Patch 6.0.3 Hotfixes - January 7, Blue Posts, Blue Tweets

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Patch 6.0.3 Hotfixes - January 7
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Garrisons, Followers, and Outposts
  • Garrison Buildings
    • Barn
      • Deadly Iron Trap now only traps an elite creature (Direfang Alpha, Ironhide Bull, and Wetland Trampler) that the player or party has tap credit on.
      • [Require a realm restart] Spawn rates for Direfang Alpha, Ironhide Bull, and Wetland Trampler has increased slightly.

Classes

PvP
  • Ashran
    • Players should now receive advanced notification when the Bonus Objective: Brute's Rise will become active.
    • Fangraal no longer uses the Soul of the Forest ability.
    • Alliance PvP vendors Bregg Coppercast and Ingrid Blackingot now have collision boxes.
    • Horde PvP vendors Lieutenant Axelash and Lieutenant Brokefist have moved closer to the road leading into Ashran, and now have collision boxes.

Battlegrounds and Arenas
  • Hand of Protection should now interrupt players that are in the process of capturing a point in the Battlegrounds.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Trap Hotfix
Alright. I'm forwarding info from a designer with more information on what we're working on to increase the amount of elite creatures available for trapping.

The hotfix that will require a realm restart to take effect to increase the availability of elite creatures by splitting the elites off into its own population group. Previously, the elites and their regular versions shared the same population pool. Splitting the elites off into their own population pool will help them repopulate more quickly.

However, because the spawn regions for the elites are so wide, players fighting on one end may not see elite creatures repopulating on the other end of the spawn area. To address that, another hotfix is being worked on to greatly increase the number of spawn points with a further increase to the spawn rates. This other hotfix will also require a realm restart so we're holding off until both hotfixes are ready so the issue can be addressed thoroughly in one go. (You don't want two separate rolling restarts.)

With regards to concerns over the change to require tap credit to trap, we think is in part to due the scarcity of elite creatures. With the hotfixes above in place, there should be ample supply and it'll address those concerns.

We are looking at making possible further improvements beyond the scope of what hotfixes can allow to the Barn and trapping mechanic to encourage group play and reduce the need to engage in unusual behaviors. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Follower Limits and Accessibility
25 with a level 3 barracks. Anyhow, you can collect them all but you can only have a maximum of 25 active at any one time.
What Doraine said (with the caveat that you may have to switch up certain Garrison buildings and/or Outposts to gain access to certain followers).

All of this feedback is great so thank you!

We have some really cool changes coming to Garrisons in the future and a lot of them are based on what you've shared with us in recent weeks. Also, I've relayed many of the ideas you've posted here, too.

One specific change I can share is in the next patch we're planning to add a new NPC to tier 3 Garrisons who will sell followers you might not have access to based upon which buildings and Outposts you've chosen. Definitely keep an eye out for that on the next PTR, test it out, and let us know what you think.

Ohhh, what about for followers that came from quests that give you a choice of three but you can only choose 1. Gotta catch'em all you know
Yup! You'll be able to browse for followers you did not choose from quests and any you might have missed from failed missions. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Warlock Class Balance
I give you credit for replying to this thread. Id love to hear your thoughts on shamans BTW...

But according to simcraft (Im sure you are aware of the website/tool), warlocks are only ~2k above tanks, and 5k from the top. Big gap.

Sims can be helpful from time to time, but far more helpful are actual log parses from humans playing those classes, and that tends to be what we look at; as well as just reading feedback, and our own play experience. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

New Model Changes and Feedback
We pay attention to the feedback on all articles, as well as all your comments here on the forums. We're making additional adjustments to some of the new models for the other races, including the Night Elf running animation, thanks to player feedback.

