[Updated] Patch 2.0.2 Now Live

Hearthstone Beta Test is Coming to an End

Warlords of Draenor Currencies
There were a few developer interviews at the recent press events, so today we are taking a look at an interview with Ion Hazzikostas from PCGamesN. This interview was short with some paraphrasing, so Bashiok provided some additional clarifications below.

  • Valor Points were previously used to offset bad luck in getting raid drops, but the bonus roll system now fills that role.
  • The bonus roll system might get a little bit smarter, with less of a chance to get duplicate loot
  • PvP currently has two currencies, and the team is trying to get rid of one of them. Randomly assigning PvP gear wouldn't make sense, but Conquest Points work well.

Originally Posted by Bashiok (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We're not quite ready yet to talk specifics, but the plan is not to just remove currencies, let bonus rolls stay as-is, and expect everything will work out fine. We're keenly aware of how gearing works in the game. I think the changes we have planned will assuage your fears once we are ready to lay it out.

(It's pretty cool. I think you'll like it.)

Until you are ready to talk about it, its doing you guys a disservice talking about half of the big picture. You're causing more chaos than anything. Im a normal/heroic player and I don't get to hung up on gear (Im used to RNG from D&D days), but as you can see, a lot of people get confused and frustrated at it.
Many people enjoy being upset and arguing about ifs, ands, or buts (or in the case of character models, actual butts).

A quiet and content forum is a sad and wanting thing.

I guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree there. When it comes to controversial changes, posting only the BAD half of the full picture just to get a (mostly negative) reaction is not the right way.

Want to get people talking? Post some of the stuff we can be HAPPY about. While we don't need to know everything all the time, getting only the bad side with none of the good doesn't do any favors to anyone either.

Well, actually, good news doesn't really create much interest, if you want to dissect it. But that's beside the point. We're obviously not intentionally releasing bad or angering information to try to get people riled up. That'd be silly. We do want to try to manage expectations. Letting people know far in advance that currencies are being streamlined gets that into people's brain meats early, and gives it time to sink in so that when they start seeing or playing that change it ideally isn't jarring and upsetting at that moment.

My point was that people discussing a change they have partial information about, debating the specifics, and questioning what it means, are not necessarily negatives. In cases where those are becoming destructive we'll generally try to provide some guidance to at least direct it back to a constructive conversation.

Patch 5.4.7 - Battleground Honor Increases
It looks like we won't see those battleground honor increases this week.



Patch 5.4.7 Hotfixes - March 4
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
  • Siege of Orgrimmar
    • Paragons of the Klaxxi
      • Kil'ruk the Wind-Reaver’s Reave should now cancel properly if he's defeated while channeling the ability.

Battlegrounds and Arenas
  • Twin Peaks and Warsong Gulch
    • Focused Assault debuff is now applied to flag carriers once both team’s flags have been picked up starting at the 1-minute mark (down from 3 minutes).

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
DPS Deltas
Wont begin to matter till you do heroics though, unless you basically straight stack your 25 man raid with ~17 shadow priests.
The thing about discussing "worst" vs. "best" dps these days is that the delta between worst and best is quite narrow, probably the narrowest that it's ever been. As others in this thread have pointed out, different classes tend to perform better or worse depending on the fight. Also, even classes that might not have the best single target damage can contribute in other ways. For example, Shadow Priests have multi-dotting potential, and provide some healing as well. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Non-Raiding Players
I don't think we really view the game as being for raiders or non-raiders. At this point raiding is a large piece of end-game progression for everyone, not just those with dedicated guilds and hours of dedicated raiding time. You can jump into raids quickly now, and finish individual wings within a short amount of time. That doesn't mean everyone has to do it of course, you can play however you like, but the accessibility of LFR and now Flex mean that if you're not seeing that content you are stopping short of big chunks of content that the game has to offer for you. It's available for everyone to enjoy in many different difficulties and modes of accessing it.

I guess my point is I wouldn't label yourself. You're a World of Warcraft player, not casual or hardcore, or a raider or a non-raider. Jump into content you think will be fun, and explore, and try new things.

