Patch 7.1 - Midnight Mount, SC2 BlizzCon Goodies, Blue Posts, Pumpkin Carving Contest

[chaud]

Civilization 6 releases this week! Check out Civ 6 Wiki on Gamepedia

Competitive Tavern Brawls with Entry Fees Coming Soon!

Patch 7.1 - Midnight Mount
Patch 7.1 adds Midnight's Eternal Reins, which is an updated model for Midnight. He will drop from Attumen the Huntsman in Return to Karazhan.

StarCraft II BlizzCon Virtual Goodies
The Starcraft II BlizzCon In-Game Goodies have been revealed! Goodies for the other games were previously announced, with a faction specific murloc for WoW.

Players will receive a new D.Va announcer and portrait. The D.Va announcer will be available for purchase at a later date, but her portrait is exclusively available to BlizzCon attendees and those watching from home via the Virtual Ticket. Check out some of the sound clips on the official announcement.

Blue Posts

Dev Q&A and Class Balance
I think the big problem is the balance discussion in the QA came over a bit high handed or even a touch meanspirited.

While it is likely not exactly as it was intended, the whole 'we know yall need buffs but if you become the top spec it will upset the peole who play that spec so no love for you' impression taken from the QA was sort of crappy, especially for people playing Elemental or Frost - who also dedicated a lot of time and AP in the hopes that they would be buffed not to be better than Unholy or Enhance, but on par.
Sorry to hear that it came across that way.

Just to be clear, I was trying to explain why we sometimes may seem conservative or slow with balance changes. Frost mages were used as an example of a spec that we do feel is currently lagging behind in raid and dungeon gameplay, but not by nearly as much as data from public log sites might suggest. It seems less disruptive to buff a spec incrementally, allowing time for the results of each change to play out and repeating if needed, rather than risking overshooting the mark. (And yes, we definitely have failed in this goal at times - post-launch rogue spec balance comes to mind.)

At the heart of balance concerns is the fact that people just want to be able to feel like they have a place in the endgame as their preferred class/spec, and we entirely share that goal. Class balance is an ongoing process, with new variables coming into play all the time, as item level increases, new trinkets, legendaries, and set bonuses enter the mix, players get deeper into their respective artifact trees, theorycraft evolves, etc.

The Q&A didn't delve into specific details because the exact list of changes is and was still evolving. There will be a new 7.1 build on PTR very shortly, and patch notes to follow. That patch contains some improvements for several of the specs that currently are currently underperforming (including both flavors of Frost). Those changes should in general move things in the right direction, but we'll be continuing to watch and adjust further as needed. (Official Forums)

Karazhan PuG Requirements
That already happens in 5-man heroic and regular mythics runs.

There's nothing inherently wrong with having premade groups with inflated min ilvl requirements.

The game gives players enough freedom for them to organize themselves in any way they want, it’s part of the social aspect of the game and extremely important for any mmorpg.

Some geared players might just want to do a few fast runs and thus will use a very high minimum ilvl requirement on their heroic or mythic runs.
Others (more altruistically) might instead put an even lower ilvl requirement than LFG has, just to help a few friends gear up more quickly than they’d do on their own.

In the end, nothing is stopping anyone from starting their own group with the ilvl requirement they feel is more appropriate for any particular content. It’s all in the hands of the player (save a few hard caps here and there).

GL in Karazhan! Hope you enjoy all the surprises it has in store for you and all the nostalgia moments! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Mythic Keystones
This was one of the things touched on in the Q&A last week.

We definitely appreciate it's a frustrating experience having someone dropping mid-run from a keystone group. It's something we've been looking at but haven't yet come up with an alternative that wouldn't invite more serious abuse of the system.

If you can swap in other people, the party leader could theoretically replace people with his friends. If your keystone didn't deplete if someone dropped, it would invite people to ALT+F4 or drop as soon as something went wrong which reduces the associated challenge of a mythic keystone run - particularly at the higher end.

