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    Patch 5.3 Dev Interview, May 21 Hotfixes, Conquest Vendors Disabled, Blue Posts, DLC

    Diablo III’s One-Year Anniversary Infographic

    Patch 5.3 Dev Interviews
    Gamebreaker had a live video interview with Blizzard this week, so here is a recap in case you missed it!

    Subscription Numbers
    • Players come back for expansions, and patches help a little bit, but players are always lost over time until the next expansion. Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do.
    • When quitting the game, players mention that the game changes too fast and they couldn't keep up.
    • The devs read fansites and the official forums to get feedback and see what players are thinking, but the players that actually post or even read those sites are the minority.

    PvP Changes
    • The PvP gearing changes in Patch 5.2 were meant to address the different tiers of PvE gear by matching them with different tiers of PvP gear. Upgraded items made this a messy and a non optimal solution.
    • Patch 5.2 tried to make some of the less interesting talents more desirable choices, but the changes went a little bit too far and made some classes too good. This will hopefully be corrected by the changes in Patch 5.3.
    • The goals of any class changes are to try and make different classes and specs competitive, then make the gameplay fun, and then make some talents and rotations interesting and fun to play.
    • World PvP outcomes generally depend on how many players of each faction there are in the battle and not the item level of the other faction's gear. The gearing changes in 5.3 aren't likely to cause drastic changes for most world PvP battles.
    • After the gearing changes made in 5.3, Conquest gear should let you start to raid with your friends, and PvE gear should let you start to PvP with your friends.
    • There is no advantage to be gained by queuing as an incorrect role for battlegrounds, as the system has no set number for each role, it just roughly matches the number of healers on both sides. Signing up as a healer when you are not healing won't give you a faster queue, but it will put your team at a disadvantage.
    • Matching players by gear for battlegrounds is a nice idea, but it would be hard for players to tell that it is working. The base resilience change and other changes in 5.3 should help to address large gear disparities.
    • Warsong still has problems with graveyard camping. One potential solution can be seen in Deepwind Gorge, which has two different graveyards, putting you at the one on the opposite side when you die.
    • The best kind of CC has a cast time and is interruptible and the worst kind is instant cast that has no cooldown or stuns.

    PvE
    • The original scenarios are too easy now, as they were designed for players with older gear with lower item levels. Heroic scenarios provide more difficulty and better rewards.
    • Throne of Thunder had to be a big and epic raid, which took up a lot of dev time. When the team compromised with Dragon Soul and delivered a raid and five man dungeons in one patch, the raid ended up being a little bit smaller than everyone wanted. The team is growing though, so progress is being made towards being able to do both.
    • The first tier of raids in this expansion had slightly easier content in the 10 player difficulty, which matched the audience who was raiding 10 player difficulty.
    • There aren't many 25 player raiding guilds that only focus on Normal difficulty. These guilds usually try to get through Normal difficulty encounters quickly to move on to Heroic difficulty encounters.
    • There are a lot of 10 player raiding guilds that just focus on Normal content though, which means the players doing 10 player difficulty in Throne of Thunder struggled a little bit compared to the 25 player guilds.

    Patch 5.4
    • In Patch 5.4, Valor Points will still be used to upgrade your items. There may also be other sources of gear for players that don't like raiding, which will not require Valor Points.
    • The new events in the Barrens are designed to keep players out in the world, without using daily quests. As long as things go well in 5.3, there will be something similar added in Patch 5.4.


    Patch 5.3 Hotfixes - May 21
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    Classes
    • Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
      • Talents
        • Force of Nature now summons Treants that have 40% of the Druid's health, up from 10%.
          • Balance Druid Treants: Cast time for Wrath has been increased to 2.5 seconds, up from 2.0 seconds, and damage dealt has been increased by 25%.
    • Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
      • Mistweaver
        • Surging Mist will again properly grant Chi to the casting Monk when healing targets other than themselves while Glyph of Surging Mist is active.
    • Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
      • General
        • Divine Protection should now be usable while stunned.
    • Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
      • General
        • Fixed an issue for Restoration Shamans where Ascendance did not divide the amount healed by Restorative Mists among nearby allies properly.

    Quests
    • Path of the Last Emperor: Seer Hao Pham Roo should no longer be overlapping with Lorewalker Cho.

    Creatures
    • Galleon should now use the correct loot table while awarding loot.

    Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
    • Karazhan
      • Chess Event: Increased the delay between moves for enemy chess pieces.
    • Scenarios
      • Fixed an issue with characters not shape-shifting back into the correct race while under the effects of an illusion spell enabling them to participate in an opposing faction's Scenarios.

    PvP
    • Conquest Quartermasters (Armsmaster Holinka and Roo Desvin) have been temporarily disabled while we work to resolve an issue with the Tyrannical Conquest achievement.
    • Big Zokk Torquewrench has been found by a search party and brought back from their extended leave of absence.

    Battlegrounds and Arenas
    • Deepwind Gorge has been temporarily removed from Rated Battlegrounds rotation while we work to resolve an issue affecting base capture.

    Battlefield: Barrens
    • Map markers for caravans that have been destroyed should now be properly removed from the world map.
    • Overturned caravans should now despawn properly.