The person who doesn't want to ever step into a raid, even LFR has long been treated with a neglect. Benign or not it's still neglect.
I would ask why they don't want to step into a raid, and work back from there. Like I said it's a part of the game for everyone. Someone choosing not to ever step into a raid is choosing to avoid a huge chunk of character progression that is purposely created to be accessible for everyone playing. Stopping short of level 90 would also result in fewer options and availability for character power improvements.

There are many ways to hit 90 - there is only two ways to experience raid content. Either being matched with a bunch of strangers, or having to find people who can play when you play.
As an MMO it's not cruel and unusual that many of the games primary systems expect people to play together. I understand that a lot of people like to essentially solo-play the game, but ... well I guess that's a discussion on what this game is and to what degree we support each playstyle, even if that playstyle is contrary to the game's genre. I don't think there are any easy answers there.

I will say that our intent with Warlords is to offer more outside of raiding at max level. That may not be craftable gear, but ideally it'll be compelling solo and dungeon content throughout the expansion for everyone, and even more so for those who choose not to raid. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
WoD Since hit/exp are gone, remove the parry (facing) penalty from melee to bring them closer to casters?
We're significantly reducing, but not completely removing it (except for tanks). We still want melee DPS behind the boss. (Celestalon)
Glancing blows do create variance between white vs yellow crit, but that just seems pointlessly complicated
We've effectively removed Glancing Blows. Won't happen except against +4 levels. (Celestalon)

Don't get why caster = guaranteed hit, whereas melee = glancing + parry potential. Just seems pointlessly uneven
We're effectively removing glancing, and you won't get parried from behind. (Celestalon)

Art
Any current plans for order that player models (beyond dwarf / Orc) will be implemented? Also, they look fantastic so far!
Hard to say because we're working on a lot of them at the same time and its a fairly organic process. They're actually not "finished" when put up on Artcraft, just a point where I'm pleased with the current state and want to hear community thoughts (artofcgrobinson)
Can we expect them every month/fortnight then?
no, we're planning on releasing them whenever we have something to show (artofcgrobinson)

So I hope moonkin is included in the model revamps, because its been a long time since bear and cat got theirs
I agree, unfortunately not part of PC revamp, but definitely on the radar. (artofcgrobinson)

Warlords of Draenor Stats
I fully trust the stuff you guys are talking about, but what about people that lock at 60,70,80 to do "current" old raids?
The squish will not make it harder for those either. (Celestalon)

I'm sure it's been covered somewhere, but are secondary stats set in stone, or random like tertiary?
Set in stone, other than the rare random suffix items that you occasionally find ("of the Beast", "of the Tiger", etc.) (Celestalon)

Proving Grounds
Will current proving ground rankings carry over to WoD, or will we need to do them again for heroic dungeons?
There will be new Proving Grounds achievements in Warlords. (Celestalon)
Interesting, does that mean new title and old ones/titles becoming Feat of strength?
Still determining those details, sorry. (Celestalon)

PvP
What do you think about rolling all hard CC into 1 DR, and becoming immune for 10s after being hit by 2?
I don't like it (holinka)
Do you think re-CCs immediately after trinket should be full or DR'd?
They should still be DR'd. We have a lot of Trinket like effects out there. Better to be consistent with DR system (holinka)

After Warlords release, will the Fire-Watcher's Oath's bloody coin gain be upped and last longer when Timeless is less visited?
The area will probably be CRZ'd and feel pretty full. Not sure what's been decided there though. (holinka)

Would you ever consider raising 2s MMR across the board? Tougher to get up than 3s, especially if you're not a "tier 1" 2's class.
We increased the scaling in 5.4 to be on par with 3s. I don't think we need to do it further. (holinka)
but then how come getting 2.2 in 2s is like 100 times harder than it is in 3s seems like your doing alot more games
More competition (holinka)

can I ask why blizzard doesn't do tourtments though out the season just fun ones like do? The people like then!
We work with partners like that want to run tournaments. Make sure to support them if you want to see more! (holinka)

50% Bonus XP In Diablo III – Limited Time Only
If you have put off leveling in Diablo III, now is a good time to pick that back up. You can earn an extra 50% experience from now until March 24th.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Warlords of Draenor Currencies, Mar 4 Hotfixes, Blue Posts and Tweets, Bonus XP in D3 started by chaud View original post
Comments 35 Comments
  1. Shudder's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Siddown View Post
    Yeah, because people like you wouldn't find something else to complain about everyday.

