WoD Screenshot of the Day, Old Character Models, Blue Tweets, Heroes Alpha Patch

Safe T6 Farming Guide, LastZoul's Maximus Holy Crusader Build, Show Off Your Transmogs

Alpha Patch 29867: Shop Bundles, New Heroes, New Skins, Interface Updates

Warlords of Draenor - Screenshot of the Day
Blizzard posted a Warlords of Draenor screenshot of the day today and uploaded all 68 days worth of screenshots along with it!


Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
With development on World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor well underway, the Screenshot of the Day section on the World of Warcraft community site will now feature unique Warlords of Draenor images every day, showcasing a variety of new creatures, characters, and environments from the upcoming expansion. Be sure to stop by daily for the latest look at what’s waiting within Draenor.

Frostfire Ridge


Talador


Shadowmoon Valley


Gorgrond



Old Character Models
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Since we are being blessed with new character models (Which can be disabled? Yes, no?)
Yes.

However, I am quite useless on Ordos and Sha since my frame rates dips to 1-10 FPS. Will the new models cause even more problems in world bosses and even in regular raids?
It's hard to say exactly, many things can influence performance.

Remember that characters aren't (usually) naked inside raids, which means that most of the polygons and textures being drawn and rendered aren't exclusively attributable to player models, but also to armor.

On top of that, raids have their own surrounding geometry, bosses, etc... and all that adds up in the end. Obviously, new (more detailed) models means slightly more processing power is required, but new models aren't the only big change coming to WoD.

We are also applying a squish to anything related to stats; this means that in certain situations, there might be some performance improvements, especially when it comes to addons that process combat data.

More importantly, we are reducing the amount of visual clutter that currently fills every fight where a lot of players are involved.
Less sparkly stuff flying around means better video performance for everyone.

Client performance is something we care about a lot. It doesn’t matter how well-designed an encounter is: you aren’t going to have fun raiding at 8 FPS. We want everyone to be able to enjoy playing with the new models, and our dev team is working hard making sure that WoW is as resource efficient as possible in order for that to happen.

Shall I start looking for a new computer or should I stick with the one I have?
That's a hard question to answer. I'd say that you shouldn't be worried about any big drop in performance; things will most likely remain very close to what you are experiencing right now. So if you're satisfied with what you have right now, then there shouldn't be any need to change anything.

This is false, according to current alpha you DO have option to disable and enable new models.
And the frame-rate wasn't noticeable in dropping when swapping either. That may vary to individual's pc however.
That's correct, thanks for pointing that out and sorry for the inaccuracy. I've fixed the original post.
I'd just like to point out that we've only added this option with the intention of helping out players running the game on (very) old systems.

We want everyone to experience the game with the new models, they're all sorts of amazing and the end result to the player's experience is phenomenal; we definitely don't want anyone to miss out on that.

The new models are central to gameplay, every nuance in the detail, movement, pose, and facial expressions will be noticed by you, even unconsciously, because your character is always standing in front of you.
But of course we also want to keep the game playable for everyone, so if you're in a situation where your game isn't playable at all with the new models, then it's still better to disable them than not being able to play at all.

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Racials
"Undead can no breath underwater indefinitely" Was that really needed?
Absolutely. Definitely the most important (and time-consuming to make) change in all of Warlords. #sarcasm (Celestalon)

Whatever happened to Touch of the Grave rescaling? Must Undead really be the worst PvE race?
No -- we'll tweak as needed to make sure their throughput is on par with other races'. (WatcherDev)

Classes
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
I understand you want to tone down blood's reactivity (that's now a word), but be warned that you could ruin why we love it.
There are significant changes; we're taking it very seriously and are eager for feedback about how it feels. We know the risk. (Celestalon)

So DKs will have no zero ranged abilities with removal of Death Coil? Or, Rune&Frost Strikes can be used at range?
Icy Touch, Howling Blast, Death and Decay, Death Siphon, etc. (Celestalon)

Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
The hurricane/Shroom combo is horrible. we need something powerful and immediate, not 3 casts praying the mobs won't be moved.
You can pre-water your Shrooms if you want. That's *extremely* powerful and immediate. (Celestalon)