    Bug Fixes
    • Fixed a crash on startup for Macs with the GMA 950 chipset.

    Conquest Vendors Temporarily Disabled
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    The achievement, Tyrannical Conquest, is only intended to be awarded when players earn 25,000 Conquest Points. Due to an issue that was not detected during the PTR testing process, the achievement could be awarded much earlier than intended. We are currently in the process of working to resolve the issue.

    In the meantime, we’ve applied a hotfix that temporarily prevents players from purchasing gear from Tyrannical PvP item vendors.

    LF Feedback - Pet Abilities Adjustments
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    We’re looking to make further Pet Battles adjustments in a future patch (potentially 5.4), and your valuable feedback is needed!

    Currently, in an Elemental vs. Mechanical matchup, Elementals gain both an attack bonus versus Mechanicals as well as a defensive bonus against Mechanical abilities. In order to help even the playing field a bit, we were mulling over some potential changes to damage types, and the families they would be weak against.

    Here are some initial ideas that are being kicked around:

    • Mechanical abilities would deal less damage versus Critter (instead of Elemental)
    • Elemental abilities would deal less damage versus Dragonkin (instead of Critter)
    • Flying abilities would deal less damage versus Elemental (instead of Dragonkin)

    And here is a second set of ideas we’re considering:

    • Undead abilities would deal less damage versus Elemental (instead of Aquatic)
    • Mechanical abilities would deal less damage versus Aquatic (instead of Elemental)

    Your thoughts on these potential changes would be really helpful, so please take a moment to reply below and let us know what you think.

    Blue Posts
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    Heroic Scenarios
    Punishment for players who aren't social?
    There are a great many things to do in World of Warcraft for players that prefer to be less engaged socially, such as Raid Finder, Dungeon Finder, PvP queues, questing, etc. The fact that there are pursuits in the game oriented toward organized gameplay isn't a punishment.

    Quite the opposite. Heroic scenarios represent a reasonable challenge. It would be misleading to present a queue, since in other cases they exist only for gameplay elements designed specifically for randomly assembled groups, and for those players who queue to struggle because the content wasn't designed with random queuing in mind.

    I know it would mean stepping outside of a comfort zone, but if you want to try them out, maybe you'll actually find that you have some fun finding other players on your realm to explore them with.

    Aww...first time I'm ever quoted by a blue and I was being silly. I definitely agree with the sentiment that it just isn't intended to be done with a random queue. I think it is a good thing to encourage people to work in teams smaller than 10 again since the social part of the game (outside of guilds is dwindling)
    That's awesome to hear! I'm curious to see what you think of them after you've tried a few.

    I hear the loot has the potential to be pretty good. And I just quoted you in particular because I wanted to address the argument (not your argument) that pre-made group content represents some kind of punishment. I also quoted you because you're awesome. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    25k Conquest Achievement Fix
    This is intentional. The achievement will be awarded once again after the issue that was causing it to be awarded too early is resolved.

    Any estimate on how long this is going to be?

    There's no ETA available at the moment, but it is something that we hope to resolve as soon as possible. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    25k Conquest Achievement Fix
    And I still can't buy stuff from the QM's. I won arenas and BGs, then logged over to an alt.... now I can't buy them on this character...
    Both the achievement and the vendors have been disabled until a fix can be applied that resolves an issue that was allowing the Tyrannical Conquest achievement to be awarded too early. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Heirloom Discount
    Which discount were you referring to, out of curiosity? I don't recall any patch notes referring to Heirloom discounts?

    I believe that the the Heirloom upgrades were reduced in price from their original costs, though. Perhaps that's the source of the confusion? (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Queue Times
    We're definitely aware of the issue and are currently investigating it now, though we don't have an ETA for you just yet. Hang in there and we'll keep you informed should there be any further updates we can provide. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Openraid Event - Midwinter
    Openraid is holding another event this weekend! This time you have the chance to ask questions and raid with Midwinter, the 7th place guild for this tier. This time around it is for US-Alliance players, but anyone can ask questions.



    Dark Legacy Comics
    DLC #390 has been released!

    Last edited by chaud; 2013-05-22 at 10:49 AM.

  2. #2
    And even with the Treant change, they are still beyond broken. Ive never been TOO GEARED to use a goddamned talent.

  3. #3
    Nice DLC, have almost done that myself! XD

  4. #4
    Deleted
    This is a double edged sword imho:

    "Players come back for expansions, and patches help a little bit, but players are always lost over time until the next expansion. Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do."

    Personally I'm not interested in paying for expansions more often as long as there still is a monthly fee. I'm not sure I'm interested in buying another expansion ever as I've spent so much money on Wow already. Look at Autodesk for example, or Adobe. They sell subscriptions for their cloud services, although at a higher fee, but they don't charge extra for the software. The business model has worked great for Blizzard but I don't think it is fair to charge for both the software and the ability to use it.

  5. #5
    We have no idea why we're losing thousands of subscribers.
    *list of changes on how to dump PvP farther down the toilet*
    Just get rid of Ghost and you'll see a surprising number of re-subscribers.

