World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies RSS Feed

by Published on 2023-05-30 03:39 PM

Holinka Leaving Blizzard to Work With Ghostcrawler's Studio
Holinka was the Lead Combat Designer for World of Warcraft, but is heading out to take some time off before he joins Ghostcrawler's new studio.
Originally Posted by Holinka (Blue Tracker)
After nearly 11 years, Friday will be my last day on World of Warcraft and at Blizzard. I'm excited to spend time off with my family this summer, after which, I'll begin a new adventure with my old friend and mentor, Greg Street.

I am incredibly grateful to everyone on Team 2 for the opportunities I have been given and the support I have received. In particular, Ion Hazzikostas and Morgan Day have been tremendous to me these last few years. I appreciate their wisdom, integrity and friendship.

I will miss the combat team tremendously and my biggest regret is not being there to see them grow, develop and thrive as designers. The team's new leadership is very strong and will serve them well. I leave confident that they are in good hands.

Thank you to everyone who has ever played World of Warcraft. Your patronage has provided for my family over the last decade and I do not take that for granted. I appreciate you and your love for the game.

Alas, my watch has ended.

Ghostcrawler's Studio
Ghostcrawler left Riot last month to move closer to family and start his own remote studio, which will be working on a MMO-like game.
Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler
I am starting a new journey in more ways than one.

As I have shared with you all before, last year was a pretty brutal one for me personally. After 15 years in California, I am moving back to Texas to be closer to my surviving family. This may sound like I am retiring from the game industry, but far from it!

These past few years made me think a lot about my future and what I want to accomplish. They’ve made me think of the kinds of games I wanted to make as the defining milestones of my career: I want to make games I am truly passionate about and that players will love. They’ve also made me think of the effectiveness of remote work and how it can help me stay closer to my family.

That is why I'm excited to announce that I am starting my own remote studio! Our goal is to move fast and go big. Fortunately, I have found a great strategic partner aligned with this vision, and we are moving forward!

And yes it will be an MMO or something very MMO-like!

We’re not ready to share the new studio’s name or game details. Yet. Rather, the purpose of this message is that we're still looking for a few elite folks to round out our adventuring party. We will hire less experienced devs later (and yes some with no experience) but for now we are looking for leaders with serious industry experience. Hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn if this is you.

If you know me, I value trust, empathy, and open communication, and that applies to both the dev team itself and to players.

Most importantly, players will be the judge of whether we win or lose. Things will be quiet for a bit while the adventuring party gears up, but we do plan to share what we’re working on early and often. We want to get you excited, hear your feedback, and give you the chance to catch our mistakes. This is the only way I personally feel I can make great games.
by Published on 2023-05-27 02:31 AM

WoW Hotfixes - Updated 26 May
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Hey all! Here are today’s hotfixes.

Dungeons and Raids
  • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible
    • The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn’s health reduced by an additional 10% on Mythic difficulty, to a total 25% health reduction.

Quests
  • Big Slick in the City should now no longer anger the local wildlife during “Snail Mail.”
  • The speed up bonus now lasts twice as long during “Snail Mail.”

Feedback - Warlocks in Fractures in Time
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Greetings Warlocks,
We’ve been reading through the feedback provided over the past week and want to provide an update with a look at the changes you’ll see in the next PTR build.

Affliction
  • Unstable Affliction damage increased by 10%.
  • Seed of Corruption’s cast time has been reduced to 2 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).

Demonology
  • Shadowflame Acolyte has been removed.
  • Fel Covenant has been removed.
  • Demonic Knowledge has been re-added and is now located where Shadowflame Acolyte was.
  • Demonic Knowledge now more reliably procs at a 15% chance.
  • Shadow’s Bite has been re-added and is now located where Fel Covenant was.
  • Hand of Gul’dan damage increased by 25%.
  • Implosion damage increased by 15%.
  • Dreadstalker damage increased by 15%.
  • Demonbolt damage increased by 20%.
  • Bilescourge Bombers’ Soul Shard cost has been reduced to 0 (was 2).
  • Umbral Blaze now has a 15/30% chance of occurring (was 8/15%).
  • Umbral Blaze now retains remaining damage when reapplied.
  • 2-piece tier set bonus adjusted – Demonbolt damage increased 20% (was 15%). Consuming a Demonic Core reduces the cooldown of Grimoire: Felguard by 1 second.
  • Dirty Hands has been renamed to Malefic Impact.

Destruction
  • Crashing Chaos redesigned – Summon Infernal increases the damage of your next 8 casts of Chaos Bolts by 50% (10% in PvP combat) or your next 8 casts of Rain of Fire by 70% (15% in PvP combat).
  • Dimensional Rift damage increased by 15%.

Ripped through the Portal
Regarding Demonology, these adjustments are being made to compensate for Ripped through the Portal not returning to the Demonology talent tree. We want talents to be competitive options against one another and, given the synergistic value of Ripped through the Portal, it’s very difficult for us to adjust it in a way that it becomes an option rather than the right choice.