Keystones are plentiful right now, and if one run doesn't work out, then another one might. We like the social aspect of people finding new friends via the Pre-Made Groups finder who then link up later on to tackle higher difficulty keystones.

In an ideal world it's best to go with people you know, but realistically that's not always a possibility. That's why it's always a good idea to make sure everyone is on the same page at the start of the run, before the keystone is even used. If it's intended to be a 3 chest run, communicate it. If you're just going for the clear, communicate it, so you don't have someone drop mid-run because they wanted multiple chests.

Again, we understand that it's a frustrating experience to be involved in, and it's something we're continually monitoring. There have been some interesting suggestions in this thread, so please keep those coming. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Demon Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
Havoc Demon Hunter
Moving to the Demon Hunter forums.

I somehow missed part one of this thread, sorry for letting it cap out. I'll review this in the morning and get some questions out to the development team so we can share some insight on upcoming DH changes. Hopefully I will be able to help explain our thinking/philosophy here.

Thanks for all the patience! (Official Forums)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
Paladins and Crusade
What do you mean by "potentially incorrect datamined information"?

Up until the most recent PTR build, every datamined change was reflected on the PTR version. As of right now, Crusade isn't even functioning on the PTR, and the tooltip has reverted to the live version (except all of the numbers are replaced with 0).
I assume this is a PTR bug that you're seeing.

An update on this from the development team: we've reverted the change on PTR that folks were seeing from datamined information. Crusade will be staying the same in 7.1 as it is on live currently.

We may take another look at this skill in the future (design-wise), however, and when and if we do so we will look to the community for feedback.

Thanks for your feedback on this everyone! (Official Forums)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
Outlaw Rogues
I've sent off another round of questions for developers on the topic of Outlaw and our plans/goals moving into 7.1.

You guys will be the first to know when I hear anything, of course. Hoping to have something to share tomorrow. ([Official Forums)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
Warlock Talent Changes
Got some answers from the development team on this.

The aim and ultimate goal of the swap is to create competition in the talent rows, with a secondary intent of adjusting tankiness and mobility overall. With this change (taking tuning into account), there should now be more interesting choices in some rows, instead of the usual feel of "mandatory-ness" that we've seen in this past cycle.

Demon Skin previously dwarfed its competition in nearly ever situation, and its combination with Dark Pact offered too much survivability.

With Demonic Circle, we heard the broad feedback about how it was missed when players had to opt-out of taking it because of better picks in its row. Now that it's lined up against more equally-powered and niche talents, we believe Demonic Circle will see more use overall.

Hope this answers some of your questions - I'm here for feedback and discussion on this. ([Official Forums)

2016 Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest

The Halloween season has finally arrived, and we’re ready to cut straight to the heart of the holiday. If you're dying to pick up a knife and hack, gash, slash, and jab at something, then you might be excited to hear that as of October 17, Blizzard's 2016 Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest has officially begun! Unleash your magical axes, psi blades, chitinous claws, and other creative cutlery to carve up Blizzard-themed jack-o''-lanterns of epic awesomeness. If you're unclear as to what epic awesomeness looks like in the flesh, you can check out previous pumpkins for some inspiration..

We’ll choose five of the grandest Cucurbita to each receive $60.00 Battle.net® Balance. Don’t delay; start carving right away! The fourteenth annual pumpkin carving contest ends on October 27, so be sure to check out the contest page for rules and eligibility and get straight to slicing.

FinalBoss - Legion Warlocks
This week FinalBoss covered all things Warlock!

[furydeath]

another mount to farm in 20+ levels -.-

[Sorshen]

Too bad SC2 is dead. Proleague and 5 korean teams disbanded. The WCS decisions have been dumber and dumber every year, culminating with the mess of region locking and 8/16 guaranteed foreigners in Blizzcon.
The D.Va voice couldn't be more annoying.

[Zokten]

Burning Rush >>>>>>> Dark Pact (besides pvp.....)

[Isolyphic]

Fuck, I was looking forward to the Crusade changes..