    There are people who post regularly on this forum trashing the game who haven't played in over three years, if they are that obsessed with hating everything blizzard, they will find something to whine about. Actually, how about this one: "Hey Blizzard, how come you don't keep us up to date with what you are thinking about? Why so quiet all the time?" Oh wait, that's what everyone used to complain about back in Vanilla, the lack of transparency and not keeping the player base informed.
    They're still not keeping us informed. They're giving half information to troll. Look at what he said, that people have fun bitching about speculated information. They're doing it on purpose. They can keep us informed by waiting till they're ready to tell us all of it not vague crap.

    Oh hey guys, we're taking out the ability to hide your helmet and cloak.

    *2 months later*

    ...and replacing it with a closet feature that allows you customization to hide all pieces!
  1. Yriel's Avatar
    Well that was a bit disappointing but no surprise. Raid or die.

    I'm really burned out of raiding, i just can't stand it anymore. Too bad Blizzard seems to have abandoned anything else for it and can't come up with new ideas for the endgame.
  1. Siddown's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shudder View Post
    They're still not keeping us informed. They're giving half information to troll. Look at what he said, that people have fun bitching about speculated information. They're doing it on purpose. They can keep us informed by waiting till they're ready to tell us all of it not vague crap.

    Oh hey guys, we're taking out the ability to hide your helmet and cloak.

    *2 months later*

    ...and replacing it with a closet feature that allows you customization to hide all pieces!
    You would complain regardless, you know it, I know it and Blizzard knows it. You are the type of person who has developed an internet persona that you will adhere to no matter what Blizzard says. You probably feel it empowers you, when in reality it doesn't. Regardless, why would they care to change what they say based on someone like you, who represents a ridiculous small percentage of the player base?

    All of this information will be known before the expansion goes on sale, getting your panties in a twist because months before that they haven't spelled out every single detail of one tiny aspect of the game is just silly.
  1. Shudder's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Siddown View Post
    You would complain regardless, you know it, I know it and Blizzard knows it. You are the type of person who has developed an internet persona that you will adhere to no matter what Blizzard says. You probably feel it empowers you, when in reality it doesn't. Regardless, why would they care to change what they say based on someone like you, who represents a ridiculous small percentage of the player base?

    All of this information will be known before the expansion goes on sale, getting your panties in a twist because months before that they haven't spelled out every single detail of one tiny aspect of the game is just silly.
    I think you're having some reading comprehension issues. I'm arguing for them to shut up and stay silent.
  1. markdall's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Arvandor View Post
    "You're a World of Warcraft player, not casual or hardcore, or a raider or a non-raider. "

    what a joke..
    Wait, if I'm a World of Warcraft player, then you must be too. Why can't I group with you? We're both World of Warcraft players right? Tell Blizzard to let us group cross-faction already.
  1. mmoc3eb006e951's Avatar
    lol at the idea of them actually having QA other than ptr and players at this point.



    Quote Originally Posted by Yriel View Post
    Well that was a bit disappointing but no surprise. Raid or die.

    I'm really burned out of raiding, i just can't stand it anymore. Too bad Blizzard seems to have abandoned anything else for it and can't come up with new ideas for the endgame.
    Yeah the guy seems to think because they created the giant pile of troll poo that is LFR everyone wants to "raid".

    Seem to remember something about path of the titans once before they got really lazy
  1. Gray_Matter's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Crowfeather View Post
    As much as I would disagree with Blizz that valor gear is simply *not* the same as bonus rolls (at least with Valor gear you're 100% certain of getting that piece that just won't drop for you), I'm happy that I won't have to take time out of my week to grind it up come WoD. I still shudder at spending 5-6 hours a week valor grinding in 5.0.
    You don't understand. You will be grinding to get coins for bonus rolls.
  1. Siddown's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shudder View Post
    I think you're having some reading comprehension issues. I'm arguing for them to shut up and stay silent.
    Yes, in this case you are...until they do just that, then you will complain about that too.

