAHAHAHA. No, no it doesn't. There are other mmo's who allow factions to play with each other. I should be able to play with my friends even though they made the horrible decision to play as alliance. There is no good reason to separate us. Both factions are constantly teaming up to take out some big bad. It's pathetic this limitation is still in the game.
    Then go play those games. I know Rift made that choice, but because they were losing subs, not because it was a good choice.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Sakashima View Post
    The point of professions sans perks is to enjoy the profession you want to have, rather than leveling one to try and min/max your character and feeling obligated to. Maybe as a raider I enjoy mining on my main since I'm out in the world traveling more on him than alts, and thus see more mining nodes? But because of the profession perks I couldn't raid and not be expected to drop it for something else. Or, as an engineer I can level it because I like the idea of having the various gadgets and gizmos. They're actively making it less of a pain in the ass to keep up with modifying an item after you get it, so it makes sense that you wouldn't have to add another socket, or socket another serpent's eye, or put a new embroidery on your cloak, etc. etc. etc. What you consider as being "worse" is benefiting the majority of players by removing the barrier of expectations from other players.


    After additional reading, it would also seem that players don't understand in what context Blizzard refers to perks: These are the character-only item modifications that all tend to equal out very closely regardless of your class. Cloak Embroideries for Tailoring, Extra socket from Blacksmithing, Additional bracer enchant from Leatherworking, the additional effect from Alchemy elixirs etc., Super shoulder enchants from Inscription, the super gems from Jewelcrafting, etc.
    Except, "the majority" of players don't raid, and don't min/max and aren't in a progression guild.... so I think you're wrong. 20% of people didn't even raid Sha right? Only 1% of players supposedly raid, right? So min/maxxing with profs isn't something a majority of people do. You don't need to do it for LFR.
  1. Ibbi's Avatar
    As a hunter my most desired stat after agi is crit, so I should pick up skinning for the crit perk, right? But no, I don't like skinning. I like mining instead.

    I think the perks from professions should be taken a good look at, because this whole idea of having to feel obligated to level a profession for bonus stats (i.e., ring enchant perks from enchanting) is an unnecessary, not-so-fun feature.

    Back in vanilla and TBC, before profession perks were added, I remember grabbing mining and engineering because I liked their synergy. Today, I feel obligated to drop my mining (+480 stam, really?) for enchanting because of that darn ring enchant perk. I say remove perks entirely or rework the feature.
  1. Rifas's Avatar
    What they should do it's remove the goddamned racials! i don't want to be a human because if don't i will not be competitive in PvP What if i want to be a pwner Dwarf?!
  1. ZeroWashu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rifas View Post
    What they should do it's remove the goddamned racials! i don't want to be a human because if don't i will not be competitive in PvP What if i want to be a pwner Dwarf?!
    you mean there are actual people behind those dwarf avatars? I thought they were all NPCs or beard sprites

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