[Averrix]

I don't miss demonic circle at all. Who are these people that miss it? Why would you want demonic circle over survivability?

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

I don't understand why Attumen's spooky ghost horsies can't fly when the Headless Horseman's spooky ghost horsy can.

FFS Blizz, your game makes no logical sense!

[muto]

Ahhhhh good to know they want difficult decisions between talent choices. It will be real difficult picking between Mortal Coil, Howl of Terror, and Demonic Circle in dungeon and raid content. No doubt I'll be picking up Howl of Terror for Nythendra.

[karatakor]

I am disgusted with what they are doing to the warlock class.
Affliction is non-existent, demo is clunky, and destruction has been stripped down from all the baseline spells.
At this rate they will delete the warlock before 8.0..

[Deleted]

There's nothing inherently wrong with having premade groups with inflated min ilvl requirements.

Why is this topic always present when new content comes out? Do some people really expect other people to be forced to play with them because they can't meet certain ilvl requirements? Start your own group. Don't try to police how other people (legally) play this game.

[Tenjen]

I don't understand why Attumen's spooky ghost horsies can't fly when the Headless Horseman's spooky ghost horsy can.

FFS Blizz, your game makes no logical sense!

Errr.. Because attumen doesn't fly and is karazhan resurrected while the horseman very predominantly flies in the town event and comes flying in when you summon him in the boss battle? Seriously, you're asking this after nearly 10 damn years?

[Bumbac]

He will drop from Attumen the Huntsman in Return to Karazhan.

Not so sure about it. Still haven't got the original one. Farmin' with 18 characters per week.

[Deleted]

I've totally lost interest in mounts since getting the 300 achievement.

What I'd really like is more queue-able content, but I know I'm in the minority there.

[Gratlim]

I don't miss demonic circle at all. Who are these people that miss it? Why would you want demonic circle over survivability?

Some arena players and raiders were crying about the lack of mobility. Blizz said they wanted us to be tanky. Then proceed to nerf our tankiness in the first hotfix .then again now in 7.1. Then gives whiners what they want. Hopefully they will realise how bad their decision was.

I am against the change. I think this is a terrible decision for both pve and pvp and circle won't change much. This is far from Blink, have a cast time, requires a set up etc etc.

Loosing dark pact or this passive shield is a major nerf. Our class is currently the least popular / played class as well as underperforming both is high lvl pvp and pve (best spec being middle of the pack, the worst one being lowest dps spec currently in the game). Yet they nerf further more.


On a side note: the comment on Kharazan about premading requirement is pretty funny. Blizz saying: "It's not our fault if players are ***holes with their requirements, gearscore is great" is pretty much like a gun dealer selling a gun to a gang member and saying it is not my fault if someone got shot. Pathetic.
The idea of forcing premading can be good if you have a nice communauty. But WoW's pug pop is toxic at best 90% of the time. You might still find nice people out there but most are pro wannabes.

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

Errr.. Because attumen doesn't fly and is karazhan resurrected while the horseman very predominantly flies in the town event and comes flying in when you summon him in the boss battle? Seriously, you're asking this after nearly 10 damn years?

But they're all spooky ghost horsies. What makes the Headless Horseman's spooky ghost horsy so special?

I feel like this is an oversight.

[TheDeeGee]

Need updated Models for Racial Mounts!

[arth]

I believe this is the same model as the Death knight's Death Charger Reins. Why give a DK mount to non DKs ? /rant

[Eleccybubb]

I believe this is the same model as the Death knight's Death Charger Reins. Why give a DK mount to non DKs ? /rant

Easier to build mounts these days off of currently existing models. Especially horse and dragon ones.

[Arvandor]

I've totally lost interest in mounts since getting the 300 achievement.

What I'd really like is more queue-able content, but I know I'm in the minority there.

yeah lets choose mythic standard from the browser at 840 and lets mythic + unchanged..

why not blizzard? its fucking time for this!

[SgtDidymus]

And they still dont acknowledge how garbage DKs are right now...