That's not to say it'll be possible to implement every suggestion that was made regarding the Blood Elf models of course, but we're keen to make sure you love the new models as much as we do. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Character / Items
Please stop making "Spiky thing with a doorhandle"-style fist weapons. They'd spin out of control first hit.
WoW weapons have never really been about realism, per se. (Muffinus)

Professions
Any plans for alchemical catalysts? Seems like a pretty weak reagent and we don't have much to use it for other than greater flask
Yeah, I'm an alchemist myself and found the same, the feedback's been sent off, I feel you. In the meantime, engineering owns. (Muffinus)

Garrisons
So, is there any good reason why the blueprints for level 2 large buildings cost more than Level 3 blueprints?
Level 3 blueprints require a pretty hefty achievement, topping that with a huge cost felt bad. (Muffinus)
That does make a lot of sense, but a 500g discount for time investment doesn't seem all that much, no?
Some guy was complaining earlier that they didn't cost enough! (Muffinus)

Green Tweets
The developer formerly known as Ghostcrawler has managed to outweet all of the other devs we are tracking combined in the past few days, and had some interesting things to say. Keep in mind he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Classes
in retrospect, was it really worth diluting gameplay quality so that more could participate?
I still struggle with that question. Is it better to have a good experience for few classes or viability for all of them?
giving melee+range comps less DR category overlap is another way.
You can get more class representation by letting multiple classes bring X but then you risk losing class distinction. At the end of the day, supporting multiple diverse classes as equals is almost impossible. My suggestion for any aspiring RPG designers out there is have only a few classes if balance is a goal. (OccupyGStreet)

Must all new classes in WoW be hybrids? Is it bad for the game (LFG queues) to add another pure dps class?
I think the game can support pures, so long as the hybrids are satisfied doing less DPS, which is a hot button topic.
Do you think it's possible to add a 4th role? Could it be done by adding it to the next new class, and only to that class?
You would make that class mandatory for every raid group. If you could live with that decision, then sure. (OccupyGStreet)

Misc
I think I transmogged one item, and I was largely the designer of the system. And I found a bug with that one item... I think it was a fan. (OccupyGStreet)

what was wow's biggest problem/headache that you can recall during WotLK?
I don't know if this is the biggest problem, but creating a niche and need for the DK was a challenge.
interesting. not what i expected.
There were more. Naxx being easy followed by Ulduar being hard was challenging.
I got the feeling Ulduar was not as well received at the time as some portray. The next tier seemed rushed out.
Ulduar was popular for the tiny percent of players who saw it. Flex mode normal would have helped it a ton. (OccupyGStreet)

Game Design
No idea how to solve a fundamental game design problem: optional content must be interesting but not so interesting that you're compelled. I see this is a lot in DA:I and WoW. If optional content is too boring, nobody will do it. Too interesting and it feels no longer optional. (OccupyGStreet)

A lot of the optional-turned-mandatory content feels that way because of the presence of overly compelling rewards.
I agree, but it's not just rewards though. AC and DA:I offer a lot of low reward content that is still hard to skip over.
At some point (was it achievements?) we became programmed to hate skipping over optional activities (frequently collections). (OccupyGStreet)

I would say it all depends on your definition of 'interesting'
There is a ton of collection in the new Dragon Age, but many clearly feel bad about not doing it (which is the entire point!). (OccupyGStreet)

Being compelled because it is interesting is awesome. Being compelled to do something optional strictly for reward is no fun
I agree, but there is also a trend of optional never feeling optional no matter how lame or non-rewarding it really is. I am *not* an achievement-focused player, but I still picked up a lot of freaking feathers and posters in Assassins Creed games (OccupyGStreet)

It can be frustrating if it's presented as optional but is important. It isn't optional at that point.
Right. Devs are clearly trying to present bonus content for completionists, but then we feel bad skipping it. (OccupyGStreet)

I can make a game with 1000 quests that feel mandatory. That's easy (but a lot of work). Having 100 mandatory and 900 optional is harder. (OccupyGStreet)

there's a bigger issue - artists want their art to be seen.
That's always a concern (and using art = craft) but in this case I believe the devs *want* the content to be optional. (OccupyGStreet)

I will never play DA:I again because of this and I really wanted to
Exactly. Bioware wanted shards and other collections to feel optional for folks who wanted a 200h game. But I think it backfired. You hear complaints of too much content, even from crazy gamers like us. (OccupyGStreet)