I can think of a half-dozen spells to remove (mostly Balance >.>) Innervate? :|
In many ways Innervate (and Divine Plea as another example) was just something you could amortize into a passive mp5 effect. (WatcherDev)
Wouldn't it make sense to remove MTT as well given that 75% nerf to others effectively makes raid benefit marginal?
MTT is more iconic, and homogeneity isn't great either. Keeping MTT suits the ideal of shamans' bolstering their allies. (WatcherDev)

where is balanced in the Druid section?
No direct changes, but some changes via talents and perks. See the talents and perks on MMO-C and Wowhead. (Celestalon)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
now that Hydras are tameable, how about tame the most ugly hydra in the world? http://t.co/KxIQhbB3E1
Most base crieterion for tameable bosses is "can you solo it?" Eagerly awaiting hunter videos (Muffinus)

Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
.Also, it seems as if the redesigned Brain Freeze would make Glyph of FFB mandatory for Frost. Do we expect a change to glyph?
That glyph is Fire-only. (Celestalon)

Just read the current WoD patch notes. Not a word about changes to mages' fire spec. Still working on it?
Several talents changed. We like Fire's core rotation, though there are a couple tweaks to it in the Draenor Perks. (Celestalon)

Monk (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Will surging's mana cost be reduced in light of soothing not generating chi anymore?
We'll be extensively changing mana costs so that things work out, don't worry. We know that with current state it wouldn't work. (Celestalon)

Surging Mist in WoD, cast time or instant for Windwalkers and Brewmasters? Instant please
Cast time. Not intended to be used mid-rotation with no DPS loss. (Celestalon)

Any reason why SoTWS doesn't cause eminence? Xuen is going to be kinda awful for mistweavers
Xuen always Eminences, regardless of your own stance. (Celestalon)

So if SOOM doesn't generate Chi, what does?
Surging, Renewing, Expel, Chi Brew, Spinning Crane Kick, Jab. I think that's it. (Celestalon)
I see, with the scarcity difference will it not be a concern if Monks switch to crane specifically to build mana tea?
We are 100% committed to making sure that there's no cherry-picking between Serpent/Crane. We'll adjust as necessary if so. (Celestalon)
Also, is Muscle Memory now passive? It makes no sense to have it activate on Jab anymore with it being only in crane stance
See the Muscle Memory note in the patch notes. Merged into one passive. (Celestalon)

Priest (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Reassure me: the plan is still Shadow loses utility, but gains damage, yeah? No more being the last people paying hybrid tax?
Yes. (Celestalon)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
I also... I... Subtlety rogues using FoK will be DROWNING in combo points. I don't even.
Yep. That'll be an interesting change to see how it plays out. We'll pull back on it if it ends up too strong, but trying it. (Celestalon)

You're overloaded right now, but a gentle nudge on this q if you're able: Is Blade Flurry undergoing a new round of changes?
May let it trigger poisons; still evaluating. Nothing to announce yet. (Celestalon)

Shaman (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Will Resto Shamans keep the stacked healing niche going into WoD?
They'll certainly be good at stacked healing, but they need a well-rounded toolkit to complement that strength. (WatcherDev)
Shamans rock at stacked, but too few strats use stacked groups :/
Stacking is the default strat on pretty much every fight unless we add mechanics to make you not do so. (WatcherDev)

Haven't been at Blizz long huh? I guess you don't remember what ele was like before LB was changed to allow casting while moving
I've been here longer than Unleashed Lightning existed. You now have several spells that you can cast while moving. (Celestalon)

"Restoration Shaman..with buffs elsewhere to keep them competitive." Why are none of these buffs mentioned in the blog?
Because we didn't mention most of the -/+X% Healing Done or -/+X% Mana Cost changes. (Celestalon)

Will Improved Lightning Shield mean 8 charge Fulminations, or are you capping that at 6?
8 charge. (Celestalon)

LB on the move was a much more reliable source of damage, we're already one of the weakest casters, this doesn't help at all.
You won't be one of the weakest casters. We'll be tuning your damage (hasn't happened yet) to equal other casters. (Celestalon)