    I've just started playing MoP again, so I went months without visiting this site, yet in the few weeks I've been back the one thing I can count on is you will be in every thread getting angry about something. From accusing Blizzard to lying about subscription numbers, to yelling about racials, you are one of the angry breed that will get mad about something, no matter how trivial.
  1. Daez's Avatar
    Who exactly lets this guy talk to the media. Here is the issue. Sure, dead forums suck. However, dead forums are better than forums with false information that will infuriate everyone. When people are looking forward to an expansion and all you release is bad news about that expansion then people stop looking forward to the expansion. Since MMOs are only truly as good as their latest expansion, when people stop looking forward to the expansion they start to wonder why they are playing. When people start to wonder why they are playing... THEY STOP PLAYING. So, you can choose between people cancelling subs or dead forums. I don't think it takes much logic to figure out what effects the bottom line more.
  1. Packing an i5's Avatar
    so if conquest was the only currency for pvp does that mean blizzard intends to allow BG goers to use conquest to purchase conquest gear without ever stepping foot into an arena or rated battelground?

    If so this would be quite a casual change, I wouldnt be opposed to it because with the direction the game is going might as well get to it and make it as accessible as possible.

    However if there was only one currency wouldnt that mean there would only be need for 1 set of gear? Unless you plan to reinstitute the old rating requirements on conquest gear and have lesser conquest gear available for Random Bg rewards.
  1. Azrile's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gray_Matter View Post
    Blizzards solution to poor RNG? Add some more RNG. Maybe it's just me but how is that a solution? At best it doubles your chances. If you are unlucky you will still get nothing.
    You don´t think doubling your chances of getting the item you want will improve things? I am guessing you won´t be happy until you have a 100% drop rate and can chose which item you get per boss kill.

    RNG boss drops are MUCH better and more fun then grinding currencies.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Shudder View Post
    "Until you are ready to talk about it, its doing you guys a disservice talking about half of the big picture."

    DING DING DING DING!

    If they would learn to keep their damn mouth shut this crap wouldn't happen. Stop making vague half ass statements then coming back and saying, "we're not ready to talk about it" or "this unannounced feature will be a game changer but we can't say anything about it". Blizzard lately are like that annoying drama queen teenager always trying to start crap and then wondering why everyone is freaking out. How hard is it to wait and tell us everything about currencies instead of half ass statements that just cause sky is falling speculation threads?

    And that crap about posting guidance when those sky falling threads come up...HA! Point me to the guidance of all the one face orc threads please.
    Here is the problem, you are thinking of it only as the people crying. I am sure Blizzard accepts and dismisses that those comments are going to happen.

    What Blizzard actually WANTS is the honest debate that will happen when they announce something early. I am sure before they announce something, they have many meetings and the topic is debated. Then they make some comment and get a flurry of feedback from players... sure, some of it is just stupid people over-reacting.. but in all of those threads, there are level-headed people making valid points back and forth that probably mimic some of the things being debated in Blizzard´s meeting.

    kids are going to cry and ragequit if something is announced as a final decision or something that is being debated internally and announced early. But by announcing it early, the dev team does get valuable feedback, and like most of us on these forums, it takes about 3 seconds into someone´s post to realize they don´t have the brainpower to debate something intelligently, and those posts are skipped.

    it is like this thread and the people posting ´lol adding RNG to fix RNG´.. those people do not understand math, or game development and what makes loot fun. The devs could care less about hearing feedback from them. What they are looking for is the debate about how to add bonus coin rolls to make loot drops and progression more fun.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by woofpup View Post
    Valor has other uses than buying gear. It's used to upgrade pets. If you remove it there will be a need to increase the drop rate of the Flawless stones. I just got my gear nice enough to have spare points to use for pets and was looking forward to doing that in WoD.
    I think you have a few ( ok many) facts wrong. First off, you use Justice Points to upgrade pets. And the stones you can buy with JP only upgrade your pets to uncommon. Flawless stones you get from fighting trainers and occasionally from wild pet battles, and those stones upgrade your pet to rare.

    Yes, justice points are used to upgrade pets, but they are almost pointless to buy because they do not upgrade your pet to rare. All the pets you get via quests and acheivements are already at least uncommon ( and thus don´t need the JP stone) and basically any pet you capture in the wild is very easy to get an uncommon version already. If you do get a difficult to get pet like Unborn Vakrye or Minifernal in less than uncommon quality, then it is pretty easy to get a flawless stone ( via pet battles) to upgrade them directly to rare. Also, doing pvp pet battles will get you a ton of the same stones that you can buy with JP.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Geish View Post
    50% of stock market is done by automated softwares that monitor stuff like google trends and twitter activity, so there is financial motive in creating drama and activity with half-assed information, expect it to be the norm going forward.
    LOL.. this is just one of those comments that makes you laugh. Really? 50% of stock trading is based on tweets?