But what if you want to offer 100h to one type of player and 40h to another? How to make *some* content feel optional? (OccupyGStreet)

WoW had TONS of working optional content. you could do pet battles. or start doing dailies to get the squirre pony from TotC
WoW pets are a great example. They went from rare rewards for a few to something many had the expectation they were going to get. (OccupyGStreet)

I'd prefer if games were made directed at a specific audience. People would enjoy them more. Even if it was less people
Budgets can be a challenge there. Unless your specific audience will pay a premium for the game, you have to make it smaller. (OccupyGStreet)

IMO, if you make content interesting, people will feel compelled to complete it, "optional" or no.
But what if it is not? What if it is an awful grind? I assert many will still do it (and be mad). (OccupyGStreet)

devs seem to think "it's optional but we'd still like EVERYONE to do it". "Optional" means many ppl WONT do it- AND THAT'S OK
Yes, that is my point. It is good to have optional content. Keeping it optional is surprisingly hard to design. You almost find yourself trying to design somewhat shitty content for fear that everyone will do it (meaning now non-optional). (OccupyGStreet)

Isn't this solved via multiple possible paths? You get one option, and you have to play again to explore other options?
I like that the best, though it is strictly more work/content than the main+optional model. (OccupyGStreet)

But is that not the purpose of all gaming companies. To hook the gamer in and keep them coming in.
Ultimately, but you do risk driving players away if they are overwhelmed. It's a big ask to say "Trust me. The 100 hours you are about to spend will be worth it." (OccupyGStreet)

that's the problem with you people. You have to always overcomplicate things. I bet none of this was important on vanilla WoW
Leveling to 60 was the entire game for most players and they didn't rush through it. Player behavior changes in 10 years. (OccupyGStreet)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 6.0.3 Hotfixes - January 7, Blue Posts, Blue Tweets started by chaud View original post
Published on 2015-01-08 02:39 AM
72 Comments
Comments 72 Comments
  1. Pacster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ganush View Post
    All hybrid classes bring these days is the ability to have one character switch roles on a fight by fight basis if an extra tank or healer is required. If they want hybrid dps specs to perform lower now, then they need to give them the big healing cd's back. A boomkin without Tranq offers no hybrid ability, and if the dps isn't competitive raids would have to consider not carrying one and swapping players when an extra healer is needed as opposed to having a player swap roles. DPS specs should all be relatively balanced that if they are played well, they are competitive. No reason warlocks should out perform paladins or boomkin. Pure dps classes should however be designed that different specs perform better on different fights so that AoE heavy vs Single Target fights will require high end players to consider switching specs on a fight by fight basis. They should not, by default, top the meters on every fight tho.
    On top of that those specs should need different gear...and a completely different playstyle...so that our friendly pure dps classes finally realize that hybrids are not just "hit a button...be a different specc" jack of all trades for free.