Will Elemental still be able to cast LB while moving? It's critical for Elemental's pvp, without we will have no dmg output.
No, but we're balancing around that, don't worry. There are actually several spells you can cast while moving (instants). (Celestalon)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
is a 5% buff to nightfall going to be enough to offset the loss of drain soul?
It's intended to make gameplay more similar between cases where you have adds to kill (way too strong) and you don't. (Celestalon)

Warlock: "Soulshatter has been removed" I rely on this a LOT to give aggro back to my demons which are designed to take my aggro
We'll adjust their aggro generation to compensate, so that you don't need it. (Celestalon)

sorry for the bump, need to ask... what will be mechanic for dot-heavy classes (Aff)? Timing my DoTs is all I do today
You'll still want to time your Haunts. Will be less important than before, but still important. (Celestalon)

Curious about the Shadowburn change to not generate mana. Without a cast time there's no mana regeneration like with Chaos Bolt.
Cast time isn't really mana regeneration. It was unnecessary complication. (Celestalon)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
can we get an update on gladiator stance? and does berserker rage still generate RB charges?
See Wowhead/MMO-Champion's talent calculators for Gladiator Stance info. We're still considering Berserker Rage. (Celestalon)

PvE
Celestials not being tap-to-faction... bug or intended?
Intended. (Celestalon)

PvP
id say it has something to do with Role selection for bg's! it would use the same system as dungeons and that is why long queues
We disabled that system for a short period to see if it had any effect on queue times. It had no effect. (holinka)
interesting!! cause when they were implemented that's when I noticed longer queue times.
They were bugged when we first introduced them, but it was fixed. (holinka)
do you think the reason most people don't blacklist BGs is due to not wanting to blacklist any, or not knowing about the feature?
Not knowing about the feature. (holinka)

For WoD, gear changes stats based on spec? Does that include pvp gear or only pve set raid gear? Want to gear feral+resto in arena
includes PvP gear (holinka)

In the WoD "instanced" world PvP zones, Will we still be able to use things like engineering glider/rocketboots?
We generally try to keep those things out of rated play, but there has to be a place in PvP where toys work. (holinka)

Regarding WoD: Will heroic/mythic gear be stronger for PvP than PvP gear with the planned elimination of resilience?
No and we'll explain why soon. (holinka)

seems like you have adjusted one side of the pvp armsrace. Melee mobility and cc breaks remain unchanged. Thoughts?
We have a lot of work ahead of us. We'll see how it goes. Looking forward to hearing feedback when folks play. (holinka)

Pets and Pet Battles
What about making things like the Celestial Tourney a bit easier for us that can't seem to finish it this exp?
.What are you having trouble with? Tons of suggestions on the Pet Battles forums! (Muffinus)

Heroes of the Storm - Alpha Patch 29867
Heroes of the Storm got some new heroes, skins, and shop bundles today. Check out the full notes and additions on HeroesNexus.

This article was originally published in forum thread: WoD Screenshot of the Day, Old Character Models, Blue Tweets, Heroes Alpha Patch started by chaud View original post
Published on 2014-04-16 08:07 AM
52 Comments
Comments 52 Comments
  1. moveth's Avatar
    The new ogre model is really detailed compared to the old one. Im really excited.
  1. Grimalkin of Old's Avatar
    I can't believe I'm saying that, but that's one good looking ogre
  1. mc9's Avatar
    Who's bright idea was to change how spriets worked? If I wanted to be a pure dps class with no utility, then I would have picked that. God damn it.
  1. mmocdc207605b5's Avatar
    So I get this straight... there will be no new model turn off switch, you need to put the whole graphic settings to low to get old models?
  1. twiddler's Avatar
    The framerates Q&A is so sad. Blizzard is essentially dodging the question. I use to play TBC on a really bad HP which was notoriously known to fry it's GPU. I posted the similar questions in anticipation of WotLK having ~15FPS minimum in most BT boss fights and they responded similarly. In the end, I couldn't run it. The change in WoD is supposedly the biggest advancement in visuals ever for the game and the representative beats around the bush about whether or not this user should upgrade/purchase a new system...