    They aren´t creating drama.. they are preannouncing ideas they have that haven´t been finalized knowing that there are many smart people in those threads who are debating the issue. Yes, there are idiots who just randomly cry and ragequit.. just like there are idiots who create random stastics out of thin air as proof, but all in all, as I read the threads about VP, I see a lot or really good information.. and it is very easy to quickly ignore people who start out their posts by creating imaginary statistics. No need to read pas the first 10 words....

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Shudder View Post
    I think you're having some reading comprehension issues. I'm arguing for them to shut up and stay silent.
    He is correct, and you are the one with comprehension issues. It doesn´t matter how finalized the information is, as soon as Blizzard announces it, people like you will cry about it. If it is already set-in-stone, then you will cry because they didn´t ask for feedback before implementing it.... if they announce it early then you will cry about it not being finalized before creating drama.

    Blizzard, like most people, just ignores your type of comments and listens to people who provide real feedback. If they announce something early, then ´other people´(not you) will possibly provide useful feedback that could influence a debate they are having internally.

    What it boils down to.. no matter when they announce something, you will cry, they will ignore. But at least announcing it early, they get some feedback from other people.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Gray_Matter View Post
    You don't understand. You will be grinding to get coins for bonus rolls.
    If you ´grind´ to get coins for your bonus roll, then you are doing nothing else in the game except logging in to raid. They drop from anything and come from rewards for about 10 different things.

    OMG, I had to kill 10 mobs on timeless island.. why oh why.. poor me... does Blizzard make me grind so much...

    It is almost comical what people call a ´grind´ nowadays..
  1. Shudder's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azrile View Post
    bunch of nonsense
    What part of shut up and stay silent until you are ready to announce it don't you understand? They said they only announced part of the currency issue and have a solution later that they'll tell us about. It has nothing to do with feedback, you can't give feedback on something you don't know. It won't be set in stone when they finally tell us what the solution will be. What you think they'll tell us a week before the expansion hits? Smarten up.

    They're not trying to start a discussion and get feedback they're trying to start drama and hype. All it does is cause speculation threads, guessing and sky is falling doom posts. And don't tell me what I'll cry about, you stick to what you're crying about.
  1. mmoc7fb8344b2d's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azrile View Post
    Y

    LOL.. this is just one of those comments that makes you laugh. Really? 50% of stock trading is based on tweets?

    You didn't quite understand what you read this time, but don't let that stop from educating yourself about it.

    http://business.time.com/2013/04/24/...-market-crash/
  1. Gray_Matter's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azrile View Post
    You don´t think doubling your chances of getting the item you want will improve things? I am guessing you won´t be happy until you have a 100% drop rate and can chose which item you get per boss kill.

    RNG boss drops are MUCH better and more fun then grinding currencies.
    Not if you are the poor idiot who killed 150 bosses in ICC and still couldn't get a 4 piece. It's typical, someone indicates the problems with a specific situation and people immediately go to the complete end of the spectrum ("I am guessing you won´t be happy until you have a 100% drop rate and can chose which item you get per boss kill."). RNG is flawed as a loot system. Yes it keeps people coming back but it also can really work against people..

    Quote Originally Posted by Azrile View Post
    If you ´grind´ to get coins for your bonus roll, then you are doing nothing else in the game except logging in to raid. They drop from anything and come from rewards for about 10 different things.

    OMG, I had to kill 10 mobs on timeless island.. why oh why.. poor me... does Blizzard make me grind so much...

    It is almost comical what people call a ´grind´ nowadays..
    Will be <> now. It's what will happen in the future.
  1. mmocac1d5465e6's Avatar
    So here I am, out of mere boredom finally posting on MMO forums after years of lurking behind the scenes. Reason: Nothing to do in-game. Farmed Garrosh HM so many times, even our alts have gear now, and yet, we have about 5-6 more months of....... this? SoO has been out for too long now. PvP? No thanks, been there, done that, I strongly believe PvP died for me after the talent tree change.

    So, what is there to do? Unsubscribe, till next expansion.

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