    Quote Originally Posted by Osmeric View Post
    His comments are a very valuable window into what the developers actually thought about during his time there. I wish more former WoW devs would drop hints like this. For example, his comments about Ulduar difficulty were very interesting.
    Doesn't make it right tho. The reason for Ulduar problems was not just that it was hard...but that it came in no time after Naxxramas with it's 15 bosses. Then it was gated behind that vehicle encounter(which was innovative...but should have been optional)...and Algalon(best looking loot) inaccessible for all but real hardcore guilds. So everyone that was not really hardcore was just at the limit with the 15 Naxx Bosses and not willing to cope with another 14 in Ulduar.
  1. Shudder's Avatar
    My mage has a heal, I guess it's a hybrid.
  1. Hellrime's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ramiru View Post
    All these PVE balance nerfs really hurted WW Monks PVP when already being in a bad spot since WoD design. Can WW get some utility compensation for PVP, ... like ToK back to 100% at least?
    What makes you think the changes are based on PvE? Considering the changes to most classes in the form of nerfs have historically always been based on PvP crybabies. Generally unless something is ridiculously game breaking there haven't been nerfs based solely on PvE. Think about it, they were perfectly fine with Warlocks doing 100-200k+ more dps than other in raids from 5.4 to 6.0. Perhaps the issue is that there isn't much gating in PvP, so the player in 610 iLvL PvE gear joins a Random Battleground and gets blown up by a player in full Glad gear, they are going to whine AND his whining is taken into consideration just as much as the others with legitimate concern. Why you ask? Because bad players come in droves and are generally louder due to this.
  1. Runeweaver's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by thane View Post
    pvp monks lol. you recognized you are playing a pve game, right?
    You realise that it's long gone from a pve only game, right?
  1. Abyssal's Avatar
    I love how GC replies to more players question than the actual devs.
    /fail blizz
  1. Sargiean's Avatar
    I love reading GCs tweets now that he's left Blizzard. Some say we shouldn't care about what he has to say since he left, but I think it provides really valuable insight. I like that it shows us what developers working for the company at a specific time thought vs what they would actually admit publicly. It also grants a bit of insight as to how Blizzard actually thinks now, vs how they want us to think they think.

    A couple of the comments he made which I thought were especially insightful. "You almost find yourself trying to design somewhat shitty content," which I think a lot of players have asserted over the years (think collect 10 bear asses).

    And

    "I still struggle with that question. Is it better to have a good experience for few classes or viability for all of them?" Which again, I think a lot of players have raised this question over the years. Think talent system revamp, bring the player not the class, etc.
  1. Osmeric's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pacster View Post
    Doesn't make it right tho. The reason for Ulduar problems was not just that it was hard...but that it came in no time after Naxxramas with it's 15 bosses. Then it was gated behind that vehicle encounter(which was innovative...but should have been optional)...and Algalon(best looking loot) inaccessible for all but real hardcore guilds. So everyone that was not really hardcore was just at the limit with the 15 Naxx Bosses and not willing to cope with another 14 in Ulduar.
    He may not be right, but his opinion is much more informed than yours could be, since he had access to the internal progression stats that would unambiguously say how difficult the WoW population found the instances, and how many did each of them.

    Indeed, the stats would say this so clearly that you're basically accusing him of lying, not of being mistaken.
  1. Dawnseven's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ZeroWashu View Post
    No to flying.
    Yes to account wide garrisons.
    I want scenarios back.
    I want a simple way to gain rep, either LK or MOP design
    I'm with you here, but I'm wondering ...

    I keep seeing people call for account wide garrisons, but how are they thinking they would work? Account-wide followers, and having the plans be account-wide I can understand, but what about other aspects? One mine, one herb garden ... both that yield a lot more? How much more? How do people think it would work for people that have, for example, one of each class and all professions covered?
  1. Aelanna's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by calmsea View Post
    I don't understand why space on this site is being wasted on words from Greg Street. He doesn't work on the game anymore. What use are his insights?
    Not to take either side, but I have to sit back and laugh a little at the irony if you consider such content to be "optional content" in the context of this website.
  1. SilenceRedo's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by moveth View Post
    Rets stay untouched. Monks nerfed for the 7th time. Blizzard doesnt even play their own game.
    Rets are fine.

    Are you basing your opinion on them should be nerfing on some LFR and Normal/Hero PUGS?

    See logs of mythic raiding, that's were the players skills are close enough to see the actual balance. Not some random pugs where the dps balance is unmeasureable because of the low skill and tons of mistakes there are.

    Rets have a great bursting phase (not even the best one though) but dps overall is not at all overpowered. Every game is balance arround behaviour among the top tier players, deal with it.
  1. ImpTaimer's Avatar
    "I don't know if this is the biggest problem, but creating a niche and need for the DK was a challenge."

    Yeah butchering any fucking identity / raid utility Warriors have left.
  1. shockzine's Avatar
    jesus tap-dancing christ.... another monk nerf V_V" I just replaced my damn 2h with 2 1hs too.... #!%!!%^!^!^!%!$!#%@$^$@^@$^@#%@%@
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