    It is so irritating when at launch, you purchase the game to realize that the only way you can play is if you zoomed into the ground.
  1. SecPro's Avatar
    Am I mistaken or are those stretch marks on the side of that Ogre's belly? If so...dat detail.
  1. Sinister Knight's Avatar
    The Ogre's ear being 4 angled lines for the outline though is a bit bad. Overlooked or not quite finished...
  1. sajin0084's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by SecPro View Post
    Am I mistaken or are those stretch marks on the side of that Ogre's belly? If so...dat detail.
    He should have used coconut cream...
  1. Kryos's Avatar
    Ogre evolution: WoD, Live, pre-Alpha
  1. mmocb06f9a0c12's Avatar
    Is it just me or does that ogre look like Cho'gall? The heads are quite similar to the heads he has in his cata model.
  1. Kryos's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tonzy View Post
    Is it just me or does that ogre look like Cho'gall? The heads are quite similar to the heads he has in his cata model.
    Mmh the X on his chest... maybe you are right
  1. Grembo's Avatar
    I'm pretty sure it is Cho'Gall - just before all the old-god-power-infuse-transformation-thing.
  1. mmoc7c67ce86bc's Avatar
    I don't think you should re-model the night elves :c they look great as they are!
  1. mmoca8eb653c65's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tonzy View Post
    Is it just me or does that ogre look like Cho'gall? The heads are quite similar to the heads he has in his cata model.
    It is Cho'gall!
  1. Trassk's Avatar
    Old god empowerment really made cho'gall buff.
  1. mmoca8d63b53c1's Avatar
    Those screenshots look a lot better than the ones released yesterday Like the lighting on many of them.
  1. Qualinas's Avatar
    In my opinion, some of the worst designed elements so far out of WoD seem to be hitting the Balance Druid. Celestalon's comment about Enhanced: Mushrooms just reinforces the downright hypocrisy and gameplay bias in some of these talents and perks.

    You may recall the quality-of-life change added in 5.4 that sped up Eclipse bar preparation. Now with Enchanced: Mushrooms one gets to channel 6 (SIX), that's an entire minute when not factoring in haste, of Hurricanes/Astral Storms to prepare for a single pull, that may or may not be utilized to its fullest due to a third party (tank). At best, it is only useful in a highly synchronized dungeon or raid group, and at worst it finds little to no use in solo pvp, organized pvp, and solo pve.

    Level 100 Balance talents are a joke, plain and simple:
    Sunfall - This should have been in the game for over five years now, it's just lazy to have in take up a talent today. The gameplay design of Eclipse has been lopsided since Starfall's addition in WotLK and became even further lopsided with the removal of Insect Swarm.
    Insect Swarm - this new version seems interesting at first, but it is a GCD hog in disguise and one of the most contradictory abilities one could imagine. The intention is to cast Insect Swarm immediately after leaving Eclipse to facilitate the next Eclipse. Strike one: Not in Eclipse, no benefit from mastery, completely contradicts the spec's core gameplay. Strike two: to (hypothetically) benefit from mastery one has to recast Insect Swarm prior to entering only Solar Eclipse, in many cases timing the recast between ticks of itself. Strike three: Consumes two GCD's every non-Eclipsed state.
    Equinox - Again, contradiction of the spec's core gameplay. This is equivalent to a talent that gives unlimited Shadow Orbs or Demonic Fury. That may sound good at first, but it begs the question, why have Eclipse in the first place if it's contribution of gameplay to the spec is written off so easily?
  1. Cabbe's Avatar
    Just an FYI: The blue post in response to the ability to disable the new character models, the post has been edited. It's no longer "Yes, if you set your graphics quality to Low." In the edited post it just says "Yes" and they commented on that saying that it was in fact incorrect information. So, it seems the checkbox is here to stay and that you can disable the new character models on all settings.
  1. Pacster's Avatar
    *Reassure me: the plan is still Shadow loses utility, but gains damage, yeah? No more being the last people paying hybrid tax?

    Yes.*


    I won't beleive that untill I see it on the live servers.
  1. maulgryve's Avatar
    Don't like the perfect X on his chest. Xbox Ogre.
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