  6. #6
    Deleted
    ha ! Copper Field ! He must be a magician !

    ---------- Post added 2013-05-22 at 10:55 AM ----------

    Scumbag blizz explains people leave when the game changes too much, then proceeds to redesign the entire loot progression paths and introduces a new format no one wants to play.
    Not sure if scumbag, or just derp.

  7. #7
    hotfixes aren't live in EU. Crappy Chess event as before 5.3... I HATE THAT SH*T

  8. #8
    Stood in the Fire Retro89's Avatar
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    "Karazhan - Chess Event: Increased the delay between moves for enemy chess pieces." The only thing that's prevented me from soloing Kara.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    So, they know this:
    "When quitting the game, players mention that the game changes too fast and they couldn't keep up."

    Yet they still think this is the way to go:
    "Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do."

    I need a Philip J. Fry meme here.
    Last edited by mmocb1848b600a; 2013-05-22 at 11:55 AM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon View Post
    So, they know this:
    "When quitting the game, players mention that the game changes too fast and they couldn't keep up."

    Yet they still think this is the way to go:
    "Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do."
    New content isn't the type of change they are talking about.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    New content isn't the type of change they are talking about.
    New expansions actually change the game a lot... and in MoP, their patches also did it...

  12. #12
    Legendary! Airwaves's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zannypants View Post
    Just get rid of Ghost and you'll see a surprising number of re-subscribers.
    Most people who play wow don't even know who he is, nor do they care.
    Aye mate

  13. #13
    LOL! I hope Midwinter conducts their OpenRaid event more appropriately than they did (do?) their GDKP runs.

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Dead servers.

    Stupid pvp changes.

    Too many instant CCs.

    Talent choices sucks.

    Yeah i have no clue why all my friends quit this game.

  15. #15
    When I left I explicitly said it was because of the dead servers issue, not because the "game was changing too fast", far from it, I had absolutely no issue with the way the game was other than the fact the server I played on was as dead as a dodo.

  16. #16
    First of all sorry for my english, I try to do my best.

    Ok so 5.3.... same issues like 5.2....

    5.2 = new island: checked once, just to see how is it looks like and figured there is NO LOOT except that boss, No reason to farm kirin-tor, has no gear, recipe or anything interesting.
    Only thing was interesting is LFR ToT that's it.
    5.3 = new quest chain took about let say 2-3 hrs with the 150 item quest included. Reward? a 502 boots?!? ... ok nice to have it next to 522... But let's go check the new items.... ohh we have mojo and.... and and??? GC what da hack did ya smoke? 476????? for who? at least make it account bound. It has no use at all for main toons. So after 3hrs I can say : ok checked the quest line which is ok, daily? there is nothing to do in Barrens, no reward whatsoever just hang out place. I hope H scenarios will save this patch. As for PVP imao this thing wont get anybody more into it.... I don't care too much about pvp and still don't feel any kind of rush to do it. Have a lowbie rogue (lvl41) for pvp only, time to time I play with it but thanks that's enough. Honestly how many of you PVE players got the rush for PVP now????? I wrote this things not because of try to trolling, I know hard to make everyone happy etc. Most of the gamers like to get some kind of reward to do quest,raid etc. PVP'ers love to watch as their kill ratio, or ratings climb, H raiders for heroic kills, gear. How about casual pve- players? "Go Barrens and farm 476 unusable gear because it's fun" No GC this is not... you failed on that sorry.

  17. #17
    My personal battle pet leveling/rare hunting team consists of:
    1. Pet I'm levelnig
    2. Panther Cub (devour and the reduction are great, along with his pounce since he is usually the faster pet 95% of the time)
    3. Wild Crimson Hatchling (heal and he's got extra defense vs flying)

    I would strongly dislike removing the dragonkin's extra defense vs flying, as this has been my team for a really long time.

    Also, I wasn't able to loot anything in my scenarios yesterday. Boo.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Zannypants View Post
    Just get rid of Ghost and you'll see a surprising number of re-subscribers.
    I'm saying same thing since Cata(strophe)clysm...

  19. #19
    Deleted

    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by naturetauren View Post
    Dead servers.

    Stupid pvp changes.

    Too many instant CCs.

    Talent choices sucks.

    Yeah i have no clue why all my friends quit this game.

    Kinda agree with this guy!!!

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Hagen09 View Post
    This is a double edged sword imho:

    "Players come back for expansions, and patches help a little bit, but players are always lost over time until the next expansion. Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do."

    Personally I'm not interested in paying for expansions more often as long as there still is a monthly fee. I'm not sure I'm interested in buying another expansion ever as I've spent so much money on Wow already. Look at Autodesk for example, or Adobe. They sell subscriptions for their cloud services, although at a higher fee, but they don't charge extra for the software. The business model has worked great for Blizzard but I don't think it is fair to charge for both the software and the ability to use it.
    I think a lot of players already know why we had the massive subscription drop; you don't need the bullpoo explanation from a blue.

    If you wanted the real reason they would have to say, "our design philosophies suck," but you'll never hear them say that. You'll always hear them say, "It's the player's fault."

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