Demonic Cores
The removal of Demonic Knowledge, Demonic Meteor, and Ripped through the Portal was too much of a push in the direction of reining in Demonology’s mobility. Demonbolt is a cool spell that enables Demonology to be reactive. We don’t want to create a drought of Demonic Cores, but at the same time we don’t want it to be the only generator you cast. By re-adding Demonic Knowledge, the cadence of Demonic Cores should be in a healthier place.

Conclusion
The feedback provided has been extremely helpful and we appreciate the community’s thoughts on the changes we’re making in Fractures in Time. Thank you for the insights provided and we’ll continue to watch for further discussion.

Feedback - Kalimdor Cup
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Good day dragonriders,
As data-miners have guessed, we are indeed working on dragonriding outside of the Dragon Isles and broadening the set of mounts that can dragonride. Our initial work on this can be seen in the Fractures in Time game files, but that feature will not be complete or featured in the live game until later in Dragonflight.

As we continue to develop the game in this way, we expect there to be many examples in the future of content that is a work-in-progress becoming visible to data-miners in test environments. We intend to announce the contents of any given patch in our official posts about that patch.
For the latest details on what’s included in Fracture in Time, please check out our official development notes.
by Published on 2023-05-26 01:45 PM

World of Warcraft Lore Trivia Game - Stump Sean Episode 8
The official WoW Youtube channel has started a game where three WoW superfans square off in a trivia showdown for a chance to challenge Blizzard's very own Loremaster, Sean Copeland! Check out the last chance to Stump Sean in Warcraft Trivia!

by Published on 2023-05-26 03:49 AM

WoW Hotfixes - Updated May 25
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Hey all! Here are today’s hotfixes.

Classes
  • Monk
    • Fixed an issue causing Weapons of Order to incorrectly increase enemy damage taken from trinket and embellishment effects.
  • Shaman
    • Enhancement
      • Fixed an issue where using Windstrike in Ascendance while talented into Legacy of the Frost Witch and Thorim’s Invocation was not properly resetting the cooldown of Windstrike when gaining the Legacy of the Frost Witch buff.
  • Warlock
    • Demonology
      • Fixed an issue where Ripped through the Portal would not function on Magmorax’s platform.
      • Fixed an issue where Dread Calling would not function on Magmorax’s platform.
      • Fixed an issue where Infernal Command would not function on Magmorax’s platform.

Dungeons and Raids
  • Mythic+
    • Neltharus
      • Forgemaster Gorek
        • [With weekly restarts] Reduced the duration of Blazing Aegis reduced to 4 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr
      • Bromach
        • [With weekly restarts] The health of Quaking totem has been reduced by 20%.
    • The Vortex Pinnacle
      • Asaad
        • [With weekly restarts] Reduced the health of Skyfall Nova by 10%.

Enemies and NPCs
  • Zaralek Cavern
    • [With weekly restarts] The loot lockout now resets when the content in a given area of the map becomes available. Now, when world quests are visible in an area, the rare elite enemies in that area will also be available. Rare elite rewards have been increased to offset their reduced frequency.
      • Developers’ notes: Unlike Forbidden Reach, the rare elites in Zaralek Cavern are meant to be a bonus, rather than the primary activity.

Quests
  • The extra Effervesta will not be present during the “Best Friends” quest chain.
  • Fyrakk is looking for more folks to burninate during “Aiding the Accord: Suffusion Camp,” so this quest can now be offered to qualifying alts between levels 60 and 66 (was 67+).

Live Chat with Wrath Classic Devs - May 25
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Today, members of the WoW Community Council met with Classic devs to talk about the development of current content in Wrath Classic, as both a retrospective on Ulduar and a look forward to the Call of the Crusade.


Please feel free to continue the discussion here, and ask any follow-up questions that you might have.
by Published on 2023-05-26 01:20 AM

The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn Mythic Changes Coming on May 26
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Greetings raiders.

We will be addressing an emerging tactic that trivializes certain aspects of the Vigilant Steward, Zskarn encounter. We’re planning on implementing these changes live tomorrow, May 26.

We hope that these changes will encourage more interaction with the encounter’s existing mechanics, while maintaining its prior level of difficulty.

Dungeons and Raids
  • Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible
    • Developers’ note: The Zskarn changes address an emerging tactic that trivializes certain aspects of the encounter. We hope these changes will encourage more interaction with the encounter’s existing mechanics, while maintaining its prior level of difficulty.
    • The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn
      • The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn health reduced by 15% on Mythic difficulty.
      • Dragonfire Golem health reduced by 15% on Mythic difficulty.
      • Zskarn will now Berserk on all difficulties.
      • Adjusted the position of Dragonfire Traps.
      • Shrapnel Bomb reduced to 3 on Mythic difficulty (was 4).
      • Fixed an issue that could cause an inappropriate amount of Shrapnel Bombs to spawn.
      • Zskarn no longer activates Tactical Destruction based on his location.

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